If you read a sentence that feels off but don't immediately know how to fix it, rewrite it. Sometimes, we get so caught up with what's already there that we don't realize there's a better way to approach it. Don't waste your time on an average sentence!
Maybe you've been wanting to write a book for a long time, but you didn't know where to start. Here are some ways to come up with a story.
If you've ever considered writing a book but thought you couldn't, let me convince you otherwise.
remember, this is for a DOOR lock.
remember that when picking a DOOR lock, you have to apply a little bit of pressure to your tension wrench (the thing that you use to turn the knob). too little or too much and you wont be able to pick the door open. you can use anything for the tension wrench. a bobby pin. bits of wire. a paper clip. etc.
its best to be completely silent when youre picking locks bc theres this small ‘click’ when youre picking that you might miss if youre using headphones or listening to music.
.
if youre picking one of these
you jam something thin and long above one of the rotation dials and you push up on the shackle.
. if its one of these
you get yourself some shims. (or make one. you can make shims out of fucking soda cans), you wiggle them in the tiny space between the shackle and the body of the lock, and you pop these suckers open.
. for a chain deadbolt,
you get something flexible but sturdy and you just push this fucker down
. for one of these rotating combination locks
you can also shim this motherfucker open. jam your shims between the shackle and the body and pry it unlocked. if, for some reason, you dont wanna shim it open, maybe you dont have a shim or you just like a challenge, this bitch can be decoded ridiculously easy. heres what you do:
spin this bitch to the right about two or three times to “reset” it. then you pull up on the shackle a bit, and turn it right slowly until you hear a click. your number is two spaces further. then you turn left 360 degrees until you land on the right number again, and start turning this motherfucker left until it stops. when it stops, turn right. if its loose, its the wrong number, keep going left. if its not loose, you have the right number, and you turn right all the way until this bitch pops
.
now you know how to pick several common locks!!!!! congratulations!!!!
don’t mind me im just reblogging
Yall need to look up the Lock Picking Lawyer on YouTube too, he’s amazing.
His videos are always so blazé, like ‘here’s yet another fucking disappointing lock to pick’ and he’s so good.
just for your viewing interest
Completely innocent reblog
The most non suspicious reblog
I hope I've done a good job of expressing what we need to see more of in media regarding religious characters. If you have anything else to add, please do so!
- C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
If you're stuck and not sure how to write the next chapter, try editing the previous one. It'll give you ideas on where to take the story or lead to small changes that will open a door for creativity.
Here are ten questions to ask that will not put your friend in a tough spot, but will still give you some useful input on your novel:
1. At what point did you feel like “Ah, now the story has really begun!” 2. What were the points where you found yourself skimming? 3. Which setting in the book was clearest to you as you were reading it? Which do you remember the best? 4. Which character would you most like to meet and get to know? 5. What was the most suspenseful moment in the book? 6. If you had to pick one character to get rid of, who would you axe? 7. Was there a situation in the novel that reminded you of something in your own life? 8. Where did you stop reading, the first time you cracked open the manuscript? (Can show you where your first dull part is, and help you fix your pacing.) 9. What was the last book you read, before this? And what did you think of it? (This can put their comments in context in surprising ways, when you find out what their general interests are. It might surprise you.) 10. Finish this sentence: “I kept reading because…”
Your friend is probably still going to tell you, “It was good!” However, if you can ask any specific questions, and read between the lines, you can still get some helpful information out of even the most well-meaning reader.
Source: Examiner
This is really useful advice, especially if the person you’ve shared your story with hasn’t had much/any experience critiquing.
It does a great job of asking for a balance of both positive and negative feedback in a way that’s comfortable for both the author and reader.
"Releasing something to the public is an act of humility, vulnerability, and faith/risk. However, it is pride and fear that keeps us from sharing the creativity inside of us. The fear of rejection and comparison can cripple our creativity and make us feel like the work of our hands is not good enough. It will never be good enough.
But here is a secret to breakthrough: Understand that you are creating from journey, rather than destination. Don’t release your creativity like someone who has arrived but rather someone who is on a journey. Humble yourself and put yourself out there, making yourself vulnerable to critics. The risk will be worth it."
-Dan McCollam
This is super hard for me to remember as a writer. I want my story to seem 100% realistic with no plot holes and no "convenient coincidences".
But then I remember this is a book I'm writing. Sure I want my characters to struggle to reach their goals, and I want the pace to rise and fall. That doesn't mean I should keep the chapter long scene of my MC searching the library and internet for answers (the details were annoyingly specific). Or the three scenes where I had him wait outside an alley for something interesting to happen (yeah, it was bad).
With books, people expect a certain amount of challenge for the characters and a degree of patient story development. But they also expect the plot to progress WAY faster than in real life. They expect to see the highlights (whether successes or failures) of the journey, and not every monotonous detail between.
In summary: make your story believable, but don't get caught up making it as tedious as real life; there's a reason people are reading in the first place.
Writing a novel is no easy task. It can take years of chipping away one word at a time like a captive slowly mining a tunnel through the stone foundations of his prison.
So how long should this take?
I have good news for you. It’s entirely up to you. Some even better news: it won’t take as long as you think.
