203 posts
Latest Posts by dabriaanderlaine - Page 6
Dragon Age Inquisition Tarot, full set: 3/4
Dragon Age Inquisition Tarot, full set: 1/4
Dragon Age Inquisition Tarot, full set: 2/4
Can You Scan The Backside Of A DA:I tarot card? I haven't seen what it looks like :3
Why certainly!
I’ve been seeing people wanting larger scans of all the individual cards… the only reason I didn’t do that before is there are a lot of them, haha, but I could do it if there are some people really want to see. I understand, because there’s a lot of detail in the cards and it’s hard to see in the big sets. I was thinking maybe putting up some bigger versions of some of the lesser seen character cards — and some of the ones people don’t immediately recognize as character cards, like Hawke’s. But if people have any particular requests, I can go with that!
(Also I gained 30 followers overnight, so uh… hello?? /nervous wave!!)
look, i'm sorry to say it, but if you really truly want to see more queer representation in media, you're going to need to be okay with seeing representation that you don't relate to at all. you need to be okay with media that has queer characters but none who share your specific identity. you need to be okay with media that has queer characters who do share your identity but who you find completely unrelatable. this is because you are not the only queer person on the planet and queer people who are not you, including queer people who you share no similarities with besides your queerness, deserve to see themselves represented.
you also need to be okay with media that shows a queer experience that you personally find uncomfortable. it's okay if you hate coming out stories, but other people find them valuable, so they need to exist. it's okay if you're a masc trans guy and you feel uncomfortable seeing femme transmasc characters, but femme transmascs do exist in real life and also deserve to see themselves represented. it's okay if you're uncomfortable with queer stories that involve cheating or abusive/toxic relationships or queer characters who are not good people, but other people find a lot of meaning in those stories, so you need to be okay with the fact that they exist.
please stop calling out creators—particularly queer creators—for writing queer representation that you don't personally relate to. if you want every queer person to be able to feel represented in media and if you want every queer creator to be able to make the stories they want to tell, you're going to have to learn to accept that some stories will feel completely unrelatable to you, and that's okay, and it doesn't mean those stories are "problematic" or "bad representation"
I also want writers to stop assuming if a male and female character are friends they they have to be dating. Assuming if a m & f are friends they automatically have to like each other it makes for really lazy writing. If you want 2 characters to be in love, to like each other you have to show us why they like each other. Gives us the story of them falling in love two best friends of the same gender should not have more chemistry than the main couple gives us m/f relationships where there is just friendship so we can have the romance stories we deserve and stop assuming m/f together on screen are automatically dating.
NOT ONLY do i want more m/f friendships in media where there's nothing romantic between them, but i want m/f friendships where both characters are SINGLE so that there's no reason there to "justify" why those two can't date. i want the platonicness of their relationship to be something that stands on its own merit.
This is one way to edit, though I love [insert name here] and will be using it in writing from here on out.
Editing? Oh you mean fic patching.
This is excellent advice also don't be afraid to scrap something you wrote entirely and rewrite it if you think it's terrible that just means your on draft 2 not that your actually a terrible writer. It's part of the process.
I have been struggling with the motivation to start writing my story. I feel as if I’m a terrible writer, and have no idea where to start or how to get better.
Any ideas?
ADVICE INCOMING
Hi! Thank you for submitting your questions!
Let me start it by saying that’s okay! It’s totally normal to struggle in motivating yourself to write; we all do, especially me!
Second of all, you’re not a terrible writer. Throw that thought out if the window. Throw it out! We do not see ourselves as anything other than aspiring and learning writers here on this blog.
You’re not terrible, no such thing. Don’t see yourself as a terrible writer but as one who still has to learn. We aren’t born with the skill, it’s one that must be built upon and refined.
The only way to become a better writer is to practice, practice and practice and read, read and read!
That’s the only way to do it; simple as that. You can go to school and get a degree for it but ultimately they will teach you the same thing, practicing and reading excellent samples of writing (I’m not saying don’t go to school for it, lol, but the principles are the same).
(3). If you want to become a better writer and find motivation I’d say start of by writing what interests YOU and what YOU’RE passionate about. That’s the best way to do it.
