I just wanted to note that if your character isn’t capable of being magically healed and they get injured

Show them being in pain

Hours after the fact

Days

Give them a wrist that clicks funny for months instead of a badass scar that only gets attention when the character needs to seem cooler

After slipping down a whopping three stairs yesterday morning, I feel like I got hit by a truck today and all I can think is, “my god, how do my characters get up and walk around like nothing happened after they get hurt” and then I answer myself with, “oh, unrealistic writing, that’s how.”

Also, people love reminders that characters got hurt. They aren’t annoying. I for one, take great delight in reminders of my favorite character’s suffering

I know I ask this question every other month but I feel like I’m spamming the same 5-10 people with tags and I feel guilty

Please interact with this if you want to be tagged in tag games 👀 (I don’t care if you respond to them right away, it usually takes me a few days myself)

“denied the catharsis of punishment” is an underappreciated but hugely effective narrative consequence imo 

#it’s so tasty and it comes in so many flavors#does the character self-loathe and feel anguished by what others intended as an act of forgiveness and grace?#does the character know they need to change but sort of madly wish they could trade the unceasing exhausting improvement journey#for a flash bang of slate-clearing repentance so they don’t have to *think* about it anymore?#is is a creeping horror as the character realizes no one is going to punish them because everyone else still thinks what they did was okay?#does the character have to live the rest of their life just feeling ever so slightly untrusted by everyone with no way to stop it?#sorry for leaving pretentious tags on tumblr dot com it will happen again 

Peer-reviewed tags by @annabelle–cane

"A story doesn't need a theme in order to be good" I'm only saying this once but a theme isn't some secret coded message an author weaves into a piece so that your English teacher can talk about Death or Family. A theme is a summary of an idea in the work. If the story is "Susan went grocery shopping and saw a weird bird" then it might have themes like 'birds don't belong in grocery stores' or 'nature is interesting and worth paying attention to' or 'small things can be worth hearing about.' Those could be the themes of the work. It doesn't matter if the author intended them or not, because reading is collaborative and the text gets its meaning from the reader (this is what "death of the author" means).

Every work has themes in it, and not just the ones your teachers made you read in high school. Stories that are bad or clearly not intended to have deep messages still have themes. It is inherent in being a story. All stories have themes, even if those themes are shallow, because stories are sentences connected together for the purpose of expressing ideas, and ideas are all that themes are.

I was anti-theme for a long time. In high school the obsession with theme was so annoying, and even teachers teaching me writing were annoyingly insistent that theme was a big part of writing, as if you start with some theme and go from there. when I think many people will agree that that isn't the case.

But, I did get really into character development. Character drove my passion for writing and I got really into character arcs and how to write them.

It's Abbie Emmons on YouTube that changed how I saw theme for real. Granted, I was a little bit less snarky about it, I started to understand that theme was something that just happened rather than being the solution to a puzzle. And when I started watching her video on theme I did have that same reaction, no, I don't have some big truth I want to share with the world.

But her advice boils down to this: What is the lesson your character needs to learn? Flip that over. That's their misbelief. The misbelief will drive pretty much the whole story up until the climax.

And I went. OH. Clicked for me. I don't need some truth/ theme in mind. Usually for me I know my goal for the character, or their flaw, or some piece of the misbelief/lesson. And knowing that when I start out? knowing that is the theme for the character's development? That IS super useful.

But this is more talking about books than writing-- So all this to say, if you don't see a theme, did the character change? that's a theme. was the character challenged? that's a theme.

Writing advice from my uni teachers:

This is legit good writing advice, especially the first bullet point! In playwriting class we did a bit where every bit of dialogue had to be an accusatory question and it was glorious.

Need a character to say "[my role is to] protect and serve" without sounding like a fucking cop, or ideally, not like someone who just sat down with a thesaurus to avoid sounding like a cop. Open to suggestions.

So I want to genuinely start building a community. My tribe of obsessive writing freaks like myself ☺️

If you're an indie author, novice, unpublished, whatever the case may be; send me your works in progress! We aspiring writers must stick together!! Short stories, excerpts, chapters, synopsis, something you've been stuck on?

Follow me and send me your writing, I will reach out to you with advice, tips, however you may need!

My email: contact@astralluxestudios.com

I'll also be enhancing some really helpful worksheets that I made to help me develop my own fantasy characters and mythological creatures to populate my new world: Aurorith Isles.

