No title available
TVSTRANGERTHINGS
Sweet Seals For You, Always
tumblr dot com
Mike Driver
Show & Tell
2025 on Tumblr: Trends That Defined the Year
JVL
styofa doing anything
No title available
⁂
he wasn't even looking at me and he found me
Cosmic Funnies
Today's Document
wallacepolsom
Product Placement
izzy's playlists!
No title available
🪼
Xuebing Du
seen from United States
seen from France
seen from Israel
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from Brazil
seen from Colombia
seen from Brazil
seen from Malaysia
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from Türkiye
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from India
seen from United States
@studies-and-survival
『08.01.18』 Hello August!🌸 The new theme for this month is My Melody (with pinks, blues, and yellows). 💖 This is a peek of a journal spread I made~ Do you have a favorite character? ✨ . 「Quick tip: Good habits when working in front of a screen for long hours: close your eyes for a few minutes every hour or two and get up from your chair to stretch or walk around. 」
To all my freshman babies who are panicking right now about how much your college textbooks cost: Yeah, you’re right, that’s some highway robbery. No, you don’t have to lie down and take it. You have options. Follow my advice and fly on your own debt free wings.
1. Forgoe the bookstore entirely. Sometimes you can get a good deal on something, usually a rental, but it’s usually going to be considerably more expensive to go through official channels. Outsmart them, babies.
2. Does your syllabus call for edition eight? Get edition seven. Old editions are considered worthless in the buyback trades, so they sell for dirt cheap, no matter how new they are. It’s a gamble, sure; there might be something in edition eight you desperately need, but that never happened to me. However, I’ve only ever pulled this stunt for literature/mass comm/religious studies books, so I don’t know it would work in the sciences.
3. Thriftbooks.com, especially for nonfiction and fiction. Books are usually four or five dollars unless they’re really new, and shipping is 99 cents unless you buy over 10$ in books, in which case shipping is free.
4. Bigwords.com. It will scan every textbook seller on the internet for the lowest price available, and will do the same to find the highest price when you try to sell your books back at the end of term. Timesaver, lifesaver.
5. In all probability, your library offers a service called interlibrary loan which is included in your tuition. This means if your library doesn’t carry a book you can order it for free from any library nationwide in your library’s network and it will be shipped to you in a number of days. Ask a librarian to show you how to search for materials at your library as well as though interlibrary loan; you’ll need to master this skill soon anyway. If you get lucky you can just have your required reading shipped to you a week before you need to start reading, then renew vigorously until you no longer need to item. I’m saving over 100$ on a History of Islam class this way.
You professors might side-eye you for bringing an old edition or a library copy, but you just smile right back honey, because you can pay your rent and go clubbing this month. You came here to win. So go forth and slay.
Can I add to this? 6. Find PDFs of your book to store on your computer. I managed to find an up-to-date edition of my textbook for sociology by doing this, and other books for other classes. It may be risky to have to look high and low for them, but it’s a godsend trust me
Other things to help college-bound kidlets:
Get Windows Office free.
If you’re having a panic attack.
When you’re writing a term paper.
Cheap school/college things. (Not all links are active, but still.)
College tips.
Cheap or free college books
Hobbies. (Because sometimes you need to turn off your brain.)
Libre Office. (Because Windows sucks.)
Practice in case you’re attacked.
If you have to deal with cops. (Especially important for POC because racism is still alive, sadly.)
Adding to this that some libraries have a policy for ILL where they won’t order textbooks, so order chapters instead of the whole book.
Rereading your writing
The worse the explanation, the better.
You’re maybe being held prisoner in a house full of werewolves but mostly they just want love and acceptance
Local girl should have probably just stayed home.
Philosophy professor is unbothered by discovery of vampires but worried about everything else.
Alcoholic demon thinks dying his hair will solve all his problems and it kinda does.
The moon should have kept her child
A monster spits on a witch.
A teenage boy acquires money in a way that’ll make all my readers uncomfortable.
I ruin a popular cartoon character.
I take the same character and have him ruin history.
I take a popular cartoon character from one franchise, and throw him in the Marvel Cinematic Universe while simultaneously thrashing his mental health.
Let’s see how much I can make this kid suffer for trying to create a happy ending, hey Chara get over here
I give a kid angst and pit him against a demonic wolf who really needs a hug
Two idiots save the world
Two useless gays fuck in the wild
as if he couldnt get anymore traumatized @sucker-for-six-of-crows
A group of angst-ridden demons try to get an equally angst-ridden angel out of hell
7 teenagers stumble through living hell, also persassy ™ personified.
some random kids think a government is bad i guess but with added Madgick
HEY, Romance Writers!
A few followers have asked for tips on writing romance into their stories or as the basis of their stories. Here’s a masterlist of sources that may help [UPDATED].
Romance:
What Defines Romantic Love?
How to Plot a Romance Novel
How to Build a Romance Thread in Your Story
How to Write a YA Romance Without Cliché
Writing Healthy Couples in Fiction
9 Romance Writing Mistakes to Avoid
An Antidote to “Love at First Sight”
How Attractive Should Your Characters Be?
6 Ways to Get Your Readers Shipping Like Crazy
3 Great Ways to Show That Your Character Is In Love
Seven Great Sources of Conflict for Romances
20 Tips for Writing Lovable Romance Novel Heroes
Six Steps to Stronger Character Arcs in Romances
How to Write a Kissing Scene in a Romance Novel
List of Ideas to Keep Romantic Tension High
100 Questions for Character Couples
Romantic Development/Compatibility (ask)
Pinterest Board “Writing: Romance Arcs and Plots”
Bad Romance:
Removing the Creeps From Romance
+ Why The Surprise Kiss Must Go
Possessiveness 101
10 Signs You May Be in an Emotionally Abusive Relationship
Edward & Bella Are In An Abusive Relationship
Red Flags, Verbal Abuse, Stalking… | Script Shrink
5 Huge Mistakes Ruining the Romantic Relationships in Your Book
General Tips for Writing Characters Love Interests:
How to Write from a Guy’s POV
Writing Awesome Male Characters: What You’re Doing Wrong
7 Point-of-View Basics Every Writer Should Know
How Do You Describe a Character?
