The Writing Tips Thread

[hithereimvoldemort]

Ok. So since there is a fan fiction contest coming, I figured it'd be a good idea to start a thread where people can post tips on improving they're writing. Apparently I'm good at this stuff, so I'll start and other people can add on.

Ok, let's start with characters and conflict:

First and foremost, let's look at conflicts. Every story must have a conflict. Here is what I notice: every conflict is somehow related to relationships, mostly Avril and Deryck, with Evan probably thrown in. They like each other, they hate each other. They break up, they get back together. Lovey dovey-ness, whoop-dee-freaking-doo. RELATIONSHIPS ARE NOT THE ONLY EXISTANT CONFLICT. Throw in a disease, a child, an internal conflict with a character, hell, give someone three heads and make that someone wish depserately to kill Avril. I don't care. But you need to step back and look around, look at the real world. Every day, hundreds of conflicts unfold. You do not need to zoom in on this once conflict and glorify it. Yes, a relationship problem could be part of it. But you NEED to add something else in. It provides a sense of realism, and it gives your story an edge over the other edge. Give your characters internal conflicts, make there be family problems, throw in a crime, I don't really care. I just don't like reading stories about the same thing. It bores me.

Secondly, you can't strictly talk about what they're doing 99% of the time. You have to add some realism to it. Our days do not consist of purely actions and no silly mistakes or quirky habits. People are quirky. We do silly things, say silly things, and overrall can be very amusing. You have to include that. Talk about the funny way Avril ties her shoes, Deryck's obsession with keeping his guitar clean, etc. etc. It makes them human, and when you're able to make them human and relatable, you're able to make your reader much more interested because it brings realism. Even if it's small, it adds a sense of humanity. Also, you need to show your character's emotions. If Avril just found out Deryck cheated on her, she's going to be pretty damn upset. You can talk about her screaming and crying all you want, but that's worthless unless you're able to PORTRAY it. Describe it. Describe how she feels. Be comparitive. "Avril felt like...". Writing like that is more interesting. Some people don't need a lot of this. Some people are able to portray an emotion really well without flat-out saying it, but instead showing it in the way the update is written. You have to at least give it a feel. It could be how you describe it, and the scene they're in, but I'll get into that later. Just do more than flat-out saying what they're DOING. It develops your characters, and by combing this with what you're doing to make them human, you're making the reader form an attachment.

Thirdly, speaking of character and character development, you shouldn't be staying with the five same characters all the time. Whoop-dee-doo, every story has Avril, Evan, Deryck, Stevo, and Cone. This is quite edgy. More should be happening to include other people! They don't have to be main characters, but you should at least be bringing other people into it. If there is a real problem, it's not going to JUST involve the same five people, other people are going to get brought into it. Give them a kid, a marraige counselor, or at LEAST just a friend. Again, that adds realism, and realism is very, very important. And when you add other characters, you should be able to picture them! How do they stand, is their hair combed, how do they talk to Avril and Deryck, what are they wearing and how are they built? You obviously don't need to describe ALL of that, but you SHOULD be able to picture it. You can then use that picture to decide how they approach Avril, Deryck, and the other people involved. And you shouldn't JUST reserve this for new character. At the end of the day, we don't know Avril's odd habits, how she interacts with people when the cameras are off, and how she would handle the situation you've put her in. It's up to YOU to decide this and develop her. I mean, you don't need to go crazy, but you need to do this to somet extent.

And yeah. I'll stop babbling. More tips later, probably on description and all that fun stuff.

[sweety7852000]

Haha Ok, let me add one...

Give yourself some time to write, we don't want you to rush, because when you rush, it doesn't always turn out good. Some times it will, but thats only if you had planned ahead, or your just a friggin' awesome writter.

[hithereimvoldemort]

Yeah, don't rush. Please.

Oh and, um, I had this HUGE post, but it got deleted and just posted that one tiny part. It was 11:00 at night, so I didn't feel like writing the rest.

And yeah.

[rockpit]

Details. (Frou Frou, anyone? )

Abrupt changes of subject are hazardous.

[bunny]

don't jump from one place to an other . like Avril and Deryck are watching a movie, then all of the sudden they are back at home. Tell how they got back home, what happened in the car

don't make a love update ''made'' like don't think to hard about the words, it's not that you need to make the perfect words to write an update. Just use what ever comes up to you. What you feel like you should write, just write that. Don't sit down and be like oh-how-to-write-the-best-love-update-that-makes-people-go-''awww'' thats just wrong, thats WAY WRONG. You haveto write what you feel, not what you think people will like, of course you can add somethings the readers will like. But its your story, so its all up to you what to write. The words need to come out while you type. Not by thinking 10 min about how to make people go ''aww'''because the updates that comes out of nothing are mostley the best


oh and of course use ''.........'' and what you have on your keyboard

like:

''Avril. Did you had a good meal?''
I smiled, of course I didn't have a good meal. I had a great meal.
''Yes, it was pretty good.''
But I didn't want to look all wierd so I just tried to remain calm.

not

Avril did you had a good meal I smiled of course I didn't had a good meal I had a great meal yes it was pretty good But I didn't want to look all wierd so I just reamin calm

people will be like and don't understand it


and last one (for now ) there are more people on the earth dan Avril, Deryck and Evan
don't make every story the same by letting them fall in love break up fall in love, Evan whant to kill Deryck, Deryck kills Evan I have read a ton of those storys but there is more in the world then just ''love'' sure you can add love or put it as main thing. But let there also be a problem, or something that has nothing to do with love but is important happening in the story

[sweety7852000]

Let your fingers do the talking... Sometimes you don't know that if you just sit there and type something it can be good... Like most of the stuff that I write... Obviously some of you guys think I'm a good writer, I just let my fingers type, I don't think of it for ten minutes. Unless I'm really stuck. And If I get that stuck, I go to my mom or sister who both fell in love with my story... And I go "Mom I can't think of anything. Can you help out, I'm stuck on such and such part." or "Hey meggie megs, I can't think of something, I want to do this, but I can't figure out how to get to that from where I am." Does that make sense, don't write something stupid cause you can't think, again it goes to the don't rush..... Take some time to think, go do something, when you come back you might have thought of something interesting...

[hithereimvoldemort]

You do not have more than one person talk in a paragraph. When another person starts talking, you start another line. It's proper grammar and it makes your story look better.