keyboardandquill

[keyboardandquill]

5 Tiny Writing Tips That Aren’t Talked About Enough (but work for me)

These are some lowkey underrated tips I’ve seen floating around writing communities — the kind that don’t get flashy attention but seriously changed how I write.

1. Put “he/she/they” at the start of the sentence less often.

Try switching up your sentence rhythm. Instead of

“She walked to the window,”

try

“The window creaked open under her touch.”

Keeps it fresh and stops the paragraph from sounding like a checklist.

2. Don’t describe everything — describe what matters.

Instead of listing every detail in a room, pick 2–3 objects that say something.

“A half-drunk mug of tea and a knife on the table”

sets a way stronger tone than

“There was a wooden table, two chairs, and a shelf.”

3. Use beats instead of dialogue tags sometimes.

Instead of:

"I'm fine," she said.

Try:

"I'm fine." She wiped her hands on her skirt.

It helps shows emotion, and movement.

4. Write your first draft like no one will ever read it.

No pressure. No perfection. Just vibes. The point of draft one is to exist. Let it be messy and weird — future you will thank you for at least something to edit.

5. When stuck, ask: “What’s the most fun thing that could happen next?”

Not logical. Not realistic. FUN. It doesn’t have to stay — but chasing excitement can blast through writer’s block and give you ideas you actually want to write.

What’s a tip that unexpectedly helped with your writing? Let me know!! 🍒

[keyboardandquill]

Hey, ive been really interested in your book but ive heard a whole lot of chaos that comes from companies taking money from the authors and since I dont know anything for sure, do you have a place where I can buy your book and be sure you receive as much as possible?

The main place to get my book would be from Amazon at the moment. I will look more closely at other options, but as of right now, they're the only ones who will print on demand and take care of basically the whole process for me when someone orders. They aren't much more helpful with selling than traditional publishers, but the main thing they are is *accessible*

If someone finds me a service that's easy to use, easy to access, does all the work like Amazon does, and pays better, I desperately hope they'll let me know because there are eleventy billion publishers out there and they ALL SWEAR to be the best thing for authors on the planet.

Researching this type of thing is extremely time consuming and I don't know if I can trust aggregators to compare and contrast them in an honest way so that I can make the best decision

Because when I choose a new publisher, I would like them to be my publisher for life. I don't want to make this choice again. This has been years, and it's only getting harder and more companies are being scammy and stupid and predatory. At least with Amazon I know what I'm getting

Goodness, I kinda didn't mean to info dump like this, but I need to put this information out into the world because I actually need help with this. Everybody thinks *their* publishing company is the best, but then when I look into them, there are massive problems even getting the book into their system. Or it costs money. Or the quality sucks. Or the wait times suck for customers. Or the pay rate isn't any higher after all the fees

I'm not just writing. I have an entire life to take care of, and this would take many, many, MANY hours to research.

Please, if someone is willing to help????

[keyboardandquill]

Emotional Walls Your Character Has Built (And What Might Finally Break Them)

(How your character defends their soft core and what could shatter it) Because protection becomes prison real fast.

