I really have to rant about something...

I’m thirteen years old, and I aspire to one day be a writer. You all know what roleplaying is, I assume. Well, I roleplay. I found out from my friend that one of the mods of the roleplaying board I go on said I’m “never going to make it” because I incorporate too much dialogue into my writing.

But is it not true that my writing will continue to evolve? I’m only thirteen! I have seven years of highschool, and then four years of college to completely change it to something better.

This mod is nineteen years old and a really good writer. But does he have the right to judge me based on a few posts I’ve made for fun? Is my future in journalism not going to happen because someone happens to read a piece of writing I wrote when I was thirteen?

Thanks for letting me rant, this is really bugging me. I don’t think it right for someone to say that about a person, especially someone who they don’t even know.

Well just let me starty off by saying that you seem very intelligent for a thirteen year old. Personally, I wouldn’t know too much about this topic, but liek you said, you have many years of school to go along with college. I think he is wrong to judge you at an early age. My sister is 14 and can’t even spell very simple words. It’s sad and she is not the only person her age with this problem.

you’ll definitely make it if you want to

unorthodox makes for good media.

i don’t see what’s wrong with heavy dialogue myself. i’m most interested in indy stuff (though this relates to film, not writing) and lengthy dialogue and periods of realism (in addition to extreme bizarre things, or possibly both at the same time) is what i like most.

Thanks :slight_smile: I have to go to bed, but you made me feel a little better.

Thanks for letting me rant!

I’ve seen whole chapters in novels by well-known arstists with nothing but dialogue.

Yes there comes a point in writing where there can be too much, I used to RP myself and it is nothing like writing a book. The rules are different for RP, they require less chat and more detail, novels are different. While yes, they too need detail over dialouge, you can get away with much more. You can ever have characters do dialouge backstories.

A good author knows not the basis to any story is to be able to tell a good story and if you can do that best with dialouge then it’s not a bad thing. But don’t judge your skills by one medium like RPing, it’s different to a novel, just like a play is different to both.

If you want to increase your creative writing, write some articles in a journalism style or something like that. There is a creative excersise topic in the lounge too Daily Sense

Try other styles of writing too, all of them will help your growth as a writer and will help you write in different styles, from dialogue to detail and beyond.

You said yourself though: ‘your future in journalism’.

Anyone can tell you that Journalism is completely different from RPing, for one there are no characters in it so there is very little speech, just the odd quote from time to time. You cannot judge a journalist from an RP like environment and I bet he did the same thing when he was 13 too :wink:

In my opinion, whoever this is, he really doesn’t have much of a right just to judge you on your writing; like you said, you have plenty of time to develope your skills, and really work on whatever weaknesses you may have. Although I’m not a fan of constructive criticism myself, you have to learn that it can be very useful, especially when it’s coming from someone who knows more about a certain subject than you do. If that’s the case, you might want to consider taking this person’s advice.

As far as aspiring to be a writer goes, I know just how you feel. :wink: I, too, share that desire.

[color=blue][BB edit][/color]There’s just one thing that I’d like to mention.

While that’s a compliment, for some reason, things like that have always bothered me. Chances are, I was probably just about as intelligent as DreamerKrystal when I was thirteen (not that it was a long time ago) :tongue: and I would have gotten similar responses. Now, let’s see, how can I word this? I just don’t think it’s right to assume how intelligent a person is based on age. Remember; we’re all individuals! :grin: Growing up, I’ve always hated it when young people were treated in a patronizing manner.

By the way, DK, may we see some of your writing? You should open up your own topic in the Garden of Creation! :yes: We have some writers in there already, and I’m sure that you won’t be criticized on any of your work. People generally have a positive attitude in the GoC. :good:[color=blue][/BB edit][/color]

I wouldn’t worry about it, DreamerKrystal. If you want to be a writer, just keep working at it, and don’t be discouraged by criticism from people who don’t even know you. You’ve still got plenty of time to improve your abilities and discover your strengths and weaknesses, and from what I’ve seen, it looks like you’re well on your way already. Besides, it’s easy to move your focus away from dialog if people tend to comment a lot on that one aspect. It certainly doesn’t mean you aren’t suited to the activity and should look for something else!

Perhaps “intelligent” wasn’t the right word. Rather, I think Shawn was merely commenting on the fact that her writing seems very professional, and that this is remarkably uncommon for someone of her age. There are exceptions, of course, but it seems in general that most thirteen or fourteen year-olds tend to ignore some very important writing conventions altogether, such as punctuation and capitalization. Most of them also reduce common words like “you” and “for” to a single letter or number. It’s just refreshing to see a thirteen year-old put in the effort to write correctly, and to a lot of people, that might say something about their ability to learn.

I do agree with you, though. And if it means anything, I was positively amazed when I discovered how old you were. :tongue:

Well there are many mature people on this board, I’m just comparing her to the majority of people her age.

Incorporate too much dialogue? Shakespeare was terrible, then.

Seriously, everyone has their own style of writing, and there is definitely no one writer that everybody loves. I do agree, however, with BB in that you should take the constructive criticism and try to work with it. In writing (fictional), most people need a kind of setting to be given to them so that they don’t get the wrong picture (literally).

Plus, your future in journalism shouldn’t be in any way harmed just because of material you have written at this age. If anything, it should help because you’ve already started working on your writing.

You’re right, no one has the right to to judge based on a few RP posts. Aren’t Role Playing things usually a lot of dialogue between characters? (i didn’t RP much, but i did do some.)

It is unfair to say that you will not make it when you are older, because of a few forum posts you made.

