Writing Keepsakes

I just watched Detevtive Pikachu and let me tell you, I absolutely loved it. The animation was adorable, the storyline was interesting, the acting was great.

But before the film even started I’d already guessed what the twist ending was going to be.

And it ruined nothing.

Not only did I get an immense sense of satisfaction, but watching the big reveal was actually my favourite part. It’s almost like audiences wait the entire movie to see the plot-climax.

But you know who didn’t guess the plot twist? My five year old brother. My little cousin. The kids I babysit for. You know, the majority of the target audience? And my dad, who wasn’t particularly invested in the plot, but thought the ending tied the story up nicely.

And you know what else? No one on the creative team for DP needed to put out a big announcement saying ‘do not under any circumstances spoil our film’ and yet I hadn’t encountered a single spoiler prior to watching the film today.

I know a million people have said it already, but the types of people who guess the endings of films/books/series usually do so because a) they’re just as invested, if not more so, than the creators b) they’re a writer themselves, therefore very familiar with plot structures c) the creators intentionally laid groundwork for their big reveal.

When DP ended I didn’t think ‘God, that was predictable.’ I thought ‘wow, that’s exactly how I would’ve ended it if I was writing!’ And that’s not a bad thing: that’s 100% customer satisfaction!

Like I’m editing an author’s fantasy series at the moment and have accurately guessed all the major stuff that was going to happen, and that is a good thing. It means that clues were left. It means that if someone is trying hard enough to find the little details and piece it together, they’ll be able to get a good idea of where the plot and characters are heading.

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1. Pacing

A fight scene should be fast-paced and intense. Unless it's a final battle with numerous parties, a fight scene that's too long tends to take away suspense. To speed up your pacing, use active voice to describe movement and don't overdescribe your characters' thoughts. Excessive inner monologue will be unrealistic, as people usually have no room to think during intense combats.

2. Character mannerisms

Here's a point that people often overlook, but is actually super important. Through fight scenes, you should be able to reveal your characters' contrasting mannerisms and personality. A cunning character would play dirty - fighting less and making use of their opponent's weakness more. A violent character would aim to kill. A softer one would only target to disarm their enemies, using weakened attacks. A short-minded character would only rely on force and attack without thinking. This will help readers understand your characters more and decide who to root for.

3. Making use of surroundings

Not only the characters, you also need to consider the setting of your fight scene and use it to your advantage. Is it suitable for fighting, or are there dangerous slopes that make it risky? Are there scattered items that can help your characters fight (e.g. nails, shards of glass, ropes, wooden boards, or cutlery)? Is it a public place where people can easily spot the fight and call the authorities, or is it a private spot where they can fight to the death?

4. Description

The main things that you need to describe in a fight scene are :

• Characters involved in the fight

• How they initiate and dodge attacks

• Fighting styles and any weapons used

• The injuries caused

Be careful to not drag out the description for too long, because it slows down the pace.

5. Raise the stakes

By raising the stakes of the fight, your readers will be more invested in it. Just when they think it's over, introduce another worse conflict that will keep the scene going. Think of your characters' goals and motivations as well. Maybe if the MC didn't win, the world would end! Or maybe, one person in the fight is going all-out, while the other is going easy because they used to be close :"D

6. Injuries

Fights are bound to be dirty and resulting in injuries, so don't let your character walk away unscathed - show the effect of their injuries. For example, someone who had been punched in the jaw has a good chance of passing out, and someone who had been stabbed won't just remove the knife and walk away without any problem. To portray realistic injuries, research well.

7. Drive the plot forward

You don't write fight scenes only to make your characters look cool - every fight needs to have a purpose and drive the plot forward. Maybe they have to fight to improve their fighting skills or escape from somewhere alive. Maybe they need to defeat the enemy in order to obtain an object or retrieve someone who had been kidnapped. The point is, every single fight scene should bring the characters one step closer (or further :D) to the climax.

8. Words to use

• Hand to hand combat :

Crush, smash, lunge, beat, punch, leap, slap, scratch, batter, pummel, whack, slam, dodge, clobber, box, shove, bruise, knock, flick, push, choke, charge, impact

• With weapon :

symptoms of internal bleeding

-dizziness -passing out -severe weakness -numbness -weakness on one side of the body -low blood pressure -severe abdominal pain -chest pain -nausea and vomiting

symptoms of too much blood loss

tw: kidnapping

The hero startled awake, bound and gagged. They grumbled sleepily through the cloth wrapped around their lips, and quickly realised somebody had them slung over their shoulder, carrying them through the night.

