| Moved from [S0ra] Creators Circle. Well, since there is a thread about drawing tutorials, I figure there needs to be a thread about writing. I am definitely not a pro, but still, I will share my experience. GENERAL TIPS (IN-PROGRESS) To get better in writing is through practice; you gotta keep writing and writing to polish your writing skills. It is much better if you can receive feedback, particularly those with concrits. However, writing alone is not enough. You also need to read other works, preferably those from published authors. Study their style, but it doesn't mean that you have to 100% mimic their style. In the end, if you keep reading and writing, you will eventually develop a writing style of your own. Now, you ask: original fiction or fanfiction? Original fiction is the best, because you are basically building something from a scratch; the world, the setting, and the characters. However, because I am very busy in RL, I tend to write fanfics because I'm just expanding upon what is already there. In other words, fanfics are faster, but you learn less. Planning is important; it helps avoid inconsistencies in a work by keeping you focused on a concept. However, don't be afraid if your work somehow deviates from your plan (by a small margin). Sometimes, your heart just has a better plan. Also, noting down the important concepts and timeline of your works will help keeping your story consistent. This is especially important in epics with extensive world-building. The opening of a story is very important, because many readers often decide whether to read or drop your story by just reading the beginning. Avoiding clichés like "It was a blahblahblah day/night" or its variant helps. In my experience, I tend not to open a story with the description of the setting; I immediately jump straight into the action/dialogue before eventually describing the setting. Don't be afraid to hurt, cripple, or even kill your protagonists. Not the protagonists' family in the back story, but the protagonist himself/herself in the present time. It is to keep the tension and drama. Be careful, though; if not pulled off well, this attempt can come across as cheap drama. Hurting and/or crippling your protagonists is the best after you've developed them to the point the readers are able to empathize with them. If you're writing a story with plenty of battles, no asspulls. Let me repeat, no asspulls. What is an asspull? It's something that comes out of the blue to save the protagonist who has been beaten up so badly and is on the verge of losing. This just takes away all the tension that has been built up throughout the battle. If you do factual research for your story, it can help a lot in making your story more alive. It doesn't mean that you have to 100% stick to realism, though; after all, we're writing a fictional work. SOME TERMS Fourth Wall - The barrier that separates the fictional work and its readers or audience. Info-dump - A big chunk of information is 'dumped' in the reader's lap all at once. Mary Sue/Gary Stu - An idealized and seemingly perfect fictional character. Often called as just Sue (female) or Stu (male). Melodrama - A situation in which the drama and emotions are exaggerated. Said Bookism - A term for a story in which 'said' is overly used in dialogue tags. Spoonfeeding - A situation in which the author explains everything, including the ones readers can naturally understand without having to be explained. Talking Heads - When characters keep speaking without any accompanying action, setting, gestures, reactions, sensory details or interior thoughts. LINKS Writer's Digest is the greatest resource for the tips and tricks in writing, but Writers Helping Writers and Springhole are other fantastic resources. I will list what I think is the best for each category of an aspect in a story. Showing vs. Telling Showing vs. Telling in Your Writing - "Show, don't tell." This article explains about that. A Long Look at "Show, Don't Tell" - More 'showing', less 'telling', but doesn't mean that one can completely drop 'telling'. This article explains when 'telling' is appropriate. Descriptions 11 Secrets to Writing Effective Character Description - Traps are abound in describing characters, as character descriptions, if done poorly, tend to be list-like and boring. This article explains how to avoid those traps. Setting Thesaurus - A helpful resource for describing the setting of a story. Color, Texture and Shape Thesaurus - This is especially good if you care a great deal even at the smallest detail in your descriptions. Emotion Thesaurus - This is especially handy if you want to avoid 'talking heads' in a dialogue-heavy scene. Physical Feature Thesaurus - A helpful resource for describing physical features. Weather Thesaurus - A helpful resource for describing weather. Characters How to Craft Compelling Characters - Basically what you need to create a deep character. Character Traits Thesaurus - This provides a definition for each character trait and also includes how to put an interesting twist and the clichés in a character's trait. Talents and Skills Thesaurus - This provides a definition for each talent and skill. Very handy if you want to show how a character is an expert in a particular skill. Emotional Wounds Thesaurus - This helps a lot in creating an emotionally-scarred character. Writing Gender-Specific Dialogue - How to give a different voice to each character? This article is about male and female character voice. Too bad there's nothing about a silent and stoic character heh. What is a Mary Sue? and The Universal Mary Sue Litmus Test - This can help tell you if your character is a Mary Sue/Gary Stu. Especially important in original characters. Keep in mind that Sue/Stu can also appear in original fictions, not just fanfictions. Mary Sue Subtypes - A list of Mary Sue types and the explanation. Basic Tips to Write Better (and More Likeable) Badasses - A simple badass character who curbstomps every single battle is boring. This article explains how to keep a character badass while being 'human' and likeable. No Passive Protagonist - An article about the successful depiction of passive protagonists. On Writing Sympathetic Morally-Ambiguous Characters - How to write a good morally-ambiguous character without making him/her come across as just an unlikable obnoxious person? This article provides the explanation. Cliché Clichés - This article explains the basics of clichés. Cliché List - This is a list of clichés in writing. Writing Extreme Emotion Without the Melodrama - Sometimes, extremely dramatic and sad things can come across as dull and silly. That is melodrama. This article is about how to avoid melodrama. 