onthewingsofwords

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This is... almost too good

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princess of the wild

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someone: tell me about your ocs !!

me:

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For reference, this is what she’s talking about :

In conclusion: Fanfic is important, there’s nothing wrong with writing or enjoying it and the cast and crew of Good Omens are a gift.

[onthewingsofwords]

Random writing tips

These are things I've learnt during my writing journey that don't fit nicely into any category. But I still want to share them. So, here goes:

1. Getting feedback on a draft is invaluable

Before I really knew what I was doing, I would write a manuscript and self-edit it a little before publishing it on Wattpad or even querying literary agents.

Now that I understand the writing and publishing process better, I use critique partners and beta readers to help me make my books the best they can be before I get to the querying/publishing phase.

And it helps so much!

Getting feedback from unbiased people who either write or read in your genre is such a great way to spot weaknesses in your manuscript and fix them. This outside feedback is an incredible resource to ensure that you put an amazing book out into the world when the time comes.

So, I would really very much recommend using at least 1 critique partner and 1 round of beta readers.

2. Learn as much as you can (for free)

I know this may sound like I'm self-plugging, but it is so helpful to take in writing and publishing advice.

There are so many blogs, YouTube channels, Twitter pages etc. where people share writing tips and information about the industry.

For the last two years, I made sure to watch one Authortube video each day and the amount of knowledge I have accrued over that time is astonishing.

You can learn about the writing craft, self-publishing, the traditional publishing industry, marketing, business, cover design... You name it. And you can build up that knowledge over time to become super informed.

Of course, there are also things like Skillshare classes or online courses, but I would recommend seeing what you can find for free first. If you trust the presenter and the topic is one you really want to know about, then you can pay for it if needed.

3. Use an "out loud" reader to edit

Once you've gone through all your edits via reading the document, I would suggest using some program to read your manuscript aloud. This can be a very valuable final step in the editing process

This is a great way to catch typos, weirdly-phrased sentences or pacing issues.

MS Word's Read Aloud feature is great. You can also use the Edit Out Loud App.

4. Use post-its to outline

This is my personal process. So, it won't necessarily work for you, but it's a good one to try.

I write every scene that comes to my mind on its own post it. Then I stick them om my closet doors in order, leaving spaces where more scenes need to be added. It's easy to move around and see where the gaps in the plot are.

I do this over a few months for each book. As soon as I think of an idea, I start putting up post-its. And then as I get more ideas, I add scenes. By the time I want to start drafting, I have a pretty decent outline.

You can also use virtual "post-its" on Microsoft or Scrivener.

5. Keep an Edit Notes document as you draft

I used to edit as I wrote, and I have no issues with others doing so. But it dragged out my drafting process very much.

So, now, I would rather note any issue I may have to look at later on a separate document.

Then, I can move on with the draft and look at those edit notes when I'm done with the first draft.

It also creates a good starting point for self-editing.

Reblog if you found these tips useful. Follow me for similar content.

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Some trans science fiction and fantasy books. You can find my earlier recs for f/f science fiction and fantasy here and my new recs for bi and pan books here. And ace book recs are here. Oh, and queer SFF by people of color.

Also I somehow totally blanked on this while making the powerpoint, but Charlie Jane Anders’ stuff should be in the last slide. Her two books are CITY IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT and ALL THE BIRDS IN THE SKY. I’ll link to some of her short stories below the cut.

The queer SFF database’s tag for trans books is here. There’s more than I included in the rec post, so go knock yourself out!

I included the author identities because I figured people would want to know if the book was own voices. Disclaimer that gender is a weird nebulous thing and life isn’t easy or straightforward, so depending on when you’re reading this post (I’m writing 8/2/19), some of the authors I listed as cis might have had gender realizations. I literally saw this on Twitter this morning with one of the “more trans SFF” books, so figured it was worth saying. 

