Tips

Tips...story help...drawing lessons...more! XD

Writing Stories

Everybody has a potential story inside them! If you're thinking of writing one, then don't put it off any longer. Think up the plot, characters (I love thinking up characters! :D), and then start writing! You don't have to think up much before you start, as it will unravel as you go along. Good luck! :)

A Few Writing Tips...

THE TITLE

The title is important. It must be something which makes the reader want to turn the page and read. You can't make it to long and confusing, it has to be something catchy, easy to remember, and nice. Like Fern's Quest (don't pinch!); it's catchy, it has both the name of the main character and what goes on in the book in it, but it still leaves you with some suspense anyway.

HOW YOU BEGIN

If you begin your story with a lot of rambling and not getting to what's actually going on, then readers might just put down the book and leave it to age on a shelf without going past the first page. If it is an adventure mystery than it's good to start it something like "That day had been a peaceful one" (for instance). Then the reader knows something's going to happen, and keeps glued to it. Also, a prologue has to be somewhere else or a long time before what's happening in chapter one. I've seen stories when there's a prologue which just starts "A young man walked along to board the ship" and that's what the story's about. That should have been chapter one. 

DIALOGUE

You shouldn't write a story like this:

Hello said Jane. Hello Jill replied

It would have to be like this:

'Hello,' said Jane. 

'Hello,' Jill replied. 

The differences are that what Jill's saying has to be on another line from what Jane's saying. And you need to use speech marks. Some people do "Hello, I'm Jane," others do 'Hello, I'm Jane,'. Both are quite fine and correct, so it doesn't matter which you do. Also, you can't do:

'Hello.' said Jane. 

You can do:

'Hello,' said Jane.

Or:

'Hello.' Jane waved her hands.

SYNONYMS

To make your writing interesting, you have to use synonyms (different words with the same meaning). For instance,
Bob's drawing was excellent. Bill's was also excellent.
A better way of putting that would be:
Bob's drawing was excellent. Bill's was also brilliant.
Another example is the use of "said". A lot of people think they have to find other words to use instead of "said" to make their writing interesting. This is not altogether true. It is quite fine to use "said" when the person is just saying something like 'I like reading', but when they're saying something in a particular way it's good to add more detail. Example:
'Ugh, I hate this sauce,' said Jill. 
Ought to be:
'Ugh, I hate this sauce,' complained Jill.
Or a word with a similar meaning to "complained".

'Help!' said Peter.
Ought to be:
'Help!' yelled Peter.
Or a word with a similar meaning to "yelled".

'How lovely the weather is,' said Mary.
Could have been:
'How lovely the weather is,' remarked Mary.
 Or a word with a similar meaning to "remarked".

'Please pass the sugar,' said Charles.
Ought to be:
'Please pass the sugar,' requested Charles.
Or a word with a similar meaning to "requested".

One of my biggest peeves is when people write something like:
'What's your favourite colour?' said John.
It ought to have been "asked", "enquired", "questioned", "quizzed", "wanted to know" or goodness knows what!

SUSPENSION POINTS

Here is something I wrote on suspension points.

This is about suspension points, otherwise known as "dot, dot, dots". (I think of them as "dot, dot, dots".)

Anyway, I learnt today that:

1. All dot, dot, dots go together, not a space apart. 

2. When they're finishing a sentence, you put a full stop or an exclamation mark or a question mark after them. 

Example:

"'Hmm...I know!' said Jill" is an example of when the dot, dot, dots don't end the sentence and "'Hmm....' said Jill. 'I know!'" is an example of when the dot, dot, dots do end the sentence (so "hmm...." is one sentence), so there are four of them. 

If this makes any sense...

HYPHENS

Well-written, or well-done, or well-made, etc, should always be written with a hypen. A lot of people don't. Here are some other examples of things which often aren't written with a hyphen but should be:

Brown-haired

Blue-eyed

Snow-covered

Nimble-fingered

And so forth. No one is often written with a hypen, but without is more traditional. :)

COLONS, COMMAS OR SEMI COLONS?

A colon ( : ) is used to indicate something else, example:

She replied: 'Oh yes.'

This is the word: MOO

They were just totally random examples ^.^ A comma ( , ) is used for a short pause, example:

 Leaves fall in autumn, don't they?

