#writing ideas

[angstandhappiness]

Interesting

The worst thing is that there is so much potential for exploring the horror of psych wards from the angle of medical abuse, ableism, forced treatment/drugging, loss of autonomy, power imbalance, demonization, dehumanization, etc, and YET the horror genre keeps defaulting to "insane asylums and psych wards are scary because there are mentally ill people in there"

[literaryvein-reblogs]

Hi, I like your blogs but I want to ask how to write a flawed mentor? And how about writing reluctant mentor

Writing Notes: Mentors

You can use related tropes as a guide. Here are some examples I found for you:

FLAWED MENTOR

The "Anti-Mentor"

Think they are great at what they do and decide to train others in their ways. However, they are more often than not the worst at the very things they teach, and thus training with them could be considered anti-training.

In some cases, their student will be well aware of how bad they are and simply attend their lessons out of pity. Others will be honest and tell them how bad they are. There are those students who will think they are being great teachers by showing them what not to do.

Alternatively, the teacher may actually be good at what they do but terrible at teaching it. In these cases, they just don't know how to get their lessons across.

It's not so hard for the student to surpass the teacher here, because the teacher had so little to surpass.

RELUCTANT MENTOR

The "Apathetic Teacher"

Jaded, misanthropic, and very likely a Deadpan Snarker, this is the teacher who's been in the job too long. Dislikes students in general — been there long enough to know they're thick and (usually) irritating.

Hates the school, hates the job, really hates the management — but because s/he's known virtually nothing else, s/he still sticks at it, putting her/himself through it year after year.

Sometimes, this person started out as a young, Enthusiastic Newbie Teacher, who got beaten down by rowdy kids and an uncaring system, turning the teacher jaded over time. There's usually one person who will find that their no-longer-gives-a-shit attitude makes them a Cool Teacher anyway, or at the very least an occasional confidant.

They're likely to seek solace in the bottom of a bottle.

It's often implied, if not outright stated, that even their home life doesn't offer them much respite, either.

In pretty much all Save Our Students movies, one of these (if not an entire school of them) will serve as a foil to the idealistic teacher.

If the school is an inner-city one, expect this teacher to be the one to make some remark about how they can't really expect anything from kids with this "background".

Occasionally, an apathetic teacher will be won over by the enthusiasm of an idealistic teacher and will start caring about the students too.

In psychology, these people are called "burnouts."

This kind of teacher is likely to hand out an Extremely Easy Exam.

Apathetic Teacher vs. Sadist Teacher

The key difference between Apathetic Teachers and Sadist Teachers is the former hate their jobs while the latter hate their students.

Sadist Teachers often seem to take a sick glee in torturing their students; the teachers this trope describes don't seem to take much joy in anything, least of all their work.

This is quite similar to the "read a lot" advice we constantly hear. So, you can also go through your favourite stories (literature, films etc.) and learn from how your favourite authors write the character you are aiming to create in your stories. If I wasn't able to include here the exact one you need, you can look through the sources below. Hope this helps & thanks so much for your kind words :)

Sources: 1 2 3 ⚜ More: Writing Notes & References

[graceshouldwrite]

Writing Compelling Side Characters

**NOTE: Some of these tips don't really apply to ensemble casts, where there are multiple Main Characters (plural).

1) Agency - motivations, actions, effects

Technically, they ARE side characters in your MC's story, but don't base your writing on that fact.

