Seems Like The Silliest Question Ever But Every Idea I Have Seems So Unoriginal. Do You Tips Or Exercises

Seems like the silliest question ever but every idea I have seems so unoriginal. Do you tips or exercises to get the creativity going?

Getting the creative juices flowing…

I do! I have plenty of pep-talks and resources for this sort of thing, so I’ve organized them here by method (prompts/playlists/advice/inspiration/etc)

Articles

Coming Up With Scene Ideas

Coming Up With “Original” Ideas

How To Turn A Good Idea Into A Good Story

How To Motivate Yourself To Write

Reasons To Improve Your Lifestyle

Tips & Advice for Aspiring Authors, Writers, and Poets

Healthy Forms of Motivation

How To Have A Productive Mindset

How To Fall In Love With Writing

Writing Through Mental Health Struggles

Why “Burnout” Is Oay - The Creative Cycle

How To Actually Get Writing Done

Playlists

Things To Listen To When You’re Working

Classical & Instrumental

Ambient

Sad Scenes

Chase Scenes

Epic Scenes

Fight Scenes

Angst Scenes

Fun Montage Scenes

Climax Scenes

Calm Scenes

Resolution Scenes

Romantic Scenes

Action Scenes

Science Fiction

Our Day Will Come

Contemporary Poetry

MORE

Prompts, Prompt Lists, & Writing Challenges

Dark Quotes & Prompts

Challenges For Different Types of Writers | Part II

Angst Prompts

31 Days of Prompts : January 2018 Writing Challenge

20 Sentence Story Prompt

Dramatic Prompts

Suspenseful Prompts

Sad Prompts

Romantic Prompts

31 Days of Horror : October 2019 Writing Challenge

31 Days of Fantasy - December 2020 Writing Challenge

Fake Relationship Alternate Universe Prompts

Assassin Alternate Universe Prompts

Soulmates Alternate Universe Prompts

Advice & Pep-Talks

Restarting Your Writing Passion

On Hating Your Old Stuff

Depression As An Inhibitor

Dear Writers Who Are Hesitant To Start Writing

“All First Drafts Are Crap” – My Thoughts

Getting Back To Writing After A Long Hiatus

Wanting To Finish A Story You’ve Fallen Out of Love With

Getting Motivated To Write

Getting Burnt Out Near The Finish Line

–

Masterlist | WIP Blog

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22 Essential Literary Devices and How to Use Them In Your Writing

hello, happy Monday. Hope you’re all having a wonderful day!

I will skip the pre-info and dive right into it.

What Is a Literary Device?

is a tool used by writers to hint at larger themes, ideas, and meaning in a story or piece of writing

The List of Literary Devices:

Allegory. Allegory is a literary device used to express large, complex ideas in an approachable manner. Allegory allows writers to create some distance between themselves and the issues they are discussing, especially when those issues are strong critiques of political or societal realities.

Allusion. An allusion is a popular literary device used to develop characters, frame storylines, and help create associations to well-known works. Allusions can reference anything from Victorian fairy tales and popular culture to the Bible and the Bard. Take the popular expression “Bah humbug”—an allusion that references Charles Dickens’ novella A Christmas Carol. The phrase, which is often used to express dissatisfaction, is associated with the tale’s curmudgeonly character, Ebenezer Scrooge.

Anachronism. Imagine reading a story about a caveman who microwaves his dinner, or watching a film adaptation of a Jane Austen novel in which the characters text each other instead of writing letters. These circumstances are examples of anachronisms, or an error in chronology—the kind that makes audiences raise their eyebrows or do a double-take. Sometimes anachronisms are true blunders; other times, they’re used intentionally to add humor or to comment on a specific time period in history.

Cliffhanger. It’s a familiar feeling: You’re on minute 59 of an hour-long television episode, and the protagonist is about to face the villain—and then episode cuts to black. Known as a cliffhanger, this plot device marks the end of a section of a narrative with the express purpose of keeping audiences engaged in the story.

