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Writing a Perfect Love Interest

Dear Writers,

I know I have been MIA for a while...I even missed the one year anniversary of this blog...But first, I just wanted to open up and say thank you to everyone who’s been leaving notes on my posts and leaving nice comments! Thank you!! This blog has grown so much in the past year and it’s thanks to you guys :) Everyone reading this is super awesome, by the way. Now, let’s get on to the advice! Are you in that situation where you hate that leather-jacket-wearing-18yo-bad-boy but...you’re writing him? If so, here’s some advice for when writing a perfect love interest! (A perfect love interest, not the perfect love interest because there is not just one lol)

Cliches aren’t that bad. Really. There’s a reason why so many wattpad stories feature the “bad boy” and the “nerdy girl” or the “playboy”. They’re enjoyable and, when written well, can even come across as unique and engaging and thought-provoking. It’s 100% okay to take an archetype and mold it into a more unique character. The way you do that is through making them more real. Give them motivations, back stories (that are NOT far-fetched), inside jokes, friends, family, flaws, their own thought process. My point is, while I do not encourage anyone to write the stereotypical wattpad bad boy, it can be used as a good jumping off point.

More than one personality trait, please. Please. I’m begging you. People do not have only one or two defining personality traits. They have multiple that come into play in different situations. Yeah, someone might be rude in general but not always. They might be extremely kind to a stranger that helped them but rude to the people they see everyday. They might be quiet in general, but when they meet the right person, they completely open up. They might actually be more talkative to strangers than to fellow classmates or coworkers. My point is, people do not exhibit the same personality traits all the time. Some traits come and go with emotion, and sometimes even change with the situation. **Do this for all your characters, not just your love interest, thank you very much.**

Attraction. When writing the love interest, you have to know your MC like the back of your hand. From the MC’s pov, what is it that makes this other person so special? Why are they attracted to them? There’s going to be initial attraction (a shared hobby, looks, etc.) but what is sustaining that attraction? What is keeping it going? What makes your MC want to actually pursue a relationship with that person? Maybe they both love music, and so they become friends, but then the MC realizes s/he’s extremely smart, funny, kind, etc.

Don’t reveal too much at once. Like stated in the above bullet point, the MC needs to know enough about the love interest to really like them. But we don’t want the MC to know everything about them!! Let the love interest slowly reveal things to the MC on his/her own time. Let the MC gradually discover things about them that they would have never guessed, or maybe that they would have guessed and those things just make them fall in love even more.

NO TOXICITY PLZ. Last but not least--you’d think this would be a given--your love interest better see your MC as their own person. Don’t get me wrong, the love interest can be disrespectful, spiteful, rude, arrogant, close-minded and all these other things. But if they don’t see your MC as someone with their own needs, wants, and ideas, then that’s straight up toxic and we don’t do that here. Again, don’t get me wrong, your love interest can be complex and flawed and still be redeemable.

That’s all I’ve got for you today, guys. Sorry if you could tell that my thoughts were all over the place haha. I wasn’t planning on posting today; I just sat down and wrote something random. I hope you enjoyed reading and happy writing :)

Love,

Ava

P.S. - Do you want a step-by-step plan on how to write a book?? I’m thinking of doing a series for that so let me know your thoughts and what advice you want to see!

#writing advice #writing help #character development #love interest #writing romance #wattpad bad boys

Are there inferior book genres?

Dear Writers,

Today’s post isn’t exactly writing advice like usual, but it’s certainly a question we’ve all asked ourselves. Are some book genres just more intellectual, more stimulating, and overall...better? Even if you haven’t asked yourself this exact question, you might have felt that a certain genre or age group (YA, adult, etc.) was better or worse than another, beyond your personal preference. I’ve noticed that some people--myself included--might feel insecure with what they read, believing it to be less intelligent or cultured. I think we can all agree that a lot of people look down on YA and romance and sometimes fantasy, which strangely enough, are actually the most popular categories. So is it true? Are some book genres elite? Is an adult realistic fiction novel that depicts the struggles of poverty overall more well-written, mature, and thought provoking than some YA magic story?

The answer is…*insert an ominous violin crescendo* no!!

I’m not going to lie. I was one of those annoying people who, after reading one really bad and somehow really popular YA fantasy novel, instantly looked down on the YA fantasy category, and quite frankly, the YA community in general. But the truth is...being YA doesn’t make a book good or bad. Being fantasy doesn’t make the book good or bad. No matter the intended age group or genre, a book is not inherently good or bad because of either. I’ve read amazing adult fantasy novels, and I’ve read amazing YA fantasy novels. I’ve read terrible realistic fiction, and I’ve read well-written, enjoyable realistic fiction. And can we talk about middle-grade books? Because they were for children, I avoided them, but to this day, some of the most inspiring, most well-written, most creative books I’ve ever read were written for children.

So now you might be asking, what makes a book good? Is it just whether or not you enjoy it? The answer is different for everyone. It all depends on what you value and what you’re looking for, be it entertainment, guidance, relatability, etc. Personally, a book has value as long as it makes me think. If it can provoke any sort of thought (other than rude criticism), then it can be considered a good book, regardless of genre or age group. If a romance book makes me reconsider my outlook on certain people, then it has value to me beyond entertainment. If a children’s book is able to symbolize the inner workings of human nature, no matter how simply or “childishly”, then it has value. In short, all stories have the potential to be valuable to someone. It doesn’t matter how childish they seem or what style of “fancy” language it uses. It doesn’t matter if the main storyline revolves around two lovers or two enemies. If it makes you think, if it makes you ask a single question, then it has challenged you to think bigger, and it might have even changed you. Therefore, all books can be good.

Love,

Ava

P.S. - Feel free to tell me what you look for in a book :) What makes a book valuable to you?

#booknerd #booklr #ya books #booksbooksbooks

Hey there! I am a writer struggling a little bit with the emotions of the plot. I have five protagonist and I want to show how they are facing so many challenges and breaking down. I have events planned out to show their great friendship too, which is wholesome. But most of the major events impacting the internal conflict are sad. Their life is wrenched and that is what is happening. I have to show how the particular year made them face so many hardship. I will build the emotion I want but the story would just be too sad. There are 3-4 side characters but the story revolves around only the main characters and it cant leave them; that is not being able to show a different emotion than sad. How do I balance when I want to actually show they are constantly being thrown into sorrow but not let readers get bored or disappointed with just one emotion? A comic relief would just add a bunch of chaos in the story neither do my characters have time for that.

Hmm...good question, Anon.

First, I want to point out that it’s totally okay for your book to be really sad. As long as the loss and the grief means something more than just an emotional rollercoaster...then I think you should write what you want to write! Don’t feel the need to make your book happy because you don’t think your reader will like it. That being said, below is some advice for taking the focus off the sadness and putting it on different emotions.

Now I have a question for you: why is every pov sad? What I mean is, what are your characters doing? Are they being active or reactive? Are they working towards a goal and are they dealing/coping with their challenges? or are they dwelling in the sadness? Don’t get me wrong, you can totally show someone’s inability to deal with a challenge, but I’m guessing that you don’t that for every pov. So #1: make sure your characters are working towards a goal. Your character should be doing something and causing events; events shouldn’t just be happening to them. That should prevent the reader from constantly feeling the sad vibes and focus more on what’s at stake and what the characters are learning from their challenges.

#2: Write the little moments. You said your povs form a friendship, right? That’s perfect! If you want to take a break from the more negative emotions, write some scenes that get personal between your characters. Let them have fun together! Let them make inside jokes or dare the other one to do something stupid or something fluffy like that. Now, you might be thinking that these scenes won’t advance your plot but that doesn’t have to be true! Allowing your characters to get to know each other can 100% influence events in your storyline and make for some excellent character development.

#3: Make sure you know your emotions. Is every pov sad or is one hopeless? The other tired, exhausted? Angry? Distressed? Scared, in pain? All of these are negative, but they’re not all “sad”. Your reader is less likely to get burnt out if the each character is feeling a different type of emotion, so make sure you know exactly what your character is feeling and to describe each character’s emotions uniquely and distinctly. That being said, every one of those negative emotions has a positive opposite. Hopeful, energized, content, at peace, fearless. If one character is exhausted, maybe balance it out by making them also feel some hope every now and then. If another character is angry, maybe they’re also energized and fearless.

I hope this helps and inspires you to write some more! Your story sounds interesting and I hope you continue writing it. Who knows, maybe I’ll even see it on a bookshelf some day?? ;)

Hey there! I have been working on my work since a long time and have fairly developed the plot so that I will not be stuck anywhere. This is my third draft so I hope it comes out nicely. But the problem I am facing is burnout. I have thought and worked so much on that book that without writing it too, I feel like enough. The story is good and meaningful. The characters are deep and lovable. But shall I give it a break and begin with a new plot development whose idea I have or shall I continue with it and try to finish it?

Good question!!

From personal experience with burnout, I would definitely take a break! The break doesn’t have to be long, just until you start feeling energized about the story again. Try reading a good book during this time! That way you’ll still be getting exposed to plot maneuvers and storylines without stressing about your own.

