Where To Start As A Beginner Writer

You know what??

De-aged Cale where its roksoo right??

He's sitting there anxiously as the adults discuss what the do with him. It's happening again. He knows they're going to get rid of him like some old, unwanted toy.

His stomach gurgles and growls. He keeps his eyes trained on the shoes everyone is wearing, ears burning. How embarrassing... He's usually better than this.

He jumps when a pair of shoes move in front of him. It's hard to hear what's going on when the cotton in your ears keep blooming. Suddenly, he's face to face with an old man... whose smile is.. pretty scary. Not that he'll say anything about it though. He can't figure out where to place his eyes. Adults don't like it when he looks at them in the eyes. They say he's being defiant, that they don't like the way he looks at them. But then they don't like it when he doesn't look them in the eye, something about finding the situation unimportant. He doesn't know what to do... So his eyes jump from meeting the old man's and back to things around the room. Back and forth, back and forth.

"young master," the man starts, "why don't you follow my son to the kitchen? My son, Beacrox, will get you something good to eat."

Oh! He can do that. He's been in kitchens before, so he willed himself to meet the man's gaze one last time before giving a small, but firm nod. Then, he hops off the plush couch and trails after the guy who must be Beacrox.

This man is stoic looking and not much of a talker. It's okay though, he isn't much of a talker either. They walk in silence to the kitchen, he tries to keep his breathing in check as he jogs to keep pace with the man. His steps must be too loud though since the man turns towards him and then slows his pace. So nice!!

Even when they get there, the man still hasn't said anything. He stands at the doorway, unsure of what he's needed for. The kitchen is clean... Extremely clean. How will he earn his food? What is he supposed to be doing here??

We makes his way up to the counter where he finds a rag. That'll do!! He takes it and wets it in the sink before making his way back to the sitting area. He drops to his hands and knees and begins to scrub at the already clean floor. The adults at home say that even if it looks clean, it's never clean enough! So surely this should be enough to earn his keep.

He hears a clatter and startles as the knife falls to the floor. The man's face isn't stoic anymore. The man is mad?? Is he cleaning wrong?? Roksoo is scared.

The man storms up to him and begins to reach out towards him. Roksoo fails to hold back a flinch. He's messed up, adults don't like it when he's scared. He squeezed his eyes shut, in hopes of hurting less.

Nothing comes. The pain never comes. Only a warm hand on his head?? He slowly opens his eyes and meets Beacrox 's. There's nothing, but hurt and eager swirling in the man's eyes. Why's he sad? Roksoo doesn't understand.

"young master..." Beacrox sounds strained. Again with that weird title.

Roksoo wordlessly watches the chef try to string together words. His own throat feeling too clogged up to ask what he did wrong.

He manages though.

"why.. why are you sad?" His words come out like small croaks. It's getting hard to speak again. Adults don't like it when he can't speak.

Beacrox's eyes just fill with more hurt, hurt, hurt as he opens and closes his mouth uselessly.

He seems to figure out what he wants to say though.

"young master, why are you on the ground?" Beacrox keeps his voice soft, keeps his tone open and forgiving.

"I didn't know what else I could do," he confesses like he's sinned. His eyes make their way back to anything other than the other's.

Beacrox brews silently, waiting for his master to finish his thoughts. Beacrox doesn't like where this is going.

"how else can I earn.." roksoo's palms feel sweaty where they're clenched at his sides.

"I don't deserve food yet," roksoo's words are firm and believing as he meets Beacrox's eyes.

The man's eyes seem to tremble as he processes what roksoo had said.

(Beacrox wants to skin whoever taught his young master this. He wants to make them beg for the sweet release of death as he slowly guides them towards it. Having them teeter on the edge of death and consciousness).

He snaps out of thought, saving them for later. The others will be hearing of this, they can all come up with the plans together.

"young master," Beacrox hopes his words will reach the boys heart, "you deserve everything."

He watches as the boy takes his bottom lip captive between his teeth. How the boy clenches at the hems of his shirt and tries to calm his breathing. How the boy is trying to blink away tears, but is failing.

"you are worthy" he whispers, removing a glove to pat roksoo's head. Beacrox looks seconds away from jumping back and escaping. Roksoo let's put a shaky laugh at the thought.

Right now it's hard to believe, but.. he wants to. He wants to believe that Beacrox is right. He'll try...

But he still follows Beacrox back to the counter and begs to help. He feels too antsy not doing anything.

All he's handed is a small bowl of snacks and he's told his job is to finish them by the time the meal is done cooking. He feels his heart swell. Roksoo feels like his heart is doing flips in his chest. He feels so safe.

-

Feeling like I probably post too much on this,, but I will.. continue. :)

i'm AWARE this is a stupid hill to die on, but like. trope vs theme vs cliché vs motif vs archetype MATTERS. it matters to Me and i will die on this hill no matter how much others decide it's pointless. words mean things

I like how alberu knows how cale operates. Like everybody seems to be assuming that cale is righteous and his morale compass is definetely "good", but alberu knows thats not the case. Its not so bad that everyone thinks so, i feel like it will be the running gag throrough the whole series, but i was hoping for at least someone to have an idea that cale is always strategizing and his intentions are not purely good.

