WritingAlliance

Accepting Criticism:

          1. Accept that there will always be people who won’t like your  writing.

1. No one person is the same and so not everyone shares the same tastes as you. Someone who hates your preferred genre of writing is probably not the best source of constructive criticism and so move onto someone who can offer relevant and informative advice. There’s always going to be that one negative person who will blindly criticise everything you do, without offering any motivation or notes as to what has been done well. 

   2. Don’t seek out criticism unless you are prepared to hear it.

   Writing can become extremely personal and mean a lot to you - and so to listen to anyone tell you they don’t like a part of it can really hurt as it feels like they don’t like a part of you too. Perhaps first show a group of close friends who can offer basic reader advice (ie. I enjoy it or I don’t enjoy it). Then when you’ve built up your confidence, move on to those who can offer real writer evaluation, which can sometimes sting a little more.

   3. Try not to finalise the novel in your mind.

   You may redraft and redraft endlessly until you believe you’re finished but to submit that one statement as being valid in your mind, “Yes, I have finished” leads you to less courteously accept criticism. If everyone who reads a certain chapter of your work finds it boring, then you may have to redraft yet again, so never feel an obligation to impress the people around you by announcing the finalisation of your baby. 

   4. The most important one: Be objective.

   This applies to both giving and receiving advice. Evaluate each      point they’ve given you objectively (ie. Actually, I can see how this could be misunderstood - maybe I should try changing bla bla bla…etc.) Give everyone’s advice equal consideration before implementing or discarding it and this way - you’ll get a large range of responses to compare amongst. Value honesty and try to sway away from those who don’t read a lot and so may be more likely to shower you with praise and rainbows, as these people are more likely to be wanting to please you. Never forget, ultimately - that the work is yours. Even the best critic can be wrong (Stephen King’s english teachers told him he couldn’t write) so despite objectively taking on the suggestions of others - never give others’ opinions more weight than your own.

Setting vs. Characters

It’s entirely up to personal preference really and what works best for you. 

There’s no reason you couldn’t work on both at the same time, but maintain the knowledge that both will heavily influence/change each other when you put them together. 

I personally, prefer to build an outline of the setting first so that the place has a history, a certain kind of population and set of social values. Particularly in a fantasy/sci-fi story, if you have lots of futuristic technologies or mythical creatures - I’d recommend writing these into your story first as they are what makes the background for your story. 

In terms of where your characters live or work or hang out - these locations may be written after you’ve done some work on who your characters are. But to write the basis of your location first and then add the characters in - makes it much easier for you to just simply write how they would respond to the location. For example, if one of your characters is a gloomy, pessimistic old man - it’s unlikely that they would choose to live in a forest of fairies. 

So my personal advice would be to build the setting first: what kind of environment is it, languages spoken, atmosphere, weather, creatures living there, kinds of technologies, etc. - and then add the characters in and create more specific locations tailored to their participation in the story :)

Accepting any writing questions!

Over the next couple of days, I’ll be returning to my inbox to answer any questions or advice people may want for writing!

If you’d like your answer to be private, just specify so at the bottom of the message :) 

cherrypainted asked: Essay tips? Argumentative in particular...

Presuming your essay is regarding some form of controversial issue/topic then I could suggest a bunch of tips to help you along the way :) Please bare in mind though that I’m not a teacher so this is just my thoughts in considering writing something argumentative.

- The main, key piece of advice which ANY source would tell you, is to make sure you include both sides of the argument. Before you decide which side you support, thoroughly research and find points for each. If you went about researching a topic, already having your own strong stance on the subject, then you’re likely to unintentionally be biased about finding good evidence for it. You can’t just be interested in a topic and choose to support it - you need good, solid logical evidence or your argument will fall through.

- Secondly, in order to provide good evidence for your side, you need to examine all the possible evidence for the other side first. Imagine you have to write supportively for that side instead and come up with the best possible argument and list of points that you can. That way, you cannot be challenged or unprepared. You can find counters to this argument and see where your side makes them inferior. Be fair though. If they have a good point and you can’t find an argument against it, don’t just not include it or argue for argument’s sake with no logic to support your claim. Mention the point and write how the challenging side does have a good point in saying it. You could always then continue to mention a different point of your own though and how it is far more important and so cancels the other out.

- In the introduction, briefly explain an overview of your topic objectively, outlining both sides of the argument and the controversy surrounding them. Then at the bottom, perhaps include a short statement to say how after researching and evaluating the available arguments for both sides, which side you have found yourself routing for. This then creates a nice transition into the main body of your essay where you can explain why you think this.

- In the body of the essay, go into detail about the argument from both sides, listing points for and against. You should make a point, back it up with evidence, analyse it’s impact and where possible, cross reference with whether there is a specific counter argument against it. Try not to simply make a long list of points for and then a long list of points against. It’s dull to read and doesn’t really compare the two sides, it simply states their existence. Make sure to compare and then say where you agree or disagree.

- Include a range of evidence too. When possible, don’t just say, ‘Some scientists have suggested..’ but instead if the evidence is available, give an example of a specific study or expert quote. Include statistics, anecdotal stories, reports and studies. Don’t just say your opinion, but include others too and say why you think so many people may support one side.

Final little tips: Avoid subjective, emotional language such as ridiculing the opposing side or ignoring a point because you disagree with it. Make a list of the sources you have used and be sure to include them in a bibliography or at least make a note of them, in case you need them again. Hope this has helped you in some way! If you’re ever stuck of thinking up a counter argument, you could always try roleplaying it with a friend or family member. Mention the point to them and observe for their reaction, whether they can point out something that seems obvious but you might have overlooked.

