Side Blog of @sweetiebriarAspiring writer currently working on her novels | Enjoys writing and reading | Lover of all genres and all sort of things | Author of fandom and original content | Like sharing my thoughts on books and fics I read.See description post below - reference tags: L-A write & L-A opinion
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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”
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Ao3 version that lets you open the 'director's cut' where I, the author, explain every detail in excruciating detail to you and what it is in reference to.
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When you’re in the middle of a fic and realise you’ve missed a very critical tag
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wait do people read first person stories and think they're the ones in the story???
Saw people talking about not liking first person, which is fair, but their reasoning was like "I would not do that" and I don't understand that mindset.
First person stories are still about a character. A character making their own decisions. First person isn't about you???? At least I thought it wasn't. What am I missing? I've always seen first person as just a more in-depth look into a character's mind and stricter POV. Not as a reader stand-in.
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Writing Dialogue: Ways of Saying No
When your characters are saying no without saying "no"
INARTICULATE
Ah
Oh
APOLOGETIC/UNCOMFORTABLE
Alas ⚜ Can’t help ⚜ Do me a favour ⚜ Give over
I’m afraid… ⚜ Sorry ⚜ Unfortunately
EVASIVE
Any other time… ⚜ Ask Arthur ⚜ ‘Bye ⚜ Must run
Not right now ⚜ Talk to me later ⚜ The thing is… ⚜ What a pity
DEFINITE (with negative word)
No can do ⚜ No chance ⚜ No go ⚜ No way (José)
Never (in a thousand years) ⚜ Not in a million years
Not on your nelly ⚜ I should say not
DEFINITE (no negative word)
Are you serious? ⚜ Drop dead ⚜ Fat chance
Get lost / knotted / stuffed… ⚜ God forbid ⚜ Hard cheese
I’d rather die ⚜ Impossible ⚜ Over my dead body
Push off ⚜ See you in hell first ⚜ Tough titty
Unthinkable ⚜ You must be joking ⚜ You’ve had it
EXCUSES
If it were up to me ⚜ I’m right out ⚜ It’s more than my job’s worth
It’s not in my hands ⚜ Love to, but…
EUPHEMISMS/CLICHÉS
Chance would be a fine thing ⚜ Closed for business
Correspondence closed ⚜ If wish were father to the deed
Je regrette, mais… ⚜ Not my department ⚜ Not my remit
The editor regrets… ⚜ The umpire’s decision is final
Would that it were possible
Parents begin to teach their children to read between the lines in this way at an early age. Here are some of the negative responses used by parents to a request by their 4-year-old for another biscuit.
You’ve just had one ⚜ It’ll be tea time soon
Ask Daddy ⚜ I haven’t heard the magic word yet
Source ⚜ Word Lists ⚜ Notes & References
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fascinating that when you tell people "you have to learn the rules to break them" when talking about drawing/painting etc everyone nods and agrees but the second you say "you have to read books if you want to write better" there's a horde of contrarians begging to be the wrongest people ever all of a sudden
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🔹 Someone else's fiction cannot cause you physical harm.
🔹If someone else's fiction is causing you emotional or psychological harm, or distress, you can put it down and not read/watch it.
🔹Your emotional well-being is not the responsibility of fiction writers.
🔹Someone else's fiction is not about your personal trauma.
🔹When reading or watching fiction, you always have the power. You can always stop. You are never reading fiction without your own consent.
🔹Fiction writers are not responsible for other people's mental health.
🔹The content of a piece of fiction does not reflect on the morality of its author.
🔹Just because someone writes about bad things happening, doesn't mean they want those things to happen.
🔹Don't like? Don't read.
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By LabradoriteKing on Pinterest
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Showing 'Exhaustion' in Writing
Heavy eyelids, struggling to stay open.
Slumping shoulders, barely able to hold themselves up.
Dragging feet with each step.
Speaking in a slow, slurred manner.
Dark circles under the eyes.
Yawning frequently and deeply.
Head nodding forward, trying to stay awake.
Leaning heavily against walls or furniture.
Rubbing eyes and face with hands.
Deep, weary sighs escaping lips.
Wincing at bright lights or loud sounds.
Staring blankly ahead, unable to focus.
Weak, unsteady movements.
Muttering incoherently to themselves.
Falling asleep in unusual places.
Lack of response or delayed reactions.
