#actionwritingreferenceone

“like blowing bubbles”

That’s gay. 

do magical kids get yearbooks??? this was such a great excuse to draw 16 portraits

My Favourite Couples Are Those Who Could’ve Been Amazing Friends Or Lovers And Work Well As Both But Prefer Friends

This doesn’t make much sense in retrospect but a good example would be Percabeth. Sure, they’re the power couple of the century, but I think they’d work very much better as good friends.  Like siblings almost.  You know?

Faerie friend of the damselflies. ink and watercolor on paper. there’s tons of damselflies around the stream. It’s very hot out but that doesn’t seem to bother them. hope everyone is staying cool. Instagram | Store

After The War: What Happened To Out Favourite Characters?

So I’ve been reading some fics and hanging around the fandom. And I see a lot of things about what our favourite witches and wizards get up to after Hogwarts. I’m going to share some of my thoughts. The epilogue and Cursed Child don’t exist in this. Good that? Continue.  HARRY POTTER        Job: Harry, I think, would fit well as the DADA professor at Hogwarts. A final fûck you to old Voldy, yea? Besides, he would’ve been tired of fighting. Tired of playing the part. He’d fit well as the laid back DADA professor. I like to imagine he’d be sort of like Lupin. One thing I think might happen, but am not sure about, is that he’d go to the Americas. Get away from everything.  Love: I honestly think he wouldn’t get with Ginny. From what I understand of him and would give an educated guess on, he would take that as a reminder of everything that happened. The war. The deaths. He might be with her for a while, try and appease everyone. But he’d just see Fred. He’d start to drift. Become distant.  DRACO MALFOY

Job: While I don’t want this to happen, it might be possible that he’d be kicked out of Wizarding world in Britain. If he wasn’t, he would’ve became a Healer or an Auror(sp?). If he could get a job after the war, he probably would’ve faced prejudice and a bunch of shit. He might’ve left on his own. Obviously not giving up on magic, but just leaving all that shit behind. I think he’d become a Muggle movie star. Playing different roles. Not having to face who he is. Being able to believe, even fleetingly, that he wasn’t Draco Lucius Malfoy former Death Eater. Besides, he’d be good at it. He had to lie all the time. Mask his real feelings. Be someone he wasn’t. Etc. Love: Who knows? I ship Drarry aggressively so I’m inclined to believe that would find its way to work. Though he wouldn’t get with a Greengrass. Or Pansy. Also, he definitely wasn’t straight. 

GINNY WEASLEY 

Job: Chaser. It’s pretty well agreed upon that she’d become a Chaser for some team or another. I don’t really have much more thoughts.  Love: Again, not Harry. I’m not sure how this would go about; she might realise that she was only really attracted to a Harry because he saved her. She might still love Harry but because she’s Ginny fucking Weasley who’s awesome, she’d forgive him. 

NEVILLE LONGBOTTOM 

Job: Herbology professor at Hogwarts. I’m firmly seated in this belief.  Love: Not sure. I like to believe he’d get with Luna Lovegood. They just seem to work perfectly with each other.  LUNA LOVEGOOD 

Job: Who knows? I think she’d either become a professor at Hogwarts(unlikely, but if so, she’d be Care Of Magical Creatures) or a writer for The Quibbler.  Love: Again, who the hell knows? It’s Luna. I learned a long time ago not to try and predict what she’ll do or assume anything about her. Nope. Still, I’m inclined to believe she’d get with Neville. 

HERMIONE GRANGER

Job: She’d definitely become the Mistress of Magic(Or Minister of Magic). After that, I’m inclined to believe she’d be the headmistress of Hogwarts. It seems the sort of occupation she’d do. Of course, she’d still be an activist. SPEW would have become a national organisation and succeeded in its mission. Then, of course, she’d move on to other ambitions. Each more noble than the last. No matter how ridiculous they’d sound, how impossible, she’d always achieve them.  Love: Now this is a hard one to answer. I don’t like Romione and personally think it’d never work. Maybe they got married but then got divorced after a year or two. I don’t think she’d do much with love. 

