# The hardest part is starting...... little help please.



## DHZCortez (Oct 23, 2008)

Yeah, getting ready to revive an old project. Finally convinced myself to dig around and find my old digimon fic. Found it, read it over and got all kinds of excited about it, went to post it.... Then got stumped on the first comment.... When you're fresh to the site, haven't posted a single thing yet, all that jazz, this comment it going to be the first thing anyone sees.... So I wanted something that'd grab their attention, that'd really draw them into the story. After brainstorming for awhile this is what I came up with.

When the end of the world begins just how will the pieces fall? Where there be life after the end? where there be anything after the end? Will you chose the right side?

When swarms of digimon begin attacking the real world at random in a full scale assualt without warning how will the tamers defend their homes? 

When the world and dreams begin to mesh together can life sustain itself? Who is this boy that appears to have the world to himself? Why is he alone? And what does his nightmares bring?

((This is an old project that I started years ago, attempting to rewrite the old chapters and perhaps finish it up, please read and review.))

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But when I read it over it doesn't sound complete.... suggestions anyone? Opinions atleast? Does something like this snag your attention? or should I keep working?


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## DHZCortez (Oct 23, 2008)

*Thrice upon a times..................................................................................*
_A city lay in siege...................................................................................._
.............................A boy's dream became reality........................................
.........................................................................An ambition was achieved.
*Thrice upon a times..................................................................................*
_Heroes fell in battle.................................................................................._
...........................Reality became a curse..................................................
........................................................................Hell was placed on earth...

*Thrice upon a time,* _the lines were drawn, a war was fought_, heroes forged and sides drawn, their end starts here.
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OOooor, this just kinda smacked me in the face.


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## RabbiWayne (Oct 23, 2008)

Well I'm not sure of your degree of writting skill, but if you are trying to keep it short that is a tough plot to manage from the get go. And be careful, I'm not sure about everyone else, but personally mustering the where-with-all to down such a heavy bit as the total obliteration of the human world via digital invasion right at the start.

But that is if you are trying to fit it into one novel. But if you have the fortitude to stick with a longer project, then you could use the model set by Lord of the Rings, and do three. But I wouldn't start out saying AHHHHH the digimon are here and they're killing everyone...Just allow a little time for development of at least the main character so we(the readers) can see how prepared he is for such an invasion and how we think the type of person he is fares against such a task. I personally dont have the balls to finish giant novel and thusly prefer episodic story telling.

But I digress, tell us more about the main character at the start and don't give away the plot.

I hope my ideas have been constructive should you choose to take them into account or not. Best of luck in your project. I look forward to reading it.

Best Regards
Lloyd Borreaux​


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## RabbiWayne (Oct 23, 2008)

Oh one more thing....this slipped my mind the first time around...my apologies.

Epilogue, you could have a bunch of bad stuff happen in an epilogue; then you could develop the hero in the post-apocalyptic world ruled by Digimon

Sorry I'm a spastic thinker

Again, Best Regards
Lloyd Borreaux​


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## DHZCortez (Oct 24, 2008)

RabbiWayne said:


> Well I'm not sure of your degree of writting skill, but if you are trying to keep it short that is a tough plot to manage from the get go. And be careful, I'm not sure about everyone else, but personally mustering the where-with-all to down such a heavy bit as the total obliteration of the human world via digital invasion right at the start.
> 
> But that is if you are trying to fit it into one novel. But if you have the fortitude to stick with a longer project, then you could use the model set by Lord of the Rings, and do three. But I wouldn't start out saying AHHHHH the digimon are here and they're killing everyone...Just allow a little time for development of at least the main character so we(the readers) can see how prepared he is for such an invasion and how we think the type of person he is fares against such a task. I personally dont have the balls to finish giant novel and thusly prefer episodic story telling.
> 
> ...


 
Thanks for your help. I understand what you're saying, stories/movies that start out with the major chaos usually either instantly flop, or do really well. The probablem is that the stories already written, I've already done ten chapter (120 pages). Another thing that's making this tricky is that there really is no main character, the POV switches from chapter to chapter, traveling between characters within three main groups. The first chapter is chaotic, it reveals two of the three groups, and the problems their faced with, when I wrote it way back when, I was trying to confuse the readers, to a point to where they continue reading because they want to know why. Reality Check was written before Cell, but that's really one of the only published works I can think of to use as an example. If you've ever read Stephen King's Cell, you'll know the kind of chaos I'm talking about. If you haven't, you can't just read the first three pages, he starts off by showing things start crumbling, you follow an average guy on his way home from work, suddenly people are biting dogs ears off, attacking one another, driving cars into buildinds, and the reader just can't let go..... I hate to sound like I'm dissmissing your advice, I'm not really, just offering a counter point to see if you still stand with the same advice.


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## GraemeLion (Oct 24, 2008)

What do you use for plotting your story, or are you doing this by the seat of your pants?

Do YOU know where this all is going?


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## DHZCortez (Oct 24, 2008)

redcard said:


> What do you use for plotting your story, or are you doing this by the seat of your pants?
> 
> Do YOU know where this all is going?


