Curate, connect, and discover
Tips - Blog Posts
I found an extremely dope disability survival guide for those who are homebound, bedbound, in need of disability accommodations, or would otherwise like resources for how to manage your life as a disabled person. (Link is safe)
It has some great articles and resources and while written by people with ME/CFS, it keeps all disabilities in mind. A lot of it is specific to the USA but even if you're from somewhere else, there are many guides that can still help you. Some really good ones are:
How to live a great disabled life- A guide full of resources to make your life easier and probably the best place to start (including links to some of the below resources). Everything from applying for good quality affordable housing to getting free transportation, affordable medication, how to get enough food stamps, how to get a free phone that doesn't suck, how to find housemates and caregivers, how to be homebound, support groups and Facebook pages (including for specific illnesses), how to help with social change from home, and so many more.
Turning a "no" into a "yes"- A guide on what to say when denied for disability aid/accommodations of many types, particularly over the phone. "Never take no for an answer over the phone. If you have not been turned down in writing, you have not been turned down. Period."
How to be poor in America- A very expansive and helpful guide including things from a directory to find your nearest food bank to resources for getting free home modifications, how to get cheap or free eye and dental care, extremely cheap internet, and financial assistance with vet bills
How to be homebound- This is pretty helpful even if you're not homebound. It includes guides on how to save spoons, getting free and low cost transportation, disability resources in your area, home meals, how to have fun/keep busy while in bed, and a severe bedbound activity master list which includes a link to an audio version of the list on Soundcloud
Master List of Disability Accommodation Letters For Housing- Guides on how to request accommodations and housing as well as your rights, laws, and prewritten sample letters to help you get whatever you need. Includes information on how to request additional bedrooms, stop evictions, request meetings via phone, mail, and email if you can't in person, what you can do if a request is denied, and many other helpful guides
Special Laws to Help Domestic Violence Survivors (Vouchers & Low Income Housing)- Protections, laws, and housing rights for survivors of DV (any gender), and how to get support and protection under the VAWA laws to help you and/or loved ones receive housing and assistance
Dealing With Debt & Disability- Information to assist with debt including student loans, medical debt, how to deal with debt collectors as well as an article with a step by step guide that helped the author cut her overwhelming medical bills by 80%!
There are so many more articles, guides, and tools here that have helped a lot of people. And there are a lot of rights, resources, and protections that people don't know they have and guides that can help you manage your life as a disabled person regardless of income, energy levels, and other factors.
Please boost!
Things to research before getting your first custom manual wheelchair
one of the biggest things I can recommend to anyone getting a new custom chair (but especially a first custom chair) is to understand all of the parts of a wheelchair and what they do. I decided to make a guide with wheelchair parts to research and places to look for information to make this process a little bit easier. additional link suggestions are welcome.
General resources:
Permobil - The Wheelchair Handbook
Motion Composites - Preparing for Your Wheelchair Evaluation: Before the Evaluation (Part 1)
Motion Composites - Preparing for Your Wheelchair Evaluation (Part 2)
1. Frame
Motion Composites - Folding vs Rigid Wheelchair Frames: How to Choose
Permobil - Manual wheelchairs: rigid and folding frames. How do you choose?
GTK - Oh what’s in a frame? Comparing Multiple Materials
Motion Composites - Wheelchairs: Carbon Fiber Versus Aluminum
2. Front frame angle
Motion Composites - Understanding the Impact of Rigid Wheelchair Front Frame Angle
Sunrise Medical - Rigid Frame Wheelchairs – Frame Angle and Inset
4. Seat dump
Permobil - Ergonomic Seating and Manual Wheelchairs
Spinlife - Wheelchair Back & Seat Angle
5. Caster size, style, and position
Motion Composites - Front Casters for Manual Wheelchairs Practical Guide
Sunrise Medical - Front Caster Position in Manual Wheelchairs
6. Caster forks
New Mobility - Caster Wheels and Forks
Sunrise Medical - Maneuverability in Manual Wheelchairs - What Fork to use?
New Mobility - Innovations: Emerging Trends in the Wheelchair Market (information about single sided forks)
7. Footplate
Motion Composites - Footrest Options to Support Function and Mobility
When Tania Talks - Active User Wheelchair Footplate Options
8. Calf strap
Spex Seating - Lower Leg Support Considerations in Wheelchair Seating
9. Seat pan
Permobil - Solid Seat Insert for Wheelchair: Taking a Closer Look at Cushion Components
10. Seat cushion
Permobil - What to Look for in Seating & Positioning Products
Permobil - How to Choose a Cushion in Long Term Care
Permobil - Cushion Geometry: Linear and Contoured
Freedom Mobility Center - Wheelchair Seat Cushions: 5 Tips for Choosing the Right One for You
Mobility Basics - Seat Cushion Rigidizer
Motion Composites - Selecting the Right Cushion for Your Wheelchair a Clinicians Guide
Motion Composites - Covering the Basics of Wheelchair and Back Support Covers
11. Seat belts
12. Clothing guards
Sherman Oaks Medical Equipment - Wheelchair Clothes Guards / Side Guards Guide
13. Arm rests
United Spinal Association - Wheelchair Armrests What Do They Really Do?
Spinlife - Wheelchair Arm Rest Choices
Motion Composites - Armrests: Getting the Support you Need
14. Back supports
Motion Composites - Solid vs Upholstery Backs
Mobility Management - How to Choose the Right Back Height for your Client
Freedom Mobility Center - Why a Solid Back is Preferred Over a Sling Back
Mobility Basics - Back Supports
Sunrise Medical - Tips for Selecting Prefabricated Wheelchair Backs
Motion Composites - Covering the Basics of Wheelchair and Back Support Covers
15. Head supports
16. Push handles
Motion Composites - Push Handles: Pushing Around
17. Wheels
Motion Composites - Rolling Along: The Importance of Rear Wheel Selection
Sunrise Medical - Comparing Wheelchair Wheel Spoke Options
Mobility Basics - Manual Wheelchair Wheels
18. Tires
New Mobility - Everything You Need to Know About Selecting the Right Wheelchair Tires
GTK - Solid versus Pneumatic Tyres
Mobility Basics - Manual Wheelchair Wheels
Motion Composites - Tire Selection: Balancing Performance and Maintenance
19. Brakes
Motion Composites - Wheel Locks: Unlocking Safety and Function
20. Push rims/Hand rims
Motion Composites - Getting a Grasp: Understanding the Impact of Hand Rims
DME Hub - Wheelchair Hand Rom Options and Factors to Consider
21. Anti-tip wheels
22. Camber
Motion Composites - Camber - Degrees of Performance
23. Center of Gravity
Motion Composites - Rear Wheel Position 101
Hey guys! As a writer myself, it’s hard to have a lot of resources for writing in one place. That’s why I decided to create this masterpost, and maybe make more if I find future resources. I hope you like it, and expect to see more masterposts like this in the future!
