[I've decided to set up a "proper website" which will be going live soon at www.kellyoflaherty.com - please visit me there!] This is a blog about writing, mental health and other things. A blog by writer Kelly O'Flaherty.
5 frustrating workshop rules that made me a better writer
Throughout the 15 workshops I joined in college and grad school, I encountered two types of writing rules.
First, there were the best-practice guidelines we’ve all heard, like “show don’t tell.” And then there were workshop rules, which the professor put in place not because they’re universal, but because they help you grow within the context of the workshop.
My college’s intro writing course had 5 such rules:
No fantasy, supernatural, or sci-fi elements.
No guns.
No characters crying.
No conflict resolution through deus ex machina.
No deaths.
When I first saw the rules, I was baffled. They felt weirdly specific, and a bit unfair. But when our professor, Vinny, explained their purpose (and assured us he only wanted us to follow the rules during this intro workshop, not the others to come), I realized what I could learn from them.
1. No fantasy, supernatural, or sci-fi elements.
Writers need to be able to craft round characters, with clear arcs. While you can hone those skills writing any type of story, it can be more difficult when juggling fantastical elements, because it’s easy to get caught up in the world, or the magic, or the technology, and to make that the focus instead of the characters. So Vinny encouraged us to exclude such elements for the time being, to keep us fully focused on developing strong, dynamic characters.
2. No guns.
Weapons have a place in many stories, but when writers include a gun, they often use it to escalate the plot outside of the realm of personal experience and into what Vinny called “Hollywood experience.” He wanted us to learn how to draw from our own observations and perceptions of life, rather than the unrealistic action, violence, and drama we’d seen in movies, so he made this rule to keep us better grounded in our own experiences.
3. No characters crying.
When trying to depict sadness, writers often default to making characters cry. While there’s nothing inherently wrong with that, tears are just one way to show grief, and they aren’t always the most subtle or emotionally compelling. That’s why Vinny challenged us to find other ways to convey sadness — through little gestures, strained words, fragile interactions, and more. It was difficult, but opened us up to depicting whole new gradients of grief and pain.
4. No conflict resolution through deus ex machina.
This is the only one of the rules I’d say is generally universal. Meaning “God from the machine,” deus ex machina is a plot device where a character’s seemingly insurmountable problem is abruptly resolved by an outside force, rather than their own efforts. These endings are bad for various reasons, but Vinny discouraged them because he wanted us to understand how important it was for our characters to confront their struggle and its consequences.
5. No deaths.
Death is inherently dramatic and can be used to good effect, but many writers use death as a crutch to create drama and impact. Writers should be able to craft engaging, meaningful stories, even without killing off their characters, so this rule challenged us to find other methods of giving weight to our stories (such as through internal conflict).
How these rules helped me grow as a writer
First things first, I’ll say it again: apart from #4 (deus ex machina), these rules were never meant to be universally applied. Instead, their purpose was to create temporary barriers and challenges to help us develop key skills and write in new, unfamiliar ways.
For me, the experience was invaluable. I liked the way the rules challenged and stretched my abilities, driving me to write stories I’d have never otherwise attempted. They made me more flexible as a writer, and while I don’t follow the rules anymore (I LOVE me some fantasy), I’ll always be thankful for how they shaped my writing.
My recommendation to you?
Give some of these rules a shot! Follow them temporarily while writing 2-4 short stories — but remember to always keep their purpose in mind, because the rules themselves will only help if you understand what they’re trying to achieve.
Write with purpose, and you’ll always be growing.
— — —
For more tips on how to craft meaning, build character-driven plots, and grow as a writer, follow my blog.
Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell won the lucrative prize of being my worst read of 2019! Truth be told, it’s been quite a while since I actually read it, and I may not remember every detail, but I still have much to say about it!
I had heard about it online a lot, I knew it was popular and so assumed it was somewhat decent. Even though I’m probably not a “young adult” anymore, demographic-wise, I still really enjoy the genre. Long story short, it was a great disappointment...
{P.S. I shan’t be holding back on the spoilers, I need to exorcise my feelings so be thee warned if you care!)
Now, where to begin? In truth, it wasn’t all awful so I’m not about to bash it completely.
Fangirl follows the story of Cath, a fan-fiction writer who’s obsessed with a series known as “Simon Snow...” She and her twin, Wren, are embarking into the world of college and all it’s challenges, leaving behind their struggling father and ultimately, her boyfriend.
Sounds like a pretty average teen rom-com setup, right? It has all the tropes of a classic coming-of-age story with your cliques and love triangles but it suffers under its apparent theme: the topic of fan-fiction.
Cath is shown to be a writer of immense talent, able to get into the top, rather prolific, writing course in her college. But she has never, ever, written anything outside of her fan-fiction. Now, of course, when you’re told that this is a story about fan-fiction, you can expect excerpts throughout the book of the character’s work. That’s perfectly fair. But those excerpts, of a thinly-veiled Harry-Draco romance, were always excessively long and positioned in places that completely pulled you out of the story. A paragraph or two would’ve been acceptable, but I’m talking PAGES here. They had absolutely no effect on the main story and were completely pointless. You know it’s bad if you make your readers consider skipping ahead (or putting the book away altogether).
Honestly, this made me think that the author herself just wanted to write Harry Potter fanfiction (of which it is obviously based upon) and cared little for the story surrounding it. This is made more probable given the fact that she wrote Cath’s fan-fiction as separate novels thereafter.
This is a great shame as there were moments that showed the main story could’ve been a lot more interesting. As a writer working on a novel based around the theme of mental health, I saw sparks of this throughout Fangirl, too. But only sparks, mind you. At the start of the novel, it’s made clear that Cath’s father has some sort of mental health problem that makes her hesitant to move away from him. I can’t recall if the book directly diagnoses him but it was either bi-polar disorder or OCD. He was the most interesting character; I wanted to know more about him, how he got the way he did and how it’s been affecting his daughters.
There was also a brief mention, somewhere, of Cath having once harmed herself. It went on to showcase how afraid she was of turning into her dad, of “going crazy”. Brilliant! This was excellent stuff. But, back to fan-fiction.
Moving on from that, Cath is also frequently encouraged to write her own stories but again and again, she relents until she is forced to as part of her coursework, lest she be expelled. You could debate for quite a while whether fan-fiction can be considered “real writing” and whether someone can truly call themselves a writer if nothing they’ve written is their own, not to mention the argument of plagiarism. All along, I expected Cath to go on a journey of self-discovery and realise that she can write her own stories, she doesn’t need to depend on someone else’s world. That was a natural story arc to happen.
In the end, Cath does fashion up her own story for her class, and receives great praise, even getting it published by her professor. Fabulous! A developed character. But turns out, she went straight back to Simon Snow afterwards like nothing had ever changed. Ugh.
In the end, I felt that Cath hadn’t developed at all, she was still the same awkward, self-hating teenager from the beginning of the book. I’m sure there are plenty of other things I’m forgetting but these were my greatest grievances with the book.
It’s changed the way we learn and research, the way we connect with others, and the way we express ourselves in positive, powerful ways. But it’s no secret that these improvements also present us with unique challenges. We can learn new things faster, but sometimes we have to sort through piles of misinformation while we do—and it’s not always easy to detect. We’re able to connect with people we never would have met otherwise thanks to social media, but it can encourage addictive behavior in the apps that keep us connected. We’re able to express ourselves more easily, but we sometimes overshare in ways detrimental to our careers, reputation, and mental health.
We—as in Tumblr the company—are not immune to these challenges. You know it. We know it. And we hear you. We recognize that toxicity and negativity happen everywhere online, even on Tumblr. We are constantly striving to learn and utilize new ways to create a safe place for our communities. Opening up this dialogue to anyone who wants to join is the first step we’re taking in 2020 to foster a more positive, collaborative experience. Over the next year, we’ll be rolling out improvements and updates to our platform that improves your experience.
We can all agree that these challenges exist, but let’s look out for each other; Teach other people and ourselves how to keep the wonderful parts of the internet in view while working through the troublesome bits. These issues are best addressed through honest, open dialogue.
That’s why we’ve partnered with the UK non-profit, Ditch the Label (@ditchthelabel), to help spread some internet safety awareness as well as facilitate some much-needed conversation between yourselves—the community on Tumblr.
We’re calling it World Wide What
At the heart of this campaign is, well, you. We want to hear from you. Over the next month we’ll focus on six different topics with accompanying videos for discussion. Each one will feature a different real-world problem you’ve most likely faced as an Extremely Online Person (yeah, we see you) and what you can do to mitigate those issues. They’re live right now:
“Fake News, Skewed Views”
“Don’t @ Me” (Cyberbullying)
“Authenticity Online”
“Pull Down to Refresh”
“Felt Cute Might Delete Later”
“A Safer Internet: Moderation”
Some posts will be accompanied by Answer Times with guests that can speak knowledgeably about one or more of the topics we’re focusing on. We’re looking at:
1/8 – @medialiteracyed taking questions about fake news
1/15 – @ditchthelabel opening up their ask box to discuss cyberbullying
1/22 – Jameela Jamil, founder of I Weigh, to answer questions about the effects of inauthentic social media personalities
TBD – Someone from the leadership team here at Tumblr to talk about user safety
One of the more beautiful qualities of the Tumblr community is that so many of you spare the time and space to look out for others. If you have someone in your life that you think could use a little guiding light to use social media in a safer way for their mental or physical health, this might be a good resource to send them.
You can stay tuned for more updates on World Wide What, including when our Answer Times go live, by following this blog. If you want to be notified the moment a post from us goes live, tap or click the silhouette at the top of our page and select “Get notifications.”
In the meantime, we want to hear from you. What kind of impact has social media had on your mental health? If you want to start a conversation with the community, reblog this post or make a new one and tag it so others can easily find it.
It was "cyber trolls" that planted the seed of self harming in my subconscious when I was younger. I had the good sense to ignore and block them but still, their words lived on in my mind until they inevitably took hold. Great to see the people behind Tumblr opening up discussions on how social media affects every part of our lives these days. Looking forward to seeing these discussions!
Yes, I know I just posted a blog yesterday and here I am again! *pause for dramatic effect*
Anyway, it’s the end of another year and I wanted to write a separate post as a kind of look back over the past twelve months of my life. Overall, I think 2019 was a pretty good year, all things considered. Of course, it had it’s ups and downs as every year will but I feel like I am currently in the best mental state that I’ve ever been; this is the life I’ve been waiting to live.
Firstly, 2019 marked the end of my college career (sort of, anyway, I’ll explain in a bit). So, I spent the first five months of the year working my butt off to ensure optimal success. And I’m thrilled to announce that I succeeded in doing so! I passed with flying colours and obtained a BSc in Digital Animation Production with First Class Honours! Literally could not have done better. I am someone who always tries to make their work the best it can possibly be and I am very proud to have this behind me.
They will likely never see this but I have to thank my lecturers in LIT for being so wonderfully supportive throughout the years I spent there. So often before, I had been made to feel inadequate by my teachers and my dreams were often shot down, but for the first time, LIT made me believe that I had as much of a chance as anyone else to succeed.
I remember feeling so anxious in the run-up to graduation and the doom of “perpetual summer”. But luckily, that never came. I felt so certain that I would be left to struggle for months or years in hopes of finding a job, but the Universe was on my side and I somehow bagged an apprenticeship in the top VFX house of Ireland by August! Furthermore, that apprenticeship was only supposed to be for four months but a couple of weeks into it, they announced that two slots were open for a lengthier apprenticeship as part of a CGI course. Two spots, two weeks in. And I was chosen.
Of course, this meant that my college career wasn’t quite over yet but it also meant a strong start to my professional career. My mentor has embued me with confidence and encouragement and I am so thrilled to be where I am right now.
So while my educational and professional life continues to succeed, my personal life faces its own changes! For years, he had promised that once I graduated, it would happen. He would ask the question that he’d already asked dozens of times before. (But those never counted.)
I had planned a trip to Disneyworld in Orlando for myself, himself, a friend of mine and my brother. That, in itself, was a venture that I completely meant to write about at the time but I never got around to it! I also still haven’t made the video. Le sigh.
Anyway, the trip was amazing. It was blistering hot yet also torrentially raining all the time but it was all I had hoped for. We managed to see all of the parks, rode so many great rides and saw some crazy shows. My only regret is not having our own transport so we were reliant on a bus schedule that meant missing nighttime shows. But I have hopes that we’ll someday return without that limitation! (I also ended up in the hospital for dehydration but let’s not talk about that. Get a bottle that can keep liquids cold ffs and drink constantly.)
Of course, the trip would not have been complete without Universal Studios. I remember that I had jokingly said before that he’d propose outside of Hogwarts and lol SPOILERS. He says that he made many attempts to find the perfect moment but then storms happened and threw his plans asunder. People laugh when I tell them it wasn’t a surprise, I knew it was coming (he’s terrible at keeping secrets from me, literally told me in his sleepiness), I even took down my hair when I felt the moment coming for the camera, no joke.
It was the very last day of the trip, and we were just leaving the Wizarding World to begin our journey home. I did, for a moment, start to feel disappointed that it wasn’t going to happen until he coyly asked to take pictures on the Hogwarts bridge with me. I see you. So we made some funny poses and he tried to distract me while he pulled something out of his pocket, and got down on one knee! He told me after that he had a whole speech planned but nerves got the better of him and nothing but the question came out. He was blushing so brightly, I couldn’t handle the cuteness of it all and yes, I said “Of course” to the question he had asked so many times before. It was a wonderful moment and a memory that I shall cherish for the rest of my life.
The wedding will likely be another few years yet because of funds but it makes me so excited for the future.
Oh, and I also finished editing the current draft of my novel and sent it to a few people for beta reading. I’ve gotten some good feedback, plenty of encouragement and praise as well as many suggestions to make it even better. Now to just find the time to work on it on top of everything else going on!
I also lost one of my longest friendships this year but truth be told, it was a long time coming. I wrote (somewhat abstractly) about it before but basically, we had just become two very different people and the relationship wasn’t healthy for me anymore. It was a tough decision and still feels a bit upsetting sometimes but it was ultimately the correct decision for me to move forward.
The “best” writing process really does depend to an extent on the writer; the key is knowing your own personal strengths and being willing to face the challenges of whatever approach you choose.
For example, T.C. Boyle is a writer who only ever writes one draft, but that’s because he revises as he goes. He writes the first paragraph, revises it relentlessly until it’s exactly how he wants it, and then he moves on to paragraph 2, then 3, so that when he finishes the story’s final line, the whole thing is finished. No revisions, additions, or rearranging follows.
To me, that process sounds bonkers – but it works for him. He’s written 16 novels and 100+ short stories, and he’s won many awards.
So hey, if it works for you, go for it. Find your process, and write.
Pretty solid advice! I, personally, do favour the rough first draft, a NaNoWriMo-style-run-through to work out the story’s structure. I don’t much like planning things too much, I prefer to just see where the story goes as I write it which for other writers may seem barbaric! Do whatever works for you!
This New Years, Make a Resolution to Forgive Yourself
It’s a day like every other, no different from the one before or the one thereafter. And yet, as it looms, I am filled with dread. This one day, the day to mark the end of yet another year, has been christened with such power by society that it weighs down upon me. I try to ignore it and pretend that it doesn’t matter but I cannot ignore the synchronisation of the clock’s hand with the beating of my heart. One second more, one heartbeat less.
The past year has been wonderful, I tell myself. I try to focus on all the positives with all my might. But what about all those failures? What about all those promises you made that you never kept? What about all those friends you’ve lost and failed to gain?
I want to strip this day of its power over me. I am not setting “resolutions” because this day is no different from any other. I can start going to the gym whenever I find the time, I will always be working to improve my music skills, I will always be working towards my goal of being a published author.
But perhaps the one thing that I do need to do, is learn to forgive myself. I think I’ve always had a problem of asking too much of myself. I’m not saying that my year was a complete failure, it was far from being so but still, I am filled with the sense that I could’ve done so much more had I tried a little harder. But I forget that I am only one person and as New Years reminds me every year, time is ever so precious.
I did what I could, no more nor less than anyone else could’ve done. My setbacks and delays are not failures. They are only failures when I give up on my goals. The deadline of New Year's Eve does not define the success of them.
So, I’m not setting any defined resolutions this year, even though I feel like I should. There are plenty of things I wish to change in my life, sure, but those are in my life, not just this year.
I don’t know if these thoughts will help anyone. But in case there’s anyone else out there who feels the existential dread of New Year’s, I want to encourage you to change your perspective and realise it’s just another day, it only means what you want it to mean. Its power is only what you give it.
That being said, I hope you’ve had a good year and wish you all the best for the coming year and the years after it!
When writing a story, your prose can often feel jumbled.
Muddled.
Disconnected.
Like it just doesn’t flow.
And for a long time, I never knew a clear, tangible tactic for fixing that problem, except by feel or by trial and error. Then I learned a simple, but effective trick for improving flow:
Use the last few words of one sentence to set up the information that’s about to appear at the beginning of the next one.
Here’s what I mean:
Think of it like crossing a stream, hopping from rock to rock — each rock acts as both a landing spot and a launching point. Writing and revising your sentences to serve a similar purpose can go a long way in improving the flow of your prose.
Let’s start by taking a look at a paragraph (prepared by yours truly) that doesn’t do this, resulting in a somewhat bumpy flow:
Vincent Van Gogh’s “The Starry Night” had always inexplicably drawn Henry in. The painting was framed as a poster on his wall, and he often stared into its dizzying swirls of blue and yellow, and its fiery cypress tree — marveling at the chaos that entrenched the village scene. Henry had always hoped that Vincent was able to find some peace in expelling this vision from his mind and onto the canvas.
Feels a bit disconnected, doesn’t it? It’s still readable, but there isn’t much of a continuity of ideas bridging the sentences — no connective tissue to smooth out your journey through the prose.
Now let’s look at the same paragraph again, but with some simple rearranging done to ensure that the information that ends each sentence also kicks off the next one (I put these hand-offs in bold):
Henry had always felt inexplicably drawn to Vincent Van Gogh’s “The Starry Night.” The painting was framed as a poster on his wall, and he often stared into its dizzying swirls of blue and yellow, and its fiery cypress tree — marveling at the chaos that entrenched the village scene. With such a vision expelled from the mind and onto the canvas, Henry had always hoped that Vincent was able to find some peace.
Now that reads a little better, doesn’t it? You’ll notice I didn’t even change up my word choice. Sometimes you’ll have to swap out words or change the order of your sentences, but even just rearranging information can often add a lot connectivity.
This obviously won’t be possible in every sentence and paragraph, but it’s a great rule of thumb when you want to smooth out your prose. I hope this proves as helpful to you all as it has been for me!
Good luck, and good writing, everybody.
— — —
Everyone has stories worth telling — including you. For tips on how to craft meaning, build character-driven plots, and grow as a writer, follow my blog or check out my new Instagram.
Keeping a Bullet Journal was One of My Best Decisions
“Bullet Journaling” is something that seemed to come out of nowhere (in the world of the internet) a few years ago. I saw countless posts on the likes of YouTube and Pinterest of people sharing their highly creative “spreads” and I couldn’t help but watch those videos over and over again.
In short, the hobby of keeping a bullet journal is essentially a planner/diary which you completely customise yourself to suit your own needs. It takes time and effort but its main goal is to help you become more productive, or at least a little more organised!
When I first started hearing about it, I was in the midst of my degree and often found that I had trouble keeping on top of things, prioritising things or just remembering to do things. This meant that I was often very stressed out and overwhelmed. Of course, there are countless apps out there to aid productivity and organisation (Trello, Google, you name it) but the problem with apps (for me) was that I’d start out with great intentions but then just forget to update them! You’d think that keeping something more analogue would be worse but I guess that’s not how my brain works!
I know that if I don’t consistently update the journal that I will fall behind very quickly and the threat of gaps appearing - of sweet imperfection - gives me the motivation I need to use it to its fullest potential! Apps, on the other hand, are wholly flexible so that motivation to keep on top of them isn’t there. That might be strange to you, but that’s how I think.
Anyway, there are countless websites and videos on YouTube that will talk you through the different ways you can use the journal but really, it’s all up to you. I saw so many images and videos of really amazing journals but I decided to keep mine super simple (I don’t bother with doodles or any decorations) as I knew if it ended up taking too much time, I’d give up. My journal really just consists of monthly/weekly/daily logs, random plans for random things, collections and lists for things I’ve seen/read/played during the year which is always fun to look back on. It’s also a great place to scribble when I need to figure something out.
I’ve noticed some shops selling “pre-made” bullet journals but no, my friend. That defeats the purpose! The bullet journal is about making a journal to suit you, your needs and your life. As I said, my main reason for starting one was to help me stay organised and on top of things. It has helped me tremendously over the past couple of years. Something as simple as a to-do list which I can then spread out and assign to different days is such a little thing but also so wonderful. I truly believe it saved my mental health during my last year of college.
I would highly encourage anyone who is struggling to keep on top of things, to prioritise or stay organised and productive to take up the craft of bullet journaling! Make it as simple or creative as you like.
I’ve realised in myself that I’m far too “task-oriented” to when it comes to my life. I’m looking into using my journal in new ways to increase my happiness and joy of life. There’s a great article on the bullet journal official website where someone talks about how bullet journalling has helped them cope with their depression and anxiety, much more profoundly than I have here.
Tagging some amazing writers that come to my mind: @winecatsandpizza @bamby0304 @kittenofdoomage @impala-dreamer @holylulusworld @emptywithout @thing-you-do-with-that-thing @covered-byroses @crashdevlin @saxxxology @flamencodiva @vampire-in-a-trench-coat and anyone else who sees this. You all are amazing writers and creators ❤
A few weeks ago, an ad on Facebook caught my attention. It was an ad for a writing course specifically about how to conjure ideas! Clearly Facebook knows all because that’s (shockingly) something I’ve always struggled with. My ideas for writing tend to just show up when I’m not looking so this was a new challenge to actively seek them out!
The course was called “Seven Ideas in Seven Days” and was offered by Writers HQ. It was short and sweet but I honestly learnt so much from it; about how ideas are literally everywhere, in everything you hear, see and think about. The structure of the course meant I got a new idea every day! I unfortunately caught the flu half way through which threw off my writing storm a bit but I made it through and honestly think I have some good ideas on my hands!
I wanted to post what I’ve written here (below the cut), with a brief look at the tips in the course! If you choose to glance through the ideas I came up with, let me know if anything looks promising to you or if you have any other ideas or feedback, anything is appreciated!
DAY ONE (take a mundane event or everyday task and look at it from different perspectives):
Channel 0: [omniscient] A large family is only ever together at funerals (and weddings, stuff like that.) The youngest sibling has recently died after a tragic accident. There are six siblings in total, their parents long gone.
Channel 1: Viewpoint of the second youngest sibling, Matthew, who was closest to the deceased and considered his brother to be his best friend. The duo were inseparable and he is heartbroken to be without him. He hasn’t seen any of his other siblings in over two years, since the death of their mother (the father having died years before that). And he doesn’t want to see them, either.
Channel 2: Viewpoint of the deceased brother - a kind of ghostly perspective. He looks over the scene of his funeral, introducing his siblings to the reader, critiquing them and silently joining their awkward conversations.
Channel 3: Viewpoint from the eldest sibling, who is dying from terminal cancer. She too, notices how seldom she sees her family and notes that she likely never will again.
Channel 4: Game-of-Thrones style perspective switch between each of the characters throughout the day of the funeral.
DAY TWO (use a random literary quote generator online and take the last couple of words as a title! Then visit Flickr and take the third featured image as your book cover. Now, what’s the story?)
R1 (developing the story, random ideas):
A detective story or murder mystery. A body is discovered in a marshy, boggy, forest area by passerbys (hikers? joggers?)
Maybe someone who’s been missing a while - search party discovery
Maybe something more supernatural - a group or couple out hiking and then, suddenly, one of them disappears. Found later, butchered.
More horror film-esque - a night camping in the woods
A serial killers territory or dumping ground
Or the moor is alive - it swallows you whole
R2 (favouring supernatural idea): Who - A group of friends (18-25yrs) out camping. The forest/moor is rumoured to be haunted and dangerous. Amy is the most scared and skeptical of the group. But boyfriend Tom promises to protect her. (see where this is going?)
Two groups of couples (one hetero, one homo) and two single, “platonic” friends.
One of the “platonic” friends (Sophie) is first to disappear - later found by the other singleton James.
Throughout the night, the group starts to disappear, one by one, murdered by unknown forces. Eventually, it’s just Amy and Tom. But in the end, the moor gets him too as it swallows him whole, faster than quicksand.
Finally, Amy makes it out of the living moor, but just barely. The lone survivor.
Pitch:
The Moor is a suburban legend, a myth, a mystery and naturally … a tourist attraction. A group of fearless young people decide to investigate the legend of the “living moor”, treating it as nothing more than a regular camping trip. Amy tried to warn them.
The Moor is a living thing. And you just walked right into its mouth.
DAY THREE (Image Prompt):
Where are they/it? Suburban. London.
When is it?- 1940’s
Why is it/they there? A young woman packs her belongings into her suitcase. She contemplates one last time about her decision to leave home.
Who are they? This young woman has had enough of her rough home life. She wants to see more, she wants to experience the world. But still, she is afraid. She has never done much of anything on her own, having gone straight from school into a less-than-loving marriage.
What happens next? She finally makes the decision to leave home, packing what clothes and other things she can into her suitcase. And she’s not about to leave the dog behind with that man, either, no siree. She and her dog make their way to the train station, their destination unknown.
Abigail Winston has not had the easiest life. But then again, she can’t complain, it could’ve been much worse. Mother always said that once she had a roof over her head, she had nothing to be sad about. And yet there she was, crying her heart out into her pillow, a pillow which has soaked up far too many of her tears over the years under this blessed roof. She could hear the music blaring from the gramophone downstairs. It was the same as always, the same tune, the same routine. She made her way home from her day job as a seamstress to be met by the backside of his hand for whatever reason he could pluck out of thin air. The dinner wasn’t done. The dishes were dirty. The dog was barking. The neighbours were noisy. The floor was a mess.
“Why do you make me do this?” He asks, seeming to be genuinely perplexed at her nature. His hand is red raw from slapping her thricefold across the face. “You know I don’t want to hurt you.” He says, as he pulls her in towards him and kisses her right where he had just slapped her. His lips sting.
But finally, as if some kind of cosmic epiphany had just hit her, she decided that she had had enough. It wasn’t her fault, it never had been. There was nothing wrong with her, it was all him. It was all down to the voices in his head that told him it was his right to treat her this way, she was his wife after all, his property.
But no more.
She scribbled a note upon her vanity table, almost deciding to throw it into the bin altogether. Maybe it would be better to leave without saying anything. What would be the point in trying to explain her reasons for leaving? He would never believe them. He wouldn’t care. But she wrote it anyway, trying to keep her words as devoid of emotion as possible.
She didn’t love him, perhaps she never did. Marraige is just something everyone has to do, right? What a world.
She pulled out the suitcase from the closet and threw in her most prized possessions, but mostly clothes. She hurried down the stairs, knowing he’d be back from the public house any time soon now. Pausing at the door, she turned around to find him standing there; Toby … the dog.
“He’s never been kind to you, either, has he?” She found herself asking. The dog yapped and ran towards her and the decision was made. She wouldn’t be alone after all.
She made her way down the suburban street with little Toby running along beside her. She caught the questioning glances of many neighbours as she passed them. Of course, she could not hope to leave unnoticed. Jonathan would be well informed of her departure, suitcase and all. But still, she carried on and tried to ignore the ball of anxiety building in her stomach.
A half hour later, she had finally reached the gates to the train station. “Where am I even going?” She thought to herself. She hadn’t thought this far ahead. It had been a spur of the moment decision in the end. Maybe she should turn back. Yes, back to what she knew, that would be best.
Toby yipped up at her, snapping her to attention. No, this was the right thing to do. She had to leave. She needed to get on the soonest train, that would take her farthest away, somewhere he would never guess to look for her.
Cornwall. She had never been there. She barely knew where it was, only that it was pretty far out of London. She didn’t allow herself to hesitate and bought herself (and Toby) a ticket. A one-way ticket. There, she had done it. There was no going back now.
Her heart hammering in her chest, she turned towards the gate leading to the train at a steady pace. Perhaps she wasn’t paying enough attention to her surroundings as suddenly, someone bumped into her, causing her to drop the suitcase and for it to burst open, spilling out some of her hastily packed things.
The stranger stopped and bent down to help her. “So sorry, miss! I should’ve been looking where I was goin’! You alrigh’?” That voice. It couldn’t be.
She looked up at the strangers face and realised he was no stranger at all. “Well, I’ll be … Abigail. It’s been an age.”
DAY FOUR (choose an emotion that you want to invoke in the reader and work backwards)
Emotion: Inspired
Need to experience: Success in the face of adversity. A hopeless situation turned hopeful. Perseverance. Never giving up, despite the odds being stacked against you. Succeeding. Leaving behind a good legend. Paving the way for others.
Who: A homeless person with a wacky invention idea. A single mother on the cusp of poverty who’s just trying to do right by her kids. A severely bullied kid who intervenes in someone else’s bullying. A political activist who keeps going despite being arrested, even beaten, a number of times. A dystopian world where the smallest voice can be the loudest.
I can often feel inspired to suddenly change my life, to stop just accepting how things are and do something about it. I am in control. But they want to take that control away from me.
Young girl in a world that wants to suffocate all that she is. A very strict world with lots of rules and regulations. Akin to a dictatorship.
A single mother, Margaret, circa 1960’s Ireland who had to have her child in secret as she was unmarried. She leaves home, determined to protect her child. The father doesn’t know. How far can she go before the child is discovered and they are ultimately pulled from each other? She finds friendship in an older woman who was once sent to the “mother and baby” home after her own unmarried pregnancy in her youth. “It’s like a prison,” she says, “A torture chamber … under the guise of God’s work.”
She fears every day for the life of her child. But it won’t stop crying. She tries to keep it happy but its screams echo right through the walls. She can’t stay in one place too long, lest somewhere see her and report her. Her family have reported her missing, her face is plastered across every town that she can get to. She alters her appearance as drastically as possible, new haircut, new hair colour, different clothes. She has barely any money to her name, and she can’t get a job since she needs to mind the child constantly. She turns to prostitution, a quick job with high pay. Anything for the child.
The older woman tells her all about her time in the home, of the daily routine and the daily “retribution”, the punishment for having betrayed her promise to God.
As she listens to the stories, Margaret becomes determined not only to save herself from the grip of the Church but to save other mothers too from their righteous judgement. She tries to find others who have survived the homes and learns more and more horror stories from them. The babes were stricken from their breasts, never to be seen again. Those that died in infancy were tossed aside in a mass grave, little more than garbage in the eyes of the nuns.
Margaret starts to draw up flyers, leaflets and posters to alert people to the real goings-on in the homes. The homes designed to “reform” and “rehabilitate” wayward women. The propaganda must be subtle at first, a whisper in the collective unconscious until more and more women wake up to the problem in their society. The propaganda must be spread without its source being known. Margaret’s connection to it can never be discovered because of course, the child would be too.
She develops a steady group of friends, women who have all been subjected to the Church’s law. One such woman, Josephine, only 15 years old, was impregnated by her local priest. Together, they round up more and more women and stage a protest outside of the home. They infiltrate and extract the imprisoned mothers and snatch up the innocent children. The mass grave is discovered and the Church’s secret is revealed.
In the end, Margaret and her group of friends set up a real home for unmarried mothers where both woman and child are cared for until they are able to care for themselves.
DAY FIVE (take a paragraph from a book you’re reading and pose what-if questions)
A Storm of Swords: Steel and Snow
Pg 75
The queen-to-be invites a traitors daughter to supper.
What if the daughter bears the queen ill will?
What if the queen bears the daughter ill will?
What if the queen is worried that the daughter (a servant) will cause the king to stray?
What if the queen fears that the daughter, too, will prove to be a traitor?
What if she is a traitor?
What if the daughter uses the invite as an opportunity to enact a plan against the queen or some other vendetta?
What if the supper goes horribly wrong and the queen is murdered and the daughter is accused?
DAY SIX (Analysing the ideas):
Idea One: The Family Funeral
Idea Two: The Moor at Night
Idea Three: Abigail
Idea Four: Mother and Baby
Idea Five: The Queen and the Traitors Daughter
IDEA #1:
What interests me about it?
I’ve thought about this idea for a while, sparked by an observation on my own family. I come from a pretty big family and the prospect of only ever seeing them at certain events such as weddings and funerals is disheartening. But I think it’s something most families can relate to, especially as the children get older and separate into their own lives. We all get too busy to meet up until ultimately, we lose our last chance to see each other at all. Writing this story would be interesting to explore family dynamics and how they can be affected by tragic grief.
Will I be interested in it long term?
I intend for this to just be a short story so it shouldn’t take more than a few weeks/months of my time once I get down to it.
Is there an obvious journey?
I see this as a scene in the funeral home with the family reuniting. I would like it to show the frayed family coming together again in the face of their united grief, choosing to set aside their differences and grudges because life is short.
Has it been done before?
I guess that episode in “Haunting of Hill House” (episode 3?) is rather similar with the family, once torn apart, coming together for their sisters funeral. Tensions are high, and they argue quite a bit but ultimately, it’s a lovely reunion. I guess it’s likely it inspired me subconsciously to think about this story and my own experiences. But I wouldn’t quite go down the spooky route with my story!
What about the research?
I guess it would be worthwhile to seek out other people’s stories of how their families reunited and came back together after a tragedy - or perhaps the very opposite. I don’t know if I’d be brave enough to quiz my own family about how they feel!
Why do I need to write it?
Because yes, life is busy and we all have our own things going on but family is important. You never know when someone may be taken from you, tomorrow is never guaranteed. I want people to pause and think about their relationships and whether they’re holding onto unnecessary anger. If that person was gone tomorrow, could you live on knowing you’ll never make amends?
Who’s going to care about it?
I think this is something a lot of people - particularly those from larger families - can relate to.
Is it a goer?
I think this is a great opportunity to explore characterisation and storytelling so yes, I intend to work on it!
#2: The Moor at Night
What interests me about it?
I’ve always wanted to write a spooky horror story. I love watching horror stuff - especially supernatural stories - although I haven’t read many.
Will I be interested in it long term?
This is a fairly fresh idea and I think it’s a little too “cliche” yet and needs something else to really interest me.
Is there an obvious journey?
Uh, everyone dies?? Except the girl who was warning everyone that the Moor is serious business. So, not really, other than the survival. Or maybe Amy starts out extra scared but has to become brave to escape, yadda yadda, who knows.
Has it been done before?
In the sense of a devouring swamp, I don’t think so. It makes me think of the Blair Witch stories that I loved to read growing up. But it needs something to pull it out of being a “basic horror” monster eating story.
What about the research?
I think I need to sink my teeth into more horror stories if I ever hope to write one. I watch plenty of movies but finding a book that is actually scary is rare, I think. And well, movies are all about the cliche so maybe more novels can open me to new ways of thinking about horror and how to scare! That, and research into pananormal/supernatural stuff could breed new ideas!
Why do I need to write it?
This one would just be fun to write, I think.
Who’s going to care about it?
People who like horror stories, I suppose??
Is it a goer?
Not sure yet. Think it needs a lot more development or rethinking more creatively.
#3: Abigail
What interests me about it?
I like writing stories that show characters coming out of a bad place and into a better life. I think this story could show people that they are in control of their lives. Too many people settle and just “make do” with their life situation even though they’re desperately unhappy.
Will I be interested in it long term?
Hmmm, again there’s not much here in terms of a “story” just yes. A traumatised, abused woman finally leaves her unhappy home behind and … what?? She meets an old friend at the train station, perhaps a past sweetheart. What happened there?
Is there an obvious journey?
This would be quite a character driven story. Abigail’s goal is to get out and make a new life for herself. Does this make her into a sort of outlaw? Does she have to fashion herself a new identity? Likely, her past will eventually find her again. What lengths will she go to to escape it? Hmmm, maybe there is something here….
Has it been done before?
Given how bare-bones this idea is, most probably. The story of an abused woman running from home has likely been done to death (although I can’t think of any in particular). So I’d have to find something to let this stand out.
What about the research?
I think I should start by reading similar stories, particularly non-fiction books of women who have escaped abuse for extra inspiration.
Why do I need to write it?
Again, I think people need to realise that they are in control of their own destiny. You don’t have to just “put up with it.” This would be a story about empowerment and learning to put yourself first.
Who’s going to care about it?
I guess this could cater to the feminist cause and female empowerment.
Is it a goer?
Again, not quite sure until I’ve developed the idea a little more but I think there might be something there, alright.
#4: Mother and Baby
What interests me about it?
This is a topic that’s quite prominent in the Irish consciousness. The whole scandal around the mother and baby homes won’t be forgotten anytime soon. This idea was born out of a “what if” really concerning that topic. What if we had known sooner? Could we have stopped these terrible things from happening?
Will I be interested in it long term?
Not too sure, this one isn’t drawing me as much as the other ideas I’ve had. Yes, it’s an interesting topic and one we should never forget but I’m not sure about this story.
Is there an obvious journey?
This story is quite about empowerment as well, standing up for what you believe in and refusing to back down. It’s about change and fighting for the greater good. Many of the characters involved will go on their own journeys of growth.
Has it been done before?
Of course, the Magdalene Sisters covered this topic pretty well (although I haven’t actually seen it) but that story takes place entirely within the home itself. So, it’s similar but doesn’t mean this story is invalid. This idea also makes me think of Fantine in Les Miserables who went to such depths for the sake of securing her daughters livelihood.
What about the research?
Being related to an actual event, I would have to do a good bit of research for accuracy. But that actually sounds exciting! Love me some research. Most importantly, I would seek out stories from women who actually experienced these atrocities and go from there.
Why do I need to write it?
Because we can’t forget what we, as a nation, did to so many women and innocent children all in the name of “God”.
Who’s going to care about it?
I should hope mostly anyone.
Is it a goer?
Maybe??
#5: Queen and Traitor
What interests me about it?
This was mostly a bunch of what-ifs but I think the scenario of the Queen being murdered at their dinner together could be interesting. The daughter is already of ill-repute thanks to her family and is naturally accused. This is, of course, a period story and that could be quite interesting to look into medieval stuff and how the royals live and lived. Of course, the daughter did not kill the queen, so it would also be a story about judging a book by its cover.
Will I be interested in it long term?
This idea sounds like a classic whodunnit, something I’ve always wanted to write. And in a period, medieval, royal setting? That could be interesting. But again, this seed is so little I can’t say if it will bear fruit just yet.
Is there an obvious journey?
The daughter will have to prove her innocence and discover the true perpetrator in the process.
Has it been done before?
I don’t think so? Whodunnit’s are a genre unto themselves and I’ll have to investigate the likes of Agatha Christie to see what’s been done (and hasn’t!)
What about the research?
Loads of research here into royalty and medieval life. But again, I love research so that just makes this idea even more appealing!
Why do I need to write it?
A good old murder mystery would just be fun to write!
Who’s going to care about it?
Wannabe Sherlocks?
Is it a goer?
I kind of want to develop this a bit more and see where it takes me!
DAY SEVEN (Idea Development):
I chose to focus on the murder-mystery actually as it excites me the most!
There’s a hero! Something happens and her life totally changes. She’s now got a problem to solve. Shit!
So, the hero is the daughter, perhaps a princess or just someone who lives at the palace. She comes from a family of ill repute. Her father previously betrayed the trust of the Queen and was extradited. But the Queen is loving and forgiving and takes his daughter under her wing. But no one else in the palace trusts her nearly as much. The Queen invites the daughter to supper with her. This is a rare occurrence as the daughter would usually sup alone since the rest of the palace people disliked her so. The supper is going well and everyone is having a good time until suddenly - tragedy strikes and the Queen begins to sputter and choke. She falls facedown onto the table, dead. The stain on her lips and wineglass make it clear that she had been poisoned. All eyes fall on the daughter as she is instantly accused of the crime. Guards are called and she is instantly pulled away into the dungeons before she even has a chance to defend herself.
She tries to solve the problem.
Not only has she been accused of murder, but she’s also locked in the dungeon! She has to find a way out and prove her innocence. She befriends someone in the cell beside her. A young boy, around her age. He’s been here a while, locked up for snatching a piece of bread that he swears he never touched.
Somehow or other, they get out of the dungeon. Maybe they trick a guard or find a hollow point in the wall. But they remain in secret while the girl tries to find clues to clear her name. She listens in on conversations around the castle, discovering all sorts of goings-on.
She fails miserably at solving the problem, or she solves it with unexpected consequences, and the story pivots and there is a new, bigger problem to solve.
She eventually discovers the true culprit! It’s not someone anyone would’ve expected. But, boneheadedly, she decides to confront him alone but he gets the better of her and knocks her unconscious. She wakes to find herself tied up and helpless once again. This man is someone of power, high up in the hierarchy of the palace and has everyone wrapped around his little finger. It will be difficult to prove him guilty.
The problem is fixed or remains unfixed. The hero is happy or unhappy. She is CHANGED in some way.
She eventually gets to expose the true culprit to the other people in the palace and clears her name in the murder. Of course, she is disgruntled that everyone immediately turned on her without giving her a chance to defend herself. She opts to leave her life in the palace behind and with her captive friend, they seek out a simpler, happier life together.
Personally, I’m still pretty new to Tumblr and my attempts at keeping up a blog. It’s great to see such a strong writing community online, inclusive of Tumblr! I’ve noticed a lot of writers sharing ideas and details about the projects they’re working on and that’s really great and exciting!
However, sharing my work has always made me hesitant out of my somewhat paranoid fear that someone will steal it or be inspired to come up with something much better (call it childhood trauma, l-o-l). Thus, I don’t want to share character breakdowns or several excerpts, at least not as publicly as this. But I will, at the very least, share its pitch (as critiqued by the Book Doctors as part of NaNoWriMo a while ago) and a speculative cover that I’ve drawn up.
From here on, I want to share the journey of “Cuts & Bruises” as it grows from being an idea in my head to a story in your hands.
“I’d imagine my family finding me; would they be surprised? Devastated? Relieved?
Would I survive? Would they find me just at the last second, resuscitating me at the vital moment before I could slip away? I could see their angry faces flashing before my eyes, screaming selfish, selfish, selfish, how selfish can you be?”
Life has become banal and monotonous for 16-year-old Samantha Ward. The blade she drags across her skin is the only thing that makes her feel alive, that makes her feel real.
With the death of her beloved Grandmother and the rejection of her best friend, Samantha falls ever further into the grips of her darkness, every day adding to the collection of marks on her skin.
Desperate and tired of waiting for change, Samantha ventures out into the rain and finds herself drawn to the graveyard nearby. She stumbles across her classmate Michael Gallagher with a noose swaying behind him. Choosing careful words, Samantha convinces him to leave it behind.
With an unspoken bond between them, a friendship blooms. But as Samantha struggles to keep her habit a secret, she realises that Michael is hiding his own secrets too.
CUTS & BRUISES is not a story about a boy saving a girl. It is a story about two people saving each other.
CUTS & BRUISES is The Bell Jar meets John Green; a semi-autobiographical 80,000 word YA novel based largely on my own experiences with depression and self-harm. I’m also an artist, musician, film-maker and trained scriptwriter.
“It’s like singing on a boat during a terrible storm at sea. You can’t stop the raging storm, but singing can change the hearts and spirits of the people who are together on that ship.” — Anne Lamott
This is a guide of what I personally consider to be considerate and polite. While I would encourage people to follow this, it is just my personal opinion — it’s not a rule by any means, and it’s certainly not exhaustive.
Don’t add people to your tag lists without explicit permission.
Tag list — A tag list is a list of users who will be tagged in every post that a Writeblr makes about a certain WIP. It is often included at the bottom of a post, and people are free to ask to be included, or removed from it.
I get it, we all want people to see and enjoy our writing. However, please do not add anyone to your tag lists if they have not given you permission to.
I believe that all tag lists should be an ‘opt-in’, where people request to get put on it. While you might be willing to take someone off of a tag list with no hard feelings whatsoever, it can be really awkward for people to request to be taken off.
There are a lot of reasons why people don’t want to be on tag lists, and it doesn’t mean that they don’t like your writing. Even if someone is consistently interested and is commenting a lot, don’t add them without permission! Try asking them first!
