A tiny writing guide

[PersonSP]

Writing is fun!
I doubt anyone has time to write a whole book but what about short stories? Short stories are, as the name suggests, short stories. They vary in length between half a page to about 25 pages long. So how do you write a good (or at least readable) short story?

-Inspiration burst; use them! Suddenly a great sentence or word combination pops up in your head. You don't have time to write a story and you don't know a place to fit the sentence. What do you do? You write it down of course. Make a document with all your sentences and use them in your stories or even as a starting point in your story.
-Go with the flow; sometimes you know what you write down but most of the time you don't. Just start somewhere and see where your story gets you. Fully planning out your story can make it a boring read. By thinking up a story while you're writing it down you'll be able to create much more dynamic stories.
-Don't copy styles! Some people have an amazing writing style and you would gladly copy that. Don't do it! By copying a writing style your story becomes less original and, usually, harder to read because your copy will be imperfect. Develop your own style.
-Have fun; or your story will not be fun to read. If you don't like to write a story or think it got boring you should stop or change it. If the writer doesn't like it, how can the readers like it?
-Let it go. You heard me Elsa. If you publish a story; let it go. People will all have their own interpretations and visions on a story. Accept that. Don't try to tell them what they should think of your stories and characters. It can be one of the hardest things to do as a writer but also one of the most fun things. Aren't you curious how your favourites will look through the eyes of your readers?

Please share your tips, questions and stories here! I'll be glad to read them and answer questions.
To all you writers out there: May the odds be ever in your favour.

 

[18]

I like how you listed inspiration at the top. My best stories - read: the few stories I didn't tear up after the first three words - came from inspiration.

Everything else is right as well. Here are some other pointers from my experience:

Find a balance between show-not-tell and tell-not-show: Lots of published authors will tell you to 'show not tell.' Here's the thing - most of those writers are no better than your average snobbish Creepypasta or fanfiction writer. I read a writer's column in Reader's Digest saying that you should turn a sentence like 'the orange cat sat on the mat' into 'the marmalade fluffy tabby cat curled up into a furry ball like an orange sea-urchin on the rust-coloured mat on the sun-splashed porch.' I'm exaggerating only a little bit - 'like an orange sea urchin' is my own addition - but anyway, his point was to make your readers see. My point is, you're making me see something that resembles a giant omelette, man. Don't try to be snobbish enough to describe everything more than a normal person would when they are seeing it. Give a few pointers and let readers' imagination construct the scene; that's what the best writers (Rowling is a notable example) do.

Humour is good, especially in a scary story: Ask anyone who's good at scaring people. Alice Cooper, Alfred Hitchcock, Stephen King even - the best scary stories are comedies. If there isn't humour in them, then people will come away saying stuff like, "THEN WHO WAS PHONE?" or, "AND THEN A SKELETON POPPED OUT! Blegh. Meh."

Thesauruses are very, very useful: Synonyms for same-meaning words make sentences in your story less cumbersome.

Read more: You can't write a good story if you don't know how it's done.

 

[PersonSP]

I like how you listed inspiration at the top. My best stories - read: the few stories I didn't tear up after the first three words - came from inspiration.

Everything else is right as well. Here are some other pointers from my experience:

Find a balance between show-not-tell and tell-not-show: Lots of published authors will tell you to 'show not tell.' Here's the thing - most of those writers are no better than your average snobbish Creepypasta or fanfiction writer. I read a writer's column in Reader's Digest saying that you should turn a sentence like 'the orange cat sat on the mat' into 'the marmalade fluffy tabby cat curled up into a furry ball like an orange sea-urchin on the rust-coloured mat on the sun-splashed porch.' I'm exaggerating only a little bit - 'like an orange sea urchin' is my own addition - but anyway, his point was to make your readers see. My point is, you're making me see something that resembles a giant omelette, man. Don't try to be snobbish enough to describe everything more than a normal person would when they are seeing it. Give a few pointers and let readers' imagination construct the scene; that's what the best writers (Rowling is a notable example) do.

Humour is good, especially in a scary story: Ask anyone who's good at scaring people. Alice Cooper, Alfred Hitchcock, Stephen King even - the best scary stories are comedies. If there isn't humour in them, then people will come away saying stuff like, "THEN WHO WAS PHONE?" or, "AND THEN A SKELETON POPPED OUT! Blegh. Meh."

Thesauruses are very, very useful: Synonyms for same-meaning words make sentences in your story less cumbersome.

Read more: You can't write a good story if you don't know how it's done.

The thesaurus tip is golden. I use a thesaurus all the time. But mind you, write your story before going wild with a thesaurus or you'll soon lose track. I'm quite a show-not-tell style writer but when it comes to what your characters are thinking or saying don't go full omelette mode. No real life person would do that and it makes you look like you're trying way too hard.

Btw, can I read one of your non-shredded stories? I'm curious.

 

[18]

don't go full omelette mode.

This made me laugh

Btw, can I read one of your non-shredded stories? I'm curious.

'Death' is one of the very few original stories I've written to completion in the past two years. I can spend years on a short story to get it to a place where I don't think it's corny, and I need inspiration to start anyway.

I'm still working on 'The Neko Queen.' I stopped because it was turning out too dark. All the original stories I write are dark, but I was writing this for putting it on 3DS Pedia and ... yeah ... it was fantastic, but it was also really violent. I've had the whole story in my mind for months, but it's only 20% written yet. If you want I can find it and send the 20% to you, but it's in really crude shape.

