when-shes-not-writing

[when-shes-not-writing]

Building anticipation ⚡️

I spent all of December 13th dreading 7:00pm. My writhing gut kept me from focusing during first period physics, and I spent the entire day wondering why I even thought I had a chance in the first place. What was I thinking? I’d put myself in this position despite knowing how competitive my major was and despite the warnings of my school’s guidance office. An acceptance from Cornell is a very unlikely outcome for you. I hadn’t listened. And because I hadn’t listened, I found myself sitting in front of my computer at 6:52, palms sweating, preparing for the impersonal I regret to inform you that would determine where I spent the next four years of my life. The weeks I’d spent telling my friends I didn’t care meant nothing now, and as the clock ticked closer to 7:00, I did care. My fate had been decided by someone I’d never met, and now, all I could do was wait.

Yay, cliffhangers! If nothing else, the process of waiting for a college decision is also a process of mounting anticipation. What makes it that stressful, and how can you channel that to build suspense in your writing?

⚡️Heighten the stakes. A predictable plot can still be a suspenseful one. If your readers care about your characters, they will still feel that building anticipation as it becomes clear that there are things those characters don’t know or don’t have control over. And why should they care? Maybe your main character is saving the galaxy, but maybe they need an A on a test to pass the class, maybe they really want to make their parents or friends proud, maybe they’re trying to save a relationship, or maybe, like yours truly, their immediate future hangs in the balance. When high personal stakes are involved, your readers will likely be more invested in the anticipation your characters are experiencing.

⚡️Leave your characters in the eye of the storm. Let your readers think that everything is okay for a little while right before you throw a new obstacle in the way of a clean ending. When your readers are frustrated on the behalf of your character, you’ve done this right. You can pull this with plot twists, misleading narratives, and by building a false sense of security. In early December, I had gotten used to the waiting period between submitting an application and receiving a result. Then, I realized I had never gotten an interview. Oop.

⚡️Utilize Chekhov’s Gun. Use your worldbuilding and the details you insert earlier in your plot as foreshadowing for what’s to come. For instance, if the climax of your plot involves a major betrayal of your main character by her best friend, leave little details along the way. A withering glare, a badly timed whisper, or plans cancelled last minute could begin to lead your reader down the path to the ultimate ending.

⚡️Insert a deadline. In the days before my decision came out, I became very well acquainted with waiting for a deadline. Lots of stories, especially ones that have a lot of action, utilize deadlines to build suspense. Think about those bomb-diffusing scenes in crime shows or action movies: that’s a classic combination of high stakes and an upcoming deadline that often succeeds in building suspense.

⚡️Leave the reader hanging. End a page, a chapter, or even a whole story with a cliffhanger. Some people (including myself) are frustrated by cliffhangers on occasion, but in my humble opinion, that means you’ve done it right. A good cliffhanger relies on all of the points I mentioned above. If I pulled off the cliffhanger above, you might care about whether or not I got into college. Plot twist, this post coincidentally doubles as a college acceptance announcement 🤡. Either way, once you’ve set all of those personal stakes and little plot details into motion, you’ll keep your readers turning pages.

Whether your character is saving the world, getting their dream job, making the cheer team, or applying to college, suspense is an important tool in keeping your readers hooked and your characters motivated.

As always, much love and happy writing (and go big red lmao)!!

#fiction writing #science fiction #teen writer #writeblr #writers #college #cornell university #writing advice

[when-shes-not-writing]

Writing at least somewhat realistic sci-fi settings 🔭

I love some good hard sci-fi. In fact, my favorite book of all time is The Martian by Andy Weir, which is quite a popular (and successful imo) manifestation of the genre. However, by definition, hard science fiction gets into the minutiae of scientific processes and realities, which can make it very inaccessible to the everyday reader. I’ll bet all of you know by now that I love to write sci-fi, but obviously, as a senior in high school, I don’t have a master’s degree. Here are some of my tips for writing sci-fi that’s at least somewhat plausible:

