Tumgik
#craft of writing
summer-gh0st · 8 months
Note
I'm writing a story with some interactions where a nonbinary character is meeting people they couldn't tell the gender of and I end up with a lot of confusing "theys" even when I use proper nouns for the character in question. any ideas of how to not just toss around a bunch of "they said"s and such without saying the same descriptors over and over like "the one on the right" ?
Ah, what I live for!! You market yourself as an lgbt+ editor and then all you get is straight romance or fantasy with straight romance. Bleh
Moving on! This is really interesting, because it’s probably really context dependent and I’m not sure I can give the best answer without grappling with the lines themselves. I would possibly point to my previous post with character/setting/action, to try to avoid dialogue tags by describing the character who’s speaking, the setting, or the action they’re doing. This is a good way to avoid getting confused in any situation where two characters use the same pronoun (ie, when two he/him characters are the only ones on the page). Especially character can be helpful — if the reader knows that the main character has blue hair, let’s say, and the new character has brown, then a dialogue line ending with “…they ran their fingers through their brown hair” or something like that will help differentiate who’s speaking.
Also, using names is never a bad thing, and while it can get overused, tolerance for that is usually much higher when we have a same-pronoun situation.
Another method of differentiation is different speech patterns. If we know our main character with blue hair (let’s call them Blue) has a particular way of speaking, then making the new character have a different way of speaking will set them apart in a very easy to read but hard to notice sort of way. It’s meta, and really engrained in the style, but can be awfully effective. Let’s say Blue has a somewhat posh tone — they use fancy words because they read too much and have a very refined sense of style from studying philosophy at university. The new character could then have a southern accent, and speak very slowly with lots of y’alls, and ums, because they literally grew up in a barn with their beloved horse companion and don’t know how to talk to people. An extreme example, but it showcases my point: could you ever imagine these two people having the same tone of voice, and getting their dialogue lines mixed up with each other? Usually, no. And that’s one of the great, wonderful, and magical things about dialogue. :)
To sum up, I think that would be my general advice: character/setting/action; names are okay, and overusing them is harder in a same-pronoun situation; different tones of voice (this one is my favorite because it forces a lot of characterization!).
I hope this helps + wasnt too long, and let me know if you have any further questions. :)
55 notes · View notes
nighttime-novelist · 4 months
Text
Reframing Show vs Tell
Notes and excerpts from the section on Showing vs Telling in Self-Editing for Fiction Writers by Renni Browne. I thought the way she reframed show vs tell gave us a better understanding of their respective function in a story. Basically:
Showing → Scenes
Telling → Narrative Summary
Scenes take place in real time; the reader experiences what is going on at the same time as it occurs in the text. Narrative summary, on the other hand, describes what happened after the fact. Both are essential to a story, but writers tend to overly rely on narrative summary. 
Narrative Summary (Telling)
Large-scale
Don’t use this to start your first chapter–you want to engage your readers early on. Turn any narrative summary you have into an actual scene taking place and deliver the information you want to give through it
Varies the rhythm and texture of your writing. Scenes are immediate and engaging, but sometimes you want to slow things down and give readers a chance to catch their breath, and narrative summary is a good way to do so.
Gives continuity on a larger scale. Narrative summary can capture weeks or months of slow, steady growth and development. The critical moments of this development should be captured by scenes, but the summary can help fill-in the gaps of a longer period of time.
Helps consolidate repetitive actions. For example, if there are multiple races occurring, not all of them may be important enough to justify a scene. Summarize the unimportant ones and give scenes to the crucial ones.
Use it when a plot development isn’t important enough to justify a scene. For example, you can narrate a minor event that leads up to a key scene. Or two key events being separated by narrative summary of what occurs between the events puts emphasis on the important key events while giving reprieve between the scenes.
Small-scale
Avoid telling us character traits or emotions. Examples include: “Wilbur felt absolutely defeated” and “Geraldine was horrified at the news”. It’s better to show these by describing their reactions, expressions, words, and body language. However, I personally believe sometimes it is okay, and even preferred, to tell emotions and traits. Just don’t overdo it, and save the telling for when it’s difficult to express by showing.
You don’t want to give your readers information. You want to give them experiences. Resist the urge to explain
Self-Editing for Fiction Writers Checklist
How often do you use narrative summary? Are there passages when nothing happens in real time?
