BEGINNING A STORY - Terrible Writing Advice
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 28 ก.ย. 2024
- Starting a story is easy! Just drown the reader in so much info dumping and exposition that they can’t possibly escape! Once the reader is stuck, then trap them in a web of flashbacks, in medias res, and prologues. They will never escape then and will be forced to read the rest of your story. Don’t forget to use a mirror to describe how the main character looks!
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Not to make the wattpad joke again, but this is totally something people on Wattpad needs
Winter Anime I actually critique Wattpad stories. let me tell you, they need these videos.
I think Wattpad is beyond help unfortunately, but almost every other online story site (mostly original, but some fanfics too) could benefit from this.
I'm writing on wattpad and after bingewatching all episodes I can say... so far I'm safe
I legit linked his channel to a community post, where someone was asking about how to avoid cliches. Wattpad is plagued by bad writing, mary sues and cliches. It's painful how many wattpad users take pride in writing awful cliches as well. My problem with it is that I feel like people admit to not putting effort into their stories, and don't strive to use their creativity but just use a cliche instead and sloppily write a mary sue story.
Out of a sense of morbid curiosity, how did they take those videos in comparison with their own writing?
I want a story where they wake up and do their daily routine but one thing is out of place.
"I woke up, took off my elaborately described Pajamas, and replaced them with my less elaborate outfit. Brushed my teeth. Murdered the traitorous rebel, and then stood in line for my breakfast rations."
you could write a story where your character wakes up.
grabs a brush and puts on a little makeup.
hides the scars to fade away the shakeup.
then ask why they leave the keys upon the table
Gabriel Schirmann here you go creating another fable
BetterDanGaming you wanted to
Character wakes then nods off again
"Wait a second!" I shouted loudly to myself as I looked down at the already cold and lifeless body of a former human being "Did I brush my teeth?.." I ask myself before cleaning my mouth slightly with my finger being pretty sure I had done it "Ahh great I hate when my routine is different than usual!" I say with a big bright smile as I step over the now slowly moving and moaning corpse..Ahh what a wonderful monday!
You can tell just how inaccurate the Pie Chart is by how small the *"Showing off how awesome Mary Sue is"* slice is and the conspicuous absence of a *"Love Triangle"* slice.
The first day of school with the hot new guy is in chapter 2. Chapter 1 is Mary Sue’s morning routine.
@Mark Borok "Every triangle is a love triangle when you love triangles!" ~ Pythagoras
"A quiet day of surfing the internet at the local library was interrupted when Nazis kicked in the front door." That's it. I'm out
Nazis Surfers must die!!!...unless they are already zombies then you have more problems than just replacing the front door
Kajetan Radulski Did you give the Aeon Legion a chance in the span of 11 months? I'm on the third chapter and I think it's pretty good.
@@milicadiy it got me into reading sci fi and Young adult amazing book I must say
@@The_Misanthropic_Magpie Shame the rest of it isn't available in my country. I think I'll order it online.
@@milicadiy wait was that a real book?
Monster Hunter International by Larry Correia still has my favorite opening line:
"On an otherwise normal Tuesday evening I had the chance to live the American dream. I was able to throw my incompetent jackass of a boss from a fourteenth-story window."
Now tell me that doesn't make you want to keep reading.....
Added to my bucket list
If that was the entire book, I'd still be satisfied!
summary of it pls
@@lolimsooedgy7809 Here is the blurb from the back of Book 1 (it's a series, up to 7 books as of Aug 2020):
Five days after Owen Zastava Pitt pushed his insufferable boss out of a fourteenth story window, he woke up in the hospital with a scarred face, an unbelievable memory, and a job offer.
It turns out that monsters are real. All the things from myth, legend, and B-movies are out there, waiting in the shadows. Officially secret, some of them are evil, and some are just hungry. On the other side are the people who kill monsters for a living. Monster Hunter International is the premier eradication company in the business. And now Owen is their newest recruit...
That's a pretty good spoiler-free summary of the book and the series, it follows Owen and other "Hunters" as they have various adventures while working for the world's top monster-hunting company, MHI. I think that Book 1 is actually part of the Free Libary at the publisher's webpage, Baen.com. Here is a link: www.baen.com/allbooks/category/index/id/2012?page=2&pageSize=20&filter=created_at&dir=DESC
@@pavelowjohn9167 Thanks.
Another great advice, I'm using them in my book, I titled it "Twilight".
LOOOL XD specially the love dodecahedron.
Did you say love 4-dimensional oxtagonal pyramid?
The Love Rhombicosidodecahedron?
I think this book will get you sued...
It surely would be a better love story than Tw... Never mind.
Doesn't weather automatically establish the atmosphere? After all, the mere presence of weather provides all sorts of information about its composition and density.
This comment is better than it has any right to be.
@@MasterSpud What do you mean by "pathetic fallacy"?
@@MasterSpud Interesting. I would expect English language to use the term _anthropomorphism_ for that, like the rest of us do.
and let's not forget that weather is also political...and at times even racist...you can't trust the weather to be your friend at all times...
