Help with Writing

[Miss Sassy1]

Ok, I've written a few stories already, but I still thought that I could improve. WHat makes a good story. Tickling and non-tickling? How do I describe the 5 w's?

Who?
What?
When?
Where?
and Why?

How do I describe peoples appearances and the way they feel? How do I describe their reactions so it feels like the person is actually there in person witnessing all of the action? Is first, second, or third person better? Someone please help. I need all the help I can get.

 

[Green Guardian]

First off, I'm sort of a new writer as well, but I've learned a lot from people to qualify even a measly hackjob of a statement.

So you say you want to convey your characters' emotions and appearances to the reader effectively? You want to write so that you can make the reader feel absorbed in the story? Well, unfortunately, it takes a certain skill to be really good at doing it, but I've learned that there are certain things you can follow to make it a little bit easier for you, and put you in the right direction.

Write in such a way that each sentence follows from the last and suggests the next. Not just in writing tickling stories, but in all writing in general, it's very important to keep your reader interested and focused in your writing. The best way to do that is to write so that your sentences seem to flow together, like a stream. It's no good if you simply write down sentences that seem to have no connection with each other; your reader will just get confused and lost, and will quickly lose interest in your piece.

Read and take note of other stories for experience and inspiration. If you see a story that particularly moves you, study it. Understand why this story makes you feel absorbed into it; ask yourself how the author implements his words to make it so interesting. Then, learn from it, and apply those things you've learned to your own writing.

First, second, or third person in writing should technically make no difference, because each can be successfully used to write well, to make that connection. If you've seen my stories, I normally use first-person, because I personally feel it's easiest to interest my readers, but that doesn't mean that using third-person is as effective. I'd say, try each one out and see what works best.

And finally, remember this. Always, always, write for your audience. Try to keep that in mind, every time you're writing. Ask yourself: what can I do, how can I write to keep my audience interested? If you can successfully maintain that way of thinking as you write, you'll be a substantially better writer in no time.

Of course, anything you just read above you have no obligation to follow at all...after all, writing shouldn't really have rules, or it'd never be as good ^^; Just think of those things above as guidelines. At least, it's how I've learned to write; maybe it'll help you.

And remember, it takes hard work to be a good writer, and if you really want to write well, you'll do fine. Just don't ever forget to practice, practice, practice!

Good luck!

 

[ElFewja]

Heyah,

In my personal opinion the main difference between first person and third person is the character within the first person; first person follows unique rules in that, although YOU may know something about the world you've designed, that character may not necessarily know it. A first person character is not omniscient, thus you will need good reason for things. If someone is sneaking up on another person, they likely won't notice it unless the person doing the sneaking makes some sort of mistake, or else the person being snuck upon casually turns around, or something like that. I can go into greater detail if you need more info, but I think that that ought to suffice; just keep in mind that the view is very limited and that the character is still a character; a good first person story ought to convey that imperfection.

Third can be omniscient if you want, but that is slightly irrelevant.

As for description to get into a persons head so to speak... that comes from experience with people (at this point I'm going to disregard those small traits unique to individuals during certain processes, like finger coins in a pocket while thinking; that doesn't follow any pattern and is just something some people may or may not do). An impatient person may tap their fingers against a table, their foot against the floor, or any other physical action that they might utilize to distract their mind from whatever it is need be distracted from. Maybe a person idly flicks her toes without thinking about it while watching a movie (an ex did this frequently without realizing it; drove me nuts), or twists a ring on their finger about when they're thinking of some particular event connected to that item. Stuff like that.

I suggest watching your own actions very carefully for a few days and trying to notice what you're thinking of when you do something; that would help you the most, in my opinion. It would give you some ideas as well as some insight as to what to look for in others so that you can think of more options.

Truthfully I think that there is always some subtle, unconscious thought going on when we do any type of idle action. If it were a ring, playing with it could be during thoughts of an upcoming wedding, a date, thoughts of an ex, thoughts of a friend, thoughts of a similar ring you saw, thoughts of your finger, thoughts of other types of jewelry, thoughts of gold/other precious metals/gems, etc. etc. Usually I make it up as I go, but I always give the character a reason for their actions.

Does that help?

Etc.

 

[Sablesword]

The "5 w's" are a classic part of newspaper-story reporting. They're much more optional and lower-priority when writing a piece of fiction.

Describing people is like describing anything else, only trickier. There are a number of different methods, all of which can be done badly, and all of which can work well in the hands of a sufficiently skillful writer. The usual methods involve weavng in a description, rather than dumping it on the reader, and giving only a few "telling" points rather than trying to give all the details.

One thing you can do (and this works for other aspects of writing too, not just character description) is to take two or three or four of your favorite professional authors and see how they do it. You don't want to pick copy just one, but sometimes examples do a better job of explaining than explainations.

Two common things to avoid (unless you're confident that you can "beat the trap" they set) is (1) having the character look into a mirror and describing what he sees, and (2) running down some sort of "vital statistics" list. The second in particular is a cliche of Badly Written Porn Stories.

(Although I tell myself that someday I'm going to put #2 in one of my stories and make it work. by giving a good reason for reciting a "vital statistics" list.)

"Point of view" is another complicated thing. Books have been written on it. There are multiple varieties of third-person, and likewise first-person. My personal view is that first person is a trap - looks easy, but isn't any easier than third-person. Thus it gets over-used by beginning writers who want to use the "easy" method for their beginner works. And second-person is a stunt - a story written in second-person is mostly about "hey look! I'm writing a story in second-person!"

Sometimes a story really does need to be done in first-person though. And not necessarily by the protagonist - think Dr. Watson telling the tales of his friend Sherlock Holmes.

 

[Miss Sassy1]

Thanks for your guys' help. Can any one of you read one of my stories and tell me if they're good enough or if I should expand or take away. Lemme know, and again, thanks for all the help you guys.

 

[Green Guardian]

I'll be happy to do it. Send it by PM if you prefer, and I'll see what I can do.

 

[Sablesword]

OK, taking a look at your story "Hide & Torture Pt 1," a few thoughts:

o Having the "vital statistics" for the characters can be useful to you, the author. I sometimes do the same thing. But this is not a place to "show your work." Your readers shouldn't need to have that information dumped on them. Also, it's a good thing to create the subtle illusion that there's more to the characters than you're telling us, and one way to do that is for there to be more to the characters than you're telling us.

o On a purely "craft of writing" level, you need to get your formatting and punctuation right. See my rant here. In particular, note the point that one should start a new paragraph every time a different character starts talking.

o I don't see any reason why the story needs to be first-person, but I'm biased. As an exercise, try rewriting it in third person. Maybe the story will kick and fuss, proving that I was wrong, and that your original instinct to write it in first person was the correct one. On the other hand, you may be pleasantly surprised with the rewrite.