Generators
Character
Appearance Generator
Archetypes Generator
Character Generator
Character Traits Generator
Family Generator
Job/Occupation Generator, (II)
Love Interest Generator
Motive Generator
Name Generator
Personality Generator, (II)
Quick Character Generator
Super Powers Generator
Names
Brand Name Generator
Medicine Title Generator
Name Generator
Quick Name Generator
Vehicle Generator
Town Name Generator
Plot
First Encounter Generator
First Line Generator, (II)
Plot Generator, (II), (III)
Plot Device Generator
Plot Twist Generator
Quick Plot Generator
Setting/World-Building
City Generator
Fantasy Race Generator
Laws Generator
Pet Generator
Setting Generator
Species Generator
Terrain Generator
Prompts
Subject Generator
”Take Three Nouns” Generator
Word Prompt Generator
Misc
Color Generator
Decision Generator
Dialogue Generator
Journey Generator
Title Generator, (II), (III)
Some Tips
Just a few I found from the writing tips tag!
Writing action / @berrybird
How to create a strong voice in your writing / @collegerefs
How to plot a complex novel in one day! / @lizard-is-writing
8 ways to get past writer’s block / @kiramartinauthor
psa for writers / @dasakuryo
”Write Using Your 5 Senses” / @ambientwriting
How People Watching Improves Your Writing / @wherethetransthingsare
Writing Science Fiction: Tips for Beginners / @fictionwritingtips
Creating Likeable Characters / @authors-haven
Vocabulary
Descriptive words / @somekindofstudent
Words to replace “Said” / @msocasey
Obscure color words / @mintsteelpeachlilac
Words to spice up your stories / @busyibee
Words to describe someone’s voice
Words to Use Instead of Very / @gaybybirth
Touchy Feely Words / @gaybybirth
Some Advice
Stephen King’s Top 20 Rules for Writers
”But my plot isn’t UNIQUE or BIG enough!” / @youreallwrite
8 Things Every Creative Should Know / @adamjk
(How To) Get Over Comparing Yourself to Other Creatives / @adamjk
How to Get Over Common Creative Fears (Maybe) / @adamjk
14 Tips From Stephen King On Writing / @i-can-give-you-prompts
Playlists
Electronic Thoughts / @eruditekid
“Mix About Writing” An Instrumental Mix / @shadowofemirates
Shut Up, I’m Writing! / @ninadropdead
Chill / @endlessreveries
Breathtaking Film Scores / @tweedskirts
Music to Write to Vol. 1: Starlight / @crestadeen
Music for Written Words / @ghoulpatch
Dead Men Tell No Tales / @scamandersnewt
Fatale / @dolcegf
All These Things that I’ve Done / @referenceforwriters
Feeling Soaking into Your Bones / @verylondon
I Can Feel Your Pulse in the Pages / @rphelper
Morally Ambiguous / @scamandersnewt
Wonderwall / @wheelerwrites
Pythia / @mazikeene
Ballet: To Dance / @tanaquil
Websites and Apps
For Writing
ZenPen: A minimalist writing website to keep you free of distractions and in the flow.
The Most Dangerous Writing App: A website where you have to keep typing or all of your writing will be lost. It helps you keep writing…kind of. You can choose between a time or word count limit!
Evernote: An online website where you can take notes and save the product to your laptop and/or smartphone!
Writer, the Internet Typewriter: It’s just you and your writing, and you can save your product on the website if you create an account.
Wordcounter: A website to help check your word and character count, and shows words you’re using frequently.
Monospace: An Android app for writing on the go when you feel the inspiration, but you don’t have your laptop on you!
For Productivity
Tide: An app that combines a pomodoro-esque timer with nature sounds and other noises! (Google Play / Apple Store)
ClearFocus: An Android app with a pomodoro-type time counter to let you concentrate easier and stay productive.
Forest: An app with a time counter to keep you focused and off your phone, and when you complete the time limit, a tree grows in your garden! (Google Play / Apple Store)
SelfControl: A Mac downloadable app that blocks you from distracting mail servers, websites, and other things!
Prompt Blogs
@writeworld
@dialouge-prompts
@oopsprompts
@prompts-for-the-otp
@creativepromptsforwriting
@the-modern-typewriter
@theprofessionalpromptmaker
@writers-are-writers
@otp-imagines-cult
@witterprompts
@havetobememes
@auideas
@putthepromptsonpaper
@promptsonpaper
@fyotpprompts
@otpisms
@soprompt
@otpprompts
@ablockforwritersblock
@awritersnook
Writing Tips Blogs
@writeworld
@anomalously-written
@awritersnook
@clevergirlhelps
@referenceforwriters
@whataboutwriting
@thewritershelpers
@nimblesnotebook
@slitheringink
tumblr has an AI toggle you should turn on to prevent your work being shared with training models/etc! it's under settings & visibility.
basically I think that if your protagonist doesn’t want to fuck someone so bad it makes them look stupid, then there probably isn’t enough energy in your story. “Fuck someone” isn’t literal btw—they can want to uncover the secrets of their parent’s death, they can want to prove their worth, they can want a donut from one particular bakery—it can be anything so long as they want it so bad that they’ll make decisions that make any sane person go “are you a moron??”, with little to no forethought, or even tons of forethought and this is still the option they chose. Because they want to fuck that thing so bad.
I've already said that my number one piece of writing advice is to read.
But my number two piece of advice is this: be deliberate.
Honestly this would fix so many pieces of bad writing advice. Don't forbid people from doing something, tell them to be conscious and deliberate about it. This could help stop people from falling into common mistakes without limiting their creativity. Black and white imperatives may stop a few annoying beginner habits, but ultimately they will restrict artistic expression.
Instead of "don't use epithets": "Know the effect epithets have and be deliberate about using them." Because yes, beginners often misuse them, but they can be useful when a character's name isn't known or when you want to reduce them to a particular trait they have.
Instead of "don't use 'said'" or "just use 'said'": "Be deliberate about your use of dialogue tags." Because sometimes you'll want "said" which fades into the background nicely, but sometimes you will need a more descriptive alternative to convey what a character is doing.
Instead of "don't use passive voice": "Be deliberate about when you use passive voice." Because using it when it's not needed can detract from your writing, but sometimes it can be useful to change the emphasis of a sentence or to portray a particular state of mind.
Instead of blindly following or ignorantly neglecting the rules of writing, familiarize yourself with them and their consequences so you can choose when and if breaking them would serve what you're trying to get across.
Your writing is yours. Take control of it.
It probably sounds like I'm preaching to the choir here because most of my mutuals are already great writers. But I'm hoping this will make it to the right people.
Apparently you’re a person to ask about writing, so here I am with my writing question.
I recently started on my manuscript, and I’m finding the start kinda hard to write. I’ve heard the advice that you’re supposed to set up the protagonist’s “normal world” before introducing the conflict. However, I’m finding it a bit difficult, since everything I’ve (vaguely) outlined is after the conflict starts.
So the question is, how long do I set up the normal world before introducing the conflict? A few scenes? A couple chapters? And how do I do it without it feeling stagnant? Do I need to introduce some sort of sub-conflict to keep the plot going? Or what?
Thanks in advance!
- anon
Hi! So sorry for the delay. Life has been hectic, and I'm currently working my way through a huge backlog of Asks. So thanks for your patience.
Starting a manuscript can be such a tricky balance, especially when it comes to introducing the “normal world” before diving into the main conflict. You’re definitely not alone in finding this part hard to write—it has vexed me personally many a time.
