Spellbound's Writing Help Thread Is OPEN!

[Spellbound Blasphemy]

Welcome to Spellbound's Writing Help Thread!

SPELLBOUND'S WRITING HELP THREAD IS OPEN! POST AWAY!
Ask me for help, talk about your frustrations with writing, talk about your favorite writing styles... whatever. biggrin

Please note that I'd like for you to follow the Gaia ToS at all times while on this thread. Make that, "on this site.". People don't try to report you when you do that.

Table Of Contents
Post Number One: Table Of Contents
Post Number Two: What Goes On Here
Post Number Three: Who Is This Anyway?!
Post Number Four: Catch 'Em Quick; The Art Of The Opening Line
Post Number Five: I Before E... Or Grammar Is A Science, Not An Art
Post Number Six: Plot Holes, Character Glitches, Mary-Sues and How To Survive Them
Post Number Seven: How To Make A Really Freaking Amazing Place
Post Number Eight: Things To Keep In Mind, Even When Writing Fiction
Post Number Nine: Link List
Post Number Ten: How You Can Ask Me For Help!
Post Number Eleven: FAQ
Post Number Twelve: Disclaimer
Post Number Thirteen: RESERVED
Post Number Fourteen: RESERVED  

[Spellbound Blasphemy]

What Goes On Here

Welcome, welcome, welcome!
This is Spellbound's Writing Help Thread. My name is Prufesur Spellbound, and I will be learning you today. (Please, comment if you understand this reference.)
No, no, no. I will not be learning you, I will be teaching you.
I like to write, and I live under the delusion that I have some skill at this. I'd like to share this with you.
Have any suggestions on what to add here? PM me. Seriously. I'm not all-knowing.
Now, in this thread, I will post writing help snippets. I will also read over your work and go through it with the dreaded red and green text, should you ask me to.
I'm here to help you. heart  

[Spellbound Blasphemy]

Who Is This, Anyway?!

Well, this is all about me. If I get any co- teachers in the future (PM me if you're interested), this is where their bios shall go, as well.
Name: You can call me Spellbound, Nat, Natalie or Esmeralda. This is my username, real-life nickname, real-life first name and pen name respectively. I will respond to any of the above.
Age And Such: I'm fifteen and a half, and I live in the suburbs of Denver, Colorado. Currently, I'm a sophomore in high school who has mostly junior level classes. Go figure.
Interests: The one we'll be focusing on most here is, obviously, writing, but I love to draw, read manga (also a given), read, sleep and have deep intellectual conversation with my genius of a boyfriend.
This year, I'm participating in National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo. If you're interested, you can find my NaNoWriMo profile by clicking on this link. Also, you can join NaNoWriMo and learn more about it than you ever hoped to by clicking here. It's an amazing little thing they've got going. 50,000 words in one month. Whoa.
Favorites: Momma's homemade spaghetti sauce (I may not have any known Italian in me, but I act and eat in a VERY Italian way.). Xing tea, any flavor (today, it's blueberry, but yesterday it was mint.). Death Cab For Cutie, 30 Seconds to Mars, U2, Green Day, Panic! At the Disco, 3OH!3, The Flobots, The Cure, The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Kings Of Leon, Say Anything, Linkin Park, Santana, Johnny Cash... this list goes on and on ad nauseum. Purple. Converse. Hello Kitty. Bram Stoker. F. Scott Fitzgerald.
General Writing Style: Fantasy, young adult, with some romance and suspense thrown in there for good measure. It's hard to explain, so here's a snippet for those who are interested;

Esmeralda Jordan Radcliffe

It was all Maya could do to keep from screaming and crying. The pain resonating from her neck was excruciating. She had been through this gruesome process in the past, but it had mostly been helping the girls in her dorm through a rough night of studying, and Nicholas was much stronger and thirstier than they. Her heart was pounding, which probably wasn't helping her. Only pumping out more blood through her neck...

