“I Am A Day Dreamer And A Night Thinker.”

“Everyone you meet is fighting a battle you know nothing about. Be kind. Always.”

— Unknown 

Writing Tip #222

Use action verbs. Avoid passive voice whenever possible. I say whenever possible and not never because sometimes passive voice can be a good literary technique. If you purposely want to make it ambiguous how something happened or if you want it to be unclear whether a character did something on accident or on purpose, passive voice can be a great tool. However, 99% of the time you want to use action verbs. If you have a lot of passive voice in your story you will slow down the momentum of your story and lose readers. See if you can reword sentences with action verbs instead.

“There are only two days in the year that nothing can be done. One is called yesterday and the other is called tomorrow, so today is the right day to love, believe, do and mostly live.”

— Dalai Lama 

How I Edit A First Draft

*Repost*

What is UP y'all I got like four hours of sleep which is always fantastic! This is a wicked old post I made that the majority of y’all haven’t seen! As always, any more stuff you want to ask/add specifically feel free! As a young author myself with limited experience, I just wanted to help those who don’t really know where to start or are looking for other methods! 

First, Don’t Get Discouraged!

This sounds like a basic thing, but nobody really likes editing their own stuff! It’s so easy to call it bad and just shove it in a folder to never look at again. Just remember everything you do is to make it the best it can possibly be and it’s pretty darn heccin good now! Completing drafts are fricken hard, and you’ve made it so far! Writing routines and Pinterest are my major sources of inspiration. 

Read it through!

I know, it sucks. You finished your first draft—comgratulations! And you want to get the editing over with. You think to yourself, “I wrote this and I know what to fix!” Maybe for some this is true, but for people like me, I forget so much. Do not start editing during this step. It is basically just a refresher. Take notes on what to fix later (what scene feels flat, parts that are confusing, etc). The only editing I allow myself to do here is grammar and spelling. Most times you’ll see too it’s not as bad as you think it is! 

How Do I Know What To Cut?

Not everthing that doesn’t work has to be cut. Recycling awesome lines that juts dont fit or even characters into different WIPS. That being said, soemtimes things just won’t work. Ask yourself these starting questions:

Does this supporting character have a purpose or can their role be taken over by a pre-existing character?

Is this action in character?

Does this scene contribute to the plot, character development, or offer a break in tension?

Work From Big To Small

You know those notes you took? The ones on plot and characterization? Fix those first. These big problems usually lead to the smaller issues or even fix them, like if a scene isn’t flowing naturally or something just fells off. If stuff doesn’t fall into place, look at the chapters before it.

Common Questions Ig

Q: Hey, Strange, what do you even know?

A: Nothing

Q: But I like this scene and I don’t want to cut it.

A: Cool. Keep it. If you like it and don’t have any doubts that it’s good, so will your readers and it will add to the book. Stuff like this can be for characterization and establishing relationships, and you can always add to scenes to make them seem more necessary. 

The point is that you like your book.  The point is that you are an amazing writer, even when it’s hard to believe. First drafts are usually trash, and each draft is better than the last. No draft will ever be perfect, it’s the draft that you think is the best you can do and you’re happy with that’s the final. 

“I do not think I’m easy to define. I have a wandering mind. And I’m not anything that you think I am.”

— Syd Barrett (via quotemadness)

“Knowing yourself is life’s eternal homework.”

— Felicia Day

Any advice on writing someone who's got a crush? I don't want to make it sound too "omg I think they're perfect" every other sentence.

Writing a character with a crush...

When you’re writing a character with a crush, tension is created through action and reaction. Every time your character acts, hesitates, speaks their mind, holds their tongue, makes a move, get’s discouraged, etc. builds the tension and encourages the reader to become invested. Crushes in storytelling should be shown through the character’s actions and the world’s reactions, not through dialogue or narration. 

Show the reader the character taking 20 minutes to build up the courage to walk up to their locker, where their crush has one right next to theirs because they’re worried they’ll blurt out the wrong thing if the other person shows up. Don’t just tell the reader that the character feels nervous around them or gets butterflies. Show the butterflies threatening to erupt as their crush sits at the only available seat left in homeroom, which happens to be next to them. 

