Elle's Lit Corner

Just a Texas girl trying to figure out this whole 'Writer' thing! I love reading books, and I love writing books! Name any show on Netflix, and I have probably seen it. Beware, I am anti a whole lot of popular shows and characters, but I love discussing them!

[navree]

oedipus killed his dad and fucked his mom. polynices and eteocles killed each other because they wanted to be king. agammemnon was ordered to sacrifice his own daughter. clytemnestra killed an innocent woman and ill-treated her children for years afterwards. orestes was goaded by elektra into murdering their mother. achilles murdered hector and desecrated his body. medea murdered a shitton of people including her own children.

one of the main draws of greek tragedies is that there aren't bright lines of "good" and "evil", it's about human people with flaws that exacerbate the situations they're in and lead to devastating consequences. oedipus's hotheadedness, medea's mild sociopathy, polynices and eteocles's lust for power, achilles and clytemnestra's rage, the tyranny and indifference of the gods themselves. that is what makes the greek tragedy so incredibly compelling even thousands of years after they were written, and why some of the great tragedies from later eras (shakespeare's tragedies, american canon tragedies like death of a salesman or the crucible) are still so inspired by that fundamental "the characters are flawed and those flaws are their downfalls regardless of inherent good or evil within them" type of storytelling.

and if you've been studying and analyzing greek texts and are not in fact just talking out of your ass for twitter points about the dragon incest show and you genuinely think that greek tragedies have clear cut "good guys" and "bad guys" then you are two steps away from being brain dead and i'm shocked you're allowed online access without adult supervision. also idk how to tell you that ancient greece was in fact quite misogynistic soooooooooooo. but i think op is just stupid.

[ellesliterarycorner]

if i see one more edit romanticizing Blood and Cheese, im gonna lose my mind. y’all are really weirdos for this. you don’t have to defend everything Team Black does like can we all just agree to stop saying we can’t wait for Blood and Cheese, im begging

[ellesliterarycorner]

Writing a Retelling

I used to not like reading or writing retellings, but I actually think that writing a retelling might be on my bingo card for 2023, so I decided to do some research on writing them and share it with y’all! I think the reason I used to dislike retellings was because they can go SO wrong, and they are really hard to write. But, the more I’ve looked into this, I’ve decided writing retellings is actually a really good exercise for writers. The world’s been around for so long that there are no completely new plots, and taking the essentials plots of one story and turning them into something new is a great exercise in the basics of plotting and understanding the nature of characters. 

Back to the OG

Read the original story! That might seem like an obvious thing, but sometimes it doesn’t feel every author remembers to do this. If it’s a story you haven’t read since you were little, don’t rely on your memory, especially if its a story with a lot of different remakes. Are you writing a retelling of the Disney movie Cinderella or the original Greek folk tale? Spoiler alert, they are not the same. You can write a retelling of either, but you do need to decide early on which one you are doing and stay consistent to it. I also think rereading the original story will remind you why you decided to write a retelling. Something about the story you loved so much you wanted to bring to a new audience or maybe something that felt unfinished or unanswered, and you just had to finish it and find the answered. 

Notes, Notes, Notes

I love taking notes, and I think that especially when writing a retelling copious notes are your best friend. Unfortunately, you aren’t going to be able to fit everything into your retelling, but writing notes on the most important things in the original story will help you have a guiding light and keep you organized. I would definitely recommend that you make a list of characters and their roles in the story. Are you keeping the same protagonist? Do you want to write from the antagonists point of view? Or give a side character their time to shine? I would also make a list of all of the settings in the story. Decide whether or not you’re keeping the same setting or revamping it for your story. Finally, make a list of all the major plot points. You’ll probably add more plot points into your story, but making sure that you know and understand the major plot points in the original story will help you as you’re writing. 

Inspired By or Retelling?