She heard that disgusting gulping sound. It made her grimace. Times like this made her hate her own race.

Nicholas pulled away slowly, gently wiping the blood from his mouth. Maya saw his eyes. They had lost all of their typical black coloring, and were now a strange shade of bloody red. She had always been fascinated about seeing eyes like that (all vampires' eyes changed to that color when they fed upon blood.), and she was still staring at them when she plummeted into the dark and lonely world of unconsciousness.

(Quote courtesy Royalty Is Irrelevant, the longest continuous story I've ever written, topping out at 93,513 words when I put it in the archive file for later use.)

Qualifications: I'm in a horribly rigorous course program this year, as I have been every year. I know a lot about writing (due to years of instruction on the subject at the hands of several amazing teachers) and I write a lot. I hope this is enough for you to trust me.  

[Spellbound Blasphemy]

Catch 'Em Quick; The Art Of The Opening Line

The opening line is something I get caught up in with my writing, and I find many other writers that do the same. Here's my two cents on the matter.
(I must credit Mrs. Cress, my 4th and 5th grade teacher, for this analogy.)
Imagine, if you will, that your story is a present. It is a wonderful present, and you are very proud of it.
Your story is a box (okay, it's IN the box.). You're a bit selfish, because you want the recipient (your audience) to see it first in their massive pile of presents (all of the books at the local bookstore / public library) and open it (start reading it) right then and there.
How does one go about convincing someone to pick up one book in an entire bookstore full of others?
The same way you get someone to notice a present under the Christmas tree; you make it flashy.
Now, I'm not telling you to make your publisher get you a light-up cover here. I'm telling you to write a really good first sentence. This is your flashy wrapping paper. You get where I'm going with this?

I hate hate HATE this kind of opener on a story, and so does every other reader I know;

This Is An Example

Hello, my name is ______ and I am going to tell you about ______.

This is a close cousin to

This Is Another Example

One day, _______ woke up and got out of bed.

And very similar to

This Is Yet Another Example

Once upon a time in a land far, far away...

This is second-grade writing, and should have died long ago for you (and I know this because you're supposed to be 13 to be on Gaia, and lying about your age can get you perma-banned...)

Here's something I like much more;

Homer

Rage - Goddess, sing the rage of Peleus' son Achilles,
murderous, doomed, that cost the Achaeans countless losses,
hurling down to the House of Death so many sturdy souls,
great fighters' souls, but made their bodies carrion.

(Quote courtesy of the Robert Fagles translation of The Iliad by Homer)
Okay, okay, I know this is an epic poem, but it gets the point I want across. Make your beginning sentence something INTERESTING! I want something juicy to grab onto, not something dry and boring (make of that analogy what you will).
Here's another example that I like;

Scott Westerfeld

The early summer sky was the color of cat vomit.

(Quote courtesy of Uglies by Scott Westerfeld)
Don't hear that one every day, now do ya? I don't know about you, but I think this is worlds more interesting than that old generic "once upon a time..." opening.
I stole this final example from my own writing.

Esmeralda Jordan Radcliffe

I had a dream my life would be... normal. Just some semblance of normal. I mean, my God, here I stood in the kitchen of Horizon High School, serving the millionth round of glove-melting french fries to some ungrateful, hormonal Freshman boy who was staring quite obviously at my breasts. This seemed far from normal. It should have been criminal how much I hated this, and it wasn't like it was an obligation. I had an extra off hour lying around, but nobody to spend it with and no means by which to go anywhere. Besides, spending two hours at Wendy's makes you look creepy, and being a Sophomore, doing so was against the rules. I was stuck.

(Quote from Even Geniuses Bleed, a very unfinished story that's currently sitting in an unused folder on my Desktop.)

Do you get it now? I hope so. Now, go forth and write amazing first-sentences! I know you can.  

[Spellbound Blasphemy]

I Before E... Or Grammar is A Science, not an Art

Some people have claimed to me that grammar is a matter of style. I want to beat those people upside the head with a dictionary.