Hero screamed, the sound muffled, and started thrashing violently in their captors hold with no warning. It seemed to catch them off guard, and their captor skidded to a wobbly stop.

"You know it's...not the same thing right, right?"

The hero looked up, staring blankly.

"Doing what you think is right," the villain clarified, "and screwing up because of a stupid mistake isn't the same as knowingly acting against someone's best interests."

The hero swallowed. "The end result-"

"Not everything is about the end result." The villain studied them for a moment, coolly. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but intention matters. It doesn't excuse all, but it matters, as far as whatever moral dilemma you're having."

"They're hurt."

"And you weren't trying to get them hurt." The villain sounded frustrated, now. "If that's not okay, if trying isn't okay, what is? We can't do anything. Because people always get hurt, you know?"

"That's awful."

"That's life."

The hero looked down, the guilt still twisting up their guts.

"If you can't see right from wrong," the villain said, "how can you possibly hope to fight me because I'm wrong? You know. You feel bad, because someone got hurt, but part of you must know that's not the same as being a bad person."

"Why are you saying this?"

"Because I know what it is to be a bad person for nothing, and I'd rather be the villain for what I do then now then for kindness turned bitter because the world expects everyone to be pure and perfect."

The hero didn't know what to say to that. Pure and perfect was everything they had been raised on.

The villain shook their head, and turned away.

"If you lose," the villain said, summoning power to their fingertips. "It won't be because you were bad. It will be because everyone told you that good was never good enough. Who can possibly win against that?"

A is on an undercover mission to gather information at an extravagant fundraiser event. they mingle amongst powerful businessmen, dodgy politicians and underground leaders, allies and enemies alike.

the rest of their team are listening to their earpiece input back at base, taking note of everything that may be of use. among them, L, the team leader, can't place why they're feeling so nervous—it's just a regular mission.

the night is going as smoothly as it can until A encounters B at the event, someone none of the intel suggested would be present. B also happens to be one of the most famed mafia leaders known for their brutality and mercilessness. if it were between L's team and B's forces, B would win without a doubt in a landslide massacre.

the moment B's voice carries through A's earpiece, the entire team freezes in apprehension, especially L. A makes an admirable attempt to mask their shock with their small talk and innocent smile, praying to every god they can think of that B's mafia didn't have A's profile in their database as a known member of L's team. after all, they are the spy—their information should be encoded to the maximum level of security they can get.

the conversation seems to be relatively safe; B makes little other attempt to prod at A's background, and soon they become preoccupied with another matter, leaving A in the clear. it seems as though B hasn't caught on.

"A, get out of there," L orders as soon as B leaves, "now."

A manages to excuse themselves out of the event venue, and focuses on getting to their transportation back to base, thoroughly shaken by the mere presence of B. they've only ever heard rumours about them.

L is giving instructions when they hear a thud, and B's voice through the earpiece.

"leaving so soon?" they coo, ignoring A's sounds of protest, "we were having so much fun."

the team registers sounds of A struggling, as B fights to keep them pinned. they lean in closer. "hello, L." B drawls, and a final cry of pain from A as the sound cuts out.

“Y-You saved me...!” - the civilian said in bewilderment, gaping at the villain who blocked a stray blast of magic that had nearly hit them.

If you’re feeling lost in your 2nd Act, or noticing that things are getting slow, saggy or unraveling, here are some things to consider:

Are you weaving in your subplots? If so, can you thicken them up?

Do you have a love subplot that you’ve been progressing? Are you using it to create tension and drama? Subplots (especially romantic ones) can create juicy conflict and motivation for your characters in the main plot. Add in a training subplot if your protagonist needs to know a certain skill or master a power while on their journey. Add in chaos— an axe murder moves to town, a tormented beast breaks free from their eternal prison, an ex-girlfriend comes back into the picture. Explore other subplots and how they could beef up your middle.

Do your characters have goals? Motivations?

I’m not talking about small goals, but the big ones that completely change your characters as they try to accomplish them. Do they want to defeat the evil villain, or do they have a murder to solve? Are they in search of their soulmate? If you don’t have a clear direction of your characters goals, your 2nd Act can become hard to navigate through. 

