Writing Tips @writingtips-101 - Tumblr Blog

You wake up in the middle of the night to your phone pinging like crazy. After you check it, you see several messages, some from numbers you don't recognize, telling you to wake up.

sixpenceee

And here they are:

Thermoception: Ability to sense heat and cold. Thermoceptors in the brain are used for monitoring internal body temperature.

Proprioception: The sense of where your body parts are located relevant to each other.

Chronoception: Sense of the passing of time. Your body has an internal clock.

Equilibrioception: The sense that allows you to keep your balance and sense body movement in terms of acceleration and directional changes.

Magentoception: This is the ability to detect magnetic fields. Unlike most birds, humans do not have a strong magentoception, however, experiments have demonstrated that we do tend to have some sense of magnetic fields.

Tension Sensors: These are found in such places as your muscles and allow the brain the ability to monitor muscle tension.

Nociception: In a word, pain. This was once thought to simply be the result of overloading other senses, such as “touch”, but it has it’s own unique sensory system. There are three distinct types of pain receptors: cutaneous (skin), somatic (bones and joints), and visceral (body organs).

SOURCE

writingtips-101

Hi friends!

So I have decided to move this blog over to @clcwrites so I can use it as a fully functioning main blog rather than a side blog!

I’ve rebloged all of my posts and tagged them so they’re easier to navigate. I was always conscious about loosing important bits of information due to the amount that I post, so I made it easier to find them again :)

If you wanna go and follow me over on @clcwrites that would be great. This blog will be pretty much inactive as of now 💙

Writer, photographer, dog lover. I post writing tips, prompts or anything else I find useful.

Hi friends!

So I have decided to move this blog over to @clcwrites so I can use it as a fully functioning main blog rather than a side blog!

If you wanna go and follow me over on @clcwrites that would be great. This blog will be pretty much inactive as of now 💙

Writer, photographer, dog lover. I post writing tips, prompts or anything else I find useful.

#writing #writblr #wrtblr #reading #wip

amberstarlights

Why do people listen to the advice of those wannabe ‘writers’. I mean they are not even published?

skeleskeeller

Excuse you? People can still give out valuable writing advice even if they are not published. Besides, not being published does not mean someone is a bad writer.

amberstarlights

Explain?

skeleskeeller

I assume by being “published” you mean through a publisher and not through self-publishing. Most publishers are for-profit. Meaning they want to make money. However, they don’t like taking chances and spend money on publishing a book that might not sell well. No matter how good of a writer you are, the chances of hearing “Sorry, there is no market for your book”, are extremely high unless you have something to show for it:

Followers on social media, success of your self-published book, email subscribers, website traffic, etc. Anything that shows the publisher that your book will sell increases your chances of being published dramatically. Many times, writers are approached by the publisher!

I have had this conversation with many of my writer friends, and some of them think this is unfair. What you often see is famous people writing a mediocre book and using their fame to have it become a best-seller. Except I don’t think it’s unfair. It’s business. As a writer, you are your own business. Many writers seem to forget this fact!

Let’s take Lang Leav as an example. You might have heard of her as she was dominating the poetry section on Tumblr in ‘13 and ‘14. She amassed many followers on Tumblr by sharing her poetry. She then self-published her book ‘Love & Misadventure” and promoted it on Tumblr.

“How did you get published?

I self-published my first book, Love & Misadventure. As soon as it was listed for sale, my book began to top best-seller charts and caught the attention of two literary agents in New York. I signed up with Writers House and was promptly offered a publishing deal by Andrews McMeel.” (source)

My honest opinion about her work is that it’s poetry for the masses and that she is not necessarily an astounding or great poet. However, her first book has 38,943 ratings on Goodreads (source)

Key to success? Posting her work online, good branding, nice poetry, building a loyal following.

Let’s take fifty shades for example. (YES)

E.L. James used to write twilight fanfiction. Many people loved her Twilight fanfiction so a publisher called The Writer’s Coffee House contacted her, they changed all the names in her work, and the rest is history.

I hope this explains it a little. Publishers mitigate the risk of their investment not being profitable by publishing books that have a high chance of being successful. There are many great, unpublished writers out there sharing valuable advice. Those people not being published has more to do with them not knowing how to increase their chances of being published, rather than being a bad writer.

skeleskeeller

Currently on a bus from Nice to Paris. It’s a 13 hour drive so I am going to dump a lot of information for people who want to sell a book right now or ten years from now. The sooner you start using this strategy, the more successful you will be.

First of all, if you have a lot of reach (audience), meaning that you have a few thousands of followers on social media, and a publisher contacts you, you always want to ask them if you can self-publish first! Always! If they refuse, you really want to think twice about signing their contract. Why? Because publishers are using your followers to sell your own book to. Self-publishing gives you around ~70% profits. Publishers often offer you a contract giving you 20%. Shady af. I don’t like that shit and I so often see small authors being used like that. Yes, publishers do help with editing etc., but depending on your reach, it’s up to you to decide if hiring an editor yourself isn’t a much better option. So, always SELL to your own fans first self-published if you can. THEN, if the publisher thinks your book has potential beyond your followers, work with them and sign the contract. Don’t let them profit off your fanbase and then leave you hanging.

