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vwie4r | writing_train | 0.88 | How do i start writing as a beginner Hello i recently started being interested in writing i have read lots of Manga (Japanese comic books) but never a story like Harry Potter or other classics and i don't know where to start and what to do even i have some ideas that have been in my mind for so long that i have come up with an beginning and an ending but i have no experience to write anything and i don't even know where to read books online i don't want to spend any money to read books so i need your help in finding good writing YouTubers or videos to know where i have to start and sites to read books for free thank you for reading this | ifq0glb | ifq7557 | 1,657,547,553 | 1,657,550,471 | 24 | 37 | Start reading more of the kinds of books you like, and pay attention to how the stories are structured, how dialogue is written, how the world is built, and all of the mechanics of how the authors put together stories. Study grammar, word usage, and the details of the written word. And then, once you’ve done that, just write. It may not be easy at first, but the more you write, the more comfortable you’ll get and the more you’ll develop your own style and figure out how to say the things you want to say. Also, if you get a local library card, the Overdrive app is great for checking out books electronically without having to go the actual physical library is that’s a barrier for you. Good luck! | Start making Fanfics, I'm pretty sure everyone here's made one, eh fellas? Oneshots or Full Chapter stories, whatever you want, start with that, work your way up till you can finally make an original story for yourself. | 0 | 2,918 | 1.541667 | ||
vwie4r | writing_train | 0.88 | How do i start writing as a beginner Hello i recently started being interested in writing i have read lots of Manga (Japanese comic books) but never a story like Harry Potter or other classics and i don't know where to start and what to do even i have some ideas that have been in my mind for so long that i have come up with an beginning and an ending but i have no experience to write anything and i don't even know where to read books online i don't want to spend any money to read books so i need your help in finding good writing YouTubers or videos to know where i have to start and sites to read books for free thank you for reading this | ifq7557 | ifpznql | 1,657,550,471 | 1,657,547,189 | 37 | 15 | Start making Fanfics, I'm pretty sure everyone here's made one, eh fellas? Oneshots or Full Chapter stories, whatever you want, start with that, work your way up till you can finally make an original story for yourself. | I think reading as much as you can is best. There are lots of fantastic stories in the public domain that are available for free online. Manga isn't a great place to draw from for experience with writing. They're a different medium and excel at different things. | 1 | 3,282 | 2.466667 | ||
vwie4r | writing_train | 0.88 | How do i start writing as a beginner Hello i recently started being interested in writing i have read lots of Manga (Japanese comic books) but never a story like Harry Potter or other classics and i don't know where to start and what to do even i have some ideas that have been in my mind for so long that i have come up with an beginning and an ending but i have no experience to write anything and i don't even know where to read books online i don't want to spend any money to read books so i need your help in finding good writing YouTubers or videos to know where i have to start and sites to read books for free thank you for reading this | ifq7557 | ifq5flv | 1,657,550,471 | 1,657,549,745 | 37 | 9 | Start making Fanfics, I'm pretty sure everyone here's made one, eh fellas? Oneshots or Full Chapter stories, whatever you want, start with that, work your way up till you can finally make an original story for yourself. | YouTube videos have really helped me learn how to write. Overly Sarcastic Productions and Hello Future Me are a couple of my favorites, but Brandon Sanderson's lectures are some of the best. But above all, practice is the most important thing, and anything else can only really supplement that. | 1 | 726 | 4.111111 | ||
vwie4r | writing_train | 0.88 | How do i start writing as a beginner Hello i recently started being interested in writing i have read lots of Manga (Japanese comic books) but never a story like Harry Potter or other classics and i don't know where to start and what to do even i have some ideas that have been in my mind for so long that i have come up with an beginning and an ending but i have no experience to write anything and i don't even know where to read books online i don't want to spend any money to read books so i need your help in finding good writing YouTubers or videos to know where i have to start and sites to read books for free thank you for reading this | ifq7557 | ifq3184 | 1,657,550,471 | 1,657,548,704 | 37 | 8 | Start making Fanfics, I'm pretty sure everyone here's made one, eh fellas? Oneshots or Full Chapter stories, whatever you want, start with that, work your way up till you can finally make an original story for yourself. | Instead of writing full stories, I wrote scenes. It doesn’t need context. 300-500 words isn’t enough to fully characterize people or set the scene but it’s enough to practice how I wrote tone, emotions, and narrations. For example, I’ll write a conversation between two people set in a generic high fantasy prison: one of them is very vocal about their anger and the other is holding back with all their might. I will write dialogue, how the characters move around, and how they interact with their environment. This taught me how to pay attention to the details of the scene. You could also learn about storytelling in general, like movies! They help you understand how to build up to the climax, drop breadcrumbs, timing tense moments, etc. | 1 | 1,767 | 4.625 | ||
vwie4r | writing_train | 0.88 | How do i start writing as a beginner Hello i recently started being interested in writing i have read lots of Manga (Japanese comic books) but never a story like Harry Potter or other classics and i don't know where to start and what to do even i have some ideas that have been in my mind for so long that i have come up with an beginning and an ending but i have no experience to write anything and i don't even know where to read books online i don't want to spend any money to read books so i need your help in finding good writing YouTubers or videos to know where i have to start and sites to read books for free thank you for reading this | ifq62ss | ifq0glb | 1,657,550,022 | 1,657,547,553 | 39 | 24 | z-library. No way this is legal, but it's there, so if you don't have any money you might as well use it. r/suggestmeabook they'll help you find things to read. Dan Harmon's tutorial on story structure. (The guy who created Rick and Morty) K M Weiland is a nice lady. Brandon Sanderson's lecture series. An entire college course by a best-selling Fantasy author. ProWritingAid's grammar checker. Checks your grammar and punctuation. | Start reading more of the kinds of books you like, and pay attention to how the stories are structured, how dialogue is written, how the world is built, and all of the mechanics of how the authors put together stories. Study grammar, word usage, and the details of the written word. And then, once you’ve done that, just write. It may not be easy at first, but the more you write, the more comfortable you’ll get and the more you’ll develop your own style and figure out how to say the things you want to say. Also, if you get a local library card, the Overdrive app is great for checking out books electronically without having to go the actual physical library is that’s a barrier for you. Good luck! | 1 | 2,469 | 1.625 | ||
vwie4r | writing_train | 0.88 | How do i start writing as a beginner Hello i recently started being interested in writing i have read lots of Manga (Japanese comic books) but never a story like Harry Potter or other classics and i don't know where to start and what to do even i have some ideas that have been in my mind for so long that i have come up with an beginning and an ending but i have no experience to write anything and i don't even know where to read books online i don't want to spend any money to read books so i need your help in finding good writing YouTubers or videos to know where i have to start and sites to read books for free thank you for reading this | ifq62ss | ifpznql | 1,657,550,022 | 1,657,547,189 | 39 | 15 | z-library. No way this is legal, but it's there, so if you don't have any money you might as well use it. r/suggestmeabook they'll help you find things to read. Dan Harmon's tutorial on story structure. (The guy who created Rick and Morty) K M Weiland is a nice lady. Brandon Sanderson's lecture series. An entire college course by a best-selling Fantasy author. ProWritingAid's grammar checker. Checks your grammar and punctuation. | I think reading as much as you can is best. There are lots of fantastic stories in the public domain that are available for free online. Manga isn't a great place to draw from for experience with writing. They're a different medium and excel at different things. | 1 | 2,833 | 2.6 | ||
vwie4r | writing_train | 0.88 | How do i start writing as a beginner Hello i recently started being interested in writing i have read lots of Manga (Japanese comic books) but never a story like Harry Potter or other classics and i don't know where to start and what to do even i have some ideas that have been in my mind for so long that i have come up with an beginning and an ending but i have no experience to write anything and i don't even know where to read books online i don't want to spend any money to read books so i need your help in finding good writing YouTubers or videos to know where i have to start and sites to read books for free thank you for reading this | ifq5flv | ifq62ss | 1,657,549,745 | 1,657,550,022 | 9 | 39 | YouTube videos have really helped me learn how to write. Overly Sarcastic Productions and Hello Future Me are a couple of my favorites, but Brandon Sanderson's lectures are some of the best. But above all, practice is the most important thing, and anything else can only really supplement that. | z-library. No way this is legal, but it's there, so if you don't have any money you might as well use it. r/suggestmeabook they'll help you find things to read. Dan Harmon's tutorial on story structure. (The guy who created Rick and Morty) K M Weiland is a nice lady. Brandon Sanderson's lecture series. An entire college course by a best-selling Fantasy author. ProWritingAid's grammar checker. Checks your grammar and punctuation. | 0 | 277 | 4.333333 | ||
vwie4r | writing_train | 0.88 | How do i start writing as a beginner Hello i recently started being interested in writing i have read lots of Manga (Japanese comic books) but never a story like Harry Potter or other classics and i don't know where to start and what to do even i have some ideas that have been in my mind for so long that i have come up with an beginning and an ending but i have no experience to write anything and i don't even know where to read books online i don't want to spend any money to read books so i need your help in finding good writing YouTubers or videos to know where i have to start and sites to read books for free thank you for reading this | ifq62ss | ifq3184 | 1,657,550,022 | 1,657,548,704 | 39 | 8 | z-library. No way this is legal, but it's there, so if you don't have any money you might as well use it. r/suggestmeabook they'll help you find things to read. Dan Harmon's tutorial on story structure. (The guy who created Rick and Morty) K M Weiland is a nice lady. Brandon Sanderson's lecture series. An entire college course by a best-selling Fantasy author. ProWritingAid's grammar checker. Checks your grammar and punctuation. | Instead of writing full stories, I wrote scenes. It doesn’t need context. 300-500 words isn’t enough to fully characterize people or set the scene but it’s enough to practice how I wrote tone, emotions, and narrations. For example, I’ll write a conversation between two people set in a generic high fantasy prison: one of them is very vocal about their anger and the other is holding back with all their might. I will write dialogue, how the characters move around, and how they interact with their environment. This taught me how to pay attention to the details of the scene. You could also learn about storytelling in general, like movies! They help you understand how to build up to the climax, drop breadcrumbs, timing tense moments, etc. | 1 | 1,318 | 4.875 | ||
vwie4r | writing_train | 0.88 | How do i start writing as a beginner Hello i recently started being interested in writing i have read lots of Manga (Japanese comic books) but never a story like Harry Potter or other classics and i don't know where to start and what to do even i have some ideas that have been in my mind for so long that i have come up with an beginning and an ending but i have no experience to write anything and i don't even know where to read books online i don't want to spend any money to read books so i need your help in finding good writing YouTubers or videos to know where i have to start and sites to read books for free thank you for reading this | ifpznql | ifq0glb | 1,657,547,189 | 1,657,547,553 | 15 | 24 | I think reading as much as you can is best. There are lots of fantastic stories in the public domain that are available for free online. Manga isn't a great place to draw from for experience with writing. They're a different medium and excel at different things. | Start reading more of the kinds of books you like, and pay attention to how the stories are structured, how dialogue is written, how the world is built, and all of the mechanics of how the authors put together stories. Study grammar, word usage, and the details of the written word. And then, once you’ve done that, just write. It may not be easy at first, but the more you write, the more comfortable you’ll get and the more you’ll develop your own style and figure out how to say the things you want to say. Also, if you get a local library card, the Overdrive app is great for checking out books electronically without having to go the actual physical library is that’s a barrier for you. Good luck! | 0 | 364 | 1.6 | ||
vwie4r | writing_train | 0.88 | How do i start writing as a beginner Hello i recently started being interested in writing i have read lots of Manga (Japanese comic books) but never a story like Harry Potter or other classics and i don't know where to start and what to do even i have some ideas that have been in my mind for so long that i have come up with an beginning and an ending but i have no experience to write anything and i don't even know where to read books online i don't want to spend any money to read books so i need your help in finding good writing YouTubers or videos to know where i have to start and sites to read books for free thank you for reading this | ifq5flv | ifq3184 | 1,657,549,745 | 1,657,548,704 | 9 | 8 | YouTube videos have really helped me learn how to write. Overly Sarcastic Productions and Hello Future Me are a couple of my favorites, but Brandon Sanderson's lectures are some of the best. But above all, practice is the most important thing, and anything else can only really supplement that. | Instead of writing full stories, I wrote scenes. It doesn’t need context. 300-500 words isn’t enough to fully characterize people or set the scene but it’s enough to practice how I wrote tone, emotions, and narrations. For example, I’ll write a conversation between two people set in a generic high fantasy prison: one of them is very vocal about their anger and the other is holding back with all their might. I will write dialogue, how the characters move around, and how they interact with their environment. This taught me how to pay attention to the details of the scene. You could also learn about storytelling in general, like movies! They help you understand how to build up to the climax, drop breadcrumbs, timing tense moments, etc. | 1 | 1,041 | 1.125 | ||
zoho8v | writing_train | 0.8 | any beginners advice? hi there, i've wanted to get into writing for a bit now but im not sure where to start to be honest. any kind of advice would be helpful really, but whats the easiest genre to make a story out of? how do i make characters that i don't accidentally forget about? how can i develop those characters? how do i make characters and story interesting and original? how do i stick to it? how do i not cringe at everything i try to write? any ideas for a plot and characters would help too. thanks, anything would be helpful! | j0n2gxr | j0n575h | 1,671,316,453 | 1,671,317,660 | 5 | 6 | Your first draft isn’t going to be your masterwork, it’s going to be rough and filled with plot holes, which you’ll identify and correct through the editing process | Read, read, read, write, write, read, read, write, write read some more. | 0 | 1,207 | 1.2 | ||
zoho8v | writing_train | 0.8 | any beginners advice? hi there, i've wanted to get into writing for a bit now but im not sure where to start to be honest. any kind of advice would be helpful really, but whats the easiest genre to make a story out of? how do i make characters that i don't accidentally forget about? how can i develop those characters? how do i make characters and story interesting and original? how do i stick to it? how do i not cringe at everything i try to write? any ideas for a plot and characters would help too. thanks, anything would be helpful! | j0n575h | j0n4hxd | 1,671,317,660 | 1,671,317,349 | 6 | 4 | Read, read, read, write, write, read, read, write, write read some more. | The best exercise I ever got, way back when, was to pull down my favorites and look at their similarities. The exercise was pull your ten favorite novels off the shelf and make them your textbooks. But one of the things that really clarified in grad school is that novels aren’t always what you’re looking at. One of the best writers in my graduate program wrote these amazingly compelling confessional short stories. And the first time I visited her apartment I was stunned by her full on mega library of women’s and young women’s magazines. She had read and distilled thousands of letters to the editor and advice columns into a writing style that caught that emotion. She had done the exercise with her own thing. So it’s about self knowledge. The first step in learning to write is learning what you LOVE. Not just like. Not merely enjoy. What you LOVE enough that you go back to that well again and again. What you can’t be stopped from loving. That’s what you write. You in look in your favorites for six things. You look for plots that you love. What makes a plot your type of plot? You look for the types of characters that you just can’t get enough of. You look for the themes and ideas that move you the most. You look for the kind of structure that you prefer. There are lots of structures but a few get outsized attention. So it’s worth knowing what you love before you get to into reading about story structure. And you look for what kind of language you prefer. Do you like plain language? Do you like poetic language? Do you need words that expand your vocabulary? Do you need the words to essentially be unnoticeable so it never pulls you out of the story enough that you notice the words instead because then you stop reading. Once you have some kind of grasp of what you like, I suggest these books for learning about fiction: https://emptymanuscript.tumblr.com/BookRecs they are purely my suggestions, others may work better for you. You’ll know from your favorites if they can help you or not. After that try looking up some creative writing exercises. Look for things that you can recognize will push you to work on one of the above six things to look for. The reason for exercises is that they’re short and won’t take a huge amount of work to learn a bit. If you particularly like the results of an exercise see if you can think of a way to turn it into a story. And if you ever just have an idea, write it down. The way to get good is lots of writing. Finally, there’s no point in your writing life where you will produce only amazing stuff. Sucking is part of the process. You must write. It will suck. The amazing thing is that you can rewrite. Barely anything you will ever see published hasn’t been rewritten. Rewriting crap into kind of ok and again into good is part of the process. A written piece of cringe is infinitely more valuable than something good in your imagination. Written failures are normal. They’re what lets you write the good stuff. So the way to get over it is to learn to trust yourself that you can and WILL fix it. Which you get by actually doing that. | 1 | 311 | 1.5 | ||
zoho8v | writing_train | 0.8 | any beginners advice? hi there, i've wanted to get into writing for a bit now but im not sure where to start to be honest. any kind of advice would be helpful really, but whats the easiest genre to make a story out of? how do i make characters that i don't accidentally forget about? how can i develop those characters? how do i make characters and story interesting and original? how do i stick to it? how do i not cringe at everything i try to write? any ideas for a plot and characters would help too. thanks, anything would be helpful! | j0n575h | j0n41b7 | 1,671,317,660 | 1,671,317,145 | 6 | 2 | Read, read, read, write, write, read, read, write, write read some more. | HAVE FUN! No but seriously, have fun with it, your readers will be able to tell when you didn't feel like writing. | 1 | 515 | 3 | ||
zoho8v | writing_train | 0.8 | any beginners advice? hi there, i've wanted to get into writing for a bit now but im not sure where to start to be honest. any kind of advice would be helpful really, but whats the easiest genre to make a story out of? how do i make characters that i don't accidentally forget about? how can i develop those characters? how do i make characters and story interesting and original? how do i stick to it? how do i not cringe at everything i try to write? any ideas for a plot and characters would help too. thanks, anything would be helpful! | j0n575h | j0n50kj | 1,671,317,660 | 1,671,317,580 | 6 | 2 | Read, read, read, write, write, read, read, write, write read some more. | The rule "show don't tell" is a bit dumb. It's almost like "i before e except after c", because there are a *lot* of exceptions. Of course, showing is better than telling in certain situations, like if your story was fantasy or high fantasy. But sometimes telling is necessary and less is more. Nobody wants to constantly read big fancy words for each action that happens because your reader will either forget what they're reading about or just not understand what you're trying to say. Do with what you feel comfortable and if your beta readers say that it'd be better if something were described a bit more, I'd say follow that suggestion unless you feel it's wrong for the progression of your story. | 1 | 80 | 3 | ||
zoho8v | writing_train | 0.8 | any beginners advice? hi there, i've wanted to get into writing for a bit now but im not sure where to start to be honest. any kind of advice would be helpful really, but whats the easiest genre to make a story out of? how do i make characters that i don't accidentally forget about? how can i develop those characters? how do i make characters and story interesting and original? how do i stick to it? how do i not cringe at everything i try to write? any ideas for a plot and characters would help too. thanks, anything would be helpful! | j0n41b7 | j0n4hxd | 1,671,317,145 | 1,671,317,349 | 2 | 4 | HAVE FUN! No but seriously, have fun with it, your readers will be able to tell when you didn't feel like writing. | The best exercise I ever got, way back when, was to pull down my favorites and look at their similarities. The exercise was pull your ten favorite novels off the shelf and make them your textbooks. But one of the things that really clarified in grad school is that novels aren’t always what you’re looking at. One of the best writers in my graduate program wrote these amazingly compelling confessional short stories. And the first time I visited her apartment I was stunned by her full on mega library of women’s and young women’s magazines. She had read and distilled thousands of letters to the editor and advice columns into a writing style that caught that emotion. She had done the exercise with her own thing. So it’s about self knowledge. The first step in learning to write is learning what you LOVE. Not just like. Not merely enjoy. What you LOVE enough that you go back to that well again and again. What you can’t be stopped from loving. That’s what you write. You in look in your favorites for six things. You look for plots that you love. What makes a plot your type of plot? You look for the types of characters that you just can’t get enough of. You look for the themes and ideas that move you the most. You look for the kind of structure that you prefer. There are lots of structures but a few get outsized attention. So it’s worth knowing what you love before you get to into reading about story structure. And you look for what kind of language you prefer. Do you like plain language? Do you like poetic language? Do you need words that expand your vocabulary? Do you need the words to essentially be unnoticeable so it never pulls you out of the story enough that you notice the words instead because then you stop reading. Once you have some kind of grasp of what you like, I suggest these books for learning about fiction: https://emptymanuscript.tumblr.com/BookRecs they are purely my suggestions, others may work better for you. You’ll know from your favorites if they can help you or not. After that try looking up some creative writing exercises. Look for things that you can recognize will push you to work on one of the above six things to look for. The reason for exercises is that they’re short and won’t take a huge amount of work to learn a bit. If you particularly like the results of an exercise see if you can think of a way to turn it into a story. And if you ever just have an idea, write it down. The way to get good is lots of writing. Finally, there’s no point in your writing life where you will produce only amazing stuff. Sucking is part of the process. You must write. It will suck. The amazing thing is that you can rewrite. Barely anything you will ever see published hasn’t been rewritten. Rewriting crap into kind of ok and again into good is part of the process. A written piece of cringe is infinitely more valuable than something good in your imagination. Written failures are normal. They’re what lets you write the good stuff. So the way to get over it is to learn to trust yourself that you can and WILL fix it. Which you get by actually doing that. | 0 | 204 | 2 | ||
zoho8v | writing_train | 0.8 | any beginners advice? hi there, i've wanted to get into writing for a bit now but im not sure where to start to be honest. any kind of advice would be helpful really, but whats the easiest genre to make a story out of? how do i make characters that i don't accidentally forget about? how can i develop those characters? how do i make characters and story interesting and original? how do i stick to it? how do i not cringe at everything i try to write? any ideas for a plot and characters would help too. thanks, anything would be helpful! | j0ntu11 | j0n8ffx | 1,671,329,258 | 1,671,319,128 | 2 | 1 | there are some books that can help you start. honestly they're mostly pretty good. find one that appeals to you, don't treat it as gospel, just as advice that works for one type of writer. my advice is when you're starting out, have fun with it and don't worry too much about being great at it. you can learn a lot from just experience. when there is a lot to learn to start out with it can feel overwhelming. think of it kinda like learning art, you don't just start out by trying to paint giant oil paintings. you start with sketches, usually in black and white because colour is also this whole extra thing to learn. if you treat writing the same way you can learn easier. try just stealing an existing story structure and adapting it. try using characters from other media that just 'have the serial numbers filed off.' this will unburden you from a lot of work and let you just write some stories that can be pretty good and get that experience with other things like how to compose sentences and scenes. when you write try to focus on the effect your writing will have, more than how it looks on the page. each word and phrase is a bit like the music notes for a symphony, they're just small symbols by they can have a big awesome effect in our minds when put in the right order! so think about what words and phrases might really do that. chances are if you think it works for you it can work for others. to make a story feel interesting and original try borrowing from a wide variety of sources... if you takes stuff from harry potter, lord of the rings, and ASOIAF, your story won't seem to surprising... if you take some stuff from lotr, terminator, the iliad, and that weird dream you had, it will seem pretty original. i think in general it is more important for a story to feel interesting and fresh at that moment to moment, sentence and paragraph level, than it is for the overall main plot of the story to feel original. to not cringe you may find it beneficial to literally not look as you write. sounds weird but watching yourself type is kind of a weird out of body experience like watching yourself on a tv or hearing your own voice on a recording. reading it will always feel a little weird but you get used to it. when you turn it into something that doesn't make you cringe it's a huge relief lol. i advise you start with small, short projects so you can gain experience editing and polishing and calling a project done and moving on. i like picking one thing you want to focus on learning and doing well for each project and building it around that. eg. if i want to get better at dialogue i'd try coming up with a story that takes place over a phone call. | Think of two characters who don't think alike. Put them in the same room. Make one character get the better of the other. To complicate matters, make one character witty and charismatic but essentially bad, and the other dull and clumsy but essentially good. Hmm...I wonder who's gonna get the pretty girl? | 1 | 10,130 | 2 | ||