RON WEASLEY 

Job: Auror. I’m certain of this. 100 p% certain.  Love: As I stated before, Hermione but then they broke up/ got a divorce. After that, I’m not sure what. 

My feelings are strong though few. 

#writinganactionscenewhenyousuckatwritingaction

Advice for people who are better at writing dialogue than action

As someone who has always been able to spit out witty quotes but couldn’t write a fight scene to save my life, here are some tips that have helped me that I would like to share.

1.) Go bit by bit.

Let’s get the hard one out of the way first. I’m going to use ‘fight scene’ for this example, but it can apply to just about any action scene. Have a starting point and an ending point, then just start writing. So let’s say two characters threaten each other. Okay. One takes a swing. Alright. What next? Maybe another one swings back. What next? First one kicks. Is it appropriate for character 1 to stab character 2 yet? Probably not. What can I do instead? Just work it out one action at a time. If it doesn’t come out the best on paper, who cares? You have a baseline. This isn’t easy and maybe not the best way to do it, but it’s a method I’ve used and it’s better than just saying “They fought until character 2 was stabbed.”

2.) Mix in Dialogue

Just use what you’re good at, fam’. Direct the action with dialogue. If you’re like me and your characters have an affinity for arguing with each other, sometimes their conversation will give you a better idea of what’s going on anyway. I mean, I essentially have a chase scene where one character gets shot and the conversation goes as follows.

*H shoots D*

C: Ooh, bad shot.

J: that’s what you have to say to that?

That’s not a great example, but this is also from a scene I’ve rewritten like ten times.

I mean, also, what about the “turn around slowly” scenes in horror movies?

I also use this sometimes to informally describe how a rock looks like the middle finger or something because the characters think it’s funny. It helps me, at the very least.

Point being, use your characters’ thoughts to give the reader a deeper idea of what’s going on if it’s hard for you to explain it outright.

3.) Write Dialogue First

First go in and write whatever the characters are discussing before going in and filling in the action. Do what you like and feel comfortable doing first, then perfect it later on. If it’s a fight scene, maybe the characters are sharing insults. Write the insults and then conduct the action to fit the rising tension accompanying the verbal insults. Don’t get writers block over the action; save it for when you have the energy.

4.) Just Keep It Simple

As a perfectionist with anxiety, I try to make my first drafts perfect. Spoiler alert: YOUR FIRST DRAFT WILL NEVER BE PERFECT. Life is too short to get upset over your weak action scenes. Write simple sentences and get the basis down. Who cares? Certainly not me at this point. When you go back and edit, then you can flip them around, add color and flavor, and make them come to life. But in the first draft? It’s perfectly okay if your action scene is “He ran towards her. He hugged her. She hugged him. They went home.” Later, you can go in and add things like “They embraced each other, tears in their eyes, never expecting to let go.” It’s okay if you’re not there. One step at a time, fam’.

If anyone else has any suggestions or tips for people who struggle with dialogue, feel free to add! These are just what has helped me through the years.

Jez believes in justice

Aureli believes in mercy

Scipio believes in what the situation calls for

does your oc believe in justice, or mercy?

How to write about Grief:

There is no right or wrong way to experience grief. Just as there is no right or wrong way to write it. Everyone is different, each set of circumstances are different. 

The point of this post is to show you how different people react in different ways, and give points on how you might write that, depending on your character and story.

Reactions to Grief

Numbness: Your character may go into auto-pilot and be unable to process the events that have unfolded.

Anger: This can be aimed at other people, at a Higher Being, or at nothing in particular.

Unsteady: Your characters may be unsteady. For example, unable to stop their voice from shaking or they may find it difficult to stand.

Focusing on Others: Your character may disregard their own feelings because they are so overwhelmed and instead concentrate on someone else’s well-being. 

Seek out routines: Amid upheavals, your character may seek comfort in tasks that are familiar and “safe,” such as working, cleaning, making their bed, making absurd amounts of tea or taking a morning walk.

