#writingwithoutconfidence

Alright, Tumblr writers. Sit down. Drink some water. I’m back with more writing tips I learned the hard way, usually at 2am while questioning every life choice I’ve ever made. Take what helps. Leave what doesn’t. Argue with me in the comments if you must.

1. Your tone doesn’t have to stay consistent to be good. You can be funny and devastating. Soft and brutal. Whiplash is sometimes the point. Life doesn’t stick to one genre — your writing doesn’t have to either.

2. Trauma shouldn’t only explain behaviour; complicate it. If a backstory only makes a character quieter, sadder, or “stronger,” it’s underused. Trauma creates contradictions: wanting closeness but flinching from it, craving stability but sabotaging it. That tension is the point.

3. If you’re exhausted by your own story, take that seriously. Burnout while writing isn’t a sign that your story is bad — it’s usually a sign that something is off in the process. You might be editing while drafting, forcing the plot to go somewhere it doesn’t want to, or circling the same emotional beat without letting it change. Before you delete anything or decide you “hate” the story, step back. Distance fixes more drafts than starting over ever will.

4. If you suddenly lose all motivation halfway through a scene, don’t push — jump. That drop usually happens right before an emotional beat you haven’t figured out yet. Instead of forcing filler, jump past it. Write the aftermath. Write the reaction. Once you know where the scene lands, going back to fill in the middle is way easier.

5. Don't be afraid to kill your darlings. Sometimes, you write a line or a scene that you love, but it doesn't fit the story. It's okay to cut it. Maybe it can be used elsewhere, or maybe it just needed to be written to get you to the next part. Your story will be stronger for it. But make sure to save it somewhere else for later.

6. Let characters surprise you. Sometimes, a character will do something unexpected. Don't fight it. Let them surprise you. Maybe they'll reveal a hidden side or take the story in a new direction. Trust your characters—they might know where they're going better than you do.

7. If your dialogue sounds stiff, check how the character answers. Real people dodge, deflect, misunderstand, and answer questions with different questions. If one character asks something important and the other responds clearly and honestly on the first try, it can feel fake. Add friction. Let them avoid the point. That’s usually where the tension lives.

8. If you get a sudden burst of inspiration for a totally different scene, write it immediately. Don’t worry about continuity. Don’t worry about spoilers. Don’t worry about “doing it out of order.” That excitement is your brain handing you something important. You can always stitch it in later — you can’t always get the feeling back.

9. If you ever catch yourself thinking, “I should probably explain this,” pause. That urge usually shows up right after you’ve written something subtle and start worrying the reader won’t get it. Before you add explanation, ask: is the clue there? If the emotion, action, or detail already points in the right direction, trust it. Over-explaining often flattens moments that were already working.

10. If you don’t know how to start a scene, start a few seconds late. Writers often open scenes too early — characters entering rooms, greeting each other, settling in. Skip that. Start where something is already happening: mid-conversation, mid-thought, mid-tension. Readers will catch up faster than you think. (A LOT of my writing starts like this, but lots of people like it... so it works I guess.)

11. If you write your main character as “normal,” don’t abandon that the second they're thrown in a difficult situation. If you establish a character as ordinary — awkward, untrained, unsure — they shouldn’t suddenly start moving smoother, or reacting like a seasoned fighter the moment things get hard. Stress doesn’t usually make people cooler or more competent; it makes them messier. If you want them to survive a difficult situation, let it be through panic, luck, instinct, help from others, or small, clumsy decisions. The moment they act like a different person, they stop feeling real — and readers will notice.

12. If your redemption arc starts with instant forgiveness, it isn’t redemption. Redemption requires effort, discomfort, and time. The character should change before they’re accepted again — not after. Forgiveness is a result, not a starting point. Saying the character did some bad things but the second they apologise everything is forgiven (or to an extent) not only sounds unrealistic, but simple too.

-

Okay, that’s it. No more tips. I’ve run out of wisdom and it’s past the hour where good decisions are made.

If even one of these made you go, “oh. that explains a lot actually,” then this post did its job. You don’t have to use all of them. You don’t have to agree with me. Writing isn’t a checklist — it’s trial and error and accidentally discovering your best scenes while doing something “wrong.”

So write out of order. Let the tone shift. Let your characters be complicated and a little inconvenient. Skip the boring parts. Trust the moment before you explain it to death.

