If it works it works.

(P.S bless you fic writers)

How To Perfect The Tone In A Piece Of Writing

The tone in writing is one of the most important characteristics of a piece of writing. Books, poetry, songs, articles, any writing whatsoever; the tone is everything. That being said, there are a lot of ways in which writers can either mess it up or completely forget to set the tone. Below is a guide to setting the tone to come across exactly how you want it to.

Some Things To Note

Things That Create Tone

There are several different elements in writing that create the tone. Here are a few:

Body Language

How your characters act, interact, and speak all play a large role in how your readers perceive your story. If your characters are speaking cryptically, fidgeting, and the tensions are high, your readers will feel the suspense.

Volume (Dialogue Tags)

How loud people say things is a big indicator of how they mean for it to come across to whomever they’re talking to. It’s the same this with dialogue. While it’s important not to overdo it with the dialogue tags, you must also use them to your advantage. It’s kind of when you’re writing a script and you sometimes feel the need to add a note for the actor to say something a certain way in order for them to portray what you envision. Use specific dialogue tags sparingly, but use them well.

Context

The context of the situation is everything. If your reader doesn’t know what’s going on and your main character is super relaxed all of a sudden when they thought they were in the middle of a very stressful situation, it’s going to give them very weird vibes. Knowing where the character is, how they feel, and having some idea of what’s about to go down is imperative to creating the right tone.

WORD CHOICE

Word choice is the main way you can set the tone in your story. You must be clear, intentional, natural, and consistent with the way you choose how you phrase things in your story. We all have certain associations with specific words and using those associations will bode well for you.

Be clear before anything else when setting the tone. Portray what you need to in order to create the scene itself and put the reader in the story. Then change what words you’re using in order to make the reader feel a certain way. However, never sacrifice clarity in exchange for the use of a fancy word. If your read doesn’t know what you’re saying, what good does it do anyway?

Be intentional when you’re deciding where to switch out words and where you decide to really hit the reader with a huge wave of tone. Don’t just fling words anywhere there’s a gap in the hopes that it will accomplish the same thing as intentionally injecting words where it will pierce the reader’s soul. See what I mean?

While it’s important to choose words that fit the tone, they must flow naturally with the dialogue and descriptions. Don’t just slap your reader in the face with “OMG Becky did you hear what that brat Jessica said about you and your bae? She’s such a vacuous shrew!” because that’s not exactly natural is it? 

I have a whole post called Improving Flow In Writing that expands on this quite a bit.

Be consistent in your word choice. Don’t use the same words over and over again, but don’t go from calling dogs to “canis lupus familiaris”. Well.. unless it’s absolutely necessary.

Examples Of Tones

Some of you might be a little fuzzy on what I mean by tone in the first place, so here are a few examples of tone:

Request a prompt list/writing advice/playlist/study help post here

I AM DECEASED 😭😭

for the love of god UNMUTE this

SOME OF YALL DO NOT NEED ACCESS TO TECHNOLOGY 💀💀💀

dead

Just saw this abstract nativity set unironically posted on instagram by some craft lady

Ah yes, the traditional 7 buttplugs of xmas

Have I told y’all about my husband’s Fork Theory?  If I did already, pretend I didn’t, I’m an old.

So the Spoon Theory is a fundamental metaphor used often in the chronic pain/chronic illness communities to explain to non-spoonies why life is harder for them. It’s super useful and we use that all the time. But it has a corollary.  You know the phrase, “Stick a fork in me, I’m done,” right? Well, Fork Theory is that one has a Fork Limit, that is, you can probably cope okay with one fork stuck in you, maybe two or three, but at some point you will lose your shit if one more fork happens.  A fork could range from being hungry or having to pee to getting a new bill or a new diagnosis of illness. There are lots of different sizes of forks, and volume vs. quantity means that the fork limit is not absolute. I might be able to deal with 20 tiny little escargot fork annoyances, such as a hangnail or slightly suboptimal pants, but not even one “you poked my trigger on purpose because you think it’s fun to see me melt down” pitchfork.

This is super relevant for neurodivergent folk. Like, you might be able to deal with your feet being cold or a tag, but not both. Hubby describes the situation as “It may seem weird that I just get up and leave the conversation to go to the bathroom, but you just dumped a new financial burden on me and I already had to pee, and going to the bathroom is the fork I can get rid of the fastest.”

I like this and also I like the low key point that you may be able to cope with bigger forks by finding little ones you can remove quickly. A combination of time, focus, and reduction to small stressors that can allow you to focus on the larger stressor in a constructive way.

y’all

a mutual of mine

suddenly has posts on their blog

with links to “find women to have sex with”

my mutual is NOT POSTING THESE

tumblr just got even worse

on that note PLEASE let me know if i’m suddenly posting random pictures of women with a link underneath the photo. don’t click the link, just FYI.

i do suggest reblogging this in case someone sees this happening to someone else they follow

yeah, same thing happened to a comic creator i follow during the protest

bot brute-forced their password and posted pictures of women with links underneath

keep an eye out and let the person know

Soulmates are not your ~other half~, that’s just nonsense. You are a whole person already, not half a person. A soulmate isn’t even inherently romantic. A soulmate is just the other sock in a matched set. You’re still a whole, complete sock on your own, you are perfectly functional paired with any other sock, it’s just that it’s even better when you match. A soulmate is literally just the person who makes your soul go “!!! Same hat!!!” and wave excitedly.

i love this

this is literally the only interpretation of “soulmate” that I can tolerate or accept 

The Bride

If you think Will Graham doesn’t know at this moment that he and Hannibal are gonna eat this woman then I don’t think you and I are watching the same show la la la la

If looks could you land instantly on the dinner table…

He’s already seeing what recipe Hannibal would do with her. I bet the leg idea was Will’s. You know the saying, “lies has short legs”…

“lies has short legs”… :D

The look of fear and apprehension on Bedelia’s face in the last gif. She probably just realised what she had done in singling out and touching Will.

