askyourwritergrandma

[askyourwritergrandma]

Can you give me some advice on how to write suspicion please? I'm working on a murder mystery where the main character knows that the killer is someone in their family, but I'm having a bit of trouble writing distrust and suspicion.

Hello!

The easiest way to convey distrust and suspicion is to have your narrator assign unsavory motivation to actions taken by the other person in the scene. At least if you're writing in 1st or 3rd person limited.

So say they're making tea in the kitchen and Family Member says something about what a shame it is that Murder Victim died. Your narrator can then be like oh a shame they died or a shame they were found so quickly? A shame that they're creating such a mess with their death? A shame that everyone is focusing on how they died and not how you feel about how they died? Just in the narrator head.

Conversations with people that the narrator deems likely to have been murderer are either going to be very, very sympathetic to the point that its over the top ("I just wish murder victim had gotten to say goodbye" / "You're so thoughtful and kind!") because your narrator is uncomfortable but they don't want to seem suspicious around a murderer. OR they will be distracted and terse: ("I just wish murder victim had gotten to say goodbye." / "He said goodbye enough in his life, what difference does one more time matter?") because narrator thinks this might be a murderer and they're nervous but also fed up with the lying.

You can intersperse this with moments of complete normality where the narrator is interacting with family members and just kind of being like, no, this person can't have killed anyone. Look at them they have lace doilies for their drink coasters. They don't have the stomach for it.

But these moments of heightened suspicion where the narrator is assigning motivations to the family members need to be moments where there's relatively nothing interesting going on. it's easy to walk in on someone spatchcocking a chicken and think "oh my god they could absolutely have decapitated Mr. Frankenfurter" but real suspicion is watching your Meemaw make oatmeal and deciding she was a stone-cold killer who hung a man upside down by the ankles until he suffocated under his own weight.

I hope this helped, but if it didn't or it doesn't fit your story feel free to send another ask or message!

[askyourwritergrandma]

I seem to have gotten a few new folks following me so I thought I'd just put it out there again that I love to get writing questions. Or anything writing related really.

[askyourwritergrandma]

Please reblog and share with writer friends. We're trying to get a wide sample of answers

Thank you!

[askyourwritergrandma]

Christopher’s Resources

https://www.ssa.gov/oact/babynames/state/index.html Most popular names by state and year for the USA.  

https://www.random.org/ Christopher’s most favorite random number generator.  

https://babynames.com/ A baby name website that allows you to search by origin, gender, and first letter.  Also gives name meanings.

Lore’s Resources

https://www.behindthename.com/ The etymology and history of first names

https://www.fantasynamegenerators.com/ One stop shop for people/places/things

Please add your own! We're always looking to learn new things.

[askyourwritergrandma]

[askyourwritergrandma]

[askyourwritergrandma]

(yes, writer grandma is a nerd with canva.  i prefer to think of myself as endearing but I will limit my self-promotional posts to once or twice a week.)

Some question examples to get you started:

My character needs to assist in the brutal assassination of the prime minister of Fakest Country but he just wants to eat fish, help

Is it better to use cobalt, cerulean or blue?  

Is said as evil as tumblr thinks it is?

Gary is supposed to be sad about his mother’s death but instead he just kind of seems bored???  

I’ve used my characters name 203 times in a 2000 word story, how to stop?

[askyourwritergrandma]

[askyourwritergrandma]

hi this is your daily writing reminder that I am so proud for opening that document and adding a line to it, or for thinking about those characters, and reminiscing about that plot twist.

[askyourwritergrandma]

Hello there. I have a bit of a difficult question in the sense that I don't know who to ask about it. You seemed to be arguably the wisest source to consult on the matter, so I'm taking a chance.

I had an idea for a fic that I wanted to write and I was actually in the process of writing it for a bit. It was for a small fandom event in which I signed up for. I was almost done with it and was in the finishing stages of them when I was obstructed by people and circumstances that really ought not to have ever been and as such, I was never able to fully publish it. Ever since then, I have resented the people who did this as I not only failed to deliver the final product I was supposed to, but I also looked like a fool. I hated everyone and myself for this entire thing as this is not the first time I had been stopped from doing something that I chose outside of everyone else's jurisdiction. To an effect, I still do.