And if your draft feels messy or unfinished or emotionally confusing?

Good. That usually means you’re close.

Go write something that surprises you. Something that hurts a little. Something you’ll reread later and realise you were braver than you thought.

You’re not doing it wrong.

You’re writing.

by writingwithoutconfidence (you all make me more confident <3)

Writing Tips

My Writing (very long though)

It's quite long this time - it might help. Took me ages to write since I was trying to be as detailed as possible. 16 points, 8 of each. Writing (certain) Situations and Tropes

1. Fights should be about intent. Your character can be an amazing fighter. Your character can struggle to land a clean hit. Both are fine. What matters is why the fight is happening. There doesn’t need to be a fully developed reason like a tragic backstory — but there does need to be something. Fear. Instinct. Protection. Panic. A line being crossed. A fight shouldn’t exist just because you want your character to look impressive or “special.” Remember that. (note to self) (To people who want an example, I've written a fight scene in my WIP, and you can read it and kinda see what I mean by this. Here it is: Chapter 5.)

Have you guys ever realised that sometimes we write like writers not like actual people? Okay wait, hear me out because I swear this makes sense.

Sometimes I’m reading something (or my own stuff 💀) and I’m like… no one talks like this. NO ONE. Why is every sentence perfectly structured? Why is everyone delivering emotionally devastating one-liners on cue? Why did this character just explain their entire trauma in one clean paragraph with little to no hesitations?

This blog is mostly where I share writing — snippets, stories, drafts, anything really. I'm not going to openly tell anyone my age, so please respect my boundaries. That’s about it. Welcome, and thanks for being here. ✨ 💫

Current pfp: Alex Grant from my WIP ‘Disguised’ Current banner: Created by @alexazucchie for my WIP 'Paper Fangs'. I LOVE IT SO MUCHH

My WIPs on Tumblr:

WHUMP Situations (mainly Eddie and Ryan)

Paper Fangs (mafia, amnesia)

Foundlings (monster and girl, short stories)

Unchosen (the Chosen One who walked away)

Original Works on AO3 that I 110% recommend:

Unremembered

Dimidia by @ponderingpen

Stolen Sunlight

Ashcombe by @housemasterwilkes

This is a post full of Writing Tips I've written... hopefully they're useful.

Shout out to my amazing Tumblr friends:

@alexazucchie @justluchii @tip-top-all-right

@orcaraminga @temisjanaina @vulpyabby

@iamafkrn @cervus-scribe @ponderingpen

@aloonatic @trulysarcastic @aster-spring-fell

@penningbookwurm @potatoanarchist @callmegayandgrunge2

@bylerbean @rubyrider6000 @depressedbean0618

@immaryn

An original quote: Being bad is temporary. Never letting yourself try isn’t - me!

It happened quietly.

Harry had been on a mission two weeks earlier, and had helped a Muggle couple whose argument had spiralled into something raw and shaking. He got the husband out of the house long enough for the wife to breathe again. But it wasn’t the shouting that stuck with him. It was what the woman said when Harry walked her outside:

“I stay because he remembers the worst parts of me. And I forgot to love the good ones.”

The line stuck. It clung to him through the paperwork, through the cold air outside the Ministry, through the way his breath misted like smoke.

And something clicked — sharp, terrifying, beautiful. Draco loved him for everything. Not the hero. Not the scar. But the boy with too many bruises and the man still learning softness.

Harry walked home with that truth humming under his skin. He passed a tattoo studio. Stopped without meaning to. Not because he wanted a Snitch. But because he wanted something on his body that said:

I chose this life. I chose this love. I chose to stay.

And the Snitch — the first thing he ever chased that meant freedom — suddenly felt right.

So he went in.

He didn’t tell Draco. Not out of secrecy, but because he wanted the moment to be theirs.

Later On

Harry slips quietly into their bedroom, boots muffled by the carpet. He’s exhausted — two weeks gone, too many nights of cold rain and sleepless nights — and he doesn’t expect Draco to be awake. The early-morning light spills through the curtains in soft gold bands, dust drifting lazily in the glow.

He shrugs off his jacket. Pulls his shirt over his head. He’s reaching for a clean one when a voice, sleepy and sharp at once, cuts through the quiet.

“Harry?”

Harry startles. Draco is sitting up in their bed, hair mussed, eyes half-lidded from sleep but already alert in that way that means he’d been listening for him.

