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@thespacedoutwriter
It turns out I cannot love you louder than your demons. Your demons are cruel. Your demons are cold. Your demons are mean. You are mean. You are not warmth. You are not kindness. You are not love. I thought you were but I was wrong.
You have hurt me time and time again. You say you won’t but you still do it. You will hurt me again. For once I need to choose myself. I need to love myself more than I love you.
I can love myself louder than you have ever loved me.
Good stuff.
Guys, I edit professionally. This list is legit. Incorporating these suggestions before you hire an editor will save you A LOT of money. Even if you did these and nothing else, you’d see significant overall improvement in your work.
That said, you don’t have to overthink these things when you’re writing a first draft. If you write, “she said angrily” in a first draft, you can always revisit the phrasing in a second draft. I mention this because overthinking style can lead to a loss of momentum, and losing momentum is why so many people never finish a draft. Give yourself permission to write fast, write messy or ugly, and edit your draft into beauty later.
Natural Black Hair Tutorial! Usually Black hair is excluded in the hair tutorials which I have seen so I have gone through it in depth because it’s really not enough to tell someone simply, “Black hair is really curly, draw it really curly.“
The next part of Black Hair In Depth will feature styles and ideas for designing characters and I will release it around February. If you would like to see certain styles, please shoot me a message!
[Patreon]
#blacklivesmatter! This post is really good because it helps you diversify your characters and offers detailed advice in a clear, concise manner.
Follow the brilliant: misselaney
I was looking for this earlier and couldn’t find it! Great reference for artists.
“I will love you louder than your demons.”
— Kriti.G (via quotemadness)
some favourites ❤️
“Had I told the sea what I felt for you, it would have left its shores, its shells, its fish, and followed me.”
— Nizar Qabbani
Knowing that “confirmed bachelor” was 19th Century gay slang: mildly amusing.
19th Century authors who honestly didn’t know that “confirmed bachelor” was gay slang using the term to describe their male protagonists without the slightest awareness of what they were implying: priceless.
He was a confirmed bachelor, but there was something inside of him that still wanted for companionship.
Lord Pasquad, of a similar state, moved in.
“I heard you desired some companionship,” he said when he had been let into the parlor and served some refreshments. “One confirmed bachelor to another, I’m most sympathetic to your plight.” He reached for his clothings fastenings and toyed with the top button.
The confirmed bachelor across from him did not notice, instead pouring himself a rather hefty amount of spirits (in the early hours?) before deflating in his chair.
“It was not a plight in needing of sympathy, I thought,” the other man brooded, staring into the fire. It was mid day. Why was there a fire? “But then I met her.”
Lord Pasquad’s hands froze mid disrobing. “Her?”
“Her,” the other man confirmed. He laughed without humor, a dark and rolling sound. “Too brilliant by any measure, too cunning, too—too beneath my station. I should not be consumed by the thought of her glittering eyes or the smooth column of her—“
“Right,” Lord Pasquad said flatly. He set his clothes to rights with a few deft twists of his fingers. “You are not a confirmed bachelor then—simply an ornery one.”
The other man spluttered. “I—I never intend to marry—?”
“They never do,” Lord Pasquad said. He stood and, before the pining man could react, patted him on the cheek. “Invite me to the wedding anyway, won’t you? That might make up for the time you’ve wasted today.”
He saw himself out to the sound of choking, denial, and further emotional constipation.
Different
“You’re…different. I’ve never met a girl like you.”
She stares at him, hands stilling over her sword. “What?”
“All the girls in my village are so boring,” he says. “So focused on finding husbands that they don’t bother learning about the world.”
“Girls in your village aren’t allowed to own property or vote,” she says, somewhat incredulous.
He winces at her tone. Need she be so harsh? “Well…it’s not like they’ve ever needed to, we’re a very progressive village and I always vote in favor of their needs. You’re not like that though, you fight for your rights yourself.”
“They are fighting for their rights,” she says. She sets down her sharpening stone, a frown stretching across her face. “No voting, no property, no wages of their own to purchase necessities. Besides finding a kind husband, what else do you think they can do to find a good future?”
