The Right Writing

Questions and Answers

deludedwanderer asked: How do you decide the follower of the day?

I think this needs to be answered publicly because I imagine there are a lot of people curious as to when their own names will pop up on their dashboards!  The answers is, if you just started following recently, in a few years.  The first thirty or so are out of order, but otherwise I go down my list of followers and find the person who joined the earliest who hasn’t been follower of the day yet.  Then I look through the first page of their blog to make sure they aren’t NSFW, because I’d hate to link my nice followers to a gross website!  I have a draft that has the name and link of every one of my followers on it.  I like it better than the follower page because I can see them all at once and I can put little marks next to them if they’ve already been follower of the day or if they’re NSFW.

Please, don’t follow my blog just so you can be follower of the day.  Not only is that bad because you’re seeing stuff on your dashboard that you don’t actually want to read, but you also won’t become follower of the day for years.  It’s not meant to be an “I promote people’s blogs because I want more followers and such things drag the followers in” type thing.  I want to drag the followers in by the quality of my posts. It’s more of an “I like my followers, so I do nice things for them like send them all thank-you notes and put them at the bottoms of my posts” deal.

Oh, and just a heads up: I do answer asks.  I’ve gotten several about the specifics of how to write well.  When I put up that one post about symbolism in character names, it provoked quite the response!  The only ones I don’t answer are the anons (because I’d have to answer them publicly) and the people who tell me how much they love my blog (because I want to keep those in my ask box in case I’m feeling down).  I just answer my asks privately because I like to giggle about my followers per post count I don’t like the way they would look on my blog. :)

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Hey there. I saw your post about relationships in real life and comparing them to the ones in books. I agree with you wholeheartedly. But I did want to ask - if we are writing about relationships in books, how do you go about making it realistic, whilst still being that relationship that the reader will still love reading about? Are the relationships we read what we all want/dream about, and if so, should you write them this way? Or if not, how can they become realistic? Just Curious! Thanks!
bookcobra

Disclaimer time!  I mentioned at the beginning of that post that I was aromantic.  I’m an asexual as well.  All I know about those types of relationships is what I’ve read/heard.  I made that post based on the dissonance between what I’ve read/heard about real life relationships and what I’ve read in fiction about relationships.

With that in mind, I would suggest treating each relationship as you would a character.  A perfect relationship can be like a Mary Sue.  Each relationship needs flaws and quirks.  It needs to be likeable without being extremely ideal.  Bland is never good when making a character or making a relationship, but neither is completely crazy and disjointed (well, maybe once, for either a relationship or a character, but they shouldn’t all be crazy and disjointed).  Relationships can go through their own development arcs as well, just like characters.

You know what, I’m going to answer this publicly and then delete it in a few days, because I think the “relationship as a character” thing is useful for my followers.

EDIT: go to FYCD for the rebloggable version! :)

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Yes, this helps a lot! I just feel that sometimes there are a lot of references for techniques, or plots, or characters, and I read information about them and I can’t understand them because I haven’t read the books. I will stick to your advice of reading as much as possible, as I also love to do it! Haha.

OK, context: diao-chan asked me how often to read, or something similar.

I replied that I try to read a book every day, as writers read and good writers read profusely.

This is something you guys should look into doing, if you have the time.

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Great site!

Thank you, mckinneycantspeak!  You’re the greatest! :)

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I agree muchly about the shakespearian/greek names, but I’d argue that that’s not even symbolism, it’s just so darn obvious. I’d say that naming my rebel leader ‘Joshua’ wouldn’t even register with most contemporary readers (because they wouldn’t make the connection). :)

How does that benefit things, though?

It will make the smart readers go “A-ha!”

That is the only bonus to symbolism in names.

It seems like kind of a lame bonus to me.

(I’m not trying to insult you, I just don’t like symbolism in names.)

I got a ton of asks after the post on symbolism in names.  I answered all but this one.

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I like your insight, it’s nice to find someone on Tumblr that isn’t constantly obsessing over half-naked girls.

Thank you. :)

I don’t care whether they’re naked or half-naked or fully clothed, people lose to books every time for me, as far as looks go.

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Aw! Shut up, Shannah, YOU’RE awesome!

If you aren’t following the person who asked this already, please do so now.  Awesome writing tips.

Writeworld, you are more awesome than I could ever be.

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This blog makes me so happy!

This ask made me so happy!

Thank you so much.

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How do you know all this advice? It’s both really helpful and strangely unique. :)
Anonymous

I’ve been thinking about what authors do wrong ever since I started reading.  When I saw tvtropes.org, I was like “They made a website that cataloged my head!”

Most of these posts, if modified, could become tropes.  I decided to post them here instead because I’m a complete idiot who likes the idea of having a lot of followers, something TV Tropes can’t offer.

I’m sorry.  Some squee when they see puppies.  It still bring a smile to my face when I see a new follower.  *embarrassed because people aren’t supposed to want attention*

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Really enjoyed all the articles. Looking forward to the next one!

Thank you so much!

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Hello! I saw your asexuality answer on the FY!CD blog. Romance and sex have never been a big selling point in anything for me, so I tend to write my sexual characters the same way one would write an asexual character or tone down the fixiation. It’s hard to present a character who isn’t exactly asexual but isn’t fixated on sex as people say it’s unrealistic. I’ve been called out on it many a times when things aren’t sexy enough. Has anyone ever said that to you about characters during critiques?

I haven’t shown my work to very many people, so no. 

