C. R. Loner

C. R. Loner | Writer | Leo ♌️ Just book reviews, writing updates, and talks around different tropes @carmen_the_loner on TikTok and Insta

[crloner]

Plotting Tip: Fights in Stories

Been reading a lot of manga lately. Finished a couple and I began noticing this issue writing wise. So here’s some tips.

Six tips for Plotting Fights

1. Build Anticipation

A good way to build anticipation is by introducing the opponent either through talk or simply having them talk prior to fighting. This doesn’t have to be them directly talking and character A saying: “let’s fight.” Give the opponent a proper introduction or at least some sort of entrance into the story. Think about what the stakes of this fight are? What is the point of it to? The fight won’t be memorable if there is no stakes or a point to it. Think about what could be preventing them from fighting or what is going to allow them to start fighting.

2. Challenge Your Protagonist

Actually challenge your protagonist. I personally find it very irritating to have a protagonist that I never worry about or there are zero stakes to it. Maybe character a is fighting in character b’s stead and if they lose character b will lose something important. Make the challenges be terrain, their own morals, injuries, or weather.

3. Create Limitations

Creating restrictions and limitations to what the characters can do can be very interesting. Think of what landscape they are fighting in. If it’s a city, think of what limitations that would have. What physical limitations does the character have? If they’re a long range fighter are they disadvantaged up close. Handicapping your protagonist will make them have to think far more strategically than others. Through that

4. Not Everyone Can be the Strongest

I’m a person who enjoys a very powerful villain, but I read a lot of stories where everyone seemed to be the most powerful awesome person. Don’t be afraid to make your hero lose. They need to lose to make the battle where they win mean more to the reader. Even if they do win a fight, make it a struggle and also think about why they need to win. If they always win it can get boring.

5. Space Fights Out

For the love of god, I read too many mangas and books where it felt like it was fight right after fight right after another fight. It just became too much. Fights need to be spaced out not only for narrative reasons but spacing out fights can make you think about which ones are really important. It can help make them more poignant. Also will make the fights more memorable.

6. What is the point?

Think about what the point of the fight is in the story. Is it to establish the villain? Is it to show how much the hero has grown. Think about the Why for the fight both plot wise but also narratively? Each scene functions to tell your story, but it should serve a purpose.

Sorry for not posting in a while. I was glued into reading and that is a good way to get better at writing.

[crloner]

Worldbuilding: Naming Conventions

*My Opinion*

I feel like I’m going insane but Booktok has pushed me. I’m so sick of some of the names characters are given.

Please I beg authors to research cultures and to at least world-build extensively to make the names make sense. I’m always thrown off when I’m reading a story where it has Celtic vibes and then their are so many random Greek names in the story.

Or the name will be entirely made up. This again is just my opinion but I prefer when the names are similar in style because my immersion isn’t broken then.

[crloner]

Trope Discussion: Only One Bed

I genuinely love this trope only because I do like romance and I feel like it does create some kind of tension, but sometimes I think it should have some variation.

Ways to Vary this Trope:

1. Too Many People for One Bed

The number of characters deeply outweighs the size of the bed. Not only do I find this funny but it makes me think of what characters would sleep on the floor or what characters would end up kicking other people onto the floor.

2. The couple and the third wheel

It sounds exactly as it is. The couple has a third wheel whom they share the bed with. It’s awkward and the third person won’t go to another room because there is no other room.

3. The bed sucks

The bed just sucks. It’s uncomfortable for a number of reasons and the people who have to share the room would rather sleep on the floor.

Understanding the Trope

Now with this trope I think in dissecting it, we can see that authors use this trope as a way to force characters who have something unspoken between their relationship to somewhat address it. It’s also used to help characterize them individually. Who takes the floor? If there is a couch who takes that? Do they both take the bed? What do the characters do in this situation? I think additionally it shows how the characters treat each other in a microcosm. It gives the reader more to ship with or it gives them comedic relief.

