hotgirlcrap

[hotgirlcrap]

GRIEF & LOSS: AN ALTERNATIVE NARRATIVE.

hey, i’m a mental health therapist with a grief & loss niche and a writer here on tumblr dot com. here’s a quick and dirty guide to an additional grief & loss model to explore with your characters. the 5 stages of grief were originally developed specifically for patients on hospice and that model was streamlined into practice for every day folks who have experienced some sort of loss. we know now that grief & loss is NOT linear and is far too complicated to be compressed to 5 specific stages. but grief & loss is an excellent and fun narrative to explore within story and character formats!

without further adieu, i bring to you all:

THE FOUR TASKS OF MOURNING.

this model was developed by psychologist j. william worden and helps us better understand how people journey through grief. the four tasks of mourning suggests that any grieving person can be working through any of these tasks at any moment in time. it is not a linear model and it does not suggest that grieving ever ends. which, as grief & loss therapists, we know grieving never truly ends.

and remember, grief & loss does not only pertain to the loss of a person to death. any significant, life changing loss, whether it be the loss of a relationship, lifestyle, family home, etc. can trigger intense feelings of grief.

TASK I: TO ACCEPT THE REALITY OF THE LOSS.

has your character fully accepted the loss?  have they accepted that the person/thing is really gone, and they will not return? 

or, is there still a sense that the loss hasn’t occurred? is your character actively trying to find their lost person/thing? are they stuck in this task? why aren’t they accepting the facts of the loss, the meaning of the loss, or the irreversibility of the loss?

what is the character doing to stay in this task of accepting the reality? are they minimizing the loss? are they holding onto objects, feelings, something else?

TASK II: TO PROCESS THE PAIN OF GRIEF.

has your character spoken of the pain of the grief? how do others around them react to your character’s grief? do they minimize it? do they play it up? if your character is processing the grief, how are they doing so? are they processing it in a healthy manner?

how intensely does your character feel the pain? does it come in waves? what are your character’s triggers?

does your character short-circuit task II? how? do they cut themselves off from their feelings through substances, sex, etc? do they find a geographic cure by traveling from place to place?

TASK III: TO ADJUST TO A WORLD WITHOUT THE DECEASED.

EXTERNAL ADJUSTMENTS: what does your character need to adjust to without the person/thing they are grieving? are they now childless? spouseless? how does this loss affect their day to day lives? think of things such as work, bills, household chores, errands, typical weekend plans, places they used to frequent with the person/thing, etc. were they used to doing all these things with a partner and now struggle to accomplish tasks alone? do they struggle to have money to pay bills now? is there a room that belonged to the lost person that needs to be cleaned now? do they struggle to go to their favorite restaurants or the movies or the arcade now that their partner/friend/child is gone?

INTERNAL ADJUSTMENTS: mentally and emotionally, what adjustments does your character need to make? do they talk about the lost person/thing like it’s still around, and do they have to start speaking of the person/thing in a past tense? does your character now have to refer to themselves as an “i” instead of a “we”? how did the lost person/thing define your character? do they have to adjust to a new role now without the person/thing in their life? do they struggle with not sharing a bed anymore?

SPIRITUAL ADJUSTMENTS: how has your character’s view of the world changed? are they angry at their higher power? do they no longer believe in a higher power? do they now believe in a higher power? do they now believe the world is an awful and cruel place and everything is inherently painful? are they wary of making new friends, new connections?

TASK IV: TO FIND AN ENDURING CONNECTION WITH THE DECEASED IN THE MIDST OF EMBARKING ON A NEW LIFE.

how does your character maintain that connection with their lost person/thing while still moving forward in life? does your character have the ashes of their deceased person? does the urn itself hold any meaning? did they scatter the ashes, and where did they scatter them, and why did they scatter them there? do they visit their person’s grave on their birthday? do they send up balloons on the person’s death day? have they held onto the keys to their old house? do they have any objects, such as jewelry, locks of hair, toys, or clothes that they kept from their lost person?

if your character has not made this connection yet, why? what can they do to forge this new connection?

another model that ties in very neatly with the four tasks of mourning is THE SIX “R” MODEL OF MOURNING developed by Therese Rando. these “activities”, as she refers to them, include:

RECOGNIZING THE LOSS.

REACTING TO THE SEPARATION.

