Anyways, back to the main subject...

Any new forum members are welcomed! We're all here to support you in your times of need. You can talk about your favorite authors; ask for help on a story; brainstorm a character; and anything else you can think of! Have fun!

Avoid using "said" at all costs. There are lots of synonyms for it, and some that would be better to use in the first place Obviously, there's no harm in using it every once is a while (else the synonyms would simply become repetitive), but it should probably be substituted at least 50% of the time. Just some advice from one of those crazy people who is irked by people who use "said" too much in their writing ;)

Announced, inquired, questioned, spoke, laughed, asserted, responded, retorted, quipped, answered, blurted out, declared, exclaimed, implied, accused, recited, mentioned, stated, remarkled, commented, complimented, repeated, revealed, grunted, voiced, suggested, hinted, told, uttered, muttered, whispered, emphasized, pronounced, enunciated, expressed, disclosed, argued, debated, claimed, defended, pleaded, begged, reassured, coughed, rasped, gasped, mimicked, mocked, explained, mouthed, rejoined, snapped, shouted, screamed, fumed, fused, sassed, shot back, retaliated, refuted, disputed, acknowledged, affirmed, confirmed, resolved, alleged, mused, approved, complied, justified, protested, proclaimed, swore, stressed, insisted, commanded...etc.

Those are just a few examples of what you can use, and they add depth to what your characters are saying and emphasize the point they are tyring to make or how they feel.

Just a few... yeah... um, sure. Also reiterated, maintained, insinuated, intimated, suggested, cried, barked, murmured, mumbled, shrieked, roared, scolded, wailed... here's a site devoted to synonyms for said: http://www.thecaveonline.com/APEH/said.html

...and another... http://www.cyberspaces.net/6traits/wsaid.html

...continuation of that second one... http://www.cyberspaces.net/6traits/wsaid2.html

Yeah. A lot. (this is fun ^^)

Also, never, EVER strain your brain with searching for a synonym to said or flip through the thesaurus for like fifteen minutes trying to find a synonym. Just use said. Like I said, not a lot of readers care.

Jack shook his head. "No, we cannot turn back now."

~Marie Silver~

'She succumbed to exhaustion and her knees buckled, but before she collapsed on the ground, a pair of strong arms caught her.

"Michael?" she breathed, hating the weakness she heard in her voice.'

So, I don't necessarily consider said or words like it 'invisible' words, but if you use said too much, the reader may begin skimming over it because it holds no depth or relevance to understanding how the characters are feeling.

'"That's a good plan," said Sarah.'

'"That's a good plan," said Sarah sarcastically.'

What I meant before is when writer's exchange every said for something else it gets ridiciously. Using 'angrily, snapped, mumbled' in moderation is great and can help bring a story to life.

~Marie Silver~

Er...I think that's all...so someone replying to me...comments on how to get more reviews and stuff wold be appreciated!!!

Have something on your personal profile page and having a few favourite authors and stories makes me think you're interested in reviewing other people not just interested in having your own stuff reviewed. To me promising to return reviews is like saying thank you. And finally just keep reviewing people and )hopefully) you should start getting some of your own.

If you'd like me to review one of your stories then let me know and I'll gladly do it. Note that I give constructive criticism.

~Marie Silver~

Also, adverbs are evil. Avoid them.

And, as someone else said, sometimes you can eliminate a tag-along "said" altogether. That's a good option as well, and keeps the action smooth. But try to find a balance between all these things- balance is the word that makes the world go round.

Turkey City Lexicon is a good friend to fantasy writers. Google it.

Said-bookisms and dialogue adverbs come into play when the writer's dialogue has failed to serve its purpose in one way or another. Two things portray what's going on when someone's speaking: the dialogue itself, and the actions of the character speaking.

For example. Let's look at something like "I hate you." She blurted angrily.

Lets start with the adverb. You want to show that this character is angry, rather than say it. The dialogue itself tells us that, since this person is saying "I hate you." So really, you don't need angrily at all. However, you could also show it by the actions of the character. So this now becomes:

"I hate you," she blurted, clenching her hands.

Let's now look at the 'blurted'. This is something you want to show by the dialogue. Blurted can either be an interruption or something someone says suddenly after a period of silence. Let's say in this situation it's an interruption.

Jen looked taken-aback. "I didn't mean--"

"I hate you." Sally clenched her hands.

Voila. You get rid of the tell by adding action and making the dialogue show what's going on.

Okay, so a fairly basic example, but hopefully you get the point. In this case, you don't even need to use said at all.

~Marie Silver~

I'm Calli by the way. Nice you meet you all!

