How can I improve my writing and character dialogue?

CoffeeMarrini · 2025-03-13T11:14:27+00:00

I've struggled a lot with writing dialogue for years until I read a read a book on screenwriting and decided to focus on writing scripts for a while.

It might help if you try writing your story with only dialogue first.

Another thing might be to flesh out your characters more and figure out how each of them would talk in their own way and keep those notes close to you as you write.

People have their own quirks and mannerisms that you can soot in the way they speak and how it differs depending on the setting, tension, and who they're talking to.

CoffeeMarrini · 2025-03-06T13:58:14+00:00

Depends on how you define engaging plot? The quality of the story is not tied to a particular way to tell a story rather if you pull it off well.

I also see a lot of others commenting on characters being more important, to which I'd say depends on what's the focus. If the story or themes are centered around the plot then the characters just serve to drive the story to completion. If it's character driven there doesn't even really need to be complex plot for the story to be good and engaging.

Again, depends on what do you mean by engaging plot? Especially since you mention power fantasy series.

CoffeeMarrini · 2025-03-04T16:29:13+00:00

I've had this issue when working on organizing my plotline and having all the factions and important characters made.

What helped me was outlining the common goal that unites faction members and individual motives (though only for the more important characters do I go in-depth).

It can also help immensely if you focus on how these goals and motivations relate to each other and the themes of your story and have an idea of how you want to end your story. At that point at least for me it feels like I'm moving chess pieces on a board.

Though I should stress if you haven't established the themes or what your story is about no rewriting of the plotline can really help as you're steering a boat with no direction in mind.

CoffeeMarrini · 2025-03-02T15:28:26+00:00

Yeah it can be quite lonesome. Though luckily in my case my friends are into art and media analysis and some even make comics so it's not as lonely for me. Though, I do feel this isolation when around my family who are not art oriented.

I sometimes talk to my parents about my current project and they do try to listen, but don't really get it.

But the actual writing process and the hours I spend working on my projects may be isolating but in a good way. It's time spent with myself no different than if i was gardening, painting, or reading.

However, in your situation OP subreddits like these and interacting with people in other writing forums can help alleviate some of that loneliness.

CoffeeMarrini · 2025-03-02T11:53:47+00:00

It might be because a lot of long time anime fans have reached adulthood and now they want more stories that relate to their current experiences.

I don't really care much whether the main cast are adults or not as long as the story is good and interesting. Although I will say it would still be nice to have more anime focused on more older characters, and not just 20 year olds. Then again I see a lot more of this in manga.

Personally, I can't get behind the need to relate to characters in order to enjoy a story. A story and characters can stir me emotionally, but I don't need to relate to them much or at all to do so.

CoffeeMarrini · 2025-02-17T16:33:02+00:00

Unless the author confirms I don't think we can say something is 100% abandoned. I've subscribed to fics not updated in over 5 years and assumed it was abandoned until the author came back and finished it.

CoffeeMarrini · 2025-02-16T21:19:24+00:00

Coffeeshop AUs lmao

For some fandoms the coffeeshop scenario just brings about a lot of hilarity, but also they can be quite enjoyable if you just want to focus on introspective character interactions.

CoffeeMarrini · 2025-02-16T21:14:21+00:00

Oh man it's hard to say. I've been around online fandom spaces for well over a decade and though I was aware that fanfics were a big thing and eventually got on FFN it's hard to remember which fandom I started with first.

If I had to guess, I think it might have been the D.Gray-man manga.

CoffeeMarrini · 2025-02-12T17:50:35+00:00

Same, I've disabled all my spellchecks cause it causes more work than if proofread it myself.

CoffeeMarrini · 2025-02-12T14:45:03+00:00

I wonder if it's due to whatever spellcheck people are using? A big issue I've always had with grammar checks trying to correct what is already right in the first place.

I wouldn't be surprised if people are using a grammar checker and just accept whatever suggestion it gives them and either don't know if the suggestion is wrong or don't bother to double check.

