Tutorial Writing Tips - from someone who has worked in the publishing industry

[Melpomene]

Hello there!

I want to say that I love this thread and i think you for doing this for us people who are trying to become published authors! I am currently working on a series I put my heart and soul into as well, and I was wondering if you had any advice on writing a query letter to a literary agent?

Thank you again for this thread! It was very thoughtful of you!

 

[AEONmeteorite]

Melpomene

I'll be doing a large chapter on such things in the near future. There is so much information, I am pretty sure I couldn't even figure out how to compress it for you. When I do post that chapter, I'll tag you for every single part.

The advice I'll give today is that I wouldn't even worry about a query letter unless you've had it edited at least 15 times and read it about 50. Agents only want a, basically, finished product.

My future chapter will dive into what will make an agent want to snatch your book up.

 

[AEONmeteorite]

Chapter 1 (Part 2): Overused Plots and Clichés in General

When I was taking my animation courses, the first chapter in our textbook talked about plots. The first words that were written were, “Every story has been told.” Sure enough, I scoffed. That couldn’t be true. Stories were infinite.

And then, the book broke it down into a long list, but I’ll only put down a few:

Prince saves princess.
Superhero takes down super villain.
High School students fall in love.
Bullied by those who become their closest friends.


This list had about a hundred different plots on it. It began to make sense to me. Every story has been told. Especially if you break it down further:

Man vs Man
Man vs Self
Man vs Technology
Man vs Nature
Technology vs Technology

When you bring it back to the bare minimum, sure enough, every story has been told. It is how you tell it that will make all the difference. How you create and build up your characters. How outcomes are developed. You can tell Cinderella a million times and still come out with an original gem.

Why do I say all of this to you? That’s because I’m about to destroy many books some of you could be writing. Just because your book may be related to one of the items on this list, doesn’t mean it is going to be inherently bad, but it could be rejected due to the premise being overdone.

This list won’t even be all of the storylines and clichés I saw the most. They will be the ones off the top of my head. Thus, you should take heed to these ones, as they, in particular, rubbed all of us readers the wrong way because we grew sick of them.

Ahem!

Demon falls in love with angel.
Fallen angels in general.
Vampires (if they are the central focus.)
Werewolves (if they are the central focus.)
Dystopian
Utopians
Apocalyptic
Factions or separation among people such as Divergent and Hunger Games. (Technically Percy Jackson and Harry Potter as well.)
The Chosen One
Brought to another world (Isekai).
Prophecies that are the reason for progression in the story.
Zombies.
Plagues.
Death of parents prior to the story beginning.
Boss girl who needs no help from no man until she needs saving for “romantic tension”.
Dragons. (Yeah. Guess what? We’re bored of them.)
Magical Girls (This just doesn’t play well in a story format unless an animation has already been produced.)
Time travel.
7 deadly sins.
Lord of the Rings based.
Star Wars based.
Naruto based.
The main character that can never be defeated.
Villain who wants to take over the world. (Muah-hahhah!)
Embarrassing birthmark (you know everyone thinks it looks cool.)
Girls named Liz, Lizzie, Kate and Katie. (I don’t know why we ran into these specific four names over and over.)
Special charm necklace/bracelet given to main character is the key to everything.
An adventuring party finding each other at a tavern or adventuring guild.
Defeating the mother ship, alpha, head, King, etc, will defeat them all. (Beehive mindset.)
Harems.
High school students who have secret powers.
Elves – similar to LotR specifically.
Characters waking up at the beginning of the book.
“I know I’m meant for so much more.”
Protagonist who saves a world. (Seems like a strange one? Well, we don’t hate this one, but we would pick something over it. Think of the second Ant-man. The heroes are doing what they’re doing for their own reasons, not for the world. Even the villain has no intention of destroying the world. It’s unique.)
Shifters.
And...the cliché I hate by far the most out of everything I’ve ever read:
WOLVES AS PETS (we stopped counting how many books had wolves as pets at 200. There is a good reason as to why one of my coworkers was nicknamed, Wolf.)

I think I’ll stop there. All in all, I hope this list will help you dissect your own books and see what things you can twist around. Are you writing a book you feel like you’ve read before? Don’t quit. Make it different. Unlike anything the world has ever seen. Just remember, you need to portray your unique twist at the beginning. If a story appeared too unoriginal, we didn’t go in that deep.


LazyDaze

 

[Tartaglia]

I'm loving this thread so much qoq It provides such good information and insights especially to me who likes to write stories but just for kicks and funs if I have the spare time.

I'm never able to finish stories I write because there's always those 'filler paragraphs' that are a bore to write so there would be a smooth transition to before a major event that can affect the plot will happen oof but its also mostly because I lack motivation to continue it

Even with that said, I'll still continue following this thread for future references! Who knows, maybe I'll open up a dusty draft document and think of continuing on writing it again c:

It would mean a lot to me if you can also tag me in your next updates uwu Thank you for your time and effort!

 

[LazyDaze]

Chapter 1 (Part 2): Overused Plots and Clichés in General

When I was taking my animation courses, the first chapter in our textbook talked about plots. The first words that were written were, “Every story has been told.” Sure enough, I scoffed. That couldn’t be true. Stories were infinite.

And then, the book broke it down into a long list, but I’ll only put down a few:

Prince saves princess.
Superhero takes down super villain.
High School students fall in love.
Bullied by those who become their closest friends.


This list had about a hundred different plots on it. It began to make sense to me. Every story has been told. Especially if you break it down further:

Man vs Man
Man vs Self
Man vs Technology
Man vs Nature
Technology vs Technology

When you bring it back to the bare minimum, sure enough, every story has been told. It is how you tell it that will make all the difference. How you create and build up your characters. How outcomes are developed. You can tell Cinderella a million times and still come out with an original gem.

Why do I say all of this to you? That’s because I’m about to destroy many books some of you could be writing. Just because your book may be related to one of the items on this list, doesn’t mean it is going to be inherently bad, but it could be rejected due to the premise being overdone.

This list won’t even be all of the storylines and clichés I saw the most. They will be the ones off the top of my head. Thus, you should take heed to these ones, as they, in particular, rubbed all of us readers the wrong way because we grew sick of them.

Ahem!