My friend, Jasmine, loves cheese.

A Few Names...

Are you looking for a few names for characters/places in your story? I have a few ideas :3 Comment if you use any of these, as it won't do to have millions of people with the same names in their story. 

PLACES

Coming up with place names is quite simple - you can just muddle up other ones, such as Rushlake Green could be changed to Greenrush Lake. You can also get a surname, and just add "ton" or "ville" to the end of it, such as Harrisfordsville or Marleyton. If you would like a few ideas to get you started, here are a few ^.^

For a peaceful village or town in England or somewhere...

Lower Ashdown (of course there could also be Upper Ashdown)

Fenbridge

St. Agnes's Hill

Highston-on-the-Marsh

Highridge-on-the-Coast

For more of a fantasy-typed place...

Lyrennias

Ellesmir

Feldunim

Flororcana

Marsetene

CHARACTER NAMES

For ordinary everyday firstnames and surnames, you could look at the credits at the end of a film, and pinch some of those. ;) You will find some quite original ones there too. It's a good idea to muddle up the firstnames and surnames though, for instance if the film is giving credit to someone called Sarah Carrisford and someone called Michael Parker and you want to use those names in your story, you should change it to Michael Carrisford and Sarah Parker.

Also, you can go to a baby names website and use some of the names on there. Here are some links to good baby names websites. It's great if you can get a name with a meaning that corresponds to your character, so I'll show you some which show the meaning.

Names of Many Origins
Names of Many Origins
Indian Names

* Drawing Lessons *

Do not follow these exactly. Follow the steps, but be sure to develop your own style instead of becoming a weak shadow of me! Everybody is stronger when they're themself.

YOU WILL NEED:

1. A pencil

2. A rubber

3. A sheet of drawing paper

4. A drawing surface

Drawing Lesson #1: 

HOW TO DRAW A BUNNY

When drawing a bunny the first thing you need to know is what a bunny is. A bunny is a baby rabbit. Then, you need a photo. 

I love rabbits! I used to have one, called Pippin. Well, he wasn't mine, he belonged to the school I used to go to but he felt mine, and I even named him. I miss you Pippin!

Anyway, back to our drawing. 

Stage A

Rabbits are famous for their long ears and twitchy noses. We'll start with the head, which includes both of these :b

Stage B

Now for his body.

Stage C

You're done! Just colour him in (optional) and add some scenery! (In this case, grass.) 

And you're done! :)

Drawing Lesson #2: 

 HOW TO DRAW A CAT

This time, we won't be using a photo, as I looked at several different ones throughout the drawing. Just follow the steps ;)

1. Start by drawing the nose, mouth, ears, and basic lines as shown in the picture. 

 2. Now add the first shapes of the front paws, the chin, and the first lines of the eyes. 

 3. This is the most important stage this drawing! Add the facial features (and with it your cat's personality, mood, etc), as well as its back, paws, and the beginning of its tail. 

4. Now finish the tail, ears, and add markings. You could colour yours in. 

5. You're done! 

Drawing Tips...

1. Do not, and I repeat do not, draw on lined paper. Even if you think you're only scribbling, for all you know that scribble could turn into a masterpiece, and you wouldn't want that to be on lined paper, would you?
2. It's quality of the drawing which matters much more than how realistic it is. Use your style.
3. If you can look at what you're drawing when you're drawing it (example: looking at a cat) then that's good, but if your model is an animal it may be better to draw looking at a photo or wait until it goes to sleep. My cats always try to catch the end of my pencil when I'm drawing them! >:(
 4. When drawing from a photo, use the photo to see the proportions are right and you've got this-and-that the right shape, but do not copy what's in the photo. The same counts for someone else's drawing.

Digital Art

Here are some free programs and websites good for drawing and making graphics on the computer on the computer.

Chicken Smoothie Oekaki

A website for drawing only. You cannot make graphics with it, but it's wonderful for drawing and has lots of tools.

deviantART Muro

A good website for drawing AND making graphics!

Download GIMP

A great program for drawing and making graphics! Is a little confusing, but once you get the hang of it is really very good.

I hope that was helpful! More soon! :D Do you have any suggestions for this page? ;)