If I saw the clues and caught the hints then yes! I am clever and me and the author/creator/artist etc were in on it together the whole time!

If I didn't notice the clues or got fooled but can clearly see them in hindsight then "Ha! You won this time storyteller! I am delighted by this game we play!' and then I enjoy putting the pieces together afterwards and enjoying how clever it was. I feel like the creator respects me as an audience

If there is a "twist" that comes with 0 clues or foreshadowing at all I'm annoyed. I'm pissed off. I feel like I'm being condescended to and patronised. It's not clever or interesting and makes me annoyed I ended up caring about characters and plot points that ended up meaningless.

Because it's not that these stories don't have foreshadowing or plot clues. They just abandon it for a "surprising twist"

A story that pays off the clues is letting me into the fun and makes a participant in the story

Random plot twists that don't connect to anything in the story are not clever. If we don't see it coming because the writer didn't provide any clues, they aren't clever and it's totally unsatisfying (and I will NEVER read this writer again). These clues need not be lit up in neon with a parade of elephants and showgirls. But they need to be present

20% of the time: “Hold on. I wrote this? This is fire. This is emotionally devastating in the best way. This scene is dripping with tension. I’m a literary perfectionist. Someone give me a book deal.”

a good time;

Has exactly the tropes you like and the characterization you want to read;

Gratification: yes you did finish a thing and yes you did do good;

just a very fun time all around.

Cons of re-reading your own fic:

Try picking two random flat culture ideas and combine them, see how they interact. Let's say taking the Proud Warrior Race - people who are all about glory in battle and feats of strength, whose songs and ballads are about heroes in battle and whose education consists of combat and military tactics. Throw in another element: Living in diaspora. Suddenly you've got a whole more interesting dynamic going on - how did a people like this end up cast out of their old native land? How do they feel about it? How do they make a living now - as guards, mercenaries? How do their non-combatants live? Were they always warrior people, or did they become fighters out of necessity to fend for themselves in the lands of strangers? How do the peoples of these lands regard them?

Like I'm not shitting, it's literally that easy. You can avoid writing an one-dimensional culture just by adding another equally flat element, and the third dimension appears on its own just like that. And while one of the features can be location/climate, you can also combine two of those with each other.

Let's take a pretty standard Fantasy Race Biome: The forest people. Their job is the forest. They live there, hunt there, forage there, they have an obnoxious amount of sayings that somehow refer to trees, woods, or forests. Very high chance of being elves. And then a second common stock Fantasy Biome People: The Grim Cold North. Everything is bleak and grim up there. People are hardy and harsh, "frostbite because the climate hates you" and "being stabbed because your neighbour hates you" are the most common causes of death. People are either completely humourless or have a horrifyingly dark, morbid sense of humour. They might find it funny that you genuinely can't tell which one.

Now combine them: Grim Cold Bleak Forest People. The summer lasts about 15 minutes and these people know every single type of berry, mushroom and herb that's edible in any fathomable way. You're not sure if they're joking about occasionally resorting to eating tree bark to survive the long dark winter. Not a warrior people, but very skilled in disappearing into the forest and picking off would-be invaders one by one. Once they fuck off into the woods you won't find them unless they want to be found.

The Myth of Writer’s Block

A short while ago I reblogged a quote, that, to paraphrase, said “Writer’s block isn’t real.” Since then I’ve received a few messages refuting that quote and sharing stories about bad cases of writer’s block. Some people even pointed out that I have a tag dedicated to writer’s block and have shared my “block breaking” tips in the past.

As such, I thought I’d clarify my views on writer’s block:

Writer’s block is just the name that we prescribe to an inability to write, which can stem from a number of different sources that have different solutions. Treating writer’s block as its own condition can obscure the real problem and make it harder to find the right solution.

As a young writer, I attributed every single loss of motivation, inspiration, or other difficulty to a mysterious, incurable malady: writer’s block. I believed that I just had to wait for it to go away, like a cold, and then I’d be able to write again—but until then, there was nothing I could do.

I see a lot of other young writers doing the same because a lot of the people they look up to don’t talk about writer’s block as if it’s just a term. It wasn’t until I started putting together methods for beating the block that I came to the realization that every single time I had writer’s block, I was either neglecting my self-care or overlooking a problem with the writing itself. Every single time.

So—writer’s block, as a term used to describe different issues that can prevent productivity, is a real thing.