Fanfic writing is often the place people start off as it’s the easiest to indulge yourself in something you love and feel you’re knowledgeable about. Start there.
Or maybe not fanfic per say, but maybe write about a topic that interests you. Maybe the civil war, or jellyfish, or whatever that may be, write about it.
Some practice books with various topics are also a great way to get the brain going. I have a few writing prompt boos and those help out a tone to get that creativity flowing!
I’ll attach a link to a few.
(4). Don’t over think when you write, just type or write whatever springs to your mind and go with the flow. I know that’s hard as I have a tendency to double, triple check everything I write. In other words DO NOT EDIT as you write. I know that’s hard but it takes practice.
(5). You are your own greatest enemy; so go easier on yourself and remember you’re still learning.
I hope this somewhat helps!
uh oh time to meet the parents prompts
i love this request so much! please feel free to use :)
“what are the chances that you’d let me not meet them, then tell them i died or something and we can run away together and—” “breathe.”
“mom, this is [name].” “……… you’re joking, right?”
“mom… what would you do if i said i was getting married?” and a response like “omg!!!!! to that guy you were dating before??? when is it???? what’s the color theme????? WAIT DONT MOVE IM FLYING OVER”
^and a contrasting “dad… i’m getting married” and a response like “oh ok congrats”
introducing them in that awkward stage where they’ve been dating for like a couple months and they’re eating dinner tgt and the parents are just humiliating them
“whether you like them or not, i love them. you can respect that or you can uninvite yourself from the wedding.”
“thank you for loving my daughter. you were one of us from the moment you started taking care of her.”
they hit it off so very well that the parents are like F my child can i adopt u instead
^afterwards like “so what did you think of them?” and the parent(s) are like “i think i like them more than you.”
“i’m gonna be honest my love. watching you guys together made me glad because i know you have someone when your dad and i leave this earth.”
“give her a chance.”
if the parents don’t like the love interest: have scenes displaying how it feels for the love interest to have to see their partner scramble to convince their parents to like their partner. that cannot in any way shape or form go untalked about as the live interest probably feels humiliated, inferior, etc… also consider why the parents would dislike the love interest
“i don’t like him.” “good thing i’m the one dating him then, right?”
a lot of people don’t have parents/good relationships w their parents so what if they broke the news to their friends :)
one of your characters doesn’t have parents to break the news to but their partner’s parents take them in as their own
“i need them to love me. because you love me, and you love them, and if they don’t love me i don’t know what i’ll do.”
“i want them to love you.”
“i need you guys to love him because i love him.”
“i finally realized that i don’t need your permission as much as i thought i did.”
Hey, quick question. Editing is a bit like an endless loop when you're always finding some mistake or the other with your work. So how do you know when to stop editing?
ADVICE INCOMING
Hello Seraphicshadow!
Thank you for submitting your question, I appreciate it let me see if I can answer question!
How to know when to stop editing:
You’re Making Changes, Not Improvements
When You Can’t Tell What’s Good Or Bad.
When You Give Up
You’re Making Changes, Not Improvements
When you’re making edits and it seems as if the changes you’re making aren’t enhancing or improving your overall story that’s a sign you most likely don’t need anything else .
“Dirty” or “muddy”? Is this sentence better here or in the next paragraph? “A” or “the”?
When your edits reach a point where you’re sweating over one tiny thing after another, all you’re doing is holding yourself back.
When You Can’t Tell What’s Good Or Bad
Sometimes you work on something so hard and for so long, you can’t tell what’s what anymore. When you reach this point, step away from the computer. Congratulations, you’ve edited so hard you’re no longer qualified to edit your own work.
When you just run out of ideas for changes because it all looks the same to you that’s a good indicator to stop.
When You Give Up
If you’ve been editing so long you’re ready to throw in the towel, why not take a break and submit your story to an editor look at it? You know, before you take a lighter to it.
Someone with a fresh perspective may be able to point out options you hadn’t thought of. Or even better, their comments about what’s already working may be just what you need to regain your confidence.
I have a story with a group of protagonists, like team avatar or RWBY, like the typical group of characters in an action cartoon or something similar. But I can’t find a way to make them all plot important consistently. For most of them I can’t really find a character arc spanning the whole thing. Most of the character development gets blown in the first 4th of the plot and i don’t know how to fix that because the plot is built around character development. Characters will do certain plot important things only because their character developed to a certain point.
