Writing Envy Lesson: Write to Entertain

[Envylope]

In the novel space, people will talk about conflicts. They will say that you need to include them for your work to be interesting. They will talk about moral values of things and other Blehblab. So many ideas are spread around like wild fire, and it can feel like you are burning in a forest of nonsense. Sure, some of these ideas can be good, but consider your writing goals.

Who are you writing for? Are you writing because you want people to read it?

If you said yes to the second question, then you should have one thing to never forget about. Your story must entertain.

No matter what the end goal of your story is, you must serve to entertain the reader. All moral dilemmas and other ideas should never take the front seat over entertainment. The whole idea of fiction novels is so that a reader can be entertained and get lost in your characters and world.

All conflicts and plot serve this primary purpose of making your story engaging to read. Readers do not want to be bored, even if you think the payoff is huge. If you are bored writing it, people will be bored reading it.

Thinking about ways to make your story tie into a real morality question? Don't even bother if you haven't figured out how to make it entertaining to read. Furthermore, understand what your readers actually enjoy. Put yourself in the shoes of the average reader for whatever site you are writing in and try to find a way to make your story enjoyable for those people.

This is not to say that you have to copy anyone. You can be completely unique while having a story premise that has been done a million times. As an entertainer, I don't try to force uniqueness into my story. The only thing that can be considered unique about any of my stories is how I execute my ideas. When everyone is trying to be unique, nothing is special at all.

So you've rambled a lot, but how do I actually entertain people?

I wish that I could say it's something easy. For me, it comes intuitively, and others will think way too hard about it. In general, I suggest that you get rid of as much needless exposition as possible. From my experience, people care about the characters the most, so you have to start there. When you start writing a story, think about what makes this character interesting?

Is she a weak vampire who's learning magic? Start your story by leaning into what this character is and how they interact with the world. Drip feed all world building through the character's lens. Ultimately, a story can be a story without any world. Readers want to read that character's story more than they want to see the world.

If you think your world is interesting, that's great, but don't dump that information as blocks of text. It's way more entertaining to see your character explore the ins and outs of a dungeon than to hear you as an author drone about it.

Speaking of droning, I've done that enough. Blehbye... ?

 

[Okram]

Completely agreed.

The characters are by far most important. The world comparatively is almost inconsequential.

And for goodness sake take the advice and dont exposition dump, thats probably one of the best advices anyone can recieve.

 

[Da3rdGreatKing]

Agreed.

 

[melchi]

I would also add that for a novel, it needs to have a beginning middle and an end.

1.) Set a premise, or a hook.
ex: Vampy wants to build a blood farm.
2.) An antagonist, or something gets in way of the blood farm
ex: something with a certain number
3.) Deliver the premise in a way that feels cathartic
ex: Blood farm get!

 

[essenier]

Personally, my writing method is simple. When I reread, does it bore me? If yes, I just directly scrap it.

There's no point writing what you don't like or what you don't believe. You'll just accidentally attract people whom you don't agree with.

 

[melchi]

I suppose I should make the point better. Having characters that people care about is only half. There are a lot of stories on here that focus so much on the characters that it is more like a syndicated fiction, a series of short stories than building toward something.

People come to this site looking for web serials

 

[L1aei]

You know, these are some really good tips for writing with an audience in mind. I ain't going to do any "buts" here. Instead, I'm going to point out to another crowd: if someone's writing for themselves, why should they care about what "works best" for readers?

Quick note: This ain't an argument, just a tip for those sorts of authors.

If it's about personal expression, then what matters most is staying true to the story or characters they want to explore. Dump expositions all you want if that's what you like. Entertainment is important, sure, but if the goal isn't to entertain anyone else, is that really the point? Just like what was said at the very beginning of this post, the goal; what if the story's about discovery or catharsis for the writer, not just the reader?

A story's purpose can be about the writer's journey, not just about pleasing an audience.

 

[Envylope]

You know, these are some really good tips for writing with an audience in mind. I ain't going to do any "buts" here. Instead, I'm going to point out to another crowd: if someone's writing for themselves, why should they care about what "works best" for readers?

