Cries of Writers!

McChubbin

I was originally going to put this thread in the R & R forum but I figured it would be more useful out here.
Basically a thread for all those niggling little problems every writer faces from day in and day out. I'll get the ball rolling:
I've had a scenerio in my head for about a year revolving around one of my main female protagonist's origin story. It's supposed to be sad and heartfelt and full of "tug at your heartstrings" feels but whenever I try to sit down and actually bother my arse to write it, it comes out as flat, forced and somewhat cliched.
It's as though things get lost in translation during the leap from my mind to the screen and it's driving me utterly demented!

Not really looking for advice on the issue but it's welcome nonetheless.
Feel free to air your grievences here.

EileenG

I suspect it's coming out as an infodump. You have information you want to tell the reader, but the chances are that your character has no particular interst in all the details of her past. So it's coming up as boring lumps of exposition.

The trick with this is to make sure you stay in her point of view, whether you use first or third person, and have her only think things that are relevent to what she is doing now.

If it doesn't impact the story now, then we really don't need to hear about her heartbreaking childhood where she was dragged through 15 foster homes. But if she's breaking into a bank, and in home ten, she learned how to crack safes, then it's the time to bring in that memory.

McChubbin

Thanks for the advice, EileenG. Never thought of it as an infodump. The story is part of an expanded universe where each of my characters have their own issues to deal with. For example, one of my male protagonists has anxiety issues, one is an exhibitionist with borderline narcissistic tendencies and the one I mentioned above has PTSD. I've done a LOT of research into trauma and how it affects people so I suppose my plot is coming out as a massive dump of info rather than a coherent story. Nonetheless, the "heartbreaking childhood" is a central part of the plot as it defines a lot of Pandora's actions and why she's the way she is.

EileenG

Research can be dangerous to a writer. We get so fascinated by what we learn that we want to tell the reader, even if it's not necessary to the story. Think of an iceberg. You need to do the research, but less than 10% of it shows on the page.

It might help if you think about your friends. They all have their own issues, but you didn't get a manual with them, telling you what their issues were or where they originated. Instead, you learned them gradually as you got to know them, and they mentioned being in a car crash that broke all their ribs when they were six, or being a recovering One Direction fan, or having a secret and shameful addiction to Jeremy Kyle.

McChubbin

You make a heap of sense and I thank you for that. I'm currently working from my notes and I'm doing my best to avoid revealing too much too soon and so far, your advice is being heeded.