o.s.

la vie en rose

[beautiful-noises]

concept playlists iv

love through the seasons

i. autumn: for when leaves fall only after you do. for when it’s 2 pm on a thursday and you can’t tell if the chill running down your spine has to do with him or the breeze. for when he feels more like home than pumpkin pie. for when every moment is suspended in amber.

ii. winter: for when the only warm things are your heart and his hands. for when the earth is forgotten under an abundance of white snow and you can’t tell how many hours have gone by since you crawled into bed with him. for when the cold that nips your heels and reddens your cheeks makes you think only of him, and the cutting winds and falling snow remind you of kisses.

iii. spring: for when love is new. for when your heart feels like it’s sinking deeper and deeper into your chest. for when their name is sweet on your lips and their face is fresh in your mind. for when it could so easily slip through your fingers but if you hold on too tight it could crumble. for when the feelings are delicate as new petals, but with roots that reach deep into the earth.

iv. summer:  for when your legs tangle together in the back of a car with the windows rolled down. for when the air is hot and heavy and feels like an embrace. for when you’re both barefoot and happy and running through shallow  water. for when each moment together feels like you’re already looking back at a polaroid. 

concept playlists i

concept playlists ii

concept playlists iii

[writingwithcolor]

Writing With Color – Featured Description Posts

Some of our most useful posts on describing People of Color, all in one place.

Words to Describe Hair

Words to Describe Skin Tone

Describing Asian Eyes

Describing Wide Noses

Describing Undead & Sick Dark Skin

Describing POC and Avoiding Caricatures

Describing Unnatural Skin Tones: Green

Describing Unnatural Skin Tones: Jaundice

Indicating Race of Characters (FAQ Questions #3-4)

Not Indicating Race at All – Note: You Probably Should

Praising Beauty Without Fetishizing

Olive Skin, Race and Ethnicity

Specific Description Posts  

Describing Skin as Swarthy (Spoiler alert: it’s sketchy)

Describing East Asian Skin as Porcelain (Spoiler alert: it’s also sketchy)

Describing Skin as Russet (Spoiler alert: it’s alright)

Describing PoC as Exotic (SA: it’s othering)

Describing Skin as Ebony (SA: it’s cliche)

Describing Natural Hair as Cloud-Like (SA: it’s cool)

Describing Black Hair as Unkempt (SA: it’s offensive)

Describing Black Hair as Kinky (SA: it depends)

Describing Skin as “Dark as Night” (SA: it also depends)

Describing Skin as Like Dirt or Soil (SA: See above)

Describing Skin as just “Dark.” (SA: it’s vague)

Describing Black Hair as “Nappy” (SA: it ain’t recommended)

Describing Skin With Food (SA: it’s a no-no)

–WWC

[lets-get-fictional]

five steps for not writing a boring story? i can never ever write something that doesn't end up boring 😂

Hiya! Thanks for your question. Writing an engaging story is complicated, but it can be done.

First off, there are so many aspects to writing a gripping story. Honestly, it can’t be done in five steps (and certainly not in one blog post). To prevent a boring story you need strong characters, an exciting plot, good pacing… the list goes on and on.

So rather than type out a 3000+ word response, I’m going to give you a mini-masterpost of the key aspects of writing a non-boring story with links to other LGF posts. Here you go:

How Not to Write a Boring Story:

Descriptions:

How to Write Better Descriptions

Showing vs Telling

How to Create Interesting World-Building

Dialogue:

How to Create a Unique Character Voice

Writing Unique Dialogue

How to Prevent Your Story from Being Dialogue-Heavy

Characters:

What Do You Do When Your Main Character Doesn’t Jump Off the Page?

Three Types of Character Traits

Writing Character Arcs

Plot:

How to Make Your Conflict Less Plain

The Element Every Story Needs

How to Avoid Unnecessary Scenes

Pacing:

Why Your Story Feels Too Fast

How to Pace a Scene More Quickly

Pacing Through Details

Beginning:

What to Write in a First Chapter

How to Avoid Info Dumps in the Beginning

10 Ways to Start Your Story

Middle:

How to Build-Up to a Climax

Plotting the Middle

Creating and Maintaining Tension

End:

Traits of a Strong Ending

Examples of Narrative Endings

Dual Duties of Chapter Endings

Misc.:

What Aspects Make a Good Story?

The Four Horsemen of the Bore-Apocalypse

Thanks again for your question! If you need any more writing advice, feel free to send in another ask! Happy writing!

- Mod Kellie

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

[letswritesomenovels]

Don’t say it was “delightful”; make us say “delightful” when we’ve read the description. –C.S. Lewis

I found this great piece of writing advice from C.S. Lewis on twitter today.(courtesy of @thatboycanteach)

I know the phrase “show don’t tell” confuses a lot of people who are new to critiquing/workshops, because all writing is telling… isn’t it? 

But this is exactly what writers are talking about when they use that phrase. 

This is also why, when critiquing your work, writers might tell you to remove adjectives and adverbs, or why you might hear that those two types of words are “bad writing.” It’s not that you’re never allowed to use an adjective or an adverb, but that–like Lewis says–it’s much more preferable to be terrified, than to be told something is terrifying. 

Whenever you tell your reader what the characters in a story are experiencing, instead of letting your reader have an experience alongside your characters, you miss an opportunity to invite your reader into the story. If you miss too many, eventually your reader will stop waiting for their invitation and simply leave. 