REMEMBERING AND RE-EXPERIENCING.

RELINQUISHING ATTACHMENTS AND ASSUMPTIONS.

READJUSTING TO A NEW WORLD.

REINVESTING IN NEW ACTIVITIES AND NEW RELATIONSHIPS.

and in addition to all of this, Margaret Stroebe and Hank Schut have developed a neat little model called STROEBE AND COLLEAGUE’S DUAL PROCESS MODEL. this model explains how bereaved individuals continue to function in the real world while still taking time to grieve their loss. or, rather, how people cope with the loss and still resume their daily lives. here’s a neat graphic for a visual aid of this.

there are two categories of stressors associated with bereavement in this model:

loss-oriented. your character is managing negative emotions and reorganizing the attachment relationship with the deceased. this is how your character is processing their grief at any given time.

restoration-oriented. your character is engaging in daily life activities. they are adjusting to a life without the deceased.

the oscillation between the two. this is the key piece in the dual process model. grieving individuals do not simply slip into and stay in restoration-orientation. they will oscillate back and forth between loss-orientation and restoration-orientation. this is how the grieving brain works. nothing is linear.

cheers, and happy writing!

[hotgirlcrap]

Character Clothing Mannerisms To Use In Your Writing

wears ribbons for shoelaces

wears derby hats with all outfits

wears green eyeshade

often wears long black sleeve protectors

wears one single gold ring on the index finger

uses ribbons to tie the hair instead of rubber bands

ties the straps of a frock around the waist but to the front instead of the back.

carries a lab coat around even though not a lab/science student

sticks or stitches pieces of fur to the end of the sleeves of shirts and t-shirts

wears a cowrie shell necklace

wears pom pom earrings, pom pom necklaces, pom poms hanging from shoelaces. Basically everywhere

wears a belt around the wrist

wears a leather chain around the neck/hand

wears anklets but around the wrist

Your characters don't obviously have to do this all the time. Or maybe they could. It's all upto you!

Drop by to say hello or ask for any other prompts/mannerisms and I'd love to see if I have something!

[hotgirlcrap]

Quick editing tip: Passing time

Hey all, here’s a quick tip about showing the passage of short amounts of time in a scene. I see a lot of beats like this:

She hesitated

He paused

A few seconds later

There was a long silence

He waited for her to answer

She didn’t respond

Instead of telling us there’s a brief moment of silence or pause in your scene, try showing us by creating the feeling that time has passed through action, description, or inner monologue. Here are a few examples.

Before:

“Are you coming or not?”

He waited for her to answer, but she didn’t respond.

“Clare? Did you hear me?”

“Huh?”

After:

“Are you coming or not?”

Clare scrolled through her phone, her face illuminating with a eerie blue glow.

“Clare? Did you hear me?”

“Huh?”

Before:

Jared lingered at the suspect’s front gate. If this guy didn’t answer Jared’s questions, he was screwed.

“Hey you!” a voice shouted. “Get off my property!”

Jared hesitated. Finally, he turned to face the man. “I’m afraid I can’t do that.”

After:

Jared lingered at the suspect’s front gate. If this guy didn’t answer Jared’s questions, he was screwed.

“Hey you!” a voice shouted. “Get off my property!”

Jared patted his holster. He had a gun, but he certainly didn’t want to use it. Taking a deep breath, he turned to face the man. “I’m afraid I can’t do that.”

Not only does creating a pause instead of describing a pause allow your reader to feel the moment more vividly, it gives you a chance to explain what exactly that pause is about. People hesitate, pause, don’t respond, etc. for all kinds of reasons. Give us as much insight as you can into your weird quiet moment.

Of course, you don’t need to do this every single time. Sometimes it’s fine to say “he paused” or “the room was quiet for a moment”—it could be the best choice for that scene. But look back through your draft and see if you’ve used those “telling” descriptions more often than you needed to. If so, try to create the feeling of a pause—perhaps one that gives the reader a bit more information—using these techniques.

Hope this helps!

[hotgirlcrap]

Writing advice from my uni teachers:

If your dialog feels flat, rewrite the scene pretending the characters cannot at any cost say exactly what they mean. No one says “I’m mad” but they can say it in 100 other ways.

Wrote a chapter but you dislike it? Rewrite it again from memory. That way you’re only remembering the main parts and can fill in extra details. My teacher who was a playwright literally writes every single script twice because of this.

