frankyseale-blog

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Quickie writing/editing tip

In your SECOND DRAFT, do a search in your document for the words there was/there were/there is/there are.

Consider if rewriting the sentence to delete those words will make it stronger or more concise (often it will).

For example:

There was a dog sleeping in front of the fire.

A dog slept in front of the fire.

This tip goes double for the “there was… that” construction.

For example:

There was no reason that she couldn’t go.

She saw no reason she couldn’t go.

I think of it like this: in a first draft, “there was” is shorthand for “polish this later.” DO NOT overthink it in a first draft or you’ll get stuck. SECOND DRAFT PROBLEMS.

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hogwarts house aesthetics: stress

gryffindor: heavy breathing; taking long sips of whiskey, neat. fingers pinching the bridge of your nose, eyes squeezed until grayscale zigzags appear behind your eyelids. fidgeting with the closest object, braiding and unbraiding hair/string/shoelaces/anything you can get your hands on. smiling through pressure; a false bravado of “of course - nothing’s wrong!” and sagging shoulders when watchful eyes look away. angry outbursts at those trying to help; a snap in reply, a hard sigh, and a muttered sorry through pursed lips.

ravenclaw: long walks to the library; putting down the textbook to pick up a fantasy and losing yourself in the success of someone else. willfully falling down a wikipedia rabbit hole; a preoccupation with learning something that doesn’t mean anything right now. talking in your sleep; dreams providing clarity you need and only sometimes remember. making a list of pros and cons, rambling through decisions until you arrive at the one that makes the most sense (or does it?)

hufflepuff: the comfiest sweaters, with sleeves too long balled up in too-tight fists. cup after cup of cocoa; a sugar rush to keep a smile on your face. at the breaking point, a wicked smile and a need to party - or dance, or drink, or cry, or scream, or fuck - and a sheepishness the morning after. avoidance, and you’re damn good at it, a master of white lies and excuses from thin air. calling your best friend to rant and talking through tears; “am i laughing or crying?”

slytherin: running in the rain, meant to make your stomach hurt; pain feeling better than despair, and throwing yourself into work you don’t need to do just to feel productive in the face of failure. shutting down the frantic beating of your heart; slamming a padlock shut on the nerves, the tears, the sadness, the worry. telling a wound to stop bleeding and expecting it to listen. showering only as often as you need to to wash the grease from your hair, forgetting to eat and surviving (thriving?) on a liter of coffee a day, but dressing like the media follow you wherever you go.

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this movie gives solid advice

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Wow

if you ever doubt your writing, be it your themes, or the reason behind it, remember that h.g wells wrote war of the worlds both as a commentary on colonialism and the horrors it brings, and because he fucking hated his neighbours and his 13 hour job, and wanted to write about the town in which he lived getting blasted to the fucking ground by lasers into an irreparable heap and all of the townspeople dying painfully 

you, too, can channel your hatred for that guy that lives down the hall and blasts music at 4am into the one of the most influential science fiction stories ever written! fuck it! i believe in you!!  

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I am actively updating

Can you reblog this if you are a writeblr, pleaaase?

Hey! I just went on a unfollowing spree and now i know why my dash was always so damn empty - most of the blogs I followed were without updates for months! So now I need more people to follow hehe… can you guys reblog this so I could check out your blog?

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Basic Physical Descriptions

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I have uploaded a new podcast.  A 15 yr old girl goes missing from the Lone Star State.

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Fantasy Fashion: Middle Eastern Traditional

The middle east is a set of countries each with their own cultures and clothing. Again, I will ask you to respect the culture even if you might not agree. If you don’t intend to show any respect, get off this blog.

Thawb— a robe like garment that is worn by men and women.

Salwar — pants worn under the thawb

Bisht— a mishlah. This is a cloak worn over the thawb.

Abaya— a black cloak worn over the thawb, not common.

Keffiyeh— a headdress made of folded cloth.

Tagiyah— a skullcap worn with a Keffiyeh to ground it.

