If You’re Not In A Group And You Want To Learn How To Write Characters In That Group Respectfully And

One Word Writing Prompts

Send me a number 1 thru 50 for a word that I’ll use to write either a headcanon, drabble, or starter. Send 🌀 for a random number instead.

01. — first 02. — kiss 03. — final 04. — numb 05. — broken 06. — wings 07. — melody 08. — rules 09. — chocolate 10. — nostalgia 11. — heartbeat 12. — stranger 13. — confusion 14. — bitter 15. — afterlife 16. — daybreak 17. — audience 18. — endless 19. — fireworks 20. — wishing 21. — birthday 22. — tomorrow 23. — oppression 24. — agony 25. — return 26. — protection 27. — boxes 28. — hope 29. — preparation 30. — beautiful 31. — lies 32. — underneath 33. — hide 34. — diary 35. — unforeseen 36. — conditional 37. — gone 38. — clear 39. — heartache 40. — wired 41. — insanity 42. — foolish 43. — words 44. — study 45. — love 46. — skies 47. — stars 48. — lucky 49. — shake 50. — punctual

An aye-write guide to Showing vs. Telling

I’ll bet that if you’ve ever taken an English class or a creative writing class, you’ll have come across the phrase “Show, don’t tell.”  It’s pretty much a creative writing staple! Anton Chekov once said “ Don’t tell me the moon is shining. Show me the glint of light on broken glass.” In other words, showing should help you to create mental pictures in a reader’s head.

Showing helps readers bond with the characters, helps them experience the emotions and action more vividly, and helps immerse them in the world you have created. So “show, not tell” is definitely not bad advice - in certain circumstances. But it has its place. More on that later. 

So How do I Show? 

Dialogue

Thoughts/Feelings

Actions

Visual Details

So instead, of telling me “He was angry”, show me how his face face flushes red, how his throat tightens, how he slams his fist, how he raises his voice, how his jaw clenches, how he feels hot and prickly, how his breathing gets rapid, how his thoughts turn to static, etc.

Instead of telling me “The cafeteria was in chaos”, you could show me  someone covered in food and slowly turning crimson, children rampaging under the feet of helpless adults, frenzied shouting, etc. 

Handy Hint! Try to avoid phrases like “I heard”, “I felt”, “I smelled”, etc. These are still “telling words” (also known as filters) and may weaken your prose, as your readers could be taken out of the experience and you may lose their attention.

Is Showing Always The Right Thing to Do? 

No! Absolutely not! Showing is not always right and telling is not always wrong! It’s important to develop the skill and instinct to know when to use showing and when to use telling, as both can be appropriate in certain occasions. 

So, “Show, don’t tell” becomes “Show versus tell”. 

What is Showing and Telling? 

Showing is “The grass caressed his feet and a smile softened his eyes. A hot puff of air brushed past his wrinkled cheek as the sky paled yellow, then crimson, and within a breath, electric indigo”

Telling is “The old man stood in the grass and relaxed as the sun went down.”

Both of these excerpts are perfectly acceptable to use in your writing! But both do different things, although their meanings are pretty much the same. The first example is immersive, sweeping, visual, engaging. The second example is much more pared back and functional. But both have their places in prose! 

Telling is functional. Think about when you tell people things. You tell your children dinner is ready. The news reporter tells you there’s a drop in crime rates. Your best friend tells you she’ll be late because her car broke down on the way to yours. These are brief and mundane moments in everyday life. 

So, do these deserve multiple paragraphs with sensory detail and action/feeling/thought for every little thing? Do you need to spend an entire paragraph agonising over a minor detail when there’s a sword dangling (physically or metaphorically) over your MC’s head? No. And I’ll explain why. 

When To Use Telling

As before, telling is functional. It’s brief. It’s efficient. It gives a gist of a situation without getting bogged down in detail.

Showing is slow, rich, expansive, and most certainly not efficient! 

Here’s an example of some telling: 

“Years passed, and I thought of Emily less and less. I confined her to some dark dusty corner of my brain. I had to elbow my memories of her to the side. I was too busy with other things. Finishing school, then university a year later. Life was full and enjoyable. But then, one dark cold September night…”

You can’t show this example, unless you wanted to waste page after page of your MC waking up, going through everyday life, to get to the point your actual story started. If you do that, you will likely kill off any interest a reader would have in your novel and likely, your book itself.

Summing Up 

Showing: 

Should be used for anything dramatic

Uses thoughts, feelings, dialogue, action, and visual detail 

Will likely be used more than telling

Telling: 

Can be used for 

Delivering factual information

Glossing over unnecessary details 

Connecting scenes

Showing the passage of time 

Adding backstory (not all at once!) 

