fictionwritingtips:

If you’re a writer and you actively participate in world building, I’m sure you know how exciting it can be. You probably wouldn’t be doing it so often if you didn’t enjoy it. For me, it’s one of my favorite parts of writing and it’s why I enjoy writing Fantasy.

It might seem like there’s no real way to “fail” when world building, because everything is up to your imagination. If you can create whatever you want, how could you possibly fail? However, there are ways that you can do it “wrong”…

…And by that I mean there are ways you can make it uninteresting and boring for your readers. There are ways you can focus too much on the wrong things. In order to combat this problem, I’ve come up with a few ways you can fail at world building, so hopefully you can avoid them in the future.

Too much world building, not enough focus on characters.

It’s easy to get caught up in building your world that you forget to focus on characters. Character building and how they interact with the world you created is just as important as world building. Don’t focus all your time on creating an insanely original interesting world if you’re not going to create characters to go along with it. The world should support your characters and how they go about their daily lives. Don’t make those two separate things or there will be a serious disconnect. You need to show the greatness of your world by having your characters interact with it. Otherwise, what’s the point?

You never had a real understanding of how your world operates.

If you don’t understand how your world works, no one else will. If you say your world is run by magic, take the time to explain HOW it works. I’m not saying that everything needs to be scientifically explained, especially in a world where science might not matter, I just think you need to explain how it all works together to support your world. Make sure you ask yourself questions to flesh out your world. Where do people work? How do they go about their daily lives? Where do they live? How do they speak? It all needs to feel cohesive.

You based it TOO much on Earth’s history.

A lot of people avoid making their worlds diverse because they claim “it wasn’t like that back then”. The whole point of writing Fantasy and world building is that you can change things. Don’t refuse to include something because it didn’t happen that way in our history. You’re not writing historical fiction, you’re world building. You’re most likely writing Fantasy. A big failure that I see is some writers feel the need to follow a timeline that doesn’t need to exist in their stories. Get creative!

-Kris Noel

writing-questions-answered:

Anonymous asked: The series I’m planning on has subtle romance in it. Whenever I practice writing those type of scenes out for two characters I feel like they’re too obvious, but is obvious necessarily a bad thing? Any tips on what to avoid when writing subtle romance?

I think when you want something in your story to be subtle, you have to question whether the element should be there at all. What purpose does it serve if you want readers to barely notice it?

If you decide to keep the romance but don’t want it to overpower the rest of the story, read my post on How to Avoid a Forced Romantic Sub-Plot. :)

fictionwritingtips:

I’m sure a lot of people think being obsessed with anything you do or have in your life is unhealthy. However, being a writer requires a little bit of obsession…maybe a lot of obsession. The best way to stay motivated is constantly dwell about your story or ideas. You need to let it consume your brain every once in a while. Not to say you should let all your other responsibilities go, because that’s crazy, but you need to think about your writing A LOT. If you want to get published, it needs to transcend just being a hobby.

Maybe I should clarify what I mean by being obsessed with your writing. You should think you’re great every once in a while. You shouldn’t be afraid to talk about what you’ve accomplished. You should be your own biggest fan. You should be obsessed with your stories and where they’re headed. You need to give yourself more praise.

Personally, I find it very difficult to explain what I’m working on or share with others—but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. As long as I think what I’m writing is rad, I’m good to go. As a writer, you need to think what you’re doing is worth it and great. I know this might sound self-centered and obnoxious, but listen…no one else has to know. You can be your favorite writer and it’s okay if you love your writing. This will help you in the long run.

Here are a few ways you can make yourself feel better about your work:

• Allow yourself to celebrate your successes.  If you did something good, celebrate it! If you don’t take the time to celebrate both small and big moments in your writing career, it will start to feel monotonous. Even if it doesn’t feel like a huge deal, celebrate each small step.
• Stop being your own worst critic. I know, I KNOW this is really hard to do, but we all need to stop. No one is going to criticize your work like you criticize your work. Don’t be so hard on yourself.
• Talk about your writing.  There should be at least one person you feel comfortable sharing your writing with. Stephen King always asks his wife to be his first reader. Find a friend or family member who is enthusiastic to help you out.  If you don’t have anyone like that, consider joining a writing group. You can at least hear about how other people go through the writing process.
• Jot down ideas on a daily basis. If you keep a notebook or something like that filled with writing ideas, that will help you become obsessed with your writing.  Whenever you get an idea, jot it down…even if you don’t think it’s good at first. You’re full of GREAT ideas. Remind yourself of that.

-Kris Noel

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rueing:

I’ve collected a bunch of old books and articles, all in English, freely available online and published around 1832.

