A newbie at writing who needs a lot of help. I have many questions here.

#1
First of all, hello. I joined two month ago, but this is the first time that I use the forum.

I have too many questions so I will start with this one.

1) How can I properly apologize to the readers for being unable to keep my promise? I promised to release each Friday, but I couldn't do it.


2) How bad is it to write an average of 20.000 words per month in a story with a slow plot? Reaaally slow plot. It has been more than 300 pages and the plot has barely moved.

3) Sound effects examples. I know that is childish to use sound effect, but I like them, I am not aiming to be a professional anyways. I wish for more sound effects besides those:

  • Thud or Slam for sounds of blunt hit. But I feel that there should be something different.

  • Boom for explosive sounds.

  • Ptooo. Pteee. Ptheee. For spitting sound. I need special help for this one since this is too lame.

  • Cling for metallic sounds.

  • Crash for crashing sounds.

  • Shuu, for narrow wind sounds.

I am severely lacking sounds for when people are moaning in pain.


4) Tip about different kind of voices and faces. My story relies heavily in dialogue between characters and there have been times where I had to rearrange  a whole script because I couldn't find the right words. The ones that I am most troubled are:

  • Casual talking. I kept writing "Hello," Hugo casually greeted. whenever I wish to express a casual tone of voice.

  • Relaxed talking: The same problem as above.

  • That tone of voice that priests uses when asking something to their god. I don't know how to express that.

  • The tone of voice that one uses when is laughing.

  • The face that one uses when they heard something so disgusting that they have to step back.

  • When one leans back for something shocking, scaring, disgusting.

I may have more questions, but only those for now.

RE: A newbie at writing who needs a lot of help. I have many questions here.

#2
Not sure I'll be much help, as I'm not far from your situation myself. However, I'm currently in procrastination mode, so I need to do something XD

1 - As someone who has been a reader, I can only give my thoughts. If you can give any small info as to why, perhaps explain your frame of mind, that might help.

If you can't, just say it was for personal reasons, apologize honestly and try to figure out ways of preventing it again. Change the schedule if you can't hold to it. Personally, I simply said I wouldn't commit to a firm schedule until I've finished more of the story. If people don't like it, what can you do but write?

2 - Don't worry so much over word count. If it becomes a problem, deal with it after you've finished your story. Looking at word count is probably the biggest thing throwing off my motivation. In a few days, I wrote enough to be called a novel by word count, but my story had only just started. That brought up all sorts of doubts towards everything I'd just written. I even deleted 10,000 words because I felt it was too verbose.

3 - I guess it depends on your writing style and story feeling, but I personally use quite a few Japanese sound effects. Things like *PON* when an attractive lady hits her chest with a fist salute. I think that some of them are quite fun sounds, especially compared to the 'traditional' English words, like Blam, Pow, etc.

I don't know if it would work everywhere, but since my world has a Japanese inspired culture, it made sense to borrow a few things from LN's and Anime.

4 - I REALLY struggle with this myself. A lot of my conversation is meant to be awkward, so it's mostly hard lines of only speech. But I've noticed that, especially during casual or explosive events, I do the same as you.

The only tip I can give on this is something I've started doing myself - Come back to what you've written after a few days and re-read it aloud. If you notice a spot you don't like, try re-arranging the entire sentence structure. Sometimes, changing the structure will give you an idea on how to make it work.

RE: A newbie at writing who needs a lot of help. I have many questions here.

#3
'WirlWind' pid='822132' dateline='1488940674' Wrote: Not sure I'll be much help, as I'm not far from your situation myself. However, I'm currently in procrastination mode, so I need to do something XD

1 - As someone who has been a reader, I can only give my thoughts. If you can give any small info as to why, perhaps explain your frame of mind, that might help.

If you can't, just say it was for personal reasons, apologize honestly and try to figure out ways of preventing it again. Change the schedule if you can't hold to it. Personally, I simply said I wouldn't commit to a firm schedule until I've finished more of the story. If people don't like it, what can you do but write?

2 - Don't worry so much over word count. If it becomes a problem, deal with it after you've finished your story. Looking at word count is probably the biggest thing throwing off my motivation. In a few days, I wrote enough to be called a novel by word count, but my story had only just started. That brought up all sorts of doubts towards everything I'd just written. I even deleted 10,000 words because I felt it was too verbose.

3 - I guess it depends on your writing style and story feeling, but I personally use quite a few Japanese sound effects. Things like *PON* when an attractive lady hits her chest with a fist salute. I think that some of them are quite fun sounds, especially compared to the 'traditional' English words, like Blam, Pow, etc.

