{ ＩＮＫＬＩＮＧＳ } A Thread For Writers

[anchor QUITTING]

► username diana&&max
► call me... diana or dee.
► will you critique others? yes, i will.
► story links. the midnight guest
► more erm, nope. :3

[eden .]

diana & max: accepted c:

l;asdjfl;aksdjf first time at a fanfic, hopefully I'll do well and not do super OOC characters D:
I guess this just shows how I've spiraled into a fandom.
I blame tumblr.

[Paradise;]

Yay! People are finally talking on here again. xD> It went so dead over the weekend. I don't know if it always does, but it was pretty weird. Lol.

That's probably it.
On a unrelated topic, I always have trouble with describing things. My story is almost all dialogue. Couldanyone give me some tips?

Ha. I have the [i]exact[i] opposite problem to you. I would say I'm at least decent in my descriptions, but I suck at dilogue. It's just awkward and wrong when I do it. xD. But, you know, I eventually get it straightened out after so much editing I think my mind will explode. xD.
And I'd try to give you some advice, but it looks like that was already taken care of. =)

I am exactly the same. Only through role playing has my dialogue improved. I still suck tremondously at it though. Dx I lean way to much on description. My teachers have all told me I am talented with description but my stories rely too heavily on it. I have little to no dialogue in almost all of them. It just feels awkward and I find description to be way more interesting. I am a tool. Yes I know. cx

[O.G.]

diana & max: accepted c:

l;asdjfl;aksdjf first time at a fanfic, hopefully I'll do well and not do super OOC characters D:
I guess this just shows how I've spiraled into a fandom.
I blame tumblr.

And that is why I don't usually write fanfictions. xD. Except, when I really wnat to I have Deviantart to blame a lot more than I do tumblr. Stupid fanart..
I'd like to give you advice, but all I really know is to observ the characters you'll be writing about closely, and before you do anything always ask yourself if it is something the real character would actually do. Just keep on your toes about subtly changing a character to something you only imagine them being like, because that could sprial out of control and lead to a ruined character.

I am exactly the same. Only through role playing has my dialogue improved. I still suck tremondously at it though. Dx I lean way to much on description. My teachers have all told me I am talented with description but my stories rely too heavily on it. I have little to no dialogue in almost all of them. It just feels awkward and I find description to be way more interesting. I am a tool. Yes I know. cx

Oh, wow. I had no idea anyone else but me had the same problem with diologue, not to say I'm ungrateful for my ease with description. It just always seems everyone on the earth has trouble with description, and I feel like I work entirely backwards or something. Glad to see I'm not alone. xD.
Yeah, I have to agree that role playing helps. But still, it's somehow not the same when I start writing my book. All skills I aquired over the years of role playing are lost, and my dialogue suddenly sucks again. Sometimes it will even take me days to write out a single conversation. o.o It's just, like I said and you agreed, awkward. I'm wondering if it's just because I'm a quiet person who never really talks. Or maybe that's irrelevant and a coincidence. I don't know, but I really wish I could figure out what it is that holds me back. Have your teachers ever given you any advice over the matter, or maybe explained to you why you might be that way? I don't have a writing teacher or anything so, I really have no one to consult, if you're wondering why I'm even asking.

[Cherry]

Thanks for the help, Silverhart.
Even though you didn't ask for help with dialogue I'll give some tips.
I'm a talkative person, so dialogue is natural for me.
I suggest listening to conversations at your house, the mall, school, how does it flow?
What are they talking about? (I think if you can figure out what people are talking about in the middle of a conversation, your dialogue skills aren't that bad.) What is the most used word in their vocabulary? (The, and, like, a, etc. don't count.)
Maybe even take notes on what they say, and try to, I don't know, recreate the conversation with your characters talking.

I actually have never done any of that. I don't plan ahead in my story, I hate taking notes, and I don't have the largest vocabulary. Let's just say I probably won't be published any time soon.

[eden .]

@CC: oi, yeah, I hear that x.x
I typically will read fanfics occasionally, but while it does wonders for fangirling, I usually have to shut down my "BUT THAT'S SO OOC" part of my brain to chug through. I've had to stop in the middle sometimes, though. |(

if any of you watched A:TLA/LOK, then you should probably read my story and tell me if they're IC, right? (;
it's Noatak before he was Amon but after he ran from the N. Water Tribe, so I'm writing about his development.
why do I subject myself to these things.

[O.G.]

