dany's adventures in writing

[rivalwrites]

I think the best piece of character design advice I ever received was actually from a band leadership camp I attended in june of 2017. 

the speaker there gave lots of advice for leaders—obviously, it was a leadership camp—but his saying about personality flaws struck me as useful for writers too. 

he said to us all “your curses are your blessings and your blessings are your curses” and went on to explain how because he was such a great speaker, it made him a terrible listener. he could give speeches for hours on end and inspire thousands of people, but as soon as someone wanted to talk to him one on one or vent to him, he struggled with it. 

he had us write down our greatest weakness and relate it to our biggest strength (mine being that I am far too emotional, but I’m gentle with others because I can understand their emotions), and the whole time people are sharing theirs, my mind was running wild with all my characters and their flaws.

previously, I had added flaws as an after thought, as in “this character seems too perfect. how can I make them not-like-that?” but that’s not how people or personalities work. for every human alive, their flaws and their strengths are directly related to each other. you can’t have one without the other.

is your character strong-willed? that can easily turn into stubbornness. is your character compassionate? maybe they give too many chances. are they loyal? then they’ll destroy the world for the people they love.

it works the other way around too: maybe your villain only hates the protagonist’s people because they love their own and just have a twisted sense of how to protect them. maybe your antagonist is arrogant, but they’ll be confident in everything they do.

tl;dr “your curses are your blessings, and your blessings are your curses” there is no such thing as a character flaw, just a strength that has been stretched too far.

[aletheiawriting]

Ways to find a plot when you have characters and a setting

… but only characters and a setting. 

You have a world. A universe. A setting. Good! Describe what happens in it normally - describe your main character(s)’s daily life. Now, what would destabilize this routine completely? If many things could, write them all down. Pick your favourite idea(s). Plots are born from change: everything was going normally… until it wasn’t.

Make a list with all the goals/motivations of your main characters. Can the plot revolve around your characters going after these goals? 

Which goals are more important? Focus on those. 

Are different characters’ goals in conflict with each other? Conflict is usually what propels a story forward. 

What could go wrong in your character’s pursuit of their goal? Make it go wrong.

If you don’t know your characters’ goals, go back to the drawing board; they probably need more development.

If there’s not enough conflict of different motivations, make a new character who creates conflict!

How do you want your main character to have changed by the end of the story? Do you want them to be less selfish? To have come to terms with a part of themself? To have learned something new? Write down ideas that could accomplish this change. 

If you can’t think of any way your character could be changed (read: improved) by the end of the story, go back to the drawing board. They might be “too perfect”.

Notes: 

The change that triggers your plot can be anything. It doesn’t have to be the start of an epic war that will bring forth the apocalypse, it can be your character meeting a new person who shakes things up in their life, or anything you want!

Motivations can be anything. It doesn’t have to be something grand - if your character’s motivation is to just live a quiet life, you can still come up with a plot that will get in the way of that goal! 

Character development can be anything, as well - you don’t need a cliché moral to the story; your character doesn’t even need to change in a good way, if that’s not what you want for your story!

This is what I’ve found works for me, but if you try it and it doesn’t, or if it sounds way too sententious and strict for you - that’s okay! Take it with a grain of salt! Maybe you think your characters are just fine and don’t need more developing even in the situations in which I recommended you “go back to the drawing board”, or maybe you have better ways of coming up with a plot. That’s fine, the writing process can be very personal!

[raveneil-deactivated20220513]

fanfiction is so wild cause im like…..ugh im not in the mood to read a book…..i’ll just read an 82k word fic instead……

[brawltogethernow]

Look…. To start a book… You have to make room in yourself for new characters and worlds. Do I look like I have the emotional energy for that? Do I look like I can trust like that right now? Just show me the things I already know pay good returns on my investment, except I also want to read something new so I guess they can be in a coffee shop this time.

[justgot1]

This - this is it, you’ve put it into words

[jamesscarstairs]

peeta mellark really was that bitch, pulling that “if it weren’t for the baby” line out of nowhere, oh he knew

[crownedallura]

i want something to be 3x as long as it currently is but i cant figure out how to get it there without going completely off the rails. how do people stay focused on one idea throughout an essay?? ugh

[tricodekuarts]

So kiss me once, then kiss me twice Then kiss me once again It’s been a long, long time

{Captain America Jeith au}

[aiiurus]

high school aus are not realistic because no one ever includes the hours of homework high schoolers have to do everyday

[essieincinci]

mood: i want to read a story exactly like one of my favorite stories i’ve read a thousand times but not THAT story because i’ve read it a thousand times and i want to read a new one but it should be exactly like this one.

[bigtiddygandalf]

My favorite genre of fan fiction is “we’ve been married for ten years and everyone knows we’re married but they don’t know we’re married to each other and they speculate on our potential spouses, and there’s a lot of office gossip, and unfounded rumors, until something dramatic happens and it’s revealed dramatically with drama!!”

But there’s no tag for that!!

And that’s a bummer

[cadavruicons]

claudia | the dragon prince

[team-mapleleaf]

Happy one-year anniversary of drunk hockey fan Scott Moir

[gsremade]

how you write your fanfics: an alignment chart

[its-shurtis-you-wimps]

[garden-of-succulents]

Ransom and Holster are what Jack and Kent could have been if junior hockey weren’t shit

(no really, I have a whole theory)

Jack and Kent were so fucked up by their circumstances. The NHL feeder system is so fucked up and so rough on its boys.  There are so many parallels between the two pairs of friends and I’M REALLY EMOTIONAL ABOUT IT

Keep reading

[starcitysirens]

There are two kinds of fic writers:

1. Fuck it, it’s fiction

2. Let me look up real estate listings, so I can plot out subway routes and schedules and see if this walk really is long enough for them to have this conversation.

Guess which kind I am.

[cerulean-beekeeper-deactivated2]

3. People who are a weird mix of the above two.

[meadowmines]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Voltron: Legendary Defender Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Curtis/Shiro (Voltron) Characters: Shiro (Voltron), Curtis (Voltron), Veronica (Voltron), Hunk (Voltron) Additional Tags: Sickfic, Fluff and Humor, Domestic Fluff, Cuddling & Snuggling, Shiro (Voltron) Can’t Cook, but he tries, oh my god does he try, Established Curtis/Shiro (Voltron), Past Adam/Shiro (Voltron), Past Curtis/Adam (Voltron) Series: Part 4 of Contingency Plan-verse Summary:

Okay. So he’ll need to hit the drugstore for cough drops and VapoRub and maybe some candy, Curtis might like something to feed his sweet tooth. And he’ll need to go to the grocery store for drinks and… canned chicken soup.

Ugh. Really?

That just doesn’t seem right, there must be something else he really wants other than shitty canned soup, but what? Dammit, Adam would have known. But the only recipes he left on that memory card were for the Japanese comfort food he used to make for Shiro, not for whatever he would have made for Curtis when he felt crummy.

Because, of course, Adam knew better than anyone that Shiro couldn’t cook if his life depended on it.

[In which Curtis gets the crud and Shiro wants to do something nice for him.]

[incorrect-carmen-sandiego]

Chief: When I die, I want Mr. Devineaux to lower me into my grave so he can let me down one last time.