Don’t overuse metaphors, or they lose their potency. Limit yourself.

Before you write your novel, write a page of anything from your characters POV so you can get their voice right. Do this for every main character introduced.

[hotgirlcrap]

Sad things you can do in a book other than killing of a character

Character death is sad, but it also has huge consequences on your plot that can’t be reversed. Not to mention, depending on your genre, character deaths are often reserved for later in the series as a way of telling the reader that things are getting serious. 

So, until that moment, here’s a quick list of things you can do to tug at your readers emotions: 

1.- Destruction of an item of value. For this to work you’re going to have to set this up early on, it could be a childhood toy they need to sleep at night, a necklace they swear gives them good luck, and old family trinket or any number of things. The important thing is you show just how important it is to the character, make them happy and excited just to talk about it. Later on your character will feel loss and so will the audience. 

2.- Arguing. Two characters with a strong bond arguing can be heartbreaking, even if you know the argument is going to resolve itself eventually, going from cuddles and banter to cold looks and the silent treatment, can easily hurt the audience just as much as the characters. 

3.- Betrayal. When well done, it’s worst than character death. When you as a reader fall head over heels in love with a character, only for them to betray the rest, it’s heartbreaking, especially if when you read back the foreshadowing was there. It was so obvious yet you were all so blind! As blind as the other characters. Also, unlike character death, they’re still there, there to taunt you with their mere existence. 

4.- Failure. We have probably all felt that emptiness, that feeling as the world crumbles around us, haplessness, when we failed an exam in school or just couldn’t get the house clean in time for that visit. Take that feeling and reflect it into your characters, it doesn’t have to be an exam, it can be anything, a task they’re parents asked them to do and they tried their best, a mission, anything. Just let them fail and feel the world crumble. 

5.- Being forced to stay behind. Following from point four, if a character is not good enough they can be left behind, perhaps it comes from a place of love, an attempt to protect them from enemies too strong, yet it still hurts. Perhaps they haven’t failed, perhaps they are left behind for another reason, because they are “too valuable”, or because they’ll be more useful back home. Either way, watching those close to you go of to fight for what you believe in, without you, can be painful. 

6.- Finding out something they believed in was a lie. It can be something relatively insignificant, an assumption they never bothered to question. Or something world shattering. Allow me to offer up an example with an unimportant spoiler from my second book (it’s not even out yet but oh well): in this book, while talking about some law, Henry realises his daughter believes he and her mother were married. This is an assumption Itazu made and never questioned. It affects nothing, nothing changes, yet finding out her mother and her father were not the happy married couple she’d always pictured, it’s painful. 

This could also be something huge, finding out you’re adopted for example. 

7.- History. Oh, history, how depressing it can be. And if you have a fantasy world you have many opportunities to go into this. From slaughters to slavery, finding out how society got to where it is, the base on which it is built. Well, it’s pretty depressing. Obviously be careful how much inspiration you take from real world history and always be respectful and do your research! 

8.- Scarring. An injury can be painful, it can be scary. And depending on what caused it, leave you with traumatising memories. Now add to that a physical visible reminder on your skin you can never remove. Well, that can be pretty horrible. Imagine the scar came from a battle the protagonist longs to forget, but can’t because every night before going to sleep they can’t help but glance at their arm where the nasty scars forever lies. 

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

This another post I could probably do a part two on someday. Can you think of any books where any of these are done effectively? Do any of these happen in your owns book? Please tell me! I love hearing from you all. 

[hotgirlcrap]

Narrative Botox: Filler Words and Phrases to Look Out For

If you’re planning on publishing traditionally, chances are you keep a sharp eye on your word count. Literary agents and publishing houses are on the hunt for the best quality stories that they can print for the cheapest price (using the least paper and ink), so you have a higher chance of gaining representation if you can crank your novel out in the least words possible.

However, filler words and phrases aren’t only the enemies of aspiring traditional authors; every writer—fanfic, novelist, journalist, you name it!—should try to eliminate filler from their stories to assure more concise and high-quality writing. Oftentimes, filler contributes nothing but clutter, and without it, your narrative can flow smoother and in a more sophisticated manner.

But how do you know what’s filler and what’s not? Here are some tips on how to Ctrl+F and kick this narrative botox to the curb!

