#writer struggles
writers after killing their own characters:
brain:i have a book idea!
me:oh good! what’s the plot?
brain:character.
me:ooh okay thanks for the character, but what’s the plot?
brain:character.
me:yeah okay i get that, thank you, but i do need a pl-
brain:Character.
Not my brain giving me the urge to write but Not telling me which document to open in order to fulfill The Urge
How to Write When You’re Exhausted
Now is a very stressful time and I think we should all be lending more time to self care and listening to ourselves. It can be hard and downright heartbreaking when your writing suffers or makes you feel strained because of everything going on. So I’m here to help all I can.
Remind Yourself That Your Voice Matters
In this beautiful world, we are expanding the voices in literature constantly. Every new voice we gain is part of that expansion. It’s worthwhile to share your stories and nothing should be discouraging that. Even if you feel now isn’t the right time to share, you don’t have to. You can just write for now and share later. There’s no shame in sitting on a draft for a while.
Let Yourself Take a Break
We all need time now and again to recover or refill our creative well so that we can write our best. And it’s okay if you’re needing to take more breaks. They’re there to help you if you let them. You don’t have to be productive in these periods, you can simply be and get back to writing when it feels natural. Don’t put so much pressure on yourself to produce right now.
Motivate Yourself Using Incentives
Sometime you really have to get down and write, no excuses. Maybe you have a deadline or you finally find a burst of energy. To sustain yourself, make physical or mental incentives to reward yourself. Whether you’re measuring time allotted, word count, page count, or another goal, there are plenty of ways to motivate yourself. Use Dollar Store knickknacks, try a fancy food from the store, give yourself stickers. Find the fun in motivation and productivity. And remember that you are not a work horse.
Remember: You are worth more than your productivity!
_________________
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so i saw a dream the other week that i finished writing the book i’m currently working on and it ended up being about 41k words and i got so sad because it was smaller than i imagined and cried myself awake…
…so anyway, i reached 40k words yesterday while writing that book and i’m not even halfway done
if i have one talent, it’s periodically convincing myself that i Can’t Actually Write
me approximately 50% of the time
The desperate desire to create vs the oh so constant sleepiness plaguing my every action
it’s the most wonderful time of the year
me: hey, yo, brain?
brain: what’s up?
me: you know that waffling between inflated self-confidence and crippling self-doubt? could we maybe, like, not?
brain::)
reading what you just wrote:
(They can no longer be contained.)
fun ways to introduce new characters
- have your protagonist walk into them
- have them walk into your protagonist
- falling from the sky
- they flirt with your protagonist in a coffee shop
- your protagonist flirts with them first
- your protagonist saves them / they save your protagonist
- they fix your protagonist’s car
- find them hiding in a closet
- find them making out with someone in a closet
- eavesdropping on your protagonist
- involved in a car chase after your protagonist
- your protagonist mistakes them for someone else
- they bond with your mc over how loud the neighbours are
- OR they move in next door and are annoyingly loud and your protagonist is determined to teach them what good music is
- they kidnap your protagonist for ransom
- they accidentally commit vehicular manslaughter and your mc is the only witness
- the barista mistakes their order for your protagonist’s
- pizza delivery man
- walk in on their demon summoning circle
- they keep trying to sell your mc something on a flyer
- secretly your mc’s long-lost sister *gasp*
- online dating site
- they mistake your mc for a celebrity and try to take pictures with them
- taxi driver
- your mc catches them shoplifting and tries to get them to return what they stole
- or they see your mc shoplifting and get them arrested
- friend of a friend
- break into their house because they need a place to hide from the authorities
writing prompts as taylor swift quotes
go stream red (taylor’s version) and watch the all too well short film because they both made me sob and they are artistic masterpieces
anyway hope you enjoy these prompts (tag me if you use them!)
dialogue prompts
- “it’s you and me - there’s nothing like this”
- “i’ll never let you go, ‘cause i know this is a fight that someday we’re gonna win”
- “you’re not my homeland anymore, so who am i defending now?”
- “some day, we will be remembered”
- “the rumours are terrible and cruel, but honey, most of them are true”
- “will you still want me when i’m nothing new?”
- “all this time i didn’t know you were breaking down”
- “this thing was a shot in the dark”
- “i don’t like your little games”
- “we can’t make any promises”
setting prompts
- “in an angel city chasing fortune and fame”
- “dancing 'round the kitchen in the refrigerator light”
- “autumn leaves falling down like pieces into place”
- “maybe we got lost in translation”
- “we are alone with our changing minds”
- “nights when you made me your own”
- “if i was standing there in your apartment, i’d take that bomb in your head and disarm it”
- “we shouldn’t be in this town”
- “there’s glitter on the floor after the party”
characterisation prompts
- “every time you call me crazy, i get more crazy”
- “we play dumb, but we know exactly what we’re doing”
- “so casually cruel in the name of being honest”
- “how can a person know everything at 18 and nothing at 22?”
- “there’s a heart on your sleeve, i’ll take it when i leave”
- “my baby’s fit like a daydream, walking with his head down, i’m the one he’s walking to”
- “the shape of you was jagged and weak”
the sexual tension between me and the new wip idea that’s been sitting in the back of my head and distracting me the whole day
me: i don’t have a type
dark haired, morally gray, emo white boys: *exist*
me: nvm
comments on my fanfic: omg this is so good, i can’t wait to see what happens next!!
me, frantically flipping through all my documents because i haven’t touched said fic in two years: haha…yeah…me neither :D
The perfectionist urge to rip out your hair and claw at your arms and take your nails down the wall and wail and scream and cry and throw up and explode and pop anytime the idea on paper does not match the one in your brain.
Things I am tired of seeing in stories:
- Characters who can do only One Thing, making them literally about That Skill
- “Coming of age” stories, those are always praised like the theme itself makes the story exquisite
- Fantasy parallels to real world where the whole fantasy is just a metaphor for a thing in the real world (what’s the point of the fantasy then? Just flair?)
- Bad Things happening in stories to remind us that We Cannot Escape the bad things irl (as if we’re 3 year olds who don’t know this already? We all live in this shit world every day)
- Disabled characters overcoming their disability and then being lauded as inspirational Heroes for that
- Copy-pasted fantasy settings because authors believe those settings are inherently Popular
- Class struggle stories which are done in a melodramatic way but don’t actually address the issue, nor do they pass judgment on the oppressors (calling them “just one side of the same coin”)
And more,