zoho8v | writing_train | 0.8 | any beginners advice? hi there, i've wanted to get into writing for a bit now but im not sure where to start to be honest. any kind of advice would be helpful really, but whats the easiest genre to make a story out of? how do i make characters that i don't accidentally forget about? how can i develop those characters? how do i make characters and story interesting and original? how do i stick to it? how do i not cringe at everything i try to write? any ideas for a plot and characters would help too. thanks, anything would be helpful! | j0n8ffx | j0or6ty | 1,671,319,128 | 1,671,348,586 | 1 | 2 | Think of two characters who don't think alike. Put them in the same room. Make one character get the better of the other. To complicate matters, make one character witty and charismatic but essentially bad, and the other dull and clumsy but essentially good. Hmm...I wonder who's gonna get the pretty girl? | I recommend practicing your best writing all the time. I'm not talking about going overboard but using correct capitalization is a start. Care about how your writing comes across to your audience. If you end up as a successful writer, you will have developed a personal skill and style. Practice toward that goal. | 0 | 29,458 | 2 | ||
zoho8v | writing_train | 0.8 | any beginners advice? hi there, i've wanted to get into writing for a bit now but im not sure where to start to be honest. any kind of advice would be helpful really, but whats the easiest genre to make a story out of? how do i make characters that i don't accidentally forget about? how can i develop those characters? how do i make characters and story interesting and original? how do i stick to it? how do i not cringe at everything i try to write? any ideas for a plot and characters would help too. thanks, anything would be helpful! | j0oltfq | j0or6ty | 1,671,344,625 | 1,671,348,586 | 1 | 2 | Writing IS Revision: Enjoy the Process. | I recommend practicing your best writing all the time. I'm not talking about going overboard but using correct capitalization is a start. Care about how your writing comes across to your audience. If you end up as a successful writer, you will have developed a personal skill and style. Practice toward that goal. | 0 | 3,961 | 2 | ||
zoho8v | writing_train | 0.8 | any beginners advice? hi there, i've wanted to get into writing for a bit now but im not sure where to start to be honest. any kind of advice would be helpful really, but whats the easiest genre to make a story out of? how do i make characters that i don't accidentally forget about? how can i develop those characters? how do i make characters and story interesting and original? how do i stick to it? how do i not cringe at everything i try to write? any ideas for a plot and characters would help too. thanks, anything would be helpful! | j0ozqrv | j0n8ffx | 1,671,355,509 | 1,671,319,128 | 2 | 1 | I'd pick a genre that you really enjoy, like fantasy, as you said. Then try to think about why/what about it you like. I myself enjoy murder mystery types, so when I started writing, I went with that. My thought process was, "I like this storyline/plot, but what if this happened instead of this?" My question is, what kind of fantasy do you like? Is it more sci-fi related or magical? Write down the things that you really enjoy, and start from there. Hope this helps! | Think of two characters who don't think alike. Put them in the same room. Make one character get the better of the other. To complicate matters, make one character witty and charismatic but essentially bad, and the other dull and clumsy but essentially good. Hmm...I wonder who's gonna get the pretty girl? | 1 | 36,381 | 2 | ||
zoho8v | writing_train | 0.8 | any beginners advice? hi there, i've wanted to get into writing for a bit now but im not sure where to start to be honest. any kind of advice would be helpful really, but whats the easiest genre to make a story out of? how do i make characters that i don't accidentally forget about? how can i develop those characters? how do i make characters and story interesting and original? how do i stick to it? how do i not cringe at everything i try to write? any ideas for a plot and characters would help too. thanks, anything would be helpful! | j0ozqrv | j0oltfq | 1,671,355,509 | 1,671,344,625 | 2 | 1 | I'd pick a genre that you really enjoy, like fantasy, as you said. Then try to think about why/what about it you like. I myself enjoy murder mystery types, so when I started writing, I went with that. My thought process was, "I like this storyline/plot, but what if this happened instead of this?" My question is, what kind of fantasy do you like? Is it more sci-fi related or magical? Write down the things that you really enjoy, and start from there. Hope this helps! | Writing IS Revision: Enjoy the Process. | 1 | 10,884 | 2 | ||
zoho8v | writing_train | 0.8 | any beginners advice? hi there, i've wanted to get into writing for a bit now but im not sure where to start to be honest. any kind of advice would be helpful really, but whats the easiest genre to make a story out of? how do i make characters that i don't accidentally forget about? how can i develop those characters? how do i make characters and story interesting and original? how do i stick to it? how do i not cringe at everything i try to write? any ideas for a plot and characters would help too. thanks, anything would be helpful! | j0n8ffx | j0p1c1h | 1,671,319,128 | 1,671,356,858 | 1 | 2 | Think of two characters who don't think alike. Put them in the same room. Make one character get the better of the other. To complicate matters, make one character witty and charismatic but essentially bad, and the other dull and clumsy but essentially good. Hmm...I wonder who's gonna get the pretty girl? | This are unpopular but are the cornerstones of my literary career: 1. Find out you wanna do a career on writing (meaning, you are decided on it being a long term goal, being okay with it being a long process and having bad first works until you get better) or do you want to just write for fun or just a single story or whatever. Because the advice changes a lot depending on your path. (Next points only apply for trying to become a good writer over time, if you write for fun and that is it they might not apply) 2. Embrace cringe. Cringe is good. It means that you got better since you wrote that. Assume your first works in general and your first drafts in particular will be cringe or outright bad. THAT IS OKAY BECAUSE THEIR PURPOSE IS NOT TO BE GOOD, IS TO BE WRITTEN. That is why editing exists. 3. Adding to last point: get used to not edit until the draft is finished. That is how you finish a novel. If you edit while writing it... that is what people who never finishes books do. Clench your teeth and keep going. You will edit later after you finish. 4. Find your writing process and develop it. It varies from person to person, mine consists in detailed concepts and outlines that let me write scenes in any order, and keep jumping back and forth in the same scene and connect the fragments later. Writing efficiently means writing more and thus getting better faster. 5. Read a lot, understand the tools of writing and use them to your purposes, not the other way around. 6. Be ready to work on your reception of literary critic: people reading and commenting on your story is always very hard and harmful the first times, always feels like a personal attack. Work on it and deal with it, because harsh feedback from a very avid reader or a good writer on your field will help you improve at huge strides. Plus, some people are very dry/harsh when giving feedback, but that doesn't mean they are not right. This are some tips. Most new writers disregard them just to end up learning them by themselves years later. Do with them what you want, my job here is done. | 0 | 37,730 | 2 | ||
zoho8v | writing_train | 0.8 | any beginners advice? hi there, i've wanted to get into writing for a bit now but im not sure where to start to be honest. any kind of advice would be helpful really, but whats the easiest genre to make a story out of? how do i make characters that i don't accidentally forget about? how can i develop those characters? how do i make characters and story interesting and original? how do i stick to it? how do i not cringe at everything i try to write? any ideas for a plot and characters would help too. thanks, anything would be helpful! | j0p1c1h | j0oltfq | 1,671,356,858 | 1,671,344,625 | 2 | 1 | This are unpopular but are the cornerstones of my literary career: 1. Find out you wanna do a career on writing (meaning, you are decided on it being a long term goal, being okay with it being a long process and having bad first works until you get better) or do you want to just write for fun or just a single story or whatever. Because the advice changes a lot depending on your path. (Next points only apply for trying to become a good writer over time, if you write for fun and that is it they might not apply) 2. Embrace cringe. Cringe is good. It means that you got better since you wrote that. Assume your first works in general and your first drafts in particular will be cringe or outright bad. THAT IS OKAY BECAUSE THEIR PURPOSE IS NOT TO BE GOOD, IS TO BE WRITTEN. That is why editing exists. 3. Adding to last point: get used to not edit until the draft is finished. That is how you finish a novel. If you edit while writing it... that is what people who never finishes books do. Clench your teeth and keep going. You will edit later after you finish. 4. Find your writing process and develop it. It varies from person to person, mine consists in detailed concepts and outlines that let me write scenes in any order, and keep jumping back and forth in the same scene and connect the fragments later. Writing efficiently means writing more and thus getting better faster. 5. Read a lot, understand the tools of writing and use them to your purposes, not the other way around. 6. Be ready to work on your reception of literary critic: people reading and commenting on your story is always very hard and harmful the first times, always feels like a personal attack. Work on it and deal with it, because harsh feedback from a very avid reader or a good writer on your field will help you improve at huge strides. Plus, some people are very dry/harsh when giving feedback, but that doesn't mean they are not right. This are some tips. Most new writers disregard them just to end up learning them by themselves years later. Do with them what you want, my job here is done. | Writing IS Revision: Enjoy the Process. | 1 | 12,233 | 2 | ||
zoho8v | writing_train | 0.8 | any beginners advice? hi there, i've wanted to get into writing for a bit now but im not sure where to start to be honest. any kind of advice would be helpful really, but whats the easiest genre to make a story out of? how do i make characters that i don't accidentally forget about? how can i develop those characters? how do i make characters and story interesting and original? how do i stick to it? how do i not cringe at everything i try to write? any ideas for a plot and characters would help too. thanks, anything would be helpful! | j0pje0p | j0n8ffx | 1,671,370,430 | 1,671,319,128 | 2 | 1 | I can give you some advice for character writing. The Hero's Journey is an outdated guide imo. It still holds true but if you want to truly develop a Character, you shouldn't base it off solely on that. First make the character you want. Then add major flaws. I'm not talking about being clumsy or something. I'm saying stuff like disrespectful towards people, nihilistic, etc. The character you want is the end goal. Add events to chip away at these flaws. Make sure these events are able to open them up to a new perspective or world view. Then you can incorporate new habits they gain after the event. Even some insignificant ones. Like before they wouldn't bat an eye on something that doesn't concern them or isn't their fault but after having their eyes open to pollution and stuff, now they will always pick up any litter on the floor. The small stuff like that. This goes a long way in balancing a character. Make sure to remember change doesn't happen after one climactic event. It happens slowly, it just isn't as visible until after the straw that breaks the camel's back. How to not forget about characters? Make sure you don't get rid of all their flaws if you want to keep them around. A perfect character is uninteresting. When I say perfect that doesn't mean all of them should have the same goal. I'm saying perfect in their own way. Anyways that's all the tips I got! | Think of two characters who don't think alike. Put them in the same room. Make one character get the better of the other. To complicate matters, make one character witty and charismatic but essentially bad, and the other dull and clumsy but essentially good. Hmm...I wonder who's gonna get the pretty girl? | 1 | 51,302 | 2 | ||
zoho8v | writing_train | 0.8 | any beginners advice? hi there, i've wanted to get into writing for a bit now but im not sure where to start to be honest. any kind of advice would be helpful really, but whats the easiest genre to make a story out of? how do i make characters that i don't accidentally forget about? how can i develop those characters? how do i make characters and story interesting and original? how do i stick to it? how do i not cringe at everything i try to write? any ideas for a plot and characters would help too. thanks, anything would be helpful! | j0pje0p | j0oltfq | 1,671,370,430 | 1,671,344,625 | 2 | 1 | I can give you some advice for character writing. The Hero's Journey is an outdated guide imo. It still holds true but if you want to truly develop a Character, you shouldn't base it off solely on that. First make the character you want. Then add major flaws. I'm not talking about being clumsy or something. I'm saying stuff like disrespectful towards people, nihilistic, etc. The character you want is the end goal. Add events to chip away at these flaws. Make sure these events are able to open them up to a new perspective or world view. Then you can incorporate new habits they gain after the event. Even some insignificant ones. Like before they wouldn't bat an eye on something that doesn't concern them or isn't their fault but after having their eyes open to pollution and stuff, now they will always pick up any litter on the floor. The small stuff like that. This goes a long way in balancing a character. Make sure to remember change doesn't happen after one climactic event. It happens slowly, it just isn't as visible until after the straw that breaks the camel's back. How to not forget about characters? Make sure you don't get rid of all their flaws if you want to keep them around. A perfect character is uninteresting. When I say perfect that doesn't mean all of them should have the same goal. I'm saying perfect in their own way. Anyways that's all the tips I got! | Writing IS Revision: Enjoy the Process. | 1 | 25,805 | 2 | ||
zoho8v | writing_train | 0.8 | any beginners advice? hi there, i've wanted to get into writing for a bit now but im not sure where to start to be honest. any kind of advice would be helpful really, but whats the easiest genre to make a story out of? how do i make characters that i don't accidentally forget about? how can i develop those characters? how do i make characters and story interesting and original? how do i stick to it? how do i not cringe at everything i try to write? any ideas for a plot and characters would help too. thanks, anything would be helpful! | j0q3zzl | j0n8ffx | 1,671,380,189 | 1,671,319,128 | 2 | 1 | - Use story prompts/starters if you can't come up with anything. - Use story and character outlines to brainstorm/organize your ideas for them. - Read a lot. Many people avoid this because they don't want to unintentionally plagiarize, but this will really help improve your writing. - Write first, edit later. (I still struggle with this) It doesn't have to be perfect. Focus on getting a first draft done, then you can edit later on. - Take a course. Reedsy offers many free 10-day courses on things like creating characters, writing dialogue, etc. I've noticed an improvement in my writing ever since I started taking advantage. - Read or watch videos on writing. Just like the courses, these will help you build your skill. - Set aside time to write. The first step to getting anything done is to set aside time for it. | Think of two characters who don't think alike. Put them in the same room. Make one character get the better of the other. To complicate matters, make one character witty and charismatic but essentially bad, and the other dull and clumsy but essentially good. Hmm...I wonder who's gonna get the pretty girl? | 1 | 61,061 | 2 | ||
zoho8v | writing_train | 0.8 | any beginners advice? hi there, i've wanted to get into writing for a bit now but im not sure where to start to be honest. any kind of advice would be helpful really, but whats the easiest genre to make a story out of? how do i make characters that i don't accidentally forget about? how can i develop those characters? how do i make characters and story interesting and original? how do i stick to it? how do i not cringe at everything i try to write? any ideas for a plot and characters would help too. thanks, anything would be helpful! | j0oltfq | j0q3zzl | 1,671,344,625 | 1,671,380,189 | 1 | 2 | Writing IS Revision: Enjoy the Process. | - Use story prompts/starters if you can't come up with anything. - Use story and character outlines to brainstorm/organize your ideas for them. - Read a lot. Many people avoid this because they don't want to unintentionally plagiarize, but this will really help improve your writing. - Write first, edit later. (I still struggle with this) It doesn't have to be perfect. Focus on getting a first draft done, then you can edit later on. - Take a course. Reedsy offers many free 10-day courses on things like creating characters, writing dialogue, etc. I've noticed an improvement in my writing ever since I started taking advantage. - Read or watch videos on writing. Just like the courses, these will help you build your skill. - Set aside time to write. The first step to getting anything done is to set aside time for it. | 0 | 35,564 | 2 | ||
yqkwnn | writing_train | 0.77 | A new beginner at creative writing asking for advice I did go to some creative writing courses and i was told that i have a lot of potential. I have an aspiring motivation to become a writer and write a novel. What are some of the advices you can give me? | ivotzpr | ivoyxws | 1,668,006,301 | 1,668,008,305 | 2 | 3 | Read in and outside your genre. Read with the writing in mind, not just as a reader. What works for the plot, characters, prose etc. What do you like or dislike and why? Read good *and bad* books. Form a habit of writing that suits your schedule. | People are always going to look down on you as a creative writer so always be prepared for a backlash. Try drawing out your scenes it does help. Practice mapping out your scenes, like beat sheets. No one is perfect with grammar. Keep that in your head. | 0 | 2,004 | 1.5 | ||
8b1y9e | writing_train | 0.81 | I'm not very witty, but I want one of my characters to be witty. Does anyone have any advice as to how to go about this? Is it something that should be attempting or should I stick to a dialogue style I'm more familiar with? | dx3enoj | dx3bkh2 | 1,523,311,611 | 1,523,308,741 | 10 | 6 | Have you ever been in a conversation where you didn't have the right words? But then later you're sitting at home and you think, "damn I should've said this or that"? This is the same thing. You get to use that 'after the fact' comeback or joke or quip. You personally don't need to be witty. | Find your witty friends, sit next to them, and write down what makes you laugh. Nothing like real life for inspiration. Have fun and good luck! | 1 | 2,870 | 1.666667 | ||
8b1y9e | writing_train | 0.81 | I'm not very witty, but I want one of my characters to be witty. Does anyone have any advice as to how to go about this? Is it something that should be attempting or should I stick to a dialogue style I'm more familiar with? | dx3enoj | dx3bui5 | 1,523,311,611 | 1,523,308,998 | 10 | 4 | Have you ever been in a conversation where you didn't have the right words? But then later you're sitting at home and you think, "damn I should've said this or that"? This is the same thing. You get to use that 'after the fact' comeback or joke or quip. You personally don't need to be witty. | A bonus of writing is the fact that you don't have to be witty to create witty characters. You get to go back and re-work the conversations, test out a load of different responses before you put them in front of an audience, so you can figure out what would be the most witty response in a conversation and put it in way after you've first written it, then when your readers get to that bit it'll seem like the character's just come up with it off the cuff. Relevant Blackadder reference: > Mr Pants: [laughing] You've really worked out your banter, haven't you? > Blackadder: No, not really. This is a different thing; it's spontaneous and it's called wit. You can work out the banter of your characters so that it seems spontaneous. | 1 | 2,613 | 2.5 | ||
8b1y9e | writing_train | 0.81 | I'm not very witty, but I want one of my characters to be witty. Does anyone have any advice as to how to go about this? Is it something that should be attempting or should I stick to a dialogue style I'm more familiar with? | dx3enoj | dx3bnpi | 1,523,311,611 | 1,523,308,824 | 10 | 3 | Have you ever been in a conversation where you didn't have the right words? But then later you're sitting at home and you think, "damn I should've said this or that"? This is the same thing. You get to use that 'after the fact' comeback or joke or quip. You personally don't need to be witty. | The benefit of writing things down is we can keep working them until they're perfect. Write a scratch version out, then do some reading and listening and watching - Oscar Wilde, Jerry Seinfeld, Dave Barry... get yourself in the right frame of mind and come back to the scratch version to class the joint up a bit. | 1 | 2,787 | 3.333333 | ||
8b1y9e | writing_train | 0.81 | I'm not very witty, but I want one of my characters to be witty. Does anyone have any advice as to how to go about this? Is it something that should be attempting or should I stick to a dialogue style I'm more familiar with? | dx3f9g3 | dx3bui5 | 1,523,312,193 | 1,523,308,998 | 5 | 4 | This is THE hardest thing in writing. > I'm not <blank> but I want a character to be <blank> For wit (and I assume you mean the more common use, of someone being funny and to the point) you have one huge advantage over a real person trying to be witty - time to think of the right comeback or comment. If you need them to be GENERICALLY witty, as in, just say something funny without moving the plot forward via their wit, then this is fine. If however you need to write Tyrion Lannister... I suggest you just don't. | A bonus of writing is the fact that you don't have to be witty to create witty characters. You get to go back and re-work the conversations, test out a load of different responses before you put them in front of an audience, so you can figure out what would be the most witty response in a conversation and put it in way after you've first written it, then when your readers get to that bit it'll seem like the character's just come up with it off the cuff. Relevant Blackadder reference: > Mr Pants: [laughing] You've really worked out your banter, haven't you? > Blackadder: No, not really. This is a different thing; it's spontaneous and it's called wit. You can work out the banter of your characters so that it seems spontaneous. | 1 | 3,195 | 1.25 | ||
8b1y9e | writing_train | 0.81 | I'm not very witty, but I want one of my characters to be witty. Does anyone have any advice as to how to go about this? Is it something that should be attempting or should I stick to a dialogue style I'm more familiar with? | dx3bui5 | dx3bnpi | 1,523,308,998 | 1,523,308,824 | 4 | 3 | A bonus of writing is the fact that you don't have to be witty to create witty characters. You get to go back and re-work the conversations, test out a load of different responses before you put them in front of an audience, so you can figure out what would be the most witty response in a conversation and put it in way after you've first written it, then when your readers get to that bit it'll seem like the character's just come up with it off the cuff. Relevant Blackadder reference: > Mr Pants: [laughing] You've really worked out your banter, haven't you? > Blackadder: No, not really. This is a different thing; it's spontaneous and it's called wit. You can work out the banter of your characters so that it seems spontaneous. | The benefit of writing things down is we can keep working them until they're perfect. Write a scratch version out, then do some reading and listening and watching - Oscar Wilde, Jerry Seinfeld, Dave Barry... get yourself in the right frame of mind and come back to the scratch version to class the joint up a bit. | 1 | 174 | 1.333333 | ||
8b1y9e | writing_train | 0.81 | I'm not very witty, but I want one of my characters to be witty. Does anyone have any advice as to how to go about this? Is it something that should be attempting or should I stick to a dialogue style I'm more familiar with? | dx3bnpi | dx3f9g3 | 1,523,308,824 | 1,523,312,193 | 3 | 5 | The benefit of writing things down is we can keep working them until they're perfect. Write a scratch version out, then do some reading and listening and watching - Oscar Wilde, Jerry Seinfeld, Dave Barry... get yourself in the right frame of mind and come back to the scratch version to class the joint up a bit. | This is THE hardest thing in writing. > I'm not <blank> but I want a character to be <blank> For wit (and I assume you mean the more common use, of someone being funny and to the point) you have one huge advantage over a real person trying to be witty - time to think of the right comeback or comment. If you need them to be GENERICALLY witty, as in, just say something funny without moving the plot forward via their wit, then this is fine. If however you need to write Tyrion Lannister... I suggest you just don't. | 0 | 3,369 | 1.666667 | ||
kjforc | writing_train | 0.98 | Does anyone have any tips for writing technical documentation for large complex systems? I’m a software engineer that has taken a bigger role in writing technical documentation for my team. When I first started, there was little to no documentation about their systems. The systems themselves are enormous and consist of several sub systems as well. Many of the engineers say they used to have technical documentation but then they switched repositories and it got lost. I’ve heard this is pretty typical in the tech field, but I definitely don’t think it has to be that way. In school I did pretty well in creative and technical writing, so I know I have the ability. It’s just the content at my work is so overwhelming, and it’s hard to pick a place to start. Most of this documentation I am writing is for new people or anyone outside of our team that needs help. I don’t want people to feel what I did coming in, total and utter confusion, and so that has been my motivation. So far, I have been able to write out some documentation, but a lot of it is conditional and based on certain scenarios when in reality there could be many. I’ve tried just focusing on higher level documentation, but it always seems like it’s not enough information. I’ve created diagrams and written process documents and for the most part those are helpful. But like I said there’s chunks of the system that are so large, it’s really difficult to hone down on. Plus the systems tend to change frequently which creates the need for more document management. I’ve kept a OneNote, which I like for the search functionality, and I try to document everything I learn in there. It’s a jumbled mess though right now, if I didn’t have the search function I’d be screwed honestly. The new coworkers of mine really like it though and have said that it has helped them a lot. I just know that it could definitely be better, I just don’t know how to go about it. So if anyone has any tips at all, I would love to hear them. With the Holiday break, I’m motivated to really take the technical documentation to the next level. Thank you everyone! | ggwy1d4 | ggws9sp | 1,608,831,299 | 1,608,828,069 | 3 | 1 | Feedback is key. Give a draft to someone who would be a target reader. If they have questions about your system after reading the document, you can answer in your next draft. If the answer is already in your documentation, you may need to rethink on where that info is. For me, technical docs are all about understanding a system, and having a reference of information about the system that’s easy to index. | I work in a company that has such documentation that is used both for training new hires and training clients who buy the software. The system they use is splitting the system into different modules of study and breaking down the actual processes into manageable subsections, which it sounds like you’re doing. They then take those concepts and put them into a search engine article style for clients or coworkers that need a fast answer to something specific. The product I work on is 5 years old, and they’re still adding documentation, so it’s definitely a process. They also utilize different teaching techniques like video demonstrations and simulations. | 1 | 3,230 | 3 | ||
