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Writing Prompt of the Day #6

You have found a car that can take you anywhere. Some people hear of this and try to take it away from you. What will you do?

#writing #writing ideas #writing prompt

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Hey just stumbled here looking for advice. How do you write better descriptions of characters? Mine seem too plain and have little to no details except for the cliche, “X had blue eyes that resembles the sky/sea.”

Guide: Describing Character Appearance and Clothing

DO: provide just enough detail to give the reader a sense of the character’s appearance.DON’T: go overboard with too many details or take up a lot of the reader’s time describing what a character looks like.

DO: focus on a few important traits and anything that serves as clues to who or what the character is and what their life is like.

DON’T: make a big deal out of traits that aren’t important to the story… like don’t mention that the character has freckles in every description. A few mentions throughout the story is more than adequate.

DO: describe clothing to give a general sense of the character’s normal attire, or when the character dresses differently than they usually do, such as during a special occasion.

DON’T: describe every single outfit the character wears unless those outfits are relevant to the action of the story in some way, such as a spy wearing disguises.

DO: establish a general sense of the character’s physique and appearance and remind reader of those characteristics occasionally.

DON’T: fixate on the character’s physical attributes in every description. Your reader can only tolerate so many descriptions of luscious buns and bugling muscles…

DO: choose a few traits of minor characters to give them dimension.

DON’T: go into too much detail about characters who aren’t that important.

Other Tips…

Choose a Focal Point

When describing a character’s appearance, choose a focal point and work up or down from there. For example, you may describe them from head to toe, or from toe to head. Try not to skip around. If you’re describing their face, start with their hair and work your way down to their mouth, or start at the mouth and work your way up to their hair. This doesn’t mean you have to describe every detail from head to toe, but whatever details you do choose, go in order.

Describing Race and Ethnicity

It’s fine to say that a character is Black, white, Latinx, Native American, First Nations, Middle Eastern, Asian (East Asian, South Asian… see below for more), or Pacific Islander. However, if you know where your character or their ancestors are from specifically (ie: China, Bangladesh, Venezuela, Lebanon), say that.Asia: East Asian (China, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Macau), South Asian (Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, India, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bhutan, Nepal, the Maldives), Southeast Asian (Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Timor Lester, Vietnam, Christmas Island, Cocos Islands)You can also describe skin color and tone, as well as other characteristics like eyes and hair, and that’s especially important if your character is of multi-racial or unknown racial origin, or if you’re writing fantasy where Earth races don’t exist. @writingwithcolor has wonderful guides on how to do this correctly.

If you describe the race and skin tone of the People of Color in your story, you should also describe the race and skin tone of the white characters in your story. Please avoid comparisons to food and beverage, and please don’t use “tan” to describe the skin of a Person of Color unless they are sporting a suntan. You can get creative just by using basic skin colors like brown and pink. For example, her skin was dark brown with a warm red undertone. Or, her skin was pale pink with a lemony undertone. 

Describing Clothing

Just like with physical appearance, when describing clothing you want to choose a focal point and work up or down. Think about the garments they’re wearing (pants, shirt, coat) and accessories (hat, jewelry, shoes). Be sure to choose clothing that’s relevant to your character and era/setting. You can find out about appropriate clothing by Googling the time and place your story is set plus the word clothing:

“Clothing in Victorian England”“Clothing in 1960s New York”“9th century Viking clothing”

Be sure to avoid cheap Halloween costume sites/pictures as references and instead look for articles/guides to clothing or shops providing clothing for historical reenactments. 

Things to consider:

- style (ie: swing dress, bell bottoms, blouse, etc.)

- collar/neckline (v-neck, scoop neck, peter pan collar, etc.)- sleeve style (sleeveless, spaghetti straps, cap sleeve, etc.)- dress length (cocktail dress, tea length, evening gown, etc.)- dress shape (A-line, mermaid, empire waist, sheath, etc.)

- shoes and shoe style (sneakers, boots, loafers, Mary Janes, etc.)

- accessories (jewelry, sunglasses, hats, scarves, bags, gloves, etc.)

- formal wear and accessories (tuxedo, vest, cummerbund, gloves, etc.) 

- outerwear (sweaters, jackets, and coats)

- fabric (wool, polyester, chiffon, spandex, tweed, etc.)

