The Write Twin

[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.

[asimplelibrary-deactivated20181]

I love secondhand bookshops that are like mazes, where you need to look at every spine to find what you’re looking for, where you can get lost in the stacks and it’s as silent as a library as everyone slowly combs through the collection

[thewritetwin-blog]

Tomi Adeyemi (author of the book Children of Blood and Bone that everyone is going nuts for right now) has writing courses on her website! It’s all free.

God 👏bless 👏that 👏woman!

I’ll be taking them all. The courses are:

Your Page Turning Plot The Fundamentals of Fiction Find and Refine Your Story

Find them on her website: http://www.tomiadeyemi.com/courses-1/

[thydungeongal]

Calendars

The easiest way to make the world feel alive is to use a calendar.

You don’t even have to fill it out to begin with. Maybe make some notes like “Hey, these are the days of the weeks, here’s what their cultural significance is” and have like I don’t know twelve months each with thirty days or something and go nuts.

But then as the campaign progresses you might think “Hey you know what’d be great a religious festival” and then boom write that down in your calendar and the next time the players enter a settlement go like “Yeah everyone’s getting ready for the Feast of St. Cuthbert” or some shit, I mean it wasn’t an established fact about the world before but now it is, and now your players will also know that they can expect a Feast of St. Cuthbert around the same time next year.

Also holy shit seasons. You check your calendar and realize that Winter is almost here and then suddenly the first snow falls and travel through the wilderness becomes much more perilous because not only do the characters have to contend with wandering monsters but also with the hazards brought on by snowfall. We’ve all probably thought how cool it would be to run a hexcrawl in a snowy setting where surviving the cold harsh wastes is the focus of the campaign, but holy shit, the passage of seasons means that Winter is basically like a time-sensitive snow hexcrawl.

And if you actually have time and aren’t lazy like me do go ahead and fill all these out beforehand in prep. Heck, if you’re feeling really brave you can even come up with a system of fantasy astrology and oh man how cool would a system of star signs each granting minor character bonuses like in ADOM be

[tenleaguesbeneath]

Some ways to fantasy up your calendar:

You could change the length of the week. Faerun uses a metric ten-day week, for instance.

You can change the length of a month. Again, Faerun uses a 30-day month, like above, with the year balanced out with holidays that aren’t part of any month (intercalendary days have historical precedent in e.g. Rome), but there are other options. The Neverwinter Nights games, though nominally officially Forgotten Realms material, use a 28-day month, as does the one Heroes of Might and Magic game I’ve actually played (HoMM 3). You could use exact lunar months so that the day of the month corresponds to the phase of the moon.

You could change the number of months in a year. There are real-world calendars that do this, most having 12 months + an optional leap month (lunar calendars tend to do this, notably the Jewish calendar and also the Chinese lunar calendar)

You could change the number of days in a year

You could change the relationship of solstices and equinoxes (turning of the seasons) to the start of the year/month. Unless you’re doing something weird with your astronomy, your solstices and equinoxes will be evenly spaced throughout the year, but you could, for instance, put the new year exactly on a solstice and have your months start on the solstice/equinox rather than putting the solstices and equinoxes late in the months.

You could do something weird with the astronomy and have two, or more, moons.

You don’t need to start off tracking the phase of the moon or anything like that, but once you set one, you can project forward and backward and make determining it a simple calculation. Once you are, then the phase of the moon could impact your mage’s spells.

You could go to a “lunar week” where rather than weeks having a consistent number of days they begin and end at the full, dark, and half moons.

[duckandrollblog]

If this is up your alley you can also check out a few articles I wrote on this very subject!

http://www.duckandrollgames.com/tavern/2017/1/10/campaign-calendar

http://www.duckandrollgames.com/tavern/2017/1/14/small-time

http://www.duckandrollgames.com/tavern/2017/1/16/counting-years

http://www.duckandrollgames.com/tavern/2017/1/24/naming-time

Are all very much relevant and touch on and expand some of the ideas mentioned above!

[mooretimetoplay]

This is fantastic and as soon as I have some free time back I’m definitely doing it.

[probablygoodrpgideas]

I made a post about this some time ago and I can really recommend using the calendar creator at donjon

[lexilhoward]

                        ‘ You have bewitched me body and soul, and I love, I love, I love you.                                   And wish from this day forth never to be parted from you. ‘

Pride & Prejudice (2005) dir. Joe Wright

[pherryt]

Plan A Romance Novel To Find Out Which Greek Muse You Are

Write a best-selling romance novel and, by some mysterious magic, be told which muse from Greek mythology you most resemble.

