Elements In Your Book By Order Of Importance

Millennial girls and women have grown up with the sentiment that independence is one of the most important qualities for a modern woman to possess and that we should never, ever let our happiness depend on a boy. While those are certainly important tenets to try to live in accordance to, it can be hard to reconcile that with our needs as humans who have the basic desire to be liked and cared for. What results is the tug-of-war between finding healthy companionship and maintaining your own self-sufficiency that comes to define late-youth. Katie Crutchfield, the woman behind Waxahatchee, is now 26 years old—a good age to begin the inevitable power cleanse of the toxic relationships in your life. Her third album Ivy Tripp documents this transitional period with even more of the self-awareness and wisdom that characterised her previous work.

There is subtle sunniness to the album suggesting that whatever was burdening Crutchfield during the making of her last two albums has dissipated, most likely through her own will. While, as a whole, Ivy Tripp stays on brand for Waxahatchee, there are a few pop tracks sprinkled throughout that prove Crutchfield is growing sonically as well. Crutchfield’s fingerprints are all over the album and the delicate lo-fi quality harkens back to her debut album of bedroom recordings, 2012′s American Weekend, making the maturation of her lyrics even more apparent.

Even with some of the quieter songs, Ivy Tripp is never boring. However, the standout is, without a doubt, its first single “Under A Rock”. The pop-rock track is Crutchfield’s rallying cry against dudes in whom she’s become maybe too emotionally invested, flippantly singing “Now you’re someone else’s mess tonight”. Later on in the album, in the hazy “<”, she croons “You’re less than me; I am nothing”, articulating the simultaneous self-deprecation and self-assuredness of a 20-something fumbling around with their newfound adulthood.

Ivy Tripp is the light at the end of early adulthood. While it is melancholic, there is a sense of contentment overshadowing that, or at least making it a little more palatable. Listening to it in one sitting feels like going to the beach on a rainy day at the beginning of spring; everything is damp and the air still feels vaguely bitter, but at least you’re finally outside.

Five Mystery and Suspense Tools to Drive Your NaNoWriMo Novel Forward

Every year, we’re lucky to have great sponsors for our nonprofit events. Today, Sisters in Crime—a community platform for mystery, thriller, and crime writers—shares some tips for writing suspenseful storylines (even for non-mystery novels!). Sisters in Crime is a NaNoWriMo 2020 sponsor.

In the crime fiction genre—including suspense novels, mysteries, and thrillers—there’s nothing better than the reader review that says “I stayed up all night to get to the end.” The propellant writers construct to push readers through to the final page is known as “narrative drive,” something our genre relies on to get readers hooked and turning pages. But it’s not only genre fiction that needs to suspend readers’ attention for the length of a story. Any story needs to catch fire in the reader’s mind to be successful.

And anyone writing 50K in 30 days needs a few ideas for generating tension in their story—without slowing down. As you #NaNoPrep this year, consider these five tools from Sisters in Crime, the international, inclusive organization for writers and readers of crime fiction, mysteries, thrillers, and suspense.

What’s in the mystery and suspense writer’s tool box for you?

Keep reading

A mis queridos lectores

“Nos pasamos día a día viendo cómo podemos triunfar, cómo podemos hacer para conseguir mejores notas, cómo caerle bien a alguien, cómo conquistar a esa persona que tanto nos atrae… Nos pasamos persiguiendo cosas con la esperanza de que una vez que las tengamos todas vamos a ser verdaderamente felices. Nos angustiamos cuando nos va mal en el colegio, nos deprimimos cuando la persona que nos gusta no nos quiere, nos odiamos cuando no nos vemos de la manera que queremos… Pero, Ustedes creen que si la vida fuese como queremos, que si tuviésemos todo lo que queremos, seríamos felices ¿o sólo encontraríamos más cosas para odiar? Está en la naturaleza del hombre ser ambicioso, querer crecer y seguir creciendo. Pero creo que tenemos muy desordenadas las prioridades.

