#writing about writing

[jenthebug]

It’s like smolbep knew that I needed cheering up!! 🥹

(Here’s the link to the comics for any Stardew Valley fans; all fluff, all about the villagers: https://archiveofourown.org/users/girljen/works)

[transhuman-priestess]

Putting this as its own post because it deserves to be its own post.

If you want to be good at any kind of art you have to take the part of your brain that tells you “everything must be a wholly original idea formed in a perfect clean room environment” and you have to rip that synapse out of your skull, put it through a shredder, stomp on it, light it on fire, then pour it into acid, because it’s a liar and will never ever help you.

[writers-potion]

MASTERPOST (PT. 2)

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

For romance writing prompts, plotting tips & more, check out: MASTERPOST PT. 1

⭐Dialogue

Writing Dialogue 101

Crying-Yelling Dialogue Prompts

---

⛰️Words to Use Instead Of...

Synonyms for "Walk"

Synonyms for “feeling like”

Words To Use Instead of "Look"

Words to Use Instead Of...(beautiful, interesting, good, awesome, cute, shy)

Said is dead

---

🔠Vocab Lists

Nervous Tension Vocab

Kiss Scene Vocab

Fight Scene Vocab

Haunted House Inspo & Vocab

---

👁️‍🗨️Setting & Description

Common Scenery Description Tips

2012 School Setting Vibes - follower question

Describing Food in Writing

Describing Cuts, Bruises and Scrapes

Using Description and Setting Meaningfully

How Different Types of Death Feel

---

🗡️Weapons & Fighting Series:

Writing Swords

Writing knives and daggers

Writing Weapons (3): Staffs, Spears and Polearms

Writing Weapons (4): Clubs, Maces, Axes, Slings and Arrows

Writing Weapons (5): Improvised Weapons

Writing Weapons (6): Magical Weapons and Warfare

Writing Weapons (7): Unarmed Combat

Writing Female Fighters

Writing Male Fighters

Writing Armour

Writing Group Fights

Writing Battles At Sea

Erotic Tension in Fight Scenes

Pacing for Fight Scenes

Writing a Siege Warfare

Different Genres, Different Fight Scenes.

Making Fight Scenes Sound Nicer

Fight Scenes For Disabled Characters

---

🌎Worldbuilding

Constructing a Fictional Economy

Homosexuality in Historical Fiction

Writing Nine Circles of Hell

Writing Seven Levels of Heaven

Master List of Superpowers

Magic System Ideas 

A Guide to Writing Cozy Fantasy

Dark Fantasy How-To

Dark Fantasy Writing Prompts

Dark, Twisted Fairytale Prompts

Fantasy World Cultural Quirks 

Fantasy Nobel Ranks: A List

---

🌠Symbolism in Writing

Plant Symbolisms 

Weather Symbolisms

Symbols of Death

---

🪄Writing Magic

Writing Magicians - the basics

Writing Magic Systems

Magical Training Options for Your Characters

---

📋Other!

List of Fantasy Subgenres

Beauty is Terror: A List

The Pirate's Glossary

Storyediting Questions to Ask

Writing Multiple WIPs Simultaneously

Idea Generation Exercises for the Writer

Book Title Ideas

Picking the Right Story For You

What If God Dies in Your Story 

International Slang, Slang, Slang!

10 Great Love Opening Lines 

How to Insult Like Shakespeare

Serial Killer Escape Manual

Best Picrew Character Generators for Your Characters!

How to Write Faster

[burntoutdaydreamer]

To Write Better Antagonists, Have Them Embody the Protagonist's Struggles

(Spoilers for The Devil Wears Prada, Avatar the Last Airbender, Kung Fu Panda 2, and The Hunger Games triology).

Writing antagonists and villains can be hard, especially if you don't know how to do so.

I think a lot of writers' first impulse is to start off with a placeholder antagonist, only to find that this character ends up falling flat. They finish their story only for readers to find the antagonist is not scary or threatening at all.