The truth is, there’s no set rule for how much time you should spend on the normal world. Some stories linger for a few chapters; others launch right into the conflict and sprinkle bits of the normal world in as they go. It really depends on the type of story you’re telling and what feels right for your protagonist.
That said, here are a few tips that might help:
1. Introduce Change Early: You don’t have to write the entire “normal world” before the conflict starts—just give us enough to understand what the protagonist’s life was like before. A few key details or scenes can go a long way in helping readers understand what’s being disrupted.
2. Use Smaller Conflicts: If the big conflict comes later, introducing a sub-conflict early on can help keep things interesting. It doesn’t have to be huge—just something to show us what your protagonist cares about and how they handle challenges.
3. Focus on Character: The normal world is as much about setting up your protagonist as it is about the plot. Show us what they want, what frustrates them, or what’s missing from their life. That way, when the conflict arrives, readers are already invested in their journey.
4. Play with Structure: If starting with the normal world feels too slow, consider opening with a taste of the conflict (or its aftermath), then flashing back briefly to show how the protagonist got there. It’s a classic move, but it works for a reason!
The key is to keep the story moving—whether through character tension, worldbuilding, or smaller conflicts—so the normal world feels alive and connected to what’s coming.
I hope this helps, and good luck with your manuscript! Starting is always tough, but once you hit your stride, it’ll all start to click.
Hope this helps!
Bucket
/ / / / / / / / / / /
@theliteraryarchitect is a writing advice blog run by me, Bucket Siler, a writer and developmental editor. For more writing help, download my Free Resource Library for Fiction Writers, join my email list, or check out my book The Complete Guide to Self-Editing for Fiction Writers.
super simple low-effort ao3 summary methods that are 1000% better and 1000% less annoying than just saying you suck at summaries:
copypaste the first few lines of the fic. u already wrote 'em. let 'em be their own damn hook
if ur feeling fancy & don't mind showing ur hand a bit, copypaste the first few lines of the fic that u feel are esp. Important or Interesting - the ones where u first start getting into the real meat of things
state the main tropes! theyre probably already in ur tags - just say them again - maybe as a full sentence if ur feelin fancy. or with a joke if ur feelin Extra fancy
ask a question. pose a hypothetical. eg what happens if u take [character] and put them in [situation]?
make an equation. [character] + [thing] = [outcome]
just write like a one-sentence summary of what the fuck is going down. just one (1) sentence. doesnt matter if it doesn't cover every important aspect. or if it sounds bland. any summary sentence is gonna be miles better than "idk i suck at summaries"
just...explain the fic like u would to a friend? it doesnt have to be a polished back of the book blurb. it can just be "[pairing] coffee shop au, but like, still with murder, and also i made everyone trans. enjoy"
just stick a meme in there
honestly who cares
just put literally anything but a self deprecating comment in there & ur golden
how could someone get started writing poetry? what are the skills to build and how can i build them? i’m scared i don’t have anything to say…… how can i find my voice?
An excellent and very common question! I can’t lay any claim to being a big poetry maven at this point—it’s been quite a while since I’ve written any, or even seriously READ any—but I can tell you some things I learned and some things I think, and I hope that will be at least a little helpful.
The first thing to note is that finding my voice and something to say was, in my experience, inseparable from living my actual life and thinking for myself. I was writing poetry from the age of 12 or 13, and only now, 18 or so years later, do I feel like I have anything of importance to say. And that only sometimes. It may work differently for other people, but that’s how it worked for me. I would advise you not to worry about your voice for now. The thing I was doing early on is PLAYING with language, trying things out, imitating writers I admired. Take the pressure off yourself!
As for the skills you need to build, the most important one by far is perseverance. Any artist will tell you this. You won’t write masterpieces straight out of the gate; no one does. You have to learn not to be discouraged too much if you look down and your writing and feel nothing but horror. That is a universal experience, and you won’t be able to write well if you can’t push through it somehow and keep going. The rest of the skills you need you can learn by imitation, constraint, trial and error, etc.
If you want specific instructions, see below. These roughly correspond to the way I learned to write poetry.
The first thing to do is to read a lot of poetry. Find an anthology with broad coverage and generous aesthetic guidelines, one that brings together a lot of different kinds of poetry. Flip through it. Read at random. As you do, some things will enchant you, some things will baffle you, some things will make you wonder why people think they’re good, and so on. Zero in on poems that really affect you, and note the poets. These will be your foundation.
Then, read more deeply in these poets that interest you. You’ll find as you read that each poet has patterns, tricks and maneuvers they do over and over again. Note them. And note the conventions of poetry in general—how line breaks are used, what rhythms keep emerging.
Once you have a good idea of at least how your favored poets work, try out their tricks for yourself. Write about anything at all, but try to follow your poet’s motions. As you do this, you’ll discover the interactions and tensions between form and content, and you’ll start to learn why certain topics in poetry take certain forms.
A helpful thing to do when writing anything is to set yourself a rule or two. Write against challenges—write in established forms, or confine your vocabulary, or whatever you like. This will focus your work and allow for creative leaps that would never have occurred to you if you were just trying to summon something out of nothing. Free writing can also help with this—if you’re forcing yourself to write nonstop for a period of minutes, something about the stream of consciousness can unlock unusual and striking connections.
Once you’re doing all that, the next step is just to live your life. But live it observantly, with an eye toward everything—your own feelings, physical objects, images, sounds, patterns. Absorb things. And while you’re at it, tackle some nonpoetic task or project that forces you to really think. As much as poetry is associated with feeling, what a great poem really is is the track of the poet’s thought laid down in as appropriate a form as possible, so that you think along with the poet as you read. Without thought, there is no poetry.
The synthesis and end of all these steps is not only writing poetry, but appreciating, understanding, and loving it. All of these things feed and fuel one another. It’s an engine you have to build within yourself. And if you’re successful, you’ll have enriched your life as well as your art.
I wish you the best of luck.
P.S. It’s fine to discover kinds of poetry or poets that you don’t care for, or dislike, or hate with a burning passion, so long as you understand what it is they’re trying to do.
One of the most important lessons I ever learned about art was when I became a late addition to the editorial board for the literature part of my high school's lit/art magazine, which nobody ever read.
Because I realized after a couple of meetings that my moments of baffled distress during them were centering around a pattern of our votes electing by majority to reject most of the good, interesting stuff and agree to publish the very bland.
So I was looking around this room of people I mostly liked or respected if not both, trying to figure out what the fuck when there was no reasonable way of asking, until the day we by majority vote sent definitely the best thing submitted all year back pending 'revisions' which of course would not be made, because the poet would definitely either become demoralized or know for damn sure she was too good for our stupid journal. I have no idea which it was; it's a question of mindset, and the submissions were anonymous.
This good poem was rejected for two reasons, both of which were actually manifestations of it being good. One was that it had made a couple of the board uncomfortable--not by having any shocking subject material, mind, just by provoking emotions with unusual descriptive language and indirectness--and they'd transmitted that uneasiness throughout the group during discussion.
