#writing rant

[thewriteadviceforwriters]

✨writing rant because i’m UNWELL and someone said enemies to lovers is “overdone”✨

okay listen.

i don’t care how “overdone” the trope is. let her fall in love with the enemy prince. let him smile like a knife and lie like a prayer. let her fall anyway. and then let her stab him with a hairpin. a hairpin!! we deserve this.

this isn't about originality. this is about execution and emotional violence and aesthetically pleasing betrayal.

tropes aren’t dead. they’re haunting us in new outfits.

every trope is a reusable little narrative skeleton and you get to dress it in whatever cursed, beautiful, petty, yearning flesh your heart desires. you can take enemies to lovers and make it toxic, or tender, or tragic. you can give them shared trauma. you can make them childhood friends turned enemies turned lovers turned enemies again. you can make the stabbing literal or metaphorical. you can make it an almost-stabbing, where she presses the blade to his throat and doesn’t do it. you can make her do it and then sob in his arms while he bleeds out whispering her name like a prayer he never meant to say out loud.

you can make it GAY.

that’s the power of tropes. they’re not restrictive. they’re launchpads. they give readers expectations so you can BREAK them. or better--fulfill them in devastating, soul-twisting ways.

also. like. if you think a trope is “overdone” maybe it’s not the trope that’s the problem. maybe it’s just being written without any real teeth. no emotional bite. no stakes. no tension. no pain. and that’s not the trope’s fault. that’s just boring writing.

give me the obsessive yearning. give me the knife-to-throat confessions. give me the battlefield truce that turns into a five-second pause before they go right back to trying to kill each other. give me quiet moments in enemy territory where they realize they’re not so different. give me the one bed. give me the i hate you but i’d burn down a kingdom for you and hate myself for it.

let the prince kneel at her feet, kiss her knuckles like he’d never crush them, and then go home and report to his war council like nothing happened. let her wear the hairpin he gave her while plotting his assassination. let them both suffer about it. let them choose each other anyway. or don’t. let them fail. let them fall apart in the final act and still reach for each other across the ashes.

i literally do not care how many times we’ve seen it. i want it again. i want it done well. i want it done with spite and softness and aching inevitability. i want to feel like the betrayal was worth it. i want to scream into my hands and text my writer friends like “why would you do this to me” while secretly living for it.

write your trope. write it the way it’s been done before or write it sideways and backwards and messy. just write it with emotion. and a little hairpin. and blood under their fingernails.

okay bye

Rin T.

[morallysuperiorlips]

PLEASE Write Your Book!

I'm serious. Please write it. If you need a sign to start, continue, or whatever is inbetween, this is it. Go do it.

I spent the past couple weeks indulging myself in some BookTok recommendations. While some were indeed good (Kings of Sin, my beloved), some were just...I don't need to finish my sentence there.

I DNF'd some books for the first time since I read Lord of the Flies (sorry Golding, you put me to sleep with your descriptions) and I powered through others in hopes that they would eventually get better. The general consensus I ended up getting was that I could not understand for the fucking life of me how these books got published. The writing in some of them was no better than that of a 2010s teen writing Maximum Ride fic on Wattpad for the first time, with the characterization abysmal enough to match.

I don't want to knock any specific author or book here, because I will concede one thing: they finished their books. They got them published. They're successful. For that, I commend them, because I'm still on my way there myself and I can't take that away from them. Jolly good show.

But that brings me to my point: if they can do it, YOU absolutely can do it too.

If some of these Amazon and NYT bestsellers can have prose on a Wattpad level with characters that have enough poorly-written cognitive dissonance to make Deadpool or Walter White jealous, your fleshed out, deeply intuitive, and remarkably creative epic can sit right alongside them no problem. Whether you're writing the next GoT or a romantic slice-of-life, there is a not a goddamn thing on this planet stopping you from rolling up with the big dogs.

If these guys can do it, so can you.

So, stop telling yourself you can't. Stop letting other people tell you you can't. Stop comparing yourself to these authors who, respectfully and bluntly, can't write for shit (or at least need to fire their fucking editors, good lord).

WRITE YOUR DAMN BOOK. PLEASE. WE NEED IT.

