Any tips for getting better at writing stories?

[The_Happiest_Husky]

I've been writing for a couple years now, and I'm pretty good at creating worlds, characters, and lore. However I'm awful when it come to actually writing stories, I can't come up with plots nor figure out scenes. It's been an increasing source of frustration to me, to the point that sometimes it causes writer's block.

Looking for any advice that might help

 

[ScaratheWolf]

I hate to sound like EVERYONE but seriously write it out!!! It will come with time and a lot of practice

 

[ScaratheWolf]

My brother is a Author for a living so you might be able to ask him (if you DM me I can give you his email).

 

[JollyCooperation]

I read a book about writing recently, and one of the golden rules it put forth was: Let your characters create a story, don't put characters into a story. See, if you start with an interesting character that you want to write about, his flaws, desires and ideals alone can be enough to create a story around them, especially if they clash with other characters you pair with them. This way you never run into the problem of a character doing something "because the plot says so", since the character doing this because they want/need to IS the plot.

 

[Baron Tredegar]

I actually just finished writing my first short story last month and am currently trying to get it published so I may be able to help.
First, think about the world you want to create. What are its people like? What are the customs? What factions and nations are there?
Then, focus on the major players of the world. What faction are the "good guys" and the "bad guys"?
Now you are ready to start creating characters. Who are the leaders and major figures of these factions? How do these dynamics affect the backstories and motives of your main characters?
I hope this was helpful.

 

[ScaratheWolf]

when writing the book make a "outline" to be able to guide you when writing

 

[Khafra]

I'll say that letting a character write a story for you is a good direction and advice, but it can sometimes feel like flailing around in the dark if you are unsure what the story is supposed to be about in the first place, or are just starting out.

If you already have a world and characters, that's a lot of the work done. All you need now is events, which you can pull from either the characters' or the world's history. Something that shaped a person into what they are now, or a notable event in the place they live in. It's also helpful to loosely define a 'genere' or just think what would you like the story to convey. There are adventure stories where the focus is put on describing a fascinating, exotic world and exploring it alongside the protagonists, there are character driven dramas where the details of the setting are left blurry and are less important than the interactions between people, and everything in between. It's good to know what the focus of the story should be.

You might know this image, but it's a really good tool for planning out the actual course of the plot. Start by familiarizing the reader with what's happening, then begin the series of events that will escalate over the course of the story before reaching the climax somewhere before the end, and so on. It's a basic principle, but pacing your story is very important for the reader's involvement. You want them to know your characters, give them time to form a bond with some of them before dropping big reveals or emotional moments. Even before the climax of the story, you might want them to know as much about the main character(s) as they do themselves. Of course, this too varies depending on what the story's goal is, but it's a good base to start on.

Going another level down, when it comes to actually putting words on the pages, that's just something to practice. You will have a much easier time if you read a lot yourself, obviously. If you feel like you're struggling with a particular aspect of writing details, such as dialogue or describing places, pick up a book you like and read through it, paying attention to how that author handles such issues. You might learn something.

Finally, I don't know if you checked out the advice thread, but it's helped me a lot, both in terms of basics as well as regarding some more detailed topics that were put in there. Just be mindful the links are in the old format that doesn't work anymore - you'll have to take the thread number from the URL (the 't' parameter, you'll find it after the 't=' part) and then go to '/threads/<number>', like here:

https://forums.furaffinity.net/threads/46619/

I'm not that experienced of a writer by any means, but if you wanna talk about some details, feel free to hit me up. It's a great hobby, and I think it's a shame it often goes under the radar as far as art on the internet goes.

 

[Vakash_Darkbane]

I read a book about writing recently, and one of the golden rules it put forth was: Let your characters create a story, don't put characters into a story. See, if you start with an interesting character that you want to write about, his flaws, desires and ideals alone can be enough to create a story around them, especially if they clash with other characters you pair with them. This way you never run into the problem of a character doing something "because the plot says so", since the character doing this because they want/need to IS the plot.

This is great advice, don't ever force characters to do things they won't. Its a lot like being a good DM for an RPG. You just set things up and let the players figure it out, you just write down what happens.

 

[Vakash_Darkbane]

I'll say that letting a character write a story for you is a good direction and advice, but it can sometimes feel like flailing around in the dark if you are unsure what the story is supposed to be about in the first place, or are just starting out.

If you already have a world and characters, that's a lot of the work done. All you need now is events, which you can pull from either the characters' or the world's history. Something that shaped a person into what they are now, or a notable event in the place they live in. It's also helpful to loosely define a 'genere' or just think what would you like the story to convey. There are adventure stories where the focus is put on describing a fascinating, exotic world and exploring it alongside the protagonists, there are character driven dramas where the details of the setting are left blurry and are less important than the interactions between people, and everything in between. It's good to know what the focus of the story should be.

View attachment 127038

You might know this image, but it's a really good tool for planning out the actual course of the plot. Start by familiarizing the reader with what's happening, then begin the series of events that will escalate over the course of the story before reaching the climax somewhere before the end, and so on. It's a basic principle, but pacing your story is very important for the reader's involvement. You want them to know your characters, give them time to form a bond with some of them before dropping big reveals or emotional moments. Even before the climax of the story, you might want them to know as much about the main character(s) as they do themselves. Of course, this too varies depending on what the story's goal is, but it's a good base to start on.

Going another level down, when it comes to actually putting words on the pages, that's just something to practice. You will have a much easier time if you read a lot yourself, obviously. If you feel like you're struggling with a particular aspect of writing details, such as dialogue or describing places, pick up a book you like and read through it, paying attention to how that author handles such issues. You might learn something.

