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pepertje

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  1. pepertje
    Everyone has the urge to tell stories, whether it is something to tell your friends or writing a novel. And as some, you might experience a couple of problems when sitting down and not being able to get past typing “chapter 1”.
    So here’s a little help which might get you started, and hopefully give you the push you need to further develop your story as a beginning writer.
     

     
    Pick a perspective
     
    The basics of any story are theme and narrative. Every story has one. Whether it is a romantic novel, a heroic war story or a thrilling detective.
    It is important to decide the theme of your story before starting with the story itself. Normally, it might seem natural, but there are several elements which are influenced by theme.
    For instance: the perspective is an important feature to keep in mind. There are three commonly used perspectives, which I'll be discussing:
    -First person
    -Third person
    -Omniscient narrative
     

     


    First person




     


    Drawing from games, everyone knows what first person means: through the eyes.

     

    Some people feel more comfortable writing a story in first person, focusing on the thoughts and feelings of the protagonist to propel the story.
    This perspective is ideal when a story focuses on this too, and will often be used in psychological narratives, most commonly found in thrillers.
    A first person perspective is often paired with a limited narrative: the narrator knows what the protagonist knows, because the protagonist IS the narrator. This reinforces several elements of a thriller, such as the tension not knowing what is going on in the background.
    A drawback of a first person perspective is that other characters are more remote from the narrator. A side character’s feelings can’t be thoroughly explained since the narrator has no way of knowing exactly what is going on in that character’s head.
     
    In short, pro's:
    -Focus on thoughts
    -Complete immersion of the reader
     
    Con's:
    -Limited narrative capabilities
    -Little to no insight into side characters
     



    Third person







    Again with the games: third person, better known as over-the-shoulder
     

    Another narrative form is the third person. This is like the first person, except that the protagonist is addressed by name or he/she.
    In this perspective, the focus is still on the protagonist. This also means the reader can be kept in the dark on some details the protagonist doesn’t know about yet.
     
    Using a third person perspective can be more useful when you want to focus on the environment more that you could in a first person story. One could highlight features the protagonist can’t see, or explain actions performed by side characters that the protagonist can’t see.
     
    In short, pro's:
    -More focus on the environment
    -More focus on other characters
     
    Con's:
    -Less focus on the thoughts and inside of the protagonist
    -Less immersion into the main character
     



    Omniscient narrative







    How useful games are: omniscient narrative is best compared to strategy/tactics games, where you have full overview and control.
     

    The final perspective I’ll be discussing is the omniscient narrative. In this perspective, the narrator is completely separated from the protagonist. The narrator knows everything that happens, including the emotions, thoughts and motives of side characters.
     
    This perspective is best used when having multiple people heavily influencing the storyline. Their actions and motives can be discussed in detail without breaking perspective.
    A drawback is that this way of telling a story might be slightly immersion-breaking, since the protagonist and the narrator are separated most in this form.
     
    In short, pro's:
    -The reader knows a lot of details about every character and location
     
    Con's:
    -Little to no immersion into the main character
    -There is little mystery to be had if the reader knows everything that is going on already
     



    Atmosphere







    A story set in the medieval period should always have a medieval story, not something which might as well happen today.
     

     

    Another important feature to keep in mind when deciding a theme is the way it influences or is influenced by atmosphere. Atmosphere is determined by several narrative factors, such as:
     
    -Location and local culture
    -Period in time
    -Current circumstances
    -Character traits
     
    For instance, a story about a young girl in medieval France during the 100-years War will have a vastly different atmosphere than a single mother in modern-day Los Angeles.
    A couple of things to keep in mind when working with atmosphere:
     
    -Atmosphere should reinforce your theme.
    -The story should determine the atmosphere, not the writer.
    -Make sure your story and all above factors make a match.
  2. pepertje
    Alright, you have your metal and hammer all figured out, and now it’s time to get working on your mold. See what I did there? Symbolism for the topics I’ve discussed in the previous two lessons. If you haven’t read those, be sure to do, since I’ll assume you have. Also, this lesson focuses entirely on written stories, so screenwriters won’t learn anything useful here.
     
    Now that you know what your story is going to be like, and know what to keep an eye out for during your writing sessions, it’s time to talk about the thing that differentiates a thrilling novel from a boring read for which only your English teacher could find the proper words to scold it: wordplay. In case I’m using the wrong term here (chances are that I am, English isn’t my first language), let me explain what I mean when saying “wordplay”: the way you use words and sentences to pass the information onto the reader. Sounds pretty abstract, right? Well, that’s because it is, but I’m hoping the following lesson will make it crystal clear.
    As always: the following is based mostly on my own experience and preference, but there are several rules that will always apply.
    Also, as described above: English isn’t my first language and I don’t have a degree in literacy, that’s why I’ll be using terms I use myself to refer to certain aspects. Once I put those in, I’ll explain what I mean by those.
     
     
    Synonyms and bleak sentences.
    Everyone knows what a synonym is (at least, I hope you do). For those who don’t: a synonyms are two different words with the same meaning. A quick example would be “car” and “automobile”. Two words with the same meaning. This can also apply to a group of words: “list of songs a band plays” and “setlist”. When you’re writing in English, you’re in luck: English is the language with the most synonyms spoken today, so be sure to look up as many as you can.
    Bleak sentences are one of my own terms I use to describe a “boring” sentence in which the writer is literal and doesn’t work on proper atmosphere in a sentence. The opposite of a “bleak sentence” is a “vibrant sentence”, in which the writer tries to hand the facts in the story a little more interesting. This one is a little more vague, so I’ll use an example to clarify. A short scene introduction with the top example being the bleak version, and the bottom one a vibrant version, fitting to a noire-style detective.
    Spoiler Bleak
    The woman was dangerous, and had killed several people. She looked at me and my heart began to pound. She wore a black dress, which felt scary. It was dark outside, because it was night. She sat in an expensive chair. She lit a cigarette and puffed. She didn’t seem to care about me being here.
     
    Vibrant
    She was a true femme fatale, and had been the cause of more than one gravestone. As her eyes turned to mine, my heart felt like it was trying to escape through the back of my throat. The dress she wore was as black as the night sky that covered the streets, and felt strangely unsettling to me. As she leaned over in her chair, fit for a high-rolling man, she lit a cigarette, the final testimony to the fact that my presence could only barely move her.
     
    I’ll admit, the “vibrant” version still isn’t the most perfect, but it’s still a lot better than the bleak one. Why? Because the vibrant version makes use of synonyms which then replace regular words or groups of words with ones more fitting to the style and atmosphere (“The woman was dangerous” means the same as “She was a true femme fatale”.) Also, several pieces of information are now formulated in such a way that it isn’t presented as a bleak fact, but makes the reader take a small step to understand what’s being implied. (“[She] had killed several people” is now “[She] had been the cause of more than one gravestone.”) By doing this, you don’t directly imply that the woman had killed, but the link between gravestones and death are obvious enough to make it clear.
     
    Pacing
    By pacing I mean deviating from your usual sentence length (how many words in one sentence) for a certain part in your story. Pacing is a useful way to get the reader to go along with the feeling you want them to get while reading a specific part of your story. This is because most readers will “speak” the words in their minds whilst reading, and their breathing rhythm will usually be in sync with this. The result: the shorter the sentence, the faster the pace, the faster the breathing. Why is this useful? Because the faster you breathe, the faster your heart will beat. This simulates an adrenalin rush which causes the reader to find your story a lot more thrilling. Be sure to not abuse your powers as author and give them heart attacks ;).
    Again, I’ll show two examples telling the exact same story, but one with a slow pace and one with a faster pace. Feel free to share which one thrilled you the most.
     
    Spoiler Slow
    I kneeled down in front of the lock and took a good look at it. Slowly, I slid the picks into the keyhole and felt around to see which tumbler to pin first. The lock would be a difficult one to crack, as proven by the fact that the pick I was using snapped. I pulled out a second, tougher one, and slid this one into the keyhole as well. The second time around would always prove more fruitful, and the lock now opened with little effort.
     
    Fast
    I kneeled down. I looked at the lock carefully, slid a pick into the hole. I tried to figure out where to start. It would be difficult. The first pick snapped. I grabbed another one, a tougher one. I slid it in as well. The second time would be easier, it always was. The lock opened.
     
