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by 5 Things To Avoid In Story Writing
1) No (absolutly NO!) Mary-sue characters (for newbies, that means not perfect in a Mary Poppins way at all! In fact, no perfect characters at all! It annoys the hell out of the readers!)
Example: My charry Diana (from Percy Jackson and The Child of Artemis) is described as having:
Pale, flawless skin.
Platinum blonde hair.
Deep indigo eyes like pools of the night sky.
A tinkling voice and laugh.
Basically, a picture of beauty.
I made her this way for a reason. But she's too Mary-Sue. One on the ball reviewer actually had the guts to tell me. I was a bit miffed at first and said that they shouldn't read it if they don't like it. And for that, I'm sorry (be nice to tough reveiwers!). She's basically too prefect.
You want the OC to have at least two or more flaws. A perfect charry isn't perfect in description but in the flaws (messed up advice but it's true).
2) Plotting badly! (I have major problems plotting! Any advice on this, please post as a review.)
Basics: Have a main problem for the chary to get over (like a big event), like in Artemis Fowl and the Artic Incident, Atemis has to bring down the goblin rebellion in the fairy city of Haven in return for the help of the fairies to rescue his father from the Russian mafia without getting himself (or anyone he actually cares about at this point in the series) killed. Eoin Colfer was very clever and put in two main obsticles.
Tips:
Draw a timeline of events you want to happen in your story.
Think how one thing fits with other things n the plot.
More to follow from YOUR (Yes, your plotting advice if you have any) plotting advice because I well and truly suck at plotting (I prefer to make it up as I go along. It seems better for me but its not to everyones taste. Some are more organized.)
3) Boring (or confusing) Dialogue (Admittedly, I have plent asa sort of filler for it.)
I used filling conversation in my Thesilly's Family Business (a discworld Fan Fiction) which I am glad to say I finally started writing the second chapter. In the following example, Thesilly (my OC) was caught trying to escape death and stalls the execution with a bit of chat on last words.
Example:
'"Miss Handkerchief!" One of the prison guard approached the girls cell.
"Yes, sir?" Thesilly asked, now out of her hole which was now hidden by the bed, which was a plank of wood. At least she was aloud a bed.
"The other guards and I just have to say: Well done!" The officer broke into a scraggily grin.
Thesilly felt something inside her. She couldn't put her finger on it but ... it felt like Hope. Hope the joyous gift of the gods. Hope. The thing that Thesilly had long ago learned not raise or get up. The thing that could be crushed in a second.
"Er...For what, officer?" Thesilly asked.
"For making such a vast hole in only two weeks. You done more than the great Albert Spangler done to 'is cell wall with a spoon. And 'e was yer for much longer," the officer grinned with his wobbly grin even more, revealing some of his teeth were missing for some reason or other.
"I wonder... what were his last words, officer?" Thesilly asked the man.
"'E said: 'I condemn my soul to any god that can find it'" The officer tilted his head and swiveled his eyes to the heavens.
"Isn't it kind of strange that he say that?" Thesilly asked, bidding for time. "The gods obviously weren't in his favor."
"I s'pose. Maybe the god of thieves was..." The officer rambled, placing his big hand on his beard.
"Do you think he'd mind if I used them?" Thesilly asked. "I rather like them." She added.
"I think he'd be all right wiv it." The officer trudged away. "You'll be hanged by the time the clock strikes eight, Miss Handkerchief." He called over his shoulder.
"That's nice..." Thesilly sighed sarcastically.
x-x-x-x-x
"Ah. Miss Handkerchief. Petty thief? Of course," The executioner asked with a jolly tone in his voice. Even if she wasn't about to hang, Thesilly would have backed away slightly to escape both his foul breath and his glee with killing.
"I am not a petty thief! I am a criminal mastermind!" Thesilly protested.
"Well..If your a criminal mastermind, you ain't no Albert Spangler. Tell you what though, You can sign the rope to be like him," The executioner thrust a piece of rope under Thesilly's nose, which she took hesitantly.
"Do I have too? It seems rather odd..." She took the pen from the executioner. The pen was sleek and black. Its ink red. Blood red.'
Its a good thing to add actions and description in between dialogue. It allows the reader to see that things are happening around the dialogue. If nothing happens in between dialogue then you get this sort of thing.
'I went to the park that day. There was a knock at the door and I went to get it. Behind it was Jimmy Carr.
"Hiya, Jimmy boy," I said.
"Hello there, do I know you?" he asked.
"No," I said and then went to go and sit on the park swing to his left.'
