mikawritings

[mikawritings]

If your plot feels flat, STUDY it! Your story might be lacking...

Stakes - What would happen if the protagonist failed? Would it really be such a bad thing if it happened?

Thematic relevance - Do the events of the story speak to a greater emotional or moral message? Is the conflict resolved in a way that befits the theme?

Urgency - How much time does the protagonist have to complete their goal? Are there multiple factors complicating the situation?

Drive - What motivates the protagonist? Are they an active player in the story, or are they repeatedly getting pushed around by external forces? Could you swap them out for a different character with no impact on the plot? On the flip side, do the other characters have sensible motivations of their own?

Yield - Is there foreshadowing? Do the protagonist's choices have unforeseen consequences down the road? Do they use knowledge or clues from the beginning, to help them in the end? Do they learn things about the other characters that weren't immediately obvious?

[mikawritings]

vampire short bc the phase is never-ending

  It was a common misconception that a person had to be killed to become a vampire. Another belief was that vampire society operated under the motto of 'kill or be killed- again'. Jax now knew both of these things were false.

At least, he didn't feel dead. He stuck a finger under his lip and tugged the skin up, tilting his head as he looked in the mirror to catch a good glimpse of his fangs. On one side of his neck sat two neat dots from where he'd been bitten. A few hours ago, they'd been bleeding and the whole area was tinged crimson but now, they were nasty dark green holes with wriggling black veins highlighted around them. The rest of his skin was pale and clammy to the touch; even his gums and the inside of his mouth were white-ish pink and devoid of blood.

A quick glance to his feet told his all he needed to know about where his blood had gone. His calves and feet were swollen, purple and mottled, puffed up like grotesque balloons. He pressed his fingers to his pale wrist and couldn't find a pulse. Maybe he was dead after all.

"Compression socks." Heloise, a petite blonde vampire sat at the wine bar behind him, called out without looking up from her glass. "They help push some of the blood back up so you're not as swollen."

She, along with another vampire (a young boy who hadn't looked up from his DS during the whole time Jax had been there) had proved his assumption that all vampires hated each other wrong. Heloise had had every chance to kill him- from finding him passed out in an alleyway, to carting him to this underground maze- but hadn't given him any more than the occasional flick on the forehead to wake him up on the journey over.

"Thanks," he muttered, then pushed his black hair away from his forehead. It was limp and dull, plastered to his skin by a thin sheen of sweat that coated his body. "Do you have a shower around here?"

Heloise jerked her head towards a black door behind her with fairy lights draped across it, then drew her phone out of her pocket and started playing some sort of 'match the colours' game. The other vampire still had yet to acknowledge Jax's existence.

He took one last glance around the room. Every surface, save for the wine bar Heloise sat at, was made of shimmery black marble. One wall was covered by a large mirror that spanned from floor to ceiling, reflecting whatever Jax had become in all its sweaty, clammy glory. The wine bar was made of unstained wood, with fat yellow bulbs hanging from the ceiling around it. The rest of the room was lit by thin lines of white LED lights that ran across the ceiling and lined the mirror, shining so bright and clean it made his eyes ache.

One wobbly, numb step at a time, he walked to the bathroom and swung open the black door. The inside matched the main room: black marble, a sleek, simplistic steel showerhead that protruded directly from the ceiling and (he noticed with a wince) the same bright lights. There was no toilet or door lock.

Jax shut the door, pulled off his black t-shirt and shoved it under into the small gap under the door in the vague hope that would stop anyone from coming in. Then, he fiddled with two steel knobs on the wall nearest the showerhead until the water came flooding down. He tugged his shorts off and stepped under the water, head facing up, eyes closed.

For a few minutes, he was still. He could feel the water running down his body, washing away the grease and grime of the longest day he'd ever had. The pinprick fang marks on his neck didn't sting at all, even when he brushed the water off his face and opened his eyes to check they were still there.

There were three little silver bottles by his feet- labelled 'S' and 'C' and 'BW' respectively. He grabbed the 'BW' bottle, poured out a drizzle and lathered himself all over, watching the lavender, baby-power scented liquid foam up and became grey as it detached all the dirt from his body. He repeated the process with 'S' on his hair, but didn't bother with 'C'.

Something about watching the dirty soap bubble as the drain pulled it downwards made Jax's head go blank. Knees weak, he set his clumsy body down on the shower floor and sat with his head hung low. Water dribbled over his face, dripping off of his parted lips like a spring, but he wasn't thirsty enough to try sucking any in to drink it.

He wasn't thirsty at all.

