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.

If You Want to Suggest a Page. There is a rather large section at the tail end of the article. It is separated into the same sections as the rest of the article- as shown by order of appearance- though not labeled. Feel free to add suggestions using the existing format, and please look there first if you wish to write up a page.

To Write Up a Suggested Page: Make the title into a link (get rid of the spaces, and stick a slash between the So You Want To and the name of the page, like this: SoYouWantTo/SeeHowToDoThis). Move it onto its own line somewhere in the appropriate section.

To Start a New (Unsuggested) Page: Just create a bulleted link at the end of the appropriate section, then click on it, click the Edit Page button, and start editing.

To Expand An Existing Page. There are a few pages that need expanding. If you see one and you feel like you're up to it, please do so.

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!

If you have trouble picking a title for your story, refer to Genre Title Grab Bag.

Compare TV Tropes How to Guides. See also So You Want To/Make A Joke About The So You Want To Namespace

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
 * Limit the Hero's Choices
 * Build Your Own Fictional World

Also see Story Structure Architect and The Hollywood Formula.

Genres
The tropes that make the genre:


 * Write an Alternate History
 * Write a Black Comedy
 * Write a Conspiracy Theory
 * Write a Crossover
 * Write a Cyber Punk Story
 * Write a Dating Sim
 * Write a Detective Novel
 * Write a Diesel Punk Story
 * Write a Dom Com
 * Write a Film Noir
 * Write a First Person Shooter
 * Write a Furry Comic
 * Write a Gaming Comic
 * Write a Good Yaoi
 * Write a Hard Science Fiction Story With Space Travel
 * Write a Harem Anime
 * Write a Heroic Fantasy
 * Write a High Fantasy
 * Write a Humongous Mecha Anime
 * Write a Kid Novel
 * Write a Korean Drama
 * Write a Love Story
 * Write a Magical Girl Series
 * Write a Magical Girlfriend Series
 * Write a Major MMORPG
 * Write a Minor MMORPG
 * Write a Mon Series
 * Write a Police Procedural
 * Write a Real Time Strategy
 * Write a Romantic Comedy
 * Write an RPG
 * Write a Shonen Series
 * Write a Shoujo Series (Needs help. Maybe not a total rewrite, though.)
 * Write a Slasher Horror Story
 * Write a Steampunk Story
 * Write a Superhero Comic
 * Write a Survival Horror Game
 * Write a Teen Drama
 * Write an Urban Fantasy
 * Write a Vampire Novel
 * Write a Very Special Episode
 * Write a War Story
 * Write a Webcomic
 * Write a Yuri Manga
 * Write a Zombie Apocalypse
 * Write Scheme and Scansion (needs a better description but probably not a total rewrite.)

Medium
This section is for certain mediums


 * Write an Adventure Game
 * Write a Fanfic
 * Write a Tabletop RPG
 * Make a Visual Novel

Settings, Location
This section is for certain settings and locations in a story


 * Make a Run Away Hide Away

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).


 * Create Believable Aliens
 * Design an Alien Mind
 * Write a Kid Friendly Series
 * Mind Screw the Audience
 * Make Urban Legends True

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


 * Write the Next Doctor Who
 * Write the Next Harry Potter
 * Write the Next My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic
 * Write the Next Star Trek
 * Write the Next TMNT
 * Write the Next X 1999
 * Write the Next X Files

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 HP Lovecraft
 * Be the Next JRR Tolkien
 * 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 Master Characters and Heroes and Heroines articles for some basic character templates.


 * Avoid Writing a Mary Sue -- also a Troublesome Trope
 * Write a Cloud Cuckoo Lander
 * Write a Harem Hero
 * Write a Magnificent Bastard

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 a Booker

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 Writing a Mary Sue
 * Avoid the Theme Park Version
 * Avoid Unfortunate Implications