kjforc | writing_train | 0.98 | Does anyone have any tips for writing technical documentation for large complex systems? I’m a software engineer that has taken a bigger role in writing technical documentation for my team. When I first started, there was little to no documentation about their systems. The systems themselves are enormous and consist of several sub systems as well. Many of the engineers say they used to have technical documentation but then they switched repositories and it got lost. I’ve heard this is pretty typical in the tech field, but I definitely don’t think it has to be that way. In school I did pretty well in creative and technical writing, so I know I have the ability. It’s just the content at my work is so overwhelming, and it’s hard to pick a place to start. Most of this documentation I am writing is for new people or anyone outside of our team that needs help. I don’t want people to feel what I did coming in, total and utter confusion, and so that has been my motivation. So far, I have been able to write out some documentation, but a lot of it is conditional and based on certain scenarios when in reality there could be many. I’ve tried just focusing on higher level documentation, but it always seems like it’s not enough information. I’ve created diagrams and written process documents and for the most part those are helpful. But like I said there’s chunks of the system that are so large, it’s really difficult to hone down on. Plus the systems tend to change frequently which creates the need for more document management. I’ve kept a OneNote, which I like for the search functionality, and I try to document everything I learn in there. It’s a jumbled mess though right now, if I didn’t have the search function I’d be screwed honestly. The new coworkers of mine really like it though and have said that it has helped them a lot. I just know that it could definitely be better, I just don’t know how to go about it. So if anyone has any tips at all, I would love to hear them. With the Holiday break, I’m motivated to really take the technical documentation to the next level. Thank you everyone! | ggwy1d4 | ggwtfb0 | 1,608,831,299 | 1,608,828,716 | 3 | 1 | Feedback is key. Give a draft to someone who would be a target reader. If they have questions about your system after reading the document, you can answer in your next draft. If the answer is already in your documentation, you may need to rethink on where that info is. For me, technical docs are all about understanding a system, and having a reference of information about the system that’s easy to index. | I've been through this exercise and it's awful to be in that position. What we did was start with the most common use case of our suite of apps. Detail all the pieces front to back with a higher level flow diagram then explode each box of the high level flow diagram until we were able to track the individual unit of work all the way through with the documentation. Then we moved to the edge cases. Next we also documented the other parts of the sdlc for those apps. Like testing and release processes. | 1 | 2,583 | 3 | ||
kjforc | writing_train | 0.98 | Does anyone have any tips for writing technical documentation for large complex systems? I’m a software engineer that has taken a bigger role in writing technical documentation for my team. When I first started, there was little to no documentation about their systems. The systems themselves are enormous and consist of several sub systems as well. Many of the engineers say they used to have technical documentation but then they switched repositories and it got lost. I’ve heard this is pretty typical in the tech field, but I definitely don’t think it has to be that way. In school I did pretty well in creative and technical writing, so I know I have the ability. It’s just the content at my work is so overwhelming, and it’s hard to pick a place to start. Most of this documentation I am writing is for new people or anyone outside of our team that needs help. I don’t want people to feel what I did coming in, total and utter confusion, and so that has been my motivation. So far, I have been able to write out some documentation, but a lot of it is conditional and based on certain scenarios when in reality there could be many. I’ve tried just focusing on higher level documentation, but it always seems like it’s not enough information. I’ve created diagrams and written process documents and for the most part those are helpful. But like I said there’s chunks of the system that are so large, it’s really difficult to hone down on. Plus the systems tend to change frequently which creates the need for more document management. I’ve kept a OneNote, which I like for the search functionality, and I try to document everything I learn in there. It’s a jumbled mess though right now, if I didn’t have the search function I’d be screwed honestly. The new coworkers of mine really like it though and have said that it has helped them a lot. I just know that it could definitely be better, I just don’t know how to go about it. So if anyone has any tips at all, I would love to hear them. With the Holiday break, I’m motivated to really take the technical documentation to the next level. Thank you everyone! | ggx0bfw | ggxcd03 | 1,608,832,582 | 1,608,839,534 | 2 | 3 | I am a technical writer and write documentation for very large and complex test stations. But I’m not sure how to start answering your question. Ours start pretty much like any documentations: system requirements, certifications, safety stuff. Then on/off. Then more complicated all the way down to custom stuff. At the very end is versioning. | I try to think what would help someone new to the team or product. What is general enough for everyone to know, and what is specialized knowledge? I start with general knowledge and what sets this product apart from others (Scrivener is a writing tool that does X, Y, and Z). I then break it down into coherent, independent chunks, ordered by prerequisites and grouped by concern. Often these are separate docs, but I include another high level blurb before linking somewhere else. For some general advice, look at some Wikipedia articles or nonfiction books about something niche. The structure usually goes: 1. General overview - the reader should be able to quickly know if this is relevant to them; should have table of contents 2. Trunk to leaves structure with subsections (high level overview of a component, then into specifics as you go down in headings) 3. Additional reading within the system 4. External resources I include a table of contents. > used to have technical documentation The documentation that gets used gets updated, and if you can force it to be updated during the development process, it'll remain useful and people will want to use it more. I don't know your position within the company, but maybe talk to the technical lead over whatever project you're working on (or if that's you, talk to your team) and get "updating docs" to become a required part of the development process. Here's a checklist of things that should happen before changes are submitted: - automated test, or at least documentation on how to manually test it - updated documentation (internal and external) - code style updates After that, there should be a code review, which checks the above, as well as consistency between the code and the original change request. All of that should be linked from wherever the code is reviewed. Do that and the documentation will improve organically, and anything you do well be appreciated by the team since it reduces their workload (they have to document less). This worked for me and my team. | 0 | 6,952 | 1.5 | ||
kjforc | writing_train | 0.98 | Does anyone have any tips for writing technical documentation for large complex systems? I’m a software engineer that has taken a bigger role in writing technical documentation for my team. When I first started, there was little to no documentation about their systems. The systems themselves are enormous and consist of several sub systems as well. Many of the engineers say they used to have technical documentation but then they switched repositories and it got lost. I’ve heard this is pretty typical in the tech field, but I definitely don’t think it has to be that way. In school I did pretty well in creative and technical writing, so I know I have the ability. It’s just the content at my work is so overwhelming, and it’s hard to pick a place to start. Most of this documentation I am writing is for new people or anyone outside of our team that needs help. I don’t want people to feel what I did coming in, total and utter confusion, and so that has been my motivation. So far, I have been able to write out some documentation, but a lot of it is conditional and based on certain scenarios when in reality there could be many. I’ve tried just focusing on higher level documentation, but it always seems like it’s not enough information. I’ve created diagrams and written process documents and for the most part those are helpful. But like I said there’s chunks of the system that are so large, it’s really difficult to hone down on. Plus the systems tend to change frequently which creates the need for more document management. I’ve kept a OneNote, which I like for the search functionality, and I try to document everything I learn in there. It’s a jumbled mess though right now, if I didn’t have the search function I’d be screwed honestly. The new coworkers of mine really like it though and have said that it has helped them a lot. I just know that it could definitely be better, I just don’t know how to go about it. So if anyone has any tips at all, I would love to hear them. With the Holiday break, I’m motivated to really take the technical documentation to the next level. Thank you everyone! | ggxcd03 | ggx38y9 | 1,608,839,534 | 1,608,834,235 | 3 | 2 | I try to think what would help someone new to the team or product. What is general enough for everyone to know, and what is specialized knowledge? I start with general knowledge and what sets this product apart from others (Scrivener is a writing tool that does X, Y, and Z). I then break it down into coherent, independent chunks, ordered by prerequisites and grouped by concern. Often these are separate docs, but I include another high level blurb before linking somewhere else. For some general advice, look at some Wikipedia articles or nonfiction books about something niche. The structure usually goes: 1. General overview - the reader should be able to quickly know if this is relevant to them; should have table of contents 2. Trunk to leaves structure with subsections (high level overview of a component, then into specifics as you go down in headings) 3. Additional reading within the system 4. External resources I include a table of contents. > used to have technical documentation The documentation that gets used gets updated, and if you can force it to be updated during the development process, it'll remain useful and people will want to use it more. I don't know your position within the company, but maybe talk to the technical lead over whatever project you're working on (or if that's you, talk to your team) and get "updating docs" to become a required part of the development process. Here's a checklist of things that should happen before changes are submitted: - automated test, or at least documentation on how to manually test it - updated documentation (internal and external) - code style updates After that, there should be a code review, which checks the above, as well as consistency between the code and the original change request. All of that should be linked from wherever the code is reviewed. Do that and the documentation will improve organically, and anything you do well be appreciated by the team since it reduces their workload (they have to document less). This worked for me and my team. | Hiya When I do it I always start with high-level flow charts. The goal just being to figure out where all the different parts are delineated. Once you know that, then you can start defining shared terms. (e.g. any connection points or data that flows between the modules). Define those in a top-level document which would be the starting point for anyone going in. And add to that doc as you go. It's important to remember that editing is how you're going to get through this, so don't waste your time trying to perfect the documents right off the bat. Just get a general idea down on metaphorical paper. Later you bring in the SMEs to clarify the modules and add details. Once you have the top doc, and the highest-level flow which defines the parts, then you can start making the flows for the parts. If it's as complicated as you describe, you will almost definitely have to go back and edit the top flow and top doc, but this is a good thing, it means you're getting more accurate. And whatever you do, track the revisions of all these documents. | 1 | 5,299 | 1.5 | ||
kjforc | writing_train | 0.98 | Does anyone have any tips for writing technical documentation for large complex systems? I’m a software engineer that has taken a bigger role in writing technical documentation for my team. When I first started, there was little to no documentation about their systems. The systems themselves are enormous and consist of several sub systems as well. Many of the engineers say they used to have technical documentation but then they switched repositories and it got lost. I’ve heard this is pretty typical in the tech field, but I definitely don’t think it has to be that way. In school I did pretty well in creative and technical writing, so I know I have the ability. It’s just the content at my work is so overwhelming, and it’s hard to pick a place to start. Most of this documentation I am writing is for new people or anyone outside of our team that needs help. I don’t want people to feel what I did coming in, total and utter confusion, and so that has been my motivation. So far, I have been able to write out some documentation, but a lot of it is conditional and based on certain scenarios when in reality there could be many. I’ve tried just focusing on higher level documentation, but it always seems like it’s not enough information. I’ve created diagrams and written process documents and for the most part those are helpful. But like I said there’s chunks of the system that are so large, it’s really difficult to hone down on. Plus the systems tend to change frequently which creates the need for more document management. I’ve kept a OneNote, which I like for the search functionality, and I try to document everything I learn in there. It’s a jumbled mess though right now, if I didn’t have the search function I’d be screwed honestly. The new coworkers of mine really like it though and have said that it has helped them a lot. I just know that it could definitely be better, I just don’t know how to go about it. So if anyone has any tips at all, I would love to hear them. With the Holiday break, I’m motivated to really take the technical documentation to the next level. Thank you everyone! | ggxcd03 | ggx9xcc | 1,608,839,534 | 1,608,838,114 | 3 | 2 | I try to think what would help someone new to the team or product. What is general enough for everyone to know, and what is specialized knowledge? I start with general knowledge and what sets this product apart from others (Scrivener is a writing tool that does X, Y, and Z). I then break it down into coherent, independent chunks, ordered by prerequisites and grouped by concern. Often these are separate docs, but I include another high level blurb before linking somewhere else. For some general advice, look at some Wikipedia articles or nonfiction books about something niche. The structure usually goes: 1. General overview - the reader should be able to quickly know if this is relevant to them; should have table of contents 2. Trunk to leaves structure with subsections (high level overview of a component, then into specifics as you go down in headings) 3. Additional reading within the system 4. External resources I include a table of contents. > used to have technical documentation The documentation that gets used gets updated, and if you can force it to be updated during the development process, it'll remain useful and people will want to use it more. I don't know your position within the company, but maybe talk to the technical lead over whatever project you're working on (or if that's you, talk to your team) and get "updating docs" to become a required part of the development process. Here's a checklist of things that should happen before changes are submitted: - automated test, or at least documentation on how to manually test it - updated documentation (internal and external) - code style updates After that, there should be a code review, which checks the above, as well as consistency between the code and the original change request. All of that should be linked from wherever the code is reviewed. Do that and the documentation will improve organically, and anything you do well be appreciated by the team since it reduces their workload (they have to document less). This worked for me and my team. | this is sort of my area of expertise (i work in software QA and sometimes proofread tech docs, and a lot of what i do is write internal process docs). the number one most important thing is to be aware of the intended audience and make sure everything in that document is geared towards that intended audience. who is going to read this and what will they actually want to know? and what actions are they going to want to take based on that knowledge? that is how you answer the “is this enough information” question. especially for internal documents, make sure you are giving context so the reader understands why they might need this information. less is usually more. (also especially for internal documents.) if it’s too long, no one is going to read it and it becomes useless. if someone needs more details on something, they can ask. you generally ought to focus on making sure they have the context for them to understand what they don’t know and start asking the right questions to fill in those gaps. also, since you mentioned that the system changes a lot, be careful about what you include. it is often worse to have the wrong information than no information. use that to help guide the level of detail. | 1 | 1,420 | 1.5 | ||
kjforc | writing_train | 0.98 | Does anyone have any tips for writing technical documentation for large complex systems? I’m a software engineer that has taken a bigger role in writing technical documentation for my team. When I first started, there was little to no documentation about their systems. The systems themselves are enormous and consist of several sub systems as well. Many of the engineers say they used to have technical documentation but then they switched repositories and it got lost. I’ve heard this is pretty typical in the tech field, but I definitely don’t think it has to be that way. In school I did pretty well in creative and technical writing, so I know I have the ability. It’s just the content at my work is so overwhelming, and it’s hard to pick a place to start. Most of this documentation I am writing is for new people or anyone outside of our team that needs help. I don’t want people to feel what I did coming in, total and utter confusion, and so that has been my motivation. So far, I have been able to write out some documentation, but a lot of it is conditional and based on certain scenarios when in reality there could be many. I’ve tried just focusing on higher level documentation, but it always seems like it’s not enough information. I’ve created diagrams and written process documents and for the most part those are helpful. But like I said there’s chunks of the system that are so large, it’s really difficult to hone down on. Plus the systems tend to change frequently which creates the need for more document management. I’ve kept a OneNote, which I like for the search functionality, and I try to document everything I learn in there. It’s a jumbled mess though right now, if I didn’t have the search function I’d be screwed honestly. The new coworkers of mine really like it though and have said that it has helped them a lot. I just know that it could definitely be better, I just don’t know how to go about it. So if anyone has any tips at all, I would love to hear them. With the Holiday break, I’m motivated to really take the technical documentation to the next level. Thank you everyone! | ggws9sp | ggxcd03 | 1,608,828,069 | 1,608,839,534 | 1 | 3 | I work in a company that has such documentation that is used both for training new hires and training clients who buy the software. The system they use is splitting the system into different modules of study and breaking down the actual processes into manageable subsections, which it sounds like you’re doing. They then take those concepts and put them into a search engine article style for clients or coworkers that need a fast answer to something specific. The product I work on is 5 years old, and they’re still adding documentation, so it’s definitely a process. They also utilize different teaching techniques like video demonstrations and simulations. | I try to think what would help someone new to the team or product. What is general enough for everyone to know, and what is specialized knowledge? I start with general knowledge and what sets this product apart from others (Scrivener is a writing tool that does X, Y, and Z). I then break it down into coherent, independent chunks, ordered by prerequisites and grouped by concern. Often these are separate docs, but I include another high level blurb before linking somewhere else. For some general advice, look at some Wikipedia articles or nonfiction books about something niche. The structure usually goes: 1. General overview - the reader should be able to quickly know if this is relevant to them; should have table of contents 2. Trunk to leaves structure with subsections (high level overview of a component, then into specifics as you go down in headings) 3. Additional reading within the system 4. External resources I include a table of contents. > used to have technical documentation The documentation that gets used gets updated, and if you can force it to be updated during the development process, it'll remain useful and people will want to use it more. I don't know your position within the company, but maybe talk to the technical lead over whatever project you're working on (or if that's you, talk to your team) and get "updating docs" to become a required part of the development process. Here's a checklist of things that should happen before changes are submitted: - automated test, or at least documentation on how to manually test it - updated documentation (internal and external) - code style updates After that, there should be a code review, which checks the above, as well as consistency between the code and the original change request. All of that should be linked from wherever the code is reviewed. Do that and the documentation will improve organically, and anything you do well be appreciated by the team since it reduces their workload (they have to document less). This worked for me and my team. | 0 | 11,465 | 3 | ||
kjforc | writing_train | 0.98 | Does anyone have any tips for writing technical documentation for large complex systems? I’m a software engineer that has taken a bigger role in writing technical documentation for my team. When I first started, there was little to no documentation about their systems. The systems themselves are enormous and consist of several sub systems as well. Many of the engineers say they used to have technical documentation but then they switched repositories and it got lost. I’ve heard this is pretty typical in the tech field, but I definitely don’t think it has to be that way. In school I did pretty well in creative and technical writing, so I know I have the ability. It’s just the content at my work is so overwhelming, and it’s hard to pick a place to start. Most of this documentation I am writing is for new people or anyone outside of our team that needs help. I don’t want people to feel what I did coming in, total and utter confusion, and so that has been my motivation. So far, I have been able to write out some documentation, but a lot of it is conditional and based on certain scenarios when in reality there could be many. I’ve tried just focusing on higher level documentation, but it always seems like it’s not enough information. I’ve created diagrams and written process documents and for the most part those are helpful. But like I said there’s chunks of the system that are so large, it’s really difficult to hone down on. Plus the systems tend to change frequently which creates the need for more document management. I’ve kept a OneNote, which I like for the search functionality, and I try to document everything I learn in there. It’s a jumbled mess though right now, if I didn’t have the search function I’d be screwed honestly. The new coworkers of mine really like it though and have said that it has helped them a lot. I just know that it could definitely be better, I just don’t know how to go about it. So if anyone has any tips at all, I would love to hear them. With the Holiday break, I’m motivated to really take the technical documentation to the next level. Thank you everyone! | ggxcd03 | ggwtfb0 | 1,608,839,534 | 1,608,828,716 | 3 | 1 | I try to think what would help someone new to the team or product. What is general enough for everyone to know, and what is specialized knowledge? I start with general knowledge and what sets this product apart from others (Scrivener is a writing tool that does X, Y, and Z). I then break it down into coherent, independent chunks, ordered by prerequisites and grouped by concern. Often these are separate docs, but I include another high level blurb before linking somewhere else. For some general advice, look at some Wikipedia articles or nonfiction books about something niche. The structure usually goes: 1. General overview - the reader should be able to quickly know if this is relevant to them; should have table of contents 2. Trunk to leaves structure with subsections (high level overview of a component, then into specifics as you go down in headings) 3. Additional reading within the system 4. External resources I include a table of contents. > used to have technical documentation The documentation that gets used gets updated, and if you can force it to be updated during the development process, it'll remain useful and people will want to use it more. I don't know your position within the company, but maybe talk to the technical lead over whatever project you're working on (or if that's you, talk to your team) and get "updating docs" to become a required part of the development process. Here's a checklist of things that should happen before changes are submitted: - automated test, or at least documentation on how to manually test it - updated documentation (internal and external) - code style updates After that, there should be a code review, which checks the above, as well as consistency between the code and the original change request. All of that should be linked from wherever the code is reviewed. Do that and the documentation will improve organically, and anything you do well be appreciated by the team since it reduces their workload (they have to document less). This worked for me and my team. | I've been through this exercise and it's awful to be in that position. What we did was start with the most common use case of our suite of apps. Detail all the pieces front to back with a higher level flow diagram then explode each box of the high level flow diagram until we were able to track the individual unit of work all the way through with the documentation. Then we moved to the edge cases. Next we also documented the other parts of the sdlc for those apps. Like testing and release processes. | 1 | 10,818 | 3 | ||
kjforc | writing_train | 0.98 | Does anyone have any tips for writing technical documentation for large complex systems? I’m a software engineer that has taken a bigger role in writing technical documentation for my team. When I first started, there was little to no documentation about their systems. The systems themselves are enormous and consist of several sub systems as well. Many of the engineers say they used to have technical documentation but then they switched repositories and it got lost. I’ve heard this is pretty typical in the tech field, but I definitely don’t think it has to be that way. In school I did pretty well in creative and technical writing, so I know I have the ability. It’s just the content at my work is so overwhelming, and it’s hard to pick a place to start. Most of this documentation I am writing is for new people or anyone outside of our team that needs help. I don’t want people to feel what I did coming in, total and utter confusion, and so that has been my motivation. So far, I have been able to write out some documentation, but a lot of it is conditional and based on certain scenarios when in reality there could be many. I’ve tried just focusing on higher level documentation, but it always seems like it’s not enough information. I’ve created diagrams and written process documents and for the most part those are helpful. But like I said there’s chunks of the system that are so large, it’s really difficult to hone down on. Plus the systems tend to change frequently which creates the need for more document management. I’ve kept a OneNote, which I like for the search functionality, and I try to document everything I learn in there. It’s a jumbled mess though right now, if I didn’t have the search function I’d be screwed honestly. The new coworkers of mine really like it though and have said that it has helped them a lot. I just know that it could definitely be better, I just don’t know how to go about it. So if anyone has any tips at all, I would love to hear them. With the Holiday break, I’m motivated to really take the technical documentation to the next level. Thank you everyone! | ggws9sp | ggx0bfw | 1,608,828,069 | 1,608,832,582 | 1 | 2 | I work in a company that has such documentation that is used both for training new hires and training clients who buy the software. The system they use is splitting the system into different modules of study and breaking down the actual processes into manageable subsections, which it sounds like you’re doing. They then take those concepts and put them into a search engine article style for clients or coworkers that need a fast answer to something specific. The product I work on is 5 years old, and they’re still adding documentation, so it’s definitely a process. They also utilize different teaching techniques like video demonstrations and simulations. | I am a technical writer and write documentation for very large and complex test stations. But I’m not sure how to start answering your question. Ours start pretty much like any documentations: system requirements, certifications, safety stuff. Then on/off. Then more complicated all the way down to custom stuff. At the very end is versioning. | 0 | 4,513 | 2 | ||