🔭 Set up a near-future scenario or base some aspect of your world off of a real event. Especially if you’re just starting off with writing science fiction, it can be a lot easier to write a story that takes place in the near future or even a present-day setting. One of my favorite strategies is to take the real world and change one thing about it, whether it’s adding some mystical new property or some new technological element. If you’re not writing about a near-future scenario, it can still help to observe the present day or take inspiration from historical events. Maybe your main character lives in a fractured society, and you base some elements off of ancient Greek city-states, or you want to add a digital currency system, so you look at the rise of Bitcoin and blockchain technology. Almost always, regardless of genre, the easiest place to start building your setting is by observing the world around you.

🔭 Research. Research is often unavoidable when building a realistic setting, but knowing where to start can make it a lot easier. If you’re willing to dig a little bit, there are a ton of great resources that are available completely for free. Google Scholar is a great place to look for scientific papers, but if you’re looking for a less dense and more accessible option, Wikipedia can be a good resource as well (believe it or not!). And don’t be afraid to look for topic-specific resources as well: if you’re writing dialogue between a crew on a rocket and ground control, check out a few rocket launches live-streamed on YouTube, or skim some old mission transcripts (Apollo 10 is a fun one 🙃).

🔭Do WAY more worldbuilding than you’ll eventually use in your story. It’s better to over-prepare than under-prepare: for my last WIP, I wrote nearly 20,000 words about politics, culture, history, etc., and probably only referenced 5-10% of it directly. However, having an arsenal of relevant (‼️) details about your world on hand while you write will make it feel so much bigger and so much more real. Some of my favorite stories create a clear sense that there is so much depth to the world outside of the corner of it that the characters exist in.

No matter how out-there your world may be, a little bit of thought and intention can make even the most fantastical of settings feel real.

Happy writing!!

#fiction writing #science fiction #teen writer #writeblr #writers #science

[when-shes-not-writing]

How to make your readers like a not-so-likable character 👀

I’m back!!

Sorry for such a long delay, college app season really kept me busy 😅. But now I’m back, college-bound (!), and better than ever, just in time for the new year! Onwards!

We all know those characters: the brooding, morally-gray-at-best villain that everyone seems to love despite their questionable values and actions. Despite their prevalence, it is quite the balance to strike: why do people feel connected to characters that are clearly in the wrong?

👀 Maybe they suck, but they have some quirks and traits that are relatable or even likable. Maybe they would die for their dog. Maybe they have a really genuine relationship with a friend, family member, or SO. Either way, those little things can add a lot of depth to an otherwise antagonistic character.

👀 Few characters are 100% evil. Giving some layers to a villain’s motives can give some much needed clarity to their cause. Maybe your character really believes they’re doing the right thing. Maybe they’re doing it for a loved one. Maybe they have good intentions but questionable morals, and go about chasing the right goal in the wrong way. Few characters (although there are exceptions) go about being evil for the sake of being evil.

👀 There’s a reason so many of them have tragic backstories. Building off of the last point, a tragic backstory can give a lot of insight into why your villain hates a given institution, character, government, etc. so much. From there, your readers will understand what the character’s reasoning is, even if they don’t agree with it.

Writing a relatable antagonist is often a great route to go down. Often, the most effective villains are not the ones that are the most evil, but the ones in which we can easily see ourselves.

Much love and happy writing!

#fiction writing #science fiction #teen writer #writeblr #writers #character development

[when-shes-not-writing]

A hot take on adverbs 🍵

Alright, I’m gonna say it: adverbs are boring.

That’s not to say you need to take all of the adverbs out of your writing (although if you’re writing nonfiction, that might not be a bad idea). Adverbs aren’t always a bad thing: they can add some nice spice and specification to your descriptions (exhibit A). But so often, even in fiction, adverbs are superfluous: if you feel the compulsion to use lots of adverbs, you likely haven’t added enough detail.

