"how Foolish..."

the problem with reading and writing leading to a strong vocabulary is that you tend to know the vibe of words instead of their meanings.

if I used this word in a sentence, would it make sense? absolutely. if you asked me what it meant, could I tell you? absolutely not.

“You cannot find peace by avaoiding life.”

— Virginia Woolf

what do you mean i can’t read every book, study every academic subject, taste every food, live in every city in every country, visit every museum, listen to every single song ever produced, learn every language, meet every interesting person, memorize every particle of knowledge to ever exist ???

They should invent a room where I have to write a certain amount of words every day (on my fanfics, book I’m working on, poems, etc) and I’m not allowed out of the room until I’ve done that certain amount each day.

Also I get paid a livable wage for it.

Also I have a person there to give me feedback anytime I ask.

Also I have a person there to correct all my typos.

You are still in my notifs

Good.

I wouldn't wanna be anywhere else.

Writing advice that changed my sentence

When I was a young writer, I was told that I often started my sentences with "there is/there was/there are." I was told to eliminate those as much as possible.

I couldn't believe how often I used them. My first novel was completely littered with them.

I learned to diversify and grow my use of verbs. Instead of the state-of-being verbs, like "is" which isn't very descriptive at all, I started using stronger verbs.

Instead of writing "There were a bunch of trees on the hill" I wrote "A cluster of trees towered over the hill."

"Towered" is a much stronger verb than "Is"

Use the state-of-being words, but if you can, try replacing them with more active verbs. You might be surprised how much your writing improves.

I wanna write. I really don't know why it's hard for me to write these days, it's just that I read so many great works and I tend to subconsciously compare myself then I start thinking 'this isn't good enough' and I get demotivated like a fragile little bitch

Problem is, if I don't write, there's no way it's gonna get any better. I'm better off writing shit then writing nothing at all. Writing the most amateurish poor sentence ever will get me closer to being good at writing than not doing anything ever will, so why am I so afraid to try?

I need to learn to be okay with writing 'bad' writing. I need to be okay with not being automatically great at something, because that's not how masterful writers are made.

Skilled writers, good writers come to be that way because they continue without stopping. They write, scratch, write, write some more and scratch some more and give up and do it over and over again.

They're good not because they haven't written anything bad. They're good because writing something bad did not stop them.

Not because they haven't fail. But because they pushed through despite failure.

Villain things I want to see more of

Actually funny. Not making jokes at other people's expense, not the butt of the joke, just villains that have absurd senses of humour and top-notch intentional comedic timing,

CHARISMA!!! Please, can we have more charming villains, villains that can sway a crowd, villains that get away with things because their too polite, too well-spoken, too funny to possibly to evil.

Respected. Villains whose villainous deeds have led them to success and made them widely respected members of society. To be clear, this isn't respected person who is secretly evil. No. I mean, the bad things they've done are the reason they're respected.

Let them win. Let them win because their plan succeeded. Not because the protagonists fucked up, not by pure luck. Let them earn their victories.

Supporters! Lots of them. The more powerful your villain is, the more supporters they are going to need. If the evil king is unpopular with everyone he's not going to stay king for long. He needs allies, lots of them, especially if he's a tyrant.

Knows how to play the game. Manipulative villains who say whatever they have to to get their way, chose their allies and enemies carefully, bribe and blackmail, play the victim, the hero, or even the innocent when it suits them. Make it hard for your protagonists to convince anyone they are a villain at all.

Cold Steel. Give me villains that don't get angry easy, that laugh things off, that kill because it's efficient and for no other reason.

Clever and creative. Strategists who always have a trick up their sleeve and problem solvers with personal flare.

Show other characters reacting with fear. Nothing rams home how terrifying a villain is quite like watching other powerful characters fall to their knees--fast--when they walk in the room.

Irredeemable despite their tragic backstories. For the love of god people, tragic backstories do not justify a villain's actions. You can have empathy for what they've endured while still expecting them to take responsibility for what they've become.

Unconventionally attractive. Take this however you want. I, for one, would like to see more tortured bad boys who aren't white and shredded. But also, villains whose attractiveness lies in how they talk, their body language and facial expressions, and their outfits. Why do y'all think smirking is such a popular word??

