[accreature-deactivated20260222]

so something I've been circling around the past few months has been the tendency to obfuscate and obscure, to make occluded (occult), to wrap in layers of fiction, to add style and panache where it seems clear explanation would be superior. at first I really did not get it. I thought it was pointless at best and malicious at worst (given that these techniques can be used to hide the lack of substance as much as they can be used to encode actual substance).

I think I'm starting to get it now, from a few different angles. the first I've known for a while but experienced more directly recently: no matter how plainly you say something, it will appear that you are being evasive to those without the prerequisite gnosis/experience. this doesn't prevent people from trying to say things plainly, but from what I can gather, it ends up being pretty frustrating and so people don't stick with this for long.

because of this, the vehicle of fiction provides an insulating layer that doesn't require this direct knowledge to understand. it's showing by example, a finger pointing at the moon instead of an exhaustive description of the moon itself. further, reality is itself "composed of fictions–consistent semiotic terrains that condition perceptive, affective, and behavioral responses." (thx ccru) so you can see why the ability to create and modulate these fictions is on a higher, not lower level of working than direct writing. it is here that magic can happen, here that the gateway is provided for the thing which makes itself real to come into existence. mazeway, hyperstition, hypersigil, it's all the same thing.

style is also substance. all information is unified with its presentation. from a book I was reading:

this is how the pattern speaks. this is where gods and demons lurk, this is the only way to speak of the things that are not already here.

last, and this is more personal, there's a certain playfulness that's not accessible from the dry direct mode of communication, and that playfulness is itself the content. it is inseparable. it cannot be communicated in the manner that I am communicating in now. so you must invoke the shroud of fiction or playfulness or occlusiveness in order to say what it is that needs to be said, there is no other way.

this is what I have figured out so far. if I follow this thread further, I will become someone that my past self would find quite frustrating. so be it!

[mckitterick]

V.E. Schwab's advice for creating memorable characters - works for both protagonists and villains

source post: X

[dduane]

This is really good advice.

It also ties neatly into the simplest version of the formula for getting people emotionally engaged with your characters: or how to build the moment in which your character starts moving from their initial state to the state in which they'll start changing their own lives.

First, you figure out the one important thing the character believes that they're wrong about. There's usually a core misperception that they haven't examined. Once they're forced to engage with it, it'll start to change everything about their perception of the world they're inhabiting and/or the people in it.

Then, as V.E. says, you identify the character's great desire and their great fear: the thing that character wants more than anything, and the thing or situation that terrifies them, and that they'll go to any lengths to avoid.

And having identified these two objects or situations, you build a situation in which the two forces will be in close, direct opposition to one another... then drop the character down in between them, and squeeze. Those two opposing forces become the jaws of a vise... and you crank the vise more and more tightly closed until the character has no choice but to acknowledge those opposing forces, and start (even in a small way) to deal with the pressure being exerted and push their way through.

This does not have to be, initially, a great climactic moment. In fact, it works better if it's not. It's more effective if your character has a brief low-intensity brush with these conditions-in-conflict early on. That way, when your big resolution scene comes along about two-thirds or three-quarters of the way along through the story arc, you'll have set up a resonance between that earlier hint or intimation of what's to come, and the really big blowoff. Your readers will recognize the resonance—the throb of tension between the two occurrences, like the vibration of a plucked string—and will find satisfaction both in the true resolution having been partially telegraphed earlier, and in how it's now being experienced and resolved in full.

This approach also allows you to set up more minor resonances between the realization of the conflict and its final resolution. These can serve to bind the structure of the work more closely together: to make it look (and be) less like a series of loosely strung-together plot events, and more like a unified whole, in which ripples of story business flow backwards and forwards, interpenetrating and influencing one another, and hinting at the big one to come.

But none of this can happen until the paired and opposing what-do-they-most-desire, what-do-they-most-fear axes have been defined. So that's a subject it's smart to spend some while thinking about (and for all your characters, not just the major ones), to be sure you're getting it right.