Often the default reaction to this is to focus on making the antagonist meaner, badder, or scarier in whatever way they can- or alternatively they introduce a Tragic Backstory to make them seem broken and sympathetic. Often, this ends up having the exact opposite effect. Instead of a compelling and genuinely terrifying villain, the writer ends up with a Big Bad Edge Lord who the reader just straight up does not care about, or actively rolls their eyes at (I'm looking at you, Marvel).

What makes an antagonist or villain intimidating is not the sheer power they hold, but the personal or existential threat they pose to the protagonist. Meaning, their strength as a character comes from how they tie into the themes of the story.

To show what I mean, here's four examples of the thematic roles an antagonist can serve:

1. A Dark Reflection of the Protagonist

The Devil Wears Prada

Miranda Priestly is initially presented as a terrible boss- which she is- but as the movie goes on, we get to see her in a new light. We see her as an bonafide expert in her field, and a professional woman who’s incredible at what she does. We even begin to see her personal struggles behind the scenes, where it’s clear her success has come at a huge personal cost. Her marriages fall apart, she spends every waking moment working, and because she’s a woman in the corporate world, people are constantly trying to tear her down.

The climax of the movie, and the moment that leaves the viewer most disturbed, does not feature Miranda abusing Andy worse than ever before, but praising her. Specifically, she praises her by saying “I see a great deal of myself in you.” Here, we realize that, like Miranda, Andy has put her job and her career before everything else that she cares about, and has been slowly sacrificing everything about herself just to keep it. While Andy's actions are still a far cry from Miranda's sadistic and abusive managerial style, it's similar enough to recognize that if she continues down her path, she will likely end up turning into Miranda.

In the movie's resolution, Andy does not defeat Miranda by impressing her or proving her wrong (she already did that around the half way mark). Instead, she rejects the values and ideals that her toxic workplace has been forcing on her, and chooses to leave it all behind.

2. An Obstacle to the Protagonist's Ideals

Avatar: The Last Airbender

Fire Lord Ozai is a Big Bad Baddie without much depth or redemptive qualities. Normally this makes for a bad antagonist (and it's probably the reason Ozai has very little screen time compared to his children), but in Avatar: The Last Airbender, it works.

Why?

Because his very existence is a threat to Aang's values of nonviolence and forgiveness.

Fire Lord Ozai cannot be reasoned with. He plans to conquer and burn down the world, and for most of the story, it seems that the only way to stop him is to kill him, which goes against everything Aang stands for. Whether or not Aang could beat the Fire Lord was never really in question, at least for any adults watching the show. The real tension of the final season came from whether Aang could defeat the Fire Lord without sacrificing the ideals he inherited from the nomads; i.e. whether he could fulfill the role of the Avatar while remaining true to himself and his culture.

In the end, he manages to find a way: he defeats the Fire Lord not by killing him, but by stripping him of his powers.

3. A Symbol of the Protagonist's Inner Struggle

Kung Fu Panda 2

Kung Fu Panda 2 is about Po's quest for inner peace, and the villain, Lord Shen, symbolizes everything that's standing in his way.

Po and Lord Shen have very different stories that share one thing in common: they both cannot let go of the past. Lord Shen is obsessed with proving his parents wrong and getting vengeance by conquering all of China. Po is struggling to come to terms with the fact that he is adopted and is desperate to figure out who he is and why he ended up left in a box of radishes as a baby.

Lord Shen symbolizes Po's inner struggle in two main ways: one, he was the source of the tragedy that separated him from his parents, and two, he reinforces Po's negative assumptions about himself. When Po realizes that Lord Shen knows about his past and confronts him, Lord Shen immediately tells Po exactly what he's afraid of hearing: that his parents abandoned him because they didn't love him. Po and the Furious Five struggle to beat Shen not because he's powerful, but because Po can't let go of the past, and this causes him to repeatedly freeze up in battle, which Shen uses to his advantage.

Po overcomes Shen when he does the one thing Shen is incapable of: he lets go of the past and finds inner peace. Po comes to terms with his tragic past and recognizes that it does not define him, while Shen holds on to his obsession of defying his fate, which ultimately leads to his downfall.

4. A Representative of a Harsh Reality or a Bigger System

The Hunger Games

We don't really see President Snow do all that much on his own. Most of the direct conflict that Katniss faces is not against him, but against his underlings and the larger Capitol government. The few interactions we see between her and President Snow are mainly the two of them talking, and this is where we see the kind of threat he poses.