Do the main events in your plot take place in summary or in scenes?
If you have too much narrative summary, which scenes do you want to convert into scenes?
Does any of it involve major characters, where a scene could be used to flesh out their personalities?
Do you have at least some narrative summary, or are you bouncing around from scene to scene without pausing?
Are you describing your character’s emotions too much? Have you told us they are angry/irritated/excited?
13 notes · View notes
copperbadge · 2 years
Text
On the one hand, I am 20K words into the latest Shivadhverse story and the love interest has just now shown up for the first time. This strikes me as a long way to go to get to the meet cute. 
On the other hand, I just returned to the library a terrible romance novel where the protagonist not only dumps her boyfriend when she catches him cheating, but in the same breath leaves the doctoral program she’s seven years into and the entire-ass university she’s studying at, all within the first three pages. I thought we were just going to hustle to get to the new and improved boyfriend, and we do pretty quickly, but first the author does spend some serious prose real estate describing the bakery the protagonist’s sister owns. 
(I stopped reading when we did meet the new love interest and the first words out of his mouth were “My whore sister is pregnant” as he and his brothers were dressing for said sister’s wedding.) 
There must be a happy medium between “an entire week’s worth of emotions in ten minutes” and “Let’s spend three weeks in real time getting to the romance” but apparently I’m not going to be the one to strike it. 
130 notes · View notes
bellemorte79 · 8 months
Text
Behind on writing
I am behind on writing because my life currently sucks. I hope to update my story this weekend. It is hard to crawl out of anxiety.
Tumblr media
2 notes · View notes
Note
15 and 23 end of the year asks 🍍
Thanks for the ask @evesaintyves!
15. Something I learned this year
Where do I even begin? I learned a lot, but I think one of the biggest things I learned was to appreciate one-shots, both writing and reading them. When I started reading fanfic I didn't bother looking at anything under 100k, then 50k, and as I ran out of fics that interested me I looked at one-shots. There's something really nice about one-shots both in terms of conveying a specific emotion or interaction and how it can be more focused on the craft of writing. I write one-shots a little differently than my longfics - my longfics, I need to get from plot point to plot point and I don't have time to linger on anything (or the patience, honestly). But with one-shots I can focus on one thing at a time, really choose my words, and challenge myself to focus on a particular aspect of a relationship, interaction, or moment in time. There's value to that. I can't say I prefer one-shots to longfics (I will always prefer 100K+ works), but I learned to see the value in them both as a writer and reader.
23. fics I wanted to write but didn't
There are so many. One-shots - too many to count. Longfics, I wanted to start on my Andromeda fic sooner. I wanted to start on my Remus raising Harry stories sooner and finish them earlier too. I wanted to write a longer Grindeldore story (up to 100k words) but that didn't happen either.
There's always 2023 :)
Fanfic end of year asks
1 note · View note
longreads · 2 years
Photo
Tumblr media
Balancing Story and Sentiment: A Chat With the Writer and Editor Behind The Atavist‘s New Issue
In this excerpt from The Creative Nonfiction Podcast, host Brendan O’Meara talks to Kelly Loudenberg and Atavist editor-in-chief Seyward Darby about their work on “The Caregivers.”
2 notes · View notes
mkaneshige · 1 day
Text
Mark's Musings #46
When it comes to pursuing your dreams,do not be concerned with your slow progressbe afraid of thinking about all the possibilitiesand not doing anything
Tumblr media
View On WordPress
0 notes
lgbtlunaverse · 6 months
Text
Nothing will dispell the "the curtains were just blue" myth faster than writing something yourself, because the amount of pretentious symbolism i am putting in my silly little fanfics is ridiculous. I mean SO much with these words, literally every single one of them. This fic has twenty five typos and zero correct uses of punctuation but if there's curtains you bet your ass I put thought into what colour they were.
