Writer's Block? More like Writer's Wall of China.
So this is the longest Writer's Block I've had in my life. Let's assume that IRL stress/crappy and uninspiring environment/being in close proximity aren't major factors (which I know they are, but let's pretend I'm at an awesome creative place and I'm not burdened by family problems). I really want to work on my novel again, and I brainstorm and run scenes and character development in my head every single day. But the problem? I don't know where to start. I don't even know how the story begins.
I can't just skip ahead and write later scenes either. When I try that, I find myself feeling lost and I feel like I've skipped over pages and pages of character development so I don't know how I would write these people in their current situation. If I at least know how my story starts, then I'll be able to pave my own path and actually progress.
So here's the gist. In the beginning, I have to establish the following:
- The setting. What is the Nostalgia House? A labyrinthine museum full of bizarre collections including toys, puppets and dolls. I can't just describe the museum from the get-go though, or else the novel will go to a screeching halt at the first sentence and people will get bored after the first paragraph.
- Oh yeah, toys come to life when humans aren't around. How do I establish this without confusing the audience with too many details at once or stretching for paragraphs on and on before we get to the actual story?
- Introducing our protagonists (Raggedy Ann & Andy), delving a little into their personalities and making us give a shit about what happens to them. I want to start the novel after the kidnapping has already happened, so the audience will be as confused as our heroes are. Which leads to my next question...
How does the kidnapping even happen?
If I don't know this, I don't know how the plot begins. And I can't carry on from there. Here's what I know:
- Our antagonist, Dr. Medlock, wants to make as little fuss as possible. His target will be sitting in their usual places one day, then *poof* gone. Nobody sees the kidnapping happen, so no one knows who the kidnapper is. Nobody knows who they're up against or what happened to the missing victims, leaving everyone baffled and uncertain. Nothing Is Scarier, right?
- Dr. Medlock is supposed to be intelligent. He needs only Raggedy Ann for his experiment, but if he left Andy behind, it's no doubt that he would cause trouble, so he would need to be captured too. But somehow, his plan botches up and Andy's still out there. Andy's a fugitive for nearly the entire novel because Dr. Medlock is determined to carry through with kidnapping him. Which leads to my next problem...
- How the hell does Ann get captured, but it fails with Andy?
Dr. Medlock sends his experiments and Marius to do things for him while he's working in the lab. The closest I can think of is that a monster or Marius are picking up Ann & Andy while they're still asleep, but then they think they're being caught and hurry off, not realizing they've dropped Andy. That way, Andy could later wake up, realize something's wrong, then freak out when he gets back to the rocking chair and finds Ann is missing. I'm just trying to figure out a way for Ann to be captured and Andy to have gotten lucky without it looking like ~*~convenience~ or the villains being total morons.
I've just become a complete picky perfectionist that I lock up and never write anything because I think everything I attempt is crap. Working on another novel will NOT help, especially since I haven't even written anything for this one at all. In forever. The more I neglect writing my novel, the worse it'll get for me.
Just dear god. I need someone to look at this without my distorted viewpoint of thinking everything is wrong from the characters/prose/set-up/etc.
This post has been crossposted with Dreamwidth at http://shamanicshaymin.dreamwidth.org/52567.html. Pick your poison. Mwoiiiiiiiing~!
I can't just skip ahead and write later scenes either. When I try that, I find myself feeling lost and I feel like I've skipped over pages and pages of character development so I don't know how I would write these people in their current situation. If I at least know how my story starts, then I'll be able to pave my own path and actually progress.
So here's the gist. In the beginning, I have to establish the following:
- The setting. What is the Nostalgia House? A labyrinthine museum full of bizarre collections including toys, puppets and dolls. I can't just describe the museum from the get-go though, or else the novel will go to a screeching halt at the first sentence and people will get bored after the first paragraph.
- Oh yeah, toys come to life when humans aren't around. How do I establish this without confusing the audience with too many details at once or stretching for paragraphs on and on before we get to the actual story?
- Introducing our protagonists (Raggedy Ann & Andy), delving a little into their personalities and making us give a shit about what happens to them. I want to start the novel after the kidnapping has already happened, so the audience will be as confused as our heroes are. Which leads to my next question...
How does the kidnapping even happen?
If I don't know this, I don't know how the plot begins. And I can't carry on from there. Here's what I know:
- Our antagonist, Dr. Medlock, wants to make as little fuss as possible. His target will be sitting in their usual places one day, then *poof* gone. Nobody sees the kidnapping happen, so no one knows who the kidnapper is. Nobody knows who they're up against or what happened to the missing victims, leaving everyone baffled and uncertain. Nothing Is Scarier, right?
- Dr. Medlock is supposed to be intelligent. He needs only Raggedy Ann for his experiment, but if he left Andy behind, it's no doubt that he would cause trouble, so he would need to be captured too. But somehow, his plan botches up and Andy's still out there. Andy's a fugitive for nearly the entire novel because Dr. Medlock is determined to carry through with kidnapping him. Which leads to my next problem...
- How the hell does Ann get captured, but it fails with Andy?
Dr. Medlock sends his experiments and Marius to do things for him while he's working in the lab. The closest I can think of is that a monster or Marius are picking up Ann & Andy while they're still asleep, but then they think they're being caught and hurry off, not realizing they've dropped Andy. That way, Andy could later wake up, realize something's wrong, then freak out when he gets back to the rocking chair and finds Ann is missing. I'm just trying to figure out a way for Ann to be captured and Andy to have gotten lucky without it looking like ~*~convenience~ or the villains being total morons.
I've just become a complete picky perfectionist that I lock up and never write anything because I think everything I attempt is crap. Working on another novel will NOT help, especially since I haven't even written anything for this one at all. In forever. The more I neglect writing my novel, the worse it'll get for me.
Just dear god. I need someone to look at this without my distorted viewpoint of thinking everything is wrong from the characters/prose/set-up/etc.
This post has been crossposted with Dreamwidth at http://shamanicshaymin.dreamwidth.org/52567.html. Pick your poison. Mwoiiiiiiiing~!