Writing Tip - What ‘Habit Over Motivation’ Actually Looks Like

We’ve all heard the writing advice that you can’t rely on motivation to get you through writing a book, sometimes you need to force yourself to do it and make a habit of it. And a lot of us will scoff at that or find it too restrictive or boring, it leaves us feeling like it’s a chore rather than a fun activity

As someone who only worked out what people actually mean by it recently, let me explain my take on it

You’re not always going to be inspired to write, you’re not always going to be motivated to write, but if you only write when you’re motivated it’s gonna take a crap ton of time - and writing anything to completion already takes donkey’s years as it is. Forming a habit is going to enable you to write consistently, and thus even unmotivated or uninspired progress is still made. Hence, sometimes you have to force yourself to write

But writing too much will make that habit impossible, or at least it becomes a chore and not a fun activity. You need to give yourself realistic goals to meet, even if it’s only something small. Write for ten minutes a day, write 500 words every week, any snail’s pace progress regardless of how insignificant it may seem. Something small enough that it doesn’t drain you but frequent enough that there’s still a habit being formed, there’s still consistency to it

I used to only write when I was inspired and motivated and could get myself to start writing, and even then the word count would be inconsistent. It could be weeks or even months between proper writing sessions. But now that I have a baseline for productivity, I have a baseline for consistent progress. And I’m only on 1K words a week! And if that doesn’t work, you can do less, or go by time spent writing if that’s a better metric for your writing style!

There’s no such thing as not enough progress when it comes to forming a consistent habit; if you can get at least one word per deadline (day, week, whatever) then that still counts as consistent progress

What everyone else seems to think of is “You must get this big amount of words written daily, think of it as eternal NaNoWriMo, if you miss even one day you’re a failure and you’ll never get the book done, SUFFER FOR YOUR ART!”

Just do what’s comfortable and it’ll be fine, no worries

How To (Realistically) Make A Habit Of Writing

To clarify: Works with my autism. WORKS WITH MY AUTISM!!! I’ve been meeting my goals since I made them my New Year’s resolution! Anyway I’m so sick of all those ‘how to’ guides that don’t actually tell you what the process is they’re just like ‘just do it, but don’t burn yourself out, do what’s best for you!’ because you’re not telling me what I’m not supposed to be burning myself out over but okay, so I made my own. Hope this helps

1. Choose your fighter metric. What works better for you as a measurement of your progress; time spent writing or your word count? Personally I get very motivated and encouraged by seeing my word count go up and making a note of where it should be when I’m done, so I measure by that. At the same time, a lot of people are also very discouraged by their word count and it can negatively impact their motivation to write, and in that case you may be better off working from how much time you spend writing rather than where the word count is

2. Choose your starter Pokémon time frame. How often can you write before it starts to feel like a chore or a burden rather than something fun you look forward to? Many people believe that they have to write daily, but for some people this can do more harm than good. Maybe every two or three days? Weekly? Figure out what fits your schedule and go with it

3. Choose your funny third joke goal. Now that you’ve got your chosen time frame to complete your goal in, what’s a reasonable goal to aim to complete within that time frame based on the metric you chose? If your metric is your word count, how much can you reasonably and consistently write within your chosen time frame? If your metric is time spent writing, how much time can you reasonably and consistently spend writing within that time? Maybe 1000 words per week works, or maybe 10 minutes per day? The goal here is to find something that works for you and your own schedule without burning you out

4. Trial and error. Experiment with your new target and adapt it accordingly. Most people can’t consistently write 1667 words per day like you do in NaNoWriMo, so we want to avoid that and aim somewhere more reasonable. If you feel like it’s too much to do in such a short time frame, either give yourself less to do or more time to do it in. If you find yourself begrudgingly writing so often that it constantly feels more like a chore than something fun, maybe consider adapting things. And if you think that you gave yourself too much wiggle room and you could do more than this consistently, give yourself more of a challenge. Everything needs to suit you and your pace and needs

5. Run your own race. Don’t feel like you’re not accomplishing enough in comparison to others or not working fast enough to satisfy some arbitrary feeling of doubt. Everybody works at their own pace and slower work doesn’t mean worse work. You could be on one word per day and you’ll still see consistent results, which is still one word per day more than you could originally count on. All progress is progress, regardless of its speed

20 Emotional Wounds in Fiction That Make Readers Root for the Character

20 Essential Positive Traits to Make Your Characters Empathetic to Readers

Flaws to Give to Characters II

When I first posted "Flaws to Add to Characters," it gained a lot more popularity than I thought it would! And since you all loved it so much, here's another one!

