I am going to take a deep breath and just remind you:

Writing is messy, even for the best authors. It's supposed to feel a little uncomfortable, exhilarating, freeing, natural, and terrifying.

It's supposed to inspire you and feel like a too-heavy backpack.

Sometimes, you're going to love being a writer and sometimes, you'll feel so disconnected, you'll wonder if you were ever a writer to begin with.

Give yourself room to make mistakes and hate your work and return to it with renewed confidence that yes, you will get 1% better next time.

It's what we're all going through. Let's speed up the growing process a little by accepting the entirety of it.

Expanding a thought from a conversation this morning:

In general, I think "Is X out-of-character?" is not a terribly useful question for a writer. It shuts down possibility, and interesting directions you could take a character.

A better question, I believe, is "What would it take for Character to do X?" What extremity would she find herself in, where X starts to look like a good idea? What loyalties or fears leave him with X as his only option? THAT'S where a potentially interesting story lies.

In practice, I find that you can often justify much more from a character than you initially dreamed you could: some of my best stories come from "What might drive Character to do [thing he would never do]?" As long as you make it clear to the reader what the hell pushed your character to this point, you've got the seed of a compelling story on your hands.

i want to coin a phrase that's the opposite of writer's block. call it the muse's fire hydrant. thirty thousand story ideas are being beamed directly into your brain and if you don't write them all at once you will die.

show, don't tell:

anticipation - bouncing legs - darting eyes - breathing deeply - useless / mindless tasks - eyes on the clock - checking and re-checking

frustration - grumbling - heavy footsteps - hot flush - narrowed eyes - pointing fingers - pacing / stomping

sadness - eyes filling up with tears - blinking quickly - hiccuped breaths - face turned away - red / burning cheeks - short sentences with gulps

happiness - smiling / cheeks hurting - animated - chest hurts from laughing - rapid movements - eye contact - quick speaking

boredom - complaining - sighing - grumbling - pacing - leg bouncing - picking at nails

fear - quick heartbeat - shaking / clammy hands - pinching self - tuck away - closing eyes - clenched hands

disappointment - no eye contact - hard swallow - clenched hands - tears, occasionally - mhm-hmm

tiredness - spacing out - eyes closing - nodding head absently - long sighs - no eye contact - grim smile

confidence - prolonged eye contact - appreciates instead of apologizing - active listening - shoulders back - micro reactions

I want to write a book called “your character dies in the woods” that details all the pitfalls and dangers of being out on the road & in the wild for people without outdoors/wilderness experience bc I cannot keep reading narratives brush over life threatening conditions like nothing is happening.

I just read a book by one of my favorite authors whose plots are essentially airtight, but the MC was walking on a country road on a cold winter night and she was knocked down and fell into a drainage ditch covered in ice, broke through and got covered in icy mud and water.

Then she had a “miserable” 3 more miles to walk to the inn.

Babes she would not MAKE it to that inn.

Are there any other particularly egregious examples?

This book already exists, sort of! Or at least, it’s a biology textbook but I bought it for writing purposes:

It starts with a chapter about freezing to death, and it is without a doubt the scariest thing I’ve read in years (and I read a lot of horror fiction).

This book can be downloaded for free on Researchgate, posted there by the author himself:

The Biology of Human Survival: Life and Death in Extreme Environments

I need everyone’s best character advice. STAT.

You're not creating real people, you're creating the illusion of real people. You don't have to mention their favorite food if it doesn't come up, you don't even have to know it, though if they were actual people they'd have one. You can throw plot events at your characters to force them to take certain actions, or you could just rewrite the characters to be the kind of characters who would take those actions anyway. Your characters have a life of their own in their own little world, but don't be afraid to play god to get what you want out of them.

In the vast majority of cases, a character's strengths and flaws should be the same thing. There are exceptions (you can have a character be clumsy for the lols without needing to find some way that it's an advantage), but for most character traits, the difference between a flaw and a strength is the situation at hand and learning when to indulge it.

desire is the source of action, so your characters should WANT things. all of them should have something they want that's good for them, something they want that's bad for them, and something that's just a little silly, for spice.

Another worldbuilding application of the "two layer rule": To create a culture while avoiding The Planet Of Hats (the thing where a people only have one thing going for them, like "everyone wears a silly hat"): You only need two hats.

Try picking two random flat culture ideas and combine them, see how they interact. Let's say taking the Proud Warrior Race - people who are all about glory in battle and feats of strength, whose songs and ballads are about heroes in battle and whose education consists of combat and military tactics. Throw in another element: Living in diaspora. Suddenly you've got a whole more interesting dynamic going on - how did a people like this end up cast out of their old native land? How do they feel about it? How do they make a living now - as guards, mercenaries? How do their non-combatants live? Were they always warrior people, or did they become fighters out of necessity to fend for themselves in the lands of strangers? How do the peoples of these lands regard them?