Cale is kind, yes. But he is not righteous

I REALLY hope alberu does not change his view of cale, from someone who always has ulterior motives to a lawful good person

Editing Part 5: The Structural Pass

Okay, by now you've nailed down how you want your plot, characters, and worldbuilding to be. If you haven't by now, it's a good time to format your document into manuscript format if you plan to move forward to publish in any form.

When it comes to structure, what you're really focusing on is readability. If the format of your book is a slog to get through, if your paragraphs are too long or your sentences are all the same. This will lose readers otherwise in love with your plot.

Dialogue

Dialogue heavy scenes are very fun to write, but pages of dialogue with no action can also be exhausting. Break up your dialogue heavy scenes with actions and descriptions. How does the character's body language reflect their feelings on the discussion? Can you give them a task (picking a lock, chopping onions) that allow you to add to the scene (fumbling when frustrated, dicing harder when angry)?

One mistake (that I've made plenty of times) is to have characters doing things for the sake of doing them. But this is an opportunity to add details that add to your plot (the normally awful cafeteria green beans are delicious, a clue to solving the murder!), character (an alien crewmember is trying to copy human expressions to seem more personable, but his many teeth just freak people out), and world-building and setting (Laura is ranting about her ex, but Tara is distracted by how soulless her rich mother's house seems).

Scene Lengths

Are your scenes running too long? Do they start in the wrong place? (Two paragraphs on making coffee instead of "She was making coffee when George burst in.") Tightening up your scenes will do a great deal to make your book better.

This is easy advice to give and harder to picture doing, I've found. Everything often feels essential to a scene. Try to tackle scenes with the following questions:

What is the point of the scene? (George tells Susan his wife left him for Keanu Reeves.)

Where does the action start? (When George burst through the door without knocking.)

What is the goal of the scene? (Susan starts to suspect George of murdering his wife.)

Where does the action end? (George leaves.)

Where should the scene end? - This answer depends entirely on what you need to happen next. Maybe you have another page and a half of Susan musing about her suspicions right there in the kitchen. But maybe this will be more impactful in the next scene, where Susan is snooping in the garden and happens to find something George's wife would never leave behind.

Varying Paragraphs and Sentences

Pull back and look at your pages. Are all the paragraphs the same length? Do you fall into using the same pattern of sentences over and over? (Guilty) Have you used the same word four times in a single paragraph to describe something? (Double guilty) Break those chunks up, what for those repeat words, and vary your sentences. This is going to help so much with issues you weren't aware of.

Chapters and Word Count

There are many ways to do chapters, but you want to keep an eye out for chapters that are going too long (giving your reader a visual break of a chapter ending can help shift the setting and tone) or too short (have you accomplished everything you need?) This is not a knock on either structure done on purpose - this is to catch something you may have overlooked.

When it comes to word count, industry standards are always a good baseline to go with. Your audience often approaches a genre with certain expectations, and while you can make a doorstopper of a romance, you will find more readers by sticking to the 80-100k range.

DSMP streams divided in months

these don't include every stream (not just cause they're wips) since some don't have a date. meaning those could not be added in these month playlists, but they are in these two. for some others i could try and guess

if you know the right dates, let me know

2020

april

may

june

july - [LORE]

august - [LORE]

september - [LORE]

october - [LORE]

november - [LORE]

december - [LORE]

2021

january - [LORE]

february - [LORE]

march - [LORE]

april - [LORE]

may - [LORE]

june - [LORE]

july - [LORE] (lore playlist doesn't exist yet)

august - [LORE]

september - [LORE]

october - [LORE] (no lore playlist yet)

november - [LORE]

december - [LORE]

2022

january - [LORE]

february - [LORE]

march - [LORE]

april - [LORE]

may - [LORE] (no playlists yet)

june - [LORE]

july - [LORE] (no playlists yet)

august - [LORE]

september - [LORE]

october - [LORE]

november - [LORE]

december - [LORE]

post finale

any stream from the month after the last lore stream, meaning the Syndicate finale in december 2022

right now, the title says 2023, but i know Eret and Sam have briefly joined the server in 2024. the title will change to fit the years, but i have to find them first

and that's it! if you use these playlists or send them to others, can i ask for a reblog so i know people are finding them useful?👉👈

Writing Description Notes:

Updated 9th September 2024 More writing tips, review tips & writing description notes