 
Um, not entirely sure what you're asking with the first question. Yes I know where it's all going, as I said it's an old project that I'm just now picking back up.


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## Poetigress (Oct 24, 2008)

DHZCortez said:


> The probablem is that the stories already written, I've already done ten chapter (120 pages).



Just because it's written doesn't mean it's set in stone.



> Another thing that's making this tricky is that there really is no main character, the POV switches from chapter to chapter, traveling between characters within three main groups.



You're probably going to need at least one character to focus on.  Even _Cell_ stays with one character's POV for the entire book.  The reader needs to develop a relationship with just a few characters at most -- if you just have a bunch of people running around doing stuff, and the reader is flipping back and forth among all of them, they're not going to feel emotionally connected with what's going on.  Even a big story like S. M. Stirling's _Dies the Fire_ (just read it the other week), which begins with a catastrophic event, alternates only between two POVs, the main male character and the main female character.  So if you've got three groups important to the story, choose a character within each group to focus on, and stay with that.



> when I wrote it way back when, I was trying to confuse the readers, to a point to where they continue reading because they want to know why.



Confused readers don't keep reading.  Yes, you want to hint at a bigger picture, but ideally you're revealing information bit by bit, stringing the reader along, slowly bringing things into focus.  If they can't figure out anything that's going on, they're not going to care enough to keep trying.

As for the description/teaser, take a bunch of paperbacks off your bookshelf and read the back covers.  That's the sort of thing you're going for.


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## GraemeLion (Oct 24, 2008)

What I meant was , do you know how the story ends?  That's something that a lot of writers don't seem to have, and so it's the other side to your statement about the hardest part being starting.   Begin with the end in mind, as it were.

As for Stephen King.. he gets away with a lot because he's been in the game a long time.    The general rule is, for every POV character you have, you need one or two subplots involving that character.  You, of course, need a main plot as well.  That plot can be carried underneath the POV characters, but the more POV characters you have, the more you will need to write.  Otherwise, why have a POV character?  

As for the readers, you have five pages, generally, to get a reader.  Noah Lukeman has a book called "The First Five Pages."  If you confuse your reader in the first five, you're done.  They won't read.  So your main goal should be to get your hook in them quickly.  Stay in one POV for a few pages.  Then introduce another character.  Don't bounce around too quickly.

And yes, yes yes yes, I definitely can tell you this.  Take your paperback books down, read the backs, and try to write something like that for your summary.  If you want, read it as though you were a Hollywood Movie Trailer Guy.  You want drama to jump off the page and into the arms of your readers.


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## DHZCortez (Oct 25, 2008)

Poetigress said:


> Just because it's written doesn't mean it's set in stone.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


 

Well, thanks for your advice, guess I'm just jumping the gun a bit. I understand that it's not set in stone, just never really considered re-working arcs and stuff. As for the POVs, when dealing with multiple pov's there has to be some constant, be it the world around them, or the group traveling with, the more POV's you throw in the harder it is to write, I know this. I've actually cut alot out from what was originally planned. When I started this thread I wanted to submit my first ten chapters to this story, one at a time, over a period of time. As I got reviews and stuff I was going to go back and do rewrites, and then once I've redone the ten chapters I already have, pick up where I left off. But honestly this will be my first submision to furaffinity, and I'm wondering if it'd be best to do it this way, or to release the old chapters here on the forums, make sure the plot still interests everyone before I pour over it again, and then when I re-write, release them on furaffinity.... what do you think is best?


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## DHZCortez (Oct 25, 2008)

redcard said:


> What I meant was , do you know how the story ends? That's something that a lot of writers don't seem to have, and so it's the other side to your statement about the hardest part being starting. Begin with the end in mind, as it were.
> 
> As for Stephen King.. he gets away with a lot because he's been in the game a long time. The general rule is, for every POV character you have, you need one or two subplots involving that character. You, of course, need a main plot as well. That plot can be carried underneath the POV characters, but the more POV characters you have, the more you will need to write. Otherwise, why have a POV character?
> 
> ...


 

Thanks, your interest in something that you've never really seen yet is encouraging alone. Unlike the copy/paste answers I get on any other forum asking for advice. I don't mean to sound as if I was idolizing King, his book cell was really the only one I could think of that started off with the same feel I was trying to portray here. Thanks for the info on the five page though, I kinda knew you only had so long to go before you started losing that first drawn interest, never really knew there was a number in which people started losing interest, I'll be sure to take this information and do what I can.


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## RabbiWayne (Oct 26, 2008)

Completely respect what ur saying about keeping readers guessing, just got to make sure it's interested guessing, and not frustrated guessing...and as far as moving back and forth between groups of travellers, thats a phenomenal opportunity for character development....


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## sashadistan (Oct 29, 2008)

Poetigress said:


> Just because it's written doesn't mean it's set in stone.



However, rewriting is a bitch.

I have never managed to pick on old project back up again and complete it. Even six months is enough to change a writing style and the new stuff therefore doesn't mesh well with the old stuff.

My advice, since November is so close, sign up and do it for NanoWriMo this year. The forums there have some amazing people and some really great advice centres tailored for this kind of thing.


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