#writing improvement

[jasontoddslittletoe]

The darkness that surrounded Gotham was heavy with tension as you stood outside the abandoned warehouse, heart racing. Jason’s silhouette emerged from the shadows, the familiar leather jacket framing his figure like a shroud. He looked worn, the weight of his choices evident in the way he carried himself.

“Why did you follow me?” he asked, his voice low and edged with irritation.

You took a breath, trying to keep your emotions in check. “Because you’re pushing everyone away, Jason. You can’t keep doing this.”

He scoffed, crossing his arms defensively. “You think I care about what you or anyone else thinks? I don’t need anyone, especially not now.”

“Is that really how you feel?” Your voice cracked, desperation creeping in. “You’re not alone. You never have to be. But you make it so damn hard to reach you.”

Jason’s gaze darkened, anger mixing with pain. “You don’t know what it’s like! To feel betrayed, to lose everything! I won’t let you get hurt because of me.”

“I’m already hurting!” you shot back, the words bursting forth. “You’re hurting me more by shutting me out! I want to help you, but you won’t let me in.”

He turned away, fists clenching. “I don’t want your help. I don’t want anyone’s pity. You think this is some kind of game? I’m not the hero you want me to be.”

Your heart ached as you took a step closer, defiance fueling your voice. “I never wanted a hero. I wanted you—the real you. But you keep hiding behind this mask of anger.”

Silence fell between you, the air thick with unresolved feelings. Finally, Jason turned to you, vulnerability flickering behind his hardened exterior. “If you knew the truth, you’d run away. I don’t deserve this… I don’t deserve you.”

“Don’t say that,” you pleaded, tears welling in your eyes. “You’re worth so much more than your past mistakes. I see you, Jason—the man beneath the pain.”

He shook his head, pain etched on his face. “The man beneath is broken. I can’t drag you into that darkness.”

“Maybe I want to stand with you in that darkness,” you said, voice trembling. “I’d rather face it together than watch you drown in it alone.”

His expression wavered, the conflict evident. But the walls he built were strong, and he was reluctant to let them crumble. “You don’t understand what it means to love someone like me,” he replied, voice thick with emotion.

“Then let me show you,” you whispered, reaching out for him.

For a moment, you thought he might take your hand. But then he stepped back, the distance between you feeling insurmountable. “I can’t. I won’t let you get hurt because of me.”

As he turned and disappeared into the shadows, you felt the weight of his choices press down on you. Love was supposed to be a light in the dark, but in that moment, it felt like a curse—a reminder of what could have been.

A/N: Hi everyone! I’ve finally gotten a break and so here I am, writing the much promised angst😅 hopefully over break I can do more. This was based off of a fanfic i saw a while back. Love you all, and happy halloween 🎃

[hayatheauthor]

How To Write And Research Mental Illnesses 

Mental illnesses are a large aspect of literature often incorporated into various different genres. However, even with their prevalence, many authors are often unaware of how to write about mental illnesses accurately. If you’re an author writing a character with a mental illness, here are some tips on how to write with mental illnesses. 

Don’t ‘Self Diagnose’ Your Characters 

When writing about mental illnesses it’s important to consider whether or not your character would realistically have this mental illness given their situation and story. Many authors often ‘self diagnose’ their characters without actually taking the time to research these illnesses and figure out whether their character would develop this illness if they were a real person. 

I say ‘self diagnose’ because as authors we generally do diagnose our characters based on our own interpretations and plans for them and their story, without looking to real people with these illnesses. 

Just because your character is going through an unproductive slump doesn’t mean they they are depressed. Just because your character is nervous and experiencing stage fright doesn’t mean they have anxiety. 

Take the time to look into these mental illnesses and genuinely consider whether or not your character has a mental illness, or if you’re just self diagnosing and wrongly labelling them. 

Do Your Research 

Whenever I blog about such sensitive topics, I always find myself ultimately mentioning this one point. This is because even with so many resources available to us both online and offline, writers still choose to be blissfully unaware of sensitive topics mentioned in their WIPs or stories. 

I sincerely cannot stress how important it is for a writer to do their due diligence and research the topics they write for, especially if it is something as sensitive as mental illnesses. 

Once you have established that your character would realistically develop or undergo a mental illness given the situation they are in, it is now time to research what exactly they would go through. 

A simple google search can tell you everything you need to know about your character’s mental illness. Or, you could reach out to people you know who suffer from the same illness and ask them questions about it. 

Researching your character’s mental illness helps ensure you don’t accidentally misrepresent that illness or create symptoms that are inaccurate and insulting to people who do suffer from that mental illness. It will also provide you with a sense of ease as an author, and allow you to work on your WIP without having to worry about accidentally offending an entire community. 

Remember The Three Ss

One of the biggest challenges writers face with writing with mental illnesses is unrealistic representation. Unsure where to start with your research? Here is a simple guide for you to keep in mind. 

When writing about mental illnesses, you need to recall the three Ss: 

Symptoms 

Side effects 

Stages 

Symptoms 

Every illness or disease has its own symptoms, the same applies to mental illnesses. When writing about a character with mental illnesses, you need to take the time to research the symptoms of this illness and how these symptoms can impact your character on a day-to-day and general level. 

For example, a character with PTSD would face trouble sleeping and concentrating, would be irritable, angry and face overwhelming guilt or shame. These symptoms can all make it hard for a person to excel at school or the workplace and can lead to delayed deadlines, unfinished work, and a lot of stress and anxious thinking. 

A character with PTSD would likely not be able to handle being at the top of their class, unless they completely engross themselves in their studies to the point where they can’t think of anything except that. However, if that were the case then they would find it very hard to handle ‘normal’ situations and wouldn’t be getting a lot of sleep. 