Have you teased the Antagonist?

Some bad guys don’t ever meet or face off against the protagonist until the end, and that’s okay as long as you weave them throughout the story. Voldemort is a good example of a villain who is sprinkled throughout the story seamlessly. Add rumors of them, strange flashbacks or visions, their evil grunts doing their dirty work and so on. Make sure to place bits and pieces of your villain throughout the story, otherwise there is no suspenseful build up. 

Do you have a MacGuffin you could add?

An object, item or idea that your characters need to obtain, thus giving them motivation. Some definitions say that the MacGuffin should be insignificant to the characters/audience and only be used to trigger the plot into motion. We don’t necessarily have any emotional ties to the Horcruxes in Harry Potter. Instead, all seven of them serve to solely propel the plot towards Voldemort and it’s end.

George Lucas, creator of Star Wars, believed that the audience should actually care about the MacGuffin as much as they do the characters. In Episode IV, the MacGuffin is the plans/blueprints of The Death Star— a planet-destroying weapon. The characters need to steal the plans before the weapon is built. We don’t want to see planets full of our favorite characters obliterated, therefore this type of MacGuffin pulls on our emotions more than the previous definition.

Could you introduce a twist?

What secrets can you reveal? What surprises can you spring on your characters and the audience? In Harry Potter, we’re caught off guard when Sirius Black is revealed not to be a bad guy, but instead an ally of Harry’s all along. Make sure you’re sprinkling in red herrings and hints along the way so that the reader doesn’t feel totally blind sided, cheated or confused at the sudden change in events.

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“I don’t get what your problem is. I’m your prisoner: I’m here for you to hurt-”

CW: description of injuries, blood, etc.

The hero’s face twisted in a grimace - as much as it could through the split lip, the black eye swollen shut. “To treasure? I liked it better when your guys were punching me.”

“Of course you did,” the villain said, wringing out the washcloth, willing themselves to be calm and patient as the soapy water in the basin clouded with red. They returned to their slow work, blotting the matted blood from the hero’s hair. “You can’t tolerate any kind of moral ambiguity. Things have to be black and white, people have to be good or evil. That’s why your little rebellion failed,” they couldn’t help adding.

The hero finally looked at them, right at them. “What do you mean, that’s why-” they started.

A tinny blare echoed across the city from the loudspeakers attached to every telephone pole, every streetlamp. Curfew. Already the evening mist was spilling down the mountainsides, lit up in red from the setting sun. From the penthouse, you couldn’t see straight down to the streets but the villain could imagine it; the city inhabitants hurrying to the meager safety of their homes before the villain’s guards patrolled out looking for lawbreakers. From the hero’s silence they figured the hero was imagining it too.

“What do I mean?” the villain prompted, pressing the washcloth to the hero’s temple. “I mean you were just too good.”

The hero didn’t turn their gaze from that million dollar view, their profile a sharp contrast against the gathering dusk. It would’ve been the perfect moment if not for all the fucking bruises - 

The villain clenched their fist in the washcloth and kept their temper. “You asked too much of your people,“ they went on. "Set too high a standard, demanded that they be the best version of themselves even as they starved and suffered. What a terrible burden. Why are you surprised they accepted my offer instead?”

“Your dictatorship?” the hero muttered.

“Safety. And a few simple pleasures.” The villain carefully combed their fingers through the last stubborn knots in the hero’s hair, smoothing it into place. “That’s all that most people want from life.”

“Not you.”

“No.” The villain wrung out the washcloth again. “And not you. That’s why we are up here and they are down there.”

The hero made a rude noise that turned into a hiss of pain as the villain carefully drew the hero’s arm up, away from their body. Bruised or broken ribs, the villain thought darkly, and cataloged that for later. They’d have to work their way up to the hero literally showing their belly. Instead, they started dabbing at the angry red welts around the hero’s wrist.

"Hang on. Are you suggesting,” the hero rasped, “that this, treating me like an animal in a zoo, is somehow not evil?”

The villain shrugged. “Are you going to give me the people who attacked you? I can just execute everyone you came in contact with since you entered this building if you prefer.”

The hero snapped their head away again, tried to pull free. The villain hung onto that precious, swollen wrist… and then finally saw it, staring down at the unblemished skin across the hero’s knuckles.

