Things People Do In Real World Dialogue:

writing warm-ups

do you wake up and immediately go to work? no! you have coffee and breakfast first, you wash your face, you get dressed. similarly, you have to warm yourself up before facing a writing challenge. warm-ups are also a great way to fight writers' block. here are some ways to do this:

-keysmash poem; mash that keyboard until you get 6-12 random letters. these are the first letters of each line of a poem you will write. oh, you say you're not a poet? i didn't ask! just mash that keyboard and cough a poem up and never read it again. -letter to the editor; pick a topic that pisses you off. the smaller and more arbitrary, the better. write a paragraph detailing the issue to a neutral third party with as much passive aggression as you can muster. -rewrite; grab a random page of some old project of yours and rewrite it. really think about what you like and dislike about that page, look at it from a new perspective, twist it around until it's different-- doesn't matter if the rewrite is better or worse, because you aren't editing here. you're just getting your gears spinning. -fictionalize it; think of something that happened to you, like a brief interaction with a stranger or a funny mix up at work. turn it into a one-page scene. -dream journal; record an interesting dream. list out details you can remember, or write it like a journal entry, or wax poetic about what it all means. -shitty fanfiction; self explanatory. the more self-indulgent, the better. set a timer for ten minutes, blast off, and then pretend it never happened. -deleted scenes; think about the in between moments of your project. write an email from one of your main characters, or a scene from their childhood, or a text conversation log, really anything that you wouldn't put in your main work. -confessional; pick a fictional character, yours or one from a piece of media you love. write their ten confessions in as much detail as you want.

happy writing! let us know if you try any of these, and reblog if you find this helpful!

ೃ⁀➷ writing resources

An ongoing list of writing resources I tend to come back to while writing. (None of these are mine)

Last updated: 09/07/21

Tips On Introducing Backstory

Fantasy Guide to Writing Architecture

Muggle Technology Through the Ages:

How To Foreshadow

How To Write A Realistic Argument

How To Write An Apocalypse

How To Make Your Story Scary

How To Make Your Writing Longer

Humour in Dialogue/Narrative

How To Write Close Platonic Relationships

How To Write A Kiss

Writing Intimidating Characters

How To Write Teasing In A Romantic Relationship

Resources For Writing Sketchy Topics

Resources For Writing Injuries

Symptoms of dying that aren’t coughing up blood

Tips On Writing Time Skips

Tips On Writing Flashbacks

How To Write Falling In-Love

Cheat Sheet For Writing Emotion

Writing Pain

Writers Guide: Hand to Hand Combat

Body Language Cheat Sheet For Writers

Fainting and losing your consciousness for writers

How To Write A Fight Scene

Writers Guide: Guns

Words For Skin Tone | How To Describe Skin Colour

How to write passages like film effects

Words to use instead of “said” organized by emotion/intention 2.0

how to start reading again

from someone who was a voracious reader until high school and is now getting back into it in her twenties.

start with an old favourite. even though it felt a little silly, i re-read the harry potter series one christmas and it wiped away my worry that i wasn't capable of reading anymore. they are long books, but i was still able to get completely immersed and to read just as fast as i had years and years ago.

don't be afraid of "easier" books. before high school i was reading the french existentialists, but when getting back into reading, i picked up lucinda riley and sally rooney. not my favourite authors by far, but easier to read while not being totally terrible. i needed to remind myself that only choosing classics would not make me a better or smarter person. if a book requires a slower pace of reading to be understood, it's easier to just drop it, which is exactly what i wanted to avoid at first.

go for essays and short stories. no need to explain this one: the shorter the whole, the less daunting it is. i definitely avoided all books over 350 pages at first and stuck to essay collections until i suddenly devoured donna tartt's goldfinch.

remember it's okay not to finish. i was one of those people who finished every book they started, but not anymore! if i pick up a book at the library and after a few chapters realise i'd rather not read it, i just return it. (another good reason to use your local library! no money spent on books you might end up disliking.)

analyse — or don't. some people enjoy reading more when they take notes or really stop to think about the contents. for me, at first, it was more important to build the habit of reading, and the thought of analysing what i read felt daunting. once i let go of that expectation, i realised i naturally analyse and process what i read anyway.

read when you would usually use your phone. just as i did when i was a child, i try to read when eating, in the bathroom, on public transport, right before sleeping. i even read when i walk, because that's normally a time i stare at my screen anyway. those few pages you read when you brush your teeth and wait for a friend very quickly stack up.

finish the chapter. if you have time, try to finish the part you're reading before closing the book. usually i find i actually don't want to stop reading once i get to the end of a chapter — and if i do, it feels like a good place to pick up again later.

try different languages. i was quickly approaching a reading slump towards the end of my exchange year, until i realised i had only had access to books in english and that, despite my fluency, i was tired of the language. so as soon as i got back home i started picking up books in my native tongue, which made reading feel much easier and more fun again! after some nine months, i'm starting to read in english again without it feeling like a huge task.

forget what's popular. i thought social media would be a fun way to find interesting books to read, but i quickly grew frustrated after hating every single book i picked up on some influencer's recommendation. it's certainly more time-consuming to find new books on your own, but this way i don't despise every novel i pick up.

remember it isn't about quantity. the online book community's endless posts about reading 150 books each year or 6 books in a single day easily make us feel like we're slow, bad readers, but here's the thing: it does not matter at all how many books you read or what your reading pace is. we all lead different lives, just be proud of yourself for reading at all!

stop stressing about it. we all know why reading is important, and since the pandemic reading has become an even more popular hobby than it was before (which is wonderful!). however, there's no need to force yourself to be "a reader". pick up a book every now and then and keep reading if you enjoy it, but not reading regularly doesn't make you any less of a good person. i find the pressure to become "a person who reads" or to rediscover my inner bookworm only distances me from the very act of reading.

How to Write Flashbacks More Effectively

Many of our favorite books include a flashback or two. They put the main story on pause and reveal things readers need to know, but how do authors decide when to use them?

These are a few tips I have about writing flashbacks effectively so you can feel confident about weaving them into your stories.

1. Create a Clear Trigger

When you walk into a kitchen and smell cookies baking in the oven, the smell might trigger a memory. Maybe it’s a happy memory of baking with your family or exchanging cookies with your friends during a holiday party.

You wouldn’t think about that memory in that exact moment without the sensory trigger. Flashbacks work the same way.

Give your character a specific trigger so it’s obvious they’re having a flashback. You shouldn’t only rely on making the flashback italicised or set off by page breaks. It will feel more expertly integrated if there’s a cause-and-effect relationship with the scene.

The trigger can also serve a purpose. Maybe your protagonist hears a car honking and has a flashback to their recent car accident. It could let the reader in on how the accident happened or what it was like. The sound being a trigger also shows readers that your protagonist hasn’t dealt with the emotional ramifications of that traumatic experience, so it’s still fresh and affecting how they live their life.

Remember, there should be a clear point of return when the flashback ends. It may not always be a second trigger, like your protagonist’s best friend calling their name. It could also be a sensory moment or experience within the flashback that makes the protagonist essentially wake up due to discomfort or becoming aware that it’s a memory.

2. Make It Plot Essential

Flashbacks are plot essential, meaning that they have to either do something for the reader or your protagonist (maybe both at the same time). 

In the above example, reliving the car accident informs the reader about what the protagonist experienced before the story started. 

A flashback about an ex-partner treated the protagonist in a previous relationship could motivate the protagonist to make a choice in their current relationship that they wouldn’t have otherwise. The choice propels the story in a new direction.

3. Get to the Point

It’s important to keep flashbacks brief. Readers are investing their time and energy into the story you’re telling, not the story that happened leading up to your plotline.

Extended flashbacks can also confuse readers. They may not understand when the flashback has ended, especially if the relived experience happened to your protagonist recently.

A few paragraphs to a page or two will likely be more than enough to get your flashback’s point across. If it runs longer, make a mental note to return to that particular scene when you’re in your editing phase.

