With this post I listed 10 outline techniques to help writes move their story from a basic idea to a complete set of arcs, plots, sequences and/or scenes. Or to simply expand whatever you have in hands right now.
If you have a vague story idea or a detailed one, this post is for you to both discover and organize. A few technique will work perfectly. A few won’t. Your mission is to find the one that works best for you. That said, I advice you to try out as many techniques as possible.
So, are you ready? Open your notebook, or your digital document, and let’s start.
1. Snowflake method: Start with a one-sentence description of the novel. Then, develop this simple phrase into a paragraph. Your next step is to write a one-page summary based on the paragraph, you can write about characters, motivations, goals, plots, options, whatever you feel like. From this point on, you can either start your book or expand the one-page summary into four pages. And, at last, four pages into a brief description of known sequences of scenes. Your goal is to make the story more and more complex as you add information, much like a forming snowflake.
2. Chapter by chapter: List ten to twenty chapters, give each chapter a tittle and a brief description of what should happen. Then, break each chapter into three to five basic sequences of scenes. Give each sequence a title, a brief description and a short list of possibilities (possibilities of dialogues, scenarios, outcomes, moods, feelings… just play around with possibilities). From this point on, you can either create the scenes of sequences with a one-sentence description for each or jump straight to writing. Your goal is to shift from the big picture to a detail-oriented point of view.
3. Script: This might sound crazy, but, with this technique, you will write the screenplay of your story as if it’s a movie. No strings attached to creative writing, just plain actions and dialogues with basic information. Writing a script will take time, maybe months, but it will also enlighten your project like no other technique. Your goal is to create a cinematic view of your story. How to write a script here.
4. Free writing: No rules, no format, no step, just grab a pen or prepare your fingers to write down whatever idea that comes up. Think of possibilities, characters, places, quests, journeys, evolutions, symbolisms, fears, good moments, bad moments, clothing, appearances. Complete five to ten pages. Or even more. The more you write, the more you will unravel. You can even doodle, or paste images. Your mission is to explore freely.
5. Tag: This technique is ideal if you have just a vague idea of the story. Start by listing ten to fifteen tags related to the story. Under each tag, create possible plots. And, under each plot, create possible scenes. Grab a red felt pen and circle plots and scenes that sparkle your interest.
6. Eight-point arc: With this technique you will divide your story into eight stages. They are Stasis, Trigger, Quest, Surprise, Critical Choice, Climax, Reversal and Resolution. The Stasis is the every-day-life of your main character. Trigger is an event that will change the every-day-life of your character (for better or for worse). Quest is a period of your main characters trying to find a new balance, a new every-day-life (because we all love a good routine). Surprise will take your character away from their new found every-day-life. Critical Choice is a point of no return, a dilemma, your character will have to make the hardest decision out of two outcomes, both equally important. Climax is the critical choice put to practice. Reversal is the consequence of the climax, or how the characters evolved. Resolution is the return to a new (or old) every-day-life, a (maybe everlasting) balance.
7. Reverse: Write down a description of how your story ends, what happens to your characters and to those around them. Make it as detailed as possible. Then, move up to the climax, write a short scenario for the highest point of your story. From there, build all the way back to the beginning.
8. Zigzag: Draw a zigzag with as many up and downs as you want. Every up represents your main character moving closer to their goal. Every down represents your main character moving further from their goal. Fill in your zigzag with sequences that will take your character closer and farther from the goal.
9. Listing: The focus of this technique is exploring new ideas when your story feels empty, short or stagnated. You’ll, basically make lists. Make a long list of plot ideas. Make another list of places and settings. Make a list of elements. And a list of possible characters. Maybe a list of book titles. Or a list of interesting scenes. A list of bad things that could happen inside this universe. A list of good things. A list of symbolism. A list of visual inspiration. A list of absurd ideas you’ll probably never use. Then, gather all this material and circle the good items. Try to organize them into a timeline.
10. Character-driven: Create a character. Don’t worry about anything else. Just think of a character, their appearance and style. Give them a name. Give them a basic personality. Give them a backstory. Develop their personality based on the backstory. Now, give this character a story that mirrors their backstory (maybe a way to overcome the past, or to grow, or to revenge, or to restore). Based on your character’s personality, come up with a few scenes to drive their story from beginning to end. Now, do the same thing for the antagonist and secondary characters.
So, when is it time to stop outlining and start writing?
This is your call. Some writers need as many details as they can get, some need just an basic plot to use as a North. Just remember, an outline is not a strict format, you can and you will improvise along the way. The most important is being comfortable with your story, exploring new ideas, expanding old concepts and, maybe, changing your mind many times. There’s no right or wrong, just follow your intuition.
Reblogging for future reference for myself as well as anyone else who needs it :)
HEY THIS IS IMPORTANT whats your favorite place to find drawing references?
so far we’ve got
senshi stock
croquis cafe
line-of-action.com
quickposes.com
posemaniacs
clip studio paint models
pexels.com
sketchdaily
eggazyoutatsu atarichan drawer
designdoll
if you have any more please reply!
Unsplash: All photos published on Unsplash can be used for free. You can use them for commercial and noncommercial purposes. You do not need to ask permission from or provide credit to the photographer or Unsplash, although it is appreciated when possible. More precisely, Unsplash grants you an irrevocable, nonexclusive copyright license to download, copy, modify, distribute, perform, and use photos from Unsplash for free, including for commercial purposes, without permission from or attributing the photographer or Unsplash. This license does not include the right to compile photos from Unsplash to replicate a similar or competing service.
Freeimages: You can use the images in digital format on websites, blog posts, social media, advertisements, film and television productions, web and mobile applications. In printed materials such as magazines, newspapers, books, brochures, flyers, product packaging for decorative use in your home, office or any public place or personal use. The rights granted to you by FreeImages.com are: Perpetual, meaning there is no expiration or end date on your rights to use the content. Non-exclusive, meaning that you do not have exclusive rights to use the content. FreeImages.com can license the same content to other customers. Unlimited, meaning you can use the content in an unlimited number of projects and in any media. For purposes of this agreement, “use” means to copy, reproduce, modify, edit, synchronize, perform, display, broadcast, publish, or otherwise make use of.
