Any fiction writers here?

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I love to invent stories.
I sometimes like to write them.
Recently I started sharing what I write.

Then I got diagnosed with type 1 ASD (Aspergers) and suddenly I'm very doubtful about sharing my stuff because I think that nobody can understand it (it's a complex topic, I admit), or that dialogs are too flat or artificial or characters act strangely...

Anyone experienced the same?
Any advice on how to overcome this specific blockage?

I'm one of the fiction writers here on WP, so feel free to take my advise, or tell me to take a flying leap . As far as dialogue being flat, just remember, the main purpose of having your characters speak is to convey information in order to move the story along. Once that is accomplished in a first draft, I suggest that you simply go back and think about ways that might make said dialogue more interesting.
Has someone told you your dialogue is too flat? Or is that a self criticism?
What kind of fiction do you write?

I used to write when i was younger, original fiction as well as fan fiction but i don't think they are any good.

I am insecure about the same things you mentioned, i don't think i understand people enough to convey a character's emotions and intentions.

For now, it's self criticism.
Today I even got a positive feedback from one of my writing buddies regarding some piece of dialogue!
But it was dialogue that explained a lot of stuff that otherwise would have been more like a report.
I write speculative fiction, and many of my characters are dealing with "being different". Which now makes a lot of sense to me. But makes me rethink my creative potential
What's you genre?

Last edited by DunaDuna on 13 Jan 2022, 8:50 pm, edited 2 times in total.

Well, I (still) think a story is story. you can have very simple characters and still pass a message. Like it's done in children's books. Characters are important, but so are plot (entertainment value), and in some cases, a message.

Yeah I write stories, Here's one I been working on.

I write mostly horror. Most of my stuff is set in the present, everyday world, though one of my stories had a sci-fi setting.

I like to read horror, as long it's not apocalyptic. One of stories has some horror elements in it, too. Though in the follow-ups (yes, I write a series) of that the "monster" turn out to be a good guy

Ninja-Turtle fan fiction... took me a little to get that, but then I'm not an expert on Ninja turtles

I'm not a serious writer - I have about five readers who tune in whenever I upload new pages to my story. Still, I know my writing isn't great, I just like having it as a hobby and seeing if anyone wants to read it. At one point I scrapped it because I had way too much backstory to explain before I could get to the main plot.

Then I realised I was telling not showing and that it would be better if I had some of the plot points occur chronologically instead of having my characters just tell the audience about their past. Before the rewrite, it was a case of death by exposition.

However, I do worry about it being a slow start. The beginning is mainly just establishing a friendship in a slice of life setting with some magical realism. I'm not sure if it's enough to maintain interest, I did sprinkle in some hints of future plot points but I'm wondering if I'm doing it right. However, starting in the middle of an action scene is controversial and I don't think it'd quite work with the kind of story I'm trying to tell. Pacing is something I'm still trying to figure out, so if anyone has any advice on that - please let me know.

Interestingly, I had a character who originally was going to be a bit of a jerk, but in the rewrite he's actually fairly likable now.

I did write one zombie apocalypse story once, but otherwise I'm of the opinion that the zombie genre has had it's fifteen minutes an hour and a half ago.

That's a story about April, the sexy redhead reporter, I like to feel I gave her a more fleshed out characterization. Give her human dimensions. I'm working on something new now. Tentatively called "Family Hotel."

Oh yes! Backstories or describing complex worlds have led me to rethink the whole writing thing. though fictional, I just "know" how things work in my story, and what characters experiences what. And if not, I just invent something to fill the hole. But my others (readers) don't know that, and sometimes I feel trying to explain everything is not worth the effort

I discovered screenwriting helps me pinpoint the setting and action (including dialogues). You don't have any character telling endlessly about their past or feeling or state of mind on screen. It may be a voice over, but the visual aspects are always there, and being more visual than verbal, this really works.

You have a place where you share your story?

So true! But I think covid got a lot of people take up the zombie-topic. It had like a revival before it was completely dead.
But there are so many different ways to explain the extinction of a species

I had to write a short screenplay for University when I made a short film back when I was a student. During the time when I was looking for actors, I remember one applicant asked me how I managed to capture the introverted anxious nature of the main character so well. I simply replied "Uh, my life I guess"

The short film was an incredibly rushed project, so I very much had to throw a script together last minute based on the theme my group had picked. We had to scrap hiring actors and fill the roles ourselves. Originally I'd written in a voiceover, but my tutor complained it was too outdated, so I made it into a sequence of emails instead (because it was in an office setting). Truly an awful piece of cinematography but it was fun to make. Even though I wrote the script, I found myself improvising since there were a couple of lines that didn't flow as well as I'd liked. Granted, I'd written the script at 3 AM in a state of student despair and chaos.

Anyway, yes, I agree that screenwriting is good for considering the visual side of the story. Often I either have the problem of too much dialogue, or I get too wrapped up in describing insignificant visual details. It can be a difficult balance. Particularly in older stories of mine, I had a habit of going overboard with personification.

Yes, I share my stories on Wattpad. I know it has a reputation of having bad quality stories, that's why I picked it. People aren't expecting high class storytelling from me, so it lessens the pressure. Yet at the same time, hopefully offering some form of brief entertainment to a handful of people.

Explains why ^ you write so well. You had practice. Pressure of script-writing, I don't know how you can handle it, to be so creative. Writers block would finish me off, right at the start, even attempting such a thing. And what i did write would be trashed, because of my perfectionism.