P.T. Writes

Specifically for me to re-blog useful writing things I find, including research, ideas & inspiration. Also for me to post crap about my writing. (Don't expect this often.) Fics on AO3

[dear-ao3]

[queen-of-the-merry-men]

When writing always remember… a character flaw is only a flaw until becomes useful. 

Is your protagonist manipulative? Well that’s awful… until they manipulate the antagonist into making a decision that saves the lives of their friends. 

Is your protagonist a skeptic? Well that’s not good… until someone tries to lie to them. 

Is your protagonist overprotective? That sucks… until someone they love is in danger. 

Is your protagonist remorseless? Well that makes them pretty unlikeable… until a hard decision has to be made. 

[saeronovace]

[susiephone]

The flipside is also true!

Your protagonist is honest? That’s good… until their survival depends on them being able to lie convincingly.

Your protagonist is brave? That’s good… until they foolishly run headlong into danger without a thought for the consequences.

Your protagonist is forgiving and able to see good in everyone? That’s good… until they continually forgive someone who doesn’t deserve it, and get taken advantage of because they can’t fathom that some people just suck.

Your protagonist is funny? That’s good… until they piss off everyone around them because they don’t seem to be taking the situation seriously, and they keep avoiding dealing with their problems by hiding behind humor.

Most personality traits aren’t inherently good or bad. It’s all about context, and how far they go.

[swordy-da-goat]

#artists

[swordy-da-goat]

Edited for all my writer friends out there

[i-see-light-blog]

Character Development Questions: Hard Mode

Does your character have siblings or family members in their age group? Which one are they closest with?

What is/was your character’s relationship with their mother like?

What is/was your character’s relationship with their father like?

Has your character ever witnessed something that fundamentally changed them? If so, does anyone else know?

On an average day, what can be found in your character’s pockets?

Does your character have recurring themes in their dreams?

Does your character have recurring themes in their nightmares?

Has your character ever fired a gun? If so, what was their first target?

Is your character’s current socioeconomic status different than it was when they were growing up?

Does your character feel more comfortable with more clothing, or with less clothing?

In what situation was your character the most afraid they’ve ever been?

In what situation was your character the most calm they’ve ever been?

Is your character bothered by the sight of blood? If so, in what way?

Does your character remember names or faces easier?

Is your character preoccupied with money or material possession? Why or why not?

Which does your character idealize most: happiness or success?

What was your character’s favorite toy as a child?

Is your character more likely to admire wisdom, or ambition in others?

What is your character’s biggest relationship flaw? Has this flaw destroyed relationships for them before?

In what ways does your character compare themselves to others? Do they do this for the sake of self-validation, or self-criticism?

If something tragic or negative happens to your character, do they believe they may have caused or deserved it, or are they quick to blame others?

What does your character like in other people?

What does your character dislike in other people?

How quick is your character to trust someone else?

How quick is your character to suspect someone else? Does this change if they are close with that person?

How does your character behave around children?

How does your character normally deal with confrontation?

How quick or slow is your character to resort to physical violence in a confrontation?

What did your character dream of being or doing as a child? Did that dream come true?

What does your character find repulsive or disgusting?

Describe a scenario in which your character feels most comfortable.

Describe a scenario in which your character feels most uncomfortable.

In the face of criticism, is your character defensive, self-deprecating, or willing to improve?

Is your character more likely to keep trying a solution/method that didn’t work the first time, or immediately move on to a different solution/method?

How does your character behave around people they like?

How does your character behave around people they dislike?

Is your character more concerned with defending their honor, or protecting their status?

Is your character more likely to remove a problem/threat, or remove themselves from a problem/threat?

Has your character ever been bitten by an animal? How were they affected (or unaffected)?

How does your character treat people in service jobs?

Does your character feel that they deserve to have what they want, whether it be material or abstract, or do they feel they must earn it first?

Has your character ever had a parental figure who was not related to them?

Has your character ever had a dependent figure who was not related to them?

How easy or difficult is it for your character to say “I love you?” Can they say it without meaning it?

What does your character believe will happen to them after they die? Does this belief scare them?

[daily-writing-tips]

Most Important Writing Tip

Rules do not exist. Take every tip with a grain of salt because writing is not science or math; writing is art. Art is whatever you make it.

[writerpoetstoryteller]

Does anybody else get this thing where they have a new idea for a story except that its not really a whole idea? Just like, a picture or a scene from a movie unfolding in front of you? Only its so clear, so sharp and strong that you know its going to be a story. It burns inside you, making you replay it again and again, from a new angle each time because you want to know, need to know, how this fits in a narrative.

Like, you see the characters and how they look, you know the setting, you know the motivations (but not the context), and every minute detail and nuance of expression or shadows or well, everything. 