If you are going to write a book, you need to talk about it! A lot. At least 6 months in advance. Preferably two years. You need to build up some anticipation among your followers. You need people to be aware of it and WANT it. It’s like a book. You don’t just tell your readers the plot in 5 sentences and that’s the book. You need to build up the story. And then BOOM, Karen just turned page 170 and she doesn’t know what’s coming for her, but she’s gonna be shook and love it. Same with promoting your book. Nobody is gonna give a shit if you say: “oh hi, you didn’t know but I wrote a book. You can buy it here”. You gotta talk about it long before you publish it.

Chances are, you don’t have a following at all. In this day and age, social media is all the hype. There is this misconception that you need millions of followers to make a living online. Not true. Let me introduce you to 1,000 True Fans, an article written by Kevin Kelly in 2008. Read it. It’s eye-opening and practical!

“A creator, such as an artist, musician, photographer, craftsperson, performer, animator, designer, videomaker, or author – in other words, anyone producing works of art – needs to acquire only 1,000 True Fans to make a living.”

How to get 1000 fans as a writer (also works for artists)

Your main focus should be on creating content and growing your reach (audience). Focus on building an email list and a simple website. Why an email list? For the same reasons everyone else always asks for your email when you sign up for something: so they can reach you.

Many content creators struggle with two things: algorithms and platforms dying. Instagram’s algorithm makes it so that if someone doesn’t hit ‘like’ on your content for a while, your content gets pushed all the way to the bottom of their feed. Why? Because IG wants you to stay on their app as long as possible and thus shows people the content they interact with the most first. The second reason is, at some point people are not going to use their Myspace, Tumblr, Wattpad, or Instagram account anymore. Someone might have a million followers on Myspace, but right now, if they update their profile, maybe a thousand people will see it if they are lucky. So, how do you keep reaching the people who followed you in the first place? EMAIL.

Email is fantastic for two reasons:

There are no algorithms. People see your email based on the time you sent it.

People do not change their email as much as they do social media.

So, if you ever shoutout your book or art store, you are guaranteed that everyone on your email list sees it.

I recommend MailChimp for sending batch emails. It’s free for up to 1,200 email subscribers, and that’s plenty for small businesses.

But how do you get people to sign up for your email list? Well, there are a million ways to that, but first, we need our website and we need to actually reach people!

Let’s first focus on reaching people

Create a social media account on each platform that makes sense to you. Opt for the same username everywhere to strengthen your brand. Then post your content to each and every single one of these platforms, but add in a call to action. Write a personal caption on Instagram, or write things in the tags on Tumblr. The best advice I can give to writers on Tumblr is to reblog writing prompts and write a story and include a ‘READ MORE’.

Many people don’t like to make the commitment to read something long without knowing what it’s about. A writing prompt is the perfect intro and increases the number of people reading your story.

By including a ‘read more’ people have to visit your Tumblr blog. Have a nice bio, and end your story with something personal and a call to action, this skyrockets the number of followers you will get.

Now the problem is: getting people to reblog your story. You could try DMing bigger blogs, but chances of them reblogging your story are slim. DM your followers instead and ask them to reblog your story if they want. If you don’t have followers, go through a tag of your choosing. Filter on ‘recent’ and DM those. You need to hustle a bit. It doesn’t matter if you wrote the story today or two years ago. If you think it’s good content, then you can self-promote it until it gains traction.

For Instagram: Never use popular tags. Avoid them like the plague. I would even go as far as to not use tags at all. But if you use them, only choose niche tags. Why? Bots. There are so many of them. You NEVER want bots following you on Instagram. Every time you post something new, your post gets ‘tested’ in batches of followers. 20% (this is not proven, but I feel pretty confident about this number) out of the first few people who see your post need to like it, or else Instagram stops pushing your content out to more people. Bots never like your posts. If your post fares well and stays above the 20% it gets pushed out to more people, and it will eventually land on the explore page. I don’t have much experience using tags, but if you use them, make sure bots do not target them.

Post your content everywhere. Writing on Wattpad. Art on DeviantArt etc., and always link to your website! All your socials must link to your website, this is key to build your email list.

Also, quick tip for IG, if you want to grow really fast, make sure your content is well received. Most of your post should have a like/follower rate of 20%. In the beginning, the increase in followers is barely noticeable. But once you have 1k followers, it snowballs! Furthermore, some Instagram pages, often businesses, have a terrible like/follower ratio. Less than 1% of their followers like their content. Why do they even bother with Instagram? Only a small portion of their followers see their content since so few people like it, and so it doesn’t get pushed to the feeds of the rest of their followers. Why do they bother? Email. Many businesses, big or small, use their Instagram account as a funnel to get email subscribers. Email is always more important to a business than followers for email lasts much longer and isn’t subject to algorithms, except the spam filter. However, if you are on Instagram as an artist or writer, strive for both: high engagement and collecting emails.