Side characters need:

Their own REASONS for joining the story (because they want to, not because the PLOT wanted them to) Example: In Arcane, Caitlyn inadvertently gets involved with Vi due to her compassion and desire to help the undercity, not because the plot needs a love interest

A GOAL, on which they act INDEPENDENT of the plot, and actually affects your MC/the main plot (not the other way around) Example: In Loki, Sylvie's independent goal is to take down the TVA, and her actions reveal the TVA's corruption to Loki, influencing him to join her in fighting against the TVA instead of working for them

A STAKE in how things end (e.g. someone getting paid after agreeing to join a heist); they aren't just in it to be a "comic relief" or a "damsel in distress" Example: In Breaking Bad, Jesse joins Walt in cooking meth because he makes BANK from selling drugs, not because Walt needed a funny and traumatized sidekick

Their own RELATIONSHIPS with other characters, aside from the MC—they have their own friends, enemies, love interests, etc., and these relationships can completely change the plot Example: In the original Percy Jackson series, all of the side characters (e.g. Annabeth, Nico, Thalia, Luke, etc.) have their own relationships with each other that greatly affect the plot. Check it out: Annabeth's attachment to Luke, even after he became evil, completely changed the plot in several ways: kickstarting a journey to save her from Luke in The Titan's Curse, revealing his true evil identity as a vessel for Kronos (big bad!) in The Battle of the Labyrinth, and mainly contributing towards Luke's reversion away from evil in the last book due to him remembering his promise to take care of her a long time ago, etc.

Their own PAST that affects how they act, move forward, and how they treat the MC Example: In Avatar: The Last Airbender, Azula's pressure on herself and desire for perfection is greatly driven by her father's expectations of her as the fire-bending prodigy, resulting in a childhood of earning parental love and care AFTER she proves her worth to him. This created a mentality ceaselessly focused on her goals—which are usually her father's missions—causing her to be deadly, manipulative, and constantly causing problems for the main character.

The side character is not an extension or byproduct of the MC's plot; their own story happens to collide and intertwine with your MC's plot, but is ultimately independently driven.

2) Affecting the ending

The story can't have reached the same ending regardless of the side characters' existence. They must be necessary to the MC in helping them reach their goal faster, more prepared, etc. For example, in Avatar, Aang would not have been able to reach his goal of defeating the fire lord without the help of his friends, who each taught him valuable life lessons as well as combat skills.

Each character must have an independent impact on the MC—don't treat them like a group (e.g. "the side characters," who are one individual collective). Arcane does a great job with this, as each side character has a completely different impact on the MCs (e.g. Silco, Ekko, Caitlyn, and Vi—not a side character but for the purpose of this analysis, bear with me—all have a different impact on Jinx). It isn't just a literal impact. It's what the MC learns, and the theme of the story. They should help the MC realize things about themselves, and contextualize the MC by showing them in different situations with different people.

3) Avoid stereotypes Don't create characters from moulds and conform 100% to the trope: e.g. the "comic relief" can also be "the outlaw/rebel" or the "love interest," the "brooding antihero" can also be the "caregiver" or the "wise one," the "seductive girl" can also be the "science nerd" or the "broken optimist," etc. Mix and match. Everyone has more than 1 personality trait in real life, and probably fulfils more than 1 role to the other people in their lives. Give them intersecting personality traits to flesh them out.

4) Theme and Arc Especially compelling side characters have their own arc and embody their own theme.

Example 1: Mr. Darcy in Pride and Prejudice is more than the brooding love interest—he develops by being less arrogant and learning to see people beyond their social status, and opens up to new ideas, people, and situations.

Example 2: Nico di Angelo from the Percy Jackson series goes on a journey of self-acceptance and embracing his identity, instead of just being the stereotypical emo kid who is constantly in a state of angst.

Example 3: In Arcane, Silco goes from a ruthless crime lord who believes that attachment is weakness, to someone who genuinely cares about his adoptive daughter, so much so that he can't give her up even in exchange for his lifelong dream.

∘₊✧────── ☾☼☽ ──────✧₊∘

instagram: @ grace_should_write

Hope this was helpful, and let me know if you have any questions by commenting, re-blogging, or DMing me on IG. Any and all engagement is appreciated :)

Happy writing, and have a great day!

