Writing Corty's Tip Jar

[Kalliel]

I think tense in a story is less noticeable to non native English speakers.

I second this.
I used to, and still read garbage mtl, so my brain doesn't register tenses anymore.
Remember kids, don't read mtl if you want to preserve your English.

 

[SailusGebel]

I think tense in a story is less noticeable to non native English speakers.

No.

 

[RepresentingEnvy]

No.

Must just be a few anecdotes then?

 

[SailusGebel]

Must just be a few anecdotes then?

I have no idea what this means.

 

[RepresentingEnvy]

I have no idea what this means.

Basically a couple of friends have said they don't notice tense changes in English. They aren't native speakers, so it was my own anecdotal experience.

 

[SailusGebel]

Basically a couple of friends have said they don't notice tense changes in English. They aren't native speakers, so it was my own anecdotal experience.

I think it depends on a person. I will use myself as example. Although I forgot a lot of grammar rules, I still remember a bunch about tenses, mainly because I spent the majority of my time on them. My tutor focused on tenses. So even though I forgot a lot of stuff, wrong tenses still irks me a lot whenever I notice them. At the same time, my punctuation sucks because I barely learned anything about it. That's why I don't really care about punctuation unless it's something really noticeable\terrible.

 

[RepresentingEnvy]

I think it depends on a person. I will use myself as example. Although I forgot a lot of grammar rules, I still remember a bunch about tenses, mainly because I spent the majority of my time on them. My tutor focused on tenses. So even though I forgot a lot of stuff, wrong tenses still irks me a lot whenever I notice them. At the same time, my punctuation sucks because I barely learned anything about it. That's why I don't really care about punctuation unless it's something really noticeable\terrible.

True enough. I even notice native English speakers mess up tense a lot. Sometimes in the same sentence.

 

[Corty]

@RepresentingEnvy @SailusGebel

Well, now you two confused me. I thought it was about keeping a story in a tense flow, like you know when you pull on a fabric and make it tense. Like having a constant... well... tense in the story's flow.

 

[SailusGebel]

@RepresentingEnvy @SailusGebel

Well, now you two confused me. I thought it was about keeping a story in a tense flow, like you know when you pull on a fabric and make it tense. Like having a constant... well... tense in the story's flow.

You have to ask the one who started all of it, @melchi

 

[melchi]

Dunno about that. I will leave those types of advices to others. I never even thought about that while writing.

I don’t keep my story tense all the time, I think. My style of writing is having an end goal and working towards it, doing it in small arcs with their own little adventures that build up to the big picture.

Tension and sentence tenses are different things.

EX: "I dunno about that. I will leaves those types of advises to others. I never even think about that while writing."

"I don't keep my story tense all the time I thought. My style of writing kept an end goal..."

(mix of present and past tense)

 

[Corty]

@melchi I never had problems with that part, I think. It never even occurred to me that it could be a problem. It seems... natural to keep it consistent.

I thought you meant keeping the story in a tense situation so readers keep coming back to see what happens.

 

[melchi]

@melchi I never had problems with that part, I think. It never even occurred to me that it could be a problem. It seems... natural to keep it consistent.

I thought you meant keeping the story in a tense situation so readers keep coming back to see what happens.

Well newbies like me didn't know "Corty says:" and "Corty said:" were not interchangeable until someone mentioned it.

 

[Corty]

Well newbies like me didn't know "Corty says:" and "Corty said:" were not interchangeable until someone mentioned it.

I had a similar issue, but not with the past/present thingie, but placing the names in the sentences in the wrong order until I was told that it reads weird. I wrote the whole first book of mine like that, so when posting here and finally being told, "Hey, this is wrong," I had to rewrite 300 chapters.

 

[SailusGebel]

I never had problems with that part, I think. It never even occurred to me that it could be a problem. It seems... natural to keep it consistent.

Just check out my feedback thread. It's not common, but it's not as rare either.

 

[maury]

I'm pretty sure most new writers won't find this guide if it's here. I didn't even know this forum existed until 2 or 3 years after I started reading stories on scribblehub. And it's on the nav bar. But I am very inattentive, so it might just be me. That said, I do agree with everything here. Not because I am an experienced writer, but because I have similar experiences in art, dame design, and 3d modeling.

 

[Corty]

I'm pretty sure most new writers won't find this guide if it's here. I didn't even know this forum existed until 2 or 3 years after I started reading stories on scribblehub. And it's on the nav bar. But I am very inattentive, so it might just be me. That said, I do agree with everything here. Not because I am an experienced writer, but because I have similar experiences in art, dame design, and 3d modeling.

Look at it as if I'm doing an exclusive tutorial for exclusive people. Or something like that.

 

[RepresentingEnvy]

Look at it as if I'm doing an exclusive tutorial for exclusive people. Or something like that.

 

[Deleted member 139452]

I'm pretty sure most new writers won't find this guide if it's here. I didn't even know this forum existed until 2 or 3 years after I started reading stories on scribblehub. And it's on the nav bar. But I am very inattentive, so it might just be me. That said, I do agree with everything here. Not because I am an experienced writer, but because I have similar experiences in art, dame design, and 3d modeling.

I will inform the new writers about this if I come across them

 

[Corty]

Word Count​

This one is going to be a short one. Since being a member of this forum, I have seen many similar questions making their rounds here.

• How long a chapter should be?
• Is this too long? Or short?
• Should I make this shorter? Longer?

And anything in between. The short answer? Nobody has the answer. Simple as that. But here are MY opinions on how you should approach the word count! I hope this will help.

