Encouragment for writers that I know seems discouraging at first but I promise it’s motivational-

• Those emotional scenes you’ve planned will never be as good on page as they are in your head. To YOU. Your audience, however, is eating it up. Just because you can’t articulate the emotion of a scene to your satisfaction doesn’t mean it’s not impacting the reader. 

• Sometimes a sentence, a paragraph, or even a whole scene will not be salvagable. Either it wasn’t necessary to the story to begin with, or you can put it to the side and re-write it later, but for now it’s gotta go. It doesn’t make you a bad writer to have to trim, it makes you a good writer to know to trim.

• There are several stories just like yours. And that’s okay, there’s no story in existence of completely original concepts. What makes your story “original” is that it’s yours. No one else can write your story the way you can.

• You have writing weaknesses. Everyone does. But don’t accept your writing weaknesses as unchanging facts about yourself. Don’t be content with being crap at description, dialogue, world building, etc. Writers that are comfortable being crap at things won’t improve, and that’s not you. It’s going to burn, but work that muscle. I promise you’ll like the outcome.

A blade of swirling smoke and reddened eyes 💨🍃

This started as a joke but I think I committed to hard - happy 420 😎

you can support me on Patreon for £1 and help me keep making art!

morality: a character creation guide

creating and understanding your oc’s personal moral code! no, i cannot tell you whether they’re gonna come out good or bad or grey; that part is up to you.

anyway, let’s rock.

i. politics

politics are a good way to indicate things your character values, especially when it comes to large-scale concepts such as government, community, and humanity as a whole.

say what you will about either image; i’d argue for the unintiated, the right image is a good introduction to some lesser discussed ideologies… some of which your oc may or may not fall under.

either way, taking a good look at your character’s values on the economic + social side of things is a good place to start, as politics are something that, well… we all have ‘em, you can’t avoid ‘em.

clearly, this will have to be adjusted for settings that utilize other schools of thought (such as fantasy + historical fiction and the divine right of kings), but again, economic/social scale plotting will be a good start for most.

ii. religion + philosophy

is your oc religious? do they believe in a form of higher power? do they follow some sort of philosophy?

are they devout? yes, this applies to non-religious theist and atheist characters as well; in the former’s case… is their belief in a higher power something that guides many of their actions or is their belief in a higher power something that only informs a few of their actions? for the atheists; do they militant anti-theists who believe atheism is the only way and that religion is harmful? or do they not care about religion, so long as it’s thrust upon them?

for the religious: what is your oc’s relationship with the higher power in question? are they very progressive by their religion’s standards or more orthodox? how well informed of their own religion are they?

does your oc follow a particular school of philosophical thought? how does that interact with their religious identification?

iii. values

by taking their political stance and their religious + philosophical stance, you have a fairly good grasp on the things your character values.

is there anything they value - due to backstory, or what they do, or what they love - that isn’t explained by political stance and religious and/or philosophical identification? some big players here will likely be your oc’s culture and past.

of everything you’ve determined they value, what do they value the most?

iv. “the line”

everyone draws it somewhere. we all have a line we won’t cross, no matter the lengths we go for what we believe is a noble cause. where does your character draw it? how far will they go for something they truly believe is a noble cause? as discussed in part iii of my tips for morally grey characters,

would they lie? cheat? steal? manipulate? maim? what about commit acts of vandalism? arson? would they kill?

but even when we have a line, sometimes we make exceptions for a variety of reasons. additionally, there are limits to some of the lengths we’d go to.

find your character’s line, their limits and their exceptions.

v. objectivism/relativism

objectivism, as defined by the merriam-webster dictionary, is “an ethical theory that moral good is objectively real or that moral precepts are objectively valid.”

relativism, as defined by the merriam-webster dictionary, is “a view that ethical truths depend on the individuals and groups holding them.”

what take on morality, as a concept, does your character have? is morality objective? is morality subjective?

we could really delve deep into this one, but this post is long enough that i don’t think we need to get into philosophical rambling… so this is a good starting point.

