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I was just reviewing all of my old thoughts about writing today, and I realized that I've learned an extraordinary ammount about writing in the past two years.

Even in the last 6th months I've had three or four breakthroughs.

What I mean by 'breakthroughs' are some sudden bit of knowlege that I'd never understood about writing before. Usually I achieve them by rereading my old works and studying them, and really exploring the emotional deapth of each book. Sometimes I get them when someone on Gaia says something that really makes sense, but I'd never thought of before.

Sometimes they're really small, like realizing that I need to make different people in my books use different slang, and different words when they're talking to superiors (usually adults) and their friends.

Sometimes they're much, much deeper. I usually keep them to myself because when I try to explain them to other people, they call me idiotic. xD

Oh well, they'll realize it one day too!

Anyway, I want to ask if anyone here has ever had any breakthroughs, and whether or not they'd like to share! biggrin

I could just be crazy. I'm still really young, so maybe my 'breakthroughs' are just breakthroughs on general knowlege about the world, and have nothing to do with the fact that I've been practicing writing as long as I have.

Anyway, please tell me your thoughts! biggrin

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There is so much to write about too, its incrediable.

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serena de brigente
There is so much to write about too, its incrediable.
^.^ That's true. Very true! Too true... gonk

In fact, there's so much to write about it's amazing things become overused at all! And some things are just skimmed over! D:

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TillyMT
I was just reviewing all of my old thoughts about writing today, and I realized that I've learned an extraordinary ammount about writing in the past two years.

Even in the last 6th months I've had three or four breakthroughs.

What I mean by 'breakthroughs' are some sudden bit of knowlege that I'd never understood about writing before. Usually I achieve them by rereading my old works and studying them, and really exploring the emotional deapth of each book. Sometimes I get them when someone on Gaia says something that really makes sense, but I'd never thought of before.

Sometimes they're really small, like realizing that I need to make different people in my books use different slang, and different words when they're talking to superiors (usually adults) and their friends.

Sometimes they're much, much deeper. I usually keep them to myself because when I try to explain them to other people, they call me idiotic. xD

Oh well, they'll realize it one day too!

Anyway, I want to ask if anyone here has ever had any breakthroughs, and whether or not they'd like to share! biggrin

I could just be crazy. I'm still really young, so maybe my 'breakthroughs' are just breakthroughs on general knowlege about the world, and have nothing to do with the fact that I've been practicing writing as long as I have.

Anyway, please tell me your thoughts! biggrin


I don't think you're crazy, I thought I was while writing as long as I have. I guess my biggest 'breakthrough was while I was working on an untitled story for the last two years. Mainly I never realized I had achieved an emotional depth before in any or my stories (which are mostly horror).

Despite having lost a majority of the rewritten drafts, the one that had the most impact was the very first original. Being that I'm also a fan of Greek Tragedy, I was amazed that I had something relatively close with such impact it was scary.

That was the first time I wrote something outside the horror genre as well, and for it to have that much impact on me, I was amazed. It's sad though, it'll probably never see the light of day as I locked it with a password in all my frustration of trying to fix what was't broken. I would've loved to see what people's reactions to it would be.

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My biggest breakthrough was when I realized I could write about anything.

I know, most people already know this fact as a given, but I'm slow and just a little stupid. When I first started writing, I thought I had to write about actual things. That bored me after a while and I stopped writing for the longest time because of it.

One day during an English class, I was writing in my journal of the day thing that we have to write in and I was angry over something my mother told me a couple of hours before. So I started my journal entry with, "My brain exploded."

Then I thought about it a little more, and I realized that my brain didn't really explode, but I could make it explode in writing if I wanted to, so I did. Ever since, my writing has become much more entertaining.

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Scarlet-Knight
I don't think you're crazy, I thought I was while writing as long as I have. I guess my biggest 'breakthrough was while I was working on an untitled story for the last two years. Mainly I never realized I had achieved an emotional depth before in any or my stories (which are mostly horror).

Despite having lost a majority of the rewritten drafts, the one that had the most impact was the very first original. Being that I'm also a fan of Greek Tragedy, I was amazed that I had something relatively close with such impact it was scary.

That was the first time I wrote something outside the horror genre as well, and for it to have that much impact on me, I was amazed. It's sad though, it'll probably never see the light of day as I locked it with a password in all my frustration of trying to fix what was't broken. I would've loved to see what people's reactions to it would be.

crying That story in itself is a tragedy!

My story is similar to yours. I reread my NaNoWriMo story from last year and I was just amazed at how different each of the characters were. I couldn't believe it! In all the stories I've written, character development has always been the most difficult part of the story for me. When I read this over, I was shocked! And, I was able to learn exactly why I'd always had trouble. I'd never made my character relationships complex enough! They were all one sided and stupid! xD So, I've been making thicker relationships, and it's been working wonders on my stories!

Perhaps you can apply what you did differently in your tragedy to some of your other stories?

I can't beleive how horrible that is! Locked away! D: T.T It makes me sad just thinking about it! I guess you could always try rewriting it, couldn't you?

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Pixilated Paradox
My biggest breakthrough was when I realized I could write about anything.

I know, most people already know this fact as a given, but I'm slow and just a little stupid. When I first started writing, I thought I had to write about actual things. That bored me after a while and I stopped writing for the longest time because of it.

One day during an English class, I was writing in my journal of the day thing that we have to write in and I was angry over something my mother told me a couple of hours before. So I started my journal entry with, "My brain exploded."