I don't know if it would work everywhere, but since my world has a Japanese inspired culture, it made sense to borrow a few things from LN's and Anime.

4 - I REALLY struggle with this myself. A lot of my conversation is meant to be awkward, so it's mostly hard lines of only speech. But I've noticed that, especially during casual or explosive events, I do the same as you.

The only tip I can give on this is something I've started doing myself - Come back to what you've written after a few days and re-read it aloud.  If you notice a spot you don't like, try re-arranging the entire sentence structure. Sometimes, changing the structure will give you an idea on how to make it work.


Thanks for the suggestions.

For why I couldn't keep the schedule, I realized that I am not such a great writer to be able to generate a chapter per week. Also my luck was specially bad last month. Chrome crashed when I finished writing half of the chapter, I just happened to find an error in royalroadl where you can't post a chapter with a super long title, I was forced to do overtime, etc. Now that I have started university and I am still working, my time to write has diminished a lot more. My apology was basically "sorry I suck".

I am worrying if I am being way too slow, not the word count. I just like to have a lot of words per chapter. The problem of my story is that it will probably need more than 100 chapter to be completed so I am thinking if I should write more per month.

Re-reading aloud is something that I always do since it helps to not only improve the dialogue between the character, but it also helps me to avoid minor plot holes. (I don't worry about big plot holes since the story is more or less completed in my head). I am happy that this wasn't useless since you recommended me to do it.

My story is usually told in first person so I could only use some parts of your writing style as an example (I read fast).

RE: A newbie at writing who needs a lot of help. I have many questions here.

#4
Hi ! 
1) It's indeed best not to commit to anything at all, but if you can't keep a promise, you can't, that's all. My reactions as a reader when an author doesn't respect his schedule range from nothing to a faint groan. Most authors here write for a hobby, and most readers will just shrug off a change of schedule because they have tons of other stories to read, so... Unless it's a sudden hiatus or chronic promise-smashing, I think it's fine.

2) You can do 200, 500 or 1000 pages without a plot and it can still be interesting. Slow plots can be either boring or amazing, the question is, how's the rest ? Can the characters, dialogue, world and so on keep the reader's attention while the plot does... whatever it does ?

3) Can't really help you here. I don't write sound effects because these 'english ones' sound too weird for me, since each language has its own sound effects. I prefer the -ing thingies. Booming sounds, crashing noises, clinging chainmail, and so on. I think whatever you choose is fine, unless you have a *THUD* *CRACK* *BOOOOM* every two lines - this, I find rather annoying.

4) When I need casual, mundane dialogue, I don't think much about it and write casual things. Doesn't matter if it sounds boring or generic. It's supposed to feel casual, no ?

Tones can be showed through either the sentences of the characters (the words they use, the punctuation, the pacing, emphasis on certain words with italics, angry caps lock, etc) or told with descriptions, actions and identifiers.

Other than that it's all about vocabulary and synonyms, I think ? Dictionaries and specific searches on google are the only solutions I have when I lack a proper word for something, so... Else, there are a lot of tutorials and tips on the web about how to write certain things, surely there are some about writing dialogues, voices and faces. I should read those too...

Well, hope it helped,  I'm a newbie too, you're warned.

RE: A newbie at writing who needs a lot of help. I have many questions here.

#5
'brostigno' pid='822139' dateline='1488944749' Wrote: Hi ! 
1) It's indeed best not to commit to anything at all, but if you can't keep a promise, you can't, that's all. My reactions as a reader when an author doesn't respect his schedule range from nothing to a faint groan. Most authors here write for a hobby, and most readers will just shrug off a change of schedule because they have tons of other stories to read, so... Unless it's a sudden hiatus or chronic promise-smashing, I think it's fine.

2) You can do 200, 500 or 1000 pages without a plot and it can still be interesting. Slow plots can be either boring or amazing, the question is, how's the rest ? Can the characters, dialogue, world and so on keep the reader's attention while the plot does... whatever it does ?

3) Can't really help you here. I don't write sound effects because these 'english ones' sound too weird for me, since each language has its own sound effects. I prefer the -ing thingies. Booming sounds, crashing noises, clinging chainmail, and so on. I think whatever you choose is fine, unless you have a *THUD* *CRACK* *BOOOOM* every two lines - this, I find rather annoying.

