Surviving College

Surviving college

I saw a really helpful post by @daisystudies about tips for college (link to post) and I felt inspired to share some things I learnt during my first year:

Commute will get easier - If you live close enough to your college, that you don’t have to move there, but far enough for it to be a long commute, I promise it’s worth it and it gets easier. Make sure to research ways to make commuting cheaper especially for students (most countries offer long term tickets for cheaper).

Everyone is just as lost as you are - Not even the older students are much wiser trust me.Being confused and stressed is super normal! It’s a big change, but you’ll adapt and it will get easier.

Everybody is lonely and everyone wants to make friends - People do not want to be alone and they will want to talk to you. Everyone seeks a companion and they are opened to a conversation. If you’re not brave enough to start talking to strangers (that’s okay) just try to look opened to talking to someone. Smile a bit, don’t spend all of your time staring into your phone, take part in class. I promise people aren’t as terrifying as they seem.

Professors who try to scare you are assholes and are not worth to stress over - I meet two types of professors: those who try to encourage students and those who are proud of their class being difficult. My very first lecture started with the professor listing reason why we don’t deserve to be there, which was scary. I later realised that people like that are not worth my attention. I promise you will meet great professors who will feel like mentors and will help you.

You’re largerly on your own - I know this sounds awful but stick with me for a second. In high school you are told all deadlines, reminded of important tasks and you get a very rigid schedule. In college it’s up to you to look up deadlines, find all necessary requirements and sign up for exams. This will be stressful at first but it also offers far more freedom and often allows you to do things on your own schedule.

Physical health and activity is way more important than you think - I beg you to move your body at least 3 times a week. Walk, do yoga, stretch, do sports, go to the gym - anything. Just make sure you don’t neglect your body just because of a busy schedule. It can and will do more damage than you might think.

College social life is a bit over romanticised - This might be the covid era student in me speaking but I still feel it’s important to mention. It won’t be like you see in shows and movies. Doesn’t mean it’s never fun… but still make sure not to expect the greatest years of your life. Best case scenario: you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

Get a light laptop - this depends on what you study, but most majors do not need you to have an expensive computer. It’s just better to have something to have all your notes on and a lot of classes are so fast paced it’s impossible to hand write without having to go back and fill in large amounts of information, which in turn takes a lot of extra time.

Your mental health is not worth sacrificing for good grades or even a finished degree - Please set your priorities right in the beginning. Your health is the most important thing you have. You can always live an amazing life without a degree but not without your health.

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Ooh, this is fun! Here’s mine!

Hopping on this trend !! :) Tried to make a lot of them daydreaming-related <3

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This is an ultimate masterlist of many resources that could be helpful for writers. I apologize in advance for any not working links. Check out the ultimate writing resource masterlist here (x) and my “novel” tag here (x).

✑ PLANNING

Outlining & Organizing

For the Architects: The Planning Process

Rough Drafts

How do you plan a novel?

Plot Development: Climax, Resolution, and Your Main Character

Plotting and Planing

I Have An Idea for a Novel! Now What?

Choosing the Best Outline Method

How to Write a Novel: The Snowflake Method

Effectively Outlining Your Plot

Conflict and Character within Story Structure

Outlining Your Plot

Ideas, Plots & Using the Premise Sheets

✑ INSPIRATION

Finding story ideas

Choosing ideas and endings

When a plot isn’t strong enough to make a whole story

Writing a story that’s doomed to suck

How to Finish What You Start: A Five-Step Plan for Writers

Finishing Your Novel

Finish Your Novel

How to Finish Your Novel when You Want to Quit

How To Push Past The Bullshit And Write That Goddamn Novel: A Very Simple No-Fuckery Writing Plan