Side Effects 

A side effect is a temporary and commonly unwanted effect of a drug or medical condition. Unlike a symptom, a side effect can be harmful or beneficial and most go away on their own over time. 

They wouldn’t be considered as ‘serious’ as a symptom, however, they can still significantly impact your character, their story, and their dynamics with the characters they interact with. 

Following the above example, a character with PTSD would generally suffer from an inability to develop or maintain positive, healthy interpersonal relationships and an inability to trust others. They also often face side effects such as social isolation, chronic feelings of fear, etc. 

These are all side effects that would make it hard for a character with PTSD to maintain emotional relationships. You can use this to portray their sudden lack of connection with friends and family, and how they find themselves only associating with people who have either been through or understand their situation. 

Stages 

A person with cancer, or other such physical illnesses, doesn’t suddenly hit a chronic level overnight. The same logic applies to mental illnesses. Mental illnesses don’t just develop overnight. Your character won’t suddenly wake up one day in chapter ten and have a full-blown panic attack because they developed a panic disorder. 

Yes, people can face symptoms or side effects pertaining to a mental illness after facing a traumatic event. However, when writing about such events, it’s very important to do your research and consider whether or not a person would realistically undergo such serious symptoms in such a small timeframe given the circumstances. 

Outside of incidents that are a direct result of a traumatic event, it’s important to consider the stages your character would experience as a result of their mental illness. 

For example, a person with PTSD goes through five stages, the first being the impact or emergency stage, during which they struggle to process or deal with the situation they have gone through. Then comes the denial or numbing stage. 

Following the above example, a numbing stage would be akin to when a character pretends the traumatic event never occurred and throws themselves into their work or school. Then comes a rescue stage, which would be when other characters begin to intervene or when the character comes to terms with the events and starts to better themselves. 

Knowing the stages of your character’s mental illness allows you to accurately plan out what happens in your story and create a realistic portrayal of their suffrage. It also helps flesh out your story for your readers and allows you to seamlessly incorporate your character’s illness into the story. 

Don’t Define Them By Their Mental Illness

Now that you have a general idea of how to write and research mental illnesses, I would like to end this blog post with a small reminder. People with mental illnesses are human. They have personalities, hobbies, likes, dislikes, and other such traits that often have nothing to do with their mental illness. 

When writing with a mental illness, it’s important to take this into account and ensure you don’t constantly define your character by their mental illness, or even worse, reduce them to their mental illness. 

I hope this blog on how to write and research mental illnesses will help you in your writing journey. Be sure to comment any tips of your own to help your fellow authors prosper, and follow my blog for new blog updates every Monday and Thursday.  

Looking For More Writing Tips And Tricks? 

Are you an author looking for writing tips and tricks to better your manuscript? Or do you want to learn about how to get a literary agent, get published and properly market your book? Consider checking out the rest of Haya’s book blog where I post writing and marketing tools for authors every Monday and Thursday. 

[floredaqueen]

𝔹𝕃𝕌ℝ𝔹 18+

𝐎𝐧𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐉𝐉 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐞'𝐬 𝐠𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐚 𝐛𝐞 𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐌𝐅.. 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐥𝐮𝐝𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐡𝐞'𝐬 𝐤𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐠𝐢𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐞.. 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐢𝐭'𝐬 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐉𝐔𝐒𝐓 𝐤𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐭..?

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𝐊𝐢𝐬𝐬.. 𝐊𝐢𝐬𝐬.. 𝐊𝐢𝐬𝐬... 𝐉𝐉'𝐬 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐲 𝐥𝐢𝐩𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐮𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐌𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐞𝐝𝐞𝐬' 𝐩𝐥𝐮𝐦𝐩𝐬 𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐮𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞-𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐬𝐞𝐬𝐡. 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐤𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐝𝐢𝐝𝐧'𝐭 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐟𝐞𝐫 𝐛𝐨𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐥 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐲. 𝐄𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐤𝐢𝐬𝐬 𝐚𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐚 𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐜𝐫𝐚𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐥𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬, 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐰𝐞𝐧𝐭 '𝐩𝐨𝐨𝐟' 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐨𝐨𝐫 𝐠𝐢𝐫𝐥 𝐟𝐞𝐥𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨𝐱𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐠𝐫𝐢𝐩 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐞𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐢𝐬𝐭.

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐛𝐨𝐲 𝐛𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐥𝐲, 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐥𝐲 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐝𝐞𝐞𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 ��𝐚𝐝 𝐌𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐞𝐝𝐞𝐬 𝐦𝐞𝐥𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠. 𝐈𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬𝐧'𝐭 𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐨𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐞𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫. 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝𝐥𝐲 𝐬𝐮𝐜𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐤𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐩𝐮𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐢𝐫. 𝐇𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐥𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝, 𝐡𝐚𝐳𝐲 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐉𝐉 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐟 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐮𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐬𝐡𝐲𝐥𝐲.

"..𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭?" 𝐂𝐞𝐝𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐚𝐬𝐤 𝐚𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐬𝐦𝐢𝐫𝐤 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐤𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐨𝐨 𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐥 𝐮𝐩 𝐨𝐧 𝐉𝐉'𝐬 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐞. 𝐈𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐬 𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐧𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐚 𝐝𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐭, 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐤𝐢𝐬𝐬-𝐛𝐫𝐮𝐢𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐥𝐢𝐩𝐬 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐟𝐞𝐰 𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐤𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐥𝐞𝐟𝐭 𝐞𝐚𝐫. 𝐎𝐧 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐭, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐨𝐨𝐫 𝐠𝐢𝐫𝐥 𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐝, 𝐬𝐨𝐨𝐧 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐲 𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝. 𝐒𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬𝐧'𝐭 𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐭 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐞𝐥𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐧𝐮𝐦𝐛𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐤𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐞𝐥𝐬𝐞. 𝐇𝐞𝐫 𝐞𝐚𝐫, 𝐣𝐚𝐰𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞, 𝐧𝐞𝐜𝐤, 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐡 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐦𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐧 𝐬𝐤𝐢𝐧 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐧𝐢𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐮𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧.

