Daily Reminder

Lolita isn’t a love story

Lolita isn’t a love story

Lolita isn’t a love story

Lolita isn’t a love story

If you don’t think every girl with wildly curly hair is the most beautiful girl you’ve ever seen then you’re invalid

“You’ll say you’re sorry

Through your smile

And I’ll stay angry

For a while

And you’ll come over

And we’ll be sober

Until we’re not

And we would make out on my sofa

I'd wake up one morning sunny

With your arms around my chest

And it’d feel so good to be with somebody

I might just forget,”

ways to describe facial expressions in writing

humans can obviously talk to communicate, but you have to remember that, naturally, we use our face to show expressions as well.

EYES

- widened in surprise/shock, filled with confusion/hurt

- narrowed into a glare

- filled with tears

- looking down at the ground defeatedly

- gleaming with mischief

- shining with hope/determination

- burning with hate

- emotionless stare

EYEBROWS

- raised in surprise

- furrowed in confusion/thought/worry

- one eyebrow perked to show attitude

NOSE

- scrunched in digust

- blushing with embarrassment

- lifted higher = more confidence/bigger ego

- aimed lower = less confident/weak

MOUTH

- in a pout = upset

- gaping with shock/confusion

- lips shaking from trying to hold back tears

- pursed in thought

- pulled into a smirk

- widened into a grin

PUTTING THEM TOGETHER

- Eyes wide and mouth gaping, they felt numb with shock.

- They felt their face begin to burn as they shifted their gaze to the ground.

- They pursed their lips as they concentrated, brow furrowing.

- Their eyes gleamed with mischief as they smirked.

using facial expressions is very useful in writing. simply using dialogue to express your characters’ emotions and thoughts will lose your audience’s attention and interest.

keep these in mind while writing!

How To End Your Story

The Circle Ending- A story that does a full circle and comes back to the beginning

The Moral Ending- An ending where you learn a lesson and see the character develop

The Surprise Ending- A big plot twist last minute

The Reflection Ending- The Character looks back on their past achievements and experiences

The Emotional Ending- Leave your readers feeling sad, bittersweet, or happy

The Cliff Hanger Ending- End on something that will leave your readers at the edge of their seat

The Humor Ending- Finish in a funny or humorous way

The Question Ending- Make the reader wonder what will happen next

The Image Ending- Show, don’t tell

The Dialogue Ending- Finish with a quote from one of your characters

‘Tis I, a writer, togetherslapper of words.

Friendly reminder;

I wanna buy a copy of your future best seller.

I wanna wait in a long ass line to see you for a book signing.

I wanna dive head first into your book’s fandom.

I wanna draw fan art of your characters.

I wanna write fan fiction about your book.

I wanna preorder your book’s sequel the moment I hear you’re writing it.

I wanna follow all the tags about your book on Tumblr.

I wanna see you succeed.

*passionately thinks about story instead of writing it*

Filling In The Gaps

When we write, sometimes a story comes with all the pieces stuck together for you. Most of the time, it comes piece by piece. Here’s to finding the pieces to go with the ones you already have.

Need a Genre:

Need a Plot:

Need (a) Character(s):

Need a Setting:

Need a Scene:

I Just Need Something!:

Go forth and conquer, friends.

Writing Tip June 4th

A list of body language phrases.

I’ve included a very comprehensive list, organized by the type of body movement, hand and arm movements, facial expressions etc. In some cases, a phrase fits more than one heading, so it may appear twice. Possible emotions are given after each BL phrase unless the emotion is indicated within the phrase. (They are underlined for emphasis, not due to a hyperlink.)

Note: I’ve included a few body postures and body conditions as they are non-verbal testimony to the character’s physical condition.

Have fun and generate your own ideas.:-)

Eyes, Brows and Forehead

Place To Place, Stationary Or Posture

Head Movement

Mouth And Jaw

Nose

Face in General

Arm and Hand

Sitting or Rising

Recline

Entire body and General

-Sharla Rae

Reblogging for future everyday use

Holy blankets, Batman–

123 Ideas for Character Flaws

This graph is based on Joseph Campbell’s The Hero with a Thousand Faces.

Basically “The Hero’s Journey ‘W Graph’.

 I made the top picture by hand and scanned it. I’m sorry about the messy writing as I tried my best to make it as neat as possible, but my penmanship is not the best. 

THE FICTION WRITER’S CHEAT SHEET PICTURE DOES NOT BELONG TO ME.

So anyway, I got a few questions about planning stories and honestly I don’t plan them. I just do it from the top of my head–which is very bad, I know. But I am now starting to plan my stories and it does make it a bit more manageable and organized. Soooooo I went researching for tips and found something called Fiction Writer’s Cheat Sheet. I liked the idea of the “W Graph” so I decided to make it by hand in different colors. Then scanned it to have a digital copy to work on it through my computer in a pdf file or if I want to do it by hand I can just print one out. Always  make sure to “save as” a different document. 

