#building a writing habit

[icamefromadream]

°•°Habits to Give Your Characters°•°

╭┈◦•◦❥•◦ Constantly crosses legs when sitting

╭┈◦•◦❥•◦ Doodles when zoned out (if there's no paper around they could trace doodles like little hearts on a table or even on the back of their hand)

╭┈◦•◦❥•◦ Crucks knuckles

╭┈◦•◦❥•◦ Braids hair when their bored (or just generally plays with their hair)

╭┈◦•◦❥•◦ Stands way to close to people when talking to them.

╭┈◦•◦❥•◦ Avoids eyecontact when people talk to them.

╭┈◦•◦❥•◦ Clutches on to other's sleeves.

╭┈◦•◦❥•◦ Bites nails when nervous

╭┈◦•◦❥•◦ Raises their eyebrows when interested.

╭┈◦•◦❥•◦ Offers food to others, before taking a bite themselves.

╭┈◦•◦❥•◦ Scratches top of nails (like when you're scratching the coat of nail polish off your nails.)

╭┈◦•◦❥•◦ Whistles to ease nerves.

Follow @paranoia-art for more!

Do message me if you have anymore you would like to add!

[rileys-battlecats]

girl help I started writing down oc thoughts and have started contemplating the logistics of how a city carved into the walls of a ravine would have access to fresh water

[femmefatalevibe]

any tips for getting into copywriting?

Learn the basics of copywriting & writing fundamentals/ marketing skills

Study the different types of copywriting (web/banners, email, social, ads, direct mail, sales letters, etc.)

Decide on your niche(s). Study everything you can about the industry, trends, latest news, customer demographics/psychographics, customer behavior, types of lifestyles/preferences they have, how they speak, where they spend the most time (IRL or digitally)

Craft an inspiration folder full of compelling copywriting examples you find when browsing on the web, going through your email, scrolling on social media, billboards, magazines, direct mail, etc.

Practice rewriting these examples with your own flair. Evaluate it, and keep practicing until you're proud of your copy.

Be as concise, clever, and convincing as possible. Keep your tone conversational (write like how you would speak), catchy, simple, and witty. Take out any extraneous or fluff words. Pepper in cultural references, puns, and relatable anecdotes understood by your target audience when relevant to your messaging/CTA

Create a portfolio with these mock-ups or projects done for family/friends (state they're spec work, not client-commissioned samples) or clips from an internship, school work, etc.

Craft a USP for yourself (including your niche, copywriting specialties, and the specific expertise you offer within your broader niche/service offerings that makes you unique)

Create an Upwork profile and share your services on LinkedIn (optimize both of these profiles)

Research local clients and small businesses within your niche. Also, take time to create a list of dream clients. Study their copy, brand voice, and keep tabs on updates regarding these companies' happenings

Learn the art of a cold email/LinkedIn pitch/Upwork proposal. Introduce yourself and your services to your prospect and share with them how you can fulfill a specific need they're seeking out (For local and smaller companies, feel free to offer suggestions. With more established companies, connect the dots as to why your experience/expertise is a great fit for their brand/target audience), and attach your work/link to your LinkedIn profile, website, and any other relevant hub for your professional services & content

Ask for referrals from friends/family to get started. If they're not a relative, get a testimonial to include in your portfolio

Follow up once if you haven't heard back from a prospective client after an initial pitch after a few days

Search for potential gigs on sites like Upwork/ProBlogger/People Per Hour

Once you land a gig, execute to the best of your ability and hand in your work by the deadline (strategies surrounding best business practices is a whole other post, lol)

Gather testimonials from all clients of successful projects. Confirm with clients whether you can use their work in your portfolio if you're unsure

Continue studying copywriting from books, courses, and everyday reading & living

Stay knowledgeable about advancements/updates in your field, keep updated on current events, and culture/social trends, and read a lot in general. Have interesting, multi-faceted conversations with others. Observe what makes people tick & remain engaged in a verbal dialogue or content

[saetoru]

and before i part with you all once again i wanted to share that i have for the first time (and perhaps last time) 36 starred abyss

[laspocelliere]

Day Twenty-Eight: Deleterious

In darkness and silence, the Ascian appeared in Ishgard.

He wasn’t unfamiliar with the city. In recent years, even, it had come to resemble his familiar Garlemald, locked in an icy grip from which its citizens needed to shelter against. It made them, in his opinion, all the easier to control; fear was quite conveniently sowed where challenges and difficulty lie.