Propping their head up with their hand.
Collapsing onto the nearest available surface.
Swaying slightly on their feet.
Barely lifting their head to speak or listen.
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I honestly don't think I will ever be able to describe the feeling of outrage and disgust some forms of writing advice online give me. It is entirely unreasonable and I am fully aware of that. But the thought of a writer seeing it and assuming the world who wrote it is someone worth taking seriously just because they feigned Professionalism for Internet Points really does make me want to bite my walls until I'm chewing drywall.
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COLOURS in DESCRIPTION
colour is the lifeblood of a scene. here are ways not to over-use it.
Red: cardinal, coral, crimson, flaming, maroon, rose, wine, brick red, burgundy, carmine, cerise, cherry, chestnut, claret, copper, dahlia, fuschia, garnet, geranium, infrared, magenta, puce, ruby, russet, rust, salmon, sanguine, scarlet, tition, vermilion, roseate, rubicund, ruddy, rubescent, florid
Orange: apricot, tangerine, merigold, cider, ginger, bronze, cantaloupe orange, clay, honey, marmalade orange, amber
Yellow: blond, chrome, cream, gold, ivory, lemon, saffron, tawny, xanthous, sandy
Green: grassy, leafy, verdant, emerald, aquamarine, chartreuse, fir, forest green, jade, lime, malachite, mossy, pea green, pine, sage, sea green, verdigris, willow, spinach green, viridian
Blue: azure, beryl, cerulean, cobalt, indigo, navy, royal blue, sapphire, teal, turquoise, ultramarine
Purple: violet, indigo, lavender, lilac, mauve, periwinkle, plum, violet, amethyst, heliotrope, mulberry, orchid, pomegranate purple, wine, amaranthine, perse, violaceous, reddish-blue
#yeaaaa#I always struggle with that in english#don’t know why cause I do so just fine with my other mother tongues#anyway#ref for later
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the look of love (for writers)
"it's all in the eyes i was once told"
catching the stare of someone across a crowded room
subtle furrowing of eyebrows beyond a blank facade
coldness easing into warmth
a fond mothering gaze
corner of the lip nudged upward
forced glower/glare as they break underneath
batting their lashes, playful
a boisterous laugh
intrigue piercing the stoic
proud smugness at the other's success
lingering glances
a childish joy bursting through
pupils dilate
eyelids shut in a look of peace, calm and trust
look of longing/betrayal
"there was once a time when they were mine"
terseness
features fold into a scowl
an urgent flinching back
coldness returns (as though the warmth had never come)
lips part then purse
invasion of shock
slow stare at the floor
the ripple effect of a swallow
frustrated breath/sigh
bitter laugh in reminiscence
dread tearing through the seams of their composure
look of hatred
"darkness"
mean smirk- teeth bared grimace- scowl
dismissive gaze
gaze of contempt/impatience
threat lowering the voice
sardonic goading grins verging on manic
rolling one's eyes
flicker of irritation in the eyes
stares stubbornly ahead despite distraction
gritted teeth, clenched jaw
fierce biting remarks
even measured complexions betraying no thought
strangling oneself back from violence
utter apathy
murderous silence hanging in the stare
snobbish laughter
smiling at another's downfall
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writing fics is so funny. writing ongoing ones is even more so
while no one owes me any comments, they're obviously nice to get. every single one, even if it's just hearts or something
i'm mostly amused by this, but i can't stop thinking about how often people write "can't wait to see what comes next" and then i post what comes next and they just... disappear. never come back. delete their bookmark and i see i've lost a subscriber who i assume was that person.
it just gets me wondering what was the thing that made them go "yeah nope actually i'm not finishing this"
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writblr peeps i want to be your friend. i also want to be, if this is more enticing, a member of your fanbase :3 so yeah uh follow me or dm me or both bc i either have no idea where to find you or am Shy
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i want to talk about real life villains
Not someone who mugs you, or kills someone while driving drunk, those are just criminals. I mean VILLAINS.
Not like trump or musk, who are... cartoonishly evil. And not sexy villains, not grandiose villains, not even satisfyingly two dimensional villains it is easy to hate unconditionally. The real villains.