The hand on the shoulder is such an obvious attempt at manipulating, and not only does Will hate being manipulated but he is also used to Hannibal’s much more subtle (and superior) techniques.

He most likely found it insulting. Both to himself and to Hannibal.

So this is the moment that he decides that Bedelia is going to be punished.

Oh fucking snap- all these comments are on point!

Will (internally):

That was very rude Du Maurier. Thanks for that.

He is eager to show Bluebeards ex-bride where she stands sits.

every single one of you are awesome)

pick-me-ups for writers

for the self-conscious beginner: No one makes great things until the world intimately knows their mediocrity. Don’t think of your writing as terrible; think of it as preparing to contribute something great.

for the self-conscious late bloomer: Look at old writing as how far you’ve come. You can’t get to where you are today without covering all that past ground. For that, be proud.

for the perfectionist: Think about how much you complain about things you love—the mistakes and retcons in all your favorite series—and how you still love them anyway. Give yourself that same space.

for the realist: There will be people who hate your story even if it’s considered a classic. But there will be people who love your story, even if it is strange and unpopular.

for the fanfic writer: Your work isn’t lesser for not following canon. When you write, you’ve created a new work on its own. It can be, but does not have to be, limited by the source material. Canon is not the end-all, be-all. 

for the writer’s blocked: It doesn’t need to be perfect. Sometimes you have to move on and commit a few writing sins if it means you can create better things out of it.

for the lost: You started writing for a reason; remember that reason. It’s ok to move on. You are more than your writing. It will be here if you want to come back.

why do people try to pit star wars and star trek against each other when we all know damn well jim kirk would be all over that psychic twink with a laser sword

OP you are so wise

The meeting of James. T. Kirk and Obi-Wan “Always Fucking Flirting” Kenobi would be AMAZING.

@shoujocowboy

this is EXACTLY the wars v. trek discourse i wanted on my dashboard

To all the fic writers out there that are not currently writing. Either it's because of RL, health, writer's block or something has happened that have disheartened you. Thank you for what you've written, and don't ever feel pressured or stressed - fanfic should be something good for all of us; both reader and writer. You're more important than what you do, but thank you for what you've done!

Thank you for this :)

Some Yuri on Ice Characters as Gifs

Yuuri Katsuki

Victor Nikiforov

Yuri Plisetsky

Phichit Chulanont

Christophe Giacometti

Otabek Altin

Georgi Popovich

My AP Psych teacher from high school keeps binders and notebooks with dicks drawn on them to use as visual aids for the Freudian unit.

One time she did this life changing little “experiment” where she ever so calmly asked guys why they draw penises on things. They tried to say “it’s just funny” or “you don’t understand” and she just kept saying “you’re right, I don’t understand. Explain to me. You already know what a penis looks like, why do you have to draw it on things? Are you marking it? Are you tagging it? Girls don’t draw vaginas on things.” And the guys suddenly started questioning their motives for everything they do and one guy was like “ms, stop talking about penises, you’re making us uncomfortable.” And she shouted “HOW DO YOU THINK WE FEEL SEEING DICKS DRAWN ON STUFF ALL THE TIME?”

Always reblog

Relog if you need this energy

source

Just one of these checks could change my life ,

Okay, let me just:

Vitya: ( ´ ♡ ⁾⁾⁾ )

Yuuri: （˶′◡‵˶）

Yura: ಠ_ಠ

Otabek: d(ಠ_ಠ)  

Chris: (ღ✪ｖ✪) ｡o○  

Phichit: ╰(✧∇✧)

Guang Hong: ｡◕‿‿◕｡

Leo: ヽ(´▽｀)/♪

Seung-Gil: (；一_一)

Minami: ꒰✪ૢꇵ✪ૢ꒱ෆ⃛

Mickey: (∩ ⌣̀_⌣́)

Emil: ゜☆ ヽ(*´∀｀)ﾉﾟ

JJ: ٩(•̤̀ᵕ•̤́๑)૭✧

Yakov: ლ(ಠ益ಠლ)

Lilia: ( ≖︿≖)

Georgi: ( ಥ_ಥ)

Mila: (˵ ͡~ ͜ʖ ͡°˵)ﾉ⌒♡*:･。.

Sara: <(❛ヮ❛✿)>

Mari: (¬‿¬)

Yuuko: ꒰⁎˃ ॢꇴ ॢ˂⁎꒱➴ෆ⃛

Minako: (ಥ⌣ಥ)

Hiroko: (•ૢ⚈͒⌄⚈͒•ૢ)

Toshia: (─‿‿─)

Our YOI familly in bird version 😂😂😂😂😂