Hi everyone! This is a little new to me so please humor me. I’m Buttbag, or BB, my pronouns are she/they, and this is my Writeblr. I’ve been on tumblr since 2013 but this little corner of it is new to me. As of now I like to write but nothing I’ve done feels worthy, but I’m hoping with being on here then maybe I can get myself to come out of my shell a little bit. My favorite genre to write is fantasy, from high to low.
My primary focus as of right now is to develop my characters and world more. I hope to have more links for you soon!
So some of my clients & people I’ve consulted over the past few months have expressed some difficulties in organizing a writing routine for themselves when they are struggling with their ADHD.
Having ADHD as an aspiring writer can be really difficult and frustrating.
I just want to add a quick disclaimer that I have not been diagnosed with ADHD myself, but I have worked with several clients who struggled with this, and done some research online to compile a few tips you might be able to implement in your writing! (I will also link to some articles I read at the end of this post).
So let’s go!
💻 Turn off the internet
This popped up as one of the most common pieces of advice for ADHD writers. Eliminating distractions can be hard, but turning off your wifi altogether might help with at least a few of them.
Train yourself to disconnect when it’s writing time, and see whether this affects your productivity positively! Going into work more deeply for a few hours is always more productive than 20 mins here and there.
📚 Delay the research
This can be really difficult if you’re writing historical fiction, or anything set in an area that requires some level of prior knowledge to write about. But, wherever possible, if you can save yourself pausing to research whether a certain item or word is plausible for you to use in that specific moment, then you should.
Leave it, make a quick note that that’s something to research later, and keep going. You can even dedicate certain pockets of time to research, while others remain exclusive for writing.
📌 Test out radical changes
Something that came up as a common downfall was losing interest halfway through the project, or dropping it after the first chapter.
If you find yourself losing interest in the project, maybe try out making a radical change to a part of your plot, one that might inspire you for the story once again. Of course, make sure that this change fits in with the rest of your story as you begin to implement it.
🔐 Succinct & clear goals
This is something I recommend to any writer or artist of any kind! Keep your goals as clear and small as possible. The more specific you are with a goal, the less overwhelming it will feel.
Think of breaking down a big goal of “I’ll finish my book this year” into “I’ll finish 5 chapters this month” or even “1 chapter this week.” Go as small as is comfortable for you!
🌍 A fine line between plotting & exploring
This is an issue that comes up for writers who have a tendency to get bored with their projects if they don’t keep some element of surprise to it. I’d recommend finding a good balance between how much you plot out, and how much you allow yourself to discover along the way.
Find your most important plot points, and let your creativity fill in the gaps!
👉 Tools to help you out
Stay on task - browser extension that checks in on you at timely intervals to make sure you’re working on your chosen task
Don’t come for my head for saying this but: writer’s block is curable.
It presents itself to many writers, and most of them don’t know what to do with it, except sit in it and complain.
But sitting with it and reinforcing that negative feeling around your writing is only going to make you experience the block more often and for longer periods of time.
What can you actually do about it?
Dig deep and find the root cause.
Whenever this feeling of procrastination occurs, examine what led you there. Personally, I find this manifests in 3 main areas:
📑 Clarity
You don’t know enough about your project’s direction and plot 👉 time to revisit that outline
❤️ Purpose
You don’t know why the heck you’re writing this project 👉 time to dig deeper into themes and your bigger story questions
🧠 Mindset
You’re mentally drained, or you have limiting beliefs like impostor syndrome 👉 time to rest and work on your wellbeing.
You can dig much deeper into these issues and identify your exact problem, but only if you stop ignoring it, thinking you’re “lazy” or “procrastinating”. That’s only going to make the problem worse!
If you need a place to start and find your clarity, sign up for my free 12-week novel plan. It comes with some extra email lessons, one of which dives into the biggest mindset block keeping you form writing!
Sign up for your free copy through the [link here] or below!
If your plot feels flat, STUDY it! Your story might be lacking:
Stakes - What would happen if the protagonist failed? Would it really be such a bad thing if it happened?
Thematic Relevance- Do the events of the story speak to a greater emotional or moral message? Is the conflict resolved in a way that befits the theme?
Urgency - How much time does the protagonist have to complete their goal? Are there multiple factors complicating the situation?
Drive - What motivates the protagonist? Are they an active player in the story, or are they repeatedly getting pushed around by external forces? Could you swap them out for a different character with no impact on the plot? On the flip side, do the other characters have sensible motivations of their own?
Yield - Is there foreshadowing? Do the protagonist's choices have unforeseen consequences down the road? Do they use knowledge or clues from the beginning, to help them in the end? Do they learn things about the other characters that weren't immediately obvious?
i made a character sheet. free to use as you wish, feel free to change whatever you want XD open source ass thing. spent all of ~maybe an hour on it.
Credit: the text in the insert-image box comes from this video, and the text for the top three lines (intense, complex, fruity) comes from this post. The actual image was made with the free NBOS character sheet creator, which is a sort of dated but free and solid text-layout sheet maker intended for ttrpg style character sheet creation.
this is GENUINELY one of the best character development sheets I've ever seen. Cuts right to the core of what you and your readers will glom onto, doesn't waste time on details that don't directly affect the narrative. Stupendous. Effervescent. Finally, some good fucking food
I have a few things I would like to say to you... please take these messages to heart instead of arguing that they don't pertain to you because yes, yes they do. They pertain to every one of you.
