Writing Beginners Archives

Mistakes New Writers Make and How to Avoid Them

3rd July 20193rd July 2019 by ShanniiWrites

I’ve been a writer on various platforms since I was 14. That’s 8 years now. I feel so old! In that time, I evolved from a fanfiction writer to someone hellbent on creating their own fiction and standing out. I moved from fanfiction.net to Archive of Our Own. Then Episode Interactive and Chapters. Now, I’m getting ready to (hopefully) build up a readership over on Wattpad. Of course, I was also an avid reader and a reviewer whenever I could be. With all of that experience reading and avoiding writing I have under my belt, I feel like I’m qualified to speak about the mistakes that new writers make.

Believe it or not, but new writers on all of my platforms make a lot of the same mistakes. It can be so easy to think that you’ve got this whole writing thing sorted when you start out. In fact, it’s usually the less experienced writers who believe they know everything they need to know to start writing. That’s what’s known as the Dunning-Krueger Effect and it can seriously affect how quickly you grow as a writer. Don’t let that happen to you. Be aware of the mistakes that the newbie writers out there make. Be aware of them so that you can beat them! You’ll have a much better time for it.

So here are some of the biggest mistakes for you to consider and how you can avoid being the typical newbie writer.

Diversity FAQs For When You’re Confused

2nd July 201917th June 2019 by ShanniiWrites

Diversity is a complex but important topic to speak about. You no doubt have lots of questions. Here are some FAQs to help you when you’re confused.

Great Writing Resources: My Recommendations

29th June 20191st May 2019 by ShanniiWrites

The best thing about being a writer in the internet age is the number of great writing resources that we have at the click of a button. The internet is full of helpful articles and great tips to help you write! Plus, you have Amazon at your fingertips, so you an get the best ebooks and writing aids. The chances are that you know all of this already, though! You are reading a resource right now! That being said, one of the main problems with having so many resources is knowing which to choose. All of them look good, don’t they? But you can’t use them all! If you try, you might end up spending more time ogling at all the choice you have and not enough time writing.can

So it’s a good idea to find the best writing resources and have them all in once place for you to choose from. That’s where I come in! I’ve spent a long time going through books and websites that promise to help you write. I’ve come out of the other side with a bunch of great things for you to use! Some of them help you to plan. Others are more about helping to cure writer’s block. There are even some in there to help you with layout and other style stuff.

So stick around and I’ll make your writing journey just a little easier.

How to Use The Narrator in Interactive Stories

29th June 201923rd April 2019 by ShanniiWrites

Whether you’re writing on Episode, Chapters or Tap by Wattpad, the chances are that you’re going to need to use a narrator at some point in the story. In fact, they can be one of the most important parts of the writing process! They’re definitely a character in their own right! So it’s important to know how to use them well. Your reader is going to be spending a lot of time with them, after all! It would be silly not to put some thought into how you’re writing that all-important character and whether there could be a better way to go about it.

But after all the time I spent and Google searches I did for this blog post, I can safely say that there’s not a lot out there to help you figure out how to make your narrator work. People speak about how they’re used in books and the different types you can have, but very few dedicate their time to explaining how to go about making each one work. Especially on apps like Episode! Interactive stories are so new as mediums that it’s very hard to find much info on how to write well at all.

That’s where I come in. As an Episode and Chapters author myself, I’ve spent a lot of my time experimenting to find out what works and what doesn’t. So keep reading and I’ll let you in on what works, what doesn’t and how you can choose the best narrator for your story.

How to Fix Your Mary-Sues

29th June 201930th March 2019 by ShanniiWrites

So you have some Mary-Sues in your story and you want to fix them? Good idea! Mary-Sues can kill any great story if you’re not careful. They make the story seem fake and unrealistic by taking us out of the real world. No one in the real world is this bland and perfect, and who the hell would want to read about a perfect person, anyway? So it’s important that you know how to arm yourself against them and make your main character (MC) a good, interesting character.

I don’t care what excuse you have. Mary-Sues are just not interesting to read or talk about, frankly. They make you look like a bad writer who can’t give a character flaws or make them cool in their own way, so they just have to be good at everything they touch. Or maybe you’ll look like a little kid playing at being a writer. I don’t care if you’re 13 years old. You can write a mature story! But not if you fill it with Mary-Sues!

So how do you get rid of them? Well, there are many things that you’re going to need to do, starting with admitting a few truths to yourself. It will take some hard work, but if you’re willing to put the time and effort in, you’re going to make a story that’s much amazing, fun, and enjoyable to read.

