Authoring The Things

I dream of the day when I won’t have to look at this fucking chart….

You Three

every character’s first line should be an introduction to who they are as a person

even if you only wrote one sentence on a really bad day, that’s still one sentence more than you had yesterday

exercise restraint when using swear words and extra punctuation in order for them to pack a punch when you do use them

if your characters have to kiss to show they’re in love, then they’re not in love

make every scene interesting (or make every scene your favorite scene), otherwise your readers will be just as bored as you

if you’re stuck on a scene, delete the last line you wrote and go in a different direction, or leave in brackets as placeholders

don’t compare your first draft to published books that could be anywhere from 3rd to 103rd drafts

i promise you the story you want to tell can fit into 100k words or less

sometimes the book isn’t working because it’s not ready to be written or you’re not ready to write it yet; let it marinate for a bit so the idea can develop as you become a better writer

Someone: And what about you?

Me:

you know how on reality shows they’ll have a little banner with a person’s name and a description? like so:

You wish on every fissure of my body like a penny in the sidewalk cracks, the old-man fluff of a dandelion dissolving in the alley, the burn of a comet, the kiss of an eyelash, you wish on the split of my lips like a four clover of blood in an empty well, like theres something in meworth wishing on, like there’s magic in the way you trace the crack down my center and i would give you anything you‘d like.

1. slowly raise their hand to the wound and/or pull the weapon impaling them out while everyone stares in horror before collapsing to the ground from shock and/or blood loss and being caught just in time by their friend/sibling/love interest