you may be asking yourself “how did i get here” or “where is here”. boy, do i have an answer for you:
this is @cryingasiwrite and let me tell you, it’s rough, buddy.
i’m jace, your average nerdy and adhd college student with a thing for aesthetics. i write in my free time, as you can tell, and this is where i can share my creations.
basics
my name is jace
they/them
22 years old
BA in sociology
social worker
infj/ravenclaw/taurus
dreaming of becoming a published author
my writings
fantasy (YA/NA)
fiction
poetry
lyrics
fanfiction
short stories
school essays
now then, where does that leave you, my wonderful reader?
i have no idea, i was hoping you could answer. i just hope it leaves you with a great day :)
1. All About Nature Near You
2. A Playlist with your Fav Lyrics
3. An Info Book on Something you're Knowledgeable on
4. Reasons Why you Love Something/Someone
5. All About your Fav Movie or TV Show (Talk about your fav characters, costumes, music, and/or specific shot/scenes)
6. Collages
7. Make one full of your Art
8. How to Style -Your Fav Fashion Style-
9. All about an Aesthetic of your choosing
10. How to Make/DIY/Customize/Cook/Bake Something
11. Your Favorite Authors
12. A Season/Holiday Theme
13. Your Pets
14. Your Favorite Toys as a Kid and Why
15. Poetry
16. How to Get Started in -Your Hobby Here-
17. All About your Favorite Character
18. Activity Zine (Wordsearch, Sudoku, Coloring Book Etc.)
19. Your Favorite Teas
20. Who Inspires You
21. Something You Strongly Believe In
22. Talk About a Video Game (Deep Dive into Items, Gameplay, Characters, the Fashion Etc.)
23. Different Types of Poems
24. Explaining Something that Happened Local to You
25. A Change You'd like to See
By lyrical I mean sensory, I mean beautiful, I mean it kind of has an artistic quality. It exists not just to tell the action of the story, but incite feeling and thought from your reader. The kind of lines that make you pause and go woah.
Here are some examples:
‘…in my dreams I see Dharsi’s beautiful face and some other unknown one next to it. A frog, not transforming into a prince but shape-shifting into something frightening. The metallic taste of these dreams tinges my mornings like a flavor stirred into my coffee.’
What Lies Between Us by Nayomi Munaweera
"Facing the window, in the chair of dignity, sat a man about forty years of age; of heavy frame, large features and a commanding voice; his general build being rather coarse and compact… When he indulged in an occasional loud laugh at some remark among the guests his mouth parted so far back as to show the rays of the chandelier a full score or more of the two-and-thirty sound white teeth that he obviously still could boast of."
The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy (1902)
What do these lines have in common? To me, you can feel a sort of rhythm to them. It’s as though there is a steady beat somewhere in the distance and you can feel every thrum against the lines on the page. Especially in the second example: “…some remark among the guests his mouth parted so far back as to show the rays of the chandelier a full score or more of the two-and-thirty sound white teeth that he obviously still could boast of.”
That is a sentence packed with evocative information that brings you right into this character, right into this moment. It feels a bit like a bike speeding down a hill, you’re forced as the reader to fly down with it. The sentences are crafted as to pull your intrigue from the beginning to the end, they contain a series of surprises—you need to get to the end to unlock the full mystery.
“The metallic taste (?) of these dreams (??) tinges my mornings (?!?) like a flavor stirred into my coffee (!!!)”
That instinct towards rhythm and pulling the reader from start to end of a line is very commonly used in poetry. I have resisted poetry almost my entire life, but I now truly believe that every writer should study the poets as much as they study the classics (especially if lyrical prose is what you’re aiming for).
There is another thing lyrical prose does well—it makes use of the full expanse of the language it’s written in. You could easily write, “when he laughed loudly at something the guests said, his mouth was so wide you could see all his teeth.”
But instead, Hardy uses words like, “indulged”, “rays of the chandelier”, “a full score” “two-and-thirty sound white teeth” “boast”.
Same with our second example, “metallic” “tinges” and “flavor stirred into my coffee” are so much more evocative than, “the bad dream followed me into the morning.” Even the position of the sentence to show the dream as a taste on her tongue that ruins her breakfast creates a deeper, more intimate feeling with the reader.
