writing-with-woolfy

[writing-with-woolfy]

Quick Tip #3

It’s = Only used as a contraction for ‘It Is’

Use ‘It’s’ only with a contraction, not for possession:

“The dog had a ball. It’s ball rolled away.” = INCORRECT

“The dog had a ball. Its ball rolled away.” = CORRECT

#Writing tip #Basic but you'd be surprised how often I see this one done wrong

[writing-with-woolfy]

A Writing Prompt

Have a writing prompt! The characters are two roommates: one is a hero and one is a villain. They’re arch enemies, but don’t know the other’s secret identity. They’ve just fought, and are injured as they come home. Write the dialogue as these two idiots try to find excuses that explain why they’re injured without giving away their identities.

This was my one:

Steven came home, nursing a wounded arm that was already smothered by thick, white bandages. John was waiting on the sofa beside a lamp, like a parent waiting for their child after curfew. “Where have you been?” asked John, his voice curious.

Steven practically jumped out of his skin. “Ducks!”

“…Ducks?”

“Yes! I was… feeding the ducks at the park!”

“…And what happened to your arm?”

“I was mugged!”

“…By ducks?”

“Yes! Wait… No! Well… Um… Yes, they were mutant ducks!”

“… Let me get this straight, Steve… You went down to the park to feed the ducks, but instead of feeding the ducks, you got mugged my mutant ducks, which broke your arm?”

“… They were REALLY hungry mutant ducks… Well, what about you?”

“What about me?”

“Isn’t that a burn mark on your shoulder…? Kinda looks like… a laser vision burn…”

“How would you know what a laser vision burn looks like?”

“I read the newspaper! Don’t avoid the question.”

“I was making sushi.”

“…Sushi…?”

“And I burnt it.”

“…How…did you burn sushi?”

“I left it on the grill for too long.”

Steven looked horrified. “You put sushi on the grill? Man! What are you? A villain?”

John sweated, nervously. “No,” he said quickly, “just a really bad cook! Why? You some sorta food hero or something?”

Steven gasped, also sweating nervously. “N-No! Just someone who really doesn’t think you should cook sushi on a grill! … Hang on…”

“What…?”

“…You’re allergic to rice…”

John stared at the wall, remembering how he’d pretended he was allergic to rice so he wouldn’t hurt Steven’s feelings about not liking his Risotto… There was only one thing to do: “You’re right, I’m actually a super villain.”

#writing prompt #sample writing #dialogue

[writing-with-woolfy]

Eats, Shoots and Leaves

If you want a good recommendation on a grammar book that’s informative AND hilarious, read ‘Eats, Shoots and Leaves’ by Lynne Truss! It’s great!

The title is based on a great grammar joke:

A panda walks into a bar. It eats, shoots and leaves.

Vs.

A panda walks into a bar. It eats shoots and leaves.

#recommendation #writing with woolfy

[writing-with-woolfy]

Clauses

Clauses are necessary in sentence construction. These come in the form of Independent and Dependent clauses.

Example of an Independent clause: There was a door that led to the attic.

Example of a Dependent clause: Just down the hall.

An Independent clause has a SUBJECT (in this case the door), but a Dependent clause doesn’t. A sentence needs at least ONE Independent Clause to be a proper sentence.

An independent clause can stand on its own, a dependent clause can’t.

Sentence: There was a door that led to the attic, just down the hall. (This contains an independent and a dependent clause)

A complex sentence includes 3 clauses, and will have two Dependent clauses and one Independent.

Complex Sentence: There was a door that led to the attic, just down the hall, but she thought it was locked. Door is the SUBJECT of the first I-Clause, and She is the SUBJECT of the second I-Clause.

You can’t have a sentence that’s just an dependent clause. Think of dependent clauses as additional information, that can technically be removed without harming the sentence. There was a door that led to the attic, but she thought it was locked.

When is it okay to use ONLY a dependent clause? DIALOGUE! Feel free to break some grammar rules with dialogue to make it sound more natural.

“Where’s the door to the attic?” “Just down the hall.”

#Writing tips #clauses #Grammar #sentence structure #Woolfy #Writing with Woolfy

[writing-with-woolfy]

Quick Tip #2

Double check usage of the word ‘That’. Most times, it can be removed entirely from a sentence to make your writing more concise. Try removing it temporarily from a sentence and read over to see if it’s necessary or not.