As a more notable effect, looking at the document in which all of my hard work sat made me physically ill and enraged. I had also stopped writing completely because of how strongly I felt (and still feel) about this entire situation. Soon after the fact, I also essentially erased myself from the online space for a month because I didn't want anyone to question nor point out that I hadn't done it as I did not want to explain why and doing so would have me spiral out of control and simply delete my social media as I would not be able to live with it. I have only come back recently because I was sick of being socially isolated and alone. You would think that this would be the end of it, but there's one thing that for some reason sticks around.

I still want to write this story.

Yes, I know I essentially left them high and dry but this premise and what I had been working on captivated me to such a degree that I'm still thinking about it when my mind wanders on its own. But I still get sick thinking about my circumstances that I can't change nor budge and as such, I still can't stand looking at the document nor the outline. I desperately want to get to work on it again, but there's so much negative emotional attachment to it that I can't bring myself to do it because I wonder why I ever bothered with it in the first place if everyone and everything in my life keeps stopping me from doing it.

I've tried to write other things in the meantime, but they too are suppressed as I am constantly reminded of my failure and my circumstances that are not only unfair but ridiculous as this is the only outlet I really have and to see it limited to such a degree is sickening and still makes my blood boil.

I love writing things and I love exploring these things, but I don't even know how to do it when all of it is accompanied by rage, despair, inferiority, and pure unadulterated hatred directed at myself as well as others.

So I suppose that my question really is this:

How do I bring myself to write when my entire being hates me for even trying, knowing that I'll never finish what I start because something will stop me?

Oh friend, this is just some shit right here.

Ok so important disclaimer is that I am not a mental health professional. Anything I say is based on personal experience or accumulated knowledge from the internet.

Its important that you know, and really properly internalize, that you did not fail. In fact my first thing directly related to writing that I would advise you to do, when you start to feel this way, is to say 'I did not fail' to yourself. Sometimes things happen that can't control and they affect us in very serious ways that takes time to get over.

Certainly it sounds like what you were working on was important to you and the circumstances that interrupted it were very upsetting. There's no surprise that your story has becoming a focal point for those feelings. Untangling how they are connected is something that you can only do with time and trying.

If you have a safe place where you can externalize those feelings, either through talking to someone, keeping a journal or writing the events but fictionalized I would suggest those things. Sometimes just being able to put it all out there and know that its safe helps you move on from it.

As far as people on the internet questioning you about where you've been, I can't say that wouldn't have happened or that it won't happen in the future, but as a general rule good, decent people extend you grace. Everyone has a life outside of this anonymous mosh pit we call the internet and most people are capable of understanding that. You don't need to compound these feelings of failure with any additional shame from anonymous strangers. Would they have loved to read your story? Yes of course they would have. If you were to finish it they would still want to read it. But they aren't angry or upset with you.

As you try to write, remind yourself that you have not failed. Imagine yourself as a professional athlete who has suffered a serious knee injury. You had to take time away but you're back on your feet now and you're working towards getting back on the field. Every time you sit and try to write, remind yourself that you have no failed, that you are recovering and that you will get better. Writing will get easier.

Send me as many asks as you want, if they help, I'll do my best to answer them promptly.

Good luck anon and take care of yourself.

[askyourwritergrandma]

Get ready, get excited!

New episode of Unrelated But drops tomorrow at 11 am Eastern. Available on Spotify and really anywhere podcasts are.

[askyourwritergrandma]

hi grandma! i've been wanting to write a short story/novella with an unreliable narrator and a somewhat unhealthy relationship. i want the narrator/protagonist to be codependent and obsessed with the love interest, but don't want it to be outright toxic and abusive. i want the reader to still root for the relationship. do you have any advice on how to toe the line? how can i make the relationship intense and even a little deranged while having the reader's support?

Hi anon!

