#writing refresher

[literaryvein-basics]

Writing Basics

will update this every few weeks/months. alternatively, here are all my tagged writing basics/refreshers

Basic Grammatical Terms ⚜ Improve your Vocabulary

Parts of Speech ⚜ Punctuation Marks ⚜ Poetic Meter

Adjective or Adverb ⚜ Conjunctive Adverbs ⚜ Tips on Adverbs

IPA Symbols ⚜ "i.e." & "e.g." ⚜ Lexical Universals

Prepositional Meanings ⚜ Prepositional Phrases

Questions Part 1 2 3 ⚜ Avoid Wordiness

Words

Commonly Confused Words Part 1 2 3

"Troublesome" Words Part 1 2 3 ⚜ Transition Words

Word Alternatives Part 1 2 3 4 ⚜ Nonsense Words

all posts are queued. send questions/requests here ⚜ Writing Resources PDFs

[literaryvein-reblogs]

Word List: Went

Went—past tense of go (i.e., to move on a course; proceed)

Actuate - to move to action

Avoid - to keep away from

Bolt - to move or proceed rapidly

Bound - to move by leaping

Depart - to go away; leave

Escape - to get away

Exit - to go out or away

Flee - to run away

Fly - to be moved with sudden extreme emotion; to flee

Forge - to move forward slowly and steadily; or with a sudden increase of speed and power

Hop - to move by a quick springy leap or in a series of leaps

Jaunt - to make a usually short journey for pleasure

Jolt - to move with a sudden jerky motion

Journey - to go on a journey; travel

Leap - to spring free from or as if from the ground

Leave - to go away from; depart

Lurch - to move with a lurch; stagger

March - to move in a direct purposeful manner; proceed

Mosey - to hurry away

Move - to start away from some point or place; depart

Pace - to move along

Parade - to march in or as if in a procession

Pass - move, proceed, go

Progress - to move forward

Retreat - to make a retreat; withdraw

Saunter - to walk about in an idle or leisurely manner; stroll

Scoot - to move swiftly

Skip - to move or proceed with leaps and bounds or with a skip

Split - to leave, especially: without delay

Step - to be on one's way; leave—often used with "along"

Stride - to move with or as if with long steps

Stroll - to walk in a leisurely or idle manner

Tour - to make a tour (i.e., one's turn in an orderly schedule)

Travel - to go on or as if on a trip or tour; journey

Vanish - to pass quickly from sight

More: Word Lists

[crimeronan]

god i wish i wouldn't have to explain the intricacies of the neopets economy to you guys to give the full context for this but. the new neopets team that took over from jumpstart pledged that they were going to curb the inflation of rare items, which is great because a lot of rare items are worth literally hundreds of millions of neopoints, they are unbuyable unless you've been playing actively for 20 years. they did this earlier with a site festival that included random loot boxes, some of which had Unbelievably Fucking Rare And Precious items worth 200 million neopoints apiece.

well.

today they have gone a step further. by releasing this year's trick-or-treat bags. and having the trick-or-treat bags be stuffed to the brim with unbelievably fucking rare stamps, weapons, paint brushes, defense magic, and other unbuyables. (all prohibitively expensive and in-high-demand types of items.)

jellyneo, the premier neopets website, has recorded prices of some items plummeting from 2,000,000 neopoints to 4,000 neopoints IN THE LAST THREE HOURS. this is when most people haven't even heard about the event or OPENED THEIR BAGS YET.

and of course. cherry on top. 20-year-old account holders are crytyping on the site events neoboard about how mean and cruel it is to make rare stamps part of the prize pool, because their entire identity hinges on being part of the neopian bourgeoisie, and they are having MELTDOWNS over their assets being devalued until they're part of the lowly proletariat.

this is a children's game for children btw.

none of the money is real.

i'm having such a good time.

[thief-of-eggs]

everyone heading to tumblr as soon as they get the “error 503” message from ao3

[physalian]

How to make your writing sound less stiff

Just a few suggestions. You shouldn’t have to compromise your writing style and voice with any of these, and some situations and scenes might demand some stiff or jerky writing to better convey emotion and immersion. I am not the first to come up with these, just circulating them again.

