Writing/Story Format

Discussion in 'Archives' started by Ghost, May 23, 2014.

  1. Ghost King's Apprentice

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    So I've been working on this story that's written out kinda like different newspaper articles, or that's atleast what I'm going for. I know articles like that aren't supposed to be personalized (include character's feelings) but I want some of that in there. This sounds kind of weird. I'm going to try to explain it better.

    Some stories are written in a series of letter to another person or to themselves, I want mine to be like that but with news article by my character. But I also want it to include her input and experiences into it without it sounding like a diary.

    Does anyone have any ideas or tips on how to do this?
     
  2. Ars Nova Just a ghost.

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    Hm... You could switch between media. One news article, one letter, or whatever distribution makes sense. You could also have your protag mark up the articles with her own comments and input.
     
  3. Ghost King's Apprentice

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    This could probably be a good point to try that star thing * that some authors use in their writing to add character input. Funny how I've never thought of that until now. Thanks.

    *Does it seem like this kind of thing would fit in with an article format? Or would something else work. I'm not sure if there are any other ways to do it when typing.

    Well, there's this one point in the story that I haven't completely thought up yet where she has to switch from a computer to a type writer where she writes in more of a letter type of thing. But I could probably make this work if I made the computer regularly have problems that way she would use it more often. (Wow, thanks. This is actually helping me come up with some pretty good ideas.
     
  4. Ars Nova Just a ghost.

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    I think it would, but it's not the only option. You might try House of Leaves for mark-up reference; it's an absolute labyrinth of a book, but there are many different ideas you could use by themselves in a simpler style.

    Switching typefaces, huh? Could work out, but lemme ask you this: What purpose does it serve in the story?
     
  5. Ghost King's Apprentice

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    I haven't read it before, but I'll check it out. That was they only way I ever seen anyone do it but now I'm curious about different ways.

    Well see, this isn't exactly a normal story. It's a bit weird, If you've heard Welcome To Nightvale think of that. There's a lot that's left to the people that read it to figure out. Like the location. There are hints, but it's never said until a ways into the story. And with the typewriter it would be a good idea to add it into the story more because of the location it's in. It would answer some questions about where exactly the character lives, her personality, and other stuff I haven't exactly figured out yet.
     
  6. Ars Nova Just a ghost.

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    Ooh, sounds entertaining. Glad you've thought it through~
     
  7. . : tale_wind Ice to see you!

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    The author could do some editorials or opinion pieces—the types of articles where you're allowed to share your own thoughts. c:
     
  8. Ghost King's Apprentice

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    Well it kind of goes one article at a time (wow I wish I could explain this better) So it's like one article reporting everything for that week. I don't want it to be too long because I don't want to give out too much information at once. It ruins the suspense. And newspaper articles and stuff kind of confuse me, I looked up editorials and how to write them but I just can't understand it :P