FiXionHYPE

Love to read. Love to write. Love to share.

[septembercfawkes]

Story = Struggle. But random, unrelated things happening to your protagonist isn’t usually very effective. The protagonist should struggle *because* of the journey. They must pay a cost to be successful. And some of their struggles should come from their own choices.

(Generally speaking anyway)

[fixionhype]

Is there anything better in the world today than watching the sun slowly rise and knowing that the only thing on your agenda for this day is to sit yourself down and simply write?

[fixionhype]

Diana Gabaldon's 3 Rules For Writing Fiction - Writers Write

It seems as though every writer who’s been at it for awhile is moved to write down what they’ve discovered about the craft over the years. 

[severusish]

fanfics can range from “they f**ked on every surface imaginable using every position, style, method and implement known to mankind, until they passed out” to “you are my light and my soul, my love for you is undying, and my heart will never be the same” and i will consume it all without a second thought

[warmblanketwhump]

when there’s that ONE phrase that gives you the whumperflies but it doesn’t make any sense in your fic so you just kinda….put it there and hope no one notices 😂

[justkindaoverhereobsessing]

when you lose the plot halfway through your own WIP

[screnarchive-deactivated2022042]

a plot twist tip you don't hear very often

Sometimes suspense is worth it, even if it means serving your audience the entire plot on a silver platter:

In Romeo and Juliet, the audience knows Juliet isn't dead. Romeo does not. It's a tragedy. You sympathize with the characters.

In the play Oedipus Rex, Oedipus tries to expose the murderer of King Laius, not knowing that he himself is the murderer.

In the TV-show Breaking Bad, a DEA agent is looking for a crystal-meth producer who calls himself ''Heisenberg,'' not knowing that Heisenberg is his brother-in-law. Throughout the show, we follow Walter White (Heisenberg) as he grows his drug empire, while also having dinner by the pool with his brother-in-law. And we can't stop asking ourselves: when will this DEA agent figure out that the person he's looking for has been right under his nose all this time?

That my friends, is what we call dramatic irony. A literary device in which the audience's understanding of certain events or individuals in a story surpasses that of its characters.

What is meant by that is simple: it's not necessary for each and every plot twist in your story to come as a surprise to your audience. We all know that Scar is the one who really killed Mufasa, but that doesn't take anything away from the emotional impact following his death.

You will still have your audience at the edge of their seats, not out of suspense of what's going to happen, but out of fear, and excitement, of how the characters they've grown to love are going to react to it.

So it's not in any way wrong to drop important information ahead of time! Sometimes the best way to tackle a twist is simply to let your audience in on what's happening. Let them anticipate the emotional reactions of the characters. In certain cases, that on its own can be torture for whoever it is that's watching.

For all they know, this plot twist, and I am using plot twist loosely, it can just as well be a secret big enough to destroy a relationship, but not something that is going to affect every character, could potentially come to ruin everything your audience have grown attached to.

It can turn characters against each other, massive consequences to follow. Perhaps a certain character is heading towards certain death, perhaps their partner's falling for someone else, unaware of the infidelity that is happening because of it.

Or, we find ourselves in the beginning of the zombie apocalypse. Today, a character is enjoying a nice day out at the park, not knowing that yesterday evening, a herd of zombies marched through that same exact location.

Instant alarm bells start ringing for your audience — the apocalypse are upon us, but where did the zombies go? And when are the characters going to find out about this? How are they going to find out?

But that's not the worst part. The worst part is that a close family member has already fallen victim to the undead, and now, having been missing for a couple days, is slowly approaching our main character from behind, reanimated as a zombie. The audience has already seen this family member be bitten and turned, but for our main character, it's a different story.

Your audience are emotionally invested in your characters. Use that to your advantage.

To have an audience sit on a piece of information, not knowing how it's going to affect their favorite characters and relationships, can have just as much of an emotional impact as a ''regular'' plot twist.

"There is a distinct difference between "suspense" and "surprise," and yet many pictures continually confuse the two. I'll explain what I mean.

We are now having a very innocent little chat. Let's suppose that there is a bomb underneath this table between us. Nothing happens, and then all of a sudden, "Boom!" There is an explosion. The public is surprised, but prior to this surprise, it has seen an absolutely ordinary scene, of no special consequence. Now, let us take a suspense situation. The bomb is underneath the table and the public knows it, probably because they have seen the anarchist place it there. The public is aware the bomb is going to explode at one o'clock and there is a clock in the decor. The public can see that it is a quarter to one. In these conditions, the same innocuous conversation becomes fascinating because the public is participating in the scene. The audience is longing to warn the characters on the screen: "You shouldn't be talking about such trivial matters. There is a bomb beneath you and it is about to explode!"

