random-writing-tips

[random-writing-tips]

prompt 1786

Words associated with flying:

soar

drift

float

wing

air

bird’s eye

flutter

lift

current

glide

rise

take off

hover

levitate

luff

dive

sky

flap

float

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For cooking scenes, how would one go about it? I don't want to do every single detail, but I want to use it in a way to show a relax environment, probably good for romance or just plain old bonding

So the thing to remember about scenes like this is that they're usually not about the action (cooking), but something else (the emotions behind the cooking). So when you have a scene like this, you're going to be thinking about how to convey those emotions via the cooking. For example:

A husband is making a cake for his wife. Is he

Making it because he wants to surprise her for her birthday? He's thinking about her while making it, so he might be stirring the batter the way he's seen her do it (emotional connection) - or the way he remembers his grandmother doing it, thinking about how he wishes the two could have met (surprise backstory!)

Making it in the attempts to make up for a fight? He's still anxious and penned up, and accidentally drops the eggshells in the batter. He's still angry, and doesn't measure the ingredients right - and the cake turns out a disaster! How's he going to apologize now?

You should also consider non-Western styles of writing - the cooking scene is there because food is an essential part of life. Think of food preparation scenes in Ghibli movies, how the focus is not just on how the food is being made, but the food itself. Sometimes scene and setting trump forward action, and if food is an essential part of your character's world and lives, it deserves to have its own focus.

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any easily-overlooked character building questions i probably need to ask myself about my character(s) ? thank you !!

Character building questions:

What are your character's core traits? If you had to sum them up in two, what would they be?

What makes your character special and distinct from others in your cast?

What makes you character unique for readers? What will make them memorable compared to similar stories in your genre?

What makes the character relatable? What traits, fears, backstory, wants, dreams or problems will be easy to idenitify with?

Do you know your character's arc in the story? Describe it in a few sentences.

Does your character have a wound from their past they are dealing with? Will they get a wound during the story? In other words, what will be their greatest challenge and where does it come from?

One of my favourite things to do when building interesting characters: contradictions. What about them is contradicting that will make them stand out? This could be a trait combination (like arrogant but hardworking) or fears vs ambitions (want to find friends but hate meeting new people) a conflict of dreams (they want to travel around the world but also help their sibling with their new child) or a conflict of needs or obligations (they want to be with their family but can't stand their overbearing mother) etc.

Some core questions about the whys and hows they do things. Are they idealists or loyalists? Do they like to improvise or plan? Do they follow logic or their feelings? Are they more practical or abstract?

Another cool exercise is skimming through character personality tests. If you can pinpoint who your character is in the profiles you probably know them well. Try MBTI, Enneagram, @sortinghatchats, 12 archetypes etc.

Any habits, quirks, preferences about them? This can be a nice touch of realism (do they bite their nails, like close spaces, sing when alone, give people weird nicknames etc).

Hope that helps! Don't hesitate to ask any writing questions you might have^^

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Hi, sorry if I missed this in your FAQ, but do you have any advice on how to incorporate humor into a story? Also, how do you know when something is funny?

How to Write Humor

Humor is very hard to pull off for writers. Many aspects of humor depend on a person’s expression and delivery, on the way they say the joke and how they hold themselves while they speak. It relies on the inflection of the voice and certain hand gestures and expressions.

With writing, all you have are words on a page and the reader’s imagination, and it can be especially hard to write humor if you don’t find yourself funny and aren’t quite a comedian.

Here are some tips on how to write funny jokes and humor into a story and make sure that it stays funny. 

1. Don’t Use Memes or Modern “Slang” as the Punchline

The thing about memes and slang is that they come and go. There’s a new viral meme every week, and trends are born and die faster than you can blink. 

Once these things go out of date--whether they be turns of phrase or certain words-- society often brushes them off as “cringey” and will often react negatively to seeing it in a story. 

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve read an older fic and they’d refer to dogs as “doggos” or say something like “it do be like that sometimes” and even though it might’ve been funny during the height of these trends, now they make me make a face and squirm a little in my seat. 

The best way to keep hip is to not keep hip, so to speak. Come up with your own original content and your own original jokes and your writing will remain nice and ageless, withstanding the test of time and the test of cringe culture. 

2. Randomness and Spontaneity Jokes are Best Left for Visual and Auditory Media

This kind of humor revolves around people blurting out random things and is kind of reminiscent of slapstick comedy. 

Think of this TikTok audio that has been going around recently which involves audio from the Cartoon Network TV show Johnny Test: 

“Why did you resist a police officer?” 