Burqa— a less common style of niqāb, the burqa, it only allows a narrow view of the face.

Hijāb— the headscarf that is tied tightly around. This is for modesty and worn by women.

Niqāb— a veil that covers the face. This is attached to the hijāb.

For @maslovianwench

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So true.  A book gives you so much and asks for nothing in return 

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Other ways to say said 😍👏🏼

Anger:

Shouted, bellowed, yelled, snapped, cautioned, rebuked, accused, cursed, exploded, raged, seethed, snarled, taunted, bickered, fumed, asserted, chastised, quipped Hollered, Howled, Ranted, Reprimanded, scoffed, scolded, Taunted, Swore, Thundered. 

Affection:

Consoled, comforted, reassured, admired, soothed, Affirmed, cooed. 

Fear:

Whispered, stuttered, stammered, gasped, urged, hissed, babbled, blurted, implored, Croaked.

Disgust: 

grimaced, winced, cringed.

Determination:

Declared, insisted, maintained, commanded.

Excitement/Happiness:

Sighed, murmured, gushed, laughed, Shouted, yelled, babbled, gushed, exclaimed, chattered, effused, simpered, chirped, trilled, cooed, Beamed, Cheered, Grinned, Rejoiced.

Sadness:

Cried, mumbled, sobbed, sighed, lamented, wept, glumly, sniffled, wailed, bleated, whimpered, Cried out, Croaked

Conflict/confrontation:

Addressed.

Jabbed, sneered, rebuked, hissed, scolded, demanded, threatened, insinuated, spat, glowered. 

Making up:

Apologised, relented, agreed, reassured, placated, agreed, assented.

Amusement

Teased, joked, laughed, chuckled, chortled, sniggered, tittered, guffawed, giggled, roared Laughed,.

Storytelling:

Related, recounted, continued, emphasized, remembered, recalled, resumed, concluded.

Surprise: 

Marveled, perplexed, bleated. 

Uncertain

cautioned, conceded, doubtfully, guessed, hesitated, vacillated, Asked 

Other words In alphabetic order

Acknowledged, Admitted, Agonized, Announced, Answered, Appealed. 

Beamed, Beckoned, Began, Begged, Bellowed, Beseeched, Blubbered, Bossed, Bragged, Breathed, Broadcasted, Burst

Cajoled, Called, Carped, Cautioned, Censured,  Chimed in, Choked,  Chuckled, Claimed, Commented, Conceded, Concurred, Condemned, Confided, Confirmed,  Criticizd.,

Decided, Defended, Denoted, Dictated, Disclosed, Disposed, Disseminated.

Echoed, Emitted, Entreated, Exclaimed, Explained, Exposed

Faltered.

Gawped, Giggled, Glowered, Groaned, Growled, Grumbled, Grunted, Guessed

Held, Hinted,  

Inclined, Indicated, Informed, Inquired, Insisted, Interjected, Invited  Leered, Lied, Lilted

Maintained, Made known, Made public, Marked, Moaned, Mocked, Mourned,  Mused

Observed, Offered, Ordered

Panted, Passed on, Pleaded, Pointed out, Pondered, Postulated, Praised, Preached, Premised, Presented, Presupposed, Probed, Proclaimed, Prodded, Professed, Proffered, Promised, Promulgated, Proposed, Protested, Provoked, Publicized, Published, Puled, Put forth, Put out

 Queried, Questioned, 

Reckoned that, Rejoined, Released, Remarked, Remonstrated, Repeated, Replied, Reported, Requested, Required, Requisitioned, Retorted, Revealed, Roared

 Sent on, Settled, Shared,  Shuddered, Solicited, Sought, Specified, Speculated, Stated, Stuttered, Stressed, Suggested, Supposed.

Teased, Testified, Thundered, Told, Told off, Touted, Trailed off, Transferred, Transmitted, Trembled,  Trumpeted.