4 Ways to Make Readers Instantly Loathe Your Character Descriptions
3 Signs Your Story’s Characters Are Too Perfect
Is a Quirk Just What Your Character Needs?
Six Types of Character Flaws
Is Your Character Optimistic Or Pessimistic?
5 Ways to Keep Characters Consistent
9 Simple and Powerful Ways to Write Body Language
10 Body Language Tricks for Deeper Characterization
Describing People Part Three: Gestures, Expressions, and Mannerisms
33 Ways To Write Stronger Characters
Conveying Character Emotion
Distinguishing Characters in Dialogue
How to Make Readers Love an Unlikable Character…
Characters: Likability Is Overrated
Relationships in General:
How to Create Powerful Character Combos
8 Secrets To Writing Strong Character Relationships
Character Relationships: 6 Tips for Crafting Real Connections
Stereotypes, Archetypes, & Tropes:
Five Signs Your Story Is Sexist: Part 1, Part 2
Five Signs Your Story Is Sexist – Against Men
AlwaysFemale vs Always Male
Born Sexy Yesterday & Manic Pixie Dream Girl
7 (Overused) Female Love Interests
When Friends Fall for Each Other (ask)
Intercultural Romance:
How do I write an interracial couple accurately? (ask)
15 Common Stereotypes About Intercultural Relationships
Cross Cultural Relationships
[Ideas for] Your [Fictional] Cross-Cultural Relationship
Things to Avoid When Writing Interracial Romance
— — —
Ko-Fi // Wattpad // Goodreads // Pinterest
Because, duh, why don’t I have more intercultural links, I the indolent offspring of an intercultural marriage? Actually weren’t that easy to find and I still had to pick and choose, so maybe I should try writing some of my own…
FAMOUS AUTHORS
Classic Bookshelf: This site has put classic novels online, from Charles Dickens to Charlotte Bronte.
The Online Books Page: The University of Pennsylvania hosts this book search and database.
Project Gutenberg: This famous site has over 27,000 free books online.
Page by Page Books: Find books by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and H.G. Wells, as well as speeches from George W. Bush on this site.
Classic Book Library: Genres here include historical fiction, history, science fiction, mystery, romance and children’s literature, but they’re all classics.
Classic Reader: Here you can read Shakespeare, young adult fiction and more.
Read Print: From George Orwell to Alexandre Dumas to George Eliot to Charles Darwin, this online library is stocked with the best classics.
Planet eBook: Download free classic literature titles here, from Dostoevsky to D.H. Lawrence to Joseph Conrad.
The Spectator Project: Montclair State University’s project features full-text, online versions of The Spectator and The Tatler.
Bibliomania: This site has more than 2,000 classic texts, plus study guides and reference books.
Online Library of Literature: Find full and unabridged texts of classic literature, including the Bronte sisters, Mark Twain and more.
Bartleby: Bartleby has much more than just the classics, but its collection of anthologies and other important novels made it famous.
Fiction.us: Fiction.us has a huge selection of novels, including works by Lewis Carroll, Willa Cather, Sherwood Anderson, Flaubert, George Eliot, F. Scott Fitzgerald and others.
Free Classic Literature: Find British authors like Shakespeare and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, plus other authors like Jules Verne, Mark Twain, and more.
TEXTBOOKS
Textbook Revolution: Find biology, business, engineering, mathematics and world history textbooks here.
Wikibooks: From cookbooks to the computing department, find instructional and educational materials here.
KnowThis Free Online Textbooks: Get directed to stats textbooks and more.
Online Medical Textbooks: Find books about plastic surgery, anatomy and more here.
Online Science and Math Textbooks: Access biochemistry, chemistry, aeronautics, medical manuals and other textbooks here.
MIT Open Courseware Supplemental Resources: Find free videos, textbooks and more on the subjects of mechanical engineering, mathematics, chemistry and more.
Flat World Knowledge: This innovative site has created an open college textbooks platform that will launch in January 2009.
Free Business Textbooks: Find free books to go along with accounting, economics and other business classes.
Light and Matter: Here you can access open source physics textbooks.
eMedicine: This project from WebMD is continuously updated and has articles and references on surgery, pediatrics and more.
MATH AND SCIENCE
FullBooks.com: This site has “thousands of full-text free books,” including a large amount of scientific essays and books.
Free online textbooks, lecture notes, tutorials and videos on mathematics: NYU links to several free resources for math students.
Online Mathematics Texts: Here you can find online textbooks likeElementary Linear Algebra and Complex Variables.
Science and Engineering Books for free download: These books range in topics from nanotechnology to compressible flow.
FreeScience.info: Find over 1800 math, engineering and science books here.
Free Tech Books: Computer programmers and computer science enthusiasts can find helpful books here.
CHILDREN’S BOOKS
byGosh: Find free illustrated children’s books and stories here.
Munseys: Munseys has nearly 2,000 children’s titles, plus books about religion, biographies and more.
International Children’s Digital Library: Find award-winning books and search by categories like age group, make believe books, true books or picture books.
Lookybook: Access children’s picture books here.
PHILOSOPHY AND RELIGION
Bored.com: Bored.com has music ebooks, cooking ebooks, and over 150 philosophy titles and over 1,000 religion titles.
Ideology.us: Here you’ll find works by Rene Descartes, Sigmund Freud, Karl Marx, David Hume and others.
