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Burkion posted:So what I'm saying is, if I'm able to focus on it during November, I'm positive I'll be joining Nano if only by accident. Though, don't they frown on working on existing things?
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Oct 26, 2018 16:08
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Fruity20 posted:to you, what is a good antagonist? like what traits make them understandable to audience? It's not compelling to have two completely unconnected people thwarting each other. feedmyleg posted:Prologue? 
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Nov 3, 2018 21:11
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Like a tall-boy of red bull. Like a tube of tennis balls hanging there. Four pack. Like a loving policeman's flashlight from the 1980s hanging there. Like a one liter thermos. Like a deflated football.
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Nov 6, 2018 03:42
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anime was right posted:how you write it is what makes it different!!
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Nov 21, 2018 15:07
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Omi no Kami posted:I could use a bit of advice about structuring my first act. The story I'm working on is a episodic spy thriller- there's a problem, the team goes on a big, dumb mission to figure out what's going on and stop it, they rest, then a new problem appears. In my first draft I actually start with the viewpoint character getting recruited, and they spend about 20,000 words at spy hogwarts making friends and learning how to pick locks and murder dudes. I like the section, because it really helps you empathize with the protagonist by following them on their journey from normal goober to james bond, but it's a really weird island of content. From the instant they graduate they're in a by-the-numbers spy procedural, and my kneejerk reaction is to say that if that's where the bulk of the book lives, I should toss the deep end and just start the book with them doing what they'll do for the entire story. I don't think you should cut the Spy Hogwarts at all, but you need to use that poo poo to show us what makes your spy team special when compared to other spies. Think like the training section of Kingsman - we learn from it that Eggsy is a rough fuckin survivor who thinks out of the box, and this comes into play in the Main Mission. We also learn who else is a player in the story, and how competent they are, so that when you see characters again they're not just extra "whatever" named spies but they're formidable allies - or foes. If your story has room for a training arc and you're not using that to secretly set up all the players for the rest of your story then honestly work on the rest of your whole drat story to fit things in.
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Dec 13, 2018 15:55
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Fruity20 posted:hypothetically, if you were tasked to go on a expedition to an island full of strange creatures and dangerous flora, what experts shall you bring with you? (i'm having issues deciding what comprises my main expedition team for a short story of mine)
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Jan 8, 2019 23:02
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feedmyleg posted:Are there any comprehensive resources for navigating this? I kinda prefer separating up dialog with only a couple of actions in pretty short paragraphs - lots of "SPEECH" action "SPEECH" action "SPEECH" makes it super weird to read and follow. Like, pick the One Action that you want to get across and use that as your only separator. In your example: quote:Ugg scratched his back nervously. "We need to steal our cave back. But the neanderthals probably fortified it and deployed in depth by now; a frontal assault would be suicidal." He threw his hands up into the air, then turned to Thud. "So maybe it's not worth doing to begin with! Don't you agree?"
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Feb 4, 2019 18:43
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MockingQuantum posted:I'm not sure of where (outside of a writing discord) I can work through just story concepts or outlines with others. Nobody's going to be able to give you any specific tips as to where you'll find problems writing - some of us find characters fuckin' easy, others super difficult. Some can't write with a strict outline, some can't write without one. Some need to do a bunch of worldbuilding before they begin, others never do poo poo with that. There's no hard-set rules as to "if you do x, y, and z, writing a book will be easy" because it's always hard and every book is going to be a different kind of hard. Find and join a decent writer's discord, or just talk in here, and get yourself enough settled into your concept that you can begin writing - then just start. All that experience will give you is more confidence in putting words down and a greater understanding of everything you really suck doing for your current story.
