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Tips for writing creatively?


Knight
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So, I'm a decent chunk of my way through writing my first novel, and I often find myself in some spots where I'm like "that's a really good line" or "that was some witty dialogue" but too often I get the feeling of "am I writing complete crap?" I often get into situations where I'm unsure whether the audience knows what's happening in the scene, or whether the setting is described well enough, or if I'm going into too much detail and it's getting boring.

So I'm wondering if there are any other writers, authors or critics who have any good tips to share, and hopefully those tips will help not just me, but for all aspiring writers on the forum. Anything that will help me out of the trudge of writer's block, expand my wit and ready my typing fingers would be much appreciated please.

If it helps, my story is historical fantasy adventure.

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What I tend to do, is write various ways a certain scene can happen, be it through various brainstorms and freewriting or just seeing what I can come up with.

Although I tend to have alot of people peer review my writing after I do a fair bit of this and see what they think makes the most sense.

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You can always have someone check the parts of your novel where you are unsure about, or just get someone to read it all, if they are willing.

Sometimes they don't even need to be specialists, like when they have to judge whether it is hard to understand or whether it doesn't make much sense.

I confess I have issues being motivated, issues on planning the story, issues on naming, issues with creative blocks and issues on writing details.

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What I tend to do, is write various ways a certain scene can happen, be it through various brainstorms and freewriting or just seeing what I can come up with.

Although I tend to have alot of people peer review my writing after I do a fair bit of this and see what they think makes the most sense.

This sounds like an interesting strategy

You can always have someone check the parts of your novel where you are unsure about, or just get someone to read it all, if they are willing.

Sometimes they don't even need to be specialists, like when they have to judge whether it is hard to understand or whether it doesn't make much sense.

I confess I have issues being motivated, issues on planning the story, issues on naming, issues with creative blocks and issues on writing details.

I guess I really should look for some potential readers.

Take ideas from other people and then twist them to put a completely different spin on things!

I guess this could work...

Just remember that everything should tie into conveying something. Oftentimes, if you can't tell what's going on, it's because you added too much irrelevant stuff in there.

I try to do that as much as I can. It's sometimes pretty hard to know for me.

Edited by Knight
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Just finish. Don't dick around with anything else, don't worry if it's crap, just finish

Because it is crap. It's a first draft of a first novel. Sorry to say, it's crap. But to get better you need to write some crap first.

Pretty much this. If you plan to get it published, your editor will help you iron out the faults. Incidentally,vs hats it about?

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editors! (not necessarily professional, i know you aren't at that stage yet.) you need readers that aren't you giving honest, constructive critiques.

otherwise, i can't offer much help. i don't really have a knack for creative writing. it is fun, though. besides, some of the most important pieces of advice have already been given: finish the novel, despite your feelings, and get some readers. i'd only add that in the future, you don't always need to "keep writing." if you don't like where something is going, it's okay to drop it entirely or get rid of whatever you want. but that's a potentially long time from now.

oh! and obviously, don't ever stop reading!

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Pretty much this. If you plan to get it published, your editor will help you iron out the faults. Incidentally,vs hats it about?

It's about a young French nobleman just after a certain revolution, he's a cowardly guy who's down on his luck and running away from those who would like to see his head on a Guillotine. Some stuff happens and he ends up in a city where all the world's magic and monsters were sealed hundreds of years ago, and he meets a ton of odd characters and gets into a lot of trouble while trying to pretend he's not a human (or otherwise become food). The plot twists, the characters develop, the big bad guys inch closer towards their goals, a typical adventure comedy with some black humor and gothic horror mixed in.

Thanks everyone for the tips so far, I'm just having some trouble finding more potential readers.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Look for writing communities. Also, it's good to write even if you need to force the words out of your head.

I kind of disagree with this. Sometimes it's good to leave the fic alone for some time, focus on another task (or even work in another fic!) and come back. That might give you more inspiration and more ideas for implementing on your fic later.

It's no good to force yourself to do something if you absolutely don't know what to do, nor feel like continuing at that time, imo.

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  • 6 months later...

Aside from everything people already have said, my pearl of wisdom is that every single sentence should serve a purpose. Nothing should be written just for the sake of writing it or to make something longer. Each line needs to have some sort of reason to be there. Be it pacing, tension, character/world building, humour, intrigue or plain old plot development. I think you should be able to go to any section of your book, read a random line and be fully aware as to why it's there and what other parts of the book it relates too. Also if you're looking for readers

https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/50920-beta-reader-group

You might find some success there. Chapter swaps would probably be your best bet for getting someone invested without paying. Though I also lean more on the side of finishing before letting anyone see it.

Edited by Jotari
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It's about a young French nobleman just after a certain revolution, he's a cowardly guy who's down on his luck and running away from those who would like to see his head on a Guillotine. Some stuff happens and he ends up in a city where all the world's magic and monsters were sealed hundreds of years ago, and he meets a ton of odd characters and gets into a lot of trouble while trying to pretend he's not a human (or otherwise become food). The plot twists, the characters develop, the big bad guys inch closer towards their goals, a typical adventure comedy with some black humor and gothic horror mixed in.

Thanks everyone for the tips so far, I'm just having some trouble finding more potential readers.

Looks like Louis XVI ran into some crazy fantasy world

I don't now if it applies to writing but sometimes, I feel a bit biaised after I draw something and a few days/weeks later, I feel the is a lot a bad things I haven't noticed. Bascally, you could take a short break (as in 3h to one day at most if you hit a deadline or more if you still have a lot of time) and reread it later. Surely, you'll have a different point of view, meaning, you'll have different ideas on which parts or good or not AND probably some ways to change it. Saying in fron of a page not being capable of writing anything is the worst thing that could happen to you I guess.

Also try to take reality as a model. Despite the settings, I awlays like to think the characters have a bit of sense in them. Why not taking inspiration from situations that actually occured to you while twisting it a bit so it makes the story dynamic without being farfetched ?

Being a terrible reader who has low patience when it comes to reading, I'd also suggest you keep in mind the goal, of the MC, what is the personnality of each character in a reminder that you just need to look at from time to time in order not to stray off from the main story. If it is a comedy, keep it short and "straight to the point", don't put much time over descriptions (I mean write what the reader cares about and not lenghty talks about trifling details).

So yeah try to considerthe readers and what kind of readers will read your story.

Basically my advices are take your tome (if you still have) make it concise, and remember only the readers matter so let them read your sotry from time to time for a temporary review(as the others explaind)

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