Free Books on Yoga, Religion and Philosophy: Recent uploads to this site include Practical Lessons in Yoga and Philosophy of Dreams.
The Sociology of Religion: Read this book by Max Weber, here.
Religion eBooks: Read books about the Bible, Christian books, and more.
PLAYS
ReadBookOnline.net: Here you can read plays by Chekhov, Thomas Hardy, Ben Jonson, Shakespeare, Edgar Allan Poe and others.
Plays: Read Pygmalion, Uncle Vanya or The Playboy of the Western World here.
The Complete Works of William Shakespeare: MIT has made available all of Shakespeare’s comedies, tragedies, and histories.
Plays Online: This site catalogs “all the plays [they] know about that are available in full text versions online for free.”
ProPlay: This site has children’s plays, comedies, dramas and musicals.
MODERN FICTION, FANTASY AND ROMANCE
Public Bookshelf: Find romance novels, mysteries and more.
The Internet Book Database of Fiction: This forum features fantasy and graphic novels, anime, J.K. Rowling and more.
Free Online Novels: Here you can find Christian novels, fantasy and graphic novels, adventure books, horror books and more.
Foxglove: This British site has free novels, satire and short stories.
Baen Free Library: Find books by Scott Gier, Keith Laumer and others.
The Road to Romance: This website has books by Patricia Cornwell and other romance novelists.
Get Free Ebooks: This site’s largest collection includes fiction books.
John T. Cullen: Read short stories from John T. Cullen here.
SF and Fantasy Books Online: Books here include Arabian Nights,Aesop’s Fables and more.
Free Novels Online and Free Online Cyber-Books: This list contains mostly fantasy books.
FOREIGN LANGUAGE
Project Laurens Jz Coster: Find Dutch literature here.
ATHENA Textes Francais: Search by author’s name, French books, or books written by other authors but translated into French.
Liber Liber: Download Italian books here. Browse by author, title, or subject.
Biblioteca romaneasca: Find Romanian books on this site.
Bibliolteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes: Look up authors to find a catalog of their available works on this Spanish site.
KEIMENA: This page is entirely in Greek, but if you’re looking for modern Greek literature, this is the place to access books online.
Proyecto Cervantes: Texas A&M’s Proyecto Cervantes has cataloged Cervantes’ work online.
Corpus Scriptorum Latinorum: Access many Latin texts here.
Project Runeberg: Find Scandinavian literature online here.
Italian Women Writers: This site provides information about Italian women authors and features full-text titles too.
Biblioteca Valenciana: Register to use this database of Catalan and Valencian books.
Ketab Farsi: Access literature and publications in Farsi from this site.
Afghanistan Digital Library: Powered by NYU, the Afghanistan Digital Library has works published between 1870 and 1930.
CELT: CELT stands for “the Corpus of Electronic Texts” features important historical literature and documents.
Projekt Gutenberg-DE: This easy-to-use database of German language texts lets you search by genres and author.
HISTORY AND CULTURE
LibriVox: LibriVox has a good selection of historical fiction.
The Perseus Project: Tufts’ Perseus Digital Library features titles from Ancient Rome and Greece, published in English and original languages.
Access Genealogy: Find literature about Native American history, the Scotch-Irish immigration in the 19th and 20th centuries, and more.
Free History Books: This collection features U.S. history books, including works by Paul Jennings, Sarah Morgan Dawson, Josiah Quincy and others.
Most Popular History Books: Free titles include Seven Days and Seven Nights by Alexander Szegedy and Autobiography of a Female Slave by Martha G. Browne.
RARE BOOKS
Questia: Questia has 5,000 books available for free, including rare books and classics.
ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT
Books-On-Line: This large collection includes movie scripts, newer works, cookbooks and more.
Chest of Books: This site has a wide range of free books, including gardening and cooking books, home improvement books, craft and hobby books, art books and more.
Free e-Books: Find titles related to beauty and fashion, games, health, drama and more.
2020ok: Categories here include art, graphic design, performing arts, ethnic and national, careers, business and a lot more.
Free Art Books: Find artist books and art books in PDF format here.
Free Web design books: OnlineComputerBooks.com directs you to free web design books.
Free Music Books: Find sheet music, lyrics and books about music here.
Free Fashion Books: Costume and fashion books are linked to the Google Books page.
MYSTERY
MysteryNet: Read free short mystery stories on this site.
TopMystery.com: Read books by Edgar Allan Poe, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, GK Chesterton and other mystery writers here.
Mystery Books: Read books by Sue Grafton and others.
POETRY
The Literature Network: This site features forums, a copy of The King James Bible, and over 3,000 short stories and poems.
Poetry: This list includes “The Raven,” “O Captain! My Captain!” and “The Ballad of Bonnie and Clyde.”
Poem Hunter: Find free poems, lyrics and quotations on this site.
Famous Poetry Online: Read limericks, love poetry, and poems by Robert Browning, Emily Dickinson, John Donne, Lord Byron and others.
Google Poetry: Google Books has a large selection of poetry, fromThe Canterbury Tales to Beowulf to Walt Whitman.
QuotesandPoem.com: Read poems by Maya Angelou, William Blake, Sylvia Plath and more.
CompleteClassics.com: Rudyard Kipling, Allen Ginsberg and Alfred Lord Tennyson are all featured here.
PinkPoem.com: On this site, you can download free poetry ebooks.
MISC
Banned Books: Here you can follow links of banned books to their full text online.
World eBook Library: This monstrous collection includes classics, encyclopedias, children’s books and a lot more.
DailyLit: DailyLit has everything from Moby Dick to the recent phenomenon, Skinny Bitch.
A Celebration of Women Writers: The University of Pennsylvania’s page for women writers includes Newbery winners.
Free Online Novels: These novels are fully online and range from romance to religious fiction to historical fiction.
