k00ps - Tumblr blog

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this is so mean but sometimes i see published writing and suddenly no longer feel insecure about my own writing ability. like well okay that got published so im guessing i dont have much to worry about

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“This is your daily, friendly reminder to use commas instead of periods during the dialogue of your story,” she said with a smile.

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The symbolism of flowers

Flowers have a long history of symbolism that you can incorporate into your writing to give subtext.

Symbolism varies between cultures and customs, and these particular examples come from Victorian Era Britain. You'll find examples of this symbolism in many well-known novels of the era!

Amaryllis: Pride

Black-eyed Susan: Justice

Bluebell: Humility

Calla Lily: Beauty

Pink Camellia: Longing

Carnations: Female love

Yellow Carnation: Rejection

Clematis: Mental beauty

Columbine: Foolishness

Cyclamen: Resignation

Daffodil: Unrivalled love

Daisy: Innocence, loyalty

Forget-me-not: True love

Gardenia: Secret love

Geranium: Folly, stupidity

Gladiolus: Integrity, strength

Hibiscus: Delicate beauty

Honeysuckle: Bonds of love

Blue Hyacinth: Constancy

Hydrangea: Frigid, heartless

Iris: Faith, trust, wisdom

White Jasmine: Amiability

Lavender: Distrust

Lilac: Joy of youth

White Lily: Purity

Orange Lily: Hatred

Tiger Lily: Wealth, pride

Lily-of-the-valley: Sweetness, humility

Lotus: Enlightenment, rebirth

Magnolia: Nobility

Marigold: Grief, jealousy

Morning Glory: Affection

Nasturtium: Patriotism, conquest

Pansy: Thoughtfulness

Peony: Bashfulness, shame

Poppy: Consolation

Red Rose: Love

Yellow Rose: Jealously, infidelity

Snapdragon: Deception, grace

Sunflower: Adoration

Sweet Willian: Gallantry

Red Tulip: Passion

Violet: Watchfulness, modesty

Yarrow: Everlasting love

Zinnia: Absent, affection

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Things that work in fiction but not real life

torture getting reliable information out of people

knocking someone out to harmlessly incapacitate them for like an hour

jumping into water from staggering heights and surviving the fall completely intact

calling the police to deescalate a situation

rafting your way off a desert island

correctly profiling total strangers based on vibes

effectively operating every computer by typing and nothing else

ripping an IV out of your arm without consequences

heterosexual cowboy

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writing tips/inspo/help

Character Movements #1

Punctuating Dialogue

50 WORDS TO USE INSTEAD OF “SAID”

traits turned sour

DESCRIBING THE PHYSICAL ATTRIBUTES OF CHARACTERS:

Vary your language with synonyms to use instead of "said"

WEBSITES FOR WRITERS

Descriptions in Between Dialogue

switch up your verbs (part one) ~

words to use when writing

writing resources - smut

Writing Resources: References

Writing Resources: Advice and Motivation

Writing Resources: Basics

Writing Resources: Characters

Writing References: Narratives

words to use when writing

writing perfect betrayal

toxic traits

words to use instead of...

fight scene

how to create a supermarket setting

kissing vocab

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REVERSE TROPE WRITING PROMPTS

Too many beds

Accidentally kidnapping a mafia boss

Really nice guy who hates only you

Academic rivals except it’s two teachers who compete to have the best class

Divorce of convenience

Too much communication

True hate’s kiss (only kissing your enemy can break a curse)

Dating your enemy’s sibling

Lovers to enemies

Hate at first sight

Love triangle where the two love interests get together instead

Fake amnesia

Soulmates who are fated to kill each other

Strangers to enemies

Instead of fake dating, everyone is convinced that you aren’t actually dating

Too hot to cuddle

Love interest CEO is a himbo/bimbo who runs their company into the ground

Nursing home au

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I probably put way too much thought into it but I do enjoy making a more in depth story rather than winging it. I like to actually think about the worldbuilding, make sure things actually connect and make sense. I am a big history nerd and I feel like it's the closest I can get to writing my own history.

