z

Young Writers Society


Linkzude16's writing tips



User avatar
36 Reviews



Gender: Male
Points: 2775
Reviews: 36
Sun Aug 10, 2014 1:16 pm
View Likes
Linkzude16 says...



As soon as I finished re-reading my novel, I wrote these notes so that the rewritten version would be better. However, the novel is still unpublished. Thus these tips haven't proven themselves yet, but they should still be useful.

These are the notes that have helped me in writing fiction: "1) Don't do anything you find unbearably cliché. 2) If you have some clever dialogue which does not belong, remove it: you are writing literature, not flaunting your wittiness. 3) Make your work one to remember--one that you are proud of. 4) Why would the reader care if anyone in your story died? Create some background for every key character so that the reader mourns, or perhaps welcomes, the death of a character who perishes. 5) Why does this character care about that other character? Present action shows us what two people are doing but not why they are where they are--why they are friends or enemies. 6) Give your readers a reason to care about your main character. Otherwise, they will likely lose interest and stop reading. (I stopped reading The Yearling for this exact reason, and I don't usually abandon books I'm reading.) 7) Don't throw emotion into inappropriate areas in the book because you're bored. 8) Try to make all your events feel necessary to the reader. In other words, at the end of the book, your reader should not say, 'Well, I think this subplot was just thrown in so that the book would have a hundred extra pages. It really bored me and didn't change the outcome of the book.' Rather, you want the reader to say, 'Wow! Look at how this is all connected and how not one event is a waste of time but impacts the whole story.' Finally, remember these expressions: "Never a dull moment," "You reap what you sow," and "All's well that ends well."

If I think of any other good tips, I'll post them; but I'd seem like a hypocrite if I did not post any of my own literary work first. Also, understand that these tips are based on my attempts to correct what was wrong with the first draft of my book Violet Arrow; my work has never been published. Anyway, I hope this will help someone. :wink:
  





User avatar
284 Reviews



Gender: Female
Points: 4250
Reviews: 284
Tue Jun 30, 2015 10:36 pm
RubyRed says...



Hey, could you review something for me too?
You can't blame the writer for what the characters say.
— Truman Capote

Review link below!
Ruby's Reviews

Knight of the Green Room
  





User avatar
1272 Reviews



Gender: Other
Points: 89625
Reviews: 1272
Wed Jul 01, 2015 12:48 am
View Likes
Rosendorn says...



Hi! A tip: if you want your advice to actually be read, put it in an easier to read format. A list in a giant block is very difficult to follow.

1) Don't do anything you find unbearably cliché.


Why?

Cliche is an overused concept that, as a general rule, means nothing. Absolutely everything can be cliche and absolutely everything can be done well. As a result, cliches are everywhere and make up the core plots for most of the things you write.

Instead you should be examining the elements that you think make it cliche. If you avoid any and all cliches, you basically end up with no options. Cliches are cliches because they work, and what truly makes something unbearable is your execution. It is not the thing itself.

2) If you have some clever dialogue which does not belong, remove it: you are writing literature, not flaunting your wittiness.


Again, why?

What makes "does not belong"? What determines "flaunting your wittiness" and, say, the character voice? Can't I do both? Isn't an interesting voice important?

Also, what defines "literature"? When I read that I picture this extremely stuffy, uptight genre I want no part of. You seem to be defining books as a very exact thing that doesn't really have a lot of room for variety, made worse by the lack of specifics in the advice. I felt like if I followed this, I would end up on bookshelves where people collect things they're supposed to read, instead of things they actually enjoy reading.

3) Make your work one to remember--one that you are proud of.


The first part of this is impossible, the second part is more nuanced than it sounds.

Let's just establish this immediately: everything is forgettable to somebody. There is far too much written word produced in any given time period for history to remember all of it. Those we see as "great, classic writers" were basically writing the pulp fiction of the time. They were paid by the word, by the play, and just trying to survive. They wrote the mass entertainment of their day and would potentially be horrified at how their work is treated as this pristine thing that is untouchable, never to be interacted with, and removed from its social context. (Shakespeare in particular was full of lewd jokes, digs at royalty, and generally low class entertainment that sometimes was good enough for a night court wanted to let loose; he has incredible contributions to English, yes, but that doesn't change he was par for the course in terms of plays)

I'd go so far as to argue that purposely going out to write a universal commentary is the fastest way to be forgettable and generally disliked. High brow aspirations don't sell, and are an extremely niche genre. History is far more likely to remember Harry Potter, Twilight, and The Hunger Games than they are to remember The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari or Deepak Chopra's latest book.

