avalonsilver reblogged
avalonsilver reblogged
Please don’t let fandom ruin something you love. Walk away and unfollow the fans and enjoy the thing by yourself, or find a limited circle of people who ignore the discourse, or get your irl friends into the thing and collectively ignore the Internet community, or blacklist from here to the moon if you need to and only ever scroll through your rarepair ship’s tag on AO3. But don’t let fandom distort a show or a movie or a book or a comic you used to love so badly that you can’t enjoy the original anymore. Please. It isn’t worth it.
avalonsilver reblogged
note to self: do NOT double the chocolate chip cookie recipe. the mixer can’t handle it. I can’t handle it. my knees hurt. I’ve been rotating cookie sheets since I was born and I will be rotating cookie sheets until I die
help
avalonsilver reblogged
when the story is just not working, but you keep writing anyway
Current mood…
Reminder that she actually wins that season, so keep your head up.
pearlcrandall
Reminder that she constantly had trouble believing that she deserved to be there and her first few could best be described as ‘not the worst’.
And she won. She stayed positive, cried when she needed to, and kept going.
Once more:
- Stay positive
- Cry when you need to
- Keep going
avalonsilver reblogged
Motivation For Writing
Getting Off Your Butt:
1. Aestheticise it. Let the light in through the curtains, turn on your fairy lights, lay a blanket over your lap, light some candles, whatever you need to do to feel like a writer. The right vibes can go a long way
2. Picture that one scene. There’s almost always a moment you’re super excited about that basically inspired the whole book. Picture it, play it out in your head in full cinematic fanfare, gush to yourself about how cool it is and how everyone will love it, picture a future fanbase going nuts for it. You might get excited enough to go back to writing
3. Set a word count goal. During NaNoWriMo this year I think I wrote more than I ever have in one go. The thing that kept me coming back was the desire to not fall behind. I ended up with ~45K words after some complications irl caused me to drop off in the final few days, and that’s all just because I was adding up the 1667 a day word count goal and realising where I needed to be at to keep up. I definitely can’t stay as rigid as I did with 1667 words every single day, but seeing that you’re only a few hundred words off of a goal is super motivating - just be sure to set realistic, easy to achieve parameters for just general use, like 1000-2000 words per week. I know 200 words per day is a popular one for people trying to establish a writing routine that can’t dedicate forever to the craft
Maintaining Motivation:
1. Writing sprints. Writing sprints are a godsend for me, I like to set myself up in the living room with Abbie Emmons’ writing sprint video on. The video lasts two hours and is broken up into two parts; 25 minutes to write and 5 minutes for breaks between writing, so four 30 minute sprints overall. Having the timer and countdown with peaceful music and an aesthetic background is both relaxing and encouraging, as well as giving me a specific time for how much longer I have to push through. It’s easier for me to say “Okay, only ten more minutes, then you can take a break” then it is to say “Just keep going, we’re not stopping until I say so” which is too arbitrary for my brain to accept
2. Give yourself a choice. If you’re struggling to keep your focus, come up with a finish line and tell yourself you don’t have to do any more work once you’ve reached that point. Finish the paragraph, go for another five or ten minutes, keep it up until your next scheduled break. Whatever sounds realistic and doable without being overwhelming. And once you’ve met this goal, ask yourself if you still want to stop. With any luck, you’ll have gotten back into the zone and will choose to keep going. Maybe you’ll want to take a quick break but you’ll come back later on. And maybe you’ll decide that now actually is a good stopping point. Just remember that, if you do still want to stop, don’t force yourself to keep going. You can’t strike deals with yourself if you know you won’t keep your word and all you’ll end up doing is burning yourself out, which will lead to even less writing getting done
3. Try a new angle. If you can’t be bothered to write anymore, is there anything else you can do for your book? Plotting, editing, worldbuilding, character sheets, one-shots all that sort of thing can still be productive for your book while still being different enough to give your brain a slight respite. It also means less work in that particular area later on
Afterwards:
1. Organise. Clean up your workspace and put everything away so it’s nice and neat for when you come back to it. Or if you don’t need to pack things out the way, set it up in an aesthetically pleasing way so it will tempt you back next time. Let it give you the writer vibe
