#writing craft

[miatsai]

writing and craft and stuff

"Mia do you have any writing advice pet peeves"

why, yes i do. presented without too much comment:

it's a scam because you need to use both things to tell a story effectively. if it's all show, your novel is going to be over 200k words and half of it will probably be a travelogue. if it's all tell, we'll have a hard time getting into the characters' thoughts and feelings. show, don't tell exists to help newer writers explore what's going in their characters' minds. it's not a hard and fast rule once you've learned how to characterize and give context. so please, do some telling. do some beautiful telling.

#writing craft #look what i found in my files after a million years

[writingwithfolklore]

10 Ways to Develop your Writing Skill

Read with intention, especially stories you normally wouldn’t

Take yourself out of your comfort zone—mimic a writer with a totally different style/tone/POV than you.

Go out and experience more of the world

Try out some writing prompts

Share your work with another writer

Rewrite your project (or a chapter) in a new light—write the ending at the start, switch the main characters, change the setting

Gather sources and inspiration

Experiment using new concepts/words/characters you never would have otherwise

Take time away from writing and come back to it with fresh eyes.

Try taking your idea to other artforms—drawing, animation, music, knitting, singing, anything!

What are some other ways you believe help develop writing skill?

#writing #writers #writing tips #writing advice #writing inspiration #creative writing #writing community #books #film #filmmaking #screenwriting #novel writing #fanfiction #writeblr #10 ways to develop your writing skill #writing skills #writing craft

[daily-prompts]

#fiction #writing #poll #writing craft #inspiration

[withlovelunette]

How to create “complex” characters

– Introduction

I wanted to make a post about creating complex and multifaceted characters, since character creation is something I'm very passionate about from both a craft and storytelling perspective. Specifically, I remember I had this tendency to apply flaws as an afterthought to my characters in hopes of making them balanced and seem more complex, and this could often make the characters feel a bit artificial to me. I'm obviously not any sort of authority figure on the subject, but I do have one tip that really simplified the process of making characters more intricate, and I wanted to share it! This is probably more helpful for people who might still be at the very beginning of their writing journey, but hopefully others can get something out of this as well! It's a bit lengthy, but I hope it's somewhat enjoyable to read ^^; Enjoy!

For a bit of background, back in the early internet days, there was this trend of judging various OCs on youtube, deviant art, etc. where people would essentially evaluate your character and determine whether or not a character was well written. During this time, the term "Mary Sue" would get thrown around a lot (which is a whole can of worms I won't be touching on here). For simplicity though, Mary Sue generally means a character who's "perfect" (again, heavy oversimplification here). To counter this, people began creating these lists of character traits where they'd list off a character's good and bad traits, and people who didn't have equal amounts in each category would often be scrutinised for it.

And I see this advice all the time. If you want complex characters, people will usually tell you to just throw on a bunch of flaws, but I think this can be a bit misleading, because most traits exist on a spectrum, and aren't a perfect dichotomy of good and bad.

Thinking of character traits as neutral

My biggest advice is honestly to just think of all character traits as neutral. Because what really is a character flaw? A flaw is a very ambiguous and subjective term after all. What might be considered a flaw in one character could be considered another character's greatest attribute, and vice versa. Functionally, a character flaw should be a trait that creates conflict within the context of the story. Any trait a person has could be good or bad, it just depends on how it shows up in practice and how it's applied in daily life. It might be tempting to think that certain traits are inherently good or bad, but again, flaws aren't really about good or bad. They're about conflict and tension, and just about any trait can work to a character's detriment or in their favour.

I'm going to list off two examples of hypothetical characters below; one who most would consider to have a lot of "good" character traits, and one that would be considered to have "bad" character traits. Then I'll show you how you can easily flip those traits to create nuance. (And again, I really don't think good or bad are relevant terms here, but it's just to exemplify what I mean more easily!)

The "Good" Character

This character is empathetic, creative and incredibly supportive of others. They always do the right thing, and are a very responsible individual. They're approachable and friendly, funny, and generally enjoyable to be around.