About the “new plot development,” I’m going to assume it’s a whole new book/story. Personally, I find it hard to get back into a story if I’ve been working with and vibing with a whole other story. So if you think it’d be hard to take yourself out of the new story to go back to the old one, I wouldn’t dive too deep into plotting the second story. However, write all your ideas with the new plot development down so you can go back to it in the future!

I hope this helps :)

Best Romance Tropes for Your Story

Dear Writers,

As promised, here is the good side of writing romance. For those who don’t know, a trope is a recurring plotline, kind of like an archetype but with plot instead of characters. Whether you want to write a romance as a subplot or the plot, here are some of the best tropes in existence. It’s scientifically proven that the tropes below will make your story better :)))

Enemies to lovers: Let’s get this boi out of the way. (Do I even need to explain this one?) I don’t know anyone who doesn’t like a good enemies-to-lovers plotline. It makes for the perfect potion of slow-burn and passion and realizing feelings at all the wrong times. 10/10 recommend. However, please keep in mind that there are some things that maybe just *maybe* one of the characters shouldn’t be able to get past. I’m all for forgiveness no matter what, but if someone KILLS YOUR MOM maybe don’t fall in love with them.

Shy girl/boy: I didn’t know what to call this, so yes, I called it shy girl. Anyway, it occurs when one of the characters in the relationship is really shy and has trouble confessing their feelings for their special person. This one gets cuteness points because it’s cute to read about how someone will blush or stutter whenever their crush talks to them or about how they might watch from afar. Just be careful of confusing shyness with something less than cool. It’s one thing for your character to be a secret admirer, it’s another for them to be a stalker. And it’s one thing for them to get flustered, but it’s another thing entirely if they literally can’t talk to another person. That doesn’t make for a healthy relationship, or really much of a relationship at all.

Slow-burn: I don’t know if this is considered an actual trope, but no matter what type of relationship it is, it’s gotta be slow-burn. (Remember, all of this is scientifically proven. Sorry if you don’t like slow-burn relationships but this is what the facts say.) Slow-burn means the writer takes a drawn out and thorough approach to the relationship. It makes the getting together part 300x more satisfying and exciting. However, if you choose to employ this trope, make sure to keep your reader excited about the relationship! Slow-burn can be awesome if done well, but you don’t want your reader to get bored waiting, so make sure to occasionally tease at the relationship. (But don’t you dare tease at a relationship only for it to never happen!! Don’t you dare!!)

#writing romance #romance #writing advice #writing help #relationship #forbidden romance #enemies to friends to lovers #slow burn

Got any tips for writing a character still figuring out who they are/what they want out of life? I feel like a lot of us be out here writing Coming Of Age Stories(TM), and the advice for figuring out your character’s desires tend to be “Don’t use vague platitudes! Get specific! REALLY specific! You should have a clear image of EXACTLY what your character pictures future happiness looking like! If your character isn’t strongly and CLEARLY motivated, they’re a bad character!” [1]

[2] But like. I sure as shit didn’t know what I wanted out of life when I was younger. A lot of my favorite characters in media are like, “I am DESPERATELY seeking a purpose, a direction in life and a place where I fit... but I’ve no idea what that might be.” The most specific answer I could come up with for that “clear want” for these characters would be “idk, working a job I find fulfilling surrounded by people who support and care about me?” Which seems like the wrong answer to that question.

Hi, there, anon!!

To answer your question, first, your character needs to figure out who they are. Coming of Age stories aren’t just about figuring out the future, they’re about figuring out the present. Your character doesn’t just have to ask questions like, “What am I going to do in the future?” and “How can I make an impact on the world?” Before they can even begin to answer those, they’ve got to answer questions like these: “What kind of person do I want to be?” “What do I value?” “What makes me happy?” “Who makes me happy?” “What’s most important to me?” Honestly, if you don’t want your character to know EXACTLY what they want to do in the future by the end of your story, I think it’s perfectly okay to not specify as long as you answer the above questions. Your character doesn’t have to have a detailed goal in mind, but they do have to learn about who they are and make progress towards forming that goal.

That being said, if you do want to come up with a “clear want,” it doesn’t have to be job related. Ultimately, you have to answer the question: What does your character FEAR the most about the future? Is it that they’ll be lonely? That someone will be missing from their life? That they’ll be unhappy with their job? That their family won’t be safe? Figure out what that fear is and focus on addressing that rather than addressing the character’s entire future as a whole. For example, if your character is worried about what type of job they’ll have or how they’ll contribute to society, focus on allowing them to figure out both what they’re good at AND what they enjoy (and why they enjoy it). Keep in mind that for whatever it is the character wants, they will probably have to make sacrifices. If you think “finding a fulfilling job” is the wrong answer, then it might be because the character didn’t make the proper sacrifices to get there or really delve into WHY they want that specific job.