This may just be a personal nit-picky, schematic thing, but imo, a book can be inspired by something without being a retelling. Point and case being my favorite book to bash: A Court of Thorns and Roses. People have stopped leaning on this as much as they used too (mostly because ACOTAR has been rebranded as adult), but when it first came out ACOTAR was very much marketed as a Beauty and the Beast retelling. Me personally, I did not realize it was supposed to be a retelling until one of my friends told me after I had read it. Now, that either means that I have a poor level of reading comprehension or that the book is not a very good retelling. Obviously, I don’t like one of those answers, so let us presume that ACOTAR is not a very good retelling. I would say agree that elements of it are inspired by Beauty and the Beast, but I do not think that it is a retelling. SJM fails to keep many of the major themes and motifs of Beauty and the Beast which I think are necessary elements to qualify under the label retelling. 

But What’s the Twist???

Don’t be afraid to take risks and try new things when you write a retelling! Just because you’re writing a retelling doesn’t mean that you aren’t writing a story in your voice and your style of writing. Stay true to yourself, so long as you treat the original story with respect. A lot of retellings either give the story a new protagonist, a new setting, or set the story in a completely different genre. To get yourself going here are are a few questions to ask yourself after you’ve finished rereading the original story help you figure out what the twist of your retelling is going to be. 

Which of these characters do you feel curious about?

Which of these characters is the most hated / misunderstood?

Which of these characters could have the most interesting growth / character transformation through the course of this story?

How would this setting affect the protagonist and the other main characters? 

How would this setting affect the major conflict of the story?

How would this setting affect the themes of the original story? 

Which themes would be preserved and which themes would no longer feel relevant?

Elle’s Retelling Recommendations

And of course, I had to end this with a few retellings recommendations! Reading other retellings and seeing what other authors did well or not well is a great way to sharpen your own skills. 

Daughters of Sparta by Claire Heywood

I actually really liked this book, but I think its because even though I like Greek mythology, I admittedly am not the most knowledgable on the subject. I know the basics of Greek mythology, but unless something was blatantly wrong, I wouldn’t be able to tell. Apparently, this book had a lot of important Greek mythology plot points missing, but I thought it told the stories of Helen and Klytemnestra very well!

Circe and The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller 

I first read Circe for school, but I went back and read it a year or two ago. I vastly prefer Circe to Song of Achilles as I didn’t really like SoA all that much, but both are definitely retelling masterclasses. Madeline Miller is definitely the Queen of Greek mythology retellings.

Beautiful Little Fools by Jillian Cantor 

This is one of my favorite books ever! I loved the Great Gatsby, and I am a Daisy Buchanan apologist. I love that this book fleshes out all of the female characters from the Great Gatsby, gives them proper back stories and answers one of the biggest questions from the original novel. 

Starcrossed by Josephine Angelini

This book is not the best book, and I only recommend it because it is in my opinion how not to do a retelling or even an inspired by book. My friend group was obsessed with this book in middle school, and the best way I can describe it is if Percy Jackson and Twilight had a baby. Take that as you will. 

[abla-soso]

I knew HOTD is the dumbest fandom I've ever seen when the interpretation of "Alicent hates Rhaenyra because she refused to be oppressed by the patriarchy!" was wildly accepted as canon.

Because:

Rhaeyra is a Targ supremacist. She's no different from the white women who fought white patriarchy (for their own benefit, not for all white women!) while still upholding white supremacy as a whole. That's her most accurate RL comparison. And I don't wanna see any team black stan crying about this comparison because they were the ones who loooove to compare Alicent to pro-Trump conservative women.

Alicent might be jealous of Rhaenyra's freedom, but she never once expressed a desire to see Rhaenyra suffer as she had. She never wanted her to marry against her will and have children she never wanted. She constantly defended her honor when people slut-shamed her. She never wanted Rhaenyra to be oppressed by men like she had. What angered her about Rhaenyra was the same reason that angered her about Aegon, her own son: their disregard for duty. Alicent is a person who genuinely believes that positions of royalty require selfless devotion and making sacrifices for the betterment of the realm. That's not to say that she doesn't have her own entitlements as a person born into a noble family, or that she didn't end up prioritizing her children's survival over the betterment of the realm, or that some of the duties she upholds are not harmful to women, but she does genuinely believes that people should use their freedom in a responsible, altruistic way. Which is something that neither Rhaenyra nor Aegon was willing to do, and that's why she pissed at both of them. She became extra pissed at Rhaenyra specifically because she literally watched her use her freedom to abuse Alicent's child! Claiming she was only mad at Rhaenyra or that her "Where is duty? Where sacrifice?" freakout was motivated by internalized misogyny and petty spitefulness is such a laughably dumb take.

