Tips for writing (22/10/2012)

As I am very interested in becoming a writer for both the story and characters seen in video games, I decided to ask my lecturer his opinions on writing. I did so knowing that he loves books and thinking that he might also write them.

Now whereas he hasn't exactly written a book he has invented stories which he tells his child. These stories sound as if they would be fun for a child as he also incorporates life lessons into them so that they teach something as well.

He also gave me a fundamental rule that I should keep to, USP. Which in this case stands for Unique Selling Point. What he meant by this was that if you didn't include something unique in your story then it might not 'stand out from the crowd'. I can understand this as I already go by this rule whenever I try and come up with ideas for games.

He also suggested that I make sure that the world I create has rules and follows them so as to determine both the worlds atmosphere and limitations e.g. how does the magic or science fiction in the world work?   
 
He also advised that I should avoid working myself into the ground. After all, if your dead tired but feel you can add something then you should take a break. That way your brain gets the rest it needs and you can come back to it fresh, rather than just making mistakes during the previous session and wasting time. 

I personally also believe that the characters within a story should always have human qualities and weaknesses, as one thing I hate in any medium is when the hero is completely flawless and indestructible. I think these kind of characters are harder to get attached to as its hard to believe that such a character is in danger at all.

With all this great advise I'm going to try even harder now to come up with better ways of telling and writing stories, and hopefully also improve my spelling and punctuation in the process. 

New personal goal:


Write at least a chapter of the story I have in my head each month. That way I keep consistently adding to my work and I can come back to it later in the following months with a fresh mind in order to edit and change it.