JustMeJuls

[im-not-crazy-just-a-teenager]

Chiron: I need two volunteers for a quest

Chiron: be warned, it's a near-suicide mission. You may never see your families again.

Annabeth: I'm in!

Chiron: I repeat, you could die.

Annabeth: I'm already dead inside!

Percy: Road trip!

[sideraclara]

do u ever feel like ur pulling an academic icarus flying too close to your deadlines on wings of deeply flawed time management

[trochaictrimeter-deactivated202]

how to write like jk rowling

foreshadow foreshadow foreshadow

become a master of chekhov’s gun everything you mention should pay off a hundred pages later or a couple of books later! the diary they had to go back and get? it has voldemort in it! the locket they were polishing? it’s a horcrux! old irrelevant lady? actually a squib watching over you!

write buried clues! like the fact that ginny has a diary is buried under a list of things the weasleys forget and go bring back on the way the king’s cross or the fact that there’s a locket is listed among a ton of things they’re cleaning!

you can also downplay the importance of characters before the big reveal like how harry asks sirius about his brother and he brushes him off as a stupid young boy who joined the death eaters

speaking of characters, jkr says character is plot and that explains how she writes such strong characters take my favourite one for instance sirius black he’s the textbook case of ‘break your characters’ he’s in an abusive household for eleven years, then thrown into a war, and loses his best friend in the whole world, is wrongly imprisoned for twelve years and then jailed in the house of his childhood while everyone is working and YET he is unfailingly kind and doesn’t stray into the dark

and write flawed characters like the kindest, gentlest, wisest character dumbledore. he was not to be trusted with power. 

also speaking of characters, write killer motivations that aren’t always foregrounded classic example is snape’s motivation to lie to voldemort for years. is it right and good? debatable. is it powerful? yes.

next up, worldbuilding. jkr makes us forever in awe of her world and till date we’re all bemoaning the fact that we can’t go to hogwarts and YET there’s a dark side to that world it’s a distorted mirror of our own

write visual spectacles that make your readers go whoa. my favourite moment was the dragon breaking out of gringotts. it was emblematic of injustices in the wizarding world but boy did it make a good shot.

use extended metaphors

give! every! minor! character! their! own! subplot! even! if! it! doesn’t! make! it! into! your! story! standard example: dobby!

make us nostalgic. like hagrid taking harry out of privet drive in the last book just like in the first

in that vein, ring composition!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

be preoccupied with morality and mortality

take away everything your hero has. his parents. his father figure. his wand.

be unkind to your hero but let him win

give children everywhere something to hope for

finally, jkr said by writing harry potter, she came to know for sure that love is the most powerful force use writing to explore your convictions 

if you’re going to tell me what a terrible person jkr is, make your own post this is a writing blog and i worked really hard on scrutinising aspects of her writing which is objectively wonderful

how to write like jk rowing * how to write like shirley jackson

If you found this helpful, consider buying me a virtual coffee to keep me writing.

[justmejuls]

Libraries were full of ideas—perhaps the most dangerous and powerful of all weapons.

Sarah J. Maas, Throne of Glass

[ai-johnine-deactivated20190511]

Dear Studyblrs,

Y'all are so good to me, thank you

[justmejuls]

Well, hello there!

Hello!

I wanted to create this blog so that I can share my weird thoughts with people. I also wanted to create a place where I can be myself!

What I plan on doing with this blog is writing experiences and thoughts, as well as things about me, for example what TV shows I enjoy and such.

Basically I’ll ramble on about all sorts of things and you get to see inside the mess I call my brain (if anyone ever reads this).

I’ll also be writing this to improve my writing skills, which are not great at the moment.

I probably will hardly ever post anything on here because I am bad at staying consistent. Also, I already have a different blog (where I post like nothing) and a bookstagram account, which takes up a lot of my time... (Ps. you can follow me there @juliabookaddict) Extra life is also always long and hard.

So, anyway, I just wanted to start by saying hi!

JustMeJuls xxx