man is wolf to man

+ 黒執事 Vol. 1-35 [JP RAWS]

(Thank you, @zimowahistoria)

“that is not how a gentleman behaves toward his wife.”

instead ask:

is it SINCERE

was it CATHARTIC

was it FUN TO MAKE

is it MADE BY ME

• Start a new paragraph every time a new character speaks. • Put quotation marks around spoken words. • Dialogue tags usually follow the sentence with a comma.

Example: “I'm not going back,” she said.

Dialogue with a tag before the quote

Use a comma after the tag.

Example: She said, “I'm not going back.”

Dialogue with action instead of a tag

Use a period after the action.

Example: She crossed her arms. “I'm not going back.”

When dialogue continues after a tag

Use commas inside the quotation marks.

Example: “I'm not going back,” she said, “no matter what you tell me.”

Questions and exclamations

Keep the question mark or exclamation point inside the quotation marks.

Example: “Where are you going?” he asked.

“I can't believe this!” she shouted.

Interrupted dialogue

Use em dashes when dialogue is cut off.

Example: “But I thought you—” “You thought wrong.”

Trailing off

Use ellipses when a character fades out.

Example: “I just thought maybe…”

Dialogue with action in the middle

The sentence continues after the action.

Example: “I told you,” she said, rubbing her temples, “this would happen.”

Internal thoughts (optional style)

Some writers use italics instead of quotation marks.

Example: This is a terrible idea, he thought.

Long dialogue

If a character speaks for multiple paragraphs, keep quotation marks at the beginning of each paragraph but only close them at the end of the final paragraph.

Common mistakes to avoid

Use sparingly—most dialogue works best with said or no tag at all.

Neutral / Common

asked

replied

answered

responded

added

continued

remarked

noted

stated

mentioned

Soft / Quiet

11. whispered 12. murmured 13. muttered 14. breathed 15. sighed 16. mumbled 17. croaked 18. rasped 19. breathed out 20. whispered softly

Angry / Intense 21. snapped 22. barked 23. growled 24. snarled 25. hissed 26. spat 27. roared 28. thundered 29. demanded 30. raged

Happy / Positive 31. laughed 32. chuckled 33. beamed 34. cheered 35. joked 36. teased 37. sang 38. giggled 39. chimed 40. exclaimed

Nervous / Uncertain 41. stammered 42. stuttered 43. faltered 44. hesitated 45. wavered 46. gulped 47. blurted 48. admitted 49. confessed 50. ventured

Serious / Formal 51. declared 52. announced 53. pronounced 54. asserted 55. insisted 56. clarified 57. explained 58. elaborated 59. confirmed 60. emphasized

Questioning / Curious 61. inquired 62. wondered 63. pressed 64. probed 65. questioned 66. queried 67. challenged 68. prompted 69. urged 70. pressed further

Commanding 71. ordered 72. commanded 73. instructed 74. directed 75. warned 76. cautioned 77. urged 78. insisted 79. pressed 80. demanded again

Emotional 81. sobbed 82. cried 83. whimpered 84. pleaded 85. begged 86. groaned 87. moaned 88. lamented 89. protested 90. gasped

Casual / Conversational 91. drawled 92. quipped 93. cracked 94. joked again 95. bantered 96. offered 97. chimed in 98. cut in 99. interrupted 100. called out

you don’t know how impactful your writing is because it’s been in your brain for far too long now. you’ve stared at it for hours and repeated “this sucks” over and over again to the point that you killed your capacity to feel anything about your work.

bad news: you have to read it.

good news: you only have to read it like a scientist, not a judge. (more on that in a second.)

it's not proof that you can't write. it's proof that your instincts are working. you can SEE that the dialogue is wooden and the pacing collapses in chapter six and there's a character who shows up in act two and then, spiritually, dies. the fact that you can see all of this means your taste has outpaced your execution.

that's not a crisis. that's just where you are right now.

the scientist thing

a judge looks at the evidence and delivers a verdict. guilty. not good enough. why did i think i could do this. the verdict is emotionally satisfying for about four seconds and then completely useless.

a scientist looks at the same evidence and asks: what is this telling me?

the subplot that goes nowhere — what were you trying to add? the scene you wrote in twenty minutes because you just wanted to get through it — what were you avoiding? the ending that felt earned in december and now feels like a shrug — what didn't get set up earlier?

the bad draft isn't a failure. it's a very long, very specific note to yourself about what the story needs. you just have to learn to read it that way.

what to actually look for

the scenes you wrote fast and felt weird about. that's not momentum, that's avoidance. your subconscious knew something was off and you kept going anyway. go back. that's where the structural problem lives.

the character who disappears. you didn't forget about them. you wrote yourself into a corner where they didn't fit, which means something in your structure shifted mid-draft and you never corrected for it.

the dialogue that makes you wince on reread. nine times out of ten, the character is saying the theme out loud instead of living it. fixable. actually very useful to know.

the ending that feels hollow. the ending is almost never the problem. something earlier didn't do its job and the ending is just where you noticed.

the reframe

a first draft isn't a failed final draft. it's you finding the story before you can tell it.

the writers you love have embarrassing drafts. you just never see them because by the time the book is in your hands, the map has already been folded up and put in a drawer. yours is still on the table.

read it. take notes. figure out what it's trying to tell you.

then write the real one.

— rin t. ✨

every novel starts with one question that refuses to leave you alone.

maybe yours is hiding somewhere in here.

i spent weeks putting together The Story Hook Library, 300 original story hooks, prompts, and idea-building exercises for writers who are tired of waiting for inspiration to magically appear.

♡ grab your copy: