thebabayagaofediting

[thebabayagaofediting]

.

[thebabayagaofediting]

“I’m Pretending I Don’t Love You” Behaviors

(for that beautiful, painful flavor of self-denial that authors LIVE FOR)

✦ Making fun of everything they do...gently. Like it’s the only way you can touch them.

✦ Telling them to be careful, but saying it like an insult.

✦ Correcting people who get their name wrong, then pretending it didn’t matter.

✦ Staring just a little too long—and then making a sarcastic comment to cover the slip.

✦ Showing up to things “coincidentally” wherever they are. All the time.

✦ Knowing exactly what food they like, but acting like it was a random choice.

✦ Volunteering to be on their team, share their tent, go with them, whatever excuse works.

✦ Looking away fast when they laugh. Too fast. Like it hurts.

✦ Caring for them when they’re hurt, but muttering, “Don’t read into this.”

✦ Being furious when someone else flirts with them and not being able to explain why.

[thebabayagaofediting]

Signs a Character Is Falling in Love

ෆ They Start Noticing the Small Things. The way the other person laughs. How they stir their coffee. The exact shape of their handwriting.

ෆ Hyper-Awareness of Touch. A brush of fingers becomes a full-body event. They replay it later. On loop.

ෆ They Look for Them First in a Room. Just a glance. A check. Not because they care. Obviously.

ෆ Jealousy They Can’t Explain. A spike of irritation when someone else makes them laugh. What’s that about? They don’t want to know.

ෆ Their Defenses Go Weird. More sarcasm. More teasing. Or less of everything. Silence, suddenly.

ෆ Uncharacteristic Generosity. Lending a book. Making a playlist. Bringing coffee “just because.” They’re not in love. They’re just nice.

ෆ They Get Irritated by Their Own Reactions. Why do they care so much? Why are they thinking about this? Why won’t it stop?

ෆ They Start Mirroring. Their speech patterns shift. Their posture echoes the other person. It’s subconscious. It’s terrifying.

ෆ They Avoid Eye Contact More Than Usual. Because they’re afraid if they look too long, the truth will pour out.

ෆ They Rehearse Conversations in Their Head. Over and over, what they could say, what they wish they said. They’re not in love. Nope. Definitely not.

[thebabayagaofediting]

Fantasy Guide to Political Structures

A Horse! A Horse! My X for a Horse!

Let's be honest, fantasy authors love their kingdoms and empires. You can throw a rock in a bookshop or a library in the fantasy section and you will 99.99999% hit a fantasy book that will be set in or mention either of those structures. But what are they really? What's the difference between them all? Are there any more examples of structures that would suit your WIP better? Are you using the right terms? Let's have a closer look.

Duchy

A Duchy is a small territory ruled by a Duke/Duchess. While Duchies can be found in kingdoms, some duchies were sovereign states in their own right. Duchies are usually small by land mass but some duchies such as Burgundy were extremely powerful and influential. Independent Duchies were usually apart of a kingdom but grew so powerful that they eventually broke away to become a sovereign state in their own right. An example would be modern day Luxembourg, historic Milan and Burgundy.

Principality

A principality is territory ruled by a Prince/Princess. A principality is typically smaller than a kingdom and in some instances, can be apart of a larger kingdom or be a sovereign state. Principalities have a history of having broken away from a larger kingdom or eventually becoming apart of a kingdom. A principality within a kingdom is ruled by a Prince/Princess, usually an heir of the monarch and can be used to train them up to assume the throne in the future. Examples include Monaco, Liechtenstein and Andorra.

Kingdom

A sovereign state/country that is ruled by ruling King or a Queen. A kingdom is much larger and more powerful than a principality. Kingdoms can be feudal, meaning they are ruled in a strict hierarchy or an autocracy where the monarch rules alone with minimal input from the government or constitutional where the monarch is more of a figurehead and the government has a good chunk of control. Examples include England, Thailand and modern day Spain.

Commonwealth

A Commonwealth isn't a popular choice in fantasy but it is an interesting structure. A Commonwealth in its most basic form is a collection of states that are linked by either a shared culture or history. A Commonwealth can be a politically power or an economic power, with every state allowed to participate as much as they like. Not one state leads the others, it is all one group of equals. A Commonwealth can be a good idea for a group of nations that are more powerful together with them keeping their own independence.