Then I thought about it a little more, and I realized that my brain didn't really explode, but I could make it explode in writing if I wanted to, so I did. Ever since, my writing has become much more entertaining.

xD That's so cool! But I can understand why you wouldn't have known this before. Some of the stuff I've learned seemed so obvious after realizing it, but I guess it's worth it because while it's true that learning something by yourself takes longer, it probably sticks with you a lot better than taking it from someone else. DX

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Mine have almost all enitrely been grammatical.

I know basic grammar but things such as using a comma after character speech...I didn't fully understand that.

I'm older than the majority of people here but I was born at a time when, unfortunately, complex grammar was struck off the school syllabus.

I'm more used to writing factual things such as essays and papers, I'd really love it if someone could link me to a guide for the grammar protocols for story-writing.

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[Cashmere]
Mine have almost all enitrely been grammatical.

I know basic grammar but things such as using a comma after character speech...I didn't fully understand that.

I'm older than the majority of people here but I was born at a time when, unfortunately, complex grammar was struck off the school syllabus.

I'm more used to writing factual things such as essays and papers, I'd really love it if someone could link me to a guide for the grammar protocols for story-writing.
O.o Wow, that's really sucky (no grammar classes, I mean!)! I get spelling ones sometimes, but haven't had any grammar ones for a while (although I KNOW I need them!).

Which reminds me! I had a nightmare last night where my shift key wouldn't work! gonk

I'm not sure what you mean by story grammar... it's pretty much the same. There are tiny difference, like when it comes to paragraphing dialogue and such, but I wouldn't know enough about essay grammar to compare! xD

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TillyMT
[Cashmere]
Mine have almost all enitrely been grammatical.

I know basic grammar but things such as using a comma after character speech...I didn't fully understand that.

I'm older than the majority of people here but I was born at a time when, unfortunately, complex grammar was struck off the school syllabus.

I'm more used to writing factual things such as essays and papers, I'd really love it if someone could link me to a guide for the grammar protocols for story-writing.
O.o Wow, that's really sucky (no grammar classes, I mean!)! I get spelling ones sometimes, but haven't had any grammar ones for a while (although I KNOW I need them!).

Which reminds me! I had a nightmare last night where my shift key wouldn't work! gonk

I'm not sure what you mean by story grammar... it's pretty much the same. There are tiny difference, like when it comes to paragraphing dialogue and such, but I wouldn't know enough about essay grammar to compare! xD


It's not too much different except for dialogue and speech.
I never have to write those kind of things, usually. I'm picking up how to do it by looking back at books I've read, however.

I know that once I learn the 'rules' for it then I'll be sorted but, when you've never been taught these thgings, it's hard.

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I think its impossible not to get better at writing if your doing it often from an early age. I've been writing since I was about 12 and now at 19 I'm still learning and improving desite having been getting better and better as I go. Reading your own work and others is part of this process - reading and writing go hand-in-hand. Even the most skilled and eldest of writers is still improving.

As for grammer I still suck at that despite my efforts thank goodness for microsoft spell-check is what I say! sweatdrop

and Hi Tilly! xd

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I think the most valuable realization I've had about writing is that a timeline doesn't always need to be from piont A to B. Treating the timeline of a story as a complex character adds a great deal of interest to how the story can be told. For a long time I just always treated the timeline as past, present, future/ beginning, middle, end. Now I'm far more interested in writing about events that happen simultaneously within the story or connecting small story archs by something minor and creating a much larger story with those pieces.

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Well, I have had a bit of an epiphany myself!

I realize now that I need to write more... >.< Now I know most people say "less is better", but for some reason, I just feel that my stories are too short. On average (at least with my first few completed stories) my chapter lengths were anywhere from 4 to 6 pages, typed. Now that I think about it, that seems a bit low to me...Only because I actually want to pursue writing as a career (or at least a side-career) and I don't think that'll cut it.

>.< Now I probably make no sense.

Codger

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I'm in the arena.

Do I get to ramble? I'm going to ramble.

Two of the realizations that have most affected my writing stem from my short story Fall of the Only (written a decade ago now surprised ), which was about the last paladin of a ravaged order, how he came to be in the situation he was in, and the self-sacrifice he made to uncover what really happened to the person who began the war that destroyed his order and his country.

The first realization was that it was my first truly original piece of work that relied solely on the world I had created, and the history and mythology associated with it. The story bridges gaps that had been problematic for a long time (at least since I began working on the world and its history), and does so relying only on the internal strictures of that world. It's a very shattered, devastated world, and the story reflects that. Up until that point, all my writings set in that world had been more influenced by the likes of Tolkien (very heavily) and Feist than by own work.

The point here is that you don't need the work of others in order to get ideas and craft a story. All you need is to be able to recognize the depth in your own work and extrapolate from there. When people say a setting or story is original, especially when talking about the fantasy genre (sword & sorcery and high fantasy in particular), chances are it isn't, but rather that it's developed enough and fleshed out enough that it doesn't need to prop itself up by drawing allusions to the work of others. Its own internal depth is enough to give it the strength to stand on its own, and it's that depth that enables further expansion of the world and its history and mythology.

The second realization is that a story does not need to be linear in order to work effectively. Fall of the Only is broken into sections (chapters, if you will), the first of which is actually very close to the end of the story. The story then progresses by jumping from current to past to middle to past to present and so on, weaving together to create the full tapestry of the story being told.

(As a side note, Fall of the Only is the story I used as reference for portions of my short story guide.)

How awesome is that?

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Breakthroughs are awesome. Never EVER stop learning. That's when you start to stagnate. You are never perfect and you never know everything. Always push yourself, experiment, pull yourself just a little out of your comfort zone. Always read critically. Always listen to criticism. Always learn. It's when you stop learning that your mind dies.
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