Okay, hey, since this post took off, let me share some other action beats you can use to punctuate the silence when writing a conversation, that isn't sighing.
They… Grimaced. Shrugged. Frowned. Scrunched their nose. Yawned. Fiddled with a loose thread on their sleeve. Ran a hand through their hair. Worried/bit/licked their lips. Hummed. Replied with a rather rude hand gesture. Picked at a hangnail. Gingerly grazed a finger down the length of so-and-so's arm, avoiding their gaze like it would burn. Farted. Kicked a stone. Twirled a lock of hair. Twirled somebody else's lock of hair. Twirled a lock of hair on the disembodied head they'd just plopped onto the dinner table. Stuffed their hands into their pockets. Stuffed their hands into the open cavity at the neck of this dang disembodied head on the table. Feigned interest in their phone. Flipped a page. Flipped the table. Flipped the script and escaped the pages. I repeat, the character has escaped and is in the real world. God have mercy on us all. Pissed themselves.
Their… Shoulders sagged. Brows knit/furrowed. Muscles tensed, tightening and locking up like a key twisting in a rusty lock. (Did you just repeat lock twice in the same sentence? Ew). Muscles relaxed, tension spilling from their skin and pooling like blood at their feet. Stomach dropped. Heart beat slower and slower until it ceased to beat at all, which, frankly, is going to be an issue if they hoped to carry on this conversation. Heart beat faster and faster and faster and faster and faster and wouldn't slow down, aw, shit, please, just slow the fuck down…
And lastly: nothing! Don't write anything. Don't say the character does anything. Not blinking, not sighing, not grimacing, or shrugging. Frankly, you'd be surprised at how little of these small reactions you really do need to write. Allow your readers' imagination to fill in the gaps. Isn't that also part of the fun of reading?
Anywho feel free to add.
1/3 Down Femoral Shaft Diagram
1st Cuneiform Anatomical Siding
3-Phosphoglycerate Derivatives
3rd Class Lever Diagram
55 Cancri c
A. floridanum
Amplification of Enzymes Diagram
Archaeologist
Arginine
Bedsore
Cardiac Valve Sounds
Carnitine Acyltransferase Reaction
Cranial Nerve 8 Dysfunctions
D2700 Skull
Diagnosing Leishmaniasis
DNA Polymerase
Enzyme Catalysis
Features of Genus Homo
Guide RNA
Human Lifespan
Locations of Preganglionic Soma
Longissimus Regions
Methanogenesis
Middle Proteins
Morphology of Pelvis
Multiple Displacement Amplification
NADPH and Glucose 6-P
NH3 and Glycine Synthase Reaction
Occipital Belly of Occipitofrontalis OIA
Penicillinases
Peptide Bond Torsion Angles
Pulp Development Zones
Rectus Abdominis OIA
RM3 Tooth - Buccal View
Roles of Actin Filaments
Safkhet
Schwann Cells vs Oligodendrocytes
Siding Distal Tibia
SOS Response
Southern Sugar Maple
spino-
TH17 Cells
Tibial Groove for Flexor Hallucis Longus
Upper Midshaft of Humerus Diagram
Vena Jugularis
Y. faxoniana
Zygomaticus
.
Patreon
Hello dears! My site is undergoing some serious construction, and in the process I’ve been adding/changing some of the free downloads I have available for fiction writers. (And adding cute lil’ pictures to go with them! Awwww!) Take a looksie if you like <3
Love,
Bucket
🌸CUTE DRESS🌸
Mall Goth Hand Bleached Skeleton Hoodie // CaterpieCrochet
Mushroom Mugs
Sun Maiden Ceramics on Etsy
Snake Earrings
Thats Freakin Gorgeous on Etsy
Animal Travelers
Marie Claude Roch on Etsy
to everyone else in school right now:
please use sparknotes. please use khan academy. please listen to school house rock songs and watch the history of the entire world i guess and tim and moby and bill nye. any documentary you watch in class can be found somewhere online with a quick google. get your books from project gutenberg and z-lib. download textbooks off the internet whenever you can find them. use desmos for a free online graphing calculator. if you’re learning something and you don’t get it look up the wikipedia page on it and put it into simple english to get the gist, then put it back into regular english to get the full story. cheat if you have to. school sucks so bad rn and if you’re like me and you get all your materials secondhand or from the lost and found, online resources are really useful rn; all of the above have helped me pass a class in some way, and i hope they can help you too.
stay inside and stay safe. best of luck to all the students out there.
Tips for working with children?
1. Don't lie to them if you can avoid it. Water down truths at your discretion, but if you try to lie outright, a good number of them are probably going to pick up on your weird energy and figure you're hiding something. This will very likely come off as "adult who doesn't think we're real people", which is how you promote rebellion.
2. Listen to the problems they come to you with. Imagine they were your problems. If Brůnden at work stole all your pens and ignored your requests to leave you be, you'd be pretty pissed if your manager told you to "just use your nice words" or "let him get bored". Decide what you would want an adult to do, and form a reasonable response.
3. Let some of your weird (child appropriate) interests show. Odds are, when they see your passion, they'll take interest. I accidentally wound up teaching an intro to animal biology to a group of first graders in my after school program this way, and it became what they knew me for. Great for bonding, teaching, and bartering for completed chores.
4. Learn about things they're interested in, but don't force it into things. It'll help you understand what you overhear, and pitch in at the right moment.
5. Treats and stickers. They work on adults, and they work on kids. Make them take a little bit of effort to earn, but also pick special occasions where everyone gets one free. Once you get a better idea of their personalities, lives, strengths, and weaknesses, you can tailor this for personal growth.
6. Acknowledge their feelings. Verbally affirm that they are upset, they are frustrated, they are angry or sad, and encourage them to explain why, and work to find acceptable solutions. Staying perfectly calm and happy while they're angry might help to a point, but ignoring their obvious feelings will make them feel that you don't care or understand, which will make things worse. A lot of kids have a hard time figuring out how adults feel, and why, so empathy will need to be clearer.
7. Play with them on their own level. When you play a game they started on their own, follow their rules, and if you can't, explain why. Expect a few of them to try and mess with you. You're not as distant or alien if you can fall for the same things they do, or admit when you've been outsmarted or outclassed. Be aware that some rules may change at random, and don't go all out on winning.
8. Be honest in ways other adults won't be. When telling a personal story, mention offhand that you didn't like someone, or someone was mean for no reason, or another adult was rude or broke rules, they'll see that you think and feel in similar ways as them, and it can reinforce that yeah, sometimes life is unfair, no, growing up doesn't numb your personality, and no, you don't have to feel happy and positive and pleasant all the time. Sometimes things just suck, and you need to handle it maturely. It's acting on bad feelings that's bad, not the bad feelings themselves. And hey, sometimes adults ARE mean or rude or wrong! They're not crazy or dumb when they notice!
9. Literally just be yourself. Curb any cursing or inappropriate subject matter, but otherwise, they'll recognize that you're an individual with your own personality, and either they'll like you or they won't. Either way, they'll decide how to act from there. Kids are mostly just distilled adults with social restrictions, they can adapt to a lot.
Glassware // Customice Crafts on Etsy
299 posts