Board Thread:Writer's Workshop/@comment-28788859-20160619210516/@comment-24101790-20160619234552

Ewan Lund wrote: I will take this advice on board, thanks for the help.

BTW I am currently 13. Do you think I am trying too hard to imitate styles. I have read a lot of Lovecraft, Edgar Allen Poe as well as many other authors and many creepy pastas. Maybe because I am exposing myself to these complex styles, I am giving myself a hard time. What do you think? What would be your advice to someone like me? Going off what you have experienced on this website, what elements make up the best stories? My favourite is The Rake.

Thanks, Ewan

Best advice I can give is to start off simple. I used to overwrite the hell out of stories with a thesaurus across my lap looking up synonyms for words that I knew. The issue is that you want your audience to be able to read the story and paint a picture in their heads. If you're sending them to the dictionary with talk of "insalubrious miasmas" and "empyreal bombinations", that's generally less time they're focused on your story and a less vivid picture they're creating. Try to make your story as natural and smoothly-flowing as possible. As I mentioned before, reading it aloud to yourself is great for identifying stumping points like: overly complex sentences, awkward wording, and phrasing that cuts into the story flow.