beneath, betwixt, between

Some Tips & Advice for Writing Fiction

Active Reading ⚜ Hook ⚜ Outline ⚜ Summary ⚜ Wordiness

Allegory ⚜ Food ⚜ Horror ⚜ Humour ⚜ Memoir ⚜ Mystery

Beginning & Ending ⚜ Chapter Ending ⚜ Last Line ⚜ The End

Conscious Language ⚜ White Room Syndrome ⚜ Writing Style

Creative Writing ⚜ Journal Writing ⚜ Speculative Biology

Fight Scene Part 1 2 ⚜ Plot Twist ⚜ Subplot

Procrastination ⚜ Rejection ⚜ Vocabulary ⚜ Your Audience

Writer's Block: Part 1 2

Your Character: Hero ⚜ Likable ⚜ Morally Grey ⚜ Well-Rounded

Writers on Writing

Anaïs Nin ⚜ Andrew Motion ⚜ Annie Proulx

Elmore Leonard ⚜ Ernest Hemingway ⚜ Friedrich Nietzsche

George Orwell: Motives for Writing ⚜ On Poetry ⚜ On Nonsense Poetry

George Orwell: The Prevention of Literature ⚜ On Good "Bad Books"

George Orwell: Describes A Writer

H. P. Lovecraft ⚜ Henry Miller ⚜ Italo Calvino

Jack Kerouac: Are Writers Born or Made?

James Baldwin ⚜ John Rechy ⚜ John Steinbeck

Joyce Carol Oates ⚜ Ray Bradbury ⚜ Ronald Knox

Kurt Vonnegut: The Shapes of Stories

Margaret Atwood: On Plot

Rick Riordan: On Character ⚜ On Dialogue ⚜ On Plot

Rick Riordan: Some Common Problems in Unpublished Manuscripts

Stephen King ⚜ Ursula K. Le Guin ⚜ Vladimir Nabokov

Virginia Woolf: On Censorship ⚜ On Words

W. H. Auden ⚜ William Strunk Jr. & E. B. White

Zadie Smith: Dance Lessons for Writers

More: Worldbuilding ⚜ Plot ⚜ Character ⚜ For the Poets ⚜ Prompts Notes & References ⚜ Templates ⚜ Word Lists ⚜ Writing Basics

agreed

allowed

assented

assured

babbled

begged

blurted

boomed

breathed

cajoled

chimed (in)

chortled

clarified

concluded

confirmed

consoled

cried

cursed

declared

demanded

disclaimed

exclaimed

gasped

glowered

groaned

grumbled

grunted

gushed

hissed

insisted

jabbed

lamented

laughed

moaned

mumbled

murmured

mutter

noted

offered

ordered

promised

proposed

protested

queried

questioned

quipped

rambled

rasped

realized

recalled

relented

replied

reprimanded

retorted

said

scolded

screeched

shrieked

sneered

sneered

spat

swore

threatened

wailed

warned

-your set up to the scene you're writing is not working. go back and check it

-you are not in the right POV. think about who would be the most interesting or the most entertaining or the most informative in that scene, depending on what impact you want the scene to have

-you're at the beginning of the chapter and the words aren't coming to you even though you have it planned out already? the solution is simple: you don't like what you have planned out as much as you think you do. do not force it

-solution to a lot of problems comes from a single question I ask myself: Do I choose the kind option, or the mean option? (Your readers will eat up either one)

-You find the dialogue lacking? Act it out

-Your scene feels boring or something just "ain't right" but you can't tell what it is? Try making yourself feel the emotion you want your readers to feel. If you didn't cry while writing a scene meant to make your readers bawl their eyes out, then you might not have connected to your character as well as you wanted to. Put yourself in their shoes, pretend you ARE them.

(And afterwards, please practice putting yourself back in your own shoes and taking care of your mental health. Sometimes the fucked up stuff might get to you. Healthy minds create healthy lives, and in turn, you get to keep creating.)

-Your environment might be bothering you. Take a look around you and see what's nagging you. Is your workspace not clean? Are your notes out of order? A clean/orderly workspace can help you organize your thoughts or get you into a more productive mood. (Trust me, I get it, sometimes it's really hard to keep it tidy.)

-Try white/brown/pink noise. Try listening to music, or to videos that create background noise you feel most productive with.

-Jumping jacks. Squats. Stretches. Wiggle around your room. That one scene in High School Musical where Sharpay and Ryan are warming up. It sounds ridiculous, but this is good for you, your body, and your mind. Release pent up energy, get yourself awake and focused. If you aren't able to do this, try something silly to wake your brain up. Do some puzzles, sing some songs, etc.

-Most importantly:

Did you do your laundry? Did you get enough sun? Did you drink enough water? Did you eat enough today? Did you get your favorite snack? Did you smile? Did you run in your yard like you did as a kid? Did you laugh with your friend? Did you see the way their eyes crinkle when they smile at you? Did you play with your dog? Your cat? Did you look at the flowers in the field near your house? Did you meet someone new? Did you learn something you didn't before? Did you try something you were scared of? Did it go well? Did you enjoy being yourself? Did you explore the world today? Did you live? Did you love? Did you feel? Did you breathe, and relax, and feel that everything is gonna be okay?