I had a client who was a retired executive for one of the big oil companies, i think it was Shell or Chevron. Had a home just outside of San Francisco that was wall to wall floor to ceiling full of expensive art. Literally. I once accidentally knocked a painting off the wall because it was hanging at knee height at the corner of the stairs, and it had a little brass plaque on it, and i looked up the name of the artist and it was Monet's apprentice and son-in-law, who was apparently also a famous painter. He had an original Andy Warhol, which should have been a prize piece for anyone to showcase -- it was hanging in the bathroom. I swear to god this guy was using a Chihuly (famous glass sculptor) as a fruit bowl. And he was like, "idk my wife was the one who liked art"
I was intrigued by this guy, because in the circles i run this dude is The Enemy. right? Wealthy oil executive? But as my client, he was... like a sweet grandpa. A poor widower, a nice old man, anyone who knew him would have called him a sweetheart. He had a slightly bewildered air, a sort of gentle bumbling nature.
And the fact that he was both of these things, a Sweet Little Old Man and The Enemy, at the same time, seemed important and fascinating to me.
He reminded me of some antagonist from fiction, but i couldn't put my finger on who. And when i did it all made sense.
John Hammond.
probably one of the most realistic bad guys ever written.
If you've only ever seen the movie, this will need some explaining.
Michael Crichton wrote Jurassic Park in 1990, and i read it shortly thereafter. In the movie, the dinosaurs are the antagonists, which imo erases 50% of the point of the story.
book spoilers below.
In the book, John Hammond is the villain but it takes the reader like half the book to figure that out. Just like my client, John is a sweet old man who wants lovely things for people. He's a very sympathetic character. But as the book progresses, you start to see something about him.
He has an idea, and he's sure it's a good one. When someone else dies in pursuit of his dream, he doesn't think anything of it. When other people turn out to care about that, he brings in experts to evaluate the safety of his idea, and when they quickly tell him his idea is dangerous and needs to be put on hold, he ignores his own experts that he himself hired, because they are telling him that he is wrong, and he is sure he is right.
In his mind, he's a visionary, and nobody understands his vision. He is surrounded by naysayers. Several things have proven too difficult to do the best and safest way, so he has cut corners and taken shortcuts so he can keep moving forward with his plans, but he's sure it's fine. He refuses to hear any word of caution, because he believes he is being cautious enough, and he knows best, even though he has no background in any of the sciences or professions involved. He sends his own grandchildren out into a life-threatening situation because he is willfully ignorant of the danger he is creating.
THIS is like the real villains of the world. He doesn't want anyone to die. Far from it, he only wants good things for people! He's a sweet old man who loves his grandchildren. But he has money and power and refuses to hear that what he is doing is dangerous for everyone, even his own family.
I think he's possibly one of the most important villains ever written in popular fiction.
In the book, he is killed by a pack of the smallest, cutest, "least dangerous" dinosaurs, because a big part of why we read fiction is to see the villains face thematic justice. But like a cigarette CEO dying of lung cancer, his death does not stop his creation from spreading out into the world to continue to endanger everyone else.
I think it is really important to see and understand this kind of villainy in fiction, so you can recognize it in real life.
Sweetheart of a grandfather. Wanted the best for everyone. Right up until what was best for everyone inconvenienced the pursuit of his own interests.
And my client was like that too. His wife had died, and his dog was now the love of his life, and she was this little old dog with silky hair in a hair cut that left long wispy bits on her lower legs. Certain plant materials were easily entangled in this hair and impossible to get out without pulling her hair which clearly hurt her. When i suggested he ask his groomer to trim her lower leg hair short to avoid this, he refused, saying he really liked her usual hair cut.
I emphasized that she was in pain after every walk due to the plant debris getting caught in her leg hair, and a simple trim could put an end to her daily painful removal of it, and he just frowned like i'd recommended he take a bath in pig shit and said "But she'll be ugly" and refused to talk about it anymore.
Sweet old man though. Everyone loved him.
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It’s very humbling when you’re reading a book —part of a trilogy, very acclaimed— and the only thing you can think of is ‘the fanfic I read the other day was better’
#that’s the reason I mostly read book by authors I love#or because I had a good feeling picking up the book#never read the famous/popular ones#critics and common people usually have the worst of taste#all in kindness#but definitely never read a book because someone told you to do so#you’re gonna be disappointed
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#L-A opinion#writing advice#writeblr#writing tips#writers on tumblr#writing community#reviews#comments#ao3
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