Lemma Soft Forums

If there's something I missed, an answer that could use some revising/expansion upon, or a question you think should be included, then PM me and I'll add something in about it. For the time being, the OELVN Wiki already has some essays that can answer some of these questions.
Note: If all else fails, don't be afraid to talk with others about your story. Input from other people can be helpful to you in order to understand what your audience might expect to see and what they would like to see. Discussion is almost an all-purpose solution and a useful tool to get back on track.
Table of Contents (use Ctrl+F to and enter the number of the topic you're looking for to jump to it)

1. How do I begin writing a story?
2. What defines a deep and developed protagonist?
3. What kinds of side characters should I make and how many should I have?
4. How do I name my story and characters?
5. How do I end my story?
6. How do I overcome writer’s block?/How do I continue my story if I can't find a good way out?
7. I have this great idea, but is it good enough to write on?
8. Should I avoid stereotypes and clichés?
9. Is writing a VN/KN different from conventional writing?
10. How do I "expand" on an idea?
11. How can I get to know/understand my characters better?
12. I want to write, but I have no clue what to write about.

1. How do I begin writing a story?
Simple: just start with an idea you know you can work with. If you haven't written a story before, you should probably start out with something small. Once you have a basic idea down, toy around with the possibilities and find out who your characters are, what’s going to happen, and how it'll all turn out. As always, follow the basic narrative structure: Exposition, Rising Action, Climax, Falling Action, Resolution (If you need a refresher on what each part is exactly, refer to the Wikipedia article). Once you know where you're headed, go ahead and start typing!

2. What defines a deep and developed protagonist?
A well-developed protagonist is one that readers can sympathize with and has a personal history that will likely explain his or her actions throughout the course of the story. A successfully well-written protagonist will probably leave a greater impact on the reader than a bland, uninteresting one. Oftentimes a protagonist will be "dynamic;" in other words, he or she will change somehow during the course in the story. It is up to the writer if the protagonist is a blank slate (no personality) or has a set personality.

3. What kinds of side characters should I make and how many should I have?
Protip: only have as many characters as the story absolutely dictates. Ideally, each character should be unique from the others and serve a purpose; if an existing character can fulfill the same function and/or two characters are alike, you can combine the two characters into one. Side characters exist to either aid or oppose the protagonist and move the narrative forward.

4. How do I name my story and characters?
There are several methods of naming your creations, and sometimes the best ones will present itself along with your ideas or at unexpected moments when you least expect it. For those of you who want a systematic way to thinking up of a good name for your story, look back on the core ideas, moods, or themes you want to focus on and see if you can find a name that suits it; if that’s not enough, discussing it with others can help you as well. Likewise, naming a character follows a similar vein. Find a name that you think matches a character’s personality, or discuss names with others.

5. How do I end my story?
This may sometimes be the hardest part of writing a story- ending it. Really, the way you end the story is entirely up to you. If the conclusion does not come naturally to you as you write, ask yourself these questions:

• Should my protagonist achieve his or her goal?
• Has my protagonist learned anything throughout the story?
• What has my protagonist gained or lost- spiritually, physically, or both- during the course of the events?
• What is the mood of my story after the climax and what mood do I want after the end?
• What sort of impact do I want to leave on the audience?

Again, if this still does not help you, discussing possible endings with others (preferably your team if you have one, as you do not want to spoil your story for your audience even before it is completed) may help.

6. How do I overcome writer’s block?/How do I continue my story if I can't find a good way out?
Nearly, if not all, writers have experienced a time when it seems that the inspiration to write has disappeared. This is normal, but quite understandingly frustrating. There are several methods to deal with and get rid of writer's block:

• Go over what you have of your story so far from the eyes of the reader. Follow the plot and see where you were going as the author, then figure out what direction the story should head next.
• Relax! Stop writing and go on a short hiatus to clear your mind. Come back a few days later and see if your muse has returned.
• (If working with a VN engine) Work on another part of your project such as the visuals or programming if possible.
• (If writing a branching VN) Work on a different scenario or outcome.
• Read and play other works here. Perhaps you'll find your inspiration again.

7. I have this great idea, but is it good enough to write on?
This really depends on what idea that is. Chances are if you want to read that type of story, then probably someone else would like to as well. If you only recently got the idea, try expanding upon it and see where it goes; if you can follow it and can write it, then by all means start writing! As always, you can talk with others about the basic premise without spoilers and see how many people are interested in your idea.