~Marie Silver~

I've written a few things, and have oodles of inspiration to keep me writing for a while. I am constantly looking to improve my writing, and I'm eager to learn new tricks and tips.

There's so many stories here that I don't even know where to begin to look for one to read! I start reading one story, and then I get distracted and see 5 more that I want to read, and it's all just a hopeless mess. Could anyone recomend a few good stories to read? I think that if someone recommended one to me, I could perhaps pay attention long enough to read and enjoy it.

I've been looking around a bit and reading other stories, and then seeing things in the forums that, well... Kind of discourage me.

I think my protaginist might be a Gary Stu. I'm trying really hard not to make him be, and there are reasons behind some of the traits he has, but I can't reveal them right away or else it will spoil the plot.

It's also in an almost entirely fantistical setting, and, the main character is (winces) a tall elf.

I understand that some people are really sick of seeing elves.

Is there any advice anyone might have that I can avoid irritating cliches and Gary Stu-ness?

In writing, I enjoy plot twists and stories that are otherwise unique. My heart has a soft spot for insane or otherwise mentally 'not there' characters.

I myself am a college freshman, of chaotic neutral alignment. I have a bad tendency to repeat myself and talk too much in discussions.

Is there any advice anyone might have that I can avoid irritating cliches and Gary Stu-ness?

I suggest giving your character as many flaws as you can without turning him into the direct opposite of a Gary-Stu. Don't associate yourself with him--as in, don't give him your favorite eye color, hair color, etc.. Mostly, don't become too attached to this character--it'll hurt to much to have him lose a fight, or have anything negative happen to him at all. Also, don't jsut have his positive aspect be plot points (for example, we'll say Sally is very skilled at magic, so other mages come to challenge her to test their skill), but also use negative aspects of their personality/attributes. (ex: Sally is clumsy, and fell down some stairs. consequently, the new setting of the story is the hospital, and she is on the exciting new adventure of physical therapy!) (it's 2 am, so this is the best i can do example wise, sorry.) And he shouldn't be immune to effects of traveling and weather. He should get smelly and dirty just like everyone else.

Another thing i suggest is get rid of things like flashing eyes/color changing eyes (are they really that necessary?), being half dragon/half elf/half God/half demon (if they appear in your story. Taken in moderation, they can be used to spice it up a bit, but when the main character has all of the above traits. . . watch out). They're cliche.

Also, if you suspect parts of him are Gary-Stu, even if there are reasons behind it . . . fact is most Gary Stus/Mary Sues have 'reasons' behind their traits. I'm sorry, but it's true. :(

Lastly, try to make the highlighting feature of your character be an aspect of his personality, rather than a power/ability he has. For example, a relentless spirit that never gives up, or perhaps he is a constant theif, always stealing things he sees that are shiny, etc. etc. That makes him a character rather than an object.

if you have time on your hands, i suggest taking this Mary Sue/Gary Stu test: http://www.springhole.net/quizzes/marysue.htm

Don't worry, though. There is always hope for your characters. I used to write a Mary Sue. :(

Oh and I don't think elves are cliche as much as they are classic. They're a standard fantasy race, good to stick with, imo.

I don't put much stock in not choosing your favorite eye or hair or whatever color because it's your favorite--who gives a damn, no one is going to know that your favorite eye color is green or brown or heterochromia of the two or a combination of both (which exists, and it's really really cool to see). I'm so sorry, but it's a pet peeve of mine. It limits you, as well, I think--my favorite hair color is black or dark brown. More than half the world has black or dark brown hair. It's a very common hair color, but it happens to be my favorite--and if I go by that rule, I've just cut out more than half the world's worth of people.

Passing out flaws, or perfectly balancing the number or quality of flaws isn't a good way to do it, either, that just makes for a weirdly unbalanced character, which is probably what Azzie is talking about with the direct opposite of a Stu. The mythology of the Sue seems to be really misleading to me, so that people actively flatten out and make characters incredibly average because they want to avoid Sueness. In my opinion, there are no Sues or Stus, just bad characters and good characters. I wouldn't worry about making a character a Stu, I would worry if he's interesting or not.

It's not that you shouldn't use your favorite colors, there is nothing wrong with that--it's just that you shouldn't over use them. I should've been more clear on that.

So what if a character is unbalanced? Tons of people are ripe with mostly negative qualities; it doesn't mean they wouldn't be interesting to read about. However, due to the world we live in, a character unbalanced with positive qualities seems impossible, and readers are more likely to spite the character rather than like them. (So if you want readers to dislike a certain character, this is a good way to do it--make them seem too perfect.)

