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[thewritinghaven]

Havenly Dialogue Prompt #11

"They say legends never die. Alas, I am no legend."

[thewritinghaven]

Havenly Prompt #2

The sound of cabinets slamming shut and footsteps stomping around reached Protagonist's ears. Their trembling figure sat curled up in the corner of the laundry room, shard of glass in hand. They twirled it in their clammy hands, breathing accelerating. If Intruder were to pass by, Protagonist would be discovered in an instant.

The stairs creaked under the weight of the approaching Intruder. Protagonist placed a hand over their mouth. They squeezed the piece of glass, sending pain shooting through their hand and blood trickling down it. They shut their eyes and waited. Footsteps approached their hiding spot. 

Protaganist wasn’t ready. Their heart pounded as though trying to run off. They placed a hand over it and tried to regulate their breathing. This resulted in sharp, choppy breaths. They waited. 

When the laundry room door opened, they still weren’t ready.

[thewritinghaven]

Rare words we should use more:

Aurora : Dawn.

Supine : Lying on your back.

Eloquence : The art of using language in an apt fluent way.

Petrichor : a pleasant smell that frequently accompanies the first rain after a long period of warm, dry weather.

Ethereal :  extremely delicate and light in a way that seems not to be of this world.

Apricity :  the warmth of the sun in winter.

Drowsy :  causing sleepiness. 

Primaveral :  relating to early spring.

Frisson : a  sudden, passing shudder of emotion or excitement.

Biblioklept : The one who steals books.

Meldrop :  A drop of mucus at the nose, whether produced by cold or otherwise.

Agelast : a person who never laughs , humorless. 

Minute : Tiny. 

[thewritinghaven]

To whoever needs this: Know that having lived all this time means you are able to live more. You are strong enough. Never forget that.

[thewritinghaven]

Oh to be transported into my imagination. Away from this hateful society, pained only by what I create.

[thewritinghaven]

Havenly Dialogue Prompt #8

"This can't work," A inched away from B.

"Why not?" B said playfully, raising an eyebrow.

Silence.

"Is it because you're some kind of immortal deity who can't possibly fall in love with a mortal such as myself?" B chuckled and rolled their eyes.

Silence.

B's expression darkened. "Oh."

[thewritinghaven]

Some words to use when writing things:

winking

clenching

pulsing

fluttering

contracting

twitching

sucking

quivering

pulsating

throbbing

beating

thumping

thudding

pounding

humming

palpitate

vibrate

grinding

crushing

hammering

lashing

knocking

driving

thrusting

pushing

force

injecting

filling

dilate

stretching

lingering

expanding

bouncing

reaming

elongate

enlarge

unfolding

yielding

sternly

firmly

tightly 

harshly

thoroughly

consistently

precision

accuracy

carefully

demanding

strictly

restriction

meticulously

scrupulously

rigorously

rim

edge

lip

circle

band

encircling

enclosing

surrounding

piercing

curl

lock

twist

coil

spiral

whorl

dip

wet

soak

madly

wildly

noisily

rowdily

rambunctiously

decadent

degenerate

immoral

indulgent

accept

take

invite

nook

indentation

niche

depression

indent

depress

delay

tossing

writhing

flailing

squirming

rolling

wriggling

wiggling

thrashing

struggling

grappling

striving

straining

[thewritinghaven]

I'm productive (ish)

I’ve been writing quite a bit lately, but none of that writing has been for my main project.

(My novel’s draft is sitting in my computer, gathering virtual dust.)

[thewritinghaven]

Havenly Snippet #4 (The Deal)

"Oh, you are sweet," said Villain tauntingly, caressing Hero’s cheek.

Hero lifted his chin with a steely expression.

"All this for her? Why, what a lucky girl!" Villain swung Hero’s proposal gifts in his face.

Hero tried to grab at them but Villain drove her knees further into his arms.

“You know what? I’ll propose a deal.” Villain said softly.

Hero grunted and opened his mouth to say something.

Villain tutted and covered it with her finger. “Let me tell you what it is first.”

With a smile, she continued. “If your beloved manages to save you in five hours, I will let you go on with your lovey-dovey shenanigans.”

Hero glared at her.

“However, if she doesn’t, I will sip this ring,” Villain gestured to the small box in her hand, “on my finger, as a little keepsake.”

She rubbed hero’s lips. “Any objections?”

Hero’s arms were numb. “I can always get another.”

“Oh, but dear, I know where you got this and how precious it is to you.” Villain cooed.

“Might I add that, if I wear this ring, you will be mine.”

Hero cursed internally.

“She has five hours. Here, call her.” Villain held out her cellphone.

Hero made the call.

“Now,” Villain brushed Hero’s hair out of his eyes. “Make yourself at home.”

She kissed him softly and left.

[thewritinghaven]

Havenly Snippet #3

Verena's eyes filled with tears as she watched everything she had built fall before her. Her clothes stuck to her, frosted over after the rainfall.

Soft footsteps approached her. A strong arm wrapped itself around her shoulders. Adrien.

His reassuring squeeze was the feather that made Verena's wall crumble. She buried her face in his cloak, trembling despite it's warmth. The tears that wouldn't spill before streamed down her face.

Adrien wrapped her in an embrace, cradling her head, and led her away from the ghastly sight, to shelter.

Wind blew past them. Verena gripped Adrien tighter, her lip quivering.

Adrien tried to lift Verena's head toward him but she would not budge. He pried and removed his earmuffs, placing them on her cold-bitten ears. The expression in her eyes was puppy-like. Adrien sat on the ground and cuddled her. The whooshing of the wind and the smell of the bomb remnants made neither of them want to talk.