The "Bad" Character

This character is cunning, manipulative, and don't care if their words hurt other people's feelings. They're largely apathetic and unreceptive, don't care about rules, and don't go out of their way to get to know people.

Their flaws & how it can affect the story

For the "good" character, you can look at what the downsides of empathy can be; very reactive emotionally, perhaps even a bit emotionally impulsive. Maybe they have a difficult time recognising their own needs, especially since supportive is also a trait listed above. Maybe they even use this empathy to figure out other people's needs and use it to their own benefit. Someone who's creative can often have a difficult time committing to their passions and ideas because there's always something new. Maybe they feel out of place or easily stifled by rules, but because they always want to do the right thing, they're hesitant in outright breaking rules and social norms. If they use their empathy and approachability to manipulate, perhaps this is their way of subtly regaining a sense of control because they're too afraid to explicitly go after what they want in life. Maybe they care a lot about how they're perceived, etc. Or maybe they really are a compassionate and kind person, but they're often a doormat to others because they don't know how to set boundaries or even how to recognise what they want. Maybe they don't trust their own judgment because they're so used to doing the right thing "just because it's the right thing to do", and don't actually reflect on their actions beyond that. There's a lot you can do with these traits!

For the "bad" character, which might seem a bit more tricky at first, the easiest way to figure out what the nuance of "bad" traits can be is to break down the why. Maybe this character became cunning because they've had to think long term a lot. They're good at waging the odds, they're good at reading the room, they're good at putting things together and seeing how the dominos will fall. Maybe they're even the person responsible for setting up the dominos, because they don't trust anyone else to make sure that there's a desirable outcome. If they're manipulative then it likely means that they're good at reading people, and they must know how to appeal to other people to some degree, otherwise they wouldn't really be able to manipulate anyone. They're likely used to having to look out for themselves, and they might even be good at spotting their own kind and knowing just when to avoid them. They don't care much for rules so they might not be as harsh in judging others, maybe they even have an easier time getting along with people who dare to defy social norms. Maybe they're even supportive of other people breaking the rules, because why the hell not?

Creating nuance

If you look at the two characters above, you'll quickly realise that they could hypothetical be the same character, because... They are. The "good" character is the "bad" character when they were younger. The "bad" character is the "good" character's future. An empathetic character can easily turn that empathy and their social skills into cunning manipulation. A character who previously felt stifled by the rules might choose to defy them. A character who got sick of caring how others perceive and judge them might choose to stop caring about what others think, and might even go out of their way to seem off-putting and un-approachable, because they refuse to ever allow themselves to care about others and be treated like a doormat again.

Or you can treat them as two separate characters that function as foils to one another. They both overlap in a lot of traits despite it not seeming so at first glance. My point is, I find that if you treat all traits as neutral, you don't really have to manually "add" flaws. Most traits have both upsides and downsides, and which side of those traits create conflict in the story is often what determines whether something is a flaw or not.

– Outro

Sorry for the lengthy and possibly rambly post, I just thought it might be advice worth sharing as it's something that really helped me flesh out my own characters more when I was still very new! Plus, as mentioned before, character creation and analysis is one of my favourite aspects of storytelling, and I'm also very passionate about psychology and philosophy and such. And again, this is all in good fun and 100% not a rule on how to write characters! There's exceptions to everything and everyone's process is different, and while this advice might be helpful to some, it might not be helpful whatsoever to others, and that's completely fine!

I'd love to make more posts on topics like this in the future if people enjoy it, or if anyone has any specific requests on anything! :,)

#writeblr #writing advice #writing tips #writing craft #original post

[amandacanwrite]

How do you begin the first chapter of a story you already have planned out?

Always with an action!!

I personally don't believe in telling people there are wrong ways to do a thing, but I will describe what I personally think is best for the opening scene of a new story/novel.

A really common pitfall, in my opinion, for any fictional narrative is getting caught up in exposition. It makes sense that we get the urge to do things this way, because it's how we tell stories to friends about things that have happened to us.