    It may not be as clear in such a short example, but it still goes to show that short sentences (or forcing breaths in other ways) can up the thrill as well. This can work the other way around as well, with long sentences causing a slow breathing pace, thus pushing the tension down. When you want to use this to the maximum potential, do this for an entire paragraph. Be careful, though, since pacing your text for too long can have a negative impact.
     
    Words to avoid
    As stated before, synonyms are a good way to make a story more interesting. They are also ideal when dealing with the “forbidden words”. These are the words that you should avoid as much as possible. An ideal example is the word “very”. Those who have seen the movie “Dead Poets Society” will know this, and will know why. For those who haven’t: very is a lazy word. There’s somewhere around a million ways to avoid words like these, with the two most common being using synonyms and applying lengthened vibrancy. Lengthened vibrancy here means using the same technique used in the example over at “synonyms and bleak sentences”,  and in this case means using more words which can fit the atmosphere. Below I’ll list some examples (as well as a link to a list of words to avoid.)
     
    Spoiler Very
    She was very mad.
     Synonym
    She was furious.
    Lengthened vibrancy
    By now she could set him ablaze without a second thought.
     
    Really
    He was really tall.
     Synonym
    He was seven feet tall.
     Lengthened vibrancy
    He couldn’t even fit through your average doorway.
     
    The above examples can’t even begin to scrape the surface of words you should avoid, but it is meant to show you what you should do whenever you encounter any word you feel should be left out or replaced. For a more comprehensive list, try this.
     
    And that concludes this lesson. Just to sum things up:
    Synonyms and bleak sentences
    -Use synonyms to avoid boring phrases.
    -Bleak sentences scare readers away.
    -Vibrant sentences can be used to bring the atmosphere into every word.
     
    Pacing
    -The shorter your sentence, the faster the heartbeat.
    -The longer the paced section, the greater the effect.
    -Pacing for too long has a negative effect.
     
    Words to avoid
    -Certain words can be quite annoying.
    -Use synonyms or vibrancy to replace the word-to-avoid.
  3. pepertje
    In the previous blog entry, I’ve described how to tackle theme, atmosphere and narrative forms. If you haven’t read it, please do because I might refer to terms used in that entry without further explaining in this entry.
     
    Now, you have your theme all sketched out, you know which perspective you’re going to use in your story and you even have a couple of story elements you want to see in your story. But that’s only a tenth of the total work. A lot of writer’s may avoid a lot of writer’s blocks if they can pay attention to the following point: the story’s central conflict. Some may decide upon this before even getting started, filling out the bullets in the previous entry based off the central conflict, but that is entirely up to you to decide. Personally, I prefer to pick a conflict after knowing where I want my story to take place. Without further rambling, let’s dive into it.
     
    Types of conflict
    There are many different types of conflicts to choose from. I usually make two very distinct types when trying to decide what to focus on:
    -Internal conflict;
    -External conflict.
     
    These should not require a lot of explanation, but just to be clear: an internal conflict is a conflict where the protagonist struggles with himself or causes the problems himself and must fix it for himself. An external conflict is a conflict which was not started by the protagonist, but still affects him, and he must solve the problem presented either for himself or a higher purpose.
     
    Aside from my two main categories, there’s also central conflicts and side conflicts. The central conflict is what you should write on the back of the book: this is what the entire story is about, solving this conflict. Side conflicts are little things you can insert at will if you want to add more life to the story by not having the entire world revolve around the central conflict. Things such as a romance, feuds in the family and other hardships which do not necessarily spring from the central conflict, but affect it in some way (do not insert a completely random side story which only distracts from the central conflict).
     
    Theme and conflict
    Theme and conflict should go hand-in-hand. It is best to have a conflict fitting the setting of your story. So if you want to make a story about two people who fall in love, reconsider having it set during the Crusades, unless this love story is affected by the age and space of the Crusade-era Middle East.






    The movie Blood Diamond is set in Sierra Leone during the ongoing conflict. The central conflict is about a valuable blood diamond which has to be smuggled out of the country. Side conflicts include Danny (Leonardo DiCaprio) struggling to keep his smuggling business going, as well as Solomon (Djimon Hounsou) being hunted by rebels. This story could only be set in modern day West Africa.

