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twotangledsisters · 4 months

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You’re awesome for posting fic updates not only consistently, but daily! Any tips for keeping up with writing?

Thank you so much! I love updates and writing being a part of my routine and I'm glad other people enjoy it too!

And sure, I can think of some tips:

First, there's a mixture of inspiration and forcefulness. I remember when I was really little I read a post somewhere about how if you want to take something seriously, you have to take it seriously on the days when you're inspired and on the days you're not. That changed how I treat art forever!

But years and years later I learnt a more important lesson, to never overlook the power of inspiration.

It's through a mixture of both that I can really keep up with writing. If I only wrote when inspired, sooner or later I'd get a loooong writing block that would leave me simply paralysed. But I'll often do the 'just one chapter' method, and often writing just a few paragraphs will get me back into the flow. But if I'm still very blocked after a chapter, that's fine.

But if I am inspired, I will follow that. Even if it takes my story in weird directions that weren't planned! A good example is that Caine rescuing Cass in the final S1 fic wasn't planned, she wasn't planned to come along in S2 and certainly did not expect her to fall in love... A lot of their scenes came from me writing while inspired.

Now, stuff such as Eugene's near death in S1 finale, the way Koto framed him, the way Cass had to deal with accusations of witchcraft, those stuff were planned way ahead of time!

It's really important to keep that balance, to have plans and also leave room for inspiration to run wild!

An added bonus, if you feel an intense desire to go write a fic that's completely different to the one you're trying to work on, just let inspiration win. I was struggling a bit with the 'Day of Animals' arc in tangled sisters the other day, then I got the urge to do a little Cass oneshot, so I wrote the oneshot in one sitting and have had zero issues writing since.

Sometimes you can unblock writing block with MORE writing! As long as you're letting inspiration guide you.

Second is to take breaks! I update every day but I do not write every day. I write a few times a week and usually have at least one really long session!

One of my currently updating fics 'Always By Your Side' I wrote half of it in like a week, took a few months break, then wrote the rest and started publishing!

Sometimes long breaks can really help. I've taken several long breaks with Tangled Sisters.

Third is stay ahead. With 'Always By Your Side' I have it completely written so I just proof read on the day of upload. Tangled Sisters I keep track of in Notion:

Look how cute my fanfic section is!

I'm usually at least 30 chapters ahead but I did take a writing break recently. Soon as I get the next arc done I expect to be well ahead again.

Fourth, motivation! This one isn't entirely your control, but a huge factor for keeping up is just that I'm super motivated! I can thank the amazing people who comment every day, those who comment occasionally, those who leave kudos or send nice asks like this one!

It does sooo much to make me smile and excited for the stories I'm telling.

And if you look at my fanfic section of notion, I have that little box titled kind words, the content actually changed every time I reload the page, it's linked to a little table where I keep track of all the kind words regarding my fics that I've gotten on Ao3 and tumblr! (I also have several bits of fanart by the amazing @rebecagpfs in that page who I cannot thank enough!!!)

So, although you don't have full control over motivation, having a notebook to collect those kind words can help!

Fifth would be talk to people. Have at least one person who's cool with spoilers cause brainstorming is just easier with somebody else! For me @the-writer1988 has got me through sooo many writer's blocks! Often times I just ramble at her until the problem resolves itself, other times it'd be a more active back and forth. But writing friends supporting each other, always great!

And hey, to anybody who wants to ramble about their fics to me I'm always open! I love hearing about people's fics and am huge on the writer supporting writers sorta mentality!

Sixth is just have fun! If you enjoy what you're writing it's going to be sooo much easier than if you don't.

I do want to point out though, every writer's different! I can sit down and write 10k words in one sitting, but a lot of people can't, just like I need five hour to do a drawing many artists can do in an hour.

Writing is an art and you get faster with experience.

Also, I do daily updates because I adore consistency! Having that routine is amazing for me and I think it's lovely for some readers. But I also accomplish that via very short chapters! Sometimes as short as just 600-700 words. Many authors opt for longer chapters that upload weekly but there still writing the same amount!

So yeah, I do hope this helped!

Thank you so much for the ask :D And if anything didn't make sense, please tell me, it's almost 1am here I just noticed but I really wanted to answer this before bed!

