Ember's Writing Blog @emberravenwrites - Tumblr Blog

(Re-)Intro

Hi all! I’ve been pretty inactive for a while thanks to having a hard time at uni, so I thought I’d make a new intro post, especially since there have been a lot of changes since the last one!

I’m Ember, they/them or xe/xyr, and I’m in my early 20s. I’ve been writing on-and-off for years, but until recently it was pretty much exclusively oc-insert fanfiction.

I have five main WIPs, all in varying stages of development, and I’m hoping having somewhere to talk about them will motivate me to work on them more!

Any ask games I reblog are all free game, regardless of how long it’s been since I’ve reblogged them.

Always open to chat, whether that be via asks, through reblogs, or in dms - especially if you want to ask about any of my WIPs, or talk about books, or your own WIPs, or anything else!

Also always accepting book recs, though I can’t guarantee I’ll get round to them quickly.

If you want on (or off) a taglist for any of my wips, please let me know!

Very brief premises & statuses of all 5 WIPs under the cut:

#writeblr #writeblr community #writeblr intro #writers on tumblr #intro #about

so i uhhhh came up with another wip idea like last week and i'm apparently doing it for camp nano next month. i guess.

anyway i don't have a name for it or any of the characters, but the plot outline is done and so is most of the worldbuilding. it's pure sci-fi this time, and the inspiration seems to have come from a mix of the gunslinger (which i read recently) and trigun

and um. sorry for disappearing again.

#misc #wip #update #3s

hacvek

reminder to worldbuilders: don't get caught up in things that aren't important to the story you're writing, like plot and characters! instead, try to focus on what readers actually care about: detailed plate tectonics

#misc #unfortunately true

novlr

How do you write a dream sequence?

Dream sequences allow writers to tap into the mysterious and sometimes bizarre world of dreams, exploring the subconscious and integrating symbolism and metaphor into their storytelling. Dreams can reveal a character's deepest fears, desires, and motivations in ways that may not be immediately obvious in the waking world. Writing a dream sequence can be challenging, but it's also an opportunity to let your imagination run wild, bringing your characters and stories to life in powerful and unforgettable ways.

What makes a good dream sequence?

Dream sequences should mimic actual dreams: chaotic, disorienting, yet meaningful. Readers should experience the same confusion and vividness they would in their own dreams.

A good dream sequence should give insight into a character's inner world while also advancing the story. To achieve this, it's important to strike a balance between the logical structure of the narrative and the illogical nature of dreams.

Vivid imagery: Dreams are often hyper-real, so the more vivid your descriptions, the more captivating and immersive the dream becomes.

Sensory details: In dreams, senses are often heightened, and evoking the senses can both enhance and subvert expectations

Symbolism: Everything has meaning in dreams. Dream sequences use symbols to foreshadow, hint, and reinforce.

Emotion: Using emotion in dream sequences allows characters to explore their heightened state, and expose their feelings on events.

Confusion: Dreams can be illogical and disjointed. By disorienting both your characters and readers, you can explore new narrative avenues.

Representation of desires or fears: Dreams often reflect our subconscious thoughts and emotions, and the images and events in the dream can reveal important information about the character's inner world.

Types of dream sequences

There are several different types of dream sequences that you can use in your writing. Each type serves a different purpose and can be used to convey different information about your characters and their inner worlds.

Foreshadowing: Dreams that set up or hint at future events in the narrative.

Nightmares: Dreams that evoke fear or anxiety in the dreamer and can reveal their deepest fears.

Lucid dreams: Dreams where the dreamer is aware that they are dreaming and can control what happens.

Fantasy dreams: Dreams that involve fantastical elements, such as talking animals or magical powers.

Recurring dreams: Dreams that happen over and over again and may represent unresolved issues in the dreamer's life.

Realisation dreams: Where something “clicks” for a character that they couldn’t figure out while awake.

Internal conflict: Dreams that give a colourful illustration of a character’s inner turmoil, letting the writer show, not tell.

Linked dreams: Dreams that allow two characters to communicate while asleep through a shared connection.

Quick tips for writing dream sequences

Dream sequences can add a unique and captivating element to any story, but they can be difficult to write. To ensure that your dream sequences are engaging, there are three things to keep in mind.

Firstly, apply logic, but remember that the dream needs to function as a scene and needs some sort of narrative.

Secondly, use narrative distance to create a floaty, dreamlike feel that makes your readers feel they're dreaming too.

Finally, use detail to create a certain atmosphere, either vague and eerie or overcrowded and stressful. Take care not to overdo it and make your readers uneasy to the point of wanting to walk away.

