I find it helpful to write what I call a "plot outline". Decide how you want to start, and how you want to end. Then decide what chain of events you want in between to lead up to the end that you have decided, and write it all down. I usually find that writing scenes to give those events life is much easier when I know what I want them to do for the plot. It also helps with foreshadowing, if you ever want to do that or if you want to give your stories a mysterious feel.

I don't know what you mean by your editor question.

Are you by any chance pertaining to a beta-reader? It works in different ways actually, depending on the parties involved. Usually, the writer sends the beta-reader the draft for his/her story and the 'beta' prooof read it - look for typos, grammar errors, etc. - and give comments, suggestions, encouragement and the like. Sometimes, the writer consults the beta-reader for ideas and stuff.=)

ps: the word editor is way to vague - there are managing editors, copy editors, editors-in-chief and many more.^^ I hope I was of help=)

I have a lot of incomplete stories up too, with one of two chapters and left abandoned. mostly because I lost my interest in the story. but there are a few stories that I enjoyed writting, and with those, i tend to put more thoughts into it. try to put yourself into the story and see what you wanna do with it to make it exciting =D

hope this helps, since i'm still pretty far from being a good writer. ;____; im still mada mada dane...*sighs*

I suppose it's good if you have a storyline you like. I had one once! But then everyone complained when it came to a particular part and they didn't like it! T.T *Sigh*

I suppose the best bet is to keep trying!

~VividEbony~

To thine own self be true. Write what you want. If you enjoy it, nothing else matters.

I use the feel upset that someone doesn't like me and spend the rest of my time doing something useless approach. Needless to say, I haven't written more than 5 chapters on any fic yet! XD -____-;;

I will find one that I and my reviewers like! Just you wait!! I may be old enough to claim a pension by that time, but it will happen!!!!

and what you said is 100% right...bleh mayb im just the overly sensitive type XD

Anyway! Thank you Lord Archive! You have inspired me to continue a fic that I quite liked but people shouted at! lol...well not shouted, but you get the point!

And if you run out of inspiration, take a break, do other things, listen to music, read actual books, or any outdoor activity tends to set my mind into motion.

There are many solutions, so don't give up.

Lord Archive and CR give you very good points. Write what you want. What kind of fic do you want to write? More than likely someone is looking for that very fic but they can't write so you have to. Not everyone likes the same thing.

Don't get dissuaded by other people's thoughts. People are naturally entitled to have an opinion but if they don't like what they're reading, they can clear off. You're not forcing them to read it, are you?

Idea's are everywhere. Never ever force them. My best ideas come when I'm lying in bed just before going to sleep. Because you're relaxed, ideas will just flow in, maybe a scene or something. Keep a note book handy and scribble it down.

You're not bound to your plot. You can change it at any time if you feel their's a better direction it can take.

If you don't feel like writing, don't. Take the day off, play on the playstation (if you write Magic fics, Final Fantasy is actually really good to get that going), read a book, watch Tv or just draw. Whatever. There's nothing worse than trying to force yourself to write.

If you have come to a block, look over what you have written. Could you write the scene differently?

Try to keep the plot simple at first. Afte a while, other ideas will come enabling you to write more.

Read as much as possible and get away from writing for a while. Ideas are everywhere around you, you just have to open your mind to them.

If you really can't seem to write your fic but want to write something else, then write something else. You don't necessarily have to post it. It could just stay on your computer and you can always review it again later. Don't work on too many fics. Plots tend to become mixed up unless they're very, very different.

Anyways, they're just some of my ideas. Don't mean they're any good though, lol.

ZD

ideas come into my mind the night before my tests and exams

EEsh! That happened to me last night! Lucky it's just a General Knowledge exam! (Well effectively!)

i try to stop myself from procrastinatin too muchie..but it doesn workkkkkk T____T;;

random shoutout: ANGEL SANCTUARY IS SUCH AN AWESOME MANGA~~~~ *______*

i am still working on my first chapter.. soo sad. neways.. do you think it is better for a story to have a lot of flashbacks.. or.. to happen in present tense.. and it si better to have long and lots of details chapters.. or just fair chapters. ?

wht does..

OOC and AU means?? i saw these terms like on so many fanfics.. but never understand.

Does anyone noe some japanese translation??

Well, OOC means "out of character", meaning that the characters' personality in the story is not the same as in the original from which it came from.

ex: Mushy lovey Syaoran, careless Touya.... etc. ______

And AU means "Alternate Universe", which pops up A LOT. It means that the plot from the original does not exist and that the story takes place in a whole different world, time, etc etc.

Hehehe. Hope I helped. ;____;

chotto matte yo! = wait up. some say chotto matte ne, or chotto. they all mean the same thing, just different way of saying it.

arigatou (short form of arigatou gozaimasu) - thank you.

hajimemashite = first time meeting you (direct translation)

yoroshiku (formal: dozo yoroshiku, cute form: yoroshiku ne!) = please take care of me (direct translation). japanese people say that alot when they first meet someone

watashi no namae wa "your name" desu. = my name is...blah blah. thats the formal way of sayin it, most people would just say *your name* desu. ex. Sakura desu! in stead of watashi no namae wa sakura desu.

gomen ne/gomen nasai/gomen = sorry

tadaima = i'm back

doidashimashite = you're welcome

ohayou (formal: ohayou gozaimasu) = good morning

oyasumi (formal: oyasumi nasai)= good night

thats just some of the really common terms used by people =P

*goes back to studying chemistry T___T;;*

hope this helps..

