Writing Tips

When I wrote all the time, there was intense pressure to keep stories fresh and current, to have something ready to go by a fave's birthday, to meet deadlines regardless of what was happening personally, etc. I wrote hundreds of thousands of words while not in a balanced state of being, and it cost me dearly.

Now, as I try to pick up the pieces of my storytelling and rebuild my flow, it's comments like "I still come back and reread this," that I cling to the most. The only reason I feel like I haven't lost my edge is because you, readers, have told me you return to stories you enjoy.

I’ve just launched a new website called Query Generator!

Query Generator is a tool for fiction writers in the early stages of drafting or reworking their query letters. The Generator helps you identify important aspects of your story and gathers them into a standard query structure. 

The main feature of the website is the Generator itself, which has a form that’s divided into five sections:

Section 1: The Protagonist

Section 2: The Plot

Section 3: Meta Data

Section 4: You!

Section 5: The Agent

The Generator looks something like this:

Every single item has both an explanations and a few examples of how you might fill out the item, which should help to guide you in filling out each section. Some of the questions are extremely simple (ex. ”Full Name”) while some might take a bit of thinking (ex. “Initial Challenges”). 

Once you’re done, your query will look something like the ones on the Example Page: 

The example page features the “blank” template and two examples of filled out forms. This will help you see how everything actually fits together, and should provide you with some further help before you start with your own query - or, if the Generator produces an incoherent mess - will help you see how it was everything was meant to come together in the end. You can really see here that there are very few words the Generator actually adds to your project. The longest string is six. The Generator is meant to help you find your own words as you draft your query. 

Finally, there’s an Advice Page: 

This page is meant to help you:

understand why the generator functions the way it does, 

provides tips for further editing your query, and

helps you look toward next steps once you finish revising your query.

Why the Generator Exists

I’ve noticed, doing some query critiques here and in workshops with friends, that many first-attempts at queries are missing some fundamental story elements: protagonist ages, word counts, inciting incidents, setting, etc. No matter how well written they were, they weren’t fulfilling all of the functions required by query letters. 

I have my writing the perfect query letter post, but as I was helping a friend rewrite her query, I realized that some elements were just so formulaic, that there had to be a way to just… make a query generating form.

So I decided to build, basically, a Query Ad-Libs. You fill out a form that asks for your story elements, giving you examples and explanations to help you along the way. Once it has the information, it puts everything together, and hands it back to you in a standard query layout.

It won’t be well-written, but it’ll be a starting point for you to take back to your Word Doc and hopefully use to make something amazing.

A Simple Website 

This website was created by me (concept, content, & design) and my boyfriend (qualified, professional computer programmer). We didn’t have a team or testers or any outside help along the way. Just a drive to combine our skills and do something with our time besides binging Netflix (and many, many cups of Starbucks.) It’s not a professional or moneymaking endeavor, either. There are no ads or fees. 

However, if you find the site useful and would like to show your appreciation, donations of cups of coffee via Ko-Fi would be greatly valued, and spent coming up with additional content, either for this site or a new one: https://ko-fi.com/letswritesomenovels. 

Also, if you come across any bugs, please let us know, so we can fix them for future visitors to the Query Generator! 

I hope you check it out, and - if you do - I hope you find it useful to your writing endeavors, whether you’re getting ready to query, dreaming of querying, or just having fun. 

https://www.querylettergenerator.com/

If keeping track of your daily word count or time spent writing motivates you and makes you feel good about your progress, that’s fantastic. By all means keep doing it! But don’t use those measurements against yourself as a way to size up your failure or shortcomings.

Whether you wrote 100 words or 1,000 words today is not an indicator of your worth as a writer or as a person, nor is it an accurate measure of “productivity.”

Some of my best writing days have happened when my actual word count for the day was very low, but I had a revelation while taking a walk that completely changed how I approached the story the next day.

Welcome. :) And don’t worry about whether a question has already been asked. I don’t mind going over things again.

Central to this question is the legal definition of torture.

Legally torture is distinct from abuse, not because of what’s done or who it’s done to but because of who carries it out. According to international law (with some variation between countries) torture is when a government official or a member of a group powerful enough to control territory causes their victim pain for one of the following reasons:

Obtaining information

Forcing a confession

Punishment, of the victim or others

Intimidation, of the victim or others

I tend to summarise this to a scenario where a police officer beats someone in two different places: if they do it at work it’s torture, if they do it off duty it’s assault.

But the motivation is important to the legal definition and the understanding of what ‘counts’ as torture.

What you’re talking about is not legally torture.