ManyBooks.net: Download mysteries and other books for your iPhone or eBook reader here.
Authorama: Books here are pulled from Google Books and more. You’ll find history books, novels and more.
Prize-winning books online: Use this directory to connect to full-text copies of Newbery winners, Nobel Prize winners and Pulitzer winners.
Hello, writerly friends~ ♥︎
My Writing Advice Masterpost is back! Now featuring the best questions and answers from the last three years, along with all of the videos from my writing advice YouTube Channel!
This post will be updated every week with new writing advice videos, playlists, and responses! So, make sure to bookmark THIS page and follow my blog (maxkirin.tumblr.com) so you don’t miss a thing!
Writing Advice Compilations
The NaNoWriMo Survival Guide
Writer’s Life Vlogs (Newest Episode: Saving Story Ideas)
WRITERS UNITE! A book of writing advice, inspiration, and tips! Written with the help of 248 Tumblr authors. FREE DOWNLOAD!
Writing Exercises & Prompts
Virtual Writing Academy (Newest Episode: Human Characters)
Daily Story Seed
Daily Weird Prompt
Daily Character Question
Your Writing Horoscope (Retired)
“Can I publish a story based on one of your prompts?”
Did you know that I have published a book of Story Seeds? Sounds interesting? You can learn more about it HERE! c;
Motivation & Inspiration
Daily Writer Positivity
How to Regain the Motivation to Finish Your Novel (Video)
The Truth About Talent, NaNoWriMo Pep Talk (Video)
Overcoming Your Inner *Perfectionist* (Video)
How to Finish Your First Novel (M. Kirin’s Origin Story)
M. Kirin’s Top 3 Tips for NaNoWriMo
The 7 Cardinal Rules of Writing Life
Neil Gaiman’s “Make Good Art” Speech
Neil Gaiman’s 8 Rules of Writing
Elizabeth Gilbert’s Inspirational Speech on the ‘Genius’
What Confidence Is and Is NOT
“I’m afraid writing is a waste of time”
“I’m half-way through this book and I’m stuck”
Stop Trying to Impress People
Stop Trying to Make Your Parents Proud of your Writing
Your Parents Disapprove of Your Writing?
You’re Not The Worst Writer In The World
English Not Your First Language? Neither is Mine
Are You Worried Nobody Will Take You Seriously?
Dealing with Hate and Harsh Criticism
Why You Need to Develop a Thick Skin
Feeling Down About Your Writing?
“I am not as good as other writers” (and other lies)
Be A Little Delusional
Planning, Outlining, and Getting Started
How to Plan Your Novel (Video)
The Best Distraction-Free Writing Software (Video)
Best Apps for Writers: Evernote (Video)
TOP 5 TIPS for Writers Using Evernote (Video)
The NaNoWriMo Survival Guide (Video)
TOP 3 TIPS for Getting in the Mood to Write! (Video)
How Much World-Building is Enough? (Video)
The *Right* Time to be Critical of Your Writing (Video)
Overcoming the Fear of Getting it “Wrong“ (Video)
The Story-Idea Test
M. Kirin’s Click-n-Drag Story Generator
Which outlining method is the best?
“I want to write a book but I have no idea where to start”
M. Kirin’s Secret for Starting books, and Finishing Them
M. Kirin’s Top 3 Tips to Start Writing and Never Stopping
Tips for writing Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Paranormal
M. Kirin’s #1 Tip For Improving Your Writing
Let’s Talk About: Show VS Tell
The Difference Between Character & Plot (The Marcy Rule)
Dialogue
TOP 3 TIPS for Writing Dialogue (Video)
The Art of Writing Dialogue Tags (Video)
M. Kirin talks about authentic dialogue
The grammatical side of dialogue
How do I write numbers in dialogue?
Editing & Revision
M. Kirin’s Top 5 Revision Tips
How to Love and Care for Your Beta Readers
M. Kirin’s (subjective) secret recipe for the second draft
When is the best time to edit a story?
M. Kirin Talks About Editing, and Speeding Up Your Story
M. Kirin Uses Evernote to Revise Books
“Kill Your Darlings” VS “Cut What You Love”
Writing Killer Plot-Twists and Mystery Novels
“How long is a Rough Draft compared to the Finished Draft?”
Hot-Button Issues
Let’s Talk About: Titles! (Video)
Let’s Talk About: Filler (Video)
Let’s Talk About: Purple Prose (Video)
Let’s Talk About: Pacing (Video)
Let’s Talk About: Deus Ex Machina
Let’s Talk About: Coincidence in Writing
Realism is a dirty word
Racist & homophobic language in fiction
Inaccuracy in Fiction (Video)
M. Kirin drops a few bombs on ‘creative vocabulary’
“I want to write but I don’t have the time”
Is it bad to have too many LGBTQIA or POC characters?
“My antagonist is POC/LGBTQIA, is this bad?”
“All my characters are LGBTQIA, is this bad?”
When to let go of a story
Is it rational to be afraid of what people will think of you?
Let’s Lightly Talk About: Plagiarism & Copyright
Writing About Things You Have Never Experienced
“Do you need to go to college/university to be a good writer?”
My book is similar to something already out, what do I do?