✑ PLOT

In General

25 Turns, Pivots and Twists to Complicate Your Story

The ABCs (and Ds and Es) of Plot Development

Originality Is Overrated

How to Create a Plot Outline in Eight Easy Steps

Finding Plot: Idea Nets

The Story Goal: Your Key to Creating a Solid Plot Structure

Make your reader root for your main character

Creating Conflict and Sustaining Suspense

Tips for Creating a Compelling Plot

The Thirty-six (plus one) Dramatic Situations

Adding Subplots to a Novel

Weaving Subplots into a Novel

7 Ways to Add Subplots to Your Novel

Crafting a Successful Romance Subplot

How to Improve your Writing: Subplots and Subtext

Understanding the Role of Subplots

How to Use Subtext in your Writing

The Secret Life of Subtext

How to Use Subtext

Beginning

Creating a Process: Getting Your Ideas onto Paper (And into a Story)

Why First Chapters?

Starting with a Bang

In the Beginning

The Beginning of your Novel that isn’t the Beginning of your Novel

A Beginning from the Middle

Starting with a Bang

First Chapters: What To Include @ The Beginning Writer

23 Clichés to Avoid When Beginning Your Story

Start Writing Now

Done Planning. What Now?

Continuing Your Long-Format Story

How to Start a Novel

100 best first lines from novels

The First Sentence of a Book Report

How To Write A Killer First Sentence To Open Your Book

How to Write the First Sentence of a Book

The Most Important Sentence: How to Write a Killer Opening

Hook Your Reader from the First Sentence: How to Write Great Beginnings

Foreshadowing

Foreshadowing and the Red Hering

Narrative Elements: Foreshadowing

Foreshadowing and Suspense

Foreshadowing Key Details

Writing Fiction: Foreshadowing

The Literary Device of Foreshadowing

All About Foreshadowing in Fiction

Foreshadowing

Flashbacks and Foreshadowing

Foreshadowing — How and Why to Use It In Your Writing

Setting

Four Ways to Bring Settings to Life

Write a Setting for a Book

Writing Dynamic Settings

How To Make Your Setting a Character

Guide for Setting

5 Tips for Writing Better Settings

Building a Novel’s Setting

Ending

A Novel Ending

How to End Your Novel

How to End Your Novel 2

How to End a Novel With a Punch

How to End a Novel

How to Finish a Novel

How to Write The Ending of Your Novel

Keys to Great Endings

3 Things That End A Story Well

Ending a Novel: Five Things to Avoid

Endings that Ruin Your Novel

Closing Time: The Ending

✑ CHARACTER

Names

Behind the Name

Surname Meanings and Origins

Surname Meanings and Origins - A Free Dictionary of Surnames

Common US Surnames & Their Meanings

Last Name Meanings & Origins

Name Generators

Name Playground

Different Types of Characters

Ways To Describe a Personality

Character Traits Meme

Types of Characters

Types of Characters in Fiction

Seven Common Character Types

Six Types of Courageous Characters

Creating Fictional Characters (Masterlist)

Building Fictional Characters

Fiction Writer’s Character Chart

Character Building Workshop

Tips for Characterization

Fiction Writer’s Character Chart

Advantages, Disadvantages and Skills

Males

Strong Male Characters

The History and Nature of Man Friendships

Friendship for Guys (No Tears!)

‘I Love You, Man’ and the rules of male friendship

Male Friendship

Understanding Male Friendship

Straight male friendship, now with more cuddling

Character Development

P.O.V. And Background

Writing a Character: Questionnaire

10 Days of Character Building

Getting to Know Your Characters

Character Development Exercises

✑ STYLE

Chapters

How Many Chapters is the Right Amount of Chapters?

The Arbitrary Nature of the Chapter

How Long is a Chapter?

How Long Should Novel Chapters Be?

