I’m sat here on my sofa after attending the Second Life Book club. Sadly I was there in spirit rather than hearing presence as my earphones are broken. The reason was my house mate was watching a film so it’s rude to sit there with the computer blasting away on loud speaker.
That’s ok as the great thing about the book club streams are you can listen to them later if you missed them at all. So there’s always a plus there if you look for it.
I’m considering my list of to do things now and I feel I have not enough hours in any one day to do all the things I want to do. That’s pretty much summing me up at the moment. A head full of ideas that need a mind map to plan them!
The best place to do it would be by the lake relaxing in a teepee hut with the water trickling away behind me as my head gathers and I write each thought down. Very much like my virtual image here.
I actually have a novel in my head. It’s been there for many years. The actual first sentence is the challenge because at what point do I begin.
That has been my dilemma for as long as I can remember, also the manner in which I write. That may require some work I’m all too aware.
The novel is to be about a girl who travels through life never knowing where she fits and where she is headed. It begins in childhood with a family background that is not usual. Not conforming and full of moments of fear and at the same time love.
One day I’ll begin. Just not yet. I’m not ready to tell that story till I know the ending.
Credits:-
Wintertime Love outfit (huge hud) from Entice at the Cosmopolitan Event
Cloudmond Teepee from Raindale at the Access Event
HDPRO Majer soft head from CATWA
Jamie hair from Fabia which was a gacha
Eline skin from AMARA
Reflectice eyes from Amara
Daydream collection makeup from IDTTY at the Access Event
Lara mesh body Maitreya
Isabelle Cheren 
“The actual first sentence is the challenge because at what point do I begin.”
Isn’t it always? I follow the journalists’ motto: Kill Your Darlings!
So I’ll always start with an action scene, some turning point, and meander my way back to there. But you gotta grab your audience by the balls with the first sentence and first paragraph! After that you can get boring and write about developmentally disturbed girls and problematic shit all you want. But the first sentence must be an attention grabber and make the audience read, and wanting for more.
Oh, and avoid info-dumping! Readers are not stupid. They’ll figure it all out during the story when you give them little pieces of critical info when needed.
And another thing that worked for me: Treat the readers like your friends and/or co-conspirators. Have your narrator go personal, ask questions even if the narrator knows the answer. Or make it clear that narrator doesn’t know shit and invite the readers to find out together with narrator.
Another trick I used to geat Ooooh! and Aaaah! effect: Tell your story in present tense! Not only is that refreshingly different but also adds a completely different atmosphere to the plot, some sense of urgency and breathless uncomfyness, as it throws the reader right into the thick of it. In my great feministic Space Opera trilogy (never finished) I sometimes swapped the normal past tense narration style for the present tense every time my heroine gets thrown into battle. Much more fun writing … and reading!
And one more thing: The story is king! We don’t write novels to teach our audience stuff, we’re not supposed to be preachy neither. We’re here to entertain them! If passably well told, the reader will come to the right conclusion and feel about your dramatis personae and storyline in the way as you intended.
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Thank you!!!
It’s always been in my head but that first catch is the hard bit so I’ll listen to this suggestion as makes absolute perfect sense.
Pray tell why haven’t you finished your trilogy yet?
I’ve just looked at my phone and realized I didn’t have to wake up yet as start work later today. But what the heck I’ll drink coffee and chill before instead 😊
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