“Oh my god, you’re adorable.” “I wish you’d stop calling me that.” “What - adorable?” Their brow furrowed in confusion.  “Yeah. Like, I don’t know. It’s so babyish.” 

“You know adorable doesn’t mean you can’t be kickass, right? You could conquer a kingdom and I’d still find you cute.” They meant it sweetly, lovingly, reaching out a hand to draw her closer. She jerked away with a fresh bolt of anger even when they knew it was ill deserved - because, yeah, that was exactly the problem. 

Just once, it would have been nice to beautiful, or powerful, or breath-taking instead of something that made her think of kittens and bunny rabbits. Why did everything small have to be fucking cute?

Here’s a little bit on subplots!

“Where exactly are we?”

“Purgatory.”

“What!? Seriously!?”

“Noooo we’re in the Arizona desert…where else could we possibly be right now!? Especially after the stunt you pulled.”

10 Free Websites To Improve Your Writing

There’s no such thing as too many resources for writers. Books are helpful, but they can cost more money than the average author is willing to spend ($0.00). So here’s ten free websites any author can use. Whether you’re a professional with ten books under your belt, or a brand new writer starting from scratch, this list has something for everybody. Because we’re worth it. 

Critique Circle

Probably the best writing review website on the internet. The idea is to review other people’s work, and, for every review you do, you get ‘credits’, which allows you to post your own work on the website so it can get critiqued. It’s one big Circle Of Life that works really well. The credit system they have in place ensures that people will actively seek out and critique other people’s work. Also includes a very active forum, and much more features than I could ever say here. If you take nothing else away from this list, take this one. 

Grammar Girl

Exactly what it says on the tin. Grammar Girl takes those hard to answer grammar questions and explains them in any easy, simple way.

Writers Helping Writers

Home of The Bookshelf Muse, this website is described as a ‘descriptive thesaurus’. Some of them include: Emotions, Settings, Themes, Talents, Colors, Shapes, and so much more. This website is great for any author looking to add realism and depth into their writing, 

Writer’s Digest

Full of information. Very helpful. Very…confusing? The front page looks like a link explosion, but it’s useful links. It takes some getting used to how the website is laid out, but once you do, you’ll find everything from writing prompts to goals to genres and everything in between. 

One Look Dictionary

Not your average dictionary. One Look takes everything you never knew you wanted and compiles it into one website. 

One Look Reverse Dictionary

One Look also has a reverse dictionary. Simply put in a concept and get back words and phrases related to that concept.

Spell Check Plus

If you’re a writer of any kind, you’ve probably done a search for a decent spellchecker. And, if you’ve done that, you’ve probably stumbled across about ten of them, which are all about the same. Spell Check Plus tops all others by a mile. It fixes spelling errors with suggestions, offers word choices to help with grammar, and gives a summary of possible errors.

NaNoWriMo

NaNoWriMo is a website where authors aim to write a novel in one month. This happens every November, with Camp NaNoWriMo happening every April. The goal is simply to get 50k words written in thirty days, no editing. It’s something to try to break out of your normal writing shell, because really, when else is 50k words with no editing ever allowed? Free yourself, my friends.

Fuck Yeah Character Development

This is absolutely amazing for character development. Anything and everything you could possibly need to creative any character you want can be found here. 

YA Highway

Don’t be put off by the title, YA Highway contains writing tips that can be applied to all genres and methods of writing. There’s many different posts that encompasses many things, so some searching may be in order. But when you find what you’re looking for it’s all worthwhile.

jean <3

types of kisses (part i)

wake up kisses pressed gently to the column of A’s neck or the underside of B’s jaw.

morning kisses; gentle and lazy, humming in contentment, limbs still tangled together, hands wandering over soft exposed skin.

stay in bed kisses, mischievous and deep, punctuating flirtatiously whispered bargaining words.

come back to bed kisses left on A’s neck and shoulder, unhurried and tender, with arms wrapped around A’s waist.

rushed late for work kisses, a flash of heat before hurrying out the door.

tender kisses when one brings home flowers for the other.

sticky ice cream kisses, sitting on a bench in the park and laughing against each other’s lips.

cheek kisses that leave red lipstick stains.

kisses absently left on the backs of hands, fingers entwined in silent comfort.

joyful kisses peppered across foreheads and cheeks between scattered giggles.

comforting kisses pressed to tear-stained cheeks between whispered words of reassurance and concern.

heated kisses with gasps in between, hands tugging at clothes and exploring skin, bodies pressed close. giving in.

long, slow kisses in the afterglow, fingers woven through hair and hearts beating in unison.

soft goodnight kisses exchanged on lamp-lit doorsteps on chilly autumn evenings.

a single loving kiss left on the other’s forehead when they fall asleep snuggled close together.

