# Any hints for an aspiring writer?



## kirchhoff42 (May 27, 2014)

As the title says: Do any of you have any hints or tips to an aspiring writer? I am working on my first story to post on Fur Affinity.


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## Hewge (May 27, 2014)

Keep going and never give up!


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## Calemeyr (May 27, 2014)

Don't try to write action scenes in a book like you would in a movie. It doesn't turn out well.


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## Nikolinni (May 27, 2014)

kirchhoff42 said:


> As the title says: Do any of you have any hints or tips to an aspiring writer? I am working on my first story to post on Fur Affinity.



Speaking of action scenes, make sure it adds something or is of some importance. Don't just have OMFG RANDOM ACTION SCENE because you need to break up the stillness. Make sure there's a reason behind the action scene. Some stories I've heard of have random ass things like a car crashing through a shop jsut because; no real rhyme or reason to it. 

Also try not to over do it on dialogue. Dialogue's fine, but you don't want to have it be too dragging on, unless it advances the plot or reveals things about characters or something. Like for example, I could write a scene with Razzle the fennec being chatty with Tamagi the bunny, and using that scene reveal things about both Tamagi and Razzle either by what they say, how they talk, and how they react to what's being spoken. 

I think finding other writers to share and critique your work with can also help. And make sure they do ACTUAL critiquing and not just "OMFG LOL AWESOME"; I mean it's good to give credit where credit is due, and there have been a few stories in my fiction writing class I was in that I did REALLY like, but I also made sure to point out whatever little issues I had with it. 

Good luck!


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## Conker (May 27, 2014)

Read. Read anything and everything.


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## kirchhoff42 (May 28, 2014)

Thank you all for the advises.


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## RedLeFrench (May 28, 2014)

Another one : start small. If you want to do something big, make sure to have spent a few months maturing the world/concept/characters/whathaveyou. There is nothing worse for everybody than having someone write something and then see him either mess up really badly or just straight up stopping because he doesn't care anymore.


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## Hooky (May 28, 2014)

Don't lose your passion whilst or inbetween writing.


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## Nikolinni (May 28, 2014)

Hooky said:


> Don't lose your passion whilst or inbetween writing.



"So many times it happens too fast
You trade your passion for glory
Don't lose your grip on the dreams of the past
You must fight just to keep them alive"


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## Ironsoup (Jun 3, 2014)

Construct a shrine to the gods of erotica and burn incense every morning. With time and good fortune, they will smile upon you and grant you readers.

Pay homage to the ways of conception, and forever will your view-count be rising.


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## Cooper (Jun 8, 2014)

Just keep writing! Even if you don't think it's that good. Just write and edit later.


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## Sasya (Jun 8, 2014)

kirchhoff42 said:


> As the title says: Do any of you have any hints or tips to an aspiring writer? I am working on my first story to post on Fur Affinity.



Have a good story. 

Tell it well. 

Being well-read will give you the tools necessary to turn a good story into good writing.

Nothing saves a bad story. 

"Story" in this sense doesn't mean that you necessarily know where something's going to go before you start writing it.

If you want to write, write.  Don't waste time and effort writing about wanting to write. 

My thoughts: 
http://foxprints.org/?p=86

~Fox


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## Gnarl (Jun 10, 2014)

Just one quick thing, write for yourself! Don't try to write about things you know nothing about, trying to tell a story when you know nothing about the subject is like telling a bad lie, people see through it and will not like it. So be true to yourself. and don't forget the spellcheck!


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## Kelth (Jun 23, 2014)

I always thought "listen to the experts" or masters if you fancy  here's a great video by Ray Bradburry, one of my favorite authors, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_W-r7ABrMYU  he gives some really nice advice for young writers.


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## Torrijos-sama (Jun 24, 2014)

Understand satire, light and dark comedy, tragedy, and what poetry is (when you've found no other definition than communicating the uncommunicable, and that which is felt and flows which nourishes with nothing, and speaks to the soul without spirit or prayer, and which has an impact yet little presence, then you're on the right track) Learn how to channel your thoughts and feelings into words, and most importantly, how to structure that to have a plot, and a purpose.

Spend some time alone reflecting on your own thoughts, and every felt aspect of the physical word around you. Think of what makes you uncomfortable, or what calms you yet you never know why, like a soft whisper.

Spend some time talking to others, with all parties either sober or inebriated, and talk of life or love or problems or solutions. Listen to old stories being told by withering fucks, and listen to loud, or powerful music in the company of others.

Don't be afraid of philosophy, religion, or politics. Let them all have their place as they have in daily life. Listen to speeches from history. Watch films for the atmosphere and the feeling you get from film noir, or action, or romance, or drama, or comedy. Let weird things come out, for often the noticed yet unacknowledged or unspoken has a great impact when you put words with depth.

Don't plagiarize. Use your own words, and if you can't find the right ones, just keep fucking writing everything that comes to mind.

I've found that the hardest thing for writing is structure and plot. What I do is try to make profound statements on thoughts or experience or feelings or life or sex or love and hatred. I used to always be black and white, in terms of trying to incorporate good or evil characters, with everyone either being one or the other, before I read what I was writing and realized that it was nothing like life in any way. With good and evil or bad or anything, there are those who are complacent, those who take such action consciously, those who never stay as one or the other, and those who do such things with the wrong motivations and intentions (this lets you build dramatic tension, as more of a character's personality, morals, and story comes out, or you can just have the character go into an aside moment, or give a confession or proclamation, or do none of that and drop a huge twist into the middle of a moment rife with drama and action).

That's all I can say.


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## Rechan (Oct 11, 2014)

If OP still wants advice:

1) As others have said, write. Write as often as you can. Make it a habit. 