1 - I don't care how impatient your readers get as you're taking your breaks, you deserve to have them. Not just because you're putting out writing, but because you exist. Even when you're not in the midst of writing, which can be a really draining activity of its own right, but because you exist, which can also be exhausting. Please take care of your mind. Your readers can wait.
2 - Quality over quantity. It's better to have fewer readers/followers but that respect you and your time and are patient and kind to you than to have thousands of them that have no respect for you. Choose quality over quantity every time. It's better for you and your mental health.
3 - Your mental health should always come first. Feel exhausted? Get rest. Feel burnt out? Take a break. A reader constantly bringing you down? Block them. It's okay. You'll have other readers. Your mental health comes first.
4 - FANFICTION IS REAL WRITING. They're putting in the time. They're putting in the research, the effort, the blood sweat and tears. They're doing all the same work original fic writers are. Sometimes even more, so respect them as writers. Support them. Love them and appreciate them. Stop being elitist about writing. We all struggle, stop making it worse for them.
5 - Thank you. You are wonderful and deserve so much love and support for what you do. Remember that you are appreciated, even if it doesn't feel like it. You are loved and appreciated.
Liv’s {Totally Optional Non-Mandatory Completely Voluntary} Pointers for Fleshing Out Character Relationships
Hi I’m liv e. and by middling demand I am going to blab a liiittle* bit about relationships.
So I will start by saying that I’m trained & licensed as a marriage and family therapist. So this is kind of what I do all fucking week. And I like this whole writeblr thing so why not make it fun and about fiction instead. LOL.
The purpose of this liiiiittle** post is to offer some ways in which you, a writer (great job btw!), might deepen your own understanding of the relationships between two or more characters in your writing. More specifically, by thinking a little deeper about how relationships function in real life.
These are ways in which I might conceptualize a relationship between people who seek my services as a clinician.
A small disclaimer: the VAST majority of my work is with couples (because I. prefer to see couples over families, lol), so this advice is coming from that perspective. Please keep in mind also that there are certainly infinite other ways to think about relationships. This is just the way I was trained. Or at least, the parts of my training that resonated with me the most, especially as I began writing more seriously.
My hope is that reading and practicing/toying around with these tips will help add another dimension to how relationships play out in your writing. So um. Cheers! Let’s chat.
Don’t we all wish our readers would love our favorite original couple just as much as we writers do?
Well, here are my best tips for a romance that will shake their hearts!
💜 Conflict & Tension
This is a common piece of advice when writing romance, largely due to the “enemies to lovers” trope, but keep in mind that even beyond this - conflict is the base of interesting storytelling. Even outside this trope, your romance should thrive under conflicting motives, goals & personalities. How two people come to understand and love each other despite these differences, is what makes this a worthwhile investment for your readers.
💜 Ups & downs
Similarly, every romantic plot should have its ups & downs in order to remain interesting. A relationship in which everything works out and the sun shines every day is going to bore readers to death.
💜 Emotional attraction
In a book, delivering emotional attraction is so much more powerful than any physical closeness could ever be. Make sure that your romance isn’t simply based on the physical progression of closeness, but also shows the couple uncovering emotional depths within each other and loving those more than they could possibly love the exterior.
💜 Individualism
Each person in a couple should still be their own person outside of the relationship. Unfortunately, this is such a common trap where the relationship becomes the character’s only goal in the book, and if you take that out of the equation, they’re not much of a person at all. Give both of the characters their very own time to shine.
💜 Trust
If I had to pick one defining quality of a good relationship above all others, I would pick trust. There’s nothing quite as comforting as seeing an existing relationship where both parties are comfortable in letting the other be.
Also...
It’s happening! Novel Plotting Academy is FINALLY BACK, and it’s bigger and better than ever!
We have added 5 FULL NEW MODULES, and extra lessons inside the already existing ones, essentially doubling up the size of the course.
NPA is my magnum opus — a digital course that teaches you literally everything you need to know about structuring and writing a really effing good book.
When we first launched the course last year (at half its current size!), we already had students who finished plotting their books in less than a WEEK, and then went on to finish their drafts in just a few months following. How freaking insane is that?
I’m so psyched to be launching NPA 2.0, and I can’t WAIT for you guys to get your hands on this one.
Sign up to my e-mail list through the [link here] or below to be informed as soon as this drops! (also, my email subscribers get all the exclusive details, discounts, and freebies first, so it’s worth being on it, if you aren’t already!)
The Plottery offers writing services such as book coaching, book editing, novel plotting digital courses, and theory books on the craft of w
Titania is heir to the throne of a line of the High Queens of Trithos. She does as requested of her but will do it in how she sees best. Her closets confidants are her sister Evera, and cousins August and Aurelia. She wears clothing that are often in pastels and flowing usually added with flowers and soft pinks. Although she appears soft she is anything but. Her magic stems from sunlight and she has gained healing abilities from her father’s side. Not only is she formidable in magic but she is also a skilled warrior.
