I tip for writers trying to convey ideas to the public...

I'd still like to share a little something with you...

As a conisuar, reader, consumer, of many online media and or print media...
I kinda know what works and what doesn't...what grabs my attention...and what makes me clique on to the next page...

1. First remember this...your in competition with many...you have but a micro second to give someone a reason to continue reading your stuff...a micro second...after that either you have them or their gone...

2. With that in mind...get to the point of your story immediatly...don't waste time with endless drible about minute details...

The reader can fill all that in on their own...

3. When you write on the internet, you have to write your story like it's a music video...otherwise people will loose interest, and your idea or theme will never get out there...

4. Make what you write physically easy for the eyes to digest...

Don't make your readers eyes strain...another reason why

many may loose interest in your story...

5. Remember...you can write your book later, with all the proper punctuation
and grammer dot's and T's...but you will never get to that stage, if no one
is interested in your story, or never read it...so give them a reason to read it..

6. Attention spans are a lot shorter today than they were 30 years ago...
Keep that in mind when you write...

What's interesting to you, may bore the hell out of most....
Present your story in a way, style or manner, that is relavant to the reader.

7. Don't get side tracked with endless needless dialogue...you loose many
readers that way, who could careless about what Mary said to Tom and or
Toms expression afterwords...

8. Again, people reading can and do fill this stuff in on their own, they

don't need you describing these minute details for them...let them do
it, as they see fit...
Their own minds will make the story more interesting than you, as a writer
ever could or ever can...

9. Write to a large audience...a generic audience...
Things people key in on

1. sex
2. violence
3. disaster
4. Religion
5. racial strife
6. ghosts, goblins and demons
7. Politics
8. Fetishes
9. beer, drugs, rock-n-roll
10. Watching others suffer through misery

These are your hooks....

10..Don't be predictible in what you write...
And don't just write towards one demagraphic...when it comes to selling your books, you never know who might buy them...

If your white, don't just write to or about things that appeal to 'whites'...
Write in a way that anyone from any background could inject themselves into the story and relate...

There's 5 plus billion people on the planet, all of varying backgrounds...and when trying to sell a book, you need to make as many of those people, potential buyers, able to relate to your story as possible...

In other words, don't alienate readers with your own bias...
Or it could really effect sales and or interest...



When I read someones story, if I feel their only thinking of themselves, and not me, I stop reading and move on to a story I feel is more 'Universal'....


When I read a story...I don't need to hear the authors description of 'beauty'...
I don't need to hear 'Oh, she had blonde hair and blue eyes..and was so elagant in her night robe'...

Right there you've just lost a big chunk of readers...who have other ideals of beauty, and who now feel 'ugly'....

Again...if your trying to sell a book or ideas...keep the story line inclusive, not exclusive...

Anyways...just some rapid fire thoughts...I'll probablly delete this post in the near future...

 

Hey! Where have you been published?

 

Some excercises that will make your writing better...

1. If your a lilly white person, from a lilly white background...
Try to write a story from an Africans perspective...

Or a gang members perspective, or a Asians perspective, ect ect...
Step outside yourself...just as an excercise...

2. Same applies if your black or hispanic or Persian...as a writer
try stepping outside yourself and into a different character
with a different background...

3. When you write, think along the lines of a movie script...

Chop and cut stuff that's not essential...

Again...readers can fill in all the details on their own and in
a way that personalizes it for them...

4. Make it the readers story, not yours...
.
.
.
.

 

My fathers the retired Proffesior and Published Author...not me...

And I'd never want to disqrace his name by mentioning his with mine...

 

And enough of the 'Oh poor poor me' stories...

People get tired of hearing of how bad you think you have it...
Cause in their minds, you might have it very good, and come off as
just being a over privaliged cry baby...

In this day and age, that really turns people off...

Crying from the bed, inside of a Mansion...



trying to convince everyone else living on the 'streets',
how bad you have it inside of your Mansion...

Cause you 'can't find yourself'
Or because
'You dyed your hair the wrong color' and so now your depressed...

Or because your 'boyfriend or girlfriend broke up with you'...

If you are going to write about such pap, place it in a different
character so they don't think your talking about yourself...