Demon falls in love with angel.
Fallen angels in general.
Vampires (if they are the central focus.)
Werewolves (if they are the central focus.)
Dystopian
Utopians
Apocalyptic
Factions or separation among people such as Divergent and Hunger Games. (Technically Percy Jackson and Harry Potter as well.)
The Chosen One
Brought to another world (Isekai).
Prophecies that are the reason for progression in the story.
Zombies.
Plagues.
Death of parents prior to the story beginning.
Boss girl who needs no help from no man until she needs saving for “romantic tension”.
Dragons. (Yeah. Guess what? We’re bored of them.)
Magical Girls (This just doesn’t play well in a story format unless an animation has already been produced.)
Time travel.
7 deadly sins.
Lord of the Rings based.
Star Wars based.
Naruto based.
The main character that can never be defeated.
Villain who wants to take over the world. (Muah-hahhah!)
Embarrassing birthmark (you know everyone thinks it looks cool.)
Girls named Liz, Lizzie, Kate and Katie. (I don’t know why we ran into these specific four names over and over.)
Special charm necklace/bracelet given to main character is the key to everything.
An adventuring party finding each other at a tavern or adventuring guild.
Defeating the mother ship, alpha, head, King, etc, will defeat them all. (Beehive mindset.)
Harems.
High school students who have secret powers.
Elves – similar to LotR specifically.
Characters waking up at the beginning of the book.
“I know I’m meant for so much more.”
Protagonist who saves a world. (Seems like a strange one? Well, we don’t hate this one, but we would pick something over it. Think of the second Ant-man. The heroes are doing what they’re doing for their own reasons, not for the world. Even the villain has no intention of destroying the world. It’s unique.)
Shifters.
And...the cliché I hate by far the most out of everything I’ve ever read:
WOLVES AS PETS (we stopped counting how many books had wolves as pets at 200. There is a good reason as to why one of my coworkers was nicknamed, Wolf.)

I think I’ll stop there. All in all, I hope this list will help you dissect your own books and see what things you can twist around. Are you writing a book you feel like you’ve read before? Don’t quit. Make it different. Unlike anything the world has ever seen. Just remember, you need to portray your unique twist at the beginning. If a story appeared too unoriginal, we didn’t go in that deep.


LazyDaze

This was actually a subject that worries me a lot. I feel like I added original twists to my story but i understand it might se cliche at first so my worry was that it may not hold out enough for readers to see the payoff of having cliches turned on their heads. Well maybe it’s not that dramatic. Anyways yeah that’s some good advice and a lot of stories have been done before. I originally had a tragic backstory but feeling it was overdone u decided to have my character leech off his parents until they get tired of him lol

 

[Melpomene]

Okay, a little off topic, but I have always wanted to ask , do you see cliche trends based on what is currently popular? Like, for example, the zombies cliche. I feel like zombies really were not popular until The Walking Dead, and that is when the market became oversaturated.

So, like, have you seen an influx in stories that are like Game of Thrones due to the recent success of Game of Thrones? Like, I for one ended up feeling really mean because I was helping a few friends with their writings and when I read their first chapter, I felt like I was reading a GoT fanfic with the names changed, and I basically advised them to change it (didn't actually say those exact words, just advised them to change it. Still feel really bad though, because I saw them deflate >.<). But I noticed that happened when GoT was kind of at the height of its popularity, so I was wondering if your company has had an influx in stories like that. Like, I feel like the wolves as pets cliche cannot have been helped by Game of Thrones with its Direwolves for the Starks, haha.

So TL; DR: I am basically wondering if you get an influx of stories that are very reminiscent or read like fanfiction of whatever is popular at the time.

But thank you for that! I know some of those cliches I am tired of reading about, and it is not even my job to read about them! It makes me a little worried that some details of my own series are a little reminiscent of some of those cliches, it... it is harder than many think to make something completely void of cliches haha.

But overall you have been helping to give me hope with this thread. Knowing the industry will help to better understand how to make something and sell my story in a way which publishers will want it. I have already been told not to let rejection get me too far in the dumps if/when it happens and to simply try again, whether it be with another agent/company or another project, so I already knew it would be a bit of a hard and grueling process, but this thread makes it that much easier to manage.

So I bid thee thanks, OP!

 

[AEONmeteorite]

Melpomene

Yes and no. From the beginning of the company's establishment, they always had a surplus of wolves as pets. As well as angels and demons and many others. But, yes to things like zombies. They already had a fair amount of post-apocalyptic and when zombies got involved, the two just meshed together. From what we put together, it was even Twilight that caused the uproar of vampire books, we haven't a single idea where that came from.

The best way to put it is that no, these tropes seem to come constantly, but yes because what comes out makes them far worse.

 

[AEONmeteorite]

Chapter 2 (Part 1): The Dreaded Writer’s Block

I’ve been asked this question a lot. What do you do to fish yourself out of writer’s block? This is something that needs to be addressed, especially if you are in a crunch time with a publishing company. I have found that everyone experiences writer’s block in different ways. For me, it is the same feeling I receive when I haven’t been able draw for an extended amount of time. (More than a day.) I define it as someone taking a knife to my chest and slowly twisting it whenever the urge erupts inside me. I feel broken, shattered and all around, awkward.

Yet, no matter how much it hurts, for some strange reason, your writing is at a standstill. This will be a two-part chapter to help you trek out of your miserable state. For this first part, I am going to touch on something that many workshops and authors never talk about.

Health.

I’m an animator, artist, writer, web designer, songwriter and so many more things that involve me sitting. Sitting is unhealthy as is, especially if you’re sitting for majority of the day. I do not believe many writers realize just how destructive this is on, not just their bodies, but as well as their minds.

I’m not a doctor. I have no authority over those fields. I do however do have an uncle with three PhDs that all involve the human body (specifically knowledge about what I am talking about.) Everything I relay from him will be put in simple and ignorant terms. Luckily, I have experienced this myself on many occasions, so I at least have garnered an understanding of that.

As we all know, the brain shoots off chemicals and hormones. It helps feed our emotions and functions in our body. I’m going to tell you right now, sitting alone, in a room of some sort, staring at a screen, trying to scratch at your imagination everyday will impair your writing. You’ll get antsy. Back could start hurting. No position feels comfortable and your focus isn’t there.