Overall, you really need to figure out who your character is in the present. Let them explore their own values, meet new people, go on new adventures, etc. Let them grow as a person and their future goals will eventually come to them (and you!). I hope this helps :)

How to Avoid Writing a TOXIC Relationship

Dear Writers,

Yes, yes, it’s February and Valentine’s Day is tomorrow so I’m making a romance-themed post. Whatever, if you don’t want romance, kindly keep scrolling. Anyway, for all the cool kids out there, we know a little romance can spice up a book of almost any genre. But we also know that the wrong spice can ruin an otherwise good story. So here are my tips for how to avoid writing about a toxic relationship:

Power dynamics. The relationship must be founded upon equality, not one having power over another. This is in regard to both status and character traits. Your characters have to see each other as equals. That doesn’t mean one can’t be in a position of power or that they can’t have different strengths and weaknesses, it just means that their relationship shouldn’t be based on one having more power than the other. Toxic: a prince is seeing a maidservant; the maidservant wants to stop seeing him but is worried because he’s the crown prince. Non-toxic: a prince is seeing a maidservant who feels comfortable enough to say how she feels to him; she does not feel coerced or pressured to feel a certain way around him because of his status.

No waiting. I’ve read too many love triangles where the second love interest is “willing to wait” for the MC to realize they’re in love with them. Uh, I don’t think so. NO WAITING, ladies and gentleman. Your MC shouldn’t be waiting for someone to fall in love with them (or another character shouldn’t be waiting for the MC to fall in love with them). The character in question should find someone who’s interested in them and won’t make them wait to make up their mind. I’m not saying two characters have to realize they’re in love at the exact same time. I’m saying that when one confesses and the other says no, then whoever confessed needs to move on.

#writing advice #writing romance #toxic relationship #writing help #romance

How to make your book one of the classics

Dear Writers,

This is an issue I’ve personally been struggling with these past few months. I’ve been reading several classics (like Shakespeare and Kate Chopin) and I’ve just been thinking…how? How are these books so old, and yet so popular? How are they great? Are they better than books being written today? Whatever it is, I can’t help but think that I want my book to be known as a classic in the next few hundred years. I mean, who doesn’t? All I can say is that I’ve found a few things that they all have in common. Here’s 4 tips the classics seem to follow:

Write what you want. Don’t write what your readers want and don’t write what you feel pressured to write. Do you think Mark Twain let his critics tell him how to end The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn? Do you think Mary Shelley let people tell her she couldn’t write horror because she was a woman? Of course not! Write what you want. Your passion will come across in your story and make it all the more memorable.

Be careful when foregoing conventional writing. What I mean by this is don’t break typical writing standards unless you have a reason. I get it; you want to be quirky. But more often than not, breaking conventional writing standards will get you annoyed reviews (that’s not to say reviews determine your book's value). For those of you who might be confused, I’m talking about when a writer does something to the font, spacing, or just overall visual style of the text. An example would be The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (this isn’t technically a classic, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it was taught in school 100 years into the future). Zusak has several little “inserts” where he places bold headlines in the middle of a page to emphasize certain aspects of his story. I’m not saying this is a bad idea, I’m just saying be careful with it. Feel free to break the standards but make sure you have a reason. Zusak added those inserts to emphasize important details and help shape the narration, not because he wanted people to notice his book.

Write the best you can. I know this is obvious, but seriously, write to the best of your ability. If every time you read a passage and you know a description or a piece of dialogue just doesn’t sound right, then FIX IT. Don’t let it go with “I can’t think of anything else” or “it’s good enough”. No, fix it. Make it better than good enough. Basically, listen to your gut. If you feel like something is off, rewrite it. (Knowing something is off and knowing something could be better does NOT equal self-doubt. You know it’s self-doubt when you don’t actually feel anything is wrong; you just feel like something is probably wrong.) An example of this in classic literature would be my boi Shakespeare. He literally contemplated nearly every line of his plays. He counted out the syllables to several of his lines to make them flow the best they possibly could. Show your book the same love!

Include themes. Some classics are just entertaining stories, but some delve deeper than that. Some are entertaining and give us insights into our world and humanity. For me personally, it’s these books--classic or not--that stick with me. Where would Jane Eyre be if she had sacrificed her principles and morals for someone else? Where would Hamlet be if he had not realized we all die someday? Sure, there are tons of classics that skip out on having deep and meaningful themes, but even then, all characters must have depth and morals. I haven’t read Dracula in a while, and I don’t remember it being super “deep” but I do remember the characters working together as a team and showing courage. That counts.