ADVICE INCOMING
Hello, Chosenwads! My apologies for not responding to this sooner. I am really terrible with keeping tracks of these.
But my advice to you would to be:
to take a step back and review your work from the beginning. I’m other words your characters to be exact. Sometimes when it comes to writing, people create characters first then work around a plot, or plot then characters.
As writers we all create a Character Bible. This Bible contains information and details about the character you created. It contains, name, physical details, family information, or any information you found important to the story.
Take a look at this and double check if what you had written still coincides with your vision of the story, and if it doesn’t that’s okay, rework the character till it does. There is nothing wrong with omitting characters if they just don’t fit with your plot, idea, or themes.
Second piece of advice would be:
to review the plot it’s self.
maybe take a look at story outlines to help you make out the story just a little more. There are multiple type of story outlines out there that can help and re-inspire you.
Third would be to:
Take a look at your character’s dialogue. Mayen you somehow didn’t write them out as you wanted to and created me morphed them into something else.
Reviewing your character’s dialogue is a great way to find out if this is the case.
It will also help you rework and edit the character if you made changes to their bible.
Fourth would be:
I know it can be forgotten sometimes, but immerse yourself with the character.
Think what about what you would do or what your goals would be and how would you achieve them.
One thing as a writer is to always try “but what if..”
You said your character’s reached their character development try “but what if…”
Okay so character A reaches their goal and character development of being a better person but what if one of the people that helped them along the way backstabbed them and throws out their goal and challenges character A.
It’s a silly example but always ask “but what if…”
If all else fails there is nothing wrong with shelving the project and starting another one and working on it in the future. I’d say never throw out a project but maybe keep it in your back pocket.
I hope this helps! And I apologize for the delay in responding!
You know, of all the different posts I've seen giving guidance and advice for writing, I've now realized and summarized for myself the 4 key factors that I found were most discussed in these various posts, if not the majority:
The 4 key factors when writing a scene
Behold:
M.F.S.M or MFSM
I like to sound it out in my head, "MotherF***er S.M" just so that it sticks, but whatever you prefer, really. 😅
Explanation:
M: Mood (the tone, the atmosphere; evoking an emotion from the reader)
F: Feelings (the character's feelings, in particular, in each scene based on their reaction to various dialogue or events happening)
S: Setting (it always helps to ground your scene with some description or detail of what's happening)
M: Motive (the most important factor. What is the reason behind every character's words and actions?)
I hope this helps anybody willing to read the post! xoxo
Some Quick Character Tips
Here are a handful of quick tips to help you write believable characters!
1. A character’s arc doesn’t need to grow linearly. Your protagonist doesn’t have to go from being weak to strong, shy to confident, or novice to professional in one straight line. It’s more realistic if they mess up their progress on the way and even decline a bit before reaching their goal.
2. Their past affects their present. Make their backstory matter by having their past events shape them into who they are. Growing up with strict parents might lead to a sneaky character, and a bad car accident might leave them fearful of driving.
3. Give reoccurring side characters something that makes them easily recognizable. This could be a scar, a unique hairstyle, an accent, or a location they’re always found at, etc.
4. Make sure their dialogue matches their personality. To make your characters more believable in conversation, give them speech patterns. Does the shy character mumble too low for anyone to ever hear, does the nervous one pace around and make everyone else on edge?
5. Make your characters unpredictable. Real people do unexpected things all the time, and this can make life more exciting. The strict, straight-A student who decides to drink at a party. The pristine princess who likes to visit the muddy farm animals. When character’s decide to do things spontaneously or in the heat of the moment, it can create amazing twists and turns.
6. Give even your minor character’s a motive. This isn’t to say that all your characters need deep, intricate motives. However, every character should need or want something, and their actions should reflect that. What’s the motive behind a side character who follows your protagonist on their adventure? Perhaps they’ve always had dreams of leaving their small village or they want to protect your protagonist because of secret feelings.
Instagram: coffeebeanwriting
Creating a Fictional Culture: How to Create a Fictional Culture
Happy New Year Everyone!
