Author Problems and Solutions [Inactive]

I get this question and ones like it often, as you might imagine. Trust me, I have the very same problem. Although I can’t speak for everyone, for me it’s very important to eliminate all distractions. And that sounds like simple, generic advice, but I mean more than just having the willpower to focus. I’m talking about placing an actual barrier between you and whatever else might take your attention. 

While I was in school, I always got the majority of my writing done in class, because I literally had no other choice. That sounds awful, as if the writing were a chore, but it was really a blessing to have those few hours every day where I didn’t have the option to play games on my phone or check tumblr, etc. I had nothing to do with myself but write (in classes where I didn’t need to take notes, of course), so those millions of ideas finally got some attention. 

For similar reasons, it helps me to be away from home, somewhere comfortable but not completely informal. I’ll go to a library or the ever-popular cafe, anywhere I can have a small space to just myself and my notebook. I put on some noise-blocking ambient noise or music, such as you might find at MyNoise.net (which I highly recommend!), and start wherever I can. Continuing is always easier than starting, so if you have a story or scene in mind, I say put down what you know first. If there’s a particular line you want to include or an event you know will happen, start there and move on from that point. You can always add onto the beginning or ending later.

It also helps me sometimes to look over my old writing, particularly when I’m trying to get back into working on a lengthy project. Making an outline can help you organize your thoughts, too; take one of those ideas and, without worrying about starting the narrative itself, consider how it will play out. What sort of characters will be involved? What relationships will they have? What conflicts will they deal with? Then specify even more: what does this character’s development arc look like? How do these two come to love (or hate) one another? What’s the cause of this conflict and how will it be resolved? If you’re the type of person who works with outlines, having it organized like this can give you some starting points, and you’ll develop the story from there. 

Characters A and B are in a relationship (romantic, platonic, familial, your choice). 

Don’t let that stop you from doing it again. 

I don’t believe there’s a “new” story to be told. There will always be something to compare your writing to. 

The Love Story. The Tragedy. The Revenge Plot. 

Set in the Middle Ages. Set in the future. Set in a separate dimension. 

With a heroine, a hero, a sidekick, a villain. 

Vampires. Zombies. Aliens. 

Betrayal. Remorse. Forgiveness.

None of these are new concepts. However. No one has done them your way before. The above mentioned are all just pieces, pieces that you can put together in whatever form you want, pieces you can choose to use or not, and these are just a few. The potential combinations are infinite. 

Let me start by saying that there’s no wrong way to start a story. These are just my own preferences.

I’m not particularly fond of the whole flashback/flash forward thing when it’s that explicit. I love to see stories written (or presented) out of chronological order, but if it is, I’d rather it be…consistently out of order? That is, I don’t like a single flashback, some story, and then a single flash forward. I feel like there are more effective ways of presenting those events–but that’s not to say it can’t be done well.

Starting off with a prologue can work well sometimes, particularly if you have a lot of background information that needs to be conveyed or a scene that needs to be set in order for your story to be understood by your reader.

My friend, I feel your pain. But killing your characters should be hard. If it’s hard for you, it’s going to be hard for your readers, and that emotional response is what makes your writing valuable. 

While I really hate to say it, your superhero being a woman is going to automatically get her some hate. It’s entirely unfair, but it is true. There will be people who call her a Mary Sue and say she’s overpowered simply because she’s a girl. 

However! That shouldn’t stop you from making her anyway. The most important thing when making a super-powered character is balance. Her personality needs to have flaws as well as virtues. She needs to have weaknesses as well as strengths. No matter how amazing her powers are, she still has to have vulnerabilities (physical, mental, and emotional). You might also find that humility goes a long way; if she’s aware of her own abilities but still sees herself as equal to other people, it will help others to see her that way, too. 

Ah, this is a problem I’ve had, myself. In response to your first point, you might be surprised at how much of your writing can be made visual. A lot of the space you use describing images and actions can be freed up when you have a picture to describe it instead. Even beyond that, if you spend a lot of time in your characters’ heads, you’ll probably find you have plenty of room on a page. The first example that comes to mind is Neil Gaiman’s Sandman series, which features a lot of narration alongside the visual action. 

The second issue is a little more problematic. You have a few options. The first is, honestly, to learn how to draw, yourself. I know that when you don’t have much experience, when it doesn’t come easily to you, that sounds like a pretty useless suggestion. But the most important part of any art (writing, drawing, acting, anything) is practice. No artist is born perfect, and the only way to improve is to keep working at it. If you’re serious about trying to use visual art for your future projects, it never hurts to try. 

Another option is to collaborate with someone. If you have a friend or acquaintance who draws, maybe mention it to them. Otherwise, there are plenty of artists online who accept commissions and others who might be willing to work with you (if this is a commercial venture) in exchange for a share of whatever profits you make. If you choose to go this route, though, it’s important that you always value whatever work you’re asking someone else to do and compensate them accordingly. Never expect anyone to work for/with you for free. 

I don’t know; I get hit in the face by monsters on a pretty regular basis. 

Honestly, when it comes to making your characters “Human,” (by which I mean humanly relatable), it’s less about experience and more about emotion. Even if your readers can’t say, “Oh yeah, I’ve also been part of a corrupt society and taken down an evil dictator,” they can say, “I’ve also learned things about the world I live in, things that have hurt me, and I’ve taken action to change them.” 

Hm, I think part of this depends on your book’s point-of-view. 

If it’s written in first-person or close third-person, then most of the information about your antagonist is going to have to come from your protagonist. If they have a history, use flashbacks or memories. If this conflict of theirs is still in its beginning, tell your readers in what way the antagonist has affected the protagonist or the people or world around them. Even if the antagonist isn’t present, we can still see the evidence of their actions, and I think that’s necessary in order to show why your protagonist is hunting them down in the first place. 

If you’re writing in third-person omniscient, you can add in brief scenes of the antagonist wherever they are, whatever they’re doing. But even then, be sure to relate it back to your protagonist or the main story line. 

I’m going to be honest and say dialogue is probably my favorite part of writing: snarky banter, vicious arguments, sappy love scenes, you name it. I’ve recently seen some people express that their characters “all sound the same,” and I’ve read pieces where that’s often that case, where the author hasn’t developed a specific voice for each character, and the dynamic suffers for it. Obviously I can’t talk about everything involved in character voice in one post, so I’ll start with register.

“Register” is the combination of a person’s vocabulary and syntax. The scale goes from High to Low, where High is very formal and employs more complex words and impeccable grammar, and Low contains more contractions, slang, incorrect grammar or mispronunciation and is very informal. (Think of the beginning of My Fair Lady vs. the end.) Of course there are levels anywhere between the two, and it’s up to you to decide where your characters fall on the spectrum. So what decides a person’s register? (Brace yourselves; there’s a lot to be said here. I’ll go into more detail under the cut.)

Time period/setting

Age

Education

Personality