Writing Advice Masterlist

CRAFT

How to write subtext

When to use summary and when to use scene

What is purple prose vs descriptive style

What to consider when writing for teens and children

The different types of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd person

When to show and when to tell

Showing vs. Telling in plot, character, setting, dialogue, etc.

What is good telling?

Psychic distance (what it is + comparing 3rd omniscient, 3rd limited, and 1st person)

How to write strong dialogue

How to avoid melodrama

How to create powerful similes and metaphors

How to lengthen or shorten a novel

How to use 2nd person

YA vs NA vs Adult

Transitioning a book from being YA to being adult

The push and pull of hope and despair

How to introduce a flashback

Is it okay to use a POV shift for one scene?

Writing conflict and antagonist forces in a contemporary work/a piece with no villain

Describing setting in a way that’s in character

Using Symbolism

How to describe music

How to write a sex scene

Writing sexual or romantic tension/attraction

How to write a kiss scene

Writing romantic or sexual attraction (when you’re aromantic/asexual)

How to be subtle with theme

How to plan a story’s conflict

How to write a 1st person witness narrator

Where to add a character description

First sentences

Avoiding repetitive sentence structure

How to write a death scene

How to write body language

Using specificity to come up with original ideas

How to cut -ing verbs

Past vs present tense

What can be ambiguous and what needs to be explained? + Magical realism vs fantasy

Describing something abstract/intangible

Creating tension

How to improve your description (writing exercise)

Using collective (aka: “we”) POV

Experimenting with form

Creating causal relationship between scenes in a non-linear plot

PLOT, STRUCTURE, AND CONCEPT

What is structure?

How to know if a plot is satisfying

How to develop plot material

How to develop a novel idea from nothing

How to write the beginning of a novel

How to write a story that is mostly internal

Finding the balance between plot driven and character driven

Common pitfalls of a meet cute

Plotting a contemporary novel

Plotting the 2nd half of a novel

Plot beats in the 2nd half of a novel

Pacing tips

How to develop a specific idea

Working with subplots

You know how in a bad movie, a scene will keep going on and on after it ends, just to pad out the runtime?

After all, live action costs minimal effort and time to keep recording.

For traditional animation, though?

Never before had I seen several seconds of animated empty silence.

Carl the Animator: “…how many more frames of this do we need to do?”

Ted the Animator: “Hey, when Hanna-Barbera wants padding, they’re not foolin’ around. Keep those background adjustments coming.”

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every-soul-a-battlefield

4 years ago

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every-soul-a-battlefield

4 years ago

in that mood where nothing I look at to read is quite the thing I want but not quiiiiite irked enough about it to write it my damn self

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every-soul-a-battlefield

4 years ago

The Oxford Union, Oxford

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every-soul-a-battlefield

4 years ago

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every-soul-a-battlefield

3 years ago

Oh fuck

Cyberdrinks

PRINT A DRINK !

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Within a minute, Print A Drink can build up complex 3D structures in a wide range of drinks - creating fascinating augmented cocktails using only natural ingredients

Images Courtesy: Printadrink

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every-soul-a-battlefield

4 years ago

Who knew that when you give employees the bare minimum in return for their time and effort, they do the same in return? Some mind-boggling stuff, this...

I’ve seen workplace autonomy get reduced at several jobs I’ve worked at and it always follows the same pattern, where the initial change is “that sucks and I think it’s dumb but at least I can see some rationale behind it” and subsequent changes become arbitrary reminders that your employer controls you.

When I worked at a distribution center, we used to be able to wear headphones. Then one day, someone working at a different distribution center got their headphone cords tangled up in the conveyors and was seriously injured, and we weren’t allowed to wear headphones anymore.

I hated the change, of course, and thought it was stupid, and wondered if the incident they mentioned even happened, but I could at least see the logic to it: “wearing cords around miles of conveyor systems is dangerous.”

So people started bringing portable radios and stuff to work. No cords, no blocked ears, no problem. Until those got banned too. Why? Because they could, and they showed that they could when they banned headphones.

Then I worked at a testing center. After a while, cell phones were banned. And again, there was some logic to the decision: for starters, we were surrounded by confidential information, and also needed to maintain a quiet and discreet atmosphere. It was obviously an unnecessary overreach and showed that they saw their employees as children, but they at least had some security concerns they could justify it with.

So people brought in books and magazines to read during downtime. And then books and magazines were banned too. Why? Because they could, and they showed that they could when they banned cell phones.

It’s tied up with the culture of… I don’t know if there’s a term for it, but it’s something we’ve all seen. If there’s no tasks left to do at work, then stare at a wall. If you’re on the clock, then don’t sit down even if there’s no reason not to sit down. Smile. That whole thing.

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every-soul-a-battlefield

3 years ago