𝐈𝐧 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐞, 𝐂𝐞𝐝𝐞𝐬 𝐠𝐥𝐞𝐞𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐥𝐞𝐭𝐬 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐭 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐉𝐉 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐝, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐠𝐨𝐭 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐲 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐜𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐞𝐫. 𝐈𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐧𝐨𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐩𝐡𝐢𝐜, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐞𝐧𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐭𝐨 𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐥𝐢𝐩𝐬 𝐥𝐨𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐜𝐮𝐭𝐞 𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐬. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐚𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐞𝐬𝐜𝐚𝐩𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐢𝐥𝐤𝐞𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐥𝐝𝐬 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐝𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐥. 𝐀𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐦𝐨𝐚𝐧 𝐞𝐬𝐜𝐚𝐩𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐲, 𝐬𝐰𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐧 𝐥𝐢𝐩𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐞𝐥𝐭 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐨𝐩𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐞𝐭 𝐜𝐮𝐧𝐭. 𝐇𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐛𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐧𝐨 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐟𝐟 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐤𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐬. 𝐖𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐡𝐢𝐩𝐬 𝐛𝐮𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭 𝐉𝐉'𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞.

"𝐋𝐞𝐭'𝐬 𝐟𝐮𝐜𝐤, 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐡..?" 𝐇𝐞 𝐡𝐮𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐥𝐲, 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐳𝐲 𝐛𝐥𝐮𝐞𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐜𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐧 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐟𝐮𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐫𝐛𝐬. 𝐈𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐝𝐝𝐞𝐝, 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐦𝐲 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐥𝐢𝐩𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐤 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧. 𝐒𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐜𝐤 𝐭𝐨 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐨𝐟𝐭 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐨𝐦 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐥𝐢𝐩, 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐭𝐨 𝐩𝐮𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐜𝐮𝐬 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐜𝐮𝐭𝐞 𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬.

"𝐋𝐞𝐦𝐦𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐲 𝐩𝐮𝐬𝐬𝐲 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥 𝐬𝐨 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝,"

" 𝐈 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐚 𝐛𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬, 𝐉𝐉" 𝐂𝐞𝐝𝐞𝐬 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐥𝐲, 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐞𝐲𝐞𝐬 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐥�� 𝐝𝐢𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐤 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐛𝐨𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐜𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐡𝐞 𝐤𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐞𝐫. 𝐈𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐞𝐧𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐟𝐭 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐢 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐚𝐧𝐬.

"𝐏𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐦𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬..?"

"𝐅𝐮𝐜𝐤 𝐲𝐞𝐬." 𝐉𝐉 𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐥𝐞𝐝, 𝐬𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐬𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐫𝐚𝐰 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐟𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐯𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐬 𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐟𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧. 𝐖𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐢𝐦𝐠 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐠𝐮𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐩𝐮𝐬𝐬𝐲, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐥𝐲 𝐢𝐧 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐜𝐫𝐚𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐬𝐢𝐥𝐤 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐩𝐮𝐥𝐥 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐦𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞.

𝐇𝐞 𝐬𝐰𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐝 𝐌𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐞𝐝𝐞𝐬' 𝐦𝐨𝐚𝐧𝐬 𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐬 𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐝𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐲. 𝐀𝐧𝐲 𝐜𝐨𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐟𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐬 𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐤 𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐦𝐭𝐡, 𝐬𝐰𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐝𝐞𝐞𝐩, 𝐝𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐤𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐬. 𝐒𝐨𝐨𝐧 𝐞𝐧𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡, 𝐉𝐉 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐩𝐮𝐥𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐭, 𝐜𝐫𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐭 𝐬𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐭 𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐭.

𝐈𝐭 𝐝𝐢𝐝𝐧'𝐭 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐌𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐞𝐝𝐞𝐬 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐮𝐟𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐉𝐉 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐜𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐲 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐬, 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐡𝐢𝐩𝐬 𝐛𝐮𝐜𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐬 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐞𝐥𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐜𝐥𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐱 𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐬𝐡𝐥𝐲. 𝐉𝐮𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐦𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐥𝐲 𝐠𝐮𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐤 𝐟𝐨𝐥𝐝𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐬 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐥𝐨𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞. 𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐛𝐫𝐞��𝐭𝐡, 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰𝐥𝐞𝐝𝐠𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐬𝐨𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐞𝐝 𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐞𝐭𝐬.

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𝐈𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐉𝐉 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐛𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐲 𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐞𝐯𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐛𝐨𝐲 𝐥𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐚 𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐥 𝐨𝐟 𝐬𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐬𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐬 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫𝐬. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐨𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐞𝐭𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐠𝐮𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐞𝐭𝐬 𝐬𝐞𝐭 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐨𝐧 𝐚 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭, 𝐉𝐉 𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐚 𝐨𝐧 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐥𝐢𝐩𝐬, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐚 𝐬𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐝𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐨.❤︎

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P.S.ⁱᶠ ʸᵒᵘ ʷᵒᵘˡᵈ ˡⁱᵏᵉ ᵗᵒ ᵇᵉ ᵗᵃᵍᵍᵉᵈ ᶠᵒʳ ᵗʰᵉ "ᵏⁱˢˢⁱⁿᵍ ᵇⁱˡˡʸ" ᵒⁿᵉ ⁱ'ᵐ ʷʳⁱᵗⁱⁿᵍ ⁿᵉˣᵗ ˡᵉᵐᵐᵉ ᵏⁿᵒʷ ⁱⁿ ᵗʰᵉ ᶜᵒᵐᵐᵉⁿᵗˢ ( ˘ ³˘)♥︎

♡𝕋𝕙𝕒𝕟𝕜𝕤 𝕗𝕠𝕣 ℝ𝕖𝕒𝕕𝕚𝕟𝕘♡

@voyeurmunson

[acmoorereadsandwrites]

How to Stop Spinning Your Wheels and Write

First: mental health is real. If you are in burnout, take care of yourself because if you push yourself in burnout, you can prolong it. You might want to try some of these things to keep being creative during burnout, but don't force yourself.

Take care of yourself.