Obviously I cover a lot of stuff on the blog that wouldn’t meet that strict legal definition. But I think it is important going in to your question to understand the difference. Because I answer these questions based on what I’ve read about legally defined torture; if the scenario is sufficiently different then you should be aware of the differences and that the evidence I’m drawing on might not be the best fit for what you’re writing.

So torture isn’t for ‘fun’. You do get torturers who- I’m not quite sure what the correct psychological terminology would be. They sometimes put a lot of their self worth and identity into the fact they cause other people pain. They characterise themselves as ‘strong’ individuals and reinforce this by hurting and humiliating their victims proving the victim’s ‘weakness’.

This is part of what Rejali calls the ‘hypermasculine subculture’ torturers tend to develop.

But they don’t report finding this ‘fun’ exactly. (I’m basing this on what torturers say and that’s not always trustworthy, but I think we have to consider them the most reliable sources for what the hell they were thinking.)

And they say that this is stressful. Because torture is- competitive. By that I mean that torturers don’t function alone. They work in groups and they treat each other as direct competition. They egg each other on. They feel that they ‘have’ to keep being more and more brutal or they’ll be showing weakness to the group.

They do also, sometimes, report a sense of satisfaction. But this seems to be outweighed by the incredible stress they’re under from their own side and the inevitable mental health problems they develop.

It’s also worth stressing that the organisations torturers are usually part of actively try to screen out people with mental health problems and anyone who shows enjoyment in violence. They consider these people harder to control.

I really can’t stress this bit enough: the evidence strongly suggests that torturers are mentally healthy before they start torturing. Their mental illnesses are the result of being exposed to violent, traumatic events repeatedly.

The structure of their brain does not care one whit whether the violence they’re witnessing is inflicted by them or someone else. It responds the same way and leads to the same symptoms of trauma.

The second question is easier.

Nothing I’ve seen has suggested that the torturer’s motivations effect victims in the slightest. Victim’s don’t care if the torturer is shouting questions, laughing or doing a jig.

It’s the traumatic nature of violence that effects victims. Not the torturers’ beliefs or drives.

A lot of torturers claim that they personally make a big difference or that they can control victims and change them in a predictable way. But the evidence says they’re lying or deluding themselves.

Which leaves the last question.

I’ve been asked this before and there isn’t any evidence.

I don’t mean there isn’t any evidence for/against, I mean I literally can’t find a single case that matches this popular fictional portrayal.

I’m personally dubious about the term ‘psychopathic’. I’m not convinced it’s a consistent description of a real condition.

But for the sake of the argument, let’s assume it is and that it lines up with the popular understanding of the term.

These are exactly the kinds of people organisations work hard to screen out. They’re the people who are not allowed to be in a position to torture.

If they were somehow to slip through- Torturers create a really toxic working environment. Organisations that harbour them end up with a work culture that encourages bullying, competition rather than teamwork and discourages hard work.

They tend to target people perceived as different for abuse, as well as people who disagree with them. And I think neurodivergence definitely counts as the kind of difference that would have other torturers turning on the character.

And the assumption that neurodivergence and mental illness is the ‘reason’ for a character to be abusive- well that assumption that people who are different are also dangerous feeds a lot of violence and discrimination against the mentally ill.

But even discounting all of that- the responses we have to trauma and to other people’s pain are wired deep.

I’m not an expert in pain or the human nervous system so I can’t tell you how deep. But the impression I get is that these mechanisms have old evolutionary roots. They have been part of the biology of vertebrates for a very long time.

I sometimes get asked questions about sci fi aliens or non-human intelligent beings in fantasy stories and how they would respond to torture (witnessing it, doing it or enduring it). I think the answer I tend to give there is relevant here:

Does the character behave in a way that is basically understandable as human? If the answer is ‘yes’, then I think you should write them responding to torture like a human being.

If the answer is ‘no’ then I’d ask you to consider whether they’re actually acting sufficiently differently to sound like a different species rather then a human with a health condition or a human from another culture.

What I’m driving at here is- Does the character read like a Siamese Fighting Fish with the capacity for speech? Do they have behaviours that are just not typical of mammals and underline a lot of their basic personality and approach to things?

For me to accept that a character might respond to torture in a way that’s different to the human norm they need to be convincingly non-human. Not like Tolkien elves or orcs. Not like alien species in Trek or Stargate.

Really, truly, alien.

A character in a magical story who genuinely can’t comprehend how you might need your major organs to survive and might be in pain without them- I’d say ‘OK that’s sufficiently different that I can’t predict it based on the evidence. Fill your boots.’

