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MakingFunOfStuff —
How Not to Tell a Story
Published: 2013-03-06 04:31:32 +0000 UTC; Views: 124323; Favourites: 952; Downloads: 69
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After being on DeviantArt for a few years now, I've noticed patterns in people's stories. Patterns, that I can't say I've ever seen until I started using the internet. I believe that's because these kind of patterns are thoroughly unprofessional. The pattern in short is this:Character = victim
Plot = bad things happening to said victim
Maybe this sounds harsh. It's not if you understand that is ALL there is to these stories. They take any character, hurl them into a tragedy and that's it.
Let's get this straight: We do not know your character well enough to care about them yet. No matter how bloody and gutty their injuries are, no matter how many of their family members are deceased, no matter what their boyfriend did to them, no matter what kind of disease they have, WE. DO. NOT. CARE!!!!!
These kind of things are sad in themselves, but WHO is this person we're supposed to feel so horrible for? Establish THAT. It should be your absolute FIRST priority: no exceptions.
No more pasting faces onto the same cardboard-cut-out sob story protagonist.
If you want readers to care, you must FIRST GIVE THEM A HUMAN BEING TO CARE FOR.
If you don't, yes of course you are still going to get comments from emotional people who find your story intriguing. That is not the point.
The absolute WORST thing you can do is (I hate saying this), taking comments from people on the internet seriously (about your writing, that is).
People who have no CLUE about literature will post comments on the most unprofessional writings and say things like, "This made me cry. You are like the next J.K Rowling."
DO NOT LISTEN TO THESE PEOPLE UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES. THESE ARE THE PEOPLE WHO HAVE MADE THINGS LIKE TWILIGHT AND 50 SHADES OF GREY POSSIBLE.
All I'm saying is that if you think things like Twilight are insults to literature, I beg you to take the advice given above. If not, what can I say but: carry on. Let the age of Mary Sue begin.
We need to remember: a rich story is made up of so much more than only one element; it can't rely only on being "dark," or "tragic" or "romantic." These things are for bringing out emotion. It's ESSENTIAL that there is something worth being emotional ABOUT.
That is how you tell a beautiful story.
And even then, if you give us something we truly care about, you'll realize "I can make something even less tragic happen and it will have a much greater effect now."
Sometimes you'll even realize that being subtle is even more disturbing and "dark" than going all out.
I said it before, I'll say it again: drama is the anti-suspense. Drama needs something to feed on or else it is dead.
It's up to you to make casual, every-day scenes interesting too.
Humor is a particularly wonderful tool for making characters appealing. The more appealing the character, the more the audience will care when they suffer.
Think of your favorite cartoon character. Now imagine if they died. Not a funny, cartoon-ish death where we know that they'll be all right again in three seconds.
Pretend they came to a permanent end that was actually portrayed very tragically and non-sarcastically.
Kind of leaves you with a disturbed feeling, doesn't it? If this is the way you want your audience to feel about your characters, then follow this example. It doesn't mean your character has to be as silly as a cartoon character, it just means we should feel like we know them in such a way that we can feel their pain.
In short: don't give us another card-board soap opera. Give us something to love.
No more "I'm going to drench this character in blood and my story will automatically be deep!" If that's as deep as you can get, you must be very shallow indeed.
EDIT: CLARIFICATION
I'm saying that introducing the character should be first *priority,* not necessarily the first thing in the story. The point being, don't write a story that you worry about the character second to the soap opera.
Of course many stories (Harry Potter included) start off with bad things happening. This is because they're crucial to setting up the entire story. The point is not to expect your audience to be scandalized yet.
Also, when you read this guide, assume I'm talking about writing seriously. I'm not picking on those of you writing for practice/fun/etc.
This is a concern because things like this are being published these days. If this isn't your goal, carry on by all means.
I posted this because it's getting to the point where there is no unique style. This is the style that most beginners (and therefore most people) tend to use. I'm not picking on beginners, just pointing out not to settle with the first, most obvious style of writing that no one encourages them to grow beyond.
Are there people who enjoy this kind of writing? Of course. But why is it all we should be content with?
The attitude should be something like this: make the character deep enough for whatever you're writing.
If it's a short deviation, naturally less so than in a novel.
Same if it's not the point of the thing you're writing (say you're just trying to bring out a moral or something).
However, if you expect to write a sob story this is highly important.
