Each Chapter Feature A Mini Story

[Zoolander]

Premise: My story follows the trials and tribulations of 18 year old Joshua as he begins college in a new town.

Chapter 1: Detention
Josh sets up in his dorm and makes friend with his roommate who happens to be the captain of the school basketball team. He convinces Josh to tryout since itll be a way for Josh to make friends faster and to become more active. Josh try's out but gets into a fist fight with one of the basketball players. The fight causes Josh not to get picked up by the coach despite the captain taking up for him. Josh gets revenge on the boy by breaking into his dorm and spray painting "Bitch" all over his walls, Josh gets caught in the act and get detention for a week.

Chapter 2isaster Date
Josh attends his english course class and quickly makes friends with a girl name Ashley who compliments him on ruining the basketball player dorm. She's happy about that because the boy always made fun of her weight and other fat kids weight. Ashley helps get Josh a position at her job in which he meets a girl name Brittney and becomes attracted to her. Josh, being the confident guy he is, bluntly ask Brittney out on a lunch date in which she accepts. Josh meets up with Brittney for the lunch date but she shows up with her boyfriend and her boyfriend beats up Josh and ruins the whole lunch date Josh set up.

Chapter 3:Teacher's Pet
Josh attends his math course class and sees Brittney and her boyfriend sitting together laughing at him as he walked in. Throughout the lesson Josh had a hard time understanding several math problems which leads his math course professor Ms. Smith to speak to Josh after class about enrolling into her night class tutor session. Josh accepts and when he shows up he realizes its only him and Ms. Smith there. Throughout the tutor lesson Ms. Smith comes onto Josh and Josh accepts the bait and has sex with her, leading her to change his grades from "F's" to "A's"

As you see each chapter will have its own mini story but i will have the continuation of that mini story play out in further chapters.

i know there are no rules in writing but for some odd reason i have the feeling im doing something wrong.

I just want to know Is it okay to tell my character, Josh, college life story using this method?

 

[Brian G Turner]

Each chapter in a genre novel is indeed a mini-story in themselves - but they are also pieces in a jigsaw and they are expected to all join up together.

The question is: what is driving Josh? What is his conflict for the book: what does he want, and what's stopping him from getting it?

 

[Zoolander]

Each chapter in a genre novel is indeed a mini-story in themselves - but they are also pieces in a jigsaw and they are expected to all join up together.

The question is: what is driving Josh? What is his conflict for the book: what does he want, and what's stopping him from getting it?

Josh wants comes into play as he moves along in the story
For Example:
Josh wanted to tryout for the college basketball team because his roommate was the team captain and he thought basketball will make him more active since he was never the active type. He was more lazy and a homebody and knowing the captain would make his chances getting on the team higher.

So basically as Josh maneuver his way through freshman year of college his "wants" will present themselves.
It's very character driven

The only goal he has going into college is to graduate by any means since he'll be the first graduate of his family.

Each book will chronicle his freshman year, junior year, sopher year and senior year that follows him getting in and out of trouble, keeping his grades up, getting in and out of relationships, making friendships and enemies and discovering new and old habits.

 

[Brian G Turner]

It's going to be more ideal if you can identify an actual conflict there at the start, through which everything else works through. Also, be careful of making your character too passive - sometimes it works, but the general advice is to try and ensure protagonists are not simply dragged through a story, but instead determine some significant part of it themselves - usually tied to the conflict present at the beginning. 2c.