There is nothing

This is going to be quite an eclectic post, but I’ve received a few questions relating to time in creative writing. So, I thought I’d just make a post to address a few things.

1. Keeping track of narrated time

You as a writer need to keep track of the time that passes in your story and what happens when. Inconsistencies and incontinuities will pop up if you don’t have a good knowledge of your WIP’s time-line.

The easiest way to do this is to keep track via a visual time-line. If you outline, you can use that to make a rough time-line ahead of time. If you’re a pantser, then you can fill in the time-line as you go along.

Use this time-line to keep track of holidays, seasons, lunar cycles, healing time, travel time etc.

This is especially crucial for parallel storylines, where you might want to draw separate time-lines that you can hold up next to each other to ensure that everything matches up.

In certain instances it might also be necessary for the reader to keep track of the passing of time. You can either ensure this subtly within the writing (by sprinkling in little references to the season/date/time) or expressly by getting creative. Maybe each chapter starts with the date or the phase of the moon. Maybe your book is divided into seasons etc. If you do something like this, though, you have to be sure that the information plays a crucial role in your story.

2. Time-lapses between scenes

Time will inevitably pass in-between your scenes. But how do you communicate that time to your readers?

Firstly, you have to ask whether it’s relevant. If all your character did in the in-between time was brush her teeth and put on a nightgown, you don’t have to tell the reader that. You can use a simple sentence at the start of the next scene to familiarize your reader with the time of that scene e. g. “The next morning” or “After a night of tossing and turning”. This way the reader knows that time passed, but that nothing particularly important happened during that time.

If there are important points that you don’t want to dedicate an entire scene to, you can use the technique of telling. This should be used with circumspection, but can be a great way of relaying lots of information in a few sentences. E. g. “That morning after breakfast she had decided to head to the library to continue her research. She’d combed through shelves upon shelves of manuscripts only to end up back at square one.” Then, you can truly start the scene with the character sitting in the library, despondent. This way, the reader gets a quick catch-up as to where the story is at that moment, but you don’t have to spend too many words on it. You can also use this technique for deeply emotional events that the character may not want to spend a lot of time talking about e. g. “Lorna did not wake up that afternoon. She would never wake up again. And all Nancy had done all evening was weep.”

Comment if you guys want me to do a post about showing vs telling.

3. Flashbacks

I love flashbacks, but they have to be done well and they have to be necessary.

Flashbacks are a great way of telling a long, complex story in less words. It’s also a very valuable tool for revealing plot twists and character backstory.

Ensure that your flashbacks are adequately separated from the rest of your scenes. I don’t mean that they have to exist in a separate chapter (although this is an option), but at least use a different formatting style so that it’s clear to the reader when they’re dealing with a flashback.

Make it as easy as possible for the reader. Achronology can be disorienting and confusing. So, if you’re working with different timelines, make sure the reader knows which timeline they’re reading at the moment. You can do this by clearly indicating the time of the flashback at the beginning or woven into the writing of the scene.

Remember that these flashbacks should be relevant to your story/character arc. Don’t just throw in flashbacks for the hell of it. These scenes should reveal something important about the character or the plot.

4. How do the characters tell the time?

This is a bit of a weird one, but it should be taken into account nonetheless.

If you write contemporary fiction or historical fiction set in recent(ish) history, you don’t have to worry about this. However, those of us writing in made-up worlds or ancient/futuristic times have to think about this shit.

Have wathes/clocks been invented? Do your characters have micro chips in their brains that have them knowing the time automatically? Do they use a sundial? Are there calendars (and do they differ from the contemporary one) etc.

If your characters live in a Stone Age world, but they know when it’s 13:45, you’re gonna have to explain how the hell they know that.

Keep historical accuracy in mind if you’re not writing your own world e. g. if you’re writing a book set in Ancient Rome, you should do some research to figure out how they told time.

5. Consistency in time periods

This cannot be stressed enough. Keep healing time, travel time, seasonal changes etc consistent and realistic.

If you’re writing something set in the real world, you should research how long it takes to heal from certain wounds or how long it takes to travel between places etc.

Even if you made up your own world, own creatures and own laws of physics, you should keep the times consistent throughout the work.

That’s all I have for you on time. I hope that this very random post can be helpful.

You’re asking me to write your characters for you, and per my Rules and Considerations, that’s not a service this blog provides. I do have a few things for you to think about though.

Body language is both unique and not unique. Especially among the same culture, there are universal movements that correspond to certain emotions, but the specifics of movements can vary. It’s also important to remember that body language is more than conscious moment– a good amount of it is reflexive (like facial expressions) and can range from subtle eyebrow raises to dramatic gestures.

Writing body language has two sides: the action and the meaning. The action is no different than any form of basic description.

She rolled her eyes.

He stuffed his hands in his pockets.

She looked back at him right as she stepped onto the escalator.

The meaning is where uniqueness sometimes comes to play. It’s important to remember that context changes what body language can mean. Let’s look back at “He stuffed his hands in his pockets”.

