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overdecorated-furniture · 2 months

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Dead Parents - How to avoid them.

We are all very familiar with the notion of dead parents in fiction. For example, Harry Potter’s parents are dead before the first book even starts. Or in Portrait of Dorian Gray, the protagonist is brought up by an absentee and very neglectful grandfather. It’s a trope used again and again. And it does kind of work. It certainly allows your young protagonists the opportunity to gain agency and find their own way in the adventure thrown at them. But it’s also rather predictable. As a reader, we don’t sympathise as much because it’s such a used trope.

So, here are some of my thoughts about how to avoid the dead parents trope, and still propel your characters into the action.

Kill Someone Else.

I know, violence isn’t supposed to be the answer. But characters don’t only have close relationships with their parents. If your plot centres around a revenge quest for a dead loved one, it doesn’t have to be a parent.

Siblings who got caught in the crossfire trying to protect your MC, or an aunt/uncle they were close to being poisoned works just as well. Best friends are also a useful source of grief, and the fact it’s someone outside the family perhaps gives your MC more of a push. Equally, a significant other may work, although that is a used trope too. It might even just be a beloved pet.

Use their Morals.

People in the real world do not simply act out of revenge for the death of a loved one. Character morals can be just as powerful a motive for action, and Young people in particular are just beginning to discover what matters to them, and so it feels at its most important.

Perhaps your MC feels that the magic system in your fantasy world does not allow for people with disabilities to have access, and so uses that as their springboard. Or in an apocalypse setting, the desire to protect fellow humans against a threat may act as the MC’s launch pad for setting up a safe base somewhere. Concerns over equality, safety, climate change, government choices and even things as small as how cereal is marketed can motivate a character into changing their world/current situation.

Create Conflict.

Arguments, breakups, scrappy fistfights with someone in a back alley. Conflict is one of the spokes of a story, as it creates opportunities for moving the plot forward, and can hold the characters back from achieving their aims. Using this to start your character’s story arc makes for an explosive scene, and allows immediate sympathy with the situation they are in. Everyone argues, has had someone they care about walk out of their lives, or has at least been punched, so the familiarity of a minor but important conflict helps the reader associate with the character, as well as setting up any skills the character has or may need in order to defeat the foe at the climax of the story.

Parental Encouragement.

In a good family situation, parents will want to support their children and young people in achieving their goals. And the same can be true in stories. Perhaps your character wants to learn to play hockey, for example. Their parents can very easily encourage them to join a practice group, help them buy kit, and encourage them to play in matches. Having a supportive adult can mean as much to an MC as having said support removed, and although this doesn’t work for epic fantasy revenge quests, it does create a welcoming atmosphere for a reader.

Those are the main ones I can think of off the top of my head. Do add in comments/tags any you know of!

Happy writing!🌿

#writeblr #writers on tumblr #creative writing #wip stuff #writing advice #writing tropes #writer’s musings

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vesseloftherevolution · 8 months

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Something that astonishes me so much about humanity is how good we are at articulating our emotions. I have just finished watching the recorded screening of the NT’s Frankenstein, and I am reeling, not only from how well the book was adapted into a play, but also at how well it captured the violence of humanity as well as our compassion.

Mary Shelley wrote that story when she was eighteen - only a couple of years older than I am - whilst she was in the middle of a difficult period of grief and pain, and the fact that a teenage girl in the 1810s can articulate her pain, rage and compassion so beautifully is astounding. I am constantly struck by moments of human genius like this.

Time and time again, the thing I come across in Literature, plays, art, music and sculpture is the strength of emotion that has been put into it. I am awed that we as a species are capable of putting our hearts and souls, our pain and joy into a piece of work that anyone can look at. It is such a brave thing to do, to open yourself up like that, and allow anyone to read your heart.

Michelangelo‘s ability to carve complex emotions into the tension of a hand; Shakespeare’s lyrical representation of humanity in all its horrid beauty on a wooden cockpit; Mozart’s soaring harmonies and Beethoven’s discordant rage of symphonic outburst. All these things fill me with pride and delight to be a human. I am so lucky, to be alive in a century where it is possible for me to study these things to my heart’s content, and to connect with the people who came before me by studying their work, and hopefully connect with the people of the future by creating works of my own.

#historical musings #writer’s musings #mary shelley #frankenstein #michelangelo buonarroti #mozart #beethoven #shakespeare #the joys of humanity #just a personal ramble of disjointed thoughts

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budugu · 3 months

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If this post gets a lot (let's say 10k because that's impossible) I'm going to start writing poetry again .

#musings of siv #desi tumblr #shitposting #shitpost #desiblr #aspiring writer #poet

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selenekallanwriter · 22 days

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Person: What's your book about?

Writers:

I'm both somehow 🙃

#writers on tumblr #writeblr #writing #creative writing #writing memes #writer memes #writer mood #writer problems #am writing #urban fantasy #paranormal romance #writer musings #just something that came to mind while I info dumped my poor mom

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melanthaeunomia · 30 days

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Do y’all ever reread an old unpublished fanfic you wrote and then get invested on the storyline but get sad because you never wrote the next part of it, just me?

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jaggedjawjosh · 1 month

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You asked for my trust, then marred it with betrayal, wondering why the faith was lost.

