Writing Tips

[Arcane]

Just something I came up with in my spare time, I've posted it on some other websites, and have received some additional tips, which I have also put into the list.

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1. Read books often! (Reading can give you ideas, and enhance your vocabulary.)

2. Whenever you see a word that you don't understand, search it up on a dictionary and try using it - if you're not sure whether you are using it correctly or not, type a sentence fragment containing the word into Google, if something comes up that looks somewhat like what you've got, bingo. (Though sometimes this method may not work out, it's better than nothing.)

3. After finishing a sentence, read it aloud two or three times to make sure it sounds right and there are no mistakes.

4. After finishing a sentence, imagine you are the reader and look over it once or twice, if you think the reader will get confused at some point - rewrite that bit.

5. Describe, describe, describe, people can't read minds! They can/may not imagine it exactly the way you imagined it - but if you put enough description, it'll be close.

6. Take your time to plan out what you write. (Though sometimes, parts just come to you as you write.)

7. Things don't just happen, there has to be some reason behind it.

8. Plan characters very carefully - think of their personality, what they like, dislike and their appearance etc…

9. When writing about a character's actions, put yourself in his shoes and think: what would I do in that situation.

10. Always, always write neatly, with all the appropriate spelling, and marks (. ? ! ,) - when you get into the habit of using them, it'll come to you naturally without effort.

11. Write often. Everyday if possible - unless you don't feel like it, see #12 for the reason - even if it's just a paragraph or two that has no plot whatsoever.

12. When you don't feel like writing, don't. If you force yourself to write, the stuff that comes out won't be as good. (Though sometimes, if you are just lazy, forcing yourself to write can actually get you interested in writing again.)

13. If you have writer's block, go read a book or two, or watch a movie, you might be able to get some ideas from them. Taking a break from writing for a while may also help.

14. (Thanks to Ninva!) Never delete any of your stories, they might come in handy later on. (You can re-read them for ideas, or simply just for pleasure.)

15. (Thanks to Krys A Night!) If you are writing something, and you want to restart it, let it slide for a little while, and then come back to it. Instead of you trying to continue something that's going nowhere, try a new direction, it may work out better.

16. (Thanks to Master of ABCs!) Describing is good, but describing too much is bad.

17. (Thanks to Whitesock!) A way to come up with characters is to take totally random information, alter it a bit and then piece it together. Example below.

Hm, my favorite color?

-Green. What's green?
-Green beans. What do they taste like?
-Plastic. What is made out of plastic?
-Milk bottles. What are the characteristics of milk bottles?
-Strong and durable!!

Bing! Stong and durable character. That's what I like to call character generation. You can also start with what you want the character to be like.

18. (Thanks to Ninva!) Another way to create a character is to picture them and their reactions in multiple events.

19. (Thanks to Orc_Tamer!) Give your rough draft to your friends to read, then ask them for suggestions or what you should fix. (Highly recommended by Seth. Do it. )

20. (Thanks to WastedSavior!) Look up synonyms, antonyms, rhymes, and related words if your having trouble with using a certain word too many times, give something colorful but not too bright for your readers to get enthralled in.

Suggested Websites:
http://dictionary.reference.com/
http://www.rhymezone.com/

21. (Thanks to King_Tongoll!) You can use historical events as reference.

22. (Thanks to King_Tongoll!) Fusing different personalities together may have quite interesting results.

23. (Thanks to King_Tongoll!) Taking your own personality, and changing it around a bit could make a nice, realistic personality.

24. Use your own experiences and encounters to help you work out what another person might do/feel in some situation.

25. (Thanks to Pineapple!) Your writing may reflect your mood, write at the right time!

26. (Thanks to Duwenbasden!) Imagining something take place in your mind may help you come up with new stuff.

27. (Thanks to MasterOfABCs!) Controlling the amount of descriptive words you use and the length of the sentences, may help create certain 'moods' for some scenes.

28. (Thanks to Halahan!) Listening to music while you write may or may not help you, depends.

29. (Thanks to Edhel-dur!) Leave a backdoor in your storyline, so if you suddenly get the urge someday, you might be able to continue the story.

