"Not gonna lie, we're doing pretty well already But yes, oh my doctor said There's a lot of room left to grow"

seonghwa, matz (2023)

“haha yeah im a writer”

like a feeling of soft sea foam

Writing advice from my uni teachers:

Reluctant Injury Reveals

- Pulling off sunglasses to reveal a black eye

- Pulling off a hat to reveal blood in their hair

- Taking off a jacket to reveal a side wound

- Rolling up sleeves to reveal scars on their arms

- Taking off a shoe to reveal a swollen/broken foot

- Pulling off gloves to reveal cracked/bloody knuckles

Writing a War

(P.S.A. Before We Begin: While the above GIF is from Captain America: Civil War, I won’t be including any superhero factors in this post. I just really love the movie and this scene specifically :P Enjoy!)

Hello friends, Abby here with another writing post! I’ve noticed that the concept of war tends to play a large role in many of the novels I’ve read in the past. Due to this and the fact that my own series (Smoke Shadows) will include its own war of sorts, I was inspired to make this post. Without further ado, let’s get started!

What could cause a war?

There are, of course, many causes that can lead to a war, and it would probably be a little strange if one occurred in your story for a single reason. Let’s go through a couple of general causes that have played major roles, starting with the M.A.I.N.:

At least one of these four reasons play some sort of role in the starting of a war, though of course there are many other causes you could choose from. Some of these possibilities can include completely unprecedented attacks, economic/territorial gain, religion, revenge of some sort, and (intense) internal disagreements.

How to “Structure” a War

Wars are usually won not through brute force alone, but by strategy. You’ll want to keep this in mind when you think of how your war plays out; whoever is the better strategies will have a higher chance of coming out of this whole thing victorious. It will probably help tremendously for you to draw a map of your world and include every place that will be affected, then get some different colored markers to represent the different sides.

It’s especially helpful if you can make two maps, or one that you can edit easily. On one you’ll want to create a plan for each side. If you were planning out something like this, what would you plan for? Include things like:

There are, of course, other things to consider, but if you’re just looking for the basic information then all this should be a good starting point for you. Next up comes the results, where you take the time to figure out how each battle/conflict/whatever you’d like to call it turned out. Think of things like:

From there, you’ll want to figure out how each side will adapt to this result. The best strategizers respond to the events of this conflict will often assess their side and the other side, and change their plans a little to try and help their side regain (or keep) the advantage.

Rinse and repeat until you’ve created a war.

The Home Front

What is everyone doing at home to help this effort, if anything at all? How are people responding to the war? Consider things like governmental actions and the civilian response, and what people at home might be asked to do to aid the cause. From a governmental perspective, think of things like:

You’ll also want to consider things like propaganda. It’s often a “strategy” used to increase morale at home and to help unify the nation during wartime. This can be used for a lot of purposes, but it’s often to 1) encourage those who would be able to enlist to do so or 2) encourage those who can’t enlist to still find ways to help the country.

Some other things that might change in the home life include:

Ending the War

And finally, we’ve made it to the end! One way or another, things are going to come to a close on this conflict. It might have been a month, a year, or a decade since the initial declaration of war, but we’ve made it. What comes with the end of a war can vary in essentially every way you can imagine. You’ll want to consider things like:

And that’s all I’ve got for today, I hope this helped! If there’s anything you want to see me write about in my next post, please don’t hesitate to leave a message in my ask. Until next time, much love! <333

What you can say instead of the word beautiful:

words to use instead of

as 

looked

before

smiled

touch

exhaled

nodded

passionate

but

gasped

frowned

movement

swirled

some fucking resources for all ur writing fuckin needs

* body language masterlist

* a translator that doesn’t eat ass like google translate does

* a reverse dictionary for when ur brain freezes

* 550 words to say instead of fuckin said

* 638 character traits for when ur brain freezes again

* some more body language help

(hope this helps some ppl)

Learning to trust the past

@lighthearted.writer on IG

If your character is meeting someone from the past, they shouldn’t immediately trust them. Especially if this is someone they’ve had a bad or abusive experience with, they should be wary of how they approach this person at a newer time in their life. There are new things to consider now. If they invite this person into their life, how is their presence going to affect their money, family, friends, household, daily activities? Goals? These are all important factors to consider when introducing people events of the past in stories.

