#writing questions

[writers-potion]

how do you write a liar?

How to Write Liars Believably

Language

The motive of every goal is the make the lie seem plausible while taking blame off the speaker, so liars will often project what they say to a third party: "Katie said that..."

Referring to third parties as "they" rather than he or she

In the case of a deliberate lie prepped beforehand, there will be an overuse of specific names (rather than pronouns) as the speaker tries to get the details right.

Overuse of non-committal words like "something may have happened"

Masking or obscuring facts like "to the best of my knowledge" and “it is extremely unlikely," etc.

Avoiding answers to specific, pressing questions

Voice

There's isn't a set tone/speed/style of speaking, but your character's speech patten will differ from his normal one.

People tend to speak faster when they're nervous and are not used to lying.

Body Language

Covering their mouth

Constantly touching their nose

fidgeting, squirming or breaking eye contact

turning away, blinking faster, or clutching a comfort object like a cushion as they speak

nostril flaring, rapid shallow breathing or slow deep breaths, lip biting, contracting, sitting on your hands, or drumming your fingers. 

Highly-trained liars have mastered the art of compensation by freezing their bodies and looking at you straight in the eye.

Trained liars can also be experts in the art of looking relaxed. They sit back, put their feet up on the table and hands behind their head.

For deliberate lies, the character may even carefully control his body language, as though his is actually putting on a show

The Four Types of Liars

Deceitful: those who lie to others about facts

2. Delusional: those who lie to themselves about facts

3. Duplicitious: those who lie to others about their values

Lying about values can be even more corrosive to relationships than lying about facts. 

4. Demoralized: those who lie to themselves about their values

Additional Notes

Genuine smiles or laughs are hard to fake

Exaggerations of words (that would normally not be emphasized) or exaggerated body language

Many savvy detectives ask suspects to tell the story in reverse or non-linear fashion to expose a lie. They often ask unexpected, or seemingly irrelevant questions to throw suspects off track. 

[seaglasswrites]

Shades of

Red

Crimson, Carmine, Blood, Apple, Pomegranate, Cardinal, Poppy, Rose, Ruby, Scarlet, Maroon, Wine, Garnet, Brick, Cherry, Cranberry, Strawberry, Spinel

Orange

Carrot, Tangerine, Topaz, Amber, Apricot, Pumpkin, Ginger, Rust, Flame, Persimmon, Sunset, Lava, Autumn, Maple, Mango, Bronze, Copper

Yellow

Gold, Lemon, Canary, Honey, Squash, Saffron, Citrine, Flax, Corn, Sunflower, Mustard, Daffodil, Sunny, Pineapple, Marigold, Topaz, Sandstone, Summer

Green

Leaf, Emerald, Grass, Jade, Clover, Fern, Lime, Apple, Juniper, Spring, Mint, Pistachio, Pickle, Chartreuse, Sage, Olive, Shamrock, Sea, Pear, Pine, Forest, Hunter, Tea, Malachite

Blue

Sky, Midnight, Sapphire, Cobalt, Azure, Cerulean, Cyan, Turquoise, Electric, Navy, Royal, Robin’s Egg, Cornflower, Lapis, Arctic, Blueberry, Peacock, Ocean, River, Aquamarine, Diamond, Moonstone

Purple

Amethyst, Lavender, Eggplant, Royal, Plum, Lilac, Hyacinth, Grape, Hydrangea, Violet, Indigo, Orchid, Yam, Ube, Iris, Mulberry, Mauve, Heather, Midnight, Wisteria, Tyrian, Charoite

Pink

Bubblegum, Flamingo, Hot, Cherry Blossom, Coral, Magenta, Rose, Fuchsia, Salmon, Raspberry, Candy, Peach, Spinel, Rose Quartz, Peony, Azalea, Orchid, Pitaya, Himalayan

[rumeysawrites]

Dear fellow writers, can we please stop acting like we have to make our fantasy worlds "historically accurate"? Can't a completely different world have completely different historical events & norms than ours?

[iwudbutnah]

Editing has always been an issue for me. I either second guess too much when editing or still seem to miss things after I post. I’m curious who shares the same issues.

Thanks for all the great feedback it’s much appreciated.

[supersoakerfullofblood]

Point of View: the Biggest Thing You're Missing!

Point of view is one of the most important elements of narrative fiction, especially in our modern writing climate, but you rarely hear it seriously discussed unless you go to school for writing; rarely do help blogs or channels hit on it, and when they do, it's never as in-depth as it should be. This is my intro to POV: what you're probably missing out on right now and why it matters. There are three essential parts of POV that we'll discuss.