Try more creative outlines. I don't outline the way most people think of it. I outline with moodboards that nobody but me can understand, including main characters, relationships, side characters, and aesthetics. It makes sense to me and, when I look at it, I know exactly what I want each picture to do and say and why it's in the space it's in. If you are more visual, you can try that or a Pepe Silvia-esque string board. You can even try a playlist that is one song per chapter to convey the mood and repeat songs as needed. Don't take forever to do this; spend no more than a day or two and then get to writing.

Instead of a character sheet, writing the same scene from the POV of every character in a given chapter so you learn more about them. Character sheets can get some of us really in the weeds and we focus so much on whether or not our characters like punk vs classical music and certain fashion tastes that are ultimately not going to be on the page. That's not to say knowing these things are bad, but you can also get to know your characters by writing how they view each other and certain situations and by doing that, you also learn their motivations in each scene.

Just write 100 words a day of the project. That's it. Or a page in a notebook or 15 minutes of a sprint. Give yourself a small, reachable, tangible goal where you can see your writing grow. 'But I don't know where the story is going!' That's OK! It doesn't have to be perfect. You can write four pages and realize it's going nowhere and then cross it all out and start again. Pros do that, too.

If you're writing SFF, identify if you have Worldbuilder's Disease. What is this? It's when you spend all your time building a world for a story and you never get around to the story because the world isn't 'finished'. Tolkien didn't finish building his world. Last time I checked, GRRM never created more than 7 words of High Valyrian; David J. Peterson did for GOT. If you have Worldbuilder's Disease, make a checklist for what you absolutely need and if you have 75% or more done, you write and worldbuild on alternating days until you have what you absolutely need. By then, you should also have a better understanding of your characters and plot. If worldbuilding is your passion, you don't have to abandon it; but if it's stopping you from writing the story you want to tell, at some point, you do need to stop focusing on the worldbuilding and on the story.

If your perfectionism is the problem and you feel that draft one has to be perfect, this is going to be harder for some people than it is for others. For some people, accepting that draft 1 isn't going to be the end result is by calling it 'the shitty draft'. For others, it's by doing a draft zero, which I believe comes from screenwriting, and you write an unstructured draft with all your research and pants the hell out of it. For some people, that is draft one, for others, its a way to trick their brain into not putting too much pressure on themselves. Let yourself infodump in the draft if you have to. Get a cheerleader or enabler.

Get yourself an accountability buddy. Find someone in your friend group who also has a novel they want to write or a piece they want to learn how to play or a game they wanna finish, set a date for when it needs to be done that is reasonable, and check-in with each other. New Years' Resolutions don't work for most people, but cheering on a friend and them cheering you on and having someone who will ask you 'how's the book coming?' and listen to you when you talk about the best and worst parts of the week can be really effective to stopping yourself from going back to spinning your wheels.

Get a critique partner. Can be someone you met in fandom if you both are coming from the fanfic world or critique circle or a writing group in your area. If what you need is feedback, put yourself out there to get it.

Carrot method. If what you need is a treat, find a treat within your budget. Some people get a cupcake on Fridays if they met their writing goals four days in a row. Others treat themselves to a literary magazine subscription or a new hardcover book if they hit their goals for the month. If what you need to do is watch an episode of your favorite TV show after writing 800 words that night, do it. My personal variation of this is writing 500 words of the main project before I can work on other projects. Some days, I never get to the projects and others, I breeze right through and then get to do a whole short story I've wanted to write all week.

Fill in the blank method. My strongest points are dialogue and dynamics. If I forced myself to do internal things and description and sensory details down to the last detail on the first draft, nothing would ever get done. I give myself leeway and write the dialogue and dynamics and add the things I have to later. The more I practice internal aspects and description, the more I just do them, but I don't pressure myself. Pressuring yourself is not the answer.

Start in the middle. Starting is hard; many writers start in the wrong place, especially on their book. Some people do have a better sense of where a story should start than others, but some people have a better idea of what a strong finish is than others. Maybe your strength is the finish line. It's OK to write the last half of the book first and then add the first half. The first few chapters are almost always the chapters that are rewritten the most; that's why they tend to be the strongest and tightest.

[jacquelynlscott]

🧐 What is Characterization in Literature?

In literature, writers use characterization to teach readers about a character. There are two main elements of characterization: Direct and indirect.

🫵 Direct Characterization

Direct characterization means the writer directly tells a reader about a character. When characterized directly, there is little to no room for reader interpretation. Direct characterization examples include physical descriptions or the author outright stating facts about a character, like their job, relationships, etc.

📚 For example, from Anthony Doerr’s All the Light We Cannot See:

“In a corner of the city, inside a tall, narrow house at Number 4 rue Vauborel, on the sixth and highest floor, a sightless sixteen-year-old named Marie-Laure LeBlanc kneels over a low table covered entirely with a model.”

Doerr directly characterizes Marie-Laure LeBlanc as a sightless sixteen-year-old. There is nothing up for interpretation about where she lives, her blindness, or her age.

👉 Indirect Characterization

Indirect characterization reveals information about a character through their actions, dialogue, thoughts, etc.

📚 For example, again from All the Light We Cannot See:

“All evening she has been marching her fingers around the model, waiting for her great-uncle Etienne, who owns this house, who went out the previous night while she slept, and who has not returned.”

In this passage, readers learn more about Marie-Laure: she is patient and focused, maybe even a little obsessive.

You may have noticed that Doerr mixes direct with indirect characterization in this passage, as writers often do. While readers learn more about Marie-Laure through her actions, Doerr also directly tells readers that her great-uncle owns the house.

🥸 Physical Descriptions

Physical descriptions of characters can work on three levels:

They tell readers what a character looks like.

They tell readers a little about what a character is like.

They tell readers more about the main character because of what they’re choosing to notice about other people.

