I Love It When Characters Are Package Deals, I Love Duos I Love Trios I Love Quartets, I Love Groups

Parry: to block an attack

Beat: the striking of swords

Thrust: to straighten your sword arm as you can without having to move/ lunge forward

Lunging: extending your sword arm during a lunging motion/while moving forward

Cut: an attack where the sword is thrusted downward or across to hack at the opponent/their blade

Disarm/envelop: capturing the opponent's weapon near the hilt and tearing it out of their hold/locking it in place so they can't move it or fight back

Lock: when two swords come together at the hilts to make an "y"

Break: to push off, circle around, or disengage from the fight

Attack: the strike of a sword

Caress: the strikes of the opponents blade on both sides of it

Advance: to move forward

Retreat: to move backwards

En garde: the stance before combat

Sweep/swipe: to swing the sword around the opponent's head/shins

Front guard: where the sword sits in front of your face

Pivot: rotating 180 degrees with one foot planted in place

Pass back: moving the front foot into the rear position

Pass forward: moving your rear foot into the front position

Shed: to let a sword slide away from your without fighting back or changing it, so you're then free to move or attack

Slope: moving backwards from left to right

i love you films without sequels i love you limited series i love you stand alone novels i love you self-contained stories

Writing advice you're not going to like.

People sometimes send me Asks wanting writing advice.  I suck at it.  I don’t really know how I do the writing, or how one should do the writing, or what one should do to get better at the writing.  All I can ever think to say is “write a lot of stuff and you will get better at the writing.”  Which is true, but hardly a bolt from the sky.

Well, as it turns out, I do have one piece of Legit Writing Advice, and I am going to share it with you, right now.  If you were in any of my writing workshop groups at a con, you’ve heard this advice already.

Warning: you’re going to fucking hate it.  But if you do it, you will thank me.

If you have a piece of fiction you’re serious about, something you might want to actually shop around, or just something you really are into and want to make it as good as you can…do NOT edit it.

Repeat.  DO NOT EDIT.

REWRITE.

As in, print out the whole fucking thing and re-enter it, every word (or use two screens).  Retype the whole thing.  Recreate it from the ground up using your first draft as a template.  Start with a blank page and re-enter every. single. word.

I hear you screaming.  OH MY GOD THAT’S INSANE.

Yes.  Yes, it is.

It is also the most powerful thing you will ever do for a piece of fiction that you are serious about.

Now, let’s get real.  I don’t do this for most things.  I don’t do it for my fanfiction.  But if it’s something original, something I might like to get to a professional level - I do it.  You absolutely COULD do it for fanfiction.  It’s just up to you and how much time you want to sink into a piece.

You can edit, sure.  But you WILL NOT get down to the level of change that needs to happen in a second draft.  You will let things slide.  Your eyes will miss things.  You will say “eh, good enough.”

The first time I did this, on someone else’s advice, I was dubious.  Within two pages, I was saying WHY HAVE I NOT BEEN DOING THIS ALL THE TIME.  I was amazed at how much change was happening.  By the time I got to the end, I had an entirely different novel than the one I’d started with.  When you’re already re-entering every single word, it’s easy to make deep changes.  You’ll reformat sentences, you’ll switch phrases around, you’ll massage your word choice.  You’ll discover whole paragraphs that don’t need to be there at all because they became redundant.  You’ll find dialogue exchanges that need reimagining.  Whole plot points will suddenly be different, whole story arcs will reveal their flaws and get re-drawn.

You cannot get down to the fundamental level of change that’s required just by editing an existing document.  You have to rebuild it if you really want your story to evolve.  You will be AMAZED at the difference it will make.

It will take time.  It will seem like a huge, Herculean task.  I’m not saying it’s easy.  It isn’t.  But it is absolutely revolutionary.

Try it.  I promise, you will see what I mean.

*PSA: Tipsy!Lori wrote this post.  In case you couldn’t tell.

"Oh. Oh," moments can be great.

"Oh shit," moments are even better.

But the long-suffering sigh of acceptance that comes with, "Oh. Right. Yeah. Of course." Like, come on, what could I have been thinking? There's no other way this could have gone.