Dramatic Irony. Remember the first time you read or watched Romeo and Juliet? The tragic ending of this iconic story exemplifies dramatic irony: The audience knows that the lovers are each alive, but neither of the lovers knows that the other is still alive. Each drinks their poison without knowing what the audience knows. Dramatic irony is used to great effect in literature, film, and television.

Extended Metaphor. Extended metaphors build evocative images into a piece of writing and make prose more emotionally resonant. Examples of extended metaphor can be found across all forms of poetry and prose. Learning to use extended metaphors in your own work will help you engage your readers and improve your writing.

Foreshadowing. At its core, storytelling has one ambition: to capture and sustain your reader’s attention and keep them reading your story. Foreshadowing, or slyly indicating a future event, is one technique a writer can use to create and build suspense.

Humor. Humor brings people together and has the power to transform how we think about the world. Of course, not everyone is adept at being funny—particularly in their writing. Making people laugh takes some skill and finesse, and, because so much relies on instinct, is harder to teach than other techniques. However, all writers can benefit from learning more about how humor functions in writing.

Imagery. If you’ve practiced or studied creative writing, chances are you’ve encountered the expression “paint a picture with words.” In poetry and literature, this is known as imagery: the use of figurative language to evoke a sensory experience in the reader. When a poet uses descriptive language well, they play to the reader’s senses, providing them with sights, tastes, smells, sounds, internal and external feelings, and even deep emotion. The sensory details in imagery bring works to life.

Irony. Irony is an oft-misunderstood literary device that hinges on opposites: what things are on the surface, and what they end up actually being. Many learn about dramatic irony through works of theater like Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet or Sophocles’s Oedipus Rex. When deployed with skill, irony is a powerful tool that adds depth and substance to a piece of writing.

Metaphor, Simile, and Analogy. Metaphors, similes, and analogies are three techniques used in speech and writing to make comparisons. Each is used in a different way, and differentiating between the three can get a little tricky: For example, a simile is actually a subcategory of metaphor, which means all similes are metaphors, but not all metaphors are similes. Knowing the similarities and differences between metaphor, simile, and analogy can help you identify which is best to use in any scenario and help make your writing stronger.

Motif. A motif is a repeated element that has symbolic significance to a story. Sometimes a motif is a recurring image. Sometimes it’s a repeated word or phrase or topic. A motif can be a recurrent situation or action. It can be a sound or a smell or a temperature or a color. The defining aspect is that a motif repeats, and through this repetition, a motif helps to illuminate the central ideas, themes, and deeper meaning of the story in which it appears.

Motif vs. Symbol. Both motifs and symbols are used across artistic mediums: Painters, sculptors, playwrights, and musicians all use motifs and symbols in their respective art forms. And while they are similar literary terms, “motif” and “symbol” are not synonyms.

Oxymoron. An oxymoron is a figure of speech: a creative approach to language that plays with meaning and the use of words in a non-literal sense. This literary device combines words with contradictory definitions to coin a new word or phrase (think of the idiom “act naturally”—how can you be your natural self if you’re acting?). The incongruity of the resulting statement allows writers to play with language and meaning.

Paradox. “This sentence is a lie.” This self-referential statement is an example of a paradox—a contradiction that questions logic. In literature, paradoxes can elicit humor, illustrate themes, and provoke readers to think critically.

Personification. In writing, figurative language—using words to convey a different meaning outside the literal one—helps writers express themselves in more creative ways. One popular type of figurative language is personification: assigning human attributes to a non-human entity or inanimate object in an effort to express a point or idea in a more colorful, imaginative way.

Satire. Satire is so prevalent in pop culture that most of us are already very familiar with it, even if we don’t always realize it. Satire is an often-humorous way of poking fun at the powers that be. Sometimes, it is created with the goal to drive social change. Satire can be part of any work of culture, art, or entertainment—it has a long history, and it is as relevant today as it was in ancient Rome.