Stocksnap: Every single image on StockSnap are governed exclusively by the generous terms of the Creative Commons CC0 license. Specifically, that license means you can do any and all of the following: Download the image file.Publish, revise, copy, alter, and share that image. Use the image (as-is or as you’ve altered it), in both personal and commercial contexts. Moreover, you can put StockSnap CC0 images to any of these usages without buying the right to do it, acquiring written permission from the image’s creator, or attributing the work to the image creator. In other words, there’s no fee to download or use these StockSnap images in accordance with the CC0 license. They’re free to download, free to edit, and free to use - even in a commercial project! You don’t even need to attribute the image to the creator, the way you do with other CC or traditional copyright licensing schemes. (However, even though it’s not required, we here at StockSnap do encourage you to include an appropriate attribution. It’s a nice thing to do.)
Burst.Shopify: Burst is a free stock photo platform that is powered by Shopify. Their image library includes thousands of high-resolution, royalty-free images that were shot by their global community of photographers. You can use their pictures for just about anything — your website, blog or online store, school projects, Instagram ads, facebook posts, desktop backgrounds, client work and more. All of their photos are free for commercial use with no attribution required.
Pixabay: Images and Videos on Pixabay are released under Creative Commons CC0. To the extent possible under law, uploaders of Pixabay have waived their copyright and related or neighboring rights to these Images and Videos. You are free to adapt and use them for commercial purposes without attributing the original author or source. Although not required, a link back to Pixabay is appreciated.
Viintage: All images hosted by Viintage.com are considered to be public domain images, each image is presumed to be in the public domain. It may be distributed or copied as permitted by applicable law. Viintage.com assumes no ownership of the images and they may be downloaded and can be used free of charge for any purpose. They may be downloaded and used for commercial and personal use. Understand “public domain” as the permission to freely use an image without asking permission from the photographer or the illustrator. Thus, the creator of the work will not sue you for violating his/her copyrights. It is your responsibility to make sure, displaying the image does not violate any other law. Viintage.com assumes no responsibility for how or where you use the images found on the site.
Gratisography: You may use Gratisography pictures as you please for both personal and commercial projects. You can adapt and modify the images and get paid for work that incorporates the pictures. This includes advertising campaigns, adding your logo or text to an image, printed in any size print runs (e.g., book covers, magazines, posters, etc.), on your website, blog, or other digital mediums, and on merchandise as long as the picture itself is not the merchandise.
As someone who draws a lot of faeries, Faestockis godlike.
A wonderful addition to the list!
Unsplash. Another whopping huge free images site like pixabay: free for commercial and noncommercial use and remixing; just don’t sell the photos unmodified or add them to other photo-sharing sites.
Morguefile.Big old free photo archive from the dawn of the web. “We are a community-based free photo site, and all photos found in the Morguefile archive are free for you to download and re-use in your work, be it commercial or not. The photos have been contributed by a wide range of creatives from around the world, ranging from amateur photo hobbyists to professionals.”
Open Access at the Met. The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York: “Whether you’re an artist or a designer, an educator or a student, a professional or a hobbyist, you now have more than 406,000 images of artworks from The Met collection to use, share, and remix—without restriction.”
Smithsonian Open Access. Download, share, and reuse millions of the Smithsonian’s images […] from across the Smithsonian’s 19 museums, nine research centers, libraries, archives, and the National Zoo.
Limited use, if you’re doing a Science and need control panels/rockets/futuristic an image search with qualifier site: nasa.gov You have to double-check a photo’s caption it’s really a NASA photo, but photos which were taken by NASA spacecraft and astronauts are public domain, since they’re funded by taxpayer dollars. (This also goes for images of animals archived at the USFWS Digital Library, i.e the US Fish and Wildlife Service, or rocks and landscapes on USGSwebsites.
Okay updating and consolidating lots of info here; as well as adding links for ease of access. Adding a brief description for some too; as is the case that not all of them have descriptions above. (Warning that some of these links contain nude refs, I will try to mark where possible which ones have more prominent ones.)
Posing Sites and Apps:
Adorkastock. Stock photos for pose refs. DeviantArt gallery started in 2007.
FreePhotoMuscle.com. (translated page link click here) Japanese stock photo pose site that includes buff people, but in funny poses and costumes.
CroquoisCafe. (NSFW, nude model poses warning) A stock photo pose site. You should be aware this org has been linked as pro-Trump. I leave it to y’all to decide if you want to use the resources or not. I highly encourage not financially supporting them and trying to support the individual models if you can.
Line of Action. Fantastic site that includes posing refs, community discussions from other artists, figure study, anatomy, etc. So much stuff in here.
PoseSpace. Extensive library of poses. Some free resources others are paid. I’ve not fully evaluated both, but you should be able to use this all mostly free and get great use out of it.
SketchDaily. This one is one of the better ones out there. You can time yourself, search by pose, clothing options, body type, perspective, etc. All real models.
JustSketch.me. A pose app for any device. Has apps for most devices and a webapp. Customize and pose models/props/scenes.
Quickposes. Pose site that gives you timed challenges to become more proficient at poses.
POSEMANIACS. Ref site with anatomical poses. All the ref pics are of 3D models with only the bones and muscles. Can be helpful for seeing how muscles behave in certain poses. limited to two body types tho.
MagicPoser. A wonderful app that’s great on mobile. Lets you choose size of models, number of them, style, etc. Significant features are use of snap point with the physics engine, adjustable lighting, multiple perspective, 360 angle, articulated hand posing.