Heloise threw the door open with all the subtlety of a gunshot as the last of the dirt bubbles fled down the drain. "Get up!" She smacked the top silver knob, stopping the water, and chucked a fluffy pink towel at Jax's head. "You're using all the hot water."

Jax scrambled to tie the towel around his waist. "Couldn't you have knocked?" He stuttered, cheeks flushed.

"Couldn't you have come out sooner?" She smacked her cheeks with her hands. "I need the hot water. It's good for my skin. Dry yourself and come outside, there's someone you should meet."

[mikawritings]

Low level/continuous pain tips for writing

Want to avoid the action movie effect and make your character's injuries have realistic lasting impacts? Have a sick character you're using as hurt/comfort fodder? Everyone has tips for how to write Dramatic Intense Agony, but the smaller human details of lasting or low-level discomfort are rarely written in. Here are a few pain mannerisms I like to use as reference:

General

Continuously gritted teeth (may cause headaches or additional jaw pain over time)

Irritability, increased sensitivity to lights, sounds, etc

Repetitive movements (fidgeting, unable to sit still, slight rocking or other habitual movement to self-soothe)

Soft groaning or whimpering, when pain increases or when others aren't around

Heavier breathing, panting, may be deeper or shallower than normal

Moving less quickly, resistant to unnecessary movement

Itching in the case of healing wounds

Subconsciously hunching around the pain (eg. slumped shoulders or bad posture for gut pain)

Using a hand to steady themself when walking past walls, counters, etc (also applies to illness)

Narration-wise: may not notice the pain was there until it's gone because they got so used to it, or may not realize how bad it was until it gets better

May stop mentioning it outright to other people unless they specifically ask or the pain increases

Limb pain

Subtly leaning on surfaces whenever possible to take weight off foot/leg pain

Rubbing sore spots while thinking or resting

Wincing and switching to using other limb frequently (new/forgettable pain) or developed habit of using non dominant limb for tasks (constant/long term pain)

Propping leg up when sitting to reduce inflammation

Holding arm closer to body/moving it less

Moving differently to avoid bending joints (eg. bending at the waist instead of the knees to pick something up)

Nausea/fever/non-pain discomfort

Many of the same things as above (groaning, leaning, differences in movement)

May avoid sudden movements or turning head for nausea

Urge to press up against cold surfaces for fever

Glazed eyes, fixed stare, may take longer to process words or get their attention

Shivering, shaking, loss of fine motor control

If you have any more details that you personally use to bring characters to life in these situations, I'd love to hear them! I'm always looking for ways to make my guys suffer more write people with more realism :)

[mikawritings]

  After Risi refused to say anything other than ‘mama’, Illa resigned himself to his fate as her mother and decided to try something new.

"I said no to him twice and then shoved his head into a pole."

Naturally, they also never mentioned the other to anyone else or interacted outside of work. /  They considered themselves to be great friends.

  He hated rich people sometimes.

  "Would you rather be beheaded, hung, or burned?"

Favorite Lines Tag

Received this tag a while back from @autumnalwalker, so thanks! Passing it along with soft tags to @zmwrites, @penspiration-writing, @tisiphonewolfe, @smol-feralgremlin, and @i-can-even-burn-salad, as well as leaving it an open tag for anyone who wants to join in!

Rules—share your favorite lines from your WIP/s

I'm not gonna try and list my favorite lines from all my WIPs, nor am I certain these are my favorite lines, just lines I like a lot that I can remember lmao

From book 1 of my fantasy series “Because witches are bitches.”

From book 2 of my fantasy series “I don’t do the drug thing, but give me the stuff that makes drugs so I can save the rainbow kitties!”

From my unnamed WIP Because giving him a concussion wasn’t enough to let him know she missed him.

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Me: I love talking about my story with people

Me once someone in real life asks me about my story:

[mikawritings]

ᴛɪᴘꜱ ꜰᴏʀ ᴡʀɪᴛᴇʀꜱ [ꜰʀᴏᴍ ᴀ ᴡʀɪᴛᴇʀ]

don't let your skill in writing deter you. publishers look for the storyline, not always excellent writing. many of the greatest books came from mediocre writers—and also excellent and terrible ones.

keep writing even when it sucks. you don't know how to write this battle scene yet? skip ahead. write [battle scene here] and continue. in the end, you'll still have a book—and you can fill in the blanks later.

find your motivation. whether it's constantly updating That One Friend or posting your progress, motivation is key.

write everything down. everything. you had the perfect plot appear to you in a dream? scribble down everything you can remember as so as you can. I like to keep cue cards on my nightstand just in case.

