#write better

[the-ellia-west]

How to make your Readers Feel Emotions for Dummies

(AWWWWW :]]]] Edition)

So... Do you have any cute animals or children in your story?

No?

Then I can't help you go away

Kidding, kidding, you can make AWW moments in your story no matter who or what your characters are.

First

You have to have at least semi-Likable characters (Pets, adorable animals, or children make this wayyyyyy easier)

Likable characters make your readers want the characters to be happy! You can't really get AWWWW moments if you want the characters to suffer

Most AWWW moments come from Shipping or cute baby moments

Second

Decide what Type

whether you want it to be an AWWWW Romance moment, or an AWWWWW Baby moment

There's also #3 I forgot to mention: AWWWWW comfort/sentimental moment

Third

Decide which character the AWWW moment will happen between

Couple, Father/child, mother/child, friends, siblings, doesn't matter - Well... it obviously matters Which AWWW moment you're going for but... yeah

Fourth

What's Gonna happen?

For romance it's usually cute fluff moments - Want examples? Too bad, look it up on Pinterest! No, no, Joking. Here's a list:

Small cheek/hand kisses

A small, 'I love you so much.'

Wearing other's clothes

Forehead touch

Cuddling

Holding BOTH of each other's hands

FACE TOUCHES - Cheek/jawbone is best

Leaning into touch

Careful dancing

For parental figure and Child it's usually a comforting trust moment, a protecting the child moment, or a 'make me proud' moments

I fucking love these and I'm gonna go on a rant Addict, Tired, bitter mentors are so fucking great. There's so much you can do with them Mostly there's 'make me proud moments' The first 'I approve' moment There's 'you've made me proud' moments There's also 'Fine, you're my kid' moments And comforting trust moments hit so much harder when the mentor rarely shows affection.

It's just so... :D

For Friends, You should do with comforting moments, or a 'you don't know how much I care about you moments

Fifth

Soft Phrasing = soft emotions

Use long, calm sentences. No exclamation points or question marks unless it's dialogue. Keep everything smooth and fluid.

Tears are a powerful tool so use them sparingly

Use short words, and use cuter, softer words, metaphors, and adjectives.

Sixth

Have a visible result

Smiles, cute thoughts, cute dialogue, different feelings or actions towards other characters

Stuff like that

AWWWWW moments can be very powerful to characters as they can for real people, they can change so much with little words.

They can be turning points, displays of affection to the audience, turning points of affection, showcases of change, strengthening of relationships, a final goodbye, they can be so much in just so little.

Good Evening and Good Luck with your Writing My loveable Writing friends! you can do this! <3

[septembercfawkes]

How do you stay motivated writing your story? Whenever I want to write I just don't know how to start

Hey anon,

I'm obviously speaking from my own experience and POV, but to me, motivation doesn't mean much. It's there one day, and it's gone the next. For me, building habits and being disciplined is more useful. I set a predetermined time or day to write (others like to set a word count), and I sorta treat it like a job or a must-do. I'm scheduled to write, so I must work on my story. (With that said, if I'm working on it, and things really, really, aren't coming together, I will sometimes stop, because I may need a little bit of time away from it, or (as strange as it may sound) my subconscious needs to work on it a bit more first.). I love the idea of "trusting the process." I show up, and I trust the process, regardless of how I feel. Obviously it's super helpful if I feel really motivated. That's like the "cherry on top." If I do want to create a stronger sense of motivation, it's helpful for me to watch or read stories I love. It's also helpful to envision my completed project, and how I will feel when it is completed.

As for not knowing where to start . . . I don't know how long you have been writing, but part of it, I think, depends on learning what your own process is. I'm a planner/plotter, so I absolutely need to brainstorm ideas (even for individual scenes), and plan things out, first. I think about what the purpose of the scene is, what the plot elements are in it, and what the structure needs to be (I'm obviously a pretty technical person). Then I start with a draft . . . which I actually edit as I go--I can only write so much "crap" before I feel like it derails me, so I go back to the start of the scene and edit what I have, before writing the next several paragraphs. That's what I like to do.

For others, I'm sure it's very different. Some pantsers/discovery writers like to literally just start writing on the document, and they figure out the story as they go. I cannot do that! It doesn't work for me. For some, it does. For some, it works to do a writing sprint, where they just write as many words as they can in a story as fast as I can (that does not work for me).

