✏The Somewhat helpful Writing guide!☺

DeletedUser

I've noticed alot of people really enjoy writing stories! Its a fun and creative way to express yourself, and its even a contest!

But, here are a few things that My english teacher taught me last year that can really help out on improving a storys elegance.

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Posted by David

✏ NTSSWTSW, No two sentences start with the same word. It is very tempting, yes, but it draws away from the storys impact. If you start everything with The, then the appeal will degrade after a while. If you can't help using the same word over and over, atleast try to limit it. Try and keep from using the same first word for atleast 3 paragraphs and work your way up.

✏ Limit Repetition. When you are writing your story, try not to repeat the same lines or words over and over again. Use other avalable words. For example, I'll use improper grammer (Not everyone in the west was sophistocated ya know): "I decided to take a drink from my whiskey bottle" Now you've heard drink, here it is again. "I picked up the Cup of Joe and took a drink." It puts you to sleep. There is a variety of words that can replace drink, like swig, drag, gulp or sip. Use more words! "I picked up my cup of joe and took a swig"

✏ Use Detail! People want to be able to see what you see in the story, describe your surroundings, put them in the characters shoes.

✏ Show Awarness of Audience.

✏ Don't misspell names, words, ect. Especially if you are writing a guide. I've learned my lesson already :sad:
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Posted by: Jordon

✏ When you write a story don't forget detail you don't want too much detail to make the person fall asleep nor do you want too little to make them unintrested in your story.

✏ Also make sure when you use such words as I & me that they know which person YOU are talking about otherwise they would just get confused easily.

✏ Also try to space out your paragraphs so it's not one huge massive wall off text and peoples eyes don't bleed to death from trying to unscramble some of the sentances.

✏ Last but not least, Most peoples feared enemy puncuation, Use it, learn it, Live it.

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Posted by: John Rose

✏ Here's a helpful one; Use good language. Nothing kills immersion like poor language.
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Posted by: Darknoon

✏ If you are a noob, don't bother
✏ If a noob does bother, don't read it

✏ No matter how well you type your message, one of complete idiocy will always make no sense
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Keep these in mind and you will become a more successful Writer!
☻
Knowledge is Power!
I cant believe I just said that...​


If anyone else has any suggestions, please post them! I want this to be a very helpful guide for writing so that everyone may take part, and everyone may enjoy.
 
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DeletedUser3717

When you write a story don't forget detail you don't want too much detail to make the person fall asleep nor do you want too little to make them unintrested in your story.

Also make sure when you use such words as I & me that they know which person YOU are talking about otherwise they would just get confused easily.

Also try to space out your paragraphs so it's not one huge massive wall off text and peoples eyes don't bleed to death from trying to unscramble some of the sentances.

Last but not least, Most peoples feared enemy puncuation, Use it, learn it, Live it.
 

DeletedUser

Srry, lol. I guess it would be good for me to add Proper spelling as a rule so I don't mess up again rofl. :laugh:
 

DeletedUser

Here's a helpful one;
Use good language.
Nothing kills immersion like poor language.
 

DeletedUser8950

Protip 1: If you are a noob, don't bother
Protip 2: If a noob does bother, don't read it
Protip 3: No matter how well you type your message, one of complete idiocy will always make no sense
 

DeletedUser

The Guide is comming along quite nicely! I'd like to see even more suggestions to help this become the most versatile writing guide in The West!
 

DeletedUser

I: Don't be afraid of large words! The more you enrich your vocabulary, the easier it is to avoid using the same descriptions.

II: If you are working in a historical setting, do your research, even if you mix genres and add a clan of Viking werewolves! There is only so much artistic license an author can employ before they find themselves bereft of an audience!
 
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DeletedUser14280

End your paragraphs/chapters with drama, I guess.
People'll keep reading to find out who the mysterious man in the shadows is.
 

DeletedUser

1. Write about what you know. Fiction provides the best opportunity for people to write about what they know, because they make it all up themselves. But, even then, you have to avoid making the mistake of including things you do not know about, or using a premise that relies on preposterous notions.