1. Vary sentence structure.

This is an example paragraph. You might see this generated from AI. I can’t help but read this in a robotic voice. It’s very flat and undynamic. No matter what the words are, it will be boring. It’s boring because you don’t think in stiff sentences. Comedians don’t tell jokes in stiff sentences. We don’t tell campfire stories in stiff sentences. These often lack flow between points, too.

So funnily enough, I had to sit through 87k words of a “romance” written just like this. It was stiff, janky, and very unpoetic. Which is fine, the author didn’t tell me it was erotica. It just felt like an old lady narrator, like Old Rose from Titanic telling the audience decades after the fact instead of living it right in the moment. It was in first person pov, too, which just made it worse. To be able to write something so explicit and yet so un-titillating was a talent. Like, beginner fanfic smut writers at least do it with enthusiasm.

2. Vary dialogue tag placement

You got three options, pre-, mid-, and post-tags.

Leader said, “this is a pre-dialogue tag.”

“This,” Lancer said, “is a mid-dialogue tag.”

“This is a post-dialogue tag,” Heart said.

Pre and Post have about the same effect but mid-tags do a lot of heavy lifting.

They help break up long paragraphs of dialogue that are jank to look at

They give you pauses for ~dramatic effect~

They prompt you to provide some other action, introspection, or scene descriptor with the tag. *don't forget that if you're continuing the sentence as if the tag wasn't there, not to capitalize the first word after the tag. Capitalize if the tag breaks up two complete sentences, not if it interrupts a single sentence.

It also looks better along the lefthand margin when you don’t start every paragraph with either the same character name, the same pronouns, or the same “ as it reads more natural and organic.

3. When the scene demands, get dynamic

General rule of thumb is that action scenes demand quick exchanges, short paragraphs, and very lean descriptors. Action scenes are where you put your juicy verbs to use and cut as many adverbs as you can. But regardless of if you’re in first person, second person, or third person limited, you can let the mood of the narrator bleed out into their narration.

Like, in horror, you can use a lot of onomatopoeia.

Drip Drip Drip

Or let the narration become jerky and unfocused and less strict in punctuation and maybe even a couple run-on sentences as your character struggles to think or catch their breath and is getting very overwhelmed.

You can toss out some grammar rules, too and get more poetic.

Warm breath tickles the back of her neck. It rattles, a quiet, soggy, rasp. She shivers. If she doesn’t look, it’s not there. If she doesn’t look, it’s not there. Sweat beads at her temple. Her heart thunders in her chest. Ba-bump-ba-bump-ba-bump-ba- It moves on, leaving a void of cold behind. She uncurls her fists, fingers achy and palms stinging from her nails. It’s gone.

4. Remember to balance dialogue, monologue, introspection, action, and descriptors.

The amount of times I have been faced with giant blocks of dialogue with zero tags, zero emotions, just speech on a page like they’re notecards to be read on a stage is higher than I expected. Don’t forget that though you may know exactly how your dialogue sounds in your head, your readers don’t. They need dialogue tags to pick up on things like tone, specifically for sarcasm and sincerity, whether a character is joking or hurt or happy.

If you’ve written a block of text (usually exposition or backstory stuff) that’s longer than 50 words, figure out a way to trim it. No matter what, break it up into multiple sections and fill in those breaks with important narrative that reflects the narrator’s feelings on what they’re saying and whoever they’re speaking to’s reaction to the words being said. Otherwise it’s meaningless.

—

Hope this helps anyone struggling! Now get writing.

[biblically-accurate-dca]

i just wanted to post something before the year ended

[deerspherestudios]

Hellow!!! Its been almost year for know mushroom oasis and I really really enjoyed day3…🥹 like rive my shirts and cry out in pain…..❤️‍🔥🍄 AND END OF DAY3 i noticed the cutie from next door was……. Not.. death alma from left your sprits

I REALLY LOVE THAT GAME TOO AND LOVE ALMA TOO so my heart was beating so much

And soon I remember something I wanted to ask about college and Alma! Is the college (of MC and vida) have drom? If they have drom alma can they appear in that building too? If MC can live there and Alma can appear, I want to draw of them watching movies all day in the dark or staying all night talking about themselves when roommate is not there! Or roommate got scared of drom room because Alma appeared in there room like this... (I made a little doodle of it!). 