Sorry to Jimmy Carr. I do not own him but he is one brilliant comedian! He (sadly) owns himself although I think it's be funny to have him around here (looks at dirty room thinking, he could tidy my room for me before going to sleep upside down in the attic with Barry the bat that lives up there, too.) But you see my point? Suddenly I was at the park without any action or discription. How did I get there? What happened as I got there with Jimmy Carr at my side?
Also, try to use words other than 'said' in dialogue. And actions after a comma. E.g. '"Hello, little girl, do I know you? Jimmy Carr asked, raising and eyebrow as I dragged him in the direction of the park.'
Like so! ^_^
4) Terrible Punctuation (I may slip up but so do major writers (I'm looking at you J.K.Rowling!) from time to time.)
Because I can't find the example in the first Harry Potter book (it is in there. I saw it!), I'll start with showing you the marks of the subject: . , ? ' ! " ; : ... ()
We all know what they mean. See, I just used two of them. Three; four. Five! Six? Woah... I have one thing to say: "Ten" and I know you'll really think its 'cheesy' but my granny goat's a random person (I know. What a strange bunch of sentances).
See how I used that as an example? If you don't get it, that's fine. but here's what they mean anyway: (sorry but I feel I should explain them as well.)
Sorry but I broke it down so people could understand it all (at any age over the age of 11). I find punctuation important because I want to be a journalist one day (a foreign correspondant, to be exact).
5) No Paragraphing should be a crime against writing! (I have a special thing for this)
TiP ToP
See that? That's a method to paragraphing.
It means:
Time
Place
Topic
Person
This is how my English teacher sets it out for us. There's also PEED (Point Evidence Examine and Develope) and SEA-X (can't really remember. I use PEED more than this one. I know X means cross examine, though) which are to do with analysis of a piece, not writing it. My school has stupid acronyms. SERIOUSLY!
THE END
And that's it! 5 things to avoid when writing stories! I hope this has been useful to all of you!
~Shan~
1) No (absolutly NO!) Mary-sue characters (for newbies, that means not perfect in a Mary Poppins way at all! In fact, no perfect characters at all! It annoys the hell out of the readers!)
Example: My charry Diana (from Percy Jackson and The Child of Artemis) is described as having:
Pale, flawless skin.
Platinum blonde hair.
Deep indigo eyes like pools of the night sky.
A tinkling voice and laugh.
Basically, a picture of beauty.
I made her this way for a reason. But she's too Mary-Sue. One on the ball reviewer actually had the guts to tell me. I was a bit miffed at first and said that they shouldn't read it if they don't like it. And for that, I'm sorry (be nice to tough reveiwers!). She's basically too prefect.
You want the OC to have at least two or more flaws. A perfect charry isn't perfect in description but in the flaws (messed up advice but it's true).
2) Plotting badly! (I have major problems plotting! Any advice on this, please post as a review.)
Basics: Have a main problem for the chary to get over (like a big event), like in Artemis Fowl and the Artic Incident, Atemis has to bring down the goblin rebellion in the fairy city of Haven in return for the help of the fairies to rescue his father from the Russian mafia without getting himself (or anyone he actually cares about at this point in the series) killed. Eoin Colfer was very clever and put in two main obsticles.
Tips:
Draw a timeline of events you want to happen in your story.
Think how one thing fits with other things n the plot.
More to follow from YOUR (Yes, your plotting advice if you have any) plotting advice because I well and truly suck at plotting (I prefer to make it up as I go along. It seems better for me but its not to everyones taste. Some are more organized.)
3) Boring (or confusing) Dialogue (Admittedly, I have plent asa sort of filler for it.)
I used filling conversation in my Thesilly's Family Business (a discworld Fan Fiction) which I am glad to say I finally started writing the second chapter. In the following example, Thesilly (my OC) was caught trying to escape death and stalls the execution with a bit of chat on last words.
Example:
'"Miss Handkerchief!" One of the prison guard approached the girls cell.
"Yes, sir?" Thesilly asked, now out of her hole which was now hidden by the bed, which was a plank of wood. At least she was aloud a bed.
"The other guards and I just have to say: Well done!" The officer broke into a scraggily grin.
Thesilly felt something inside her. She couldn't put her finger on it but ... it felt like Hope. Hope the joyous gift of the gods. Hope. The thing that Thesilly had long ago learned not raise or get up. The thing that could be crushed in a second.
"Er...For what, officer?" Thesilly asked.
"For making such a vast hole in only two weeks. You done more than the great Albert Spangler done to 'is cell wall with a spoon. And 'e was yer for much longer," the officer grinned with his wobbly grin even more, revealing some of his teeth were missing for some reason or other.
"I wonder... what were his last words, officer?" Thesilly asked the man.
"'E said: 'I condemn my soul to any god that can find it'" The officer tilted his head and swiveled his eyes to the heavens.
