I should be writing

Georgia, 19, she/her. I have literally always wanted to be an author. There was no sudden realisation or epiphany, I just knew it, the same way I knew that the sky was blue or that I loved my mum. Writer of angsty LGBT+ short stories and poetry,  but currently working on a novel. 

[georgiawrites]

One thing that I really struggle with when I’m writing my first draft is that I know it is so bad. What is the point of writing this, I wonder, when it is so awful. So I keep these two fantastic quotes up at my desk to remind me that so long as I get it on the page, I will be able to create something wonderful later:

“I’m writing a first draft and reminding myself that I’m simply shoveling sand into a box so that later I can build castles.” – Shannon Hale 

“Don’t be afraid to write crap because crap makes great fertilizer.”  –  Jessica Brody 

Writing something bad is far better than writing nothing at all

[loghainmactir]

old: no one cares about my work/ocs :(

new: i care. i care about my work and my ocs. i think my work and my ocs are wonderful and while it’s good to have validation, i am creating my content for me & to please myself first and foremost. if people connect with & enjoy my work that’s great, but i’m making it for me, and that’s what matters.

[pixel-writes]

i want to write!! i want to finish my book!! i want to hold the finished version on my hands!! and NOTHING will stop me!!

[flythesail]

Me every time I open my WIP

[thatwritergirlsblog]

Writing an Opening Scene

In my video on common writing mistakes, I highlight the fact that many writers try too hard to make their very first line stand out - often to the detriment of consistency and style. So, here are my tips for writing a good first scene:

1. The 4Ws

This may sound like a high school essay lesson, or tips on writing a newspaper article. But hear me out.

Your readers (or potential agents) will probably judge whether or not to continue with the book based off the first few pages.

This means that you have to give them a good idea of what the story is about.

No, that doesn't mean summarizing everything and giving away your plot twists. It means showing the reader what the story is about, giving them a character to root for (who), introducing setting (where), placing the reader in the timeline (when) and establishing motivation (why).

2. In medias res?

One of the ways you can start your novel is in the middle of some action.

This is a great way to write an exciting opening scene BUT it must be done with caution.

The reader will only be excited by action if they are rooting for the main character. If you jump right into a fight scene or something of that nature, your reader has had no time to get to know the character or understand why they should care about their survival.

So, my advice would be to insert some action AS SOON AS you think the character has been established sufficiently.

So, for some characters, that might be done a sentence or two. For others, it might take a chapter.

Take only as much time as is necessary to establish character before diving into the inciting incident.

3. The Don'ts

There are certain types of opening lines/scenes that have been done too many times. Agents often reject books that start with the following:

A dream

A character getting ready (with nothing strange/exciting happening)

A character looking in a mirror

The weather

Pages and pages and pages of ordinary life with no clues as to what the story is about

4. Dialogue?

Perhaps you'd like to start your novel with characters speaking to each other. This is a good option, but it has its pitfalls

Once again, the reader will only feel invested in the conversation if they know who the characters are. So, you'll have to weave information about those 4ws between the dialogue.

Don't just throw your readers into a pages-long dialogue about things they've never heard of, between characters they've just met.

It might be a good idea to have the opening line be dialogue, and then switch over into narration for one or two paragraphs to orient the reader.

5. Breathe

I know that as a writer, we stress about the beginning of the book. We have anxiety about people reading it and then putting the book down.

But your opening scene is just like any other scene. Yes, it's important. But so is the rest of your book.

Don't try to write the best opening scene ever written and then write a mediocre story from there.

Just focus on introducing the reader to the story and writing as good a scene as you can. If you can write other things, you can write an opening scene as well.

Reblog if you found these tips useful. Comment if you'd like to request a writing advice post. Follow me for similar content.

[pseudofaker]

Just know that everyone’s writing is terrible. Until it’s not. No one’s stuff is right immediately. You gotta work it. Refine it. Shape it. Spend time with it. It’s a relationship. Between you and what comes from you. Not easy. Gonna be terrible before it’s not. And that’s okay. - Ava Duvernay

[omgbrekkerkaz]

reblog if ur a writeblr

(or just let me know) my feed is kinda dead rn and i’d love to see more wips and excerpts!! 💞

[lizardcookie]

fell asleep while writing and

[bookishdiplodocus]

Reblog the writers’ fortune cookie for luck!

[redeadepression]

Guys I reblogged this and then wrote an 8000 word story I didn’t even have a solid plan for. Reblog this shit.

[epicfangirl01]

Please, great fortune cookie of writing. I beg of you.

[huffle-ego]

I need this right now man!

