5 Ways to Correctly Portray a Subject You Know Nothing About!

Not many people are in the loop on how best to murder someone, or what being in a coma is like to the person in it and the people around them, and even more people don't have a clue about the reality of running away in the woods. Or, for that matter, even how to write a kissing scene.

Here are ways to change that:

1. Research. It may seem obvious, but you'd be surprised how many people gloss over that and end up writing about something that doesn't make sense because they didn't bother to look it up.
2. Find information right from the source! Need to know how to do an organ transplant for your main character? Talk to your doctor, or better yet, a surgeon. Want to know how to correctly portray a crime scene? Watch the news, read about forensics analysis (it really does help), watch crime shows--believe it or not, crime shows are actually really accurate. Over-dramatized, sometimes, but the main idea is there. Have to make a running away scene seem realistic? Find some woods and try running away in them. I guarantee you, it is not as easy as you might think. In fact, it's almost impossible running in a forest unless you spend your every waking moment doing it.
3. If you really don't know much about a topic you want to incorporate into your novel, don't put it in! If you really need it in there, however, include it, but try to keep it as short as possible. For instance, if you're talking swordplay or just fighting in general, try to keep it down to a few jabs here and there and leave it at that. It might be an easily-won fight, but your readers won't know that you don't have a clue about what you're writing about.
4. Become an experience junkie! Obviously, you can't really experience murdering somebody, or going into a coma, but, for instance, visiting places you use in your book? Great! Also, talk to your family and friends, even your teachers. Guarantee you'll find out what you never knew before.
5. Talk it out. Not only is description crucial to a convincing story line, but also the dialogue is important too. For instance, if you have two characters fighting each other, they're not going to be saying, "Hey, man, how's school going?" Likewise, if two of your characters are at a resort in Florida they're not going to be commenting on a dead body--unless, of course, a dead body shows up in front of the resort.

Go forth and conquer, grasshoppers!

~Your Personal Writing Jedi

How to Write Convincing Dialogue

To really get in the mind of your characters, you must seek first to understand them. For instance, if your main character is headstrong, stubborn, unwilling to give up, you have to align what their personality is with what they say. It doesn't make any sense for them to say, "I'm done with this. I'm done trying to help you. It's hopeless."

However, if your character is easily swayed to give up, then dialogue such as that makes perfect sense and lines up with your character. 

Here is an example to help you, taken from one of my current stories.

The characters: Vera, determined, firm, and independent. Julius, persuasive, indifferent, collected.

"You beckoned me?" she said, meeting his gaze unflinchingly. "I don't appreciate being called upon without reason."

"Ah," Julius said, eyeing her in amusement, "Always so quick to assume the worst. I wouldn't think anything else of you, though."

Vera snorted. "So, would you like to insult me, or do you have something important to inform me about?"

"Only that the situation in the London underworld is more bleak than ever. Your visit, it seems, only served to make them angrier."

She cocked an eyebrow. "Let me guess. That brat of a shapeshifter? You ask me, she's totally working with Klaudius."

Julius rolled his eyes. "Vera, Klaudius is the King of Demons. He doesn't work with anyone. He doesn't have to, because his power goes unrivaled."

"How could you possibly be sure about that?" she retorted, her eyes flashing. "You don't spend any time trying to get to know anything about them, so in reality, you don't know that, do you? I'm sorry if my little 'visit' didn't accomplish what you wished it to, but we can't have everything, can we?"

"Stop with the attitude," Julius ordered, his demeanor cool and distant. "I refuse to tell you anything else if you become so easily affected by those troublesome human emotions."

"So you're implying you're not human, then? Because it seems to me like you never experience any sort of emotion, let alone righteous anger. Then again, you have nothing to be righteous about, do you?"

Julius's nostrils flared in outrage. "YOU DON'T KNOW ANYTHING, VERA ADELE GALLAGHER!"

"Neither," Vera said softly, tone cold, "Do you. Not about a single thing."

The dialogue between Vera and Julius serves to show the clashing of personalities and their unwillingness to work with each other, not to mention how headstrong Vera is, and how infuriating Julius finds that.

In order to make dialogue between your characters work, make sure that you include body language in it, as well, because even though words may serve to get your point across quite easily, they have different meanings if said in different ways. You must first understand the kind of emotions going on in your scene if you want it to be convincing. A fight? Tense posture, hands fisted, eyes blazing with anger. Romantic? Soft tones, occasional touches between the characters, tentative interactions. One character giving another bad news? Awkward pauses, shifting of position, not meeting each other's gaze, keeping their eyes to the ground.

Use this carefully, and be sure to strike a balance between body language and exchanged words. Too much of either and you risk over-dramatization.