>>> Selfishness - When one becomes too focused on themselves, they start to ignore those around them who've helped along the way.

>>> Indecisiveness - When one can't make a decision, ultimately, they are stuck and unable to progress.

>>> Self-Centered - Self-centered people are often too consumed with themselves to worry about anything else. Sometimes it's similar to selfishness, and other times it's not. They may be too vain or too busy victimizing themselves to care about others.

>>> Gullibility - A seriously gullible person is easy to trick, manipulate, and hurt.

>>> Skepticality - People that are just too skeptical can be difficult to deal with because they seemingly have to question every action. There's always a motive behind kindness, right..?

>>> Bluntness - Though honesty is the best policy, bluntness is something else. Being too honest can be quite hurtful depending on the situation.

>>> Pushover - Not being able to say "no" when one wants to makes it difficult to be able to advocate for themselves. Additionally, they can get taken advantage of and used.

>>> Easily Offended - This person will absolutely take EVERYTHING personally. Those around them have to be careful about their words, actions, or even behavior because they will look too deep into the most non-meaningful actions. This is usually a result of insecurity.

>>> Overthinking - We all have our moments with this one. Overthinking can often lead to indecisiveness, ensuring that a decision won't be made in the future.

>>> Impulsivity - Sometimes it's better to just think things through. Being too impulsive can lead to unideal situations, events, and outcomes.

Whaddya think? Were these helpful? I'm thinking about continuing these series, but what do you think? (Not gonna lie, these posts help me get my ideas and thoughts in order too.)

Happy writing~

3hks <3

Yay, unsolicited advice time! Or, not really advice, more like miscellaneous tips and tricks, because if there's one thing eight years of martial arts has equipped me to write, it's fight scenes.

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Fun things to add to a fight scene (hand to hand edition)

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Just thought these might be useful! If you want a more comprehensive guide or a weapons edition, feel free to ask. If you want, write how your characters fight in the comments!

Have a bitchin day <3

-As mentioned, if you whack anyone in the nose, even lightly, their eyes will water and their vision will be briefly compromised.

BUT ALSO -If they're not a frequent/trained fighter they will automatically raise both hands to their face and drop their head downward, instinctively, to protect their face. You can use this.

-High kicks are for taekwondo tournaments or that VERY rare moment they're called for. Most people used to fighting won't swing a kick above the waistline because these are easy for another moderately adequate fighter to get under and shove UP. One of my favorite tactics because every dude tries to be Chuck Norris so they learn high kicks but not breakfalls.

I’m scared

Honestly? My main piece of advice for writing well-rounded characters is to make them a little bit lame. No real living person is 100% cool and suave 100% of the time. Everyone's a little awkward sometimes, or gets too excited about something goofy, or has a silly fear, or laughs about stupid things. Being a bit of a loser is an incurable part of the human condition. Utilize that in your writing.

Daily Prompt #133

Everything is going wrong. Struggling whole life with horrible parents, even worse siblings, creepy neighbour and that group of girls that bullied her and the teacher she trusted but she did nothing to help her. Now she is an adult. And found out she's dying, she has only few months left to live. Now she is wondering - should she try to live like there is no tomorrow and find happiness or should she seek revenge on those who hurt her... She is dying anyway!

Saying "I love you" without saying "I love you" — some ways your otp can silently express affection

Epic Friendship Prompt List

Types Of Writer’s Block (And How To Fix Them)

1. High inspiration, low motivation. You have so many ideas to write, but you just don’t have the motivation to actually get them down, and even if you can make yourself start writing it you’ll often find yourself getting distracted or disengaged in favour of imagining everything playing out

Try just bullet pointing the ideas you have instead of writing them properly, especially if you won’t remember it afterwards if you don’t. At least you’ll have the ideas ready to use when you have the motivation later on

2. Low inspiration, high motivation. You’re all prepared, you’re so pumped to write, you open your document aaaaand… three hours later, that cursor is still blinking at the top of a blank page

RIP pantsers but this is where plotting wins out; refer back to your plans and figure out where to go from here. You can also use your bullet points from the last point if this is applicable

3. No inspiration, no motivation. You don’t have any ideas, you don’t feel like writing, all in all everything is just sucky when you think about it