[aangopologist]

Is baffling to me that some people don't understand that the Dance was just a struggle for power between two heirs, and not feminism vs misogyny (lol)

[pheita]

Memo to everybody :

Never be afraid to recycle an idea you had for a WIP you abandoned. Sometimes the idea needs a different set of characters or a different setting.

[indecisive-behaviors]

An addition:

Never be afraid to recycle an idea you had for a project you already completed. Sometimes ideas really are just that good and deserve to be used more than once.

[ellesliterarycorner]

Tips for Underwriters

Last week we talked about overwriters, but now let’s talk about tips for all the underwriters out there. I didn’t mention this in my overwriting post, but whether you’re an overwriter or an underwriter, I definitely would not worry about it until later drafts! As I say all the time, the first draft is a messy, word-vomit baby, so don’t worry about a lot of the problems associated with overwriting or underwriting until your second or even third draft! It’s completely normal to underwrite a first draft, and a lot of times, underwriting your first draft will make it way easier for you in the long run! Laying down the skeleton of the story without a ton of description or other things is a completely legitimate way to go about it! But, once you get onto those later drafts, here are a few tips if you feel like you’re underwriting or your story is lacking! 

First off, I really recommend going through and asking yourself these ten questions for all of your scenes! If you answer all of these questions thoroughly, chances are you won’t be underwriting!

Where is this scene taking place? 

What does this place look and feel like? 

How much time has passed since the last scene? 

What is your character feeling right now?

What is your character’s reaction?

What is the natural, believable way your character should be reacting? 

What is the point of this scene?

What is your protagonist’s goal for the scene?

Where’s the conflict? 

Where’s your opening hook and strong ending sentence? 

These questions are a great place to get started making sure you provide depth for your readers!

But Does The Reader Know??? 

This is one of my biggest problems with a lot of books I have been reading lately. The writer will namedrop something that is clearly important in world, but does not explain it at all. They feel extremely underwritten because the writer assumes the reader has all of this background knowledge that they simply don’t have. I think a lot of it has to do with so many books being written like fanfiction. I’m not saying that in the sense that fanfic is poorly written, but in fanfiction there’s an understanding that the reader already has a decent understanding of the backstory they’re getting into. Anyways I digress into a completely different topic, but not explaining things properly is a problem that a lot of underwriters have. As writers, we sometimes forget that even though we have all of this information inside of our heads, the reader only knows what we tell them, so we have to make sure to give them a solid understanding the world and the characters. I also think that so many writers are scared of info-dumping that they just don’t explain things at all, but if you feel like you’re underwriting, go back and look through your story to make sure anything that needs explaining is explained!

Don’t Forget Internal Conflict!

Despite being my favorite conflict, I feel like internal conflict often gets left behind in a lot of stories. Most characters have one big external problem that they spend the whole story trying to solve, and while that big problem is absolutely necessary to the story, but if there’s only one problem in your story, you might find yourself more prone to having an underwritten story. How does this big problem affect your character internally? Are they super stressed out about it? Does solving the problem compromise their moral code? Do they have to forsake a core value in order to ensure their survival and the survival of their family? There are so many ways for your character to struggle with the main problem that ups the stakes of your story, adds conflict and character development, and can help up the word count as well! If you’re struggling and want a book with well-written internal conflict, see my favorite example the Hunger Games. It doesn’t get better than that!

All Go and No Show

Despite being a chronic overwriter, this is actually a problem that I struggle with as well. I think it’s because I write scenes out of order, and I tend to write all of the exciting scenes first because as a reader and a writer, I really like to jump right in and keep it moving to the last page. I used to get kind of annoyed when I stubble across what I consider a “filler” chapter where it feels like the characters are just sitting around and doing absolutely nothing. However, those less exciting bits are just as important often because they feature the internal conflict and character development mentioned above. If you’re only featuring the exciting parts of your story, it can definitely contribute to underwriting. It can also lead to another side-effect of underwriting: not having as well-rounded and fleshed out characters. Every time some big action thing happens in your story, you probably should include your MC’s reaction to it. How your characters react to things is important to them as a character and to your story overall. Now, am I saying that you need to write a 4,000 word chapter on every single detail of your characters’ feelings? No I am not, but if your MC gets hurt or betrayed or has a friend died, and then the next scene time has passed and they’re absolutely fine, it’s bad underwriting and unrealistic!