It's not unusual to get the wrong answers, or merely superficial ones, while you're still working out what's actually going on with the characters. So take your time. Eventually you'll find a set of answers that feel unquestionably right... and you can then nail those down in your notes and get on with making the kind of "good trouble" for your characters that will see them made complete.

[gothiccoherence]

Ursula le Guin

[mistfallengw2]

Non-wholesome Romantic Asks 🖤

1. Do they actually love love each other? Has it changed over time?

2. Is their relationship toxic or unhealthy in any way?

3. In what ways are they good and bad for each other?

4. Is there someone else who would be a better partner for either of them?

5. Is the relationship living up to their initial expectations?

6. What made them become a couple? What keeps them together?

7. Is there anything that could have kept them from ending up together?

8. What would it take for them to break up?

9. How do they feel about each other's exes and people who flirt with them? Is jealousy an issue in general?

10. Have they ever cheated on each other or considered doing so? If not, would they ever?

11. Have they ever hurt each other, be it physically or emotionally, intentionally or accidentally?

12. Do they argue often? About what?

13. Are there any regrets or unresolved issues between them?

14. What's an opinion they'll never agree on? How do they deal with that?

15. Do they have doubts about each other? Are those doubts well-founded or exaggerated?

16. How much do they actually trust each other? Was their trust ever broken? Can it be mended?

17. Is there a secret that they don't dare tell the other? Why? Will they ever say it?

18. What was the lowest point for them as a couple?

19. What's something they can't stand about each other?

20. What's something they'd change about their partner?

[fixyourwritinghabits]

Right, stumbling out of my too busy coma to talk more about pulling your punches with writing. I've tried to describe this several times with other writers, and get a lot of blank looks because my definition of words is hodge-podge of also vaguely wrong definitions.

What I mean by "pulling your punches" is holding back and avoiding the hard choices. This is both in terms of character and plot. As much as we joke about torturing our characters, sometimes it is hard to make them go through the most difficult thing because we like our characters, and we want the readers to like them too.

In contrast, it's much easier to make those choices in fanfiction, because they're not really "our" characters. We don't bear the responsibility of what happens to them in original narrative. (Yes, I realize I am talking about totally made-up, not real people. Bear with me.)

The tricky thing is determining when you are holding back. Often this takes the advice of a beta reader, but sometimes they can't always help, because only you know what you're holding back on, and half the time you're not aware of doing it. Hard!

When you're editing your scenes or going over your outline, take the time to consider the worst-case scenario in each one and the following consequences. You're not going to always go with the most extreme option, but laying it out can help you see if your current scene feels to weak.

Another thing to remember is that this often comes up because your characters wouldn't want to experience that. When you're trying to write them as true to their character, you can also unconsciously shield them from choices, consequences, and realizations they need to face. If it feels like your character isn't progressing (or a beta reader points that out), going back and yanking away what's shielding them.

You're only going to be able to determine this on your own story, but let me give you an example of mine. A critical part of my plot is my main character realizing her father is a bad person and she can't live with him anymore.

This sounds easy to do, but I have a lot of sympathy for both characters. The MC's father is facing terrible decisions and acting in the belief that he's protecting his daughter. The MC has spent her whole life with only her dad to rely on, and life without him seems far more frightening.

This took years to untangle. I spent too many drafts where the MC would not fully confront her father about his failings, because I never had her admit them in the story. I had to put the book away and write two other ones before I could look at it again and realize the obvious: the MC had to directly confront her father and fully commit to leaving him. Every other issue with the book fell in line once I figured that out.

If you're stuck on this and spinning your wheels like me, getting feedback on your story is the most helpful way to see the flaws in it. If you're not able to get that feedback, going through and asking yourself "How do I make this situation worse?" for both the plot and the character can help you pinpoint those missing steps.

[taylor-titmouse]

the secret to writing good smut that doesn't feel like you're just repeating the same words for junk and fucking over and over is to spend your effort writing about everything happening around the sex and everything happening inside the heads of the people having sex and before you know it you have four paragraphs of introspection and two paragraphs describing the space and it's okay to use the word cock again

[lierdumoa]

A sex scene is like a dialogue scene.