And or inject some self degridating humor...people like to see the cute over priviledged girl walking down
the street suddenly trip...self degradating humor will help invite more people into your world or story
or character...cause now they will feel

'Hey wow, that kind of stuff happens to me to, hey maybe they (you or your character in story) isn't such a self absorbed prude after all...
(it's a formula that works well in movie scripts)

Paint or describe a world in your story, that extends beyond your bedroom window or nieghborhood...
So that when people of varying backgrounds read it, they too can relate...

Help them, your readers, feel 'apart' of your story....

But the self absorbed 'Oh poor poor little me, in my poor poor little world'

Won't garner you much fan fare or readers...accept for one or two critics who give
you the 'pat on the head' type of feed back...just so you will like them...

They will say 'Oh that was beautiful Emily, I felt what you were trying to say'...

When they really should be saying...'Hey Emily, re-write the whole story, this time with much less clutter'....

Be weary of the 'kiss butt critic'...for in the end, they will make the effectiveness of your writing worse, not better...

 

Ghostchildd: I don't suppose spelling and proofreading count for anything? You will have to read quite a bit of my work in order to find a misspelling or grammatical error.

Point 2: Michener, Mailer and Clavell, among others, don't always come to the point right away.

Point 9: I have no intention of writing for any lowest common denominator type of audience. There's a comic book audience and there's an intellectual audience, and many other types as well. I may choose to write for an audience of intellectuals or politically motivated people and not try in the least to appeal to others.

Point 10: If I'm writing something that an urban American can identify with, how can I hope to appeal to a rural Bolivian or someone in Zaire or black Compton (California)? Writing is based, or should be based, on personal experience unless you're dealing with science fiction or fantasy.

To see my works on Writers Forum, sort the Writers Forum thread list (using the Display Options at bottom of page) on thread starter , ascending, from beginning, and go to page 12 for 'dirtydog'.

 

Hi, glad you chimed in..

(by the way, anyone ever tell you you favor Stephen King?)

I often compare what I'm trying to express in terms of music or bands...

For instance...

Some bands or musicians know how to entertain...they have it down to an art form...

Let's take KISS for example or Motley Crue or Van Halen...(with David Lee Roth)...

Their primary focus was entertainment and revenue...and it worked...

Now, those same bands next to some accomplished degreed studio musician or classical music performer or Jazz performer...might not seem so impressive...

But their audience, those of mainstream pop, did not go to a KISS concert to hear a minor F being played perfectly on the guitar or a Major 7 note played to perfection...

Their audiences wanted a performance, (one they could participate in and feel apart of)...a visual layer as well as a loud acuistic one.
And for those bands, it worked...they raked in their millions, and now can do whatever they want...

Then you have some still trying to perfect their Diminished 7th chord, in the basement...who although musicaly are far superior to KISS, but as far as success...will never get there, they will forever be tormented over the Diminished 7th chord.

And thus, two types of writers and intent...

You have the Harry Potter Author...



Who's intent is to sell volumes, and make money, and movies, and become a multi millionare or billionare...
(where now they can hire all the editors and proof readers they want)



Then you have Authors or books like this...



That although I'm sure is far more superior in content and plot...most, have never heard of it, nor will ever read it and could care less about the content...

So in the end, who is more succesful? The Harry Potter writer or the writer of this obscure Novel??

(Yes I know one can define success in many different ways...but I'm speaking in finacial gain, and or acclaim)...

I guess it all depends on what one wants to accomplish with their writing...

If one obscesses over grammer and punctuation, but has nothing worth while to read...than what's the point??

Like giving someone who can't play, a nice brand new guitar...yes it's brand new and proper...but without being able to play it, it's just noise...

Verses throwing a Hendrix type a old raged guitar, and watch them light it up with content...

People won't be looking at the guitar, instead they will be listening to the tune or melody or funk, or whatever...

So no...I do not disagree with you...

I'm just saying it depends on what ones aim is...to focus in on grammer and have nothing worth while to read...

Or to learn the art of idea expression, and the art of pulling people into your story....

Which is more important?.
Induvisuals have to decide that on their own...

And I have one more response for you after I post this...