Let's start with some basic things.
Spelling only varies with your region. For example, the Americans and the British spell the following words differently;
Color
Traveling
Grey
Ton
(please, help me expand this meager list)
Other things are not up for debate, for the most part. "Kool" is not "Cool". "Lyke" is not "Like". This could go on ad nauseum.

Punctuation is not an option, unless you're writing poetry, in which case there's no need to punctuate at all if you don't want to.
Also, don't do like Charlie Gordon did...

Daniel Keyes

She said; You, got. to-mix?them! up: She showd? me" how, to mix! them; up, and now! I can. mix (up all? kinds of punctuation - in, my. writing! There" are lots, of rules; to learn? but. Im' get'ting them in my head:
One thing? I, like: about Dear Miss Kinnian sad thats, the way? it goes; in a business, letter (if I ever go! into business?) is that, hse: always; gives me' a reason" when - I ask. She"s a gen'ius! I wish? I cou'd be smart-like-her;
Punctuation, is? fun!

(Quote courtesy Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes)
You know what? I suck at punctuating dialogue. Try here for some much better information than I could ever hope to give.

LOLspeak is not real English. It is not any language. Don't say someone "LOL'ed". Say someone "laughed" or "laughed aloud". "Bewbs" are not "boobs" or "breasts". "Bewbs" do not exist. Get what I'm saying?

Last but not least, do not rape your thesaurus. Don't understand what I mean by this? Click here, watch the video. You'll understand.

Get it?

Good luck!  

[Spellbound Blasphemy]

Plot Holes, Character Glitches, Mary-Sues and How To Survive Them

We all get stuck in our stories sometimes. Here's how to get out.

When you fall in a plot hole

First of all, don't panic. There is a way out.
Second, go back and read through your story. There is, most likely, something you left in your previous pages that you can pick back up on. Go through every paragraph up until this point. You'll probably find something, but if you don't, proceed to step three.
Third, take a break. Take a walk. Go play Halo (or The Sims or whatever). Talk with your significant other / best friend / mom / cat. Take a shower. Listen to that new Say Anything album you bought yesterday. Something might come to you.
If none of these help, there are lots of threads here on Gaia that can help you. Here's a short link list:
The Think Tank. I don't have experience with this, but I vaguely know the guy who created it, so I can vouch for his work.
Prompt Me. I love this thread. I've gotten myself re-started so many times here it's pathetic.
Title Grabbing. I've been known to become inspired from the titles here. Keep an eye out for avearia's posts; they're brilliant, but the titles go fast.
Awesome Lines. Some of the stuff here is so wierd you HAVE to get inspired by it.
When all else fails, I like to chop off the previous section of plot and start anew. This always helps me.

When The Big, Smelly Fish of "Mary-Sue-ism" Slaps Your Character

First, let's review what a "Mary-Sue" (or "Gary-Stu") is. When your character is a Mary-Sue or Gary-Stu, he or she is very, very generic and cliched. A few examples? Oh, why not?

Bella Swan and Edward Cullen from The Twilight Saga by Stephenie Meyer
Gilgamesh from The Epic of Gilgamesh (author unknown; it's a 3,000 year old bunch of tablet's for Pete's sake!).
(Please, PM me to add more)

If you realize that your character is a Mary-Sue, there are a few options for you.
First, look carefully over their character profile. (Don't have one? Write one.) Is there anything blatantly obvious? Change it.
Second, put your character through the Mary-Sue Litmus Test. Just to see if they're as much of a Mary-Sue as you think. You might get some ideas as well.
Third, ask for help! Post on the Writer's Forum, post here, anything. We're here to help you.

When The World Tells You That You're A Terrible Writer

Just remember that they have a right to their own opinions. And, if twenty people who don't know each-other are all telling you that your ending is bad, maybe they have a point. Know when to pick yourself up, dust yourself off and move on, but know when to acknowledge the criticism and take it to heart.

