Written by rekkuza- on 16.08.2011 at 17:43

Written by whatsacow on 16.08.2011 at 09:06

Written by rekkuza- on 15.08.2011 at 01:15

I write Fanfiction as a vocation to prove to the world that not everyone who writes this stuff are hormone-driven, illiterate fangirls.

What sort of fan fiction?

Well, just stuff on my favourite TV shows and books. I am writing this one on the Big Bang Theory, and I also wrote this one on the Picture of Dorian Gray, by my favourite author, Oscar Wilde. ^^

Well I think basing fan fiction on the big bang theory definitely disproves hormone driven point And I would be quite interested in reading the one based on Dorian Grey.

Since we're talking about writing I am wondering if anyone has checked this out?

http://www.nanowrimo.com

They have a bit of a writing contest in November where they encourage members to write... Anything. It just has to be over 50,000 words.

I did the contest last year and I based my concept around an idea for a short story that I have been entertaining for years. The story is based loosely on the universe that the original Final Fantasy Tactics took place in. Where as, the geography is totally different, and I didn't use any of the characters from the game, instead I just took aspects of the game for my story...

For instance, how magic works, different job classes, etc.

Unfortunately, I haven't touched that story 'since' I finished it last year, haha. I really do want to get back to it before November comes again though so I can write about something else for the upcoming contest... Though, I may just take the same concept I used before and write about a different event, or something.

If anything, I love swords, magic, royalty, soldiers and other fantasy elements of that sort. And that's what I enjoy writing about, be it writing in general, or musically.

I started writing some high-fantasy themed story once, it was some years ago... I wrote the begining, draw a map, and all of that, created the main characters... But then I got a job, and after that there was the university, another job, and well, never more wrote a word...
Maybe I finish it someday, possibly when I get retired

I basically have no time at all to write right now or motivation. I started writing a new poetry book and I stopped months ago. Things started happening and I started having less time. I also read less now, which contributes to the lack of motivation. I always tend to write more when I read more. I do intend to try to change this pattern soon and continue to write the new book.

http://talesofthemorbid.blogspot.com/

Written by Yavanna on 12.09.2011 at 20:40

I started writing some high-fantasy themed story once, it was some years ago... I wrote the begining, draw a map, and all of that, created the main characters... But then I got a job, and after that there was the university, another job, and well, never more wrote a word...
Maybe I finish it someday, possibly when I get retired

Hey, keep your notes. You never know when you'll find the time. I'm working on a fantasty story that i started when I was 16 but then didn't have time to finish. I can't say it's exactly the best story ever, but I enjoy writing it


http://www.fictionpress.com/s/3127270/1/The-Rising-Revived

Written by *NorthernLights* on 21.06.2013 at 03:31

Written by Yavanna on 12.09.2011 at 20:40

I started writing some high-fantasy themed story once, it was some years ago... I wrote the begining, draw a map, and all of that, created the main characters... But then I got a job, and after that there was the university, another job, and well, never more wrote a word...
Maybe I finish it someday, possibly when I get retired

Hey, keep your notes. You never know when you'll find the time. I'm working on a fantasty story that i started when I was 16 but then didn't have time to finish. I can't say it's exactly the best story ever, but I enjoy writing it


http://www.fictionpress.com/s/3127270/1/The-Rising-Revived

Truly, I don´t even know where my notes might be...
But then I will possibly move out soon, maybe I will find it then

I do concrete poetry, which basically shapes the poetry into different forms to reflect upon themes.
It's really tough, but I just enjoy doing it.

I also like infusing unique styles into these shapes, such as palindrome (it's the same read backwards as it is read forwards) and rhyme schemes.

Here's one of my personal favourites:
http://shuriken95.deviantart.com/art/Three-way-road-of-desperate-struggles-300517446

Three parter: First is regular
Second is just concrete.
Third is concrete with palindrome.

(Note: The shapes might be off if you're not in Chrome. It's happened before...)

Well, this here guy just finished the raw unedited version of the first book of a trilogy in the works (sincere apologies to all those, who thought I was writing Dreadrealm stuff 24/7 ). It didn't turn out to be a particularly long book, just a few pages short of 100, but I guess it counts. Genre: high-fantasy, internet-troll level comedy and... the feelsgiver, which is a new genre of literature that I've just invented. I don't think there's any point in going into details with regard to the plot, suffice it to say that nobody on Earth would probably believe that I was always sober and never high when I wrote it, it really is absurdly silly at parts. What makes me feel more accomplished and happy with this than with releasing The Essence Of Winter, is that I didn't really want to become a musician when I was younger, but for as long as I can remember, I've wanted to write books, to tell stories. I'm not sure when I will have the book edited and ready for publishing, but I will try to get there sometime during the coming year. Fun fact: my music doesn't make me particularly emotional, even though I'd be lying if I said I didn't listen to my own songs quite often, but I cried when finishing the climactic chapter of the book, as other authors before me have cried when writing their stories too. The first part of the trilogy is finished, the first part of the story is over and I felt alive writing it.