President Snow never lies to Katniss, not even once, and this is the true genius behind his character. He doesn't have to lie to or deceive Katniss, because the truth is enough to keep her complicit.

Katniss knows that fighting Snow and the Capital will lead to total war and destruction- the kind where there are survivors, but no winners. Snow tells her to imagine thousands upon thousands of her people dead, and that's exactly what happens. The entirety of District 12 gets bombed to ashes, Peeta gets brainwashed and turned into a human weapon, and her sister Prim, the very person she set out to protect at the beginning of the story, dies just before the Capitol's surrender. The districts won, but at a devastating cost.

Even after President Snow is captured and put up for execution, he continues to hurt Katniss by telling her the truth. He tells her that the bombs that killed her sister Prim were not sent by him, but by the people on her side. He brings to her attention that the rebellion she's been fighting for might just implement a regime just as oppressive and brutal as the one they overthrew and he's right.

In the end, Katniss is not the one to kill President Snow. She passes up her one chance to kill him to take down President Coin instead.

[charlesoberonn]

When you were young, your mother used to read you an old fairytale every night before bed.

It was a sad story, about lovers who walked through hell to reunite with one another and almost succeeded, only to be separated again forever in the last moment. It made you cry, and the next night you would beg your mom to read it again.

"You know it'll be sad, right?"

"This time they'll win, mom! This time they'll have a happy ending!"

But they didn't. Nor did they win in the next night, or the night after that.

Deep down, logically, you knew it'll always end the same way. The story is done. It's been told long before you were born. But when mom was telling it, you could pretend that maybe this time it'll work out. This time will be different.

When you grew older you didn't stop pretending, even though you knew it was silly and getting sillier. When you learned to read and write, one of the first things you wrote was a new ending. It was bad, about you as an all-powerful angel coming down to help the lovers reunite and then you get invited to their wedding.

"It's not real, it's fanfic." a friend told you when you showed them. They explained the word, and you saw what they meant. But you didn't care, seeing the words on the page helped you pretend.

You read voraciously as you grew. All kinds of stories with all kinds of ending. But you kept coming back to that one. Reading from your mom's old copy which her read to her from.

You didn't need mom to read to you anymore, but sometimes you asked her to anyway. Occasionally she'd do it, but more often than not she was tired.

Soon she stopped reading. Then she stopped speaking altogether, her voice too weak and throat too sick to speak aloud. That's when you started reading the story to her.

It was hard at first, your tears choking you up. It was hard pretending that the story will end differently.

"The diagnoses are just estimates, probabilities." your dad said. And when he spoke, you could pretend there was a chance. But when the doctors spoke, their words felt as final and unchanging as the old words in the storybook.

Eventually, mom was no more. Your dad read something personal and touching in her funeral. Everyone thought you would, too. Everyone knew how much you loved writing since you were little.

You thought you would write too, imagined it in your mind as your mother's end drew near. You had so much to say, but the words wouldn't come out. The only words that would come to you were from the story. You tried to bat them away, but you knew you couldn't. You couldn't change this ending.

When it came your time to eulogize, you pulled out the book and without preamble started reading from the second-to-last page. This time there was no pretending.

Everyone knew the story, even the people who didn't know mom personally. Everyone knew it will end in tragedy. The lovers will not get a happy ending.

Except this time they did.

You didn't notice the change until you were halfway through the final page, so out of it you were. But the reactions from the mourning crowd clued you in. Your stoic dad choking down a chuckle.

You looked closely at the book and saw the words were written in your mom's neat handwriting.

You kept on reading, a smile on your face.

It wasn't the real ending. It was fanfic.

But just for a little while, seeing the words on the page helped you pretend a little longer.

[the-ellia-west]

How to make your Readers Feel Emotions for Dummies

(AWWWWW :]]]] Edition)

So... Do you have any cute animals or children in your story?

No?

Then I can't help you go away

Kidding, kidding, you can make AWW moments in your story no matter who or what your characters are.