General Advice
M. Kirin’s Cure For Writer’s Block (and Life Block)
Overcoming Writer’s Block: The First Sentence (Video)
The Writer’s Tool Box (Video)
3 Practical Tips for Writing More (Video)
Which POV (Point of View) is the Best? (Video)
Getting to Know Your Characters (Video)
Keeping the Plot Twist Secret! (Video)
A [Strange] Tip For Writing More! (Video)
#1 Tip for Writing Memorable Characters (Video)
1.5 Tips for Hard-Hitting Writing (Video)
3 Ways to Add Character to Narration (Video)
Foreshadowing & Being Subtle (Video)
Writing Advice from: The Walking Dead (Video)
Writing Advice from: Aldnoah.Zero (Video)
World-Building Tips: Dystopian (Video)
World-Building Tips: Fantasy & Science Fiction (Video)
World-Building Tips: Life After the Apocalypse (Video)
World-Building Tips: Government & The Human Element (Video)
World-Building Tips: Spicing Up The Real World (Video)
Using Real People as Inspiration (Video)
When Should The Book End? (Video)
Writing Better Characters: The ‘Flawed’ Myth (Video)
Writing Better Characters: Unlikable Protagonists (Video)
TOP 3 TIPS for Writing a Large Cast of Characters (Video)
Overcoming the First Sentence (Again) (and Again)
Let’s Talk About: Pen Names!
Let’s Talk About: Reactive VS Proactive Characters
Let’s Talk About: Transitioning Smoothly From Scene to Scene
Let’s Talk About: Writing The Climax (& Resolution)
Let’s Talk About: Writing The End
Let’s Talk About: Spies
Let’s Make a Title (To A Story You Haven’t Finished)
The 10-Minute Rule
Making Boring Scenes FUN to Write!
Stories are like children
Let’s Talk About Titles (And Then Talk Some More)
M. Kirin Reveals the ‘Secret’ Behind Style
How much description/scenery is too much?
How can I write faster?
I want my readers to love my characters
I think my book may be too short for my genre
I killed one of my main characters by mistake, what do I do?
M. Kirin’s Writing Advice for Fleshing out Romantic Relationships
A warning about character names and meanings
Past or present tense?
Is swearing okay? And other muthafuckin’ truths
“What emotion do you find hardest to write?”
“What writing software do you use?”
Communication, a must for collaborative works
Researching illegal things, cousin? I got just the thing for you!
Joss Whedon’s Top 10 Writing Tips
M. Kirin’s Tarot Cheat-Sheet
Writing Tips for Storytelling in Video-Games
Fair Use In Novels (by thedancingwriter)
Publishing
Publishing Battle: Indie VS Traditional
“How do I turn my book into an eBook?”
Writing Music & Playlists
Top 10 Songs For Writers
Writing In The Dark (Unobtrusive)
Writing About Love
Writing & Fighting!
Writing About Horror
Royalty And Noble Blood (Medieval/Fantasy)
Digital Reality (Cyberpunk/Futuristic)
Lost In The Wild (Survival/Nature)
No Hero (Action/Anti-Heroes)
Mermaid Magic (Mysterious)
After The Bomb (Post-Apocalyptic/Dystopian)
Sorrow (Sad/Despair)
Upon Black Wings (Adventure/Dragons)
Haunted Mansion (Horror/Supernatural)
Childhood Friends (Happy/Uplifting)
Music For Writers: Portal 2 Soundtrack (FREE)
M. Kirin’s Favorite Music to Listen to While Writing
M. Kirin’s Secret For Making Playlists
Miscellaneous
M. Kirin’s 2014 AMA, Part 1 & Part 2 (Video)
The Kirin Games! M. Kirin’s characters murder each other in this Hunger Games simulation~ ;p (Video)
Max & Kitty Recommend: Top 10 Things You Should Read/Watch/Play Right Now! (Video)
Finally! An Ask-Meme for Writers!
M. Kirin’s Philosophy for Running a Writing Blog
Last Updated: 05-15-15. Click HERE to see the latest update. Latest posts are in bold.
The 100 Days of Productivity Challenge with EmmaStudies!
Productivity challenges are a fun way to help boost your motivation to get things done! ‘100 days of productivity’ is one of the most popular challenges when it comes to Tumblr and Instagram. As I am planning to start the challenge, I thought it would be a great opportunity to get more people involved! So, where do we start?
What is ‘100 days of productivity’? To put it simply, the challenge is to do something productive for 100 days. It comes from the idea that each day, we can do at least 1 thing that pushes us forward. The challenge is meant to improve your sense of accomplishment and show that with a bit of motivation, you can get things done!
What classifies as productive? This is entirely up to you and what you feel is worth recognition. Whilst the majority of study blogs do something study related each day that isn’t a set rule. Some examples could be:
studying for an accumulative time of 2 hours a day
decluttering your desk and study space
finishing all your homework
drafting an assessment you’ve been procrastinating on
organising your files
sorting through your emails and implementing a filter system
backing up computer files and phone
organising your monthly plan
going to study or read at the library
finishing a book you’ve been meaning to read
setting up a file organisation structure on your computer
creating a resume and cover letter
applying for jobs, internships, work experience
spring cleaning your bedroom and study space
organising your bookshelf
unsubscribing from spam emails
collecting account emails and passwords
sorting out your expenses and budgets
deactivating unused social media/email/etc accounts
Obviously, this list has just a few options. You can do anything which you find achieves a positive and organised result! Even if you do something small, you can count that :-)
Does it have to be consecutive days? It can be, but there isn’t a rule. Most people attempt to do consecutive days but that isn’t always possible. Doing something productive one day after another is great for building your self-discipline, however, you can skip days if need be. If you do, don’t feel bad! Remember to bounce back and continue the next day.
Who can join? Do I need to have a studyblr/studygram? It is open to anyone! There are no requirements for joining. You don’t need to have a studyblr or studygram! If you’re looking for a fun way to motivate yourself with the backing of other people, this is a great challenge to be a part of.
When do I start? Absolutely whenever you want. Could be the start of a month, the start of your school term or for the new year. For this which I’m setting up as a collective challenge, I am planning to start on Monday 9th October. For anyone who has seen this post before then, you are more than welcome to start the same day! But if you see this afterwards, you can still join and be a part of it - but you’ll just be a few days behind, but that is not a problem! :-)
How do I track document my productivity? Most people document their journey through Tumblr or Instagram by posting a photo each day (or every few days). I will be doing this! I will be tagging my posts with #emma100dop which you should too. This way I can see your photos and reblog them too!! As a challenge which I am hoping lots of people can get involved in, having a specific hashtag is great for motivation.