Person: This is the easiest part to understand and the part you probably know already. You can write in first person (I/me), second (You), and third person (He/she/they). You might hear people talk about how first person brings the reader closer to the central character, and third person keeps them further away, but this isn't true (and will be talked about in the third part of this post!) You can keep the reader at an intimate or alien distance to a character regardless of which person you write in. The only difference--and this is arguable--is that first person necessitates this intimacy where third person doesn't, but you still can create this intimacy in third person just as easily. In general, third person was the dominant (and really the only) tense until the late 19th century, and first person grew in popularity with the advent of modernism, and nowadays, many children's/YA/NA books are written in first person (though this of course doesn't mean you can't or shouldn't write those genres in the third person). Second person is the bastard child. Don't touch it, even if you think you're clever, for anything the length of a novel. Shorter experimental pieces can use it well, but for anything long, its sounds more like a gimmick than a genuine stylistic choice.

Viewpoint Character: This is a simple idea that's difficult in practice. Ask yourself who is telling your story. This is typically the main character, but it needn't be. Books like The Book Thief, The Great Gatsby, Rebecca, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and the Sherlock series are told from the perspective of a side character who isn't of chief importance to the narrative. Your viewpoint character is this side character, the character the reader is seeing the world through, so the main character has to be described through them. This isn't a super popular narrative choice because authors usually like to write from the perspective of their most interesting character, but if you think this choice could fit your story, go for it! You can also swap viewpoint characters throughout a story! A word of warning on that: only change your viewpoint character during a scene/chapter break. Switching mid-scene without alerting the reader (and even when you do alert the reader) will cause confusion. I guarantee it.

Means of Perception; or, the Camera: This part ties the first two together. If you've ever heard people talk about an omniscient, limited, etc. narrator, this is what they mean. This part also includes the level of intimacy the reader has with the viewpoint character: are we in their heads, reading their thoughts, or are we so far away that we can only see their actions? If your story is in a limited means of perception, you only have access to your character's head, eyes, and interpretations, where an omniscient narrator sees through all characters' heads at once. (This doesn't eliminate the viewpoint character--most of your writing will still be in that character's head, but you're allowed to reach into other characters' thoughts when needed. You could also be Virginia Woolf, who does fluidly move through everyone's perspectives without a solid viewpoint character, but I would advise against this unless you really are a master of the craft.) Older novels skew towards third person omniscient narration, where contemporary novels skew towards first person limited. You also have a spectrum of "distant" and "close." If omniscient and limited are a spectrum of where the camera can swivel to, distant and close is a spectrum of how much the camera can zoom in and out. Distant only has access to the physical realities of the world and can come off as cold, and close accesses your character's (or characters', if omniscient) thoughts. Notice how I said narration. Your means of perception dramatically effects how your story can be told! Here's a scene from one of my stories rewritten in third-person distant omniscient. The scene is a high school football game:

“Sometimes,” he said. “Not much anymore.” “It’s not better, then?” She shivered; the wind blew in. “A little.” His tone lifted. “I don’t know if it’ll ever be better, though.” She placed a hand on his arm, stuttered there, and slipped her arm around his waist. “Did it help to be on your own?” He raised an eyebrow. “You were there.” “Yes and no.” “And the guys, the leaders.” “Come on,” she heckled. “Okay, okay.” Carmen sighed. “Yeah, it helped. I don’t think—I don’t know—I’d be me if they’d fixed it all.” She grinned. “And who might you be?” “Oh, you know. Scared, lonely.” He fired them haphazardly, and a bout of laughter possessed him which Piper mirrored. “Impatient.” “And that’s a good thing?” “No.” He sat straight. “Gosh, no. But I don’t want to be like him, either.” He pointed to the field; Devon recovered a fumbled ball. “He’s never been hurt in his life.” She met his eyes, which he pulled away. “You don’t mean that," Piper said. “Maybe not. He’s too confident, though.” The cloth of Carmen's uniform caved and expanded under Piper's fingers.

