How do I write better stories?

>>9333233
My current "safe" route is the "accelerating pendulum" template, that is: where you picture the morale of protagonist on one end and the antagonist's morale on the other; the pendulum swings gently from side-to-side from motionless rest with an increasing arc in swing from one side to another.

e.g.: The villain makes a small gain, the hero makes a slightly larger gain, the villain makes a larger gain, then when all seems lost the hero makes an even larger gain and overcomes the villain. It's important to note that along the way, there has to be careful attention to what is explained in advance to the reader so the final payoff can feel like a rewarding surprise instead of a highly telegraphed motion seen from miles away. I.e.: If the heroes spend three minutes in the middle of an episode explaining a pincer attack in advance, the audience probably expects it to fail since it wouldn't be rewarding if "everything went according to plan". It's the same structure

Yes, the above approach is formulaic, but it's a good go-to as a starting point.

learn to address your concerns indirectly, because nobody likes to be lectured or preached to.

>>9333390
Not sure what you mean.

On Writing by King has tips for writers too, dunno if that's quite what you're looking for though.

>>9333233
read books you enjoy instead of books about how to write books

why does nobody get this

>>9333556
Tolkien and heroic epics are a pretty hard to copy. It requires so much work that you start feeling like a novice, and you go for guidance. It's the same for great philosophers, I reckon.

Even structured stories like those of Agatha Christie can be a hurdle to get right.

>>9333581
You don't have to mimic them, you pick up on it through saturation in what you dig, which is the best way to do it anyways

Yall need to baste more

write about things you feel must be said by you otherwise you'd be frustrated and probably kill yourself. It has to have a motive. Money is also a good one btw.

>>9333400
I think he is saying avoid exposition and express flaws, what's at stake and conflict through means other than direct dialogue. Be playful with it.