Two (2) People Asked How I Did The Matchbook Thing So Take This

my 10 holy grail pieces of writing advice for beginners

from an indie author who's published 4 books and written 20+, as well as 400k in fanfiction (who is also a professional beta reader who encounters the same issues in my clients' books over and over)

show don't tell is every bit as important as they say it is, no matter how sick you are of hearing about it. "the floor shifted beneath her feet" hits harder than "she felt sick with shock."

no head hopping. if you want to change pov mid scene, put a scene break. you can change it multiple times in the same scene! just put a break so your readers know you've changed pov.

if you have to infodump, do it through dialogue instead of exposition. your reader will feel like they're learning alongside the character, and it will flow naturally into your story.

never open your book with an exposition dump. instead, your opening scene should drop into the heart of the action with little to no context. raise questions to the reader and sprinkle in the answers bit by bit. let your reader discover the context slowly instead of holding their hand from the start. trust your reader; donn't overexplain the details. this is how you create a perfect hook.

every chapter should end on a cliffhanger. doesn't have to be major, can be as simple as ending a chapter mid conversation and picking it up immediately on the next one. tease your reader and make them need to turn the page.

every scene should subvert the character's expectations, as big as a plot twist or as small as a conversation having a surprising outcome. scenes that meet the character's expectations, such as a boring supply run, should be summarized.

arrive late and leave early to every scene. if you're character's at a party, open with them mid conversation instead of describing how they got dressed, left their house, arrived at the party, (because those things don't subvert their expectations). and when you're done with the reason for the scene is there, i.e. an important conversation, end it. once you've shown what you needed to show, get out, instead of describing your character commuting home (because it doesn't subvert expectations!)

epithets are the devil. "the blond man smiled--" you've lost me. use their name. use it often. don't be afraid of it. the reader won't get tired of it. it will serve you far better than epithets, especially if you have two people of the same pronouns interacting.

your character should always be working towards a goal, internal or external (i.e learning to love themself/killing the villain.) try to establish that goal as soon as possible in the reader's mind. the goal can change, the goal can evolve. as long as the reader knows the character isn't floating aimlessly through the world around them with no agency and no desire. that gets boring fast.

plan scenes that you know you'll have fun writing, instead of scenes that might seem cool in your head but you know you'll loathe every second of. besides the fact that your top priority in writing should be writing for only yourself and having fun, if you're just dragging through a scene you really hate, the scene will suffer for it, and readers can tell. the scenes i get the most praise on are always the scenes i had the most fun writing. an ideal outline shouldn't have parts that make you groan to look at. you'll thank yourself later.

happy writing :)

Hunger Games OC from district five.

🫀Love Tropes in Tarot🫀

Pandorasworkshop

💌 Lovers + Six of cups

Soulmate indicator. Six of cups is a nostalgic type of love. Puppy love. Honeymoon stage of love. Childhood friends to lovers trope. Indicator of acts of service as a love language. The feeling you've known each other your entire life. Cooking as a love language? Or gifts!

🫀Two of Cups/lovers + The Tower

Unexpected love. Love that comes suddenly into your life. Whirlwind romance. Romance that hits you like a mfing truck. Sparks are flying (literally look at the tower card) passion is everywhere. Opposites attract. Physical touch as a love language or spending time. Going on adventures together.

💌 Emperor + Empress

Power couple. Another soulmate indicator. Meant to be. You guys just click. Type of couple to start a business together. Together through thick and thin. They always got the others back and balanced each others out. Olive theory. Hallmark movie. Beautiful wedding. Office romance. Rivals to lovers. Passionate sex. Type to have a beautiful family and home.

🫀The Sun + The Moon

Opposites attract. Starcrossed lovers. Fated encounters. Feeling pulled to each other even though you may not feel it at first. Sunshine meets black cat type. Opposite aesthetics think like pink and goth couples. You may be different in some ways but similar in so many others. Playful banter. Enemies to lovers vibes. Couple that perseveres through everything they are put through. Together through sickness and health. Time and acts of service are a love language.

💌 The Lovers + The Star

The love you have been waiting for. Fated lovers. Hopeless romantics. A love that comes later in life. Love that is really like a romance movie. The right person at the wrong time meets again. Long distance. You can tell what the other is thinking by just looking at them. Very very romantic. Type of romance that's in books. Quality time is a love language.

🫀if you want to book a reading with me dm me🫀

Romance Attraction Spell Jar

1. Get your jar

2. Cleans your jar

3. Add your ingredients (I used these, but you can add, take out what feels right to you)

Jasmine flowers

Rose buds

Lavender

Dill

Rose quartz

Lemon balm

Cinnamon

White Willow bark

Sage

Lemongrass

Sigil for love

4. Seal with red and pink wax while repeating the phrase “I attract healthy romance” or whatever phrase feels right to you

then you’re done!

Happy witching!!

Habits that changed my life for the better

I stopped joking about myself. It was mostly about suicide jokes (it was a decision that I made after the worst moment of my journey with depression, if I can call it that), but, really, it's about all self-deprecating stuff. It may be just jokes, but it stays in your brain.