How to Research for Diversity

Introduction

Inevitably, you’re going to be writing characters who have had much different experiences than you, whether that’s due to race, ethnicity, religion, and much more. The best way to understand and properly represent these characters is to do research--a lot of it. A few Google searches isn’t going to cut it. Yes, the research and reading process for writing minorities is long and tedious. But it’s worth it when someone can relate to that character, see themselves in that character, or look up to that character. Properly representing us is important because we want to see ourselves in the stories we read, and giving us that boosts our confidence in ourselves and our culture!

Make it matter

If you’re making a character diverse just for the sake of being diverse, stop and reconsider. Your representation needs to be genuine. You can’t just throw in an Asian character because you feel like your cast isn’t diverse enough. Diversity shouldn’t be forced. You don’t need to have a character of every race in your book. But you should research for what you do have.

You don’t always have tap into a character’s background if the plot doesn’t call for it. But knowing that background 1.) allows you to understand them better, and 2.) allows people to relate to them, both of which are very valuable. Your representation needs to feel natural. Bringing up diversity casually throughout the story is the best way to do that.

What you should never do is define a character by their minority or oppression. Above all else, your character should be just that--a character, and a well-rounded one at that.

Record your research

You’re never going to be able to remember everything that you look up. So, write it all down. That could mean doing it the old-school way, aka handwriting (kudos to anyone who does this) or dumping it all in a word processor (I recommend Google Docs because it has the “outline” feature that allows you to go to a specific place when you need it).

I would suggest categorizing your research, preferably into separate documents. Here are some ideas for how you can divide it:

Names

Language

Music

Normal/formal clothing

Stereotypes in literature and other media

Food for everyday and formal occasions

Holidays and special occasions

Restrictions and taboos

Researching on the Internet

It can be really tempting to just click the first link that pops up--most likely Wikipedia--on the Internet, do a 10-second fact check, and call it a day. But that’s not enough. Wikipedia is a good source if you’re looking for general information, but even better are the citations at the bottom. These lead you to trustworthy sites.

You should also look up organizations and official websites of minorities. These websites are more likely to be reliable. In the US, these websites commonly end in “.org” or “.gov.” Other countries have different website domains--there’s a list on Wikipedia here.

Read blogs and articles that people have written about themselves and others. Government-run websites may be important, but personal accounts are just as valuable. Look up online encyclopedias as well--for example, the Encyclopedia Britannica is a great resource, and it ends in “.com”. By contrast, paper encyclopedias are more likely to become outdated, and they can’t be edited.

Consume media by marginalized people--this one is pretty self-explanatory. Read books by marginalized authors, fiction or nonfiction. Watch TV shows and movies directed by marginalized people. Keep doing this until it's barely a conscious decision to choose marginalized media.

Include other people

This is one of the most effective research methods you can employ because it involves only primary sources, while researching on your own involves primary and secondary sources. First, prepare a list of questions that aren’t easily answerable by the Internet. It helps if you specifically relate them to your book. For example, you might ask someone their opinion on a certain character who has a certain arc. Interview as many people as possible. Even characters in a single minority are vastly diverse!

When you’re done with your book, you’ll want to enlist sensitivity readers. Sensitivity readers are different from beta readers because they specifically critique a book’s representation. Looking at their feedback, you’ll be able to see recurring mistakes and flaws in your characters.

Social media

Social media is extremely valuable for talking to a variety of people and seeing different perspectives.

First, follow people of the minorities you’re researching. I would suggest a mixture of “ordinary” people and celebrities. Observe how they might include facets of their culture in their day-to-day life, and how they might speak about issues concerning their culture. You can also (politely) ask if they can answer your questions.

Another thing you can do is look at memes--yes, you read that right! Memes made by marginalized people depict common struggles and relatable situations, which is extremely valuable (and entertaining!).

