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Posted in Starts

Starting Your Novel

Beginning a novel can be daunting and confusing because you might not know where to start or how to start. Ideas may be flowing from your brain, and you may have written them down; or not. Either way, when it comes to starting your story, you might fall flat…at first. Don’t worry. There’s hope. We’ve all been there.

Writing a story and drawing it out into a lengthy novel reminds me of smoothing out wrinkles. A once over is good, but you might have to go over it multiple times before it’s the way you want it. The process is lengthy, so I’m not going to kid by saying it’s easy. Time is involved. Great care must be taken. Does it get easier over time? Yes. Know this though…everyone is different. The process might be faster for some than others. That’s okay. The point is to do it your way at your pace. When I first started writing fiction I was in high school, but the urge and yearning to write started much earlier than that. I didn’t know how to write a book, when I was aged ten. Although, there were stories brewing in my head all the same. I was a daydreamer. I still am. I didn’t start getting serious about writing fiction until my undergrad years in college.

I started with writing poems and short stories, but writing novels piqued my interest more, so that journey began. I created a general idea of what I wanted to write, and I set out typing my story. The challenge came when I realized I needed to know more about writing a novel. Thus, that journey also began. Here’s what it all looked like; I wrote my novel and learned how to write one at the same time. Yes, it was time consuming, but it was fun. In that time, I put it down on multiple occasions because life happened. Over the course of writing your novel, you will run up against situations that will stop or slow you down as well.

Whether you are stuck in the starting position because you are unable to generate ideas, you are not sure in which literary genre to write, you do not know where to start, or you need to learn more about writing fiction. We are all different with various backgrounds and life events. Do what is comfortable for you. Although, it doesn’t have to be difficult for you. I don’t want you to have to figure it out along the way like I did. If you are wanting to write a novel/book (fiction) and you have questions, please feel free to ask me questions.

My email is as follows: lmmontes777@gmail.com

Posted in Fiction

Types of Conflict (Part 4)

Person vs Technology
This type of conflict is where a person(s) go up against the perilous effects of technology moving in a forward direction. Someone had a great idea that sounded great at the time, but when the idea was tried out or an experiment done, something went very wrong. A classic tale that depicts this is the book by Mary Shelley, Frankenstein. Some other examples are 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Terminator, The Giver, The Matrix… The list goes on.

Posted in Social

Out My Back Door

Posted in Fiction

Types of Conflict (Part 3)

Person vs. Nature
This type of conflict would be any story with a plot where a person or people are going up against nature. What immediately comes to mind is a story with a husband and wife who go hiking up into the mountains and an unexpected snow storm hits. They are prepared for cold weather but not for a storm. They try to get back down the mountain to safety before it’s impossible to do so. But they continue to run up against set back after set back…..

Books with Person vs. Nature Conflict:
Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer
To Build a Fire by Jack London
A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson
Deliverance by James Dickey

Movies with Person vs. Nature Conflict
Cast Away (2000)
Life of Pi (2012)
Meek’s Cutoff (2010)
The Call of the Wild (1972)
Grizzly Man (2005)

Posted in Social

Subtle Beauty

Posted in Characterization

Types of Conflict (Part 2)

Part 2 focuses on the type of Person vs. Society conflict. The Scarlet Letter by Nathanial Hawthorne comes to mind. In this story (set in the 1600’s) Hester Prynne, the main character, receives public shaming when she, a married woman, has a child out of wedlock.

Another example would be To Kill a Mockingbird. This book is from the point of view of a young girl named Scout. It follows her “from innocence to experience when her father confronts the racist justice system of the rural, Depression era South.”
https://www.sparknotes.come/lit/mocking/plot-analysis/#:~:text=To%20Kill%20a%20Mockingbird%20tells,rural%2C%20Depression%2Dera%20South.

Posted in Characterization

Types of Conflict (Part 1)

Typically there are six types of conflict. The one I’m addressing today is:

PERSON vs. PERSON

This type has to do with conflicts between characters. It could be a conflict between heroes, between hero and villain, between sparring lovers, or between two neighbors. There are others, but we’ll pick on these four.

Story Examples
1. Hero vs. hero: Captain America: Civil War
2. Hero vs. villain: Any of the Harry Potter movies/books. The seventh book comes to mind though because that holds the ultimate battle between hero and villain. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
3. Between sparring lovers: The movie Crazy, Stupid, Love
4. Between two neighbors: The movie Deck the Halls

Posted in Social

Peekaboo

Posted in Fiction

A-HA

I Got It!!!

That moment when you’re writing. You stop to think about your main character and brainstorm ideas about what you can do to make him/her a more in depth person. You wonder also about what the major issue will be that he/she must struggle with and in the end will allow him/her to grow.

Posted in Social

First Flower of the Year in Our New House