[elainiisms]

defending evil and hated female characters online is a full time job and i clock in every single morning.

[ellesliterarycorner]

Tips for Overwriters

My friends, we are now living in a post-Thanksgiving world. That means it is now OFFICIALLY socially acceptable to play Christmas music!! I have never been more excited. Unfortunately, today’s post is not about writing Christmas music even though that would probably be more interesting. Today’s post is tips for all of you overwriters out there! I am a proud member of your ranks, and I’ve definitely been working on how to be more concise lately, in both my creative writing and the writing I do for school. Some people definitely think that having a high word count somehow correlates to the quality of your story but a boring, drawn out story is just as bad a short, rushed one. You have to find the sweet spot in between. So, here are a few tips that have helped me with overwriting!

But That’s My Favorite Scene

I wish I could say that I do not get emotionally attached to scenes that I really like, but that, dear reader, would be an incredibly blatant lie. I get very emotionally attached to my favorite scenes, especially those little scenes that come to me in the middle of the night or feature my two favorite side characters. Unfortunately, my favorite scenes are not always the most necessary scenes. When you’re going through a second or third draft, sometimes you have to recognize that your favorite scene is really not at all relevant to the plot. That’s what I personally think of when I hear the phrase: “kill your darlings.” To me, that doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to kill your favorite character. It means more that you need to delete or get rid of things that are not relevant to the story but you as an author really like. BUT, when we say delete, we never actually mean delete. Always keep a copy of every scene or chapter that you might delete from your manuscript. You never know when it may come in handy, or if it might bring you joy to reread it later!

Keeping It Concise

As someone who loves writing the longest sentences known to man, I am not known for my concision. A lot of times, concision is key in writing. Sometimes, this means tightening up your sentences, and other times this means getting rid of filler worlds. Filler words don’t add anything to your narrative, and often, sentences with them could also be tightened for clarity. Some common filler words are: really, very, just, began, started, sudden, stuff, thing, see, look, hear, wonder, feel, and think. If you see that word in a sentence, it’s normally a signal that the sentence can be rewritten using much more clear language to make an overall more concise and strong sentence. When you’re trying to make things more concise, I would look out for overly descriptive sentences. Obviously, we want a clear description of whatever is happening in your story, but one of my biggest issues with Sarah J. Maas’s writing (I know I always find a way to bring her up) is that she will use four adjectives to describe something, but all of those words mean the same thing. If I describe something as the crisp, frosty, cool, winter air, that tells you absolutely nothing. Those words pretty much mean the same thing. You could have said the crisp winter air for a much more clear and concise sentence that will also decrease your word count a little. 

The Death of Passive Voice

This reminds me of freshman year English class. I literally didn’t know what passive voice was until freshman year, but now I consider myself a little bit of an expert. Passive voice relates to the previous tip because most sentences using passive voice can be rewritten using stronger or more descriptive words. Here’s a little example. Princess Sarah was driven to the castle. Okay, that’s a fine sentence. It’s grammatically correct, but it leaves a little lacking. Who’s driving Princess Sarah, for example? Let’s rewrite the sentence. The Captain of the Guard drove Princess Sarah to the castle. Ooh, okay, that simple wording change gives us so much more description. We now know who is driving Princess Sarah to the castle which probably saves us some unnecessary words later. If you’re having trouble identifying passive voice, I always say that if you can add “by zombies” to the end of the sentence and have it make sense, then it’s normally passive voice. Princess Sarah was driven to the castle by zombies. Further confirmation, that that sentence is passive voice and needs a little rewriting! Also, most of the time, rewriting a sentence written in passive voice decreases the word count. The example I gave didn’t, but normally it does lol. 