#ask answered #writing tips #writing advice #writing tip #writing trick #write consistency #writing resource #writing resources

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deardragonbook · 2 years

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Some sad things to do other than killing of a character (part 2)

1.- Losing custody. I love the found-family trope. Usually there isn’t actual custody but sometimes there is. But keeping custody can be very difficult especially where money is involved and when it comes to fantasy worlds, there is sooooo much more that can go wrong.

You’ve got a group that’s been together for a book or two and suddenly they are forcefully split up. The younger member taken away to worsen the whole thing. It can be heartbreaking with no need for anybody to die.

2.- Only just failing. Failure is painful. Now picture this: the information they needed to succeed arrived just minutes, hours or the day after the big failure. The person who brings the information is heartbroken knowing if they’d arrived just a little faster...

3.- Having characters accept they aren’t good for each other after trying very hard. This can be a relationship, a friendship or anything, really. A lot of you have probably already lived this, and it’s painful. We all have distinct personalities and sometimes we aren’t a good match. No amount of hard work can make us happy together and that eventual acceptance is relieving, but also painful.

4.- Expectation vs Reality. I’m going to give an example some of you have been through and some of you will go through. Publishing a book. Spending four years planning, drafting, re-writing, editing, marketing, getting the perfect cover and finally pressing publish just to see it flop. Watch how sales don’t even come close to covering the cost of the cover and reviews are few and far between. Watch how years of telling yourself. “If I can just finish this book people will read it...” And that wasn’t the case. And this still breaks my heart sometimes. It was a always a possibility I was aware of, but it still hurt.

Now in books we expect everything to go end well, we expect the character to eventually get that job they wanted or end up with the love interest. So having a character’s dreams end up being... wrong or unaccomplished. It’s hard. But sometimes it’s important to let characters not get what they want, and let them continue despite it. It’s important to fall so we can get up again.

As usual, I hope this helped! If you want to check out my books, free to read stories or other social medias you can check out my author website. I also just set up a discord for my book series but I’m hoping to talk about writing, publishing and books in general so if you’d like to reach out me join my discord!

Have fun writing!

#writing tip #writing tips #writing trick #writing tricks #writing resource #writing resources #how i write #how to write #character death #writing sadness #writing sad things #sad things to write

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seth-kia · 2 years

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Writing thing that's helped me a lot in my wip: I call it the rule of three (not witchcraft but honestly it works just as well).

If you want the reader to notice something important, point it out three times. That goes for everything.

Example: you need to foreshadow the enemy hiding in the protagonist's ranks?

Throw in three small clues saying "something isn't right." Maybe they know something they weren't told, or are missing during an important scene--if you have it down three times, the reader will be more likely to believe they're the villain later.

Another one, have a character arc you want to highlight?

Show their growth in three different scenes. I have a character that shows up from the start as a snarky asshole, but I needed him to connect with the others. So I wrote three scenes: one telling why he was rude, one about the good he's capable of, and one on his ability to truly make those connections.

^ as a side note, it makes further positive actions by this character believable, if he's proven to have grown beyond "asshole"

Want to really highlight that Chekhov's Gun you planned? Mention it three times. Plot twist in the making, and you want it believable? Plant three clues.

You can always add more later, but the rule of three helped me make new connections within my plot. Yeah, your first draft is supposed to be shitty, but if you need new ideas or you don't know what to write next? Look back at the seeds you planted, and ask how they should grow.

that's all for now, Kia out

#fanfic #fanfic writing #writing trick #writing tricks #writing tips #plotting trick #book plotting #it's been an absolute lifesaver honestly #writer's block #writerblr #writer #writing #creative writing

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mystical-blaise · 2 years

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My friend did the comic sans thing with her university assignments and it worked really well for her for a while... I will never forget the sheer mortification and panic on her face when she realised she accidentally submitted an essay before changing the font to one more appropriate😂💀

BAHAHAHA! Oh, man. LOL.

I just sent @hlizr50 a zoomed-in screenshot of the chapter I'm working on, and seeing such sad things typed in such a terrible but balloony, child-like font is hilarious.