You even know what sounds the characters can hear, what sensations they are feeling. You know what music would be playing if this was really a movie. 

You just… don’t know how it fits into a plot yet.

[itsonlythefirstdraft]

Going back to fix a plot problem

…While trying not to mess anything else up:

[orkidian]

When you’re writing aND YOU CAN’T FIND THE RIGHT WORD

[notclarandtwelve-deactivated201]

http://chir.ag/projects/tip-of-my-tongue/

you’re welcome

[whatafirefeelslike]

[oh-wikipedia]

*reblogs for later reference*

[mspaintly]

I’M IN THE MIDST OF WRITING A BOOK WHERE HAS THIS POST BEEN ALL MY LIFE

[may10baby]

I USE THIS SITE ALL THE TIME

GODSEND

[23cherryfreckles]

For all you fellow writers

[spiderrrling]

I am a(n):

⚪ Male

⚪ Female

🔘 Writer

Looking for

⚪ Boyfriend

⚪ Girlfriend

🔘 An incredibly specific word that I can't remember

[what-even-is-thiss]

*wakes up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat*

WAIT IT’S CALLED A THROW PILLOW

[holorifle]

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

here’s some examples:

[tilltheendwilliwrite]

Reblog to save a writer's sanity.

[drgrlfriend]

This one is also super helpful!  It shows you related words!

https://relatedwords.org/

[etirabys]

me, to my housemates, one of whom is a thermal engineer: if someone had hypothermia, is the best way to warm them up ‘spoon them’, or ‘cuddle chest to chest’? I feel like it could be either – spooning is the classic warming position, and you warm up the colder part, but spoon the front and you insulate the skin with the largest temperature delta

housemates: [fervent, serious debate]

me, after a couple of minutes: to be clear, this is for a final fantasy 7 fanfiction scene where my character got really cold, the stakes aren’t high in getting this completely right.

housemate: does the hypothermia exist sheerly as an excuse for the cuddling?

me: that is the only reason hypothermia exists in fanfiction.

[bioluminescent-fungus]

so i asked my mom’s boyfriend, who is a paramedic, and he recommended that for hypothermia, you cuddle chest-to-chest, BUT if you are digging in to survive a blizzard, spooning is preferable

[kamaboko-ken]

[sapphoesie]

Writing Tip

because I see this everywhere and most people don’t know about it. The hyphen(-), the en-dash(–) and the em-dash(—) are three completely different things with completely different uses. If you write fanfiction, it’s likely that your readers won’t care, but if you want to submit a manuscript for publishing, you need to know the difference. 

The hyphen (-) is the basic symbol you find on your keyboard, and it’s meant to only be used for hyphenated words (well-being, two-thirds). 

The en-dash (–) is a slightly longer dash. It’s usually the width of an uppercase N, hence the name. You can find it by looking through the ‘insert symbol’ option in MS word or many word processors, and it is meant to be used to show a particular distance, or for intervals (May–August, 1900–1916, pages 12–22)

The em-dash (—) is what people most commonly use, but they refer to it as a hyphen. It’s the longest dash, about the size of an uppercase letter M, and you can either find it through the list of symbols in your word processor, or some word processors actually automatically transform two hyphens (–) into an em-dash  (—). It is meant to be used as a break in the sentence, in a place where a comma, semicolon or colon would normally be used or as a break in dialogue. (Her niece—the daughter of her oldest sister—is the one over there.) 

*All three types of dashes are normally meant to be used without any spaces on either side of the dash. 

[pttuckerwrites]

Hi Thank you for a great resource blog. What has been your most useful or most often remembered piece of advice?

Aww, thank you! I’m glad others are finding it to be useful! 

As for what I’d consider to be the best piece of advice, it’s when I’m reminded that it really is okay to write things just for you. Too often people back down from writing something they’d personally enjoy because they think it’ll be too cringey and too tropey, too full of romantic fluff without enough sex, the plot is too weird and the characters too overpowered, and of course no one likes this rarepair but them. A million and one reasons, but it all boils down to people denying themselves based on what other people think and changing, or outright ignoring, ideas they like in favor of things that’ll be “safe.” 

I mean, sure, if your goal as a writer is to get the most readers no matter what then go for it. (And that’s a valid goal if that’s what you want, especially so when you publish for profit.) But if you’re writing for yourself, why not write for yourself? 

