If your dialog feels flat, rewrite the scene pretending the characters cannot at any cost say exactly what they mean. No one says “I’m mad” but they can say it in 100 other ways.
Wrote a chapter but you dislike it? Rewrite it again from memory. That way you’re only remembering the main parts and can fill in extra details. My teacher who was a playwright literally writes every single script twice because of this.
Don’t overuse metaphors, or they lose their potency. Limit yourself.
Before you write your novel, write a page of anything from your characters POV so you can get their voice right. Do this for every main character introduced.
This is legit good writing advice, especially the first bullet point! In playwriting class we did a bit where every bit of dialogue had to be an accusatory question and it was glorious.
companies underestimate how much locking their content behind needing an account will just make me go do something else. oh your website wants me to make an account to view this content? oh your website doesn’t show media to logged-out users? okay. i didn’t actually want to see it that bad. yeah. bye ✌️
a raven father (i call him “pants”) I’ve been feeding sometimes likes to sit outside my window and either wait for more food or just listen to the stuff I’m watching while I draw. Today’s a colder day so he likes to fluff up a bit, and I kid you not :
thinking about harvey stardew valley and being a rural country doctor with a caseload like:
guy who won’t accept any diagnosis except “you have consumption and need to go to the seaside for your health”
woman who asks what gemstone he would prescribe for her UTI
guy who spends half the day trying to give himself a concussion and the other half trying to blow out his hearing on his guitar
two people who have struggled with alcoholism for years but reject all of his resources for it UNTIL someone gifts them alcohol biweekly for a year straight and suddenly their lives turn around
guy who will not stop mailing people bombs but in a friendly way and like this just isn’t on the PTSD screener??
guy who won’t stop asking him vague but increasingly bizarre questions about the safety of truffle oil
woman who EATS ROCKS
and also there’s a fucking wizard. what’s up with that. how often do you think the man goes “why did i get an MD why didn’t i just train to be a wizard i didn’t even know that was an option” while performing emergency surgery on this one farmer who won’t stop picking fights with ACTUAL MONSTERS
ALT
ALT