In case you haven’t seen my Fan Fiction Writers Needed Post please check it out and consider applying for the job!
Anyways, let’s get to it! First advice of the New Year!
What Is a Fictional Culture?
A fictional culture is an essential piece of worldbuilding in certain genres of fiction—particularly in science fiction and fantasy.
Storytellers develop fictional cultures in a variety of mediums, including film, television, short stories, novels, and video games. A fictional culture is defined by the customs, languages, values, and symbols of an imaginary world.
How to Create a Fictional Culture
Although there are nearly endless possibilities, consider some of these general writing tips for creating a fictional culture.
Pull inspiration from the real world. Pay attention to the cultural behaviors within your society. Broaden your own cultural perspective by researching the ideas and values of different cultures throughout history. Use real-life cultural examples to inform your fictional world, but be wary of repurposing existing cultures or perpetuating stereotypes.
Build off your main character. Develop the setting of your story based on how it serves the character development of your protagonist. Build a culture that highlights or contradicts your main character’s goals, needs, and fears.
Develop a belief system. Consider the core values, social norms, and taboos of your fictional culture. A central belief system can guide how you create rituals, symbols, and artifacts within your story.
Create a social structure. Develop how the family structures and social hierarchies work within your fictional culture. Decide where your main character falls within the social structure. Monetary systems can change your social structure depending on whether you use a bartering economy or something more complex.
Construct a technological system. Determine how advanced the technology is in your fictional culture. The technology of your story will impact the entertainment, communication, and modes of transportation within your fictional world.
Write a brief history. Expand your culture by writing a brief mythology of your fictional society. Avoid overwriting, and keep your history contained to important information that can impact your story.
Develop a Unique Language. Probably one of the most exciting yet difficult aspects of creating a fictional culture. Take a look at other language such as Greek or Latin or really any language you are curious about! Creating a language is not necessarily about switching up some lettering or word phrasing (it can be, but not 100%); it’s much more than that! I definitely welcome you to research and create your own language.
4 Examples of Fictional Cultures
The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien (1954): Tolkien created a wide variety of fictional cultures to inhabit Middle-earth. Each culture has its own language, value system, and history.
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley (1932): In his dystopian novel, Aldous Huxley developed a complex and technologically advanced culture with distinct social classes.
Dune by Frank Herbert (1965): Dune is an influential sci-fi novel with several detailed fictional cultures. One of them is the Fremen culture, which revolves around ancient superstitions and a rare commodity known as the Spice Melange.
The Fifth Season by N. K. Jemisin (2015): In this award-winning novel, Jemisin created a complex social structure with many "use-castes” that all have a place on an earthquake-ridden planet with one supercontinent.
Love how tumblr has its own folk stories. Yeah the God of Arepo we’ve all heard the story and we all still cry about it. Yeah that one about the woman locked up for centuries finally getting free. That one about the witch who would marry anyone who could get her house key from her cat and it’s revealed she IS the cat after the narrator befriends the cat.
Writing Help
General Tips
The purpose of writing
Important: only you can tell your stories
Every fanfiction genre has value
HOW TO STAY MOTIVATED!
Maintaining Motivation
Reasons to Keep Writing
Stretch your hands and fingers
Analyze the stories that you like
Title creation
How to comment on your favorite fics
Moodboard sources
PIRATED FAN FICS!!!
Fanfiction is legitimate (featuring Neil Gaiman)
Angst and Horror: if you can't handle it
Publishing
Writing Smut: overcoming shame
Don't toss your work
Dialogue / Writing rules
Prologue
Paragraph breaks
Sentence length matters!
Dialogue punctuation
Scene Checklist
Body Language
Descriptions between dialogue
3 dots in a sentence (Ellipsis)
Using adverbs
Using adjectives
Coming Outs
Commonly misused words & phrases
Words to Avoid
Flirting!