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Feb 19, 2019 18:22
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sensitivepigeon posted:Have any of you collaborated with another author on a project before? How do you do it without devolving into a fist fight? Basically we talked for a bit about ideas and settled on a concept; I wrote a draft, they wrote a draft, then we worked back and forth to edit the best bits of each together. It was super open communication and neither of us was precious about our ideas or words. It's pretty easy to not get into a fight with someone if you respect each other and listen to each other! The way I've heard it done in longer form generally involves a lot of brainstorming, then essentially taking turns with chapters and editing each other's stuff (ie, one person writes the even chapters, and edits the odd). You cannot collab if you or the person you're working with is precious and a baby about changes, and you cannot collab if both of you can't communicate openly and respectfully.
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Feb 20, 2019 21:44
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Doctor Zero posted:I struggle with it too. I think it just kind of comes as you develop your style. I've had it explained to me that you want to keep it to the minimum that the reader needs to see a scene in their head. For instance, you don't want to write something like "John reached out his left hand, placed it on the knob, and then turned, thus opening the door." when you could just say "John left the room". Does the door really matter? If it does, you could say "John ducked out the back door." That's lovely writing but, contextually, going all in can absolutely add to a scene. Economy of words is good, but it's not always going to achieve the desired effect and sometimes can actively hurt a scene. There's no hard rules on any of this. It's all just about how you want to control your pacing and pauses - which is why you gotta just read more, and read with an analytic mind.
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Mar 12, 2019 16:46
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Screaming Idiot posted:I meant for, like, worldbuilding. Not to print copies of and rub in folk's faces to show off how ~CREATIVE~ I am, but so the adventures I draw from it are more cohesive. Alternatively, there's dozens of free wiki/project management bits of software you can use for building setting. Trello would be weirdly useful if you're making a world that has characters you want to keep track of if the players have killed them or not.
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Apr 4, 2019 14:27
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Fruity20 posted:Is it okay to take an established mythical being and add your own spin on it? like how my vampires are apparently living rather than dead?
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Apr 5, 2019 15:17
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Djeser posted:They might be bad words, and that's fine. The difference between a writer and a good writer is not that the good writer doesn't write bad stories, it's that the good writer has written so many stories that they can hide the mounds of bad ones behind the couple of good ones. Hell, they better be bad words, at first. Writing only the good is impossible. Editing is where all the hamfisted garbage you turned into a story becomes good words, and the only difference between a beginner writer and a great writer is the amount of those words you wind up accidentally turning into something kinda good on round one. Writers who say their work doesn't need editing are writers who aren't progressing and improving.
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May 10, 2019 02:04
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The Sean posted:Ehn, kind of. In short: people stuck in a void and they wake up every day in a new body among the group and for politics/intrigue sake it does matter who is who. Maybe like a roll call at the start of each day/chapter to state it and then move on. It may be unfeasible. General Battuta posted:What's going on guys, I loving hate prose. Did we figure out how to write yet, and if so, what's the trick.
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May 10, 2019 19:18
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Fruity20 posted:CONGRATS BLOWOUT! Alternatively, lean into it, because teenagers are annoying and melodramatic IRL
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May 13, 2019 15:15
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Fruity20 posted:I read too much tvtropes honestly. The shows I grew up with were anime and action cartoons that naturally inspired a few ideas in my writing...believe it or now. The Frankenstein mish-mash is noticeable I must admit. Hell, my current WIP is What If Pirates, Tho, and my next planned project is Mongolian Cowboys And Blitzball, Why Not. Don't put down or belittle your influences; we've all got reasons for writing, and they're all good reasons. Even the bad ones. Just make sure you're trying your hardest to accept the really terrible poo poo you write (we all write really terrible poo poo, this isn't a personal attack) as something that can be polished into greatness, eventually, but it sure as gently caress ain't gunna come out that way. Not on purpose, at least.
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May 14, 2019 14:57
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Fruity20 posted:How complex is the process of publishing? (I'm not super interested in the endeavor since most of my ideas are super out-there but it's fun to learn new things).
