The Rough Copy!

Every new writer needs advice ... why not suffer together?

[marvelandponder]

Empathy for the Devil

Chapter 1 is finally here!!! Here we go…

(As always, please don’t copy, steal, plagiarize, or otherwise use Bevin’s art without permission)

[positivedoodles]

[drawing of a green butterfly with blue wings saying “Bad writing days don’t make you a bad writer. Nobody is a great writer 100% of the time. Don’t give up. You’re an amazing writer.” in a green speech bubble.]

[immortallionheart-a-deactivated]

Writing Body Language

How to Improve your writing

This is something that happens every day in your life. A shift of your eyebrow in skepticism, or the way your lip may twitch to a half smile cause you’re trying not to laugh. These behaviors are vital for writing in character, because not only do the allow you to visually see what is happening but it is also reaffirming whatever emotion your character is showing.

So why should you write it?

Much of human communication is non-verbal which means you need to also translate this non-verbal reaction in a post. It allows you to greatly enhance the emotions of another character and always another person to ‘visually’ see how they feel in a post. Most of all, this will add depth and volume to your post to make it feel more real. IT will make your character feel like a human instead of just another fictional person you look at from above.

Below you will find a list different type of emotions and what sort of body language can be exhibited to them.

Three ways to accent an action.

When writing about emotions, there are different ways to verbally write them out. Each one is unique in their own way, allowing you to show more about the emotion.

Emphasize the Emotion. But doing this, you are expressing both the emotion and the body language. We’ll use a simple example. It’s short and simple yet you can sense he is happy. John felt so happy that he was humming a tune while walking down the hall.

Complicate the Emotion. Sometimes, even when you are feeling one emotion, deep down rooted underneath the facade of it all, there is actually an underlining emotion they feel. This is something you have to truly express otherwise no one will know. John felt so happy that he was humming a tune while walking down the hall. However, it was obvious by the way his nose crinkled that he was disgusted by the actions beforehand. Instead, John covered it up by appearing pleased today.

Contradict the Emotion. This is a little different than complicate. Contradicting means that you are claiming one thing when in fact its the other. In many ways, this has a variety of uses, from inner depth of the truth to what you see in person, or someone creating a wall. It could be considered a lie, but when is anything that easy? John felt so happy that he was humming a tune while walking down the hall. In truth, once he was in the classroom, his shoulders slumped and a pout crossed his lips when no one was around, showing just how displeased he was with the situation.

Remember that you do not always have to contradict or complicate anything. Sometimes all you need to do is emphasize and that will be just fine. You don’t always have to have an underlining complicated for an emotion to make it more enhanced.

Do be afraid to use the Thesaurus to also improve an emotion. Such things as “happy” is a nice emotional word, but think of how much more powerful it is when you heard some is “overjoyed” or “content.” She how these emotions matched up with a body language can give two different styles of happiness? Mix and match to find what works best for your character at the time.

More In Depth Information

What I’ve stated above is more of a simplistic overview. IF you truly want to improve yourself, go to this

LINK HERE

To see just how much body language can reveal about a person. You will find things such as how a person lies, how the eyes reaction, the positioning of a person in personal space, mouth, and head body language and so much more.

Use these resources to greatly increase the reactions of your character to another and create a more life-like world.

[captaindemetrios]

@theload

[kiramartinauthor]

[butchamy]

Story idea when you try to actually write it:

[calamitycons]

Story idea when you first rewrite it:

Getting closer to what you saw in your head, eh? Keep at it!

[snurtle]

Your story when somebody else sees it:

[starspangledscarf]

hhhhhHHHHHHH

[thatincompetentperson]

(⚪д⚪)

[servicek9s-deactivated20180617]

This is a lovely post. It goes to show that when we percieve our own work, most of us have some type of insecurities about our own talents. 

[prettyarb]

Also possibly relevant is that probably when Van Gogh finished Starry Night, he jumped up and down in frustration for a while because it didn’t look as good as it had in his head.

Tolkien used to complain that he could never write anything as well as he could imagine it.  So you know, ‘good enough’ is definitely a thing.

