#specific help

[promptsforthestrugglingauthor]

Hi, I am writing a book and I am just stuck at the scene where the characters go to a restaurant as I have no idea how I make them talk about the important stuff while also bringing the background and sub-main characters into light. Can you please help me with this?

Don’t overthink it too much; just write the scene as it feels natural, and worry about the fine-tuning in the revisions!

[promptsforthestrugglingauthor]

I find myself writing a lot of alliterations. Some examples are "Her wise words broke through the relentless pitch that pestered his ears." and "Temptation tugged at his toes." Is that bad?

There’s certainly nothing wrong with it! (It’s actually one of my favorite devices to use in prose myself~)

[promptsforthestrugglingauthor]

Hi! I'm trying to write a story where the main guy and his friends are vampire/monster hunters but he ends up getting turned into one. I don't know how to show him dealing with it and accepting it and his friends waiting to support him but also being scared. I also don't want the story to be overly long but I want to show some key moments leading up to him being okay with it. Thanks :)

For his friends, I would recommend their words being encouraging and supportive, but their actions showing fear. For example, perhaps they’ll tell him they’ll never see him differently, but any sudden movement or something that could come off as threatening leads them to reflexively turn their hunting techniques against him (such as pulling a weapon on him or so!)

For the MC himself, I’d recommend picking and choosing different pieces in his days that display his thought process as well as physical changes (under the assumption there are those, too!) You probably want to show some good days and bad days, because acceptance isn’t always a straight line! Episodic scenes at that point are probably your best bet, unless there’s some other storyline you have to attend to as well!

[promptsforthestrugglingauthor]

I‘m writing a story about a trans-boy and a girl who were best friends in childhood but lost contact and now meet again. It‘s supposed to be about reviving that friendship, but I don‘t know how to show that the girl is curious but supportive of the boy and how to build that friendship anew and all without seeming fake or odd or whatever. (They meet again at the boys grandmothers funeral, so thats not really a happy start, but there‘s a small »adventure« in the story too(but mainly friendship)

Well, realistically, it’s likely that things will be a bit weird between them! It might take some time for the girl to process her friend’s new name (as I imagine he probably has a different name) and appearance. There may be some slip-ups in using the wrong pronouns or his deadname, or generally some awkward feelings as she wonders what is and isn’t appropriate to ask him. (Just because she’s supportive doesn’t mean she won’t unknowingly say or do something offensive! Realistically, if he’s the first trans person she’s ever directly encountered, things might get messy and awkward)

Mostly, though, it shouldn’t be too difficult for them to rebuild the friendship if they really were best friends. You can easily build on their past memories and experiences, as they play catch-up with one another and learn how to just accept and adjust to the changes over the years!

[promptsforthestrugglingauthor]

I'm working on a story where a rogue was trying to get into an assassins guild and climb it's ranks. For his test, he was to rob a very wealthy nobleman only to discover the nobleman is the head of the assassins guild. The rogue is caught by said nobleman and his team of infiltrators are killed, but the rogue is spared and forced into employment by the nobleman as a mercenary. I am struggling with a motivation for leaving the rogue alive. Why not just kill him?

Well, perhaps the rogue has some sort of special connection to the nobleman, reminds the nobleman of someone, or the nobleman decides that the rogue has something special (perhaps a skill or trait) that’s better used than vanquished!

[promptsforthestrugglingauthor]

Hey there! I need some help with the point of view in my story. So I have more than one main character and in party of the timeline they’re not in the same place as one another so I had been writing in first person, soon did they meet up I realized I would have to change it to third person probably, I think it’s a little tacky and now I feel like going back back and changing it to third person, should I do it?

I’d recommend keeping it consistent and using only one POV or the other! If that means you have to go back and change it, my second recommendation would be to save that for another draft if you aren’t posting as you go. Anything that’s a big overhaul, I always recommend making a note and doing it later. Trying to fix big things while you’re in the middle of a draft can slow you down and be very frustrating. Additionally, if you start going back to the start before you finish, you’re less likely to ever finish!

[promptsforthestrugglingauthor]

I’m writing a character with superpower ability, similar with Spider-Man. How can I describe the character’s ability? Thank you

So, if we break down Spider-Man’s powers, there’s actually a lot going on. Since this is a writing blog a not a nerd Marvel blog, I’ll stick to just some basic components: superhuman strength, agility, wall-crawling, and web-slinging.

Each of these are relatively simple to explain without needing complex paragraphs for the reader to understand what’s going on, as these powers are fairly well known and physical in nature. Strength is easily explained by the effect of the force on the object it’s being used on (fractures in a wall, for example), as is agility: simply dodging something that shouldn’t have been able to have been noticed and responded to by any normal human (perhaps debris, a weapon, any object that comes soaring past).

The web-slinging is a bit more difficult to attack, however. In some points within the comic history, it has been organic, and at other points there are mechanical web shooters. Under the assumption you’d be going with organic, however, describing the initial use of the power does require some detail. And as I can envision it…it’s not best for the squeamish. You’ll want to note where it’s coming from, any sensation it makes as it comes out (perhaps there’s a pinch or a pain or a pressure in the area), and any sensation that occurs when weight is put on the web.

(Also, a quick note that my facetious remark about not being a nerd blog was more a poke at myself than anything. I adore superheroes, Spider-Man especially, to the point that I saw the most recent film in theaters three times and then still proceeded to buy the DVD.)