🫠 When writing descriptions, keep in mind that it’s not really interesting to describe characters by their hair color or their eyes. Those kinds of descriptors don’t tell readers anything about the character.

Instead, try focusing on interesting or unique bits of the character. For example, you could talk about the ash between a character’s fingers. While strange, it gives readers a visual to latch onto while also indicating that this character must wash their hands a lot and not follow up with lotion. Are they OCD? Do they work in the medical field? But also, why is your MC noticing this? Are they judgmental?

The point is small, strange details can generate questions and intrigue, whereas “The woman had brown hair” does no work for any kind of character development. However, if that woman had blonde hair with ends so fried you can see them crunching and breaking off and brown roots two inches thick, that kind of hair description says a lot about who that character is as a person.

⛔ Characterization Don’ts

New writers often introduce characters in cliché ways. Here are some characterization mistakes to avoid:

Letting your character introduce themselves directly to your readers. For example, “Hi, my name is Mary, and I’m 53.” This might work for children’s or middle grade books, but otherwise, it’s best to avoid it.

Information dumping. In real life, people get to know each other over time, learning bits of information every time they see each other. Your characters should do the same.

Introducing your main character’s physical appearance by looking in a mirror or at a picture of themselves.

Introducing your main character as they start their day, such as waking up or showering. Instead, start your story in media res, which is Latin for “in the midst of things.” Start your story when the action begins.

[sherbetswritingstudio]

Chapter 7: ‘Biting us back’ of Stung is out!

[miywskin]

be your best version:

here are points in which i consider it important to feed, care for and seek to put into practice:

High confidence boosts self-esteem, know what puts you in a high frequency. You become a vibrational combination of luxury and all things high quality because you are high quality.

Realize that right and wrong do not exist as society tells us they do. There is only what is true for you. And when you follow that truth, you are embodying love. Leave behind any ideas of how life "should" be and forge your own path towards your soul's purpose.

Release pent-up anger, sadness, trauma, pain, shame from this life, past lives, ancestors and even the collective. Create the deep knowledge that your underworld, its shadows, fears, traumas, is an eternal source of gems, gifts, magic and wisdom.

Reconnect with the natural rhythms, cycles and magic of the natural world, the moon, the blood cycle and the death/birth cycle (this is the energy to work with to heal "women specific" physical ailments).

[redd956]

Writing Journals: Why do them?

I keep an annual writing journal. After every New Year’s I start a new one from scratch. Sometimes I bring some of my other works or unfinished pieces to the next one because I want to continue to add onto it. But why do it?

Improve Faster

After starting my first writing journal I found myself practicing with it and writing more frequently. My writing skills improved tremendously fast. I did when I was bored, between classes, and if I ever felt an itchy palm for writing. Each installment greatly shows your current skills, how your writing has changed over each year, and what you can still work on.

You can also easier look back on older works and writing styles and look back on how much you’ve improved. I love doing this because sometimes I am baffled by my own writing and love salvage, rewrite, and continue older pieces. Reading through earlier snippets even in the same journal often gets my hopes up as a writer, and I become exciting for my own works.

Free Reign

Your journals are for no one else but yourself. Write whatever you want in them. You aren’t obligated to finish anything, elaborate on anything, or meet a deadline at all. You could write a few paragraphs of something, leave it there, and instead write pages of something deviously suspicious. No one is going to stop you, and you don’t have to show it to anyone if you don’t like to.

Often times I jump between pieces I really like. Write small snippets of stuff I choose to never continue. I do prompts, writing exercises, whump stuff, little romantic snippets of my OCs, fanfics, different writing styles, whatever I want. I just never delete. Even if something super sucks I don’t delete it. I just keep going and move on.

Inspiration

When you aren’t tailored to other people’s receptions, deadlines, or moral law your writing goes wild. You never know when inspiration or masterpieces are going to strike. Often times I find something small I was intending to write becomes a much larger project that I am very proud of. A little alternate universe for my OCs became 230 pages of detailed worldbuilding, stories, and fun character interaction. So much so that it needs it’s own document now.

When down on motivation or needing a last minute writing assignment to come out of thin air the writing journals help as well. I always turn to them for motivation and inspiration. Often times reading my own stuff I realize how good I’m still doing, or how much progress I’ve made, and I feel like a renewed artist. Sometimes there’s gold mines of inspiration hidden in older art journals, and all it takes is me opening them up to be blasted in the face by it.

Organization

Even though the journals themselves aren’t organized. Your writing for the year is all in one area. It can really help if you need to put together a massive portfolio last minute. :)

Sometimes even if I do a piece on a separate document or piece of paper I transfer or copy also into my writing journal. In the end I know I have my stuff. 

[Make back ups]

For Fun

They’re fun. Very fun.

[seekingdandelions]

Writing Advice: Adverbs

“I believe the road to hell is paved with adverbs, and I will shout it from the rooftops. To put it another way, they’re like dandelions. If you have one in your lawn, it looks pretty and unique. If you fail to root it out, however, you find five the next day…fifty the day after that…and then, my brothers and sisters, your lawn is totally, completely, and profligately covered with dandelions. By then you see them for the weeds they really are, but by then it’s—GASP!!—too late.” ― Stephen King, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft

Love them or hate them, adverbs are a part of the English language. As King explained in the above quote, a single adverb is fine. It flies under the radar, and can even work effectively depending on the context. Two adverbs on a page may go similarly unnoticed. However, when a page of prose is lazily littered with adverbs, it becomes difficult not to notice. It might read as amateurish, making your once kindly reader tire of the work and angrily throw it away.

Over-relying on adverbs is a severe writing pitfall.

But, not so coincidently, over-critiquing adverbs can be also be an editing pitfall.

