General Writing Discussion Thread | Current Topic: NaNoWriMo

I got Croagunk based on the fact that it's Looker's Pokemon in the manga or something(?) I really want to go through with this plan because there are several storylines I could make up. It's just that I like my other story better and would rather dedicate time to it instead :p
 
We have been anxiously waiting for this to come. For months, we have worked hard to think of a way for reader's to feel in the story. Well now you are.

We bring you a sneak peek of our newest project for TWC!

[video=vimeo]https://vimeo.com/104264851[/video]​



More information to come!
 
We have been anxiously waiting for this to come. For months, we have worked hard to think of a way for reader's to feel in the story. Well now you are.

We bring you a sneak peek of our newest project for TWC!


[video=vimeo]https://vimeo.com/104264851[/video]​

Amateur video by Turtwig


More information to come! Any simple questions? Ask away! Discuss!

If anyone is interested in helping us run this activity, please PM [mod]Turtwig[/mod], [smod]Athena[/smod], [mod]Delta[/mod], or [smod]Ice Arceus[/smod]!
 
Could I post a thread that is kind of like a "Ask ______" advice column in character in this section. I did something similar to this, but I didn't get enough questions to really keep it going. That was 2 years ago and I was wanting to ressuresect.

Also could I post a brainstorm/suggestion thread were I post my idea, and character and people tell me how I could make it better?
 
For the first part of your question, I'm going to need some more clarification. In the "advice column in character," what specifically are you talking about. Sorry, I'm a little confused :p Can I see an example?

For brainstorming ideas, we have this thread for exchanges and conceptual feedback at the moment. We do have one for other CW forums, but this one will be sticking with the discussion thread for now.
 
Figured it's time to come back to one of these:

Questions for Readers and Writers

Question 17​

Hey everyone, I've asked you about your writing style and your critiques this whole time, but what do you think makes a story popular on this forum? What is the key ingredient that everyone should be aware of? I can't wait to read your thoughts!
 
It's an interesting question, but kind of hard to answer. First of all, what defines popularity and how do you measure it? Lots of people reading and enjoying a particular story is probably the best definition, but that's kind of hard to see visibly. We can look at thread views to get a general indication of how many people looked at a particular thread, and the same for replies, though this is somewhat faulty considering that there have been different rules and standards for story feedback through PokéBeach's lifetime and views can become skewed for a number of reasons. That said, it's still probably the best objective indicator that we have to work with.

I'm kind of surprised to see that 2 of the stories I've worked on here (Winds of Time, Mysteries) are both ranked rather high in these categories despite their relative newness. They're 4th and 5th (respectively) for both replies, and Mysteries is 9th in views. The replies are kind of cheating for both, though; WoT relies on reader feedback in the form of posts to continue, and Mysteries had character submissions that took up most of the first page. I'm particular surprised about Mysteries, though, because I, personally, have never gotten the feel that it was particular popular or anything, though that's probably because of low feedback.

One thing that both of these stories definitely have in common, though, is effort, and I think that's important. I've put a hell of a lot of work in Mysteries, and I know all of the authors working on WoT have as well. There are a lot of people (readers and writers both) that write off (haha) fanfiction as fluff writing that doesn't require much work or respect, but I think that putting honest effort and care into something will tend to make it shine above other works, even if they are "fluff" pieces. It seems that a good amount of other high reply/view stories here also fall into this category, at least that's the impression I'm getting from flipping through OPs. Of course, this doesn't apply to all of them, and there are joke stories and the like in the bunch, too, but we're not exactly dealing with absolutes.

Another important piece I feel is reader involvement. Not necessary literally involve them like we're doing with WoT, but just making readers feel open and welcome, and I think this is a big contributor to some of the more jokey popular stories as well. It also helps when the authors are more active on the site, just because it will entice people to read and follow along moreso than GhostPokémonTrainer78964 who joins and posts a fanfiction chapter as his first post. Not to say you need to be popular to have a popular story, but if you're visible and active, you give people a reason for wanting to be involved with you in some way, such as reading your story, and an active user is more likely to continue to contribute to their story as well.
 
I believe that we all come across those chapters (or chapter) that serve to collect scattered information and use it to progress the plot, otherwise known as transition chapters. They can be actually quite hard to structure well despite the inherent lack of action. With the psychological novel that I'm working on right now, that type of chapter is all the harder: collecting both introspective musings and real-time conflicts and spinning them into what comes out as progress.

This leads me to wonder about everyone else. How do you handle transition chapters? Is there a proven approach or do people find their own way of constructing these?
 
Transition chapters as you describe them are one of the very few things that I will work on and write in advance. It helps me prepare to have all my ducks in a row, and it also allows me to pick at it occasionally depending on how the rest of the story goes, to make sure the wording is perfect. I find that these transition chapters are where wording--and pacing as well, to an extent--are at their most important, since these are likely the biggest points where your readers and your protagonist are in sync.

I don't really think there's any kind of proven or proper way to work on these sorts of things, but then again, I don't think that's true for any part of any sort of writing.
 
hi

http://www.pokebeach.com/forums/thread-i-m-an-aspiring-playwright-let-me-tell-your-story

just leaving this here

love you all <3
 
Great answers! Also, good luck with your project, PMJ! Here is the next question:



Questions for Readers and Writers

Question 18​

How easy is it to find yourself showing way too much bias towards characters or organizations when writing? For example, making one character seem better than another or showing too many opinions that may just correlate with that of a party, religion, etc.?

For me, I've gotten much better in the former. I'm now impartial. As for the latter part of the question, I've actually never really shown any important views in my work. However, I know a lot of people do without intentions.

What about you guys? Have you ever found yourself too biased in your own story?
 
