Broken Pencils Are Pointless

E.A. Deverell - FREE worksheets (characters, world building, narrator, etc.) and paid courses;

Hiveword - Helps to research any topic to write about (has other resources, too);

BetaBooks - Share your draft with your beta reader (can be more than one), and see where they stopped reading, their comments, etc.;

Charlotte Dillon - Research links;

Writing realistic injuries - The title is pretty self-explanatory: while writing about an injury, take a look at this useful website;

One Stop for Writers - You guys... this website has literally everything we need: a) Description thesaurus collection, b) Character builder, c) Story maps, d) Scene maps & timelines, e) World building surveys, f) Worksheets, f) Tutorials, and much more! Although it has a paid plan ($90/year | $50/6 months | $9/month), you can still get a 2-week FREE trial;

One Stop for Writers Roadmap - It has many tips for you, divided into three different topics: a) How to plan a story, b) How to write a story, c) How to revise a story. The best thing about this? It's FREE!

Story Structure Database - The Story Structure Database is an archive of books and movies, recording all their major plot points;

National Centre for Writing - FREE worksheets and writing courses. Has also paid courses;

Penguin Random House - Has some writing contests and great opportunities;

Crime Reads - Get inspired before writing a crime scene;

The Creative Academy for Writers - "Writers helping writers along every step of the path to publication." It's FREE and has ZOOM writing rooms;

Reedsy - "A trusted place to learn how to successfully publish your book" It has many tips, and tools (generators), contests, prompts lists, etc. FREE;

QueryTracker - Find agents for your books (personally, I've never used this before, but I thought I should feature it here);

Pacemaker - Track your goals (example: Write 50K words - then, everytime you write, you track the number of the words, and it will make a graphic for you with your progress). It's FREE but has a paid plan;

Save the Cat! - The blog of the most known storytelling method. You can find posts, sheets, a software (student discount - 70%), and other things;

I hope this is helpful for you!

If you write a selfless hero, let them get mad at people.

If you write a cold-heated villain, let them cry.

If you write a brokenhearted victim, let them smile again.

If you write a bold leader, let them seek guidance.

If you write a confident genius, let them be wrong, or get stumped once in a while.

If you write a fighter or a warrior, let them lose a battle, but let them win the war.

If you write a character who loses everything, let them find something.

If you write a reluctant hero, give them a reason to join the fight.

If you write a gentle-hearted character who never stops smiling, let that smile fade and tears fall in shadows.

If you write a no one, make them a someone.

If you write a sibling, let them fight and bicker, but know that at the end of the day they’ll always have each other’s back.

Found this article. Found it incredibly helpful. Be sure to go read the full story, but these are the ten questions the author (Lydia Netzer) covers in it:

1. At what point did you feel like “Ah, now the story has really begun!”  2. What were the points where you found yourself skimming?  3. Which setting in the book was clearest to you as you were reading it? Which do you remember the best?  4. Which character would you most like to meet and get to know?  5. What was the most suspenseful moment in the book?  6. If you had to pick one character to get rid of, who would you axe?  7. Was there a situation in the novel that reminded you of something in your own life?  8. Where did you stop reading, the first time you cracked open the manuscript? (Can show you where your first dull part is, and help you fix your pacing.)  9. What was the last book you read, before this? And what did you think of it? (This can put their comments in context in surprising ways, when you find out what their general interests are. It might surprise you.)  10. Finish this sentence: “I kept reading because…”

Presented without comment.

Cheat Sheets for Writing Body Language

We are always told to use body language in our writing. Sometimes, it’s easier said than written. I decided to create these cheat sheets to help you show a character’s state of mind. Obviously, a character may exhibit a number of these behaviours. For example, he may be shocked and angry, or shocked and happy. Use these combinations as needed.

I’m sitting in Starbucks pretending to care about my schoolwork and instead I’m thinking obsessively about Camp Nanowrimo and who I can drag down with me. *coughKarencough* Yeah, I’m calling you out. Also the two other people who run this blog. *coughcough* Just because I haven’t seen y’all in a while, doesn’t mean you’re getting out of it. 