Best of luck to you.  

[Spellbound Blasphemy]

How to Make a Really Freaking Amazing Place

Unless you're using a real-life place (like Denver, as I've been known to do), you have to create a place of your own. Here's a few tips;

For a made-up place within a real place: this includes making up a town in Virgina, for example...

heart Make sure it is similar to the place it is in. A Japanese city would not be in Oklahoma, nor would a Canadian farmtown be near Hong Kong. (Don't name your new town in Kansas "Kyoto". Just don't.)
heart Keep in mind the climate and the lay of the land when creating your new place.
heart Also, keep in mind that your characters will probably encounter real cities during the story. How far away are they? How does one get there? Etc., etc. (Just magically appearing in the real cities will not fool your reader, ladies and gents. Think this one out before you do it, or your readers will think that you are ill-planned and won't like your book that much. You have been warned.)

For A Completely Made-Up Place like Narnia...

heart Give it rules, culture, social statuses, and all of those other things that Earth has. Granted, Narnia doesn't have the laws and such that we have here on earth, but you still are expected to uphold a certain state of social dignity in your interactions with others.
heart Make it definite, make it firm, make it detailed. It's much easier for a reader to sink into a planet that could take its own novel to explain than for one that can be described like this:

This is not what you want.

There was this planet and it had stuff on it and people lived there and they did stuff.

If your readers can sink into your world, they are more likely to stay there and read the book through.
heart Your planet probably should have gravity, because gravity is what would hold it together. HOWEVER, if you're enough of a genius to figure out how your planet can avoid the laws of physics (and do so in a scientifically feasible and believable manner), by all means, go for it. And call NASA while you're at it. They probably want to know.
heart Plan it out, plan it out, plan it out, PLAN IT OUT! You can't write about a place you haven't thought up yet. Work down to the smallest detail for this. It's time consuming, I know (I'm doing this right now), but it'll pay off dividends when you're halfway through the story and need to know what the climate would be during winter on the southernmost continent in the largest city... (get the picture?)
heart Above all, have fun with it. It's your place, it's your playground. There are very few rules here. Have at it.

¡Buena suerte! (that means "good luck" in Spanish.)  

[Spellbound Blasphemy]

Things To Keep In Mind, Even When Writing Fiction

heart Chemistry is chemistry, scientifically speaking. Everything is made of atoms, and those atoms are made of... well, ask a chemistry teacher about this. This, as far as we know, doesn't change.
HOWEVER...
heart Anything is possible. I've seen (in real life) some things that you would think are only real in fantasies. Keep this in mind. (chemistry and electron behavior can explain much of the psychism that has invaded today's popular culture. Don't believe me? PM me.)
heart Copyright infringement is not your friend. Quotes are all fine and good (I like to start out my chapters with quotes, and so does a little author named Ann Brashares), but cite your sources like your life depends upon it, especially if you're publishing this work. Nothing's worse than losing all of your book royalties to U2 because you didn't cite the five lines you used from "Bullet The Blue Sky" in your novel. (if you know what this song is, then I love you forever)
heart Every storyline has been done before. Think it's original? It's not. There's something out there that's eerily similar. You just haven't read it yet.
But guess what? That's okay. As long as you make your storyline interesting, then it's not a concern. It's when your story starts looking word-for-word like chapter eleven of PEEPS (by Scott Westerfeld) that things get bad. Take something you know and change it, add something, subtract something, and set it somewhere else. Then, you're right on track.
heart Write about everything. A two-page short story can be just as brilliant as a 400-page novel. Keep a notebook or some paper on you when you can. Write when the muse comes to you. That strange fragment you wrote during math class may become the next great American novel. (Harry Potter started on a paper napkin. No joke.)
heart Read. Read everything. Even if it's not in your style of writing, read it anyway. You'd be surprised what ideas you get.
Also, read the classics. They're cheaper at the bookstore, for one, and they're classics for a reason. It's not because their authors bribed the publishing companies. IT'S BECAUSE THESE WORKS ARE THE FOUNDATION OF LITERATURE AS WE KNOW IT. I'll say it again; the classics (The Iliad, Dracula, Little Women, Wuthering Heights, Pride and Prejudice, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Walden, Civil Disobedience, Heidi...) are the foundation of literature as we know it today. You'd be surprised how much of literature today is an allusion to ancient stuff like the Bible and The Iliad. Even strange sci-fi stuff like Dune (by Frank Herbert) has allusions to The Iliad.
heart Be open to criticism. If you are, you'll gain a lot. It was harsh criticism that made me scrap a terrible story and that made me think long and hard before ever coming up with a character profile again.
Post something in the original stories and prose forum here on Gaia. Let people rip it to shreds. Remember; you'll learn from it, and you'll never see these people. Ever.
heart Above all, have fun with it. It's a hobby. Enjoy it. Write what you love, and great words will come to you naturally.  