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Flashbacks can be effective storytelling tools, but use these tips to avoid relying on them too much or in the wrong ways. If one doesn’t feel right even after you’ve worked through your initial edits, you can always take it out and work the information in by writing another present-day scene or conversation.

how i got an agent, or: my writing timeline

when i started writing, i had no idea how publishing worked and i had a lot of misconceptions about it. but i just signed my first literary agent so i thought i’d share what my experience has been getting to this point, in case it helps anyone else with their own publication goals. i’m also including financial details, like submission fees and income, because “i could never afford to pursue writing as a career” is something that kept me from taking the idea seriously.

for context, i write mostly literary fiction and i’m on the academic/scholarly writing path. this process looks a lot different for other genres. 

i didn’t write this in my pretty nonfiction narrative voice; it’s really just the bare-bones facts of how it went down, how long it took, how many words i wrote (both fanfiction and original fiction), and how much it all cost. 

Afficher davantage

It’s very humbling when you’re reading a book —part of a trilogy, very acclaimed— and the only thing you can think of is ‘the fanfic I read the other day was better’

Drafting Your Creative Time: Your Guide to Planning a Year of Creative Writing

2024 is about to start. You’re going to venture into another year of writing incredible stories, but what will that practically look like? I feel more in charge of my creativity by planning rough writing schedules. Here’s how you can do the same without locking yourself into a too-strict calendar that leaves your writing spirit depleted.

Set One Writing Goal

Twelve months is a lot of time, but anyone can handle a single goal. Make the next year easy on yourself by picking one thing you want to accomplish (and let’s not make it “publish my novel” if you’re just starting the manuscript on January 1, given how it takes roughly 18 months of work after you get an agent) (and that can take a few weeks to a few years, depending on your querying experience!). 

Try picking a manageable writing goal like these:

I will write 10 chapters of my novel.

I will make a collection of 5 short stories I write this year.

I will submit a short story to at least 3 contests this year.

I will publish one new work of fanfiction in the next 12 months.

I will write one short story in a new genre.

Publishing a book can be a long-term goal, but your 2024 goal should be easy to break down into manageable steps you can accomplish by yourself. You’ll be more likely to reach the finish line and work toward another goal.

Establish a Stress-Free Writing Schedule

Creativity comes and goes, but your writing will never get done if you don’t form some kind of schedule. Your upcoming year could look something like this:

I’ll write every Wednesday night between 7-7:30 p.m.

I’ll use voice-to-text to get my story-related thoughts on virtual paper for five minutes every morning before school.

I’ll do freestyle writing for five minutes on Mondays and Saturdays to keep my thoughts flowing, even if I don’t find more time to work on my story that week.

Your schedule should be realistic, which means it shouldn’t stress you out. Make it match your weekly and daily routine. When do you naturally feel most energized? When can you carve out ten minutes for your craft? 

Remember, you can always (and should!) adjust this set schedule as time goes on. Your non-creative schedule most likely won’t look the same on January 1 as it will on December 31.

Save a Few Writing Prompts

You might have a few weeks here or there when you’re juggling life’s responsibilities and can’t get to your WIP. It happens to all of us!

When you’re busy, try answering a writing prompt in three sentences or less. Use your phone, a sticky pad, or whatever’s nearby. You never know if it’ll inspire you later when you’re free to write.

In the meantime, you’ll keep using the creative side of your brain so your writing abilities don’t feel so distant.

Check out these prompt apps if getting online isn’t your thing or takes too much time from your busy schedule!

Find a Writing Community

There are so many ways to build a writing community. Start a tumblr about it (guilty as charged) or join a Facebook group. Find an active Reddit thread about your favorite genre or join a Discord server with writers. 

You don’t even need to start talking to others and making friends if it makes you anxious. Read what people are saying to get inspired by everyone. You’ll naturally join in when you get excited about something they’re discussing and keep creative writing at the front of your mind.

Read Lots of Books

I always feel more connected to my writing when I’m actively reading. Artists of any kind need a source of inspiration to keep their creativity flowing. Keep an actively growing To Be Read list with apps like Story Graph (a Goodreads-type app that isn’t owned by Amazon and gives so much more information about your curated reading history!).