Now that you are having your email list, website, and your social media accounts are growing, it is time to promote your newsletter (email list) beyond the links to your website on social media. We are striving for 1k email subscribers. It’s not a lot. My advice is to message all your followers. Copy paste the same message asking them if they want to subscribe. Make it personal. I want to know who the artist or writer is. I always enjoy someone’s content more if I know the person behind it. I want to know who you are.

But, at this point, you might be wondering: why would people subscribe to my email list? What to send emails about in the first place? Think long and hard, put yourself in your follower’s shoes. If you asked me:

If you are a writer, I would love to have some bonus material send to my inbox.

Updates about your WIP.

An occasional blog post about your life.

Early bird discount on your book when it comes out.

If you are an artist:

I would love to know about the art process and what inspires you.

Read your blog and learn more about you.

Know when you are open for commissions again.

Get updates about your art store.

Obviously, not everyone is going to sign up for your email list. But try your best to make something special. The goal is to:

Build an email list. You will always reach those people. No algorithms or platforms dying (unless email dies, but not in the foreseeable future)

You can build a relationship with your email subscribers. This is important. By reading about your life, I will become more invested in your writing or art.

You are not selling the cheapest shoes or pens in the world. You sell art and books. Build a relationship with your audience!

I am against using extra incentives that have nothing to do with what you do to have people subscribe to your list. If you do giveaways, then make sure it’s something you sell yourself. Don’t give away a bunch of books you didn’t write or a laptop. You will get people signing up because they want the laptop, not because they are interested in you. Instead, as an artist, do a commission giveaway (people who want your art will sign up) or give a discount for your Esty shop etc., Writers: out of the people who sign up, one person can give you a prompt for a short story, for example. Or give away your book if you have already written one!

(By the way, I see some artists doing amazingly well with commissions on Tumblr already! My advice would be, if you want to keep doing this for a long time, go start your website and email asap. So that ‘if’ Tumblr dies, (at this point I am not sure if it’s even possible for this site to die) you can still reach your audience and keep doing commissions.)

Prioritize your website and email list over your Patreon

Patreon is great. As a creator I love it. However, when does someone become a Patron? For me: first, the rewards need to be good. But second, I need to care about you as a person. You can’t promote everything at the same time. It’s best to focus on one thing for a period of time. I suggest you first build up relationships with your email subscribers, so they get to know you better and give an f, then plug your Patreon.

Email subscribers are more likely to become Patrons compared to the rest of your audience because they already showed you they want to hear more from you by signing up to your newsletter/email list.

You get to collect VALUABLE email addresses first. Those are easier to obtain then having someone become a Patron. People need to pay to become a Patron, your newsletter is free.

This might look a bit counterproductive to some of you. After all, you want to go from A (content) to B ($$$) as fast as possible. But I highly recommend you implement this extra step if Patreon is one of your sources of income. You will end up with more Patrons.

Starting a website and collecting emails

You need a domain name. Preferably a .com. Name it after yourself or your brand/store. There are many ways to go about starting your website.

Here are three:

Bluehost: Bluehost uses WordPress. Take the cheapest package. You don’t need more than that yet. Might be difficult to set up for computer illiterate folks. Though GEN Y and Z should have no problems with it.

FastComet: Also uses WordPress. They claim to be the fastest. Might be hard to set up but it’s very cheap.

Wix: You probably have heard of this one. I suggest you choose the Combo package. It’s free to use, but you do want to upgrade in order to get rid of the blabla.wixsite.com at the end of your domain name. Also, do not buy straight away. They send you a ‘50% discount’ by email after you created a website within 2-14 days. Easiest to use in my opinion.

There are plenty of others out there, but these I have used and are reputable. Feel free to add your hosts to this post.

For email marketing automatization I recommend MailChimp. There are many options, but MailChimp is by far one of the most used and has therefore many one-click-install website integrations, making it is easy to set up. By the way, sending 2-4 emails a month to your list is more than enough.

Hope this helps some of you out. It’s simple but not easy. Also, give it time. You don’t get 1000 email subscribers overnight. The sooner you start the better. And, yeh, you have to put in some time and energy. In my opinion, it’s worth it. Spend 90% of your time creating, the other 10% doing the less fun stuff. If you want to increase your chances of success, being published etc, this is a good way to start. My advice would be: Don’t rely on being discovered or going viral. Rather, increase your chances of being discovered or going viral by strengthening your foundation for success.