[Spellbound Blasphemy]

Link List

Things That Are On gaiaonline.com

Character and Story Development Guild - I belong to this guild. They will help you with any writing issue you may be having. They're friendly, and the guild is active to boot. Join away; it's free and they accept any skill level.

Pen On Fire Guild - Another writer's guild to which I belong. Less fast-moving as CSD, but has some wonderful critique areas that have helped me immensely. This one is also free.

The Writer's Forum (WF) - The place to go for all things writing-related. It's big, and some parts move relatively fast, although it's nowhere close to Chatter Box.

You Know You Write Too Much When... - Funny and helpful, this thread is the place to post warning signs for when you need to take a step back from your story... or seek psychiatric help.

Awesome Lines That Have No Place To Go - Sometimes inspirationally brilliant, sometimes inspirationally stupid, sometimes just plain stupid.

The Anti-Guide - Tells you what NOT to do. Funny and sarcastic but with a serious undertone. (warning: can make you feel like your writing is terrible if you're not careful. Don't take the stuff there too personally.)

Prompt Me - Perhaps the most inspiring thread here. It can make you come up with an idea so fast it's not even funny.

Title Grabbing - Take And Leave Story Titles - Not only is this great when you need a name for that epic new chapter, posting here has helped me get past writer's block. Two birds, one stone.

The Gaian Name Bank - Kind of died recently, but still exists. Has a great list of names that you can use in your stories. You can add to it, too! biggrin

Things That Are Not On gaiaonline.com

Wikipedia - Because you know that your mom can't tell you everything about the state of Japanese government in the year 1857. Enter Wikipedia.

Wikiquote - I use this one all the time. I like to start my chapters out with quotes, and this is a great place to find 'em. They have quotes from anything and everyone you can imagine, from Aristotle to SpongeBob.

Dictionary.com - Nobody likes searching through a paper dictionary. This site does it for you.

Thesaurus.com - JUST AS YOU SHOULD NOT RAPE A THESAURUS, DO NOT RAPE THESAURUS.COM. Please, for the love of all things tasty, be sensible.

Writing World - Punctuating Dialogue Guide - Easily worded and slightly entertaining. Two birds, one stone.

National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) Official Site - This may be my first year doing NaNoWriMo, but I already love it. The goal is to write one 50,000 word novel (you read that right; fifty thousand words) from November 1 to November 30. Just my kind of thing. (PM me if you join; we can be writing buddies.)

(PM me if you have any more helpful links!)  

[Spellbound Blasphemy]

How You Can Ask Me For Help! (And Other Such Forms)

If you want me to go over one of your pieces of writing for something, please, PM me using this form. I don't charge, but tips are greatly appreciated.
Please, when you PM me anything regarding this thread, state your purpose in the subject line. I don't like random PMs.