"Okay, so let me give you background so you know who is who or whatever..." or "Okay, so for context..." are how I start a lot of tea spilling sessions, and its great for colloquial storytelling, but not a great way to get readers engaged from the start.

Whenever I start a book, I think of it less as a historical account and more of myself as the writer arriving to the character's life at a specific point in time, and leaving it at a specific point in time. Because of this, I think the best way to start a story is in the middle of something in their day. Here are some of the first paragraphs from my vampire story:

I scraped another jagged line in the already-worn paint on the wall, marking another tick among the other tidy rows of carved lines in the wall. I relished the feeling of old paint and soft, decaying wood sliding beneath my too-long fingernail. It hurt, but at least I was feeling something.  The first thing they did to me when I arrived at The Tower was glamour my name away.   One moment I was a person, and the next I wasn’t. All I was left with was the milk-warm feeling of the glamour on me dissipating too quickly, leaving me cold and without a sense of self. I could remember everything about my life—everything that had led me to this horrific moment, but not the core of my being. Not the most basic of identifiers. Not my name. 

And another from my Unseelie Court Meets Peaky Blinders WIP:

I pressed my back against the cold, damp brick outside the public house on Main and Besom. My heart raced so fast that I could feel the steady thump of it painfully in my neck. I didn’t know how far I’d run, but I knew I’d done it faster than I ever had before.   How many days late was I now? Five? No wonder Thomas had two others in tow.    I panted, my ribcage straining against my corset, even with it only loosely laced. I felt like I could hardly get a breath in at all. Closing my eyes and forcing myself to slow, I looked down the alleyway behind the pub. If I dodged down that way, I’d have to walk through some of the dodgier areas of The Strid, but it would be better than risking running into the Half-Blind Barber’s men.    I’d heard about Thomas’s proclivities from my friends in the Rose Garden, and I knew that he would relish the chance to carve me up like a roasted pheasant. 

I like starting stories this way because 1) it's way more fun to write for me than to spend hours trying to come up with an engaging, yet exposition-y opening and b) I get to lead with character instead of trying to find some way to shoehorn them into the lore.

The thing that's really awesome about your reader? They usually read a lot and can fill in a lot of the blanks. I found when I was first writing I always panicked about the reader seeing my story EXACTLY how I saw it in my mind. But at the end of the day, that's not actually that important and over-explaining anything can actually ruin reader immersion.

I try to never write two thousand words of description where a well-placed metaphor or comparison will do. Let your reader's mind do the heavy lifting.

Could I describe a castle in thousands of words talking about the period of architecture and the way that the buttresses look? Yes. I can. You know what's faster and more entertaining to read?

"The castle has the austere elegance of a sacred temple, and was nearly as quiet as you would expect one to be, too."

You have an image in your mind, reading that, right? See, in my head, I see a mormon temple; not because I am mormon, but because I have been to a mormon temple and I find their structures beautiful but also incredibly, deeply haunting.

Someone else may think of the time they visited the Sistine Chapel. Or of the Wayfarer Chapel in Palos Verdes, because they had an aunt who got married there. Yet another person may thing of their local jewish temple. Another person may think of Wyrm's Crossing in Baldur's Gate. At the end of the day, it doesn't truly matter what they see in their heads or understand is going on based on the text--what matters is that they can glean what this place looks, sounds, and maybe even smells like because they have linked it to a place that they have ALREADY experienced IN REAL LIFE)

All of those tangents to say--I don't worry about backstory until I need it. I like to try to make the reader feel like they're getting to know the characters at the same time they're getting to know each other.

Sorry for this very long winded answer--thank you for asking me about writing! I LOVE talking about it (as you can tell rip)

#writing community #writers on tumblr #writing #writeblr #authors #my writing #bg3 #romantasy #craft tips #writing craft #writing tips #writing help

[kimboo-york]

Serial Beats for Long Stories

My book Become an Unstoppable Storyteller: How to Craft Compelling Serials was based on the work I did creating this spreadsheet. It's free to copy and use for yourself, no need to buy the book! (But I'd love it if do buy the book!!!!)