Whipping Out That SAT Vocab

Normally, I don’t mind a little bit of purple prose. Some of my favorite books have  flowery descriptions and beautiful sentences, but those descriptions and sentences serve a set purpose in the story and are pretty necessary to the narrative. Most of the books I have struggled to read or DNF’d this year have had the worst purple prose in the world. Kinda like a lot of writers think high word count=high quality, I think that a some writers think that pretty, purple prose=high quality. I’m here to say that in my humble opinion having description for no reason does not make your book the next Great American novel. It just makes it annoying. You don’t have to use thesaurus.com for every single sentence in your book. It’s probably better if you don’t. Having those super academic sounding words along with long descriptions definitely contributes to overwriting, and cutting things down and using more common descriptions will help you cut down on word count. 

[klaasje]

writer’s block (dry) = no desire to write, no ability to write (bearable)

writer’s block (wet) = HUGE desire to write, no ability to write (very evil)

[forestgreenlesbian]

all this criticism of booktok is valid sure or at least i assume because i am not on there lol but i also think it’s missing the other elephant in the room of an explanation for why all these truly awful nothing-y books are being written in the first place like yes booktok is feeding the demand for digestible quote-heavy novels that prioritise tropes over originality but i really think it’s the fanfic-ification of literature that’s responsible.. people have said it before i’m not getting into the whole fic vs literature debate but fanfic calls for such a specific style of writing because it (rightly) assumes that the reader is already familiar with the characters involved, so familiar in fact that they’re willing to read any number of scenarios involving them and overlook cliches because theyre fun when you’re already invested in the people involved. writers have carried this mentality into published original fiction which is just. soo insane to me. like how am i supposed to give a shit about another enemies to lovers fake dating whatever when it concerns two people i have literally never heard of and that you’re going to spend exactly zero time developing as characters……

[ellesliterarycorner]

hi! i just found your blog and it’s amazing! all those wonderful tips, you are a gift to this world.

do you have any tips on how to plot the main plot? or how do you organise everything before/during writing? like, the structure of the plot, if you draft everything first and then start writing, or do you just write a la loca?

tysmmm <3

Omg, you are so so kind. I really appreciate that! So, I am the biggest plotter on the planet. I definitely structure everything before I even think about starting to write, so I'll walk you through how I start plotting my story and give some tips on it along the way!

Step One: A Character Appears

I was actually just talking about this last week in one of my college interviews, but I start every story that I write with a character. I think it’s because I am such a character over plot reader. I love character driven stories the best, and I like to start writing with a character I think will be compelling for my readers. I think this is a good place to start for everyone because in my opinion it’s a lot easier to change a character to fit a world or a plot then change a plot or world to fit a character. Once I have a semi-coherent idea of a character, I interrogate them. I like to know everything about a character before building a world for them to live in. I really like these 100 OC questions by viralremix on Deviantart. I’m not saying that I always actually go through and answer all 100 of these questions, but I go through them and pick out which ones I think will be the most helpful to me as I start writing. I also don’t do every single major character that I have, but I normally do my main protagonist and the person who is the closet to them throughout the story!

Step Two: What in the World

When I work on my plotting/outlining, I group together worldbuilding and my main plot. I’m not sure exactly why I do that, but it makes sense in my head. Now that I have a character to work with, I can start building the world and the plot for them which kinda go hand in hand if you think about it. For Project Starlight, my current wip, I was really inspired by some digital art I saw on Pinterest of a girl laying on a bed reading a book in this super futuristic bedroom and out her window was an asteroid field. I instantly knew that was the world for my MC. After I decided that, I need a basic premise for the story. For this step, I actually use the snowflake method. You basically start with this core idea or theme and then every other aspect of the story is built around it until you flesh it out into something coherent. Kinda like how a snowflake starts in the center but it has different sort of branches, but they all connect back to that idea in the center. The snowflake method is also a good place to start if you don’t want to fully commit to a complete detailed outline, but still want to have a premise and a theme to go off of when you start writing. 

