#writing-tip-of-the-day

[thenomadicquill]

Your Protagonist is a Liar. If your story follows only the main character, we see things how they see them. A main character is an unreliable storyteller, if they mean it or not. We, just like the MC, aren't in other characters' minds. So, moments are misinterpreted. Your main character sees the world through their own biases. We only know the main character's impressions of the side characters, and the villains. We read only their perception of these characters.

That doesn't make them a villain, its normal. It's realistic and purely understandable. They can't fill gaps of information simply because they weren't there. So, they make assumptions, they make judgements, they remember things incorrectly. Memory isn't perfect, details are changed or forgotten. It's only natural.

Let your protagonist lie. Maybe they don’t even realize they’re doing it. Maybe they do. See what happens.

[writers-potion]

Can you please share some words to use instead of "Look", I really struggle with that, it's always "She looked at him in shock" or "He looked at her with a smile". I know there's "Gazed" and "Glanced" but I wanted some advice to use "Look" less

Words To Use Instead of "Look"

Words Closest in Meaning (w diff connotations!):

stare

eye

study

behold

glimpse

peek

glance

notice

observe

inspect

regarding

view

review

look-see

get an eyeful

peer

give the eye

eyeball

size up

size up

check out

examine

contemplate

scan

recognize

sweep

once-over

judge

watch

glare

consider

spot

scrunitize

gaze

gander

ogle

yawp

Other (more fancy) words:

glimmer

sntach

zero in

take stock of

poke into

mope

glaze

grope

rummage

frisk

probe

rivet

distinguish

witness

explore

gloat

scowl

have a gander

comb

detect

surveillance

squint

keeping watch

rubberneck

pout

bore

slant

ignore

audit

pipe

search

note

speculation

simper

[thewriteadviceforwriters]

🖋️ You Don’t Need to “Write Every Day” to Be a Real Writer (and Other Guilt-Crushing Truths)

Let’s make this one loud: 📣 You are not a failed writer because you didn’t open your Google Doc today.

We’ve all heard the advice, write every day, build the habit, protect the streak, treat it like brushing your teeth or doing crunches or whatever metaphor productivity Twitter is pushing this week.

But here’s the thing: You are not a factory. Your brain is not a faucet. And writing isn’t a moral behavior.

─────── ✦ ───────

🚫 Daily Writing is Not a Badge of Legitimacy

The "write every day" rule? It wasn’t invented for you. It came from a very specific kind of writer.... usually full-time, no kids, no chronic illness, no 60-hour day job, no executive dysfunction, that lives in a world made of schedules and uninterrupted mornings.

You? You’re probably doing your best between classes, during night shifts, after crying, before therapy, while microwaving pizza rolls.

If you’re writing at all, you’re already in the game. No daily streak required. No blood oath to the Scrivener gods. You don’t need to bleed ink to prove you’re real.

─────── ✦ ───────

🧠 Writing is Mental, Even When It’s Invisible

Plotting in the shower. Thinking about your character’s tragic backstory at red lights. Whispering fake arguments into your Notes app at 3am. Staring at the ceiling replaying one scene until it rots.

It all counts.

Writing is thinking, not just typing. That mental compost pile? That’s how the good stuff grows. You don’t owe your worth to a word count. Some days, the work looks like a blank page and a brain on fire.

─────── ✦ ───────

🔄 Rest Is Part of the Process, Not a Detour From It

Let me say this plainly: Burnout is not proof of effort.

You are allowed to pause. You are allowed to stop mid-project. You are allowed to write in bursts. You are allowed to write for a week and disappear for a month.

Writing is a relationship. It has seasons. It expands and contracts. You are not a robot with a daily quota, you’re a person carrying a whole fictional world inside you. Let yourself be human.

─────── ✦ ───────

📆 Consistency Helps--But Define It For Yourself

Do some writers thrive with routines? Sure. But routine =/= daily.

Try this: → “I write every weekend morning when I can.” → “I jot down notes during my commute.” → “I commit to one hour a week, guilt-free.” → “I take two weeks off after every chapter.” → “I only write during November and spiral gloriously.”