either way, exploring morality as a concept and how your character views it will allow for better application of their personal moral code.

vi. application

so, now you know what they believe and have a deep understanding of your character’s moral code, all that’s left is to apply it and understand how it informs their actions while taking their personality into account.

and interesting thing to note is that we are all hypocrites; you don’t have to do this, but it might be fun to play around with the concept of their moral code and add a little bit of hypocrisy to their actions as a treat.

either way, how do your character’s various beliefs interact? how does it make them interact with the world? with others? with their friends, family, and community? with their government? with their employment? with their studies? with the earth and environment itself?

in conclusion:

there’s a lot of things that inform one’s moral compass and i will never be able to touch on them all; however, this should hopefully serve as at least a basic guide.

Writing romance between characters

A lot of readers like romance, don't they? From romance books to romantic subplots in a fantasy/sci-fi/thriller, we have some sort of romance in the books we read (though not all of them). A lot of times though, we feel the romance is forced and can be extremely unpleasant to watch. Let's discuss some tips about how to write romance properly.

Tension, tension, tension

Tension is key to any romance, whether it be enemies-to-lovers, friends-to-lovers, rivals-to-lovers etc. Some examples are longing gazes, hands brushing each other, wistful gazes, hugs that last a little too long and more! Without tension, the romance just feels will be flat and boring and the readers won't be engaged in it. Please note that for the tension part, the things I listed can be platonic as well! What I mean to say is their reactions, such as them realizing they've caught feelings and now acting differently with each other, wistful gazes at someone they know they can't romance etc. All these actions I've listed in the post can happen platonically, especially for queerplatonic friends etc.

2. Give intimacy

Intimacy is not inherently sexual. It can also be emotional, and when portrayed in books properly, it can be marvellous to watch. Intimacy means being vulnerable with another person, being able to show them baring out their souls to one another, showing that they trust one another. Because if two people can't be intimate or vulnerable with each other, then no, we can't expect them to be in a romantic relationship.

3. Make them great individually

If the characters themselves aren't compelling characters, then we can't expect them to be any better in a romance. If one (or both) of the characters is flat and boring and the very embodiment of meh, then they're also going to be very "meh" in their relationship. Make the character engaging and exciting to watch, whether they're a villain or a hero. To gain some tips on how to write characters properly, check out my post on character writing!

TIP!

I have read this somewhere and I feel it's a really good tip! Use the no-kiss rule. Imagine the couple/ship you're writing. Write them but make sure that they don't kiss. Objectively, can you tell they have feelings for each other? If no, then do better or scrap it. If characters need to kiss to tell that they're in love, then they're not in love. Period.

How To Accurately Describe Pain In Writing 

Pain can be an interesting emotion to write about. It gives authors the liberty to merge their character’s emotions and surroundings to create beautiful metaphors and graphic descriptions that draw their readers in and convey their character’s struggles. However, if done wrongly reading your descriptions of pain can feel like a chore to your readers. Unsure how to accurately describe pain in your writing? Here are some tips to help you get started. 

Use The Five Senses 

As humans, we possess five senses that dictate our reactions to the world around us. When writing, it is important to use these five senses rather than just relying on what your character can see. Talk about the sound, the smell, the taste, and even the feeling. 

If your character just got burnt, talk about the sound of sizzling flesh and the slight numbness they feel. Mention the terrible smell of burnt flesh, and make your character feel dizzy with fear as their eyes finally land on the horrific wound. 

Internal bleeding makes people spit blood and taste iron and partially healed wounds feel itchy and irritant. 

There is so much more to pain than what you see, and simply talking about your character’s wounds isn’t nearly enough to make your readers wince in second-hand pain. In fact, they are more likely to skim your passages in boredom. 

Show your readers what your character is experiencing, and then go on to describe their reaction to this situation. 