It would likely be ripe to revisit in a few short years. When certain…inconveniences had died off.

In the snow-capped night, Emet-Selch gazed, unimpressed, down on one such inconvenience.

He was asleep, and the state didn’t improve him any. It had taken very little effort for the Ascian to trace the glamoured ring on the hero’s finger to the hollow attempt at a knight who currently lay atop his fully made bed, brow furrowed with restless sleep and nightmares. Worry, likely, and the simplicity and naivete of it all made him want to slit the Commander’s throat where he lay. Save him the mess and the heartbreak that was certain to follow, if he continued to follow his current path.

If he continued to follow her.

Despite knowing the hero of the Source for only a short period, Emet-Selch had known her, instantly and immediately. She reeked of death; destruction followed her like a plague. There was armageddon in those eyes of hers, and anyone who fell into their path would be met with only doom.

He had encountered eyes like hers before.

Only one of them had walked out of it alive.

The same fate waited for this son of Ishgard. The Ascian peered down at him with vague disgust in the darkness, watching the nightmares flit worry across his closed eyelids. With their hero stranded on the First, clearly the pair had been separated, and it was taking its pathetic toll; Emet-Selch could see the dull shadows under the boy’s eyes even in the dim light. He longed and yearned for her in ways that the man Emet-Selch had once been might have done, centuries ago.

Back before he knew what women of her sort could do. What the follies of hearts not meant to be could do to topple a society, to fracture and destroy thousands of lives.

This Warrior held the same nuclear power in her very being.

He intended to use it. Incidentally, by turning her into the weapon she had been designed to become, he would unintentionally save this poor, unassuming boy from the fallout of her blast.

Tilting his head as though studying an insect beneath a magnifying glass, Emet-Selch considered the sleeping knight. He found him lacking and sorely wanting in every way, and the disappointment he felt annoyed him more than it should have. What about this powerless, unimpressive knight had turned the hero’s head on that lovely neck of hers? He was plain, and Emet-Selch had seen similar of his ilk dozens of times over the centuries; princes who thought they could make a difference.

They bled just the same as every one who had come before them.

After a few moments, as his annoyance grew, the Ascian disappeared as seamlessly as he’d arrived. Back to the First, back to the plans he’d laid, and back to their precious hero with her icy anger and fire-torn eyes.

Maybe, in her destruction, he might actually create a net good for the first time in millennia.

[muirmarie]

writing fic more consistently than i have for, yikes, like 8 years??? is funny because i keep realizing i'm writing directly in conversation with myself? like i find myself raising points that i inadvertently answer in something else? just internally, i mean, i don't think it is/should be noticeable from the outside, per se. but for example the time loop fic had the "when did you stop believing in me?" line, and in the knife to the throat fic i kind of realized i was writing it directly in response to that idea? idk it's just interesting when writing more consistently how my brain is just doing a call and response across different stories? i always feel so awkward talking about the process of writing lmaooooo, but anyway general reminder you can always block that first tag <3

[joelliies]

Third-Person Limited Vs Third-Person Omniscient

The third-person point of view and third-person omniscient point of view both tell stories from an external narrator's perspective, but they differ in terms of how much knowledge the narrator has and shares about the characters’ inner thoughts and feelings.

Third-Person Limited

In third-person limited, the narrator focuses on the thoughts, feelings, and experiences of a single character at a time. We only see what that character sees and knows, even though it’s told from an outside perspective. This viewpoint brings readers closer to one character but doesn't reveal the inner thoughts of others.

Example:

Sarah hurried down the street, clutching her coat tightly. She glanced behind her, heart pounding, sure that someone was following her. Maybe I’m just being paranoid, she thought, trying to calm herself. But she couldn’t shake the feeling of being watched.

In this example, we’re limited to Sarah’s perspective. We know her thoughts and feelings, but we don't know what anyone else is thinking or feeling.

Third-Person Omniscient

In third-person omniscient, the narrator knows everything about all the characters and events in the story. This "all-knowing" narrator can jump between characters' thoughts, feelings, and experiences and offer insights that the characters themselves might not have. It provides a broader view of the story and can add depth by revealing multiple viewpoints.

Example:

Sarah hurried down the street, clutching her coat tightly, unaware that the man across the road had been watching her intently. I have to catch her before she leaves, he thought, his gaze fixed on her. Meanwhile, Sarah felt a growing sense of dread, though she couldn’t tell what was causing it.

