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 “Allow yourself to be proud of yourself and all the progress you’ve made. Especially the progress that no one else can see.” 

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A peaceful moment of Max and Chloe, gorgeously captured in this weeks #FanArtFriday by @kako_to_mirai

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“I don’t take half, i take it all, or nothing at all.”

—

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Someday I should have a wall like Max’s, filled with photos of the most significant moments of my life. But maybe it’s too painful.

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Aquí tenéis mi primera historia en Wattpad. ¡Espero que os guste!

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Taller de creación de personajes de ficción al que asistí hace un par de meses. Soy la larguirucha a la izquierda de la foto.

http://paulacolobrans.com/actividades/el-personaje-de-ficcion-en-vilanova-i-la-geltru/

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It always felt like this, indeed.

Reblog if you're going to make some headway today, no matter what!

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I’m back

Okay, now that I’ve come back from my holiday in Sardinia, Italy, I think it’s time to get back on track with writing my novel!

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Tag: 4 people I’d like to know better

Thanks to @everynextdream for the tag!

Name: Norma

Birthday and zodiac: 1st February 1986, Aquarius.

Height: 5' 11"

Hobbies: Writing stories, blogging, reading, and watching TV series and films.

Favorite colors: I love all colours. I used to wear only black when I was younger, but I eventually started to wear almost any colour.

Favorite books: I love gothic, romance and chick-lit novels, but I read almost anything as long as it’s good.

Last Song I listened to: Noches de bohemia by Navajita Plateá, a Spanish flamenco song.

Last film I watched: Last night, I watched a TV documentary about Sardinia, where I’m travelling in two days.

Inspiration for muse: Absolutely everything is a source of inspiration.

Dream job: Novelist and blogger.

Meaning behind url: Ocell de tempesta means storm petrel in Catalan. It’s a species of bird.

I’ll tag @corasnowbooks @persephonesama @blueinkblot @tibtabs26

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TEN possible REASONS why your SCENE feels FLAT

Excessive focus on one character

Lacking in descriptions or pointers about setting and time

Too much dialogue

Too much exposition

Bad word choice (this one never really ends, does it?)

Lacking atmosphere

Lacking motivation/goals

Lacking tension

An abnormally slow pacing

One active character and the rest being passive

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“There’s nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and open a vein.”

— Ernest Hemingway

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Any tips for writing amazing sex scenes?

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1. Do you listen to music when you write?, 2. Are you a pantser or plotter?, 18. If you could collaborate with anyone, who would it be, and what would you write about? :3

First of all, thank you @corasnowbooks for your questions. I really appreciate that you asked! 

Here we go:

1. Do you listen to music when you write? Yes, I usually listen to Spotify when I write. I love almost all types of music, but if I need to be really focused, I play any reading, studying, classical or chill out playlists. If not, I choose other genres, depending on my mood.

2. Are you a pantser or plotter? Well, that’s a good question. There are days when I’m very inspired and have lots of good ideas. Then I just need to jot down everything that comes to my mind. Sometimes it’s even overwhelming because I don’t know what to do with all that stuff, but I keep writing and writing and writing, just in case. Unfortunately, there are also other days that I just can’t come up with anything interesting, or I even don’t feel like writing so I use that time to work on my plot and organise all the material. I enjoy both things, being 50% pantser and 50% plotter.

18. If you could collaborate with anyone, who would it be, and what would you write about? I’d love to collaborate with one of my favourite chick-lit authors, Marian Keyes. We would probably tell a feel-good story about women dealing with addiction.

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A Writer’s Ask Game

Send me an ask with the number(s) you’d like me to answer!

The Basics 1.     Do you listen to music when you write? 2.     Are you a pantser or plotter? 3.     Computer or pen and paper? 4.     Have you ever been published, or do you want to be published? 5.     How much writing do you get done on an average day? 6.     Single or multiple POV? 7.     Standalone or series? 8.     Oldest WIP 9.     Current WIP 10.  Do you set yourself deadlines?

The Specifics 11.  Books and/or authors who influenced you the most 12.  Describe your perfect writing space 13.  Describe your writing process from idea to polished 14.  How do you deal with self-doubts? 15.  How do you deal with writer’s block? 16.  How many drafts do you need until you’re satisfied with a project? 17.  What writing habits or rituals do you have? 18.  If you could collaborate with anyone, who would it be, and what would you write about? 19.  How do you keep yourself motivated? 20.  How many WIPs and story ideas do you have?

