#author tips

[brainstreams]

Underused Ways to Show a Character Is Neglecting Themself

Everyone writes “they looked tired.” But let's look closer.

Here are some quick ways to show a character is neglecting themselves (without saying "they were neglecting themselves"):

• They drink coffee instead of eating again

• They never ask for help

• They keep wearing the same jacket even when it’s too warm

• Their phone battery is always at 3%

• Spending a long time away from others

• They say “I’ll eat later” three times in the same day

• Withdrawing quietly when stressed rather than seeking help

• Their place runs out of small things (soap, clean cups, toothpaste)

• Always late or overdue on bills

• They sleep in strange places because the bed is buried under things

• Using alcohol or substances to cope

• Overworking or staying constantly busy to avoid thinking about personal needs

• They stop replacing things that break

• Being highly critical of themselves while being extremely compassionate toward others

• They forget what day it is, but remember every obligation

• Lack of concern about their own wellbeing (acting reckless/stupid)

• They open the fridge, stare, and close it again

• Their laundry slowly becomes “the chair”

• Saying "I'm fine" to everything.

• Being the “listener” or emotional support for everyone else, but rarely opening up themselves

• Someone asks if they’ve eaten and they have to actually think about it

Those are some quick tips. Reblog if you want more. Idk if people like these. <3

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[thecrimsonchariot]

All characters should serve a purpose for the story. Even if that purpose is to be fucking useless dead weight.

[blue-eyed-author]

Writing rule:

Every character who speaks gets their own paragraph. If two characters are talking, each time they switch you must create a new paragraph.

Do not add more than one characters’s dialogue into a single paragraph or it will be too confusing for the reader.

[svt-articles]

An Introduction to Creative Writing and Its Different Types

What is Creative Writing?

Creative writing in stories is the art of using imagination, emotions, and original ideas to craft narratives ranging from fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and much more.

Creative writing focused on storytelling includes:

Characters—crafted or invented people with their own motives, conflicts, and personalities.

Plot—a sequence of events that play out through the story with an intricate structure of beginning, conflict, resolution, and ending.

Setting—where and when the story takes place.

Conflict—the struggle or problem that drives the story.

Theme—the deeper message conveyed through the story.

Main Types of Creative Writing

Creative writing fundamentally consists of two main branches: prose and poetry.

Poetry

Poetry uses rhythm, structure, and carefully chosen words to awoke vivid imagery and emotional impact. Some poems follow strict patterns of rhyme and meter, while others use free verse with no set structure. Song lyrics and spoken word performances also fall under this category.

The main goal of poetry isn’t just to tell a story—capturing a feeling or moment through the beauty of the language.

Prose

Prose uses sentences and paragraphs to craft stories or share experiences. Many popular forms of creative writing fall under prose, including:

Novels are long fictional works that develop characters, settings, and complex plots over usually 250-400 pages.

Short stories are brief fictional pieces that focus on a single event or idea, usually read in one sitting.

Memoirs are true stories based on the writer’s personal life and experiences.

Personal essays are reflective pieces where writers explore their thoughts, feelings, or perspectives on a topic.

Scripts are works written for film, television, or theater that include dialogue and scene directions.

Copywriting and blogs: Creative writing isn’t limited to books. Marketing content, advertisements, and blog posts often use storytelling techniques to connect with readers and persuade them.

Why Creative Writing Matters?

Creative writing delivers information like any other form of writing, but it also communicates emotions, sensory experiences, and deeper meanings that can’t always be articulated properly.

It allows writers to explore ideas, express identity, and connect with others through the power of words.

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[cowsabungus]

OC WHEELCHAIR GUIDE

I remade this guide to be a bit easier to read, less info dumping, a bit more specific info and stuff for you to understand, and also some stuff to help people decide which chair would be best for their characters!

[hrizantemy]

Do you have any writing tips to share? I really love your sentence structures and greatly admire you as a writer

oh my god—thank you so much, angel?? that means the world to me, truly. i’m gonna treasure that in my lil writer heart forever.

and YES absolutely, here are some writing tips that have helped me so much:

1. vary your sentence lengths for rhythm.

short sentences hit. longer ones, especially when they spiral through thought or emotion, build momentum. mixing them creates a natural cadence that keeps your reader engaged and makes the emotions feel real and lived-in.

2. repetition = power.

repeating a word or phrase on purpose can emphasize urgency, grief, desire—whatever you need. (“she said no. no. no.” vs “she refused.”) don’t be afraid to break technical rules if it makes the moment land harder.

3. write like you’re confessing something.

the best writing feels intimate. sometimes i ask myself: what would this character never say out loud—but think when they’re alone? that’s where the magic is.

4. let the emotional beats breathe.

sometimes what you don’t say hits harder. instead of “she cried for hours,” try: “the floor was cold beneath her knees. still, she didn’t move.”

5. use contrasts to create impact.

“she was smiling when she said it. but her hands were shaking.” those emotional contradictions?? that’s gold.

6. your voice matters more than perfect grammar.

if it feels good when you read it aloud, it is good. rules are helpful, but style is what makes people remember you.

and most importantly:

7. don’t edit while you write.

you wouldn’t tell someone to fix their house while they’re still building it. write messy. write ugly. you can make it pretty later.

[isdantah]

A bit of an odd question, but I have an idea for a starscream-centric tfp fic I wanna write but I don't have the confidence to go through with it.

It's not that I don't like the show, or the idea that I have, I just don't feel like it would make sense. I really love things like mma and wanna make a fic/au for it but I don't know where to start, what to do or how to build confidence to publish it to others, do you have any words of advice?