I compiled these lists with the help of Infusionmedia, BDR Publishing, and ResetEra !

Filler Words

1. Just

A writer’s worst enemy, and the bane of my manuscripts’ existences. Eliminating all the ‘just’s can cut down your word count by hundreds.

2. “That” as a conjunction

It’s an unnecessary addition to a sentence, which will be more streamlined without it.

Example: “He said that he wouldn’t do it again.”

Revised: “He said he wouldn’t do it again.”

3. “Now” as an adverb

“Now” is essential if you’re talking about the past and present, but when you’re using it to draw attention to a particular statement or point.

Example: “Now, I didn’t think it’d get so out of hand.”

Revised: “I didn’t think it’d get so out of hand.”

4. Redundant adverbs

These adverbs serve no purpose because the verbs they’re describing already imply the way the action is performed.

Whispering softly

Yelling loudly

Crying sadly

Laughing happily

5. “Telling” words

These words are redundant, especially when using first person, because in describing an event, we can already assume that the characters are experiencing it.

Seeing/saw

Feeling/felt

Hearing/heard

Smelling/smelled

6. “Clarifying” words used to portray definiteness or indefiniteness

Although these are meant to help out the readers get their bearings on a situation, all they do is come across as wishy-washy! Be concise and sure of yourself!

About

Absolutely

Accordingly

Actually

Almost

Basically

Certainly

Clearly

Completely

Entirely

Even

Exactly

Fairly

Highly

Hopefully

Literally

Maybe

Only

Often

Oftentimes

Perhaps

Possibly

Probably

Quite

Rather

Really

Reasonably

Relatively

Seem

Seriously

Simply

Slightly

Some

Somehow

Sometimes

Totally

Very

Filler Phrases

1.“Let out (vocal noise)”

Use the verb instead!

Example: “He let out a sigh.”

Revised: “He sighed.”

2. Using passive voice

Passive voice inflates your word count by including various “to be” verbs into the prose. Passive voice involves actions happening to a subject rather than the subject performing an action, and as a result isn’t as riveting to the reader as active voice; even if it wasn’t a matter of word count, you’d still want to get rid of it anyway!

Still don’t know what I’m talking about? Check out this article from Grammarly.

Example: “The boy was bitten by the dog on his arm.”

Revised: “The dog bit the boy on his arm.”

3. Describing the wrong noun

Many writers will be as specific as possible about what “thing” is affected by the event they’re describing, when it’s much simpler to take a step back and write about something more general.

Example: “The level of water rose.”

Revised: “The water rose.”

4. Phrasal verbs

Phrasal verbs are the combination of two or three words from different grammatical categories—a verb and an adverb or a preposition—to form a single action. Usually, these phrasal verbs can be replaced by a single-word verb.

“Ask for” can be replaced with “request”

“Bring down” can be replaced with “reduce”

“Come across” can be replaced with “find”

Etc.

5. Clarifying phrases

Same reason as clarifying words. Get to the point!

A bit

A little

A lot

In a sense

Kind of

Sort of

6. Remember your contractions!

Even if your story takes place in olden times, I can guarantee that if you never use any contractions ever, your story’s gonna be a clunky mess. But sometimes you’re in the moment, consumed by the poetic power of the muses, and forget that this isn’t a soap opera; so make sure you check that you’ve been using your contractions!

It is, it was, it would, she is, would not, should not, is not, does not etc.

7. Inflated phrases

These phrases can be replaced with more concise words.

Along the lines of (shorten to: like)

As a matter of fact (in fact)

As to whether (whether)

At all times (always)

At the present (now or currently)

At this point in time (now or currently)

Be able to/would(n’t) be able to (could or couldn’t)

Because of the fact that (because)

By means of (by)

Due to the fact that (because)

Even though (though or although)

For the purpose of (for)

For the reason that (because)

Have the ability to (could)

In light of the fact that (because)

In order to (to)

In regards to (on or about)

In spite of the fact that (though or although)

In the event that (if)

In the nature of (like)

In the neighborhood of (about)

On the occasion of (when)

On one/two separate occasions (Once/twice)

The/A majority of (most)

There is no doubt that (No doubt)

Wasn(n’t) capable of (could or couldn’t)

Hope this helped, and happy writing!