Types of Romantic Tension

Tips On Writing Skinny Love

Guide To Writing Friends To Lovers

Guide To Writing Enemies To Lovers

Resources For Writing YA Fiction/Romance

Guide To Writing Will-They-Won’t-They

Rivalry vs. Abuse

Guide To Writing Forbidden Love

20 Mistakes To Avoid in YA/Romance

Best Friends To Lovers Resources

How to develop an Enemies-To-Lovers story

Prompts

Skinny Love Writing Prompts

Study Date Prompts

Best Friends-To-Lovers Prompts

Enemies-To-Lovers Prompts

Tol & Smol Couple Prompts

Romantic Prompts

Soulmates Alternate Universe Prompts

General Romance Tips

Resources For Romance Writers

Creating A Love Interest For An Introvert

Writing Opposites Who Attract

Describing Heartbreak

Balancing Fluff and Conflict

Writing Great Fanfiction

How To Write The Perfect Kiss

On Romantic Subplots

–

Masterlist | WIP Blog

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hi! this is hard to explain but i’m trying to write my first proper story and i’m suddenly overthinking whether i’m writing in past or present tense. do you have any advice for that?

Hi and thanks for the ask!

As someone who tends to overthink things on a daily basis, I can imagine how troubled you might be about this. So I’ll try to make your decision at least a little bit easier.

In my opinion, choosing the tense you use is very much dependent on your personal preference. Although present tense seems to be more popular with today’s writers, personally, I prefer past tense. Apart from the question about popularity, though, there are different advantages and disadvantages for both choices. I’ll highlight the advantages and disadvantages for present tense only, since the opposite is obvious for the past tense.

***

Advantages: Present tense has a more immediate feeling to it. Writing in present tense gives the reader the ability to experience the story in time with your characters. The moment a character changes, we experience that change in them as well. It also immerses the reader in the character’s emotions for longer than the past tense does. Moreover, handling tenses in general is a lot easier if you write in present tense rather than past tense.

Disadvantages: It’s a lot harder to manipulate the time inside a story. With present tense you usually only use past tense for the few things that actually happened in the past. That also makes it harder to create complex characters because phrases like “has always been” and the like can’t be used, since they would greatly disrupt the present tense’s main use. What’s more, the present tense author is experiencing the story at the same pace the characters do, so it is almost impossible to create a feeling of suspense. Even though you as the author, of course, know what will happen, phrases like “hadn’t known yet” and similar lines don’t fit well into a present tense story. Another possible trap the present tense sets, is misleading authors to write about mundane and trivial events that serve no plot function but would, of course, happen in a naturalistic sequence of actions.

***

I hope this somehow answers your question and makes it easier for you to decide whether to write in present tense or past tense.

Myths, Creatures, and Folklore

Want to create a religion for your fictional world? Here are some references and resources!

General:

General Folklore

Various Folktales

Heroes

Weather Folklore

Trees in Mythology

Animals in Mythology

Birds in Mythology

Flowers in Mythology

Fruit in Mythology

Plants in Mythology

Folktales from Around the World

Africa:

Egyptian Mythology

African Mythology

More African Mythology

Egyptian Gods and Goddesses

The Gods of Africa

Even More African Mythology

West African Mythology

All About African Mythology

African Mythical Creatures

Gods and Goddesses

The Americas:

Aztec Mythology

Haitian Mythology

Inca Mythology

Maya Mythology

Native American Mythology

More Inca Mythology

More Native American Mythology

South American Mythical Creatures

North American Mythical Creatures

Aztec Gods and Goddesses

Asia:

Chinese Mythology

Hindu Mythology

Japanese Mythology

Korean Mythology

More Japanese Mythology

Chinese and Japanese Mythical Creatures

Indian Mythical Creatures

Chinese Gods and Goddesses

Hindu Gods and Goddesses

Korean Gods and Goddesses

Europe:

Basque Mythology

Celtic Mythology

Etruscan Mythology

Greek Mythology

Latvian Mythology

Norse Mythology

Roman Mythology

Arthurian Legends

Bestiary

Celtic Gods and Goddesses

Gods and Goddesses of the Celtic Lands

Finnish Mythology

Celtic Mythical Creatures

Gods and Goddesses

Middle East:

Islamic Mythology

Judaic Mythology

Mesopotamian Mythology

Persian Mythology

Middle Eastern Mythical Creatures

Oceania:

Aboriginal Mythology

Polynesian Mythology

More Polynesian Mythology

Mythology of the Polynesian Islands

Melanesian Mythology

Massive Polynesian Mythology Post

Maori Mythical Creatures

Hawaiian Gods and Goddesses

Hawaiian Goddesses

Gods and Goddesses

Creating a Fantasy Religion:

Creating Part 1

Creating Part 2

Creating Part 3

Creating Part 4

Fantasy Religion Design Guide

Using Religion in Fantasy

Religion in Fantasy

Creating Fantasy Worlds

Beliefs in Fantasy

Some superstitions:

Keep reading