[amethystwave]

and yet, despite all the chaos the poppies continue to bloom the nightingales keep chiming the moon changes yet again, and you- you continue to walk gracefully towards the eye of the hurricane

- o.s. // bravery

[amethystwave]

i want you to feel the pain that i felt. i want you to endure the torment that i went through. i want you to feel every tiny nerve in your fingertips constantly twitch. the water in your tear ducts madly piercing your eyes. the rosiness of your cheeks puff up until your lungs start pounding wildly. better yet- i want you to feel your body ache, but continue to beat faster every time your lingering brain thinks about me. and after all of that, i will hold you by your heart and ask you, “now do you feel the same?”

- o.s. // a spell

[amethystwave]

somewhere out there in this tormented world, he’s out there, waiting for you to come home for the very first time. he’s desperately holding onto the edge of his sheets, hoping that he would finally get to see you. he’s waiting at the nearby coffee shop, glancing at the door every few seconds, wondering when you would appear. he’s slipping into a soft slumber as the stars in the milky way danced above him. he’s out there- wondering if you’re out there too.

- o.s. // and trust me, you will meet him one day

[amethystwave]

they tried to hold me down with great expectations those feathers onto my shoulders until I couldn't move

as time went by i built my own wings out of their wishes word after word feather after feather and finally flew away away from their desires

- o.s. // wings

[amethystwave]

then finally, after all this time, i let you go. your fingertips- slipping away from mine, slowly at first, then all at once. all those moments we shared became another insignificant tattoo on my scarred brain. the syllables of your name turned into a rigorously stitched together string of letters. and my frosted fingertips no longer yearn for the undying warmth of your bare-naked palms.

sometimes, the thought of what could’ve been still passes through my brain. but holding on to the end of a moving rope would only give me blisters.

- o.s. // i’m tired of asking you to love me

[amethystwave]

tell me- if i had held you just a little tighter, a tiny bit closer, and loved you much harder would you still be here beside me?

- o.s. // would you

[amethystwave]

Forgive my silence, my pen’s running dry, I’m losing more ink, my time is at stake; No, I won’t make it, my words won’t survive; A bit more time is all that it’ll take.

These inky thoughts on this paper of mine, Do, with my inked skin, wither over time, Sorrowful is the soundness of my mind, I’m stuck in this quicksand, rhyme after rhyme.

Untangled words refuse to be undone, My dried-up pen keeps us two both at strife, Please, give me a few more minutes, even one, For passage of time marks passage of life.

But my quill’s drying up, how shall I stay? No, please! No more- don’t let me fade away.

- o.s. // dry fountain pen

[amethystwave]

3:47am your unkempt body moving along with the twirls of your bedsheets, the skin above your bare bones shifting and rubbing against mine, the curls of your hair nestled into my clenched fists and as the my half-glossed lips gradually drifted away from yours, i couldn’t help but ask myself- are we soulmates?

- o.s. // late nights

[amethystwave]

somewhere, perhaps in a nearby universe, the earth is revolving around the moon. sturdy puddles of rain float above the sky and release small dainty clouds onto the ground. oceans are filled with trees and wild faunas, and forests flooded with bright sparkling water. the birds have delicate green leaves, and trees grow radiant feathers instead.

and somewhere, far away from here, our hands found each others’. squeezing your palm. my hands running through your hair. fingers lacing. the wind pushing forcibly against your marbled back. sunlight drenching every inch of your complected skin. the waves pulling me in- closer, closer, and closer, into your arms. and as your hands reached down to grab my waist, i begged you, “hold me just a little bit tighter. please, don’t ever let me go. i want to stay here. i want to stay here with you.”

- o.s. // maybe somewhere far away we were meant to be

[amethystwave]

"i want to turn you into poetry," she said, "but frankly, you deserve so much more than that. you deserve more than a bunch of flowery verses that are only true half of the time. you deserve more than a cluster of elegant words stitched together meaninglessly. you deserve something real. you deserve a constellation that reflects the vitality of your soul, when my inky scribbles can only give you dust."

- o.s.

[amethystwave]

think about that boy for a minute. think about how he, with his tender soul, made the veins of your heart pulsate faster every passing minute. allow yourself to remember how his muscles rippled the way a river flows as you laid there in his arms. let your mind wrap itself around the memory of his bare back bathing in the naked moonlight at two-o’clock in the morning.

now stop.

remember how he rigorously twisted your heart and tampered with its insides. think about his lips- how they twitched when he told you he didn’t love you anymore. recall the sudden sound of him closing your apartment door for the last time.

stop sitting in that dilapidated corner of your room, hoping that one day he would knock on your door, arms full of flowers and sorrow, asking for your forgiveness.

leave all of that behind. stop wishing for him to come back.

o.s. // after all, a princess does not need a prince to tell her her worth

[amethystwave]

i’ve seen my fingers shut, i knew that if they ever found a pen they would only write pages for you, you, and only you. gliding across the piece of paper, poem after poem, prose after prose. each pen stroke an homage to your rich decadent eyes, abstract words slowly forming into your dusty silhouette, inky blemishes echoing every mark you’ve left on my frayed skin, and everytime my mind lingers back to your tired shoulders, i always have to remind myself- you don’t deserve to be written about. you don’t deserve to be eternal.

o.s. // and yet your essence continues to drip down my fingertips

[amethystwave]

from that day on, i could wait no longer. i ran out to the frozen lake in the middle of the night and with snowflakes falling onto my tear-stained cheeks, i confessed my love for you to the frostbitten ice. and once i had finished the moon whispered back to me; agony never looked so exquisite until i saw your reflection on the surface of the ice-kissed water.

- o.s. // the moment i saw you again