¿Por qué permitimos que esa mala nota en matemática nos arruine el día? Si al fin y al cabo es sólo eso. Un puntaje. Y tal vez tengo un nueve en literatura, pero yo quería el diez. Entonces no sonrío. En un año esa nota no va a existir, va a haber sido para nada. ¿Por qué quiero conquistar a esa persona que no me quiere? ¿Por qué quiero forzar a alguien a que me ame, cuando seguramente lo hagan mal? ¿Por qué me odio cuando veo que peso más de lo que establece la sociedad como perfección? ¿Por qué quiero el pelo lacio si lo tengo lleno de rulos salvajes?

¿Por qué perseguimos todas esas cosas? Si eso no es crecer, no es triunfar. Nos llenamos la cabeza de preocupaciones, permitimos que los estándares nos convenzan de que no estamos acá para ser felices, sino para trabajar y ser el mejor. Y ascender, y ascender y seguir ascendiendo hasta que las ojeras ya sean parte de nuestras caras, que las sonrisas naturales dejen de existir y que nuestros sueños queden en último lugar. Hasta que, de pronto, abrimos los ojos y nos damos cuenta de cuán equivocados estábamos. Que la felicidad está en las cosas más simples; en los árboles, en el viento cálido, en las luces de la ciudad y en la risa de los niños, en las sonrisas de los adultos y el brillo en los ojos de una persona cuando cumple un objetivo. Así que, a vos que estás leyendo, te pido por favor que no creas que por ese desaprobado en la materia que sea vas a fracasar en todo lo que te propongas, no creas nunca que no sos lo suficientemente bueno/a para cumplir tus sueños. No creas que tenés que seguir una carrera universitaria sí o sí, si tal vez tu pasión es bailar. Nunca dejes de hacer lo que te hace feliz, no importa qué pase. Nunca te pongas en último lugar por nadie, éste es TU juego, y lo podés jugar como vos quieras. Despreocupate, corré, paseá, reíte, saltá, juga, escucha música al volumen que quieras, hace todo lo que quieras y nunca te arrepientas de haberlo hecho si te hizo bien aunque sea por dos segundos. Cumplí tus sueños, lucha por ellos, con paciencia. Seguí creciendo, pero más importante… Sé feliz.”

How would you sing a song with a broken heart?

Missing that little personal touch that nobody know about. That is the sparkle in a sad day.

Sad plot ideas besides killing characters

Here are 14 sad plot ideas that don’t require character deaths

1. Having to give up an item of huge emotional importance 2. A leader being abandoned by their own people

3. Redemption arc that comes just a little too late 4. Making a mistake that’s too big to be forgiven for

5. Unrequited love with a childhood best friend 6. Betrayal by a sibling, parent or child

7. Realizing who they truly love when it’s too late 8. Not being believed by those closest to them when it really matters

9. A character who’s completely at peace with their tragic destiny 10. Relapsing on an addiction after doing so well

11. Making an honest mistake that leads to horrible consequences and endangers people they love 12. Trying so hard time and time again, and still not achieving any results

13. Having to watch a friend or family get tortured without being able to stop it 14. Realizing someone they love is in danger, but they’re the ones who sent them into it

Want fully customizable templates for your writing? Character sheets, outlines, chapter treatments, world-building, questionnaires and more?

Grab our 3 E-books for writers! They each come with 40 pages of easy theory and resources.

The Plotter’s Almanac

The Character Bible

The World Builder’s Chronicle

Grab it through the [link here] or below!

the-plottery.mykajabi.com

Writer's ToolBoox

The Writer's ToolBoox is a pack of 3 extensive E-books that cover the areas of: character craft, world building, and plotting. It comes with

Worldbuilding Questions: Other* Cultures - a handy list for writers with little time

(*not the main characters')

After my extensive [list of questions for towns and cities] for your main setting, there will also be many countries, regions and cultures mentioned in your project, that aren't central to the plot, that you don't have time to delve into detail about, but that still should feel 'real'.

For this use (or, really, in general, if you don't have much time to worldbuild before you start your first draft), I prepared a list with 10 very rough, basic questions to make your world feel alive:

What is their most important export good or economy?

What was the most important event in their recent history, and how long ago did it happen?

What do people from that place wear and how do they style? Are they distinguishable in a crowd?

What is their language, and is it understandable for your narrator? Do they have an accent?

What are they famous for? (People from there, their humor, their food, their skills at something...)?

