Writing

god, you have no idea how reassuring it is to hear that. i’ve mentioned before that my latest project’s story arc has been an uphill battle almost every step of the way. i’ve been really racking my brain to make sure it isn’t, like, 10% utter chaos and 90% People Talking In Rooms. if you think i do an okay job of pacing, i’m going to trust my instinct for some parts i’ve been hemming and hawing about.

i don’t know what your process is, but if you outline at all, i feel like meticulous organization is going to be your friend. the reason i always encourage people to outline is that it gives you a more digestible view of what you’re working with. it’s easier to see if a character hasn’t appeared in a while, if the pacing seems to jerk around, or if you left something unresolved. once a project gets long enough - and once you’ve worked on it long enough - it’s really hard to get a macro perspective on it. you’re so deep in the swamp, you need a map to remind yourself what it was supposed to look like, or at least i do.

[if you really like organization, i’d say don’t stop there, either. character maps! timelines! whatever will give you a visual overview of how fast or slow everything unfolds.]

the thing about the mini-arcs in the middle of dangerous crowns is that they’re kind of episodic, even though they’re part of a larger plot. i consciously patterned them after missions/chapters in video games, because it was a nice, simple structure that i was familiar with. you go through a set of challenges with a unifying theme, you “defeat a miniboss,” you move on to the next one. you get small, steady doses of rising action and climax. so that might be a plot model that appeals to you!

when i read the final draft of dangerous crowns to my mother, she said something that i thought was interesting: “this story moves at a pretty nice clip, doesn’t it? something happens in every chapter to move the story forward.” that might be a good way to check in with yourself. “what’s happening in this chapter that advances some part of the plot?” how you end up organizing the story will be up to you. you might follow one character around for several chapters, you might do different POVs, etc. but i think as long as SOMETHING is always developing, you’ll be fine. you might think you’re going to stagnate, but if you have several decades to write about, i’d wager it’s going to be more of a struggle to cram it all in.

Tragic backstories and lgbt+ identities are clearly signs that those are things that the kids creating the ocs live with. Most of those kids struggle with abuse or are lgbt+, and either way need a character to relate to

Self-inserts who hang out with their favorite character or variations on their favorite character? yeah chances are that kid feels pretty alone and needs to feel like someone who they love and look up to respects them back. see the abuse thing again

"Flawless personality" when you feel like everybody hates you you start to feel like a shit person. so having an oc like you who is also flawless is a place to embrace the things you like about yourself and get more self-confidence. I don't know, this one's hard to explain. See the next one

"Overpowered or underpowered" yeah, an OP oc is usually because the kid feelspowerless and helpless and nobody wants that. a relatable oc or self-insert who has lots of power? instant self-confidence boost. If my oc who's like me can have power, so can I. With underpowered characters that's just an outlet of that same frustration

Anyway yeah cringe culture is dead. All this applies to adults too, not just kids! you're never to old to make a fun character!

Plus not to mention that all this stuff specifically preys on neurodivergent kids.

For that trait NOT to fall totally flat, one or more of these things need to happen:

The trait exacerbates a situation in a bad way. (An extremely honest and trusting character reveals an important secret to the Big Bad’s lackey)

The character is given a choice to either act according to their traits or to subvert them. Often the subversion has the better outcome. They either maintain their trait and take a risk, or character development ensues. (A greedy character must escape. Leaving behind their riches goes against their very being, but it would allow them to escape easier. If they try to take some of their treasure with them, they do so at massive risk.)

 The character is put in an environment or must work with a person that opposes their trait. (An extremely tidy person must live in their slob cousin’s filthy apartment for a week. / The character has a debilitating fear of being alone and they are stranded on their own on an island.)

ppl seem to think it’s about the villain being forgiven for all the shit they did like it was nothing, but that’s not what redemption is! redemption is hard selfless work to become a better person, regardless of wether the ppl you’ve hurt forgive you or not, regardless of wether you can actually atone for your mistakes or not. redemption is swallowing your pride and understanding what you did wrong and having those memories of your past self hang over you constantly as a reminder to not ever do those thing you did ever agin. it is maturing as a person.

redemption arcs are so important because they are there to show that we are all human and we are all capable of change but it has to come from our own effort!

being a person who often get stuck in the past and the mistakes I made when I was even just a child, there is nothing I find more comforting than a good redemption arc, tbh.