You got: Melpomene

The Muse of Tragedy – When it comes to romance novels, you like high drama and deep emotion. Tortured heroes, tragic backstories, lovers reaching for one another across the wild pain of an empty world…the more drama, the more heartbreak, the more satisfying the eventual happy ending will be.

So I literally started this and halfway through it, noticed what my choices were leading me towards. i changed one answer and continued, getting hung up on the end - which ending to choose? 

and literally, yeah, even after realizing what i was making, i didn’t need to go out of my way to make what i did. It just happened, so i’m counting this result as real. 

My choices:

choose a heroine: the traumatized victim who masks her pain with rage choose a hero: the scarred and misanthropic ex-soldier choose a combination of scents for your hero: coffee and fresh rain choose a trope (3 times)

1 kidnapped 2 with quick thinking, one saves the other from certain disaster 3 the hero is assumed dead

choose a side character: the beloved sister who treats the whole relationship like her own personal soap opera  choose an antagonistic character: the opposing side in a war choose a time period: 21st century choose a literary quirk: heavy symbolism choose a final scene to make your happy ending : a kiss in the rain or a dramatic declaration of love?

@jdragon122 @formidablepassion @rosemoonweaver @li-izumi @unforth-ninawaters @mittensmorgul @feathers-and-cigarettes @ltleflrt @jupiterjames @jhoomwrites @treefrogie84  @trisscar368  and so many others - not saying you have to do this, but i thought you’d be interested :D

[rosemoonweaver]

You got: Calliope

The Muse of Epic Poetry – When it comes to romance novels, you like drama and intensity. Mad schemes, dark secrets, plot twists and moments of high emotion are your personal taste.

Yeah, that’s pretty freaking accurate. lol. Also, it is a surprise to no one. 

My choices:

choose a heroine: The feisty girl who has to fend for herself choose a hero: The tortured soul with a tragic past choose a combination of scents for your hero: Vanilla and old leather choose a trope (3 times) 1. hate at first sight 2. with quick thinking, one saves the other from certain disaster 3. the true identity of either party is dramatically revealed choose a side character: The frivolous younger sibling who gets into bad situations choose an antagonistic character: The controlling figure from one or the other’s darkest past choose a time period: 21st century choose a literary quirk: references to popular fairy tales choose a final scene to make your happy ending: an epilogue with marriage and children

I tag @jemariel @maliciouslycreative @omgbubblesomg and whoever else wants to do this. It’s fun. You’ll enjoy it! 

[mumble--bee]

Oh my GOD

I got: Thalia (the muse of comedy) even though i chose the “tortured soul” hero and the “blackmail separation” conflict options.

I think buzzfeed is telling me to write more crackfic?

@gertiecraign @samanddeaninpanties @oddsocksandstuff @threshie @ryugarika-blog @silver9mm what do you get???

[amirosebooks]

OMG I love this one!

choose a heroine: The femme fatale involved in an elaborate crime syndicate. choose a hero: The pure-hearted lawyer trying to make the world a better place. (Totally setting this up as a f/f romance in my head BTW…) choose a combination of scents for your hero: Vanilla and old leather choose a trope (3 times) 1. Kidnapped 2. With quick thinking, one saves the other from certain disaster 3. The true identity of either party is dramatically revealed choose a side character: The intelligent butler who wants the relationship to work out. choose an antagonistic character: The scheming mother. choose a time period: The roaring twenties (I didn’t see the 21st century option, tbh) choose a literary quirk: Excessive puns choose a final scene to make your happy ending: A kiss in the rain

[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.

[remanence-of-love]

[writerswritecompany]

Being a writer by @OfficiallyAlly

[riverwriter]

Yes. Except there’s also a portion when you’re beating your fists against things.  

[thewritetwin-blog]

The meaning of life is to find your gift, and the purpose of life is to give it away.

Pablo Picasso 

[kalifucked]

[letswritesomenovels]

You absolutely don’t need a college degree to write a novel. To study creative writing, the only real requirement is to be an avid and critical reader. 

If you’re concerned about grammar and basic style, I’d recommend reading The Elements of Style by Strunk and White, which you can find at almost any bookstore or online for free here. They’ll keep your writing in order on the sentence level. 

