Trying to write

[phileas fogg]

What is your favorite book in the genre you want to write in?

I want to write literary fiction in the style of Aldous Huxley.

 

[Swank]

I want to write literary fiction in the style of Aldous Huxley.

That's an author. Which book?

 

[phileas fogg]

That's an author. Which book?

Brave New World.

 

[Swank]

Brave New World.

So that's your writing advice.
Theme: Literary, so something about man's tendency to do something crummy to man. Pick something.
Plot lever: Some invented technology or future calamity that can highlight the above situation in an unusual way.
Plot: People come together and are then torn apart. The end is somehow worse than the start. The plot arc of tragedies.
Characters: Unusual for the society, so possibly normal to us, and other characters very bizarre to us.
Prose: Literary, so using language that uses a lot of metaphor - including the MC passively observing the actions of others not in the story doing illustrative or thematic things. Like baby spiders devouring their mother.

Reread the book, take notes, write along similar lines. You aren't Aldous Huxley, so don't worry that you are copying him. It won't read that way.

 

[ColGray]

including the MC passively observing the actions of others not in the story doing illustrative or thematic things. Like baby spiders devouring their mother.

I feel like you just perfectly summed up why people either love or hate lit fiction (immediately thought of JD Salinger/Catcher in the Rye). I love it.

 

[BAYLOR]

I want to write literary fiction in the style of Aldous Huxley.

Iimitating another author’s style may not be the best choice.

 

[phileas fogg]

Iimitating another author’s style may not be the best choice.

I should just write without trying to imitate him?

 

[BAYLOR]

I should just write without trying to imitate him?

Be yourself , Find your own unique voice and style, and just write.

 

[phileas fogg]

Be yourself , Find your own unique voice and style, and just write.

I find it difficult to start writing.

 

[BAYLOR]

Nevermind

 

[BAYLOR]

I find it difficult to start writing.

You want to write a dystopian novel ?

 

[phileas fogg]

You want to write a dystopian novel ?

I want to write a novel like Against the Day by Thomas Pynchon.

 

[Swank]

I find it difficult to start writing.

Have you written anything?

 

[Brian G Turner]

Read Wonderbook by Jeff Vandermeer for amazing tips and tools for writing, and Save the Cat by Blake Snyder for a great guide on writing to a structure.

If you're serious about writing, then read the books in my earlier post. If you're not serious about writing then you don't need to ask for advice.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

But what story do YOU feel compelled to tell? Who are the characters? What happens to them? Until you know the answer to those questions, I am afraid you will never get far with writing anything.

There is a difference between wanting to be a writer and actually having stories to tell.

 

[phileas fogg]

But what story do YOU feel compelled to tell? Who are the characters? What happens to them? Until you know the answer to those questions, I am afraid you will never get far with writing anything.

There is a difference between wanting to be a writer and actually having stories to tell.

The characters I intend to include in the novel include Rosicrucian magi, native american magi, travellers from Europe in the early American Republic, Lord Byron, Carbonari, a Muslim from North Africa in Paris, Ordo Templi Orientis magi, Fasci, lumpenproletariat losers in Fascist Rome and probably more.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

That all ( except for Lord Byron, of course) sounds vague and impersonal. Do these people have names? Have you figured out their personalities and what they are doing to move (and to be moved by) the events of your story? And what are those events? I'm not asking you to tell us their names or anything else you don't want to reveal here, I am just asking if you know these things, if these are people who have come to life in your mind. Because if you do, and they have, then if you stick with them long enough* a complete story should eventually evolve. But if you don't know those things, if alll you have so far is a list of ideas for scenes and a list of types or roles, such as you have described here, then my advice is to work on developing your characters, who they are (you've told us what they are, but that's not the same), and what they are doing in this book you hope to write. Because once you know all that, at a certain point, momentum should start carrying you forward.

It's completely up to you how much you want to share on a forum like this one, but it would help us to give you more helpful advice, if we knew more than these generalities you have provided so far

________

* Because writing a novel can take a long time, it can take draft after draft, it can literally take years ,and maybe you are letting yourself get discouraged too early, the stories might not be stopping in the middle of nowhere, they may just be taking longer to gestate—to get born, if you will—then you think they should.

 

[phileas fogg]

That all ( except for Lord Byron, of course) sounds vague and impersonal. Do these people have names? Have you figured out their personalities and what they are doing to move (and to be moved by) the events of your story? And what are those events? I'm not asking you to tell us their names or anything else you don't want to reveal here, I am just asking if you know these things, if these are people who have come to life in your mind. Because if you do, and they have, then if you stick with them long enough* a complete story should eventually evolve. But if you don't know those things, if alll you have so far is a list of ideas for scenes and a list of types or roles, such as you have described here, then my advice is to work on developing your characters, who they are (you've told us what they are, but that's not the same), and what they are doing in this book you hope to write. Because once you know all that, at a certain point, momentum should start carrying you forward.

It's completely up to you how much you want to share on a forum like this one, but it would help us to give you more helpful advice, if we knew more than these generalities you have provided so far

________

* Because writing a novel can take a long time, it can take draft after draft, it can literally take years ,and maybe you are letting yourself get discouraged too early, the stories might not be stopping in the middle of nowhere, they may just be taking longer to gestate—to get born, if you will—then you think they should.

It's true that I need to give them names but in Against the Day by Thomas Pynchon I think the characters remain quite impersonal.

 

[KeeleyA]

I want to write a novel like Against the Day by Thomas Pynchon.

You want to write a 1,085 page metahistorical romance with over one hundred characters?

(I looked up the book on Wikipedia. Sharing the link here because I think it might be helpful to those offering advice.)

Against the Day - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

ETA: parentheses

 

[phileas fogg]

You want to write a 1,085 page metahistorical romance with over one hundred characters?

(I looked up the book on Wikipedia. Sharing the link here because I think it might be helpful to those offering advice.)

Against the Day - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

ETA: parentheses

Im not sure how many pages or characters there will be. The reason Im inspired by this novel is because it takes place over a long period of time with various locations, the ending of one character is the beginning of another and it contains science fiction elements.