(If you like my guides, prompts, writing, or art, consider supporting the blog today! All donations help me keep this thing up and running and all are appreciated <3)

[imbecominggayer]

How To Write Trauma With Humanity

This short post is for those who think that they might be so focused on writing trauma well that they accidentally forget to write an actual character.

As someone who has an "interest" (read: deeply passionate and completely consuming dedication) for psychology and character analysis, I feel like sometimes writers don't really know how to write a character with trauma.

To quote a quote:

Don't Write A Traumatized Character, Write A Character With Trauma

I'm just trying to talk about those situations where the only interesting thing that we ever learn about this character is the fact that they have trauma and that's sad.

People tend to think that PTSD and trauma in general is just:

sit in dark, crying inconsolably about death

have nightmares

hide the fact that you have PTSD with broodiness

try to revenge

die tragically or happy ever after

Remember: Nobody has time for that

These people have obligations, responsibilities, family members, loved ones, and dreams that don't allow for this type of lifestyle.

Many people with PTSD *seem* like standard members of society. They sometimes participate in community activities. They have hobbies and vague interests that they put on their dating profile but don't really care about.

People with PTSD and trauma are interesting REGARDLESS of their trauma and trauma-related bullshit, not because.

If the only thing that's interesting about a character is what something else did to your character, it's not really interesting.

What's their dreams?

What do they like to eat in the morning?

What's their values?

Stop Trying TO ANSWER These Important Questions With:

"don't care :3 trauma will make this character complete :D"

[st-osmanthus]

When my confidence is high, I think I’m a fairly decent writer (mostly, maybe lol). But for the life of me, I seem incapable of writing angst when it comes to ZoLu. Just can’t do it. It turns into humor instead.

Not to say there’s no angst potential between them. When done right, it’s fantastic. And I’m so envious of those writers who can nail the angst and still keep their personalities intact.

To me, when Zoro and Luffy are together, they’re just so in sync to the point of being able to communicate without words. There’s no need for misunderstandings or mistrust. There’s definitely no possibility for betrayal. They don’t even disagree anymore post-timeskip. Even when Zoro yelled at Luffy on Punk Hazard, Luffy simply acquiesced.

So this leaves either illness/death for angst scenarios, or AU. The former is not something I like to focus on, which leaves AU for me if I want to tackle ZoLu angst. I’ve tried my hand at it with a 40-yo ZoLu one-shot and it went okay, I think? I just don’t think I’m very good at writing about it overall.

Zoro and Luffy make me happy lol. They’re gonna remain my comfort pairing and sunshine couple. Infinite kudos to those writers who can do their angst justice!

[iamtechnos-world]

Ok... I'm officially stuck (warning: rant)

I need some help please!

Currently trying to write my first novel, but I cannot stop iterating. I have rewritten my first chapter around seven different times. I have made many, many synopses (I think that's the plural of synopsis lol). I have half-written some sections, and have barely touched (read: avoided) others. The whole "draft" is a mix of some first-drafted chapters and almost-rinsed-out others.

I feel like it is dragging. It's been stuck in my head for ten years, drawing inspiration from a lot of different works, growing from a snippet imagining a fight at night in an old building to a ridiculously sprawling world with intrigue and romance and creatures and magic and vampires and werewolves and castles and chaos and huge amounts of lore-

HELP!!

rant over, just needed to get this off my chest

Anyway, anyone who's writing novels, how do you manage to stay motivated and successfully finish them? Any tips would be appreciated!

I might just be posting up snippets of my writing too (I'll try not to spoil it though).

Thanks.

EDIT: Looking back through my notes and actually found some good-looking stuff that just needs editing. I think I might put that together and see where I am.