Take this dialogue for example:

“Come on Roger, chill out. We’re not that far from the highway. There’s definitely nothing in those woods,” Eric said confidently.

“I don’t know man, it’s pretty dark. I feel like there’s something watching us from that tree over there,” Roger responded nervously.

Yikes. Is it just me, or do those dialogue tags feel hella repetitive? And on top of that, they add nothing to the general mood of the scene: subject-verb-adverb is a pretty generic structure.

Let’s take Eric’s line first. In this case, confidently is superfluous. It’s clear from his language that he’s confident that nothing is in the woods. Not only does he say that there is definitely nothing in the woods, he backs that up with a reason as to why that’s the truth. If you really need to define that Eric said what he said confidently, you’re better off describing it more clearly with the sound of his voice or his body language.

Let’s move on to Roger. The adverb nervously is telling, rather than showing, what Roger is feeling. Instead of using the adverb, you could instead use a separate sentence explaining his body language.

Here’s an edited version of that dialogue, with fewer adverbs.

“Come on Roger, chill out. We’re not that far from the highway. There’s definitely nothing in those woods,” said Eric.

“I don’t know man, it’s pretty dark. I feel like there’s something watching us from that tree over there,” Roger responded. His eyes flicked between Eric and the tree in question as the breeze rustled the dark foliage.

That’s a little better, right? The language is less repetitive, and we get a little more insight into why the characters are feeling what they’re feeling: if you were alone in the woods, rustling leaves, even if they were only the fault of the wind, would make you nervous too, right?

With that, I conclude my hot take on adverbs. Thanks for coming to my TED Talk 😜

Happy writing!!

#fiction writing #science fiction #teen writer #writeblr #writers #writing #storywriting #writing description #adverbs #writing tips #writing help #writer life

[when-shes-not-writing]

I hated geometry, but it did teach me how to construct a plot ❗

Let’s just suspend our disbelief for a second: me, who is applying to ✨engineering schools✨, despises a sizable chunk of math! Woo! Believe it or not, I scored my only failing test grade in high school (like an actual F -- I got a 57😩) on a geometry exam. But even though my performance was mediocre at best in geometry, I realized that proving side-angle-side or seemingly arbitrary circle theorems was kind of like solving the conflicts of my stories. Maybe that’s why I always find so many plot holes.

Either way, for those of you who haven’t taken Euclidean geometry in a hot minute, here’s the low-down of the geometric proof, and why I like to use it as a blueprint for the plotting process.

❗Define the problem. Maybe you need to prove that triangles ABC and CDF are congruent, and maybe your main character is stranded on a planet 50,000 light years from home. Draw a map, write an exposition, do whatever you need to do to define it clearly.

❗Define the initial conditions. Why is the problem a problem, and what are the leads your characters can follow to find a solution? Maybe it’s given that line segment BD bisects line segment AE. Maybe that main character has to discover a network of alien races that happen to possess faster-than-light technology. This is where your worldbuilding and potential starting points for a plot live.

❗Write down everything, and make sure there’s a clear reason. Congratulations! Your bisecting line segments can help you use the side-angle-side postulate, which can help you make your case for triangles ABC and CDF! Just like geometric proofs, as your characters begin to tie world givens to actions, everything needs to make sense in context. You can’t just make up a theorem dictating that ABC and CDF are congruent: you need to prove it. It’s the same with your plot: an out of context, panacea-type solution likely won’t help your story progress in an interesting or satisfying way.

❗You can use some existing theorems along the way. If you’re doing some complicated proof, there are some fundamental truths that people have proven already in separate theorems. In essence, you can use those as shortcuts along the way, so you don’t need to do everything from scratch. The same is true with your plot: maybe you use a trope to help you along, or take inspiration from another writer’s way of solving their conflict. You’re not the only one that writes in your genre: use what you’ve learned as a reader to your advantage.

