Rating First Lines Of My WIPs

"Kill them with kindness" WRONG. drop the opera house chandelier on them.

are you really lost if you don't want to return

How to Write Accents

Credit: https://www.nownovel.com/blog/how-to-write-accents-dialects/

1. Use accent and dialect for the right reasons

There are many things to consider when you’re writing a person’s accent or dialect. A stereotypical rendering of regional accent or dialect based on racial, cultural or ethnic “difference" can be offensive and perpetuate harmful stereotypes. When you use dialect, make sure you're using it for the right reasons! Ask yourself:

Is it essential to the story (e.g., is it used to reinforce the main character’s insider/outsider status in a close-knit regional community)?

Are there stereotypical expressions associated with the accent or dialect you should take care to contextualize, use sparingly, or avoid?

Make sure when you describe the speech of a character whose mother tongue isn’t your own that your efforts don’t come across as superior or mocking. Giving each character believable speech will make your characters more three-dimensional.

2. Don’t overexaggerate

Obviously you want to show that your character has an accent. But if you emphasize it too much, it begins to sound exaggerated and inauthentic, and can be offensive. The accent should sound natural, not forced. Reread your dialogue--out loud--and watch for awkward moments and lulls in the flow of the conversation.

3. “Eye dialect”

This ties into the previous point.  “Eye dialect” is the term for representing deviations from "standard" pronunciation in a certain language using alternate spellings (for example, writing "fella" instead of “fellow"). Writing about non-mother-tongue speakers can seem bigoted or prejudiced because a writer can try too hard to mimic a “foreign” character’s speech. To represent eye dialect as respectfully and accurately as you can, try:

Making the minimum changes necessary to show the effect of an accent (e.g., “I’m tellin’ ya” instead of “Ahm tellin’ ya”)

Avoiding over-relying on single, overused words to create the impression of an accent (e.g. using ‘y’all’ for conveying southern accents)--variety is key

Finding more ways to show regionalism

4. Transliteration

Transliteration is the way people often insert the grammatical structure of sentences in one language directly into another, even if the second language has its own, different rules of grammar. This “transplanted” grammatical structure creates a sense of a character’s situation and relationship between languages, places, cultures, etc.

As an example, in Spanish, plural nouns take plural adjectives, but the same thing doesn’t happen in English (e.g. “blues cars” in Spanish and “blue cars”  in English). When describing a character who is not fully fluent in the primary language of your story, find grammatical particulars of their first language. Then, use these to create sentences that use transliteration to show imperfect translation.

5. Language errors

One way you can see this is when characters of later generations interact with first-generation immigrant parents or grandparents. The ways different generations of immigrants speak the same language frequently vary. To capture the speech of characters who are in an unfamiliar place or speaking an unfamiliar language, learn the most common errors that people from your characters’ home country make. Use language errors consistently but sparingly to avoid creating a national, ethnic, or cultural caricature.

6. Regional colloquialisms and slang

In all languages slang differs by location. If you plan to set a story in a real-world place, make a list of local colloquialisms/slang. Look at local news websites and social medias, listening for the inflections of local speech. Learn how regional accents sound but also write down any expressions that show up often.

Also, keep in mind that slang considered outdated in one country or city is often still popular in another! To make your characters’ dialect typical of a place and time, make sure any words you’ve included are current---slang goes in and out of fashion.

7. Idioms and sayings

Idioms breathe life and color into fiction. To create a sense of local particularity, find popular region-specific phrases you can use. If a character from your novel is from a distinctive place, give them exclamations or expressions that demonstrate this background.

This also applies for creating dialect differences between fictional groups in an invented world. If you write fantasy or sci-fi, invent regional idioms and sayings that draw on local myths or practices to give each place in your novel its own character and modes of speech!

Unpopular opinion: not everything that makes you uncomfortable is bad. Sometimes discomfort means your worldview is being challenged. It’s okay to sit with discomfort and think about where it’s coming from.

some people think writers are so eloquent and good with words, but the reality is that we can sit there with our fingers on the keyboard going, “what’s the word for non-sunlight lighting? Like, fake lighting?” and for ten minutes, all our brain will supply is “unofficial”, and we know that’s not the right word, but it’s the only word we can come up with…until finally it’s like our face got smashed into a brick wall and we remember the word we want is “artificial”.

putting my 2022 goals here so i can hold myself accountable to finish them by next year:

create a writing schedule and stick to it

begin and finish draft 1 of Pawn

begin draft 2 of Of Souls and Swords

tell me about your 2022 goals, if you have any!

