thinking about 307 and I’m mad all over again… like clexa had JUST consummated their relationship, clarke had finally felt at home again, lexa had earned clarkes trust back, they were HAPPY!!!! for only a brief moment!!!! imagine if they’d gotten to actually spend time together afterwards!!! both not quite sure how to behave around the other girl, is appropriate if I touch her hand while we’re looking over maps? her waist? each not knowing how badly they both have been craving soft, causal intimacy, both wanting to know how it feels to hold the hand of someone who ISN’T dying, who isn’t covered in blood. lexa would have sent for tea and food and they would have talked and shyly smiled at each, both still not believing this is finally happening, discussed what their next step would be, as co leaders and as a couple. the situation in arkadia never happened, the ice queen was disposed of and the farm station arkers had gotten their justice!!! roan becomes king and has an alliance with lexa and the people of polis, arkadians are safe and no longer in danger. it could have been so good……..

//Absurdly helpful for people writing royal characters and/or characters who interact with royalty and members of the nobility.

[x]

Tips on keeping your scenes engaging

So I’ve been getting a few messages lately to the effect of “I’m not sure how to keep my descriptions interesting” or “I don’t know how to make this scene sound more interesting.” So while I could answer each of them one by one, it’s been a while since I’ve personally made a post on this blog and it’s a common problem anyway, so here’s some advice on constructing an engaging scene that I find to be helpful in my writing.

Learn how to juggle dialogue and descriptions. One of the biggest problems I see in beginning writers is they don’t yet know how to simultaneously describe a scene (what it looks like, what the characters are doing, etc.) and also keep dialogue between characters going. The trick here is not to lump all of your description in one big long paragraph and then have a long stretch of dialogue; instead, make the two weave in together so that you’re doing both at the same time and cutting out any unnecessary rambling.

Make sure you’re not adding unnecessary dialogue or details. If a scene drags, it might be because you’re spending too long on one bit of the story that doesn’t really matter. A scene where your characters are learning about the country they’re going to is fine, but don’t bog the reader down with a bunch of superfluous information about their economic structure or what the trees look like in autumn. Similarly, writing dialogue can be fun, but having your characters ramble at each other and not really get anywhere is just as boring. Everything you write needs to be moving the plot forward and be absolutely necessary for the reader’s understanding of the book.

If the content is what’s boring, try introducing a major event. Again, every scene needs to exist for a specific reason. If you feel like your prose isn’t what’s the problem, maybe ask yourself if the scene itself is dragging because it doesn’t really seem to be going anywhere. A scene in which all of your characters sit around and talk can be good for character development, but it may not feel like enough action is going on to justify it. Try adding in some sort of major event, or even ending the scene sooner so you can get to the major event that it necessitates.

If the scene isn’t working out, kill your darlings. Following up on that last point, if you’ve tried that and can’t figure out how to work an event into the scene or how to make it better, sometimes you just have to let it go. This is especially true if you’re only keeping the scene around because you really like it, even if you can’t figure out how to make it work. If I’m on the brink of deleting an entire scene from my project, usually I’ll copy/paste it into a new file, save it separately, and then cut it from my project. That way, if I decide I need to keep it, I can always pull it back up without having to worry.

Helpful links:

Writer’s Digest’s 10 Ways to Launch Strong Scenes

Writer’s Edit’s 6 Quick Tips For Writing Gripping Scenes

8 Steps to Writing a Perfect Scene—Every Time

How to write a scene: Purpose and structure

The Lion & The Wolf Clarke Lannister & Lexa Stark getting it on

//Absurdly helpful for people writing royal characters and/or characters who interact with royalty and members of the nobility.

[x]

//Absurdly helpful for people writing royal characters and/or characters who interact with royalty and members of the nobility.

[x]

future catra :)

One ticket to Edinburgh, please ~

why is it always a male character going mad avenging his dead wife and never a female character cradling her dying pure of heart husband in her arms then dragging the whole world down with her

Don’t mind me. Just just been thinking about this parallel every day since I watched the finale.

You miscalculated.

requested by anonymous

THIS FUCKING SCENE.

what do you mean this isn’t how it happened???

worth the wait.

HEY GUYS! YOU KNOW BREONNA TAYLOR??? YEAH WELL HER BOYFRIEND IS GETTING FUCKING SUED BY ONE OF HER KILLERS. LISTEN TO ME WHEN I SAY THAT BLACK LIVES FUCKING MATTER

Experience: Learning the right way to connect the dots.