Get up, get active and get outside. Adding exercise into your imagination diet will help focus your brain and remove the ravaging clouds getting in the way of your creativity. This doesn’t mean doing something you don’t enjoy. Choose what works for you. A walk, ultimate Frisbee, kick a ball around, score some hoops, take a bike ride, go hike a scenic trail, paddle board. Don’t do something that you find exhaustingly boring.

I choose to run three to six miles every morning. I’ve been running since I was in elementary school. What’s more is that I am terrible at sports. Not because I’m inactive, but because I’ll just stop playing the game and start imagining on a whim. Due to this, I’ve been hit in the face countless times by balls and plowed into by bodies. There was one time kept running, not paying any attention, fiddling in my own mind, and rammed my head into a classmate’s arm and broke it. I don’t do sports. But, I don’t need to worry about any balls or humans when it comes to running. Besides the occasional car.

If I’m feeling extra creative bound, I’ll wait for the night to come around and sprint, prance and skip across a nearby field. Which, in some ways, is embarrassing to say, as I do so during the dark hour to prevent people from watching.

When I was in the industry, we had the option to be paid to workout every other day. There was a small gym there, along with showers, as they would be needed. I wasn’t around when they had created their gym. But, from what they told me, they had decided to put it in after a large amount of health issues rose from their employees: Diabetes, heart issues, joint pain and even hair loss. They investigated the situation and the decision was made to put in a gym. Not only did it seem the health of some of their employees got better, their workloads were sifted through much faster with more efficacy. Everyone appeared happier. It’s like the workplace changed in a snap. (No, not you Thanos.)

Being active also shoots out positive chemicals and hormones in your brain. Such as dopamine, which helps with mood, sleep, memory, concentration and all around can make a human happy.

As well, try to get plenty of sleep. We all know this is important. I am an insomniac, such a terrible one that I baffled my doctors, but even I manage to get at least seven hours in.

∆∆∆​

Next up is nutrition. A lot of our health derives from the things we eat. I have many writer friends who I see either eat junk food and way too much of it, or, they eat hardly anything at all. I can’t say I’m perfect. I actually hate eating, I think it is nasty unless I really love the food or I’m entertained by something else to distract myself. Both directions are unhealthy.

Do some of you remember taking end of year tests at school? I’d have some classes that would give out different kinds of treats and call it, “brain food”. That isn’t all too farfetched. Taking in your nutrients helps your brain function, eyes sting less and prevents muscle flare-ups. All things that could set back your writing if they’re not taken care of.

It is important to eat your veggies and fruits. Find a good way to take in iron that suits your needs. You should even have some carbs in you. Drink plenty of water. I hate water and I still force myself to down the tasteless stuff. It isn’t a bad idea to go to your family doctor and check up with blood tests. This doesn’t mean that you need to buy loads of supplements once you receive the results, but it can give you a clear idea where you’re lacking.

Altogether, your health is a huge factor on your mental energy and creativity. People have asked how I am so tired when all I did was write. There have been studies that show the body wears out when the mind is being used for extended amounts of time. Feed your brain, relieve your energy and be active. Be healthy.

Part 2 will go into the tools you can use to break Writer’s block.

Tartaglia

 

[AEONmeteorite]

Chapter 2 (Part 2): The Dreaded Writer’s Block

Last chapter we talked about how your health can greatly benefit your writing adventures. I get it though, no one likes to be told they need to be active and eat better. There are tools and exercises you can use to help crawl out of your writer’s block and we will be burrowing into those topics in this part 2.


1. Pure dialogue between two random characters.
This is a great exercise I use on a regular basis. It’s as simple as it sounds. Grab two of your characters, any of them. It doesn’t matter if it does not match your story. Think of a topic or situation you can put them in and begin writing dialogue only. (Add speaking tags so you don’t become confused on who is speaking.) Not only will you flesh out your characters, but you’ll also stretch your creative muscles.

The situations you put them in could be endless. They could debate if mer-icorns are real, if honey tastes good, a past endeavor one of them went through, anything. Always save these pure dialogue moments, you never know if a part of one of them may actually be a good insert in your story.

Remember, any characters can do. You could even pair a baby with the villain where one character is only speaking to him self. Who knows?


2. Observe
Humans are a fickle thing. They always bend and change like waves passing through seaweed. Go out to a park, mall or take some time during lunch in a cafeteria and study the people around you. Watch their movements, expressions, how they eat, talk.

You can take this a step further and attempt to imagine them as something other than human. One girl maybe a fairy, a man could be an elf, a nymph is in the corner sipping on a carton of apple juice, she must think it’s nectar.

Use the people around you to whip up weird characters.


3. Break the norm.
No, I’m not talking about breaking the social norm that we learn in psychology. I’m talking about shifting the world around you, similar to what I talked about above. This is something I have no problems doing, because I am always doing this.

Whether you are on a drive, hiking, walking a city; take the objects and nature around you and alter it in your mind. Lampposts are fairies flying with lanterns. Mountains are wise men with vegetation as beard. Clouds are dragons trying to pretend they are a natural phenomenon. Make the world around you imaginative and it should translate into your writing.

Like I said, I’m always doing this. There isn’t a moment I am not imagining. I explain to my family that there is always a night sky with planets orbiting above me, every second of the day, I don’t let a moment go to waste.


4. Listen to conversations.
This was an exercise we did regularly in my creative writing classes back when I was a teenager. We were encouraged to walk the halls and write any sentence that stands out to us. Cute love confessions, deaths in someone’s family, friends reuniting after break, I heard it all. And, often times, they made out to be fantastic lines for future books.

The golden line I stumbled upon was, “I’m so happy, I could stick pickles up my nose!” I don’t know what she was ecstatic about. I haven’t a single idea on why she’d find such an activity enjoyable. But, you could imagine how much my teacher was taken aback when I read that out loud from my short story to the entire class.


5. Draw.
Please, for those who know/remember that I am an artist before a writer, don’t think I expect you to make something extravagant. (But if you can, awesome!) Doodle out characters or objects in your book. Wands, amulets, etc, or perhaps you want to draw landscape from your story.

It doesn’t need to be good, just enough that you know what is going on. And, in the long run, they’d be perfect to handoff to your future illustrator. No matter how good a drawing is, anything that can help us better decipher your mind, the better the art comes out.

So, take out a pencil, a scrape piece of paper and have some fun.


