Some Advice · 7:51pm Apr 10th, 2012
Well, this is odd. I'm here to give advice to new writers, or to writers who are struggling. I seem to be moderately successful and my work is pretty good, so I just wanna share a few tips.
1) Listen to Music You wouldn't believe how helpful it is to have music in the background, especially non aggressive types such as trance and house (Not progressive or electro). Avoid types of music with tons of rising and falling actions (Dubstep and Progressive House), overpowering singers (Rock and Rap), or rage-inducingly low quality (Justin Bieber and the likes). My personal favorite playlist for writing is HERE.
2) Look for ideas in similar stories This does not mean steal major plot points or the like, but general events can be found in other stories. Just look around for them.
3) GRAMMAR I don't know how many times people have to be told about this. Bad grammar will turn off a reader quicker than anything else. I have had lots of experiences where I am interested in a story's idea, but the grammar makes it damn near unreadable. Italics are for thoughts, don't jumble up the speakers, yadda yadda, use spellcheck. Another thing to do is to check that spellcheck isn't screwing you over in the long run.
4) Don't Rush It I remember once I was reading a story that I thought I would love. The summary was so intriguing to me (Rewrite of My Little Dashie with a full grown Dash and a romance relationship) but the execution was SO RUSHED! They told the entire story in less than 1000 words. No joke. You need to flesh out your characters, give us time to build attachment to them. Tell your story and take our time!
Pretty good Basic tips, And I cant help to Make the Dont Rush it part VERY important.'
Me as a reader dont like when in less then 1000-3000 (heck even <10000 Is to short for me) words they have already pass on several relasionships (bad grammar warning there =/ ) and two or three epic saves of the whole equastria.. Rushed Stories makes me sick
I've been doing a few 'writing clinic' blog posts. I agree that it's our responsibility as moderately successful authors to help everyone else.
Yeah, the "don't rush" part was the hardest thing I had to learn. I still struggle with it sometimes.