Reading material

https://optinmonster.com/email-marketing-vs-social-media-performance-2016-2019-statistics/

https://www.lyfemarketing.com/blog/why-email-marketing/

https://kk.org/thetechnium/1000-true-fans/

https://www.theme-junkie.com/add-read-more-link-tumblr-post/

elizxa-beth

I just finished reading the first link of the reading material and what stood out is that email is seven times more likely to convert someone into a customer than social media! That’s insane! Thank you, dear person, for posting this. Going to make a website this weekend!

creshireneira

@elizxa-beth you really should! I think your art is amazing. A friend of mine from college does this. She has ~3k followers on Instagram and only ~400 email subcribers. She gets 90% of her comissions through email. About 12 a month! And that’s a lot since she charges anywhere from $75 to $200 for a comission. You could do the same! (:

elizxa-beth

I think I will! Thank you <3

elizxa-beth

So I created my own website with Wix today and here are some tips for anyone who wants to start a website using Wix:

1. Let Wix build a website for your first with ADI. Play around with it and publish your website. Then edit it again. Go to ‘site’ and select ‘Go to Wix editor.’ Now you have full control over how your website looks. 2. There is a small learning curve. It might be complicated in the very beginning but don’t give up. Get some snacks and work on your website. It’s actually fun. It took me around 3 hours to create mine.

3. Wix has a built-in email sign up form and email marketing tool called ‘Shoutout’. So you don’t need mailchimp. You can still connect mailchimp to Wix if you prefer.

4. Do wait with upgrading your website until they send you the 50% discount coupon to your email.

5. Signing up for Wix is free. If you upgrade you get a free domain as well!

moonxchaos

This is solid advice, but OP forgot to mention the two most important reasons as to why you should have your own website and create an email list. 1) a dot com domain without [.tumblr].com or [.blogger].com in front of it looks professional and conveys trust. 2) You own the website and email list. Tumblr and Instagram accounts are being deleted left and right without warning. Even some creators on Patreon have gotten there accounts banned for no reason at all other than staff messing around. No one can delete your website and email list. You have full ownership.

cyhyryth-deactivated20190524

PSA: you are allowed to reblog this super long post to help out artists and writers!

voidlessshadows-deactivated2022

This is some great advice

#this is a lot of info to take in #i might start a tagging system #im worried posts are gonna get lost and ill never find them again #anyway this is super useful

themmfatale

2020 gothic

- you join a zoom call. everyone’s mic is muted, but no one is talking anyway. you stare at the squares with faces in them. which is your face? you can’t be sure.

- the news is full of numbers. you try to learn what they mean, but the articles are full of jargon from fields you have no experience in, and you swear the numbers change when you blink.

- you wake up. you sleep. you wake up. you sleep. how many days was that? you have no idea.

- you go for a walk. a shadow follows you down the street, moving when you move, stopping when you stop. always the recommended six feet away.

- every day you get several emails from corporations you’ve never heard of. each company name sounds fake, too vague, too optimistic. “Stay healthy! :)” they say. “We’re committed to keeping you safe! You must stay healthy! We love you very much! We learned everything about you so we can keep you safe! Please believe us we love you so much we’ r e , s 0Rry:):)):))” You try to unsubscribe, but the link just takes you to a blank black webpage. Suddenly, you can make out your reflection in the screen. What’s that over your shoulder?

- you’ve been wearing the same clothes for days, but somehow there is laundry.

frognonbinary-deactivated202412

i’ve been doing my homework on how to break into a writing career and honestly. there’s a Lot that i didn’t know about thats critical to a writing career in this day and age, and on the one hand, its understandable because we’re experiencing a massive cultural shift, but on the other hand, writers who do not have formal training in school or don’t have the connections to learn more via social osmosis end up extremely out of loop and working at a disadvantage.

frognonbinary-deactivated202412

like, i didnt know about twitter pitch parties!! i didnt know about literary agents and publishers tweeting their manuscript wishlist, in hopes that some poor soul out there has written the book they really want to read and publish!! this isnt some shit you learn about in school! you really need to know the ins and outs of the writing community to be successful!

frognonbinary-deactivated202412

for anyone interested, here’s what i’ve learned so far in my quest for more writing knowledge:

1. Writer’s Market 2019 is a great place to start– it gives you a list of magazines and journals that you can send your work to depending on the genre as well as lists a shit ton of literary agents that specify what genres they represent, how you can get in contact with them and how they accept query letters. this is a book that updates every year and tbh i only bought it this year so i dont know how critical it is to have an updated version

2. do your research. mostly on literary agents because if you listed on your site that you like to represent fluffy YA novels and some asshole sends you a 80k manuscript about like…gritty viking culture, you will be severely pissed off. always go in finding someone who you know will actually like your work because they’re the ones who will try to advocate for you in getting published.

