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BlackSnake

Anaconda
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Aug 20, 2002
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Writing fiction

Sometimes when writing fiction it is easy to forget about the elements that make a story.

Plot
Character
Setting
Point of View
Style, Tone, and Language
Theme

We know that the plot is those series of events that gives a story its meaning and effect, and these events are:

conflict
complications
rising action
climax
falling action
resolution

Since this is the author's hangout, I would like to discuss story development, styles, and other helpful hints that authors may find useful.
 
I am so not a technical writer... I'm more an intuitive writer... these things just happen naturally in the course of telling a story for me...
 
BlackSnake said:
Writing fiction

Sometimes when writing fiction it is easy to forget about the elements that make a story.

Plot
Character
Setting
Point of View
Style, Tone, and Language
Theme

We know that the plot is those series of events that gives a story its meaning and effect, and these events are:

conflict
complications
rising action
climax
falling action
resolution

Since this is the author's hangout, I would like to discuss story development, styles, and other helpful hints that authors may find useful.


I like where you're going with this. I agree that, as SK said, intiutive writting can be great, sometimes going back over it with the technical aspects in mind can give it more impact and presence. My problems often lie, and I know what every one is already going to say so it doesn't have to be said, in that as I write, I'll notice myself lacking in some of these areas and do an instant re-wrtie. I just can't go on without getting the mood right, or the setting, or the tone. I just can't so don't tell me to just write and edit later. I am writing. It's how I write. I am also thankful for the reminder of the order of events that should take place for a flowing and well rounded story. The sequence of events. A story is like a fine jigsaw puzzle. Sometimes they can be a bitch to get just right, but when that final piece falls into its perfect home, everything sings and the picture is a beauty.
 
I'm with SK on this one... I write and let the pieces fall where they may. Very often all I have is a title and a vague idea... from there the story writes itself... My characters take over and basically define where the story is going... getting there is half the fun...

Thankfully, I've had a nice lady take it upon herself to be my editor... I'm learning the hard way, she has a nice new whip, that there are places that my stories lack certain things.... From her pointing them out, I can now see a lot of the places that i need to add material or expand an idea....

Writing is easy... editing, now there's the bitch.....
 
I usually have the plot of the story worked out in my mind before I even put pen to paper. The basic characters have been thought about, the plot, the situations that they will encounter. Then as I write they may take a detour and it's a bitch getting them back on track and then sometime the detour becomes the story.

Editing. Something I need to work on, but I usually edit as I go along. For some reason I can't leave the stuff that doesn't make sense alone for a re-write later.
 
When writing, I'm trying to improve my skills. Trying a little bit of this and that, but the goal is to blend the technical aspects of writing with the natural way that I tell stories.

I'm not speaking about editing. I'm talking about improving writing skills.
 
I find that drafting outlines or just hunks of notes getting events roughly in order tends to help me. My ideas are usually driven by images of characters, a couple of key scenes or actions, and some snatches of voice and dialogue. Sometimes I can just draft, but that sometimes lets those elements - character, voice, and language - get the upper hand and wander around without getting the plot sorted out.

When I draft out a skeleton for the plot, it tends to give the characters and voice something to work with. I also find that writing the outline tends to help develop the characters; it's a fluid process in which the plot develops the characters and the characters help expand the plot. Of course, there are always still surprises in the draft, but once I have some idea of where it should all be going, my drafts seem to move with more purpose.

Shanglan
 
I try to get an overall view of where the characters are going.
If there is a detour, that's cool. It does no harm.
I'm more interested in writing properly, thanks to Old Four Legs above.
I have much to learn. :eek:
 
BlackSnake said:
Writing fiction

Sometimes when writing fiction it is easy to forget about the elements that make a story.

Plot
Character
Setting
Point of View
Style, Tone, and Language
Theme

We know that the plot is those series of events that gives a story its meaning and effect, and these events are:

conflict
complications
rising action
climax
falling action
resolution

Since this is the author's hangout, I would like to discuss story development, styles, and other helpful hints that authors may find useful.


You have technicalities, and sure a writer who thinks they are a writer can piece it together, but you forget an important element in erotica ... describing the erotic. ;)
 
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