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The end of the world came just before daybreak, during the 'blue hour' when nature held its breath for a split second one last time and then the sky cracked open and fell down upon us like shards of glass
too few lived to see daybreak
fewer made it past the gates opening
less than a quarter of the world's population made it to the safe haven that was Bloodrock in time for departure
half of the ones left perished during the trip
the human race had almost been wiped out in its entirety in less than half a day
more would follow
that was the undeniable truth of the matter
we all knew it
I could see it on the faces of the other passengers, the morbid acceptance, the grim resignation for what was to come, but beneath all the grime, blood, and dust on their skin I could see hope. hope that humanity will live past this, that we will survive and eventually we would once again thrive
finger clutched tightly in prayer we huddled around and formed a sort of half circle looking out one of the windows of Bloodrock
I felt a spark of determination rush through me so fiercely that it sent shivers down my back and made my hairs stand on their end
we would survive!
and we would learn from this so that our children and our children's children would not repeat our mistakes
then we would come back and reclaim what had been taken from us with a furious vengeance no other race in the known universe could ever possess
WE. WOULD. THRIVE.
Writing (at least for me) is all about momentum. If you stop, you crash and burn. So, here are some hacks I use to keep myself writing.
-Instead of stopping to google information, like “How long does it take for trees to grow,” or “how many different species of birds of paradise are there, simply put "TK" in the spot where the units or information would be and move on. After you are done writing, you can go back and google for the needed information.
-In scenes where you simply cannot think of what to put, simply write something in brackets like, “[The characters reminisce with each other around the fire. This leads into the next topic.]” or something similar. Oftentimes, later writing will give you inspiration for what to put in those spots.
-If you can’t remember the word, or need a synonym, DON’T stop to google. Simply put the word (or “placeholder”) in brackets and come back later. If you are still having trouble finding out or remembering the word when going back through, I would recommend Onelook Reverse Dictionary as a very good source for finding words and synonyms.
-When plotting something out, don’t feel the need to put everything that happens. If you want to, cool! For me, I find I quickly lose disinterest in actually writing when I have every little thing already planned out. It has become boring to me. To combat this, I simply write the main ideas of what I want to happen and things I want to mention (symbolism/foreshadowing) and move on, giving myself room to continue to explore and discover as you write.
-To avoid burnout, If I’m working on a bigger project, I’ll usually also have something that I’m writing on the side that I can switch back and forth so I don’t lose interest.
-Don’t be afraid to use generators! Character names, places, powers, etc. can all be created using a generator. You don’t have to worry about every little thing. Also, if you can’t think of a name or something else at the moment that you could use a generator for, just mark it in brackets (ex: [Name]) and move on.
Lastly, remember that everything you write is for yourself. Having others validate you is always great, but they are the ones who have the privilege of reading your works. You don't owe them anything.
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!)
lets do some rol play so some of you understand:
You are going to this robot and saying: "hey you. you have all the material you have stolen from other authors, right?"
"yeah i got it all kekeke."
"Give me a plot point you've stolen, one that's good."
"Here."
"Nice. Now some unsuspecting author's whole style. Hopefully one they have worked for decades on developing."
"Thankfully, there's still some ppl that dont get the memo that now word, google docs, and almost every writing software under the sun is stealing from them. Here you go."
"Thanks mate. Now I'm going to put this together and post it."
"Beware: Im going to scrap it later again."
"But I worked so hard on putting it together, even with your help!... and doesn't that mean that if you keep scraping from AI works, the quality of everything is going to go down?"
"Yeah."
"So why are you telling me this? Isn't that bad for your bussiness?"
"It's because I'm an author desguised as an AI trying to make you understand why using AI is bad in all levels: for the environement, for intelectual property, and for art in itself."
i couldnt be bothered to narrate a thing, im so tired. hope this helps
i hate how you get desensitized to the cool stuff in your WIP if you've been writing it for a long time so when you read back over it you're like "this isn't as cool as i thought :(" but it still is! you just read it too many times
im so in love with how my characters love each other that i always have to find and then swap the word tender/tenderly like a hundred times when im writing fluff
me when i write: hold on, how many times have i used this word? i've used it 27 times in the last 1000 words
Easy fix that I haven’t seen anyone try but I have seen brought up a lot:
Make the rival/best friend also the love interest.
No honestly, it’s really that simple. The love interest lack the same sort of passion and energy that the best friend/rival typically has? Just combine the characters. This way you have less characters you have to worry about writing material for and fleshing out and you also get a stupid simple fix for romances coming off as stale and forgettable. Hell, you don’t even need to get rid of the best friend characterTM because you could just as easily give the love interest a similarly compelling dynamic and still keep both characters.
Anime/Manga Writers: Why don’t the fans like the canon straight couple instead of the non-canon gay ships?
MC looking at their canon love interest: So pretty and fights good.
MC looking at their rival/best friend/partner: They’re like the sun, brilliantly blinding and all-consumingly powerful. There’s a deadly beauty and grace to every action they take. They’re the other half of me that I never thought could exist, the one person who pushes me to be my best self, and life without them would not be worth living. There’s nothing in this world that they could not accomplish and I am but a fool chasing after them in hopes of reaching their level. Even then, having them in front of me/by my side has pushed me to heights I never thought imaginable.
One of my favourite concepts I don’t think I’ve really seen before is characters trading/lending their weapons to each other. There’s just something I find really sweet about that act (especially if the weapon has sentimental value to the owner and letting someone else use it is a big deal.)