2. Take care of yourself. Get a drink, have a snack, walk about, stretch your limbs, take a breath, cuddle your pet. Something that gets you away from straining your eyes looking at text for a bit. This is also a good time to reward yourself if positive reinforcement is something you use on yourself. If you always feel shitty after your writing sessions, you won’t want to go back to it
3. Positive reflection. Make sure to tell yourself you did good, even if you didn’t get as much done as you would’ve liked or it isn’t up to a standard of quality you’re aiming for. That can all be fixed later on, and you’re infinitely better off than you would’ve been if you didn’t do it. Be proud of yourself. Tell yourself you’re proud of your hard work and your dedication and your effort. Remind yourself that this is a fun thing you like to do. Marvel over how insane it is that you’ve gotten this far - not many people do - and that you’ve got all this tangible work to prove you’ve accomplished something so many people wish they could pull off. If this isn’t fun overall, there’s no point
avalonsilver reblogged
Some advice for when you’re writing and find yourself stuck in the middle of a scene:
- kill someone
- ask this question: “What could go wrong?” and write exactly how it goes wrong
- switch the POV from your current character to another - a minor character, the antagonist, anyone
- stop writing whatever scene you’re struggling with and skip to the next one you want to write
- write the ending
- write a sex scene
- use a scene prompt
- use sentence starters
- read someone else’s writing
Never delete. Never read what you’ve already written. Pass Go, collect your $200, and keep going.
This is the literal best writing advice I have ever read. Period.
Special note: “Kill someone” means kill someone in the story. Please do not kill random real life passers by every time you hit a block. My lawyer says misunderstanding writing advice is not an acceptable defense. See you all in 25 to 50 years.
Help I read the first line as “kill yourself” and then was really surprised when the rest of the points were actually reasonable tips
Should’ve clarified the first point sooner. I’ve gone out and killed a person. Their body is now decomposing under my bed what do I do.
Interesting story.
According to the list above, if you’re stuck, you could always write a sex scene.
avalonsilver reblogged
Memo to everybody :
Never be afraid to recycle an idea you had for a WIP you abandoned. Sometimes the idea needs a different set of characters or a different setting.
An addition:
Never be afraid to recycle an idea you had for a project you already completed. Sometimes ideas really are just that good and deserve to be used more than once.
avalonsilver reblogged
I am so, so sick of writing “advice” that tells writers not to use certain words or phrases. (This is not directed at the people putting those posts on my dash but at the OPs of those posts.)
You wouldn’t tell an artist to never use a certain color, would you?
Wait, I bet some of you would, and you’d be wrong then too.
Writers, find your own voice, your own style. Use whatever words or phrases you want, the “experts” be damned.
Adverbs, passive voice, filler words, and everything else “experts” want you to stop using, all of them have their place in English, it’s why they still exist.
Experiment. Figure out what works for you and what doesn’t.
Give me “am,” “is,” “are,” “was,” “were,” and especially “said.”
Give me all the adverbs. Stephen King can just bugger off.
But most of all, give me you, the real you, when I read your works, not what some “expert” wants you to write.
avalonsilver reblogged
Writing Protagonists Without Strong Wants or Goals
Often in the writing world, we are told to make sure our protagonists have strong wants. After all, the protagonist’s want usually leads to a goal, and goals allow audiences to measure progress or setbacks in a story (which also helps with pacing). The protagonist’s pursuit of the goal often makes up most of the plot.
For change-arc protagonists, often what they want will be at odds with what they need. For most flat-arc protagonists, they often want the need, though sometimes they have to deal with a competing want or even lose sight of the need. (For more information on wants and needs, check out “Character’s Want vs. Need”) But if you aren’t familiar with the want vs. need approach, no worries. Suffice it to say that the protagonist’s want is almost always a key component of character arc, plot, and even theme.
So, must every protagonist absolutely have a powerful want driving them through the plot? Of course not. All “rules” are really more like guidelines. It’s just that if you break that rule, it will likely come at a steep cost, since it influences so many parts.
Because of the nature of story itself, it’s nearly impossible to have a protagonist who doesn’t want something significant by the end. Pretty much always the protagonist will have a want by the end of Act I. If not then, she will at least have a want or goal by the midpoint, at the latest–but that’s often pushing it. Rarely do protagonists make it through a whole story without having a clear significant want, though I won’t go so far as to say it’s impossible. And in some types of stories, you may be dealing with one significant want per section of the story.