• Elements of operative surgery (1829)
• The principles of surgery (1832)
• A synopsis of modern practical surgery (1835)

Articles and short books:

• Official paper on cholera : … precautionary hints to persons residing in places suffering, or likely to suffer, from cholera (1832)
• Hints for Preserving Health: The Prevention of Consumption (September 21, 1833)
• An inaugural dissertation on infanticide (1817)
• Licentiousness and its effects upon bodily and mental health (1844)
• A treatise on the diseases produced by onanism (1832)
• Facts and important information from distinguished physicians and other sources : designed for females (1842)

Catalogues

• The druggist’s manual : being a price current of drugs, medicines, paints, dye-stuffs, glass, patent medicines, &c. : with Latin and English synonyms, a German, French, and Spanish catalogue of drugs…(1826)

“Family Physician” books (massive books)

• The book of health; a compendium of domestic medicine (1828)
• The families’ new guide to health (1833)
• The home physician (1832)
• The family physician and guide to health (1830)
• The home book of health and medicine (1834)
• The dogmaticus, or, Family physician (1829)
• The medical companion, or family physician (1827)
• The ladies’ medical oracle; or, Mrs. Mott’s advice to young females, wives, and mothers (1834)
• The homopathic guide : in all diseases of the urinary and sexual organs, including the derangements caused by onanism and sexual escesses…(1855)

If there is anything you’d like help researching, please don’t hesitate to request it?

fyp-psychology:

via culturenlifestyle 

Topic: Psychology, Tips & Tricks 

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Confidence is key to success in many areas of our lives. Confident people stand out at work, in social situations, and in group settings.

Studies have shown that those who appear more confident achieve higher status than their less confident peers.

As a result, they wield more influence, tend to be more admired and listened to, and have access to better resources.

If you’re not as confident as you’d like to be, some slight modifications to your body language can have a huge impact. 

Learn to fake it until you make it with these eight tricks below:

Keep Reading

abookblog:

A gentle reminder that even if you haven’t finished a book in days, months or years, but you still love books, that you’re still a bookworm.

You know why? Because books will always be there for you when you’re ready to go visit. 

fictionwritingtips:

If you’ve finished the first draft of your novel, there are certain things you are going to check for first once you begin the editing process. You need to make sure your novel makes sense. You need to make sure your plot connects in a logical way and there are no plot holes. Having someone else read over your manuscript usually helps and they’ll be able to spot things you didn’t.

Here are a few tips for spotting and correcting plot holes:

Your story should have continuity.

Each event should connect to the next event or help tie your novel together in long-run. The order can change, but all the events need to fit together logically to form your novel. Again, this doesn’t mean you can’t have flash backs or events that happen in the future, but they need to make sense.

Characters shouldn’t suddenly know things.

Having characters know things without any logical explanation of how they learned it is a big no-no. If there’s a problem that’s been plaguing your characters for a while and then all of sudden someone knows how to solve it without any explanation, you need to rethink that situation. We need to understand and see the process that your character went through to overcome an obstacle. This also helps us see their character growth/development.

Do not write events that go against events that have happened earlier.

If you say something happened earlier and then contradict that event later, your story won’t make any sense. It’s helpful to keep track of what’s going in, especially if you’ve let your manuscript sit for a while. Remind yourself of what has happened already. You also don’t want to keep telling your audience the same information over and over again in order to ensure that they understand. Your audience is smart and they don’t need things mentioned several times.

Don’t be afraid to cut a scene if it doesn’t fit anymore.

A lot of authors get stuck on writing a scene even if it no longer suits their work. I know you might be excited about it, but you can always try reworking it or brainstorming for something different. Don’t be afraid to let go of a scene, even if you love it. Your story will change and will need some rearranging. You can’t get too attached to something.

Laziness is not an excuse for plot holes. Your readers WILL notice if something doesn’t make sense, so don’t think that people will simply overlook it. Take the time to understand your story and where it’s going.

-Kris Noel

itstartswithablankpage:

I’m about to give you some advice that I don’t usually follow myself, but that I know works.

Confused? Yeah, me too.

Motivation is often a story killer. You’re tired from a long day at school or work or looking after kids. The last thing you want to do is glue your face to a computer screen and do even more work, right? That scene you were thinking about all day can wait, you’ll get to it another time when you’re rested and bothered.

But you (I,) shouldn’t think like that. This is what I tend to do If I want to write but aren’t bothered to.

Open your word document, and just read the last few sentences you wrote to get your story fresh in your mind.

Then do something else. Make some food, do some cleaning. Something mindless, that doesn’t require a lot of attention. Something to move yourself away from the screen- and no, social media doesn’t count. You don’t want to get sucked in.

(I find that I’ll be thinking about my story as I do these tasks, which makes my motivation slowly return.)

After a while, go back to your document and write a few lines. I usually end up writing a hundred words or so, which isn’t great but still progress.

Of course this might not work for everyone- there are people out there who write regardless of motivation or inspiration and I hope to get to that level some day.

But for now, I hope this can help someone with motivation , even if it’s just for a moment.

Happy writing.

Let me preface this by stating that everything in this review is purely my own opinion. I am in no way trying to offend anyone or alter anyone’s experience or viewpoint of this book. If you enjoyed/did not enjoy these books, please feel free to share your thoughts in a civil manner so that we can explore the work. Thanks!

– Sarah

Spoiler-free reviews below!

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