Whole-heartedly BEGGING writers to unlearn everything schools taught you about how long a paragraph is. If theres a new subject, INCLUDING ACTIONS, theres a new paragraph. A paragraph can be a single word too btw stop making things unreadable
Ok So I’m getting more notes than I thought quicker than I expected! So I’m gonna elaborate bc I want to.
I get it, when you’re someone who writes a lot and talks a lot, it’s hard to keep things readable, but it’s not as much about cutting out the fat(that can be a problem) so much as a formatting issue.
You are also actively NERFING yourself by not formatting it correctly, it can make impactful scenes feel so, so much better. Compare this,
To THIS.
Easier to read, and hits harder.
No more over-saturated paragraphs. Space things out.
i love it when things stop bothering you. like two months ago i was totally bitter about so many things and now im like “u know what i don’t even care” & that’s a beautiful feeling
when w. h. auden said “evil is unspectacular and always human” and ursula k. leguin said “this is the great treason of the artist: a refusal to admit the banality of evil and the terrible boredom of pain”
when toni morrison said “i just think goodness is more interesting. evil is constant. you can think of different ways to murder people, but you can do that at age five. but you have to be an adult to consciously, deliberately be good – and that’s complicated.”
when simone weil said “imaginary evil is romantic and varied; real evil is gloomy, monotonous, barren, boring. imaginary good is boring; real good is always new, marvelous, intoxicating.”
hi there! I’m in the process of making character profiles and in my search for some descriptions I stumbled upon this little gem.It’s a list of 638 character traits including positive, neutral, and negative traits you can use to describe your characters. I found it super helpful so I figured I’d link it here for my own record and other writers. you can also find the full list under the cut.
In what seems like a cruel prank by a bored God, people started developing powers based on their worst fears. people afraid of heights got the gift of flight. Arachnophobia? Get the power of spiders. Phasmophobia? Necromancy/ability to speak with the dead. Your power is… hard to explain…
a multi wip page with clickeable wip boxes with full pop ups and combined filters
features:
basic wip boxes with: header image, title, summary and an open button
full pop ups with sections for: header image, title, summary, details, characters, multiple chapters, faq, progress bars and links. you can safely delete any of those sections if you don’t want them
responsive design
there’s a lot of code in this, you will need some basic html knowdelege to edit it
Writing realistic injuries - The title is pretty self-explanatory: while writing about an injury, take a look at this useful website;
One Stop for Writers - You guys… this website has literally everythingwe need: a) Description thesaurus collection, b) Character builder, c) Story maps, d) Scene maps & timelines, e) World building surveys, f) Worksheets, f) Tutorials, and much more! Although it has a paid plan ($90/year | $50/6 months | $9/month), you can still get a 2-week FREE trial;
One Stop for Writers Roadmap - It has many tips for you, divided into three different topics: a) How to plan a story, b) How to write a story, c) How to revise a story. The best thing about this? It’s FREE!
Story Structure Database - The Story Structure Database is an archive of books and movies, recording all their major plot points;
Crime Reads - Get inspired before writing a crime scene;
The Creative Academy for Writers - “Writers helping writers along every step of the path to publication.” It’s FREE and has ZOOM writing rooms;
Reedsy- “A trusted place to learn how to successfully publish your book” It has many tips, and tools (generators), contests, prompts lists, etc. FREE;
QueryTracker - Find agents for your books (personally, I’ve never used this before, but I thought I should feature it here);
Pacemaker - Track your goals (example: Write 50K words - then, everytime you write, you track the number of the words, and it will make a graphic for you with your progress). It’s FREE but has a paid plan;
Save the Cat! - The blog of the most known storytelling method. You can find posts, sheets, a software (student discount - 70%), and other things;
My Mum always keeps talking to me in Cebuano. So I do recognise certain words, but when she speaks really fast, I’m quite like, ‘Oh! Can you say that again?’ But Tagalog, not so much. […] But over the years, it’s always been Cebuano for me. — KIM ADIS
If you don’t write your story, then it’s not getting written.
That means it’s not getting published. Not online, not self-published, not by an indie press, not by the Big 5.
That means it’ll never be available for purchase, and your potential biggest fan will walk right past the empty gap on the shelf and pick something else up, and love that instead.
They’ll go get someone else’s autograph on its title page and order the special edition and scream about it on the internet, all while your book is trapped
in your head
incomplete, on a hard drive or in your notebook
wishing it could be where the rest of the books are.
I don’t know what else to tell you, because there’s only one way outta this, and it’s hard. Maybe it’s already knocked you on your ass once, or twice, or fifteen times.
You have to write. Give a reader their favourite book.
i’m such a huge fucking fan of having and using magic requiring effort. whether mental, physical, or both. i’m so fond of magic systems that make you sweat, bleed, cry and get your hands dirty when you use them. i love it when powers are earned, not inherent, through years of study and/or exercizing them like a muscle. and i love it when a seemingly effortless display of power is terrifyingbecause of this.
YES!!!!! MAGIC THAT REQUIRES MAINTENANCE! MAGIC THAT DRAINS! MAGIC THAT CORRUPTS BODY AND SOUL!
been thinking abt characters with what i’m calling strong Big House Impulse. Big House Impulse is the desire to make all of your friends live in a big house with you. A classic example of a character with Big House Impulse is Gansey of the raven cycle.
It doesn’t necessarily have to be a Literal House, it is moreso about wanting to have your all friends in the same location for extended periods of time with frequency and regularity. For example, to Tamaki Suoh, the host club is Big House.
I’d argue that stories that provide the audience with the Big House Fantasy(all your friends live in a big house together), is separate from characters who possess Big House Impulse, as a characters big house impulse might not actually be fulfilled. Something like the webcomic Check Please! provides big house fantasy, but lacks a distinct character who is particularly motivated by Big House Impulse. The Haus is already infrastructure of the story, not the result of a character pushing for its existence.
I’d say this trait can often overlap with but is distinct from Motherhens and a homestuckian concept of the Friend Leader, but they can also exist without each other. I’d say common traits of characters with Big House Impulse is being a bit(or a lot) of a control freak, a fear of change and despite having good intentions, not always understanding the actual desires or needs of their companions. These characters also tend to be prone to loneliness, despite being well loved by their companions. I think Big House Impulse pushed to its most extreme form would be “i want to lock all my friends in a tower like rapunzel so nothing bad can ever happen to them.”
anyway. this has just been me speaking out of my ass for a few paragraphs. thank you and good night [takes a deep bow and is pulled off stage by a comically large hook]
if a piece of media is bad but it’s clear that the people who made it poured their souls into it and were wholeheartedly trying to make something they care about, I will love that a THOUSAND times more than any smooth-polished focus-tested board-room approved $500mil budget movie. those things are just informercials for empire and capital. boring snooze could not care less. unironically we need more bad art made by genuinely earnest people who just wanted to create something
“all my grief says the same thing:this isn’t how it’s supposed to be. this isn’t how it’s supposed to be. and the world laughs. holds my hope by the throat. says:but this is how it is”
Our TA spends all of his time in the old campus library, grading papers between silent, dark wood shelves. It’s always deserted, but he insists his wife lives there.
ALT