I am not sure if something like this is already out there, but I thought it would be easier to have something printable out there and just plan it out, not having to struggle with the format.

Hope this comes in handy!!!

Good luck my fellow writers!

Magic and Rules

It may be extremely easy to just put magic into a story you’re creating, or explain away things with the excuse of “magic.”  But if that is how magic is handled in your world, readers are going to find major plot holes in your story.  Magic needs rules and guidelines, even in stories where it’s not in the foreground.  Without rules, magic could be the solution to all, or you end overpowering a character because he has no restrictions on how he can use his magic.

But where do you start when setting ground rules for how and when magic can be used?  My goal in this post is to give you some ideas while you map out your world of magic.

Who can learn magic? Is magic a thing that all people can learn, or certain people who have a knack for it?  Is magic something that can be learned at all?  Perhaps it’s only readily available for those who are born with it, such as the wizards in Harry Potter.  Or magic is contained in things, such as charms, amulets, or unicorn horns.  People may have to learn how to access the magic contained in these items, but they are solely reliant on items in order to use magic.  Perhaps magic can only be learned by certain races.

How is magic learned?  In Harry Potter, wizards go to school for seven years to learn how to use magic.  Other books wizards have apprentices they train.    Can magic be self-taught?  How does a person access magic?  Through emotion, thoughts, something else?  Perhaps learning magic requires a large sacrifice.

Does the magic need to be channeled?  Once again, using the example of Harry Potter, wizards need wands in order to use magic.  Other common themes involve wizards using staffs in order to use magic.  But there are stories where wizards don’t need an item to channel the magic, such as the wizards in the anime/manga series Fairy Tail.  Perhaps magic does need an item to be channeled through, but it doesn’t have to be the traditional wand or staff.

How often can a person use magic? Does magic use up a person’s energy, and therefore a person’s magic is limited to how much energy they have?  Perhaps they have a different “energy”, such as mana, that restricts how much magic they can use?  Maybe you want to go the Once Upon a Time route and magic isn’t used in excess because it comes with a price.  Perhaps how magic is used is why people don’t use it so often.  Maybe magic is used very often.

Does magic need incantations?  Harry Potter uses incantations, whether is it is verbal or non-verbal.  There does not seem to be an incantations in the magic that the Witch uses in the Chronicles of Narnia.  Incantations are used quite often in the Septimus Heap series.  And there no incantations in Lord of the Rings.  Or maybe incantations are reserved for the more powerful, older spells.  Perhaps incantations make a spell more stable. 

Can magic be invoked by using items?  Potions is one of the common ways this is used.  But sometimes certain spells can only be invoked by using ingredients, like in the show Charmed or the movie Practical Magic.  Perhaps it’s only used occasionally, such as some spells performed in the show Sabrina the Teenage Witch.  Maybe items are used in only certain branches, such as Divination in Harry Potter.

What cannot be done by magic?  With the Genie’s magic in Disney’s Aladdin, he could not make someone come back from the dead, fall in love, or grant more wishes.  Food cannot be created out of thin air according to the rules of magic in Harry Potter.  Actual love in Harry Potter can’t be created, but enchantments that cause the victim to have an obsessive type of love does exist.  Perhaps the dead can be raised, as evidenced by stories with necromancy, but it can’t actually bring back the person completely.  Something’s missing.  Perhaps only skeletons can be brought back, or the person comes back in a zombie like state.  Perhaps you would go so far as to say that magic cannot create permanent things out of nothing.

Does magic have categories/a way it is organized? Potions, Divination, Transifiguration, Charms, etc.  Or light, dark, chaos, order,  water, fire, etc.  Or human magic, dragon magic, unicorn magic, elf magic, etc.  And it doesn’t have to have only one way of organization.  It can have several levels, just like when science organizes living organisms. 

So these are few things to consider when creating magic.  The nature of your magic may not necessarily fit into all of these questions, and that’s fine.  But don’t be afraid to have long explanations for your magic.  You probably won’t fit it all in your story - in fact, you’ll want to be careful how you incorporate magic rules as you don’t want to infodump on your readers - but having the rules there will help you create your story and give you some answers to the why questions that might come up, such as, “why don’t they just magic themselves out?”

incorporating worldbuilding into writing

infodumps are boring and they suck. the key to worldbuilding is subtlety - throw in an offhand comment here, another mention there. your readers will gradually make a clearer picture of your world. 

do:

don’t 

of course, there are a bunch of other exceptions to this rule - this is just an idea to get you started. just keep this concept in mind while writing and use it when you think it’s appropriate. 

