a collection of quotes about writing.

the monkey is me.

[lunamanar]

Things I Try to Remember When I’m Nervous About Writing

1. Write what you want to read. 

2. There is no problem with a story so great that it cannot be fixed in revision. Keep going.

3. If your story is as uncreative as you think it is, you wouldn’t want to write it so badly. You want to write it because there’s a unique spin on it you have never seen, and want to express. Many people may write similar stories, but it’s the details that make it personal. You may not know it now, but there is someone who is looking for exactly what you’re writing. If you don’t finish it, they’ll never see it. 

4. You can write something amazing and still be met with silence. There are myriad reasons for this that have nothing to do with the quality of what you produce. 

4.1 It’s okay to repeat post your work if no one has seen it. 

4.2 It’s okay to post your work in multiple places.

5. You don’t have to agree with every criticism (but take it gracefully anyway). 

6. Most writers are scared of the same things you are.

7. Don’t judge your works in progress against the archives of finished, polished stories other writers have put together. Archives are Internet portfolios and generally don’t show all the multitude of failures, incomplete, and draft-form works those writers are also struggling with. They aren’t perfect and you don’t have to be, either. Keep working and you will have a portfolio of your own. 

8. Don’t be afraid to share your ideas with other writers. It’s not annoying as long as you’re not self-important about it. Be humble and gracious, and others will reciprocate.

8.1 You can’t write as well in a vacuum; the more people know that you are working on something, and what, the more support you will get for that work. Starting a dialogue before you post something will make it more likely people will read it when you do post it. 

9. It’s okay to take breaks. If the ideas just aren’t coming, go do something else for a while. 

10. Be kind to yourself. Don’t call yourself names. You are not stupid, or uncreative, or boring. You wouldn’t call other people those things, so don’t do it to yourself. 

I don’t know if these are helpful to other people, but they are helpful to me, so just in case, here they are!

[obstinaterixatrix]

*everything* that’s considered romantic has been conditioned by society, it’s performative, like the emotion can be genuine but romantic *gestures* are a societal construct, chocolates, flowers, rings, there’s no inherent act of romance, the purest form of what is conceptualized as “romance” can probably be boiled down to emotion + intent, and the manifestation of that combo’s gonna be different for everyone

an action evoked from a feeling of adoration and the need to express it can be constrained by what society provides, but once it’s made irrelevant the meaning becomes tailored to those experiencing it; someone giving fancy chocolates to their s.o. because it’s ‘the thing to do’ can’t measure up to someone giving the chocolates because they know their s.o. thinks the boxes are nice and really likes hazelnut fillings, same gesture, but former lacks ‘inherent’ romance because romance isn’t ‘inherent’, the later has a standard approach but it goes beyond what’s considered ‘romantic’

[thenearsightedmicroraptor]

Hello I am a big fan of Obstinaterixatrix’ Romance Meta and I’m just gonna add to this bc it’s a good post.

I feel like what makes the difference between something being romantic and something being What Society Says Is Romance is the connection between people.

Let’s say two people arrive on my doorstep. One of them has a bouquet of expensive roses from the florist. The other one has a dead bird in a plastic bag. We all know which one is to be considered the romantic gift (hint: it’s not the corpse)

And it’s not like I don’t like flowers or am allergic or anything, I would probably be flattered. But I have no connection to roses, and like, you can give roses to more or less anyone

Dead birds are not a standard gift, for pretty obvious reasons. A person bringing me a corpse in a plastic bag had to know me well enough to know that I collect bones and process them myself, and you don’t go shopping for birds in the Dead Bird Shop around the corner, so that means this person didn’t go out with the intent of getting me something and came back with an Appropriate Gift, they probably stumbled across something and thought about me (this ‘something’ just so happens to be a dead bird, because I’m weird) And then they had to go through the process of picking this bird up and bagging it and bringing it to me, probably pretty spontaneously and without a calendar event that says Find Dead Bird For Raptor with a timeslot between three and four pm.

You can’t have Corpse I Found In a Ditch be romantic without some sort of connection here. Roses can be romantic, but it can also just, be a formula. Two plos Two Equals Romance. A shortcut for ‘I care about you‘, even though the person might …. not, actually.

If it’s someone who loves fresh flowers in their home but rarely has the money to buy large arrangements, or like OP’s example where person A gets the chocolates because they know their s.o. thinks the boxes are super cute, then we have Standard Romantic Actions actually be romantic, but they might as well not be.

This is where my squad has the joke of someone posting a picture of a dead rat to the skype chat and goes ‘Raptor I saw this and thought of you‘ and I go -exaggerated gasping noise- “how dare you blatantly flirt with me right in front of my girlfriend“ from (and also THIS JOKE that bunch of people were confused about). Because there’s INTEREST and CONNECTION there. They’re obviosuly not actually trying to steal me from my gf, but there is a human connection and a knowledge of who I am and what I want to be associated with. The humor then comes in from the self-awareness that this could very much be the opposite of a compliment in, like, probably most other situations ever.