- grace <3

[grape-jucie-dog]

It's Grape back at it again with a depressing idea for Athena because she's just very easy to break 💀

The recent Helluva Boss actually gave me this idea-

Spoilers for those who haven't seen the new episode and would actually like to watch it at some point, but for those who don't wanna watch or just don't care for spoilers, feel free to keep reading (Spoilers are in read, the idea for Athena is in blue for those who still wanna see the idea)

So in the episode, Blitz gets a really terrible vision of dead Millies that are trying to attack him (Each Millie is a way she could've died in previous episodes). Eventually he gets away from them, but he ends up running into his mother, who as some may know, passed away when the circus caught on fire. In this hallucination, he basically watches his mom burn in his hands. Millie (the real Millie) ends up finding him freaking out in a room, and he goes on about how he makes everyone's lives worse.

Now picture that, but with Athena. Imagine she's dealing with another nightmare, made even worse because of the fever she's dealing with. Imagine it's Pallas that's trying to get her, or Odysseus, or maybe even both. The two of them are calling Athena out on all of her flaws, maybe even throw in other gods in there. Gods she doesn't have a good relationship with, like Ares and Aphrodite and Poseidon, and have Zeus be there. All of these people in this dream are representing different feelings:

Ares is her anger and frustration

Aphrodite is her struggles to comprehend how much she cares for Odysseus and Telemachus

Poseidon is her pride and her arrogance

Odysseus and Pallas are examples of the people she's hurt, Pallas is crying, Odysseus is enraged

Zeus is her struggle to remain the perfect daughter he once knew, to be flawless like he wants her to be.

And suddenly, she sees Metis. Or at least, what she believes Metis would look like. She runs into her mother's arms, taking the form of a teenager, crying about the horrible dream she's having. But this isn't Metis, Metis doesn't exist anymore. She melts away into a puddle, melting in Athena's arms. Athena screams, pleading for her mother not to go, screaming about how sorry she is for everything.

Someone wakes her up in the infirmary, trying to help her, but she pushes them away. She doesn't want to hurt anyone else. She knows she makes everything worse, everyone she's known, everyone she gets close to, she only hurts and frustrates them.

[prompts-and-circumstance]

"The smartest man alive couldn't crack that code."

"Really? Because I'm pretty sure it's coordinates to a spot in the Southern Ocean."

[apoeticstar]

james potter

now like I said I will talk about james potter everyone’s favorite shining sun.

James Potter was born into a wealthy and pure-blood wizarding family. His parents, Fleamont and Euphemia Potter, were older when they had him and were very doting parents. He was raised in a loving and affluent household, which contributed to his confidence and sometimes arrogant demeanor. like I said older but doting parents or in other words James’s parents are close to being his grandparents, which as someone who grow up with their grandparents it leads to a lot of things.

so after watching nowhere boy it made me realize something, James had the free will to do what ever he wanted no one told him what was wrong or right. He thought of himself as the king of Hogwarts while some students found that as arrogance, some others like Sirius found that aspiring and so did Peter and Remus, like imagine seeing someone so confident wouldn’t you want to be friends with them? I mean I wouldn’t since I know someone just like James but their bullying is more settle.

some of James’s flaws

Arrogance: During his time at Hogwarts, James was known for his confidence, which often crossed into arrogance. He was proud of his talents and popularity, sometimes to the detriment of others.

Bullying: His arrogance led to bullying behavior, particularly towards Severus Snape. James took pleasure in humiliating Snape, and this aspect of his personality strained his relationship with Lily Evans initially.

Impulsiveness: James was known for being reckless and impulsive. His desire for adventure and mischief sometimes led him and his friends into dangerous situations.

Overconfidence: His overconfidence sometimes blinded him to the consequences of his actions. This trait was evident in his willingness to take risks without fully considering the impact.

Show-off Nature: James had a tendency to show off, especially in front of Lily and his friends. He enjoyed being the center of attention and proving his prowess.

Stubbornness: He could be stubborn and unwilling to back down from a challenge, even when it would have been wiser to do so.