Superior writing advice:

Make your characters FREAKS. Make them DERANGED. Make people think ‘surely this one guy towards the back is normal’ only to reveal FUCK NO. The guy in the back exclusively collects clown paintings (paintings done by professional clowns) and has an irrational hatred of second floors.

how to write the second draft

@writingwithacutlass on instagram

source: https://www.masterclass.com/articles/how-to-write-a-second-draft#why-do-you-need-a-second-draft

hello and welcome back to my page! this post was requested some time ago and i finally got around to making it. second drafts are arguably the hardest draft to write, since you are taking your jumbled mess of a first draft and rewriting it to be more cohesive and organized. although picking apart your novel is a painstaking process, it’s a necessary step that will improve your novel and make you a better writer in the process. here are five tips on how to write the second draft!

take a break, then return to your draft with fresh eyes

especially if this is your first novel, only start your second draft after you’ve had adequate time away from it. creating distance between you and personal work can give your mind time to reset and detach from particular ideas. certain story elements may feel necessary but don’t actually fit into the story, or your story may need something, but you’re not sure how to implement it. taking a break can help you view your writing from a previously unseen angle that can bring more refreshing ideas to the table and help you get through your second draft. take some distance from your writing to brainstorm new scenes.

understand your chaos

your first draft got your ideas down and, hopefully, created a loosely structured beginning, middle, and end. however, the first time you go through the whole thing, it will probably feel overwhelming—and it should. go into your first chapter knowing there will be big changes and improvements to be made. you’ll cut some things and add others, but don’t be afraid. if it starts to go off into a direction you’re not happy with, or if you have no idea how to continue forward from what you’ve rewritten, you can always reconfigure. that’s what second drafts are for.

break it up into separate goals

you don’t have to comb through your second draft beginning to end and address everything along the way. setting goals to address each element of your first draft, like working on emotional character arcs first, or solidifying the bare bones of your plot through each chapter can help you divide and conquer each necessary aspect of your story that needs to come together in a cohesive manner. once all these elements have been solidified individually, you can piece them together in a way that makes your second draft feel more manageable.

track your narrative

read through each plot point or chapter and see if the narrative tracks. make notes on anything that stands out to you or doesn’t feel as smooth. are events moving logically or sequentially into the next? are character goals clearly defined? does each new chapter feel connected to the last? it may be a rough version you’re going through, but these elements should be in place in order for you to analyze it accurately. your subplots should feel natural to the central story and characters you’ve created—they should just be added fodder to take up space. ensure there aren’t any redundant scenes or a repeat of information that doesn’t need to be explained again.

don’t proofread until the end

it’s tempting to go back and fix all your errors, but unless you’re in your third stage or fourth stage, this may end up being a waste of time. correcting typos and grammar should be saved for your final draft, as the entire writing process will entail rewriting, restructuring, and reorganizing until the moment you’re ready to publish.

Toxic standards in the writing community

Sacrificing sleep for writing. I notice this joke a lot, and I know a good number of people do it. I would do it too, just for the sake of fitting the joke because I thought it would “make me a real writer.” Please value your health, words and your stories can wait until you’ve taken care of yourself!

We compare ourselves. A lot. Often, I see a lot of people say things such as “I wish I could write as well as ——!” Or “I wish I had your writing style, mine is so bad!” Loves, your words are your words. Find the beauty in what comes from your mind, not what you hope could come from your mind in the voice of somebody else. Your hands place words in a specific way because that is the unique language they were tailored to, and there is no need to replace it for somebody else’s. Be proud of what you create!

“Call out posts” aimed to writers that spend a lot of time making Pinterest boards/playlists etc, when really, it’s something that we should enjoy and appreciate just as much as the writing itself. Not everything has to be productive, we can create just for enjoyment. Spend hours figuring out which songs would fit that scene in your WIP, or which would be the best theme song if it ever became a show. Spend days scouring Pinterest for what reminds you of the fiction living in your head. Let it come to life in different forms of art than the words you build them from.

Writing everyday and completing books at a fast speed. No. Not everybody works at the same pace, and not everybody can manage to write every day. It isn’t a race to see who can write the most, which is what it feels like it’s become sometimes. Let’s slow down and just enjoy the ride :) whether it takes you 10 years or 10 weeks to write a book, it’s a masterpiece all the same.

people are really out here saying "yeah, i could survive in a fantasy world" when they can't even k*ll a spider without help