4) When I need casual, mundane dialogue, I don't think much about it and write casual things. Doesn't matter if it sounds boring or generic. It's supposed to feel casual, no ?

Tones can be showed through either the sentences of the characters (the words they use, the punctuation, the pacing, emphasis on certain words with italics, angry caps lock, etc) or told with descriptions, actions and identifiers.

Other than that it's all about vocabulary and synonyms, I think ? Dictionaries and specific searches on google are the only solutions I have when I lack a proper word for something, so... Else, there are a lot of tutorials and tips on the web about how to write certain things, surely there are some about writing dialogues, voices and faces. I should read those too...

Well, hope it helped,  I'm a newbie too, you're warned.

Thanks for the answer. I will try looking for some tutorials in my free time.

RE: A newbie at writing who needs a lot of help. I have many questions here.

#6
Never underestimate the power of the word 'said'. Short example of dialogue and 'sound effects' below. My take on sound effects is to hide them in the prose. You'll see words like 'Roared' or 'Hissed' being used. As for dialogue, when in doubt use said. Sometimes if you have a better word use that instead, but don't overdo it. The human mind tends to read over 'said' and regard it as normal. Disclaimer: I'm not a pro. I write for a hobby.

"Are you sure?" Bill asked.

"Yes," said James as he gripped the lever.

"This is a bad idea," Bill said, covering his eyes.

"I know," quipped James as he pulled the lever, a wide grin on his face. The mechanism shook and roared like a jet engine. The construct glowed red and steam hissed out from cracks between the metal plates.

James pulled his goggles down, covering his eyes. He called to Bill over the ruckus, "Open the hatch!"

RE: A newbie at writing who needs a lot of help. I have many questions here.

#7
'Fairplay' pid='822150' dateline='1488997767' Wrote: Never underestimate the power of the word 'said'. Short example of dialogue and 'sound effects' below. My take on sound effects is to hide them in the prose. You'll see words like 'Roared' or 'Hissed' being used. As for dialogue, when in doubt use said. Sometimes if you have a better word use that instead, but don't overdo it. The human mind tends to read over 'said' and regard it as normal. Disclaimer: I'm not a pro. I write for a hobby.

"Are you sure?" Bill asked.

"Yes," said James as he gripped the lever.

"This is a bad idea," Bill said, covering his eyes.

"I know," quipped James as he pulled the lever, a wide grin on his face. The mechanism shook and roared like a jet engine. The construct glowed red and steam hissed out from cracks between the metal plates.

James pulled his goggles down, covering his eyes. He called to Bill over the ruckus, "Open the hatch!"


Ohh, that's more or less how I write. I was thinking that it wasn't a good idea to keep repeating the same word since my school teacher told me that it was a proof of how much vocabulary I am lacking; but now that I read your tip, I feel that it is okay to keep using the word "said".

Thanks.

RE: A newbie at writing who needs a lot of help. I have many questions here.

#8
1) You say your sorry and re-examine your goals so you don't repeat it. Maybe writing and posting as you go isn't the method you should be using. Maybe you'll be better off writing the story out, complete it, and then post so you can make your Friday post.

2) To me it sounds bad. Even though I write slice-of-life, I do have to approach it with a purpose because it's easy to get lost. I mean in my head there are two ways to do slice-of-life, having a very broad story and something more self-contained with a purpose. I write the latter because slice-of-life is negatively known for not having a point or that point/plot being hard to find. However, there is a way to write such a story too keep readers interested. That goes into my reply to #4. 


3) I'm not big on sound effects. This is a depends on writing style. I don't include them often unless I need to bring something to the reader's attention.

4) Here's the thing about writing dialogue heavy stories, you don't want to waste it on greetings and pointless banters unless it's showing something in terms of character  or plot. Anything else I would question. I mean, my stories are dialogue heavy and it's the thing that I worry about the most, but it's the thing that people like the most. It's because I make it matter. They don't have small talk. The one time I can remember writing a greeting was to show how the two character didn't know what to say to each other. In fact, hardly a word was said between them other than, "Papa" and "Son." This has taken a lot of practice and dialogue is one of the things I edit the most because it's hard to get right the first time around. The thing  about dialogue it's supposed to read real but at the same time, it's doesn't need to be like how people talk. That gets boring and makes it rather hard to read. And maybe some readers find it acceptable, I can't say that it really is writing wise in the sense of craft. You want to write better dialogue it's best to cut out useless stuff. Always have purpose with your dialogue. Make every word count so it keeps your readers attention.

