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✧ You do not have to start with action. You have to start with interest. I will read two whole pages about someone making soup if they’re muttering about killing a god while doing it.

✧Your first sentence doesn’t have to be deep, mysterious, or poetic. It can just be “The corpse wouldn't shut up,” or “The milk was cursed again.” Get (PLEASE) weird.

✧ Starting with a dream sequence is legal only if someone wakes up and says, “That’s the third time I’ve died in my sleep this week.”

✧ The point of Chapter One is not to explain the entire world. It’s to hook the reader and emotionally blackmail them into turning the page.

✧ Introduce ONE conflict. Not five. One delicious little problem to gnaw on. “Oh no, they’re late for their job at the magical DMV.” I’m in.

✧ You don’t have to name every person your character walks past. Save the lore dump for later. If you give me eight capitalized names and two empires in the first paragraph, I will cry.

✧ Dialogue is a great opener if it makes me ask a question. If someone says “Did you hide the body?” in the first line, I’m staying.

✧ First impressions matter. So if your MC’s first action is whining about something boring, I will throw them. Gently. Out a window.

✩ Gut-punches are about timing. You don't say “I love you” during the sunset. You say it in the middle of a burning building or right after they stab you.

✩ A single line of dialogue like “you were supposed to come back” hits harder than an entire page of poetic mourning.

✩ Don’t just break their hearts, break their sense of identity. Make them question who they are, what they stand for, and if it was ever worth it (That’s premium pain.)

✩ Let someone be forgiven… but not trusted again. That's the kind of heartbreak that lingers like smoke.

✩ Sometimes the most devastating line is the one they don’t say. Silence is a character too.

✩ Give them a moment of joy. Right before everything falls apart. Hope makes the fall hurt more.

✩ Someone saying “I forgive you” through tears? Powerful. Someone saying “I still love you but I can’t stay”? Absolutely soul-shattering.

Ensign Pike.

Weather in stories is not just there to make your characters wet or sweaty or annoyingly cold. It means stuff, like, big emotional metaphory stuff. You can totally use it to say what your characters aren’t saying out loud, or to punch your readers in the face with vibes.

༄ Storms – Big messy chaos energy. Fights or maybe Panic. Something bad is either happening or about to, like the universe is yelling “brace yourself!”

༄ Rain – Sad tears or soul shower, take your pick. Sometimes it’s like, "boohoo everything sucks," but also kinda healing? Think of it like an emotional reset button.

༄ Sunshine – Happiness, duh. But also those moments where everything is finally clear and warm and safe, even if just for a second.

༄ Fog – No one knows what the hell is going on. Secrets, confusion, probably someone making a very questionable decision.

༄ Wind – Change is coming, dear. Restlessness in the air...Could be thrilling, could be terrifying. Hair will get messed up either way.

༄ Snow – Either magical winter wonderland vibes... or total emotional frostbite. Loneliness, silence, maybe death if you’re feeling extra dramatic.

༄ Heatwave – Everyone’s cranky and sweaty and one second away from snapping. Tension is so thick you could cut it with a popsicle stick.

༄ Thunder – Something (or someone) is pissed off. Like divine wrath, or just the universe doing a mic drop.

༄ Lightning – FLASH of truth. Insight. Or rage. Whatever it is, it’s fast and it changes everything.

Could I explain the actual rules of how they’re used? Absolutely not.

⊹ standing too close. like just barely not touching. why are their shoulders breathing on each other??

⊹ conversations that sound normal but feel like foreplay. “pass the salt” has never been so loaded.

⊹ one of them says something flirty and the other freezes for 0.2 seconds like “oh.”

⊹ eyes dropping to lips and then—back up. with effort.

⊹ holding eye contact just a little too long. like... are they gonna kiss or duel??

⊹ unintentional physical contact that lasts one second too long and now they’re both broken

⊹ a hand on the small of the back. that’s it. that’s the tweet.

⊹ tension so thick that other characters start noticing like “hey are you two okay?” (they are not)

⊹ “accidental” sleepovers. “oh no there’s only one bed.” yeah. suuuure.

