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RE: Writer's Corner General Discussion Thread
I've sadly been ignoring my other stories.My Kalos one isn't bad, but I don't know how I'm going to keep entertainment going with the plot. I've thought about killing one of the main characters (or just putting him/her in a coma), but eh. My Hoenn one hasn't been updated in months; I just don't like it anymore. I'm writing chapters for a new story that, by the twentieth one, I will post on here for you guys to read! What's your advice for me?
Questions for Readers and Writers
Question 14
This question is one I'm having problems with right now!
So you're a productive person. You like thinking of things, but when you get too far or too annoyed...you want to get rid of your work and start a new one. What do you do in this situation? Do you actually quit working on your latest story, or do you muscle through it?
So you're a productive person. You like thinking of things, but when you get too far or too annoyed...you want to get rid of your work and start a new one. What do you do in this situation? Do you actually quit working on your latest story, or do you muscle through it?
I've sadly been ignoring my other stories.My Kalos one isn't bad, but I don't know how I'm going to keep entertainment going with the plot. I've thought about killing one of the main characters (or just putting him/her in a coma), but eh. My Hoenn one hasn't been updated in months; I just don't like it anymore. I'm writing chapters for a new story that, by the twentieth one, I will post on here for you guys to read! What's your advice for me?
RE: Writer's Corner General Discussion Thread
1. So you're a productive person. You like thinking of things, but when you get too far or too annoyed...you want to get rid of your work and start a new one. What do you do in this situation? Do you actually quit working on your latest story, or do you muscle through it?
This is an interesting question, because aside from what normally happens when a writer gets frustrated with their work, I don't actually quit working on it, or at least, stop working on developing or improving its core concept or idea. In the past, when I was still fairly new to the fiction writing scene, I would give up on my work and search for inspiration elsewhere. You might say I lack the initiative, but more often than not, it can surprise you as to how your first batch of literary works can actually be a source of inspiration later on through the years as your skills improve. One of my current projects, Eternal Shade, is currently being put on hold because I needed to add a secondary line of support to its core themes. As much as possible, I make it a personal challenge to not let a fictional work of mine shrivel to waste completely. In fact, most of the themes and ideas found in my past literary works that I published in Writer's Corner are being used in some form or another in my current list of projects. Too long and didn't read; no story dies if some of its central themes or concepts live on in another fictional work, regardless of its significance to the main plot.
2. I've sadly been ignoring my other stories. My Kalos one isn't bad, but I don't know how I'm going to keep entertainment going with the plot. I've thought about killing one of the main characters (or just putting him/her in a coma), but eh. My Hoenn one hasn't been updated in months; I just don't like it anymore. I'm writing chapters for a new story that, by the twentieth one, I will post on here for you guys to read! What's your advice for me?
If entertainment is a problem, then probably identifying the source of that thought will be an excellent point to start with. Is it because of the quality of your description? How about the character development? Have you considered plot sequencing? What about the timing of the key turning points? These are great questions to start with. Otherwise, if you have already identified the main source, then feel free to disregard this.
And this one is not necessarily much of an advice but one I think that may provide an interesting twist to your fictional works; next time you write something new or consider adding something to an existing plot, try taking some of the themes/ideas/concepts from your previous stories and find a way to incorporate them in your current projects. It does not matter what form they take or how much of an influential role they play in your main plotline. It can add more depth to your story, or not. It all depends on how you want to do it. The bottom line here, just try not to let ideas waste away without giving them a fair second chance to prove their potential again.
1. So you're a productive person. You like thinking of things, but when you get too far or too annoyed...you want to get rid of your work and start a new one. What do you do in this situation? Do you actually quit working on your latest story, or do you muscle through it?
This is an interesting question, because aside from what normally happens when a writer gets frustrated with their work, I don't actually quit working on it, or at least, stop working on developing or improving its core concept or idea. In the past, when I was still fairly new to the fiction writing scene, I would give up on my work and search for inspiration elsewhere. You might say I lack the initiative, but more often than not, it can surprise you as to how your first batch of literary works can actually be a source of inspiration later on through the years as your skills improve. One of my current projects, Eternal Shade, is currently being put on hold because I needed to add a secondary line of support to its core themes. As much as possible, I make it a personal challenge to not let a fictional work of mine shrivel to waste completely. In fact, most of the themes and ideas found in my past literary works that I published in Writer's Corner are being used in some form or another in my current list of projects. Too long and didn't read; no story dies if some of its central themes or concepts live on in another fictional work, regardless of its significance to the main plot.