I don’t think every book needs sex and romance.

If all else fails, just take out the swearing and make your story YA or children’s literature.  YA and kidlit actually don’t have to be of lesser quality than adult literature.  You’re allowed to put considerable amounts of violence in, as well, just no sex or swearing. :)

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Homestuck is one of those things that I’ve promised myself to read, once time allows me to! It’s hard stepping away from the perfectionistic view that everything needs to pretty and amazing, and it won’t be, and step into this insecure world where it may not be as great as you want it to be. I’m scared to write “on my own”, and always feel the need to surround myself with fiction in any shape or form. Just to look at sentences, how they’re structured, and one word in there sparks a whole story.

You should read Homestuck.  It’s so good.

Even if you don’t like Homestuck, you should find an archive of Andrew Hussie’s Formspring answers and read them.  It provides a lot of insight into the creative process.

Also, surrounding yourself with fiction is good.  You learn things, especially if you’re astute enough to detect stuff like sentence structure.

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What software do you write on?
Anonymous

Currently I have a mac, so Pages.

To tell you the truth, I liked MS Word more.  I’m sure there’s some easy way to get it, but I am

A) Lazy

and B) the least computer-savvy person in existence.

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I just read every post, and I wanted you to know that I think your blog is fantastic. Thanks for such insightful, quality posts!

Thank you.  You’re so nice. :)

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I just read through some of your writing tips and they are really helpful :)

Glad to hear it!  Asks like this make my life. :)

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PREMIUM BEAUTIFUL PERSON! Once you receive this award, you are supposed to paste it into the ask of eight people who deserve it. If you break the chain nothing will happen, but it is sweet to know that someone thinks you’re beautiful inside and out <3

Pen, you are also a PREMIUM BEAUTIFUL PERSON.  Everybody do this, it spreads love and joy around Tumblr.

In fact, ignore the part about eight people.  The ask limit is ten asks an hour.  Tell ten people how amazing they are.

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What kind of books do you normally read? What’s your favorite?
Anonymous

I normally read science fiction books, because I find them to be the most imaginative.  I like fantasy, too, but there are too many Tolkien ripoffs and too few quality ideas.

My favorite piece of literature is H. P. Lovecraft’s short story The Quest of Iranon.  I don’t consider the last two paragraphs to exist.  I want to be like Iranon.  My room door has a sign on it that says “Welcome to Aira.”

My favorite book that I think other people would actually like is Flatland by Edwin Abbott Abbott.  It’s very original and marvelously fun to read.

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Dear madame or sir, I thought you would like to know you and your blog are stupendously splendiferous.

Madame or sir, I humbly thank you for your exceedingly resplendent compliment.

I not-so-humbly thank you for your great taste in blogs.

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Hi there! I just wanted to say that this is a truly fantastic blog and I’m so happy that I’ve found it! You have so much unique and helpful content here, I love it! Thank you!
Anonymous

You are my favorite anon ever.  Thank you so much, anon.  *internet hug*

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You have a good blog. :)

Thank you!

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I’m actually writing a piece of speculative fiction right now, that piece you just posted is incredibly useful! Thank you very much!

Holy cow.  Did you know that people actually used that post about the thirty days of speculative fiction?  I love them.

You are the best.  I hope your speculative fiction piece becomes the best-sellingest of best-sellers.

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Your ‘somehow’ post reminds me of this: “I hate when you’re trying to read something and you come across the expression “one thing led to another”. What in the hell kinda lazy writing is that? Isn’t that your job as the writer to tell me how this led to that? You can just throw that in there? Adolf Hitler was rejected as a young man in his application to art school, one thing led to another, and the United States dropped two atomic bomb on the sovereign nation of Japan.“ -Brian Regan
Anonymous

Just going to leave this here because it’s absolutely hilarious.

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I haven’t written any creative fiction in a very long time and I’ve been trying to get back into it, but it’s very hard. Have you got any tips?
Anonymous

I have a post on ten ways to get ideas.  You start with an idea.

You think about the idea for a while, developing characters, plot and setting.

Once you love the idea so much that you can’t stand not writing it, go write.  If you think about the idea enough, this moment will always come.

Either that, or you’ll realize that it’s actually crap.  Go pick another idea if this happens.

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Hi, I really like your blog. You’ve got some really great tips and advice! Keep it up!!!

Thank you so much!  *more internet hugs*

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your blog is so beautiful! i admire you! keep writing!

*sniffles*

Thank you.

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The post you made on romantic relationships today is absolutely accurate. Thank you for voicing the frustration of many.

Phew!  I was worried that I got it all wrong!

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Your writing advice is great, so I wonder, are you actually a published author? Or just a really good aspiring author?

Sadly, I am not published yet.

I am an aspiring author, by one definition of the term (the definition where “aspiring” means “unpublished”).

Now, am I really good?  That’s up for debate.  Just because you think this blog is good doesn’t mean you’ll actually like my writing when you see it.

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What is the best way to get out of writer’s block or a writing funk?

Think about the details of your idea more and then power through, no matter how hard it is.

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I’m having a big problem with replacing character names with other things. My beta tells me I need to be more creative, but I just can’t think of anything. What should I do?

Why are you replacing character names with other things?

Like, instead of “John went to the store,” are you saying “Potato went to the store”?

Please clarify. :)

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How do you feel about this idea/plot type I have?

I like the ninjas, but you should tone down on the butterflies.

What’s the idea?