#kimboo's musings #serial storytelling #writing serials #writing craft #writing tools #freebie! #kimboo york #house of york

[kyriolex]

Skibidi Toilet Recap

I thought Skibidi Toilet sounded like sewage when I first heard about it. Then I watched the first 20 episodes and saw the light. This series is a masterclass in exposition and pacing. We learn something new in each video.  

There is a man’s disembodied head in the toilet. His name is Skibidi, and he sings the Skibidi song while making geometrically impossible expressions with his face.

We see miniature dancing people outside an elevator. An elevator...full of urinals. We discover Skibidi has friends who sing acappella with him. One of them has green hair.  

There is a massive Skibidi in a moving toilet the size of a small office building. He sings in slow-mo audio because he is a BIG BOY, and he crushed a human without even noticing. 

Some Skibidis crash a fancy restaurant. They are actively invading the city, not just oblivious. Also this episode reaffirms that BIG BOYS are always surrounded by smaller Skibidis who accompany them like hype men.

We see tanks and helicopters, so we know the government is mounting a defense. A defense against what, you ask? The flying BIG BOYS who spew smaller Skibidis out of their mouths. In case their malice wasn’t obvious, the Imperial March song is also playing to make it extra obvious.

There are people dancing. It’s unclear if the Skibidi’s song is compelling them to dance or not. But we see the POV character - yes, apparently we have a Protagonist - flush a Skibidi down the toilet. The Skibidis can be vanquished! A bunch of other Skibidis burst in to avenge their fallen comrade. Apparently Skibidis have a sense of comradery.

There are a bunch of men marching down the street. Men with security cameras for heads. I’m calling them the Cameramen. They are marching towards the Skibidis, who are racing down the other side of the street. Also a Skibidi attacks the Protagonist because they hold a grudge.

The Skibidis have erected a golden toilet monument in the park. They have conquered enough of the city to replace our heroes with their own likeness. Protagonist kills two nearby Skibidis, then spraypaints a red camera logo on the monument. Security Cameras are no longer the tool of oppressors. They are the sign of rebellion. We know this because a bunch of Skibidis in cop hats immediately come to arrest the protagonist.

The Skibidis have created a church. A BIG BOY in a halo sings the song of his people in a divine tenor. Then some Cameramen come in to attack. The BIG BOY eats one of the Cameramen, but the others flush him down before he can kill again. The Cameramen give Protagonist a thumbs up, proving that he’s not just a fan, but an active member of the rebellion.

We see other species of Cameramen, such as the flying Projector and a giant with a vintage camera for a head. The opposing army has a demon BIG BOY with a horns and a voice so loud the ground shakes.

The BIG BOYS can shoot yellow lasers out of their eyes now.

Oh God the Projectors come in spider mode now. And they have turret guns. They aren’t as strong as a BIG BOY’s lasers though.

There’s a Berserker BIG BOY who moves extra fast and will steamroll his comrades if it means he can kill the Cameramen.

We see a squad of Skibidies. There is one Skibidi in a brown toilet, but most are white. A Cameramen lures the squad down the street with his sick dance moves. Protagonist then blows up the street from his hideout on a building roof. A Skibidi pushes Protagonist off a building. By now it’s obvious Protagonist is like a cockroach - he won’t die.

Protagonist put a camera (or disembodied Cameraman head) in a toilet. He sends the toilet-camera into a Skibidi base, but they recognize the imposter right away. They kill the spy, then send a jumping Skibidi after the protagonist. 

Some Cameramen are spying on some BIG BOY politician. They set up a flying laser to assassinate the politician. The rest of the Skibidis destroy the rebel laser, then immediately come after the Cameramen with BIG BOYs in spider form. It’s obvious they copied the Spider Projectors seen in episode 12. 

One of the larger Cameramen has destroyed the Skibidi monument in the park and is yanking Skibidis out of their toilets. Apparently there are two ways to kill a Skibidi now. Then we see a massive, kaiju-sized cameraman punt some BIG BOYS into a building with his foot. Kaiju Cameraman gives Protagonist a thumbs up. He is the new hope of the Rebellion.