6. Read.
Not only does reading help your grammar, punctuation and overall story development, it can also invoke creativity. This isn’t to say that you should copy for the stories you are reading. Surrounding yourself with imagination will likely pull yours out. This works as well if you watch T.V., go to a movie, a play, etc.


7. Be a child, go play again.
There was a quote circulating that said, “At some point in your childhood, you and your friends went out to play together for the last time, and nobody knew it.”

I don’t know about you, but reading that is heart wrenching. It happened to just about every single one of us. I remember, on one occasion, two of my old friends came to visit me. We were in high school at the time. It was snowing and we all wanted to go out into the white blanket that covered our world. So, we did. We got on the topic of playing and decided right there that we would play again. We conjured up characters and a situation. It led us army crawling through the snow as we looked for an elusive beast.

I got to play again. I remember smiling so much that day that my cheeks ached the next morning. I thought I’d be embarrassed or that it’d feel strange. And then I realized, it was just improv.

Improv and acting are adult versions of ‘play’, and they are gold when it comes to writer’s block. Whether you’re alone or with another writer friend, act out your scenes. Stand up and do it. Try to match how your character’s shoulders would move. Do they bounce around like Hiccup’s from How to Train Your Dragon? Do they stay still, as if they are a soldier awaiting war? Do they move their hands when they speak? Have a limp? A lisp?

Act all of it out, even if you only feel comfortable doing so in the shower. It’ll break away from the mindless typing you’ve pushed yourself to do.


8. Talk to someone else about your story.
Of course, make sure it is someone you trust. Someone who enjoys listening. I have this immaculate husband who can’t stand reading, but he loves audiobooks. So, when I tell him about my own stories, he is enthralled and devours every word. He helps me take a part scenes I’m unsure of, or points out bits I never realized and helps me have those, ah-ha, moments.


9. Nature is creation.
You can never go wrong getting away from humans, cities, cars and all the hustle and bustle. Nature is the epitome of creation. Surround yourself in it. The fragrance, the sound of bugs, the way the light cascades along a river, the dancing of leaves in the wind, animals scurrying about, the feel of rough bark on your skin, everything.


10. Leave.
If nothing else, leave your story be. Go start a new one. Most authors have 2-5 different projects they are working on and if you’re stuck on one jump to another. But, never stop writing. The moment you give yourself a break, everything becomes far tougher in the future.


11. You guessed it, role play, specifically on RPNation.
Roleplaying is similar to acting. It is improv for through our fingertips and the keyboard. It isn’t uncommon for me to use characters from my books to figure out how they’d react in certain situations. I recently put a character in a role play with someone, and she has changed in dramatic ways and I love how she is coming out. I wouldn’t have thought about how she’d be like if it hadn’t been for the role play.

It is also helpful that everyone you role play with on here are strangers (usually). You could be on opposite sides of the world. Who knows, maybe someone is secretly from mars. It is a place to gather with people who have similar interests as you and that, in of it self, can keep you writing when you’re stuck in your own story.


I do hope that one of these tools will help guide you in the future and that you never quit writing.







Tartaglia

 

[AEONmeteorite]

Chapter 3: How to Enhance your Writing

There are simple steps you can take that will help you make leaps and bounds in your writing. They’re easy and take a snap to alter. I plan to make a chapter in the future that will hit more of professional standard writing.

1. Avoid –ly Adverbs
Curiously. Franticly. Ecstatically. Happily. Gladly. Sadly. Angrily. Etc-ly.

Avoiding –ly words causes your writing to push towards other means of describing things. Of course, there is always room for exceptions. Sometimes –ly words are a must, but so long as you are intentionally trying to skip out on them, most will disappear. (See there, intentionally.)


2 .Never use 'really' or 'very' in narration and limit it in dialogue.
These two words aren’t great. They are non-descriptive words that describe more of something. They loosen the hold on emotions you have with your readers. Thus, more people will lose interest and close your book.


3 .Sum up the two above: SHOW DON’T TELL
Here is why you don’t want to use really, very or many –ly adverbs.

Which sentences sound better to you:
“Well, you never know when I might win,” he said and smiled creepily.

Or

“Well, you never know when I might win,” he said as the corners of his mouth crept upwards into a sly smile.



You see how descriptive that is and how much more you can imagine it. How about these two:
Everything tumbled onto her like a bag of bricks as she heard of her mother’s death. “It really hurts,” she muttered and clung onto the fabric of her shirt near her chest. Her heart felt painful and the rhythm was very much off.

Or

Everything tumbled onto her like a bag of bricks as she heard of her mother’s death. “This hurts,” she muttered and clung onto the fabric of her shirt near her chest. Her heart ached. The rhythm didn’t sit well with her.

In this instance, fewer words equal powerful emotions. Removing unneeded fluff adds this pang of understanding. This is especially true when she refers it as, “this hurts.” The reader is unsure if it is her heart or the situation, either way, both would be true. This layers on that extra painful feel.

Spend even more time describing the situation. Let’s think of things someone would do after learning her beloved mother has passed away:

Shaking.
Bottom lip trembling.
Rocking back and forth.
Rapid, shaking and/or sharp breathing.
Emotional ticks, such as tapping their foot over and over.
Irrational outbursts.
Pacing.
Denial.
Tightened jaw, clenched fists, furrowed brows, wrinkled nose. People can become aggressive during these situations.

There are so many emotions that pour out of someone, show them to your readers.



4. Take advantage of formatting.
When I put a period here. And here. There. All around the room, you see punctuation. You see formatting. Clever placement. Making you read in a certain way. My way. How I want you to read.

Let’s slow it down, take a moment and relax a bit. Let your eyes rest as your breathing descends into gradual sighs. We will play a song that will help you rest, filled with melodies and extended sentences to help slow the pace.

Do you see what I did there? Formatting how you write will push emotions into your readers. Quick, short sentences make a reader feel on edge, awkward and ready to pounce at the next word. While long sentences that consist of shallow punctuation, such as commas, adds a sense of comfort. They’re not as grinding to read. It is best to put long sentences in times of relaxing, dwelling or overall normality at the moment.

Generally, you want to mix the two up. Having too much of one or the other can be chore for the reader. And, in real life situations, we flip between the two on a regular basis. On occasion though, when you want that umph during a certain part of your writing, lean far to one side or the other.


