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. ✔️

Clarity:

She went all the way to the store by the way of a car in which she had just purchased. ✖️

Vs.

She went to the store in a car she had just purchased. ✔️

He very much loved the sounds that the cars made as they made their way passed his house at a very fast pace.✖️

Vs.

He loved the cars’ sounds as they quickly passed his house. ✔️

▪️Avoid run on sentences:

He bought a dog from the shelter because he wanted to give a homeless dog a nice new home and that made him feel like a good person. ✖️

Vs.

He bought a dog from the shelter because he wanted to give a homeless dog a nice new home. This made him feel like a good person.

▪️Cut out “was” when possible:

Courtney was smiling. ✖️

Vs.

Courtney smiled. ✔️

▪️Try using one sentace paragraphs:

She liked how the rain felt on her bare skin.

So, she chose to walk home, her feet crashing through puddles.

It took longer than it would have in a car.

But she didn’t regret it.

▪️Try shorter sentences:

Ann’s heart felt sad.

She didn’t know what had caused it.

All she knew was that she woke up one morning feeling sad.

▪️Be conside:

I like carrots. Carrots are better than broccoli.✖️

Vs.

I like carrots better than broccoli. ✔️

▪️Be Specific:

She ate a snack.✖️

Vs.

She ate peanut butter crackers. ✔️

She went out for entertainment.✖️

Vs.

She went to the theater.✔️

▪️Paint pictures:

The sun was yellow. The sky was blue.✖️

Vs.

The sky was a blanket of gold, fluttering through the pale blue. ✔️

▪️Express don’t impress:

Scintillating gold fulgrated across the sphere it was a quintessential evening.✖️

Vs.

Sparkling gold mixed through the navy sky. It was the perfect evening. ✔️

How To Write Paragraphs:

To make interesting paragraphs you need an even balance of the following:

▪️Conjunctions:(But, and, etc.)

▪️Short sentences:She went to the store.

▪️Long sentences:She went to the store, hoping she could get the bread she wanted on sale.

Example:

What would happen?Lily had never been left alone before, because she had super bad anxiety. But this time, her mother felt it would be good for her.No. It was the worst mistake.

Vs.

Lily had terrible anxiety and didn’t want to be left alone. But this time her mother felt it would be good for her, so she left to the store. This was a bad idea and a horrible mistake.

Lily had terrible anxiety. She didn’t want to be left alone. Her mother felt it would be good for her. She left to the store. This was a bad idea. This was a horrible mistake.

Dialogue Tags:

▪️He explained. ✖️

▪️He advised. ✖️

▪️He warned. ✖️

▪️He confirmed. ✖️

▪️He accused. ✖️

▪️He babbled. ✖️

▪️He said.✔️

Although these tags aren’t always bad they can be overused and redundant to the reader.

Let me explain.

▪️“You stole my cookie, Linda!” Roger shouted.

(We already know Roger is accusing Linda and don’t need to say “Roger accused”.

It’s better to keep your tags basic.

▪️He said. ✔️

▪️She said. ✔️

▪️He asked. ✔️

▪️She asked. ✔️

▪️He yelled. ✔️

▪️She yelled. ✔️

But don’t overuse your tags.

“Hello,” Linda said.

“Hello,” Roger said.

“How are you?” Linda asked.

“I’m fine,” Roger replied.

Omit tags when readers can assume who is speaking.

Linda put her arm around Roger. “I love you.”

He smiled. “I love you, too.”

Use action instead of tags.

“I’ll miss you,” Roger cried. ✖️

Vs.

Hot tears swelled in Rogers eyes. “I’ll miss you.” ✔️

(NOT A PR0MPT)

******

“My allergies are horrible right now.” The hero sniffled for show, and when Villain turned around, he was surprised to see Hero’s face glistening with slow-moving tears.

“Why are you crying?”

“I’m not crying. My eyes are burning…because I have allergies.” Simple explanation, and the solution was just as simple. “I just took my allergy medicine- just waiting for it to kick in.”

“You’re still sniffling.”

“Because it hasn’t kicked in yet. It will,” she reassured, as if he were the one that even needed the reassuring.

Villain nodded and turned away, walking to a nearby shelf. For a moment, Hero didn’t think anything of it. There were snacks on those shelves, as well as some videogames. Nothing unordinary. “A warhead would clear your sinuses.”

“No.”

A mischievous look was returned as a sour candy was plucked from a basket on the top shelf. “It would work.”

“It would kill me!”

Hero, in her weakened and dying state, had no defense as Villain approached, tearing the candy open and holding the green, apple-flavored drop of death between two pinched fingers.

“You’re going to kill me,” she screeched, and tried to sniffle, hoping her nose would have already cleared, hoping she could save herself from the sour punch her lover wanted to deliver. “Stop, no! I don’t want it, I don’t-”

But Villain was grabbing her chin with his free hand, squishing her lips until they fell open.

A moment of silence ensued and Villain smiled widely at his success. Hero was puckering, miserable, but her sniffle was gone. “It worked,” he said finally, and she could do nothing in revenge.