And the other, seized upon as an excuse in light of the first, was that by being complex in terms of both structure and notion it had drawn several of us in, interested enough to engage critically and respond in depth, and so we'd marked it up with lots of places we thought a word choice could have been a little stronger, a line break had been a little odd; ways we thought it could have been a more excellent version of the poem we perceived in it. None of them ways it was actually bad. Just places we felt it could have been better.
At the same meeting, we voted to accept a poem that was an utterly tepid rectangle of predictable nothing-in-particular, because no one could find anything in it to object to.
It wasn't good. It wasn't noticeably bad, either, though; it was one consistent level of mediocrity clear through, and thus no part of it stood out as a weakness, and therefore the committee found it more acceptable than the poem that was superior in every way, but which by being daring and interesting had left itself covered in vulnerable places.
The understanding I reached as a result of this experience was multi-layered and difficult to articulate, but the most important part, I think, to share is that the value and quality of a work are not, in fact, very well measured by how many negative things you can find to say about it.
tips for writing good romance tension
inside jokes— brings the reader into the relationship. create something at the beginning of the story and then bring it up in the middle or at the end. reader catches it at the exact moment the couple does, making the moment more rewarding for the characters and reader all at once
specific attention paid to the same detail scene over scene— pick one or two details that the pov character notices (a physical detail on their partner, something about their hair or their body, the way a piece of clothing looks on them, the way sunlight/moonlight/candlelight falls on their face) and bring the detail up several times, characters in love will notice specific things and keep coming back to them, this repetition will get the reader to think, “yes, i get it too”
focus on visible signs of emotion from both parties— a racing pulse, a flush creeping up someone’s neck, a smile, a bouncing knee, a shiver, either from the pov character or the partner, love makes you crazy and visible emotion noticed by one or both parties builds the crazy and crazy tension
at least one sensory detail that comes up during a critical moment— a smell, a feeling, warmth, light, pick something sensory and bring it up again just before a kiss or a moment of closeness, calling back to an earlier scene, bring the reader into the relationship by making them also remember how this started and how they got here, involve them in the chase and the reward
A lot of fiction these days reads as if—as I saw Peter Raleigh put it the other day, and as I’ve discussed it before—the author is trying to describe a video playing in their mind. Often there is little or no interiority. Scenes play out in “real time” without summary. First-person POV stories describe things the character can’t see, but a distant camera could. There’s an overemphasis on characters’ outfits and facial expressions, including my personal pet peeve: the “reaction shot round-up” in which we get a description of every character’s reaction to something as if a camera was cutting between sitcom actors.
When I talk with other creative writing professors, we all seem to agree that interiority is disappearing. Even in first-person POV stories, younger writers often skip describing their character’s hopes, dreams, fears, thoughts, memories, or reactions. This trend is hardly limited to young writers though. I was speaking to an editor yesterday who agreed interiority has largely vanished from commercial fiction, and I think you increasingly notice its absence even in works shelved as “literary fiction.” When interiority does appear on the page, it is often brief and redundant with the dialogue and action. All of this is a great shame. Interiority is perhaps the prime example of an advantage prose as a medium holds over other artforms.
fascinated by this article, "Turning Off the TV in Your Mind," about the influences of visual narratives on writing prose narratives. i def notice the two things i excerpted above in fanfic, which i guess makes even more sense as most of the fic i read is for tv and film. i will also be thinking about its discussion of time in prose - i think that's something i often struggle with and i will try to be more conscious of the differences between screen and page next time i'm writing.
writing tip: searching "[place of origin]ish names" will get you a lot of stuff and nonsense made up by baby bloggers.
searching "[place] census [year]" will get you lists of real names of real people who lived in that place.
Your English teachers lied to you.
Thought I'd post my old writing advice guides onto this blog since I deleted my old one. I hope it's helpful!
::
Listen. I respect the hell out of teachers. The vast majority of them work crazy hard and most of the time, including the times they give you well-meaning ‘writing rules,’ only want to instill good and helpful habits into you.
That doesn’t change the fact that many of these rules are stupid.
Here are my top five ‘writing rule’ pet peeves, and five rules that should be followed.
✗ Don’t write ‘said.’
Okay, I know this is common knowledge by now, but it’s so important. The concept that you can never write ‘ so-and-so said’ is hurting novice writers’ narratives. Said is invisible. Said is powerful. Said is transformable. If every quote ends in a strong synonym, it is distracting. Sometimes, in an established repartee, quotes don’t need to be tagged at all. Or an adverb following ‘said’ might be better for the narrative than any single verb.
Eg. // “I hate the rain,” grumbled David.
“I love it,” Claire announced.
“You love everything,” he muttered.
“Including you!” she giggled.
versus.
“I hate the rain,” grumbled David.
“I love it,” said Claire.
“You love everything,” he said impatiently.
“Including you!”
✓ Don’t write ‘something.’
Cold hard truth, baby. ‘Something’ is a draft word. It’s what you write when you want to think of a replacement. I cringe when I see it in a sentence that would have been improved tenfold by a specific noun or descriptive phrase in its place. There are times when ‘something’ works or is the only option, but experiment by replacing that word with more description before deciding it’s necessary to keep.
Eg. // He pulled something shiny from his pocket. She craned her neck to see what it was. A metal flask. versus. A flash of light caught the metal he pulled from his pocket. She craned her neck to see what it was. A drinking flask.
-
✗ Avoid adverbs.
This is true and false, but I’ll address the false part first. The concept that you can’t use adverbs at all is ridiculous. Don’t blindly (!) replace every adverb in your prose with a single verb because someone said you should. You want whatever you are writing to flow well and to deliver the best impact or imagery. Sometimes that means adverbs. Or you might want the verb to be discreet (such as when using ‘said’) but still want to invoke emotion. That also means adverbs.
Eg. // "Don't do that!" she spluttered, panicked by the urgency of the situation. versus. "Don't do that!" she said frantically, panicked by the urgency of the situation.
✓ Use strong verbs. At least consider them.
Verbs make the world go ‘round, people. Most of the time, a strong verb will make your writing flow well and deliver the best impact or imagery. Weigh a strong verb against an adverb + weaker verb and decide the one you want to keep in a scene. Don’t just stick with whichever you wrote first because you grew attached to the sentence.
Eg. // She held up her blood-slicked sword proudly, her other fist raised triumphantly. versus. She thrust her blood-slicked sword into the air, her other fist clenched high in triumph.
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✗ Don’t use a thesaurus.
I. HATE. This rule. I had an English teacher in middle school who marked any words she thought you had looked up as wrong. As a young reader with a large vocabulary, I was always needing to prove that I hadn’t just picked a random synonym from a thesaurus, that I knew and deliberately chose those words. (That sentence has a great example of a necessary adverb! Get BENT Mrs E. (She also hated adverbs.)) This is the same idiotic concept as telling artists not to use reference images. Use a thesaurus if a certain word is failing you or you hate every word you’ve come up with yourself. There’s nothing bad or shameful about it.
Eg. // There are no examples for this. I’m not sure how I would even do that. Insert stock photo of someone perusing a thesaurus here?
✓ Don’t use words you aren’t comfortable with.
Now, when you search the great wide web for a synonym to a word and then choose whichever one sounds nice because hey, the internet said it was interchangeable, so it must be! … Yeah. Don’t do that.