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May 15, 2019 18:28
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feedmyleg posted:I'm not sure why you feel you can't use names in third person. Is some vagueness built into the narrative, or some reason beyond you wanting it to feel distant from the action? I don't see how names would change that. Like, here's an example of a close third: quote:Brad ran through the forest. He hoped he wouldn't trip on a tree root, but, knowing what his father had taught him about the woods, he knew it was inevitable without a careful eye. As he turned past some rocks, he braced himself for the pain that would inevitably tear through his ankle. And here's a distant third: quote:Brad ran through the forest. He jumped over debris with ease, slowing down as he rounded a corner to be faced with a knot of large, buttressed roots. Distance from the characters for the reader isn't about naming or not naming, it's more about how tight you bring the reader in to the character and their thoughts and actions. Third person narrative doesn't cause, or necessitate, distance, any more than first person narratives force a scene where the character looks into a mirror.
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May 17, 2019 20:22
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Djeser posted:Sorry for
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May 17, 2019 21:12
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ing pronouns but there you go.
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Djeser posted:It doesn't matter what we think is cool. What matters is what you, the author, think is cool. I once wrote a story about a door for Thunderdome. The door was the protagonist. I don't expect anyone else in Thunderdome to think a door is cool, but I thought it was cool, and I wrote it because I thought it was cool, and people read it and said, "Hey, this door is cool." I don't think Romantic poets or London in the 1700's, are cool but I read Tim Powers' book The Anubis Gates, and he obviously thought both of those things were cool, and I enjoyed it, because it was a fun pulp adventure in a setting the author enjoyed with characters the author enjoyed. His enthusiasm was what made the book fun, regardless of my personal opinions about Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Steven Brust posted:“The Cool Stuff Theory of Literature is as follows: All literature consists of whatever the writer thinks is cool. The reader will like the book to the degree that he agrees with the writer about what's cool. And that works all the way from the external trappings to the level of metaphor, subtext, and the way one uses words. In other words, I happen not to think that full-plate armor and great big honking greatswords are cool. I don't like 'em. I like cloaks and rapiers. So I write stories with a lot of cloaks and rapiers in 'em, 'cause that's cool. Guys who like military hardware, who think advanced military hardware is cool, are not gonna jump all over my books, because they have other ideas about what's cool.
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May 17, 2019 21:29
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Daric posted:Who has a link to that Discord that was mentioned earlier? https://discord.gg/SRNurT
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May 17, 2019 21:49
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feedmyleg posted:Anyone have thoughts on how to tell what's too much and how to tell what gives the work its character and identity? I've heard that when it comes to research you want to take as much of it off the page as you can so it doesn't feel like a constant parade of "it sounds like this guy read a 1920s Boy Scout manual before he wrote this passage," but how do I make sure all these elements aren't making the thing feel all over the place while making sure you don't remove something that's making it unique? Ultimately, I think your guesswork is right - get the text in some people's hands, ask them what's working and what's not, and go from there. I'm not a fan of prescriptivist writing advice - for every Hemingway there's a Joyce, for every Gene Wolfe there's a Robin Hobb. If something's important, and you find it cool, paint that poo poo as cool and like Djeser said, your enthusiasm for the subject is likely going to be much more of a selling point than a drawback. e: Personally, if there's something I've researched or experienced that I wanna put in the book as something relatively dry, I'll find a way to make it characters explaining poo poo to each other with some conflict in place. Give an infodump a character reason to exist, or just don't put it in. That's my technique, anyway. Wungus fucked around with this message at 22:11 on May 17, 2019 |
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May 17, 2019 22:05
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sebmojo posted:Plus it's nearly always better to get story elements out fast where it can live and breathe in the game rather than holding on to them for a reveal that might fall flat. Like, look at Sixth Sense vs The Village. In The Sixth Sense, the story's already good, but the reveal that Willis was enghostened the whole time makes the story more powerful. In The Village, the reveal that the village is a hippie enclave doesn't do poo poo to the story outside of yell "whoaoaoaooa how DIFFERENT" and it retroactively makes the world of the story feel worse, and cheap, and bullshit, because the few moments the reveal could have been powerful are forgotten. Nobody's gunna be upset if you don't have a twist, but people are gunna be real mad if you throw one in and it sucks rear end.