Build It Up, Then Break It Down 

Pain doesn’t just suddenly come from nowhere. It starts with something small, blossoms, and then spreads. Your character won’t just suddenly get a third-degree burn the size of a baseball by leaning against a hot steel wall for the briefest of seconds. It starts with a light reddish-brown mark, then darkens, maybe even blisters. 

You can’t go from 0 to 100 in one sentence. You need to build it up and show your readers how your character’s pain was found. Then, break it down. 

Pain doesn’t come from nowhere, but it doesn’t suddenly disappear either. Show us how your character’s wound heals. Does the wound mark from where they hurt their knee turn into an ugly brown shade for a couple of weeks? Do their burns gradually fade from red to pink, or turn darker? 

It’s important to show your readers the aftermath of your character’s pain. A character who just had a bullet pulled out of their shoulder with a hot knife can’t suddenly just jump up and start firing at the enemy with perfect aim. 

You don’t need to overdo it and constantly mention their wounds during the healing stage, but something as simple as ‘her bandages uncomfortably scratched at her back every time she lifted her hand to eat’ or ‘his fingers subconsciously shifted to run over the remains of his burn mark even as his eyes remained trained on the blackboard’ will suffice. 

How Does This Affect Your Character? 

Physical pain aside, wounds can also have an effect on your character’s dynamics with others as well as your plot. 

It’s important to take into account how they got this wound, how the other characters might react to it, and internalised conflict caused by it. Maybe your character injured their fingers during a game of volleyball and now they’re staring at their final exam paper with tears of frustration brimming their waterline because it hurts too much to write.

Maybe your protagonist suffered a small burn while sneaking out to go to their friend’s house and their parent or mentor saw it. Or maybe your protagonist won against the antagonist but suffered a grave injury to their legs and now cannot fight during the next confrontation, resulting in a chaotic outbreak at their headquarters. 

Think about the internal as well as the external damage your character’s wounds can cause, and then use that as a plot device to further your book. 

Do Your Research 

It’s very important to accurately portray your character’s level of pain and consider whether or not they would realistically incur such injuries from such a wound. When writing about a character’s wound or pain consider doing some research about that type of wound. 

Here are some things you need to check when researching the wound type: 

How much blood would they loose with this type of wound? 

What are the side effects? 

Could this be fatal? 

How long will it take to heal? 

How long does it take for a wound to get to that extent? (for example, if you’re writing about a third-degree burn, research what it takes for a burn to be considered third-degree). 

What are the major veins, arteries, and other important body parts in that part of the character’s body? For example, if your character is supposed to be injured on their arm but it’s not supposed to be serious, you need to consider whether the wound could realistically have ruptured their radial artery, resulting in death. 

Will there be any scarring? What about any long-lasting wound marks? 

You could also take a look at historical events similar to the one you’re writing. For example, if you’re writing about an assassination attempt consider researching the most historically renowned assassination techniques. 

It’s also a good idea to ask your families and friends about their experiences with the type of wound you’re writing about (so long as it’s not a sensitive topic). Maybe you have a cousin who suffered a third-degree burn once or a classmate who has a scar from a graphic wound across their arm. 

I hope this blog on how to accurately describe pain in writing will help you in your writing journey. Be sure to comment any tips of your own to help your fellow authors prosper, and follow my blog for new blog updates every Monday and Thursday.  

Looking For More Writing Tips And Tricks? 

Are you an author looking for writing tips and tricks to better your manuscript? Or do you want to learn about how to get a literary agent, get published and properly market your book? Consider checking out the rest of Haya’s book blog where I post writing and marketing tools for authors every Monday and Thursday. 

Want to learn more about me and my writing journey? Visit my social media pages under the handle @hayatheauthor where I post content about my WIP The Traitor’s Throne and life as a teenage author. 

Copyright © 2022 Haya Sameer, you are not allowed to repost, translate, recreate or redistribute my blog posts or content without prior permission

Man….

I need get my priorities straight

writeblr re-re-intro...