Here, the narrator shares Sarah's inner thoughts and the man's as well, moving freely between their perspectives to give readers a fuller picture of what’s happening.

Key Differences

Third-Person Limited sticks to one character's thoughts and feelings at a time, creating intimacy with that character.

Third-Person Omniscient offers a broader perspective, with insight into multiple characters' inner thoughts, often providing a more comprehensive view of the story.

[quillyfied]

So I’ve been trying out writing 200 words a day. I’m someone who can write about 2000 words an hour when properly motivated. The goal felt silly and like it was…not beneath me, but not equal to my potential. But the challenge isn’t the length; it’s the daily repetition of it.

I’ve had a convention and a baby’s birthday party this past fortnight so I haven’t been super consistent, but. Since I started at the beginning of February. I’ve written 2500 words. Which is 2500 words more than I would have written while waiting for a spare moment and inspiration to crank out many thousands of words.

Setting up a daily routine of small, simple maintenance steps is super hard. But the satisfaction of the small, undeniable steps of progress is really cool, actually. Really motivating.

(Plus the process is becoming like playing telephone with myself. I’ve stopped at 200 words today; wonder what’s gonna happen next 200 words?)

[thomine]

beneath the surface : xiao

pair: xiao x reader info: general audiences, sport injuries, past experiences of drowning, modern au, intentionally lowercase, not proofread

summary: your love for diving is tested, and xiao doesn’t make quitting easy either.

word count: 1.1k words series: day 1 of au august 2023 / prompt: sports links: work tag

“watch,” the sports anchor says as the crowd at the olympic hall hushes. 

you shut your eyes and take a deep breath. this isn’t just any ordinary diver—it’s olympic diver xiao from liyue. he broke as much bones as he did for records in diving. this is a chance you don’t want to miss, yet seeing him wobble his weight on the flimsy board makes your palms sweaty.

you can feel the tension of the board beneath you, experience the rush of air as he leaps. you are no foreign to the procedure as a diver yourself.

breath hitched in your throat, you lean forward as he does his twist and jumps, but before he can rip the water, you find yourself victim to fear. you close your eyes and cover your ears. the audience roars. only then do you release that breath you held, and watch in awe as xiao’s dark hair breaks through the water’s surface.

shamefully, you look down, avoiding the heavy gaze of your coach that brought you here to teach you a lesson, one you know but find hard to execute.

thinking about it attracts pain in your knees to return. you press them together, a hand over your right knee as your fingers graze over the scar.

“graceful, isn’t he?” your coach says, arms crossed. “to think he had an ankle sprain a few weeks before this dive.”

you nod slowly, unsure what you should say. you can’t promise your coach anything, not when you’ve yet to win your fears.

it’s uncomfortable to hear him remain quiet as the background cheers. the announcer releases xiao’s marks. no surprise he jumps to first place.

“i need to use the washrooms,” you mumble, placing your items down. your coach barely gives you any form of acknowledgement as his eyes are fixed on xiao who does a bow before heading off.

finding an abandoned spot beside the toilet behind the hub, you sit on the floor.

sigh.

you wear your hoodie up, pulling its strings so the edges cover your face.

the longer you stall the harder it is for your body to return. your coach was right that you had to make your decision now.

you do love diving, but when you tore your ACL, the months in the hospital were a perfect place to begin reflecting if you’re willing to do it again.

and you did, but you didn’t love diving to the extent you’d go through such pains a third time. 

your career, although amounting to nothing compared to xiao’s, was still something, and your coach had faith if you pushed past this mental barrier as all divers do with the waters before their dive, then you’d go big.

“bigger than xiao?” you asked once.

“of course not,” the coach said. “you can’t even go through an ACL tear twice, you think you can experience it 5 times?”

a slap to the face, but a little reassuring that you wouldn’t dethrone your idol. 

something cold touches your hoodie and wets it. you bring it down to give whoever who messed with you a strong glare, only to meet with amber eyes and familiar mess of dark hair.

it’s a sports drink, fresh from the vending machine a few meters down. xiao’s holding it, arms outstretched towards you.

“… thank you,” you mutter as you take it.

“how’s your knee?” he asks, arms in his pockets. he changed from his swimsuit to his casual clothes fast.

“the news really loved covering it, huh?” you quip as you open the bottle, the fizz of the drink rising.

xiao doesn’t respond to your commentary. just stares, patiently waiting for a reply.