play with words. titles, sentences, whatever. a lot of it will probably change either way, so this is the perfect opportunity to try out a new turn of phrase—or move along on one you're not quite sure clicks yet.

explain why, don't tell me. if something is the most beautiful thing a character's ever laid eyes on, describe it—don't just say "it's beautiful".

ask for critique. you will always be partial to your writing. getting others to read it will almost always provide feedback to help you write even better.

stick to the book—until they snap. write a character who is disciplined, courteous, and kind. make every interaction to reinforce the reader's view as such. but when they're left alone, when their closest friend betrays them, when the world falls to their feet...make them finally break.

magic. has. limits. there is no "infinite well" for everyone to draw from, nor "infinite spells" that have been discovered. magic has a price. magic has a limit. it takes a toll on the user—otherwise why can't they simply snap their fingers and make everything go their way?

read, read, read. reading is the source of inspiration.

first drafts suck. and that's putting it gently. ignoring all the typos, unfinished sentences, and blatant breaking of each and every grammar rules, there's still a lot of terrible. the point of drafts is to progress and make it better: it's the sketch beneath an oil painting. it's okay to say it's not great—but that won't mean the ideas and inspiration are not there. first drafts suck, and that's how you get better.

write every day. get into the habit—one sentence more, or one hundred pages, both will train you to improve.

more is the key to improvement. more writing, more reading, more feedback, and you can only get better. writing is a skill, not a talent, and it's something that grows with you.

follow the rules but also scrap them completely. as barbossa wisely says in PotC, "the code is more what you'd call 'guidelines' than actual rules". none of this is by the book, as ironic as that may be.

write for yourself. I cannot stress this enough. if what you do is not something you enjoy, it will only get harder. push yourself, but know your limits. know when you need to take a break, and when you need to try again. write for yourself, and you will put out your best work.

[mikawritings]

Angsty prompts

"After all I've done for you, this is what I get?"

"No. This is what you get for trusting me."

"But you wouldn't let that happen to me, B? Right? Please." But B never responds, just keeps looking straight on.

"This is the end, A."

"It doesn't have to be." A wipes the bloodied hair out of B's face, cradling their head in their arms. "Just hold on a little bit longer, help is nearly here."

A kills someone to goes to B to find comfort, but B is disgusted in them and what they've done.

B is killed. The one that killed them is playing with their corpse like a toy; all A can do it watch in horror.

[mikawritings]

“who hurt you?” books, bro.

[mikawritings]

i'll use these when i finally figure out how to write smut smh

List of “we just happen to love hate fucking each other” prompts

“You definitely don’t hold someone’s hand while you’re fucking them if you hate them.” 

“Yeah, so what happened last night…” “You’d better not tell anyone else about it or it’s off with your head.”

“It’s funny how you’re such a softie in the streets but love it rough in the sheets, huh?”

“That was a bit too intimate for my liking.” “Yeah, same, let’s never do that again.” (They proceed to do [too intimate action] again many times after that.) 

“Let me just remind you — I’m not love fucking you. I’m hate fucking you.” “Okay, cool.” “So don’t go falling for me or else we’re going to have problems.” “I promise I won’t. Why the fuck would I fall for someone like you, anyway, just because you like to stick it up me every now and again?”

Character A accidentally laughing/smiling against Character B’s lips after a particularly rough make out session while Character B’s fucking into them. 

Character B being unable to get Character A’s accidental smile/laughter against their lips out of their head and thinking I must be going fucking crazy. 

“Did you just let slip that you love me or am I hearing things?” “…You’re definitely hearing things. You should go get your ears checked.” 

“This is for stress relief only,” Character A grits out as they drive into Character B again, hands pinning their hips to the mattress and revelling in the way Character B whimpers at the roughness they’re exhibiting. “No other reason.” 

“F-fuck, how— how the fuck are you so good at this?” “Because I’ve familiarised myself with how you want it and how you like it.” 

“Fuck me like you mean it just this once. That’s all I’m asking for, and then we can— we can pretend this time never happened.” 

Character A and Character B are embroiled in a heated argument when Character A spits out, “How about instead of using that pretty mouth of yours to argue with me over something you’re clearly fucking wrong about, you put it to better use?” (or, alternatively: “You sounded so much better when you were moaning my name last night, so how about we get back to that instead so I don’t have to hear you barking at me about something you’re clearly wrong about?”)

Character B calling Character A a term of endearment while they’re messing around and Character A freezes, heart thudding loudly in their chest. “What the hell did you just call me?” they ask, and Character B proceeds to call them that again, saccharine sweet, with a shit-eating grin gracing their lips. 

