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Writers' Workshop General Chat Thread

Try to have a clear idea of a) what effect you want to create, and b) what meaning you want to convey.

Even synonyms have subtly different meanings/connotations. If you find you can't chose between apparently identical words, try looking them up in the dictionary to see if there are any shades of meaning you've missed
 
adjectives can be a pitfall imo. they shouldn't be exclusively relied on in description or used as a shortcut, much like adverbs. giving concrete details that support and imply a larger, abstract concept is better than saying the word for the concept itself - for example, showing that a monster has sharp claws and teeth and a flat, wrinkly face is better than saying the monster was scary and ugly. it's also more natural to bring those details up along actions (the monster swiped at me, the sharp claws of its paw nearly catching my face) rather than just saying something is there.

just like with adverbs, though, trying to avoid them like the plague can make for some really contrived sentences. with claws, you can say that they're like daggers and avoid an adjective, but it's gonna get real complicated real soon when you try to describe blood by it having the color of tomatoes

in terms of general wording, often times simple is good enough and sometimes it's the best. writing a fast paced action scene in purple prose is a great way to kill tension. in dialogue, simple is definitely good, as real people don't tend to speak in complex sentences.
 
Had my first experience car shopping yesterday (totaled my old one last week). Enjoyed it and got something pretty nice.
 
Yikes! Glad you found something you liked, I was in a similar situation a week or two ago.
 
I want to write a My Little Pomy fic but I'm running into two walls.

1. Everything I can think of has already been done.

And

2. I haven't watched the show since season... seven, I think, and I have no intention of watching it at the current time.
 
There are plenty of fics written during the course of the show, so something not being up to date on the canon shouldn't be surprising. Just mention it and you should be fine.

As for everything already having been done... it goes for any story. As the saying goes, nothing new under the sun. There are also new interpretations and executions and personal takes, and those are mainly what we read stories for. A paint-by-numbers Mad Libs story of some premise existing doesn't mean that premise is now forever off the table, and just because the story came first doesn't automatically make it any better than someone else's take on it.
 
Everything I can think of has already been done.
What are you thinking of?

I have an idea for a My Little Pony fanfic too, a Pokémon crossover that takes place post-series. Right now, though, I'm focusing on a Pokémon Mystery Dungeon / Digimon crossover.
 
What are you thinking of?

I have an idea for a My Little Pony fanfic too, a Pokémon crossover that takes place post-series. Right now, though, I'm focusing on a Pokémon Mystery Dungeon / Digimon crossover.
Well, I was thinking lf doing Daring Do stories based off the fake TV Tropes page for it, with a little artistic liscnece of course because most of it is lost to time due to the mandate that Just for Fun pages can't have other pages attached to them.
 
Read. Read, read, read, the more you read, the more tricks and tips and techniques you pick up. Reading fanfiction isn't bad for this, but be aware that you can also pick up bad habits this way.

The other big tip is - write. Practice. Be prepared to take feedback, and in the beginning you may get a lot of critical feedback. But the fact is that everyone gets better from practice (And anyone who tries to tell you they didn't have to practice to get good is a damn liar)
 
I want to write a My Little Pomy fic but I'm running into two walls.

1. Everything I can think of has already been done.
That's fanfiction in a nutshell unfortunately. Entertainment as a whole, even. There's very rarely an original idea out there anymore; most of it is original spins on old ideas. Nothing wrong with writing your own take on a certain subject, theme or idea.
 
Hurray! I remembered the Wayback machine exists! Now I don't have to work as hard for my potential fanfic. Still sad we can't have extra pages on Just For Fun oages anymore.
 
I want to write a My Little Pomy fic but I'm running into two walls.

1. Everything I can think of has already been done.

That's fanfiction in a nutshell unfortunately. Entertainment as a whole, even. There's very rarely an original idea out there anymore; most of it is original spins on old ideas. Nothing wrong with writing your own take on a certain subject, theme or idea.
I'm currently working on a XenoBlade Chronicles 2 fic as a side project at the moment (which some of the writing Discord users know since I've ask questions about it), and I'm always worried that someone has done something like it before despite it being a very original concept in the basis of the world that I've never seen anywhere done.

I wouldn't be surprised if Orre: The Desert (my current fic, which really needs to be updated) has a similar fic idea out there somewhere in the world.

A very old fic of mine that's on here (please don't read it, the grammar is very bad, it was my first fic), a Legend of Zelda fic was based on another Zelda fic, but I dislike it because of its treatment of its aged Saria and how bad it was, so I wrote mine in response to give better treatment to Saria and rework the premise the better into something that made more sense. So I made Fix Fic of a fanfiction, that's probably a first.
 
I'm currently working on a XenoBlade Chronicles 2 fic as a side project at the moment (which some of the writing Discord users know since I've ask questions about it), and I'm always worried that someone has done something like it before despite it being a very original concept in the basis of the world that I've never seen anywhere done.

I wouldn't be surprised if Orre: The Desert (my current fic, which really needs to be updated) has a similar fic idea out there somewhere in the world.

A very old fic of mine that's on here (please don't read it, the grammar is very bad, it was my first fic), a Legend of Zelda fic was based on another Zelda fic, but I dislike it because of its treatment of its aged Saria and how bad it was, so I wrote mine in response to give better treatment to Saria and rework the premise the better into something that made more sense. So I made Fix Fic of a fanfiction, that's probably a first.
Why does this say you're quoting me when you're quoting Misfit?

The irony of writing a fix fic for a fanfic and it not being good.
 
Why does this say you're quoting me when you're quoting Misfit?

Cause I technically quoted both of you. I quoted both of you guys but move the text of Misfit's quote onto the top of your's.

The irony of writing a fix fic for a fanfic and it not being good.
Well, I shared the fic (which excluding the age Saria process and a few things that I never got to writing, was pretty original) with a friend of mine who was a big Zelda fan and he said ignoring my grammar errors it was actually really good. It's currently on a very long hiatus until I find the time to go back and fix and finish it but in between school, current personal projects like Orre: The Desert and the XenoBlade Chronicles 2 fic, laziness and me also trying to write an actual novel and get it published, I won't be getting to it pretty soon.
 
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Neato.

I myself have decided what to write!

Daring Do and the Quest for the Sapphirce Stone: Annotated Edition

Cause I've been browsing fan works for MLP and the Just for Fun page for Daring Do and I realized that the guy who also did his own version and did the second book hasn't been working on anything recently (I think) so dammit I'll do it myself!
 
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