What I Learned From The Other Side of the Horizon · 5:07am Oct 20th, 2016
Wow. I just finished writing a good-length novel. Updated weekly. For over half a year. Never missed an update. And, no, I didn't have it all written to begin with; I generally had a buffer of one or two chapters at any time. Having a fanbase helped a lot with motivation, so thank you for your support and critiques.
Looking back, writing this one story probably taught me more about writing than anything else. I mean, it was half a year of frequent writing; how could it not? So I figured I'd share some of things I learned while writing The Other Side of the Horizon if you're interested.
- The best way to improve your writing skills is to keep writing. Set yourself a schedule and do your best to stick to it.
- If two characters have any chemistry whatsoever, they will be shipped.
- Mysteries work best when they're planned out in advance, particularly if they're fair-play whodunnits. The clues can be inserted and hidden more easily.
- If your characters start calling a certain plot point stupid, inane, and nonsensical, maybe that plot point is stupid, inane, and nonsensical.
- Work hard enough, and you can get a decent amount of characterization from any situation.
- Cultural dissonance is fun.
- Twilight's voice is very subtle and I suck at capturing it.
- Characterization-based humor is incredibly hard, but incredibly satisfying when it works.
- Friendships can easily develop by people talking about random crap.
- How a character describes something can tell you a bit about how they think (and also adds a little variety if you need to show two different characters reacting to the same thing twice).
I can't tell from your phrasing if you're implying that the mystery was planned out in advance or not.
some good lessons, there.
4262948 The broad strokes (identity, motive, some of the bigger clues) were planned, but some of the smaller details and clues weren't, and the second half underwent some restructuring when I felt it was going in the wrong direction. I'm fine with the way it is now, but I feel like a few pieces could've been executed a bit better (or at least more cleverly).
4262956 Honestly, the mystery was executed fine. The only part I'd take any issue with is how profoundly silly the villain's motive is.
Applejack and Bhiza were a blatant shipper bait, to be fair.
I have been educated, thank you.
Correction: If two characters exist, they will be shipped. If they have any degree of chemistry, they will be shipped like FedEx. If they say or do anything that can be taken as flirting, goodness.