@@MasterSpud I think you missed the joke
''My book has a beginning'' ok this made me totaly interested, i will buy this shit
"It has a character" The new Tolkien! Let's make a movie out of it!
not just one we gotta stretch this into a trilogy!
nope its a saga now
casey gray Reboot it seven times!
It does begin with "A quiet day of surfing the internet at the local library was interrupted when Nazis kicked in the front door", which is pretty cool as far as beginnings go ;)
If I had a nickel for every time the protagonist of the story gazes into a reflective surface and feels compelled to describe themselves to nobody in particular, I'd be rich.
CrushedParagon What if. They lookedin a reflective surface. And looked at something behind them.
They manage to screech out in fear as the knife is driven into them.
Then they wake up.
1) Like you Say
2) Like You Say but Replace Knife Part with Protagonist get Raped by a Horny Divine Spirit
Major Blitz I laughed a little....
CrushedParagon If I had a nickel every time the protagonist describe themselves as if they were the most beautiful human being in the universe, I'd be even more rich.
100 years ago, a prophecy was made. "A girl named Mary Sue will beat a bad guy."
Mary Sue woke up and flipped her lusciously luxuriant long brown hair out of her deep ocean blue eyes before looking out her window at the clear sky. She got out of her dark oak bed and chose a beautiful pink long-sleeved dress with sequins running from the silken belt down to the floor-length hem. "A princess must always look her best!"
She then gazed out of her gold and jeweled framed giant glass window, overlooking the grand kingdom. And beyond a grand, emerald green valley, lush peridot green forests, and amethyst violet like mountains. When suddenly a great beastly dragon with breath like rotting corpses came and grabbed her. She screamed in terror and cried for help, when she heard the voice of a handsome prince, "Use your special gift Mary Sue! Only you have the power to save us all."
But before she could use her powers…BEEP…BEEP…BEEP…She woke up to an alarm clock, not in a grand palace, but in an ordinary Spanish styled mansion in Beverly Hills, California. Mary Sue was an ordinary girl, her parents not rich and royal just ordinary everyday rich, boring, soap opera actors.
She looked at her clock and panicked, "Oh no! Its 8:30! I'm late for school again!" And she clumsily tripped out of her bed, got dressed in her blue sailor style uniform, and grabbed her handmade Italian leather bag and a piece of toast, and ran outside, all the while narrating how boring and mundane her real life was, unlike her dreams. But little did she know, her dreams on that day would actually come true!
I think I just threw up into my mouth
You should really use "orbs" in place of "eyes," as that is the hallmark of exceptional writing.
I used to write like this 😅
Then all of a sudden, the Ugandan Knuckle tribe invaded her school and city. They killed off most of the citizens via sHpitting on them.
Mary Sue escaped them, and dreamt about their quEn, who she was destined to killz
Don’t forget to use a mirror to describe how the main character looks!
- Stephenie Meyer in a nutshell
playerdude2 sounds familiar... Which books did she make again?
To be fair, Fifty Shades of Gray is even worse being a bad Twilight fanfiction and all
Cringe!
I used to like the first and second books! Admittedly, I was 12 and did read a much more palatable translation (Pro tip: if German makes your book better, it should be Since focused).
Don't forget the Urban Fantasy full of love triangles!
FOR THE READERS: Here was a rule that I think all of us might agree on. The 3 Chapter rule.
Explanation: Where if the first chapter seems kinda bad, you have to move on to another (2) chapters.
Some authors are bad at portraying starting chapters, but get better soon after. Take The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo for example, the beginning was slow-paced and boring but around the second or third chapter things got better.
They say don't judge a book by its cover, don't judge it by it's first chapter too.
(**But if you can clearly see the bad grammar and terrible spelling you might wanna back off.)
^^ Good creators are mostly self conscious of their work and they will double-check to make sure they make a good first impression.
Just wanted to drop by this optional rule, love your videos btw!
That's a good rule. When I read Harry Potter for the first time as a kid, I found the first chapter pretty boring with all the wizards just standing around, talking about a baby. But man, did it ever pick up after that!
In my opinion the first chapter of Great Gatsby, which is a book I love is kinda like this. Nick talking on and on about what kind of person he is could have been edited down I think.
Its been a year and opinions might have changed, but I completely agree with this comment
@@Newfiecat Oh yes, both Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings took several attempts and a lot of fighting to get into, and both went on to become some of the most influential and defining books of certain parts of my life (and to this day my most read ones).
You're completely right. Which is also the reason I always jumped the prologue, first chapter, and sometimes 2nd chapter when I read a novel. I treated the summary like the basic knowledge I need and just jumped straight to the third or second chap.
A bit confused? Not to worry, I picked things fast- I'm not going to read the first chapter or prologue even if you kill me.
I’m trying to write a book, and when I saw this video I thought, “okay, great. I should watch this video and as long as I haven’t done anything this character recommends, I should be fine.”
