How To Write A Good Story (for beginners) · 8:59pm Mar 6th, 2013
So this is something I've spent the last two hours writing for school, but I figured that I mentioned ponies enough to post it here. Note that I don't do any of the things mentioned below, so don't be like me, kids ;)
How To Write A Good Story
It is very easy to write a story, but writing a good one is completely different. You first need to think of a what your story is going to be about. Once you think of that, you need to make a plan. What events are going to happen in that story, what characters, settings, and so on. Next you need to make a rough draft. After that, you revise it, and make the final copy. But let's look into these factors more, starting with the plot.
First you need to decide what genres your story falls under. There are several different types of stories. Comedy, random, sad, adventure, tragedy, romance, dark, grimdark, crossover, slice of life, and alternate universe. I'm sure you know about comedies and sad stories, but let's expand on the other types. Grimdark would be like the story Cupcakes, where Pinkamina tortures her friend and then bakes her into cupcakes. Grimdarks typically include gore, and are not for younger audiences. Crossovers are when your story has something from a book, TV show, or video game in it. Take My Little Portal for example. That story crosses over the video game Portal and the show My Little Pony. Alternate universe stories are stories that take place in a universe exactly like whatever you are writing about, but are slightly different. Like instead of Humans, the planet might be run by apes. These genres are what you will tag your story with. But there are certain tags that don't go together. For example, you can't tag a story as comedy and sad at the same time. A story might have some comedy in it, but it is mostly sad, so you would not have a comedy tag.
So, now that you know what type of story you want yours to be, you need to think of ideas for what you are going to write about. The best way to go about doing that is to make a T-chart. If you are wanting to write a sad story, you can put all of your ideas there, and then narrow it down to the one you want to write about. But there are certain ideas that would not be the best to write about. You need to think about what you are capable of writing. For example; writing about three men that travel to every single planet in the universe, and writing about every single one of them is a bit much. Think about how long it would take to write that story, and if you have a time limit. Another thing to remember is to not write about an over used topic. For example, a majority of My Little Dashie unofficial sequels get down voted just because that story is over used.
Congratulations! You now have your topic. Now, you need to make a plan. Who will the characters be? What will happen in your story? What will the settings be? All of those things need to be planned out ahead of time. You do not have to follow the plan exactly. You might choose to remove some of the things you put in your plan at a later time.
Now you can start your rough draft. A rough draft is the first writing of your story. You don't need to worry too much about spelling or grammar, as you will come back and revise it at a later time. As you write your story, try to use what I call 'big words.' They make you look smarter, and make your story read nicer. A big thing to remember is that as you keep writing chapters, make sure you don't mess up your story! You might have a character die earlier on, and then accidentally write about them still being there. Also, readers love when you use description. Describe characters, settings, and objects, but not too bluntly. For example, this is not a good way to describe something: The pony had a red mane and black coat. Here is a better way to go about doing that: "Hi! My name's Mary Sue. What's your name?" The red maned, black coated mare asked. "My name is _____" You say to the alicorn. Also, don't make your characters completely overpowered like someone... Also, when your characters speak, you don't want to always say: She said. He said. I said. Instead, try spicing it up. She inquired, He told, and I explain, are much better ways to word it.
It's time to revise. slowly reread your story, correcting all spelling and grammar mistakes. Also, make sure all of your sentences are punctuated properly. Now is also a good time to remove any unwanted or unnecessary parts from your story.
It is finally time to make the final draft. Neatly copy your story onto a nice piece of paper- or wherever your readers will be reading it from- and reread it again, just to be sure. Also, give your story a unique title. Make sure it has not been used before, and that it really will grab the readers attention. People should literally say out loud: "I'm not sure if this is a story I would normally read, but the title is so catchy that I'll give it a try!"
Your story is now complete, and you can just sit back and watch the ratings come in. You should always enjoy feedback, whether the person liked your story or not. It will help you improve, and you can see what people think of your story. Well, that is all I can tell you, and I hope your new story becomes very successful.
I'm thinking about writing a story sometime in the future, and this helped. I can tell a story, especially if I have an idea in my head, but I can't write it down on paper. So thanks for providing me with a base for my story- creating process! Let the writers block begin!
