hey! so im a novice writer, hoping to go to college to become a novelist, or a simple writer. I've written several stories but my computer has crashed a few times and i've lost them. Being discouraged it's hard for me to come up with ideas to write about. Any tips on how to get a good story rolling? oh and also how to name characters? I'm posting this in Theatre because i love to write scripts and playwrites
2006-08-13 20:36:30 · 5 answers · asked by chenaniah88 1 in Arts & Humanities ➔ Theater & Acting
Life experiences are a great start to writing...
2006-08-17 14:15:02 · answer #1 · answered by luckiest 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I know the heartbreak of a crashed computer taking your script with you. One solution; email your script to yourself, that way it'll be there if you need to retrieve it.
As to how to write - just put words on the page. It doesn't have to make sense. Just free associate. At some point you may find a story taking off or you may come up with an image or piece of dialogue that you want to keep. Also rewrite a public domain novel in your own words, in your own setting. It's not that it will necessarily be usable, but you'll learn a lot.
Names; I start with "Man", "Woman", "Friend" or "Aaron", "Bill", Charlie", "Don", etc. The names will get changed at the end when I know who the characters are and if their names should be indicative of their character.
2006-08-14 20:52:35 · answer #2 · answered by dg 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Hmm. I've written 5 plays. If your computer keeps crashing you might want to print out your script a couple of pages at a time while you are writing so you always have a hard copy in case that happens. I have learned that if you want to write, it helps to be involved in watching theater on an on-going basis. Character names can be found in baby name books, or you can read other plays in the time period you are writing for (I have a tendency to do historically-based comedies). You can read the backs or jackets of books to get plot ideas. I always develop my characters well to start off with and then let them start talking to each other to see what they want to do.
2006-08-14 14:04:01 · answer #3 · answered by Cookie777 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I work with old people and hear the most wonderful stories. Go to a senior center and tell the volenteer at the front desk you need info for a paper and you were wondering if anyone there would have a good story about... how they met their true love or what their first house was like or how did they have fun before Yahoo answers. One story will lead to another and you will have a wonderful time and so will they.
2006-08-17 21:23:19 · answer #4 · answered by Laura B 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Go hang out at coffee shops and write about anything that comes to your head. Or get on the subway, with a box lunch, bottles of fluid, and stay on it and write about what you see. Or join the military. Or join the Press Corps. Or go work anywhere. And write about it in your journal. Ideas will come.
2006-08-18 00:03:41 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