Build a rhythm that actually matches your energy, not one that shames you for not vibing like a full-time author in a lakeside cabin with nothing to do but word vomit and sip tea.

─────── ✦ ───────

💌 You’re Still a Real Writer (Even When You’re Not Producing)

You don’t need:

a finished draft

a daily goal

a growing WIP

a thriving project

a clever new idea

…to be a writer.

You only need:

the drive to tell a story

the will to try again

the love of the craft, even when it doesn’t love you back

You’re a real writer if you write sometimes. You’re a real writer if you write badly. You’re a real writer if you wrote once and it changed you.

─────── ✦ ───────

✨ Guilt Kills Stories Faster Than “Laziness” Ever Will

You’re not lazy. You’re probably: → Overwhelmed → Tired → Burnt out → Depressed → Distracted by survival → Caught in perfectionism’s death grip

And the guilt? It doesn’t make you more productive. It just sinks its teeth into your confidence until you start to believe you’ve “fallen behind” on something that’s supposed to be yours.

The best thing you can do for your writing life? Protect your joy. That spark. That curiosity. That itch to build something from nothing.

That matters more than any streak.

─────── ✦ ───────

📣 Final Truths (Pin These to Your Soul):

Missing writing days is not failure.

Your process is not wrong just because it’s not loud.

You are not in a race.

You are not a fraud.

You are allowed to come back whenever.

Writing is not a productivity metric. It’s a craft. It’s a calling. It’s a weird little ritual.

And it’ll still be there when you’re ready.

See you on the page, whether that’s tomorrow, or next week, or next season.

—rin t. // thewriteadviceforwriters // chaotic writing realist. anti-guilt gremlin. your local plot ghost.

📜 prompts for gothic girlies, literary lads, and cursed creatives

🕯️ download the pack & write something cursed:

[choccy-milky]

seb's 2 modes around clora 🥰👿

[deerspherestudios]

Hi! I just wanted to know if in the following days to come if mychael would follow more intense Yandere traits or instead mellow more out?

Hello! I feel like I ramble a bit here for such a simple question, but for those interested, spoilers under cut!

I've teased in asks before he will get intense as the story progresses, though for the sake of managing expectations, don't expect him to go all out just because it's Day 4.

Initially, I've considered multiple routes and endings for the next update, and by endings I mean True Bad Endings, but I might push them back so the pacing of the story doesn't feel jarring. Plus it lightens my load of writing multiple branches, something I always wanna avoid so I don't complicate things for myself.

I just feel that between the five sundowns after they separated at the end of Day 3 it'd be enough time for him to sort through his thoughts and come to a conclusion on how he feels. Nothing drastic, but there's definitely something that changed in him if that makes sense.

So while he's not fully unhinged (the door still functions so to speak), he's definitely growing loose,,,, I started out with the intent of writing a slow burn and I'd be remiss if I mess that up!

[theliteraryarchitect]

Remember, writers: There's no rush. Take an hour to write a hundred words. Ponder the perfect sentence for days and days. Peer closely into your character's heart, watching with reverence as they sip their morning coffee or step into a pair of sturdy leather boots. They have a long journey ahead, and so do you. And you both have all the time in the world to get there.

[writingwithfolklore]

I’m Doing the 3-Day Novel Contest—and I’d love for you to join me!

Last year I have the privilege of interviewing Pat Dobie, a two-time winner of the 3-Day Novel Contest and no stranger to the shortlist either. It was from talking to her that I became convinced I had to try the challenge myself this year.

If you’ve never heard of it before, the 3-Day Novel Contest is an international (anyone can register!) contest that takes place over Labour day long weekend (August 30-September 1). You can write about anything you want as long as the writing starts no sooner than 12:01 a.m. on August 30th and ends no later than 11:59 p.m. on September 1st (read the other rules here). Which means you have three days to write your heart out and see what comes out on the other side.

The thing that Pat said to me that really convinced me I had to do it was that it was “an exercise in getting out of your own way.” She said that there was no time to doubt yourself or hum or haw over plotlines and characters or edit as you go—you just keep going. As the site says:

[The contest] has become a unique contribution to world literary history and a put-your-keyboard-where-your-mouth-is rite of passage for hundreds of writers each year.

