Trouble Reading After Writing

Writing Prompt #296: Write This Story

Animals tend to be the best alarm systems. if they suddenly kick up a fuss, it’s time to move. If they go completely silent, it’s really time to move.

My ability to proofread increases by 1000% after I hit “Submit”.

Writing Prompt #498: Write This Story

Everything was carved out of marble. From the columns that held up the ceiling to the glistening floors. Even the tables that lined the halls were all swirling shades of white and blue.

Writing Prompt #169: Hook, Line and Sinker

She never should have gotten up this morning. She knew it. Her dog knew it. And she was pretty sure the strange man on her doorstep knew it too.

How to Make Your Descriptions Less Boring

We’ve all been warned about the dangers of using too much description. Readers don’t want to read three paragraphs about a sunset, we’re told. Description slows down a story; it’s boring and self-indulgent. You should keep your description as short and simple as possible. For those who take a more scientific approach to writing fiction, arbitrary rules abound: One sentence per paragraph. One paragraph per page. And, for god’s sake, “Never open a book with weather” (Elmore Leonard).

But what this conventional wedding wisdom fails to take into account is the difference between static and dynamic description. Static description is usually boring. It exists almost like a painted backdrop to a play. As the name suggests, it doesn’t move, doesn’t interact or get interacted with.

There were clouds in the sky. Her hair was red with hints of orange. The house had brown carpeting and yellow countertops.

In moderation, there’s nothing wrong with static description. Sometimes, facts are facts, and you need to communicate them to the reader in a straightforward manner.

But too much static description, and readers will start to skim forward. They don’t want to read about what the house looks like or the stormy weather or the hair color of each of your protagonist’s seventeen cousins.

Why? Because they can tell it’s not important. They can afford to skip all of your description because their understanding of the story will not be impacted.

That’s where dynamic description comes in. Dynamic description is a living entity. It’s interactive, it’s relevant. It takes on the voices of your narrators and characters. In short, it gives us important information about the story, and it can’t be skimmed over.

So how do you make your description more dynamic so that it engages your readers and adds color and excitement to your story? Here are a few tips.

(I have a TON more tips about setting and description. These are just a few. But I’m trying to keep this short, so if you have any questions or want more advice about this, please feel free to ask me.)

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LET ME TELL Y’ALL ABOUT THIS WRITING APP

Fighter’s Block is the best writing app I’ve come across in a long time.

You type in the amount of words you want to write and as you write, your mini lil avatar fights a monster. Each word you write acts a hit towards your monster, and once you’ve hit your word count the monster is defeated!!!

How cute!!!!

Work quick though as how long you spent not writing decreases your avatar’s health. It’s a productive fight to the death against the clock!

Best things about this app:

You can PAUSE it!!!! Need go get a cup of tea? Need to sneeze? You can!!!!!

Settings are adjustable! You can change the monster’s speed and the attacks!

You can change the theme and font!

You can level up!!!!! The number of words you write equals your EXP. You can unlock one avatar thus far, but I believe there may be more in the future!

You can minimise the fight above if it serves as a distraction, and only show the decreasing green bar.

Best of all: If you don’t hit the target word count in time, YOUR WORK DOES NOT DISAPPEAR. In the past I’ve lost so much work because I wasn’t typing fast enough, or sneezed.I cannot express enough how thankful I am that it presents a challenge where the consequence is a knock of pride and not a fit of rage.

Honestly, I urge all writers out there to give this app a go. It’s my new favourite thing. 

Writing Prompts #463: Write This Story

“In about three seconds you’re going to hear a very loud noise. Do not be alarmed.”

“You’re mine.”

“Do you promise?” It was a foolish, needy question and it embarrassed them as soon as it came out. “Forever?”

“Oh,” the demon cupped their cheek. “Always.”

This isnt a joke my favorite piece of writing advice that I’ve ever seen is someone that said if you were stuck with a fic and couldn’t figure out why or what was wrong, your problem is actually usually about ten sentences back. Maybe there was something wonky about the tone or the dialogue or you added something that didn’t fit but it’s usually ten sentences back. And every single time I get stuck in a fic I count back ten sentences and it’s always fucking there

IF YOU LOVE WRITING BUT DON’T HAVE THE INSPIRATION FOR A 10-PART BOOK SAGA YOU SHOULD TAKE A LOOK AT THIS SITE

IT’S INCREDIBLY HELPFUL AND CAN FOR INSTANCE GENERATE TOPICS AND FIRST LINES, CONTAINS LOADS OF EXERCISES AND YOU CAN FIND PLENTY OF WRITING TIPS.