Media representation tests

You may have heard of the Bechdel test--2 or more female characters have a conversation that isn’t about guys. This is just one of the many media representation tests out there. Media representation tests check your work against stereotypes and misrepresentation, although they aren't comprehensive or completely accurate--sometimes, there are exceptions. Here are a handful of tests:

“Sexy lamp” test (women)

Ellen-Willis test (women)

Deggans rule (race in general)

Vito-Russo test (LGBTQ+)

Topside test (trans people)

Duvernay test (race in general)

Maisy test (sexism in children’s media)

Mako-Mori test (women)

Ris test (Muslims)

Villalobos test (Latina women)

Waithe test (Black women)

Imperfection

No matter how much you research, understand your representation will never be perfect because people have such vastly different experiences. And that’s okay! The best you can do is keep learning and listen when people point out your mistakes.

everything from danielle’s solo to alana being scared when taylor tapped her is perfect (no body no crime - eras tour seattle n1) (x)

Hi, I’ve been considering starting a book in the fantasy genre. I really wanted to give some Native American representation in it, since it's something that I rarely see. However, this story wouldn't take place in America, it would be in a completely different world (though one loosely based off of earth in the 14 hundreds ish?) This is similar to your mixing cultures post, but I wanted to know: is there a good way to give Native American representation in stories that aren’t historical fiction?

Representing PoC in Fantasy When Their Country/Continent Doesn’t Exist

The core of this question is something we’ve gotten across a few different ethnicities, and it basically boils down to: “how can I let my readers know these people are from a certain place without calling them by this certain place?” Aka, how can I let people know somebody is Chinese if I can’t call them Chinese, or, in your case, some Native American nation without having a North America.

Notes on Language

As I have said multiple times, there is no such thing as “Native American culture”. It’s an umbrella term. Even if you are doing fantasy you need to pick a nation and/or confederacy.

Step One

How do you code somebody as European?

This sounds like a very silly question, but consider it seriously.

How do you?

They probably live in huts or castles; there are lords and kings and knights; they eat stew and bread and drumsticks; they celebrate the winter solstice as a major holiday/new year; women wear dresses while men wear pants; there are pubs and farms and lots of wheat; the weather is snowy in winter and warm in summer.

Now swap all those components out for whatever people you’re thinking about.

Iroquois? They live in longhouses; there is a confederacy and democracy and lots of warriors from multiple nations; they eat corn, beans, and squash (those three considered sacred and grown together), with fish and wild game; they wear mostly leather garments with furs in winter; there are nights by the fire and cities and the rituals will change by the nation (remember the Iroquois were a confederacy made up of five or six tribes, depending on period); the weather is again snowy in winter and warm in summer.

Chinese? They harvest rice; there is an emperor appointed by the gods and scholars everywhere; they use a lunar calendar and have a New Year in spring; their trade ships are huge and their resources are plenty; they live in wood structures with paper walls or mud brick; they use jade and ivory for talismans; their culture is hugely varied depending on the province; their weather is mostly tropical, with monsoons instead of snow on lowlands, but their mountains do get chilly.

You get the gist.

Break down what it is that makes a world read as European (let’s be honest, usually English and Germanic) to you, then swap out the parts with the appropriate places in another culture.

Step Two

Research, research, research. Google is your friend. Ask it the questions for “what did the Cree eat” and “how did Ottoman government work.” These are your basics. This is what you’ll use to figure out the building blocks of culture.

You’ll also want to research their climate. As I say in How To Blend Cultures, culture comes from climate. If you don’t have the climate, animals, plants, and weather down, it’ll ring false.

You can see more at So You Want To Save The World From Bad Representation.

Step Three

Start to build the humans and how they interact with others. How are the trade relations? What are the internal attitudes about the culture— how do they see outsiders? How do outsiders see them? Are there power imbalances? How about greed and desire to take over?

This is where you need to do even more research on how different groups interacted with others. Native American stories are oftentimes painful to read, and I would strongly suggest to not take a colonizer route for a fantasy novel.

This does, however, mean you might not be researching how Natives saw Europeans— you’ll be researching how they saw neighbours. 

You’ll also want to look up the social rules to get a sense for how they interacted with each other, just for character building purposes.

Step Four

Sensitivity readers everywhere! You’ll really want to get somebody from the nation to read over the story to make sure you’ve gotten things right— it’s probably preferable to get somebody when you’re still in the concept stage, because a lot of glaring errors can be missed and it’s best to catch them before you start writing them.

