renegadepoint
Lieutenant
Lets all take a step back from the weird alien impaling devices...
Posts: 188
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Post by renegadepoint on Dec 18, 2010 4:25:18 GMT 1
Ok, theres this Mass Effect fanfic I've been rolling around in my head for a while. Problem is, last time I did any creative writing I was in High School. So uh, is there like a website or something with lessons or tips or whatever? I just don't want to cobble together some incoherent pile of words. I hope this is the right place to post this.
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Post by Battlechantress on Dec 18, 2010 5:05:27 GMT 1
I wrote this back in August (it has writer development links and a few books in the list, further down): masseffectfanfic.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=books&action=display&thread=703I also link to Tillian's list of resources in that post. I should add: E.B. Strunk and White's "Elements of Style" (skip the illustrated version, you don't need it) if you're worried about grammar. I know I had more links saved, but I upgraded to Windows 7 so I haven't found them yet. The only other advice I can offer is to just write every day, even if you only have time to write down a grocery list.
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Post by jklinders on Dec 18, 2010 5:35:21 GMT 1
Hmm I should probably look those over too. Especially if I pick up my writing stick again during my...ahem, involuntary downtime.
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Post by Knightfall on Dec 19, 2010 0:45:41 GMT 1
Tillian and Chantress put together a fantastic list of resources. The only thing I recommend is to: A) Just start writing and see what happens, or B) Check out one of the Mass Effect novels and read some of it to see how actions, the tech, or the history is relayed. Sometimes you can read a book and one line in there will give you some great idea. I would recommend ME: Retribution, if anything. From what I've read, it appears to be more solid than the others. xD
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Post by Battlechantress on Dec 19, 2010 18:14:02 GMT 1
I updated the list slightly to include Card's book and "The Elements of Style" today.
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Post by Mister Buch on Dec 20, 2010 0:53:08 GMT 1
Tillian's list is well-worth checking out.
I remember writing my first (prose) fic, which was the first piece of writing I had written since school. It was very daunting.
Here's what I did, and what I do, with fanfic.
1) Research - namely the Mass Effect wikipedia page or the in-game codexes. Read all about the setting / characters / species etc. which you want to have appear.
2) I make a loose plan - a paragraph or two, then over a day or two make it into bullet points - couple of sentences per chapter or something like that. Now I know Knightfall, for example, likes the make up the plot as he goes, and that seems to work brilliantly for him.
3) Then I write a million versions of the first chapter until I like the style, the characters, etc. The first chapter is all-important for the reader but also for the writer. You need to get 'into' the story, work out how the characters behave and interact, and how you as the narrator like to describe things.
4) Then get stuck in with the rest of it. Have that wiki page up all the time, to check for details and neat little references to put in.
---
And that's the end of my smarmy, self-important guide.
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Post by Knightfall on Dec 20, 2010 7:35:39 GMT 1
^^ Agreed! Every word of it!
For the most part, yeah, I make stuff up as I go along, but sometimes I leave myself little notes concerning what I want to have happen later on. Here are pretty much all my notes for All Along the Watchtower:
-Kaidan gets exiled up to the cockpit with Joker, L2 segregation
-On a mission, get attacked by turian rogues
-Go to Palaven to get briefed on the matter
-SSV Shiloh
-End the story with Kaidan and Joker sitting in the cockpit. Shepard comes in to check on their progress.
Not really detailed, not really an outline, just little ideas. xD
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Post by Mister Buch on Dec 20, 2010 13:25:46 GMT 1
Wheras my plan for that same story (we co-wrote it) was two pages long! But it would change frequently as I write (espescially the later chapters.)
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renegadepoint
Lieutenant
Lets all take a step back from the weird alien impaling devices...
Posts: 188
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Post by renegadepoint on Dec 21, 2010 5:07:37 GMT 1
Yeah the first paragraph is where I kept getting stuck. But this really helped, thanks a lot. Now for the hard part, finding the time to do it. >>snipped|| I would recommend ME: Retribution, if anything. From what I've read, it appears to be more solid than the others. xD I bought it but I haven't got around to reading it yet.
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Post by Mister Buch on Dec 24, 2010 1:42:59 GMT 1
Now for the hard part, finding the time to do it. That is definitely the hard part, I agree. The real trouble is, once you get 'into' it, you want to keep writing it all the time until it's done. So you have to make sure you have time ahead of you.
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Post by Spaced20 on Feb 4, 2011 14:08:02 GMT 1
Now for the hard part, finding the time to do it. That is definitely the hard part, I agree. The real trouble is, once you get 'into' it, you want to keep writing it all the time until it's done. So you have to make sure you have time ahead of you. Finding the time is a nightmare. Espically if youve got a fall time job and friends and all that. (friends are important, kids) And i do remember spending three hous reseaching if Omni tools can be used as phones.
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Post by Mister Buch on Feb 4, 2011 16:09:54 GMT 1
Fr....iends?
You mean like party members, Facebook contacts, books, that kind of thing?
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Post by Spaced20 on Feb 4, 2011 16:56:32 GMT 1
Fr....iends? You mean like party members, Facebook contacts, books, that kind of thing? I was talkin about my friend on animal crossing. he's a penguin..... .... i dont know why i feel so alone.
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