So TL;DR: Things can’t be romantic without the connection between people, no matter how ‘inherit‘ people claim the gesture is. However, more or less anything can be a romantic gesture if there’s the right connection and consideration behind it. Taking out the trash can be romantic. Bringing home a dead fox can be romantic. There’s no Romance Shortcuts. You have to actually care about the other person (sorry, Writers Of Like 9 Out Of 10 Mainstream Movies), there’s no way around it.

So basically: Care about each other!! If you’re writing, write characters who care about each other!! And if you don’t know what character A could do for character B, you might wanna look into whether or not you’ve made a Cardboard Love Interest, like I feel many mainstream writers do. But that’s a whooooole ‘nother can of worms.

There’s so many cans of worms.

Oh god there’s so many worms.

Please help.

[biofomission]

I’ve wondered for a long time why so many fictional romances feel forced and this is the exact reason. So many main couples in media only express their love through performative romance.

This is also why a lot of platonic fictional relationships are seen as romantic because for some reason screenwriters have a habit of making friends express their love for each other with actual thought and intent to their actions.

[feynites]

Most of the Romance Tropes are very commodified. Like, Dude Finds Girl Hot, Pursues Girl, Wins Her Over With Jared’s Jewellery and Box of Lindor Chocolates Please Buy Our Products And Then Also a House. Corporations have yet to launch massive advertising campaigns to convince people that, like, sapphires are the Friendship Rock, or that every year you need to celebrate your Friendship Anniversary at a fancy restaurant, or that you need to invest in a Friendship Property, so lazy writers can’t just steal their plotting and characterization from commercials.

Well, not as easily, anyway.

[shiraglassman]

If you’re not in a group and you want to learn how to write characters in that group respectfully and realistically

1. Read media by people in the group. Fiction, nonfiction, blog posts – anything from “how my day went today” to 300-page epic adventure novels to history pamphlets. (By people in the group, not just about them. This is important.)

2. Google “How not to write a [the group] character” because the odds are that at least a few people in the group have written blog entries rattling off all their least favorite tropes representing their demographic. I’ve seen lesbians writing about how not to write lesbians, Asians talking about offensively-written Asians, etc. Refraining from writing the overused, negative, one-dimensional tropes listed in posts like this is probably a good start.

[nonbinaries-on-ice]

I want to emphasize this in relation to writing disabled characters. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve read works - from fanfiction to famous literary works - where it is strikingly obvious that the author has never actually read about or talked to someone with this disability about their experience. And I understand. Before I became disabled, I too thought that all I needed to know in order to write a disabled character were the facts about the disability. The symptoms, the causes, the treatments, how it impacts the body, etc. I thought that all I needed to know was what doctors have written about it. But there’s so much more to being disabled than just your impairment. It impacts you socially, financially, emotionally… every single aspect of your life. So, if you want to write about a character with a disability, please please PLEASE read stuff people with that disability or at least a similar disability have written about it. And look into communities on tumblr. Most disabilities have at least a small tumblr community where people talk about their experiences. Also get involved in the ableism community, because unless you are disabled or are reading what disabled people are saying about it you aren’t noticing 90% of the ableism in your life that your character would likely notice.

[shiraglassman]

This is a good addition to my post. So many disabilities have clichéd narratives that fiction learns to repeat from other fiction, not from the experiences of people with that disability.

[nosebleedclub]

6 Writing Tips From John Steinbeck

1. Abandon the idea that you are ever going to finish. Lose track of the 400 pages and write just one page for each day, it helps. Then when it gets finished, you are always surprised.

2. Write freely and as rapidly as possible and throw the whole thing on paper. Never correct or rewrite until the whole thing is down. Rewrite in process is usually found to be an excuse for not going on. It also interferes with flow and rhythm which can only come from a kind of unconscious association with the material.

3. Forget your generalized audience. In the first place, the nameless, faceless audience will scare you to death and in the second place, unlike the theater, it doesn’t exist. In writing, your audience is one single reader. I have found that sometimes it helps to pick out one person—a real person you know, or an imagined person and write to that one.

4. If a scene or a section gets the better of you and you still think you want it—bypass it and go on. When you have finished the whole you can come back to it and then you may find that the reason it gave trouble is because it didn’t belong there.

5. Beware of a scene that becomes too dear to you, dearer than the rest. It will usually be found that it is out of drawing.

6. If you are using dialogue—say it aloud as you write it. Only then will it have the sound of speech.

(source)

[alexandra-erin]

The Most Important Advice I Can Give To Writers

Go to YouTube.

Watch Bob Ross.

Listen to him talk about painting.

Seriously, this guy… this guy is full of advice for a writer who’s having trouble getting started.

He’s not writing, he’s painting, but… okay, like, he can sit there and talk about geology and the diffusion of light and make it clear that he knows what a mountain is and he knows what goes into the interplay of light and perspective, and then you’ll watch him smear some black paint on top of a still wet canvas with a thin metal wedge, and then take a brush and push it downwards so that it mixes with the base in such a way that it ends up lighter at the bottom and eventually just fades into the background.

And then he’ll take some titanium white paint and do the same thing to add snow and light, and you’re thinking… “But… interplay. Geology. Perspective.” and he’s just pushing paint around, talking about figuring out where the north slope lives and how there are no mistakes, just happy little accidents and then he steps back at the end and holy moly, it looks like he painted a mountain.