Make a deal with yourself; usually when I’m feeling this way I can tell myself “Okay, just write anyway for ten minutes and after that, if you really want to stop, you can stop” and then once my ten minutes is up I’ve often found my flow. Just remember that, if you still don’t want to keep writing after your ten minutes is up, don’t keep writing anyway and break your deal - it’ll be harder to make deals with yourself in future if your brain knows you don’t honour them

4. Can’t bridge the gap. When you’re stuck on this one sentence/paragraph that you just don’t know how to progress through. Until you figure it out, productivity has slowed to a halt

Mark it up, bullet point what you want to happen here, then move on. A lot of people don’t know how to keep writing after skipping a part because they don’t know exactly what happened to lead up to this moment - but you have a general idea just like you do for everything else you’re writing, and that’s enough. Just keep it generic and know you can go back to edit later, at the same time as when you’re filling in the blank. It’ll give editing you a clear purpose, if nothing else

5. Perfectionism and self-doubt. You don’t think your writing is perfect first time, so you struggle to accept that it’s anything better than a total failure. Whether or not you’re aware of the fact that this is an unrealistic standard makes no difference

Perfection is stagnant. If you write the perfect story, which would require you to turn a good story into something objective rather than subjective, then after that you’d never write again, because nothing will ever meet that standard again. That or you would only ever write the same kind of stories over and over, never growing or developing as a writer. If you’re looking back on your writing and saying “This is so bad, I hate it”, that’s generally a good thing; it means you’ve grown and improved. Maybe your current writing isn’t bad, if just matched your skill level at the time, and since then you’re able to maintain a higher standard since you’ve learned more about your craft as time went on

Let's talk about foreshadowing.

Foreshadowing can add a lot of depth to your writing and make it more exciting for the readers. They create a sense of coherence and satisfaction when future events unfold as hinted—or shock if they don't.

Here are some tips for effectively using foreshadowing in your novels and books:

Let's look at some ways to incorporate foreshadowing:

Happy writing! ❤

you're the thoughts that can't be tamed ⊹₊｡ꕤ

⇴ holding person b's hand longer than usual, just because person a craves the skinship. meanwhile, the person b is practically on fire and keeps glancing at person a.

⇴ "and if you're not ready for this right now, then i can wait–" and the other person cuts them off with a kiss.

⇴ cutting people off with kisses in general. something so endearing about not being able to contain your love for someone that you have to express it asap.

⇴ that silence before a long, deep conversation between person a and person b. they're both looking around at anything but each other, when both parties want nothing more than to desperately reach out. (like they're spiraling not being able to talk to each other)

⇴ "so..." "so."

⇴ that feeling when person a knows there's someone behind them, but is too nervous to check in case it's person b. meanwhile, person b is highly anticipating person a to look back.

⇴ always (and i mean ALWAYS) managing to find each other even through the busiest of crowds. and having that moment where you two make eye contact across the room.

⇴ rubbing/scratching a body part (ex. back) and person a's hand lingers a little too low on accident. but they're freaking out and don't know what to do, so they just keep their hand where it is.

⇴ "if you wanna say something, now's your chance."

⇴ slowly watching person a walk away, even though person b wants them to stay. so, person b runs and tries to catch up with person a before they leave.

⇴ one bed trope except they can't even build the classic wall of pillows. the bed is tiny, so person a and b have to lay so close together that a can feel b's heartbeat pounding.

⇴ ^^ "are you cold?" person b asks even though they can feel their body heat radiating over person a.

Words to Use Instead Of...

Beautiful

Interesting

Good

Awesome

Cute

Shy

If you like my blog, buy me a coffee☕ and find me on instagram! 📸

I Tried it at Home

Chapter 1: Dark Day at the Robinson House

The year was 2032, and the day started as any other.

Wilbur always loved seeing his dad’s inventions. So much in fact, that Cornelius would often make extra models to give one to Wilbur as a toy.

He mimicked the sound of a spaceship as he held the model high in the air. His imagination soared, and he giggled as he ran around the endless fields surrounding their home. In his adventure, Captain Time Travel had stopped a planet from flying into the sun, and now he was-

Crack!

The sound of crackling electricity stopped the boy in his tracks. 

There! In the garage window! Curiosity took hold, and Wilbur found himself approaching. ‘Come closer…’ the lights almost seemed to beckon.

Wilbur walked along the side until he found the garage door cracked open. Hmm. Someone must not’ve shut it properly. Oh well. Anyway, adventure awaits!

Down the dark room Wilbur crept, following the sounds of crackling electricity. Past low humming machines and bright glowing chemicals, past inventions both familiar and foreign, Wilbur’s heart fluttered with the excitement of a new adventure.

