10 + 1 writing technicalities that I love and will always use in my fics
This one's obvious, I know. But I love it, both to write them and to read them. Yes please, use that sentence that you've already used 300k words ago so I have a sense of continuity. Do it MORE. DO IT EVERY CHANCE YOU GET.
Not 'oooh, those characters are just alike'. Subtle mirroring. Two characters who are completely different from each other, but who have that detail in common that makes their life experiences resonate with each other.
I love a plot shaped like an uroboros. I love the cause somehow turning into the consequence and the consequence having been the cause all along.
4. A three words plot twist
I love plot twists that are casually thrown into a conversation. A detail that was so obvious, so insignificant, yet which reshapes everything you've read so far. My personal record was achieving this with a three-word string of dialogue.
I love a fight scene that consists mostly of seemingly meaningless lines, which you know are hurting the characters only because you know their backstory. I love an emotional conversation that is mostly made up of looks. I love grief that is conveyed through gestures rather than words.
Everyday objects turned into the most important elements of the entire narrative. A pair of gloves that always concealed a significant scar. An armchair that nobody can sit on because it belonged to someone who is no longer there. A handkerchief that holds the answer to every open question in the story.
7. Character design through quirks
My favourite thing about writing is designing characters, and my favourite way to do that is through their quirks. A specific phrase only they use. A colour they are always described as wearing. A song they listen to on repeat. A smell that's so distinctively theirs…
Can you say I used to be a Johnlock shipper? I love to express my character's feeling and relationships through the drinks they have instead of stating them explicitly.
The houses of my characters mirror their personalities. Always. The way they occupy them? Even more so. Do they take up too much space? Do they try to take up as little space as possible? Do they make a point of being at the centre of every room? That says more about them than their words do.
My favourite scenes to write are, and always will be, those in which a character displays their hidden talent for the first time, stunning everyone around them. It's possibly my favourite trope ever, especially when the surrounding characters are reluctantly forced to admit their astonishment.
11. Aggressive love declarations
"I love you"? Never heard of her. "You're a bastard", "I hate you", "Shut up", "God, you're so annoying", "Why are we a thing again?"
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