Well done, Sattua! Completing any manuscript is an achievement. It is so much easier to start than finish!
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I’ve also been kicking around an idea in my head for a novel for several years. Unfortunately all I have is a title, a few vague ideas for characters, and a beginning. Even the major characters are, as of right now, totally generic, and I only have about a third of the plot in my head, and even then it’s only in the most vague of outlines. [\QUOTE]
HeyHomie: Other writers here might disagree, so this is only my perspective. You are waiting too long to start. You need to get those characters talking to you. Take time to get them totally real in your head. Then start. They will tell you the rest of the plot. Just ask them. If they are not answering then work on them more. Get your protagonist to write his/her bio for you. Interrogate them. Ask them about their views on politics, sex lives, their parents, the person they hate most … until they are real. Then start writing with them on your team.
Largely agree…but this can work at the “thumbnail sketch” level; the characters don’t have to be fully fleshed out. I know of at least one writer who built up compendious dossiers of their characters, going into extreme detail – and, in my opinion, most of this is wasted effort.
One thing I like to do is draw a quick sketch (I’m not an artist, but I can do rough caricatures) so I’ll have a face associated with my characters. I know writers who clip faces from magazines in order to have “character portraits.” This won’t work for everyone – there is no method or technique that will work for everyone! – but I find it helpful.
Agree with all that. I only work on the characters until they are talking to me. Then we are off and running. I have one nagging me at the moment because she is ready to go and I keep putting her off to do non-fiction. She has a whole series she wants me to write about her!
I am a magazine-portrait-cutter. My artistic skills are such that I would insult every character I created if I tried to draw them.
I remember Hillary Clinton got some flak for telling how she would hold imaginary conversations with Eleanor Roosevelt. But I’m with you: having a nice chat with an imaginary person is a darned fine way to “get to know them.” The illusion of “another person” is useful and can be very productive.
Another somewhat useful technique is “letting the idea age a while.” Fritz Leiber wrote about this. You’re sitting on the pier, fishing, and you bring up an odd bit of matter with a nice green color. It isn’t really enough, by itself, so you throw it back. Some time later, you pull out an entire gigantic sea monster of exactly that shade of green.
Interesting – the conversation is now among writers far far more experienced then myself. I could and did write a collection of short stories or articles.