Young Writers Society

Keep a positive attitude above all. Telling yourself that you're a succky writer will only keep you that way. I suggest reading often, skimming over some grammatical rules, and consulting some of the experienced people here if you ever need help.

Yes, you should, trust me, when I first started sending off to publishers, I terrified, and you know where to find me, if you need me, my french buddy!

Okay, we're rooting for ya honest. Good luck, anytime ya need help don't hesitate to ask.

thank you.

you're welcome....

I am feeling like someone who try to write good and then find out that they are bad, then has a low self-esstem.

Just keep at it. Write and write and write and write and write . . .

Well, you might want to take a break now and then, but don't give up! Everyone improves - it's like everything, practice makes perfect. The Lord of the Rings wasn't written in a year (it took twelve).

When I really started writing a proper story, I remember thinking, "Oh, wow, this is sooo good, I am headed for the stars with this thing!" Now, I can hardly bear to even look at that story, it's so bad.

We all worry about whether we're good or not (I know I do). What if I stink, and can't write at all? What if I'm just kidding myself that I can write, and the people who've read my stuff are just being kind, and don't want to tell me that I can't write?

Just practice, accept the critiscm given to you, take the advice on board, and use it!!

Anyway, try writing, produce results so we can help you! Don't worry about being bad, and not show anything!

-Twit

I would use the advice but i don't know what half they are talking about.

Like "show instead of tell." how on earth do you do that?

Yes, I see what you mean by that. I didn't get that at first, either.

This is an example using my own characters:

This is telling:

Rohsair was a tall boy, about fourteen years old. He had dark brown eyes, dark brown spiky hair; a thin hooked nose and dark eyebrows that were as straight and firm as spear shafts. Rohsair was terrified of water, always scared of falling in and drowning. This was due to a traumatic experience when he was young. This was his one true fear, for most of the time, Rohsair was lazy and dreamy, refusing to get aroused by any excitement. If he was sitting on a street corner and there was a stampede of cows in front of him, Rohsair would go, "Hey, will you look at that?" while everyone else was running about and screaming.

That was telling. See, I lay out in all the details exactly what Rohsair is like and how he reacts and all. It doesn't make for very exciting reading; if you know how the character's gonna react, then why bother reading the story to find out? You can imagine it just as well yourself.

Showing is a bit more difficult to explain. Dialogue is a good way to show. A lot can be revealed in what a person says. If you look at the Character Dialogue Game in Writing Activities : viewtopic.php?t=14505 then you'll see what I mean. By our characters talking with each other, I learned that Tannar (from Gyrfalcon's "Gypsie Eyes" ) is mischievous and fun, before I really saw that by actually reading "Gypsie Eyes" myself. (I highly reccomend it - it's very good!)

Or, think like in films, or TV shows. You watched Dad's Army? All the characters in there have certain dialogue that makes them unique and tells you certain things about them. In a movie, dialogue is pretty key, as that's the main way of telling you about the people in it.

In Dad's Army, Mainwaring (the Captain, and leader of the platoon) talks about pushing Jerry back, and how every British defeat is "all part of our master plan to lull the Germans into a false sense of security." By this, we can tell that he is fiercely patriotic, pompous and has a governing desire for everything to run smoothly, and just as well in his platoon as it does in the regular army. Of course, a lot of it does rely on his facial expressions and inflection, but you can put that in as well in your writing.

Or in Star Wars, consider how different Luke's dialogue is to Han's dialogue. That reflects how different their characters are.

Anyway, I hope this helps. If there's any other things you don't get, or if you want any tips or anything, just PM me, and I'll dig into my grey fluff (without sounding condescending or patronising or bossy) and help.

-Twit

okay. how do you show instend of tell? all lot of people have been telling me that.

Instead of saying "she had a temper to match her red hair", write a scene where her fiery temper shows. Like that, see?

Heh, random invasion. Sorry. :backs out:

i thinks so.