Below the text cut you’ll find the titles and authors, links to my queer SFF database (which includes links to trans reviewers and content warnings), and some of my favorite SFF short stories by trans people.

Keep reading

[onthewingsofwords]

Handy guide to writing asexual characters:

1. Have them have friends! The lonely asexual story is getting really old.

2. Introverted asexuals are cool, but why not have extroverted asexuals?

3. Asexual and Aromantic are not the same thing. Try giving your character a sexless romance.

4. Or have them have sex, that’s cool too! Remember. Asexuality is the lack of sexual attraction, and does not mean the character is opposed to sex.

5. Asexuality varies. If you want your character to be a victim of sexual assault that’s fine, but don’t make this true about every asexual character. Some people don’t want sex and it has nothing to do with past sexual experiences.

6. No more sociopathic asexuals, okay?

7. Don’t paint your asexual character to be the essence of innocence. You can have your asexual swear. They can be rude, like to dance dirty, have crude humour, literally! Anything! Any! Other! Character! Can! Be!

8. Your ace character can be sex repulsed, but do not have that be the defining characteristic of your character. Give them personality.

9. Do not write an ace character just to have your protagonist *suffer* because they love them, but won’t satisfy them sexually. That’s gross.

10. If your whole point of having an asexual character is to have them meet “the one” and “cure” them of Asexuality, DO NOT WRITE AN ASEXUAL CHARACTER.

[onthewingsofwords]

Road to Obsidia | Core Five Reintroduction

DAVID JONATHAN HANSEN // 20 • HUMAN

↳ danish-american | bisexual

BASIC INFO

birth › July 17th. Copenhagen, Denmark nationality  › American appearance › shoulder-length brown hair, brown eyes, moderate-athletic build | 6′0 traits › loyal, compassionate, inquisitive, stubborn.

David is a nice guy, a really nice guy that often get taken advantage off, but at least you know you can count on him. He’s always looking for something to challenge himself mentally and physically which usually result in him getting bandaged up by his friends and family. He’s very close to his step-brother, Caesar, despite living thousands of miles away from him.

TROPES

adorkable, brainy brunette, beware the nice ones, bi the way, nerds are sexy, one head taller, weak but skilled.

FACTS

obsessed with dinosaurs ( has a t-rex skull tattoo on his right upper arm)

has “soft boy energy”

carries hair ties around his wrists

↳ PLAYLIST

ELEONORE MCKENZIE NGUYEN // 19 • HUMAN

↳ korean-vietnamese | heterosexual

BASIC INFO

birth › November 25th. Seoul, South Korea nationality › French appearance › straight shoulder-length black hair, dark brown eyes, plus-size, septum piercing | 5′3 traits › creative, inquisitive, blunt, perfectionist.

Kenzie is the brain of the group, at least most of the time she is. She’s the planner and the one who figure things out. Kenzie is also a lazy genius, she gets results in everything with very little effort and she’s also not one to say “no” to some harmless flirtation. Maybe being raised by two very caring men has made her little spoiled, but who’s complaining?

TROPES

big beautiful woman, fish out of water, hard-drinking party girl, only known by their nickname, proud beauty.

FACTS

curses a lot

make up guru in her spare time

tried to give herself bangs once…

↳ PLAYLIST

MALIA SYLVAIN-GARCIA // 19 • SUN ELF

↳ guadeloupeian-spanish | heterosexual

BASIC INFO

birth › February 10th. Paris, France nationality › French appearance › shoulder-length dark brown 4c hair, dark brown eyes, slender build, pointy ears | 5′1 traits › loyal, arrogant, caring, anxious, romantic.

Malia tends to get the group in trouble, but it usually happens accidentally. Being born in a multicultural and multi-species house has made her pretty confused about who she is, but she’s working on it. She has a strange passion for setting things on fire that might be linked to her sun elf heritage. She dreams of the perfect romance but adventure and the thrill of setting things on fire might be enough for now.