YUP YUP thanks for the help.

I just thought up another plot a night before an exam! AAAAAAAARGH! lol

gosh this brings back a lot of japanese class memories lolz XD i still remember some of my speech from two years ago and i was so nervous and forgot what i was going to say lolz. i was like stammering XD "konbanwa minna-san~ mou...kyo wa chotto hatsui desu neee" or something like that T___T;; and then i stared at my classmates and they were all looking at me like..continue? lolz XD *ahem* yesh i was utterly embarrassed XD

and yap, my muses attack me right before a unit test or mid terms or during my final exam week. evil evilnesss~~

For me a lot of great ideas are inspired from songs I like, favorite poems, and other novels. Listen to a song, when a line grabs you, try to write a story base on what that line meant to you. Try to write something that would make the readers feel the same way you did when you heard that line of the song.

Proper grammar and punctuation is of course very important. Frist of all, it makes the story easier to follow and the meaning clearer. Second, it feels much better than anything written in internet short hand. If you want your readers to take your fic seriously, than you must treat it seriously youself.

Writing can not be forced. Just let the words come to you.

definitely. I find that the most important thing of all. There are many stories out there that lack this "believability", and they tend to follow those soap opera kind of drama. I enjoy reading stories with a certain sense of reality and deep philosophoical view. It makes the reader think. and thinking is good =D

I can't disagree with that. If everything makes sense, the story flows a little more.

One tough part of belivability is writing romance. Romance must be built from the ground up. Make the characters build up their romantic feelings toward each other, and give it a steady pace. Give it about 4,000 to 8,000 words. Some romance stories I've read take up about 20,000 to 35,000 words (and these are one-shots). It doesn't matter if the the couple is canon or not; you must write the romance down little by little, because jumping to the romance is unrealistic.

Another part that is difficult is to make the characters in-character. In other words, writing the characters in a way that makes them act or speak like them. If you want to write a story that makes the characters act like themselves, my suggestion is to pay extremely close attention to the characters and what they say and how they act. If you can read the mangas or watch the anime completely a few times. Write notes regarding the characters. If you can, you can write a monologue to go with it.

Writing can not be forced. Just let the words come to you.

Agreed. Sometimes, forcing yourself to write can lead into an even bigger writer's block than before.

i don't watch cardcaptors. weird eh? i love reading cardcaptors but i actually

don't know what the anime is really about. well i do.. but i never watched the

whole thing before. i watched tsubasa chronicle does that count?? probably not..

cuz it is mixed with like other characters clamp made. ...... -_-'

If you do use a language for example, French, one should include translations at the bottom of the chapter. Also, when translating names make sure they're all in the same language when you do this. I've seen many fics specifically in the CCS section where people all say "Xiao Lang" and "Ying Fa" as the chinese names of Sakura and Syaoran. These names are both wrong. They are in seperate diaclects of Chinese. Xiao Lang is in the Mandarin dialect, while Ying Fa is of the Cantonese diaclect. Having two names in seperate diaclects is odd. But in general, while having different languages in fics may seem exotic or whatever, I wouldn't suggest it.

Add in random plot twists at will, and don't care about what people think about your story. If you like it, keep on writing it. Your story may not appeal to the minds of all, but there's bound to be some people who will like it. You can draw up a plot line if you want, make character sheets and how you want their attitudes, but you don't have to stick to it! Well, character sheet you should stick to, you don't want them changing attitudes all of a sudden without good reason.

Finally, make your story real, give everything a downside as well. Life is not perfect, and perfect things do not happen to everybody. But don't make their lives overly miserable with so many events, it isn't normal. Life is a rollercoaster, it comes with lots of up and downs, write your characters thinking in those sorts of terms. I am not the best writer in the world, and have no stories posted on Fanfiction because I've given up writing for the time being, but this is the advice I will offer you. You can follow it or not, it's really your choice to make. I'll be looking forward to reading one of your stories one day.

Another tip, put speech in "" and thoughts in '' instead of ** or (), I notice bad writers do this, and is generally annoying for me. Published books don't look like that, and with good reason. Neither would I suggest putting actions in ** or whatever, I tend to stop reading those fics. Don't tell people to R&R at the end so you'll post more chapters, some people do this and I think it's a gross way of getting reviews, some of those reviews will just be like "This is great! Update soon!" Rather than thought out reviews that critic your work and give you ways to improve. It doesn't matter about reviews at all, just the quality of the story and if you readers can give you good advice, in my opinion of course, this sort of opinion varies from person to person. Edit your stories as well! People will sometimes get these obvious spelling errors, and you'll wonder what they are thinking. Example: She wandered, 'I wish he'd phone me soon' and it should be *wondered*

P.S: It's not really insulting like cussing at someone, but it's rude and shouldn't really be done unless among family, lovers or close friends.

