Writing Tips - Adding Detail to A Story

[Maple-Leaf]

hmm....

im probably gonna have to delete what i have so far and start all over then ?

 

[Nahrenne]

Tho I'm no expert, I've recently started reading published books and watched several helpful vids on youtube. From that, my writing has changed drastically.
So, my advice would be describe something without making it too complicated. Many authors have the bad habit of using purple prose; dont do this. Remember that you are not writing a text book, or a beautiful poem. You are essentially conveying the story to your readers. There's nothing better for that than what your readers understand easily and create a picture in their minds. In fact, using simple words that are more common is better cuz u wont lose your readers and they wont have to go look it up on google every time.
Also, some more advice I can give regarding writing, that I've come to learn, would be: dont use passive voice, change it to active, all of them; dont use filters, like 'he felt, he saw, he knew, he realized, he decided etc.'; dont use adverbs where its not needed, like quickly, softly, fairly, etc., instead use stronger verbs; dont use sudden(ly); dont use 'just'; dont use 'somehow, almost, rather, seem, definitely, somewhat'; dont use redundant phrases like, final outcome etc; and finally, the dialogue tags -- dont use fancy words for every dialogues. In fact, dont use anything for the most part. If you have to use something, use 'said'. Also, differentiate between action tags and dialogue tags.

Well, that is it. I'm pretty sure many authors already knew of all this. I've also come to learn of all this and am still learning and getting better.

'-'
What if you are writing a character who enjoys expressing their knowledge of vocabulary because they think it shows their superiority over others?
What if what's considered purple prose (has no idea what that is) is how some people talk normally in everyday life?
What's a dialogue tag?
What's an action tag?

What if you're writing the story just because you enjoy writing, and you want to express your love of language through the words you use? I don't know about others, however I feel annoyed if all I see for dialogue is:
'He said, "X."
She said, "Y."
He said, "X."
She said, "Y."'

I prefer variety:
"He asked, "X?"
She responded, "Y."
Laughing, he joked, "X."
Blushing, she turned away and muttered in an undertone, "Y..."'

Please note that this is just my opinion and I'm not having a go. My earlier questions were purely genuine and not pejorative in any way.

As for the original poster...

Recently I've been looking back through one of my stories and I just feel like there's an element missing. I don't know if it's because I don't have enough detail in my fight scenes, or I'm bad at describing scenery, or what my characters look like, but it's like the flare that usually makes good stories come alive isn't there in mine.

I'm heavily inspired by light novels like Re:Zero, when I read them I can feel myself getting immersed into those worlds and it pretty much feels like I'm there. But with my own work it just...doesn't translate from my head to the page.

Does anyone have any advice? Like are there certain terms I should use that would make my work feel more immersive? If you have any tips PLEASE help me out

My tip would be write what your eyes are drawn to. If you're watching a film/TV series/anime, what do you notice first in a fight scene?
Also, for your story what do you want the combat to feel like? Do you want it to be like in Naruto where they talk for ages while fighting? Or something similar to the text being over in a matter of seconds?
I suggest that you make that choice before writing it, otherwise it'll result in a mish-mash of both that can feel clumsy and uninteresting. I think @Farok mentioned some useful points on being both concise and eloquent while keeping the balance just right. You want readers to see the picture but you don't want to clutter their mental vision with redundant imagery.

I think something to consider while doing an action scene are several things:
If outside, what's the temperature/weather like? This can set the mood of the environment as well as help provide a background.
What's the location, if not already mentioned?
Are there any distinctive scents appearing during the combat?
Any distinctive sounds caused by the combat?
Any consequences of their actions on the environment?
An example of these considerations could give you something like this:

As the two men walked through the woods, a cool summer's breeze brushed through their hair as the leaves on the trees gave their applause for the coming combat. After approaching a clearing, they halted. Standing on opposite sides, they glared at each other with eyes full of malice and hatred.

"You not gonna back down?" The taller of the men aggressively inquired as he jutted his jaw out.

The other man scrunched his face, "You wish. Hannah is mine!" then charged with heated vigor.

The air rapidly permeated with the stench of sweat as the two men exerted their all in a petty fight over a woman. A kick aimed for the groin followed by a pained grunt; an elbow to the neck in retaliation resulting in choked coughing. The familiar scent of iron wafted between them as a deep crimson flowed from their frontal orifices. This was not an honourable fight but a squabble, yet...they were both willing to give it their all for the one they loved - even if it meant becoming a mutilated meat sack in the process.