#ref #idk how else to tag this tbh so i hope i can find it later

anyway i'm here again (maybe consistently this time idk) and rise of heroes (the superhero wip) first draft is done.

i'm probably gonna be posting some character stuff soon, so if anyone knows any good picrews for that sort of thing i'd appreciate it :)

#mine #wip #writeblr #writeblr community #misc #update #see my prev post for a little snippet :)

emberravenwrites

Series Title: Rise of Heroes

Genre(s): action, superhero(, background queer romance(s))

Status: main story almost fully outlined, most background lore/worldbuilding completed

Summary: The vigilante Shade, as her name implies, works best under cover of darkness. The hero Supernova is a shining beacon - some more dramatic individuals call her a second sun. Magus is a pseudonym famous in some circles and infamous in others. No one knows where Glitch came from, or what she can really do - they just know not to cross her.

All of them, as far as anyone knows, work alone.

The bad guys really should have known better than to force them to team up.

emberravenwrites

@sapphic-story I did not have a tag list but I do now! and yes the character dynamics are honestly one of my fave things abt this wip 😊

emberravenwrites

@sapphic-story idk if you're still interested, but draft 1 of this wip is finally complete! if ur not, i'll untag u

regardless. hi everyone, it's been uhhh 4 months since my last reblog and 9 since my last original post. here's a snippet from around the middle of this wip:

“Hey, Magus?” [Shade] called. Magus turned, wobbling in place slightly. “Yeah?” “What the fuck did you do to my AI?” “I-I don’t? What happened?” Comet and Glitch glanced between the pair like they were watching a tennis match. “Let me put this another way,” Shade said. “Congratulations, it’s a boy. Welcome to parenthood, because like fuck am I letting you bugger off without taking responsibility for your actions.”

#roh #mine #self reblog #wip #writing

dingdongyouarewrong

most of y'all probably already know about this website, but if you're a writer and you're looking for names for your characters (especially ones that fit a particular theme) might i recommend magic baby names?

you can enter one (or multiple) names and it'll automatically generate names that are thematically similar to the one(s) you gave them, which can be SO HELPFUL when you're looking for inspiration

#ref #resources #names #q

thecaffeinebookwarrior-deactiva

Places To Post Original Fiction

1.) Commaful – a friendly and supportive writing community, smaller but denser than Wattpad, and far more active and engaging.

2.) FictionPress – original fiction’s answer to FanFiction.net. If you’re familiar with that format, you’ll be familiar with this.

3.) Smashwords – an ebook publishing platform that also welcomes short stories, and collections thereof.

4.) WritersCafe – old-school but solid, with an active community and plenty of contests/challenges to get the creative juices pumping.

5.) Medium – a place where you can post, essentially, anything and everything. Articles and non-fiction are its biggest market, but fiction is welcome as well.

6.) Booksie – less community-based, with fewer interactions and comments. However, it still attracts great talent, and can be great for authors who are shy and don’t want to get bombarded with interaction.

7.) RoyalRoad – a rich community, with a strong emphasis on mutual support between authors. Focuses on web novels, fanfiction, and original stories.

8.) FanStory – an oldie but a goody. Don’t be fooled by the name – it seems to be predominantly original fiction, and offers contests with cash prizes.

9.) Young Writers Society – as the name suggests, oriented towards writers in their teens and twenties, but is by no means exclusive to authors of this age bracket.

10.) Wattpad – Wattpad provides users with the opportunity to post original fiction and gain a loyal following. It’s not for everyone, but some people swear by it.

On that note, you can also post original fiction to AO3 and FanFiction, but as they are predominantly for fan works, I decided not to include them on this list. What’s your favorite way to post original fiction?

Happy writing, everybody!

#ref #resources #i feel i've rbed this before but w/e

So.

Good news! Camp Nano was a resounding success!

The novel in question (the superhero one) is not finished, but it is now at 50,277 words.

Honestly, near the end I was starting to doubt I could finish, but I did!

#mine #camp nano #*whispers* i won #update

writingmaz

Writing Tips

Punctuating Dialogue

✧

➸ “This is a sentence.”

➸ “This is a sentence with a dialogue tag at the end,” she said.

➸ “This,” he said, “is a sentence split by a dialogue tag.”

➸ “This is a sentence,” she said. “This is a new sentence. New sentences are capitalized.”

➸ “This is a sentence followed by an action.” He stood. “They are separate sentences because he did not speak by standing.”

➸ She said, “Use a comma to introduce dialogue. The quote is capitalized when the dialogue tag is at the beginning.”

➸ “Use a comma when a dialogue tag follows a quote,” he said.

“Unless there is a question mark?” she asked.

“Or an exclamation point!” he answered. “The dialogue tag still remains uncapitalized because it’s not truly the end of the sentence.”

