[Madeline]

I am an aspiring writer hoping to be published but there's one problem: i can't seem to flush out my stories / ideas enough to get them to a decent length / level of understanding!!

any tips?

thanks

~maddies

[Vandalin]

Writing exercises are wonderful for this sort of thing. In one class that I took we had to take a scene from one of our stories (short or novel didn't matter) and write it from a different point of view. So I took one that I had maybe a chapter or two "done" and settled down to it. What I came up with was the opening scene from the POV of an ant. The other exercise that really helped was to focus on one scene and describe the setting using only active verbs...that was harder for me cause until that point I'd never really known there was a difference but after doing the exercise I saw how different it could be. Neither had to be very long but what was important was looking at the story differently and seeing something that you may not have noticed before. This may not be your best work (that was about 10 years ago actually) but it still give you the opportunity to dive in and flush out your work.

Check out a creative writing book from the library or book store that has exercises in it, I'd go for a college text if you want to buy. Go through and do some of the exercises. Might also help with writer's block.


If you are interested in seeing them, go here and here

[Karin]

I've just said this in another topic as well, but thought I'd say it here as well. For me organising and planning a story is a way to stay focused and actually produce something. It helps me to know what is supposed to happen when, who will do what and so on, and that makes it easier for me to write.