R
Ryan_King
Guest
Here are some tips I can give you.
Firstly, you and you alone can determine the plot and theme of your story. Take whatever inspiration you will from friends and other writers, but the plot must be your own.
Secondly, I do not recommend writing an entire story about something that happened to you, even if you place a fictional character in your stead. Given my own experience, although even the exciting things that have happened in my own life make for good stories to tell friends and family, they do not have all the necessary elements of a good novel, such as theme, motif, &c. Events from your own life can be useful, but mostly as slice-of-life or background material that make your characters more human.
Thirdly, use heavy-handed villains, if at all, with extreme discretion. In my opinion, villains who make Hitler look like a juvenile delinquent (and even those who are not so extreme), though appropriate under certain circumstances, oftentimes reflect bad writing, and “man of straw” arguments. Example: In a Christian movie against premarital sex, a teenaged girl is being wooed by two guys. One is a handsome clean-cut Christian who wants, eventually, to marry her. The other guy wants to have sex with the girl, for no other purpose than to damn her to Hell (he is, by the way, a demon in disguise). (Yes, this was an actual movie.) The inappropriateness of this heavy-handed villain should be manifest to anyone.
Fourthly, make sure that the resolution of the crisis in your story is not sudden and abrupt. Use foreshadowing that, in hindsight, will make us aware that your resolution is a logical one for which the story prepared us, even if the resolution happened just in the nick of time. An example of how not to resolve a crisis: A woman running an orphanage is in debt, and the bank is about to foreclose. On the very last page of the story, as the woman is headed to the bank to face the music, a freak wind suddenly blows into the woman’s hands a winning lottery ticket. The history behind the ticket is never revealed, and the woman is able to use the winnings to pay off the mortgage. Avoid forced endings.
Sixthly, in developing your characters, consider how a real-world person, in your character’s position, and with your character’s attributes, would act. This is assuming that your characters are human, rather than elves or aliens. Keep your characters in character.
I hope this helps.
Firstly, you and you alone can determine the plot and theme of your story. Take whatever inspiration you will from friends and other writers, but the plot must be your own.
Secondly, I do not recommend writing an entire story about something that happened to you, even if you place a fictional character in your stead. Given my own experience, although even the exciting things that have happened in my own life make for good stories to tell friends and family, they do not have all the necessary elements of a good novel, such as theme, motif, &c. Events from your own life can be useful, but mostly as slice-of-life or background material that make your characters more human.
Thirdly, use heavy-handed villains, if at all, with extreme discretion. In my opinion, villains who make Hitler look like a juvenile delinquent (and even those who are not so extreme), though appropriate under certain circumstances, oftentimes reflect bad writing, and “man of straw” arguments. Example: In a Christian movie against premarital sex, a teenaged girl is being wooed by two guys. One is a handsome clean-cut Christian who wants, eventually, to marry her. The other guy wants to have sex with the girl, for no other purpose than to damn her to Hell (he is, by the way, a demon in disguise). (Yes, this was an actual movie.) The inappropriateness of this heavy-handed villain should be manifest to anyone.
Fourthly, make sure that the resolution of the crisis in your story is not sudden and abrupt. Use foreshadowing that, in hindsight, will make us aware that your resolution is a logical one for which the story prepared us, even if the resolution happened just in the nick of time. An example of how not to resolve a crisis: A woman running an orphanage is in debt, and the bank is about to foreclose. On the very last page of the story, as the woman is headed to the bank to face the music, a freak wind suddenly blows into the woman’s hands a winning lottery ticket. The history behind the ticket is never revealed, and the woman is able to use the winnings to pay off the mortgage. Avoid forced endings.
Sixthly, in developing your characters, consider how a real-world person, in your character’s position, and with your character’s attributes, would act. This is assuming that your characters are human, rather than elves or aliens. Keep your characters in character.
I hope this helps.