Giuocob's Comprehensive Guide to Story Writing

[giuocob]

Hey there, everybody! I am giuocob, your friendly neighborhood writer. I’ve been writing short stories and novels since before most of your grandparents were born, and I’d like to take the opportunity to share a piece of my infinite wisdom with my writing brethren. More seriously: I have some experience with novel writing, and I decided to write up an obnoxiously long guide on the subject to help out anyone who is relatively new to or inexperienced in this field. So sit back, grab a soda, and get ready to tl;dr!

Before I begin, a word about novel writing in general: it is far and away the most difficult and most rewarding type of creative writing. A novel writer needs all the literary and poetic skills that any other writer needs, but needs a great deal of determination and perseverance to push through writing an entire novel. There are many frustrating moments in the process, such as searching for exactly the right words to portray a deeply emotional scene, or trying to work out all the subtle kinks in an intricate plot. Writers’ block is a very real thing, and you are certain to face several outbreaks if you plan to write a full-length novel. Yet you’ll certainly get all the help and encouragement you need from the KHInsider Fanfiction community, and with a little perseverance on your part, you’ll make it through to the last page. Believe me, there is nothing more satisfying than scrolling through 100+ pages of literature and thinking to yourself, “Wow…I wrote this!”

One more thing: there is one thing you need to keep in mind and strictly follow at all times: GRAMMAR! If you only take one thing away from reading this guide, let this be it. There is no font big enough to emphasize how important it is that you do your very best to use good grammar while writing. The difference in enjoyment between reading a well-written story and reading one that is sloppily thrown together with poor grammar is immeasurable. If you create a beautiful plot, yet illustrate it with sloppy grammar, everybody will think it’s crap. I seem to be rambling on, so…just use good grammar, alright? Oh yeah, and when posting online, put a double line break in between paragraphs instead of indenting. It makes it a lot easier to read.

Phew. Now that I’ve got all that out of the way, let’s get the guide underway! First, prewriting. Yes, you have to do a little preliminary work before you’re ready to write! You have two main accomplishments here:

1. Plot. You should have at least a basic idea of what’s going to happen in your story, from beginning to end. Some people disregard this step and just start writing with only an extremely vague idea of what’s going to happen. In my experience, this usually leads to a tangled disaster. Make a small chronological diagram of your novel, including crucial moments and significant turning points in the plot. If you want, you could write a really detailed outline that includes all the scenes and serves as a rigid framework, but I like to allow myself a little bit of leeway for sparks of creativity that don’t come to me during the prewriting.

2. Characters. A good novel relies as much on the strength of its characters as on the effectiveness of its plot. Creating characters is much more than thinking up a name and drawing a picture. Every one of your characters needs to have its own unique personality that fits its purpose in the plot. Ask yourself questions about each character. What is his/her background and history? Is he/she quiet and timid or outspoken and temperamental? If he/she went to school, what kind of grades would he/she get? Who does he/she care for, why does he/she care for them, and what would he/she be willing to do for them? I strongly suggest writing all this out for later reference and to cement it into your mind. I’ll go more into characters a little later on.


Once you’ve got your plot and characters down, open up a new Word/OpenOffice document and start writing that story! The first chapter is always the hardest, since you don’t have anything to build off of like you do in all later chapters. One mistake a lot of writers make is to thrust the story off into hardcore plot from the get-go and leave the readers in the dark. Spend some time to introduce and describe the main character, and any important secondary characters, even if you’re writing a fanfiction and are using prewritten characters. Don’t worry, you won’t bore your readers with a couple chapters of character and background description. It will make the actual story infinitely more enjoyable when the readers know what’s going on.

An important thing to keep in mind is style. Every author has their own unique style, and unfortunately, I can’t make one for you; it will only come with experience. If this is your first story, don’t worry, things will gradually fall into place as you write. I can, however, give you a few pointers on how to develop your style and make your writing more interesting:

1. Vocabulary and word choice. The best novel writers have an extensive vocabulary, and will make good use of it as they write. There is a phenomenal difference in effect between the sentences ‘Sora was sad’ and ‘Sora was utterly devastated.’ These little word changes can do worlds of good in bringing your story to life. Also, try to avoid using the same word over and over again, as it gets very repetitive and can destroy any effect you try to create. If it helps you, consult a thesaurus to find synonyms for words that you tend to use frequently.

2. Sentence structure. Read the short paragraph below:

Brian was infuriated. He wondered aloud, ‘how could she do this to me?’ He seemed to be unable to control his rash impulses, and he angrily threw a large rock as hard as he could into the distant forest. Then he began to stamp around. He murmured unspeakable profanities under his breath about the woman who had betrayed him.

Not a bad paragraph. It uses good grammar and a decent vocabulary, yet seems to ramble somewhat. Here is a second version:

‘How could she do this to me?’ Brian wondered aloud. He was infuriated. Unable to control his rash impulses, he angrily threw a large rock as hard as he could into the distant forest. Then he began to stamp around, murmuring unspeakable profanities under his breath about the woman who had betrayed him.