5. Wordfind rocks, use it.
You’re writing your story. You’re about, let’s say, 50,000 words in and as you write, you stumble upon a word you swear you’ve used recently. Well, the best thing you can do is search for that word and see if you have. Only to find out that it is said at least once on every single page. Oops.

Everyone has a few words they overuse. Of course, there are words you will use often. Such as: the, of, it, a, that, etc. The words you need to worry about are the large guys. I have a list that I keep of words that I use too frequently. Every time I finish a story, I’ll do a word search for these guys and sift the ones I find unnecessary out or replace it with something more descriptive than it was before. Here are a few I use way too much:

Curious
Reflect
Relinquish
Echo
Step
Sprint
Terror

They’re all great words, but they shouldn’t be peeking around every corner I turn. Wordfind is also great at helping you find your really’s and very’s. To this day, I don’t have a single really or very in my series, unless a character, which I believe would say it, does.


Those are my five tips on enhancing our writing in a snap!



Tartaglia

 

[AEONmeteorite]

If you wish to be tagged on any future posts on this thread, please quote this post and say, "Aye!" I'll add you to a list so you are aware of all updates.

 

[Idea]

Chapter 2 (Part 2): The Dreaded Writer’s Block

Last chapter we talked about how your health can greatly benefit your writing adventures. I get it though, no one likes to be told they need to be active and eat better. There are tools and exercises you can use to help crawl out of your writer’s block and we will be burrowing into those topics in this part 2.


1. Pure dialogue between two random characters.
This is a great exercise I use on a regular basis. It’s as simple as it sounds. Grab two of your characters, any of them. It doesn’t matter if it does not match your story. Think of a topic or situation you can put them in and begin writing dialogue only. (Add speaking tags so you don’t become confused on who is speaking.) Not only will you flesh out your characters, but you’ll also stretch your creative muscles.

The situations you put them in could be endless. They could debate if mer-icorns are real, if honey tastes good, a past endeavor one of them went through, anything. Always save these pure dialogue moments, you never know if a part of one of them may actually be a good insert in your story.

Remember, any characters can do. You could even pair a baby with the villain where one character is only speaking to him self. Who knows?


2. Observe
Humans are a fickle thing. They always bend and change like waves passing through seaweed. Go out to a park, mall or take some time during lunch in a cafeteria and study the people around you. Watch their movements, expressions, how they eat, talk.

You can take this a step further and attempt to imagine them as something other than human. One girl maybe a fairy, a man could be an elf, a nymph is in the corner sipping on a carton of apple juice, she must think it’s nectar.

Use the people around you to whip up weird characters.


3. Break the norm.
No, I’m not talking about breaking the social norm that we learn in psychology. I’m talking about shifting the world around you, similar to what I talked about above. This is something I have no problems doing, because I am always doing this.

Whether you are on a drive, hiking, walking a city; take the objects and nature around you and alter it in your mind. Lampposts are fairies flying with lanterns. Mountains are wise men with vegetation as beard. Clouds are dragons trying to pretend they are a natural phenomenon. Make the world around you imaginative and it should translate into your writing.

Like I said, I’m always doing this. There isn’t a moment I am not imagining. I explain to my family that there is always a night sky with planets orbiting above me, every second of the day, I don’t let a moment go to waste.


4. Listen to conversations.
This was an exercise we did regularly in my creative writing classes back when I was a teenager. We were encouraged to walk the halls and write any sentence that stands out to us. Cute love confessions, deaths in someone’s family, friends reuniting after break, I heard it all. And, often times, they made out to be fantastic lines for future books.

The golden line I stumbled upon was, “I’m so happy, I could stick pickles up my nose!” I don’t know what she was ecstatic about. I haven’t a single idea on why she’d find such an activity enjoyable. But, you could imagine how much my teacher was taken aback when I read that out loud from my short story to the entire class.


5. Draw.
Please, for those who know/remember that I am an artist before a writer, don’t think I expect you to make something extravagant. (But if you can, awesome!) Doodle out characters or objects in your book. Wands, amulets, etc, or perhaps you want to draw landscape from your story.

It doesn’t need to be good, just enough that you know what is going on. And, in the long run, they’d be perfect to handoff to your future illustrator. No matter how good a drawing is, anything that can help us better decipher your mind, the better the art comes out.

So, take out a pencil, a scrape piece of paper and have some fun.


6. Read.
Not only does reading help your grammar, punctuation and overall story development, it can also invoke creativity. This isn’t to say that you should copy for the stories you are reading. Surrounding yourself with imagination will likely pull yours out. This works as well if you watch T.V., go to a movie, a play, etc.


7. Be a child, go play again.
There was a quote circulating that said, “At some point in your childhood, you and your friends went out to play together for the last time, and nobody knew it.”

I don’t know about you, but reading that is heart wrenching. It happened to just about every single one of us. I remember, on one occasion, two of my old friends came to visit me. We were in high school at the time. It was snowing and we all wanted to go out into the white blanket that covered our world. So, we did. We got on the topic of playing and decided right there that we would play again. We conjured up characters and a situation. It led us army crawling through the snow as we looked for an elusive beast.

I got to play again. I remember smiling so much that day that my cheeks ached the next morning. I thought I’d be embarrassed or that it’d feel strange. And then I realized, it was just improv.

Improv and acting are adult versions of ‘play’, and they are gold when it comes to writer’s block. Whether you’re alone or with another writer friend, act out your scenes. Stand up and do it. Try to match how your character’s shoulders would move. Do they bounce around like Hiccup’s from How to Train Your Dragon? Do they stay still, as if they are a soldier awaiting war? Do they move their hands when they speak? Have a limp? A lisp?

Act all of it out, even if you only feel comfortable doing so in the shower. It’ll break away from the mindless typing you’ve pushed yourself to do.


8. Talk to someone else about your story.
Of course, make sure it is someone you trust. Someone who enjoys listening. I have this immaculate husband who can’t stand reading, but he loves audiobooks. So, when I tell him about my own stories, he is enthralled and devours every word. He helps me take a part scenes I’m unsure of, or points out bits I never realized and helps me have those, ah-ha, moments.


9. Nature is creation.
You can never go wrong getting away from humans, cities, cars and all the hustle and bustle. Nature is the epitome of creation. Surround yourself in it. The fragrance, the sound of bugs, the way the light cascades along a river, the dancing of leaves in the wind, animals scurrying about, the feel of rough bark on your skin, everything.