[Disclaimer: I'm also terrible at combat scenes.]
>w<

X

 

[Maple-Leaf]

No matter the differences in everyone's opinion, the things they all say not to do, are things I've done repeatedly.

 

[Aleth08]

'-'
What if you are writing a character who enjoys expressing their knowledge of vocabulary because they think it shows their superiority over others?
What if what's considered purple prose (has no idea what that is) is how some people talk normally in everyday life?
What's a dialogue tag?
What's an action tag?

What if you're writing the story just because you enjoy writing, and you want to express your love of language through the words you use? I don't know about others, however I feel annoyed if all I see for dialogue is:
'He said, "X."
She said, "Y."
He said, "X."
She said, "Y."'

I prefer variety:
"He asked, "X?"
She responded, "Y."
Laughing, he joked, "X."
Blushing, she turned away and muttered in an undertone, "Y..."'

Please note that this is just my opinion and I'm not having a go. My earlier questions were purely genuine and not pejorative in any way.

As for the original poster...

My tip would be write what your eyes are drawn to. If you're watching a film/TV series/anime, what do you notice first in a fight scene?
Also, for your story what do you want the combat to feel like? Do you want it to be like in Naruto where they talk for ages while fighting? Or something similar to the text being over in a matter of seconds?
I suggest that you make that choice before writing it, otherwise it'll result in a mish-mash of both that can feel clumsy and uninteresting. I think @Farok mentioned some useful points on being both concise and eloquent while keeping the balance just right. You want readers to see the picture but you don't want to clutter their mental vision with redundant imagery.

I think something to consider while doing an action scene are several things:
If outside, what's the temperature/weather like? This can set the mood of the environment as well as help provide a background.
What's the location, if not already mentioned?
Are there any distinctive scents appearing during the combat?
Any distinctive sounds caused by the combat?
Any consequences of their actions on the environment?
An example of these considerations could give you something like this:

As the two men walked through the woods, a cool summer's breeze brushed through their hair as the leaves on the trees gave their applause for the coming combat. After approaching a clearing, they halted. Standing on opposite sides, they glared at each other with eyes full of malice and hatred.

"You not gonna back down?" The taller of the men aggressively inquired as he jutted his jaw out.

The other man scrunched his face, "You wish. Hannah is mine!" then charged with heated vigor.

The air rapidly permeated with the stench of sweat as the two men exerted their all in a petty fight over a woman. A kick aimed for the groin followed by a pained grunt; an elbow to the neck in retaliation resulting in choked coughing. The familiar scent of iron wafted between them as a deep crimson flowed from their frontal orifices. This was not an honourable fight but a squabble, yet...they were both willing to give it their all for the one they loved - even if it meant becoming a mutilated meat sack in the process.


[Disclaimer: I'm also terrible at combat scenes.]
>w<

X

Your first point. Purple prose doesnt matter if its a dialogue. For dialogues, you can do whatever you want. But they have to stay inside the "". As for whats purple prose, its overly flowery or complicated words just to make it sound more 'smart' or more 'apt'. Its a distraction for the readers, not a good experience. As a writer, you should make it easier for readers to paint the picture, what u're doing does opposite. Of course, if your intention is to simply write what you wish, then please ignore this part.
Next, dialogue tags are just as they say, He said, She said, He replied, etc. But you probably already know that since your next point is about them. And as I said if you simply enjoy writing, then does it really matter. Just keep doing what you're doing and you're good. But if you want to improve it to become more readable, the you gotta change that. Apart from 'said', all others are distracting. It distracts readers when they already know whats happening. They dont need the author to tell them that its a reply, or its a response, or a joke or an inquiry. Make that clear with the dialogues. Either dont use anything there, or use 'said'. Since 'said' is the default tag, readers gloss over it, and it just gives them the info who's speaking. I would suggest using this only in situations where there are multiple chars speaking.
As for action tags, they are similar to dialogue ones. But they are for action, like, he smirked, he smiled, she laughed. etc Using them is fine, but generally authors overuse them and also misuse them in place of dialogue tags. They dont fit with the dialogues with a comma, mind that.

Anyway, dont hate me if it sounded a bit harsh. I'm also only recovering from knowing how bad I was. But I want to improve, so gathered all this knowledge.