3. learn how to write a query letter. there are slightly varying formulas to how you can write an effective query letter. you’re also going to want to get feedback on your query letter because its the first thing the literary agent will read and based on how well you do it, it could be the difference between them rejecting you outright and giving your manuscript a quick read

4. unfortunately, you’re gonna want to get a twitter. Twitter is where a lot of literary agents are nowadays, and they host things like twitter pitch parties, where you pitch your manuscript in a few sentences and hashtag it with #Pitmad #Pitdark, some version of pit. a lot of literary agents and publishers will ALSO post their manuscript wishlists, which is just the kind of books they’d like to represent/publish, and they hashtag this with #MSWL (it is NOT for writers to use, only for agents/publishers)

5. connect with other writers, literary agents, publishers at book events. you will absolutely need the connections if you want to get ahead as a writer. thats just kind of the state of the world.

writingquestionsanswered

Hello! How can I write a strong character but without making them emotional and maybe a bit sensitive? Like strong females but not emotionless warriors, like just a normal girl who still cries and gets emotional? Is it even possible to have a character like that? I'm super emotional and those "strong" female characters portrayed in media always make me wonder if I'm weak? :/

Let’s Have a Serious Talk About “Strong Female Characters”

That, right there, folks, is why we need to stop using the term “strong female characters.”

Problems with “Strong Female Characters”

1) “Strong” Has No Definition

Originally, “strong female character” referred to female characters who had more going on than being damsels in distress or love interests, but over time, the term evolved and distorted and now means something different to everyone. Some people think it means physical strength, some think it means mental strength/emotional strength, some think it means intellect, some think it means power or skills… but you can make your female character any or all of those things and still not create a solid character.

2) There Are No “Strong Male Characters”

People never worry about writing strong male characters. Males are typically assumed to be strong, so by aspiring to write “strong female characters” we are perpetuating the idea that women are weak by default.

3) “Strong” Alienates All Other Female Characters

The term “strong female character” implies that characters who don’t meet any of the criteria in #1 are weak, boring, and not worth writing about, and that’s absolutely false.

4) “Strong” Puts the Focus in the Wrong Places

If you’re putting all your effort into creating a character who meets the criteria of #1, you’re putting less effort into creating REAL, complex, well-developed characters.

5) “Strong Female Characters” Perpetuate Harmful Ideas About Women

When women are portrayed as better or more desirable because they’re physically/mentally/emotionally strong, intelligent, skilled, or flawless, what we’re doing is telling women that they are weak if they don’t meet those criteria. We need to do better.

Instead of Aspiring to Write “Strong Female Characters…”

Write. Real. People.

If you want to write a good, solid, female character, aim for the following:

create a well developed character with her own goals and motivations

give her a thoughtful character arc

make sure she’s not thrust into the background of a male dominated plot

make sure she’s not there solely as support for a male character

let her and other characters (including males) rely on each other equally

let her stand on her own two feet but unafraid to ask for help as needed

don’t make her a male character in a dress

don’t make her masculine because it’s more practical

give. her. flaws.

give. her. emotions.

give. her. a. personality.

give her healthy relationships with other women

let her talk to other women about something other than a man

make her real

make her relatable

make her complex

make her motivated

let her be sad, if she needs to be sad

let her cry, if she needs to cry

let her fall in love, if she wants to fall in love

let her be angry, if she needs to be angry

let her be maternal, if she feels maternal

Just. Write. People.

I honestly can’t stress that enough.

Best of luck with your story! <3

————————————————————————————————-Have a question? My inbox is always open, but please make sure to check my FAQ and post master lists first to make sure I haven’t already answered a similar question. :)

mostlysignssomeportents

Random mansion generator

The Procgen Mansion Generator produces large three-dee dwellings to toy with your imagination, offering various architectural styles and other options. Each mansion even comes with floorplans:

https://boingboing.net/2019/07/12/random-mansion-generator.html

something-from-elsewhere

Oooooh! Saving this

lady-feral

That’s fun

vesperlionheart

Hey, but don’t fall asleep on this Medieval Fantasy City Generator

awrenthatwrites

Reblogging for the last!

writingquestionsanswered

NEAT.

writingquestionsanswered

Guide: How to Skip Time in Your Story

Few stories take place during a short, unbroken chunk of time. Most stories take place in small chunks spread out over days, weeks, months, or years, which means there will be whole chunks of time not covered. So, how do you skip the time between those chunks?

Scenes and Chapters

With the exception of some very short fiction, most stories are broken into scenes, each of which encapsulates a particular moment or event. In longer fiction, like novellas and novels, related scenes can be grouped together into chapters, though sometimes a chapter contains only one scene. Either way, because scenes and chapters focus on particular moments or events, or a related group of moments or events, starting a new scene or chapter is a natural way to represent the passage of time in your story. In fact, unless otherwise stated, readers will naturally assume that time has passed between scenes and chapters–which doesn’t mean you don’t still have to make the transition between them.

The key to skipping time between scenes or chapters is to make the transition by doing two things:

1) Set up the time skip at the end of the scene or chapter by hinting at what is to come. For example:

As I gazed out the window at January’s first falling snow, I couldn’t help but wonder what the new year would bring.

