Morrigan Writes... Sometimes Cries @morrigan-writes - Tumblr Blog

Things for some reason people are afraid to do with female characters for some reason:

Make them fat

Give them scars and marks that can be seen

Make them ugly and make it that it’s okay and that they’re a full person that isn’t a joke

Make them sweaty and bloody and dirty when fighting instead of a sexy badass

Make them not adhere to femininity and not make them a joke at the same time (there’s nothing wrong w/ femininity but you get what I mean)

Make them a WOC

Make them a dark-skinned WOC at that

If they’re a WOC they’re not allowed to find love

Make them older

Make them not want children and never change their mind

wardenofmyheart-deactivated2019

Give them facial hair.

dumatsquiet

Give them muscles but like… actual muscles.

Give them varying heights.

Make them trans or nonbinary but don’t make it some tragedy or punchline

Make them disabled but don’t treat it in an ableist manner/infantilising manner

writingisfancylying

How do you write creepy stories

writeanapocalae

Over describe things

Under describe things

Fingers, teeth, and eyes

Short sentences in rapid succession build tension

Single sentence paragraphs build dread

Uncanny valley=things that aren’t normal almost getting it right

Third person limited view

Limited explanations

Rot, mold, damage, age, static, flickering, especially in places it shouldn’t be

Limited sights for your mc -blindness, darkness, fog, refuse

Real consequences

Being alone -the more people there are, the less scary it is

Intimate knowledge, but only on one side

I don’t know I just write scary things but I don’t know what I’m doing.

incandescent-creativity

Rule of Thumb: your reader’s imagination will scare them more than anything you could ever write. You don’t have to offer a perfectly concrete explanation for everything at the end. In fact, doing so may detract from your story.

#ref

dynamicsymmetry

Good stuff.

eerian-sadow

This. This is good fiction writing advice. I really appreciate how it was formatted as “this is a common problem, here is a solution to try in your own work” and not “oh god, don’t do that!” without any extra help. And I extra appreciated the “don’t rely on adverbs” bit, because they do have their place but they aren’t the only way actions can be emphasized.

#writing #ref

avi-why

every writing tip article and their mother: dont ever use adverbs ever!

me, shoveling more adverbs onto the page because i do what i want: just you fucking try and stop me

quarter0master

May I add something, because I will never shut up about this book (Writing Tools by Roy Peter Clark):

jackironsides

Finally, some good fucking advice

astudyinimagination

NOW THAT’S THE GOOD STUFF

#writing

dean-colette-deactivated2026050

controversial writing tip

open a document and start writing

henderys

unrealistic. blocked,

Obscure Questions to Answer about your OCs: Modern edition

The answers to these questions may never come up but I found it helps me figure out who an OC is:

Are they righty, lefty, or ambidextrous?

How do they take their coffee/tea?

Do they have a favorite pastry?

What is their phone background and lock screen?

Are their phone contacts personalized (like emojis, nicknames, or funny pictures)?

Do they own a raincoat or an umbrella? Or a winter coat?

What is their favorite movie or tv series?

Are they a danger to houseplants everywhere?

What food do they hate?

Do they wear matching pairs of socks or do they mismatch?

#writing

theworstassassinever

Writing Masterpost

Character Help

MBTI Personality Test

MBTI Personality Descriptions

123 Character Flaws

Character Trait Cheat Sheet

List of Personality Traits

Character Virtues And Vices

Underused Personalities

7 Rules For Picking Names

Character Names

Character Name Resources

Surnames Masterpost

Write Real People Generator

Types of Voice

55 Words to Describe Someone’s Voice

Showing Character Emotion

Character Motivation

Writing Characters Of Colour

More On Writing Characters Of Colour

Describing A Character’s Skin Colour

All Characters Talk The Same

Character Description

100 Character Development Questions

Character Development Questionnaire

30 Day Character Development Meme

Character Development Check List

Character Development Through Hobbies

List Of Character Secrets - Part 1 - Part 2

Mysterious Characters

Flat Characters

European Characters

Creating Believable Characters

Writing A Character Who Has Lost Someone Important

Writing A Drunk Character

Writing Manipulative Characters

Writing Vampires

Writing Witty Characters

Writing Natural Born Leaders

Writing Rebellious Characters

Writing Hitmen

Writing Indifferent Distance Characters

Writing Bitchy Characters

Writing Popular Characters

Writing Rich Characters

Writing Child Characters

Writing Villains

Villain Archetypes

Writing Stalkers

Avoiding LGBTQ Stereotypes

Writing Homosexuals as a Heterosexual

Writing Males as a Female

Writing Convincing Male Characters

Writing Characters Of The Opposite Sex

Revealing A Characters Gender

The Roles Of Characters

Creating Fictional Characters From Scratch

Creating A Strong, Weak Character

Writing Characters Using Conflict And Backstory

Writing A Character Based On Yourself

Switching Up A ‘Too-Perfect’ Character

Help I Have A Mary-Sue!

Dialogue

Dialogue Tips

Realistic Dialogue

Flirty Dialogue

On Dialogue

General Help

Alternatives To Said

Avoid Saying ‘Very…’

100 Ways To Say Good

Avoiding Unfortunate Implications

Begin A Novel

Finishing Your Novel

Creating Conflict

Show Not Tell

Words For Emotions Based On Severity

Getting Out Of The Comfort Zone

A Guide To Writing Sci-Fi

Naming The Story

The Right Point Of View

Essential Story Ingredients

Writing Fantasy Masterpost

Five Rules For Thrillers

Pacing Action Scenes

Writing Races

Using Gender Neutral Pronouns

Dos and Don’t of Writing

General Writing Tips

How To Avoid Tense Change

Seven Steps To A Perfect Story

Plotting

Outlining Your Novel

Creating A Compelling Plot

The Snowflake Method

Beginning and End, But No Middle!