Federation

A Federation is a political structure that is made up of united states or countries that are under a single government but each state is still independent and rules itself. Each state can have different laws, different cultures and economies but they all answer to the single government. Examples include the United States of America.

Republic

A Republic is a territory that is ruled by leaders and heads of state that have been elected on merit and by choice of the people. Republics are not just countries but can also be much smaller areas such as cities. Republics are democratic in nature, with the people having a say in who leads them in accordance to a constitution. There are many kinds of Republic: presidential, parliamentary, federal, theocratic, unitary. Examples of Republics include the Republic of Ireland and the city of Florence.

Protectorate

A Protectorate is a country/region/territory that is independent but relies on a larger, more powerful state for protection either in a military or diplomatic sense. A Protectorate was often used by Empires in order to maintain control over an area without annexing it. There are many reasons a larger state and the protectorate would agree to this, mainly the protectorate is much smaller meaning it is far more vulnerable to attack or it has very little power when compared to other states. A Protectorate allows the territory some power to rule itself but the larger state may feel the need or desire to interfere in the dealings of the territory. Examples of protectorates include the client kingdoms of the Roman Empire like Egypt before its annexation and Puerto Rico.

Empire

An Empire is a collection of nations that are united under one sovereign head of state or government. An Empire is formed by one nation steadily taking control of other nations, either through straight invasion and colonization or acquiring them through marriage and other less violent ways. An Empire is powerful mainly because it can drum up more resources, more influence and more military power. An Empire might impose the traditions, beliefs and culture of its principal nation - the nation that started it all - onto its colonies for better control and feeling of uniformity. Empires never last, that is something to always remember. Empires will eventually fragment due to the vast size and sometimes revolt among the conquered states. Examples of empires include the Roman Empire, the Byzantine Empire, the Ottoman Empire.

[thebabayagaofediting]

Hand & Gesture Language

Hands clenched into fists — Anger, restraint, or holding back something violent or vulnerable. Fingers tapping rhythmically — Impatience, nerves, or a personal ritual. Picking at a scab/cut/nail — Anxious, distracted, or self-soothing. Hands behind back — Formal, guarded, or trying to appear in control. Palms up / open hands — Surrender, honesty, or pleading. Hands gripping something tightly — Trying to stay grounded or keep it together. Rubbing temples — Overwhelmed, stressed, or trying to think clearly. Knuckles white from pressure — Rage, fear, or intense focus. Cracking knuckles — Habitual tension, or a signal that something’s about to go down. Thumbs hooked into pockets/belt loops — Relaxed, cocky, or casual authority. Touching their mouth while thinking — Deep in thought, holding something back. Hands fluttering mid-gesture — Nervous energy, overexplaining, or searching for words. Hands in fists in pockets — Rage or fear hidden under fake chill. Wrists limp at their sides — Defeated, exhausted, or too numb to react. Shaking out their fingers — Releasing adrenaline, fear, or something they don’t want to carry anymore.

[thebabayagaofediting]

[Image description: a tumblr text post, edited blackout-poetry stye to read, "do not give up writing. there will be a story."]

---

do not give up writing. there will be a story

[thebabayagaofediting]

The mysterious ft willz, an online poet from 2007-2009, published his work on his myspace, as well as the website of a friends business site in the hope of getting a publishing deal. However, none of his poems were ever physically published, and now all we have is the remnants of his work as an example of the poetic stylings of the late 2000 queer scene covering topics like unrequited love, chronic illness, and struggling with mental health and self hatred. Post punk musician frank iero is thought to be at least one of the writers under the ft willz pseudynom, due to similarities between his own poetry and lyricism and that of ft willz, but it is currently unconfirmed. Here is a link if you would like to read both ft willz and frank ieros works

[thebabayagaofediting]

Prompt #620

“Why do you want to save a world that does not care about you?”

[thebabayagaofediting]

10 scene ideas for any genre and any story

1. A scene where the character’s biggest weakness becomes their saving grace.

A paranoid character brings the thing that protects them, a gossip shares information about someone which allows someone else to save their life, an impatient person forces someone to leave before tragedy hits. This can be used for as many characters as you have.