2) Clarify time, place and (if necessary) POV at the beginning of the new scene or chapter, playing off of the set up from the previous scene or chapter.

The first week of January was over in a blink, and then I found myself back at school, dealing with all the problems I’d left behind during Christmas Break.

Notice how the set up at the end of the previous scene/chapter flows seamlessly into the scene transition at the beginning of the new scene/chapter?

Because the passage of time is expected between scenes and chapters, it’s not always necessary to be direct about how much time has passed. Especially if the amount of time passing is unimportant or already implied.

Direct:

Melinda finally dragged herself out of bed, painfully aware that her entire career hinged on her ability to pull this meeting off without a hitch. She hated the uncertainty of what lay ahead, hating even more the only thing she did know for certain: it was going to be one hell of a shitty day.

# # #

Two hours later, Melinda stood in front of the board, coffee in hand, trying to exude confidence she in no way truly felt. The tired, stoic faces of eleven other men and women gazed back at her, plainly ready for whatever it was she was about to unleash upon them. She only wished she felt as ready as they appeared to be.

Less Direct:

# # #

All eleven faces of the other board members gazed back at Melinda, stoic and tired as she stood before them, coffee in hand, trying to exude a confidence she in now way truly felt. It was clear they were prepared for whatever she was about to unleash upon them, and she could only wish she was equally prepared.

In the second example, even though you don’t specifically say “two hours later,” it’s clear right away from the context that the time and place have changed. No one is going to read “all eleven faces of the other board members” and assume that they’re waiting for her in her bathroom as she goes in to brush her teeth the next morning. As often as possible, try to reserve the “two hours later” and “when she got back to the office” transitions for when the context would otherwise be unclear, or when those specific details (how much time has passed, a specific location) is immediately important.

And, if no time is passing between two scenes or two chapters, you can make that clear via context. For example, if one scene ends with Melinda falling asleep and then being woken up by a loud knock at her door, the next scene could continue with something like “Heart pounding from the shock, Melinda jumped out of bed to see who was at her door.” Now it’s clear no time passed in the next scene. But, since a new situation is beginning, it still warrants being its own scene.

Expository Time Skip

Sometimes you need to show a quick glimpse of something that happened but which doesn’t really warrant its own scene or chapter. In this case, you may need to illustrate the time skip using exposition within the scene. It may look something like this:

The first week of January was over in a blink, and then I found myself back at school, dealing with all the problems I’d left behind during Christmas Break. Not the least of which was the newly formed rift between me and Kristina, who was glaring at me from across the hallway as I spun the combination on my locker that first day back. I’d done my best to ignore her, shoveling my million textbooks out of my book bag, doing a quick check of my hair–which somehow managed to be both wet and frizzy with static–before grabbing my biology books and hurrying off under Kristina’s cold glare.

Later that day, at lunch, Michelina and I decided to eat lunch outside, even though it was thirty degrees and still snowing. Despite the wintry chill, it was warmer than the cafeteria with Kristina’s angry gaze constantly searching us out.

Terms such as: later that day, two hours later, the next afternoon, the following day, by the time the bell rang, when it was time to close, etc., allow you to show that time has passed without transitioning to a new scene or chapter. This allows you to cover smaller moments/events that don’t warrant their own space.

Whether you use a scene transition between two scenes or two chapters to show the passing of time, or whether you clarify the time skip through exposition, just pay attention to where you leave your readers before the transition/clarification, and where you take them. Make sure it’s clear, flows well, and wouldn’t leave anyone confused. Do that and you should be in good shape. :)

letswritesomenovels

There Was: A Bad Way to Begin a Descriptive Sentence

Step up your descriptions by removing and replacing two small words.

I’ve already written a guide to passive voice for this blog, so if you want to know what passive voice is, when to use it, and when not to use it, check out that post.

This is not about passive voice.

This is about something far worse. Sentences that begin with “there was.”

“There was” sentences are passive voice taken to the extremes— a sentence with no real subject and no real action. The least descriptive way to possibly describe something.

Let’s examine how egregious this sentence type truly is by breaking it down with an example: There was a writer. This sentence is passive, which means that not only is there no real action going on here, but your subject and direct object are confused.

What is “was”-ing in this sentence? The writer. They’re pretending to be the direct object, but they’re actually the subject of this sentence, so let’s rearrange it to reflect that.

The writer was there.

The. Writer. Was. There.

Now do you see how terrible this sentence is???

This is a nothingburger sentence. So you have a writer. What are they doing? Being. How/Why/Where are they being? There.

You are a better writer than that.

When we speak, and when we write casually we use “There was…” all of the time, because it’s an easy thing to say. There are no specifics, just a confirmation that a thing exists/existed.

Writing good description is all about multitasking.

