Help me become a better writer!

[Benni88]

Also, I saw a few people talking about the Hagakure. The books is great, but it's just a collection of proverbs. Most of them will seem like nonsense, but a film which puts them into context a bit better is called Ghost Dog: Way of the Samurai, which is set in modern day (90's).

 

[Silver]

You're seventeen and writing about parkour assassins. Your problem is not going to be grammar or form immediately, you're just gotten very high grades in English, so you're probably all set when it comes to grammar and spelling, that's pretty much all that's taught and you haven't had time to forget it. Your problem is going to be intent. If you're just trying to write lighthearted entertainment you need to be very aware of that. If you're trying to write something more meaningful, you need to start there. What questions is your work asking, and what answers will it give, if any? What are you trying to say with your work? What effect do you want it to have on your reader? Who is your target audience? Fellow seventeen year olds who like Assassins Creed? People who haven't heard of it?

Is this story, this work, just practice, or are you trying to get it published? Where? As what? A short story on the internet? A novel? A serial? If it's just practice, then yeah, focus on the form, focus on your sentence structure, the flow of your language, working in metaphors. If it's something more serious, get all of those questions answered first.

I have the rest of the week off. If you want someone to really tear your work apart, and be brutal towards it, send it over in a PM. I'll have a look. If it's a novel, I may not have time to go into detail about all of it, but I'll try to pick important parts. If it's shorter, I may be able to give you a detailed analysis of the whole thing.

 

[mattaui]

I'll simply echo a lot of what has been said, especially about the reading (all genres, all styles, anything you can get your hands on, as often as possible), and note that the act of writing isn't just writing, but rewriting. You cannot progress towards being a successful writer without being able to mercilessly revise, rewrite and rework what you've got in front of you. That has to happen before you ever hand it off to an editor, even if it's just a friend who has agreed to look at your work.

Of course, you've got to have something to revise, so you've got to get words down on paper. Those words need to flow without internal editing and without doubt. It sounds and feels a little ridiculous at first, but that's the only way you're going to get the raw material necessary to shape into your story during your revising process. Get that zero/rough draft out of the way as soon as possible, and then you can work it into a true first draft. Only then would you hand it off for someone else to read and edit, and then you rework that draft, and so on, as long as it takes.

There's no secret to it, other than putting in the time and the effort. Get involved with other writers online and in person, but make sure they're writers who write, not writers who just talk about wanting to write, since that's an easy trap to fall into. Writers write.

Some helpful links:

Neil Gaiman's pep talk for writers: http://www.nanowrimo.org/pep/neil-gaiman
Chuck Wendig's Terribleminds, the greatest writing blog of all time: http://terribleminds.com/ramble/blog/

 

[Silvianoshei]

"The x was Y" bits are the most and I think only cringe inducing parts of my story so far.

As for the setting, I'm trying to do it modern day and the focus is about the actual killing: it's hard for me to explain the idea at the moment; essentially it's about the psychological changes that occur in his profession and how he has to maintain sanity by using the action as a way to remove obstacles as a last resort.

Like I said, the only elements taken from Assassin's creed is the whole "parkour assassin brotherhood" thing, with some elements of Bushido.

Not sure what you mean by "the x was Y" bits, could you give an example?

If you want to focus on the psychological changes that occur in killing, then you should read real accounts of such changes. Read memoirs of soldiers with PTSD, read profiles of serial killers, etc. If you have a theme, then you should build a character. Think about these things:

Where is he at the beginning of the story, in terms of character development? If you are beginning in medias res then try and minimize the amount of backstory that you're going to tell. The trick is to weave it in subtly, because flashbacks tend to kill forward momentum, which you may want to do at some point in the plot (at a good cliffhanger, for instance), but it can be overdone very easily. Think about what information is essential to the character, and what you can do with your tools (dialogue, exposition, setting, other characters) to present all that information to the audience without pelting a block of text at them all at once.