Why You Need Good Grammar in Your Stories

29th June 201911th March 2019 by ShanniiWrites

Dictionary search for the word "grammar".

You’ve probably heard people say that you need good grammar before. They’ll read your story and point out the smallest errors and that can leave you angry or annoyed. Why does it even matter so much, anyway? If they know what you mean, why should they even care? You’re only human, after all. You’re going to make mistakes! And of all the things they could focus on, they choose the thing that seems to have nothing to do with the story. Believe me! I get where you’re coming from! So why would you need good grammar in your stories so bad?

I understand how tempting it can be to just type away and hope your ideas make up for the language. You have some good points to make, but you just don’t have the language skills to show it yet. Why should you have to limit your imagination just because you aren’t a grammar expert? It does kinda seem like other writers are just being elitist from the outside. I mean, they don’t seem to care if you have the best story idea in the world! Ugh.

Well, there is a good reason why people say what they do. In fact, there are many good reasons! Who doesn’t want to read a well-written story, after all? Stories aren’t just good ideas written down on scraps of paper. It takes care to write well, and that’s what a lot of readers are looking for.

Still not sure? Well, here are some reasons why you need good grammar in your stories.

How To Write Diversity Well

29th June 201924th February 2019 by ShanniiWrites

Diversity can be a really hard thing to add to your story. It’s stressful! If you’re anything like me a few years ago, you’re worried that you’ll do it all wrong and people will hate your story. Or maybe they’ll even hate you! When you say this to other people, they might shrug you off and claim you’re being silly, but your concerns are 100% fair. I’m here to tell you that it’s normal to worry about diversity. In fact, with the way people on the internet can act sometimes, I’d be surprised if you weren’t scared!

But you don’t really have anything to worry about. Diversity has become this big, scary word, but what we mean by it is pretty simple. I think it’s a pretty bad term because it makes it seem like minorities need to be added to a story. It makes minorities seem weird or other, which is the exact opposite of what diversity should be doing. It’s about connecting people, not making them feel further apart! So many many people bite their nails about representation that it makes me feel like we’ve gone about this in the wrong way. Until we come up with something better, though, we’re stuck with what we’ve got.

It’s about time that someone gives you some proper, easy-to-follow tips on how to make your casts diverse. That’s what I’m going to try my best to do! So sit tight and relax. It’s a lot easier than you’d think!

How To Start Writing Episode Stories

29th June 201916th February 2019 by ShanniiWrites

So you’re new to the whole Episode writing thing, huh? Awesome! Writing for Episode can be a great experience if you do it well. It is also really confusing when you first start, though. Despite the hundreds of Google Docs that Episode gives us, knowing where to start can be one of the hardest parts of writing for the app. They really throw you in the deep end, don’t they? You have to learn to code, write a story and build up your own audience. It’s enough to make anyone stop!

But don’t quit yet! We’ve all been there. We all know what it’s like to stress about the coding and get it all wrong. I remember when I started, I couldn’t figure out how to code in dress choices and it stressed me out so much! I ended up abandoning my story for about 6 months — and that’s where it stands right now. My first story is a sad little mess that hasn’t been opened since 2016. It was stressful, but it was a learning curve, too.

So now here I am with 210k reads — a respectable number — and packed with advice that I wish people had given me. Follow these steps and you’ll have a lot better time as a newbie writer than a lot of the people who came before you.

How To Use Gem Choices Well

23rd February 201911th February 2019 by ShanniiWrites

Gem choices have always gained a lot of criticism, and I know why! I was one of the people who hated the idea when they put them in featured stories, and you can bet that I was angry when they were added to community stories. It was a real worry to me that people would overuse them or use them badly. I thought they’d be treated as a way to get into the Writer’s Payments section as soon as possible and screw over the reader. I didn’t think that community writers could handle it.

Well, I can be wrong. I was definitely wrong about this one! In fact, it turns out that the Episode team sucks at using gem choices, while loads of the community authors use them well. Typical Episode. They teach one thing and preach another! So I’ve changed my mind about gem choices after seeing them used well in stories like The Infected. Lots of authors are using them well, and I really can’t complain.

There is still the chance that you could abuse gem choices, though. If you’re using them as a means to an end (to get into the Writer’s Payments), the chances are that you’re using them wrong. If you think about them and use them with care, there’s no reason why they can’t be a great bonus to your story! So sit back and I’ll give you some ways to use them well!

ShanniiWrites

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