Making mistakes is 100% not a huge moral failing. Researching cultures without much information on them is hard. So long as you understand the corrections aren’t a reflection on your character, just chalk them up to ignorance (how often do most writers get basic medical, weapon, or animal knowledge wrong? Extremely often). 

Step Five

This is where you really get into the meat of creating people. You’ve built their culture and environment into your worldbuilding, so now you have the tools you need to create characters who feel like part of the culture.

You’ll really want to keep in mind that every culture has a variety of people. While your research will say people roughly behave in a certain way, people are people and break cultural rules all the time. Their background will influence what rules they break and how they relate to the world, but there will be no one person who follows every cultural rule down to the letter. 

Step Six

Write!

Step Seven

More sensitivity readers! See step 4 for notes.

Step Eight

Rewrite— and trust me, you will need to. Writing is rewriting.

Repeat steps seven and eight until story is done.

Extra Notes

I’ll be honest— you’re probably going to need a certain amount of either goodwill (if you’re lucky enough to make friends within the group you’re trying to represent— but seriously, please do not make friends with us for the sole purpose of using us as sensitivity readers. It’s not nice) and/or money to get to publishing level. 

The good part is the first three steps are free, and these first three steps are what will allow you to hurt others less when you approach. While you’ll still likely make mistakes, you’ll make a few less (and hopefully no glaring ones, but it can/does happen) so long as you do your due diligence in making sure you at least try to understand the basics.

And once you feel like you’ve understood the basics… dive down even deeper because chances are you’re about to reach a tipping point for realizing how little you know.

People will always find you did something wrong. You will never get culture 100% accurate— not even people who were born and raised in it will, because as I said in step five: cultures have a huge variety of people in them, so everyone will interact with it differently. But you can work your hardest to capture one experience, make it as accurate as possible, and learn more for next time.

~ Mod Lesya 

how to balance multiple wips

i never thought that i would be qualified to make a post on this since i’ve only ever had one wip i was working on at one time, but since finishing the first draft of my first novel, that has changed! having more than one wip can be stressful and chaotic, which is why i’m going to offer some of my tips on how to keep your stories straight.

one per day

a useful strategy i’ve found is to decide which wip you’ll be working on today and set your daily goal for it. i do this by using my google calendar to plan out my writing week in sessions. you don’t always have to plan ahead on what wip you’ll work on—on occasion i schedule open or free writing sessions where i can choose which wip i want to work on that particular day. you can ofc adapt this strategy how you need, but i do think it’s one of the best ones i have to offer.

work on projects you love

you should spend your writing time with a story and characters you adore. if something isn’t working for you in one of your wips, don’t be afraid to change it or to put that project aside for a little while to focus on other wips. you don’t have to keep going with every single wip you ever started—as writers, our stories will fluctuate and persist and if we really love one, it will stick around for as long as you want it. sometimes it’s hard to let go, and you never truly have to. your characters and their stories will always be a part of you, no matter if you’ve left them behind or they still stand by your side.

stuck on one, move to another

one of the great things about having multiple wips is that you will probably always have something you can bounce back to. say one of your plots gives you writer’s block and you just can’t get past it. turning to one of your other wips will keep your creative brain busy and pumping out ideas, which will eventually lead to your block breaking down. this is definitely one of the best things about having more than one wip at a time, but if you can always start a small writing project like a short story too to overcome writer’s block!

distinguish battle lines

it is important to draw distinct lines between your wips to help keep you organized and your plots tight. you want to avoid the voices of one wip bleeding into another, so this is another good reason to stick to one wip per day. before you start writing, go through your wip notes or outline or skim the last few paragraphs you wrote to ensure your mind re-grasps the style of your current wip. deciding and identifying the differences like point of view (first person or third?), the number of character perspectives, the pacing, and the base themes will help with this.

final word

it really is up to you to take initiative of your writing projects and prioritize your time between them. remember not to overwork or stress yourself and practice making reasonable and achievable goals. as always, you and your mental health come first so don’t forget to take care of yourself!! a bit of a shorter post today but i hope you still find it useful. that’s all from me :)

Writing Flashbacks

Credit: https://www.nownovel.com/blog/incorporate-flashbacks-into-a-story/

In many books, the events of the story take place chronologically. However, in stories involving characters’ memories or large leaps in time, flashbacks are useful for showing formative or crucial moments that drive characters’ present-time psychologies and decisions.  Flashbacks typically recall a scene of emotional power. They show the memories that linger in a character’s mind long after they have happened. They are, essentially, scenes inserted into the present narrative time-frame from a time period that precedes the primary story arc.

