writing-for-life-to-help

[writing-for-life-to-help]

Hey! So I've read your post on writing good villains, and all those other posts about villains being humans and having flaws and different motives. right now, I'm currently attempting to start a new story, but I'm having a problem of actually finding motivations that are inherently good, but the antagonist/villain is taking it to an extreme, like the "they do bad things because they're scared" and stuff like that. Any tips? If so, thanks!

Villains with good intentions...

Many call this genre of antagonist the “blinded hero”, as they have heroic intentions and potentially background, but their execution does more harm than good, and their opposition is trying to mend or prevent the damage that their actions could cause. 

Writing villains who have good intentions is the easiest way to make your villain somewhat sympathetic while still demonstrating their destruction. It’s also a good way to make your villain believable, as it’s difficult to grow attached to a conflict where there’s no personal or moral dilemma being argued through the two main forces in conflict. 

It’s important that when you’re giving a villain good intentions, you’re also giving the hero a damn good reason to be fighting against them. The more benevolent the intentions of the villain, the more drastic their damage must be. Say they want to solve an economic crisis that disproportionately affects the poorer population of their society, but they do so by compromising a system everyone in that society relies on and therefore furthering the struggle of the people they’re trying to help. Sure, they may realize their mistake later on but the hero is less concerned with making them see the error of their ways, but more concerned with solving the problem and preventing the villain from worsening the adverse effects. 

Show the villain making bad decisions while they hyper-fixate on one vision, ignoring the exterior consequences of their actions in the pursuit of one solution to a multi-faceted problem. Show the reader where they’re coming from, why their actions are unjustified, and why the hero wants and needs to stop them. 

Most story villains do have good intentions, I would argue, based on their own moral code. Everyone thinks they’re the good guy, unless otherwise specified. If you’re going to write a villain who outwardly thinks they’re the good guy, write them as if they were the hero of their own story, and then point out all the little things they ignore in the interest of remaining “good” from their own perspective. 

Here’s some other resources you may find useful:

Writing Good Villains

Creating Villains

Tips on Character Consistency

Tips on Writing Cold & Distant Characters

Positive Character Development Without Romanticizing Toxic Behavior

Showing Vulnerability Without Death

How To Fit Character Development Into Your Story

Resources For Creating Characters

What Makes Children Evil?

How To Analyze A Character

Giving Characters Flaws

Gradually Revealing Character’s Past

Keeping Characters Realistic

Tips on Character Motivations

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Masterlist | WIP Blog

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[writing-for-life-to-help]

Writing Exercise 2#

Do you write in a language other than your first but still find a lot of mistakes? Here’s a tip of mine that may help you:

When you try to write in a language you still don’t masterize, try to write it first in your mother/first language in order to see if the words would flow better.

Try to do this if you feel like your vocab is limited to basic words/expressions and then translate the whole piece to your target piece. It can make things even livelier than it already is.

#writeblr #writing execise #writing tip #writing tips #language

[writing-for-life-to-help]

Writing Slow-Burn Romances

@not-the-girl-u-think​ said:

Hey Abby! Any tips for a slow burn romance??

Let’s start with a little thingy first: slow-burns, when done well, are my favorite thing to read. I love the suspense that comes with them, that feeling when you know they’re going to get to together but you’re on the edge of your seat wondering if it’ll happen anyway. That stuff melts my heart, so I’m really, really happy that you sent this.

What is a slow-burn?

Slow-burns are great because they work both as a main or a subplot. They’re extremely character-oriented romances that take a while (usually an entire book or, in some cases, an entire series) to develop. Oh, and they have a talent for making people like me freak out over every little detail.

From a writer’s perspective, a slow-burn is a pain in the neck. You want everything to go at the right pace with the right chemistry enough that it seems like everything happens naturally. You don’t want things to go too slow or too fast, but you don’t want the reader to be rushed or bored either. Two characters are needed that would making a slow-burn seem worth it to pursue, and there lies the issue.

Creating the Chemistry

This part of the post is going to build pretty heavily on this post about writing believable romances. As you’ve (hopefully) guessed, your main goal for creating a successful slow-burn should be to achieve realism. Creating chemistry between characters is a balance of everything you’ve learned about writing romance.

In order for two (or more) characters to have good chemistry, they have to be compatible. One of the biggest giveaways of an under-developed romance is seeing two characters forced together when you know it wouldn’t happen in real life. When I say “balance”, what I mean is this: your characters can’t only have traits that fit well together, but they also can’t be constantly conflicting. 

People tend to like a challenge, so if their partner or partners just go along with everything they say it won’t become so much fun. However, constantly having to fight against the person/people you’re supposed to be with is physically and mentally exhausting. Once you get to this point, it’s easy to question whether this relationship is worth it.

This balance that you achieve is especially important because it’s one you’re going to be working with all throughout the development of this relationship. If there’s a trait you’re not necessarily “good” at writing, practice is going to be your best friend. You’ll need to know how their traits go together, where they clash and where they blend and where they don’t really act the way someone would expect.

The Relationship “Basis”

A slow-burn, as you know, doesn’t just happen. There are precursors, usually with them starting off as friends or a friend of a friend. Something was there first, and whatever this “something” was will have a pretty large effect on their current relationship.

If they were previously best friends, they’re probably already comfortable with each other. Depending on the length and depth of their friendship, taking it to a romantic level might not change anything other than the addition of kissing and… other activities.

If the previous relationship was based on a mutual dependency, depending on their personalities they might become more less dependent on each other. They might go out and learn/try new things together and use the codependency to help each other out, or they might make an effort to get a little more independent so they’re not constantly relying on each other.