“You’re home,” Draco whispers — and it’s not accusation, not disappointment. Just relief.

Harry hesitates, half-turned, the clean shirt hanging from his fingers. He suddenly feels ridiculous — like a teenager caught doing something impulsive and raw. The early light slants across his back, warming the new ink, making the gold in the Snitch flare softly.

He shifts as if to hide it. But Draco is already moving.

The sheets rustle. The floor creaks. And then Draco is standing beside the bed, bare feet silent, sleep-warm and tense in the way he gets when something matters. “Harry,” he says again — softer this time, almost breathless.

Harry swallows. The words sit heavy in him, then loosen. “It’s stupid, I know,” he starts, voice barely above a whisper. “But— I saw someone on a mission. Someone who’d forgotten what it meant to be loved properly. And I just—” He exhales shakily. “I wanted something that meant I hadn’t.”

The room holds still. And Draco steps closer until he’s right behind him, close enough that Harry feels the warmth radiating off his skin. Draco reaches out, fingers tracing the air above the tattoo, almost reverent. “There is nothing stupid about carrying a reminder of who you’ve become,” he murmurs, voice low.

Harry bites back a blush and finally turns to face him.

That’s when Draco really sees him — the careful vulnerability, the sleepless eyes, the quiet hope. Draco lifts his head, eyes shining in that way he always denies.

“You absolute menace,” he mutters, voice still gravelled from sleep but warm, unbearably fond. “You’ve gone and put your heart on your back.”

Harry grins. “Only for you.”

And Draco closes the distance, one hand cupping Harry’s jaw, the other settling at the small of his back — right below the ink — as he pulls him into a slow, grounding kiss.

I like to think that in another universe this is what could've happened: Scars and Kisses (Drarry)

Alright, Tumblr writers. Gather round. I’ve collected a bunch of writing tips I’ve relied on ever since I upgraded from “nine-year-old scribbling nonsense” to “slightly more organised nonsense.” Use them, steal them, ignore them — your choice.

1. Your first draft can be nothing more than a sentence like: “Idea: two characters meet in a park and have fun.” A first draft is allowed to be an outline, a scattered thought, or a skeleton. What matters is getting the idea out of your head and onto the page. You can shape it later.

2. You don’t have to write in order. Sometimes we have dreams where we skip the boring parts and jump straight into the interesting scenes like the ending, the argument, or that one line of dialogue that makes you go, “Damn. I like that.” Writing can be the same. Start with the part that excites you. The rest will come together later. It may sound really odd, but trust me, it'll help.

3. Good descriptions don’t automatically make a character feel real. You know when you read about a character and think, “Yeah, this is fine… but something’s missing”? That usually happens when the character has traits, but not life. Descriptions aren’t the problem — it’s that we don’t see how those descriptions actually matter to them. Here’s the difference:

Feels a bit flat: “Lana had soft brown eyes, a quiet voice, and kept a journal with her all the time.” Nothing wrong with it — it just doesn’t make you feel anything. VS Feels more real: “Lana kept a journal with her everywhere — half out of habit, half because she hated forgetting things. She spoke quietly most of the time, but whenever she got excited? You heard it.” Now there’s emotion. A reason. A spark.

4. If a scene feels off, check the emotion before you check the wording. A lot of the time, a scene doesn’t work not because the writing is bad, but because the emotion behind it is wrong. Maybe the characters aren’t reacting strongly enough. Maybe they’re reacting too strongly. Maybe the mood doesn’t match what just happened. When the emotion is off, the whole scene feels weird — even if the description and dialogue are fine.

Example: “He found out his best friend betrayed him. He sighed and walked away.” Why it feels off: A sigh doesn’t match the weight of the betrayal. The emotion doesn’t line up with the moment. How to fix it: “His mouth went dry. He didn’t even realise he’d stepped back until his shoulder hit the wall.” Same moment, but the emotion actually fits.

5. If you’re giving your character a heavy or traumatic backstory, be careful with how you show their reactions. A lot of people assume trauma = dramatic nightmares, shaking hands, and refusing to touch anyone. Sometimes, sure. But in reality? Trauma shows up in a hundred quieter, weirder, very human ways. Some people joke too much. Some become obsessively organised. Some can’t stand silence. Some become overly affectionate. It’s not always the movie version of PTSD. It’s not always the “wakes up screaming” cliché. Make your character’s reactions specific to them, not just “trauma tropes.” Think: What did this particular person learn to do to survive? That’s what will shape how they act now.