From what I’ve heard from other writers who have taken part in the challenge is that it’s an utter whirlwind of unleashed creativity and so, so much fun. Plus, even if you don't win, you get a little certificate to say that you completed it either way. Have I convinced you yet? I’m really trying to, because I’d love to gather a little community of writers doing the challenge this year and share in the experience with all of you!

If you’re interested, read up on the contest here, and make sure you register soon as the discounted early-bird deadline expires on July 31st. Then, shoot me a DM and I’ll invite you to our little 3-day community group!

You can also join the group if you’re interested in the contest but aren’t ready to commit to it yet, or are going to try it unofficially this year 😊 I hope to see you there!

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(Psst... Did you know I launched a website?)

Head on over to www.gatesannai.com (or click here!) for exclusive blog posts, updates on my work, and pictures of my dog.

While you're there, consider signing up for my newsletter too :-)

[moonhibs]

Au where Julian is a child of divorce

[the---hermit]

My Study Method

I have quickly mentioned my study method in several posts through the years but I don't think I have ever written a proper post about it, so here it is.

I have to say that overall my study method is quite time consuming, but in years of experience it's what works best for the type of learner I am, the materials I have to study and the type of exams I have. I believe these three elements are the fundamental things you should figure out when creating your own study method. Let's go over these things quickly. Firstly I am an history student, tho not all my exams are history based (I have taken some language, philosophy, anthropology and litterature classes) so my method is proofed for most humanities. I am a learner with terrible memory, if you give me a list of things to learn by heart expect me to fail because my brain simply cannot do that. So I have to train myself to learn things when studying for an exam. As for the type of matherials I have to work with when studying for an exam, they are mostly full non fiction books, sometimes I have to work on articles as well, and depending on the class I have lectures to attend.

The fundamental element of my study method are the notes I write. That's why in my daily posts I am constatly mentioning them. The lectures I attend are turned into notes, the books and articles I have to read are turned into notes, everything you leave me with for too long will be turned into notes. The very act of writing is what truly helps me get into the topic, understand it, and memorize it. I might write an indepth post on how I write notes in the future, but for now what you must know is that the goal of my notes is to be the only material I actually study in the end. As I mentioned the very act of writing is itself a huge part of my study process. When I am listening to a lecture I try to write down notes as tidy as possible, and then try to fix them at home if needed. So there's not much to say there, as for the materials I have to read here's how I do it. When I get a book I have to study I usually read a chapter and underline all the important bits that I will be transferring to my notes as I am reading. When I am done with the chapter and have the topic still fresh in mind I write down by hand all my notes. The goal is to write everything I need to know, in a direct and easy way using my own words. By re-elaborating the original text I am making sure I am not blindly copying things, and actually understanding stuff. Once the entire book has gone through this process, the book goes back on the shelf and as I said I only work on my notes from then one.

Once I have all my notes ready a long time has probably passed, but in reading and writing I have already started to memorize things in general. I try to highlight my notes as I am writing, but in case I don't I go back once I am done writing, doing a quick reread and highlighting important stuff. I usually use two different colours: yellow for the important dates and another colour for the other informations. At this point there's two more steps left. Repeating and writing key words.

If writing notes can be counted as half of my studying, repeating outloud is the second half. Since I have oral exams I have to make sure I am comfortable with exaplaining things, showing I have understood things and I am not just midlessly reciting a list, and using the right terms. I am a very lucky person because my dad is both retired and quite interested in the topics that I study, which means that I get a lot of help from him in this phase of studying, because basically what I do is following him around the house for a few days exaplaining my notes to him. If you do not have someone to annoy with your study, talking to yourself works too but you have to speak outloud and honestly pretend you are giving a lecture. If you just go over your notes and read them it is not the same thing, it's way less effective. I usually do two rounds of repeating. The first one looks a lot more like reading and saying things outloud in my own words. By the second one I am usually much more comfortable with informations so I have my notes there only to guide me through topics making sure I don't miss anything. Having someone who actively listents to you is definitely a bonus because if they ask you questions they challenge you in the exact same way an oral exam does, and you make sure your exaplainations are as clear as possible.