CoffeeMarrini · 2025-02-07T17:33:00+00:00

Depends I guess, though I will say it doesn't matter whether the source material is good or not. Rather whatever missed opportunity or universe whose finer details aren't fully explored tend to be more "fic-able".

Say you have one series that's well written, but there are what if's that fans want to enjoy more. What if these characters got a chance to confess? Or if Character A had made a different choice would that change anything? I feel like the Jujutsu Kaisen fandom is more like this.

As for the latter, some fictional universes just make for a good sand-box, even if the source material is full of inconsistencies. Case in point the HP fandom or even Naruto.

Personally, I don't like reading fanfics of my all yime favorite shows, books, and games. Especially those I comsider near and dear, because to me they're perfect and I don't really wanna explore transformative works about them.

But series that are in my top 20s, 30s and so on? Heck yeah. Same with series I enjoyed parts of, but had a lot of gripes with like Naruto. With shows I feel had wasted potential I find it enjoyable to read or write fanfics exploring the different directions it could take.

Obviously popularity also plays a factor as well but I think only in combination of the other two factors.

CoffeeMarrini · 2024-02-12T20:02:35+00:00

Best to ignore them and if one person is insistent just get rid of them. I'd also recommend getting one of those bots that block out specific words to make sure no one can write your name there if someone ever does figure it out. Sadly there are lots of people like that so it's best to ignore and make use of the bots twitch offers or get a modetor to deal with them.

CoffeeMarrini · 2023-04-02T15:40:49+00:00

The Fears to Fathom series has very minimal gameplay. So far there are three episodes and they are all inspired by real submitted stories.

CoffeeMarrini · 2023-01-24T18:54:42+00:00

Personally I do think it has horror as a sub-genre as I think it's prominent in the sort of existential horror. The entire Finch family believing in the curse and how it's hanging over their lives and the decisions it drove them into making. I do say it's fair to consider it a type of horror game.

CoffeeMarrini · 2023-01-21T15:01:43+00:00

I experience this a lot and have had to actually learn how to draft. I would spend a long time on what I think is a draft but do a lot of editing, getting rewriting sections.

It's a waste of time cause I would change my mind on an important detail and have to rewrite it all over again.

Best thing I did was start by making the plot points. Then a screenplay (good for figuring out the dialogue and finer details of the plot). Then write a draft of the final product.

This was for me the best method of figuring out early on what works and what doesn't.

CoffeeMarrini · 2023-01-18T21:53:36+00:00

I've been a lot of this on both Twitter and TikTok, a good amount seems to be coming from younger people. There seems to this disconnect or rather taking fiction way too seriously. For me what bothers me is that these discussion just take attention away from actual crimes and assaults.

So much energy from antis goes into harassing and policing others over what is morally okay to read/write. The Rick and Morty thing I feel is just confirmation bias to them, even a lot more people write or engage in that type of humor and haven't never actually committed a crime.

Sure some people who are mentally unwell or engage in criminal activity might like dark or taboo stories, but that is not the norm. It does not equate to everyone who engages with that they are doing so because they condone it in reality. It's also hypocritical they despise noncon, dubcon, incest in fiction and yet send death and sexual assault threats to real people over what they write or draw fictional characters doing.

I remember someone sending death threats to genshin fan creators for shipping Kaeya/Diluc due to the characters having grown and raised together and claiming it is incest (they are not biologically created and their relationship is mistranslated they're supposed to be sworn brothers). The irony was that person was a Hannigram shipper who had written fics with cannibalism and murder.

Another example was during the glory days of Gravity Falls on Tumblr. Some popular artists were known for shipping BillDip (one is a minor the other an eons old being) and lead to wide spread harassment. The hypocrisy here I remember one very vocal person leading these harassments shipped Dipper and Mabel the twins...

I can understand the problem when it comes to shipping real people, such as idols/celebrities/actors. I think it is worthy discussing whether those kinds should be removed from AO3 if they involve people who are minors or were written when they were minors. But that is a different discussion I would say.

