[theroyalgardens]

Coton Manor Gardens, Northamptonshire, England

[demxnscous]

pictures titled “just a girl and her dogs” but they’re all pictures of men in a submissive stance to the woman

[demxnscous]

just a girl and her dogs 🫶

[burningdreambanana]

[shittysawtraps]

only tangentially saw related but this is one of my favorite villain/hero dynamics: the free therapist

[shittysawtraps]

additionally, this dynamic (which i’m now realizing is just the plot of my thriller novel):

[arthur-lesters-left-eyebrow]

Sometimes to be vulnerable a character has to make sure no one can hurt them. And if that's chaining someone to a radiator, then it's chaining someone to a radiator. We shouldn't shame people for their first steps in growing to be a better person

[rosieandthemoon]

"The Solar" at Great Dixter House in Northiam, UK

[honeygleam]

love in the afternoon (1972) dir. eric rohmer

[gentlyepigrams]

A richness in fabric and colour, the shade of a deep ripe Victoria plum. Dating to the mid 1940s, Madame Gres contoured her pleats around the body like the peaks and troughs described on a map. Sold via Kerry Taylor Auctions.

[unheardoracle]

If Your Scene Feels Lifeless, Someone Is Being Too Polite

Stories stall when everyone behaves. Real tension appears when someone:

• asks the wrong question • says something they shouldn’t • notices something uncomfortable • refuses to drop the topic • misunderstands something important • interrupts at the worst moment

Conflict doesn’t always look like shouting.

[juliens-bakery]

ms angelou i will never get over this

[screamingsquamousthings]

need to see him whimpering like an injured animal, can he pleeease pleaaase lose a concerning amount of blood until he’s barely lucid. can i nurse him back to health like a baby bird pleeeeaaaaaseeeee

[ghw-archive]

Evening dress, Mark Mooring for Bergdorf Goodman, 1942

[modedamour]

instagram

[sourdough-seal]

“how did you get into writing” girl nobody gets into writing. writing shows up one day at your door and gets into you

[orbitalmirror]

"how did you get into writing" girl i've been tormented by the visions since i was eight years old

[mhalachai]

reblog if you too have been tormented by the visions since you were eight years old

[pagewoman]

The White Garden, Sissinghurst Castle, Kent, England

[fellahimedia]

This is diabolical 😭

[cathemeralcoelocanth]

"They're fine now"

[loadbearingbutch]

They are both evil for being brothers

[wafflewarrior111]

So... I found this and now it keeps coming to mind. You hear about "life-changing writing advice" all the time and usually its really not—but honestly this is it man.

I'm going to try it.

[missroserose]

I love the lawyer metaphor, because whenever I see “John knew that...” in prose writing I immediately think “how?  How does he know it?”  Interrogate your witnesses.  Cross-examine them.  Make them explain their reasoning.  It pays dividends.

[heck-in-a-handbasket]

All of this, but also feels/felt. My editor has forbidden me from using those and it’s forced me to stretch my skills.

[ineedthesons]

This is your "show not tell" advice explained!

[tarysande]

Editor here.

First, let me preface this with something very important: you can treat all of this advice as SECOND-DRAFT ADVICE. It is so much easier to rewrite this kind of stuff once you have words on the page. Telling yourself the first draft is totally appropriate and acceptable.

What we’re talking about here are FILTER WORDS (and to some degree verbs of being). Yes, “thought” words are included. But so are “heard, saw, looked, tasted, smelled” etc.—most words having to do with the senses.

This isn’t black and white advice; sometimes you’ll use these words and that’s okay. They’re not WRONG. They’re just weaker. And they’re weaker because they create distance between the reader and the experience of the character.*

If you want your reader to feel like they’re experiencing the story right alongside the character, you want to cut down on filter words.

*This is particularly important with first person and close third POVs. The reader always knows whose eyes they’re seeing through and thoughts they’re privy to. So you don’t need to tell them “I saw X.” Or “I heard X.” Or “I thought Y.” You can just jump into the action/observation as it’s happening.

This is also where you want to pay attention to verbs of being.

“It was rainy.” Versus: “The rain pounded against the roof.” Or “The rain howled like an injured animal.” Or “The rain tapped against the window like an anxious lover.” All of these are inviting the reader deeper into the experience of the story by using stronger verbs and similes. And, at the same time, they stir feelings (instead of TELLING feelings). And feelings keep your reader engaged. Engaged readers keep turning pages; engaged readers become FANS.

[the-haiku-bot]

This is also where

you want to pay attention

to verbs of being.

Beep boop! I look for accidental haiku posts. Sometimes I mess up.

[defilerwyrm]

The most valuable advice that Author Ex gave me through the years that we wrote together was this: the problem with all these filter words is that they create distance in the POV.

That means that when you read a line like

John saw that the curtains were open.

It immediately takes you OUT of the character's perspective and instead tells you what they experience as a secondhand observation.

You don't have to get fancy or purple with how you rephrase things like this. Not everything needs a ton of breathing room.

You wanna know what's perfectly impactful while keeping a tight POV?

The curtains were open.

Simple as that.