10 Tips to Avoid Clichés in Writing - How do you avoid clichés? Action and Fight Scenes 5 Essential Tips for Writing Killer Fight Scenes and Blow-By-Blow: Writing Action and Fight Scenes - What makes a fight scene great? What are the do's and don'ts in writing fight scenes? Fight Scene Critiques (Writing) - A thread run by impmontamer03 at Creative Corner. If you want him to critique your action scene, post there. Thriller and Suspense 10 Basic Ingredients of a Successful Thriller and The 5 C’s of Writing a Great Thriller Novel - What makes a thriller story great? These articles provide some handy tips, with the latter being more in-depth. 10 Ways to Launch Strong Scenes - This article is all about how to jump directly into the suspense and get the adrenaline kickin' quickly. 5 Simple Steps on Creating Suspense in Fiction - This article is about how to make a scene particularly tense and gripping. Romance How to Write a Romance Novel: The Keys to Conflict - As the title states, this article is about how to create a conflict in a romance story. Spelling and Grammar (SPAG) Paperrater - This is a very simple online grammar checker tool. However, you can only submit up to approx. 2000 words at a time. Grammar Book and Grammarly Handbook - These sites tell you the basic rules in English grammar. Word Choice Use Word Choice to Set the Mood - The right word choice can make the atmosphere of a work palpable. This article is about that. 4 Tips for Choosing the Right Word - How do you pick the right word? This link provides some tips. Merriam-Webster Thesaurus - Using synonyms is important, because repeated words in narrative aren't fun to read. This thesaurus is very helpful. Research How Important Is Research in a Novel? - Even if it's a fictional work, realism can improve the quality of your story if it's done well. Don't Let Research Overload Get in the Way of Your Story - Getting the facts straight is great, but if not done right, it will only drag your story. When to include and/or exclude the researched facts in the story? Just for Fun I Write Like - Which famous author's writing style does yours resemble? Personality Insights - What does your writing say about you? Gender Guesser - This site guesses your gender through your writing. VIDEOS Writing/Storytelling: 10 Tips to Help You - This video gives handy tips in writing a story. Contributed by @lightcha. EXAMPLES FROM ME (IN-PROGRESS) Well, yep. This section is where I explain some of the points above with a few excerpts (if they are too long, I'll just use the summary) from my works. I use (fandom blind) readers' reviews on my works as the basis. They are from my Gungrave: Aftermath fanfic series, and the fandom is Gungrave (post-canon stuff, if you're curious, but because most of my works take place long after the ending, there won't be too much spoilers for the anime). Opening As I've stated above, I tend to throw the readers straight into the action or the conflict. I do not describe the setting at the beginning; heck, I often forego the setting all the time. I only further explain what has caused the tension afterwards. What causes the fullspeed feel there? The reader's fear at the very first sentence. The picture of the monster in the newspaper disturbs her so much. Then, I start to describe the monster to escalate the conflict. Actions Actions are like super sticky glue to everybody in every fictional work, especially if there is something called Rule of Cool (see tvtropes for more detail on this term)... Well, does that mean that a story has to be full of super cool action scenes in which the hero just owns the bad guys? Not really. Sacrificing plot and character development for non-stop super cool actions can end up hurting a story. Why? It's like this: "Oh, this is just a tale about protagonist X pulling off some awesome stunts and mopping the floor with the baddies, and that's all." That's from my reading experience. From my writing experience? Don't ever think that a story can be boring just because it lacks cool actions. No. A story is boring and forgettable when it lacks a well-developed and relate-able character and a proper plot. What makes a good action/fight scene? I have always asked these two things as I write a fight scene: Is this crucial to the plot? Does this flesh out the character? Best if you can get two 'yes'. For the former, the trick is, try to imagine if you pull this fight scene out of your story. If your story crumbles, this means you've got the first 'yes'. For the latter, what I mean is, does this show your character's flaws? If it's 'no' for the first time, it's tolerable. But if it's constantly 'no', then you may have to rework on the fight scene. Balance between showing the strengths and weaknesses. And by character flaws, I mean something that makes a character more relate-able. Doesn't mean that you can't use the good ol' 'arrogance' as a character flaw, but be aware of the risks. In a fight scene, making the protagonist experience fear or even defeat will never make him/her less