verynichewritingadvice

[verynichewritingadvice]

trope that makes me crazy.png

[verynichewritingadvice]

[verynichewritingadvice]

im going to have a stroke

[verynichewritingadvice]

niche writing advice #01

write more sapiosexual characters-characters who are romantically attracted to intelligence above all else. why? because you can recognize someone as intelligent and respect them for that, while simultaneously thinking of them as a jerkwad.

so sapiosexual hero x smart villain, anyone?

[verynichewritingadvice]

HOW ABOUT THEY THEY CAN TAKE TURNS. DEMOCRACY? Honesty I feel the same way about Nerdy Prudes versus TGWDLM, I can't decideeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee which one I prefer. But seriously. GRACE. ICONICCCCCCCC

how to write from the perspective of a hivemind

Writing a hivemind is the same as writing literally any other character, except you have a few different questions to consider.

What is the attitude of your hivemind towards it's individual bodies?

How autonomous are the entities your hive mind is composed of?

Is it's cousiness singular, with the bodies acting as it's "limbs" or is it a "governing" cousiness that controls those underneath it, like a computer program's trainer algorithm?

How does it function?

Is there a "hierarchy" among the hive like bees/ants?

And, of course, general character questions

What is your hivemind?

What is your hivemind's goals?

What is it's unifying personality?

Please shoot me an ask if you want more niche writing advice! 

[verynichewritingadvice]

how to write from the perspective of a hivemind

Writing a hivemind is the same as writing literally any other character, except you have a few different questions to consider.

What is the attitude of your hivemind towards it's individual bodies?

How autonomous are the entities your hive mind is composed of?

Is it's cousiness singular, with the bodies acting as it's "limbs" or is it a "governing" cousiness that controls those underneath it, like a computer program's trainer algorithm?

How does it function?

Is there a "hierarchy" among the hive like bees/ants?

And, of course, general character questions

What is your hivemind?

What is your hivemind's goals?

What is it's unifying personality?

Please shoot me an ask if you want more niche writing advice! 

[verynichewritingadvice]

GRACE CHASITY AND MAX JAGERMAN!!!! EVIL SOUL TWINS!!!! RICHIE'S ALSO UP THERE!!!!

how to write from the perspective of a hivemind

Writing a hivemind is the same as writing literally any other character, except you have a few different questions to consider.

What is the attitude of your hivemind towards it's individual bodies?

How autonomous are the entities your hive mind is composed of?

Is it's cousiness singular, with the bodies acting as it's "limbs" or is it a "governing" cousiness that controls those underneath it, like a computer program's trainer algorithm?

How does it function?

Is there a "hierarchy" among the hive like bees/ants?

And, of course, general character questions

What is your hivemind?

What is your hivemind's goals?

What is it's unifying personality?

Please shoot me an ask if you want more niche writing advice! 

[verynichewritingadvice]

On writing the niche of “a virus or a corruption upon the human mind sort-of zombie apocalypses”

To tie into the topic of this blog,

I think writers who are writing in the niche of “a virus or a corruption upon the human mind” sort-of zombie apocalypses could learn from something this musical, while it is primarily a comedy, does very well. 

The horror of ambiguity. 

The plot revolves around people being assimilated into a singing and dancing hive mind, but we never learn what exactly has been done to the victims of the infection. 

Different explanations and conclusions are proposed by different characters, mosty by the hive mind itself, which is not at all a reliable narrator. 

Maybe the infected are still “themselves”, but their personalities are twisted by the hive into a mockery of who the victims used to be. Maybe they’re still in there, trapped in their body, but unable to do anything as they watch their body perform for the hive. Or maybe they’re dead, and their smiling corpses are just being puppeted around. The hive can seemingly recover from any wound and infect you after you are already dead

Throughout the play, there’s evidence supporting all three of those perspectives. But we don’t know if it’s truly the individual breaking through or the hive manipulating the living. 

There are moments when the infected seem to come back to themselves, for example, a infected cop sees his wife and gasps her name before smiling and turning his gun on her, or when a rather kinky man (comedy) calls his wife, forgets what he’s been singing about for the past two minutes, which is ✨hilarious✨, but also horrifying. He seems sincerely sad as he “chokes out” a goodbye, as if he knows he’ll never see her as himself again. 