Looking for Inspiration

There are many resources online for both historical and modern clothing. For historical clothing, you can look for web sites about the period or for blogs and shops dedicated to historical reenactment. For modern clothing, you can look at the web sites of your favorite brands or stores, or you can go to Google Image Search and type in a general descriptor, like, “short black party dress” and find one you like, then read the description for the material, cut, and other descriptive clues. You can also try general searches like, “Man in a business suit” or “woman in a cocktail gown” if you’re not quite sure where to start.ETA:

Oops! There were a few errors and typos that I’ve fixed. Updated 8/1/19

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Writing Prompt of the Day #5

You’ve discovered a new planet. Describe what you see.

#writing ideas #writing prompt #writing

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These themes and ideas connect with a lot stories. What about yours?

(Credit in Pic)

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Writing Prompt of the Day #4

Write about someone who has lived on a island their whole life and is leaving it for the very first time

#writing ideas #writing prompt #writing

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Your first draft is not terrible.

It is not any sort of insulting name you call it.

It is a baby.  A young, inexperienced baby that might throw up on your shirt and cause you to lose sleep at night but you love it all the same and will patiently feed it and tuck it into bed at night with a kiss no matter what happens.

You do not call a baby stupid or awful because they are new to the world and do not have the ability or knowledge to function on their own.  Instead, you nurture and teach them so they grow up smart and strong and capable.

Such it is with a first draft.  A first draft is not bad because it needs care and attention. Don’t insult it because it is newly written down with ideas that are not yet fully formed.  In fact, that is the reason why it is AMAZING.  It’s a DRAFT!  The FIRST one for the story!  LOOK at it!  It exists!  It is ALIVE!  And it is YOURS, this story you made.  

So be proud of your first draft baby and, most importantly, be proud of yourself. 

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Writing Prompt of the Day #3

You are about to see your parents after 4 years. But just as your flight takes off, you discover a shocking note under your seat. Saying that your parents were/are....

#writing #writing prompt #writing ideas

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There is more than one way to say But

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There are many words to show feelings

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“If you can tell a story as briefly as possible, it’s more dramatic. If it’s too long, then it has the problems of pacing, it could get a little slow. But the shorter you can make a story, the better.”

— Joyce Carol Oates

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Writing With ✨Spice✨

My supervillain backstory is having to do my english assignment in this panini. That said, lets talk about writing! Are your scenes flat and you don’t wanna do that? Do you find yourself skimming your paragraphs? Do you wanna just add a little bit of pizazz? If so, then you’ve come to the write place!

✨Character plans✨

First, in case you haven’t already, ask yourself why the scene is important. Boring means that the pace is too slow–and some slow pace is good, it can get bad! Add some drama. So, the evil god is trying to take over the world and y’all are just a bunch of dudes going over the new plan. Don’t go over every meticulous detail because either a) your reader can infer the plan cuz they’re smart of b) they don’t care enough for the details. It can drag down the story a lot! 

Recommendation: Read through the boring scene, and rewrite it without referencing it. It’ll pull out what’s important–and if it’s a plan like the example, If the plan is successful, don’t communicate it with the readers, but if it’ll be a failure, do. If you still find it boring, make the plan recited by your funnies character. 

✨Move the timeline forward!✨

TAKE YOUR TIMELINE AND THROW IT AWAY YOU WON’T NEED IT! Wait,,,wait no bring it back,,,oh gosh. ANYWAY, if you find the pacing too slow or whatever, move up some scenes. Your characters are going to get back after the heist and have some dinner and wake up to the feds? NO! HAVE THEM BE CHASED BACK FROM THE MUSEUM WHATEVER CHARACTER DEV WAS GONNA HAPPEN AT DINNER CAN HAPPEN IN THE CAR CHASE! 

I’m not saying torture your characters always, but make sure there’s enough motive for them to get through the plot. Like, in this case, they’d be absolutely exhausted/stressed, and you also don’t have to write that whole dinner thing for filler. (Not saying filler is always bad, some things to break up the pace are good, but sprinkle it. Make your readers savor the happy moments). 

✨World Details✨

Okay, title isn’t descriptive, hear me out. Your character has been living for a while and they’ve seen a lot. In Chapter One, maybe you referenced the graffiti covering the school that was covered by paint. Now, your character is leaning against the wall and they feel their back kinda stick to it cuz of the drying paint. It adds some depth to your world and makes whatever insane plot is happening more real. 

And you know when the author has a line that’s like “ooh haha so innocent aww :)” and then it’s referenced at the climax and it completely ruins you? YEAH! Same idea, ykyk. 

