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Tips to enhance writing?

NoLiferTheThird

NoLiferTheThird

Death, is the absence of life
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Joined
Nov 5, 2019
Okay so bare with me. Before joining BMR I thought of myself as a GREAT writer. Expansive vocabulary, lengthy detailed posts, etc. Only to begin writing against people whom are a thousand times better than I am, which I'll admit, crushed my confidence a bit. However if anything it has made me want to better my writing, which led me to googling words I was not familiar with, and attempting... to google words that were different from the usual. I.E. Lithe instead of Skinny, thin, slim, etc. However that only got me so far. So now, I turn to you, my peers on BMR, to the writers who are descriptive and amazing at writing, what are some ways I can enhance my current writing skills?

Much love,
NL
 
I think what you are doing is the first step, honestly. I have come across others, like you said, who seem to have an extensive vocabulary. It seemed daunting and I thought those people to be better than me. But, what I would tell you, from someone who felt the same is you are still writing with these people. They enjoy the stories you write with them. So take pride in that and just keep working on doing better. There is actually a list on here, I will find it for you, for tips and tricks, I think the amazing @xanaphia was the one who made it, if I recall.
 
Listen to audiobooks. If you're at all like me, reading or writing something yourself can be cloudy with your own voice. Listening to someone else handle all the workload allows me to appreciate how a sentence can flow and see the story from a bit of a distance. It is, in lots of ways, like having someone read you a story. Which is nice, no matter what age you are.

Find some of your favorite authors (a lot are on YouTube) and just have a listen when you have down time.

That's what I do. And I feel it's helped.
 
Thank you Siren. That actually mean's a lot to me! And Praxis, I've never tried audio books, but I could see how it would help! I'll definitely try that as well, I do find that when I write and my own voice is narrating what I type it feels... stale almost.
 
The best advice I can give? Read. Read anything and everything you can get your hands on. Books. Poetry. Prose. Listen to spoken word. Listen to audiobooks if you don't have the concentration to read. Listen to music, and pay close attention to the lyrics. Let them shape your muse. There is absolutely nothing wrong with being inspired by the prose of another. I can fully admit I go through phases in which I take a lot of my inspiration from certain authors, poets, and musicians, and, looking at my writing over the past two decades- fifteen of which I can access at whim- I can easily see what I was inspired by at the time.
Also, I can't recommend a website called WordHippo enough! It's kind of like an online thesaurus and dictionary, plus other stuff. It's become absolutely instrumental in my own writing. Hopefully it would be useful for you, as well.

Above all, don't compare yourself too much to other writers. It's really easy to get really down on yourself if you think you're just no good compared to your peers. I can attest to that- it was only recently that I've started to receive compliments on my writing, and I felt like an imposter at first. Like I didn't deserve the praise I got for what I considered mediocre work. We are all our own worst critics. Keep that in mind.
 
NoLiferTheThird said:
I know! I found it shortly after Siren mentioned it! It's an AMAZING Thread!
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Thats actually a different one. This is a thread of me sharing some ideas for how to improve one's writing. It's very pretentious and tries way too hard to be funny.
 
xanaphia said:
Thats actually a different one. This is a thread of me sharing some ideas for how to improve one's writing. It's very pretentious and tries way too hard to be funny.
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Ah I didn't even realize it was a different one! Thank you!
 
The best advice I ever got was to get better at writing is to just write. Like any skill, it comes with practice! I flex my writing muscles every day, but not necessarily RP's. Google around for writing prompts or other challenges if you need the structure, but honestly I just write about things I do during the day. For example I take walks during the day, and take extra care as to what I see then try to describe what I saw. Sort of like journaling!
 
Other than reading and writing whenever you can, I'd suggest trying to roleplay with people a league above you. Put the effort in that they put forth. Don't be afraid to ask for advice from writers you respect or admire. We're all--hopefully--trying to improve our writing, not just doing bare-minimum smut, rubbing one out, then going to sleep.

If you want new descriptors, open up a tab for a thesaurus. Don't become obnoxious with it though; some people try a little too hard in my experience when simple descriptors would do just fine.

Most importantly, make sure to try and give them something back whenever you reply. Don't be the partner that has their characters sitting around reacting to everything someone else does. My enthusiasm has been killed plenty of times when I need to drag someone along who offers nothing but reactions. Minimal dialogue, minimal response to action, and minimal meaningful plotting are major muse killers.