➸ “Periods and commas should be inside closing quotations.”

➸ “Hey!” she shouted, “Sometimes exclamation points are inside quotations.”

However, if it’s not dialogue exclamation points can also be “outside”!

➸ “Does this apply to question marks too?” he asked.

If it’s not dialogue, can question marks be “outside”? (Yes, they can.)

➸ “This applies to dashes too. Inside quotations dashes typically express—“

“Interruption” — but there are situations dashes may be outside.

➸ “You’ll notice that exclamation marks, question marks, and dashes do not have a comma after them. Ellipses don’t have a comma after them either…” she said.

➸ “My teacher said, ‘Use single quotation marks when quoting within dialogue.’”

➸ “Use paragraph breaks to indicate a new speaker,” he said.

“The readers will know it’s someone else speaking.”

➸ “If it’s the same speaker but different paragraph, keep the closing quotation off.

“This shows it’s the same character continuing to speak.”

neil-gaiman

I knew about half of this when I started writing. It’s amazing the stuff they don’t teach you in school that you have to work out on your own. And look, all beautifully laid out for you.

#ref #dialogue

ghost-town-story

I officially can’t write in first person-past tense anymore lol. I started out ASTHC like that, but I got halfway through a scene today before suddenly realizing I’m back in present tense.

Whoops. Oh well lol

genby-enby

I can explain some of the things you mentioned in the tags!

First: The narrative purposes of past and present tense.

Past tense gives your story the air of being told. Your narrator is recounting past events to your audience. This allows for your narrator to make comments about things they noticed later and look back retrospectively on the events of the story in that moment of the narrative.

Present tense gives your story the air of happening at this very moment. Your narrator is essentially talking to themselves in the moment. This allows for your narrative to keep a running, fluid pace. However, if your narrator didn’t realize something in the moment, they can’t comment on it until later when they actually realized it.

Which tense you choose will depend largely on the Vibe™ you want for your story.

Second: Why you keep switching between tenses.

This is a very common occurance for writers! It’s affected by your own headspace while you’re writing.

Slipping into past tense happens when you are telling yourself the story as you write. It often happens when you’re thinking through the narrative problems you are solving and are thus removed from the narrative.

Slipping into present tense happens when you are experiencing the story as you write. It often happens when you’ve become absorbed in the narrative and have hit that writing Flow™. You’re simply recording events as they play out in your mind.

Neither of these things indicates how you should write your story (that’s something you’ll need to decide in revisions) and it isn’t really a problem in your first draft. I’d recommend writing however feels most natural in the moment and worrying about your tense later.

ghost-town-story

I wasn’t expecting a full on explanation, but I appreciate it! It’s good stuff to know, especially if I ever decide I want to actually be deliberate about which tense I’m writing in lol

#ref #tenses #process #q

aritany

alright friends. best revision tips: GO

tc-doherty

My one tip is to not edit in the draft that you already have, rewrite your entire book.

It makes it so much easier to make huge changes, because you’re not trapped within what you’ve already written. I know it’s a lot of work, but I swear by this and I do it for every draft of every single book.

If you’re just copy editing or line editing, that’s one thing. But if you think you need to make changes, you should try this.

karolinarodrigueswrites

Literally went through the notes to see if someone already said this

In the initial drafts of a complex/long story, it’s important to entirely rewrite the previous draft in a new document

Not just because of how your brain will interact with the previous text as it notices mistakes and oddities and formulates solutions, but because you need to keep intact copies of the first drafts

Along the years since I started rewriting the drafts various times till only some basic grammar check and proofreading is necessary, i have noticed that the relevance of whatever was done in a previous draft, even if badly, is never properly noticeable at first or third glance

I mentioned it before - you delete something on chapter 15 because it’s not what you wanted, but in later editing chapter 3 you might realize that thing you deleted could be really useful in this part

Even when I was completely disappointed and frustrated with a passage I wanted to burn away from this world, as I kept working on the new draft, it sooner or later could become important

There’s also how if you’re still struggling with a scene in draft 4, you can compare the previous drafts to see how you’ve approached the event each time, what was working, how it failed, etc, and better strategize a new attempt

And though rewriting everything itself is extra work, it speed runs a lot your ability to pick up things that need adjustment since the process, along with changing fonts here and there, can avoid a lot of how the brain can get so used to staring at a document, it no longer catches things that aren’t how they should be

tc-doherty

You know, I literally never even thought of it like this! But that’s a really good point too!

For me the first time I tried to edit something made one change in chapter 2, it just led to a snowball effect of ever-expanding changes which were harder and harder to work into the draft, and I never edited “in draft” like that again LOL

But also, I was constantly emailing files to myself, so I always had backup of older versions.