2. I've sadly been ignoring my other stories. My Kalos one isn't bad, but I don't know how I'm going to keep entertainment going with the plot. I've thought about killing one of the main characters (or just putting him/her in a coma), but eh. My Hoenn one hasn't been updated in months; I just don't like it anymore. I'm writing chapters for a new story that, by the twentieth one, I will post on here for you guys to read! What's your advice for me?
If entertainment is a problem, then probably identifying the source of that thought will be an excellent point to start with. Is it because of the quality of your description? How about the character development? Have you considered plot sequencing? What about the timing of the key turning points? These are great questions to start with. Otherwise, if you have already identified the main source, then feel free to disregard this.
And this one is not necessarily much of an advice but one I think that may provide an interesting twist to your fictional works; next time you write something new or consider adding something to an existing plot, try taking some of the themes/ideas/concepts from your previous stories and find a way to incorporate them in your current projects. It does not matter what form they take or how much of an influential role they play in your main plotline. It can add more depth to your story, or not. It all depends on how you want to do it. The bottom line here, just try not to let ideas waste away without giving them a fair second chance to prove their potential again.
RE: Writer's Corner General Discussion Thread
That depends on the story and my reasons for wanting to stop it.
There are only a few stories that I've left unfinished in my time, most of them for reasons that I've discussed earlier in this thread, namely, overplanning and subsequent boredom. However, in all of those circumstances, save one*, the story has been either A) something purely for myself and never shared with others in person or online (I have a good amount of half-finished stories that fall into this category, some of which I plan on going back into at some point, some I don't), or 2) a long-running thing that had no real ending or much serious merit anyway (best example I can think of was a long-running farcical DBZ fanfic I used to post up on ff.net; it had a good amount of followers, but I ran out of ideas and didn't feel like continuing it anymore so I think I just killed everyone in a final short chapter and that was "the end").
If I'm writing for others, I generally try to be good about following through to the end; I feel my readers deserve it. The best example of that right now is pretty easy: Mysteries of the Forgotten Island. If I weren't writing that for here, I probably would have stopped writing it by now, not because it isn't interesting (I actually think it's coming along really well and I'm very proud of it), but because I still have Crimson Road to work on (and I feel so bad for neglecting it) and I've also been working on a really nice original story in my head that I would love to put down on paper. So, there's a lot of conflict about which story my brain wants to work on.
* - The only exception I can think of was actually a freeform, story-based RPG that I was running on another website. The setting was actually a world I'd created for a couple other novels of mine. The story was coming along well, and most of the players were engaged (though, like any (online) group, some players were more engaged than others), but.... well, I think on some level it's hard for a writer to relinquish control of something they've created to others. The RPG had only been going on for a few months when I realized that I had already finished the story in my head and I was railroading the players into the outcomes I'd already decided. As soon as I consciously acknowledged that I was doing that, I confessed about it to the players, apologized, and cancelled the game; it's no fair for people to "roleplay" in a completely railroaded scenario, and I didn't think I could GM this game without doing it. I did start to write it up as a story, but, because I'd already planned the whole thing, got bored and abandoned it early on. I'd always planned to write it up later, but now I've forgotten it all, and I didn't take many notes, so it's probably lost. :<
I think if you're not enjoying something anymore, you should let it go. Perhaps at some point it'll come back to you, but if you don't have any ideas for project X and you have tonnes of desire to work on project Y, why beat yourself up over X? You're not married to it. I think your gut has already made your choice for you by working on something new. And there's no rule saying you can go back and add more to the old if you get new ideas or you feel like working on it.
Turtwig said:
That depends on the story and my reasons for wanting to stop it.
There are only a few stories that I've left unfinished in my time, most of them for reasons that I've discussed earlier in this thread, namely, overplanning and subsequent boredom. However, in all of those circumstances, save one*, the story has been either A) something purely for myself and never shared with others in person or online (I have a good amount of half-finished stories that fall into this category, some of which I plan on going back into at some point, some I don't), or 2) a long-running thing that had no real ending or much serious merit anyway (best example I can think of was a long-running farcical DBZ fanfic I used to post up on ff.net; it had a good amount of followers, but I ran out of ideas and didn't feel like continuing it anymore so I think I just killed everyone in a final short chapter and that was "the end").