Firstly, let’s look at why adverbs are cumbersome to use:

They can be really boring. Writing a sentence like, “The woman smiled kindly,” is a surefire way to glaze your reader’s eyes over. What does a “kindly” smile look like? Isn’t that subjective? One person might look at the woman and see a kind stranger, another might be wondering why she’s smiling with such dead, lifeless eyes. By removing the adverb we might write, “The woman gave me a radiant, toothy smile - the kind my mother used to share with me, and me alone.”

This is much more informative. We can see that she’s smiling broadly, and from context are able to assume that her face is lighting up. The speaker relates this smile to their mother, showing the reader a positive outlook on the woman. With the added “me, and me alone” we can catch a glimpse of the speaker’s backstory, the way they view their mother and the way this kind of interaction makes them feel special. 

Through this, we learn more about the woman, the speaker, and the speaker’s mother. By eliminating the adverb - which was adding nothing to the sentence - we’ve given the sentence much more value and texture.

Adverbs can sap the life from your story, cutting down opportunities for originality and flair.

Secondly, let’s look at some potential advantages of the use of adverbs:

Adverbs are not always a scourge on your work. Sometimes being more descriptive pays off. Other times, it can pad things out unnecessarily.

Take for example: “I rolled to my left, dodging the broadsword by a hair’s breadth.” This is a good description and wouldn’t benefit from adverbs. However, let’s say that this is a sentence from a flash fiction submission to a competition. The word count is 500, but you’re already over, and your piece is chock-full of excellent descriptions.

If we change it to, “I rolled to my left, narrowly dodging the broadsword,” nothing really changes. Yes, we’ve lost a piece of description, but the word ‘narrowly’ tells us more about the situation than ‘kindly’ did in the last example.

Additionally, since this sentence clearly comes from a fight scene, the pacing might benefit from faster, less wordy action. In a fight, a combatant is unlikely to measure the distance between them and a swinging broadsword. Either they’re exaggerating or they’re omnipotent… Or, in reality, there’s a writer desperately looking for a good description, trying to ‘show not tell’. There’s never one ‘correct’ way to write, but I think it’s important to keep your options open.

In trying to avoid the dreaded adverb your writing might become diluted with half-decent descriptions’, like you’re trying your very best to be a ‘good’ writer. Rules are made to be broken - using three adverbs over the course of two pages isn’t going to kill you… probably.

When editing your work it’s important to keep these things in mind. If you see five adverbs in a paragraph, that’s a no-no in 9/10 situations. Going on a crusade to eliminate each and every adverb, however, isn’t always going to improve your work. Yes, it opens up room for description, but sometimes a scene doesn’t need sweeping, vivid descriptions. Sometimes it needs to move along.

This ties into the general rule of ‘show not tell’. Showing things to the reader (rather than outright stating them) is very important. This clear imbalance between the two techniques gives the less powerful a unique strength of its own. If you’ve spent a novel describing everything in beautiful, engaging detail, having a single line where something - an inescapable fact - is plainly stated can be so much more impactful.

“When Sam had died, she had tucked him into her heart, tucked him alongside her other beloved dead, whose names she kept so secret she sometimes forgot them. But Nehemia—Nehemia wouldn't fit.” ― Sarah J. Mass, Crown of Midnight

Here we see a long description of grief, followed by a plain statement. The protagonist has had a long time to deal with death, a way to remember those she’s lost. “Nehemia wouldn’t fit.” This is stark and attention-grabbing, in comparison to the sombre flow of the previous sentence. We can also see good use of sentence structure in these lines, which adds to the whole ‘I want my reader to be really sad’ gambit.

So, whenever someone (or… everyone) tells you not to do something in writing, be sure to consider why they’re saying that. Because if there’s something you’re not supposed to do, there’s always a flipside - a way to harness the ‘bad’ thing into a force of good in your writing. 

Writing advice can only take you so far if you don’t consider the why behind it. 

(As a fun little game that might ruin certain books for you, start counting the adverbs on a page. They are everywhere. See if they fit, or if you could eliminate them and come up with a better description.)

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(Originally Posted on https://seekingdandelions.weebly.com/)

[runemyth0]

Sticking to this “just finish the draft, it doesn’t have to be perfect” mentality has done wonders for my productivity vis-a-vis writing. Now I’m better at powering through the awkward feeling parts of my fics and can get right into gear to write the really good shit.

It helps that I’m really excited to write this fic. It’s got a cool concept and I’m hitting the really cool parts that make me go “if someone doesn’t flip out over this, I’m doing it wrong.” And having such a sizable buffer is also helping with not making me stress out over finishing chapters.

[glassheadcanon]

No one likes to admit it, but the people who have the most trouble with writing are often the ones who really dislike reading. There's just no getting around the fact that a writer will always - by default - be their own, very first reader. So if you don't enjoy reading, chances are you're going to have a challenging time with the writing process.

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

[floredaqueen]

Steve Harrington Blurb 18+

Parings: Steve Harrington x F!Oc

Warnings: Romance, Mutual Pining, perv!Steve, mushy and gushy, fluffy, illusions to smut, not really smut tho..? It's a BLURB I'm making it up as I go--

Thinking about Steve getting aroused just from kissing

.

.

.

Steve seemed to have blacked out when Rex first caressed his lips with her own, his big brown hues fluttering closed as he felt the warming touch of her skin wrap around his waist. She was gentle at first, just testing the luck warm water surrounding her toes before it became a refreshing stream pushing playfully against her body.

There wasn't a doubt in his mind. His nerves were the only thing that kept the great "King Steve" hesitant.. but not unwilling. Once he felt the warm blush of her bottom lip, it was over. Steve practically melted with the way he pulled her in, returning the kiss warmly. It was dance between them, both of them fighting for dominance over the other. Fortunately for him, Rebecca came out on top, the tall girl leaning over him with want.