I would worry about making a character a Sue/Stu, because that makes you run of the mill and average, not entertaining. Tons of people think they're being "unique" when they give their characters some impossible back story (relative to the story world, of course), the best looks in the story, and the best abilities as well. A character without any magical or physical abilities can be interesting--a character is determined on their personality. Who they are, not what they are. Sticking such an "average" character in to a harsh reality and watching how they cope with it could turn out to be an interesting story. When a character is over powered and easily wins any situation, it is not interesting, because the out come is obvious.

I'm not saying that giving them a magical power or a powerful fighting style is always bad, things like these can add good spice to a story. Just like salt, however, too much can turn ugly fast.

Also, a writing tip, when you first introduce your MC (or, as in my case, Mc's) do NOT blow all details about them at once. My thrid chapter (Which I am working on) is an example of this. At first, it tells how my character was scared when a person approached their hiding spot. But then it is revealed they're blind, and I don't explain how they can figure this out for a chapter or two. Also, my characters name is not in the first paragraph. I think it is actually after 7 or 8 paragraphs. When your writing, you hold all the cards. Don't deal them out too quick.

I agree with FS, there is nothing more boring than reading an entire chapter of character biography. A nice way to do this is to explain appearance and personality in the first few chapters, backed up with a piece of info which explains it, and then after a few chapters you have a 3d character. Just make sure that you keep adding little pieces until you've explained all you need to (or maybe more).

On the subject of MCs, one thing that can also turn me off a story is boring main characters. While this is usually the Mary Sues, sometimes characters don't have enough detail to be interesting. A good way to get around this is to add details which affect the story only slightly but really change the way a character does something. For example, I gave an MC a glass eye, or have fascinatino with fire and burning things. Even small details can make characters interesting.

BTW, I've been wondering something... Does it turn people off of a story if you don't have much discription of physical stuff? For example, I like never discribe my MCs' appearance...

A lot of people find it a bother if you can't do them good enough and stick them in the wrong places, so just try to what you can and if not, :p

As an exampl - I remember reading a book in class and someone asked why the author can't even do grammar properly. The teacher said it was effective technique usage with broken sentences and whatever. As long as it works, anything can be good. It's not about what you use but how you make it effective. In the end, the language is just a tool. Who says swords can't beat guns and vice versa.

But a lot of writing techniques do go in and out of style. For a big example, look at Tolkien. Before LOtR, almost no elves as he has them existed in fantasy. He brought them "in-style".

She actually has quite the trouble with discription considering she thinks on a pretty much purely visual level. "He had a diamond shaped head, a normal sized sharp nose, hooded and slightly slanted black eyes with no shine, short bangs that reach the middle level between his forehead and eyes, short, slightly raised hair with a small, thin rattail that reaches between his shoulder blades that swings a bit when he moves..."

Okay, you get the idea.

Thoughts?

(Oh, and if anyone wants to review some of my stories, that would be great and I'll return the favor.)

Thoughts?

(Oh, and if anyone wants to review some of my stories, that would be great and I'll return the favor.)

~Ana~

Hello, Antlion here.

Unfortunately, I'm very self-conscious of what I write, and constantly find myself redoing work, which leads to a neverending loop; which is why I hardly every finish a story, let alone the first chapter. Though, I have found someone to check over what I write, which is good. :) I'm determined to finish the story I've begun writing about an undead wandering a wasteland.

Looks like I finally found enough courage to speak on FictionPress. Heh.

hi, im fiddlestix, and im so glad i have found this website, ive been searching for a while. anyway, one of my dreams is to become an author, like jk rowling, sheez my inspiration, and i want to write fantasy novels. i have 2 stories, that im currently working on, and i have plans to get them published when im done.

Hey, I'm DJ and I'm also happy. But for me, I'm just happy I found a general forum instead of an RP. I kind of also want to become an author as well, but I'm not desperate to make myself famous.

Hey, guys! I'm SnowCookie. I, too, am surprised by the number of roleplaying forums... What floats your boat, I guess.

Anyway, I'm pretty new to this site, not so much to writing. I don't aim to become an author; I'm more of an art person. (See my pretty icon?) Writing is more of a guilty pleasure for me, I guess.

Hey, I'm E.J. Teine (you can all call me Emma) and I am sorta new to FictionPress. I am not new to writing, though, have been doing that pretty much my whole life, although I got serious about it when I joined Shurt'ugal Fan Fiction last year. I now moderate and beta read on SFF, as well as writing on Fanfic.net and FP. I am very interested in bettering my stories and getting them published.

Hi. I'm listentoher. I joined this site a couple of months ago, and I'm currently working on one story.

My goal is to improve my writing, but I'm more of a reader than a writer.

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