Webnovel.Forum

Can't remember if there was a post like this here. Then I eventually saw Nou's awesome post that someone necro'd.
Also check out Guide Basics to Grasp Before Writing Your Story post.

Thought it'd be cool to share tips from various sources or first-hand experiences on one thread for writing. Since we have a lot of new writers keen to develop their skills here.

I'll start by sharing this tip I picked up from Twitter. This one lists some solid ideas and methods for plot twisting.

Feel free to share your writing tips/advice here. Whether it's a link to a good resource or your own experience... etc

Sharing knowledge helps us grow as writers together.

Another reference to check out is The Seven Basic Plots by Christopher Booker. Should be available in libraries to check out. Personally, I think there are some aspects I don't completely agree with. I do recommend reading the book for a varied perspective.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/114823.The_Seven_Basic_Plots

ReincarnatedSaint This link might help with some tips: https://theeditorsblog.net/2011/01/30/creating-emotion-in-the-reader/

Also using action to convey mood might help too.

Example extract from Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. Book link http://www.gutenberg.org/files/11/11-h/11-h.htm

After a time she heard a little pattering of feet in the distance, and she hastily dried her eyes to see what was coming. It was the White Rabbit returning, splendidly dressed, with a pair of white kid gloves in one hand and a large fan in the other: he came trotting along in a great hurry, muttering to himself as he came, ‘Oh! the Duchess, the Duchess! Oh! won’t she be savage if I’ve kept her waiting!’ Alice felt so desperate that she was ready to ask help of any one; so, when the Rabbit came near her, she began, in a low, timid voice, ‘If you please, sir—’ The Rabbit started violently, dropped the white kid gloves and the fan, and skurried away into the darkness as hard as he could go

This passage displays Alice's moment of hope at seeing another. The rabbit who is obviously stressing about time and too preoccupied with himself to noticed Alice. That her presence shocks him.

Hopes these help.

I have an old text file of tips when I was first learning how to write; I still reference them.

"Unless there is a specific reason for the modified word, one that has an import before or after its use, there is usually almost no reason to modify a word. It is frill."

"There is an old saw that a climax shouldn't occur before about 90% in to a work."

"What a character sees with his eyes is always more important in determining the character than what the color of his eyes are. Describe the things that matter to a character, and you have limned the important things- those stated and not."

[The context for the next one was a passage where a stubborn rancher has been ordered to sell off his cows & buy mohair goats to stay afloat.

"Only the mohair goats had paid their way. Those lousy goats! He had nourished a secret hope that they would lose money so he could throw them up to Big Emmett as an example of the banker’s poor judgment. But contrary to other commodities, mohair remained in strong demand. The goats not only more than paid for the little amount of feed Charlie had grudgingly bought for them, but they subsidized a considerable share of the feed bill for the sheep.

It was hard to hate something that continued to pay when all else was going to hell. If they hadn’t been bought at Big’s stubborn insistence, Charlie might have begun to like them."]

"This passage is simple, unadorned, and direct, yet the moment resonates. This is not to say that all writing has to be this way to be good, just that so much of it is bad, and so little of that bad follows this example."

"It is better to simply state that my character is dating a gorgeous brunet, for every reader will imagine a different gorgeous brunet than the next reader, no matter how detailed my wording. Now, if there is a particular aspect of the gorgeous brunet that has import in the later narrative, or defines her apart from other gorgeous brunets, even if just to the narrator, then it is a detail worth noting, but, failing that, gorgeous brunet will likely suffice as a term for my character’s lover."

"Any information imparted- be it descriptive or conversational- should be justifiable, not merely an exercise in preening."

"Realistic films know they are fiction, but mimic reality for the sake of art."

"Don't most real people fail to grow? Of course. But, a novel is art. In order for even dull readers to be pulled in to a book there needs to be movement of the characters, internally."

"1. No pretension.
2. Don't condescend to readers.
3. No extraneous detail.
4. No clichés.
5. Every detail given should be entertaining, pushing a plot forward, or character development.
6. Bad writing fails in few ways - banalities, poor music, or cardboard characterization.
7. Concision."

Follow them, and you too shall reap the benefits of, er... let's not talk about my collections.

Another issue that a lot of drafts face (from newbie and seasoned writers) is run-on sentences.

Grammarly has a good article explaining what these are.
https://www.grammarly.com/blog/run-on-sentence-basics/

Grammarly's examples below:

[Incorrect]Lila enjoyed the bouquet of tulips John gave her on prom night however she prefers roses.
[Correct]Lila enjoyed the bouquet of tulips John gave her on prom night; however, she prefers roses.

Basically a run on sentence is stringing two separate conditions together and not placing a punctuation in between to separate the two kind of what I'm doing with this sentence that I'm writing right now.

It may seem obvious on screen, but it's quite a common thing to do when drafting from thought for the first time. Especially when writing is still a new skill. It may not be easy to determine punctuation rules between clauses. So it's handy to have a tool like Grammarly to flag the places where pauses are likely needed. This will slowly train the eye for the splits.

Also, with Grammarly's correct example. It would be better to substitute the semi colon ( ; ) with a full stop (.) instead, making them separate sentences and statements.