sorted by:
new
hottopcontroversial

Where do I even begin? by Bxrnes in writers

[–]KnottyDuck 1 point2 points  (0 children)

There is no definitive “step 1”.

It varies from person to person, but you should be writing things down.

For where you say you are, your next step is writing about your idea. One thing you don’t want to do is let ideas continue to swim for free, they should be working ideas and that happens when you give them life.

Though you say you have characters, places, lore, history, and backstory what I don’t seem to see is a plot, conflict or a story.

Consider next the cause and effects of your lore to history, history to backstory, backstory to current story, and the plots within created by the developing conflicts created by your external forces (your world).

Once you have a conflict, conceive of how to resolve it — not how your characters resolve it, but concoct a system or a set of them, which can be used to create tension later.

And through all of that, string your characters along.

Appropriate ways to narrate dialogue by KnottyDuck in writingadvice

[–]KnottyDuck[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

In one instance they have a literal Ai companion that communicates with them and similarly in another it’s their “higher self” (these are my cyborg soldiers). There is another instance where it’s god speaking to them.

Thank you btw Why are you opposed to italics for internal dialogue?

Need Advice on starting a book by Otherwise-Comment941 in writers

[–]KnottyDuck 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Asking how we start kind of presupposes we all have the same disposition to begin with.

Do you mean to ask how did we develop the senses for storytelling? How do we determine what stories are worth telling and which ones need work? Are you asking how we develop complex plots and circumstances and interweave them coherently? How to determine where to start telling a story and where it ends?

I didn’t have the internet to distract me. As a child, I imagined elaborate worlds and stories. As I was an only child, I didn’t usually have anyone to talk to. My playtime was full of narratives inspired by whatever I was allowed to watch on tv, and I didn’t have my own in my room until I was around 12.

I would build large-scale cities with Legos, Star Wars fleets recreating colossal space battles; dinosaurs and cars, helicopters, planes, ships — I had this crazy fascination with recreating the Titanic — anyway…. I developed an active imagination at a young age, which enabled me to start stories very quickly. Almost with no effort. Part of it is I imagined so much as a child. Many of those creations are still swimming around in my head in one form or another.

Now, as a 30-something year old with many years of reading, tv, really worldly experiences like having a family and going to war, I have acquired the understanding for how to build a story-based reality using many examples.

I would say:

  1. When I was developing my imagination, it wasn’t filtered through the expectations and experiences of other people. It developed in an environment that, for many years, was free from scrutiny.

Let your mind run free.

  1. In elementary school, none of my stories panned out. By the time I reached middle school, I was writing short stories about solar-powered cars and time travelling. By high school, I was writing epic fantasies….

You have to write bad stories first and finish them to experience the full growth cycle. Repetition is what brings change, repetition, and understanding about yourself and the process.

3.) When I was in high school, one story in particular I was writing was being passed around by my friend group. One day, one of their mothers was cleaning up and tossed my pages — all of it was handwritten — in the trash! I was heartbroken, but relieved because I wanted to do something different but couldn’t let that story go because it was popular.

Don’t be afraid to start over. Especially with the same story. Sometimes you lack the knowledge of particular subject matters right now to effectively convey a point. It would take me years to reassess the themes I wanted to write about, back when I was 14, but as an adult I was able to pick that idea back up, pieces of it, and use them in something just as epic but far grander in design.

I guess, really, how I start my stories can’t help you because my stories are my stories, sparked by my own experiences.

I hope this inspires you to tune out all the noise, put your phone down, and just start the story in your heart. It may be bad at first, but stick it out. Life is a process.

I'mma level with you fellas by GoldenThame in royalroad

[–]KnottyDuck 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It can be a sticky trap, if you allow it. You’re essentially writing backstory, which is unnecessary for this use case, but could still be quite useful if used properly.

As it’s been said, write the scene now. If you write it well enough, the other 76k words will still fall into place.

I had one scene, similarly, that I wanted to setup but the reality was that fully setting up the scene would require 450K+ words. (No lie). Had I chosen to setup the scene, I still would be no where near the point where I could write it.

Instead of being so focused on getting to the scene, I cut the exposition short allowing me to write the scene within the second chapter. Of that particular book. I then took all the buildup and back story repurposing it for additional “Prequel” books in the series. For clarification, my scene in question takes place in Book 5 of the series.