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Jun 18, 2019 12:28
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oot posted:I've got a problem with the story I'm writing. It involves a character who just got through a harrowing conflict that took up years of his life, and everything was resolved in a satisfactory way. He thinks he should be happy but he finds himself feeling like he's missing something, like the excitement the life or death situations gave him. Then of course t he events of the story get into motion and he finds himself in that kind of circumstance again.
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Jun 28, 2019 16:00
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For people who want writing advice from actual professional agents/publishers, I've become hooked on a podcast by Laura Zats and Erik Hane called Print Run: Patreon page. They release free stuff, but their biggest strengths IMO come from backer rewards. They do a Query Podcast and a First Pages podcast where they take user submitted queries/first pages and rip the poo poo outta them, going into way more detail than I've seen anywhere on either topic (including QueryShark). They've also contacted people over queries multiple times to ask for pages - I wouldn't say it's worth bankrupting yourself over, but if you've got a spare $3 to $8/month it's heavily worth checking out.
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Jul 2, 2019 11:42
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Nothing wrong with a corny and unlikely idea, as long as your execution's strong. Hell, I'd say it can be stronger if you absolutely nail an idea that, when described in short, sounds like a real corny-rear end thing.
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Jul 6, 2019 16:45
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Exmond posted:There was another one, some kind of weird chest magazine that was good.
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Jul 7, 2019 01:30
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I don't know how you can just namechange someone's character into your story, but gently caress it, it's a good way of getting a character in if you're stuck. But like - Professor X can only exist in a character with mutants in the regular world with a school and a team of younger mutants. Locke Lamora can only exist in Lynch's fantasy Venice after spending childhood in a thieves' orphanage run by the Priest of Stealing. Rand al'Thor can only exist in a world where he had been reincarnated many times before and magic exists that drives men crazy. People's worlds shape who they are, people's personalities are built just as much after their experiences in life as they are from the people they meet. I cannot cannot cannot imagine a way in where you can copy-paste someone's character into your book and have it work unless you're writing fanfic, in which case using preexisting characters is the rule.
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Jul 11, 2019 18:13
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oot posted:Well I'm changing/expanding the character's backstory, motivation, and what kind of being he is, so he does fit in the story. But it still results in the same personality and appearance. oot posted:If the owner did say no it'd be at least as bad as writing your main villain in a movie for a specific actor and then they die before you can start filming.
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Jul 11, 2019 18:52
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steeltoedsneakers posted:I've had good luck with Hemingway - not for that specific problem, but for finding sentences that are too complicated, rogue adverbs (and usually that means I've usually used the word usually too much - which does break the flow).
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Jul 15, 2019 11:35
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Squidtentacle posted:Also consider the environment you're putting yourself in when you write, and whether that coincides with things that, for you, are the antithesis of casual writing. Hell, on an easier and far more literal level, I broke a recent semi block by changing my environment... by taking my laptop into a room I don't normally use for creativity. Sometimes, creating a routine gives you the opportunity to like, break it? in a way that lets you unlock secret eldritch writing magicks?
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Jul 16, 2019 02:05
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Its Coke posted:Any advice for getting better at revising? Once I have something written down I always find it hard to revise because it's like a unit of inspiration that I'm no longer sure I fully understand later.
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Jul 23, 2019 16:52
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Mirage posted:Then there's the ultimate advice: kill your babies. Find what you think is your most scintillating passage, your best description, your most clever turn of phrase, then throw it away and rewrite it. Usually you'll discover that the result flows better. Save the showstoppers for when the show really needs stopping.