“Th-they could leave,” he says. He did not expect the conversation to go this way. He expected her to blush like she had when he complimented her sword skills. He finds himself oddly defensive. “The men in my village aren’t slavers. The girls can leave any time.”
She snorts. “On foot? Your village is a hard, three day ride from the nearest city and that’s by horseback. And, even if they made it, what skills do they have? What references? The risk is too high for any woman to leave, that’s as good as trapping them. The fact that it takes me holding a sword for your opinion of women to change just shows how small-minded you are.”
He bristles, unable to refute her. “Look, I was just trying to pay you a compliment! There’s no need to attack me.”
“Trust me,” she says, standing when he moves to loom over her. They’re of near equal height and, if he was trying to intimidate her, he fails. “You’ll know it when I’m attacking you. This isn’t it.”
He doesn’t seem to hear her, flustered to be seeing her eye-to-eye. “Furthermore, I think I’d know what sort of girls I grew up with! They’re timid and lack a desire to explore the world.”
“The world you created for them doesn’t take long to explore,” she says. Her sword is bare in her hand. “Marry or descend into poverty. Bear an heir or be cast into poverty. Behave or be thrown into poverty. I was there for a week and figured it out. But,” she continues, looking him up and down, “maybe I shouldn’t be so quick to judge. After all, you’ve lived there your whole life and you still haven’t figured it out.”
He splutters. “That’s not–there are other options–”
“When the revolution is done,” she says, coldly, “and your people are forced to give women rights, see how many stay and how many leave. See how many suddenly discover their wander-lust. See how many end up like me.”
She leaves him there and stalks off to the edge of camp. She leaves him there with his mouth opening and closing, and heart pounding in his chest.
She leaves him there with the unsettling realization that he doesn’t want the women in his village to end up being like her, so different and strong. Because, if they did, where would he be? Where would his home be?
It’s an upsetting realization to have, mid-revolution. No chance to back out now.
“If it’s still in your mind, it is still in your heart.”
— Paulo Coelho
“My soul will find yours.”
— Jude Deveraux
Some of the best writing advice I ever got was if you’re stuck on a scene or a line, the problem is actually about 10 lines back and that’s saved me from writer’s block so many times.
I feel like I need an elaborate explanation
Often times, I find myself stuck on what a character should say next or what should happen in a scene to connect A to B or so on. When this happens, I fall into the trap of writing and rewriting the same few lines over and over, and becoming more and more dissatisfied every time until I give up.
But problem is almost never actually whatever line I’m trying to write at the moment; the issue is the stuff leading up to the line. Maybe there are structural issues with the set up, maybe I wrote a bit of dialogue that was out of character leading to a discussion that doesn’t make sense, maybe I’m missing a vital piece of exposition or expositing too much. It could be a lot of things, but the important part of the advice is to look back and be willing to consider changes to something earlier in the work (even if you’re really attached to like a piece of dialogue or a particular sentence or something) instead of trying to find a way to force out a scene that’s not working.
how write characters smarter than you
You don’t. The trick is to take advantage of the fact that you, the author, exist outside the time constraints of the story.
Have your smarty-pants solve in one day a problem that took you all month. Have them learn in two months what took you two years. Have them know things offhand that you had to look up. Have them fire off snappy comebacks that took you a week to think of.
No need to pretend to knowledge you don’t have or give them nonsense Moffat brain magic.
All the logic is there. It’s just more impressive.
Q&A: Sparring
My protagonist needs to win a “friendly” spar against a fellow Marine who has at least six inches and a hundred pounds on her. How does she beat him? He’s a bodybuilder who’s more into the aesthetic of strength than actual balanced fitness, so she probably has the edge in endurance and agility, but as long as they’re both at least pretending they’re not trying to seriously hurt each other, his sheer size still seems like it outweighs everything else.
I’m going to take issue with some things here.
We’ve said this before, but, apparently this needs to be discussed again. Sparring isn’t about winning or losing, it’s a part of your training.
Sparring is not, “play fighting,” it’s about learning to put techniques together.