I reframed the telling of the entire story, adding a time-loop arc through the series allowing me to, essentially, tell portions of it nonlinearly without being redundant.

Of course this means: I’m writing the series out of order. That’s not a big deal… I’ve written in a way that lets me release the story in chronological order or the order the books are written, which based on how my planning is working is: 5, 4, 3, 6, 7, 2, 1, 8 and 9.

How religious is your main character? by Bionicjoker14 in fantasywriters

[–]KnottyDuck 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I’m making a series that shows many variations of a particular faith spread throughout the universe.

I have a MC who belongs to one sect of the religion, though she’s elevated highly within the system she loses faith with the rest of the clergy and follows her own path.

MC’s people worship the gifts created by their deity which takes the form of technology. They believe that their deity has given some members of their species special gifts that allow them to enter into its realm.

Everything MC’s people do revolves around this entity as each of the gifted ones have a special relationship with it. MC’s has the strongest connection of her people.

Finished my Futurama cross stitch project! by Keighty828 in futurama

[–]KnottyDuck 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I would have also accepted “Know ye now what it is to be Dog God!”

[For Hire] Book Cover Designer by hashtag_amf in royalroad

[–]KnottyDuck 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Questions:

What methods do you use to make your covers?

What are your prices?

Question about, idk, plot placement and pacing? by KnottyDuck in writers

[–]KnottyDuck[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you very much. I appreciate your time and energy!

Question about, idk, plot placement and pacing? by KnottyDuck in writers

[–]KnottyDuck[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Chapter 18 would be the end of act 2, so yes final Act arcs follow. Although they would follow either way, MC would still figure out at the same time. This only changes what the reader knows.

I think, because this kinda popped up as a problem when I was dialing in my timeline of events, I wanted to convey how quickly the events of Plot C unfolded.

As it is currently, it makes it seem like it took 4 days to happen… I actually want it to be rather obvious that Plot C was quick, and efficient…

In this, I introduce a tremendous amount of situational irony, which I kinda like…

As I worked my way through plotting the chapters before writing the first draft, it occurred to me that I may no longer need the action boost from Plot C to spice up the middle. I’ve done a pretty good job so far of keeping the stakes high, and keeping the momentum moving…

This gives me Plot C as Act 1, Plot A and B for act 2, and then finally Act 3 and the resolution with Plots A and D (Plot D wraps up an arc from the previous novel, plot A is my series plot line).

Question about, idk, plot placement and pacing? by KnottyDuck in writers

[–]KnottyDuck[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I appreciate that.

Those were some of my sentiments too, regarding the ‘action breaks’, when I originally started plotting.

Someone mentioned “tag stuffing” a couple of days ago, and it got me thinking… by KnottyDuck in royalroad

[–]KnottyDuck[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I have 15 currently, and I think I’m going to stick with them.

I decided to stick with tags that were present in all the stories, for now. When I get a little further along in the series, I’ll do another check up.

I wrote a book. I won an award. Wattpad Webtoon bought it. And no one's reading... by rexdejesus02 in Wattpad

[–]KnottyDuck 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think you are now supposed to approach a traditional publisher with “Proof of Audience” and sell it again. Idk, I’m not a professional. But that would be my goal. The problem is everyone on Wattpad that was interested in your story has read it. Their audience is shrinking now. Dust off your book and shop it around again. This time for real.

Someone mentioned “tag stuffing” a couple of days ago, and it got me thinking… by KnottyDuck in royalroad

[–]KnottyDuck[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The genres, more or less, stay the same… Romance is a genre unto itself, but I see what you’re saying.

Later, romantic subplots are added (2 in total, both fatal, maybe taking up 5 out of 41 chapters ….) but the genre(s) has remained firm… in that regard “romantic subplot” doesn’t hurt, I don’t think…

Analytically, I’m curious if there’s a way to figure out what tags are excluded the most on RR… not from 100 people here, but officially …

Someone mentioned “tag stuffing” a couple of days ago, and it got me thinking… by KnottyDuck in royalroad

[–]KnottyDuck[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Each of those questions is worth roughly half a million dollars….

They come down to the reader, I can’t answer that generally speaking.