[wordsnstuff]

Useful Writing Resources

This is an extensive list of resources for every problem you could come across while writing/planning/editing your novel. Use it well;)

{ *** } Indicate a Highly Reccommended Resource

Planning/outlining Your Work

How To Outline ***

Zigzag Method : Creating Plots

How to Plot a Romance Novel 

Seven Great Sources of Conflict for Romances 

Let’s talk about brainstorming

Writing Something With Meaning ***

Past Or Present Tense? : How To Decide

Writing Your Work

How To Write A Fabulous Chapter #1 ***

How to Build a Romance Thread in Your Story 

The Big Book Of Writing Sex ***

6 Ways to Get Your Readers Shipping Like Crazy 

Romance Writing Tips ***

20 Tips for Writing Lovable Romance Novel Heroes

7 Ways To Speed Up Your Writing *** 

80+ Barriers to Love: A List of Ideas to Keep Romantic Tension High 

9 Romance Writing Mistakes to Avoid 

Removing the Creeps From Romance

19 Ways to Write Better Dialogue ***

50 Things Your Characters Can Do WHILE They Talk ***

How To Write Action And Fight Scenes

10 Steps To Write Arguments

9 Ways To Write Body Language

Writing Good Kissing Scenes

Writing Murders

Create And Control Tone ***

Tips for Writing Ghost Stories

Incorporating Flashbacks

12 Tips To Avoid Overwriting ***

Characters

Behind the Name

Top Baby Names

Looking for a name that means a certain thing? ***

7 Rules of Picking Names

Most Common Surnames ***

Minor Character Development

Writing Antagonists, Antiheroes and Villains

Characters With Enhanced Senses

5 Tips to Help You Introduce Characters

How Do You Describe a Character?

How To Write Child Characters

36 Core Values For Building Character

Questions To Answer When Creating Characters ***

4 Ways to Make Readers Instantly Loathe Your Character Descriptions

5 Ways to Keep Characters Consistent

Character Archetypes

25 Ways To Fuck With Your Characters

Building Platonic Relationships Between Female Characters

9 Simple and Powerful Ways to Write Body Language 

33 Ways To Write Stronger Characters

Conveying Character Emotion 

How to Make Readers Love an Unlikable Character…  

How to Create Powerful Character Combos

How To Describe A Character’s Voice ***

Describing Clothing And Appearance ***

Career Masterpost ***

Creating Your Character’s Personality ***

Character Flaws ***

Editing

DON’T EDIT>>> REWRITE THE WHOLE THING FIRST

Ultimate Guide To Editing Each Aspect Of Your Work ***

Why You Would Read Your Novel Out Loud ***

Grammar and Punctuation ***

How To Write A Captivating First Sentence

10 Things Your Opening Chapter Should Do: A Check-List for Self-Editing ***

Saving Your Story: Finding Where It Went Wrong

How To Condense Without Losing Anything

The Stages Of Editing

Dialogue/Description Balance

3 Proofreading Tips

The Short Story Form

Chapter & Novel Lengths

Anatomy Of A Novel : Chapters and Parts ***

How To Write Chapter After Chapter Until You Have A Book ***

Where Chapter #2 Should Start

Step By Step Guide To Editing Your Draft

Writing Tool: CTRL-F (How And Why You Should Use It) ***

How To Kill A Character

25 Steps To Edit The Unmerciful Suck Out Of Your Story

5 Ways To Make Your Novel Helplessly Addictive ***

Setting

{Setting} How To Describe Setting In Your Stories ***

20 Questions To Enhance Setting

How To Bring Your Setting To Life

Miscellaneous Resources You Can Use In Between

How to Write from a Guy’s POV 

The Emotional Wounds Thesaurus

Text To Speech Reader

Compare Character Heights 

A Visual Dictionary of Tops

Writers Helping Writers

7 Tricks To Imrove Your Writing Overnight

Work Out/ Word Count : Exercise Between Writing ***

Most Important Writing Tips ***

Let’s talk about diversity in novels

Letting Go Of Your Story

Keeping A Healthy Writing Schedule And Avoiding Procrastination ***

How To Create A Good Book Cover

Write or Die

Tip of my Tongue

Character Traits Form

Online Thesaurus

Writing Sketchy/Medical/Law

Coma: Types, Causes, etc

Tips for writing blood loss

Gunshot Wound Care

Examples of Hospital Forms

Common Legal Questions

The Writer’s Forensics Blog

Brain Injury Legal Guide

Types of Surgical Operations

Types of Mental Health Problems

A Day in the Life of a Mental Hospital Patient

Global Black Market Information ***

Crime Scene Science

Examining Mob Mentality

How Street Gangs Work

Writers’ Block Help/ Productivity

Story Plot Generator

@aveeragemusings ‘ Cure To Writers’ Block ***

50 Romance Plot Ideas

Reading Like A Writer ***

Defeat Writers’ Block

Writing In A Bad Mood ***

Writers Block

When You’ve Lost Motivation To Write A Novel ***

What To Do When The Words Won’t Flow ***

9 Ways To Be A More Productive Writer

“I Cannot Write A Good Sentence Today” (How To Get Over It) ***

Real Writing Advice ***

Info You Need To Know & Words You Didn’t Think Of

A Writer’s Thesaurus ***

Words To Describe… ***

Words & Phrases To Use In Your Sex Scenes ***

Colors (An Extensive List Of Colors)