Worldbuilding Tips: The Five Visitors

You’ve done it. You’ve come up with an idea for your fantasy world, but right now it’s mostly curb appeal and decorations without much else. So, you have the skin and flavor of your fictional world, but what if you’re having a bit of trouble coming up with the meat needed to make your world juicy and delicious? Well, I have a little game that can help flesh out your world.

Imagine a ship or whatever other kind of vehicle arriving on the shores or outskirts of your fantasy land and from that vehicle emerges 5 people from our own mundane world: a historian, an economist, an anthropologist, a diplomat, and a cartographer. There are some other visitors, but these are going to be the most universally beneficial.

The Historian:

This person is going to be interested in the backstory of your world. They don’t need to know every minuscule detail (though they wouldn’t turn that much information down) and just a general overview would be much obliged. Many fantasy worlds such as Tolkien’s Middle Earth and Martin’s Westeros are far more rich and interesting due to the amount of effort put into crafting their world’s histories. If you’re stumped, look to real world history for inspiration. It doesn’t even need to come from the middle ages so long as it works for your story. You should be able to answer questions like: How long has the dominant civilization been around? What are the biggest defining moments in your world’s history? What things are common knowledge that every child is expected to learn (such as George Washington being the first president of the USA) and which stuff is known more by historians and social studies teachers? And as you’re discussing the rest of the visitors, think back on how the answers you give would impact the historical aspect.

The Economist:

You don’t have to know the exact cost of every single thing in your world, but have a good guess. Be able to at least have a scale of price. If someone can buy a loaf of bread for 13 of your world’s currency, but a house costs 17, that would mean that either that bread is very expensive, that house is very cheap, or each unit of your currency is equal to a lot of real world money. Whatever you use to refer to your currency, keep not only price scaling in mind, but economics. If you have a port city, there’s going to be a lot of merchants in that area. The first primary export you’re likely to see in such a port town would be seafood, but also keep in mind the things that are closet to that port, as well as the climate. Greece for instance is a very rocky and mountainous country, so while they can grow crops, they would not have been any match for medieval French Aquitaine, the crown jewel of medieval farming territory. It’s also worth remembering that food in the middle ages was far more valuable than it is today. There was an old saying that wheat is worth its weight in gold. It was southern France’s bountiful soil that caused it to become one of the richest and most coveted territories in medieval Europe.  So, keep in mind where resources would come from and where they would need to go, as well as trade that would be useful. A seaside farming town might not have any good access to raw minerals, while a city in the frozen mountainous north might not be able to grow crops, but are bountiful in minerals. The correlation of supply and demand now opens a vital trade route between them. This becomes more complex when the topic of war comes into play. The kingdom that supplies your crops and food is at war with your oldest ally. Now there’s a dilemma between having enough food to feed your people, or betraying the trust of a long time friend. Now your world building can be used as a part of your drama and narrative tension. The economy also impacts culture. What is considered a display of wealth, or is a common status symbol? What are the living conditions of the poor, the working class, the rich, and the aristocrats? Is there upward mobility? In the middle ages, you were what you were for the most part, especially serfs: peasants tied to their land. It was illegal to leave your territory, but there was a saying in the middle ages that “city air makes you free” that once a serf made it to a city, they’d be free of the life they’ve escaped.

The Anthropologist:

Every society has a culture. The way they act, think, dress, believe, talk. It’s all impacted by culture. Beliefs tend to be tied either to what has come before, or based on the world as observed. While many modern fantasy pantheons are based on ancient Greece, it’s not the only model to live by. In a loose interpretation, religion in it’s earliest stages was a rudimentary science used to explain why things happened. A culture that developed along rivers, sea coasts, and other popular trade routes are far more likely to be diverse melting pots due to the frequent traffic of people coming and going, and the common sight of foreigners choosing to set down roots. Meanwhile, a more out of the way and isolated culture is far less likely to have widespread cultural diversity. Tying back into history, a country that has experienced a number of successful wars may tend to think of themselves as invincible, or may try to police the issues of other countries, assuming they’re always on the right side, or that they can’t be defeated. The same culture may ask a high price of any other culture that asks them for militaristic support. Ask what things your people value, be they material or abstract ideals. However, try to refrain from creating a Planet of Hats, a trope often seen in Star Trek and similar Sci-Fi shows and even some Fantasy stories where everyone of a single race all have mostly the same skills, interests, personalities, and roles in the global culture. This is also the time to start thinking about myths, legends, folk heroes, and historical people and events worth celebrating, as this may be when you start to craft holidays or celebrations. This could also lead into discussing religion, and the gods or lack there of that might be celebrated by your culture. How does your society reflect itself in art, music, literature, dance. Does the way someone dresses tell you something about their place in society? Some taboos come from simple logic. The reason it’s frowned upon to eat a cow in India is the same reason it’s immoral to eat horse in western culture. Both are beast of burden livestock worth a lot more alive than dead. Cows produce milk, a source of nutrients and health. Horses are strong and were used in just about everything from plowing fields to pulling entire families or communities a great distance. Horses even became status symbols, as even in modern culture, owning a horse or pony is still considered to be (largely) a snobby rich person thing. Understanding not only what your people believe, but even just a vague idea why they would believe it is a vital aspect.

