Hi all, I'm Matthew from Ireland, age 17. I joined to improve my writing skill, and to learn how to structure and construct better stories. I particularly enjoy reading fantasy fiction, the area I'd like to write in, but in general I enjoy any good books. I have had a problem with writers block even in short stories, I get to a certain point of my story and BAM, no more So I will be searching the site to have a look at different writing techniques.
Maybe you should outline before writing, not freewriting? If you do outline, I apologize. I may be able to help.
Yeah what I usually do is get a certain idea of how events will occur but I lose track half way through so I have an initial idea, a rough idea of things will turn out and just write so I might try outlining next time. Thanks. Also I tend to get way too long winded and descriptive, any tips on how to avoid that ?
Oh I feel you there. I used to just freewrite--it would work out most of the way but at some point get stuck in the same manner. It doesn't mean that the ideas are necessarily too uninteresting to create a stable story as people seem to say, it just needs more development and such. I love freewriting, it gives me ideas when I get stuck. I'll randomly pick a fun scene from my story (even if I'm not near there yet) and just write it. Of course it usually gets discarded but it helps and it seems to exercise new ideas. But I began outlining and found out how much it really, really helps. Outlining was something I never cared for, I would dive right in. But once I found a method that suits me, it helps so so much. See if you have the initial idea and rough idea that's a really good start for an outline. I usually start with a simple, vague outline. Then I get more and more in depth with the next outlines...if that makes sense? I write a skeleton of a plot and then I add more and more, getting deeper and deeper. What do you mean by too long winded and descriptive? Elaborate on what you mean. I think I know but I"m unsure haha.
Welcome to Writing Forums, Matt! I hope you find what you're looking for here, whatever your interests in writing. This forum aims to provide the best workshopping resources on the internet, and to that end we have a few rules which you should familiarise yourself with before you get stuck in. The main section of the site is the Writing Workshop, where members can post their writing in order to receive critique of their work. However, before we allow members to post their work, they must have met some basic requirements. Firstly, you must have been a member for fourteen days, and have made twenty posts on the forum overall (please note, posts in Word Games do not count towards this). This is so that members, when they post their work, have familiarised themselves with the forums and contributed to them (as well as hopefully learned something for themselves). Secondly, members must provide two constructive reviews of other people's work for each piece of their own that they wish to post. This is because we believe that the focus of workshopping should be equally upon giving reviews as receiving them, as they allow a writer to practice and improve their editing skills, which they can then apply to their own writing. Beyond the Writing Workshop, you will find that we have extensive forums for discussion of aspects of writing, as well as a community area for general discussion. We also run periodic short story and poetry contests, which are good for challenging yourself and expanding your skills. If you have any questions or problems, then the moderators (myself, Cogito, Lemex and Dante Dases) should be your first port of call. Any technical problems with the site itself should be directed to Daniel, the site administrator and owner. I would recommend you have a look over the rules so that you know what to expect, and what is expected. But aside from that, I hope you enjoy your time here. Banzai