"Those, who laugh at their own words, are silly. Those, who cry at their own words are either narcissistic or writers or both." - Me, 2017

Written by Metren on 29.12.2017 at 23:29

Well, this here guy just finished the raw unedited version of the first book of a trilogy in the works (sincere apologies to all those, who thought I was writing Dreadrealm stuff 24/7 ). It didn't turn out to be a particularly long book, just a few pages short of 100, but I guess it counts. Genre: high-fantasy, internet-troll level comedy and... the feelsgiver, which is a new genre of literature that I've just invented. I don't think there's any point in going into details with regard to the plot, suffice it to say that nobody on Earth would probably believe that I was always sober and never high when I wrote it, it really is absurdly silly at parts. What makes me feel more accomplished and happy with this than with releasing The Essence Of Winter, is that I didn't really want to become a musician when I was younger, but for as long as I can remember, I've wanted to write books, to tell stories. I'm not sure when I will have the book edited and ready for publishing, but I will try to get there sometime during the coming year. Fun fact: my music doesn't make me particularly emotional, even though I'd be lying if I said I didn't listen to my own songs quite often, but I cried when finishing the climactic chapter of the book, as other authors before me have cried when writing their stories too. The first part of the trilogy is finished, the first part of the story is over and I felt alive writing it.

"Those, who laugh at their own words, are silly. Those, who cry at their own words are either narcissistic or writers or both." - Me, 2017

That's awesome! I'd definitely want to read it when you feel it's ready. And if you have any tips for writing (short) novels I'd be happy to discuss techniques. I'm making very slow progress on my own first book project - I have about 10 pages fleshed out in good fashion, a lot of it introducing the setting and some characters, but I cannot for my life figure out how to write proper, realistic sounding dialogue, it all looks very... "forced". So I skipped that part and just started writing about the scenery and history of my world which I found a lot easier. I have the whole story and character evolution done in my head but I need them to speak like human beings, damn it. I'd copy a short bit of it here but don't want to clutter the forum too much, isn't there some kind of spoiler tag?

I also write poems from time to time, some of them become song lyrics for my different bands and other music projects but mostly I just write as a form of self-therapy, getting shit out of my brain when it starts to loop over something. I posted one over at the "Poetry" topic but there's not much going on over there. I have a collection of about 30-ish poems and/or lyrics of varying quality and in at least four different languages, but maybe this isn't the place to share stuff like that.

Written by Netzach on 06.01.2018 at 13:30

isn't there some kind of spoiler tag?

not that I know of, sorry
Nice Torment avater, btw

Written by Darkside Momo on 06.01.2018 at 15:42

not that I know of, sorry
Nice Torment avater, btw

I know, right...?

Right back at you, "Prince..." one of my favorite albums of all time.

Written by Netzach on 09.01.2018 at 12:52

Right back at you, "Prince..." one of my favorite albums of all time.

Yep, it's just i]that awesome.

Back on topic: do you all know about NaNoWriMo? That's a great writing challenge to try!

Written by Netzach on 06.01.2018 at 13:30

I cannot for my life figure out how to write proper, realistic sounding dialogue, it all looks very... "forced". So I skipped that part and just started writing about the scenery and history of my world which I found a lot easier. I have the whole story and character evolution done in my head but I need them to speak like human beings, damn it.

Dialogue in literature is extremely rarely "realistic" i.e. a faithful transcript of speech. Speech has all sorts of ungrammatical structures, repetition, omission, redundant words etc. that it takes a really good writer/listener to reproduce on paper. You might as well pick the literary voice you want to present and stick with it. It could follow the style of heroic epics, being sparse and to-the-point with some exaggerated emotional exclamations, or it could be Adam/Pratchettesque witticisms that feel more like rehearsed sketches than spontaneous communication (also see Wilde and Shaw: perfect comedy that's really unrealistic), or you could even eliminate dialogue to a minimum and replace it with exposition (tell, don't show) for an interesting take on genre fiction (which I assume it is). Or just look at some good plays (which are all about dialogue) and see what they do.

