RuneScape Forum Archive | Your First Story

May

2022

MJT2-0

Posts: 234 Silver Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

Description – An Overview
In terms of story-writing and world-building, description is crucial in order to make a lasting connection with a reader. In order for them to visualize what is truly going on, a writer must utilize vivid imagery with elegant flow in order to fit a certain descriptive “style.” It can, however, have some drawbacks. This general overview is to explore those pros and cons, and give you a sense of why description really “matters” in the long run.

To begin, a major *con” that comes along with description is over-usage. It should never be overused (or, at least seldom done), as overusing descriptive terms can bore a reader to death. This is fatal in terms of a young story that does not have many followers and, as such, you must be cautious when using description – you must use it wisely.

Now you may be wondering, *What is description?” and, well, description is the way a writer paints a picture for the reader. It is essentially an imaginative movie. To use the movie example more thoroughly, you can also take the idea of being “overly descriptive” and apply it here. In a movie, how long would a director focus on a set a silverware during a dinner scene? Is there a murder about to happen? Is one of the characters wondering about the spoon setup? Are they disorganized, prompting a character analysis about the man or woman who set the table?

Description can be used to show, but it can also be used to tell; it can be seen as a tool that authors use to get subliminal messages across effectively. Learning how to use description well and properly (that is, at the proper times) is integral if you wish to become a successful writer – and if you want your readers to come back for more.

18-Jun-2015 18:20:47 - Last edited on 18-Jun-2015 21:28:13 by MJT2-0

May

2022

MJT2-0

Posts: 234 Silver Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

Description – Characters
A large majority of your writing will focus on your characters, and building your characters with adequate descriptions is very important in allowing your readers to bond with those characters. Sure, describing the trees and the rivers and the lakes is important, but your characters are people too! They need your attention.

It is important, however, to remember not to fall into “listing” as your descriptive methodology. Incorporating your descriptions throughout all of your writing (such as describing the people and the trees at the same time) is useful in allowing the reader to soak up the environment, instead of being dunked head-first into a pool of details. This will also further your reader’s bond with your characters! Being able to imagine them in different places, doing different things, will allow them to see into the character’s true lifestyle.

In realizing this, one should also take note that your characters – much like your readers – grow . Updating your readers on your character’s appearance should not happen every chapter, but taking the time to announce a change of wardrobe or growing facial hair is important in keeping your readers connected. You don’t wake up in the morning with a foot-long bead, so neither should your character!

Now, being incredibly general, character descriptions must maintain an idea of reality. It is important to remember where they are, who your character is with, and what exactly they’re doing there when you take the time to describe them. In The World and How to Manipulate It , you’ll learn how to manipulate the world to suit your needs, but your characters can't do that. Going to the arctic without a coat is folly for you, so why would it be okay for Jim (should your main character be named “Jim,” obviously)?

18-Jun-2015 18:21:01 - Last edited on 18-Jun-2015 21:32:48 by MJT2-0

May

2022

MJT2-0

Posts: 234 Silver Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

Description – Surroundings
In thinking about “description” and what it entails, characters are easily the most prevalent factor, but the second-most would most likely be the idea of your surroundings. Now, unlike characters, your surroundings encompass a broad spectrum of ideas: it is the air quality, the trees around you, the sand between your toes, the ocean spraying against your face! It is important to make one thing clear, however: what exactly should you be describing?

When describing your surroundings, make sure that you’re only describing what your 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.
For example: if you were walking down a dusty abandoned road, what would you notice? Mainly, one would see the run-down homes, the lowly people, and he or she would hear the whispers in the air; however, if you go into detail about – say – a door, and how it’s made of oak and not of maple because the oak factory recently showed up in town, then you might be taking things a bit too far. (Well, unless your character worked at the maple factor and lost their job because of it.) The simplest way to figure out how to use descriptive language is to understand that you should only talk about what’s relevant to the reader. Just because you like doors doesn’t mean everybody does!

Both your characters and their surroundings need – and deserve – adequate and appropriate descriptions, but it is far easier to trail off into the realm of irrelevance with houses and forests than it is with people. When figuring out your surroundings, remember one thing: just because you can write about it, doesn’t mean you should.

18-Jun-2015 18:21:11 - Last edited on 18-Jun-2015 21:17:28 by MJT2-0

May

2022

MJT2-0

Posts: 234 Silver Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

Description – Mood
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:
Original message details are unavailable.
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.

This is ineffectual! But, when you change the syntax and formatting of the paragraph…

Original message details are unavailable.
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.

18-Jun-2015 18:21:19 - Last edited on 18-Jun-2015 21:17:53 by MJT2-0

May

2022

MJT2-0

Posts: 234 Silver Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

Description - Variation of Colors
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
Sol*erino
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

18-Jun-2015 18:22:16 - Last edited on 18-Jun-2015 21:20:02 by MJT2-0

May

2022

MJT2-0

Posts: 234 Silver Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

Description – Emphasis
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.

18-Jun-2015 18:22:20 - Last edited on 18-Jun-2015 21:20:56 by MJT2-0

May

2022

MJT2-0

Posts: 234 Silver Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

The World – Overview
This section is going to contain tips mainly on how to create a world of your own and how to manipulate an existing world to fit your story better.

