Help with writing.

[Vroxen]

I have been looking at some people bio's even some peoples appearance/personality sections on their characters and I am astounded at the amount some people can write. How do people do it? I just looked over the bio of the Jedi's current Battlemaster and of the Jedi Grandmaster who combined have somehow written more for one character than I think I wrote in my entire time at school.

What are the tips and the ways to write so much in so much detail? I always run out of steam and my low vocabulary means u use the save words over and over like "Multiple" or "However" making my writing seem repetitive and boring. Also how do you guys not get lost or have an overload of information, especially when writing a character that must do/complete certain tasks to progress.

I am currently in the process of creating a Grey Jedi who is 65 years of age and feel like I won't be able to do this character justice after reading other people stuff :/

[Rugs]

Well, to start, don't get intimidated. There are some people here that have been writing and writing very well for a long time. As someone who's starting out in a writing profession, it can be easy to look at people who've been doing it longer or might do it better and get discouraged. Certainly, you can look to them for examples, and set goals, but realize if you're not at that point, you're not going to get there overnight.

What you can do is set goals. Maybe you want to improve your imagery and use better metaphors. Maybe you want to have better characterization or make your writing flow better. Maybe you want to start with diversifying your vocabulary, like you said.

Just realize everything is a process, and it takes time. Take things one step at a time and you'll get better.

Also, I don't know how much you read, but reading makes for better writing. I can tell you that from personal experience.

Similarly, try to write with people that you think are on a higher level than you. Stick around with them. I promise you, it rubs off after a while. We also have the RP Mentoring section, which, while not for bios, is good for getting general writing tips.

But there's no one magic bullet that I can guarantee will make you write better. We all have our own style and voice. You just have to know yours and make it the best that you can.

ETA: I'll also add that long bios aren't necessarily good bios. There's a bit of correlation there but not every long bio is always a treat to read. Focus on making it as good as you can, rather than length. If the length comes, great, but if not, it's nothing to worry about as long as it's long enough to convey what needs to be conveyed. But length for length's sake isn't always good. Few things are as unpleasant as a long, poorly written bio.

[Vroxen]

Cheers.

When I was at school I always used to write the bare minimum, now I'm older and its a habit that I can't seem to get out of. For example I tried to write a part for a bio aged 1 - 10, but by the age of 6 the paragraphs were so short that it just didn't look right.

I guess I'll get better but it is very easy to be disappointed especially when I have a very self-critical personality.

[Rugs]

Understandable. Just remember that good writing is not necessarily length writing. We require a degree of length in bios to properly flesh out a character, but because something is short doesn't mean it's bad. Sparrow, for example, has a very minimalist approach to his posts, but they're very solid pretty much all the time.

[Vroxen]

I will read some of his stuff, hopefully it will rub off on me like you said

[Julian]

Other ways to hone your craft, at least on the technical end, are to join writing communities (not unlike this one) that incorporate reviews and comments. Fiction and fan-fiction sites are an alright option for that --RP sites are better, though obviously reviews are only found in certain areas-- but there are more formal groups where people will critique you, and be critiqued by you, for grammatical accuracy and conveyance of meaning. You'll no doubt pick up some skills and knowledge on weaving worlds and creating stories, but having a firmer grasp on the boring part of language (the rules of punctuation, vocabulary, etc.) can really change how you write, and usually it's for the better.

Even when you have a lot of really solid techniques, and you start to feel like you're polishing instead of sculpting; when you wind up editing and reviewing others more than they do you, you will still find yourself changing your methods in such nuanced but dramatic ways that, from time to time, it'll blow your mind. Heck, knowing the right places to put a semicolon (something that I know I still mess up on, but I like 'em anyway), or the formal differences between and usage mechanics of three and four-dot ellipses ("..." is part of a sentence cut or a similarly long pause in dialog, "...." is everything from a full sentence up to entire passages) can have major effects on how you project your thoughts into the written word.

Being able to turn an informative piece like a bio or an essay into an enjoyable narrative, or writing a great deal of detail that enriches the piece without becoming extraneous, is going to come just like Rugs said: Examples, experience, experimentation, and effort. There's natural talent and unintentionally honed skill already there, just as with everyone. You have to subject that ability to a little bit of hell, while simultaneously nurturing it. It's not always fun, but if you commit to it --even a little bit-- you'll be looking at pieces that you wrote a few weeks prior and marveling at how much you've improved, while simultaneously drawing new inspiration from ideas that you completely forgot about.

EDIT: See, I reread this post at least two or three times before I hit reply, and I still wound up editing it a tad to improve flow and remove some repetition that didn't taste right. That's a random tip for you that a lot of people will give you if it comes to mind: Read it out loud. If you like the way it feels when you say it --if it tastes good, as I was taught-- then carry on. If it doesn't, say what you're trying to put across as if you were telling someone about it that either has no clue what you're talking about, or only knows as much as you have already said. Prose is your friend!

[Vroxen]

Thanks for the great advice guys.
I'm trying to read some of the stuff on this website to get a feel for it.

I was reading the setting for a duel between Roq and Ark written by Dutch. Which was only short but you knew exactly what it looked like.

The duel was pretty juicy too tbh.