“Why are you police officers?” 

“I blew up Malaysia.”

See how it doesn’t  make much sense in words? The only reason why this audio was funny was because of the way the actors spoke it and the way the punchline was delivered, which readers cannot imagine in their minds if they’ve never heard it before. 

 This kind of humor comes off as childish and low brow, and will make more mature audiences uncomfortable rather than entertained. Having characters blurt out things that make no sense in the middle of a dialogue just interrupts the story and brings it to a grinding halt, and I see this mistake primarily made with fic writers struggling to make their stories more humorous. 

It’s like the dialogue equivalent of dropping an anvil on your character; although it’s funny when it happens to Wile E. Coyote, it’s not funny when it comes to written word. 

3. Dry Humor is the Easiest Humor!

Dry humor, also known as deadpan, is the deliberate display of emotional neutrality that’s meant to be blunt, ironic, laconic or apparently unintentional. 

It’s not a “joke” or a “pun” that’s told specifically to make people laugh (i.e. “Where do cows go on dates?” etc.), it’s just something that people say the just so happens to be funny. 

In my personal opinion, dry humor is the easiest way to bring humor into your story. It doesn’t require any characters to be “jokesters” and it doesn’t require a lighthearted situation. It’s just a remark--perhaps about a certain situation--that readers can interpret as humorous.

Some Examples of dry humor:

“You smell of death and destiny, of heroics and heartbreak!”

“It’s onion.”

--Jaksier and Geralt, The Witcher

*****

(Drilling sword stances...rather poorly)

“What the hell are you doing?”

“Practicing.”

“What, ways to die?”

--The Hound and Arya, Game of Thrones

*****

“My first girlfriend turned into the moon.”

“That’s rough, buddy.”

--Sokka and Zuko, Avatar: The Last Airbender

*****

“And what could be better than serving up smiles?”

“Being dead.”

--Spongebob and Squidward, Spongebob

4. Situations Can Be Funny, too, Not Just Dialogue!

Sometimes characters can get themselves into trouble in ways that may not be funny to them but can definitely be funny to a reader.

Tripping, hitting their head, stubbing their toe--especially during times of high tension--can be an excellent way to incorporate humor into your story. “This can’t get any worse” situations that get worse, a character being put completely out of their element, and other such things are all great examples of this

Just make sure to do it within reason, though, as to make sure you’re not falling into the random/spontaneous joke category!

5. Write What You Think Is Funny, But Make Sure Others Check It!

I know some people may be insecure in their ability to write jokes, but the easiest way to make sure your story is funny is to write what YOU think is funny. There’s a pretty good chance that you’re just your own worst critic!

I know for me personally, I found that when my friends were reading the earlier drafts of my books, they would find things that they thought were funny without me even intending for them to be a joke! Everyone’s sense of humor is different, and everyone will interpret your writing, in various ways. 

So write your story how you want to write it, and have someone read it over to make sure the jokes are funny! They don’t have to be laughing out loud--it’s possible for jokes to be hilarious without warranting an outward reaction--but as long as it makes them smirk at their book or perhaps let out a puff of air through their nose, it’s all worth it!

6. Read, Watch, and Listen!

The best way to learn how to write humor is to read, watch, and listen to humor. Look at comedians, at jokes in your favorite novels and TV shows:

What do they all have in common? What is it about them that really makes you laugh? How can you embody that in your story?

A little research never hurt anyone, and hey, maybe you might be able to improve your own sense of humor while you’re at it!

Hope this helped, and good luck!

[random-writing-tips]

Resources For Worldbuilding

Culture & Society

Creating Fictional Holidays

Music For Your Fantasy World

Creating Religions & Belief Systems

How to Design Your Diabolical Cult

Historically Accurate Sexism in Fantasy: Let’s Unpack That

Debate with the Squirrels: Sexism in Fantasy

Feudalism

Using Politics In Fantasy Fiction

Mythic Justice – Crime and Punishment in Your Fantasy World

Government Worldbuilding

Realistic Political Strife

A Politics Of Worldbuilding

Language

Creating a Language

The Language Construction Kit

The International Phonetic Alphabet – Audio Illustrations

Fantasy Name Generator

Geographic Names

Medieval Names Archive 

Squid Name Generator 

Model Languages

Xenolinguistics 

History

Prehistory

Mythos

History

Today

Myths, Creatures, and Folklore

Encyclopedia Mythica

The Ancient History Encyclopedia

Using History as Inspiration for Fantasy

Victorian Era Family Day Life in England

Peasant Life in the Middle Ages

Everyday Life in the Middle Ages

English Monarchs

Feudal Japan

The Story and Structure of the Iroquois Confederacy

Science + Geography

Dimensions

Solar Bodies

Climatology

Planetary Geography

Water Geography

Cartography, Maps, Star Charts, and Writing

Fundamentals of Physical Geography

Dating of Middle-earth events, using Precession of the Equinoxes and Tidal Friction