First

You have to have at least semi-Likable characters (Pets, adorable animals, or children make this wayyyyyy easier)

Likable characters make your readers want the characters to be happy! You can't really get AWWWW moments if you want the characters to suffer

Most AWWW moments come from Shipping or cute baby moments

Second

Decide what Type

whether you want it to be an AWWWW Romance moment, or an AWWWWW Baby moment

There's also #3 I forgot to mention: AWWWWW comfort/sentimental moment

Third

Decide which character the AWWW moment will happen between

Couple, Father/child, mother/child, friends, siblings, doesn't matter - Well... it obviously matters Which AWWW moment you're going for but... yeah

Fourth

What's Gonna happen?

For romance it's usually cute fluff moments - Want examples? Too bad, look it up on Pinterest! No, no, Joking. Here's a list:

Small cheek/hand kisses

A small, 'I love you so much.'

Wearing other's clothes

Forehead touch

Cuddling

Holding BOTH of each other's hands

FACE TOUCHES - Cheek/jawbone is best

Leaning into touch

Careful dancing

For parental figure and Child it's usually a comforting trust moment, a protecting the child moment, or a 'make me proud' moments

I fucking love these and I'm gonna go on a rant Addict, Tired, bitter mentors are so fucking great. There's so much you can do with them Mostly there's 'make me proud moments' The first 'I approve' moment There's 'you've made me proud' moments There's also 'Fine, you're my kid' moments And comforting trust moments hit so much harder when the mentor rarely shows affection.

It's just so... :D

For Friends, You should do with comforting moments, or a 'you don't know how much I care about you moments

Fifth

Soft Phrasing = soft emotions

Use long, calm sentences. No exclamation points or question marks unless it's dialogue. Keep everything smooth and fluid.

Tears are a powerful tool so use them sparingly

Use short words, and use cuter, softer words, metaphors, and adjectives.

Sixth

Have a visible result

Smiles, cute thoughts, cute dialogue, different feelings or actions towards other characters

Stuff like that

AWWWWW moments can be very powerful to characters as they can for real people, they can change so much with little words.

They can be turning points, displays of affection to the audience, turning points of affection, showcases of change, strengthening of relationships, a final goodbye, they can be so much in just so little.

Good Evening and Good Luck with your Writing My loveable Writing friends! you can do this! <3

[blot-squisher]

There’s a reason I don’t tell my family I write or that my goal is to get published someday 😅

[akabaka-dev]

Did you have any ideas for the other cultists of the Thousand that you would have liked to explore or that didn't make it into the final game?

Hmm interesting question!

Very early on, the (non-main) cultists were designed as gag characters, to balance against Buck's ruthlessness and the supernatural horrors. You can see the legacy of this in instances like the cultisits mesmorized by posters of sexy ladies like in Episode 1. But along with evolution of Stardust's motivations during development, the other major change was in the 1000's personalities.

Blending horror and comedy is a tightrope tbh. Horror and comedy remind me a lot of destructive interference in physics. Having both gives greats highs and lows in story pacing. But, if you have them at the same moment in a story- they can cancel each other out.

So Akabaka tries to let the horror be horrifying, and let the funny be funny. The cultists function as a core part of the horror, as one of the threats which lurk behind the doors. Aka kept trying to add in gags with the cultists, but found that it majorly diluted the horror. Similar to Stardust's evolution from comedian to straight man to serve the story better, the 1000 evolved from gags to undiluted threats.

Probably the thing Aka wanted to keep most but couldn't.

[byoldervine]

Tip I Wish I'd Known Before I Started Writing My WIP

Act structures work. I started writing Byoldervine after I'd done a bunch of fantacising about the kind of story I wanted, but I never actually structured it out. I still stand by my plotting scheme of plotting out five chapters in advance so I have the space and time to work through things and make adjustments as I go, but because I didn't create an overarching structure to the story I've got a bit of a pacing problem where I'm now cramming everything into the end when it could've been paying off much sooner

Luckily this is a problem that can be handled in the editing phase easily enough, and I've structured the last parts of the story so I know what's still left to go, but it still would've been helpful to have set it out in advance; it would also make the plotting sessions easier too

[flowerandblood]

Writing the Long Series

How I manage to do this for @troublesomesnitch

I often get questions about how I write and how I structure my work. If you are a perfectionist and like to have everything organized and tidy, this guide is not for you, because most of my work is chaos. However, I know that there are people like me who are tired of having to make lists, think about beta-readers, etc., so for all those who don't like to plan, here's how I write long series.

