THe basic Structure ( Basic writing skills for beginners.)

[NocturnalWeapon]

Because even as a Journalist you need to learn some mechanics. and I mean mechanics on writing. That is important because...

- you won't confuse the reader
- You won't lose the reader
- you won't just be making a random wall of text.

Now I will admitt to not being the best writer in the world. If you want to know how to be like Charles Dickens or William Shakespear, I suggest you read such works by them. If you are unwilling to put up with reading it, then you are wasting my time, so do not cry to me.

Anyhoo.
In this little tutorial, you will find.

-Paragraphs.
- Dialogue
-Character
- Plot
- Setting
- Extra helpful tips.

Allright lets get Started.  

[NocturnalWeapon]

PARAGRAPHS

I am amazed at how many people don't know the basic simple structure of a paragraph. Now it's one thing when you are posting s**t on a forum, but when writing a story you have to indent. On gaia, however, that is really hard because I try to indent, but it just doesn't work like that.

But when moving on to a knew paragraph, or starting on a story altogether, you must indent.

Don't know what that means?

All it means is that you move the first line over a little bit.

like this...



lol. Had to use it as an image by the way.

Another thing about paragraphs is that you have to use as a means to move from one idea to another.

Example-
Daggers jaw dropped at the sight of Dustin kissing the blond preppy chick right in front of the snack bar. She backed up into the door way, tears forcing themselves from her eyes. With haste, she covered her face and ran out of the snack bar.

Outside, the wind howled through the trees and the traffic roared nearby; Dagger choked on the night air, trying to gather herself. She slowed her step and walked to the side of the building, pulling a pack of marlboro reds out of her pocket. She took a deep breath and sat down.

She tried to light the cigarette, but the wind kept blowing out the match. With frustration, she threw the matchbook in front of her and folded her arms across her chest. Something was keeping her from having an enjoyable Sunday night at work.

Notice how in each paragraph, the main idea switched. I hope the example helps. Never been good at this teaching stuff.

But that's enough on paragraph. My brain is starting to hurt.  

[NocturnalWeapon]

DIALOGUE

Now, another thing that's important in a story is Dialogue.

Why is dialogue important?

-reveals character ( See Characters.)
-helps the story move along faster
-interresting
-can be fun to read. Much intelligent humor can be brought into dialogue.


However there is a certain structure in which dialogue must be followed.

For one, You have to start a new paragraph every time there is a new speaker.
WRONG
" So, Dagger, What were you doing behind that bush over there" Yolie asked. " Nothing," Dagger replied, turning her face the other way. " Well, I noticed you were naked..." Yolie said, " Were you by any chance...masterbating?"" And if I was?" " No big deal if you were,really..."

Now wasn't that confusing? Let's try it a different way.

RIGHT
" So, Dagger, What were you doing behind that bush over there" Yolie asked.

" Nothing," Dagger replied, turning her face the other way.

" Well, I noticed you were naked..." Yolie said, " Were you by any chance...masterbating?"

" And if I was?"

" No big deal if you were,really..."

Now wasn't that much easier to understand? Now we know who was masturbating and who wasn't. heh heh heh.

Also a little note about Tags. There is nothing wrong with using HE SAID SHE SAID, OR Dagger said or yolie siad. Sometimes it's the only way to say it.

Also, like in the example above, it helps to leave off tags if you can get a grasp on who's saying what. Don't stress about having a big vocabulary either. We want to be more impressed with the peice itself and not how much of the dictionary you have memorized.

In other words, don't write like Stephanie Meyer in her best selling novel Twilight. Great Story, great characters,( minus the sparkles.) but too much dialogue and unnatural language. Keep it real. A normal person is not going to use words that make him sound like an English major, nless of course your character just happens to BE an English major.

And I can't stress it enough, Don't overload on dialogues. Avoid using the greetings in the dialogue as much as possible. No one wants to read through ....

" Hi, Dagger!"
" Hi Yolie!"
" How are you"
" I'm doing fine"

every time two characters get together.  

[NocturnalWeapon]

CHARACTER

Ah, here's the fun part.

OK, First there are two types of characters.

FLAT



ROUND



Now lets put this in a Final Fantasy perspective, I'm sure that would be of help since most of us are into video games here.

Flat characters are like the NPCs. There only purpose to support the story, sell the main character items, and basically be the bus driver that gets the main characters on the road to the main boss. They have no back story, no depth, but they are the important extras that make the story realistic.

Round Characters are like the main characters. Zidaine, Freya, Garnette, Tidus, Yuna, Auron, Cloud, Sephiroth...those are all round characters. They are well developed. They have motive, background, likes, dislikes, faults, strenghs, and souls. They have beliefs, habits, mannerisms. They have depth. Even Sephiroth has a reason as to why he hates human kind.


Now to go over the fun stuff.

PROTAGONIST

This is usually the main character, the hero I should say of the story.
Zidaine would fit into this catagory.


ANTAGONIST

Now this is the idiot who is causing all the trouble. Kuja and fat a** whore Queen Brahn would fit into this catagory.

LOVE INTEREST

I hate to say this, but it's usually the main female character who plays this lowly, boring a** role. But you can have some fun with this one. I'd say make the love interest a male. And put some punch into this character. Seriously, if the love interest means that much to a hero, then there has gotta be something awsome about them. The days of useless, wait at home love interest are over. I mean, look at princess garnette, She didn't wait around for Zidaine to do all the work, she went with him.

SUPPORTING ROLES

And of course, a hero has a breakdowns. Nothing like a group of buds to help him out. He can't do it all on his own. I mean seriously, Zidaine would be ******** if he didn't have Vivi and Freya, not to mention Garnettes White magic.

