POPULAR: Simple Questions, Simple Answers

[CrystaI]

It happens to me a lot of time, specifically conversation scenes of casual talks without direct mentions of any plot-relevant information, such as friendly gossip between characters. Oh I just hate it. When can I get to the main points? I often lose interest in it as quick as just 3 minutes even on my most passionate day.

But unfortunately, I can't completely eliminate these scenes. I can shorten them as much as possible, but not 100% getting rid of it. Those conversation scenes existed within the story for a reason, either they are there to directly providing or indirectly hinting some information of later scenes/chapters, or to broaden the characteristical depths of the characters, or to set up the appropriate situational atmosphere. Despite they are very boring for me to write, I have no choice but to dealt with it. So I only have one single choice: Brace up, and break through this wall in front of me. I don't think there is any other method, so I just face against this challenge the hard way.

 

[canisaries]

i have a scene to write which isn't really emotionally draining for me, but i'm struggling to think of how i should actually pull it off. it involves a character realizing something which dramatically impacts his entire motivation. a lot of things change just by thinking a thought. a change of that magnitude is hard to do without something dramatic happening irl to trigger it...

 

[AceTrainer14]

Those scenes can be draining. I am writing one at the moment in Galactic, with a lot of revelations and rage, and the main issue I have is that I am not sure if it is as moving and emotional as I am trying for and just a bit silly and vacuous. Usually I think the best thing is to just soldier through it and try to do as much as you can, and then when your done take a break and do something else to get your mind off of it. You have the luxury of being able to edit it later and make it better, and getting it done a first time makes it easier to look at later.

 

[canisaries]

that's actually really good advice... i have the unfortunate tendency to set my standards too high for even the first version i'm writing of something, which in turn makes it harder to start and puts a needless threshold on writing in general. i need to get rid of that. even in painting, i've learned that not getting stuff right the first time is natural and changing it later is completely allowed.

 

[lucarioknight56]

I've been finding it difficult to bring myself to write filler chapters for stories. They have a purpose, that is, firming up the connection between characters, but they're such a drag. I want to get to the interesting stuff to write!

I guess what I'm trying to say is, what is the best way to go through these necessary-yet-uninteresting chapters? They aren't all bad, but they just aren't my cup of tea.

 

[Antoshi]

Quick question: Is there a general consensus as far as how 'PokéSpeak' should be written or does it not matter? I've been away from writing for a long time and am working on a story where one of the main characters is a Pokemon. Whenever he speaks, should it look like, "Hello, I am speaking." or use a different punctuation [such as brackets] or 'use apostrophes around it?'

Basically, I want to have said character be able to talk within quotation marks without any special formatting. However, I want to know if that's seen as acceptable within the community, as I think some people may feel only human characters should speak without special formatting to avoid confusion.

Thanks in advance for any help!

 

[AetherX]

@Antoshi I've seen it done a lot of different ways, and I think it really depends on what you're trying to portray. Italics are generally used for psychic communication, if that's what you're going for. If you want to imply a situation where only the Pokemon's trainer can understand what they're saying, then you could use brackets. If Pokemon talk to humans all the time, then regular quotation marks would be fine. These are just ways of helping the reader understand exactly how this communication is taking place. I don't think many people would fault you for simply using normal quotation marks.

 

[canisaries]

@lucarioknight56 think of the situation from different angles. try it out in your head with different moods. you might find some interesting approach that keeps you interested, too. and it's important to be interested in your work - if the author isn't interested and enjoying themselves, the reader likely won't be either.

also, character interactions are a great excuse for banter. reviewers keep telling me my dialogue is interesting and expressive - i don't necessarily think it's that great, just decent, but i can say that i learned most of that banter from rapidfire comedies like abridged series. if you struggle with writing banter, study what makes those comedies so enjoyable.

as for pokemon speak, can't help you there as i just make my mon speak english like the humans.

 

[Beth Pavell]

If everyone can understand the pokémon as easily as they can understand one another, then no need for any special formatting. I use square brackets instead of quotation marks since in my story it's usually only the trainer that understands the pokémon - but I think so long as you're consistent and don't constantly keep reminding the audience of what it means, it doesn't really matter

 

[AceTrainer14]

@lucarioknight: The easiest way is to give the scene a sense of purpose, more than just furthering a character interaction. If it is a scene where characters are talking, the relationship should be progressed in some way that makes the chapter worthwhile. I also think that if you want to get it over with, keep the chapter short. Don't add in filler to make it longer than necessary. If it is about strengthening two characters relationships, focus on those two characters and nothing else.

@Antoshi: Repeating things a bit here, but any format is fine as long as you are consistent. If a Pokemon in my stories communicates psychically, I italicise, but if they can speak 'English' or whatever your main language is called, I use quotation marks. { or [ would be fine as well. I think that unformatted text with no quotation marks would look rather confusing though, as if you had forgotten to add something in.