2. A scene where their greatest asset becomes detrimental to them.

A loyal person ends up following someone who’s toxic, a brave person ends up getting into an accident, a neat person ends up throwing out trash which was incredibly important. Again, can be used many times.

3. A scene where a character receives a gift.

This is good for any number of things–characterization, plot movement, showing relationships in motion. It can be directly relevant to the plot or symbolic of something else. Make it a genuine but bad gift, make it an amazing but insincere gift–the possibilities are endless.

4. A scene where they give a gift.

Same as before. Good gift or bad gift, it can reveal intentions, move the plot forward, create symbols–this is such a versatile scene type.

5. A scene where a child needs help.

Lost in the store, stuck in a trap, fell while playing–it shows something very simple about your character that you can’t show in any other way. There’s a simple grace to helping a child that you don’t know, and how you handle it is more telling than how you’d help a child that you do know.

6. A scene where they wake up from a nightmare.

Now, I love dream symbolism as much as anyone else, but the conscious actions they take after having a nightmare (and the physical actions they take while they’re still asleep) are just as interesting, if not more. Do they fall back asleep? Eat? Call a friend? Draft a letter? Do they remember the dream at all, or just the fear that went along with it?

7. A scene where worlds collide.

Maybe a character’s friends come into where they work, or they run into people who they’re no longer friends with. A family member brings home their S/O to reveal it’s someone that the character dislikes. Two different parts of their life now meet. How does the character react? How do they consolidate the different versions of themselves?

8. A beach scene

Any TV show that has a beach episode is an anime, right? Well, regardless, swimming is pretty much universally beloved–which means your characters would probably love it too. (And if you don’t believe that this can work in your story, then get creative! It doesn’t have to literally be at a beach, but humanity loves swimming.)

9. A scene where a character gets new clothing.

They have to go shopping, sit through a fitting while their parents makes them a new shirt, rummage through the remains of society in a post-apocalyptic world. Unless you’re writing about nudists (and who knows, you might be), they need to get their clothes somewhere, and seeing how they respond to that, what clothes they pick out, and what the process looks like in this world can be incredibly telling.

10. A scene where plans fall through.

Spice up conflict in your story or just show how characters react when things don’t go their way. Chances are, your characters will make plans at some point in the story, and making them go wrong is a great chance to thicken the plot and make your character more relatable or dislikable. (Or both. Both is good.)

[thebabayagaofediting]

HEY, Romance Writers!

A few followers have asked for tips on writing romance into their stories or as the basis of their stories. Here’s a masterlist of sources (below cut) that may help.

General Romance:

What Defines Romantic Love?

How to Build a Romance Thread in Your Story

How to Plot a Romance Novel

Slowburn Romance

When Friends Fall for Each Other (ask)

Tips for Writing a Character Who Has a Crush

Tips on Writing Unrequited Love 

Writing Healthy Couples in Fiction

An Antidote to “Love at First Sight”

How Attractive Should Your Characters Be?

3 Great Ways to Show That Your Character Is In Love

6 Ways to Get Your Readers Shipping Like Crazy

Six Steps to Stronger Character Arcs in Romances

Seven Great Sources of Conflict for Romances

9 Romance Writing Mistakes to Avoid

20 Tips for Writing Lovable Romance Novel Heroes 

How to Write a Kissing Scene in a Romance Novel

Types of Kisses and Kissing + This Post Is All About Kisses

List of Ideas to Keep Romantic Tension High

100 Questions for Character Couples

How Do I Make the Relationship Development Realistic?

How Do I Know If Two People Are Compatible?

Healthy Relationships Can Include Teasing

How to Write a YA Romance Without Cliché   

Intercultural Romance:

How do I write an interracial couple accurately? (ask)

15 Common Stereotypes About Intercultural Relationships

Cross Cultural Relationships

[Ideas for] Your [Fictional] Cross-Cultural Relationship

Things to Avoid When Writing Interracial Romance

writingwithcolor: Interracial Relationships (w/ links)

Bad Romance:

Removing the Creeps From Romance

Why The Surprise Kiss Must Go

Possessiveness 101

10 Signs You May Be in an Emotionally Abusive Relationship

Edward & Bella Are In An Abusive Relationship

Red Flags, Verbal Abuse, Stalking… | Script Shrink

5 Huge Mistakes Ruining the Romantic Relationships in Your Book

How do you write a [bad] relationship without romanticising it? (ask)

General Tips for Writing Characters Love Interests:

How to Write from a Guy’s POV

Writing Awesome Male Characters: What You’re Doing Wrong

7 Point-of-View Basics Every Writer Should Know

How Do You Describe a Character?