#my asks #ask away #comic sans trick #writing trick #writers block #my fics #acowas #acourtofwhispersandsong #a court of whispers and song #gwynriel #gwynriel supremacy #comic sans jokerman and papyrus fonts are my villain origin story

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officialspec · 2 months

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modern au but set in brisbane. is this anything

#TRICK QUESTION its everything. to me #dungeon meshi #delicious in dungeon #marcille donato #senshi of izganda #laios touden #kabru #falin touden #izutsumi #farcille #chilchuck tims #namari #my art #dunmesh #brisbane meshi #americans have all the fun putting their modern aus wherever they live. well its my turn. namari is a caboolture bogan i know this #ive thought about this So much i need to write down all my notes somewhere

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frownyalfred · 10 months

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want your favorite author to update but don’t want to be too pushy in their comment section?

here’s 5 things you can do to encourage them:

Reblog their fic link on tumblr (bonus if it’s with tags)

Bookmark the fic with a note about what you’re excited about/love in the fic

Recommend the fic to your friends or local discord channel

Draw art or create other media for the fic (as indicated by the author’s comfort level)

Leave them a comment when re-reading about the parts of the chapter/story that stood out to you the second time

#this isn’t about me #this is just what I think a lot of authors would appreciate #more than the ‘update soon!!!’ comments #fic #fanfic #fanfiction #ao3 #archive of our own #writing things #writing #reading things #reading #tips and tricks

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septembercfawkes · 2 months

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#let’s write #writing tips #writing help #writing tips and tricks #writing tip #writer #writeblr #fanfic #writing

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wizard0rbs · 2 months

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when the academic article is so good it has you giggling and kicking your feet

#im sitting in my uni library trying really hard not to jump around with joy #this article is soo fascinating and has so many interesting points ugh #also itll be very helpful for a paper im writing so double yay #its 'the trick of the runes in the husband's message' by john d. niles btw and its available on jstor #in case anyone is interested #OE studies #aca #studyblr

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writers-potion · 21 days

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Words to Use Instead Of...

Beautiful

stunning

gorgeous

breath-taking

lovely

jaw-dropping

pretty

glowing

dazzling

exquisite

angelic

radiant

ravishing

excellent

ideal

sightly

wonderful

elegant

bewitching

captivating

mesmerizing

enthralling

magnetic

impressive

tasteful

charming

desirable

enchanting

Interesting

stricking

unusual

appealing

absorbing

srresting

gripping

riveting

alluring

amusing

exceptional

fascinating

impressive

provocative

prepossessing

exotic

readable

refreshing

entrancing

exceptional

Good

honest

upright

dutiful

enthical

pure

guiltless

lily-white

reputable

righteous

tractable

obedient

incorrupt

respectable

honorable

inculpable

irreprehensible

praiseworthy

well-behaved

uncorrupted

irreproachable

Awesome

wondrous

amazing

out-of-this-world

phenomenal

remarkable

stunning

fascinating

astounding

awe-inspiring

extraordinary

impressive

incredible

mind-blowing

mind-boggling

miraculous

stupendous

Cute

endeaing

adorable

lovable

sweet

lovely

appealing

engaging

delightful

darling charming

enchanting

attractive

bonny

cutesy

adorbs

dear

twee

Shy

modest

sel-effacing

sheepish

timid

way

reserved

unassured

skittish

chary

coy

hesitant

humble

introverted

unsocial

bashful

awkward

apprehensive

If you like my blog, buy me a coffee☕ and find me on instagram! 📸

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podcast-hemocytoblast · 5 months

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What if when Michael got Distortioned he/they/it/(?) had just kept showing up to work? Imagine Gertrude comes into the archives and finds a bunch of paperwork filled out in yellow highlighter and folded into impossible shapes, and then Michael-Distortion just walks into the room door-style and sits down at his work computer so it can email Gertrude a phishing scam.

#the magnus archives #tma #michael distortion #the distortion #i think this would make everyone’s lives worse #the eye 🤝(<-phishing) the spiral #tricking someone into thinking you’re someone they can trust so that theyll give you info they can use against you?#that shits both eye and spiral coded af tbh #edit: for those who have said that they want a fic of this i would like to clarify that other people can do what they want with this idea #but i personally cannot write for shit #so i cannot provide a fic. unless you want it bland as hell and written in ieee format #sorry y’all. my skillsets are infodumping about spiders unprompted and eating chicken nugget

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coffeebeanwriting · 1 year

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Some Quick Character Tips

Here are a handful of quick tips to help you write believable characters!

