Over the past few years I've been writing I've seen a lot of different ways people tell stories, and a lot of ways that are just incorrect, in my opinion. Ever since I started writing I've changed my style, and right now I'm not particularly happy with it, but still, I try to stick to some basic rules.
1. Adjectives are your friends, but give them space and don't use twenty in the same sentence. Description is good but for the love of god sometimes you just need to say it and stop adding all the flourish. Honestly, it's more irritating then you'd think.
I used to go crazy with them in my old stories and fanfictions. It was a nut house, and when young writers (and old ones!) do that it spells "BAD WRITER" in big bold letters. All in all, keep it cool because sometimes simplicity is your friend! Description is key in a story and painting a picture in the reader's mind is the goal, but they don't need to know the exact color of curtains and it's ethnicity in one paragraph.
2. Mary-Sues are not your friends. A writer's worst fear, and rightfully so. If you have a Mary-Sue, it doesn't matter how great of a writer you are, because in the end it will bring you down and keep going until you've reached the fires of hell. There are so many ways you can have a Mary-Sue/Gary-Stu, and honestly it would take a entire other post to go over the guidelines of how not to make one, but if you're a writer then I'm sure you already have a good idea of what they are.
Anyway, if you do have a Mary-Sue, then it's time to cancel all plans on writing because you have work to do! Character re-evaluation is the key, and if you don't have time to do that, then writing is not the thing for you. Sometimes you just have to wipe the whole slat clean, but trust me, in the end it's probably going to be better then what you started with.
3. Stick to the basics and get to the point. When writing, try not to use over-complicated words that'll confuse your readers. You don't want them to have to pause and go look at a dictionary in the middle of a chapter. What a lot of fanfiction writer's (from what I've seen) seem to do, and in some cases actual celebrity writers (see: Stephanie Meyer) is use words that flourish everything and make it way too complicated. So, when I'm writing I always try to keep to the basics!
4. Don't stall. If you're writing a story and there's a small hole between major story points, don't bullshit it and make some boring little in-between thing. If a scene has absolutely no point other then to 1) have two characters "develop" together in-between major plot points, 2) stall the story and then have something happen to introduce the next arc, 3) small scenes where friends go to the mall/cafe/shopping or anything that seems absolutely pointless.
Now, if you actually have something plot developing and the "in-between" is actually purposefully put in the story, by all means, go right ahead! But if it's not necessary, don't add it!
Those are the four major things I try to keep in mind while writing, because no matter what form I'm trying, those are my own little golden rules. There are so many other little tiny things here and there, but honestly, what's the point at being nitpicky? Of course there are different types of styles, but just because different styles exist, that doesn't excuse bad writing, and you can't just pass it off as "your style."
I don't think I said it before, but I'm sorry if I was a bit blunt here! Writing is close to my heart and I've become quite a bit of a critique. Haha, well, I think I'll try writing up a person update post later today, just to keep everyone up-to-date with how my life is and how things are. Honestly though, it all depends on whether or not I'll be awake! I've been having some problems with sleeping.
- Laura.
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