Tone:

It’s important to establish your writing tone in the first chapter.

A brief definition of this is how you say what you say.

It’s also important to make sure your tone matches up with the genre you’re writing.

▪️Let’s take mystery-thrillerfor instance:

Example:

There was a knock at the door.

Danielle walked down the stairs to answer it.

But when she opened the door, she noticed that no one was there.

That was weird, she thought. 

Vs.

There was a knock at the door.

Danielle crept down the shadowed stairs and the floorboards creaked under her weight, spooking her.

When she made it to the bottom she put her hand on the cold knob and slowly opened the door.

No one was there.

This is scary, she thought.

Often times you can use“adjectives”to set your tones.

Example:

Use these adjectives to set a negative tone

▪️Angry

▪️Annoyed

▪️Hurt

▪️Sad

▪️Anxious

▪️Scary

▪️Sick

▪️Awful

▪️Insane

▪️Bad

▪️Black

▪️Embarrassed

▪️Envious

▪️Lazy

▪️Tense

▪️Blue

▪️Evil

▪️Lonely

▪️Fierce

▪️Mad

▪️Terrifying

▪️Foolish

▪️Mysterious

▪️Timid

▪️Tired

▪️Confused

▪️Frightened

▪️Troubled

▪️Crappy

▪️Nervous

▪️Upset

▪️Crazy

▪️Grieving

▪️Creepy

▪️Grumpy

▪️Weak

▪️Cruel

▪️Outrageous

▪️Weary

Show not tell “Happy”:

▪️Her cheeks glowed pink.

▪️He smiled, his brown eyes sparkling.

▪️She skipped across the room, humming a love song.

▪️He laid down with an amused smile on his face.

▪️Her hands clasped together and she squealed.

▪️She laughed, falling into the chair and holding her stomach.

▪️She jumped to her feet and cheered them on.

▪️She danced around her room, grinning wide.

▪️Her eyes teared with joy at the sight of her missing daughter.

▪️She wiggled her feet in the sheets, a soft sigh on her lips.

▪️Warm goosebumps broke out on her skin as she stared into his wonderful eyes.

▪️She waved her hands from side to side, twirling.

Notice that I’m not describing happy with “happy” synonyms: 

▪️She was ecstatic.

▪️She felt joyful.

▪️She looked cheery.

This is still telling and your readers won’t get the picture you’re trying to paint.

Example:

She felt so cheery and joyful. ✖️

Vs.

Her cheeks hurt from smiling as she skipped from the room, daydreaming and singing a love song. ✔️

Escapism:

1. seeking to escape from reality

2. seeking to escape from reality by form of books

▪️your readers want to escape from the worry and unpleasantness of life.

▪️keep this in mind and you’ll write great stories that your readers won’t be able to put down.

This is especially easy if you add suspenseto your book.

How to create suspense:

▪️start scenes and chapters with urgency

Example:

Molly woke up.

She yawned and stretched and moseyed into the kitchen to make her cereal.

She found her favorite kind (cinnamon toast crunch) and poured it into a bowl with milk.

Now, she sat down in front of the window to watch the morning birds pecking the ground.

Let’s say someone is about to break into Molly’s house and kidnap her. Well… your readers will probably never make it to find out because this scene started out with no promise and no urgency what so ever. It’s just a boring morning routine that no one wants to hear.

Let’s try it another way…

Molly woke up with a strange feeling in her gut.

The house was quiet and she remembered that her parents had left on vacation.

Maybe she was just nervous about being alone. Yeah, that was it.

She started breakfast but the feeling wouldn’t leave her so she decided to lock all the windows and bolt the front door.

But the strange feeling persisted.

Suddenly, she remembered that she had forgotten to lock the basement door.

She sat down her bowl of cereal and slowly headed down the dark stairs…

Synonyms for “Walk”:

▪️Theystrolled through the garden hand in hand.

▪️Shetramped through the mud, her legs aching.

▪️Hehiked up the hill.

▪️The cat awoke and moseyed to her food bowl.

▪️Heprowled around the corner as the girl neared.

▪️Hemarched around the school yard, feeling proud.

▪️Sheambled into the kitchen with a yawn.