If the weather is described as chilly and the characters are outside, it could make sense to assume that he’s just cold.

If he just gave a gift and the person is thanking him, that movement could be a sign of slight embarrassment or trying to write it off as “no big deal”.

If he’s shown to be angry, the hand movement could be a sign of trying to hide his clenched fists.

I bet there’s even more ways to interpret that depending on the setting, mood, and character personality. There’s a decent amount of psychological-behavioral information around body language so I don’t think you’d have too much trouble doing some research.

With any growing relationship, platonic or romantic, showing it usually comes from falling layers of boundaries. A character can allow something that they may not have before, they may react in a less tense way, become more open to things, etc. The specifics of how that happens is determined by character personality. 

Second thing I want to mention is that you should check your unrealistic  romanticizing. Low self esteem and insecurities, at least on the level of importance you’ve implied based on wording, very easily destroy or prevent relationships. Those kind of people are not stable and reliable for setting down roots, especially not in a healthy way, and desperation in romance is  an easy path to destruction. The “emotionally walled-off loner” who doesn’t trust would also not realistically enter a relationship (at least not a healthy one) without some therapy or delusion. Romance doesn’t fix people; it can actually make things mentally worse for both parties if codependency drops in and especially when they naturally start taking out their issues on each other. The chances of these kind of people getting together, without professional help or some independent character growth, are slim to none and problematic if it happened. If things fall into place, then all those issues are more likely to actually get worse over time once the honeymoon phase of romance wears off, assuming it wasn’t already on destroyed foundation. Those characters need help if they are serious about anything romance-related.

It’s not that insecure people or those with issues can’t enter relationships or be in good ones, but it’s a lot harder than it looks and they have to be reasonable flaws inside an otherwise okay mental state. If they are in a really bad place, then they need to be willing to constantly work on themselves, be self-disciplined enough to stick to it, and the partner has to be in on it too. One “broken” member of a relationship with a trusted partner can work to a point; both “broken” people is endgame before it even begins. Everyone has baggage, but there’s a big difference between someone who occasionally doubts their abilities and has down times vs someone who genuinely doesn’t believe they’re lovable and their partner is just as stressed. Romance doesn’t fix people in the real world.

Now, if you’re actually writing this realistically and it’s supposed to be a twisted story (that’s okay!) then the specifics behind flirting and other love-related behavior typically come from how that character was shown affection in the past, especially in the younger developing years. You read that post on how people show love, so you should be using that to extrapolate your own answers. This is where backstory really matters, since the most common form of “first love” (not romantic) is between parent and child, plus, depending on age of character, they may have been exposed to parental love the most so it would have the biggest effect of all others. Friendship-love isn’t usually seen until people become teenagers and start forming bonds beyond play-dates, but it’s possible for older developing people to pick up multiple love languages depending on upbringing and environment. 

A character with a poor parental relationships may borrow some love language from friends– however that does’t just erase the messed-up way they’re going to see “love”. There’s a reason the cycle of abuse exists. There’s a reason kids from dysfunctional households end up in toxic relationships, even after they realize what the family put them through. Awareness doesn’t help without action and motivation, guided by someone who’s trained to make it better. It typically takes professional help, along with high levels of self-discipline and self awareness, to break out of that kind of thing.

This relationship isn’t going to be healthy– but your characters probably aren’t going to notice. That’s a HUGE thing with people with low self esteem or similar big problems that affect emotional intimacy; they just don’t see romantic situations clearly. They can’t. They get in their own way. One character with major issues can sometimes be aided with professional help and a partner who’s willing to work with them; two characters who have no clear headlamps are going to keep crashing into each other in a true, emotionally intimate relationship. If they don’t get emotionally intimate, then that’s not really a relationship, they’re FWB (maybe not even the “friend” part). The characters can think they’re doing well or that being together is a good idea, but it isn’t.

I’d probably read that trainwreck. Good luck!

If you haven’t already, read this older post on romanticizing (link embedded) because my answer is an expansion of that background info. 

Depiction vs romanticizing is best looked at as a simple difference between reality and idealism. If you depict something realistically, then it’s not romanticized. Your depression example is not romanticizing, nor is your racism/sexism one, however I’d be careful about your thoughts of “punishment” (which I’ll unpack later).

Reality occasionally had forms of romanticism in it.

There’s a difference between realistic romanticism and unrealistic romanticism. Realistic romanticism is a creative writing technique that’s (guess what) found in reality and tends to take two of the forms mentioned in the older post:

1. Wrong tone: The narrator’s tone doesn’t fit the event/story, usually propping it up in a “good” light when it’s clearly a wrong act.

This is “realistic” because it’s created by the narrator and their point of view. We all romanticize things and this story just happens to include something that the narrator thinks of like that.When POV writing, narrator perspective should direct the tone of the description and realistically fit for who that person is.

Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov is a famous example of this. The author purposefully wrote a twisted, messed up “love story” and romanticized it through the narrator with fancy language and great writing to teach a lesson: Anything can be made to look good/desirable with the right presentation. He romanticized the subject because it fit for his narrator and the story he was trying to tell. It was purposeful and integral to the story, not because he had a poor understanding of pedophilia. 