I use a thesaurus to find words that I can’t think of in the moment but they are always ones I still know. Every word has a subtle (or not so subtle) connotation that you need familiarity with before deciding it is the perfect replacement. Know your words before you start playing Mix n Match.
Eg. // Amusement in the profession puts transcendence in the performance. (Utter nonsense, written by me and thesaurus.com) versus. Pleasure in the job puts perfection in the work. (Inspiring quote, written by Aristotle)
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✗ Don’t end sentences with a preposition.
Whoever made up this rule is an elitist hack. (I just googled it, and supposedly it began with a bunch of 17th century scholars who thought English should have Latin’s grammar, so. Yeah. Elitist hacks.) Ending sentences in prepositions sounds wayyyyy more natural than the alternative. If you don’t want to sound stilted, beat this rule into the dirt.
Eg. // They didn’t know of what she was capable. versus. They didn’t know what she was capable of.
✓ Be conscientious of your sentence construction.
A lot of grammar rules are bogus. Not ending a sentence with a preposition, not starting a sentence with a conjunction, not laying face down on the floor and screeching… Oh, right, that latter one isn’t a rule, it’s just what you want to do when you have to think about grammar.
But, regardless of bogus grammar rules, you need to put thought into your sentence construction. Editing (not writing) is the best time to do this. That’s when you can make sure the words flow together naturally as an individual sentence, as part of a paragraph, and within the chapter as a whole.
Another common construction faux pas that I see is disregarding the sequence of events because you believe it will have greater impact. In reality, if you avoid putting your narration out of order, it usually results in stronger sentences.
Eg. // "Tell me it's not true!" He stood in the doorway after bursting into Kyle's room, panting from his sprint up the stairs. versus. He sprinted up the stairs two at a time and burst into Kyle's room without knocking. "Tell me it's not true!" he demanded breathlessly.
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✗ If you break writing rules you’re a bad writer.
If anyone tries to convince you of this, kick them in the neck. (You heard it here folks, kick your DANG TEACHERS IN THE NECK.) (Not really, please don’t.) (If you do, though, don’t say that I encouraged it.) (I’m not encouraging it, I just want to make that clear. Please be nice to your teachers, they have hard jobs.)
Rules were made to be broken. You just need to know the rules in the first place in order to decide to break them, so it’s never a bad thing to educate yourself on general writing advice. Still, there is a fine line between creative liberty and bad writing, and sometimes a famous book or author turns the latter into the former. Know your stuff, but don’t be afraid to throw your stuff into the fire and watch it burn. (Figuratively. Don’t literally throw your possessions into fire, that’s irresponsible on so many levels.) (A lot of parentheses in this rule rant.) (Now that’s just bad writing.)
✓ Take writing rules and advice with a grain of salt, but don’t ignore them.
As a novice writer, or even an experienced one, it is hard to differentiate between which rules work best in your own prose. You may only realize it in hindsight. That doesn’t mean you should ignore every piece of writing advice or dismiss criticism of your work. Think critically about your own style, read books you enjoy and think about their styles, and deliberate– don’t dismiss. Maybe your writing style requires no dangling prepositions or never using an adverb. That’s your decision to make. Just… don’t make it because you’re too stubborn to see how you can improve.
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That’s all I’ve got! Do you have any pet peeves about common writing advice? Feel free to reblog and add your own!
Don’t forget to write a sentence of your story today! Thanks for reading~
3 Ways to Write Scene Transitions
Moving from one scene to another in your short story or novel can be challenging. If your plot spans more than a day or a week, you've got plenty of time to cover.
How do you transition your scenes without jumping over crucial plot points or making the pacing feel rushed?
There are a few tips you can try when you're facing this problem.
1. Tease What's to Come
Let's say you've started a chapter with your protagonist encountering people they don't like while shopping at the grocery store with their exhausted two-year-old. The experience is frustrating, so your protagonist is simmering while sitting at a red light on the way home.
The main action of the chapter happens when the babysitter arrives that night, but it's only 12 o'clock in your scene. You needed your protagonist to encounter the people that annoy them to establish motivation for the action later on.
You could jump time by teasing the action itself. Your protagonist could thrum their fingers on the steering wheel and glare at the red light.
They opened their arms to the resentment churning under their skin. It sank into their bones, morphing into electricity that kept [Protagonist] plodding through their day. The red light mocked their need to take action, but they could wait.
Because when the babysitter showed up that night, they would take their revenge out on the city.
That could be a great place for a scene break or even the end of your chapter, depending on how much you've written. The reader won't mind a time jump because their interest gets piqued. They'll want to know what revenge means for that character and what will spin out from the choices they make.
2. Switch Points of View
If you're writing a 3rd person POV story with perspectives from at least two characters, you can also transition scenes by switching narrators.
While one character completes a plot-relevant action, the other could move the plot along by being a bit further in the future.
Consider something like this as an example:
Sarah's heart beat wildly in her chest as the heavy words finally fell from her lips. It was just the two of them in that park, but it had felt like the whole world had watched her admit her love for Melanie in the molten gold rays of the setting sun. All she needed now was an answer.
[Scene break symbol or the start of a new chapter]
Melanie heard Sarah's heartfelt words echo in her ears long after she had mumbled something about needing time. Time to think, to process. Sarah had been so understanding, even when she dropped Melanie off at home right afterward and skipped their usual Facetime call that night.
It wasn't until Melanie woke up the next morning in a sweat that she realized she finally had to unearth her biggest secret—she had only started the friendship with Sarah because she'd been in love with Sarah's older sister since the second grade.
You could make that time jump into however long you needed. Play with the scene set up in particular and then give the page or two to whoever loves to read your writing. They could talk about if it felt like a rushed scene or if the time jump felt right for that moment.
3. Wrap Up the Moment
Most of the time, I find myself struggling with a scene transition because the moment that I'm writing isn't finished.
Recently I was writing a scene with two friends in a wagon on their way to a new city. They have a great conversation that sparks some character development in-between plot points, but I could feel that conversation coming to a lull.
It felt like the right moment to insert a transition, but something didn't feel right.
I had to walk away from my work and come back to it to realize that I needed to wrap up the moment to move anything forward.
The solution I found was ending the conversation by making them appreciate their friendship more than before, based on what had been said, and then the protagonist ended the scene by reflecting on how they knew they could face anything in the new city with their friend by their side.
The next scene started with their wagon approaching the city walls after a night of sleeping under the stars. The reader will still understand that it took more time to reach their destination, but they don't have to read excessive details about the cold night air or hard ground under the protagonist's back to get to what they're most looking forward to—the arrival at the new city.
Nothing about that night would add anything to the plot, so dropping the overnight experience at the beginning of the sentence makes for a great transition to the next scene.
Make Your Transitions Clear
Whether you end a scene with a cliffhanger, a heartfelt moment, or by switching between points of view, your transitions should always help the plot.
