Laurel Writes, Reads and Draws

This was Copy & Pasted into my one fic's Comment section, twice.

If you get something like this, DO NOT click any links. Screenshot them, then mark them as SPAM.

Here is a Twitter Thread about this.

You only have one giant paragraph, so it's just a wall of text

Similar to the previous point, you don't have paragraph breaks when a new character speaks

you don't include quotation marks

tumblr specific: your fic isn't under a readmore

tumblr specific as well: your fic is all written in the smaller text (example: this way). This is just accessibility, and i've also heard this doesn't work well with text to speech but maybe that has been resolved by now?

Kindle Unlimited is offering two free months of unlimited ebooks. As a trial. Which will then become a paid subscription.

Your local library is offering unlimited ebooks all the time. Forever. No contracts, no predatory practices, no tracking of how long you spend on each particular page in the hopes that information about your habits can be sold for a profit.

If your story is character driven (which most are), don’t make a huge chunk of it plot driven. The plot should be character driven. Plot and character aren’t two separate entities. The character is the driver and the plot should be the annoying passenger that keeps trying to change the radio when the driver says not to. But in the end, they both exist in the same car.

why should you change it?

When you guys pop up in our notifications, most seasoned tumblr users will suspect you’re a bot and block on sight.

why do we block immediately?

tumblr has a history of bots trying to infiltrate and establish a connection to a valid, existing blog in order to populate google searches. Simply liking or reblogging a post, not just adding a scam link to it, establishes this connection. Tumblr users don’t want this to happen, especially if it’s a scammy p*rn bot. So, we often block on sight.

So now I have to reblog stuff AND change my pfp?

Well, of course that’s up to you! I just want to explain why you may have been already blocked by an artist/blogger you may have discovered recently, and how you can avoid it in the future.

Reblogging does help creators more than likes because your reblogs will show up on the dash of those that may follow you. Plus, reblogging puts that post on your own blog, and in case the original gets deleted or edited by the OP, it’ll be on your blog like that–forever (or until you delete your blog). Nice.

Here are some free icons created by catalyststuff on freepik. Highly recommend their art for a simple replacement!

going as each other’s “platonic” date to a mutual friend’s wedding

agreeing to kiss each other “just to see what it’s like”

punching the guy who broke your best friend’s heart at prom

refusing to admit your feelings but making up ridiculous excuses to spend time together

“i’m not in love with my best friend” but everyone knows you're full of shit

there’s only one bed, which we decide to share (obviously been waiting for this moment)

friends and family think we’re dating because we’re always acting like a couple

sharing clothes, we're just that comfortable with each other

accidentally blurting out “i love you” during a conversation

“i’ll kiss you right now to prove i don’t feel anything for you” but the kiss proves the exact opposite

finding old letters you wrote to each other as kids and reminiscing

is there a reason you're always staring at me in class?

knowing your best friend inside out, everything from their favorite song, to the name of their stuffed animal in second grade

hiding your feelings, not wanting to ruin the friendship, even going as far as avoiding each other completely, yet always ending up sharing an intimate moment

immediately choosing each other for a group project, but spending more time making out than working

the first kiss and the realization of “it’s always been you”

starting to see each other in a different light

i’m watching you date all these other people and i don't know what it is i'm feeling but it's definitely not jealousy

you don't have anyone to go to prom with, so i volunteer, but we end up ditching early, instead driving around town, stopping for some cheap burgers and incredible sights

complimenting your best friend over small things, that realistically only someone who’s in love with that person would notice

that “oh shit” moment when the realization hits you

the “date” that isn't really a date but feels like one

showing up at each other’s house late at night

you're upset and disappear for a couple hours, and i'm the only one who knows where to find you (which is at the location we always hung out at as children)

one dropping hints about their feelings, the other one is completely oblivious

hearing your best friend say you’re nothing more than friends, dying a little on the inside because you wish it was more than that

If you want to improve your writing, it’s important to master not only what you include in a story, but what you leave out. Writing a good narrative doesn’t always mean using more words to tell your story — in fact, often it means using fewer. A skilled writer understands the importance of letting readers interact with the text so they can fill in the details that are left out (aka the “gaps”). When readers are permitted to interpret the implied subtext rather than having it spelled out, they will be more engaged in your story. Here’s how to successfully leave gaps in your writing for your readers.

