J.R.R. Tolkein was an amazing author. I could never use his method of writing, but he was brilliant. I read in a book on fantasy writing that whenever he hit a road block with some of his characters, he simply trashed the whole thing and started all over again. I also recall he spent many years in the Mines of Moria, trying to figure out how to get Legolas, Gimli, Aragorn and the rest of the lot out.... I want to say it was 20 years, but that seems like too long... maybe it took him 20 years to write the first book... I can't remember! Anyhow, his methods of writing are very different from mine. I like to plan out my writing to an extent. I don't have everything planned, but I do have a pretty good idea of what's going to happen.
With Book 1, I honestly haven't done much brainstorming, primarily because I already have a quota to meet. Since I'm already done with it's sequel, there are certain things that HAVE to happen... But what I have come to realize is that my plans aren't taking up enough page space. I simply don't have enough depth to my story to make it truly worth-while... Maybe it just seems that way because I'm only on chapter 2, but if I'm already getting this feeling something must be wrong, right?
Okay! So, you get the idea. I've hit a dead spot in my story. There's a period of about 5 years in my first book that I can't seem to fill with activity. It feels awkward just saying, "... and they grew up..." so I was hoping you may be able to help me come up with some ideas of what may have happened during those 5 years that would be worthy of attention. It could be as simple as a milestone event in my main character's life, like a birthday or something..... (*to self* hhhmmmmmmmmmm.... a birthday..... i'll write that down...) I know you may find it difficult to help me here since you don't know what this one is about or anything, but just tell me about big events in your life that filled you with excitement or activities in someone else's life that you would enjoy reading about... if there are any.... Really, anything to spark ideas would be a lot of help! I'm hoping that by mentioning a simple facet of information, I may be able to sprint away to a new wing of my book! So please! I would appreciate all the help I can get!