Necessary Example: It’s a word that requires inclusion.

Unnecessary Example: I didn’t know that you were going away.

#Quick Tip #Quick Tip 2 #Writing hack #Writing Tip #I'm not dead #Woolfy

[writing-with-woolfy]

I sometimes forget to add in what the character is doing while they are thinking or while I'm adding background plot points, how do I edit important details like that in so the readers know what the character is doing?

Good question!

The amount you include can really depend on the character and how focused they are on their thoughts and their actions. Are they so caught up in their thoughts that they’re just stuck staring out a window while their mind wanders, or are they busy doing a task?

If they’re just staring out a window, don’t worry much about including what’s going on around them - if the character isn’t concerned then the reader doesn’t need to be.

If they’re doing a task, try to find natural pauses in their thoughts to decide when to include an action. I find the best way/reason to include both together is if one impacts the other: does a character pause what they’re doing upon having a realization, or do they pause their train of thought to focus on their task? Eg,

There had been so many murders lately, but this library was the only place that stocked the book he needed, and work had finished late. As he roamed the shelves, his eyes noticed the ‘Mystery’ section. Who could the murderer possibly be? Jennifer had told him not to worry about it, that the murderer only attacked ‘pretty people’, but something was still irritating him. There had to be a reason behind all of this! Did he know the murderer? What if- Oh. He finally found the book he’d been searching for, the spine neatly tucked between two weighty volumes. He reached out and took it, eyes glancing over the title as his thoughts were temporarily forgotten.

vs.

There had been so many murders lately, but this library was the only place that stocked the book he needed, and work had finished late. As he roamed the shelves, his eyes noticed the ‘Mystery’ section. Who could the murderer possibly be? Jennifer had told him not to worry about it, that the murderer only attacked ‘pretty people’, but something was still irritating him. There had to be a reason behind all this! Did he know the murderer? He saw the book he’d been searching for and reached out to take it, but then... His fingers froze as realization struck. Oh god, what if Jennifer was the murderer?

Sometimes what a character is doing will impact their thoughts, and sometimes it won’t. Try to find natural pauses in your character’s thoughts and decide what they are doing, but you don’t need to include EVERY detail your character does, like in the example above I only focused on what he saw, not on the way he walked through the library to find the book.

The trick is to focus on whatever the character is focusing on.

Hope this helps! It’s a tricky one to answer.

[writing-with-woolfy]

What do you do when you find yourself using the same words over again and again? My sentences are starting to use the same beginnings and I don't know how else to show what a character is feeling?

A great question! Identification synonyms are the life-blood of writing!

Let’s start with a base example:

Pierce walked to the pantry and pulled out a box of expired noodles. Pierce rotated the packet a few times as he decided whether or not they were safe to eat. Pierce shrugged and poured them into a bowl anyway, and soon enough they were cooked.

Firstly, try to come up with a few ways of labeling the character. Use things like their name, gender identity, their sex, hair colour, occupation, etc. Eg, Pierce, He, The man, The blond, The hero, The technician, The idiot. They should be clear enough that we know who they are. Using He/She/They has a bit more leeway/forgiveness with repetition.

Pierce walked to the pantry and pulled out a box of expired noodles. He rotated the packet a few times as he decided whether or not they were safe to eat. The blond shrugged and poured them into a bowl anyway, and soon enough they were cooked.

If you ever feel your sentences are starting the same way far too often in a row, add in a sentence to break the monotony by focusing on something other than direct action, maybe by internalising or swapping the focus to something else in the scene temporarily.

Pierce walked to the pantry and pulled out a box of expired noodles. He rotated the packet a few times as he decided whether or not they were safe to eat. The date was only a few days over, so surely they were safe ... right? Who’d ever heard of someone dying from eating a pack of three-day-off noodles! The blond shrugged and poured them into a bowl anyway, and soon enough they were cooked. If he was going to be the first person to die from consuming expired noodles, then he was going to enjoy them!

Hope this helps!

[writing-with-woolfy]

how do I add more emotion to my writing? it feels like my stories are lifeless and I don't know how to fix it

A toughie! I hope this helps!

We’ll come at this from two different angles: writing and characters. To be a storyteller, the most important quality to have is Empathy: the ability to picture yourself in the place of your characters.

1- Writing - Show, don’t just tell.

‘He loved her, but didn’t know how to say it.’Vs.