kjforc | writing_train | 0.98 | Does anyone have any tips for writing technical documentation for large complex systems? I’m a software engineer that has taken a bigger role in writing technical documentation for my team. When I first started, there was little to no documentation about their systems. The systems themselves are enormous and consist of several sub systems as well. Many of the engineers say they used to have technical documentation but then they switched repositories and it got lost. I’ve heard this is pretty typical in the tech field, but I definitely don’t think it has to be that way. In school I did pretty well in creative and technical writing, so I know I have the ability. It’s just the content at my work is so overwhelming, and it’s hard to pick a place to start. Most of this documentation I am writing is for new people or anyone outside of our team that needs help. I don’t want people to feel what I did coming in, total and utter confusion, and so that has been my motivation. So far, I have been able to write out some documentation, but a lot of it is conditional and based on certain scenarios when in reality there could be many. I’ve tried just focusing on higher level documentation, but it always seems like it’s not enough information. I’ve created diagrams and written process documents and for the most part those are helpful. But like I said there’s chunks of the system that are so large, it’s really difficult to hone down on. Plus the systems tend to change frequently which creates the need for more document management. I’ve kept a OneNote, which I like for the search functionality, and I try to document everything I learn in there. It’s a jumbled mess though right now, if I didn’t have the search function I’d be screwed honestly. The new coworkers of mine really like it though and have said that it has helped them a lot. I just know that it could definitely be better, I just don’t know how to go about it. So if anyone has any tips at all, I would love to hear them. With the Holiday break, I’m motivated to really take the technical documentation to the next level. Thank you everyone! | ggx0bfw | ggwtfb0 | 1,608,832,582 | 1,608,828,716 | 2 | 1 | I am a technical writer and write documentation for very large and complex test stations. But I’m not sure how to start answering your question. Ours start pretty much like any documentations: system requirements, certifications, safety stuff. Then on/off. Then more complicated all the way down to custom stuff. At the very end is versioning. | I've been through this exercise and it's awful to be in that position. What we did was start with the most common use case of our suite of apps. Detail all the pieces front to back with a higher level flow diagram then explode each box of the high level flow diagram until we were able to track the individual unit of work all the way through with the documentation. Then we moved to the edge cases. Next we also documented the other parts of the sdlc for those apps. Like testing and release processes. | 1 | 3,866 | 2 | ||
kjforc | writing_train | 0.98 | Does anyone have any tips for writing technical documentation for large complex systems? I’m a software engineer that has taken a bigger role in writing technical documentation for my team. When I first started, there was little to no documentation about their systems. The systems themselves are enormous and consist of several sub systems as well. Many of the engineers say they used to have technical documentation but then they switched repositories and it got lost. I’ve heard this is pretty typical in the tech field, but I definitely don’t think it has to be that way. In school I did pretty well in creative and technical writing, so I know I have the ability. It’s just the content at my work is so overwhelming, and it’s hard to pick a place to start. Most of this documentation I am writing is for new people or anyone outside of our team that needs help. I don’t want people to feel what I did coming in, total and utter confusion, and so that has been my motivation. So far, I have been able to write out some documentation, but a lot of it is conditional and based on certain scenarios when in reality there could be many. I’ve tried just focusing on higher level documentation, but it always seems like it’s not enough information. I’ve created diagrams and written process documents and for the most part those are helpful. But like I said there’s chunks of the system that are so large, it’s really difficult to hone down on. Plus the systems tend to change frequently which creates the need for more document management. I’ve kept a OneNote, which I like for the search functionality, and I try to document everything I learn in there. It’s a jumbled mess though right now, if I didn’t have the search function I’d be screwed honestly. The new coworkers of mine really like it though and have said that it has helped them a lot. I just know that it could definitely be better, I just don’t know how to go about it. So if anyone has any tips at all, I would love to hear them. With the Holiday break, I’m motivated to really take the technical documentation to the next level. Thank you everyone! | ggws9sp | ggx38y9 | 1,608,828,069 | 1,608,834,235 | 1 | 2 | I work in a company that has such documentation that is used both for training new hires and training clients who buy the software. The system they use is splitting the system into different modules of study and breaking down the actual processes into manageable subsections, which it sounds like you’re doing. They then take those concepts and put them into a search engine article style for clients or coworkers that need a fast answer to something specific. The product I work on is 5 years old, and they’re still adding documentation, so it’s definitely a process. They also utilize different teaching techniques like video demonstrations and simulations. | Hiya When I do it I always start with high-level flow charts. The goal just being to figure out where all the different parts are delineated. Once you know that, then you can start defining shared terms. (e.g. any connection points or data that flows between the modules). Define those in a top-level document which would be the starting point for anyone going in. And add to that doc as you go. It's important to remember that editing is how you're going to get through this, so don't waste your time trying to perfect the documents right off the bat. Just get a general idea down on metaphorical paper. Later you bring in the SMEs to clarify the modules and add details. Once you have the top doc, and the highest-level flow which defines the parts, then you can start making the flows for the parts. If it's as complicated as you describe, you will almost definitely have to go back and edit the top flow and top doc, but this is a good thing, it means you're getting more accurate. And whatever you do, track the revisions of all these documents. | 0 | 6,166 | 2 | ||
kjforc | writing_train | 0.98 | Does anyone have any tips for writing technical documentation for large complex systems? I’m a software engineer that has taken a bigger role in writing technical documentation for my team. When I first started, there was little to no documentation about their systems. The systems themselves are enormous and consist of several sub systems as well. Many of the engineers say they used to have technical documentation but then they switched repositories and it got lost. I’ve heard this is pretty typical in the tech field, but I definitely don’t think it has to be that way. In school I did pretty well in creative and technical writing, so I know I have the ability. It’s just the content at my work is so overwhelming, and it’s hard to pick a place to start. Most of this documentation I am writing is for new people or anyone outside of our team that needs help. I don’t want people to feel what I did coming in, total and utter confusion, and so that has been my motivation. So far, I have been able to write out some documentation, but a lot of it is conditional and based on certain scenarios when in reality there could be many. I’ve tried just focusing on higher level documentation, but it always seems like it’s not enough information. I’ve created diagrams and written process documents and for the most part those are helpful. But like I said there’s chunks of the system that are so large, it’s really difficult to hone down on. Plus the systems tend to change frequently which creates the need for more document management. I’ve kept a OneNote, which I like for the search functionality, and I try to document everything I learn in there. It’s a jumbled mess though right now, if I didn’t have the search function I’d be screwed honestly. The new coworkers of mine really like it though and have said that it has helped them a lot. I just know that it could definitely be better, I just don’t know how to go about it. So if anyone has any tips at all, I would love to hear them. With the Holiday break, I’m motivated to really take the technical documentation to the next level. Thank you everyone! | ggwtfb0 | ggx38y9 | 1,608,828,716 | 1,608,834,235 | 1 | 2 | I've been through this exercise and it's awful to be in that position. What we did was start with the most common use case of our suite of apps. Detail all the pieces front to back with a higher level flow diagram then explode each box of the high level flow diagram until we were able to track the individual unit of work all the way through with the documentation. Then we moved to the edge cases. Next we also documented the other parts of the sdlc for those apps. Like testing and release processes. | Hiya When I do it I always start with high-level flow charts. The goal just being to figure out where all the different parts are delineated. Once you know that, then you can start defining shared terms. (e.g. any connection points or data that flows between the modules). Define those in a top-level document which would be the starting point for anyone going in. And add to that doc as you go. It's important to remember that editing is how you're going to get through this, so don't waste your time trying to perfect the documents right off the bat. Just get a general idea down on metaphorical paper. Later you bring in the SMEs to clarify the modules and add details. Once you have the top doc, and the highest-level flow which defines the parts, then you can start making the flows for the parts. If it's as complicated as you describe, you will almost definitely have to go back and edit the top flow and top doc, but this is a good thing, it means you're getting more accurate. And whatever you do, track the revisions of all these documents. | 0 | 5,519 | 2 | ||
kjforc | writing_train | 0.98 | Does anyone have any tips for writing technical documentation for large complex systems? I’m a software engineer that has taken a bigger role in writing technical documentation for my team. When I first started, there was little to no documentation about their systems. The systems themselves are enormous and consist of several sub systems as well. Many of the engineers say they used to have technical documentation but then they switched repositories and it got lost. I’ve heard this is pretty typical in the tech field, but I definitely don’t think it has to be that way. In school I did pretty well in creative and technical writing, so I know I have the ability. It’s just the content at my work is so overwhelming, and it’s hard to pick a place to start. Most of this documentation I am writing is for new people or anyone outside of our team that needs help. I don’t want people to feel what I did coming in, total and utter confusion, and so that has been my motivation. So far, I have been able to write out some documentation, but a lot of it is conditional and based on certain scenarios when in reality there could be many. I’ve tried just focusing on higher level documentation, but it always seems like it’s not enough information. I’ve created diagrams and written process documents and for the most part those are helpful. But like I said there’s chunks of the system that are so large, it’s really difficult to hone down on. Plus the systems tend to change frequently which creates the need for more document management. I’ve kept a OneNote, which I like for the search functionality, and I try to document everything I learn in there. It’s a jumbled mess though right now, if I didn’t have the search function I’d be screwed honestly. The new coworkers of mine really like it though and have said that it has helped them a lot. I just know that it could definitely be better, I just don’t know how to go about it. So if anyone has any tips at all, I would love to hear them. With the Holiday break, I’m motivated to really take the technical documentation to the next level. Thank you everyone! | ggws9sp | ggx9xcc | 1,608,828,069 | 1,608,838,114 | 1 | 2 | I work in a company that has such documentation that is used both for training new hires and training clients who buy the software. The system they use is splitting the system into different modules of study and breaking down the actual processes into manageable subsections, which it sounds like you’re doing. They then take those concepts and put them into a search engine article style for clients or coworkers that need a fast answer to something specific. The product I work on is 5 years old, and they’re still adding documentation, so it’s definitely a process. They also utilize different teaching techniques like video demonstrations and simulations. | this is sort of my area of expertise (i work in software QA and sometimes proofread tech docs, and a lot of what i do is write internal process docs). the number one most important thing is to be aware of the intended audience and make sure everything in that document is geared towards that intended audience. who is going to read this and what will they actually want to know? and what actions are they going to want to take based on that knowledge? that is how you answer the “is this enough information” question. especially for internal documents, make sure you are giving context so the reader understands why they might need this information. less is usually more. (also especially for internal documents.) if it’s too long, no one is going to read it and it becomes useless. if someone needs more details on something, they can ask. you generally ought to focus on making sure they have the context for them to understand what they don’t know and start asking the right questions to fill in those gaps. also, since you mentioned that the system changes a lot, be careful about what you include. it is often worse to have the wrong information than no information. use that to help guide the level of detail. | 0 | 10,045 | 2 | ||
kjforc | writing_train | 0.98 | Does anyone have any tips for writing technical documentation for large complex systems? I’m a software engineer that has taken a bigger role in writing technical documentation for my team. When I first started, there was little to no documentation about their systems. The systems themselves are enormous and consist of several sub systems as well. Many of the engineers say they used to have technical documentation but then they switched repositories and it got lost. I’ve heard this is pretty typical in the tech field, but I definitely don’t think it has to be that way. In school I did pretty well in creative and technical writing, so I know I have the ability. It’s just the content at my work is so overwhelming, and it’s hard to pick a place to start. Most of this documentation I am writing is for new people or anyone outside of our team that needs help. I don’t want people to feel what I did coming in, total and utter confusion, and so that has been my motivation. So far, I have been able to write out some documentation, but a lot of it is conditional and based on certain scenarios when in reality there could be many. I’ve tried just focusing on higher level documentation, but it always seems like it’s not enough information. I’ve created diagrams and written process documents and for the most part those are helpful. But like I said there’s chunks of the system that are so large, it’s really difficult to hone down on. Plus the systems tend to change frequently which creates the need for more document management. I’ve kept a OneNote, which I like for the search functionality, and I try to document everything I learn in there. It’s a jumbled mess though right now, if I didn’t have the search function I’d be screwed honestly. The new coworkers of mine really like it though and have said that it has helped them a lot. I just know that it could definitely be better, I just don’t know how to go about it. So if anyone has any tips at all, I would love to hear them. With the Holiday break, I’m motivated to really take the technical documentation to the next level. Thank you everyone! | ggwtfb0 | ggx9xcc | 1,608,828,716 | 1,608,838,114 | 1 | 2 | I've been through this exercise and it's awful to be in that position. What we did was start with the most common use case of our suite of apps. Detail all the pieces front to back with a higher level flow diagram then explode each box of the high level flow diagram until we were able to track the individual unit of work all the way through with the documentation. Then we moved to the edge cases. Next we also documented the other parts of the sdlc for those apps. Like testing and release processes. | this is sort of my area of expertise (i work in software QA and sometimes proofread tech docs, and a lot of what i do is write internal process docs). the number one most important thing is to be aware of the intended audience and make sure everything in that document is geared towards that intended audience. who is going to read this and what will they actually want to know? and what actions are they going to want to take based on that knowledge? that is how you answer the “is this enough information” question. especially for internal documents, make sure you are giving context so the reader understands why they might need this information. less is usually more. (also especially for internal documents.) if it’s too long, no one is going to read it and it becomes useless. if someone needs more details on something, they can ask. you generally ought to focus on making sure they have the context for them to understand what they don’t know and start asking the right questions to fill in those gaps. also, since you mentioned that the system changes a lot, be careful about what you include. it is often worse to have the wrong information than no information. use that to help guide the level of detail. | 0 | 9,398 | 2 | ||
kjforc | writing_train | 0.98 | Does anyone have any tips for writing technical documentation for large complex systems? I’m a software engineer that has taken a bigger role in writing technical documentation for my team. When I first started, there was little to no documentation about their systems. The systems themselves are enormous and consist of several sub systems as well. Many of the engineers say they used to have technical documentation but then they switched repositories and it got lost. I’ve heard this is pretty typical in the tech field, but I definitely don’t think it has to be that way. In school I did pretty well in creative and technical writing, so I know I have the ability. It’s just the content at my work is so overwhelming, and it’s hard to pick a place to start. Most of this documentation I am writing is for new people or anyone outside of our team that needs help. I don’t want people to feel what I did coming in, total and utter confusion, and so that has been my motivation. So far, I have been able to write out some documentation, but a lot of it is conditional and based on certain scenarios when in reality there could be many. I’ve tried just focusing on higher level documentation, but it always seems like it’s not enough information. I’ve created diagrams and written process documents and for the most part those are helpful. But like I said there’s chunks of the system that are so large, it’s really difficult to hone down on. Plus the systems tend to change frequently which creates the need for more document management. I’ve kept a OneNote, which I like for the search functionality, and I try to document everything I learn in there. It’s a jumbled mess though right now, if I didn’t have the search function I’d be screwed honestly. The new coworkers of mine really like it though and have said that it has helped them a lot. I just know that it could definitely be better, I just don’t know how to go about it. So if anyone has any tips at all, I would love to hear them. With the Holiday break, I’m motivated to really take the technical documentation to the next level. Thank you everyone! | ggws9sp | ggz4576 | 1,608,828,069 | 1,608,885,012 | 1 | 2 | I work in a company that has such documentation that is used both for training new hires and training clients who buy the software. The system they use is splitting the system into different modules of study and breaking down the actual processes into manageable subsections, which it sounds like you’re doing. They then take those concepts and put them into a search engine article style for clients or coworkers that need a fast answer to something specific. The product I work on is 5 years old, and they’re still adding documentation, so it’s definitely a process. They also utilize different teaching techniques like video demonstrations and simulations. | I offer two basic pieces of advice in technical (and legislative) writing: 1. Define all key terms in a comprehensive glossary. Bold them at first usage if your house style allows. Index as well, it's a pain in the ass, but it'll make your document much more useful in the long run--time and effort well spent. 2. Use repetition and parallel syntax to enforce logic. (This the TOTAL opposite of what fiction and narrative non-fiction writers strive for.) Predictable structure (boring) is you friend here. Good luck my friend. | 0 | 56,943 | 2 | ||
kjforc | writing_train | 0.98 | Does anyone have any tips for writing technical documentation for large complex systems? I’m a software engineer that has taken a bigger role in writing technical documentation for my team. When I first started, there was little to no documentation about their systems. The systems themselves are enormous and consist of several sub systems as well. Many of the engineers say they used to have technical documentation but then they switched repositories and it got lost. I’ve heard this is pretty typical in the tech field, but I definitely don’t think it has to be that way. In school I did pretty well in creative and technical writing, so I know I have the ability. It’s just the content at my work is so overwhelming, and it’s hard to pick a place to start. Most of this documentation I am writing is for new people or anyone outside of our team that needs help. I don’t want people to feel what I did coming in, total and utter confusion, and so that has been my motivation. So far, I have been able to write out some documentation, but a lot of it is conditional and based on certain scenarios when in reality there could be many. I’ve tried just focusing on higher level documentation, but it always seems like it’s not enough information. I’ve created diagrams and written process documents and for the most part those are helpful. But like I said there’s chunks of the system that are so large, it’s really difficult to hone down on. Plus the systems tend to change frequently which creates the need for more document management. I’ve kept a OneNote, which I like for the search functionality, and I try to document everything I learn in there. It’s a jumbled mess though right now, if I didn’t have the search function I’d be screwed honestly. The new coworkers of mine really like it though and have said that it has helped them a lot. I just know that it could definitely be better, I just don’t know how to go about it. So if anyone has any tips at all, I would love to hear them. With the Holiday break, I’m motivated to really take the technical documentation to the next level. Thank you everyone! | ggz4576 | ggwtfb0 | 1,608,885,012 | 1,608,828,716 | 2 | 1 | I offer two basic pieces of advice in technical (and legislative) writing: 1. Define all key terms in a comprehensive glossary. Bold them at first usage if your house style allows. Index as well, it's a pain in the ass, but it'll make your document much more useful in the long run--time and effort well spent. 2. Use repetition and parallel syntax to enforce logic. (This the TOTAL opposite of what fiction and narrative non-fiction writers strive for.) Predictable structure (boring) is you friend here. Good luck my friend. | I've been through this exercise and it's awful to be in that position. What we did was start with the most common use case of our suite of apps. Detail all the pieces front to back with a higher level flow diagram then explode each box of the high level flow diagram until we were able to track the individual unit of work all the way through with the documentation. Then we moved to the edge cases. Next we also documented the other parts of the sdlc for those apps. Like testing and release processes. | 1 | 56,296 | 2 | ||
kjforc | writing_train | 0.98 | Does anyone have any tips for writing technical documentation for large complex systems? I’m a software engineer that has taken a bigger role in writing technical documentation for my team. When I first started, there was little to no documentation about their systems. The systems themselves are enormous and consist of several sub systems as well. Many of the engineers say they used to have technical documentation but then they switched repositories and it got lost. I’ve heard this is pretty typical in the tech field, but I definitely don’t think it has to be that way. In school I did pretty well in creative and technical writing, so I know I have the ability. It’s just the content at my work is so overwhelming, and it’s hard to pick a place to start. Most of this documentation I am writing is for new people or anyone outside of our team that needs help. I don’t want people to feel what I did coming in, total and utter confusion, and so that has been my motivation. So far, I have been able to write out some documentation, but a lot of it is conditional and based on certain scenarios when in reality there could be many. I’ve tried just focusing on higher level documentation, but it always seems like it’s not enough information. I’ve created diagrams and written process documents and for the most part those are helpful. But like I said there’s chunks of the system that are so large, it’s really difficult to hone down on. Plus the systems tend to change frequently which creates the need for more document management. I’ve kept a OneNote, which I like for the search functionality, and I try to document everything I learn in there. It’s a jumbled mess though right now, if I didn’t have the search function I’d be screwed honestly. The new coworkers of mine really like it though and have said that it has helped them a lot. I just know that it could definitely be better, I just don’t know how to go about it. So if anyone has any tips at all, I would love to hear them. With the Holiday break, I’m motivated to really take the technical documentation to the next level. Thank you everyone! | ggxn55r | ggz4576 | 1,608,846,096 | 1,608,885,012 | 1 | 2 | Yes, piggy back an existing one | I offer two basic pieces of advice in technical (and legislative) writing: 1. Define all key terms in a comprehensive glossary. Bold them at first usage if your house style allows. Index as well, it's a pain in the ass, but it'll make your document much more useful in the long run--time and effort well spent. 2. Use repetition and parallel syntax to enforce logic. (This the TOTAL opposite of what fiction and narrative non-fiction writers strive for.) Predictable structure (boring) is you friend here. Good luck my friend. | 0 | 38,916 | 2 | ||