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Comments: 424
Let us toast! (<-- So much pun. 
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By the way I love the heart candle :3
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Well said. Very helpful for beginners in my opinion. Although I don't really write sob stories like this, I like to write humorous stuff.
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Ah, great to hear that you like to talk about things to write. Um, good advice, by the way. I can't say that it helped me tons, because, well, I already knew that, heheh. But you know, I'm glad to hear that you were willing to write this whole thing down for those people who struggle with writing and such. 
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Congrats on the Daily Deviation...
...you've made a lot of good points in this argument!! I agree and I will keep what you've said in mind. I used to tend to do this myself as a beginner.
I used to have an account on Wattpad and I quit it and came here because of what kinds of horrifying things you see on there, with comments like "This is great your the best writer ever". I wish I could pound this into their heads.
Nevertheless, thank you for these wonderful reminders about writing.
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Lol I read your part and I must say I was slightly amused but also very shocked by the bitterness of it.
I'm a fanfiction writer myself, perhaps because of this it's different since my readers do actually know the characters. Since ofcourse they are not my own. But I have gotten quite some usefull critics from people in the internet. I've also talked a lot with other writers, who have helped improve my writing style. And vice versa. My best guess is you're reading the wrong things
In normal Literature however, I do agree that characters should have depth. Most importantly it is that their behaviour is somewhere in the story explained. So when you have an asshole character, that you don't make him/her an asshole for no reason.
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Thank you for this! (and congrats on the DD!)
I actually had a similar discussion with someone about this recently, when I was ranting about a lot of the YA literature out there today. xD
(Not that ALL young adult lit is bad, it just seems that when you walk into the YA section in Barnes and Nobel the first thing you're assaulted with is Twilight and it's ripoffs. Same plots, same cardboard characters.)
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All my applause are belong to you. Yes, I mean that enough to warrant meme usage.
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Thank you for writing this!
As a writer who started off on things like FF.net I can thoroughly appreciate what you're saying. Near-everyone starts off like that, and on the internet (especially with fanfiction) regardless of how bad your story or character or writing is, you will still get people who tell you 'Your the best writer ever!' (Big hint, if they use 'your' instead of 'you're', accept the compliment but don't take it too seriously)
There's nothing inherently wrong with writing like that, but if you want to be taken seriously you've got to grow out of it eventually.
Oh god, when people substitute character development for a depressing past or think that getting bullied counts as a character 'flaw'. Flaws are essential to a realistic character that your reader can empathise with, they do not include being poor, being bullied, having dead parents or any other similar external thing. Flaws are internal things, does your character have a temper? Are they proud or shy or lazy? They are things that cause your character problems or make it more difficult for them to deal with a problem. They are imperfections that make life hard but realistic for your character, rather than just throwing horrible situations at them caused by other people or events. That doesn't mean your character can't also battle dragons or be framed for a crime, but a tragic plot should not be the only thing that makes their life hard.
Yes, yes, we know it's fun to write a character who's totally badass, isn't scared of anything, is astoundingly beautiful and is never responsible for their problems, but believe it or not, they're not as much fun to read as they are to write.
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Fifty Shades of Grey is actually very well-written.
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If this is the case, then I think I might be safe.
Congrats on the dd!
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Well said! Twilight and Fifty Shades of Grey have become so popular because the main characters are just empty, plain shoes that lazy readers can put on. -Insert tragic event, insert broken family, insert empty romance...- Those books aren't written for real readers, everyone I know who's read them and liked them have never really picked up a book before that.
All in all I'm impressed with the blunt way you've summed it all up!
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Right! I have to totally agree with you, a lot of people I know with whom I didn't talk about books very much suddenly came to me with 'oh you have to read this' while I was reluctant, my brother gave it a try too see what was all the fuzz about, and he was like 'ugh, this seems like written by a pubescent angsty teenager in all of the ways, don't even bother losing your time'
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Exactly, the people who read them aren't really book people so they've never really read a decent book, which means they have nothing to compare it to. If you don't enjoy reading then it's easy to find something like Twilight an attractive franchise, they are so poorly written that even the slowest reader can get through them in a week, and there is nothing challenging about them. So yeah, I can see how they would appeal to low-level readers, but if you like books then they are a complete waste of time...
