My dear reader, I come to you in my final hours to pass on the wisdom I have acquired during the short time that was my life; I do hope it helps you to become the writer you've always dreamed you'd be. Take this information and carry on my own legacy in your stories...
Did that capture your attention? At least enough to make you think "Hold on, I came here for writing advice not somebody's dying wishes"? Then I did my job as a writer. I made you stop and consider what you were reading and hopefully made you interested.
As a senior at Monte Vista, I decided the best thing I could leave behind was advice on a subject I know inside and out: creative writing. Of course, this doesn't mean I'm a perfect writer, and it certainly doesn't mean I know everything. All I'm saying is that this is something I'm well-versed in and ready to share. I do hope you find the tips here helpful to you.
Happy writing!
1. Plot
I won't start by saying plot is the most important part of your story, because there is no part that is more important than the other. If you have an interesting plot but dull characters, your story won't work. If you describe your settings in wonderful detail but have no plot, it won't work either. You need a healthy mix of an intriguing plot, characters a reader will become attached to, and writing that won't bore your reader.
With this in mind, I will say that plot is a very important part of your story, because it is what drives it. You've probably seen the classic formula: Exposition, conflict, rising action, climax, falling action, resolution. I'm going to break this down a bit.
Your exposition is what you use to introduce your world to your reader. You describe the setting, present your protagonist, and familiarize your reader with the way things are in your world. This is especially important if you are setting your story in a place or time your reader may be unfamiliar with (i.e. a different country, time period, or a world of your own making).
There's a saying among authors, "Bad decisions make good stories." Have you ever been reading a book or watching a movie and thought, "If they hadn't done that one (or more) stupid thing(s), none of this would have happened"? Well, you're absolutely right. If there is nothing amiss, there is no story. Very few people want to read about a boy who hasn't any problems and goes through his day without issue. But as soon as the boy's dog goes missing, or his mother starts acting strangely, or aliens invade his planet, things get interesting.
The rising action is probably the part that takes the most time. It is everything that happens after the problem is introduced all the way until the final "boss fight" at the end of the story. And there is much to be done during this time--more characters to be brought in and developed, and perhaps more conflicts to arise. This is the epic journey your protagonist must go on in order to reach his goal--the climax. This is a good place to add what I like to call "fluff scenes." Fluff scenes are the parts of your story that don't necessarily further the plot, but will do something else for your story. You might decide to take a scene to describe your protagonist's tragic past, thus giving the character more depth and personality. If there's romance in your story that doesn't directly relate to the plot, fluff scenes are the place to develop it.
The climax is generally (but not always) the most exciting part of a story. It is the part where the hero confronts the villain, the mystery is solved, or the conflict is abolished. The way you write it will depend entirely upon your story and the conflict in it. It is up to you to decide if your story will have a happy ending or a tragic one, because the climax will often decide that despite the way the rest of the story has gone.
The falling action comes immediately afterward. It is where the hero is finally allowed to clean his or her battle wounds, where the criminal is being arrested, and where the dust of the climax begins to settle.
The resolution is exactly what it sounds like--an end to a problem. Often times the resolution of a story is short, simply giving the reader a brief glimpse into what life in the story has become now that the struggle has ended. Sometimes authors won't even include this in their stories, letting their reader decide that the battle was picked up nicely and the world put to rights without actually describing all of it. This is a perfectly acceptable route to take as long as you didn't leave any large doubts as to what happened. Your reader should never say "Why didn't the author explain this? It seemed awfully important" at the end of your story. For example, if your hero hears a strange voice telling him or her to do something that ends up being very helpful (or devastating), you better have an explanation for that voice, even if it is as simple as the voice being the hero's instinct.
2. Characters
One of the most important things to remember when coming up with characters is diversity. You've probably heard the terms protagonist, antagonist and foil character, but these are just the basics.
Your protagonist is your main character, and not necessarily the hero. You've no doubt seen movies where the villain is the main character--so a protagonist can be anyone.
This means your antagonist (the character who opposes your protagonist) can be anyone, even the "hero."
Your foil character is a character with the opposite characteristics of your main character, often used to highlight your protagonist's qualities (or short-comings). And there can be more than one. For example, in the Harry Potter series, Harry, Ron, and Hermione all foil each other. Hermione foils Harry and Ron's lack of studious qualities; Ron is probably the most stubborn of the group; and Harry the bravest.
