General Writing Discussion Thread | Current Topic: NaNoWriMo

RE: Writer's Lounge

Martini said:
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...
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Because I am one. And yes, while brass and woodwind instruments don't go out of tune by nature, the players have to spend at least a few seconds to get their bearings on the note, thus why every time an orchestra plays, the woodwind and brass players still "tune."
 
RE: Writer's Lounge

*Whew*

I've been doing a ton of work on the storyline, it's going quite well. I'll be starting it as soon as I can. One major problem I came across was that it's WAYYYYY to cliché, but that can be worked around. Other than that, it's going smoothly.

I'm also terrible at character names -.-
 
RE: Writer's Lounge

Me, too, because I didn't even know Mohawk's name meant a mohawk. Everything I say already was a word. >.<

(Mohawk was one of my characters. :p )
 
RE: Writer's Lounge

Hey, evrypony, I am thinking about writing an MLP fanfic. Its called Reign of Darkness and tells of a group of ponies that must stop an evil overlord named Nightmane (yes, I shall be using my username). These ponies live in post-apocalpyse Ponyville and have discovered some sacred gems that each give the pny touching them certain superpowers. For example, the yellow gem allows them to command lightning and run extremely fat. How does this fanfic sound?
 
RE: Writer's Lounge

For example, the yellow gem allows them to command lightning and run extremely fat.
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I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt and assume that's a typo.

As far as that goes, for the most part, you want to try and be careful that the idea you have in mind hasn't already been done. Granted, you want to try and maintain accuracy, but at the same time you want to be more imaginative with what you write. And don't make it cliche, whatever you do.

This is just generic info that you should keep in mind for ANY fanfic, regardless of category.
 
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I also try to be careful about what character words I use. Some of them might be actual words, as I don't know all words. *shudders*
 
RE: Writer's Lounge

http://dictionary.com/

A writer's best friend.

http://thesaurus.com/

A writer's second best friend.
 
RE: Writer's Lounge

<Sees TFO's link and clicks on it
<Promptly types in "orange"

That Link said:
Words and phrases that rhyme with orange: (0 results)

Sorry, no perfect rhymes were found.
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RE: Writer's Lounge

^That needs to be posted in the You Laugh, You Lose thread because I nearly lost just looking at that post.

Sorry, slightly off topic.
 
RE: Writer's Lounge

orange, silver, purple, month, bulb, and film are all words lacking perfect rhymes.
 
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I think you forgot "angst".
 
RE: Writer's Lounge

Another question again on writing stories...:p
Lately, I've received The Forgotten Warrior from the Warrior cats series as a birthday present for me.
When I opened the book and flipped to the first page, the prologue, I was very surprised and impressed by the way the author managed to write in a character's view without giving away hints of who it is. It created some sort of foreshadowing that's going to play a huge role in the story.
So now I'm gonna ask now, what techniques are used to write in a character's view as if you were seeing through their eyes without knowing the hidden motives of the others and not focusing much on other characters?
I'm trying to get this idea down on my [thread]Shark Wars-The Dark Jaws[/thread] fanfiction.
Thanks for helping out!
 
RE: Writer's Lounge

Foreshadowing is one of my favorite things to do, actually. While doing that, I try to make the characters completely oblivious to what will eventually happen to them in the future. I also try to give a few specific hints of what might happen, but I delay the inevitable until near the story's end, where I tend to unleash all my surprises at once.

But if you want to try and focus just on one character, try and write the story from the perspective of that character, disregarding (and being oblivious to) everything else around that person. What does he see and how will he interpret it? And, knowing that, what will he do next? You get the idea.

I forget the fancy names of the writer's tools of the trade, so I'm just telling you what I tend to do sometimes :p
 
RE: Writer's Lounge

DNA said:
I think you forgot "angst".
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aw, I knew I was missing one. but in my defense, angst is borrowed from modern german, and was almost unheard of until relatively recently.

I generally refer to the style you're referring to as Ishmaeling, after the viewpoint character (but not main character) of Moby-Dick). you have a lot of interesting things going on, and tons of fascinating characters, but for whatever reason you don't want to give too much away, so you have a relatively clueless character and write solely in first person from that character's view (you can also do it in third person, where it's called third person limited, but that's harder to pull off for a lot of characters). as long as you remember that the reader is not supposed to know anything the character doesn't know (essentially, avoid dramatic irony).
 
RE: Writer's Lounge

Zenith said:
orange, silver, purple, month, bulb, and film are all words lacking perfect rhymes.
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I have a rhyme for silver. Sliver. Isn't that a rhyme for silver?Wait, off topic.

:D
 
RE: Writer's Lounge

sliver is not a perfect rhyme for silver because it lacks the interaction of l and v that makes silver unique.
 
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Silver has a rhyme... (hint... hint)
*Warning don't read if your a grammar Nazi, or like to hurt people that are smart
NONE, and you clicked on it, oh, how I love to do this

So, I need help... If I was needing to introduce at least five characters, with personality details and all, would chapters be a good way to do that?
 
RE: Writer's Lounge


The first time I've read the first Shark Wars book, the main character and his best buddy as you should call it, they were swimming one day in the ocean and then the author just jumped ahead and introduced the other 4 main characters, right away in a group as they were swimming by.
For me personally, although the book was action-packed and funny too, I just felt that the author rushed it a little when he made the scene that the characters just instantly met each other and the dialogue feels a bit rushed too, the characters having too much "faith" in their saying. If you know what I mean by "faith".
I really hoped that the author was going to introduce the characters one by one through a conflict that they themselves couldn't go through and then the two main characters come and rescue them from their misery.
In my opinion, don't do what he did(even though I really liked the book and became a fan). He rushed through the meeting of the characters which may create some stereotypes about each one.
It's up to you if you want to introduce all at once, but one thing I learned when planning and writing a story.
Writing a story is the same as making and preparing food for a person.
They would want to savor each bite they get and not to rush it, or they will become sick. It is the same way with stories. Don't rush it, or risk getting your reader confused and put down your writing.
Try introducing the characters a bit and show their current situation and let them play around a bit, let the reader to get to know them more to avoid stereotypes.
You can also introduce them through a conflict and let that be the focus of the chapter but like everybody else says, don't do it if it doesn't have any connection to the main plot!
Hope this helped you!
 
RE: Writer's Lounge

For me personally, although the book was action-packed and funny too, I just felt that the author rushed it a little when he made the scene that the characters just instantly met each other and the dialogue feels a bit rushed too, the characters having too much "faith" in their saying. If you know what I mean by "faith".
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When you're saying faith in this case, do you mean "confidence", or maybe even "surety"?
 
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