[Guide] Writing a story

[Freya]

This thread is designed to introduce characterization to new, and the majority of regular players. It is an initiation to various arts that also includes writing a short story. This is to familiise players with the main terms and concepts used such as plot, action and structure, performance and dialogue; and to introduce them to characterization. Players should be made aware of basic skills which will help them acquire a better understanding of Roleplay and thus produce their own stories.


Definition of Characterization

It is the art of creating characters. A good characterization is one that creates the illusion of treating characters as real human beings whom we can meet in our everyday life. Elements:
It can be characterized through

*Physical description
*Moral description
*Action, speech, dialogue

Flat Characters: formerly called humours. They personify a single idea or striking trait and is easy to remember and recognize. His behaviour is predictable. Read more about Static and Dynamic Characters.

Round Characters: reflect a broader view of personality. A life-like as possible, they represent all the inconsistencies of real individuals. Events can alter their behaviour in unexpected ways so that they react unpredictably. Read more about Consistence and Inconsistent Characters.

What makes you a good writer.

A story can be narrated using one of these two techniques: telling and showing.

A character story can be told from two possible point of views; First and Third person.
In First person narratives the story is told by a narrator who is also a character in the story. Unlike the second type; to be more precise it can be analyzed following two axes. If the writer is objective, he describes only the exterior world and cannot describe the feelings and thoughts of the characters. If subjective, he tells the story exlusively from the perspective of the main character. Limited narrator is limited to knowing about one main character. On the other hand, omniscient narrator knows all the objective and the subjective perspectives of the entire universe where the story takes place.

Sometimes descriptions appear to be purely physical but carry suggestions of personality traits. Moreover the descriptions can be based almost only on clothes which reflect the character's personalities and life styles.

Imagery is the art of forming images, mental pictures that you might visualize. Imagery allows the writer to show what he means instead of telling what he means. We can percieve with our minds. Imagery can be present even in the use of colors, in fact the interplay of two opposite colors symbolizes two contradictory events or a particular stage in someone's life, like the dawn. The most vivid images come also through a car window; "breath of rain, notes of a distant song". Read more about Images, Symbols, Similies and Metaphors.

Tone of the word is the attitude of the writer towards the story. The tone can be ironic or serious, formal or informal, nostalgic, detached, objective, mocking, playful...

Plot can be defined as the main events of the novel or short story. Plot refers to the pattern in which incidents or events are organized and unified. In plot, it is often on the casual links between the different events, on the way character, action and theme are woven together; and implies a larger framework within which the story may unfold. The pattern of the plot, that is to say the structure of the actions, can be linear or dramatic.
The exposition gives information about the characters and their situation. The inciting moment is the event that sets the action in movement. The climax is the point of highest interest in which tension or emotional response reaches its peak. Then comes the moment of the last suspense.

The setting of a story is its overall context, where, when and in what circumstances the action occurs. As place, the physical environment where the story takes place. As time, includes time in all of its dimensions. As cultural context, also involves the social circumstances of time and place. The setting also establishes an atmosphere or a mood in which the writer generates his feeling and thoughts.

All credits dont go to me

[Andrëa]

Reserving the first post.

[TiaoPong]

Unnecessary, prohibited not valid.

[Pump-Action Pimp]

This is all too general and specific, there's no room for creativity.

[Freya]

^You try to walk before you run.