Tips, tricks & discussions: How to make your story better


Hey there!
As I started doing story reviews I noticed that a lot of writers often make the same mistakes.
In this thread, I would like to pay attention to these mistakes. Some of them are for new authors, some of them could be used by more experienced.
Please note, that some of these points are clearly subjective, but still, maybe you will find them useful.


Links to my comments.
1st Part of Tips & Tricks - Directing Part 1
2nd Part of Tips & Tricks - Directing Part 2
3rd Part of Tips & Tricks - Intros and Psychopath/Sociopath Character Types
4th Part of Tips & Tricks - Gang Stories and Bad Boys
5th Part of Tips & Tricks - Inconsistent and One-Sided Characters
6th Part of Tips & Tricks - How to Make Readers Emotionally Attached to MC
7th Part of Tips & Tricks - Character’s Flaws and how to Incorporate Them
8th Part of Tips & Tricks - Love Triangles
9th Part of Tips & Tricks - What Buggers Me in Stories
10th Part of Tips & Tricks - Narration in Episode Stories
11th Part of Tips & Tricks - How to Build a Plot
12th Part of Tips & Tricks - Silly and Not So Much Directing Things I Use + My Dressing/Hair Games
13th Part of Tips & Tricks - How To Make Your Characters More Interesting
14th Part of Tips & Tricks - How To Create a Good Villain
15th Part of Tips & Tricks - How to Slay Dialogues
16th Part of Tips & Tricks - Choices
17th Part of Tips & Tricks - The Power Of Questionnaires - Part I
18th Part of Tips & Tricks - Creating Meaningful Supporting Characters
19th Part of Tips & Tricks - Motivation and Inspiration
20th Part of Tips & Tricks - How to Create a Unique and Great Plot
21st Part of Tips & Tricks - Art Scenes


Useful Threads and Links


My Threads
How to Layer Rain
Cookie’s Uncensored Reviews
My Story - Pine Hollow: Hex of the Three

Writing Threads
Help with Story Descriptions from Jadlyss
Story Fundamentals: A Help Thread by Joyous
Crazy Caliope Proof Reader Thread
British Slang Thread
Writing Resources
Amberose’s Live Thoughts on Your Stories
Shanii Grammar Thread
Science in Sci-Fi/Fantasy

Directing Threads
Spot Guide
Rotation Puzzle Game
A Guide to Creating Text from Overlays
Text Message Feature
Claw Machine with Stuffed Toys Overlays
How to Make Duplicate Characters
Complete List of Props (+ Hidden)

Story Suggestion Threads
Amberose’s Monthly Underrated Reads
Mature Stories

Background Links and Threads
CinnamonToast Backgrounds and Overlays

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Author notes :face_with_hand_over_mouth::face_with_hand_over_mouth::face_with_hand_over_mouth:

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I couldn’t agree more on the art scene part!
Awesome thread very helpful and gives plenty to think about and improve for all writers from beginners to more experienced. Thanks! :grin::grin:

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Ooh this is extensive tysm x

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God bless Mette!

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omg lol I totally agree with the faces freezing parts and the other characters not being “alive” when one is talking
like do y’all actually just stare or gape with mouths wide open at your friends??? No right? I always laugh when it happens :joy::joy::joy: oh and some of the music’s all over the place too
like some author’s stories are good but the music nahhh so I’ll just have to use my own emotional playlist to save the story :sweat_smile:

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I agree with everything you say, and that was a great post, except for this- I believe it applies to most scenarios unless you want to show a drawing that a 5-year-old kid in the story has drawn.

What do you think?

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Sure :smiley: Makes sense.

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I added some backgrounds and overlays I made for my stories. They are in the bottom of original post.
THERE IS NO NEED TO CREDIT ME. JUST USE THEM.

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Thanks for making this thread and taking the time.
These are great tips. Will be fixing my story soon. :sunglasses:

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Sure :slight_smile: Glad it helped.
If you have any questions, feel free to ask here as well ^^

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Thank you. :blush:

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I’ll be sending this to the new authors :smiley:

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Wow very helpful and inspiring thread.
Thank you!

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i agree on almost all of this. and you have givin me a a few things to change before i punlished my new story

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I would love to hear on the things u didn’t agree :slight_smile: zero sarcasm btw. Really interested

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most of it i do. i myself like to use the the exit format. and i never thought about naming the outfits i just say 1 2 and 3. i usally dont have more.

also i love your backgrounds

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Welp, you can use exit command if you don’t have a lot of characters, or if your directing is basic. Nothing wrong with that. I’m more into advanced, so I talk about it more.
Also. If you have 3 outfit choices, it’s fine with naming them like this. But if you actually give them descriptive names it’s a) looks more professional, like you actually care about details and b) it’s not time consuming to do it.
And thnx :slight_smile:

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Hello fellas.
Today I will cover a few more things, some of you might find interesting.


Background characters
You’d be surprised how many writers avoid it.
This is a really time-consuming process, but it makes scenes look more dynamic. I read some stories where writers don’t put BG characters, and to be honest I didn’t notice it until later episodes. When it is like this every time, just talking characters on the screen, scenes start to feel empty.
Effect is worth the effort.


Filter use
This feature is present for quite some time already, but I think it’s not appreciated enough.
I happened to read stories, where writers show flashbacks, but don’t put any kind of filter, or at least transition between scenes. This can be very confusing.
Besides this point, the filter can be a very nice visual complement to the scene. For instance, in my story most of the scenes happen in “nowadays”, but there are some scenes from the past (17th century), so for these ones I use the filter. It helps to distinguish times.
What can be done besides using filters, if none suits your story? Try to use overlays as filters.
For the same story I, for example, used simple white (around 15-20% transparent) overlay, as a filter for dreams. With the overlay, used as a filter, you have one more advantage, as you can place some characters behind the filter, and some in front.
Guide How to Fade Characters
How to Use Filters


Non-instant zooms

Now, we’ve talked about the importance of zooms.
What is one of the things that you can do bad with zooms?
Placing non-instant zooms through all the conversation
Sometimes I feel like some writers don’t know that you can put instant zoom Just in case @zoom on xx xx to xx% in 0.
Why is it bad? Welp, for starters it’s annoying as f*ck. Second thing. If the conversation takes more than a few phrases, and you’re using non-instant zooms, it makes pauses between phrases too big and makes these conversations less realistic.


Secondary characters customization
Just a note, a few sometimes forget. Always add a short description to any secondary character’s customization. No need to write a 10 line synopsis, but a short description will work.


Naming background characters
Well, it is clear, you don’t have to name BG characters if they don’t speak at all. But if they say at least one phrase - just write some random name. This is one of these little things, that might seem insignificant, but they show your “professionalism”.


Using forward/at_camera animations

If your story isn’t built around the 4th-wall-breaking-concept - don’t use these animations. These animations are either for this concept or for author’s introductions :confounded:. End of discussion.


Next time I will cover realism and execution of some common plot ideas .


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Great thread

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