Finally, I don't know if you checked out the advice thread, but it's helped me a lot, both in terms of basics as well as regarding some more detailed topics that were put in there. Just be mindful the links are in the old format that doesn't work anymore - you'll have to take the thread number from the URL (the 't' parameter, you'll find it after the 't=' part) and then go to '/threads/<number>', like here:

https://forums.furaffinity.net/threads/46619/

I'm not that experienced of a writer by any means, but if you wanna talk about some details, feel free to hit me up. It's a great hobby, and I think it's a shame it often goes under the radar as far as art on the internet goes.

As much as I hate this model, I have to admit =_= Narrative refuses to follow any other pattern when creating it.

 

[Khafra]

As much as I hate this model, I have to admit =_= Narrative refuses to follow any other pattern when creating it.

Helps to think of it not as a model, but as the natural consequence of how we have told stories for ages. You need some sort of high point to it, or the story will just be boring with nothing of interest happening. And I think almost every writer writes something around a particular event that they wish to introduce to their audience.

If you want people to be emotionally invested in the event, you have to build up to it in some way. If you just drop it in the first few pages, the reaction will most likely be something along the lines of "I guess that happened". Plus, everyone wants to hear stories from the very beginning, even if it's something dumb like a friend telling you about a highschool prank they pulled one day.

If you write in a way to keep readers as invested as you can, you'll end up with the dreaded pyramid and that's almost just a law of nature. It's not impossible to make stories in different ways - but you'll find it hard to keep people interested. You can also do some reading on how different cultures and historical periods did story dynamics (most of them aren't the exact same a the pyramid, and certain mediums like dramas can involve the audience participating in as well), but the basic principle of hooking the audience on something and then giving them a payoff is almost universal.

 

[HowlingDusk]

As someone who just published a book late last year, I have literally spent 10 years writing on and off, reading, researching what goes into driving a compelling story, learning about proper pacing, sentence cadence, dialogue, voice, style--SO much goes into writing a novel, much more than just simply understanding the rules of grammar (which can be broken in creative writing).

As with any art form, the only way to get better is to keep writing. Start small at first. A lot of beginner writers tend to think their first books will be 200,000+ word long epic fantasy novels, and then they give up after about 5 chapters. Start with shorter novels, and practice story pacing (there are a lot of tutorials out there for story structure, and they all tend to follow the same intro/inciting incident/rising action/darkest hour/climax/falling action/ending.

Once you learn story structure, you need to learn about pacing. This is probably one of the most important part of writing a compelling story. Your prose can be god awful, but if you have an interesting, well-paced story, people will read it to the end. If you have fantastic prose, but your story is paced so slow that it bores the reader to tears, or paced so fast that the reader feels cheated out of an experience, they will either DNF or just leave a terrible review. This is where just practicing will help while also having other people read your work. You'll know right away what parts are boring readers and what parts are moving too fast. Eventually, you'll get to the point where you'll know when something is off.

The second most important thing is characterization. Every character you design needs to be an entire person, not just an archetype. People are complex, three-dimensional beings that grow as time goes on, and the characters in your story need to do the same. They need to make mistakes, and have the journey change them in such a way that they become changed people by the end of it. Either for better or worse (such as a hero turning into a villain). While this isn't always the case, some of the most popular books are character-driven stories. In fact, some readers can forgive badly paced or worded stories, but if they lack characters they can connect with or root for, the story may as well not exist to them. (I'm one such reader. The characters have to make me CARE about them in order for me to care about the story).

And here's the thing: even though I've written a book, there are STILL things I have to learn, and you never stop learning, even as you get better. I wrote about 3 stories, all over 100k words that I threw away because they were bad before finally figuring out the formula that works for me.

I cannot stress how important critiques and feedback are for improving. If you don't have a critique partner, definitely find one that likes to write in your genre so you can learn from each other.

 

[reptile logic]

. . .

And here's the thing: even though I've written a book, there are STILL things I have to learn, and you never stop learning, even as you get better. I wrote about 3 stories, all over 100k words that I threw away because they were bad before finally figuring out the formula that works for me. . .

I agree with all you said, above, but when I reread this today, my heart had a twinge for you. You literally deleted 300k words of work? Ouch!

Early on, I established dump files for my 'deleted' work. Though not especially well organized, these files keep proving to be treasure troves of conversation starters, environment outlines, ideas for action sequences, motives, and of course lore in general.

Even if one never finds any 'cut and paste' gold in there, it's still a scrap box of ideas worth rummaging through once in a while.

 

[reptile logic]

. . .

I cannot stress how important critiques and feedback are for improving. If you don't have a critique partner, definitely find one that likes to write in your genre so you can learn from each other.

I'll add that I now have about a dozen folks that I trust to give me solid feedback on my work. Honest, thoughtful input from folks who love to read is so useful on so many levels, it becomes hard to evaluate its importance. A writer can only see their own stories through their own, personal filter, and they will always know that particular story better than anyone else ever can. A good beta reader will tell you what they see, and most importantly what they can't see.

Example: When one person points out a hole in a plot, you the writer should take notice. When more people point out that same hole, you should fix it!

I look at critiques with the mind of an engineer. If implementing feedback from other people will improve the product, then ignoring or discounting such feedback would be not only foolish, but will ultimately result in an inferior product.

One's ego may thrash and scream at being subjected to such 'demeaning measures', but if you act on this knowledge, more readers will more readily immerse themselves into your story. Win!

As an aside, @HowlingDusk , I have learned that often the best feedback, regarding one's writing style, come from folks who usually don't read works like the author's own. Having less emotional investment in a work they'd usually not read, that reader will tend to be more blunt. On a positive note; if said reader likes (or even loves) your work, you have passed the test, and have become a true storyteller. The story came through, despite the genre you chose to package it in!