I don't write fiction a lot but when I've had to (and when I role-play in writing) I tend to speak the lines out loud first.

As a reader, if I could give writers one rule of thumb it is to cut out all the unnecessary he-said-she-replied nonsense. A bit of ambiguity never hurt anyone, and if the reader can't attribute lines based on context you probably have a bigger problem with characters' voices. I'm reading Pat Baker's lauded Regeneration right now. It's extremely dialogue-heavy and it's very good.

That said, the world is full of terribly written, successful books. Most people (and many writers) don't really care how something is written, they're in it for the story and characters. Nothing really wrong with that, it's about your expectations.

tl;dr: don't worry about realism unless you specifically want to. Literature has its own rules, and many of its best voices are deliberately literary. Just find the right tone for what you want to convey, and stick to it. Dunno if this is helpful at all, or just common sense.

Anyone with experience writing multiple point-of-view stories?

How exactly do you make it seem like a different person is narrating when you want to? Since I have my own writing style I find it difficult to just change it... It's hard to like think "how would this character narrate this passage" if I'm making any sense.

I thought about adding some favorite words and expressions, but when I go back to compare the chapters which were supposed to be narrated by different characters, it still kinda gives it away they were written by the same person (me in the case)

Written by Karlabos on 27.02.2018 at 13:43

Anyone with experience writing multiple point-of-view stories?

How exactly do you make it seem like a different person is narrating when you want to? Since I have my own writing style I find it difficult to just change it... It's hard to like think "how would this character narrate this passage" if I'm making any sense.

I thought about adding some favorite words and expressions, but when I go back to compare the chapters which were supposed to be marrated by different characters, it still kinda gives it away they were written by the same person (me in the case)

Never tried yet, but indeed that would be difficult to totally mask the fact that it's written by the same person.
Fave words and expressions are a start, but I guess differents tones and/or styles of language (familiar / scientific / religious / etc) are really important. And for that you really must know your characters well and be able to get into their heads

Written by Karlabos on 27.02.2018 at 13:43

How exactly do you make it seem like a different person is narrating when you want to?

Things you can play around with are
1) structure and length of sentence. Does someone speak bluntly, mostly in independent clauses? Does someone ramble on and on with parenthetical observations etc.?

2) Vocabulary. Apart from favourite words and expressions, people use different vocabulary based on their social status, immediate context, history (education), and personal contacts. There's quite a lot of redundancy in English (if you write in English) and you can stop to think about the social connotations of words. Stephen Fry said in an interview that English feelings are typical expressed in everyday Anglo-Saxon words: "Love you to bits." That's what makes them sound sincere. Hence the Oscar Wilde quote that amazed him as a child is at the same time phonetically beautiful and insincere in its Latinity: "you seem to me to be in every way the visible personification of absolute perfection." (That's from The Importance of Being Earnest, best comedy ever btw.) This is a lot harder for us non-natives to pick up on, because we've learned literary English and probably write some very stuffy and archaic things natives would never say.

3) Focus of attention. What do these characters pay attention to? Do they describe their environments pedantically, or barely notice it? Do they report the moods and tones of other people, or analyse and compare with past information what others actually say? Etc.

4) You could do different techniques for different people, if you're ambitious. What's to say one person's perspective couldn't be in the form of diary entries, and another's in stream of consciousness (well, that's incredibly hard)? But at least things like cutting off sentences and leaving unfinished, ungrammatical thoughts hanging, or excessive repetition, can be a way to mark some people's mindsets.


If you have a hard time justifying why the characters' voices should be radically different, i.e writing Victorian diary entries for one and incoherent, drunken ramblings, or pedantic lists and descriptions for another, you might ask yourself if it's really warranted to have multiple first-person narrators. It's perfectly legitimate to have a third-person narrator that switches between characters and is somewhat restricted to the perspective of whoever is being focused on at the moment (i.e. not a true omniscient).


This may be obvious, but just listen to how people really speak, in everyday life. Also, if it's not speech you're after (as narration rarely represents speech), compare how they write. The analysis of just what makes two people's styles different is quite difficult, but rewarding (take a few good columnists or something as examples).