Clip Studio Paint Modeler. Free 3d tool that works with Clip Studio Paint. You can import your own data or other models you find online. Not quite an alternative to Blender, but the integration with CSP is very nice.
Egg a Zyoutatsu Atarichan Drawer. (requires enabling flash player or downloading and using standalone flashplayer) Drawing tool for pose practice. The developer is working on an html5 version.
DesignDoll. One of the best pose tool apps out there. You can customize so many things. They also have an extensive collection of ready made poses here. You can use the free or pay once for life and have the poses integrated into the client as well as the ability to export your obj to other programs like blender or smt.
freeimages.com. Another stock photo site, less features than some others.
StockSnap.io. Stock photos with a creative commons CC0 license, which essentially means you can use the photos however you want and don’t have to attribute to them. (though its nice if you do attribute)
Burst.Shopify. Tons of royalty free high quality images. Similar licensing to StockSnap.
pixabay. I feel like most people know about this one, but it features entirely free CC0 licensed Photos, Videos, and Music. No attribution required, but still nice to support a giant site with all this content.
Viintage. Big collection of public domain vintage photos.
Gratisography. For commercial or personal use. They specialize in odd, quirky, wild stock photos.
pexels. Great free stock photos and videos. Only a few stipulations of what they don’t allow, but their license info can be found here.
Faestock. An artist and model with a huge amount of fantasy and fae and other types of photos available. Their terms for use are here.
MorgueFile. Old stock photo archive that’s been around a long time.
I have a mute character in the story I’m writing and one of my beta readers suggested I use italics when they sign so that I don’t have to keep peppering “they signed” or “their hands flashed” throughout the piece.
But like…I always read italics in a different tone like they’re thoughts. It seems quieter than using normal quotations which makes what they say look less significant on the page than other character’s dialogue.
I really don’t think my audience needs me to use completely different punctuation around a mute character. There’s no need to act like they’re speaking a different language since their muteness isn’t a focal point in the story.
So really this reader’s comment has done the complete opposite of what they intended. Now I’m actively taking out as many of my “hands flashed” notations as possible and just writing in normal body language because, clearly, the other characters understand them and my audience doesn’t need to be coddled.
As an HOH reader and writer I can affirm that once the signing has been established it can just be treated like “said”.
You can add little things for emphasis though, like how fast or flippant a sign is given, also a lot of our “punctuation” is in facial expressions, so wild looks is kind of normal. Also messing up signs and just.. pushing them aside. Like, you mess up a fingerspell and just take both hands and shove the air in front of you to your side, people who sign eventually end up doing this for other things, like a “forget it” motion. It’s like a “wave it off” gesture.
Body language for someone who signs is a lot more animated than someone who speaks, as we use our upper body a lot in our conversations, so the act of “signing” is more than just hand signals.
Yes….yes GOOD this is the good stuff right here. I’m going to incorporate some of these ASAP ESPECIALLY the pushing the air but to clear it of your mistakes
This isnt a joke my favorite piece of writing advice that I’ve ever seen is someone that said if you were stuck with a fic and couldn’t figure out why or what was wrong, your problem is actually usually about ten sentences back. Maybe there was something wonky about the tone or the dialogue or you added something that didn’t fit but it’s usually ten sentences back. And every single time I get stuck in a fic I count back ten sentences and it’s always fucking there
If you write yourself into a corner, back out of the corner.
^ THIS!!! Sometimes you just gotta accept that, if you want to progress, first you have to backtrack!
twitter authors are so funny… “wah someone doesn’t like my book!” maybe because it’s bad
i love how many different authors are named & shamed in the notes on this post. may i recommend two goodreads reviews that made the corresponding twitter authors leave twitter:
Here are some tips for writing relationships your readers can get behind:
1. Give them reasons to click
The two characters must have things in common - a hobby, a philosophy, a background. There has to be some element that connects them.
Your readers will root for relationships in which the characters fit together better than they would with others.
Also, make their traits compatible. Have them share some characteristics or have their strengths and weaknesses be complementary. Is the one hotheaded? Maybe the other keeps their cool well in situations of conflict.
There are endless possibilities. Just make sure there’s a reason these two people like/love each other.
2. Have them be vulnerable in front of each other
Personally, this is the best way to get me to love a couple.
Have them share secrets, open up about their feelings and tell each other things they haven’t told anyone. Have them cry in front of each other and comfort each other.
This can be taken to a whole new level by having them understand the other’s emotions even without speaking and already offer comfort. Keep in mind that this will probably only be possible with long-established couples.
And having them open up is also a great way for them to discover all the things they have in common/love about each other.
3. Build up the tension
I cannot emphasise this enough: DO NOT MAKE YOUR COUPLES GET TOGETHER TOO QUICKLY.
One of the best elements of a romantic subplot (or even main plot) is the tension. Your readers want to see the pining! They want the build-up.
And no, I’m not saying that you should introduce endless, petty obstacles. That can become tedious and appear forced.
Just give your characters time to sort through their feelings. Make them fall in love slowly. Have them be unsure. Insert SOME obstacles/conflicts.
Have them almost kiss a few times. Not all the time. Too many almost-kisses can become frustrating. But you should throw a few in there.
And, if you feel comfortable with it, add some sexual tension. Have them notice each other’s bodies and imagine what they’d like to do to each other (that sounds more explicit than I intended :) )
4. Write a healthy relationship
This could just be me and my rejection of unhealthy romances, but I will not root for abusive relationships.
Have your characters be kind to each other, support each other and truly care for each other.
If your characters are constantly putting each other down, physically/emotionally abusing each other or going against the other’s wishes, they’re not in a healthy relationship.
A great way to write a healthy relationship whilst still maintaining the tension, is to have the conflict in the relationship be external. Instead of having the conflict be due to internal struggles between the two characters, have obstacles enter from outside.
Your readers should want them to be together and for that, they should be good for each other.