*story begins with a dream sequence then looking in a mirror*
“Well shi-“
How’s the book going?
@@johnlevin4567 doesn’t begin with a dream sequence and then looking in a mirror, so I’d say it’s certainly going better than it was 5 years ago!
Fr though, it’s going much better. I’ve gotten much more skilled at writing with study and practice.
@@ahappyjackolantern so... what's its name?
OHHH! The next Bad Writing Advice should just be about Dream Sequences! They tend to be excessively literal prophetic dreams and often don't shed any real light on our protagonist at all.
Nionivek unless we're talking daydreams. That does say something about a protagonist once the dream cloud pops.
Fun isn't something one considers when balancing the comment section but this does put a smile on my face.
No Love triangle in this video, I'm disappointed !!
That's in the exposition
But...but....The love triangle must be the solution to all problems and questions of the universe. It's like 42
Oussama El That's in the ending exposition
the love triangle (or dodecahedron for that matter) needs a protagonist to revolve around, therefore it cannot easily be made without first detailing the utterly ordinary and boring life of the protagonist. this is why the love triangle must be made after the exposition, hence its absence in this video.
Nonsense! The protagonist has no characterization other than the fact they are in the love triangle!
...
...
...
Never said it was a _good_ solution to shoehorn the love triangle in the beginning but I mean...this *is* terrible writing advice so...
You got it all wrong J.P!
The beginning is all about setting up the love triangle!
Coach Renaldo
PLEASE GOD NO
EHW2 hey, I was just listening to some TERRIBLE WRITING ADVICE. No worries!
Don't you mean the LORVE TRIORNGLE?
Always go with the American Psycho route: Classical piano music in the background while the character monologues for a whole bunch about how amazing they are.
Authors should start the story with something unexpected.
SPANISH INQUISITION!!!!
Andre the hairitic and the Xinos shall burn
Three and a half centuries' worth, hopefully.
FOR THE EMPRAH!
The Mexican Inquisition -- Got to love TeamFourStar
*DEUS VULT INTENSIFIES*
I think having the prologue take place centuries before the story works fine, provided the events discussed are relevant to the main story or at least get the audience curious as to what the connection is.
I find it possible (Sanderson does it) but dangerous
If it's not good enough, you're just gonna lose people
or just have whole first book be prologue to whole saga. This one will definitely work out (trust me bro)
"This story starts in the basement of a Denny's, as these kinds of stories often do." is the opening line to my Undertale fanfiction.
"Finally... a Grand Slam! LET'S GO!"
Checks out.
> introduce main character in hometown who has symbolic dream before engaging in morning routine
perfect, i have all of these :DDDDD
"the building was on fire and it wasn't my fault." -harry dresden.
My favorite opening line.
"Apocalypses always kick off at the witching hour. That's something you know now"
Pretty much the whole book right there
*those matches found in my pocket are not mine...i'm simply holding them for someone else who was called away on some important errand and just forgot about them*
Even though I'm working on a comic, the advice in all these videos has been invaluable. I'm working with a visual medium, so what? EXPOSITION. Describing the beauty of the main character in words works way better than just showing them. Art is hard. I like shortcuts.
Visual Mediums make it so much easier, since you don't have to spend any time at all describing a character, it's just a given that everyone can see the character. In a book, you have to carefully weave character description into actions or conversation, or else risk having a "Wikipedia character profile" as a paragraph to describe a character. Some books get away with this though.
In all seriousness, I agree. I admire good written works because of how incredibly hard it can be to, well, write good. One of my biggest goals with my comic is to simply show things (nothing like SHOWING someone just how big a certain creature is than just telling them it's fifty feet tall), and avoid exposition in dialogue to instead let readers fill in gaps and make connections to things in the world they see.
Not really... well, not always. Sometimes it's much more effective to show people something rather than describing it, and that applies to thousands of situations, not only exposition. We don't interpret the world in words, images can have a great impact on people, just as much, or even more, than words
Me too.
Gastón Psotka Schendel Then comes the disaster of trying to adapt it into live action movies/anime because everyone images of the same thing are drastically different and the adaptations flops badly because nobody is pleased about the different view in said adaptations.
3:30 This perfectly explains the dilemma of modern literature. My problem with most novels these days is that they are clearly trying to make a low-effort book that would be better as a movie that gets juuuuuuuuust enough of a following that a studio picks it up and makes it into a movie and you get famous. But then the book ends up being a movie without visuals or sounds which is totally boring. You just can't read the book without constantly thinking about "this stuff would be cool to see/hear, but it's a hassle to listen to the author describe it all day. Why couldn't this have just been a movie? Oh wait, it is." Although one thing the writer will do is add way too much exposition to fit into a movie, so that when the movie comes out some fan of the book will be all like "That movie sucked. The book was *so* much better. The movie skipped over too many vital scenes such as [insert random detail about a character's past that does not improve the story] and skipping that stuff just ruins the story!" and then that will draw fans of the movie to buy the book so that it still makes money.
