How to Write Stories People W...

By Zoe_Blessing

482K 49K 18.1K

If you're a writer struggling to improve your craft, this book can help. It breaks down the basics of a good... More

1. Be Realistic
2. Write What You Enjoy
3. Find Inspiration
4. Create Relatable Characters
5. Be Authentic (plus Sensitivity Readers)
6. Add Tension
7. Read Other Books
8. Get Critiques
9. Practice Your Craft
10. Maintain Motivation
11. Deal With Fear
12. Demonstrate, Don't Explain
13. Tailor Your Descriptions
14. Recognize Can't Versus Won't
15. Ease Up On Backstory (and Prologues)
16. Kick Writer's Block
17. Create Interesting Dialogue
18. Beat Back Self-Doubt
19. Use Strong Verbs
20. Intermission
21. Carve Out Time
22. Streamline Your Sentences
23. Give Your Character a Journey
24. Read Big Magic
25. Avoid the Info-Dump
26. Break Stereotypes
27. Plan Your Story
28. Intermission 2
29. Manage Your Expectations
30. Find Your Voice - Part 1
31. Find Your Voice - Part 2
32. Rework the Beginning
33. Develop Your Characters
34. Shameless Plug
35. Continue Kicking Writers Block
36. Create Active Characters
37. Avoid Predictability
38. Follow Writers Connect
Questions?
Question 1: Writing outside the box
Question 2: Writing short stories
Question 3: Plot twists
Question 4: Keeping your story on target
Question 5: Writing a series
Question 6: Foreshadowing
Question 7: Writing faster and routines
Question 8: Pushing through to the end
Question 9: Seamlessly weaving in backstory
Question 10: Too many story ideas
Question 11: How to write a blurb
Question 12: Connecting scenes
Question 13: Creating original characters
Question 14: Descriptive writing
Question 15: When to start posting a story
Question 16: Determining chapter breaks
Question 17: Breaking cliches
Question 18: How to end a book
Question 19: Alternate universes
Question 20: Staying in character
Question 22: Conveying emotion
Question 23: Changing viewpoints
Question 24: Avoiding cardboard characters
Question 25: Fight scenes
Question 26: Filter words
Question 27: Flashbacks
Question 28: Writing about feelings you've never felt
Question 29: Avoiding the "Mary Sue"
Question 30: Making readers cry
Question 31: Avoiding a rushed plot
Question 32: Deus Ex Machina
Question 33: Making chapters longer
Question 34: Unhappy endings
Question 35: Introducing characters
Question 36: Dialogue with deaf characters
Question 37: Phone conversations
Question 38: Not sounding forced
Question 39: Avoiding repetition
Question 40: Fixing awkward scenes
Question 41: Chapter length
Question 42: Text messages
Question 43: Writing uncomfortable scenes
Question 44: Romantic scenes
Question 45: Dream sequences
Question 46: Humor
Question 47: Dialogue arguments
Intermission
Question 48: Sex scenes
Question 49: Emotions through eyes
Question 50: Stuttering characters
Question 51: Switching POV across a series
Question 52: Believable romance
Question 53: Car accidents
Question 54: Unexpected love
Question 55: Vivid visions
Question 56: Mixing in other languages and culture
Question 57: Breakups
Question 58: First person character descriptions
Question 59: Character deaths
Question 60: Writing from an unfamiliar POV
Question 61: Kissing scenes
Question 62: Nostalgic stories
Question 63: Dialogue from the Middle Ages
Question 64: Sensitive topics
Question 65: Writing pain
Question 66: Too much plot
Question 67: Characters with low self-esteem
Question 68: Is my story too long?
Question 69: Turning random ideas into a story
Question 70: Opening lines
Question 71: Accents
Question 72: Meet cutes
Question 73: Cliffhangers
Question 74: Avoiding melodrama
Question 75: Subplots
Question 76: How to edit
Question 77: Dealing with numerous characters
Question 78: Character names
Question 79: Startling the reader
Question 80: Story within a story
Question 81: Distinctive character voices
Question 82: Pacing
Question 83: Blind characters
Question 84: Writing about future technology
Question 85: Injuries
Question 86: Side characters
Question 87: Characters with negative attitudes
Question 88: Opening scenes
Question 89: Love triangles
Question 90: Insecurities about writing
Question 91: Signs of intimacy
Question 92: Introducing characters to each other
Question 93: When to be detailed or vague
Question 94: Killing off a character
Question 95: Characters in gangs
Question 96: Slow burn romance
Question 97: Arguments that end friendships
Question 98: Writing smart characters
Question 99: Making characters attractive to readers
Question 100: Future technology for sci-fi
Question 101: Animal POV
Question 102: Hijabi characters
Question 103: Second chance love
Question 104: Autistic characters
Question 105: Writing Villains

Question 21: Narrating dialogue

1.8K 198 63
By Zoe_Blessing

thismomentisyours asks: Can you write about narrating dialogue? Things like, "he said" or "she nodded" or just describing actions.

Narrating dialogue can be tricky because it's easy to become repetitive or annoying. There's nothing wrong with "he said" and "she said", but when that's all there is, the repetition stands out. And not in a good way.

When narrating dialogue, your goal should be to make it feel like natural, uninterrupted flow. Anything that confuses, annoys, or slows down a reader should be minimized if possible. Like these:

1. Big words - Don't get me wrong. I'm a big fan of complex vocabulary, and I love learning new words. But the word needs to fit the occasion. If you're going to talk about "pulchritudinous splendor", make sure the character using this phrase would actually say such a thing when describing something.

2. Excessive dialogue tags - "He asked" is a dialogue tag. So is "she said", "Sally quipped", and "the man roared." Every line in the dialogue does not need to have one. Their purpose is to eliminate confusion. Use them anytime it's unclear who's speaking, but don't underestimate the intelligence of your reader. When only two people are talking, you can get away with no tags at all for expanses of dialogue. This makes for a snappier conversation. Just pop one in every now and then to remind the reader who's turn it is to speak. Like this:

"What do you mean I'm off the team?" Jane asked the captain.

"The team had a vote."

"About me?"

"Yes."

"What did I do?"

"It's more about what you didn't do."

Jane sighed. "And what did I not do?"

"Play like you're on a team."

3. Not enough actions - Many of the dialogue tags can be replaced with actions. This does double duty of preventing excessive tags, as well as giving the reader a better idea of what the scene looks like in their imaginations. Example:

Danny stomped ahead, steam practically puffing out of his hears as he dragged his little brother along by the hand.

Jane ran up to him. "Danny, wait! Don't be mad."

He whirled around. "Why shouldn't I be mad? You just insulted my brother."

"I didn't mean to."

"She didn't mean to," Elton echoed before sticking a thumb into his mouth.

Danny ignored him. "But you shouldn't have said those things."

"I know."

"Then why did you?"

Elton tugged on his brother's hand. "Hungry."

Jane looked at the little boy. "I'm sorry, Elton."

His little face lit up. "French fries?"

---

In this way, it feels like an actual scene rather than some heads talking.

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