Similarly, it is worth tracking your days on paper. I have created a printable set which you can download for documenting each day’s work. *Download link here!*
Do I have to share pictures? If you don’t want to, you don’t have to share. For studyblr and studygram accounts this is a good idea because you’re uploading original content but if you don’t have a study account, you don’t need to upload any. You can still document your progress with photos and make a gallery on your phone if you want. As mentioned above, I have a printable which you can download for free to track your progress. If you don’t want to take pictures, you can just cross off or write down what you did that day!
I am really excited to start this challenge with you guys! :-) I think doing it as a collective group is a fantastic idea in terms of boosting and maintaining motivation through the whole challenge. With lots of accountability partners, we should all hopefully manage 100 days! Best of luck! Remember to tag me in your pictures on Tumblr and Instagram!! x
Other posts | Printables | Instagram | Youtube | Pinterest | Etsy Shop
Not an Editing “Tip.”
(Just a tool that might help clean up your writing and create a faster paced reading experience.)
Removing excess words. If you don’t need particular words, why keep them?
Another crashing wave sends me into a sprawl, and I’m forced to use my tides a few more times to distance myself from the rocks.
I should drop down as deep[er] as I can manage [and] use the reef for cover.
I can’t tear my eyes away until he disappears fully from view.
A burst of lightning shows the outline[s] of the cliff side.
A loud thud from the port window makes me jump, drawing my full attention. -> I jump at a loud thud from the port window.
Showing instead of telling. Making the reader feel what the protagonist feels is almost always better than telling them the protagonist is undergoing something.
I can’t believe the sight I see. -> My lungs catch painfully, a shocked squeak rising out.
Everything is slick and wet. -> The slick metal offers no hold for my wet hands. I clench my fingers until the ridges bite into my scales, shark teeth holding me in place. Agonizing.
Removing passive voice. Active voice is more engaging and should be always be used unless you have a specific reason not to use it for that sentence.
The rock is a muddled, dark brown, and I almost miss him amid the lofty coastline. -> I almost miss him against the muddled, dark brown rock, his body tiny amid the lofty coastline.
Her voice is strained and furious. -> Fury strains her voice.
The wound is closed again, but before it closed, enough blood seeped out that I now feel woozy and off kilter. -> The wound closed while I slept, but enough blood seeped out that my head still spin, my limbs heavy.
Always remember though: you have to do what works best for that particular moment. Some scenes require different strokes than others. Use your best judgement, and take pride in your personal writing style.
Ways to un-stick a stuck story
Do an outline, whatever way works best. Get yourself out of the word soup and know where the story is headed.
Conflicts and obstacles. Hurt the protagonist, put things in their way, this keeps the story interesting. An easy journey makes the story boring and boring is hard to write.
Change the POV. Sometimes all it takes to untangle a knotted story is to look at it through different eyes, be it through the sidekick, the antagonist, a minor character, whatever.
Know the characters. You can’t write a story if the characters are strangers to you. Know their likes, dislikes, fears, and most importantly, their motivation. This makes the path clearer.
Fill in holes. Writing doesn’t have to be linear; you can always go back and fill in plotholes, and add content and context.
Have flashbacks, hallucinations, dream sequences or foreshadowing events. These stir the story up, deviations from the expected course add a feeling of urgency and uncertainty to the narrative.
Introduce a new mystery. If there’s something that just doesn’t add up, a big question mark, the story becomes more compelling. Beware: this can also cause you to sink further into the mire.
Take something from your protagonist. A weapon, asset, ally or loved one. Force him to operate without it, it can reinvigorate a stale story.
Twists and betrayal. Maybe someone isn’t who they say they are or the protagonist is betrayed by someone he thought he could trust. This can shake the story up and get it rolling again.
Secrets. If someone has a deep, dark secret that they’re forced to lie about, it’s a good way to stir up some fresh conflict. New lies to cover up the old ones, the secret being revealed, and all the resulting chaos.
Kill someone. Make a character death that is productive to the plot, but not “just because”. If done well, it affects all the characters, stirs up the story and gets it moving.
Ill-advised character actions. Tension is created when a character we love does something we hate. Identify the thing the readers don’t want to happen, then engineer it so it happens worse than they imagined.
Create cliff-hangers. Keep the readers’ attention by putting the characters into new problems and make them wait for you to write your way out of it. This challenge can really bring out your creativity.
Raise the stakes. Make the consequences of failure worse, make the journey harder. Suddenly the protagonist’s goal is more than he expected, or he has to make an important choice.
Make the hero active. You can’t always wait for external influences on the characters, sometimes you have to make the hero take actions himself. Not necessarily to be successful, but active and complicit in the narrative.
Different threat levels. Make the conflicts on a physical level (“I’m about to be killed by a demon”), an emotional level (“But that demon was my true love”) and a philosophical level (“If I’m forced to kill my true love before they kill me, how can love ever succeed in the face of evil?”).
Figure out an ending. If you know where the story is going to end, it helps get the ball rolling towards that end, even if it’s not the same ending that you actually end up writing.
What if? What if the hero kills the antagonist now, gets captured, or goes insane? When you write down different questions like these, the answer to how to continue the story will present itself.
Start fresh or skip ahead. Delete the last five thousand words and try again. It’s terrifying at first, but frees you up for a fresh start to find a proper path. Or you can skip the part that’s putting you on edge – forget about that fidgety crap, you can do it later – and write the next scene. Whatever was in-between will come with time.
*Blinks* I-I’m not the only one to call writer’s block needing to un-stick the story?
