Author…finally!

Author, artist, geocacher, hiker and Montana

[am-editing]

I needed this today…

[1000storyideas]

Creating plots with the zigzag method

I’ve learned this method years ago and I’ve been using it ever since. The zigzag plot creator starts like this: 

A crescent zigzag. 

You can have as many up and downs as you want. I’ve drawn six to keep it simple. Alright, this zigzag is your storyline and every corner is an important event that will change everything:

Every down represents a bad thing happening to your main characters, taking them further away from their goal. Every up is a good event, taking them closer to their goal:

So, when the zigzag goes down, something bad must happen. When the zigzag goes up, something good must happen. The reason why we drew a crescent zigzag is because every down must be worse than the previous, and every up must be better than the previous. As the zigzag advances, events become more serious and relevant. 

Let’s apply the zigzag method. My storyline is a detective trying to catch a serial killer in a futuristic city. Minutes later, this is what I’ve got:

Start: Detective, our protagonist, is just promoted

Down #1: Mass suicide happens in town, detective gets the case, the whole town thinks it might have been a religious suicide act, but detective suspects that someone single-handed killed all those people

Up #1: Detective finds clue about a possible killer

Down #2: A bigger mass murder happens, a true massacre, it’s a definitely a murder

Up #2: Detective finds the killer’s trail

Down #3: Thinking he is ahead of time, close to catching the killer, detective ends up dead in another mass murder

Up #3: Because of his notes and discoveries, the police is able to find the killer before they leave town

From this point on you can play with zigzag as much as you want. For example, changing the orientation of the zigzag for a bad ending:

Lots of ups and downs:

Or just a few:

It’s up to you (see what I did there?).

You can plot any type of story with the zigzag method. It’s a visual and easy process for a very complex task.

[juanitadiann]

Reblogging for future reference

[alphacrone]

the 7 deadly sins of being a writer

self-doubt

procrastination

sleep deprivation

jealousy

wailing (despair)

notebook lust

horrifying comma use

[lichen-soup-scribe]

Writing Traumatic Injuries References

So, pretty frequently writers screw up when they write about injuries. People are clonked over the head, pass out for hours, and wake up with just a headache… Eragon breaks his wrist and it’s just fine within days… Wounds heal with nary a scar, ever…

I’m aiming to fix that.

Here are over 100 links covering just about every facet of traumatic injuries (physical, psychological, long-term), focusing mainly on burns, concussions, fractures, and lacerations. Now you can beat up your characters properly!

General resources

WebMD

Mayo Clinic first aid

Mayo Clinic diseases

First Aid

PubMed: The source for biomedical literature

Diagrams: Veins (towards heart), arteries (away from heart) bones, nervous system, brain

Burns

General overview: Includes degrees

Burn severity: Including how to estimate body area affected

Burn treatment: 1st, 2nd, and 3rd degrees

Smoke inhalation

Smoke inhalation treatment

Chemical burns

Hot tar burns

Sunburns

Incisions and Lacerations

Essentials of skin laceration repair (including stitching techniques)

When to stitch (Journal article—Doctors apparently usually go by experience on this)

More about when to stitch (Simple guide for moms)

Basic wound treatment

Incision vs. laceration: Most of the time (including in medical literature) they’re used synonymously, but eh.

Types of lacerations: Page has links to some particularly graphic images—beware!

How to stop bleeding: 1, 2, 3

Puncture wounds: Including a bit about what sort of wounds are most likely to become infected

More about puncture wounds

Wound assessment: A huge amount of information, including what the color of the flesh indicates, different kinds of things that ooze from a wound, and so much more.

Home treatment of gunshot wound, also basics More about gunshot wounds, including medical procedures

Tourniquet use: Controversy around it, latest research

Location pain chart: Originally intended for tattoo pain, but pretty accurate for cuts

General note: Deeper=more serious. Elevate wounded limb so that gravity draws blood towards heart. Scalp wounds also bleed a lot but tend to be superficial. If it’s dirty, risk infection. If it hits the digestive system and you don’t die immediately, infection’ll probably kill you. Don’t forget the possibility of tetanus! If a wound is positioned such that movement would cause the wound to gape open (i.e. horizontally across the knee) it’s harder to keep it closed and may take longer for it to heal.