[marvelandponder]

On the flip side, it is possible to get to that place where you’re satisfied with your work. To be able to see some of its flaws, but also see enough of its strength and enjoy it for what it is. You’re not doomed to forever think your vision of Starry Night is impossible to achieve, it honestly just changes as you develop your project. You used different brush strokes than you thought you would, found another way to give it texture, made unanticipated mistakes. By the end, you come out with something different than how you imagined it, but also beautiful for what it is.

And it’s not perfect, it’s not your Magnum Opus like you’d imagined, but you can see remnants of the original vision in there and can appreciate both how it changed and how it stayed true. 

It’s not like this is an easy place to get to as a writer—years are involved, and no one ever really tells you how long that feels in creative terms—but it’s like any insecurity, right? When you have it, you’ve had it for so long you can’t imagine not having it, and maybe because of that or how long you’ve tried to get rid of it, it seems impossible for you (note the blame) to grow past it.

But it’s not about never feeling insecure in your writing, it’s about accepting the final product for what it is, and then maybe even loving it for what it is. Feeling secure in the fact that it’s not your last work, either, so you can be excited to take what you’ve learned and make some other beautiful idea into something different but still awesome.

[faizhang]

i just wanna say……..don’t b afraid of sucking. 99% of the time the reason why someone is so good at something is practice!!! most people who are good at something had 2 learn through mistakes n they weren’t always so good you know??

[itstartswithablankpage-deactiva]

The quickest show not tell tip ever.

‘Always show, not tell,’ is a big fat lie. If you always show, you’ll have half a novel of descriptive words and flowy sentences that will be hard to read.

Here is a quick tip:

Show emotion.

Tell feelings.

Don’t tell us 'she was sad.’ Show us- 'Her lip trembled, and her eyes burned as she tried to keep her tears at bay.’

Don’t show us 'her eyelids were heavy- too heavy. Her limbs could barely function and she couldn’t stop yawning.’ Tell us - 'she felt tired that morning.’

Showing emotion will bring the reader closer to the characters, to understand their reactions better. But I don’t need to read about how slow she was moving due to tiredness.

Likewise, when you do show, keep it to a max three sentences. Two paragraphs of 'how she was sad,’ with no dialogue or inner thought is just as boring.

[ramoorebooks-deactivated2024011]

Famous authors, their writings and their rejection letters.

[azurempress]

smarsupial:

the-last-teabender:

cidermoon:

ramoorebooks:

Sylvia Plath: There certainly isn’t enough genuine talent for us to take notice.

Rudyard Kipling: I’m sorry Mr. Kipling, but you just don’t know how to use the English language.

Emily Dickinson: [Your poems] are quite as remarkable for defects as for beauties and are generally devoid of true poetical qualities.

Ernest Hemingway (on The Torrents of Spring): It would be extremely rotten taste, to say nothing of being horribly cruel, should we want to publish it.

Dr. Seuss: Too different from other juveniles on the market to warrant its selling.

The Diary of Anne Frank: The girl doesn’t, it seems to me, have a special perception or feeling which would lift that book above the ‘curiosity’ level.

Richard Bach (on Jonathan Livingston Seagull): will never make it as a paperback. (Over 7.25 million copies sold)

H.G. Wells (on The War of the Worlds): An endless nightmare. I do not believe it would “take”…I think the verdict would be ‘Oh don’t read that horrid book’. And (on The Time Machine): It is not interesting enough for the general reader and not thorough enough for the scientific reader.

Edgar Allan Poe: Readers in this country have a decided and strong preference for works in which a single and connected story occupies the entire volume.

Herman Melville (on Moby Dick): We regret to say that our united opinion is entirely against the book as we do not think it would be at all suitable for the Juvenile Market in [England]. It is very long, rather old-fashioned…

Jack London: [Your book is] forbidding and depressing.

William Faulkner: If the book had a plot and structure, we might suggest shortening and revisions, but it is so diffuse that I don’t think this would be of any use. My chief objection is that you don’t have any story to tell. And two years later: Good God, I can’t publish this!

Stephen King (on Carrie): We are not interested in science fiction which deals with negative utopias. They do not sell.

Joseph Heller (on Catch–22): I haven’t really the foggiest idea about what the man is trying to say… Apparently the author intends it to be funny – possibly even satire – but it is really not funny on any intellectual level … From your long publishing experience you will know that it is less disastrous to turn down a work of genius than to turn down talented mediocrities.