Build characters, build setting, rebuild characters, build plot, rebuild characters, and then write. Then scrap it all when you've completely screwed everything up, and start over.

It's not easy. The key to writing well is having the drive to write daily, the wisdom to know when you've completely messed up, and the patience to start over.

 

[Sigmund Av Volsung]

You're seventeen and writing about parkour assassins. Your problem is not going to be grammar or form immediately, you're just gotten very high grades in English, so you're probably all set when it comes to grammar and spelling, that's pretty much all that's taught and you haven't had time to forget it. Your problem is going to be intent. If you're just trying to write lighthearted entertainment you need to be very aware of that. If you're trying to write something more meaningful, you need to start there. What questions is your work asking, and what answers will it give, if any? What are you trying to say with your work? What effect do you want it to have on your reader? Who is your target audience? Fellow seventeen year olds who like Assassins Creed? People who haven't heard of it?

Is this story, this work, just practice, or are you trying to get it published? Where? As what? A short story on the internet? A novel? A serial? If it's just practice, then yeah, focus on the form, focus on your sentence structure, the flow of your language, working in metaphors. If it's something more serious, get all of those questions answered first.

I have the rest of the week off. If you want someone to really tear your work apart, and be brutal towards it, send it over in a PM. I'll have a look. If it's a novel, I may not have time to go into detail about all of it, but I'll try to pick important parts. If it's shorter, I may be able to give you a detailed analysis of the whole thing.

Sure, currently the story is in a weird state, as I haven't got around to editing this one huge unnecessary bit of it, because I'm caught up in business coursework.

I'll try to send it to you soon, but how would that work? I'm pretty sure that the Escapist PM service doesn't allow the transfer of files.

 

[Sigmund Av Volsung]

"The x was Y" bits are the most and I think only cringe inducing parts of my story so far.

As for the setting, I'm trying to do it modern day and the focus is about the actual killing: it's hard for me to explain the idea at the moment; essentially it's about the psychological changes that occur in his profession and how he has to maintain sanity by using the action as a way to remove obstacles as a last resort.

Like I said, the only elements taken from Assassin's creed is the whole "parkour assassin brotherhood" thing, with some elements of Bushido.

Not sure what you mean by "the x was Y" bits, could you give an example?

"The hallway was brilliantly blue, segments of which were illuminated by the silver beams of Luna".

Or something like it(^) was in my story.

 

[Mikeyfell]

The parts of writing that I'm struggling the most are:
-Formulating a proper story around an idea
-Character establishment & development

First don't do those things in that order.
Coming up with a chain of events and then sticking characters on them is a recipe for disaster.

First setting. If for no better reason than to pick a consistent crop of characters for the story.

Second establish characters, but establish them for you (The audience doesn't need to know)
Wright up psych profiles for them.
What do they like, what do they hate, what's their backstory, what are they afraid of, how have they changed overtime before your story even started, what are their triggers (and why, always why), Do they have any previous relationships with other characters.
Just make sure you know them well enough to understand how they'll react to any given scenario.
That step is a lot of work and you're going to feel like you should include it in the story proper, but try to avoid that urge. It'll most likely come out as an exposition dump or a monolog (And there's no problem with those things, but if they don't move the story forward the run the risk of kicking the pacing in the balls)
They should primarily be used as reference for when you get stuck.

Third, with all the characters in mind, come up with a general idea of the plot. Then think of why each one of your characters would become involved.

And if you have a natural sense of pacing the story writes it's self from that point on.
Just find out when, chronologically, and where, geographically, all the characters would be at any given point in the story, and just make them interact with each other when they get there.
Drawing a rudimentary map to give you a good idea of how long it would take to get from location to location would also help.

Coming up with a general plot first is acceptable, but at least 3 or 4 of your characters need to be tailored to have extremely natural flowing reasons to want to move the plot in the direction you want.
Which in my opinion is harder than having well rounded characters and letting them write the story for you.