It doesn’t look like he pushed paint around for ten minutes, it looks like he looked at a real mountain somewhere and copied it.

Is there a real mountain that matches the painting? No. Could he use this method to exactly replicate an actual mountain? No. But he made a mountain that looks real enough, and even if he didn’t have 100% control over the final look of it, he conjured it out of his imagination.

This is the trick that more writers need to learn. It’s possible to create a story or even a whole book through meticulous planning and careful construction, but… most people can’t do that. It’s not that we’re not willing to put in the work, it’s just too easy to get stuck. Too easy to never leave the “Well, I’m still worldbuilding/researching” stage. Too easy to write oneself into a corner or get bogged down in the details.

So this is my advice today for fiction writers:

Learn how to speed paint.

Learn how to work wet on wet.

Learn how to push paint around on the edge of a knife.

Learn how to figure out where things want to live by feel and how to allow for happy little accidents.

There will be places for fine details and intricate sketches. But when you’re staring at a blank canvas and you have no idea where to start… paint the whole thing blue and start scraping up some mountains. 

Quick, broad strokes. That’s all it takes to get you started. Quick, broad strokes and a few happy accidents.

[eldriitchmurmurs]

having characters say “i love you” is neither trite nor overdone.

 you know what’s trite and overdone? making a big production out of it and/or never having them actually say it while just talking about how amazing their love is. 

you know what’s also trite and overdone? forcing cheesy catchphrases that mean “i love you” but aren’t “i love you”, bringing out the “fear of commitment and saying Those Three Words” plotline for the ten zillionth time, and only busting out the “i love you” at some big, monumental, life-shattering moment. it’s done! it happened! a thousand times it has happened! it’s predictable and dull.

you know what will never be boring? casual physical and emotional affection, cute little “i love you” exchanges that have their own weight but aren’t necessarily the Biggest Moments Ever, having little couple catchphrases that don’t replace or overshadow Those Three Words but clearly have some significance as an inside joke or verbal talisman, and generally incorporating a wide variety of relationship types into your work as a whole and not putting your Main Character and their Main Love Interest into the same plotline that should have died with mulder and scully.

[ambientwriting]

What sort of questions should I be asking my beta readers?

QUESTIONS TO ASK YOUR BETA READERS:

When I send out my chapter to be read over by my beta readers, I always include a set of questions typed out at the bottom, grouped into different categories such as: plot, pacing, character, setting, etc. 

You might want to tailor the questions depending on the genre or which chapter it is. For example, if it’s the first chapter you’ll want to ask them about how well your story managed to hook them, or if they managed to easily get an idea of the world you’ve introduced them to. If it’s the climax you might want to ask if the action scenes are fluid, and if the plot twist/s were predictable or surprising. 

Here’s some example questions that you could use:

Opening Chapter:

What is your first impression of the main character? Do you find them likable? Annoying? Boring?

After reading it for the first time, what is your first impression? Was it cohesive and compelling? Boring and confusing?

Did the first sentence/paragraph/page efficiently grab your attention and hook you in?

If you were to read this chapter in a bookstore/library would you be convinced to buy it? Or would you need to read further before deciding? Why or why not?

Did you get oriented fairly quickly at the beginning as to whose story it is, what’s going on, and where and when it’s taking place? If not, what were you confused about at the beginning?

Does the first chapter establish the main character efficiently? Do they feel believable?

Characters:

Could you clearly imagine what the characters looked like? If not, who?

Who was your favourite character and why? Has your favourite character changed? (if this hasn’t changed feel free to skip this question) 

Are there any characters that you do not like? Why do you not like them? (Boring, annoying, problematic, etc.) 

Was there ever a moment when you found yourself annoyed or frustrated by a character? 

Could you relate to the main character? Did you empathise with their motivation or find yourself indifferent? 

Were the characters goals/motivations clear and understandable? 

Did you get confused about who’s who? Are there too many characters to keep track of? Are any of the names or characters too similar?

Do the characters feel three-dimensional or like cardboard cutouts? 

How familiar have you become with the main characters? Without cheating could you name the four main characters? Can you remember their appearance? Can you remember their goal or motivation? 

Dialogue:

Did the dialogue seem natural to you?

Was there ever a moment where you didn’t know who was talking?

Setting/world-building:

Were you able to visualize where and when the story is taking place?

Is the setting realistic and believable? 

How well do you remember the setting? Without cheating, can you name four important settings?

Genre:

Did anything about the story seem cliche or tired to you? How so? 

Did anything you read (character, setting, etc.) remind you of any others works? (Books, movies, etc.) 

Plot/pacing/scenes:

Do you feel there were any unnecessary scenes/moments that deserved to be deleted or cut back?

Do the scenes flow naturally and comprehensively at an appropriate pace? Did you ever feel like they were jumping around the place? 

Was there ever a moment where you attention started to lag, or the chapter begun to drag? Particular paragraph numbers would be very helpful. 

Did you ever come across a sentence that took you out of the moment, or you had to reread to understand fully? 

Was the writing style fluid and easy to read? Stilted? Purple prose-y? Awkward?

Did you notice any discrepancies or inconsistencies in facts, places, character details, plot, etc.?