Let’s talk about some situations where the protagonist doesn’t start with a driving want, goal, or hobby.
The Protagonist Already Has What He Wants
While in many stories the protagonist will start with a burning desire, in others, the protagonist already has everything he wants–or at least, is already on track for soon getting what he wants. There are a couple of ways this can play out.
1. His Lifestyle is Threatened
If the protagonist already has what he wants, one of the easiest ways to get the story rolling is to threaten what he already has. The threat may come as the inciting incident. In Shrek, Shrek already enjoys his life of solitude in the swamp, scaring off humans and bathing in mud. The inciting incident appears as a problem that threatens this: Other fairytale creatures are invading his home. For him, this stake is too high, and he must do something about it.
Alternatively, the lifestyle may not be threatened until near the end of Act I. For example, the inciting incident might be an opportunity that the protagonist declines–he already has everything he wants. However, something big threatens–or maybe even destroys–what he has, and he responds by taking the opportunity.
There are a few ways this can play out really, but the basic idea is that the protagonist loses, or is at risk of losing, what he already has. Often the goal is to get it back somehow–which means stopping or thwarting whatever the threat is. (However, with that said, it’s not impossible to give the character a new goal either.)
2. She Discovers a New Want
It might be that the protagonist already has everything she wants, but soon discovers something new she wants as well. Maybe she didn’t even know the wanted thing existed or was possible, until the inciting incident, or even a later point in the story. She thought her life was complete, but now realizes what she has isn’t enough.
I feel like this is something we see more with villains and anti-heroes–especially those depicted as spoiled, selfish, or entitled. But it doesn’t have to be. It could just be that the character is satisfied with life, but now yearns for more.
In The Hobbit, Bilbo is largely satisfied with his life–he has his creature comforts in his hobbit hole, and that’s all fine and well. But it isn’t until Gandalf arrives with the opportunity for adventure (and strives to persuade Bilbo into it) that Bilbo eventually embraces the fact that, in reality, he wants adventure (which, in some sense, is also what he needs).
The Protagonist is Wanting, but Lacks Vision (a Goal)
Sometimes a protagonist isn’t driven by a strong passion or goal, because he lacks vision. His life may be dissatisfying, but he can’t imagine any way to change that. It’s just the life he’s been dealt. It feels like something is lacking, but he doesn’t know what. Eventually, the character encounters something new that broadens his vision and leads to a concrete goal. The goal promises (at least to the protagonist) to fulfill what is lacking.
In Luca, Luca appears dissatisfied with his daily life, which seems to be made up of boring and repetitious chores, but he doesn’t really know of any other lifestyle. He later meets Alberto, who shows him an entirely new way of living. Soon Luca is filled with the same passions as Alberto and adopts the same goals.
Helpful Techniques
Having a story where the protagonist isn’t driven by a strong want, goal, or passion can have steep costs. There often isn’t a lot of tension, conflict, or driving force prior to the character gaining a want or goal. This is, again, in part because the goal helps give the plot context–if there is no goal, then what happens doesn’t really matter that much. The protagonist isn’t trying to get anywhere specific, and isn’t having to struggle to get there. This threatens to kill pacing and lose the audience.
Luckily, there are a few workarounds to help.
- If the protagonist already has everything he wants, open the story by showcasing how wonderful the protagonist’s life is–how everything seems to be going her way. She has everything she wants, or is about to get everything she wants. Drifting in the subtext is the implication that things won’t stay this way. The audience subconsciously knows a problem is coming (after all, it’s a story, and story means conflict). This creates a sort of ironic promise, where the audience is waiting for things to turn bad.
This can be harder to pull off. Waiting for an antagonistic force to ruin things for the protagonist isn’t usually as interesting as anticipating what the protagonist is going to do next to try to get a goal. However, it can be done, and done well.
- Alternatively, if the protagonist lacks vision, open the story by showcasing how life is dissatisfying. Convey the sense that something is missing. Drifting in the subtext is the implication that things won’t stay this way. The audience subconsciously knows an opportunity is coming. They’ll likely be willing to wait to see how it could fix the character’s dissatisfaction.