It’s okay to write dark and twisted fiction with “wrong tone” romanticizing, you just need to make sure that:

It’s realistic for the narrator to have this point of view for their character

The twisting of reality actually helps make the story better or possible

The world doesn’t actually bend for the romanticized subject once you remove the rose-colored glasses that the reader sees through

That said, some people argue that this form of romanticizing plays a role in “normalizing” those dark and twisted things, so it’s up to you if you want to deal with that or not. I personally don’t see a problem with this specific type of romanticizing as long as it’s done well and with a story-based purpose because entertainment stories aren’t moral tales. You don’t need to bash your reader over the head with an idea; they should just know that it’s wrong before they read your work. If they don’t, then that’s their personal problem– especially when the writer actually puts in effort to show the “hidden reality” like when they use an unreliable narrator. 

2. Ignorant character/narrator: A character or narrator is genuinely ignorant of the reality of a situation and will act/judge with that lack of knowledge. 

Holding romanticized ideas about things that haven’t been experienced is extremely realistic, especially when the ideas come from a community, culture, friends, etc. This is a simple lack of knowledge that influences behavior and thought that’s put into the context of something addressed in-story. It’s similar to “romanticized tone” in that the reader is being exposed to romanticizing through a character, but differs in that the narrator is not the one who has to hold this point of view and/or the romanticizing of the subject comes from a lack of understanding on the character’s part. It tends to be less shocking than “wrong tone” romanticizing because it usually involves more innocent things. (Usually) 

Romance is often romanticized, then the person enters a romantic situation and feels unsatisfied because reality doesn’t match their imagination. They can learn and grow from that new knowledge or just…. not. It would be completely realistic to have a character with an idealized view of romance in a story, whether they learn better or not is up to the plot.

A job can be romanticized. Being an author is actually a great example of this; it’s much more rejection, sweat, instability, business-related, time-consuming, and tear-inducing than it’ll typically look like to someone on the outside. Goals can be romanticized. Entire people can be romanticized! (Less innocent) Violence is romanticized as a quick and easy problem solver, particularly for anyone good at it, but that idea don’t really line up with reality. Nobody has a clear view of all of reality because they haven’t experienced all of reality, and that can be reflected in writing.

Everyone has something they romanticize so it’s not bad for fictional characters to have those things too. Some writers choose to have a more down-to-earth character to help correct this character, or at the very least have some sort of “wait a minute” moment to show the reader that the character/narrator doesn’t have an accurate way of thinking. None of those “fixes” are required, but it tends to help writers who fear backlash find some solace in using this form of reality. In the cases where this romanticized view is minor and doesn’t affect the plot, then it’s perfectly okay to just leave it alone as a “character quirk” and at least show the reader where the idealized thought may have come from.

Unrealistic romanticizing, AKA the bad kind, comes from when there are no consequences or unrealistic ones.

First, let me clear up something about this term “consequences”. People like to think it’s always negative and a direct synonym to “punishment”. It’s not. It’s a simple result of an action and can anywhere on a positive-negative spectrum, especially including neutral.

Unrealistic romanticizing happens when actions don’t face consequences in line with the specific context to the action and story. Consequences can be positive, negative, or neutral. This is what I mean by “context”:

Let’s go back to your example I said I’d unpack later; a character says something racist/sexist. They are going to face consequences– but those consequences don’t have to be negative IF it realistically fits the context: If they’re in an environment where there are no social ramifications for being that way, then it would be unrealistic for them to face social punishment. If there are social ramifications, then does it make sense for them to be applied given the situation? Are they at home all alone or actually saying it to someone else? Would their employer actually care? What about family? Context dictates consequences, and they can definitely be more than social. It’s possible that there could be an economic consequence where the group being insulted may refuse to use the business of that character, but it’s up in the air whether that loss would be enough to matter in the long run.  The world your character lives in determines consequences; they are not automatically applied with your personal moral compass to punish an action.

Also, having a character escape consequences isn’t always romanticizing. Sometimes, people do just genuinely get lucky and not get caught. Other times they actively work to avoid the consequence and their effort pays off. You have to be very careful about doling out “punishments” for characters because it’s easier than you think for that fun entertainment story to suddenly turn into a boring moral tale or for the punishment to seem like weird karma that doesn’t fit a cause-effect reality.

So…. Where is the line, you ask? Truth is, there really is no line that can be generally applied to every situation because it all relies on context and reality.

Know the reality of your story world and the context of the situation to find that line. Reality doesn’t punish; it doles out consequences of varying degrees. Reality isn’t the same for everyone; some may face different consequences than others depending on many, many factors. 

Readers are naturally going to project what they think is right or wrong onto a piece of work and you shouldn’t be worrying too much about that kind of thing. There’s no story that will never offend anyone, especially when dealing with sensitive subjects. Focus on the contextual reality of your story to find the romanticized line, then ask yourself about the consequences of your choice. 