(I might do more trope discussions because while I think understanding tropes is important to the writing process in general as they’re things that can naturally occur in writing. I think understanding conventions is important to being a good writer)

[crloner]

Writing/Character Tip: Character Voices (Dialogue)

I fear when sometimes I write or I’m reading. Everyone can sound the same. I tend to get stressed over this so here are some tips that helped me. I’m focusing on the dialogue itself, so I also attached some articles that include more than what I mention below.

Dialogue Tips

1. Remember their personality 🎭

Are they straightforward when they speak or very nonchalant, aloof, flirty. The way they speak should be determined by their personality.

2. Subtext is part of the key 🧊

Subtext is just the iceberg underneath the water. What is just peeking out when they speak? What are they trying to say? In turn how do they go about sharing their thoughts. Do they lay it all out or are they very restrained?

3. Concise 🤐

Knowing when to shut up or stop writing is important. Generally people say conciseness is key. How your being concise is what I say is more important. Every piece of dialogue should drive the conversation forward and show something new to the reader. You can have a lot of dialogue but it better be relevant.

4. Goal 🥅

What is the goal of the conversation. Think of the dialogue as moving towards a peak. Lay out the bottom and then mountaineer towards your goal. What do they want to get out of the conversation or what is the story trying to express? If character A is trying to break up with character B. Then depending on their personality think about how they would break up with B.

5. Power Dynamics 💥

Think of the conversation as a car driving. Who is driving? Who are the passengers? And who is the backseat driver? In layman’s terms, who is driving the conversation and who’s going along for the ride. Who’s starting it and who’s ending it. Also think about how the characters personality’s adapt in power dynamics. The way someone talks to their boss will be different to how they talk to their friend or mother.

6. Don’t be too realistic 🥱

If we wrote down every conversation we’ve had then the books written would be far too long. Dialogue is only really entertaining when we’re intrigued. If it was every bit of small talk it would be too much.

Dialogue Resources:

These go way further into detail than me so I encourage people to read them.

19 Ways to Write Better Dialogue — Well-Storied.

For years, I struggled deeply with the dialogue in my stories. I didn’t have a natural knack for writing conversations that felt real and tr

How to Turn Good Dialogue into Great Dialogue

Master the art of writing compelling dialogue in fiction. Learn techniques to turn good dialogue into great dialogue.

How To Write More Compelling Dialogue in Fiction

Dialogue can make or break the feeling of authenticity in a story. Here, author Matthew Farrell shares how to write more compelling dialogue

[shewriter]

Writing Resources List

I use my blog to share writing resources that I’ve collected over the years. I’ve recently gotten some new followers, so I thought I would make a list of many of these resources for easy reference.  

(However, this is not a complete list of all the resources I’ve posted. For more writing resources, feel free to check out my blog.)

Encouragement for Writers

Writer’s Block & Procrastination

Writing Your Story’s Plot

How to Write a Scene

Choosing a Setting for Your Story

Character Arc & Character Development

Character Traits

How to Write Heroes & Villains

Elemental Magic & Superpowers

Writing Magic Systems

Fantasy Writing & World-Building

Writing Fight Scenes

Swords and Bows

Writing Mermaids

Writing Relationships & Romance

Romance & Relationship Prompts

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I’m a writer, poet, and editor. I share writing resources that I’ve collected over the years and found helpful for my own writing. If you like my blog, follow me for more resources! ♡

[crloner]

Literally I hate that I want to share my writing but it also makes me so nervous. Because what do you mean it’s going to be read over, picked apart, and possibly hated when I love it so much 😭. That’s my baby🤱

[crloner]

Character Tips: Villains

I think Villains can be as crazy as they want but people usually don’t write them well. Often times I have to ignore how palpably terrible the villain is written to continue reading. Especially when the villain is meant to be a pure evil villain.

I find that authors believe that making their villain do heinous acts is enough to make them scary, but they forget to make them interesting. Iconic villains are remembered because they are interesting not because of what great horror they caused. So here’s tips from someone who writes and reads on how to make villains interesting and memorable.

Tips

1. What are they not willing to do? Why?

I find it infinitely more interesting when a villain has something their not willing to do or lose. It can be something as basic as love. For example: Homelander from the Boys. He’s not willing to lose his public image and how he looks so he has to stifle himself in order to maintain his image. Homelander is definitely evil but this makes him more interesting. It makes him move through the story in a different way that is more entertaining than it would be if he didn’t care about what people thought about him. So when thinking about your own villain think about what she/he might not do to get to their goals. Why that is?

2. How do they treat people they see as important or even more important?

Think about how your villain interacts with other characters. In my own work, I have a villain who while views humans as lesser than him amongst his own race their is a hierarchy which even he falls into. He resents this so he often hates people associated his own standing that he finds underserving but is overly kind to those he views as worthy of being above him. If their are multiple villains in your story and they know each other how do they interact with each other.

3. They’re human too (Unless they’re a monster than ignore this… but don’t)

What I mean by this is that they have to have a personality to some extent. Whether it be made of more negative traits than positive is entirely up to you. But they have to have some personality. I find a villain more interesting when they feel like they have a distinct personality to them. For example: Azula from Avatar: the Last Airbender. The character has a distinct personality, she’s cunning, a perfectionist, and arrogant. It’s perfectly explainable too. She was a raised in an imperialistic and fascist society within a family that was also abusive and favored cruelty over compassion. Her personality and how it interacts with the other characters is intriguing because of how their personalities clash. I think writers need to understand that they don’t need to make them have a good qualities. It’s okay to write a character that is intrinsically bad. Just makes sure it’s developed.

4. Do they have their own arc?

What I like is when a villain has their own arc where they regress further or they have to adapt to get what they want. Think about it. Your hero has to adapt to the villain so the villain should do the same. Having them go through some kind of arc can be interesting to watch or read so consider if they have an arc. This goes for both human and monster villains.

5. Give them unique relationships outside the MC

I tend to like villains who have multiple relationships with different characters that vary widely. Like if they feel a sense of kinship with one character, admiration, jealousy, or even pity. Think of what your villains individual relationship with other characters might be like because chances are they’ll have varying opinions on your characters.

6. How do they perceive the world?

What is their view on the world? Are they a nihilist, an optimist, or an absurdist? Though it may not be important to the story, the author should know this part because it will partly explain their personality and their reasons for doing things.

That’s all I’m going to write mainly because I’m facing a bout of burn out 😭. If you have other villain tips please comment and share 💕

[crloner]

I hate when I’m not busy and I have no thoughts in my head to write. Like what are you doing you’ve been waiting for this moment 😭

[crloner]

"need some books with a fairytale like aesthetic but are also dark and misty" a song of ice and fire found crying in a corner

While yes, I like asoiaf, it’s more of a political fantasy it is focused on the conflicts between the characters and different factions. It definitely has these aesthetics but I guess I’m looking for a story that feels more like a fairytale not so much of a high political fantasy.

[crloner]

Editing Tips: Crutch Words

When I’m writing, I have words that I use so much but I have to go through and remove. My own advice for this is here ⬇️

1. Recognizing them:

If you see a phrase or word you use firstly in your first draft go ahead and write them. Your goal is to finish writing your draft but after read through your work and look for where you repeat words or phrases far too closely to each other. When I can’t think of what to write to move on I use the phrase “she breathed…” or “he breathed out or in…” you get the gist. I recognized that and now I can move forward.

2. Are they necessary?

Search them up and genuinely think it they’re necessary to the paragraph or story. Each sentence and word should be telling something new. If it isn’t necessary then remove it and if it is, then think of how you can rephrase it.

3. The words: look, feel, thought, and saw

Make sure the phrase if they point to a sensory description you don’t break the immersion unless you find it necessary. See the difference here:

1. She saw birds flutter past her.

2. Birds fluttered past her.

Not only does the second sentence work better for description, it doesn’t break you out of the immersion because it’s just describing the action better. It’s not telling it’s showing. If you have crutch words like this try telling the sentence without the word involved.

4. Find a Reader

Finding someone who will be completely honest with you can be difficult but they’ll help you find what words you use too much and they’ll help you identify other problems so find someone to be your editing crutch as well.

P. S.

If anybody needs help finding one, you can message me and I’ll help. I promise I don’t bite 💕

[crloner]

Character Tips: Pre-existing Relationships

When I read, I personally favor relationships that have pre-existing history to them and background. I love the drama so here are some times on writing established relationships (platonic, enemies, rivals, and romantic):

6 Tips on Writing Pre-Existing Relationships:

1. Background

You should know how these characters met and how they interacted. Based on how they interacted and how their relationship has developed you need to know that. Not necessarily the reader but you should know as the writer.

2. Length of History

How long have they had this relationship? If the characters have known each other since they were little kids and they’re best friends, they should know a lot about each other. That could be a conflict when one of them holds a big secret. If they’ve known each other for a week, then they shouldn’t know much about each other.

3. What perceptions do they have of each other?

What do they think of the other person? We all have separate ideas of how a person acts so your character should too. Are they friends but the one feels like the other is annoying. That defines a part of the characters relationship. Show this to create more complexity in the relationship

4. Show how they act physically around each other

How do they act around each other. Is character a very unaffectionate to most but only affectionate to character b? By showing how they express themselves and if it’s any different from how they normally do you can highlight the relationship better.

5. What do they like and dislike about each other?

What things does the other person do that irritates them. What do they do that they like? Are their problems that they have on the small to more complex level? How does it make each person feel. How do their personalities clash and work with each other. What do they admire and hate about each other?

6. Think about what needs work?

Think about if you want the relationship to develop and how it develops throughout the plot. If the characters are going through a tough time or if they’ve spent time apart and are reuniting, they’re going to have different interactions. This can help drive the characters to develop different perceptions about the other character involved.

These are just some tips to help get started or to think about. These tips are also broad and for most relationships. If people want more specific types of relationships written please tell me 🙏

[elderscrollsconceptart]

Shadowmere when you eat horse meat to heal

[crloner]

Writing Tips: Character Interactions (First)

Not all characters are going to get along and some are going to get along really well. What’s important is working out their interactions.

Things to think about

1. Where do they first initially meet?

Depending on how they meet it can really alter the characters perception of the other. Between a bar, school, workplace, battlefield, or traveling someplace together. It will impact how they interact. If it’s a casual party then there is a more friendly vibe. If it’s a battlefield, friendliness isn’t exactly the thing to think about.

2. What do the characters first notice about another person?

Do they look at clothes first? Hair? Eyes? And do they acknowledge what they like or dislike in there head? Do they compliment the person on what they find attractive or unique?

3. How do they perceive the other person initially?

Depending on how they interact it can lead someone to have a bad impression or good impression. This is where it can be fun. If character A is pretending to be amiable and kind, does character B fall for it or are they able to see through it. Further more, if character a says something off putting does character b think they’re weird or just awkward.

4. Use internal thoughts or description to show the perceptions they have

Use the description or thoughts to make the first interaction more memorable. If character a is more of a scrutinizing or judgmental type then have them often being far too harsh or vivid in how they describe someone. Juxtapose that different description types too. Imagine if character b then describes the same person in much kinder light. It creates an array of perceptions about a singular person.

5. Attraction

Think about how your character acts when they are attracted to another person. Are they very upfront and honest? Flirtatious? Or are they shy and freeze up when in the face of someone their attracted to? Do they pick on them?

6. What have they heard about the other character before they interact?

Think about what have they heard about them before. If character a is known to be a chauvinist and character b meets them how would that skew their interactions. Would they be more on guard with them or more annoyed with them when they possibly solidify the rumors. Or if character a goes against that thought would character b feel guilty for thinking of them that way.

7. Biases

Everyone has biases whether we want to admit it or not and your characters should have biases as well. This can push your characters to deepen their relationships and also have them grow as characters as well.

8. Have they met prior?

If they’ve met prior how did that go. What all history do they share. This is more for the first on screen interaction. If they are meeting again has the other person changed? Personality wise and physically wise. What was their relationship like before this meeting. If so try to show the distance in time and then trying to re familiarize themselves with each other.

9. What is the purpose of their meeting?

Are they being introduced through a mutual friend or is this a fight? Are they in a bar and they just were dancing with each other. Whatever the context is let that shape how the characters act with each other. The environment and purpose of the meeting is going to greatly alter how they act.

10. Have fun

Just have fun with it. The characters should be written in how they would interact with the person. I’m how they would present themselves and in how they would go about it. They should do it uniquely to. Have their nervous ticks shown.

There are plenty more tips to give but these are things I think about when writing first meetings in stories.

[crloner]

I was once told that once you understand story structure and how stories are told, that it will just click for you. I half expected it to just click but it’s very gradual and i only realized I had finally reached that point when I was able to finish multiple drafts of a novel and multiple short stories that actually felt like stories. Not disconnected scenes or a mess. An actual story

[theaftersundown]

a constant problem

[frostedmagnolias]

Heart-shaped silver filigree purse lined with salmon pink cloth

c. 1660-1699

Nuremberg, Germany

Victoria and Albert Museum

[crloner]

Stories need to include cute stuff like this. Where the characters have adorable and also noticeable items with them.

[crloner]

Worldbuilding Tips: Religion

With religion in stories specifically fantasy, I feel as though the extent in which we see it explored is the characters will in dialogue or in thought curse saying things like gods, by the gods, or other curses. Hey, I do it to so know I’m not judging but I do want more expansion on these religions. If you want to expand on your world-building just research religions in our lives.

Think about it: in Christianity (I’m only using this because it’s what I’m most familiar, but feel free to get inspiration from other faiths) the church provided multiple services throughout history, priests and nuns often took care of orphans, were literate, recorded births, recorded deaths, performed weddings rites.

The religion should also have practical functions for example, in my own work their is a goddess of death. I had to think how this god would be worshipped and how the faith would get money to continue functioning and feeding their clergy. They’d do religious ceremonies, funeral rites, eliminate undead, and tend to burial grounds.

In secrecy though, if your a fan of secret religions, this same religion also works with assassinations and kills the people the god demands to die.

What I’m saying is that the religion in your own story should have some function in society whether it is widely known or not. This allows the world to feel more fleshed out and worked on. Also show the negative aspects of the religion and positive aspects.

Questions you should ask yourself:

What does a healthy relationship with that religion look like?

What does a toxic one look like?

What aesthetics are involved in this religion?

(The lamb of god): lamb symbolizes Jesus so think about the symbols in your story. If there is a holy animal is it a sin to kill it. Is it used in sacrifice?

Polytheistic? If so what does each god represent? Aspects of nature or society? (Think Titans vs the Olympians in Greek mythology)

Additionally, what values are important to the said culture the religion springs from?

If there are scriptures or sayings from the religion what are they?

Some religions are ethno-religions meaning only people of an ethnicity can be in the religion, if a religion has this what are the implications that would have in your world?

Can just anybody convert to the said religion and how?

What sacraments are in the religion?

How is somebody venerated in the religion (like sainthood)?

What environment do people worship in?

In Christianity, there was a movement namely baroque, renaissance, and medieval period to show the glory of god through how the buildings looked. The Protestant movement challenged this making more humble churches. Think about that when making your own religion. How do they present holy places?

Remember that religion is used to explain what philosophy and science can’t explain. Depending on when the religion is started and the extent of technology in the world they might have myths for anything like why animals exist? The seasons? Weather? And more conceptual things like why people began fighting wars? Why people die and where we go after we die?

Now this can all seem like a lot and you don’t have to include all of this but it is helpful when creating a world because religion affects aspects of culture, how the characters were raised, government, and even wars.

If you like posts like these, I have more and comment what you’ve done in your own works or what you’d like to see!