The Write Stuff · 6:49pm Jul 15th, 2015
Did you know that I have no idea what I'm doing? Like, seriously, if you were to ask me how to write a story, I couldn't really tell you. I can't recite facts about story structure or mechanics or many tips for characterization. I can't explain how to write. I probably make for a terrible editor, aside from hunting for plot holes. I only ever took a creative writing class for a couple weeks before I dropped out of high school the second time (don't ask). I still wrote stuff a lot, I just had barely any real training or teaching beyond stuff in English classes. I just read things, wrote things, and taught myself like that, but I can't explain much and I have rarely ever looked up any actual writing articles or did much real studying. So how do I write stories?
I have no idea. I write almost entirely on instinct, just putting down what feels right and editing what doesn't. I rarely give conscious thought to flow, structure, or mechanics. I really don't know what I'm doing, and I'm frequently amazed that I've gotten as far as I have on this site. I just write stuff, and boom: stories happen. Not sure what that means, aside from that you probably shouldn't look to me for advice.
Heh, I think you're aright.
I write my stories and poetry the same way, and they've turned out pretty good! Different people have different ways of going about their writings. Some just write what 'feels right' to their stories without any real planning and whatnot (like me) and some have the plot of their entire story planned out before they even consider typing/writing the first word, and everything in between.
Graduating high school doesn't help anyone who's still illiterate; I think you over-glorify technical training. Maybe it's my own lack of it that helps me to appreciate your work, but I find the words you choose to put down feel very natural and not at all forced. These are the very reasons you should be asked for help! (Though I understand not wanting the responsibility.) In any case, all the planning and know-how in the world won't do you any good if you can't suss out what's right and what's not-right. Form follows function, and you know what you want. Please don't sell yourself short.
Well, I was taking additional writing classes back in school, but it was in Polish and they were mostly poetry-focused. I learned most of things I know from here and TVTropes. But generally, I don't really think about the technical side of writing, but rather the audience's reaction. I'm not like, "now I'm gonna set up a Chekhov's gun", I'm just thinking about how many readers will notice it. Hell, most of the times, when I think about writing process, I feel like this guy from Men in Black III: I see a few parallel timelines in which different events occur. I just choose one of those timelines and the story unfolds. I just write the damn thing.
I did take one Creative Writing class in college, but for the most part it just comes from reading, I think.
Overthinking your structure usually just ends up turning your story into a formulaic, generic mess anyway. Story structure is a good idea to start with, not a commandment to base everything you do around, I think.
You want to know the reason you can't tell someone how to write a story? It's because there's no general formula for writing a story. There are too many genres and variations to make a checklist for all things needed to tell any story. A horror story isn't going to have to follow the same guidelines as a romance, for obvious reasons. There are shared ingredients to story crafting though, such as a likable protagonist(s) and a plot structure that doesn't throw away all your best stuff before the end. Stories share more differences than similarities, but then again, that's what makes them potentially unique and interesting. Hell, a story doesn't even really need a villain at that. Take Sauron out of Lord of the Rings, and replace him with a natural apocalypse, and the story would have still been good. I can't give more advice to story writing other than this: Don't give your best stuff away until the end, but still put effort and careful planning into everything before that.
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I've never felt there was a any one way to write a story. Like, I throw act structures out the window, write stories about nothing, write stories with no ending, and just generally do whatever the hell I want. But once in a while, I see a guide to writing, and it all seems so rigid and laden with rules and stuff. Or I talk with someone who would seem to be more experienced than I, and we butt heads about how stories should be written. It's made me wonder how I've managed what success I have. Then again, there are some pretty bad authors on this site that have sizable followings, so I guess it's not that weird.
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Well, I've made it this far, so I must be doing something right.
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Thanks. If am I am over-glorifying it, it's because it's what I often see during the rare times I do look into writing tips. And yeah, I often try to write in a very natural-sounding way, sometimes even conversational. But then I see people denouncing things like "bar buddy" style. I think that's really the big thing, though: style. I think I give writing a lot more leeway for style than most more professional writers around here.
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Oh yeah, TVTropes changed the way I write. I was gonna launch into a thing about audience reaction, story effectiveness, flow, and other stuff, but this is another one of those times when I really don't know how to put it into words. Like, I don't think much about all the stuff that goes into a story, but when I do, it's too complex for me to translate to words in any short and non-convoluted fashion.
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As a guy who likes to do whatever and often dismisses tradition, I wholly agree.
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I've seen people who would disagree with that initial point, but I'm not one of them. Though, likable protagonists aren't even really needed that much. Like, look at some sitcoms where everyone sucks. And hell, in my opinion, you don't even always need a villain or disaster or whatever. I think you can have a perfectly nice story without any real conflict. It's not a plot, it's just a story, like a story you'd tell a friend. And that's what I mean: compared to more professional authors out there, I probably seem insane.