“Let’s— let’s make this quick. We can’t have anyone walk in on us.” “Mm, don’t worry, you always come undone so easily by my touch so I don’t think that will be any trouble.”

“Fuck you.” “That’s what you did last night, no? Or have you forgotten already?” 

[mikawritings]

~THINGS THAT MAKE ME SCREAM~

RINGSRINGSRINGS

falling asleep on their lap and playing with their hair

hands clenching

THIGHS clenching

running into a hug and person b twirling person a around (so cliche but PLEASE)

knowing when they are here

"you're mine." HOTTTTT

pulling each other into a hug after a fight

backing away after a kiss and laughing breathily + getting all flustered and not knowing how to talk

writing letters and not sending them

LAZY KISSES

"I'm in love with you, fix it."

burying your face in their chest after a long tiring day and feeling nothing but comfort

VEINY HANDS I REPEAT VEINY HANDS

touching hands.

embarrassing yourself so they would feel less embarrassed

eyeseyeseyeseyes

HEAVY BREATHING AFTER A VERY INTIMATE KISS

softly laughing when they do something embarrassing

leaving notes in random places

friends pointing out VERY visible hickeys

"I remember you told me about ___, so I got you this."

PULLING PERSON B DOWN BY THEIR TIE TO KISS THEM

height difference. cute.

hearing their heartbeat while cuddling

tucking person a's hair behind their ear

gulping when they get a bit TOO close to you

tracing veins

ear. kisses.

writing poems about them

keeping a book full of important memories

SMELLING THEIR HAIR IN A HUG

shoulder rubs

feeding each other

shy couples

"when I'm near you.. it's exciting. yet still comforting."

moaning into each others ears while doing the devils tango

[mikawritings]

i really struggle with pacing :(

Bad Pacing Advice

Anything that can go wrong, should go wrong. Right?

Not necessarily.

This is really common advice for when a plot feels flat or boring. And sometimes, it's really good advice. But sometimes, it the worst advice you could get. It really depends on why the plot is feeling flat.

A plot is made up of beats: events that have to happen in order to move the plot forward. Another way of saying this is, what things need to happen before the story's conflict can be resolved?

When a plot is falling flat, it generally has one of three problems. Either there aren't enough story beats, the story is moving too quickly from one beat to another, or the story is moving too slowly from one beat to another.

Making things go wrong is good advice if there aren't enough story beats. Too few beats means there might be too much space between beats where the story can sag and get boring. In other words, slow pacing. It can also make the conflict seem too easy to resolve, because story beats are often obstacles that need to be overcome before the story can satisfactorily end.

However, if your story is moving too quickly between beats, making things go wrong isn't always the right answer. It can work if you deliberately use a set-back to delay getting between two points that would otherwise be too close. But just making something go wrong for the sake of it will only add more beats to the story, it won't slow them down.

If your story is moving too slowly, making more stuff go wrong is about the worst thing you can do. At best it just makes your story longer. At worst, it adds new beats between your already existing beats, increasing the distance between them even more. It might seem counter intuitive but making things go wrong (killing a character, losing a fight, getting captured, friendship and relationship drama etc.) can actually slow your pacing down more.

I notice this issue a lot in epic fantasy stories. Maybe it's just me, but I find when things are constantly going wrong -- when the plot isn't getting any closer to being resolved because every time the characters try to take a step forward they end up worse off than before -- I get frustrated and bored. I just start thinking "here we go again. Get to the point!!"

Sometimes your characters need to succeed too. Good pacing isn't making your characters fail at every opportunity. It's knowing when to let them fail and when it's time to move forward.

[mikawritings]

said is not dead!! dialogue tags can take away from the impact of the speech in some cases. sometimes it's best to use a fancy word, but you need to know when 'said' is appropriate

can't believe it's 2022 and we still have posts around about not overusing "said" like seriously? Imagine if I made a list of words to use instead of "and." wouldn't that be stupid?

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[mikawritings]

i love this

Many of the strongest and most virtuous knights have tried their best to pull the sword from the stone but they all failed. Therefore you are quite surprised when you see a peasant just casually pull the sword from the stone, clean it and then stick it back into the stone.

[mikawritings]

“Although we are grateful to you for defeating our oppressors, you were meant to die in battle…” your “allies” suddenly turned their weapons on you, “Your sacrifice will not be forgotten.”

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cool stuff one can find in my forest includes burning water

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How's nanowrimo going for you guys?