 

[Nahrenne]

Your first point. Purple prose doesnt matter if its a dialogue. For dialogues, you can do whatever you want. But they have to stay inside the "". As for whats purple prose, its overly flowery or complicated words just to make it sound more 'smart' or more 'apt'. Its a distraction for the readers, not a good experience. As a writer, you should make it easier for readers to paint the picture, what u're doing does opposite. Of course, if your intention is to simply write what you wish, then please ignore this part.

*tilts head*
I dislike 'basic' language in stories; I find it more distracting, honestly.

Next, dialogue tags are just as they say, He said, She said, He replied, etc. But you probably already know that since your next point is about them. And as I said if you simply enjoy writing, then does it really matter. Just keep doing what you're doing and you're good. But if you want to improve it to become more readable, the you gotta change that. Apart from 'said', all others are distracting. It distracts readers when they already know whats happening. They dont need the author to tell them that its a reply, or its a response, or a joke or an inquiry. Make that clear with the dialogues. Either dont use anything there, or use 'said'. Since 'said' is the default tag, readers gloss over it, and it just gives them the info who's speaking. I would suggest using this only in situations where there are multiple chars speaking.

I find excessive use of 'said' quite distracting and frustrating since it causes me to wonder if the writer was just lazy and couldn't be bothered to expand on their vocabulary. It makes me think of a child recounting their experiences to an adult or another child.


As for the rest of your post, I'm going to assume your terminology is American, since I had never come across such utterances of tags when studying English Lit. and Eng. Lang. in sixth form - or earlier. Also, it seems that wherever you got your advice from seems to have a low opinion on the intelligence of readers as a whole. You look at successful books and they don't follow the advice you are so adamant is the only way to write. Readers don't fit into one group where one style suits all. Much like there are many genres and authors, there are many types of readers who consume said texts.

In terms of harshness, I just wonder if you were saying my writing is bad, or you were speaking in general terms. With regards to you saying don't hate, why would I hate you for voicing what you believe to be the one true path of writing? I disagree with what you've mentioned but that doesn't equate to hate. Hate is...a very strong word to use in a discussion due to its negative connotations. It conveys a pejorative mood that can unintentionally - or purposely - cause conflict where there was none.

As such, do what you feel comfortable doing, if you believe it is improving your writing. I just personally think there is more than one way to write and still be good.

X

 

[Aleth08]

*tilts head*
I dislike 'basic' language in stories; I find it more distracting, honestly.

I find excessive use of 'said' quite distracting and frustrating since it causes me to wonder if the writer was just lazy and couldn't be bothered to expand on their vocabulary. It makes me think of a child recounting their experiences to an adult or another child.


As for the rest of your post, I'm going to assume your terminology is American, since I had never come across such utterances of tags when studying English Lit. and Eng. Lang. in sixth form - or earlier. Also, it seems that wherever you got your advice from seems to have a low opinion on the intelligence of readers as a whole. You look at successful books and they don't follow the advice you are so adamant is the only way to write. Readers don't fit into one group where one style suits all. Much like there are many genres and authors, there are many types of readers who consume said texts.

In terms of harshness, I just wonder if you were saying my writing is bad, or you were speaking in general terms. With regards to you saying don't hate, why would I hate you for voicing what you believe to be the one true path of writing? I disagree with what you've mentioned but that doesn't equate to hate. Hate is...a very strong word to use in a discussion due to its negative connotations. It conveys a pejorative mood that can unintentionally - or purposely - cause conflict where there was none.

As such, do what you feel comfortable doing, if you believe it is improving your writing. I just personally think there is more than one way to write and still be good.

X

Well if it works for you, then good for you I guess. Ignore my points.

 

[ForestDweller]

Yo, I wouldn't call myself a professional but I don't consider myself bad either.

For me one of the most important things would be the vocabulary, being able to describe something precisely adds
value, to say that something is beautiful or big is easy, but in my opinion, it is more important to describe why this thing is beautiful.

Recently I started to read Blue Core, and I was very impressed with the level of detail of the story, every important scene is described at length and precisely so that the reader has a perfect mental picture of what is happening.

This is why, in my opinion, vocabulary is very important, although you also have to know when to use it.

Also, I would add that it is sometimes important to take your time during a description, it is perhaps easier or more satisfying to quickly write a description but sometimes taking the time to sit down and think about how to highlight a place can be fruitful.

