Hi,
So I’m writing a book at the moment that focuses mostly on the main characters growth and change, when a sudden plague takes over the city she lives in. Like a zombie movie but without zombies lol, so that kind of setting. I wanted to show her life before the sickness takes the city and how each stage of the sickness, then its spreading and the changes in people as they begin to panic and horde food and so on and how it affacts her and how she has to change to keep the people she loves safe.
So the first few chapters would be before the sickness even hits, how can I set up the novel so people get a hint of whats to come and open in an interesting way so people don’t get bored, because it would basically be her doing things in her everyday life, nothing special.
Any tips or ideas for me.
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How To Do This Without Making It Boring?
Posted on December 10, 2012.
Avoid flashbacks, avoid dream sequences/just waking up, avoid infodumping and exposition (news reports/teachers/news paper) to explain events, and avoid reminiscing from after an event to explain its happening. Avoid the urge to jump to “the good part”, because anything you tell should already be the good part. If you want to establish the world before the outbreak, that’s where you start it. For a good example of this kind of plague/disaster evolution, watch the British series “Survivors”. It deals with a mutated flu-like plague that wipes out most of humanity within a matter of days, and it starts shortly before the sickness really takes off. The characters going about their daily lives introduce us to the feeling something isn’t right. A woman being called into work on her day off because a co-worker has come down with something. Lunch with another co-worker, discussing the large number of absentees.
Play the long game with it, too. Take the approach that nothing bad is going to happen to these characters at all, at least not immediately. Treat each character as a main character, as a real person and individual, and understand their motivations and goals in life. Write about that character as if their immediate and long-term goals are the point of the story while around them little things give clues as to the nature of what is about to happen. The turn comes when someone they know falls ill or dies, introducing them to the problem rapidly spiraling out of control. The fact that they have been absorbed in their own lives to the point of being unobservant means that you can surprise your reader without jarring them from the narrative.
Don’t look at it as “what’s the most expedient, but engaging way to get to the part I actually want to tell,” because if that’s how you feel, then whatever it is you feel that way about is the real beginning of the story. Regardless of where the real beginning is, though, if you treat your characters as living, breathing individuals, it will engage your readers because you’re giving us a glimpse into their lives, showing us who they are, what they’re like, and establishing in our minds a sense of what is lost when the plague strikes. Do that right and the reader feels like that life was taken away from them, which is why flashbacks should be avoided; by the time you’re in a flashback, you already know what’s gone, so there’s no emotional investment in finding out what once was.
Another useful trick is to pepper the beginning of your story with hints and allusions to what’s going to happen without being heavy-handed or overly cryptic. In Shawn of the Dead, Shawn shuffles around his house and village in a way that reminds us of classic zombies so that when the zombie outbreak happens and he does his normal sleep-zombie routine, we’re shown what’s different and start to worry for his safety. We see blood smeared in the market, cars are parked haphazardly, radio and television broadcasts are tense and we catch snippets of disaster reports. Shawn isn’t particularly interested in the news, so his disinterest implies that he registers “news” and doesn’t really -hear- what’s being said, though we, as the audience, do.
As the writer, you get to know what’s going on, which is a blessing and a curse. “How do I tell them what I know without giving away the secret too soon?” we ask ourselves, worrying at our favorite pens and staring at words until they stop being words. Knowing too much can make it easy to assume that any hint you lay is too subtle, which can lead to telegraphing your plot. On the other hand, little things that seem too obvious to you because of your foreknowledge may become background noise to the reader, and give context to future events — a good time to get yourself a critique group, or writers forum with a solid critique section (I recommend Science Fiction and Fantasy Chroncles).
All in all, YOUR interest in the personal lives and daily activities of your characters will fuel the reader’s interest, and anything you can’t be arsed to care about the reader will want to skip as well. Don’t be the guy about whom people say “Just get to chapter seven, then it REALLY takes off!” Grab them with the first sentence, then the first paragraph, then the first page, and then the first chapter, and never let them go.
It is important to leave an interesting question unanswered – one that is fundamental to the story – within the first page of the book; its the best way to capture a reader’s attention without a James Bond-like action scene to get things started.
For instance, perhaps you’d write in past tense. She could begin her story with explaining that she’d had a vivid nightmare. Then she could add, “Sometimes, after the X {plague, sickness, outbreak, etc.}, I’d think of that dream and wonder why it ever terrified me.” Then continue on explaining her normal daily life.
You don’t have to use that by any means, but you should find a way to pull the reader in. I’m guilty of putting down books if there isn’t something really intriguing or “out of place” that makes the narrative unique within the first few paragraphs.
love the ?,…I too am writing a story and I feel you,..lol…what I have observed in watching really interesting movies is exactly what you are saying, it has to move along at a proper pace and I see nothing wrong with putting scenes together, where each scene simply has a strong piece of the story line. I like all of the character elements for her, and we want to see how she handles that, we wanna see how she really feels gut wrenching anxiety, but hides it well, how she is just as weak as she is strong, and somehow if she can be that weak, and then pull through, well then there is hope for me too, …hope is always a nice byproduct..happy writing.
1) use the same method as the hunger games
have the characters tell their dramatic changes when the plague occurred. (1st person)
2) flashback (the plague is in present; she daydream to the beginning in short burst with relevant info to present)
3) she find her own diary and rereads verses about the “surge” of the plague.
this is what i can think of for now
hope it helps
the character could be watching the news as this plague has started to spread on other continents before it even hits where they live.