2) Do not fear mistakes, because you will make them. You will make a million mistakes. You will make mistakes until you stop. That's what learning is about - making them, learning from them, and not making that mistake again. Your first draft will likely be crap because everyone's first draft is crap - t hat's what editing is for, refinement. 

3) That said, don't just dismiss grammar, spelling, and important lessons. Try to use them, even when you are just writing to post online. These are important to know. Ignoring these rules will make a reader think you're a newbie, and often disregard yoru story, even if hte ideas are good.

4) Read as much as you can. Read inside your genre. Some people are afraid that if they read other people, they'll somehow be subconsciously influenced, or accidentally steal things. That's called learning. Reading what's out there in your genre not only teaches you tropes, but teaches you what has been done to death (and thus readers may not be interested in), what's not been done (showing what you can do that others are missing) and it will inspire you, give you new ideas, or you will see ideas that you can change and use yoursel f(like Every Writer Ever has done). Read outside your genre: this will teach you about language, storytelling, and it will inspire you. Take a book that you feel is well written and deconstruct it, see how they did the scenes you loved so you can learn how to do that yoruself, see how they wrote their sentences and paragraphs so you can learn how to do this too. It's not stealing or copying, it's learning by wayof watching how someone more skilled did it so you can do that too.

5) Consider coming to the Furry Writers Guild. The site I just linked to lists furry anthologies seeking stories from authors, as well as links to advice. You can also join the forums and talk about writing. (No, you don't have to be a member of the Guild to use the forums, you just sign up like you do here on FA). A non-furry writing board that's quite helpful is the Absolute Write Water Cooler.

6) If you can, consider going to a local convention. Furry cons (and Sci Fi cons and so forth) often have a writing track with panels on writing, that can provide useful information.


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## SkyeLansing (Oct 12, 2014)

(1) If you can, join a writer's group. One with members you feel comfortable sharing your attempts to get better. A lot of these types of groups have people share their writing and critique each other. This is a great way to grow and get advice from people who are more experienced than you. You will also have the opportunity to see how other's do things, which helps you grow in skill as well.

(2) Small stories first, no longer than 10,000 words. 5,000 is you can manage it. These are by necessity going to teach you how to pace a story to fill a particular length and how to evolve it naturally toward an ending. Try to avoid things that are high concept as they very quickly grow beyond such a short scope.

(3) Push your comfort zone. Write about topics that make you uncomfortable or events in your life that made you uncomfortable. You don't have to come right out and say "this is a shitty thing that happened to me" to write about things that made you uncomfortable. For example, have you ever had a date go really badly? Or an awkward morning after a one night stand? Or a humiliating rejection? Have something similar happen to a character in a short story. This sort of writing will help you learn about how to handle emotionally charged scenes.

(4) Keep a journal of some sort. Try to write into it every few days. What doesn't matter so much, and it doesn't have to be a huge amount, just so long as you don't abandon it. I personally fill one page a day (and my journal is a pretty small book), typically just writing about what is going on, what I'm feeling, and the writing projects I'm working on. Sometimes I try to talk my way through a writer's block in it. Really it is for whatever you want to go inside there, but one really good possibility is to put in story ideas you have that can be used for future projects. If you're like me then coming up with ideas is really easy _until_ someone puts you on the spot. Also I find that I come up with more ideas than I'll have time to write, so unless I write them down I'll forget them. Then when it is time to work on something new I can go through the collected ideas and pick the best ones.


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## McDDenton (Oct 12, 2014)

1) Don't be afraid of critique. People will do it, it is nothing personal, especially not when you asked for it (as in: 'hey can you critique this for me?') Taking critique is one of the hardest things to do, but you learn something from it every time.

2) If you write somethings shit don't get down, it can only get better, if you write something good; don't be afraid to say to yourself: wouw this is good.

3) It has been said before: write for yourself. "Better to write for yourself and have no public than to write for the public and have no self" -- Cyril Connolly

4) There is no real secret to writing. Its 10% creativity, 90% skill, the more you do it, the better you'll get.

5) No-one can determine what works for you. It kinda defeats the point, placing this on a 'any tips?' thread, but there are dozen people making a tidy bit of cash tell you what works for them, forgetting to tell you that you are not them. Find a way, a genre and a time that suits for you. I prefer to write late on the evening, I would not recommend it XD.

6) Invest in a beta reader. It helped me when I was just staring. Just another set of eyes. Just make sure you find someone you can trust and who can give critique without having you shoot in the defensive.

Well I hope this helps ^^.


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## Rechan (Oct 13, 2014)

McDDenton said:


> 1) Don't be afraid of critique. People will do it, it is nothing personal, especially not when you asked for it (as in: 'hey can you critique this for me?') Taking critique is one of the hardest things to do, but you learn something from it every time.



Adding to this. Every reader is going to have their own opinion, and that opinion may be wrong, or at least wrong for the story you want to tell. You don't *have *to listen to all feedback. That said, don't dismiss it simply because it disagrees with your work. If you're in doubt, show the piece to multiple people - if several say the same thing, then that's likely the case. 

Whatever someone says, thank them. Even if they say it's garbage, smile  and thank them. They took the time to read it and then took the time to  give you feedback, that's a lot of effort on their part. If you disrespect them, they won't do it again.

Also, don't ask someone to read a story more than once. The first time, they're doing you a favor. The second time you're pushing it.


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## BadRoy (Dec 7, 2014)

Yeah my biggest advice would be to read often and read critically. 

Don't just glaze over the words, but really think about how sentences are structured, the way specific words are used, and the way the author tackles scenes. 
If you do this your writing will surely improve.

I have also heard of writers using 'warm ups' for instance: Write a description of a glass bottle for five minutes. I don't do things like this, but I can certainly see how they'd be helpful.


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