As a HP fan, i feel attacked
Start with the pretentious line "THe universe is more horrifiying and wonderful than we could ever imagine."
The rest is then braindead action - and I'm actually proud of it.
Wait a minute. Where the fuck is the resources dedicated to the Love Triangle? Doesn't every true author allocate some resources to the love triangle. Or Tetrahedron. Or whatever geometric shape of choice?
Just use a sphere. That way, you can have infinite characters, that way the story length is infinite and thus if anyone ever complains about the exposition taking up too much of the story you have the excuse of the exposition technically only taking up 0% of the story.
Love interests are just parts of mary sue, clearly.
It's true. Every commercially successful writer actually has a, at the very least, a simple chart describing the love-interests.
Gimme my love glome... even more infinity ! :')
Screw the love triangle. Go harem or go home.
It's important to remember that people read books for the same reason they read user manuals: an elaborate and exhaustive detailing of information with nothing interesting happening.
Or in Uncharted 4's case, start with in medias res, followed by a flashback, followed by a flashback but with more flash and less back, then move into the beginning of the story, but then into a flashback to something that didn't actually happen, then move back into the the present!
Sir Taco VI and it still works somehow
Balistic947 I don't know, that does sound like a clusterfuck.
Sir Taco VI
I like how the villain of uncharted 4 is moraly and legaly in the right.
"Sorry if my voice sounds a bit different, I recently upgraded my Beer." Almost as good as misheard song lyrics.
Hey, do you take suggestions? Because if so, I have an episode suggestion. Magic Systems! I can already see what it might be like... "If you're creating a magic system, don't worry about being original. Just steal it from someone else, that definitely won't seem boring and uninteresting to the reader."
Marley MacNeil and don't even bother fleshing said system because it'll eventually be in the way when you've written the story into the corner with no hopes of your main character surviving. Making the powers vague makes it much more flexible and therefor easier to resolve a conflict. But say you've already written a good well rounded yet comprehensible magic system with good rules and have written yourself into a corner because your main bady was competent enough to exploit said rules because you've only now got around to read my comment. In that case just give your character some power which wasn't mentioned before so he can bullshit his way out on the grounds that he's -the protag- the chosen one or something. Never mind that you've just given your MC an unfair advantage thus breaking the power system you've worked so hard to establish. It was just there to get the readers hooked at the exposition dump with the love triangle at the start of the story anyway. And besides by now they've already forgotton half the rules anyway. You could alternatively let the bady just spare the protags life because of his ex machina mood swing of the week so that the protag can conveniently go train at his leisure to defeat him later while the guy just sits there probably doing bad stuff like maliciously watering is plants or something while waiting to get his ass kicked. That would totally not make your readers feel cheated or disengaged.
@@limazulu6192 "maliciously watering his plants"
I'm borrowing this for day-to-day conversations.
1:53 - 2:08
Basically RPG character creation in a nutshell
D MAS except designing one can be fun. Watching it, not always so much
Different mediums need different story telling methods. What works for a movie wouldn't work in a book; and what works in a book wouldn't work in a video game.
I'm really happy that this channel grew in popularity during the last months, it really deserves it.
Actually sometimes the whole introducing a character and then the real main character because sometimes it can give the audience important information that the main character might not know adding in some dramatic irony
I love how much work he puts into the little details which go by so fast. It's awesome
His voice sounds different because he 'upgraded his gear' (5:05). It's confirmed, he's a cyborg.
A flashback, within a flashback, inside a dream as part of the prologue that then precedes to a flashback of the In Medias Res that contains a dream flashing back to the prequel that also contains a dream that predicts the ending that won't happen unless there are few more flashbacks to the fourth sequel
Why is no one talking abut the featured fanart?
Prologue: Focusing on characters from a far bygone era.
Chapter 1: Flashback
Chapter 2: Flashback within a Flashback
Chapter 3: In Medias Reis
Chapter 4: POV on completely irrelevant character
Chapter 5: Filmmaking POV homing in on main character, before going way overboard on what s/he looks like.
Chapter 6: Info dumping on the history of the world.
Chapter 7: Info dumping on the history of the home town.
Chapter 8: Dark Lord finds Chosen One and destroys his/her hometown, thus beginning hero's journey.
Chapter 9: Chosen One learns about the Prophecy, and that s/he is destined to "chose between Jeff or Steve," and to stop to Dark Lord "with the Power of True Love, and maybe with a side of the Power of Friendship."
Chapter 10: In Medias Reis is resolved following another action set piece. Chosen One gets captured by the Dark Lord.
Chapter 11: Chosen One rambles on and on and on about Environmentalism, and everybody, including the Dark Lord, immediately falls in love with the Chosen One while the evil imperial troops either fall asleep or flee from the pretentious preaching.
Chapter 12: The Dark Lord marries the Chosen One, and when he embraces Mary Sue--dah, I mean the Chosen One's--to kiss, he immediately explodes, thus destroying the Dark Lord with the Power of True Love.