- Cut to another viewpoint. If your story has multiple viewpoints, you can use a scene in another viewpoint to make up for the “costs” of your protagonist’s current state. This might mean having a scene where the antagonist’s plans promise to soon ruin things for the protagonist. This creates dramatic irony, and the audience will want to stick around to see what happens. Alternatively, you can cut to a side character who has a driving want, goal, or passion–filling in for everything the protagonist doesn’t bring to the story.
- Get to the inciting incident quick. The inciting incident disrupts the established normal, either as a problem or an opportunity. This means it will disrupt, at least to some degree, your protagonist’s amazing life (or dissatisfying one). It may be that the inciting incident is a problem disrupting the good things, in which case, the character will want to act to try to get things back to normal. Or, it may be the incident is an opportunity that keeps bothering the protagonist. In any case, it knocks the character off balance to some degree.
- Start in narrative in medias res. In narrative in medias res, you bring a part from later in the story and use it to open the story. This will usually be a scene that promises big problems and/or high stakes. In The Emperor’s New Groove, Kuzco pretty much starts with everything he wants and is on the trajectory to get the next thing he wants–Kuzcotopia. The story opens with narrative in medias res, pulling a scene that shows him as a llama crying in the rain in the wilderness. This contrasts the story’s actual beginning so much, that audiences want to stick around to see how he went from having everything to having nothing and no one.
- Use a prologue. Similar to in medias res, you can stick a powerful or punchy prologue in at the beginning, which can help carry the audience through the setup. Contrary to what many say in the industry, the primary purpose of a prologue is to make promises to the audience about what kind of story they are about to read or watch. Prologues can work great for stories with slower or calmer openings. I already did a whole article on prologues, so won’t repeat everything here, but feel free to peruse it.
- Use a teaser. Like many of the techniques listed here, a teaser makes promises to the audience about what will come later in the story, so it’s just another way to pull them through the calm, peaceful, or happy (or slowly dissatisfying) setup.
- Give the protagonist scene-level goals. Just because the protagonist doesn’t have a plot-level goal (yet) doesn’t mean she doesn’t have scene-level goals. Pretty much everyone wants something all of the time. In most scenes, your protagonist should have a goal too. It might be simply to maintain the current lifestyle. Maybe she just wants to get through her work shift without any inconveniences or without anyone discovering she secretly loves to watch K-dramas. Or maybe the goal is to make cookies for a neighbor. Or maybe it’s to pass a test, or to not draw attention in class. Scene-level goals may not have as much driving force as plot-level goals, but they still help carry the story–as long as there are some stakes tied to the outcome.
- Pair the protagonist with someone who is driven by wants, goals, and passions. I touched on this related to the viewpoint technique. Many protagonists who don’t have strong wants get tied to a character (probably the Influence Character) who does. This secondary character may be more of the go-getter, pulling the protagonist into the main plot. This sort of thing happens in Luca, where Alberto is the one with the drive and passion, which Luca comes to adopt and embrace. Alberto’s goals become his goals, at least through much of the first half. If the protagonist isn’t driven, there is a good chance a nearby character is–or at least should be.
Another post by the always helpful September!
avalonsilver reblogged
trickztr-deactivated20220912
Friendly reminder that fan-made content (fanart, fanfic, fanvids, etc) are:
- extremely time consuming. Remember someone actually took time out of their life to create that, time they could’ve used to, idk, sleep, for example
- entertainment you’re consuming for free. I can’t stress this enough: you’re enjoying someone else’s craft for free. You paid exactly zero money to look at/read/watch it.
- S H A R E D with you, not made for you. This is the most important point: someone created that, put it online and you found it. No one forced you to consume that fanwork, you C H O S E to do it.
Whenever you feel like leaving a mean comment, anonymous hate or make a ~clever post about how ‘lol look at all of these overused tropes every fic writer crams into their fics’ remember you’re being a dick to someone who shared their work with you. You’re not being funny, you’re not being edgy, you’re not being brave for calling something out - you’re being a dick.
avalonsilver reblogged
You know, I think my problem with continuing wips just becomes…taking them too seriously
shydreamyechoes
I’ve started to realize that myself. It becomes too real and you become a perfectionist toward it, so therefore stop having fun. I’m trying to learn to just have fun with it and do whatever.