You're not an immobile sex doll during smut scenes--unless you LITERALLY ARE an immobile sex doll, in which case ignore that. It's okay to receive but make absolutely sure you give things back: dialogue, touches, approving moans or sweet little phrases to name a few.
 
Bene said:
The best advice I ever got was to get better at writing is to just write.
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This. Like any other skill, writing gets better with practice. It's dull advice, I know - like we all know that the way to lose weight is through exercise and reducing calories, but no-one wants to hear it because it's not easy to keep it up day after day after day. But's it's true nevertheless; the more you write, the better you get at writing.
But also read. And read critically - take things that you think are good, and try to look at why they're good. What is the writer doing that really gets under your skin? If it's erotica, why is it making you hot? Once you have some idea, see if you can do that thing when you write, and whether that works for you. It doesn't always, but it's a good way of getting out of your own comfort zone.
 
* Characters that are actually challenged or conflicted about what they are doing. That in itself makes for an interesting story and responses. The horny guy or gal doing horny things because their horn dogs is boring.

* Realistic characters. If YC is a middle aged housewife than don't post a pic of the 20 year old Playboy model. Again, conflict and being challenged etc helps too. Try and really think about how the character you are playing would respond and deal with the situation.

* Don't worry about post length. Does the table cloth in the cafe need a paragraph description? Probably not, I have seen people do this and it is boring. Go for quality rather than quantity. But....

* Try and leave off on your post with something for your partner to respond to or bounce off. Use internal dialogue to describe what YC is thinking and feeling. In real life people pick up on each others vibes so your partner might be able to use what you are describing.

* Try and advance the plot a little each post or most posts. Nothing worse than 2 characters sitting around watching TV. Use time skips to move through days or weeks if need be. You can recap TV show style to summarize what has happened during that time.
 
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Lady Irony said:
* Characters that are actually challenged or conflicted about what they are doing. That in itself makes for an interesting story and responses. The horny guy or gal doing horny things because their horn dogs is boring.

* Realistic characters. If YC is a middle aged housewife than don't post a pic of the 20 year old Playboy model. Again, conflict and being challenged etc helps too. Try and really think about how the character you are playing would respond and deal with the situation.

* Don't worry about post length. Does the table cloth in the cafe need a paragraph description? Probably not, I have seen people do this and it is boring. Go for quality rather than quantity. But....

* Try and leave off on your post with something for your partner to respond to or bounce off. Sometimes I might leave off. Use internal dialogue to describe what YC is thinking and feeling. In real life people pick up on each others vibes so your partner might be able to use what you are describing.

* Try and advance the plot a little each post or most posts. Nothing worse than 2 characters sitting around watching TV. Use time skips to move through days or weeks if need be. You can recap TV show style to summarize what has happened during that time.
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Thank you! This is really good advice. Looking back at my posts I’ve noticed I do tend to kind of just reiterate what the other person has said (and I usually hate that! So I’m very ashamed I’ve just been doing that myself) makes sense as to why I’ve been dropped in quite a few LOL. I’ve taken almost every piece of advice from this thread and put it towards my replies since opening this thread. I love being given new takes and ideas!
 
NoLiferTheThird said:
Thank you! This is really good advice. Looking back at my posts I’ve noticed I do tend to kind of just reiterate what the other person has said (and I usually hate that! So I’m very ashamed I’ve just been doing that myself) makes sense as to why I’ve been dropped in quite a few LOL. I’ve taken almost every piece of advice from this thread and put it towards my replies since opening this thread. I love being given new takes and ideas!
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No probs. If you haven't already done so you might want to check out the One Shots thread One-Shots

One Shots are simple usually short term RP's where one idea is played out. Just because they are short and/or simple doesn't mean the writing has to be. I started off with One Shots, RP's that were sometimes started and finished in one session over an IM. But they can be played over time as well like any RP.
 
I'm not great at all and I'm just tapping what I struggle on, but I think finding a 'voice' might be worth considering. You don't have to sprinkle high-grade literate words in every sentence if you find a flow to how you write them and try to make a picture. There's no one right way, just the way you're most comfortable. Some like the stimulus of intricate words, others just like it simple.

Also reviewing before you post (beyond typo skimming, the actual structure). My content is horrifying on first read. Disjointed, misplaced words for vague (or no) reasons and no pacing. It's easy to be trapped on this forever, so a cutoff is needed. But sometimes it's better to splash it out, ignore the urge to kill it and mold it a little. With a little concentration it might do well. Plus it's an opportunity to trim needless details and focus on ones that add something to the moment. If you're really worried, write, drop for a while and come back to do the same. It's not the best advice for quick exchanges that devour time (unless you have it, then you're good), but on a strict quality level it might be nice. It takes me much longer to post when I do it, but it helps my esteem reading back when I do.
 