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Advice for writing relationships

Ship Dynamics

How to create quick chemistry

How to write a polyamorous relationship

How to write a wedding

How to write found family

How to write forbidden love

Introducing partner(s) to family

Honeymoon

Date gone wrong

Fluffy Kiss Scene

Love Language - Showing, not telling

Love Language - Showing you care

Affections without touching

Giving the reader butterflies with your characters

Reasons a couple would divorce on good terms

Reasons for breaking up while still loving each other

Relationship Problems

Relationship Changes

Milestones in a relationship

Platonic activities for friends

Settings for conversations

How to write a love-hate relationship

How to write enemies to lovers

How to write lovers to enemies to lovers

How to write academic rivals to lovers

How to write age difference

Reasons a couple would divorce on good terms

Reasons for having a crush on someone

Ways to sabotage someone else's relationship

Ways a wedding could go wrong

Arranged matrimony for royalty

If you like my blog and want to support me, you can buy me a coffee or become a member! And check out my Instagram! 🥰

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Good Traits Gone Bad

Exploring good traits gone bad in a novel can add depth and complexity to your characters. Here are a few examples of good traits that can take a negative turn:

1. Empathy turning into manipulation: A character with a strong sense of empathy may use it to manipulate others' emotions and gain an advantage.

2. Confidence becoming arrogance: Excessive confidence can lead to arrogance, where a character belittles others and dismisses their opinions.

3. Ambition turning into obsession: A character's ambition can transform into an unhealthy obsession, causing them to prioritize success at any cost, including sacrificing relationships and moral values.

4. Loyalty becoming blind devotion: Initially loyal, a character may become blindly devoted to a cause or person, disregarding their own well-being and critical thinking.

5. Courage turning into recklessness: A character's courage can morph into reckless behavior, endangering themselves and others due to an overestimation of their abilities.

6. Determination becoming stubbornness: Excessive determination can lead to stubbornness, where a character refuses to consider alternative perspectives or change their course of action, even when it's detrimental.

7. Optimism becoming naivety: Unwavering optimism can transform into naivety, causing a character to overlook dangers or be easily deceived.

8. Protectiveness turning into possessiveness: A character's protective nature can evolve into possessiveness, where they become overly controlling and jealous in relationships.

9. Altruism becoming self-neglect: A character's selflessness may lead to neglecting their own needs and well-being, to the point of self-sacrifice and burnout.

10. Honesty becoming brutal bluntness: A character's commitment to honesty can turn into brutal bluntness, hurting others with harsh and tactless remarks.

These examples demonstrate how even admirable traits can have negative consequences when taken to extremes or used improperly. By exploring the complexities of these traits, you can create compelling and multi-dimensional characters in your novel.

Happy writing!

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If you're lamenting the fact that you used to be able to shoot through a 500-page novel in like a day when you were in middle school and now you can't, it's worth bearing in mind that a big part of that is because when you were in middle school, your reading comprehension sucked. Yes, mental health and the stresses of adult life can definitely be factors, but it's also the case that reading is typically more effortful as an adult because you've learned to Ponder The Implications. The material isn't just skimming over the surface of your brain anymore, and some of the spoons you used to spend on maximising your daily page count are now spent on actually thinking about what you're reading!

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This site looks wonderful? Copied their link list below for anyone who'd rather stay on Tumblr to preview what they offer.