Thanks. Those seem like things I can keep track on when impersonating the narrators in order to write. I have a separate document with a lot of things written about the characters: how they are, what they like and not, etc so I always try to be consistent with that piece of info whether they are narrators or secondary characters. Even if I end up not inserting that info explicitly in the actual story

Written by IronAngel on 04.03.2018 at 19:37

Alright. First to IronAngel, you made some really great points that I still follow as I am writing. Kind of made me get over the self-critique I had as to my dialog writing. Second, I have no idea who would want to read this stuff but I finally got my thumb out of my ass and started writing a novel, for real. I don't know what genre it is, really, is there something called "science-fantasy"? Anyway, it is mostly inspired by surreal, metaphysical stories, especially Planescape: Torment and the like. Guess I have nothing to lose by posting a small excerpt...

Quote:
"Looking for something, stranger?"
The foreigner jerked his head back in surprise and looked away before speaking up, an embarrassed look spreading across his face. "I need a rod of charcoal, about yea big."
The shopkeeper's scaly skin glistened faintly with every movement as she darted between shelves filled with trinkets, most of them likely useful to somebody. "Something like this?"
"Longer, thinner. In a metal casing, not too shiny."
"Pfft. Awfully specific."
"Worm ate mine," said the foreigner. "Was repairing my copter. Didn't even clear that wall above. Just seemed to rise, matched my altitude. Flew right into it, very strange." Looking down at the counter, he scratched his head. "Crashed through the sand, down some tunnel. Ended up here after quite a fall."
"The Rim, we call it, that wall. All around the desert, it goes." She cast her eyes toward the cave ceiling. "Filled with trinkets. Filled with corpses. Best not go off exploring it."
"Hadn't planned to." Fidgeting, the foreigner looked nervously over his shoulder.
"Do not stray, stranger. Filled they are, these outskirts, with dangers crawling out of the walls, up from below and down from above. A worm, you say?"
"Giant worm. Maws with rusty gears for teeth all over its body. Almost took my hand off. I was faster, though." He shrugged to hide the fear in his eyes. "Gotta get across the sands. Copter won't start without a rod of charcoal. In a metal casing, not too shiny. About yea big."
"One does not simply fly into Scorch." The shopkeeper sighed in relief. "Nasty azlaq did you a favor, eating your Key. The desert above, it changes shape fast as lightning, sometimes rises all the way up to the Dome. A mind of its own, it has. Flying high or low, you were to be struck by a sand geyser, swallowed into a dune vortex, perhaps worse." Resting the claws on her elbows on the counter, she brushed some dust off her linen sleeve. "You need a zahai. They travel the dunes. But one left here, though."
"If it'll get me to Shard in one piece, I'll take it." He put a pouch full of blinking electronic parts on the counter. "Should do, no? What's your price?"
"Should do, but you have me wrong. There's but one left in Styx, our cavern?our town. Best make haste."
"In high demand, is it?"
"Well, stranger?" Looking straight past him with her feline eyes, the shopkeeper smiled sadly. "His name is Qajinn, and he is scheduled for exile by noon. Walk with me."

Written by Netzach on 18.06.2019 at 18:49

Guess I have nothing to lose by posting a small excerpt...

I think it flows well, and it's perfectly clear what's going on. Not too many unnecessary filler words and descriptions. With genre fiction that's all about the stories and themes, I think the most important virtue of style is that it doesn't irritate, that you don't really notice it. But that's something that might become apparent in longer texts, if you start repeating mannerisms (e.g. too many people fidget and glance nervously, or the shopkeeper's Yoda syntax becomes overbearing). So far so good!

I recently read Ann Leckie's Imperial Radch trilogy, which I thought was clever and elegantly written sci-fi. But then someone in a review pointed out her overuse of characters "gesturing" this and that, often "gestures assent", and I couldn't unsee it. It was fairly minor, but stuff like that to look out for.

Written by IronAngel on 19.06.2019 at 10:58

I think it flows well, and it's perfectly clear what's going on. Not too many unnecessary filler words and descriptions. With genre fiction that's all about the stories and themes, I think the most important virtue of style is that it doesn't irritate, that you don't really notice it. But that's something that might become apparent in longer texts, if you start repeating mannerisms (e.g. too many people fidget and glance nervously, or the shopkeeper's Yoda syntax becomes overbearing). So far so good!

I recently read Ann Leckie's Imperial Radch trilogy, which I thought was clever and elegantly written sci-fi. But then someone in a review pointed out her overuse of characters "gesturing" this and that, often "gestures assent", and I couldn't unsee it. It was fairly minor, but stuff like that to look out for.

Cool, thank you for reading! Definitely motivates me to keep writing. I'm at just 2500 words (after heavy editing).