kjforc | writing_train | 0.98 | Does anyone have any tips for writing technical documentation for large complex systems? I’m a software engineer that has taken a bigger role in writing technical documentation for my team. When I first started, there was little to no documentation about their systems. The systems themselves are enormous and consist of several sub systems as well. Many of the engineers say they used to have technical documentation but then they switched repositories and it got lost. I’ve heard this is pretty typical in the tech field, but I definitely don’t think it has to be that way. In school I did pretty well in creative and technical writing, so I know I have the ability. It’s just the content at my work is so overwhelming, and it’s hard to pick a place to start. Most of this documentation I am writing is for new people or anyone outside of our team that needs help. I don’t want people to feel what I did coming in, total and utter confusion, and so that has been my motivation. So far, I have been able to write out some documentation, but a lot of it is conditional and based on certain scenarios when in reality there could be many. I’ve tried just focusing on higher level documentation, but it always seems like it’s not enough information. I’ve created diagrams and written process documents and for the most part those are helpful. But like I said there’s chunks of the system that are so large, it’s really difficult to hone down on. Plus the systems tend to change frequently which creates the need for more document management. I’ve kept a OneNote, which I like for the search functionality, and I try to document everything I learn in there. It’s a jumbled mess though right now, if I didn’t have the search function I’d be screwed honestly. The new coworkers of mine really like it though and have said that it has helped them a lot. I just know that it could definitely be better, I just don’t know how to go about it. So if anyone has any tips at all, I would love to hear them. With the Holiday break, I’m motivated to really take the technical documentation to the next level. Thank you everyone! | ggz4576 | ggxsg66 | 1,608,885,012 | 1,608,849,404 | 2 | 1 | I offer two basic pieces of advice in technical (and legislative) writing: 1. Define all key terms in a comprehensive glossary. Bold them at first usage if your house style allows. Index as well, it's a pain in the ass, but it'll make your document much more useful in the long run--time and effort well spent. 2. Use repetition and parallel syntax to enforce logic. (This the TOTAL opposite of what fiction and narrative non-fiction writers strive for.) Predictable structure (boring) is you friend here. Good luck my friend. | Best look for the Functional Documentation then base your Technical Documentation on those. This would make anyone trying to familiarize themselves on the systems be able to follow it closely on all perspectives. | 1 | 35,608 | 2 | ||
kjforc | writing_train | 0.98 | Does anyone have any tips for writing technical documentation for large complex systems? I’m a software engineer that has taken a bigger role in writing technical documentation for my team. When I first started, there was little to no documentation about their systems. The systems themselves are enormous and consist of several sub systems as well. Many of the engineers say they used to have technical documentation but then they switched repositories and it got lost. I’ve heard this is pretty typical in the tech field, but I definitely don’t think it has to be that way. In school I did pretty well in creative and technical writing, so I know I have the ability. It’s just the content at my work is so overwhelming, and it’s hard to pick a place to start. Most of this documentation I am writing is for new people or anyone outside of our team that needs help. I don’t want people to feel what I did coming in, total and utter confusion, and so that has been my motivation. So far, I have been able to write out some documentation, but a lot of it is conditional and based on certain scenarios when in reality there could be many. I’ve tried just focusing on higher level documentation, but it always seems like it’s not enough information. I’ve created diagrams and written process documents and for the most part those are helpful. But like I said there’s chunks of the system that are so large, it’s really difficult to hone down on. Plus the systems tend to change frequently which creates the need for more document management. I’ve kept a OneNote, which I like for the search functionality, and I try to document everything I learn in there. It’s a jumbled mess though right now, if I didn’t have the search function I’d be screwed honestly. The new coworkers of mine really like it though and have said that it has helped them a lot. I just know that it could definitely be better, I just don’t know how to go about it. So if anyone has any tips at all, I would love to hear them. With the Holiday break, I’m motivated to really take the technical documentation to the next level. Thank you everyone! | ggxumo0 | ggz4576 | 1,608,850,746 | 1,608,885,012 | 1 | 2 | (ahem... did they not teach you that at school, or at work?) Software technical documentation is quite standardized. It is usually composed of the following documents: \- specifications: definition of the software requirements (what does the sw do). Each requirement must define one behavior of the sw. Each requirement must be testable, unambiguous, and must not overlap with another requirement. The whole set of requirements must exhaustively define all the functionnalities of the software. The specification must also be independent from the coding language. \- design: defintion of the software architecture (how does the sw work), including its satic view (the detailed list of files and/or compilation units, and their descriptions), dynamic view (describing all the tasks and synchronization points), interfaces definition (the API), parameters definition (user profiles, scaling, debug/trace mode...) \- validation plan: definition of the tests that check wether the implementation complies with the specification. All the requirements defined in the specification document must be covered by at least one test. Each test must define its initial conditions, its procedure and the expected results. The validation plan must also define what means shall be used to conduct all the test. The validation plan usually contains a traceability matrix, which makes the correspondence between the tests and the requirements. \- validation report: collects the results of the tests from the validation plan. The report must also indicate the version of the software that was tested. \- user manual / integration manual: this document describes what does one need to know in order to use the software, or integrate it with other softwares. This may include the description of the GUI, the description of the API, the list of required third-party softwares (e.g. external libraries), how to compile the sources, the description of each global parameter... | I offer two basic pieces of advice in technical (and legislative) writing: 1. Define all key terms in a comprehensive glossary. Bold them at first usage if your house style allows. Index as well, it's a pain in the ass, but it'll make your document much more useful in the long run--time and effort well spent. 2. Use repetition and parallel syntax to enforce logic. (This the TOTAL opposite of what fiction and narrative non-fiction writers strive for.) Predictable structure (boring) is you friend here. Good luck my friend. | 0 | 34,266 | 2 | ||
kjforc | writing_train | 0.98 | Does anyone have any tips for writing technical documentation for large complex systems? I’m a software engineer that has taken a bigger role in writing technical documentation for my team. When I first started, there was little to no documentation about their systems. The systems themselves are enormous and consist of several sub systems as well. Many of the engineers say they used to have technical documentation but then they switched repositories and it got lost. I’ve heard this is pretty typical in the tech field, but I definitely don’t think it has to be that way. In school I did pretty well in creative and technical writing, so I know I have the ability. It’s just the content at my work is so overwhelming, and it’s hard to pick a place to start. Most of this documentation I am writing is for new people or anyone outside of our team that needs help. I don’t want people to feel what I did coming in, total and utter confusion, and so that has been my motivation. So far, I have been able to write out some documentation, but a lot of it is conditional and based on certain scenarios when in reality there could be many. I’ve tried just focusing on higher level documentation, but it always seems like it’s not enough information. I’ve created diagrams and written process documents and for the most part those are helpful. But like I said there’s chunks of the system that are so large, it’s really difficult to hone down on. Plus the systems tend to change frequently which creates the need for more document management. I’ve kept a OneNote, which I like for the search functionality, and I try to document everything I learn in there. It’s a jumbled mess though right now, if I didn’t have the search function I’d be screwed honestly. The new coworkers of mine really like it though and have said that it has helped them a lot. I just know that it could definitely be better, I just don’t know how to go about it. So if anyone has any tips at all, I would love to hear them. With the Holiday break, I’m motivated to really take the technical documentation to the next level. Thank you everyone! | ggz4576 | ggy4ihm | 1,608,885,012 | 1,608,856,892 | 2 | 1 | I offer two basic pieces of advice in technical (and legislative) writing: 1. Define all key terms in a comprehensive glossary. Bold them at first usage if your house style allows. Index as well, it's a pain in the ass, but it'll make your document much more useful in the long run--time and effort well spent. 2. Use repetition and parallel syntax to enforce logic. (This the TOTAL opposite of what fiction and narrative non-fiction writers strive for.) Predictable structure (boring) is you friend here. Good luck my friend. | Hire a professional. Seriously. | 1 | 28,120 | 2 | ||
kjforc | writing_train | 0.98 | Does anyone have any tips for writing technical documentation for large complex systems? I’m a software engineer that has taken a bigger role in writing technical documentation for my team. When I first started, there was little to no documentation about their systems. The systems themselves are enormous and consist of several sub systems as well. Many of the engineers say they used to have technical documentation but then they switched repositories and it got lost. I’ve heard this is pretty typical in the tech field, but I definitely don’t think it has to be that way. In school I did pretty well in creative and technical writing, so I know I have the ability. It’s just the content at my work is so overwhelming, and it’s hard to pick a place to start. Most of this documentation I am writing is for new people or anyone outside of our team that needs help. I don’t want people to feel what I did coming in, total and utter confusion, and so that has been my motivation. So far, I have been able to write out some documentation, but a lot of it is conditional and based on certain scenarios when in reality there could be many. I’ve tried just focusing on higher level documentation, but it always seems like it’s not enough information. I’ve created diagrams and written process documents and for the most part those are helpful. But like I said there’s chunks of the system that are so large, it’s really difficult to hone down on. Plus the systems tend to change frequently which creates the need for more document management. I’ve kept a OneNote, which I like for the search functionality, and I try to document everything I learn in there. It’s a jumbled mess though right now, if I didn’t have the search function I’d be screwed honestly. The new coworkers of mine really like it though and have said that it has helped them a lot. I just know that it could definitely be better, I just don’t know how to go about it. So if anyone has any tips at all, I would love to hear them. With the Holiday break, I’m motivated to really take the technical documentation to the next level. Thank you everyone! | ggy4x6x | ggz4576 | 1,608,857,164 | 1,608,885,012 | 1 | 2 | I have done a lot of software documentation. The key to having effective and consistent documentation is to make it a delivery requirement. It you do not have top-level insistence that the documentation be both created and maintained, then it won't be. Documentation is that loathsome back burner project for most programmers, and it is more than a weekend project. You also need to establish your system for managing the documents. Whether it's a Sharepoint folder, a Git repository, or something more elaborate, there needs to be a central place where all documents are delivered, indexed, and can be found by new hires long after your gone. Where I am, every document has a Book Boss, and that person is responsible for integrating changes and holding the most up-to-date copy. (Sometimes that's a central database, with a single gatekeeper.) If a document is important enough to exist, it should have a book boss. If you hire a documentation person, that one person can be the boss of all the books, and then they have to hound the assorted programmers involved to write certain sections. At my last job, I spent six months developing a document about the interdependency of several codes, because I kept coming across the need for such a document. My boss said it was a great idea, and we really needed it. When he finally let me share it with one of our collaborative teams at another agency, I discovered that someone else had written that very same document two years prior at the insistence of her boss. Her document was never indexed or shared, so I had been left reinventing the wheel rather than updating it. After that, I rarely took initiative to come up with new, much-needed documents. I just hate duplicating effort. If it's important to your work, start by creating a plan, proposing it to your boss, and making sure they are willing to invest in the creation and maintenance of these documents for future generations. | I offer two basic pieces of advice in technical (and legislative) writing: 1. Define all key terms in a comprehensive glossary. Bold them at first usage if your house style allows. Index as well, it's a pain in the ass, but it'll make your document much more useful in the long run--time and effort well spent. 2. Use repetition and parallel syntax to enforce logic. (This the TOTAL opposite of what fiction and narrative non-fiction writers strive for.) Predictable structure (boring) is you friend here. Good luck my friend. | 0 | 27,848 | 2 | ||
o9tbfl | writing_train | 0.83 | Offered $8000 for a "Pilot" episode. Any Wise Advice, Tips, Warnings or Red Flags from the Experienced Pros Here? So, for years now, my longtime friend and I amuse ourselves, usually while we're at our respective workplaces, coming up with silly TV shows and movies via texts. I usually come up with ridiculous concepts, he tacks on 'what ifs' and then I top that by slapping together a rough 1st draft, email it to him and sometimes he does proper fact-checking, formatting and rewriting. At that point we laugh and laugh. A while back we agreed that one of our mock non-existent TV episodes was surprisingly good. Good enough to give it a proper rewrite and be a little serious for once. He sends this to someone who sends it to someone and now we have this convoluted offer. I will spare you the email because this isn't asking for proper 'legal advice' or anything like this. As far as we can determine its deliberately vague. Its some LA Based group who apparently do everything and nothing. A whole lot of the offer isn't really anything but talk like "...and of course we'd be looking to you in terms of heading up related writing projects" and "we're all very excited about where we can see this going". What is certain... errr.. well as far as we can say for certain.. At some point we'd be given $8000 for this. They may or may not make a 'Pilot' or whatever they want. They could smoke it, trash it or create a 700 million dollar Blockbuster from it. As far as we can see, we are not allowed to ever create anything, sell this idea again, we cannot use the characters, like an episode of Seinfeld, we would not be allowed to tell you the story at a pub one night. Also, for some reason one of them kept using the buzzword 'Option' we want to option this or it can be optioned. He seems to use this word as a synonym for 'buy the rights to it'?? So for those who've been through this, what's your best advice? What is something we should *NOT* do? Are we expected to counter-offer and negotiate? We definitely want 8000 USD but is there some catch, something we should know where maybe we do NOT want that money? Later we'll find out we are charged $9000 in lawyers fees? A number of friends keep insisting we should get 'Royalties' but as far as we can tell that's not actually part of any offer or a 'thing'. Then again, does anyone know if we ought to make royalties a thing? One friend keeps saying "Get some backend' which makes us laugh. We're sure he does not actually know what that term means anyway. He heard about 'a piece of the backend' on a podcast and keeps going on like he knows. Also, what are the chances an actual production is made? Does anyone know? Some told us that there is a surprisingly small chance any actual production, any 'pilot episode' would ever exist. It sounds like they buy these and shelve them. TL;DR Got offered money for a fun TV episode script. Looking for any and all advice, tips or warnings from those who've been through this process before. Thanks. | h3dis7o | h3d7001 | 1,624,920,044 | 1,624,914,614 | 8 | 3 | The film/TV industry does not work like publishing. In publishing, the publisher acquires particular rights to your work that are specific to region and format. E.g. first rights vs reprint rights, US or North American rights vs UK or German or Dutch rights (or whatever), book vs ebook vs audiobook rights, etc. A publisher might acquire some various combination of those rights, but they're usually acquiring them outright, because -- this is the important part -- publishers don't acquire rights unless they plan to publish the book. However, tv shows and films are way, WAY more expensive to produce than a book and require not only the screenplay, but directors, actors, cinematographers, crew, etc. etc. etc. So in the film/TV industry, production companies acquire an *option*. An option is an *exclusive* right to try to get a pilot or movie produced within a given period of time. The given period of time is usually 12-18 months. Once the production company has acquired the option to the story, they then have 12-18 months to hustle up the financing, hiring add'l writers, directors, actors, crew, etc. and get production started. If they can't get it done in that time period, then the option expires and all rights revert back to the creator. Another important bit -- options are *not* the payment for the work. The option is so the production company can "reserve" the right to make the pilot or movie and keep the screenplay off the market. Once the pilot or movie is made then the creator/writer gets the *real* payment. Writer's Guild of America (WGA) -- the union for screenwriters -- sets scale -- minimum payments -- for movie screenplays (~75K minimum) and TV episodes (varies by show length, prime time vs non-prime time, etc, but roughly ~$25k-$40k minimum). So a contract should include: * the option period -- 12-18 months is typical. This is how long the production company has your screenplay on "reserve." No one else can produce it during this time period. * the option payment -- can be anywhere from a few hundred dollars to a few hundred *thousand* dollars depending on the studio and the screenwriter's credentials. * the purchase or acquisition price -- this is the "real" payment that you get when the pilot/movie gets made. It might also include a renewal clause, e.g. if they don't get the show produced in, say, 12 months then they can renew the option for another, say, 6 months at a renewal price. Those terms can vary. And if they're asking for all rights *instead of* an option, run away. You also need to figure out whether the production company is paying WGA scale; independent studios that work outside the labor union market don't necessarily pay scale. I'm less familiar with TV than film. In film there's typically nothing for the writer beyond the acquisition price unless the producers hire the writer to do re-writes. However, I would expect that for a TV series, there is contractual stuff beyond the pilot, e.g. if the pilot gets produced AND gets picked up by a network, are they going to bring you on as a showrunner or staff writer? Bottom line: congrats on getting a nibble. What you really need now is an agent to help you navigate through all this crazy legal & contractual stuff. Only an idiot would attempt do it all on their own. Good news is it should be easier to get an agent now that you've got interest. Also, try r/screenwriting ... you'll get more specific advice there probably. EDIT: A couple of additional comments based on things you said in your post: > A number of friends keep insisting we should get 'Royalties' but as far as we can tell that's not actually part of any offer or a 'thing'. Your friends don't know WTF they're talking about. You get royalties in book publishing; those are a percent of each sale, so the more books you sell the more money you make. That's not how screenwriting works; you do not get royalties in the film/TV industry. A WGA-compliant contract would include *residuals* though. These are ongoing payments if the show goes into re-runs. E.g. the actors and writers on *Friends* made really nice money for each first-run episode, but they made f'ing *bank* because they get smaller payments for every episode that is re-run anywhere in the world. For shows like *Friends* or *Seinfeld* or *Law & Order* that are still being re-run multiple times per day 20 years later, those smaller payments add up over time and become WAY more valuable than what the initial payments were. Residuals can be a gold mine. (Of course, if the show tanks, there's not gonna be any residuals.) > One friend keeps saying "Get some backend' which makes us laugh. This friend is likely also ill-informed. "Backend" refers to percentage points on sales, e.g. in his hey-day Arnold Schwarzenegger might have gotten 1 or 2 points on the back-end for movies he starred in. Meaning he'd get, say, 1.5% of ticket sales. For a blockbuster film with $500 million box office that's an extra $7.5 million in the pocket from the backend. A few things about that: 1. Writers almost *never* get backend. 1. Newbies writers *absolutely never* get backend. 1. I'm not sure, but there's likely not any backend at all on tv series, since there aren't ticket sales. I suppose there could be backend on, say, what Netflix pays the production company if they pick up a series. 1. The only backend worth getting is backend on *gross* profits, not on *net* profits. On that last point, "gross" profits means the money made from ticket sales *before* expenses are taken out. "Net" means gross profit *minus all expenses*. The dirty secret of Hollywood is studios make sure nearly every movie has negative net profit through legal-but-semi-shady accounting hijinx that involve overblown expenses that offset the gross profit. > As far as we can see, we are not allowed to ever create anything, sell this idea again, we cannot use the characters, like an episode of Seinfeld, we would not be allowed to tell you the story at a pub one night. For an option? No, absolutely not. If the show gets picked up and they're paying out the full purchase/acquisition rights, then, yeah, that seems about right. And, again, this is why you need to understand & negotiate whether they're acquiring the concept or if there's a longer play for you being *part* of the show's writing staff once it gets picked up. **And why you need an agent.** > Also, what are the chances an actual production is made? Does anyone know? Some told us that there is a surprisingly small chance any actual production, any 'pilot episode' would ever exist. A snowball in hell has a WAY better chance than getting a pilot screenplay to successful TV series. Most TV pilot options never make it to production. Most pilots that make it to production never get picked up for series. Most series that get made don't make it past the first season. But this is why options are so important. There are some good writers in Hollywood that make a living *for years* off of options and re-write work (on some less experienced writers' screenplays) and never get an original script of their own produced. | Perhaps you should talk to a lawyer or "agent". They will know the industry much better, and you can likely have an initial consultation for free/very little. I would be curious to know what other things they have produced, as I have read of many movie and TV scams. Don't just take their word for it. Look up anything they tell you. | 1 | 5,430 | 2.666667 | ||
o9tbfl | writing_train | 0.83 | Offered $8000 for a "Pilot" episode. Any Wise Advice, Tips, Warnings or Red Flags from the Experienced Pros Here? So, for years now, my longtime friend and I amuse ourselves, usually while we're at our respective workplaces, coming up with silly TV shows and movies via texts. I usually come up with ridiculous concepts, he tacks on 'what ifs' and then I top that by slapping together a rough 1st draft, email it to him and sometimes he does proper fact-checking, formatting and rewriting. At that point we laugh and laugh. A while back we agreed that one of our mock non-existent TV episodes was surprisingly good. Good enough to give it a proper rewrite and be a little serious for once. He sends this to someone who sends it to someone and now we have this convoluted offer. I will spare you the email because this isn't asking for proper 'legal advice' or anything like this. As far as we can determine its deliberately vague. Its some LA Based group who apparently do everything and nothing. A whole lot of the offer isn't really anything but talk like "...and of course we'd be looking to you in terms of heading up related writing projects" and "we're all very excited about where we can see this going". What is certain... errr.. well as far as we can say for certain.. At some point we'd be given $8000 for this. They may or may not make a 'Pilot' or whatever they want. They could smoke it, trash it or create a 700 million dollar Blockbuster from it. As far as we can see, we are not allowed to ever create anything, sell this idea again, we cannot use the characters, like an episode of Seinfeld, we would not be allowed to tell you the story at a pub one night. Also, for some reason one of them kept using the buzzword 'Option' we want to option this or it can be optioned. He seems to use this word as a synonym for 'buy the rights to it'?? So for those who've been through this, what's your best advice? What is something we should *NOT* do? Are we expected to counter-offer and negotiate? We definitely want 8000 USD but is there some catch, something we should know where maybe we do NOT want that money? Later we'll find out we are charged $9000 in lawyers fees? A number of friends keep insisting we should get 'Royalties' but as far as we can tell that's not actually part of any offer or a 'thing'. Then again, does anyone know if we ought to make royalties a thing? One friend keeps saying "Get some backend' which makes us laugh. We're sure he does not actually know what that term means anyway. He heard about 'a piece of the backend' on a podcast and keeps going on like he knows. Also, what are the chances an actual production is made? Does anyone know? Some told us that there is a surprisingly small chance any actual production, any 'pilot episode' would ever exist. It sounds like they buy these and shelve them. TL;DR Got offered money for a fun TV episode script. Looking for any and all advice, tips or warnings from those who've been through this process before. Thanks. | h3dete9 | h3dis7o | 1,624,918,129 | 1,624,920,044 | 2 | 8 | The thing that stood out to me was "at some point they'll pay you $8000". It wasn't entirely clear from the text, but if they want you to sign a contract now, and they'll pay you if they decide to do anything with it in the future, be aware that the green light may never happen and you lose the right to your IP without getting a cent. I know from experience that fuckery like this happens, so make sure you know under which conditions exactly the $8000 are payed out. Have an entertainment lawyer look at it, if at all possible. Royalties are a percentage of revenue, it's way down the line if the show airs. It's not applicable here since nothing is decided on what kind of production it will be. If you get a new contract on an actual show, it might be possible, but for now it's early. It's impossible to give good advice from this far away, they're really slick and do this for a living. Read carefully, ask follow up questions. Do your best to make this happen. It's a shame to lose out on an experience like this. Even if this won't lead where you want it to go it's still more fun than the project ending up in a desk drawer. So be smart, but a bad deal is still worth something if it's the best one you can get. It's a stepping stone to the next big thing. Get a lawyer. | The film/TV industry does not work like publishing. In publishing, the publisher acquires particular rights to your work that are specific to region and format. E.g. first rights vs reprint rights, US or North American rights vs UK or German or Dutch rights (or whatever), book vs ebook vs audiobook rights, etc. A publisher might acquire some various combination of those rights, but they're usually acquiring them outright, because -- this is the important part -- publishers don't acquire rights unless they plan to publish the book. However, tv shows and films are way, WAY more expensive to produce than a book and require not only the screenplay, but directors, actors, cinematographers, crew, etc. etc. etc. So in the film/TV industry, production companies acquire an *option*. An option is an *exclusive* right to try to get a pilot or movie produced within a given period of time. The given period of time is usually 12-18 months. Once the production company has acquired the option to the story, they then have 12-18 months to hustle up the financing, hiring add'l writers, directors, actors, crew, etc. and get production started. If they can't get it done in that time period, then the option expires and all rights revert back to the creator. Another important bit -- options are *not* the payment for the work. The option is so the production company can "reserve" the right to make the pilot or movie and keep the screenplay off the market. Once the pilot or movie is made then the creator/writer gets the *real* payment. Writer's Guild of America (WGA) -- the union for screenwriters -- sets scale -- minimum payments -- for movie screenplays (~75K minimum) and TV episodes (varies by show length, prime time vs non-prime time, etc, but roughly ~$25k-$40k minimum). So a contract should include: * the option period -- 12-18 months is typical. This is how long the production company has your screenplay on "reserve." No one else can produce it during this time period. * the option payment -- can be anywhere from a few hundred dollars to a few hundred *thousand* dollars depending on the studio and the screenwriter's credentials. * the purchase or acquisition price -- this is the "real" payment that you get when the pilot/movie gets made. It might also include a renewal clause, e.g. if they don't get the show produced in, say, 12 months then they can renew the option for another, say, 6 months at a renewal price. Those terms can vary. And if they're asking for all rights *instead of* an option, run away. You also need to figure out whether the production company is paying WGA scale; independent studios that work outside the labor union market don't necessarily pay scale. I'm less familiar with TV than film. In film there's typically nothing for the writer beyond the acquisition price unless the producers hire the writer to do re-writes. However, I would expect that for a TV series, there is contractual stuff beyond the pilot, e.g. if the pilot gets produced AND gets picked up by a network, are they going to bring you on as a showrunner or staff writer? Bottom line: congrats on getting a nibble. What you really need now is an agent to help you navigate through all this crazy legal & contractual stuff. Only an idiot would attempt do it all on their own. Good news is it should be easier to get an agent now that you've got interest. Also, try r/screenwriting ... you'll get more specific advice there probably. EDIT: A couple of additional comments based on things you said in your post: > A number of friends keep insisting we should get 'Royalties' but as far as we can tell that's not actually part of any offer or a 'thing'. Your friends don't know WTF they're talking about. You get royalties in book publishing; those are a percent of each sale, so the more books you sell the more money you make. That's not how screenwriting works; you do not get royalties in the film/TV industry. A WGA-compliant contract would include *residuals* though. These are ongoing payments if the show goes into re-runs. E.g. the actors and writers on *Friends* made really nice money for each first-run episode, but they made f'ing *bank* because they get smaller payments for every episode that is re-run anywhere in the world. For shows like *Friends* or *Seinfeld* or *Law & Order* that are still being re-run multiple times per day 20 years later, those smaller payments add up over time and become WAY more valuable than what the initial payments were. Residuals can be a gold mine. (Of course, if the show tanks, there's not gonna be any residuals.) > One friend keeps saying "Get some backend' which makes us laugh. This friend is likely also ill-informed. "Backend" refers to percentage points on sales, e.g. in his hey-day Arnold Schwarzenegger might have gotten 1 or 2 points on the back-end for movies he starred in. Meaning he'd get, say, 1.5% of ticket sales. For a blockbuster film with $500 million box office that's an extra $7.5 million in the pocket from the backend. A few things about that: 1. Writers almost *never* get backend. 