But a character who is just a jerk? Who just ‘likes’ being mean? That’s still a human being.

Treating them differently doesn’t do the real human beings who’ve been through similar things any favours.

And yes the real human beings who torture people are scumbags. But suggesting they’re unaffected by torture just feeds in to the problem. It feeds this myth that torturers are ‘strong’ and ‘tough’ and superhumanly resilient to the effects of what they do. It feeds the lie that they’re super human.

Help me out here. Cut them down to size.

Availableon Wordpress.

          Writing sex scenes. If you read those three words and you’re interested I don’t have to say much more huh?

       A disclaimer if you will that this is just covers the two physical genders we see the most, with a bit about managing with non/neutral genders, xeno sex, jellies, hermaphrodites, and gender shifters, and stuff. If anyone has a problem with any gender doing anything, then they can skip that part. If you have any issues with any of the terminology I use, you can go elsewhere. I’m not here to be PC or make you feel better about what you’re reading or take care of your issues, I’m just here to drop information for people who might need it and I’m not nice about it. Trigger Warnings I guess for general sexuality, but I keep the really nasty harder triggers out of it. Oh and it’s REALLY LONG AND DETAILED (It’s 13,400 words or so if you’re asking.)

       So: suck it up, put on your big girl panties, and deal with topics you might find uncomfortable or badly phrased as maturely as possible. Get ready to giggle like 13-year-olds at the word nipple. We’re going into the five-alarm-flame-bait-NSFW-headache known as sex! (No seriously, this is NSFW. 18+ only material.)

Show vs. Tell 

I didn’t learn to write descriptions by muscling through and writing them anyway. I learned incidentally, while trying to explain how the character’s physical traits fit into a story. I saw it done well and realized I could emulate it with a little practice.

I didn’t learn how to use humor and control tension by fixating on the pieces that weren’t working. That did take practice, but I fit it in around the edges, while working on other things. It couldn’t be forced.

But I did learn how to get higher wordcounts, how to motivate myself to write by challenging myself. It’s just that there’s a pivotal difference between stretching your limits and struggling unproductively. 

What free resources do characters have access to? Food? Shelter? What are the conditions they must meet to get these resources (sobriety, actively seeking a job, etc.)?

How are poor people perceived by better off people in that setting? Does it vary based on gender and other factors?

What cheap foods have become the staples of characters’ diets, assuming they can even afford those regularly? What mundane foods are considered luxuries?

What health problems have your characters had to ignore because they can’t afford healthcare? How have these problems worsened over time?

When they don’t make the minimum amount of money they need to maintain their current standard of living, what are the first things your characters cut spending on? 

What odd jobs can your characters do to earn cash quickly?

What are the limits of what your characters are willing to do for money and why do they have these limits? Moral reasons? Concern about safety? What might make your characters give in and do these things?

How do children try to conserve resources and help their parents make money?

How good are your characters at stealing? Have they ever been caught? What tricks have they learned to avoid being detected or caught?

Have your characters always been poor? If not, what was the hardest thing for them to adjust to?

Do your characters still feel hopeful about their future? What dreams are they hoping to achieve?

Have your characters tried reaching out to friends and family for help? Why or why not?

What do your characters hang onto for sentimental reasons even if selling it would make them a good amount of money?

Do other characters know the extent of the poverty your poor characters are dealing with? What misconceptions do they have?

A year ago or so I asked you guys to send in your best writing tips. I've compiled a list of some of the responses below. Oh, let's just ignore that it's been a whole year.

1. Take writing advice with a grain of salt. Every writer’s brain is different. Every person’s life is different. Every creative style is different. What works for some people won’t work for another. On top of that, some advice is just plain not helpful in the first place. So try to limit how much writing advice you take in because it can leave you spinning like a top until you can’t tell which way is up. Read more, write more and you’ll figure out what works for you eventually. [from @the-writers-bookshelf]

2. If you ever get stuck, vent about it to a friend or a notes document until a way forward presents itself. [from @scarlet-curls]

3. Be gentle with yourself. If you push yourself too hard too fast, you’re going to burn out, and then you either won’t be able to write anything, or you’re not going to particularly enjoy it, because you’re trying squeeze the last drops of water from a dry sponge. If you are burnt out, give yourself time to fill back up. Absorb other people’s work as a reader, as a viewer, as a general consumer. Let it give you inspiration and enthusiasm about your work again, and then when you feel ready, go back to writing. A metaphor I liked is that creating is breathing out, and enjoying other’s mediums is breathing in. As you breathe in more, you’re probably going to get the desire to create, but if you only exhale, you might metaphorically pass out. [from @writing-with-olive]