I've also been working on another scary story since November 26, 2013 and I haven't gotten anywhere with it beyond the first 1200 words. People don't read something that's long and not chapter-wise now, anyway.

Oh, and I'm also working on 'Sanctuary,' inspired by an Alice Cooper song. Some kind of horror story about friendship and liking yourself.

 

[PersonSP]

This made me laugh



'Death' is one of the very few original stories I've written to completion in the past two years. I can spend years on a short story to get it to a place where I don't think it's corny, and I need inspiration to start anyway.

I'm still working on 'The Neko Queen.' I stopped because it was turning out too dark. All the original stories I write are dark, but I was writing this for putting it on 3DS Pedia and ... yeah ... it was fantastic, but it was also really violent. I've had the whole story in my mind for months, but it's only 20% written yet. If you want I can find it and send the 20% to you, but it's in really crude shape.

I've also been working on another scary story since November 26, 2013 and I haven't gotten anywhere with it beyond the first 1200 words. People don't read something that's long and not chapter-wise now, anyway.

I would like to read Death in that case! :3 I have a lot of stories and storylines rotting deep in the depths of my laptop too. I am currently writing on a really long one (if I keep going like this it'll be a book when I'm finished), it's called "Heart".

 

[18]

I would like to read Death in that case! :3 I have a lot of stories and storylines rotting deep in the depths of my laptop too. I am currently writing on a really long one (if I keep going like this it'll be a book when I'm finished), it's called "Heart".

You already have

Good luck with 'Heart.' What's it about, if you can share?

I often listen to heavy metal in the hope of inspiration from the lyrics However, I disagree with the people who say you should listen to music while you write. That leads me to another tip:

No distractions: My advice is: if you're writing, don't listen to music. Don't do it while watching something. Don't get up in between. Try not to look up at all. You'll lose your trail of thought, and it'll never come back with as much fitting brilliance again.

 

[PersonSP]

You already have

Good luck with 'Heart.' What's it about, if you can share?

I often listen to heavy metal in the hope of inspiration from the lyrics However, I disagree with the people who say you should listen to music while you write. That leads me to another tip:

No distractions: My advice is: if you're writing, don't listen to music. Don't do it while watching something. Don't get up in between. Try not to look up at all. You'll lose your trail of thought, and it'll never come back with as much fitting brilliance again.

I thought so but I wasn't sure anymore if it was yours. Heart... It's a bit hard to describe since it's a "layered" story. I suppose you could say it's about a village called "Heart" but quite obviously there is a lot more to the story once you get the symbols. If you want I can pm you the first part of my draft (which is the introduction). I partially wrote the story part of it is drawings only (I tend to find inspiration for stories while drawing) but I am satisfied with the first part.

I agree with the no distractions rule but when you need inspiration (before writing that is) lots of distractions are great. Try playing a video while listening to music and talking about philosophy or something. The crazier the better.

Writing fever: the opposite of a writers block. Only write a story when you feel like you really need to write. If you start writing without the fever it will be a lot harder to find your story. (It's not impossible though.)

@Spinnerweb should I interpret the like as a "send me the story"?

 

[18]

@Spinnerweb should I interpret the like as a "send me the story"?

I'd rather wait for it when it's finished, because nothing makes me unhappier than an unfinished story. I sometimes look at old stories that were left unfinished and wonder what happened to the authors and hope they're OK.

 

[PersonSP]

I'd rather wait for it when it's finished, because nothing makes me unhappier than an unfinished story. I sometimes look at old stories that were left unfinished and wonder what happened to the authors and hope they're OK.

Okay then I need to get writing (and writing and writing because this is going to be a loooooong story).

 

[KEWYoda]

These tips are golden. I follow (nearly) every single one of them when writing a short story. Another tip is if you cant come up with an idea, think about what you did in the last couple days. Did you nearly drown? You could turn it into a horror story by saying a mysterious being pulled you under. Or, did you spill milk down yourself, you could turn it into a comedy. Finally, did a boy/girl kiss you? Turn it into romance.
One more tip is work out what your good at writing. If you can only write sad horror stories dont go and write a happy story, youll find it difficult.

 

[PersonSP]

These tips are golden. I follow (nearly) every single one of them when writing a short story. Another tip is if you cant come up with an idea, think about what you did in the last couple days. Did you nearly drown? You could turn it into a horror story by saying a mysterious being pulled you under. Or, did you spill milk down yourself, you could turn it into a comedy. Finally, did a boy/girl kiss you? Turn it into romance.
One more tip is work out what your good at writing. If you can only write sad horror stories dont go and write a happy story, youll find it difficult.

Good tips! But writing a different genre is not impossible. You just have to be in the right mood and ready to practice a lot.

 

[2071]

Those are some nice writing tips that you and Spinny give I think that I shall use some of them . I've never really been much into writing since I'm more into other things so I think this will help . But sometimes when I'm writing a story , my mind just goes blank on to what should happen next in the story ;~;

 

[PersonSP]

Those are some nice writing tips that you and Spinny give I think that I shall use some of them . I've never really been much into writing since I'm more into other things so I think this will help . But sometimes when I'm writing a story , my mind just goes blank on to what should happen next in the story ;~;

Thanks :3 If you have a blank just stop writing for a moment, go on the web or listen some music then try again.