Just something I want to say that is just…a little advice?

You said
" I’m only thirteen! I have seven years of highschool, and then four years of college to completely change it to something better. "

Why do you have to wait to change? You should try to look at right now. It will make others impressed that you can get better without thinking about how much time you have to get better.

Sorry if that is confusing. heh.

There’s nothing wrong with dialogue, although I must admit that in RPGs you really do need more description of actions than usual. I find it hard to imagine that anyone would “make it” as a writer based only on how good they are at roleplaying, however.

Roleplays are interactive and entirely dependant on your fellow players, because their bad storytelling often drags everybody else down as well (or vice-versa). This is why I gave it up, because it was a source of constant frustration for me when others refused to give their characters any weaknesses, made no effort to use proper grammar and punctuation, or turned every scene into an unnecessary, violent death match for no apparent reason. I once ran one myself and made everyone submit a detailed writing sample with their applications, but it still didn’t help much.

I don’t think his real problem was to do with your dialogue - in fact, I rather suspect that this mod of yours was just getting fed up with bad storytelling from many people in general and that you were the unlucky person he took it out on. I can understand that.

Of course it will improve! Besides, you write much more coherently already than many of my own friends (who are 20 and write like: OMG the vampire was soooooo hot)!

There’s not much you can do to stop him judging you, I’m afraid. Fortunately, nobody’s going to stop you entering into journalism because of a roleplay. What’s more important is a degree in journalism from a good university, a good knowledge of your subject, and some serious articles/samples of prose in a portfolio. Work experience helps, too. I actually know a guy who writes for a popular online magazine, and he still makes a few spelling errors, so the future is bright for you! :content:

That’s actually hilarious because Plato wrote all his writings completely in dialogue :razz:

I wouldn’t worry, everyone has a different writing style, and as long as you keep practicing you will get better. just don’t do what I seem to do and write alot for awhile and then stop for years, you will get rusty if you’re not consistent.

Woa, I go to bed and lotsa posts!

Yea, I’ll post some of my writing in the Garden of Creation :slight_smile:

Thanks, everyone. I feel tons better, and in the roleplay I’m attempting to use less dialogue.

Thanks! =D

Oh, right. :roll: I must have sent shockwaves through the entire forum when I had revealed how old I was. In fact, just yesterday someone had thought I was twenty. Twenty! I’ve always thought that I could get away with eighteen, but twenty? Now that I think of it, there are a good number of fifteen year olds who can get away with telling people they are older simply because people are so terrible with ages. They expect people my age to look and act so much younger than they (I mean we) :tongue: actually do.

Then again, I’ve had my share of immature posts, as well. /me hides The Transdimensional Blissful Reality of Blues under the couch.

As long as Huey is gone, I don’t think any of you will be seeing any trouble from me. :whistle:

There is nothing I hate more than people who don’t use proper grammar! That has bothered me even when I was thirteen and fourteen. Apparently, I was one of those exceptions. :gni:

Even if someone would judge you, with the “right” to do so, don’t listen to them!! Think of all the artist, writers, inventors that have come up with brilliant ideas and new styles and whole genres and whose works have been appreciated by many people, that would never have seen the light if they had listened to their critics. Besides, I like good long conversations in books. :smile: There are so many of those authors that make good books… Realism or whatever it’s called.

I am also 13 and have had the same problem that the TC is having. Anyways, my advice is to just have more detail. I think that too much dialogue isn’t really a problem unless there’s no description for the dialogue. Like here’s an example:

BAD

“Henry went to the store.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, he did.”

GOOD
“Henry went to the store.” my mother said as she chopped onions on a cutting board.
“Really?” I questioned in shock.
“Yeah, he did.” My mom continued to cut onions.

Get what I’m saying?

This guy isn’t worth your thoughts. Of course your writing will evolve. It’s an art! Think a painter made his masterpiece after a few weeks of painting?

The only thing I can say is practice. I’ve been writing stories for a while now, and when I look back, I laugh at what I used to do. A fool will beat a genius with hard work!

I have faith in you, mate. He doesn’t believe in you, so do us all a favor, and prove him wrong :grin:

Having a lot of dialogue in a story doesn’t make it poorly written if you do it right. It just means people who read for action might get bored and people who read for the whole thing will still like it. If you want to see how a good book can be mostly dialogue, check out the Wheel of Time series. Frick, sometimes all it seems to be is dialogue. But it’s so frickin addicting as well! First book’s called The Eye of the World, if you’re interested.

Don’t listen to that guy. Your writing can change, and I personaly like storys with a lot of diolog it makes it easeir to get to know the charecters for me. Besides as with everything else you have to balence it. Diolog and discriptions are both great, but too much of either one can ruin a story.

Ah… I’ve had people say the same thing to me.

About my art. I started drawing when I was 13… for virtual petsites. 2nd site I applied for I got hired… but was fired after two weeks. Turned out the owned didn’t want me on the team at all but he didn’t know how to say no. o_o;

My art looked like…
i36.photobucket.com/albums/e50/Lyii/seadra.png
People told me that I just wouldn’t be a good artist.
Hell… I’m still not good at it.
But its been about 5 months? And I’m improved, and I’m continuing to improve, and thats all I care about.
i36.photobucket.com/albums/e50/L … merrrr.png
However stupid and cartoonish my drawings are… they’re still art and I’m still proud of them.

Don’t worry about what other people say about your writing. You’ll get to be an awsome writer one of these days, and even then you’ll continue to improve. They say practice makes perfect.

It’s 100% true.