{ ＩＮＫＬＩＮＧＳ v.4 } A Thread For Writers

[inspiration.]

Drama diary story... Open for Opinions. If liked i will continue.

[TheSongOfTheStars]

what is an area of your writing you think could use improvement and why? (grammar, detail, dialogue, etc.)
Consistency. Just in everything if I could pick a certain way and be consicent it would be great. Smooth dialogue all the way, nice descriptions, better timing.

[NopesaurusRexx]

what is an area of your writing you think could use improvement and why? (grammar, detail, dialogue, etc.)
Definitely the detail. I'm very good at dialogue, but my descriptions and place just fall short. I really need to flesh out what I'm writing and ground the reader in the surroundings.

[Iselka]

what is an area of your writing you think could use improvement and why? (grammar, detail, dialogue, etc.)

I believe the dialogue could use some work, I don't have many "normal" conversations and so I don't have much experience. So I find it difficult to imagine them.

[Demonic Rooster]

(I hope it's alright if I pose a question! I'm looking for new ideas to help with my own stories.)

When it comes to creating the plot for your story, how do you guys typically organize and patch together your ideas?

I tend to have the problem where I have many ideas for one story, but have trouble combining them into one, cohesive plot. Do you use some sort of graphic organizer/plot diagram or do you just start writing with vague ideas on how everything will go together?

[Musicality]

@demonic rooster

I, prronsally don't find organisers useful but that is partly because I am a very all over the place person, I have issues staying on topic if I have it written out. If I have a really good idea for part of the story but it doesn't fit yet I will write it down exactly like I want it in the actual part then piece it in later on. Mostly however, I wing it and hope it goes okay. Since I only write in the first person I just put myself in their shoes and react as they would, writing down what I see and do
.@nocte Luna thank you (: (sorry I didn't see what you said earlier)

[Silverhart]

what is an area of your writing you think could use improvement and why? (grammar, detail, dialogue, etc.)

Two things actually. The first major one is transitions. I cannot write good transitions from one scene to the other, and often time while writing I get stuck in these transition points and won't move on. Second is describing action and keeping it all straight in my head without being too... boring. Like 'he did this. she did that. she saw this.' Luckily I can usually fix both these things in editing.

(I hope it's alright if I pose a question! I'm looking for new ideas to help with my own stories.)

When it comes to creating the plot for your story, how do you guys typically organize and patch together your ideas?

Write down all your ideas. Even if they're out of order. Then I usually sit down with all these notes and write out an outline. Like so:

• We meet our character - let's call her Susan. She is a magical unicorn who is best friends with a witch. Our scene opens on her taking a basket of goodies to her friend.
• But suddenly Susan is attacked by purple gnomes! They spill all the goodies on the floor and Susan runs away crying. When she looks up, she has discovered that she is lost.

etc. etc.

Include as much or as little description as you want in these, but try to keep it as brief as you can. Keep everything in order, and include all important details. If you skip a scene or important detail write a note for yourself where it's supposed to be and move on. In the end you'll have a very sloppy outline.

If it's a longer story, chances are the outline will be a lot sloppier - you'll forget where certain scenes go, or want to change the order of some scenes. So I usually like to write a second outline where I include more detail, shift scenes around, and basically just clean it all up. Then ... you write! And often your writing won't follow the plan exactly, but that's okay. It's just a roadmap, and there are many more paths to your stories completion then that one. If you need to, you can draw up a new roadmap later on.

That's basically how I do it, but there are many other ways. You could draw out a timeline, or storyboards. I sometimes use those as well. Other people use charts, or draw webs connecting ideas together. And then there are other people who "pants" it, and do no planning at all.

Remember also that scenes are all about cause and effect. This thing happened, so that causes this, which causes this, which causes this. And so on, like dominoes. Each scene will effect the next in some way. The characters learn new information, so they follow up on it in the next scene, but oh no! here comes the bad guy, so now they have to escape, and in escaping they stumble upon this new information etc. If you don't yet know how to connect your scenes yet, I suggest still trying the outline method and look for ways to connect them, and don't be afraid brainstorm a bit. I've started many an outline that turned into nothing but rambling as I tried to figure out how to connect various scenes. In the end you might have to drop or dramatically change some scenes you really like, but in the end it will be worth it.

[Nitro Indigo]

Yesterday, I read a very interesting article about how in most chosen one stories, the chosen one is an awkward guy, while his sidekick is an already extraordinary girl. I then realised that Moana inverted this, with the chosen one being an already extraordinary girl, and her sidekick being an awkward guy, but now I want to see an already extraordinary male chosen one. Am I making any sense here?
(Also, add Kester Jaynes and Polly Goodacre to the "awkward male chosen one, extraordinary female sidekick" list.)

[Musicality]

@rosemarrie Awww, even though I have yet to meet you we will miss you <3

@Melon Congrats! Your the first face I saw on this thread (if in fact I could see your face but uhh ya know...) and I am positive you will do great!

[calliopë]

daww rosie <3
you take care of yourself, ok? keep writing girlie, we'll meet you at the bookstore ;3