Major Things: -- Length? -- Revisions. -- FFFFFAAAAAQQQQQ.
- Originality
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The subject of originality is definitely one of the larger issues that reign in our forum today, ranging from prose to scripted stories, or noob stories. Well, not originality, but more of unoriginality. This can be split up into two separate areas of discussion: prose and noob. So, I’ll start off with the easier one to talk about, which would be the scripted story.
The main type of script story located in the forums is a noob story, and noob stories make up the larger portion of unoriginal stories on the forum. Noob stories generally grow popular very fast, but this popularity increase has caused more and more of them to arrive, and most of the time they steal their comedy ideas from other sources that they’ve read, which is a blatant cause of unoriginality.
To battle this, try to think of some ideas that haven’t been used and place some original aspects into your story. Get away from Tutorial Island, which has the killing of the guides and destruction of the island, and avoid some of the more used topics. A love for a certain food, being stupid, or having a “three noob” story generally falls into the category of unoriginality.
One of the best ways to learn about how to create a good, funny, and original noob story would be to visit Elitemage14's thread, “Noob Story Reviews and Tips”. Although he doesn’t review anymore, the guide contains some good in-depth knowledge on the genre, and it’s stocked full of tips that will help you write a successful noob story.
The next half of the originality spectrum will be the prose form of writing. Prose has a variety of genres associated with it, but I’ll run through the main types of unoriginality that is present within a prose story. First of all, most new authors will begin with action-adventure, which is the main type of writing on the forum. This, in itself, is perfectly fine.
However, certain aspects have been overused by the general public, and these would be in short: having a main characters that’s super powerful and destroys everyone; having a main character fall in love with a friend and end up with her; having a battle scene at the very end that the main character wins. There are many more than just those, but this gives you an idea about the clichés that lurk within.
Now, the best way to get an idea of what’s original and what’s not is to read. Read anything you can find and try to stay away from the situations present in those. Create something of your own; use your imagination. It’s not all that difficult to come up with an excellent plot that has never been used at all (well, that’s hard) or has been used only a few times. Put your own spin on things.
Still, I warn you of one thing: in making something original, do not fall into an unrealistic sense of things. New is cool, but don’t have your character transform from a 16-year old kid into a super battle machine of death. It’s just not plausible. So, in short, keep your situations new, but real. Oh, and, as I said, reading is the best way to discover what is original and what is not.
FAQ. Please.
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