5. Have their friends/family see their chemistry
I find it beyond adorable when two characters are still figuring out their feelings for each other, but the fact that they’re perfect for each other is crystal clear to everyone around them.
Have their friends tease them about the relationship. Have family members ask after the them. Have their loved ones conspire to get them to admit their feelings.
If your other characters are rooting for them, your readers will probably do so as well.
Plus, this means that the chemistry between the two characters is so strong that it’s obvious, which is always good for an exciting romance.
That’s all I’ve got for now. If you have any further questions about writing OTPs or any other aspect of writing, feel free to message me or pop me an ask.
Reblog if you found any of this useful. Comment with your own tips. Follow me for similar content.
THIS IMMEDIATELY IMPROVES THE ENTIRE TROPE! I had really disliked Hanahaki because it’s almost like the other person - if they’re a good person - is sorta blackmailed into either having feelings or being responsible for your death which is Not Romantic, but I can totally get down for FEELIGS made into an aggravating physical metaphor that you could potential deal with if you’d either confront them or get therapy or something.
Prof you fucking genius is it seasonal? Like it happens in spring cause the flowers bloom? Imagine it hitting hanahaki season and looking around a room and seeing whose missing, who’s out on sick leave, thr curiosity the DRAMA
This puts the song “I Won’t Say (I’m in Love)” in a completely new light.
I am in awe at how much this tweak changes the trope of hanahaki from something I quietly detest from a distance into something I would gleefully read and giggle about to others.
Honestly I don’t even think it’s even the removal of the death thing (like that’s certainly helpful, but you can probably keep it, if you need it for the Drama) that saves it, so much as it is the idea that the problem is caused purely by you not admitting your feelings, rather than the other person not sharing them.
Like, in the standard version of Hanahaki, the point is that the disease is caused by unrequited love, and the afflicted end up coughing up increasingly large amounts of flowers, until either they suffocate or the other person returns their feelings.
A lot of versions do require a confession on top of that, but fundamentally the most important thing is the object of your affections developing specifically romantic feelings for you. Or you die.
As an aro person, I’m sure I don’t need to explain why this trope is uncomfortable for me, considering that it basically paints me as a potential death trap.
Plus some stories also feature ‘The Surgery’, which removes the roots of the flowers from the victim’s lungs, thus saving their life, but in the process makes them incapable of romantic love, which is treated as the highest tragedy.
Chronic Hanahaki on its own would still kind of have this problem, it’s just toning it down a bit— rather than being responsible for your death, your crush is instead just responsible for your continued pain/discomfort and frequent hospital visits. Better, but still kind of icky.
Chronic Hanahaki (that could still be potentially terminal in the long term, if you need extra drama) caused by not saying your feelings aloud, regardless of how the other person feels, on the other hand?
Beautiful. Great metaphor for the real effects that repressing your emotions can have on your body. Lots of dramatic potential.
Like, obviously there’s your bog-standard “I love you but don’t believe that you love me, so I will choose to suffer tragically alone rather than risk making you feel bad for not loving me back” thing that the Hanahaki genre was made for, but there’s room for more here as well.
Especially if you expand it to be about supressed emotions in general, rather than just romantic love.
For example:
The character who is in a relationship, but still has trouble verbalising their feelings sometimes, due to past trauma/mental illness, and thus still experiences recurring bouts of Hanahaki. Their partner who reassures them that it’s okay, that they know they love them, and that if they want to say it then that’s fine, but if they don’t feel they can right now then your flowers are beautiful babe, and that’s fine too.
The character who notices flower petals lying around their kid’s room, and doesn’t understand why their child won’t just tell them who they are in love with, so they can support them in confessing their feelings. Only to find out that their kid has actually been dating their same gender best friend for months now, and the Hanahaki was about coming out to their parent.
The autistic character with alexithymia, who by this point just treats coughing up the occasional flower petal as another, rather annoying autistic trait. “Fuck,” they say, coughing up a blood-stained rose and holding it up for their friends to see. “Anyone got any ideas what this one could be about?”
The polar opposite of the traditional Hanahaki thing. The ever happy, toxic positivity character who will die from the flowers choking their lungs unless they finally admit that they kind of hate you sometimes.
The character at the funeral of a family member they had an extremely dysfunctional relationship with, defiantly coughing their flower petals right onto the grave, and refusing to admit that they felt anything other than dislike or indifference for them deep down, because even now, when they’re dead and gone and it doesn’t matter, “you first, bitch.”
The character who witnessed or was told something that they aren’t supposed to know, and not only has to deal with the secret eating away at them, but also has to come up with more and more reasons for why their Hanahaki isn’t going away, even after they confess all their other secrets.
The character who, upon clearing out the house of a beloved elderly relative who recently died, finds a whole room full of rotting flowers, and is faced with the question of what their relative’s big secret was.
Reworking Hanahaki to be a material and physical symptom of emotional bottling or stress is absolutely fantastic,especially because it brings several more layers to the AU that weren’t otherwise worth exploring before when it was just a ‘cough flowers up till you die’ kinda deal. Obviously plenty has been said above me by excellent individuals, but I offer a couple more questions/ideas:
There is a huge following of people who believe the petals or type of flower from Hanahaki symptoms somehow represents a person’s inner feelings, emotions, or state of being.
Does a rose mean you’re holding back a romantic attraction? If your friend is coughing up daisy petals, are they hiding a secret? If you start finding lavender petals in your coughs, should you think about who it is you don’t trust?
On the flip side, perhaps each person experiences Hanahaki with a very specific type of flower, and there are some who believe that flower represents the person in some form–perhaps to the degree of astrology. Someone who is a daffodil shouldn’t date someone who is a lilac, the two of them are intrinsic opposites and they’ll never get along!
Fortune-tellers who say they can read your future if you’re currently experiencing symptoms and bring in a handful of petals you’ve expelled–they’ll read them just like palm lines or tarot cards.