‘Whenever he looked at her, his chest stirred with something primal, yet not entirely unpleasant. His heart would hammer against his ribcage, like a beast trying to pry its way from a cage. Whenever she looked at him, his face grew hot, and he’d be forced to look away, lest he make a complete fool of himself. There were so many words he wanted to say, so many words he NEEDED to say, but whenever he opened his mouth ... they refused to emerge.”

Even though we haven’t mentioned love in the second example, we still know what the poor boy is feeling. Bodily reactions are always fun to play with - quickening of pulses, fluttering of the chest, fidgeting, licking of lips - and help build up imagery.

2- Characters - Give your characters strong motivations/opinions/personality traits.

A basic way of creating a character or portraying an existing one is by giving them a motivation (eg, fall in love, stay out of prison), a positive trait (eg, generous, playful, loving), a negative trait (eg, petty, greedy), and a strong opinion on something relating to the story (eg, if they’re a hero they might have a very black and white idea about justice).

A motivation makes their mindset clear, a positive trait makes them likeable, a negative trait makes them relatable, and a strong opinion gives them some dimension. Let’s do a quick one using Hizashi from one of my fan fictions:Hizashi (VD) - Debut as a Villain - Good sense of humour - petty - doesn’t believe in redemption

Having all of these also gives you a range of potential emotions you can play with, depending on the scene, even if the scene isn’t from their perspective. What are they willing to give up for their goal? How do other characters react to their humour? How do they display pettiness? Do they recognise their negative trait is negative? How does their opinion affect how they respond to those around them?

By coming up with these points, you not only end up with more rounded characters, you also end up with more opportunities to write more emotion into the story since you have a better understanding of how the characters should respond/act in certain events.

I hope this was helpful! It was a tricky one!

#Writing tip #Ask #Emotion

[writing-with-woolfy]

Quick Tip #1

Be careful of the words began and started when paired with an action! They’re okay on occasion, but avoiding them makes your writing more snappy and concise.

“He began to walk to the centre of the room.” vs. “He walked to the centre of the room.”

“He started to test the car’s engine.” vs. “He tested the car’s engine.”

#Quick tip #Writing Tip #Writing with Woolfy #Writing

[writing-with-woolfy]

Curious, but any tips on how do you keep motivation for longer stories? I find myself burning out around Chapter 50.

That’s a tough one and can be different for each person.

1- NEVER write a story out of order. I’ll usually have scenes that I’m looking forward to writing, and I’ll use those as a reward/motivation to keep going, kinda like a carrot on a stick!

2- If (like me) you’re the sort of person who gets hyperfixated on things, try to shift your fixation onto your writing by: listening to music that relates to it, reading back over your favourite scenes, drawing the characters from a scene you adore, etc. I call this ‘Cheating the system’ ;)

3- Validation is a big driving force. If this is a story you’re posting, don’t be afraid of asking for comments/questions on it. It’s always easier to be motivated to write if other people are helping motivate you.

4- Bounce ideas off someone! As many of my friends know, I can just gush for hours about my writing, and it’s really easy to hype yourself up if you have someone to discuss ideas with!

5- However, if you’re really struggling with motivation, ask yourself what’s left to go in the story. Don’t feel obligated to write it beyond a natural conclusion, especially if you’re starting to have fatigue with the idea. There’s no shame in pausing a story to write something else too, until you find the motivation again.

Motivation is something that each person finds different, since it really depends on why you’re writing in the first place, but I hope these help!

#Motivation #Writing Tips #Tips #Ask

[writing-with-woolfy]

*cries* thank you so much for that 5 sense writing advice. It's really helped me paint the scene and convey what I want to the readers. My writing changed from being 250-300 snipets to 800-1,000 words that actually tell a story. This is a huge improvement for me so again thanks!!!

Thanks! I’m really glad it helped! For now it might be more of a conscious decision to add in the sensory details, but with time and practise you’ll add them more automatically as you write. Good luck, hun!