10. Leave.
If nothing else, leave your story be. Go start a new one. Most authors have 2-5 different projects they are working on and if you’re stuck on one jump to another. But, never stop writing. The moment you give yourself a break, everything becomes far tougher in the future.


11. You guessed it, role play, specifically on RPNation.
Roleplaying is similar to acting. It is improv for through our fingertips and the keyboard. It isn’t uncommon for me to use characters from my books to figure out how they’d react in certain situations. I recently put a character in a role play with someone, and she has changed in dramatic ways and I love how she is coming out. I wouldn’t have thought about how she’d be like if it hadn’t been for the role play.

It is also helpful that everyone you role play with on here are strangers (usually). You could be on opposite sides of the world. Who knows, maybe someone is secretly from mars. It is a place to gather with people who have similar interests as you and that, in of it self, can keep you writing when you’re stuck in your own story.


I do hope that one of these tools will help guide you in the future and that you never quit writing.







Tartaglia

In one of the editions from the podcast "Writing Excuses", which includes a few renowned authors such as the I believe already mentioned Brandon Sanderson, one advice they shared was to keep writing. "Hands on the keyboard" I believe they called it, that maybe you don't need to write the scene in question or maybe not even from your work at all, but you need to keep yourself writing.

One needs to build good habits- a body that gets used to having discipline instead of relying on moments of inspiration does not get as dependent on feeling motivated or feeling inspired and does not build up the laziness of just waiting around for those moments of motivation, that can make it even harder to get yourself to write and makes for a vicious circle of procrastination. I've taken the advice above mentioned to heart, and while I've expanded upon it, I still believe this to be true.

That said, while I understand maybe your post just wasn't meant to be comprehensive, I can't help but wonder if you disagree with it.

 

[Idea]

4. Take advantage of formatting.
When I put a period here. And here. There. All around the room, you see punctuation. You see formatting. Clever placement. Making you read in a certain way. My way. How I want you to read.

Let’s slow it down, take a moment and relax a bit. Let your eyes rest as your breathing descends into gradual sighs. We will play a song that will help you rest, filled with melodies and extended sentences to help slow the pace.

Do you see what I did there? Formatting how you write will push emotions into your readers. Quick, short sentences make a reader feel on edge, awkward and ready to pounce at the next word. While long sentences that consist of shallow punctuation, such as commas, adds a sense of comfort. They’re not as grinding to read. It is best to put long sentences in times of relaxing, dwelling or overall normality at the moment.

Generally, you want to mix the two up. Having too much of one or the other can be chore for the reader. And, in real life situations, we flip between the two on a regular basis. On occasion though, when you want that umph during a certain part of your writing, lean far to one side or the other.

Ah, now this is something I really love doing with my posts when I roleplay, though I do get this thought in the back of my head, because I can never be sure I am really communicating what I think I am. Are there any tips regarding knowing, prior to beta readers, whether tricks like these are coming across as intended, or do you just have to go with your gut?

 

[LazyDaze]

If you wish to be tagged on any future posts on this thread, please quote this post and say, "Aye!" I'll add you to a list so you are aware of all updates.

AYE

 

[AEONmeteorite]

Idea

I do agree with such. That's why I mention that many authors have 2-5 projects they're working on as well as writing the pure dialogue moments. There does come a point where forcing yourself to write can go too far though. I can recount multiple times where I have writing friends that burn themselves out and quit their book altogether.

I also mention this on the 10th words of advice: "But, never stop writing. The moment you give yourself a break, everything becomes far tougher in the future."

It's about know yourself and figuring out whether or not only rubbish is pouring out of your writing. It will be a pain to edit something that you only did because you are forcing yourself to write. Straining your creative muscles too much can be a burden on future endeavors. And, from my own experience, if I'm unable to hop between projects, not much good comes from my writing.

 

[Idea]

Oh and AEONmeteorite . One often hears the phrase "write what you know", and I was wondering to what extent a publishing company would take the idea.

For instance, in the last NANOWRIMO my attempted entry was a story about a father (well, there was way more to it than that, but for now that's what's relevant). I'm a 20 year old guy whose never even had a girlfriend, so naturally I don't have any experience with fatherhood either. While I don't think a company would discriminate based on personal background (at least if it's something as non-scandalous as that), I do think it might become quite appearant as likely even with the research I did I might not write a convincing or accurate portrayl of a parent-child relationship.

So my question would be how big of an issue that would be, if we assume I at least otherwise did the characters and their dynamic right?

PS: Thank you for doing all of this! It's great insight, and while I only plan on attempting anything like publishing once I've got a relatively stable financial footing, I really hope I remember to come check back on this when the time comes.

If you wish to be tagged on any future posts on this thread, please quote this post and say, "Aye!" I'll add you to a list so you are aware of all updates.

Aye!

Idea

I do agree with such. That's why I mention that many authors have 2-5 projects they're working on as well as writing the pure dialogue moments. There does come a point where forcing yourself to write can go too far though. I can recount multiple times where I have writing friends that burn themselves out and quit their book altogether.

I also mention this on the 10th words of advice: "But, never stop writing. The moment you give yourself a break, everything becomes far tougher in the future."

It's about know yourself and figuring out whether or not only rubbish is pouring out of your writing. It will be a pain to edit something that you only did because you are forcing yourself to write. Straining your creative muscles too much can be a burden on future endeavors. And, from my own experience, if I'm unable to hop between projects, not much good comes from my writing.

Thank you very much for your insight.

 

[Melpomene]

If you wish to be tagged on any future posts on this thread, please quote this post and say, "Aye!" I'll add you to a list so you are aware of all updates.

AYE!

 

[Idea]

Basically, I'm saying that you shouldn't rely on those judges.

I think that may have deralyed from what I was asking a bit, since the NANOWRIMO thing was just something I participated in out of personal interest not due to any trust on the judges (I mean on their site it even says you can lie about completing it, which ya know...) , and more importantly just an example to illustrate the question about "writing what I know" and it's importance for companies.

Regardless, thank you for your thoughts.

 

[AEONmeteorite]

Idea

I've just reread your post and realize where I've misread. For some strange reason, when you were explaining yourself, I thought you were trying to describe the story you submitted, not about yourself. I was wondering why you explained it in such a strange manner. Sorry for my misunderstanding and the poor advice I gave. I'll emphasize more on the first paragraph of what I have posted.