Or example, you can't translate the traditional japanese greeting thing into english without making it look too ridiculous. But the english way of introducing japanese people is just...wrong and mismatching the entire story if you're setting it in japan. "Dozo yoroshiku", you can't translate that, but its used very often when japanese people are meeting someone for the first time ever. I don't think the "hi how are ya, nice to meet you" THING is going to be able to replace that. Sure a little research on the proper way of saying it would help, but i dont think others should be discouraged when it comes to adding japanese and chinese phrases into the story. we are not professionals here and if we were, we wouldnt be here writting stories to entertain teenagers around our age but entertaining a larger audience and making money out of the things we write.

The thing I really hate about fics set in Japan that are high-school fics though is that they learn...ENGLISH. That and they have like all their friends with English names. They are in Japan and one would figure they'd be learning their own language rather than English. Or at least be learning Chinese, the trading partner Japan has had for a long time.

if you write a part when someone talks... would it be better if you

start a new line.. soo it is easier to read.. ? i personally prefer if

authors skip a line before a character talks.. but i wonder how others

prefer.

Couldn't agree with you more Hally-san ^__^. I usually got my inspirations such as the song title and the lyrics.

Be sure to get a lot of exposure from watching movies of all genres. For example, doesn't mean you don't like action you shouldn't watch action movies.

Also put a lot of expressions in the characters. Happy, sad, confused, angry etc etc. Don't always portray only one expression for the certain character. I love to read fics that have a lot of expressions in them ^_^''.

For me, I really love to see at least one villain in the fic that I'm reading. It makes me stick to the fic and rooting for more updates on it ^__^x

I usually get good ideas when i'm washing dishes. Weird, I know, but my brain seems to function well when my hands are submerged in sudsy water. Also, it's a good idea to go outside and just observe people. A good fic is a realistic one, right?

If I get stuck with a story I let it go for a while and turn to look at the world around me. Music often determines the mood of my stories, while at other times a great joke or a laugh with my friends might recapture a sense I've been looking for to insert. If I truly get stuck I turn to my past, things I've experienced. That kiss, that day with my family or friends, that lonely feeling, that loss, that great chocolate cake! Anything.

If I can't turn to my experiences I turn to my friends'. My friend recently experienced a deviroce and she told me everything she felt (almost everything) and I used it in a story dedicated to her. If I got stumped, I turned to her and I remembered what she told me. The anger, the humilation, the frustration...

Inspiratoin can come from anywhere. Even that silly article in that silly magazine can trigger something that makes you go - ah-ha! now I know what do write!

Good luck!

Tella

I don't actually write stories, I just read them, but I can tell you that dark mirth is a really good author. If you ask her (I think it's a her?) I'm sure she'll beta for you in your next story.

Something that helps me out a lot (especially with writer's block) is listening to music while I write. Everytime I start a new chapter, I make a playlist on itunes of music that goes along with the mood I want for the story. I know some people can't work with background noise, though, so that isn't the way to go for everybody.

Random opinion here: When you see reviews it's usually... "Please update soon!" After writing my awful fics I noticed I wanted to update faster and faster. Which is why I'm stuck today. xD But really, if you can't write, how are you going to update? Ne? Right now I say, "Please write soon!", instead. I don't think anyone noticed the difference though. -.-

I didn't even know that Xiao Lang was mado! o.o Then again, I saw on another forum that Sakura isn't really named Ying Fa. It's actually something else...

How do you get any ideas when you're really caught up in something? My days are going faster and faster. It just seems like I have less time to write. Listening to music use to be how I got my inspiration. Like in my ugly M rated one shot. I got that from a song. But it was still pretty bad.

On that note, I stopped writing for a while. Kept myself busy. All that good stuff. And then I go back to one of my stories. Another one shot. -.- And I was really disgusted. I saw grammer mistakes left and right. It sounded boring. Normal. I don't think my grammer is really that bad like one of those people who can't capitalize the names! (Please someone help them!) Cough. Anyway, I really hated it so I decided to write it over. It's got more spunk but then it went away into another direction. And then turned into a different story. Sigh.

Sometimes my ideas pop out of no where. And then they disappear. And then they pop up again.

I'm rambling again. Uh oh. xD Oh wells. You can skip what I'm saying anyway.

If anyone wants to beta read. Or knows a beta reader please let me know. I can't just pick a beta reader. Sigh. I'm sighing a lot. Am I even on topic?

Onto the topic of music again. I'm really picky. One day I might like something, the next day I don't. Like one time I was obessed with Fahrenheit. And then I was like they can't sing that well. And then I like SHINee. Got bored of that and am now totally digging (word next to me sound corny right there. Snort.) Epic High, "1 minute 1 second".

Someone please help me with my major writing block. Besides listening to music. I don't like going out a lot either. I'm really bored. xD

Note!: Anyone whose reading here, please visit my forum! I think no one is reading it cause it seems my friend and I take all the space. You can talk too you know!!!

-Mel's Merleawe

That helps me alot too and when I find a praticualar song that gets my thoughts flowing I repeat it.

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