-Variation in descriptive sentences(I start way too many sentences with "The x was y")

That sounds like a blocking problem, why are you bothering me with it.[/condescendingly posh accent]

I write scripts mostly, so I can just skip a line and dedicate large sections to blocking with no real impact on how the lines get read.
If you're hell bent on writing a novel I'd suggest a co-author to help make your words more presentable.
I personally don't bother, I find people understand large dialog sections with bracketed off blocking easier.

 

[Erttheking]

My advice is to head on over to TV Tropes. It has a way of putting ideas in your head.

Also most importantly, practice practice practice.

 

[Rogue Trooper]

Well dude I done GSCE English and English Lit as well and trying to improve my writing was something I worked on.

You could try reading more, that always helped me; the bigger the books the better. Also why not look at other peoples fanfics to get an idea. Doing RP's also helps

But if you?re trying to get a good story, keep a notebook on you. So if you have a good idea you can write it down and when you are putting it together you can choose which idea you like the most.

 

[Tom_green_day]

I'm only a tiny bit older and was in your shoes, but I think at this early on in life it doesn't matter. Do A levels, use them to broaden your knowledge of pre-existing writing. Anyawy, 90% of the time people think their work is poor even if it isn't.

 

[The Jovian]

I'm only a tiny bit older and was in your shoes, but I think at this early on in life it doesn't matter. Do A levels, use them to broaden your knowledge of pre-existing writing. Anyawy, 90% of the time people think their work is poor even if it isn't.

I agree with him, don't beat yourself up if you think your writing sucks, I'm writing stuff too and some times I think I'm not doing it well enough, this is why you shouldn't be afraid to show it to someone. Also a character writing tip, if you're gonna write a story, be sure to establish and develop all of your main characters (sixth rangers not withstanding) before you start puting them through conflicts. Oh and don't make your villain cartoonishly evil, i. e. make sure that (s)he sees him/herself as the hero and don't make them do evil stuff just because they can and NOT becue it helps further their goals.

 

[Nickolai77]

Read a lot more.

Yeah, this one pretty much nailed it.

You need to read to write well depending on the medium. If you're writing prose you need to read a lot of novel/short stories. If you're writing poetry you need to read a lot of poems. If you are writing comics... well you get the idea.

I personally gave up on pursuing prose seriously when I realized I don't read many books. I still enjoy using it from time to time though.

The OP should note though that the more novels you read the more they influence how you write. In part this is a good thing, because if your work is inspired by a collection of stories rather than just one your work is going to be more original. The downside, i personally find, is that if you read too many different novels it can stall your writing progress because you get overloaded by different, and incompatible, ideas from different genres. In the end you can't decide what you want to write about and end up dissatisfied no matter which direction you take.

I agree the OP should read more, but i'd advise him/her to keep it within one genre.

And also- practise, practise and practise. The more you write and get useful feedback the better your writing becomes- and the younger you start off the better.

I couldn't disagree more about the sticking to one genre (respectfully of course).

The fact is that a lot of genres have some problems which reoccur again and again. That can creep into your subconscious if you read too much of the same stuff. If you vary what you are reading though it means you can approach your work from a variety of angles which is invaluable when you hit a bit of a roadblock. Also the best books in the world are often ones which stepped outside their genre and incorporated elements from others.

From my experience, reading different genres has led me to indecision as to what sort of genre i should write in, which means you fall out of the habit of writing regularly and in the end you don't get anything done. This may not be so much of an issue for experienced writers, but for those of less experience, like the OP, it may become a problem. Besides, focusing on a certain genre means you can gain a more in depth knowledge of the kind of material, tropes and themes which run through it, and if you are critical you can potentially write something quite original, taking a certain angle which writers within that genre haven't yet pursued. Of course there are downsides which are along the lines of what you've said.

Oh and finally be honest about what you want to achieve. If you want to write the next Ulysses then good for you but most people can't write like that. Pick a writer who you like and writes at the kind of level you want to write at then work at it until you can. Loads of people give up because they think they are expected to be the next Shakespeare so don't fall into that trap.