1. Never assume that your series will be long

When I write a oneshot or the first chapter of my story, I never assume how many chapters it will have − I do this very rarely when I have a specific plot in mind for a mini-series, but I often change my mind anyway, adding or shortening the series as I see fit. It's usually only when I've written the first two chapters that I have a sense of whether or not the story itself for me is asking to be longer.

With The Impossible Choice I thought I would close it in 20 chapters, and ended up with 55 chapters and 3 Alternate Universes. I had no idea when I wrote the first chapter that this would happen. Putting the pressure on yourself "okay, this is my moment, it's time for a long series, I want to make it 30 chapters" will make you shy away from writing at the thought of how much work lies ahead. Don't think about it, just write.

2. You don't have to have an ending

In none of my long series I knew what the ending would be. I usually know what's going to happen a maximum of 2/3 chapters in advance. I believe, but this is just my personal opinion, that writers pay too much attention to the ending, and if we are not writing a crime story, or the ending itself is not supposed to be a big breakthrough, it doesn't really matter. Even whether everything ends well or badly. Sometimes what's more important is the journey and what's in between.

I come up with the ending at the very end, when I have all the chapters. Then I know exactly what happened and what ending to the story will make sense in the context of what has happened so far. What's the point of coming up with a super-thought-out ending if it doesn't seem to fit the whole? This is starting from the wrong side. We are supposed to feel emotions throughout the story, not just at the end.

3. Don't predetermine how each chapter will end

This is suicide. Because what if you have a couple of scenes at the beginning, an end scene and a blank of what to write in between? It makes no sense!

When I write a chapter, I just go scene by scene and look at the number of words. Once it's over 2'500, I'm already thinking about slowly closing the chapter and I usually end it with some kind of breakthrough sentence or a character's thought. That's enough.

You don't always have to come up with a cliffhanger at the end. It's more important that the story reads smoothly and with breath, not to have someone gasp in surprise at the end but feel that what they were reading was just a bunch of scenes that weren't necessary.

4. Accept the fact that you won't use all the scenes you've imagined

I know we often think we have fantastic ideas, that this and that could happen, but sometimes we find that when we write, they just don't fit anywhere. There's no need to get upset then. If it's not a key scene for the whole story, it should be omitted or modified completely. Having said that, I'm against planning scenes ahead, except for the ones that matter most and push everything forward. It then makes such a pattern with holes that aren't there when you write everything in sequence.

Some people say − don't know how to do it? Leave it, move on to the next scene! I say no here! Don't keep writing until you know which way you want to go! And even if you do know, if you can't make it happen with a scene or dialogue, ask yourself if that way is good. Maybe just because you came up with it doesn't mean it makes sense in the context of the whole story you've created so far?

Maybe it's worth taking a different course, surprising yourself, choosing a different solution? Don't be a prisoner of your own decisions, let the creation of the story be fluid and changeable according to what you feel will be most viable for the development of your character!

5. Write other stories between chapters

Write oneshots or other mini-series in between chapters of your big project. Allow yourself to take a breather and not think about it all the time. I always intersperse my long series with my other work and it has helped me a lot. Sometimes, you just lose the verve for that concritical story and feel like writing something else − you should do exactly that. Don't think 'oh no, I'm starting a new story and I haven't finished that one'.

Even if you don't finish that one, nothing will happen. By controlling yourself in this way you are killing the fun you should be having with it. When you feel like it, read your long series again, or at least the last chapters to get the mood and then try to sit down to write a new chapter. I've found that when I take breaks and come back to stories like this after a few days, good new ideas come to me which keep me engaged in creating this story.

6. Play with characters, not scenes

Sometimes we come up with a scene that doesn't resonate at all as well in the story as it did in our mind when we wrote it. The reason I knock such scenes out is usually because they don't fit the character I'm writing about.