Most of martial arts training consists of practicing the motions until they are reflexive and second nature. It’s about retraining your body until you don’t have to think about what you’re going to do, and simply do it. This won’t win a fight, for that you need to learn to transition smoothly from one technique to the next.
Sparring is the process of learning to turn the techniques you drilled with into something you could actually use against a real opponent.
Sparring isn’t about winning or losing. It’s not a low stakes fight your characters can do to show off. It’s your character learning to chain their techniques together.
How’s she going to beat him? She’s certified in MCMAP. She’ll do it using her training. But, they’re both trained in MCMAP, so this is the next issue.
When it comes to creating a character, who they are is the sum of their experiences, training, and views. Your characters are Marines.
Your marine can’t weight 100 lbs more than her. At most, he can weigh about 60 lbs more than her. This is because the Marines have very strict weight requirements. If your character is 66 inches tall, she must weigh between 117 and 170 lbs. Now, the Marines kinda expect her to be trending towards the upper end of that spectrum, because muscle mass is heavy.
If your character is 66 inches tall and her foe has six inches on her, that’d put him at 72 inches (6 feet), and he can weigh between 140 and 184.
See the problem? He literally cannot exceed her weight by 100 lbs with them both passing physical. You can adjust the heights a bit, but, without pulling apart the entire chart, there’s just not enough range for that kind of weight difference unless he’s much taller than her.
This is also where the whole, body builder idea doesn’t quite work. Marines are specifically pushed towards balanced fitness. The goal is to turn out effective combatants, not meatheads who think their pecs of steel will stop a bullet.
I get that the idea here was to show up the misogynistic meathead, but that’s not a marine.
Also, stereotypes aside, I’ve never met a dumb marine. A few idiots who were in the army, and at least one navy vet prone to dubious life choices, but never a marine. They’re weird, but not dumb.
The military’s training structure prioritizes teamwork. They are not single operators, they are a unit. They train with their unit, and fight with their unit. Soldiers live and die by their ability to work together. All the hellish training Marines go through is there in part to build that bond, not just between individuals but with everyone who shares a similar experience.
You don’t need to prove your female character can fight. She’s a Marine. She can kill someone. She’s trained to do it. That’s not a question. Writing a sparring session on the idea she needs to win puts you in the wrong mindset, because, again, sparring is not about winning or losing. Sparring is all about figuring out how to use the skills you’ve been drilling in a free-flow environment where you act and react to an opponent.
If you don’t believe me, let’s quote the Marine’s own training manual:
1. PURPOSE. The purpose of body sparring is to bridge from static to dynamic and inoculation to interpersonal violence.
a. Bridge from Static to Dynamic. Body sparring is the bridge between static punches and a dynamic environment. This is the final stage of training after executing punches in the air and on pads. Free sparring gives Marines the opportunity to apply the individual techniques they have learned in a realistic environment with a live resisting opponent. Executing techniques one at a time in the air is much different than using them together against another person who is defending themselves and also trying to hurt you.
b .Inoculation to Interpersonal Violence. Inoculation is the process of introducing something to the body so it can defend itself in the future. By introducing Marines to violence on a personal level, they will be more prepared for a real close combat scenario.
This is a learning experience, not a contest.
Sparring is just about providing a live experience with a resisting partner, not an exercise in who can hurt the other more.
The part you’re having an issue with is that you don’t know what it is Marines are trained to do. The good news is they make their training manuals available online. So, in the event you’re willing and able to do the research, you can write an entire sequence that is up to code.
2. CONDUCT OF THE BOUT. Free sparring is a training tool designed to develop Marines’ skills and confidence, and must not become a fight club or beat-down.
This is the problem with almost all sparring sequences in fiction. If you’re using it for dramatic tension then you’ve already sabotaged the purpose of the exercise, and your character’s own training. No competent instructor will pair up two people who have a legitimate beef with each other, because neither will learn anything from it. Any instructor who wants to stack the deck against a misogynistic meathead will stack the deck so hard against him that he can’t win, and has no method of recourse. They use someone who has already finished training or one of the TAs. They can also turn it into a good learning exercise for said meathead about making assumptions and assuming size matters. There’s nothing like the experience of someone half your size tossing you around the room to bring the point home.