If your dialog feels flat, rewrite the scene pretending the characters cannot at any cost say exactly what they mean. No one says “I’m mad” but they can say it in 100 other ways.

Wrote a chapter but you dislike it? Rewrite it again from memory. That way you’re only remembering the main parts and can fill in extra details. My teacher who was a playwright literally writes every single script twice because of this.

Don’t overuse metaphors, or they lose their potency. Limit yourself.

My debut novel "To Wear A Crown" has plot twists galore, and I received great feedback on them. So, I thought I'd share some tips on how to do plot twists right.

1. They shouldn't come out of nowhere

This is a common misconception - that good plot twists are the ones that come from nowhere and no one can see coming.

Yes, surprise/shock is a big element to plot twists. It shouldn't be obvious. But it shouldn't be completely out of left field either.

What I mean by this, is that you should use foreshadowing. Litter tiny breadcrumbs throughout your novel. The goal is this: if someone reads the book for the second time, they should go, "How did I not see this coming?".

Subtle foreshadowing is the way to get that result.

Plot twists without any prior set-up is often unsatisfying and out of character.

2. Pick your moments

You cannot have plot twists happening left and right every five seconds. The emotion from a plot twist reveal should be intense, and your readers need time to come down after each one.

Pick the right moments in your novel when the tension is high and the foreshadowing has built up. And then after the reveal, give the reader time to breathe before you hit them with another plot twist.

Trust me, this will have a much greater impact.

3. Focus on the characters' emotions

The plot twist needs to be experienced by your characters. The way to get maximum impact out of a plot twist is to focus on the emotions of the characters as it is revealed.

If your POV character had no idea about the plot twist and the reader is finding out with them, the character's shock and betrayal should characterise the scene.

If your POV character was the one keeping secrets and the rest of the cast finds out, show their emotions through body language and dialogue. And let your POV character experience that, and feel guilt etc at it.

Authentic character emotion = reader emotion

4. Use red herrings

That foreshadowing I talked about in the first tip can serve another purpose... making the reader think they know what the twist is going to be.

You put breadcrumbs throughout the story that could be interpreted as foreshadowing Character A as the murderer. But then, it's actually Character B.

Once again, I would recommend for the goal to be for a second-time reader to see those breadcrumbs and go, "Ah I see what the author did here. This was actually pointing to B when I thought it was A."

Play with reader expectations.

5. Avoid cliché plot twist

Unless you're going to subvert a cliche or make fun of it, I would recommend staying away from cliché plot twists, like: It was actually his evil twin all along; The bad guy is the protagonist's father etc.

These will have your readers rolling their eyes, and the impact will be lost.

This is some unconventional writing advice, but here me out, because it's important and I don't see it being talked about enough:

Not every scene you write has to be essential to drive your plot forward. That's it. And your story doesn't need to be at high stakes at all times to be considered interesting, either.

Your scenes, that you include, should always be crucial to your story. Not important. Crucial. So, yes, it is important that your story isn't filled with scenes that don't affect or drive your plot forward, but it is also okay to include scenes in which your characters simply... exist.

Maybe it's not necessary to show your characters at work, signing papers at a desk (unless a dragon comes in and sets fire to the place or they get fired), but it might be necessary to have your characters invite a couple friends over, make some pancakes, and crack some jokes! A scene like that, while it might not contribute much to the overall plot of your story, will help bring life into it!

Giving your audience glimpses into your characters life, not only helps them connect with your characters, but it's a way for them to start caring more deeply about both your characters and the relationship between them.

Your story CANNOT simply be ACTION ACTION ACTION. Yes, it is important for your scenes contribute to your plot, but you can't forget the importance of establishing characters, as well as the world they live in and the dynamics between them!

YOUR PLOT IS ONLY HALF OF IT. If a scene is rendered useless in terms of plot development, but contributes in any way to the development of a character or relationship, it is not useless, nor is it a waste of space!

Learn what it means for a scene to be completely useless and what it means for it to be useful in terms of characterization, worldbuilding or exposition. You don't need to cut those scenes. Every scene has to serve a purpose, but there is a lot of purposes to be served.

1. Kids never feel as small as you see them. A three year old thinks a one year old is a baby and a six year old is grown up. A six year old thinks a three year old is a baby and a twelve year old is an adult. Age is about perspective. One year is a huge age difference to a little kid.

2. Little kids might not be conscious of their physical limitations, but they can still be frustrated by them. A seven year old might see an adult do something relatively simple, like draw a straight line or perfectly crack an egg, and try to do the same thing, only to be frustrated when it doesn’t work.

