Call me Boost

boredom due to inability to do anything at all

burying head in hands

clenching teeth

dizziness when standing up

dropping head back

finally crashing and sleeping the entire day

fumbling with a package of painkillers and struggling to get past the child safety

groaning quietly

massaging head at every opportunity

pressing head into a pillow or perhaps the chest of a loved one

resting torso on the table if they can’t get a better place to rest

rubbing head

squeezing eyes shut

staying in bed all day

trying the most obscure headache relief hacks they can think off (it doesn’t work, but it keeps them busy)

turning head away from bright lights

morally incomprehensible characters x4

plot x1

endless confusion & anxiety x1

writers block, to taste

open the doc

add 4 servings of character. mix thoroughly.

indulge in some confusion

melt the plot before adding it in

the plot isnt melting

fuck the plot

indulge in some anxiety

01. Show don't tell

This is the 'ABCD advice' for the baby writers, but why it's considered bad is actually valid too. People argue everything doesn't have to be shown and just telling can suffice, which, in fact is true! You need to show and tell.

If you're going to give lengthy descriptions to everything, your readers are going to end up falling asleep a lot faster before they reach the last page of your story.

Why I think it's misunderstood is because it's overanalyzed. This advice is clearly meant for the beginners. If you're an amateur writer, you clearly already know how to balance between writing descriptions and just telling where it's necessary.

02. Your first draft is going to be bad

The opposite side argues that it doesn't have to be bad, but I would like to point out that it isn't meant to be taken literally that you write it bad on purpose.

You could write your first draft on a Shakespeare level, but I will still say it needs works because the purpose of the first draft is to just exist. It's 'bad' because it's written with volunteer words [1] but if you're stopping to choose your words carefully and looking up synonyms while writing it, then you're literally beating up the purpose behind this advice. The second reason is that no matter what POV you are choosing to write it in, it still needs to fit with the narrative and details of the whole story, which you can't possibly accomplish all while writing the first draft. The wisdom behind this advice is to not waste your time polishing it because you will end up editing and changing most of it anyway in your editing phase.

As I have said before, your first draft is supposed to be your dreamland, where you enjoy writing it exactly the way you imagined it, so stop being a party pooper to yourself and actually enjoy the process while you can!

03. You should make an outline

I know pantsing a.k.a make it up as you go works for some people, but going in blind can also lead to plot holes, meandering stories, and abandoned manuscripts.

I get it that you might find it restrictive, and it could possibly make your writing turn out rigid and even make you lose your spark, as you might feel like it's more of homework than actually writing your story.

I think this advice is misunderstood because people take it too literally as well.

Outlines are supposed to be a guidance, not a hurdle!

And sometimes it becomes necessary for genres like fantasy, science fiction, etc., where you need to sort out complex details, do world-building, and make sense of it altogether.

Outlining doesn't mean you make bullet points of every single scene. You could just note down the major events of your story, which will help you preserve your plot and give you enough room to write it freely in between how these major events connect and come to happen.

Even a loose roadmap can help you keep your story on the track. You don’t need to stick to your outline like it’s a word set in a book. Think of it instead as a general set of guidelines that you yourself can impose and choose when to stray away from.

01. Volunteer words (as in creative writing): The words that volunteer themselves when you're writing. See R. F. Kuang explain it more here.

Volunteer words are basically first words that pop up in your mind when you're writing but it's not an actual term. It's just a term she coined herself in order to describe it.

Disclaimer: I'm by no means an expert, so all these points are my opinion after thorough research and observation.