Hello Creatywritingforums people. Long time no C. I have returned to ask more questions for any advice that you wonderful peoples might be able to lend. This time, I am not looking for advice with a specific story though... Instead i am looking for more generalized assistance. I am at the moment, putting together a instructional document together on effective methods and techniques to use within the novel writing process. Im not sure how long it will be at the moment, but i guess that depends on how much content i am able to find and get from other people.. and how much content im able to come up with myself. This week, I am looking at coming up with ways to create the perfect setting within any given novel, or story plot. The section is called: "HD Imagery"[high definition imagery] and is basically intended to be a list of effective ways to portray settings of a story to a reader.... Im not sure if any of you are especially good at creating and implimenting imagery in your stories or not, But if you think that you are... or might have at least a few good tricks up your writing sleeves.. then could you slip me the hint? I can always(and do intend to anyways/in any event), look at examples of writing from authors that are already published and known...Like Edgar Allens 'fall of the house of usher', or J.Vernes 'Tenty thousand leauges' Books like that can innatly distill loads of lessons about great setting to the reader... But i was alittle bit curious as to what Setting tricks some of you guys might have... So what do you think?? What would do you do in your stories to make your settings unforgettable?
With all due respect, if you need to gather material from other people, should you be putting together an instructional document? How will you know whether these tips and tricks are effective? And more importantly, will you be able to explain how to effectively apply them? Suppose I tell you "draw a map", and someone else tells you "don't draw a map". Which suggestion will you take? It's only if you've applied these yourself will you be able to both judge and explain. I would also suggest investing in a good SPAG checker.
I'm not sure what your overall purpose is. Who is this 'instructional document' intended for? Do you intend to publish it? If it's just for yourself to use as a reference for your own writing, fair enough. But people won't be inclined to buy it if you're not an experienced writer or teacher of writing. People will want to buy their instructional material from an expert. I would strongly suggest that you pick up as many instructional books (written by experienced authors and teachers) as you can. There are also lots of great writing blogs out there as well. If you put your specific question into Google (or whatever search engine you use) you should come up with LOTS of material. You ask good questions, by the way. But I reckon you'll need to have experienced and solved these problems yourself, in your own writing, before you can be considered an authority that other people will pay attention to—or buy instructional material from.
Well.....not sure if it will help you, but I like to explore dungeons and dragons role-playing material for developing settings and characters - I don't really use them, but it leads me in some weird directions and helps me see or envision my idea better. If you Google "dungeons + dragons + world building" for example, you can come up with some ideas for creating a world. You don't have to use those ideas but they can inspire you.
Start from the beginning: for one of my stories I am starting with the creation story and building from that. This helps explain the gods, give a snapshot of some of the other races and give a general time for the world. Well this may be more than you need for your story and may only end up shared Al la Simarillion, this helped me with keeping a consistent story. I built the basement so the main floor has a good base.
You think any of our asses would be hanging out here if we had fool-proof solutions? I mean, I would because I love my WF family, but otherwise I'd be lounging on my yacht.
That might be a valid suggestion. I wonder how many forums i would have to look through to get thw type of helpful material that i need tho... Are these dungeons+world buildings something that is already given on a site by one web group? or is it a free for all of different people putting in their own created worlds?... Im a member of the fanfiction community, so i know the creation of story materials, when left to a mass amount of people can very quickly get out of hand... _________________________________ Start from the beginning... Probly a valid tip I know that many times the plot being at least somewhat already known to the author helps with adding premeditated story elements to the settings that they create. Like if you know that your story is going to take you through a period where your character gains alot of expirience in some particular thing// say knowledge about ancient civilizations, from a adventure /archeologist/ tomb raider.. it might be advantagous for a setting of a certain Ancient Monument of some sort to be described in much detail there are probly other reasons starting from the beginning helps too... good suggestion, ty ty ______________________________ Short and to the point. The answer matches the answer. haha Thats a fair suggestion. Especially maybe in some situations... But, i am trying to come up with "HD imagery" So maybe leaving them at 'get your point across and let them fill it' is not the sort of impressionable advice that would fit. But i cant deny, that in some instances, the writing in a story fairs better in context if only breifly described... for example in books with heavy dialouge/ drama books, and political books _________________________ Your optimism is appreciated.. I honestly hope you some day live to see that dream come true mr.potvin
I Came up with some examples the other day, after i had posted... just to give you guys an idea of what i mean by "setting tips" Here is what i jotted down ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Technique 1 ●A Central City section. Within a story.. there are many different times when an author creates a setting for the story to take place in. The story is nothing but a setting that rolls on from one place, to another, and then another. But one thing that i feel has a great impact on a reader(Especially in some novels) is when a story has one central setting. A central setting that is not only well defined with the context of the story, but also defined in such a manner, that the reader is invited in, in written sense, to come into one certain place withing the plot of the story. In this place the reader is able to come in and stay awhile, and soak in a feel of a particular area.. In that way the author is able to personalize their(the readers) presence within the book. Leave a personally intamte feeling of some place or another in the book. And with on place that the reader can easily identify with, and imagine with familiarity in their mind, the story has all that much more of an anchor within the readers perspective.. because of this, the entire book is benifited example #1 & #2 Technique 2 ●Matching colors: When the setting of the story matches the scene of the story, Allowing for the plot to be greatly amplified by just the setting alone. With varying degrees of intensity, the more the setting might resemble the scene of the story, the more of an valued effect the scene has on the reader... Example #1 & #2 Complimetning color.... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ And im still coming up with stuff... but thats what i wrote the other day So thats what im talking about. What Im looking for is, If not so much as tips as it is, as i posted above.. looking for techniques.. to use and implement into a good story. Setting techniques..
Sorry to be harsh but both so called techniques sound like verbose nonsense to me #1 - the story is not a setting that rolls from place to place... the story is characters doing things (plot) in various different settings #2 the setting of the story is the scene of the story so this means absolutely nothing. Per what Nao said earlier, the hard truth is that you aren't ready to write an instructional book about how to write a story because those looking to buy instructional guides want to be taught by people who are experts in the field, so my suggestion would be to focus more on building your own knowledge and experience before trying to write a book of this type Also with my mod hat on this isn't the right place for writing for critique - that would be the workshop