1. Newbies writers *absolutely never* get backend. 1. I'm not sure, but there's likely not any backend at all on tv series, since there aren't ticket sales. I suppose there could be backend on, say, what Netflix pays the production company if they pick up a series. 1. The only backend worth getting is backend on *gross* profits, not on *net* profits. On that last point, "gross" profits means the money made from ticket sales *before* expenses are taken out. "Net" means gross profit *minus all expenses*. The dirty secret of Hollywood is studios make sure nearly every movie has negative net profit through legal-but-semi-shady accounting hijinx that involve overblown expenses that offset the gross profit. > As far as we can see, we are not allowed to ever create anything, sell this idea again, we cannot use the characters, like an episode of Seinfeld, we would not be allowed to tell you the story at a pub one night. For an option? No, absolutely not. If the show gets picked up and they're paying out the full purchase/acquisition rights, then, yeah, that seems about right. And, again, this is why you need to understand & negotiate whether they're acquiring the concept or if there's a longer play for you being *part* of the show's writing staff once it gets picked up. **And why you need an agent.** > Also, what are the chances an actual production is made? Does anyone know? Some told us that there is a surprisingly small chance any actual production, any 'pilot episode' would ever exist. A snowball in hell has a WAY better chance than getting a pilot screenplay to successful TV series. Most TV pilot options never make it to production. Most pilots that make it to production never get picked up for series. Most series that get made don't make it past the first season. But this is why options are so important. There are some good writers in Hollywood that make a living *for years* off of options and re-write work (on some less experienced writers' screenplays) and never get an original script of their own produced. | 0 | 1,915 | 4 | ||
o9tbfl | writing_train | 0.83 | Offered $8000 for a "Pilot" episode. Any Wise Advice, Tips, Warnings or Red Flags from the Experienced Pros Here? So, for years now, my longtime friend and I amuse ourselves, usually while we're at our respective workplaces, coming up with silly TV shows and movies via texts. I usually come up with ridiculous concepts, he tacks on 'what ifs' and then I top that by slapping together a rough 1st draft, email it to him and sometimes he does proper fact-checking, formatting and rewriting. At that point we laugh and laugh. A while back we agreed that one of our mock non-existent TV episodes was surprisingly good. Good enough to give it a proper rewrite and be a little serious for once. He sends this to someone who sends it to someone and now we have this convoluted offer. I will spare you the email because this isn't asking for proper 'legal advice' or anything like this. As far as we can determine its deliberately vague. Its some LA Based group who apparently do everything and nothing. A whole lot of the offer isn't really anything but talk like "...and of course we'd be looking to you in terms of heading up related writing projects" and "we're all very excited about where we can see this going". What is certain... errr.. well as far as we can say for certain.. At some point we'd be given $8000 for this. They may or may not make a 'Pilot' or whatever they want. They could smoke it, trash it or create a 700 million dollar Blockbuster from it. As far as we can see, we are not allowed to ever create anything, sell this idea again, we cannot use the characters, like an episode of Seinfeld, we would not be allowed to tell you the story at a pub one night. Also, for some reason one of them kept using the buzzword 'Option' we want to option this or it can be optioned. He seems to use this word as a synonym for 'buy the rights to it'?? So for those who've been through this, what's your best advice? What is something we should *NOT* do? Are we expected to counter-offer and negotiate? We definitely want 8000 USD but is there some catch, something we should know where maybe we do NOT want that money? Later we'll find out we are charged $9000 in lawyers fees? A number of friends keep insisting we should get 'Royalties' but as far as we can tell that's not actually part of any offer or a 'thing'. Then again, does anyone know if we ought to make royalties a thing? One friend keeps saying "Get some backend' which makes us laugh. We're sure he does not actually know what that term means anyway. He heard about 'a piece of the backend' on a podcast and keeps going on like he knows. Also, what are the chances an actual production is made? Does anyone know? Some told us that there is a surprisingly small chance any actual production, any 'pilot episode' would ever exist. It sounds like they buy these and shelve them. TL;DR Got offered money for a fun TV episode script. Looking for any and all advice, tips or warnings from those who've been through this process before. Thanks. | h3dx96w | h3exwg6 | 1,624,927,470 | 1,624,950,084 | 1 | 2 | You need to be a LOT clearer on what they’re offering before you can sort this out. Options are very different from outright purchases. Tell them to put it In writing - it doesn’t have to be a final contract, just the outline of the offer - so you and your partner can discuss it. Once you know what the terms are, you can be a lot more sensible in your decision-making. But, in the end, even if they get your idea for 8k and make a bazillion off of it, so what? Unless you can turn it into a bazillion making machine yourself, it’s doing you no good sitting in your drawer. If someone else makes a bazillion dollars off your idea, you’ll have a lot of leverage when it comes to selling your next idea. | Netflix offers $20k to $60k just to hold on to the rights for a little bit until they decide if a show can be produced before giving the creators a real budget to find a line producer. HOWEVER, if you need some street cred for an imdb page only YOU can decide, is this really worth it? | 0 | 22,614 | 2 | ||
o9tbfl | writing_train | 0.83 | Offered $8000 for a "Pilot" episode. Any Wise Advice, Tips, Warnings or Red Flags from the Experienced Pros Here? So, for years now, my longtime friend and I amuse ourselves, usually while we're at our respective workplaces, coming up with silly TV shows and movies via texts. I usually come up with ridiculous concepts, he tacks on 'what ifs' and then I top that by slapping together a rough 1st draft, email it to him and sometimes he does proper fact-checking, formatting and rewriting. At that point we laugh and laugh. A while back we agreed that one of our mock non-existent TV episodes was surprisingly good. Good enough to give it a proper rewrite and be a little serious for once. He sends this to someone who sends it to someone and now we have this convoluted offer. I will spare you the email because this isn't asking for proper 'legal advice' or anything like this. As far as we can determine its deliberately vague. Its some LA Based group who apparently do everything and nothing. A whole lot of the offer isn't really anything but talk like "...and of course we'd be looking to you in terms of heading up related writing projects" and "we're all very excited about where we can see this going". What is certain... errr.. well as far as we can say for certain.. At some point we'd be given $8000 for this. They may or may not make a 'Pilot' or whatever they want. They could smoke it, trash it or create a 700 million dollar Blockbuster from it. As far as we can see, we are not allowed to ever create anything, sell this idea again, we cannot use the characters, like an episode of Seinfeld, we would not be allowed to tell you the story at a pub one night. Also, for some reason one of them kept using the buzzword 'Option' we want to option this or it can be optioned. He seems to use this word as a synonym for 'buy the rights to it'?? So for those who've been through this, what's your best advice? What is something we should *NOT* do? Are we expected to counter-offer and negotiate? We definitely want 8000 USD but is there some catch, something we should know where maybe we do NOT want that money? Later we'll find out we are charged $9000 in lawyers fees? A number of friends keep insisting we should get 'Royalties' but as far as we can tell that's not actually part of any offer or a 'thing'. Then again, does anyone know if we ought to make royalties a thing? One friend keeps saying "Get some backend' which makes us laugh. We're sure he does not actually know what that term means anyway. He heard about 'a piece of the backend' on a podcast and keeps going on like he knows. Also, what are the chances an actual production is made? Does anyone know? Some told us that there is a surprisingly small chance any actual production, any 'pilot episode' would ever exist. It sounds like they buy these and shelve them. TL;DR Got offered money for a fun TV episode script. Looking for any and all advice, tips or warnings from those who've been through this process before. Thanks. | h3exwg6 | h3djpvc | 1,624,950,084 | 1,624,920,514 | 2 | 1 | Netflix offers $20k to $60k just to hold on to the rights for a little bit until they decide if a show can be produced before giving the creators a real budget to find a line producer. HOWEVER, if you need some street cred for an imdb page only YOU can decide, is this really worth it? | it sounds to me like you need an agent. Unfortunately I don't know how one gets a film agent, as it is not like getting a literary agent. but don't fuckin' agree to anything until you find someone to help you navigate this, and you absolutely need to talk to screenwriters. | 1 | 29,570 | 2 | ||
o9tbfl | writing_train | 0.83 | Offered $8000 for a "Pilot" episode. Any Wise Advice, Tips, Warnings or Red Flags from the Experienced Pros Here? So, for years now, my longtime friend and I amuse ourselves, usually while we're at our respective workplaces, coming up with silly TV shows and movies via texts. I usually come up with ridiculous concepts, he tacks on 'what ifs' and then I top that by slapping together a rough 1st draft, email it to him and sometimes he does proper fact-checking, formatting and rewriting. At that point we laugh and laugh. A while back we agreed that one of our mock non-existent TV episodes was surprisingly good. Good enough to give it a proper rewrite and be a little serious for once. He sends this to someone who sends it to someone and now we have this convoluted offer. I will spare you the email because this isn't asking for proper 'legal advice' or anything like this. As far as we can determine its deliberately vague. Its some LA Based group who apparently do everything and nothing. A whole lot of the offer isn't really anything but talk like "...and of course we'd be looking to you in terms of heading up related writing projects" and "we're all very excited about where we can see this going". What is certain... errr.. well as far as we can say for certain.. At some point we'd be given $8000 for this. They may or may not make a 'Pilot' or whatever they want. They could smoke it, trash it or create a 700 million dollar Blockbuster from it. As far as we can see, we are not allowed to ever create anything, sell this idea again, we cannot use the characters, like an episode of Seinfeld, we would not be allowed to tell you the story at a pub one night. Also, for some reason one of them kept using the buzzword 'Option' we want to option this or it can be optioned. He seems to use this word as a synonym for 'buy the rights to it'?? So for those who've been through this, what's your best advice? What is something we should *NOT* do? Are we expected to counter-offer and negotiate? We definitely want 8000 USD but is there some catch, something we should know where maybe we do NOT want that money? Later we'll find out we are charged $9000 in lawyers fees? A number of friends keep insisting we should get 'Royalties' but as far as we can tell that's not actually part of any offer or a 'thing'. Then again, does anyone know if we ought to make royalties a thing? One friend keeps saying "Get some backend' which makes us laugh. We're sure he does not actually know what that term means anyway. He heard about 'a piece of the backend' on a podcast and keeps going on like he knows. Also, what are the chances an actual production is made? Does anyone know? Some told us that there is a surprisingly small chance any actual production, any 'pilot episode' would ever exist. It sounds like they buy these and shelve them. TL;DR Got offered money for a fun TV episode script. Looking for any and all advice, tips or warnings from those who've been through this process before. Thanks. | h3fctdu | h3dx96w | 1,624,964,087 | 1,624,927,470 | 2 | 1 | An option is not a perpetual ownership of your property, it is the right to shop it around for a term which is determined by your option agreement. You should seek out an entertainment lawyer or at the very least contact the writers guild and see what resources they might have available to a non member. | You need to be a LOT clearer on what they’re offering before you can sort this out. Options are very different from outright purchases. Tell them to put it In writing - it doesn’t have to be a final contract, just the outline of the offer - so you and your partner can discuss it. Once you know what the terms are, you can be a lot more sensible in your decision-making. But, in the end, even if they get your idea for 8k and make a bazillion off of it, so what? Unless you can turn it into a bazillion making machine yourself, it’s doing you no good sitting in your drawer. If someone else makes a bazillion dollars off your idea, you’ll have a lot of leverage when it comes to selling your next idea. | 1 | 36,617 | 2 | ||
o9tbfl | writing_train | 0.83 | Offered $8000 for a "Pilot" episode. Any Wise Advice, Tips, Warnings or Red Flags from the Experienced Pros Here? So, for years now, my longtime friend and I amuse ourselves, usually while we're at our respective workplaces, coming up with silly TV shows and movies via texts. I usually come up with ridiculous concepts, he tacks on 'what ifs' and then I top that by slapping together a rough 1st draft, email it to him and sometimes he does proper fact-checking, formatting and rewriting. At that point we laugh and laugh. A while back we agreed that one of our mock non-existent TV episodes was surprisingly good. Good enough to give it a proper rewrite and be a little serious for once. He sends this to someone who sends it to someone and now we have this convoluted offer. I will spare you the email because this isn't asking for proper 'legal advice' or anything like this. As far as we can determine its deliberately vague. Its some LA Based group who apparently do everything and nothing. A whole lot of the offer isn't really anything but talk like "...and of course we'd be looking to you in terms of heading up related writing projects" and "we're all very excited about where we can see this going". What is certain... errr.. well as far as we can say for certain.. At some point we'd be given $8000 for this. They may or may not make a 'Pilot' or whatever they want. They could smoke it, trash it or create a 700 million dollar Blockbuster from it. As far as we can see, we are not allowed to ever create anything, sell this idea again, we cannot use the characters, like an episode of Seinfeld, we would not be allowed to tell you the story at a pub one night. Also, for some reason one of them kept using the buzzword 'Option' we want to option this or it can be optioned. He seems to use this word as a synonym for 'buy the rights to it'?? So for those who've been through this, what's your best advice? What is something we should *NOT* do? Are we expected to counter-offer and negotiate? We definitely want 8000 USD but is there some catch, something we should know where maybe we do NOT want that money? Later we'll find out we are charged $9000 in lawyers fees? A number of friends keep insisting we should get 'Royalties' but as far as we can tell that's not actually part of any offer or a 'thing'. Then again, does anyone know if we ought to make royalties a thing? One friend keeps saying "Get some backend' which makes us laugh. We're sure he does not actually know what that term means anyway. He heard about 'a piece of the backend' on a podcast and keeps going on like he knows. Also, what are the chances an actual production is made? Does anyone know? Some told us that there is a surprisingly small chance any actual production, any 'pilot episode' would ever exist. It sounds like they buy these and shelve them. TL;DR Got offered money for a fun TV episode script. Looking for any and all advice, tips or warnings from those who've been through this process before. Thanks. | h3fctdu | h3djpvc | 1,624,964,087 | 1,624,920,514 | 2 | 1 | An option is not a perpetual ownership of your property, it is the right to shop it around for a term which is determined by your option agreement. You should seek out an entertainment lawyer or at the very least contact the writers guild and see what resources they might have available to a non member. | it sounds to me like you need an agent. Unfortunately I don't know how one gets a film agent, as it is not like getting a literary agent. but don't fuckin' agree to anything until you find someone to help you navigate this, and you absolutely need to talk to screenwriters. | 1 | 43,573 | 2 | ||
ri2lg2 | writing_train | 0.83 | Does anyone have any advice on how I can make the syntax of each of my characters dialogue distinct and different so they don't all sound the same? I'm worried that all my characters talk to similarly, and I'm not sure how I can make them sound different without it sounding weird, anyone have any advice? | houf97u | houf9ox | 1,639,696,630 | 1,639,696,635 | 5 | 20 | are they from the same place, culture or race? its ok for some characters to sound similar if they are from the same group. if you mean they all have the same attitude, then maybe think about each of their motivations and their characteristics. | Characters sound different because they view the world differently, approach problems differently, and have different motivations. Synax and dialect are useful and should be considered, but they're ultimately superficial. | 0 | 5 | 4 | ||
ri2lg2 | writing_train | 0.83 | Does anyone have any advice on how I can make the syntax of each of my characters dialogue distinct and different so they don't all sound the same? I'm worried that all my characters talk to similarly, and I'm not sure how I can make them sound different without it sounding weird, anyone have any advice? | housz9q | hourdca | 1,639,702,801 | 1,639,702,076 | 3 | 2 | When we talk about distinct character voices, we’re typically talking about other aspects of character, as other comments show. It’s weird and stupid and i hate that we’re so imprecise about it. It took me a long time to realize people weren’t really talking about syntax or speech quirks. You can make distinct syntactical and rhythmic choices for characters but you can only push that so far before it’s annoying. But it might help to visualize your characters and even try to act them out. A current WIP is my first 1st person narrative and I’m only comfortable with it because he has a distinct speech patterns (think spanish gollum) and the only way i feel i can sustain that is because the MC was an NPC in my D&D campaign, so I’ve acted him out. Now, when i write, i hear that voice and even adopt some of the physicality. | I find it easiest when I have a clear and detailed mental picture of each character. I often try and ‘cast the movie’ of my story so that I have actors I know in each role. So I find it no problem to find the words that ‘Danny Devito’ would say in conversation with ‘Emma Stone’ (kind of thing). Their vocabulary and speaking style are very different and that easily (to me) comes through. | 1 | 725 | 1.5 | ||
ri2lg2 | writing_train | 0.83 | Does anyone have any advice on how I can make the syntax of each of my characters dialogue distinct and different so they don't all sound the same? I'm worried that all my characters talk to similarly, and I'm not sure how I can make them sound different without it sounding weird, anyone have any advice? | howicm4 | hourdca | 1,639,737,913 | 1,639,702,076 | 3 | 2 | Some linguistic terminology: * Accent — the pronunciation specific to a region * Dialect — a variety of language specific to a region * Sociolect — a variety of language specific to a social group * Familiolect — a variety of language specific to a family * Idiolect — a variety of language specific to a person * Code-switching — to switch between dialect or sociolect depending on the situation If you get some stuff written for all of these for all your characters, you're guaranteed to find the differences. For idiolect, you can use things like interjections or exclamations. I, for instance, say "ballcrap", even though that isn't actually a word, but it marks me out from other people. A final note: syntax basically means word order and sentence structure. Syntax in English is pretty structured, and you don't want to go changing that. The only exception I can think of is when a character uses double negatives or breaks off the in the middle of what they're — and begins to talk about something else. | I find it easiest when I have a clear and detailed mental picture of each character. I often try and ‘cast the movie’ of my story so that I have actors I know in each role. So I find it no problem to find the words that ‘Danny Devito’ would say in conversation with ‘Emma Stone’ (kind of thing). Their vocabulary and speaking style are very different and that easily (to me) comes through. | 1 | 35,837 | 1.5 | ||
ri2lg2 | writing_train | 0.83 | Does anyone have any advice on how I can make the syntax of each of my characters dialogue distinct and different so they don't all sound the same? I'm worried that all my characters talk to similarly, and I'm not sure how I can make them sound different without it sounding weird, anyone have any advice? | houszn9 | howicm4 | 1,639,702,805 | 1,639,737,913 | 2 | 3 | You give them different attitudes toward language. These differences shouldn’t be entirely random. For example, I have a character who is emerging from teenaged rebellion. Her speech is disrespectful, pushy, profane, and deliberately slangy and ungrammatical. Her little brother uses language more playfully: sometimes colloquial, sometimes erudite, and often a mix of both in the same sentence. His girlfriend is a child prodigy who spent years with plenty of books but no friends. She speaks like someone in a Victorian novel. She knows her English is too stiff and formal but hasn’t decided what to do about it. | Some linguistic terminology: * Accent — the pronunciation specific to a region * Dialect — a variety of language specific to a region * Sociolect — a variety of language specific to a social group * Familiolect — a variety of language specific to a family * Idiolect — a variety of language specific to a person * Code-switching — to switch between dialect or sociolect depending on the situation If you get some stuff written for all of these for all your characters, you're guaranteed to find the differences. For idiolect, you can use things like interjections or exclamations. I, for instance, say "ballcrap", even though that isn't actually a word, but it marks me out from other people. A final note: syntax basically means word order and sentence structure. Syntax in English is pretty structured, and you don't want to go changing that. The only exception I can think of is when a character uses double negatives or breaks off the in the middle of what they're — and begins to talk about something else. | 0 | 35,108 | 1.5 | ||
ri2lg2 | writing_train | 0.83 | Does anyone have any advice on how I can make the syntax of each of my characters dialogue distinct and different so they don't all sound the same? I'm worried that all my characters talk to similarly, and I'm not sure how I can make them sound different without it sounding weird, anyone have any advice? | howicm4 | hovdlns | 1,639,737,913 | 1,639,712,050 | 3 | 2 | Some linguistic terminology: * Accent — the pronunciation specific to a region * Dialect — a variety of language specific to a region * Sociolect — a variety of language specific to a social group * Familiolect — a variety of language specific to a family * Idiolect — a variety of language specific to a person * Code-switching — to switch between dialect or sociolect depending on the situation If you get some stuff written for all of these for all your characters, you're guaranteed to find the differences. For idiolect, you can use things like interjections or exclamations. I, for instance, say "ballcrap", even though that isn't actually a word, but it marks me out from other people. A final note: syntax basically means word order and sentence structure. Syntax in English is pretty structured, and you don't want to go changing that. The only exception I can think of is when a character uses double negatives or breaks off the in the middle of what they're — and begins to talk about something else. | First of all, syntax is irrelevant, different people usually have different vocabulary, some will say x but another will never be caught saying it. Some cuss more, others are more polite or formal. Some a straightforward and to the point, some ramble on and on. Profession also influences how people speak. Military people have a distinct way of speaking compared to civilians as often shown in films. There's only so much wiggle room with syntax. | 1 | 25,863 | 1.5 | ||