Your comment about not using the sad and comedy tags got me thinking, are there any good tragicomedies on fimfiction? Sad stories and funny ones seem to be the two that pull me in the most, so I'm almost afraid to find something that combines the two correctly.
897195 Well, I guess my story The Game of Life is one of those types, because Rainbow Dash died, but it's mostly a comedy.
896499 Haha, you're welcome.
good advice. im currently trying to write a story myself but im kinda stuck at the second chapter. hopefully ill get through it soon. did i mention im writing it out on an xbox?
1214405 I'm glad you liked it ^.^ I've had writers block for the past few months now, and I find it helps to work on something else for a while. Also, I wouldn't know what using an Xbox is like, since I don't have one, but I imagine it must be harder than using a computer.
Well I run a YouTube channel so that keeps me occupied at times. Its not brilliant but I put my best effort into it.
And yes. It is hafd writing a story ln an xbox. But the story pays off kn the end once its done. I plan on doing 4 chapterz before releasing the story.
Hope it goes well then...
1215555 I hope it turns out :) Let me know if you need any tips on grammar and such.
Remember wen you said to let you know if i ever need help?
well, i kinda do now.
it may sound kinda stupid, but what sort of foods do the MLP characters eat? Like what kind of dishes would you say they would make? Aside from apples and sweets, since they are the most obvious? I don't really follow the show that much since im waiting for season 4, but I am certan there are other foods they eat besides cakes and apples. Or do you have any ideas for dishes that ponies would eat? I need ideas for my second chapter. Yep still stuck writing it. LOL
if you got any ideas i'd appreciate hearing them!
1218389 Well, they are herbivores, so they only eat vegetarian type dishes. This includes pasta, salad, oats and grains, and that type of thing. Oh, and of course they eat hay, and real life horses will graze on grass, but you don't really see that in the show. Twilight also ate some flowers in Ticket Master, so I assume that is also part of their diet. Hope this helps ^.^
Without sounding rude or ungrateful for the response, I already know they are herbivores. I should have been more specific in my question.
I meant to ask you for ideas for possible dishes. You see, in my story in Chapter Two - which I'm working on still - halfway into it my main character and his wife are having supper with another character, and I cannot think of a dish that they would be eating as 'supper'. You know, like we humans traditionally have cereal or toast for breakfast and like that.
Do you think there is a certain food/s the characters would be eating as supper, or do you think it would not matter?
It's hard to understand what I'm after here, I'm sure. My mind works in frighteningly strange ways.
Hopes this clears thing a little. And thanks for taking time to help me at all. I'll be sure to give you a mention on Youtube and in my story.
If you want.
1218971 Oh, I see. Well, for supper a possible dish could be pasta with some white sauce. Actually, that sounds good to me. Now I'm hungry.... Anyways, yea, something like that. I've never actually written a scene with ponies just sitting down eating dinner. If you've read my stories, they'd more likely get eaten, so I've never really thought about it much besides what I said in my last comment. But if you are writing a scene like that, then it probably does matter to say what the characters are eating at least once. Ya know, detail and all that. Oh, and a good idea might be to Google vegetarian dishes for ideas.
That's all I can think of. Hope I answered your questions
Thanks for the reply. I have decided they will be eating Dandelion Salad for supper. LOL.
Hey, there is something else I was wondering. Remember when you said you would help me out with grammar and stuff? Well, I kinda am looking for someone to help me out with the first few chapters of my story. If you are willing, I'd like to have you read my first two chapters (though the second is about halfway written) and maybe give me some ideas and feedback?
By the way, since this is still all new to me, is there a way that I can make it so only certain people can view my story? And if so, how would I do that?
Also, just wanna say thanks to you, since you are generous enough to spare some of your time responding to my questions and stuff. You could easily ignore my time-wasting comments, but you instead lend a minute or two of your own time to reply, and I appreciate that a lot.
