drrockbell:

jawnwats:

prismatic-bell:

cj-amused:

tenoko1:

evildorito:

onewordtest:

trikruwriter:

“This is your daily, friendly reminder to use commas instead of periods during the dialogue of your story,” she said with a smile.

“Unless you are following the dialogue with an action and not a dialogue tag.” He took a deep breath and sat back down after making the clarifying statement. 

“However,” she added, shifting in her seat, “it’s appropriate to use a comma if there’s action in the middle of a sentence.”

“True.” She glanced at the others. “You can also end with a period if you include an action between two separate statements.”

Things I didn’t know

“And–” she waved a pen as though to underline her statement–“if you’re interrupting a sentence with an action, you need to type two hyphens to make an en-dash.”

You guys have no idea how many students in my advanced fiction workshop didn’t know any of this when writing their stories.

I wish I had this when I was critiquing my classmates stories so I could show them all the different examples.

cogwrites:

for the writer who can’t seem to write.

• Buy a pencil and paper. Get a writing program and a keyboard.
• Spill all your ideas into a notebook that will never see the light of day. Write down literally every idea you have that even sort of relates to the scene/chapter/book that you want to write until your thoughts converge on a pointed attack.
• Quality vs. Quantity? No competition. Quantity all the way. The more you write, the better you will know your story. Worry about Quality LATER.
• Think about where the idea came from. Go there. Set up a cardboard box and live there. This is your home now.
• What is the coolest, most self-indulgent thing you can think of? That’s what you want to write at this point, until you get some steam.
• Short-term goals, my friends. And by short-term, I mean a minute from now, ten seconds from now. What are you going to do to write RIGHT NOW? Stop thinking about an hour from now, stop thinking about a day from now.
• This is not a book. This is not a book. You are not writing a book. You are writing a story. A story is much easier to take bites out of than a book. A book is a big, scary, colossal thing. Stories are fun and carefree.
• Get yourself a writing friend. A cactus, an old bottle of nail polish, a fish in an appropriately sized tank, etc. Make them hold you accountable.
• Set crazy low goals. Promise yourself you will write ten words today. Ten words and you will be the Best Writer in the Entire World to Ever Exist. Accomplishing things is a morale booster and will urge you to write more.
• Just keep writing. I believe in you.

lifesizehysteria:

Why are really good writing days always followed by really terrible writing days? Is there some kind of cosmic writing productivity balance that must be maintained at all times???

I really do think so

writersblockbecomesunblocked:

Remember to Change Paragraphs When….

•A new character comes along

•A new event happens

•A new idea is introduced

•The setting changes

•A new person is speaking

•Time moves forward or backwards a lot

•The “camera” moves

wordsnstuff:

Character-driven stories focus on the conflicts that exist surrounding characters, while plot-driven stories focus on the actual plot and exterior conflicts that are occurring. The driving force of a story is what the actual story is developing more, and what the story makes your reader focus on. Plot-driven stories in particular, are usually found in the genres of fantasy, romance, and mystery.

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fluidityandgiggles:

softestvirgil:

i-will-physically-fight-you:

i-will-physically-fight-you:

I was talking to someone today about writing, and I was surprised by how amazed they were by writers’ ability to create a story. They couldn’t understand how JKR was able to create the world of Harry Potter–how she came up a world so far removed from our reality. 

It made me realize something; not everyone can come up with worlds on a whimsy. Not everyone can create characters that they grow so fond of that they’re like real people in their eyes. Not everyone has gone through the experience of a character derailing their story and swearing it wasn’t them typing those words in that document. Not everyone can just envision a story and then just write it. 

I’ve been making stories since I was a small child–it’s something so ingrained in me that to imagine not being able to write (no matter how much I agonize over writing woes) is such a foreign concept to me. Writers, cherish your ability to create stories. Because not everyone can create stories. Because there isn’t anyone in the world who can write the stories you are writing. Because you don’t know when or where there might be a person in the world who needs to hear your story.

Out of all my posts to hit 5k, I’m glad it was this one. All my fellow writers out there are amazing, and don’t ever be afraid to express yourself through writing! I support every single of you guys ❤

This made me emotional. Sometimes I don’t feel like a good enough writer, but things like this really help put it into perspective. To all my fellow writers, we are amazing!

As someone who is so utterly convinced that everything they write is bad, I needed this so much… yeah. Yeah, we’re awesome.