ri2lg2 | writing_train | 0.83 | Does anyone have any advice on how I can make the syntax of each of my characters dialogue distinct and different so they don't all sound the same? I'm worried that all my characters talk to similarly, and I'm not sure how I can make them sound different without it sounding weird, anyone have any advice? | howicm4 | hoviosh | 1,639,737,913 | 1,639,714,359 | 3 | 2 | Some linguistic terminology: * Accent — the pronunciation specific to a region * Dialect — a variety of language specific to a region * Sociolect — a variety of language specific to a social group * Familiolect — a variety of language specific to a family * Idiolect — a variety of language specific to a person * Code-switching — to switch between dialect or sociolect depending on the situation If you get some stuff written for all of these for all your characters, you're guaranteed to find the differences. For idiolect, you can use things like interjections or exclamations. I, for instance, say "ballcrap", even though that isn't actually a word, but it marks me out from other people. A final note: syntax basically means word order and sentence structure. Syntax in English is pretty structured, and you don't want to go changing that. The only exception I can think of is when a character uses double negatives or breaks off the in the middle of what they're — and begins to talk about something else. | make sure they ARE different and that their individual personality always shines through. some basics to check are things like greetings, goodbyes, and cursing. or, what they say in place of cursing. then there's thing like what metaphors they use. what they focus on. what they view as priorities. also some people will speak differently based on their habits acquired through the crowds they hang around with. a professor is probably going to speak differently than a construction worker, even if the construction worker is well-read and the professor was a construction worker until a decade ago. x I personally don't go far at all when it comes to things like writing out accents or weird speech patterns. just think about, would they say 'maybe' or 'perhaps' here? It can be hard to switch 'languages' between each character rapidly. My advice for the first drafts is just focus on making sure what your characters say feels in character and is in keeping with their motivations, goals, and emotions. later on editing it will be easier to enhance the differences in terms of word choice and structure if needed. | 1 | 23,554 | 1.5 | ||
ri2lg2 | writing_train | 0.83 | Does anyone have any advice on how I can make the syntax of each of my characters dialogue distinct and different so they don't all sound the same? I'm worried that all my characters talk to similarly, and I'm not sure how I can make them sound different without it sounding weird, anyone have any advice? | how196a | howicm4 | 1,639,724,993 | 1,639,737,913 | 2 | 3 | Take an acting class. Read plays. | Some linguistic terminology: * Accent — the pronunciation specific to a region * Dialect — a variety of language specific to a region * Sociolect — a variety of language specific to a social group * Familiolect — a variety of language specific to a family * Idiolect — a variety of language specific to a person * Code-switching — to switch between dialect or sociolect depending on the situation If you get some stuff written for all of these for all your characters, you're guaranteed to find the differences. For idiolect, you can use things like interjections or exclamations. I, for instance, say "ballcrap", even though that isn't actually a word, but it marks me out from other people. A final note: syntax basically means word order and sentence structure. Syntax in English is pretty structured, and you don't want to go changing that. The only exception I can think of is when a character uses double negatives or breaks off the in the middle of what they're — and begins to talk about something else. | 0 | 12,920 | 1.5 | ||
ri2lg2 | writing_train | 0.83 | Does anyone have any advice on how I can make the syntax of each of my characters dialogue distinct and different so they don't all sound the same? I'm worried that all my characters talk to similarly, and I'm not sure how I can make them sound different without it sounding weird, anyone have any advice? | how7pvl | howicm4 | 1,639,729,634 | 1,639,737,913 | 2 | 3 | The only syntactical thing that I tend to mess with between characters deliberately is how *much* they talk, giving some a tendency towards long run-on sentences and others a tendency towards abruptness. As other people have said, most of the work done that makes characters "sound different" is more down to the content of what they're saying (and, the attitude they say it with, I'd argue) but there are plenty of verbal tics you can add for flavor. - Level of formality - Frequency of figurative speech. (Along with what *kind* of figurative speech--overly specific metaphors that are funny and cutting, lyrical poeticism, lots of metaphors on a similar topic, lots of well-worn figures of speech, etc.) - heavy adverb use. (Be careful with this, but it can add flavor) -slang -complexity vs. simplicity of word choice -characters that think faster than they talk and are frequently editing what they say and messily cutting themselves off. -nicknaming people -how 'playful' they are with language -frequent understatement or overstatement -how emotional their word choice is (overwrought, clinical) -pretentiousness -particular overused words—especially common/mostly meaningless ones. | Some linguistic terminology: * Accent — the pronunciation specific to a region * Dialect — a variety of language specific to a region * Sociolect — a variety of language specific to a social group * Familiolect — a variety of language specific to a family * Idiolect — a variety of language specific to a person * Code-switching — to switch between dialect or sociolect depending on the situation If you get some stuff written for all of these for all your characters, you're guaranteed to find the differences. For idiolect, you can use things like interjections or exclamations. I, for instance, say "ballcrap", even though that isn't actually a word, but it marks me out from other people. A final note: syntax basically means word order and sentence structure. Syntax in English is pretty structured, and you don't want to go changing that. The only exception I can think of is when a character uses double negatives or breaks off the in the middle of what they're — and begins to talk about something else. | 0 | 8,279 | 1.5 | ||
ddn36v | writing_train | 0.88 | does anyone have any advice for writing weird, eerie fiction? I've written short stories before where I've tried to apply the style and framework of weird/eerie and they've just not done that well. I'm very new to this area so does anyone have any advice or experience or tips? I'm referring to fiction written along the style of hp lovecraft, hg wells, sylvia plath, etc | f2mj0kb | f2l25fg | 1,570,305,865 | 1,570,291,258 | 4 | 3 | From more of a mechanics standpoint, focus on creating an image/scene. The adjectives you use to describe something are going to either draw attention to or gloss over an object. Take a pond. If you say, "There was a pond" then no one cares. If you say, "I saw a pond, surrounded by dry reeds. A dark fungus mottled the stalks, slowly consuming the withered plants in an inevitable slide into decay. I heard no birdsong. The black, fetid water reached out like an abscess, pulling me forward to join in the rot, the chorus of entropy brought on the autumn breeze. The reeds whispered in a monotonous, chaffing rustle. "Come with us. Come with us," they intoned. "Come be among the dead." And yet, not a ripple stirred the glazed surface of the pond. It was immovable. It was unquestionable. Like the fate of mankind since before the birth of the first star, consigned to extinction. The pond was waiting." Now the pond is strange, a character unto itself. I took the pond, and thought about what ponds tend to be like. It's autumn, so all of the grass and reeds are dead. They tend to be still, filled with decaying plants and mud. So I took that theme and played up on it. I dialed it past what was normal, emphasizing an otherworldly draw towards death. | Read weird and eerie | 1 | 14,607 | 1.333333 | ||
ddn36v | writing_train | 0.88 | does anyone have any advice for writing weird, eerie fiction? I've written short stories before where I've tried to apply the style and framework of weird/eerie and they've just not done that well. I'm very new to this area so does anyone have any advice or experience or tips? I'm referring to fiction written along the style of hp lovecraft, hg wells, sylvia plath, etc | f2mj0kb | f2mi2uy | 1,570,305,865 | 1,570,305,575 | 4 | 3 | From more of a mechanics standpoint, focus on creating an image/scene. The adjectives you use to describe something are going to either draw attention to or gloss over an object. Take a pond. If you say, "There was a pond" then no one cares. If you say, "I saw a pond, surrounded by dry reeds. A dark fungus mottled the stalks, slowly consuming the withered plants in an inevitable slide into decay. I heard no birdsong. The black, fetid water reached out like an abscess, pulling me forward to join in the rot, the chorus of entropy brought on the autumn breeze. The reeds whispered in a monotonous, chaffing rustle. "Come with us. Come with us," they intoned. "Come be among the dead." And yet, not a ripple stirred the glazed surface of the pond. It was immovable. It was unquestionable. Like the fate of mankind since before the birth of the first star, consigned to extinction. The pond was waiting." Now the pond is strange, a character unto itself. I took the pond, and thought about what ponds tend to be like. It's autumn, so all of the grass and reeds are dead. They tend to be still, filled with decaying plants and mud. So I took that theme and played up on it. I dialed it past what was normal, emphasizing an otherworldly draw towards death. | Set a tone then subvert it to unsettle your readers. Remember that weird is relative. If your reader is expecting vampires and get vampires, then they are already prepared emotionally for it, but if they are expecting a polite romantic scene and one character spends the entire scene staring at a wall and talking about mer-people, its going to be really unsettling. Experiment with contrasting expectations with something completely different- its best if a mundane, everyday action has a strange and unsettling outcome which immediately has a place in the reader's mind- like reaching for your computer mouse and feeling fur. | 1 | 290 | 1.333333 | ||
ddn36v | writing_train | 0.88 | does anyone have any advice for writing weird, eerie fiction? I've written short stories before where I've tried to apply the style and framework of weird/eerie and they've just not done that well. I'm very new to this area so does anyone have any advice or experience or tips? I'm referring to fiction written along the style of hp lovecraft, hg wells, sylvia plath, etc | f2likuo | f2mj0kb | 1,570,295,200 | 1,570,305,865 | 1 | 4 | I remember having weird dreams after watching "A Nightmare on Elm Street", and they were all along the lines of the normal rules of reality breaking down in a confusingly dreamlike fashion, with strange, unexpected, or even impossible things happening, often starting in quite subtle ways and becoming increasingly jarring. Like the kind of feeling Neo got in The Matrix when he first starts to become aware that reality isn't what it seems, or in Donnie Darko when Jake Gylenhall's character starts getting his hallucinations. And if you've never watched any David Lynch TV/film, then they're a great source of bizarre inspiration (eg. Blue Velvet, Twin Peaks, Eraser Head). Heres a taster: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffQK\_3BJm5Q | From more of a mechanics standpoint, focus on creating an image/scene. The adjectives you use to describe something are going to either draw attention to or gloss over an object. Take a pond. If you say, "There was a pond" then no one cares. If you say, "I saw a pond, surrounded by dry reeds. A dark fungus mottled the stalks, slowly consuming the withered plants in an inevitable slide into decay. I heard no birdsong. The black, fetid water reached out like an abscess, pulling me forward to join in the rot, the chorus of entropy brought on the autumn breeze. The reeds whispered in a monotonous, chaffing rustle. "Come with us. Come with us," they intoned. "Come be among the dead." And yet, not a ripple stirred the glazed surface of the pond. It was immovable. It was unquestionable. Like the fate of mankind since before the birth of the first star, consigned to extinction. The pond was waiting." Now the pond is strange, a character unto itself. I took the pond, and thought about what ponds tend to be like. It's autumn, so all of the grass and reeds are dead. They tend to be still, filled with decaying plants and mud. So I took that theme and played up on it. I dialed it past what was normal, emphasizing an otherworldly draw towards death. | 0 | 10,665 | 4 | ||
ddn36v | writing_train | 0.88 | does anyone have any advice for writing weird, eerie fiction? I've written short stories before where I've tried to apply the style and framework of weird/eerie and they've just not done that well. I'm very new to this area so does anyone have any advice or experience or tips? I'm referring to fiction written along the style of hp lovecraft, hg wells, sylvia plath, etc | f2l25fg | f2liwgq | 1,570,291,258 | 1,570,295,304 | 3 | 4 | Read weird and eerie | Try staying up really late and writing at weird times. I've had success with poetry and song writing by tapping into the different states of familiar spaces at unfamiliar hours. | 0 | 4,046 | 1.333333 | ||
ddn36v | writing_train | 0.88 | does anyone have any advice for writing weird, eerie fiction? I've written short stories before where I've tried to apply the style and framework of weird/eerie and they've just not done that well. I'm very new to this area so does anyone have any advice or experience or tips? I'm referring to fiction written along the style of hp lovecraft, hg wells, sylvia plath, etc | f2likuo | f2liwgq | 1,570,295,200 | 1,570,295,304 | 1 | 4 | I remember having weird dreams after watching "A Nightmare on Elm Street", and they were all along the lines of the normal rules of reality breaking down in a confusingly dreamlike fashion, with strange, unexpected, or even impossible things happening, often starting in quite subtle ways and becoming increasingly jarring. Like the kind of feeling Neo got in The Matrix when he first starts to become aware that reality isn't what it seems, or in Donnie Darko when Jake Gylenhall's character starts getting his hallucinations. And if you've never watched any David Lynch TV/film, then they're a great source of bizarre inspiration (eg. Blue Velvet, Twin Peaks, Eraser Head). Heres a taster: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffQK\_3BJm5Q | Try staying up really late and writing at weird times. I've had success with poetry and song writing by tapping into the different states of familiar spaces at unfamiliar hours. | 0 | 104 | 4 | ||
ddn36v | writing_train | 0.88 | does anyone have any advice for writing weird, eerie fiction? I've written short stories before where I've tried to apply the style and framework of weird/eerie and they've just not done that well. I'm very new to this area so does anyone have any advice or experience or tips? I'm referring to fiction written along the style of hp lovecraft, hg wells, sylvia plath, etc | f2mi2uy | f2likuo | 1,570,305,575 | 1,570,295,200 | 3 | 1 | Set a tone then subvert it to unsettle your readers. Remember that weird is relative. If your reader is expecting vampires and get vampires, then they are already prepared emotionally for it, but if they are expecting a polite romantic scene and one character spends the entire scene staring at a wall and talking about mer-people, its going to be really unsettling. Experiment with contrasting expectations with something completely different- its best if a mundane, everyday action has a strange and unsettling outcome which immediately has a place in the reader's mind- like reaching for your computer mouse and feeling fur. | I remember having weird dreams after watching "A Nightmare on Elm Street", and they were all along the lines of the normal rules of reality breaking down in a confusingly dreamlike fashion, with strange, unexpected, or even impossible things happening, often starting in quite subtle ways and becoming increasingly jarring. Like the kind of feeling Neo got in The Matrix when he first starts to become aware that reality isn't what it seems, or in Donnie Darko when Jake Gylenhall's character starts getting his hallucinations. And if you've never watched any David Lynch TV/film, then they're a great source of bizarre inspiration (eg. Blue Velvet, Twin Peaks, Eraser Head). Heres a taster: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffQK\_3BJm5Q | 1 | 10,375 | 3 | ||
ddn36v | writing_train | 0.88 | does anyone have any advice for writing weird, eerie fiction? I've written short stories before where I've tried to apply the style and framework of weird/eerie and they've just not done that well. I'm very new to this area so does anyone have any advice or experience or tips? I'm referring to fiction written along the style of hp lovecraft, hg wells, sylvia plath, etc | f2likuo | f2psgj8 | 1,570,295,200 | 1,570,349,608 | 1 | 2 | I remember having weird dreams after watching "A Nightmare on Elm Street", and they were all along the lines of the normal rules of reality breaking down in a confusingly dreamlike fashion, with strange, unexpected, or even impossible things happening, often starting in quite subtle ways and becoming increasingly jarring. Like the kind of feeling Neo got in The Matrix when he first starts to become aware that reality isn't what it seems, or in Donnie Darko when Jake Gylenhall's character starts getting his hallucinations. And if you've never watched any David Lynch TV/film, then they're a great source of bizarre inspiration (eg. Blue Velvet, Twin Peaks, Eraser Head). Heres a taster: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffQK\_3BJm5Q | Read widely in the genre. Look for patterns. But ultimately weird fiction is mainly about defying patterns and expectations and being original. Vampires have been done to death but a sapient meme is interesting. Werewolves are well known but a fungus that infects you and compels you to eat your own flesh is disturbing. Suggested authors; William hope Hodgeson, Arthur machen, clark ashton Smith, Robert e Howard, Robert Bloch, Ramsey Campbell | 0 | 54,408 | 2 | ||
ddn36v | writing_train | 0.88 | does anyone have any advice for writing weird, eerie fiction? I've written short stories before where I've tried to apply the style and framework of weird/eerie and they've just not done that well. I'm very new to this area so does anyone have any advice or experience or tips? I'm referring to fiction written along the style of hp lovecraft, hg wells, sylvia plath, etc | f2o2yri | f2psgj8 | 1,570,322,369 | 1,570,349,608 | 1 | 2 | i have a weird fiction recommendation. it's a short story titled The Library of Babel. It's why I write weird short fiction today. | Read widely in the genre. Look for patterns. But ultimately weird fiction is mainly about defying patterns and expectations and being original. Vampires have been done to death but a sapient meme is interesting. Werewolves are well known but a fungus that infects you and compels you to eat your own flesh is disturbing. Suggested authors; William hope Hodgeson, Arthur machen, clark ashton Smith, Robert e Howard, Robert Bloch, Ramsey Campbell | 0 | 27,239 | 2 | ||
ddn36v | writing_train | 0.88 | does anyone have any advice for writing weird, eerie fiction? I've written short stories before where I've tried to apply the style and framework of weird/eerie and they've just not done that well. I'm very new to this area so does anyone have any advice or experience or tips? I'm referring to fiction written along the style of hp lovecraft, hg wells, sylvia plath, etc | f2psgj8 | f2nqw4e | 1,570,349,608 | 1,570,318,867 | 2 | 0 | Read widely in the genre. Look for patterns. But ultimately weird fiction is mainly about defying patterns and expectations and being original. Vampires have been done to death but a sapient meme is interesting. Werewolves are well known but a fungus that infects you and compels you to eat your own flesh is disturbing. Suggested authors; William hope Hodgeson, Arthur machen, clark ashton Smith, Robert e Howard, Robert Bloch, Ramsey Campbell | First person present tense. Instant unreliable narrator without ever having to drop any hints that they're not reliable. How can you trust a character that might be insane? | 1 | 30,741 | 2,000 | ||
ddn36v | writing_train | 0.88 | does anyone have any advice for writing weird, eerie fiction? I've written short stories before where I've tried to apply the style and framework of weird/eerie and they've just not done that well. I'm very new to this area so does anyone have any advice or experience or tips? I'm referring to fiction written along the style of hp lovecraft, hg wells, sylvia plath, etc | f2nqw4e | f2o2yri | 1,570,318,867 | 1,570,322,369 | 0 | 1 | First person present tense. Instant unreliable narrator without ever having to drop any hints that they're not reliable. How can you trust a character that might be insane? | i have a weird fiction recommendation. it's a short story titled The Library of Babel. It's why I write weird short fiction today. | 0 | 3,502 | 1,000 | ||
6lp0ey | writing_train | 0.79 | I always think of a bunch of unrelated scenes, but I can never string them all into a story. Any tips with this or does anyone else experience this? So basically I'll get inspiration to write out a scene or a conversation that came to me throughout the day, but I can never fit it into a story if that makes sense. Which leads to a bunch of saved documents of decent scenes, but none of them are really related or tied to the same story. | djvkn54 | djvnz0s | 1,499,381,215 | 1,499,385,435 | 7 | 33 | This is good practice for process/plot development. Given two seemingly unrelated scenes, what needs to happen in between them so that the transition is smooth and all details are accounted for? It's a mixture of trial and error, brainstorming, and logical reasoning. You may go back and forth for as many times as it takes until you get the story you want. Trial and error. Just brainstorm hundreds of ideas for what happens in between. Keep going until you think you're ready to review them all. Pick a few of them and arrange them into an order that makes sense. You're basically creating an outline of key details that happen in between the two scenes. Begin drafting and writing prose using the outline. Logical reasoning. If Scene A has two characters and Scene B has 5 characters, then you know 3 characters have to somehow show up. So you know for sure that you'll have a scene or two that is an introduction, or a reunion, of characters. If Scene B has one of the characters show up wounded, you know an accident or fight of some kind has happened, so that will most likely need to be described. | You're focused on the wrong thing. Stories aren't driven by scenes; stories are driven by *characters* and *conflict*. Create a character. Give her a goal. Give her an obstacles to overcome and/or an antagonist. Now you have a *story*. * Amy is VP of Finance and wants to become CEO, but her nemesis, Beth, the VP of Product is vying for the same position. Beth will have to be undermined ... or eliminated. Bam! Story. * Balthazar is the Prince of Foobaristan, and his aging father, King Emilio, is losing the war against the neighboring country, Examplia. To turn the tides of war, Balthazar must put together a band of hardy adventurers to steal the legendary Amulet of Maguffin from the Demon Realm, home of the Demon Lord Horroria. Bam! Story. * Gemma Stone, crack private investigator, has been hired to find Missy, the missing daughter of millionaire, Hank Mulah. But her search leads her into the startling, illicit world of party clown bondage. Bam! Story. **Characters** working to achieve **goals** against **obstacles** creates a story. A scene is how you move that story forward. Without a character with goals and obstacles, though, scenes are just like sketches in a notebook: pretty to look at, but not part of a narrative. | 0 | 4,220 | 4.714286 | ||
6lp0ey | writing_train | 0.79 | I always think of a bunch of unrelated scenes, but I can never string them all into a story. Any tips with this or does anyone else experience this? So basically I'll get inspiration to write out a scene or a conversation that came to me throughout the day, but I can never fit it into a story if that makes sense. Which leads to a bunch of saved documents of decent scenes, but none of them are really related or tied to the same story. | djvkkr8 | djvnz0s | 1,499,381,133 | 1,499,385,435 | 2 | 33 | I don't mean to be an ass, but it sounds to me like you don't have a story to tell. I write scenes in my head all day every day. But that's just "practicing." The real goal for me is to tell a story--and once I have a story that I think is worth telling (and worth hearing!), I put that practice to use and start writing scenes that build that story. In other words--put the story before the scenes. By all means, keep writing scenes--that helps build your writing chops. But don't try to force random scenes into a story. Find a story that works, and then use those chops to flesh it out. | You're focused on the wrong thing. Stories aren't driven by scenes; stories are driven by *characters* and *conflict*. Create a character. Give her a goal. Give her an obstacles to overcome and/or an antagonist. Now you have a *story*. * Amy is VP of Finance and wants to become CEO, but her nemesis, Beth, the VP of Product is vying for the same position. Beth will have to be undermined ... or eliminated. Bam! Story. * Balthazar is the Prince of Foobaristan, and his aging father, King Emilio, is losing the war against the neighboring country, Examplia. To turn the tides of war, Balthazar must put together a band of hardy adventurers to steal the legendary Amulet of Maguffin from the Demon Realm, home of the Demon Lord Horroria. Bam! Story. * Gemma Stone, crack private investigator, has been hired to find Missy, the missing daughter of millionaire, Hank Mulah. But her search leads her into the startling, illicit world of party clown bondage. Bam! Story. **Characters** working to achieve **goals** against **obstacles** creates a story. A scene is how you move that story forward. Without a character with goals and obstacles, though, scenes are just like sketches in a notebook: pretty to look at, but not part of a narrative. | 0 | 4,302 | 16.5 | ||
6lp0ey | writing_train | 0.79 | I always think of a bunch of unrelated scenes, but I can never string them all into a story. Any tips with this or does anyone else experience this? So basically I'll get inspiration to write out a scene or a conversation that came to me throughout the day, but I can never fit it into a story if that makes sense. Which leads to a bunch of saved documents of decent scenes, but none of them are really related or tied to the same story. | djvkkr8 | djvkn54 | 1,499,381,133 | 1,499,381,215 | 2 | 7 | I don't mean to be an ass, but it sounds to me like you don't have a story to tell. I write scenes in my head all day every day. But that's just "practicing." The real goal for me is to tell a story--and once I have a story that I think is worth telling (and worth hearing!), I put that practice to use and start writing scenes that build that story. In other words--put the story before the scenes. By all means, keep writing scenes--that helps build your writing chops. But don't try to force random scenes into a story. Find a story that works, and then use those chops to flesh it out. | This is good practice for process/plot development. Given two seemingly unrelated scenes, what needs to happen in between them so that the transition is smooth and all details are accounted for? It's a mixture of trial and error, brainstorming, and logical reasoning. You may go back and forth for as many times as it takes until you get the story you want. Trial and error. Just brainstorm hundreds of ideas for what happens in between. Keep going until you think you're ready to review them all. Pick a few of them and arrange them into an order that makes sense. You're basically creating an outline of key details that happen in between the two scenes. Begin drafting and writing prose using the outline. Logical reasoning. If Scene A has two characters and Scene B has 5 characters, then you know 3 characters have to somehow show up. So you know for sure that you'll have a scene or two that is an introduction, or a reunion, of characters. If Scene B has one of the characters show up wounded, you know an accident or fight of some kind has happened, so that will most likely need to be described. | 0 | 82 | 3.5 | ||
6lp0ey | writing_train | 0.79 | I always think of a bunch of unrelated scenes, but I can never string them all into a story. Any tips with this or does anyone else experience this? So basically I'll get inspiration to write out a scene or a conversation that came to me throughout the day, but I can never fit it into a story if that makes sense. Which leads to a bunch of saved documents of decent scenes, but none of them are really related or tied to the same story. | djw4xkg | djvkkr8 | 1,499,410,033 | 1,499,381,133 | 3 | 2 | I like to write my random premises on index cards, incl. the characters and their reasons for acting like that (and whatever meaning could be behind it). Then I lay them on the floor and try to arrange them in chronological order, like a puzzle. Sometimes I'll have 3 or 4 random stories going, and I'll choose the one I like best, and try to finagle my favorite scenes into them. But it often gets me thinking in a different direction entirely and I file away my premises and scenes for later. I find that writing the scene or premise down also clears my head of it. Then I use that as a base for building an outline of events and characters. Then try to find the feelings and ideas and opinions that I'm trying to convey. Music, art, tv shows, other books, the news, etc. helps with this. Once I've got a rough story, I begin to fill in all the blanks (this is the fun part). Then when I'm about halfway done, after weeks and weeks of daydreaming, writing, and researching, I abandon it to the un-backed-up and unsecured hard drive where I keep all my other half written masterpieces, and find something new to think about. | I don't mean to be an ass, but it sounds to me like you don't have a story to tell. I write scenes in my head all day every day. But that's just "practicing." The real goal for me is to tell a story--and once I have a story that I think is worth telling (and worth hearing!), I put that practice to use and start writing scenes that build that story. In other words--put the story before the scenes. By all means, keep writing scenes--that helps build your writing chops. But don't try to force random scenes into a story. Find a story that works, and then use those chops to flesh it out. | 1 | 28,900 | 1.5 | ||