4 Ways to Make Readers Instantly Loathe Your Character Descriptions

3 Signs Your Story’s Characters Are Too Perfect

Is a Quirk Just What Your Character Needs?

Six Types of Character Flaws

Is Your Character Optimistic Or Pessimistic?

5 Ways to Keep Characters Consistent

9 Simple and Powerful Ways to Write Body Language

10 Body Language Tricks for Deeper Characterization

Describing People Part Three: Gestures, Expressions, and Mannerisms

33 Ways To Write Stronger Characters

Conveying Character Emotion

Distinguishing Characters in Dialogue

How to Make Readers Love an Unlikable Character…  

Characters: Likability Is Overrated

Relationships in General:

How to Create Powerful Character Combos

8 Secrets To Writing Strong Character Relationships

Character Relationships: 6 Tips for Crafting Real Connections

Writing Relationships: Hate to Love

Stereotypes, Archetypes, & Tropes:

Five Signs Your Story Is Sexist: Part 1, Part 2

Five Signs Your Story Is Sexist – Against Men

Always Female vs Always Male

Born Sexy Yesterday & Manic Pixie Dream Girl

7 (Overused) Female Love Interests

Other Resource Lists

Resources For Romance Writers

Pinterest Board “Writing: Romance Arcs and Plots”  

thewritershelpers FAQ (romance, kissing, sexuality, etc)

+ Follow HEY, Writers! on Ko-Fi // Wattpad // AO3 // Goodreads // Pinterest

[thebabayagaofediting]

#154: A Better Way to Write

I’m excited to announce the biggest update to Writing Analytics yet – a brand new editor designed to help you write more.

Early this year, I launched a product called Writing Analytics — a writing tracker to help writers stay motivated through projects that can easily take months and years to complete. The idea was simple: to track how much you write and get a visual representation of it with some other cool stats and predictions. Think Fitbit for your writing routine.

A week after the official launch, the pandemic hit. A few weeks after that, the UK went into lockdown. If you wanted pasta for dinner, you were out of luck. It was sold out everywhere. It didn’t feel right to keep marketing a product. Instead, I made it free for two months and went back to the basement to work on more features.

Originally, I wanted to focus on the analytics engine. I wasn’t planning to build an editor any time soon (certainly not in 2020).

I’m glad that I changed my mind.

I’ve been using the editor to write every day for the past three weeks. I wrote about four times more words compared to the previous weeks. The tracking must be addictive. It’s insane how well it works.

How Does It Work?

Most conventional text editors focus on formatting – making sure the font is right, and the margins look good.

I decided to strip out those features completely. You can’t change the font or mess around with the alignment.

The Writing Analytics editor gives you the tools that you need to write. To beat distractions and get your words done. And to create a sustainable writing routine.

There aren’t any documents in Writing Analytics. The editor manages your work in Sessions instead. A session is a timed, focused writing sprint. Behind the scenes, it tracks your progress, how many words you’re adding, deleting. It even tracks your focus and will let you know when you switched to another window and got distracted.

At the end of a session, you’ll have a draft. You can either start a new session and revise it or export the copy for formatting and publication.

When I thought about it, it struck me that there’s no end to word processors that have 20 different tools to tweak the font, but none of them has the tools to help you write in the first place. Isn’t that what writers struggle with the most? The blank page and all?

Things like timing your writing sessions, being mindful of distractions, not editing while drafting, tracking your words to stay accountable. Simple but powerful.

I built all those things into Writing Analytics.

When you write, there’s always a timer on which gives you a sense of urgency to get your words done.

The editor tracks your words as you write them. It counts how many you write as well as delete. That’s great for revision, so you know how many changes you’ve made. It can also keep you in check so that you don’t edit while drafting.

Another cool thing – the editor measures how much time you spend typing during your sessions. That’s useful when you want to increase your writing speed.

Last but not least, it knows when you click away from the window. At the end of the session, you’ll see how distracted you were. No more excuses.