[evakinnie]

Lemmie ramble for a sec...

i HATE HATEHATEHATE HAAATTTEE how characters in the offical danganronpa game react to death and dead bodies! like, in danganronpa trigger happy havoc, the third execution, a MINOR (well as far as they know) is BURNED at the STAKE, ALIVE. INFRONT OF THEM... and they just yell and cry a bit..... ARE YOU KIDDING ME! LIKE, if you someone get burned alive, someone you've known for a few weeks, how you YOU react. because id be SCREAMING, SOBBING, HAVING A FUCKING MENTAL BREAKDOWN, VOMITING. like even when someone is killed there reaction last for a sold what 7 munities (in the games time, irl like 2 or smth) then they just say 'oh welp lets investiage' BRO. BRO BRO BRO. my homobrothern. NO ONE THAT AGES, acts like THAT around a deadbody, i get if you've seen one or many before but if your like fucking sonia or aoi (just a random example) who has an ultimate nowhere RELATED to bodies, and act like THAT..... id have some questions

AND THE GREAVING PROSSESS. OMG. they only remember a character when its plot relevant, or helps a character complete an arc... likeee NO that's not how that works, everyone's gonna be affected. that's a dead person they ALL knew. like, in danganronpa goodbye despair, the MOMENT chapter two started they couldn't give to flying FUCKS about imposter or teruteru, they weren't even MENTIONED unless it was related to the plot. and with ALMOST every other death!

and i bet YOUR thinking 'but its just a game they cant do EVERYTHING-' WRONG BUZZER SOUND. lets take for an example, Tetro danganronpa pink, a NON-PROFIT, PODFIC FANGAME. (not like that's a bad thing) tackles the concept of grieving better then MULTIPUL PROFESSIONAL WRITERS!! LIKE...AUGH. i love danganronpa i really do, but once i took off the autism colored glasses and played the WAY BETTER fangames... THE MAIN SORCE SUCK OMG, no hate to anyone who likes it i just had to rant about it.

[forthesanityofstorytellers]

DO NOT LET THE READER GREMLINS GET YOU

Okay.

So.

I feel so, so stupid for falling into what is probably a common and age-old trap.

I call them reader gremlins in my brain. They say things like "no one will believe this" or "before anyone takes you seriously as a writer, you have to do XYZ" or "this is so unrealistic, people are going to tear this apart"

For me, these reader gremlins are fueled by all the little things I pick up from other people's criticisms on media that happens to be similar to mine (which is one of the reasons I like to rb the posts that are all about encouraging you to write what you enjoy).

ANYway.

I felt stupid because I got trapped by one of those reader gremlins that said, "hey, this story idea is cool an all, but if you don't have at least a written timeline as to how the planets got from magic to space age so you can refer back to it when people ask, no one will believe the premise of your story."

I was feeding the cats when I realized that every single diverse-race sci-fi I've ever seen has simply said "okay, here's the world" and while yes, there's a plot that might get us from Then to Now, there's NOT a full cannon breakdown of the specific mineral composition found on every single planet and how the properties of each break down and HOW each species managed to produce steel and warp engines and plasma ducts and (fill in the blank). They kinda just...do. Because once you buy into the premise of a world, you've pretty much bought into it.

I'm not saying no one should attempt to explain these things because if that's something that the creator enjoys then go for it. BUT I let that stagnate my creative flow for that specific project. Because I let those 'reader gremlins' (call them that because it's criticisms that I imagine readers would give me) convince me to do all this work in the background that I...probably don't need to do. Now, if I WANT to come up with the mineral composition of the primary stone-like resource per alien planet and it's top five properties and how that relates to it's use in the given society, I CAN. But I don't think it's REQUIRED for me to look at people and say "I'm writing about fantasy races but in space because I think it's fun" because if they like it, they'll like it and if they don't, then it's not for them.

SO HA

Rant over.

[lonelytartcake]

Let's Talk About OCs

This isn't a call-out post or anything; it's more of a vent post, so if it has a weird structure, know that I'm just typing this as I speak, if that makes sense. But I noticed that in this fanfiction space in particular, or elsewhere on the internet, many authors and artists feel they have to justify the existence of their creations. I notice that especially in the fanfiction writing space, we see a lot of polls concerning OCs or whether a reader would like to see a character x OC or an OC centric story, or anything similar. I feel we as creators have been so traumatized by that very awkward phase on the internet where art 'critics' scoured Deviant Art to find the cringiest OC made up by 11-year-olds and lambast them for the sake of comedy, that we now think our characters that we want to see animated or breathe new life into different established franchises, must only exist so long as the fandom allows them to. But you don't need that.