I have attempted Nanowrimo/Camp about four times and have only succeeded once. The time I succeeded was my senior year of high school five years ago. (insert panic here because omg five years ago). I can tell you right now why I won. Because I had a great support group writing with me. And let me tell you, the Writing Club of Western Branch High School meant BUSINESS when it came to Nanowrimo. We were a competitive bunch. Hey are any of you guys on here? I’m sorry we fell out of touch and I’m sorry I suck. Follow this blog! 

Anywhozzle, there was something about the craziness of having five or six (seven?) people participating in the craziness with you. Saturday write-ins, club meetings and lunch periods dedicated to talking about writing and panicking about our writing really gets you in the spirit. Harmless little bets never hurt either. Our club even had a forum where we could post stuff. During that November, I learned a lot about being a writer. I’d been writing for a long time before that, but now I finally considered it a real hobby.

After that, I spent a couple of years without writer friends and then another couple of years with writer friends who had never really participated before (hi other people on this blog!). I love having writing friends again. I’ve been writing more, knowing that there were writers who knew exactly what the writing process was like. Writing was still difficult but having people to commiserate with made it better. There are some who will tell you that talking about your writing isn’t helpful or even detrimental. That has never been the case for me. I learned more about my plot, characters and even myself through talking about it. 

Which is why I love the community and creativity that Nanowrimo fosters. I’m not a particularly vocal person on the forums, but I am constantly reading them. I am there, nanoers, I am always watching. I love the nanoisms, plot bunnies and the insanity. It’s an intense experience. For the most part, it’s one of the most positive places on the internet. I can only count on one hand the negative things I’ve seen on the forums. It’s just a dream writing community. (Office of Letters and Light, if you see this, hire me please. Am willing to relocate). 

So, to point, finally, I am very seriously considering participating in Camp next month. I need that kick in the pants that only Nanowrimo can provide me. I think the writing boost will also give this blogger the kick in the pants to keep up with the blog. I feel bad for abandoning all four? five? of our followers. I want to create a writing community once more. 

If y’all are participating, drop us a line and tell us all about it. If you think you’d like to be in a cabin with me, let me know before the next sorting (in nine days) so I can change my preferences and create one. The sooner the better.

Happy writing! 

Victoria 

here’s some of my favorite things to use when writing!! several of my friends and prob lots of my followers are writers/fanfic authors, and maybe you’ll find some of these to be super helpful!

Apps/Programs

We all need to do our writing apprenticeships. We all have to make a living while we write our books. Have you considered trying one of these writing jobs?

I wanted to talk about using visuals to help organize your writing. It is something I find really helpful, and hopefully you can take some of these ideas and use them as well! These are things you could plan ahead of time, or add to as you go along. 

Bulletin Boards

Whether these are actual cork boards with pushpins, a binder and a hole puncher, a notebook you carry around to jot down notes, a pinterest account or a tumblr page… one thing I find helpful is collecting pictures, poems, lyrics, etc. Anything that I see that inspires a story.

You can do this in general throughout your daily life to keep you thinking about writing, but you can also do this specifically for whatever story you are currently writing. 

Character Mapping

There are two different strategies I’ve found helpful for doing this. First being the “family tree” method and second being the web method that they used to make us do in middle school for “brainstorming” an essay.

Basically character mapping is just an interactive way of making a list of all your characters. The main reason it is helpful to mark down relationships, friendships, coworkers, etc for you characters is continuity. I find generally that it is easier to do it this way than it is to have pages of notes to flip back and forth from.

Geographical and Other Maps

When I’m writing a story that takes place in a fantasy world or another planet, or even sometimes on earth in a real place it helps to draw or use an actual map. Mark down important places your character goes, mark down areas they will meet other important characters, if it is an adventure-type story chart the path your characters will take.

If you have a clear picture of the layout of someone’s house make a quick map of the floorplan! That way when your character needs to snoop in a friend’s backpack if they ask to use bathroom your character can say “first door on the left” and it will be continuous with that time you said they woke up hungover and stumbled down the hallway and took a sharp left before vomiting on the bathroom floor.

Quick Sketches

If you have a clear idea of what your characters look like, and you have any drawing ability above stick figures, make a quick sketch of what they look like. Especially if you are stuck on a description. Pay attention to their height in relation to other characters, eye color, hair color, the type of clothes they wear. If you are very talented maybe event body language and facial expressions, but I wouldn’t spend TOO much time on it, you don’t want it to take away from writing time.

Being able to visualize you characters can help you better describe them verbally, it helps them become more real. This also works for locations. If you can’t draw another good idea if you get stuck might be to open up The Sims or any other avatar creator and try to combine ready-made elements into something that resembles the character you have in your mind!

Progress Posters

I made myself a poster with all of my personal goals and rules for NaNo, as well as a daily schedule with certain times blocked for writing. I also added little activities to the bottom to keep track of my daily word count and my overall progress.

Block Box

This is your one stop writer’s block cure. It’s not necessarily a visual aid but I felt like it still sort of fit with the theme of this post. Have your friends give you a word, phrase, image, or lyric. Write down a list of short writing prompts or directional questions. Collect all of these things on scraps of paper and put them in a jar or shoebox. When you’re feeling stuck, take an idea out and try to incorporate it into your story!

You can find our virtual Block Box here: http://writrs.tumblr.com/tagged/block+box

Some of these may take a bit of time, but it might be a good consideration if you find yourself stuck or distracted. An hour spent working on something novel-related is better than an hour spent on Tumblr or watching TV!

Just about every writer out there has several go-to websites that they use when it comes to their writing. Be it for creativity, writer’s block, to put you in the mood or general writing help. These are mine and I listed them in hopes that you’ll find something that you’ll like or will find something useful for you. I’ve also included some websites that sound interesting.

Spelling & Grammar

Grammar Girl — Grammar Girl’s famous Quick and Dirty Tips (delivered via blog or podcast) will help you keep your creative writing error free.

The Owl — is Purdue University’s Online Writing Lab (OWL) it’s a great resource for grammar guides, style tips and other information that can help with your writing, especially academics.

Tip of My Tongue — have you ever had trouble of thinking of a specific word that you can’t remember what it is? Well, this site will help you narrow down your thoughts and find that word you’ve been looking for. It can be extremely frustrating when you have to stop writing because you get a stuck on a word, so this should help cut that down. 

Free Rice – is a great way to test your vocabulary knowledge. What’s even better about this site is that with every correct answer, they donate 10 grains of rice to the United Nations World Food Program. So, please disable your adblock since they use the ads on the site to generate the money to buy the rice.

HyperGrammar — the University of Ottawa offers up a one-stop guide for proper spelling, structure, and punctuation on this site.

AutoCrit — the AutoCrit Editing Wizard can check writing for grammar errors, clichés and other no-no’s. It also provides a number of other writing resources as well.

Writer’s Digest — learn how to improve your writing, find an agent, and even get published with the help of the varied blogs on this site.

Syntaxis — it allows you to test your knowledge of grammar with a ten-question quiz. The questions change every time you take the quiz so users are sure to be challenged each time around. It definitely helps writers know if there’s something that they need to brush up on.

Word Frequency Counter — this counter allows you to count the frequency usage of each word in your text.

Tools

Copyscape — is a free service that you can use to learn if anyone has plagiarized your work. It’s pretty useful for those that want to check for fanfiction plagiarism.

Write or Die —  is an application for Windows, Mac and Linux which aims to eliminate writer’s block by providing consequences for procrastination.

Written? Kitten! — is just like Write of Die, but it’s a kinder version. They use positive reinforcement, so everytime you reach a goal they reward you with an adorable picture of a kitten.

Information & Data

RefDesk — it has an enormous collection of reference materials, searchable databases and other great resources that can’t be found anywhere else. It’s great to use when you need to find something and check your facts.

Bib Me — it makes it easy to create citations, build bibliographies and acknowledge other people’s work. This is definitely something that academics will love. It’s basically a bibliography generator that automatically fills in a works cited page in MLA, APA, Chicago or Turbian formats.

Internet Public Library — this online library is full of resources that are free for anyone to use, from newspaper and magazine articles to special collections.

The Library of Congress — if you’re looking for primary documents and information, the Library of Congress is a great place to start. It has millions of items in its archives, many of which are accessible right from the website.

Social Security Administration: Popular Baby Names — is the most accurate list of popular names from 1879 to the present. If your character is from America and you need a name for them, this gives you a accurate list of names, just pick the state or decade that your character is from.

WebMD — is a handy medical database loaded with information. It’s not a substitute for a doctor, but can give you a lot of good information on diseases, symptoms, treatments, etc.

Google Scholar - is an online, freely accessible search engine that lets users look for both physical and digital copies of articles. It searches a wide variety of sources, including academic publishers, universities, and preprint depositories and so on. While Google Scholar does search for print and online scholarly information, it is important to understand that the resource is not a database.

The Old Farmer’s Almanac — this classic almanac offers yearly information on astronomical events, weather conditions and forecasts, recipes, and gardening tips.

State Health Facts — Kaiser Family Foundation provides this database, full of health facts on a state-by-state basis that address everything from medicare to women’s health.

U.S. Census Bureau — Learn more about the trends and demographics of America with information drawn from the Census Bureau’s online site.

Wikipedia — this shouldn’t be used as your sole source, but it can be a great way to get basic information and find out where to look for additional references.

Finding Data on the Internet — a great site that list links that can tell you where you can find the inflation rate, crime statistics, and other data.

Word References

RhymeZone — whether you’re writing poetry, songs, or something else entirely, you can get help rhyming words with this site.

Acronym Finder — with more than 565,000 human-edited entries, Acronym Finder is the world’s largest and most comprehensive dictionary of acronyms, abbreviations, and initials.

Symbols.com — is a unique online encyclopedia that contains everything about symbols, signs, flags and glyphs arranged by categories such as culture, country, religion, and more. 

OneLook Reverse Dictionary — is a dictionary that lets you describe a concept and get back a list of words and phrases related to that concept. Your description can be a few words, a sentence, a question, or even just a single word. 

The Alternative Dictionaries — is a site that you can look up slang words in all types of languages, including Egyptian Arabic, Cherokee, Cantonese, Norwegian and many, many others.

Online Etymology Dictionary — it gives you the history and derivation of any word. Etymologies are not definitions; they’re explanations of what our words meant and how they sounded 600 or 2,000 years ago.

MediLexicon — is a comprehensive dictionary of medical, pharmaceutical, biomedical, and health care abbreviations and acronyms.

Merriam Webster Online – the online version of the classic dictionary also provides a thesaurus and a medical dictionary.

Multilingual Dictionary – that translate whatever you need from 30 different languages with this easy-to-use site.

Writing Software

Open Office — why pay for Microsoft products when you can create free documents with Open Office? This open source software provides similar tools to the Microsoft Office Suite, including spreadsheets, a word processor, the ability to create multimedia presentations, and more.

LibreOffice — is a free and open source office suite. It was forked from OpenOffice.org in 2010, which was an open-sourced version of the earlier StarOffice. The LibreOffice suite comprises programs to do word processing, spreadsheets, slideshows, diagrams and drawings, maintain databases, and compose math formula.

Scrivener — is not a free program, but it’s certainly a very popular one. It’s great for organizing research, planning drafts, and writing novels, articles, short stories, and even screenplays.

OmmWriter — is a free simple text processor that gives you a distraction free environment. So you can focus only on your writing without being tempted or distracted by other programs on your computer.

Evernote — is a free app for your smartphone and computer that stores everything you could possibly imagine losing track of, like a boarding pass, receipt, article you want to read, to do list, or even a simple typed note. The app works brilliantly, keeping everything in sync between your computer, smartphone, or tablet. It’s definitely a useful app for writers when you have ideas on the go.

Storybook — this open source software can make it easier to manage your plotlines, characters, data, and other critical information while penning a novel.

Script Frenzy — scriptwriters will appreciate this software. It offers an easy layout that helps outline plots as well as providing storyboard features, index cards, and even sound and photo integration.

Creativity, Fun & Miscellaneous

National Novel Writing Month — is one of the most well-known writing challenges in the writing community, National Novel Writing Month pushes you to write 50,000 words in 30 days (for the whole month of November).

WritingFix — a fun site that creates writing prompts on the spot. The site currently has several options—prompts for right-brained people, for left-brained people, for kids—and is working to add prompts on classic literature, music and more.

Creative Writing Prompts — the site is exactly what it says. They have 100+ and more, of prompts that you can choose from.

