Looking for helpful writing resources

[Kuragari]

I'm wanting to improve my writing for both SFW and NSFW type material. I was wondering if anyone here who does a lot of writing knows of any good resources that I can make use of that have helped them, and would be greatly appreciative of it.

[FurrinGok]

I would recommend going to a library and finding a novel series. It can be fantasy, science-fiction, anything really, as long as it's a series of novels. Give it a read, if something doesn't make sense to you, look it over a few times before checking a dictionary or something, it'll help you learn a lot more words, phrases, and grammar.

[BlueLight]

I noticed that a lot of my repetitive sentience structure relates to things I've read. They're stereotypical in some sense.

[Kuragari]

I would recommend going to a library and finding a novel series. It can be fantasy, science-fiction, anything really, as long as it's a series of novels. Give it a read, if something doesn't make sense to you, look it over a few times before checking a dictionary or something, it'll help you learn a lot more words, phrases, and grammar.

I think Ive got a rather considerable vocabulary, considering I've been reading college level books since the age of 12 (reading was what I did a great deal of, and still do, before I discovered video games ) I will state however that Grammar is definitively not my strong suit. I've been told on several occasions that while my writing would sound right if spoke aloud, when reading it its a different story (which, in of itself, never made any sense to me)

I'm considering seeing if there's a downloadable thesaurus of some sort though, to help cut down on some of my repetition of some words.

[FurrinGok]

I've been reading a college level for most of my life, too, but books can still contain new words and grammar. If you want my recommendation, look for Terry Brooks. Great author, huge series. One of them's even a series of series, with a series attached to it! It's really quite the large series.

[Grape_Drink]

I would recommend going to a library and finding a novel series. It can be fantasy, science-fiction, anything really, as long as it's a series of novels. Give it a read, if something doesn't make sense to you, look it over a few times before checking a dictionary or something, it'll help you learn a lot more words, phrases, and grammar.

I think Ive got a rather considerable vocabulary, considering I've been reading college level books since the age of 12 (reading was what I did a great deal of, and still do, before I discovered video games ) I will state however that Grammar is definitively not my strong suit. I've been told on several occasions that while my writing would sound right if spoke aloud, when reading it its a different story (which, in of itself, never made any sense to me)

I'm considering seeing if there's a downloadable thesaurus of some sort though, to help cut down on some of my repetition of some words.

Only resource I can recommend for grammar is the Bedford Handbook (Diana Hacker). I had to get a hold of the 9th edition for my English courses, but the 8th edition is free online (I've been told if you can't get the 9th edition, get the 6th or 7th edition though).

It's the down and dirty "annoying" textbook that makes you want to bang your head repeatedly against a wall, but that thing has saved my skin more times than I can count. It really is a useful tool. It has pretty much everything you ever (and didn't ever) want to know about grammar/writing/syntax/etc.

I also use this boring words chart quite a bit when writing professional essays (it's really nice for jazzing up the place), but you'll pretty much never see me use it outside of them.

[Zeus Kabob]

I think Ive got a rather considerable vocabulary, considering I've been reading college level books since the age of 12 (reading was what I did a great deal of, and still do, before I discovered video games ) I will state however that Grammar is definitively not my strong suit. I've been told on several occasions that while my writing would sound right if spoke aloud, when reading it its a different story (which, in and of itself, never made any sense to me)

I'm considering seeing if there's a downloadable thesaurus of some sort though, to help cut down on some of my repetition of some words.

I'm no good writer. (Seriously.) Still, I'll try to give you any good advice I can. I'm not trying to be pedantic, patronizing, or insulting in any way by highlighting a couple mistakes above in red.