The very last step is going through my notes one last time with the goal of writing a long list of key words. This is a tool I specifically use to review things quickly the day of the exam. Usually during my commute I reread the list of words in my head and I mentally make sure I remember about everything.

As mentioned this is a longer study method but it truly locks things in your brain, and paying that much attention to note writing also makes them a tool that lasts in time. If I am interested in the informations of any of the books I read during my degree I can pick the notebook in which I wrote those notes and find the information right away without even having to open the actual book. I usually dedicate a whole notebook to each book, in order to archive and find them easily. I will be writing a specific post on the way I write notes, maybe including a few pictures, but in the meantime I hope this was somewhat helpful.

[soliadiaz]

buddie first kiss being them extremely happy that bobby's alive. buck is so so happy and smiling going for a hug with eddie and eddie is so so happy and fond of buck he just places his hands on buck's face and kisses him hard. they're both in shock about bobby and about the kiss but they're so so happy they can't stop smiling so they have to stop kissing so they just hug and touch foreheads. they're just so so happy.

(fujo bobby is so so alive and so so happy too)

[thenomadicquill]

Hone your writing style. One of the few writing exercises I use to hone my writing style is to copy an author's writing style. It is very simple. You find an author you like, for me it was Cormac McCarthy, try and remember a scene or moment in a book of theirs, remember it the best you can, and then write it down without looking back, or reading, the scene.

When reading the original author's scene, you will notice a difference between yours and theirs. Now you analyze. What are the big differences? What differs in descriptions? Do you not describe things more, but they do? What about word usage? How is the tone different? What do they do differently that you want start doing? What is something you do that makes the scene better?

When you do this exercise, it shows you what you might want to improve on. Better descriptions, natural sounding dialogue, a tone you want, etc. But instead of improvement, you might notice things about your style that you actually enjoy. I found that my tone of writing is very atmospheric and poetic, while McCarthy's is gritty and real. And as much as I like McCarthy's writing tone, I enjoy mine more. In trying to get that gritty and real tone, I found that I enjoy reading it but not writing it.

It is a very fun exercise to do, for improvement or not. It also helps to recognize writing styles and tone better. Give it a try! Which author would you use in this exercise?

[writers-potion]

I’ve seen your kiss scene and fight scene vocab posts and was wondering if you could do one about some things characters may do when they are nervous, or there is awkward tension — not necessarily romantic but just awkward.

Nervous Tension Vocab

Physical Reactions

have sweat beading/breaking out on one's forehead

have one's heart in one's mouth (or throat)

have one's heart pounding (or pulse racing)

butterflies in one's stomach

hand feeling clammy

knees bouncing

pacing back and forth

tearing up due to embarassment (wanting to cry)

Shift their weight from one foot to the other

Sway slightly where they are standing

Fidget with their hair, clothes, nails, or something they’re holding

Glance around the room or refuse to make eye contact with someone

Chew on their lips or nails

Hum quietly to themself

Tap their fingers on their arm, the wall, or a table

Wrap their arms around themself

Cross their arms or legs while seated

Pick at their lips or cover their mouth

Rub their own neck or shoulder

Sigh often

Sit with their knees up near their chest, or lay in the fetal position

Look stiff and uncomfortable

Check over their shoulder often, or glance around the room

Cough or clear their throat often

A pounding heartbeat, or the feeling that their heartbeat is in their head

Accelerated or heavy breathing

A tingling sensation in their fingers, hands, or legs

A rush of energy (which would suddenly leave them afterward, making them even more tired than usual)

