This Has Probably Been Said Before, But Doing Your Best Doesn’t Always Mean Giving 100%. Sometimes

Writing advice from my uni teachers:

If your dialog feels flat, rewrite the scene pretending the characters cannot at any cost say exactly what they mean. No one says “I’m mad” but they can say it in 100 other ways.

Wrote a chapter but you dislike it? Rewrite it again from memory. That way you’re only remembering the main parts and can fill in extra details. My teacher who was a playwright literally writes every single script twice because of this.

Don’t overuse metaphors, or they lose their potency. Limit yourself.

Before you write your novel, write a page of anything from your characters POV so you can get their voice right. Do this for every main character introduced.

!!!!!!!!!

#prosnape #fucksnaters #uwu #antimaruaders

Ooo can you do some hc's or a fic where Richie's feeling like dead weight to the group, and starts to seperate himself because he feel like he's annoying everyone?

holy guacamole just stab me in the heart okay also btw this is modern

-richie’s always known he was annoying

-certain people just kinda know

-he’s been told so many times, by his peers and parents alike so he’s just kind of come to accept it. he makes jokes to cope with childhood trauma. he oversexualizes things because he’s scared of his sexuality, it just be like that sometimes

-but recently he’s been feeling kinda different and it’s hard for him to articulate it but it just feels wrong. 

-it started as a joke actually. go figure right? richie ends up being the butt of his own joke. he wanted to see if he could go the whole day without contacting his friends. he didn’t anything on instagram or snapchat. didn’t respond to anybody’s stories. no texts or calls or memes or likes or anything. 

-and it’s not like he expected some big hoopla in the groupchat like OMG WHERE’S RICHIE IS HE DEAD but he at least anticipated some sort of reaction

-maybe from stan y'know? like “this groupchat isn’t making me want to kill. myself, where’s rich?” but no. there was nothing. and it wasn’t like the chat was dead either, bill was going off on this whole big rant about the solar system or some lame shi like that and not once for the entire day did anyone say anything to or about richie 

-he didn’t receive any calls or texts sending him things or asking where he was. and that made him feel something painful in his chest. so he tried it again the next day, maybe it was a fluke. maybe everyone was just busy with their own things to notice richie’s little experiment. but the next day was the same as the first, there was no sign of richie and no one seemed to notice

-this little experience led richie down a dark path. he eventually started wondering how big of a nuisance he actually was. how annoying did the others really find him? had he really overestimated how much his friends cared about him for this long? and you might think this is dramatic but hello this is richie tozier

-and maybe richie would try to like not go to school just to see if anyone would notice but he ends up going anyway because contrary to popular belief my boy’s wicked smart and he wouldn’t want to fall behind on his work

-so he goes to school but he’s quiet and that’s very different for him. he refrains from making ‘your mom’ jokes, he’s not really laughing at anything or doodling. he just goes, does his work, and goes home. 

-this routine continues for like two days before bev is finally like ‘alright asshole what gives are you sick or something?”

-and he’s like no?? wym

-”you’ve been quiet and a little mopey all week and it’s giving me the heebee jeebies what’s up with you?”

-so he explains what he’s been feeling “not like anyone would care but” and he tells bev that he’s felt like deadweight and unimportant and she almost crIES because richie is her best friend and she feels terrible for making him see himself that way

-bev tells him that she’s so incredibly sorry for making him feel obsolete and he’s like “it’s really okay like #notmad and it wasn’t just you anyway”

-so naturally bev tells EVERYONE and they all show up to richie’s house after school and swarm him with apologies and hugs and richie’s almost crying bc 1. he’s a big baby and 2. he loves his friends so much?? and affection is the best??

-eddie starts crying (obvs) just talking about how much he loves his boy and that he was just swamped with homework but that didn’t mean that richie wasn’t important 

-mike and ben obviously give richie the bIGGEST hugs of his entire life and sidenote: mike and richie are pals and whenever richie feels upset he goes to mike for a hug and mike just kinda holds him for 5ever but that’s only ever in private but he’s doING IT RIGHT NOW because he loves richie & doesn’t care who knows it

-bill’s like “i l-love you m-m-man, i never would’ve got this f-f-far without you” and bev is like “i tOLd you we loved you”

-stan is kind of shook the most because he calls richie annoying on the daily so he feels bad but richie’s like “no ur my best friend you have the right to call me annoying”