Prompts and Ideas

Prompt Generator Lists

Creative Writing Prompts

Story Starting Sentences

Story Spinner

Story Kitchen

Writing Prompt Generator

Quick Story Generator

Dramatic Scenes

Plot Bank

Masterpost of Writing Execrises

Writers Block?

Visual and word prompts on pinerest boards

Research

Survival Skills Masterpost

Mental Illness

Limits Of The Human Body

Stages of Decomposition

Body Language Cheat Sheet

Importance Of Body Language

Non Verbal Communication

Tips on Drug Addiction

Depression

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

Anxiety

Schizophrenia

Borderline Personality Disorder

Degrees of Emotion

List Of Phobias - Part 1 (A - L) - Part 2 (M - Z)

Psychology In Writing

Psychology Of Colour

Mob Mentality

How Street Gangs Work

Street Gang Dynamics

How To Pick A Lock

Death Scenes

Realistic Death Scenes

Fighting and Self Defence

Fighting Scenes

Problems With Fighting Scenes

Every Type of Fight Scene

How To Fight Write Blog

Fantasy Battle Scenes

Body Language Of Flirting

Flirting 101

Kissing

Sex Scenes

Friends With Benifits Relationships

Ballet Terms

Torture Guide (Trigger Warning)

Sibling Abuse (Trigger Warning)

Dream Sequences

Kleptomania

Psychiatric Hospital

Understanding issues, -isms and privilege

Guide to writing smut

Post-Apocalyptic Cliches To Avoid

Revision

General Revision Tips

Cliché Finder

Reading What You’ve Wrote So Far

Synonyms For Common Words

Urban Legends On Grammar

Common Grammar Mistakes

Revising A Novel

Setting

Average Weather Settings

Apocalypses

World Building 101

Bringing Settings To Life

Creating A Believable World

Mapping A Fictional World

Mapping Your World

Religion in Setting

5 Editing Tips

Sounds to listen to whilst writing

Coffitivity

August Ambience

Rainy Mood

Forest Mood

SimplyNoise

Soundrown

iSerenity

Nature Sound Player

myNoise

Tools

Tip Of Your Tounge

Write Or Die

Online Brainstorm

Family Tree Maker

Stay Focused

Writeometer App

Hemingway App

#writing #ref

saladmander

ok but like when did self-sacrifice become synonymous with death? writers seem to have forgotten that people can make personal sacrifices for the greater good without giving their lives. plots about self-sacrifice and selflessness don’t always have to end in death. suffering doesn’t have to be mourning. you can create drama and emotional depth on your show without killing everyone. learn to explore the meaning of living rather than dying

ladyeternal178

Death. Is. NOT. The. Only. Way. To. Advance. The. Narrative.

geralehane

Fun things to sacrifice for your loved ones in your free time that don’t include death and actually set up for a whole new season of high level drama:

- humanity (mostly applicable to sci-fi/supernatural genre) - memories (mostly applicable to sci-fi/supernatural genre) - love for that special someone (mostly applicable to sci-fi/supernatural genre) - emotions (mostly applicable to sci-fi/supernatural genre) - rank/position/ - yourself/your brain/your skills (give yourself over to bad guys and become their brainwashed agent so your loved ones live) - years of bloody ruthless traditions to make way for peace (hi lexa and fuck jroth tbh) - freedom (includes that of speech/mind/will) - your grandpa’s fortune - hell even material possessions have that girl sacrifice her goddamn house so they can pay off her gf’s student loans or whatever juST STOP KILLING CHARACTERS TO FURTHER YOUR PLOT

marypsue

Other things to sacrifice:

- your most sought-after goal

- a strongly-held belief or conviction

- your own chance at happiness

ruffboi-mags

other fun things to sacrifice:

-a finger -an eye -10-20 years of your life -some of your vitality or dexterity -your ability to magically see in the dark -your proficiency in battle axes -your good looks -your memory of the man who killed your wife -everything but your head

so my desire for a particular widomauk AU has led me to actually... write it

because there wasn’t one there before and gosh darn if I’m not full of ideas

coming soon!

(in X months because I’ll write the whole thing first and then edit, like a weirdo)

#widomauk #writing #cr

gotinterest

Hey, @ cishet creators, you know one of your characters being LGBT doesn’t have to be a big deal, right? You don’t have to make it some big reveal. They can just… be LGBT and have no one comment on it literally at all.

gotinterest

And no, JK Rowling, I don’t mean that you can go an entire series without bringing up a character’s sexuality or gender identity only to claim they’re gay on twitter after the fact.

I mean that we see the protagonist’s best friend Zack or whoever complain off handedly about not being able to find tops that cover up his binder.

I’m talking about your female lead having a crush on a girl and having no part of the narrative question it or treat it as special.

I’m talking about having characters be LGBT for no reason the same way you have characters be cishet for no reason.

shanamichelewrites-blog

evilkillerpoptarts

YES OMG

petermorwood

Absolutely.

personal editing advice: (which means it works well for me and if people are having trouble editing or figuring out how to go about editing it may help them, too)

don’t finish your novel/short story/fic and then immediately go back to the beginning to edit

take time off from it and think instead about what, ultimately, you want out of it

what kind of voice do you want in terms of descriptions, character interactions, overarching plot, small moments between characters or just of a character alone?

then take time to not think about it at all

just put it out of your mind

then go back to it to read it

you’ll have forgotten some of what you wrote so when you get to spots you don’t remember you’ll have fresher eyes on what you possibly want to do differently

#writing #also remember everyone edits differently #but this always works for me