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[lockedinemrys]

Probably the single hardest lesson for me to internalize in writing was that you don’t design a character you design a character arc.

One reason you as a writer might end up stuck with a flat or boring character, or one that just isn’t doing the things you need to create a vibrant plot, despite working out all the details of their life for hours, is because you’ve made the mistake I always do. You’ve made a character who is a blend of all the characteristics you envision for them, rather than saving some characteristics for the end of their journey. 

What do I mean by this? Maybe you envision a character who is a handsome prince, honest, brave, and true. In your plot, though, he’s going to be an antagonist for a bit but you don’t really want him to be seen as a bad guy, necessarily. But when you drop him into your story, he’s just… there. Being honest, brave, and true. 

That’s because the prince has no character arc. He is a static figure, a cardboard cutout. 

Let’s go a little deeper with a great example of one of the best character arcs in YA animation: Prince Zuko. He is, objectively, honest, brave, and true (to his cause of finding the Avatar) from the outset. But he’s also a dick. He’s a privileged, imperialist brat, who is rude to his uncle and vicious to our protagonists. 

By the end of the series, though, Prince Zuko is still honest, brave, and true, but he’s also a good person who has learned many lessons over the course of his trials and obstacles. He has failed over and over again at his initial goal of capturing the Avatar. He has failed at winning his father’s regard. He has failed at numerous smaller goals of day to day adventures. He has learned from all of these. We have seen his journey. But, if you started your vision of how to write Zuko from who he ends up being, he’s got nowhere to go as a character. 

It’s not just about what flaws he has corrected though. It’s about what lessons about life he has internalized. What flawed views of the world he has corrected and how. 

Rather than saying, “The character starts out a dick and learns to be nice,” be more specific. “This character starts out believing the empire he is loyal to is morally in the right for its conquests, but over the course of working for that empire’s ruler and seeing his cruelty first hand, not to mention fighting the empire’s enemies and mingling with its civilian victims, he becomes a better person and learns the error of his ways.” 

Already, right there, you have more than a cardboard character. You have a character who has an arc that molds to your plot. 

[lockedinemrys]

I think one of the most fun things about people’s writing is revealing the quiet, personal mythology of individuals.

I’m not talking about their spirituality or their religion. I’m talking about the things that evoke immense emotion in us one way or another that we struggle to explain why and- thus- the symbolism in our stories that to one interpretation is really only for us, if I write a scene where a character as a child eats an orange sherbet push pop that maybe to everyone else it will be an irrelevant detail, and I feel alone in the overwhelming nostalgia and softness of sun-soaked childhoods at a very specific park and a routine I used to follow for no particular reason- but I like to think it’s not, only for me.

I think that, while it’s a folly to presume to know the mind of anyone you’ve only read the work of, there is a kind of intimate exchange in storytelling. We talk often about obscure or strange trauma triggers, people whose minds have somehow condensed an abusive experience down to the sight of eggs on a plate or a particular song but only when it’s whistled- but these forms of trauma simply reflect a broader truth in human understanding. We make patterns out of the strangest things.

“Pareidolia” is the proper term often used, and, as I so often like to do with words, I chew it apart into its pieces and look for pretty fragments. Pareidolia is simply the way that we look for, and see things- patterns, faces, hands- where they do not factually exist. The things that are most important to us make soap bubble distortions out of our world. But inside of that word is ‘idol’, like an idol for a deity. I am sure that presence has other meanings, but a part of me imagines it almost as a personal pantheon. The strange gods of the life that only we have lived, and that we share at a thousand small places with others.

The god of my childhood is orange sherbet push pops, eaten in summer, earnest attempts made to lap up all the sweet sticky syrup before it drips too far but never successful, and the plastic ‘umbrella’ (really the pusher, but it was always an umbrella to my eyes) taken to play with and turn in my fingers long after the cardboard tube was gone. Perhaps, somewhere in the world, there are other people that know that particular god.

A curious thing to call divine. Just one memory among many. But whenever I see them again, it’s like turning over a page in an old yearbook and there’s your best friend who you haven’t seen, who you wonder what they’re doing now. The vocabulary of our most intimate and personal experiences are littered with ostensibly meaningless objects that held our hearts once.

If I read a story, and two people eat peaches together, lovingly described, gently rendered, I wonder if the author’s first love tasted like peaches.

[lockedinemrys]

I love toxic romance as much as the next bitch but tbh it can't hold a candle to toxic sibling relationships where there's rage, yes, and maybe even hate, but love too, and you can't escape it and you can't embrace it so what's left? No one will ever know you like they know you, and no one will ever be able to hurt you like they can. This hole in your side and you can either stand by them even though what they've become turns your stomach or you can try to leave them behind but it doesn't matter how far you run because they'll always be your sibling. They'll always have a piece of you. You were born knowing them.

[lockedinemrys]

The narrative is sentient and it is coming to GET you

[lockedinemrys]

i haven't been making the progress i wanted to on nano so far unfortunately; i'm going to try and catch up, but i'm not going to beat myself up if i don't make the full 50k this year & just celebrate the fact that i got anything done at all!

i just broke 5k today after not writing anything since day 2, and i've completed the first chapter & all 3 inciting incidents, so i'm hoping writing will be a little easier from this point onwards now that everything's established!

& a snippet, as a treat:

“I dunno,” she says, zipping up the first aid kit with a little more aggression than necessary. “We didn’t exactly part on good terms."

“Yeah, but xe came for your birthday. And you’re siblings!”

Sam wonders what authority Desiree is speaking from there, being an only child and all. What would she know about siblings, and more importantly what would she know about Sam’s sibling and their arguments? If life has taught her anything, it’s that blood may be thicker than water, but that doesn’t mean she wants to drink it.