One of the most important parts of writing MYSTERY is figuring out what to do with clues and red herrings - and how to use them effectively. Here’s some advice that’s never steered me wrong:
Hide the real clue before the false ones! Most people, so by extent your readers andyour sleuth, tend to focus on the last piece of information presented to them. A good strategy is to mention/show your real clue and then quickly shift focus.
Do a clue cluster! Squeeze your real clue in among a whole pile of red herrings or other clues, effectively hiding it in plain sight. This works especially well with multiple suspect mysteries.
Struggling to think of what a clue could be? Try this list:
Physical objects: Letters, notes, tickets, emails, keepsakes, text messages, diaries, etc.
Dialogue: voicemail recordings, overheard conversations, hearsay, gossip, rumours. All of these can hold grains of truth!
Red herrings distractandconfoundyour protagonist and your reader, so you should be careful not to overuse them. Well balanced, red herrings should lead your characters down false paths to create confusion,tension, and suspense.
Contradictions! Have characters claim they did so-and-so at such-and-such a time, but other characters have evidence that contradictsthis.
Balance! Avoid a clue that’s so obvious it’s like a neon sign saying “Look at me, I’m a clue!” but don’t make it so obscure it’ll be missed entirely. A good clue should leave a reader saying “Damn, I should have noticed that”
Cat’s Writing Tips: 10 Things I Learned Rewriting MDCSP
For anyone that doesn’t know at this point, I rewrote a fic of mine last year called Marinette Dupain-Cheng’s Spite Playlist and rereleased it as Marinette Dupain-Cheng’s Spite Playlist: Remix. The whole journey of revising the 86,000 word story took me about a year over which time I completely edited the original text and added an additional 52,000 words of new content. I learned a lot about the writing process along the way and feel like my writing leveled up as well. Here are 10 things I learned along the way while revising this absolute beast of a story that may help you on your writing journey as well:
1. Revising takes time
When I first set out to rewrite this story, I thought I could get it all done during NaNoWriMo. Aka, I thought I could do it in 1 month. And I probably could have if I’d been more on top of things and didn’t also have a full time day job. The whole process from start to finish took me about a year. That included editing the original text, writing the new content from scratch, getting everything beta read, going through feedback and making more revisions. I learned that the process of revising is a long one, but it’s a process that is so worth it. I’m really proud of the Remix, and I love the way it turned out in the end. Even if I felt like I was limping to the finish. My advice is take your time to do revisions well. You’ll be much happier with the end result.
2. Outlines are a literal godsend
I plan to make a whole separate post on outlining because motherfucking outlines saved my ass. I have outlined every story I’ve written since then. I mean, I usually would go into stories with some type of outline or at the very least an idea of what I wanted, but I started making detailed outlines for the new chapters, and let me tell you, it’s now a standard practice in my life.
For the enemies AU I’m working on, I have had the whole project outlined for months now from chapter 1 all the way through chapter 22. I’m still tweaking the ending, but for these beginning chapters, I know exactly what is going to happen in each chapter and have been able to map out Adrien’s whole journey throughout the fic. Outlining takes the guess work out of writing. If ever I forget where I’m supposed to be heading with a particular chapter, I glance back at the outline. By putting in the legwork to decide on all of the important plot points in the story ahead of time, it saves me that paralysis while writing where I have to stop and think hmmm what happens next. It keeps me from writing myself into corners, and it allows me to shape the story exactly how I want, so when it comes time to sit and write, I can just sit and write. I don’t have to stop and figure anything out. I’ve done that already. It’s what has allowed me to sit and spit out 8k within a week at times. Writers block? We don’t know her anymore. If I’m not able to write, it’s because I literally don’t have the time, which still happens because again, I have a full-time day job. But having a detailed outline completely removed mental blocks for me.
3. Set goals/keep a journal
I started keeping a writing journal to track my progress throughout this rewrite. I’d set weekly goals and keep track of how much I was writing on any given day. It helped keep me focused on what I needed to do next as well as keep me organized. It was also a way to hold myself accountable when I didn’t meet my goals. Something about putting things in writing makes you far more likely to do them. In my writing journal, I’d track daily word counts and set goals for what I wanted to work on/finish that week. Usually I’d be finishing one chapter, editing another, and starting on another almost every week. I didn’t always meet my goals, but setting them kept me motivated and helped me know what came next.
4. Skip around
This is something I still do and one area where outlines come in handy. My betas can attest that I always drag my feet when it comes to writing fight scenes. It’s not that I’m not good at them, I’m sure anyone who has read a fight scene written by me knows I’m not bad at it. It’s just that they’re tedious. It requires a lot of thinking and action and there are a lot of variables that go into them. Several times while rewriting MDCSPR, I’d get to a fight scene that I wasn’t quite mentally prepared to tackle, but the fight scene was sandwiched between a scene I really wanted to get to. So, I’d just skip the fight scene and keep writing from the next moment that I could clearly picture. This allowed me to get higher word counts every day because most of the time if I wrote the beginning and end, filling in the middle wasn’t hard because it gave me a clear picture of where I was headed and what I needed to connect to. It kept me from getting stuck on one word or one sentence and getting paralyzed for days or weeks at a time on one thing. Allowing myself to skip something and go back to it alleviated that sense of perfectionism that tends to nag me when I’m writing.
A word of caution about skipping around is don’t skip too far. Especially if you’re writing from scratch. Often times, even if you outline your story, you might change your mind about certain things or adopt a different vibe as you write. So if you skip ahead and write the ending before you’ve written the beginning, you might change your mind on that ending and have to scrap it and rewrite it later on. If I skipped around, it was usually within a single chapter or two, and I’d always make sure to go back and finish filling in the missing parts before I moved on.
