dru-reads-writeblr

[dru-reads-writeblr]

day 1 at the communal puzzle club: i see a puzzle with a sign next to it that says "please help with our communal puzzle" and i say to myself "don't mind if I do" and did the whole thing

[dru-reads-writeblr]

this 'being really tired after work' thing is really getting in the way of this 'pursuing my artistic hopes and dreams' thing has anyone else noticed this

[dru-reads-writeblr]

5 Tiny Writing Tips That Aren’t Talked About Enough (but work for me)

These are some lowkey underrated tips I’ve seen floating around writing communities — the kind that don’t get flashy attention but seriously changed how I write.

1. Put “he/she/they” at the start of the sentence less often.

Try switching up your sentence rhythm. Instead of

“She walked to the window,”

try

“The window creaked open under her touch.”

Keeps it fresh and stops the paragraph from sounding like a checklist.

2. Don’t describe everything — describe what matters.

Instead of listing every detail in a room, pick 2–3 objects that say something.

“A half-drunk mug of tea and a knife on the table”

sets a way stronger tone than

“There was a wooden table, two chairs, and a shelf.”

3. Use beats instead of dialogue tags sometimes.

Instead of:

"I'm fine," she said.

Try:

"I'm fine." She wiped her hands on her skirt.

It helps shows emotion, and movement.

4. Write your first draft like no one will ever read it.

No pressure. No perfection. Just vibes. The point of draft one is to exist. Let it be messy and weird — future you will thank you for at least something to edit.

5. When stuck, ask: “What’s the most fun thing that could happen next?”

Not logical. Not realistic. FUN. It doesn’t have to stay — but chasing excitement can blast through writer’s block and give you ideas you actually want to write.

What’s a tip that unexpectedly helped with your writing? Let me know!! 🍒

[dru-reads-writeblr]

writing tip #3869:

i asked my fiancée what she thought today's writing tip should be and she said, "you should write your fucking novel," and well, she got me there

[dru-reads-writeblr]

Sometimes when doing writing research you find a little factoid that isn’t right for tormenting YOUR blorbos, but it is PERFECT for tormenting a friend’s blorbos so you just drop the fact on their doorstep like a demented little present.

[dru-reads-writeblr]

[dru-reads-writeblr]

"what's the worst thing you can do as an artist" is not "shade with black" or "not use references" or whatever the worst thing you can do as an artist is hate yourself. and that includes the person you used to be

[dru-reads-writeblr]

Character concept for an urban fantasy story:

A guy who looks 100% human but is dressed like an orc, walks like an orc, speaks the local Orcish dialect as fluently as a native speaker, and is covered in orc tattoos. One with a more educated eye on the matter could see that the tattoos are not human mimicry of orc tattoos, but the genuine real deal. Orcs do not tattoo anyone outside of their own tribe, and if you ask the guy how he got them, he looks insulted and says that his grandma made them for him. His last name is an orcish clan name.

On a second look, one could guess that he's a half-orc who inexplicably just managed to not inherit any physical traits from his other parent. He is, however, not a half-orc. His little sister is, though. Their mother doesn't have any family of her own, and he was two years old when the two of them escaped from his father. He has no memory of his father, and doesn't care to have a human family - his stepfather's family is their family now.

He doesn't know his biological father's name, where he lives, or whether he's even alive or not. He's entirely unaware that his father died years ago, alone in his home, from a mysterious spontaneous case of Orc Dagger Shoved Down His Throat.

[dru-reads-writeblr]

i love these two characters. i need to trap them in a collapsed building so they can talk about their feelings as one of them slowly bleeds out.

[dru-reads-writeblr]

this promoting other oc-related blogs thing made me want to promote some blogs that are similar to mine!

there are so many blogs for oc questions and I think that's amazing! personally I feel that there can never be too many. my love for these blogs is what made me want to start my own!

so here are some oc question blogs I highly recommend checking out (in no particular order):

@characterbabble

@ocprompts

@ocquestionnaire

@oc-extraordinaire

@oc-celebration

@oc-dev

@oc-dev-prompts

@yourocdoeswhat

@develop-your-oc

@oc-factoids

@ocwonderland

@ocscenarios

feel free to add your own recommendations if your favorites weren't mentioned here🫶

[dru-reads-writeblr]

Would anyone be interested if I put together a post on how to write a scientist/engineer/techy/smart-guy type character? What would y'all want to know?