6. If you’re writing action, don’t make your main character “weak until suddenly they’re a hero.” It’s such a common thing: the MC starts out timid, unsure, soft… and then one dramatic moment suddenly unlocks their hidden badass mode. It works sometimes, but honestly? It hits harder when the growth is gradual. When they slip. When they backtrack. When they get brave for one chapter and terrified the next. Slow character growth > Instant transformation every time. This took me ages to learn, but it's something everyone should hear at least once.

7. If you ever get hit with sudden inspiration, start writing… and then immediately think, “Wow, this is awful, I should restart”—DON’T. That “crappy” version is exactly where the good stuff hides. If you keep restarting, you’ll kill the momentum and lose the spark that made you write in the first place. Keep going. Fix it later. Let the messy version exist so the better version has something to grow out of.

8. I’m sure this has happened to everyone… but have you ever struggled so much with dialogue that you just give up? Yeah. Don’t. Most of the time, dialogue only feels impossible because you’re trying to make it perfect on the first try. Let it sound awkward. Let it sound clunky. Let it be two cardboard boxes talking. You can fix it later. Write the intention first — the rhythm and personality will show up once the pressure is gone.

9. If you ever catch yourself thinking, “Hmm… should I kill them off?” pause. Before you swing the axe, take that character out of your story in your mind and imagine how much would actually change. If the answer is “basically nothing,” then the problem isn’t the character — it’s the role you’ve given them. Give them a purpose before you give them a funeral. Yes, I'm not trying to convince you to keep them alive or make them come back from the dead, I’m just saying: make the death mean something. If their absence doesn’t create a ripple in the story, in the plot, or in another character’s life… then it’s not a death, it’s a deletion. And your readers will feel the difference.

10. When writing a mystery story, please don’t let your MC suddenly go, “Everything clicked into place,” without actually showing us how. Like bestie… we’re trying to solve this with you. We can’t read the character’s mind. We didn’t magically connect the dots while staring at the same clues and eating snacks. If your detective realises something, give us the moment they notice it. Let us see the weird detail, the off comment, the tiny clue that made them go, wait a second… Mysteries are so much more fun when your readers feel included — not blindsided by an “aha!” moment they never had a chance to reach.

11. Stop panicking about “originality.” Every writer has that moment where they go, “Wait… has this been done before?” And the answer is almost always yes — but that doesn’t matter. What makes a story original isn’t the trope, the setting, or the plot twist. It’s you. Your voice. Your characters. Your humour. Your POV. Your emotional fingerprints all over the pages. Two writers can start with the same idea and end up with completely different stories. So don’t ditch a concept just because it isn’t groundbreaking. Write it your way — that’s what makes it new.

12. A really simple one, but I still struggle: Give your side characters goals that don’t revolve around the MC. A world feels real when people have lives outside the protagonist. Give a side character a job interview. Give another one a crush. Let someone have a secret you’ll reveal later. Let someone be busy when the MC needs them. Suddenly, your world feels alive instead of like a stage set.

13. ✨ Bonus Tip: Use the “put it away and read it tomorrow” rule. I swear this changes EVERYTHING. When you finish a scene, don’t immediately rewrite it. Don’t panic-edit. Don’t go “ugh this sucks” and delete half of it. Just… close the document. Touch grass. Eat chocolate. Scroll for a bit. Sleep. Then tomorrow — or even a few hours later — reread it with a fresh brain.

You will suddenly notice:

lines that are actually great

lines that need a tiny tweak

parts that sound different from how you imagined

typos your brain was blind to

scenes that flow better than you remember

HOW FANTASTIC YOUR WRITING ACTUALLY IS

where you lost emotion

THE WONDER THAT COMES FROM YOUR MIND

where the sentence is too long

It’s such a small thing. SO many people skip it. But every published, polished author does it.

And the best part?

You will hear lines that are so good you’ll surprise yourself. You’ll hear the music in your writing. You’ll hear the story breathe.

Okay, that’s it — you made it to the end. If you use these tips, amazing. If you ignore half of them, also amazing. Writing isn’t a test, it’s just you and your brain making cool stuff together. So go write something chaotic. Something dramatic. Something you’ll look at tomorrow and go, “Wait… that’s actually kinda good??”

Because it will be. You’ve got this!