This is only the first FIVE MINUTES and we’ve already got more story and worldbuilding established than some TV seasons.

#skibidi toilet #skibidi toilet recap #writing craft #what have I gotten myself into #okay apparently the big cameraman and skibidis are called titans but I didn't know that #this post was just my raw reaction

[senlinyu]

Hi, I love your writing it is amazing! I am rereading manacled for the fourth time. I was just wondering how did you learn to write?

This is going to sound so annoying, but I just read a lot. A lot of my early writing was heavily imitative of the various books and authors that I liked. I didn't do any creative writing when I was in school, but I did a lot of literary analysis, and I used to read the TV tropes website like an addict, which really helped me understand both the purpose of tropes and how to subvert them in ways that were interesting. I feel I didn't fully figure out 'my' voice until early 2020.

When I started, I usually didn't know why I liked the things I liked, or why things didn't work, it was heavily intuitive. Which was where my lovely beta came in, who spent literal years lecturing me on the technicalities of writing and explaining why things worked or didn't both on a sentence structure level, but also on a scene, chapter, story arc level. You can kind of see my writing evolve in fics like All You Want and Manacled as I started out sort of blindly using techniques imitatively without knowing why, and then my style gradually evolving as I started to understand the purpose of those things

It's a bit mortifying to reread my stuff now because as I would be figuring out how to stop doing one thing, like "overusing intrusive alternative dialogue tags" by launching myself into the ditch on the opposite side of the road and start abusing adjectives to a horrifying degree. Or develop some random writing tic like having everyone do things 'faintly' or make mouths twitch a hundred thousand times per chapter.

Ugh. writing is a journey.

#writing craft

[briarrolfe]

The only real writing advice I do actually use regularly is “write sex scenes like they’re fight scenes / fight scenes like they’re sex scenes.” Evergreen. Fantastic!

A lot of writers are more confident writing one or the other. But the skills you use across them are the same, because both scenes are... action scenes.

Okay so:

Both sex scenes and action scenes are a tipping point where the characters’ feelings can only be resolved physically (often this is a narrative climax ;))) and they commit to solving them this physically.

Related: I think this is why too much dialogue in either a sex scene or a fight scene makes a reader feel like the characters really should just be having a conversation. Why are they doing action when they clearly would prefer to talk it out?

Both fight scenes and sex scenes become a slog to read through if they’re overused—by this I mean if they’re not going anywhere or if they don’t serve a point. They should be elaborating on who these characters are and why we care about them in new ways. Who hasn’t skim-read a fight or sex scene because there was an identical one last chapter with identical emotional stakes that makes each new one feel less important?

And the writing techniques for maintaining tension are equally important to both kinds of scenes:

Choreography! Both need maintain a sense of rhythm and/or movement. Who is where, how are they related to each other in space, how does the environment affect that? Both fight scenes and sex scenes are disorienting if your reader loses track of where the characters are in the scene (the old 'wait, how many hands do they have,')

Both are weakened by over-describing—it slows the reader’s pace and undercuts the tension. A reader focuses on what the character is focused on. If the character takes note of the wallpaper instead of the action, they seem bored. Or dissociative!

Both need rhythm in prose; longer sentences build anticipation, shorter sentences keep the reader’s pace up and suggest urgency and breathlessness.

Also, a reader knows that a character doing a sex scene or a fight scene on their own is working something out. Using a punching bag or jerking off are narratively identical—both are an elaboration on who a character is and what they’re preoccupied by. And both show the character is processing whatever conflict or motivation and set up that the narrative will get them to a, uh, collaborative action scene in the future.

Of course, as always: no Writing Advice is mandatory and there's a very three act/hero's journey bent to this but. Pulling back to a structural/ craft level like this has really helped me! Maybe it’ll work for you.

