Facepunch Unity Novel Thread! (F.U.N.T) - General

[b]Facepunch Unity Novel Thread! (F.U.N.T)[/b] [img]http://i.imgur.com/65hnZCD.png[/img] [b]What is this?[/b] [b][u]The F.U.N.T is a thread dedicated to the writing and creation of Novels, Novellas and Short Stories. The goal of the thread is to bring the creative community of the site together and share works of written art.[/u][/b] [b]What do we do to take part?[/b] [b][u]Write! Have fun and write! No limit on minimum or maximum words, just write as much as you can for as long as you can![/u][/b] [b]When does this thread start/end?[/b] [b][u][i]Never![/i] The thread will go on until it's locked and then be re-opened. There will always be the OP containing the works of various Facepunch writers who wish to participate.[/u][/b] [b]Can I participate?[/b] [b][u]Can you write? Then you can![/u][/b] ---------------- [b][u]Categories and Participants[/u][/b] [quote] [b]Novel – 50,000+ Words[/b] Zillamaster55 – [i]On The Shoulders of Broken Men[/i] – Incomplete[/quote] [quote] [b]Novella – 17,500-50,000 Words[/b] [/quote] [quote] [b]Novellette – 7,500 – 17,500 Words[/b] [/quote] [quote] [b]Short Story – 7,500 Words[/b] [/quote]

I've always wanted to write something but it was never my best talent. Now I've got a good excuse to work on it.

[URL="http://www.writerscafe.org/writing/The_J_Hat/1175414/"]http://www.writerscafe.org/writing/The_J_Hat/1175414/[/URL] I wrote this a little more than a year ago.

[B]Pro Tips for Writers[/B] - 1) Don't think about what to do past the chapter/section you're working on. Just focus on the immediate part of the story and try to build from there. 2) Set a [I]small[/I] word goal for yourself each day, like 500-750 words. More than that can cause you to burn out really quickly, which is arguably worse than taking a while to finish the book itself. 3) Become your character! This is really [I]really[/I] important. You need to step out from your mindset and into that of the person you are writing about. Think closely about their motivations and livelihood, and let that influence their decisions and their view of the world around them.

You should maybe add some suggestions/prompts into the OP, it might help inspire people I really love creative writing but find it sooo hard to get started

I'll write a short story soon. Also [URL="http://www.reddit.com/r/shutupandwrite/top/"]/r/shutupandwrite[/URL] is very useful.

[QUOTE=NiandraLades;47210384]You should maybe add some suggestions/prompts into the OP, it might help inspire people I really love creative writing but find it sooo hard to get started[/QUOTE] Ohhh son of a bitch, I didn't save the word file that I used for the OP and it has that stupid "edit and it all has to be redone" thing. Give me a while, and I'll get right to it c:

[QUOTE=Zillamaster55;47210185]Become your character! This is really [I]really[/I] important. You need to step out from your mindset and into that of the person you are writing about. Think closely about their motivations and livelihood, and let that influence their decisions and their view of the world around them.[/QUOTE] On this note, it's important to have sympathy for all of your characters, even the villains. A common mistake for beginners is to create cartoonishly cruel antagonists. Also: [QUOTE]Don't think about what to do past the chapter/section you're working on. Just focus on the immediate part of the story and try to build from there.[/QUOTE] I disagree with this personally. Not to challenge Zilla because different writers have different methods, but I feel it's wise to have an idea of where your story's heading. That way all the pieces will add up. This also allows for over-arching metaphors and meaningful character development. And for me, if I'm stuck at a point in my writing, I'll skip it over for the time. I might write a summary of what is meant to happen in that scene, and if I know what comes next I'll write that instead. If you have a vivid vision for a scene that you're not at yet, write it out. You can always change it later. Again, it's okay to experiment with methods to see what works for you.

[QUOTE=BlueChihuahua;47211223]And for me, if I'm stuck at a point in my writing, I'll skip it over for the time. I might write a summary of what is meant to happen in that scene, and if I know what comes next I'll write that instead. If you have a vivid vision for a scene that you're not at yet, write it out. You can always change it later.[/QUOTE] I found this to be really difficult when writing, so that's why I didn't recommend it. If it works for others though, then have at it!

I have a motherfucking truck load of synopsises for stories that I had dreamed about and crafted before I went to bed. As a child I had a very hard time sleeping and would stay awake for hours despite my eyes being closed - so I had a lot of time on my hands and I found the best way was to make deep and complex stories, sometimes create smaller, shorter stories. I never wrote any of it down, nor do I have plans to ever write a full novella/novel but I think this thread has inspired me to at least tell people what I have thought about. The best part was to have fun trying to locate all the plot holes, and make an explanation for every little thing that happens. It was fun! I also think it would be fun to throw a few prompts around - love this thread!

I'll participate - I always want to write but I always burn out and lose interest. This way I can complete short stories at least, while also improving my ability to write in English.