You can always edit them while reworking the finished draft later or ask for beta reader opinions from the people who always love reading what you write.
fifty ways to get to know your characters (and how to write them)
what is their name? and how does this fit their character?
last name?
do they have a middle name?
name a song that describes them
what are their pronouns?
gender and sexuality?
do they like someone romantically?
list five words to describe them
what about five dialogue tags to use consistently on this character?
what is their motivation?
do they consider themselves a good person?
colour that describes their personality
MBTI type
enneagram type
character they're based on
person they would bring down whilst dying
person they would kill if they had the chance
character they would get along with if they were in the same universe
character they would hate if they were in the same universe
artist they would listen to
artist they would hate
give them a theme song
make them a playlist! (see my other post for songs to put on that playlist, here)
make them a mood board
assign them an aesthetic
what are their strengths?
what about fatal weaknesses?
the one person who can convince them to do something they're stubbornly against
who would they kill for?
what tropes do they fall into?
fatal weakness (food edition)
book they would definitely read
language besides their mother tongue they would (have) learned
murder accomplice
thing that makes them go weak at the knees
most obscure thing they HATE
while we're there, biggest phobia
are they (would they be) a book or movie person?
are they a romantic
childhood experience that defines an aspect of their life
what is their age?
birth sign? / zodiac?
what constellation would they be
name a famous myth could they would have been the main character
old or new soul
assign them a smell
assign them a smell they like
can they swim?
street smarts or brain smarts?
what is this character's purpose to the plot?
as a mexican i can’t help but laugh at how wrong some americans writing mexican characters get the way our name system works so lemme explain so you can get it right!
so most mexicans (remarking MOST because i do mean 99% of us) have TWO last names that come from our parents. it’s basically like this:
name / paternal last name (dad’s first last name) / maternal last name (mum’s first last name).
the first last name is ALWAYS the paternal last name, it always comes from the dad side of the family. there are some exceptions though. in 3 states of the country it’s already legal to put the maternal last name first but it’s very rare and usually only in special cases, like when the father is absent for example.
there are also cases where the person has only one last name but this is not only extremely rare but it can cause a lot of hardships with legal documentation like school, banks, etc. this can happen for some reasons:
1- they’re the child of a single parent (however, to avoid the difficulties that come with having one single last name some end up being registered with the same last names as the parent, but inverted)
2- they were registered in another country where they only have one last name (for example USA, a friend of mine was registered there and for that reason they only have one last name in their documents)
it’s important to mention that unlike american last names, the two last names are not separated by “-” they’re only separated by a space.
the last names are not necessarily one word, some have two or three. for example last names like “de la rosa” or “del olmo”
also, there’s no such thing as married name here. women don’t change their last names nor mix them with their husbands last names.
as i am aware, last names tend to work like this in all latin america but many specific details may be different depending on the country and i am not that well informed.
either way, i hope this helps anyone who’s developing a mexican character!
How to write: ethnicity & skin colour
requested by: anonymous request: How exactly can I describe a characters ethnicity/skin color casually, without it sounding like a specific scene that just exists to describe the skin color? I hope this makes sense lmao… I just want to write a scene where I casually mention someone’s ethnicity or skin color
description of appearance: No matter if skin colour or hairstyle or clothes, a text is more dynamic if you don't dedicate an entire scene/paragraph to it but rather sprinkle the necessary information in here and there. However, there can be instances where it's conducive to the plot to put that entire paragraph (e.g. introducing a new important character with backstory). Otherwise, I'd say try to keep it short and put it where it serves the plot.
ways to incorporate...
... a description of appearance:
when a character makes their first entrance (describe everyone's colouring - POCs' and white characters')
the impression their complexion makes together with their clothes: "the bright yellow of their shirt complemented their dark skin"
the way their colouring interacts with lighting: "the grey weather took away the rosy hue of their fair skin"
when appearances create a contrast: "I immediately noticed them because they were the only other black person"
... ethnicity:
let the characters mention it where it makes sense
regarding the narrator you've chosen for your story, it can also be blended into an inner monologue
include parts of their culture: traditions, terms, family, etc. (this also allows to bring up their ethnicity repeatedly over the story and not only at the beginning)
show their struggles: are they affected by social struggles? then show it!
words to use to describe skin colour:
... basic colour descriptions:
brown
black
beige
white
pink
... more specific colours (try sticking to familiar/common words that can be easily visualised):
amber
bronze
copper
gold
ochre
terracotta
sepia
sienna
porcelain
tan
... prefixes or modifiers (can be easily combined with basic colours):
dark
rich
warm
deep
fair
faint
light
cool
pale
... undertones (pre-dominant colours underneath the skin - often warm or cool, sometimes also neutral and olive):
yellow
orange
coral
golden
silver
rose
pink
red
blue
... avoid food analogies as it's often received as offending, fetishising, and/or objectifying.
That's all I can provide as of now but I'm sure you guys have aspects to contribute. I'm very interested to hear your thoughts, so please feel free to add to this post whatever you like to/can share <3
And for more information, maybe also check out @writingwithcolor for more specialised posts on the topic <3
7 fool-proof ways to connect with your characters
Finding it a bit hard to connect to a certain character in your story? Here are 7 ways to get over that hump →
Start with the little things Every person has their own quirks, and so should your characters. A character might fall flat in your vision because of an absence of these small unique traits. Lean into this, think of habits they fall to when they get emotional, or weird little obsessions they linger on.
Give them a small trait of your own Don’t misinterpret this advice as writing yourself into the story! What I mean by this is to pick a small trait or a habit of your own to add a bit of yourself into a character you’re finding it difficult to connect with. This is a great trick to use if you’re writing a type of personality that differs from your own, and helps layer out character too!
Figure out what they want most Knowing a character's motivation - or what it is that actually drives them forward in the story, is one of the key things you should know about any character. If you’re finding it hard to connect to one of them, think about whether you’ve given them clear and tangible motivation within your story world.
And then figure out why they can’t get that Once you know what your character wants, what their goal might be, think of a reason why they can’t get it, or what that process of achieving the goal might be difficult for them. Usually, this works great if it comes from within - meaning that your character carries a flaw that stops them from acting on their goal.
Don’t underestimate kindness Flawed and morally gray characters are great. But don’t underestimate the power of a kind, positive trait. It’s what makes readers fall in love, and what will ultimately help you fall in love with the character, too. We don’t fall in love with a character’s snark, but with the emotions they hide behind the snark.
Give yourself time to get to know them Sometimes you don’t immediately click with all your characters, and that’s okay. That happens. It takes time to get to know what makes them tick, sometimes it takes writing them in a scene, then rewriting them in a different way in the same scene to feel out what’s most natural to them. If a character feels distant to you, let yourself explore a different approach to how you write them.
Don’t rush into who they are It can be really fun to keep a mystery about someone. And sometimes that’s all it takes for readers to be intrigued and feel connected to a character. This can work really well for you as the author, too. Don’t rush into writing down everything about your character in the first few chapters, keep a few details for later and work up to them.
Writing Realistic Characters - part 2
- Journal from their perspective. It can be hard to write compelling, realistic motivation for characters if you don’t understand them yourself. By journalling from their perspective, even if the content of the journal isn’t included in your story, you’ll essentially be thinking as the character. This should help you understand who they are and how they make choices and react to things, like a real person would.
- Answer “character questions”, but be careful when using lists found online. The internet is full of lists of questions for writers to answer when building characters, but not all of them are actually that important or useful. The fact is, it really doesn’t matter what a character’s favourite colour, animal or day of the week is (unless it’s relevant to your story… but it usually isn’t). When looking for question lists online, or making your own, focus on questions that have to do with your character’s personality, such as how they’d react to a situation or which values matter more to them.