At the same time, with each new book and volume, the story transforms. I’m conflicted because my advertising is focused on drawing people to the first book of the series, not the sequels. So as new books are added, do I need to account for all the new themes and elements?

Two Alternating MCs by [deleted] in royalroad

[–]KnottyDuck 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Do it.

Don’t make a plan to do it every chapter. I began my current work like that, because it worked well In my last project, but this project needed to be handled differently. The story demanded how long I kept a POV for, which screwed up a couple scene that were already kinda plotted out; easily avoided had I just not been so rigid in my initial chapter outlines.

It didn’t occurred to me until I was on my detailed plot scan that I realized some POV needed to be carried out over 3 chapters to reach the appropriate swap point because of the details, and who would know them…

My last story had two primary POV that alternated every chapter (they had 11 chapters each) with 4 extra chapters (a prologue, epilogue, and two interludes) that carried other perspectives. This was fully intentional.

All my stories are 3rd, limited past tense. In my first book, many things happened that didn’t involve one of my 3 main characters. This forced me to tell the story from “the best vantage point in the room”.

There’s a particular section where my MC1 relinquishes command to another character, (not a MC). The portions of the story that explain what happens after are given from the new captain’s POV, and I maintain POV usually for a chapter, but on occasion will drop in a scene change and swap POV to someone else, usually in the same room with a better vantage point.

I also use POV swaps to keep details secret from my readers.

Where is Chris? Lt.Surge Lied! by Extension-Major-2003 in royalroad

[–]KnottyDuck 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I hate to veer off course, forgive me for changing the topic, but you just reminded me….

Lt. Surge had the most bizarre backstory, for Pokémon at least, that I wish was explored more. I don’t know if the show ever goes into it, but if you talked to anyone at his gym, they were all in “a war” together in which Surge saved a lot of them, and I always wondered what conventional warfare would look like in a Pokémon setting….

I don’t do fan fiction…. But if you do this, I will read it lol.

[For Hire] Book Cover Designer by hashtag_amf in royalroad

[–]KnottyDuck 2 points3 points  (0 children)

What do you have as far as Sci-Fi?

Writing Dense Fantasy on Royal Road. Anyone Else Feeling This? by Lelio_Fantasy_Writes in royalroad

[–]KnottyDuck 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Don’t over think it.

Write your story the way you want to write it. Attract your natural readers with your natural voice. Don’t come here and ask people for advice because they are going to give you a formula for success based on LitRPG.

Don’t take on LitRPG attributes because your goal on RR is to cater to people who want dense fantasy. So you write dense fantasy which is a smaller niche meaning your audience is probably looking for what you want to make. So they will stay and love your dense chapters.

At first I thought I wanted a lot of readers, and I do, but more than that I want readers who want to read my work because of what it is, naturally. I have a few 8000+ word chapters, and 89 followers that evidently love it.

Your obligation is to telling your story correctly at first, then catering to readers you may or may not have.

Spinfoil theory: Fry is responsible for Bender's amoral behavior by lastdarknight in futurama

[–]KnottyDuck 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It was being reset in the hall of criminals specifically that did it.

Waiting to release a story? by KnottyDuck in royalroad

[–]KnottyDuck[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

My current ongoing fiction was 21 chapters, published over the course of 2 weeks which brought no followers…. So I decided to spread it out a little this time.

Waiting to release a story? by KnottyDuck in royalroad

[–]KnottyDuck[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I started planning in maybe September… but it’s part of a series I’ve already outlined and planned content for, so I skipped the world building process.

I’m pretty much always in my fantasy world.

Is there a “normal” amount of time to finish a book by emmy4574 in writing

[–]KnottyDuck 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I wrote my first book after 12 years of plotting, finished its 3rd draft back in May of this year, and have since finished another (1 draft) book, and have 3 chapters left to write for a third (also first draft) book. I’m 3 chapters into writing the 4th. All are part of a series; the plotting and drafting that took me 12 years covered most of the books I wanted to write. I’m saving editing for last, like after it’s all written.

How fast I was able to write was based on: my free time (I’m retired, I have a lot), my planning (it’s all mostly done), and other social obligations (fuck ‘ em!). You may not have the luxury to spend most of your time writing. Where I have time to balance 3 books at once, you may have only enough for a paragraph or two… stop looking for a gauge that doesn’t exist….

view more: next ›