So these are the three basic types of characters, now you need to think about how to design them. Will they be a man or a woman, a boy or a girl? What color is their skin? Hair? Eyes? What kind of figure do they have? How tall are they? There's loads to consider when coming up with characters, and it's important not to make them all the same. Not every girl has an hourglass figure and perfect skin, and not every boy is tall, muscular and chiseled. That's not to say you can't have a character like that, but they can't all be like that. Mix it up--have a girl who's chubby and a guy who's lanky, consider ethnicity, build colorful characters.
And this goes for personality, too. Don't make all your male characters tough and suave and all your female characters dainty and delicate (and don't do it the other way around, either!) Have a character who's strong and outgoing and one who's more shy and reserved. Have a character who is an absolute villain in every way and have one who has a few flaws even as they try to do what's right.
3. Descriptions
"If it's boring to write, it's boring to read." --Sara Lagan
Descriptions are, of course, a large part of what makes a book interesting. However, they can also be the very thing that ruins your story for your reader. Take The Lord of the Rings trilogy, for example. These are incredibly popular books, and for good reason, but many people find they are boring because Tolkien takes special care to describe each and every detail of every event. He rarely uses what I like to call "timeskips," meaning the story jump to a new point in time. You, as a writer, might skip a few days in the story during which nothing important happens. You might also choose to skip a few hours, or maybe even years. The point is, if it isn't important to your story or your characters' development, it doesn't need to be included.
One instance in which descriptions with no plot relevance or character development is acceptable is in "world building," that is, setting the stage for your story. This is especially crucial, as mentioned before, if your story takes place in a place or time that your reader is unfamiliar with (since Tolkien created a whole world, we can forgive him for the endless amounts of world building he wrote). However, skilled writers will be able to incorporate world building into their story, describing the setting as the exposition progresses. This is not to say that Tolkien was not a skilled writer, he just liked to ignore the guidelines, something that is absolutely acceptable when it comes to creative writing.
Now, I'm sure you've read books that had overly flowery descriptions that didn't necessarily take very long, but they seemed way too exaggerated. You don't have to write that way if you don't want to. You can write your descriptions however you like. I will say that I personally enjoy getting a little dramatic with my descriptions sometimes. I once read a short story that described a character's eyes as "amethyst pits of despair." There was another that decided someone's eyes were the color of "mere splinters of radioactive emeralds." It was completely ridiculous (and not needed unless the situation called for it) but it made me smile.
It's fun to be dramatic, but remember to not let it take away from the point you're trying to make.
4. Writer's Block
This is perhaps the bane of every author's existence. Writer's block refers to the horrible mental state of being idealess. Not being able to get your story out on paper. It can hit at any time and will frustrate you to no end. Even if you have an idea you'll find that you can't figure out how to write it, and anything you do write just isn't quite what you want it to be.
There are a few ways to deal with this. One is to remove any and all distractions. Set your phone aside, turn off any music, and maybe even try moving to a new spot. Make sure all your attention is on your story.
Another is to focus on your characters. Not necessarily your story, but the characters. Create a situation in your mind and have your characters react to it. Figure out how they'd handle different scenarios, both good and bad. Not only will this help you get into the right mood to write, but it'll help you develop and bond with you characters.
And finally, when all else fails, set your pencil down or turn off the computer and walk away. Talk a walk, or a nap. Get your mind off the story, and don't pick up another! For about fifteen minutes try to distance yourself from any words and any reading. Just relax and come back to it later. Writer's block can sometimes be your mind telling you that you need a break, just like it does when you're trying to study for a test and you realize you aren't actually absorbing everything you read out of your textbook or notes.
5. Write Everything Down!
"If you have an idea, or an image that comes to your mind, get it out on paper. If you don't, you might forget it. And forgetting something is the worst thing a writer can do." -Ally Clifford
No matter how silly or seemingly pointless, if you get an idea for a story or an idea for one of your existing stories, write it down. This is especially important if you consider it more than once. The most frustrating feeling is going to write out an idea and forgetting one of the details of it. As an author (or as someone who fancies herself an author) I can say that I've made this mistake more than once and it is an awful feeling.
Reminder
"The code is more what you'd call 'guidelines' than actual rules." --Captain Barbossa
Remember, this is creative writing, and everything you've read is only to get you started. Break the rules, bend the advice, find your own unique style and stick to it. If every writer wrote the same way, what fun would that be? No one would ever stand out for their ability to create worlds like Tolkien did; no one would ever be remembered for their lovable characters like Rowling; no one would ever make their readers laugh like Riordan. Even the Bible discusses this in 1st Timothy 4:14-15. "Do not neglect the gift you have... Practice these things, immerse yourself in them, so that all may see your progress."
I hope you've found my advice useful, because the odds of becoming a renowned writer are slim, but the ability to pass on what you've learned from years of practice and experience is universal.