Visit your local library if you don’t have the money for new books all the time (who does?). As you get inspired by what you read, you’ll also pick up skills from authors you admire or note things you don’t want to recreate. Study each story’s structure and character development. You’ll return to your WIPs with renewed passion.

Embrace the Scary Editing Stage

Your first draft is your thoughts and dreams poured out on paper. The editing stage is where you refine and re-write your work until it shines. Set aside specific time for editing after completing a first draft of any story. Even if your editing phase doesn’t take very long, working on line edits and developmental edits will make your work so much better.

It’s also a normal form of frustration for writers, but one that happens no matter where your writing goes (on fanfiction websites, short story contests, a literary agent’s desk, etc.).

Schedule Your Rest

Writing might feel like a natural hobby, but your brain and body still need to rest after periods of intense focus/work. Schedule rest periods into your daily or weekly calendar. It’s time to recharge in whatever ways best suit your body, like:

Sitting outside

Walking in a park

Reading

Sitting in a hot bath

Going to the movies

Sleeping in

Keep in mind that sometimes you’ll need more rest than others. Extend some self-compassion by checking in with your physical and mental energy frequently during the next year. If you take time to rest, you’ll be less likely to burn out creatively.

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This next year will be full of growth, challenges, and joys in your writing life. Embrace every second by resting and writing in new ways.

Character is Plot

Character is plot. I mean that as, your main character’s arc is (literally) the main plot. If you think about arcs as something to put over or alongside an existing plot, they probably aren’t working very well. Or at least, you don’t have as much time or space as you need to fully explore both a good plot and a good arc. They are one of the same, so I’d even say throw whatever idea you have about plot out the window. They’re called arcs now. Congrats.

This also means if your characters aren’t working, the whole thing is going to fall apart. So I’m going to relay what was taught to me about solid character creation, and finding your arc!

There’s five critical things that go into character building: Goal, Objective, Unconscious Need, Disrupting Characteristic, and a Formative Event. They all work very closely together, so once you get one going, the others typically fall into place. (oh, and they sound complicated, but I promise they’re not.)

Goal and Objective go hand in hand, I’m sure you’re telling me right now that actually they’re the same thing. You’re right, they kind of are. The reason I split them up is so I make sure I always get not only a journey for my character to go on, but a meaning behind it. Action and intention. So:

Objective: the actionable (your character can work at it) objective of the story. What your character is physically doing throughout the story. Frodo taking the ring to Mordor is his Objective, Rapunzel going to see the lanterns in Tangled. Mulan protecting her dad by taking his place. Essentially, objective is what we’ve thought of as plot.

Goal: the intention behind the objective. Why is your character doing this? This is usually the emotional core of the story, where we tuck away arc and characterization. Rapunzel wants to see the lanterns to finally get out and start her life. Mulan wants to prove she’s worthy. Your character wants to make someone proud, or hurt someone who’s hurt them, or feel loved. This is the emotion behind their objective and cannot on its own be turned into an arc. One cannot ‘prove themselves worthy’ out of a void, that’s the goal, you also need an objective, ‘prove themselves worthy through taking their father’s place in the war’.

If you have these, great job! You’ve got a really solid foundation for your arc. What your character wants, and why they want it. However, if we just follow an objective and goal, your characters are going to feel very lifeless—so we need some additional depth:

Unconscious need: This will probably be the one you get stuck on the most. Good thing is, both of these words are hints on what to do here, Unconscious meaning your character doesn’t realize it, couldn’t put it into words, and Definitely doesn’t say it out loud. Need, is the start of how to answer this blank space. Your character needs to realize something they haven’t been aware of to achieve their goal. Or they need to realize a flaw in their goal. For example, a woman wants to run for president (objective) to make her mother proud (goal), but she needs to realize all her mother wants is to spend more time with her, and by using all her time to campaign for president, she’s actually splitting them further apart. Mulan needs to internalize that she doesn't have to be bigger than life to make her parents proud of her and bring them honor.