...about hello again!! allow me to re-introduce myself. my name is grace, pen name nicole blue! whatever name you decide to associate me with, i'm still the same 21 year old pink haired caffeine drinking writer with a passion for all things strange, spicy and queer :) i've been writing over ten plus years and have finally found the courage to embrace my interests and be who i want to be as a future published author. so join me on my adventure of self-discovery and chaos!!! ...my writing my favorites are almost always changing, but i mainly enjoy writing/reading queer fantasy fiction. my goal is to get a little more spicy and mature with my work rather than stay in my comfort zone built up of young adult content. i tend to stick to mm and ff romances and don't intend to branch much farther out than that, but i will always stay diverse in regards to sexuality, race, gender, etc. there is no place for bigotry in my stories ever!!!! almost all of my stories will be created with the intention of representing the parts of life that a lot of people don't talk about. that includes mental and physical health. there is nothing more that i want than for my readers to relate to my writing and my characters, even if it's just one small thing. some of my favorite tropes and random things in stories are enemies to lovers, hurt/comfort, angst, fantasy creatures and monsters (especially fae!!), actual witchcraft/pagan rules and beliefs implemented into magic concepts, overly detailed descriptions, and sooo much more. this is a lot of stuff that will be a common theme in my stories and blog!! i also enjoy writing reviews from time to time, so i'll be posting those around here too. ((most of my writing will probably contain with darker themes and angst, so i will always leave detailed trigger warnings beforehand and of course advise readers to be 18+))

...my goals - eventually i want to actually finish a wip - i want to leave lots of book reviews and get in touch with indie authors to review their books for free!! - i would love to launch a blog of some sort soon - do more commissions!! other stuff: commissions info | goodreads | original posts/rambles/reviews | open to tag games and lists from anyone <3

Excuse me but my homie just wrote 138 pages of his book in LESS THAN TWO DAYS???