Which leads into my last point, lyrical prose tends to make use of multiple senses. It’s not just about what things look or sound like, but what they feel like, taste like, the ‘vibe’ they give off. And like we’ve seen, taste doesn’t just need to be about food. Get creative with how you mix and match sensory details.
So, in short:
Read poetry—as much as you can get your hands on. Practice writing your own, imitating a different poet each time.
Read examples of lyrical prose (find them in upmarket or literary fiction) and do what we just did, unpack them, try to see what makes them tick, try to get a feel for them.
Expand your vocabulary. Don’t reach for a thesaurus, reach for more books—read outside of your typical genre or style, read classics and recently published, read debuts, read books translated to English. Start collecting your favourite lines into an inspiration journal.
Need recommendations? Here’s a list of books that contain lyrical prose for you to get started on:
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous – Ocean Vuong
The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender – Leslye Walton
The Song of Achilles – Madeline Miller
This Is How You Lose the Time War – Amal El-Mohtar
"you're the writer, you control how the story goes" no not really. i wrote the first sentence and then my characters said "WE WILL TAKE IT FROM HERE" and promptly swerved into an electrical fence.
monarchy has no real purpose and should be abolished irl but im a slut for royal families in fiction. the politics. the intrigue. families divided by the eyes of a nation. the pressure of children told from birth that they are born to rule, born for only one purpose. the stifling of empathy and real bonds and love. the loneliness when all eyes are on you. it’s so inherently tragic and yet everyone involved is terrible because that’s all they can be. gimme.
Do other writers ever get this like, hyper-specific dialogue exchange drop into their brains and you know exactly where these character are standing and what they’re doing and how they’re saying these words but that’s all you get. You don’t have much other context and this specific moment that exists only at this time in your headspace??
I wish to join a community on here. I would like to rant about characters and plots to other writers. I wanna trade with them, fall in love with their projects.
Someone help my poor writer’s souls. How do I do this?
hey! this is chance & here’s week 2’s prompt. pick one of your ocs. are they open to other people’s perspectives? do they go out of their way to learn new things?
Pick one??? Oh god, okay, let me see. I suppose I'll choose Enayat Asen...
Enayat can be very open to other people's perspectives, so long as he doesn't have strong feelings about them. If he's in a discussion with someone and he feels strongly about the topic, then he will be stubborn and will not listen. If the topic is something he has little interest in, or does not feel emotional about, he would be very open to them. Although, Enayat can be very diplomatic and will appear to be taking the other person's perspectives into account.
I think Enayat does go out of his way to learn new things, especially if they're important to his loved ones. I wouldn't say he enjoys learning, but he enjoys making his loved ones happy and will do what he can to do so.
Writers of Tumblr, I have an ask game for you all!
Please reblog and answer these questions, maybe tag others too! My asks are also open for them.
By the way, please read my snippets of TFLOC!
What is the main lesson of your story (e.g. kindness, diversity, anti-war), and why did you choose it?
What did you use as inspiration for your worldbuilding (like real-life cultures, animals, famous media, websites, etc.)?
What is your MC trying to achieve, and what are you, the writer, trying to achieve with them? Do you want to inspire others, teach forgiveness, help readers grow as a person?
How many chapters is your story going to have?
Is it fanfiction or original content? Where do you plan to post it?
When and why did you start writing?
Do you have any words of engagement for fellow writers of Writeblr? What other writers of Tumblr do you follow?
I found this while perusing, and thought it would be pretty fun to answer. Of course, these answers are based on my wip series, Atarah's Crown. (Check out the info post here)
What is the main lesson of your story (e.g. kindness, diversity, anti-war), and why did you choose it? The main lesson in my story, as far as I can tell, is that we are all many things. As in, there is no one way to define a person, that we are made up of our experiences, our loved ones, and the choices we make. I'm not sure why I chose this, though. To be fair, I don't think I did, it just happened.
What did you use as inspiration for your worldbuilding (like real-life cultures, animals, famous media, websites, etc.)? The world building for Atarah's Crown took place over the span of roughly ten years. Stories such as Red Queen by V. Aveyard certainly had a hand in creating the world, as did miscilanious forms of media I've consumed over the years. Again, I can't exactly pinpoint what was the inpiration.