Worldbuilding: Food and Drink

When building a world, sometimes food and drink can be overlooked in the worldbuilding process.  It can sometimes just be assumed what the characters are eating.  But not all taverns and restaurants serve the same things, especially if they are different locations.  What different classes eat will vary as well.  So it is important to work out a menu for your culture.  Especially when trying to figure out what just made your character ill. In this post, I have compiled a list of questions pertaining to food and drink.  While it was exhausting to put together, the list itself is not exhaustive.  The intent of the questions is to get you thinking about your characters’ diets, and possibly the diet of all the other cultures you may have created.

Be as detailed as possible, answer questions not listed, and above all, have fun!

The questions compiled are inspired, taken, modified, or edited from three forums on the NaNoWriMo website: Respond, Answer, Ask 2016 Worldbuilding, Respond, Answer, Ask, 2016 Fantasy, and Fantasy Worldbuilding Questions.

What is the common breakfast meal?

What is the common lunch meal?

What is the common dinner meal?

Does it differ from class to class?

Are there any more meals in the day? Second breakfast?  Elevensies? Chocolate time?  Midnight snack?

What times do the meals take place?

Is there any take out form of meal? What restaurants sell fast food?  How do they package the food?  Do they charge more because of packaging?

What does the typical restaurant/tavern sell? What are some popular restaurants/taverns?  What is the favorite hang out place?

What can be found at a bar?

What kinds of alcoholic drinks are available?

What kind of drinks do they have with their meal? Just water?  Or perhaps a sip of wine?

What kind of drinks do they have without meals? Perhaps it is improper to have tea with breakfast.  Perhaps milk is best drunk alone.

What role does food and drink play? Are they for sustenance only?  Are they a status of wealth?

What are some popular dishes or recipes?

What are some favorite snacks? Jerky? Dried fruit?  Chocolate?  Some food not found on Earth?

What foods are seasonal?

What is considered dessert?

What kind of seasonings are used? Which ones are popular?  Which ones are coveted because it is hard to get them?

How is food and drink stored?

Do diets vary by place or species? Do elves and humans living together eat the same thing?  Or do they have a separate diet?  Why?

What food is common?

What food is consider a delicacy?

What foods have to be prepared in a certain way so they are not poisonous? Blowfish not cooked properly can poisonous.  The pits of apricots and apple seeds are lethal if too many are eaten.  What foods must be prepared or eaten with care?

What are some foods that would only be seen on a rich person’s table?

What are some foods that would only be seen on a poor person’s table?

What are some foods that would sold on the street? Corndogs?  Scorpion on a stick?  Fried frog?

Does the community hold potlucks?  What would be brought to a potluck?

What are some dining etiquettes? Burping at the table is a compliment to the chef.  It is impolite to not thank the host for the food before eating.  No elbows are allowed on the table.

Is it improper to eat with someone outside of their class?

What kind of dishes are used at the table?

What are some things no one should do at the table?

Are there foods for the road?

What are some common poisons? Everyone knows it’s poisonous.  And it can be found anywhere.

What are some lesser known poisons? Exotic poisons.  Poisons from different lands.  Poisons that assassins may use in the king’s cup.

Most effective poisons? What is consider most effective?  Poisons where the victim is clearly poisoned, with foam coming from the mouth?  Or poisons where the victim slips into a deep sleep and no one knows what happened until they discover the victim won’t wake up?

How is drinking water collected?

What are the most common crops?

Does magic play in a part in agriculture?

What is the most common animal to be hunted?

Is fishing an available option?

[On writing]: The first thing you do is you stop not doing it. The best thing on earth that can happen is to stop not doing it. Writing is an act of faith. You just do it. Butt in chair. More will be revealed. There’s no such thing as “as soon as…” You do it as a debt of honor. There’s never a good time to write. Writing is painting with words. In writing we’re trying to capture our deepest truths that might be meaningful for others to hear. You’re never going to be in the mood and you’re not going to have self-esteem. You should be writing that which you love to come upon, the thing that makes the inner you go “Ooh! Ooh!” I’m really good at 5 or 6 things. And I’m hilariously incompetent at everything else.

Anne Lamott delivering the keynote address for the opening of the Frederick Buechner Writer’s Workshop at Princeton Theological Seminary, 2017

https://sophfronia.com/words-on-writing-from-anne-lamott/

(via seasurfacefullofclouds)