Creating a world for your story to take place in isn’t always necessary – you can use an existing world, such as ‘Real Life’ or RuneScape. If this is the case, then you can skip to the section on world manipulation as the next paragraphs are going to discuss creating a world from scratch.

It is often the case that, even if you set your story in a different world, you won’t need to create much of it – just the areas that your story travels to. But how do we do that?

First of all, you have to consider what’s going to be happening in your world and what implications that might have on the rest of the world, if it were real. For example, if you have wizards running around the place, how common are they? How did they get their magical power? Does magic rule the world? If not, why not? Are wizards hated by the ‘commoners?’ If so, why? Thinking up and answering questions like these will give you a greater insight into the society of your world, thus allowing you to write more convincingly about the argument between Johnny the Wizard and Bob the Farmer as well as the interactions between the main characters.

Geography is also important; it can explain why there’s not much contact with another race or culture. It can also explain why various countries are at war, or have fought in the past – are they fighting over good farm land? Does country A want the runite mines owned by country B? You can then use this to explain why Johnny the Wizard has never met the elves, who live across the treacherous seas to the north, or why he hates Alex the Soldier from Country B. It adds another layer of plausibility to your story and will help to draw the reader in. Drawing a rough map can help enormously in world creation and it has the added benefit of aiding you in remembering where everything is.

18-Jun-2015 18:23:02 - Last edited on 18-Jun-2015 21:30:47 by MJT2-0

May

2022

MJT2-0

Posts: 234 Silver Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

This is not to say that you should know and decide on absolutely everything about your world before you begin writing. You should have a basic foundation that you can build on as required.

Manipulating the World
This section is probably of most importance to those who are using pre-defined worlds, such as ‘Real Life’ or RuneScape, although those who have designed their own worlds should read through it anyway. It is imperative that you understand that, just because you are using a world that already exists, nothing is stopping you from modifying it to suit your purposes. Famous authors do so all the time – the fact that there was no magic in the real world didn't stop J.K. Rowling writing a story about wizards who live among us. It worked because, although we know it to be untrue, she gave us a plausible explanation as to why we don’t see it.

The main point of this section is that in most cases, as long as you, the author, can give us a convincing explanation as to why something is in the world, we will take your word for it. You can add entirely new locations, or change existing ones. Do you need Falador in ruins for your main character to explore? Tell us why it’s in ruins. Ask yourself questions that the reader is going to think about and then try to work an answer into your story. This is vital in immersing readers in your world; give them some history so that they understand it. Not so much that there’s no action, but enough to give them a feel for the world.

Whilst there is a lot of freedom in world manipulation, you must make sure that you stick to the rules of the world you’re in. Nothing spoils a story more than the author breaking one of the ‘rules' that he or she has set. If it has been established that Bob the Farmer can** use magic because he would need to spend years of his life training, don’t suddenly turn around and make him learn magic to rival Johnny the Wizard in a day of story time.

18-Jun-2015 18:24:36 - Last edited on 18-Jun-2015 21:23:47 by MJT2-0

May

2022

MJT2-0

Posts: 234 Silver Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

You can manipulate the rules to say that Bob has natural talent, so can easily learn magic, but you can*t make him the best straight away. Nobody would believe that.

To summarize, you can do almost anything you want with your world, so long as it’s within the world rules you have created and you have a credible explanation for it.

18-Jun-2015 18:24:43 - Last edited on 18-Jun-2015 21:24:05 by MJT2-0

May

2022

MJT2-0

Posts: 234 Silver Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

Dialogue Options
Instead of using bland dialogue such as "he said" or "she said," use one of these to enhance your writing. You're not required to use them, but, if you want to spruce it up, then mix some of these into your conversations.

Angry
Argued
Bawled
Demanded
Roared
Bellowed
Griped
Hollered
Screamed
Seethed
Shouted
Shrieked
Yelled

Irritated
Griped
Grunted
Nagged
Scolded
Snapped

Happy
Beamed
Giggled
Grinned
Laughed
Smiled
Smirked

Question
Asked
Queried
Questioned
Requested
Suggested
Wondered

Subtle
Commented
Clarified
Explained
Iterated
Mentioned
Mused
Replied
Reiterated
Spoke
Stated
Thought
Told

Unhappy
Bawled
Cried
Frowned
Groaned
Groused
Grumbled
Howled
Moaned
Protested
Sighed
Sniffed
Sobbed
Wailed
Whimpered

Concerned
Insisted
Queried
Repeated

Confused
Mumbled
Stammered

Dramatic
Boasted
Bragged
Emphasized
Exclaimed
Proclaimed

Tired/Exhausted
Breathed
Groaned
Mumbled
Murmured
Panted
Yawned

Commanding
Commanded
Dictated
Nagged
Ordered
Ruled
Scolded

Desperate
Begged
Beseeched
Exhorted
Implored
Insisted
Pleaded
Prayed
Urged

18-Jun-2015 18:24:49 - Last edited on 18-Jun-2015 21:26:49 by MJT2-0

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Your First Story