Understood, Undertook, Upbraided, Urged, Uttered

Verified, Vociferated, Voiced, Volunteered, Vouched for

Wailed, Wanted, Warned, Wept, Went on, Wheedled, Whimpered, Whined, Whispered, Wondered

Yawped, Yelled, Yelped, Yowled

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Not enough notes

Reblog if you think black girls are cute

This is in response to a blog on here that claims to have cute girls of all types but seems to only have white and occasionally asian girls 

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Looking for Writeblrs to Follow

Hey everyone, I’ve been running this blog for about a month now, and really want to expand who I know and who I talk to.

If you could, please reblog or message me so I can start following some more people? And please feel free to talk to me about ocs, wips, and anything else.

Thanks!

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Books and a old typewriter  a perfect match.  As much as I love to write on a computer there is still something magical about writing on a old typewriter

a few of my favorite things

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Memorable Character

I need to remind myself to add more depth to my Characters.  A lot of the time they are left underdeveloped 

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Are These Filter Words Weakening Your Story?

After putting my writing on hold for several weeks, I decided to jump back in. I expected to find all sorts of problems with my story–inconsistencies in the plot, lack of transitions, poor characterization–the works. But what began to stick out to me was something to which I’d given little thought in writing.

Filter words.

What are Filter Words?

Actually, I didn’t even know these insidious creatures had a name until I started combing the internet for info.

Filter words are those that unnecessarily filter the reader’s experience through a character’s point of view. Dark Angel’s Blog says:

“Filtering” is when you place a character between the detail you want to present and the reader. The term was started by Janet Burroway in her book On Writing.

In terms of example, you should watch out for:

To see

To hear

To think

To touch

To wonder

To realize

To watch

To look

To seem

To feel (or feel like)

Can

To decide

To sound (or sound like)

To know

I’m being honest when I say my manuscript is filled with these words, and the majority of them need to be edited out.

What do Filter Words Look Like?

Let’s imagine a character in your novel is walking down a street during peak hour.

You might, for example, write:

Sarah felt a sinking feeling as she realized she’d forgotten her purse back at the cafe across the street. She saw cars filing past, their bumpers end-to-end. She heard the impatient honk of horns and wondered how she could quickly cross the busy road before someone took off with her bag. But the traffic seemed impenetrable, and she decided to run to the intersection at the end of the block.

Eliminating the bolded words removes the filters that distances us, the readers, from this character’s experience:

Sarah’s stomach sank. Her purse—she’d forgotten it back at the cafe across the street. Cars filed past, their bumpers end-to-end. Horns honked impatiently. Could she make it across the road before someone took off with her bag? She ran past the impenetrable stream of traffic, toward the intersection at the end of the block.

Are Filter Words Ever Acceptable?

Of course, there are usually exceptions to every rule.

Just because filter words tend to be weak doesn’t mean they never have a place in our writing. Sometimes they are helpful and even necessary.

Susan Dennard of Let The Words Flow writes that we should use filter words when they are critical to the meaning of the sentence.

If there’s no better way to phrase something than to use a filter word, then it’s probably okay to do so.

Want to know more?

Read these other helpful articles on filter words and more great writing tips:

Filter Words and Distancing Point of View

The Reasons Editors reject Manuscripts

Filter Those words and Strengthen Your Writing

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New Writeblr

Hiya! I’m new to the writeblr community (and kind of Tumblr.  I used it years ago when it was still a little baby website)! 

Facts about me!

I’m 21 years old and getting my English degree at community college.  My next stop is some university where hopefully I will be doing journalism with a focus on technology (i.e. video games, consoles, etc)

I love video games

I love writing but unfortunately am too shy to actually do it

I live in the US with my boyfriend and our two dogs.

I also stream on a website called twitch.tv (video games)

I don’t have many things to share about any WIP but I do have a lot of little segments from different ideas that I would love to share and get feedback on. 

Please reblog so I can follow you if you’re a writeblr, love reading other people works, or love writing yourself!  I really want to connect with all of you and read your work!