The war was lost, settled by a candy smaller than Hero’s thumb.

******

@imherebecauseofdee I will get my revenge.

Hearing his voice was like hearing a million blessings whispered by angels only to me.

S.A // Lovely Little Details

“How did you know you when you loved him?”

“I have this thing where I ask myself how long it would take me to get over a person if they left me in that moment. And usually it’s a month, maybe two. But with him it was like, if he disappeared right now? Years. I wouldn’t be the same, ever. I already feel like a piece of my life is missing just thinking about it.”

S.A // Conversations About Love #9

Since: I can’t post everything I write here because sometimes it’s not what I’m going for at the moment, or it might be a quick draft of something, or a short quick vision of words I have suddenly; but I still want to share it with you. So I’ve decided to open a Coffee & Literature twitter! Plus it gives me the chance to be closer to you guys
You guys can follow it @LitAndCoffee
It’ll mostly be for quick little things, and drafts that I just haven’t felt good enough to post on my blog, and to talk to you guys.
I hope this goes in a positive direction for me, Coffee & Literature and above all, all of you.
I love you I love you I love you.

A list of lovely moments and feelings

• Slow dances to your favorite tune alone or with someone you love
• Random and unexpected hugs
• Handwritten letters
• The smell of books and the sound of turning pages
• Hearing the phrase “I love you”
• Compliments from strangers
• Returned smiles
• Someone playing with your hair
• Sunrises and sunsets
• Handwritten notes found in old books
• Cardigans, big sweaters and knitted socks
• The taste of food after a long, tiring day
• When you finish reading a great book and you feel like you’ve lost a good friend forever
• Feeling the cold wind caressing you skin and hair
• When you’re at the beach and you close your eyes to listen to the sounds of ocean waves crushing against the shore
• Playing with children and hearing them laugh
• Making lists
• Long, meaningful discussions with someone who means a lot to you
• Slow kisses
• Being brave enough to do the right thing
• Hearing “this made me think of you” and “I miss you”
• Playing with animals on the street
• Visiting your grandparents
• Long peaceful baths
• unexpected car trips
• No homework
• The excitement of new beginnings
• Waking up after remembering a nice dream

chaos is caged in my chest. misery runs through veins, guilt is growing in my lungs. there’s traces of ruin tangled in my hair, and wreckage wrapped around my wrists. i let the sorrows seep into my skin. crimson red painted on arms, blue running from heart to head. i bury myself into bruises, and count cuts like stars. a rattled soul, a walking worry scrambling to carry the weight of a world. i dream in dread, speak in heartbreak. my existence is a fog, a memory burning just to get lost in the smoke. there is no difference between night and day, both are stuck on midnight. i’m waiting for a sun rise. but hope has fallen from shaky hands, got trapped in truth. i won’t see the sun when i’m stuck in a sky without a moon.

isabel cabrera

How I create my characters

masterlist.main navigation.

@bluebxlle_writer on Instagram

I’ve been getting questions on how to create characters recently, because apparently lots of y’all don’t know where and how to start creating a new character. I don’t think this post will help everybody, since everyone has different methods on creating characters (eg. some come up with names first, others come up with appearance first), but in this post I’ll be sharing my character creation process. I hope it will help! <3

1. An iconic line

This is a less well-known method to start creating a character, but for some reason it’s always how I do (and it always works lmao). It’s hard to create a character from scratch, so instead, I think about an iconic line that the character could say, which is usually related to my wip’s theme or mood. I came up with this line for an oc :

“I’ve been trying so damn hard to make everyone smile, but I get it now. The world would be happier without me, wouldn’t it?”

Justfrom this single line, I already know lots of things about this character :

• They always put the happiness of others before their own.

• They’ve probably been told that they need to have a positive effect on others in order to have the right to live.

• They’ve been trying to please others, but end up worsening things.

• They’re determined and desperate.

• …They probably had a corruption arc and won’t get a happy ending :“D

• The moment when they say this line is their breaking point

See? Just from two sentences, I already have an idea of their personality and backstory. Sometimes, I even get an idea for their appearance too. This is way easier than not knowing what to do first to create a character from scratch.

2. Appearance

Lots of people come up with character names before their appearance, but I always need to generate their appearance first, because otherwise, I can’t visualize or imagine them. I usually play around with picrew.me (an avatar generator website) to generate their potential appearance. I don’t spend too much time on this stage tho, because I’ll end up changing their appearance again after figuring out more details about my wip (that’s why I said potentialappearance).

3. Personality & backstory

After having a rough idea of how they look like, I’ll imagine them in various scenes in my wip and come up with their personality. If there are already other existing ocs in the wip, I always be careful to not repeat too much aspects from the other characters, so each character will be unique.

Then,asking why the character has a specific personality will create their backstory. For instance, if a character has trust issues, ask why. Maybe they’ve been betrayed by a loved one before? Or they live in a dangerous world where everyone double crosses people to survive?

