Writing Thread (Share tips, Swap writing, Vent frustrations)

[mystermystery]

So, I was hoping to start a thread where we could share writing tips, videos, sites that help inspire the stories we try to share with the world while also asking if anyone is willing to be a part of a reading group where we swap work to get fresh eyes on it.

I tend to write screenplays, movie length and some television/pilots, and currently have a short story that feels underdeveloped.

Some resources I use for writing tips:

www.scriptsecrets.net/tips/tipxx.htm
William C. Martell has his name on 14 movies and has ran his site for over 25 years. He posts a daily tip (and yes, after all this time, there is cycling), but I've visited his site for years, almost on a routine at this point.


www.script-o-rama.com/
Drew's Script-o-Rama is an old source for screenplays because the best way to learn how to write one is to read one. It has a collection of early and late drafts, plus unmade movies like Rob Zombie's "The Crow: 2037"

Feel free to share anything of your own.



And if anyone is curious, I currently have:

A short story titled "A Hoagie Not a Hero" about a man's interrupted evening when his delivery person is in supernatural trouble.

A script titled "New Year's End" a sci-fi horror story about a group of fleeing bank robbers who escape to a weird town that claims to have a special event coming. The event...is not fun.

A feature length script titled "Suicide Squeeze" about a home invasion thriller about baseball player who ruins a perfect game and has to protect his family when a group of fans decide to get revenge for him 'ruining the moment.'

A short script (my version of a Creepshow episode) titled "What Ails Ya?" about a rich man offered a serum from a travelling doctor who claims it can cure all his aches and return him to peak physical condition.

A feature length script titled "Amityville Sluggers" where the Amityville House is demolished but a cheapskate mayor has some of the better lumber sent off and used to make new bats for a local kids baseball team. Things go poorly from there.

[Hit Girl]

Once you start the basic premise of a story, decide roughly how it ends, then work from there filling in the developments between them.

An epic story is made up of smaller personal stories against an epic backdrop. A story for example about a war shouldn't be about the war, but the individuals affected by it.

Stick to the rules of your universe. Internal inconsistency is the death of a story.

Get down to the bare bones of story and character. A good writer isn't afraid to cut. Good writing requires honest editing. If it hurts you to cut, save what you cut. You might be able to use it for other works.

What might be called "padding" can be a good thing. It gives the reader a chance to breath. Not every line needs to be plot essential. Be cautious though. Too much padding can make the reader forget the point of the story. All padding should be world building.

[john84]

I tend to have a good beginning, I think at least, and my main characters tend to be fairly well fleshed out I think. That being said I do have trouble getting from the beginning to a satisfactory end, and by satisfactory I mean by my low standards since I don't consider myself a good writer or anything.

[Paul]

I recommend anyone interested in writing read the book "On Writing: A Memoir Of The Craft" by Stephen King. It offers some excellent tips and advice.

[thechase]

I seem to start off with very strong ideas for a comedy driven webcomic, and in subsequent drafts, I end up chucking all of what I consider the a-material so the story flows a lot better

[ayumidah]

NaNoWriMo.org can have interesting writing tips on it. Or pep talks from other authors. I don't really put any of my original writing online because I'm paranoid about plagiarizers, but I do put my NaNoWriMo novels on google docs so I can offer a link if anyone ever wants to read them.

[Rave]

There's a quote from the late David Eddings' "The Rivan Codex" on the subject of writing that has stuck with me over the years.

I was in my mid-teens when I discovered that I was a writer. Notice that I didn’t say “wanted to be a writer.” “Want” has almost nothing to do with it. It’s either there or it isn’t. If you happen to be one, you’re stuck with it. You’ll write whether you get paid for it or not. You won’t be able to help yourself. When it’s going well, it’s like reaching up into heaven and pulling down fire. It’s better than any dope you can buy. When it’s not going well, it’s much like giving birth to a baby elephant.

[dirtyoldman]

I've had a couple of books published. Well, Indy published via Amazon which anyone can do (I usually put a link to one in my sig then rotate them).
The only thing harder than writing the bloody thing is promoting it and getting people to even look at it. My video game book and the wrestling one seems to shift a couple of copies a month, while the fiction can be a struggle.

["Gizzark" Mike Wronglevenay]

Can we throw into this writing of all kinds? Journalistic, songwriting, etc.? I don't do prose any more, or journalism for that matter, but I think some of the advice be applicable on a wider basis.

[mystermystery]

May 2, 2024 7:26:22 GMT -5 "Gizzark" Mike Wronglevenay said:

Can we throw into this writing of all kinds? Journalistic, songwriting, etc.? I don't do prose any more, or journalism for that matter, but I think some of the advice be applicable on a wider basis.

Yes. Any and all advice is always welcome and appreciated.

[ERON]

May 2, 2024 3:04:14 GMT -5 dirtyoldman said:

I've had a couple of books published. Well, Indy published via Amazon which anyone can do (I usually put a link to one in my sig then rotate them).
The only thing harder than writing the bloody thing is promoting it and getting people to even look at it. My video game book and the wrestling one seems to shift a couple of copies a month, while the function can be a struggle.

I hear ya. I've self-published a couple of short story collections through Amazon. My family and friends all bought copies (except for my cheapskate aunt, who wanted one for a birthday present) but that's pretty much it. I don't really mind, though. I write as a hobby, not to become rich and famous.

