So I posted a few weeks ago about a writing coach and how she was not very helpful.
However she had one piece of advice that I thought might be helpful. Write your ending first.
My ending has been an issue and perhaps that is why I get stuck trying to write the book from the beginning. I am always trying to work my way towards the ending, but the ending has holes and issues. Maybe someone here can give me some ideas... I will try to abstract the parts necessary so I don't bog you down with all the other details.
My book is a sort of chase between 3 main parties. Actually i guess I can say 4, because the bad party can be split into two.
1. The protagonist a young man and his friends and the good wizards.
2. Smaller antagonist A - a country run by an evil king who is working with a secret group of evil terrorist wizards.
3. Main Antagonist B - the head of the evil wizards. He is just using the evil king for his own gain. By befriending him, they have access to his entire army.
4. The third party is the "good but corrupt" and oblivious government. The government is made up of many countries that allied together to fight against this evil king who has been causing lots of issues. They do not know at the start that the evil country is working with any terrorists or wizarding groups.
I alway liked the "government gets in the way" trope. Think of Harry Potter's ministry of magic, or Pirates of the Caribbean where there are the pirates, the good guys, and then theres the annoying officer James Norrington who just wont listen and has no idea what is really going on... I find the entanglement of that third party to be exciting. I don't know why!
The Premise
The "good but corrupt" government is at war with the evil king on some planets and its' an ongoing thing.
My main character lives with his family on a floating space station where he finds an item, a sort of pandoras box although he doesn't know it yet. Turns out the evil wizards want it, and send some terrorist to the space station to find and retrieve it. This person fails to retrieve it and is captured by the government.
Now the protagonists and the "good but corrupt" government do not know that this terrorist they captured is working for the king or even the bad wizards. They just think they caught a highly wanted terrorist for random crimes across the galaxy. No one seems to wonder why he ended up here. It comes across as completely disconnected from the king and the war. As such, non one cares for the item my character found and my character does not feel too threatened that he has it. This helped me mitigate issues right in the beginning where the government would just take the object before my character even begins his adventure!
On to the issue at hand:
The "good but corrupt" government officials come together to attend a meeting on that space station to discuss whats to be done with this terrorist they caught. Suddenly the evil king attacks with a fleet (His goal is to find the box because the terrorist they sent failed. Now they are sending an army. The government figures they are attacking because the officials all got together for this meeting and made themselves a target. I guess they didn't have very good security for this meeting
)
The space station is destroyed in the fight and my character escapes with the box but loses a lot of family and his life is thrown into chaos and will never be the same.
He wants revenge on the people that ruined his life, as well as trying to figure out why and who wants this item he has.
Slowly he uncovers the secret group of wizards and that they are working with the king. He learns the truth about the item he has.
The ending
I had always envisioned the ending where the government finally gets the item, after some back and forth, and are completely oblivious to what it is, but you know, they want their hands in everything. My character tries to explain how dangerous it is, as he has uncovered everything, but it's sort of too late. He tries to tell them about the secret group of evil wizards helping the other side to which they laugh as no one has been able to verify any of that. They have another large meeting for something exciting (I don't know what...).
During this meeting, the cycle repeats, only this time, the fleet that attacks are the wizards themselves (including the top wizard who finally comes face to face with my main character). they finally decide to get the item themselves because, clearly sending a terrorist and an army has not been enough!
The evil wizards reveal themselves during this major scene in front of the world. They assassinate the Prime Minister and obtain the box finally.
At this point I know the ending, what happens next, and how my main character outwits the wizards. the whole story hinders on this moment and I have had this part down pat since the beginning. It's the stuff right before this moment that is hazey and difficult.
My issues:
Why would the government have another large meeting. Did they not learn from the after math of the first one? Do they think the war is over for some reason? Maybe they beefed up security? Then how do my baddies get in...? Do I have to create another major character that they perhaps have apprehended? the king himself? I don't want the war over! I plan on writing book two....
Originally I had the meeting because they recaptured the terrorist from the beginning again, but it felt kinda way too repetitive and not enough of a reason to have this stupid meeting again. I need something bigger. Also I feel stuck. Can the government officials ever meet again without fear of being attacked?
I need them to somehow come together again without fear. As if they somehow think they have won or something...
I also still have no idea how the government learns about the box itself and go after it. They are very focused on the war. I also felt that if my character were to realize how important the item was to the war too soon, then he would feel like a target and get rid of it as soon as possible. So I had it that this happens slowly and by the time he realizes the entire war hinders on this item he's very invested and doesn't want to give up the item. However this takes time.
There is a LOT more that goes on in the book and things that have to happen in a certain order, although i left it out. i am trying to just deal with knowing my ending better. I didn't even mention my characters inner conflicts and the ending and what happens with the item... It's not important here.