If I'm writing for others, I generally try to be good about following through to the end; I feel my readers deserve it. The best example of that right now is pretty easy: Mysteries of the Forgotten Island. If I weren't writing that for here, I probably would have stopped writing it by now, not because it isn't interesting (I actually think it's coming along really well and I'm very proud of it), but because I still have Crimson Road to work on (and I feel so bad for neglecting it) and I've also been working on a really nice original story in my head that I would love to put down on paper. So, there's a lot of conflict about which story my brain wants to work on.
* - The only exception I can think of was actually a freeform, story-based RPG that I was running on another website. The setting was actually a world I'd created for a couple other novels of mine. The story was coming along well, and most of the players were engaged (though, like any (online) group, some players were more engaged than others), but.... well, I think on some level it's hard for a writer to relinquish control of something they've created to others. The RPG had only been going on for a few months when I realized that I had already finished the story in my head and I was railroading the players into the outcomes I'd already decided. As soon as I consciously acknowledged that I was doing that, I confessed about it to the players, apologized, and cancelled the game; it's no fair for people to "roleplay" in a completely railroaded scenario, and I didn't think I could GM this game without doing it. I did start to write it up as a story, but, because I'd already planned the whole thing, got bored and abandoned it early on. I'd always planned to write it up later, but now I've forgotten it all, and I didn't take many notes, so it's probably lost. :<
I think if you're not enjoying something anymore, you should let it go. Perhaps at some point it'll come back to you, but if you don't have any ideas for project X and you have tonnes of desire to work on project Y, why beat yourself up over X? You're not married to it. I think your gut has already made your choice for you by working on something new. And there's no rule saying you can go back and add more to the old if you get new ideas or you feel like working on it.
RE: Writer's Corner General Discussion Thread
Each story I've promised to publish, I have scrapped; that is why I have resorted to poems. I can concisely state my thoughts/feelings and it doesn't take much work.
It's not that I am lazy, though. So many ideas flow through my mind, and when I think I have a story just right, it derails in favour of another idea (which, of course, changes).
All in all, I just throw them away. If I scrap it, or if I even begin to have doubts, I was never set on writing the story, anyway. A solid story takes dedication.
Turtwig said:
Each story I've promised to publish, I have scrapped; that is why I have resorted to poems. I can concisely state my thoughts/feelings and it doesn't take much work.
It's not that I am lazy, though. So many ideas flow through my mind, and when I think I have a story just right, it derails in favour of another idea (which, of course, changes).
All in all, I just throw them away. If I scrap it, or if I even begin to have doubts, I was never set on writing the story, anyway. A solid story takes dedication.
RE: Writer's Corner General Discussion Thread
Thanks to the encouragement, I have started writing the story that I will soon post here. I'll do so once I manage to get part one finished. I have two chapters completed! Until then, I'll put the Kalos story on hold and might finish it later. I'm really excited for this; I can't help but outline everything. There are a ton of characters, but that doesn't mean they'll all survive
Edit 5/29: Still working on part one. This will be really big if I ever start it up.
Thanks to the encouragement, I have started writing the story that I will soon post here. I'll do so once I manage to get part one finished. I have two chapters completed! Until then, I'll put the Kalos story on hold and might finish it later. I'm really excited for this; I can't help but outline everything. There are a ton of characters, but that doesn't mean they'll all survive
Edit 5/29: Still working on part one. This will be really big if I ever start it up.
RE: Writer's Corner General Discussion Thread
I read over almost everything that I type up and then decide to change it all. Usually, I end up focusing on clarity of a topic or sentence, but I often add some description in my writing as well. I've been getting better at that, but I just forget that sometimes the setting doesn't come as naturally to others as it does to me.
Questions for Readers and Writers
Question 15
This question goes out to all of you writers out there!
Have you ever gone back, read your post for a story or idea, and hated it so much you wished to revise it? How often do you revise your stories, and how do you think it compares to the original? Though the revision often is better than the original copy, what do you always need to add to that first draft?