Meanwhile some semblance of pride in your work is some sort of goal. Although, some people never really are proud of their work. That doesn't make the work any less good or bad. I've found that pride is an interesting concept, writing-wise; most people who have it use it as a shield to ignore valid critiques on their work, thinking that because they are proud of their work, it is therefore beyond reproach. It's better to have pride because your work has been critiqued and come out relatively unscathed than have pride before you submit it to critique.

Have pride, yes, but know that pride and work quality are two very different, unrelated things, and one does not mean the other.

4) Why would the reader care if anyone in your story died? Create some background for every key character so that the reader mourns, or perhaps welcomes, the death of a character who perishes.


Eh. There's this concept called "casualties." Some characters aren't meant to be mourned, and are simply there for a certain amount of realism. If your story features hitmen and assassins with multiple targets, are you really going to come up with a backstory rich enough to cause your readers to mourn their death? It takes time to establish this level of backstory, and you cannot force it. You can explain as much as you want, about how the character impacted the plot/character/events, and if we don't have enough time to interact with them, then their death won't generate emotion.

Yes establish backstory for key characters, but establishing it for key characters is not the same as establishing it for every character who dies.

5) Why does this character care about that other character? Present action shows us what two people are doing but not why they are where they are--why they are friends or enemies.


You really don't need to establish this. Especially if you're going to go off on a tangent explaining backstory that doesn't need to be there and just distracts from the current plot. Whole stories are made around just this trope, and it takes whole stories to explain and not have it feel forced.

Sometimes it's completely irrelevant, on top of that. Not every friendship needs explaining. Sometimes particularly odd ones do, but with how people make friends (slowly, at moments where you don't quite realize what happened but all of a sudden you know each other better than anyone else), and how the process is often extremely mundane, there's really no need to sidetrack the story.

Knowing the backstory for yourself is sometimes important (depends on circumstance), but don't try to shoehorn it into the story, especially when there are more important things to focus on. Like the plot and present actions/perceptions.

6) Give your readers a reason to care about your main character. Otherwise, they will likely lose interest and stop reading. (I stopped reading The Yearling for this exact reason, and I don't usually abandon books I'm reading.)


Sometimes "care" isn't the right emotion to invoke. For me it's far more important to generate interest, instead of caring. This allows for more freedom when establishing characters, because they don't have to be doing something that makes others care about them. Some main characters are very difficult to care about for various reasons, but interest can drive you through a story.

Some could say these are synonymous, but I find there is a dividing line. This is particularly obvious with villain protagonists, where you really don't particularly want them to win, but you're interested in the plot that's unfolding. You're invested because you want to see the main character go down.

7) Don't throw emotion into inappropriate areas in the book because you're bored.


This is actually the best way to get out of writer's block? And to fix boredom? And generally make your story better?

If you're bored, it's because there's nothing happening. That turns the point into an appropriate area to mix things up and add in emotions. My favourite writing concept is "when in doubt add ninjas". Throwing in something interesting, different, whatever makes you want to write the story again.

"Random" looking emotion only stands out because it hasn't been properly worked into the story yet. That's what multiple drafts are for. You rewrite in order to make all those ideas you had while writing fit into the story seamlessly.

Sticking to a plot outline even through boredom is an absolute detriment to the story, and if you're bored, you should be doing something to spice up the story.

8) Try to make all your events feel necessary to the reader. In other words, at the end of the book, your reader should not say, 'Well, I think this subplot was just thrown in so that the book would have a hundred extra pages. It really bored me and didn't change the outcome of the book.' Rather, you want the reader to say, 'Wow! Look at how this is all connected and how not one event is a waste of time but impacts the whole story.'


All your events should be necessary. This isn't a case of "to the reader" or "Try to make them all necessary". You shouldn't simply attempt to have everything necessary— it should actually all be necessary. This is the single biggest thing you cut when you are writing: everything unnecessary.

You don't just attempt to make it necessary. It must actually be necessary.

That being said, not everything has to be resolved. Resolution is a totally separate thing from necessity. Do not confuse the two. Sometimes it is impossible to resolve issues, and if you try to force resolution for every single plot point, you end up with a dissatisfied reader because the ending was too neat and orderly. Some plots demand a messy ending. It should stay that way.

Finally, remember these expressions: "Never a dull moment," "You reap what you sow," and "All's well that ends well."


These are fairly pointless when applied broadstroaks. Let's take them one at a time.

"Never a dull moment" is not good pacing. Quietness and dullness serves multiple purposes within fiction, and saying you should remove it is like saying you should remove characterization from your story. Dull moments are, in fact, useful, and you should instead harness them for the good of the story.