I hope this is not too confusing!
However she had one piece of advice that I thought might be helpful. Write your ending first.
My ending has been an issue and perhaps that is why I get stuck trying to write the book from the beginning. I am always trying to work my way towards the ending, but the ending has holes and issues. Maybe someone here can give me some ideas... I will try to abstract the parts necessary so I don't bog you down with all the other details.
My book is a sort of chase between 3 main parties. Actually i guess I can say 4, because the bad party can be split into two.
1. The protagonist a young man and his friends and the good wizards.
2. Smaller antagonist A - a country run by an evil king who is working with a secret group of evil terrorist wizards.
3. Main Antagonist B - the head of the evil wizards. He is just using the evil king for his own gain. By befriending him, they have access to his entire army.
4. The third party is the "good but corrupt" and oblivious government. The government is made up of many countries that allied together to fight against this evil king who has been causing lots of issues. They do not know at the start that the evil country is working with any terrorists or wizarding groups.
I alway liked the "government gets in the way" trope. Think of Harry Potter's ministry of magic, or Pirates of the Caribbean where there are the pirates, the good guys, and then theres the annoying officer James Norrington who just wont listen and has no idea what is really going on... I find the entanglement of that third party to be exciting. I don't know why!
The Premise
The "good but corrupt" government is at war with the evil king on some planets and its' an ongoing thing.
My main character lives with his family on a floating space station where he finds an item, a sort of pandoras box although he doesn't know it yet. Turns out the evil wizards want it, and send some terrorist to the space station to find and retrieve it. This person fails to retrieve it and is captured by the government.
Now the protagonists and the "good but corrupt" government do not know that this terrorist they captured is working for the king or even the bad wizards. They just think they caught a highly wanted terrorist for random crimes across the galaxy. No one seems to wonder why he ended up here. It comes across as completely disconnected from the king and the war. As such, non one cares for the item my character found and my character does not feel too threatened that he has it. This helped me mitigate issues right in the beginning where the government would just take the object before my character even begins his adventure!
On to the issue at hand:
The "good but corrupt" government officials come together to attend a meeting on that space station to discuss whats to be done with this terrorist they caught. Suddenly the evil king attacks with a fleet (His goal is to find the box because the terrorist they sent failed. Now they are sending an army. The government figures they are attacking because the officials all got together for this meeting and made themselves a target. I guess they didn't have very good security for this meeting
) The space station is destroyed in the fight and my character escapes with the box but loses a lot of family and his life is thrown into chaos and will never be the same.
He wants revenge on the people that ruined his life, as well as trying to figure out why and who wants this item he has.
Slowly he uncovers the secret group of wizards and that they are working with the king. He learns the truth about the item he has.
The ending
I had always envisioned the ending where the government finally gets the item, after some back and forth, and are completely oblivious to what it is, but you know, they want their hands in everything. My character tries to explain how dangerous it is, as he has uncovered everything, but it's sort of too late. He tries to tell them about the secret group of evil wizards helping the other side to which they laugh as no one has been able to verify any of that. They have another large meeting for something exciting (I don't know what...).
During this meeting, the cycle repeats, only this time, the fleet that attacks are the wizards themselves (including the top wizard who finally comes face to face with my main character). they finally decide to get the item themselves because, clearly sending a terrorist and an army has not been enough!
The evil wizards reveal themselves during this major scene in front of the world. They assassinate the Prime Minister and obtain the box finally.
At this point I know the ending, what happens next, and how my main character outwits the wizards. the whole story hinders on this moment and I have had this part down pat since the beginning. It's the stuff right before this moment that is hazey and difficult.
My issues:
Why would the government have another large meeting. Did they not learn from the after math of the first one? Do they think the war is over for some reason? Maybe they beefed up security? Then how do my baddies get in...? Do I have to create another major character that they perhaps have apprehended? the king himself? I don't want the war over! I plan on writing book two....
Originally I had the meeting because they recaptured the terrorist from the beginning again, but it felt kinda way too repetitive and not enough of a reason to have this stupid meeting again. I need something bigger. Also I feel stuck. Can the government officials ever meet again without fear of being attacked?
I need them to somehow come together again without fear. As if they somehow think they have won or something...
I also still have no idea how the government learns about the box itself and go after it. They are very focused on the war. I also felt that if my character were to realize how important the item was to the war too soon, then he would feel like a target and get rid of it as soon as possible. So I had it that this happens slowly and by the time he realizes the entire war hinders on this item he's very invested and doesn't want to give up the item. However this takes time.
There is a LOT more that goes on in the book and things that have to happen in a certain order, although i left it out. i am trying to just deal with knowing my ending better. I didn't even mention my characters inner conflicts and the ending and what happens with the item... It's not important here.
I hope this is not too confusing!
