#writers on tumblr

[writing-prompt-s]

You are a super hero named “Hammerspace” due to your ability to seemingly pull objects of any size out of a magic bag. In actuality, you stop time and just grab stuff from your surroundings. You were captured by your nemesis and he is super confused as to why the bag won’t work when he uses it.

[animentality]

[hera-photos-blog]

Perfect 🙂

[juliaserano]

Last week, I published this exposé of the anti-trans activist who goes by numerous aliases, and who invented both “Transgender Social Contagion” & “No Transition Before Age 25”

no-paywall link, please give it lots of "claps" (up to 50) & share widely with others!

btw, a ton of work went into creating the timeline that made this essay possible. plus I make very little $ from Medium. so if you appreciate this and/or my writings more generally, pls consider supporting me on Patreon for as little as $1 per month! https://www.patreon.com/juliaserano

[theplottery]

Cheat-sheet to spot info dumps

When you get deep into your project, it can become difficult to spot things that may be telling too much to your readers.

Here’s a cheat sheet of questions you can ask yourself to spot them more easily, organised into categories you might find in your book.

📚 Dialogue

Would your character actually say this if you didn’t think that information was necessary for the reader?

Is all the information they give in that sentence actually necessary to make their point?

Are the characters discussing something they both already know?

Are you slipping in an extra descriptor or an explanatory sentence because you don’t trust the reader to understand?

📚 Internal monologue

Does the character give details that aren’t actually relevant to the reader in this moment?

Does the character immediately explain all their relationships to each new character we meet?

Are they reflecting on backstory at a relevant point in time and is that backstory actually important to the current plot?

Does the character immediately tell us exactly how they feel when a certain thing occurs?

📚 World-building

Do you open the story with a prologue that sets up the mechanics and legends of the world?

Do your characters discuss something about the world they would already know?

Do you stop to explain every new thing that you think is unusual in the narrative, because you don’t trust the readers will piece it together as they read?

📚 Descriptions

Are you spending too much time controlling the visuals of a story? Do the details you’re describing need to be a certain way?

Are you describing every character head-to-toe as soon as we see them, including the protagonist, to control how your readers see them?

Are you describing things in the scene that the character doesn’t even interact with, and they don’t actually serve to paint an atmosphere or a character?

Do you linger on details that will become important later, and describe them in a way that doesn’t correspond with the narrator’s current knowledge of events?

📚 Foreshadowing

Are you giving away the message of your story too quickly or too brazenly?

Are you outright telling your readers what your protagonist’s internal flaw or misbelief is, which they hope to overcome by the end of the book?

Do you put way too much attention on a detail that will become important later?

Do you use sarcasm to outright tell the readers what’s going to happen?

Want a more organised approach to your writing?

Grab The Writer's Toolboox through [the link here] or below!

[microsff]

The witch woke up to see a ghostly cat standing on her chest. "All right," she muttered. "Take me there." The ghost led her to the forest, where, under a shrub, she found the cat. It was badly injured; eight ghosts of lost lives watched her heal it. "Only one left, now." "Mrew."

[promptsforthestrugglingauthor]

Writing Prompt #2259

"Aren't you afraid?"

"Am I...supposed to be afraid?"

[what-iz-life]

The real flex is teaching your boundaries to be stronger than your beautiful heart. Be kind but take no shit.

[heartofmuse]

A hug can obliterate a world of hurt and be the rain that makes the desert bloom.

e.v.e.

[write-on-world]

[writing-prompt-s]

A mark on your forehead identifies the god you must worship to stay alive, usually by joining its local church or temple. Your mark is unknown, meaning an old, forgotten god sponsored you. To survive, you must either find an old temple to worship at, or do the arduous task of building a new one

[animentality]

Never idolize real celebrities. They're only human. They'll let you down.

Now fictional people...Spock would never let you down...

Idolize them because the only crimes they can commit are committed by their human creators, and since they're not real, you can decide what's canon in your heart.

You can re write reality.

Your blorbo is your home, to be written and decorated as you desire.

[ceramicteapot]

it's a tuesday morning and your heart sinks. everything it calls out for isn't there. but you still toast some bread. you still taste the mint in your toothpaste. you collect yourself back up and start a day you want to skip.

[thepersonalwords]

I am a hard person to love but when I love, I love really hard.

Tupac Shakur

[theplottery]

5 signs your novel pacing is off

Here’s are some ways to recognise potential pacing issues in your novel. Most of the tips I found online for this were very detail-focused, but I think pacing issues tend to come from bigger root causes.

Do you feel like your book drags or moves too quickly? Here are some tell-tale signs to pay attention to →

Filler & transition scenes

Do you have a scene in your chapter where nothing substantial happens but you felt you needed it there to connect things up? You don’t. You don’t need it.

If you can’t pinpoint an important development for the overall story in your scene, it’s likely that scene will fall flat and feel boring.

Unnecessary description

Is that thing you’re focused on describing actually important? Does it tell us something about the character, about the atmosphere & tone of your story? Is it important to the plot?

If you have to force a “yes” to any of these questions, you can most likely delete that description.

Quick action scenes

Pacing action scenes can be difficult! You don’t want to rush through it so your reader can’t even process what happened, but you also don’t want to pause to describe everything and water down the immediacy of the action.

So focus on finding natural breathers. These can be moments where the character pauses for a second to process. Use them to slow the pacing and let the gravity of what’s happening settle in your readers' heads too.

High focus on plot

This one is all about pacing that’s way too fast. If you find yourself speeding through your outline and your plot beats, and running out of story to tell, it’s a sign you are prioritising the plot to the detriment of characters and tone.

Plot is there to structure your story and hold it together, but you need to allow time for reflection, character development, and setting.

Action is nothing without reaction.

Consider sentence structure

This tip is more detail based — for pacing within a scene or a paragraph.

If you feel a small part of your chapter may be dragging, examine the way you structure your sentences. Are they all lengthy run-ons? Or do you have a few shorties to break it up? Varying the way you structure your sentences can do wonders for readability and immersion!

Want a more organised approach to your writing?

Grab The Writer's Toolboox through [the link here] or below!

[microsff]

"I wish you humans could breathe underwater," the mermaid said. "Me too," the girl said. "Actually… How does that work?" "My skin picks the air things I need from the water." "It goes into your lungs?" "Yes?" "So you could… breathe into my mouth?" "Oh! Yes! Let's practice!"