5. Work in chunks
Rewriting a 20 chapter story was daunting at times. 86k is a lot of words to read and reread and rewrite. The only way I got through it was by working on one chunk at a time. I was usually working on at least 2-3 chapters at a time. This worked well for me for a couple of reasons. 1. If I got bogged down on one chapter, I could just move to a different one. 2. It helped me get more done at a time. Breaking a story down into chunks makes it way more manageable because it allows you to focus on one thing at a time rather than the whole thing at once. Writing 138,000 words sounds like a lot. Writing 2k right now is much more manageable. And eventually those 2ks add up, and now you’ve got a whole story.
6. Keep going
Along with my last point, this one kind of seems obvious, but keep going. Writing is a marathon, not a sprint. Though writing sprints do help you get through the marathon. I find that writing long stories especially is a matter of building and maintaining momentum. Pace yourself and keep making steady progress, no matter how small. I didn’t write every single day while rewriting MDCSPR, but I made sure to keep making steady progress whether by skipping around, working in chunks, or outlining something and plotting. If you feel yourself start to get stuck, work around the blockage. Skip it and work on something else. You can always go back and edit a bad first draft, but you can’t edit something that doesn’t exist. Keep up the momentum if you’ve got it. Nothing has been more freeing to me than getting to a point that’s stumping me and just skipping a few lines and writing [insert fight scene here], then moving onto whatever happens next. Skip shit. Keep going. Watch those word counts rise.
7. Fix it in post
I think a lot of writers suffer from a nagging sense of perfectionism. They slave over every word while they’re writing because they want to write the perfect draft. The most important thing I learned while writing MDCSPR is to throw perfection to the wind because the perfect draft doesn’t exist. I can’t tell you how many times I was writing something new, and it wasn’t going exactly how I wanted. I had that nagging voice to stop and fix it then and there, to agonize over a single sentence until it was “perfect.” But the most freeing thing I learned how to do was say eh, I can fix it later. Keep going. Let the sentence be bad. You can fix it later. As I said before, you can fix a bad first draft. You can’t fix a draft that hasn’t been written. Edit later. Allow yourself to write poorly and just spit the words onto the page.
8. Walk away/let it rest
This is something a younger me struggled with. I’d write something and want to post it immediately. I am an excitable person that struggles to keep projects secret XD I always want to tease things and share what I’m working on. For this project, though, I waited until I had edited 21 chapters to start posting it. That was an excruciating amount of time and effort put in with little pay off until it was time to share it, but patience and time make for much better writing. My betas kept me going because I could at least get some feedback on what I was making, but since this was a revision, I didn’t want to send my betas sloppy drafts either. I tried to make every chapter as polished as possible before sending it, and the main way I did that was by walking away for a while.
Cat, that sounds counter intuitive. Okay, hear me out. I talked about keeping a writing journal and how I’d usually be finishing one chapter, editing another, and starting the next one within any given week, and I found that this system worked well for me. It can be tempting when you finish a chapter to immediately start editing it, and oftentimes I would give the chapter a read through after I finished it initially, but I wouldn’t send it to my betas at that point. I started walking away from finished chapters and letting them rest while I worked on something else. Getting my eyes off a chapter for a week or two greatly increased the quality of my edits when I came back to it. When the chapter is fresh in your mind, it’s harder to spot mistakes because you’ve read it a dozen times, and your eyes start to glaze over typos and mistakes more easily because you’re used to the text. Walking away for a little while and letting your brain purge it a little bit allows you to come back with fresh eyes that can more easily spot mistakes. It also helps if you’re iffy on a part, you can usually come back with fresh ideas and/or new solutions.
Even now with my enemies AU, I tell my beta to give me a few days after I finish a chapter because I walk away before going back to proofread it. The writing process can be stressful, and most writers I know struggle with the nagging sense of perfectionism. We want to edit and edit again until a piece is perfect. Accepting that an initial draft is going to need work and allowing myself to just walk away and let it be bad for a little bit while I consider ways to improve it makes for better revisions in the long run. The drafts I send to my betas are far more polished, and I tend to be happier with them. Let your stories rest, then come back to them. It will help level up your writing tremendously.
9. Find betas you work well with
All that being said, my betas were the real mvps of this project. I revised 21 chapters before I started posting this one (and tbh it was more than that because it took time to get previous chapters beta read so I’d just keep going). My betas were my sole source of feedback on this project for months. I recommend having a variety of skillsets in your beta team. I had someone who was more grammar focused, someone who gave general feedback on the direction of the story and characters, and someone who gave more reactionary feedback to specific things within the chapter. They reacted as if they were a reader to give me an idea of whether or not readers would enjoy the story. These comments were what kept me from getting discouraged or burned out.
Writers naturally crave feedback and comments from readers. We want to know people enjoy our work. Going months working on a project with no feedback can be agony. Find betas you work well with. Or friends. Get other eyes on your work to leave you comments. Not only will it improve your craft because betas can spot things and offer outside perspectives you may not see on your own, and they can give you much desired feedback to keep those dry patches from swallowing you and your motivation.
Trust me, I spent a long time in this fandom just spitting out stories and throwing them on ao3 dot com. And I will say I don’t get everything beta read. Short drabbles and one shots I just edit myself. But for big projects especially, I highly recommend getting a beta or two or three. You will improve. Guaranteed.
10. Always be doing something
This sounds obvious, but not in the way you’re probably thinking. I said always be doing something, not always be writing. Editing is something. Outlining is something. Brainstorming is something. Reviewing beta feedback is something. There are many other aspects to writing than just writing. Even on days when I wasn’t writing for mdcspr, I was doing something. I was editing, I was reviewing my outline and brainstorming, I was making my playlist, I was considering what songs to use for what scenes, I was setting goals, I was rereading old chapters that were finished. Pretty much every day I was doing something to keep the story fresh in my mind and keep forward momentum on the project.