How to Handle Having TOO MUCH To Do
So let’s say you’re in the same boat I am (this is a running theme, have you noticed?) and you’ve just got, like, SO MUCH STUFF that HAS to get done YESTERDAY or you will DIE (or fail/get fired/mope). Everything needs to be done yesterday, you’re sick, and for whatever reason you are focusing on the least important stuff first. What to do!
Take a deep breath, because this is a boot camp in prioritization.
Make a 3 by 4 grid. Make it pretty big. The line above your top row goes like this: Due YESTERDAY - due TOMORROW - due LATER. Along the side, write: Takes 5 min - Takes 30 min - Takes hours - Takes DAYS.
Divide ALL your tasks into one of these squares, based on how much work you still have to do. A thank you note for a present you received two weeks ago? That takes 5 minutes and was due YESTERDAY. Put it in that square. A five page paper that’s due tomorrow? That takes an hour/hours, place it appropriately. Tomorrow’s speech you just need to rehearse? Half an hour, due TOMORROW. Do the same for ALL of your tasks
Your priority goes like this:
5 minutes due YESTERDAY
5 minutes due TOMORROW
Half-hour due YESTERDAY
Half-hour due TOMORROW
Hours due YESTERDAY
Hours due TOMORROW
5 minutes due LATER
Half-hour due LATER
Hours due LATER
DAYS due YESTERDAY
DAYS due TOMORROW
DAYS due LATER
At this point you just go down the list in each section. If something feels especially urgent, for whatever reason - a certain professor is hounding you, you’re especially worried about that speech, whatever - you can bump that up to the top of the entire list. However, going through the list like this is what I find most efficient.
Some people do like to save the 5 minute tasks for kind of a break between longer-running tasks. If that’s what you want to try, go for it! You’re the one studying here.
So that’s how to prioritize. Now, how to actually do shit? That’s where the 20/10 method comes in. It’s simple: do stuff like a stuff-doing FIEND for 20 minutes, then take a ten minute break and do whatever you want. Repeat ad infinitum. It’s how I’ve gotten through my to do list, concussed and everything.
You’ve got this. Get a drink and start - we can do our stuff together!
WOAH THIS SOUNDS HELPFUL. I’M GOING TO TRY THIS IMMEDIATELY. Also, I made a chart for myself, but if anyone else wants it for reference (or if this is wrong and I misread you can tell me) here it is:
Going to try this.
How To: Develop Your Characters
I think we’ve all been in the situation where we want to write about a specific character but have no idea how to approach it. For some reason, despite them being your own character, you have no idea how they would act or what they would say in a certain situation. Sometimes, if you even write about your character(s) at all, when you read it back they seem fake or 2-Dimensional. Unrealistic, if you’d prefer.
In this post, I am going to give you some exercises to get past hollow characters and help develop your writing.
1) Empty Their Pockets
Pretty simple. Think of what your characters would have in their pockets on a day-to-day basis. It doesn’t have to be anything super extraordinary, of course. Just start writing some everyday items down and think about whether your character would have these items in their pockets.
Let’s take a look at one I did for my characters earlier. (sorry that just sounded like something from Blue Peter)
For example:
Character A’s Pockets Contained:
pack of gum, empty pack of cigarettes, library card, NOKIA brick phone
So, here a few things you can tell about Character A simply through the items in their pockets. They visit the library often, meaning that they probably have a high interest in reading (this also could be a sign of intelligence). Judging by the fact Character A has both a pack of gum and cigarettes this could indicate a potential smoking habit, chewing gum is a known way for helping people quit smoking. The pack of cigarettes could show that they are not very good at restricting themselves and could in fact be addicted and finding it hard to cope with smoking. Finally, the NOKIA brick phone shows how they may want to feel connected to people or want to allow their friends/family members/whoever to be able to contact them but have no desire to get the latest model of phone or perhaps believe that having such a device would distract them unnecessarily.
When doing this exercise, think about key objects which portray certain details about your character! Try not to overthink it too much, write whatever comes to mind and put it down on the page! After writing down a couple objects, go back through them and feel free to edit out items you think are unnecessary or add items which you think would suit the character.
2) Go Through Their Daily Routine
Again, another easily explained exercise. Go through a regular day in your character’s life, try and do this exercise as if it was happening before whatever events occur in your story or novel. This way it makes it easier to understand your character before they met a secondary character in the novel or before whatever events happened in your writing which may affect their routine. You don’t need to include every single detail in your description, just brief notes or key events which occur during their day would be fine. You can make it as short or as long as you wish, maybe don’t just do it for one day in your character’s week perhaps do it for multiple days.
Does their routine change during the week? What time do they wake up? What time do they go to sleep? Are they punctual with going to work? Do they do any other activities outside their day-job? These are the kind of things you may want to ask yourself when writing it.
3) Give Them Fears/Phobias
Everyone fears something: whether it be a phobia of spiders or oblivion, everyone has a fear. Giving your character a phobia makes them seem more realistic, it allows your reader to easily relate to your character.
However, just having a phobia for the sake of it doesn’t help develop your character at all. If you give them a terrible phobia of snakes and they come across a snake and suddenly within moments are able to get over their fear just like that, it’s not a phobia. It’s more of a mild inconvenience than anything else. The reader needs to feel convinced by their fears, they would feel more dissatisfied with your writing if they felt the character could dismiss anything and everything than knowing them being confronted by their fears could be a possible problem. Besides, it would give them no reason to motivate or encourage the character if they knew it was impossible for them to be defeated by anything. Still, this does not mean that your character has to be destroyed by their fear. There is a very big difference between simply dismissing your character’s fear and perhaps overcoming it in the future.