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I’m writing a novel and I’m now stuck in the second/third chapter. I know how the plot is supposed to go, but I hate my writing too much. Any tips for getting over such a block?
Anonymous

The more you write, the better your writing gets.  You can always revise.  Just continue and don’t worry about the quality of your writing until the next draft.

Then, when the next draft comes along, proceed to cringe in horror at your computer screen.

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Have you read Christopher Pike’s books? He’s writes some pretty interesting sci-fi stuff. One of my favs.

No, but I’ll check him out! :)

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You’re really fantastic. I’ve always wanted to pursue writing as a career and your blog is super helpful!

*Internet hugs for the entire world, starting with theglassishalfginger*

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No, lol, Potato did not go to the store. Things like, instead of saying, “Susan went to the store,” she tells me to spice it up and say, “The blonde went to the store, shopping list in hand, ready to go on a spree.”

Those are called epithets, and they are actually generally to be avoided.  There are several cases where it is fine to use them, but the above is not one of them unless you are cultivating a very specific style.

The reason that your readers are asking you to use them is probably because you are starting every sentence with the character’s name.  I’m not saying that this is the case, but it’s an extremely common pitfall in writing.  Make sure you don’t have too many sentences that start the same way.  If your character’s name still repeats too much, pronouns are far handier than epithets.

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I am reading all this love you’re getting and it still surprises me how you’re so humble and down to earth about it all, and reply to every message. Cheers :)

I consider myself the opposite of humble, because I love attention.  This is an attitude that is generally frowned upon, so I sometimes fake humility.

I raise my metaphorical glass in cheers to you, as well. You seem really nice.  :)

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Kinky.
Anonymous

My most recent regular post mentioned my aromanticism.  I’m asexual as well.  I’ve heard that there are some aro aces who are kinky, but it’s very rare and I’m not one of them.

This is a weird question.

I had to suppress a very strong urge to insult the living daylights out of you.

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What do you write? Have you ever finished a novel? (writing it, I mean)
Anonymous

I write science fiction.  I’ve never finished writing a novel.  There’s one that I’ve been writing since I was twelve and I’m hundreds of pages in.

The fact that I haven’t finished it is a testament to my extreme laziness.

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What do you do? Is writing a part of your profession? I love this page, by the way.

I am a student.  Writing is not part of my profession.

Yet.

*evil laughter*

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Whats your advice when I have a passage or piece of text that is just not working? You know with awkward sentence structures and you can’t quite word it right. I’d like to just leave it and come back to it fresh but I have a deadline :/ Any tips?

Awkward sentences can be tackled like so:

Put as many words in as you can so that the idea is conveyed in a grammatically correct way.

Then take away every unnecessary word.

Then try to phrase it in a shorter way if you can.

Then imagine that a demon is forcing you to write every sentence better.  Even if you only change one word, make that sentence better.

Hope this helps!

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I do use pronouns a lot. What do you mean, a specific style?

There are some very specific styles that can make epithets work, but they are rare.

Ask yourself why they are asking you to use epithets.  What problem do you have that they think epithets an fix? 

Then find out another solution to that problem, because epithets are usually clunky and horrible.

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I think you can enjoy attention and still be humble… after all, you’re not arrogant or conceited about the attention you receive, and you don’t expect praise or anything. In addition, all humans need some form of attention, there’s nothing wrong with wanting it. Your blog is neat, and I can’t wait to read some more of it when I get the chance.

Thank you. :)

But I don’t think I can want attention and still be humble.  I see this insult thrown around all the time that somebody is doing something “just to get attention.”

And then I’m like That’s why I do everything.  I don’t think that’s an insult at all.

But yes, arrogance and conceitedness are crap.

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That’s what I thought! But she just keeps bugging me about it, blah, blah, blah! It’s annoying! lol I’m kinda ranting. Sorry.

It’s OK!  Ranting is one of Tumblr’s many purposes! :)

Unless they’re published authors, take everything your beta readers say with a grain of salt.  Heck, even if they are published authors, don’t trust everything.

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I have an idea for a story that involves five protagonists, and I was thinking of writing the story so that it switches first-person perspective among the five of them every chapter. Is that too much? Is there a better way for me to write the story while still delving into each character personally?

There’s a series of books that switches between six protagonists every book for dozens of books.

It’s called Animorphs and it has a huge fandom.

I think you’ll be OK. :)

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Hiya, thank you for your Q and A! I’ve found some really useful answers already. Also you made me laugh :) And thank you for the tip on Flatland. I’ve downloaded it from iBooks and look forward to seeing what it’s like.

Making people laugh is one of my duties as a human being.

You’re welcome!  I hope you enjoy it!


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How do you feel about this plot idea I have? On my tumblr sorry I don’t know how else to send the link. /post/26300014946/if-i-wrote-a-novel-would-you-read-it

It sounds good!  One thing, though: you may need a spellchecker.  It’s not your strong suit.  Otherwise, I was intrigued!

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If I sent you something I wrote, would you be willing to give me feedback?

Yes.  I could give you a one-liner, a paragraph, a paragraph-by-paragraph discussion, or a line-by-line discussion.

This offer is extended to everybody.

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Thanks for answering my question that helped a lot! I have one more and it’s to do with beta-ing (is that a thing) - I was just wondering if theres a place or website or whatever to post unfinished or nearly finished pieces for proof reading/suggestions. In the past I’ve just put mine of fan fic sites and tagged as ‘beta’ or asked someone on tumblr to do it. But it’d be great if theres actually a place for that! Love your blog by the way.

I’ve actually been making a list of such websites for future use!

Authonomy
Fictionpress
Goodreads
Livejournal
Figments
Wattpad

I haven’t actually checked every website out, yet, so I don’t know if they’re exactly what you’re talking about, but at least one or two of them should be the right thing!

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*le gasp* Can I send you something I wrote?!

Of course!

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OMG that’s so awesome! You are an awesome person! How much do you want? I have one thing that I’m particularly proud of, but it’s kinda long… :/

As much of it as you’re willing to send!

This applies to everybody as well!

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You seem like the sort of person who might frown upon fan-fiction (feeding of others ideas for trashy, rushed and undeveloped writing)… is this true?
Anonymous

I don’t like the concept of fanfiction, no.

But I understand that other people do, and it helps people grow as writers, which is always a good thing in my book.

From what I’ve heard of fanfiction, a lot of it isn’t trashy, rushed, or undeveloped at all.  I should be the last one defending it, but that seems like an awfully broad generalization.

Guys, I just realized that this Q&A thing is the equivalent of a tmi Tuesday.

Nobody should have to wait until Tuesday. :)

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Awesome! Should I do it in an ask, or…?

Send me an ask, a fan mail, or another means of communication with either your story or a link to it. :)

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You’re gonna be swamped with everyone sending you things to read over for them, which is why I never want to send things to people who say they’re willing to do so. Argh. It’s because I feel like a bother. Thank you for the offers though. Also, random question, is your icon mewtwo?

I’m not going to be swamped.  I only have 1.3k followers.  It’s not like I’m Tumblr famous or anything.

Yes it is!  I’m far too old to be into Pokemon, but its addictive nature keeps sucking me back in.  Also, Mewtwo is awesome in every way, shape, and form.

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Where is the 30 days of speculative fiction post? 8)

Riiiiight…

Here.

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Do you go to mcgill in montreal? If so do you know anyone from BC near vancouver? anywho.. Have you tried or written a book?

Nope!  I live in Colorado!  McGill is my last name.  Does anybody else live in Colorado?  I was thinking of throwing a writing party of sorts eventually. :)

I’ve partially written one. 

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Only? Only. Only 1.3k followers they say. Ok. lol No, I don’t think there can be an age limit on people who are still into Pokemon, especially if they grew up with the first generation. Just something about it sticks with a lot of people. Argh.

Yes, only.  I know that it’s more than a lot of people and probably more than the average, but there are people out there with hundreds of thousands of followers.

I consider the anime corny and a bit childish, which is why I said I was too old.  Too many people judge Pokemon on the anime and miss out on the incredible video games, which indeed do not have an age limit.

You’re never too old for pokemon! c:

Let’s hope this works…

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source

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I would love to send you something I wrote to see what you think of it. I am not a native speaker, but English is the only language I would want to write in. My grammar isn’t very good, though. Would you mind about that?

If you want me to help with grammar, I will.  If you want me to ignore the grammar and only look at the other stuff, I’m fine with that, too. :)

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Do you have a main blog?
Anonymous

This is my main blog.

If you mean a personal blog, no.  Even if I promoted it on here, I would get like twenty followers, tops.

I have plans for getting one in the future when more people would actually look at it, though!

Here is my list of things I would put on it (I wrote this list to myself)

  • Explore those tunnels near your house.  Take pictures and make comments so that you take your followers on the adventure with you.
  • Things you/people around you say
  • Omegle shenanigans
  • Other explorations (rooftops, trees, abandoned places, etc.)
  • Random stuff, like funny, short text posts.  NOTHING BORING.
  • Limit: one reblog per two days, so it has to be something really good
  • Answers to asks
  • Silly String escapades
  • Doodles and such
  • Your pets.  You have a lot of them and they are cute.

I don’t think there are enough people who would be interested in that stuff to warrant me making it yet.

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How many flaws and virtues should I give a character for it not to be considered a Mary-Sue and/or a ‘loser’? Love your blog by the way. I found really, really useful articles~ :D

There isn’t any fixed number, but try to make them as much like a real person as possible.

Not a specific real person, of course, unless you want to.

Just give them as many flaws and traits as a real person would have.

If that’s too vague, try for six neutral quirks and two flaws, one major and one minor, along with a generally virtuous personality.  That’s not perfect, but it’s better than the characters in many published works.

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Just wanted to comment on fanfiction. You are right, there are some actually really well developed pieces out there and some authors use their fanfiction audience as a springboard when they write and publish their own fiction. I always feel fanfiction gets a bad rap.

I don’t like the idea behind fanfiction.  Using somebody else’s work just doesn’t sound that good to me.

Actually, true story: when I was little, I wanted to do an Animorphs story with my toys.  I decided that I liked the idea of making my own protagonists far more than using the ones provided.  Then I figured that I wanted to set it on a different planet than Earth, because I had way better ideas for other planets.  Then I made my own aliens, because andalites and hork-bajir were fun to read about, but not fun to play with.

Basically, the only thing that ended up being the same was that there was something called a Yeerk that held control over certain alien bodies. They were nothing like the yeerks from the stories, either. 

So I’m pretty much physically incapable of writing fanfiction.  If that’s what suits other people, I have nothing against them.  I don’t think all fanfiction is bad, even though I haven’t read any, because there are so many authors that some of it has to be good.

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Sometimes I worry about sharing work on the book I am attempting to write online with sites like tumblr and writing sites. I wonder if I am leaving myself open to someone else running with my idea before I can complete it. Is that a valid worry or are shared works protected? I always thought that once it was out there its out there forever.

As soon as you write it down, it’s copyrighted to you.  As long as you can prove in court that you thought of it first, nobody can legally steal it.

Of course, you probably don’t want to spend money in court.

The great thing is that when nobody knows about you, nobody is going to steal your ideas because nobody is going to read them.  When people know about you, nobody is going to want to steal your ideas because they don’t want to be called a copycat. 

That said, I personally wouldn’t post my ideas until there is some writing behind them, because when you just post an idea without any details, there are several ways that somebody could use it and claim that it didn’t come from your idea.

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I’m not the only aromatic/asexual who has a hard time figuring out this romance silliness! That’s good to know. The way I work romance into my novels is to have my hopelessly romantic friend read over it. I knew she was good when I handed her a piece of writing with a lovers quarrel on it and she wrote BULL**** (she doesn’t swear) in big black sharpie all over the page. Then ranted at me for five minutes about how this wasn’t the same female character she had been reading for the last 90 pages.
Anonymous

I would call using a romantic friend “doing your research.”  If you’re a writer, having friends with similar feelings and experiences to your characters can be extremely valuable.

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What part of Colorado are you from? I think a writing hangout thing would be good times. Which is to say that you’re pretty neat. Any followers you lose to a little tame Q&A that’s honestly insightful and funny are followers you didn’t need. Keep posting stuff like you do, and you’ll regain those followers tenfold.

I live in Douglas county.  A writer hangout is a plan for the far, far future.  There aren’t enough people that would be interested in it currently. :)

  Thank you for your kind words.  :)

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Are you flooded with questions and things to read yet? LOL Love the ideas and suggestions. Sorry you lost people over the question spam, some just can’t handle their dash being flooded for a short time. Anyway, legitimate question. Do you have any preferred sites or easily accessible material for when research for a story is nessecary?

I never expected so many questions in the first place.  I thought that when I said “Q and A time,” I would get two, maybe three tops.  I like the question flood, though.  It inflates my already large ego and gives me a false sense of self-importance, which are two feelings that I very much enjoy.

Wikipedia, google, the usual suspects.  The great thing about Wikipedia is that they have to cite their sources, so at the bottom of every page is a list of resources that are usually far more credible than Wikipedia itself.

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So first off, I love your blog. Almost everything you post is helpful food for thought, and the bits that aren’t are only not because they don’t apply to what I’m writing at the moment, so thank you. Also, a question. How important do you think it is to check on the politics of what you’re writing - like character demographics, problematic morals, etc. - at the expense of the natural flow of the story? Is there such a thing as the natural flow of a story? (Do these questions make any sense?)

So first off, I love your ask.  And you.  In a platonic way, of course. :)

If you’re writing about any culture other than the one you live in, that kind of stuff is very important.  Nothing should ever come at the expense of the natural flow of the story, though.  You should be able to work that stuff in without it sounding awkward.

Problematic morals are extremely interesting, by the way, at least to me.  To read about somewhere with a completely different system of morality from mine is fun.

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Do you know how to construct a pataphor? If so, could I get an example?
Anonymous

Pataphors are confusing.

Here is an example I found on google.

Non-figurative
-Tom and Alice stood side by side in the lunch line.

Metaphor
-Tom and Alice stood side by side in the lunch line, two pieces on a chessboard.

Pataphor
-Tom took a step closer to Alice and made a date for Friday night, checkmating. Rudy was furious at losing to Margaret so easily and dumped the board on the rose-colored quilt, stomping downstairs.

So basically, a pataphor is a random transition to something completely different that only has a link to the story in your own mind.  I remember looking them up because they’re mentioned in the song “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer.”

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Shannah, you’re amazing and I love having you as a co-admin. <3~

You’re amazing as well, Pen.  You’re the best Admin that FYCD has.

Less than sign, number three, tilde.

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Re: The fanfiction thing, I used to be quite anti fanfiction too, but then I got into it and then I started writing and I’ve found it’s really improved my ability to write things longer than 500 words, and in third person.

I’m glad it helped you. It’s just not my cup of tea. :)

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About fanfiction: I never thought I’d write it ever, but I recently tried it out and I quite like it, simply because it is an exercise to stay in character (when the voices of my characters aren’t developed enough), to get immediate feedback from hundreds of people and because it has a built-in audience (none of which would care about my original material). I’ve never had a problem building my own worlds and characters, but this way I can focus on the writing itself. It’s a onfidence booster too
Anonymous

I have real trouble with writing anything that doesn’t originate in my own mind.  Fanfiction isn’t worth the bother of getting over that enormous hurdle for me.

I’m building an audience for my original works as we speak.  A lot of the people reading this answer would also be willing to read any story I write.

I’ve never had a conflict between character development, world building, and the technicalities of writing.  I see them as interrelated.

My onfidence is already through the roof.  I have never had higher onfidence in my life. 

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I just wanted to say that you’re awesome, your blog is extremely helpful, and I haven’t completed writing a novel yet either. This isn’t a question, but whatever.

Thank you.  I like it when my posts help people. :)

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bookcobra asked: I have a question. I’m trying to write a scene where a character is stuck in a burning building, but I wondered if there were any tips out there about how to write about ‘fires’ etc. For example, how to bring across the intensity of the moment, all the senses together (because while i’ve never been in a building on fire, it sounds terrifying!), and making the scene, well, gripping. Any tips?

For starters, nobody in fear of their life is going to think something along the lines of, “the fire rose up like a burning angel, licking the ceiling with its wings of orange and yellow.”  Somebody observing the fire from outside might say something like that, but nobody actually experiencing the fire would.  Instead, they would be in constant fear, making their sentences a bit confusing and either very short or very long.  They would notice things in their immediate vicinity and not worry about anything abstract, anything happening in a different place, or anything happening in a different time.  Adrenaline would be involved, though they might not realize that until afterward. 

Don’t forget to portray the secondary effects of things.  There are a lot of fire scenes that mention heat, but very few that mention sweat.  The ones that mention sweat are more realistic because they bring the readers into the story more.

As far as “all the senses together” goes, don’t try to awkwardly work in anything that doesn’t actually belong.  You should strike a balance between giving your readers a full sensory experience and explaining how everything under the sun smells.  This is general advice, not specific to your ask: people smell smoke, food, and poop.  Anything else is probably purple prose.  I hate reading books where people smell the summer air. 

Oh, and people act irrationally when they’re scared.  Make them do things they wouldn’t otherwise do, but don’t lay it on too thick.

EDIT: to really keep the pages turning, make it clear that your character could die at any time.

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Hi! I need a bit of help. How would one START a story? I have an idea and I just don’t know where to start.

Figure out where the backstory ends and the story begins.

Some of the story will happen before the first sentence.  This is the backstory and it will be told in various ways during the actual story.  Find either an exciting time or a time right before all the action starts and start  the actual story there.

If you mean how do you find a good opening sentence and paragraph, don’t worry about it at first.  You’re going to be fiddling with the opening sentence the entire time you write the story, because it has to be spectacular to draw people in.  A good opening sentence, in my personal opinion, is second draft stuff, unless you get a brilliant idea when you’re first writing it.  It has to draw people in without sounding melodramatic and cheesy.

Hope I helped! :)

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Have you ever had a character refuse to continue on with the plot. Like you just want to send her out on her date but she has to get ready in her room, the bathroom, the kitchen, the dining room, talk to her parents in their room, and feed her dog down in the basement. It happens to me all the times. My characters just won’t go on.

You know that she does that stuff.  The readers don’t have to.  You can make an offhand reference to her doing all that stuff and then continue with what you really want her to do. 

Knowing how she does those things can help you get to know her as an author.  Describing a character’s daily routine can be a good character exercise.

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what are your favorite writing tools online? also are there any programs like write or die?
Anonymous

I use the built in word processor on my computer.  I don’t use any online writing tools.

A bit similar to Write or Die is Written Kitten, but it uses positive reinforcement rather than negative.

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Would it be alright with you if I wrote stories deliberately including what your posts are telling us not to use? I think it would be a pretty good writing exercise, sort of telling myself “this is what I will avoid”. I’ll source you as the inspiration (if I ever get the stories in public view) but I was just wondering if you would be okay with that.

OMG I WOULD LOVE THAT SO MUCH!

Please do.

Can you tag them shannahmcgill so that I’ll see them?

^_^

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How do you write the perfect outline?
Anonymous

Nothing you write will ever be perfect.  That’s kind of depressing, so I will give you the cheerful thought that nothing anybody else writes will ever be perfect either, no matter how much you think it is.

As far as outlines go, everybody does them differently.  I still don’t think I’ve found the one that works best for me.  Try different types until you find one that fits.

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I’ve been suffering from a severe case of writer’s block for some time now. As much as I try to push through it, sometimes I can barely make it past the second sentence before my brain crashes and suddenly I’m overwhelmed with doubt. Do you have any tips on how to help get past writer’s block or even tips on how to feel more confident in your own work?
Anonymous

I don’t get much doubt.  I just do things, thinking they’ll succeed, and sometimes they do.  Like, before I made this blog, I tried to make a webcomic that I realize now is horrible, but at the time I thought nobody could read it and not like it.  But I’ll try to answer this anyways.

If your work is bad, it stays unknown, so nobody is unhappy.  If your work is good, or even has some good qualities (I guess people buy Fifty Shades because they’re aroused by it or something?  No clue.), then a lot of people will read it, and a lot of people will become happy. 

Not only that, but as I’ve mentioned, writing is an experiment.  If you write badly, you learn something so that you don’t write so badly the next time.  It’s okay to doubt whether it’s good, but you should never doubt whether it’s worth writing.

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How can you be a writer without acknowledging that other writers have different opinions of the process and how things work? I know more than one person who thinks “THERE IS ONLY ONE WAY TO WRITE MY WAY EVERY OTHER WAY IS WRONG AND STUPID” and… it seems no one else can stand them when we are in writing groups because they always try to tell others how wrong they are. They’re the kind of people who say “it’s not poetry if it doesn’t rhyme”. … how or why might they think like this?
Anonymous

I would like to preface my answer by saying that I myself do not think like this.  I consider all of my posts to be subjective.  If you’re writing something that contradicts something I post, there’s nothing to be worried about, so long as you do it right.

The reason people think like this is because once somebody finds what works for them, they think it should work for everybody else.  Either that or it’s something that their favorite author does, and they’re too much of a fan to let anybody disagree.

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your blog sucks balls
Anonymous

Maybe writing isn’t your thing.  There are plenty of other blogs, don’t worry. :)  I respectfully disagree, though I’m sure there are others who share your opinion.

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Sorry this is off-topic. But what is your icon? It’s been bothering me for ages xD
Anonymous

Mewtwo.

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Are you a member of any writing website, like Figment or Wattpad?

No.  Here’s why.

Almost no publishers will take your work if it’s already been publicly posted online.  Publishers want to be the first people to present your work to the public.  If you’re planning on publishing, I’d suggest not putting it somewhere where everybody can see it.  If you want more information, look up “first publication rights.”

keyboardsmashwriters replied to your post: Are you a member of any writing website, like Figment or Wattpad?
This isn’t necessarily true — I’ve seen prominent literary agents request work after seeing it on writing forums such as absolutewrite. If you already have a huge following, the publishing community loves that.

Or you can do it both ways by making a site about writing tips to gain a following and never posting any of your prose.

keyboardsmashwriters replied to your post: keyboardsmashwriters replied to your post: Are you…
I see what you did there ;) I just don’t want writers to feel they should never post their work for others to read/critique bcs it CAN be awesome exposure, and very successful writers have been published that way.
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Bah, keep some of the writer-specific personal bits. :) It humanizes you, and makes people see you as more of a writer than just a faceless writing authority. It’s good to know the experts have the same woes as we do.

I’m not an expert.  I haven’t even been published yet, though I’m working on that.  I’m refining a piece before I send it to the beta readers, which is the first step. 

I just have a lot of thoughts about writing, and Tumblr seems like a good place to share them.

I post these little tidbits at all hours, so you’re sure to see some before they’re deleted.  Plus, I do Tinychats sometimes, though I haven’t done any since I decided to reserve them as rewards for completing short stories and chapters (laziness).

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How old are you?
Anonymous

Far too young for anybody to listen to my writing tips if they knew my age.

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I think you’re someone I’d like to be with.
Anonymous

…in what way?

I’m always open to friends, but something about the way you worded that makes me think that isn’t what you meant.

Why is it that the people who write negative and/or creepy things always go on anon?

(And yes, I know it’s because they don’t want their accounts associated with negative/creepy things but STILL.)

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I want to describe a character in my English book as a “quintessential manic pixie dream girl.” Do you think my teacher will understand this term? If not, is there a better way of describing the archetype?
Anonymous

If you aren’t sure, describe the manic pixie dream girl the way TV Tropes does.

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Do you have any tips or links to articles for writing fight scenes? My story has quite a bit of those and I don’t want it to seem amateur. Please and thank you.

I don’t know of any articles specifically pertaining to fight scenes (that I can easily find again), but I posted an article on scenes in general that definitely applies to fight scenes here.

I promise I won’t spam your dash with asks like I did that one time.  This is the last one for now.

EDIT:

sharpenedpencilsinoctober replied to your post: Do you have any tips or links to articles for writing fight scenes? My story has quite a bit of those and I don’t want it to seem amateur. Please and thank you.
The Great Brain children’s book series by John D. Fitzgerald has quite a few fight scenes between boys ages 10-14 or so. No weapons — all fist-fighting — but they’re really quite well done.
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In a more than friends kinda way.
Anonymous

Okay, never mind, I have to answer this.  I’m answering it a bit later, so hopefully it isn’t dash-flooding?

A) I personally don’t believe that a romantic relationship is “more” than a friendship.  It’s just different.

B) Are you new here?  I’m aromantic and asexual.  I could never return your love.

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I want to be with you. I want to be bestest buddies and have ice cream and go watch a superhero movie with you. Then I’d like to drop you off at home and say goodbye and add you to my facebook while not once doing anything even vaguely sexual.
Anonymous

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SuspiciouslySpecificDenial

Okay this is getting a bit uncomfortable.

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Ah I see. That’s a shame then.
Anonymous

My discomfort level is off the charts here.  Please stop.

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I’m not sure if you realize this, but “Mary Sue” has become a slur of sorts, insinuating that women can’t be fantastic. There was a great essay on this somewhere on tumblr, where the author compared Batman/Bruce Wayne to a Mary Sue, and it asked us why men are allowed this but women aren’t. Felicia Day posted about it on Twitter. You should use another term, perhaps just stick to character development, instead of shaming the Mary Sue concept. It’s really anti-feminist/anti-equality.
Anonymous

Want to know which character inspired me to make that post?  Will from the Ranger’s Apprentice series, a male.  I use Mary Sue for both genders to represent a character with no flaws, the same way I use Debbie downer to describe somebody sad and manchild to describe somebody old and childish, regardless of gender.

I don’t like Batman.  I never have.  Even when I was a little kid, I hated Batman and Superman.  Do you know why?  It’s because they have no flaws and they always win.  Superman’s only weakness is a physical one, and he makes up for it by pulling powers out of his rear end.  Batman has a gadget to go with literally any situation and he was born a billionaire.  Despite being merely human, Batman tends to be physically stronger than almost every one of his enemies as well.  In short, I can’t stand them because they’re Mary Sues.  When I was a toddler, I couldn’t stand Hercules either, but when I later learned that he was prone to fits of rage that often hurt the people he loved the most, I warmed up to him.

If you like Superman and Batman despite them having no flaws, then you can skip over every post I make that mentions the term Mary Sue.  This blog is not the gospel of writing.  Every single post is my opinion, and I don’t claim to be an expert of any sort. 

Yes, I am saying that women can’t be fantastic.  The thing is, men can’t either.  I like my characters of any gender with flaws, thank you very much.