I don't count the number of times I've spent hours on a single sentence just because it didn't feel right, it only takes one word or a different turn of phrase to make a paragraph whole looks much better.

I hope that was helpful. (Sorry for any mistakes)

Yea, this is really hard for me. I'm not a native English speaker so my vocab is really simple compared to other, more prolific authors out there.

It's not just about the vocab either. It's also about sentence structure and how you can vary them to make things sound more smooth.

And I certainly don't have the patience to think for hours how my sentences should be constructed.

The only thing I can do is to comfort myself with this reasoning. "I'm just writing an isekai web novel. No need for complex, highly artistic descriptive passages. You know how simple their sentence structures are".

If I can write like Dickens, I would.

 

[Typing...]

Detail is a troublesome word. Many try to think about how to add more adjectives, or go on a tangent on how that desk is made out of 300 year old mahogany. It has a finger painted yellow daisy on the side and a burnt circle on the countertop, it is waterlogged two thirds from the bottom, and one of the legs has been gnawed on by a dog.

However it's better to think about details as an individual piece of information. And consider the former example as a description. To add a lot of details is to include a lot of separate information. To add a description is to include a lot of information about a single detail.

Like in photography not everything is in focus. If everything was in focus, it becomes difficult to focus on anything. Only by blurring the majority into the background may the subject of attention have contrast. In writing, the more details the more vivid a scene becomes, while the more descriptions the more parts of that scene comes into focus. When every detail has a description then nothing is in focus.

Since the mind cannot focus on more than a few things at a time, it's important to consider what should be included in the details. By adding details they becomes relevant to the scene. By describing those details they become the focus of the scene.

 

[Deleted member 29316]

Ain't a professional, but here's what I do in my scenes.

First, I imagine the overall scene. Then start to write it down. Where was the scene taking place? In space? In a prairie? If so, what are the things I immediately saw in my head. If it's a prairie, then there's a hill of grass and blue skies in the background. If it's in space, there the sheer blackness of the surroundings was what I quickly formed in my head.

Second, I put in the details. Like in the prairie, what was the next detail that I saw? Is there a house? What kind of house? Is it important to the story? See, the third question is important because, well...you shouldn't put something that is not meant to do anything. If you're planning to do your scene in an empty prairie, then definitely, there shouldn't be any house that is around.

Third, my characters and their interaction with the environment. Were they fighting? Or just simply walking around? Character interactions with their surrounding is important because it completes the overall picture of the scene. I won't put an angry reaction to my characters if I wanted my prairie to be a beautiful, scenic one.

Fight scenes follow the same principle, only try to create tension by using cliffhangers, or a succession of action words. And for all of these, knowing your adjectives, adverbs, verbs and when to use those is important.

 

[UYScuti]

Since this has been revived, I might as well chime in. I write in rounds (which might be common, I don’t know.)

I write a list of things I want the chapter to introduce and the scene’s reason/importance. What’s necessary for chapters going forward? What’s needed to understand the chapter itself? What actions should take place in the chapter to make it from the beginning to the end? Then I begin looping through.

First round, I’ll write a barebones chapter, 1k words or so, with few descriptions, just actions. I’ll place character reactions/feelings as he was scared; she felt cold, etc.

Second round, after a little time (30 minutes or more), I layer in details onto the actions. An adjective or two will suffice in most sentences, add more where needed, but there’s no reason to go overboard on every leaf’s structure and bog things down. During this time, any small steps I missed will be added.

Third round, I remove as many telling words as possible, saw, heard, smelled, and describe what is seen, heard, smelled, etc. I’ll remove feeling and emotion words as much as possible. Instead of saying she was scared, I’ll describe her trembling legs, shaky hands, her heart rate, the feeling in her stomach, the effect on her vision and so on. I don’t add all of these, but some to paint the picture.

Fourth round, I line edit. Make sure the flow matches what I want. Sometimes I want smooth transitions; other times, I want choppy blocks or incomplete sentences when it’s stylistically correct for the atmosphere. I’ll play with word choice and sentence structure. Try to cut out as much filler as possible.

Fifth round, I grammar sweep. Get rid of any grammatical problems I find and determine if some of those errors are introduced intentionally, such as run-on sentences in dialogue.

Sixth round is a read-through with a text to voice. Quite a few small things I miss can be picked up there.

