The Function Of The First Draft Is To Help You Figure Out Your Story. The Function Of Every Draft After

100 Words for Facial Expressions

1. Absent: preoccupied 2. Agonized: as if in pain or tormented 3. Alluring: attractive, in the sense of arousing desire 4. Appealing: attractive, in the sense of encouraging goodwill and/or interest 5. Beatific: see blissful 6. Bilious: ill-natured 7. Black: angry or sad, or see hostile 8. Bleak: see grim and hopeless 9. Blinking: surprise, or lack of concern 10. Blissful: showing a state of happiness or divine contentment 11. Blithe: carefree, lighthearted, or heedlessly indifferent 12. Brooding: see anxious and gloomy 13. Bug eyed: frightened or surprised 14. Chagrined: humiliated or disappointed 15. Cheeky: cocky, insolent 16. Cheerless: sad 17. Choleric: hot-tempered, irate 18. Coy: flirtily playful, or evasive 19. Crestfallen: see despondent 20. Darkly: with depressed or malevolent feelings 21. Deadpan: expressionless, to conceal emotion or heighten humor 22. Dejected: see despondent 23. Derisive: see sardonic 24. Despondent: depressed or discouraged 25. Doleful: sad or afflicted 26. Dour: stern or obstinate; see also despondent 27. Downcast: see despondent 28. Dreamy: distracted by daydreaming or fantasizing 29. Ecstatic: delighted or entranced 30. Etched: see fixed 31. Faint: cowardly, weak, or barely perceptible 32. Fixed: concentrated or immobile 33. Furtive: stealthy 34. Gazing: staring intently 35. Glancing: staring briefly as if curious but evasive 36. Glaring: see hostile 37. Glazed: expressionless due to fatigue or confusion 38. Gloomy: see despondent and sullen 39. Glowering: annoyed or angry 40. Glowing: see radiant 41. Grim: see despondent; also, fatalistic or pessimistic 42. Grave: serious, expressing emotion due to loss or sadness 43. Haunted: frightened, worried, or guilty 44. Hopeless: depressed by a lack of encouragement or optimism 45. Hostile: aggressively angry, intimidating, or resistant 46. Hunted: tense as if worried about pursuit 47. Impassive: see deadpan 48. Inscrutable: mysterious, unreadable 49. Jeering: insulting or mocking 50. Languid: lazy or weak 51. Leering: see meaningful; also, sexually suggestive 52. Meaningful: to convey an implicit connotation or shared secret 53. Mild: easygoing 54. Mischievous: annoyingly or maliciously playful 55. Moody: see sullen 56. Pained: affected with discomfort or pain 57. Pallid: see wan 58. Peering: with curiosity or suspicion 59. Peeved: annoyed 60. Petulant: see cheeky and peeved 61. Pitying: sympathetic 62. Pleading: seeking apology or assistance 63. Pouting: see sullen 64. Quizzical: questioning or confused 65. Radiant: bright, happy 66. Roguish: see mischievous 67. Sanguine: bloodthirsty, confident 68. Sardonic: mocking 69. Scornful: contemptuous or mocking 70. Scowling: displeased or threatening 71. Searching: curious or suspicious 72. Set: see fixed 73. Shamefaced: ashamed or bashful 74. Slack-jawed: dumbfounded or surprised 75. Sly: cunning; see also furtive and mischievous 76. Snarling: surly 77. Sneering: see scornful 78. Somber: see grave 79. Sour: unpleasant 80. Stolid: inexpressive 81. Straight-faced: see deadpan 82. Sulky: see sullen 83. Sullen: resentful 84. Taunting: see jeering 85. Taut: high-strung 86. Tense: see taut 87. Tight: see pained and taut 88. Unblinking: see fixed 89. Vacant: blank or stupid looking 90. Veiled: see inscrutable 91. Wan: pale, sickly; see also faint 92. Wary: cautious or cunning 93. Wide eyed: frightened or surprised 94. Wild eyed: excited, frightened, or stressful 95. Wistful: yearning or sadly thoughtful 96. Withering: devastating; see also wrathful 97. Woeful: full of grief or lamentation 98. Wolfish: see leering and mischievous 99. Wrathful: indignant or vengeful 100. Wry: twisted or crooked to express cleverness or a dark or ironic feeling

How to make a scary villain

Nobody hides under their blankets when they see Snidely Whiplash or Jesse and James.  Here are a few tips on how to make an effective villain that makes your readers sleep with a nightlight. 

Give them an unusual, unsympathetic reason to hurt or kill.

If Lord Skulsanstuf kills for revenge, because of bigotry, or to prove how cool he is, he’s not as powerful. Readers hear about people in real life killing for those reasons all the time.