Broken bones

Types of fractures

Setting a broken bone when no doctor is available

Healing time of common fractures

Broken wrists

Broken ankles/feet

Fractured vertebrae: Neck (1, 2), back

Types of casts

Splints

Fracture complications

Broken noses

Broken digits: Fingers and toes

General notes: If it’s a compound fracture (bone poking through) good luck fixing it on your own. If the bone is in multiple pieces, surgery is necessary to fix it—probably can’t reduce (“set”) it from the outside. Older people heal more slowly. It’s possible for bones to “heal” crooked and cause long-term problems and joint pain. Consider damage to nearby nerves, muscle, and blood vessels.

Concussions

General overview

Types of concussions 1, 2

Concussion complications

Mild Brain Injuries: The next step up from most severe type of concussion, Grade 3

Post-concussion syndrome

Second impact syndrome: When a second blow delivered before recovering from the initial concussion has catastrophic effects. Apparently rare.

Recovering from a concussion

Symptoms: Scroll about halfway down the page for the most severe symptoms

Whiplash

General notes: If you pass out, even for a few seconds, it’s serious. If you have multiple concussions over a lifetime, they will be progressively more serious. Symptoms can linger for a long time.

Character reaction:

Shock (general)

Physical shock: 1, 2

Fight-or-flight response: 1, 2

Long-term emotional trauma: 1 (Includes symptoms), 2

First aid for emotional trauma

Treatment (drugs)

WebMD painkiller guide

Treatment (herbs)

1, 2, 3, 4

Miscellany

Snake bites: No, you don’t suck the venom out or apply tourniquettes

Frostbite

Frostbite treatment

Severe frostbite treatment

When frostbite sets in: A handy chart for how long your characters have outside at various temperatures and wind speeds before they get frostbitten

First aid myths: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 Includes the ones about buttering burns and putting snow on frostbite.

Poisons: Why inducing vomiting is a bad idea

Poisonous plants

Dislocations: Symptoms 1, 2; treatment. General notes: Repeated dislocations of same joint may lead to permanent tissue damage and may cause or be symptomatic of weakened ligaments. Docs recommend against trying to reduce (put back) dislocated joint on your own, though information about how to do it is easily found online.

Muscular strains

Joint sprain

Resuscitation after near-drowning: 1, 2

Current CPR practices: We don’t do mouth-to-mouth anymore.

The DSM IV, for all your mental illness needs.

Electrical shock

Human response to electrical shock: Includes handy-dandy voltage chart

Length of contact needed at different voltages to cause injury

Evaluation protocol for electric shock injury

Neurological complications

Electrical and lightning injury

Cardiac complications

Delayed effects and a good general summary

Acquired savant syndrome: Brain injuries (including a lightning strike) triggering development of amazing artistic and other abilities

Please don’t repost! You can find the original document (also created by me) here.

[juanitadiann]

Re blogging for future reference

[mysticalhood-mains]

Just a gentle reminder

Being a writer is hard shit.

I’m glad you’re a writer because you’re awesome. Don’t listen to the haters.

Tag writers that may need this or just because you love em☺️

@thinkwritexpress-official @meganwinchester1999 @blushingsamgirl @feelmyroarrrr @mrswhozeewhatsis @jpadjackles

[firstclassshipping]

Jared’s twirl is everything

[juanitadiann]

Too funny.

[forsakenoathkeeper]

Get to know my character

Reblog this so your followers can spam your ask box. Have fun! ♥

01. What does your character’s name mean? Did you pick it for the symbolism, or did you just like the way it sounded? 02. What is one of your character’s biggest insecurities? Are they able to hide it easily or can others easily exploit this weakness? 03. What would be their favorite physical trait about themselves? 04. What are their favorite traits about their lover? (one psychological and one physical) 05. Are they sexually confident or more of the shy type? 06. Do they have any hobbies that their lover finds unusual, odd, or otherwise annoying? 07. Is there a catchphrase or sound that they tend to make a lot (likely without being aware of it)? 08. What is, perhaps, their biggest flaw? Are they aware of this or oblivious to it? 09. Do they have a favorite season? What about a favorite holiday? 10. Is your character more feminine or masculine? 11. What is something that would make your character fly into a rage? 12. Is there some particular talent, skill, or attribute that they simply could not give up? 13. What are your character’s sleeping habits? Heavy or light sleeper? Blanket stealer? One that always rolls onto the floor? Pushes their lover onto the floor? Sleep talker or walker? 14. Do they live alone or with family? How do they feel about their family/roommates? 15. Is there a certain person in this world that they cannot stand? The very mention of this person’s name makes them tremble with anger or fear. 16. Is your character the athletic type or more of a couch potato? What are some sports/games that they like? 17. Does your character have dreams of getting married and/or having children? 18. What kind of home would they want to live in? Where would they place this abode? 19. Would your character be the kind to get into fights? (physical or verbal) Would they be a good fighter or cave in rather easily? 20. Does your character like animals? What are some of their favorite animals? Would they want pets? What about mythological creatures? 21. What is one of your character’s biggest fears? How would they react when dealing with this fear? 22. What kind of tattoos, piercings, birthmarks, freckles, and other such unique physical features do they have? 23. What is your character like when it comes to school? What subjects are they good/bad at? Do they get in trouble a lot or are well behaved? 24. In their own words, how would your character describe what their lover is like? 25. Is there something traumatic from your character’s past that greatly affects them even to this day? 26. What is their lover like sexually? How do they feel about their lover’s quirks, needs, etc? 27. If your character was going to get arrested, what would be the most likely reason for it? 28. If your character became a celebrity, what would they be famous for? 29. What is one of the most courageous things your character has ever done for a loved one? 30. When it comes to the arts (music, film, theater, etc), what does your character like? 31. Would your character be the kind capable of killing? Would they enjoy killing or only use it when necessary or, perhaps, refuse to kill no matter what? 32. If your character’s lover offered to take them out on a dream date, what would they want to do? 33. If your character wanted to be alone, where would they go? 34. Does your character have favorite foods? (breakfast, lunch, dinner, dessert, snacks, etc) 35. Is your character afraid of death? If they got to choose how to die, how would they want to go? 36. Does your character have any medical conditions? Are they serious or minor? Do they affect their day to day life? 37. What are some of your character’s pet peeves? What are some things that annoy them or disgust them? 38. What kind of weather does your character like? Cloudy skies, rainy days, sunshine, etc? 39. When people look at your character, is there some assumption they might make about them just by appearance? Is that assumption correct? 40. Does your OC have any guilty pleasures they enjoy? Hobbies, past times, music, etc that they wouldn’t want known by others? 41. Does your character’s family affect your character in any way? 42. Is there anything in your character’s past that they regret, haunts them, or they wish they could change? 43. Does your character have a switch that changes aspects of their personality whether they are around friends, family, etc. Is there someone who gets to see their true self? 44. Is there a particular event that would emotionally devastate your character? 45. Is your character the kind to hide their true emotions or do they wear their heart on their sleeve?

46. What is some random affectionate thing that your character always does to their lover? 47. Is your character outgoing? Would they be the leader of the friend group, or the quiet one that gets dragged along? 48. Is there anything in particular that would ignite your character’s jealousy? Or does your character not get envious? 49. What is something that your character has nightmares about? Are these frequent? Do they heavily affect your character’s mood? 50. If your character confessed love to their crush, boyfriend, girlfriend, etc, what would they say?

[juanitadiann]

Great idea to reblog.

[boothewriter-deactivated2018122]

They say you should write your story because somewhere out there someone needs it

But that someone might be you, so don’t quit on yourself.

[juanitadiann]

Reblogging for those that need to hear this

[juanitadiann]

[cogesque-deactivated20210410]

Top 5 Things We Can Learn from Our Artist Friends

I’ve dipped my toes in the worlds of art and writing (not saying that writing isn’t a form of art, but I’m sure you know the differentiation here), and I can say with absolute certainty that the majority of us are highly critical of our work and striving to get better. 

Here is a short list of things that us, as writers, can take away from how our artist friends do things.

1. Artists look back on their old work and say:  “Wow, look how far I’ve come.”

This is one of the biggest differences that I’ve noticed between the art and writing communities. It’s easier for artists to put two images side-by-side–something they drew a few years ago and something they drew a few months ago–and be filled with nothing but pride at how far they’ve come.

Us writers? Hell nah. We curl up into the fetal position and wail about how much the old thing pains us. What we should be doing instead is comparing our old work to our new work. Something will have improved or changed. If it’s improved, hell yeah. If it’s changed? You can decide whether that’s good or bad and change or not change your future work accordingly.

There is nothing shameful about having once been less than good at the thing that you love–we all have to start somewhere and I can guarantee that the first thing you wrote is not and will never be the best thing that you write.