Basic level writing (mechanics and practices): You've stated you lack confidence in your mastery of grammar. Grammar is a hard thing to pin down. There are a lot of things that get called grammar that aren't it. Word usage and syntax (syntax this sentence consider to understand [consider this sentence to understand syntax]) aren't grammar. Start with a decent grounding in grammar. There's no real issue if you mess up your punctuation occasionally (I used to think commas denoted a pause, but they don't),^? but it helps to improve small things like punctuation, capitalization, avoid dangling participles, split infinitives, and avoiding ending a sentence with a preposition, like here. Another important thing is to avoid run-on sentences, like when someone continues typing and their point almost seems to be gone, leaving you wondering whether the sentence will ever end or if it'll go on forever. I actually have no clue how to point out run-on sentences, but in general I like to keep my sentences relatively short to avoid confusing readers unnecessarily. These things come with time, practice, and open eyes.

Moderate level writing (plot and settings): If you're trying to make a reader care, you need to set up a situation where they're inclined to. This is usually the quickest thing to develop; think of what you'd like to read, and it should come fairly naturally. Settings come after plot in most cases, and can get really interesting if you put the time in to polish them. One thing to start pruning out of your stories is excessive use of cliches or tropes, as they can take away from the story if used in excess. This doesn't mean you shouldn't use them; they're helpful in moderation as they help the viewer follow along with your story. Breaking tropes and cliches can help make an interesting story sometimes, but it's a thin line.

Examples: A knight in white armor saving a princess? That can get pretty boring. Knight in white armor goes to save a princess, but turns out she's the one holding the dragon prisoner, and shit goes down? This tends to be a better starting point in general.

Advanced level writing (deep characterization and flavorful language): Characters are essential but the skillful creation of diverse characters is a skill that develops slowly. Your first main character is probably going to be you—and by that I mean that your first character will likely have your personality, your approximate appearance and build, and your mannerisms. Don't worry about this, people will like you if you're in a good situation to showcase your good features and your bad ones. The reason we need really deep characterization is because a story isn't built on one person. You've got your perspective covered; make a first person story that details a person like you in an exciting situation. Now you need support characters. These may be villains, friends, lovers, parents, sisters, brothers, animals, or anything. At first it'll be easy to pick up a few of these: maybe you channel your sister in a character, maybe you channel that one douchebag jock as the antagonist of the story. Maybe your mother is just like your real mom, and maybe your pet dog is just like your real one. Once you're familiar with empathizing with these characters and giving them a voice and a decent amount of autonomy, you can start making your own characters completely from scratch. This usually involves mixing and matching those character traits that you've experienced. With time, focus, and skill you can make a character who doesn't fall into an archetype (that douche, nice guy, neckbeard, flirty girl, feminazi), but instead is a person of their own. It's hard, and I'm no good at it. My best advice for this is to continue to search and learn and watch and listen, actively look up advice, and steal other people's mannerisms (mannerisms are the toughest).

Flavorful language is another hard thing to come up with. "She slapped him" is sometimes the right phrase for pacing reasons, but maybe you want to accentuate the action: "The loud *THWACK* of her hand against his face rang out in the small room. He reeled back in pain, his eyes wide and his face red". Sometimes it makes sense to put in a lot of extra detail, but sometimes it doesn't. "We need to go to the castle" he said while sharpening his blade against a large whetstone while taking one last swig from his wineskin. "There, the king will tell us what must be done". This extra detail makes the reader pause while the knight drinks from his wineskin, which can either be a good thing if they read fast or a bad thing if they read very slowly. Pacing like this is difficult, and it's eventually your decision on what kind of pacing is most comfortable in your story. The use of varied and interesting vocabulary can also make scenes more or less interesting. "The painting was old and ripped" is different from "The canvas was tattered and the paint was faded". The use of a good thesaurus is a great thing, but don't make the same mistake as George W. Bush by using words you don't know. When he wrote a letter saying "Lacerations ran down my face", it was most certainly not an adequate replacement for "tears". Try to expand your vocabulary slowly and steadily by using thesauruses as well as reading other creative works.

Hope this helped!


[MOD EDIT] This is one of those corner cases, but I think this thread belongs in Tutorials more than Discussion.