Btw i really want to thank you and your team for made amazing games!! It was really good memories and im so exciting to see more scripts and story of mushroom oasis or another games🥹 I will wating for new projects and scripts patiently!!!💕💕 ((Sorry if sentence looks messy english not my first language ㅠ////ㅠ) ))

Thank you so much for the support!! Omg,, that would be so in character for Alma, ngl. If they found out you were living close by they'd definitely will themselves to visit.

The thing is, the college building is based off of the one I went to during my studies, and it was basically one tall building in the middle of the city consisting of 35 (if I recall correctly) floors. The student dorms are a 15-20 minute public commute away.

But! Since LYS was such an open-ended game and hardly went into detail about what the rest of the campus looks like, I'd say the scenario above is definitely possible! :-)

[mauraeyk]

RUBY BELL AND JAMES BEAUFORT 1.06 | Maxton Hall

[side-of-honey]

Sorry for being kinda dead lately it's been hard to motivate myself to make full pieces ToT Have some doodles in the meantime tho. I enjoyed the purple game big surprise from the portal fan I know

[stervrucht]

If you're gonna mess me up, don't do it slow

Pairing: Steve Harrington/Eddie Munson | Rating: M | Words: 3.4k | Tags: fake dating, jealousy, first kiss, there was only one bed, fluff and humor

Robin and Eddie are holding hands.

They're standing in Family Video, at the start of Robin's shift.

Holding fucking hands.

Why did no one tell Steve Harrington the world had ended?

“We’re dating,” Robin says with a giddy smile and she raises their interlocked hands, black nails and silver rings, like it’s normal.

Steve doesn’t know how to feel about it. Can’t stop staring at the mess of tangled fingers in various colors of skin.

“What?” It’s like he lost all control over his own voice. “But you’re a…” lesbian.  

He doesn’t say it. Can’t. They’re surrounded by people.

Eddie’s been dropping her off for a good week now and the shift was sudden. He actually felt a little heartbroken when Robin told him he didn’t need to pick her up anymore. Felt a whole lot of jealousy once he figured it was because he’d been replaced by Eddie Munson of all people.

It’s fucking bullshit.

He’d live a lifetime of celibacy for her if it meant they could be together all the time. He just loves her so much—in a sister kinda way—and yet, she’s standing there, holding Eddie’s hand. Willingly.

Robin lets go of his hand and leans over the counter, close to Steve, and whispers, “We’re bearding.” She pulls back and winks at him.

Steve nods slowly.

He has no clue what she just said, but it’s....whatever. They’re no longer holding hands and he feels better about that.

Continue reading here

[arcanegifs]

idk why ppl put comments like these + hate comments of the show/character/ship under the tags of a gifset knowing full well that the OP CAN and will probably see it and if u think this is a compliment IT IS NOT please stop doing this

[literaryvein-reblogs]

more commonly confused words

this time, with examples

affect vs. effect

Usually affect is a verb meaning "to influence," and effect is a noun meaning "result." But effect occasionally is used as a verb meaning "to bring about."

Example: Social activities may affect your grades, but the effect should be small!

than vs. then

Than is used to indicate a difference between two things and is usually used in the phrases “more than” or “less than.” Then indicates a sequence of events or items.

Example: The data indicates that Americans work more hours than Europeans.

Example: Add the butter then the sugar to make the cookie dough.

farther vs. further

Farther refers to additional distance, and further refers to additional time, amount, or other abstract matters.

Example: You may be further from an "A" than you think, so when you study, go no farther than the best place to concentrate.

loose vs. lose

Loose means that something is not firmly in place or could be removed easily. Lose means to no longer have something or to have misplaced it.

Example: This bracelet is loose on my wrist; I hope I don't lose it again.

its vs. it’s

Its is the possessive of “it,” and unlike other possessives, does not use an apostrophe. It’s is the contraction of “it is” or “it has” and is never used to mark the possessive. 

Example: It’s been many decades since the college changed its graduation requirements.

less vs. fewer

Less refers to bulk amounts and uncountable items, or nouns that can’t be quantified by just putting a number in front of them. Fewer refers to countable items, or nouns that can be quantified just using a number.

Example: After inventory, there are fewer guavas and less flour than we ordered.

entitled vs. titled

Entitled means to have a right to do or have something. Titled refers to the name or label of something.

Example: I feel entitled to own this book, because it is titled “Dimitri” and that’s my name also.

between vs. among

Between is used when two things are concerned (the word comes from "by twain" in Middle English), while among is used when more than two things are concerned.