1. Decide whether a flashback is necessary

As an alternative to writing flashbacks, you can substitute exposition. Your main character can simply recall the day an impactful event happened. However, describing the scene as though your character is living and experiencing it for the first time can be much more emotionally affecting for the reader. To decide whether an earlier event in your character’s backstory (e.g. witnessing a crime) needs a flashback scene, ask yourself:

What are the benefits of showing the reader the earlier scene through my character’s eyes?

Is the scene important enough to my central story arc to break from narrative continuity?

How will I convey to the reader that this is a flashback and not an event happening in the present time of the story?

2. Look at flashback examples in fiction to gain insight

Writing flashbacks is storytelling time travel. Getting it right can be hard. So research novels that use this narrative device and see how other authors approach flashbacks.

Flashbacks can be long or short, or repeated. For example, in The Gilded Wolves, we catch glimpses of main character  Séverin Montagnet-Alarie’s childhood, which gies us insight into why he acts the way he does and why he makes the decisions he does in the current narrative. The flashbacks also tie into his character arc throughout the Gilded Wolves trilogy.

3. Choose your flashback’s time-frame

When you write a flashback, it’s important to choose a reasonable time-frame for the scene. Typically, a flashback will consist of a single conversation or event that occurs over a single day. Keeping the time frame of your flashback brief helps not to distract the reader from the present arc of your story. If you want to convey how an entire year in your character’s life was formative, for example, it’s better to summarize that year in a few lines of expository narrative.

4. List any details that will be different during your character’s flashback

Times change. Because time isn’t static, remember to show how your characters and their circumstances are different during your flashback scene. For example, if a character living in 1990 recalls the 1960s, think about how slang, music and other cultural details differ.

A few small details (such as a song playing on the radio or a description of a period hairstyle) can signal that we’ve traveled back in narrative time. List the most significant differences between your character’s present life and their life during the time period of their flashback. Even if not all details make it into the story, it will help you strike an authentic note.

5. Learn how to write a flashback that has consistent tense

These are many options for verb tenses in a flashback; you could write your flashback in the same tense as your present-time narrative, differentiating time periods with explicit reference to the year. You could also write your flashback in a different tense to your main, present-time narrative. Whatever approach you choose, be consistent throughout your flashback scene. Pick a tense and stick with it!

6. Decide how you will transition to flashback scenes

Part of writing a successful flashback scene is knowing how and when to cut to the scene that lies outside of your story’s main chronology. Like all story scenes, your flashback scene should have good structure.

Here are some suggestions:

Instead of writing a short intro paragraph to a flashback, launch straight into your flashback at the start of a scene or chapter. This way the transition is less obvious.

Try to insert flashback scenes after strong scenes in the present time of your story. This makes it easier for the reader to recall where the present-time narration left off once the flashback ends.

Signify a flashback by writing it in italics.

Physically separate the flashback from the main narrative (e.g. with a space and a few asterisks).

7. Check that your flashback focuses on a single experience or event that supports your story arc

Once you’ve written your flashback scene, double-check that it’s completely relevant to the later story. In a crime novel, a flashback scene might provide an essential clue regarding the identity of the culprit. In a character-driven family saga, it could show a formative familial relationship, conversation or confrontation that shapes your character’s outlook.

Make sure that your flashback scene draws your reader’s attention towards the key element that will deepen your reader’s understanding of key later scenes. This way, your story will feel cohesive even if the narrative does not follow a linear chronological path!

these are so helpful thanks ! I feel more confident now :)

thank you so much! i’m glad i could help <3