[hotgirlcrap]

Tips for Writing a Difficult Scene

Every writer inevitably gets to that scene that just doesn't want to work. It doesn't flow, no matter how hard you try. Well, here are some things to try to get out of that rut:

1. Change the weather

I know this doesn't sound like it'll make much of a difference, but trust me when I say it does.

Every single time I've tried this, it worked and the scene flowed magically.

2. Change the POV

If your book has multiple POV characters, it might be a good idea to switch the scene to another character's perspective.

9/10 times, this will make the scene flow better.

3. Start the scene earlier/later

Oftentimes, a scene just doesn't work because you're not starting in the right place.

Perhaps you're starting too late and giving too little context. Perhaps some description or character introspection is needed before you dive in.

Alternatively, you may be taking too long to get to the actual point of the scene. Would it help to dive straight into the action without much ado?

4. Write only the dialogue

If your scene involves dialogue, it can help immensely to write only the spoken words the first time round.

It's even better if you highlight different characters' speech in different colors.

Then, later on, you can go back and fill in the dialogue tags, description etc.

5. Fuck it and use a placeholder

If nothing works, it's time to move on.

Rather than perpetually getting stuck on that one scene, use a placeholder. Something like: [they escape somehow] or [big emotional talk].

And then continue with the draft.

This'll help you keep momentum and, maybe, make the scene easier to write later on once you have a better grasp on the plot and characters.

Trust me, I do this all the time.

It can take some practice to get past your Type A brain screaming at you, but it's worth it.

So, those are some things to try when a scene is being difficult. I hope that these tips help :)

Reblog if you found this post useful. Comment with your own tips. Follow me for similar content.

[hotgirlcrap]

WEBSITES FOR WRITERS {masterpost}

E.A. Deverell - FREE worksheets (characters, world building, narrator, etc.) and paid courses;

Hiveword - Helps to research any topic to write about (has other resources, too);

BetaBooks - Share your draft with your beta reader (can be more than one), and see where they stopped reading, their comments, etc.;

Charlotte Dillon - Research links;

Writing realistic injuries - The title is pretty self-explanatory: while writing about an injury, take a look at this useful website;

One Stop for Writers - You guys... this website has literally everything we need: a) Description thesaurus collection, b) Character builder, c) Story maps, d) Scene maps & timelines, e) World building surveys, f) Worksheets, f) Tutorials, and much more! Although it has a paid plan ($90/year | $50/6 months | $9/month), you can still get a 2-week FREE trial;

One Stop for Writers Roadmap - It has many tips for you, divided into three different topics: a) How to plan a story, b) How to write a story, c) How to revise a story. The best thing about this? It's FREE!

Story Structure Database - The Story Structure Database is an archive of books and movies, recording all their major plot points;

National Centre for Writing - FREE worksheets and writing courses. Has also paid courses;

Penguin Random House - Has some writing contests and great opportunities;

Crime Reads - Get inspired before writing a crime scene;

The Creative Academy for Writers - "Writers helping writers along every step of the path to publication." It's FREE and has ZOOM writing rooms;

Reedsy - "A trusted place to learn how to successfully publish your book" It has many tips, and tools (generators), contests, prompts lists, etc. FREE;

QueryTracker - Find agents for your books (personally, I've never used this before, but I thought I should feature it here);

Pacemaker - Track your goals (example: Write 50K words - then, everytime you write, you track the number of the words, and it will make a graphic for you with your progress). It's FREE but has a paid plan;

Save the Cat! - The blog of the most known storytelling method. You can find posts, sheets, a software (student discount - 70%), and other things;

I hope this is helpful for you!

(Also, check my blog if you want to!)

[hotgirlcrap]