With each kiss came a new experiment. Soft giggles against his plush lip, her hands roaming over his arms and chest, even through his hair. Rex's eyes fluttered open, her own plump lips nipping at Steve's with carefully curated tease. Everything she did was sweet and playful. Enough to have Steve folding right there. What Rex didn't expect was to feel the excitement through his jeans, her hands caressing her inner thigh thoughtful before hitting up against the ever-growing tent.

That's when she shied away, Steve immediately showing his embarrassment and apologizing.

"Awh shit.."

"Oh my God.."

"Listen, w-we don't have to keep going. We could just stop here,"

"But, I don't mind. And I wouldn't want to leave you.. hangin' y'know," Rex protested, leaving the pretty boy a bit speechless.. and flustered. Still though, he continued his respectful ways.

"You still don't have to, if you don't want to," Suddenly, Steve felt Rex's soft hand on his thigh, the pretty girl beside him squeezing suggestively to make her point.

"I want to.."

"..How about we keep just doing this..?"

"Kissing?"

"Yeah.. don't you like it?"

"Of course! But I can tell you you like it a LOT more than me,"

Steve chuckled nervously, suddenly getting the idea to test that theory. His hand slowly slithered to her bare thighs, noting how smooth they were.

"Why don't I test that?" He'd suggest, watching her eyed light up mischievously. That's when she leaned in, planting more sweet kisses to his lips, listening to the breathless sighs he'd let go of and give to her. It was sweet and sultry like before, except with the added note of Steve's index and middle finger expertly stroking the silk walls of Rex's needy cunt.

She whined against his lips in return, her inner thighs squeezing at his hand as they continued their kisses. Needless to say the kissing wasn't the only things that they were doing, but sweet kisses Rex would plant everywhere on him suuure led to it.

♡

[acmoorereadsandwrites]

Some things that have helped me (so far) on my journey to writing a novel

Caveat that I am not agented and am still writing. I'm just sharing what is helping me in case it might help someone else.

Writing a query after 10k. Nothing sucks more than getting 40k in and realizing that you don't actually have stakes. Or character motivations. Or a throughline. Or worse, all three are missing. If you are a pantster/gardener like me, it really pays to write until you've had a bit of time to get to know the world, plot, and characters and figure out what they are and what they are doing and then write a query. If you struggle to write it, you might need to pivot, especially if you realize all you have is events and characters passively doing things.

Be willing to let projects marinate. I'm not gonna talk about how many WIPs I have because that's a really embarrassing number. The amount of ideas marinating in the back of my head is even longer. When a project is just not working and you cannot force it, set it aside and give it more time. Come back to it when you're ready to tackle it; maybe you'll have new ideas and better ways to handle the subject matter or characters.

Writing short stories can be a great way to try things out. Want to improve your descriptions or combat scenes? Or maybe you really just want to get a better grasp on word choice and sentence variety. Maybe that idea can be developed further or maybe it's only meant to be a short story. Either way, the idea has been exorcised and you have a new project to develop your editing skills on on top of having worked on your other skills.

Do a reverse outline as you go. If you are not a plotter/architect, the idea of the outline can either be really scary or it can be counterproductive. If I write an outline before the work, I feel as if I've written it. The journey matters more to me than the destination and I lose all motivation if I have a finished, developed outline. Instead, I write a chapter and then jot down what the audience learns, what the characters learn/are revealed to have known, and the contents of the chapter. I also keep notes in a spreadsheet on characters, motifs, potential changes, themes, and worldbuilding details.

This is to my fellow pantsters: do not let yourself become too inspired by your New Favorite Thing when it comes to the WIP. Do not do it. Do not let the themes of infertility in the Witcher invade your retelliing of Snow White if you never had plans for it to be there without seriously thinking it over. Make a note, let it sit, and decide later when you are no longer as inspired. Sometimes it really can work and is the right choice. Other times...no. Mermaids do not belong in every project no matter much you love The Little Mermaid. Save yourself the grief of taking hard pivots you have to undo at a later date.

Not keeping everything in my head and writing it down. Things still in your brain are beautiful and perfect and are still so very malleable. You cannot possibly keep track of every aspect of your WIPs if it's only in your head and, worse yet, if you're anything like me, you cannot edit what you cannot physical see on the page. When it's on the page, then you can do the real work of figuring out if it actually works.

Regularly consume media from a variety of cultures, genres, and voices. Netflix has an incredible catalogue of works ranging from a Nigerian legal drama to a South African conspiracy teen drama to an Irish comedy about the Troubles and life under normalized violence to a South Korean historical zombie horror series. For books, there is a growing wealth of translated works from many different cultures and a sharp rise in diverse authors. Australia has it's own literary movements as does Japan and Brazil. There are more and more books by and for Queer and neurodivergent people. Even listening to music can help. It's important to see what groups outside of your own are doing in media and art, how they represent themselves and their identity/culture/history, and the kinds of stories they want to see and make. It might inspire you, but it's also a great chance to learn and help uplift other voices.

Reading. This is tied to number 7, but reading really cannot be understated. Read the age category and genre you want to write in. Read short stories professionally published online. If you do better with audiobooks, listen to audiobooks. Thankfully, more and more authors seem to be getting them.

Resources:

[winvyre]

[Valerie's Story] Opening Paragraphs Through the Years

I'm feeling nostalgic and self-humbling. Enjoy the opening paragraphs from the different [Valerie's Story] generations.

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Gen 1:

Not once in my new life did I ever consider the possibility that presented itself to me that day in the temple. But for this tale, let’s start at the beginning, shall we? It’s only fair to you, dear reader, who does not know the whole story. Besides, most stories start at the beginning, why shouldn’t this one?