Chapter 13: With Steve dead, Mary Sue is forced to settle down with Jeff. Unfortunately, Mary Sue suddenly has an epic relapse and suffers a fatalist identity crisis. Which doesn't effect her yet.
Chapter 14: Cut to 2000 years later in present day, and Mary Sue is suddenly jaded and with an identity crisis. She has grown into a vegetable where she automatically succeeds in everything. She is unemployed and flat broke, and yet whenever she needs money, she somehow has it. The universe at this point literally revolves around benefiting her at all cost.
Chapter 15: No idea how to end the book here. I guess it involves Mary Sue entering a fetal position wondering when or if she will ever die. After all, she sunbathes in the Arctic, goes deep diving into magma, gets eaten by dragons, giants, and other monstrosities, traps herself in an underwater cage with a plastic bag over her head, and skydives while strapped to an anchor. And yet she cannot die, or suffer, or anything. Even if she sits around and does nothing, she still wins at everything, and the whole world loves her unconditionally to the point that nothing has any meaning or purpose to her anymore. It's kind of like a reverse Charlie Brown at this point.
"Just give them a flow chart or something they'l be fine." Words to live by.
...and the only part I've written of my novel is a prologue with a brief history.
it'd be great if I were joking... but I'm not.
As much as I like this, I feel as though you're going to end up getting "famous" because of your "Terrible Writing Advice" series and not because of your novels (which I should get around to buying, it sounds pretty cool). But hey, at least you could be helping guide and inspire one of the next literary legends of tomorrow!
99% wattpad stories™
Evi2 I NEED TO BE IN THE LUCKY 1%
I just started my story so I needed this.
I actually scrapped the first two chapters (that was how far I was) the day before this video XD...yeah I needed this..
Kami Lee openings are the scariest part for me simply because I know that I only have half a page (maybe a page tops) to convince the reader. The result of said fear? Well, right now I'm working on the *eighth* version of my opening chapter. I'm starting to suspect that I'll never finish my story xD
Really I'm not super fond of the way my opening went (it's way better than past beginnings to other stories), but it's better than nothing. Honestly I'd just write it and leave it. You can always fix it in the rewrites.
Kami Lee, Yay another RWBY fan!
here's an idea. start with characterization. Like, for example, during a geography class my character gets highly invested in the unusual gravity of Oman's mountains while the theme of my story is the beauty of world culture.
I love the 'bored now' part. Whenever I'm getting bored of something, I always just say bored now in that tone
I'm guilty of over expositioning, I just can't bring myself to leave any reader, or possible reader that is, without a clear cut view of what I am trying to get across to them. I tend to blame my time reading books by Taylor Anderson and Brian Jacques. Anderson always seems to wish that his readers sit and can pick the up the book series anywhere, by the tenth book in the series he has so many characters is so many areas that he can't help but make sure there is no misconception as to what they did last book. And as Jacques wrote quite often for the blind, his descriptions, especially of speeches, go on for ages. My great lengths of exposition are also inspired by Robert L. Scott, who wrote God Is My Co-Pilot mostly through exposition, and I find it easier to speak through the pages and times with exposition, than actually write dialogue. You see I am not a social person, and also put little time into prewriting any of my previous projects, so I spend hours sitting before my keyboard and expositioning into space as if it were a sport, or a pastime, as world creating is more entertaining than character development and writing history is the most entertaining part of writing to me. Also, as most of my projects take place well beyond the 2500s, I must inform anyone who may ever read one of my works what the hell happened to society, and what each and ever planet will be like. I must explain sociology and economic circumstances I myself cannot comprehend, and speak so deeply of the political situation of a single planet for so long I actually find no fine way to introduce my main character. And thus botch the whole thing. Even this right here went from a simple comment to a long a drawn out history of my mental incapacity to simplify anything. I must get it from my father.
I kinda undertand what you feel. I think very fast, which lends to me speaking very fast as well, I need to catch up with my own ideas, however, your post is actually pretty good and, in my humble opinion, was the right kind of exposition. Don't be too hard on yourself and just keep writting.
That story about interplanetary politics sounds interesting, maybe give it another try?
Dialoge is really, really hard. We only get to improve by pressing on. You sound like a person that has a lot of stories in his/her head, don't give up.
:D
I completely understand.
I tend to live inside my own head, and pretty much all of my characters have the same trait, which obviously results in overexposition. My characters aren't self-inserts, but I feel like they will lack substance if they don't have this mindset. Everytime I have to write dialogue I feel that it sounds fake and forced, then I rewrite it countless times, give up, erase it all and start writing something else...
I've never actually finished writing anything because of this, even though I mostly plan short stories, not long detailed novels.
The Brian Jacques reference made me chuckle, as I recall the endless descriptions of feasts (I absolutely loved Redwall as a child and in my early teens).
I have all of his books and cherish them greatly. They were probably the first books I ever read.
so i too have a problem of expositioning.....that explains a lot, no wonder i cant write shit.
