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Dapper Humorist

Hello, I am here to tell you how to make your basic story. If you type faster than you write, I'd suggest using your computer for typing, and have few written things, vise versa if you write faster. Anyways, all you need is a computer (already have it if your veiwing this), some paper, a pencil, and a place to write. Once you have collected those things, you can begin the process of making a story.

Ok before you can get started on writing, you need to get an idea. It doesnt have to be anything serious like Tom Clancy style military melt down or anything. Just some idea to base your story on. Lets say that there is some evil robot army and the humans need to create some human enhancement or something. That could be your idea. Now comes the fun part of making the story, making the characters.

Grab a sheet of paper and just start writing down traits you would like a character to have. Maybe it is a stupid girl with a trippy finger on a trigger, or maybe some super powerful guy with a soft heart. Anyways, lets make up Boby Tettet. Bobby will be an average teenager with no special powers or anything. Try to make a few characters that you will see a lot and that will add a lot to the plot line (we will get to there later). We will also add George H. Kaffe as the evil bad guy.

Ok now that you have some characters, you got to give them a location of where they are going to be. Maybe like a different planet or even a city ruled by drug dealers, it doesnt really matter. For this story I will put them in a city ruled by war hungry robots that control them with strict rules.

Here is my favorite part, the brainstorming. Sit down and start putting ideas of what the characters would do, maby even do a few doodles of the guys. After you get a few ideas, try writting segments of a few of the ideas put together. Something like the following. (Note, it is really small so it doesnt take up a lot of space.

Bobby hides behind the couch so that the evil robot in his bedroom watching Dr. Phill wouldn't find him. He loosk to his left to find a bowl of potato chips that have bugs crawling all over it. There are purple bugs, green bugs, bugs bunny, and even one pill bug.

After you get a few of those, try to thread them together by adding other things between it. After a while of writting, you will have your basic story. It wont be very long, or it might be super long, and it could be somewhere in between. It doesnt matter. You have created your very own story!
I see the light now...
Well no wonder! I've been trying to do it with a herring by slapping a volcano with it.

I knew something didn't feel right.
thank you for sharing

Dapper Humorist

Your very welcome.
Heh thanks for the info but duh I'm not an amateur.

Hmm... This could be a cure for writers block.
Frankly, for me, if I start with the computer, I start with writers block. I can type faster than I write, but when I am writing it is also much easier to erase. The same thing is true for edits. I cannot edit well if I do not have a hard copy in front of me. I guess I am just weird like that. sweatdrop
Another comment: I never ever ever brainstorm. Yes, I know this is bad form, but isn't it easier to get everything out on paper and then go back and cut things? Characters tend to evolve on thier own so by writing what your characters will be may just be a waste of time and effort.
Heh, I never brainstorm as well. Sometimes I think it's a waste of time. Another little fault of mine is that I never plan out my stories, so I always run into writer's blocks along the way.

And another quirk is that I get carried away while I'm writing narratives or novels. I go on and on about something, and about three pages later I finally get into the storyline. Like I remember this year, we were writing narratives at school, and I wrote about three pages of introductions and other things before I got into the actual plot (we all had to follow the same plotline). sweatdrop

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RyuuTsurugi
Frankly, for me, if I start with the computer, I start with writers block. I can type faster than I write, but when I am writing it is also much easier to erase. The same thing is true for edits. I cannot edit well if I do not have a hard copy in front of me. I guess I am just weird like that. sweatdrop
While that isn't the case for me, I like having a handwritten hard copy of where I started. As a bonus, if the computer ever crashes and my disk gets corrupted, I still have my starting point. Also, I can look back and see where I started from before all the editing and re-writes.

Unless you print out all of your drafts between changes with a computer you just don't get that affect. Plus a notebook is a lot more portable than a desktop and allows for more randomly inspired writing sessions.
Holy cow! I just discovered that I've been wasting my years writing the wrong way! I think I must have reinvented the wheel when learing to write.

Honestly pal, I think you should stress that writing is as unique to each person as genes and finger prints.
I do want to add one thing.

If you're having trouble coming up with a plot, consider this simple idea. If you don't like planning things out in your plot, create a few (I'd stick with four) basic characters and do sketches of them.