#I do not usually dispense advice but I have been thinking about story structure a lot recently! #I refuse to learn a lesson about sharing information about my writing process. I don't want to hoard tools!! #the hashtag process #writing craft #writing essays on tumblr dot com

[rrcraft-and-lore]

Yeah, alright, no. No don't this. I'll do you a few fucking better and teach you right here and now how to do this: You game? Blurb and lesson time. Got you. First up, a SPOOC. This is one technique that can be expanded (gonna give you examples too). WRITING LESSONS AHOY:

SPOOC = Situation, protagonist, objective, obstacles/opponents, climax/cost. So, when Frodo Baggins (protagonist) inherits the Ring of Power (Situation), he must set out on a quest to destroy it (objective). But, will he succeed when the forces of sauron and saruman unite and

try to reclaim the one ring and use its power to destroy Middle Earth (climax - cost if failure). This specific example is taught by Jim Butcher so if you want some weight behind it. There you go. It works. Want to know how to do a blurb? Practice, but check it:

Who is it? What's going on?

Why should we care?

What happens if the hero fails?

If you can, end on a snappy one liner or question. You can open on one too or a question like it.

What do shadows darting across the walls, cryptic writing, black fog, and a little girl who can see ghosts have in common? Paranormal investigator and soul without a body, Vincent Graves, has forty-four hours to find out. To make matters worse, his years of body-hopping and monster-hunting are catching up with him. He's losing his mind. An old contact has shut him out. To top it all off, something's skulking through an asylum, killing patients. Three guesses who might be next, and the first two don't count. The writing on the wall is not so clear. But one thing is: if he doesn't figure this out he's a dead man--well, deader--and a strange young girl might follow. Vincent's got his back against a wall, and that wall's crumbling. Some days it's not worth it to wake up in someone else's body.

That's Grave Measures - book two in my urban fantasy detective series. Who is it - covered. What's going on? Why should we care (the stakes to the protagonist and more). The costs. And the above.

It's not rocket science, and doesn't have to be.

Here's one from book three:

Don't make deals with the paranormal. They're better at it than you, and they never play fair. Paranormal investigator and soul without a body, Vincent Graves, did just that—a deal made in desperation. Now it's coming back to bite him in the middle of a case. He has 57 hours to investigate a string of deaths involving people who've made some devilish bargains. Too bad devils don't deal in good faith. It'd be easy enough, if he didn't have to deal with things such as: - Being hunted through the streets of Queens by a dark elf with a motorcycle fetish. - Ending up the target of a supernatural hit. - An old acquaintance dragging him to a paranormal ball where he could end up on the menu. - And having one of his closest guarded secrets brought to light... Not great for a tight clock, because if he doesn't get to the bottom of this case in time, Vincent and company might just lose their souls. Dirty deals are never done dirt cheap. And the supernatural always collect—big!

Same formula. A lot of fiction uses it. You just might not realize it. You don't need a fucking AI. You need a few minutes every day of practice. You got that. You got this!

With SPOOC, you can outline a whole damn novel.

You get a snappy two-liner pitch to sell with. YOu can expand it into summaries for each book to make up LOTR in this case or your series.

Then you can reverse engineer and keep expanding each summary. It does it for you.

#writers on tumblr #writerscommunity #writers and poets #writing tips #writing talk #writing advice #creative writing #writer things #poc writer #indie writer #fiction #fantasy #scifi #thriller #mystery #horror #novels #novel writing #writers life #writers and writing #writers and readers #writing craft #storytelling techniques #storytelling #ai is theft #ai is stupid #ai is a plague #ai issues #fuck ai everything #fuck ai writing

[jaydeiswriting]

Craft in the Real World by Matthew Salesses is the best writing craft book I've ever read. It has completely reoriented what "craft" means to me by situating it as what it is: a set of cultural expectations about how stories should be told and to whom. There's sometimes a chasm, at least for me, between what I know theoretically and what I have adequately applied in all the relevant contexts in my life. Reading this book let me know that I was neglecting to apply what I knew about how language, culture, and literary traditions work together to my prose writing and recontextualized how I see "craft" and approach writing advice. I'd recommend reading even just the Google Books sample; the whole first section is included and introduces the concept well.