1. Is your novel your first book?
   • Yes
     • Then, don't care about it. Just write it, however long one chapter is, and celebrate it.
   • No
     • Move to question number 2.
2. What is your upload schedule?
   • Daily
     • You are good if you only do 1,000-1,200 words per chapter. Anything below 1,000 is too short.
   • Every other day
     • Try to aim for between 1,500 and 2,000 words per chapter.
   • 1 or 2 chapters per week
     • I think it's best if you aim above 2,000 words per chapter.
   • Even rarer
     • Well... 4,000? Dunno.
   • Inconsistent
     • Then, you should work on that first before worrying about word count.
3. Here is my personal experience after writing daily for two years now.
   • I found my sweet spot to be around 2,000 words per chapter. Usually, it falls between 2,000 and 2,300. I have been writing every day for the past two years, and it took time and effort to achieve it. The beginning was the hardest, but I advise you to push on. Even if you feel you can't write it, then do a bit less but more the next time. It took me around half a year to get comfortable and keep consistent. I now manage to reach my goal easily and comfortably, releasing chapters daily.
   • Of course, this can be different for you. My advice is to find the number of words per chapter you feel comfortable to write! Then, try achieving that number with every chapter. When you get to a state where you can sit down and achieve it, you can look into raising it.
   • By my readers' feedback, I summarized in the past years that writing 2,000-ish words per chapter is what they are comfortable with reading. Not too long and also not short enough to leave them unsatisfied.
4. About splitting chapters.
   • Anything above 4,000 words I advise to be split into two chapters. Why? Two reasons:
     • It can feel exhausting/dragged out for a reader to go through a really long chapter. This is how the human brain works, at least in my experience. When something exciting is happening, it is good sometimes to drop a 2-in-1 chapter, doubling your average word count. It is a novelty, but constantly pumping out long chapters can be detrimental. (This stands true if you are someone who releases chapters frequently!)
     • Chapter count. It simply gives you more chapters. More chapters = more readers. Don't forget that many readers only pick up a story when it has ample chapters! Don't be your own enemy!

Well, I think that is it for me for now. Hope this helped... See ya later!

 

[Corty]

Naming Things​

The idea struck me after reading a topic about naming problems. Or being stuck by giving names to things in your story. So, I decided to make a quick post about how I tackle the naming question, and maybe some of you will find it useful.

Those who can't be bothered, don't be afraid to use a site like Fantasy Name Generator. It has multiple options you can choose and generate names to your heart's content; it's up to you. Those who want to be a bit more 'original,' do continue reading!






Characters:

1. Creating new names
   • This is my most used method. How do I do it? I simply create a word that comes to mind that is easy to say out in my head and has maybe two maximum three syllables and no meaning. I try to keep it simple and short. When doing so, I most of the time start with the first letter and repeat it over and over until the name I come up with sounds fine.
     • Example: I have a character named Kawu. I first knew I wanted him to have a name that starts with K. Then I started spitballing. Koon, Kima, Khashur, Kawan, etc. I was just putting letters together until I thought about Kawu. I liked it; it fit his personality in my head, and that was it.
2. Transforming names
   • This is my second most used method. When I can't be asked. I take a real name and change up letters, syllables, or vowels. I changed it in a way that it can be pronounced and seems legible.
     • Example: Kyaranin. It is a name I transformed from Kyaradain, which is an artist's name I know of that is also already a transformation of the name Carradine. See? It just works.
3. Using real names
   • This is a method that I usually go to when I have a name that I like the sound of, and I think can fit the story. I also tend to play little games that go above the head of most readers, at least until they are familiar with other languages... which includes using foreign words as names.
     • Example: In one of my books, there was a demonic faction led by a tiger. I named him Harimau, which simply means "The tiger" in Malaysian. Case closed. I had many more like this, naming my demonic characters by looking up their animal names in other languages like Mongolian. Of course, if it just didn't fit, I transformed it using my second method, but still. It was fun doing so.

Those are my three main methods when it comes to naming characters. So far, never failed me.

Items, locations, etc:

Same. If you want something unique, just do it the same way. Maybe your city is at the cross of two rivers? Look up a word for river, bridge, valley, or something in another language and use it as its name. Give landmarks a name that describes them. For example, I had a place named "Swordscar Pass," which was a deep canyon that looked like a scar left behind on the earth. Simple.

What to avoid:

Overcomplicating. That is stupid. You may think it's cool, it's unique, it's smart. No. It is pretentious and stupid. You will only make it so your readers roll their eyes and move on. Giving something/someone a long, convoluted, or absurd name is a bad choice. Also, try not to mimic Chinese and Japanese naming, okay? Especially if you don't know what you are doing but copying from Google. You are just becoming your own enemy with that. It's like wearing a tattoo of "chicken soup."

Using unique or extra-long names is only valid if it reinforces some kind of joke or gets acknowledged in the story for how stupid it sounds. Most readers, and I mean 95%, want a name they can read on the first try and can remember easily. If not, they would skip it, forget it, or simply move on with the story, and now you managed to alienate a possible reader base. Not good...




Extra:

The same is true of using other languages in your work. Let me explain with an example: In my story, there was an ancient, long-gone empire with a different language. I used my own native one for that. It was presented as a little nudge, a joke, writing one or two sentences only, which made the MC and her group dizzy and annoyed for not figuring out what was going on and what it could mean.

It is fun to use things like this now and then, but don't go overboard. Constantly doing it is bad, mmmkay?

See ya all later!