In my series The Fall from The Heavens originally when Lady Strong and Aemond are sitting in the library years later and Aemond tells her about having his first intimate experience with a whore, I wanted him to have tears in his eyes, get up from the table and walk over to the bookcase, Lady Strong was going to approach him and try to draw out of him what had happened.

However, as I wrote this, I felt somewhere in the back of my mind that something was wrong. I realised that while the scene itself was interesting and poignant, it didn't fit completely with my Aemond in this series. He would never allow himself to show weakness in this aspect, he would never have tears in his eyes at the thought, at most he would feel disgust, discomfort and anger.

I thought I would change this to a scene where her question reminds him of what happened and he tries to put it out of his mind and pretend he was content, drawing sastifaction from her jealousy. This, in my opinion, was definitely better suited to his spiteful, sullen character.

7. Do not ignore the thoughts of the protagonists

Some authors forget that only they know what is in the characters' heads − readers do not. Putting everything in dialogues makes no sense, because ordinary people don't say everything they think about.

Each of us thinks about something constantly, even when we just look at someone, when we sit alone or when we don't say anything. The characters' thoughts, so often overlooked, are a gateway to entering various scenes and events without the need for dialogue or additional events.

In The Knight & The Judge, readers would hate my Aemond if it weren't for the fact that they know his thoughts, how he regrets his actions, what he goes through, why he does certain things. Events do not happen by themselves, but are the result of what is happening in his head, even if he does not say much to other characters.

8. Don't be afraid to use side characters to show your couple's perspective

I often swap perspectives, once showing the perspective of a female character and once of a male character, but I also often use the eyes of side characters like Aegon, Daemon or Alys to show what their relationship looks like from the side.

Although some people dread this (like being afraid to write a chapter without smut because no one will read it because there won't be spicy scenes − that's nonsense) such a pov often gives a much wider view of how our characters are perceived from the side, what others think of their behaviour, what their decisions lead to, how they affect other characters.

If these side characters are an important part of our story, we can use such an extra chapter to build up what they will do in the future, engaging with our couple's story.

9. Confrontation does not always mean violence

I notice that often when there is a conversation between the main characters, many authors do their best to make both characters as sassy as possible, throwing fanciful insults at each other, threatening each other, considering it a good prelude to sexual tension. Of course, in one or two scenes this will work, even more so when, in fact, the two parties are very much at odds and practically hate each other.

However, it can't be that even though the characters are getting closer, they act as if they haven't gone through any development, haven't had any thoughts. It amazes me when someone writes an elaboration on the appearance of a gown or a room, on how someone raises a hand or performs an action, but does not lean into the fact that their character's behaviour is unnatural.

People say unpleasant things to each other in anger, but usually, forced to be in each other's company, they also have calmer discussions. Sometimes one word or sentence can make someone's perspective change, make them understand something that was unclear to them and new feelings emerge that can push the plot further − compassion, grief, longing or even understanding.

Creating templates out of our characters who have specific characteristics and always behave identically makes the whole story unbelievable.

10. Be kind to yourself

At the moment, there are no series from my first months of writing here written by me that I would consider good and I edit most of them, or I just left them as is and will never come back to them. I just know they are bad. But that's the way it is, in order to develop we have to make mistakes and not always be satisfied with ourselves (although at that moment I thought I had created my life's work).

Be understanding and kind to yourself. I managed to create so much work, not always good, mainly because I did it with passion and joy. I am very proud of many of my stories now and I like them even when I come back to them after a long time, I feel my progress and I know that it was worth it. Give yourself a chance and don't block yourself.

[jenthebug]

Me: My brain is fried, I’m not gonna edit today

Also Me: [throws down on 10 chapters]

In the course of my research, I’ve found that a local private ambulance company (with 911 ambulances based out of fire stations!) is hiring and starts at $50k/yr. OMG if that posting is still up after I recover…

I know. It’s private ambulance. I know the problems that come with that. And I wouldn’t be doing system status management for 911 calls, but that’s kind of a good thing, because I got my ass whooped cognitively by the cancer treatments I had. I’ll dispatch a non-emergency board to get back into it. If that’s all I can do, then for $50k, that’s what I’ll do.