I’d be very careful about thinking you have to “punish” characters for being “immoral” or having qualities that you don't like. Focusing too hard on that can lead to its own reality breakage if you bend the societal rules too much just to dole out that punishment. Sometimes people work hard to avoid consequences and it could be unrealistic for them to still face them. Sometimes people live in a society that doesn’t condone the actions enough for true consequences to be faced. Sometimes people get lucky. That’s NOT to say that they can’t get unlucky and face consequences, but if you, the writer, wants to force punishment when it doesn’t naturally fall in contextual place then I strongly warn you against the consequences of trying too hard to be “pure” and turning an entertainment story into a moral tale.Moral tales aren’t a problem, but when you promise your reader a story for fun and it turns into a tirade of punishment for bad behavior then you’ve lied to your readers about what you’re presenting them with.

If the negative consequences fit, then by all means bring them on! They’re based on the reality of the specific story setting so use that knowledge to craft how and when they unfold. They can be subtle or bold, immediate or lurking. It’s best to nicely integrate them into the story so it looks as natural as possible. 

Not matter which route you take, you also have to keep in mind that someone will always scream at you that you’re romanticizing things (or doing something wrong in general) when you’re writing a story for entertainment– especially when you’re dealing with sensitive subjects. That’s life. That’s authorship. You have to own up to the responsibility and learn to accept criticism even when you think you’re in the right. If you want to punish characters to teach the way people should behave, then write a moral tale instead of a story for entertainment. If you want to include realistic consequences for character behavior in a way that stays true to the reality of the story setting, then find the romanticizing line for your specific story and what you’re willing to own up to as a writer. You can’t please everyone, you won’t please everyone, so find your comfort zone for and work there. Realistic romanticizing doesn’t destroy stories when used meaningfully, but it’s definitely something to keep an eye on so it doesn’t get out of hand. Unrealistic romanticizing kicks in when actions don’t face consequences in line with the specific context to the story’s setting.

Good luck with your work!

In real life, pretty much everybody reacts to tragedy differently. So why is it that every author has their pet reaction to tragedy that all their characters use? Not only is it unrealistic, but it takes away the chance for the characters’ different reactions to reveal things about themselves.

Possible reactions to tragedy (not an exhaustive list):

Distracting oneself with mindless activities

Distracting oneself with others’ humor

Distracting oneself by making jokes

Distracting oneself by reading/watching/playing stories

Distracting oneself with hard mental work

Distracting oneself with hard physical work

Distracting oneself with creative endeavors

Distracting oneself by chatting with friends about normal things

Talking to friends about the tragedy

Talking to authority figures about the tragedy

Talking anonymously with strangers about the tragedy (if possible)

Getting wrapped up in others’ problems

Staying unusually silent

Screaming

Crying loudly

Crying silently

Doing everything possible not to cry

Pacing

Taking unhealthy risks

Going for revenge against whoever one can blame

Punching random objects

Throwing random objects

Lashing out against friends and family members

Trying to prevent a similar tragedy from happening

Eating more than usual

Not eating

Taking mind-altering substances

Getting in unhealthy relationships

Isolating oneself

Obsessing over routine

Numbness combined with apathy

Numbness combined with going through one’s normal motions

Trying to get things back the way they were

Denial

No reaction at first but a reaction hits later in greater force

No reaction at all. Emotions relating to the tragedy just fail to load. Note that this can happen to anybody and does not mark a character as a sociopath.

How To: Write Characters that Dislike Each Other

I’m happy to help, Anon!

This is quite a simple problem to solve because, really, this is an ordinary case of getting inside your character’s head. You need to understand, from a writer’s standpoint, as to why your characters dislike each other so much. Everyone has their own reasons for disliking each other and by going over and analysing what your character may behave like when they interact, it’s pretty easy to establish what may cause the two personalities to clash. 

Here are the points I’ll be addressing:

 Cause of Dislike

 Circumstances of Meeting

 Difference between Dislike, Loathing and Pure Hatred

If you’re not sure how your characters may behave, or if you’re still pretty early in the developing stage of your characters, I suggest doing some exercises which could help you understand your character a little more. I made a post on this about a while ago, so maybe give some of those exercises a go and then come back to this post! 

Let’s get to it.

1. Establish the Cause of their Dislike.

Now, I know that that’s not very good English but I hope this still makes sense. What I’m trying to say is you need to understand why, as you said, Character A doesn’t like Character B. 

For example, is this animosity due to pettiness over a past action, backstory that the reader may not be aware of, rivalry due to clashing personalities, or is this behaviour their own self-expression of a different feeling entirely?

If it’s down to pettiness, it can be something as simple as Character B stealing Character A’s magazine every month that it arrives. Or it could be the fact that they always steal the last space in the apartment parking lot. Something silly that gets on your character’s nerves, but isn’t too stupid so that your reader thinks that the extent of their dislike is unbelievable.

