deviant art

Deviant Login
Buy ArtBuy T-Shirts & Gear Buy adCast Buy Premium Membership
Shop		  Join deviantART for FREE Take the Tour
:iconookamikasumi:

*OokamiKasumi

Ookami Kasumi
View Badges!
 
+Watch Send a NoteGive
ProfileGalleryPrintsFavouritesJournal
ookamikasumi's gallery

Writing Tips and Tricks

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Directions for Article usage:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-- Choose the article that interests you the most. Chew slowly. Allow it to digest. Apply in small amounts until the symptoms you wished to address have been addressed to your satisfaction. Allow the rest to pass through your system. Wipe, flush, and select the next one that interests you.

Repeat as needed.
What kind of Fiction should You Write? Quiz Game
73 Comments
More Like This
How much SMUT for your Game?
22 Comments
More Like This
Writing HORROR
When writing a Horror story, one must begin with a Monster. The most terrifying of course, are the ones you don't notice, or refuse to notice. The ones right next to you.

"The most dangerous werewolves are the ones that are hairy on the inside."
-- A Company of Wolves

Making a MONSTER
Think, who are the people that walk right up to you every day – and you let them?
• Your neighbors
• Your co-workers
• Your friends
• Your lover
• Your parents
• Your siblings
• Your children

Now imagine if one of them was a man-slaughtering or even man-eating Monster?

In reality, it happens all the timWriting HORROR
136 Comments
More Like This
Writing Erotic Horror
32 Comments
More Like This
When the Hero is NOT a Hero
Protagonist & Antagonist ~ A Different Definition
There are Three Essential Characters in Every Story. There may be any number of side characters, but in traditional Adventures, and Romances of every stripe the main conflict is usually, if not always, a triangle of complimentary opposites.

Translation: You could tell the WHOLE story with ONLY these Three Characters; perhaps not with any real detail, but you could still do the entire basic plotline. (Yes I know, I've said some of this before. Bear with me.)

THREE Characters?
Yep. I'm sure you're familiar with: Hero – Villain – Heroine (or Sidekick) already. Those are pretty darn When the Hero is NOT a Hero
125 Comments
More Like This
The DUAL-NATURED Character
Building the DUAL-NATURED Character
Let's start this lecture with a HUGE secret:
-- There are Three Essential Characters in every story:

  >  Adversary – The one causing all the trouble.
  >  Proponent – The one trying to keep things the way they are.
  >  Ally – The close companion of one or the other caught in the middle.

In other words, you can tell any story with ONLY these Three Characters; perhaps not with any real detail, but you could still do the entire basic plotline.

And each essential character is governed by one of three SPECIFIC aspects, or DrivesThe DUAL-NATURED Character
89 Comments
More Like This
The Subtle STATIC TRAIT
The Subtle STATIC TRAIT
Secret Weapon of the Clever Writer

The Static Trait is the small personal HABIT an individual character displays which reveals their personal Neurosis, their driving NEED, especially in stressful situations. This habitual or even ritual behavior acts as both their greatest source of trouble and the linchpin to their success. It's the individual character's "Accident Waiting to Happen".

The most obvious place to find visible Static Traits is in both Comedies and Tragedies. These stories (and movies) RELY on their characters' Static Traits to linchpin the plot.

What made Laurel and Hardy so funny, were the little neuThe Subtle STATIC TRAIT
86 Comments
More Like This
Erotica Without Sex?
51 Comments
More Like This
Crossing Genres
Every genre has core elements that make that genre that genre. In order to Cross Genres properly, you need to know each of your genre's distinctive elements and make them Equally Important in the story.

Simple, no? However...

One of the most common mistakes I've seen in every genre of fiction: IGNORANCE.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Most of the common mistakes come with any writing that isn't so good—bad characters, bad plots, bad writing. The ones which are peculiar to alternate histories (fantasy and sci-fi) are bad research and bad extrapolation."
-- An Interview with Harry Turtledove --> http://www.scifi.com/sfw/issue298/interview.html
Crossing Genres
49 Comments
More Like This
GMC - SIMPLIFIED
"I am – I Need – I Desire…"
Goal, Motivation & Conflict - SIMPLIFIED

Goal, Motivation and Conflict seems to be the BIG MYSTERY of fiction writing. Everyone says that they're essential to good writing – and they're right, they are. Absolutely. But this stuff can be a little confusing.

Let's begin at the beginning…
-- What are all these things and why do stories need them?

Goal is what your character THINKS they are after.
Motivation is what makes them WANT to go after it.
Conflict is what Gets In Their Way.
-- Internal Conflict being ANGST or Drama.
-- External Conflict being the PLOT or Events.