- Make character charts! I can’t stress this enough — character charts are incredibly useful tools for writers and I don’t know what I’d do without them. They’re a great way to keep track of important information about your characters in an organized way that’s easy to access when you need to quickly check a detail. I’d also strongly recommend making your own charts, not using templates online (I find it a lot easier to stay organized when I’m using my own organizational system). If you need a place to start, though, I normally create charts with 4 categories: role (protagonist, antagonist, etc.), name, identities (gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, etc.), and description (just a brief few sentences about them). You can also make personality charts with things like their greatest flaw, greatest strength, story goals, etc.
- Come up with a few detailed memories/anecdotes from their past. Think of them as mini-stories you can drop into your main story to build a more realistic life around the character. These don’t have to be crucial to the plot, and should be brought up in a natural way, such as in conversation with another character or in the main character’s thoughts. For example, your MC’s best friend might compliment her necklace, and she tells them how her sister gave it to her as a birthday present before moving away. You can also use these anecdotes to drop in important information in a non-obvious way. Continuing the example above, the MC could mention that her sister has the same design necklace, but in green. Later, this becomes a clue, when she finds the green necklace outside the villain’s lair.
- Keep a record of their backstory. This one doesn’t really need much explaining… Just keep notes of your character’s backstory as you come up with it so you don’t risk inconsistencies, which tend to break down realism.
- Remember that the reader can’t see what’s in your head. Your characters may be fully developed, realistic people in your head, but that makes it easy to forget that your readers don’t automatically understand them the way you do — they only know what’s on the page. Asking other people to read your work can help you understand how your characters come through to an audience, but if you don’t want to do that, just re-reading it yourself is also helpful. If you do the latter, though, go through an entire chapter at a time, the way a reader would, not small sections.
Character developement
- Create a detailed backstory: Develop a rich and layered backstory for your character, including their upbringing, past experiences, and significant events that have shaped them. This will provide a foundation for their personality and motivations.
- Define core traits: Identify a few core personality traits that define your character. Consider both positive and negative traits to make them more well-rounded and realistic.
- Give them strengths and weaknesses: No character is perfect. Give your character a mix of strengths and weaknesses to make them relatable and interesting. These flaws can create internal conflicts and opportunities for growth.
- Establish goals and motivations: Determine what drives your character. What are their goals, desires, or ambitions? Understanding their motivations will help shape their actions and decisions throughout the story.
- Create relationships: Develop meaningful relationships for your character with other characters in the story. This includes friends, family, romantic partners, and even adversaries. Consider how these relationships influence and shape your character's development.
- Show internal conflict: Explore the internal struggles and dilemmas your character faces. This could be conflicting emotions, difficult choices, or battling their own fears and insecurities. Internal conflict adds depth and complexity to their development.
- Allow for growth and change: Characters should evolve throughout the story. Consider a character arc that takes your character from a starting point to a transformed state by the end. Give them challenges and experiences that allow them to learn, grow, and change over time.
- Use dialogue effectively: Craft dialogue that reflects your character's unique voice, speech patterns, and personality traits. Dialogue can reveal their emotions, beliefs, and thought processes, providing insights into their character.
- Show, don't tell: Instead of explicitly telling readers about your character's traits, show them through their actions, choices, and interactions with others. This allows readers to form their own opinions and connections with the character.
- Continuously refine and develop: Characters are not static entities. As you write, remain open to new ideas and opportunities for character development. Allow your characters to surprise you and evolve beyond your initial plans.
50 WORDS TO USE INSTEAD OF “SAID”
Do you ever find yourself over-using the word “said” in your writing? Try using these words/phrases instead:
stated
commented
declared
spoke
responded
voiced
noted
uttered
iterated
explained
remarked
acknowledged
mentioned
announced
shouted
expressed
articulated
exclaimed
proclaimed
whispered
babbled
observed
deadpanned
joked
hinted
informed
coaxed
offered
cried
affirmed
vocalized
laughed
ordered
suggested
admitted
verbalized
indicated
confirmed
apologized
muttered
proposed
chatted
lied
rambled
talked
pointed out
blurted out
chimed in
brought up
wondered aloud
(NOTE: Keep in mind that all of these words have slightly different meanings and are associated with different emotions/scenarios.)
Character Types for Your Next Story
Great ideas for characters will come and go, but there are always concrete character types that you can count on to carry a plot.
Check out the most common types to see if they're what you need to make your next story come to life.
The Protagonist
This is your main character. They're the central focus of the story, the person who resolves the main conflict, or the individual who grows with or from the story's theme.
You can also have multiple protagonists! 3rd-person POV stories/books often have at least two main characters because switching between their points of view furthers the plot, adds tension, or develops their world for the reader.
Examples: Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbit; Claire Randall in Outlander
The Antagonist
This is your main character's opposition. They'll be the force against which your protagonist clashes to experience the conflict that results in their growth. Sometimes the antagonist functions as an obstacle for the protagonist to overcome. Other times, they're a lesson the main character needs to learn by the end of the story.
You can create multiple antagonists for one protagonist or multipel antagonist for a cast of protagonists. It depends on the story you have in mind and what POV you'll be using.
Examples: The White Witch in The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe; Pennywise in It
The Central (Major) Characters
Central characters are what you would call the individual protagonists who make up your cast of characters. They all grow throughout your plot and are essential to the backbone of your story.
Examples: the seven demigods in the Prophecy of Seven in The Heroes of Olympus series; the multigenerational protagonists in Homegoing
The Secondary (Minor) Characters
Secondary characters are often called sidekicks or companions. They're part of your protagonist's life and is along for the ride with them. Although your plot might not be the same without them (if they're a love interest, family member, or another person close to your protagonist), they primary exist to develop the protagonist.
Examples: Dr. Watson in the Sherlock Holmes series; Cinna in The Hunger Games series
The Static Characters
Writers need static characters to essentially remain the same for plot purposes. These characters are typically unaffected by what's happening in the protagonist's life because they're one or two steps removed from it.
Alternatively, your static character can also be antagonist. They're actively involved in your protagonist's life, but they don't undergo any inner changes that result in character growth.
Examples: Dolores Umbridge in the Harry Potter series (she remains unchanged because she has to be a constant source of conflict); Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird (he remains unchanged because he represents morality and reason to Scout)
The Dynamic Characters
Dynamic characters change throughout a story. They're most often the protagonist or one of the main cast of characters because they are actively involved in the plot.
These could be your protagonist, antagonist, or any other character that undergoes some time of fundamental change.
Examples: Ebenezer Scrooge in A Christmas Carol; Celaena Sardothien in Throne of Glass
The Flat Characters
Flat characters experience no change throughout a story. They may arrive at the end with a different opinion or goal, but they're almost identical to who they were at the beginning of the story.
Don't assume flat characters are boring or unnecessary! They always represent something for the protagonist or the reader. They can also be the antagonist!
Examples: Marmee in Little Women (she's a role model for her daughters and remains their true north throughout the book); Suzy Nakamura in American Born Chinese (she helps Wei-Chen face his complicated feelings about feeling like an outcast for his race by being vocal about hers, but that remains her sole purpose in the plot.)
