DCTP Writing Group

[Kor]

:V
I could use help though... I actually want to write a book, but I have trouble figuring out how to start...

You will have to be a bit more specific what trouble you're facing exactly. Is it about starting to put text on paper? Is it specifically the first sentence? Is it planning it out?

Oh, I have plenty of ideas, and I pretty much have an order of events figured out along with background research I have done to figure out how the characters would act... I'm really invested in them, how they work, how their background influenced them and the themes I want to work in to reflect certain things...
At the same time I don't know where or how it would be best to start... I've tried, but everything I put on paper just doesn't seem to do them any justice, which feels really frustrating because of how far I've gotten in figuring out the characters... They already feel like they'd be able to live a life of their own yet I can't find the right words for them.

Kinda sounds like you're just being overly critical on yourself (which is normal). I think one approach you can take is to figure out where it should start. Where it makes sense to start and dynamically lead yourself to the meat of the story. I know, saying these words doesn't really give an answer and it just throws at you a question.
A more practical advice I have is this: Come up with the best first sentence you can think of. A reader who has never read your story before will start at your first sentence (... most of the time), so your first sentence should be crisp and maybe reflect the tone you're trying to set up, or tell us something of the world or main character, or foreshadow a later event and then that first sentence will click in the reader's (don't talk about the weather, though). I'm not wishing to give you an extra concern about your very first sentence in the story, but I want you to think of the very best first sentence you can come up with because that sentence may be able to kick everything after it into motion.

All that said, (and this will sound slightly contradictory to what I said above), it's your first draft. None of what you're writing in your first 10 or so pages HAS to remain once everything is done. It can always be changed or removed in later drafts. Perhaps after you're done writing, you will find out 17 pages of the first draft are completely irrelevant. Perhaps you could just try... force yourself through the beginning (even if you don't like what you put on page) in order to get to the parts you handle better. Maybe after you're well into your story you can go back to the beginning and tackle it in a manner that satisfies you after you're even more familiar with your characters.
Besides, I can assure you there's a very high chance that after you're done with your first draft, you will change (even so slightly) the beginning regardless (and yes, even that super duper first sentence I mentioned above might be changed for an even better first sentence).

[Henry Gordan]

Iwa, have you tried to drink half bottle of wine first?

[Iwamoto Yuri]

Iwa, have you tried to drink half bottle of wine first?

I don't drink. I know, I'm a lame adult.

Kinda sounds like you're just being overly critical on yourself (which is normal).

Ehehe, guess you could say that ^^'

I think one approach you can take is to figure out where it should start. Where it makes sense to start and dynamically lead yourself to the meat of the story. I know, saying these words doesn't really give an answer and it just throws at you a question.

I think I finally figured out, but I already said that before before changing it. Either way it starts with the main character and his younger siblings watching a bear eating a smaller animal, because death is an important theme in the story.

A more practical advice I have is this: Come up with the best first sentence you can think of. A reader who has never read your story before will start at your first sentence (... most of the time), so your first sentence should be crisp and maybe reflect the tone you're trying to set up, or tell us something of the world or main character, or foreshadow a later event and then that first sentence will click in the reader's (don't talk about the weather, though).

Ok, not weather then, how about describing rain falling on leaves.. Or maybe bones cracking :V.

All that said, (and this will sound slightly contradictory to what I said above), it's your first draft. None of what you're writing in your first 10 or so pages HAS to remain once everything is done. It can always be changed or removed in later drafts.

Yeah, maybe that's the best thing to remember... I should try writing down everything I come up with and can always revise and change things later I guess...

[Kamite]

Why must you remind me of this thing I didn't manage to keep going? :V

As you can see from the previous posts, people still want the help with their writing and people are providing. Even though suggesting to drinking a half bottle of wine is not very helpful.

[Henry Gordan]

Iwa, have you tried to drink half bottle of wine first?

I don't drink. I know, I'm a lame adult.
Nah, it's ok to not drink

As you can see from the previous posts, people still want the help with their writing and people are providing. Even though suggesting to drinking a half bottle of wine is not very helpful.

That suggestion was originally made by my literature teacher when we had to write something at home

[k11chi]

I find it easier to start with a flashback or some kind of explanation.. like how the world works / the city they live in, count of people there, sightings / introduce the setting...school/Police Department/home and only then transition to introducing the characters.

[Iwamoto Yuri]

I find it easier to start with a flashback or some kind of explanation.. like how the world works / the city they live in, count of people there, sightings / introduce the setting...school/Police Department/home and only then transition to introducing the characters.

I wanted to originally format it as the mc talking to another character about his past... But I figured the message would be stronger if I'd just start with his life before the events... Mostly to reflect on how meeting someone he ended up really caring about and then losing them continuously alters his life (quite drastically, as well).
Before meeting said person, his father got them moved from their home town to Tokyo after becoming head of an important company which he is expected to inherit, being the oldest son. After meeting said person, he gradually forges his own path in life, taking steps towards a future that makes him happy, while actually following in the person's footsteps blindly because doki doki? And then when he loses them he quite literally crashes and throws away all that he thought he cared for because without that person it felt useless, always trying to find justice until he's finally told to stop and move on because there's nowhere left to search...
This all in the span of ten to fifteen years, I don't feel like accurately calculating it.
Part of me wondered if I should divide these in three 'parts', but then I'd have to make the pre story a bit longer... Not sure how to work around that yet :T