And when you finish a session, the editor will automatically create an entry on your Writing Analytics dashboard.

The editor is available today. I can’t wait for you to try it!

Get Writing Analytics

Want More?

My email subscribers receive a notification when I publish these posts along with a few things I found interesting or helpful on the literary internet every week. Click the link below to join the club.

SUBSCRIBE

(I won’t spam you or pass your email to a third party. You can unsubscribe at any time.)

Past Editions

#153: The Uncertainty of Being a Writer, July 2020

#152: Working with Creative Constraints, July 2020

#151: My Favourite Writing Podcasts, July 2020

#150: The Business of Making Art, July 2020

#149: All That Matters Is What You Leave on the Page, July 2020

#148: Keeping a Victory Log, June 2020

[thebabayagaofediting]

“You can’t wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club.”

— Jack London

[thebabayagaofediting]

Good stuff.

[thebabayagaofediting]

How to write a kiss

Rebloggable version, as requested by davrosbro. :)

Oooh!  Yes!  I love kisses.  Kisses are where it all starts ;).

Okay, first, remember that a kiss is much, much more than just lips.  It is lips, but also tongues, teeth, eyes, faces, hands, noses, bodies, heartbeats,  breath, voice- and most importantly, a kiss is emotions.  A kiss without emotion is just wet mushy lips stuck together.  Ew.  Gross.  The most important part of a kiss isn’t the how, but the who- because of the emotions between the two people.

Okay so:

lips- Lips can slide, glide over each other smoothly, or they can be chapped and rough and dry and get stuck on each other.  They can match, top-to-top and bottom-to-bottom, or they can overlap, with one person’s top or bottom lip captured between the other person’s lips (yummy).  If there is lipstick or chapstick there is lipstick or chapstick flavor, otherwise, lips don’t have a taste (can you taste yours?).  Lips also can smack- the sound of two of them coming together or pulling apart, because they’re wet and warm and soft.

tongue- Tongues are always wet, and always warm.  They’re very versatile.  They can trace over lips, teeth, or another tongue.  They can be smooth and graceful or teasing and flicking.  When tongues are involved, there is drool.  It’s only sexy when you like the person you’re kissing, or else it’s kinda gross. :P

teeth- teeth can clack together awkwardly, or teeth can bite down sensually.  A person biting their own lip is cute, a person biting another’s lips is sexy.  A person biting gently is sensual, a person biting roughly is sexual.

eyes- Eyes can be wide open with surprise, half-lidded with desire, fully closed with pleasure.  Eyes can gaze lovingly, lustfully, wistfully, hungrily, seductively- it all depends upon the emotions of your characters.  Have them do whatever you like, but don’t leave them out- give them at least a mention!

faces- Faces are what the lips are attached to.  Noses bump, cheeks flush, ears turn red, foreheads either wrinkle or relax.  Kisses can leave lips, quite easily, and become kisses on chins, cheeks, noses, foreheads, ears, necks, throats.  Kisses on noses or foreheads are cute and adorable, kisses on cheeks are sweet, kisses on chins, ears, and throats are very sexual.  And a kiss on the lips can be all of those! <3

hands- Hands are super-important.  In order to describe a kiss, usually you want to also describe the hands.  Where are they?  Does one character have their hand behind the other’s head or back, holding them close?  Are they on someone’s shoulders pulling them near, or pushing them away?  Fingers brushing someone’s cheek or palms grabbing someone’s ass convey two very different kinds of situations, even if the kiss itself is exactly the same.

noses- Noses are annoying.  They easily get in the way, especially for first kisses!  People have to tilt their head to one side or the other, and if they don’t, noses bump.  I’d only mention noses if a kiss is supposed to be awkward or uncertain or nervous.

bodies- bodies are either close together, or far away.  Someone can be surrounded comfortingly by someone’s arms, or terrifyingly trapped by them.  Bodies are warm or hot, they are calm or nervous, relaxed or tense.  Body language says a lot.  Is your character pulling away, or moving closer?

heartbeat- Hearts can beat fast or slow, and that’s about all they can do- but there are lots of reasons why they do!  A heart can beat fast with fear or excitement or nervousness; a heart can pound with lust or race with terror or sing with joy.  Hearts can glow, cower, or shatter.  When you really want to drive the emotions of a character home, mention the heart.