This paragraph flows right off the tongue, unlike its bumpy predecessor. Varying sentence structure makes reading a passage much more enjoyable. It is extremely helpful to read every paragraph you write aloud to make sure you don’t unintentionally repeat the same type of sentence over and over again.

3. Description. This is a very fine line to walk. You definitely want to include vivid adjectives, sentences, or even paragraphs in your writing to describe how a character is feeling or what a new setting physically looks like. This makes it much easier for the reader to imagine what is happening. You don’t, however, want to do what people like Charlotte Bronte do and take this to extremes, excessively describing everything and detracting from the excitement of the plot. You’ll have to decide for yourself exactly how much description is appropriate.

4. Figurative language. This is a very advanced and difficult technique generally used by more experienced writers. Use of simile, metaphor, personification, and other such figurative language, if done correctly, can add wonderful effect to a piece of writing, whether it be poetry, prose, or novel. It’s not easy to effectively use these, but if you want to slip a couple of metaphors into your work, I’d say go for it!

5. Emotion. Exciting battle sequences are lots of fun to read, but if you have nothing but those in your story, it becomes disjointed. Make sure you take paragraphs to touch up on how your main characters are feeling. This is where you can really show your mettle as an author, as it is singly the most difficult part of novel writing. To make these sections effective, you need to draw on your poetic side, choosing adjectives that really accurately and beautifully describe the emotions of your character. Try to make the reader feel whatever the person is feeling; if you can successfully make a person sad or even make them cry with your writing, then well done! GuardianOfHearts wrote an excellent guide on how to incorporate emotion, and I strongly suggest reading it if you want help in this area.


Now, an important note about personality. As you wander down the exciting hallways of your plot, it’s all too easy to forget about those character sketches you made at the beginning and use your characters in ways that violate their personality. A shy and timid high school student who, without warning, turns into a dashing hero battling Heartless is not consistent. Remember this: your characters, even though you made them, are NOT marionettes. You gave them a personality, and they need to stick to that personality, no matter what the plot says. Changes in personality are definitely possible, but they need to happen over time and have a reason behind them. Think of your novel as creating characters, putting them in a shoebox, and watching them run around. Remember, they have a mind of their own.

At the end of every chapter, always remember to go back and read over everything you’ve just written, or even read it to yourself. You can’t easily pick up small grammatical mistakes or obnoxious word repetitions while you’re in the heat of writing, but they’ll flash out at you while you’re reading it. Catching these little things really helps your fiction, and saves you the embarrassment of nitpicks like me pointing them out for you. (Trust me, I WILL.)

At some point, after days, weeks, and months of grueling writing, you may find yourself at the end of your story. At that point, I can only offer you my hearty congratulations. Writing a 30k word novel is an extraordinary achievement that demonstrates remarkable perseverance. (I myself have only gotten through to the end twice.) All I can suggest is that you be sure to properly close off your plot, as well as any subplots you may have created. And typing the last period at the end of the last sentence of the last chapter is more exciting and satisfying than…no, actually, I won’t go there.

And that brings me to the end of this guide. You have already demonstrated an iron will if you forced yourself to read through the entire thing. Good luck, and happy writing!



If anyone sees an error with this or wants me to add something, I command you to post here and tell me about it. I hope it helps some people out.

[All-Star Gamer]

Not bad. Not bad at all. But in your second sentence structure paragrahg example, wouldn't be better to start with the qouted dialog?

[Xuan]

Also add that without a plot, one could easily forget characters and scenes one had created (Often people had to read through their own story all over again because they've forgotten about their own story or character, happens always no joke).

BUT, if you're very good and clever and in other words a genius, you could skip the plot thinking and go straight into the writings with vague ideas. This gives opportunites to bigger imaginations and felt less stuck in a tight corner with little to write, also with other additional twist and confusing lines that will WOW the readers. (Note again: You have to be very good or clever or genius to do this, cause it's absolutely harder than it looks. Normal writers just stick to the plot planning)

[giuocob]

Originally Posted by Allstargamer

Not bad. Not bad at all. But in your second sentence structure paragrahg example, wouldn't be better to start with the qouted dialog?

Ah, I suppose so. I'll take that tip.

[All-Star Gamer]

No problem. I just thought it looked off is all.

[AngelofDestiny]

Good tips and pointers here and there, this should be stickied for all to see.

[TheLastKnight]

It's pretty nice, but I have a few words to say to everyone else, to add on to it:

Take an english/reading class. We're learning to use more complicated things in my adv. English 9.
Oh yeah, and if you have to take english, or you should anyways, take it to the adv level... You learn a hell of alot more

[Haku]

I think that this is a great guide for those thinking about making a fan fic and even people who already have them to help themselves get more oriented about how to use certain ideas, and to follow strict guidelines like grammar, diction, and their overall performance in becoming a better writer.