I found that instead looking for words to express tone of voice, it's stronger if you describe the action. I mean tone of voice a priest uses when asking something from their god depends on what the priest is wanting. Are they beseeching their god in a wailing plea for help raising their hands to the sky or praising them and asking humbly on their knees? There isn't a word to describe someone's tone of voice for laughter. You'll be betting of describing their laughter. The could start snorting or quiet laughter with their shoulders shacking  and their face turning red. Maybe even start gasping before their laughter bursts  out loud and hearty. The way a character laughs depends on the character.


I think you may benefit from the book, The Emotional Thesaurus: A Writer's Guide to Character Expression. One of the first E-books I've brought and it has helped me out a lot. The other thing I can recommend is doing some research on body language. That's helped me out a lot as well. Sorry that I can't give links, it's not something I keep on me.

RE: A newbie at writing who needs a lot of help. I have many questions here.

#9
'LadyAnder' pid='822166' dateline='1489023914' Wrote: 1) You say your sorry and re-examine your goals so you don't repeat it. Maybe writing and posting as you go isn't the method you should be using. Maybe you'll be better off writing the story out, complete it,  and then post so you can make your Friday post.

2) To me it sounds bad. Even though I write slice-of-life, I do have to approach it with a purpose because it's easy to get lost. I mean in my head there are two ways to do slice-of-life, having a very broad story and something more self-contained with a purpose. I write the latter because slice-of-life is negatively known for not having a point or that point/plot being hard to find. However, there is a way to write such a story too keep readers interested. That goes into my reply to #4. 


3) I'm not big on sound effects. This is a depends on writing style. I don't include them often unless I need to bring something to the reader's attention.

4) Here's the thing about writing dialogue heavy stories, you don't want to waste it on greetings and pointless banters unless it's showing something in terms of character  or plot. Anything else I would question. I mean, my stories are dialogue heavy and it's the thing that I worry about the most, but it's the thing that people like the most. It's because I make it matter. They don't have small talk. The one time I can remember writing a greeting was to show how the two character didn't know what to say to each other. In fact, hardly a word was said between them other than, "Papa" and "Son." This has taken a lot of practice and dialogue is one of the things I edit the most because it's hard to get right the first time around. The thing  about dialogue it's supposed to read real but at the same time, it's doesn't need to be like how people talk. That gets boring and makes it rather hard to read. And maybe some readers find it acceptable, I can't say that it really is writing wise in the sense of craft. You want to write better dialogue it's best to cut out useless stuff. Always have purpose with your dialogue. Make every word count so it keeps your readers attention.

I found that instead looking for words to express tone of voice, it's stronger if you describe the action. I mean tone of voice a priest uses when asking something from their god depends on what the priest is wanting. Are they beseeching their god in a wailing plea for help raising their hands to the sky or praising them and asking humbly on their knees? There isn't a word to describe someone's tone of voice for laughter. You'll be betting of describing their laughter. The could start snorting or quiet laughter with their shoulders shacking  and their face turning red. Maybe even start gasping before their laughter bursts  out loud and hearty. The way a character laughs depends on the character.


I think you may benefit from the book, The Emotional Thesaurus: A Writer's Guide to Character Expression. One of the first E-books I've brought and it has helped me out a lot. The other thing I can recommend is doing some research on body language. That's helped me out a lot as well. Sorry that I can't give links, it's not something I keep on me.

Ohhh. Those tips are really neat. Thaks a lot, specially the last tip. I am going to look at that book on my first break tomorrow.

About dialogue in my story. I like to put a calm atmosphere before the storm and I feel that a pointless banter of a slice of life is perfect for that. I want my characters to relax and take their time doing things since people work better if they are relaxed. I do put some hints about what is going to happen next in the middle of the banter to avoid making them too pointless.

But reading your tip, I am going to use more ways to make a relaxed scene.

RE: A newbie at writing who needs a lot of help. I have many questions here.

#11
Sound effects should be hidden in the description.

Quote:The sudden and deafening sound of metal, clanging in the background, turned the heads of everyone."

This is the professional way of doing sound effects. Although most people just do whatever and get away just fine.

As far as conversations go, they should mostly be skimmed over. This is what exposition is for, skipping over the boring parts.

Quote:I found myself in Quora's shop and she was not a happy camper. After a round of throwing things at me and cursing me to the deepest pits of hell, we got down to business.

Although for that particular example, detailing it might be better. Writing is a balance, detail the interesting stuff, skim over the boring stuff.