Commodore Sven Reddy I feel like when I read you comment I’m reading a book
My drug shipment is finnaly there !
*grabs comically oversized syringe*
*proceeds to die from overdose*
*gets resurrected by a mysterious butterfly*
plot twist
*butterfly is actually evil and sucks his energy now he is just a slave*
Whoa, that's a great line to start a book with.
I think the best introduction information dump is Brave New World. I sometimes re-read just that part because it gives plenty to reflect on on its own.
Ik your name is Terrible Writing Advice, but I can't help but take you 100% seriously
well, if you're writting a comedy book to make fun of cliches or something, it could work :v
This is where I really learn how to write a story.
Thats rough buddy!
the most interesting opening line I've ever read:
"It was my aunt who decided to give me to the dragon."
agreed...that's an awesome opening line
Can you tell me wtf is that book is?
@@excitonium5573
Dragon Slippers, it's a YA novel that's basically a twist on the "maiden kidnapped by a dragon" cliche.
@@murasakinokami9882 thanks
3:49 I genuinely want to know what the heck is going on in this image....
Writing is such a underappreciated art, even when done well. are there any good self-respecting apps/sights(Which have minimal circlejerking and narcissism) that allows users to share written work?
I think Wattpad and archiveofourown allow for Original Fiction if that's what you mean.
I mean sights that aren't cluttered by circlejerks or narcissistic fucks. I said 'self respecting' for a reason but that's kinda vague, I'll change it.
What about WritersCafe?
Ido Jeorchim-Litman
I'll try it, thanks!
Since I usually write fantasy stuff myself whenever I do anything original, I used to think I needed to unload exposition dumps right at the get-go to familiarize people with the world. It wasn't until my most recent story that I purposely told myself to avoid exposition almost entirely--let everything just come through as a result of dialogue and character interaction. Remarkably...it worked. None of the readers were confused and it really trimmed the fat.
Just sharing for other people who, like me, thought there was no way around exposition dumps.
I love the advice, it's telling me the hows and ways that make a story goes terrible or worse, sometimes explaining those bad stuff that led to terrible outcome can do one good so as to avoid those things, but when I need to figure out what one should do I need to wade through all that sarcastic and roundabout comments it goes tiring after a while. so is there another place where I can get a more straight forward, to the point stuff?
Perfect!! My only nit pick is that it could be more complicated!! We need to make sure our readers feel intellectually challenged, so instead of creating a deep, relevant, and interesting narrative, let's incorrectly use big words and scramble the story to bits! It'll make out story sooo much more photosynthesis, and difficult too! Which is good!
Can't you just begin by setting up the love triangle?
Once I picked up a narrative book and immediately put it down because the first word was "You".
da fack?
Just think about it. It might just be me, but I think a narrative should never use the word "You" outside of quotation marks.
Aaron Luedemann
Eh, my judgement wasn't very good in elementary school, especially since my teacher just got done telling us how point of view works in stories while only mentioning first and third person.
In other words: Little kids think in strange ways.
Aaron Luedemann
Just about a week later I read Old Yeller, which changed my point of view on point of view, so to speak.
Neo Valdez-Porter I think Italo Calvino would like to have a word with you.
Well, that's a start.
Currently in the middle of some extensive world building for the fantasy novel I wanna write. This channel has been a HUGE help for me.
I really needed this because I never know how to start my story. I thought I would start with my main character waking up but than I realized almost every jrpg and legend of Zelda game does that. I also have a fictional race too and I can never figure out how I should establish them.
Do they have a society, I believe?
Maybe have one character be a member of such a race, let the audience experience your new race first hand to the eyes of one of their own. Pepper the world building little by little with every scene.
I don't know, but I don't think waking up is bad just because it's cliche. I think we are due for a reconstruction of some tropes, maybe there's an interesting way to do it, why were you interested in having them wake up in the first place, what would have happened then?
My humble thoughts, as always.
Well my main character is a part of this race he's a creature I call a Farkin which is like a mystical alien race that came to our world in the future via magical portal in order to escape the tyrany of there planets empire. But that stuff is just lore. They have a society but most of them just adopted into the new worlds culture. I guess I should probably have a character who knows little about the world and can be used as a catalyst to explain basic lore and exposition. I forgot what those are called.
"Undertale *IS* overrated!"
*dead*
Game was simple with just enough emotion and so many good easter eggs , but the community made it look like shit and people didn't care about the work put into it and meaning. It's one of those games which you don't really hype over a lot but it still holds a place in your heart.
Like the hero said, I think Undertale is awesome, but I do see how overexposure can turn people off.
I think the biggest problem with Undertale are people who I don't really know how well they even know the game, that just praise the game and overlooking simple facts, or people that over complicates the game going around sharing their work, not that is a bad thing but it throws people off by literally info dumping them which is really bad.
I love the game, but boy did the fandom made me super mad when they just came over to Touhou and started shitting on a music piece because a music that was made as a tribute to that was in Undertale and clearly a lot of people somehow don't know which one came first even though the video posting time should have already told them so(The videos are literally posted before Undertale was released and that is saying something).