In the first case we have given the public fifteen seconds of surprise at the moment of the explosion. In the second we have provided them with fifteen minutes of suspense. The conclusion is that whenever possible the public must be informed. Except when the surprise is a twist, that is, when the unexpected ending is, in itself, the highlight of the story.”

― Alfred Hitchcock

[msrfanzine]

Fanfic Print Archive Project

As I've been trying to figure out Lulu (rather than Blurb, which no longer supports the trade paperbacks used for the previous zines), I started working on a print archive project for xf fic "classics."

This is a non-profit project designed just to preserve in hard copy some older favorites that may not be housed at Ao3, and so are more vulnerable to deletion/loss. I don't know these authors, and their contact info is out of date so if you know them, please let them know. I'm happy to take these down if any author objects--I just wanted a nicer way to preserve them than printing them out.

I will say, though, that I just got my copies, and they look so good. I worked really hard on the editing/formatting (about 10-15 hours each), so they're much nicer than the unformatted text of gossamer, livejournal, or the wayback machine. I'm planning to create some more in upcoming months, but they do take a while.

https://www.msrfanzine.com/fanfictionclassics.html

If you're an author and want something like this done with your work, please let me know!

I also plan to rework Volume 3 of the zine to finally get it printed (it just may be in a slightly different format than the others because of Blurb's changes). :)

[oh-theatre]

Me: *stops writing* well that’s enough writing for now

Me: *later* Alright time to write!

Me: *staring at where I left off*

[writingdotcoffee]

“Have your adventures, make your mistakes, and choose your friends poorly all — these make for great stories.”

— Chuck Palahniuk

[coffeebeanwriting]

Why You Should Never Delete Anything You Write!

If a scene, conversation or an idea is not working in your novel… here is why you should not delete it, but rather save it away somewhere else. Taking out scenes that don’t work can be healthy for your story, but you should move them to a spare document instead of deleting them permanently. Here’s why:

1) You can use it in a different story. If it’s not working in your current novel, it could fit into a future project.

2) It can inspire new ideas. Saving your writing and looking back on it every now and again can inspire a completely new perspective on it. This could give birth to new ideas to write in your current novel… or even bring to life a whole new story idea!

3) You can fix the scene/idea later. Whether it’s writers block or just lack of sleep… maybe you just need to come back to it later with fresh eyes. 

4) It might not be as bad as you think. If you’ve been working on your project every day for hours at a time, you might begin to overthink and nitpick your writing. Rather than delete stuff you grow to dislike, save it elsewhere and look back on it a few weeks later. You might realize that you just needed a break and it is actually a damn good scene.

5) Maybe it’s not the scene that is broken, but your structure/backstory. If your scene feels out of place or like it’s not working, consider asking yourself why it feels wrong. Maybe you need to figure out the bare bones of the scene and flesh it out more to make it work.

Instagram: coffeebeanwriting

📖 ☕ Official Blog: www.byzoemay.com

[screnarchive-deactivated2022042]

some proposal prompts

A proposes under the stars, telling B that no matter what happens, they'll always be there for them

slipping a wedding ring on your lover's finger while they're asleep, a wonderful surprise for them to wake up to the following morning

A's best friend (and their fiancée) dreams of a double-wedding. they convince A to propose to B at their engagement party

A recreates their first date with B, only this time the night ends with a proposal, not a first kiss

A proposes to B but gets rejected because B wants to be the one to propose

i jokingly propose to my best friend, and i expect them to say no, but instead it's a dead serious yes, and it changes everything

A makes it their mission to propose to B in a different way every year

you ask your kid(s) to help you propose to your lover. it's a messy proposal, your kid(s) not following protocol, but it's everything the two of you could ever have hoped for

A proposes to B at their friends' wedding reception (of course, for now it's a secret, as to not steal the thunder from the newly married couple)

it started out as a fake marriage — but this proposal is as real as it gets

A and B are at a mutual friend's wedding, but the relationship is falling apart. seeing as the wedding is already paid for [and to save their friend from being marked the village idiot], A pulls B from their seat, proposing to B right then and there

A's about to propose, but accidentally slips and hurt themselves. it doesn’t stop them from proposing while at the ER

A and B have been married for years — time to renew the vows?

A doesn't think it's fair to promise B forever considering they're on their death-bed, but A refuses to let go before that ring is on B's finger

A brings B back to their childhood home (which A hasn't visited in forever), and proposes to them at the property

A's proposing — B tells them that they're pregnant

A dies to save B's life a mere day after their engagement

A brings up marriage on a whim, and B says ''okay, so let's get married.''