World Building
World building through plot holes
Using context clues
Creating land
Government
Matriarchal society
Dystopia
Descriptions
Resources for Describing Physical things
Alcoholic drinks & cocktails
KISS SCENES
Clothing references
Sewing sources (includes history of fashion)
Hair texture
Skin color/tone
Sword / Martial arts inspo
Character Development
Character development, agency, plot
Esk*mo is a slur
Naming characters
Naming characters in other cultures
Character sheets
Character sheet
Emotional intelligence
Human body limits
Making threats and the third option
Bartenders
Children
Kids
Asian characters
Muslim characters
Slavic characters
Russian names
Mixed characters
Bilingual characters
Blind or Visually Impaired
Morally grey
Dangerous female characters
Liars
Romance development
Healthy Relationship
Sacrifices
Redemption arc
Redemption arc 2
Regret / Remorse
Prompts/one-liners
Prompt masterlist
Another prompt masterlist
A third prompt masterlist
Best friends to lovers
Mob Boss
Prophecy of lost child
Super power of truth
Enemies to lovers
Enemies to lovers: Reasons to hate
Enemies to lovers: Getting together
Enemies to lovers Prompts!
Enemies to lovers: Fake dating
Past-life Enemies to lovers
Late-night wandering
Compliments
Touch-starved
Romance/physical intimacy prompts
Romance: little acts of love
Smut
Reputation
Break-ups
More sources
Masterlist: body language, words, translator
Masterlist: prompts, LGBTQ+, NSFW Advice
Meme: fanfiction problems
Mr. Darcy (Pride and Prejudice)
Bechdel Test
Types of fanfic authors
Reminder not to edit while you write. You want to finish that story someday? Then stop editing while you write!
Fixing an obvious error/typo in the sentence you just wrote is fine, but we're not talking about that. Do not reread, do not continue searching for errors, do not even spellcheck in case that leads you down the editing rabbithole.
Finish the story. The clock is ticking on that muse and distractions waste precious time!
when you know exactly how you want a scene to go but as soon as you sit down to write it you are suddenly staring at some of the worst sentences mankind has ever strung together.
Whatever you decide to do, make sure it makes you happy.
Unknown
Fanfiction Authors: HEADS UP
(Non-authors, please RB to signal boost to your author friends!)
An astute reader informed me this morning that one of my fics (Children of the Future Age) had been pirated and was being sold as a novel on Amazon:
(And they weren't even creative with their cover design. If you're going to pirate something that I spent a full year of my life writing, at least give me a pretty screenshot to brag about later. Seriously.)
I promptly filed a DMCA complaint to have it removed, but I checked out the company that put it up -- Plush Books -- and it looks like A LOT of their books are pirated fic. They are by no means the only ones doing this, either -- the fact that """publishers""" can download stories from AO3 in ebook format and then reupload them to Amazon in just a few clicks makes fic piracy a common problem. There are a whole host of reasons why letting this continue is bad -- including actual legal risk to fanfiction archives -- but basically:
IF YOU ARE A FANFIC AUTHOR WITH LONG AND/OR POPULAR WORKS, PLEASE CHECK AMAZON TO SEE IF YOUR STORIES HAVE BEEN PIRATED.
You can search for your fics by title, or by text from the description (which is often just copied wholesale from AO3 as well). If you find that someone has stolen your work and is selling it as their own, you can lodge a DMCA complaint (Amazon.com/USA site; other countries have different systems). If you haven't done this before, it's easy! Here's a tutorial:
HOW TO FILE A COPYRIGHT COMPLAINT FOR STOLEN WORK ON AMAZON.COM:
First, go to this form. You'll need to be signed into your Amazon account.
Select the radio buttons/dropdown options (shown below) to indicate that you are the legal Rights Owner, you have a copyright concern, and it is about a pirated product.
Enter the name of your story in the Name of Brand field.
In the Link to the Copyrighted Work box, enter a link to the story on AO3 or whatever site your work is posted on.
In the Additional Information box, explain that you are the author of the work and it is being sold without your permission. That's all you really need. If you want, you can include additional information that might be helpful in establishing the validity of your claim, but you don't have to go into great detail. You can simply write something like this:
I am the author of this work, which is being sold by [publisher] without my permission. I originally published this story in [date/year] on [name of site], and have provided a link to the original above. On request, I can provide documentation proving that I am the owner of the account that originally posted this story.