4. Name

After I know their appearance, personality, and depth, that’s when I decide a name for the character which fit their vibes or has symbolism. For example, my character Bayu’s name is symbolic because it means "wind”, reflecting how he’s a thief who moves as fast as the wind.

Sometimes, I don’t immediately search for a permanent name if I’m out of ideas. I’ll just choose a random placeholder name that fits their vibes, and remember to come up with their real name later.

5. Character arc

After knowing all the general information about the character, I’ll begin plotting out their character arc - their development throughout the book/series and whether it’s a positive or negative character arc. This stage is the hardest for me, because I need to figure out its starting, breaking, and ending point, and also the factors and people involved in the arc. I have a post series about both redemption and corruption arcs, you can check my masterlist to find them!

I want to forgive you. But every time I think about what could’ve happened my heart turns into a natural disaster, and my bones collapse inside of me, and my mind falls Into a pile of purple thoughts. The thing is I’ve sat in front of my mirror and pretended I was hearing your apology and I’ve thought of a thousand ways to let the earthquake that sits in between us stop. But the problem is you never felt the bruises or had to pick up your bones because they were broken instead you were the one who walked away when my whole life was falling.

-Alexa Evangelista, the book ill never finish writing

I’ll live a life where I have no responsibilities, not just the ones that require you to do things, but the ones that require you to feel things. I’ll take my medicine at the same time every morning, I’ll do my laundry on the same day every week, I’ll pay my bills on time at the end of every month, I’ll do my taxes at the same desk every April. I’ll live far away. All my belongings will fit into three cardboard boxes–every last trinket, every piece of kitchenware, every item of clothing, every photograph. There won’t be pictures on my walls, there won’t be any interesting furniture or bright paint. I won’t get married or have kids and I’ll have a landline that no one knows the number for. I’ll wear black all the time and work in a lab that’s overflowing with glass and metal and the temperature is stable all the time and the sinks dispense deionized water and everyone keeps track of when the chemicals arrive and when they expire. My parents will visit me one day, maybe on my birthday, and they’ll notice that I’m almost too calm, that I never appear to be particularly happy or particularly upset, that I make eye contact but it’s foreign and shallow. If in the past I’d left any mark on the people or places around me, they’ll be painted over white. And I’ll just look out the window and breathe.

At work,

When a stranger asked how I was as she paid for her box of greeting cards,

I thought I might vomit blood onto the cash register;

Everything inside me that was pink is turning red and has a serrated surface.

Whatever’s in my stomach is crawling through my throat, is too big for my chest, and this splintering breastplate is ear-splitting.

I went down to the creek at the end of the road and my body just sank to the bottom–

I felt like an isotope of myself; the same but so much heavier.

You should know:

That I’m colder and denser and darker than pitch now.

It’s coming at night like vines through the cracks

That bloomed from your hand on my back.

This morning I coughed up your canine teeth;

I am vicious and for that I blame you.

It’s tragic how you ruin everything

Then leave without so much as the nerve to stay and

Suffer with me.

When I dream of you, I wake up bruised

You can say it’s the same but it’s not–

That isn’t how time’s arrow flies.

Things happening now are just things happening then,

Dyed different colors by things happening in-between.

What happens last can’t be what happens first,

Without the caveat of what happens at sometime that is neither;

An unlit fire cannot be burned and thenun-burned.

We were at a party when he looked at you and said that boy’s dangerous and he knows it.

So just to be careful I washed my thoughts along with the flasks in sulfuric acid today:

Soap-washing it all and I don’t still talk to you

Letting it all sit in a tub of acid and I never dreamt about you

Rinsing it all once with distilled water and I never thought I saw your face in a crowd

Rinsing it a second time and I never wanted to call you

Rinsing it a third time and I never loved you

Rinsing it a fourth time and I never liked you

Rinsing it a fifth time and I never talked to you

Rinsing it a sixth time and there is no I in relation to you

After one good scrubbing and one fifteen-minute acid bath and six rinses with distilled water all your equipment is now sterile and ready to do something important

(I am sterile and ready to do something important)

So then finally I will let myself and the flasks dry overnight so we may all lose our last pieces to the atmospheric gases because nothing can be left on the inside or else None of This Will Work

(nothing can be left on my inside or else None of This Will Work).

Don’t be a ghost, don’t hang around like smoke, don’t leave your afterglow like cigarette stubs at the bottom of my backpack. Give me something more than an echo of your voice through the car stereo, give me good grammar and smooth syntax. I know it’s gonna be boring at the bar without you there, and that it’s gonna be different when I go to the diner, and I know we’re all gonna notice you’re gone now. Sail your great sea; write me sometime.

You are beautiful at midnight,

You are beautiful at noon;

You are beautiful in sunlight,

And beautiful under the moon.

You are sweet when I am bad,

You are sweet when I am good;

You are sweet when I do what I shouldn’t,

And sweet when I do what I should.

I love you on the surface,

I love you in the deep;

I love you when you wake up,

And I love you when you sleep.

I love you when it snows,

I love you when it rains;

I love you with my bones,

And I love you with my veins.