Orbital Operations in Science Fiction

Planet Designer

Artificial gravity calculator

Natural gravity calculator

Selden’s Catalogs of Objects for Celestia

Medieval Technology

Defining the Source, Effects, and Cost of Magic

How to Create a Rational Magic System

Miscellaneous

/r/worldbuilding

Fantasy World Generator

SciFi World Generator

Focused Ambiguity: Using Metaphor in Fantasy Writing

Space Engine

Terragen

The Five foundations of Worldbuilding

Setting the Fantastic in the Everyday World

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[random-writing-tips]

Tips for Writing a Difficult Scene

Every writer inevitably gets to that scene that just doesn't want to work. It doesn't flow, no matter how hard you try. Well, here are some things to try to get out of that rut:

1. Change the weather

I know this doesn't sound like it'll make much of a difference, but trust me when I say it does.

Every single time I've tried this, it worked and the scene flowed magically.

2. Change the POV

If your book has multiple POV characters, it might be a good idea to switch the scene to another character's perspective.

9/10 times, this will make the scene flow better.

3. Start the scene earlier/later

Oftentimes, a scene just doesn't work because you're not starting in the right place.

Perhaps you're starting too late and giving too little context. Perhaps some description or character introspection is needed before you dive in.

Alternatively, you may be taking too long to get to the actual point of the scene. Would it help to dive straight into the action without much ado?

4. Write only the dialogue

If your scene involves dialogue, it can help immensely to write only the spoken words the first time round.

It's even better if you highlight different characters' speech in different colors.

Then, later on, you can go back and fill in the dialogue tags, description etc.

5. Fuck it and use a placeholder

If nothing works, it's time to move on.

Rather than perpetually getting stuck on that one scene, use a placeholder. Something like: [they escape somehow] or [big emotional talk].

And then continue with the draft.

This'll help you keep momentum and, maybe, make the scene easier to write later on once you have a better grasp on the plot and characters.

Trust me, I do this all the time.

It can take some practice to get past your Type A brain screaming at you, but it's worth it.

So, those are some things to try when a scene is being difficult. I hope that these tips help :)

Reblog if you found this post useful. Comment with your own tips. Follow me for similar content.

[random-writing-tips]

So... I found this and now it keeps coming to mind. You hear about "life-changing writing advice" all the time and usually its really not—but honestly this is it man.

I'm going to try it.

[random-writing-tips]

How to write better descriptions

1. Avoid weak words

Compare these:

He ate the sandwich

She walked towards the lake.

to these: 

He devoured the sandwich 

She strolled towards the lake. 

Which sentences tells you more? The latter ones. Why? Because devoured and strolled are stronger words than ate and walked. They’re more specific, so they give you more information. To get across the same information with ate and walked, you’d have to add more words: ‘she walked slowly,’ ‘he ate quickly.’

Obviously this isn’t saying you can only ever use strong words–that would likely quickly devolve into purple prose–but If your descriptions only ever include general terms: ‘it smelled good’ ‘he walked over to greet her’ etc. you’re making it harder for your reader to get an accurate picture of whatever is happening in your scene. 

So how do you spot a weak word? The biggest problem with (and easiest way to spot) a weak word is that it needs support from other words to really get its meaning across. If you find yourself adding adverbs and adjectives to a term, question whether or not there’s a more concise way to get your point across instead. 

2. Be Specific Where Details Are Important

This isn’t to say you should describe everything in every scene in perfect detail, but being specific matters. 

Which is more engaging? 

He devoured the sandwich 

The book smelled magical.

or

He devoured the sandwich, stopping only to lick up the melted cheese that seeped through his fingers and ran down his palm. 

The book smelled like a sunlit afternoon. 

Again, the latter ones. They take you into the scene. They evoke the senses. It’s the difference between telling and showing. Devoured is a strong verb, but it doesn’t give us a clear image of what is happening. Showing the character licking away the cheese gives the reader a sense of the desperation and hunger of the action. Evoking a sunlit afternoon is evoking your reader’s memories of their own sunny afternoons.These examples are statements with evidence. They provide details. 