If you reblog an ask game from someone, send them an ask.
Isn’t it really frustrating when you’re doing an ask game and about 20 people reblog it, but you only get 1 ask? We’ve all been there.
Send them an ask if you reblog! It takes like 2 seconds, and you don’t have to be particularly interested in the answer — it gives the person an opportunity to talk about their WIPs and OCs either way, and you’ll make their day.
If you want people to send you asks, try starting by sending other people some!
Use a “Read More” when you have long posts.
We writeblrs tend to make long posts, especially if we post our writing online. While that’s perfectly fine, there’s often a lot of scrolling to be done when the ‘read more’ isn’t used, especially if it gets reblogged a lot.
If you have several pictures, or your post requires quite a bit of scrolling to get through, please use the ‘read more’.
Use trigger warnings for sensitive topics.
If you are posting about sensitive topics including but not limited to things like rape, suicide, assault, etc., please use trigger warnings. Not everyone might want to see writing involving sensitive topics, and it might catch some people really off-guard, even if they’re fine with it. It’s just considerate to give your followers a heads-up, so they can decide if they want to continue or not.
Trigger warnings should be at the top of your post, or at the very least, before your sensitive content so people can see. I also tag it as “tw: [sensitive topic]” so that people who have blacklisted it can avoid it.
Please hide your sensitive content behind a ‘read more’! I have seen too many posts with trigger warnings, and no ‘read more’s, making people who want to avoid it, scroll through and potentially see the sensitive content.
If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.
Someone’s writing not up your alley? Really don’t like someone’s OC? That’s fine and valid, we won’t always love everyone’s writing. Just move on; unfollow them if you have to. Don’t give people unsolicited criticism if they don’t ask for it.
It can be scary putting ourselves out there. If you’re about to say something that would bother you if you received that comment, don’t say it. Just move on.
If you like it, consider reblogging it.
We all get excited when someone reblogs our posts, and we also get a little bit frustrated if people just ignore it, or like it without leaving anything else. We can all start to foster a better community by reblogging things we enjoyed instead of just liking them — support your fellow writeblrs! Reblogging other people’s posts will make someone’s day, and more people can see their awesome writing. As a bonus, people will be more likely to reblog your work too!
There is no right or wrong way to experience grief. Just as there is no right or wrong way to write it. Everyone is different, each set of circumstances are different.
The point of this post is to show you how different people react in different ways, and give points on how you might write that, depending on your character and story.
Reactions to Grief
Numbness: Your character may go into auto-pilot and be unable to process the events that have unfolded.
Anger: This can be aimed at other people, at a Higher Being, or at nothing in particular.
Unsteady: Your characters may be unsteady. For example, unable to stop their voice from shaking or they may find it difficult to stand.
Focusing on Others: Your character may disregard their own feelings because they are so overwhelmed and instead concentrate on someone else’s well-being.
Seek out routines: Amid upheavals, your character may seek comfort in tasks that are familiar and “safe,” such as working, cleaning, making their bed, making absurd amounts of tea or taking a morning walk.
Pretending that Everything Is Okay: Grief is viewed as an emotion that should cease or be concealed once the funeral is over. So people mention the news in an offhand comment, then talk and laugh as if all is right with the world.
Denial: Some people deny the reality of death and convince themselves that the news is a joke or can’t be true.
Reactions from people surrounding your character:
People may avoid your character as they do not know what to say or simply can’t find the right words.
Some may even go as far as to cross the street when they notice your character approaching.
Even people that the character has known for years may act strange or standoff-ish, simply because they don’t know what to say.
On the other side of that, some people may be overly helpful and friendly.
It is not uncommon for estranged friends, family or others to suddenly reappear in a person’s life after they have experienced grief.
Either because those people want to offer their support and love or because they’re being nosy and they want to be kept up to date on the “drama”.
Most people will move on from the event fairly quickly if they weren’t emotionally invested.
Some people may even get annoyed at your character for still being upset weeks or months later.
When talking about the person they have lost:
Your character may recall a memory or tell a story about their loved one, these are possible reactions. (I have encountered all of them.)
Your character may being to cry or get upset at the thought of the person they have lost.
The person they are talking to may become awkward and avert eye contact when your character brings up the person they have lost.
Others may ask or tell your character to stop talking about the person they have lost. They may roll their eyes, cough awkwardly, or cut off your character mid sentences so that they can change the subject.
Some people may ask inappropriate questions about the circumstances in which the character’s loved one passed away. Depending on the personality of your character then may react differently.
Other things to note:
Grief is not constrained by time.
One of the main problems with grief in fiction is that a character is typically heartbroken for a couple scenes and then happy again. But grief does not evaporate because the world needs saving.
Allow your character to wrestle with their grief.
Your character may feel guilty. Your character may feel a twinge of guilt when they laugh or have a good time with someone else; when they do something to remind them that they’re alive, and their loved one isn’t.
Grief is a game changer. A previously outgoing character may withdraw and isolate themselves. Some people may take grief and/or bereavement as a sign that life is too short; they may make big decisions in an attempt to make themselves feel better and grow away from their pain.
Sometimes grief can help you find your purpose.
At first grief can be all consuming. It hurts and you can’t really control it. It may seem unrelenting. Eventually the grief will become easier to deal with, your character may find the days to be better, but that doesn’t mean that when the grief hits it doesn’t hurt any less.
For most people, grief never really goes away. “Sometimes you have to accept the fact that certain things will never go back to how they used to be.”
It is rare that a person will ever give a long speech about their feelings, a lot of people struggle to even find the words. But that’s okay. Show the reader how your character feels, rather than just telling them.
Don’t pause the plot to deal with the aspect of grief. This could overwhelm the readers and drag the pace down. In reality, life doesn’t just stop due to grief, the world keeps spinning and things still need to be done. Use the character’s grief as a backdrop for the story’s events.
Yes, grief affects the character’s day-to-day life, goals, and relationships. But it shouldn’t drive readers away or stagnate the story. Instead, should engage readers and produce empathy that keeps them turning pages.
You don’t need to tell your readers that everything will be fine. You don’t need to provide all of the answers.
“Skirting grief and treating it lightly is easy. But by realistically portraying it through a variety of responses and its lasting effects on the character’s life, readers will form a connection with your characters.“
here is a super helpful website for this kinda thing!
the first result isn’t always the one you’re looking for but when you press enter it’ll give you a ton of words related to your query that’ll probably have what you’re wanting, or something better
