Structuring Your Fight Scene

🎐 20 Random Writing/Art Prompts 🎐

Cartoon Time

Bonding

The Entertainers

What a Saint

It's a Scandal

Dinner Time

Mail Trail

Hair Care

Who's In Charge?

So Saucy

Double Up

Battle Ground

Theatre Time

Spaced Out

Art Attack

Bird Watching

In a Stew

Step to It

Can You Speak…?

Machine Mayhem

heartbreak through body language in Men

A drooping posture can convey a sense of defeat and sadness. Keep shoulders slightly slouched, and avoid standing tall or with a straight back.

Facial expressions play a crucial role. A downturned mouth, furrowed brows, and a distant or vacant gaze can all indicate inner turmoil and heartache.

Men often avoid eye contact when they're feeling vulnerable. If you're experiencing heartbreak, you might find yourself looking down or away when speaking to others.

Restlessness can manifest in various forms, such as tapping fingers, bouncing legs, or constantly shifting positions. This indicates inner turmoil and an inability to find peace.

Movements may become slower and less purposeful when someone is experiencing emotional pain. This can include gestures like reaching for objects or adjusting clothing.

Men in heartbreak might withdraw from social interactions or participate less actively in conversations. They may seem physically present but emotionally distant.

Deep, heavy sighs are often involuntary reactions to emotional distress. They signify a release of tension and an underlying sense of sadness.

Heartbreak can drain one's energy. You may notice a decrease in enthusiasm, vitality, and overall liveliness in how you carry yourself and engage with others.

Crossing arms, hunching shoulders forward, or clasping hands in front of the body can create a barrier between oneself and others, reflecting emotional guardedness and pain.

Gestures may become less expressive and more restrained. Hand movements may be smaller in scale and less animated compared to usual.

㋡🥀

Subplot Romance

Over the years I’ve created some twitter threads on writing and history and I’ve decided it’s a good time to start compiling and sharing them on this Tumblr. I’m going to tag them “writing”.

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Here’s what I’ve learned about writing subplot romance. (People who write genre romance probably already know this stuff. It’s those of us who are mainly leavening romantic subplots into fantasy novels that need this info).

1. Romance = fundamentally character-driven. All internal conflict & internal growth. (Can these two trust each other? Will their character flaws drive them apart?) The more study you put into creating characters and building character arcs, the better your romantic writing.

A romance arc is not the SAME as a character arc, but it 100% NEEDS solid character work undergirding it.

2. Romance needs two ingredients: a compelling reason for the characters to be TOGETHER, & a compelling reason for them to be APART. This forms the conflict in the romance so do not skimp on either.

Eg, a common mistake in male-penned stories: female lead has no compelling reason to want male lead. “He’s a good-looking warrior dedicated to winning her throne!” Yeah nah, she’s literally surrounded by good-looking warriors dedicated to winning her throne, why’s he different?

3. Romance needs chemistry = a believable spark of attraction. Something that blew my mind when I realised it: romantic chemistry =/= sexual chemistry. Sexual chemistry (purely physical attraction) is simply PART of romantic chemistry.

Romantic chemistry is a good deal broader. (Read/watch some good romances to see how chemistry is built by different storytellers. One fave of mine is the Romola Garai EMMA. Peerless friends-to-lovers chemistry. Watch the actors’ body language; the way they gravitate to each other; the way their faces light up)

Chemistry tip A: if the driver behind sexual chemistry is lust, the driver behind romantic chemistry is trust. Protag needs/wants someone to trust. It’s the way you play with trust/distrust that will create romantic tension.

eg: love interest holds protag’s hand. With sexual chemistry, protag simply feels a jolt at the contact. With romantic chemistry, protag feels comforted and trustful - then betrayed when it turns out LI is tracking her pulse to see if she’s lying to him (see: MISS SHARP 😇)

Chemistry tip B: if protag is falling for someone, that person should occupy their mind. LI should be mentioned/thought of each scene, even when absent. When present: LI consistently provokes unaccustomed emotion - either positive or negative, depending.

Chemistry tip C: make the characters their best/most lovable/most iconic selves when with each other. Quirkiness, smarts, hilarity. Make these the most fun character scenes in the book & the audience will ship them. Passionately.

4. Build romantic chemistry/attraction through escalating moments of trust and tension. If aiming for happily-ever-after(HEA)/for-now(HFN), then the overall arc is towards greater trust, but you need those moments of tension to give the big payoff scenes appropriate catharsis.

OTOH, if you’re writing a tragic/backstabby romance, you need the trust/comfort moments in order to sell the big tragedy/betrayal.

5. Trust, comfort, & happiness are POWERFUL. This is what genre romance thrives upon. Even in dark/spiky stories, the most surprising thing in the story can be the moment when the LI DOESN’T betray the protag. That too can be wildly cathartic. Use it.

6. Just as character-driven skills help you with romance, so if you master romantic writing, you’ll be better able to write ALL types of relationship - platonic, friendly, hostile.

OK that’s all so far. Two book recs: ROMANCING THE BEAT by Gwen Hayes & THE HEROINE’S JOURNEY by Gail Carriger teach you the rules/expectations of genre romance so you’ll know what the rules are for a happy romance subplot & how to break them for a tragic version.

Concept art for Mulan (1998) by Sai Ping Lok

𝔦𝔣 𝔱𝔥𝔢𝔶 𝔡𝔬𝔫’𝔱 𝔴𝔞𝔫𝔱 𝔶𝔬𝔲…

… ℑ 𝔴𝔦𝔩𝔩 𝔱𝔞𝔨𝔢 𝔠𝔞𝔯𝔢 𝔬𝔣 𝔶𝔬𝔲

Blue in paintings of women ♥

Jules Joseph Lefebvre; Édouard Bisson; François-Hubert Drouais;  Lawrence Alma Tadema; François Martin-Kavel; Christian Schloe; Irving Ramsay Wiles