Dialogue Help: Emotional Show, Dont Tell

Dialogue Help: emotional show, don’t tell

yeah but

ghosts who are friends with the living

ghosts curiously listening to their fleshy friend’s heartbeat

ghosts snuggling up to their living friends to feel their body heat

ghosts basking in the sun to warm their ecto-bodies up so they won’t be so cold to the touch

ghosts huddling close to their living friends in windy weather for fear of getting blown apart

ghosts watching horror movies with their living friends and worriedly turning to them and going like “i’m not that bad am i?” pointing at the murderous stringy-haired banshee onscreen

people ouija-ing their ghost friends as if they were casual phone calls all like “hey you wanna hang out soon”

ghosts going to museums with their living friends and shaking their heads while looking at the exhibits all like “no no no this is all wrong. i was there and it went nothing like this.”

ghosts getting really giddy and excited whenever they hear music from their era

You know you fucked up if your OTP consists of a light and dark haired person

Hello my fellow writers.

Most people have heard of Evernote by now, but a lot of people (myself included) thought/think that it’s purely for business or shopping lists and what not.

I’m here to tell you that it’s not just for business. It can be a valuable tool for plotting and organizing your novel!

I’ve blurred out all the super pertinent details for my current project as well as my email address, but here’s how I set it all up.

1. Download Evernote. There are paid versions, but for what we’ll be doing, the free version works just as well. You have to make an account, because everything is in cloud storage, unless you make a local notebook.

2. Set everything up and make your first notebook. Title it however you want.

3. Make Notes in the Notebook. Obviously, you can do this however you want, but here are some note blocks to get you started;

-Plot: Here’s where you’ll put your premise, summary or outline

-Setting: Here’s where you’ll describe your setting. I found a cool thing when I was searching for Evernote templates that has key questions to answer about setting. Find it HERE. (If you have an evernote account, you can add it straight to your notebook!)

-Misc Ideas/Notes: This is just a place to jot down things you may think of that may not fit into any category or are incomplete. (I have lists of names and potential titles in mine)

-Characters: This is to hash out your characters!

-Snippets: I don’t always write in the right order or I’ll think of something a character might say or do, or a particularly awesome description I don’t need quite yet and I can add it here.

-Character Profiles: This was something I added because I found a really nice 100 question survey thing for characterization and I didn’t want to clog up my character page for this. I only did this for my four main characters, but as far as I know, there are no limits to how many notes you can have in a notebook.

I hope this helps someone out! I’m really excited about this because I’ve been having trouble getting my ideas sorted out in my head and this has really, really made things easier to see and think about!

Back to work!

-Amanda

P.S. It occurred to me that this could seem sponsored and I assure you that Evernote is not paying me to promote them, though if they did, I wouldn’t say no because money is nice. However, I’m nowhere near popular enough for that, so you guys probably have nothing to worry about! Happy writing!

can someone explain the alignment chart for me but in like, the simplest wording possible lmao

i’m always a slut for a christmas au 

“i know we hate each other but it’s christmas eve and your flight was cancelled please come inside”

“i got you for secret santa so i got you this really expensive but sentimental gift that you’ve always wanted, hoping you’ll never find out it’s from me - and that i’ve been in love with you 1234567 years” SNOWBALL FIGHTS

“hi we’re neighbours and omg are you alright i could smell cooking burning - whoaaa now that’s just embarrassing? step aside i’ll handle this”

person a seducing person b into taking a few steps back/backing them against the wall (”oh look, how did that mistletoe get right there????”)

“you’re in the hospital for the holidays so i came in while you were sleeping to decorate your room i love you merry christmas”

“YES I BOOBY TRAPPED THE PRESENTS BECAUSE YOU DO THIS EVERY FUCKING YEAR”

“i live below you and i was minding my own business watching the snowfall out the window WHEN I SAW A BODY FALL ARE YOU REALLY PUTTING UP CHRISTMAS LIGHTS NOW”

I KNITTED YOU A JUMPER

MY MOM KNITTED YOU A JUMPER

“we’re strictly ‘platonic’ but we’re snowed in omg we’re gonna have to repopulate the earth”

“i slipped on ice outside your house and you ran out barefoot to help me quick let’s get inside under a blanket”

“’it’s a wonderful life’ aww it sounds so cute babe sure we can watch it! *30 mins later* “YOU MONSTER”

“we were playing in the snow and you suddenly tackled me to the ground and now…we’re just…staring… at each other…”

“YOU DON’T LIKE MARSHMALLOWS IN YOUR HOT CHOCOLATE? WHY DO YOU HATE LOVE”

TREE DECORATING (bonus points if one of them is doing it completely wrong omg why am i in love with you) 

“we took our kids to santa’s workshop and they both wished we would get together” FRIENDS AU - “our christmas party turned into a tropical theme because the radiator is broken and it’s hotter than hell in here - damn you look good without a shirt i never noticed before asgdhfjgkhl” 

“we’re co workers who hate each other but you had too much to drink at the staff christmas party and admitted your love for me i don’t know how to act around you now” 

DRUNKEN CAROLLING (”that’s not a thing” “oh yes it is”) 

TEACH ME HOW TO SKI (lol jk i know how you’re just so fucking cute)

“there’s a storm and omg i’m losing signal are you okay?? hold on let me drive 489432 miles to get you the night before christmas” 

PULLING YOU IN FOR A KISS WITH A SCARF 

“i did that annoying thing where i put loads of smaller boxes inside one big box and you’re getting really mad but you don’t know that the ring is in the smallest box and i can’t wait to see your face”