Well.....

[eriko]

I had been thinking about this for quite some while:

1. Can you add some kind of cinematic feel to your story? And is there a way that you make it fast and then make it slow almost suddenly?

2. A year or two back before I started writing and when the story just used be in my head then I would totally fall into the character. Acting like his/her. And then I started feeling a little awkward. So I completly shut that character. But now I am having second thoughts about it. I really don't know if I should take the skin of the character or not. And I am also not sure if it would happen again.

3. A few months back somebody told me that everyone has a unique style. How do you actually recongnise or even develop one? Or are there some fixed set of styles that people follow. The guy mentioned that some people use hyphens, some humor and stuff like that.

4. Okay I wrote a poem, an inspired one. It was straight from heart type. And what I noticed that even though I have a good average vocab but in the poem it just got to the minimal level:
a) How should I use my vocab effectively to bring the best out of it?
b) The first line was Priceless innocence. But after reading it I felt that it was stupid since innocence is always priceless. I tried changing it but it did not work. The whole idea began to change and it also looked forced. So, is there something that I can keep in my mind before writing a poem so that I do not have to try changing the poem forcefully. Because whatever I do I just can't seem to make it better.

Please help.:(

[Crocolyle]

I had been thinking about this for quite some while:

1. Can you add some kind of cinematic feel to your story? And is there a way that you make it fast and then make it slow almost suddenly?

2. A year or two back before I started writing and when the story just used be in my head then I would totally fall into the character. Acting like his/her. And then I started feeling a little awkward. So I completly shut that character. But now I am having second thoughts about it. I really don't know if I should take the skin of the character or not. And I am also not sure if it would happen again.

3. A few months back somebody told me that everyone has a unique style. How do you actually recongnise or even develop one? Or are there some fixed set of styles that people follow. The guy mentioned that some people use hyphens, some humor and stuff like that.

4. Okay I wrote a poem, an inspired one. It was straight from heart type. And what I noticed that even though I have a good average vocab but in the poem it just got to the minimal level:
a) How should I use my vocab effectively to bring the best out of it?
b) The first line was Priceless innocence. But after reading it I felt that it was stupid since innocence is always priceless. I tried changing it but it did not work. The whole idea began to change and it also looked forced. So, is there something that I can keep in my mind before writing a poem so that I do not have to try changing the poem forcefully. Because whatever I do I just can't seem to make it better.

Please help.:(

I'm not sure if I'm really qualified to give advice, since as a writer, I personally need a lot of help, so take this with a grain of salt, but:

1. You can either: a) write a screenplay b) have kind of cheesy dialogue and unrealistic scenes... it's kind of hard to do this, because cinema is a different medium than written fiction, and each calls for different characteristics. Watch a lot of movies and try to get syour hands on some screenplays to get a feel of the sequence of action. Supposedly Stephen King (though personally as a Stephen-King reader, I haven't noticed this) has a very "cinematic" writing-style. Personally, I think cinema--because you have a short time to develop the characters and can't truly put the reader inside of one--sometimes borders on melodrama and almost burlesque exaggeration. But that's just me...

2. Not sure what you're talking about. But when you're writing, try to get in the skin of your character so as to better write out how they would act. To be a writer is to be an improvisational actor--except you have the added bonus of revision, reimagining, and recrafting... kind of like a mutable permanency (like you write it down... it doesn't disappear with the passing moment, but you however can change it until you decide to stop working on it)... though you should take off the skink, as soon as you finish. You don't want to be like some Leatherface or a weird-ass creeper, do you?

3. Your cousin was right. Everyone has a unique style. Believe it or not, you probably already do. Don't worry about making it unique. It happens naturally. You're probably relatively young (hence the name of the site), so you're probably still trying to find your voice, which I don't think is really an active process. It's more of a passive process that comes naturally through writing.

4. Poetry is tough. What matters most is the strength and power of the image you shape, and using the right words, in terms of meaning, sound, and cadence. Don't pick words just because they sound under-used. Remember: meaning and sound should be your focus. Look at Bukowski. His poetry, for the most part, is in plain, easy-to-understand English. Don't be fancy. Be true. That's the best advice I can give, though I don't consider myself to be much of a poet (but apparently a lot of people like my poetry... so... yeah).


