the main problem i see with doing this is that it will lead you astray on how to write dialog in prose fiction... in the movies, people talk the way people do in real life, while in fiction, the dialog is somewhat 'pared down to essentials'... if it wasn't, the readers would very quickly become bored with all the hesitations and extraneous stuff that is okay in a movie only because it accompanies the action we see unfolding on the screen and the faces and body language of the actors... and it goes both ways... often the dialog in a movie--as in real life--is much sparer than it needs to be in written fiction, because what we see on the screen fills in the gaps... so i don't see that transcribing a movie and putting it in novel form will be helpful in improving your dialog writing... it can do more harm than good, imo...
In my experience it is interesting but hard. I started a chapter altering the whole first scene and realised the following ones wouldn't work either. What worked visually wouldn't have worked on paper. My mom and I having a similar discussion of books to film after having read the same Joy Fielding book - Still Life. She thought it would make a great movie. I said, I doubted it as the mc is in a coma and you'd be staring at her unmoving body for over an hour. What works on paper doesn't always work for movies and vice versa. If you want to improve your dialogue skills I would focus more on your characters - less on advancing plot, or divulging information ( those things are important but not more important than whose divulging the information - you the author or the characters? ) It sounds like simple advice but actually it isn't - a lot of times the author is trying to get to the next scene reveal things and doesn't loosen the reigns on his characters. Think of it this way - you could put everyone you know family, relatives , friends in the same scenario - say they've just discovered a skeleton in their backyard while gardening. What they say and how they react will all depend entirely on the particular person - all their interests, fears, background, personality - not on the event. Let the dialogue shape the story and not the story shape the dialogue.
novels do not equal movies.. i think there is just too much disparity between the two mediums to be transforming them as a means of practice.
thanks for all the replies guys, I have started doing this and have written about the first 20 minutes of the movie. With the dialogue, I have noticed that I can't include pauses or ums and ahs. although this s a challenge, I feel I am doing quite well. It might not be helping my writing much but it is a lot of fun
Hello, I am very new to the writing world and through my research I found that most people do recommend reading and writing a lot to sharpen your skills. The question is, writing for the sake of practice feels fruitless. It is pretty hard sitting there every day writing a short story and giving it your best, only that you know you will through this story in the trash in the end of the day and tomorrow you will start another one. I just want to know from more experienced writers, is this how it works?
Prior to the Internet, that's pretty much the way it worked, unless you had friends or family members who would critique your writing. Now, there are many, many websites (including this one) where you can submit your work and receive feedback. There is one genre for which there is an insatiable demand, and regular readers are willing, even eager, to critique your stories: erotica. I write a lot of it myself, and have learned a lot from readers.
Well, I don't think you should write with the expectation that your work will go right into the trash. Try to write all of your exercises as best you can. Get feedback on things you write -- either put them up for critique here or on another site, enter some short story contests, see if you can find a local in person writer's group that either does critique or where you can find some other people to critique with.
and while you practice, it's important to keep comparing what you write to the work of authors who are generally considered to be good writers... and 'good' doesn't mean just being 'popular' enough to turn out bestsellers...
Sometimes this happens, but mostly you write your short story, or novel, or whatever, and come back to it in a few weeks' time. The story will then improve because your writing will have improved (yes, it's that fast when you're just starting out). Also, it can seem fruitless even if you hate it and you do want to throw it in the trash, but refrain from doing so. Keeping your work means you can learn from them later on ("Oh, is that how I write dialogue? I really need to tighten it up."). Waiting a while before editing pieces of work makes you read it as an outside person, or as near as, anyway. Keeping those pieces can give you story ideas when you're still writing in fifteen years. Would you have had those ideas if you threw them in the bin?
Write write write bud. Keep it all. Go on the internet and look things up (everything is on the internet) Come here (promotion!) and ask questions. Keep on writing because with practice comes improvement. My old band teacher always told us, "Practice doesn't make perfect, practice makes better." There are no set 'rules' to writing really. Learn the fundamentals like grammar, punctuation, paragraph structure of course.
