How to Write Stories People W...

By Zoe_Blessing

483K 49.1K 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 21: Narrating dialogue
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 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 55: Vivid visions

1.2K 115 37
By Zoe_Blessing

SpinyKyverna asks: Maybe you could write about how a character experiences vivid visions, like a Force vision?

Visions can be treated a lot like a dream sequence (See Question 45: Dream sequences.) But since we are making a distinction here, I'm going to assume it's not the kind of vision that appears in a dream, when one is sleeping. We're talking about a scene, possibly a prediction, that the character sees while still awake.

Because the character is conscious, they are able to tune into how they feel during this vision. Like watching a movie. It could look something like this:

---

I blinked, but my dead father was still there--not dead--outside our old house. He was as I remembered him from when I was little. Broad shoulders, quick movements. My heart ached to hug him one more time, and I reached out to him.

He didn't see me. He kept looking over his shoulder like he expected someone to come after him. He clutched a metal box in his hands.

"Daddy, what is that?" I whispered. I didn't recall ever seeing him like this, or that box either. This wasn't a memory. What was I seeing?

He didn't answer, and instead mumbled to himself, "Those bastards are not going to get their grimy hands on this." After prying off a loose board from the side of the front steps, he slipped the box into the hole, replaced the board, and pulled a hammer from his back pocket.

I watched as he secured the board into place with fresh nails. Did Mom know about this? We'd sold the house ages ago. Was that box still in there?

As the vision faded and I was once again in my living room, I sat back and realized one thing: I had to go retrieve that box.

---

I think the difference between visions and dreams can be seen like this: With a dream, the reader watches the same "movie" as the character does. Maybe the character interacts with the dream since they are in it. But with a vision, the reader watches the character watching the "movie". The character is aware they are not asleep, and might be confused by it. I would imagine that, if the character was in the vision, they would be watching themselves like it was a home movie, and not actually feel like they were part of the vision.

Hopefully I didn't confuse you. :)

Continue Reading

You'll Also Like

101K 3.8K 62
I will no longer be updating this guide. I'm leaving it up in case it will continue to be helpful to anyone in the future. People have asked me writi...
43.4K 1.6K 124
Writing is hard. Being a writer is even harder. But with "Writing 4 Writers," you CAN become a better writer. Every time I sit down to write, I refer...
5.6K 449 34
[New chapter posted every Friday] Would you like to learn how to draw your readers in with your blurb and your opening lines so that they feel they h...
93.8K 5.6K 15
Your book sucks. There, I said what nobody else has the guts to tell you. But it doesn't have to. Let's you and I take a look at why your book sucks...