Anyway. I’m having a love/hate relationship with my novel right now so I’ll look at it with fresh eyes later.

[transhuman-priestess]

Was thinking about writing and tumblr earlier and I realized I may have a skewed picture of what folks on this website write

With that in mind

[writers-potion]

hiya! i was wondering if you have a post on how to create a god/deity for your story? thanks!

Writing Deities 

What Type of God?

The form and characteristics of your deity characters will depend highly on the overall worldbuilding and mood of your story. Here are some common deity “types”:

Human-like gods who make their own share of mistakes, are tempted by desires (think of Greek/Roman Gods)

“God” as a formless, omnipotent force of the universe that directs people’s fates 

An omnipotent God vs, Many gods in charge of one element or thing

Gods who command large spheres of elements (like sea, fire, war, etc.) vs. God of petty things (e.g. the God of morning coffee) 

The appearance of a God will reflect what the people of that culture look up to. They can resemble an animal, have almost monster-like features or just look human more or less. 

The Implications of Immortality

A god would generally be immortal, and this would be a major difference between your superheroes and a god. They cannot die and therefore are free from the fear of death, which is the most powerful motivator for our heroes. 

This means that you’ll need to assign a flaw so that you can kick your deity characters’ butts. Often, this comes from the very fact that gods are immortal. 

A tragic backstory of the god losing a human they cared about

A god who wants to die 

A god who was kind and compassionate, but grew irritable and tired after seeing eons of human stupidity. 

A god who regrets creating the world 

Set up limits of their power. Gods cannot invade each other’s territory or they cannot bring back people from the dead. Or they aren’t allowed to roam in modern clothing, and your god happens to hate armor.

In essence, deity characters exist to question the reader’s belief about an aspect of life. Gods are often personifications of abstract concepts and through them you can convey a message about what you think is important. 

For example, a Love Goddess may be a shriveled hag while her daughter, the Goddess of Passion, may be a standard beauty. This immediately conveys the message that a pleasing appearance is no substantial factor of true love. 

A God’s “Personality” 

The most important part of a god’s personality is going to be their attitude towards humans, since the purpose of a god is to command over and protect lives other than theirs. 

How does the god feel about being assigned a “job” at birth? Or did they choose to be a god (any regrets)?

Generally, a god’s personality would be linked to the thing they command. The god of the sea may be capricious but surprisingly open-minded; the god of trees may be generous but stubborn, etc. 

You can:

Summarize the god’s motto in a single sentence. It can be something philosophical or even comical, depending on the mood of your story. (e.g. “Love is cruel,” “Donuts are always right.”)

What kind of humans the god would like the most vs. hate the most

In general, are they compassionate/loving or sadistic/pessimistic?

─── ･ ｡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 

[willowiswriting]

How to Find Your Character's Flaws

Character flaws are so, so important to pushing your story forward and keeping your characters from being too static. But what if you can't figure out your main character's big flaw? You have everything you need to start writing, but your character just feels flat throughout the story.

This is when you need to start thinking about the plot itself. Essentially, whatever makes it hard for your characters to achieve their goals makes for a good flaw and results in a fundamental shift in character across their character arc.

Therefore, consider what your character needs to do in order for the story to go off without a hitch. Imagine if your character were the absolute perfect person to complete this task. (Hint: they're not. But let's pretend for a second.) What traits would they need to have to easily accomlish the tasks you've set them out to do? I like to make a literal list of positive traits. For example, in my low-fantasy mystery novel:

Now that we have this list, we can take one (or more) of these traits and reverse them! For the above list, I know Elaine is NOT a calm and even-tempered person, so that's one major flaw that, when keeping in mind as I write the story, will naturally create conflict between what is "supposed" to happen and what the main character is doing.

I like this method better than just throwing a dart at the board to see what sticks because it naturally creates a character arc. By the end of the story, Elaine will need to work against her naturally bombastic nature to succeed in the finale.

You can also reverse-engineer this method to determine the ending of your story. If your main character's flaw is that they are extremely resistant to change, for instance, the finale will require your character to face and accept a HUGE change for them.

[the-obnoxious-sibling]

Do you have aby more shuggy ship headcanons?