21K notes · View notes
elodieunderglass · 6 months
Text
changes and trends in horror-genre films are linked to the anxieties of the culture in its time and place. Vampires are the manifestation of grappling with sexuality; aliens, of foreign influence. Horror from the Cold War is about apathy and annihilation; classic Japanese horror is characterised by “nature’s revenge”; psychological horror plays with anxieties that absorbed its audience, like pregnancy/abortion, mental illness, femininity. Some horror presses on the bruise of being trapped in a situation with upsetting tasks to complete, especially ones that compromise you as a person - reflecting the horrors and anxieties of capitalism etc etc etc. Cosmic horror is slightly out of fashion because our culture is more comfortable with, even wistful for, “the unknown.” Monster horror now has to be aware of itself, as a contingent of people now live in the freedom and comfort of saying “I would willingly, gladly, even preferentially fuck that monster.” But I don’t know much about films or genres: that ground has been covered by cleverer people.
I don’t actually like horror or movies. What interests me at the moment is how horror of the 2020s has an element of perception and paying attention.
Multiple movies in one year discussed monsters that killed you if you perceived them. There are monsters you can’t look at; monsters that kill you instantly if you get their attention. Monsters where you have to be silent, look down, hold still: pray that they pass over you. M Zombies have changed from a hand-waved virus that covers extras in splashy gore, to insidious spores. A disaster film is called Don’t Look Up, a horror film is called Nope. Even trashy nun horror sets up strange premises of keeping your eyes fixed on something as the devil GETS you.
No idea if this is anything. (I haven’t seen any of these things because, unfortunately, I hate them.) Someone who understands better than me could say something clever here, and I hope they do.
But the thing I’m thinking about is what this will look like to the future, as the Victorian sex vampires and Cold War anxieties look to us. I think they’ll have a little sympathy, but they probably won’t. You poor little prey animals, the kids will say, you were awfully afraid of facing up to things, weren’t you?
24K notes · View notes
starsandsplats · 3 months
Text
My Next Novel - Crash Planet
My Writing Goals for 2024 I’ve set 3 goals for my writing career in 2024. Keep in mind I am still writing in my spare time. There are plenty of writers out there who can crank out 3 or 4 or 10 books each year, but that’s not me. I hope that someday I will be able to write full-time and make a living at it, but that’s still a long way off. I work a full-time job which means most of my writing is…
Tumblr media
View On WordPress
0 notes
theoldaeroplane · 7 months
Text
worried that thing you put in your art or writing or game or music is too self-indulgent, too self-referential, too niche for anyone but yourself? fear not! you can do whatever you want forever. and you should.
16K notes · View notes
nighttime-novelist · 4 months
Text
Word Economy in Short Fiction
These are my notes from a workshop hosted by Apex magazine. The workshop focused on cutting down unnecessary language in stories with a restricted word count.
Filler Phrases
Junk (or filler) adverbs that 95% of the time add nothing to your prose. Ex: Just, almost, seem, suddenly, rally, actually, about, very, some Ask yourself: Will it hurt the writing at all if I remove this word?
Filler expressions are those constructions with extraneous words, usually signaled with prepositions at the end of the phrase. Ex: All of, Add up, Enter in, Which is, You’re going to, That, Seems to
Ex: I did some more digging Better: I did more digging
Ex: Jason seems to think he knows how to edit. Better: Jason thinks he knows how to edit.
Ex: Describe the way that John feels about Jason. Better: Describe the way John feels about Jason.
Ex: Jason nodded and started to stuff the envelopes. Better: Jason nodded then stuffed the envelopes.
Wordy Constructions
Say more with less The English language has approximately a million words. Use fewer of them to make your point.
Ex: She reached out to take the trophy. Better: She accepted the trophy.
Ex: "No way," she told him. Better: "No way," she said.
Ex: You're going to learn to be quiet. Better: You'll learn to be quiet.
Ex: The fire had gone out. Better: The fire was dead.
Remove Redundancies
Remove the bad habit of repeating yourself
Examples: Stand up Sit down Look up at the sky Looked down in the hole Ascending up Raise up According to Start out Basic necessities Blend together Close proximity Write down Plunge down
Ex: We can't finish in that time frame. Better: We can't finish in that time.
Ex: Jason is having an epic temper- tantrum on Twitter. Better: Jason is having an epic tantrum on Twitter.
Ex: I'm surrounded on all sides by students. Better: The students have surrounded me.
Nominalization
Turning a noun into a verb or adjective.
Ex: Jason holds the belief that editing makes a story much better. Better: Jason believes editing makes a story much better.
Ex: His definition of good writing is flowing prose and smart word choice. Better: He defined good writing by flowing prose and smart word choice.