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yes, it is not about being pretentious, but really, a much better vampire story would be Dracula by Bram Stoker. And then, what's with 'The Hunger Games'? I feel the story is quite inoriginal and a bit of a rip off (if not quite a rip off) of other works that have used that type of thematic long before (battle royale to put an example)
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I enjoyed the first Hunger Games book but again, it was aimed at low-level readers. The author did a better job of setting up her characters but then by the time you reach the end of the series she's killed pretty much all of them off in really unmemorable ways. I think her style of writing was pretty inconsistent, the ideas she had were interesting but I agree with you, none of them were original. But then a lot of authors recycle old ideas. It's the same in films - look at James Cameron's 'Avatar'. It was just a souped up version of Pocahontas but people still went nuts over it...
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"THESE ARE THE PEOPLE WHO HAVE MADE THINGS LIKE TWILIGHT AND 50 SHADES OF GREY POSSIBLE"
Finally someone who use the brain *_* I always thought that people who read and enjoy but especially are convinced that books like those are golden literature don't practically know anything about good narration. And in effect it is so, the target is the teen that reads books twice a year.
I agree with everything you said, but I would like to criticize your very beginning of this post: when you make the equation "Character=victim; Plot=bad thing happening to said victim" you're practically asking for a story made up of nothing. For the Propp's scheme [link] a story begins with an equilibrium which is suddnely broken and that the main character must recreate.
But probably you were actually criticizing the abuse of tragedy and misfortune in stories; in this case I totally agree with you, we need humans not blood
Anyway, very interesting journal. Thanks for share!
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- Congrats on the DD!
Have a nice day!
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Well stated. This is the same thing that was drilled into me during my creative writing courses. Without a clear and compelling protagonist there is no real story, without a development or change in said protagonist there is no cause for a resolution. That's the difference between narrating a series of events and telling a story.
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could you possibly give me a review on my storied [link] no one has so far so i don't know if i am any good or not. you don't have to and you don't have to reed them all. some of the stuff are not stories but it is pity easy to tell. i would appreciate the help/criticism/encouragement if you wish to help me
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Hi there
have you ever checked out the literature forum on dA? There is a monthly critique thread [link]
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This is awesome.
Great points that you touched on, and the humorous lines tossed in(whether intentional or not) were just as on-point as the serious lines. I hope other peeps will get some use out of this-- I found it to be useful~
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It's funny because a deviant and i were talking about this very thing yesterday. I made a comment that people need to stop developing "characters" and start writing about "people." Even people who have had wholly tragic lives (and yes there are people like that who almost seem caricatures, but they are real), there is still humor and positivity in there.
I get lambasted about this but I blame a lot of this on role-playing. So many people assume if they can write in a role-play, they can write a novel. Much of modern role-play is just throwing a bunch of situations at characters and having them react. Even within the context of some kind of umbrella story, there isn't a lot of wiggle room for character development and proper story-telling. These people come out of a great role-play experience and think they can just sit down and write a novel, yet it's really apples and oranges. And before anyone lambasts me, not all role-plays are like this, I realize, but the vast majority I have seen are.
I think another problem is that being on the internet, we are spoiled by instant feedback. It's difficult to get people to read lit, much less comment. A normal, run-of-the-mill story may be well-written and enjoyable, but it often doesn't receive much feedback. An uber-tragedy is going to get all of the ooh-and-aahs. It's why people do so much fan-art. You're more-or-less guaranteed to get comments on a piece about a popular video game character than you are about an original character no one has heard of. Same goes for this writing style. Write the uber-tragedy and you're more apt to get the "you're the best writer evah" comments.
Anyhow, I'm rambling now. Great guide. I hope not only that a lot of people see it, but that they listen to it, and learn.
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Thanks for the comment, I agree with everything you said. That's a really good point about being spoiled by instant feedback. And yeah, I've noticed that about fandoms too; this style of writing does compare to that since being "depressed" and "dark" seems to be a popular trend now.
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It is popular and it's being done just to be done, not properly, which is pretty maddening.
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"It is dangerous and wrong for a writer, unpublished or not, to attack his peers, leave that to the critics."
...Reeeeeaaallly?
WHY is it dangerous and wrong for a writer, unpublished or not, to attack his peers?
Oh, if you break ranks with your fellow writers, the Writing Mafia is going to come get you? Break both your legs? Leave a horse's head on the foot of your bed?