I have definitely found, over the years, some things that I added into a book - even if they weren’t necessarily in the right place originally - did end up being relevant in a later place, as you suggested. There are many benefits to rewriting your book hahahaha

#editing #process #ref #q

em-dashes

testing out cover design + new pen name 👀

#others #misc #wow #the art is amazing #love the colours #q

brynwrites

Harsh opinions, be forewarned:

Courteous critique isn’t just about avoiding hurt feelings.

Arrogance in critiquing can (and often will) make you look like a fool.

I talked a bit about the flip side of this situation in my article on giving critique, but lets look at it again from a different angle. Say in a round of feedback a writer gets these responses:

“It was so suspenseful! Especially the part where…”

“This was my favorite chapter so far. The pacing was fantastic and I could feel the protagonist’s pain during…”

“I couldn’t put it down. I felt like I didn’t breath through the entire section where…”

“I’m so emotional right now; you have no idea what this scene did to me! That line where…”

“This chapter was too bland to invoke any emotion in a reader. It was too poorly paced and had too many issues with the prose to allow for any sort of immersion. It might actually be suspenseful if you fixed all the…”

How much do you trust that final critique, after reading them all?

Maybe the final reader really didn’t get any emotion or suspense out of the scene, and there is almost always something the writer can tweak to make it better, but critique written in absolutes — critique which assumes, whether purposefully or not, that it’s the ultimate authority on the issue — makes the critiquer sound both ignorant and arrogant in the light of any contradiction.

The same feedback written in a courteous manner feels authentic and helpful:

“This chapter didn’t effect me emotionally in the way intended. The situations within ir were still interesting, even if I couldn’t feel the suspense while reading, so my disconnect was probably caused by the prose. It might invoke a much stronger reaction from me if…”

The difference here, is that the critiquer (despite possibly being someone of great insight or writing ability) shows they understand that the feedback they’re giving, while valid and definitely worthwhile, is still not the ultimate source of writing knowledge or the only way a reader might interpret the scene.

tl;dr Arrogance and lack of courtesy in critiquing doesn’t just hurt the person asking for feedback, but also severely damaged your reputation as a worthwhile and knowledgeable critiquer, and can cause people to discount your words entirely.

#critique #ref #process #q

octoswan

I made these as a way to compile all the geographical vocabulary that I thought was useful and interesting for writers. Some descriptors share categories, and some are simplified, but for the most part everything is in its proper place. Not all the words are as useable as others, and some might take tricky wording to pull off, but I hope these prove useful to all you writers out there!

(save the images to zoom in on the pics)

#ref #descriptions #locations #geography #q

shoesofthefishermanswife

Raspberry- I need your help to kill God. Seafoam - To understand what the fuck is wrong with you Charcoal- You have the best takes Russet- I need to borrow some money Navy- You are literally so sexy (Blushing emoji) Sage- IDK and every day I grow closer to blocking you Lilac- You make my dash better and I cherish you Harlequin- To remind me that there are still people more insane than I am on this website Apricot- I'm slowly poisoning you a little bit every day Steel- You post the most beautiful art/fics/edits Sapphire- I want to put you under a microscope and study you Carmine- I'm on one knee proposing <3 Forest- You are the stupidest motherfucker alive and I love you Mulberry- We should be having (more) gay sex Lemon- Funniest tags known to man

#ask game #misc

lyralit

thirty-three questions / ideas to write a sci-fi world

does the story take place on Earth?

when does it take place (future, present, past) ^ side note: it can take place in the past—think of Star Wars' "a long time ago"

what is the government type?

are there extraterrestrial species?

what is the effect of the world to the plot?

what are forms of new technology?

is there a developed timeline?

check out some sci-fi movies and series (Star Wars, Star Trek) and write down the scenes

read some sci-fi books (Ender's Game, Dune) and note the recurring themes and tropes

sci-fi often crosses with dystopia. does your story touch other genres?

what is the main differences between that world and ours?

what languages are spoken?

why did you decide on sci-fi?

draw a map of the world

draw some of the creatures

fix together a playlist from different sci-fi movies and shows to create a background to your story

what books is it inspired by?

could the world be Earth-similar?

what are the great events in this world's history?

how is the culture different?

what foods are common? is it similar to the kind we eat now, or is more developed for activities such as space travel?

what do people in this world wear?

how far have people travelled in this world?

what are common activities in this world?

how is long-distance communication done?

what is the main/Universal tongue?

what are some funky/different trends in this world?

how has technology advanced?

draw out one of the most important places in this world

are the names different? made up, for example

what drives the people in this world?

what is something about this world that is better than ours?

what difference of this world makes it worse?

#worldbuilding #ref #q

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