George Orwell (on Animal Farm): It is impossible to sell animal stories in the USA.

Oscar Wilde (on Lady Windermere’s Fan): My dear sir, I have read your manuscript. Oh, my dear sir.

Vladimir Nabokov (on Lolita): … overwhelmingly nauseating, even to an enlightened Freudian … the whole thing is an unsure cross between hideous reality and improbable fantasy. It often becomes a wild neurotic daydream … I recommend that it be buried under a stone for a thousand years.

The Tale of Peter Rabbit was turned down so many times, Beatrix Potter initially self-published it.

Lust for Life by Irving Stone was rejected 16 times, but found a publisher and went on to sell about 25 million copies.

John Grisham’s first novel was rejected 25 times.

Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen (Chicken Soup for the Soul) received 134 rejections.

Robert Pirsig (Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance) received 121 rejections.

Gertrude Stein spent 22 years submitting before getting a single poem accepted.

Judy Blume, beloved by children everywhere, received rejections for two straight years.

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L’Engle received 26 rejections.

Frank Herbert’s Dune was rejected 20 times.

Carrie by Stephen King received 30 rejections.

The Diary of Anne Frank received 16 rejections.

Harry Potter and The Philosopher’s Stone by J.K. Rolling was rejected 12 times.

Dr. Seuss received 27 rejection letters

Now this…THIS inspires me.

This makes me feel a little better about getting a rejection letter that said ‘I don’t even know why you wrote this.’

Buried under a stone for a thousand years.

[relenafanel]

Tip to fanfic writers: it’s ok if your writing style is more Dickens than Hemingway, but never feel like you’re obligated to show every second between point A and point B.

It’s ok to skip over things and mention them instead of showing them. It’s ok for entire days to pass in the cut of a scene. It’s ok for 5 minutes to pass while the character gets a drink.

If you enjoy writing the in between moments then you do you 👍🏼💯

But if you struggle with it? You don’t always need to fill in those blanks and segues are useful.

[brendaonao3]

Adding to this, because this is SUPER useful advice.

If a character gets up to to grab coffee, it’s okay to just show them sitting down and drinking from their mug.  You don’t have to show all of the steps between. (But if you need to, there are ways to do that in the story so it’s not all ABC exposition, and where you still learn something about the characters.)

It’s okay to time jump - you don’t have to show every step of a character’s journey in order for your audience to engage.

It’s okay to gloss over events that aren’t relevant or don’t move the story. It’s okay to condense scenes or have characters talk about moments in passing.

And if you’re unsure about what to include or what not to include, remember that your readers are really good at filling in the blanks themselves. And if you still have doubts, ask another writer or one of your friends or someone else to look over your work. We’re all here for each other.

[secretink]

If you criticize what you’re doing too early you’ll never write the first line.

Max Frisch (via tiny-lonely-space-pumpkin)

[eclaire-de-lune-deactivated2022]

honestly one of the best things i learned from creative writing classes was how to take criticism:

criticism of a part does not mean condemnation of the whole

just as i have strengths, i have weaknesses. this is natural

improving areas i am weak in requires recognizing them first, and it often takes a second (and a third, and a fourth) eye to do that

what i write is ultimately meant for others to consume. i cannot judge how effectively i communicate to others if i never seek their input.

i am not obligated to take any critique at face value, or accept it as truth, but instead can evaluate it in the context of both my work and my skills as a writer as a whole

i can choose whose criticism i value and whose i can dismiss. comments from my bf, who has a master’s and was an editor for a literary journal, hold more weight than those from my friend who has little to no experience reading critically

criticism - thoughtful, constructive criticism - is not a thing to be feared. it is one of the most helpful tools i have.

and once again, criticism of a part absolutely does not mean condemnation of the whole, nor of my skills as a writer. some things i will write poorly. some i will write well. this is the state of every single human being who produces creative works, in any discipline.

when you know someone is unafraid to give you negative feedback, their positive comments will resonate all the more

[heywriters]

How to Become Creative

Again and again I run into amateur writers who are eager to learn all the rules and try out all the trends, but either have no creativity of their own or have foregone developing it by relying on prefabricated prompts online. 

Writers, here are some things to remember: 

Your creativity and style are your responsibility alone. They don’t just occur one day after you’ve done all your research, and no one can teach them to you.  