However, it won’t be your female character currently in training who makes that point. She can’t. She doesn’t have the experience or the skill for the defeat to be so total that it sticks in the student’s memory forever. The woman who makes this example will be someone who has finished their training. This teaches your male students a valuable lesson and gives your female students motivation, and a reminder to work towards when the going gets tough.
The only way this scenario works on face value with the antagonism angle is if she’s sparring someone much greener than her who she has no problems turning into mush.
b. Maturity. All Marines must control their egos and tempers at all times. Marines who demonstrate immaturity, lack of control, or unsportsmanlike conduct will not be allowed to participate.
Sparring is not a free space to beat the crap out of someone you don’t like. The only grading score here is that you can achieve a kill with a simulated weapon before your opponent. That’s all the Marines care about. And in case you thought they didn’t have rules for girls… you were wrong.
b. Safety Gear. The safety gear required for body sparring is head gear, mouthpiece, 16 ounce (minimum) boxing gloves, and groin protection. Females must also wear a flak jacket for added protection for the female anatomy.
Did you envision your characters wearing protection in this sparring session? They better be.
Remember…
Training not only the physical but also the mental is crucial to the development of the combative mindset. Body sparring prepares the Marine to function when faced with stress and violence. These skills are the building block to developing the physical skills and combative mindset vital to success on the battlefield.
Whatever other goals for this scene you may have as a writer, you want to keep the above in mind. This is what your characters’ sparring session is for. If they are not learning this lesson through this training in your narrative then you are failing them as well as yourself. You are also failing in showing their combat ability and professionalism. Marine is a mindset, it is a profession, and will become a core part of your character’s personal identity. If you haven’t begun researching who the Marines are, what they do, what their outlook on life is, and how they behave… now would be good time to start. This is who your character (male or female) is going to be at the end of their training.
How does your character “win”? By using her training. Now, go take another look at MCMAP (Marine Corps Martial Arts Program.)
Everything Milspec has to be available publicly. If you want to write soldiers, say thank you to Uncle Sam. You can read up on all of the training documentation online. Therefore, there is no excuse for you not to do your homework. They will tell you exactly how the Marines handle sparring, put together by Marines for Marines, and you too can follow the training outline.
I will leave you with this last instructor note:
Unsafe Conditions. It is the referee’s, and RSO’s, responsibility to immediately stop the fight if they see any unsafe condition such as a defenseless fighter, safety gear problems, or if a fighter is injured. A fighter is defenseless if they appear unable or unwilling to intelligently defend themselves by exposing their back, falling to the ground, dropping their weapons,or dropping theirs hands. If any safety gear is unserviceable, missing, or not fitted properly the fight must be stopped to correct the problem. If a fighter appears to be injured, by screaming or yelling, the fight must be stopped. Once the unsafe condition is corrected, the referee will restart the fight.
-Starke & Michi
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Q&A: Sparring was originally published on How to Fight Write.
“When you love someone, you say their name different. Like it’s safe inside your mouth.”
— Jodi Picoult (via naturaekos)
– Vaslav Nijinsky (1889 -1950), in “The Diary of Vaslav Nijinsky, January - March, 1919” (edited by Romola Nijinsky). [Vaslav Nijinsky, a famous ballet dancer and choreographer, spent the last 30 years of his life in and out of psychiatric hospitals and asylums; in his diary he expressed his great fear of hospitalization and confinement.]
(…) the lonelier a person gets, the less adept they become at navigating social currents. Loneliness grows around them, like mould or fur, a prophylactic that inhibits contact, no matter how badly contact is desired. Loneliness is accretive, extending and perpetuating itself. Once it becomes impacted, it is by no means easy to dislodge. This is why I was suddenly so hyper-alert to criticism, and why I felt so perpetually exposed, hunching in on myself even as I walked anonymously through the streets, my flip-flops slapping on the ground.
Olivia Laing, The Lonely City