Of course. I tend to show bias towards characters I like. In 27772, I probably made James a lot smarter than he actually is, and I know I show bias in my pony cards all the time towards my favorites.
 
I don't think author bias is a bad thing. Impartiality is nice for reviews and other non-fiction works where writing is presenting facts, but ideas are full of all kinds of bias, and that's part of what makes stories interesting. Authors show bias all the time, whether its towards characters such as simply favouring (a) particular character(s) (even just paying more attention to the good guys and/or main characters more than anything else), or more broad (and discussion-filled!) concepts such as philosophical views or critiques of various parts of society and human nature. Sci-Fi in particular is filled to the brim with the latter; you can't really make a futuristic world without judging how the present will affect it. There are so many themes in literature that simply couldn't exist if fictional authors weren't allowed to show bias in their works.
 
Great answers! The reason I asked this is because it was brought up in class one day (such as an author suggesting an opinion upon his readers politically). I completely agree in that respect. When I mean that I am more impartial, I mean that I'm more open to more interesting characters and I capitalize on their strengths as well as my main, whereas my first stories had a slew of interesting characters with no development because I only cared about the main character.

It did used to bother me in examples like the Pokemon anime where some of Ash's Pokemon would get significantly more screen time than others. Do you find any examples of such in writing, whether it be in scripted works or in regular stories, that seem to urk you?
 
Just a quick announcement regarding tags:

A playthrough tag has been added. You can find it under the drop-down menu.
 
Turtwig said:
How easy is it to find yourself showing way too much bias towards characters or organizations when writing? For example, making one character seem better than another or showing too many opinions that may just correlate with that of a party, religion, etc.?

This is something I tend to do a fair amount of the time, but recently I feel like I have improved on it. A lot of my early stories had those Mary Sue protagonists you see all too often and little to no purpose other than just to write it. When I started writing here, I guess it was a little better but still had plenty of bias in the mc's. With Outlet, this is probably the first time I've written with a conscious determination to solidify every concept and character that enters the story (it's also the first of mine with a predetermined purpose), although there is a very strong lean toward a few realms of psychology in particular rather than others (this is largely due to the main characters, but they're also my creations). Overall, experience does lessen the bias you might find yourself with in writing from my experience, but it's bound to rear its head every now and then no matter how hard you fight it barring special circumstances.

Come to think, there's a couple of published authors that show extreme bias/emphasis toward certain beliefs within their stories (Dean Koontz comes to mind). Why do we see this happen when they seem to be more in general fiction?
 
Nearly a month since the last post? How tragic!

I have been considering a fan-fiction only if, this time, I actually possess the patience to compose one...

Here is an excerpt:

The man in the white suit shook his head, sipping his tea, and arose from the petite porcelain chair in which he casually sat. He slowly prowled over to the poubelle and disposed of his garbage, carelessly tossing the fragile cup into the waste bin. Its shatter did not perturb him. He looked into the cerise, evening sky and there loomed the majestic Prism Tower, illuminated by not only its thirty thousand dazzling bulbs but also by his disconcerting interest.

"What an industrial eyesore," the nonchalant phrase rolled off of his tongue as if he was apathetic (yet slightly agitated, although it did not show) towards the subject of the modern marvel.

He closed his Holo Caster with no further thought and caught the next taxi. He ensconced himself within the confines of the plush seat, and even he became slightly cynical at even his own idea; it required further deliberation, surely. But would deliberation only hinder progress? According to the simple laws of bureaucracy, when in doubt, ponder, and when in toil, quarrel. This, though, would not withstand the asinine quarrels of the executive offices. He knew this to be true. If only there were some way to stage an... accident.
 
I really like the feeling you have in this excerpt! The tone you had sounded very professional and I enjoyed every word of it. I can't say much since it's somewhat short, but I do think you have an amazing voice in your writing.

How are you going to overcome your impatience for this story? I'm in the same boat and have tons of ideas, so if you have some sort of advice, I'd really appreciate it :D
 
Turtwig said:
I really like the feeling you have in this excerpt! The tone you had sounded very professional and I enjoyed every word of it. I can't say much since it's somewhat short, but I do think you have an amazing voice in your writing.

How are you going to overcome your impatience for this story? I'm in the same boat and have tons of ideas, so if you have some sort of advice, I'd really appreciate it :D

Aww, shucks. Thank you!

Really, I've not a clue as to how I should overcome impatience. I can write a twenty-five page paper about current events, but I cannot seem to find the time to compose a fictional story. Strange, indeed, but that's just how it rolls. I kind of like it so far, but meh... I have my reservations.

I suppose the key to overcoming impatience in writing is to sit down, and clear your mind. If you're experiencing impatience, more than likely, it was not meant to be; or, perhaps, it was very good and the little evil cherub upon your shoulder is attempting to deter you from publishing it. :D

Clear your head. Focus on your plot. Compare your plot to real-life events; draw historical parallels! EVERY story is much more fun if it has deep roots in history. This is all personal preference, though; I am an history fanatic. Every time I read a story, I attempt to draw comparisons to events in real life; it makes me feel as if I have discovered something new. It's like a eureka moment. And even so, the historical parallels don't have to be ACTUAL history. You can draw upon alternate histories, such as in that dreadful G.I. Joe movie (I think it was called The Rise of Cobra, or something). The Eiffel Tower is destroyed. Oh! I think I've spoken too much!

"Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet."
-Jean Jacques Rousseau
 
We are currently looking for potential writers for CYOA. If you're willing to help contribute to the development of the activity, then please contact either Turtwig or myself. If accepted, you will be added to the CYOA Skype group where you will be able to work alongside the CW staff and other writers.
 
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