Additionally, the cause of the disdain between your characters doesn’t necessarily need to be any of the above - it just simply needs to be a believable reason justified by certain factors. Even if it appears that your characters’ dislike for each other is unjustified due to the lack of a specific event in which something deeply humiliating or infuriating occurred, it can just be due to incompatible personalities. Personally, for you Anon, I wouldn’t make the cause anything too deep-rooted as this would allow your characters to develop a relationship. A source of casual rivalry and pettiness would probably be the best pathway for you to take in this instance. 

2. The Circumstances of Meeting

Of course, the environment and circumstances that two characters meet can change their feelings towards each other. If a character associates another person with a period in their life in which they faced hardship; this could have detrimental effects on their relationship. Character A may still be suffering from consequences of that event, and whilst it may not entirely be Character B’s fault - they will still serve as a painful reminder of a dark period in Character A’s past. In turn, they’ll continue to consistently associate Character B with a hard time in their life and until they can mentally or physically move past the traumatic effects from that event, this will potentially cause stipulation and animosity between them. 

It doesn’t have to be anything overly-dramatic, something simple will do. Don’t try and make it too complicated, or you’ll just confuse your reader and yourself. 

For example, Character A and Character B could share an ex-partner. To understand the exact nature of Character A and Character B’s animosity, you could add specific details to develop their backstory and further understanding of their relationship. Character B could be the re-bound from Character A, or perhaps Character A’s ex-partner cheated on them with Character B. This could have caused Character A to have deep-rooted trust issues which they have been unable to move on from. If you wanted to rub more salt in the wound, Character B could be in better physical shape than Character A and this could cause Character A to have their own insecurities about their appearance. The underlining point is that make sure to add enough details so the reader understands the negative nature of their relationship, but not too many specific details so as to over- complicate your novel’s storyline. 

Me, reading said piece’s dialogue: That’s not- that’s not how people… talk. 

Few tips for anyone writing something very difficult: dialogue.

1. Awkward people do not confidently proclaim heavy statements.

       If your character is awkward, anxious, or easily gets nervous, they will not smoothly declare “I love you with all my heart, and I have family issues”. If they’re uncomfortable in social situations, they won’t magically turn confident. Now don’t get me wrong, I love love love a well-portrayed outspoken, confident character. And those characters can probably state emotions easier. But an awkward character cannot.

2. Nervous stuttering (unrelated to a speech impediment) d-does not s-s-sound like t-this.

Try talking to yourself (I’m not crazy) and seeing how this would really sound. A good way to do an aggressive stutter is to fall back and repeat a couple of words. Ex. “What if- what if we- what if we just…” Another trick is to remember that there are varying level to a nervous stutter. If you’re hardly nervous you won’t have an aggressive stutter like that.

3: It’s okay to say “said” every once in a while.

Good god, please don’t avoid it like the plague. It shouldn’t be common, but it shouldn’t be your worst fear. We don’t want another case of “Slughorn ejaculated,”

Feel free to reblog with any corrections, or your own tips!

With NaNoWriMo around the corner, I thought I might show you how I plotted my novel.

This is the story structure I used:

0% inciting incident

0%-20% introduction in the world, ends with a point of no return

20% first plot point: the hero receives his marching orders

20%-50% response to the first plot point

35% first pinch point: reminder of the nature of the antagonistic force

50% midpoint: big fat plot twist that changes the hero’s AND reader’s experience

50%-80% attack: the stakes are higher now

65% second pinch point: again reminding the reader of the antagonistic forces at hand

80% second plot point: the final injection of new information into the story to give the hero everything she needs to become the primary catalyst in the story’s conclusion (no new information past this point)

80%-100% resolution + final conflict + return home

I didn’t make this up. I think it’s by Larry Brooks, if The Internet informs me correctly. Fun Fact: once you pay attention to it, you’ll see this structure everywhere. Just take a look at any Harry Potter book, for example.

These points are the “bones” of my story. Next, I decided what “flesh” to put on them.

I simply made a list of things I like to read about:

Books about books and libraries

Magic

Quirky characters

Intelligent, fast-paced and sometimes silly

So, I combined this list and the structure points into a story that makes sense. Because I don’t want to spoil my plot / I am still to shy about my wip, I will make up a new plot for this post, so I can show you.

0%: The hero does something magical without knowing how she did it. She discards it, because everybody knows it can’t have been real.

0%-20%: We see the daily life of the hero: she is unhappy because all she wants to do is read, but she is not allowed to. She reads in the dead of night and is punished for it by her evil stepcousin. She finds a book on magic.

20% It all clicks together: she can do magic!

20%-50% The daily life for the hero changes. Instead of reading all night, she practices magic. She now loves books even more. She has little victories over her evil stepcousin, but hasn’t won yet.

35% The evil stepcousin finds out that she can do magic and takes away the magic book.

50% She discovers she can do magic without the book.

50%-80% The hero is not the only one who is bullied by the evil stepcousin. Her younger cousin is a victim as well, and he doesn’t have magic to defend himself. The stakes are raised, this is bigger than herself now. The younger cousin also wants to read, so they have several bonding moments over reading.

65% The evil stepcousin hurts the younger cousin, he’s in a coma now.