Chapter & Novel Lengths

Section vs. Scene Breaks

Dialogue

The Passion of Dialogue

25 Things You Should Know About Dialogue

Dialogue Writing Tips

Punctuation Dialogue

How to Write Believable Dialogue

Writing Dialogue: The Music of Speech

Writing Scenes with Many Characters

It’s Not What They Say …

Top 10 Tips for Writing Dialogue

Speaking of Dialogue

Dialogue Tips

Interrupted Dialogue

Two Tips for Interrupted Dialogue

Show, Don’t Tell (Description)

“Tell” Makes a Great Placeholder

The Literary Merit of the Grilled Cheese Sandwich

Bad Creative Writing Advice

The Ultimate Guide to Writing Better Than You Normally Do

DailyWritingTips: Show, Don’t Tell

GrammarGirl: Show, Don’t Tell

Writing Style: What Is It?

Detail Enhances Your Fiction

Using Sensory Details

Description in Fiction

Using Concrete Detail

Depth Through Perception

Showing Emotions & Feelings

Character Description

Describing Your Characters (by inkfish7 on DeviantArt)

Help with Character Development

Creating Characters that Jump Off the Page

Omitting Character Description

Introducing Your Character(s): DON’T

Character Crafting

Writer’s Relief Blog: “Character Development In Stories And Novels”

Article: How Do You Think Up Your Characters?

5 Character Points You May Be Ignoring

List of colors, hair types and hairstyles

List of words to use in a character’s description

200 words to describe hair

How to describe hair

Words used to describe the state of people’s hair

How to describe your haircut

Hair color sharts

Four Ways to Reveal Backstory

Words Used to Describe Clothes

Flashbacks

Using Flashbacks in Writing

Flashbacks by All Write

Using Flashback in Fiction

Fatal Backstory

Flashbacks as opening gambit

Don’t Begin at the Beginning

Flashbacks in Books

TVTropes: Flashback

Objects in the Mirror Are Closer Than They Appear: Flashback Techniques in Fiction

3 Tips for Writing Successful Flashbacks

The 5 Rules of Writing Effective Flashbacks

How to Handle Flashbacks In Writing

Flashbacks and Foreshadowing

Reddit Forum: Is a flashback in the first chapter a good idea?

Forum Discussing Flackbacks

P.O.V

You, Me, and XE - Points of View

What’s Your Point of View?

Establishing the Right Point of View: How to Avoid “Stepping Out of Character”

How to Start Writing in the Third Person

The Opposite Gender P.O.V.

LANGUAGE

How To Say Said

200 Words Instead of Said

Words to Use Instead of Said

A List of Words to Use Instead of Said

Alternatives to “Walk”

60 Synonyms for “Walk”

✑ USEFUL WEBSITES/LINKS

Grammar Monster

Google Scholar

GodChecker

Tip Of My Tounge

Speech Tags

Pixar Story Rules

Written? Kitten!

TED Talks

DarkCopy

Family Echo

Some Words About Word Count

How Long Should My Novel Be?

The Universal Mary Sue Litmus Test

Writer’s “Cheat Sheets”

Last but not least, the most helpful tool for any writer out there is Google!

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Friendly reminder that this blog is not, and will never be welcoming towards transphobes, terfs, nazis, racists, homophobes, arophobes or aphobes. If you cannot accept others for how they were born, then you do not need to be following me.

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So, I finally made compiled my full kin list and here are my observations:

1. Wow I’m a piece of shit aren’t I?

2. It’s the family issues for me, man.

3. ✨Trauma✨

4. No seriously, I’m such a red flag. 😭😭😭

5. They all have nice hair though.

6. I know most of them are total shitbags, but they’re my emotional support shitbags.

Feel free to judge me as much as you’d like.

ON THIS BLOG WE LOVE AND SUPPORT AUTISTIC ARO AND ACE PEOPLE

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"Gifted kid" primary schooler to daydreaming highschooler pipeline.

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[ ID: Two versions of the same image: tiny arc shapes layered with a black circle in the middle and a quote in the middle with light text that reads, “If I didn’t define myself for myself, I would be crunched into other people’s fantasies for me and eaten alive. - Audre Lorde” The top image has purple and grey (like the ace flag) arcs; the bottom image has light green and darker green (like the aro flag) arcs. ]

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