Step Three: A Beginning and An End

Because I physically cannot start writing without having a beginning and an end, once I have my lovely little story snowflake, I plot out the beginning and the end of my story. Above all in my opinion, the beginning and the ending are the most important things in your story. They tell the reader why they should ready your story and wrap up everything to make sure the reader thinks that reading the story was worth their while and possibly entices them to read a sequel or spin-off novel. Once you have your story’s premise, you can then decide what the most effective way of drawing readers into your story is. Whether that be a lot of flashy worldbuilding, a super intriguing hook, or just plopping them right into all of the drama of your world. There’s a lot of pressure on writing the first chapter, but when you’re plotting, just decide how you want to introduce your character and your world! Same thing goes for the ending of your story. How do you want to convince the reader that your story had a purpose? Or convince them to continue reading the rest of the series?

Step Four: Save the Cat???

I have been trying so hard to use the Save the Cat plot structure. But, honestly, for me, I think it works better when I don’t use it until the second draft of my story. I feel like as a plotter, I should love how detailed the plot structure is, but my brain doesn’t like it until the second draft for some reason. Still, it’s a really great plot structure to use, especially for new writers because it pretty much tells you where everything needs to go! Basically, according to the Save the Cat Beat Sheet, there are fifteen story beats that should be included in your story. I’m severely simplifying this, but this link is where I found a lot of information on Save the Cat, and I’m also including the aforementioned 15 beats below. The site goes into great detail about how to use Save the Cat for your story. But, I really do like how everything in this method is broken up into percentages, and I cannot recommend this enough if you’re struggling with plot structure. 

Opening Image – 0% to 1%

Theme Stated – 5%

Setup – 1% to 10%

Catalyst – 10%

Debate – 10% to 20%

Break Into Two – 20%

B Story – 22%

Fun and Games – 20% to 50%

Midpoint – 50%

Bad Guys Close In – 50% to 75%

All is Lost – 75%

Dark Night of the Soul – 75% to 80%

Break Into Three – 80%

Finale – 80% to 99%

Final Image – 99% to 100%

Step Five: Just Start Writing

I feel like I’m saying this in all my posts now, but once you’ve done everything above, there really is nothing left to do but start writing! I freely admit that I am a perfectionist in terms of my story outlines, but as I’ve gotten older that sometimes I use my need to have a sturdy outline as an excuse to procrastinate the writing process. When I’m scared to start writing a project I reason with myself that I can’t start writing if my outline isn’t finished, but I’m also procrastinating finishing my outline cause deep down I’m scared to start writing. It’s a never ending process. So, when you’re working on figuring out the main plot and the structure of your story, try not to stress about it! I can’t tell you how many times things change while I was in the middle of writing or in later drafts of the story! 

I really hoped this help! Thanks for sending in the ask and being so nice!

[largishcat]

circling back around to the issue of writers being expected to do all their own goddamn marketing via social media these days, because it completely nixes the possibility of writers being weird shut ins, off-putting eccentrics, or misanthropes. 80% of the literary canon was written by weird shut ins, off-putting eccentrics, and misanthropes. if you weed out everyone who’s the wrong kind of insane to maintain a twitter presence, who on earth is left

[brittany-diamond]

It also doesn’t work.

An author directly hawking their stuff on social media has nowhere near the influence of even a bare bones marketing plan. Authors telling their audience about new work is the cherry on top of a marketing plan, not the icing and certainly not the cake. Trad pub knows this. They see the numbers. 

When a trad publisher blames an author for low sales specifically because “we don’t think you put enough into marketing,” it’s literally the last excuse they have when there’s no clear reason why a book didn’t sell. And because they don’t want it to be, heaven forbid, their fault, it suddenly becomes the author’s. I usually spend my time arguing in favor of trad pub because there are so many myths and misconceptions (and indie pub tends to be discussed with an inaccurately rosy tint), but this is definitely one area where they can and should be thrown to the wolves.

Alexa Donne has some great videos on Youtube about this and I highly recommend watching them (and any other content she has on trad pub, since she’s like four books deep into her YA trad pub career).  

