Syd

look at what pleases and pains you | infj

[sydnarrative]

hi im sydni! this is the personal blog i've had since i was sixteen, bookishtrash is also my main fandom/book blog but on sydnarrative you'll find the following:

writerlbr things and creative inspo

music artists

photogragraphy and film

[cy-lindric]

Two pages and a message

[statichvm]

something something mental stability

[laurentrose]

[cherriielle]

preacher’s daughter 🩸

[bienenkiste]

Ethel Cain by Avery Norman for Document Journal June 2022

[1five1two]

Tom Bagshaw.

[geekynerfherder]

‘Circe (after Dulac) by Tom Bagshaw.

[biscuitsandspices]

Encouragment for writers that I know seems discouraging at first but I promise it’s motivational-

• Those emotional scenes you’ve planned will never be as good on page as they are in your head. To YOU. Your audience, however, is eating it up. Just because you can’t articulate the emotion of a scene to your satisfaction doesn’t mean it’s not impacting the reader. 

• Sometimes a sentence, a paragraph, or even a whole scene will not be salvagable. Either it wasn’t necessary to the story to begin with, or you can put it to the side and re-write it later, but for now it’s gotta go. It doesn’t make you a bad writer to have to trim, it makes you a good writer to know to trim.

• There are several stories just like yours. And that’s okay, there’s no story in existence of completely original concepts. What makes your story “original” is that it’s yours. No one else can write your story the way you can.

• You have writing weaknesses. Everyone does. But don’t accept your writing weaknesses as unchanging facts about yourself. Don’t be content with being crap at description, dialogue, world building, etc. Writers that are comfortable being crap at things won’t improve, and that’s not you. It’s going to burn, but work that muscle. I promise you’ll like the outcome.

[2soulscollide]

WEBSITES FOR WRITERS {masterpost}

E.A. Deverell - FREE worksheets (characters, world building, narrator, etc.) and paid courses;

Hiveword - Helps to research any topic to write about (has other resources, too);

BetaBooks - Share your draft with your beta reader (can be more than one), and see where they stopped reading, their comments, etc.;

Charlotte Dillon - Research links;

Writing realistic injuries - The title is pretty self-explanatory: while writing about an injury, take a look at this useful website;

One Stop for Writers - You guys... this website has literally everything we need: a) Description thesaurus collection, b) Character builder, c) Story maps, d) Scene maps & timelines, e) World building surveys, f) Worksheets, f) Tutorials, and much more! Although it has a paid plan ($90/year | $50/6 months | $9/month), you can still get a 2-week FREE trial;

One Stop for Writers Roadmap - It has many tips for you, divided into three different topics: a) How to plan a story, b) How to write a story, c) How to revise a story. The best thing about this? It's FREE!

Story Structure Database - The Story Structure Database is an archive of books and movies, recording all their major plot points;

National Centre for Writing - FREE worksheets and writing courses. Has also paid courses;

Penguin Random House - Has some writing contests and great opportunities;

Crime Reads - Get inspired before writing a crime scene;

The Creative Academy for Writers - "Writers helping writers along every step of the path to publication." It's FREE and has ZOOM writing rooms;

Reedsy - "A trusted place to learn how to successfully publish your book" It has many tips, and tools (generators), contests, prompts lists, etc. FREE;

QueryTracker - Find agents for your books (personally, I've never used this before, but I thought I should feature it here);

Pacemaker - Track your goals (example: Write 50K words - then, everytime you write, you track the number of the words, and it will make a graphic for you with your progress). It's FREE but has a paid plan;

Save the Cat! - The blog of the most known storytelling method. You can find posts, sheets, a software (student discount - 70%), and other things;

I hope this is helpful for you!

(Also, check my blog if you want to!)

[relatablegenzwriter]

questions to ask your beta readers!

(pls add on!) i’m currently working with betas seriously for the first time, so i made a list of questions that have become increasingly helpful as i have those discussions! in addition to these, it’s also good to ask a few big questions specific to your piece.