Some like to write in "layers." For example, they write all the dialogue of a scene first, then come back and add the actions (blocking), then come back and add description . . . etc. I sort of do this, when I'm "editing as I go." I may literally write "[insert description of room]" at first, then go back to edit and put in a description.

So, those are my thoughts. I hope something in here helps. ☺️

[luckyluan]

THE COUNCIL OF SEVEN SOULS, PT. II

MARCH 18, 2024 - 10:17PM

He took her ankle gingerly in between his fingers. She shifted gingerly at his unusually warm hands. He noticed her discomfort and gave a weak smile.  

“It’s the serum.” he offered. “It quickens the metabolism...warms the blood...it’s only mildly uncomfortable. Heh.” 

“Mildly uncomfortable...can’t imagine.” she gritted her teeth as he rotated her ankle. 

He was silent for a moment. He examined her ankle carefully; touching at certain angles and applying pressure. A dull ‘clink’ sent her heart into racing and—without lifting his head from his observation—he addressed her fear. 

“It’s the anatomic field receptor. It’s come unplugged again. It’s always coming unplugged. No worries.” 

“Yeah, I’d hate for the field thingy to receipt accidentally...could be catastrophic.” 

He snorted. “you’re funny.”  

“A goddamn comedian.” She grimaced. “Are you done?” 

“Oh, yes, quiet. Erm. You’ve merely twisted your ankle. I imagine the pain is terrible. I can fix it...but I’m afraid I’d have to use the anatomic field receptor.” 

Seymour looked up at her with a lopsided grin on his face. The glare from his pointed glasses made his eyes dangerously bright.  

“Very funny, Doc. We should go on tour together. I’ll give you top billing if I get the bigger dressing room.” 

“Deal.” Seymour set her ankle down carefully. 

“Excuse me, Doctor.” a metallic voice echoed through the laboratory. 

“Yes, Kali?” 

“The analytics you asked for are ready.” 

“Thank you, Kali.” 

He knelt in front of Izzy. His fingers now fidgeting with the aglets on his brown sneakers. His gray-streaked coils fell, lazily, over the broad rim frames of his glasses. There was a faint glitch in his frames.  

“I’m not evil.” he said. “I’m not a mad scientist. I—I just had to know.” 

[a-ginger-in-black]

New addition to The Evil Overlord List:

All of my guards and other security personnel will immediately apprehend any pair of people discovered kissing in a place where they shouldn't be, or those encountered in the course of a hot pursuit. If they really were just random people who happened to be overcome by affection in an inconvenient place, they will be given an apology and reasonable compensation for the trouble.

[tailoroffates]

How to beat writer's block

Here are 9 tips to get yourself out of a nasty writer’s block (y'know, other than the obvious ADHD issues that I also struggle with).

Causes

Fear – This usually revolves around publicizing your work, being rejected by publishers, or the general criticism you can receive from your peers. Being nervous or afraid of these things is absolutely normal, but it becomes a serious issue when it prevents you from sharing your work. There are always going to be trolls, just remember when they come out the taunt you that they’re just jealous because you have potential and they’re stuck living under their toll bridges. Leave them there and pay them no mind.

Self-criticism – I’m guilty of this one so I’ll be as fair as I can without being a hypocrite about it. We are our own worst critics. It only gets harder to view ourselves as professional or avoid that nasty old imposter syndrome when we compare our own work to that of other successful authors. Stop that! Keep writing and honing your skills and one day it might be okay to compare in this way, but until then this process is just being unfair to yourself. These authors have been writing for years and practice so consistently that they’ve earned that best-seller title. You’ll get there, just try to stay out of your own head until then.

Perfectionism – This one is a little harder to get out of because we always want to do good and put our best work forward, however, this can often lead to us overthinking the structure of a single sentence and cause so much time to be wasted just trying to make it perfect. Here’s the thing though, nothing is perfect, and here’s why… No matter how well you do your work will be perceived differently by your readers individually. Everyone is different and you can’t please them all, so do your best to make sure you are happy with it and you’ll likely have others who enjoy it as well.

Pressure – This is mainly due to deadlines. Whether they’re set by teachers, publishers, heck even if they’re set by you. This one isn’t so easy to overcome as the closer you get to that deadline the more the anxieties start to set in.

Tips

Now that we’ve covered the causes, here are the 9 ways to creep your brain out of your writer's block.