▪️Hewandered through the hallways, staring down at th map.

▪️Shetrodslowlyacross the old bridge, watching her feet.

▪️Heproceeded on his way after stopping for a drink.

▪️The boys trooped into the locker room after a long game.

▪️The boy and girl sauntered down the road.

▪️Sheplodded toward the house, having finished her jog.

▪️Hepatrolled up and down the street.

▪️The dogs roamed the open meadows.

Describing Setting:

Don’t overload:

The bluebird was singing soft melodies and flapping its wings. The breeze was blowing sweet scents from the flowers that were red, blue, and purple. The sky was clear with only a few thin clouds. The tall dark trees were creaking and echoing against the woods. ✖️

Vs.

The rose-scented wind blew breezes against the forest. Bluebirds sprang into the air with songs of summer. ✔️

Spice up your dialogue:

“I can’t,” she said.

Or you could say…

“I can’t,” she said, slowlyand moved away from him.

“Will you come?” He asked.

Or…(adj.)(Action)

“Will you come?” He asked, timidlywith his head down.

Balance your tags like this:

Tags: pink

Adjective: orange

Action: blue

“I’m tired,” Mia said with a yawnand crawled into bed.

Daniel lowered the book he was reading. “It’s too early for sleep.”

Two seconds later, Mia’s snores echoed through the room.

“Oh well.” Hechuckledand turned off the light.

Prompts:

She said, softly and looked down.

She said, timidly stepping away.

She said, robustly and met his eyes.

She said, angrily with a flushed face.

She said, quivering and fell to the ground.

He said, laughing and holding his stomach.

He said, stiffly and turned away.

He said, bitterly and his jaw flared.

Eye Color:

Baby blue

Cobolt blue

Slate blue

Blueberry colored

Sky blue

Misty blue

Ocean blue

Navy blue

Rich blue

Indigo blue

Electric blue

Powdery blue

Midnight blue

Royal blue

Diamond blue

✏️

Earth green

Sage green

Emerald green

Pine green

Jade green

Mint green

Meadow green

Grasshopper green

Basil green

Evergreen

Leaf green

Army green

Valley green

✏️

Oak brown

Chocolate brown

Charcoal colored

Beige

Caramel brown

Tan

Penny colored

Camel brown

Autumn colored

Desert brown

Acorn colored

Clay colored

Night colored

Leather brown

Dusty brown

Cocoa colored

Marble brown

Nut brown

Copper brown

Apple brown

Blazer brown

Cranberry brown

Rosy brown

Chestnut brown

✏️

Elephant gray

Fog gray

Metal gray

Silver

Ash colored

Slate gray

Charcoal gray

Dolphin gray

Cloud colored

Cinder gray

Smokey gray

Castle gray

Steel gray

Lilac gray

Tin gray

Whale gray

Ocean gray

Thundercloud gray

Shoreline gray

Rocky gray

Marble gray

Stone gray

Describing Eyes

The eyes are often called the “windows to the soul”. They tell so much about a person. That’s why describing the eyes of your character will give passion and detail about them as well as paint a picture in your readers’ minds.

Here are some words to consider using when describing eyes:

• Dark

• Icy

• Piercing

• Cold

• Hard

• Deep

• Loving

• Passionate

• Severe

• Kind

• Scary

• Confused

• Intense

• Twinkling

Use these even when describing color like: Her deep parrot blue eyes.Or,His intense brown-eyed stare. These are words commonly used when describing eyes and give depth to your descriptions.

Eye Shape:

This is a very visual aspect for your readers to grasp on to. Does the character have squinty eyes or large round eyes? Here are some shapes to consider:

• Round

• Almond-shaped

• Protruding

• Wide

• Downturned

• Deep-set

• Hooded

• Thin

• Upturned

• Big

• Small

You could say: Her round blue eyes glistened.Or,his intense deep-set eyes were navy.

Frequently consider, color, description, and shape. This is a great start, and your readers will love it!

When describing eyes, don’t be afraid to let your creativity shine through. Think further than color and shape and consider attaching thoughts and emotions to your description. I’ll show you:

Instead of:

Her round blue eyes glistened.

Try:

Her round blue eyes glistened like they were afraid to cry.