Love. Let them love their spouses, their children, their friends. Not in an abusive way either. Let them have healthy relationships with their still living wives, daughters, sons, comrades in arms etc.

Kind. Give me villains who tip well, who put their own garbage away even though the servants could do it, who remember their henchmen's names, who are good with kids, who donate to charity and not just for the tax incentives

What are your favourite tropes? Not just relationship, but character tropes, plot tropes? I love how you add them in your s/o posts!

Oh I love this question! I have so many! I will make an official post about tropes in the future, but right now I'll focus on my favourites! (thank you for this question omg)

𝑹𝒆𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒑 𝑻𝒓𝒐𝒑𝒆𝒔:

𝐁𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐂𝐚𝐭 𝐱 𝐆𝐨𝐥𝐝𝐞𝐧 𝐑𝐞𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫

I love this pairing because it's basically opposites attract, yin and yang, sun and moon. Two completely different people who can come together, despite their differences and decide that they love the energy of the other.

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐜 𝐃𝐮𝐦𝐛𝐚𝐬𝐬 𝐃𝐮𝐨

When two characters share one brain cell and cause absolute chaos wherever they go. It's exciting and funny and entertaining.

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐆𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐳 & 𝐌𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐚 𝐀𝐝𝐚𝐦𝐬

I love how devoted Gomez is to Morticia. He would do anything for her, anything at all. And that's why this has become a trope - so many books written by women now have the main male love interest act in similar ways to Gomez - absolute devotion.

𝐃𝐮𝐦𝐛𝐚𝐬𝐬 𝐱 𝐎𝐡 𝐆𝐨𝐝 𝐈 𝐆𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐭’𝐬 𝐌𝐲 𝐃𝐮𝐦𝐛𝐚𝐬𝐬

When it's only one person who is a chaotic dumbass and the other is the voice of reason. Even when the dumbass character gets into the most trouble, their lover will rescue them no matter what.

𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝑻𝒓𝒐𝒑𝒆𝒔:

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐀𝐧𝐭𝐢-𝐇𝐞𝐫𝐨 (morally grey)

I know this is a really popular choice, but there's something about a character who goes against the grain, who rebels, but deep down has a good heart.

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐖𝐡𝐨 𝐅𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐌𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐂𝐮𝐭𝐞

Pretty straight forward, double points if character is really innocent looking and seems like everything scares them.

𝐑𝐞𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬/𝐏𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲-𝐀𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐏𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬

We love a woman who knows what she believes in. Who cares about something so much that she is ready to risk it all to rebel.

𝐓𝐰𝐨 𝐃𝐚𝐦𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐝, 𝐕𝐮𝐥𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐏𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐒𝐰𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐓𝐨 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐄𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐎𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐍𝐨 𝐌𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭

Can be romantic, or just platonic. It also kinda ties in with the found family trope. I love the thought of two people caring so fiercely about the other that if anything happened they would go crazy.

𝐆𝐫𝐮𝐦𝐩𝐲 𝐎𝐥𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐆𝐮𝐲 𝐀𝐝𝐨𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫 𝐆𝐢𝐫𝐥 𝐁𝐞𝐠𝐫𝐮𝐝𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐲

I mean ... this is an easy one to love. But also it's really popular now. Which is completely fine with me. I guess it's my daddy issues coming into play?

𝑷𝒍𝒐𝒕 𝑻𝒓𝒐𝒑𝒆𝒔:

𝐄𝐧𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐋𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬

I know! Another overdone trope, but god do I love it. The angst, the build-up, but knowing that they'll grow to love each other... just hits me in the best way. However, it has to be done right.

𝐒𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐬

I know some people like the whole, 'I love you because I choose to', but there's something about soulmates that just ... AH .... tickles the right spots. It's like validation for their love.

𝐓𝐞𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐓𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐅𝐨𝐫 𝐀 𝐖𝐞𝐝𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠

Okay so... the only time I've seen this be done is in Pirates of the Caribbean 3: At World's End. It's during a fight scene and Will calls out to Barbossa to marry Elizabeth and him. It's one of my favourite scenes ever.

It's so strange to watch people writing 1,500 words a day feel all dejected that they're failing to meet par. I go for months dreaming of a writing day like that. You're doing amazingly well.