More of those with the update post coming soon ;) If you're interested in communing with a like-minded mythology nerd, I’m your gal! I will fully utilizing my blog as a Luxe’s Lore Library if you will! So many exciting things I have planned

Still looking for like-minded creative writers! 🩷 email me your work or any questions you need answered :)

Hey, can y’all rb this if it’s okay to send you messages asking about your ocs, cause on god I wanna interact with y’all but I am terrified of being annoying lol

Good Traits Gone Bad

Exploring good traits gone bad in a novel can add depth and complexity to your characters. Here are a few examples of good traits that can take a negative turn:

1. Empathy turning into manipulation: A character with a strong sense of empathy may use it to manipulate others' emotions and gain an advantage.

2. Confidence becoming arrogance: Excessive confidence can lead to arrogance, where a character belittles others and dismisses their opinions.

3. Ambition turning into obsession: A character's ambition can transform into an unhealthy obsession, causing them to prioritize success at any cost, including sacrificing relationships and moral values.

4. Loyalty becoming blind devotion: Initially loyal, a character may become blindly devoted to a cause or person, disregarding their own well-being and critical thinking.

5. Courage turning into recklessness: A character's courage can morph into reckless behavior, endangering themselves and others due to an overestimation of their abilities.

6. Determination becoming stubbornness: Excessive determination can lead to stubbornness, where a character refuses to consider alternative perspectives or change their course of action, even when it's detrimental.

7. Optimism becoming naivety: Unwavering optimism can transform into naivety, causing a character to overlook dangers or be easily deceived.

8. Protectiveness turning into possessiveness: A character's protective nature can evolve into possessiveness, where they become overly controlling and jealous in relationships.

9. Altruism becoming self-neglect: A character's selflessness may lead to neglecting their own needs and well-being, to the point of self-sacrifice and burnout.

10. Honesty becoming brutal bluntness: A character's commitment to honesty can turn into brutal bluntness, hurting others with harsh and tactless remarks.

These examples demonstrate how even admirable traits can have negative consequences when taken to extremes or used improperly. By exploring the complexities of these traits, you can create compelling and multi-dimensional characters in your novel.

Happy writing!

One thing that I think we don't talk about enough is that Word Count... is more than words.

Like I can type pretty fast. I've written 1k in under 30 minutes before. When I'm writing a new project or a oneshot, it's often easy for me to write 2k-3k in a day. But typing fast and writing fast are not the same. You have to characterize, pace, add flow, keep with the plot, and think of ideas for the next sentence. If I just had to WRITE my current main project I would have been done months ago, but I would take week to month long breaks just to... think of where to take the story. JUST THINKING! Even writing this post took a great amount consideration. You aren't just spewing words you can remember in a random order, you are CRAFTING. YOU HAVE A SKILL. YOU ARE USING IT AND TRAINING IT!!!

That's why saying "oh if word count doesn't work for you, then use pages!" doesn't work. You're still running into the same problem. The page or thousand words where two characters defeat the big bad are not going to be as hard to write as the page or thousand words of banter. Not all writing is made equal, and to view it completely numerically is a disservice to yourself.

This isn't to say word count is worthless. That is another extreme, and I will not let you go away from this post without nuance. Viewing the progress in your writing by the literal progress of the plot is extremely mentally taxing. Numbers go brrr is a great shorthand, but it is a SHORTHAND. You have to remember that you are an artist. You are a writer. You have the ability to take an idea and make it physical. Don't you DARE water that down! Honor yourself! Take your time, take breaks, amd reward yourself. View this as something of value or SO HELP ME GOD--

Also:

Aaaaaaaand

Also consider:

And!

Writers! How many words deep are you in your wip?

Recently, I've been working a lot in the first draft of one of my novel (I'm nearly finished now!!), and that's why I haven't really published anything. Perhaps, that's why I'd like to know how other writers (like you) are doing!

That's all for now! Happy writing and until next time.

Note: would you like to know about my wip or my characters? I'd be very excited to share about it if enough people are interested!!

Heads up seven up

Tagged by @winterandwords! This is from gay crime bdsm WIP 😊 I edited it a bit to add some context to what's going on but managed to hit seven lines on the dot.

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One of my two main characters is just a truly terrible person and I have never felt more free. :)

Tagging @jezifster, @i-can-even-burn-salad, @itsthenovelteafactor, @dontjudgemeimawriter and @ashen-crest if they'd like to play!