Instead of:

His intense deep-set eyes were navy.

Try:

His intense deep-set eyes were navy. The kind of blue that screamed to be noticed.

Be careful not to get caught up describing one thing and one thing only. If all you ever do is pick a color off the color list then your description will be lacking. Instead, try to use a balance. Not every sentence has to be deep and crazy. Here and there, you can get by with “she had blue eyes” or “his hazel eyes teared up”. That’s fine. Just make sure there’s a balance.

Be unique! Be different! And don’t suppress your beautiful creativity. ❤️

-from my upcoming book “How to Write Charcters”.

(Hehe)

Describe Vs Explain

You’ve probably heard “show don’t tell”. This is another way of phrasing that. And a lot of writers have found that it clicks better. ☺️

Describe don’t explain!

Introducing Characters:

1. Introduce your characters with action,mannerismsanddialogue:

I was running, panting, sweating but I knew my lean body could take it. It’s what I had been training for my entire life. I punched with my arms harder and harder, feeling my lungs burn as they begged me to stop. Then, suddenly pain shot up my leg and into my hip and I watched the world spin into hues of dark green as I collapsed and hit the ground. ✔️

“D-Don’t hurt me,” she cried with a trembling lip as she backed against the wall. ✔️

“If you hurt me you’ll be sorry,” she said, crossing her arms and glaring at the intruder. ✔️

▪️This is more effective than describing your character’s hair and eye color:

My hair was dark brown and my eyes were pale blue and that day I was wearing a red sweater with blue jeans which looked great on my figure. My skin was tanned from the long summer and I had just gotten my hair highlighted.✖️

My best friend walked up beside me with her brown hair curled perfectly and her red lips smiling. She was wearing a tight white shirt and a blue-jeaned skirt. Her skin was pale and freckled and her eyes were the color of the ocean.✖️

2. Focus on character traits:

I chewed my nails, watching the doors. What if someone came in to attack me? What if something exploded outside? ✔️

My best friend covered her mouth let out a boisterous laugh. “Let’s prank your sister!”✔️

I watched the girl pass me in envy and wanted to ruin her perfect little day. But how? ✔️

▪️we learn so much more about a character when we learn who they arenotwhat they look like but physical traits are important too.

▪️Try “sneaking” physical traits in with mannerism and action:

I watched the girl pass me in envy twisting a long lock of my brown hair. I wanted to ruin her perfect little day. But how? ✔️

My best friend covered her mouth and her blue eyes widened as a boisterous laugh escaped her lips. “Let’s prank your sister!”✔️

3.Read books by your favorite authorsandpayattention to how they describe characters☺️

Anastasia panted in panic and rolled over to dodge Daisy ramming her blade into the ground. She felt her heart hammer in fear as she stood back up and began to enforce her skin with frost armor once more. But she had no time to waste. Daisy forked her blade on the sandy ground and stampeded toward Anastasia with her bare searing fists. 

Anastasia shot out a blast of frost in an attempt to hinder Daisy from progressing, and indeed, the power of the frosty desperation was quite formidable. Daisy formed an “X” with her two arms and protected herself with her blaze as the mini-blizzard shot straight at her. She wondered why Anastasia hadn’t thought of this before, in order to keep distance. 

But then she realized why. It was only for the first few seconds that Daisy felt the great push; after a few moments, Daisy was back on her pace, and could continue with her vicious charge. Anastasia was caught off-guard as Daisy flung her right fist at her left cheek, making her briefly fly down to the ground. Anastasia was in complete panic. She was utterly horrified of the power she had just felt on her face; any normal human would have had their skin burned off on contact. It was only fortunate for Anastasia to have been processing her facial glacier again, letting it take the damage, but not as much as the previous protection did. She could feel a bit of char on her skin and quickly pushed her hand onto it to cool it down. 

She rushed to her feet again. The only thing Daisy was admiring about Anastasia now was her capability of taking damage without fainting. However, she knew that the cryomancer was now nearly broken. Only a little more pressure was required.

Anastasia was now on the brink of her life; her blood circulation and respiration being the only two things that were active within her body. Not even the cold was helping her enough now. She wouldn’t run, however, for dignity’s sake. Yet, again, this was another mistake.