In the ASIN/ISBN-10 field, copy and paste the ID number from the pirated copy's URL. You'll find this ten-digit number in the Amazon URL after the word "product," as in the screenshot below. (If the URL extends beyond this number, you can ignore everything from the question mark on.) Once this number has been added, Amazon will pull the product information automatically and add it to the complaint form, so you can check the listing title and make sure it's correct.
Finally, add your contact information to the relevant fields, check the "I have read and accept the statements" box, and then click Submit. You should receive an email confirmation that Amazon has received the form.
Please share this information with your writer friends, keep an eye out for/report pirated works, and help us keep fanfiction free and legally protected!
NOTE: All of the above also applies to Amazon products featuring stolen artwork, etc., so fan artists should check too!
Reminder not to edit while you write. You want to finish that story someday? Then stop editing while you write!
Fixing an obvious error/typo in the sentence you just wrote is fine, but we're not talking about that. Do not reread, do not continue searching for errors, do not even spellcheck in case that leads you down the editing rabbithole.
Finish the story. The clock is ticking on that muse and distractions waste precious time!
“Writing is perhaps the greatest of human inventions, binding together people, citizens of distant epochs, who never knew one another. Books break the shackles of time ― proof that humans can work magic.”
— Carl Sagan
You ever start writing something and you’re like almost finished but then you suddenly decide you hate where it’s going and you’re in too deep now to start over but the very thought of continuing what you’re writing makes you want to scream
Cause same
Dear people who aren't physically disabled who plan to write fantasy settings:
[ID: Several images taken from the Geordi La Forge yes and no meme format, with Geordi holding out a hand disapprovingly for the no section, then pointing in approval for the yes section.
The first image is the meme:
No: "Saying the existance of magic in your setting means there are no disabled people (this literally just means disabled people are killed. AKA eugenics)"
Yes: "Having disabled people who use magical mobility aids and other assistive devices. Realizing that someone is still disabled even if their prosthetic arm is made of magic instead of plastic."
This is followed by four more panels of yes section:
"Geordi la Forge is still literally disabled. His visor helping him does not erase his disability and make him magically abled."
"Toph from Avatar: The Last Airbender is still literally disabled even though her Earthbending helps her. It does not make her disability ~magically~ go away."
"Having your disability be accomodated does not mean the disability goes away. Having a prosthetic hand, even one that's made of magic, does not mean you're not disabled."
"Magical mobility aids do not mean disabled people don't exist. It just means they use magical mobility aids instead of plastic or metal ones. A limb made of magic is still a prosthetic even if it's made of the soul of the universe instead of plastic and metal."
Then another no panel: "'There's no disabled people beacuse magic'".
Then one last yes panel: "'Magic helps disabled people in a variety of ways'".
End ID.]
This also applies to science fiction; just because Luke Skywalker's prosthetic hand is super advanced doesn't mean it's no longer a prosthetic, or that he's not disabled. Same with Darth Vader - just because he has a suit that lets him breathe and walk around doesn't mean he's not disabled. (And Star Wars' propensity for making the villains visibly disabled while the heroes disabilities get covered up by super advanced prosthetics is a topic that deserves its own post, especially with how ableist some of the authors of the books are. Troy Denning is especially ableist)
i lie awake at night, taking buzzfeed quizzes pretending to be one of my original characters
Having OCs is actually the worst because those little fuckers will talk about you behind your back.
97 character motivations
Need a masterlist of character motivation ideas?
Here’s 97 different character motivations you can use for anything from your hero, side-characters, villain, or even to craft smaller subplots. Save this post for later!