"Isn't it kind of strange that he say that?" Thesilly asked, bidding for time. "The gods obviously weren't in his favor."
"I s'pose. Maybe the god of thieves was..." The officer rambled, placing his big hand on his beard.
"Do you think he'd mind if I used them?" Thesilly asked. "I rather like them." She added.
"I think he'd be all right wiv it." The officer trudged away. "You'll be hanged by the time the clock strikes eight, Miss Handkerchief." He called over his shoulder.
"That's nice..." Thesilly sighed sarcastically.
x-x-x-x-x
"Ah. Miss Handkerchief. Petty thief? Of course," The executioner asked with a jolly tone in his voice. Even if she wasn't about to hang, Thesilly would have backed away slightly to escape both his foul breath and his glee with killing.
"I am not a petty thief! I am a criminal mastermind!" Thesilly protested.
"Well..If your a criminal mastermind, you ain't no Albert Spangler. Tell you what though, You can sign the rope to be like him," The executioner thrust a piece of rope under Thesilly's nose, which she took hesitantly.
"Do I have too? It seems rather odd..." She took the pen from the executioner. The pen was sleek and black. Its ink red. Blood red.'
Its a good thing to add actions and description in between dialogue. It allows the reader to see that things are happening around the dialogue. If nothing happens in between dialogue then you get this sort of thing.
'I went to the park that day. There was a knock at the door and I went to get it. Behind it was Jimmy Carr.
"Hiya, Jimmy boy," I said.
"Hello there, do I know you?" he asked.
"No," I said and then went to go and sit on the park swing to his left.'
Sorry to Jimmy Carr. I do not own him but he is one brilliant comedian! He (sadly) owns himself although I think it's be funny to have him around here (looks at dirty room thinking, he could tidy my room for me before going to sleep upside down in the attic with Barry the bat that lives up there, too.) But you see my point? Suddenly I was at the park without any action or discription. How did I get there? What happened as I got there with Jimmy Carr at my side?
Also, try to use words other than 'said' in dialogue. And actions after a comma. E.g. '"Hello, little girl, do I know you? Jimmy Carr asked, raising and eyebrow as I dragged him in the direction of the park.'
Like so! ^_^
4) Terrible Punctuation (I may slip up but so do major writers (I'm looking at you J.K.Rowling!) from time to time.)
Because I can't find the example in the first Harry Potter book (it is in there. I saw it!), I'll start with showing you the marks of the subject: . , ? ' ! " ; : ... ()
We all know what they mean. See, I just used two of them. Three; four. Five! Six? Woah... I have one thing to say: "Ten" and I know you'll really think its 'cheesy' but my granny goat's a random person (I know. What a strange bunch of sentances).
See how I used that as an example? If you don't get it, that's fine. but here's what they mean anyway: (sorry but I feel I should explain them as well.)
- . (full stop) means the end of a sentance. You've probably been using them since you could hold a pencil.
- , (comma) means a slight pause.
- ? (question mark) means the sentance is a question.
- ' (appostrophe) these have a few more uses. Like saying something is owned by someone ('that's hers', 'that's Corey's' e.t.c.) to show an accent (see dialogue example and look at the sentance when the officer answers Thesilly's question of Albert Spangler's last words) and even when qouting (although in books these and speech marks are often the other way round in this case).
- ! (eclamation mark/point) can mean all sorts like a sudden gesture or an exaggeration. They can be used in many ways.
- " (speech marks) used to show when speech stars and ends. Probably learned them as 'ninetynine' and 'sixtysix' to help you when ou were younger.
- ; (not quite sure about the name) mean the sentance isn't completely over. E.g. 'Th ink red; blood red.'
- : (really struggling for the name of this one! Blonde moment!)
- ... (elipse) used to show pause in not only speech but sometmes in description.
- () (brackets) used for many things (like noting things down, for example) or explaining things or (sometimes in fanfiction, author notes).
Sorry but I broke it down so people could understand it all (at any age over the age of 11). I find punctuation important because I want to be a journalist one day (a foreign correspondant, to be exact).
5) No Paragraphing should be a crime against writing! (I have a special thing for this)
TiP ToP
See that? That's a method to paragraphing.
It means:
Time
Place
Topic
Person
This is how my English teacher sets it out for us. There's also PEED (Point Evidence Examine and Develope) and SEA-X (can't really remember. I use PEED more than this one. I know X means cross examine, though) which are to do with analysis of a piece, not writing it. My school has stupid acronyms. SERIOUSLY!
THE END
And that's it! 5 things to avoid when writing stories! I hope this has been useful to all of you!
~Shan~
