what if i have this story in my head but can't seem to put it down in writing?

1. 49

   torijinxposted 14 years ago

   what if i have this story in my head but can't seem to put it down in writing?
   
   I what to write a book but can't seem to get it on paper at all

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2. 60

   Jarnposted 14 years ago

   If it's a hand/brain issue, get a little hand recorder and talk into it whenever something hits you. If that isn't it, try writing a summary of what you want the book to be, rather than what it is. If you're still out of luck,try writing a review like you see on the back of a book jacket. That marketing sunshine up your skirt might help you focus on what the whole point of it is. And if ll else fails, find a similar book and fake it until you make it.

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3. 66

   USMCwifey09posted 14 years ago

   Agreed with Jarn; also, try writing an outline...or going along with the recorder idea...tell it to a trusted friend, like a story-telling session.

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4. 60

   Petra Vlahposted 14 years ago

   Writing a whole book all at once, may be hard, especially if you don’t have enough experience. A helpful way to get started is to write only one little story that will be part of the book (it does not have to be your first chapter). Also write just the first draft and let it be for a few days. Your mind will work around it and soon enough you will come up with a related story (another part of the book) and so on and so on.
   As you write more ideas will come to mind and before you know it you get the skeleton–platform of the book and all you need to do at that point is to organize the separate stories and find a logical way to put them in a specific order.

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5. 67

   starvagrantposted 14 years ago

   The above answers are all good places to start. Not being able to get an idea onto paper might mean your internal editor (the critical part of your brain that shoots ideas down) might be overpowering your creativity. If this be the case freewriting might be a useful exercise. Freewriting is literally writing without stopping. If you can't think of anything to say, you just keep writing "I can't think of anything to say" until you do. By writing so quickly you can bypass your internal editor. You should find that writing clarifies your thinking and go on from there.

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6. 58

   meghancsmithnjposted 14 years ago

   When I work with my students who struggle to put words on paper, I tell them to draw pictures of what they see happening in the story, kind of like a story board. Then add a quick summary of each picture and arrange them in order of however you think they make sense.  That should get your juices flowing! Also go online or invest in a good thesarus, these are wonderful for word choice! You may want to investigate 6+1 writing as well. It is a 7 step process for writing and a great way to help you begin.
   
   The steps are:
   1. Ideas (jot down your ideas for your story)
   
   2. Organization (put your ideas in order, beginning, middle end, etc)
   
   3. Voice (know your audience/purpose, use words that make sense for your audience/purpose)
   
   4. Word Choice (this is where the thesaurus comes in)
   
   5. Sentence Fluency (do you have long and short sentences, questions, exclamations, etc do your sentences make sense?),
   
   6. Conventions (grammar, punctuation, editing etc) 
   The +1 is for publishing...how do you want it to look for the reader...good luck!

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7. 0

   Dark Lucyposted 14 years ago

   'Brainstorm'.  Write down in single words or sentences any ideas or images that come into your mind when you think of the story.  Think about the Atmosphere, mood, characters, locations, weather, everything that comes into your head. 
   
   If you get stuck, do something else, something that completely absorbs you for an hour or so - Dorothea Brande's advice is to do something repetitive like knitting or sewing or something else you don't really have to think about, but she was writing a hundred years ago, so the modern equivalent would be a mindless computer game like Tetrus (nothing too exciting!) for an hour.  Then your mind will have strayed and thought subconsciously for a while and you can come back and do the brainstorming again. 
   
   When you feel you've got enough of these ideas down, start to put them into some kind of structure, build it up and add things until you get the 'shape' of the story.

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