Song of the Mystics ~ Tutorials

Okay, this isn't exactly a tutorial, but just some advices you might need before writing your own story. First off all, I'd like to say that I'm not at all a great or famous author. I'm just an ordinary girl with a love for writing stories as well as reading them. So don't expect too much out of me, okay? ^_~

NOTE: This page is a compilation of what I've read in the Internet on how to write good stories (actually, fan fictions =P) and some stuff that I've added in.

All right, we're all here to learn how to write a good story. So what exactly do all great authors (which is obviously not included me >_<) have that we don't? What are their secrets?

Actually, there is really no secret in writing (What, you expect some incredible secret or something?), only some basic things that you need to take note in order to write well. And those are?

Extra note: This is not only for writing original stories, but also for writing fan fictions. They're stories too, right?

All right, this is the most important part of all. Yeah, I know that the meaning of the three words above is pretty simple, but yet many people tend to overlook this while writing. After all, you speak it everyday, you write it out, you learn it in school, you read it, you know every alphabet like the back of your hand. But of course, writing isn't just about stringing sentences into one whole composition.

First off, spelling is important. It's not only important, but very, VERY important. One misspelled word can change the effect of the whole sentence. People won't be able to help noticing the wrong spelling as they read, and this lowers the readers' impression on your composition. Let me show you one paragraph with full of misspelled words in it: -

Can you see the effect that the misspelled words caused? They not only destroy the mood of the story (even though the style of writing is good), they also make the readers wonder what you are trying to say, as the misspelled word may be coincidentally spelled as another word. Like in the passage above, the misspelled word 'clod', which is supposed to be the word 'cloud', has a completely different meaning, all because of the wrong spelling. If you're not sure about spelling a word, take a look in a dictionary to sort it out so that you won't write a different word instead.

Secondly, grammar is equally important (Okay, I DO admit that I also have grammar mistakes in my story =P). Even if the spelling is good, no one will read something that is full of mistakes. A composition that was poorly written (with lots of grammar mistakes) will make the reader confused because they won't be able to make the head or tail of the story. Also, make sure that you stick with the same tense through out the composition, except the part with when there are conversations/thoughts. I mean, you don't really talk/think with one tense only all the time, right? =P

Other than that, sentence structures and something as simple as commas are important as well. Make sure a sentence is not too long; otherwise it'll become very long-winded (Well, imagine reading a ten-line paragraph with only one sentence and a whole lot of commas ^_^). On the other hand, don't write very short sentences (i.e. She is blond. She loves to write. She loves to read. She is 5' 5" tall.). Once in a while is okay.

Besides that, don't ever use 'emoticons' in your writing (I mean, writing a 'how-to' like this is okay =P). What are 'emoticons'? 'Emoticons' are those little faces with expression that you can draw using letters on the keyboard as well as symbols, like ^_^ , =P , XD , >o< , :-) , and so on. These are a big no-no in writing compositions, because it's not proper English (But really, I wonder who came up with the idea?).

Oh, and don't insert Author's Notes in the middle of your compositions. You know why? Because it's like an interruption to the story, and the readers will get irritated if there are interruptions at all (Well, I'm sure you don't like to be interrupted when you're talking, right?) If you must put it in, however, do it before or after the chapter/composition.

Also, the way you write is important, especially when you're writing stories with conversations. Compare this paragraph...

"So, what do you think of it?" Alex asked.

"...There's nothing special about it," Joe replied, shaking his head.

"What?! I spent a whole night on it!"

"Well, too bad. Miss Rivers will definitely give you an 'F' on this."

"Aw, man, looks like I'll have to do it ALL over again. Hey, Joe, can you give me a hand with this?"

Joe nodded. "Sure. I'll help you."

"Thanks, man! I owe you one!"

Well, what do you think? The second passage looks neater, doesn't it? Make sure you start a new paragraph when a new person speaks, or the reader will be confused on who is talking and who is not. This is a common mistake that most people do and if not fixed, it could ruin the whole story completely because it's too difficult to read. The reader has to read the beginning of the conversation again to see who is saying the current sentence, and this takes time (not to mention that it makes the reader irritated).

The second passage above is the correct way of writing a conversation. This way, the reader can keep track of the speaker (the one talking, not the thing that you attach to your TV/PC =P), and adding actions in the middle of the conversation will help, as shown above ('Joe nodded').