Now this is the exact state i was in when i first began writing. Oh how i loved those days when i was just a beginner... But back to the point. Yes, reading is a must. And if you plan to write a book in a certain genre, i suggest you read a lot of that genre and make sure you love it to pieces so that you won't get bored of your book and just drop it. I myself have been writing a fantasy novel for four years, am still not done, but am still not sick of it. As for me, I was writing for about two years before i came across this forum. But when i did begin writing, it was mostly by hand, and i usually just rewrote the same scene over and over again, getting practice on description and the emotions the character was going through just by having her sit under a tree waiting for her brother to come home from hunting. The repetition wasn't on purpose -i just was so picky that i ended up re-writing that same scene over and over again until some subconscious part of me said "Okay already! Do something else!" then i ended up changing the whole story and wrote as a woman on a blood-red horse and companion eagle galloping into a burning village to fight off evil-doers. That inadvertently gave me practice in combat and dialogue, which i am now very happy to have done even though i did the same repeating thing over again... I'm not exactly sure how i broke that cycle and got 42 chapters into my book. But i can safely say that practice has helped me tons. Also, your writing skills will continue to get better over time, no matter what. I recently improved a great deal in my writing and now i go back to my latest drafts in my story and my jaw just drops because i can make things to much better. But then that drives me nuts because i already spent so long writing that darn draft and now i have to edit it AGAIN. Yet i cannot control myself. I am a perfectionist.
I don't throw away anything I've written. I put it in a notebook and I like being able to read back on it occasionally.
One thing I do is take my characters out of their stories and put them into others already created. For instance, what would Cael do in Tomb Raider's shoes if he was stranded on Yamatai? Reading around your genre is also a prerequisite, both the good and the bad, to see what works and what doesn't. You get addicted to seeing the change that comes with your own writing when you read a lot, sort of like how bodybuilders get addicted to working on their physique. It may seem like effort at first, but, trust me, you'll get hooked.
I'm impressed. In many years of visiting sites like this you are the first person to recognize this. Here's the problem: all of our training for writing during our primary education is aimed at giving us the skills we will need in order to be productive and employed adults. So we learn to write reports, essays, and letters, all nonfiction, all meant to inform, and all fact based. But people read fiction for entertainment and they taught us nothing about how to write with that goal because it's a skill unique to the profession of fiction writer, and our primary education gives us only general skills of use to everyone. You'll often be told that reading will teach you to write. And it will. Just like watching TV taught us to be successful screen writers, and eating out taught us to be chefs. Seriously, reading is necessary, but it teaches us to appreciate the quality of the product, not the process and the decision-making skills necessary to create it. And while you can get good advice from a forum like this, and it's all sincerely given, you haven't the knowledge, at this point, to tell the difference between good and bad advice. So the trick is to use forums like this as sounding boards, for beta reader reaction, and to discuss our favorite subject. But get your writing education from the pros because we know that their advice works for them, at least. And if they all agree on a given point... After all, if it's your hope to be a published writer, and thought to be serious about your craft, doesn't it make sense to spend a few dollars and some time to acquire the skills the pros take for granted? My personal recommendation as a place to learn the nuts-and-bolts issues of writing fiction is here.
Basically, yes, that is how it works. Either you write short stories (why not save them?) or novels, you have to write about something you care about or find intriguing enough to give it your very best and finish it. Polish it until it is as good as you can make it. Get feedback from other people, preferably not just your sister or best friend, because those are not the best sources of unbiased critique. Rewrite, rewrite and edit until you think it's perfect. And other people think so too. Then submit it. Get lots of rejection letters. Wondering what your story/writing is lacking. How you could make it better. Sometimes you'll get a hint from the recipients of those submissions. What you need to do to get this sh*t published. That is rare though, so don't count on it. Publishers and agents don't have much time to teach beginning writers their craft. More work, either a new story or the same one, again and again until someone says it's worth publishing. Then celebrate, before you start working on your next project. ;-)
Thanks to everyone, I certainly didn't expect this many replies. I am overwhelmed. I am surprised that there are people out there who are willing to read and criticise other writer's work to help them with their work. I thought I might be paying for it. At the current time I am not looking forward to being a best seller author, I want to understand what makes a good story from a bad one. I want to learn the tools of writing and I am pretty sure there are formulas to certain genre but I just can't put my finger on it. I am just getting my hands on literally devices like metaphors , irony, genre , themes. I kind of have an idea about them because I did study them ions ago in middle school when we read Shakespeare . I am not exactly sure where to start but I did order Plot & Structure by James Scott Bell to get me going. JayG, I will look into your advice and get that book on Kindle. I know I sound ignorant next to all of you guys, but I hope that is not a reason for you to look down on me. Sorry for my English, as it is not my first language.
don't look for any 'formula'... fiction is 'creative' writing and as such does not benefit from following a template set up by this or that how-to guru...
Both the book you ordered and the one that JayG suggest are very good in my humble opinion. I've learned a lot from them.
Think of the short story as a scene, sequence, chapter etc. writing em helps you put the bigger thing together. The small stuff is easier to manipulate, correct, chuck, get right.
and doesn't take up a year or more to complete, while bad writing habits become immured in your brain...