80% The hero discovers the evil stepcousin could do all these evil things because he knows magic too.

80%-100% The hero confronts the evil stepcousin, fights him off, nearly loses but wins in the end. He gives up and releases his power over the younger cousin who wakes up from the coma.

It’s not the most genius plot ever, but I literally made this up in minutes. So can you! And imagine the genius plot you can come up with if you spend more than a few minutes on it.

Then I calculated how many scenes I need in which part of the story. My wip is a YA or 12+ book, so I want it to contain about 75,000 words in total. I want my scenes to be around 1,000 words long to keep it snappy, so I need 75 scenes.

Scene number 1 (0%) is the inciting incident, scene number 15 (20%) is the first plot point, scene number 26 (35%) is the first pinch point, scene number 37 (50%) is the midpoint, scene number 49 (65%) is the second pinch point, scene number 60 (80%) is the second plot point and scene 75 (100%) is the last scene.

Some sidenotes on the 1,000-word scenes:

That’s more of a vague rule of thumb than a strict rule. If your scene needs to be longer or shorter, make it longer or shorter of course. My wip has some 2,300-word scenes as well.

Having 1,000-word scenes does not mean I have 1,000-word chapters, that would be really short. I will divide my novel into chapters after I’m finished writing my first draft.

For NaNoWriMo, maybe you could write scenes of 1,667 words, so you do one scene per day. A 50,000-word novel has 30 scenes of 1,667 words. Inciting incident is at scene 1, first plot point at scene 6, first pinch point at scene 11, midpoint at scene 15, second pinch point at scene 20, second plot point at scene 24 and scene 30 is your last scene. That’s just an idea, you got to see what works for you.

Then I made up in one sentence what will happen in every scene. For example: “They meet the dragon and he sends them on a sidequest.” Now my outline consists of 75 one-sentence scenes. This way, I prevent the problem of the sagging middle and other pacing problems and I still get to surprise myself when writing.

From those one-sentence scenes, I flesh out every scene into a first draft, using the process I described in my post How I never have to face an empty page when I write.

And that’s my first draft! I hope everything is clear. Feel free to ask me questions if it isn’t.

I’m gonna tag a few people I admire, who I hope are interested. If you aren’t, feel free to ignore me, or message me to take you off my tag list. If you would like to be added to my writing advice tag list, let me know.

Here are some tips for writing relationships your readers can get behind:

1. Give them reasons to click

The two characters must have things in common - a hobby, a philosophy, a background. There has to be some element that connects them.

Your readers will root for relationships in which the characters fit together better than they would with others.

Also, make their traits compatible. Have them share some characteristics or have their strengths and weaknesses be complementary. Is the one hotheaded? Maybe the other keeps their cool well in situations of conflict.

There are endless possibilities. Just make sure there’s a reason these two people like/love each other.

2. Have them be vulnerable in front of each other

Personally, this is the best way to get me to love a couple.

Have them share secrets, open up about their feelings and tell each other things they haven’t told anyone. Have them cry in front of each other and comfort each other.

This can be taken to a whole new level by having them understand the other’s emotions even without speaking and already offer comfort. Keep in mind that this will probably only be possible with long-established couples.

And having them open up is also a great way for them to discover all the things they have in common/love about each other.

3. Build up the tension

I cannot emphasise this enough: DO NOT MAKE YOUR COUPLES GET TOGETHER TOO QUICKLY.

One of the best elements of a romantic subplot (or even main plot) is the tension. Your readers want to see the pining! They want the build-up.

And no, I’m not saying that you should introduce endless, petty obstacles. That can become tedious and appear forced.

Just give your characters time to sort through their feelings. Make them fall in love slowly. Have them be unsure. Insert SOME obstacles/conflicts.

Have them almost kiss a few times. Not all the time. Too many almost-kisses can become frustrating. But you should throw a few in there.

And, if you feel comfortable with it, add some sexual tension. Have them notice each other’s bodies and imagine what they’d like to do to each other (that sounds more explicit than I intended :) )

4. Write a healthy relationship

This could just be me and my rejection of unhealthy romances, but I will not root for abusive relationships.

Have your characters be kind to each other, support each other and truly care for each other.

If your characters are constantly putting each other down, physically/emotionally abusing each other or going against the other’s wishes, they’re not in a healthy relationship.

A great way to write a healthy relationship whilst still maintaining the tension, is to have the conflict in the relationship be external. Instead of having the conflict be due to internal struggles between the two characters, have obstacles enter from outside.

Your readers should want them to be together and for that, they should be good for each other.

5. Have their friends/family see their chemistry

I find it beyond adorable when two characters are still figuring out their feelings for each other, but the fact that they’re perfect for each other is crystal clear to everyone around them.

Have their friends tease them about the relationship. Have family members ask after the them. Have their loved ones conspire to get them to admit their feelings.

If your other characters are rooting for them, your readers will probably do so as well.

Plus, this means that the chemistry between the two characters is so strong that it’s obvious, which is always good for an exciting romance.

