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Me, fighting sleep and in the middle of the night, trying to write a HuntLow fic:

Who the heck is Winter😭

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Legit question, how do you make a character smarter than you when you're... not... smart? Like, I'm not smart okay, I'm just the average amount of knowledgeable, but for the sake of the plot I need a smart character.

I mean, I could probably write a smart character, IF they're only textbook smart. The stereotypical smart. The big-rimmed glasses smart that pops up with a fun fact here and there. The kind of smart that recites facts from britannica page or even counters a wikipedia article.

BUT FOR THE LIFE OF ME– how do I write a SMART CHARACTER that is NOT JUST textbook smart but is ALSO strategically smart. The type of smart that is so smart they were able hide they were smart and were just stringing people along. Or the type of smart that is textbook smart + strategic smart. The type of smart that win wars. HOW DO YOU WRITE THE TYPE OF CHARACTER THAT CAN WIN WARS AND A DEBATE AT THE SAME TIME!??! But also make them likeable and not 2d. Their personality isn't being smart, they're just smart, but with personality.

Anyways, this is just a rant, but if there's anyone out there who can give actual advice, I'm willing to be a humble learner. Thank you💐💐

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this forever will be THE adansey picture for me. gansey always reaching out for adam first, not caring for anything else but him and his presence in his life, while adam is deeply consumed by his own dilemmas and comparisons, and concerned that he is somehow ruining gansey, making it all worse. do you see the vision.

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💥 Small Writing Habits That Genuinely Changed How I Write 💥

listen. i’m not here to sell you a productivity system or convince you that waking up at 5am will make you a novelist. i am deeply Not That Girl. HOWEVER, here are 5 chaotic little writing habits that quietly rearranged my brain chemistry:

✏️ typing BEFORE i know what happens i used to think i had to outline everything before writing. wrong. i get more done when i let the scene surprise me. just start with vibes and a line of dialogue. the rest shows up once you start moving.

🗣️ saying the scene out loud like a play no joke. talking my scenes out like a script?? life-changing. the pacing, the emotion, the rhythm of it all makes more sense when i act like i’m gossiping about my blorbos in a voice memo.

⌛ 20-minute timers (not for productivity, just to start) i tell myself “just 20 minutes.” sometimes i stop. sometimes i blink and it’s 2 hours later and someone’s been emotionally eviscerated in chapter 12. this one’s black magic. use wisely.

🕯️ re-reading my WIP like a book no editing, no judging, just reading through with snacks like it’s already published. changes how i see the pacing and emotional arcs. also reminds me it doesn’t completely suck.

🧂 leaving in the messy parts i used to delete scenes that felt “off.” now i just write a little comment like “THIS IS BAD BUT KEEP GOING.” turns out momentum matters more than vibes. shocking, i know.

anyway. tiny habits. huge mental rewiring. 10/10. highly recommend.

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Ok, has anyone read Diary of a Time Looper and the sequels following, specifically After Day ??? I NEED to talk about it... NEED

What you mean Loop Twilight leaves behind the consequences of her actions, UNKNOWINGLY, and now the Twlight of that universe has to suffer it ???

Loop Twilight desperation, then descending into madness, then acceptance, then a slow transformation to God-complex ??? I mean—

I seriously had to bring out my whiteboard and markers to map out what's happening cause how does a fanfic, short and unconventional as it is, mess with my head so much???? AND IT'S NOT EVEN FULL LENGTH IT'S LIKE CRUMBS

My poor baby Twilight having to go through such a psychological hell, how do you even get out of something like that ?????

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Just finished reading this duology, and I feel like I've gone through war, won, but I've not really won

Stranded Duology by Sarah Daniels

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🍖 How to Build a Culture Without Just Inventing Spices and Necklaces

(a worldbuilding roast. with love.)

So. You’re building a fantasy world, and you’ve just invented: → Three types of ceremonial jewelry → A spice that tastes like cinnamon if it were bitter and cursed ��� A holiday where everyone wears gold and screams at dawn

Cute. But that’s not culture. That’s aesthetics.