GENERAL

what do you like most about this piece?

what doesn’t make sense to you/what was confusing?

what big questions do you still have?

what felt incomplete?

what do you think this story is about?

what were you most/least invested in?

CHARACTERS

always ask for “your thoughts” on your most important characters. nothing like “did tyrone come off as shy?” or “does leah seem bossy to you?”, because that can sometimes sway responses.

also ask for “thoughts” on key relationships between characters.

who is your favorite character?

who is the strongest character?

who do you wish you saw more of?

who do you wish you saw less of?

are there characters who don’t add anything to the story? what would make them add more?

did you confuse any characters with one another? (if you have a big cast)

what did you think about [character a] versus [character b]? (if you have two very similar characters)

if a character has a moral conflict in the story/does something morally grey, ask where they stand on that character’s actions. if they have a strong reaction with a different opinion, that might be something to look into.

which characters did you dislike (as people, not as characters)?

do any of the characters ever act out of character?

does the main character/narrator feel like the best person to be telling the story? if not, who does?

PLOT

are there scenes/chapters/plot points that don’t add to the story?

do any moments seem out of place?

how would you have wanted this to end?

if you’re considering taking a scene out, ask what that adds to the story, and what it would lose without the scene.

same goes with adding a scene!

which scene felt like the most important scene?

what was your favorite part?

if you could change anything about the plot, what would it be?

how did [particular scene] make you feel?

alternatively, which scene made you feel the strongest emotions?

STYLE

does this feel like the right pov narration (1st person, 3rd person, etc.) for this piece?

does this feel like the right tense?

are there any phrases, metaphors, etc. that were confusingly worded?

if the piece uses a unique writing style, what do you think about [style]?

if it has multiple povs/narrators, could you tell the difference between voices? which voice was your favorite?

OTHER

are there any grammatical errors? (optional, if you have a 300 page novel please do not make your betas do this)

what is your favorite restaurant/coffee shop/store so i can buy you a meal and/or gift card as a thank you for being a crucial part of my writing process?

[vaememes]

💔     HEART     ACHE     SENTENCE     PROMPTS    !  

❝ You are a victim of your own broken heart. ❞

❝ You’re breaking my heart.  ❞

❝ The heart is just a muscle, isn’t that right? ❞

❝ You’ve left a void in me that cannot be filled. ❞

❝ Time does not heal a broken heart as they say. ❞

❝ How do you cope when the love is with somebody else? ❞

❝ Well, you can’t have heartbreak without love. ❞

❝ Love is supposed to heal, to be your haven from misery. ❞

❝ My heart no longer felt as if it belonged to me. ❞

❝ There is an ocean of silence between us… and I am drowning in it. ❞

❝ Raw love, like raw heartache, could blindside you. ❞

❝ I was born the day you kissed me, died the day you left me.  ❞

❝ I’ve fallen victim to love once in my life, it was enough for me.  ❞

❝ I think perhaps I will always hold a candle for you – even until it burns my hand. ❞

❝ I would have followed you to hell and back… if only you’d lead me back.  ❞

❝ I had fallen but you were not there to catch me.  ❞

❝ This pain has not passed, this pain, I’m afraid, it will never pass. ❞

❝ A broken heart can be as lethal as a bullet to the brain. ❞

❝ As if you gave your heart to autumn, for what it destroys never blossoms again. ❞