That’s all I’ve got for now. If you have any further questions about writing OTPs or any other aspect of writing, feel free to message me or pop me an ask.

So you guys have been asking for tips to get good at drawing and I don’t have to tell you practice makes perfect, but there’s a quick way to see progress that’s nice and rewarding.

I picked this up from the

Proko YouTube Channel

Which may seem overwhelming to some, but trust me it’s great. Here’s something from one of their videos.

Iterative Drawing.

Take a face of any character.

Any character.

Draw 8 heads next to each other.

Fill in those heads with the face of that character one after the other.

Each time you draw that character, keep the features you like and change the features you don’t.

Alter the proportions if they look weird.

You should get something like this…

It might look like I drew these on different days, but no. I drew them all in one day in the span of twenty minutes, just constantly altering the features. Look at the drastic difference between the first and last face.

This is also a great way to get used to drawing your favorite character in a way you really like.

Master Collection (Walls) - Download - SFS Part 1 / Part 2

Over 400 Walls (+1 Foundation Pack and Wall Murals)

VEOX Roof, Window and Water Pack

Candy Roofs (24 Colors) - Download SFS

VEOX Roofs (40 Colors) - Download SFS

VEOX Glass Roofs (White, Black and Brown) - Download SFS

VEOX Water (10 Colors) - Download SFS

VEOX Windows (25 Colors / 3 Heights) - Download SFS

VEOX Window Planters (48 Colors) - Download SFS

Alissa Boots

Converted from Tekken 7

10 Swatches Disabled for Random Cold Weather / Everyday / Party / Formal Boots / Heels / Laceups (Adults) Teen - Elder Works for Males too (Just under Feminine Style) 1916 Polys

[Dyoreos] Hey Cupid Jeans

“What brand of jeans you be rocking? Hey Cupid, why you hiding?” - Cupid by PH-1 (ft. PENOMECO)

Hey there! So, these are my first pair of jeans. I guess you can say they’re mom jeans or dad jeans. I honestly don’t know the difference. These jeans come in both plain swatches and patched/pattern(?) swatches for your male sims (thank goodness ‘cause males need more stuff) and of course, for your female sims. The male version is mid-rise while the female version is high-waisted. I hope you like these!!

Male & Female (T-E)

BGC

35 swatches (plain, colorful hearts, “screw you”, “lonely”, broken hearts, colorful stars)

Custom thumbnails

All LODS

Hot & Cold Weather

Disallowed for random

Minor issue: The female version of these jeans don’t work too well with some high knee boots. However, the male version works perfectly fine

I included the psd file for recoloring purposes

Thank you to all the cc creators and you!❤ 

DOWNLOAD (SFS) | .PSD

T.O.U

Please, do NOT edit, re-upload, convert, or claim as your own

Recolors and retextures are allowed but don’t include my mesh

If you recolor or retexture, please, do NOT put the link behind any paysite

Feel free to mention me if you use my cc or poses. I will reblog your post

Message me if you have any questions or if you are having issues with my content. Thank you! 

It’s acceptable if done within a range of reasonability and with correct procedure. I’ll admit that the “correct procedure” can sometimes mean subtly different things for different stories, but I can try and give you an idea of the best way to approach this.

The guideline you reference about overwhelming readers is typically enforced in cases where the reader is supposed to remember those characters or info about them that are being introduced. It’s a warning to writers who info-dump introductions or fail to structure the story in a way that allows for learning.

Now, I don’t know what you mean by “a lot of characters at once”… 3? 5? 10? It’s not the most clear description but I can still give you some info and I’ll try and keep it overarching so you can tailor it to your specific situation.

Is the narrator actually being introduced to anyone? Having a new character in a scene isn’t exactly the same as a character introduction. If your narrator goes to a bar and order something, the bartender may technically be a new character, but they wouldn’t have an intro because they’re meant to exist in the background. The probably won’t even have a name. Characters that are background tools rather than narrator-important don’t necessarily count toward the “top mant characters” guideline. I’m not so sure that most situations similar to kidnappings involve actual intros to the kidnappers.

Consolidation is still always better. Background tool characters are necessary in almost every single story, but there’s a point where they just end up crowding the scene in a bad way. Structure that scene so there are as few directly-mentioned characters as possible by:

Choose a “spokesperson” for background characters – You can mention that there are 5 people guarding the doors or something, but maybe only one of them is designated as the action-guy for the little background things like closing/opening doors, giving a menacing look, etc.

Avoiding individual unimportant character focus – Treat background characters like the background and don’t bring attention to them beyond the basic room description.

Consolidate roles – This is typically called an “acceptable break from reality” and is commonly seen in any sort of police or law show (and many other shows too). You know that one character that the police team always has contact with for all crimes? That specialist at each lab they always speak to? In reality, those single points of contact would not be single points of contact at all; they’d be maybe 3+ people per office/lab. In fiction, that kind of numerous-people reality tends to hurt a narrative because it makes it harderfor the audience to follow the story and to find characters to connect to.