1. A character’s arc doesn’t need to grow linearly. Your protagonist doesn’t have to go from being weak to strong, shy to confident, or novice to professional in one straight line. It’s more realistic if they mess up their progress on the way and even decline a bit before reaching their goal.

2. Their past affects their present. Make their backstory matter by having their past events shape them into who they are. Growing up with strict parents might lead to a sneaky character, and a bad car accident might leave them fearful of driving.

3. Give reoccurring side characters something that makes them easily recognizable. This could be a scar, a unique hairstyle, an accent, or a location they’re always found at, etc.

4. Make sure their dialogue matches their personality. To make your characters more believable in conversation, give them speech patterns. Does the shy character mumble too low for anyone to ever hear, does the nervous one pace around and make everyone else on edge?

5. Make your characters unpredictable. Real people do unexpected things all the time, and this can make life more exciting. The strict, straight-A student who decides to drink at a party. The pristine princess who likes to visit the muddy farm animals. When character’s decide to do things spontaneously or in the heat of the moment, it can create amazing twists and turns.

6. Give even your minor character's a motive. This isn’t to say that all your characters need deep, intricate motives. However, every character should need or want something, and their actions should reflect that. What’s the motive behind a side character who follows your protagonist on their adventure? Perhaps they’ve always had dreams of leaving their small village or they want to protect your protagonist because of secret feelings.

Instagram: coffeebeanwriting

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deardragonbook · 2 years

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Writing the weather - The many millions of weather types!

So, I want to talk about the weather. Not how to use the weather to set the mood or enhance a scene. No, there are plenty of posts about that doing a way better job than I ever could.

I want to talk about how much there is to be done with weather because so often people limit themselves to rainy, cloudy, sunny or snowy.

Why? Weather is infinite in it’s forms! First of all you can have rain and wind, rain and sun, you can have light rain or heavy rain, you can have fog, you can have rain clouds with the smell of rain but no water, you can have thunder but no rain.

First, you can combine most weather types together. Fusion weather! Sunny storms. Windy heatwave. Snowy and rainy.

Second, remember the weirder weather, the hale, the summer storms, electric storms, heat waves...

Third, remember rain isn’t always cold and the sun isn’t always hot. You can have chilly days that look beautiful with not a cloud in the sky. You can have a storm where the air is humid and hot and despite the water getting inside you leave the window open.

The thing is, the weather is weird, we’ve all had those days where you get up, it’s sunny, you go to the park and it starts thundering and a sudden downpour that lasts only a few minutes.

And these can lead to fun situations. These can make the world feel so much more real. They can be so much more interesting!

When we only use the weather to set a tone... well, we aren’t showing not telling because our audience will eventually understand what you are telling them. The random weather phenomenons brings that little bit more detail into your world and it can be fun to play with.

As usual, check out my book, stories I’ve written plus other social medias: here.

My ARC application is still open, but I’ll be sending ARCs soon, so if you want a chance to read my second book before it’s even published, go ahead and full out the form in the link above.

#writing tip #writing tips #writing trick #writing tricks #how I write #how to write #writing weather #writing resources #writing reference #weather in writing

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byoldervine · 2 months

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Foreshadowing Ideas

• Character themes/motifs. I’ve heard of one writer who tries to give each character their own theme for similes, metaphors, descriptions, etc so there’s like a theme to the way they’re portrayed. You could use that to foreshadow notable secrets about the character that will later be revealed, or if at any point they’re disguised then you can use that to tip off the reader that they have the same motifs and so might be related/the same person

• Tiny details hidden in lists. Say the MC was trying to work out the identity of a bad guy, who we know was wearing a red shirt on the day of a big bad event. A few chapters later, MC is checking around their best friend’s room to find them, with the place its usual mess with discarded takeaway boxes, the bed unmade, a red shirt left on the floor that could use a good sweep. The red shirt might not click with all the readers, but those who register it upon their first read will eat it up

• Inconsistent behavioural patterns. Once we have a good idea of what a character is like, having them act out of character can set off alarm bells and make us question what’s occurred to make them act this way. Let the other characters register it too, if it’s reasonable that they would, but let them ultimately brush it off quite quickly to keep it subtle. Or just call it right out, whichever you prefer

• Unreliable narrators. Let one character say one thing and a second character say another, even if they both ultimately agree on the same thing but get one or two small details wrong. Ideally do this two or three times in order for the reader to know it’s not just a mistake in the plot but an intentional inconsistency, but even if it’s only done once and it’s taken as a mistake it’ll still slot together like puzzle pieces in the end and they’ll be kicking themself for dismissing it

• In-universe red herrings. If you’re going to add red herrings as foreshadowing, it’s helpful if the red herring aligns with the intentions of someone person aware of the upcoming plot twist who’s trying to control the narrative. Say the plot twist was the reveal of a mysterious character’s identity to be the best friend of the MC, the best friend might have deliberately thrown the MC off their scent by planting suspicions in the MC’s mind that a different character was the mysterious character’s identity all along. This is less about foreshadowing the actual reveal, of course, but rereads will be a punch to the gut when everyone realises that all this misinformation and red herring business came from someone trying to cover their own ass rather than coming from misunderstandings or multiple other random sources

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museaway · 6 months

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ask box trick-or-treat (fic writer edition)

Send an ask with "Trick or treat!" to the writer who reblogged this & you could receive a 3-sentence fic, drabble, headcanon, sneak-peek at a WIP, the last sentence they wrote, a new fic idea, random line from a fic, picture of their notebook, a deleted line they love, an idea for a sequel, something they're researching, behind-the-scenes info on a published fic, or something else!

happy halloween!

reblog to welcome trick-or-treaters to your inbox! 🕸️🦇

#ask game #writer ask game #fanfic ask game #writer asks #inbox trick or treating #it's only october 20th but this is the halloween website #and you can schedule the post for the day you'd like to play!#plus people might want time to write drabbles

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alistairsprayerwarrior · 9 months

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Showing versus Telling

I struggle a lot with "showing and not telling." Here's some exercises and techniques I've tried to practice this from researching different methods that I just conjured up together (please take with a grain of salt, everyone is different, lol.):

Object Observation: Choose an object in your immediate vicinity and describe it without naming what it is. Include details about its texture, color, size, shape, and any other distinctive features. Basically: have someone else to identify it based on your description.

Character Emotions: Write a list of emotions and for each one, write a short scene that shows a character experiencing that emotion without directly stating what the emotion is. i.e., Instead of saying, "Alistair was angry", you could say... "Alistair's fists clenched, his jaw tightened; his face turned red as he stared at the broken amulet on the floor."

Active Verbs: Challenge yourself to rewrite sentences using more active, specific verbs. i.e., "She walked into the room" (telling) could become, "She strutted into the room, her boot heels clicking against the marble floor" (showing).

Sensory Details: Choose a setting, real or fictional, and describe it using all five senses. What can a character see, smell, hear, taste, and touch in this environment, or moment?

Dialogue: Use dialogue to reveal information about your characters and the plot. Instead of telling the reader that a character is upset, show it through what the character says and how they say it.

In-Depth Character Description: Take a character from your story and describe them in detail. Show their personality through their actions, speech, and appearance, rather than direct statements.

Rewrite Telling Sentences: Take a piece of your own writing or a passage from a book and identify the "telling" sentences. Rewrite them in a way that "shows" instead.

Hope this helps! ✍(◔◡◔)

#writing #creative writing #writing tips #writing advice #writing help #writing resources #writing tips and tricks #on writing #writers #ao3 writer #ao3 fanfic #archive of our own #fanfic

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frownyalfred · 1 year

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your friendly weekly reminder:

ratios don’t mean shit

no fic is too short or too long

you don’t have to do what your commentators want

some of the best fics get 0 comments

some fics get more kudos because they’re in a popular fandom/pairing at a popular time

people will enjoy your fic without commenting and that’s hard sometimes

keep writing ❤️

#ao3 #archive of our own #writing #writing things #tips and tricks #reading #reading things #fandom #some thoughts this Friday afternoon

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