So You Want To Write Fanfictions on the Internet.. before we get started... My word is not gospel. Actually, gospel means 'good news' so my word is definitely not that. addenda, 12.12.09: first, yes, this list is primarily aimed at those relatively new to fanfic writing, but I think there's some advice that never goes out of style. second, there's not a single thing on this list I haven't done myself. 12.14.09: revisions will be ongoing through the next couple of days, thanks to your wonderful discussions & suggestions. keep them coming! so you want to write fanfictions on the internets. A loosely organized and certainly incomplete manifesto for you, Dear Writer, containing advice, suggestions, tips, positive affirmations, and a great many four letter words. You're writing for an enormous built-in audience. You're not as bad as you think you are. You're not as good as you think you are. Fanfiction is predicated on the collective knowledge and experience of the fandom. Perhaps most pet peevishly, folks, we know what s/he sounds like.
Blog Archive » Losing the plot, and finding it again ‘I have a great story, but I can’t seem to write it down.’ ‘I want to be a writer but I can never finish anything.’ ‘I’m OK at starting a book, but I get bogged down in the middle.’ I’ve lost count of the times I’ve heard the above from aspiring writers. - keeping control of the story - maintaining pace - holding it all together - finishing It often emerges that the writer has a story but not a plot. A story is not the same as a plot: A plot is the plan or structure you use to tell your story effectively. Both planners and pantsers need to plot. The more complex the story, the more carefully you need to plot: A linear story with a single thread may be relatively easy to plot. Each plot thread should make sense in itself and interweave with the others, not only convincingly, but in the most effective way for this kind of book. You can’t build the Opera House without a blueprint: Your plan needs to be written down. Colour-coding is useful. Keep a hold on story time: Voice is part of plotting:
Elements of Story - UPDATED by =illuminara Updated Mar. 18th 2009 The following is a self-discovered list of elements contained in an excellent story: An interesting and intriguing main character, an individual with a unique past that has made him who he is at the time of the story. This main character must have a story goal: a mission to accomplish, a mystery to solve, his past to reconcile, a villain to overthrow, a treasure to find, a person to save, etc. Along with this goal, the character must have an all-consuming desire that drives him to accomplish what he sets out to achieve. Fear. An enemy. Conflict or a clash of interests, which results in a fight. Suspense, especially building up to the final climax. A suitable and interesting setting and time period. Clarity. Believability. A twist or two. Climax. A satisfying--if not happy--ending. Lastly, if your story raises questions, be sure to answer all of them.
Works - Tales - The Philosophy of Composition [Text-02] [page 163, full page:] CHARLES DICKENS, in a note now lying before me, alluding to an examination I once made of the mechanism of “Barnaby Rudge,” says — “By the way, are you aware that Godwin wrote his ‘Caleb Williams’ backwards? He first involved his hero in a web of difficulties, forming the second volume, and then, for the first, cast about him for some mode of accounting for what had been done.” I cannot think this the precise mode of procedure on the part of Godwin — and indeed what he himself acknowledges, is not altogether in accordance with Mr. There is a radical error, I think, in the usual mode of constructing a story. I prefer commencing with the consideration of an effect. I have often thought how interesting a magazine paper might be written by any author who would — that is to say, who could — detail, step by step, the processes by which any one of his compositions attained its ultimate point of completion. We commence, then, with this intention.
Novel Writing Tips & Fundamentals - Storyfix.com C.S. Lewis’s Advice on Writing Well C.S. Lewis’s last interview was on May 7, 1963—six months before he died. One of Sherwood Wirt’s questions was on writing: “How would you suggest a young Christian writer go about developing a style?” Lewis responded: The way for a person to develop a style is (a) to know exactly what he wants to say, and (b) to be sure he is saying exactly that.The reader, we must remember, does not start by knowing what we mean. If our words are ambiguous, our meaning will escape him.I sometimes think that writing is like driving sheep down a road. (“Cross-Examination,” in C.S. Seven years earlier (June 26, 1956), Lewis responded to letter from an American girl named Joan with advice on writing: Always try to use the language so as to make quite clear what you mean and make sure your sentence couldn’t mean anything else.Always prefer the plain direct word to the long, vague one. (C.S. Copyright © 2014 by the author listed above.
Write or Die by Dr Wicked On Writing in the Morning In the morning, I don’t talk to anyone, nor do I think about certain things. I try to stay within certain confines. I imagine this as a narrow, shadowy corridor with dim bare walls. I’m moving down this corridor, getting to the place where I can write. I brush my teeth, get dressed, make the bed. I go down the hall into the kitchen. I fix a bowl of granola, laced with a bogus syrupy non-milk substitute. I eat standing up at the kitchen window. I live on the fifteenth floor, and this window faces west. I’ve turned the kettle on for coffee. I drink instant because I don’t care how it tastes, all I want is the kick. I don’t read the paper or listen to the news. So I don’t read the news or listen to it. The reason the morning is so important is that I’ve spent the night somewhere else. This is nowhere I can describe exactly, only that it’s mysterious and limitless, a place where the mind expands. The kettle shrills. I read a page or two, then close the book. This is the moment.
Mechanics of Writing + Writing TIps Okay, yall, I need more fandom-specific resources, but tell me what you think. Also, if you have any suggestions/complaints about the layout or anything, let me know. Mechanics of Writing / Writing Tips 10 Tips for Writing Sex A Dialogue Primer Creating Dazzling Dialogue English Lit Style Sheet Common Errors in English Usage Essays on Writing Mainly fan-fiction related, some Angel/BtVS related. How to Use Apostrophes How to Write a Sex Scene How to Write Dialogue, or Say What? Grammar Mishaps: Who vs Whom Guide to Grammar and Writing Guide to Grammar and Style Idioms in the English Language Mimiheart's List of Commonly Confused Words Minotaur's Sex Tips for Slash Writers One Look Dictionary The Perdue Online Writing Lab PoeWar: Writer’s Resource Center Writing Romantic Comedy Britishness American's guide to speaking British Compilation of the "All Things British Thread" at Sugarquill.netDescribes British life for non-British HP writers. English Slang and Colloquialisms Used in the United Kingdom Bandom HP Canon
25 Things Writers Should Stop Doing I read this cool article last week — “30 Things To Stop Doing To Yourself” — and I thought, hey, heeeey, that’s interesting. Writers might could use their own version of that. So, I started to cobble one together. And, of course, as most of these writing-related posts become, it ended up that for the most part I’m sitting here in the blog yelling at myself first and foremost. That is, then, how you should read this: me, yelling at me. Then go forth and kick your writing year in the teeth. Onto the list. 1. Right here is your story. 2. Momentum is everything. 3. You have a voice. 4. Worry is some useless shit. 5. The rise of self-publishing has seen a comparative surge forward in quantity. 6. I said “stop hurrying,” not “stand still and fall asleep.” 7. It’s not going to get any easier, and why should it? 8. 9. The mind is the writer’s best weapon. 10. Complaining — like worry, like regret, like that little knob on the toaster that tells you it’ll make the toast darker — does nothing. 11.