Reasons Why 80% Of Romantic Plots Fall Through.

How to plant information elegantly

Say, for example, you’re writing a swimming pool scene and you need to plant the fact that Susan is blonde, because in a few chapters, the detective will find a blond hair at the crime scene.

You want the planted information to be memorable, but at the same time not stand out too much. The ideal is to push the information into the reader’s subconscious without a neon light arrow saying, “You might want to remember this, dear reader. This will be relevant!” The planted information needs to feel natural, organic, but memorable enough so when it turns out to be ✨a clue✨, your reader thinks, “I should have seen it!”

Let’s look at some options.

Susan, who is blonde, took a deep breath and dived into the pool.

This feels forced and awkward. The two pieces of information (pool + blonde) are not connected, the fact that she is blonde feels irrelevant and shoved in. If the reader remembers this, it’s because they noticed how the information is forced upon them.

Elegant ⭐

Memorable ⭐⭐

Organic ⭐

The blonde Susan swam across the pool. / The blonde, Susan, swam across the pool.

This feels more natural, but there’s a danger that only the swimming will stick into the reader’s mind because her being blonde is so unnoticeable. There is also a minor danger that the reader will expect an non-blonde Susan to show up in the first variation.

Elegant ⭐⭐

Memorable ⭐

Organic ⭐⭐

Susan was annoyed. She had just washed her hair with that ridiculously expensive Luscious Blonde shampoo and now her friends wanted to go swimming? What a waste of money.

This feels natural and organic, because both elements are conveyed from Susan’s point of view. They are both relevant and connected, and on top of that you get to build Susan’s character.

Elegant ⭐⭐⭐

Memorable ⭐⭐⭐

Organic ⭐⭐⭐

Her friends were already in the pool, but Susan held up her pocket mirror, making absolutely sure that the latex cap wouldn’t let any water in. She just had her hair bleached and after the debacle of 2019, she would never forget what chlorinated water did to bleached hair.

Susan’s POV makes her blond hair relevant to the swimming, as with the example above, but this time you’re presenting a completely different character. It feels organic and personal, and the fact that she is blonde will be lodged into the reader’s mind without screaming “It’s a clue!”.

Elegant ⭐⭐⭐

Memorable ⭐⭐⭐

Organic ⭐⭐⭐

I hope this is helpful! Follow me for more writing tips or browse my entire collection of writing advice now.

Happy writing!

personal interpretations and preferences aside, there's no limit to what you can make a character say/do without taking them out of character. everyone has a breaking point that pushes them to do what they normally wouldn't. give me the circumstances and events that pushed the character. tell me what they're thinking/feeling. tell me how they're justifying their words/actions, both to themselves and to others. if you can argue it, it'll still feel authentic.

sci-fi writers are either like, 'this ship travels at 12 parsecs and here’s the exact formula for faster-than-light travel,' or 'it’s space. don’t worry about it.' there is no in-between. both will look at you like you’re stupid if you ask too many questions.

Maybe I should keep writing my weird fics for the 3 people that might like them

ok, because i just saw a terrible take, i feel compelled to say that there is no "fic market" to "oversaturate" in fandom. good gravy.

You know it’s bad when you’re writing a fictional story and wonder if you’re a genuinely bad person for what you’re about to inflict upon these characters

Nobody talks about how damaging being a reader AND a writer is. Like I can't read a book normally without either: a) mentally criticizing every poorly constructed sentence and analyzing it or b) comparing an EDITED AND PROFESSIONALLY PROOFREAD piece of published work to my MEANT-TO-BE-BAD-FIRST DRAFT and proceeding to gaslight myself into thinking I'm shit and being thrust into a week-long writing hiatus.

I CAN NEVER WIN

I’ve found that writing little scenes that don’t need to be in the story can help with this. Like writing the “they woke up, did their routine, went to work” scenes can help you get to know them, see them as any other person, which can help when trying to write their story. Obviously this would take forever to do with every side character, but with my main characters it helps a lot. And you can even write random interactions between side and main characters, which has also helped me.

Your characters aren’t just plot devices. They existed before the story started, and they’ll exist after it ends. Give them history, quirks, and contradictions. Maybe they always order the same coffee because it reminds them of home. Maybe they pick fights because it’s easier than being vulnerable. Maybe they love thunderstorms because they grew up listening to the rain through a broken window. The best characters feel alive because they have little pieces of reality stitched into them.

Writers, I need your opinions:

My story is like focused on two characters, and I have this scene where we switch between their perspectives. They are texting each other throughout an evening essentially, and we switch each time someone reads a text.

I don’t know if I should keep it or not. I love it, but I don’t know if it’s confusing or not. The overlapping scenes are very important for the development of both plot and story.

Also, I do have a beta reader but I lowkey have a crush on them so I’m too embarrassed to send the fic to them until I’ve done a couple rounds of self edits, and I don’t wanna get too far in just to realize it doesn’t work

Have I written in the past couple days? No. Are my daydreams going stupid? Hell yeah. When I have time to actually write it down will I still remember any of this lore? TBD

You don't need anyone's approval for the stories you write and the art you create. But it's also absolutely valid to want some approval from your audience. Kudos and likes don't determine your creation's worth. But it just feels amazing to receive them.