In a dialogue scene, characters have things they want to say or have said to them. They feel a certain way when they say/hear those things, and they want the person/people they are addressing to react a certain way to what they say. At the end of the interaction the reader should have a greater understanding of each character's perspective on the subject that was just discussed, and a greater understanding of the relationship between the characters.

If you want the dialogue scene to move the plot forward, then the way the characters feel about each other needs to change over the course of the conversation. They need to have learned something during the interaction, about each other and/or themselves, that potentially changes their relationship dynamic.

In a sex scene, characters have physical acts they want to do or have done to them. They feel a certain way when they do/experience those things, and they want the person/people they are doing those things with to react a certain way to what they do. At the end of the interaction the reader should have a greater understanding of each character's perspective on the the sex that was had, and a greater understanding of the relationship between the characters.

If you want the sex scene to move the plot forward, then the way the characters feel about each other needs change over the course of the sex. They need to have learned something during the interaction, about each other and/or themselves, that potentially changes their relationship dynamic.

Sex is a form of communication.

You are writing a communication scene.

[bitchfitch]

writing advice for characters with a missing eye: dear God does losing an eyes function fuck up your neck. Ever since mine crapped out I've been slowly and unconsciously shifting towards holding my head at an angle to put the good eye closer to the center. and human necks. are not meant to accommodate that sorta thing.

[bitchfitch]

other things I'm bitching about but which could still be useful as writing advice for 1 eyed characters:

2. they're going to favor their sighted side, obviously, but it doesn't always manifest in the way you think. when I walk down a hall I walk much closer to the wall on my sighted side than on my blind side. which is the opposite of how it might seem logical to do that bc it means the world at large is on your bad side, but the reason is I can't fucking See the wall if it's right next to me in the blind side and I end up knocking into it.

3. door frames and poles are my enemy. If your character is smart this will not be a problem but for me it is. I am King of walking into shit I could absolutely see but couldn't tell how far away from me it was. on this note, their blind side hand is getting bashed into every jutting out thing in a 5 mile radius.

4. having 0 depth perception is less of a big deal than you'd think it is. Especially with driving. I've become a Much safer and more wary driver because I can't tell how far the other cars are from me. however I fucking suck at parking now. because I can't tell how far the lines are from me either.

5. you know how people who lose limbs get phantom pains? that happens with eyes too but like. phantom sights. for me it's like. a lot of bugs. like every so often my brain will just put something suddenly skittering beside me there. hate that.

6. it is completely possible to "get stuck" somewhere because your ability to tell how wide a space is is just Gone. shopping isles especially where bumping something or Someone is matter of embarrassment or potentially breaking something. it can be legitimately paralyzing and also irritate everyone around you because they can tell there is Plenty of space for you to get your cart through even if you can't.

7. if the eye is still in their skull it can still be the normal kind of painful. Glares off of shiny surfaces causing weird sharp pains you can't figure out the cause of are genuinely one of gods greatest tests of my patience.

[cryptic-forge]

i don't make a lot of dolls of my own ocs because the venn diagram of my doll aesthetic and my oc aestetic has a tiny overlap. but sometimes there's a character, or at least an au version of a character, that i find dollifiable. such as this edgelord.

this is a bit of a prototype, because i want to make him more monstrous in both body and face. i also used the ffxiv version of ifrit as a vibe reference, but i feel like i put a dash too much ifrit in some spots and want to pull back from that. still, i've grown fond of this demon bishounen iteration of my character.

[surlifen]

NO ONE knows how to use thou/thee/thy/thine and i need to see that change if ur going to keep making “talking like a medieval peasant” jokes. /lh

They play the same roles as I/me/my/mine. In modern english, we use “you” for both the subject and the direct object/object of preposition/etc, so it’s difficult to compare “thou” to “you”.

So the trick is this: if you are trying to turn something Olde, first turn every “you” into first-person and then replace it like so:

“I” →  “thou”

“Me” →  “thee”

“My” →  “thy”

“Mine” →  “thine”

Let’s suppose we had the sentences “You have a cow. He gave it to you. It is your cow. The cow is yours”.

We could first imagine it in the first person-

“I have a cow. He gave it to me. It is my cow. The cow is mine”.