Next time an old character resurfaces, you should try to think about the amount of time it takes for a group of character to feel comfortable around each other again, as well as what specifically might be at stake.

Writing Betrayal

Writing Betrayal

It’s the third act of the story, your heroes are in the fight for their lives (sometimes literally) and absolutely nothing must go wrong. But wait, someone close and important has decided to change sides.

CURSE YOUR SUDDEN BUT INEVITABLE BETRAYAL

The horror. The gut punch. The characters are now in even more dire straights. People may be dead.

Now, how do you, as an author, go about writing this to get the most reaction out of your audience?

Firstly, you have to write the character into the story.

No one is going to care about the third cousin once removed if he never appeared in the story before this betrayal scene. Your betrayer should be one of the main characters of an ensemble, or someone your main characters hang out with quite a bit.

The main characters trusted this character, we should too. They were friends. The reader should feel like this character is their friend.

Keep reading

How Typology Can Help Character Development Pt. 2

So, y’all may remember a few weeks ago I made a post on how the Enneagram can help you develop your characters. Well, now I’m going to go a little more in depth and explain the 9 Levels of Development. These levels are a super easy way to map out the positive or even negative progress your character makes throughout the story. Bear in mind that this is a general description of the levels–each type reacts differently at each level. 

Unhealthy Levels

In the unhealthy range, your character loses touch with reality. They see themselves in a delusional way–completely different to how others view them.

Level 9: The Level of Pathological Destructiveness

Level 8: The Level of Obsession and Compulsion

Level 7: The Level of Violation

Keep reading

Rea’s Writing Tips

Okay, I’ve been writing for the past twelve years, and over the course of this time, I’ve learned a lot of things. I still am learning, because I don’t think there is a such thing as perfecting a skill. What have I learned, might you ask? Well, I’m going to compile some of them into a list for you! So buckle up and sharpen those metaphorical pencils!

#1) Show don’t tell.

This is a staple rule when it comes to writing and always, always stays at the back of my mind. When you’re writing descriptions or world building or even putting together a dialogue scene, you want the reader to be able to see it in their minds’ eye. 

If you simply say, “I picked up the pencil. Then I wrote my paper, but I didn’t know I was doing. And then I got up and left.” That’s boring. And that’s Telling the reader what is happening. No one wants to read through a bulleted list of what your characters are up to. Keep in mind that you’re writing a story, not a kitchen recipe. 

So instead, use descriptions and answer these questions: What is your character thinking when they’re doing these things? What are they writing? Why are they writing it? What else is going on around them? What does it smell like? Is it hot or cold? Can they hear the air conditioner running? Are there other people in the room, if so, what are they doing? 

An example of Showing would be something along the lines of: “The pencil was heavy in my hand as I dragged it across the sheet of paper. Hopefully the teacher wouldn’t be be able to tell that I was completely bullshitting every word because I couldn’t afford to be docked another letter grade. Whatever. I’d just write what I could and hope for the best.” 

Show what’s happening without being obvious about it.

Don’t bore your readers to death with a laundry list.

#2) There is absolutely no need to go crazy with caps lock and punctuation.

When writing dialogue, if your character is shouting something, don’t put it in all caps. For example:

This not only takes away from the seriousness of the scene, but it also doesn’t look very appealing to read, does it? Instead, try playing around with italics or adjectives/verbs/descriptions/show don’t tell. For example:

Not only does this look more professional and appealing, but it helps the reader to visualize the scene a lot more than just going crazy with the caps lock. This also goes with overusing punctuation. One question mark, or one exclamation point is all you need to get your point across. There’s no need for more, the readers will understand without them, I promise. 

The crazier you go, the crazier you’ll look!!!??!!!

#3) Writers block isn’t because you don’t know what to write next. It’s because you subconsciously don’t like where your story is going.

You’ve experienced writers block. I’ve experienced writers block. That old lady at the supermarket down the street has experienced writers block. It’s not the end of the world, but it does put a damper on things, doesn’t it? You could be on a roll and spawning out 1000 words per minute and then bam! you hit a block. Where do you go from there? How do you overcome it? 

Simple. Delete a few paragraphs and then try again. Still not working? Delete more. And more. Until you find another route to take. 

Remember, sometimes roads close, you just need to find the detour.