[QUOTE=Zillamaster55;47211120]Ohhh son of a bitch, I didn't save the word file that I used for the OP and it has that stupid "edit and it all has to be redone" thing. Give me a while, and I'll get right to it c:[/QUOTE] I totally meant that in a friendly thumbs up way and not a 'i am a mod, please do as I say' sort of deal, lmfao

[QUOTE=NiandraLades;47212478]I totally meant that in a friendly thumbs up way and not a 'i am a mod, please do as I say' sort of deal, lmfao[/QUOTE] No no I totally understand that But it's really frustrating to have to type out the OP again

I PM'd J Hat my praise and constructive criticism for the piece he wrote. If you post your work here and it's not too massive, I can do the same if requested. Aspiring writers are supposed to seek out feedback, I think.

If anyone would like to give a short synopsis of their writing, that'd actually be quite beneficial. We could discuss adjustments to the story and help with its construction

I'll have to work more on the short story I've been writing, maybe I can post it here and get some feedback when it's finished! It's gonna be a short sci-fi romance story and I'm having fun with it. also I thought I'd share this, I've been using this software to do my writing in cuz it helps me keep focus [url]http://gottcode.org/focuswriter/[/url] It goes full screen and you can customize the interface to suit the theme of whatever you're working with, it's really nice!

Alright, lets start this up. Rough drafts of synopsis of stuff. [B]The Darkside[/B] [quote]Where do people go after death? In this world, when all creatures die of unnatural causes, they get sent to a place where they are morphed into creatures only describable by the persons personality in their past life. They all arrive at the same place, a tower set up by the inhabitants of the land to sort those too dangerous to enter their society and those who are smart enough to stay. One such person to enter this place is a girl, killed by a runaway car. Upon completing sorting, people are thrown onto the streets to fend for themselves. Unable to find a place to stay, a shady creature tells her of a place to work at. She shortly begins to work as a secretary at a brothel. From here, she begins to discover how the world around her works. She gains new friends and discovers dark secrets about the place she lives in - while huge changes begin ripping the society apart. [/quote] An incredibly long story I had thought up - it has a lot of subplots going on at the same time from politics to mobsters to revolutions. I was inspired by art done by an artist who had done just some crazy monsters and just really weird characters, while giving them a humanoid feel and somehow cute in a way. Unfortunately he died, and his art was only available on a website which doesn't exist anymore (I'll try wayback machine and see if that helps when I get home) I think I have about 2 saved images, which I can show later if needed. This story took about 3 years to complete (in my head anyways) - I have never written any of it down until now. [B]Machinehead[/B] [quote]In a future world where racing has gone beyond simple tracks and towards entire planets dedicated to racing, a poor family sells off it’s only child by his mother to work as crew for a small-time racer. The boy and the crew of the racer are treated terribly by him. They become closer as a result, but when a botched attempt at fixing the match results in the death of the racer and a huge potential debt to criminals, all of the crews lives are at risk. Only one person is capable of taking the racers place - the boy.[/quote] A shorter story thought up for fun. [b]Tales from The Crypt[/b] [quote]A young Journalist discovers catacombs in her cities graveyard - inside, restless spirits wander and speak to each other. With the journalists accidental arrival, the spirits hatch a plan to get their stories out, their mistakes fixed, and finally put their souls to rest. A host of inconceivable people, estranged lovers, and evil lurks every corner. But can the journalist really help them?[/quote] Another short story (By short I mean single novel length, probably.) I have a looot more and can keep posting them if you like - this is just a sample. Longest one took around 8 years to complete it's story line. Recently, like the two above I have been doing mostly short stuff because I just don't have the same inspiration I used too. About 2-3 hours every night put into each year. Which one do you guys like best? I'd like to start writing stuff more.

The Darkside seems to be the most developed, as you yourself point out. I can't judge it based on such a short description. But I will give this general advice regarding fantasy storylines: always set up laws, limitations, and structure to your otherworld, and follow those laws. Otherwise fantasy and sci-fi becomes too videogame-y. You should also have an idea of just what this place is and why it's run as it is. You imply that you already have the why down. If you're serious about writing it out and already know the story, it may be a good idea to create a skeleton of events and characters first.

Basically my principle was no creatures with extrodinary powers or abilities, a majority are humanoid or a combination of animals and concepts. Other then that, I made sure to explain every machine and werid thing as well as possible - there's no super device or magical things going on in the story - its basically earth in a different view and different politics, which is what the story is about mostly. I want it to be subtle though - its meant to be a child-like story with fairly dark undertones and in a dark setting (hence, name.) Making the girl work Ina brothel was the obvious allusion to this and those get more progressively worse and worse. (In the story sense.)

