My Writing Advice

Realism is Key

Not all stories are made in the real world, but there are still rules that should govern every world that makes sense. Unless you're character is high on hallucinogens, or there is a purposeful scene with that effect, people don't do stuff without reason, buildings aren't installed with neuro toxin releases that go off daily just to torture your main characters. While realism is always situational, when you need it, it needs to be right.

So let's start with a level where you need realism. Dialogue.

Unrealistic dialogue is what always stands out the most. Now, I'll tell you that even my dialogue suffers from this all the time, but it's subtle. I'm not trying to get you to think for hours about what people say, that's for script writing, but to think if people would really say something in the way it's said.

Like, I'm going to take three quotes from my Worlds story , (the original one,) and show you what I mean.

"Definite possibility!" 

What does that even mean? So someone has just presented a possibility, and it's likely. They're excited about it. I've nailed it right? Gotten my point across? BUT WHO WOULD SAY THAT?! 

No one, so let's fix it.

"Probably!" "Definitely!" People don't make their responses long when they don't need to be, unless you have some really sophisticated character, then go for it if it fits. Or comedy, I've gone overboard when writing comedy. 

So that's just a base saying, shortening a phrase so it has the ability to be added on to or just makes sense in context. 

"You're right, I wish Emily were here..." 

Here's a strange flunk in sequencing. Your characters says one thing, then they decide to say what's on their mind. The beginning makes sense, but then they just say something completely random for the heck of it, just to bring out a problem, idea, or say a character's name with no real reason.

And we need to fix it. Either take out the second part or:

"You're right..." Link stared at Zelda feeling the bitterness between them, if that one person could just come by, it'd be relieved. "I wish Emily was here..."

You need to make sure you have the context.

"Link stop daydreaming!" | "Whatever, let's go!"

Um...alright? No one dismisses someone's statement, then that someone dismisses them right afterwards in this manner. I'm not going to go into detail on this, just make sure people's responses make sense. "Sorry, let's go." Would be a much better comeback in this situation. Except if they were possibly in an argument, but the exclamation mark just makes it bad.

Basically, you should make sure it makes sense. That's what realism is in a way I'm putting it here.

As a lot of people do, they go people watching, or you can just be more acute of people speaking around you. You don't have to think about the conversation, think about the way people are speaking themselves, how they form words on the spot.

So dialogue, how about description?

It's much got the same rules as over description. Though it varies in pov. You can describe things in great detail, but no one's going to notice the number of anything if it's over ten unless it's said that they were counting or they saw the number somewhere. Mentioning numbers just sort of randomly breaks the moment. 

Maths...ew...

Just make sure what you describe is relevant to keep things moving forward. It's more keeping an eye out for awkward wordings which is just improving your description in general.

Realistic actions!-It's basically the same advice as dialogue, make sure it makes sense, people don't kiss each other when they first meet. 

But now-general realistic actions!-The last bit there was meant more for in the moment scenes. These are long term things, should your character do something after this has happened? It's like a reaction, but I want to point my finger more at romance.

I've already made a mistake of making characters kiss too early.

Look around you, do you see people kissing because they believe in love at first sight? Do you see people just getting up their nerve to ask out their crush in seconds? No, if we lived in a world like that everything would get done at once.

Things take time, and that length of time is different for everyone. Figure out how long you think it would take for your character to do an action, and don't you dare do it early unless it's because of peer pressure or something. And don't do it late unless there's something in the way other than themselves.

Scenes!

Would this happen? Should this happen? People have logic, and you need to remember that when you make scenarios.

Let's say you're a killer and you loose your mask in a crowd of people who are against you and know your face. Covering your face with your hands is going to draw a ton of suspicion and though maybe not right away someone will tear your hands away.

You can't pull the luck card everywhere.

"Luckily," should be erased from your vocabulary.

It's basically like putting in a convenient plot point, but you just put it behind the luck mask.

You also can't have all powerful characters be taken down without a fight.

You need to provide reason or else things like these fall into an unrealistic category.

Plot!

Unrealistic plots can stem from many things. A solution may be blatantly easy from the very beginning or a character would never have the motivation to do such a thing.

And these are called plot holes.

If you have a plot that doesn't make sense or is unrealistic, it's most likely filled with plot holes. 

The only advice I can give you is o not be afraid to change your whole story, and that goes for any previous things from before. If changing one piece of dialogue tosses up the mood, keep going and change the mood throughout where it needs to change. 

Even if you have to go through the whole story to erase any memory of one scene, even if it was a major scene, go do it. Because in the end it's worth it if it's gone to improve what you have.

And if you're afraid of forever losing your hardwork, keep a place where you have all your rejected pieces it's really interesting to go back and see what could've been.

Characters!

Just going to piggy back on last chapter and say just make sure your character's traits make sense together. Even the Sims understands that an evil person can't be a good person.

Unless they're faking!