There will be some people entirely turned off by the idea of OCs. Why? Because they don't exist in canon. Their very existence in your story disrupts the status quo and all other interpersonal dynamics. And that's okay; everyone has their own tastes. You have to keep it pushing. People can have a quadrillion different reasons why they don't want to see an OC, but you're not writing for them. You must first and foremost write for yourself. Your OC can only be as strong as the work and care you put into your stories, your writing, your dialogue, etc. It all starts with practice, and eventually, people will gravitate and be interested in what you have going on. It won't happen overnight, but I think we need to stop waiting on permission to write what we want to write and just write!

[pan-fried-kirke]

mild rant here but why is plotting so difficult when it's not the first thing to come to mind? I've got characters mostly down and a general idea, but plots? nothing. not even an inkling as to the start and end. what the fuck

[puca-polka]

Arcane Rambles: Season 2 Plotholes

While I do adore the Arcane series I feel like season two had a few conflicting plotholes and things that just didn't work, especially when you compare it to season one.

I binged the series after season two came out, having slept on it for a while. Two glaring things confused me, one being Vander and Silco knowing the parents of Jinx and Vi. With how season one goes, Silco and Vander act as if they don't know them despite season two showcasing that they did.

Most notably, Silco is fully ready to kill Vi and Powder in the beginning. If he knew them and was like an uncle to them before the incident at the bridge, why would he hurt the children of the woman who was his dearest friend and possible love interest? Even if the betrayal of Vander had made him bitter and a bit unstable, one would think he would at least spare them. Additionally, before Silco takes powder in, he calls her, "Little girl", showing he doesn't know her. I also would like to add how Benzo reacted when Silco first revealed himself, the pure vitriol and contempt Benzo showed made me think Silco must've done something truly vile to earn that level of reaction. However, as season two shows us, the blame was mostly on Vander for snapping and "losing his head" after the death of Vi and Powder's parents. So with that said, I would think Benzo wouldn't have been so aggressive towards Silco, since most would know it wasn't his fault. The only other reason I could think of for him to be so hostile is perhaps Silco had been making a bit of a reputation before seizing power after Vander's death/absence and using Shimmer to bolster his claim. My evidence for that is Vander's reaction when Vi tells him how they were jumped by Zaunites shortly after robbing Jayce's apartment. Implying he knew those thugs most likely were tied to Silco, hinting that Silco was at least making some waves to gain Vander's notice.

Additionally, I wanted to add that my initial theory for what happened was that Silco actually did kill Powder's and Vi's parents by accident. I imagined it was parallel to Powder accidentally setting off that explosion that claimed Claggor's and Milo's lives. The idea is that Silco set off an explosion with that Molotov cocktail and the parents got caught in the crossfire.

Lastly, the thing that confuses me the most for the second season is the alternate universe Ekko enters. If it's exactly the same as theirs but in this Vi dies, how is Zaun suddenly flourishing? One could argue that her death caused Piltover to actually pay attention to Zaun or that it caused Jayce to forsake Hextech and focus his efforts on raising Zaun. However, even if that was the case if their Zaun was the same as the other Universe where Vi lives, that still doesn't make any sense. There is no way everything will be that put together and prosperous in that short of a time frame, even with Jayce's efforts. It's only been six to seven years, I don't think that is enough time to get Zaun to be as cleaned up and flourishing as we see it, we'd at most see them while rebuilding it.

Now, if it was that this Zaun is different from the one that Vi lives, where this Zaun was never really under the same oppression, that begs the question of why they were even stealing from Jayce in the first place. They would have no need since they wouldn't be in the same situation as they are in the alternate Zaun where Vi lives.

[houndsofcorduff]

Rambling about my own OCs

I have to talk about something even if I’m just talking to myself. I’m finding myself very caught up in the feeling of “the only way I’m going to see this play out is if I write it myself” so idk I guess spoilers after book 1 for The Old Gods.

If you do read this and know of fics or books or tv or movies or any consumable media that portrays this dynamic PLEASE tell me because I’m starving for it.

Okay so at the end of book 1 Danhal and Sha’tel get together and between books 1 and 2 they get married and Danhal becomes Em’het’s adoptive father and their relationship is everything to me.