And then replace it-

“Thou hast a cow. He gave it to thee. It is thy cow. The cow is thine.”

[some-stars]

This is perfect and the only thing missing is that when “thy” comes before a vowel it’s replaced by “thine”, i.e. “thy nose” but “thine eyes.” English used to do this with my and mine too (and still does with a and an).

[fremedon]

The second person singular verb ending is -(e)st. In the present tense, it works more or less like the third person singular ending, -s: 

I sleep in the attic. Thou sleepest in the attic. He sleeps in the attic.

I love pickles. Thou lovest pickles. He loves pickles.

I go to school. Thou goest to school. He goes to school.

The -(e)st ending is only added to one word in a compound verb. This is where a lot of people make mistakes:

I will believe it when I see it. Thou wilt believe it when thou seest it. He will believe it when he sees it.

NOT

*thou willst believest it! NOPE! This is wrong

If you’re not sure, try saying it in the third person and replacing the -(e)st with -s:

*He will believes it when he sees it. ALSO NOPE! 

In general, if there’s one auxiliary, it takes the -(e)st ending) and the main verb does not. If there are multiple auxiliaries, only one of them takes -(e)st:

I could eat a horse. Thou couldst eat a horse. He could eat a horse.

I should go. Thou shouldst go. He should go.

I would have gone. Thou wouldst have gone. He wouldst have gone. 

You can reduce the full -est ending to -st in poetry, if you need to drop a syllable:

thou sleepst, thou lov'st.

In some common words–mostly auxiliary verbs, or what you might have learned as “helping verbs”–the ending is always reduced:

I can swim. Thou canst swim. He can swim.

Sometimes this reduction takes the last consonant of the stem with it:

I have a cow. Thou hast a cow. He has a cow. 

Or reduces the -st down to -t:

I must believe her. Thou must believe her. He must believe her.

I shall not kill. Thou shalt not kill. He shall not kill.

However! UNLIKE the third-person singular -s, the second person -(e)st is ALSO added to PAST TENSE words, either to the past stem in strong (irregular) verbs or AFTER THE -ed in weak (regular) verbs: 

I gave her the horse. Thou gavest her the horse. He gave her the horse.

I made a pie. Thou mad’st a pie. He made a pie.

I wanted to go. Thou wantedst to go. He wanted to go.

This is different from the third person!

*He gaves her the horse. He mades a pie. He wanteds to go. SO MUCH NOPE!

It’s not wrong to add -(e)st to a long Latinate verb in the past tense, but it’s unusual; it’s much more common to use a helping verb instead:

I delivered the letter. (Great!)

Thou deliveredst the letter. (Not wrong, but weird)

He delivered the letter. (Great!)

I did deliver the letter. (Normal if emphatic, or an answer to a question; otherwise, a little weird.)

Thou didst deliver the letter. (Great!) 

And a couple last things:

1.) Third-person -(e)th is mostly equivalent to and interchangeable with third-person -s:

I have a cow. Thou hast a cow. He hath a cow.

I love her. Thou lovest her. He loveth her.

I do not understand. Thou dost not understand. He doth not understand.

HOWEVER! Third-person -(e)th, unlike -s but like -(e)st, can, sometimes, go on STRONG past-tense verbs:

I gave her the cow. Thou gavest her the cow. He gaveth her the cow.

This never happens with weak verbs:

*He lovedeth her. NOPE NOPE NOPE!

And even with strong verbs, from Early Modern (e.g., Shakespearean) English onward, it’s quite rare. But you will see it from time to time.

2.) In contemporary Modern English, we invert the order of subjects and auxiliary verbs in questions:

Will I die? I will die. 

Has she eaten? She has eaten.

If there’s no auxiliary, we add one–do–and invert that:

Do you hear the people sing? You (do) hear the people sing.

In Early Modern English, this process was optional, and mostly used for emphasis; all verbs could be and were moved to the front of the sentence in questions:

Hear ye the people sing? (Or singen, if we’re early enough to still be inflecting infinitives.)

Do-support was also optional for negatives:

I don’t like him. I like him not.

