Writing Tip #211

“Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart.”

— William Wordsworth

hi! i hope you’re doing well do you have a list of words to describe facial expressions? also, words to describe laughter? thank you :))

Vocabulary & Description...

I’ve sort of taken this ask as an opportunity to make a “collection” of my resources for vocabulary, description, etc. Below is a list of articles that one would find helpful for writing description (of mostly anything).

The Vocabulary & Resources

All About Colors

A Writer’s Thesaurus

Words To Describe Body Types and How They Move

Words To Describe… (Face, Facial Expressions, and General Behavior)

Resources For Describing Characters

Resources For Describing Emotion

Describing Setting

Resources For Describing Physical Things

Describing Heartbreak

Utilizing The Vocabulary

Using Vocabulary

Expanding Your Vocabulary

Describing Where Your Characters Are

Balancing Detail & Development

When To Use “Felt”

Showing Vs Telling

How To Better Your Vocabulary & Description

Adding Description

Tips on Descriptions

Giving Characters Stage Business

Additionally:

How To Develop A Distinct Voice In Your Writing

Showing VS Telling in First Person POV

Writing In Third Person POV

Improving Flow In Writing

How To “Show Don’t Tell” More

What To Cut Out of Your Story

Editing & Proofreading Cheat Sheet

A Guide To Tension & Suspense

On Underwriting

Ultimate Guide To Symbolism

Expanding Scenes

–

Masterlist | WIP Blog

If you enjoy my blog and wish for it to continue being updated frequently and for me to continue putting my energy toward answering your questions, please consider Buying Me A Coffee, or pledging your support on Patreon, where I offer early access and exclusive benefits for only $5/month.

HOW TO WRITE A STORY WHEN YOU'RE A PROCRASTINATOR AND/OR A PERFECTIONIST

*step 1. flesh out your characters.

imagine their personalities, roughly line out their backstory and figure out their role in the plot. same goes with the world if you're not writing a realistic story.

*step 2. have a rough idea of what you want your story to be.

do you want angst? fluff? smut? is it a fantasy world, a futuristic city? get an idea of what your theme and genres are.

*step 3. f u c k i t

just write the whole thing. don't care about plotholes,logic or anything. just get it done.

*step 4. rebuild.

leave your draft for some time and don't think of it too much for a week or two. then, take it back, and rebuild your story, correct spelling mistakes, etc. repeat this step as much as needed, until you feel like it's done.

and you're done!

note: this is only a personal thing. that's how i do it because i used to spend way too much time on perfecting the plot before writing. but find wgat fits you the best! everyone is different, this is just a tip.

“On earth there is no heaven, but there are pieces of it.”

— Jules Renard

The course of true love never did run smooth.

William Shakespeare

“Start writing, no matter what. The water does not flow until the faucet is turned on.”

— Louis L’Amour (via writingdotcoffee)

“Maybe this world is another planet’s hell.”

— Aldous Huxley 

Writing Tip #200

When writing short stories, imagine them as the last chapter of a novel. You want to feel like your characters have been in existence for a while. Your story is just the point of heightened emotion.

Writing advice from my uni teachers:

If your dialog feels flat, rewrite the scene pretending the characters cannot at any cost say exactly what they mean. No one says “I’m mad” but they can say it in 100 other ways.

Wrote a chapter but you dislike it? Rewrite it again from memory. That way you’re only remembering the main parts and can fill in extra details. My teacher who was a playwright literally writes every single script twice because of this.

Don’t overuse metaphors, or they lose their potency. Limit yourself.

Before you write your novel, write a page of anything from your characters POV so you can get their voice right. Do this for every main character introduced.