Writing Tips, Authors post your tips here Options

[Schizo Kaita]

In this topic, authors can post their tips on writing.
This is to help out other, beginning writers, so that they can reap the benefits of your experience as an author.

I'll start this off by giving my own tips:

1.A good story is mostly dependant of its main character. Think it over: what kind of a person is this? Is this a serious character, a humorous character, or perhaps an uncertain character? These things are more important than what your protagonist looks like. The personality of your hero will influence his choices in the story, and the outcome.
(Problems coming up with a character? Characters To Use is the most helpful topic!)

2.How can you tell it's a good story idea? If you're making up the story faster than you can write it, it's probably a good idea. Don't rush your story, though. More on this in the next tip.

3.When you're writing a story, you tend to get ahead of yourself: it's a great story, and you want to tell all of it at once. Each good idea that sparks in your head has to be on paper, you say to yourself. But by doing this, you might lose the clarity and atmosphere of your story. Restrain yourself of writing too fast. We don't all have Kakama's.

4.As I mentioned before, a good story has atmosphere. How do you create atmosphere? Simple enough: be descriptive: what is the surrounding scenery? Is it dark? Is it light? Is this a dangerous or rather a peaceful place? And most important of all: how does it make your character feel?

5.There are different ways of telling a story: you can tell everything from the perspective of your main character, or you flip from scene to scene, each time focussing on other events, that happen simultaneously.

6.Recommended, though not essential: use cliffhangers Ending a chapter with a mysterious element or ending it at the time the tension is at its heighest provides an extra effect: you can't wait to read the next chapter.

7.And last of all: chapter titles. Don't think these are unimportant. A chapter title often gives you a tip on what will happen next, but at the same time contains an element of mystery. For instance, a chapter title like 'a Noble Victory' reffers to a victory on the part of the good guys. But read it again: it also gives you a tip on how they achieve it.

That's about it for my tips. Feel free to contribute, that's what the topic's for.

This post has been edited by Schizo Kaita: Dec 3 2003, 03:44 PM