My Fonts — is the world’s largest collection of fonts. You can even upload an image containing a font that you like, and this tells you what it is.

Story Starters — this website offers over one trillion randomly generated story starters for creative writers.

The Gutenberg Project — this site is perfect for those who like to read and/or have an ereader. There’s over 33,000 ebooks you can download for free. 

The Imagination Prompt Generator — Click through the prompts to generate different ideas in response to questions like “Is there a God?” and “If your tears could speak to you, what would they say?”

The Phrase Finder – this handy site helps you hunt down famous phrases, along with their origins. It also offers a phrase thesaurus that can help you create headlines, lyrics, and much more.

Storybird – this site allows you to write a picture book. They provided the gorgeous artwork and you create the story for it, or just read the stories that others have created.

Language Is a Virus — the automatic prompt generator on this site can provide writers with an endless number of creative writing prompts. Other resources include writing exercises and information on dozens of different authors.

Background Noise/Music

SimplyNoise — a free white noise sounds that you can use to drown out everything around you and help you focus on your writing.

Rainy Mood — from the same founders of Simply Noise, this website offers the pleasant sound of rain and thunderstorms. There’s a slide volume control, which you can increase the intensity of the noise (gentle shower to heavy storm), thunder mode (often, few, rare), oscillation button, and a sleep timer. 

Coffitivity — a site that provides three background noises: Morning Murmur (a gentle hum), Lunchtime Lounge (bustling chatter), and University Undertones (campus cafe). A pause button is provided whenever you need a bladder break, and a sliding volume control to give you the freedom to find the perfect level for your needs and moods. It’s also available as an android app, iOS app, and for Mac desktop.

Rainy Cafe — it provides background chatter in coffee shops (similar to Coffitivity) AND the sound of rain (similar to Simply Rain). There’s also individual volume and on/off control for each sound category.

WHAT IS NANOWRIMO?

NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month. It begins on November 1st of every year and goes until 11:59 on November 30th. During this time, participants must write a novel that is at least 50,000 words.

If you win NaNoWriMo, you get some perks that are listed on the website each year. Examples include discounts on writing software, free downloads, and some free physical copies of your self published book.

There is also a related event called Camp NaNoWriMo. This is the same as NaNoWriMo, but with a few differences:

Camp NaNoWriMo takes place in April and July.

On the Camp NaNoWriMo website, you can be in “cabins" with other writers where you can chat and encourage each other to write.

You can set your own word count goal for Camp NaNoWriMo.

FAQ ABOUT NANOWRIMO

Do I have to write a novel? Can I write an anthology of short stories?

While the original premise was to write a novel, you are free to write an anthology or short stories (or something similar) if you wish.

Does it have to be original fiction? Can I write fan fiction?

Again, the original premise was to write original fiction, but you can write fan fiction if you want.

Am I allowed to plan my story before November?

Yes! Writers are encouraged to prepare prior to NaNoWriMo.

Am I allowed to start writing my story before NaNoWriMo as long as I write an additional 50k words during November?

You’re supposed to start with a new story, but there’s no one to stop you from continuing an old story or even rewriting one.

Does my novel have to be 50,000 words, or can I go over?

You can definitely go over the word count.

Make sure to check the nanowrimo website for more FAQs.

PLANNING AND PREPARATION 

If you’re prone to writer’s block, I highly recommend that you plan before you write:

My Outlining and Planning Guide

Name Generators for People, Places, and Things 

Naming Characters 

Titles 

World Building 

Prepping For NaNoWriMo: The Outlining Stage

Otherwise, prepare mentally and physically for the challenge of writing a novel in a month. Plan out when you will write each day and for how long. Remember, you need at least 1667 words per day to reach the goal by the end of the month. Find a nice spot to write, have all your notes in order, and back up all your files. Here are some more tips and resources:

My Preparation Advice

Kris Noel’s Preparation Advice

Create Your Own Writer’s Retreat

Book Geek Confessions’ Prep Advice

WRITING

One thing you need to avoid during NaNoWriMo is editing. If you edit while you’re trying to write, your writing will be slowed and you’ll fall behind. Just keep writing.

