Writing Skills on AFF

Hey Peeps,
I recently embarked on my writing journey and am trying to improve my skills. I've noticed that this site has a lot of great stories and a lot of not so great stories.

Any writing tips?
What do authors do that make their stories better?
What do authors do that make their stories fall short?
Can anyone recommend some stories that have great writing?

Thanks!

Edit:
I've recently become obsessed with becoming a better writer.So I made a story to help myself and others improve in writing. Mainly, I am will be going to post pieces and snippets of writing that I wrote and breaking it down. But it can also head in other directions such as writing tips and whatnot. I'd be happy to look at anyone's piece and offer feedback, and I'd love it if other people would give their criticisms to my writing and editing so that I may improve. Hope you join me on my journey.

Link: https://www.asianfanfics.com/story/view/1409772/writing-improvement-editing-reviewing-tips-breakdown
asdgfh 5 years ago
@MissMinew Thanks for the advice and recommendations. It was helpful to know what pitfalls to avoid!
[deleted]
MissMinew 5 years ago
I'm super late but I've been on hiatus for a long time. ;; I agree with KwonJiyongsWaifu that research is essential. Nothing is worse than reading a fic and being able to point out the flaws in it. (This is, of course, individual but personally, I'm super picky with e.g. medical au's because I work in a hospital and has that knowledge). So a bit of basic knowledge around the topic you're writing is great. Also - logic. Logic is so important, even in fantasy universes. It doesn't matter WHAT your world rules are as long as they're logical and true to the entire story. If one character suddenly denies all previous established world rules it just ... nah. Don't do that.

I do disagree a little with details, though. Details are great when applied the right place but you can have too many details and too many details make a story boring and difficult to read. Pick and choose which details are important and let your readers imagine the rest. So - a good balance here, really.

Other than that, trial and error. Write, write and write some more. Practice makes perfect. Your story plot doesn't have to be super detailed either, not in my opinion at least. A great story can be a super simple cute plot.

Recs of well-written stories:

https://archiveofourown.org/works/9265094
https://archiveofourown.org/works/4388291/chapters/9961724
https://archiveofourown.org/works/14477088 (also a sweet fic without a super detailed plot, i love it)
https://archiveofourown.org/works/9593855/chapters/21683648
https://archiveofourown.org/works/9805457/chapters/22018916
https://archiveofourown.org/works/14435862
https://thesockmonster.livejournal.com/56130.html

I shall stop now.
asdgfh 5 years ago
@alexisdavis Thanks for the recommendation!
asdgfh 5 years ago
@KwonJiyongsWaifu Thanks for the advice. I'll definitely try to apply in my writing.
jjongshoe 5 years ago
Personally as an author, I prefer to use imagery. If it’s easier for the readers to picture everything that’s happening, they’ll tend to notice the details in the story. You can never go wrong with using details, though it would make the sentence longer than you assumed.

Another thing is a bit of research on the topic. This applies to themes such as clairvoyance, or using an ouija board (something I’m working on now)
That would bring in some kind of authenticity to your story.

I personally feel that the grammar is also pretty important but if English isn’t the first language of the author, I just let it slide. The basic idea should be good. These days, there are a lot of plot ideas that seem quite repetitive but at the end of the day, it’s your story and you are the one who controls how it goes.
alexisdavis 5 years ago
It's my favorite on the site because of how well it's written. Great pacing, beautiful dialogue, really simple, easy-to-read prose.
alexisdavis 5 years ago
I recommend checking out this story: https://www.asianfanfics.com/story/view/930582
[deleted]