Overall, these are just some things I noticed a lot of classic books have in common. If you want another piece of advice, here’s an honest tip: don’t get so caught up in making your book a classic. I know, I know, that’s what this whole blog post is supposed to be about. But, really, the popularity of your book does not determine it’s worth. If you take away only one thing from this post, I hope it’s this: make your book the best it can be. That’s it. That’s all these classic authors did. It took me a while to realize that.

Love,

Ava

P.S. - Sorry for all the Shakespeare references. I’m a bit obsessed at the moment. To show you forgive me, hit that like button???

#writing advice #writing help #classic books #classic literature #writers #writeblr #writerblr

I'm writing about someone that rushes into their relationship way too fast in hopes of being distracted from their own issues. This in turn creates a toxic and destructive relationship where both of them become kind of awful toward each other (nothing physical, but still bad.) As we all know, YA literature has a habit of falsely casting problematic relationships in a positive light. How can I make it clear to the audience that this relationship is bad, and that I'm not trying to make it seem ok?

Hi there!

First of all, I really appreciate this question. I feel like a lot of authors try to do this but their relationship still comes off as romanticized or okay.

I think the best way to pull this off is to show the full negative consequences of this relationship, showing the “symptoms” if you will.

Intrapersonal (?) symptoms:

headaches

can’t sleep at night

becoming tense when the other person walks in the room

being really irritable (even with other people)

self-destructive thoughts

losing motivation

tiredness

not eating

Interpersonal (?) symptoms:

manipulative behavior between the two

physical violence

not trusting the other

one of them hurting the other’s self-confidence/insulting them

trying to control the other person

unhealthy clinginess

dating someone for any reason other than love (and the other person doesn’t know)

keeping score on who-did-what

possessiveness/jealousy

Those are just some examples. (I’m sure these could be separated into better categories and there’s a ton that I’m missing, but AP psych did not sit well with ya girl.) I’m aware that a relationship can be toxic without these symptoms, so just be sure to show the negative aspects and the hurt it can bring.

Also, it definitely helps if you eventually show the MC realizing the toxicity of the relationship in the end. I don’t know what kind of story you’re writing, but add in a “journey to self-love” kind of sub-plot and that’ll definitely help keep a positive light off the relationship.

Another way to make sure your audience knows you aren’t condoning the relationship is to have one of your other characters condemn it. Maybe it’s someone close to the MC who sees how much the relationship is hurting them, or maybe it’s someone the MC just met who can’t help but notice that they aren’t acting like a normal couple.

That’s my advice for you and I hope it helps! I’ve never tried to write a toxic relationship before, so I was kind of at a loss at what to say. Again, I hope this helps :)

Love,

Ava

Hi I'm amateur writer anon and I'm asking this question to the entirety of writer tumblr askboxes (ones where I can ask anonymously) about one of my biggest weaknesses in writing: the first opening sentence/paragraph. Please give me some advices on how to write an intriguing first sentence/paragraph so that the readers can get more into it and i can also get right into writing it :(

Hi anon!

The first opening sentence is, in my opinion, supposed to set the mood for the entire story. The best way to determine how your story should start out is how the rest of your story is. Here’s some examples of what I mean:

Is your story full of action? Then make your first sentence something like “Run!” and then proceed to describe some action scene. (This action scene doesn’t have to pertain to the plot so much as set up your character’s daily life; this goes for all types of intros.)

Is your story a mystery? Then begin with something mysterious. Start with what your reader doesn’t know. Instead of beginning with your detective waking up like any other day, start at the scene of the crime. Describe a hooded figure fleeing from sirens. Or maybe, show off your brilliant detective by beginning the story with him/her solving a crime. If your story is about intrigue, start with intrigue.

Is your story a romance? Try opening with a pick-up line or someone talking about the MC’s love life. You don’t have to introduce the love interest now, just prepare your reader for what’s to come. Hint at the MC’s love life. Are they dating, and if so, are they happy? Are they looking for someone? Are they tired of guys hitting on them?

Keep in mind that your reader picked up your story because they want action or a mystery or a romance, so GIVE IT TO THEM. Don’t wait until you’re 100 pages in to finally mention what the book is going to be about. This should help you feel more motivated to write too because you’re jumping right into things. Of course, this is only one method for figuring out what to write in your first sentence/paragraph, but I encourage you to give it try! I hope this helps. Feel free to write back if this was a success for you or not :)

Love,

Ava

Dos and Don’ts of Writing Multiple POVs

Dear Writers,

In my last post, I shared some tips for deciding on whether or not your story should have multiple POVs. (You can read it here.) So now that you’ve decided you will indeed have multiple POVs, here are some things to make sure you do, and some things you might want to steer clear from.