-they all have a big sleepover and live happily ever after bc richie is feeling loved and appreciated the end 

you’d be surprised by the impact you truly make on this world. i know it feels like nothing and it feels like the days just go by with nothing significant happening. but believe me when i say that your presence, your undeniable presence, is enough to change the world for somebody. the fact that you were there. you change lives and you barely even know it. somebody out there would be a completely different person if you didn’t exist. 

you were raised in comparison.

it wasn't always obvious (well. except for the times that it was), but you internalized it young. you had to eat what you didn't like, other people are going hungry, and you should be grateful. you had to suck it up and walk on the twisted ankle, it wasn't broken, you were just being a baby. you were never actually suffering, people obviously had it worse than you did.

you had a roof over your head - imagine! with the way you behaved, with how you talked back to your parents? you're lucky they didn't kick you out on your ass. they had friends who had to deal with that. hell, you have friends who had to deal with that. and how dare you imply your father isn't there for you - just because he doesn't ever actually talk to you and just because he's completely emotionally checked out of your life doesn't mean you're not fucking lucky. think about your cousins, who don't even get to speak to their dad. so what if yours has a mean streak; is aggressive and rude. at least you have a father to be rude to you.

you really think you're hurting? you were raised in a home! you had access to clean water! you never so much as came close to experiencing a real problem. sure, okay. you have this "mental illness" thing, but teenagers are always depressed, right. it's a phase, you'll move on with your life.

what do you mean you feel burnt out at work. what do you mean you mean you never "formed healthy coping mechanisms?" we raised you better than that. you were supposed to just shoulder through things. to hold yourself to high expectations. "burning out" is for people with real jobs and real stress. burnout is for people who have sick kids and people who have high-paying jobs and people who are actually experiencing something difficult. recently you almost cried because you couldn't find your fucking car keys. you just have lost your sense of gratitude, and honestly, we're kind of hurt. we tell you we love you, isn't that enough? if you want us to stick around, you need to be better about proving it. you need to shut up about how your mental health is ruined.

it could be worse! what if you were actually experiencing executive dysfunction. if you were really actually sick, would you even be able to look at things on the internet about it? you just spend too much time on webMD. you just like to freak yourself out and feel like you belong to something. you just like playing the victim. this is always how you have been - you've always been so fucking dramatic. you have no idea how good you have it - you're too fucking sensitive.

you were like, maybe too good of a kid. unwilling to make a real fuss. and the whole time - the little points, the little validations - they went unnoticed. it isn't that you were looking for love, specifically - more like you'd just wanted any one person to actually listen. that was all you'd really need. you just needed to be witnessed. it wasn't that you couldn't withstand the burden, but you did want to know that anyone was watching. these days, you are so accustomed to the idea of comparison - you don't even think you belong in your own communities. someone always fits better than you do. you're always the outlier. they made these places safe, and then you go in, and you are just not... quite the same way that would actually-fit.

you watch the little white ocean of your numbness lap at your ankles. the tide has been coming in for a while, you need to do something about it. what you want to do is take a nap. what you want to do is develop some kind of time machine - it's not like you want your life to stop, not completely, but it would really nice if you could just get everything to freeze, just for a little while, just until you're finished resting. but at least you're not the worst you've been. at least you have anything. you're so fucking lucky. do you have any concept of the amount of global suffering?

a little ant dies at the side of your kitchen sink. you look at its strange chitinous body and think - if you could just somehow convince yourself it is enough, it will finally be enough and you can be happy. no changes will have to be made. you just need to remember what you could lose. what is still precious to you.

you can't stop staring at the ant. you could be an ant instead of a person, that is how lucky you are. it's just - you didn't know the name of the ant, did you. it's just - ants spend their whole life working, and never complain. never pull the car over to weep.

it's just - when it died, it curled up into a tight little ball.

something kind of uncomfortable: you do that when you sleep.