Situational Irony. Irony: it’s clear as mud. Theorists quibble about the margins of what constitutes irony, but situational irony is all around us—from humorous news headlines to the shock twists in a book or TV show. This type of irony is all about the gap between our expectations and reality, and it can make a memorable and powerful impression when we encounter it.

Suspense. No matter what type of story you’re telling, suspense is a valuable tool for keeping a reader’s attention and interest. Building suspense involves withholding information and raising key questions that pique readers’ curiosity. Character development plays a big role in generating suspense; for example, if a character’s desire is not fulfilled by the end of the book, the story will not feel complete for the reader.

Symbolism. An object, concept, or word does not have to be limited to a single meaning. When you see red roses growing in a garden, what comes to mind? Perhaps you think literally about the rose—about its petals, stem, and thorns, or even about its stamen and pistil as a botanist might. But perhaps your mind goes elsewhere and starts thinking about topics like romance, courtship, and Valentine’s Day. Why would you do this? The reason, of course, is that over the course of many generations, a rose’s symbolic meaning has evolved to include amorous concepts.

Verisimilitude. Verisimilitude (pronounced ve-ri-si-mi-li-tude) is a theoretical concept that determines the semblance of truth in an assertion or hypothesis. It is also an essential tenet of fiction writing. Verisimilitude helps to encourage a reader’s willing suspension of disbelief. When using verisimilitude in writing, the goal is to be credible and convincing.

Vignette. A writer’s job is to engage readers through words. Vignettes—poetic slices-of-life—are a literary device that brings us deeper into a story. Vignettes step away from the action momentarily to zoom in for a closer examination of a particular character, concept, or place. Writers use vignettes to shed light on something that wouldn’t be visible in the story’s main plot.

I’ll make a post going into each of them individually in more detail later on!

Like, reblog and comment if you find this useful! If you share on Instagram tag me perpetualstories

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Do you have any tips on how to make sure your character stays consistent throughout the book? (especially for a newbie)

Get to know your characters really well before you even start the first draft. It’s a time commitment, but it’s well worth it. If you write the story with an already solid knowledge of who your character is, how they present themselves, what their motivations are, and how they change over the course of the plot, you’ll have a much easier time keeping the character portrayal consistent, as well as interesting. 

I have a couple articles that will help with your character development in the planning/outlining stages of your story:

Ways To Fit Character Development Into your Story

When To Stop Planning

Character Trait Form

Tips On Introducing Characters

Tip On Giving Characters Flaws

As well as some master posts of resources:

Resources For Creating Characters

Resources For Describing Characters

Questions I’ve answered:

Having Trouble Connecting To Your Characters?

Giving Characters Bad Traits

On Making Scenes/Characters Unpredictable

Showing Vs. Telling And Characters

Keeping Characters From Sounding Identical

And finally, some prompt lists to inspire you:

31 Days Of Character Development: Wordsnstuff May Writing Challenge

Interview As Your Character

Increase your writing speed

I got an ask ages ago by @theemmanation, asking if I have any advice for under-writers. As a former under-writer, I do.

It used to take me two or three hours of steady writing to get to a thousand words. Needless to say, my novel was progressing slowwwly. I had accepted the fact that I would never write 1,000 words per hour, I just wasn’t that kind of a writer. Or so I thought.

These are the things I did to increase my wordcount and my writing speed:

1. I stopped writing by hand

I love, love the idea of a stack of notebooks for my first draft, to show how much work I put into it. For my first NaNoWriMo, I decided to temporatily switch to typing and BOY, did that work. Without changing anything else, my writing speed doubled.

Because I couldn’t let go of the idea of the stack of notebooks for my first draft, I printed them. If you want to see how that turned out, here is my finished first draft, a stack of 14 notebooks. I considered creating a font of my own hand-writing for the print, but in the end I didn’t. (If you want to, google how. It’s free.)

2. I participated in NaNoWriMo

NaNoWriMo is a yearly event in which writers try to write 50,000 words in 30 days, or an average of 1,666 words per day. I had never had such an ambitious goal, and surfing along the momentum of other writers made me push myself beyond what I thought was possible. It genuinely changed me as a writer. Because I was pushing myself to write these 1,666 words per day, I wrote faster and for longer per writing session. And against all (my) expectations, I won! I wrote more in that month than I had written in the previous 2 years.