The Round Characters
When someone talks about a round character, they don't mean the character's physical appearance. Instead, this phrase refers to a protagonist or antagonist's internal depth.
Round characters have complex personalities. They may contradict themselves sometimes or the people they love the most. These characters typically have full backstories and embody the phrase, "they contain multitudes."
Examples: Amy Dunne in Gone Girl; Elizabeth Bennet in Pride and Prejudice
The Stock Characters
Stock characters are flat characters that resemble a stereotype easily recognized by readers. They're your geek teenager with oversized glasses or the best friend who is only there to be the punchline.
Sometimes these characters are written so well that readers don't mind the stereotype. It depends on their relationship with other characters in your story and if they only embody the stereotype up front. Successful stock characters eventually reveal the depth of their hearts or undergo developments that push beyond the limits of their stereotype.
Examples: Rapunzel (the damsel in distress); Alaska Young in Looking for Alaska (the manic pixie dream girl)
The Anti-Hero
Readers love anti-heroes because they're protagonists who start off as the worst version of themselves and grow into the best they can be. There are always external and internal obstacles for them to overcome, which may or may not clash.
They can also start off as versions of themselves that are inherently good, then become more like an antagonist but for the right reasons. Readers may still cheer them on and hope they revert to their previous good ways or read your story to watch your anti-hero follow their worst instincts until the world crumbles around them.
Examples: Dexter Morgan in the Dexter series; Patrick Bateman in American Psycho
The Foil
Typically, the foil in any story is someone who's opposite of the protagonist. They encourage the main character to grow throughout the plot by holding reverse opinions, world views, or values.
Examples: God and Satan in Paradise Lost; Lennie and George in Of Mice and Men
The Symbolic Character
Characters can be great by themselves, but many times they will represent something the author is trying to talk about through their work. A symbolic character is the representation of an aspect of society, an idea, or theme.
Examples: the raven in The Raven (symbolizes the narrator's grief and the presence of death in general); Aslan in The Chronicles of Narnia series (symbolizes God/Jesus)
The Deuteragonist
Deuteragonists are also called the secondary characters. They're the closest characters to the protagonist throughout their journey. They give the story more depth, either through their close relationship with the protagonist or by working against them as or alongside the antagonist.
Examples: Edward Cullen in the Twilight series; Jiminy Cricket in Pinocchio
The Tertiary
You'll rarely see a tertiary character more than a few times in a story. They're background characters that most often create minor conflict on the protagonist's journey with their primary conflict. Tertiary characters add depth to a story's world, but aren't essential to the plot.
However, tertiary characters are important! Without them, there would be no nosy server at your protagonist's favorite coffee shop or supportive librarian at your main character's library.
Examples: Parvati and Padma Patil in Harry Potter; Madame Stahl in Anna Karenina
The Love Interest
Ah, the love interest. They are the secondary integral part of any romantic plot line and may challenge the protagonist to grow through introducing new experiences or points of view.
Examples: Peeta Mellark in The Hunger Games series; Will Traynor in Me Before You
The Confidante
Characters who are confidants are literary devices that help the protagonist reveal their secrets, state of mind, intentions, flaws, and feelings while all of those things are actively changing throughout a story. They can also represent real-life relationships by maintaining a healthy friendship or a manipulative friend.
Examples: Horatio in Hamlet; Samwise Gamgee in The Lord of the Rings series
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Many of these character types merge to create stories with more depth. Defining your existing or future characters with these terms could help you figure out their role in the plot and how to make your story stronger by flexing the purposes of each type.
make a playlist for each of your wips—or even better, for each of your characters. channel your oc's emotions, feelings, and past into music. best advice I've ever received (partly because it helps me get into the flow of writing from that character).
you can put songs like:
the character's "go getter" moment
song that would play behind a training/fighting montage
song that represents the oc's darkest moment
their best moment
a moment that shaped who they are today
a song that would cheer them up
a song that describes a pivotal moment
moment of betrayal
how they die
how they felt when someone else died
Body type and shape
1. Lean: Having a slender and toned body with minimal body fat.
2. Muscular: Having well-developed muscles and a defined physique.
3. Slender: Having a thin and graceful body shape.
4. Curvy: Having an hourglass figure with well-defined curves, particularly in the hips and bust.
5. Athletic: Having a fit and muscular body, often associated with participation in sports or physical activities.
6. Petite: Being small and slender in stature, usually referring to height and overall body size.
7. Voluptuous: Having full and shapely curves, often emphasizing a larger bust, hips, and thighs.
8. Stocky: Having a compact and solid build with a sturdy appearance.
9. Thin: Having a slim and slender body shape with little body fat or muscle definition.
10. Well-proportioned: Having balanced and harmonious body proportions, with each body part in good proportion to the whole.
11. Toned: Having firm muscles and a defined physique resulting from regular exercise and strength training.
12. Chubby: Having a plump or rounded body shape, often with excess body fat.
13. Pear-shaped: Having a body shape where the hips and thighs are wider than the shoulders and bust.
14. Hourglass figure: Having a curvy body shape characterized by a well-defined waist and proportionate bust and hips.
15. Apple-shaped: Having a body shape where weight is primarily carried around the midsection, resulting in a broader waistline.
16. Broad-shouldered: Having wide and well-developed shoulders in comparison to the rest of the body.
17. Long-limbed: Having long and slender limbs in proportion to the body.
18. Stout: Having a sturdy and robust build, often characterized by a solid and thick physique.
19. Plump: Having a pleasantly full and rounded body shape, often indicating a higher percentage of body fat.
20. Tall and slender: Being tall in height and having a slim and elongated body shape.
if you’re ever in doubt about what pov to write a scene from, a good rule of thumb is to pick the person who knows the least about what’s going on. lots of pros!
you automatically have some level of tension in the scene, as they either struggle to figure out what’s happening or completely fail to notice it
if they know as much or barely more than the reader, the reader is learning things alongside them, which will help make exposition feel more natural
if they know less than the reader you now have dramatic irony! great for humor and/or agonizing tension
helps you keep secrets from the reader longer, since your pov character doesn’t know them either. (I mean you could also just carefully omit major info and pretend you thought it was obvious. see the Queen’s Thief series for several examples that span a whole novel!)
helps add a fun little mystery for the reader as they try to figure out those secrets (fun little mysteries are great attention hooks!)
“what’s going on” can mean anything btw, it could be the plot or the worldbuilding or another character’s motivation or the location of the buried treasure.
for best results, think about what each character in the scene wants to get out of this scene, and then pick the pov of the person who has least control over/knowledge of whether they get what they want. failing that, figure out which character has the most important secret that’s affecting the course of the scene, and write from the pov of someone who doesn’t know the secret. (the secret can be stuff like “I’m in love with you,” “I’m a spy for the spider queen,” “I’m the one who stole the muffins,” just whatever’s adding an undercurrent of tension to the conversation.)
this rule won’t be right for every occasion and you should trust your gut, but it’s served me well for years, so I encourage all you writers to consider it when figuring out how to approach a scene :)
little things that i try to do to get more out of my clothes