What is your MC trying to achieve, and what are you, the writer, trying to achieve with them? Do you want to inspire others, teach forgiveness, help readers grow as a person? Seeing as Atarah's Crown is centered around four main characters, I'm going to choose my personal favorite: Enayat Asen. Enayat only wants to make the people around him proud. While he definitley has anger issues, he only makes important desicions around what others would like. I would like his character--and his growth--to show others that they can make others happy, but need to make themselves happy first. (This coming from a people-pleaser)
How many chapters is your story going to have? Right now, just around thirty.
Is it fanfiction or original content? Where do you plan to post it? It's original content! My goal is to get it professionally published.
When and why did you start writing? I started writing when I was seven. No idea why, it just sort of happened, probably a school assignment. Ever since then, writing has become and integral part of who I am as a person.
Do you have any words of engagement for fellow writers of Writeblr? What other writers of Tumblr do you follow? Bad writing is still writing. At the ned of the day, it's better to write something terrible than nothing at all. Years down the line, you will look back at whatever horrid thing you wrote and laugh. Then, you'll be amazed with just how far you've come.
Cynthia nodded and stood. She walked close to the bars that separated her from the rest of the world. “The note your people found not too long ago. The time of the Atarahs comes to an end.”
Enayat covered his ears with a sob. He stumbled, his back hitting the wall with a thud. Roman reached out in an attempt to grab Enayat before he could fall. He was too late. Enayat’s body crumpled to the floor. He pulled himself into a ball, rocking back and forth, head pounding the stone behind him.
“For society need not make gods where mortals stand.”
Once Enayat fell out of Roman’s reach, he rushed to Cynthia. Piper stood frozen. Lightening shot from an outstretched hand as Enayat screamed. It crawled up his arms and through the air until it found the metal bars.
“The rebellion of the false idols is imminent."
Iris was at Enayat’s side in an instant, falling to her knees. Still, the sobbing continued.
– Excerpt from The Voice of Nobility, Atarah's Crown (Book One)
so youve migrated from writing twt to writeblr -> what now?
the following is my masterpost on the ins and outs of navigating the writeblr landscape! while it can be scary to deep-dive into the world of writing on tumblr for the first time, there are a few actions you can take to make it a lot easier to interact and share your writing.
psa: this is neither an extensive nor complete list of writeblr tips! but i hope it can help :)
INTERACTION;
interacting with others is one of the most important aspects of writeblr. im going to be splitting this section into a number of sub-sections because there are several topics relevant to creating a system of communication with other writers on here.
likes and reblogs;
unlike twitter or other social media sites, likes do not hold the same weight on tumblr. as well as liking a post, the most important step you can take is to REBLOG. reblogging will share a post to your blog and thus your feed. in doing this, your followers and anyone who checks out your blog are going to see the post, rather than if you just like or comment.
reblogging allows more people to interact with a post. content creators (including writers) can be motivated to continue posting when their posts are reblogged because it shows there are enough people interested in their works.
the same goes for you! the more you reblog other people's works, the more likely your own posts will be reblogged, thus gaining more traction for all your hard-earned efforts.
taglists;
you might be asking: what is a taglist?
a taglist is usually featured at the bottom of your post when you share your writing. it includes people who have shown interest in your works - all you do is simply @ them. it means that people who are keen won't miss out on seeing the things you post about your wips! it is essentially an opt-in type deal, where people can choose to be added or removed from being notified about updates, excerpts, and the like.
don't abuse your taglist. don't tag them for every little thing you post about your wips - try to keep it to major posts like excerpts or new art, etc.
**** A HANDY HINT: writeblr etiquette states that you should never just add people to your taglist. only add them if they specifically ask.
tumblr tagging system;
the tumblr tagging system is going to be your best friend as a writer. tags allow you to manage your posts + can act as a navigation system for your blog.
when tagging, make sure to not replace characters if it's for a trigger warning. 'assault', for example, should never be replaced with '@ssault'.
if posting an excerpt from your wip, i would suggest the following tags as the bare minimum: 'WIP NAME', 'WIP NAME EXCERPT'. if you're posting it as part of an event, you may also wish to include 'EVENT NAME'.
you can also have a specific tag for things your friends write, for resources you may find helpful, etc. the possibilities are endless.
a hint: the first five tags are the only tracked tags. the most important tags you want to add should be your FIRST FIVE TAGS on a post. furthermore, only the first twenty will show up in the search function.
tags are a good way for you to interact with other writers! when you reblog a post, OP will be able to read your tags where you can add how much you loved their work, etc.
POST FORMATTING;
do;
- add trigger warnings to your posts if they contain sensitive topics.