Thou dost not care. Thou carest not.

She does not love thee. She loves thee not.

3.) Imperative verbs never take endings:

Hear ye, hear ye!

Go thou and do likewise!

Give me thy hand. Take thou this sword. 

4.) Singular ‘you’–that is, calling a singular person by a plural pronoun–arose as a politeness marker; and ‘thou’ fell out of use because it eventually came to be seen as impolite in almost all contexts. In general, once singular ‘you’ comes into use, it is used for addressing

people of higher social status than the speaker

or of equivalent status, if both speakers are high-status

strangers

anyone the speaker wants to flatter

‘Thou’ is used for

people of lower social status than the speaker

family and intimate friends

children

anyone the speaker wants to insult

It is safer to ‘you’ someone who doesn’t necessarily warrant ‘you’ than to ‘thou’ someone who does.

5.) And finally, that ‘ye’? That’s the nominative form of you–the one that’s equivalent to ‘I’ or ‘we.’ 

I  → thou → he/she/it  → we → ye → they

Me → thee → him/her/it → us → you → them

My → thy → his/her/its → our → your → their

Mine → thine → his/hers/its → ours → yours → theirs

Any time you’re using ‘thou’ for the singular, the second person plural– ‘y’all’– declines like this:

ye:  Ye are all a bunch of weirdos.

you: And I love you very much.

your: This has been your grammar lesson.

yours: This grammar lesson is yours. 

[what-eats-owls]

Occasionally I get asked about my outlining process, which is probably more than a little overwrought, but certainly easier to explain with visuals. I've shared this guide on twitter and insta, so I'm adding it here too, and hopefully there's something useful in it for you!

[lyralit]

subtle ways to include foreshadowing

one character knowing something offhandedly that they shouldn't, isn't addressed until later

the crow rhyme

colours!! esp if like, blue is evil in your world and the mc's best friend is always noted to wear blue...betrayal?

write with the ending in mind

use patterns from tragic past events to warn of the future

keep the characters distracted! run it in the background until the grand reveal

WEATHER.

do some research into Chekhov's gun

mention something that the mc dismisses over and over

KEEP TRACK OF WHAT YOU PUT. don't leave things hanging.

unreliable characters giving information that turn out to be true

flowers and names with meanings

anything with meanings actually

metaphors. if one character describes another as "a real demon" and the other turns out to be the bad guy, you're kind of like...ohhh yeahhh

anyways add anything else in the tags

[lyralit]

(the crow rhyme)

one for sorrow,

two for mirth.

three for a wedding

four for a birth

five for silver

six for gold

seven for a secret never to be told

eight for a wish

nine for a kiss

ten a bird you should never miss

eleven for health

twelve for wealth

thirteen beware

the devil himself.

[jezifster2]

You know. Reading is important. Because I'm like always trying to make every line I write this groundbreaking mindfucking art but like. A book is 90% just saying what happened. "I hugged him around the waist." "The chair was brown and overstuffed." "I woke up alone." Etc etc. Like normal ass lines. I just keep comparing my boring, necessary to set a scene lines, with famous authors' absolute best lines and like.... every line doesn't have to shatter the earth. Sometimes someone just sits in a chair and the lines that wreck you come later, one at a time, here and there. It's alright.

[foxys-fantasy-tales]

This is super common and I wish we were taught when we begin to write that those quoted lines are also in a sea of the same sort of setup we obsess over not being 'good enough'. I saw multiple people drop out of writing courses over this in college. Sure, sometimes you need a better way to describe something prevalent or to pinpoint an emotion, but if EVERYTHING was written in that sort of tone for a whole book it would prove utterly exhausting to read.

[sidewalk-scrawls]

I think poetry in particular boils this idea down to its bare essentials. Poetry is generally focused on the economy of words, but even then, the lines that hit you like a truck are built on the lines that precede them. The most powerful lines typically work best with context.

[charlesoberonn]

Bad pacing is the most common problem I see in stories, regardless of medium. I tried reading a new fantasy book today that had good prose, decent characters, and a world with a lot of potential. But the way it was paced killed all investment I had or could’ve had in it.