badass; instead, it can be a quick way to make readers relate to him/her. Just don't do it too often, because readers may end up viewing this character as just a wimp. Badass Character Everybody loves a cool and badass character; that's a fact. Meaning you gotta write a cool unstoppable ass-kicking machine with lots of cool snarky lines...not really. Ever read Don Rosa's Super Snooper Strikes Again? As stated in the Actions section, this story is pointing at the trend of people preferring fictional works with mindless violence and actions over those with plot and profound character development. That satire aside, it also highlights the fact that what makes somebody strong is not sheer strength and coolness; instead, it's one's willingness to do his/her best, no matter the odds. In said comic, Huey, Dewey, and Louie keep gushing about how cool Super Snooper is: obliterating bad guys with asteroids, etc. Their Unca Donald doesn't approve this, but then, the three boys just say that Donald is just an average messenger boy, meaning that he has no right to say anything. Later, Donald is sad because he believes that his nephews are right, but in his journey home, he finds a bottle of drink that grants him superpower. He drinks it and becomes extremely cool; he can fly, tie a bicycle into knots, run so quickly that time seems to freeze, carry a cruise ship, etc. He tries to gain the kids' acknowledgement that he's as badass as Super Snooper by displaying his new power, but even until the drink's effect wears off, his nephews never manage to see it. That image I put up there is the last page of said comic; although Huey, Dewey, and Louie never get to see Donald's superpower, they eventually decide that even the badass hero Super Snooper can never measure up to Donald the average messenger boy. Why? Because Donald does whatever he can to take care of them all, despite his constant problems in finances. What matters most in badassery is not cool, flashy superpower or the capability to wipe the floor with the foes; instead, it's one's determination to achieve something despite the odds. But do keep in mind that "determination solves everything" trope gets old very quickly. Also, breaking a badass character is a powerful thing. It can serve as a warning for the readers that they are into something serious and provide a fresh twist. But don't abuse it, because it can eventually come across as a cheap way to keep the drama. Blood and Gore Gory fights are fun because they increase the tension, but being overly bloody can make things redundant and boring. There is a 'camera trick' one can utilize in a story to keep the gore efficiently while potentially grossing out the readers. Avoid describing everything down to a single detail and simply imply what is happening, and you're good. WARNING: Graphic Content If I describe things down to a single detail, then I'll have to write that the guy has got blood, skull fragments and brain matter in his mouth. That won't be efficient at this point (an action/fight scene always needs efficiency), but with [Spitting out whatever he had caught in his mouth], I've implied that the character has got those stuff in his mouth. This keeps the scene quick while grossing out the readers. Morally-Ambiguous Character This kind of character is the trickiest to write, but it is actually refreshing and great if you manage to write it. Also, when done right, it adds more depth and realism to the character; in real life, our actions are not always as black and white as we may want to think them to be. Motive is important in creating a morally-ambiguous character, but outright saying that the character does so and so for this and that is not enough. Show the emotional toll of the morally-ambiguous action: how difficult it is to commit it and how doing it affects the character's psyche. If the character feels guilty of what he/she has done, don't let him/her wallow in guilt for too long. It is melodramatic. Either have him/her justify his/her act or suppress the guilt and let it resurface when a specific button is pushed in the future. Word Choice The way one writes a line can result in different reaction from the readers. If the word choice is right, the line can deliver more emotions to the reader. On the other hand, if the word choice is wrong, sad things can become unintentionally funny or come across as melodrama. If I use the draft version of said line: [He would only smash the concrete if he fell.], it loses its humor. Why? Because the word choice is too straightforward. AFTERWORD Questions about writing? Ask away! Found some links to some great articles about writing and crafting a story? Share it here! This post is a WIP, so I will edit it whenever there are anything to add. |
lightchaMay 19, 2018 5:39 PM
The_Biologist said: The opening of a story is very important... Yeah, probably the most important thing even. Very thorough guide! What do you think about having a character appear out of nowhere in a fight? Kind of asspull-like, but I've always enjoyed that happening. |
| can dis sig fit |
| Nose bleed! (its too much than i thought) Awesome!!! |
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Zoushu said: What do you think about having a character appear out of nowhere in a fight? Kind of asspull-like, but I've always enjoyed that happening. If the character has been foreshadowed earlier, that's not an asspull. However, it actually depends on the execution. If the character just appears, saves the day, and disappears for no good reason, that's cheesy. The worst kind of asspull is some random power-up that saves the day. :P |
| @The_biologist (if your still there) I was wondering if you have any tips about the concept of... concept, like what can make them more believable. |
 Im not bad at english Im just a horrible speller |
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