Facial Expressions

Masking Emotions

Smiles/Smirks/Grins

Eye Contact/Eye Movements

Blushing

Voice/Tone

Body Language/Idle Movement

Thoughts/Thinking/Focusing/Distracted

Silence

Memories

Happy/Content/Comforted

Love/Romance

Sadness/Crying/Hurt

Confidence/Determination/Hopeful

Surprised/Shocked

Guilt/Regret

Disgusted/Jealous

Uncertain/Doubtful/Worried

Anger/Rage

Laughter

Confused

Speechless/Tongue Tied

Fear/Terrified

Mental Pain

Physical Pain

Tired/Drowsy/Exhausted

Eating

Drinking

Warm/Hot

hey i don't know what writer needs to hear this today but you can have characters in your work who exist only to move the plot forward. you can create an oc for a fanfic who exists to ask a question at the right time and is never seen again. you can create a novel and have random characters that exist to move the story. characters are elements of narrative. not every single one has to have a whole backstory and a life fleshed out. sometimes they can just be there for a scene and then never be involved again. isn't that how life works? don't we meet people and then they vanish? aren't our lives simply moments spent to drive forward the plots of others? your character can be pointless. you character can exist in a moment. your character can take up space. your character can exist, even if you don't know their birthday and their mother's favorite song.

characters are not people. you do not have to make them into people unless you want to. you owe them nothing. use characters however you want in your story. develop them as is relevant. otherwise, it literally does not matter.

Susie was not in a good place at the beginning of Ch 1.

I think we should try taking a closer look at where she came from to understand what her state of mind was back then.

Susie isn’t from Hometown.

Wherever she was from, she was not treated well.

And, upon coming to Hometown…things weren’t much better.

In Hometown, Susie is

Chronically underfed

Likely homeless

Hated by most of her classmates

Close to being expelled and losing her last tether to a normal life

Susie was at the very, very end of her rope at the beginning of Chapter 1.

Keep reading

Recently reread the scene where we see Yoo Joonghyuk's interaction with Jang Hayoung for the first time and?? Holy shit?? Like, there's literally no other explanation. This man is jealous Kim Dokja made friends and plans with someone who wasn't him.

Like yes, Jang Hayoung pissed him off with her way of speaking immediately, but there have been ruder people. Why was it on sight for her? Why is he so sour over them just chatting? Kim Dokja is like "Hey look! Isn't this guy super useful (for us)?" and Yoo Joonghyuk is like "I'm better than this jerk." Jesus christ.

Reverse React fic idea

Okay hear me out.

You know how react fics are actually thinly veiled excuses to show off what an awesome person Cale is? What if we twist that around a little bit?

So everything's the same at first glance, right? Literally everyone and their mother is here (kidding, just the most important ppl), and this host comes up.

(Or the unseen organizer, depending on whether or not you like a host OC here)

But.......

This host/organizer hates Cale. Like, despises him. Probably a Sealed God's follower or smth the like. They can't just make something out of nothing and put untrue bullshits on the screen, but they sure as hell can cut things around to paint Cale in the worst light possible.

Like, him being a transmigrator, him being happy at his "stolen" identity, him going around and scamming people, him using his knowledge to manipulate ppl around him, him generally acting even remotely "villainous".

No heroics to be found, just a video reel of Cale acting trashy.

Cale, at first, would be scared. He would be terrified, really. But as the video went on and he caught onto the malice directed at him, he calms right down, because that's who Cale is.

He would then spend the rest of the time prying the host/organizer's identity out of them, and plan an appropriate payback for this invasion of privacy.

Hell, at some point, he even nods in agreement, because, yeah, he's a trash, and it's about time everyone wakes up and notices that!

The rest of the participants, though, while may be confused at first, take one look at the badly edited slander on the screen, and collectively goes "Bullshit!"

Cale stealing og!Cale's identity? Kim Rok Soo, the og!Cale, smiles at the screen nastily.

Cale planning on using Choi Han? Choi Han wants to say that he doesn't have to stab his heart to kill a bastard.

Cale scamming Whipper? Harol lays out the enormous help Cale had given them, and that at one point, Cale was fighting for Whipper more than Whipper was fighting for itself (a la Whipper King, the bastard)

Cale scamming the Jungle? Litana raises the issue of Cale waking up from fainting, goes straight to save the Jungle and then fainting again.

Cale scamming Alberu? Alberu dignifiedly says that it's a partnership, and that it's his money, his choice.

Cale being implied saying he's ignoring the atrocities in front of him? Everyone snorts because they all know that immediately after that, Cale has bled to put a stop to all of those acts.

Cale saying he's not getting involved with that? On rolls her eyes: "So he said. Like a liar."

Basically, I just want a bastard who tries so hard to discredit Cale in his ppl's eyes only for Cale to nod along like he agrees with it and for the rest to become even more sympathetic to Young Master Cale who has such a soft heart who keeps getting himself hurt to save them all-

Cale: See, I am a tr-

Everyone: A HERO!!! OUR HERO!!!! OUR LORD AND SAVIOR!!! OUR GUIDING LIGHT FROM ANOTHER WORLD, THE CHOSEN OF THE GODS-

tldr: Cale suffered from Emotional Damages, but not the kind the host/organizer wants :)))))))))))))))