Words to describe facial expressions

Absent: preoccupied 

Agonized: as if in pain or tormented

Alluring: attractive, in the sense of arousing desire

Appealing: attractive, in the sense of encouraging goodwill and/or interest

Beatific: blissful

Black: angry or sad, or hostile

Bleak: hopeless

Blinking: surprise, or lack of concern

Blithe: carefree, lighthearted, or heedlessly indifferent

Brooding: anxious and gloomy

Bug eyed: frightened or surprised

Chagrined: humiliated or disappointed

Cheeky: cocky, insolent

Cheerless: sad

Choleric: hot-tempered, irate

Darkly: with depressed or malevolent feelings

Deadpan: expressionless, to conceal emotion or heighten humor

Despondent: depressed or discouraged

Doleful: sad or afflicted

Dour: stern or obstinate

Dreamy: distracted by daydreaming or fantasizing

Ecstatic: delighted or entranced

Faint: cowardly, weak, or barely perceptible

Fixed: concentrated or immobile

Gazing: staring intently

Glancing: staring briefly as if curious but evasive

Glazed: expressionless due to fatigue or confusion

Grim: fatalistic or pessimistic

Grave: serious, expressing emotion due to loss or sadness

Haunted: frightened, worried, or guilty

Hopeless: depressed by a lack of encouragement or optimism

Hostile: aggressively angry, intimidating, or resistant

Hunted: tense as if worried about pursuit

Jeering: insulting or mocking

Languid: lazy or weak

Leering: sexually suggestive

Mild: easygoing

Mischievous: annoyingly or maliciously playful

Pained: affected with discomfort or pain

Peering: with curiosity or suspicion

Peeved: annoyed

Pleading: seeking apology or assistance

Quizzical: questioning or confused

Radiant: bright, happy

Sanguine: bloodthirsty, confident

Sardonic: mocking

Sour: unpleasant

Sullen: resentful

Vacant: blank or stupid looking

Wan: pale, sickly

Wary: cautious or cunning

Wide eyed: frightened or surprised

Withering: devastating

Wrathful: indignant or vengeful

Wry: twisted or crooked to express cleverness or a dark or ironic feeling

[hotgirlcrap]

Starting a Book

Listen, I'll be straight with you despite my lack of being straight. Just go for it. That is the biggest tip of all. Just start it, get what's on your mind onto the paper, then fix it later. If you don't, you'll quickly forget about where you wanted to take your story in the first place.

1. You can use inspiration from other books if you need to. That is 100% okay

Obviously, don't copy them or their ideas. But use them as stepping stones to begin and see where it goes from there.

2. Have the story in mind, but not the whole thing

The thing about writing is that as you go, you will get more and more ideas, and they will continue to change. Have a decent idea of what you want the story to be, what character goals are, who the characters are, plots, etc.

Ex. The book I'm working on now was supposed to be a dystopian novel about the government and how they created a disease that infects people. But more and more, as I've written, that story line hasn't exactly changed so much as improved.

3. Write for yourself, not for others

A personal struggle of mine, but it's true. When you're writing, don't think about what happens after. Don't think about who will read it and how many, just think about the story and getting your thoughts onto the paper and creating the story you want to write

4. Try to write something everyday, taking small breaks throughout the day

This helps a lot. Trust me. When I take breaks for days at a time, I literally forget what I was writing beforehand and have to reread a lot. Instead, try to write at least something everyday so that you have the story fresh in your head and so you can actually finish it

This doesn't mean don't take breaks. Breaks throughout the day is good, and obviously don't spend ALL DAY writing. But every 30 minutes or so, take a break from writing and do something else. It will make the whole process much more bearable.

[hotgirlcrap]

random sites that are extremely helpful

animation screencaps

body visualizer

create infographics

desktop goose

help with writers block

boil the frog

professions based on your personality

best dictionary ever

fighters block

writing tool

slides go

slides carnival

online library

free movies and tv shows

free movies and tv shows #2

worldbuilding website

make music online

human pose reference

email signature

cool design templates

animation tool

[hotgirlcrap]

[hotgirlcrap]

[hotgirlcrap]

Planning A Scene In A Story

– A lot of you have asked questions pertaining to a struggle with planning scenes, so I’ve decided to make a little rundown of questions to answer before writing a new scene of your story. Obviously, you probably won’t end up going through this process over and over again until the end of your writing career, as this will become like a second nature to you as you continue to practice it. If you have any further questions, my ask box is always open. Happy writing!

Intention

How is the setting of the scene relevant to the events that take place?

Is this scene easy to follow with the information given to the reader?

What role do past events play into this scene?

How will the events in this scene shift the story toward the resolution?

Does this scene solve any plot holes or create any new ones?

Purpose

What is the overall purpose this scene serves?

How will this scene progress the plot?

How will this scene help to develop your character(s)?

Information

What information is this scene supposed to reveal to the reader?

What information is required to make this scene make sense?

