forums.rs

Forums

Your First Story

Quick find code: 49-50-155-56758246

of 171
CaptChekaka

CaptChekaka

Posts: 35,595 Sapphire Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
~` Description – An Overview `~
By: Capt Chekaka
Description is a huge part of your story as a whole. If you want readers to enjoy themselves, you have to make sure that they can understand and see what is going on in their minds. Vivid imagery that flows well within your writing is difficult to come by, and it takes quite a bit of practice for one to perfect a descriptive style of their own.
First of all, description should never be overused. Sometimes, if you describe too much in one particular scene, it will bore the reader and they’ll become uninterested. Obviously, this is not what you want to happen if you’re a young author. Use description wisely in certain areas – areas that I will be teaching you about in the following posts.
However, before we begin. What is description? Description is the way an author paints a picture of what is going on for the reader, kind of like a movie. Using description, one must understand that you are painting a picture for the reader and that you must describe only what is necessary.
For example, if I describing a dinner, I would not want to describe the fork and silverware while overlooking the actual dinner at hand. Still, this is going to be covered in the next few posts. Description isn’t all that difficult to understand, but it takes time and practice in order to perfect the perfect way of using it.

03-Jun-2008 22:22:12 - Last edited on 03-Jul-2008 16:29:47 by CaptChekaka

CaptChekaka

CaptChekaka

Posts: 35,595 Sapphire Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
~` Description – Characters `~
By: Capt Chekaka
The next part of the lessons on description will focus mainly on characters. Characters play an important role in your stories, and, most of the time, they will cover around half of your description as a whole. Showing a reader what a character looks like and such with great imagery is extremely important; it helps the reader become more connected on a mental level because they know what the character at hand looks like.
However, do not fall into the trap of describing things in a list-like fashion. Incorporate your descriptions throughout all of your writing, instead of piling them all onto the reader at once. Mix the description of your characters in with your surroundings. Doing so will allow you to create a complex and vivid assortment of descriptions and give your readers a good picture of your characters.
Characters change over time. Yes, they do. Remember to update your readers on your characters’ appearance every now and then so that the reader has a chance to fully get to know whoever you’re describing. The bond between a character and a reader can only be helped if you have amazing descriptions of your protagonist and a personality that relates, too.
The final part of describing characters is to remember the time period and the world at hand. Phoenix covered “The World” in later sections, but this is different. Remember that your characters should not have guns or anything like that, because that’s not the time period. Learn this. Realism is key.

03-Jun-2008 22:23:24 - Last edited on 03-Jul-2008 16:31:03 by CaptChekaka

CaptChekaka

CaptChekaka

Posts: 35,595 Sapphire Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
~` Description – Surroundings `~
By: Capt Chekaka
The surroundings are the second half of the description category. In order to have your story feel more real to the reader, a great description of the world is needed. Over-description normally has authors falling victim to its spell here, for it is the easiest of all to ramble on about.
When describing your surroundings, make sure that you’re only describing what you’re characters would notice and such. Don’t go too far into things and describe unnecessary objects, because that can only lead to a mess of unorganized words that are telling the reader about one million things at a time. Instead, focus on the more important things and the things that you, or the reader, would notice.
An example: If I were walking down a dusty abandoned road. What would I notice? Mainly, I would notice the run-down homes, the lowly people, and the sounds that accompanied both. However, if you go into detail about, say, a door and how it’s oak and not maple, then it’s unneeded and shouldn’t be included. Make sure to only encompass things that play a part in the scene or that, as I’ve said, you would see.
Describing the surroundings takes more work than describing characters, but it's also more open to the imagination. The descriptions of the surroundings have endless possibilities, and creating an absolutely amazing description will take time and effort, but it can be done. Remember, descriptions are important.

03-Jun-2008 22:23:25 - Last edited on 03-Jul-2008 16:01:10 by CaptChekaka

CaptChekaka

CaptChekaka

Posts: 35,595 Sapphire Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
~` Description - Mood `~
By: Torak546
Mood is looked at by most oblivious authors as “unimportant”, or as a “kind of emotion". The truth is, it’s not. Mood is like feel. It shows if a scene is happy, sad, confused, romantic, angry, funny, domestic, or anything else you can think of.
A happy mood feels nice. It is soft and dreamy. When you write in a happy mood, use words like, "as soft as a pillow," or “as refreshing as a cold lemonade on a warm, summer day." Oh, a tip on mood. Use lots of similes and metaphors.
A sad mood feels depressing. It makes you feel sad for a character, want to weep for them. This is hard for a lot of people, as it requires real skill in this area. Use words like old, ancient, shadow, dark, and conceal. Or anything else that’s sad. Another thing. Uses of grammar can help in mood.

