sam

- cont of writing tips -

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5.) treat the setting as another charcter in the story

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people tend to overlook the settings. (i am very guilty of this but i'm working on it.) the setting is not just a canvas in which you paint your story.

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why california? why 1880? why should this scene happen in the mall on her birthday? why here an why now?

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6.) set the elements of the story.

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a couple is eating at a restaurant. a waiter fills their glasses of water. tmthe man and woman talks. the man hits a sore topic and the woman gets mad. they argue. she stands, picks up her glass of water, and throws the water to his face.

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set the dining table (luh i'm so witty HAHAHA) of the story. if the character is going to throw water at another character, be sure there's a glass of water waiting to be thrown. if a character is going to pick the lock of something with a hairpin, be sure she has a hairpin with her. if a character is going to cut his wrist using a piece of glass from a broken window, be sure there's a window. if a character is going to lose his phone, make sure he's bringing his phone in the first place.

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7.) the foundation of a story serve as the characters's foothold

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ground the characters to the story by building it up, bit by bit, until it's strong enough to develop into another plot point.

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don't just make the characters love each other, let them fall in love.

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8.) give readers something to look back to.

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it can be a certain object, a line, an inside joke--anything.

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a character asks her best friend, why can't she just meet someone in a cupcake shop and fall madly in love with him? fast forward to thirty chapters later, she does.

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or another example: okay? okay.

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or another one: real or not real?

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familiarize your readers with your characters and the story.

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9.) you end the story the only way you see it ending.

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endings are tricky. the best endings are those that you expect because you can't see the story ending any other way.

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10.) write

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there is no formula to writing. don't limit yourself to writing tips and guidelines and technicalities and whatever.

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writing isn't simply stringing words together--it's about weaving a part of you into your story.

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make every word count.

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lol this is a few hours late haha but here goes

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AHHHH yes yes writing tips from a sucky writer bc i'm in a fairly good mood rn:

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1.) always know what you want to achieve by writing your story.

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some people plan their stories (at least to a certain degree) while some people don't (hi hello this is usually me). in any case, figure out what you're more comfortable with. BUT at least know what you want people to feel after reading your story. for example, when i wrote thh, i was thinking it should "express my views on heartbreak and moving on and possibly help readers" and for tpoce it's "to write about what i think of the existence of true love (or lack thereof)."

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2.) work on your grammar.

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dialogue tags. tense consistency. spelling. capitalization. correct paragraph breaking. syntax. diction. the works. a story is only as good as the writing is, and writing is 99% grammar and 1% "feels" tbh. (i absolutely can't make myself read a story that gOes liek dis bc wtf is u th!nking of dis is NOT h0w a stories shud luk lyk

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3.) characters are more than just names

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where does a character lie?

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you build a character by giving them gaps and breaks between the cliche persona. you take these fissures, these gaps, and you zoom in on them because that's where your character lies. you build your story by filling in these gaps and creating characters worth reading.

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give them personalities. give them fears. give them strengths and weaknesses. give them quirks (i think this is the most effective way of distinguishing characters.) like with justin in thh. he always says "duuude" and readers picked up on that. and any reader of thh would know who i am referring to when i say something like "i will cut of your balls using a guillotine"

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4.) strive to make first line/lines gripping.

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which one would you rather read?

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"The sound of the alarm clock wakes Daniel up. He's disappointed for a moment because his dream got cut off. He had been dreaming of her, the two of them sitting in their favorite cafe, and to wake up and realize it was all a dream and they weren't together, not anymore, because she had dumped him made him feel like sleeping forever instead."

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or

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"Daniel knows what all the words mean and the handwriting is more than just simply familiar in his eyes, but for some reason—the same reason that’s stopping him from removing her picture from his bedside table; the same reason that kept him up at three in the morning inking his thoughts on paper last night; the same reason that the playlist she made for him on his birthday last year is now playing in his ROM chip—none of the sentences makes sense. He keeps reading the letter, over and over again, but his mind refuses to connect the dots.

It’s been three months since Francine gave him the letter, yet the dots stay unconnected." (taken from a scifi novel (hence the "ROM chip" term) i'm planning to write soon btw)

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- cont-

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