The Diplomat:

As this landing party is your fantasy world’s first contact with our own reality. How would they react to the newcomers? If there’s more than one society in your world, how would each society, country, kingdom, race, etc. react to something completely foreign? Would they try to forge an alliance? Open trade negotiations? Declare war? Prepare a feast? How would they feel about the way we dress? act? talk? How would they react to different levels of progression in technology? Could an unbiased third party from our world help two feuding sides come to peace with one another? How would they feel about knowing of a world beyond their own? Are there actions or behaviors acceptable in our own society that are considered offensive to them?

The Cartographer:

Although it’s not necessary that all fantasy worlds have a fully designed map, it is a good idea to have at least a rough idea of where things are in relation to one another. This can tell you about climate, resources, wildlife, natural borders, natural disasters, food chains, and more. It’s worth at least taking a crash course in understanding how geographical biomes tend to be laid out in order to make your world feel more real. Some authors claim that a world map is the single most important feature, others say it’s not that important. Frankly, trust your gut based on the kind of world you have. You may need a map, you may not. It really depends on the size and scope of your world. For instance, with Disney’s

Zootopia

, the entire world doesn’t matter. The audience doesn’t need to know where in the world Zootopia is, or what climate or biome it’s in. Zootopia itself is the world being built, and the separate districts and biomes of the city explain the world that’s being focused on.

Secondary Visitors:

They may still be important to your world, but are less likely to be universally helpful to all people.

Biologist: if your world has creatures beyond those found in our real world, it may be worth exploring how their bodies work on a more scientific level in order to give more realistic weight to their supernatural abilities.

Linguist/Translator: If you feel compelled to come up with a language no matter how basic or complex, it may be worth while to consider the problems with communication. this may also extend to unique idioms, colloquialisms, and slang native to your fantasy world.

Teacher/Scholar: Regardless of whether or not there is a formal education system in place in your world, a teacher may be interested in how knowledge is passed down, and what information the culture might have that would be unknown to people of our world. Whether that’s how to keep a wild animal from charging you, to knowing how to forge a mineral that exists only in your world, being able to readily answer questions is generally considered to be a good thing.

Healer: There may be healing spells in your world, there may not, but most fantasy stories tend to involve either action or adventure, both of which tend to cause fights. And since fights tend to lead to injuries, it’s important to know what can and cannot be treated, and how readily available these healing abilities are to the public.

unpopular opinion but that post that’s like “I don’t consider fantasy world building complete until you can tell me about common grammar mistakes in your conlang and what books are popular now verses in the past” is a bad post. 

When you’re world building, you should really, really stick to the stuff that’s going to be relevant to your story. You should NOT throw in details into a story that are unnecessary to that plotline. A dedicated fan of your series might really want to know more about the humor of your world’s people, but generally speaking that’s where they start to fill in the blanks themselves. 

I don’t know a damn thing about toy production in Lord of the Rings or common grammar mistakes in Dovahzul. I don’t want to know about how people in Narnia get an education or what people in Westros read for fun. It isn’t important. DONT waste your time developing these things when you can be spending your time actually writing your story. 

naming characters

reasons why writers choose the character names they did:

all great, of course. but consider the following:

To all of my fellow writers who:

🌸are just starting to write their first fics🌸

🍀want to post what they write but are too shy🍀

⭐️are worried their work won’t be appreciated or no will like it⭐️

🌺Have or suffer from any issues (anxiety, dression, or any other)🌺

🍄and everyone who can read this message🍄

To all of you, remember this; the amount of ‘likes’ that you see people leave when they see your work is a number. If is a high number, good! keep working hard. If is a low number, good too, even if you don’t see any number.

The amount of likes you receive for your work should always be a plus to the writing experience. It does not measure the quality of what your work or if is good enough. I know it sounds cliché, but it’s true, how much effort, patience, dedication and love you put on what you do is what gives your work value.

Everyone starts at some point, that doesn’t mean your work isn’t good. Love your writing, love your characters, love the scenarios you develop the story, love every single detail and enjoy each and every minute of it! And then (if you want) share it with the world, and no matter what you may think; someone will see it and love it!

That’s what writing is about, isn’t?