Like I'm not shitting, it's literally that easy. You can avoid writing an one-dimensional culture just by adding another equally flat element, and the third dimension appears on its own just like that. And while one of the features can be location/climate, you can also combine two of those with each other.

Let's take a pretty standard Fantasy Race Biome: The forest people. Their job is the forest. They live there, hunt there, forage there, they have an obnoxious amount of sayings that somehow refer to trees, woods, or forests. Very high chance of being elves. And then a second common stock Fantasy Biome People: The Grim Cold North. Everything is bleak and grim up there. People are hardy and harsh, "frostbite because the climate hates you" and "stabbed because your neighbour hates you" are the most common causes of death. People are either completely humourless or have a horrifyingly dark, morbid sense of humour. They might find it funny that you genuinely can't tell which one.

Now combine them: Grim Cold Bleak Forest People. The summer lasts about 15 minutes and these people know every single type of berry, mushroom and herb that's edible in any fathomable way. You're not sure if they're joking about occasionally resorting to eating tree bark to survive the long dark winter. Not a warrior people, but very skilled in disappearing into the forest and picking off would-be invaders one by one. Once they fuck off into the woods you won't find them unless they want to be found.

You know, Finland.

Genuinely I think one of the best things you can do to build characters in your story is give them a kink. You do not have to put that kink in the story. You do not have to tell anyone but yourself. But thinking about their wants and needs and what would bring them comfort or desire, about whether they crave power or crave a situation where they're blessedly free from any power, about which taboo they might kind of want to cross, is really useful for getting inside their head. Also "what situation would make my character stupid horny enough to make a terrible mistake?" is a good plotting device. "It's a plot hole that they made that dumb decision" no they were just whistling like a lustful kettle and forgot to turn their brain on.

Find Your Next Plot Idea: 12 Tricks to Try

Waiting for inspiration to strike can take too long. It's also not the best way to improve your writing, since you may not write very often in-between ideas.

I've been there before. When you're getting impatient, find your next idea for a short story or potential novel by trying these simple tricks.

1. Try a Plot Generator

Generators will throw ideas at you that you might not think about otherwise. They don't always make sense, but it's fun sifting through their options!

Check out more than one to find a site you like. You could try:

2. Find Random Facts

There are other sites that pull up random facts that could inspire a creative streak. They may also help you with singular plot points your story might be missing or more details while fleshing out characters.

See if you prefer:

3. Check the Current News Headlines

Look up the current news in another city, state, or country. Without reading the stories, see if you can imagine a plot for each headline. It can be a fun creative exercise if you stay away from heavy topics.

You could find the latest news at places like:

4. Think About Your Recent Dreams

Dreams don't always make sense, but they can make you think outside of the box. Maybe you recently dreamed about escaping a haunted house or running into your old crush while on a vacation across the world. It could inspire your next story or even just a small part of one.

5. Try Free Writing

Your writing may have come to a halt because you get too caught up in the process. Free writing is an excellent exercise to break out of routines and old habits.

It first started in 1973 and hasn't changed much since. All you need to do is set a timer and open a new Google doc or grab a piece of paper. When the timer begins, start writing your stream of consciousness down and don't stop writing until the timer ends.

Whatever comes to mind should end up on your paper. Don't worry about sentence structure, grammar, or spelling. The exercise will loosen your creative flow and help you think through the writer's block keeping you from your next story.

6. Do Some Digital Eavesdropping

You can always sit yourself down in a public area (like a coffee shop) and eavesdrop on other people's conversations to hear about experiences you've never thought about before. But something about that always creeped me out, so sometimes I go digital.

Scroll through social media sites like Instagram or Twitter. Look for posts with pictures or a quick caption that doesn't explain the full picture. See what's trending, what the latest celebrity gossip is. Make up stories behind it, like with the newspaper headline trick. You'll get much different ideas than you'd find on news sites without carving time into your schedule for stopping by a place in town.

7. Map Your Mind

If you've never tried mind mapping, it could be a great place to start your next brainstorming session. All you need is a central idea or theme.

Imagine picking a theme like self-love. You'd traditionally write it in the middle of a piece of paper and draw a circle or box around it. Arrows then branch off of that theme to whatever idea pops into your head when you think about it.

There's no order to the branching thought bubbles and you can branch off of those as long as you want. Eventually your words could add up into a story idea, scene, or character.

The University of Adelaide has a great example diagram if you're having a hard time picturing your mind map.

