Anonymous writing advice

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Yeah, that’s like what I want to happen.

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#39
Do you think not allowing fan mail on your stories increase it, decrease it or it doesn’t really matter. I’m asking because I’m debating on if I should open my fan mail but I also don’t want people spam asking for CC :broken_heart:

I have mine open but I usually don’t get fanmail. It’s your choice on the CC an not the readers choice. You are writing the story not them. It depends on how popular your story is.

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Then I would go with that.

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:eyes:

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Any questions?

@Discussions

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Sorry for the delay on answering this question. It’s been busy for me of late.
#40
How do you write a good jump scare? (Traditional writing- not episode or with some sort of script)
You want to bring in suspense to the story in order to write a good jump scare. Since, you will be lack ingin visual cues you will need to rely on descriptive details for the reader to get an image in their head. Most times eluding to something that is not visually there for the character can help bring in the jump scare scene. For instance, your character is walking down a hallway. They keep hearing something strange behind a door at the end of the hallway. You will want to emphasize on the sounds that the characters is seeing and hearing without giving away what is really behind the door. You can even have the scare come from a different area entirely then the door. It just depends on how you setup the scene. Foreshadowing is a good tool to use when writing stories with jump scares since it can help the reader remember certain pieces of information that ties into the jump scare. I’ll post some links below for you to checkout.

@Discussions Anymore questions?

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It’s all about suspense and timing. Not indicate that it’s going to happen, but get your viewer or listeners completely hooked to your story.

how a flock of gooses became a jump scare

When I was little, I decided it would ve a fun idea to have a camping trip as a birthday party (we stayed one night). Before we went to bed, we decided to tell a scary story. One of my older friends was going to tell it, and it was about a girl who decided to take a shortcut home over a graveyard because she forgot the time and it was already dark.
When she was walking over it, she suddenly started seeing things, ghosts. And right when he told us: ‘Then suddenly, She heard a sound’, a flock of gooses flew over while quaking so we all started screaming :rofl:

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Thank you, I didn’t have a good example on hand when I made the post.

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Well then I hope my goose stories can help :joy:

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Lol I’m sure they will!

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#41
How do you write a fantasy school with magic?
I would suggest checking out world building guides to help with this. Also, it would be good to take points from Harry Potter, The Magicians, and other shows of that accord. I will put a link below for that list. you want to have order amongst the school so definitely make rules that the students have to follow. The teachers need to a full personalities if they are going to be a constant presence for the story. Take a look at the wikia pages of the shows listed to see what type of classes they taught then incorporate the setup into your classes you make. Now, don’t be nervous this is a time consuming part that will help you in the long run. Research is key when writing about schools.

https://thewritepractice.com/world-building-101/

https://springhole.net/writing/magical-school-development-questions.htm
#42
How do I write a good villain?
It depends on what type of story you are writing. The best way to make a villain is to give the villain a relatable reason for why they act as they do. It’s all about character building. In order to make a good character, you need to make sure it follows the realistic rule. You need to add-in flaws, good points in their personality, background history as to what personality they have. Reader’s do better reading a story to which they understand why the character made this choice. This doesn’t mean everyone will relate to the character but they will at least get an understanding of the character from their choices. I’m connecting some links to outside articles to help you out but I would also suggest checking out these threads when it comes to character building on top of the other links. In all honesty, perusing the roleplay sections character building can be very helpful since it’s the exact same method but you writing versus roleplaying with that character with other people.

https://www.masterclass.com/articles/how-to-write-an-unforgettable-villain-tips-for-writing-a-great-villain-for-your-novel-or-short-story#what-is-a-villain

#43
How do I write a good love interest?
As I pointed out above, this all about character building. I would suggest checking out the threads below to help build your love interest. One thing you do not want to get caught in is making a character who is a bad romantic trope. I will post the thread that goes over that below as well. I do suggest you check out the blog post that the thread is connected to so that you also get Shannii’s point on the subject since my thread is both of our opinions together. Remember the rule of being realistic when it comes to writing characters. The need to have a 3D personality in order to thrive in a story. Don’t forget to add flaws, good traits, the back story to their personality, and lastly a relatable/understanding reason for why they act like that. Check out the links below! I hope they help you out!

https://www.writersdigest.com/write-better-fiction/writing-flawed-characters-love-interest

#44
How do I write a fantasy kingdom?
Alright, so this goes in line with what the questions above go over, World-building guides are the best way to a make fantasy kingdom. Also, I would suggest watching the movies plus tv shows to get a better idea of how the kingdom should be built up like. It also depends on what type of fantasy story you are writing. I would suggest checking out the links below to get a better understanding of how to make a fantasy kingdom.

https://www.syfy.com/syfywire/the-25-best-fantasy-series-of-the-past-25-years

https://writersedit.com/fiction-writing/the-ultimate-guide-to-world-building-how-to-write-fantasy-sci-fi-and-real-life-worlds/