Do you to prefer to ship them as having childhood crush or to become involved after meeting again in the future?

i think if there’s anything this last month has taught me, it’s that i am not running out of shuggy headcanons any time soon. 🙃 every single day for the last thirty-three days i have written about these two, either meta posted here or fic written a/o posted elsewhere.

actually, here. pick a file from my shuggy wips folder, and i’ll share a few fun facts or an excerpt, your choice! (this offer is open to anyone, btw, not just this anon in particular)

as to your second question: i vacillate on that, honestly!

on one hand: i like it when two characters are very, very close in a way they have no reason to think is anything but platonic—until abruptly they aren’t anymore. years pass. they make other friends, have lovers, and then, unexpectedly reunited, suddenly have context for the way they felt. looking at someone you last saw when you were fifteen and realizing, oh, the feelings i had for you back then were not friendly—i go absolutely nuts for this. emotional constipation, oblivious pining, whatever you want to call it… especially when they realize those feelings never really went away? and now they have to deal with them?? *chef’s kiss*

on the other hand: kid shanks seems to be fairly emotionally competent? i don’t think he always understands other people super well (especially when, like buggy, they’re trying to hide their feelings from him), but i think he understands himself alright. in which case he absolutely knows he’s got a crush. he’s so affectionate, so clingy… i think he’s got that “i don’t want to ruin our friendship” mindset, though, so he doesn’t pursue buggy. he’s content to just always be at his side.

meanwhile kid buggy’s too caught up in his inferiority complex to recognize any other possible source for his feelings. like, yeah, of course shanks is this bright shining person blinding everyone around him with his brilliance! obviously!! it's very rude of him to do that, i’m trying to shine over here too! what do you mean other people don't see him like that?!

on the mutant third hand: there’s something very funny about taking the complex relationship shanks and buggy have as kids → teens, saying, “okay, that dynamic was weird, not gonna lie, but 100% platonic” and then throwing an “oh no, he got hot” wrench into the works when they reunite as adults.

[kestalsblog]

Writing Multidimensional Characters

Recently, I was reading a post about how writers often struggle to make multifaceted, dynamic characters - characters who aren't flat. Characters who aren't either purely good or purely bad.

And I get that tendency because when we're writing a story, we get caught up in getting from point A to point B and we make characters do what we need them to do in the moment. Sometimes that results in Villain always being Villainous and Hero always being Heroic.

I've found one of the best ways to combat this tendency is to think of real people you know. I don't mean basing your characters off of them directly. I mean just thinking about them and their behaviors.

For example, I used to care for a man who was . . . just a bad person in a lot of ways. Mean, narcissistic, "merciless," by his own words. He was very ambitious in his career and everyone knew him because he could rise through the ranks like crazy. Very sharp and intelligent and handsome and eloquent. I was so fascinated with him.

Behind people's backs, he was relentlessly vicious. When a coworker's father died and we had to go to the funeral, he admitted to me he'd never really cared when other people died. People die and it made no difference to him, he said. Some of the things he said will never leave my mind. People who wanted to talk to him often came to me and asked me first because they were too afraid of him to approach directly.

One day, we went to his office together and someone had taped a note with one word on it to his door: AIDS.

That's all it said. AIDS.

He was openly gay and everyone knew. The paper didn't need to say anything else because we both understood it was a direct insult and attack against him.

We were completely alone, and I watched as almost instantly he turned from a tyrant into a small child. He started sobbing and literally hid behind me like a cornered animal even though I was smaller than him, crying and crying to me, "Protect me. Protect me." He didn't even sound like himself.

Imagine this big, mean man like that.

I'm not saying any of that detracted from what a bully he was, how violent and terrible he could be. But in that moment, I saw a piece of a human being I hadn't seen before.

Real people never fail to surprise us. Think about those surprising moments, and think about yourself and your own surprising behaviors and motives too. To this day, I think about what it was in me that made me so interested in a person like that. I always considered myself a kind and gentle person, so what did that say about me? Did I think I could change him? Was I just too young and naive to see the big picture?

Your characters should be like that too. Surprising and complicated and nuanced. Their behaviors and motives and actions won’t always make sense, and that’s how it should be.