With distant-omniscient, we only get the bare actions of the scene: the wind blows in, Piper shivers, the cloth rises and falls, Carmen points, etc. But you can tell there's some emotional and romantic tension in the scene, so let's highlight that with a first person limited close POV:

“Sometimes,” he said. “Not much anymore.” “It’s not better, then?” Frost spread up from her legs and filled her as if she were perforated rock, froze and expanded against herself so that any motion would disturb a world far greater than her, would drop needles through the mind’s fabric. A misplaced word would shatter her, shatter him. “A little.” His tone lifted. “I don’t know if it’ll ever be better, though.” She placed a hand on his arm, thought better, and slipped her arm around his waist. “Did it help to be on your own?” He raised an eyebrow. “You were there.” “Yes and no.” “And the guys, the leaders.” “Come on,” she heckled. “Okay, okay.” Carmen sighed. “Yeah, it helped. I don’t think—I don’t know—I’d be me if they’d fixed it all.” She grinned. “And who might you be?” “Oh, you know. Scared, lonely.” He fired them haphazardly, and a bout of laughter possessed him which Piper mirrored. “Impatient.” “And that’s a good thing?” “No.” He sat straight. “Gosh, no. But I don’t want to be like him, either.” He pointed to the field; Devon recovered a fumbled ball. “He’s never been hurt in his life.” “You don’t mean that.” She spoke like a jaded mother, spoke with some level of implied authority, and reminded herself again to stop. “Maybe not. He’s too confident, though.” Piper felt the cloth of his waist cave and expand under her fingers and thought: is this not confidence?

Here, we get into Piper's thoughts and physical sensations: how the frost rises up her, and how this sensation of cold is really her body expressing her nervous fears; how she "thought better" and put her arm around his waist; her thought "is this not confidence?"; and how she reminds herself not to talk like a mother. Since I was writing from the close, limited perspective of a nervous high schooler, I wrote like one. If I was writing from the same perspective but with a child or an older person, I would write like them. If you're writing from those perspectives in distant narration, however, you don't need to write with those tones but with the authorial tone of "the narrator."

This is a lot of info, so let's synthesize this into easy bullet points to remember.

Limited vs. Omniscient. Are you stuck to one character's perspective per scene or many?

Close vs. Distant. Can you read your characters' thoughts or only their external worlds? Remember: if you can read your character's thoughts, you also need to write like you are that character experiencing the story. If child, write like child; if teen, write like teen; etc.

Here's another way to look at it!

This is a confusing and complex topics, so if you have any questions, hit up my ask box, and I'll answer as best I can. The long and short of it is to understand which POV you're writing from and to ruthlessly stick to it. If you're writing in limited close, under no circumstances should you describe how a character other than your viewpoint character is feeling. Maintaining a solid POV is necessary to keeping the dream in the reader's head. Don't make them stumble by tripping up on POV!

[midnightsnyx]

fanfic writers: put in the tags your favourite piece of work you’ve written!

[witch-of-the-pages]

I'm just curious of other writers use similar forms to me/if anyone has any helpful ways to do this! If you guys are willing to reblog for greater sample size I'd be grateful but no pressure! <3

[nunyverse-scribe]

Questions to get to know your Characters Better!

Mental health edition

What’s your character’s worst coping mechanism? Do they know it’s their worst coping mechanism? Does knowing deter them a bit from indulging or do they not care?

What’s your character’s best coping mechanism?

What’s your character’s biggest trigger?

What caused them to develop that trigger?

What mental health milestones are they trying to accomplish? Why did they choose those ones?

How does your character react when they “regress” in their healing journey?

What’s their biggest insecurity?

What’s a quality they always tend to compare themself to others about?

Is there any mental health disorder your character suffers from?

What’s a compliment they find hard to believe?

What’s their comfort food?

What is their most toxic trait?

[writers-potion]

How do I accurately include diversity, and not make it look like I’m just putting it in there for the sake of it?

Writing Diverse Characters - Things to Remember

Honestly, there's no definitive answer to this.

Your characters are people with clear goals, desires and a role to play in the plot. As long as they aren't just sitting there with little else but their race/gender/disability, etc. as their ONLY personality trait, at least you're on the right path.

As for representing a diverse character realistically, here are some things you can consider to get started.

Do's

RESEARCH. There are plenty of blogs/YT vids/websites that exist to help you! Meet people!

Get beta readers.

It doesn't have to be explicit. Racial identities become quite clear early on through the setting, name, and initial description(hair, eye/skin color, body shape, etc) without having to drum it into the readers each time. Gender diversity can be conveyed through the use of certain pronouns without awkward declarations.

Character first, diversity second. Please don't intentionally create a diverse character and then think about how you can push them into the cast. Have a working character, who happens to belong to a particular group.

Read works that have represented a group well. There are plenty of non-fiction works, movies and documentaries that capture the lives of people around the world with a good eye.