[ellesliterarycorner]

Writing the Middle of Your Story

Ah, Saggy Middle Syndrome. The bane of every writer’s existence. If you’ve been following along on my NaNoWriMo 2022 journey on instagram, I have been definitely been on the struggle bus in terms of writing the middle of my story. When I do NaNo, I always try to write the middle of my project earlier in the month when I’m more energetic to avoid having Saggy Middle Syndrome later on in the month. One of the downsides of writing scenes out of order, is that I love writing the beginning and the end of my stories, but the middle is always a bit of a drag. It’s a common feeling amongst writers which leads to the aforementioned Saggy Middle Syndrome. It’s really unfortunate because the middle is often the most important part of the story; it bridges the beginning and end and provides a lot of the character development, conflict, and plot. 

Can You Say Drama?

One of the main reasons for stories suffering from sagging-middle syndrome is that the middle contains absolutely no content that contributes to the progression of the main conflict. When I write stories, I generally add a lot of conflicts in and around the middle of the story. Obviously the main battle showdown between the two sides shouldn’t take place in the middle of the story and then disappear forever, but I would definitely have your protagonist and your antagonist clash in some form in the middle of the story. They don’t even have to clash directly, but some mini-confrontations are a great way to add some conflict and drama to the middle of your story. This will keep the action rising and intensifying until you reach a peak which is where the final conflict and the climax will happen.

Check Those Character Arcs

I am definitely a character over plot reader. Some of my favorite books may not have had the best plots in the world, but the characters were so compelling and interesting that I didn’t really care. Like I said earlier, the middle is where I normally see the biggest chunk of character development and relationships formed. All your major characters should change over the course of the novel. They don’t have to be completely different people, but there should be a little bit noticeable difference between a character in Chapter 1 and that same character in Chapter 25. If you’ve written the beginning and the end and your characters look exactly the same, adding some character development in the middle of your story is a great way to make the middle of your story more interesting, and overall, make your story more interesting. Personally, I don’t like reading about flat characters, and even if it’s not a major plot point, seeing how they undergo even the smallest change is so interesting to see in my opinion! 

A Little Bitty Outline

As y’all know, I am the biggest plotter on the whole planet. I have to at least have a skeleton outline before I start any of my stories. I always tell everyone whether they’re a plotter or a pantser that you should probably plot out or at least have an idea of what the beginning and the ending of your story will be. But, after learning a lot more about Saggy Middle Syndrome, I think I would add the middle of your story to that list as well. You don’t have to have a complete intricate outline, but having even just a little note of a few character beats or plot points that you know you want to include in the story. It’s literally like one of those little Connect the Dots game. If you have an idea of your beginning and end, it can be nice to take a moment and sit down to figure out how the two will connect. Figuring out how your beginning becomes your ending in a cohesive way pretty much ensures that the middle will be interesting and compelling for your readers!

Sprinkle In A Subplot

I talked about this a little bit with my post about writing subplots, but subplots really are a great addition to your story in almost every way. They can definitely boost the word count and content of your story, in the middle section! That shouldn’t be all a subplot is, but if your story has very little to fill the middle of the book, consider adding a sub-plot. These subplots are introduced after the main plot after your story has already been established which conveniently normally falls within the middle of your story. If it’s a shorter subplot, the subplot might even have its climax and resolution all within the middle of the novel. This addition can really give your subplot room to shine in that section of the novel while also keeping your readers engaged in the story and also progressing the story forward when the characters need to take a little break from the main plot of the story.  

[ellesliterarycorner]

Tips for NaNoWriMo 2022

NaNoWriMo 2022 is 12 hours away! I will not be staying up to midnight to start writing cause your girl needs her sleep, but I am still so excited to write tomorrow! Last year, NaNoWriMo went extremely well for me, and I’m trying not to hold myself to the same standards this year cause I’m in the middle of college apps now. Still, I am so in love with the story I’m going to be writing, and I cannot wait to dive into this new world with all these new characters. NaNoWriMo can be extremely intimidating, especially if it’s your first time trying it out. 50,000 words in 30 days is a whole lot of words in not a whole lot of days. Don’t worry! Here are a few tips to keep NaNo 2022 as stress free and fun as possible.