Even if you start NaNoWriMo and don’t succeed, you may find that you can do more than you think.

3. I do word sprints

Meet up with someone (online or live), set a relatively short time, and get out as much words as you can on your wip. If the competetive factor doesn’t work for you or if you’ve got no-one to partner up with, do the Pomodoro technique: set your timer for 25 minutes, write your ass off, and take a 5 minute break. Repeat if needed.

In word sprints, I often reach a speed of 1,200 words per hour. And good words, too, not just word vomit.

4. A good plan is half the work

The idea is to get your problem-solving done before you write, so that you don’t lose any writing time and still get the same (or, I would argue, a higher) quality of writing. So I usually know what I’m gonna write before I start. Not in great detail, but I have a one- to three-sentence description of my scene before I start it, and before writing the real stuff, I make sure I already have the scene in my head, using the method of “How I never have to face an empty page when I write”. If it doesn’t suit you, then don’t, but this is what does the trick for me. Also, see my post on how to outline your novel, but I’m sure most of you have seen it.

5. I carve out my writing time

Write when you’re the most creative, the most mentally active. Don’t go against your own energy pattern. Most people write when the moment is convenient, like in the evenings after dinner when the kids are in bed or when homework is done. But if you’re like me, dinner makes you drowsy and you don’t have a lot of mental stamina left. Afternoons are my jam. Base your writing time on your bioclock and then make writing a priority.

When I say make writing a priority, I don’t mean that afternoon writers need to work less to be able to write more. I mean: prioritize writing during lunchtime over talking to your colleagues. If you’re an evening writer, prioritize writing over watching that new series your partner is bingeing. If you’re a morning writer, prioritize writing over waking up slowly while watching the news.

***

I hope this was helpful. Don’t hesitate to ask me any questions, and happy writing!

Follow me for more writing advice, or check out my other writing tips here. New topics to write advice about are also always welcome.

Tag list below the cut. If you like to be added to or removed from the list, let me know.

Lees verder

What I learned from Dan Browns Free MasterClass Session

Check out the full video on Youtube.

“If you can sit down and write, you’re nowhere near the end of your ability. […] I wasn’t born knowing this [writing] I learned it by making mistakes, reading writers who do it much better than I do and saying, wow I love the way they do that, I want to pull that into what I do.”

– Dan Brown

“Protect the process and the results will take care of themselves”: Writing is 90% routine and just 10% inspiration – a marathon, not a sprint! Create a space in which you can be creative.

“Make it important to yourself”: Writing has to be a project, a priority which importance you have to enforce with yourself and your surroundings. And sometimes that’s hard and uncomfortable.

“every story has been told”: We know the hero will safe the day, but it’s all about how things happen! You get a template on which you can apply your creativitiy and voice.

“be honest with your reader”: creative liberties are alright (e.g. in historical fiction), but you have to be upfront with your reader about what is accurate according to your research and what is your creativity.

“the three C’s” for great stories: clock (time pressure, e.g. a time bomb), crucible (a box that encloses the action, restrain characters and make them face their demons, e.g. a sinking boat), contract (every page should be a promise to the reader: “I know something you don’t know and if you turn the page I promise I will tell you”).

“sticking to the right POV let’s you play fair with the reader in withholding information”: omniscient narrators owe it to the reader to spill a secret the POV character knows – if somebody has a secret that shouldn’t be told yet, stick to another POV

“whichever character has the most to loose, that’s the one you write from”: whoever is the most emotionally stimulated, just found out something upsetting or is in danger, tends to be the most interesting POV.

“I wanna do this better tomorrow”: If something doesn’t work out at first, come back later and give it more creativity, tell yourself that you can make it better to stay motivated, take it as a challenge!