Because omg it’s so beautiful and tragic. Danhal is an excellent father, he raises Em’het to be kind, brave, and protect people who can’t protect themselves. Because that’s who Danhal is and of course he wants his son to be a better version of himself. But so much of the later books is the payoff of that work. The consequences that Danhal has to live with for doing the RIGHT thing. Because Danhal is sensitive, caring, soft hearted, and humanitarian to a fault. He instills those values in Em’het, he wants him to grow up to do the right thing, to believe in justice, to believe in the best of people, to make the universe a better place.

And then Em’het grows up and he is all those things. Congrats Danhal you did it! Your son is the best of you and your wife. He’s brave. He’s loyal. He’s everything you wanted.

But that’s a problem because now Danhal has to watch it. He has to watch this kid - HIS KID - jump in front of danger, stay behind to get the innocents out, run into burning buildings, exhaust his magic to save someone, volunteer for the riskiest part of the mission. And every time it happens you can see that internal conflict hole rip itself through Danhal. He’s proud. He’s devastated. He planted the seed and now the tree is bearing fruit and Em’het might die because his father taught him some causes are worth dying for.

And he can’t stop it. He can’t undo the lessons he’s taught him. How do you un-teach courage?? How do you tell her son to stand down when you’re the reason he learned to stand up in the first place?

And Em’het is so calm about it too. So nonchalant. Like “yeah it’s what we do” and Danhal is in the background screaming internally, begging him to just be safe and never mind about protecting others just protect yourself please.

Anyway I’m completely ruined by this, thanks.

[illusion-reality-steve]

Have my favorite deleted line from Act 3

Without thinking, Illusion panicked and began shuffling.

[persiesposts]

You know what makes me so mad?

When you're reading a book that has sooooo much potential, it reels you in with the promise of a plot that looks interesting, complex and real characters that look like they're going to go through actual character arcs and develop but then...

it falls flat on its face.

It boils my blood because you have something unique right there but it gets sacrificed for the dumbest reasons.

Whether it be that the character development was sacrificed for the sake of the main couple or that the plot goes sideways to make the main character the most specialest baby ever.

Whatever the reason, authors, I beseech you to PLEASE stop doing this!!! Or at the very least hire editors who give enough of a shit about your story to help you not do this and then ACTUALLY LISTEN TO THE EDITORS!!!

[6vaguebook]

New discovery: Extremely detailed chapter drafts are the same thing as writing out the whole draft in terms of noticing plot wholes, scenes or characters that don't work, character motivation and generally coming up with anything that might make the story better

This has helped me a lot with not burning myself out or succumbing to Shiny New Idea Syndrome! After I've written a chapter draft, I'll leave it to sit for a day, maybe write out any scenes or whole chapters I'm excited about or need to see in prose to figure it out fully, then just...write another chapter draft. And I'll keep doing this until I'm wholly satisfied, by which point writing the prose can be done in just a few weeks and then I only have editing before I move on to Beta readers. It's made me feel so much better because I don't feel pressured to write out an entire 40k draft that I know I'm going to end up discarding anyway or if the potholes are glaring at me from before I've even finished, y'know?

Idk maybe it's just me

[darlingsaturn]

This pissed me off so much. I never thought i have such a strong opinion about this topic but here i’am.

In my language we have honorifics for siblings that we use daily. We can’t just say their name if we are not the older one, it’s rude and disrespectful.

But english language doesn’t have honorific for siblings. I get that it’s a cultural thing, but please don’t shame writer or make fun of them for it.

Especially if they write fanfic for a fandom that is not in english language originally (exp: Anime or Manhwa). I always read how people hate a story that has japanese honorific on it and will not show support (in form of likes, votes, kudos, or such) because of that, no matter how good the story actually is.

I get that it’s preference but please don’t make fun of writers for it. Don’t be a ghost reader.

I, myself, use honorific in many language for my fic because it’s so wrong to just say their name. Especially if the character is older than my mc or like a mentor to my mc.

My readers never complain about it but i saw some comments on other writer’s platform that pissed me off, so i need to say it.

In the English language we can call teacher ‘Miss’ or ‘Mister’. For master/mentor/superior is ‘Madam’, ‘lady’, ‘sir’, or ‘lord’.

But what about siblings? What about your older cousin? What about your sibling’s older friend? Wtf am i suppose to call them?

By their name only? That’s rude!