Or maybe some well-meaning idiot will report you to Fatherland--uh, I mean HOMEland Security? After all, see something, say something? He might be a terrorist for NOT CONFORMING to the approved authorial philosophies!
This kind of vague non-specific threatening speech you have made is just plain, flat, wrong, and certainly not acceptable for Deviant Art. Also, from the first part of your comment, it is flamingly obvious you did not fully read and comprehend this article before you commented.
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As far as the 'dangerous' goes that is exactly what I hear from professionals. It's not a matter of 'oh no stifled self expression,' it's a matter of working with people. If you're going to be on a panel with Stephenie Meyer you'd better stash your Twilight hate blogs.
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Dangerous to one's career; maybe, and that would not have set off warning flags in my head, had the commenter said things that way instead of the way it was phrased.
I do understand about working with people; one sometimes must muzzle oneself in order to get the job done, but really! When it is no longer acceptable to use what is a best-selling but poorly written series as an example of bad writing; all because you might hurt someone's feelings, that is the limit for me.
It's ridiculous to have to kowtow to the image of some hack writer just because the crooked publisher they work for marketed the daylights out of a bad book and made a mint off of it. It is especially ridiculous when the publisher is one you'll never even deal with.
This is the kind of conformist, collectivist thinking which is killing the old-school publishing industry. Then again, being an independent, I guess I should cheer this sort of thing on, because it means more people publishing independently, and more commissions.
Anyway, neurotype (like the screen-name btw) I'm not really disagreeing with you, just clarifying the issue.
I happen to agree very much with the article poster and I VERY strongly support your choice of this as a DD. Have a great day!
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I think they mentioned 'professionalism'? So I assumed that context.
There's more to it besides one person's feelings: for starters, she has an agent, an editor, a publicist, and of course the publishing company itself; also, if, against the trillion books out there, you only have this one example of where publishing went wrong, then to me that doesn't seem particularly bad or, after a decade, very noteworthy.
Honestly it's a business, and this is how they fund publishing those really smart, artsy books that end up being sold at a loss. Also, traditional publishers are opening up new imprints and really getting with epublishing, so again this is somewhat dated at this point. The industry moves slowly, but 10 years is still a long time.
Hehe, the credit really goes to Becca and Grim, but duly appreciated, and you too!
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Good point. We can chalk it off to differing interpretations of things.
Twilight's not the only example I could come up with as far as bad literature, just the one that happened to be the subject here. I could easily come up with an hundred books where publishing went wrong. I know it's a business, and I do very much take your points about that aspect of things. 
That's why I and my wife are both independent illustrators, and that's also why I call a spade a spade with regard to publisher stupidity and cupidity. My point about epublishing is it opens things up so writers don't HAVE to play "mama may I," with the publishers to get their books, and their thoughts out there. I've read quite a few well-written independent novels which would never have gotten picked by a publisher, simply because they were not the same re-hashed, warmed over garbage as usual.
All of that said, I have nothing personal against Stephanie Meyer. I just refuse to deify anyone just because they got rich and made a publishing company even more sickeningly rich.
This is going to be my last comment of the night. My wife wants my attention on her and our gaming campaign, not the internet. Have a great evening, and note me anytime. Ta!
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I haven't had any dealings with big publishers, but I haven't seen any horror stories about them either. I've found bigger organizations pay up on time, which is somewhat of a compensation for lessened input in a project. I think it depends on what you value most. And it doesn't have to be a Big 6 house to be traditional publishing...I've read some pretty amazing stuff that's like 'wow, didn't think a series of vignettes (for example) would pass.'
That's pretty cool.
I think there is a huge gap between not deifying people, which we absolutely shouldn't do, and vilifying them. I don't read YA paranormal romance, which automatically disqualifies me from complaining about the story because I wouldn't like it anyway. (I know people who enjoyed the books and know exactly how bad they are. They're not reading them for literature, they're reading entirely for the plot.)
Have a good night!
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First let me say that the author of the article requested opinions. I have made my views clear, or at least I thought I had.