This is a really interesting premise. I think you've chosen the perfect set up for toeing that line between rooting for something and recognizing that it's unhealthy.

As far as how do you show the relationship in a way that makes it seem like something you would want to root for? I would lean really hard into your unreliable narrative. Obsessive infatuation like this is genuinely all consuming and generally involves the obsessive person having an idea that everything the object of their infatuation does is secretly meant for them. (I mean not always, but generally.)

Take your narrator and use their knowledge of the Object Of Affection (OOA) to show that they love OOA. So instead of being like 'and I watched her nightly' make it something like, 'I have always loved the way she washes her face, the care she takes to wipe off her make up, the way her skin cleanser smells on her skin.'

By taking basically every observation and every interaction and making it romantic and loving, you're creating the environment where people will be like oh wow i wish I had that. I want them to be together and happy.

And then to break through that, very rarely, especially if OOA does something that breaks the illusion, have the tone completely change. So say OOA says another friend is the one that's always there for them and they really just missed them since they moved (or something). Narrator would interpret that really coldly. Maybe something like: "Her so-called friend had never been anything but a nag on her time. Always calling in the evenings, dragging OOA out after dark to filthy clubs. Friend was conniving, always making sure there was alcohol around, forcing OOA into decisions that were bad for her. It was better Friend moved; better the problem resolved itself before I had to intervene."

Your narrator never actually hurts your OOA/Love Interest but there's an undercurrent that they absolutely would hurt anyone that interferes with their connection/relationship.

I hope that helps!

[askyourwritergrandma]

Well here it is, the jamboard talked about in season 2 episode 1.

Brainstorming means different things to different people. For some it's a rigorous process of defining the world that they want to create, creating and face casting their characters and amassing a wealth of details that will make their writing easier down the road. It involves a lot of work and it can be tedious.

For other people it's a chaotic free-for-all where there is not such thing as an idea too outrageous to be used. One thought crashes into another and into another, creating a smorgasbord of possibilities that will have to be pared down in order to be useful in the future.

For me, (Christopher) it always starts with the phrase "wouldn't it be funny if..." Considering I can count the number of actually funny stories I've written on a single hand versus the hundreds of not-even-slightly-funny ones I really can't explain how everything seems hilarious to me until I start to put words to it.

But here we are at the start where Tired Teacher doesn't even have a name yet and nothing is as funny as the thought of a exhausted thirty something trying to do his laundry in peace when suddenly a massive man covered in animal fur shows up in front of him declaring him the savior or worlds unknown.

Send me an ask with your brainstorming methods, or go to @unrelatedbut to take part in the poll on how you brainstorm!

[askyourwritergrandma]

all the advice, but now in audio.

[askyourwritergrandma]

Hello! I've been in fandom for quite a bit of years, and like a year back I started writing. Yay to me!

At first, I was really proud of the fics I created. Though looking back at them now, they're not that good XD

But recently, I joined a new, small-ish fandom where everyone knows everyone and made some friends. My hcs are coming like never before!

Now, there are some very good writers in this fandom, I really look up to them. While I *know* my fics have improved, and I write a lot more, (regularly too!) I feel horrible about posting all of them. I feel like I'll get judged horribly (which is still fine), and that people won't read my other works after reading a bad one (which is not fine).

Any tips on how I can get over this, pls?

Hey anon,

I know I'm super late so I hope you found your way through.

The answer here is that you simply have to do it. There's definitely an environment on the internet that makes people think that they can't stumble without being banished to the darkest planes of existence.

But it's just not true.

First off, I've been writing on the internet since I was 14 and if you looked really hard through the internet you can definitely still find my oldest fanfics. They were definitely written by someone how only had a fraction of an idea of what they were doing. But they were the best that I could do at the moment and even more important they made me happy.

So, write whatever you want, tag it appropriately and post it. It might feel impossible to do when you're lingering over the publish button and you might feel like you're going to stop breathing as soon as you've hit the button, but someone out there will read what you write. Someone will like it.

Next time you're hovering over the publish button, it'll be easier.