Also, the way people talk about pacing is very rudimentary and shallow. The criticism is either “pacing too slow” or “pacing too fast” and that’s it. No room for nuance and no explanation for what makes a certain pace too fast or slow.

Makes me want to write a short guide on how to pace stories properly, or at the very least a “what to avoid” guide.

[charlesoberonn]

Charles Oberonn’s quick guide to pacing in storytelling:

Keep reading

[justsomecynic]

I’m a very lazy person. I know my characters well, but every time I try to fill out a proper character sheet, I either get distracted or simply never finish them.

SO!

I made this! A silly, simple character sheet in which you only have to check boxes to get to know your dear puppet character. Use to your heart’s content, and if you’re going to repost, please credit! Enjoy~

PDF/Printable version on Google Drive

[writers-hq]

WHY IS WRITING IS SO FUCKING HARD?

Ten types of fuckery that stop you from writing the thing:

1. Imposter syndrome

You think you're not good enough or everyone else is better than you and you're just winging it AKA ye olde imposter syndrome bullshit. Yeah nah you're fine. No really, you're exactly where you need to be right now, and you'll keep getting better and better so long as you don't stop. Chances are, if you're filled with doubt about your abilities it means you've actually improved to the point where you can really start to understand what makes good writing. It means you know where you wanna end up and goshdarn it you're gonna get there.

Read this: 4 tips to kick imposter syndrome in the face and also genitals

And also this: How to silence the inner critic

2. Fear of rejection and/or failure

Yeah, us too. It fuckin sucks. BUT. Not all rejections are equal. And rejection is a necessary part of the process. Sometimes it takes a rejection to realise that a story isn't ready. Sometimes a rejection is entirely subjective and has ZERO reflection on the quality of your work. But shying away from the very idea of possibly maybe hypothetically getting rejected is only going to hold you back from even trying. And knowing why you got rejected and how to learn from it is one of the most valuable writing skills.

Read this: The different types of rejection (and how to deal with 'em)

Then read this: How to cope with rejection

And also this: Writing lessons from Groundhog Day

3. Not enough planning / too much planning

Leaping into a new story with nothing but a glimmer of an idea is exciting as heck (and can sometimes be a great way to begin) but at some point you're gonna need some sort of outline or plan to keep you on track. HOWEVER. Planning your story to within an inch of its life can also sometimes be a hindrance - leaving you stuck in the hypothetical stage of the process where your story doesn't quite exist yet (and therefore avoiding the prospect of it sucking). The sweet spot is in the middle. Having just enough of a plan to know where tf you're going, but enough freedom and flexibility to let the story lead the way...

Read this: Planning vs pantsing

Then read this: Five plotting techniques

And also this: The perils of overplanning

4. Your WIP just isn't working

Sometimes things just fall flat. Sometimes you work on the same story for yeeeeears and then it just kinda... dies. Sometimes you have the best plans (see above) and the best intentions and things still don't work out. Sometimes it's just time to move on. And sometimes it's not! Sometimes a story can be revived, fixed or changed. Sometimes you just need time. Sometimes YOU'RE the one that's changed and this isn't the story you need to be writing right now. Many variables. Muchly personal. Read the things below for more advice cos this is a big question:

Read this: What to do when your WIP isn't working

And also this: Give it space - how to grow a story in your head

Or how about this? Editing 101

5. You keep deprioritising it

Ah the irony of writing being the thing you love/want to do most of all AND YET the thing you procrastinate over and avoid and shove to the very bottom of your to-do list all the freakin' time. Maybe it's the comodification of art destroying our freedom to create without pressure. Maybe it's late capitalism sucking up all our available time and energy. Maybe it's a lack of self-belief subconsciously telling us our 'little hobby' doesn't really matter. Maybe it's maybelline. Whatever it is, you have the power to reclaim and revalue your writing. To say, "I'm a fucking writer, goddamnit!" and mean it. To ringfence your creative time so nothing and nobody gets to interrupt it. To do that thing you love.