It is dangerous and wrong for a writer to attack his peers because a writer does not write in a vacuum. It is unprofessional and will offend both publisher and other writers, such offense is best avoided. The work he was criticizing is very commercial. It may surprise you to learn that publishers are not interested in publishing books, profit is their sole motivation. Books are used to gain that profit. By inference he also attacked the readership of those authors. That is dangerous for they are your potential audience, alienate them and you remove a potential revenue source. Writers must live in the real world. It is often unpleasant, sycophantic and nepotistic. To attack follow writers, especially when first starting out, is dangerous to your career. Publishers will also be very wary when a writer attacks the goose that lays their golden eggs.
Any book that attracts revenue into the industry should be applauded, be it populist or not. The industry can not survive by publishing so called great literature.
I contend that I did not make vague and non-specific threatening speech. You have taken that out of context.
'It strikes me as arrogant that you belittle both readership and authors of those work. It is dangerous and wrong for a writer, unpublished or not, to attack his peers, leave that to the critics.'
I suggest that when read in context it is clear that I have made no threat. If you feel otherwise then feel free to report me to the administrators.
Finally I did read the article and made very clear that I agreed with his main points. I disagreed with tone, arrogance and incessant shouting.
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The fact that you keep stressing how "dangerous" it is to criticise other authors, demonstrates that you possess a mind which is very steeped in conformity and group think. It also demonstrates that you may also have some fear issues yourself, regarding other authors...I would suggest you get that looked at and not inflict it on others here on DA who are simply offering tips to beginning writers, such as the original poster was doing.
Conformity and group think is NOT what art is about. Art is about pushing limits, expanding horizons, and surpassing what has been done before. It is about beauty, and feeling.
"I contend that I did not make vague and non-specific threatening speech. You have taken that out of context."
No, I did not take it out of context. When you state that something is "dangerous" you are stating or implying that something bad is going to happen to the person doing it. When you state that it is dangerous to attack other writers you are suggesting that other writers are going to do bad things to the person supposedly attacking. That is completely the WRONG way to phrase things if you want someone to listen to your concerns, which is why I lampooned and satirised your statements in my previous comment. Do I think you were threatening the poster of the article? 
NO. I do not. I just think you are small-minded and projecting your own internal fears on someone else, who does not deserve it.
"If you feel otherwise then feel free to report me to the administrators." is semantically the same as "call the admins at your peril," which is typical trollish behaviour.
The article poster was NOT "attacking other writers", he was laying out guidelines for the amateurs here on DA and happened to mention Twilight and 50 shades of grey as examples of crap. It may be best selling crap, but it is still crap, and ONLY sold because of the publishers marketing efforts.
I am QUITE well aware, thank you, that the publishing industry is motivated solely by profit, and that books are how they gain their profits. I do not appreciate your condescension. I do not need to be treated as if I am an ignorant, uneducated, wayward child, which is in point of fact the tone you are taking. I also am aware of how shabbily the publishing industry treats authors, which is why the several authors with whom I am acquainted, and for whom I occasionally do book covers are self-publishing through Amazon and other venues.
You object to the article poster's incessant shouting. By this I take it you are referring to his frequent use of ALL-CAPS to emphasise words? Dude. Chill. Out. Seriously. If DA would allow the easy use of italics we would not need ALL CAPS to emphasise things. Once again, you are inferring things, and reading things into the article poster's tone which are not present, and appear to come only from your own issues.
Also, several times now you have referred to arrogance. Once again, this indicates group-think and conformity. I hate to break it to you, but the only person I see being arrogant here, is you. Make a de-orbit burn and come back down to lower altitudes. I mean, yeesh, get over your self and your sense of self-importance. The way you defend the publishing companies, one might get the idea you work for a publishing company. Either way, Chill Out and Move On. This is the last I am going to say on this issue. A rational conversation with you does not appear to be possible.
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What you said about being cautious with criticism as a writer is exactly what I've heard.
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As has been pointed out I have been grossly disrespectful to the writer. I would like to unreservedly apologise to the community for any offense I have caused. I have noted the writer with my apologies.
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Thank you. It is never a good idea.
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Well, you can do it in private
I've seen people whose entire brands are built around being harsh critics and it's like, okay, fine, but you cannot meet any of these people now.
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Yes I am to stupid to recognize when I am being rebuked. To all those I have offended I offer my unreserved apology. I will note the author of this work separately.
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I feel the need to say this DD made my day and is the most accurate description of flaws in a story. I can even see a great dose of them in my own works with my first character Aterra (But hopefully not the second, the one I'm working on right now.)
Your advice will surely help many artist trying to get better at storytelling, me included.
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