⊹ biting back a smile. biting back a moan. biting anything really.

⊹ one of them walks away and the other has to physically restrain themselves from watching the hips

Could I explain the actual rules of how they’re used? Absolutely not.

"This life may not be perfect, but it's ours. We built it together for ourselves."

"You had me at hello, but you kept me with your heart."

"I didn't believe in fate until I met you."

"You're my today and all of my tomorrows."

"The best part of my day is when I get to be with you."

"I never thought I could feel like this with someone."

"I'd rather be with you than anywhere else in the world."

"Funny how life pushed us together and how we made sure to stay together."

"Even in a crowd, you're the only one I see."

"In a world full of chaos, you are my peace."

"You're the sweetest thing I ever laid my eyes on."

"Every love story is special, but ours is my favorite."

"I didn't know what true love was until you came into my life."

"With you, I've found my forever."

"You're mine in every multiverse, and I'm yours."

More: One-Liners Masterpost

randomized

"When did we start feeling so exhausted all the time?"

"I think every day we spend apart, I get a little more desperate for your touch..."

"Life doesn't have to be miserable when I'm here for you."

"You didn't use to be this rude. Who hurt you and made you give up the super sweet persona?"

"Really, I did love you, but that was a long time ago...before I even knew what you were doing to me."

"It was like yesterday...we were happy and only worried about the small things like where we were gonna go for college." / "Then reality kicked in."

"Have you always looked this depressed?"

"You need to let me forget you."

"No, your scent is stronger than perfume." / "I think you just miss me so much that you smell me everywhere."

My general advice to avoid writer’s block is genuinely just to have a life outside of writing. Friends, hobbies, anything that isn’t writing and work because once you make writing your entire life it becomes infinitely harder. But here are some cures for different types of issues:

The inspiration issue - I just don’t know what to write!

- Go outside and pick out tiny things about the world around you that are charming, think about your connection to the world around you, have a little existentialism moment

- Read literary theory, critique, and philosophy, an educated writer is an inspired writer

- Read/watch challenging and thought provoking media, the more something makes you think, the more invaluable it is to your writing journey

- Listen to music

- Phone a friend, what in society do you two like to discuss? Maybe you could write something about that

The discipline issue - I’ve sat at my document for hours and it’s still blank

- Sit down, write for fifteen minutes, no stopping, no going back, just do it.

- Put all of your distractions in another room or take your writing somewhere else and write for either an allotted amount of time or to a certain word count

- form some kind of routine around writing, does a cup of tea and a certain song help you lock in? Well it will if you start associating that specific type of tea and that specific song with writing.

The technical issue - everything I write sounds like garbage

- Do warm ups, writing is an art and you need to study its technique. Write something completely non-canon with your blorbos or whatever with the pure goal of improving one technique in your writing (voice, grammar, characterization, theme, prose, dialogue, etc.)

- Write a short story, something completely new with a specific message in mind, consider while writing how to weave that message into 3000 words or less, what techniques can you use?

The exhaustion issue - my writing is so dark/personal that I feel like I’m going to crash

- Put your characters somewhere else, somewhere completely non-canon, maybe even write a therapy sesh, whatever you need to do for catharsis

- Take a break, maybe work on something else to preserve your technical skills, you don’t have to work on your project all the time, you can take a break

- Talk with friends, can be about your writing or not but talking with people you like will help with your clarity of mind

The commitment issue - I’m bored of what I’m currently writing

- Reexamine what you’re writing, what about it are you bored with, your characters? Your setting? Your themes? Readjust accordingly

- Bite the bullet and commit. Follow my discipline advice above and just commit to it, if you change stories every time you get bored will you ever make something?

The time issue - I just don’t have the time!

➣ SOFT LOVE

♡ "you're cute when you're mad."

♡ soft shoulder kisses.

♡ "home is where you are, whether it is here, in the deepest ocean or hottest desert, you are my home."

♡ slow and curious first kiss, both characters seemingly nervous, blush painting their faces.

♡ stolen glances across the room.

♡ "the gods took their time with you."