But writer’s block, as some mystical force that stops you from writing, is not a real thing.

If you find yourself experiencing writer’s block, consider some of the following bulleted points. These block breakers work for me almost 100% of the time because they address the root of most of my actual problems. Maybe they will work for you, maybe they won’t. Either way, I hope that this post was at least somewhat helpful.

Have you eaten/had something to drink in the past few hours? Being hungry or thirsty can make it hard to focus. Try keeping snacks on hand, or if possible, move your writing time to after you’ve had a meal.

Did you get enough sleep? It’s not easy to write when you’d rather be in bed. Try to get to bed at a good hour and don’t force yourself to stay awake.

Are you stressed out, tired, sick, or generally not in good shape? All of these things can be severe distractions. Remember, it’s okay to take a break. Do what you need to do to be healthy; your needs come before writing.

Have you exercised that day (in whatever capacity you are capable of)? Sitting for a long time can make some people lethargic. Try doing a few stretches or, if you can, going for a short walk. A little bit of fresh air can help with a lot.

Have you taken a break within the last few hours? As with the above, getting a little fresh air and stepping away from the source of frustration for a little while can help you approach it with a fresh perspective.

Do you have other obligations? If you have chores to do, bills to pay, animals to care for, personal hygiene, etc., it might be a good idea to try to take care of these things before you start writing. Not only might they be distracting you, but they might interrupt a streak when you have to stop writing and take care of them later. Keep a notebook handy, just in case.

Do you know where the story is going from here? If your outline is too vague, or if you don’t have an outline, it can be difficult to keep going because you don’t have clear direction. Step back and think about what plot developments you might want to occur, and which ones are the most likely to happen soon. Knowing your destination can help you get there.

Are you uninterested in writing, or are you uninterested in writing this scene? If you’re itching to write a plot point but can’t stomach the scene that’s chronologically in your way, write an outline of what needs to happen next and skip it!

Are you bored of this story or character? Sometimes projects that we start off with a lot of enthusiasm for become dull over time. If this is still a project you want to pursue, try going back to the outline to see if there are story issues that are making you lose interest. If you think it might be best to shelve it entirely, write up a summary of what you learned during the process, what story elements you might want to recycle, and save the project in a folder somewhere that you aren’t likely to accidentally delete it.

Do you have a firm grasp of character motivation in this scene? Writing about a character doing something is a lot harder when you don’t really understand why they’re doing it (other than to make the plot happen). Spend some time thinking about what motivates the character, what their stakes in the scene are, and make sure that you really get into their head.

What is your character feeling in this scene? This is one that stops me up all the time; in fact, it is the #1 source of writer’s block for me. I get so caught up in what the characters think or what they do that I forget to include what they feel. How a character reacts emotionally to a scene can not only help the reader get invested, but the writer, too. Let your characters have emotions, and let them sweep you away with them.

Where is this scene happening? Can you clearly visualize it? Again, it’s hard to write a scene in a nebulous void (unless your scene takes place in one). If you’re having a hard time visualizing the scene, try looking up images or listening to music that helps evoke the story. This can be for settings, moods, general atmosphere, anything that helps you get into that world. Fun fact: I start every writing session with 10-15 minutes of music specifically chosen to get into the mood of the piece.

Do you lack confidence in this scene? Sometimes you might have problems writing a scene because you’re afraid of how people will react to it. I see this a lot in writers who think that their ideas are “too weird.” But don’t worry—you don’t have to share anything that you don’t want to share, and there are lots of “weird” things that are highly successful. Just get it onto paper and you can decide what to do with it later.

Could this scene be cut from the draft entirely? There are lots of times when writers get hung up on a scene, only to realize that it either doesn’t belong in that spot, or doesn’t need to be there at all. If you’re spinning your wheels on a scene and you just can’t make it work no matter what you try, examine your outline and ask yourself if you really need to write it.

What is this scene meant to accomplish? The phrase “can’t see the forest for the trees” comes to my mind often during early drafting stages. Sometimes I obsess over the what and how and who of the scene that I forget about the why. Taking a step back and reminding myself what the purpose of the scene is can help me understand which pieces need to be highlighted and what I should focus on. This lets me blow past some of the clutter that oftentimes crops up and get the bare-bones of the scene down so I can move on and come back to it later during redrafting.

What do writers suffer from each spring?