So You Want To / See the Index

This index holds the various pages of the So You Want to namespace. Go to Write a Story and Be Original for basic advice that transcends genre boundaries.

To Get the Template: Head over to See a Template, open it for editing, and copy the template at the bottom of the page. Then come back here, click on the link for the page you want to create, open it for editing, paste in the template, and start filling in the sections. There you go!

Compare TV Tropes "How to" Guides. Contrast Things You Are Not Allowed to Do. See also So You Want to.Make a Joke About the So You Want to Namespace

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The Basics

This article covers advice for all writers, regardless of genre or medium; it's the stuff that would go on every page, but instead we put it on this one page and just point you over here:

• Write a Story
• Be Original
• Make Interesting Characters
• Develop Character Personality
• Write Dialogue
• Build Your Own Fictional World
• Be a Long-Runner
• Recap
• Name a Character
• Name a Work
• Write a Good Summary
• Write an Ending
• See a Template^note Okay, this isn't for story writing, but we had to index the template somehow. And it is a basic if you want to add to the library here. Think of this as "So You Want To Write a So You Want To Page".

See also The Hollywood Formula.

Visual and Literary Genres

The tropes that make the genre:

• Write an Abridged Series
• Write an Action Movie
• Write an Aesop
• Write an Alien Invasion Story
• Write an Alternate Continuity
• Write an Alternate History
• Write a Black Comedy (NEEDS expansion)
• Write a Conspiracy Theory
• Write a Cosmic Horror Story (Needs pitfalls and candidates for epic fails)
• Write a Creepypasta (under construction, please expand)
• Write a Crossover
• Write a Cyberpunk Story
• Write a Dark Fantasy
• Write a Detective Novel
• Write a Diesel Punk Story
• Write a Dom Com
• Write a Dystopia
• Write a Film Noir
• Write a Folk Song
• Write a Furry Comic
• Write a Game Anime
• Write a Gaming Comic
• Write a Good Yaoi
• Write a Gothic Story (needs plot ideas and candidates for epic fails)
• Write a Hard Science-Fiction Story with Space Travel
• Write a Harem Anime
• Write a Heroic Fantasy
• Write a High Fantasy
• Write a Horror Comedy (could use expansion)
• Write a Horror Story (could use expansion)
• Write a Humongous Mecha Anime
• Write An Isekai (under construction, please expand)
• Write a Jungle Opera (Under construction, needs expansion)
• Write a Kid Novel
• Write a Korean Drama (Needs expansion)
• Write a Lit RPG (Under construction)
• Write a Love Story
• Write a Magical Girl Series
• Write a Magical Girlfriend Series
• Write a Mon Series
• Write a Police Procedural
• Write a Romantic Comedy
• Write a Science-Fiction Story
• Write a Screwball Comedy
• Write a Sex, Drugs and Rock & Roll Story
• Write a Shonen Series
• Write a Shoujo Series (Needs help. Maybe not a total rewrite, though.)
• Write a Sitcom
• Write a Slasher Horror Story
• Write a Space Opera (NEEDS expansion, more details)
• Write a Spoof Movie (under construction, please expand)
• Write a Steampunk Story
• Write a Superhero Comic
• Write a Teen Drama
• Write a Time-Travel Story (NEEDS expansion, more details)
• Write an Urban Fantasy
• Write a Vampire Novel
• Write a Very Special Episode (NEEDS expansion)
• Write a War Story
• Write a Werewolf Story (Under construction, needs candidates for greats and epic fails)
• Write a Young Adult Fantasy (Under construction)
• Write a Yuri Manga
• Write a Zombie Apocalypse
• Write Scheme and Scansion (needs a better description but probably not a total rewrite.)

Interactive Media

• Make a Collectible Card Game
• Play a Console RPG
• Write a Tabletop RPG
• Write a Video Game
  • Write an Adventure Game
  • Write a Dating Sim
  • Write a Souls-Like
  • Write a Fighting Game (Needs expansion)
  • Write a First-Person Shooter
  • Write an Idle Game
  • Write a Major MMORPG
  • Write a Meta Game (Needs expansion)
  • Make a Metroidvania
  • Write a Minor MMORPG
  • Write a Real-Time Strategy
  • Write a Roguelike (needs expansion)
  • Write a Romance Sidequest
  • Write an RPG
  • Write a Survival Horror Game
  • Make a Visual Novel
  • Write a Western RPG

Medium

This section is for certain media:

• Make a Music Video (needs expansion)
• Write a Fanfic
• Write a Trailer
• Write a Webcomic
• Write a Web Serial

Settings, Location

This section is for certain settings and locations in a story

• Make a Runaway Hideaway
• Write a Crapsack World
• Write a Haunted Castle (under construction)

Story Aspects, Scenes and Large Ideas

This section covers things that are either not big enough to be an entire genre or too big to be only for one genre (but are still not all encompassing enough to go to the basics section).

• Break the Cutie (under construction, needs expansion)
• Bring a Character Back to Life (under construction)
• Create a Conlang (under construction)
• Create a Mythopoeia (could be expanded)
• Create a Rogues Gallery
• Create Believable Aliens
• Deconstruct a Trope (under construction, please expand)
• Design an Alien Mind
• Kill a Character
• Make the Narrator a Character
• Make Urban Legends True
• Mind Screw the Audience
• Player Punch the Audience
• Reconstruct a Trope (under construction, please expand)
• Use Some Phlebotinum
• Write a Back Story (under construction)
• Write a Believable Masquerade
• Write a Character of the Opposite Gender
• Write an Excuse Plot (under construction, please expand)
• Write a Fight Scene (under construction, please expand)
• Write a Functional Magic System
• Write a Kid-Friendly Series
• Write a Sex Scene
• Write the Squad

Groundbreaking Works

An overview of how these works rose to the top of the food chain, and how you might duplicate their success:

• Avoid Writing the Next "Fifty Shades of Grey" (Under construction)
• Write the Next "Bloodborne" (under construction, please expand)
• Write the Next "Danganronpa" (under construction, please expand)
• Write the Next "Doctor Who"
• Write the Next "Fate/stay night"
• Write the Next "Gundam" (under construction, please expand)
• Write the Next "Harry Potter"
  • Write the Next "Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality" (under construction, please expand)
• Write the Next "Kamen Rider" (expansion needed)
• Write the Next "Life is Strange"
• Write the Next "My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic"
• Write the Next "Sonic the Hedgehog" (under construction, please expand)
• Write the Next "Star Trek"
• Write the Next "Super Robot Wars" (under construction, please expand)
• Write the Next "Super Sentai"
• Write the Next "The Simpsons" (under construction, please expand)
• Write the Next "TMNT"
• Write the Next "Ultraman" (under construction, please expand)
• Write the Next "X/1999"
• Write the Next "X-Files"
• Write the Next "Yu-Gi-Oh!" (expansion needed)
• Write the Next "Zero Escape" (under construction, please expand)

Major Authors

These are for advice on what to study to improve your craft, given your target genres, demographics, and mediums:

• Be the Next Grant Morrison
• Be the Next H.P. Lovecraft
• Be the Next J. R. R. Tolkien
• Be the Next Shinichiro Watanabe (under construction, please expand)
• Be the Next Stan Lee
• Be the Next Stephen King
• Be the Next William Shakespeare

Individual Characters

Writing a story is hard but writing believable characters, the core of any good story, is even harder at times.

We need tropers to create new pages of these standard characters, and start giving advice on how to craft them! In the meantime, you can visit 45 Master Characters and The Complete Writer's Guide to Heroes & Heroines for some basic character templates.

• Avoid Writing a Mary Sue — also a Troublesome Trope
• Portray Autism Accurately
• Write an Action Girl
• Write a Badass (could use expansion)
• Write a Cloudcuckoolander
• Write a Complete Monster
• Write an Expy
• Write a Four-Temperament Ensemble
• Write a Harem Hero
• Write a Lawyer-Friendly Cameo
• Write a Magnificent Bastard
• Write a Trickster (needs expansion)
• Write the Squad
• Write a Villain
• Write a Villainous Breakdown (could use expansion)
• Write a Woobie
• Write a Yandere (needs expansion)

Creator Jobs

Writing a story is important, but writers aren't the only ones doing work. Most creative mediums are collaborative, and many people help to make a quality product. This section is for those who want a specific job in any of the creative industries or want to do a specific creative aspect for a work. Pages should detail some of the finer points about such jobs and if possible give proven ways to get into such careers.

• Be an Animator (Needs expansion)
• Be a Booker
• Be a Caustic Critic
• Be a Voice Actor (Needs expansion)
• Become a Visual Kei Musician
• Design a Film Poster

Troublesome Tropes

We all know that Tropes Are Tools. But some of them tend to be useful only in the hands of a Master Craftsman. So here are some pages to help you avoid those tropes... at least until you know what the heck you're doing.

• Avoid Breaking Your Aesops
• Avoid Filler in Your Writing
• Avoid the Theme Park Version
• Avoid Unfortunate Implications
• Avoid Writing a Designated Hero or Villain
• Avoid Writing a Mary Sue

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