YA literature? You mean books about Super Special White Girl and Her Mysterious Brooding Boyfriend?

look…………….. write as much shitty fic as you want. nobody can stop you. you’re learning constantly and it’s better to write hackneyed implausible ridiculousness than it is to not write at all out of fear of fucking up. you’re good

au where Ray, Sissy and Harlan come back to the future with the academy and Klaus makes a big event of locking everyone in the library and giving a ridiculous powerpoint that’s like ‘How To Speed Run The Past 70 Or Whatever Years’ (Five from where he’s been handcuffed to the bar: “it’s 55 you dumbass-). highlights include:

- opening with a picture from the jfk assassination (since they were all a little busy when that was going on) with a big :( drawn over it

- a fifty minute long side-tracked rant about the Vietnam war that only Five is interested in

- “And finally, after a long, painful battle for the sensible people of the world…the Beatles were Defeated”

- “Highlight this note because it WILL be on the test later- Britney Spears was born on December 2nd, 1981″

- “So one day in 1989 43 babies with magic powers were born from women who hadn’t been pregnant, and like? you know? no one ever really looked into that further? we’re in our 30s, I feel like we should have some answers by now?’

 “Speaking of 1989, there’s this fantastic album-” 

   Vanya: “Klaus they don’t need to know who Taylor Swift is-”

   Diego: “Let Him Speak.”

- “And on this day I was innocently reading a magazine and discovered my previously beloved sister Allison is friends with Beyonce and she never bothered to introduce me or invite me to a single party-” *powerpoint slide switches to a picture with Allison’s head photoshopped onto a snake* *Sissy asks who Beyonce is and that turns into another sidetracked explanation that takes nearly two hours and involves Everyone screaming*

- “And this is when Luther went to the moon-”

   Ray: “the…moon? the fucking moon?”

   Klaus: “didn’t the moon landing happen for you guys yet?”

   Allison: “no that was ‘69???”

   Klaus: “FUCK”

   Luther: “Can you try to go in order? You didn’t even tell them Dad’s an alien yet-”

  everyone: W H A T?!!?!?!!?!

- 2004: the tragic beginnings of Vanya’s weaboo stage 

- 2006: Diego has his first kiss with an Ambassadors daughter after a mission and IMMEDIATELY pukes on her after they finish. (next slide features news footage of the event; Luther has to hold Diego back from attacking Klaus while everyone else is losing their shit)

- “Klaus I really don’t think Twilight counts as a historical event”

   Five: “No, actually, it does-”

- *2 hours spent infodumping about Chernobyl while his audience gets progressively more drunk*

- “Klaus, can we please move on from the 90s already-”

  “THEY NEED TO UNDERSTAND WHAT THE MEDIA DID TO WINONA RYDER”

- footage of Allison’s Less Than Graceful reaction when she got snubbed at the Oscar’s one year

- at some point he tries to explain Modern Speak™ and Internet Culture™ to them and it ends up going like this:

- “anyway here’s a list of probable war crimes our dad committed”

- *explanation of Ellen DeGeneres’ entire career from start to finish*

- *footage of 14 year old Luther dancing like he got a touchdown after he killed a man in battle*

- Cha Cha Slide: The Song That Changed Everything

- he slips an Entirely Fake historical event in there just to prank them and his siblings try to call him out on it but then Five backs him up because he’s drunk and wants to cause problems. Three Years Later Ray will still mention something about like The Fall Of Telephonia that resulted after a bloody battle between the two rulers and whoever he’s talking to just like. smiles and nods politely

- “And here’s the news clip where 10 year old Five found out on live air that Santa Claus isn’t real. We literally never saw him smile ever again after this”

- he starts explaining Kardashian/Jenner scandals as if they’re political scandals

but anyway. not the most educational lesson plan but I want everyone to have a break and laugh thank you goodnight lmao

How To Stop Editing As You Go

What’s wrong with editing as you go?

Disclaimer, everyone has a different writing process, and that’s okay! But a lot of people never finish their novels because they don’t get through the first draft, and what’s the biggest killer of a first draft? Obsessing over your writing until you hate it.

But it’s right there! I want to edit it!

So take it away. I use a very simple method of having a working document and a master document. I write each chapter on the working document before moving it into the master. The master doc CANNOT be edited unless you need to add something in for the plot. This way, you remove the temptation to edit and you leave it alone. 

Okay, and when it comes to my second draft?

Then you duplicate the doc, keep the old crappy one, and edit the new one. This way you don’t edit the things you end up cutting, but if you cut something you want back, you still have the original copy. 

[if you repost to Instagram please tag @isabellestonebooks]

Pssst

Hey, are you an artist or writer with WIPs?

Come here... I got a secret for you pssst come ‘ere