A can't stop crying when proposing to B. A's holding the ring, and they're on their knees, but can't get a single word out. A's simply in complete disbelief over being loved by such an amazing person

it's nothing more than two best friends promising each other that if neither are married or dating at the age of twenty-five, they'll marry each other. well, you're officially twenty-five, time to bring out those wedding bands!

A jokingly tells B it's about time they propose. what A doesn't expect is for B to pull out an actual wedding ring

it's the day of the planned proposal... A's gone and misplaced the ring, and is now full on panicking

[writingwithcolor]

I have an African American character in a new story I’m writing. She has curly kinky hair going down to her shoulders. My question is: how would I describe her hair in three different states; wet, recently dried, and dry? Also, how long would it take on average to completely dry? She lives in a relatively cool environment where the sun isn’t normally very bright.

Describing curly hair in various states

Well, it depends on her type of hair. 3C or 4A ? Low porosity or high porosity ?

3C is more curly, 4A more kinky, but I advise you to look it up by yourself as there are more types than just these two (and one can have multiple on its head ! I have a mix of 3B/3C/4A, 3B on the front near my face, 3C for the vast majority and 4A for underneath the sides/back).

Low porosity means that the hair is not likely to absorb anything, high porosity means that it will absorb water/products but reject it as fast as it entered (there are techniques to “lock it up”). Low porosity hair generally keeps its volume even under water, while high porosity hair tends to be wavy when it’s wet, due to water weighing it down.

Oh, and shrinkage entered the chat ! Afro hair generally shrinks when dried, but it varies for one another. For example, my hair shrinks A LOT, meaning that the length I get when they are wet (even though they are low porosity) is totally different from their length once dried, they shorten like crazy.

I advise you to watch videos on YouTube of Black girls doing their hair. You will be able to see their length wet, dried, how they dry depending on how they style it, what methods they use to detangle and so on.

Each head is different, even in the same family, hence why it’s complicated to answer your question with a short answer.

- Mod Lydie 

Completely agree with Lydie! Curly / afro hair looks vary, coming in a wide variety of textures, thickness, and porosity. Some folk’s curly hair seems to dry within a second (aka mine…ugh!) while others can hold moisture that seems to cling on for hours on end.

I recommend you do the following:

Determine the general look and hair type for your character

Look up “determining curly hair type” and matching images in relation to said hair (for example, if it’s mostly 4C, look up wet and dry 4C hair images or videos) 

Find the appropriate words for these images. I have a words to describe Black hair that was made for you! See the bottom of this post.

Here’s some more descriptions from the 3 - 4 curly hair range. Feel free to use these terms in your writing. This info is from research I’ve done for my own hair care, mostly based on the NaturallyCurly website.

Hair typing terms and general care guidelines

3 type hair

Curly Twirly 3A 

Definite loopy “S” pattern and curls are well defined and springy. 

Naturally big, loose and often very shiny. 

Size: Sidewalk chalk size. 

Best Products:  Gels and creams with light moisture and curl definition. Milks and smoothies.

Curly Spirally 3B 

Well-defined, springy copious curls 

Range from bouncy ringlets to tight corkscrews. 

Size: Sharpie size.

Best Products: Gels and styling creams with extra moisture and serious frizz control.

Curly Kinky* 3C 

Voluminous, tight curls in corkscrews. 

Can be either kinky or very tightly curled, with lots of strands densely packed together. The very tight curls are usually fine in texture. 

Size: Pencil.

Best Products:  Styling creams, butters, and oils. This hair needs extra moisture and tender care.

*Note on the word kinky: Kinky is not always a well-perceived word, depending on the individual. There’s plenty of alternative words, though. 

Read more: Describing Black Hair as “Kinky”

4 type hair

4A Coily Springy

Tight, coily, most fragile curls.

Well-defined “S” Pattern

Size: Crochet Needle or smaller

4B Coily Crimpy

Tight, coily, fragile curls

Less-defined “Z” Pattern

Hair bends in sharp angles

Best Products: Pre-poo with coconut oil or castor oil to help retain natural oils in your scalp. 

4C Coily Ziggly

Tight, coily, fragile curls

Curl pattern won’t clump without styling

Less visible definition per individual curl

Best Products: Use a creamy humectant as a leave-in to maximize protection from the elements. A curl defining custard or gelee can stretch the coil safely for twist-outs and braid-outs. Use a detangling co-wash with slippery elm or marshmallow root.

Hair typing is for general use

I recommend these types of hair typing charts to get a more general idea of what you’re going for in terms of the look of hair. But everyone’s hair is different! Hair porosity, width and density informs specific hair care needs, not the hair type. 