Have you ever gone back, read your post for a story or idea, and hated it so much you wished to revise it? How often do you revise your stories, and how do you think it compares to the original? Though the revision often is better than the original copy, what do you always need to add to that first draft?
I read over almost everything that I type up and then decide to change it all. Usually, I end up focusing on clarity of a topic or sentence, but I often add some description in my writing as well. I've been getting better at that, but I just forget that sometimes the setting doesn't come as naturally to others as it does to me.
RE: Writer's Corner General Discussion Thread
Perfect question there
I love going back to revise my work (even my stories from ~2-3 years ago), though I loathe how childish and awkward my sentence structure looks after some time. Normally, it will be some amount of added description, clearer vocabulary, and editing sentence structure that I add each time. I tend to revise them every couple of months when I'm free (school inhibits this, but it's almost over). First drafts tend to have slightly wandering plots and some awkward holes as a result from my experience, so I also patch up things in that regard (everything needs to have a logical explanation or purpose).
Perfect question there
I love going back to revise my work (even my stories from ~2-3 years ago), though I loathe how childish and awkward my sentence structure looks after some time. Normally, it will be some amount of added description, clearer vocabulary, and editing sentence structure that I add each time. I tend to revise them every couple of months when I'm free (school inhibits this, but it's almost over). First drafts tend to have slightly wandering plots and some awkward holes as a result from my experience, so I also patch up things in that regard (everything needs to have a logical explanation or purpose).
RE: Writer's Corner General Discussion Thread
Great answer, and I completely agree! I have to do a school project during my entirety of high school, and I have to revise it at the end of each year. Once I read the essays from my Freshman year....let's just say I had to rewrite them! I always feel like I'm writing well in the present, but my future self is always somewhat disappointed in the mistakes I obviously make. Oh well, that's the curse of being a perfectionist!
Great answer, and I completely agree! I have to do a school project during my entirety of high school, and I have to revise it at the end of each year. Once I read the essays from my Freshman year....let's just say I had to rewrite them!
I always feel like I'm writing well in the present, but my future self is always somewhat disappointed in the mistakes I obviously make. Oh well, that's the curse of being a perfectionist!
RE: Writer's Corner General Discussion Thread
Oh, I most definitely revise, though more out of a desire for improvement than out of any kind of hatred or negative feelings towards my work. I try not to go back and change anything until after the work is completely finished (with the exception of major errors, or instances where "ohman, it would be really cool if X happened, but that means Y would have had to happen a couple chapters ago... let's go add that in quick"), but reading back over a work is a good way to gain perspective and improve. I think it's extra important for writers like me who do a like of writing on the seat of their pants, to make sure that everything flows smoothly in the final product. Even now, with Mysteries, there are plenty of things I would go back and revise if this were a standard work instead of a serial, public work. I'll probably make an "author's notes" section after the last update chronicling the changes I would have made, though I don't plan to go back and actually do them for this work.
I've never gotten beyond a single revision in anything I've written before, though that's mostly because the majority of the writing I do is for myself. When I get to the point where I start shipping out manuscripts, I'll probably be looking at 2-5 revisions, and with the promise of more to come if/when I'm ever picked up by a publisher. I always do feel my revisions are better, and they mostly involve tying up loose ends, solidifying characterization, etc. and so forth. I do a lot of sentence structure changes and so on as well, though I file that under the category of editing rather than revising.
... unless you're talking about essays, that is. I would never do more than one draft for any of my school essays, even if it was technically required.
Turtwig said:
Oh, I most definitely revise, though more out of a desire for improvement than out of any kind of hatred or negative feelings towards my work. I try not to go back and change anything until after the work is completely finished (with the exception of major errors, or instances where "ohman, it would be really cool if X happened, but that means Y would have had to happen a couple chapters ago... let's go add that in quick"), but reading back over a work is a good way to gain perspective and improve. I think it's extra important for writers like me who do a like of writing on the seat of their pants, to make sure that everything flows smoothly in the final product. Even now, with Mysteries, there are plenty of things I would go back and revise if this were a standard work instead of a serial, public work. I'll probably make an "author's notes" section after the last update chronicling the changes I would have made, though I don't plan to go back and actually do them for this work.