Imagine suddenly having an injury that makes a skill you use every day become difficult- you feel you should be able to do the thing, and you understand the thing should be easy for you, but it isn’t. It can be immensely frustrating to have a brain that grasps a concept that language or fine motor skills haven’t caught up to.

3. You know when you forget a word, and have to make something up on the fly to describe the word? That’s pretty much exactly what learning your first language is like.

You know what you intend, but you don’t have a way to express it, and it can move you to tears with frustration when everyone around you is suggesting the wrong thing, or seems completely certain they understand what you mean, and they don’t.

You don’t have a word for “Later”? You might try saying “next time”, or, “after”, or, “before tomorrow”.

This might result in saying, “Are we going to the park next time?”, “Are we going to the park before tomorrow?”, or, “Are we going to the park after?”, all of which can result in different answers.

4. Kids feel like adults are a different species. They don’t get why we do certain things, and they don’t understand why we don’t want to run around with them all the time.

If sitting still is boring, coffee tastes bitter, and long conversations only happen with weird-smelling strangers who talk to them like they’re stupid, then they truly will not understand why anyone would *want* to be left to have coffee with a friend without welcome distractions to make it bearable.

Aren’t you bored? You aren’t doing anything. How could you possibly be stimulated without any food or toys or music or anything? Why don’t you just leave? Do you *have* to be there, the way you had to go to work? Adults are weird.

5. Children have complex social relationships that are just as varied as yours.

A room full of third graders might look like indiscriminate chaos to an adult, but pick a well connected kid, and they’ll tell you that Megan is the fashion icon who can do hair really well, Thomas is the athlete, Gray gets mean when he has to share so nobody wants to play with him, Paisley can’t read and the boys make fun of her for it so don’t make her work in a group with Anthony, Dillon put a bug in their food once so they’ll never trust him again, and Matthew’s parents let him watch family guy so he says bad words and makes grown-up jokes that make other kids uncomfortable.

You don’t see this stuff because you aren’t inside the society. They are, and they do.

6. Time. Moves. So. Slow. Five minutes really does feel like half an hour. Sit still for five minutes? That’s like you sitting in a waiting room at the DMV for an hour. Wouldn’t you get annoyed and impatient? They haven’t learned to hide their irritation yet. That’s really the only difference.

7. “Reading in your head” requires understanding that you have a Voice, which people can hear, and Thoughts, which are audible only to yourself. This can be a difficult concept to grasp. If a kid is reading out loud, and you tell them to read quietly, there’s a good chance they’re going to whisper or mouth the words instead of going totally silent the way you might. Splitting the self into multiples like “Internal monologue VS public perception” or “What I look like VS how I think I look” is alien and bizarre. If a kid thinks they look like a Dragon and you laugh at them? Ouch. They might be mad for a while.

8. Repetitive chores make no sense when your awareness of time doesn’t extend beyond a week or so. Why should I wash my blankets? They don’t look dirty and I don’t smell anything bad. Blankets don’t get dirty unless you put dirt on them. If you put a blanket in a washer, you can’t use that blanket AT ALL the ENTIRE TIME it’s being cleaned. That might be an hour, but it will *feel* like a week. And you have to do that every two weeks?? That’s overkill. Why even bother?

9. Kids have opinions about adults. They will have a sense about whether an adult is “real-kind” or “fake-kind”. An adult who listens respectfully to what they have to say, asks thoughtful questions, and takes their concerns seriously? That’s a good adult. An adult that oversimplifies their struggles, ignores their complex social rules, and gives bullshit advice like “just walk away from bullies” and “turn your chores into a fun game”? That’s not a trustworthy adult. That’s an Adult™. An Adult™ doesn’t consider them to be a real human being with thoughts and emotions. An Adult™ sees them as an inferior, amusing pet. And they will actively sabotage An Adult™ like that.

10. Emotions are physical at a young age. Joy might make their body buzz until they can’t help but wiggle or jump around. Sadness might be a huge physical pain in their throat and heart. Everything they experience is still relatively new to them, so there is very little frame of reference to decide if this is a “big hurt that will last forever and ever and never go away”, or a “small hurt, that can be fixed easily and won’t matter in five minutes”. If someone lies to them about getting a cookie, that very well might be all the betrayal of your best friend sleeping with your husband.