If you’re not looking for in-depth hair care, but general info just to carry the story along, hair typing terms and assumptions should work just fine for your individual story / characters. Just avoid generalizing. (e.g. her hair is 4c and all 4c hair loses moisture fast! No, OP’s happens to do this, but it’s not a rule for all people with that hair type)

More reading: 

Words to describe hair

WWC Description guides

~Mod Colette

Published Jan 2022

[writingdotcoffee]

“Abandon the idea that you are ever going to finish. Lose track of the 400 pages and write just one page a day, it helps. Then when it gets finished, you are always surprised.”

— John Steinbeck

[fantasyforbeginners]

Hero and Villain Foils

Hero and Villain foils are one of the most common relationships in writing, nearly to the point of being cliche, i.e. the age old “We’re not so different, you and I,” whether to torment a true hearted hero, or to appeal to a cold hearted villain. Sometimes it works! 

However, I’ve found a few key things that make this trope feel more refreshing and intriguing than trite, so here are some things to keep in mind while crafting a Hero-Villain foil relationship, and some pitfalls to avoid.

Be aware of what energy you want to bring to the dynamic. This is comparable to what sort of tone. The energy could just be tragedy, or anger, or a little bit shippy. It could be all three! Or a more familial dynamic, depending on the hero-villain’s history. But intention is definitely important, or you may end up with a stilted dynamic or one that can be widely misinterpreted. (A little ‘misinterpretation’ is to be expected and enjoyed, but we still want to get villain-hero and later dad-son vibes from Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker generally?)

Have the similarities be more than surface level. There’s nothing worth more of an eye-roll than when a villain tries to draw parallels between themselves and the hero, and the hero agonizes over it, while the audience sits here knowing there’s blatantly no similarities between them. Yes, a hero and a villain may have grown up in different circumstances, but if you have a hero with a heart of gold who’s always genuinely a good person facing off against someone who’s been bad since the day they were born, any similarities you can draw is going to feel very shallow and easy to dismiss. That easy dismissal means your hero’s agonizing never feels apt or particularly worrisome. The best way I’ve found to combat is through two ways:

Have your hero and villain’s main flaw be the same. Anger, pride, a tendency to tunnel vision and ignore (or mistreat) the people around them because of it. Any flaw will do, and most flaws are also virtues. A confident character can easily turn prideful under changing circumstances, a loyal friend led astray due to their deep love for friends or family. On that note: figure out if your villain is a villain due to choices, circumstances, or both. It’ll help lead you to the right conclusion for them. Same for your hero.

Have your hero and villain want the same thing, but their methods are different. Maybe the villain believes wholeheartedly in bureaucracy that leaves hundreds to suffer in the meantime. Maybe the hero is fine with a little violence to achieve their ends, but not with harming innocents. It doesn’t have to be deeply political either. Maybe they’re both grieving, but the villain’s anger is more destructive to others than to themselves, the way the hero’s is.

Having more than surface level similarities makes your hero being tormented by it, or trying to appeal to the villain and have them change sides, hit all the harder and leads to deeper characterization in the meantime. 

Are they foils in contrast, or due to similarities? For an example, I’m going to pull in Aang and Zuko from Avatar: the Last Airbender, as they are one of the best written foils relationships basically ever. They have nothing in common childhood wise, one quick to anger and raised in a highly dysfunctional, nuclear family leading an imperialist war, the other calm and goofy and raised communally by monks. Yet when the show starts, they are both uniquely in exile, unable to go home whereas every other character in the series can. The parallels between them just increase from there, but they are foils primarily in their contrast to one another, rather than hardcore similarities. 

Meanwhile, Zuko and Sokka are foils mostly due to their similarities: pessimistic older brothers with swords who have younger, bending prodigy sisters, absent fathers, and missing/dead mothers, and who struggle under the societal and their own personal expectations of masculinity in attempts to prove their worth. It is possible, however, to do both, with similarities or differences being revealed over time due painstakingly building parallel backstories, or by showing just how far the divide between two characters and their choices have been.

Conclusion:

Crafting a well written hero-villain pair of foils can be something you stumble into. But once that realization has hit, making the active choose to lean into that foil relationship, and to decide how and where you want to stack your contrasts and/or parallels, is something that can only make the way the characters foil each other, and your writing, infinitely stronger!

[bugcosmos]

hi guys! so indefinitely i will be doing full colour commissions like the ones shown here for only $10, yes $10! message me on here if interested! you can ask for one, two, or three at a time. x files, msr and gillovny are the main fandom but i also do ted lasso and tedbecca, examples of which are here! more examples of my xf art (and others) can be found on my art account on twitter here! i can do other fandoms as well, whatever you like! of course some things i can't draw and that would have to be discussed as well as complexity etc. thank you! please share if you can ♡

[fixionhype]

“Irritated fans produce fanfic like irritated oysters produce pearls.” ― Anne Jamison, Fic: Why Fanfiction is Taking Over the World