Seventh is reading the chapter before I post.

This might be the normal way of doing things, so perhaps I’m not saying anything new, but it’s the process that works for me.

Also, think about the POV you’re using. Words like “just, somehow, almost, rather, seem, definitely, somewhat“ are fine occasionally if you’re writing in first person as this is the world described through the characters eyes (don’t overuse, though), but not so much when you write in third person.

 

[Queenfisher]

Yea, this is really hard for me. I'm not a native English speaker so my vocab is really simple compared to other, more prolific authors out there.

It's not just about the vocab either. It's also about sentence structure and how you can vary them to make things sound more smooth.

And I certainly don't have the patience to think for hours how my sentences should be constructed.

The only thing I can do is to comfort myself with this reasoning. "I'm just writing an isekai web novel. No need for complex, highly artistic descriptive passages. You know how simple their sentence structures are".

If I can write like Dickens, I would.

I saw your concerns in your profile post as well . Really, I don't think anyone really needs to worry about detalization or not (although I am on the side of deep immersion writing most often). There will be readers who enjoy all kinds of writing, and those who don't even notice the technical aspects of it at all.

This forums and all writerly sites are a bit misrepresentative of what the reading majority buy/support because we are focused mainly on the "how" rather than "what". So if it bothers you, don't worry. Probably, most of your (and other) readers won't even be able to tell the difference between highly-detailed writing and sparse. ╮ (. ❛ ᴗ ❛.) ╭

You're probably doing fine as you are. As long as you're motivated to keep writing, it's all good.

That said, I am thoroughly on the ALL THE DETAILS side in writing, .

If I could write like Hemingway, I would.

(Also, not to diss him, but sometimes it astounds me that Hemingway, the person known for the sparsest writing style in the lit world, can be bizarrely verbose and over-the-top sometimes. Especially compared to modern LNs. Like, he frequently comes across as such a purple-proser to me nowadays... )

 

[Freesia.Cutepearl]

I can't say I've read everything in here yet, but I've read a few posts, and in particular some things @Nahrenne said stood out to me.

The part about how people normally speak hits home for me. A lot of my narration is 1st person, so far. My main character, Lilith is rambly, and a bit sloppy, she goes off on tangents of thought. Maybe it's not for everyone, but to me, it seems more human. And I try to convey her character through her narration.

Another recent character, Lilac, is an academic, who doesn't really talk much with people, she tends to narrate more matter of factly, except for when her emotions are involved, she focuses on details and misses other parts of a larger picture.

Elicia, earlier on, tends to narrate as if she was describing what happened to a friend. Like in a scene where she tried to warn an official of something she thought was important and a danger to people, they brushed her off and she was almost gossipy, like, 'I thought they were meant to help us! I can't believe this!' that sort of thing. Not exact words, btw.

My 3rd person narration is a bit more "dry" as I feel some people have suggested, where you use less words and try to be more optimal?
But still, he comments on things occasionally.

Maybe I'm weird, but I find it hard to really pay too much attention to the words usually. It's like when you look through a screen door, you're either focusing on the outside, or you focusing on the screen itself. If the outside captures my attention the screen fades away unless it's overly obnoxious in some way.

What we find obnoxious is subjective. @Nahrenne gave the example of an author constantly using "said" - I do think it's more fun and interesting to use different words, and gives you an opportunity to describe things, many times lately, I've not even used any indicator, instead letting thier presence be the indicator, such as:

She opened the door and looked at him, "Oh, hello there!"

One thing I find super distracting and obtrusively obnoxious is when people put dialog next to each other with little or no indication of who is speaking.

He walked into the room.

"What are you doing in here?"

"Nothing, I could ask you the same?"

I cannot STAND that. That kind of thing makes me focus on the 'screen door' of the writing and not the 'outside' of the story.

I dunno.. maybe I'm weird. But as a reader, I find it much more interesting to focus on what is being said and not how it's being said?

When I write, I feel like I am trying to write the way I'd talk to someone, maybe a bit more idealized in a forum post like this, where I can edit things to fix silly mistakes and I don't stutter or anything.

Though many times when I am writing for my story, I am saying every line, even with narration, it's being written as it would were I to have spoken it. Somehow it feels more natural to me, than to try and dress up everything into some dry perfection?

Then again that's all subjective.

