Hello everyone, i'm a newbie to fiction writing or any type of character development really. Since I began getting involved with interactive geo-fiction/conworlding i have tried my hand at it but find that i really dont have a grasp on character or story line development and tend to lean more toward descriptive or analytical writing of a snapshot in time. I started my own geofiction site called "World of Gotha" with some other online pals and now i feel the need to develop some writing skills to stay competitive and at least help spur story lines. I also have a disorganized brain or maybe it's attention deficit which doesnt help ... So, basically i'm going to look around and see if i can pick up some basics on how to approach things. Brian
Hello Brian, Welcome to the Creative Writing Forums. Please read How to Use the Writing Workshop before you try to post there. Posting your own writing for people to comment on should not be among the very first things you do here anyway. It is worth taking the time to see what other people have done to improve their writing, and see if some of it applies to your writing as well. That is part of why we require members to review other members' work before posting their own for review. On the other hand, there are no restrictions, other than content and copyright rules, on showcasing your work in your member blog. Also, be aware that posting a piece of writing on any public site, including this one, will greatly diminish your chances of selling it for publication. Removing the writing later does not alter that fact - once posted, it is irreversibly considered published. So do not post anything more than a small excerpt of any piece you are planning to submit for publication. If you haven't explored the site yet, you should probably do so soon. Newcomers often gravitate to the Lounge, the Word Games, or the Writing Workshop, but there is much more to be discovered if you poke in the corners. Remember to check out our FAQ as well, and be sure to read through the forum rules, too, to avoid any misunderstandings or hurt feelings. Respect for one another is our principal mandate. As for the Writing Workshop, new joiners often wonder why we do things a bit differently on this site than on other writing sites. We emphasize constructive critique as a vital writing skill. Training your eye by reviewing other people's work helps you improve your own writing even before you present it for others to see. Therefore, we ask members to review other people's writing before posting work of their own. We also impose a two-week waiting period before you may post writing for critique, to give you time to become familiar with what is expected and how the site operates. The Writing Workshop forums on this site, therefore, are true workshops, not just a bulletin board for displaying your work (and on that note, please only post each item for review in one Writing Workshop forum). Also, please use the same thread for all revisions and additional excerpts from the same piece of writing. See this post, Why Write Reviews Before Posting My Work? for more information. And while you're looking around, don't forget to check out the RPG forum for improvisational fiction. Also try our Weekly Short Story Contest and Weekly Poetry Contest. They actually run more than one week apiece, but any member may enter, and all members are urged to vote for their favorites. Enjoy your stay here, and have fun!
The most important thing is to write. Even if you're only writing fragments, try to set yourself a target of writing every day. And keep everything you write. It's amazing how you can come back to a fragment later and suddenly it turns into a short story. There is plenty of advice here and elsewhere on the web about how to write, and much of it says sensible things. You need conflict to get a good plot, for example. It is much more effective to portray your characters through their actions in the story than through a string of adjectives. Avoid adjectives and adverbs - not entirely of course - but most people strating out writing use far too many of them. Try reading your own work out aloud. All of this is good advice, but the most important thing is to write, write, write. Read and talk about writing if you must, but don't let it stop you writing. Having said that, I must get back to my own writing... Good luck