But then again, this could be the hive taunting the respective characters witnessing its song and dance. WE DON'T KNOW. 

That’s really effective for the horror of it all. If you’re writing “a virus or a corruption upon the human mind sort-of zombie apocalypses” give your characters different perspectives and have your characters align with one; only for them to realize how horrifyingly ambiguous it really is. 

Give them unreliable information. And make it tragically wrong.

how to write from the perspective of a hivemind

Writing a hivemind is the same as writing literally any other character, except you have a few different questions to consider.

What is the attitude of your hivemind towards it's individual bodies?

How autonomous are the entities your hive mind is composed of?

Is it's cousiness singular, with the bodies acting as it's "limbs" or is it a "governing" cousiness that controls those underneath it, like a computer program's trainer algorithm?

How does it function?

Is there a "hierarchy" among the hive like bees/ants?

And, of course, general character questions

What is your hivemind?

What is your hivemind's goals?

What is it's unifying personality?

Please shoot me an ask if you want more niche writing advice! 

[verynichewritingadvice]

OF COURSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!111

how to write from the perspective of a hivemind

Writing a hivemind is the same as writing literally any other character, except you have a few different questions to consider.

What is the attitude of your hivemind towards it's individual bodies?

How autonomous are the entities your hive mind is composed of?

Is it's cousiness singular, with the bodies acting as it's "limbs" or is it a "governing" cousiness that controls those underneath it, like a computer program's trainer algorithm?

How does it function?

Is there a "hierarchy" among the hive like bees/ants?

And, of course, general character questions

What is your hivemind?

What is your hivemind's goals?

What is it's unifying personality?

Please shoot me an ask if you want more niche writing advice! 

[verynichewritingadvice]

NEVER SHUT UP!!! I AM OBSESSED. I HAVE LISTENED TO NOTHING BUT THAT SOUNDTRACK FOR THE PAST FEW DAYS. I'M WRITING FANFICTION. I'M DOODLING IN THE MARGINS OF MY CLASSWORK. I CLOSE MY EYES, LAYING DOWN TO SLEEP, AND I THINK OF THE IMPLICATIONS. DO YOU SHARE MY MALADY??? DO YOU?? AHHHHHH-

how to write from the perspective of a hivemind

Writing a hivemind is the same as writing literally any other character, except you have a few different questions to consider.

What is the attitude of your hivemind towards it's individual bodies?

How autonomous are the entities your hive mind is composed of?

Is it's cousiness singular, with the bodies acting as it's "limbs" or is it a "governing" cousiness that controls those underneath it, like a computer program's trainer algorithm?

How does it function?

Is there a "hierarchy" among the hive like bees/ants?

And, of course, general character questions

What is your hivemind?

What is your hivemind's goals?

What is it's unifying personality?

Please shoot me an ask if you want more niche writing advice! 

[verynichewritingadvice]

how to write from the perspective of a hivemind

Writing a hivemind is the same as writing literally any other character, except you have a few different questions to consider.

What is the attitude of your hivemind towards it's individual bodies?

How autonomous are the entities your hive mind is composed of?

Is it's cousiness singular, with the bodies acting as it's "limbs" or is it a "governing" cousiness that controls those underneath it, like a computer program's trainer algorithm?

How does it function?

Is there a "hierarchy" among the hive like bees/ants?

And, of course, general character questions

What is your hivemind?

What is your hivemind's goals?

What is it's unifying personality?

Please shoot me an ask if you want more niche writing advice! 

[verynichewritingadvice]

Also what is a dish they usually serve during medieval times (think 1400ish?) and were there aphrodisiacs

Uh.......that varies alot across the world even in the same allotted time period, so I'm going to assume you mean medieval england.

Meals were very much divided by class during the medieval period. A peasant is going to have different options than say a noble.

I think the dish pottage would fufill the niche you're looking for.

It's a very soup-like dish whose ingredients varied, it was typically boiled for several hours until all the ingredients blend together. It was usually served with bread. As you can see the look of it varies wildly.