Oh, yeah, I nearly forgot this one. Try not to use the same word over and over again, especially with the word 'said' (once I was really frustrated when I read a two-page composition with the word 'said' being repeated at least 30 times =P). Use synonyms to replace the repeated word (a thesaurus will help a LOT). For example - 'appear' with 'materialize'/'said' with 'questioned', 'stated' and 'exclaimed' (depends on the usage)/'throw' with 'toss'/and so on.

Of course, the thesaurus will provide lots and lots of words that can replace the one being repeated, but not all of them can be used the same way. For instance, you replace 'said' with 'told', but 'told' needs a subject after it, like 'told him' or 'told my sister' and so on. One way of learning how certain words are used is by reading. Yes, you must read a lot to learn how to write properly. I mean, you can't really force other people to read if you don't like reading yourself, right?

Try not to rely too much on grammar checkers, because they're not exactly 100% accurate (In fact, I've read an article that says grammar checkers is only 30% accurate). Read through your composition again (word by word) to check if there are any mistakes, and ask your friends to check it for you as well, just in case you missed out something.

Phew, what a long section! Unfortunately, this is only the first step in writing a good story. Fixing your language is not something you can do overnight. It takes time. So be patient, okay? ^_~

Okay, you've been spending months (well, maybe not months =P) creating the characters for your story, drawing them out or getting your friends to draw them for you. And yet, when you write about them in your story, your readers get confused about them - their looks, their personalities, everything. Why is it so?

That's because you probably didn't describe them enough. You have to remember that you know how your characters are like but your readers don't. You can't just throw the character into the story and force people to accept them. Readers have reasons for liking/hating a character, and you must provide that reason. Create a history or a relation for the character, and give him/her a reason for just being there. Why is he/she with the main character (for adventure-type stories)? Why is he/she hostile? What is his/her connection with so-and-so?

Also, when you introduce a new character, try and make it seem coincidental so that it looks more realistic (of course, this is optional...). Create an incident where the main character and the character you want to introduce meet. Here's an example: -

Suddenly, a soft voice interrupted his thoughts. "Um, excuse me but..."

"LEAVE ME ALONE!!" he practically shouted, feeling extremely irritated at being disturbed.

Justin glared at the person who spoke to him, but his gaze softened as he laid his eyes on the scared looking girl. Her bright blue eyes widened in fear as she looked at him, the wind pulling at her silky, long brown hair. Although she wore the same blue and white school uniform like the other girls in the school, but somehow or rather, Justin saw that she was more beautiful, and felt that there was something... special... about her...

"I-I'm sorry... I'll g-go now..." she muttered and tried to leave, but Justin stopped her.

"No! I'm the one who's sorry!" he said, suddenly feeling nervous. "I-I-I was just thinking about something! I d-didn't expect anyone to find me h-here!"

The girl giggled and Justin smiled as he relaxed. Why am I feeling so nervous anyway? he thought. She's just a girl...

"But not just any other girl..." a small voice stated inside his mind, but he did not hear it.

There, what do you think? This is one example of introducing the character from the main character's point of view, and making him react to the character according to his personality.

As the title of this section stated, characters are not just cardboard pieces. You have to make them more of three-dimensional and realistic. Different people have different personalities, and so are characters, although fictional. If a character is a cheerful, have him/her act cheerful. If he is moody, then make him so. Of course, describing the character's personality on his first appearance is not going to work. For example, how are you going to know what a stranger is like on first glance?

Slowly describe a character's personality indirectly through his speeches and actions. For example, a distant, moody and quiet person will not speak more than a few words at once, and he will avoid speaking if possible. Everyone will react differently to one event depending on his/her personalities, and the table below shows how differently people react when the main character is being rather silly (one of his most embarrassing moments =P).

Extra note: The reactions may not be true for all characters, so you should study them yourself.