Instead, make him kill because he wants beautiful people never to have the experience of growing old and ugly. Make him kill because he thinks the only way to stay pure is to drink a glass of blood every morning. Then do a chapter from his perspective and show how delighted he is with his way of thinking. Instant chills.

Allow them to kill fully developed characters.

Nobody cares that Lady Lotsoblood burned an entire village to the ground and tortured all the children to death if nobody in that village is important enough in your story to have a name. Look at all your characters and figure out which ones are the most expendable. Then let Lotsoblood work her magic.

Go in detail about the strange deeds they commit.

I would never want to be stabbed, but I especially don’t want a knife to run down the side of my cheek, lifting parts of my skin so my assailant can brutally rip them off later. That sounds a lot worse because I can imagine it better in my head.

Don’t bog them down with too many evil traits.

A vivisector who kicks puppies and burns down buildings in his spare time is silly, not scary. Good, nice traits can drive in the fact that your villain is human and therefore anybody could turn into them, which is a scary thought.

Don’t make them annoying.

Professor Umbridge hits almost every point on this list, but she’s too annoying to be truly scary. 

Give them control of every situation.

Until the very final battle, the villain should know more about what’s happening than the heroes. The heroes should have a hard time keeping a secret no matter what measures they put in place.

Me: If I ever get published, I'm going to write fanfiction for my own books

Me: And then reviewers will be like, "Omg that's totally out of canon."

Me: And I'll be like, "Bitch, I am the canon."

For once in your life… just listen.

How To Write in 10 Easy Steps

Have an idea. Inspire yourself. Take long showers and walks outside and let the idea come to you. 

Flesh it out. Whether you outline or not, you need to have at the very least a vague idea of the beginning, middle, and end of your piece.

WRITE. Self-explanatory. You have to actually write to get anything written.

Don’t worry. If things don’t go smoothly, don’t sweat it. It’ll come to you. If not, hey, learning experience. Maybe this idea isn’t the one for you.

Stay organized. Let’s face it, when writers are writing, they turn into slobs. Sticky notes EVERYWHERE, empty coffee cups and mugs with dried up tea bags are left all over the place, your documents are titled ‘asdfgh’, and you can’t even remember what your MC’s last name is. These things will hinder your performance as a writer, and well, as a human. 

Take breaks. Don’t burn yourself out. If you start to feel stressed, take a step back, no matter how painful it will be to separate from it.

Write some more. Seriously. I can’t stress this enough. Don’t just say you’re goingto write this or that, actually do it.

Don’t be afraid to share. Seriously, learn to share your work with those you trust. It’ll be good to not only get you used to letting go of your stuff, but your loved ones will more than likely really appreciate you letting them read it.

Find a critique partner. No, not your mom. Or your best friend. Or your sibling. Someone you trust and is a friend, even a close, friend, but also someone who will be unbiased. Someone who isn’t afraid to tell you ‘this is really awful’, and who is also not afraid to tell you, ‘this is really awesome’.

Don’t wait. If you have an idea, get to it. Don’t say, “I’ll wait until I have more time” or, “I’ll just wait until the weekend”, etc.. JUST DO IT. The longer you wait, the less likely it is you’ll get anything done.

P.S. I lied. It’s not easy. It will never be easy.

A beautifully brewed black tea from this morning!

In the Victorian era, hand-fans were used not only to cool oneself but also as a secret way to communicate the language of love. For example, by running one’s fingers through the fan’s ribs, one is trying to say, “I want to talk to you.” The enigmatic language of the fan was widely used by both men and women. I. A fan placed near the heart. “You have won my love.” II. A closed fan touching the right eye. “When may I be allowed to see you?” III. A closed fan moved threateningly. “Do not act so impudently!” IV. A half-opened fan pressed to the lips. “You may kiss me.” V. Covering the left ear with an open fan. “Do not betray my secret.” VI. Hiding the eyes behind an open fan. “I love you.” VII. Shutting a fully open fan slowly. “I promise to marry you.” VIII. Fanning oneself slowly. “I am married.” IX. Letting one’s fan rest on the right cheek or the left. “Yes” and “No”, interchangeably. X. Opening and closing the fan several times. “You are cruel.” XI. Fan in front of the face. “Follow me.” XII. Twirling the fan in the left hand. “We are being watched.” XIII. Fan held over left ear. “I wish to be rid of you.” XIV. Carrying an open fan in the left hand. “Come and talk to me.” XV. Opening a fan wide. “Wait for me.” XVI. Placing the fan behind the head with finger. “Goodbye.” [Artwork: Secret, by Lee Yun-hi.]

Every time I read that post about doing things out of spite I remember that C. S. Lewis put that fucking street lamp in Narnia because Tolkien once said that no good fantasy story would have a lamp in it.

Eric Shansby, Washington Post

Reblog, click the picture, and prepare for battle.