Read this: Prioritise your writing

Read this: How to write in 30 second bursts

6. Shiny Thing Syndrome

You know that feeling when you're just getting stuck into a writing project and then — SQUIRREL! — you get distracted by another, better, more shiny writing project? Or maybe you're deep in the editing phase and your current WIP just isn't feeling very shiny at all and pretty much ANYTHING seems more exciting? Or you simply can't decide which of the many squirrelly writing ideas to actually start? You, fine writerperson, may be suffering from Shiny Thing Syndrome (STS). But fear not! There are a few ways to combat it, depending on the cause, and most of them involve embracing the squirrel-brain and injecting a bit of fun into your writing, like so:

Read this: Shiny thing syndrome - a writer's malady

Aaaand read this: Get excited about your writing again

And also this: Write like a kid

7. Perfectionism/self-sabotage

Look. Writing is scary as shit. What if someone READS it? What if they don't like it? What if they see into your soul and gain a deeper understanding of you through your words? Writing your truth, being vulnerable, smearing your heart juice all over the page? No thank you. But also, that's where the good shit is, so actually yes please. Just make sure you smear responsibly. And rest assured, even the most 'successful' and experienced writers ALSO feel like this sometimes, so you're in good company. It's just part of the art, bruh.

Read this: Why writing is scary (and why that's a good thing)

Read this: Beginning a story - what stops us starting?

And also this: Get out of your own way

8. The dreaded blank page

Oh godddd the blank page. It should be an exciting palimseset of possibility but is somehow also the most terrifying thing known to humankind. You wanna write something but where to start? HOW to start? You type that first line and immediately delete it. You watch the cursor blinking at you—taunting you—until you just give up and shut your laptop again. It's probably tied up with a bunch of things we've already covered so far: perfectionism, imposter syndrome, fear of failure, maybe a lack of planning or faith in your story or whatever. But it doesn't have to be this way. A blank page IS exciting and full of possibility. We just have to get over ourselves and learn to embrace the unknown...

Read this: Don't fear the blank page

And also this: The moaning method

9. Not enough time/energy/motivation/gnuuuughh

Dude, same x 1000. But you don't have to get up at 5am, do hot yoga, drink a kale smoothie and write a thousand words before sunrise to be a Proper Writer. You don't even have to write every day. But what you can do is hack your writing brain and figure out when, where, how, and why you write most effectively. Then tweak your schedule, your habits, and your attitude to ensure you're making the most of your time. Productivity is a big ol' lie but finding the secret to getting in your own personal writing zone is actual MAGIC.

Read this: Maximise your writing time

And also this: Get in the writing zone

And also unto this: The Writers' HQ Guide to Productivity

10. You're just fucken stuck

Got the writing morbs? In need of some literary sudafed? Stuck as a pig in a poke? Writing is a whole puzzle of a process—and to be honest that's what makes it so fun and exciting and addictive, because your writing brain is hardwired to both create AND solve the wordy puzzles within your story. Sometimes the answer is time. Sometimes it's a second opinion or a fresh eye. Sometimes a totally different approach or just a hefty kick up the bum. But whatever the problem, there IS a solution. You just gotta keep going and trust that you'll find it...

Read this: Troubleshoot your writing - why are you stuck?

And also this: Break through the writing blockage

And also also this: Write yourself into a pit (and then dig your way out again)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Alright, that's it for today. Now go write, you flithy animals.

(And if we missed anything, stick a question in our ask box or check out the rest of our shit here)

[boilingheart-archive]

[falling-rivers]

Oh my gosh I need this.

[faustandfurious]

Basic rules for analysing fiction, an incomprehensive list jotted down in a hurry:

The protagonist isn’t always right

The protagonist isn’t always good

The protagonist isn’t always written to be relatable or likeable

The narrator isn’t always right

The narrator isn’t always good

The narrator isn’t always telling the truth

The narrator isn’t always the author

The protagonist’s moral compass, the narrator’s moral compass and the author’s moral compass are three entirely different things that only occasionally overlap

Pay attention to what characters do and not just what they say

Pay special attention when what the characters do is at odds with what they say

A lot of the time the curtains are blue for a reason. If they aren’t, you should read better books