But Cat, I thought you said walk away. Yes. From individual chapters. But you should be doing something for your project most days of the week. Take a break if you need it, but if you want to finish, you have to keep working. I found that if I needed a break from writing, working on the playlist or compiling outfit references on pinterest was a good way to keep the story at the front of my brain. I was working on it, even when I wasn’t physically writing. This helped me develop a deeper understanding of my characters that made them easier to write in the long run. Understanding their style helped develop their personalities and mannerisms. Figuring out what songs and lyrics the characters might relate to in any given scene helped put me in their head. You don’t have to write every day, but you should do something. Big projects take time, and they’re going to take even longer if you take long breaks. Marathon, not a sprint. Keep the momentum going, pace yourself, do something.
Keep in mind, writing is a very individual process. What works for me, may not work for you. These are just a few things I found that helped me push through a big project. Find a process that works for you and go for it. If these tips work for you, great! At the end of the day, you have to figure out what works for you and develop your own methods and process. I hope that this is helpful for some of you! If you have anything else that works for you that you’d like to add, feel free to reblog and share! Contrary to popular belief, writing isn’t an individual activity. Writing a novel takes a whole team. We improve by interacting with each other and giving advice and encouragement.
If you want me to cover any other topics in writing, feel free to comment or message me. I’m not a professional writer, but I’ve been writing for 16 years. I’ve learned a thing or two over that time ♀️ Happy writing!
Trying to find a good word today and found these bookmark-worthy sites! Hope they help other writers with their descriptions.
Glossary of House Building Terms —if you’re having trouble imagining a residential home for your story, this site’s primary purpose is to offer house plans
House Parts You Didn’t Know Had a Name — this site is best for antique and historical homes, and offers professional DIYs for improving/maintaining every facet of an old home
going as each other’s “platonic” date to a mutual friend’s wedding
agreeing to kiss each other “just to see what it’s like”
punching the guy who broke your best friend’s heart at prom
refusing to admit your feelings but making up ridiculous excuses to spend time together
“i’m not in love with my best friend” but everyone knows you’re full of shit
there’s only one bed, which we decide to share (obviously been waiting for this moment)
friends and family think we’re dating because we’re always acting like a couple
sharing clothes, we’re just that comfortable with each other
accidentally blurting out “i love you” during a conversation
“i’ll kiss you right now to prove i don’t feel anything for you” but the kiss proves the exact opposite
finding old letters you wrote to each other as kids and reminiscing
is there a reason you’re always staring at me in class?
knowing your best friend inside out, everything from their favorite song, to the name of their stuffed animal in second grade
hiding your feelings, not wanting to ruin the friendship, even going as far as avoiding each other completely, yet always ending up sharing an intimate moment
immediately choosing each other for a group project, but spending more time making out than working
the first kiss and the realization of “it’s always been you”
starting to see each other in a different light
i’m watching you date all these other people and i don’t know what it is i’m feeling but it’s definitelynotjealousy
you don’t have anyone to go to prom with, so i volunteer, but we end up ditching early, instead driving around town, stopping for some cheap burgers and incredible sights
complimenting your best friend over small things, that realistically only someone who’s in love with that person would notice
that “oh shit” moment when the realization hits you
the “date” that isn’t really a date but feels like one
showing up at each other’s house late at night
you’re upset and disappear for a couple hours, and i’m the only one who knows where to find you (which is at the location we always hung out at as children)
one dropping hints about their feelings, the other one is completely oblivious
hearing your best friend say you’re nothing more than friends, dying a little on the inside because you wish it was more than that
family and friends constantly pointing out how compatible you are with each other
THAT FIRST SITE IS EVERY WRITER’S DREAM DO YOU KNOW HOW MANY TIMES I’VE TRIED WRITING SOMETHING AND THOUGHT GOD DAMN IS THERE A SPECIFIC WORD FOR WHAT I’M USING TWO SENTENCES TO DESCRIBE AND JUST GETTING A BUNCH OF SHIT GOOGLE RESULTS
The alien ambassador talks in length about treaties, alliances, and other such terms. But the only thing you can focus on is the Alien’s cute snout, perfect for booping. You want to boop it. You need to boop it.
tricky words I always see misspelled in fics: a guide
Viscous/vicious–Viscousis generally used to describe the consistency of blood or other thick liquids. Viciousis used to describe something or someone who is violent.
Piqued/Peaked/Peeked– To piquesomeone’s interest is to catch or tease their attention. When something peaks,it reaches its total height or intensity. To peek(at) something is to look briefly, or glance.
Discrete/Discreet– this is a tough one. Discretemeans to be separate, or distinct, i.e., two discretetheories. Conversely, when someone is discreet,they are being secretive or cautious to avoid attention.
Segue/Segway – one is a transition between things, the other is a thing you can ride at the park and definitely fall off of.
Conscious/Conscience/Conscientious – to be consciousis to be awake, i.e., not unconscious, or to be aware of something. Your conscienceis the little voice in your head telling you not to eat the entire pint of ice cream. Finally, to be conscientiousis to be good, to do things thoroughly, to be ruled by an inner moral code.
Hope this helped! Please add more if you think of them!
Counsel/Council-counsel is advice, the advice giver, or the verb form of giving said advice. Council is the group of people who come together to discuss and/or make decisions.
Desert/Desert/Dessert-desert is a barren landscape where little precipitation occurs. desert - abandon (a person, cause, or organization) in a way considered disloyal or treacherous. dessert - a usually sweet course or dish (as of pastry or ice cream) usually served at the end of a meal.