8. Should I avoid stereotypes and clichés?
The common answer is yes. Keep in mind that stereotypes are often based in real life, so it may be difficult to avoid one without bumping into another. As for clichés, a wide audience will be familiar with them; whether this is a good thing or not depends on who that audience is. A common method of escaping stereotypes and clichés is to "invert" it, or to betray the expectations of the reader and therefore surprise them with something new.

9. Is writing a VN/KN different from conventional writing?
Somewhat, considering that a VN/KN will likely focus more on dialogue and the interactions between characters. Most of the time the visuals will clear the need to describe the current setting and actions of characters, but you are still free to write about them if you wish. To sum it up, you should see the VN format as being similar to writing a play with character dialogue and scene directions.

10. How do I "build up" on an idea?
Letting the idea toss around in your mind will often gather a lot of mass, but some of those excess things may not be usable in the long run. To organize your thoughts, you can take a piece of paper and draw a flowchart or open up a program that will let you do something similar. A few questions you can ask yourself to propel your story forward are:

• What is my protagonist trying to achieve?
• What is the conflict my protagonist is dealing with?
• What events will take place during the course of the story?
• What will my protagonist do to overcome these obstacles?

This flowchart will act as your guide when you need to know where to go next in your story. Not everything you get down in the planning stage will be absolute and concrete, as you may have to change a few things as you work and set these ideas into motion.

11. How can I get to know/understand my characters better?
You'll find it hard to continue your story if you cannot understand the thinking processes of your characters; you'll also have difficulty recognizing them if they act out-of-character. To avoid this, it's a definite must to write down their basic information, history, and personalities. After that's done, try typing up a part with them in it to see what they do and how they interact with other characters. If you're unsatisfied with how they act, the time to change them is now. Soon you'll know your characters as if they were old friends of yours

12. I want to write, but I have no clue what to write about.
That's a real shame, then In all honesty, a creative mind should have no problem brainstorming an idea; the problem lies within finding an idea that's worth writing about. It takes time to stumble upon a good one by yourself, and you'll likely get a flood of plot bunnies by talking to other people or reading someone else's stuff. You can go to the Ideas Dump thread and sift through a few, or use a generator until you find a viable plot to work with.

Here is a list of resources that can be useful to the aspiring writer. If there's a website that you think would benefit others, PM me and I'll add it to this list.

Websites and Articles
102 Resources for Fiction Writing (Massive conglomeration of links, check here if you can't find anything else on this list!)
Fuel Your Writing (Dedicated to writing)
Scriptfrenzy (Dedicated to scripting of plays and such)
NaNoWriMo Pep Talk Archive (Encouragement essays from various authors to get you motivated to write)
Description: what's it for? (An article about how to write tasteful imagery)
Guest Post: Beyond the First Two Pages by Nancy Fulda (How to hook your readers into your story)
Introduction to the Hero's Journey
Writing fight scenes
How to Write Humor: What Makes Something So Funny? by Rochelle Frank
How I Went From Writing 2,000 Words a Day to 10,000 Words a Day by Rachel Aaron
Learn Writing with Uncle Jim by James D Macdonald
Thesaurus.com (which has more than just synonyms)
Storyfix (Blog on writing opinions, tips, etc.)
Archetype Writing (Psychology in writing, useful for character motives)
Fiction Factor
Writing Three-Dimensional Villains by Luna--Rose

Lists and Tips
Interjections
Tips to avoid Stereotypes
Written Sound (Onomatopoeia)
Glossary of Literary Terms
A list of connecting words
Different Types of Verbal & Written Humor
Glossary of Poetic Terms
5 Secrets for Improving your Comedy Writing by Fred Rubin (on ScriptFrenzy)

Stuff by OokamiKasumi (there's too many so might as well have its own category)
Writing Tip: Basic PLOTTING
Writing Tip: Structure of the GOTHIC Tale
(Even more) Writing Tips and Tricks
Writing Tip: Writing HORROR
Writing Tip: STUCK on a Story?
Writing Tip: Planning the Multi-path Game ~ ChoiceScript
Writing Tip: Using CHOICE in a Story ~ Varytale
How to be ORIGINAL ~ Brian McDonald
Writing Tip: Finding the THEME ~ Brian McDonald

