When Dreams Turn into Nightmares [DREAMNOTFOUND ANGST]

Writing tips!

Many people over the past few months have came to me asking many questions about writing. Most of them being,

How do I stay motivated?
How do I get ideas for my next chapter?
How do I write good/make it sound nice?

I'll be covering these questions, along with tips for different story types. Those will cover things such as angst, or simple fanfiction.

So, to get started. If you're looking to begin writing a story, whether it's because you have a great idea, or just have the passion to create a story, there's some things you should do before starting to write any chapters. First, make a plot. Now, this can go in many ways, and sometimes you dont even really need one.

For example, if you want to write a fanfiction because you ship two characters, then a really planned out plot isn't something you exactly need, though it'd be helpful when having the idea. So besides that, the most important thing would definitely be plotting the ending you your story. Now, some may think it's to far in the future, but it will help your flow of ideas much better. While writing this story, you'll always think about that end goal, or how you're getting to there.

This was a problem for me in my last story, because I just wrote it for the heck of it and nothing more. It eventually just stressed me out and I stopped because I didn't know where I was going with it, and there was no exact ending to it.

Also, planning out what days you write on would be very useful as well. I personally don't do this, but it could develop good habits.

A very important thing would also be don't upload immediately! No matter just how tempting it is to share your first chapter with the world, it's always best to wait until you have at least 5 pre written, and edited. This will help in many ways, such as help you know what direction the story is going before hand so you can keep writing, and there's no rush so no stressing out about uploading.

But of course, if you ever find yourself stressing about it, take a break. Trust me, your viewers would understand and it will help you so much. When I took a break from a previous story, just completely stopped thinking about it, I felt so much better. I even started writing it a few days later because I wanted to.

All of this should help keep you motivated, or at least help. Once you come up with it, you'll most likely be just waiting to reveal the end, much like me ;).

In fact, the way I came up with my story idea, I was on the BUS coming home from school. The only thing I did was think of random titles and after coming across this one I was like "holy- okay- that's perfect for an angsty Dream story." Considering I already wanted to write something with angst. After that, I created a description. Just some random lines I didn't even think about, then made a story around those two things. I even ended up changing the description since it didn't suit how much I changed things in it.

Another thing to help, are backstories. You could simply keep a backstory from the character if they have one, or completely make up your own. For me, I was just going for a very angsty book, so angsty backstories, which are fairly easy to come up with since it's just a bunch of sad stuff.

Now, how about getting ideas? (No story written yet)
Make random titles.
Random descriptions.
Look up popular plots to your story type and base an idea off one.
Use inspiration from your favorite book/movie and move it around to fit your characters!

Now, how about getting ideas? (Already written story)
Ask a friend! Yeah, you may not want them to know if you're writing a fanfiction, but they wouldn't need to. Just list a few things about a story maybe and ask them what they think it'll end like.
Create a background plot.
Make an ending or a new large plot point and lead the story to it.

Finally, how do I write good?

Writing is in many different forms. Depends if your story is a slow pace, (such as mine) or is extended throughout months, or even years.

Having a story play out generally slow will consist of quite a bit more details than another. But of course, if you have it a fast pace, details are still important too! Just don't describe every moment, and skip any unnecessary explanation.

What about writing with 'big words'? Or not repeat the same one over and over?

These, I have a very easy fix to. And yes, I do this so often, everytime I write. I'm not an English major, I actually suck at spelling, grammar, and hate reading. But, look it up. Constantly my search history is filled with "synonyms for _____". And having the same words does make your story seem unprofessional, or repeating. Which, is not nice, and may make your readers lose interest. So look up synonyms to those words! Use already used words as infrequently as possible.

In the beginning, you may look things up a lot, but you'll also learn many words throughout and remember them.

Now, to many "I"s? Something I always do is the use of "ing." For example,

"I walk over to the door. I open it, I freeze."

Compared to,

"I walk over to the door, opening it. The moment after seeing the other side, I freeze."

Also, I'll show an example for details as well.

"I nervously walk over to the door, opening it ever so carefully, shaking. But just as I begin to slowly reveal the other side, my heart stops, having the inability to even move a muscle."

Make sure to not have to many of the "ing"s though as well, because that could also get repetitive.

Don't detail to much! It's always very nice to know exactly what's happening, but having excessive detail isn't exactly something you'd want, and will potentially bore your readers.

But emotions are definitely something you can put lots of detail into. Make the reader know just exactly how they are feeling. It'll definitely help pull the story together and seem more full, regardless of skips.

By the way, to get your story seen, have as many hashtags as you can.
Upload on weekends (This is when people are most active on Wattpad).
Share it through social media, or make a social media for your account to share it.
Have 1k-3k words, this is generally the most suitable amount for people to read.
Tell a friend if you're comfortable with it.
Try to upload constantly, (once a week preferably).
Reach out to communities you can share your story in.

____________________

Keep in mind I'm only a middle schooler and haven't written before in my life 😰. Sorry if it was all over the place. I'm just sharing what I thought was helpful to me, or will be to you! I haven't used a couple of the things mentioned, but I definitely know they could help. :)

Soooo, yeah! Don't take this to professionally, or feel obligated to do any of the things said.

Stay safe, don't stress yourself about writing, it's for fun, and I hope you guys have a great day and that I was able to help any of you! :D

Love you guys!

Also, if you have any questions, feel free to ask them! I look at all of my comments/dms so I'll reply.

Or if you have something to say or fix about what I said, let me know! :DD

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