Hey! I just got notebook.ai and I am also a young writer. I love writing but I have a hard time developing story things… Does anybody have any tips for worldbuilding/character development/and other story creating details. Anything helps!!!
This might sound pretty obvious but the most important thing to do is write what you would want to read. Think about what your favorite genre is, science fiction, fantasy, historical fiction, real world, and go from there, think about the elements you were pulled in by the most. I'm not telling you to plagiarize but do think about what elements of stories you've read that you've found the most interesting and develop a way to create something or your own that will have the same effect to a reader as whatever inspired you did to you. of course there's a lot more to do from there but at least to set the ball rolling you should (for lack of a better expression) follow your heart.
As for characters, try to build characters off of people you've met, or people you know well. This will help them feel realistic! Stories are always better when they come from reality. Use your life experiences to inspire your work. Best of luck!
This might sound pretty obvious but the most important thing to do is write what you would want to read. Think about what your favorite genre is, science fiction, fantasy, historical fiction, real world, and go from there, think about the elements you were pulled in by the most. I'm not telling you to plagiarize but do think about what elements of stories you've read that you've found the most interesting and develop a way to create something or your own that will have the same effect to a reader as whatever inspired you did to you. of course there's a lot more to do from there but at least to set the ball rolling you should (for lack of a better expression) follow your heart.
Thank you so much! This is a great tip that seems really obvious but I've never actually consciously thought about it while writing.
As for characters, try to build characters off of people you've met, or people you know well. This will help them feel realistic! Stories are always better when they come from reality. Use your life experiences to inspire your work. Best of luck!
Thank you for this advice! people usually tell me not to do this because it's to familiar but I feel like it does help with realistic characters.
As for characters, try to build characters off of people you've met, or people you know well. This will help them feel realistic! Stories are always better when they come from reality. Use your life experiences to inspire your work. Best of luck!
I actually would not recommend this. People in real life are actually really boring, and whilst its okay to take inspiration from people you know, I wouldn't recommend basing them entirely on real people. For one, the character is your creation, and if you restrict yourself by having them only do what the person they are based on would do, you prevent them from growing into their own entity. Books, by their very nature, are unbelievable. they tell stories that simply would not happen in the real world, for the most part, and readers can generally suspend their disbelief to enjoy the story.
As for characters, try to build characters off of people you've met, or people you know well. This will help them feel realistic! Stories are always better when they come from reality. Use your life experiences to inspire your work. Best of luck!
I actually would not recommend this. People in real life are actually really boring, and whilst its okay to take inspiration from people you know, I wouldn't recommend basing them entirely on real people. For one, the character is your creation, and if you restrict yourself by having them only do what the person they are based on would do, you prevent them from growing into their own entity. Books, by their very nature, are unbelievable. they tell stories that simply would not happen in the real world, for the most part, and readers can generally suspend their disbelief to enjoy the story.
That makes sense.
OK, I didn't think I would come back to this, but the end of this thread kept me up at night.
Real life people, of at least the one's I've seen, are not boring. I've never met a boring person. Books and stories in general are allowed to be unrealistic, yes, but what makes them enjoyable is seeing human stories play out on the page. I firmly believe you cannot tell real human stories without basing characters on real humans. It is okay to exaggerate character traits, and invent backstories, biological features, etc, but if there is no realism to characters, you will be creating flat characters. (or worse, you could start stereotyping.) I'm not saying that you need to write peoples real lives into the story, just think about what a real person in the situation of your fictional character would do.
Please don't try to come up with a character using a grab bag of 'cool traits.' use real people. Like @ItsaMeUrMom said, it's ok if you begin to expand the character out depending on their unique scenario's, but make sure you keep it real.
Sorry, this was a bit of a rant.
Yeah man doug is right, people aren't boring, if anything they just haven't reached their potential. What I mean is thousands of stories all begin the same way, with a normal person and then they are thrust into an extraordinary circumstance, and that is when they become heroes. In the real life our world is filled to the brim with stories like this. I mean it is a good thing that most of have never and probably will never face a major tragedy, near death experience, or ever have a revolution rest on our shoulders but even you, your friends, the strangers you pass on the street have the potential to do extraordinary things.
17 years ago when the world trade centers were attacked random ordinary people from all around NYC dropped their briefcases and paper coffee cups and started running into burning buildings to save complete strangers, I mean that day the sky fell in but we stood tall with a bravery we never thought we had. And I'd be willing to bet if you could go back and time and ask those same people on September 10th if they would ever do anything that brave, that dangerous, that insane, they'd probably all say that they never could. I don't know what story you're writing of whether or not your protagonist is was born great or had greatness thrust upon them but the point is, never underestimate the power of average. More people than you think have a hero inside of them, but most people just never get a chance to prove it.
So yeah man, real characters are the best characters, and your plot will show us what they're made of.
@doug and @Azuresbend thanks for saying this because I kinda thought the same thing. Some fiction when creating characters is good but taking and ordinary person and making them amazing with their potential is amazing. I'm taking all of the advice I can get!!! Thank you so much!