Ex: Let's have a conversation about submission guidelines. Better: Let's talk submission guidelines.
Poor Verb Selection
Make good choices, avoid passive.
Ex: Jason was asleep vs Jason slept
Filler Verbs
Got to nip this in the bud. Usually uses the "to go" or "to have" constructions.
Ex: I could go on quoting Barney Fife, but I shouldn't. Better: I could continue quoting Barney Fife, but I shouldn't.
Ex: Andy Griffith is entertaining to me. Better: And Griffith entertains me.
Ex: She had to get into the barn to gather the horses. Better: She needed in the barn to gather the horses.
Unnecessary Conjunctions
The primary culprits are "And" and "So"
Ex: And then a voice startled her from behind. Better: A voice startled her from behind.
Ex: So out of greed, the King took the treasure away from the dragon. Better: Out of greed, the King took the treasure away from the dragon.
Empty Phrases and Qualifying Language
The English language is filled with these. Purge them from your prose.
Examples: All things being equal One way or another Time and again As a matter of fact In my opinion Went back over Pretty much A bit Almost
Unnecessary Directional Phrases
Blocking and POV
As writers we have a tendency to be too detailed. This can create redundancies due to positional and blocking descriptions referenced earlier.
Example: Malcolm and Julie are on the porch discussing ways to become better writers. Julie turns to look at Malcolm to give an opinion that he disagrees with. Better: Malcolm and Julie are on the porch discussing ways to become better writers. Julie states an opinion that Malcolm disagrees with.
Example: He raised his fist and cocked it back towards himself, ready to strike. Better: He raised his fist and cocked it back, ready to strike.
Example: A notebook in front of her with a few scribbled notes lay on the coffee table. Better: A notebook bearing a few scribbled notes lay on the coffee table.
Example: The shop's A/C felt good on Jen's face as she walked through the front door of the shop. Better: Inside, the shop's A/C felt good on Jen's face.
Pleonasms
Pleonasm is when we use unnecessary adverbs and adjectives to modify absolutes.
Examples: Extremely perfect The blackest of black See with one's own eyes
Passive vs Active Voice
While there's nothing wrong with writing in passive voice (like everything else, there's a time and a place for it), keep in mind that passive constructions are wordier than active.
Many manuscripts can be improved with selective passive to active changes, and you'll save a few words while you're at it.
0 notes
em-dash-press · 4 months
Text
I am going to take a deep breath and just remind you:
Writing is messy, even for the best authors. It's supposed to feel a little uncomfortable, exhilarating, freeing, natural, and terrifying.
It's supposed to inspire you and feel like a too-heavy backpack.
Sometimes, you're going to love being a writer and sometimes, you'll feel so disconnected, you'll wonder if you were ever a writer to begin with.
Give yourself room to make mistakes and hate your work and return to it with renewed confidence that yes, you will get 1% better next time.
It's what we're all going through. Let's speed up the growing process a little by accepting the entirety of it.
10K notes · View notes
bellemorte79 · 4 months
Text
School things
I have been M.I.A from ao3 because I am back in school again. I am in a Creative Writing program. So I have been neglecting my fanfiction to work on original works. I hope to finish my story up for once and for all during the Winter break.
Tumblr media
0 notes
vickihinze · 6 months
Text
Picking A Theme by Tara Randel
When setting out to write a book, there are many aspects that need to be considered. What is the story about? Who are the characters? The plot? The theme? All the components that, as an author, we sit down and consider before we even begin to type the first page in our story. Since there are genres in fiction, the answers to these questions depend on if you are writing a romance, or a mystery or…
Tumblr media
View On WordPress
1 note · View note
iamdexter123 · 5 months
Text
A good writer, like a good reader, has a mind’s ear. We mostly read prose in silence, but many readers have a keen inner ear that hears it. Dull, choppy, droning, jerky, feeble: these common criticisms of narrative are all faults in the sound of it. Lively, well-paced, flowing, strong, beautiful: these are all qualities of the sound of prose, and we rejoice in them as we read. Narrative writers need to train their mind’s ear to listen to their own prose, to hear as they write.
- Ursula K. Le Guin, Steering the Craft: A 21st Century Guide to Sailing the Sea of Story
8K notes · View notes