The Favourites 21.  Who is/are your favourite character(s) to write? 22.  Who is/are your favourite pairing(s) to write? 23.  Favourite author 24.  Favourite genre to write and read 25.  Favourite part of writing 26.  Favourite writing program 27.  Favourite line/scene 28.  Favourite side character 29.  Favourite villain 30.  Favourite idea you haven’t started on yet

The Dark 31.  Least favourite part of writing 32.  Most difficult character to write 33.  Have you ever killed a main character? 34.  What was the hardest scene you ever had to write? 35.  What scene/story are you least looking forward to writing?

The Fun 36.  Last sentence you wrote 37.  First sentence or your current WIP 38.  Weirdest story idea you’ve ever had 39.  Weirdest character concept you’ve ever had 40.  Share some backstory for one of your characters

The Rest of It 41.  Any advice for new/beginning/young writers? 42.  How do you feel about love triangles? 43.  What do you do if/when characters don’t follow the outline? 44.  How much research do you do? 45.  How much world building do you do? 46.  Do you reread your own stories? 47.  Best way to procrastinate 48.  What’s the most self-insert character/scene you’ve ever written? 49.  Which character would you most want to be friends with, if they were real? 50.  [Other question—ask me anything]

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8 Ways to Improve Your Writing

I got a great anonymous ask last week from someone who wanted to know how to identify weak spots in their writing. One of the things that comes with time and experience is finding the language to identify, discuss, and address the feeling that something isn’t quite right or that a story is “missing something.” Not knowing them or their writing, of course I couldn’t help them figure out what specifically the problem was. But I did share with them a list of things I’ve done over the years to be able to identify weak spots and improve my writing. 

1. Analyze your favorite writers.

Figure out why you like the writing that you like. Ask yourself: What are they doing here? What are they doing that I’m not doing? Why do I love their writing so much? Take notes on their stories. Plot them. Write in the margins. Read them slowly. Read their reviews—both good and bad. Did that writer you love once write something you hated? Great, even better. Figure out why that particular book was different from the others.

2. Analyze your own writing.

Do you have an older story you wrote that you love? Figure out why. What did you do differently in that story that you’re not doing in the current story you’re writing? Make notes. Draw maps. Reverse engineer everything.

3. Develop a language to talk and think about writing.

Read craft books, blogs, anything you can get your hands on. Learn about point of view, conflict, character development, dialogue, story structure, syntax, metaphors. Get your advice from good sources, and don’t believe everything you read. If something doesn’t sit right with you, throw it out. But be open to everything.

4. Journal and write about your writing.

Over time, you will identify consistent weaknesses that you have. Then, in the future, when you feel like “something is missing” from your writing, you can reference your notes and remember, for example, that you often have difficulty with your protagonist’s motivation, with theme, with dialogue, etc., and you’ll have a better idea about where to go looking.

5. Share your writing with someone you trust, ideally a more experienced writer than you or an editor or mentor.

Be very careful about who you share your writing with. Friends and family are not always the best choice. You don’t want someone who’s just going to throw around their uneducated opinion about your work, who has a big ego, or who won’t be honest with you. Remember: “I liked it” or “I didn’t like it” are useless pieces of feedback. You want someone who can read your work and say, “Your protagonist’s passion for music made them really likeable to me. I was dying to know whether they would get into the conservatory or not!” or “My attention wandered on page two, when you described the couch upholstery for three paragraphs.”

6. Analyze the areas of your writing which are commonly problematic for new writers (and writers in general).

In my experience as an editor, the most likely culprits are unclear character motivation and lack of conflict. There are a lot of good resources (books and blogs) about this. Try a Google search for “most common mistakes beginning writers make.”

7. Trust your intuition.

Do you keep coming back to the same page or scene in your story, feeling like it isn’t right? You’re probably onto something.

8. Take time away from your writing.

You’d be amazed how much more clear everything will be after a break. Give yourself at least a week for a short story, 3-4 weeks for a novel. It could also be the case that your ambitions for this particular story don’t yet match your skills, and that you’ll have to wait even longer to successfully finish it. I’ve known writers who have given up on a story only to come back to it months or years later once they’d gained the skills and insight to complete it. And then suddenly writing that story seemed really easy!

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All writing is list-making. Nothing more. The trick is knowing what to put next on the list.

David Gerrold, Worlds of Wonder