Let’s do some calculations.
We’ll start by assuming you only have 15 minutes of free time a day. The average person can write 40 words per minute (wpm), but that doesn’t account for staring blankly at the screen or deleting entire paragraphs that sound “off”. So let’s be conservative and say 250 words per hour (not fast by any means, but still respectable). Divide that by 60 minutes we get about 4 wpm. Multiply by 15 and we get 60 words a day. That doesn’t sound like much. Well, let’s think about this in terms of years and novels.
60 words a day * 365 days a year = about 22,000 words. Let’s multiply by 6/7 so we can account for taking one day off per week (which is good for avoiding burnout). We get ~18,750 words per year. We know the average book length is about 50-70k words. This means...
“Three years??” you may be thinking.
First of all, that’s really not bad. Some people take 10 years. Some take longer. Secondly, 4 words per minute? That’s super easy. “Caleb sprinted down the hall. His heart pounded with every step.” That was 11 words. I rewrote it three times with different variations, and it took less than a minute.
So let’s increase our speed to just 12 wpm. Remember, the average person can type 3-4 times that speed.
So 12 wpm * 15 minutes * 365 days * 6/7 (for our day off) gives us 56,250 words in one year. To sum up, 15 minutes of writing a day at 12 words per minute will allow a writer to finish the average book in a year and we get a day off. Now we’re talking.
What if we decided to get up just thirty minutes earlier and write 45 minutes a day? Well, that would mean three times as much writing time, so three books in a year.
What about editing?
Good point. Much of writing is re-writing. We’ve done a lot of numbers stuff, but stay with me for one last calculation. If we allow the same amount of time for editing as we did for writing, we could just divide our total in half to get writing and editing time. So 12 wpm * 60 minutes a day * 365 days in a year * 6/7 days for a break / 2 to account for editing = 131,400 words. So...
You can do the math on your own to match your personal pace. For example, I write about 1300 words an hour. I’m pretty busy, so I’ll say I only have half an hour. 1300 / 2 * 365 * 6/7 (I’m not giving up my day off!) means 203,357 words a year... I could write my first draft, rewrite it once, then edit it after that. All in a year. At half an hour a day.
I understand not everyone works like this. Some people need to write once a week for six hours in a row. Some people only write once a month, but they spend the whole weekend pumping out pages. I’m not saying you have to do it this way. I just want you to see how powerful small increments can be.
Writing a novel is difficult, but it helps to break it down.
DISCLAIMER: This is my opinion
If you agree with these pieces of advice, good for you. I just don’t.
There was something off about the cave near the ocean, but no one could quite tell what. There seemed to be no consistency about when it filled up and emptied, despite the tides rising and falling the same way every day. No one ever truly got to investigate it, either, because they were drowned without fail before they had a chance to report their findings.
I, however, was determined to figure it out.
Writing books takes time. A lot of it. It’s impossible to work so hard without becoming deeply invested in the stories we write. Our characters grow from mere ideas to fully-developed imaginary friends. By the end of the draft, they become part of our lives. Our memories of them are often indistinguishable from the memories of our friends and family. Life is busy, and we might even be spending more time with them than with our real friends.
Care too little and it will show. Readers can tell when you cut corners and merely string together set-piece scenes – a betrayal here, car chase there, couple extra explosions along the way. Like a film made out of a stock footage library. Passion is vital.
But caring too much can be equally dangerous. Become too attached to your story and you will probably never finish it. Nothing you write will ever be good enough for the mirage of perfection you have in mind. You’ll get stuck and keep rewriting things over and over again. You’ll cling to nonsensical details and refuse to admit that the whole premise of the story may be flawed in the first place. Your darlings will suffocate you.
Healthy detachment is just as important as passion. You’ve poured your heart and soul into the story; spent weeks, months, even years writing it. It can be devastating to see the rejections coming in (and there will be many).
Your ability to let go is crucial so that you can write the next story and the one after that. That’s how you hone your craft and write even better stories. In a way, the best thing you can do for your story is not to get too attached to it. And maybe one day many years from now, you will finally be able to do it justice.
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In case you missed this week’s post!
Try the "2 random pictures" method - simple and super effective.
This is another thing seasoned writers expect newbies to understand but rarely bother to explain.
Passive Voice: "Caleb was hit by the car."
Active Voice: "The car hit Caleb."
Passive voice is where something happens ("was hit") to your noun/subject (Caleb, in our case). Active voice is where the noun (we switched it to the car in the second sentence) takes action ("hit Caleb").
See if you can tell which examples are active/passive.
The word "was" is often a good indicator of passive voice.
Another example:
Passive: "Caleb was running as fast as he could."
Active: "Caleb ran as fast as he could."
Passive voice tends to use "was ...ing" or "had been ...ing". In general, passive voice is clunky and unprofessional. But it's really easy to fix once you know what it is.
People always advise new writers to "show, not tell". What does that mean?
Telling: "Caleb was angry with Emily for hogging the blankets."
Showing: "Caleb shivered and clutched the cloak tighter around his shoulders. He glared at Emily, who lay bundled in blankets next to him."
That's basically it. Just visualize the emotions/thoughts of your characters. Now you know.