Quick note: This ain't an argument, just a tip for those sorts of authors.

If it's about personal expression, then what matters most is staying true to the story or characters they want to explore. Dump expositions all you want if that's what you like. Entertainment is important, sure, but if the goal isn't to entertain anyone else, is that really the point? Just like what was said at the very beginning of this post, the goal; what if the story's about discovery or catharsis for the writer, not just the reader?

A story's purpose can be about the writer's journey, not just about pleasing an audience.

Yes, I'd already considered this. This thread will not be applicable to people who want to write for themselves. But like I already said before, someone who is truly writing for themselves should pay the words of commenters no heed.

A lot of times I find these people don't actually want to write for themselves. They want to write as if they don't care about getting readers, but then they will complain about not getting readers.

Basically, you cannot have your cake and eat it too. If your purpose is to write for yourself, then you truly don't even need to post it. If you want feedback just ask your friends or see if someone online is willing.

 

[AnonUnlimited]

I prefer writing to scold instead.

 

[Zinless]

I agree with Envy, but you also need to keep in mind that making it interesting for the readers doesn't mean you should pander/cater to them all the time. Some readers will request or demand changes/plots that might not fit your vision or to satisfy their own curiosity, and in that case, it's fine to ignore them.

 

[AliceMoonvale]

I happen to be one of those that write for themselves.

After reading all available webtoons and such of a niche sub-genre I like, the well ran dry.
I'm not gonna wait for rain, so I'm filling the well myself with my own water!

If other people like it, that's great! If not, it's not a big deal.
Entertaining myself is more important.

But yeah, can agree you should have some sort of entertainment for readers. I try to do that with certain scenes and dialogue.

 

[sage61]

Same, I wrote for myself. Basically, I want to entertain myself so I will write all the moral values I want into the story. While having readers are nice, I do often find the pressure to cater to reader a bit more off putting rather than encouraging sometimes.

 

[KidBuu699]

A hook. I always stress the Hook. It does not matter how well your characters are written or how great the world is. If your story does not have a hook in the beginning (or synopsis) that makes the reader want more then you are banking on people just being bored enough to read it.

Using the Series ranking function on Scribble it shows that there are 1258 pages. With my page set for 25 per page that means that there are around 31,450 stories on here. That is just this website. There are plenty of other websites for free fiction. Now I am not saying that all these stories are worth reading. Not by a far shot. My own reading list says I have 101 stories bookmarked (Many are dropped/dead). What I am saying is that in a sea of novels you need a hook to reel in the fish(readers). Lol double meaning hook in the end.

Edit: I could list the things an author needs. A plot point list, a road map connecting them, interesting characters, good world, details etc etc. But I can say with certainty that even if you have everything your reader count may not get big. I have read many stories on this site and others that deserved to be big but never made it. At the end of the day the greatest thing for an author is something you have no power over. . . Luck.

At the end of the day though if you are looking for concepts to guide you besides the reader count. It should be the desire to improve. Focus not on entertaining people, but improving your craft. Look at the reader feed back you get. Ignore the crap comments and focus on the constructive. See how you can make yourself a better writer so your next story is even better.

 

[Eldoria]

Entertaining is important, but it's not the primary goal. If you just want to entertain readers, and readers (the market) enjoy content about sexual violence, pedophilia, incest, etc., does that mean authors should write such things?

This is an extreme example, but I want to show the dark side of 'over-indulging/entertaining readers'. Some platforms have even implemented strict rules so that writing is not only entertaining but also has literary value. For example, RR is very sensitive to this issue.

Authors must also have integrity in their writing, have a vision and values that they uphold in their writing. Sometimes we can't compromise on red lines—even if the market loves crossing them.

 

[greyblob]

who's this envy guy telling me what to do?

 

[Envylope]

who's this envy guy telling me what to do?

Your mom.

 

[AnonUnlimited]

Your mom.

If you are greyblobs mom then you’re not the real Envy. You’re an imposter!

 

[Valmond]

I think this comes down to capacity in the end. What Envy, the witch says is true. However, it goes beyond this.

As in, if you yourself aren’t certain to home in on a particular. You’ll end up with something middling at best.