The biggest takeaway is that craft is not neutral. Craft is inherently cultural. It's obvious in hindsight with the literary traditions born out of very specific cultural movements that define "good craft" in specific periods of time. It's also obvious in hindsight because I've been well aware that language holds and is shaped by culture and worldview, so how we use language is always reflective of culture and culturally defined value systems. And yet, somehow, it was a revelation to me to learn that the "rules" of craft are also cultural, and the most prominent ones are those that reflect the dominant culture of the West. This, like the book says, means that "learning the rules before you break them" necessitates learning the expectations of the dominant culture before you're "allowed" to "deviate" and take on a voice formed by your own outside cultural values. This has destabilized all writing advice and craft concerns for me and made me deeply question what I hold as "experimental" (could it just be the unspoken traditions of the non-white, non-cishet, disabled or otherwise "non-normative" writers that I don't yet recognize?). I'm questioning so many of my past reading and writing and learning experiences and I'n getting a lot of value out of that questioning.

Several sections of this book stood out to me, but some significant ones are under this cut with some further resources I've looked at.

craft as cure or injury:

2. cultural expectations vs cultural exceptions

3. examining craft terms (conflict)

4. experimentalism vs. writing to other traditions

5. "the reader," and who we write to

This is not even half of what stood out to me, but it's a start. It also invested an interest in me to seek out other resources about craft written from a non-dominant perspective. I've found this incredibly helpful website linking to a bunch of other books and essays offering racialized perspectives on craft:

And to keep things in one place and obvious, another link to the Google Books sample of Craft in the Real World:

There's also a bibliography at the end of Craft in the Real World that has some relevant additional texts.

And I'm just on the lookout now to collect more. Suggestions welcome.

#amwriting #writing #writing advice #writing craft #writeblr #writing community

[spaceshipkat]

it's actually really simple to make passive writing active, something i and every editor will encourage writers to do bc not only does it improve your craft, it allows for an easier read. for example:

"She began to whisper to him" is passive, but "She whispered to him" is active

"Wind was blowing around them" is passive, but "Wind blew around them" is active

"He was five foot eight" can read as passive, while "At five foot eight, he stood eyelevel with her" is active

"As they went deeper into the forest" can read as passive, while "They disappeared into the forest" is active

"Her hair was plastered to her skin" sounds passive, while "Her hair lay plastered to her skin" sounds more active

the key is to make the action feel as if it's happening right now in front of the reader, rather than something the reader is witnessing after it's already happened. and there will always be instances where passive writing can work, but your prose in general should be 90% active to 10% passive, if indeed you need passive prose at all. you shouldn't bank on the passivity of your prose being the exception to the rule because, nine times out of ten, it won't be. with writing in general, it's better to assume you won't be the exception to the rule rather than hope or rely on it.

#writing advice #writing tips #writeblr #grammar #writing craft #look at me actually able to write sentences about editing #i've been trying to come up with some advice posts but my brain is so dead from all the editing that it's hard #fingers crossed i'll get past this bc dear god it sucks ass #it's just. yknow. i'm doubling on clients bc i need money. so. #money good brain dead

[writingwithfolklore]

Blog Directory - Theory

10 Ways to Develop your Writing Skill

10 Questions to Ask about a Story

Are you Exploring your Concept to their Fullest?

Beginner's Luck (the illusion of a perfect first draft)

Camera as Narrator (my first ever post!)

Conventions of Genre

Creative Writing is all Confidence

Discovering your Weird Brain

Down with "Shock Factor"

Expanding on the Narrator

Experiencing and Writing

How to Read with Intention

How to Sentence Structure

Is it Possible for an Idea to be Beyond your Skill Level?

Maintaining a Writing Schedule

Playing with the Levels of Abstraction

Read it Out Loud!

Start a Dream Journal

There's no Such Thing as Fluff

The Reveal before the Reveal

When Writing Needs Therapy

Why Screenwriting is a Good Model for Novel Writing

Writing a Universal Story

Writing is Feeling

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[daily-prompts]

prompt 2245

He was going out of his mind preparing for the Gala. The night had to be perfect.