And if your worldbuilding is all outfits, dances, and spice blends with vaguely mystical names, your story’s probably going to feel like a cosplay convention held inside a Pinterest board.

Here’s how to fix that—aka: how to build a real, functioning culture that shapes your story, not just its vibes.

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🔗 Culture Is Built on Power, Not Just Style

Ask yourself: → Who’s in charge, and why? → Who has land? Who doesn’t? → What’s considered taboo, sacred, or punishable by death?

Culture is shaped by who gets to make the rules and who gets crushed by them. That’s where things like religion, family structure, class divisions, gender roles, and social expectations actually come from.

Start there. Not at the embroidery.

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2.🪓 Culture Comes From Conflict

Did this society evolve peacefully? Was it colonized? Did it colonize? Was it rebuilt after a war? Is it still in one?

→ What was destroyed and mythologized? → What do the survivors still whisper about? → What do children get taught in school that’s… suspiciously sanitized?

No culture is neutral. Every tradition has a history, and that history should taste like blood, loss, or propaganda.

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3.🧠 Belief Systems > Customs Lists

Sure, rituals and holidays are cool. But what do people believe about: → Death? → Love? → Time? → The natural world? → Justice?

Example: A society that believes time is cyclical vs. one that sees time as linear will approach everything—from prison sentences to grief—completely differently.

You don’t need to invent 80 gods. You need to know what those gods mean to the people who pray to them.

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4.🫀 Culture Controls Behavior (Quietly)

Culture shows up in: → What people apologize for → What insults cut deepest → What people are embarrassed about → What’s praised publicly vs. what’s hidden privately

For instance: → A culture obsessed with stoicism won’t say “I love you.” They’ll say “Have you eaten?” → A culture built on legacy might prioritize ancestor veneration, archival writing, name inheritance.

This stuff? Way more immersive than giving everyone matching earrings.

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5. 🏠 Culture = Daily Life, Not Just Festivals

Sure, your MC might attend a funeral where people paint their faces blue. But what about: → Breakfast routines? → How people greet each other on the street? → Who cooks, and who eats first? → What’s considered “clean” or “proper”? → How is parenting handled? Divorce?

Culture is what happens between plot points. It should shape your character’s assumptions, language, fears, and habits—whether or not a festival is going on.

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6. 💬 Let Your Characters Disagree With Their Own Culture

A culture isn’t a monolith.

Even in deeply traditional societies, people: → Rebel → Question → Break rules → Misinterpret laws → Mock sacred things → Act hypocritically → Weaponize or resist what’s expected

Let your characters wrestle with the culture around them. That’s where realism (and tension) lives.

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7.🧼 Beware the “Pretty = Good” Trap

Worldbuilding gets boring fast when: → The protagonist’s homeland is beautiful and pure → The enemy’s culture is dark and “barbaric” → Every detail just reinforces who the reader should like

You can—and should—challenge the aesthetic hierarchy. → Let ugly things be beloved. → Let beautiful things be corrupt. → Let your MC romanticize their culture and then get disillusioned by it later.

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📍 TL;DR (but like, spicy): → Culture is not food and jewelry. → Culture is power, fear, memory, contradiction. → Stop inventing spices until you know who starved last winter. → Let your world feel lived in, not curated.

The best cultural worldbuilding doesn’t look like a list. It feels like a system. A pressure. A presence your characters can’t escape—even if they try.

Now go. Build something real. (You can add spices later.)

—rin t. // writing advice for worldbuilders with rage and range // thewriteadviceforwriters

Sometimes the problem isn’t your plot. It’s your first 5 pages. Fix it here → 🖤 Free eBook: 5 Opening Pages Mistakes to Stop Making:

🕯️ download the pack & write something cursed:

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It is amazing how you learn to live with fear

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Listened to Ep1 of The Magnus Archives and I found myself staring into space listening intently to the story as I paused in front of the washing machine with my laundry dangling from my hands for the past 10 minutes, picturing in my mind the dark alleway and the beckoning hand

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I finally did it. I finally finished a whole outline of chapters, complete with pertinent info, without stopping or dropping halfway through. I actually did it.

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Yep, looks definitely like will bite

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Words are such wonders, they are

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