The Plot (GMC - SIMPLIFIED
193 Comments
More Like This
The Character Arc
Advanced Plotting:
The CHARACTER ARC

PLOT ARC: The events that happen while the characters make other plans.
CHARACTER ARC: The emotional roller-coaster that the character suffers while dealing with the Plot.

Understanding Plot
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To make a story a cohesive whole, every single thing in it must be there for a reason. Every single character, object, location, and event must push toward the ending you have planned even if it doesn't look that way to the casual observer. In short, every scene in the story should either illustrate a characteristic attribute of a main Character or be an Event that makes your ending happen.

WThe Character Arc
81 Comments
More Like This
Writing for PROFIT
REALITY CHECK!

Writing for Profit
It's Not just an Adventure - It's a JOB.

Whoever told you that writing fiction for publication - for money - is supposed to be Artistic, Fun, or Easy -- LIED.

Writing may look artistic, and creative writing certainly is artistic (that's why they call it Creative Writing,) but writing for a living; writing for publication with the intent to get paid on a regular basis is NOT artistic, it's NOT always fun, and it certainly is NOT easy.

Writing for publication is WORK. Sure, some of it is fun, but the bulk of it is mind-bending, eye-straining work. Don't get me wrong, creativity is part of the job of writiWriting for PROFIT
255 Comments
More Like This
10 Second Tip - Foreshadowing
------Original Message------
I hear the term 'foreshadowing' a lot. That's when you hint at stuff to come, right? So yeah, but how do I DO it?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Foreshadowing is when the opening scene of a story is a kind of nutshell prophecy for the whole story.

* In a Horror, this is when the originating Bad Thing happens.
* In a Mystery or Crime story, it's when the first victim is slain, and/or object (McGuffin) goes missing.
* In a Romance this is where the main character meets their soon-to-be lover for a fleeting but memorable moment.
* In a Sci-fi, this is where the ruling Theory is presented.
* In a Gothic, this is where 10 Second Tip - Foreshadowing
81 Comments
More Like This
Propaganda - Enemy of Fiction
The Enemy of Good Fiction
~ PROPAGANDA! ~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Many people have asked me, "Why don't you watch TV anymore?"

I do, sort of. I play movies that I buy and rent on my TV regularly. However, I Don't watch cable TV or local TV, and I NEVER watch sitcoms or Reality TV of any kind. If I want the news, I go to the internet.

Why Not? Because there's too much Programming going on in those programs, and not one drop of Reality in Reality TV -- especially the Law & Order ones.

TV = The Tool of Propaganda
By Phil Cunningham
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Posted WITH Permission.)

Propaganda and Advertising, affects us all. The two operate using thePropaganda - Enemy of Fiction
218 Comments
More Like This
Classic Plotting Patterns
71 Comments
More Like This
RESEARCH is your Best Friend
RESEARCH is your Best Friend.

