Lux wanted to travel the world so when Nico tells her to travel with him she goes only problem they have not traveled but have been stuck in Hawaii.. Nico and Lux are hired to sail best friends Brittany and Amma to a remote island in the South Pacific, it seems like the opportunity of a lifetime because they are willing to pay big bucks.

Meroe Island is paradise despite a mysterious history Jake and Eliza then arrive and they are a true golden couple. Now a party of six, they have fun in the sun.

When it becomes clear that the group is even more cut off from civilization than they thought, it starts to feel like the island itself is closing in on them. People end up dead and mysterious things are revealed. But what will happen to them all?

I really enjoyed it and it had many twists and reveals. It’s not perfect but it entertained me and made me have emotions. Read it if you like mysterious thrillers.

For Valentine’s Day, I thought I’d buy a gun.

Gone Girl

Shattered Glass Scenes in Films

Fragile, Handle with Care.

I may appear seemingly strong, but in reality if you raised your voice at me, I would shatter into a thousand irretrievable pieces.

Films - No Country for Old Men, Baby Driver, Die Hard, To Live and Die in L.A, Oldboy, Watchmen, Insurgent, Tenet, Boy meets Girl, The Lady from Shanghai

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

Reverse Dictionary

Take advantage of this site, it’s super helpful when looking for similar and different words or phrases. Yes, you can type whole phrases and get alternatives. Way to spice up your creative writing

Hint, click on any word to get its definition.

Reverse Dictionary

Write in the Morning☕️

Obviously, this isn’t feasible for everyone and I totally get it. But here are some benefits:

1. You write better just after a good night’s sleep as your mind is fresh.
2. Less distractions.

Here are some tips to make this happen:

Grab some coffee, tea, whatever you like.

DO NOT check Facebook, email, or jump on any other social media. (You’ll get easily distracted for hours.)

Make a routine. Write at the same time every morning and your body will adjust.

Set an alarm. I like to wake up around 4AM and write for 2-3 hours. (Don’t recommend, but it works for me and that’s just what my body wants to do ‍♀️)

Side note:

Write whenever your schedule allows. I used to write well into the night and made excellent progress on my novels. But now days I’m too tired in the evenings.

Share what works best. If you decide to start a morning routine, I hope these tips help ❤️

Specific Traits

~Hair~

Hair color is fun to describe but it’s not very telling or unique. Two, three, or four characters in your book might have blonde hair. You could easily describe them as having different shades like yellow-blond, white-blonde, and dark blonde. But you can be far more effective if you describe hair characteristics.

Here’s what I mean:

Style- do they wear their hair in a bun, ponytail, or long and wild down their back? Do they straighten it or curl it?

Texture- is it thin and wispy or heavy strands that curl under at the ends? Is it glossy in the light or coarse and dull?

Smell- you can get away with this one as long as you don’t overuse it. For instance, does your character shower with coconut shampoo or wear hair mist from Bath and Body Works?

Use the examples above to broaden your description of hair.

Example:

Kandace’s glossy blonde hair smelled like honeysuckles, reminding me of summer.

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)

Did you write today?

How about yesterday? Or the day before that?

Don’t worry if you haven’t! Even if it’s been a few weeks. The most important thing is that you get back into the groove of writing.

This means opening up that WIP that you’ve been stalling on and write a few words. Here’s a tip if you find that task to be extremely difficult: (trust me, I’ve been there.)

• Use imagery - this can be anything! Google or search images on Pinterest and find something relevant to your story. Try searching under “character inspiration” or “nature”. I find this to be most helpful.

My current WIP is a historical fiction and I can’t tell you how many images I’ve searched under “castle” “medieval” and “nature”. It helps so much when you’re feeling stuck or can’t seem to visualize your scene/setting.

If you look up characters, try to describe the character being as descriptive as possible. Discern the emotion on their face, hair color, the little freckle on their left cheek. And if you want to take it further, you can describe their past or what secrets you think they’re hiding. This is a great way to get the creative flow going again. 

Good luck ☺️

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!

Writing Tip of the Day:

• Read what you want to produce.

When you read suspense, you’re teaching yourself how to write suspense. When you read romance, you’re teaching yourself how to write romance. And so on and so forth.