♡ wearing their heart on their sleeves around each other.

♡ character A's face blushing as B smootheres them in compliments even years into their relationship with character B.

♡ quiet murmurs of affection.

♡ “i missed you.” “i was gone for two hours.”

♡ coffee shop and bookstore dates.

➣ HARD LOVE

♡ guttural rain confessions.*

♡ "do you not get it? every second i spend in the absence of your presence pains me."

♡ harsh and passionate first kisses.

♡ "i fucking yearn for you and you haven't so much as spared me a glance in years!"

♡ walls that they have each spent years building crumbling in the presence of one another.

♡ heated arguments turned into heated confessions.

♡ "i hate you! i hate you so much i can't bear to be near you." "you are walking a fine line between hate and desire, love."

♡ both being far too stubborn to admit their feelings, their hearts both caged deep within them.

♡ (years/months) of pent up emotions being aired in an argument and when the dust settles the only emotion left is their desire for each other.

♡ “do you think i want this? do you think i want to be stuck in this endless cycle of wanting you? do you truly think i enjoy waking up every morning realizing you’re not there?”

♡ tears spilling as they finally give in and proclaim their feelings.

♡ “i am not an easy person to love.” “i think i’ve got the hang of it.”

REBLOG TO SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL WRITERS!!<3

It’s still worth writing even if you aren’t feeling it right now.

It’s still worth writing even if it’s fanfiction.

It’s still worth writing even if you don’t think anyone else would ever want to read it.

It’s still worth writing even if it doesn’t get published.

It’s still worth writing even if it doesn’t get adapted into a huge blockbuster movie.

It’s still worth writing even if you can’t have fancy illustrations at the beginning of chapters or a map of the world at the beginning.

It’s still worth writing even if someone you trusted told you to stop.

It’s still worth writing if you just rolled your eyes at me.

"It's funny, I didn't think I was old enough to miss 'the good old days'."

⛧ Characters who genuinely suck at magic/combat/whatever the “thing” is but are still allowed to go on the adventure because they bring snacks, emotional stability, or a shovel.

⛧ Best friends who stay best friends even after one of them gets a god-tier promotion and the other one is just vibing in their mortal mediocrity.

⛧ Emotionally intelligent villains who are like “yeah I had trauma but I got therapy, I’m evil for other reasons now.”

⛧ Main characters with low charisma but high wisdom who don't win hearts but do win battles of logic and slowly get respected by being right all the time.

⛧ The “smart one” who's not a secret badass, not hiding a tragic past, just genuinely obsessed with fungi or cryptography and refuses to hold a sword ever.

⛧ Fantasy worlds with actual working public transportation. I’m so serious. Where’s the transcontinental dragon train or goblin-run subway system.

⛧ Teen protagonists who don’t want to save the world because they're already dealing with algebra and anxiety and one more prophecy will break them.

⛧ The hot morally gray character who thinks they’re mysterious and broody but is actually very bad at lying and everyone sees through them immediately.

⛧ Introverted characters who stay introverts. They don’t “learn to open up,” they just learn to mask better and set boundaries. That’s growth too.

⛧ Characters who actively un-romanticize violence instead of getting turned on every time someone pulls a sword. Please. Therapy.

⛧ Platonic soulmates. Yes, the “I’d die for you” bond, but no kissing, just trauma-bonded telepathy and shared snacks.

⛧ Chosen ones who are like, "you know what? no." and hand the glowing destiny sword to someone else while they go open a bakery.

⛧ Divorced parents who co-parent like competent adults instead of using their child as a battlefield.

⛧ Neurodivergent characters written like they’re people and not teaching moments or quirky plot devices. Bonus if they’re not even labeled, just exist.

⛧ Healers who have zero bedside manner but are really good at their job. “Oh, you’re dying? Sucks. Hold still.”

⛧ Female characters who are allowed to be weird, loud, gross, hairy, messy, and not secretly beautiful the whole time.

⛧ Lazy heroes. Not out of cowardice. Just genuinely do not want to get out of bed. They still save the world. Eventually. After coffee.