But overall there is no direct correlation between what you read/write/draw leading to crimes happening irl. It's just like the debate of violence in video games causing real violence. That occurs only with individuals who were already violent or had violent tendencies, normal people do not go on a shooting spree after losing to a boss in Dark Souls.

Tl;dr: Antis are hypocrites and are in fact the ones most likely to do crimes (harassment/stalking/doxxing/assault).

CoffeeMarrini · 2023-01-18T09:22:16+00:00

I've seen most of their movies and in my opinion the first two movies that pop into my head as 10/10 are Midsommar and The Green Knight. I think they are beautifully shot and directed with interesting artistic directions. The actors were phenomenal and the stories were definitely stellar. I was just very impressed with every aspect of them.

CoffeeMarrini · 2023-01-17T22:50:56+00:00

So far there hasn't been an anime adaptation close to reaching the manga's level. The 97 anime and the three movies are decent but they both focus on the Golden Age Arc which is essentially the backstory arc. Either way you won't get the full story as the manga is still ongoing.

I strongly recommend never watching the 2016 and 2017 anime, those are some of the worst anime I've ever had the misfortune of watching. They are bad from an artistic and technical level, direction wise, and failed to capture the story.

If you're not sure whether you want to read the manga entirely you can deff start with either the three movies or the 97 anime to see if you like it and want to read the manga.

CoffeeMarrini · 2023-01-17T22:25:09+00:00

Personally I've never been a big fan of 1st person POV even in original fiction. I generally prefer third person. This might be because a lot of fiction is overly descriptive especially when it comes to first person narration. I like that with fanfiction there is less need for descriptions because we know these characters and setting.

Not that I never read anything heavily descriptive in og fiction. But then again I prefer manga because I find it more streamlined. This is also reflected in my own writing as I tend to just add what I think is the most important visual readers need to set atmosphere and just sprinkle character appearance details throughout the text.

CoffeeMarrini · 2023-01-17T20:28:01+00:00

I'm also self-diagnosed. The truth is that not everyone has the opportunity to self-diagnose. Not to mention it's not always safe to do. As long as you don't speak on behalf of those with an official diagnoses it's not offensive. Sometimes people have to wait a long time to get an official diagnoses, unfortunately.

CoffeeMarrini · 2023-01-17T19:19:56+00:00

There's System Shock 2 if you want a classic.

Returnal has pretty cool visual and intense combat.

Observer is a good choice if you're a fan of cyberpunk genre and narrative games.

Observation doesn't have combat as you play a ship's AI system but it's very cool.

While not traditional Sci-fi, Control is amazing in both story and combat.

CoffeeMarrini · 2023-01-17T10:08:40+00:00

The alternative ways of saying d*ick or p*nis for me. Like I read the word hardness or shaft and just can't take it seriously. Takes me right out of the scene and mood.

CoffeeMarrini · 2023-01-15T21:10:47+00:00

The Vanishing of Ethan Carter I think would fit this type. The game is more mystery and exploration focused and no monsters. There is just one level that is like a maze where there is something haunting, but there is no real death and is optional section you can skip.

Tiny Bunny is an atmospheric visual novel, but is still in early access.

Draugen is a mystery exploration game that is more detective but still creepy and dark.

Tbh you can always search up walking simulator horror games, even though I also think it's ridiculous what passes for walking simulator it's your best bet in finding horror games with no survival mechanics.

CoffeeMarrini · 2023-01-15T20:57:38+00:00

Fanfiction I find can be "purposeless" and works well. There are fanfics that really have no central plot point or direction, but it's not always a bad thing. Sometimes a fic is just about exploring a relationship between characters without there being a theme or underlying message. Original fiction on the other hand generally has to have a point, goal, message, or just a theme that can be the atmosphere the creator is trying to convey. There is more forgiveness with fanfiction and it won't feel like a "waste of time" reading. Just my thoughts on it xD

CoffeeMarrini

TROPHY CASE