The saying, if you try to please everyone, you please no one? It applies to this scenario.

For anyone who has read my stories, I’ve recycled certain things that just worked out. Ever wondered why certain conflicts are always at night?

Well, aside from the almost definite that Envy bit everyone.

It is just that it works out. Since I can bring out my best in that setting, I work with it to transition it to the readers.

The thing to note is that. You can take any idea, yes. I’ve even seen a potato idea before. So, anything works.

You can take any idea, but it depends how you present it. Hence, it gets into structure.

And this certain order kind of dictates the pattern.

Character—> Setting—> Story—> Plot.

If you don’t have characters people can get invested in, then it’ll almost certainly fall apart.

The next is the setting, the setting in which the story takes place, or maybe various settings and whatnot.

This strikes interest, combined with the characters. It creates a stronger pull. Then comes the story. Once these two are going, the story carries through.

As you can see how the characters connect, how they meld with the setting, how things proceed. Then it comes to the plot, which is a skeletal outline.

By establishing the three, the plot. Even a very basic one can shine.

And what does it do when combined together? It entertains. Can be action, tragedy, romance, a vamp who definitely had a role in Twilight.

Whatever it is, it would do its job to entertain. So long as it is fleshed out structure.

Now comes the difficult part. Yes, stories entertain in various ways. Though, the issue comes in when it comes to promotion.

You can write the best story ever, but if you do not spend enough time putting yourself out there. You’ll likely stay lost.

Many things determine if you’ll land. Market, trends, etc.

Though, this isn’t a lockout. It means you’ll have to work even harder to promote.



Also, if you are not confident in your story idea. It’ll be noticeable. Picking up and tossing out a story continuously just builds a bad pattern.

You don’t finish anything, as such, you cannot effectively build.

From a reader perspective, you’d be untrustworthy. I’ve seen so many authors stop writing for many reasons.

The only ones I can understand and let pass, is if it is family, medical, life, etc. I get it, it happens. Though, if you just decide to throw out one story after the next, nothing get done.

I’ve explained many times on a pattern to complete stories, a structure that works. Coming from someone who grew up unable to finish a thing.

I eventually went back and finished a lot once I had my mind straight.

Though, you cannot help someone get better if they do not want to be better. The more you finish, the more you finish going forward, and the better your rep becomes.

Most will not hit it like that and get thousands of followers off the bat. You’re gonna more likely than not have to buckle down and do it the hard way, but it does happen over time.

Note:

Being better doesn’t mean you have to give up on the type of stories you want to do, or the style. It means the refinement, execution, pace, themes, etc can use another look for improvement.

It is how you get across the information, and the ones it is intended to land on. On top of this, it means finishing what you started. When you can get over that hurdle, you can begin to truly improve.



One more thing, there are just some things that cannot be written. It is an integrity thing. Which also affects who you attract.

As well as, stories each have their own purpose. Which varies on the type of entertainment. As such, that entertainment is different depending on what it is.

Casual, dark, tragic, etc. In the end, if you as an author cannot truly love doing something. It is a slow descent to an end. Seen countless authors give up over my years. With that being said, first and most importantly.

You got to be able to love the passion of writing, and do whatever you can to see your vision through to its conclusion. Hence, refinement. Any idea can work, it just depends how you do it.

Envy definitely chose Edward.

 

[Corty]

Yes, I'd already considered this. This thread will not be applicable to people who want to write for themselves

Those people should not ask for advice anyway. Go write for yourself, it doesn't matter anyway then.

 

[JayMark]

Yes, I'd already considered this. This thread will not be applicable to people who want to write for themselves. But like I already said before, someone who is truly writing for themselves should pay the words of commenters no heed.

A lot of times I find these people don't actually want to write for themselves. They want to write as if they don't care about getting readers, but then they will complain about not getting readers.

Basically, you cannot have your cake and eat it too. If your purpose is to write for yourself, then you truly don't even need to post it. If you want feedback just ask your friends or see if someone online is willing.

I just want readers to be better than this, is that too much ask? Just be better readers, ya'll setting such a low bar I need to dig into substrata to get to it.