#daily writing prompts #fiction #writing #writing prompts #writing practice #writing inspiration #prompt #words #creative writing #writing craft

[rachel-614]

I’m properly rereading the Lord of the Rings for the first time since I was in high school and I’m absolutely blown away by how much more I can appreciate it now. I remember being bored to tears by the lengthy descriptions and to this day everyone always seems to talk about how the Old Forest chapter is boring and kind of pointless but when you actually take the time to pay attention to the details? The food for imagination is intense.

let’s start with the Hedge. Yes. Hedge with a capital H: “looming suddenly ahead. It was tall and netted over with silver cobwebs.”

imagine a hedge so old and thick and tall that it’s just covered with old webs—because it’s reached the natural end of its growth, and it’s never trimmed. So tall and thick, in fact, that the hobbits have dug under it in order to get through:

“A cutting had been made, at some distance from the Hedge, and went sloping gently down into the ground. It had walls of brick at the sides, which rose steadily until they arched over and formed a tunnel that dived deep under the Hedge and came out in a hollow on the other side…It was dark and damp. At the far end it was closed by a gate of thick-set iron bars. Merry got down and unlocked the gate, and when they had all passed through he pushed it to again. It shut with a clang, and the lock clicked. The sound was ominous.”

how creepy is that??? Incredible.

the forest itself? “Looking ahead they could see only tree-trunks of innumerable sizes and shapes: straight or bent, twisted, leaning, squat or slender, smooth or gnarled and branched; and all the stems were green or grey with moss and slimy, shaggy growths….They picked a way among the trees, and their ponies plodded along, carefully avoiding the many writhing and interlacing roots. There was no undergrowth. The ground was rising steadily, and as they went forwards it seemed that the trees became taller, darker, and thicker. There was no sound, except an occasional drip of moisture falling through the still leaves.”

you know what usually makes sound in forests? Wind, and animals. There ain’t none of that here.

I won’t quote the whole passage on the bonfire glade, but when Tolkien describes the plants in the clearing he talks about “fire-weed seeding into fluffy ashes” which is so easy to skip over, but really paints a huge picture. It’s the first time we’ve seen a plant that’s not a normal one we’re familiar with and a subtle reminder that this is a world of magic. He doesn’t explain what a fire-weed is, but you can imagine a flaming wildflower that burns to ash in order to fertilize its seeds. This ties in beautifully with the location—you imagine that the first fire weeds grew here “long ago” during the Bonfire, and have been here ever since.

if I had any artistic abilities, I would illustrate this whole chapter. it’s gorgeous.

#Fellowship of the rings #j. r. r. tolkien #english literature #the old forest #writing craft #lord of the rings

[writingtheother]

Webinar: Write Lore Your Readers Won't Forget with Stant Litore

Our mythologies shape and define us. Our myths and legends—our heroes and exempla, our tricksters, our gods, our ghosts, our monsters, our understanding of our past and of the world around us—inform our choices and perspectives, what we value, and what pressures we feel as we chart our course between our strongest fears and our deepest desires. This is true for our fictional characters, too! (Regardless of your genre or topic.)

In this webinar, discover the exciting things you can do in a story when you know the lore of your fictional world and its implications. Whether your fictional world is big as a galaxy or the size of a single family. Whether its heroes are interstellar entities or goddesses of thunder and storm or wise grandmothers or cowboys lassoing a tornado. Even better: something we've never encountered in a story before.

Author Stant Litore will explore techniques for designing the stories behind the story you're telling–the stories that your characters either carry in their hearts or resist with all their capacity.

How deep does your lore go? And how fiercely does it press on your characters' lives and actions? Let's find out!

When: April 6 & 7 @ 9AM – 4PM Pacific Can't make the live webinar? Register to get the recording after Price: $100 – $150 Scholarships Available! Application Deadline: March 17

Please visit our website more details on registration options, required texts (if any), technical requirements, our accessibility statement, class audience, and the scholarship application.

👉🏾👉🏾 Details and Registration 👈🏾👈🏾

#creative writing #writing class #writing craft #lore isn't just for fantasy #creative writing class #wto announcement post