[randomingoftherandomness]

Pls I need this

[halfpasteleventhhour-blog]

to all the writers reading this

[professorpotato-deactivated2021]

Tips for white artists/writers on PoC characters:

DON’T

•Dehumanize poc characters. This includes giving only your poc characters monstrous features (animal ears, tails, fangs)

•Don’t make your white girl oc’s soft and cute or fun while your brown/black girl oc’s are Muscular and Strong with Don’t Need No Man and strict attitudes, let brown and black girls be soft and cute and fun, too

•Make the only poc characters as villains, victims, refugees, especially the tan and dark-skinned poc—let poc be heroes, too

•Write your Muslim (and any brown) character in an arranged marriage or being forced into anything in general (ie, hijab)

•Give your East-Asian oc’s yellow skin, even if it’s light enough to almost look ‘natural’—it doesn’t, and no one has that skin tone

•Make your only East-Asian character(s) meek, submissive, quiet, brooding

•Describe poc skin tone with food (ie, chocolate skin)

•Make only your poc characters the edgy, temperamental, brooding or jealous characters while your white oc’s get to be colorful and bright and strong and fun

•Have your white oc’s always better off than the poc characters (whether it’s money, status, beauty, power, etc)

•Kill all your poc characters off or torture them repeatedly while the white characters get everything they want

•Fetishize your poc characters (ie, how the brown girls in Disney films are all sexualized vs the soft innocence of white Disney princesses, how Native Americans are often sexualized, etc)

•This includes the sexy “Exotic” trope

•Write about an experience or identity that isn’t yours to write about—IE, you shouldn’t be writing from the perspective of a Muslim Arab-American girl facing racism and islamophobia in a small, white town. Write about another white character witnessing the events instead. (ie, secret life of bees)

And lastly…

•Don’t be afraid to ask.

DO

•Your research

•Include poc in a respectful manner (no it’s not that complicated)

•Be mindful of harmful tropes (angry Black woman, Muslim women being oppressed, etc)

•Let brown and black girls be love interests

•Romanticize (not sexualize) poc features (black and brown eyes, monolids, tan and dark skin tones, different nose shapes)

•Let girls have darker skin tones than their male love interest

•Let poc be disabled or have other identities—no it isn’t ‘too much’ to have a deaf, black, non-binary Muslim character

•Be mindful of internalized racism. The best way to avoid this is to…

•Ask poc about your non-white oc’s; if you think you’ve got a good handle on things, it’s likely you don’t. Don’t get mad if/when poc correct you. If you don’t know any poc, that already sounds like a problem and you should reach out to some people and go to @writingwithcolor’s blog, and do some of your own research as well

•Include interracial couples (yes it’s okay to have a poc in a relationship with a white person)

•Let brown/black men be soft and weak and romantic and kind

•Include tan and dark-skinned poc

And lastly…

•Write them as a person.

Feel free to add more! This was just off the top of my head

[just-a-jumbled-writer]

[jessicacaseyauthor-deactivated2]

me at EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU WONDERFUL INDIVIDUALS

[wadey-wilson]

me: i wanna write, i feel like writing

*opens a doc*

me: ok brain now let’s write

my brain:

[georgiawrites]

Hello hello! I'm Georgia and I’m new to the writeblr scene, just wanted to introduce myself!

I’m 19, she/her, and I have literally always wanted to be an author. There was no sudden realisation or epiphany, I just knew it, the same way I knew that the sky was blue or that I loved my mum.

So I have written countless short stories since I was a kid, was encouraged by my teachers and family (thanks, guys), I wrote some poetry, performed it, won a competition or two, and now I’ve started my first novel.

I mostly write angsty LGBT+ stuff (I’m a member of the community) and the novel I’m writing now is about two brothers who have been abandoned in different ways by both parents and shunned by their community. They finally escape the place they could never call home and get in a car accident, which is how they meet another family facing their own struggles. They’re forced to face the things they’ve been avoiding for years, like mental health, religion, and what it means to be a part of a real family.

I’ve written most of my first draft and part of my second. It’s slow going, but I’m determined to finish it!

Thanks for reading and for welcoming me to writeblr!

[tyypewriter]

one day you’ll have written a novel of your own.

you’ll be able to hold it in your hands, feel the weight of it - each chapter, each page, each word that you so lovingly crafted. you’ll be able to watch each scene, something you built and tended and know most intimately, unfold beneath your hands again with every turn of the page. you’ll be able to run your thumb down the spine of the book and feel the shape of your name pressed into the side, because this is yours.

so keep writing. because your novel is just waiting for you to bring it into existence.

site that you can type in the definition of a word and get the word

site for when you can only remember part of a word/its definition 

site that gives you words that rhyme with a word

site that gives you synonyms and antonyms

[bumblebeebabie]

THAT FIRST SITE IS EVERY WRITER’S DREAM DO YOU KNOW HOW MANY TIMES I’VE TRIED WRITING SOMETHING AND THOUGHT GOD DAMN IS THERE A SPECIFIC WORD FOR WHAT I’M USING TWO SENTENCES TO DESCRIBE AND JUST GETTING A BUNCH OF SHIT GOOGLE RESULTS

[thatawkwardtinyperson-deactivat]

God yes reblog to save a writers life

[storiesabouthumanandthings]

For my fellow writers who also suck with words

[writing-and-nutmeg]

Me: reads my writing aloud to people

Me: receives (1) critique

Me:

[georgiawrites]

hello writers of tumblr!

i’m new on the writeblr scene and need some people to follow. like or reblog so I can get some writing content on my dash!