An easy way to write your character possibly overcoming their fear in the future is that when they first encounter that fear, add an element of chance or fate into it. For example, if a character were to move to get away from the creature which may be coming towards them; in the process of getting up, they could slip which could cause their legs to lash out towards the creature. The sudden movement may just be enough to scare the creature away, this way it does not appear to the reader as ridiculous or uncharacteristic courage but instead accidental bravery. This sudden revelation that the character’s horrible fear may not be as all powerful as they first thought could be the first step for them to slowly overcome that fear.
Don’t believe me? Let’s think about this for a moment. Imagine your character, let’s call them the Protagonist™, is stuck in a terrible situation. It doesn’t matter what the situation is but let’s say it’s something which involves them being trapped in a room with a snake. I’m going to give you two examples, both involving the same situation.
Example #1: Protagonist watched with wide eyes as the snake slowly slithered towards them. The snake paused for a moment, it hissed lowly as it waited for Protagonist to move, waiting for the right moment to strike. Not hesitating for a single moment, they suddenly realised how dire the situation was and jumped to their feet. Their heart pumping wildly as their body was filled with adrenaline, they were terrified yet they had to do something. Protagonist grabbed the nearest thing to them and stepped towards the snake.
“Get away!” They threatened, “Get away!”
Example #2:
Protagonist watched with wide eyes as the snake slowly slithered towards them. The snake paused for a moment, it hissed lowly as it waited for Protagonist to move, waiting for the right moment to strike. The blood in Protagonist’s veins ran cold as the snake grew closer and closer, Protagonist couldn’t move. They begged and screamed on the inside to move away, to get away as far as possible. They had lost all control of their movement, their fear had consumed them. They were frozen to the spot and could only watch as the snake widened it’s jaw, ready to bite down on it’s prey. It widened it’s jaw once, twice - suddenly, Protagonist gained back their instincts. Fleeing seemed like the only realistic option and seconds before the snake could chomp down on their ankle, Protagonist stumbled to their feet. They stumbled backwards into a puddle of water which had pooled behind them and their ankle rolled as they slipped, their legs accidentally lashing out towards the predator. The snake recoiled backwards in shock before deciding that the risk wasn’t worth it: it quickly retreated back to it’s nest, disappearing from Protagonist’s view.
Now, hopefully you see what I mean. I think we can all agree that the second example is a lot better than the first one.
4) Create Their Flaws/Bad Habits
No one is perfect, this includes your characters.
If you’re finding it challenging to think of any flaws, try to think of some bad habits. It doesn’t have to be anything so terribly bad that’s it’s illegal. Think simple when it comes to this exercise. It can range from anything between chewing their nails to swearing.
It might help to try and develop these bad habits into possible flaws or weaknesses. If your character keeps biting their nails that might be a sign of nervousness or anxiety. So, creating bad habits might be a good way to show a certain trait your character may possess.
Flaws are important as well. Let’s be realistic, if no character had any flaws then every single book we read would be filled with a bunch of characters which are exactly the same. Besides, what’s a hero without it’s villain?
So, to give you a few ideas, let’s go back to superheroes. Maybe a hero is so set on doing the right thing that they lose sight of what they want? Perhaps it gets to a certain point where they can’t handle that hollow feeling inside of them that they grow arrogant, selfish or even stubborn? There’s a story for you right there.
Not only that, by giving your characters flaws it is possible that you could work that into your story somehow. This way, not only will you get to show off your amazing character development, but it could also be an exciting point in your storyline.
Write down some ideas, think of flawed personality traits and just write them down! Try to write down at least five straight off the bat, for each one you don’t like you should think about why it doesn’t suit your character. You’re bound to find one flaw you’re happy with!
5) Write Some Scenarios
Now that you’ve developed your characters, go ahead and write them in your story! If you think you still need a bit of practice, try writing something about them being in a certain scenario. It could be anything from ordering their favourite coffee to being trapped in a prison: just write it! Try not to think about it too much, just do whatever feels write (I unintentionally made that pun but i’m not deleting it).
It doesn’t have to be long either, just a couple paragraphs would be fine. Try to focus on body movements and interior thoughts, it would be ideal if your character was on their own in the situation: that way you can get to know the character on their own a lot better. No other characters means no distractions. It’s just you, the wonderful author, and your character - there is an endless amount of possibilities for you!
Have faith in yourself too! Nobody knows your brilliantly developed characters better than you do, so here’s your chance to show them off! If you’d like a second opinion, write something about them and give it to a friend/parent/random stranger etc. to read! If they don’t want to, make them read it anyway!
I hope this helps you all in developing your characters!
Happy writing!
- jess
I have this planner with these absolutely ridiculous pages with like “motivational” quotes on them that are just these bullshit things like “Let your heart sing” and “Always believe in your dreams”
and like that’s always struck me as such meaningless bullshit, I’ve always hated those. They’ve never had that element that truly motivates me.
So, I took matters into my own hands and I made my own artsy motivational wallpapers. Enjoy.
things i love in books:
imperfect grammar in dialogue - my grammar isn’t always fantastic when I’m talking to someone. sometimes seeing little grammar mistakes in character dialogue makes it feel more real.
character ticks - characters who have a chronic cough, or who have a bad habit of chewing their nails, or popping their knuckles. It fleshes them out.
characters with actual passions - I love seeing a character get really excited about something they are passionate about. And when another character shuts them down on that subject it’s heart breaking. I can totally relate.
puns and stupid jokes in first person narration - don’t tell me you’ve never made a little joke to yourself and then laughed at it. I think it’s cute.
random easter eggs in books - an author’s favorite recipe, a trivia fact that they’re throwing in just because, things that may relate to the plot but are also an extra little surprise for the reader.
newspaper clippings / articles - i just think they’re neat..
surprise handwriting (ex: on a note mentioned in the text or something) - i’ve only seen it in a few books. it makes finding a random note or something easier to imagine. Makes it a little more real.
platonic character relationships - i just really think they’re neat too.