Please don’t sacrifice your creativity because you think you might do it wrong or you want to know how to do it perfectly before you even start. 

No idea is original and your first ideas won’t need to be anyway. Don’t stanch your creativity simply because you think every idea has to be remarkable to matter.

While learning all the rules and utilizing practice prompts are good things, don’t get hung up on them. Whatever your goal is as a writer, remember to write for yourself first. That means no one but you has input, no one is looking over your shoulder (physically or figuratively), and no one but you is going to read it yet. 

Finally, the best way to get new ideas is to turn off your device and start looking for “prompts” in the real world. No one else is living your life or sees the way you see. Write straight nonfiction or embellish the truth, but either way you’re writing with an idea you yourself discovered. Run with it and nurture your creativity along the way.

[rockint765]

Fanfiction Writing Tips

Some of these can be applied to all types of fiction, but some of these are more fanfiction-specific. And, I am in no means a professional, but a friend asked me for writing tips, and I thought I’d share them.

1.) When you’re writing dialogue, picture the character’s voice in your head. If you can’t picture them saying it, you’re writing them out of character. This is something I cannot stress enough, as it has been a lifesaver many times.

2.) Visualize the scene in your mind. How would they move? What kind of area are they in? Do you think the scene would work best on a couch? What would this character do on a couch? Cross their legs or lean on the side? Picture the scene for proper description of the scene, and that makes it easier to figure out what they’re doing with their bodies.

3.) Find a balance of show and tell. Don’t make the whole story just them completely in their minds the whole time unless it’s an introspective piece, and don’t make them just in the moment, either, as it’ll limit their ability to be connected with. Try to find out what reads best, balancing their inner thoughts with their actions. I would suggest just trying out different combinations, or figuring out an estimated ratio from a fic that you think is well-written.

4.) Never ever ever write your story in present tense. Never ever ever. It limits the ability to focus on what’s necessary. It can be experimented with, but it is often not good for fanfiction, as it can lead to stories being too wordy in explaining obvious actions. It has its place, but unless you’re already comfortable with writing in past tense, I would not recommend it.

5.) Pick out some important scenes and quotes before you begin writing. By having something to go by, it’ll be easier. For instance, write the summary to your story before you’ve written it, and go from there. I, personally, love to write dialogue before actually delving into the story. This gives me something concrete to work around, and guarantees that I’m following my original idea.

[writingdotcoffee]

Good description is a learned skill, one of the prime reasons why you cannot succeed unless you read a lot and write a lot. It’s not just a question of how-to, you see; it’s also a question of how much to. Reading will help you answer how much, and only reams of writing will help you with the how. You can learn only by doing.

Stephen King (via writingdotcoffee)

[writingdotcoffee]

You can make anything by writing.

C.S. Lewis (via writingdotcoffee)

To all my fellow creators who haven’t been able to create lately and are feeling down and out: I love you.  You’re great.  You’re worth it.

While I hope you and I start creating again soon, just know that you’re still incredible no matter what.

[fieryartemispublications]

I want to say something!

Take whatever writing advice you see, whether it be on my blog or anywhere else, with a grain of sand.  Not all advice works for every single person.  To say that it does would be stupid and irresponsible.  There are also certain things that I would never tell you to do as a writer.  One of which be “you have to write 40 hours a week to be a serious writer” or “you have to quit your job to be a serious writer.”

I see so many articles on other blogs that say that have that line of advice and quite frankly I find it to be absolutely irresponsible.  You can have your dreams and desires but you also need to do what you need to do in order to take care of things.  I remember seeing an interview on Dr. Phil (stop rolling your eyes at me!  I see you!) with Gene Simmons.  As in Gene Simmons from Kiss.  In the interview he told the wannabe rocker that was on the show that he could chase his dreams, that was fine, but he needed to remember that he couldn’t just ditch his responsibilities.  

Have many other authors quit their jobs to be writers.  Yes, of course.  That is not the only course of action however.  There have been plenty of authors that have written with full time jobs.  Don’t be discouraged if you have to write around responsibilities such as work, children, or school.  

You are a serious writer the minute you put pencil to paper or fingers to keyboard.  You are a serious writer when you decide to share your love of writing with other people.  Don’t let anyone tell you differently.

[theroughcopy]

Rejected? 7 ways to bounce back