TROPES

action girlfriend, chaste heroine, cunning linguist, elemental powers, mixed ancestry, not so stoic.

FACTS

arson and archery help her calm down

has too many crushes on comic book characters

wears heels everywhere, don’t question it

↳ PLAYLIST

SIMON MAXIMILIAN WALKER // 20 • WEREWOLF

↳ american | heterosexual

BASIC INFO

birth › May 20th. Atlanta, Georgia nationality › American appearance › curly light brown hair, green eyes, slender build | 5′7 traits › ambitious, competitive, hot-headed, protective, selfless.

Simon is not the smartest one of the group, but he’s usually the one with common sense. Despite this, he almost never passes the opportunity to get in a fight, especially if it’s about something or someone he cares about. Due to his strictly-human upbringing, Simon has never been in contact with other werewolves, which might explain why he’s so dependent and protective of his friends.

TROPES

big brother instinct, disabled snarker, happily adopted, lovable jock, nature lover, pro-human trans-human.

FACTS

loves astronomy

impulsively chased cars as a child

eats for five (it’s not a werewolf thing)

↳ PLAYLIST

ZEYNA OLIVEIRA-AQUINO // 20 • HUMAN?

↳ filipino | asexual

BASIC INFO

birth ›  October 5th. Manila, Philippines nationality › American appearance › long black hair, hazel eyes, slender build | 5′9 traits › clumsy, kind, optimistic, stubborn.

Zeyna is the baby of the group despite being the oldest girl. She’s the heart of the team, the one who cheers everyone else up, but also the one everyone worries about the most. Since she started seeing ghosts, Zeyna has been getting herself in trouble a lot more, often losing her grip on reality and almost getting herself killed. For a long time, her parents saw this as Zeyna’s attempt to get attention away from her “more talented” twin brother, Joshua.

TROPES

born unlucky, even the girls want her, genki girl, hearing voices, nice girl, the fashionista.

FACTS

is allergic to peanuts

ferrets are her favorite animals

loves pineapple on pizza

↳ PLAYLIST

Afficher davantage

[onthewingsofwords]

Writing Exercises for Stretching Your Style Muscles

There’s a lot of writing advice on the internet, and a lot of writing prompts, but something I see relatively little of is an idea of how to actually practice. 

The thing about learning a skill is that it requires practice – but practicing will only get you so far if you’re just doing the same thing over and over. you might get better at doing that specific thing, but it can seem really difficult to get over a specific hurdle to accomplish some new thing you’ve never tried. I think a really common frustration is wanting to do a thing, and knowing what your end goal looks like, but not knowing actually how to accomplish it. 

So that’s where practicing specific skills can really help you to feel more comfortable with your abilities. 

Here are some skills exercises I recommend experimenting with to gain proficiency and comfort in writing things. 

—–

Write the Same Scene from Multiple POVs 

Write a scene in 3rd person POV. Then go back and rewrite it from scratch in 1st person. Repeat for a 3rd person omniscient. Go deeper than just swapping out pronouns. Think: How does this scene change if I’m writing through the eyes of a single character vs over their shoulder? How does this scene change if I’m narrating the events through Character B instead of Character A? 

—-

Write a Scene in Present Tense

Present tense bumps up the immediacy level of whatever you’re writing. I think it also helps to break you from more passive sentence constructions. Try taking a scene you’ve written and rewrite it in present tense. Combine it with the above – try switching a 3rd person past to 1st person present, or even try writing in 2nd person. 

—–

Try Mimicking Another Writer’s Style 

Sit down with a piece of writing from an author you enjoy, and pay attention to the writing itself. Ignore the plot and characters and story elements – look at just the nuts and bolts of vocabulary choices and sentence construction. Try to pick it apart. Is there a specific way the author tends to use commas? Certain words, or types of words, that they use more often? Longer sentences or shorter ones? Longer paragraphs or short? How is white space handled? 

