4 Quick Tips For Your Writing!
I'm no expert but I do have a few things that always help a mjaor deal whenever I post a story on here! Check 'em out.
- Always make sure your title is properly capitolized, spelled, and punctuated. This can throw people off quicker than anything. I speak for myself included. If I see a title that has bad spelling or capitolizing, I won't even look at the description. Short titles are best.
- Tag your story appropriately. This was something I actually told Korey to do whenever we first started talking. While AFF has highlight links for "original character" and other things of the sort, I don't normally use them. I tag my genre(s) and my main idol(s), and their group(s). I don't go all into #OC #SehunxOC #EXOSEHUN and I also don't tag secondary characters. So if I have a fantasy fic about Sehun and an OC and Chanyeol is a side character but has absolutely no romantic interest or huge role to the story, my tags look like this: "#fantasy #sehun #romance #werewolf #angst#" just according to all of the absolute main points of the story. The reason I don't tag side characters is because someone looking for fantasy Chanyeol story may come upon my theoretical Sehun fantasy story and click it and read it thinking Chanyeol is the main interest and end of sorely disappointed. Trust me, I do this
with Sehun stories. Just don't tag a side character if they have no major points to the love line or plot.
- Give your readers more than a few lines. I know it probably sounds and feels like a hassle, but try to set a standard minimum and maximum of word counts for your chapters. Sometimes I find a good story and the author puts up a 500+ word story every few weeks and it just doesn't make me want more. Yes, I know: quality over qauntity but that ain't always the case. If you write a 500 word chapter, you can barely fit in half of what needs to be done in one chapter. For me, that would be a couple paragraphs, maybe 2 lines of dialogue. It wouldn't be anything. My readers would be left hanging constantly. By the time you actually got into the chapter, it would be over. When a story is so short winded like that, it feels choppy and boring. A cheap shot. You're left unsatisfied and wondering what could've been if maybe that last chapter had been longer.
I try to reach a minimum of 2000 words and a maximum of 4000. Anything over 4000 starts to feel draggy and you get a little bored without a break in between. I'd just rather write 2000 words in two weeks than put up a 500 word chapter every couple of days.
- Writer's block? Don't fret. Take a break. Watch some old movies you've seen a thousand times. Read an old favorite fic. Read some poetry. Then sit down, grab your computer, and tell yourself to write at least 300 words. Force yourself to write 300 words if that is all you write and quit. If you reach 300 and still feel good, push for 500. Even if you don't get very far in plot, you automatically make yourself feel better because you wrote something! And if you only get 300, then hey! In a week, you'll have what I call a pretty lengthy chapter. A week may sound so long but that's pretty good progress, my friend.
I'm not kidding about doing those things I listed though. By relaxing your brain and watching or reading familiar things, you get your creativity flowing and possibly bring back old ideas you once forgot you had. Another sure fire way of helping is to not think about it. Just write. Don't think about the plot or future chapters. Forget it all and write what you're thinking in that moment.
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