DO: Have 2 to 4 POVs. This is the ideal number of POVs to have. Adding any more could overcomplicate things for the reader, making it harder for the reader to remember what has happened. And, chances are, you don’t need more than four viewpoints.

DON’T: Change the font/style with each POV change. This isn’t common, but since I’ve thought about it, I’m going to assume others have, too. Basically, unless the POV should be in italics (maybe it’s a diary entry or something), I wouldn’t recommend changing the font or making any other visible change to the text. This is because it would distract your readers. And, if you’re publishing a print book, it’s just not as “clean-looking” when flipping through the pages and publishers probably won’t let it slide (since it’s a little unprofessional).

DO: Contemplate which POV would be best to tell each scene from. Obviously, you don’t want to write the same scene four different times. So if you decide to rewrite a scene with more than one POV, make sure all POVs add something integral to the story. (Ask yourself, if this POV was missing, would my reader not be clued into something important?) If you decide not to write a scene multiple times, then to help you choose which POV to tell it from, ask yourself, which POV gives the reader the most insight into what’s going on?

DON’T: Change the POV within a chapter. DON’T DO THIS OR I WILL FIND YOU AND I WILL-- Look, please don’t do this. I’m asking you nicely. Do not change the viewpoint in the middle of a chapter. Wait until the end of the chapter. When there is more than one, chapter changes almost always signify a change in POV. (FYI, an extra line between paragraphs can signify many things, not just POV changes.) It’s very frustrating when you don’t realize there’s been a POV change and you’ve been reading the past few pages in the wrong character’s voice.

DO: Give each POV their own unique voice. This is a given; each character needs their own voice. It can be hard to convey character “voices” through text alone, but there are a few ways to help distinguish characters. 1) The way they think. Is your character analytical? Are they oblivious? Show this through their POV. Make them notice (or not notice) things. 2) Their emotions. Are they emotional? Are they calm? Cold on the outside but hot on the inside? Describe their emotions!! This is an easy way to distinguish each character since different people tend to experience certain emotions a lot more than others. Does your character get mad a lot? Are they happy where they are in life? Do they get jealous a lot? 3) Thoughts. Include direct thoughts from your character. These can give insights to how your character feels as well as allow you to show how they talk. Do they have an accent? Do they use a lot of slang? Are they sarcastic? (By the way, direct thoughts are usually in italics.)

DON’T: Reference things your character shouldn’t know. This isn’t a “don’t” so much as a warning. Make sure that when you mention something about your world or another scene, that the character from that POV was actually there or was filled in on something. Just because your reader knows what’s going on, doesn’t mean your character does just yet.

Well, those are my tips for writing multiple POVs! I hope you found these helpful :)

Love,

Ava

P.S. - Whoa, you just barely missed the like button! Hit that bad boy!!

#writing advice #writing help #multiple pov #writers #writing tips

Should Your Story Have Multiple POVs?

Dear Writers,

Are you plotting an epic fantasy novel? Or perhaps a drama-filled romance book? Or even a fanfic? No matter what you’re writing, you may be considering having multiple POVs. Here are some questions to ask yourself to help figure out whether your story is better told by one MC or several!

If you’ve already plotted for multiple POVs, here’s the first question; if not, then skip to the next one. Does every POV tell a unique perspective and does that character have their own purpose, goal, and motivation? Every single POV must have a purpose, otherwise they’ll be distracting the reader from the real story. The character must play an important role to the story or share a unique perspective on what’s going on. If your POV doesn’t meet these requirements, then chances are, your reader will find this POV boring and unneeded. Delete said POV.

How complex is your storyline? What I mean is, how many plot twists and arcs and villains and secrets does your story contain? If your story has a lot of these, another POV could help explain some of them so you don’t feel burdened to shove everything into one MC’s face. However, if your story doesn’t have a lot of these, then consider not including more than one POV. This is simply because you want your reader to fully explore every little plot twist and arc you have planned for them. Another POV could either distract the reader from the main story at hand or overwhelm your reader with details.

Does one POV fully explain how your MC gets from the beginning of the book to the end? Or, do you feel like, in the last chapter, you’re rushing to explain things that happened throughout the whole thing in order to make sure your reader understands what’s been happening outside of the MC’s POV? Obviously, I’m not saying you need to reveal all your writerly secrets and plot twists with another POV, but if revealing a little bit here and there lessens the load on what your reader has to absorb during the climax, I would suggest adding at least a few interludes.

Those are my tips for deciding whether or not you should have multiple POVs! As a general rule, I wouldn’t include more than 3 or 4 POVs just because too many could be hard for the reader to remember and/or could water down the story. Hope these help!

Love,

Ava

P.S. - Don’t be shy, leave a like!

#writing advice #writing help #multiple pov #pov #writers

I'm currently working on a story cause i need to take my feelings out of the inside, and i thought it would be a good way to put it on paper, so I can just 'close that chapter of my life'

I'm writing about my feelings and everyone who has read a piece of it say (maybe because i actually felt it) that i can realy put the reader throught my emotions, make them feel it too wich for me was amazing, making someone feel something you know? The problems is, I am writing about my life, real people, real situations, suddenly I started feeling ashamed of writing about the people I used to love and also scared someday someone will realize that all of that is true, even kind scared that the person I loved and the one that putted me through all this one day discovers I wrote about this person. Ashamed and scared, feeling like that even knowing that maybe no one will read it, is just... I needed to tell someone about this, thanks

This is a lot to unbox, but first I would like to thank you for reaching out to me. Reaching out to anyone can be scary and difficult, so I hope it was a relief for you to get this off your chest.

Second, I can only imagine what you’ve gone through; I’m not going to pretend like I know what’s happened. But if you have a passion for writing--no matter what--don’t stop writing! From what your friends say, it sounds like you have a talent for making your readers feel emotions through your writing. This is good. Writing your story and what you’ve been through is a good way to cope with things; this is nothing to be ashamed about. If you don’t write for anyone else, write for yourself.

That being said, I understand that you might feel hesitant or even guilty about writing about real people, especially if you used to care about them. Know that you can forgive someone without making excuses for their behavior. Even if the person you wrote about reads your story, there’s nothing they can do about it. If they didn’t want you to write about them, maybe they should have treated you better. It’s your story. Only you have the power to tell it and they can never take that away from you. It’s up to you if you ever want to publish your story (be it anonymous or with your real name).

You’re not alone. You mentioned being scared that someone would realize your story is actually true, but...couldn’t that be for the better? Someone could be going through something similar and reading your story could give them the hope they need to get through it <3 Even if someone isn’t going through the exact same thing, they can still relate to your story and feel not-so-alone themselves. That’s the beauty of story-telling. Stories inspire people and bring them together.

I don’t know if you wanted advice or if you just needed to vent, but if you want my advice, here it is:

Write your story. Share it with someone, with the world. Don’t let anybody stop you.

Write an MC that Isn’t Boring

Dear Writers,

Remember that one book where the MC didn’t stand out at all? Remember that one MC that didn’t have a personality? Or, perhaps, do you remember multiple MCs that didn’t stand out or do much? Here are some tips so that your MC doesn’t get put in the “I-don’t-care-if-this-character-dies category”.

Give them a personality that isn’t all over the place. What I mean is, don’t make your character flawless to the point where it seems they have every single good personality trait on the planet. Don’t be afraid to make your character get attention (and I mean, attention from the READER as well as the other characters). For example, don’t make your MC kind, smart, happy, able to do things without trying, sarcastic, witty, capable, strong-willed, and observant all at the same time. Keep some of those traits and then pepper in some flaws and things that set them apart from the other characters. Maybe your MC is extremely kind, but they’re insecure or not very smart or not very strong. Maybe they’re super smart, but they’re also stubborn and angry and can’t ever believe it when they’re wrong about something. Basically, concentrate building their persona off a few key traits.

Give them a passion! The best way to get to know someone is through what they love best. It’s the same in the fictional world, so even if you just hint at it, make sure to mention your character’s passion. It doesn’t always have to be related to the conflict, by the way. Maybe you’re writing about a fantastical heist, but the MC is passionate about their priceless book collection or maybe they are passionate about their future career as a vet. Be sure to mention these things and connect them to the plot if you can.

Last (and certainly not least), give them a secret! If you’ve read some of my other posts, you’d know I love nothing more in a character than mystery and intrigue. So please, please, please, give your character a secret! It can be serious or funny, related to the conflict or not. Perhaps your MC has a tragic past or maybe they have a silly crush. Either way, your reader will enjoy trying to figure it out before the big reveal.

To sum things up, all your character really needs is a striking personality. But if you want to spice things up some more, go ahead and give them a passion or a secret (or both). I hope you enjoyed reading and find these tips helpful!

As always,

Love,

Ava

#writing advice #writing help #character development #main character #character backstory

For any writer that needs it

“We all have our own process and move at our own pace, and there is just as much beauty in the words that burn slow as in the words that rush and tumble in a wild and mighty flow.”

--Gillian Bronte Adams

Worried you’re writing too fast? Feel like you need to calm down and do a bunch of plotting before you’re in over your head? Or...worried you won’t finish when you want to? Feel like, since you love writing so much, you should be writing more, writing faster?