- add a plot, characters, etc. other writeblrs want context for your wip beyond just a number of dot points about tropes.
- put your post under a 'read more' if it is a long post.
- tag any nsfw content.
- add a transcript of any photos/images under a 'read more'.
don't;
- use any sort of fonts beyond the regular when writing a general post. using the 'chat' font, for example, reduces accessibility to your posts and makes it difficult for people to read.
- just post dot points of your wip.
- plagiarise.
- use other people's posts as a place to self promote.
PINTEREST IS NOT AN ART SOURCE;
this is one of the biggest differences between tumblr and other social media sites: pinterest is. not. an. art. source. the truth is that people aren't going to care if you post a moodboard with nothing beyond a few random photos of a castle and a knife, etc. sure, they may look pretty, but don't do it for a number of reasons.
first, you should always post art directly from a credited source (e.g. unsplash or picrew).
second, it doesn't show enough about your wip! people want context! not just random photos!
thirdly, most photos or art on pinterest do not CREDIT their sources. this is theft and this is bad. which leads me onto the next topic.
CREDIT YOUR ARTISTS;
CREDIT ALL ARTISTS. if you use any sort of artwork, i swear to all things holy, give credit to the ORIGINAL sources. pinterest, as mentioned, is not an art source. most artwork on that site is stolen or posted without credit, which, funnily enough, is a form of theft.
if you're going to post any form of photo or art, please give credit. it doesn't matter what form it takes; link to the original artist or photographer in a way that is not hidden.
MOODBOARDS AND GRAPHICS, OH MY;
one sad truth about being on tumblr, as with a lot of social media sites, is that your posts will gain a lot more interaction if you use some form of graphic or photo along with your writing. graphic making may seem daunting but it doesn't have to be! they don't have to be complicated or anything more than a few photos - as long as they have relevance to your wip.
moodboards are not necessarily a bad form to take when making graphics for your posts. however, if it just features a random collection of photos that tell your audience nothing about your work, they're not going to care. writeblr is all about actually imparting information about your wips, rather than just vibes.
****as mentioned, any form of artwork or photography needs to be credited to the original source. however, etiquette is also to not repost art without express permission from the artist. if you don't have permission to use someone's art, DO NOT put it in your moodboard or graphic.
BLOG AND BLOG THEMES;
tumblr is a really great site for expressing yourself through your blog, especially if you use custom themes! if (like me) you're terrible at javascript and any form of http coding, there are a number of blogs you can search for to find custom made themes that are easily adaptable for your needs.
but why use a theme beyond expression?
one of the best aspects of using themes is the navigation aspect. most writeblrs have some form of navigation page (beyond just simply using the tumblr tagging system) to allow their audience to find information about their wips, writing resources, and the like! it makes going through your blog easier for both you and others.
also: make sure to include information about yourself on the blog (but of course, not to the point of doxxing yourself). most tumblr users, especially those on writeblr, will think you're most likely a bot if you dont include at least some things about yourself. the most common things to add are name, age and pronouns! also a dni can be used.
WRITING TIPS AND TRICKS;
titling your wips by @crtalley
plot structure by @nouveauweird
how to blurb by @yvesdot
notion templates for writers by @atelierwriting
the tropes guide by yours truly
so you're missing a plot by @seasteading
novel length by @serpentarii
thank you to everyone who helped me in writing this post! love you all <3
hey! this is chance & here’s this week’s prompt. what websites or resources do you use while you write or develop a character/story? what do you think of them and would you recommend them?
Hey, there! Thank you for the ask!
This took me a little bit to think about. I suppose the best resource I use to help me develop my characters and/or stories is social media. Bothe writblr and writok. I enjoy hearing from other authors and seeing what they're doing, then compare and contrast it with my own.
Secondly, being an avid reader is fundamental in my process. I've found out that my writing improves drastically after binge reading for a few days.
As for actual websites and resources I use, GoogleDocs for my series/universe bible is a must! It helps me keep track of all the information I need, and allows me to glance at it on my phone/laptop/tablet. Pinterest is another website/app I use consistently. Each of my stories and all of my characters have their own boards. It certainly helps me get their vibes when I'm changing point of views.
Lastly, my friends. They allow me to bounce ideas off them, and let me info dump to them whenever I need. Some of my best plot points were realized just simply by info dumping to a friend.
