General Writing Discussion Thread | Current Topic: NaNoWriMo

RE: Writer's Lounge

Mostly what Zenith said. Of course, genders do have an influence on personality (well, an influence on we perceive the person's personality to be at first). Flesh out the character first and then decide the genders.

Also, no love for girl/girl/boy? Oh, you guize. XD
 
RE: Writer's Lounge

Thanks for the advice, I'll definitely make the characters before deciding gender.

Also, the main character is going to be a boy (I can't do a girl main character, I would never be able to describe thoughts and personality well enough), so making a boy travel with two girls....well it doesn't really work lol. Also, I'm going to have a much easier time fleshing out a boy's character than a girl's for obvious reasons -.-
 
RE: Writer's Lounge

Sounds good Blah. Also, the gender does effect the personality. I wanna read it :D
 
RE: Writer's Lounge

Zyflair said:
Also, no love for girl/girl/boy? Oh, you guize. XD
Click to expand...
girl/girl/girl is the way to go

ONLY FEMALE CHARACTERS

ALL FEMALE CHARACTERS ALL THE TIME

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

A lot of younger writers (as in, middle/high school) seem to have difficulty writing characters of the opposite gender because they seem to think that personality significantly alters thought patterns. Maybe it's just because I have interesting feelings about gender, but it really doesn't alter personality unless you let it, kind of like what Apollo said.
 
RE: Writer's Lounge

There were a couple jokes that came to mind reading all this boy-girl-boy/girl-boy-girl stuff, but I don't think they'd go over well considering they really fall into the category of adult-oriented humor.

Typically, though, I'd stick with a group of two male characters and at least one female one to show that there may or may not be something romantic going on between them. But if that's not something you want to incorporate, then you should stick with three guys, Blah. It's up to you.

There were a couple jokes that came to mind reading all this boy-girl-boy/girl-boy-girl stuff, but I don't think they'd go over well considering they really fall into the category of adult-oriented humor.

Typically, though, I'd stick with a group of two male characters and at least one female one to show that there may or may not be something romantic going on between them. But if that's not something you want to incorporate, then you should stick with three guys, Blah. It's up to you.

There were a couple jokes that came to mind reading all this boy-girl-boy/girl-boy-girl stuff, but I don't think they'd go over well considering they really fall into the category of adult-oriented humor.

Typically, though, I'd stick with a group of two male characters and at least one female one to show that there may or may not be something romantic going on between them. But if that's not something you want to incorporate, then you should stick with three guys, Blah. It's up to you.
 
RE: Writer's Lounge

Zenith said:
A lot of younger writers (as in, middle/high school) seem to have difficulty writing characters of the opposite gender because they seem to think that personality significantly alters thought patterns. Maybe it's just because I have interesting feelings about gender, but it really doesn't alter personality unless you let it, kind of like what Apollo said.
Click to expand...

^This. A lot of my character concepts come from when I was in elementary/middle school when girls were still a complete and utter mystery to me. For that reason I have almost 0 female characters, but as I actually start committing to where the story is currently at and write, that may change very drastically.

I used to find it interesting that authors could pull off characters of opposite genders very well. Now that I realize that gender only has a few idiosyncrasies when it comes to personality, it's really not that hard.

I personally agree with the 2 boys 1 girl in a party of 3. Makes for some interesting tension, especially in YA fiction.
 
RE: Writer's Lounge

Two male, one female. That's what I'm sticking with.

I'm going to start writing soon, there's a couple of plot elements I need to work out before I begin.
 
RE: Writer's Lounge

Typically, though, I'd stick with a group of two male characters and at least one female one to show that there may or may not be something romantic going on between them. But if that's not something you want to incorporate, then you should stick with three guys, Blah. It's up to you.
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never do a romantic sideplot unless you've had it in mind the whole time. it can ruin perfectly good stories.
 
RE: Writer's Lounge

The main reason I mentioned it is because I actually have played around with a few random scenarios involving romantic entanglements (not so much in works I have posted, but ones I have written rough drafts for anyways).
 
RE: Writer's Lounge

I think romance is not going to work in this story because of the way the plot is set up. It's an action story, and the main plot sequences are not going to be spent in romantic sessions. Not to mention it's kind of awkward to have two guys and one girl with romance between one of them -.-. I'm still working out the last kinks of the major storyline, then I'll get started right away.
 
RE: Writer's Lounge

Action/Romance is the biggest genre in books, and movies today... I think you should add a little romance. The plot will, always give way a little, think of it as a plank of wood. You can bend it, bit when you bend it too far, it becomes shorter, rigged, and not what it was planned to be.
 
RE: Writer's Lounge

I disagree; you can't just try to bend the story to have a bit of everything. If the plot and the characters suggest against a romance, don't put it in.
 
RE: Writer's Lounge

I'm not saying out everything in it... IDK abou the whole plot Blah, but it sounds a little shaky with having not even a little romance in it... I mean the guy could end up saving the girl, getting a kiss, and that's how they became friends or something close to that...
 
RE: Writer's Lounge

There is a distinct difference between developing close relationships within the main (or even side) characters, and forcefully adding in romance. If you make romance an obvious side genre, the reader can feel cheated with a cheap theme.
 
RE: Writer's Lounge

Zenith said:
never do a romantic sideplot unless you've had it in mind the whole time. it can ruin perfectly good stories.
Click to expand...
^this

I usually tend to avoid these because they distract from the main point of the story. The only time I would probably do one of these is if it was actually a strong point of the overall plot.

But it isn't, so I don't.
 
RE: Writer's Lounge

The only times you should add in romance are if
a) it's a major plot/subplot, or
b) it directly affects the major plot/subplot positively.

Don't add something in just to add it in. If you go through and analyze any really successful book, you'll notice that pretty much every notable aspect of the story directly relates to a major plot/subplot. Keeping it that way makes your writing much faster-moving, interesting, and better in general. Less extraneous stuff=good.
 
RE: Writer's Lounge

I`ve been wondering lately, which is better, show or tell.
Show does make the sentence and scene more exciting but doesn`t telling seem to be more direct.
 
RE: Writer's Lounge

Showing through description is always the better tactic, but there will always be parts of narration where you have to explain what's what by telling it straight out. Learning how to do them both in a balanced and skillful way is one of the hardest challenges in becoming a good writer.

Showing through description is always the better tactic, but there will always be parts of narration where you have to explain what's what by telling it straight out. Learning how to do them both in a balanced and skillful way is one of the hardest challenges in becoming a good writer.
 
RE: Writer's Lounge

To make a comparison, musicians find it easier to tune their instruments by going up from flat pitches, rather than going down from sharp pitches. Likewise, it's easier for a writer to tone down description than adding more. If you're still not sure on how much you have to show, go over first and then start removing anything that seems unnecessary. That way, you can get all of the important information shown while removing all of the bulky material. Another thing to remember is that good description does not need to be long. In fact, if you're using more words to say something when you could use less and get the exact same meaning, then you're doing it wrong. :p
 
RE: Writer's Lounge

ZY, how do you know about musicians... Band people don't tune, they blow air into a tube, and it's already fine... Strings are harder...

Go for show. Try to let the reader imagine what is gonna happen next, or what is happening. It's always an easier way to keep someone reading. (I could work on that better myself, why do I give advice, that I don't listen to??)

I need proofreads, for an English assignment, there shall be a small reward I guess... IDK really.
 
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