8. Write a Re-Telling

There are re-tellings of classic stories all the time. Think of Hamlet turning into The Lion King. Or the folklore that morphed into Disney princesses, who morphed into the gripping series The Lunar Chronicles.

When re-tellings are done well, they give a new perspective on a well-known theme, legend, superstition, or moral.

Many writers feel like they have to avoid re-tellings in their short stories or as future novels, but they can be powerful ways to convey meaningful storylines and themes if done well. They're also a great way to jumpstart your writing after a dry period.

9. Listen to Music

Trying to write something in a quiet room might not help your creative flow. The silence can make your critical thoughts louder than anything else or make it more tempting to set your writing aside.

It's always a good idea to try listening to music while you write. Specifically, you should select a few songs or a playlist that makes you happy. Research shows that creativity greatly improves when people listen to music that generates happiness.

There's also evidence that it's easier to focus while listening to lyric-less music.

Not sure where to start? I've got some recommended background noise apps, websites, and free playlists over on my resource list. It's got everything from rain sounds to my favorite lyric-less low-fi YouTube playlist.

10. Write Fan Fiction

The blank page is even more intimidating when you're not very familiar with your characters or setting. Fan fiction can be a balm for that. Try writing a short story about people in your latest favorite TV show, movie, or book series. You're already very familiar with those worlds, so practicing your writing skills by freestyling new arcs or scenes can be a lot of fun.

11. Analyze a Book's Plot

We all have a favorite book. Think of the one that last dazzled you or made you fall in love with reading. How did it do that?

Sometimes it helps to study an existing book you've already read. You can map it out on paper by writing down character names, inciting events, the plot points that built to the story's finale, and everything in between. Note how each point made you feel and why it mattered. You can reflect those strategies in your own work, which may solve your writer's block.

12. Watch a Documentary

There are some wild documentaries out there that will blow your mind. Pick one and enjoy it, then ask yourself what if things had gone differently? Tweaking part of an event could make it branch off into an entirely new story. It's basically writing fan fiction, but it may interest people who are more into instructional media.

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When you find something that works, enjoy it! Then try something else the next time you want to create a plot. Writing is a craft that changes with time. It's better to have a well-tried bag of inspirational tricks than sit around and wait for a story to pop up in your mind.

im curious so.... random poll time!

what genres do you find yourself writing in unintentionally? like what do you gravitate to whenever you start a story?

also if i didnt include a genre, rb and put it in the tags. (btw i didnt include fanfiction because i feel like most fanfic also fit into these genres)

if u want, rb so there's a higher sample size

"must a story have conflict?" yes. hope this helps <3

If your plot feels flat, STUDY it! Your story might be lacking...

Stakes - What would happen if the protagonist failed? Would it really be such a bad thing if it happened?

Thematic relevance - Do the events of the story speak to a greater emotional or moral message? Is the conflict resolved in a way that befits the theme?

Urgency - How much time does the protagonist have to complete their goal? Are there multiple factors complicating the situation?

Drive - What motivates the protagonist? Are they an active player in the story, or are they repeatedly getting pushed around by external forces? Could you swap them out for a different character with no impact on the plot? On the flip side, do the other characters have sensible motivations of their own?

Yield - Is there foreshadowing? Do the protagonist's choices have unforeseen consequences down the road? Do they use knowledge or clues from the beginning, to help them in the end? Do they learn things about the other characters that weren't immediately obvious?

Thank you so much for this!

Ways to say "I love you" / prompts

writing heists

navigation

#1. The setting

What place is being looted? What are they trying to steal? What’s the layout? What’s the path they are going to take? All of these are super essential questions if you want to have a fully-fleshed out heist. Know the barebones of your setting, make a map if you want to - and figure out how your character’s are going to break in. 

#2. Whose coming along, and what are their roles?

Everyone should have a role - the sniper, the fighter, the strategist, etc. It gives a good division of their strengths and weaknesses, and also some kind of structure to your heist. Some possible roles could include:

Distraction/Bait Spy Weapons expert Strategist/Strategy expert Healer/Medic Sniper Base operations

#3. What goes wrong?

How do your characters screw up? It is extremely important to know what goes wrong and how your characters overcome it. If everything goes to plan, its boring - there need to be surprises and mishaps that happen along the way. Some ideas could be:

#4. The character development shouldn’t stop

The character’s should keep developing - their personal stories for why they chose to come on the heist should come to a head for at least a FEW characters, particularly the main characters. Their stories and arcs should progress significantly as you get closer and closer to the climax. The plot and character arcs should NOT be seperate.

The next time you're building a character profile, ask yourself these questions to dig a little deeper into your character's inner workings.

Happy writing!