I've posted on these forums so much with the same story, I'm sure you've all already got my meager writing career memorized at this point, so I'll just cut to the chase: Obviously, I've little to no experience writing. At 15, though I've spent half my life trying to write, I've gotten practically -- no, basically -- okay, literally nowhere. But I'm still making efforts to improve myself and my writing. But this requires practice, as does anything else. So, I'm going to use Quotev to practice. Now, my question concerning this is: Should I stick purely to fan fiction (ew) as a means of practice? If I were to write original works, that I may perhaps want to include in a continuity I'd later want to publish, would it being present on something like Quotev or (God fucking forbid) Wattpad hurt its chances of publication? Is there anyway to absolve that damage it could cause? Is there anyway to protect my writings at all? What are the dangers of writing original fiction on Quotev, and should I do it with a project I care about to get practice?
I have no idea what Quotev is, but if it's like most places you can post fiction online... yes, it could interfere with your ability to get that work published later. Most major publishers, and a lot of smaller ones too, want First Publication Rights. That is, they want to buy the right to publish your work for the first time. Obviously if you've already published it, you can't sell those rights to the publisher. If you're looking to practice, I'd suggest taking the "ew" out of your attitude toward fanfiction so you can work on that, or else accept that anything original that you write will likely not be published by a major publisher after it's been posted online. I'm not saying there aren't exceptions, but it's a safe general rule. You can always self-publish something you've already published online, of course, but that can get complicated if the work is in the same universe as something you want to sell to a publisher.
You're 15? I wouldn't worry about it. Just write whatever. Fanfic sounds like a great place to start.
Okay, so I might be able to help here. I was fifteen when I first discovered I had an extreme affinity towards writing and storytelling in general. I had an interest in it before, having written about three hundred pages of literary garbage when I was 12-ish. It wasn't till I was your age that I truly started to love writing, though. First I want to say this above all, whatever you do, do not let anyone tell you to stop writing if you truly love doing it. Keep the pen to the paper (or fingers on the keyboard, whichever) and do not stop. If you keep trying and continue to push those ideas out, they will get stronger with every passing year. Don't be like me and let someone discourage you and tell you it's a waste of your time. That's what happened to me, I'd probably be a published novelist by now if I had simply kept at it. Almost thirty now, and I regret that to this very day. Secondly, I will break the ugly truth to you. There's a long road ahead. Sugar coating it won't do you any good, and it might be another ten to fifteen years until you are skilled enough to bust out a best seller. I could try and tell you that maybe it will be different and your first book will hit the shelves before you know it, but that's a million to one chance. You can, however, take creative writing in college, hone your craft, even work for a local newspaper if you want if you do get a degree. Most important thing to do between now and then is practice, make connections with people, try and get a name for yourself, however small, and keep practicing. Don't worry about your work being posted to the internet, who cares what happens to it at this point. Getting it out there and getting used to critique will help tremendously anyway. By the time you are ready to write that first book for real, you won't need critique on your work, except from the strong peers you collected. Once you do write it, then get ready, here comes the hard part...it will get rejected time after time. Stephen King was rejected so many times that he apparently kept the letters and nailed them to a spike on the wall, which then fell from the weight of them all. Doesn't always turn out that harshly, but still, be prepared for it. I hope to read your book ten years from now. Nothing that ever matters comes easily, hang in there.
If you want to post a story online, post a story that you won't want to publish professionally in the future. Fanfiction, for example. Have you ever heard of Virgil's Aeneid? The 9,900 line epic universally praised as one of the greatest masterpieces of Latin literature, further described by Wikipedia as "a cornerstone of the Western canon"? Fanfiction The reason why there are so many versions of every classic myth Hephaestus was thrown from Olympus in his infancy by Zeus for being ugly Hephaestus was thrown from Olympus in his infancy by Hera for being ugly Hephaestus was thrown from Olympus in his youth by Zeus for siding with Hera in an argument Hephaestus was thrown from Olympus in his youth by Hera for siding with Zeus in an argument Was because the storytellers of antiquity were expected to tell new stories about characters that everybody was already familiar with. Homer's Odyssey and Iliad were fanfictions of the popular characters of Homer's day, and Virgil's Aeneid was a fanfiction of Homer's Odyssey and Iliad I am 23 going on 24. In the last 4 years of writing, I have collected a canon of: a 63k word Doctor Who fanfiction that I will never make a penny from a Sherlock Holmes one-shot and a Dark Knight one-shot totaling 5k words that I will also never make money from Four short stories totaling 17k words that I have not yet managed to publish despite having sent out three of them multiple times each a 25k word novella that I need to fix up a bit before trying to publish (and that will probably be expanded to 30k by then) and 41k words of a novel that will probably be anywhere from 65k-85k words by the time I finish You have a bit of a head start Do you have any favorite reading material that inspires you?