Subtext

Are there any hidden messages you need to plan beforehand?

Is there any foreshadowing taking place during this scene?

What context might alter the implications of this scene?

What consequences might come from the events of this scene?

Starting Point

Does this starting point make sense for the trajectory of the scene?

Does the starting point allow room for some rising action?

Is your scene starting abruptly or with a build up to a large event?

Is there space between the beginning of this scene and the last?

If there is, are there any blanks you need to fill in to continue?

Tone

What is the main way you’ll be conveying tone in the context of the scene’s events?

How do you want the tone to impact the reader’s experience?

Does the tone change drastically in contrast with the last scene?

How Do You Want The Scene To Leave The Reader?

Do you want your reader to end the scene asking a bunch of questions? 

Do you want one of the subplots to be resolved?

Do you want the reader to be shocked?

Do you want the reader to think, “Oh, that makes sense now”?

If you have any to add, feel free to leave them in the comments down below to help each other out!

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[hotgirlcrap]

YES YES SO MUCH YES

Quick Question For You

Please let me know (comment, ask, DM, whatever) if you would be interested in reading my original writing. I've been posting here for almost 5 years and I've gotten messages here and there inquiring about where to read my original stuff, since I don't post it here.

Thank you

x Kate

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Plot Development : A Collection

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General

31 Days of Plot Development : January 2019 Writing Challenge

Resources For Plot Development

Guide To Plot Development

Tackling Subplots

Tips on Planning A Series

Plot Elements

How To Write A Good Plot Twist

How To Foreshadow

Character Driven vs. Plot Driven Stories

Plot Structure

How To Engage The Reader

Pacing Appropriately

Tips on Introducing Backstory

Tips on Writing Flashbacks

Tips on Writing Time Skips

Foreshadowing The Villain 

Too Much Symbolism? Too Much Foreshadowing?

Outlining

Novel Planning 101

Coming Up With Scene Ideas

Planning A Scene

When To Stop Planning

 How To Outline Outside Chapter Structure

Tips on Mapping Out A Series

Outlining By Chapter

How To Outline Effectively

How To Write A Story Timeline

 Coming Up With “Original” Ideas

Guide to Episodic Plot Structure

Theme

Commentary on Social Issues In Writing

On Writing About Sensitive Topics

Avoiding The Romanticization of Mental Illness

Writing Stories About Your Own Experiences

Writing Meaningful Stories

Tips on Writing Grief

Ultimate Guide To Symbolism

Multiple themes in a story

Execution

Things A Reader Needs From A Story

How To Turn A Good Idea Into A Good Story

Building Upon A Good Premise

Developing Complicated Plots Around Characters

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Masterlist

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Shoutout to my $15+ patron, Douglas S.!

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Character Development : A Collection of Resources

Patreon || Ko-Fi || Masterlist || Work In Progress

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Resources

Resources For Creating Characters

Resources For Describing Characters

Resources For Writing The Mafia

Resources For Writing Royalty

Commentary on Social Issues In Writing

General Tips

Guide to Character Development

How To Fit Character Development Into Your Story

Tips on Character Consistency

Designing A Character From Scratch

Making characters for your world

Characters First, Story Second Method

Understanding Your Character

Tips on Character Motivations

31 Days of Character Development : May 2018 Writing Challenge

How To Analyze A Character

Alternative Method of Character Creation

Connecting To Your Own Characters

Interview As Your Characters

Flipping Character Traits On Their Head 

Character Driven vs. Plot Driven Stories

Traits

Tips On Writing About Mental Illness

Giving Your Protagonists Negative Traits

Giving Characters Distinct Voices in Dialogue

Giving Characters Flaws

Making Characters More Unique

Keeping Characters Realistic

Archetypes

Writing Good Villains

Creating Villains

Guide to Writing The Hero

Positive Character Development Without Romanticizing Toxic Behavior

Tips on Writing Cold & Distant Characters

Balancing Multiple Main Characters

Creating Diverse Otherworld Characters

Foreshadowing The Villain

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Masterlist | WIP Blog

If you enjoy my blog and wish for it to continue being updated frequently and for me to continue putting my energy toward answering your questions, please consider Buying Me A Coffee, or pledging your support on Patreon, where I offer early access and exclusive benefits for only $5/month.

Shoutout to my $15+ patron, Douglas S.!