skybird-editing

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Genuinely, I think one of the most fun and crunchy things about any character is

How far they will go for things they want

What they will do to get things they want

Things they won't do, no matter how much they want what they'd get in exchange

Because these things tell you some very important things about the character, namely their limits, their price, and their absolute No's. (And it lets you create some really REALLY crunchy conflict)

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One thing I’ve learned about writing is ”give everything a face”. It’s no good to write passively that the nobility fled the city or that the toxic marshes were poisoning the animals beyond any ability to function. Make a protagonist see how a desperate woman in torn silks climbs onto a carriage and speeds off, or a two-headed deer wanders right into the camp and into the fire. Don’t just have an ambiguous flock of all-controlling oligarchy, name one or two representatives of it, and illustrate just how vile and greedy they are as people.

it’s bad to have characters who serve no purpose in the story, but giving something a face is a perfectly valid purpose.

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Folks act like "maybe the author isn't the final authority about what their work means" is some wanky post-modern nonsense and not a simple recognition that a lot of authors are perfectly prepared to bullshit about their own work. Like, leaving big-name popular media aside, I have personally encountered authors being actively disingenuous about their own work for all of the following reasons:

A true answer wouldn't fit the image they've cultivated.

They've decided they like the explanation the readers/viewers have come up with better than what they actually had in mind.

Something that was originally intended as a standalone work ended up growing into a franchise or series, and now they're pretending that was the plan all along for some reason.

They don't want to admit that the bit you're asking about is genuinely just a plot hole.

The real answer gets into some shit they don't care to discuss, so they've prepared a cover story to explain away the parts they don't want to talk about.

Their politics have changed since they wrote it, but they don't want to acknowledge that, so they're constantly trying to re-interpret everything they've ever written to be perfectly consistent with whatever their positions are this week.

They wrote it decades ago and they honestly don't remember what they were thinking at the time, so they're just making shit up; sometimes they also don't remember what shit they made up the last time, so the answer is different every time they're asked.

The work in question is at least partly autobiographical and they can't tell the truth without confessing to a crime in the process.

Most of the good bits are plagiarised and they don't really understand it themselves.

They're lying to you on purpose, for evil reasons.

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when your teacher says you can’t use first person pronouns in your writing

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Anybody else got that Evergiven sized writers block

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Bindings,From Walters Art Museum

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Grumble grumble…

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Possibly the greatest NPR exchange ever recorded

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me, having deeply fallen out of the practice of writing poetry: I can’t write any more, I am now a Talentless Hack

the voice of my 11th grade journalism/12th grade creative writing teacher who rly did know everything: if you stop writing for a while the words will build up and stagnate. to clear the water, you will have to open the dam completely, and accept the fact that what initially comes out will not be palatable

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😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

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speculative fiction writers i am going to give you a really urgent piece of advice: don't say numbers. don't give your readers any numbers. how heavy is the sword? lots. how old is that city? plenty. how big is the fort? massive. how fast is the spaceship? not very, it's secondhand.

the minute you say a number your readers can check your math and you cannot do math better than your most autistic critic. i guarantee. don't let your readers do any math. when did something happen? awhile ago. how many bullets can that gun fire? trick question, it shoots lasers, and it shoots em HARD.

you are lying to people for fun. if you let them do math at you the lie collapses and it's no fun anymore.

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YOU! 🫵 ONLINE INDIE AUTHOR!

Have you considered simply posting your story online for free?

If you widen your scope of awareness beyond the realm of books, most natively online creators (your favourite YouTubers and podcasters, webcomics, Homestuck, etc.) have something they initially made for free.

When you publish a book, you’re left sitting there waiting and fretting, you see purchases and a few reviews, but you don’t get a lot of reader reaction.

Whereas, if you were to post a chapter at a time online for free, you can see people keeping up with it, you get live reactions, it’s a much more interactive, more communal experience.

If your background is fanfiction, you already have experience doing this!

If you’re expecting a handful of sales per month and that income isn’t vital to you, you might be trading the lion’s share of the enjoyment of writing for the price of a few cups of coffee.

If you have a serious commitment to making writing your career and your source of income, this post isn’t about you. I’m talking to those who look into yourselves and find your goal is to have your writing read and shared, and to participate in a community of like-minded peers

I think online writing communities would be so much healthier if there was more separation between hobby and commercial writing, and authors didn’t feel pressured to go professional. 

People are taking a risk by reading your book, gambling on the time and effort they put in being worthwhile, and that risk becomes way lower when the book is free. 

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Hey y'all why are writers always cold?

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One of the best writing advice I have gotten in all the months I have been writing is "if you can't go anywhere from a sentence, the problem isn't in you, it's in the last sentence." and I'm mad because it works so well and barely anyone talks about it. If you're stuck at a line, go back. Backspace those last two lines and write it from another angle or take it to some other route. You're stuck because you thought up to that exact sentence and nothing after that. Well, delete that sentence, make your brain think because the dead end is gone. It has worked wonders for me for so long it's unreal

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Found this on facebook but reposting to SAVE A LIFE.

Or at least some of y’all’s GPAs.

You’re welcome.

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the most important question you can ask yourself when designing a magic system in fiction is "wouldn't it be fucked up if this happened"

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The fastest way to shut down my "freelance life means I have to constantly be working" thoughts is to remind myself that if I was a boss holding a worker to the standards I hold myself to, their union would hunt me for sport and nobody would blame them.