Starting writing

Blank Page Blueprint

5-Minute Freewrite

More than a Muse

A Field Guide to Your Imagination

Write-alongs

Idea Help

100 Story Ideas

100 Flash Fiction Prompts

52 Romance Story Ideas

30 Scene Ideas for Plot Development

30 Scene Ideas for Character Development

30 Scene Ideas for World Development

Idea generator

Story Building Tarot Spread

Genre Help

Choosing a genre

Genre mindmaps

Plotting Help

How to use a Plot Formula

How to write a novella

One Page Novel Plot Formula

The Fool’s Journey

Escaping a tight spot

Plot hole worksheet

Plot twist worksheet

Ticking clock

Mini-quests

Try/fail cycles

Increasing conflict

Adding action

Creating suspense

Writing Help

How to finish your novel

Opening scenes

Creating mood

Creating metaphors and similes

Generating title ideas

Deciding point of view

Scene writing

Dialogue help

Writing a synopsis

Creative writing reading list

Blogging while writing

Novel in a month notebook

Google Docs for writers

Creative writing toolkit

How to export your Scrivener timeline

Character Help

Quick character creator

30 scene ideas for characters

Character quirks

Killing characters

Love your antagonist

Character motivation

Making trouble for characters

Couples worksheet

Naming characters

Choosing a narrator

Writing emotions

Expressing thoughts

Creating villains

Making decisions

Character occupations

Worldbuilding Help

City building

Technology worksheet

Creating magic systems

Politics

Rites and rituals

World history

World geography

Setting

Writer Help

Becoming a writer

Differentiating yourself

Creative writer worksheets

Creative writing syllabus

Writer’s self assessment

Getting unstuck

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a ps freakin a

“i want to write but i can’t seem to get anything down, i open a document and stare at a blank page for so long because i have no idea how to start my story hhhhnnnngggghhhh”

plot twist

you don’t have to start at the beginning

write the scenes are strongest in your mind first! it’ll make you more interested in writing the story, get you some practice, and orient yourself. THEN you go write the beginning once you know where you’re trying to go!! upend writing hierarchy!! knock out a first draft!! save the bees!!

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What Is Emotional Suspense?

We know what it feels like when a story holds us in suspense. It’s the moment you realize you can’t put your book down and you’re holding your breath as characters take risks.

What happens when you use emotions to orchestrate those feelings? You create emotional suspense, which is helpful in more than a few ways.

Definition of Emotional Suspense

Readers experience emotional suspense when they continue reading for an emotional payoff. 

Picture your protagonist learning that their best friend betrayed them. The protagonist doesn’t tell their best friend right away, so there’s suspense as you wait for the answer and heartbreak, anger, and sadness waiting to crash into your heart when the confrontation finally happens.

Why Emotional Suspense Is Important for Stories

It Intensifies the Reader’s Emotions

Anyone can be happy for two characters who realize they’re best friends. We know what it’s like to have someone who understands us, so it engages our emotions easily.

That happiness becomes intensified if those two characters realize they’re best friends right when an unknown force is about to tear them apart. The reader knows it’s coming and doesn’t want the happiness to end or for either character to get hurt. The emotional suspense makes every moment more visceral.

It Makes Readers More Engaged

When a reader feels engaged with your story, it checks off a few boxes for them:

It keeps their attention with literary devices and/or plot development

It makes them feel seen in some way

It awakens emotions in them that create a human connection between them and a character (or more!) in your story

Emotional suspense can check all of those boxes:

Waiting for the emotional payoff or crumbling of any scene keeps their attention.

The emotions they share with the character create that essential readership connection

The emotions also make the reader feel seen because your character is going through something they can relate to

It Makes Endings More Satisfactory

The end of a traditional hero’s journey story is nearly always satisfactory because the plot events make them earn their ending.

Emotional suspense makes that satisfaction something you can feel in your bones because the plot makes sense logically and whatever emotional weights you’ve been waiting to drop have landed.

Examples of Emotional Suspense

Twilight

Readers spend the entire book watching Edward and Bella fall in love, despite them being a vampire and a human. Their bond is believable by the end, but when he has to suck the vampire bite from Bella’s blood, emotional suspense makes the reader hold their breath.

There’s the practical question—will he save her life?

There’s the emotional question—will his love be strong enough to override his vampire instincts?

Dune

Duke Leto has to save spice miners at the beginning of Dune. It’s his first test of leadership for the reader, all within the timed scenario of saving the miners from the coming worm. The people surrounding him tell him to save the spice and leave the miners because there’s no time.

There’s the practical question—will he save the lives on his ship and the valuable spice?

There’s the emotional question—will he choose to do the right thing (saving the miners’ lives) and prove his character as a leader (so the reader can cheer for him), instead of being the money-hungry capitalist like some of the people around him?

A Court of Thorns and Roses

Feyre goes to Under the Mountain to save Tamlin, even though it means a guaranteed death (she’s a human and everyone down there is a faerie). Her trials commence, all to potentially save the faeries she loves.

There’s the practical question—will she figure out how to beat the trials and survive?

There’s the emotional question—in potentially sacrificing herself to prove her love for Tamlin, will he love her back when it’s all over?

How to Build Emotional Suspense

Build Strong Characters

Readers won’t care about or connect with characters that are too flat. Build your protagonist and supporting characters with helpful worksheets, outlines, pictures, or any other resource that makes them feel real.

A few things to consider when creating characters:

What’s their primary goal?

What’s their biggest fear?