Suggested Pages

 * Write Dialogue


 * So You Want To Write A Four X
 * So You Want To Write An Action Movie
 * So You Want To Write An Adventure Story
 * So You Want To Write An Affectionate Parody
 * So You Want To Write An Alien Invasion Story
 * So You Want To Write An Animated Children's Movie
 * So You Want To Write A Big Damn Movie
 * So You Want To Write A Boarding School Story
 * So You Want To Write A Body Swap Story
 * So You Want To Write A Chick Flick
 * So You Want To Write A Chick Lit story
 * So You Want To Write A Choose Your Own Adventure
 * So You Want To Write A Clock Punk Story
 * So You Want To Write A Cloning Story
 * So You Want To Make A Collectible Card Game
 * So You Want To Write A Cosmic Horror Story
 * So You Want To Write A Dark Fantasy
 * So You Want To Write A Dungeon Punk Story
 * So You Want To Write A Dystopia
 * So You Want To Write An Educational Cartoon
 * So You Want To Make A Fighting Game
 * So You Want To Write A Gender Bender Story
 * So You Want To Write A Heroic Bloodshed Movie
 * So You Want To Write A High School Sitcom
 * So You Want To Write A Hispanic Style Soap Opera
 * So You Want To Write A Humanity Ensues Story
 * So You Want To Write An Idol Singer Story
 * So You Want To Write An Interactive Fiction
 * So You Want To Write A Long Runner
 * So You Want To Write A Low Fantasy
 * So You Want To Write A Mainstream Pop Song
 * So You Want To Write A Mister Seahorse Story
 * So You Want To Write A Martial Arts Story
 * So You Want To Write A Murder Mystery
 * So You Want To Write A Narrative Or Epic Poem
 * So You Want To Write A Ninja Story
 * So You Want To Write A Pirate Story
 * So You Want To Write A Post Apocalyptic Story
 * So You Want To Write A Prince and Pauper Story
 * So You Want To Write A Road Movie
 * So You Want To Write A Rock Opera
 * So You Want To Write A Samurai Story
 * So You Want To Write A Satire
 * So You Want To Write A Science Fiction Story
 * So You Want To Write A Screwball Comedy
 * So You Want To Write A Sentai Show
 * So You Want To Write A Shonen Ai Manga
 * So You Want To Make A Side Scrolling Platformer
 * So You Want To Write A Situation Comedy
 * So You Want To Write A Slice of Life
 * So You Want To Write A Soap Opera
 * So You Want To Write A Space Fighters Series
 * So You Want To Write A Space Opera
 * So You Want To Write A Space Western
 * So You Want To Write A Sprite Comic
 * So You Want To Write A Spy Fiction Story
 * So You Want To Write A Supernatural Mystery
 * So You Want To Write A Teen-Appropriate Series
 * So You Want To Write A Teen Drama
 * So You Want To Write A Thriller
 * So You Want To Write A Time Travel Story
 * So You Want To Write A Toku Series
 * So You Want To Write A Tragedy
 * So You Want To Write A Trailer
 * So You Want To Write A Trapped in Another World Story
 * So You Want To Write A Turn Based Strategy
 * So You Want To Write An Urban Legend
 * So You Want To Make A Video Review Show
 * So You Want To Write A Webtoon
 * So You Want To Write A Western
 * So You Want To Write A Winter Holiday Special
 * So You Want To Write A Wizarding School story
 * So You Want To Write A Wuxia Story
 * So You Want To Write A Xenofiction Story
 * So You Want To Write A Young Adult Novel
 * So You Want To Make Youtube Poop


 * So You Want To Get Crap Past The Radar
 * So You Want To Think Of Everything
 * So You Want To Write A Bestseller
 * So You Want To Write A Clip Show
 * So You Want To Write A Death
 * So You Want To Write A Deconstruction
 * So You Want To Write A Dream Sequence
 * So You Want To Write A Final Battle
 * So You Want To Bust Genres.
 * So You Want To Write A Pilot Episode
 * So You Want To Write A Reconstruction
 * So You Want To Write A Short Story
 * So You Want To Write A Spiritual Sequel
 * So You Want To Write A Wedding
 * So You Want To Write A Xanatos Gambit


 * Write The Next Avatar: The Last Airbender
 * Write The Next Bleach
 * Write The Next Calvin and Hobbes
 * Write The Next Death Note
 * Write The Next Fallout Equestria
 * Write The Next Final Fantasy
 * Write The Next Fullmetal Alchemist
 * Write The Next Homestar Runner
 * Write The Next Looney Tunes
 * Write The Next Neon Genesis Evangelion
 * Write The Next Scooby Doo
 * Write The Next Simpsons
 * Write The Next SpongeBob SquarePants
 * Write The Next Super Sentai or Power Rangers
 * Write The Next Tales Of series
 * Write The Next Watchmen


 * Be The Next Beatles
 * Be the Next George Lucas
 * Be The Next Hayao Miyazaki
 * Be The Next Hideo Kojima
 * Be The Next Jim Henson
 * Be The Next Joss Whedon
 * Be The Next Pixar
 * Be The Next Shigeru Miyamoto
 * Be The Next Terry Pratchett
 * Be the next Sierra/Lucas Arts
 * Be The Next Walt Disney
 * Be The Next Yoshiyuki Tomino


 * Write A Chessmaster
 * Write a Complete Monster
 * Write a Five Man Band
 * Write a good Plucky Comic Relief
 * Write A Hero
 * Write A Guile Hero
 * Write a Love Interest
 * Write a Manic Pixie Dream Girl
 * Write A Phantom Thief
 * Write A Tsundere
 * Write A Villain
 * Write a Yandere


 * Be An Animator
 * Be A Caustic Critic
 * Cast A Hollywood Blockbuster
 * Pick A Filming Location


 * Avoid Author Tract
 * Avoid Being Anvilicious
 * Avoid Breaking Your Aesops
 * Avoid Flanderization
 * Avoid Glurge
 * Avoid Padding
 * Avoid Plagiarism
 * Avoid Poes Law
 * Avoid Wangst
 * Avoid Writing A Designated Hero Or Villain