breath- To me, the most consuming part of a kiss is the breath.  The air that someone else has just breathed going deep into your lungs is very intimate.  Lips and tongues don’t have a taste, but breath does.  Each person’s breath tastes different, smells different, and surrounds a person differently than anyone else’s breath.  Breath can be warm and sweet, breath can be hot and sexy, breath can be hot and frightening.  It is something that is very present and should not be left out.  A lot of writers leave breath out.  And it’s so important; it’s the most intimate part of a kiss.  Someone else is breathing into your lungs, and it’s either heaven or it’s hell.

voice- Voice conveys much, even without words.  A voice can groan, whimper, gasp, moan, catch, whine, scream, sigh.  Voice can convey emotion powerfully, and while some kisses are silent, usually they’re not.

emotion-  Emotion is the most important- and the thing you try not to say.  You want to describe it, through all of the things above, so that it’s perfectly clear what your characters are feeling, without you ever using the “feelings words”.  If they’re in love, their bodies will lean close, their eyes will smile, their voices will giggle softly.  If they’re nervous, their palms will sweat, their noses will bump, their voices will shudder.  If they’re afraid, their muscles will be tense, their faces will grimace, their lips will not open.  Emotion is the color that you keep inside your mind as you write; it’s the base line that drives the description behind everything else you say.

Wow, that was a lot!  Gosh I hope it wasn’t too much!  Keep in mind not every kiss has all these things- this is just a list of things to consider when writing a kiss, and based on how long of a kiss you want to make.  Keep in mind that typing “they kissed for a long time”…that’s six words, it takes half a second to read, so that’s a short kiss!  If you want a long kiss, you need long sentences that make the reader linger.

So maybe to start off, pick three things on the list to describe in your first kiss.  Don’t try to do it all- that would be too much for even the most epic kiss.  Just pick what’s most important to this particular scene, to these particular characters, and describe those parts along with the lips, and you’ve got yourself an awesome, emotional kiss. <3

[thebabayagaofediting]

writers:

break up your paragraphs. big paragraphs are scary, your readers will get scared

fuuuuck epithets. “the other man got up” “the taller woman sat down” “the blonde walked away” nahhh. call them by their names or rework the sentence. you can do so much better than this (exception: if the reader doesn’t know the character(s) you’re referring to yet, it’s a-okay to refer to them by an identifying trait)

blunette is not a thing

new speaker, new paragraph. please.

“said” is such a great word. use it. make sweet love to it. but don’t kill it

use “said” more than you use synonyms for it. that way the use of synonyms gets more exciting. getting a sudden description of how a character is saying something (screaming, mumbling, sighing) is more interesting that way.

if your summary says “I suck at summaries” or “story better than summary” you’re turning off the reader, my dude. your summary is supposed to be your hook. you gotta own it, just like you’re gonna own the story they’re about to read

follow long sentences w short ones and short ones w long ones. same goes for paragraphs

your writing is always better than you think it is. you just think it’s bad because the story’s always gonna be predicable to the one who’s writing it

i love u guys keep on trucking

[thebabayagaofediting]

why you should keep writing your story

because it’s a puzzle no one else will ever arrange the same way as you.

because there are ideas that simply won’t come to you until you write down the wrong words.

because all the bad scenes are the bones of the wonderful scenes.

because someone will love it: someone will read it once, and twice, and thrice; someone will ramble to you about the complexity of it; someone will doodle your characters out of love; someone will find it in exactly what they were looking for with or without knowing it.

because they have things to say, your characters. they’ve told you all those secrets and they have more to tell you, if you will listen.

because you love it even when you don’t; even when it drives you mad or when it accidentally turns into apathy; even when you think you’re doing it all wrong; you love it, and it loves you back.

because you can get a treasure even from things that go wrong; because if a story crumbles down you can build a shinier one on the same spot; because you won’t know where it will take you until it takes you there.

[thebabayagaofediting]

Adverbs are good and "said" is not a bad word and descriptions are what gives a world character and clichés are okay and tragic backstories aren't cringey and you don't have to remove everything that isn't 'essential' and not everything needs drama and conflict and most iconic books only became popular because they didn't follow traditional writing norms so fuck whatever that tumblr post or famous author told you and just WRITE