Re-read – One method that helps me out of my (book-related) writer’s block is to go back a chapter or so and re-read some of my older materials. More times than not, this gets the gears going again and places my thought process back into the mindset I was in when writing it.

Take a break – Sometimes you sit there writing for so long that your brain starts to lag and your blood flow slows down, stopping you from refreshing your thought process. A good way to fix this is to take a small break and do something else. Get up, stretch, get some water, and maybe even go for a walk (I know, I know. The “walk” thought made you cringe, but it can really help). If those things sound too effortful, just switch to a different creative subject like trying a writing prompt or writing a little poem. Either way, sometimes the brain is just looking for some inspiration, and staring at the same page for hours isn’t gonna cut it.

Tunes – Every once in a while I’ll have myself a nasty struggle with trying to set a scene. I find that a cheeky way to help this issue is to make a playlist of songs that put me in the mindset of the scene I’m trying to build. For example, when I’m trying to write something sad or traumatic that happened to a character I’ll play some sorrowful tunes to get the right ambiance. The same goes for fighting scenes. I’ll play many upbeat and catchy songs to try and get a good idea of that half-cocked adrenaline feel so I can write the fighters reacting to one another effectively.

Quiet time – Sometimes too much noise or too many distractions can cut into your writing time, making your mind as blank as the page you’re sitting in front of. If so, maybe try and go somewhere quiet and avoid external distractions so you can write in peace.

Perfectionism – Yes, you read that right. We circled right back into perfectionism, but hear me out. If you’re sitting there on that same sentence because you can’t decide the best way to structure it just make a note of where you are and keep writing past it. You’ll have time to fix that when you re-read or edit your work. Wracking your brain about it now is just slowing your progression.

Outline – One thing I find incredibly helpful is to outline or write an overview of your plot line, subplots, and where you want it to end up. I know, everyone wants to be a pantser, but not everyone can do this effectively without wasting years of their time stuck on the same chapter or even worse yet, leaving so many plot holes that even an acrobat would trip over them. I spent 3 years trying to write my book and when I finally gave in and wrote up an outline I had it done in 24 weeks. Don’t be a me.

Happy habit – Another cheeky tip I used to help myself out was to create a productive habit out of writing. The rule was 1500 words a day, and eventually, it started to get easier and easier for me to get the words out of my brain and onto the page. Your word count does not need to be this high, just set a comfortable goal and get to it!

Read something – No, not your own stuff. Read something else that you find interesting. More times than not this can inspire your gears to start spinning so you can get back to writing your own works.

Play – Alright, so at this point you might have just been working for too long. Stop that! A big old work binge can be great from time to time but just remember, all work and no play made Johnny a dull boy. Don’t be Johnny! Go have some fun and get that tension out so you can be your best you! <3 Hopefully, this helps those of you out there who like me, spend way too much time just wishing the brain would shut up and write things.

[poetryslutsreloaded]

Excerpts from Uses of the Erotic by Audre Lorde

Brought to you by PSR

[rightwriter]

Ellen Brock again with solid tips on how to write believable characters!

[s0undsinmyhead]

I hope Jo find solace in the fact that Alex and Izzie will have a horrible marriage and end up divorced. Like there is no way they couldn’t. They were so toxic together. Their first marriage was bc she was dying. It was a guilt marriage. And then she abandoned him. Not as bad as he abandoned Jo, but with a lot more debt and for a much dumber reason. And the fact that she had those kids and never contacted Alex is all the proof anyone needs that she’s still a selfish toxic person who only cares about herself. She knew Alex’s history. She knew he’d want to be involved. She knew her kids would want a dad. But fuck them bc izzie does what izzie wants. There’s no way hiding his kids for years won’t cause problems in their relationship. So in the end Alex threw away his whole life and his much better wife for nothing.

[falseficus]

everybody’s always on writing prompts like “what if there was a world where everyone had a timer ticking down to their death… but you met someone whose timer said infinity!” or “what if everyone had their cause of death tattooed across their forehead… but you met someone whose forehead said THE CREATURE!” Enough -

enough. stop with the shock value. there is no need to insert THE CREATURE; the benign concept of such a world is horrifying enough. not even in urgency, but just in banal, everyday interaction. imagine you meet someone and their timer says two years. not tomorrow, not urgently soon, but two years. enough to do quite a lot. they could fall in love in that time - could they get engaged? have a baby? you might otherwise get to know them, befriend them, but perhaps you opt not to, make a conscious choice not to invest in your own grief. what balancing act would every individual person have to participate in - I have ten years, is that long enough to be a good mother to children? is that long enough to secure a caretaker for my own mother? my wife will die a few months before me. my newborn’s timer reads nineteen years.