Study that and make yourself a little cheat sheet if that’s helpful to you. Then try writing a short piece – just a couple paragraphs, even – in their writing style. 

—-

Describe an Entire Scene Without Using Visual Description 

Imagine you’re writing a blind character, if it helps, or someone who’s been blindfolded. Describe a whole scene built entirely around the way things sound, smell, taste, feel. Try to make it clear what’s happening through description alone. 

—–

Eliminate All Words like “Thought” or “Felt” 

Write in deep-3rd or 1st person without any filter words. Make a character’s opinions and emotions obvious through the way things are being described without explicitly saying what they’re thinking or feeling. If you struggle with this, it might be easier to start in first person – write as a diary entry or even a Tumblr post from that person’s perspective – and then try it in 3rd person after you’ve had a bit of practice. 

——-

Set Yourself a Specific Goal, and Write a Drabble to Achieve it 

When I wrote “Happy Ending,” my entire goal was to write something that was highly descriptive in the most viscerally gross way possible. When I wrote “Mothman,” it was an exercise in writing something sexualized without explicitly being sexual, in the most disturbing way possible. 

This is an exercise in word choice. It’s an excuse to bust out your thesaurus, not to sound fancy, but to nail a specific meaning. It’s also an exercise in choosing what details to focus on and which to exclude. 

One way to approach this exercise is to describe something common and mundane that you’ve experienced, and write it in several different ways. Let’s say, eating a sandwich. How can you make eating a sandwich sound sexy? How can you make it sound disgusting? Which details do you focus on, and which do you omit? What words do you use to evoke the meaning you’re looking for? 

——————���——————————————

I hope these writing exercises give you some inspiration on things to try out to flex your creative wings a bit! 

[onthewingsofwords]

touch

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A strong nation, like a strong person, can afford to be gentle, firm, thoughtful, and restrained. It can afford to extend a helping hand to others. It is a weak nation, like a weak person, that must behave with bluster and boasting and rashness and other signs of insecurity. -Jimmy Carter, 39th US President, Nobel laureate (b. 1 Oct 1924)

[onthewingsofwords]

Here we go lovelies!! This is the first art challenge I ever take part of, and since I’m so hyped for Zelda games… Well the choice was easy! Linktober it is! I also didn’t read the description for this one, apparently I had to do a Zelda related monster/beast but… All I could see was the word Beast.

He’s a beast too, right? 

[onthewingsofwords]

What do you think all writers have in common?

an overwhelming and insatiable longing for something more than this

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I just found this picture on my computer

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Them: oh god I hope the OP doesn’t notice me liking a dozen of their posts and hates me for it

Me, watching a dozen notes pop up on ancient posts: oh dang, I forgot I wrote that. *clicks through* I’m still proud of this. I almost want to reblog it. Thx for the memory tour, mysterious note-leaver.

[onthewingsofwords]

Townscaper

Townscaper is not so much a game, as much as a surprisingly satisfying architectural diversion inviting “players” to build quaint island towns evocative of the wondrous worlds of a Studio Ghibli animation setting. 

 The “game” invites users to build charming hamlets, erect enormous cathedrals, direct roads and canal networks, or even construct sky cities on stilts. The beauty of this game beyond the obvious creative possibilities it offers is its entry point for anyone and everyone. Townscaper is described as having “No goal. No real gameplay. Just plenty of building and plenty of beauty. That’s it.”

[onthewingsofwords]

in case anyone is having a bad night:

Here is the fudgiest brownie in a mug recipe

Here and here you can watch full episodes of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood

Here you can watch full episodes of the Joy of Painting with Bob Ross

Here and here you can watch Planet Earth

Here you can watch Taskmaster episodes if you need a laugh

Here you can travel to the edges of the galaxy

Here you can listen to custom ambient sounds

Here you can be reminded of 1000 awesome everyday things

*tucks you in with fuzzy blanket* *pats your head*

You’ll be okay, friend <3