Despite these flaws, James matured significantly over time, particularly after he started dating Lily. He became more responsible and caring, which ultimately led to him becoming a devoted husband and father. His journey from arrogance to maturity is a significant part of his character development

Just like his flaws he has a good side to him just like snape, people you got to remember that.

and now when anyone write James remember he was a bully and you have his flaws here, imagine him as someone who always thinks that they are right never wrong which snape points out, honestly if I was snape I would.

[thriftyshark530]

Whumper needing to get caretaker off their trail, so they hurt whumpee as an example. Maybe caretaker is investigating whumper's crime scenes, too close to making a big score, so whumper needs to set an example. Whumper tracks caretaker from a crime scene to their home, waiting with their henchmen outside for the right moment to strike. When the time comes, caretaker and whumpee are dragged out of their own home. Two henchmen hold down a struggling caretaker, while another holds down whumpee.

"Whumpee, it's going to be ok, I promise" caretaker desperately calls out to whumpee. Whumpee nods as whumper walks between them.

"Oh, we'll just have to see about that." Whumper scoffs, kneeling in front of caretaker, hooking a finger under their chin. "You have been a naughty little shit, haven't you? Busting my operations left and right, profits going down, trying to find my hideout. No no no, we can't have anymore of that, can we?".

"Please..." Caretaker squeaks out, their lip quivering as they struggle to hold back their tears. "You don't have to do this".

Whumper begins to chuckle, releasing their hold on caretaker's chin as they stand up and begin to approach whumpee.

"You know, they all say that. You don't have to do this" whumper laughs as they motion for henchmen to release whumpee. "WHICH IS WHAT MAKES IT SO MUCH MORE FUN" whumper roars as they slam a kick into whumpee's rib cage.

"STOP" Caretaker cries out, beginning to struggle against whumpers henchmen. Whumpee starts violently coughing as they cover up their body, waiting for more blows.

Whumper begins stomping down on whumpee, breaking ribs and crushing whumpee's hands under their boot, enjoying the sight of the broken whumpee before them. Whumper's henchmen forcing caretaker to watch every blow that whumpee takes. Whumper then drops to their knees over whumpee, moving whumpee's arms, revealing whumpee's bruised face.

"Aw, look at you, already such a mess, aren't you?" Whumper whispers, raising their fist and slamming it into whumpees face, repeating over and over. Whumper ignores caretakers pleads to stop as they keep pounding into whumpee's face. Whumper only stops when their hand is covered in whumpee's blood.

"well, I got a bit too excited there" whumper exclaims before standing up, rolling the unconscious whumpee to their side to face caretaker. Caretaker gasps at the sight of whumpee, not able to hold back their tears anymore as they begin calling whumpee's name.

"So much more beautiful now, wouldn't you agree, caretaker?" Whumper says with a devilish grin as they close the gap to caretaker. Forcefully grabbing some of caretakers hair and making them look up. "This is what happens when you fuck with me" whumper growls. "You'll leave this all in the past, and never interfere with my business again, do you understand?"

Caretaker nods, desperately agreeing to whumper's terms.

"Great, so glad we have an understanding. Well, we're off, hope we get to do this again sometime, right caretaker?"

Whumper motions for henchmen to let go of caretaker. Before whumper and their men get far, caretaker is already over whumpee. Peeling their broken body off the ground, sobbing into whumpee's neck as they hold them tightly.

Bonus points if caretaker does give up the case. And after whumpee recovers, they try to convince caretaker to take down whumper. Caretaker refusing, not wanting whumpee to get hurt again, but whumpee is adamant that caretaker continues their work.

[evilwriter37]

Do you remember the episode where Snotlout was genuinely concerned about Hiccup’s “gambling addiction”?

I was straight up giggling in my sleep when I remembered it.

Also I wouldn’t be surprised if Snotlout thinks Hiccup has other self destructive addictions. And he gets all worried to the point he’s confining to Stoick aboit it.

Yes! That was in Shell Shocked! That was just too funny. I love Snotlout. He clearly cares about Hiccup, but shows it in the weirdest ways.

Though, that would make for a very interesting fic if Hiccup did have an addiction and Snotlout told Stoick.