Grammar, Generators, and Others
GrammarBook (Grammar rules)
serendipity (Name generators and other useful things)
seventhsanctum (More generators)
TV Tropes (A database with the common techniques used in all sorts of media)
Anime Plot Generator (Creates a ridiculous plot for you at the push of the green arrow)
Write or Die (An app that forces you to write by deleting some of your words when you don't type)
Writer's Plot Generator
RankMyTyping(Test your words per minute/typing speed)
WolframAlpha (Not only for your math homework, but can also tell you information about words!)
AbsoluteWrite Forums (many useful threads are laying about...)
The making of Planescape: Torment
Project Gutenberg (Free ebook project)
WrittenKitten (Similar to WriteorDie, but this rewards you with pictures of kitties!)

Game Creation-Specific Articles
The Big List of Game Design which has even more links
Essentials for Visual Novel Creation, Part I: Planning by Kitsune Zeta
A Basic Visual Novel’s Flow by Kitsune Zetapecific

Tumblrs about writing (for those of you who have tumblr, these are nice to follow)
F Yeah Character Development
Writing Pals (Place to meet possible critique buds and similar writers)
F Yeah Author Dog (a dog meme about writing)
Write World
Write Me In (collection of real characteristics in hopes of helping others build more realistic characters)
Writing Quotes
Writer Chatter
Writer's Relief (Submission service to help creative writers get published)
Write World
Weird Things Writers Do (self explanatory)
That Writer Junkie
Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

More to come...

I hope this remains bumped. *bumps needlessly*

Anyhow, do you think talking about The Hero's Journey here would be of use?

Edit - Sorry for not PM'ing...I got preoccupied with the needless bump *sniff*

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SoundCloud : http://soundcloud.com/collin-kindred

Currently : Creating 75+ requested songs.

This thread is a sticky. There's no need to bump it.

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"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face in marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming" - Theodore Roosevelt

Oh goodness, that's embarrassing. >< I'm very sorry for being such a noob...

I must be too used to stickies being separate from the main list of threads (even though I've already read a few here). That and the fact that stickied threads are usually about the rules, or something about the community as a whole.
But I suppose it's just one more thing that sets these forums apart from the other game maker communities I've frequented in the past.


But if I may inquire, are discussions (abiding by the rules here) allowed in stickied threads? Since that's kinda' what I'm doing, I hope so x|

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LimeBooth : http://limebooth.com/profiles/collinkindred/ | Music Thread (Closed To Requests Indefinitely) : viewtopic.php?f=38&t=12938
SoundCloud : http://soundcloud.com/collin-kindred

Currently : Creating 75+ requested songs.

Tutorial: The Hero’s Journey

This is a question that merits its own individual post, as it has a total of 12 parts (sometimes more, depending on which model you look at) to it. The Hero’s Journey is the traditional plot skeleton of adventure novels and myths in which the protagonist travels to fulfill some sort of destiny, meeting both allies and foes along the way. At the end of the Journey, the hero has changed in a significant way. Again, the names of each step are interchangeable depending on which model you refer to.
Note: These stories often do not focus primarily on romantic elements, though that does not mean you cannot mix in a bit of romance into your story. There are no written rules saying that you must follow this exact pattern either; feel free to mix up and reorganize the 12 parts as you please as long as you can tell a coherent story doing so.

1. Ordinary World
The story begins with the protagonist living in a regular, unexciting world where nothing interesting happens. Things are relatively normal here, and the protagonist may feel bored or unsatisfied with life in general. The element of the Ordinary World is present to create a stark contrast with the new world the protagonist will enter.

2. Call To Adventure
The protagonist becomes aware of a problem or adventure beckons. A goal is stated and the protagonist endeavors to achieve it by leaving the Ordinary World behind. The Call to Adventure sets the plot into motion.

3. Refusal Of The Call
The protagonist hesitates leaving the Ordinary World to enter the unknown. A reluctance to give up safety and the fear of facing an unfamiliar territory is daunting to the point of giving the protagonist second thoughts. Something has to propel the protagonist into action; change of circumstance, unbalancing of natural order, persuasion of others, or any other reason is needed to convince the protagonist to embark on the Journey.