4. Arrive late, leave early. That advice has really helped me cut the excess out of scenes, and find what's essential / what's really adding to the story. It also keeps you hanging on, feeling excited to write the next scene because you're not divulging too much. You're jumping in and out of situations that are hopefully interesting to the audience / reader, and exploring those scenes, fleshing them out, then moving on. It’s just about balancing when is the right moment to move on, the right moment to cut the dialogue etc. Lots of trial and error, there! [from @spejdeir]

5. Start with the big picture. Always start with a one sentence summary. You don’t need any more than that. A beginning, vague middle, and an end. THEN start adding details. That sentence becomes a paragraph, then a page, then ten pages, and eventually a book. But start with just one sentence. [from @mj-is-writing]

6. Visualize. So you know what's going to happen in your chapter/short story. A's gonna chat with B before they fight monsters and kiss. With more details of course. Before you even approach the keyboard I want you to visualize it. Watch it like a movie in your own head. Daydream the situation. I do it in the shower and before I fall asleep most regularly.

It helps work out the kinks, the awkward points, and makes sure the scene flows naturally. Oh you paused because feels disconnected? Better to fix it now before you had a whole few paragraphs written about this. It helps with my flow a bit and makes sure I really know what's going on. [from @fablesrose]

7. If you are trying to build a writing habit, have a fairly solid writing schedule. It could be every day, it could be writing every few days, it could be once a week. Each time, open up your WIP, and read the last few paragraphs. If you’re coming up on burnout and reaaaalllly don’t want to write, that’s okay. Don’t write for now. But there’s a difference between burnout and “meh I kinda don’t wanna,” and opening up your WIP forces you to at least show up, ruling out the second state of mind. And remember - if you do decide not to write, don’t beat yourself up about it. Taking a rest is the smart move. [from @writing-with-olive]

8. Read the dialogue out loud while editing :) [from @loki-hargreeves]

9. Mine is, the often parroted, read a lot and write a lot. Honestly, best way to find your own writing style is to find the techniques/tropes/kind of character arcs you like best in media, and practice different ways of putting them together. If you want something a little less over said, I’d say make sure you take some time to care of your physical and mental health. As a person whose struggled with this in the past, let me tell you, it affects your creativity and productivity waaay more than you might thing. [from @ren-c-leyn]

10. When you first write something, it's not gonna be perfect. And that's okay. What you wanna do is go back later and fix and/or revise anything that you feel needs that. Also, it's good to make a character have breaks in their own dialogue. Whether they lose their train of thought or simply forget a word, it's okay. If anything, it makes it seem more realistic. [from @thedragonemperess]

11. Write in the time of hour that works best for you. If you’re a morning person, write in the morning. I always write in late afternoon or evening when the house stars to get silent. The neighbors children gone to bed and maybe a little sound of the tv from neighboring is buzzing in the background. [from @tildathings]

12. Never feel bad about writing what you know about. That's not to say you have to write what you know about, but there's nothing wrong with drawing from your own experiences and things you're confident with to help the words flow. That, and don't worry about writing tips, just be you :-) [from @ncruuk]

13. The first draft of your writing doesn't have to be perfect. Just write what ever you want without caring about the grammar, vocabulary etc. [from @yoon2jk]

14. Writing is different for anybody. It can be fast for this entity, while it will kinda take a while for this person right 'ere. Take your time, if you rush yourself you're just gonna burn your inspiration and will only delay you from writing or even stop you completely. Write in your own pace, it can be months, or week, heck it could even be a few hours. Just write comfortably. [from @tayooh]

15. Write garbage, and write it all the time. Have a writing journal, or a folder on your computer for writing journaling. Do stream of consciousness, do prompts, write whatever stupid thing comes to mind, don’t vet it, don’t dismiss anything, just write it. Write a hundred words, a thousand, just write write write.

Chances are, none of this will make any progress on your WIPs, even if you’re writing about your OCs or scenes from/related to your WIPs. That isn’t the important part. The important part is that you’re training your brain to write more and write better. The more you write, the more willing you are to write garbage... the easier it is to write when you need to, the better the writing will be, because you’ve already been practicing and thinking about your writing techniques.

donjon has tons of generators. for calendars. for demographics of a country and city. for names (both fantastical and historical) of people, nations, magics, etc.

this site lets you generate/design a city, allowing you to choose size, if you want a river or coast, walls around it, a temple, a main keep, etc.

this twitter, uncharted atlas, tweets generated maps of fantasy regions every hour.