Additional questions:

What three things did you like? What three things did you not like? 

Can you try predicting any upcoming plot twists or outcomes? 

Was there ever a moment when your suspension of disbelief was tested? 

Is there anything you’d personally change about the story? 

Was the twist expected or surprising? Do you feel that the foreshadowing was almost nonexistent, or heavy handed? 

Feel free to tailor these to your needs or ignore some of them if you don’t think they’re useful. Basically, your questions are about finding out the information about how others perceive your own writing and how you can improve your story.

-Lana

[simplewritingtips]

How do you write a hook?

The opening line of your story is one of the most important - this is what makes the reader decide whether or not they’re going to carry on reading. Better make it a good one.

Start with something shocking

Begin your story by making the reader do a double take. Something that will make them audibly go “wait, what?” This gets your reader interested in your story as they know this is no ordinary novel. Here are some examples:

It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen. —George Orwell, 1984 

It was the day my grandmother exploded. —Iain M. Banks, The Crow Road

I write this sitting in the kitchen sink. —Dodie Smith, I Capture the Castle

A screaming comes across the sky. —Thomas Pynchon, Gravity’s Rainbow

Start with something vague, but interesting

Obviously, you’re not going to give the story away within the first couple of lines. This is your opportunity to invite the reader into the world of madness you’ve created in your head. Your chance to whisper “like the sound of this? read more… mwhaha.” Examples:

This is the saddest story I have ever heard. —Ford Madox Ford, The Good Soldier 

Mother died today. —Albert Camus, The Stranger 

All this happened, more or less. —Kurt Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse-Five

There was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it. —C. S. Lewis, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

Start with something character revealing

Your story is going to be narrated or told from the perspective of your main character. What better way to get our first impression from the very first line?

Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins. —Vladimir Nabokov, Lolita 

I am a sick man … I am a spiteful man. —Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Notes from Underground 

For a long time, I went to bed early. —Marcel Proust, Swann’s Way

In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I’ve been turning over in my mind ever since. —F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby

[ellenkushner]

I have a thought about ‘kill your darlings.’ There seems to be a general notion out there in the ether that the phrase means, ‘Hunt down every sentence or image you really love and cut it down like a pernicious weed.’  That, my dears, is bullshit. “In my opinion, what it really means is, ‘If you’re rewriting a whole scene just so that a paragraph or conversation you’re in love with will work, and it still kind of doesn’t, maybe it doesn’t really belong in this story and you should print it out and put it in a lovely, decorative folder labelled DARLINGS to read on those days when you hate every sentence you’re writing.’

Delia Sherman, American fantasy writer (via ellenkushner)

[writeworld-blog]

by Leia Fee, with additions by Susannah Shepherd

Quick Contents

Introduction

General remarks

What’s  normal?

Reactions to injury - including emotional reactions, fainting and shock. 

Minor injuries - such as bruises, grazes and sprains

Head injuries - from  black eyes to severe concussions

Broken bones 

Dislocated joints

Cutting and Piercing - for various locations, including blood loss symptoms and figures.

Blunt trauma - getting hit, internal injuries.

Burns - including electrical burns

Hostile environments - such as extreme cold and heat, oxygen deprivation and exposure to vacuum.

References - useful websites.

Read More →

[ceruleancynic]

YES, GOOD. This is the kind of writing resource post we need more of. It covers the basics and gives you good jumping-off points to google more details on a specific condition, plus offers a bunch of great references at the end. 

[victoriousvocabulary]

Someone made a chart of 128 words you can use instead of just adding 'very' to everything.

Writing is hard, and writing without repeating yourself is very, very hard—but as you may have already noticed, one of the most repeated words in English is the intensifying modifier "very.

[prophecydungeon]

that’s not………. how child speech works…………………………………………..

[prophecydungeon]

god okay in an attempt to be less of an asshole, here’s how child speech DOES work (or tend to work, at least)

kids tend to hypercorrect – this means that they tend to say things like “sleeped” instead of “slept,” “writed” instead of “wrote,” “goed” instead of “went,” etc

kids tend not to make errors such as omitting verbs (“i hungry”)

kids also tend not to make errors in the i/me, she/her department (“me am hungry”)

simplification of difficult sounds – consonant clusters especially, so things like st, sp, ps, etc., as well as f, v, th-sounds, ch-sounds, etc.

“babbling”-type utterances (“apwen” for “airplane,” using one babbly word for multiple objects, things like that) generally occur in children under the age of three and a half

say it with me: an eight-year-old child is not going to be saying “me hungwy”

do not confuse child speech with stereotypical learner english mistakes, that’s not only incorrect but also gross on the stereotypical learner english front (“me love you long time,” anybody?)

if you’re going to write kidfic please do some goddamn research

[septembercfawkes]

Please Don’t Write this Sentence in Your Opening

Warning: This post may not be for everyone and may come off as petty. 

I regularly read unpublished work. A lot of writers have a cool idea for their protagonist’s backstory, one that is meant to create a sense of mystery for the reader. I love stories like that. I love backstories. I even love a good flashback. But I cannot tell you how many times I’ve read sentences similar to this one in an opening of a story:

Jasper pushed the memories away from his mind.