and cause of death. you interview for a job and emblazoned across the healthy, smiling face of the HR lady is MALNUTRITION. your country is prospering, safe, but every person you meet on the street from the babies to the old women read BOMB. BOMB. what kind of havoc would fate wreak on the world? what about the loss of privacy? how would that shape our notions of hope? idk man I think a lot of those ancient poems were right, and the fates are monsters. I’m interested by the framing of these ideas as trite horror tales when the premises themselves are so much more disturbing if simply taken to their logical ends

[angelsdean]

me whenever i see /pos and /hj: why are you calling me a piece of shit and what do handjobs have to do with any of this :/

[airises]

The 5 reasons to use Gemini

Here are 5 compelling reasons why you should consider using Gemini: Writing Power-Up: Gemini becomes an all-in-one writing assistant. It can: Brainstorm fresh ideas and angles when you’re stuck. Draft sections or whole pieces, saving you typing time. Edit for clarity, grammar, and style, catching errors you might miss. Research Sidekick: Gemini saves hours spent digging through search…

[luckyluan]

THE COUNCIL OF SEVEN SOULS, PT. III

He sprang up from the floor and made his way down an aisle of inventions. His head swiveled, left and right, as he searched. He never left her sight, and she was grateful. He returned a moment later with a rolled bandage and a small needle. As he knelt in front of her, he saw her fear. He offered her the needle with an apologetic smile. She accepted. 

He took her ankle, once again, as he spoke. 

“When I was twenty-six years old, I mastered the sciences. I did what no other scientists had done. I successfully cloned myself-split myself into seven equal pieces. No, no not like the children’s book—though I do like that story and—and the magic bits—but I conquered the biggest challenge of adulthood. I answered the question of choice. Why choose only one option when all the options are possible? I won. I finally freakin’ won. I just did not account for the—what did I call it, Kali?” 

“The Soul System, Doctor.” 

“Right. The Soul System.” He continued. “You see, every person only has one soul and try as I might, I cannot recreate...the soul. The body, yes. Eye color? Hair length. Build. Ambition. Aspiration. All of those boxes have check marks, but the soul is the only entity I cannot build.” 

He wrapped her ankle snuggly, and the pain ebbed, but she did not move. This was the first time since she met him that she’d heard his heart and not his mind. 

“That. My Soul System cannot be replicated and that is why they search for me relentlessly; why they beat down the doors of my lab because only one of us can have the soul...and I guess they’ve figured my time is up. I can’t say I disagree.” 

“I do.” Izzy spoke up. Only of them tried to counteract the science. Only one of them is in here with me trying to bandage my ankle—you're actually succeeding. Wow, that works fast—and only one of them is fighting back despite being outnumbered by his own self, you’re here with me. That counts for something.” 

Izzy stood up as she lightly tapped her foot to the floor before putting her full weight on it. She let out a grand sigh as she pushed her flying hairs back into the lagging ponytail. Seymour sprang up beside her. 

“Look, you fucked up. A lot, but not even your great mind could foresee an all-out Battle Royale for a soul that has belonged to you for the last thirty years. You teach us to be a solution-based scientist and that’s what I have become. My solution is simple. We fight back. They may have some of your brains and ideas, but no sequel is better than the original!” 

“I’m pretty sure that last bit is not true.” Seymour scratched his head. 

“You with me or not?” 

Izzy raised her chrome baseball bat. Her eyes were bright with passion and that passion inspired Seymour. He tipped his shotgun against her bat, and he smiled.” 

“Don’t aim that thing at me. Are you crazy?” She shouted. 

“Sorry--sorry. You’re right.” 

[a-ginger-in-black]

Today in horrible thoughts:

You could sum up Atlas Shrugged as "What if Foundation but Hari Seldon is an asshole?"

[authorsarah]

Write a F*$%'ing Book Already by Jim F. Kukral

Write A F*$%’ing Book Already – The Insider’s Guide To Increasing Your Sales & Improving Your Career With A Book by Jim F. Kukral My rating: 3 of 5 stars I have dabbled in writing here and there (and someday I will actually get my ducks in a row) but I had never thought about writing a book to use as a sales tool and I absolutely love the idea. Write a book and use it as your resume. Write a book…