Here are some tips for learning while you read:

▪️Study the sentence structure.

▪️Study the paragraph.

▪️Study the dialogue.

▪️Ask yourself what makes you like to read this book? What keeps you hooked? Captivated?

▪️What words or positioning of words builds suspense.

▪️How does the author describe characters?

▪️How does the author describe scenery?

▪️How does the author describe emotions?

▪️Study the pacing of the story

Keep in mind, just by reading (without purposely studying) your brain is going to work learning how to write.

Read what you want to produce! It’s a great way to stay inspired and keep you in the writing mood ☺️

Inner Thought:

▪️gives reader a deeper insight into your characters’ personalityandmotivations

▪️reveals characters’ true feelings

▪️moves story forward

▪️increases plot conflict

Read this example:

“You know you’re basically just keeping the

kids out of the way, right?” The chief’s tone

was calm, but his eyes were wary.

Avery stiffened.

“Yeah,” she said through a mouthful of fried

egg. “I know.”

He chucked her shoulder. “Don’t be like

that. When you’re of age, you can show off

your detective skills. Until then, we do things

by the book.”

Avery looked away.

Vs.

“You know you’re basically just keeping the

kids out of the way, right?” The chief’s tone

was calm, but his eyes were wary.

Avery stiffened. She had been on more miss-

ing-person searches—unofficially, as she was

underage—than most of the officers on her

father’s staff. But being sixteen kept her on

“kid patrol,” basically babysitting while the

adult volunteers tromped through the forest,

potentially ruining scads of evidence while

pretending they were a bunch of television

CSIS, no doubt.

“Yeah,” she said through a mouthful of fried

egg. “I know.”

He chucked her shoulder. “Don’t be like

that. When you’re of age, you can show off

your detective skills. Until then, we do things

by the book.”

Avery looked away, thinking about her

mother, about how she would zing the chief in

the ribs and remind him not to be so serious.

“By the book,” she would mock in a terrible

baritone. “I’m the big, bad chief.”

Example excerpt taking from “The Escape” by Hannah Jayne. She started off on wattpad ☺️ you can check out her book here -

https://amzn.to/2OVNt4e

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☺️

Buffy The Vampire Slayer - Before The Avengers, Joss Whedon brought to life one of the strongest female characters in tv history. Buffy Summers (Sarah Michelle Gellar) lives in Sunnydale California, student by day vampire slayer by night. It may sound like a cliche story line but I do promise laughs especially at the have ridiculous 90’s clothing but the writing is solid. Emotional, realistic, and witty. The characters each go through major transformations throughout the series and the bad guys are as scary as they are symbolic. Alyson Hannigan from How I Met Your Mother plays Buffy’s best friend Willow who dabbles with magic! Buffy is on Netflix and October is a perfect time to start binging on this 90s treasure. 

The Following - Kevin Bacon delivers an amazing performance in this terrifying story of an Edgar Allen Poe obsessed serial killer who is fascinated with Bacon’s character. I was surprised this show was so enticing, considering the finale of season 1 left me staring at my television with confusion. To be honest, this show was made for people with strong stomachs, there is no holding back when it comes to blood, gore, and the fate of adorable puppies. If you’re an Edgar Allen Poe fan I strongly suggest giving The Following a shot, there are many references. Season 3 comes back in January on FOX!

Veronica Mars - Another strong female character, Veronica is a high-school student who is savvy, resilient, and determined. Her dad, Keith Mars was the local sheriff until Veronica’s best friend Lilly (Amanda Seyfried) was found murdered - and Keith believed Lily’s father to be the killer. Keith becomes a private eye and Veronica, who appears to be just his secretary, picks up some skills and takes on solving Lily’s murder. Set in Neptune, California V. Mars fans (known as “marshmallows”) have come to love this mystery show so much that kick-starter fund was created to help produce a Veronica Mars movie! If you like mystery/thrillers, romance, puns, and California surfer boys, Veronica Mars is for you and also available on Netflix. 

“Sometimes its hard to tell how fast the current’s moving until you’re headed over a waterfall”

- Reconstructing Amelia

Ha ha!

Truly Devious.