If the above sounds like you...I want you to know that it doesn’t matter how fast you write. Don’t compare yourself to other writers. No matter when you write, your story will be just as meaningful and precious to you as theirs is to them. It’s about what you write, not when you write it.

Don’t get me wrong; I’m not saying you should skip deadlines or anything. I’m just saying the journey should make you as happy as the destination will :) So have fun while writing! Write when you can and don’t beat yourself up too much over your word count :)

P.S. - The quote is from YA author Gillian Bronte Adams’s Instagram story. Go check her out!!

#writing advice #writing help #writing inspiration #writers #writing adventures #writerblr #gillian bronte adams

Hey, um, I was hoping you could help me with something. I’m writing an injury-recovery/unlikely-friendship story, but the whole plot is kicked off by a failed assassination attempt. I want to integrate the assassin in more (because I realized I didn’t really have any payoff on that element, and they’re gonna play a pretty big role in the sequel,) but... I just can’t seem to figure out how to ADD an antagonist to a story which was initially outlined without one.

Hello there^^ From what I understand, you need help integrating your antagonist into the first book more? I might be able to help! Here are some ways I came up with to get your antagonist more involved in the plot:

Interludes. If you don’t want to give your antagonist a full POV, then try giving them a few interludes. Interludes are basically just lapses in the main storyline where the POV shifts to somewhere/someone else. They usually only last a few pages, or sometimes even less than that. Oftentimes they get right to the point. Maybe you can describe your antagonist right before the assassination attempt, or some other big plot point. (Keep in mind that these can be great for foreshadowing, so don’t let the interlude spoil the next chapter!)

Ask yourself: what is the antagonist doing when they’re “off the page”? If they’re relevant in the second book but not the first, what is keeping them busy? My suggestion is to hint at what the antagonist is up to, what their big plan is, without revealing too much. For example, if they’re keeping watch on the protagonist, make the MC explain how they sometimes feel like they’re being watched, or maybe a stranger--who is actually the antagonist--keeps popping up. Or maybe the MC is reading a newspaper and takes note of a strange article; little do they know, the article is about the antagonist.

Give your antagonist some relationships! Maybe the antagonist isn’t relevant at the moment, but their brother is? Or their business partner? You can use these little relationships to develop your antagonist from just a name and face to person with family, friends, motives, etc. Also, this would give them some page time since if they and the MC have people in common, they’re more likely to run into each other.

I hope these help :)

Love,

Ava

P. S. - I’m sorry if I kept you waiting; I hadn’t been checking my inbox ><; And thank you for submitting a question! I’m always happy to help :D

Writing a Scary Antagonist

Time to get s p o o k y

Dear Writers,

In the spirit of the season, here are some ways to increase the scare-factor of your antagonist! Please keep in mind that I don’t write/read horror. This is coming from someone who writes/read fantasy. But trust me, a scary antagonist works just as well in a fantasy book as in a horror one.

Rule #1: Keep your MC in the dark! If your MC knows everything about the antagonist, it makes them less mysterious, more familiar, and overall, less scary. I suggest waiting a little bit until the MC finally meets the antagonist face-to-face, to amp up the anticipation and the fear. I suggest taking this advice if your antagonist meets any of the following: a) they’re a monster/creature/ghost; b) they’re a “masked” figure (i.e. Phantom of the Opera). Think about how scary something is when you don’t even know how it kills or where it’ll strike next.

The antagonist has a “warning bell”. What I mean by this is that there’s always something that precedes the antagonist before they strike. Maybe the MC will hear mysterious whispering or claws scraping the floor when the antagonist is near. This is twice as scary if the antagonist appears human. (I mean, imagine you hear mysterious whispering before someone rounds the corner and starts walking towards you.)

Keep their appearance simple. Of course, you’ve got to give them a scary appearance, but don’t overcomplicate things. Try giving them a few recognizable features, like slit pupils or a forked tongue. Obviously, if your antagonist isn’t human, you can take it up a notch, but start with a basic body shape and then begin adding some spooky features. Also, do NOT give your monster/creature EVERY SINGLE SCARY FEATURE IMAGINABLE. Unless they’re some snake-goat-demon hybrid, why would they have a forked tongue, horns, claws, scales, fur, pointed teeth, AND glowing red eyes? Your reader won’t be scared; they’ll just be overwhelmed trying to remember everything.

I hope you found these tips helpful! Unfortunately, I feel like I missed some things since I’m not super familiar with this area. Feel free to comment your own ideas! I’d love to hear your guys’s advice :)

Love,

Ava

P.S. ~~stay mysterious~~

#writing advice #writing help #character development #antagonist #spooky time #evil villain

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