You’ll want to consider how they met in the first place, and why they started talking in the first place. Was it a funny joke, a chance meeting on a vacation, something like tutoring at first? This basis will be the precedent for the relationship, and in my opinion it’s too important to be forgotten about.

Hinting at a Romance

Romance between people happens in weird ways. Sometimes someone points it out or sometimes it happens like in that one Tumblr post where one little thing happens and then it’s there. Sometimes it’s a stolen glance across the room or a game of spin the bottle gone wrong.

When there are situations involving a forcing of romantic interaction, the characters involved are absolutely correct to be made uncomfortable by this situation. I’ve seen too many stories where characters don’t act like themselves in these moments for purely the purpose of bringing in this romance… don’t do that.

What I tend to lean to are weird thoughts about the possibility of a romantic future and those thoughts that hit you unexpectedly. “Woah, I bet A would love this.” Things like that are what I usually do, just because that’s how I’ve always experienced things. If you want to go beyond your own perspective, ask your friends. It could definitely be a weird question, so if you’re not comfortable with that then Google will be your friend.

Everything else in a slow-burn is so character-oriented that there’s not really any more general advice I could give. Thanks again so much for asking, I hope this helps!

[writing-for-life-to-help]

How do you know if you're making your slow burn, burn too slowly? If you're just boring the reader with repetitive back and forth at a certain point

Hi, love!  Thanks so much for your question :)  This is hard to define without knowing the story and the characters, but I’ll go off what I’ve experienced as a reader/viewer/lover of romance.

When writing a romance plot, the most important part of the back-and-forth is growth in the relationship.  Typically, people think of romance plots as if they’re a straightforward journey – linear, from Point A (strangers) to Point B (happy ending) – and everything between that, just moving forward or backward.  But this should not be the case.  Every moment of peace, conflict, happiness, or frustration, should do more than move the relationship forward or backward.  They should change the relationship fundamentally.  They should have consequences.

For instance: suppose that your two lovers first meet as rival politicians.  They spew angry words at each other on the debate stage until a brief, passionate affair confuses their feelings.  Then one of them wins the race for [governor/senator/etc.] and they don’t speak for a year.  Then they meet again and begin dating.  By this point, although they’re only at the beginning of their relationship, they have a lot of “emotional residue” from:

the criticisms they made of each other when debating

the sex n stuff

the year of silence and everything that’s changed since then.

These aspects of their relationship, while linearly moving them backward, forward, and backward again, emotionally put them at a completely new place.  Despite being back at the beginning of a relationship, they now have:

sore spots, which will impact future arguments

physical connection and familiarity

secrets and insecurities that have developed in each other’s absence

personal growth and experiences in the year spent apart

So.  Circling back to your question: readers can actually wait a really long time for a couple to get together, but only if there is growth and change in the relationship.  If every fight and fling brings characters back to the same place, of course readers will get bored.  It’s that knowledge that everything that’s happening could wind up having no effect and making no difference – that’s what destroys a good slow burn.

If you need an example to support this, think about the famous slow burn stories we’ve all known and loved.  Think about Ross and Rachel, from Friends; those two went back and forth for ten seasons of TV!  That’s ten years of [SPOILER] Ross wanting to date Rachel, then getting a girlfriend right when Rachel falls for Ross, then the two of them finally getting together, then Ross cheating on her, followed by years of bitterness – and add in a few flings, a drunken Vegas marriage and divorce, a baby, and Rachel’s relationship with Joey, and you get the Friends rollercoaster romance plot that ultimately became the name of on-and-off TV romances!

Now, compare that to Nick and Jess from New Girl, who [less detailed spoilers] have basically been dating and not dating and dating and not dating and etc. etc. etc. for reasons even the shippers can’t keep up with.  And just this last season finale, they… kissed.  And I guess they’re back to square one or seven or something, but as for how all those situations affected them?  Couldn’t tell ya.  Couldn’t tell ya.

ANYWAY, all that to say, as long as the relationship is evolving in new and realistic ways, it should hold the interest of your readers.  Unless the two are just ridiculously toxic or there’s another more interesting romance for one of the characters, readers will be patient.  So think about it, plot it out, plan the consequences, and get rid of anything that feels campy or doesn’t add to the development, and you should be fine.

I hope this answers your question!  If you need any more help, you know where to find us :)

– Mod Joanna ♥️

If you need advice on general writing or fanfiction, you should maybe ask us!

[writing-for-life-to-help]

[writing-for-life-to-help]

If you have any topic you find difficult to develop and would like a help, please feel free to ask me

[writing-for-life-to-help]

Writing Exercise 1#

Do you have difficult when it comes to describe things? Try describing your room, what's by the side of your bed? Where do you put your cellphone to charge, where is your TV placed?

Can't describe things yet? What did you eat today? Is it salty or sweet, spicy maybe? Is it pleasant to your taste? If so, what makes you like it so much? Is it the flavor or the smell?

What's your favorite perfume/thing to smell? Is it a food? Or even maybe a fruit you like? How is the smell? Is it strong or weak?

#writeblr #writing execise #describing exercise #describing smell #describing flavor

[writing-for-life-to-help]

this may helps

When a character is so sick they…

- fall asleep in their clothes, on top of their blankets which leads to shivering.

- sit on the edge of their bed willing themselves the strength to stand. Bonus if they try and fail needing to sit back down.

- lay their head on the table because their so tired.

- hide under the covers because their head hurts so bad the light bothers them.

[writing-for-life-to-help]

Hey guys, any topic you'd like some help? What's your question for today? 😊 I am waiting for requests ❤😊😄

#writeblr #askbox

[writing-for-life-to-help]

If you have any topic you find difficult to develop and would like a help, please feel free to ask me