Pretending that Everything Is Okay: Grief is viewed as an emotion that should cease or be concealed once the funeral is over. So people mention the news in an offhand comment, then talk and laugh as if all is right with the world.

Denial: Some people deny the reality of death and convince themselves that the news is a joke or can’t be true.

Reactions from people surrounding your character:

People may avoid your character as they do not know what to say or simply can’t find the right words.

Some may even go as far as to cross the street when they notice your character approaching.

Even people that the character has known for years may act strange or standoff-ish, simply because they don’t know what to say.

On the other side of that, some people may be overly helpful and friendly.

It is not uncommon for estranged friends, family or others to suddenly reappear in a person’s life after they have experienced grief. 

Either because those people want to offer their support and love  or because they’re being nosy and they want to be kept up to date on the “drama”.

Most people will move on from the event fairly quickly if they weren’t emotionally invested. 

Some people may even get annoyed at your character for still being upset weeks or months later.

When talking about the person they have lost:

Your character may recall a memory or tell a story about their loved one, these are possible reactions. (I have encountered all of them.)

Your character may being to cry or get upset at the thought of the person they have lost. 

The person they are talking to may become awkward and avert eye contact when your character brings up the person they have lost. 

Others may ask or tell your character to stop talking about the person they have lost. They may roll their eyes, cough awkwardly, or cut off your character mid sentences so that they can change the subject.

Some people may ask inappropriate questions about the circumstances in which the character’s loved one passed away. Depending on the personality of your character then may react differently. 

Other things to note:

Grief is not constrained by time. 

One of the main problems with grief in fiction is that a character is typically heartbroken for a couple scenes and then happy again. But grief does not evaporate because the world needs saving. 

Allow your character to wrestle with their grief. 

Your character may feel guilty. Your character may feel a twinge of guilt when they laugh or have a good time with someone else; when they do something to remind them that they’re alive, and their loved one isn’t. 

Grief is a game changer. A previously outgoing character may withdraw and isolate themselves. Some people may take grief and/or bereavement as a sign that life is too short; they may make big decisions in an attempt to make themselves feel better and grow away from their pain.

Sometimes grief can help you find your purpose.

At first grief can be all consuming. It hurts and you can’t really control it. It may seem unrelenting. Eventually the grief will become easier to deal with, your character may find the days to be better, but that doesn’t mean that when the grief hits it doesn’t hurt any less.

For most people, grief never really goes away. “Sometimes you have to accept the fact that certain things will never go back to how they used to be.”

It is rare that a person will ever give a long speech about their feelings, a lot of people struggle to even find the words. But that’s okay. Show the reader how your character feels, rather than just telling them.

Don’t pause the plot to deal with the aspect of grief. This could overwhelm the readers and drag the pace down. In reality, life doesn’t just stop due to grief, the world keeps spinning and things still need to be done. Use the character’s grief as a backdrop for the story’s events.  

Yes, grief affects the character’s day-to-day life, goals, and relationships. But it shouldn’t drive readers away or stagnate the story. Instead, should engage readers and produce empathy that keeps them turning pages.

You don’t need to tell your readers that everything will be fine. You don’t need to provide all of the answers.

“Skirting grief and treating it lightly is easy. But by realistically portraying it through a variety of responses and its lasting effects on the character’s life, readers will form a connection with your characters.“

YOU KNOW WHAT BOTHERS ME

when fantasy books describe the cloth of Quant Farmpeople’s clothing as “homespun” or “rough homespun”

“homespun” as opposed to what??? EVERYTHING WAS SPUN AT HOME

they didn’t have fucking spinning factories, your pseudo-medieval farmwife is lucky if she has a fucking spinning wheel, otherwise she’s spinning every single thread her family wears on a drop spindle NO ONE ELSE WAS DOING THE SPINNING unless you go out of your way to establish a certain baseline of industrialization in your fake medieval fantasy land.

and “rough”??? lol just because it’s farm clothes? bitch cloth was valuable as fuck because of the labor involved ain’t no self-respecting woman gonna waste fiber and ALL THAT FUCKING TIME spinning shitty yarn to weave into shitty cloth she’s gonna make GOOD QUALITY SHIT for her family, and considering that women were doing fiber prep/spinning/weaving for like 80% of their waking time up until very recently in world history, literally every woman has the skills necessary to produce some TERRIFYINGLY GOOD QUALITY THREADS

come to think of it i’ve never read a fantasy novel that talks about textile production at all??? like it’s even worse than the “where are all the farms” problem like where are people getting the cloth if no one’s doing the spinning and weaving??? kmart???