Use the correct terms/language

Include different types of diversity

Don'ts

Race/gender/diability is NOT a personality trait. Please. Telling me that you have a Korean girl tells me next to nothing about the character herself.

Using sterotypes. Now, it's all right if your character has a few sterotypical traits, but definitely not if sterotypes are the only thing they have.

Diversity is not a "shock factor". Suddenly revealing that a character is actually gay and has been in the closet all this time as a refresher so that it draws readers' attention? Not a good idea.

One diverse character does all. This can often be seen in female characters of slightly dated works where one woman will play the role of supportive mother, sister, femme fetale and sexy Barbie at the same time. Don't write a diverse character who basically does everything a diverse character can possibly be. All that it proves is that the writer is lazy.

Things I personally hate seeing:

Weird pronunciation of languages. As a Korean person, I always get turned off by works (mostly badly written fanfics, yes, I read those...) that try to transfer Korean dialogue directly onto the page without even checking for the correct way to spell them out. A similar example would be pinyin for Mandarin. Please, this makes the character sound stupid throughout...

Character sticking out almost painfully. If your character isn't from the region but have lived in it for a long time, what reason do they have not to blend in?

Relying on variety shows/dramas as reference. Media representation of diverse characters that are meant for entertainment is not the best source for authentic research. I die every time someone lists a number of Korean rom-coms they've watched for "research". IT DOES NOT COUNT.

As a last note, remember that there's no limit to the kind of characters a writer can writer. Accept that our job as writers is to step into other people's heads, not seeing things from one (our) perspective - and it is not going to be easy.

Hope this helps :)

[seaglasswrites]

Skills, Hobbies, and Careers to give your Characters

Music

Traditional Singing, Opera Singing, Organ, Harp, Flute, Violin, Piano, Cello, Guitar, Saxophone, Oboe, Mandolin, Banjo, Drums

Art

Mosaic Art, Oil Painting, Storybook Illustration, Botanical, Zoological, and Medical Illustration, Collage Art, Mural Painting, Sculpting, Ceramic Art, Wildlife Painting, Royal Painter, Embroidery, Map Artist

Creating

Sewing, Weaving, Crocheting, Basket-Weaving, Jewelrymaking, Bookbinding, Candlemaking, Glassblowing, Quiltmaking, Storywriting, Architect, Baublemaking

Shopkeeping

Bakery, Jewelry Store, Bookstore, Apothecary, Antique Store, Restaurant, Sweetshop, Boutique, Post Office

Castle Jobs

Maid, Head Maid, Steward, Chamberlain, Butler, Guard, Lady-in-Waiting, Cook, Nursemaid, Governess

[bl-mitchum]

I have tried every day for the past week to do the 5am Writer’s Club. I have failed to get up at 5am every time. What’s the trick? I can’t get my butt up that early and I so want to!!

[lyonnerileyauthor]

Do you have a favorite way to develop characters? In especially romance novels, I feel like the characters in the story have more weight than the plot itself.

I think you are absolutely right. The story in a romance is important, of course, but we have to really get invested in the characters to then get invested in their love story.

I try to give all my characters one trait (sometimes even a piece of myself) that feels real and true. I'll use Finding the Troll's Heart as an example, because Jar'kel and Simka are probably some of my most beloved characters.

Jar'kel is a grumpy old man who wants to rest more than anything. He's from the desert, so the winter wonderland of the north is like a nightmare to him. (Relatable.) And who doesn't just want to take a nap? I think it helps to put a character directly into a situation where they are being tested early on, so starting out Jar'kel in the snow tells us so much about him so quickly.

He's also got some worries and fears that make sense for a character like him. (Harsh reality checks are great for developing characters.) He's getting up there in years, so once he finds himself paired with Simka, he's terrified of that age difference. What if he gets her pregnant? How long would he get to be around once he put a whelp in her? A natural question to ask, I think, in an age gap romance.

Simka is a fan fave, too, which I think is just because she's so damned admirable. She's courageous, determined, and loving, which are sometimes contradictory traits in other characters. But she has flaws, too—like her temper—which bring her down to earth and make her both relatable and conflicted.

CONFLICTS are so important to developing strong characters! We need to understand what's driving them and what's in their way to really love them—and then we need to see how those characteristics can help or hurt the character. A really compelling conflict (in this case, Simka searching for her missing sister at any expense) makes a character more likable and the reader more invested in their story.

(Finding the Troll's Heart is a standalone book in my Trollkin Lovers series.)

[frankthesnek]

Question for fic writers!

**plan out meaning a rough estimate of how long it will end up being when done**