And boom! After some finagling, some unexpected algebra, and lots of trial-and-error, you have your solution! Like proofs, not all plots are perfect on the first try. Proofread, proofread, proofread, until it is done 😆

Happy writing!!

#fiction writing #science fiction #teen writer #writeblr #writers #writing advice #writing tips #story writing #storytelling #book plotting #story plotting #plot ideas

[when-shes-not-writing]

An oddly specific first draft tip 👀

When my dad was at a conference about legal writing, he came home with some nuggets of info: one of which was to separate all of the things you do as a writer into different processes. Split apart the architect, the part of you that’s trying to build a narrative, and the engineer, the part of you that’s trying to perfect the narrative so it stands up on its own. It’s important to let the architect do their work: you can figure out the plot-hole calculus later. Essentially, let your first drafts suck.

But how do you do that? For a lot of us, the writing process is fluid: some days, you just want to brain-barf a 3,000 word chapter in a few hours, and others, plot holes and editing epiphanies come to you at a moment’s notice (or at 3:00am). Your flow might get broken by bad word choice or a spelling mistake. And boom! The architect’s work is stifled.

As a perfectionist, I struggle with this, especially during scenes that drive the plot forward. Which is exactly why I turn the text white when I write those scenes.

I can’t see what I’m doing, so I can’t do a few of the fun perfectionist-y things I do all the time, including but not limited to

Cringing

Fixing grammar and word choice

Cringing some more

Finding plot holes

Breaking my flow to fix typos

Did I say cringing yet?

Finally, the architect can do her work uninterrupted.

The dude running the legal writing workshop thought that was a smart idea, so for once, I have a shred of credibility! 😂

As always, happy writing!!

#fiction writing #science fiction #teen writer #writeblr #writers #writing #writing tips #writing advice #writing description #story writing

[when-shes-not-writing]

plot feeling a little empty in the middle? here’s some food for thought.

actions have consequences. things that your characters do inevitably can affect other people around them. what might they have done in the past that could come back and serve as an obstacle? or, maybe, what could they do now that could possibly raise the stakes just a little bit more?

subplots! be mindful of the subplots you’re adding - but sometimes it might be a good idea to include one if your plot is feeling a little bit empty. not only can it tie back into the overarching struggle, but it could also serve as a way to explore one of your characters or points further.

character exploration. get to know your characters a little bit better! let your readers find out something new. connecting and understanding the people within your story is important if you want your readers to grow attached to them.

world exploration. similar to the previous point, with the addition of creating a greater sense of familiarity of the circumstances that your story is taking place in. remember that nobody else knows the world of your wip as well as you do - illustrate it even further so everyone else can grasp it even better.

let your characters bond! maybe there’s a lull in the plot. if your characters have the chance to take a breather and get to know the people around them, let them! it might help flesh out or even realistically advance their relationships with each other.

[when-shes-not-writing]

Main Character Minutiae 😄

I’ve often struggled with making my characters feel more real. What works for me, when there aren’t glaring character arc holes to fill in, is to focus on the minutiae, the little tells of their personality. Here’s a list of things I keep in mind when I’m developing my characters:

😄Social things: Do they have a nickname with their friends? Do they make secret handshakes with people they’re close to? Why is it obvious that they totally have a crush on so-and-so? Do they get nervous in professional settings, like interviews for jobs or school applications?

😄Clothing/physical appearance habits: Do they always wear the same jacket? How do they do their eyeliner? Do they care about how they look? If they have to wear a uniform, do they try to spice it up or keep it simple? Do they always wear the same color scheme? What is their favorite pair of socks?

😄Speech and gesticulations: Do they exaggerate? Do they ramble? Do they always bump into people with their hands when they talk? Do they make up neologisms to sound smart or funny?

😄Thought habits: Do they always jump to the worst case scenario? Do they use self-deprecating humor a lot? Do they perceive the world through a certain lens (maybe they compare everything to physics, or maybe they’re overly naive)? How do they describe things? What phrases do they use the most?