To the average person, there is nothing wrong with this sentence. But when you read a lot, and you read that sentence a lot, you start realizing the problems in it. There are many variations to this sentence, or at least lead-ins to this sentence. Here are a few others:

Alice used to go the festival every fall with her sister, until her sister got in that accident. Alice shook her head and pushed the thoughts from her mind.

Milly looked at the old photograph and her eyes watered up. Don’t think about it. Don’t think about it, Milly thought. She filed away the memories.

 It was a border collie, just like … Adam pushed the thoughts away.

Now before anyone freaks out or protests–I’ve written this sentence before. And there are times where this sentence is fine. But if you write it intentionally in the opening of your story, you should know it’s very cliche and whoever is going through the submission pile has seen it so many times that’s it’s more annoying than mysterious. Besides, there are better alternatives that accomplish the effect these writers are looking for, and I’ll share some of them, after I talk about the problems. Cliche. I already mentioned this, but the thing is, this might sound like a fine sentence, but thousands of other writers thought it was a fine sentence too and so there are loads of stories that have this same sentence. It doesn’t spark curiosity or intrigue in the editors who have read it thousands of times. Some of you might be saying, “Yeah, but there are always going to be sentences like that.” And this is where I say that there are actually other problems with doing this. White Flag. This sentence is a sure warning signal to higher-ups that this writer doesn’t know how to handle backstory on a professional level yet. I know that sounds really weird, because the sentence is punctuated correctly and seems innocent, but it’s not the sentence itself, it’s the fact that experience shows again and again that writers who are still learning how to weave backstory in well, use this sentence. One of the problems with this sentence is that you are drawing attention to the fact that you are withholding important, possibly traumatic, information about your protagonist, and alerting to the reader that “Hey, this is going to be an important backstory that’s kind of mysterious and I’m going to tell you about it later.” It feels a lot less mysterious when the writer is advertising the mystery that way. We’ve all seen this backstory structure in narratives before. We don’t want to be told that it’s the structure you are using, we want to notice that and figure it out for ourselves. Some argue that this sentence is a problem solely because you are hiding important information about the protagonist from your reader, and that if the protagonist is the viewpoint character that the reader should be privy to that important knowledge by default. I actually disagree that it is always bad to withhold important information from the reader, because I believe you can do it, but it’s difficult and takes a lot of talent to do well enough to get away with it. I would argue that the fact the writer is withholding information isn’t so much the problem as the way they are withholding that information. Have you ever talked to someone who is clearly trying to get you to ask a specific question about them? They might say things (out of the blue) like, “Uugh, I can’t believe that happened!” wait a few seconds, then sigh heavily, and follow-up with “Now I’ll never get to do X,” sigh again. And you know they just want you to ask them what’s wrong. This sentence is sort of like that. The writer is broadcasting the fact they are withholding information and signaling to the audience that it will be a mystery that will come out later. They want the reader to ask, “Wow, what was that memory about”? It takes some of the power out of that backstory structure. In this way, it’s kind of similar to writing sentimentally, like a talked about in this post. I touched on this next one earlier, but this sentence is questionable because it seems to contradict the whole “I’m writing in this character’s viewpoint” thing. If the character is reminded of an unfavorable memory, shouldn’t we at least get some kind of flash of said memory? Or some indication as to what it is? I think that’s debatable, but 9 times out of 10, the answer is yes. Now, all this doesn’t mean you have to completely chuck the whole “mysterious backstory” thing, which is the advice you might get from some, usually because most people aren’t conscious of when this is done well. It’s that subtle. And that’s one of the keys to fixing this. Be more subtle. Don’t make the fact that your character is pushing away his bad memories as obvious–don’t tell me that he’s doing it. Get deep in his head and show me instead. Give me a well “told” suggestion of the memory, then show me the character consciously thinking of something else (show me what that something is). Instead of drawing attention to the fact you aren’t telling me about the character’s backstory, put enough in and then draw my attention away from the fact you aren’t telling me. As a reader, I’ll pick up on the fact the character doesn’t want to remember something in his past on my own–which is exactly what needs to happen if I’m meant to feel like it’s a mystery. J.K. Rowling uses this tactic in other forms of mystery in the Harry Potter series. For example, in Prisoner of Azkaban, when Harry, Ron, and Hermione take Scabbers to the pet store, Rowling suggests that there is something odd about Ron’s rat, but almost immediately after, she draws the reader’s attention away from the fact. She doesn’t stay there and point at it with her sentence structure and style. Another similar but different option is to present any suggestion of the suppressed memory as information you are giving, not information you are withholding. Don’t point at the fact you aren’t telling the reader everything to make sure the reader gets there is something more. Drop the hint as information. You can do it in a way that makes the reader curious on her own and makes her wonder about it more. Or you can do it in a way that the reader won’t think twice about until later. You can expand on this information that you as the writer so “generously” gave as you go, until the picture and situation becomes clearer and clearer to the reader. You can use foreshadowing, instead of playing monkey-in-the-middle with your reader. You can drop information in passing. After all, it seems to me that a suppressed memory lives in the subconscious part of your protagonist’s mind, so let it surface, but be subtle about it. And hey, if you’ve already done a good job at cluing me into this suppressed memory and the fact the character doesn’t want to relive it then you can write that sentence, further into the story, and it won’t be annoying, because I’ll know the information behind it, and I’ve already witnessed and decided for myself the character doesn’t want to remember. I know to some this post sounds petty, but really, when you’ve read that sentence as much as I have, you’ve got to do a blog post explaining why it’s annoying and how it can be handled better. And really, some of the stuff I touched on goes beyond that sentence and into how to write mystery itself. Thanks for listening.