WARNING: This is not 100% accurate (Just in case you didn't see my extra note =P)

Character Personalities	Possible Reaction
Moody, Quiet, Distant	Shakes head and say, "...Hmph. Pathetic." Will probably walk away.
Cheerful, Nice	Tries to cheer the main character up and say something like "Don't worry about it! Everyone has his or her own embarrassing moments! Do cheer up!"
Bold, Rough, Tomboyish (in a girl's case)	Glares at the main character (hands on hip for some girls) and will try to yell some sense into the main character with "What the HECK were you THINKING?!!" Note: This is only if the character is the main character's friend or if he/she is actually a nice person. If not, the reaction is probably 'laughs until tears form in his/her eyes'.
Quiet (the nervous type)	Silently and nervously looks at the main character and his/her other companions with the famous "..."
Calm (the silent and knowledgeable type, like middle-aged/old-aged masters)	Calmly looks at the main character and says nothing. Probably will not show any reaction, or may say something like, "You should learn from this mistake, (insert main character's name)."
Love to bully (for example, the main character's rival)	Laughs and will try to hurt the main character's feelings, maybe with, "What a joke!" Taunting is also possible.
Inquisitive? Maybe not (You know, the spread-the-news type)	Will probably laugh until tears form in his/her eyes and say, "That's truly hilarious! Hey, everyone! (And then shouts to everyone about what the main character did)."
Others	Other reactions that I can't think of right now. =P

Okay, do you see how differently people react to one same event? The table may not be true for some cases or I might have gotten some reactions wrong, so you shouldn't rely on it so much. You should study them yourself, and create your own table of reactions (now this sounds like a Chemistry class... but I can't think of a better name =P).

Also, remember that in real life people joke with each other, pause in mid-sentence, interrupt, stammer and so on. A scene with two people throwing words at each other and 'taking turns' to say things is absolutely cheesy. No one's going to read something like that.

Oh, yeah, and one more thing. Villains are also characters that you create, right? Don't just give them the "I MUST DESTROY ALL THAT IS GOOD!!" statement. Bring out the human side of them (give them a reason for being evil is a good example) and make them more three-dimensional. Oh, and don't ever make your villains want to destroy everything just the heck of it. It doesn't make sense at all.

Learn how different people speak and react. Pay attention to the people around you, learn from your family and friends, and read more story-based compositions. Just remember that characters are not just cardboard pieces.

When you're writing your composition, you need to capture the attention of your readers and make sure that they stay right to the end of the composition. So therefore, you need to know who will read it. If you're writing an essay as homework, you need to obey the essay question so well that your teacher can't find any fault with it. If you're writing a story to be published in a school magazine, you should know that your readers are students as well as teachers, and make them both feel satisfied. In short, you need to know who will read your composition and make them feel satisfied with it.

As I read from some place, the readers' intellectual level is important when you write a composition. If your level is lower than the readers' level, they'll pass off your piece of work as 'something not worth looking at'. If you're exactly at the readers' level, they can read your composition with no problem at all, but if you're way, WAY above the readers' intellectual level, they'll find your work as 'a composition with too many descriptions' and 'a boring reading material'. So, you should aim to write something that is slightly above the reader's level, so that they can read it comfortably and learn something from it as well.

However, this section is not as important as the others, so don't worry if you can't write something that is 'just above the readers' intellectual level'. Just make sure that you don't over-describe something (I really dislike reading composition with lengthy descriptions, which is why I usually don't read novels longer than 300 pages... with the exception of Harry Potter series ^_^), or put too little descriptions inside (otherwise your readers won't get the whole picture). For example, take the Lord of the Rings novel (don't worry, I'm not trying to insult it ^_^). Although it has a great storyline, the way it's written doesn't keep me interested (because it has lengthy description), as it might with some people.

Whoa, this section is so short - its length is not even one page long! But that's okay. You should brace yourself for the next section!

Ah, storylines. Personally, this is my favorite part of writing a story! ^_^ Without the storyline, a story is not a story, because the storyline is the heart of a story. Sometimes when you go online or go to the library/books store, you find stories with incredible storylines. How did they think up some something so great? And when you try to write something, it comes out like this?

...I mean, not really. Seriously, this is the basically what some people do. There's not enough description, length and STORYLINE! Sure, it's definitely a storyline, but it's too simple. As I read from another 'how-to-write' article (where I picked the passage from =P): "It would be uninteresting in a long run, but there's no long run in the first place". Hello? Who wants to read a story that you can finish in three seconds?

However, there is a way to make this longer and more interesting, and that is by adding complications to the main storyline. But don't make the storyline overly complicated, or the readers won't understand what is going on.

So, if we add complications to the passage above, it'll be something like this: - (Note: The sentences with the bullets are the newly added ones.)

There, is it better? This way the ?good guy? has to do something extra to defeat the ?bad guy?. Now let?s try to make it more complicated?

There is a good guy. There is a bad guy. The bad guy hides in his castle. The good guy needs a special weapon to defeat the bad guy. The good guy gets the special weapon.