-----Original Message-----
"...for bigger fictions (maybe 10-20 chapters, or more) for a big fan fiction or OC fiction, how much do you plan out?" -- Wanna Rite Reel Gud
~~~~~~~~~~~~

How much do I plan out for one of my novels...?
-- I detail everything. Seriously. I believe in a Total Immersion style of writing. In other words, I want to know the world so well, I can simply step into the mind and skin of my main character and LIVE the story.

How do I do that...?

I start with a basic plot formula and extrapolate on certain points as needed.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Romance needs extra doses of lover's angst,RESEARCH is your Best Friend
79 Comments
More Like This
STUCK on a Short Story?
10 Second Tip:
Stuck on a SHORT Story?

Stuck on what to put in your story?
-- This is the list of things I check off when I create a story:

Do you have a Setting in mind?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
- Sci-fi
- Historical
- Modern day
- Fantasy

Do you have ONE big main event for the story to focus on?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
- A battle
- An escape
- A love scene
- An act of revenge
- A sacrifice
- A treasure to claim
- A magic spell
- A transformation

Do you know what you want to SAY with your story?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
- Love sucks.
- Friendship is forever.
- No good deed goes unpunished.
- A snake can only ever be a snake.
- Sometimes STUCK on a Short Story?
83 Comments
More Like This
Writing the PWP
108 Comments
More Like This
Writing ANGST
One way to add excitement to your story is by adding lots of bad-guys, also known as EXTERNAL Conflict. Another way is by adding INTERNAL Conflict, more commonly known as Angst.

I'm sure most of you have noticed by now that most movie characters, and far too many book characters, are One-Dimensional. They do stuff, but they don't face any personality issues: a hang-up, a fear, paranoia, a moral code, a love interest, a strong dislike… Or worse, they do have all these things, but they never really affect the story.

There's a Plot Arc, things happen, but no Character Arc. The things that happen don't affect the characters emotionally.

WWriting ANGST
126 Comments
More Like This
Science + Fiction
43 Comments
More Like This
An Unkindness of COMMAS
I SUCK at commas big-time. I tend to pull a "Mark Twain"; I sprinkle them in…wherever to break up the monotony of the sentence. This article is my attempt to hammer the rules into my brain.

An Unkindness of COMMAS

What the heck are Commas for, anyway?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Besides abusing the sanity of the writer, the comma exists to help readers organize information in a sentence. It makes all the stuff the author is trying to say easier to swallow. Without them, sentence bits and pieces collide into one another causing confusion; rather like a train-wreck, though not nearly as exciting.

Just in case you'd like to know who mAn Unkindness of COMMAS
103 Comments
More Like This
The NonVerbal Thesaurus
NonVerbal:
Not spoken > Body Language.

Thesaurus:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Latin thesaurus, treasury, from Greek thesauros.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
n. pl. the•sau•ri (-sôri) or the•sau•rus•es
1. A book of synonyms, often including related and contrasting words and antonyms.
2. A book of selected words or concepts, such as a specialized vocabulary of a particular field.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition copyright ©2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009.

Dialogue is VISUAL
-- Not just a bunch of words.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Watch the aThe NonVerbal Thesaurus
823 Comments
More Like This
INTERNAL CONFLICT
Advanced Writing:
INTERNAL CONFLICT

Note: this is how the professional authors do it. That doesn't mean YOU have to. As with all advice, take what you can use and throw out the rest.

The scene…
~~~~~~~~~~~~
His lips drifted across hers in a warm caress. His hand pressed at waist, the heat of his palm warming her flesh through her corset underlying the deep blood silk gown. His fingers drifted upward, toward her breast.

Desire pulsed within her core, in time with her heart. She wanted to let him tear the red silk from her body, and bury himself in her flesh, but set her palm over his to stop him just below her breast. He was a vampiINTERNAL CONFLICT
42 Comments
More Like This
No Head-hopping
58 Comments
More Like This
RSS

Comments


:iconpandathealchemist:
~PandaTheAlchemist May 1, 2013  Hobbyist General Artist
I just finished this gallery, and I want to tell you that you have everything I've been looking for for a very long time.
All of these tips are immensely helpful, and words cannot describe how grateful I am. I know that plenty of people have already said this, but THANK YOU.
Reply
:iconshadowkyogre:
~ShadowKyogre Apr 10, 2013  Hobbyist Digital Artist
I've been reading over your tips and tricks in this gallery and I found them very helpful, though I don't know which piece would help me with one that I've currently got writer's block on D:. A majority of the plotline in one story I've got writer's block on relies on interactions between two characters before they meet each other physically and I've got no idea how to make internet interactions exciting except for noting the protagonist's physical reactions to the messages on the screen.
Reply
:iconmint-menta-me:
~mint-menta-me Mar 28, 2013  Hobbyist Artisan Crafter
Any tips on choosing your beta-readers?
Reply
:iconbjarru:
~Bjarru Mar 11, 2013  Student Traditional Artist
Oh my God, thank you for all these wonderful tips!
Reply
:iconriocyan:
Mood: Joy *RioCyan Feb 19, 2013  Hobbyist Writer
Your advice for approaching this collection is spot on - I come in for little bites and it's often the perfect thing to get me over a rought spot or make me take another look at what I'm writing. Many, many thanks for sharing this wonderful collection with us!
Reply
:iconookamikasumi:
*OokamiKasumi Feb 19, 2013  Professional Writer
My pleasure!
-- I'm glad to be here for you.
Reply
:iconrachygirl5404:
~rachygirl5404 Jan 24, 2013
these are INCREDIBLY helpful! i have had so many story writing problems, but it seems like you've covered most if not all of them in your tutorials! :D
Reply
:iconookamikasumi:
*OokamiKasumi Feb 18, 2013  Professional Writer
I'm glad you found my essays useful.
-- I like helping my fellow writers.
Reply
:iconsirrae:
Mood: Adoration ~Sirrae Jan 18, 2013  Hobbyist Traditional Artist
Dude, I dug up my old password and revived my ages old account just so I can say THANK YOU. BLESS YOU YOU MAGNIFICENT HUMAN. Seriously, I love you. I intend to go through and favorite everything/subscribe latter on. :)
Reply
:iconookamikasumi:
*OokamiKasumi Feb 18, 2013  Professional Writer
LOL! I'm thrilled you like them. You're welcome.
Reply
Add a Comment:
 
Preview   Add Comment