Example:
Thomas finally realized who had killed his father, mother, brother, Sam, and Ellen. Oh, god, Ellen. It was Raven. She had killed everyone close to him. And Thomas was going to kill her.
That is bad. This is a better way for moods:
Thomas finally realized who had killed his father, mother, brother, Sam, and Ellen.
Oh, god. Ellen.
It was Raven. She had killed everyone close to him.
And Thomas was going to kill her.

See? A difference in spacing and paragraphs completely make a mood better, and change it.
There is some stuff to avoid with moods. One is the adjective blood-red. You should only use it is sad, angry, or scary-suspenseful times. Don’t throw it in with the picnic with your character’s true love. Put it in with an assassin trying to kill him, war, or a murderer. Also, avoid using the paragraph-spacing I demonstrated earlier. Use it in times of realization, and the like.

03-Jun-2008 22:24:23 - Last edited on 04-Jun-2008 23:52:06 by CaptChekaka

CaptChekaka

CaptChekaka

Posts: 35,595 Sapphire Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
~` Description - Variation of Colors `~
By: Fred Zeppeli (additions by others)
Here are a variety of synonyms available for describing things with a color.
Red:
Cardinal
Cherry
Coral
Crimson
Flame
Flushed
Inflamed
Maroon
Pink
Raspberry
Rose
Rosy
Ruby
Salmon
Scarlet
Vermillion
Yellow:
Amber
Apricot
Beige
Buff
Butter
Buttercup
Canary
Citron
Cream
Golden
Lemon
Peach
Straw
Tawny
Purple:
Amethyst
Fuchsia
Gridelin
Lavender
Lilac
Magenta
Mauve
Mulberry
Orchid
Plum
Solferino
Violaceous
Violet
Brown:
Almond
Amber
Beige
Bronze
Chestnut
Chocolate
Cinnamon
Coffee
Copper
Hazel
Mahogany
Rust
Tan
Sandy
Taupe
Tawny
White:
Cream
Frost
Ivory
Milky
Off-white
Eggshell
Oyster
Pearl
Snowy
Icy
Achromatic
Green:
Apple
Beryl
Celery
Chartreuse
Emerald
Forest
Kelly
Lime
Mint
Sea
Verdigris
Viridian
Orange:
Apricot
Copper
Flaming
Gold
Mustard
Peach
Persimmon
Rust
Tangerine
Topaz
Black:
Atramentaceous
Brunette
Coal
Ebony
Inky
Jet
Licorice
Murky
Onyx
Pitch
Sable
Shadowy
Sooty
Gray:
Ashen
Dappled
Silver
Steel
Blue:
Aqua
Azure
Beryl
Cerulean
Cobalt
Indigo blue
Navy blue
Peacock
Powder blue
Robin’s egg blue
Royal blue
Sapphire
Sky blue
Steel blue
Teal
Turquoise

03-Jun-2008 22:24:24 - Last edited on 14-Dec-2008 21:45:02 by CaptChekaka

CaptChekaka

CaptChekaka

Posts: 35,595 Sapphire Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
~` Description - Emphasis `~
By: Futile Crush
Emphasis is one of the key features of the description; while not as obvious as the other attributes of a good description, it is a necessity that will add a lot to your story. While you might not notice it within a story, you will notice it when it is not there. And this is what makes it necessary. Using emphasis can be hard for new writers, because it involves lots of experimentation to find the right level of drama. You use it according to the structure of the story, or at least, I find that it works best like this.
Let me explain:
If you want to write a scene where an important character is dying, then you want to make it very slow, very sad, very dramatic.
You want to pick out the sadness of the situation, individually pick out every tear, lengthen out the moment, to give room for the moods of the characters ***ting by the deathbed. And then, as the man dies, structure it out very carefully. What I did when killing off a character that wasn't quite a main character, but was more important than a second character, is I first described how he died. This can be very short.
Simply tell of the killer, and how he raised the sword in his hands before plunging it into the victim, or the assassin, raising the gun from a distance, holding his finger on the trigger, and pulling. Or cancer. Slowly attacking the victim until his or her heart finally stops ticking. Then I described the feeling of slipping away from the physical world. The feeling of descending away from everybody there, slipping away from the world. Breaking apart from reality. No dark, no light, no colour, nothing. Then I described the mental world, the last thoughts that person has. The realization that it will all go away, soon that he or she will know no more.