Pottage is a pretty common meal whose ingredients were available to peasants. They would make it out of wheat, barley, or oats. Richer consumers would add the meat of fish or beef

Now unto your second question! Yeah, they do!

The medieval people 100% believed that food correlates with their sex lives. Much of their, ah, aphrodisiac theory was centered around which foods increased the production of semen, as female lust was a tad taboo.

The mega aphrodisiac among these men was chickpeas, believe it or not, for some reason.

Generally, "warm" foods like fresh meat, brains, egg yolks, pepper and wine were considered to give fertility and increase "performance" while "cold" foods like cucumber, melon, lettuce and fish were considered to do the opposie .

[verynichewritingadvice]

Do you have any tips in how not to end up with Therapy Speak? I had the immense luck to be diagnosed very early (sarcasm) and so was in therapy pretty much my entire life, which means that Therapy Speak is very natural to me and I struggle with thinking into how normal people would speak about this.

(I started writing one version of my answer and it got REALLY LONG so I'm going to try to keep it high level this time lol even if it is still pretty long)

Really, this question comes down in general to, "How to write realistic dialogue," on the one hand but also, "How to write dialogue that propels my story," on the other.

And let me just level-set by saying how I view "therapy speak" when I discuss it here. I see therapy speak as:

A character using clinical terms to describe their state of mind, emotions, or reasons for certain kind of reactions. E.g. "depression" "anxiety" "overwhelm" etc.

A character exploring their emotions in a clinically-aided manner during conversations and/or to resolve interpersonal conflicts or perceived misunderstandings. E.g. "Sorry I lashed out at you yesterday, my anxiety got the better of me but you didn't deserve that. I'm sorry."

1 ) Consider your setting and characters.

A Medieval Knight Would Not Say That. <- This is a basic tip and I think an obvious one. If your character doesn't live in a time period or world with access to or knowledge of therapy or good mental health practices, it will take your reader out of the story if they suddenly bust out with, "Sorry I overreacted yesterday, I was feeling overwhelmed because of my anxiety."

Frankly, if a story is set anywhere that isn't after the 2010s in certain therapy-friendly population centers in the US, for example, (the US is pretty unique in its widespread access and favorableness to therapy, even compared to Europe and Asia let alone other parts of the world), therapy would still be rare enough that you'd need to tell my how and why this person had access to it and how and why they expect the person they're talking to to also be versed in this sort of framing of conflict resolution or self reflection.

That said, there's still a lot of places in the world and a LOT of demographics where access to therapy or even exposure to it enough to have an understanding of it is pretty rare and even in the US it's very determined by demographics. For example, a 50 year old male school teacher might be open to it, but a 50 year old male truck driver might look at you like you have two heads if you suddenly start talking about your feelings to them in an open and clinical manner.

Then again, real people are varied and nuanced so it's perfectly possible that your grizzled 50 year old truck driver might be binging self-help podcasts on his long drives and be surprisingly very well versed! It could be a really delightful story beat, but you do have to kinda explain to me as the audience how he came across this knowledge since it would be unexpected for him to have it.

Now, this is not to say that no one outside of those exposed to therapy speak has any exposure to introspection or access to their emotions. But, they might not be armed with the clinical terms or techniques.

2 ) Consider what people would say instead.

And when considering what someone would say, consider:

Do they have the clinical terminology to describe what they're feeling?

Do they have the tools to manage their emotions even if they don't have the terminology?

Do they have the tools, terminology, or even the interest in resolving the conflict?

"I'm having a panic attack!" -> "I feel like a giant fist has closed around my lungs, I can't seem to breathe!" - This could be something said by someone who can describe the feelings of a panic attack but doesn't have the knowledge or tools to know what they're experiencing. This could be a Medieval knight speaking or even a totally modern person who doesn't know what a panic attack is or can't believe that a panic attack could happen to them.

Note 1: If you're writing a period piece, plenty of other eras had ways of describing certain feelings, so a Victorian era person might say "melancholia" and mean clinical depression, or a Medieval person could be bipolar and think, idk, maybe that they're possessed or bedeviled by demons. You should inquire into the tools people would have at their disposal, even if they're inaccurate to our modern understanding.