1225502 Dandelion salad.... Interesting. And I'd love to read the first two chapters. I can be like... A pre-reader! Honestly, I've never been one before, but I could give it a try. And I believe there's a way to let only certain people view it before it's published by going to edit on the story and setting a password for it, then PM the password to the people you want to read it. Also, it's been no trouble at all replying to your comments. Kind of fun actually. Anyways, hope this helps!
I have just come to the final conclusion that you are bucking awesome (LOL. Bucking. Ponies have strange taboo words).
1226509 Thank you
and I'm in love with saying everypony and those sort of words, lol.
No need to thank me. You should thank yourself, or at least your parents. After all, certainly it is they who have taught you to be helpful towards others?
No. If anything, I should thank you, LunaPlaysMinecraft, for the help you have been offering me as of late. Thanks to you, I am slowly beginning to become more confident in my abilities to write stories. I have no doubts about my writing skills, since I passed each one of my schools, including University, with high marks in English and Literature, but that was mostly due in respects to my poetry. My (probably) very best poem - which was, and without sounding like a braggart, about twenty pages long. Front and back - remains to this day framed upon the walls of the library of my secondary school.
Ironically, I never actually read much poetry myself. And I also didn't read a lot of stories until my mother got me the 'Eragon' fantasy novel collection for me for Christmas back in 2011. I have always been fond of dragons. In fact, I absolutely love dragons. I always felt a deep spiritual coonection to them, despite the fact that they only exist in the realm of myths and lore.
At least as far as we know...(wink, wink)
But yeah, the Eragon books got me interested in reading for a time, mainly because of the dragons in the story, but it was only when I learned about this website that I truly got into reading. I have found so many good stories on this site - some made me laugh, some freaked me out, and others were written so well that they actually made me cry. Seriously! I, a man, cried from a story about ponies! Oh, the shame I have brought upon the male species! Strip me of my manhood and brand me with the mark of humility! LOL
I don't know why people hate on the Brony community so much. Yes, granted: a lot of Bronies tend to do things that don't exactly score them respect points, and the bronies who go around producing pornographic artwork of the MLP characters are just fuelling the paedophilia rumours. But I have seen a lot of talent and good in this community, and what amazes me even more so is that all of this was inspired by a kids' cartoon show. And when a cartoon inspires people to create amazing art, sing incredible songs, and write amazing stories, how can anybody not love the show for that?
And thus, this is why I have joined Fimfiction.net. Because I want to contribute to this community in any way I can. And I genuinely believe that by gaining friends like yourself, I can succeed in doing so. That is, if you'd be willing to see me as a friend.
Wow. I think I have written enough here. I bet after posting this, I'm going to fill the whole comment section completely. If I do, I apologize to the commenters below me! LOL
Oh, one more thing. How do I send you my story as a Private Message? I checked the FAQs, but I didn't see any information there that was of help. Also, do you have any stories written by yourself that you'd personally recommend me to read out on my YouTube channel? I'm considering doing some fanfic readings in a vain attempt to attract some viewers, and I'd like to read any story you may have written as my first reading. I'll gladly give you a mention and provide a link to your FIMFiction channel, if you'd like.
1230573 You are very welcome! It makes me feel so happy knowing I've really helped somebody
I've never really read poetry or been good at it, as I always found it so much more fun to write full on stories with tons of adventure and such. I've only read the first book in Eragon, but at some point I would like to finish that series... The books that got me big into reading and writing were Warriors. I love those books so much, and one day hope to be able to write a series as good as that. Now, about private messaging. I've never really PM'd anybody except replying to things, but I'm pretty sure you can go to their page and there will be a button somewhere there for PM's. At least, I hope it's there somewhere...
Edit: Yes, the PM button is right next to the person's name, and it's a little envelope.
Thank you this is going to help me a lot with my first fanfic!
(If only i had an idea)
This was a very good guide to follow! I plan on making a story in the future. Though, when I go to write a story it doesn't give me a space to write. So what I'm saying it says, "Title: Prequel Story: Short Description: Long description." Although it doesn't tell me where to write my story. I've tried both on mobile and computer but, like I have said I don't know what box or section to write my story. If you could tell me how to write it, I'd be thankful and use this advice! Thank you!
the thing is i can't find the button to click to start typing on the computer! can somepony help me please?