How I Plan...

Building a story or series from the ground up with the help of templates!

This is how I approach planning. It covers what I do up to the point of opening a blank document and typing the first word.

Despite the tags this isn’t going to be ‘how to’ or advice based because who am I to tell you how to plan a story? This is only an option:) I engourage you to steal liberally but also question whether or not this method will work for you. If you don’t vibe with something, throw it out!

*you don’t have to answer these questions in order.

STRUCTURE LEVEL

Genre/Sub-genres: Picking a genre can help you find ideas/tropes faster. If you’ve written or read a book before you probably know the types of stories you like.

Age Category: This can help you find themes for you story. I like to sepate genre and cataegory since you can have a young adult or an adult romance.

Point Of View: Pick who will tell the story. Will there be more than one?

Tense: First, second or third person? Past or present?

Formatting: How will the story be split up? Through chapters or parts. I also like to put whether or not I’ll have a playlist, any quotes or epigraphs, prologues or epilogues, anything like that.

Tone: Will your story be serious, light hearted, sad, satirical...etc

Atmosphere/Color palette: I like to use this for when I’m writing description. Using specificities to elevate your writing can bring a world together and make it feel real.

Overall Concept: As vague as you’d like it to be! I usually give a few sentences.

Comparison Titles: I love to use comparison titles in the beginning when nothing has been solidified. It helps me know what came before me while still generating lots of inspiration.

SERIES LEVEL

Series Title: I usually base it off the first books title or a significant thing that links all the stories together.

Number of stories you want: I don’t always know how many stories will be in a series but it’s good to have a rough esimate of how many you’d like to write.

Number of stories realistically achievable: But we all know that sometimes an idea just isn’t sustainable for a 10 book series but works rather well as a trilogy instead.

Story that will kick off the series: All of your stories should fit a purpose in the series but this book will take the roll as a set-up (not to be confused as ‘filler’) for the rest of your series. It’s just something to have in mind when planning. This way you can plant twists and foreshadowing for the rest of the books.

Story that will close out the series: This story has big shoes to fill since you’ve probably been amping everything up to an explosive finish but at the end of the day it doesn’t matter if it’s bigger and better than what came before, it only matters if it’s a satisfying close to the whole series.

Summarize each story

Story # 1 summary ...you get the idea

Timeline: I like to know what year the series starts and when it will end. It might sound complicated but it’s so helpful. You don’t want a character to be pregnant or something for three books if the the stories have spanned more than nine months.

Spin-offs: You might find that you’ve got some ideas that don’t quite fit in with the others but they have some common elements. A spin-off is a cool way to explore those other ideas.

Naming conventions: I like to name my individual stories similar things to keep a theme. Example: J. R. Wards Black Dagger Brotherhood series has book titles with the word ‘Lover’ in them. There’s also naming conventions like the ACOTAR series by Sarah J. Maas that go “A Court of Blank and Blank”

SETTING LEVEL

Town/City/Village Name:

Area Description:

State/Province:

Country:

Common Weather:

Population:

Popular Figures:

Popular Locations:

Historical Background and Events:

What might the town be hiding to the average passer-by?

*You can definitely add more questions depending on your story. I write mostly within our world but I do like to create fictional towns.

CHARACTER LEVEL

Full Name:

Age:

Role:

Title/Rank/Occupation:

Wants:

Fears:

Misbelief:

Description/Faceclaim:

Personality Traits:

Zodiac Sign:

MBTI:

Theme Song:

Backstory:

Daily Life:

* Again, you can add any more questions you’d like to. These are just the ones I like to use to get going. Some of them are super vague, so in Daily Life I’ll put their living arrangement, transportation, pets or anything like that. I also add loads of stuff in their Description such as sexuality, how they dress, tattoos or scars, etc.

