If You're Reading This...

“feminine urge” this and “masculine urge” that, what about the urge to stop procrastinating writing your wips?

It's good to strive for a perfect writing place, but you shouldn't be waiting until you have that to start actually writing.

Life is a chaotic mess, just embrace it. No desk? No music? No privacy? If you can write without these, you can write anywhere and anytime. ✍️✨

A Name Dump Based on Vibes

Cottagecore Names

Aspen

August

Betty

Dorothea

Ivy

Jolene

Juniper

Willow

Adventurous Names

Everett

Hunter

Jessie/Jesse

Olivia

Peter

Sadie

Sawyer

Zoe

Artsy Names

Amy

Delilah

Dylan

Iris

Michelle

Noah

Sierra

Simon

Vintage Names

Adelaide

Caroline

Eleanor

Jude

Lana

Oliver

Stacy

Vivian

Dark Academia Names

Dorian

Ezra

Henry

Juliet

Lydia

Ophelia

Penelope

Sophia

Poetic Names

Blake

Calliope

Elliott

Fiona

Grace

Laila

Maya

Sylvia

Musical Names

Aria

Cadence

Harmony

Harper

Lyric

Melody

Piper

Reed

Why do you study history

how did this silly little post get 1,000 notes?? thank you guys so much! now i can say i’m officially tumblr viral /j

“feminine urge” this and “masculine urge” that, what about the urge to stop procrastinating writing your wips?

You know. Reading is important. Because I'm like always trying to make every line I write this groundbreaking mindfucking art but like. A book is 90% just saying what happened. "I hugged him around the waist." "The chair was brown and overstuffed." "I woke up alone." Etc etc. Like normal ass lines. I just keep comparing my boring, necessary to set a scene lines, with famous authors' absolute best lines and like.... every line doesn't have to shatter the earth. Sometimes someone just sits in a chair and the lines that wreck you come later, one at a time, here and there. It's alright.

The moment a character realises they've been betrayed vs the moment a character realises they're going to betray someone, fight!

Unpopular opinion: not everything that makes you uncomfortable is bad. Sometimes discomfort means your worldview is being challenged. It’s okay to sit with discomfort and think about where it’s coming from.

Superior writing advice:

Make your characters FREAKS. Make them DERANGED. Make people think ‘surely this one guy towards the back is normal’ only to reveal FUCK NO. The guy in the back exclusively collects clown paintings (paintings done by professional clowns) and has an irrational hatred of second floors.

Developing a Plot

Credit: https://www.masterclass.com/articles/how-to-master-the-art-of-plot-development#what-are-the-elements-of-a-good-plot

Introduction

Plot, also known as the bane of writers everywhere. How are you supposed to keep your readers entertained when there are so many other things they could be doing? How can you stretch out the events enough to cover tens or hundreds of pages? There is no one way to approach plotting, but there are ways to make it easier. In the end, the best way to plot is to practice!

Sketch out a plot outline

Mapping out your plot ideas can streamline your fiction writing process and help you through periods of writer’s block. The extent to which a writer outline varies, but plotters, plantsers, and pantsers alike can pick and choose which of these tips to use!

One way is to start with a freewriting session. Brainstorm scene ideas, story points, and character information. Next, organize your basic ideas into an outline to get your basic plot structure down. Place your major beats into your outline, and then create the scenes between these beats to create continuity in your storyline.

Start with the action

Your exposition--or the background information and worldbuilding for your book--has several important duties. It identifies the main character, establishes the setting and the themes of your story, and launches the plot. You need to write all this in a way that hooks the reader and engages them through the entire novel. One way to do that is by diving right into the action, dropping your reader into the scene in medias res, or Latin for “in the midst of things.” This sets the pace from the beginning and creates a strong open that engages a reader.

Lay the groundwork for the climax during the rising action

Now that you’ve set the stage, the rising action is where you really build the plot of your story, develop characters, and propel the tension towards the climax--the most active and dramatic part of the book. Over the course of the rising action, drop reminders of the conflict that’s driving the plot. Accomplish this by raising the stakes with plot points--dramatic turning points that force the protagonist to make crucial decisions that send the story in new directions. Adding these surprising plot twists keeps the momentum moving. Plot points also help deepen character development by revealing their strengths and flaws.

Create a rich narrative with subplots

A good story has several plotlines running through the narrative. Write subplots to weave in and out of your main plot. A subplot is a shorter side-story that introduces secondary characters, provides a backstory that informs a character's actions and motivations, and supports the themes established in the main plot. A common subplot is romance, but there are so many more options.

Leave your readers satisfied

When the tension has reached its peak, it’s time for the climax to resolve the conflict. If you have great exposition and dramatic rising action, then this final face-off between the protagonist and antagonist should be a big payoff. Finally, write an ending that ties up loose ends and closes out character arcs--this can happen in either a final chapter or an epilogue (as a reader, though, I prefer the epilogue). Readers will be glad they followed the story through to this satisfying resolution!

Read other authors

All great writers employ their own writing style and creative process to develop a plot with the five structural elements. If you want to refine the writing process and learn how to develop a great plot, read from writers similar to you. You might pick a bestseller, like a Rick Riordan book, and study it as an example of how plot and humor work together to play well to a large audience. Determine which authors you want to observe and which authors are like you. 

This also comes in handy later, when you want to make comparisons between other works and authors and your book. For example, I’d describe my own WIP as “An Ember in the Ashes meets The Poppy War.”