WRITING TIPS THREAD

Oh, that makes sense. But it depends on the tone of the writing, doesn't it?

Exactly, you can play with it for effect of course, could even be quite funny. It's just something that bothers me when done unintentionally, lots of anons do it. It's similar to 'me and Jack went to the shop' being the equivalent of 'me went to the shop' but this is more common in speech

I've taken to just writing the persons name directly like in a play like:

Bob: Hello George.
George: Hello Bob.

I like it because it is simple and concise and i'd rather avoid typing out all the extra "he said" stuff.

Could work but my gut instinct says it would get tedious

Always put the dialogue descriptor(he cried, he slurred, etc.) BEFORE the dialogue. So instead of
>"It is ugly!" he wheezed
it should be
>he wheezed, "it is ugly!"
This way if you are reading aloud or subvocalizing you know how to say it before you say it.

>Third person narration
>Nameless protagonist
>Over half the sentences starts with 'He'
How do I fucking stop

i actually need help with starting every sentence with it or i or he

I tried so hard to write like Nabokov in every turn and phrase. Eventually it became harder and harder to maintain that level of style that I just gave up.

First drafts are entire for story and structure. I learned that style come after when you know as an author where the story will go. So don’t be afraid to write simple sentences. Style is the little dressing you can add to your nutritious salad.

Good advice

Write first person then

this is a good idea. I have to try this.

I have a bad habit of using dialog for page breaks, so my text looks like a fucking dialog script and it drives me up the fucking wall.

Develop the character first. Flesh him out until you know what makes their personality distinct (unless its not, and that's the point of the character). Then the narration become natural when you just ask "What would a guy like this say/do in response to this dialogue/action?"

In short, don't let the protaganist be nameless.

Also, start sentences with details other than the person doing the action (e.g. "Taking advantage of the situation, he ..." or "It didn't take long before he ...")

transitional phrases guys

temporal:
> In a short time, he...
> Before long, he..
> Soon, he..

spatial:
> In the open space between, he..
> Beyond the door, he..
> Underneath, he..

logical:
> As a result, he..
> Because of this, he..
> It became necessary for him to..

use your noggin, be creative etc

lmao thanks for the thread
Lately, I did not advance in the writing of my politics book. Like I have not been motivated to do it since I came from vacations and later on studied for exams. I would point out the things to write about on a paper, so I would be incentivized by my rage of knowing everybody being so ignorant or stupid in the area. But lately I made a great advance and now I have to start a new section and don't feel like it. If i try, even disabling the modem, i would turn it on for a google search and end lurking here or elsewhere. PLZ HELP:
>TL;DR: What do you do to focus in writing? GIB TIPS

>said x
sound better to my...

also describing other events / objects before the protags action

> Once it was on the table, he..
> While counting the grapes, he..
> When the door opened and the people began to file in, he..

put on background noise

both sound fine to my ear if giving the characters name (said Jim / Jim said). but I agree that the first person 'said I' sounds medieval

Any tips for fleshing out characters?

>user still hasn't mastered free-flowing speech without character indications
>he defines each voice with new sentences instead of letting it flow per paragraph
>his characters are that flat they're indistinguishable

t. autism

It was a tip but youre right I haven't quite mastered it, got any great examples from existing literature?

t. Non subvocalising scum

The only thing I've learned by writing is that everything I write is fucking garbage, no matter how decent it is, or how many people find it enoyable.

Jambo Jones and the Tortilla Man spring to mind. Faulky and the Woolf too.

Thanks, anything in particular from faulkner and miss woolf?

Don't give up user

its still autistic

>editing what I wrote yesterday
>I wrote feel instead of feeling
I hate this place

roll with it

This is actually something I should do. Thanks user.

Same problem. Someone please help.

What do you people write for? What's your end goal? Do you plan to be published/self-publish? Have you already done so? Do you do it for your own sake? Do you post them somewhere online for others to enjoy for free?

I write because I've always written, I guess. It's for myself, because I want to read the stories I want to write. At the same time, I want to write something that other people will enjoy. I've always wanted to make something other people can enjoy.

I post my fanfiction online. If someday, I finally manage to finish a story, I'll probably publish it on Amazon. I looked it up once. Publishing on Amazon doesn't hamper you if you actually manage to find a publishing house, so there's no harm in it.

I ended up typing a lot out. I guess I had more thoughts on character development than I thought. EIther way, I hope it helps.

How to flesh out a character can be different for every character, but in general answering a bunch of questions about a character can give you the blueprints for when you actually write them. Here's a slew I came up with.

The best thing that I've found that fleshes out a character is giving them some sort of struggle. It can be as simple just a goal they have to achieve (e.g. become king, get revenge, find gold, etc.) or something more deep, like coping with a brother's death or struggling to get out of a gang when its their only source of money. This struggle is what makes the character develop over a story, because their character arc is them simply overcoming the struggle,

What's their personality? Happy, sad, quiet, loud? What things make them deviate from that standard personality? What can make the sad character happy, or the loud character quiet? Do they have any quirks, like an obbsession with detective dramas or an extreme distaste for apples?

What sort of history do they have? Continuing with personality, why do they have that personality/how did that personality develop? What sort of situations have they gotten into because of that personality? Also, how long have they known other characters, how did they meet them, and what is their relationship with them?

How realistic/human/life-like do you want them to be? A character being more human adds depth and relatability, but a character being less human allows for more flexibility and absurdity. All depends on the story you're trying to tell and how you want the character to fit into that story.

The point of fleshing out a character is so that things makes sense for the reader when they develop over the course of the story. It provides motivation for their actions. You don't need to answer all of these questions for every character, but if there's an aspect of one that you want to define more clearly then maybe answering one of them can help.

False, because "said" is effectively punctuation. It's best to put it with the rest of the dialogue punctuation.

>he wheezed, "it is ugly!"
Should be: >he wheezed, "It is ugly!"
theeditorsblog.net/2010/12/08/punctuation-in-dialogue/

thanks dude

I didn't even write that post, not subvocalising is more autistic

What did he mean by this?

Use other people and objects as the subject of your sentences. Instead of, "He watched a swallow majestically soar," you can put, "A swallow majestically soared." Just because a character is your pov doesn't mean you have to explictly involve his perception. Jump to items of his interest and you'll get the same effect. You can take advantage of this to lower pronouns if you haven't been already among other mentioned strategies.

Also, people aren't nearly as bothered by pronoun usage as you may think. Take a look at passages in a text where a setting isn't the focus and you'll find more "he"s than you might think.

Hey, writers... are you able to... write a sonnet in English pentameter? ..

I'm.. heh.. waiting...

Nobody remembers the "said"s. "Said" is a forgettable word that serves a supporting role to the important words. That's why repetition of "said" doesn't matter (except possibly with audiobooks). It can't sound archaic because it's effectively invisible.