❝ A single heartbreak teaches you more than what a lifetime of schooling can. ❞

❝ You taught me how to live with you, now tell me how to live without you… ❞

❝ You hurt me and yet I cannot stay away, I am miserable either way. ❞

❝ Do you know why he did what he did to you? Because he could. ❞

❝ I have been bitter since the day you broke my heart. ❞

❝ Today is just another day of trying to get by without you. ❞

❝ An entire world of people can never replace the one that I’ve lost. ❞

❝ I cannot carry on with my future when I am stuck in my past. ❞

❝ Many things we die but this love I have for you will not. ❞

❝ I could never love another as I do you, even if I wanted to. ❞

❝ This heart break will be the death of me. ❞

❝ I still fight and I don’t know why. ❞

❝ If our love is tragedy then are you my remedy? ❞

❝ When you’re ready, come find me, my heart is open. ❞

❝ Love is both, the strongest and the weakest thing you can have in life. ❞

❝ Black misery painted on a blood red heart. ❞

❝ You make me feel like a firefly. Trapped in a belljar; starved for love. ❞

❝ Sometimes your eyes are not the only place the tears fall from. ❞

❝ My heart does not beat, it aches, for you. ❞

❝ Do you even know how you make me weak? ❞

❝ If you lose your one and only, there’s always room here for the lonely. ❞

❝ Part of me aches at the thought of her being so close yet so untouchable. ❞

❝ Sometimes it feels like love and sometimes it feels like the death. ❞

❝ I don’t know where your heart is but mine is bruised. ❞

❝ I tried to wash the scars and marks from under my skin but you’re etched in me like stone.❞

❝ You call it love, but still you hate me? ❞

❝ You’re the pain and the medicine, one taste and I’m numb again. ❞

❝ With you next to me, there’s no darkness I can’t overcome.  ❞

❝ They don’t love you the way I love you. ❞

❝ What a wicked way to treat the one that loves you. ❞

❝ What’s worse, looking jealous or crazy? ❞

❝ There’s a fire starting in my heart, it’s bringing me out the dark. ❞

❝ The scars of your love remind me of us. ❞

❝ Tears of blood fall from my broken heart. ❞  

❝ Never mind, I’ll find someone like you. ❞

❝ When it’s all said and done, I’m still in love with you. ❞

❝ I want you to know that I’m all yours. ❞

❝ You could break my heart in two but when it heals, it beats for you. ❞

❝ The emotion that can break your heart is sometimes the very one that heals it…  ❞

❝ Jealousy is just love and hate at the same time. ❞ 

❝ I know you still think about the times we had. ❞

❝ I’ve been so selfish because I love you so much. ❞

❝ You’re just like a pill, instead of making me better, you keep making me ill. ❞

❝ I bet you start loving me as soon as I start loving somebody else. ❞

❝ Do you ever think of me when you lie? ❞

❝ I fell for your lies, you hurt me, all the time. ❞

❝ Despite everything, I still remain loving you. ❞

❝ I’m waiting for the one day to come, when I can look at you and feel nothing. ❞

❝ Love creeps up on you, you never know how hard it’s there until they leave.  ❞

❝ I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to forgive myself for just how badly I broke you.. ❞

❝ What chance did we have against fate? ❞

❝ Be careful when fixing broken people. You may end up cutting yourself. ❞

❝ Every other lover will always be compared to you. ❞

❝ I would recognize your heartbeat from the ends of space. ❞

❝ Even in dreams, ghosts of former happiness haunt me. ❞

❝ You should see me when my heart is broken. I don’t grieve, I shatter. ❞

❝ Love, but don’t fall in love because everything that falls breaks. ❞

❝ If my love was a war, you only fought for the glory of winning. ❞

❝ How many hearts have you collected? How many chests have you left aching and empty? ❞  

❝ I have not broken your heart - you have broken it; and in breaking it, you have broken mine. ❞

❝ If it’s a question of my heart, you’ve got it. It don’t belong to anyone but you. ❞

[birdsandivory]

taking five of these for three houses. trying to finish a few short order fics to get the writing juices flowing so feel free to request!!

[timotaychalamet]

[c0llar-bones]

[kindastressedbutok]

Art by Yoshitaka Amano.

I love this art style so much. Such a vibe.

[dozydawn]

Natalia Osipova in Peter Wright’s production of Giselle, 2016. Photographed by Robbie Jack.

[love]

Drifting Heavy Weather Clouds by Emily Nolde, 1928