Adrien kissed the top of Verena's head and buried his face in the crook of her neck. His breaths were slow and controlled, quite in contrast to Verena's quick, shallow ones.

Adrien's warm breath against her skin made Verena want to melt. He was the only thing keeping the fragments left of her together.

She looked into his eyes and he understood her silent, "I love you."

[thewritinghaven]

I wonder how many will actually reblog…

[thewritinghaven]

Havenly Dialogue Prompt #7

"You can't just go off on your own like that, A!"

"I was just getting ice cream!"

"You are on the run from the entire government, but no, you just had, to stop for ice cream.

[thewritinghaven]

How to Write: Beautiful visual descriptions

(This is an advanced technique, so if you’re new to writing—or if your style isn’t poetic—you don’t have to do this.)

It may sound counter intuitive, but the trick to creating better visuals in your story isn’t better visual descriptions. It’s using emotional keywords to invoke a sense of place.

Try to capture a place’s mood, not just the sensory elements. For example, rather than writing “Sunlight dappled the forest floor” you could describe the forest as a “mosaic quilt of rabbit-eared trees and tumbling grass drizzled in orange slices of Christmas sunlight”.

The first gets the visual across, yes. But we’re looking for more than what the five senses can give us. The key to good description is showing us what your character sees/ hears/ smells/ tastes/ touches … but the magic in capturing a place is the sixth sense: feeling. How your character feels about being in this environment, which influences how readers feel experiencing the passage.

Writing about feelings is tricky. In adult literature being too obvious (“she screamed in frustration”) is frowned on because reading obvious cues feels like we’re watching someone act a part on stage rather than living the book through them. So it is with invoking character feelings through sensory descriptors. The above passage about a forest is meant to invoke a pleasant, pastoral sensibility and maybe capture the excitement that comes from wonderful possibilities opening up. Once you know what feelings you’re trying to invoke you can figure out what words will create (hopefully) that effect.

Quilt, rabbit, and tumbling are words that evoke a homey pastoral scene. Orange slices and drizzled invoke good things to eat. Depending on your upbringing, Christmas sunlight may sound like bright crisp excitement and general goodwill.

So, how can you learn to do this?

1. Characters should describe their world in positive or negative ways that directly mirror how they’re feeling. If Anna’s angry and hurt, she might see a “bitter ocean wrecking itself on frozen rocks”. If Anna is happy, she might instead see an “untamable ocean breaking free in glorious spray”. It’s the same scene, but the emotions are wildly different and thus so are reader’s visual impressions.

2. Use action verbs to describe inanimate objects. Trees thrusting off a cliff sound more precarious than trees leaning over the cliff’s edge. Arrows sprouting from a chest plate sound tragic and ironic, whereas arrows sticking out of a chest plate merely sounds like somebody’s dead. Grumbling ocean, and library books snuggling up to the front door sound more personal that stormy ocean, or library books ready to go back.

3. Free-associate to develop creative metaphors. For example, suppose your character is bathing in a palace. You could describe the “plush, embroidered towels”, and that would certainly give a sense of them. But if you describe “soft buttercream towels” (free-associating what sounds soft, cream-colored, and might work for an expensive towel) instead, your readers will ache to wrap up in one alongside your character. Feelings-based win!

Tip: Take a notebook someplace that inspires you. Spend a few moments just looking around, experiencing your environment. Try to come up with simple phrases that captures what you’re witnessing. I came up with the above forest’s description on a hike, because I thought the patchwork of trees and grass looked like a “mosaic quilt” and the wedges of golden sunlight on the forest floor like “orange slices”.

As with all writing techniques, don’t overdo it. You’ll learn with practice how much poetry to apply and when in order to sell your descriptions.

Bonus Tip: This works really, really well for the exposition in erotic fiction. Before your leading couple get it on try sprinkling sexy verbs into ordinary environments. The effect heightens the reader’s anticipation for the main event!

[thewritinghaven]

O my, what a post-

wear a different perfume when you commit murder fuckin amateurs 

[thewritinghaven]

You grew up in a small town, but always dreamed of city life. So you moved away as soon as you were old enough, leading a long and successful modern life. Finally, you’ve returned to your hometown… and nobody has aged a day.

[thewritinghaven]

Writing advice from my uni teachers:

If your dialog feels flat, rewrite the scene pretending the characters cannot at any cost say exactly what they mean. No one says “I’m mad” but they can say it in 100 other ways.

Wrote a chapter but you dislike it? Rewrite it again from memory. That way you’re only remembering the main parts and can fill in extra details. My teacher who was a playwright literally writes every single script twice because of this.

Don’t overuse metaphors, or they lose their potency. Limit yourself.

Before you write your novel, write a page of anything from your characters POV so you can get their voice right. Do this for every main character introduced.

[thewritinghaven]

I am absolutely going to do more research on disabilities and write a disabled character.

Thank you for this reminder.

i really wish there was more disabled representation... theres like, nothing. i feel like disabled people are fed the scraps of the scraps of representation because when it comes down to it abled people DONT take one second to think "hey disabled people exist! i should put them in my show/book" no. they dont. yall never acknowledge our existence Because its easier to ignore us. abled people dont make disabled ocs, abled people dont make chronically ill ocs, abled people never make disabled characters. and if they do? oh, well, simple! we'll just heal their disability. because thats representation. and its not as easy to just... hc a character as disabled as it is to hc them as lgbt, Because its always being shoved in your face that characters are not, in fact, disabled. you can be gay and do things anime characters do, you can be trans and do things anime characters do, but when it cracks down to it abled people make worlds where disabled people cant exist, because our existence is uncomfortable and "too difficult" to write. and honestly? im mad about it and i have every right to be

(if you're abled you can, and should rb this.)