A Story Writing Tips Thread

[Metaliturtle]

I was waiting for when Vel, king of my favorite civ3 strategies, would pop up on the stories forum. Write the story about rotgut, I'm intrigued

[Bugs ****ing Bunny]

Some great tips from Velo there. I'll just add that, as a contrast to the story flows and character development guidance he offers, when writing short "stand-alone" stories you needn't be afraid to "zoom in". Rather than stretch it at the seams by offering background and other details, a sudden, hard focus in sharp detail can create an image that stamps itself on the reader's cortex like a hammer blow.

I'd be wary of writing a novel-length work like that, however. It would be like getting repeatedly punched in the face.

[High Lord J]

Anticipation-Make sure you have interesting character combinations. You want the reader to really want "A" to meet "X". At the same time they can't wait for "B" to meet "Z". You want that anticipation because it makes the reader eagerly reading everything.

[History Guy]

"10% inspiration 99% dumb luck"

All I have to say is: Huh?

[Captain]

Wiser people than me have posted great hints and guidelines, but I have one more thing to add:

PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE!

Eventually, you start to pick up on your own habits and styles and become more aware of your writing. Read other people's stuff, stuff that you like, and see how they draw you in. What kind of methods/style do they use?

If what you start with sucks, keep writing. It may take 100 crappy stories before you write one that you think has potential. Better to get those crappy hundred out the way... that's what I'm trying to do anyways.

Learn from experience and mistakes, and you can only make mistakes if you try.

[Bella Hella]

i'm not an experienced writer, but personally i get annoyed when there are 50,000 characters in a story. it's like, ok, who's doing what? where did this guy come from? what's going on?!?! if you include 7 new characters in one paragraph, it's just too confusing to read. unless it's a full-length novel, i would stick to a few main characters and a couple supporting ones. i've seen quite a few stories here that just have too darn many characters in them. and plus they're always military dudes with varying titles which makes it even MORE confusing. AND they're rarely developed well. ok, end of beef. my freekin' story isn't even finished yet, so i shall now shut my pie hole.

[Grundel]

Allow me enter my 2 cents worth...

1. Practice. No matter how crappy you think your story is, just write. you would be surprised. If it sucks, write again. You will sometimes hit, and sometimes miss. That is simply the nature of the game.

2. Details. The best stories are ones where you bring your world to life. Talk about your city...its market district, leaders, what they were, how they look, where did they get that scar from, etc...

3. Take a small portion of you game, and expand it. For example, instead of writing about how you defeated the russians, focus on how you won just one battle with them. Take something that happened in only one turn, and zoom in...a city going into revolt, you successfully spying on someone, landing of colonist on an island, etc..

Above all else, just have fun with it. YOu may surprise yourself

[jdd2007]

im not that great of a writer, but i can at least point out three things i dont like in stories

first, dont give turn by turn: for example

-founded rome
-built a road
-constructed a warrior
-explored
-found village
-...

(very boring)

anyway, secondly,
stories usually are best when the main civ is not the most powerful in the world. people (me) dont want to hear about how u defeated the russians, then the iroquois, then the french...

third, umm i forgot...

[Space05us]

this should prove useful for me