If you want more creative-writing specific instruction, there are tons of craft books that will provide great instruction for you. Here are some that I’ve personally read and found useful:

On Writing by Stephen King

Reading Like a Writer by Francine Prose 

The Writer’s Notebook: Craft Essays from Tin House 

I also love writing podcasts for studying craft. They’re free, accessible, and contain a ton of ever-expanding content. Here are some of my top recommendations, lifted from THIS post of mine:

1. Pub(lishing) Crawl

Pub(lishing) Crawl is hosted by NYT best-selling author S. Jae-Jones and literary agent Kelly Van Sant. Together they discuss various publishing and writing topics.

Two great episodes to listen to:

nanowrimo 2015 how to keep going (70 min) This week JJ and Kelly give you tips and tricks on how to keep going in NaNoWriMo

troubleshooting craft – expanding & elaborating (66 min) This week JJ and Kelly continue their series on Troubleshooting Craft, this time focusing on expanding and elaborating, or What To Do If You Need to Flesh Out Your Manuscript.

Pubcrawl on: soundcloud | stitcher | itunes

2. Helping Writers Become Authors

If you have no time for podcasts or anything else, I highly recommend K.M. Weiland’s HWBA. Weiland gives concise, thoughtful writing advice, getting into the nitty gritty aspects of writing mechanics in a couple of minutes.

Two great episodes to listen to:

are you over-thinking your first draft? (8 min)

As soon as I stopped over-thinking my process, my infernal internal editor shut up, my characters started talking to me again, and my writing improved vastly.

how to double your story’s conflict in seconds (6 min)

If a little of the right kind of conflict is good for your story, then how much fun can you get out of doubling your story’s conflict? The answer: oodles.

HWBA on: itunes | player fm | podbean

3. The Narrative Breakdown

There’s a pretty even split on this podcast between novel writing and screenwriting advice. The episodes are between 30-50 minutes long, so they delve deep into the topic of discussion. One of the hosts is Cheryl Klein, an editor at Scholastic.

Two great episodes to listen to:

scene constuction 1 > character expectations & tactics (42 min)

In our first episode on Scene Construction, we talk about general scene structure, character expectations, beats, and character tactics.  

beginnings and inciting events (19 min)

Cheryl and James talk about inciting events as well as how good storytelling is more like a striptease and less like a visit to a nude beach.

The Narrative Breakdown on: itunes | player fm

4. 88 Cups of Tea with Yin Chang

In this podcast, Yin Chang interviews best-selling authors about their writing journey, process, and what motivates them. Chang includes questions from listeners, who are often aspiring writers themselves.

Two great episodes to listen to:

victoria ‘v.e.’ schwab: cultivating stubborn hope & earning your way into the tribe (106 min)

We discuss why it’s crucial to create as few parameters as you can around your writing, and how working with a flexible schedule and freeing yourself from a strict writing place helps with productivity.

sarah j. maas: championing heroines & writing with relentless determination

For craft-focused listeners who might be learning about Sarah for the first time through this episode, she shares really inspiring and helpful advice about breaking out of a writing rut, creating dialogues, and treating your writing like a muscle.

88 Cups on: itunes | soundcloud | stitcher

I hope this helps, @nicklefish! 

[writingwithcolor]

Language Barriers

theleadcinnabon asked:

I have a fantasy story that involves lots of groups with different languages, thus language barrier problems are commonplace for awhile. For my plot, I have one character who has a bit of a magic spell on her tongue that allows others to understand what she says, no matter the language, but she can not understand them. There are three different languages present in the group (stuck on a boat). I was hoping for some advice about how to write the overcoming of these language barriers, and how exactly to present the characters learning bits of each others language. I want it be obvious what a huge struggle it is for only the dominant group to be able to understand each other, since they have the largest amount of people on the ship and control it, while the main character is one of the individuals that is verbally isolated, but is trying to find a way home. Any tips on how to deal with these language barriers, and accurately write the process of overcoming them would be much appreciated.

*dons linguist hat*

Okay, language acquisition is a tricky beast, especially for adults, and it’s almost never portrayed accurately in fiction.  We (linguists) are still not 100% sure about how language is acquired (i.e. what structures in the brain are at work there), and how acquisition differs between a first and second language (other than, “it does”) but the key with adult second language acquisition is basically just “use it or lose it.”  Without continued maintenance of a language skill, it atrophies into a useless lump.  It’s like a muscle.