Companies will not worry about this unless there is a clear line that everything you write wouldn't make sense in real life. Such as, and this is an extreme, your character's best friend dies and your character decided it'd be fitting to stomp on the grave even though they were super close buds and they had no ill-feelings toward each other. Someone in real life who has experienced the death of their best friend would likely never do that. If you have a feeling you may be walking territory you are unfamiliar with and you are worried it'd be unbelievable, then go interview as I've mentioned.

The thing about stories though is that just about anything can happen, and not many things are too farfetched, especially if they are set in sci-fi, fantasy, horror and thriller settings. Logic tends to fly out the door during those books. Where you'd think someone would cry, they could laugh, because that's their way of coping in that world.

If the book is more centered around real life things, then trek carefully, but not so careful that you are suffocating your writing abilities. Many authors claim they write best when they're writing for themselves before others. When they're not worrying about how others will think of their story and doing what they want. This can cause your story to be unorthodox, perhaps that's what you're going for.

Once again, I'll say, "Write the story that isn't your own. Someone who has the experience may not be able to write it themselves." If you want to write out emotions, experiences, interactions accurately, the best you can do is research and interview. But, you absolutely, by no means, need to experience it yourself for a publishing company to accept your story. If what needs to be there is there, whether or not you've experienced it won't be a worry to publishing companies.

Sometimes it is also interesting to view experiences from a perspective that hasn't experienced it. The reader gets to see how the writer is seeing the world, families, the people around them.

Picture it like this. You grab a bunch of painters and, one by one, sit them in the same spot in front of a lake at the same time everyday. You tell them to paint the lake and the rest of the scenery. When the painters line up their canvases, for the most part, everything should look the same. Besides things that are bound to change, such as clouds. But, each artist will find one spot far more intriguing than the rest and it is clear that is what they emphasized. Thus, each painting ends up far different than the last, because all of them founds something else the most beautiful.

That is what a writer who hasn't experienced something they want to portray do. And, that thought is actually immaculate. The readers will know how you view the world. Who can deny how amazing that is?

I hope this helps answer your question a bit better than the terrible response I had before.

 

[Idea]

Idea

I've just reread your post and realize where I've misread. For some strange reason, when you were explaining yourself, I thought you were trying to describe the story you submitted, not about yourself. I was wondering why you explained it in such a strange manner. Sorry for my misunderstanding and the poor advice I gave. I'll emphasize more on the first paragraph of what I have posted.

Companies will not worry about this unless there is a clear line that everything you write wouldn't make sense in real life. Such as, and this is an extreme, your character's best friend dies and your character decided it'd be fitting to stomp on the grave even though they were super close buds and they had no ill-feelings toward each other. Someone in real life who has experienced the death of their best friend would likely never do that. If you have a feeling you may be walking territory you are unfamiliar with and you are worried it'd be unbelievable, then go interview as I've mentioned.

The thing about stories though is that just about anything can happen, and not many things are too farfetched, especially if they are set in sci-fi, fantasy, horror and thriller settings. Logic tends to fly out the door during those books. Where you'd think someone would cry, they could laugh, because that's their way of coping in that world.

If the book is more centered around real life things, then trek carefully, but not so careful that you are suffocating your writing abilities. Many authors claim they write best when they're writing for themselves before others. When they're not worrying about how others will think of their story and doing what they want. This can cause your story to be unorthodox, perhaps that's what you're going for.

Once again, I'll say, "Write the story that isn't your own. Someone who has the experience may not be able to write it themselves." If you want to write out emotions, experiences, interactions accurately, the best you can do is research and interview. But, you absolutely, by no means, need to experience it yourself for a publishing company to accept your story. If what needs to be there is there, whether or not you've experienced it won't be a worry to publishing companies.

Sometimes it is also interesting to view experiences from a perspective that hasn't experienced it. The reader gets to see how the writer is seeing the world, families, the people around them.

Picture it like this. You grab a bunch of painters and, one by one, sit them in the same spot in front of a lake at the same time everyday. You tell them to paint the lake and the rest of the scenery. When the painters line up their canvases, for the most part, everything should look the same. Besides things that are bound to change, such as clouds. But, each artist will find one spot far more intriguing than the rest and it is clear that is what they emphasized. Thus, each painting ends up far different than the last, because all of them founds something else the most beautiful.

That is what a writer who hasn't experienced something they want to portray do. And, that thought is actually immaculate. The readers will know how you view the world. Who can deny how amazing that is?

I hope this helps answer your question a bit better than the terrible response I had before.

It is indeed quite helpful- if nothing else, it'll probably at least help my confidence in regards to what I have the guts to show to other people. Once again (and I'm sure you're already tired of hearing this with how many you're helping, but do allow me the indulgence) thank you very much.

 

[StrixDesmodus]

In regards to cliched premises, would combining unexpected ones count as a twist? For instance writing about how a sci-fi zombie apocalypse affects a coven of witches who still want to keep their powers secret from the world, and their rivalry with a pack of werewolves?
Or a dystopian society in which manufactured prophecies propel the dictator's henchmen to do his bidding?

 

[AEONmeteorite]

StrixDesmodus

This is another yes and no answer.

Yes, twists are great. There are many movies, anime and stories that involve characters being forced to another world. In fact, I'm sick of seeing stuff like that even though one of my own stories deals with the same thing. Yet, there are some that are entirely different than the others that it is worth your time. You need to be careful though, sometimes it is too obvious. If a reader/publisher/agent can tell that you are trying to twist it up, then they may still be annoyed. You have to be clever.

Another issue is that while twists are great, there are times when publishers/agents have a list of elements in a story they are no longer accepting. Zombies, werewolves, vampires and apocalypse were all on the list before I left the company I worked for. No matter how many twists there may be, we either pushed them to the bottom of the list or tossed them. When we pushed them down, we planned to give them a chance as fads subsided, but that's a list of nearly 1,000 books. And any story that had a focus on werewolves and vampires were permanently banned before Twilight ever came out.

This is where I'll say that exceptions are always made when it comes to writing. If you have an idea, write it. Just make it so your hook is something a publisher/agent can't turn away from. There are special ways to perk interest for a publisher/agent that I'll be teaching in the near future.