By sketches I mean write about them. Everything. Start with the beginning of their lives and hit every important thing that shaped them. If you spend a good amount of time, you can come up with four creative characters that have the potential to change and become very dynamic.

Then weave in a flaw or individual trait that really sets them apart, and figure out how these characters would interact. A piece I'm working on is all based off interaction. Unless you're truly gifted at battle sequences, character development is the way to go. A truly outstanding dialogue can make your pulse skyrocket, but a poorly written battle can bore you to death.

Plot should be something that evolves. Once you hit the middle of your rising action, a climax will come to you. Its just important that each character be incredibly strong. With strong characters, you have no weaknesses to find later on.

Unless you leave them for yourself, and you want a weakness...hehehe...
My self the ideas just come to me. Half the time I never have a pen or paper to write the ideas down. What can you do. Though I find my best creative source is when I'm in a rp chat with friends. Though that that would be the reason why I'm working on 6 projects at once sweatdrop
I never do any kind of planning or brain storming when I write. When I started doing the story I'm in the middle of right now, I first made up some names, and made character sketches. Then I drew a map of the world I was working with (its a fantasy story, by the way). After that, I started writing, and the plot just comes to me as I write it down. I often have to correct things because I'll find myself having said something in one page, then saying something the oppisite ten pages later, so that can be a little irritating. I also never use the computer to write, also for the reason that it's more portable to write with a pen and paper, you can do it anywhere. Also, it just feels more real. After its all completely finished, I'll type it, but not until then. I also tend to go on and on about something unrelated to the actual story, when I'm writing. For example, I spent two and a half pages describing the life of one of my characters, Bryn, when there was no reason to. Its not all bad though, it lets the reader know who you're talking about I guess. Anyway, I'll stop talking.
Sorith
Hello, I am here to tell you how to make your basic story. If you type faster than you write, I'd suggest using your computer for typing, and have few written things, vise versa if you write faster. Anyways, all you need is a computer (already have it if your veiwing this), some paper, a pencil, and a place to write. Once you have collected those things, you can begin the process of making a story.


A voice-recorder might also be handy, in case you get that writing urge while driving or on the crapper.

Quote:
Ok before you can get started on writing, you need to get an idea. It doesnt have to be anything serious like Tom Clancy style military melt down or anything. Just some idea to base your story on. Lets say that there is some evil robot army and the humans need to create some human enhancement or something. That could be your idea. Now comes the fun part of making the story, making the characters.

That's all well-and-good if all you want is to write the same crappy genre stories everyone else writes. Starting with an idea = formulaic. You get more involved with the plot than the characters. Start with a character and let them get into a problem. What does that character want or need? You don't need an idea to write a story--all you need is a character and a problem.

Quote:
Grab a sheet of paper and just start writing down traits you would like a character to have. Maybe it is a stupid girl with a trippy finger on a trigger, or maybe some super powerful guy with a soft heart. Anyways, lets make up Boby Tettet. Bobby will be an average teenager with no special powers or anything. Try to make a few characters that you will see a lot and that will add a lot to the plot line (we will get to there later). We will also add George H. Kaffe as the evil bad guy.

No. Base your characters on people you know, not little cutesy traits and aspects and super powers.

Quote:
Ok now that you have some characters, you got to give them a location of where they are going to be. Maybe like a different planet or even a city ruled by drug dealers, it doesnt really matter. For this story I will put them in a city ruled by war hungry robots that control them with strict rules.

I won't argue the importance of the setting, but this sounds more like you're just randomly creating a backdrop and plugging the characters in. The creation process is far more organic than this--part of knowing your character is knowing where they're from and where they live.

Quote:
Here is my favorite part, the brainstorming. Sit down and start putting ideas of what the characters would do, maby even do a few doodles of the guys. After you get a few ideas, try writting segments of a few of the ideas put together. Something like the following. (Note, it is really small so it doesnt take up a lot of space.

Ok, not a bad idea...this is a stage of writing towards the story. It can let you get to know your characters better and give them different paths to take as you try to find the story.

Quote:
After you get a few of those, try to thread them together by adding other things between it. After a while of writting, you will have your basic story. It wont be very long, or it might be super long, and it could be somewhere in between. It doesnt matter. You have created your very own story!

Be prepared to use very little to none of the generative pre-writing just described, although if something works, definitely hang onto it and recycle it into the story.

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