#writerscommunity

[arrowmoose]

I made a meme

[saraswritingtipps]

Expressing 'Anger' in Writing

Jaw clenching tightly

Hands balling into fists

Veins throbbing visibly at the temple

Eyes narrowing to slits

Breathing becoming quick and shallow

Stomping or heavy footsteps

Voice rising in pitch or volume

Flushing or reddening of the face

Throwing or slamming objects

Brows knitting together in frustration

Lips pressing into a thin line

Teeth grinding audibly

Staring with a hard, fixed gaze

Sarcasm dripping from every word

Snapping responses or barking orders

[writers-potion]

Let's Scare Your Readers!

Combine the techniques below with the techniques for building suspense to give your readers a palm-sweating sensation!

Darkness

If absolute darkness doesn't make sense in your story, aim for semi-darkness: dusk, a single lantern/candle, heavily curtained windows, a thick canopy of trees, etc. Flickering lights that create confusing shadows can also be effective.

Let the darkness pool gradually around your MC. Show the night or fog rolling in, the camp-fire subsiding, or the candles burn down one by one.

Examples:

The candle sputtered. The light wavered.

The lamp cast its smoky light on the brick walls.

The night was silent, but for the dry rustling of leaves as the wind whispered through the trees.

Sound

Of all the senses, the sense of hearing serves best to create excitement and fear.

the clacking of the villain's boots on the floor tiles, the ticking of the wall clock, a dog barking outside, the roaring of a distant motor, a door slamming somewhere in the house, water dripping from the ceiling, the chair squeaking, the whine of the dentist's drill, the scraping of the knife on a whetstone, a faraway siren wailing the heroine's own heartbeat thudding in her ears.

When the surroundings are dark, your MC will grow to be more aware of the surrounding noise, even if it's not relevant to the plot.

Chill

Make it uncomfortably cold for the MC, and your readers will shiver with them.

powercut cutting off the heating, nightfall naturally bringing in lower temperatures.

winter, evening, a cool breeze that chills everything, survivors running our of fuel, the ceiling fan is over-active, stone builindg/caves/sbuterranean chambers tend to be cold.

Describe how the cold pinpricks the MC's skin, stunting their thinking and making them shiver.

The opposite can also be effective: turn up the temperature using a stove, an overheated motor, or the sweltering sun to make the MC sweat.

Isolation

This is a common technique: let the MC face the monster alone with no external help. It's also easier to limit the resources and escape routes available for the MC.

an abandoned factory, remote mountaintop, the depth of an unexplored cave.

It can also be more everyday locations: a construction site, the sewer, a malfunctioning bathroom.

Meet the Monster

When describing the threat, spread out your descriptions so that (1) the scene has constant action (2) you have material to build up later.

Good details to show:

hands, fingers, nails, talons, claws

the sound of the voice, growl, roar

the smile, teeth

the texture of skin, fur, scales.

Get Visceral

Never tell your readers that the MC is scared. Describe the fright using these physical effects:

the skin crawling, breath stalling, scalp pricking, clenching of the chest, stomach curling, heart thudding, sweat tricking down, clogged throat, pulse in the ears, cold sweat, chills up/down the spine, stomach knotting, breathless, etc.

The Gory Bits

Instead of describing everything, limit yourself to particular details, keeping overall description short. Non-stop gore doesn't shock - its bores.

Create a contrast: the child's mutilated corpse still clutches the doll. The brains from the baby's plt skull spill across the fluffy pink blanket.

Use similes, comparing gruesome buts to something from ordinary life. The intestines look like spaghetti in tomato sauce. The blood spilling from the mouth looks like lipstick.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* . ───

💎If you like my blog, buy me a coffee☕ and find me on instagram! 

💎Before you ask, check out my masterpost part 1 and part 2 

💎For early access to my content,  become a Writing Wizard 

[haley-harrison]

[nightmareevara]

Fuck sex, let's talk about conspiracy theories.

[pink-heart-writes]

[notfavghost]

Even in the stormiest seas, my love for you will be the anchor that holds us steady.

[byoldervine]

Why No Writing Advice Seems To Work

There’s millions of tips out there for writers, but so much of it just doesn’t apply, and it often feels like nothing ever works because you have to wade through a million failures before you find a success. But why is that, exactly?

1. Implicit phasing. Seeking advice while in the drafting phase of your writing can be difficult when many popular tips are more important during the editing phase. It can build on perfectionism struggles that a lot of writers have, but a lot of people genuinely don’t realise that this advice will suit them better for editing rather than drafting. If it’s about improving what you’ve already got, or just improvements in general, don’t touch it until you’re editing; you can’t improve on something that doesn’t exist, so you’ll just be going over the same draft a gazillion times without making progress. What you need to look for are tips for brainstorming, getting out of a funk, etc

2. Concept to blueprint. For me, literal thinking has kept me from understanding a lot of writing advice and, even when I’ve got the gist of it, I struggle to figure out how to take it from a general phrase (e.g. “Show don’t tell”, “Make it a habit”) to something actionable that tells me what I need to do. If you’re misunderstanding what the advice is saying, or you don’t know what actions it’s implying that you take, of course it’s not going to be helpful. Sitting down and dedicating a minute or two to considering it can really help, and if you’re still unsure then always feel free to ask other writers; there’s bound to be others who were in the same boat that can share their own interpretations and the actions they took that helped them

