Creative Discussions > Fan Fiction & Writing

The Writing Support Thread

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GrizzlyEatsKids:
Yeah, that's at least part of it. Now, in all of your opinions, what makes a truly unique world? What makes the environment of a story interesting to you?

Tickles:
Well, I think the landmarks would actually make a world unique. They are central to the story, and give you a goal for your characters to achieve.

Let me give an example, let's say I am writing a sci-fi novel. I am thinking flyung cars, lasers, and futuristic weapons. Now, I can place it in a futuristic city, but that's the obvious path. Instead, I am going to place it into the natural world with tons of forests and trees. Now, that is pretty general, and doesn't allow for much story development. So, I create a landmark, something the entire world would recognize. This landmark is called the Tower of Fom. It is said to be a a place where reality doesn't exist, and hides the secrets of the universe in its never ending insanity. Only a select few dare to crawl through this dungeon to find the one item that could save their planet, but they risk going insane themselves. Now, I have a plot point, I build from there. Are there towns located here? Is there a small secret area nearby? Is it a vast amount of land that are miles away from anything? Landmarks can basically have their own profile since they offer so much.

So, to make a unique world, make a landmark, figure out what it is supposed to represent, and then build on from there.

GrizzlyEatsKids:
Thanks Xetroc, that actually helps a lot. I actually had a couple major landmarks/important locations written in, but I could stand to add in a few more. Now that I think about it, that actually does seem to greatly improve the environment and setting, and I think that it's just the thing I needed to really make the setting of the books I'm writing, which I do think is already fairly unique and has a lot of potential, truly come alive and sort of set itself apart from seeming somewhat generalized.

Although no one else has really been asking questions, I do have another. How do you go about constantly and consisttently expressing a character's emotion without plainly stating "He feels this way"? As far as my writing technique goes, I find this to be possibly my biggest flaw, for when I write I tend to express my characters' emotions in sort of short bursts, but usually not on a consistent basis.

The-Blades-slave:
Habits. State once that so and so bites their nails when they are nervous, and next time you say they bite their nails the reader knows they are nervous. One thing that really helps to write emotions is look at your friends and yourself, which of them are most like which character Once you've figured that out, ask yourself what they/you would do in that situation. A mistake a lot of newer authors make is assuming their readers are stupid, and being very obvious about everything. A bit of subtlety goes a long way.

That's just my opinion though, I suck.

Tickles:
Well, there are many mannerisms that people do when they express emotion, and each person is different. For instance, whenever I get mad, I tend to stay quiet, and completely block out what made me mad, while effectively hiding the fact that I am angry. If someone were to write that, it would go:

"Xetroc ignored his friend's question, and instead changed his focus to a bee flying around. He was in no mood to deal with stupidity, but saying that outright is wrong in itself."

When I'm sad, I have a hard time hiding it, and it can be easily seen in my eyes.

"Xetroc seemed beaten down, though his body language said everything was ok, his eyes said otherwise."

It's all about identifying the different reactions a person has to their own emotions. Everyone expresses emotion differently. So, imagine how people do that, and apply it to your characters. Then, make them come to life. See if you can identify what emotion Dagen is feeling:

After an hour or so, Dagen was not even halfway through the stone panel. He had been hacking and slashing with little effect. He found heavy stones and bashed them against the door, but it proved futile as well. He was running out of ideas, and out of time. He could feel the fresh air in his prison become stale, and his breathing became labored. "I have.. to get out of here." His life flashed before his eyes, and he didn't feel ready. Dagen was going to die.

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