 

[diamondpearl876]

@lucarioknight56 I'm sure you've heard this before - it's a pretty cliche saying - but if it's not interesting to write, it's most likely not interesting to read, either. I know what you mean by wanting to get to future parts, though. I suppose you could write out of order, but then you have nothing to look forward to because you already wrote the more interesting parts to you. I'd recommend maybe thinking of a short-term goal for your filler chapters. Think of a line of dialogue or just a line of narrative that you really, really want to incorporate somehow, and then work toward the spot you can incorporate it in. Rewards of any kind make for great motivators.

@Antoshi I just want to emphasize the consistency part here. I don't mind seeing brackets or italics or anything - that all seems like personal preference of the writer - but the minute they're not included by accident or whatever, I'm completely thrown out of the story due to confusion.

 

[Misfit Angel]

I'm just a bundle of questions lately.

Today I'm really stressing out over length. The draft for the next chapter of Land of the Roses is finished, and it's come in at a whopping 6230 words so far, with probably more to come as I polish up or add description. This is by far the longest chapter so far and by a very significant margin. Trouble is, there's nowhere to split it. The bulk of the chapter is a very long, continuous scene that takes up about 75% of the chapter, with two shorter (and equally important) scenes serving as the intro and outro. Splitting it down the middle isn't really an option.

Do I just bite the bullet and put a wrap on it, even though I'm worried about the length?

 

[Warrior of Fire]

In my opinion, times like that call for what I'm calling the "Chuggaaconroy method": If there's a good spot to call it, call it there; otherwise, don't split it for the sake of a certain length. As long as the quality of what you've written is great, the quantity really shouldn't matter. That said, if there are bits of it that seem like excess fat, trim it up a little bit, but do remember the undo button if cutting something takes too much away.

 

[AceTrainer14]

@Emma Prescott: The latest chapter of Galactic will come in around 16/17k, if that makes you feel better I think if you are concerned about length, you can post it in two parts so that the split is perhaps unimportant and stress that it is there for ease of reading. However, a lot of chapters come in around that length and I think one break from the norm would not be outrageous.

 

[Misfit Angel]

If you've got chapters that long, I suppose I shouldn't be worrying as much as I am. I guess since this one is important for character development, I can bend my usual limits anyways.

 

[canisaries]

i have something a bit different to ask... how do you keep yourself motivated to write? why do you even write? how do you keep doing it if no one's asking you to?

been struggling with bothering to even write lately... i like my characters and my stories, but so few people read and comment that it just feels like singing into the void.

 

[lucarioknight56]

Well...I want to get the story finished, for one. Unless you feel like you've made major mistakes, or don't like the way the story is going, you should always try to finish it. That helps me, being a completionist.

Another reason is because I know that there are people who read my work because of the views that increase each time I post. I don't want to leave them disappointed!

One final note on why I even write...it's one of the few things that makes me feel truly unique. Not many people in my area write anything for fun, and I really want to make myself special from that crowd. Sounds petty, I know, but its better than feeling like you're no different. Hope you can feel the desire to continue creating!

 

[AceTrainer14]

@canisaries: If you want to write, write. Writing should be for yourself rather than for anyone else. It is nice to get criticism and feedback and praise and all of that, but it shouldn't be the reason you write. If you have a story you want to tell and characters you like, that should be the motivation enough to do it.

With regards to things like writer's block or that type of thing, I think the easiest method is the one I suggested the other day: write now, edit later. I sometimes put in sentences that I know are terrible and I will have to edit because otherwise I'd spend days fretting over making it perfect. In the chapter of 8ES I am currently editing, I did that and in the process of proofreading found that the bit I'd written next allowed me to fix the shitty sentence above.

If you are bored with a story and have a better idea, then feel free to stop the other story and write something else. You don't owe anyone anything with fanfiction, and you won't be doing a story any service by forcing chapters out because you feel obliged to.

With regards to getting reviews, if you want more, it is important to take advice on board. People aren't going to keep reading or reviewing if their feedback has gone ignored or been rejected. I always used to defend my stories to the point where it really damaged how things were going. Things have gotten infinitely better since I stopped and re-examined my work to see if the criticism was valid (and it was), but by then I'd already lost a lot of regular readers. You can still defend your work if you think criticism is unvalid, but try to be accommodating and open minded.

 

[canisaries]

how do you figure out a middle of your story? like how much stuff you need to put in, should there be subplots and how many and how much focus should they get, how do you build up without boring the audience...

cause i have the start and end figured out just fine, but i've come up with only a few things that should go in between, and those things are pretty disconnected.

i know how to fill in the contents of a factual essay, but one can't really use the same principles in fiction...

 

[Nitro Indigo]

@canisaries Useful links:
On Plot Structure & Plotting - Springhole.net
Reasons Your Story Might Be Stuck - And How To Fix It - Springhole.net