2. Artists strive for realism over style, to begin with.

Keep in mind I’ve been out of the art community for years, but when I was actively involved, artists were encouraged to master realism first. Get to know proportions, perspective, shadows, etc. work before you start messing with them to develop a personal style. The same goes for writing.

We must know the rules before we learn how to break them, because every rule is made to be broken after all. Learn literary conventions–sentence structure, word usage, plot, and everything outside or in between those…and then start destroying those rules. 

3. Artists learn with references.

I have never met an artist that didn’t, at some point, use a reference to help them draw. Be it pictures, tutorials from other artists, or something else. They use these references to help them learn–this does not mean that they copy or steal, it means that they recognize what they need to improve and get an idea on how to improve it.

4. Artists work on bits and pieces of their style, rather than tackling the whole thing at once.

Nobody is perfect. Everyone has something that they need to improve. A distinct difference between the writing and art community that I’ve recognized is that artists are willing to take a step back and say “Okay, I need to work on my shading.” or “I think I’ll focus on how to draw hair today.” instead of the writer mentality of “It all needs to improve. At the same time.”

It is much more difficult to hone your style if you are trying to tackle every problem at the same time. Most artists seem to be pretty good at identifying individual problems and spending as much time as they need to tackle each of them at once. This is part of the reason that I think writers often get overwhelmed when they try to improve–we’ve convinced ourselves that we need it to get better at the same time.

Impossible expectations, my friends.

5. Artists are encouraged to have a distinctive style.

If you take a look at the most renowned artists throughout history, very few of them frequently practiced realism. This is because they had a style. People who are even partially versed in the art world can pick out a van Gogh, or Picasso, or Rembrandt just by glancing at the style of the painting. While this is possible with most modern writing it is much more difficult.

Most readers don’t want cookie-cutter realism when they read something–they want to get a feeling, they want to feel things. If you think of any textbook ever, they are bland as hell. They don’t possess the kind of style that is near-essential in creative literature. Of course, if you want to write textbooks, more power to you, but most of us don’t want to.

The point being, after you get a good concept of realism (Point #2), start playing with it a little. Start using more adverbs or different sentence structures, use metaphors and similes, do whatever you want! And, if it doesn’t turn out well, there’s no harm in rewinding and trying something new. 

It’s worthwhile to keep in mind that the vast majority of people have a natural style–so this point can just as easily be translated into “Don’t let anyone kill your style.” rather than “Develop a style.”

In the end, we can all learn things from each other, and the most important thing is to recognize that.

[juanitadiann]

Reblogging so I can be reminded of these points every day.

[redshield-writes]

Character development tip

1. Give your character a goal. Anything from “become a world-class pianist” to “survive until tomorrow.”

2. Determine what obstacles lay between your character and their goal.

3. What would happen if your character met those obstacles?

4. Make your characters face all those obstacles.

5. All of them.

6. No, don’t skip that one.

7. All. Of. Them.

8. Now you have a character that has grown. In what ways is all up to you.

[bettsfic]

bite-sized writing advice

i had my students send me questions about writing and i addressed some of them. thought i’d share.

How do you write a really long book?

By convincing yourself it’s very short and you’re almost done

Why is writing so hard and have so many rules?

If you break them it gets easier so do that instead

How do you write quickly?

Break more rules

How can writing become a bigger part of my life?

Make it an indulgence instead of an obligation

How is creative writing used in the business world?

Subtly

Is grammar important?

Language is made up and the points don’t matter

How can we teach children more about creative writing?

By encouraging rule-breaking

Where does a person’s writing style come from?

Rage, passion, and grief

How do you develop your voice?

Scream a lot

[juanitadiann]

Saving because this is awesome.

[exghoul---ish]

@clpolk on Twitter

[juanitadiann]

Ten logging for future reference

[momentarymood]

[tx-gentleman]

- TX|G

[acheronprince]

Me while editing: *adds a sentence*

*finds nearly identical sentence in the next paragraph*

[juanitadiann]

Happens more often than not.

[bvbuntin]

Don't stop writing.

[juanitadiann]

Always a reblog

[author-in-training-writes]

Writing Mini-Tip: Five Minutes

Have trouble motivating yourself to write? Tell yourself: “Just five minutes. I’ll do this for just five minutes then move on to something else.”

Most of the time you’ll end up writing for more than five minutes. Getting the motivation to start writing is the hardest part. Once you get over that hump, you’ll be good to go.

This also works for things you procrastinate with in general like homework or excercise.

[juanitadiann]

Had to share.