The two fandoms really didn't like each other after that incident, due to people that definitely were really angry on both sides attacking each other quite violently.
The massive fan-made settings and all that is also throwing me off.
I quite liked the fan-made games because they were interesting but some of those fan stuff just got really really weird.
I get that people want alternative universe characters, but like, a lot of them don't really seem well established(There are ofc a lot of well made ones but...) and it just brings back the nightmare of recolored Sonic.
I saw a completely crazy looking fan-game that looked really well made, but boi did I have practically NO CLUE what was happening and that is bad for people just seeing it for the first time because people normally don't invest that much effort before they get hooked.
I did do some effort into it afterwards, but too much crossovers and all that, I don't feel like going much deeper.
Tho after all that, I still love the game and especially the music tracks, and I genuinely look forward to Toby Fox next game which is called Deltarune...
(Have to say that the fan-made musics, good stuff, really good stuff if you dig those type of tunes and are always out for nice music.)
I am actually hyped for Deltarune, simply because even just the demo looks interesting enough to hook me in.
Btw if you dig Undertale music and you are ok with lyricless soundtracks, Touhou has like as much soundtracks to probably feed your endless music desire for a couple of days if not more.
Don't bother with Touhou story tho as it is confusing AF and you really aren't in it for the main games, unless you enjoy Shmups and are up for one of the more difficult games that exists.
+@@adamxue6096
I love Touhou as well! I really wish the fandoms could get along, as they have so much in common...
Also, I have played Deltarune and it is awesome. BUT I AM NOT SPOILING ANYTHING. D:
@@Dreigonix
Yeah I hoped for that but people are really mad still to this day, like a lot of Bad Apple videos literally has top comments with a lot of likes practically expelling hatred for the other fandom and that isn't helping.
Deltarune looks so promising, that turn I never saw coming because... well, you know.
I literally can't wait to see what is coming next.
Zun and Toby Fox also has a very interesting trait in common.
They release a game once in a millennium .-.
But quality shit needs chunks of time, so that is understandable.
I literally can't wait for the OST of new games, because I can never end my hunger with those.
Btw if you like Undertale, meta game in general, go check out OneShot, I've seen the game, pretty darn good.
I've seen other meta games as well, the ones really just there to get you feelings, found a random little small game called Hello Charlotte, went into it, idk what I was expecting, but after like 4 hours of invest I was actually touched by the story, it was far from perfect, yet it got what was needed.
I saw Chapter 3 first, and I had absolute zero understanding of what was going on, I sticked to the end, realized what was happening, went saw chapter 1 and 2, and actually got way more feelings than I ever expected.
It isn't practically a good game, it is a bit horrory, there really isn't much of a gameplay other than you are watching through a story, but I think it can get some more attention just because of how odd and meta it was.
I wish that this was made as a prequel to the rest of TWA.
The opening line of my story is: I always loved looking at the stars since I was little. Then I start describing the mcs house a bit and just tell everyone she’s rich and stuff, and then I basically link it up to the main plot
Thank you this series will be extremely helpful when creating my 6 season long planned webnovel/-comic that is about the entire history of a world yay ...
In Madea's Race.
I feel people honestly do sweat the first line a bit too much. The first line is important but I feel the first paragraph should be the main bulk of initial intrigue. Basically just make a good mini hook that isn't too long, especially if you're just starting out. Though it depends on what you're trying to do. I've just found that people will generally read 3-4 sentences before they hit the point of "am I going to keep going?" Still try to make the first sentence interesting, but if you need a bit more then don't worry. You'll be good lol
The prologue of Eragon does this quite well, I think. The entire sequence sets the tone of the series as an epic fantasy story of sword and sorcery, but the culmination of that sequence leads directly into the start of the main story. It catches your interest and establishes what the story at large will be like, which make it easier to sit through the "boring farm life of a young boy in a small remote village", since we know it'll get more exciting later.
Ya know the only good way to actually use the advice you give exactly as you say, ignoring any and all of your sarcastic remarks?
Make a sarcastic book.
Something that constantly references it's cliches and flaws is naturally funny, but also requires the author to know what the flaws even are to begin with.
Yahtzee has written quite a few books that do this. Mogworld, Jam, and Will Save The Galaxy For Food.
Isn't that Discworld of Prachett in a nutshell?
Ooh! The beginning of the adventurous fantasy story I've been planning, writing and rewriting for years used to include most of the stuff from this video but not anymore! I feel like I've finally accomplished something in my life.
Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendia was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice.
How do you so accurately describe the book I'm writing???
I CAME AS SOON AS I HEARD
I'm a weird reader, I love slow starting stories, because I feel they're better at selling us the characters and plot because it takes it's time to adress them and an execution without the pressure of a fast and full of hype start. Maybe that's why I love stories like Hunter x Hunter and Umineko no naku koro ni so much, both uses they start arc/chapter to introduce the world, characters and their dynamics to use them afterwards in the development of the story.
