The ‘Without Fail’ Writing Challenge
By gilded-ghosts
Rules: List five things that you, WITHOUT FAIL, weave into or explore in your stories, whether it be specific themes or tropes, character archetypes, allusions to other literary works, what have you! It really can be anything that you consistently include in your narratives for whatever reason. Then invite others to share theirs by tagging them!
Thanks for a tag I can do @maladi777 😘
Positive Female Relationships: While I love a good cat-fight as much as the next hoyden, celebrating The Sisterhood of positive female relationships is near and dear to my heart. Be it close friendships, actual sisters, or unlikely allies, nothing makes me happier than women supporting other women 😊
Grey Heroes & Villains: I love nothing more than complicated characters who are more than their allotted role in a story. Give me heroes that have real flaws (not ‘she cared too much’ tyvm), and villains who are more than the trait ‘likes to hurt people’ or ‘twirls moustache while cackling’.
Humour & Irreverence: While I am capable of taking things seriously, I just think everything is more fun (and palatable) when it’s at least a little bit funny, or doesn’t take itself too seriously. Both as a tool to lighten a reader’s emotional load, and to make people smile, it’s just not something I could ever do without.
Unappealing Sex/Romance: Most usually sex and romance are written to be appealing to our hearts (or other parts of our anatomy), but I love having these things be a part of a story in a way that isn’t meant to be satisfying, or a turn on. While usually unappealing sex/romance equates to violence, I like to explore other ways it can make a person laugh or cringe by venturing into societal taboos, capitalizing on awkward encounters, or giving characters space to express themselves in non-traditional ways 😈
Female Protagonists: We do all love our excess of boy heroes, but I don’t seem capable of formulating a story in my head without the main characters being mostly (if not all) women. Ladies of different shapes, sizes, backgrounds, ethnicities, cultures, ideas, personalities, and orientations. I’m especially fond of a clever, tenacious gal who doesn’t need a man to rescue her or hold her hand!
Full disclosure that pretty much everyone I know on Tumblr has already been tagged, so idek @cmescapade one of yours butter be aliems!