✶ Sarcasm as armor. (Break it with someone who laughs gently, not mockingly.) ✶ Hyper-independence. (Break it with someone who shows up even when they’re told not to.) ✶ Stoicism. (Break it with a safe space to fall apart.) ✶ Flirting to avoid intimacy. (Break it with real vulnerability they didn’t see coming.) ✶ Ghosting everyone. (Break it with someone who won’t take silence as an answer.) ✶ Lying for convenience. (Break it with someone who sees through them but stays anyway.) ✶ Avoiding touch. (Break it with accidental, gentle contact that feels like home.) ✶ Oversharing meaningless things to hide real depth. (Break it with someone who asks the second question.) ✶ Overworking. (Break it with forced stillness and the terrifying sound of their own thoughts.) ✶ Pretending not to care. (Break it with a loss they can’t fake their way through.) ✶ Avoiding mirrors. (Break it with a quiet compliment that hits too hard.) ✶ Turning every conversation into a joke. (Break it with someone who doesn’t laugh.) ✶ Being everyone’s helper. (Break it when someone asks what they need, and waits for an answer.) ✶ Constantly saying “I’m fine.” (Break it when they finally scream that they’re not.) ✶ Running. Always running. (Break it with someone who doesn’t chase, but doesn’t leave, either.) ✶ Intellectualizing every feeling. (Break it with raw, messy emotion they can’t logic away.) ✶ Trying to be the strong one. (Break it when someone sees the weight they’re carrying, and offers to help.) ✶ Hiding behind success. (Break it when they succeed and still feel empty.) ✶ Avoiding conflict at all costs. (Break it when silence causes more pain than the truth.) ✶ Focusing on everyone else’s healing but their own. (Break it when they hit emotional burnout.)

[keyboardandquill]

I know, I know, I keep vanishing off the face of the Earth, but I am here and sending STS asks today so please interact if you want one!

[keyboardandquill]

The first two illustrations for my little character design project! 🌱

I wanted to make something for my portfolio that combines my love of gardening and robots, each one will have a different gardening purpose with somewhat theoretically functional parts. I also thought it would be cute to make fictional magazine ads for each robot to present them~

[keyboardandquill]

do they easily rely on others to help them out, or prefer doing everything themselves?

Beck is very much of the mind that self-sufficiency is king… until she gets pulled into a small community where everyone helps everyone out. She still finds it a bit weird, but she’s gotten used to asking for small favours :)

Thanks for the ask!

[keyboardandquill]

like/reblog if u want asks about your ocs !!

[keyboardandquill]

This is the best tip for writing romance that I know

When you are writing a romance scene, with emotional dialogue, fraught, deeply intense stuff, have the conversation take place while something else is happening, and in fact, have the conversation be mostly about the other thing.

So when Roderick the gentleman's valet is talking to Lady Blanche, and he knows that she can't run away with him, that it would be absurd, but they are both burning for each other, he is handing her back the gloves that he cleaned for her and talking about removing the spots.

He is helping her build a house of cards on the pool table.

She is showing him her broken fan that he accidentally stepped on.

They are working together to patch the tire when something punctured it on a long car trip.

If the relationship is set up right any interaction gets infused with a thrill of sensuality and the things left unsaid are heard loud and clear by the reader. If Roderick says "I think I can fix that fan," and he touches the tear in the lace; if she builds the house of cards, and they tumble to the table uselessly; if they have to pump the air into the tire together, inflating, inflating...

Redirect the sensual and emotional energy into something else and it will show the characters saying more than they intend, and the reader will feel like a genius for understanding what's really going on here, and it will just be a deeper, hotter scene.

[keyboardandquill]

congrats on writing your essay!! as someone who finds it hard to Sit Down and Just Do The Work, I find it really inspiring to see your timestamps prove that a Thing Doesn’t Have To Take Forever.

if you don’t mind my asking, how do you get yourself to that place where you’re able to start working, and start again after taking breaks? I think that’s the hardest part of my process as a writer

use procrastination to your advantage.

this was the last day that i had to write the essay because i have some other stuff planned this weekend that i wanted to do (fun stuff that is, not other assignments) and i didn’t want the stress of an assignment hanging over my head. so i made a different imaginary deadline said right okay this is when this has to be done then did literally everything else i could possibly do before absolutely running out of ways to distract myself and just locking in and writing the essay.

i also did the research part mostly the day before which i find helps. as in i found several articles and skimmed them and was like ok i’ll use these and then once i start writing i’ll probably want to find some other sources but this is the jump off point.

as for breaks, if you start something late enough there’s a point where you just want to finish it. but i’m the past i’ve limited myself to doing so much per day/hour/ before a certain activity. and also, a fair amount of the time i do end up enjoying what i’m writing cause i’m a nerd who actually enjoys research. and i like learning things. so most of the time i’m like oh cool this is fun.

i also have a Designated Study Music Album that i’ve sort of pavlov’d myself into doing work if i’m listening to it, which is helpful lol

[keyboardandquill]

Wanted to try this so mystery question time! Reblog this with an emoji to get a corresponding question in your inbox regarding your wips and OCs.. I will do these until May 30th 2025. After that date, I will just post all the questions for you to reblog as you please.

