Ahhhh, nothing quite like introducing an American to the Northern Territory’s “C U in the N T” tourism marketing campaign and watching their face engage in a slapdash performance of every emotion known to man in the span of about three seconds
don’t let your skill in writing deter you. publishers look for the storyline, not always excellent writing. many of the greatest books came from mediocre writers—and also excellent and terrible ones.
keep writing even when it sucks. you don’t know how to write this battle scene yet? skip ahead. write [battle scene here] and continue. in the end, you’ll still have a book—and you can fill in the blanks later.
find your motivation. whether it’s constantly updating That One Friend or posting your progress, motivation is key.
write everything down. everything. you had the perfect plot appear to you in a dream? scribble down everything you can remember as so as you can. I like to keep cue cards on my nightstand just in case.
play with words. titles, sentences, whatever. a lot of it will probably change either way, so this is the perfect opportunity to try out a new turn of phrase—or move along on one you’re not quite sure clicks yet.
explain why, don’t tell me. if something is the most beautiful thing a character’s ever laid eyes on, describe it—don’t just say “it’s beautiful”.
ask for critique. you will always be partial to your writing. getting others to read it will almost always provide feedback to help you write even better.
stick to the book—until they snap. write a character who is disciplined, courteous, and kind. make every interaction to reinforce the reader’s view as such. but when they’re left alone, when their closest friend betrays them, when the world falls to their feet…make them finally break.
magic. has. limits. there is no “infinite well” for everyone to draw from, nor “infinite spells” that have been discovered. magic has a price. magic has a limit. it takes a toll on the user—otherwise why can’t they simply snap their fingers and make everything go their way?
read, read, read. reading is the source of inspiration.
first drafts suck. and that’s putting it gently. ignoring all the typos, unfinished sentences, and blatant breaking of each and every grammar rules, there’s still a lot of terrible. the point of drafts is to progress and make it better: it’s the sketch beneath an oil painting. it’s okay to say it’s not great—but that won’t mean the ideas and inspiration are not there. first drafts suck, and that’s how you get better.
write every day. get into the habit—one sentence more, or one hundred pages, both will train you to improve.
more is the key to improvement. more writing, more reading, more feedback, and you can only get better. writing is a skill, not a talent, and it’s something that grows with you.
follow the rules but also scrap them completely. as barbossa wisely says in PotC, “the code is more what you’d call ‘guidelines’ than actual rules”. none of this is by the book, as ironic as that may be.
write for yourself. I cannot stress this enough. if what you do is not something you enjoy, it will only get harder. push yourself, but know your limits. know when you need to take a break, and when you need to try again. write for yourself, and you will put out your best work.
licherally cannot explain to adults these days that im actually so cool with the idea of being “just an employee” somewhere as long as i am paid enough to live comfortably and i also like the job. “but dont you want to be rich?? dont you want to always be striving for more???” like that sounds EXHAUSTING and i like having friends so
I cannot emphasize enough how much of a life hack it is to exclusively be friends with, date and marry people who are not constantly mean assholes to you.
This may seem like basic common sense, but one interesting (and kind of terrifying) thing I recently read was that some individuals who grew up in an emotionally abusive environment find that their anxiety level actually decreases in the presence of those who are mean or overly critical of them because it’s familiar. Their nervous systems are hard wired to react to that kind of treatment as “normal” in the sense that it knows what to do with it–what defense mechanisms to employ when, etc.
Meanwhile, kinder, more peaceful, and healthier relationships are quite a dramatic adjustment, and ironically feel less predictable because of all the threats that are absent and never materialize. It feels suspicious or too good to be true, which in turn ratchets up hypervigilance and hyper-arousal. Instead of knowing what BS is coming because it always does, there’s the nebulous sense that the other shoe is just waiting to drop. Safety and respect can feel the most unsafe for a while, because as far as the traumatized nervous system is concerned, those things don’t exist, or if they do in any form, there must be a million unseen strings attached.
This is part of what traps a lot of people in abusive relationships, consistently draws them to want to please assholes, or keeps them moving from one unhealthy environment to the next–a highly toxic comfort of familiarity where being on the receiving end of cruelty feels like “home”.
bat at hornets nest maybe but “there is no ethical consumption under capitalism” refers to low income communities needing to choose between survival vs being eco friendly. not you continuing to watch the harry potter movies