The melted ice and her sweat was now drenching her tight, sky blue apparel, which was practically the only thing covering her breasts along with her bra. It did not even come down to cover her waist. Nevertheless, Anastasia made her final attempt in making this at least look like fair fight. She panted and laid her glare sturdy upon Daisy’s breast. No matter how dissatisfying it may be, she could still aim one last icicle in between those two bulges and penetrate the pyromancer’s burning heart. 

It was too late. Daisy put in her last fumes to discharge at Anastasia fair and square, pushing Anastasia backward, hard onto the sandy surface. Anastasia let out a short shriek as Daisy impelled her flat onto the earth. She could now feel her heart almost burst out her blood, as if it were trying its last to fuel Anastasia with her blood’s energy. Her heart was pumping violently beneath her soft flesh as the skin shook microscopically with each beat hitting hard on her rib cage. Despite her heart’s exhausting labor, Anastasia did not even have the time to push Daisy off of her. 

Daisy punched and punched and punched; each blow empowered with the flames being fueled from the central organ. Both Daisy’s and Anastasia’s hearts were beating strong. Yet, the corresponding owners were of much different positions. Even the unthinking organs were fighting to nourish its possessors’ bodies. But as expected, victory was imminent.

Anastasia could barely move a muscle. Her arms, which were pinned down by Daisy’s sturdy knees, were now spread apart due to Daisy putting most of her violent and vibrant attacks in between Anastasia’s poor cranium and jowl. Anastasia’s right eye was slightly swollen while a thin stream of her blood rushed out the left tip of her lip. Her breath was now slowing down. It was now only the central, most vital, beating heart of hers which seemed to be alive inside of her. She could feel it. She could feel her own heart slam against the cell formed by her ribs, almost asking for her to stand up and beat Daisy down. But she knew she had no strength in her limbs or her entire body anymore. She was defeated. 

Not enough, in Daisy’s eyes, though. One thing remained. The prize. The best trophy a warrior could ever have in her hand. The finest sensation that could be granted within her grip; and it was pit-patting right beneath the trembling flesh of her crisp meal. 

Anastasia could only have slight glimpses of Daisy’s victorious yet focused expression as she acted for the last stunt. Fear overwhelmed Anastasia and her breath returned to its panicked, speedy pace as Daisy took off her armor plates for a sensational kill. 

Daisy took her body off of Anastasia. She stood, waiting for the cryomancer to regain her full consciousness. It was needed for her to feel entire process of torment. She wasn’t justgoing to be killed. She was going to be absolutely liquidatedby the rapid oxidation of Daisy’s heat. Daisy was ready to show Anastasia what “hell” really felt like. The Ember clan’s side of the audience cheered and, although aware that they could not hear anything, yelled out for the cryomancer to get back on her feet in order to let the execution process begin. 

Begin. It was another beginning for Anastasia. She couldn’t believe that the actual heartache did not even happen yet. There was going to be a literal heartache for her. She would rather the horror of the unknown. Yet, she knew exactly how she was about to be murdered, making her less intent to get back on her feet. The Frost warriors were now looking away or closing their eyes to cover the sight of her humiliating, excruciating death. Another sister torn apart by an arrogant pyromancer.

“I don’t have all day, you mediocre cryomancer…” Daisy mumbled, as she grabbed the middle part of Anastasia’s tight torso outfit and lifted her up. Anastasia gasped at such force and stumbled back with her feet flat on the ground. She lost her balance for a moment, but Daisy grasped her by the throat and restricted her shaking. Her limbs were fairly calm now, with her left leg making a helpless stomp behind her right, in a poor yet pointless attempt to stabilize her balance. Her head was slightly tilted back as her eyes could merely see a thin line of the clean, blue sky with the sun shining directly onto her face, as if it were making a spotlight for the audience to see clearly. Even her heart was slowing down now, as it gave up in reviving its pathetic owner’s strength.

Daisy glared at Anastasia in utter hatred and insuperable rage. Her eyes glowed orange once more as she rapidly pulled her left elbow back with her hand shaped suitably to take possession of the loot. She knew exactly how large it would be, as she blocked and held Anastasia’s offensive fist beforehand. 

She knew precisely where it was located.. Strictly where it would be beating…

At that moment, the tip of Daisy’s elbow was fired up and her hand streaked toward the objective. The second Daisy’s hand was hurtled, penetrated straight through the thin line of clothing, and embedded into the first infinitesimal layers of body tissue composing Anastasia’s soft breast, the sound of her flesh, her maroon blood, her pericardium, and her blood-bathed rib cage being sequentially ripped into by Daisy’s merciless hand echoed throughout the whole arena. 

“Ugh!!” Anastasia could not even scream properly, as the immensely excruciating, abrupt explosion of agony wreaked havoc within her circulatory system and the skeletal frame holding her thoracic organs in one place. Daisy’s thumb, index finger, ring finger, and her pinky were already grappling and almost implanting themselves correspondingly to the right ventricle, right atrium, left atrium, and the left ventricle of Anastasia’s surprised heart. Daisy could feel Anastasia’s organ pumping inward and out repetitively, regaining its speedy pounding as an intruder’s hand cramped its necessary blood flow. The whole circulation was being interrupted by Daisy’s tight grip. She could explode the heart and squeeze the juice out of it right this moment, but she decided to stay where she was, while she pressed her fingers onto the slimy surface of the panicking vital organ. She also loved the extra sensation of Anastasia’s two lungs on either side of her struggling heart hastily expand and contract repeatedly, showing how much pain and extreme discomfort Anastasia was really feeling as she could only directly feel the excruciating pain of her flesh being ripped into and penetrated, but could only try to withstand what was happening inside of her breast. Daisy found it even more satisfying that her hand and wrist wasn’t so wide enough to cause any visible damage to Anastasia’s pair of breasts, which would’ve been hanging powerlessly had Anastasia’s bra not been there to hold them in place. The real beauty was that the sports apparel and the bra themselves were contoured almost like an arrow to the entrance of Anastasia’s heart chamber.

It had been 50 seconds since Daisy’s fingers first wrapped themselves around each corresponding portion of Anastasia’s juicy, rapidly pounding heart. Anastasia hated the fact that she was still alive and awake. She could now start to feel the grip of Daisy’s fingers constricting her central organ, which she had never even felt before besides its constant, sexy beating. 

Daisy was now satisfied enough. It was time to uproot the organ out of its prison. Anastasia felt an unusual amount of force suddenly clench onto the very center of her soul. She could feel the blood being blocked by the fingers and the basilic veins in her arms started to show a unhealthy dark-blue color as they almost protruded out of her thin fat. Blood was continuously leaking out of the hole in her chest, but most of the blood pouring out was blocked by Daisy’s arm clogging it up. More and more blood rushed out of her body as Daisy spontaneously tugged on the beating heart with the pulmonary veins and arteries being the first to tear apart from what it held, and Anastasia’s aorta and superior vena cava being the last to hold on for the shortest moment onto the heart. 

Anastasia’s chest was forced outward as Daisy stole her heart from the center of her bosom, where the manubrium and rest of the skeletal bars held tightly together, only to be pushed into and now forced outside the surface due to the immense dynamism of the extraction. 

Anastasia’s could only maintain her balance for half a second, which was more than enough for Daisy to throw her right hand, grasp Anastasia’s loosened hair, and pull as hard as she could, ripping the flesh and upper part of the spine that directly attached her head to her torso. With the female cryomancer’s still-pounding heart in her left hand and her torn-off head in her right, Daisy swiftly forced the head into the empty chest cavity before the body fell backwards. Anastasia’s head was jammed into the tight hole as her eyeballs rolled backwards, showing the reddened part of her sclera as her essential blood was irregularly rushed and extracted from when Daisy was holding her bleeding heart while it was still intact with her insides. The protruded ribs formed a petal-like shape around the jammed head as well. 

Daisy was satisfied. She kicked down the deformed carcass and held the late warrior’s heavily leaking heart to the sky.

The Ember clan members yelled out in excitement as they saw the heart leak and pour relentless amounts of Anastasia’s crimson fuel onto the ground and onto Daisy’s blonde hair as she held it up high.