And before we conclude this section, I would like to give....




A SMALL TALK ON VILLIANS

Lemme tell you, in all my writing, the villian is the most fun to write. They are single minded and obsessive, and to tap into that inner part of our own primal selves is an exciting experience.

So by all means, have fun creating your villain. Make it a girl, make it a guy, make it an it like Kuja and his man hips. Give him all the idiosyncracies you want. Give him a reason as to why he's being so bad.

Or why she is being so bad....
 

[NocturnalWeapon]

PLOT

Now I am sure you've gone over this in English loads of times. So I am gonna make this as painless as possible.

Exposition

This happens before the story. You can basically put how many people the person slet with, who they killed, who they pissed off, etc. etc. etc.
BTW, flashbacks are a part of exposition so don't you forget it.

Like this flashback from one of my storys....

Subaru: Like Oh my God, I love you Hacker!
hacker: Like oH my God, I love you Subaru
Subaru: Like oh my god, this is the best sex evar!
hacker: Like oh my God I just comed!
* flash back end*
Aaron: We video taped that one too.

Problem

This is IMPORTANT. How can there be a story without some sort of problem to solve? It's pointless with out the problem.

And example.

From that day forward, Dagger realized that she was considered a stalker by the man of her dreams. She had to find a way to to prove to that she was harmless.
Even stupid s**t like that can make for a good problem if you get creative with the s**t that comes after.

Like with...

Rising action

Now this is where things get interesting. This is where the character is trying to reach his or her goal. It's basically the process of solving the problem.

CLIMAX
This is the turning point, the highest part of the plot.
A climax can be anything. An epiphany, a realization, a failure, or even a very joyous orgasm...


Falling Action

Basically the point between the climax and the Resolution. To be perfectly honest, I cant' explain it much better than that.

Resolution

Problem solved.

NOTE: Any of the above ( except the Resolution) can repeat until a resolution is acheived.  

[NocturnalWeapon]

SETTING

It is important to know where your characters are located.

It also helps to know the time period, as that helps to develope character as well. Seriously, if you have character in the middle ages, he's not gonna say " Dude, what's up!"

If a character is gonna have sex, make it clear that they aren't out in the middle of the street about ready to get hit by a car. And if they are, well then make that CLEAR!!


Time
It is an important factor. It can determine whether a person will be hungry, tired, active, at work, or even horny.
For instance, at lunch he is probably pulling a quina quen and thinking about nothing but food.

In the middle of the night, he's most likely tired, unless he's nocturnal. Time and character go hand in hand.

Place

Is your character seriously floating somewhere out in the nothingness of space, unable to breath and most likely dead by the time I finish typing this, or is he on Earth? There needs to be some sort of clue as to where they are. And get spacific. Bedroom, living room, someones house, a park. A setting can set obstacles as well as reveal the time period, the time, and even the type of characters you have.

Think about it...
What would a theif most likely have in his bedroom?
What about a summoner?
A knight?
A bounty hunter?
A witch?
A phsycho killer?



Weather

Can set the mood. And change it up a bit.
Sunny may be bad for one character and rain may be good for them, but make it clear which is which allright?

Example-

Dagger looked up at the yellow sun and hid her eyes, a migrane making slow movements through her veins. Not a cloud was in sight to hide away the unmerciful yellow god.


Just remember give them someplace to be.  

[NocturnalWeapon]

HELPFUL HINTS

1. Try to avoid adverbs. There is not need to tell the reader what manner something was done in. It's better to leave it to the imagination, and the action usually speaks for itself. It's only good in dialogue and essays.

2. Unless it has to be told, try to show the the story instead of tell it.

Example
Dagger tossed and turned in her bed, her hand massaging her forehead. A dim blue was showing through the window and she sat up, a growl issuing from her throat. She took her pillow and slammed it over her face as she threw herself back on her bed.

As opposed to

Dagger couldn't sleep. She was really tired and it was already dawn.

Which was better? I'll let you decide that one.

3. With Romance....try to use words that would be appropriate for a spacific love scene.

If it is sensual, don't use extreme words like c**k, d**k, or p***s. Those are for more pornographic scenes.

And don't Say that that they are having sex, show that they are having sex. You don't even need to put the sex in there. you can make it tasteful by showing the before and after.


4. Do your research. If your gonna write about a stoner, talk to a few stoners. If your gonna write about a gamer, talk to a few gamers. Get out there and learn a few things.

5. Watch other people. They are inspiring and can help you come up with great plots and story lines. Hey, I know we don't like drama, but watching it can inspire some cool s**t.

6. If you don't know what to write, simply pull out a sheet of paper and write down all the random crap that pops in your head. You'd be surprized at what you can come up with.

7. Stay off the drugs. Give credit to yourself and not some pill. Sheesh.

8. For dialogue, it helps to make it like real life conversation. No need to use big words to impress your teachers. When a teacher or any sort of reader reads dialogue, they want a conversation between realistic speakers, no stylized high maitainance vocabulary.

9. Know your characters. Know there age, there likes, there dislikes, there mannerimsa, there mind process.

Here's a quick basic character sketch layout.

Name:
Age:
Hair color:
Eyecolor:
Height:
Weight:
How intelligent are they?
Likes?
Dislikes?
Idiosyncracies? ( like weird habits or traits)
time period?
Appetite?
Living situation?
marital status? ( singly, married, nun, whatever...)
Sexual orientation?
Race?

A lot of these things can effect how your character views the world and others view the character. like if a character were gay, he is not gonna go googoo over every girl he sees. Or they can be one of those people who think about nothing but food. There intelligence level can effect how they react to things or how quickly they pic up on s**t.