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Cozmic

Cozmic

Forum Moderator Posts: 16,435 Opal Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
Thanks. :)

I'm currently working on a basic structure for the guide. Feel free to submit content or suggestions. If you think this is trash, then feel free to say so (with explanation, of course). This thread will replace the current guide after it gets a bit more feedback.

14-Apr-2012 05:16:13

Old Gnomish
Jul Member 2023

Old Gnomish

Posts: 2,569 Adamant Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
Coz, is this thread going to be remade eventually? Otherwise you'll have people submitting content that will only be duplicated on the reserves. The "Emotion Anthology" is a remade thread: users posted their stories on the original one (which basically acted as a draft), and when there was enough content/the deadline was reached, Aeraie made a new thread so that the stories were ordered appropriately. It seems plausible that the same should happen here, with this thread also acting as a draft.
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14-Apr-2012 16:31:13

Chuk

Chuk

Posts: 14,177 Opal Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
Typo first paragraph. You'll spot it.

Think the Hobbit example doesn't really illustrate your point in that section too well. Maybe "The starting point of The Hobbit could be seen as a naive little hobbit having a big adventure." (Reword, please. That sentence is awkward as heck, but you don't need to add in the dwarves or the dragon for the point you're illustrating.)

Rewording again: "In short, begin with an idea to serve as your story's foundation."

Typo first sentence of main character part. Otherwise, that section is pretty solid, IMO.

Will look at more later, but going to go ahead and say this: early on in the guide, I think we need some sort of Quick Tips section that does the same thing as the current sticky thread. Section shouldn't be more than 1-2 posts, depending on number of tips, and each tip shouldn't be more than 2-3 sentences, probably.

Delnaz, why do you think the current sticky is so worthless?

15-Apr-2012 04:53:01

Areno3

Areno3

Posts: 12,906 Opal Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
I just believe it doesn't go in-depth enough. You can't just simplify writing to a paragraph to each "section" that is involved with writing a story. I would like to see a guide with not just tips, but personal experiences through acknowledged/admired writers on this forum.

An in-depth analysis from English on The Priceless, or Brotherly Love, would be absolutely GREAT if he could actually post something like that here. Such questions as:

-How did he think of the idea?/How did the idea come to his mind?
-What techniques did he use to both embrace his characters in the story and give them their names?
-Where did he adapt his distinct vocabulary?

That's just my opinion though. I really don't care if people agree with me.

EDIT: Also, just by the brief paragraphs that the sticky provides in each area of writing, it is easily assumed that moderators thought that a creative writing guide was needed in this forum, but no one wanted to do it, so some random came around and wrote up a guide with such lazy effort that made it unnecessary to this forum.

The sticky, without a doubt, is just another wasted thread stickied to the top of the front page.

15-Apr-2012 05:08:02 - Last edited on 15-Apr-2012 05:13:49 by Areno3

Chuk

Chuk

Posts: 14,177 Opal Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
I completely disagree. Go look at the last page of comments on it. Plenty of people have found it helpful. If I was just beginning to write, and had never had a class before, I would've found it helpful. It gives useful tips to at least provide a starting place for new writers.

Nor do I believe that Jagex were lazy when posting it; they just wanted a thread small enough to be digestible while woodcutting or fishing ingame. Many people don't have the time or interest to read a full analysis like you suggest. Just because it doesn't match your preferences does not make the current guide a wasted sticky.

Can it be improved upon? Yes, but that's the point of this thread, and hopefully when it's done, it will provide more in depth stuff (such as YFS; have you looked at that?) and the bite-sized pieces for people who only want the complete basics.

15-Apr-2012 05:30:16

Areno3

Areno3

Posts: 12,906 Opal Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
So, a guide is just supposed to be aimed at young/brand new writers? I'm still developing, and I would LOVE advice from more experienced writers/authors in this forum. That guide provided no use to me, and if not, why should I support it?

Writers come on this forum and post their stories so they can receive criticism and get POSITIVE comments from readers. All in all, this forum is just to boost up a writer's confidence, whether you'd be led to believe that way or not. A guide outlining the idle trimming of writing will not allow you to improve; if you didn't know the things in that guide, it's been proven you've probably NEVER written a story before/have had very little success in doing so.

A guide should be directed at all groups, not just newbies and the inexperienced. A very talented writer should be able to look at a guide and pick up a few things they did not yet know. Many writers on this forum might be led to believe that they are VERY talented and will be a successful novelist in the future, but the truth is, we are all young writers and can use guidance/improvement. A solid guide could provide that for all, not just the new writers.

EDIT: No, I have not looked at YFS. But that's not stickied to the front page, so that is irrelevant. I wasn't talking about all guides on this forum, I was talking about the one stickied to the front page that has no use but to fill up space that could be used for either a well-thought-out/better guide, or another story at the bottom looking for some new readers.

EDIT 2: Well, I'm going to bed now. It's one o'clock in the morning. I'll continue this discussion in the monrning, if that's fine with you, Chuk. Anyways, I'm off.

15-Apr-2012 05:37:00 - Last edited on 15-Apr-2012 06:01:46 by Areno3

Cozmic

Cozmic

Forum Moderator Posts: 16,435 Opal Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
Chuk, the current design devotes page two to such tips, but you may have a point about making such a section much easier to read. I may bump down almost everything on page 1 and add this below the welcome post. I will address the other corrections you made. :) I also agree with your comments about the current guide sticky and how this thread intends to expand on it while maintaining simplicity.

I, honestly, don't think that I (or most of us) are qualified to write anything incredibly comprehensive. If you have the dedication to read something very long, then you may want to look into buying a book.

15-Apr-2012 06:24:27

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