? But the special weapon can only be used with a sacred item.

? The sacred item is in a temple.

? The good guy must undergo a trial to get the sacred item.

? The good guy manages to get the sacred item.

? The sacred item combines with the special weapon and makes it more powerful.

The good guy goes to the bad guy?s castle. The good guy and the bad guy fight. The good guy wins. The end.

As you can see, more complications will make it longer and more interesting. But of course, you have to go further and think of a better story than ?The Story of The Good Guy and the Bad Guy?. No, that doesn?t mean that you can?t use the same storyline.

Actually, when you look at every story, they?re all basically consisting of the same five parts - Orientation, Compilation, Development of Story, Climax and Resolution. The flow chart below sort-of summarizes these five things.

Orientation

This is the introduction of the storyline, where you introduce the characters, setting and the situation (i.e. world war, monsters appearing).

Compilation

This is where an incident happens, creating huge problems or conflicts that need to be solved (i.e. the end of the world approaching).

Development of Story

In this part, events take part in chronological order, thus developing the story (i.e. the problem that arose is getting out of hand)

(Note: this takes up most of the storyline)

This is the most exciting part of the story. That?s all I can say about this part. =(

(Note: this can take up only a fraction of the whole storyline, like one out of twenty parts)

Resolution

This is where the problems are solved and the story concludes. In short, this is the ending.

It looks simple, right? It IS simple to understand, and yet with proper ideas, you can create stories that rivals anyone?s. Even if you?re using the ?Story of the Good Guy and the Bad Guy? above, this flow chart can help you in enhancing your storyline. Here, I?ll give you an example of a typical high school/romance type ?short? story:

Orientation

? The main character is a normal school girl in a high school (let?s call her Alison). At this point, describe her appearance and then her personality through events (In this story, she?s a nice and quiet girl).

? Also, describe her friends/rivals who will take part in the story through events.

Compilation

? Let?s start with the story! One rainy day (or sunny day, if you like), Alison is nearly hit by a car, but is saved by a teenage boy (I guess you can call him ?cute? =P). Before she could thank him, he smiles and leaves (probably in a hurry).

? On the next day, the teenage boy that she met enters her class as a new student (we?ll call him Gary). He sits on the empty seat next to her.

? She thanks him and he smiles. Alison feels ?her cheeks burning?. She doesn?t know about it yet, but she falls for him.

? Both Alison and Gary become friends and it turns out that Gary is a very athletic person and a good student (he gets A?s in every subject. If only I could be like that?)

Development of Story

? Unfortunately, Gary becomes a popular person in school, and girls always surround him wherever he goes to. ^_^ Being one of the nice guys, he doesn?t chase them off (or maybe he likes the publicity)

? Worse still, Gary seems to have a crush on someone else.

? Alison?s best friend tries to make him notice Alison (for comedy purposes, you can try making several failed attempts and each time Alison winds up looking like an idiot =P)

Climax

? At this point, create a major problem for Alison. Make a villain kidnap her and attempt to kill her or something.

? Just as she thinks she is doomed, Gary comes to the rescue!

? He fights with the villain! Gary! Give him a punch! And a kick in the face! Send him flying to the sky! Whee ~! =P

? The villain loses (the policemen catch him dump him in a prison or something) and Gary helps Alison up and asks if she?s okay

Resolution

? He confesses his love to her, saying that he actually loves her? (The typical ?I love you? statement =P)

There, that?s the story. How is it? Instead of using a storyline like mine, try developing your own story. Unlike what some people say, you CAN ?steal? ideas from different places, but don?t take in huge chunks! Just take a bit here and there and compile it into one. You?ll be surprised on how it?ll turn out!

Note: Want to know where the ideas in my story ?Shadow Claw? come from? I?ll tell you! I took the idea of using double swords from ?Star Ocean: The Second Story?, but I created the name on my own! Mine, MINE!! ^_^

So remember, storyline is the heart of a story, and create a great storyline that will catch many people?s attention!

Yes, patience is a virtue. To create a great story, it takes time. It?ll take you a while to fix your English, a while to create your character, a while to plan the storyline and a while to write it out. Nothing comes free, and your price to create a great story is your time and effort.

That?s all I can say now, so I wish you good luck in your writing! I?ll be cheering for you! ^_~

Please ask me first if you want to put this up in your site! Also please e-mail me with comments! ^_^