#45
Hello world!I was working on a story for the R&R contest with a writing partner and we were discussing our ideas in an Instagram DM. Unfortunately, it appears that my has partner deleted their Instagram account (without telling me). So I can’t contact them and I have no idea what to do from here. Should I continue to write the story without them? Should I wait to see if they have only temporarily disabled their account? I really do want to keep working on this story, but I worry that they would get upset if they found out I published the story without them. What do you think I should do?
I would suggest you continue on without them for the time being. That way if they do come back on then you can go over what you have written to see if they agree with it. Since you are entering into the R&R contest I highly recommend that you do not pause your writing more than say a week. It’s better to just continue with the writing instead. Also, if you don’t hear from your partner by next week then I would suggest looking for another partner to work with if you don’t feel comfortable writing the story on your own. Your writing buddy should have told you that they were deleting their account so that is on them. They have opted to not keep you in the loop on what is going on. We do have an area where you can request a writing partner to continue the story. I would make a thread in the link below to ask for another partner.

https://forum.shanniiwrites.com/c/request-services/find-a-writing-partner/22

Anyone else has any more questions?

@Discussions

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#46
How do I write an enemies to lovers romance story?
So, I’m not used to writing in this trope but it’s definitely not impossible to do. I would suggest you go through the links below in order to figure out how to write this. I would recommend you go through the worst romance tropes thread and the original blog post for that thread.

Blog link:
https://shanniiwrites.com/2019/03/16/bad-romance-story-tropes-that-make-me-stop-reading/
https://www.dnbryn.com/2018/09/15/writing-relationships-hate-to-love/

#47
how do I describe my non-white character skin tone without coming of as offensive?
Okay, so I actually had to do this myself too. I have a rough example on the thread linked below. I went searching for ways to explain this as well. The goal is to look up words that are synonyms to the main skin colors. This link below helped me out so much when I was writing. I would suggest you check this link out.

my rough description:
https://forum.shanniiwrites.com/t/so-i-need-some-help/20784/11

Life-saver!

#48
How do I make a good best friend for my mc?
Make the friendship realistic. Bring in relatable reasons for the friendship. Check all the links below! You should be able to figure out a good idea of what to do.

Threads to check out:

https://selfpublishinghub.com/how-to-write-realistic-and-relatable-friendships/

Anyone else has questions?

@Discussions

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It’s really simple! (you can dm me if you need help also I just recommend you don’t make either of them abusive but just have a general hate towards each other and then character development- don’t rush it btw)

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#49
For my story there is this guy who is the villian (he isn’t really the villian as he was forced into all this as a young child by the real villian) and he falls in love with the mc- how do I develop their relationship well? (note: they didn’t have the very first best meeting.)
So, this goes hand to hand with the enemies to lover trope. Writing in this trope is difficult but as long as you tackle the gaps you will do great. You’ll want to start off with a bad impression which should be something very relatable for the readers. So, think of something that you really don’t like that would make you hate someone because of that impression. Also, you will want the next few interactions to be the two getting mad at each other. Then you will want to follow those scenes with a situation where both characters have to get everything off their chest which once they do they will realize that they were wrong about each other. The biggest issue when creating this trope in your story is that people tend to pool into the bad trope versus the good trope. You need to make sure the flow between the characters is realistic. Check out the thread plus the other links below to help you out. Let me know if you need any more help.
Threads to check out:

https://www.wonderforest.net/blog-feed/how-to-write-hate-to-love-romance

https://shanniiwrites.com/2019/03/16/bad-romance-story-tropes-that-make-me-stop-reading/

Any questions?
@Discussions
@Writers
@Episodians

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anymore questions? @WolfGamerGirl37

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Yes, but I have to post it when I get off of work tonight.

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#50
I need help deciding whether to write in first person or third person (I am comfortable writing with every point of view except the second person) So can anybody decide for me? Should I write in first person or third person?
It really depends on what type of point you are most comfortable writing in. For instance, I prefer the second-person point of view and the third-person point of view. Since both aren’t as limited as the first-person point of view. If you want to be able to use a lot of description in your writing then I would stick with a second-person or third-person point of view since you can write about what is going on in the scene versus being stuck only going by the narrator’s point of view in the first person. Check out the links below to see which one you would be more comfortable with. If you still have problems with deciding then please send another message through the form or send me a pm. I would be happy to help if you still need it.

First-person
https://www.masterclass.com/articles/what-is-first-person-point-of-view-in-writing-how-to-write-in-first-person-narrative-voice-with-examples#quiz-0

Second-person
https://www.masterclass.com/articles/what-is-second-person-point-of-view-in-writing-how-to-writer-in-second-person-narrative-voice-with-examples#quiz-0

Third-person
https://www.masterclass.com/articles/what-is-third-person-point-of-view-in-writing-how-to-write-in-third-person-narrative-voice-with-examples#quiz-0

Overall article about all three points of views
First Person, Second Person, and Third Person: Point of View | Grammarly.

Any more questions?

@Discussions

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I am comfortable with both! I have no one I am most comfortable with and I need help to decide which one :sob:

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There’s also a forum thread on this too.

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Then I would go with third person point of view. It’s mainly used for novels.

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