✨Characters✨

I put tea in a mason jar and call myself the main character bb. Characters are the stars, make your reader have some kind of bond with them! Give them features they can relate to (I went over a post on character appearence for ideas in that aspect) and also don’t always do the “my parents died in a car crash” WHERE’S THE SPICEE! Kaz Brekker’s backstory in I think it was Crooked Kingdom? Unique. Disturbing. I loved it. Inej’s freaking entire life with the “no net” and going throughout all that to UGH six of crows/crooked kingdom *chef’s kiss*

A character is a character first. As they have loves, they have hates. As they have happiness, they have sadness and so on. If your reader never sees them happy, they won’t care (this is something I’ve struggled with and takes practice to make my OCs happy). 

These were some tips on adding ✨spice✨ to a WIP! I hope it helped, if you have any books you like leave them in the comments and yeah :) Any other questions you wanna ask please do :)

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Writing Prompt of the Day #2

Turn one of the songs you listen to into a story

#writing ideas #writing prompt #writing

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Writing Prompt of the Day #1

Write about a time when you showed everyone you succeed when they all thought you would fail

#writing prompt #writing ideas #writing

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How to write better descriptions

1. Avoid weak words

Remember my post on the word ‘take?’ ‘Take’ is a weak word, but it isn’t the only one. 

Compare these:

He ate the sandwich

She walked towards the lake.

The book smelled good.

to these: 

He devoured the sandwich 

She strolled towards the lake. 

The book smelled magical. 

Which sentences are more engaging? The latter ones. Why? Because devoured and strolled are stronger words than ate and walked. They’re more specific. They give you more information. To get across the same information with ate and walked, you’d have to add more words: she walked slowly, he ate quickly. 

Replacing good with magical doesn’t work quite as well as the verbs, but magical does tell us slightly more than good: it gives us a better sense of how the smell makes the character feel. 

How do you spot a weak word? Weak words are vague. They’re umbrella terms. They need support from other words to really get their meaning across. If you find yourself adding adverbs and adjectives to a term, question whether or not there’s a more concise way to get your point across. 

Strong word choice, however, isn’t all that’s needed for a good description:

2. Be as specific as required.

This isn’t to say you should describe everything in every scene in perfect detail, but being specific matters. 

Which is more engaging? 

He devoured the sandwich 

The book smelled magical.

or

He devoured the sandwich, stopping only to lick up the melted cheese that seeped through his fingers and ran down his palm. 

The book smelled magical, like a sunlit afternoon. 

Again, the latter ones. They take you into the scene. They evoke the senses. It’s the difference between telling and showing. Devoured is a strong verb, but it doesn’t give us a clear image of what is happening. Showing the character licking away the cheese gives the reader a sense of the desperation and hunger of the action. Evoking a sunlit afternoon is evoking your reader’s memories of their own sunny afternoons.These examples are statements with evidence. They provide details. 

You want to invite your reader into the scene, not give them a summary of the events.

Additionally, specifics make the world feel real. They convince readers that the world actually exists. They keep the story in your readers’ minds once they’ve finished reading. 

This being said, don’t pull a GRRM and describe every meal your characters eat. Some things just aren’t that important. There are occasions when it’s okay to tell instead of show. 

3. Remember the point of view.

Who is giving the description? 

If you’re writing in 1st person or 3rd person limited, remember how your character feels about what you’re describing. If you’re describing a strawberry field, a person who was raised on a strawberry farm is going to see it differently than someone who is deathly allergic to strawberries, who is going to see it differently from a Beatles fanatic. 

Maybe the Beatles fanatic is deathly allergic to strawberries and this field brings up a whole bucketful of conflicting emotions.

Which is all to say: 

Good descriptions reveal character as well as scene. 

If this description is coming from a character’s point of view: what is that point of view? What is this scene making your character feel? Don’t let your narrator slip away from the page. 

This connects to my last point. 

4. Remember why you’re including it. 

Novel writing is persuasive writing. It’s an exercise in persuading your reader that your story is true, that your characters are real people. It’s an exercise in persuading your readers to feel what you want them to feel. 

(There’s a well-known quote about this somewhere, but I can’t remember it exactly.)

Every description must add to the story. It should be doing something: working for some larger goal, advancing the plot, revealing character. 

Maybe you’re describing a house because you want your reader to see why your character doesn’t want to move.  

Maybe you’re describing this lovely-smelling book because you want the reader to know that it’s important to the character. That her favorite memories are of reading it in the attic of her grandmother’s house. 

When you’re writing out a description, identify its purpose and make sure it fulfils it. 

It’s okay if at first you don’t know how the house makes the character feel, or if she’s running or strolling towards the lake, or why the book is so important. Sometimes you just know it’s there. That something happened. Usually things become clearer as you write further and get to know the story and characters yourself. 

Once you do know what you’re trying to say with your story, make sure you say it with every chapter, every description, and every word.