Advance Directing Opinions

[Eryne3110]

Hey everyone! After receiving a review on my story, they mentioned I should use advanced directing for my story. But the problem is that I have no idea how I can add advanced directing in my stories. Do you guys have any suggestions or opinions on this?

[Jbw714a]

Like advanced zoom and stuff I really don’t know
Hope you get your answer

[schittwriter]

Things you could add to make it more “advanced”:

• Spot directing.
• Filters.
• Overlays and animated overlays.
• Branching.
• Remembered choices.
• Timed choices.

Generally though, I don’t think you need a lot of advanced directing to have a good story. So don’t feel pressured to make your story more advanced if you feel you’re not up to it or you don’t want to.
Storytelling is a sufficient enough skill, advanced directing is just a bonus.

[Raitlyn]

Definitely spot direct! That’s your best option. Add some zooms, some plot Twists and filters

[Winteronepisode]

Advanced directing includes, but is not limited to, spot directing, zooms, points, overlay directing, gains/flags/branching, etc.

When it’s your first time, I’d suggest working on zooms and spot directing as well as speechbubble placement and work up from there. Try to get out of your comfort zone of screen left/center/right as well as no zooms—zooms and spot directing help to really enhance your story. Once those are mastered, you’ve got a range of ideas to choose from

[Matawrites]

Mata's Guides - for new writers and old ones

Codes that are useful- step by step

Simple codes

<a class="mention" href="/u/char">@char</a> walks to back far right/left upscreen right/right screen left/right/center You can choose to add time and animation and in this case it would look like: <a class="mention" href="/u/char">@CHAR</a> walks to back far left in 2 (<- time) AND CHAR is/does it while walk_neutral (<- animation) or <a class="mention" href=&…

[Eryne3110]

What’s the difference between does it while and AND?

[Eryne3110]

What do you mean by branching? I’m also using filters but only when the reader gets to choose a choice or some certain backstories of the characters. And does mini games help too?

[schittwriter]

Branching is when the story branches off for different choices, but I’m typically referring to branching that impacts the readers experiences, like different love interests etc or choices that are remembered and determine what scenes you get later or what ending you might have. But all of that can be pretty overwhelming for an author who hasn’t done it before.

And yes, mini games can enhance the experience of many readers, but they’re not something you have to have. Many stories without them can be just as enjoyable.

[Eryne3110]

Thank you for the tips!

[Matawrites]

AND is for adding another character or the same character to the line.

example:
CHAR 1 enters from left to screen right in 2 AND CHAR1 is (animation)

for “does it while” its for what is bolded in the line before.

If you want a character to move AND do an animation at the same time, you can use “AND” or “does it while” or even “is”

If you decide to use “AND” as a command, please remember you have to have it as all caps or else your code will be invalid

I also have an instagram for this where I have tutorials

insta- @epi.codes

[YourMom]

You don’t really have to have advanced directing to make a good story. I’d say at least do advanced zooms and spot directing for sure, it makes the story feel less stiff. Everything else is more of a perk or added bonus, not really a requirement imo.

[juliewrites]

Tappable overlays are a good start to making your story seem more advanced. But it’s really up to you; a good story doesn’t need to be way-over-the-top advanced or anything.

[schittwriter]

@Matawrites

If you decide to use “AND” as a command, please remember you have to have it as all caps or else your code will be invalid

You can actually have it in all lowercase, the same thing applies to “then” as well. Both “AND” and “and” will work.

[schittwriter]

No worries!

[Eryne3110]

Thank you everyone for the opinions and tips! I really appreciate it

[mias_episode]

There’s already a lot of answers but I’d say advanced directing would be stuff like

• Advanced zooming.

• Spot directing instead of generic placements (screen left, screen center, etc).

• Maybe adding things like music and minigames.

• Filters (and by that, I mean playing around with the hsl filters to give a dark, or afternoonish tone, etc.).

• Adding background characters doing things and walking while in a public place (it really depends on the situation but it gives more of a 'watching a movie or show kinda feel that I know a lot of people like).

• Branched choices and points systems(although I’ve read tons of amazing stories without choices and I’d say they have advanced directing for example legally clueless).

• Using overlays, looping backgrounds etc.

All in all, I’d say advanced directing doesn’t make or break your story, and most people are fine with or without it. It definitely enhances the readers’ experience, but if your storyline, plot and dialogue is solid, you don’t need to do too much more to make the story enjoyable.

Good luck, and I hope this helped!