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Jul 24, 2019 16:57
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HIJK posted:I just want to remind everyone that this happened and that imo it and the subsequent posts are the absolute apex of this thread. As writers, we'll never surpass the Pringledick, and accepting this is the first step to understanding The Process
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Jul 25, 2019 01:49
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Fruity20 posted:What are some personal tropes you employ in your writing? It's not intentional, but I tend to recurringly make old women who are badass and not matronly; I blame Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg from Discworld for this. I know there's tropes I like to AVOID (general problematic poo poo), but it's honestly not like, on purpose, when I use them. I can't really imagine approaching a story with the mindset of "these are the tropes/ideas/etc I intend to hit"
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Jul 28, 2019 18:05
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feedmyleg posted:Great Gatsby is about to go into public domain. Just add some zombies to that and you should be good to go. Big Fluffy Dog, you should write the Greater Gatsby. I bet that's a whole idea.
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Sep 10, 2019 19:23
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Covok posted:These are the two stories I've been throwing around. I'm thinking of doing drafts soon. But, since the last time I wrote a story it went so bad, I feel like having these outlines looked at first is a good idea. I'd understand, however, if this is considered a faux pas and that I should come back with a draft. I just rather not let things get so embarrassingly bad like it was last time. The story you write is dependent entirely on the way you write it. There's amazing stories that have awful seeming outlines, and awful stories that have everything planned out in a technically perfect fashion. You're thinking about narrative arcs; this is good, but your execution is what it'll be judged against - not your Ideas. If you want permission, or for someone to tell you what you've done is the Right Thing To Do, you're not going to write a good story, because you're going to spend every moment asking people "did I do it right?" Your first draft will suck, because that's what first drafts do. You gotta write the story you're confident in, not the one people are telling you to write. Also, like, nine out of ten writers you speak to about outlines are going to tell you they wound up deviating wildly from their plans, even when they tried to sketch things out exactly, so y'know. Who cares? I'm a positive fuckin' person, and I don't want to make you feel like I'm attacking your ability to make ideas, but like. ideas are cheap as hell and they mean nothing. "A couple of bums wait for a dude who doesn't show up" is a terrible idea, but it's one of the most famous plays of all time. "A legendary vampire hunter teams up with Frankenstein's monster to take down the biggest evil ever" is a dope concept, but Van Hellsing fuckin' suuuucked. "A girl's mother disappeared and she wants to find her" is like a dozen concepts, but is it boring like Watch Me Disappear, or charming like Where'd You Go, Bernardette? Basically, what I'm tryna say is, the best you're gunna get out of that is people telling you "yep, those look like involved outlines." Once you're a proven writer and your output is known, you can start pitching outlines to your agent because they'll have a professional interest in making sure you write a good story and a decent grip on what you can achieve. Right now, these are just ideas documents. e: If you need an answer, like, someone telling you what to do, write the second one, it's more personal to you than "what if gohan but sad" Wungus fucked around with this message at 14:03 on Sep 16, 2019 |
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Sep 16, 2019 14:00
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Congratulations! Horror's hard. I've tried it a bunch of times and always feel like I'm feeling flat on my face.
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Sep 17, 2019 01:04
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There's always the option of rewriting to not have to worry about it, like how I always rename characters if their name ends with an s and they have to be referred to with a possessive. ie, "He was tall enough that everyone had to crane their necks to see his face."
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Feb 11, 2021 13:24
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Definitely have breaks when you need them, if you need them. I've just come off the back of a week's break and it was super needed. Also like, it's possible you've just been doing a lot of editing lately and you've forgotten that fresh words never match edited words in quality. Or, you've been reading a lot of highly polished poo poo, stuff that is genuinely a lot better than you're currently capable of writing, and you're being comparative for no reason. Or, who knows, it could just be depression hiding behind an excuse of writer's block. There's a huge amount of possible reasons you feel yikes about your writing.
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Feb 16, 2021 16:51
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