4. Mentor
An older, experienced figure will be introduced to the story, acting as a teacher to the younger protagonist. The bond between them is comparable to relationships such as parent-child, teacher-student, doctor-patient, etc. The Mentor will prepare the protagonist for the adventure with skills, equipment, advice, and anything else that is needed; however, the Mentor will oftentimes be unable to accompany the protagonist on the Journey.

5. Crossing The First Threshold
At last, the Journey truly starts here. The protagonist is finally ready to commit to the Call to Adventure and agrees to face the hardship and danger. The story’s action really begins and gets exciting.

6. Tests, Allies, And Enemies
The protagonist enters the new world and meets both allies and enemies on the way to achieving the goal. The rules and laws of the new world are learned, and more obstacles are introduced. This stage allows for development in the protagonist and companions when there are times of stress and necessary decision-making.

7. Approach To The Inmost Cave
The protagonist and friends arrive at their destination, where the confrontation against the antagonist will take place. This might be the most dangerous place for them, and entering is like crossing the second major threshold. The protagonist may pause before entering to organize, plan, and strategize ways to accomplish the ultimate goal.

8. The Supreme Ordeal
The climax of the story; the protagonist is forced to face fears and, in some situations, possibly death. This part is the most suspenseful and will bring the audience to the edge of their seats in anticipation. All the steps previous to this one have led the audience to sympathize and understand the protagonist’s fate, and readers vicariously experience the protagonist’s struggle. The triumph is much sweeter when the path to obtaining it is bitter.

9. Reward
The protagonist has succeeded! All the spoils are gathered, whether it is a tangible object or an intangible prize. The audience shares in the protagonist’s victory, and the mood is fairly joyous.

10. The Road Back
The protagonist must return to the Ordinary World now that the goal has been completed. However, the forces behind the conflict to begin with will chase the protagonist and threaten to bring harm.

11. Resurrection
The protagonist must go through one more ordeal before returning home. This is almost an encore of the Supreme Ordeal, as the opposing forces get one more chance to hurt the protagonist in a life-and-death moment. If the protagonist survives, then the return to the Ordinary World is finished.

12. Return with Elixir
The conclusion of the story; the protagonist returns to the beginning, but this time with the reward that was obtained. All is back to normal, and even better now due to the knowledge gained on the Journey.

-----

Ehehe, thanks for the bump, although it wasn't needed. It's the thought that counts though ^^ I'd rather keep the thread free of posts that aren't part of the writing resources, so I'd prefer it if questions and comments were PM'd to me. Maybe we could start another thread discussing how to improve this one, but would that be unnecessary?

Anyways, since this is sorta like a tutorial on how to write mainly non-ren'ai stories, would there be an interest in an FAQ dedicated to ren'ai games? It'd take me a hell of a long time to get one typed up, but it's for the community, and I'll be willing to help my fellow writers improve in any way possible.

Could I add some writing resources? (I'm a writer so I've got loads. )

Absolute Write's Novel Writing Forum - Learning tips to write a good story starts with... writing a good story. So learning how to write a novel well can help shape stories.

Learn to Write with Uncle Jim- If you don't have time to go through the forum, at least read this one.

And go pick up some books on how to write at the library. My favorites are "Self Editing for Fiction Writers" and "Techniques of the Selling Writer". If you can find those, you're golden.

I guess I'll add this to this wonderful resource list!

This is a link to one of the character sheets for Planescape: Torment, a 1999 RPG that many hail as one of the most well written games ever.

Even though it's an RPG, it's EXTREMELY word heavy. The game itself has over 800,000 words. This was before 3D engines became default for RPGs, so the game is composed of sprites and 2D static screens. The creators made the decision to bring much of the world alive through text.

The character sheet is for a non-party character named Ravel. It contains spoilers for the game.

This is a link to the article about writing the game.

http://www.rpgwatch.com//show/article?a ... f=0&id=208

Towards the bottom you'll see a link to a word document for the character sheet, and then the final document that was created from the character sheet.

You can see the amount of detail, love, and sweat they put into just this single character and the myriad options surrounding her. This is amazing, given that Ravel IMHO isn't even one of the characters that stands out most in the game. (Important, but not central.)