I've never gotten beyond a single revision in anything I've written before, though that's mostly because the majority of the writing I do is for myself. When I get to the point where I start shipping out manuscripts, I'll probably be looking at 2-5 revisions, and with the promise of more to come if/when I'm ever picked up by a publisher. I always do feel my revisions are better, and they mostly involve tying up loose ends, solidifying characterization, etc. and so forth. I do a lot of sentence structure changes and so on as well, though I file that under the category of editing rather than revising.
... unless you're talking about essays, that is. I would never do more than one draft for any of my school essays, even if it was technically required.
RE: Writer's Corner General Discussion Thread
Athena got me thinking for a bit, and I believe I do have a problem with developing and elaborating on characterization. So, how do you guys go about developing the characters of your finest works? Do you plan out everything ahead of time, dive in and let the characters guide you, etc.? This is probably one of the hardest parts of writing to get down well.
Athena got me thinking for a bit, and I believe I do have a problem with developing and elaborating on characterization. So, how do you guys go about developing the characters of your finest works? Do you plan out everything ahead of time, dive in and let the characters guide you, etc.? This is probably one of the hardest parts of writing to get down well.
RE: Writer's Corner General Discussion Thread
I know exactly what you mean, Uralya! Great question. I do a little of both characterization paths--I do at least my basic idea of the character on paper so that I can understand from what angle I want the audience to view that specific protagonist. However, one of the most exciting perks of writing is that, as you write, you get even more ideas that are in the context of what you're typing up at that very moment. So while I love seeing how the characters develop without my previous guidance, I think that if you don't at least have a decent idea (like the skeletal part of a back story) for a character, you can also get too caught up in the moment and forget about the grand scheme of things. One problem I have is that I like to add in twists during the writing process of a chapter, but since it wasn't in my original mindset, I often forget about it or leave small holes that I have to go back and fill up later.
TL;DR: Well, at least have an idea of a character's background. It's fun to watch him/her grow as you continue writing, though. Don't incarcerate the potential of your on-the-spot creativity, but don't let it go off in any particular direction.
I know exactly what you mean, Uralya! Great question. I do a little of both characterization paths--I do at least my basic idea of the character on paper so that I can understand from what angle I want the audience to view that specific protagonist. However, one of the most exciting perks of writing is that, as you write, you get even more ideas that are in the context of what you're typing up at that very moment. So while I love seeing how the characters develop without my previous guidance, I think that if you don't at least have a decent idea (like the skeletal part of a back story) for a character, you can also get too caught up in the moment and forget about the grand scheme of things. One problem I have is that I like to add in twists during the writing process of a chapter, but since it wasn't in my original mindset, I often forget about it or leave small holes that I have to go back and fill up later.
TL;DR: Well, at least have an idea of a character's background. It's fun to watch him/her grow as you continue writing, though. Don't incarcerate the potential of your on-the-spot creativity, but don't let it go off in any particular direction.
RE: Writer's Corner General Discussion Thread
I'm a very character-based writer, so I love putting a lot of thought into my characters, but I'm also very fond of watching to see what they do and how they develop on their own. Characters are often where my stories start, so I spend a lot of time thinking about them, developing personalities and back stories. This way, the characters start off with a firm foundation; the stronger they are in my mind, the less likely their characterization is to falter or go astray in the writing process. Once the actual story begins, I more or less let my characters react on their own to situations, which sometimes leads to interesting results, and of course people change as the story goes on as well. By the time a particular story is completed, I'll go back over and smooth out any kinks in characterization (sometimes characters end up reacting very different from how I'd pictured they would, requiring a few changes in the earlier story to make things more consistent).
I guess what I'm trying to say is that I do a lot of character planning, but only so that it helps the characters guide me through, instead of everything ending up in a puddle.
Uralya said:
I'm a very character-based writer, so I love putting a lot of thought into my characters, but I'm also very fond of watching to see what they do and how they develop on their own.
Characters are often where my stories start, so I spend a lot of time thinking about them, developing personalities and back stories. This way, the characters start off with a firm foundation; the stronger they are in my mind, the less likely their characterization is to falter or go astray in the writing process. Once the actual story begins, I more or less let my characters react on their own to situations, which sometimes leads to interesting results, and of course people change as the story goes on as well. By the time a particular story is completed, I'll go back over and smooth out any kinks in characterization (sometimes characters end up reacting very different from how I'd pictured they would, requiring a few changes in the earlier story to make things more consistent).I guess what I'm trying to say is that I do a lot of character planning, but only so that it helps the characters guide me through, instead of everything ending up in a puddle.