Example: Between you and me, these mistakes are common among all of us.

feel vs. think

In common usage, feel means to sense, to be emotionally affected by something, or to have a general or thorough conviction. Think means to use reason or to examine with the intellect.

Example: I think that you can write better than you have, though I feel encouraged by the improvements in your writing.

which vs. that

Use that in restricting (limiting) clauses: "The rocking chair that creaks is on the porch." In this sentence, one rocking chair is singled out from several – the one that creaks.

Use which in nonrestrictive (in effect, parenthetic) clauses: "The rocking chair, which creaks, is on the porch." In this sentence, the fact that the rocking chair creaks is tossed in; it is not added for the purpose of identifying the one chair out of several. 

Important Note: Use who for people, in both restrictive and nonrestrictive clauses.

A technique that can improve your writing is proofreading, which can show you unintentional errors.

since vs. because

Since is often used to mean because: "Since you ask, I'll tell you." Its primary meaning, however, relates to time: "I've been waiting since noon." Most people now accept since in place of because; however, when since is ambiguous and may also refer to time ("Since he joined the navy, she found another boyfriend"), it is better to say because or after, depending on which you mean.

Example: Because you are intelligent and careful, your writing has improved since the beginning of this course.

commonly confused words part 1

[soaps-mohawk]

I'm so sorry to everyone that I freaked out with the last post, I was trying so hard not to 😭 I have that like instant fear as soon as I see "we need to talk" or something in the same vein. I always think it's something bad.

This isn't bad, at least depending on how your perspective I guess.

So...I'm having thoughts about CRCB in October. I planned out posting schedules for Kyletober and CRCB and my Patreon stuff and it's going to basically be a post every day, sometimes multiple in multiple places.

That's a lot.

So, I am set on doing Kyletober since all of the fics are already written, but I was planning on continuing CRCB during October as well. But...I think I need a little break from CRCB. It's been about eight months of posting almost every single week and it's been a lot. I'm struggling with chapters right now and with work it's vastly limiting the time I have to write and focus on things and I'm kind of burning out right now.

So, what I wanted to discuss was potentially putting CRCB on hold for October while I focus on Kyletober and everything involved with that. Trying to do both is a lot and I'm not sure I can handle all of it, plus life, plus work.

I was planning on not necessarily putting CRCB on hold, but doing more of a "whenever I can/am inspired" random posting chapters kind of like I did in the beginning when I first started writing the fic, in November/December because those are very busy months and I will be dead tired from work and just general life.

I think I might still do that for November/December and possibly into the new year since there's no way the fic will be finished even if I posted every week until the end of December.

BUT

That's something I'll think about and make a decision on later.

Right now, my thought is...would you hate me if I put CRCB on pause in October? IF I do, I promise I won't end Chapter 39 on a cliffhanger. I wasn't planning on it anyway, but I promise I won't end it on a cliffhanger if I decide not to post any chapters in October.

That way if I do put it on pause, then I can not focus on it for a bit and give my brain a refresh, and I can also focus all my energy on Kyletober.

So yeah, it's going to be a lot doing both at the same time, and honestly I'm ready for a little break from CRCB. It's been going for a long time and it's a lot of words to get out in a week. I've been super stressed lately and I'm just struggling a lot trying to get through chapters.

So yeah. That's basically the dilemma here and the discussion to be had. I know y'all will tell me it's my blog and I can do whatever I want, but I would like opinions on it. Are y'all okay with me putting CRCB on hold to focus on Kyletober? Then pick it back up for probably just whenever I can chapter updates for the rest of the year? In January things will calm down and I'll have more time to relax and write and maybe get close to finishing the story. Plus I know a lot of my readers will be busy the next three months with the holidays and vacations and family and school and all of that, so you won't have to worry about getting behind and having to catch up with a bunch of chapters.

So...let me know...

[qrowscant]

larp is fun, here is art for my game character

[deoidesign]

Time and Time Again comes back tonight!

Thank you all for being so patient with me, I know it was a long hiatus.

My health was struggling, my arm was (is) hurting, and I decided it wasn't worth it. I'd rather be slow!

So thank you for giving me that grace, and I hope you'll be there with me for the rest of the series.

[ex0toxin]

awughhh silly shipchart.. my canonverse hcs 🧠

og post