Interesting idea, i think i'll take this advice myself!

 

[Woodsey]

For starters, that semi-colon should be a colon.

As for looking back at your own work and hating it, welcome to The Suck. That happens a lot. Redraft and redraft and redraft.

If you can't formulate a story around an idea, stop trying to write. Leave it until you've thought about it a little whilst getting on with life, and eventually you'll at least have a couple of ideas. If not, probably best to shelve it.

As for sentence variation and stuff, read a lot. The easiest way to get more ideas of how to handle that sort of thing is to see how other people handle it.

I got awesome grades in GCSE English Lit and Lang, but still don't feel like I can write a good story.

That's because you're nowhere near done with being taught how to actually write at that point.

 

[BeeGeenie]

-Variation in descriptive sentences(I start way too many sentences with "The x was y")

My contribution on this point: avoid using purely descriptive sentences. Fit your descriptions into other sentences, that way the reader won't get bogged down in unnecessary descriptive detail.
For example, you could say, "What's-his-bucket looked at the wall, which was crumbling and leaning precariously, and decided to find a better wall to climb."

In this way, you include description while keeping it relevant to the characters.

 

[Varrdy]

Learn the difference between "lose" and "loose" and you will automatically become a better writer than approximately 75% of everyone on the internet.

 

[Coppernerves]

For starters, that semi-colon should be a colon.

As for looking back at your own work and hating it, welcome to The Suck. That happens a lot. Redraft and redraft and redraft.

If you can't formulate a story around an idea, stop trying to write. Leave it until you've thought about it a little whilst getting on with life, and eventually you'll at least have a couple of ideas. If not, probably best to shelve it.

As for sentence variation and stuff, read a lot. The easiest way to get more ideas of how to handle that sort of thing is to see how other people handle it.

I got awesome grades in GCSE English Lit and Lang, but still don't feel like I can write a good story.

That's because you're nowhere near done with being taught how to actually write at that point.

While I've never really delved into fan fiction, I've heard that most of it is terrible.
I suspect that this is why.

Then again, writing a short story was part of the Eleven Plus Exam wasn't it?

How can they expect 12 year olds to write a story when people can't even do it after getting an A and an A* in English?

Seriously, I had no idea what to write then, and I still don't, it really bugs me whenever I'm reminded.

 

[Woodsey]

For starters, that semi-colon should be a colon.

As for looking back at your own work and hating it, welcome to The Suck. That happens a lot. Redraft and redraft and redraft.

If you can't formulate a story around an idea, stop trying to write. Leave it until you've thought about it a little whilst getting on with life, and eventually you'll at least have a couple of ideas. If not, probably best to shelve it.

As for sentence variation and stuff, read a lot. The easiest way to get more ideas of how to handle that sort of thing is to see how other people handle it.

I got awesome grades in GCSE English Lit and Lang, but still don't feel like I can write a good story.

That's because you're nowhere near done with being taught how to actually write at that point.

While I've never really delved into fan fiction, I've heard that most of it is terrible.
I suspect that this is why.

Then again, writing a short story was part of the Eleven Plus Exam wasn't it?

How can they expect 12 year olds to write a story when people can't even do it after getting an A and an A* in English?

Seriously, I had no idea what to write then, and I still don't, it really bugs me whenever I'm reminded.

Because 12-year-olds aren't being graded as professional writers, just as a GCSE essay isn't graded in the same way a university one is. (I fucking wish.)

Besides which, I would imagine it's much more about getting them to think about literary devices than it is a test of their creative ability.

 

[Jamieson 90]

Step 1: Decide the genre and theme, is it a horror story? Are you going to be writing about abuse? Or is it fantasy or a crime thriller? Once you have decided this you'll have a better idea of where you stand.

Step 2: Get down some basics of the plot so where the story starts, where it's going to end and then worry about filling in the bit in-between.

