New progress!
For some time now I've been struggling with how to properly start a story. It's always been a weak point for me. Quite honestly, I don't think I've even nailed it this time. I've got about 4 different ways of starting off my story, and I finally decided to stick with one of them, though ironically enough it's the one that's the hardest to follow the plot with. I chose it mainly because the others all involved introducing too many minor characters that would be killed off pretty soon in the book either way. It just seemed pointless.
But now I'm quite happy with what I have so far. And as a hint that I probably won't be scrapping this one like so many other attempted starts, I've already written more than 5 paragraphs as opposed to the usual 2. I'm actually liking how this makes my character get promoted in rank. Though it means I'll have to kill off one of my important characters before ever meeting the. Can't say I was planning on that, but really it's the only logical way to go.
One thing I'm a little disappointed at is that my background research wasn't as extensive as it should have been. I did know I'd avoid doing it as much as possible, since it is my least favorite part of writing. It's true that I do sometimes get really good inspiration by browsing the material--but really most of it is just little details that are kind of intrinsic to making a realistic sort of world.
For example, one of my least favorite things to read is history. Ironically, I hate writing stories in present day and often making the setting of my stories in the medieval era. You can see that’s not exactly a match made in heaven. Also, though I care not a wit for military structures and weaponry, I’ll have to do a great deal of reading because my main character is every bit the military man. There are a plethora of little things like this that force me to do things I’m really not looking forwards to doing. Needless to say, this has been affecting my work efficiency.
Also, I’ve found that I’m incredibly indecisive when it comes to ridiculously minor details in my writing. For an example, I can’t for the life of me decide what type of armour my knight’s going to wear. I could make him wear traditional heavy armor, the ones knights are most commonly thought of wearing, but that would not move my current idea in the right direction. It would mean that he couldn’t sneak up and ambush his team’s captors. However, simply leaving the armour behind is not an option because of, most obviously, the fact that he will be completely vulnerable to any attacks which is foolish. Also, the cost of such complete armour would be immense, so he’d be leaving behind a small fortune, one thing no-one would logically do unless the situation for them is dire, which in the case of my main character, it is certainly not.
Leather armour, though much more practical in this situation plot-wise, would not make much sense realistically. Leathers are usually worn by archers, long range combatants, or poorer soldiers. For the same reason, cloth armor is simply unacceptable.
Anyway. I’m just rambling now, but I’m sure you can see that I over-think things, making me agonize over seemingly trivial details. I’ve just got to bunker down and write the damn thing. I’ll never know how writers can achieve a word could over over five thousand daily. You’ve got to have really clear cut ideas. Something, I fear I will never quite master. I hope, if nothing else, that writing this story teaches me how to prepare for story writing in the future. Well, back to the grindstone. I really should be catching up on my other classes. Oh well, we’ll see how that goes.
~Koshi~
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