Hello! With the help of "Avatar Thundercraker, I'll slap below some (LONG) tips\things that helped and are helping me with my creative process. Keep in mind that I draw fandom BUT my main job is actually to be a Comic Artist\Writer\Visualizer, so I did my professional courses and study in the field. If information or suggestions are too many or too heavy to follow, don't feel the pressure in it: just take what you like and you think could help you with your writing process!

->So, let's start with the basic: I think that, especially talking about fandom, you write\draw because you like that and you want to have fun. I was chatting with other friends just yesterday about old fic I wrote like when I was 12\14 and yes... they were probably quite cringe and I wouldn't suggest to anyone to read them XD But I remember that I was having fun wrote them and I think is the entire point. We usually don't start to write or draw because we are actually good or genius, but because we simply want to express and have fun. I know that if you never published nothing on the net, it could be quite intimidating: when I started to sell my comics at conventions I was so embarassed and shy that i usually said "Oh, don't buy my comics. Y-you can read them online... sorry to busy you." While today I go with my Artistic Collective and we draw and sell together with confidance. It takes time of course, but eventually you will built your self confidence even that sometimes will be hard bc you'll do wrong things or having difficult moments, but I really believe that the core of all this should be the passion and the will\fun to create. Of course the net can gives you a precious shield to begin aka being "anonymous". After all, many people that write on A03 use different nickname than the usual (I think there is actually a function to totally post as anonymous): if you are really too much nervous to put fics online at the beginning, you can think to start like this to make it looks less scary. On my side, I always post with quite clear nicknames because... well probably when I started we were less scared of shitstorms and hate comments, and the worst thing was to be ignored (which is usually my actual problem XD).

Another choice, is that you start to share with inner circle friends that you know would be happy to read and give you their opinions without be too hard :) Many of my writings actually never left my PC or has been red only by few friends: not all we do must or have to be shared bc most of the time we create for the pleasure of it, don't feel the pressure of publishing only bc the others do. Start write for yourself! Also, many say; "Let first make it exist, you'l clean up and perfect later".

-> To Start and get confidence with writing:

Is not a linear process and it doesn't work the same for all but I'll give some suggestions that may looks stupid but gives me a lot. 1. Read, watch, analyse: I "consume" many different media, from books, comics, videogames, shows, acting. But I also try to not be only a final consumer but a "sector technician"; I asked often myself "Why I liked that movie? Why I didn't like that comic?", undestanding our own tastes helps understand what we want to do and if we are too similar to something already seen and we are not re-elaborating enough to make those things "ours" or with "our touch". 2. "What I would do?" Is a question that helped me a lot while writing a character. And is not "As I am now, what I would do?" but more "If I was a giant robot sentient being that was build to be a data clerk forever and one day I'll se a Gladiator mech talking about equality, what I would do?" Elaborate emotions and stories like we are that character helps a lot to avoid make them do strange behaviour. 3. Plotting, scheming, be the leader of Decepticons. Jokes aside, people write in many ways and decide how much plot and plan. I am quite hybrid: I usually plan some key points of my stories (sometimes I sketch them, sometimes I write them) and then fill the gaps. It could also happen that I have specific scenes and I draw\write them as first (also to not forget them XD) to catch the mood and feels before fades. 4. Tutorial\Books: Not all tutorials and books are good for writing\drawing, but the offer around is now very big, also with free youtube channels and similar. I can't suggest a specific book only for drawing, but for narrative in general, I suggest to study "The Three act structure" and "The hero's journey" (which are like the old basic rules of narrative) and then watch either "Star Wars A new hope" or "Indiana Jones & the Raiders of the Lost Ark" and do the excercize to analyse and find the key point of the "Hero's Journey" in those two. Talking about comics (but could be useful also for writing in general) there's Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art (which is usually easy to find as free PDF around). This above are quite professional and job related advices, so don't feel overwhelmed or forced to study, but if you want some basic in this field, those are "good point of origin". 5. Let it sink and then come back: Sometimes you'll have to stop and put your work aside. Do other things, that could be go outside, watch movie, play something. And then come back: you will notice details that you missed before. Read multiple times your works, both for the pleasure of it and both to check and control errors (ofc another person that do some Beta is very helpful because bring a fresh view and could find easily errors, but is not strictly necessary).

->Said that: why not a MMA fic AU? Megatron itself was a Gladiator and he mostly fights with his fists instead of weapons! In TFPrime, Arcee has been given martial art fight style, so why not? If ppl can do CofeeShopAU!, why you shouldn't do your AU? I think is more logic than other things I've read XD and with this I don't want to say that CofeeShopAU! are bad, but simply that ppl write that because... well, they want!

I've seen that (usually) TF fandom is quite free not a judgmental one, so at least on this I think you should feel quite safe in sharing. Then, sadly people are people and sometimes could happen that you'll find somebody that have different ideas or, worst, are not open to dialogues and I suggest, If there no way to mediate, to block. There is no shame in remove ppl if they are hurting\hating (especially if they spread bigotry\fascism\ableism\etc." Those are not dialogues things, those are repressive and hate speech and should not being tolerated) .

I hope that my neverending post could be of any help: i like when ppl wants to write\draw\create because I sincerly believe that, in this days where anything is forced to be done for being a productive cog of a system, do things because you want and love them is the purest form of protest. Write that fic down baby! Also feel free to contact me or send me other questions if all this is not enough or clear! Byeee <3