Gen 2:

This tale of adventure and tragedy starts like most legends do, with a once upon a time and a description of the protagonist. Once upon a time there was a little girl of ten years. Her hair was long and white, she wore a flower crown set on the silvery waves. Her eyes were shining silver that could reflect anything, from rage to darkness to fear to joy. She wore a long, flowing dress, the torso was sky blue with long, angel sleeves, and it had embroidered violet flowers across it, which matched the violet skirt. Her royal blue colored slip-ons were worn. If you couldn’t tell by now, the protagonist is me, a long, long time ago.

Gen 3:

This is a tale of adventure and mystery, of tragedy and joy, and above all, this is a tale of wonder, magic, and love. It starts like most legends do, with a once upon a time and a description of the protagonist. So without further ado, Once upon a time… Once upon a time there was a ten year old girl, she had long hair the color of light and her eyes were grey diamonds. She wore a dress with a sky blue torso and long, angel sleeves with embroidered violet flowers across the cuffs, matching the violet skirt. Her royal blue shoes were worn. If you couldn’t tell by now, the protagonist is me, a very long, long time ago.

Gen 4:

Endlessly trapped. Floating in the dark. Time was nothing. I was nothing. I had been still for so long that I hardly recognized my own consciousness. Was I asleep? Awake in some sort of limbo? Whatever plane I existed on rendered all thought meaningless. I saw white. It pressed itself against my eyelids, beckoning me to peek. I humored the notion softly at first but quickly was enraptured. The white was an extreme of a gradient that had never been known in my black before now. And suddenly there was a “now.” I knew the white. It was the first thing I’d ever known. Breaking the surface, white gave way to rich greens in tall trees and thick brush. Burned in the same white below my feet was a strange symbol, but it was one that I remembered even if I couldn’t say exactly how. I had only a moment to take in my environment before an immense feeling of exhaustion overwhelmed me. My legs were buckling under my own weight. I could hardly keep my eyes open. No! Not again. Don’t make me go back! I fell to my knees, face toward the violet sky for a brief moment before completely collapsing. I was gasping for air as I rolled onto my back. The colors were entrancing and I could already feel the black creeping in at the corners of my consciousness. Was I to be held there forever? Why would the universe tempt me with such visions if I were meant to remain indefinitely sightless?

Gen 5:

“Valerie, you are on sweeping duty today.”

“But I’m always on sweeping duty!”

“This is history that we are preserving,” The old lady smiles, “Careless hands…”

“Doom the world.” I begrudgingly take the broom. I’m ten years old, not an idiot. My older siblings are already at work maintaining foliage and restoring art. Well, two of them. Even with Maurin missing I’m still stuck with the broom.

Gen 6:

(It's not much different from Gen 5)

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Fun fact: earlier versions of [Valerie's Story] were Valerie's recounting of how she ascended to godhood after supplanting the dark lord (proto-Bellona) and becoming the embodiment of both light and dark magic. That's why the narration is so talkative. By gen 4 we've dropped God_Valerie telling the reader everything and instead get to see the story through her eyes as it's happening. Gen 5 completely switches up the lore, however, so no more amnesia or cryptic imagery because now Valerie was always a part of her world and her existence has actual meaning. Pretty sure I explained this better in another post so if I can find it I'll link it.

[kaylinalexanderbooks]

I've been doing this subconsciously because of how much I love the timing of these. I may do it more often now lol

some of the best writing advice I’ve ever received: always put the punch line at the end of the sentence.

it doesn’t have to be a “punch line” as in the end of a joke. It could be the part that punches you in the gut. The most exciting, juicy, shocking info goes at the end of the sentence. Two different examples that show the difference it makes:

doing it wrong:

She saw her brother’s dead body when she caught the smell of something rotting, thought it was coming from the fridge, and followed it into the kitchen.

doing it right:

Catching the smell of something rotten wafting from the kitchen—probably from the fridge, she thought—she followed the smell into the kitchen, and saw her brother’s dead body.

Periods are where you stop to process the sentence. Put the dead body at the start of the sentence and by the time you reach the end of the sentence, you’ve piled a whole kitchen and a weird fridge smell on top of it, and THEN you have to process the body, and it’s buried so much it barely has an impact. Put the dead body at the end, and it’s like an emotional exclamation point. Everything’s normal and then BAM, her brother’s dead.

This rule doesn’t just apply to sentences: structuring lists or paragraphs like this, by putting the important info at the end, increases their punch too. It’s why in tropes like Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking or Bread, Eggs, Milk, Squick, the odd item out comes at the end of the list.

Subverting this rule can also be used to manipulate reader’s emotional reactions or tell them how shocking they SHOULD find a piece of information in the context of a story. For example, a more conventional sentence that follows this rule:

She opened the pantry door, looking for a jar of grape jelly, but the view of the shelves was blocked by a ghost.

Oh! There’s a ghost! That’s shocking! Probably the character in our sentence doesn’t even care about the jelly anymore because the spirit of a dead person has suddenly appeared inside her pantry, and that’s obviously a much higher priority. But, subvert the rule:

She opened the pantry door, found a ghost blocking her view of the shelves, and couldn’t see past it to where the grape jelly was supposed to be.

Because the ghost is in the middle of the sentence, it’s presented like it’s a mere shelf-blocking pest, and thus less important than the REAL goal of this sentence: the grape jelly. The ghost is diminished, and now you get the impression that the character is probably not too surprised by ghosts in her pantry. Maybe it lives there. Maybe she sees a dozen ghosts a day. In any case, it’s not a big deal. Even though both sentences convey the exact same information, they set up the reader to regard the presence of ghosts very differently in this story.

[scholarsonakshi]

Seven Grammar Essentials: Common Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

Whether you are a writer creating content or a student working on an academic paper, using proper grammar is crucial for efficient and clear communication. Yet, even experienced writers sometimes make common grammatical mistakes that diminish the quality of writing or change the meaning of a sentence. To ensure continued writing improvement, this article attempts to address seven most common…