Oh boy

Summary: With everyone gone and out of the way for a couple days, Patton was looking forward to a few quiet days by himself. Nothing can really be that easy.  Pairings: Moxiety  Chapter Word Count: 1,207 Genre: If I had to give it one? Psychological Thriller/Romance. General Story Warning: Depression, anxiety, intense fear, slightly graphic descriptions of nightmares (death,injury), overwhelming feelings, supportive Virgil, eventual fluff and happy ending.  Chapter Warnings: Sad Patton, general angst Notes:  It’s just starting out so it’s not that bad right now. Probably chapter 2 or 3 is when things will start really going down. This really isn’t going where you think it’s going. It’s IS  Psychological Thriller but its Romance…if you stick around…you get to see exactly why everything is happen the way it is. Oops. Said too much. If it gets feedback/notes, I’ll keep it up. 

[Chapter 1] [Chapter 2] [Chapter 3] [Chapter 4]

The afternoon was still and peaceful. Everyone had something to do today and that was okay with Patton, today at least. It would give him some time to think, relax and not have to be so chipper and upbeat all the time without escaping to the sanctity of his room for some, usually, much needed relief. Logan was supposed to be in his library doing research about who knows what, Roman had been planning a three day quest for quite some time now and Virgil was roped into going along. 

Patton pushed his door open and stepped out into the hallway. A smell hit his nose and his eyebrows knitted together. It smelled faintly like coffee and some sort of food Patton couldn’t quite put his finger on.

(based on things that yours truly notices as a freelance editor. This list is in no way complete, and will probably be added to as I continue to find repeated mistakes) 

Dialogue

Use beats in your dialogue to break it up. Even “said” can make a very effective beat between lines. 

(No beats: “It’s not lethal. Just highly dangerous with a good chance of being mutilated.” // Beats: “It’s not lethal,” he said. “Just highly dangerous with a good chance of being mutilated.”)

Note how the break allows a bit of a pause for ~dramatic effect 

thinking of dialogue, use punctuation and distinct speech patterns! “Life, uh, finds a way.” is an iconic line anyway, but Jeff Goldblum’s signature verbal tic gives it character. 

It’s okay if characters stutter. Don’t let the condemnation of stuttering characters as “cringey” in fanfic put you off. (and on that note, fuck cringe culture. Seriously. It saps all the fun out of creativity and fun is important.)

Start! A! New! Line! Whenever! Someone! New! Speaks!!

DO NOT FEAR THE WORD “SAID” 

Setting & Blocking

 Use the landscape and settings around your character, and always, always remember a scene’s blocking. Where is everything in relation to your characters? Have you left someone holding a coffee cup for the last three scenes? Did you lose a character somewhere along the way? 

using the contents of a scene is also great for fight sequences. 

Similarly, large character casts are hard to keep track of so don’t be afraid to break them up. Sending someone off somewhere else can create some nifty little subplots. 

Keep a personal note of how time passes. Trust me, it’s incredibly helpful to you as a writer and also for future readers. 

Characters

Character growth does not have to be positive. Sometimes characters fail or suffer or get their motivations twisted up, and they finish the book as a villain rather than a hero. 

All that matters is that a character changes throughout the plot in a way that readers can see; the sort of change they go through is entirely up to you. 

scrap the idea that someone has to deserve a redemption arc. They probably don’t deserve it, which is the whole point. So don’t be afraid to make your villains seem completely irredeemable. 

and you don’t need to redeem your antagonists in order to make them complex, sympathetic villains, anyway. Sometimes people get so stuck in their beliefs that they can’t see another way and it goes too far. Not everyone comes back from that. 

Also, motivations and goals can absolutely change. That’s okay. You just need to have something that drives your character so that your readers are rooting for them. 

Protagonists don’t need to be heroic. How you define the protagonists and antagonists in your story is based entirely on the morality in your story-world, NOT the moral ideas in the real world. What counts as a complex protagonist in a world torn apart by biological warfare will be very different than one living in our world. 

Prose & Grammar

simple prose is just fine and you don’t need to fluff it up for pretty quotes.

Remember to vary your sentence structures and length. Start smaller and build it up, drawing your reader’s attention. 

“And” and “But” are very valid sentence starters that are great for communicating the tone of internal narrative. You’re allowed to tweak grammar if that’s helpful for telling the story, it just needs to be accessible. Test out what you’ve written on other people. 

@technoblaed

@sleepy-nightingale

@spaceepigeon

My friends :) they all have great content, are sweet and funny!!

@cursedgameplays

@warfstach

@warfstachenby

Lovely blogs :) love seeing them on my dash

@ethanappreciation and @eefsbeans

So much ethan 😍

@toviatoris

Bro their art???? Absolutely stunning

@lady-raziel and @wilfcrd

U probably already follow them, but the god level memes are too good to not mention them

I don't tell myself "I need to wash the dishes piling up in the sink." I tell myself "I need to get the scrub brush and turn on the facuet." That's easy, so I do it and bam, I've started the task.

"I need to brush my teeth" -> "I need to get my toothbrush wet and put toothpaste on it."

"I need to write this essay" -> "I need to pull up the assignment guidelines and open a word doc."

"I need to go to the store." -> "I need to put on my shoes."

you don’t need to be suffering to work on yourself.

you don’t need to be unable to do daily tasks to work on yourself.

Geralt, sitting at his desk: Jask, I'm working.

Jaskier: It's urgent.

Geralt, *sigh*: Another cat video? Or a shiba?

Jaskier: u-r-g-e-n-t.

Geralt: *gets up from his desk and plops down beside Jaskier on the couch* What is it?

Geralt: ...I should've known it would be another cat video.

Jaskier: Look! He's stealing food from the table!

Geralt, rolling his eyes fondly and kissing Jaskier on the top of his head: I'm going back to work. Stop distracting me.

Geralt: *stands up* And forward me that video.

Jaskier, grinning brightly: Always here to brighten up your day.

I watch too much tiktok and yet I still have troubling making them 😂😂