[literaryvein-reblogs]

Any advice for figuring out how to work on writing characters arguing?

I’m just curious and also I mistakenly derailed part of my writing over struggling to write a scene of characters starting an argument that was meant to escalate.

Writing Notes: Arguments

Arguing is full of tension.

Even benign conversations between friends so often belies subtextual personal agendas that are antagonistic or covertly full of anger or upset.

Honesty itself sometimes is the product of extreme tension and upset.

One’s resistance to telling the truth to another or admitting to oneself a truth can be excruciatingly tense and stressful, even between lovers.

SIDESTEPPING

You instantly create conflict in dialogue when you avoid “on the nose” responses.

On the nose means a direct response, sometimes even echoing the previous line.

You can avoid direct response:

With a statement that is unrelated to the prompting dialogue

By answering a question with a question

With a line of dialogue that is going to need some explanation

Also consider using silence:

“Are you ready to go, dear?” Bob asked. Sylvia said nothing.

Or use an action response:

“Are you ready to go, dear?” Bob asked. Sylvia picked up the mirror.

OPPOSING AGENDAS

Always know what each character wants in a given scene.

If a character in a scene is just taking up space, give him an agenda or get him out of there. Or cut the scene entirely.

Scenes require conflict or tension, even if it’s subtle.

Before you write the scene, note what each character wants.

Then spend a few moments playing with those motivations.

List 3 other possible motives for each of the characters, then mix and match to decide which ones will make for the best conflict.

It is also important to create tension among allies.

One of the danger points in fiction is when two friends, or people who are at least on the same side, have a talk about what’s going on. The trouble is there might not be any trouble between them. So much of the dialogue becomes a friendly chat.

This will violate Alfred Hitchcock’s axiom (Hitchcock once said that a good story is “life, with the dull parts taken out.”).

The fastest way to handle it is to make sure there is tension manifested from the start.

Create tension in at least one of the characters, preferably the viewpoint character.

Example: When you have Allison meeting Melissa, her college friend, for coffee, don’t have them sit down and start talking as if nothing’s wrong in the world. Put the trouble of the story into Allison’s mind and nervous system and make it an impediment to her conversation with Melissa. In Melissa, place something that might be in opposition to Allison’s needs. Allison needs to ask Melissa’s advice about a crumbling marriage. Maybe Melissa is full of news about her sister’s impending wedding to a wonderful man and gushes about the prospects.

Spend some time brainstorming about the ways two friends or allies can be at odds. Then weave those things into the dialogue.

DIALOGUE AS WEAPON

Look for places where you can use dialogue as a weapon, a means for your characters to charge ahead in order to get what they want.

Keep in mind that dialogue is action.

It’s a physical act used by characters to help them get what they want. If they don’t want anything in a scene, they shouldn’t be there.

Note that not all weapons are explosive. They can be small and sharp, too.

PARENT-ADULT-CHILD

A great tool for creating instant conflict in dialogue is the Parent-Adult-Child model, popularized in the book Games People Play by Eric Berne (1964). This school of psychology is called Transactional Analysis.

The theory holds that we tend to occupy roles in life and relationships.

The 3 primary roles are Parent, Adult, and Child (PAC):

The Parent - the seat of authority, the one who can “lay down the law.” S/he has the raw strength, from position or otherwise, to rule and then enforce his/her rulings.

The Adult - the objective one, the one who sees things rationally and is therefore the best one to analyze a situation. “Let’s be adult about this,” one might say in the midst of an argument.

The Child - not rational, and not with any real power. So what does s/he do? Reacts emotionally. Throws tantrums to try to get his/her way. Even an adult can do this. We’ve all seen clandestine videos that prove this point.

So it is a helpful thing to consider what role each character is assuming in a scene.

How do they see themselves? What is their actual role? (It may indeed be different than what they perceive it to be.)

Most important, how will they act in order to accomplish their goal in the scene?

Answering these questions can give you a way to shape your dialogue so there is constant tension and conflict throughout.

Also consider that the characters might change their roles (try something new) in order to get their way. Thus, this is a never-ending source of conflict possibilities and only takes a few moments to set up.

TIP ON DIALOGUE

Look at all of your dialogue exchanges, especially ones that run for a page or more.

Analyze what roles the characters think they’re inhabiting.

Rework the dialogue by getting each character to be more assertive in their claimed role. (Also note that a character can change roles as a matter of strategy. For example, if the Parent isn’t working, a character might switch to pouting like a Child in order to get his way.)

Sources: 1 2 ⚜ More: Writing Notes & References

Hope this helps with your writing!

[very-uncorrect]

My reflection isn't me and they seem trapped in the mirror world and keep asking for help but it doesn't seem like anyone else can see them and I keep having to move around so they don't have enough time to punch any reflective surface enough to break through, people around me having started joking that I bring everyone 7 years bad luck with how mirrors and windows always seem to crack when I'm near

[stormyskies-writes]

I sat down yesterday to write a short one-shot to get back into writing but it ended up being an 18k word chapter and now I'm at a loss because that is the longest chapter I have ever written and I can't split it because it's all one scene lmao

[dropkickwritersblock]

Write a piece about someone who dies multiple times

[letsquestjess]

Weekly Writing Prompts #69

All over the world, glowing, heated spikes start shooting up from the ground, emitting a signal.

Battered and bruised, the brave hero pushes themselves to their feet, spits out a tooth, and prepares to make their final attempt at taking down the villain.

On duty at a lighthouse outpost, a watcher spots an odd flag waving out at sea.

An infamous thief pulls off the biggest heist of their career, but investigators find no evidence of anything having gone missing.

Following a rainstorm, plantlife mutates and the DNA of anything caught out in it changes.

[out-of-jams]

REVERSE TROPE WRITING PROMPTS

Too many beds

Accidentally kidnapping a mafia boss

Really nice guy who hates only you

Academic rivals except it’s two teachers who compete to have the best class

Divorce of convenience

Too much communication

True hate’s kiss (only kissing your enemy can break a curse)

Dating your enemy’s sibling

Lovers to enemies

Hate at first sight

Love triangle where the two love interests get together instead

Fake amnesia

Soulmates who are fated to kill each other

Strangers to enemies

Instead of fake dating, everyone is convinced that you aren’t actually dating

Too hot to cuddle

Love interest CEO is a himbo/bimbo who runs their company into the ground

Nursing home au

[prompt-heaven]

a list of 100+ buildings to put in your fantasy town

academy

adventurer's guild

alchemist

apiary

apothecary

aquarium

armory

art gallery

bakery

bank

barber

barracks

bathhouse

blacksmith

boathouse

book store

bookbinder

botanical garden

brothel

butcher

carpenter

cartographer

casino

castle

cobbler

coffee shop

council chamber

court house

crypt for the noble family

dentist

distillery

docks

dovecot

dyer

embassy

farmer's market

fighting pit

fishmonger

fortune teller

gallows

gatehouse

general store

graveyard

greenhouses

guard post

guildhall

gymnasium

haberdashery

haunted house

hedge maze

herbalist

hospice

hospital

house for sale

inn

jail

jeweller

kindergarten

leatherworker

library

locksmith

mail courier

manor house

market

mayor's house

monastery

morgue

museum

music shop

observatory

orchard

orphanage

outhouse

paper maker

pawnshop

pet shop

potion shop

potter

printmaker

quest board

residence

restricted zone

sawmill

school

scribe

sewer entrance

sheriff's office

shrine

silversmith

spa

speakeasy

spice merchant

sports stadium

stables

street market

tailor

tannery

tavern

tax collector

tea house

temple

textile shop

theatre

thieves guild

thrift store

tinker's workshop

town crier post

town square

townhall

toy store

trinket shop

warehouse

watchtower

water mill

weaver

well

windmill

wishing well

wizard tower