“well, uh,” you add after trying not to be awkward in the silence he brings, “i guess it’s fine. sometimes it feels like i tore it again while doing small tasks, but the doctor inspected it and said it’s healing fine. how’s your ankle?”

he balances his weight on the healthier ankle, then gives his left a twirl.

“it’s recovering.”

“have you ever thought of taking a break?” you ask out of the blue, although this question has haunted you for months. “even with new injuries, you never seem to stop.”

xiao takes the empty spot beside you. it’s crazy to see him so close. the last this happened was when you first tore your ACL at the Olympics. you almost drowned if it wasn’t for him jumping into the waters the moment he noticed something went wrong.

he was also nice enough to volunteer going with you to the hospital. throughout the ambulance ride, he held your hand and told you tips to bear with the pain.

“i don’t know what i’d do if i wasn’t diving,” he answers, voice barely there. “the pain becomes an afterthought soon enough.”

before you can question him further, he stands and makes his leave.

can you see yourself doing anything other than diving?

yes, you can. you have dreams of opening a little cafe at one point in your life. there’s also that dream of using the money earned from diving to travel the world. you can’t be diving forever, right?

head in hands, it dawns on you how isolating xiao’s fame is. to think he has nothing he can look forward to after his career as a diver… it was depressing.

“xiao!” you call out impulsively before his figure disappears. when he turns to you, you find yourself lost for words. would it be out of your place, a mere fan whom he so happened to have exchanged a few words on certain occasions, have any right to say anything? 

his dreams; his passions; who he is beyond diving? they are questions that bog your mind every time your eyes land on him. who is the boy behind the poster and newsletter and whatever the news make him out to be?

you fiddle with the ends of your hoodie. time is slipping away yet the words don’t co-operate.

there are too many things to say—

“i owe you two,” you settle in the end.

he looks at you confused.

you raise the drink, then add, “plus, that time you accompanied me to the hospital. after my… accident.”

he nods.

“diving is a dangerous sport,” he says. “if you don’t have to means to bear with the pain behind a diver’s elegance, then don’t. it is not worth.”

and he leaves. you’re alone with the drink and his advice.

it pushes you oh so gently to your preferred answer to your coach, but something tells you that you need to brace whatever impact this career will bring to your weary body if you want the opportunity to repay him what he did to you.

you gulp down the drink like fuel, readying yourself to face your coach who’s probably looking for you right now.

will you regret this?

author's note: first post for au augst! not my best work but i think about this au occasionally. i just think it's so fitting for xiao considering his gameplay and the nature of diving.

[dnschmidt]

How to Achieve a Daily Writing Habit

Before you can master the art of writing, you first have to master the habit. Whether you want to write professionally or as a hobby, the best way to build your skills is to write every day. Read on to learn how to start a daily writing habit.

[foremyth]

incredibly mesmerized by aizen operating under daily/ordinary or even domestic circumstances

[throughtrialbyfire]

in the spirit of NoSkipNovember, i worked on my plotting document for my main fic Cycle of the Serpent today! i managed to get two chapters i've written annotated and highlighted so i have all the reference points i need for future parts, and i may knock out part of another before i go to bed.

[slowdesire]

walking getting sunlight regularly reading playing guitar eating dinner consistently and slowly eating lunch + breakfast too every now and then (work in progress lol) these all sound bare minimum and i guess they are but this is DEVELOPMENT for me 😫

[woolysocks]

going thru my journal usually helps me get back in the swing of it so here's a tour thru some pages i like :')

[birlwrites]

y'all i wrote over a thousand words in one sitting on bloodfinch today - i don't want to jinx it but i think i might?? have?? found a routine that will work for me????

[thelasanga-is-poisoned]

character quirks

(all based on people in my life, including me lol)

collects snowglobes

claims to still believe in santa

has convinced multiple kids she's the tooth fairy

rolls her eyes when annoyed, but doesn't notice that she does so until someone points it out

absolutely refuses to even attempt to read cursive

constantly chewing gum, even while working out

makes friends watch barbie movies

phone is off for days at a time

can only cook boxed mac and cheese

loves board games. like, an unhealthy amount

breaks other people's pens by absentmindedly taking them apart and not knowing how to put them back together

terrified of people cracking their knuckles

won't watch a sport other than soccer

has to listen to one specific indie song before falling asleep every night