[QUOTE=Te Great Skeeve;47212094]I have a motherfucking truck load of synopsises for stories that I had dreamed about and crafted before I went to bed. As a child I had a very hard time sleeping and would stay awake for hours despite my eyes being closed - so I had a lot of time on my hands and I found the best way was to make deep and complex stories, sometimes create smaller, shorter stories. I never wrote any of it down, nor do I have plans to ever write a full novella/novel but I think this thread has inspired me to at least tell people what I have thought about. The best part was to have fun trying to locate all the plot holes, and make an explanation for every little thing that happens. It was fun! I also think it would be fun to throw a few prompts around - love this thread![/QUOTE] I was exactly like this, too, and my biggest "dream" lasted for almost 8 years since 2007. I went a little further, though - I have 2 slightly different, very long synopses (one of them I never finished) and a really big universe almost completely written, spanning 3 different stories of mankind, including a slightly modified version of ours. A big plot point was a botched collective time travel thing that restarted Earth, taking everyone's life on it. It wasn't the main focus for my favourite story, though. The first chapter's plot of the 2nd story is also completely "scaffolded" and blueprinted, down to every major detail and some minor ones. Another thing missing is dialogue, which, ironically, is my favourite thing to write. Unfortunately I had to call it quits recently, because the main plot for the story was one big cliche-fest and it was very uninteresting from start to finish, there really is no way to fix it without completely rehauling it. I feel like I've always known this, but during the entire time I denied it, there was just nothing original or striking about it apart from being complicated. Good thing I had to make 3 different stories to chain everything together, since one of them at least doesn't suck (though I need to explore it a bit further first, it's still young) and the other one I adapted to a Tabletop RPG, since the originally conceived plot for it [B]was even worse[/B]. All in all I've wasted more than 10.000 words if I'm not mistaken, having created around 26 characters with unique looks, personalities and developments, following the more important ones for dozens of years. Come to think of it, the story really was bloated with characters. Don't get too attached to the things you guys write. Be ready to re-(re-re-re-re-re-)think/test/write anything that doesn't look good don't be afraid to do it, and in severe cases like these just scrap the whole thing. I'm sorry for pouring my heart out like this all of a sudden. I just felt like I had to rant somewhere.

My biggest one was basically a personal one, at one point I actually got so excited I WANTED to come home and sleep to figure out what was going to happen next. It was like my mind was giving me a ride that I wasn't even thinking of myself - it was pretty cool. Unfortunately I'll never write it, not even the plot, if you want bloated - it had over 200 characters with different dimensions, planets and even different universes to the point of absolutely absurdity. (It was basic fantasy, not even science fiction btw!!!) It's too long for anybody to enjoy - but at least I enjoyed it! It's sad to hear your plot didn't work out for you - try going back to an earlier point and re-write from where it made sense, and make a skeleton plot in your mind, then keep going on from there - I did that constantly to make sure it made sense. Other then that huge one, I learned from that one and do that pre-maturely though. Don't ever give up on stories though! See if you can adapt individual stories from it into smaller things - maybe you can make them together and finish it off one day! Maybe. Another thing you can do is listen to some old orchestrated music or movie themes and make an opening (like a movie) in your mind - there's no lyrics so you can come up with whatever you want - it's a great way to start or solidify your idea. [editline]26th February 2015[/editline] To be honest when I think I have a story solidified I play an entire movie in my head to make sure the basics make sense and it's interesting enough that I'll want to keep making up pictures in my head for it. Not many people can do that, though. [editline]26th February 2015[/editline] Stuff like this inspired me heavily for that : (From the game, not the movies!) [video=youtube;k5hY6JFrqbo]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5hY6JFrqbo[/video]

My first novel 'The Wolfknight' is going to be released in a little under three weeks

I'm working on lores more than anything. [I]Burgerland[/I] has been changed from a novel to novellas instead illustrating the insanity of people going on killing sprees for the abstracting high created eating specific foods. [I]Super Nova[/I], taking a lot of inspiriation from Battletech, is a lore based around 5 warring factions for control of known human space. The difference this time around is that the factions are different, sentient aliens are a planned part of the story and there are no mechs.

I tried writing a story about a secret US underwater base in the Cold War that gets attacked by parasites but I ran into writer's block after the first sentence.

[QUOTE=Te Great Skeeve;47219415]See if you can adapt individual stories from it into smaller things - maybe you can make them together and finish it off one day! Maybe.[/QUOTE] This is phenomenal advice. I wrote out an entire novel, sat on it for a while, then realized it was trash. But I was able to extract elements, characters, and scenes from it and created several short stories. But I still have a long way to go to being a decent author.

Basic synopsis of mine: The empire of Rome is staggering and a ferocious warrior from a faraway lands threatens its ultimate demise. Does the empire have what it takes to survive? Or will this "Man of the North" destroy everything in his path? [editline]27th February 2015[/editline] In brief/not-as-cool: Gothic unifying king rustles up a bunch of Germanic peoples in the early 100s AD, decides to waddle on into an anachronistically ailing Rome.