An slow with less pressure story has more probability to pay off and change your mind from 'good' to 'fucking amazing'
Exposition is definitely a double-edged sword. If there's info that's relevant to the plot, sometimes it's needed. Some people also enjoy learning about a setting and like info dumps, but I wouldn't assume this. It's funny, too, because some exposition may be required in the beginning to get the book in. I once heard that for fantasy novels that you need to explain how the world works within the first 15 pages, otherwise the book could be a no go.
"You might as well skip the first chapter since everyone does it anyways"
- From an introduction to one of Dickens's novels
I like that. 😆
"You want me to cut back to 3 weeks ago when you were still alive?!"
~ Morty
Lowest amount of likes I’ve ever seen so far.
@@7x13mx same
This is the closest I've come to actually doing what's in these videos. It's the one that makes me the most nervous.
I know this comment will likely get buried in the algorithm but an excellent example of a beginning of a novel is the first novel in the Horus heresy.
It establishes setting, technology, philosophy, characters and so much more all in the context of a small battle. It also does some incredible foreshadowing that is normally reserved for films.
To those who know the series, the opening line is one of the most famous quotes in the series and if there was going to be a tv adaptation it would be a near demand that it open with that line
“I was there the day Horus killed the emperor”
"Inn Medyas Race"
Gah! That pronunciation is like fingernails on a chalkboard. Good job! :D
Watching this video I've come to a conclusion:
I messed up
One of the opening that he described ( the one with the zoom on the landscape) is exactly the opening of the most iconic novel of Italian literature "I promessi sposi", "the betrothed" by Alessandro Manzoni
For some reason, your accent fits the theme and presentation of this channel *flawlessly*.
These actually give good advise! The only thing you need to do is switch the good and bad things
I've got a cool line for my story. "You aren't my brother. To me, you're just another monster."
I didn't hear a change in your voice. You did great with your new equipment. Keep making amazing content, and I'm going to go binge your entire channel now. bye!
My story is not only set in 1st person but is based around an amnesia plot. How the hell am I supposed to write a physical description for the protag without making her look in the mirror in the most cliche way ever.
I once gave up on a book after about 20 pages because the author spent so much of that exposition dumping the backstories of the various characters. I am not entirely sure why I needed in depth details about how these people grew up right after they were introduced, but there is probably a better way to introduce all of that without resorting to a wall of text that took up most of the page.
I think this is the right time to mention the first line of the nevernight chronicles...
*~people often shit themselves when they die~*
I imagine that line said in the voice of Daud from dishonored
Oh my god you make me want to write so much, somehow.
In Medias Res can be useful and fun, but fights that start off with no context to the point that you have to rely on cliches in order to tell who you're supposed to be rooting for is a bad example. Fights are usually exciting because it's taking all the buildup where the stakes are high, and the hero will either win or lose (as well as possibly for the cool choreography). If we don't know what the stakes are, or who the characters and their motives, then you do not have an interesting fight unless you do something like what the Black Rock Shooter OVA did and have the background be alien as fuck, or doing something else to hype up curiosity.
I think the opening to the gunslinger is perfect
2:18 *Dat subtle Undertale praise, tho.* ♥
Dream sequence abuse sucks. Especially when ending a story with "It was all a dream."
*It'd be fuel for an "ENDING A STORY" upload in the future. You've got so much material.*
"In medias res" means "into the middle of things", but it's usually "in media res" which means "in the middle of things". It makes more sense to say starts "in" rather than "into" in this case
This guy's satire is teaching me more than my high school english teacher.
props for pronouncing in medias res correctly. youtube creators seem to have a problem with that. it's a personal pet peeve of mine.
3:43 I thought this was pronounced differently.
It's slightly more than just a few opening lines to set the tone of the work but the best introduction in modern literary has to be the first part of the Ender Saga. An entire book introducing a military hero during the last stand in a war spanning generations. A classic sci fi adventure against a unique enemy set in a world with depth and scope.
The second book in the series does away with all of that, quite literary. Without any change of style or tone it shifts from a fresh take on the sci fi hero adventure to a deeply philosophical tale of socio-political intrigue. The part that amazes me is that the sequel does this using the same characters, the same universe and timeline without retcons and doesn't feel out of place.
I'll go on record saying that it's a superior book, even as a sequel to one of the best modern sci-fi works. Amazing novels.
What I really "love", are flashbacks which are taking almost the same amount of pages as the story itself. You wouldn't believe how often it happens. I often ask myself, why not write another book as a prequel which contains all the flashbacks, so I wouldn't need to skip them, just skip the prequel all together.
holes, I'm looking at you...
I'm watching when this has 444,444 views. perfect.
-I didn't know prologues were bad considered bad (my story is a fantasy story) I actually wasn't sure where to put it...
-I think my opening line works to set the mood, idea and main character of the story...
-I was also considering a flashback, within a flashback, but even I wasn't sold on that.