Fix Your Writing Habits

Let's say you are in a bookstore. You only have $20, you can get ONE book. So you're wandering around looking at stuff. Maybe first you look at the books on the New Releases table, then go to the sections that have stuff you usually like.

You pick out a few potential books. They all have cool covers, they all have interesting-sounding descriptions on the jacket, so you decide to turn to the first page and just start reading.

WHAT MAKES YOU DECIDE YOU WANT TO KEEP GOING? What makes you decide THIS one is the one you are going to spend your $20 on? And, what might make you set the book down?

The answer might be a little different for different people on different days. Some of it might be just vibes-based, you just really aren't in the mood for XYZ or for whatever reason XYZ gives you the ick, and this book seems to be brimming with it. OR, on the other side of the coin, you ARE really in the mood for XYZ, or you are always a sucker for this trope or this type of premise, and this particular book seems to be really ringing that bell in a fun way.

So... it's the same when I'm looking at the query inbox. There are a lot of things that are easy to say no to. But, there are probably several things that look potentially promising based on the query and the first page or so, and they have become Maybes. If I'm looking at the "maybe" pile and trying to decide what to request, I'll go in deeper on the sample pages, just like hypothetical you reading a bit of the book in the bookstore.

For ME, the books (or manuscripts) that make me say YES are generally the ones where the voice rings true and the writing is clear as glass. I feel instantly like I am in good hands with this author, and I'm excited to keep going because I'm already hooked and want to know more about what will happen next.

Ideally, I FORGET that I'm reading a query, it just feels like a REAL BOOK.

I don't really know how else to describe it, or how you ACHIEVE that. It's just a FEELING. (Sorry!)

If at ANY point I want to nope out, for any reason at all, I will do so. If I get to the end of the first page and want to keep going, that's good. If I get to the end of the sample and want to keep going, I'll request a full.

I read the same three or four pages of the new network analysis paper probably six times yesterday, and at some point I had the math notation page on Wikipedia open for reference, and I don't have a subject matter expert's understanding but I do get more of it than I did when I started. And the next time I read it I'll understand it more.

Tumblr has been plagued by art thief acccounts pretending to be artists and trying to scam you to commission them. Here's a list of things to watch out when a suspicious account is claiming to be a commission artist. Not to say that every "red flag" is an indication of fake artist, but if you see too many red flags at once, it's safe to assume the "artist" might be a scammer.

No digital footprint - Despite the quality of presented art and the supposed number of commissions they're getting, the account is fairly new and unknown, there is no trace of them ever existing before on tumblr or any other sites.

Varying styles and quality - Sometimes it's a full painted pieces, sometimes it's a sketchy drawing and sometimes it's a simple cellshaded chibi. There are artists who work in different styles but the things like quality of lines and consistency of shading don't usualy change overnight.

Bad quality uploads - Small and pixelated quality of uploaded artwork probably means they stole it from somewhere.

Eveything is a commission - Most artwork they upload is described as "commission from a client" to legitimize their commission scam. Also note the consistency of them calling their commissioners "clients" everytime. "Thanks for trusting me" is also a common phrase used by scammers.

No fandom tags - Even if the artwok is clearly a fanart, they never label the media or character, often claiming it's an oc.

Nameless OCs - When they claim the artwork depicts their own characters, you never learn their names or what they are from except "a story i'm writing" or sometihng like that.

Vague artistic descriptions - The scammers commonly use short artistic descriptions like "She represents balance warmth and cold, chaos and grace held together in one moment." instead of regular artist's comment about the art or character on it.

They are most likely to message you randomly whenever you post anything about wanting to commission an artist.

Of course things like AI claimed to be their own art or leftover signatures from original artists are a clear indication of art theft. If you are unsure you can always chek their images on google lens to see if there are any suspicious matches.

I uderstand this is not an exhausive guide and that yes, real artists are sometimes guilty of some of these too, we're just people. Just because an artist didn't tag their fanart or put a weird description doesn't automaticaly mean they are fake and trying to scam you. It's just general list of common red flags shared between confirmed scam accounts and might be useful when you're looking for commissions and want to verify if the artist is legit or a thief/scammer.

Head hopping is where, in a 3rd person POV, the narrative point of view (or the head we are in) jumps between characters within the same scene or paragraph. This is primarily a thing in closer 3rd person POVs where we are more in a character's head--we are getting their thoughts, feelings, and experiences directly.

Here's what head hopping can look like (two excerpts from the book Sacred Fate by Eressë Belley):

Imcael sighed. Tyrde had his work cut out for him. He wondered if his youngest was up to the challenge. It was some time before Rohyr rejoined his consort. Not an offensively long time but it was clear to astute observers that here was no love match. Even Rohyr’s attire bore testament to his lack of enthusiasm for the occasion. He was clad in the customary nuptial colors of cream and gold but there was little of the resplendence expected of the ruler of a great realm. Only the heavy collar of white-silver links and square-cut adamants marked him as royalty. And in lieu of his crown or even a ceremonial coronet, he wore a plain gold circlet. But the most telling sign of all was the way he periodically twisted the wedding band of entwined gold and white-silver on the middle finger of his right hand. Not in the manner of one unused to wearing a ring on that finger but rather as if it were too tight and he wished he could remove it. After a few minutes conversation with Tyrde, Rohyr scanned the hall until he spotted Lassen. His leman was seated at one of the far tables. Engaged in conversation with Eiren Sarvan and Reijir Arthanna’s brother Keiran, he showed no sign of unease though he must have felt it at a feast celebrating his lover’s marriage to another.

In the span of four consecutive paragraphs we go from Imcael's head to a vaguely omniscient POV to Rohyr's POV, with no clear transition between them. Just a few paragraphs before this, we had been back in what might have been that vaguely omniscent POV, which had this rather jarring transition:

If it galled him that said correctness was born out of protocol rather than true amicability toward Rohyr’s betrothed, he held his tongue. After all, they did not know Tyrde. For now, all his son could command was deference to his office to be. Loyalty would come later.

The shift from the vaguely omniscient POV (which includes a speculation of Imcael's feelings) directly into Imcael's head happens mid-paragraph, making the reader jump from having no direct insight into Imcael's thoughts to being in his thoughts with no transition.

My goal is not to pick on this book in particular (I chose it in part because I had already talked about its head-hopping-ness in my April/May reading challenge update) but to show some of the issues that can arise with head hopping:

It can be confusing or hard to follow and make for a jarring reading experience. The reader can end up never quite sure whose head they are in.

It makes the story more disjointed. A POV switch is often a natural transition point in a story and forces the reader to recalibrate for the new POV, and rapid switching breaks the story up at unnatural break points.

It makes it less clear who knows what and/or what information is true. As with the sentence that I quoted above, we shift from speculation as to Imcael's thinking directly into Imcael's thinking in one paragraph. As a reader, I would generally take speculation as something that can't be assumed to be wholly true--but immediately being in Imcael's head makes it seem as though it must be true. But it was speculation from a vaguely omniscient POV--were we in someone's head? Whose head? It may not always be clear the literal sentence when the POV switch happens, leaving the reader unclear whether information in any given narration happened in one POV versus the other.

The dinosaur is very glad to see so many doodles in the notes! Also lots of comments with very good suggestions for people who have a hard time starting, like starting on the second page, just signing & dating it, numbering the pages, or using the first page to put samples of all your usual pencils and pens and such.

Here's how I started my new sketchbook, which I got for 5 dollars at Dollarama. I would have drawn on that first blank page instead of just signing it, but it was partially glued to the endpaper and wouldn't lie flat.

And a chaser, for those interested: