I really don't understand it when someone knowingly makes a person's happiness feel inadequate. If someone is really excited or happy about something, and they share that joy, there are some people who won't even try to smile back, or will tell them it's not that great. It's so sad watching the excited person deflate because of this kind of rejection. Not understanding or relating to why they're happy is irrelevant. That person is overjoyed about something, why would you try to ruin it? It is not difficult in the slightest to smile back or say 'tell me about it'. They've trusted you enough to share this amazing feeling, so don't make them regret it. I honestly love watching people when they're thrilled or captivated by something. It's such a beautiful emotion, because it's so much stronger than a content smile. It's like being vulnerable and empowered at the same time.
Writer's block used to be a really big obstacle for me, but now I've overcome it, and the solutions are actually very simple. So I thought I would share and hopefully help out some fellow writers. There are a few points to address so I'm going to separate these points and give them their own posts. My writer's block would crop up at very particular points; -When I'm describing a setting. -When I'm describing a character. -When my characters are having a conversation. -When the plot needs to move forward/the character needs to act. -When a sentence/paragraph doesn't sound right. This post is about characters having conversations. In order for this method to work, it's easier if you're characters are developed properly. If not, and that's the reason you're struggling with writer's block, don't worry I'll address that problem in a different post. To write good flowing dialogue, I will usually go for a walk, or somewhere no one can hear me, think of the scene I'm stuck with, and then play it all out loud, as if I'm acting in a movie. I will have the situation or conflict in mind, but not the dialogue, so I have to improvise it all. But I treat it exactly the same as having a normal conversation. It's easier to figure out the most natural responses etc when it's said out loud with the thoughts and emotions to go with it. And the best thing is you're alone, so if you say something stupid or not right, no one's going to know. I'll play all the characters involved in the scene. And while some people may think that's hard, I quite like to do it, because it makes me understand my characters all the more. This has always helped me figure out what people would say to each other if they were dropped into a surreal situation. I come up with genuinely natural conversations when I do this. But the key is to put emotion into it, you can't just talk like you're reading from a script. If it's an angry scene, act a little angry, raise your voice when you talk, make facial expressions to go with it. Sure if someone catches you, you look a little mad, but aren't we branded as mad anyway for being writers?
Writer's block used to be a really big obstacle for me, but now I've overcome it, and the solutions are actually very simple. So I thought I would share and hopefully help out some fellow writers. There are a few points to address so I'm going to separate these points and give them their own posts. My writer's block would crop up at very particular points; -When I'm describing a setting. -When I'm describing a character. -When my characters are having a conversation. -When the plot needs to move forward/the character needs to act. -When a sentence/paragraph doesn't sound right. This post is about describing a character Sometimes you want to say more than, 'He was tall and had brown hair'. I know I certainly prefer to give my readers a fixed image of what my characters look like. However, sometimes it's hard to know what to say, or how to say it. First of all; a wide opinion is to not give all of the detail in one large paragraph. I would certainly prefer to, but I think it's harder for readers to remember everything when it's unloaded on them in one large chunk. When you think about it, it's easier to remember something if you're offered it one piece at a time. So, I will generally describe my characters like this; the character comes into the book for the first time, and I will immediately offer a brief description (he was tall and had brown hair ). And then, if there is anything else eye catching about him, I will drop it in when the scene calls for it. For example, if the character wears a brown coat and also has a glass eye, I would say in a later scene that he shrugged out of his long brown coat. And then I could mention that he puts it back on again later, this suggests that he might favour this coat, and the reader will probably start imagining him wearing it all the time. It's the same thing for the glass eye, during a moment that seems nonchalant, drop in that the character's glass eye is irritating him. You've offered more description without being too obvious. Also, if anyone read my previous post about describing a setting, they'll know that I have a folder called 'Inspiration', where I save images of settings collected from around the internet. Well the same applies for characters, I have another folder just for outfits. Tumblr and Pinterest are great for finding clothing of all styles and genres. So if I'm ever stuck on what my character would be wearing, I'll have a look through my reference folder and pick out an outfit. Once again, you can easily add more detail to the description if you want. Here's a few examples of the outfits I have saved for characters. View attachment 22962 View attachment 22963 View attachment 22964