In the situation you propose, the characters will learn each other’s languages piecemeal, and due to necessity.  Certain words will become familiar, perhaps fairly quickly depending on frequency of use, and individual foreign words will become known far sooner than grammatical structure (in fact, the full grammar of a foreign language may never become ingrained in an adult the way it does in a child).  You generally acquire words based on how frequently they are used, but the absolute most frequent words used in a language tend to be thing like “the,” “of,” and “and,” which aren’t very meaningful, so look instead to the frequent contentful words.  These tend to be things like pronouns or numerals, which language acquirers are likely to learn early in the process.  Some words used depend on context, so in your plot, you might have your characters first learn each other’s words for “boat,” “sea,” “wave,” maybe “storm,” etc.  Things that are readily apparent to be talked about.  Also, if Alice and Bob speak the same language and Charlie (a foreigner) is overhearing them, he’ll start to learn their language eventually, but more slowly and randomly than if Alice or Bob were speaking directly to him and actively trying to teach him their language.

In terms of presenting the process in text, you can take a couple of approaches.  The simplest way is just to state that they slowly learned words for (for example) “boat,” “sea,” and “storm.”  Maybe a storm is on the horizon, one character points it out to another and the second character finds they recognize that word when they didn’t previously.  This isn’t very interesting, though.  More interesting is to show this rather than tell it, using dialogue and the POV character’s internal thought process as translator.  For example:

Bob stretched an arm to the horizon, finger outstretched.  "Aa rahaa hai!” he cried.  “Bara tufaan!  Tufaan aa rahaa hai!“  Storm, Charlie thought.  Tufaan means storm.

(Apparently “Bob” speaks Hindi.)

One way I find to be quite realistic, both in terms of narrative and linguistic theory, is to slowly intersperse more and more understandable (i.e. English, or whatever language you’re writing in) words into your inter-character dialogue as the viewport character slowly begins to understand their fellow travelers.  You will have to do some work to write the not understandable parts, though.  Since it’s fantasy, this may be an opportunity to do a bit of conlang development.

Even when they approach fluency in each other’s idioms, adults may never have the skill of a native speaker.  You may see characters make certain errors when trying to speak in a language not their own.  For instance, there may be irregular forms of words that they can’t remember or just don’t know, and use what they think is a regularized form instead.  You can represent this by a character saying “childs” instead of “children,” or “gived” instead of “gave.”  These are errors of the kind that a child learning their first language might make, but they can persist in the adult speech of second-language learners, and even with a “translation convention” in effect (i.e. they’re not really speaking English, but it reads as English), it becomes clear what you’re trying to emulate.

And finally, thank you for wanting to actually make an effort to portray realistic linguistics in fantasy and not just going with a “Common Speech” or something needlessly lazy.

~Mod Nikhil

[thewritetwin-blog]

...Liz would eventually introduce Beth, newly arrived from Chicago; Beth who in no way resembles any of Tyler’s previous girlfriends, and with whom he’d fallen so immediately in love that he resembled some captive animal, fed for years on what its keepers believed to be its natural diet and then suddenly, one day, by accident, given what it actually ate, in the wild.

The Snow Queen by Michael Cunningham

[androgynousrangi]

Neutral Speaking Tones

Allusive - a reference to something that is implied or inferred

Ambivalent - having conflicted feelings

Apathetic - indifferent; doesn’t care; not interested

Bewilderment - confusion

Candid - straightforward; blunt

Contemplative - studying; thinking; reflective

Curious - wanting to find out more

Didactic - trying to teach something

Direct - straightforward; honest

Dramatic - theatrical

Earnest - sincere; honest; intense

Eccentric - odd; strange; different

Expectant - waiting

Fanciful - using the imagination; imaginative

Formal - respectful; appropriate behavior

Forthright - direct; honest without hesitation

Frank - direct and unreserved in speech; straightforward; without hesitation

Hesitant - lacking readiness; undecided

Honest - truthful

Impersonal - not personal; lacking emotion or warmth

Informal - not formal; relaxed

Matter-of-fact - truthful; accepting of conditions; straightforward

Neutral - not good nor bad; not for nor against

Objective - without prejudice; without discrimination; fair

Outspoken - expressed with frankness; free speech

Pensive - thinking, thoughtful

Perplexed - confused; puzzled

Persuasive - trying to convince

Quizzical - questioning; eccentric; odd; amusing

Redolent - suggestive or reminiscent of something

Reflective - thoughtful; meditative; thinking

Restrained - to hold back; restricted; limited

Straightforward - direct; honest

Urgent - insistent; saying something must be done soon

[different-landscapes]

[thewritetwin-blog]

This would be such a cool book cover. Can't find the photographer though :/

[greatbooksgreattea-deactivated2]

Book of the week- All The Bright Places by Jennifer Niven- 5/5

There are some books that completely change the way you see the world and this is one of them.

[shanamichelewrites-blog]

Currently reading this book and OMG IT IS AMAZING