 

[AEONmeteorite]

Hey everyone!

Sorry for the long wait! I've had to work double this week and pan classes for this coming fall. I'll be sure to post more tips tomorrow!

 

[Idea]

Hey everyone!

Sorry for the long wait! I've had to work double this week and pan classes for this coming fall. I'll be sure to post more tips tomorrow!

Nah, nah, nah. Take your time! IRL comes first, and anything you contribute here is more of a priviledge you grant us than anything. I think (or I guess, I hope) I speak for most of us when I say we're happy to get what we can get whenever it may come.

 

[AEONmeteorite]

Chapter 4: Outlining your Story

This has always been an awkward topic to talk about. Writers all have their own unique ways of creating their story. It is fair to say that you should do what is comfortable for you. Yet, I’ve had countless people come to me saying that they either, outline too much or too little.

Outlining too much can cause you to never stop outlining. Becoming too worried about the world, characters, creatures, plot and setting may lead to issues. There comes a point where your book should start writing itself. You shouldn’t need to plan every single detail before you put your pencil to paper.

On the other hand, outlining too little makes it so you end up with large plot holes. You risk forgetting about certain things at the beginning of the book. Injuries, location of characters, magic systems, I once forgot I had a character die. He just started walking around again like nothing happened. At least you can edit all of this, while you can’t edit something that doesn’t exist yet.

I have one story that I am working on. It has taken me two years to get a bit beyond 100 pages. I am a fast writer, so that’s strange for me. This is because I am only writing when a new idea pops in my head. I haven’t planned anything in advance. It actually has been fun! I wouldn’t recommend doing this often. It is nice to have a story that I am not trying to whip out. It’s relaxing and I cherish the moments ideas come to mind. I’m already setting aside notes of what I plan to edit and remove. A ton of editing will be needed once it is finished.

So, what do you do if you’re outlining too much or too little? Perhaps you just want to try a new way of organizing your story. I have created a four-step process that works wonders. It isn’t perfect. Think of it as a recipe. You can add and take away as you see fit.



1. The Beginning
Plan your first page. We’ve heard it time and time again. This is your hook. This is what will reel in publishers, agents and readers. You have a limited amount of time and space before a publisher/agent will dismiss your book and move on to the next one.

Even though I am telling you to plan your beginning now, know that you will probably rewrite it more times than you expect. I rewrote my beginning thirty-seven times for my first official book. There came a point where I could reread it over and over and never got sick of it. That’s when I realized I had done something right. Each reiteration was the same exact scene, just written better every time.

Plan it now. Edit later.


2. The Climax
A novel will/should have multiple ups and downs. Most will be minor and eventually will lead up to the giant boom! This is the climax. This is the umph. This is the part that you readers will be filled with tons of emotions and possibly throw your book across the room. It is the turning point of your book and you need to decide what that will be. A death, proposal, the villains won a battle, the earth cracked in half, little people from inside the hollow parts of ceramics have decided they’re sick of going into kilns and destroy an entire town, who knows!

As you’re writing up to your climax, your idea may change, but it is likely that it’ll stick in the same realm that you had planned.


3. The End of Endings
No, this is not the chapter of the book. No, this isn’t the outcome. This is the final paragraph/sentence of your book. Will it be a cliffhanger, tie everything together or utter a moral message, etc.? There are so many ideas you can conjure for your end of endings.

Why should you plan this? It isn’t that important in the story. The end still occurs whether or not it is there. What is the point?

Planning this isn’t for the reader. It’s for you, the writer. Whenever I imagine my end of endings, I am excited and can’t wait to get there. This encourages me to continue pursuing my story. Trekking letters and vocabulary, cutting down the writing blocks, climbing the political dialogue, it all becomes easier when a writer realizes the kind of fulfillment they’ll embrace when they reach that golden sentence/paragraph. As with all things on this list, it can change. And, you may not find it until you reach the climax. Either way, plan this before you finish your book.


4. Gatekeepers
You should have at least three characters prepared and fleshed out well enough for you to write. These three characters could be a dog, teenager, baby, villain and grandma, etc., anything the reader can view interacting with other character. There is an exception to this rule, and that’s if you plan to write a story that breaks the norm in writing. There are a few books and movies that focus only on a single character. These tend to be symbolic stories as they teach lessons.

I call characters, Gatekeepers. I imagine each character standing in front of a gate. Everything behind the gate are all the moments that they are involved and contribute to the story. When you stumble upon a block in your book, there is likely a Gatekeeper waiting for you to find them. They help open the story, as they’re needed.

While Gatekeepers help progress the story by opening their room, it is also a good way to explore their contribution to the story and see if their gate is worth keeping open. Sometimes it’s best to close the gate and transfer the Gatekeeper to another book that will fill up their room far more than the other did.



Other notes:

Let’s talk about the average chart you see in your English/writing classes, Freytag’s Pyramid. It starts with the exposition, grows into the rising action, hits the climax and the rest of the chart consists of the falling action, ending off with the resolution. (Or denouement, as seen on the chart below.)

​

This comes with a good question. Why didn’t I tell you to plan the rising and falling action? The simple way to answer that question is that it isn’t much needed. But, I’ll delve into the reason further.

The rising action should lead to the climax. Whatever happens will inevitably make it to the turning point. I purposely tell people to work their way up to the climax with out planning, because I expect them to write too much. It is much better to have too much between these two points than too little. It is easy to remove, adding on comes with difficulties and if it takes too long to get to the climax, cut, and reuse for later books.

What about after the climax? This, as a matter-of-factly, is the smoothest and most manageable part to write. Everything after the climax should be caused by the climax. Turning points don’t just happen and that’s it. They take root in every single thing the characters do from that point on. The climax is often not in the middle, but three quarters in. I expect the falling action to be shorter than the rising action. This will change depending on the story, but most writers don’t struggle with this part.

Altogether, as I mentioned in the beginning, this is like a recipe. You can add and take away to fit your flavor profile. It all depends on what you need. I have had many writer friends use my ingredients with splendid outcomes. I welcome you to try the same.

LazyDaze Idea Melpomene Vergaan
(If you want to be added to the tag list or if I have missed you, comment on the thread with the word, "Aye!" You do not need to quote anything, just a stand alone comment will do.)