I read up on POV the other day. Found it very hard to introduce a character in his/her own POV, strange if they start describing themselves somehow. For example, in that last paragraph, it seems weird to describe "her feline eyes" when we're still in her POV. Seems like it should be the other guy seeing it.

"Yoda syntax", now that you mention it, yeah. Hadn't occurred to me, heh... Tried conveying another culture, a language with that kind of word order. She's not around for very long but should maybe tone it down a bit. Right, notice some detail just once and next, you see Yoda all over the place Delicate balance maybe, finding your "tone" while not being too obvious a narrator/author?

My first draft was horribly "over-descriptive", mostly lethally boring exposition, so now I make sure to let the characters be the eyes and ears, kind of "sneak" it in. With what I have in mind, over-explaining stuff would be detrimental anyway, I think. "Omniscient" narration may have worked well for, like, Douglas Adams... seems damn tricky to pull off though.

I do worry a bit about my first chapter (that was from chapter two), it reads more like an action scene, like a movie trailer if that makes any sense. The whole chapter is about someone being pursued through the streets by a monster, very different in tone and mostly internal dialogue, but I suppose that goes for many introductions.

Cheers, your feedback is very valuable! A little exchange of ideas can make quite a difference

FYI, I decided to upload my WIP chapter by chapter over at writing.com.

So I've been on a project of translating my own work to English and it turns out it's harder than I thought...

Quick doubt: about dialogue tags and action beats:
'He said' is a dialogue tag
then 'he lit his cigarette' is considered an action beat.
But what about 'he said as he lit his cigarette'? Is this considered a dialogue tag or an action beat? How should I punctuate this among a dialogue?

Potential opening for a book:

Jurgen had never understood why society allowed alcoholics to ruin the reputation of honest drunks like himself. “The bottom of the bottle shows a truth the mirror never will,” his friend Zalacan always said. That Zalacan was a vampire and didn’t have a reflection might have influenced his opinion to a degree, but who among us is entirely unbiased?

I am actually writing a novel, though that potential beginning isn’t a part of it. I’m 20 000 words into the book and I’ve yet to reach a proper inciting incident. Most agents, editors and publishers would likely tell me to re-write the opening chapters. However, I hope the first three chapters will pull readers into the world and the story. The prologue sets up the events to follow, and the 65-70 pages after the prologue are sort of like a long AF inciting incident. I’ve written a lot of stuff before, but this is my first attempt at a serious YA novel, or a serious anything. I also audited five fiction writing courses on Coursera. My wife is a great help. She’s so amazing at pointing out things that need improvement that it’s like she was born to be an editor. The best thing about her advice is how she’s helped me realize just how bad most men are at writing women characters. She even thinks Asimov sucked at it (and he did) and is always telling me to improve in that area. “If I can tell by the way they wrote a female character that the author must’ve been a man, then it’s not good writing.”

I am writing it in my native language and won’t share any lines or sections from the book here, but I can share the premise or core themes. It’s a story about young people finding themselves in a position of authority they’re not ready to wield. It’s a story about having to choose between the well-being of one’s family and the societal and political health of one’s home country. There’s political intrigue, there’s romance and a bit of adventure and action too.

Written by Karlabos on 07.11.2019 at 17:20

So I've been on a project of translating my own work to English and it turns out it's harder than I thought...

Quick doubt: about dialogue tags and action beats:
'He said' is a dialogue tag
then 'he lit his cigarette' is considered an action beat.
But what about 'he said as he lit his cigarette'? Is this considered a dialogue tag or an action beat? How should I punctuate this among a dialogue?

I'd go with: "He said this," he said, as he lit his cigarette. "If he says more things, they go here..."

I wrote a novel early this year, and it was largely inspired by metal, mostly power and thrash. I've been working on another metal-infused one of a different world. The challenging thing is making sure the story, characters and world all have proper focus and work hand-in-hand.

An opening paragraph for a book I will probably never actually write. (If I do write it, it will be titled "At The Heart Of Winter" and I'll publish it under the pseudonym Adele Dazeem)


Sam stood on the edge of the glacier and watched the helicopters aim for his home. The elders were right. Humans were coming with technology, tools, and an unending compulsion to dissect all things, be they living or otherwise. Their kind were never satisfied with not knowing. They’d sooner destroy a beautiful thing to know why it is so, than surrender to the mystery and admire it from afar. With a heavy heart, Sam gazed upon his homeland, realizing it would be lost forever. The roar of the approaching vehicles caused everyone to react with fight-or-flight instincts. Sam let out a heavy sigh. „If only we weren’t a collective of pacifist penguins.”