Writing is an act of faith. So many people get upset with themselves when they end up having to cut a good chunk of scenes, chapters, characters or dialogue out of their story. Writers beat themselves up over writing that never gets seen because it was a ‘waste of time.’

It’s not true.

Take a week, a month, or more. You won’t forget the story or the scenes, but you’ll appreciate the incredible story as a whole, rather than the last scenes you wrote.

I’ve done so much plot and character development between my first and second drafts and fixed so many plotholes… I’ve grown so much as a writer, even in the six weeks I took away from it.

Writing is fun, but when I step back from my writing my thought is usually: “Hmm yes, this needs work, I can’t share it yet.” When I step back from editing, I’m so excited to share it with people because it’s what I imagined when I first wrote it.

Your slow-motion montage backed by a Gregorian choir can be done with a few technques that all involve repetition.

First is epizeuxis, the repeating of a word for emphasis.

Example:

Falling. Falling. Falling. There was nothing to keep Marie from plunging into the rolling river below. She could only hope for a miracle now, that she would come out alive somehow despite a twenty-foot drop into five-foot-deep water.

Then there’s anaphora, where you write a number of phrases with the same words at the beginning.

There were still mages out there living in terror of shining steel armor emblazoned with the Sword of Mercy.

There were still mages out there being forced by desperation into the clutches of demons.

There were mages out there being threatened with Tranquility as punishment for their disobedience, and the threats were being made good upon.

Mages who had attempted to flee, but knew nothing of the outside world and were forced to return to their prison out of need for sustenance and shelter.

Mages who only desired to find the families they were torn from.

Mages who only wanted to see the sun.

Suspense is one of the trickier parts of writing to manage effectively because, as the author, you can’t experience your story the way a reader does. If you don’t have enough suspense, it can be difficult to keep your readers interested. If you have too much, frustrated and stressed-out readers might throw your book against the wall. Too much suspense can even backfire - if you try to keep your readers constantly on edge, they can stop taking things seriously and the end result is as though you never included any suspense at all.

So how can you tell if you’ve reached the right balance? Unfortunately, I can’t answer that for you. Some things really do require feedback from honest and insightful readers. Once you have that feedback, however, there are easy tricks to adjusting the level of suspense without a drastic re-write. Here are my five favorite methods.

Promises and Payoffs

INCREASE SUSPENSE by promising something huge and then giving your reader something unexpected. To borrow an example from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, imagine a teenage boy and girl sneaking into an empty building. Everything from the costumes to the lighting is designed to make you uneasy about the girl’s safety but, in the end, she’s the vampire. Give the audience something sensational and they won’t be disappointed that you didn’t deliver on what you originally promised.

DECREASE SUSPENSE by promising less than you plan to deliver. For example, if you plan to kill off a character as they walk through a dark alley, let them worry about being mugged rather than murdered. Not only is it less suspenseful, the payoff is more shocking.

Characters are Crucial

INCREASE SUSPENSE by shifting the focus to a character who’s more involved in the action or one who has more at stake. Even if you have a single POV character, another can come in and demand that character’s attention, along with the readers’.

DECREASE SUSPENSE by focusing on a character who’s more concerned with a secondary goal. Subplots are a fantastic way to give your readers some room to breathe.

Calm vs. Chaos

INCREASE SUSPENSE by cutting back on the action. Suspense flourishes in the quiet moments when your characters have time to think and to anticipate what may be in store for them.

DECREASE SUSPENSE by giving your characters a big, exciting mess to deal with. Even when that mess causes more problems and puts more pressure on your characters in the long run, you’ve still created an oasis where both they and the readers are too distracted to worry about how the big picture will pan out.

Devil’s in the Details

INCREASE SUSPENSE by concentrating on the details of the setting. Horror movies are great at this - every creak of a door, every shadow across a wall keeps the audience immersed in the experience and tense with anticipation.

DECREASE SUSPENSE by breaking the “show, don’t tell” rule and allow exposition to help you move things along. You don’t need to take readers through every aspect of your story in excruciating detail. It’s okay to gloss over some things and it helps readers relax because they know you’re not going to be springing any surprises on them just yet.

Ticking Time-Bomb

INCREASE SUSPENSE by imposing a deadline that your characters struggle to meet. It’s one of the oldest and most obvious tricks in the book, but very effective.