I hope this helps. This is the best advice I have, though I'm afraid it's not very good.

[voila.itz.moi]

3. Well, don't worry about developing ur own unique style - it should come naturally.

4. If the poem is truly comes from your heart (and even if it doesn't) then don't worry about how extensive your vocabluary is. If you alter words to make them bigger it will just add a forced or fake feeling to the poem. Sometimes simplicity is more effective them using big words.

[Shaun]

1. Can you add some kind of cinematic feel to your story? And is there a way that you make it fast and then make it slow almost suddenly?

I'm not sure how to make something cinematic, but you can quicken and slow things by moving in and out of passive voice (if that's the proper term--think "be verbs" such as "was"). You need to be extremely careful about how much you use this, though, but using "was" can slow down an action sequence. I recommend not doing that though. You'd be better having stories that don't have to rush themselves to illustrate a point.

2. A year or two back before I started writing and when the story just used be in my head then I would totally fall into the character. Acting like his/her. And then I started feeling a little awkward. So I completly shut that character. But now I am having second thoughts about it. I really don't know if I should take the skin of the character or not. And I am also not sure if it would happen again.

Do you mean you actually begin acting like the character in real life? I'm not sure what you mean here...

3. A few months back somebody told me that everyone has a unique style. How do you actually recongnise or even develop one? Or are there some fixed set of styles that people follow. The guy mentioned that some people use hyphens, some humor and stuff like that.

Writers are ALWAYS developing their style (sometimes multiple styles). It takes time and patience. I've recently switched by style, actually, and I think it was a really great switch for me, because the new style seems really strong. But the best way to develop it is to simply read a lot and try things out. If you like the way someone does something, imitate it. Sooner or later you'll start developing your own versions of those things, or entirely new ways of writing.

There really aren't any fixed set of styles, per se. There are standard forms of style (popular, contemporary, literary, etc.), but there is no "standard" within those, as each author tends to be different in some way.

And I'll ignore the poetry stuff primarily because I don't know much about poetry, or don't feel qualified or right giving you advice about it when I don't really write it much myself.

[Crocolyle]

Passive Voice is the use of the verb "to be" in order to make the subject receive the action:

EX) The horse was ridden.
EX2) The horse was ridden by the girl.

The horse, which is the subject of the sentence, is not doing the action, but rather having the action being done to it. Girl, even though it is the one doing the action in the second example, is not the subject, but rather the object of the preposition "by."

Generally, passive voice is considered weak writing, particularly in the second example, because it is more concise and less confusing to say: "The girl rode the horse," which would be in active voice. Generally try to stick to this when you can, but some situations call for it--if the one doing the action is unknown, if you're trying to remove action from the subject, if you want a certain rhythm or sound, etc. Sometimes passive voice sounds right, but try to be active whenever possible.

Also, it is important to note that even though passive voice always (or at least usually, but I'm pretty sure always if you're using standard English) has a form of "to be" as a helping verb, just because there is a form of "to be" in a sentence doesn't necessarily mean passive voice.

EX) The girl is on the horse.

The form of "to be" is being used as a linking verb.

EX2) The girl is riding the horse.

The form of "to be" is being used as a helping verb in order to form the present progressive tense.

[eriko]

Thanks guys. I have some more questions to ask. Just two of them:

1. A few days back I was trying to write a biography of a character but I could not. So I want some tips. How do you write your character profile and stuff? And where? If you could come up with some examples that would be great.

2. I have forgotten what it was.

[Shaun]

How do you meant "write a biography of a character?" Do you mean as a note that you can look back on for later while writing the story? Could you clarify?

[Mercy]

Well, I'm not sure if this will help, but it's pretty interesting. It isn't exactly a biography, but it helps you get to know the character better:

http://www.geocities.com/poetess47/100questions.html

[eriko]

How do you meant "write a biography of a character?" Do you mean as a note that you can look back on for later while writing the story? Could you clarify?
Yeah. That is what I meant. And maybe something bigger than a note. I few days back I read that people also write stories explaining how the character developed a particular trait.

Well, I'm not sure if this will help, but it's pretty interesting. It isn't exactly a biography, but it helps you get to know the character better:

http://www.geocities.com/poetess47/100questions.html
Thanks a lot Mercy. It was pretty helpful.