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Maybe this will help some people since I have seen a couple topics on villains: http://www.deviantart.com/#/d52pexu

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The other 1/2 of Cyanide Tea l My Deviantart Account I My Tumber Account I Break Chance Memento I Ristorante Amore

Recently, I discovered Project Gutenberg, which is a movement whose mission it is to make old books with expired copyrights freely accessible for everyone to read. Even if you don't have an E-Reader, you can download HTML or plain-text forms of the books. There is a wealth of reference information here for various topics that could potentially be of use for writers. It's useful for finding outdated medical texts, for instance, or studying old rules of etiquette.

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"It is [the writer's] privilege to help man endure by lifting his heart,
by reminding him of the courage and honor and hope and pride
and compassion and pity and sacrifice which have been the glory of his past."
— William Faulkner

As a Developer and Writer of your project you have to always ask yourself the "Why's" of everything you do. You don't need to know the answers right off the bat but you will need them at the end.

Always ask yourself these questions when writing your project, they help flesh out everything and help frame your project in the process.

~Each Level of the scene in the project
"Why are your characters there?"
"Why are WE there?"
"How does this enhance the Project?" ~ "Why?"
"What does this scene say about my characters?" ~ "Why?"
"Dose my character even need to be here?" ~ "Why?"
"Dose this advance the plot?" ~ "Why?"

~Each chapter
"How does this enhance my life?" ~ "Why?"
"Does this teach me something?" ~ "Why?"
"How does this enhance the lives of my players?" ~ "Why?"

~The Whole project
"Why am I making this?"
"What do I want to learn while making this project?" ~ "Why?"
"What do I want them to experience?" ~ "Why?" ~Goes well in Each level too
"How does this enhance my life?" ~ "Why?"

Sounds really deep but asking these questions also helps you keep on track and helps you keep everything in check. They also tend to balloon into even more questions. which in turn adds even more structure to the project. I've read over many titles on here that didn't even come close to answering these question and burned to the ground before they ever got started. What's interesting, these same questions can be used on all media from books to movies and web comics.

Hope this helps get those juices flowing. :3

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Don't be a Poser! Learn to Draw
Learn to Draw with Stan Lee
Learn to Draw with Mark Crilley
If you want you can brows my art. My art can be found at...FA // IB // DA Neglected for a few years so I'm just now updating it

Learn to break a bone to break a bone,
Learn to build a house to build a house,
Learn to make a Game to make a Game.

If you asked me this before, I would have just answered, "I just want to write." But then, I realized after some time that, "No. It's not only because of that. I want to do something different. I want to do something big. I want others to know."

The question?

What message do you want to bring with the story?

Is it to increase awareness about the negative issues around us, or because you were inspired? To encourage people to take action? To let people know that, "Hey, it's okay to believe."? What? What is your purpose of writing the story? What do you want to show with the story?

Words, as I see them - as well as each and every letter is an art. Letters make words, words make sentences and phrases - creating imagery based on various settings. Steam-punk, underworld, fantasy, reality - you name it, and there's it. All you have to do is sit down on your chair as your ideas dance about in your head, and bring them to life.

Thus the words in my signature:

Like how a picture can paint a thousand words, a thousand words can also paint pictures.

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Stuck on what to write?
Here are some simple Writing prompts. Sure some are for kids but they should still help get them juices flowing.


http://www.theteacherscorner.net/daily- ... pts/march/
http://www.daily-writing-prompt.com/free-writing.html
http://www.davidrm.com/thejournal/tjres ... rcises.php
http://creativewritingprompts.com/
http://www.dailywritingtips.com/writing-prompts-101/

_________________
Don't be a Poser! Learn to Draw
Learn to Draw with Stan Lee
Learn to Draw with Mark Crilley
If you want you can brows my art. My art can be found at...FA // IB // DA Neglected for a few years so I'm just now updating it

Learn to break a bone to break a bone,
Learn to build a house to build a house,
Learn to make a Game to make a Game.

Most of you have probably already seen this, but here are some helpful writing tips from Trey Parker and Matt Stone.

http://www.getstoried.com/storytelling- ... outh-park/

The "but" and "therefore" rule is an excellent piece of storytelling advice.

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Legend Elmore Leonard with some of best writing advice I've ever heard. Apologies for the choppy quality of the video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PeZQl2nvnfM

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