You want to invite your reader into the scene, not give them a summary of the events.

Additionally, specifics make the world feel real. They convince readers that the world actually exists. They keep the story in your readers’ minds once they’ve finished reading. 

This being said, don’t pull a GRRM and describe every meal your characters eat. Some things just aren’t that important. There are MANY occasions when it’s okay to tell instead of show. 

3. Remember the point of view.

Who is giving the description? 

If you’re writing in 1st person or 3rd person limited, remember how your character feels about what you’re describing. If you’re describing a strawberry field, a person who was raised on a strawberry farm is going to see it differently than someone who is deathly allergic to strawberries, who is going to see it differently from a Beatles fanatic. 

Maybe the Beatles fanatic is deathly allergic to strawberries and this field brings up a whole bucketful of conflicting emotions.

Which is all to say: 

Good descriptions reveal character as well as scene. 

If this description is coming from a character’s point of view: what is that point of view? What is this scene making your character feel? Don’t let your narrator slip away from the page. 

This connects to my last point. 

4. Remember why you’re including it. 

Novel writing is persuasive writing. It’s an exercise in persuading your reader that your story is true, that your characters are real people. It’s an exercise in persuading your readers to feel what you want them to feel. 

(There’s a well-known quote about this somewhere, but I can’t remember it exactly.)

Every description must add to the story. It should be doing something: working for some larger goal, advancing the plot, revealing character. 

Maybe you’re describing a house because you want your reader to see why your character doesn’t want to move.  

Maybe you’re describing this lovely-smelling book because you want the reader to know that it’s important to the character. That her favorite memories are of reading it in the attic of her grandmother’s house. 

When you’re writing out a description, identify its purpose and make sure it fulfils it. 

It’s okay if at first you don’t know how the house makes the character feel, or if she’s running or strolling towards the lake, or why the book is so important. Sometimes you just know it’s there. That something happened. Usually things become clearer as you write further and get to know the story and characters yourself. 

Once you do know what you’re trying to say with your story, make sure you say it with every chapter, every description, and every word. 

[random-writing-tips]

A Tale of Astraphobia

As much as I love the sky, and the clouds that surrounds it. There’s also the darkness that creeps when the sky is filled with dread and the top of the world strikes bright and somewhere, in that place, where the light hits the ground. We don’t know what is happening then.

Could it have struken a poor soul? Would someone have lost a life from the hit? What would be on fire after it happens?

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Happy Birthday To Me

Happy Birthday To Me

A milestone age, wow. Honestly, when I was barely even a teenager, I never would’ve thought this day would come.

Its weird, how time can stop and focus on the harder aspects rather than speed through the process while formulating better an educated and possibly well rounded decision, or might I even say “outcome.”

I really just want this to pass by quickly. Kind of how when you go to get a…

[random-writing-tips]

Above the Ceiling Nightmares

Above the Ceiling Nightmares

November 4th 2019 Entry

  Above in the ceiling of the silent class, the whirring of an ac flaunts its power in the voluminous pattern it displays. Students surrounding the floor of the room, the silent chatter antagonizes the protective bubble that floats around a students’ mindless body. 

As focused as he got, he was able to fixate on where the silent screams were emerging from. Students…

[random-writing-tips]

During an assignment I was given, we were all given this sheet to learn more about our dreams and well… I decided to put these down and online, if you’d like to print this off I’ll include the photos at the bottom.

Analyzing your dreams

People

Typical woman (beautiful, noble, ageless): represents spirituality, guidance rather than nurturing

Wise old man: guidance and rational wisdom gleaned from experience; the dreamer is seeking wisdom from within

Wise old woman: guidance and feeling wisdom gleaned from experience

Parents: need to feel protected and consoled

Child: creative forces

Trickster: human consciousness, wise and unwise simultaneously

Clown: represents the fun-loving aspect of yourself, or a need or desire to disguise sadness 

Teacher: dreamer seeks to understand themselves to improve life

Leader or hero: father figure, protection, rescue

  Animals

Horse: primitive animal needs

Snake: male sex organ; healing, rebirth; energy arising from unconsciousness

Spider: change

Monster: hostility, fear anger, and repressed emotions

Dog: masculinity, instincts

Cat: femininity; mystery; independence

Bird: freedom

  Nature

Sun: masculinity, life-giving

Moon: feminine, mysterious

Earth: mother figure, security, nurturing

Sea: unconsciousness, eternity

Fire: energy, destruction, sexuality

Rain: crying, suffering before release, cleansing

Strong tree: father figure

Island: Isolation

Mountains: ambition, spiritual climb

  Actions

Flying: desire to escape from responsibilities; expansion

Crossing a bridge or climbing a mountain: entering a new stage of life

Eating: devouring, transformation

Dancing: symbolic unity; sexual intercourse; relationship

Swimming: dealing with life

Falling: feeling out of control, overwhelmed (stress within one’s life)