😄Subconscious habits: When they’re not thinking, what do they do? What physical mannerisms do they resort to when they’re excited? Sad? Angry? Are they clingy? What do they do when they’re standing still?

When you’re developing these things, think about the underlying personality traits that cause these different habits and mannerisms. Maybe your character is insecure, and always has to flex a perceived superior knowledge over the people around them. Or maybe your character gets nervous easily, and their hands get super clammy in professional settings.

Happy writing!

#fiction writing #teen writer #writeblr #writers #novels #novel writing #original character

[when-shes-not-writing]

How to write spaceflight 🛸

Full disclosure, I’m a huge nerd. One of my favorite things about writing sci-fi is combining all of the things I’m interested in: physics and math, history and classics, and of course, ✨writing✨! My first novel placed a heavy focus on spaceflight and space combat, so I did some research to figure out how to describe it at least someone realistically, but in a way that everyone, from teenage girl to physics PhD, could understand.

🛸 Inertia! Objects are stubborn: when they’re moving, they don’t like to stop, and vice versa. That’s inertia, and it’s a pretty big thing when you’re moving at very high speeds. Often, the limiting factor of maneuverability is not the vehicle, but the person inside it. If you’re going 70 mph on a highway and suddenly stop, you’re going to jerk forwards (and you’ll be lucky if you don’t go through the windshield). That’s inertia.

🛸High-G maneuvering. Because of inertia, your character will feel some G-forces whenever they accelerate, which includes speeding up, slowing down, or changing direction. And G-forces don’t feel so hot, especially when they start to add up. Your character will feel squished, and during intense acceleration may struggle to breathe. Fighter pilots have certain breathing techniques to keep from passing out in high-G circumstances. If you want to negate the effects of Gs, you could work in some pretty epic pressure suits or inertial dampeners into your worldbuilding if you see fit.

🛸Air resistance. In short, there is none: if you accelerate to a certain speed, you’ll go at that speed forever, unless you do something to slow down. That makes certain maneuvers that are difficult or impossible in the atmosphere easier in space. Similarly, aerodynamics don’t matter, unless you want whatever craft your character is flying to operate both in an atmosphere and in a vacuum (or it’s launching from Earth).

Maybe these are things you work into your story, and maybe they're things you negate with worldbuilding. Either way, depending on how close to reality your story is, these might be some good things to keep in mind. I find that when authors take reality into account at least somewhat, it’s easier for me to suspend my disbelief and fully immerse myself in a great story.

Happy writing!!

#fiction writing #science fiction #teen writer #writeblr #writers #spacecraft #spaceflight #novel writing #writing description

[when-shes-not-writing]

How I plan novels 🖊

I’m write in the middle (I know, I’m hysterical): I need some sort of structure to start writing a novel, but I don’t need to plot every single detail of my story before I even put pencil to paper. Or… fingers to keyboard? Idk, that sounds way less cool.

🖊 Usually, the conflict comes first. My ideas for stories grow out of a main conflict, whether it’s a personal conflict, like having to be a leader in an uncertain situation, or an external conflict, like being lightyears away from home and losing your way back.

🖊 I’m literally obsessed with spreadsheets. Like, obsessed. Once I have my plot set, I split it up into chapters in a spreadsheet where I can track characters and places easily. It’s kind of like a birds-eye view of my story, since I can see everything I could possibly need pretty much on one screen. This is 100% a shameless plug for Notion.

🖊 Off to the races! I feel like I see a lot of stuff on the internet about these insanely involved plotting methods, and if that works for you, fantastic! I’ve learned that that simply doesn’t work for me. This whole process I’ve outlined honestly only takes me a week or two, then I’m off to writing.

Maybe you got something useful from this, and maybe you didn’t. Different strokes for different folks, right? Happy writing!!