You want your descriptions to reveal character and setting and continue the story and entertain your reader, all with as few words as possible. Good descriptions manage to do all four in a paragraph. The best descriptions manage it in a sentence.

“There was…” sentences barely manage to fulfill any one of those tasks. They’re a waste of at least two words, because “there” and “was” can as a rule be replaced by two much, much better words.

A writer sat alone.

A writer drank coffee.

A writer robbed Disneyland.

These are still short sentences with a lot of context missing, but save for “A writer drank coffee,” they all tell you more than “a writer was there.”

Let’s look at a longer example that contains two “there was” descriptions.

The room was small and cluttered. There were embroidered throw pillows on every available surface. One sat on the keys of the piano next to Emily. She picked it up. There was script scrawled on it in pink, cursive lettering: “Eat dirt and dance, scum.”

Emily carefully placed it back. Best not disturb anything, she thought.

Now, let’s look at that same passage with no “there was”s.

Embroidered throw pillows cluttered every available surface of the small room. One sat on the keys of the piano next to Emily. She picked it up and read the pink, cursive lettering scrawled on it: “Eat dirt and dance, scum.”

Emily carefully placed it back. Best not disturb anything, she thought.

Notice how much stronger my sentences are in the latter paragraph. I don’t need to say the room is cluttered, because I’m showing you what’s cluttering it. And by making “clutter” my verb, I’m removing two “to be” verbs that were simply taking too much space. I’m technically adding a word by replacing “there was” with Emily reading the letter, but making my character a more active participant in the scene is worth it.

Embroidered throw pillows and cursive lettering don’t “do” anything in any natural sense. They’re inanimate. They don’t run or write or drink. They just… exist. This makes it easy to, when writing, make existing their action.

Except this is a story and in stories, everything does more than simply exist.

Is the rug “there” or is it “covering a stained carpet” that embarrasses your protagonist or “silencing the intruder’s footsteps”?

“There are” may be a good way to start a sentence on rare occasions. (Like that one.) But if you want to write strong descriptions that pull your reader into the story be creative. Look at whatever you have simply existing and figure out what it’s actually doing in your scene.

writingquestionsanswered

Hey! I don't know if you're going to be able to help me with this but I have a question about publication. Do you know if it works in a similar way to a Tv series? Like if the first series doesn't hit targets it gets axed, can that happen to a book? My WIP is going to be a trilogy and i'm worried that I might not get the chance to tell my full story, if that makes sense 😅Thank you for always helping!

Can a Book Series Get Axed Like a TV Series?

This is kind of a complicated question, but I’ll do my best.

Theoretically, yes, a book series can be cancelled if sales on subsequent books don’t warrant continuation. However, it seems to be uncommon and more of an issue with really long genre series that don’t have mainstream popularity.

A publisher isn’t going to commit to publishing a series unless they are confident it’s going to sell well, which usually means the author is already a best seller with at least one successful series already under their belts.

Traditional publishers tend to contract one book at a time, with subsequent books dependent upon sales of the previous book. For that reason, first books in a series (especially from newer authors) have the ability to stand on their own, and if sales go well (or even if pre-sales indicators look good), they will probably commit to publishing the next book.

If you look at books like Twilight, The Hunger Games, Divergent, etc., you’ll note they all have resolved main plots and satisfying endings while still hinting at a continuing story. This way, if the publishers had decided not to publish the next book, the audience wouldn’t be left completely hanging.

Still, even if your first book gets picked up by a publisher, there’s no guarantee they’ll decide to publish the next book or the one after that. But, even then, your agent will probably try to find a new home for the next book. Still, there’s no guarantee you’ll get to tell the full story you want to tell, but even on the off chance that happened, as long as there are no contractual obstacles relating to the previous book/s, you could potentially self-publish any remaining books in the series and still be able to complete your story.

And, if you’re really worried, you can just self-publish from the start. I guess what I’m trying to say is don’t let this fear keep you from pursuing publication in whichever way you want to. If you want to get your complete story out there, you’ll probably be able to.

Good luck! :)ETA: “Stand alone” doesn’t mean it can ONLY stand on its own. It means it’s CAPABLE of standing on its own if it has to. And I promise you, no publisher is going to publish your book one if it isn’t capable of standing on its own. Unless you’re an already established, best-selling author. This is an industry fact and not something I’m just making up for my health. Someone used Brian Sanderson’s The Stormlight Archive series as an example, but the first book in that series was his tenth book. He was not a new or debut author. He had a longtime built-in audience that the publishers could count on to buy his books. It’s entirely different than being a new or relatively new author, in which case, YES, you need to make sure your books can stand on their own.

writingquestionsanswered

Hello! How can I describe someone in fear? Like if someone is in the dark alone, injured, and they don’t know what to do, how can I make it sound really terrifying? I have no problem visualizing the scene but I don’t know how I can describe it with words but at the same time, still make it as emotional as if it was in a movie, for example. Tried to look in the internet, but nothing seems to help much.