Dizziness

Tightened muscles

Descriptors

fumbled

blushed

winced

fidgeted

cringed

stuttered

giggled

afluttered

agitated

robotic

hesitant

bothered

distracted

edgy

clumsily

awkwardly

distractedly

flustered

frantically

frayed

hypertense

nervy

jittery

jumpy

intimidated

paranoid

perturbed

rattled

queasiness

restive

restless

skittery

shudder

skittish

strung up

tenterhooks

tight

stressy

uneasy

unquiet

twitchy

unsettled

uptight

unrelaxed

Idioms

be at your wit's ends

be bricking it

be ill at ease

be on pins and needles

be under the gun

get in a sweat

have all the cares of the world on your shoulders

have kittens

like a cat on a hot tin roof

sweat bullets

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[comment-day]

Commenting on Fanfic Themes

Remember when you were in literature class and your teacher was droning on and on and ON about themes, but the only thing you could think of is-

Understandable! Especially when you weren't interested in the book or short story (I'm looking at you "The Awakening" by Kate Chopin).

And if you had a teacher that sucked? Yeah, can completely see why you would snore through the whole explanation of why themes are important. I certainly did!

But at the heart of it, themes are such an important part of all writing! Even fanfic! It's basically just asking yourself the question "What was the story trying to say?" or "What was the point?"

And every story has them, even Fanfic. And you will find that pointing them out often helps you convey to the author what you loved about the fanfic.

Reading a story about a lonely kid getting a dedicated group of found family? Maybe a theme of that is how blood isn't the only kind of family. Or that loneliness is only temporary. Or that the world gets better.

Reading a story where two men who loathe each other fall head over heels in love? Maybe the story was saying that first impressions aren't everything. Or that people change for the ones they love. Or that you can't let pride get in the way of being vulnerable.

So, here is a very simple format for how you can comment on the theme of a story, without having to write a five paragraph high school essay!

"I noticed the theme of _______ throughout this story. When Character did _______ it really highlighted the theme of ________ and I thought it was a really nice touch."

Let me show you an example.

"I noticed the theme of loneliness throughout this story. When Tommy was in a room full of people at the big party, yet was thinking about how he couldn't connect to them, it really highlighted the theme of loneliness and I thought it was a really nice touch."

Congrats! You have now commented on a theme of the fanfic! And I can guarantee it made the author's day. It's really that simple.

"But wait, what if that wasn't a theme the author intended and I just look dumb!" My friend, high school cannot hurt you here. You will not be graded on picking out the correct themes from a piece of fanfic. You aren't trying to be the smartest person in the room and make up groundbreaking theses about Shakespeare, you are just picking out what you loved. You are just saying how the story spoke to you! There is no right or wrong answer. Not even the author's intent can change the way it made you feel.

[glitter-stained]

On villains with tragic backstories

Sometimes I'm like "is it really psychophobic, maybe i'm reaching, the character did say that they're not actually crazy they just like killing people" and then the narrative will hit me with "some terrible, dark horrors have happened in your past and this is why you are killing people but it's not too late to get admitted in a psych ward" and I wanna throw the comic through the window and myself with it.

The "mentally ill villain" trope isn't just saying that the villain is crazy or giving them hallucinations. If you're giving a villain a tragic backstory, and that backstory has caused them severe suffering the memory of which is still painful to the day, and the story expects you to believe that the villain's horrible behaviour is explained by the fact that this suffering broke something in them... It's worth examining if you're not just vilifying or demonizing mental illness on accident.

The issue isn't that your villain can't have a tragic backstory, or that the tragic backstory can't explain their actions: the issue is when the suffering itself is treated as a sufficient cause for the behaviour. Say a character was raised and abused by a cult that taught them killing puppies is good and then they kill puppies: not psychophobic. Say a character who used to love puppies was kidnapped and tortured by some guy just for the fun of hurting someone, no brainwashing or anything just pain, and then they get out and kill puppies because of the torture: psychophobic. There's a missing link in the reasoning here, a question of "what about this event taught/brought the person to the conclusion that it was a good idea to kill puppies or gave them a desire to?" The psychophobia is insidious, hiding in the implication that the trauma (because this is what it's really all about) is what made them kill puppies. Sometimes, people with trauma kill puppies. But killing puppies (or exploding buildings with children in it, or shooting someone in the spine, or severing heads and putting them in a duffle bag, or, or, or) is not and has never been a symptom of ASD*, PTSD, CPTSD, BPD, DID, DDD or any other trauma-induced disorder. It's a good idea to verbalise the logic, emotions, needs and desire that motivate your villain and where they stem from, to avoid falling into the trap that thinking their trauma, because of the magnitude of the empathy it's meant to generate for the character, is enough of an explanation for their behaviour. A villain being sympathetic because of their backstory doesn't mean that their actions are necessarily coherent.