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do you have a goodreads account?
Anonymous

No.  Goodreads is a website where you tell others what you’re reading and what you want to read, right?  And maybe it’s a site where you can post your writings?  I might get one in the future for the first reason, but then people would know that I sometimes skip a day in my book a day thing. 

Well, they know now.

Anyways, I currently do not have a goodreads account, but I may get one in the future.

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I’m trying to get a feel for my characters in a story I’m writing. And I’m thinking of creating an ask blog so I can answer in-character. I’m just concerned that it will be a waste if nobody decides to ask anything. So do you think this a good idea?

You could try.  I actually made exactly what you’re talking about a few days after I started Tumblr.  Hardly anybody asked any questions and I eventually deleted it.  My personal experience tells me to say no, but my encouraging nature tells me to say yes. 

Your call.

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How do I stop feeling like a failure? And does it ever stop? Even when I’m proud of my writing, I’ll often think “I’m nobody, and nobody is going to publish/read this!” I know a writer needs to be confident in their work, so… WHAT DO I DO?
Anonymous

I’m on the complete opposite end of the scale, so I don’t know how well I’ll be able to answer this.

Realize that even the greatest authors have flaws in their work.  Also realize that there’s a potential readership for everyone.  Look for little sentences in your work that you like.  Even if you hate the thing as a whole, there’s probably at least one wonderful sentence in it.

If all else fails, present your work to the world anonymously so that if it’s good, then you can eventually reveal yourself and if it’s bad, nobody will know you wrote it.  Not the best option, but it’s better than keeping everything you write private.

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So, in regards to having a character relate a scene: how do you avoid redundancy if it’s a scene the audience has already read/seen, but the protagonist is relating the scene to a character that wasn’t present when it occurred?

First of all, you drastically shorten it.  Your character shouldn’t take even a quarter of the time telling it as you do.  People leave details out and they almost never use adjectives in speech unless it’s something really striking or necessary.  This will also cut down on the repetition.  Think of your character’s speech as a recap or summary rather than an exact retelling, partially for the reader’s sake and partly because that’s how most people talk.

Second of all, flavor the retelling heavily with the character’s voice.  Here’s a post that elaborates on that further.

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You are so painfully full of yourself. Maybe if you weren’t such an attention whore, I would take your writing tips seriously.
Anonymous

Yikes!  It shows in my tips?  I’m so sorry.  How can I make them so I don’t seem so full of myself?  I really want them to be taken seriously.

As for being an attention whore, yep.  I love attention.  It’s why I have a Tumblr instead of a Blogger.  You know how some people absolutely adore knitting scarves?  I love getting followers, and I don’t see how it’s that much different.  I’ll try not to focus so much on myself in the future, though, if it helps.

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I found the last Anon’s comment incredibly rude, disrespectful, and wrong. Self confidence and attention seeking are two traits that tend to suit writers (and any kind of artist)… but even if they were faults, I don’t see any evidence that they’ve impacted the quality of your advice. Which is awesome. If you’re garnering followers, it’s because they’ve all seen something worthwhile in what you share.
Anonymous

To you and everybody else who sent nice messages, thank you. :)  I see them as small faults that aren’t really that bad, but are nonetheless faults. 

Also, 2000 followers!  Thank you, everyone!  I appreciate every last one of you, and I hope you all have excellent writing careers.

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Are you a writer, or do you merely dispense advice on writing?

I am a writer.  For those new to my blog, I’m currently trying to get my fantasy short story published.  I occasionally make posts about it.

Currently, Lightspeed and Clarkesworld magazines have rejected me.  I’m hoping to get lucky with Fantasy & Science Fiction. 

The eventual plan is to become a member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America.

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I noticed that you mentioned Homestuck in a recent post. Do you read Homestuck? (On a side note, this is the best writing blog that I’ve seen so far!! Keep up the good work.)

I’ve read Homestuck, Problm Sleuth, Bardquest, Jailbreak, AH’s older comics (besides Whistles) and the entirety of AH’s Formspring answers. I’m a complete Homestuck nerd. Same with Order of the Stick, Xkcd, Cyanide and Happiness, Sinfest, and a bunch of other, lesser-known webcomics. If anybody wants to have a private discussion/fangirling session about a webcomic, feel free. :)

Thank you so much!

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I really want to write a novel, even if it probably wont get published. However, I don’t have a ton of writing experience. Would you suggest writing short stories first, or just jump right into it?
Anonymous

Jump right into it.  The first thing I tried writing was a novel.  Writing experience comes with practice, and both routes you mentioned will give you that.  I asked one of my favorite authors for tips in an e-mail, and all he said was that writing is like a musical instrument because it takes practice.  You will either write crappy short stories (that could be revised into good ones) and then a novel or just a crappy novel (that could be revised into a good one).  It sounds like you have an idea for a novel but not many for short stories, so I would suggest going for the novel.  It also sounds like you like the novel more, and writing what you like is a lot more fun.  Therefore I’d recommend going for the novel.  Sorry if my answer is a bit discombobulated.

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Lovely advice you just posted - much appreciated. <3 But one question. “Add in any little touches of voice you can think of.” What do you mean by that? Could you offer an example? Thank you for doing what you do. xox
Anonymous

When you write, you’re going for a certain feel. For example, if I were Lemony Snicket and I were editing my novel, I might add in a couple of anachronisms into a scene and put a bit more bleakness into the novel’s introduction. It’s kind of hard to define. I hope I helped! :P

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Pretty off-topic, but why is your icon Mewtwo?
Anonymous

Mewtwo is awesome.