What do they love?

Who do they want to be?

Do they like who they are now?

Does their past follow them around?

Add Danger or a Threat

Suspense requires at least some threat or a minimal sense of danger. The more danger there is, the more suspense your reader will feel if they are already connected with your characters.

Potential forms of danger or threats:

Physical dangers

Societal dangers

Interpersonal threats

External threats

Emotional threats or danger

Spiritual threat or danger

Keep the Risk Going

After identifying the danger they’re facing, your characters will eventually make a choice to take a risk. When that happens, know if it’ll turn into short-term or long-term suspense.

Short-term risk might mean answering a few questions on a test that gets immediately graded. Long-term risk could mean giving up a full-ride college scholarship to follow their gut.

Either way, the risk must follow with some emotional payoff. That’s when the emotional suspense will wash over your reader and make them amazed at your storytelling skills.

Layer In Practicality 

Most of the time, people don’t take a risk for no reason. Make sure there’s a practical reason for your character to take a risk and face whatever danger lies ahead. Otherwise, the reader will write them off as a stupid character living in an unrelatable and unreal story.

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Emotional suspense is a powerful tool that creates unforgettable stories. You’ll keep your readers on the edge of their seats by breaking this literary device apart before putting it back together in the form of a plotline.

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What is Tokenism?

Tokenism refers to giving the empty appearance of inclusivity or diversity, often to avoid criticism. In writing, tokenism refers to adding minorities to an otherwise homogenous cast (think a cast of white male characters in the West) in name or appearance only, without putting in the effort to develop these characters.

The problem with tokenism is that token characters are forced to be the sole representation of their particular group. The consequence is twofold. First, undeveloped token characters often become platforms for stereotypes. Think the sassy Black friend, the smart Asian friend, etc.

Second, token characters often become creator mouthpieces. Many of us have heard someone excuse their racism by saying they have a POC friend. The token character, the proverbial Friend of Color, can be made to excuse or even promote biases about their race, ethnicity, or culture.

There is no inherent issue with having only one of a particular identity, or having a white protagonist and a POC best friend. The problem comes when you make the character a spokesperson for their identity and/or saddle them with stereotypes and cliches. To avoid tokenism, write the character from a place of empathy, make them three dimensional, do your research on their identity, and avoid stereotypes.

Further Reading:

Why We Need More Directors of Color

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This Q&A is an excerpt from our General FAQ for Newcomers, which can be found in our new Masterpost of rules and FAQs. Take a look to learn more about writing POC representation!

-Writing With Color

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Free Websites / Tools that I use for Writing ! !

Organizational:

Notion : a personal favourite of mine. from what i've seen, unlimited projects with a variety of cards to use. it also has an mobile app with it. highly recommend.

Milanote : has some limitations on how many cards you can have but has different templates you can tinker around with. is more of a whiteboard type of site.

Hiveword : i haven't used it but it provides a novel-building template for plot, scenes, characters, etc.

Lucidchart : another i don't use but from what I've seen, it's similar to Milanote with their whiteboard style. also has a variety of templates of charts, diagrams, and more!

Helpful Tools:

OneLook Thesaurus : my go-to website for finding synonyms. also provides definitions!

Language Tool : a chrome extension similar to Grammarly that acts as a grammar-aid tool.

Character Creation / World Building:

Pinterest : a great source if you're searching for inspiration. you can also find tips and prompts on the site too!

Reedsy Character Name Generator : a name generator that include forename and surnames. has nationality specific names and a few mythic / fantasy name generators.

Fantasy Name Generator : this name generator has much more variety with character names and fictional location titles.

Inkarnate : a fantasy world-building site that I used in the past. fun fact: i made a little (it wasn't little) dragon shaped island for one story that never made it on paper.

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Child Crying Out

by Louise Glück

You're asleep now, your eyelids quiver. What son of mine could be expected to rest quietly, to live even one moment free of wariness?

The night's cold; you've pushed the covers away. As for your thoughts, your dreams --

I'll never understand the claim of a mother on a child's soul.

So many times I made that mistake in love, taking some wild sound to be the soul exposing itself --

But not with you, even when I held you constantly. You were born, you were far away.

Whatever those cries meant, they came and went whether I held you or not, whether I was there or not.

The soul is silent. If it speaks at all it speaks in dreams.