In the end I think striving to improve is wonderful, but if you find yourself doing something that makes you hate or dread writing, then maybe, try something else that makes you enjoy writing? After all, I feel like, if you don't enjoy it when you write it, how can others enjoy it when they read it? Aren't we sharing our feelings with our writing?

Eh.. sorry for all the rambles, hope it makes.. some kind of sense.

 

[Typing...]

@Freesia.Cutepearl

People often take the rule 'Omit Needless Words' too far. What must be understood is that words have more than just their definition. From adjusting emotional ambiance to giving voice to what would otherwise be a monotonous dialect. To omit needless words is to remove words that don't do anything, be it from clarity, composition, rhythm, character etc.

If I were to take Omit Needless Words to it's natural extreme:

People take the rule 'Omit Needless words' to the extreme. Words are more than just their definition. A monotonous dialect occurs without flow. Remove words that don't add substance.

Such a style has its place as it conveys what is supposed to be said with as little effort placed on the reader as possible. But it's also stale. Reading the former sentence has no ups and downs, no variation, no flow.

When I write, I feel like I am trying to write the way I'd talk to someone, maybe a bit more idealized in a forum post like this, where I can edit things to fix silly mistakes and I don't stutter or anything.

Though many times when I am writing for my story, I am saying every line, even with narration, it's being written as it would were I to have spoken it. Somehow it feels more natural to me, than to try and dress up everything into some dry perfection?

This is normal. Language is a spoken medium first, a written medium second. Many rules that seem unintuitive when written are done automatically when spoken. As such when we read our writing it makes it easier to notice when something feels unnatural.

 

[Freesia.Cutepearl]

Many rules that seem unintuitive when written are done automatically when spoken.

Fufufu.

I must be at an advantage then because everything I type is said aloud in my head, many times even out my mouth.

Honestly, I can't imagine how someone can write without speaking it aloud even if it's by an imaginary out loud voice in your head?

I know some people are different, sometimes wildly so, like those that hear colors or see smells.
And a few people have no imagination, and can only visualize what they have seen or heard.

But for me, I can't seem to write anything without it being a spoken sentence within my head?
Including all the pauses, erm.. the stutters and.. an- uhm, well just everything- all that occurs normally when... speaking?

 

[ChronicleCrawler]

I'm not yet good. But I'm really improving a lot as of what I can see and feel as compared to last year when I started dabbling with writing. So let me share, things that I learned.

I have a simple rule of thumb. When it makes me, the author grinning, feeling tense, emotional, scared, or shock - I'd give myself a pass. Of course, not all chapters will be like that. So, I'd edit it until I'm satisfied. Performing the actions or dialogues myself. Or even talking to my laptop helps me start my imagination for dialogues.

Though I'm not good at action - I've been taking the advice of some novelist I knew. The pro ones like David Morell (Still currently reading his book: The Successful Novelist - try reading it. It's a good book). If my character does a kick - I do a kick and write what it feels like. Or I watch myself through a mirror and writes how I look like when I performed such action and exaggerate. It had helped me add the details as well as the substance for my novels.

Not bragging but I'd seen myself getting better at writing more about dramatic moments and comedy. For comedy, it's simple. If my work and scene made me laugh, it's good. Of course, there are exceptions. Everyone is different though so don't expect everyone to find it funny. For the dramatic moments - I like to add detailed information that would set the theme of the scene. E.g someone died. I'd add something sad. A non-stop rain. A storm. A piece of bad news on TV. A starless night. I'll add details and will set the tone by starting with these scenes. Then, I'll listen to music - pieces that have no lyrics but convey the feelings the scene wants to show. That's why YT exists for me when I write.

Nevertheless, I suck at consistency. Keeping deadlines. Get's tired easily after pouring everything into a chapter. So, I'm trying to build my stamina and endurance for now. By jogging and meditating. I dunno why but the more I write - the more new things I discover. I've also been reading a lot technical books, pro novels, webnovels, amateur novels, and even damn history books and research papers.

So far, these are the things I had discovered on how to add the tiny details.
1. Read more - it will help you broaden your world as well as empower your vocab.
2. Act the details - Do it and write it. It feels novel. Give it a try.
3. Edit and Rewrite after at least reaching 60K words or when the whole novel is done. (To avoid falling into an editing rut.)
4. Set the mood when writing.

Hope this helps.

 

[Suzumiya]

Could you post something you feel lacks the quality you seek?