On top of that, it's important to take in account other factors such as the original background of the character, their vulnerabilities, their age (super important when writing childhood/teenage trauma/young villains!), but also their ethnicity, gender etc etc. This is important for realism and accuracy, because trauma is neither a magical button that creates heroes nor sociopaths, but also because psychophobia interacts so easily with other forms of discrimination slipping through the cracks. Now that you've identified that your woc character becoming a manipulative, sociopathic "crazy ex" because of her trauma was not just a consequence of her trauma but the interaction between the trauma and personal factors, what are those implicit factors that contribute to make her manipulative, obsessed with her ex, etc.? And now that you've extracted them explicitly, like a zip file, can you examine them to see how many of these personal characteristics have to do with her being a woman of colour?

I hope it's clear that I'm not telling you what to write- I think imposing the idea that villains can't be poc, or queer, or working class, or disabled, or mentally ill, etc. is harmful, because it reduces potential representation, it's based on the assumption that I know what you're gonna write and it's gonna be fundamentally ableist, and it puts this pressure on fictional characters to be perfect icons of representation rather than actual characters with depth and personality (kinda like thinking you can't write a female character who cries because it implies women are weak). This is just to encourage you to be mindful about what you're doing when writing that tragic backstory, because it's not necessarily what we think about when we talk about mental illness, and it's important to analyse what you're writing with a measure of introspection: why am I writing this? What does this imply about the character? What's my reasoning for this character's reasoning?

I have zero issue with a mentally ill character kicking a puppy as long as the narrative isn't trying to tell me that it's a symptom of mental illness to kick puppies. But of course, perhaps the story could also be a critique of those stories about mentally ill people kicking puppies, and the satyre is flying way over my head; or perhaps there will be a secret plot-twist that happens after I stopped reading that explained why the character was kicking puppies, perhaps the book was an attempt at guiding and manipulating the reader into realising the flaws in that reasoning on their own, or perhaps it was a metaphor for something else entirely, etc, etc. I don't know. The point is, write whatever you want; but write it self-aware.

*in this context, ASD meaning Acute Stress Disorder

Two examples of comics I think do it pretty well:

> Arkham Knight Genesis: for all its flaws (i didn't really like this one), I think it does a pretty decent job of getting us to understand how Jason got where he is, that it wasn't just "tortured until evil", all the reasons for his resentment, all the brainwashing and manipulation are pretty explicit. Kind of an "easy mode" because the plot revolves around brainwashing, but solid on that front.

> Red Hood Lost Days: this one I'm more mitigated because there's this whole "pit madness/the pit made him a psychopath" thing Winick introduced to limit the damage of previous runs (and rightfully so imo, Pit Madness is a much better explanation for some of Jason's most batshit ooc runs than just trauma), but there are some pretty solid elements, especially when you know earlier comics. I'm thinking specifically about when Jason says something around the lines of "you murder people; i put down a lizard", as a direct echo to Judy's "I put down a mad dog", that's one of my favourite comic lines ever, I cheered seeing that parallel like yes, I can see the reasoning, I understand where you learned the lesson and what the thought process is and I support it.

[frownyalfred]

(Jason sequel to 'it used to be yours' anon)

My evil plan to get into your head and distract you from asoh with a different story to write is working😈😈. The only thing left to do now is let the brainworms take root

(No hate against asoh, I just like to be a menace🙃)

You anons are the reason the ASOH sequel was delayed as much as it was 🤣 I love it. I’m trying to balance this longer WIP writing with tiny fics peppered in, but I keep getting distracted. Eye in the sky is a great example of that distraction lol.

[novlr]

“I can fix a bad page. I can’t fix a blank page.” Nora Roberts