Why? Because if you write about what you do not know, the critics alone will bury you, readers will point out the flaws, and the bulk of your story will be lost in the inaccuracies.

2. There are two to satisfy when writing a story: You and your target audience. Pick your audience before you write your story, lest you cater to only yourself.

Why? Because if you do not keep in mind the intended audience, you will impose vocabulary, present ideas or illusions, and otherwise distract the reader with things irrelevant. The last thing you want to do is lose your audience.

3. Create an outline. Not everyone likes to do this, and some find it far more "creative" to pull it out of their ass, but creating an outline helps you to stay organized, and thus helps the reader to do the same.

4. Flesh out the characters, both in advance and in the story. Whether they are animate or inanimate, every character concept needs to be full-fleshed during the outlining process, so you can maintain consistency when presenting that particular character in your story.

5. Avoid clichés, especially thought-terminating clichés. A horrible mistake that many beginning writers make. It's easy, it's distracting, and it can end your writer's interest like "a hammer to an anvil." Seriously, "it's a no brainer."

6. Alternate between views. Do not present your entire story from a person's mind, or a third person perspective. Alternate between various views. Be within different characters, looking at events from their skewed, ignorant, perspectives. Be without as you narrate the events in largish score. Be extrasensory, describing thoughts and ideas. Be gifted, describing things not seen by anybody in the story, yet can be felt by the reader alone.

7. Capture the senses. We write with our hands, we see what we write with our eyes, but our mouths, our ears, our sense of touch, are denied entry into a story lest we infuse it within the pages of every chapter. Do not deny your other senses, do not assume the reader can see what you see, feel what you feel.

8. Every sentence counts. The end of the story is not the goal, the climax to the story is not the goal. The story itself is the goal. When you write, don't write to lead up to some creative masterpiece, write for that particular moment, make each paragraph a masterpiece, a literary moment of escapism.

9. Lead, do not dictate. This is a controversial recommendation, because many a best-selling dime store novelist dictates their story to the readers. But, dictating cheapens the experience, pulls the reader out of the game and into the stands. What you want to do is bring the reader into the game, and for that, you must lead.

How? Leading is presenting the story without putting all out there. Think of the donkey and his carrot metaphor. As a writer, your story continues to be the carrot that leads the donkey to wherever you want him to be.

10. Write to the size and scope. Short stories, novelas, novels, series, they all require a different depth of presentation. If you write a novel like a short story, you will lose the audience after the first few chapters. If you write a short story like a novel, you will be unable to complete relevant portions of your story, and thus leave your audience dissatisfied. If it is a series of stories, they must not impose to heavy of a dependency on previous episodes, but still maintain the bulk of your story's theme, your characters' motivations.

More later...
 
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DeletedUser

Something that sounds obvious is often missed by writers. You have to make sure you have a "beginning" and an "end" to a story, with enough going on between them to make them make sense, keep them connected, and keep the reader's attention. Too often someone will start writing and have no real idea where the story is going. If you don't have a definitive ending in mind, it often comes across as just a lot of rambling.
 

DeletedUser

I think the best types of bools I have every read is called "Choose your own adventure" becuase every decision is made by you and you can have a happy ending or a bad one.
 

DeletedUser14280

I read Dan Brown's new novel recently.
The funny thing is, I don't think there's a lapse in the action at all during the book.
It goes from action, to a touch of exposition, then back to action.
 

DeletedUser

Even choose your own adventure books do have endings determined ahead of time; they just have to determine several different endings (the story always leads toward the specific ending, it doesn't just go on for a few hundred pages and then stop without the ending having anything to do with what was happening throughout the story). I've also never seen a choose your own story on the best sellers list, but I guess it is always possible that one or more has been there.
 

DeletedUser14280

Don't feel limited because something's been done before.
It's perfectly reasonable to have elves and orcs in your story.
 
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