(I did not proof read it..so for someone like you, it might be a nightmare to read...but I do often go back and correct spelling and stuff minutes, hours, or even days later, after I've gotten my main idea out first...)

(oh, and I will definatly try to find your works on here...if my computor co-operates)

 

My computer is operating slow on this site for some reason...so when I'd like to respond in 20 seconds or less...seems to take me 4-5 minutes instead...very frustrating...

As far as people identifying with stuff or ideas or themes...

I truly do think much of it is universal...

Like movies that sell at the box office all over the world...

Again, like movies that do well and resignate to audiences around the world...

Like the Titanic, with Leonardo...obviously that movie appealed to a world wide audience, cause it dealt with very basic universal themes...

Love, romance, and a villian and disaster...

Whether your a AA living in Compton or a African living in Ziare or a Russion living in Moscow...most can relate to those themes...

We're really not all that different from one another as the media or college proffesior types make us out to be...we're all basically just people...with the same needs, and same fears...

What kid isn't afraid of ghosts??



A kid in Afganistan is just as afraid of ghosts as a kid in China...

So you see, there are certain universal themes that all can relate too...


I'm simply saying, people first need to have something worth while to write, before they even become a writer...

Their story lines need to be relavent to their readers...and not just to themself, the author...

And why get caught up in needless, endless dialogue, that adds nothing to the story??

For instance...

Larry, then sat down, after thinking long and hard about his conversation with Sue.

VS

Larry sat down and had a beer before going to bed....

Each style appeals to slightly different reader I suppose...

As a reader...I'm not interested in Samanthas hair blowing in the wind and radiating in the moonlight glow...

I would rather hear or read 'Samantha undressed, and went to bed, angry and upset'...


Before I conclude this...I would like to say...

I respect you, even though I don't know you...
But I can tell your a conisuor of fine wine, vs cheap beer...

Your a Major in the Army, vs a boot camp drill instructor...

And that's what I am...I'm more of a boot camp drill instructor....
In my approach to these peoples ability to convey a story...

Once they effectively learn how to convey a story...
Then they can polish it up and all...

But that's just my take...

 

Thanks. Some of your ideas (as per your first post) are quite good, by the way.

 

Connoisseur*
Microsecond*
Dribble*
Lose not loose
Professor*

Ahahahahahha contradicting advice, much?

Predictable*

And no thank you.

 

Look guy, I'm not into this contridictory side track let's go after the poster type of stuff...

Either you grasp my ideas, or you don't...

Which are merely aimed to make people more effective at communicating their ideas...

Either you will listen to what I'm saying...and consider, or we can play games and make it about..

'let's fault find on the poster'...

It's not about me, it's about trying to make people on here better at what they do...

Think positive...

 

It's about making people write like you want them to and making yourself feel like you're doing something.

About that, I am quite positive

 

No thank you...your response was kind and gentle...considering all the stuff I wrote...

I have much respect for your style of writing...

My only thing is, many on here, who share stories, need to learn how to pull people, readers, into their stories...and keep their interest...

By cutting out a lot of extra fat...

Kinda like a demo tape, verses the final edition...

The demo has to be hot, in order to get the labels attention...
Then they can work on the editing later...

One thing we both have in common though, is writing...be it our styles and experiences are different...but writing is still about conveying ideas...

Thanks for your polite response...

 

It's about coaching young writers to write in a way that grabs peoples attention and keeps it there...

Writing in a way that's relavent to selling books ect ect...
Regardless of content...

And many just don't know how to do that...
They have wonderful ideas, but don't know how to convey those ideas
to others.

And I think what I shared on the previous page is a good start in making serious writers more effective...

Sharing story ideas on the net is different than writing a book...
Different platforms...therefore one must use slightly different methods...

But the first and most important thing is to pull people into your story...whether fiction or non-fiction...

I think I summed it up near perfectly on page one...for those needing a guide...

 

ghostchild, you made a few decent points in your initial post and maybe afterwards should have followed your own advice and trimmed the fat. You know - quit while you were ahead.

 

If it were a story I was writing, then I'd maybe agree...

But even then, I think each subsequent post clarifies the point of the original.

And many posts are in response to other posters...

I want it to generate thought and conversation..
But about ones own writing or story telling...