Describing a Character Who is Afraid

There are two components here:

1) What the character is feeling…

Here you’ll want to rely on the senses. What does the character see? What do they hear? What can they smell? What can they touch? What do they taste? What emotions are they feeling? How are those emotions registering physically for them? (Racing heart, shivering, nausea, etc.)

2) Painting a vivid picture…

As part of the above, you’ll want to paint a vivid picture of the scene using dark, spooky language that packs a punch. These posts will help:

Horror by DarknessHorror by Daylight How to Make Your Description More VividAdding Description to Your Writing Adding Emotional Details to a Horror/Tragedy Scene

Good luck!

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Have a question? My inbox is always open, but make sure to check my FAQand post master lists first to see if I’ve already answered a similar question. :)

madlori

Writing advice you're not going to like.

People sometimes send me Asks wanting writing advice. I suck at it. I don’t really know how I do the writing, or how one should do the writing, or what one should do to get better at the writing. All I can ever think to say is “write a lot of stuff and you will get better at the writing.” Which is true, but hardly a bolt from the sky.

Well, as it turns out, I do have one piece of Legit Writing Advice, and I am going to share it with you, right now. If you were in any of my writing workshop groups at a con, you’ve heard this advice already.

Warning: you’re going to fucking hate it. But if you do it, you will thank me.

If you have a piece of fiction you’re serious about, something you might want to actually shop around, or just something you really are into and want to make it as good as you can…do NOT edit it.

Repeat. DO NOT EDIT.

REWRITE.

As in, print out the whole fucking thing and re-enter it, every word (or use two screens). Retype the whole thing. Recreate it from the ground up using your first draft as a template. Start with a blank page and re-enter every. single. word.

I hear you screaming. OH MY GOD THAT’S INSANE.

Yes. Yes, it is.

It is also the most powerful thing you will ever do for a piece of fiction that you are serious about.

Now, let’s get real. I don’t do this for most things. I don’t do it for my fanfiction. But if it’s something original, something I might like to get to a professional level - I do it. You absolutely COULD do it for fanfiction. It’s just up to you and how much time you want to sink into a piece.

You can edit, sure. But you WILL NOT get down to the level of change that needs to happen in a second draft. You will let things slide. Your eyes will miss things. You will say “eh, good enough.”

The first time I did this, on someone else’s advice, I was dubious. Within two pages, I was saying WHY HAVE I NOT BEEN DOING THIS ALL THE TIME. I was amazed at how much change was happening. By the time I got to the end, I had an entirely different novel than the one I’d started with. When you’re already re-entering every single word, it’s easy to make deep changes. You’ll reformat sentences, you’ll switch phrases around, you’ll massage your word choice. You’ll discover whole paragraphs that don’t need to be there at all because they became redundant. You’ll find dialogue exchanges that need reimagining. Whole plot points will suddenly be different, whole story arcs will reveal their flaws and get re-drawn.

You cannot get down to the fundamental level of change that’s required just by editing an existing document. You have to rebuild it if you really want your story to evolve. You will be AMAZED at the difference it will make.

It will take time. It will seem like a huge, Herculean task. I’m not saying it’s easy. It isn’t. But it is absolutely revolutionary.

Try it. I promise, you will see what I mean.

*PSA: Tipsy!Lori wrote this post. In case you couldn’t tell.

mooncalfe-deactivated20231020

maybe i should try this with my comic scripts.

rosalarian

This advice is real.

phantomrose96

I reblogged this earlier on kind of a “that sounds interesting. might work, might not, can’t see it being drastically different but whatever I should try.” kind of note

I’ve got a short story due today at 5, so I decided to do this and completely rewrite the first draft.

OH. MY GOD.

This is legitimate. It’s let me completely gut scenes I was unhappy with, rewrite them entirely differently and not feel any loyalty to what I used to have.

It’s taking a long time. It’s a commitment. But heck so is writing.

This is great. Do this. It’s amazing.

crimsoncat21

This is such good advice. I’ve done it a few times, and it completely transforms your work. It’s a time consuming process, but it’s absolutely worth the investment. I highly recommend this on things you truly care about. It’s incredible.

sam-keeper

I was going to be like “this is ridiculous, what an unreasonable standard” and then go off in a huff to work on an article, and then I remembered that the way I write articles now is by doing an audio draft, and then basically rewriting the article entirely while listening to the audio draft… so… yeah. This is probably actually really good advice. >_>

tyypewriter

one day you’ll have written a novel of your own.

you’ll be able to hold it in your hands, feel the weight of it - each chapter, each page, each word that you so lovingly crafted. you’ll be able to watch each scene, something you built and tended and know most intimately, unfold beneath your hands again with every turn of the page. you’ll be able to run your thumb down the spine of the book and feel the shape of your name pressed into the side, because this is yours.

so keep writing. because your novel is just waiting for you to bring it into existence.