Are or were they at war / at the brink of war with other people; esp. with those at the center of your story?

What is their most important difference to your "main" / narrator's culture? (Religion, society, economy...?)

Are representatives of that culture seen often in your setting?

What is something outsiders say about them?

What do they say about themselves?

I recommend thinking about these for your side character's home cultures, as well as for your setting's most important regions and neighboring countries. Five or so might even be enough, just as a handy ressource to make your setting feel alive and real.

Quédate con esas relaciones fuertes dónde haya más para agradecer que para olvidar.

How to show emotions

Part I

How to show annoyance

slightly shaking their head

rolling their eyes

looking to the side

closing their eyes for a moment

sighing

taking a deep breath

clucking their tongue

huffing

crossing their arms in front of their chest

tapping their foot

How to show hurt

turning away

avoiding eye contact

closing eyes

lips pressed together

eyes filled with tears

breathing deeply

How to show anger

clenching their fists

pressing their lips on each other

breathing loudly through their nose

eyes getting smaller

clenching their teeth

clenching their jaw

looking away to calm themselves

speaking with clenched teeth

whole body is tense

screaming

throwing things around

stomping

moving around a lot, can’t keeping still

open body language, like they are ready to attack

frown wrinkles on their forehead

prominent veins

grabbing someone they are angry with to get them to understand why they are angry

becoming violent

non-stop talking, ranting

shaking their head

throwing their arms in the air

eyes either going from one point to another while ranting or completely fixating on the person they are angry with

How to show excitement

jumping up and down

not being able to stand still

clapping their hands

bright eyes

grinning

squealing

giggling

flushed face

bouncing

dilated pupils

tapping their foot

How to show boredom

biting nails

leg bouncing

sighing

playing with everything close by

twiddling your thumbs

spinning around

grumbling

staring into the distance

propping your head on your hand

Part II + Part III

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El Corazón Terco

Marco A. Romero

Y yo le he dicho al corazón que es un tonto,

que no entiende de razones; 

que no puede querer a quien ingratamente lastima.

Y le doy las razones 

pero es un corazón torpe 

y no entiende; 

sólo entiende que quiere mucho

y deja de lado todo raciocinio... 

Y  lo he acusado de ser tonto,

de no pensarlo bien, 

que debe producir cosas

que razonan

que sus razonamientos

no tienen lógica  

que es infantil, 

que no ha madurado, 

que va a ser lacerado otra vez, 

que asi se ha estancado durante muchos años,  

que asi no llegaría a ningun lado, 

que sus caminos eran torcidos, 

que estaban condenados al fracaso.

Le dije que se callara y que escuchara,

que fuera mas realista:

que la hipotenusa al cuadrado era igual a la suma al cuadrado de los catetos "a" y" b";

que dos mas dos son cuatro

que cuatro por dos son ocho

y ocho dieciséis y

Que brincara la tablita 

(como manera de ajustarse a una realidad objetiva)...

Y después de haber presentado -previamente- la base científica le dije: 

que estaba incapacitado para razonar 

que no conocía la naturaleza de sus acciones,

que me caía MAL cuando no pensaba, 

que sus padres habian vivido la misma situación 

(ya dándole un poco de terapia transaccional,

  y empezándose a acalorar por actitud tan testaruda)

Y el reclamo subió aun mas a tono rojo (o sea enfurecido)

 y le dije que necesitaba terapia, 

terapia de 20 años, y en prision carcelaria

 (para que meditara todo el tiempo)

 y además, sin derecho a libertad condicional 

(para asegurar que repensara doblemente las cosas )

FRENTE A ESTA MI EXASPERACION 

POR ESTA INCOMPRENSION MIA...

Y al quejarme tanto,

al desgañitar mi voz, 

de tanta queja,

me deja escuchar 

como algo allá          p        e       r        d       i       d        o, 

como algo allá       l                    e                           j                              a                                n                  o, 

con esa voz nítida 

y con la sencillez

y discreción 

que el corazón 

tiene:

 "Es que

no

fui hecho,

para 

producir 

frutos, 

ajenos  

al mio".

Con-razón, dije 

 y cerre el pico, 

y ya no dije más.