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More tips (or simply comments) would be very welcome!

 

[Edhel-dur]

My tip : Always think about of a good plot , and always leave some room for a eventual "second part" so you wouldnt have to make stuff wich arent plausable. Also i suggest that the plot is complex and involves betrayer , or a hidded Quest. Suggestion for good inspireving plots : WarCraft Univers , Alien (yes the movies series called "Allien" 1-4 , no AvP that plot sucks , its nice but still sucks) , and Tolkiens "Sillmarilion" - "The Hobbit" - "Lord of the Rings".
NOTE : Tolkien thought only about "Sillmarilion" when he participated at the first world war (or was it second) anyway the point is that he wasnt planing about writting "The Hobbit" or "LotR" , but if u notice , he left himself a so called backdoor in "The Hobbit" , and that backdoor is The One Ring , he made it from a magical ring wich it was in The Hobbit , into The One Ring from LotR wich represents the entire intrigue from LotR. So always leave a backdoor in your storyline , and that sometimes its better not to describe everything , you just might leave yourself the continue of the saga.

 

[Undead_Lives]

16. (Thanks to Master of ABCs!) Describing is good, but describing too much is bad.

I really disagree. Many poems are completely description (some short stories as well) and a hidden meaning and plot is put underneath the description. It can be extremely effective.

IE: Instead of adding description to a plot, you add a plot to a description.


What I really found funny about this is that I have both those sites mentioned on my bookmarks tool bar for easy access

Pretty good tips, nice list.

 

[Arcane]

@Edhel-dur: Added.

@Undead_Lives: What he meant, I think was that if you put so much description that it takes away from the actual story, that it serves no more purpose than to take up space, and make the part choppy. (Most of these tips are aimed at stories I believe, at least, mine are, because I don't really write that much poetry.)

 

[HeretoDLstuff]

I really disagree. Many poems are completely description (some short stories as well) and a hidden meaning and plot is put underneath the description. It can be extremely effective.

IE: Instead of adding description to a plot, you add a plot to a description.
.

I think you’re miss understanding it.
If you spend more work on the details and less on the actually story it will be completely boring.

As in example: If you talk about every little detail of how the grass is wet, and little dew drops were falling and a grasshopper jumped and there’s this funny looking bird, and the suns rising and of look there’s a stream, there’s a nice looking rock, oh there’s a little fish, cool look the stream is Turing into a pond, there’s a frog, the frog has 3 bumps the bumps are green with dots, now the frog jumped. Oh wait, this is a story, heh. If you add SO many details that there’s no other story left.

How ever, if you shorten it to the basic details, it will help the reader imagine he was in the story, watching the sun rise, ECT, with being so many details it’s boring. So if we say there was dew on the grass and the sun was rising as I jumped over the stream to get to the pond, its not so boring but tells about how it’s like.

EDIT: And sometimes no detail is OK, for awhile, then you switch to suddenly lots of detail, the none detailed part will be confusing, and then it will all fit into place, lets say, the next chapter when more detail is added. And at some points TO much details OK too, then switch suddenly to action and not very much detail, it will surprise them and maybe make the action more exiting. Of course were all untitled to out own opinion, this is just mine.

 

[Undead_Lives]

I didn't misunderstand him. But I know of some short stories that are purely description but give away a hint of a plot and still end up being great. You just haven't tried it/seen it done.

 

[HeretoDLstuff]

Well, do you know the name of the book?

 

[Undead_Lives]

It's not a book, it's a short story posted on another forum.

 

[brad.dude03]

Short stories work with description. In a short story, more description is often better then less. But in a full length novel, with a complete story to tell, I don't think it's such a good idea. There is no easy way (without making the novel horribly long and tedious) to include plot development, character development, and still have loads upon loads of description. It's not feasable. You need enough description to make the setting realistic and have depth in the readers mind, but going overboard wont get your story anywhere.

 

[Undead_Lives]

Yes, that's true, and I didn't really mean a full length novel, I was pointing out more along the lines of short stories.