As he made his way closer, he heard talking. His dad! He seemed excited. He was talking and rushing around the way he did whenever he had a bright new idea. Wilbur stuck to the shadows of the room. He knew he wasn’t supposed to be here. No doubt if dad saw him, he’d scold him and take him back outside.

Wilbur turned the corner and nearly gasped. The time machine! It was beautiful! Every bit like the model and more! His dad had worked so hard on it and boy oh boy did it pay off! He held the little model up and shut one eye, beaming at the way the two almost looked to be the same size through his perspective.

“I think she’s ready to go…” Cornelius said to nobody in particular as he walked a lap around the time machine to give it one last glance over. He stepped back, taking in all his hard work. He stood frozen in admiration. Wilbur smiled. His dad always did that when he was proud of his work. “Wow…” Cornelius murmured.

The scientist seemed to shake himself out of it and rushed over to the control panel. Time to take her for a spin! Wilbur stayed quiet, eager to see his father’s latest invention come to life. He thought he heard something from outside the garage, but he was too focused on the machine.

Cornelius pulled the switch, and the time machine whirred to life.

“Yes!” Cornelius jumped up. The machine began to lift off the ground, systems working as intended and ready to travel.

“Dad, you did it!” Wilbur cheered and abandoned his hiding spot. Cornelius’s expression changed in the blink of an eye, so shocked by his son’s presence that the time machine was long forgotten. “Wilbur?! What on Earth are you-“ His question was cut off by the raise in volume the time machine began to make. It began to beep warnings and the glass cracked. It was going to explode! No. No! “Wilbur!” The scientist sprinted for his son. “Wilbur!”

“Dad!”

The explosion was near deafening.

The world seemed to slow down. Wilbur felt like he was flying. His father grabbed him and pulled him into an embrace. Cornelius had his back to the blast, shielding his son. 

For a moment, Wilbur opened his eyes amongst the blinding flash of light. He saw his toy model flying through the air from the blast. And for a moment, it really did look like Captain Time Travel flying through the galaxy.

And then that wonderful moment ended.

“-ilbur…” “Wilbur!”

“…Mom?”

Franny was shaking him awake. 

The second he opened his eyes, he was swept into a crushing hug. “Oh Wilbur!” He coughed. What even happened? He slowly looked around over his mother’s shoulder. The first thing he noticed was the ringing in his ears, and the horrid smell. The room had been covered in burn marks, and the few bits of time machine left (if one could even call it such) were nothing but pieces of twisted metal. Twisted metal and a single nut. The other thing he noticed were the rest of his family. His uncles Art and Gaston were checking on his-

“Dad!” Wilbur wiggled from his mother’s hold and kneeled by the fallen form of his father. His back had been badly burned, charred pink skin exposed from a hole in his lab coat. Uncle Art carefully rolled him on his side. Uncle Gaston nearly stopped Wilbur but seemed to stop himself. He didn’t have the heart to separate them. 

“You guys stay outside! It’s not safe here!” Art called out to someone through the smoke Wilbur couldn’t quite see. They were outside of the lab. “Are you guys okay?!” Wilbur recognized the voice as belonging to one of his cousins. Art did not answer.

His mother brushed away a few tears and helped her brothers. Suddenly, Cornelius let out a cough and opened his blue eyes. Franny gasped. “Easy, brother,” Uncle Art soothed.

“Wilbur… where’s Wilbur?!” Panic and realization rose in his voice. 

“Dad!” Wilbur rushed over and practically leapt into his fathers arms. Cornelius breathed a sigh of relief and held his son tight. Tears of joy began to spill from Franny’s eyes. Her husband and son were okay. Cornelius’s face softened when he noticed Franny’s tears, and he held out another arm to her. Just like that, she joined in. Cornelius was okay. Wilbur was okay. The Robinsons were okay. 

“Everyone’s alright!” Art gave a thumbs up to those he had called before.

Wilbur promised to himself would never disobey his father again.

(A Happy 17th Anniversary to Meet the Robinsons!)

"Keep smiling through Just like you always do 'Til the blue skies chase those dark clouds far away

So will you please say "Hello" to the folks that I know Tell them I won't be long They'll be happy to know that as you saw me go I was singing this song"

-Vera Lynn

Ever since rediscovering the movie last year, I can't help but think about these two every time I hear this song, specially since 2024, 17 years after the events of the movie, is when they would finally reunite, albeit, in a different way.

Anyhow, Happy 17th Anniversary to Meet the Robinsons!