[cassieisnotapie]

41 Emotions as Expressed through Body Language

Found Here x

41 Emotions as Expressed through Body Language Unique 

This list, while exhausting, is soooo not exhaustive; it barely scratches the surface. And each entry could easily become cliché (if it isn’t already). But, it should be enough to get you started. Want more? Start watching people (not in a creepy way), and take notes of what they seem to do when expressing different emotions. Your repertoire of expression will double in no time. PS—do not use these for actual, real-life body language reading; you will fail. These are strictly novelistic.

Awed  -Slack -jawed, raised eyebrows, staring  -Frozen, slack body language (Self? What self? There is only Zuul.)  -Take a step back and put a hand to his heart

Amused  -Smiling and throwing back her head laughing  -Slapping her thighs, stamping her feet, clapping her hands  -Shaking her head (That’s so wrong!)

Angry/Aggressive  -Sharp movements, like shaking a fist, pointing, slashing, or slamming a fist on a table  -Flushed face, patchy red blotches  -Tension in neck—chords standing out, veins throbbing—and jutting or tucked chin  -Arms akimbo, or clenching fists  -Entering someone else’s space and forcing them out  -Poofing up with a wide stance (I am big! Very big!), arms wide (Bring it!)  -Lowered eyebrows, squinting eyes  -Teeth bared, jaw clenched, snarling

Annoyed  -Pressing lips together into a thin line  -Narrowing eyes sometimes with slight head tilt (Why do you still exist?)  -Rolling eyes, often paired with a long-suffering sigh

Anxious  -Fidgeting, such as tearing grass into little pieces, playing with a ring, or chewing on a pencil  -Biting lower lip, swallowing unnecessarily  -Quickened breathing or holding breath  -Darting eyes  -Pallor, sweating, clammy palms  -Unusually high-pitched, “nervous” laughter  -Hunched shoulders  -Pacing

Attentive  -Slow head nodding with a furrowed brow  -Leaning forward, toward the speaker, and sitting up  -Taking notes  -Looking over the top of her glasses

Bored  -Resting his head on his palm, peeking out between the fingers, maybe even slipping so his head “accidentally” hits the table  -Tapping toes, twirling pencil, doodling, and otherwise fidgeting  -Staring out a window, or at anything remotely more interesting (Which is everything …)

Confident  -Arms clasped behind body  -Head lifted, chest out, standing tall  -Walking briskly and making firm, precise movements

Confused  -Tilting head with narrowed eyes  -A furrowed brow  -Shrugging

Contempt/Superiority  -Lifted chin (The better to look down the nose.)  -Pursed lips, sneering, slight frown  -Circling a shoulder, stretching her neck, turning away—anything to indicate she doesn’t see the person as a threat or worthy of her attention  -Grabbing her lapels, or tucking her thumbs in her waistcoat (See this clothing? It is much nicer than yours.)  -Dismissive hand-waving

Cynical/Sarcastic/Bitter  -Twisted lips or a half-smile  -Sneering, sometimes with shaking the head and other defensive body language  -Pressed lips with a slight frown  -Eye rolling

Defensive  -Crossed arms, legs, crossed anything, really (Well, maybe not fingers … or eyes …)  -Arms out, palms forward (Stop!)  -Placing anything (sword, shield, book, backpack) in front of her body

Disgusted  -Crinkling his nose  -Curling his lip and/or showing the tip of his tongue briefly  -Flinching back and interposing a shoulder or turning away  -Covering his nose, gagging, and squinting his eyes shut—hard—for a moment. (It assaults all the senses.)

Displeased  -A plastered-on fake smile (You suck; but I can’t tell you that. So here: a fake smile! Enjoy.)  -Pouting or frowning (I’ll cry if you don’t give me what I want—don’t test me, I will!)  -Crossed arms and other defensive/frustrated body language (I will not let that terrible idea influence me!)

Distressed  -Wide eyes and shallow, rapid breathing  -Beating the walls, or huddling into a corner  -Clasping hands over his head protectively  -Rocking himself  -Handwringing  -Running his hands through his hair

Earnest/Passionate  -Leaning forward, nodding, wide eyes with strong eye contact and raised eyebrows  -Hand on heart, or presented palms-up, or otherwise visible  -A double-handed handshake (I really want to make sure you understand me!)

Embarrassment  -Blushing  -Stammering  -Covering her face with her hands or bowing her head (I’m so embarrassed, I can’t look!)  -Difficulty maintaining eye contact, looking down and away

Excited/Anticipation  -Rubbing hands together (I can’t wait to get my hands on it!)  -Licking lips (It’s so close I can taste it!)  -A vigorous, pumping handshake (I can’t wait to get started!)  -Jumping up and down (Look at me being literal here! I am jumping for joy.)  -A wide and easy grin

Flirty  -Eye play, like winking, looking up through the lashes, over the shoulder glances, and eye catching   -Preening, like hair flipping or smooth, clothing straightening, spine straightening, etc.  -Striking a cowboy pose, with his thumbs gripping his belt tight

Frustrated  -Shaking his head (You are so wrong!)  -Massaging temples (My brain—it hurts.)  -Clasping his wrist in his opposite hand, behind his back (Bad arm! No biscuit.)  -Running his hands through his hair (All this frustration is making my hair mussy. I can feel it.)  -Grabbing onto something like armrests, or white-knuckled interdigitation (Restrain yourself!)

Happy  -Smiling and laughing  -Eyes and nose crinkling  -Swinging her arms, spinning loosely, dancing, jumping

Impatience  -Quick head nodding (Get on with it!)  -Toe/finger tapping (Hear this? These are seconds. Wasted. Listening to you.)  -Sighing, checking the clock/sundial/freckles (Time. It is moving so slowly.)

Jealous  -Tight lips, or a sour expression  -Narrow eyes locked on the perpetrator, to the point of a stare down  -Crossed arms, and additional frustrated, angry, possessive, or bitter body language

Lying  -Scratching their nose, ear, neck, miscellaneous part of face  -Sudden change in behavior or demeanor, including shifty eye contact, lots of long blinking, shrugging -Ill-timed smiles or laughter (This is how I normally smile, right? Right???)  -Additional anxiety body language  -Shaking head no while saying “yes” (I can’t believe I just lied.)  -Licking lips, covering mouth, touching mouth, etc.

Overwhelmed  -Both palms to forehead, fingers splayed (This gives me a headache.)  -Covering eyes with one hand (If I can’t see the world, it can’t see me …)  -Eyes wide and staring into space, hands gripping the table in front of her (… Woah.)

Playful/Friendly  -Winking  -Waggling eyebrows  -Tiny shoves or nudge

Pleasure  -Head tilted back, lips parted slightly, eyes wide or closed  -Slow, languorous movements, stretching (such as arching her neck or back)  -Slight flush, quickened breath and pulse

Possessive  -Handshake with arm clasp  -Putting hands on or around someone’s shoulders, neck, waist, back, or even just the wall near them  -Standing in someone’s personal space, body positioned toward that person  -Any one-sided act of intimacy, like running a knuckle down someone’s cheek  -Staring down any who get too close

Proud/Dominant  -Chin up, chest out, shoulders back  -A painfully hard handshake that not only squishes the bones, but also forces his hand on top  -Leaning back with his hands behind his head, and his feet up  -Strong, unblinking, focused eye contact

Reluctance/Resistance  -Arms crossed, sometimes with fists (Not happening.)  -Dragging feet (But I don’t wanna!)  -Pinching nose (You want me to do what now?)  -Clamping hands over ears (La la la la!)

Sad/Upset  -Droopy body (and anything held, like a sword), bowed in shoulders, wrapping arms around self  -Slow movements with hesitation  -Bottom lip jutting out and/or quivering  -Crying, sobbing, body shaking, sniffling, wet eyes

Secretive  -A tight-lipped smile (My lips are zipped.)  -Hiding her hands in her pockets (What has it got in its nasty little pocket?)  -Looking away

Scared  -Hunched shoulders, shrinking back from others (Don’t hurt me!)  -Wide eyes and lifted eyebrows (The better to see them coming.)  -Shaking, trembling, or freezing  -Rocking from side to side, sometimes holding self (It’ll all be okay, self, it’ll all be okay.)

Shame  -Slumped shoulders (Don’t look at me.)  -Trouble meeting your gaze, looking down and away  -Burying her face in her hands or bowing her head (I can’t face the world right now.)

Shocked  -Hands covering her mouth, or mouth hanging open, sometimes with a gasp (If I had words, I would be saying them.) -Freezing and staring with wide eyes and eyebrows raised (Diverting all resources toward staring.)  -Smacking a palm into his forehead (Clearly, my head isn’t working right, or I wouldn’t have seen that)

Shy  -Avoids eye contact, or has only fleeting eye contact (Eye contact means you might speak to me.)  -Keeps a fair distance from everyone, and will back away if someone steps closer (Space invaders!)  -Folded arms, head down, and other defensive body language (If I make myself small, they can’t see me.)

Smug  -Slight, close-lipped smile (occasionally one-sided) and sometimes one raised eyebrow (I know something you don’t know.)  -Chin slightly tucked, Mona Lisa smile, raised eyebrows (I know better.)  -Finger steepling (I am so smaaaht.)

Suspicious/Skeptical/Disbelief  -Narrowed eyes, sometimes with a sidelong glance or raised eyebrow (Perhaps if I look at it out of the corner of my eye, I will catch it unawares.)  -Rubbing his eyes (I can’t believe what I’m metaphorically or literally seeing!)  -Shaking his head (I—I don’t believe it.)  -Blowing out cheeks (Well , I don’t know …)

Tired  -Rubbing his eyes, eyes staring into space, raised eyebrows (Raising my eyebrows helps keep my eyes open.)  -Yawning and/or stretching (I am tired—see? Tired! Too tired to care!)  -Almost nodding off and jerking awake (Cannot. Stay. Awa—snnnnurzzzz.)  -Gritting teeth to stay awake (Cannot—yawn—dang it!)