03-Jun-2008 22:26:21 - Last edited on 27-Dec-2008 21:58:09 by CaptChekaka

CaptChekaka

CaptChekaka

Posts: 35,595 Sapphire Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
~` Flow `~
By: Dav Dog92
If you have seen Disney’s “Pocahontas”, you should remember the song, “Just around the River Bend.” Pocahontas sings it as she paddles along a river. Think for a moment—do you remember Pocahontas hitting an enormous rock, falling into the water, and drowning? Or do you remember her coming to the end of the world and falling off? If you do, you need to watch the movie again. She, most certainly, does NOT die during that song.
Unfortunately, this is what happens to some readers of your stories as they “paddle” along. They hit a point where something doesn’t a make sense and they stop reading, or they abruptly run out of story and fall off the edge.
That is what we’re going to talk about in this chapter—letting your story flow.

Section 1 – Maps are everything!
Have you ever began writing a story and gotten a *air way into it and then suddenly realized that you did*’t know what to do next? Some people refer to this as, ‘Writing yourself into a corner’. Actually, this problem is easily avoided if you spend a few minutes before you start writing at a key stage in the writing process, appropriately titled, “pre-writing”.
This can be as simple as creating a basic outline of key plot points, or you can get as detailed as outlining each individual chapter. However you choose to do this, the few minutes you spend at this point can save you from a major headache later.
You may be thinking, “But I prefer to write as I imagine it.” This leads to another problem within your story, that I call Extremely Rambling Syndrome. Without some sort of plan, your story will branch off at every chance it gets into something random that isn’t necessary. As a rule, every word within your story should advance it one step closer to the resolution. Sub-plots ought to be worked into the main plot so that they don’t distract the reader from the main plot. If something doesn’t accomplish this purpose, throw it out! Your readers will appreciate your discretion.

03-Jun-2008 22:26:22 - Last edited on 04-Jun-2008 23:49:18 by CaptChekaka

CaptChekaka

CaptChekaka

Posts: 35,595 Sapphire Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
I am not saying that you have to plan ever detail of your story before hand. Marking out a basic path, however, will help you to create a story that is as long and concise as it needs to be. Does anyone really want to sift through a bunch of trash to find the treasure hidden beneath? I don’t know about you, but I prefer to keep my hands clean.

Section 2 -- Flowing Past Obstacles and Around Bends Smoothly
As you move your story along, you should be coming to various things in the lives of your characters that affect them in some way. The affected could simply be their actions or it could even be as drastic as their personalities. These things could, potentially, change the flow of your story.
Everything that happens in your *tory should be described in detail. However, turning points in your story, things that could seriously alter the outcome, should be described in great detail. By doing this, you should be able to avoid any confusion amongst your readers.
On another note, your story should have varied speeds of flow. Sometimes things should move quickly, such as in a battle scene, and sometimes things should move more slowly, maybe whilst walking through a difficult forest.
Remember, during a battle scene, we expect that things should be moving at a fast pace. IT would be kind of odd if the opponent’* next move came 2 hours later. But also remember that, during other slower scenes, it would also be weird if we walked into a forest and instantly appeared on the other side.
The pace of your story can be altered by events in the plot sequence or simply by the amount of time you spend narrating. A relatively brief event can be expanded by the author depending on the amount of time they spend describing it. If it’s important, then you should probably do this. If an event isn’t important, then give us the basics and move along speedily.

03-Jun-2008 22:26:50 - Last edited on 04-Jun-2008 23:49:37 by CaptChekaka

CaptChekaka

CaptChekaka

Posts: 35,595 Sapphire Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
Section 3 -- Steering Clear of the Edge of the World
Imagine that you are a reader who is approaching the end of a story. You keep going and going and, finally, you get to the last chapter. After you’ve read it, you think to yourself, “That was lame! I don’t even know what happened to the main character!”
No author wants their reader’s reaction to be like this. The last chapter of a book should be the grand finale, where the river finally meets the ocean. If that river abruptly falls off the edge of the world, not giving us any sort of reason as to why, we are not going to be pleased. We are not going to want to read your stories anymore. That is not a good thing.
Be sure to bring your story to a complete close if it is the only one you are going to write. Tie up most of the loose ends. If you are about to write the next one in a series, you can be a little more abrupt. Resolve the conflict of the first tale, but leave one open so that you can continue. Bring the story to more of a pause for the time being. Be sure to lay the foundation for the next story in the series during the first one so that you have the material needed to continue the plot line!
Think about the movies; usually, when a movie goes well, the producers will make another one to further increase their profits. In some movies, where the plot did*’t quite come to a close, this makes perfect sense. In other movies, though, the sequel(s) aren’t necessary and end up being bad. This is the kind of “flop” that you really want to avoid.
--
In conclusion, lots of detail will helps us to steer clear of rocks in the river but abrupt plunges dishearten many.

03-Jun-2008 22:26:51 - Last edited on 04-Jun-2008 23:49:48 by CaptChekaka

Quick find code: 49-50-155-56758246 Back to Top