Word Vomit and Writing Sprints 

My biggest problem when doing NaNo in past years is that I let my perfectionism get in the way of just writing! I never believe in editing as you write, but it’s especially bad when you’re writing for NaNo. December is for editing whatever mess you wrote; November is for actually getting it all down. Normally, I don’t do word writing sprints, but writing sprints during NaNo are the most helpful things on the planet. Challenging yourself to sit still and write as many words as possible for 5 minutes is so helpful in reaching your daily writing goal! I often call the product of those little writing sprints ‘word vomit.’ It’s messy, probably makes no sense, and will definitely end up getting deleted later, but it’s words and they’re on the page. That’s the most important part! I talk about this more later, but NaNo is not about writing pretty; it’s about writing fast. My favorite thing to do during NaNo is employ the trusty bracket method: if I have absolutely no clue what to write next I simply write a short description of what I want to happen in brackets and move on to the next thing that I know I can write. This is one of the times when quantity is far better than quality. You’ll have time to make it pretty later. For now, just do a writing sprint, and word vomit!

Winning Isn’t Everything!

It’s the only thing! Jk jk. I have a complicated relationship with the “winning” and “losing” aspect of NaNoWriMo. On one hand, it is kinda a competition, but on the other hand, saying you either win or lose something puts a whole lot of pressure and stress on it, especially for young writers. I used to get so upset when I ‘lost’ NaNo even though I had written thousands of words and completely exhausted myself in the process. Now, I tend to take a much more lax approach to it, and I think that comes from having been on both sides of it. 'Winning’ and ‘losing’ Nano has been pretty much equally beneficial to me as writer and as a person. It helps you grow and learn what works for you and what doesn’t work! Now, I’m not saying all this to say that I’m just going to relax and not even going to try to write 50,000 words in November. I definitely am going to try, but at the same time, writing something is better than writing nothing, so I count that as a win either way. If you are completely committed to doing whatever you can to reach your NaNo goal, though, make sure to be kind to yourself. We’re only human!

Playlist? Check! Tea? Check! Chocolate? Check!

Some people jump straight into NaNo without an outline and with only a vague idea of what they’re writing. Some people (me included) have a full detailed outline ready to go at 12AM. It doesn’t matter which side you’re on. But, I do recommend no matter what, take at least five minutes to decide where you're going to write! It doesn’t have to be the same place every time even though I do love me a good little routine. Maybe you carve out a little space in your room, or you have your favorite writing nook in your local library! Whatever works for you and your writing process! I also recommend having a little writer bag. I take mine with me to school every day. It has my headphones, my planning notebook, my laptop charger, a bottle of CrystalLite iced tea, and some Hershey Kisses: all the things that bring me joy and prepare me to get in my writing headspace. Having all those things nearby and easily accessible helps cut down on prep time and decreases procrastination or my worst enemy. 

NaNo Your Way!

This is probably my biggest tip. I didn’t start actually winning and enjoying myself until I realized that it really didn’t matter what anyone else was doing. It was me against me. My own self-doubt was my own worst enemy. That means that during NaNo do whatever you want! If you want to write 50,000 words of poetry instead of a novel, do that! That is still 50,000 words of writing, and that is a major accomplishment, and tbh, slightly more impressive. The beauty of NaNo is how every person does it differently, but we all come together to create something at the end of it! Don’t worry about finding the perfect word or filling all of those plot hole! Like I said earlier, all of that will come later! Take full advantage of the absolute messiness of NaNo! You don't have to write anything to please anybody but yourself. If you do happen to be writing something that you want to edit later and publish, then whatever you write in a first draft is for those future versions of you to edit and rewrite. Right now, it’s worthy just as it is, and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.  

[cakemyteas-deactivated20230716]

olivia cooke singlehandedly putting nuance into this show despite the writers’ best efforts

seriously why would the writers want the show to be so black/white jeez everyone else pulling double time shifts to fix the show and clean up the writers’ messes

[malaiikka]

THE SHEER HYPOCRISY of team black praising Daemon for killing Vaemond at court for insulting Rhaneyra but apparently Criston is wrong for doing the exact same thing with the exact same motivations after that shit lord baselessly accused Alicent of regicide??? Ok.