6lp0ey | writing_train | 0.79 | I always think of a bunch of unrelated scenes, but I can never string them all into a story. Any tips with this or does anyone else experience this? So basically I'll get inspiration to write out a scene or a conversation that came to me throughout the day, but I can never fit it into a story if that makes sense. Which leads to a bunch of saved documents of decent scenes, but none of them are really related or tied to the same story. | djvrbrc | djw4xkg | 1,499,389,852 | 1,499,410,033 | 1 | 3 | I think what you're missing is the common themes. Good writing is two things: spectacle and substance. Thinking up scenes can get you your spectacle, but without the underlying driving force of the story there's nowhere to go when that scene is over. When I plan a story, I first choose my initial themes, setting, and characters. Then I make a list of important and interesting scenes for about a month, whenever I think of one, just using what I know about the characters and how they would interact with each other (and this even helps flesh them out in my mind). After I have a huge list, I scrap all of the scenes that are "just cool" without the substance to justify them, or I try to figure out how I can modify them to fit into the themes I'm focusing on. Finally, I connect the dots and fill in the gaps with additional scenes, usually what I call the "downtime scenes", and the story is all planned out! You can definitely write stories in a scene-centric way, and it even helps the spectacle of your story by letting you foreshadow and lead towards the amazing scenes you want to write. But if you can't link them up into a cohesive story, you might be missing the reason why this story needs to be told in the first place. So I would ask, "What message am I trying to get across with this story?", and go from there. Hopefully that helps! | I like to write my random premises on index cards, incl. the characters and their reasons for acting like that (and whatever meaning could be behind it). Then I lay them on the floor and try to arrange them in chronological order, like a puzzle. Sometimes I'll have 3 or 4 random stories going, and I'll choose the one I like best, and try to finagle my favorite scenes into them. But it often gets me thinking in a different direction entirely and I file away my premises and scenes for later. I find that writing the scene or premise down also clears my head of it. Then I use that as a base for building an outline of events and characters. Then try to find the feelings and ideas and opinions that I'm trying to convey. Music, art, tv shows, other books, the news, etc. helps with this. Once I've got a rough story, I begin to fill in all the blanks (this is the fun part). Then when I'm about halfway done, after weeks and weeks of daydreaming, writing, and researching, I abandon it to the un-backed-up and unsecured hard drive where I keep all my other half written masterpieces, and find something new to think about. | 0 | 20,181 | 3 | ||
6lp0ey | writing_train | 0.79 | I always think of a bunch of unrelated scenes, but I can never string them all into a story. Any tips with this or does anyone else experience this? So basically I'll get inspiration to write out a scene or a conversation that came to me throughout the day, but I can never fit it into a story if that makes sense. Which leads to a bunch of saved documents of decent scenes, but none of them are really related or tied to the same story. | djw4xkg | djvxxk0 | 1,499,410,033 | 1,499,398,269 | 3 | 1 | I like to write my random premises on index cards, incl. the characters and their reasons for acting like that (and whatever meaning could be behind it). Then I lay them on the floor and try to arrange them in chronological order, like a puzzle. Sometimes I'll have 3 or 4 random stories going, and I'll choose the one I like best, and try to finagle my favorite scenes into them. But it often gets me thinking in a different direction entirely and I file away my premises and scenes for later. I find that writing the scene or premise down also clears my head of it. Then I use that as a base for building an outline of events and characters. Then try to find the feelings and ideas and opinions that I'm trying to convey. Music, art, tv shows, other books, the news, etc. helps with this. Once I've got a rough story, I begin to fill in all the blanks (this is the fun part). Then when I'm about halfway done, after weeks and weeks of daydreaming, writing, and researching, I abandon it to the un-backed-up and unsecured hard drive where I keep all my other half written masterpieces, and find something new to think about. | I would consider the characters involved. Are there any in your ideas that are similar? Can they be amalgamated into one character? If you already have characters and want to fit them in, and none of them seem to fit your idea, I usually take the root problem and adjust the scene to make sense. Or just write a series of semirelated short stories. That's fun too. | 1 | 11,764 | 3 | ||
6lp0ey | writing_train | 0.79 | I always think of a bunch of unrelated scenes, but I can never string them all into a story. Any tips with this or does anyone else experience this? So basically I'll get inspiration to write out a scene or a conversation that came to me throughout the day, but I can never fit it into a story if that makes sense. Which leads to a bunch of saved documents of decent scenes, but none of them are really related or tied to the same story. | djvy2u0 | djw4xkg | 1,499,398,474 | 1,499,410,033 | 1 | 3 | uWrite them! Figure out later howi they fit together. Maybe they do, maybe they don't. Maybe each one is its own story! Maybe the same character is lurking in the background of all of them and he/she is the connecting thread. | I like to write my random premises on index cards, incl. the characters and their reasons for acting like that (and whatever meaning could be behind it). Then I lay them on the floor and try to arrange them in chronological order, like a puzzle. Sometimes I'll have 3 or 4 random stories going, and I'll choose the one I like best, and try to finagle my favorite scenes into them. But it often gets me thinking in a different direction entirely and I file away my premises and scenes for later. I find that writing the scene or premise down also clears my head of it. Then I use that as a base for building an outline of events and characters. Then try to find the feelings and ideas and opinions that I'm trying to convey. Music, art, tv shows, other books, the news, etc. helps with this. Once I've got a rough story, I begin to fill in all the blanks (this is the fun part). Then when I'm about halfway done, after weeks and weeks of daydreaming, writing, and researching, I abandon it to the un-backed-up and unsecured hard drive where I keep all my other half written masterpieces, and find something new to think about. | 0 | 11,559 | 3 | ||
6lp0ey | writing_train | 0.79 | I always think of a bunch of unrelated scenes, but I can never string them all into a story. Any tips with this or does anyone else experience this? So basically I'll get inspiration to write out a scene or a conversation that came to me throughout the day, but I can never fit it into a story if that makes sense. Which leads to a bunch of saved documents of decent scenes, but none of them are really related or tied to the same story. | djw4xkg | djw2jyx | 1,499,410,033 | 1,499,405,408 | 3 | 1 | I like to write my random premises on index cards, incl. the characters and their reasons for acting like that (and whatever meaning could be behind it). Then I lay them on the floor and try to arrange them in chronological order, like a puzzle. Sometimes I'll have 3 or 4 random stories going, and I'll choose the one I like best, and try to finagle my favorite scenes into them. But it often gets me thinking in a different direction entirely and I file away my premises and scenes for later. I find that writing the scene or premise down also clears my head of it. Then I use that as a base for building an outline of events and characters. Then try to find the feelings and ideas and opinions that I'm trying to convey. Music, art, tv shows, other books, the news, etc. helps with this. Once I've got a rough story, I begin to fill in all the blanks (this is the fun part). Then when I'm about halfway done, after weeks and weeks of daydreaming, writing, and researching, I abandon it to the un-backed-up and unsecured hard drive where I keep all my other half written masterpieces, and find something new to think about. | I mean that's how i started out, eventually, i started to connect them with other scenes. Sometimes i had to change something over there to make it work over here, sometimes i had to compromise on ideas. You should figure out a plot that connects them and then build ontop of that. | 1 | 4,625 | 3 | ||
6lp0ey | writing_train | 0.79 | I always think of a bunch of unrelated scenes, but I can never string them all into a story. Any tips with this or does anyone else experience this? So basically I'll get inspiration to write out a scene or a conversation that came to me throughout the day, but I can never fit it into a story if that makes sense. Which leads to a bunch of saved documents of decent scenes, but none of them are really related or tied to the same story. | djw4xkg | djvtw88 | 1,499,410,033 | 1,499,393,125 | 3 | 0 | I like to write my random premises on index cards, incl. the characters and their reasons for acting like that (and whatever meaning could be behind it). Then I lay them on the floor and try to arrange them in chronological order, like a puzzle. Sometimes I'll have 3 or 4 random stories going, and I'll choose the one I like best, and try to finagle my favorite scenes into them. But it often gets me thinking in a different direction entirely and I file away my premises and scenes for later. I find that writing the scene or premise down also clears my head of it. Then I use that as a base for building an outline of events and characters. Then try to find the feelings and ideas and opinions that I'm trying to convey. Music, art, tv shows, other books, the news, etc. helps with this. Once I've got a rough story, I begin to fill in all the blanks (this is the fun part). Then when I'm about halfway done, after weeks and weeks of daydreaming, writing, and researching, I abandon it to the un-backed-up and unsecured hard drive where I keep all my other half written masterpieces, and find something new to think about. | Jonathan Lethem does this and it's worked fine for him in novels like Motherless Brooklyn and Fortress of Solitude. He also takes his characters and forces them into unrelated scenes to see what would happen. | 1 | 16,908 | 3,000 | ||
6lp0ey | writing_train | 0.79 | I always think of a bunch of unrelated scenes, but I can never string them all into a story. Any tips with this or does anyone else experience this? So basically I'll get inspiration to write out a scene or a conversation that came to me throughout the day, but I can never fit it into a story if that makes sense. Which leads to a bunch of saved documents of decent scenes, but none of them are really related or tied to the same story. | djvrbrc | djwa95e | 1,499,389,852 | 1,499,423,647 | 1 | 2 | I think what you're missing is the common themes. Good writing is two things: spectacle and substance. Thinking up scenes can get you your spectacle, but without the underlying driving force of the story there's nowhere to go when that scene is over. When I plan a story, I first choose my initial themes, setting, and characters. Then I make a list of important and interesting scenes for about a month, whenever I think of one, just using what I know about the characters and how they would interact with each other (and this even helps flesh them out in my mind). After I have a huge list, I scrap all of the scenes that are "just cool" without the substance to justify them, or I try to figure out how I can modify them to fit into the themes I'm focusing on. Finally, I connect the dots and fill in the gaps with additional scenes, usually what I call the "downtime scenes", and the story is all planned out! You can definitely write stories in a scene-centric way, and it even helps the spectacle of your story by letting you foreshadow and lead towards the amazing scenes you want to write. But if you can't link them up into a cohesive story, you might be missing the reason why this story needs to be told in the first place. So I would ask, "What message am I trying to get across with this story?", and go from there. Hopefully that helps! | I've seen a couple of people here saying that starting out with a scene is wrong and that you should be starting out with a character. I would just like to thrown in that I also begin with a scene. It can work, and does work very well for me. Having a 'scene' be your starting point is absolutely fine, it just makes it more important that the next step you take is to examine the characters in the scene and what their motivations are. This is a lot easier for me than just sitting and trying to invent a character. In fact, I find that impossible. I usually start with an image or something in my head. And then I ask myself "Who is this person? Why are they here? What do they want?" That's the beginning of a story. | 0 | 33,795 | 2 | ||
6lp0ey | writing_train | 0.79 | I always think of a bunch of unrelated scenes, but I can never string them all into a story. Any tips with this or does anyone else experience this? So basically I'll get inspiration to write out a scene or a conversation that came to me throughout the day, but I can never fit it into a story if that makes sense. Which leads to a bunch of saved documents of decent scenes, but none of them are really related or tied to the same story. | djwa95e | djvxxk0 | 1,499,423,647 | 1,499,398,269 | 2 | 1 | I've seen a couple of people here saying that starting out with a scene is wrong and that you should be starting out with a character. I would just like to thrown in that I also begin with a scene. It can work, and does work very well for me. Having a 'scene' be your starting point is absolutely fine, it just makes it more important that the next step you take is to examine the characters in the scene and what their motivations are. This is a lot easier for me than just sitting and trying to invent a character. In fact, I find that impossible. I usually start with an image or something in my head. And then I ask myself "Who is this person? Why are they here? What do they want?" That's the beginning of a story. | I would consider the characters involved. Are there any in your ideas that are similar? Can they be amalgamated into one character? If you already have characters and want to fit them in, and none of them seem to fit your idea, I usually take the root problem and adjust the scene to make sense. Or just write a series of semirelated short stories. That's fun too. | 1 | 25,378 | 2 | ||
6lp0ey | writing_train | 0.79 | I always think of a bunch of unrelated scenes, but I can never string them all into a story. Any tips with this or does anyone else experience this? So basically I'll get inspiration to write out a scene or a conversation that came to me throughout the day, but I can never fit it into a story if that makes sense. Which leads to a bunch of saved documents of decent scenes, but none of them are really related or tied to the same story. | djwa95e | djvy2u0 | 1,499,423,647 | 1,499,398,474 | 2 | 1 | I've seen a couple of people here saying that starting out with a scene is wrong and that you should be starting out with a character. I would just like to thrown in that I also begin with a scene. It can work, and does work very well for me. Having a 'scene' be your starting point is absolutely fine, it just makes it more important that the next step you take is to examine the characters in the scene and what their motivations are. This is a lot easier for me than just sitting and trying to invent a character. In fact, I find that impossible. I usually start with an image or something in my head. And then I ask myself "Who is this person? Why are they here? What do they want?" That's the beginning of a story. | uWrite them! Figure out later howi they fit together. Maybe they do, maybe they don't. Maybe each one is its own story! Maybe the same character is lurking in the background of all of them and he/she is the connecting thread. | 1 | 25,173 | 2 | ||
6lp0ey | writing_train | 0.79 | I always think of a bunch of unrelated scenes, but I can never string them all into a story. Any tips with this or does anyone else experience this? So basically I'll get inspiration to write out a scene or a conversation that came to me throughout the day, but I can never fit it into a story if that makes sense. Which leads to a bunch of saved documents of decent scenes, but none of them are really related or tied to the same story. | djw2jyx | djwa95e | 1,499,405,408 | 1,499,423,647 | 1 | 2 | I mean that's how i started out, eventually, i started to connect them with other scenes. Sometimes i had to change something over there to make it work over here, sometimes i had to compromise on ideas. You should figure out a plot that connects them and then build ontop of that. | I've seen a couple of people here saying that starting out with a scene is wrong and that you should be starting out with a character. I would just like to thrown in that I also begin with a scene. It can work, and does work very well for me. Having a 'scene' be your starting point is absolutely fine, it just makes it more important that the next step you take is to examine the characters in the scene and what their motivations are. This is a lot easier for me than just sitting and trying to invent a character. In fact, I find that impossible. I usually start with an image or something in my head. And then I ask myself "Who is this person? Why are they here? What do they want?" That's the beginning of a story. | 0 | 18,239 | 2 | ||
6lp0ey | writing_train | 0.79 | I always think of a bunch of unrelated scenes, but I can never string them all into a story. Any tips with this or does anyone else experience this? So basically I'll get inspiration to write out a scene or a conversation that came to me throughout the day, but I can never fit it into a story if that makes sense. Which leads to a bunch of saved documents of decent scenes, but none of them are really related or tied to the same story. | djwa95e | djvtw88 | 1,499,423,647 | 1,499,393,125 | 2 | 0 | I've seen a couple of people here saying that starting out with a scene is wrong and that you should be starting out with a character. I would just like to thrown in that I also begin with a scene. It can work, and does work very well for me. Having a 'scene' be your starting point is absolutely fine, it just makes it more important that the next step you take is to examine the characters in the scene and what their motivations are. This is a lot easier for me than just sitting and trying to invent a character. In fact, I find that impossible. I usually start with an image or something in my head. And then I ask myself "Who is this person? Why are they here? What do they want?" That's the beginning of a story. | Jonathan Lethem does this and it's worked fine for him in novels like Motherless Brooklyn and Fortress of Solitude. He also takes his characters and forces them into unrelated scenes to see what would happen. | 1 | 30,522 | 2,000 | ||
6lp0ey | writing_train | 0.79 | I always think of a bunch of unrelated scenes, but I can never string them all into a story. Any tips with this or does anyone else experience this? So basically I'll get inspiration to write out a scene or a conversation that came to me throughout the day, but I can never fit it into a story if that makes sense. Which leads to a bunch of saved documents of decent scenes, but none of them are really related or tied to the same story. | djvxxk0 | djvtw88 | 1,499,398,269 | 1,499,393,125 | 1 | 0 | I would consider the characters involved. Are there any in your ideas that are similar? Can they be amalgamated into one character? If you already have characters and want to fit them in, and none of them seem to fit your idea, I usually take the root problem and adjust the scene to make sense. Or just write a series of semirelated short stories. That's fun too. | Jonathan Lethem does this and it's worked fine for him in novels like Motherless Brooklyn and Fortress of Solitude. He also takes his characters and forces them into unrelated scenes to see what would happen. | 1 | 5,144 | 1,000 | ||
6lp0ey | writing_train | 0.79 | I always think of a bunch of unrelated scenes, but I can never string them all into a story. Any tips with this or does anyone else experience this? So basically I'll get inspiration to write out a scene or a conversation that came to me throughout the day, but I can never fit it into a story if that makes sense. Which leads to a bunch of saved documents of decent scenes, but none of them are really related or tied to the same story. | djvtw88 | djvy2u0 | 1,499,393,125 | 1,499,398,474 | 0 | 1 | Jonathan Lethem does this and it's worked fine for him in novels like Motherless Brooklyn and Fortress of Solitude. He also takes his characters and forces them into unrelated scenes to see what would happen. | uWrite them! Figure out later howi they fit together. Maybe they do, maybe they don't. Maybe each one is its own story! Maybe the same character is lurking in the background of all of them and he/she is the connecting thread. | 0 | 5,349 | 1,000 | ||
6lp0ey | writing_train | 0.79 | I always think of a bunch of unrelated scenes, but I can never string them all into a story. Any tips with this or does anyone else experience this? So basically I'll get inspiration to write out a scene or a conversation that came to me throughout the day, but I can never fit it into a story if that makes sense. Which leads to a bunch of saved documents of decent scenes, but none of them are really related or tied to the same story. | djw2jyx | djvtw88 | 1,499,405,408 | 1,499,393,125 | 1 | 0 | I mean that's how i started out, eventually, i started to connect them with other scenes. Sometimes i had to change something over there to make it work over here, sometimes i had to compromise on ideas. You should figure out a plot that connects them and then build ontop of that. | Jonathan Lethem does this and it's worked fine for him in novels like Motherless Brooklyn and Fortress of Solitude. He also takes his characters and forces them into unrelated scenes to see what would happen. | 1 | 12,283 | 1,000 | ||
x6vcbr | writing_train | 0.75 | Does anyone have good beginner writing tips? I want to become a published author. I have ideas for books all the time, but I just can’t figure out some things. Like, How to get a point across, how to explain a scene well without it getting wordy, body language. Those are the main things I struggle with, but there is way more. I need some advise, any is appreciated. | in9b68o | in98jhc | 1,662,427,529 | 1,662,426,309 | 5 | 1 | It's worth trying Ben Franklin's copywork method, where you learn to match the style of writers you admire. In terms of coming up with a story in the first place (which you didn't ask about, but I'll throw it in anyway), Lester Dent's method of writing pulp-fiction crime stories is simple yet powerful. | Read your favorite authors with an eye toward doing those things. See how they do it. I put a paperclip on the page of a book marking a passage I want to remember. When I'm finished, I've had as many as 50 paperclips in a book. Then I go back through and copy the passages into the computer. I then have a library of things to read and give me inspiration. | 1 | 1,220 | 5 | ||
x6vcbr | writing_train | 0.75 | Does anyone have good beginner writing tips? I want to become a published author. I have ideas for books all the time, but I just can’t figure out some things. Like, How to get a point across, how to explain a scene well without it getting wordy, body language. Those are the main things I struggle with, but there is way more. I need some advise, any is appreciated. | in9pvh7 | in98jhc | 1,662,434,607 | 1,662,426,309 | 3 | 1 | Try searching make good art by neil gaiman. Here's a separate video: Gaiman advice to new writers](https://youtu.be/aFiXZCzzHF4) Use outlines, even if it's just a quick brainstorm. Work on craft and form, but also start and finish your projects. Also, find a support writing group. The things you mentioned will work out with practice, as you find your own style. There are free ones online. They can be flexible and offer you a tangible community. writers writing: make good art Happy writing! | Read your favorite authors with an eye toward doing those things. See how they do it. I put a paperclip on the page of a book marking a passage I want to remember. When I'm finished, I've had as many as 50 paperclips in a book. Then I go back through and copy the passages into the computer. I then have a library of things to read and give me inspiration. | 1 | 8,298 | 3 | ||
x6vcbr | writing_train | 0.75 | Does anyone have good beginner writing tips? I want to become a published author. I have ideas for books all the time, but I just can’t figure out some things. Like, How to get a point across, how to explain a scene well without it getting wordy, body language. Those are the main things I struggle with, but there is way more. I need some advise, any is appreciated. | in9n30b | in9pvh7 | 1,662,433,182 | 1,662,434,607 | 0 | 3 | Start | Try searching make good art by neil gaiman. Here's a separate video: Gaiman advice to new writers](https://youtu.be/aFiXZCzzHF4) Use outlines, even if it's just a quick brainstorm. Work on craft and form, but also start and finish your projects. Also, find a support writing group. The things you mentioned will work out with practice, as you find your own style. There are free ones online. They can be flexible and offer you a tangible community. writers writing: make good art Happy writing! | 0 | 1,425 | 3,000 | ||
x6vcbr | writing_train | 0.75 | Does anyone have good beginner writing tips? I want to become a published author. I have ideas for books all the time, but I just can’t figure out some things. Like, How to get a point across, how to explain a scene well without it getting wordy, body language. Those are the main things I struggle with, but there is way more. I need some advise, any is appreciated. | in98jhc | in9q2jk | 1,662,426,309 | 1,662,434,713 | 1 | 2 | Read your favorite authors with an eye toward doing those things. See how they do it. I put a paperclip on the page of a book marking a passage I want to remember. When I'm finished, I've had as many as 50 paperclips in a book. Then I go back through and copy the passages into the computer. I then have a library of things to read and give me inspiration. | Read a lot, especially literary fiction. And read literary criticism only by famous writers that have written criticism, do not read literary criticism written by random guys. Don't outline. It will be overwhelming. Just write a lot until you train your mind to go to the point of what you want to write. When people are starting it's normal to try to squeeze the entire cosmos in a single story, but with practice this habit will disappear. | 0 | 8,404 | 2 | ||
x6vcbr | writing_train | 0.75 | Does anyone have good beginner writing tips? I want to become a published author. I have ideas for books all the time, but I just can’t figure out some things. Like, How to get a point across, how to explain a scene well without it getting wordy, body language. Those are the main things I struggle with, but there is way more. I need some advise, any is appreciated. | in9q2jk | in9n30b | 1,662,434,713 | 1,662,433,182 | 2 | 0 | Read a lot, especially literary fiction. And read literary criticism only by famous writers that have written criticism, do not read literary criticism written by random guys. Don't outline. It will be overwhelming. Just write a lot until you train your mind to go to the point of what you want to write. When people are starting it's normal to try to squeeze the entire cosmos in a single story, but with practice this habit will disappear. | Start | 1 | 1,531 | 2,000 | ||
x6vcbr | writing_train | 0.75 | Does anyone have good beginner writing tips? I want to become a published author. I have ideas for books all the time, but I just can’t figure out some things. Like, How to get a point across, how to explain a scene well without it getting wordy, body language. Those are the main things I struggle with, but there is way more. I need some advise, any is appreciated. | inab9ra | in98jhc | 1,662,448,527 | 1,662,426,309 | 2 | 1 | you will learn more from controversial books then any other type. | Read your favorite authors with an eye toward doing those things. See how they do it. I put a paperclip on the page of a book marking a passage I want to remember. When I'm finished, I've had as many as 50 paperclips in a book. Then I go back through and copy the passages into the computer. I then have a library of things to read and give me inspiration. | 1 | 22,218 | 2 |
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