[writing-with-woolfy]

Asks

If you need any tips/have any questions, feel free to send me an ask! (Don’t worry - I don’t bite... usually =p )

#Not a tip

[writing-with-woolfy]

Awesome! Thank you. I was just wondering, what's the best way to go about writing out a plot? I have a vauge idea of where I want my story to go, but not enough to actually start writing. How do you plan out your plot points? Thanks again in advance

Funnily enough, I  rarely write out plots beforehand. When I write I see the story play out in my head and just kinda write it down, but that’s not really great advice. It’s best to set yourself some goals before you write.1- How do you want it to begin? How do you want it to end? You don’t have to know how it’s going to end perfectly, but have a vague idea about what you want. Get a better idea for a beginning? Go back and edit it.2- Who are the characters? What are their motivations?Motivations are SUPER important and can be as complex or simple as necessary. In my book, the lead has a simple motive: save his brother. Motives can change - Aizawa’s in The Way I Behave changes several times, from wanting to give himself a chance at happiness, to wanting to save Hizashi from himself.3- What’s going to be the climax? What is going to be the big moment you’ve been building up to and how have the characters reached that moment? Are they prepared or caught off-guard?4- Are there any smaller climaxes? Some stories only have one climax, but longer stories need smaller ones that grow in intensity each time (compare in TWIB: the first fight with thugs, the second fight with thugs, and the fight with Giran - the intensity grows each time)5- Do the characters DESERVE the ending they’re getting? Whether it’s happy or sad, the ending should always feel deserved.6- How are you going to stop the characters from getting what they want? You can’t just instantly give your characters the thing they want, they need to fight for it. What roadblocks are you going to put in place to test them? Can be as simple as their own stupidity.7- Is there a set structure? Stories are actually very structured. The most famous structure is called The Hero’s Journey. If you’re struggling, try to plot the story on basic plot structure: Ordinary World –> Inciting Incident –> Preparation/Rising Action –> Climax –> Fall in tension/journey home –> Conclusion8- Editing is 80% of writing. It sucks, but it’s the truth. If you have a better idea for a point, you can always go back and edit. At one stage I’d written ¼th of my novel with my protagonist with amnesia, before I suddenly decided he was a character who works best when he knows what he wants, so I didn’t hesitate to restart the entire story. Even in fan fiction, I always aim to be a few chapters ahead, because I love to go back and edit.

With the actual plotting process, that depends on you. Dot points are the easiest to follow:- On Ship - Wyvern attacks - Character A takes it down by shapeshiftingYou can try plotting out each chapter, or plot out the story and decide where the breaks naturally fall (a chapter should always have a small sense of tension or final-ness to it)Or, another way to plan (my way whenever I do need to actually plan) is to write down scenes with vague dialogue ideas:Ethanprobably yells at him and for the first time Connor seems shaken – he apologizesprofusely, and Ethan backs down when he sees the more human side of themonster. He admits he shouldn’t have allowed Miliconnor to help him find Maria,especially since Connor had such an obvious interest in him, but Connor admitsthat really he doesn’t mind if Ethan lives happily with Maria so long as he’shappy. Ethan thinks it’s noble, but he wouldn’t be able to accept that if hewere Connor – he hates losing more than anything.

Remember, the plan is for YOU. It can be edited at any stage, it can be set out in any way that best suits your needs. I hope this helps, I know it’s a little disjointed =‘D

[writing-with-woolfy]

do you have any tips to making your writing more descriptive?

This is one I run through with students:

You’re on a ship and a storm is approaching. Describe it with reference to the five senses (sight, touch, smell, sound, taste).

Sight: Storm clouds on the horizonTouch: The feel of the wooden deck on their bare feetSmell: Damp air that signals rainSound: Waves breaking against the shipTaste: Salt water as it sprays in the air

Now we just need to fit these into a scene:

From the horizon marched a column of clouds, their dark, ominous forms suffocating the once-blue sky. The deck felt cold beneath his feet, the wood already slick with foam, while the air was heavy with the promise of rain. All he could hear were the waves as they crashed against the sides of the small ship, each caress sending it rocking back and forth. The sea spray soaked his clothes and filled his mouth with the pungent twang of primordial salt. A storm was approaching.

Practise makes perfect. Pick a setting (eg, Forest, kitchen) and write down something for each of the senses and then turn it into a paragraph. Not every description needs its own sentence, and try to think about the purpose of it: are you building tension, are you highlighting a character’s lifestyle, are you setting a certain mood, or are you trying to build imagery. Revise figurative techniques too (metaphors, similes, personification, alliteration, etc) and listen to it out loud.

Hope that helps!

Bonus Tip: Only write what the character can focus on. Unless they’re looking in a mirror, the character wouldn’t focus on their own eye colour, and rather than saying they blushed say they felt their cheeks turn warm.