Positive attitude. It's similar to manifestation, in a way, but in a... down to earth way, I guess. Thinking positively about stuff changes everything for me. Almost everything is simpler.

I deleted Twitter. It may be a different social media for everyone, of course - now probably TikTok for most - but, well, Twitter was where I spent long hours everyday. I started taking breaks from it about a year and a half ago and deleted it in August. It was hard - I loved the community there and I miss the daily updates from my fav fandoms, but it's for the best. I still can't explain how Twitter affected me but I do feel better since I stopped spending so much time there.

Taking vitamins. I didn't think it would really make a difference but it definitely did. The biggest surprise for me was vitamin C - my immune system has improved super quickly when I started supplementing it. I didn't even realise how bad it was before. Other than that, I take B complex, A+E (hair, skin), and iron (i tend to have a deficiency of it). (& D when it's winter).

Having a consistent skin care routine. It's calming and both doing the routine and seeing the effects make me feel better. (I do realise that many people have more demanding skin than me and searching for the right products can be frustrating and expensive. I'm just talking about my experience).

Other things that I think are worth mentioning:

Therapy - just a short explanation that I've been on therapy (with breaks) for about 6 years now. I've had social anxiety for most of my life, now still struggle with depression (and amnesia, actually) a bit, but what I wanted to mention here is that I learned a lot from it. It's obvious, but I just think it's important to pinpoint that I did not just learn how to think more positively and love myself by myself.

Exercising! - I still struggle to make it a habit, but when I actually do exercise regularly (I do pilates), I really feel better. It's worth it.

Hydration - same with drinking water. I really don't think I have to explain it in any way lol.

Agneta and the Sea King from the Scandinavian folktale

Glowy dark mode site skin

🎼 You would not believe your eyes, if 10 million fireflies ended up in the header of your AO3. 🎶

It's been a while since I tried glow effects, but I saw the fireflies and I couldn't resist.

CSS code under the cut.

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#header .primary {   background: #0d1d1f;   box-shadow: 0px 0px 15px #f9f6ce; }

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#header .heading a {   color: #152623;   text-shadow: 0px 0px 15px #f9f6ce; }

.event .userstuff {   background: #425e50;   border: 1px solid #f9f6ce; }

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span.submit.actions input.button {   display: none; }

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.splash .favorite li:nth-of-type(2n+2) a {   color: #f9f6ce;   font-weight: bold;   font-variant: small-caps;   font-size: 110%; }

.splash .favorite li:nth-of-type(2n+1) a:hover, .splash .favorite li:nth-of-type(2n+2) a:hover {   color: #f9f6ce;   font-weight: bold;   font-variant: small-caps;   background: #425e50; }

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.actions a, .actions a:focus, .actions input:focus, .action:focus, .actions li input, .actions li input[type="submit"], input[type="submit"], .actions li label, ul.navigation.actions li a, .action:link, .actions a:link {   background: #425e50;   border: 1px solid #f9f6ce;   color: #f9f6ce;   box-shadow: 0px 0px 15px #f9f6ce;   border-radius: 5px; }

.current, #dashboard .current {   background: #f9f6ce !important;   color: #0d1d1f !important;   box-shadow: 0px 0px 15px #f9f6ce !important;   border-radius: 5px; }

#dashboard.own {   border-top: 5px solid #f9f6ce;   border-bottom: 5px solid #f9f6ce;   box-shadow: 0px 0px 15px #f9f6ce; }

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#dashboard a {   color: #f9f6ce; }

dl.meta {   border: 1px solid #f9f6ce;   box-shadow: 0px 0px 15px #f9f6ce; }

.listbox .index {   background: #0d1d1f; }

.listbox, fieldset fieldset.listbox {   background: #f9f6ce;   box-shadow: 0px 0px 15px #f9f6ce; }

form dl, fieldset, fieldset fieldset, fieldset fieldset fieldset, fieldset fieldset dl dl, dd.hideme, form blockquote.userstuff, input, select, select:focus, textarea, span.symbol.question, .own {   background: #0d1d1f !important;   color: #f9f6ce !important;   border: 1px solid #f9f6ce;   box-shadow: 0px 0px 15px #f9f6ce; }

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span.delete {   background: #f9f6ce;   box-shadow: 0px 0px 15px #f9f6ce; }

span.delete a {   color: #0d1d1f !important;   font-weight: bold; }

.ui-sortable li, .dynamic form, div.dynamic {   background: #0d1d1f;   border: 1px solid #f9f6ce; }

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form.verbose legend, .verbose form legend {   background: #f9f6ce;   color: #0d1d1f;   box-shadow: 0px 0px 15px #f9f6ce; }

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Re-blog this if:

- you’re gay - can read - support gay people - want to hold a match between your fingers as you wander the halls of an ancient castle because it’s your only source of light amidst the ghosts of people long past - are an antelope - or want a chocolate bar.

No one will know which applies.

there should be a sub genre of books that were originally written to comment on the evils of capitalism and how greed and wealth corrupts society as a whole and how those popular books were subsequently made into hollywood movies and were marketed in a way in order to mass produce as much merchandise as possible so the companies behind the movies can make as much money as possible and thus completely erasing the original meaning of that story while also unintentionally proving the point of the original novels themes