Note 2: Even when people know about clinical terms they might be unable or unwilling to admit clinical things can happen to them. Admitting you have, say, clinical depression can be very scary for people. It could represent a huge change in their life or their self-perception. So they might say something like, "I don't know, I've just been in a very dark place for months and months now." They might be scared to admit this to anyone at all, not unless it's someone they really trust, and even if they trust this person, they might still lash out if they're told, "Uh, buddy, that's depression. You need help." because of what a big shift this might represent to their self-perception. People don't like to hear there's something "wrong" with them or admit it to themselves. Hence, they might be reluctant to admit this at all or if they do, they might downplay it.

"Sorry I lashed out at you, I was overwhelmed and I took it out on you and that wasn't fair." -> "I don't know, it just felt like everything you said kept pissing me off and now I'm pissed off that I yelled at you when it wasn't your fault, which pisses me off even more!" -> This could be someone who doesn't understand the clinical terms AND doesn't have tools to manage their emotions but DOES have an interest in resolving the issue with the other person, albeit not in the calmest manner. This might apply to, say, an angry anime protagonist lol.

"You're the most beautiful girl in the class and I'm not sure if I want you or want to be you, but I haven't come out yet to anyone including myself, so all I have inside me are these big confusing emotions of desire and fear and admiration all mixed together, leaving me unsure of what to do or how I feel about you. I just wish these feelings would go away somehow." -> *Passes crush a note that says*,"Get the hell out of my class!" -> This could be someone who doesn't understand their emotions, doesn't have the tools to express them AND doesn't have an interest in resolving the conflict in a constructive way.

3 ) Consider if resolving the conflict constructively is even good for the story you want to tell.

Stories thrive on conflict. Conflict doesn't need to mean interpersonal drama or screaming arguments or saving the world. But two people sitting down and hashing out all their emotions can act as the climax of the story, in that it resolves and airs out a lot of the simmering tension that could be otherwise used to propel a story further.

For example, a "will they/won't they" love story is resolved when two characters sit down and hash out that they have feelings for each other. That could mark the end of the story entirely. If you feel you've written yourself into a corner, maybe it's because the characters used therapy speak to get everything out there in a constructive way too clearly or too soon and now you've written yourself into a corner if you wanted the story to continue.

(Of course, infinite variations are possible. You could have two characters thoughtfully work out that they DON'T have feelings for each other, only for one to walk away and realize they DO have feelings and now they're worried about revealing those because the other person just laid out so thoughtfully and rationally that they don't have feelings back. Just because people DO communicate doesn't mean the situation can't CHANGE.)

But in order to have characters realistically hold things back, you need to think about the other pressures there might be in their life that would keep two people from sitting down and hashing out every little nook and cranny of thoughts and feelings they might have.

For example, pride or fear - society tends to look down on people, especially male-socialized people, when it comes to openly expressing their emotions. (Or, if you want to divorce it from gendered considerations, let's say a warrior society might or might not be ok with free expressions of emotion that might be considered "weakness".)

Even crying during moments of horrible pain or stress can and has been a source of mockery for many men (and women!), so they could very likely have been socialized out of openly expressing emotions that make them feel vulnerable as a matter of maintaining their pride.

Even if they want to express those emotions, they might fear the negative reaction of the person they're talking to (who could tell them to "stop being a baby!" or "man up!" or "go cry somewhere else!" etc.). This can be especially true for big moments of self-reflection like coming out, or expressing romantic feelings for someone, or expressing that they've been struggling with and masking negative emotions for a long time and are reaching a desperate limit. These are things that can change other people's perspective of you, not always for the better, and the fear of that can prevent people from being open about their feelings.

Personal Note: Too often in fanfic-land, I see fics always coming down on the side of "These fears were silly, the person they're talking to was always going to be understanding and accepting!" which isn't reflective of the real world! Sometimes people, even well-meaning people, might be put off by powerful displays of emotion, or not interested in a relationship through no fault of their own and it DOES make it weird if a friend confesses feelings, and then sometimes people aren't well meaning!

It can be refreshing to see a story that expresses that sometimes these fears of being open and honest about big emotions are valid. Not all family members are cool and understanding about coming out (unless that's the catharsis your story is going for!). Not all people are ok with having someone confess their love for them. Not all people are comfortable with a friend or a comrade in arms saying they're coming close to cracking under the strain.