#4) The rule of “why.”

A simple word can help you to build a word, a story, a universe, a character. The rule of “why” is what keeps your metaphorical world turning and helps prevent plot-holes. Say you have a character who is a painter. Ask yourself, why are they a painter? Why do they paint the things that they do? 

These questions will help you fall down the proverbial rabbit hole and into the subconscious of the character that you are creating. Okay, so they paint because their mother was a painter and she died. Why did she die? Why does the character feel the need to take up their mother’s torch? 

This also goes for world building too. Oh, so your character has a soulmate in your universe? Why do they have a soulmate? Why does the world work that way? Does everyone have a soulmate? No, why not? Etc. 

Always keep the question why? in the back of your mind and you’ll be able to answer the reader’s questions before they even think to have them.

#5) Pick a tense and stick to it as if your life depends on it.

Your story will either be in past tense, or present tense (excluding future because no. And the complicated past perfect, present perfect shit. We’re making it simple).  

Reading a sentence that says: “I walk to the door to leave, but bend down to grab my purse. The strap slid down my shoulder as I closed the door behind me” is jarring. Why? Because it is set in both past and present tense. The first sentence is present tense, while the second is past tense. If you aren’t sure what tense a word is in, pop that bad boy into google and it’ll let you know.

You can’t have both at the same time. So pick one, you whore. 

#6) Be the sponge.

It’s taken me twelve years to find my writing voice. Twelve, people. Some people may find it sooner, others later. Whatever side of the spectrum you’re on, don’t stress over it. I found my voice through reading. What about some author’s work did I like? What did I not like? It took some time, but I figured it out. And you’ll find yours too. So play around with different styles and figure out what you like. 

And what you hate.

#7) Become the angst.

How the hell are you supposed to properly write emotions? How can you make a reader cry, laugh, fume with anger, hold their breath in fear? The answer is actually quite simple.

Insert yourself into that frame of mind first. 

If you want to write a scene that is sad and you want people to be able to feel the emotion flying off the page, then become sad. Put yourself in the shoes of your character and write from the heart. If pretending to put a smile on your face in real life doesn’t fool your friends, then it won’t fool your readers either. 

I can’t even begin to tell you the amount of times I’ve put myself into a certain frame of mind or emotion before writing a scene or a fic or whatever. Music helps to set the mood too. I mean, look at your favorite actors. One thing I’ve always been taught in acting classes is that you have to feel the emotions that your character does.

If you feel it, I can guarantee that the readers will too.

#8) Take a breath, damnit!

Have you ever read a sentence so long that you felt out of breath, even though it wasn’t even read aloud? Yeah, me too. Sometimes it’s hard to know when to end a sentence and start anew or whether or not to just throw in that comma and call it a day, well there is a very simple, easy way to be able to tell which one of these you need to do and you just need to follow this rule in order to do it.

You just took a deep breath after reading that sentence, didn’t you?

Comma ≠ an excuse to continue a run-on sentence. If you aren’t sure whether or not you’ve just written one of these, read it aloud. If you have to stop to breathe, then throw a period somewhere in there. Starting a new sentence won’t hurt you. But a run-on sentence will surely kill you from asphyxiation.

~~~~~~~

This is all I have for now. But if you guys have any questions or want advice for specific things, please feel free to reach out! To quote my least favorite movie of all time: we’re all in this together!💜

Here's something I don't see writers practicing enough: how big things can permanently change your character.

I see people putting their characters through war, abusive relationships, health disorders, and intense grief. Since popular writers often fail here, I hope you guys are also considering how these things will affect your character in the long run. I don't mean "Oh, they have bad dreams now and are jerks to everyone, but only for a little while." I mean has their entire outlook on life changed dramatically, and if so how? Does it show? Do they try to hide it and move on, or do they accept that this is who they are now? Does it take them a long time or a short time to realize things can never again be the way they were? How does that affect them? Do they choose to keep this new personality, or do they try to change it?

Not everyone wants to acknowledge this type of development in a character because it gets in the way of their plans or disrupts plot. Also, some characters are made of stern stuff or are just flexible enough to survive with their personality intact. Yet, major events in a story should leave a noticeable impact on a character, the more personal the event generally the bigger the personality change.

Just think about it if you haven't already, y'know?