GROUP

*this is for anything like a fictional club, cult, company, evil organization or something like that.

Name:

Sub-divisions:

Type:

Founder:

History:

Current Leader:

Headquarters:

Current Operation:

Biggest Threat:

Biggest Allies:

Council Members (include roles):

Other Members (include roles):

STORY LEVEL

Working Title: Sometimes I use something concrete but if I need to get it out of the way I’ll put something like Project Black.

Estimated Length: Word or chapter count you’d like to achieve.

Order: Which book in the series is it?

Premise: I like to refer to this as the summary’s skeleton.

Tropes:

Subplot(s):

Story Summary:

Story Theme Song: This is just for fun but sometimes it really helps me capture what the whole story might be. I can also use it when I’m low on inspiration.

BEAT LEVEL

* I’d recommend googling an explanation of story beats or purchasing Blake Snyder or Jessica Brody’s book on Save The Cat beat sheet. But on the other hand, you don’t have to use a beat sheet at all. And if at any point during planning you feel like you’re ready to write then go for it!

Opening Image: An image that catapults your audience into the look and feel of your story

Theme Stated: Typically the theme of the story is communicated by someone fairly early on. This is dialogue spoken to the protagonist that he doesn’t quite grasp yet.

Set-Up: Show the protagonist in their “old world.” Let the audience know what the status quo is for them, then hint at the adventure that follows. This is also a time to introduce secondary characters.

Catalyst: Sometimes called the “inciting incident,” the catalyst is the event that disrupts your protagonist’s status quo. But they’re not ready to make the choice that catapults them into the story just yet.

Debate: This is where the protagonist has doubts about setting out on their perilous journey.

Break into Two: Inevitably, your protagonist will overcome their doubt and make a choice to set out on their adventure. This is the choice that sets the plot in motion. Your beat sheet will be filled with obstacles and twists resulting from making this choice from here on out.

B Story: A subplot ensues. Some would say that this is usually a romantic subplot.

Fun and Games: Plot structure requires a stretch where your protagonist wields their new power, and does cool stuff with it. I’ve also heard this referred to as the Promise of The Premise. So in Hunger Games by Susanne Collins this would be Katniss actually fighting in the games.

Midpoint: At some point, your protagonist will either get what they’re after... or not. But there will be consequences either way.

Bad Guys Close In: After your protagonist gets what they want, or not, there will be consequences. These forces will tighten their grasp, and throw the protagonist off balance.

All Is Lost: The dire circumstances your protagonist endures will lead to an inevitable loss. Which can be anything but it most commonly a character death.

Dark Night of the Soul: At this point of the Save the Cat beat sheet template, your protagonist has lost hope.

Break into Three: In plot structure, this is where your protagonist claws around in the darkness, only to find or remember something useful.

Finale: Treat the finale as the Act 3 summary. The Save the Cat beat sheet template is at its end, so it’s time for the protagonist to take on their foes. Armed with new tools and self-discoveries, the protagonist often synthesizes what they've learned (in Act 2) with values they've always had (Act 1).

Final Image: Along with the opening image, the final image creates the bookend that encapsulates the journey. This is the last thing the audience is left with.

*Closing thoughts: I have never used just a beat sheet because they don’t resonate with me for every story. I always add stuff or take away. I think there is a special beat missing between the Finale and Final image and that is where the characters slow down, take a breath and reflect on everything they’ve experienced. I also think Romance is the hardest genre to use the beat sheet with but I do a hybrid of the Beat Sheet from Save The Cat Writes A Novel! By Jessica Brody and Romancing the Beat by Gwen Hayes for the most part.

NOW JUST WRITE! :)

I hope this was helpful in some way or another! DM me or reply with any questions or for clarification. I have many more posts I’d like to create (on my process) but if you have any ideas or topics I should make posts on let me know.

Good luck and happy writing!

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Got this from: Friend from discord