Getting Started

Motivation 

Writing the Beginning 

Writing the Middle 

Writing the End

The Elephant Technique (for when you’re stuck with naming or describing something)

Finishing Your Story

Inspiration

Writing Playlists and Music

Writer’s Block

Writing Software and Websites

OTHER NANOWRIMO TIPS

10 NaNoWriMo Tips

20 Things You Should Know About NaNo

NaNo Tips

NaNoWriMo is Coming

Writer’s Digest NaNoWriMo Tips

Checklist for Nano

Lots of NaNo Tips

Word Count Widgets If You Don’t Like the NaNo Ones

AFTER NANO ENDS

So NaNoWriMo is over (or you’ve finished your novel) and now you have a rough draft of your manuscript. Here are some tips:

Do not immediately send it to an agent or publisher. Tons of people start sending out their manuscripts right after NaNoWriMo and it’s a huge mistake because they’re not sending polished, ready-to-be-published manuscripts. They’re sending rough drafts they wrote quickly.

Leave it alone before you start editing. Walk away from your manuscript and work on something else or take a break from writing. This break could be a few days, a few weeks, or even a few months. It depends on you. Then start editing once you’re fresh again.

100 Beautiful and Ugly Words

by Mark Nichol

One of the many fascinating features of our language is how often words with pleasant associations are also quite pleasing on the tongue and even to the eye, and how many words, by contrast, acoustically and visually corroborate their disagreeable nature — look no further than the heading for this post. Enrich the poetry of your prose by applying words that provide precise connotation while also evoking emotional responses