[dru-reads-writeblr]

i am so genuine when i say that people love to listen to you here btw. no, you're not talking too much. no, you don't need to shut up or quiet down. no, you're not spamming the dash.

it is so easy to be unkind to yourself. keep posting your fics whether you think they are good or bad - to everyone else, especially the people who support you, they are a product of everything you are and your efforts and hard work and creativity. we'll love it all the more. share your ocs-- you created someone and brought life into them !! that's incredible. and share your selfships -- the lore, the little things!! if it is a great comfort to you, then it is a great comfort to us as well. it is okay to be yourself here and to share the things you love and care about whether you make content or not. please don't ever let doubt or anyone else push you down. you're doing just fine. you have every right to exist in this space

[dru-reads-writeblr]

trauma therapy has been swell

[dru-reads-writeblr]

writing tip #3863:

sleep

[dru-reads-writeblr]

I know tag wranglers do a lot of work connecting tags etc. Is there anything authors can do to make their jobs easier for them like trying to mostly use canonical tags or not making tag comments?

Thanks!

This is a great question, and I'll do my best to answer it but I do hope that some wranglers add on in the notes! I'm also just going to preface this with the fact that you should still tag however you like to tag. This list isn't meant to be a checklist or anything. It's just info I've picked up over the years and you can take or leave each piece as you see fit.

Okay, so the first thing that most non-wranglers should know is that wranglers see tags separately from the fic. They get a big bin full of tags to sort through and match up in the system, but they'll only see your fic and the other tags you've added to it if they decide to go look.

That's important to know because sometimes a user will tag something like [character] is so sexy and then also tag by which I mean they're a huge dork. The wranlger won't see that second tag and won't know that they're connected so your sarcastic tag will end up synned (matched up to) sexy!Character or whatever the canonical is, as if that was the meaning you were going for.

Another good thing to know is that tags can only be synned if they only have 1 idea in them. So if you tag, say, [character] is gay and autistic then the wrangler can't actually syn that to either [character] is gay or character is autistic because it only half-fits either tag. To have them synned in the database, you would need to tag those two ideas separately.

You might have already seen the post I made referencing the fact that you don't have to tag multiple versions of the same idea (unless you want to for the aesthetic) because the synning that wranglers do makes sure that tagging one idea allows users to filter for all versions of that idea. But in case you didn't know that, now you do!

Wranglers are often members of the fandoms they wrangle, but they aren't always. Sometimes they'll take on a fandom that doesn't otherwise have a wrangler because they like to do research or because they like small fandoms or for many other reasons. But that means that if you're tagging your OCs by name, you should add (OC) to the end so that they know it's not a canon character that they aren't familiar with. This is double true in huge fandoms like Star Wars where there are millions of canon characters and just as many OCs.

Wranglers don't "seed" tags in fandoms. For a tag to exist, users need to create it. The rule of thumb is at least 3 fics from 3 separate authors, but that's very much the minimum and in fast-moving or huge fandoms the bar is probably higher. Also, for brand new fandoms, it's entirely possible that they won't know you exist until you tell them. Back in January I was the first person to write in a brand new fandom so I knew I had to start the tags, and I waited until there were 25 or so works by 15 or so creators before I emailed Support because I know I have to be patient - but I'm still impatient by nature lol.

Another thing to know is that tags are kind of like proton packs - they can't cross the streams. If you put a tag in the Character field by mistake, wranglers can't move it to the Additionals. This can also work in your favour, though, because if you have a minor character or minor relationship that you want to tag because there's some kind of fandom drama happening and people want to be able to avoid them, you can tag them in the Additional Tags so that people can know they're in there, but the people who like that character or ship can still filter the Character and Relationship tags without seeing a bunch of works that don't really focus on them.

This got super long, so I'll end with your question about tag comments. I know people worry that it makes extra work for tag wranglers if you get all chatty in your fic tags but I've been reassured by more than one wrangler over the course of several years now that it's no extra work. They just shovel those tags into the gaping maw of the Unfilterable Beast - which is the same thing they do with those tags that have multiple concepts in them. If it can't be synned, then that's where they go.

(keep tagging that way, though, if you like to because that's how new concepts get created and eventually canonized)

Alright, I that's all I can think of off the top of my head, and the list was actually longer than I thought! Wranglers: please do add on with other things you wish users knew, and please correct me if anything has changed since the last time I delved into this topic!

[dru-reads-writeblr]

Quick Editing Tip: Down & Up

The words “down” and “up” are often unnecessary and can be edited out of your writing. More often than not, their meaning is implied in the words they’re attached to.

Before:

I sat down on the couch.

After:

I sat on the couch.

Down is implied in the verb “sit,” so it’s unneeded. Same thing goes for “up” in many cases:

Before:

I stood up.

After:

I stood.

Unless you’re a soldier, you probably aren’t going to “stand down,” so you can safely omit the “up.”

Of course, there are times when the words “down” or “up” are necessary. A quick test to see if they’re needed is just to delete them. If the sentence still makes sense without them, you’re good to go. If not, put them back in.

Hope this helps!

[dru-reads-writeblr]

You asked for it - I have delivered! The letters of the Yarezellan language!