Thanks for the help, Silverhart.
Even though you didn't ask for help with dialogue I'll give some tips.
I'm a talkative person, so dialogue is natural for me.
I suggest listening to conversations at your house, the mall, school, how does it flow?
What are they talking about? (I think if you can figure out what people are talking about in the middle of a conversation, your dialogue skills aren't that bad.) What is the most used word in their vocabulary? (The, and, like, a, etc. don't count.)
Maybe even take notes on what they say, and try to, I don't know, recreate the conversation with your characters talking.

I actually have never done any of that. I don't plan ahead in my story, I hate taking notes, and I don't have the largest vocabulary. Let's just say I probably won't be published any time soon.

Hm, that's not a half bad idea. I myself have wondered if just listening to the conversations of people might help me with my weak dialogue skills. I might try it out, but mostly all I have to listen to is my family because I'm homeshcooled. Too much listening to them and my characters might end up sounding just like them. o.o xD. But I'll definitely keep that in mind when I go out and get the chance to listen in on some conversations. Thanks for the advice. I'm never opposed to it. =)

@CC: oi, yeah, I hear that x.x
I typically will read fanfics occasionally, but while it does wonders for fangirling, I usually have to shut down my "BUT THAT'S SO OOC" part of my brain to chug through. I've had to stop in the middle sometimes, though. |(

if any of you watched A:TLA/LOK, then you should probably read my story and tell me if they're IC, right? (;
it's Noatak before he was Amon but after he ran from the N. Water Tribe, so I'm writing about his development.
why do I subject myself to these things.

Oh yeah. Fanfics.. >:( xD. I can find myself doing the same thing on the rare occasion even though I'm not really the fangirling type. I really hate it, though, because when it does get OOC then you ( or maybe it's just me ) can end up getting a mind set that the character is really that way. Then it just messes everything up. Ugh. All the woes of writing or even just imagining a fanfiction of your own.

And I have no idea what you're talking about concerning the show or movie your fanfiction is based off of so, I'm really no help there.

[Paradise;]

I am exactly the same. Only through role playing has my dialogue improved. I still suck tremondously at it though. Dx I lean way to much on description. My teachers have all told me I am talented with description but my stories rely too heavily on it. I have little to no dialogue in almost all of them. It just feels awkward and I find description to be way more interesting. I am a tool. Yes I know. cx

Oh, wow. I had no idea anyone else but me had the same problem with diologue, not to say I'm ungrateful for my ease with description. It just always seems everyone on the earth has trouble with description, and I feel like I work entirely backwards or something. Glad to see I'm not alone. xD.
Yeah, I have to agree that role playing helps. But still, it's somehow not the same when I start writing my book. All skills I aquired over the years of role playing are lost, and my dialogue suddenly sucks again. Sometimes it will even take me days to write out a single conversation. o.o It's just, like I said and you agreed, awkward. I'm wondering if it's just because I'm a quiet person who never really talks. Or maybe that's irrelevant and a coincidence. I don't know, but I really wish I could figure out what it is that holds me back. Have your teachers ever given you any advice over the matter, or maybe explained to you why you might be that way? I don't have a writing teacher or anything so, I really have no one to consult, if you're wondering why I'm even asking.

I hate to say this but my teachers have never really been a great help. The last few years I've had some pretty weak English teachers. They knew what they were doing but they were unable to help me with my dialogue issue. Again, like you said most struggle with grasping description not dialogue so with me my teachers were kind of stumped on what to do with me. xD I guess really the only thing I can say is practice just writing about a conversation you had with a friend and write like a script per say. Make sense? That's what I think I might start doing. Only problem is that for me talking always comes off as awkward. I speak awkwardly as well. My friends all think it's funny so I don't worry about it but when I put it on paper... Yikes.

[eden .]

if you're looking for advice on dialogue, then let me just give my two cents:

while it depends on context, most people don't use words like "although" and "however" and "quite", etc., etc. again, time period, context, etc. matters, but in the end, you have to be able to look at that dialogue and ask if it's realistic or not.
and furthermore, read the dialogue aloud! no, seriously, read it out loud. those are the parts that are meant to be spoken, right? so that means that, assuming you want it to sound natural and realistic, that it shouldn't sound strange, flat, or weird when you say to yourself. and you should try reading dialogue how you imagined it to be [emotionally, sadly, etc.] and make sure to put that description alongside the dialogue to make sure the reader interprets it closer to how you wanted to depict it. c:

of course, this is subjective, as most writing is, but yeah.

[Umbrellas]

I know you might have heard this before, but dialogue is all about conflicts between two characters. ^^ I find it helps if you give your characters a very strong purpose of what they want from a situation; it helps them feel a lot less flat and lets you make things a lot less complex - which is sometimes good when dealing with characters, no matter how many-layered they may be. So if you want good, interesting dialogue, put two characters together who have opposing wishes.