Saving a family member from capture
Saving a sibling from disease
Saving a pet from danger
Saving the world from ruin
Saving a friend from heartbreak
Saving the town from financial ruin
Saving friends from dangerous deadly situations
Saving a love interest from dying
Saving themselves in a dangerous world
Saving a community from falling apart
Saving a child from a potentially dangerous circumstance
Saving a place or location from evil forces
Saving a ghost from limbo
Overcoming a phobia
Overcoming an addiction
Overcoming marital struggles
Moving on from loss
Finding a significant other
Finding a new family (not blood-related)
Finding true biological family
Finding out an old secret
Finding a way home
Reconnecting with long-lost friends
Getting out of a dark state of mind
Finding peace in life
Beating a disease
Beating an arch nemesis
Forming a peaceful community
Transforming a location
Bringing someone back to life
Winning a competition
Going on an adventure
Getting a dream job
Keeping a secret
Escaping a location of capture
Proving a moral point
Proving a political point
Winning a political campaign
Betray someone
Ruin someone’s life
Find a suspect or killer
Find the answer to a mystery
Discover ancient sites & secret histories
Perform a successful ritual
Summon the dead
Save a country from dictatorship
Become the most powerful in a community
Outshine a family member in business success
Prove someone wrong
Win prize money to help someone in need
Get revenge on someone who wronged them
Find the person who wronged them
Develop significant scientific progress
Gain respect from family
Get over an ex-lover
Move on from a painful death
Keep their community alive
Lead their community
Heal people in need
Preserve a species (animal, alien, plant…)
Discover new world
Get recognition for hard work
Become famous
Get rich to prove themselves to people who doubted them
Break a long tradition
Challenge the status quo of a community
Defeat a magical nemesis
Take over a location to rule
Find out truth behind old legends
Help someone get over their struggles
Prove their moral values
Prove their worth to an external party
Become a supernatural creature
Keep something from falling into the wrong hands
Protect the only person they care about
Start a revolution
Invent new technology
Invent a new weapon
Win a war
Fit in with a community
Atone for past sins
Give top-secret information to an enemy as revenge
Kill an ex-lovers current partner
Reinvent themselves
Raise a strong child
Make it to a location in a strict time period
Find faith
Find enlightenment
Find out more about the afterlife
Confess love to a friend
Solve a moral dilemma
Have a child of their own
Avoid being alone
Run away from past struggles
Reinvent themselves as a new person
Impress a colleague or boss
Avoid a fight or war breaking out
writing tactic:
divide your story into bullet points. one for everything you want to happen. combine similar ones together, and you have a list of bullet points.
each bullet is a chapter. try and write at least two to three pages per chapter. pick one a day.
hey, i have a question! i hope you don't mind. i am working on my first wip ever and i don't know how if i should use a story structure or not. do you have any suggestion/advice for me? <333
ADVICE INCOMING
Hello! Hi! Thank you for submitting your post! I apologize if you’ve submitted it for a few weeks and I am now just getting back to it. I need to check my inbox more often. 😅
I do not mind the question at all! I love it when people take a shot in the dark and ask me anything! I will try my best to answer your question!
First off, congratulations on working on your first ever WIP! That’s big! That’s major! A first step to many great things! I am so proud of you for taking the initiative — it isn’t easy!
Second, every story has structure whether you know deliberately plan it or not. It is up to the writer, however, to decide which story structure they specifically want to use. Stories, just life everything else in life, tends to have some kind of structure, of course there is randomness but even then there is structure to it (if you want to get all philosophical about it, hehe).
All structures have the same core principles, it’s just that each one tends to maybe focus or highlight different parts or sections of the overall journey.
Think of it this way: ultimately it is a rollercoaster ride with different loops and turns and themes. Rollercoasters are designed to evoke thrill, fun and fear, along with various other emotions. Same applies with a story structure: same cores just different executions.
I would suggest — if you really want to explore different story structures — to sit down and familiarize yourself with them and notice the slight differences between each. You can even look up story examples that follow that structure to help you get a better understanding.
If after that you just decide not to stick to a particular one that’s fine, as I said, you will subconsciously be working on one. The most common structure is the Hero’s Journey: which I bet 100% that’s the structure you will be using whether you chose it intentionally or not.
Here’s a link to the post about story structure I covered to help you. ☺️
I hope this answers your question!
If anyone else has any advice or suggestions that I maybe didn’t mention or cover feel free to reblog and add your own!
There's a post floating around the tumbls to the tune of "stop writing your characters like they're winning at therapy." The overall thrust of this "advice" seems to be that it's not interesting characterization or good fiction to write characters who already have good self-awareness and the ability to communicate with the people around them. The strong implication of the post was that self-awareness and therapy are boring, so don't put them to paper.