This is meant as a motivational instruction guide for those who want
to make their writing better...

Or at least maybe they can take a few suggestive tips.
Military boot camp is 3 months long...things have to be drilled into
recruits head...

One wouldn't tell the drill sergant to 'quit while your ahead' after 2 days of
training.

The emphasis at boot camp is on self, not crotiquing the drill sargents style of drilling...
And in the end, if you focus on self, instead of the drill sargent...your writing will
greatly improove...



Now get down and give me 3 stories now. Your in writers bootcamp...
1, 2, 3...123....123...123...

And implament the things I have suggested...

Trim the fat, no useless dialogue, write in a way that doesn't make
peoples eyes strain...

Make story relevant to readers, use 'hooks'...(like in a song)

A hook is a re-accurring theme that keeps people interested...

Lets go lets go...

 

I have a personal blog on another site...
My blogs routinely get 100, 200, 300 times more hits or views, than other bloggers.

These other bloggers would consider themselves more educated than me
(at least formerly)

Higher income earners, they probablly consider themselves smarter
better looking, sexier, higher up on the social scale ect ect...

But yet, they can't get anyone to read their blogs...

Why?

Cause they're self absorbed...and actually think people
care about their lives...they don't.

No one really cares about you or me...
What people care about is themselves, their own interest.

And you have to write in a way that allows them to see
that interest, their interest, themselves, in your story.

Whether fiction or opinion piece or whatever...
people want to see themselves in your story...

A simple concept that many do not seem to grasp.

The only acception is porn or porn writing...
Writing that uses sexual exploits to lure readers in.

Look, I don't want to help those who don't want help..

Rather I will save it for the one or two who do want
suggestions...

You can do one of two things...

You can look at and crotique me as a person with thoughts like

'well what do they know' 'who do they think they are?'

Or you can read and consider the things I've suggested.

And try it in your next short story...

I may go back, and for the fun of it
rewrite some of the older stories posted on here
but in a different way or format...so that

People can see what I mean...
But sadly, I feel many of those who posted
those stories, are no longer apart of this forum...

They come and they go...and leave behind
a piece of themselves in a certain moment and time of their lives.




.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

 

When you share a story on the net, think in terms of 'preview' or 'premiere'

Like Movie or Broadway previews...they don't show the whole production,
rather they show 'clips' or 'sections' that they think will grab
the audiences interest...

Most book writers aren't use to thinking along these lines...

Most writers feel they have to share the whole
story 'as is' from start to finish.

And I'm simply giving you a new revolutionary way to go about it.

Think preview...think 'short clips'...think 'hooks'...

In these clips or hooks, highlight your theme.

Give them samples of what's to come, expecially if they
continue to read and show interest...

Start off with a 'bang' not a 'dud'....



Visually imagine walking or driving down Broadway boulivard at night
with all the neon promo signs, each production vying for your attention...



When you write, write with that same color and passion
Your a sign on Broadway...hundreds of people walking by
And you want each and every one of them to come inside your place.

(But you only have a second to catch their attention.)

Give them a reason too...

Again, this is revolutionary thought here...
Most book authors don't think along these lines...
Instead they think in terms of long long years trying to perfect their craft.

Well maybe 30 years ago that worked...but most don't have that kind
of time to sacrifice anymore...

Unless you've already made it and are independantly wealthy.

Remember this...
Chop...
Highlight...
And sell....

sell your idea or theme to your potential audience.(or publishing house)
And let them know their in for a treat, if they stay tuned...

 

Get to the action first...then descriptions later...

Example 1

Mark was a slightly over weight man in his mid 40's, still struggling with his divorce.
He lay on the bed, hung over from the night before. Suddenly Mark realized he was late for an appointment and sprung out of bed, down the hall, and to the stairway where he tripped.

Example 2

The big heavy set man tripped down the flight of stairs, crashing and breaking everything along the way.
When he reached the bottom of the stairway, he crashed through the wall, and fell another 10 feet into the basement below....

Mark was a slightly over weight man in his mid 40's...ect ect ect...



Do you see the difference...??

 

Really ghostchildd, you should have quit while you were ahead.

Example #2 is just as lame as #1.