[dirtyoldman]

May 2, 2024 18:40:41 GMT -5 ERON said:

May 2, 2024 3:04:14 GMT -5 dirtyoldman said:

I've had a couple of books published. Well, Indy published via Amazon which anyone can do (I usually put a link to one in my sig then rotate them).
The only thing harder than writing the bloody thing is promoting it and getting people to even look at it. My video game book and the wrestling one seems to shift a couple of copies a month, while the function can be a struggle.

I hear ya. I've self-published a couple of short story collections through Amazon. My family and friends all bought copies (except for my cheapskate aunt, who wanted one for a birthday present) but that's pretty much it. I don't really mind, though. I write as a hobby, not to become rich and famous.

Yeah while it would be nice to be able to quit work and see my stories being made into block busters, I'm happy when even one person reads it.
It's like that scene in the Simpsons when Lisa buys Al Gore's book.

[yokohamacpfc]

Write every day, set a goal, and stick to it. Adjust it to your needs, I've recently changed work locations which has increased my hours so my daily goal has gone from 500 words to 300. Hopefully, things calm down and I can get back to 500 soon. I'm also traveling and away from the computer a lot these days so I write using the Notes app on my phone and put it on the Word document at the weekend. So far rewriting stuff a few days later is proving effective at cutting waffle/cringe when I see it in the cold light of day so to speak. Fivver is the best place to find reasonably priced copy editors and cover designers. Stay away from Chat GPT (one day it'll get good but that day isn't here yet). Grammarly has improved in leaps and bounds over the past couple of years.

So far I have four self-published novels (link in sig) and I am 70% done with book five in the same series. It's historical fiction-horror so a niche genre but I've been happy with the modest sales and feedback so far. I am thinking about trying another genre when the work in progress is finished.

["Gizzark" Mike Wronglevenay]

May 2, 2024 17:21:30 GMT -5 mystermystery said:

May 2, 2024 7:26:22 GMT -5 "Gizzark" Mike Wronglevenay said:

Can we throw into this writing of all kinds? Journalistic, songwriting, etc.? I don't do prose any more, or journalism for that matter, but I think some of the advice be applicable on a wider basis.

Yes. Any and all advice is always welcome and appreciated.

Wonderful!

I'm mainly a songwriter these days but I've picked up some things I'd pass onto other people:
- I saw an interview with Alan Moore, where they asked him what his best advice for a writer would be. And his advice, which I think is great, is to read shit books as well as reading good books. If you read too many good books, you might just end up imitating what those books did, or, trying to do the opposite of what they did and ending up writing something shit. If you read shit books, you also get to see what might be a good idea get ruined, or just terrible ideas that aren't worth bothering with. You can learn just as much from good stuff as bad stuff - and I would say for my own writing, I've quite commonly been inspired by stuff which was f***ing terrible, somehow.
- Read about how your favourite works were created. Sometimes they tried methods that were weird, and ended up working for them - and just because you try and imitate the method, you might find yourself doing something new. Sometimes the original inspirations for stuff I have created seem barely f***ing related to what I ended up making.
- Don't worry much about whether you're ripping things off. If you aren't aiming to be mega level successful to the point of getting the attention of someone suing you, it really doesn't matter, and nothing is original anyway. It's all been done, so do what makes you happy.
- As often as you can, finish a draft. Editing a finished piece, whether that be a chapter or a whole book or a song or whatever, is so much easier to approach for most people than to try and finish something.
- The main advice I would give to anyone who wants to write is - write. Keep writing. Just keep writing. Keep writing. It doesn't have to be a lot. It doesn't have to take you hours. It doesn't have to be every day. It doesn't have to be good. It doesn't have to be original. Just. Write. Freeing myself of the shackles of worrying about I was ripping people off, and just writing what I wanted to write, for myself rather than for anyone else, is the way I eventually found my real voice as a writer, ended a years-long bout of writer's block and am happier now with my work than I have ever been. I cannot express this enough - just create. Not everything is a bestseller, or a number one, or a masterpiece. Sometimes just the writing is enough.

[thechase]

So I figured I'd try writing the first five pages of something and the LAST seven pages of something, and leave the middle for much later.

["Gizzark" Mike Wronglevenay]

May 4, 2024 7:28:06 GMT -5 thechase said:

So I figured I'd try writing the first five pages of something and the LAST seven pages of something, and leave the middle for much later.

Absolutely.

f*** around and find out. See what happens. It's never a waste.

["Gizzark" Mike Wronglevenay]

That's another thing actually - re use old stuff.

If you aren't a published artist with a fanbase keeping track, nobody knows if you did something before already. Go back and cannibalise good lines from old things you don't like any more too

[wakko]

The issue I am having now his how to start my story. I know what I want the story to be and who and what the characters are. But where do I start it? How do I start it?

Am I the only one? I'm sure I can't be.

["Gizzark" Mike Wronglevenay]

May 4, 2024 9:31:04 GMT -5 wakko said:

The issue I am having now his how to start my story. I know what I want the story to be and who and what the characters are. But where do I start it? How do I start it?

Am I the only one? I'm sure I can't be.

You definitely aren't the only one.

Do you have to write the start first? Can you get your eye in writing a fun later scene that you can update later?

[wakko]

May 4, 2024 10:03:10 GMT -5 "Gizzark" Mike Wronglevenay said:

May 4, 2024 9:31:04 GMT -5 wakko said:

The issue I am having now his how to start my story. I know what I want the story to be and who and what the characters are. But where do I start it? How do I start it?

Am I the only one? I'm sure I can't be.

You definitely aren't the only one.

Do you have to write the start first? Can you get your eye in writing a fun later scene that you can update later?

I definitely don't have to start at the start. I just fear throwing readers into a spot that is already too far ahead or not far enough ahead in the world that confuses or bores them.