There's another post that's a kind of follow up, talking in a more nuanced way about how characters, like real-life people, may well have extreme difficulty 1) identifying the emotions they're having, much less 2) being able to talk about them, or 3) being willing or feeling safe enough to say it aloud. It's not such an intentionally quelling piece of direction about how to write effectively, but it still comes down on the side of "conflict makes for more interesting reading in the end."
The other implication of "this isn't good writing" is that those kinds of stories do not hold value, and that conflict has a very narrow meaning.
It's true that people grow up in all kinds of situations that affect their understanding of their feelings, much less their ability to communicate them or ask for help. Those folks may struggle alone for a long time before they are in a place where it's safe to slow down and think things through. Some folks may never get to that place, and it's important to read their stories and struggles.
It's true, too, that there are people who are naturally more self aware, who are able to speak up for themselves regardless of any past trauma or any ongoing anxiety disorder or whatever other thing might have otherwise hampered their insight and communication about their needs and desires. Their current success doesn't mean their story isn't worth penning.
Here's what the "don't write it, it's not realistic" crowd and the "don't write it, most people don't have these skills" folks fail to answer: why is it wrong to write and read stories where the characters behave like self-actualized people who love themselves enough to spend the time doing the work getting over their shit, and who love and respect the people around them enough to communicate clearly with them? Why is it wrong for a writer to give a reader a lens into a world where some people reach a point in their life where they don't have to deal with drama, understand why they feel a certain way, and take affirmative steps to solve their problems? Why is it wrong for some writers and readers to want a story where there isn't conflict, and where there is a calm, peaceful ending for everybody involved?
"Conflict's more interesting!"
Maybe, but it also contributes to stress, anxiety, depression, physical health issues, sleep disruption, anger issues, violence, crime, self-harm, and suicide. Acting like everyone ought to be writing conflict instead of healthy communication is racist, ableist, and classist as hell-- pretty mean-spirited, too, if all you care about is the drama. It's also incredibly intellectually lazy.
It's pretty rude to assume you know what all writers ought to write, or what all readers must read.
People write for all kinds of reasons, and people read looking for all kinds of things-- mirrors of their own life, but also windows with views onto something they might not have been able to imagine before reading your story.
Some people have already been through the wringer and did the work, and want to write a world where they can remind ourselves and other people that it's possible to do the work-- even when it's hard-- and end up on the other side of things in a better place. We've been through conflict, and we don't want anyone else to have to go through it, either. We want to share our tools and coping mechanisms and reframing devices so that others who are having a hard time while they are reading have at least one positive view that gives the reader permission. Stories that write about winning at therapy are important, because they say this:
"Go ahead, you're allowed. Acknowledge that what's happening to you isn't fair or healthy. Admit that you deserve better, because you know that the character in this story is like you and you can see clearly for them what's still hard to accept for yourself. Understand that you're not a failure for having strong feelings. Know that it's not selfish to take care of yourself and to read the books/see the therapists/erect the boundaries/take the meds you need in order to feel like life can be better."
Getting better and staying that way isn't boring or unrealistic, and neither is writing about it. One of the hardest stories I ever wrote was a story about communicating about mismatched needs. When it was done, I reread it and saw-- oh, I need to do the thing I just put my characters through the therapeutic exercise of figuring out for themselves. It was embarassing, to know myself better through fiction writing than through therapy-- but the process of writing let me figure out on paper what I wanted to happen. The kick in the teeth of realizing it wouldn't happen was what let me make a hard decision-- that my story gave me permission to make. And then I published the fic, which was more embarrassing because there were several folks IRL who realized what it meant for my offline life. I published it anyway, and few years ago, someone read the fic and commented something along the lines of: "I'm going to therapy and making X decision because of reading this fic."
My uninteresting story about a character telling another character that they needed to talk some things through and get help? It helped someone else. And it was a popular story, because lots of people who read it understood-- the struggle to understand yourself and your needs is one of the hardest conflicts all of us face, and coming out on the other end of it is a victory that we deserve to share with others, in the hope that they'll see a way through too.
So, dearly beloveds-- please be assured that you have at least one writer's permission to write boring, uninteresting stories about people who know how to solve their own problems and put on their own emotional oxygen mask before helping others. I, for one, can't wait to read your story and tell you how much I enjoyed it, and how happy I am that you're sharing that kind of success and the hope it might give to others.