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leonardospoetry · 1 year

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Lil' poem today to remind us to have the courage to keep living with an open heart ❤️

#poetry #quote #literature #poem #musings #heart #healing #original #writer #writing #words

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starklyscifi · 6 days

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The thing people don’t realize about writing is that time spent just staring out the window is CRITICAL

#writing #writer musings

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cobblestone-butch · 12 days

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built some joel statues because he likes to miniaturize things. no other reason

#sculptor etho muse joel au where etho struggles with his feeli-*i am forcibly ejected from the writers room*#etho #ethoslab #smallishbeans #joel smallishbeans #hermitcraft #boat boys

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spitefulbull · 2 months

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#writeblr #creative writing #writers on tumblr #writing #writers #writing community #i'm going to hate myself in the morning #but when the muse finally beckons #you fkn listen

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bibliophilliqueee · 10 months

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overdecorated-furniture · 4 months

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The Jack of Diamonds - WIP Intro

Genre: Victorian historical fiction, adventure, mystery.

POV: Third person limited, multiple character voices.

Status: Outlining.

Tag: #the jack of diamonds, #JoD

Synopsis

London, 1898. As the century draws to a close, England finds itself enthralled and terrified by a phantom thief, who enacts the most daring burglaries, and leaves a calling card at the scene of the crime; a Jack of Diamonds playing card. The police are baffled and irritated by his ability, and have been attempting to catch him for years. Inspector James Parker has been doggedly following the thief’s movements, and believes he is almost able to catch him.

As for the Jack of Diamonds? He is a young aristocrat by the name of Philip Devlin, drawn into the dark side of London by personal tragedy, and kept there by the thrill of the theft. He and his partner, John Grey, find themselves almost caught one evening, for circumstances they cannot explain after the theft of a rare diamond. The pair argue, and their partnership falls to pieces.

Shortly afterwards, strange things start happening to the both of them. Philip finds himself hunted, and not only by the police, having to flit from house to house, and eventually go abroad to escape his stalkers. John finds himself accused of vicious murders, with his personal emblem, the King of Spades, found on the breast of every victim.

This net that is beginning to ensnare the thieves does not keep itself contained to the underworld. Philip’s childhood friends, Anne and Charles Marlon, are also drawn in, and the plots thicken when a young Venetian by the name of Ezio Dellucci finds himself accompanying the renegade Philip to Venice, the City of Daggers and Mirrors.

Ongoing work, Things I will Post, etc

This is currently still in the latter end of the outlining phase, but I hope to finish with that soon. A couple of early chapters have been written, but might be changed due to plot rearranging, and I have a deal of research to do.

I shall probably post research work, chapter snippets when they happen, and any problems I am having with the mystery. I am very fond of this story, as it’s one of my more recent ideas, although based on a set of articles I wrote for a childhood newspaper.

Tagging @simonnebethel, as you were interested.

#writeblr #creative writing #historical fiction #my wips #JoD #the jack of diamonds #wip intro #writer’s musings

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vesseloftherevolution · 6 months

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Having just finished reading 1599: A Year in the Life of Shakespeare by James Shapiro, I am very much struck by how often the historical context of a period leaks into whatever one is writing, no matter how distant the subject matter may seem.

For example, Shakespeare was writing Henry the Fifth during the Earl of Essex’s unfortunate Irish campaign, during which he was utterly defeated, and achieved little else apart from creating many of his followers as knights. Ireland itself doesn’t feature much in Henry the Fifth - the only real example being in the Act V Chorus - but the concerns of warfare and the muster of men is very much part of the play.

With various of my own writing projects, I’m wondering how much of my current historical context I am putting into my own works: - the Covid pandemic, Brexit, the Ukraine wars and more.

Even if someone is writing a fantasy adventure, or a historical fiction crime novel, contemporary obsessions and context always find their way in. It is interesting to consider if a text should be read in context, as is currently the trend, or on its own. Work for its own sake against work cited in historical context is an interesting clash of my favourite areas of interest, and something I should like to explore more, if I ever find time in my very busy schedule to write about it.

#historical musings #writer’s musings #william shakespere #henry v #earl of essex #covid19 #brexit #ukraine war #just a personal ramble of disjointed thoughts #James Shapiro - 1599

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jo-icarus · 6 months

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Oh, to be a muse: a poet's bleeding ink on the burning manuscripts, a painter's crazed strokes on a bloody canvas. A writer's tortured mind on the lips of an audience. To be seen yet unknown. To be known yet modeled into poetry, art, stories, books, paintings, to stare at your soul in a museum, unaware and loved.

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ervotica · 5 months

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rafe loves it when he comes home to you. you're an almost permanent resident of the cameron household, spending more time there than you do in your own home- not that anyone minds. you're an adored member of the family, kind to everyone and always smiling. plus, you mellow out rafe's temper big time.

when rafe is late to get home for whatever reason, you’re always in his bed when he returns. curled up in something or other you’ve stolen from his closet, dead asleep. he tiptoes around you and then climbs in, soft with affection at the way your body gravitates to him unconsciously. you wrap yourself around him but never stir, your face- peaceful and slack with sleep- smushed against his bare shoulder. his arms hook around your waist to pull you closer and you murmur something indiscernible before going right back to snoring quietly.

rafe cameron is soft on you, and you couldn’t be more grateful for it.

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melanthaeunomia · 28 days

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Don’t you just love writing a 16 paragraph fanfic but cant even write a 3 paragraph essay for a school topic

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