🛡- Shield

🌻- Sunflower

💧- Water drop

[keyboardandquill]

we’re gonna write our novels and we’re gonna FINISH them and it’s gonna be GREAT and we’re gonna fall in love w it every time we read it.

[keyboardandquill]

how to stop over-describing in your writing

So you’re writing a scene and suddenly you’ve spent three paragraphs describing the way the curtains flutter in the breeze. Been there. Here’s how to rein it in:

Ask: Does this detail do something?

Does it build mood? Reveal character? Advance the plot? If it’s just vibing there because it’s “pretty,” consider trimming it.

One strong detail > five weak ones

Instead of listing every feature of a room, pick one or two vivid, specific things that convey the vibe. Trust your reader to fill in the rest.

Read aloud

If your paragraph feels like it's dragging or you’re running out of breath, chances are your reader will feel it too.

Treat descriptions like seasoning

A little goes a long way. Sprinkle, don’t dump.

Use the character’s POV

Describe only what they would notice. A detective will see clues. A florist will see the wilting roses. Let their perspective guide the focus.

Sometimes you have to edit it out

Sometimes the line is beautiful. Poetic. Gorgeous. But it doesn’t belong. Cut it. Save it for later. Mourn. Move on.

tl;dr: if your prose starts sounding like a nature documentary, take a step back. Description is a tool, not the whole toolbox.

[keyboardandquill]

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A post shared by Mary Robinette Kowal (@maryrobinettekowal)

MICE quotient: Milieu, Inquiry, Character, Event

Mary Robinette Kowal explains what the MICE quotient is and how it works for structuring a story by nesting the elements of it.

[keyboardandquill]

how do i write when i have adhd and cant even outline the first three chapters:( i always get stuck after three, get bored, and never come back. any advice ?

Writing with ADHD (by a writer w/ adhd)

1. Consume caffeine and/or do cardio for 30min before sitting down to write. Listen to music, a themed playlist perhaps. Do not log onto the internet or have any distractions nearby (books, pets, clutter, food, unfinished projects). Keeping a dohickey like a stress ball around or even a lightweight dumbbell is a decent proxy when your brain craves distraction. Chewing gum can also help you focus.

2. Don’t outline by chapter, I cannot get farther than five or six when I do that. Outline from beginning to end, but make sure to have a middle! Write a synopsis of what happens and break it into chronological chunks. Only outline by chapter once you’ve got a general outline of the whole story, and even then only outline a couple chapters at a time.

3. Write whatever comes to you, but keep it in order in your document. You want to write how your character discovers a secret, but you know that’s not until chapter 20. Write it anyway and title it chapter 20. Do this with every scene you’re inspired to write, then slowly fill in the gaps. If that proves difficult, it’s okay to make the reveal chapter 9 instead and connect everything with [and then this happened] so you’ll know to sew it up later.

4. However short or long the story ends up being, finish it. You can set a goal of 30 chapters, but if 10 is easier finish by chapter ten. Come back (much) later, reread, and add any new ideas you come up with. A short story is sweet! A novella is nice! Train your brain to write longer passages until it can achieve a story of the length you want.

5. (optional) Outlining is for people who can focus, just start writing somewhere and figure it out along the way. I had a very general outline for my longest novel, but mostly I made everything up and ignored it. Maintain focus, know your end goal, and even if you stumble there and take some shortcuts it still counts. Any messiness can be improved in future drafts.

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