Opinions: new story?

[Fire Opal]

For the first time, I have completed a full story! It's 10 or so pages long, and I am quite pleased with it. But now that I have that finished, I'm thinking about making a whole new story! I'm going to experiment and go in a totally different direction from my last story: animal fantasy (at least, that's the plan!).

Now for why you're here. I want some advice from the players on SBF. What do you like in a story? What do you hate? Is there any genre in particular that you're interested in, and why? I'd love to hear your opinions, and these will hopefully help me in where I want to take this new story.

P.S., I did debate over which board this topic should go in, but I decided on Chicken Chatter because I'm asking for the public's opinion.

[*~Trent~*]

i Hate when Characters seem perfect. on shows like iCarly, carly is pretty, popular, boys love her, has good grades, has a nice webshow and all that nice other stuff. it really bugs me.
Also, when the story just DRAGS on. books like Warriors [cats] is on the 4 series, each series has 6 books. each book is pretty much a new generation. [but series 3/4 are the same generation] i just want it to end nicely.
Too much and too little detail is annoying. i want to be able to picture the character in my head. and dont jsut overflow one page about a character. just slightly incorporate things. "Jenny brushed back her brown hair" "Jenny nervously smoother the wrinkles on her pink tank top" "Jenny pulled up her pants awkwardly" and other stuff.
also, too much and too little dialogue kills the book. if the whole book is dialoge, you get bored and drop it.

i love a good amount of action, struggle, and character flaws. =]

hope this helps a bit.

and post your story! [or did you in another section?]

[Fire Opal]

I totally agree with you about character perfection. I am much more entertained to see characters struggle with imperfection than strut about without a care in the world.

Too much detail is something that I struggle with personally. I've had others read my story, and they say they like the writing style, but I sometimes worry that I will bore people with my descriptions! Maybe I've found a good balance, though.

Dialogue is something I haven't really done much... Because I generally write from an animal's perspective, I don't get to use it often. I agree with your opinions, though, and hopefully I will not have such problems.

Altogether, I agree with you, and I do appreciate your advice. My completed story was posted in the Stories section, but only the first two "chapters". I was hesitant to go beyond that because the following writing contained some violence. Nothing the average teen couldn't handle, but still, I didn't want to have to cut out parts of it. If you do want to read it, I may post the full thing in the Story section with a mild warning.

[Sipphy]

I actually like characters who seem "perfect", and nothing bothers me so much in a story as a character who seems too useless or idiotic to me. I think I'm unique that way, though.

My number one advice to you is to have someone else proofread your story for spelling and grammar. It can be so easy to miss stuff when you proofread your own writing. Maybe some people don't mind spelling mistakes in a story, but I know I do.

[Fire Opal]

I'm actually very strict on myself with spelling and grammar, so we are alike that way. Spelling is pretty easy to correct because my computer automatically tells me when I've spelled something wrong. I do proofread my stories several times over, but I also have someone else read it when I feel ready to share.

[Misty Glen]

[SisKate]

I look for detail, detail and more detail. What things apply to the five senses in the scene? What is unique about a character? Is it supposed to be realistic or imaginary? Who is saying what? Why? Does the scene make sense and is it relative to the story, and necessary? Is there use of imagery, metaphors, or symbolisim?

Does the story make a "movie" your mind.... can you see it as a detailed picture... or is there something missing?

Some raw advice from a story writer herself Good luck! I am always here for advice for writing stories.

SisKate

[Fire Opal]

In response to Misty Glen, no, I do not have a habit of writing author's notes. I don't even think I've read a book containing them. Either way, I see what you are saying. Nobody wants commercials during their favorite show, right?

Ah, yes, detail! I do find that I like a good amount of detail in a story. One thing I dislike about the Warriors series is that they have minimal detail, especially on the characters, which sometimes makes the story difficult to construct in my mind. So I do understand where you're coming from.