"You didn’t fight back?” the villain said, things clicking together. The hero yanked away again and this time the villain let them. They had what they needed. “It was your people who did this. Brought you here to me?”

The hero wrapped their arms around themselves, trying to wedge themselves deeper into the couches cushions. “You said such terrible things about me on TV,” they said with a sneer that didn’t come close to hiding the heartbreak. “Had to make things black and white. You don’t get to be surprised people took you at your word. That they got so scared they thought they had to…”

Their voice caught. The villain had just enough to time to put the basin safely down before the hero dissolved into shaking sobs in their arms.

It was full dark before the villain coaxed the hero into drinking down the pain draught. It left them dozing safely upstairs as the villain stormed down the stairs to the party waiting for them in the cheap, common conference room off the lobby.

The ragged individuals inside all startled up as the villain barged in the door. Most avoided the villain’s gaze but one, the ringleader, mustered their courage.

“We’ve been waiting hours,” they complained with false bravado and a jut of their chin. “We brought you [hero]. Where’s our reward?”

hero x villain writers (and readers), have I got some music for you! 

Counterfeit Arcade by Shayfer James is what I’ve been obsessed with recently- it’s absolutely perfect for writing heroes and villains. It’s indie rock, the songs are mostly fast paced (with three exceptions), and the music is oddly addictive. I’ve been listening to it on repeat for like four days now and I’m not stopping anytime soon.

 it has 11 songs, and it’s only 36 minutes. great way to spend just over half an hour!

reviews for each below the cut!

First part here. Thanks to @the-modern-typewriter for the original prompt!

The tyrant liked port, so the inner circle all drank port too as they gathered for the afterparty in His Majesty's inner sanctum. The villain laughed and drank and smoked with the others and grimly envied the hero, who'd probably cried a bit and then gone straight off to sleep in one of the villain's comfortable guest rooms. Back in their school days the hero had been notorious for their ability to fall asleep anywhere; in the theater, at the student bar, on one memorable occasion in the middle of the dean's annual awards banquet -

"And let's all take a moment to raise our glasses to [Villain]," the tyrant's voice echoed across the room. The villain snapped to attention and turned, ready with an inscrutable smile for this collection of vipers. The tyrant raised his glass and the room followed. "For a truly excellent waltz, don't you all think?"

There was a smattering of applause and 'hear-hears' from the villain's rivals, ranging from grudging respect to seething jealousy at this public praise from the tyrant. The villain took a modest bow and the tyrant smiled and crooked a finger to summon them. The villain crossed the room and two levels of influence, all the way up to the place of honor where the tyrant lounged artfully against the fireplace mantle, boot heel kicked up on the grate.

make your characters have inaccurate perceptions of themselves. your character might think they’re selfish but at every opportunity they act selfless. we all have blind spots so give these to your characters too! (this works best with first person pov but I’m sure you can do it in third.)

make a character’s personality trait helpful sometimes and harmful other times. impulsivity that makes them act quickly in high-stress situations which is great but it also sometimes results in the wrong choices.

make an excel/google sheets doc for your outline. for mine i have the chapter number, the date, the character pov (since mine is first person and switches between 5 characters), a summary column, and a continuity column. my story takes place in one setting but most stories have multiple locations, so you could include a column for that, the time of day, even the moon phase (one of my wips is from the perspective of animals so that is super important for that story).

you can also use excel/sheets for keeping track of your conlang. for my animal wip i have constructed a language called Vannro and I have 300 some-odd entries into my excel doc. i have columns for the Vannro word, the English translation, etymology and derived words (for some), the part of speech, and the subject. you can easily sort in alphabetical either in English or your conlang, and also sort by excluding all entries that aren’t under the subject “derogatory” or “places” etc. I always forget what my “be” verbs are so I sort through the part of speech column so I can find “is” “was” “are” etc.

use perspective to create tension for your reader. for example, in The Blackwater Anomaly in a chapter from Rainer’s pov, we experience his nightmare, however in a later chapter from Holly’s pov, when she asks him directly, he lies and says he hasn’t experienced any nightmares. Holly doesn’t know he is lying but the audience does. I also have characters who do not get chapters from their perspective, who may or may not be lying, and so both the audience and the characters experience that anxiety and uncertainty together.