There are a lot of great comments in here already, so I don't think I can add too much. But there are a couple of elements to this:

1) What constitutes good writing is going to depend on the format. Writing for roleplaying, for example, requires a very different approach than writing a story.
2) Esoteric synonyms for things are actually, in my opinion, a sign of bad writing. Don't say 'incandescent' if 'bright' will do. The goal is to be readable and immersive, so if your word choice is distracting you're going in the wrong direction.
3) My number one tip: don't try too hard to describe how things look, describe how they seem and how they feel. Providing impressions is a lot more effective than trying to draw a precise diagram with words.
 
Shiver said:
What constitutes good writing is going to depend on the format. Writing for roleplaying, for example, requires a very different approach than writing a story.
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This is good, especially when you take into account that in an RP you're writing for a much, much more limited audience. So if you know what your partner wants, you can write to that, and enhance their experience. (this also goes for the describing diagrams and such--there are a few specific things I would like my partner to describe uh, extensively.)
Shiver said:
2) Esoteric synonyms for things are actually, in my opinion, a sign of bad writing. Don't say 'incandescent' if 'bright' will do. The goal is to be readable and immersive, so if your word choice is distracting you're going in the wrong direction.
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So, I wanted to give a caveat here. Just grabbing a different word for something for the sake of sounding wordier isn't good.

The thing about different words for the same thing is that words have meaning and what word you use conjures a specific image. Take OP's example of "lithe instead of skinny". Skinny is fine--except that it can have a negative connotation, while lithe is more complimentary and attractive. A ballerina is going to be lithe with lean muscle--a preteen is just going to be skinny.

It also depends on what you're describing. You wouldn't call a book with a short pagecount "lithe", you'd say the book is thin. It needs to feel natural.
 
Here's some things to keep in mind.

0: Do not sweat while writing. Write your post. When you're finished, then start editing.

1. Figure out your bad habits and try to reduce them. One common issue are words you overuse. "Just" is one of my bad habits. "As" ("x happens as y happens") is a common one I see.

2. One trick you can do to simply make your writing look nicer is to vary the size of sentences and paragraphs. Sentences all the same length, paragraphs all the same length, make the eye glaze over in disinterest. Change it up.

3. Avoid cliches like the plague.

4. You mentioned repeating things. One of my personal annoyances is the specific phrase "When YC does x, MC..." So I would say avoid that. :)

5. Try to avoid starting too many sentences in a row the same way. Too many "The", too many "Character name". This is hard in English, since nouns typically come first. It can take a little nudging. Sometimes it's unavoidable or doing it will make the sentences to avoid.

6. EXPERIMENT. Try new things. Someone earlier mentiond "voice". A character can have a particular voice, or an RP can have a certain tone, that spices your RP up. Like say, everything is grim and gritty and dark. Writing from one character's perspective can also sound different from another, their attitude or behavior bleeding into the prose about them.

Finally, a suggestion when it comes to the actual content:

7. Focus on how your character feels. Emotion is a pretty big part of what we're doing here. The what, the why, and the how that looks. So when your character is upset and mad, she glared through the sting of unshed tears.
 
A tip I love: try to include something for the senses. And ideally one of the rarer senses (taste, smell) too.
 
*Inner Dialogue - What is YC thinking and feeling? Even if your partners character can't read minds just like in real life we still pick up on what people are thinking and feeling. There might be something in that inner dialogue you mention that your partner might be able to pick up on and work with.

* Back story - Rather than write the epic first post and then drop down to 1 paragraph posts, you can build your character slowly as you go. Add little bits of information along the way about your characters past. If YC and your partners characters are in a relationship/or known each other a long time than it is plausible your partners character would know some or all of that back story.

With both of the above points it enables you to write a little more and make your character more lifelike as well as give your partner more to work with.

* Time Skips - You don't have to play out every second of the day. This gets boring and you end up having to write about them having dinner and watching TV. Skip over the days/weeks as required. You can do this by....

* Flashbacks/Summarizing - Summarizing the time that was skipped over with whatever information you think is important, like a highlights package. Then you can move on to the next important part of the plot. It is better than both of you getting bored.
 
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