Uralya said:
Reading this in Turtwig's Savages got me thinking about people who say to avoid this specific vocabulary altogether. I can understand to avoid using it in every single instance but to avoid using the words entirely, I think, is a mistake. Every word can be used in some way. For example: say there is a very simple character. One that doesn't use very large words and leads a not-anything-special life. Wouldn't using these words in narration when relating to this simple character reinforce his 'simpleness'? Using extended words to explain a character, unless it's the thoughts of a well spoken protagonist, would seem out of place to me.
Also constantly using words that are pulled from a thesaurus would cause the story to go stale for me. Simpler, short words can go a long way in different paced sequences and situations.
I'm pretty sure that's been up for discussion in this thread before somewhere, since I'm pretty sure I've talked about it here, too, but there's no reason that "said" should be completely avoided, since it makes for very awkward dialogue. Simple words have just as much of a place as fancier terminology; they key is to use both in a balance that makes the dialogue flow easily. "Said" in particular is a nice example of this because on one hand it blends into the background very well and makes the dialogue itself stand out more, but overuse of it can make writing feel clumsy and juvenile.
"Said" is fine as long as it isn't overused besides, OU is boring in a certain chapter. I think the specific passage pointed out was one of my only chapters where I didn't use said (or I hope so, at least), but I only want to use it a couple times in each section I'm writing. To me, though, the more important words are those used right after "said"--even if you use it as your default, you can make it interesting with adding an explanation as to how that person said something.
"I don't love you at all," she said with a rude smirk on her face.
"Said" is okay because you're explaining more after it. Even better, you can slip in the word "said" without description every now and then to add variety. I kind of just forgot to
"I don't love you at all," she said with a rude smirk on her face.
"Said" is okay because you're explaining more after it. Even better, you can slip in the word "said" without description every now and then to add variety. I kind of just forgot to
This is also something I've picked up on over the years. Finding a balance is honestly something I find challenging given that I tend to use dialogue sparingly. I'm better at description and mood than the speech itself, so the 3:1 ratio just generally works for me due to how sparse it is; you just don't really see it enough.Athena said:
With the typical writer who uses more dialogue than I do, it could easily go 3:2, 4:3, and so on, as long as it isn't like 2:9 or something else resembling a one-sided boxing match. Dialogue is a tricky thing to balance until you get enough practice to know by instinct what the situation calls for.
Thanks for mentioning that ^-^
While reviewing the first chapter of my new story, I thought of this question. Does a character referenced as "the ____" and not given a name for awhile feel awkward to you as a reader? I feel as if it might be. Now that I'm considering the question, it sometimes has caught my attention in novels where a villain is introduced early or a minor character comes into play. Whatever label that character gets, does that make you think that they are something special unnecessarily, like the only one of his/her qualities in the world? Do you prefer a character not be anonymous and rather referenced by name if at all possible?
It can feel awkward, yes, but at the same time I don't want to sound too repetitive. I also know what you mean about the "special" qualities. With Pokemon, I usually just call them their species name (i.e. Turtwig is the "Tiny Leaf Pokemon"). However, humans don't have the luxury of being called a specific species because, well, they're all of the same species In that case, I just find some sort of descriptive way to identify each of them.
I like referencing characters by their names as long as they serve some sort of role. For example, in the anime, notice how some of the "major" characters of a specific episode are called by name. At the same time, at the Pokemon Center you won't find any names of unimportant people because they're only background characters. In my own stories, I only reference the important characters by their names. If I had to go through every single character, including those that maybe get a brief mention, that would be exhausting.
Hope my outlook has helped you in some way
In that case, I just find some sort of descriptive way to identify each of them. I like referencing characters by their names as long as they serve some sort of role. For example, in the anime, notice how some of the "major" characters of a specific episode are called by name. At the same time, at the Pokemon Center you won't find any names of unimportant people because they're only background characters. In my own stories, I only reference the important characters by their names. If I had to go through every single character, including those that maybe get a brief mention, that would be exhausting.
Hope my outlook has helped you in some way
Finally, we have been re-renamed to the Writers Café!