Beautiful Words

Amorphous: indefinite, shapeless

Beguile: deceive

Caprice: impulse

Cascade: steep waterfall

Cashmere: fine, delicate wool

Chrysalis: protective covering

Cinnamon: an aromatic spice; its soft brown color

Coalesce: unite, or fuse

Crepuscular: dim, or twilit

Crystalline: clear, or sparkling

Desultory: half-hearted, meandering

Diaphanous: gauzy

Dulcet: sweet

Ebullient: enthusiastic

Effervescent: bubbly

Elision: omission

Enchanted: charmed

Encompass: surround

Enrapture: delighted

Ephemeral: fleeting

Epiphany: revelation

Epitome: embodiment of the ideal

Ethereal: celestial, unworldly, immaterial

Etiquette: proper conduct

Evanescent: fleeting

Evocative: suggestive

Exuberant: abundant, unrestrained, outsize

Felicity: happiness, pleasantness

Filament: thread, strand

Halcyon: care-free

Idyllic: contentedly pleasing

Incorporeal: without form

Incandescent: glowing, radiant, brilliant, zealous

Ineffable: indescribable, unspeakable

Inexorable: relentless

Insouciance: nonchalance

Iridescent: luster

Languid: slow, listless

Lassitude: fatigue

Lilt: cheerful or buoyant song or movement

Lithe: flexible, graceful

Lullaby: soothing song

Luminescence: dim chemical or organic light

Mellifluous: smooth, sweet

Mist: cloudy moisture, or similar literal or virtual obstacle

Murmur: soothing sound

Myriad: great number

Nebulous: indistinct

Opulent: ostentatious

Penumbra: shade, shroud, fringe

Plethora: abundance

Quiescent: peaceful

Quintessential: most purely representative or typical

Radiant: glowing

Redolent: aromatic, evocative

Resonant: echoing, evocative

Resplendent: shining

Rhapsodic: intensely emotional

Sapphire: rich, deep bluish purple

Scintilla: trace

Serendipitous: chance

Serene: peaceful

Somnolent: drowsy, sleep inducing

Sonorous: loud, impressive, imposing

Spherical: ball-like, globular

Sublime: exalted, transcendent

Succulent: juicy, tasty, rich

Suffuse: flushed, full

Susurration: whispering

Symphony: harmonious assemblage

Talisman: charm, magical device

Tessellated: checkered in pattern

Tranquility: peacefulness

Vestige: trace

Zenith: highest point

Ugly Words

Cacophony: confused noise

Cataclysm: flood, catastrophe, upheaval

Chafe: irritate, abrade

Coarse: common, crude, rough, harsh

Cynical: distrustful, self-interested

Decrepit: worn-out, run-down

Disgust: aversion, distaste

Grimace: expression of disgust or pain

Grotesque: distorted, bizarre

Harangue: rant

Hirsute: hairy

Hoarse: harsh, grating

Leech: parasite,

Maladroit: clumsy

Mediocre: ordinary, of low quality

Obstreperous: noisy, unruly

Rancid: offensive, smelly

Repugnant: distasteful

Repulsive: disgusting

Shriek: sharp, screeching sound

Shrill: high-pitched sound

Shun: avoid, ostracize

Slaughter: butcher, carnage

Unctuous: smug, ingratiating

Visceral: crude, anatomically graphic

Notice how often attractive words present themselves to define other beautiful ones, and note also how many of them are interrelated, and what kind of sensations, impressions, and emotions they have in common. Also, try enunciating beautiful words as if they were ugly, or vice versa. Are their sounds suggestive of their quality, or does their meaning wholly determine their effect on us?

By Mark Nichol

Source for Article 

As some of you already know, I just finished a book a few days ago titled The Glorious In-Between that contains two asexual, aromantic characters. It took me almost a week to write the ending. This has been true for every book I’ve ever written, from When Stars Die to The Stars Are Infinite.

I don’t know why endings are so difficult for me to write. It isn’t that I’m getting to the end of the book and I don’t want it to end, because I do want it to end! I desperately want to finish the dang draft! I just tend to slow down, and I can’t even explain why this is so. 

Endings are hard, regardless of whether or not you can blow through one in a day or drag yourself through the next couple of days trying to get that ending down. 

The book has to end, though. It has to tie up all loose threads (an exception can be made for books in a series) and end in a way that is both satisfying and unpredictable.

First, let me present the five types of endings:

The happy ending

The unhappy ending

The tragic ending, wherein the protagonist does succeed at his/her objective but had to sacrifice something for it

The sacrifice, wherein the protagonist sacrifices his/her objective for the greater good

The bittersweet ending

If you know these five types of endings, you’ll at least be able to choose how you’d like to end your book, depending on the progression of your book. You don’t want to do an unhappy ending for the sake of an unhappy ending. The ending you choose has to make sense with everything that has occurred in your book. 

One thing that used to happen to me in the past is that I would write the draft of the book but not write the ending and let the draft cool. I’d write the ending in the revisions. That has worked for me, but it’s something I’m not interested in doing anymore. I just want to get the ending over with.

You can outline your ending in detail. I did not do that. I just wrote the ending by the seat of my pants. I binge wrote The Glorious In-Between, so it was exhausting having to outline it, too, at the same time. I’m not sure if this is going to happen with All Stars Align, which will be the title of the third book in The Stars Trilogy. I already know exactly how I want to end the third book, but that doesn’t mean the ending won’t be any less difficult for me to write. After all, I already knew how I wanted to end The Glorious In-Between before I even began outlining it. 

In any case, the best endings for any book are endings that leave the readers remembering that book. After all, everything can be great and fantastic, until you get to the ending. It doesn’t matter how much your reader loved your book before the ending. If the ending is poor, readers are going to finish your book with a bad taste in their mouths—and then most likely forget they ever read that book. 

You don’t want that to happen. 

Resonance with endings can occur through narration, dialogue, and description.

Here are some final tips for your ending:

Don’t introduce new characters or subplots. The ending of a book generally occurs in the last 30-50 pages, so there really is no time to introduce a new character or subplot. The only exception to this is if you’ve foreshadowed a character throughout the book and then put that character in those last 30-50 pages. Of course, I think I actually broke this rule with When Stars Die, when I do introduce a new character in the very last chapter. No readers have complained, of course, but it’s also an epilogue. 

Don’t spend too much time musing. Endings are generally fast-paced, because the ending is coming to a head, and you want the ending to have the most tension out of any part of your book, so you need to minimize descriptions.

Don’t change the tone. If the tone of your ending changes, it will sound tacked on to readers, like the chapter was a mere afterthought. 

Make sure your objective is strong. Your MC is after something, and that something needs to be made obvious in some way. Novels of a literary nature have some leeway on this, but other types of fiction really don’t. The MC is either going to achieve that objective in some way, or the MC is going to lose out on that objective.