Heyyy, @emthimofnight, I have a preseeeeent

~~~

Her head might as well have shattered when she hit the ground. She could hear her blood pounding in her ears, as loud as thunder. Her limbs felt numb, she doesn’t think she could even move her hands but she had to move. She has to leave, she’ll get caught again if she doesn’t get up-

“Stellar!”

“Dad?” She tried to lift her head but her voice hurt, her body hurt, her soul hurt and the only thing she could see was the vague blue shape of her dad. Everything was gone, the ground was gone, her friends were gone- Where is everything-

“Hey, hey I’m here Stells, we’re here-” She knew her body hit something before she felt it. She was moving but her body felt slower than her brain. She felt her voice in her throat but she didn’t quite hear it when she felt her dad’s arms around her, holding her in his lap like she was a kid again.

“Wh-where- what happened- I-” She couldn’t get her brain to slow down, she didn’t know where her words were- She hurt. She hurt and she wants to go home.

She wants her dads.

“Shh, you’re okay starlight. It’s over, you’re alright.” Stellar’s chest practically caved in at her dad’s words. She felt his hand in her quills and she felt like a kid again. She was crying before she could speak, a sob tearing through her throat like fire.

Stellar did her best to hold her dad back but she still couldn’t feel her hands why couldn’t she feel her hands, why is nothing moving- it all hurts.

She felt the footsteps before she heard them. Someone’s here, who’s here-

“Stellar!”

Papa. It’s her papa, she’s okay he’s here, she’s okay-

“I’m here, sweetie. I’m here.” Stellar felt more hands- Was Papa taking her? Were they leaving now? Stop it hurts-

“You’re okay, Stellar. I’m not leaving.”

Never leave. Not again, please not again it was awful please don’t leave her again-

“Never again, sweetheart.”

“You’re safe kiddo, we’re not going anywhere, promise.”

She was safe, she was safe, she was safe, it hurts-

“Shh, you’re alright sweetie.” Who was talking? She couldn’t tell who was talking, she was so tired. She hurts. She’s tired. She wanted to go home.

“We’ll go home, kiddo. I promise, we’re going home.”

Please, she wants to go home. Let her go home.

“We are, sweetie. We’re going home.”

Good. Maybe she can… maybe she can sleep there.

:D

If everything you typed out in your last writing session was awful and you had to delete it...

HANDS OFF THE KEYBOARD MOTHER FUCKER, STEP AWAY FROM GOOGLE DOCS, DO LITERALLY ANYTHING ELSE.

Sometimes the best thing for your writing is to put it down and leave it alone for a few days. Come back to it when you're invigorated and refreshed, it's not like your life depends on finishing the whole book in a weekend.

If you hate writing outlines it's because of how they're taught in school. Toss out indentation and Roman numerals and map out your writing how you want to. Outlines are your FRIEND, dammit. This goes for everything, from political essays to fanfiction. If it's written you need an outline because the outline is for you. It can be general, vague, or a mixture of both! Be as informal as you want, who cares. They're to keep you on track and keep your writing flowing, so don't disregard them even if you dreaded making them in grade school. My outlines by chapter tend to look like this: 1. Character "P" goes to the diner to meet character "Q."

2. "P" tells "Q" about how the confrontation went. (dialogue I thought up on a bus ride) That's when shit goes DOWN. They're yelling, they're drawing attention to themselves, but before they can take it outside, "P" says (dialogue I thought up in the shower).

3. THEN "Q" SAYS THAT ONE LINE THAT "R" SAYS TO HIM IN CHAPTER FIVE BECAUSE THAT'S CALLED COHESION WOOOOO

4. idk they both leave??? you'll figure it out later

5. Self-reflection for "P." Keep your main point on how his moral compass goes to extremes and hurts others. He finally is realizing that HE is the PROBLEM

6. "P" drives to "Q's" house to apologize but GUESS WHO ANSWERS THE DOOR it's "R" and then just end the chapter there This is coming from someone who didn't write with outlines for years. Now I don't write anything longer than 400 words without one! Make them your own, make them so that they're useful to you. That's their purpose, so accept the help!

A blade of creeping mycelium and falling spores for @/platyshroom (Twitter!) 🍄🌀

If you’re interested in getting a commission done yourself, DM me!

Or you can support me on Patreon for £1 and help me keep making art!

A little message for y’all:

Your. Writing. Is. NOT. Bad. You may think it is, but it isn’t- and I can promise you that with all of my heart. Writing is art, and you can literally never mess it up, no matter if your grammar is off or if you’ve got a few misspelt words- that makes it better, in fact! It’s human, special, unique, and it’s made by someone who has a lot of creativity and heart!

So, just keep on going. Keep on writing, and I promise that one day, you’ll make something that you love!

Me and all 700 of my fic WIPs are doing just FINE thank you.

villain x hero troupe

“you know it’s kinda funny how i managed to kidnap you so easily.” the villain spoke, ending with a laugh. the hero grunted, sick of the games the villain always plays.

“my teammates will come for me soon and then we’ll all defeat you.” this only made the villain laugh more.

“yeah yeah, keep dreamin’ bud.” the villain then left the room, leaving the hero there trying to break through the restraints.

-few days later-

the villain started to feel pity on the hero. none of the hero’s alleged “teammates” showed up to help them. the villain came up with a quick plan.

walking into the room, the villain could see the hero moping in their own pity. it was a hard watch for the fearless villain. the hero’s head shot up at noticing the villain waltzing into the room.

“what do you want?” the hero sneered. the villain then went over to the hero and crouched down just enough so both of there faces were at the same height. the villain only grinned.

pulling the hero’s face into theirs, the villain deeply kissed the hero. the hero was in shook, but after a few seconds, kissed back. the moment only lasted a few minutes, but it was the longest few minutes in both of their lives.

the villain eventually pulled away with another smirk, then immediately left the room. after the villain left, the hero just realized something was in their mouth. they spit it out to reveal a key, but not just any key, a key to get out.

the villain had kissed them and gave them the key to escape. wow, what a day.