     
    Whether you pick the theme first and base the conflict on that or the other way around is up to you. Personally, I prefer the first. What is important is to make sure all conflicts you toss in fit together. In the abovementioned example Blood Diamond, all side conflicts drive the central conflict and reinforce it.
     
    Continuity
    Another important thing to keep in mind is continuity. Modders among you will know the term “lore friendly”, which is basically a synonym for continuity. In its essence, continuity means that events, details and generally everything in your story fits in with everything stated before. These things can range from large things such as past events, you don’t want to mess up who was involved and the date if stated. But also small things add to continuity, something as simple as the clothes someone wears in a certain scene are continuity elements. If you mess up somewhere in here, the perceptive reader, viewer or gamer will call you out on this issue, no matter how small.
     





    Jurassic Park: The Game had a continuity error with Gerry Harding, where a missing moustache from the movie character in the game adaptation was quickly called out by viewers and players who paid enough attention.

     
    The best way to prevent continuity errors is to write complete scenes at a time and to re-read every once in a while to make sure you still have all the details right in the scene you’re working on. For larger elements, such as major events, it could be wise to keep a timeline in a separate document, listing all the important facts and dates you’ve inserted into the story.
     
    Character development
    This might be a bit of a tricky part. The bottom line is: good stories offer character development. Throughout the events in your story, it is nearly impossible for a realistic character not to be influenced by events. For example: if your story is about a man witnessing a murder, he is undoubtedly going to be shaken, becomes more frightened or bitter and untrusting. But there are two sides to character development: too little makes for a somewhat unbelievable story, too much may distract the reader from remembering where the protagonist began.
    Character development isn’t solely restricted to the protagonist, however. Important side characters usually go through this process as well. Again, make sure you find the balance between the change in character being noticeable, but not too much. Side characters usually change less severely than the protagonist, for obvious reasons.





    The series Breaking Bad shows a prime example of character development, with the protagonist changing many of his characteristics and attitudes throughout the series’ runtime. At the end, however, you still know where he started, as he has retained some prominent traits from that time.

     
    A good way to insert character development over time is to change a single trait at a time. Like Breaking Bad (minor spoilers ahead) Walt’s appearance alone shows how to do this. First, he loses his hair on his head, then grows the beard and finally (and most extreme) his face becomes more ravaged and bitter throughout the series. Aside from this, Walt continuously adopts traits of the people he deals with along the way. Just watch the way he drinks his whiskey throughout the seasons, you’ll notice he eventually has it on the rocks. These little things are barely noticeable on their own, but add them all together and Walt goes from a family man to Heisenberg over the course of four seasons.
     
    That was everything for now, but just to sum up everything I’ve told you guys in this entry:
    Conflict
    -Any story should have a central conflict which drives the entire work.
    -Side conflicts are a good way to bring more life and realism, but if they’re too random, they do not contribute to the story.
    -It is best to have a conflict which matches the theme you want to have your story set in.
     
    Continuity
    -Even the smallest error will be called out eventually.
    -Writing an entire scene in one go can help reduce discontinuities.
    -A good way to keep track of important dates and events is by keeping track of them in a separate timeline.
     
    Character development
    -The main character should always go through some sort of development.
    -Important side characters usually do as well, but not as much as the protagonist.
    -The changes must be noticeable, but not too much, as this can be unrealistic or distracting.
    -A good way to insert development is by implementing small changes at a time.
    -The longer your story, the longer this development can take, or the more your characters can change over the course of your story.
  4. pepertje
    I've been writing stories ever since I can remember, and here are some (hopefully) useful tips that can help people who are trying to get their head around storytelling. It ranges from the very basics and can reach deep into the tiny little details that involve storytelling, be it written in the shape of a novel, a short film or even quest mods.
     
    -I'll try to add to this blog, but I can't make any promises. If feedback is positive, I'll be more likely to continue this blog.
    -Most of the examples I'll be using are for either written word or gaming, since I have experience with those, but if you want some tips on other aspects, I might be able to dig up something useful.
    -Some entries may already be floating around the internet somewhere, that's very likely me posting it on a different site in some point in the past.
     
    I hope this is somewhat helpful, and otherwise I hope it's enjoyable to read