So these are valid, real life fears, that can serve as valid, real life barriers for why people might not open up to another person and lay out everything they're thinking and feeling as if this person is their therapist.

Generally speaking, the best stories (to me) are the ones that give multiple in-universe reasons why someone doesn't tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth in an open, rational, and clinical manner about how they're feeling. The more outside pressures you can layer on, the less visible the hand of the author is, the better. For example:

Time - the characters didn't have time for a long sit down about their feelings. The world is ending/ the big THING is about to happen soon .They had to make the conversation brief.

Not wanting to lose a friendship - Sure, being in a relationship would be great, but losing the friendship if the love confession makes things weird would be terrible.

Not wanting to lose the position/prestige/job you wanted - a warrior or even an office worker might be cracking under the strain of their mental health, but if they ask for help, they could be fired, or shunned, or removed from the mission. They want to keep their position more than they want help, so they'll speak in circles around or minimize the struggles they're facing.

Other stuff gets in the way - when the world is ending or the external events are piling up, it might just not be the right time or place to discuss your innermost feelings. It might be inappropriate to do so if other people are suffering or even dying all around you. Heck, admitting you feel depressed when the person you're talking to just lost a loved one and is in an even darker place might feel deeply inappropriate. So if you've got a lot of characters running around dealing with a LOT of events, sitting down for a therapy-speak conversation might even feel ludicrous to indulge in as many people tend to put their emotions and wellbeing pretty far down on the list of important things to deal with, especially if they haven't been trained or socialized to prioritize them.

Without getting into a more specific story it's hard to give more specific advice. And there's the eternal caveat to all of this that sometimes an open conversation about emotions that is aimed at resolving a conflict or misunderstanding is the point of a story, especially in fanfic which often likes to explore things that canon doesn't do.

Everything should, in the end, be in service to the story you want to tell. This is just my view on some things to think about when trying to write more realistic dialogue. And of course, as always, when in doubt about dialogue, listen to real people and read your dialogue aloud to see if it sounds natural, if natural dialogue is your goal.

[verynichewritingadvice]

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Something like this would be so colossally helpful. I'm sick and tired of trying to research specific clothing from any given culture and being met with either racist stereotypical costumes worn by yt people or ai generated garbage nonsense, and trying to be hyper specific with searches yields fuck all. Like I generally just cannot trust the legitimacy of most search results at this point. It's extremely frustrating. If there are good resources for this then they're buried deep under all the other bullshit, and idk where to start looking.

[verynichewritingadvice]

the suffering never ends

[verynichewritingadvice]

Hey, do you have any advice for overcoming perfectionism with writing?

I think the key is to just realize that the first iteration of a story is like the base of a recipe. If you obsess over all of the little details before you lay down the foundation, the story isn't going to be edible. If writing is a cupcake, it's like adding the sprinkles to the batter instead of adding the milk or eggs, then looking at your half-formed sludge of a creation and going "god this looks terrible'" and shoving into the crucible.

Putting it in the oven of your criticism before it's ready. When you take it out, it's not going to be an intact cupcake, and you'll feel even worse.

Convoluted food metaphors aside, a good thing to keep in mind is that good writing isn't what is perfect, which is something that can never be achieved.

Good writing is what works.

You're never going to able to articulture the exact picture you have in your head into words. Nor has any author in the history of ever. We were human, and our communication with each other and the outer world is limited.

If you are a perfectionist, your art is never going to live up to your expectations, because it can't. The emotional scene you write on paper might feel inferior to the majesty you've envisioned in your head. You might feel like there's something missing, that's it doesn't perfectly encapsulate what you imagined, and you might be frustrated by that.

But that doesn't mean its bad at all, just human. Most people underestimate how impactful their words are. Just because it's not an impossibly perfect replica, doesn't mean that the emotions and thoughts won't register with the readers. Oftentimes, we're biased against ourselves.

Remember that.

[verynichewritingadvice]

best thing you can do with a repressed character is hit them with various hammers and sharp objects until they crack open to reveal beautiful sparkling homosexuality inside. geode guy