Still, Desiree has that glint in her eye that means she’s got an idea, and she isn’t planning on letting it go anytime soon. Dread and resignation battle for dominance in Sam’s oesophagus as she fixes Desiree with a stern stare.

“Oh, no,” she says, pointing at her friend, “you’re not doing this.”

“Doing what?” Desiree asks, faux-innocent and wide-eyed.

“You’re not making me and Jae into your newest pet project. I refuse.”

[lockedinemrys]

2021 Writeblr Reblog

Do you have a writeblr, are you 18+, that’s it - reblog this and I’ll follow!

I won’t be following likes, and if you actually talk about your WIPs, I might promote you here since we’re gearing towards 5k followers y’all!!!!

[lockedinemrys]

Resources For Writing Young Adult Fiction

This is also available on wordsnstuffblog.com!

– This one is a little shorter than my other resource master posts, but that’s because of the nature of the genre being more about the demographic. I hope you all find this helpful. Happy writing!

Patreon || Ko-Fi || Masterlists || Work In Progress || Studyblr || Studygram

Getting The Details Right

Writing YA That Connects With Teen Readers

Showing A Character’s Age

Switching From Adult To Young Adult

Writing For A Young Adult Audience

Young Adult and New Adult Book Markets

Cliches

5 Cliches To Avoid In YA Fantasy

10 Worn Out Cliches In YA

20 Mistakes To Avoid In YA

YA Romance

Resources For Romance Writers

Tips On Writing Skinny Love

Plotting The Teen Romance

How to Write A YA Romance Without Cliché

How to Write Realistic YA Romance

YA Fantasy

Resources For Fantasy/Mythology Writers

What Makes A Good YA Fantasy

So You Want To Write YA High Fantasy?

What is Young Adult Fantasy?

General Tips

What NOT To Do When Writing YA

6 Tips For Writing Young Adult Books

Things To Keep In Mind When Writing YA

5 Things To Avoid When Writing A YA Novel

Agents That Represent Romance

Publishers of Romance Novels

The 8 Habits of Highly Successful Young-Adult Fiction Authors

The Ultimate Guide to YA Fiction

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[lockedinemrys]

If your story was adapted into a show, which artists would you choose to write the soundtrack (instrumental AND with lyrics)? For Project 1, I’d choose Sleeping At Last, Billie Marten, and Joe Hisaishi.

[lockedinemrys]

Me, trying to outline: I’m just gonna go with a simple premise. No fancy world-building, no complicated backstories, not too many characters.

My brain, ready to ambush me with 297 different ideas:

[lockedinemrys]

oh, the plot hole?

that’s there for……ventilation

[lockedinemrys]

Foods Humanity Figures Out Everywhere

soup: Boil The Food To Make Food Water

stew? gravy? curry?: like soup but less water more food 

porridge: add water to the starch but not so much. warm and mushy yum

pancake/flatbread: make the starch wet and flat, then put on hot surface.

fried starch thing: Use hot oil to make starch crispy yum++

dumpling: put the not starch in the starch thing and cook it.

alt dumpling: ball of starch added to soup or stew. makes chewy starch ball yum yum

filled portable food: starch wrapper of some kind to make it so you can eat the messy food with your hands.

[lockedinemrys]

More complex ≠ better.

Complexity can make things better, but it isn’t inherently better than simplicity.

Sometimes you need a sentence that is ornate and eloquent. But other times, you need a sentence that is short and sweet, that hits you right in the heart.

Sometimes you need a story with tons of different characters, tons of intersecting plot lines. Other times, you need a tale of two people, and their relationship to each other.

And as fancy as “azure” and “cerulean” sound, sometimes you just need the word “blue.”

I see writers who feel the need to “complex-ify” everything, but it often has the effect of making their writing clunky and confusing. Instead, think about what you’re trying to communicate, and what most efficiently gets the message across.

If something is boringly simple, make it more complex. If something is convoluted or tedious, simplify it. But ultimately, it all comes down to the context of your story.

[lockedinemrys]

[“When I used to teach creative writing, I would tell the students to make their characters want something right away—even if it’s only a glass of water. Characters paralyzed by the meaningless of modern life still have to drink water from time to time. One of my students wrote a story about a nun who got a piece of dental floss stuck between her lower left molars, and who couldn’t get it out all day long. I thought that was wonderful. The story dealt with issues a lot more important than dental floss, but what kept readers going was anxiety about when the dental floss would finally be removed. Nobody could read that story without fishing around in his mouth with a finger. Now, there’s an admirable practical joke for you. When you exclude plot, when you exclude anyone’s wanting anything, you exclude the reader, which is a mean-spirited thing to do.”]

kurt vonnegut

[lockedinemrys]

i have one fear and that’s writers that are able to write out of order

[lockedinemrys]

Writing a novel when you imagine all you stories in film format is hard because there’s really no written equivalent of “lens flare” or “slow motion montage backed by Gregorian choir”

[lockedinemrys]

hi(?) writeblr, wow cain way to make a first impression huh. anyway new writeblr and want frens, interact w this post so i can message you

[lockedinemrys]

tpow snippet

Mary follows, sprinting through the hallway and into the kitchen, where Al is standing, doubled over and clutching the table. Esha flips on the light, and after the second it takes for her eyes to adjust, Mary notices that his side and fingers are stained with blood.

“Al!” Esha’s voice is filled with panic.

Al looks up, face pale, confusion in his gaze. “Hey, Esh,” he mumbles. “Wha’s wrong?”

“You’re bleeding!” Esha all but screeches.

Al looks down, surprised, as if he hadn’t noticed the sheer amount of blood. “”S just a scratch,” he says, and then promptly passes out.