Your need is character specific, which means no one else should need the same thing. If your need can apply to multiple people, you probably didn’t get specific enough. Everyone needs to be loved, everyone needs to feel cared for. However, not everyone closed themselves off from relationships and needs to open up to people if they want to foster a connection. See the difference?

This step will directly influence how you write your climax, because it leads to a choice your character makes. They can either realize their need and adhere to it (Fine, I’ll take my name out of the campaign for president/call my parents/apologize to the people I’ve hurt) or continue with their objective despite it. Typically, characters that ignore their need after they realize it are considered to have tragic arcs. Getting your character to realize their need is the end of their positive arc, it’s what we’ve been working towards all along.

So it’s important. Don’t skip, yes?

Disrupting Characteristic: this one is fun. This step is adding a flaw to your character, specifically, it’s the flaw that’s holding them back from meeting their need. If there was nothing holding them back, wouldn’t they be satisfied already? So that’s the easiest place to start with this one, what they need, and what could possibly be holding them back from it. If they need to see their father as he truly is, maybe their disrupting characteristic is that they’re optimistic to a fault. This characteristic could be a thing the character does (idolizes their father, acts fiercely independent, etc.) or a belief they have about themselves or the world (self conscious, believes humans are inherently cruel, etc.) It’s the epitome of their internal conflict, they need something, but some ingrained part of them is keeping them from it. Evil? Absolutely. But us writers tend to be.

The disrupting characteristic is the internal arc your character goes through, they are working and being challenged throughout the story to overcome this characteristic. So in another example, a romantic character may realize their parents led them to believe they were undesirable (unconscious need), and that it has no merit, so they gain a new confidence and overcome their self consciousness (disrupting characteristic) to ask their ideal partner out.

You see what I mean why I say all these steps work together. Need and disrupting characteristic and goal are so intertwined that it can be difficult sometimes to voice them apart from each other, but they also can’t carry each other. A solid need and disrupting characteristic isn’t going to do much if you don’t have a very convincing goal. Make sure you can put them into words (preferably write them down) and voice them all as separate things from each other, and how they work together. If you can do that, you’re set.

Last but not least is Formative Event: this is essentially your beginnings of backstory. The formative event Is the (usually) singular event in a character’s past that made them to be who they are today—importantly, that developed their need and disrupting characteristic. Your character showed up to school in their new dress and was bullied, a mom left, or a dog died. The reason they are the way that they are. From this, you can build up the rest of their backstory. Moana is chosen by the ocean, her parents try to keep her away from the ocean, she grows up unsure about the idea of being the next chief. If you’re struggling with backstory, start here, build around it.

(Oh, and you don’t necessarily have to mention the formative event in your story, in fact most screenplays don’t. As long as you know it, you’re set.)

Speaking of backstory, it’s our invisible sixth step (or… first, really) because all of these things you come to know about your character is developed out of backstory (which makes it a pretty good place to start). It makes sense, really, if these steps are who they are, they’ve become that way because of where they’ve come from. I tend to start with family when I’m trying to discover backstory, given family is a large part of who we are—then education, then home/community, friends, interests, etc. But there’s no real ‘perfect’ way to do it. Just write, let your mind wander, add and take away whatever you want, and meet your new character for the first time.

So how did all of that give you your plot? It’s through how they change! We’ve created someone who wants something, and needs something else, and unless we take them on a journey so they can figure it out, we’ll never have a story. So that journey to help them realize their need? That’s your plot.

If you’re struggling with how to help them change, consider putting your arc into a logline (something screenwriters do, but I find it really helpful even in novel writing). A logline is essentially your plot (character arc) summed up in a sentence or two. It goes like this: A but B so C

A: Disrupting characteristic

but

B: Conflict (goal/objective meets antagonist)

so

C: Changed character

Loglines are a tool for writing (at least in the way we’re using them), so make sure you have your full story—ending, character change, conflict, anything you’d find helpful to keep you on track.