[color=orange][b]Hey, Spellbound! I'd like for you to read over this piece of writing for me.[/b]
[b]My name is[/b] [i]Please, put whatever you like to be called here. I like to know how to address people.[/i]
[b]The piece I'd like you to go over is called[/b] [i]Put the title of the piece here, if it has one.[/i]
[b]It is[/b] [i]Please, put the length (in words) in this space. I don't want a massive, unfinished work. I want a zoomed in bit that you want me to read over and look at. I have a life, ya know. [/i] [b] words long.[/b]
[b]I'd like you to go over it for[/b] [i]Correctness? Grammar? Word Usage? Content? Characterization? Setting? I like to know what I'm looking for.[/i]
[b]Here it is...[/b] [i]Paste the part of the story that you want looked at here.[/i]
[b]Thank you![/b][/color]

To add something to a list (this includes the link list, the list of Mary-Sues and Gary-Stus, and the list of words that are spelled differently in different English dialects), please use this form.

[color=red]Hey, Spellbound! I want to add something to a list.
[b]The list I would like to add to is[/b] [i]Put the name or a description type thing of the list you want to add to here.[/i]
[b]I'd like to add[/b] [i]Put what you want to add here,[/i]
[b]Thanks![/b][/color

To make a suggestion for this thread, please, use this form;

[color=purple]Hey, Spellbound! I've got a suggestion for you.
[b]It's about[/b] [i]Please, put the specific post this pertains to here.[/i]
[b]I'd like to see[/b] [i]Suggestion goes here.[/i]
[b]Thank you![/b][/color]

To apply to become a co-helper on this thread (this involves answering questions from struggling writers and doing writing critiques with me), please use this form.

[color=green]Hey, Spellbound! I'd like to become a co-helper.
[b]My name is[b] [i]What do you like to be called generally?[/i]
[b]My main writing style is[/b] [i]Poetry? Sci-Fi? Young Adult Lit? What is it?[/i]
[b]I think I'm good at writing because[/b] [i]Please, answer the question and use correct grammar, punctuation and spelling. No L33T speak allowed.[/i]
[b]My favorite author is[/b] [i]Self-explanatory.[/i]
[b]My favorite book is[/b] [i]Also self-explanatory[/i]
[b]Thank you![/b][/color

That's all, folks.  

[Spellbound Blasphemy]

Facts and Questions About This Thread

question Can I post something on this thread for critique?
exclaim No. That's what the critique form in the post above is for. Or, you can exit this thread and create another thread all your own to post your writing. Whichever you like.

question Can I say whatever the h-e-double-toothpicks I want here?
exclaim Absolutely not. I'm kind of a nazi about staying on-topic. We've got a chatter thread in the main forum. Make use of it.

question Is it true that you are online all the time, Spellbound?
exclaim No. I'm a Sophomore in high school. I have lots of homework. I'm in my school's honors program. I run a committee in my local chapter of National Art Honors Society. I have friends. I have family. Hell, I have a boyfriend. Don't expect me to be on here 24/7 to help you. (sorry!)

question D-Does this mean that fun is not allowed here?
exclaim NO! I didn't mean to make you feel that way... I just wanted to get my point across. By all means, enjoy yourself. Ask questions. Learn. Discuss. But keep it PG-13, and keep it on-subject.

(If you'd like to ask a question to be posted here, please PM me. I'll respond, I promise.)  

[Spellbound Blasphemy]

Disclaimer

I, Spellbound Blasphemy, am not an expert in anything. I am a high school student with too much time on her hands. I don't know everything about writing, and sometimes I won't be able to provide a good answer to your question. But I'll try my hardest.
No guarantees here, folks.  

[Spellbound Blasphemy]

I don't know why I reserved this, but I did anyway. POST IS RESERVED.

 

[Spellbound Blasphemy]

I don't know why I reserved this, but I did anyway. POST IS RESERVED.

 

[Spellbound Blasphemy]

This thread is now open for posting!

Things to talk about:
Writing frustrations
Favorite writing styles
Asking me for help!