List Of Kinks & Fetishes ***

List Of Elemental Abilities

inkarnate.com : World Creator And Map Maker For Your Imaginary Setting

Body Language Phrases

List Of Legendary Creatures

How To Write Magic

Hairstyle References

Hemingway : Writing Checker

Body Types: Words To Describe Bodies and How They Move Around

Poisonous Herbs and Plants ***

The Psychology of Color

The Meaning behind Rose color

Types of Swords

Color Symbolism

How a handgun works

How to Write a Eulogy

Types of Crying

Avoiding LGBTQ Stereotypes ***

Superstitions and More

The 12 Common Archetypes

Language of Flowers

12 Realistic Woman Body Shapes

Using Feedback And Reviews

Turning Negative Reviews Into Positive Ones ***

Proofreading Marks : Easy Symbols To Make Reviewing/Feedback Easier ***

Authonomy Teen Ink Figment Fiction Press ReviewFuse

These Are Trusted Critique Sites ;)

[goddessofsax]

Here’s a handy dandy color reference chart for you artists, writers, or any one else who needs it! Inspired by this post x

[concerningwolves]

Full offense but your writing style is for you and nobody else. Use the words you want to use; play with language, experiment, use said, use adverbs, use “unrealistic” writing patterns, slap words you don’t even know are words on the page. Language is a sandbox and you, as the author, are at liberty to shape it however you wish. Build castles. Build a hovel. Build a mountain on a mountain or make a tiny cottage on a hill. Whatever it is you want to do. Write.

[pttucker]

First Lines Meme

Saw this going around again and figured I’d go ahead and give it a shot. It’s always interesting to put them altogether and see what I managed to come up with since starting stories/chapters is one of my biggest weaknesses. (Beginning, why so hard??) 

Also interesting to see that in the last ten stories I managed to write eight different pairings! Granted, many of them were for exchanges, but they were ships I was interested in enough to offer. Multi-shipping for life!

Them’s the Rules (Rufus/Reno, noncon)

Fuck, meetings were boring.

Late Night Hook-Ups (Sephiroth/Cloud, PWP)

Cloud looked around the bar. It was loud and crowded and he’d already been stepped on twice, once by an obviously drunk woman who’d proceeded to run into a stool immediately after, and once by a SOLDIER twice his size who’d ‘not seen him all the way down there.’

The Company Could Be Worse (Todoroki/Midoriya, Get Together)

“Hi Todoroki,” Midoriya said as he stepped onto the elevator.

Through Their Eyes (Bakugou/Midoriya, Outsider POV)

Ryu was bending down to pet the cat he’d found when an explosion sent it skittering off into the night with a yowl.

First Choice (Hatsume/Shinsou, Get Together)

“-know about this dress. I feel like I should have chosen-”

Smitten on Date Night (Yagi/Midoriya, Fluff)

“You don’t need to do that,” Toshinori said as Izuku moved about the living room, tidying up here and there with the sort of determination usually reserved for hero work.

Clean Me Up and Send Me Off to Fight (Yamada/Aizawa, Missing Scene)

“That bad, huh?” Hizashi asked, coming to lean against the doorframe. He crossed his arms and let his head rest against the wood as he watched him.

Eraser and Bandanna, Sitting in a Tree (Fukukado/Aizawa, Fluff, A/B/O)

Emi peered underneath the sofa. Hmmm. Nope. 

Kitchen Talk (Fukukado/Aizawa, PWP)

Emi snorted a laugh into her hand as Shouta shuffled his way out of the bedroom.

A Second of Silence (Yamada/Aizawa, PWP)

Shouta’s eyes never stray far from Hizashi’s as he twists the toy inside him, looking for the spot that will make him come undone and place the victory squarely at Shouta’s feet.

I’m not going to tag anyone this time since by now I know too many writers. If you want to do this, go ahead do it! It’s always so interesting to see the differences in people’s writing styles. :D

[hogwartsaheadcanon]

as soon as i figure out whether there’s any practical difference between ‘that’ and ‘which’ in a sentence, you’re all finished

[lytefoot]

“That” is if the clause specifies which one, “which” is if you’re giving extra information.

“She took the bag that contains the loot” means that she took one of several bags, in particular, the one that happens to contain the loot.

“She took the bag, which contains the loot” means that there’s only one bag you might be referring to, and that the fact that she took it is important because it contains the loot.

Also, there’s a comma before “which” but not before “that.”

[hogwartsaheadcanon]

you’re all finished