Writer's block used to be a really big obstacle for me, but now I've overcome it, and the solutions are actually very simple. So I thought I would share and hopefully help out some fellow writers. There are a few points to address so I'm going to separate these points and give them their own posts. My writer's block would crop up at very particular points; -When I'm describing a setting. -When I'm describing a character. -When my characters are having a conversation. -When the plot needs to move forward/the character needs to act. -When a sentence/paragraph doesn't sound right. I'll start with describing a setting. This can be a very overwhelming challenge for the imagination sometimes, especially when you want to give the reader more than 'it was a big city'. And while we're encouraged as writers to go out into the world and take in our surroundings, sometimes it's hard to, especially if you want to be accurate. To overcome this problem I started to save images on my computer in a folder called "Inspiration." Whether I was on Tumblr, Pinterest, etc, if an interesting image of a setting appeared, I would save the picture so I could go back to it later. Knowing I have to describe a setting doesn't even intimidate me now because of this, I have a huge folder full of reference images. It's no different than describing the street outside your house, and you can obviously elaborate or add detail in your descriptions if you want. Here are a few examples of images that I have saved in the folder. View attachment 22959 View attachment 22960 View attachment 22961 If anyone has any questions, or if my advice didn't apply to you, please feel free to respond or message me and I'll try to help you
View attachment 22957 I decided to start creating character sheets for all the characters that will appear in the stories I'm writing. So may I introduce Remus; a doctor who gets bitten by a vampire. In the world I've created, there is a lot of hatred towards vampires, werewolves, etc because of the obvious reasons, so because of this Remus is disgusted by the fact that he is now one of them. He spends over two hundred years trying to find a cure to reverse the curse of the bite, all the while refusing to ever bite another human. There are consequences though. In my world, a vampire that never drinks blood can not be immortal like the rest of them, their body starts to decay and fall apart; hence the lower right image. If you want to know more about the story, the character, or the world, keep a look out for my short stories which I will be publishing soon. If people leave me messages seeming interested, I'll create a blog entry letting people know when they're published. And if people would like to see more character sheets and introductions let me know
So I'm thinking of writing a fanfiction, in which during his second year Harry goes to hogwarts and is introduced to his two new defense against the dark arts teachers; Sam and Dean Winchester. Would anyone be interested in reading this? It'll have the second book's plot; finding the chamber of secrets, but with added Winchester and no Lockhart.
1. He had the look of a gentle giant, but the voice of a drunken dwarf 2. She wore a mask of loyal and friendly for so long. When she finally took it off to breathe, she left those around her poisoned beyond repair. 3. If you didn't see him with food in his hand frequently, you generally assumed he was ill.
1. She was plain looking, but had the charisma of an evil genius. 2. She was quiet and seemed gentle enough, but would sacrifice you to a burning building if it meant she could save the library first. 3. She was petite and had short mousy brown hair, she looked far too young to be wearing the lab coat.
1. "I think we should stay away from dragons now." "We've ridden them before." "Yeah true, but I'm going to be a bit iffy with them now." "Yeah… griffons are relatively safe right?" "Oh yeah I'd deffo ride one of those." 2. "Can we just take a moment to look at all the cute fairies I've captured?" "A moment? I could look all day."
1. "We've known each other for ten years, you can't just trust that I can handle this?" 2. "That awkward moment when you arrive at someone's house, and they tell you to not touch the sink because your fingers will erode away." 3. "Why use smaller weapons? Because using one big one creates a bigger risk of it getting blown up." 4. "The dragon race is tomorrow, I kinda have to go, for my dignity's sake." 5. "It would help if I set it on fire."
1. He looked like the sort who could spoil your dreams with a single sentence, and his smirk suggested he was proud of it. 2. He kept checking out his reflection in the mirror, which he loved, but it pissed off the rest of his troop. 3. There was a friendly meekness about him, which his friends appreciated but left him open to attacks.
1. "He's seeing people from the past on the ceiling! And drinking a glass of whiskey." "He's what now…?" "Drinking a glass of whiskey." "That's the part you thought I was confused by?" 2. "What is the world coming to?" "I know I'm scared."
For anyone that's having trouble giving depth to characters, I may have a solution. It's fairly easy and similar to other methods. I get more writer's block when I don't know my characters very well, simply because I don't know what they would do in certain situations. I try to keep things as realistic as possible. I think people fault in stories when character reactions are too easy, for example if the hero deals with everything like an expert etc and have a stiff up a lip more than most. It's harder to make this mistake if they have depth, if they have background, if they have their own personality. So basically what I've started doing is making a mindmap of sorts. I pick the character I want to work on, list all the aspects of that person, and then write anything I can think of to do with the category. For example: Remus; -Son -Doctor -Vampire -Cat owner -Paranoid -Intellect -Addict without a fix -Addict with a fix etc etc etc and then an example of one of the explored categories: Doctor: Loyal and generous Can smell when something is wrong with people Learned how to be stronger for people, to connect with people Constantly learning new things, considering new ideals, and techniques Constantly conflicted because medicine is all he's ever been good at, but as a vampire it's so hard to be around blood and not give in to the bite, gets stressed out and aggravated quite a lot because of it. I hope this helps anyone that's having trouble, I also find making a pinterest aesthetic board for the character gives me a better understanding too.
1. I've been holding back the urge to blast your face off since we left the tavern. 2. No, no, it was fun I just don’t want to make a habit of troll spotting… 3. Sew your own neck up! 4. I've got a job interview for potions master assistant. 5. You don't want to hear the battle cry of a unicorn… trust me.