Fantasy writer's discussion topic...

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Hey fellows, I would like to hear your commentaries on your writing style, character development tendencies, etc.

Do you draft out your plot before you begin? How do your main characters tend to behave?
And more.

Do let me hear your views. I could really do with some advice on writing female and goody two shoes characters....

 

I don't write stories often, but usually I start with the plot, then I try to come up with some otiginal protagonist(s), then I fit them into the plot and I create some antagonists. As I'm a girl, my protagonist is normally a woman and in some strange way she always ends up looking like me, or behaving like me. Anyway, hope that's been helpful

 

Well, If you ddid write the first few lines of a short or the first chapter of a long story, you must already have an idea on the ending. Now you can create a 1000 side way's to reach this point, but it is ok as long as you stick to it.

BUT:keep the ending in your mind and do not write it down before your story has come to that point!

About caracters, the hardest thing is to give them a name, it must suit the caracter, and she/he must carry this name till the end of the story.

Be original! You can use things from other books but do it in your own way.

 

The only fantasy story I wrote was the unfinished one in here. When I began writing it, I didn't really write things down as a plan or a draft. I have about three or four fantasy storylines going on in my head. When I have time to think about them, I add ideas to the basic idea. Of course, the characters must be fleshed out, the ending, beginning, and settings must be thought out well. What goes on in the middle, I add ideas to, until it becomes what I want. I then write it down, if I ever should, then elaborate on detail. Then proofread, edit, and change around when you're done. I believe that the last part is actually the longest for most authors. Ray Bradbury supposedly stores each story he writes for exactly a year, than takes it out as a stranger and reads it and corrects stuff. Sadly, proofreading is harder in SP's CS.

But this is all probably very useless advice, given the bad quality of what I've been writing.

[This message has been edited by C'Jakob (edited June 02, 2002).]

 

The middle of a story is probably the hardest to write.

 

I pretty much begin by just figuring out the very basics of what the plot is and waffle on for a bit. After I decide that it is complete crap i throw it away and start again. repeating the process a few times before I think of something good then in my spare time that I can't write it (maths class for example) I think of the plot and whatnot. Then when I finally get around to writing it(still haven't finnished one yet) I improvise heaps and it usually goes on for ever and gets realy far-fetched so I say "SCREW IT!" and go back to reading stuff that talanted people write. The hardest part is definatly thinking up a name. sometimes its fun but most of the time it's just one long mental block.

 

I start my stories by thinking of a protagonist. Then I give them a situation and let them do what they want, almost like a DnD game where I'm the DM putting stuff in their way and just recording what happens

 

Most of my stories come from a sudden flash of inspiration, in which I come up with a couple of characters' appearances, a couple of locations, and a couple of events. As I write these things down, I come up with more and more ideas, until I get quite a good idea of a plot. By this time, I generally have about three pages of notes, which I then organise into chronological order. Then I leave it for a few days, constantly coming up with new ideas or possibilites, and adding them onto extra pieces of paper. I also research the subjects, and this often produces even more ideas. Eventually, as with my current story, I get a file of 40+ pages of notes and research, which I continually read through. Only then do I start writing, although new ideas keep appearing. One thing I always do, however, is leave ideas fairly open-ended, so there is always room for something new to fit in somewhere.

 

All of my stories tend to happen in a place called Chirofen: A place of three planes, Kinstorfen, Chritch and Casrower. Altogether there are fifty races. I'm hoping to get some of my stories published, I know a friend who has had a poem book published.

 

It's really anoying, when I try to write a story. It starts of really strong, but after a while it seems to lapse back into a boring situation.

But my favourite part of the story would have to be the character creation. You can make people how you want them to be.

 

I find it easy to create characters and it is fun, if stories start off strong then you have to keep adding surprises to keep it strong

 

I literally make everything up as i go along. Even the plot is made up on the spot. My stories are considered by some on these boards because i have funny ideas, i have no grammatical ability and i often leave out a lot of detail. One day i will sit down and write a story which i have worked out completely before i start. And on that day.....prepare to laugh.

 

Steinbeck watched the Grapes of Wrath ripen before he wrote about them...

 

I've written a ton of stories, but never finish them. I think I've been brainwashed by the way my school teaches writing that I end up getting it confused with my own style. But when I write, I make a basic plot, which I never really end up following anyways. I usually think of people and how they act, and then start creating characters that either look like people I know or act the way they do. The character’s behavior usually makes the plot go haywire.

My characters always have a certain role in the story, like an unique ability or something that I try to incorporate in the ending or just throughout the story. I try to concentrate on their pasts and make them behave the way they would if they grew up a certain way. That’s the only way I know how to develop my characters. So I make up their appearance, give them a past, then the hardest part is the name. I usually give the sheets to my friends and they come up with them. (but I never give them the character I made that’s like them lol)

I don't know if I helped any