consider using deep pov. you can read some articles about it but essentially you make the audience experience the story at the same time as the character and it makes your narration more active. this can also be done in third person. this has a lot to do with “show don’t tell” (although sometimes its better to just tell). remove some “telling” words like “thought/felt/saw” and just get directly into what’s happening. instead of “Ava saw a shadow fall across her shoulder” make it “a shadow fell across her shoulder”. your reader will know who you’re talking about. this even jumps into the unreliable narrator when you change “I felt like Isaiah was blowing me off” to “Isaiah blew me off.” the former has room for doubt and makes your character seem weaker. if she thinks she’s being blown off and she’s pissed about it, make her say that! you have to make the audience believe it’s true, it makes them more invested in the character’s experiences and emotions. and then if they later find out Isaiah wasn’t really blowing them off, there was an emergency or something, both the character and the audience can feel regretful together over misreading the situation and being pissed at Isaiah. if you leave room for doubt, then your reader will just feel unsurprised during the reveal and frustrated at your character for being stupid up until then.

In a body much too numb to be her own, the hero watched her mother rush toward her, face pale, clutching her housecoat tight to her frame.

“Oh, sweetie.” First a touch to the livid bruise on her cheek, and then another to the wound on her shoulder, her arm. “What h—”

“Dad sent in more reinforcements than I expected tonight.” A wince as her mother attended to her shoulder injury, with antiseptic and Band-Aid she couldn’t recall her fetching. Must be the concussion. “It took me a little longer than usual to fend them all off.”

Meaning: she’d absolutely gotten her ass handed to her. It was a miracle the mask hadn’t torn off, exposing her identity to her father—otherwise known as the city’s most infamous villain.

Although, there was a moment when—

“I can’t take this.”

The hero looked up. Her mother’s eyes had gone glassy, hands suspended halfway through dressing up her once-bloodied arm.

“You know I can’t take watching the both of you go at it like this. I can barely handle deceiving your father every d—”

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!

I love your work ! ❤️

"Now," the villain said to the vampire. "I thought that little circle of light would keep you nicely put - I never imagined you would be so quick to throw away your immortality!"

"Better then you having it."

"And I thought you hero types were supposed to be generous."

The blisters and burns on the vampire's skin were already beginning to heal away from the sun. The villain watched the process with an unmistakeable hunger.

"But I suppose," the villain continued, "that you're not like the other little heroes, are you? You're a monster."

The vampire didn't flinch at the word, nor the accusation. It had its truth. Super speed. Super strength. Healing. The vampire had many of the abilities often attributed to super heroes, and so they had figured why not. It had felt good to help people considering what they were; atonement, if not redemption. Some balancing of the scales, of what they were, of what they took to survive.

They scoured the villain's posture for any sign of an opening, any advantage they could press. The villain was no creature of the night, and yet somehow they were able to match both that speed and strength like they were not human either and had never once been prey.

There was sunshine behind them, in the courtyard garden, but the vampire had to get past them first.

"You're selfish, the villain said, with a sigh. "Unwilling to share your gifts with the world. Maybe you like having their life in your hands alone, is that it? I can understand that."

"I'm not like you."

"No, I'm better."

"Well, then you don't need me, do you?"

The vampire lunged forward, and the villain moved too - barrelling into them with that impossible speed, knocking them back once more.

The villain laughed, all sharp grin and those gleaming hungry eyes as they looked the vampire up and down. "No. But I do want you very much, and that's much more important."

The vampire's jaw clenched.

"It's no matter, anyway," the villain murmured, almost to themselves. "I can work around this. I'm sure you look lovely wrapped up in chains too. Perhaps that is more fitting for a thing like you."

"I'm not a thing."

"I'm sure, if they knew what you were, that your precious public would disagree."

The blood lust hazed behind the vampire's gaze, but they forced it down.

The villain laughed again, looking at the violent curl of the vampire's fists, at all the parts of them that weren't as golden as the stereotype. They looked at the hero like they were a thing, a precious thing, but an object or specimen to be collected and carefully preserved nonetheless.

The vampire felt the first shiver of fear down their spine, absent for a long time for themselves.

The villain took a step closer again, and the vampire circled, keeping them out of their range.

There was no light, no fire, no way out anymore.

"I'm going to enjoy this," the villain said. "Thank you."