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when christian artists change the line in hallelujah from “maybe there’s a God above” to “I know that there’s a God above” >:c

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Every writer has two sides:

"I love my characters, they are my children and will protect them with my life"

"I wanna make them suffer so fucking much"

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One of the hardest things for me to learn and practice in my writing is that people do not say that much.

My character dialogue frequently feels contrived. They open up to partners too quickly, maintain perfect communication with friends, and hold back exactly the right info from enemies. Yet, irl, I've observed and contributed to much miscommunication, lost opportunities, and unconscious distrust of friendly motivations. Natural speech is not tailored, and appropriately expressing abstract thoughts takes skill.

We've heard film media fans deride "therapy talk" wherein characters uncharacteristically and eloquently divulge their inner struggles to others and receive perfect, textbook advice in response. This feels inauthentic because most humans don't talk like that! We skirt around our problems, we feel uncomfortable when others vent, we want to avoid conflict and rejection, and our well-meant words often do more harm than good.

People also tend to talk a lot, but say little. As writers, we generally don't want our stories stuffed with useless conversations, banter, and small-talk that don't advance the plot—we want that story grown up and moved out! But please, include those things. Have scenes where friends hide thoughts from friends by joking around or discussing hobbies instead, where a rival saves the MC's thoughtless speech for later, where a happy couple argues over a minor miscommunication. These aspects can add depth to a story that feels manufactured, or life to characters that sound scripted.

If this is you, take your time; natural dialogue takes a while to finesse. Currently, I write the meaning behind the dialogue first then smudge it up in redrafts. As with all the lessons I've learned/shared, each piece of writing advice should come with a "Daily Value" label affixed, lol. Balance is needed and adjustments should be made until you have the story you want.

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Filler??? In MY story?!

You'd better believe it. :)

Filling can have its own way of progressing the story -if not the plot, then the understanding of the characters when they're not buried in a plot-alanche.

Moments of rest are necessary for both the characters and the reader.

Moments of softness are necessary for both the characters and the reader.

Moments of 'slice of life' are necessary for both the characters and the reader.

It comes down to one simple to say, yet complicated piece of advice that I keep as a golden rule:

Bring it inward to make it bigger.

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how to write creepy stories

over describe things

under describe things

short sentences in rapid succession build tension

single sentence paragraphs build dread

uncanny valley = things that aren't normal almost getting it right

third person limited view

limited expressions

rot, mold, damage, age, static, flickering, espsecially in places it shouldn't be

limited sights for your mc - blindness, darkness, fog

being alone - the more people there are, the less scary it is

intimate knowledge, but only on one side

your reader's imagination will scare them more than anything you could ever write. you don't have to offer a perfectly concrete explanation for everything at the end. in fact, doing so may detract from your story.

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Just finished the Spyxfamily movie and can we talk about that fact that while Loid was fighting a big bad general they made Yor fight a CYBORG with GUNS FOR ARMS cuz it was the only POSSIBLE thing they could think of that could believably hold back yor and they STILL had to make a point that knifes didn’t work cuz otherwise she would have won immediately… my girl is really op and they know it

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Guys. Guys. Calculating tips. Just. Look at your bill. And move the decimal point one step left. That’s ten percent. Double that number. Now it’s twenty percent.

$100.00 bill? $10.000. Ten dollars. Double it. Twenty dollars. That’s a 20% tip.

$67.50? Now it’s $6.750. $6.75? Might as well be $7. Double it. Roughly $14. You’re not going to miss the change.

Please. I failed math three times

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Yes she does accidentally drink paint water when she’s in the Zone™️ 🍄 🍄 🍄

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collection

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I mean, we all knew, but thanks for admitting that you wanna surpress freedom of speech and the spread of information?

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I mean, we knew, but it's nice to hear so succinctly