~Your Personal Writing Jedi

How to Make Characters Believable: 10 Flaws to Avoid at All Costs

Just like in real life, characters vary, not only in appearance, but in their actions and their personality, as well. Treat every person in your book as you would were they to exist in real life. That means you must avoid any of these stereotypes:

1. The bad boy: having a guy like this in your story is fine, as long as you stray away from the norm, which is something along the lines of: a bad attitude, ripped jeans, emotional, PTSD backstory, and combat boots. This is something every established reader has seen before, and will see again in your story if you do not switch it up. 
2. The weak-willed girl: we've see this too many times to count, whether in movies or books. The girl who stands on the sidelines as she is fought over by two love interests, or who refuses to take the reigns regarding her own life. AVOID THIS ONE AT ALL COSTS.
3. The loner: this is yet another creative writing stereotype I see all the time. Being a real-life loner, I can tell you right now that if you do not of a loner, if you aren't one yourself, and don't know what they're like, do not attempt to insert one in your story, as it will inevitably come across as hollow and ill-inspired.
4. The bitchy mean girl: I HATE THIS ONE. It is so overdone, and worse, many people can't even do the mean girl correctly. You have to make sure that if you want to use this kind of character in your book that you can make it believable. Otherwise it will fall flat. Problem is for most writers, they don't have the personal experience required to make it seem realistic. And if a place or a storyline or a character doesn't come across as realistic, then your entire story will fall flat.
5. The villain with a sad past: let's face it, a lot of times, someone is cruel or evil for no good reason. Maybe they just enjoy making people suffer. Point is, not every single antagonist needs a backstory. Remember, your readers are supposed to feel sympathetic for the protagonist, not the antagonist. It is okay to have reasoning behind a villain's actions, but make sure they don't become the good guy in your story, which ultimately defeats the entire purpose for a villain in the first place.

DON'T BE AFRAID TO DESCRIBE YOUR CHARACTER!!

Which sounds better?

1. The girl was small. She was nice and smiled a lot. Her hair was blonde and long. 
2. She was underdeveloped for her age. She was kind to everyone, and never walked by someone without offering them a passing smile. She had long blonde hair that fell down her back in long waves, accenting her small stature..

If you said one, then get out. If you said two, then ding-ding! You're right. This is not simply a matter of good descriptions, but a matter of sentence structure. If everything you were writing was written like that first one, then readers will quickly get bored. It becomes monotonous, and even annoying to read. 

Other common problems:

1. Creating romantic relationships between two characters too early on in a story before you've given their relationship a chance to develop.
2. The cliched death of a parent figure: including automobile accidents, heart attacks, getting killed by characters you haven't bothered to explain, etc.
3. Giving a character a really pretentious name just to make them unique. Don't do this! It may seem like a good idea, but it isn't--especially if the reader can't pronounce the name.
4. Especially in fantasy, making a character some type of supernatural but never explaining how or why, or the extent of their powers. This creates a rift in your story.
5. Lastly, creating too many characters you forget which ones are which. Good rule of thumb: don't make a character that doesn't have an essential role to play in your novel.

~Your Personal Writing Jedi

How to Start a Novel

Never, ever, ever start off with "It was a dark and stormy night."

No matter that Madeline L'Engle used it in A Wrinkle in Time and it became a bestseller, that is asking for a prospective publishing agent to take one look and say, "Next!"

Some good ways to start a story off on the right foot:

• A flashback: darkness was something the girl was accustomed to. It had haunted her her entire life, and the only thing capable of saving her was the very thing she'd killed in an attempt to save her own life. To make it even more intriguing, assuming the flashback is about a main character, don't use the name. That way, it will create suspense.
• Dialogue: "Felix! If you wish not to be murdered by your own mother, I strongly suggest you get your lazy ass out of bed and downstairs now!" Effective as it quickly establishes a character or two, a setting, and the current situation. Good for beginners.
• Introduce a character: The boy's eyes were as dark as the sky at midnight, his hair so blonde it was nearly white in the sunlight, skin crisscrossed with scars like a map of torture, and clothes that were perpetually ripped, torn, or completely in shreds. This boy's name was Jak. If you introduce the character in such a way as to make it interesting, it will inevitably hook your reader, as they'll want to learn more about this mysterious protagonist. 
• Taunt readers with a fast-forwarded event: The sound of glass, shattering, and the screams stemming from the bloodied foreheads of the victims unfortunate enough to have the shards embedded in their skin were the only sounds to be heard on that deserted back road. That, and the maniacal cackling of the source of their suffering. Make sure you don't use names, and leave it off on a cliffhanger, and you will have dedicated readers. (Side note: just make sure you come back to it later, or else it will just be a free-floating story element that makes no sense!)

Also, make sure that when you use a flashback or a fast-forward or even an introduction to a character readers won't meet until later, that you somehow incorporate it into the story, even a couple chapters in. Otherwise your story will simply come across as disjointed.

~Your Personal Writing Jedi

Introduction

"Writing is not a profession, it is a way of life." ~Unknown

For some people, writing is an incredibly painful process, one that some would do anything to avoid. Essays and research papers make you want to run for your life. Personally, I'm not a big fan of required writing, either, but as an aspiring writer, it's not a hard task, just a tedious one.

This blog will not help with that sort of thing, if you're looking for it. This blog is for creative writing, to help along the process that can sometimes be sluggishly slow, which is something I both understand and can relate to, since I've been there who knows how many times.

I will not fixate on the how-tos of grammar, for I'm hoping that people who want to get anything out of this blog will already be proficient in using half-colons and knowing how to correctly write with quotation marks.

First thing you should know about becoming a good writer is that it takes practice. Lots of it. You can never write too much, because that in and of itself is a fallacy. The best writers are also the people who read the most. Know this: writing is not for everyone. It requires the ability to stick with it, no matter how irritating, lengthy, and downright infuriating the process may be.

Also here is the best nugget of advice I can give you: when in doubt, write! Stop whining, and just write. Nobody becomes better at something by complaining about it. Just like in everything else in life, the only way to get better at something is to practice it often.

Make sure you're willing to dedicate the time to it, because if you just plan on half-assing it, rest be assured, you won't go anywhere fast.

~Your Personal Writing Jedi