I’ll often write a logline for each major character I have. Here’s an older one about a character I’ll call “Mark”:

A: Obsessive

B: His death has been predicted

C: Opens up to the others, recognizes he only has a little bit of time left, and should spend it with the people he loves (that’s also his need!)

Logline: Private Mark Jackson obsesses over an unproven myth that promises the escape of his small life, but when his untimely death is foretold and every day drives him closer to his fate, he opens up to his friends to be content in a slightly different life than he had imagined for himself.

Loglines are great because they have it all!

Private (additional characteristic) Mark Jackson obsesses (disrupting characteristic) over an unproven myth (objective) that promises the escape of his small life (goal), but when his untimely death is foretold and every day drives him closer to his fate (conflict), he opens up to his friends (need) to be content in a slightly different life than he had imagined for himself (change).

You see how the entire story is right there in that sentence? This is a great place to start before we move onto officially outlining next week, so save your work, we’ll come back to it!

To get a good handle on all this, I’d recommend watching your favourite movies or reading your favourite book and filling out as many steps as you can, then creating loglines for each major character. Disney movies especially stick to this structure (thus all the examples) and typically have very clear arcs, but anything works.

Good luck!

How do you find a balance between “show, don’t tell” and “readers might not catch/understand this subtle concept or showing it would be too convoluted or more open to interpretation than it needs to be”? It doesn’t help that everyone encourages more showing even if it swallowing little details that are supposed to stand out. Basically, I feel like I overthink my showing as being too tell-y even when it already has several layers of meaning and is already too dense for average readers.

“Show don’t tell” resources & advice...

I think people often mistake the advice of “show don’t tell” as being in the interest of making one’s writing more literary; more “high art” than candid prose typically is. The advice is intended to help one recognize when their prose is becoming dull or unengaging to the reader. Showing is supposed to promote an organically flowing reading experience, rather than turn the writing into a flowery, pretentious, and unintelligible mess. Finding a satisfying way to deliver information in the text that isn’t “I felt” or “I thought” is important. It should never dilute the information. Clarity comes first, and then one can configure the sentence to add as much richness to the reader’s ability to immerse themselves as possible. 

If the desire is to show that the character is sad, writing that “she looked down at the floor and wrapped her arms around her own waist” is not going to be any less indicative of that information than “she felt sad”. That is the point of this advice. It is not a way for one to convert information into a code that the reader must analyze in order to comprehend the basic idea of what the scenes are about. This isn’t 1597, and nobody is asking anyone to be Shakespeare. 

Density of a piece of writing does not give it inherent worth. Ease of comprehension doesn’t always have to be the number one priority, but it should be a considerable factor when one accounts for their audience and their subject matter. If one is writing a young adult fantasy trilogy, the density of the writing should be adherent to the demographic’s ability to comprehend certain writing styles. “Show, don’t tell” applies to all writing, but different writers interpret it differently, often based on who they’re writing for. If the concept you’re trying to convey to the reader in a subtle manner is not coming across without blurting it out in the text, perhaps the problem isn’t the way you’re describing it, but the concept is weak in its current state. 

Easily misinterpreted meanings or concepts are often not the victim of descriptive style, but being underdeveloped sub textually. No important concept can be described once within a dense text and expected to translate as intended into the reader’s understanding. If it’s important enough to the bones of your story and meaning, it shouldn’t rely on the manner of description to shine through. Sometimes the density of a text is a product of too much intentional symbolism or motif. It’s okay to allow some things to be meaningful purely in interpretation. It’s okay to acknowledge that you allowed something that obviously implies meaning to be prescribed its implications by the readers. 

Here are some of my other resources on the topic that you may find helpful:

Resources For Describing Characters

Resources For Describing Emotion

Conveying Emotions

All About Colors

A Writer’s Thesaurus

Showing VS Telling in First Person POV

Using Vocabulary

Balancing Detail & Development

+ When To Use “Felt”

Showing Vs Telling

How To Better Your Vocabulary & Description

Describing emotion through action

Improving Flow In Writing

How To “Show Don’t Tell” More

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Masterlist | WIP Blog

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