Writing tips?

[Reayasha]

I love to write and my dream job is to someday be a selling Author! And i beleive you should always be open for help and tips to make you better. Right now i practise with fanfiction and just writen in notebooks. So I'm asking for anything you guys have picked up from writing yourselves or just from class or books. Thank us! heart  

[PixieofDestruction]

I'm pretty good at writing essays but essays and stories are a whole different ball park.
For the intro I map it out 1st.
I draw a pyramid (a lot like the food one)
The top I disect it and write my intro sentence which should ALWAYS be vague. Then the next 1-2 sentences are a little more in-depth of what you're going to talk about/what your point is. Then the next 3 parts of the pyramid you write your 3 points which,written out, should be the thesis statement in one sentence.
At the end of every paragraph have a transitional sentece that will tie the paragraphs together. And, of course, each paragraph is so you can elaborate on your points u talked about in your thesis. I like to do bullets under each part
 

[blueroseayumi143]

Firstly, start typing out your work that makes it a lot safer and easier to store!!

Secondly, sometimes you can't always plan where you are going with the story but make sure that you have a basic idea of your characters and plot and from there you can wing it.

I would write more but I am suffering from a head ache and writer's block.  

[kiwiNberry]

I prefer typing while listening to music than writing. However, you don't have to use a essay format to write stories. Because much my stories that I write don't really follow any particular format. I write freestyle. Sometimes my paragraphs may have one sentence or sometimes it can have up to six but I usually try to keep it short because long paragraphs sometimes get boring.

When you write, you should decide if you want to write it in first, second, or third person. First person- is more so if you want to have insights on a particular person's thoughts, third person is mainly just explaining what is happening.

I pick up things from books mainly, a lot of ideas I get from reading other stories. Or sometimes just from imagination. biggrin

Hms, did you read books like Twilight, Stephanie Plum novels, or novels written by Meg Cabot? There are a lot of good writers that I picked up some ideas from and their writing style.

But I always get HUGE writer's block. I can have the page open and sit there for an hour just staring at it and nothing comes up. (Btw, I love re-reading my works, because more ideas come to me)

Heh, those are just my thoughts.

 

[Mistreena]

Reayasha

I love to write and my dream job is to someday be a selling Author! And i beleive you should always be open for help and tips to make you better. Right now i practise with fanfiction and just writen in notebooks. So I'm asking for anything you guys have picked up from writing yourselves or just from class or books. Thank us! heart

I'm the same, only I don't write fan-fiction. I roleplay on Gaia, and find it actually helps me develop ideas and practice my descriptive writing. (despite friend and others saying that anyone who roleplays is a loser....I'm perfectly happy being a loser who gains experience writing through roleplay biggrin )  

[Lilli Ann Hunter]

Try to keep your own writing skills honed by being a diarist. Write all your collected thoughts of each day in a journal. You don't have to write it as "dear Diary" Just the date, a theme title and the events that stands out and what you feel about it.

This helps you develop a style which is your own, as in writing like this is entirely free form. So you have total artistic freedom.

It also puts you on a patterned discipline, so you can write even when you're not too inspired...

Becoming anything these days is 90% self-discipline and 10% talent.

Another good outlet for writing is keeping track of your dream through writing them down right after you wake up.

Use the Gestalt method of dream recollection and write down everything you remember about your dream... the central theme, mood and feel of the dream... And if you feel like it, get a dream dictionary to decipher what your dreams are telling you.

But the main point is still, doing these trains you to be versatile in writing facts and fiction... and they have roots right in your life at the moment so they're not made up. You're experiencing them, so they have emotional value...

A selling Author should be about to write anytime anywhere, almost... Your ambition is sound... You should focus on practice already... And start looking for places to write... Blogs... are a good start...

Personally I keep a hand journal and a dream diary... And a notebook for prose...

The art of Writing is a genius of Humanity... Glad to know there are still those who dream if it.


P.S. I'm A Diarist, and an Author writing in Advice in Astrology and Tarot, I also RPG stories (Game Master) and I do art... As in Graphics and Illustrations. Currently working on Manga style art as a hobby.


Sincerely,
Hotaru  

[Bittersweet Simplicity]

I like writing too!! I used to hate it, and I find that writing is much funner (not to mention the outcome is just plain better) when you enjoy the task.  

[TillxGone]

{ owO
I say write or type up something every single day.
It sort helps me thinks of more ideas or type faster when I do it.
You should get a black ball point or uni-ball pens.
So that you can write at the speed of sound!
Though, I only use those pens because I write in handwriting. }

 

[Elmihy]

Well, since you mentioned fanfics... you're probably interested in fiction, right?
Anyway, I'm also an aspiring author, and I can't necessarilly give you a lot of tips, but this is what I've learned... it sounds old-fashioned, but its worked for me.
Well, you're going to fall in love with whatever you write, because, well, you wrote it, even if you're humble and stuff, so you can't judge your own writing and think that its unbiased. Main things.
1. you can't be a good writer if you don't read. READ READ READ. You will learn everything from vocabulary to voice and description from reading.
2. there's no such thing as just being a good writer because you were "born with it" or something... you might have basic skil or something, but you have to work at it. You have to start with the brass knuckles: vocab and grammar, then move forward.
3. annotate books, this sort of goes with reading, but if you want to be a really good writer, you can't just have a plot, you have to have a story that can be read on many levels... that means you need symbolism, description, figurative language, representations and all of that jazz. You can only learn these things from reading a lot and with the guidance of an expert... (like a teacher or something). I'm definitely no expert (still working on my first novel... :sweat) so I can't help you... but try writing something besides fanfics, because in general all fanfics are pretty shallow reads, but since they're short stories, they're a good start.

Augh... I hoped that helped... ^^  

[iFlashRog]

Creative writing is the area I excel  

[Silver_Afro]

Start with the character.