#writers #fiction writing #writeblr #writing tips #story wip #scifi #science fiction #outline #novel #novel writing #teen writer

[when-shes-not-writing]

my friends: you write sci-fi right?

me: *high key outlining my plans for world domination* yes

#fiction writing #story writing #science fiction #writeblr #teen writer #writers #writerlife

[when-shes-not-writing]

Bitches rant over cliffhangers in the books they read, and then turn around and cackle with Evil Writer Glee ™ every single time they put one in their own WIP

It’s me, I’m bitches

[when-shes-not-writing]

me, plotting a character arc: …and that’s when you die.

my OC: …

me: …

my OC: about that

#writeblr #writing #fiction writing #writers #teen writer #science fiction #original character #story wip

[when-shes-not-writing]

How to make your descriptions pop ✨✨

When I was reading over the first draft of my novel for the first time, I noticed something: some of my descriptive scenes sucked. But some of them were great. When I looked closer, all of those great scenes had these things in common:

✨Put your metaphors and similes in context. For my sophomore year English class, I wrote a short piece about sitting in a coffee shop in September with my best friend. The vibes were there: I was discussing the smells, the soft golden lights, the muffled conversation, and the nutty steam that was wafting from my coffee. Then, I transitioned to talking about the nerves I had for the first day of school, describing them as a parasite in the back of my mind. Reading that back, it was pretty jarring. Coffee and… parasites? That’s a no from me. A better alternative would have been comparing that anxiety to the bitter taste my coffee left on the back of my tongue. The imagery gets the point across, but it evokes the coffee shop vibes I was going for in a clearer way.

✨Notice the hidden details. Put yourself in the place you’re trying to describe, and pay attention. Chances are, there are small details, things that you notice subconsciously, that contribute to the overall feeling you get from your surroundings. For instance, I can’t sum up the vibes of the grocery store I used to work at by only describing the crappy 70s music and how many aisles you have to cross until you get to the freezer section. Those shifts I worked were characterized by the smell from the fish counter that seeped through the door of the staff bathroom, the fluorescent lights that made the store gray no matter what time of day it was, the bruises I got on my left shoulder from carrying armfuls of ladders, and the lady complaining about tahini five minutes after closing. To take it a step further, the aspects of your scene you choose to describe can change the mood. If you describe the things that fly, sparkle, or glow, your scene will seem more magical or fantastical, but if you describe shadows, drab colors, and the smell from the fish counter, your scene will seem more depressing or dull.

✨Use paragraph breaks to your advantage. Part of writing is visual: when I turn a page in a book and see a wall of text, I sigh internally (thanks Tik Tok, you ruined my attention span). Being concise is key, and don’t be afraid of paragraph breaks! My rule of thumb tends to be hitting that enter button every time I switch subjects.

Happy writing!!

#writers #teen writer #writing #fiction #storytelling #story writing #new wip #story wip #books & libraries #writing tips #perfect description #writing description

[when-shes-not-writing]

me: so this is how the scene will play out, and i have the outline written right here, and this scene leads directly to the next one because the characters will do and say this-

my ocs: how about no ❤️

[when-shes-not-writing]

Hello everyone! Welcome, if anyone ever sees this page 😂

Here’s a little bit about me I guess --

I just turned 18, I live in the northeastern US, and I’m a (very stressed) senior at a boarding school. I love math and astronomy, and I want to study mechanical and aerospace engineering in college, but that’s not what this blog is for lol. I also love to write! My comfort zone tends to be in short stories and poetry (some of which I might post here some day 👀), but I wrote a YA sci fi novel last year (!!). I’m on the third draft, which is currently on hold due to the sheer volume of college supplementals I have to write 😓.

I’m very new to this site, but you all seem nice, and I can’t wait to share some of the things I’ve learned as an amateur writer!

#writers #teen writer #science fiction #poetry #class of 2022 #love you! #school #high school #boarding school #books & libraries #sci fi/fantasy #scifi