Thoughtfulness/Thinking  -Steepling fingers (I will think better if I center myself and focus.)  -Pinching nose, sometimes with closed eyes (Focus, focus—I just need to focus.)  -Tugging on an ear (This will help me remember!)  -Stroking a real or imaginary beard (People with beards look smart.)  -Furrowed brow, narrowed eyes, sometimes tilted head and pressing lips together (I can’t see it—I will try harder!)  -Resting his chin on his hand (Thinking makes my head heavy.)

Triumphant  -Hands clenched and held above head while grimacing (She is invincible!)  -Head tilted back with a yell (She is fierce!)  -Arm pumping in the air, jumping (Woohoo!)

[berrybird-blog1]

Helpful things for action writers to remember

Sticking a landing will royally fuck up your joints and possibly shatter your ankles, depending on how high you’re jumping/falling from. There’s a very good reason free-runners dive and roll. 

Hand-to-hand fights usually only last a matter of seconds, sometimes a few minutes. It’s exhausting work and unless you have a lot of training and history with hand-to-hand combat, you’re going to tire out really fast. 

Arrows are very effective and you can’t just yank them out without doing a lot of damage. Most of the time the head of the arrow will break off inside the body if you try pulling it out, and arrows are built to pierce deep. An arrow wound demands medical attention. 

Throwing your opponent across the room is really not all that smart. You’re giving them the chance to get up and run away. Unless you’re trying to put distance between you so you can shoot them or something, don’t throw them. 

Everyone has something called a “flinch response” when they fight. This is pretty much the brain’s way of telling you “get the fuck out of here or we’re gonna die.” Experienced fighters have trained to suppress this. Think about how long your character has been fighting. A character in a fist fight for the first time is going to take a few hits before their survival instinct kicks in and they start hitting back. A character in a fist fight for the eighth time that week is going to respond a little differently. 

ADRENALINE WORKS AGAINST YOU WHEN YOU FIGHT. THIS IS IMPORTANT. A lot of times people think that adrenaline will kick in and give you some badass fighting skills, but it’s actually the opposite. Adrenaline is what tires you out in a battle and it also affects the fighter’s efficacy - meaning it makes them shaky and inaccurate, and overall they lose about 60% of their fighting skill because their brain is focusing on not dying. Adrenaline keeps you alive, it doesn’t give you the skill to pull off a perfect roundhouse kick to the opponent’s face. 

Swords WILL bend or break if you hit something hard enough. They also dull easily and take a lot of maintenance. In reality, someone who fights with a sword would have to have to repair or replace it constantly.

Fights get messy. There’s blood and sweat everywhere, and that will make it hard to hold your weapon or get a good grip on someone. 

A serious battle also smells horrible. There’s lots of sweat, but also the smell of urine and feces. After someone dies, their bowels and bladder empty. There might also be some questionable things on the ground which can be very psychologically traumatizing. Remember to think about all of the character’s senses when they’re in a fight. Everything WILL affect them in some way. 

If your sword is sharpened down to a fine edge, the rest of the blade can’t go through the cut you make. You’ll just end up putting a tiny, shallow scratch in the surface of whatever you strike, and you could probably break your sword. 

ARCHERS ARE STRONG TOO. Have you ever drawn a bow? It takes a lot of strength, especially when you’re shooting a bow with a higher draw weight. Draw weight basically means “the amount of force you have to use to pull this sucker back enough to fire it.” To give you an idea of how that works, here’s a helpful link to tell you about finding bow sizes and draw weights for your characters.  (CLICK ME)

If an archer has to use a bow they’re not used to, it will probably throw them off a little until they’ve done a few practice shots with it and figured out its draw weight and stability. 

People bleed. If they get punched in the face, they’ll probably get a bloody nose. If they get stabbed or cut somehow, they’ll bleed accordingly. And if they’ve been fighting for a while, they’ve got a LOT of blood rushing around to provide them with oxygen. They’re going to bleed a lot. 

Here’s a link to a chart to show you how much blood a person can lose without dying. (CLICK ME) 

If you want a more in-depth medical chart, try this one. (CLICK ME)

Hopefully this helps someone out there. If you reblog, feel free to add more tips for writers or correct anything I’ve gotten wrong here. 

[agoodcartoon]

Fun fact: The "friendzone" is real. It's called unrequited love. It's a major literary trope and the source of countless poetry.

[the-cat-who-walks-through-walls]

And the medieval chunk of the poetry you’re talking about is entirely based around the idea that love ennobles, and so if one loves but is not loved in return, because the woman is married or trapped in a tower or THIRTEEN GODDAMNED YEARS OLD, one is obligated to go out into the world and use that love as a catalyst to do great and good things.

The “friendzone” narrative cannibalizes this, because it replaces the story of Working Your Passion On The World To Make It Better with the story of Working Your Passion On Some Judgemental Cockteasing Bitch Because Something Something My Penis.

[wongtonz-deactivated20170610]

Aaron Diaz ( creator of Dresden Codak and my favourite LoZ au ) says things.