OH MY TIME IS HERE! I HAVE MADE A POST I KEEP FOR THIS EXACTLY
Taunt/Taut-Taunt is a jeer or provocation, taut means to be pulled tight, or not slack
Weary/Wary-wearymeans tired and warymeans cautious
Rogue/Rouge-rogue is a person who has unaffiliated themselves from what they were before (is the general understanding); a person or thing that behaves in an aberrant, faulty, or unpredictable way - rouge is red
Wonton/Wanton - a wontonis a dumpling, wantonis (of a cruel or violent action) deliberate and unprovoked and/or sexually unrestrained
Haphazard/Halfhazard-haphazardmeans to have a lack of plan, order, or direction - the other isn’t a word
Corporal/Corporeal-corporalis a lack of plan, order, or direction and corporealis to have a physical existence: to be tangible: of a person’s body
Peck/Pec - the first is a kiss (peck) and the second is the shortened version of pectoral (pec)
Virile/Viral - to be virileis to have strength, energy, and a strong sex drive (typically said about men) and then this last year (2020) has personally taught us, is how virala plague can really be, so of the nature of, caused by, or relating to a virus or viruses
Vulnerable/Venerable-vulnerablemeans being susceptible to physical or emotional attack or harm, and if a person is venerablethey’re accorded a great deal of respect, especially because of age, wisdom, or character (or if you’re religious, holy)
Dyedis something that is colored, and diedis deceased
Chalk (it up to something) ; chock (-full of something); choked (to cutoff air).
toaffect is the action,theeffect is the end result
breathe is the action of breathing, breath is the air involved
lose is to no longer have something, loose is the opposite of tight
could/would/shouldhave, not would of (even though the way we say it sounds like that)
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.
@s1ld3n4f1l WAIT WAIT WAIT SO TRUE LITERALLY LITERALLY
some people think writers are so eloquent and good with words, but the reality is that we can sit there with our fingers on the keyboard going, “what’s the word for non-sunlight lighting? Like, fake lighting?” and for ten minutes, all our brain will supply is “unofficial”, and we know that’s not the right word, but it’s the only word we can come up with…until finally it’s like our face got smashed into a brick wall and we remember the word we want is “artificial”.
I couldn’t remember the word “doorknob” ten minutes ago.
ok but the onelook thesaurus will save your life, i literally could not live without this website
So under the cut is basically a whole big masterlist of resources, guides etc. that all have to do with smut. None of these are mine, but if you need any specific tips just hit me up and I will gladly help you out! If this helped, like this post or even reblog! I hope you enjoy this masterlist. Also, I have tried my best to categorize these. Let me know if any of these links don’t work. I’ll be adding more every now and again.
IF IT HAS BEEN A VERY LONG DAY, YOU ARE ‘WEARY’. IF SOMEONE IS ACTING IN A WAY THAT MAKES YOU SUSPICIOUS, YOU ARE ‘WARY’.
ALL IN ‘DUE’ TIME, NOT ‘DO’ TIME
‘PER SE’ NOT ‘PER SAY’
THANK YOU
BREATHE - THE VERB FORM IN PRESENT TENSE
BREATH - THE NOUN FORM
THEY ARE NOT INTERCHANGEABLE
WANDER - TO WALK ABOUT AIMLESSLY
WONDER - TO THINK OF IN A DREAMLIKE AND/OR WISTFUL MANNER
THEY ARE NOT INTERCHANGEABLE (but one’s mind can wander)
DEFIANT - RESISTANT DEFINITE - CERTAIN
WANTON - DELIBERATE AND UNPROVOKED ACTION (ALSO AN ARCHAIC TERM FOR A PROMISCUOUS WOMAN)
WONTON - IT’S A DUMPLING THAT’S ALL IT IS IT’S A FUCKING DUMPLING
BAWL- TO SOB/CRY
BALL- A FUCKING BALL
YOU CANNOT “BALL” YOUR EYES OUT
AND FOR FUCK’S SAKE, IT’S NOT “SIKE”; IT’S “PSYCH”. AS IN “I PSYCHED YOU OUT”; BECAUSE YOU MOMENTARILY MADE SOMEONE BELIEVE SOMETHING THAT WASN’T TRUE.
THANK YOU.
*slams reblog*
IT’S ‘MIGHT AS WELL’. ‘MIND AS WELL’ DOES NOT MAKE GRAMMATICAL SENSE.
IT’S NOT ‘COULD OF’, THAT DOESN’T MAKE ANY SENSE WHATSOEVER. IT’S ‘COULD HAVE’. SAME APPLIES TO ‘SHOULD HAVE’.
And this is why my students look at me as though I’m the devil when I try to tell them that no i’m not lying this really is a thing
IT’S ‘COULDN’T CARE LESS’ NOT ‘COULD CARE LESS’ IF YOU COULD CARE LESS THAT MEANS YOU CARE
it’s ‘couldn’t care less’ not ‘could care less’ if you could care less that means you care ^Haiku^bot^0.4. Sometimes I do stupid things (but I have improved with syllables!). Beep-boop!
Oh hey– here’s a list ranked by Writing With Color’s most popular posts since opening in 2014 up till now, the start of 2017. Pulled together for the interest and usefulness for readers like you. Thank you.
Top 7 Popular Original Posts
Words for Skin Tone- This two part guide offers an array of words for describing skin color. Part I focuses on the problems with food descriptors. Part II provides alternatives. (68k+ Notes)
(alt. title: oh god I am sick of very authoritative how-to guides that somehow manage to be, at the same time, hyper-specific and very vague)
THIS POST HAS BEEN EDITED APRIL 2022 TO ADD MINOR LANGUAGE/PHRASING TWEAKS, RESOURCE LINKS, AND A FEW PARAGRAPHS
Ok! So: what this post isn’t:
A how-to guide for writing
A how-to guide for having sex with actual transmasculine people
A comprehensive list of every transmasculine experience or preference
A list of rules for what you’re “allowed” to write
What this is:
Basic information that you might want to be aware of if writing outside of your own experience
That’s it! I’ve divided this into a few subcategories for the sake of organization and readability, which are as follows:
General notes
Dysphoria
Preferences
A note on the fetishization of trans bodies
Transitioning
Language
Final thoughts
Content warnings are as follows:
All sorts of language used to describe transmasc genitalia/chests; discussions of various kinds of sex; mentions of more controversial kinks like pregnancy/breeding kink; discussions of dysphoria; brief mentions of transphobia.