Best of luck! :)

Anonymous asked: So um about location, I have a question about distance: I dont really know how far the towns and such are from each other and I dont really know how long the travel would take for my characters since they have to walk basically everywhere?

Presuming your towns are all in the same country then you can work from there. If they’re supposed to be entirely different land however, then you’d need to consider other travelling methods.

Unless it’s key to your plot, I wouldn’t worry too much. There’s all sorts of transitions you can make between the time it takes for a character to depart and then arrive in a town without writing about the journey. For instance, you could simply put: “Jake set off for his journey…bla bla bla…..When he arrived-” and just continue on from there without ever detailing how long it took.

However, presuming the reason you asked the question was because it IS key to your story, then there is a bunch of stuff you could try. First of all, determine the general size of your country. Somewhere massive like the US, you could already assume that travelling anywhere would take a decent amount of time. If all your towns are coastal/beaches then this could potentially also take longer if they are on opposite sides of the country. If one town is situated in a mountainous area, it’s less likely to be right besides the coast and so likely to be further away from any towns there. 

One thing you could try (even if you’re a dreadfully poor artist like me) is to get a big piece of paper and detail where you’d like towns to be. Even just drawing a simple house outline and putting the name of a town. Then you can establish how far away things are from each other. If you’re basing your story off of real-life you could even try the travelling yourself? See how long it takes you to get from one town to another.

I’m going to try and cut this post a little shorter so I’ll shut up in a second. I do have a couple of notes of advice though. Firstly, seen as your characters are walking, consider their fitness level. A great big, muscle man is likely to cover more distance than someone who rarely exercises. Also take into account the luggage weighing them down and whether they’d be stopping at inns or other towns along the way to their final destination, in order to rest. They may need to stop for food as well. Hope this covers enough for you! If not, feel free to message again :)

If anyone has any questions regarding writing/help, feel free to send a message!

We can answer privately if you prefer :)

Anonymous asked: I prefer writing my stories set in a fictional city. The city is fleshed out and realistic, but there's just one thing. I don't know /where/ my cities are. Where in the world is there a place for a completely fictional city that's just as civilized and advanced as the rest around it. It needs to seem like it belongs wherever it is, like it was built around the same time already established cities were. But how do you actually go about this?

Firstly, I’d recommend starting by writing yourself a good detailed description of everything in the city but not just how it looks - the feel of it. What are the people like: what language do they speak; are they busy or is it a very laid-back type of place? What kind of architecture are you looking to use in your city (eg. tall skyscrapers or a much smaller, less industry based city).  What kind of buildings are you going to include? (eg. churches, hospitals, factories). Who runs the city and the general major corporations within it (eg. large fashion industry/sports).

Hopefully the language, style of buildings and religion should be 3 major clues as to where you could base your city. For instance, it would be slightly out of place to base a city who speak mainly Italian in somewhere like Scotland. If you’re featuring a Christian church in your city, it obviously must be somewhere where Christianity is a practised religion. 

You should find doing a lot of research on these types of things can help suggest locations for you to investigate. Considering your city is fictional, is there any particularly prominent feature of it which could help identify it? For example, if you are looking to build a space-age type city with far advanced power sources and gadgets, then look for cities who are particularly advanced in technology, so your city will blend in. You may not even want your city to blend in at all though remember - it could always be a secret location that only some know how to find, or you may not even need to include where your city is based in the story. 

Example: My city contains mainly Gothic architecture from somewhere around the 16th Century, with lots of wide open streets and alleyways and few people who walk among them. There is no known practised religion but the people, when spoken to, respond in French. - I’d now start researching places where French is widely spoken (not just France itself) with lots of Gothic architectural style.

This is only one way to go about it. Just try many search variations on ‘countries with ___’ and then research some of these countries to see if any fit what you are looking for. Hope this helped! Best of luck.

Anonymous asked: I had paired two of my characters to be in a relationship together but now I've written loads and I think one of them may be better suited to someone else, what should I do?

Could this not be a key aspect of your plot? Your characters will develop as well as the story itself and so you may frequently find changes to your original plans, but you could always try using this to your advantage. Try starting off with the two original characters being together as you had planned, until the third is introduced and this creates a conflict. You can then just write on from there and see where it leads! The whole writing process is about development, you should never set your plans in stone, always make room for adjustment and improvement.

If you don’t like the idea of including this naturally occurring conflict as part of the actual story, then rewriting is always still an option. It happens to writers all the time and whilst it’s usually distressing to have to change all your hard work, you may find you like the new outcome better. You could always keep a copy of your original work to revert back to if you don’t like the new change, or you could even incorporate parts of both.

Try writing a few short scenes with the characters you think may work better together and actually put them in different situations to see whether this is true or not. Test out different options and just see which one you like best for your story. Never worry about changing your story when situations like this occur, it happens to all writers and it’s just part of the process so try to enjoy the depth it could potentially add to your characters. Best of Luck!

Alternate Location Writing:

Some Tips for trying to achieve the right mood/feel of a certain location, even if you’ve never been there:

• 1. First and foremost, research the location. If you want one of your characters to visit a holiday destination where you’ve never been, make sure to thoroughly investigate this location

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If anyone has any questions or tips for development in writing, send them to the ask-box and all questions will be answered later! :)