"You reap what you sow" is relatively accurate but it's also very difficult to measure and does end up a fine line. When you sow all your time and effort into endless backstory and history to your fantasy epic, you reap an encyclopedia, not a story. Not sure what your point is with including it?

"All's well that ends well" discounts necessarily messy endings, tragic endings, bittersweet endings, pyretic victories, and a whole bunch of other unhappy ending types that are not only useful but sometimes more satisfying than a happy one. You do not need a happy ending to write a good story.
A writer is a world trapped in a person— Victor Hugo

Ink is blood. Paper is bandages. The wounded press books to their heart to know they're not alone.
  





User avatar
346 Reviews

Supporter


Gender: None specified
Points: 37216
Reviews: 346
Wed Jul 01, 2015 2:41 am
Pretzelstick says...



Hi Linkzude, and I also just wanted to comment on each of your points, to help you get better as a writer. Rosey has given you some valuable advice an tips, but I read and liked her reply so I will try not to repeat anything:

1) Don't do anything you find unbearably cliché.


I once wrote an article on cliche. Sad to say, that it wasn't very good, or informative in any way that was helpful for the audience. After a while, I read up on the whole cliche deal and I realized this: A lot of writer's idea come from cliche stories. Don't writers sometimes get a spark of inspiration when watching a TV show, reading a classical book, or anything that is mainstream and popular. And I ask you again, can't you take a cliche, love the idea, and work it; so that you add your personal touch and unique spin to it?

Word choice pointer here as well. What does unbearably mean from your perspective and in your opinion. I want to know, because this either defines this first tip. It's important to clarify your definition of a word, so that others can understand. Feel free to expand on that.

If you have some clever dialogue which does not belong, remove it: you are writing literature, not flaunting your wittiness.


That is true to a certain degree. Unless your character is trying to show off their wittiness. Unless your character's dialogue mainly consists of witty and clever dialogue that is out of place. But that is still part of the character, or who they are.

3) Make your work one to remember--one that you are proud of.


When you have pride, you are sure to experience a blow whenever you post something up for critique. Some people will be harsh, and never sugar-coat their exact opinion on your novel. It's good to be proud of finishing your novel, to a certain degree but just a warning, that all reviewers will agree.

Also, in twenty + years or less, no-one is likely to remember your work. The most important thing is that you remember it;make is memorable for yourself.

Why would the reader care if anyone in your story died? Create some background for every key character so that the reader mourns, or perhaps welcomes, the death of a character who perishes.


Why should they care if someone dies? After all, most readers aren't very emotionally connected to the main characters. Only you, the author know the characters the most, and can mourn because you are the one who actually wrote them, right?

Plus, sometimes you need a character to die to actually further the plot along, so that the story progresses in the direction that you want do. And please keep in mind, some characters are very secretive and distant, and so you shouldn't reveal their backstory, if it isn't just like them to tell others about it.

Why does this character care about that other character? Present action shows us what two people are doing but not why they are where they are--why they are friends or enemies.


Telling the readers if you characters are friends or enemies, isn't going to work. You have to show them, through action, adventure, reaction, emotion, dialogue, etc. Your novel needs a balance of all of these things, which is what you said above. (I would rather that you outlined them in detail and order, for it to be more clear to everyone. Expand on your points.)

6) Give your readers a reason to care about your main character. Otherwise, they will likely lose interest and stop reading. (I stopped reading The Yearling for this exact reason, and I don't usually abandon books I'm reading.


You are so right with this point. Your character has to be fleshed out, because really they are the heart of the story. The circumstances and plots may change, but the characters generally stay the same. And then are the heart of the story.

7) Don't throw emotion into inappropriate areas in the book because you're bored.


RIght now, I just wanted to comment a little bit on your word choice here. You have been using this word . . . a lot throughout the your tips that you were giving. Inappropriate areas. what is this supposed to mean? Everyone has a subjective point of view, so they will interpret it in their own way. I would prefer if you were more specific with what exact area you are actually referring to, so that this doesn't confuse the readers of your article of tips(if I can even call it that?)

8) Try to make all your events feel necessary to the reader.


Ah. But what about the fun plot twists that you think about on the way? Some writers don't plan every major event in advance, they just kind of go with the flow and let their thoughts and imagination direct their course. They don't have to feel necessary, the events have to feel like you created them in your mind and put them down on paper.

That's all from me that you will hear on these points. I hope that you can open your eyes, as a young writer, to understand some different concepts, and what is wrong with some of the tips that you states.

~Peace Out~

/Pretzel/
A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies. The man who never reads only lives once
~George R. Martin

Life isn't about finding yourself; it's about recreating yourself. ~George B. Shaw

got yws?
  








Anything's possible if you've got enough nerve.
— J.K. Rowling