3. Hobbyist approach. If you’re only writing for fun, and especially if you don’t consider yourself a ‘real writer’, it’s easy to think that some of the advice doesn’t apply to you. For me, I always thought that the whole “Write every day, make writing a habit” thing was just for people who were super serious about it or on a schedule, not for people who were just writing for fun and didn’t mind it taking forever. But after trying out NaNoWriMo, I realised I actually quite enjoy having a set routine that allows me to see consistent improvement, and even after NaNoWriMo I experimented to see how often I could write without it feeling more like a chore than a fun activity. It’s definitely worth it to at least try out tips that you think may not apply to a hobbyist just working for fun; sometimes you might learn something else about your writing style, even if the tip doesn’t work for you

4. Unique takes. Ultimately, we’re all different people with different experiences, habits, interests, styles, physical abilities and neurotypes; not everything will work for everyone. And that’s a good thing! Yes, it’s frustrating when we try a popular tip and it just doesn’t work for us like it does others, but that’s one more thing we know about ourselves and how we work, and maybe it’ll lead us to a new discovery that makes it easier going forward. If everyone was the same, all our writing would be the same, and that would be boring. You’ll stand out as a writer by working differently to achieve unique results. And if you find something that works for you, make sure you share it in case others benefit, too!

5. Customise. Finding your own tips and sharing them can lead others to you, and it all starts with experimentation; try new things, mix and match existing tips you’ve tried and figure out what can be adjusted to make your writing process better. I can’t keep to NaNoWriMo’s 1667 words per day demands, it’s too much work in too little time, but I can do 1000 words every week and be much more consistent than I used to be. Or maybe watching your word count all the time demotivates you? Try changing your measurement from X words to writing for Y amount of time - or you could even try both and say you’ll write for a max of Y minutes unless you can reach X amount of words beforehand. Even if it’s not something that was originally intended by the tip, can you find a way to customise it to work better for you?

[fuji-sen]

how old are WUWA characters???

I'm making a mini-series and I need to determine where to put them age wise??

like adults are: calcharo, mortefi, yinlin, yuanwu

probably between adults and young adults: Sanhua, Jinhsi, Jinyan, Taoqi, Baizhi, Aalto, Jianxin, scar

young adults: Yangyang, Chixia, rover,

teens: lingyan, danjin

early teens or kids: encore, verina

like do you guys agree with this????

[rheas-chaos-motivation]

(THE VOICES)

[gigireece16]

being a writer means you're writing the second draft of your debut novel, two random short stories, fantasying about a television script, and semi-structuring your second novel at the same time 🥲

[thearchmanofgreenfield]

Hey! Super busy today with school stuff so I didn't have a lot of time to write or draw so have some of my old twitter wisdom instead!

Yet further proof that I have never changed...

[saraswritingtipps]

Showing 'Sadness' in Writing

Eyes brimming with unshed tears

Shoulders drooping, as if bearing a heavy weight

A quiet, almost inaudible sigh

A far-off gaze, eyes not focusing on anything specific

A faint tremor in the voice when speaking

Slow, shuffling steps

Turning away to hide one's face

Forcing a smile that doesn't reach the eyes

A hand absently tracing an old scar or memento

Slumping against a wall or sinking into a chair

[writers-potion]

Techniques for Building Suspense

Pose a Quesion

Plant a question in the readers' mind for which they want an answer. This will motivate them to read on.

What is going to happen?

What has happened? Dark pasts, unrevealed motivations, good for mystery plots.

What is happening? Mystify the POV character and the reader for a few paragraphs, making them wait for the moment when it all falls into place.

The Ticking Clock

Give your protagonist a time attack for their goal to be achieved.

Show how time passes with each step, the stakes rising with every hour spent.

The sun sinking into the horizon, the digital watch blinking out of battery, the distant church bells chiming with impending doom.

Pacing

Generally, fast-paced action scenes with have little description, allowing the reader to feel the exciting rush of immediate action.

When the suspense is great, you can increase it even more by slowing the pace. Keep the reader waiting for the big blow that is definitely coming.

Works best when the MC is unable to do anything (e.g. tied to a chair, trapped in the attic, etc.)

Insert sentences of description to slow pace. (e.g. upstairs, a toilet flushed, and water gurgled through the pipe in the wall.)

The Door Opens

Put a door between the MC and the danger. It serves as a psychological barrier, the last chance to turn back.

Use any kind of door: a front door, entry arch, trap door, garden gate, stile, ave mouth, etc.

Describe how the door looks and opens. (e.g. The door's white paint was flaking, revealing previous costs of scarlet and black. The door whined inwards on its hinges.)

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* . ───

💎If you like my blog, buy me a coffee☕ and find me on instagram! 

💎Before you ask, check out my masterpost part 1 and part 2 

💎For early access to my content,  become a Writing Wizard 

[writingwritewrite-storymaker]

let’s share our favorite but most unimportant detail in our story’s world I’ll go first

I made the coins squares so they can stack and be better for storage without wasting space:)

[nightmareevara]

Fuck sex, let's talk about your insecurities so I can heal those for you.