Step 3: Decide what the world in the story is going to be like followed by your core central characters.

Step 4: Plan out the main scenes and chapters; they don't have to be detailed but a good outline is good at this stage.

Step 5: Get writing.

Step 6: Proofread your work a good five times and if you make any changes then proofread it again, and once you've done that analysis your work to see if it could be improved, if it can then you need to go back and make those changes, and because you've changed it again you'll need to proofread once more too.

Step 7: Have an editor or beta or someone you trust read over it for mistakes or anything that doesn't work, and then having done this correct what needs changing, then proofread again.

Step 8: Publish.

As for getting ideas then read and I mean read a lot.

 

[Dragonpit]

The skinny;

I had finished English Language & Literature (GCSE, Year 11) with strong A*'s in both of them(marks:177/200 & 188/200 respectively) and now I have a free period(essentially) when I'm supposed to be having English.

Instead of revising (I just cannot get the will to do revision, as I use my free periods as "relaxation time") I decided to write a story inspired by Assassin's Creed(the only element I have used is the whole "parkour brotherhood of assassin's" thing, no hidden blades as of yet).

However, I always have an issue that when I decide to look back upon my own work, I can't help but cringe and despise it.

Aside from that, I would greatly appreciate it if any members of The Escapist could offer me advice in writing stories(and please, try to keep it simple; more often than not, I fail to interpret most information provided in Help;Science-type threads)

The parts of writing that I'm struggling the most are:
-Formulating a proper story around an idea
-Character establishment & development
-Variation in descriptive sentences(I start way too many sentences with "The x was y")

As a fellow writer, I feel the best advise overall is one you yourself have already demonstrated: keep it simple. Complicated stories (and indeed, complicated characters) are fine, but there's a fine line between complication and convolution. Defining the difference usually requires practice.

Whenever working with an idea, there are a number of things to watch out for. The most prominent is preaching; if you do this, you are essentially breaking a fundamental guideline in story-telling: show, don't tell. The best way to go into this idea is to do it through character interactions. Opposing characters will often support counterpoints to an idea, or outright deny it, while supporting characters will have a piece of the puzzle each, a facet if you will, but never the whole picture, in which the main character will eventually have to piece together. Hell, you can even have the main villain use this idea to his advantage, in which a cruel truth about the idea tempts the main character off the path he's following, before somehow resolving the contradiction within himself. This also helps lend itself to character establishment and development.

Which brings us to your second issue. Usually, the easiest way to go about characterization is basing them off people you know or met. Of course, you will need to add variation to their personalities so that they aren't exactly the same, but the idea thing helps with that. Also, recently, while looking at the Chinese Zodiac, I came to a realization about characters. Many people, based on their date of birth, will fit a specific animal and the traits that are associated with it. However, these traits are not absolute. In fact, if I am at all honest, every person has varying shades of all the traits associated with all the animals. For example, an Ox person would indeed be very stubborn, but that doesn't mean there aren't instances where he/she would be docile instead. This fact lends itself greatly to 3-D characters; they do have dominant traits, but they aren't absolute. Everything else is really a matter of what kind of characters you want in your story. What kind of people do you think would be best for this? Oh, and avoid making them unlikeable (i.e. utter douches) unless you want that to be the point.

The last point is the variation of descriptive sentences. That's actually easily curable; just use metaphors, similes, personification and the like. Instead of saying, "The sun was shining bright upon the flowers," you can say, "The sun smiled down upon the welcoming earth and the flowers opened up to it in kind with warm colors and brilliant visages." (Now I think I need some editing...-_- Instead of saying "the snow was cold", replace it with, "the winter months were a bitter hell of cold heat and scraping winds." or "the snow was a white treasure; it shone like diamonds, adding beauty to even the most gnarled trees." Play around, analyze, make comparisons, and have fun with your words. Hit me with your best shot! Fire away!

And that's all there is to it. If I missed anything else you might have wanted to know about, let me know.