TO EVERYONE SAYING THEY'RE INSECURE ABOUT THEIR WRITTING:

Yellow houses sounds so good 👀

tysm for your interest! I hope to pick up that project again one day 🙃

Novel Moodboard: Neon Chatroom.

A little preview of a moodboard for my shelved novel, Yellow Houses. Although this project is now shelved I'll be making an intro for it soon so stay tuned!

Ask awayyy 💌

Writeblr Emoji Game: Comfort Snacks!

Send an ask with an emoji from the list below to the person who reblogged this post. Then, reblog the game to keep playing! xo

🍔 Share a 1-2 sentence summary of your WIP

🌭 Recommend another writer’s WIP post and tell us why we should reblog it!

🍟 Share a GIF that represents your WIP

🌮 Recommend a writeblr who you admire and tell us what about them you admire

🍿 Share an out-of-context line from your WIP

🍩 Recommend a writeblr who is an all-around must-follow and tell us why you follow them

🍪 Share a song or music video that represents your WIP

🧁 Recommend a writeblr who has taught you something new about writing and tell us what you learned from them

🍭 Share a link to one of your recent WIP posts so we can give it some much deserved attention!

🍫 Recommend another writer’s WIP and tell us why you love it

hello world! you’ve severely disappointed me! i’d sound like my mother if i went on about your mistakes, but i’d rather spare you the grief! save room for me in my unlikely return, even if you’re a hard place to call home! ciao!

Writing Share Tag

Thank you @drchenquill and @autism-purgatory for tagging me.

Sharing some excerpts below from Draft 1 of Project Istanbul that are getting scrapped (these scenes didn't survive my developmental revision plan). Hope you enjoy!

TW: addiction, unsafe quitting methods in first snippet.

Gently tagging: @literaryvein @mcplestreet and anyone who wants to participate. Rules are simple: just share some of your writing!

Made this mood board using Canva with some free images from Unsplash. Slapped on some snippets I wrote and shared a little while ago,,,,,and yeah.

By the way, one told me second drafts could be so brutal.

5 frustrating workshop rules that made me a better writer

Throughout the 15 workshops I joined in college and grad school, I encountered two types of writing rules.

First, there were the best-practice guidelines we’ve all heard, like “show don’t tell.” And then there were workshop rules, which the professor put in place not because they’re universal, but because they help you grow within the context of the workshop.

My college’s intro writing course had 5 such rules:

No fantasy, supernatural, or sci-fi elements.

No guns.

No characters crying.

No conflict resolution through deus ex machina.

No deaths.

When I first saw the rules, I was baffled. They felt weirdly specific, and a bit unfair. But when our professor, Vinny, explained their purpose (and assured us he only wanted us to follow the rules during this intro workshop, not the others to come), I realized what I could learn from them.

1. No fantasy, supernatural, or sci-fi elements.

Writers need to be able to craft round characters, with clear arcs. While you can hone those skills writing any type of story, it can be more difficult when juggling fantastical elements, because it’s easy to get caught up in the world, or the magic, or the technology, and to make that the focus instead of the characters. So Vinny encouraged us to exclude such elements for the time being, to keep us fully focused on developing strong, dynamic characters.

2. No guns.

Weapons have a place in many stories, but when writers include a gun, they often use it to escalate the plot outside of the realm of personal experience and into what Vinny called “Hollywood experience.” He wanted us to learn how to draw from our own observations and perceptions of life, rather than the unrealistic action, violence, and drama we’d seen in movies, so he made this rule to keep us better grounded in our own experiences.

3. No characters crying.

When trying to depict sadness, writers often default to making characters cry. While there’s nothing inherently wrong with that, tears are just one way to show grief, and they aren’t always the most subtle or emotionally compelling. That’s why Vinny challenged us to find other ways to convey sadness — through little gestures, strained words, fragile interactions, and more. It was difficult, but opened us up to depicting whole new gradients of grief and pain.

4. No conflict resolution through deus ex machina.

This is the only one of the rules I’d say is generally universal. Meaning “God from the machine,” deus ex machina is a plot device where a character’s seemingly insurmountable problem is abruptly resolved by an outside force, rather than their own efforts. These endings are bad for various reasons, but Vinny discouraged them because he wanted us to understand how important it was for our characters to confront their struggle and its consequences.

5. No deaths.

Death is inherently dramatic and can be used to good effect, but many writers use death as a crutch to create drama and impact. Writers should be able to craft engaging, meaningful stories, even without killing off their characters, so this rule challenged us to find other methods of giving weight to our stories (such as through internal conflict).

How these rules helped me grow as a writer

First things first, I’ll say it again: apart from #4 (deus ex machina), these rules were never meant to be universally applied. Instead, their purpose was to create temporary barriers and challenges to help us develop key skills and write in new, unfamiliar ways.

For me, the experience was invaluable. I liked the way the rules challenged and stretched my abilities, driving me to write stories I’d have never otherwise attempted. They made me more flexible as a writer, and while I don’t follow the rules anymore (I LOVE me some fantasy), I’ll always be thankful for how they shaped my writing.

My recommendation to you?

Give some of these rules a shot! Follow them temporarily while writing 2-4 short stories — but remember to always keep their purpose in mind, because the rules themselves will only help if you understand what they’re trying to achieve.

Write with purpose, and you’ll always be growing.

— — —

For more tips on how to craft meaning, build character-driven plots, and grow as a writer, follow my blog.

tolstoy, vladimir nabokov (trans. dmitri nabokov)

productivity tag game

Thank you @mcplestreet for tagging me!

goals: Finish outline for Draft 2 of Project Istanbul, share with beta readers, then begin writing Draft 2. Also reread Hamlet and Macbeth.

productivity tip: Caffeine (obviously), YouTube videos of typing sounds, 'office ambience', mild jazz. The Forest app for timed sessions―this is fun because you 'grow trees' each productivity sprint. I've also heard the Pomodoro technique is useful.

current project: Project Istanbul― literary noir/mystery/thriller novel set in Istanbul, Turkey. Check out my recent wip intro post for details.

exchange something: Some jazz for you: "Générique" by Miles Davis

quote: “Curiously enough, one cannot read a book; one can only reread it. A good reader, a major reader, and active and creative reader is a rereader.” ―Vladamir Nabokov, Lectures on Literature

Leaving game open for whoever wants to play!

Ecstatic to say that I’m in that particular writing flow state again. You know which I mean—the one where time and space do not exist.