The narrator likely isn’t going to know anyone’s name in the situation you described. (If they do, then it’s best to keep that known character to a single individual to help them stand out and to be someone for the reader to latch onto.) In scenes where there is a lot of character chaos, the reader needs a steady ground to be able to make sense of what’s happening. The narrator may not know what’s going on and may convey the scene chaotically, but you want to avoid writing it too chaotically that you’d lose reader understanding and connection.

Personality of narrator dictates “nicknames”. If a narrator doesn’t learn a name and they have to refer to someone in narration, they’d use a defining characteristic or a moniker that’s often created from a defining characteristic. The personality of the narrator is what helps place a moniker from literal to more creative—“the blond guy” vs “Thor’s Lookalike”. Monikers are kind of a halfway point between a real name and a background designation, but they typically signal to the reader that the person is semi-important. Using too many of them in a chaotic situation will make it seem like the narrator is focusing on the people rather than the situation and their fear, so identify characters sparingly.

There are better ways to convey chaos and confusion than by writing in a lot of characters. Namely, practicing with tone and mood. Both of those things are guided by word choice, language structure, and pacing.

Word choice – The words written make a difference in audience perception. “Hard” vs “impossible” are on the same area of the definition spectrum but convey different intensity of ideas.

Language structure – Short sentences are quick. They get to the point. They show focus and fast occurrences. Longer sentences convey a sense of connection and tend to better emulate how we think, but are obviously adjustable depending on the reason for the sentence.  Sentence length variation makes for the most engaging writing structure but there are certainly times when it’s best for the scene or moment to favor one over the other.

Pacing – The amount of words it takes to describe something imitatates the amount of time and detail that the narrator is thinking about it.Ex. if you describe each henchman in detail, then the narrator is staring at them and that might not be right for the scene. A narrator would be more likely to hone in on the one person they recognize (or whoever is questioning them) rather than the details of a crowd.

Ultimately, it comes down to this: If a lot characters exist for plot-related reasons, then this would be a situation where it may be appropriate to have many characters in an opening (as long as there is proper handling of it). If you are solely using a lot of characters to amp up or convey/contribute to that confusion, then this would not be the time to start rule-breaking. 

Good luck with your scene!

Healthy, strong sibling bonds

Two supportive, active parents

Men who are open with emotions of all kind

Women who have no weak spots for romantic love

Hardened characters who (professionally) care for kids, animals, or the elderly and are sweet with them

Pansexual and lesbian characters in sci fi

Intense newly-formed friendships

Lust at first sight, reluctantly (& eventually) in love

MCs who aren’t naturally or easily athletic 

Lazy do-gooders

Unlikely cat people

Someone who’s known for being a good singer/musician but would rather pursue math or science

Men who are rough but aren’t condescending to women

Non-humans who live in a human world and have a cultural identity crisis

Characters that willfully go to a therapist

Women with careers AND a rich, full family/social life

Dedicated teachers

A character that got a degree in business/finances/tech to have a secure job and save up for a lifelong dream

A woman who lives in an isolated area/home alone and prefers it that way

Divorced parents and step-parents that care about each other and work hard to be a loving support network for the kids involved

Sex workers that are not angels or demons, but complex characters like everyone else

Stay at home dads

Recovering alcoholics/addicts that have been clean for years and help other trying to get clean

A deadbeat, unemployed female character

Rough characters who are also bookworms

Lucy and Gwyn got me to watch Detroit: Become Human (Protect Connor my beautiful baby boy) and then I saw this beautiful art by @jizart and this happened…

The routine was flawless. Not a step out of place, every jump perfectly rotated. Yuuri was always perfect. But apparently, perfect did not mean good. It was a concept he was finding difficult to understand. Though every step was exactly as the program described, his scores were always low. It was the same for all androids in his position. Their programs were performed to perfection, but their scores remained low.

“It’s your performance, not your components.” The familiar voice of Victor Nikiforov floated through the room, catching Yuuri’s attention, “Your skating is perfect, but it lacks… soul.”

Eyes now trained on Victor, Yuuri cocked his head, “I don’t understand.”

“Yeah, I should’ve expected that,” Victor nodded to himself, stepping onto the ice, “Follow me.”

At first, Yuuri simply watched as Victor’s gold blades moved along the ice, propelling him forward with such grace. Even that was something Yuuri was unable to achieve. There was something about the way humans moved on the ice, something that Yuuri simply could not replicate no matter how many times he analysed them.

Following Victor onto the ice, Yuuri stood beside him, watching closely as Victor crossed his arms over his chest, “Why do you skate, Yuuri?”

“It’s what I was programmed for,” The answer seemed simple enough. There were androids for just about everything. His programming was design for skating. Yuuri was made to memorise programs and perform them to perfection, and he wasn’t the only one. And yet every android like him had the same struggles and none of them could figure out exactly why they could not compare to human skaters.

Victor sighed, shaking his head, “But doesn’t it bring you any joy?”

“Androids can’t feel emotions,” Yuuri’s face remained stoic, his hands rested politely behind his back as he paid close attention to Victor, “Skating is simply my purpose.”