Being chased: the need to confront something in life

Dying: end of an attachment or a stage in life

Taking a test: avoiding some kind of challenge or about to face a challenge

Kissing: desire to be nurtured and cared for

Losing something: personal values are changing, not clear where you stand on certain issues

Nudity: afraid of being exposed or vulnerable

  Objects/ Things

House: structure of self (collapsing walls or wiring is exposed, psychological health may be in danger)

Door: transition, choice

Window: eyesight, perception

Wall or fence: restrictions, introversion

Fruit:  sex organs, reproduction

Key: power, masculinity

Lock: potential, femininity

Mirror: Soul, looking inward

Stairs: Gaining (up) or losing (down) consciousness

  Shapes

Circle or mandala: wholeness, harmony

Triangle: magic, spirituality

Square: Solidity, establishment

Colors

Red: anger, intensity

Pink: innocence, love

Yellow: energy, anger

Orange: pride and ambitions; cruelty and loyalty

Green: life, fertility

Blue: rational

Purple: spirituality, arrogance

Brown: earth, primitive instincts

Black: shadow, power

Grey: neutral

White: purity, spirituality

  Numbers

Odd numbers: masculine

Even numbers: feminine

Zero: the void from which everything arises and returns

1: beginnings, individuality, masculinity, indivisibility

2: duality, ying and yang, light and dark, femininity, receptivity

3: magical, spiritual, the union of two opposites to create a third

4: stability, wholeness, materialization, sensation

5: human in star formation or humans physical form, physical life

6: equilibrium, balance, harmony, health and time

7: cycles in life, inner rhythms, and energies; sacred number

8: generation, degradation, and regeneration; death and rebirth, infinity

9: completion of the growth process (as in 9 months of pregnancy)

10: a new beginning, reincarnation, karma

11: unstable and imperfect number, sin and transgression

12: time symbol, as expressed in the twelve months of the year

  Yeah, that’s pretty much all I’ve got for this post-… it’s not sad, you’re sad.

Deciphering Dreams and Nightmares During an assignment I was given, we were all given this sheet to learn more about our dreams and well...

[random-writing-tips]

Sleeping Predicaments

2020 and less of my sleeping predicaments

April 30th 2020 Entry

Does something ever happen, like oh I don’t know your feelings just embark on a journey without you realizing that something has happened?

Well, as some of you know, I’ve been having sleeping struggles and problems since 2018 ish, perhaps even earlier. Now, I’m no mathmatologist, but things like this can easily erupt into a chaotic paragraph. This all started with an…

[random-writing-tips]

How to Manage a Gang or Cult of Characters

Now don’t take this the wrong way, I didn’t mean for it exactly to say how to manage a gang nor how to manage a cult. No, this article is solely focusing on a mass amount of characters and how to write with them.

If you were here and managed to only want to focus on how to write a gang or a cult then sure I’ll add it, but it’ll be near the end of this article.

Handling a mass amount of…

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Top Rules Every Writer Should Both Know and Follow

I know for me I like to have my options wide open when I write. Whether I’m in front of a PC, have a notebook or stacks of paper for my pen to follow. I usually always have my dictionary next to me and depending on the day or where my writers block has followed me, I’ll also have my lil’ inspo book with me.

First Drafts

Writing that first draft has a high outcome of coming out perfect. There is…

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25+ Stories to Find Your Idea

Recommendations

Guys there are honestly so many books and shorts that I’d love to help recommend, so here, categorized I got chu

Action & Adventure

Mighty Jack and Zita the Spacegirl by Ben Hatke , Ignite the Skies by Maura Milan, Wildfire by Rodman Philbrick , Code Name: Genesis by Sawyer Bennett, Charlie Thorne and the Last Equation by Stuart Gibbs , Chilling Effect by Valerie Valdes, Lalaniu…

[random-writing-tips]

Working On Characterization

“If you get stuck, move forward to a scene that you’re looking forward to working, and that just tends to give you your joy back. And then often you’ll find that the space between them is actually a lot smaller than you thought it was.” – Jojo Moyes, WD

  “Listen to those around you. By paying attention to how they speak, how they sound, and their vocabulary, patterns emerge that reveal a…