“The way you spark creativity is to empty your mind”: meditation, taking a walk in nature, turn of television/smartphone, whatever let’s you be blank, your mind doesn’t like to be empty, so it will make something to fill itself up.

“Setting the table for breakfast”: Before you end your writing session, start the first paragraph for the next session – it will keep you from going back and being stuck on the last things you wrote.

“You always want people looking in the wrong direction”: Never underestimate your reader! They can tell that the person the author is shining a spotlight on is the red herring. Create a second red herring character on the sidelines who the reader could pick up on as the villain.

“The Michaelangelo way of writing”: At the first stage of writing start with many clues, make sure all the information is there. You can take unnecessary or overdone clues away during editing. It’s easier to take things away than it is to add them.

“I’m always trying to get out of a scene before it’s over”: rather than wraping everything up in a nice bow – get out before the bow is tied. A later chapter can tie up the bow of something that happened a few chapters back! You’re simultaneously solving a problem and posing a new problem. Introduce and answer questions as you go to keep things satisfying. It’s all about tension and release.

Useful Writing Resources II

Like the last one of these I did, this is a long list of resources for writers to use. Use them wisely:)

Find The First One Here

*** = Separate List Of Resources Pertaining To That Specific Subject

Productivity & Writer’s Block

Ways To Unstick A Stuck Story

10 Outlining Methods For Writers

Things To Do When You Can’t Seem To Write

Ambient Sounds For Writers Masterpost

ZenPen

The Most Dangerous Writing App

Evernote

Writer, the Internet Typewriter

Wordcounter

Character Development

Writing Types Of Characters *** Making An OC ***

Character With Social Anxiety

Female Characters To Avoid

Writing Healthy Relationships

List of 300 Possible Secrets To Give Your Character

Fantasy & Miscellaneous

Myths, Creatures, And Folklore

Helpful Things For Action Writers To Remember

Writing The Opening Scene

Fictional Kisses

Master List of Writer’s Questions Answered’s Posts

Writing Advice Masterlist

The Little Details

How bodies decompose

Wilderness survival skills

Mob mentality

Other cultures

What it takes for a human to die in a given situation

Common tropes for your genre

Average weather for your setting

Free Online Sources For Research

Japanese creatures

greek creatures

creatures organised by type

creatures listed by letter

humanoid creatures

filipino creatures

chinese creatures

cryptids

‘fearsome critters’

angels

beings referred to as fairies

creatures that pretend to be human

a page on therianthropic creatures

shapeshifters

hybrid creatures

extraterrestrial creatures

deities

a page of mythology page links

a section of folklore page links

flying creatures

theological demons

fictional species lists

mythology related lists

legendary creature related lists

Writing Emotional Scenes

Creating Story Structure

What You Need To Hear Before You Publish A Book

Description

Words to Describe Someone’s Voice

An Article About Describing Voice

Voice Types

Vocal Qualities

Panix.com Character Chart

Vocal Impressions

Speech Patterns

Gender and Speech Patterns

Speech Accent Archive

Speech Impediment

What Makes A Man’s/Woman’s Voice Sexy

Synonyms-Antonyms.com

TheCaveOnline

550 Alternative Words for Said

Plot

Subplots

7 Ways to Add Great Subplots to your Novels

The 7 Shoulds of Writing a Subplot

Who Needs Subplots?

Subplots

Knowing Your terms: Subplots

Weave Subplots into your Novel

Understanding the Role of Subplots

Plot, Plot Layers, and Subplots

Plot and Subplot

Subplots - Chicken Soup for your Novel

How Many Subplots are Acceptable?

Subplots by Word Count

Too Many Subplots?

Generators

Appearance Generator

Archetypes Generator

Character Generator

Character Traits Generator

Family Generator

Job/Occupation Generator, (II)

Love Interest Generator

Motive Generator

Name Generator

Personality Generator, (II)

Quick Character Generator

Super Powers Generator

First Encounter Generator

First Line Generator, (II)

Plot Generator, (II), (III)

Plot Device Generator

Plot Twist Generator

Quick Plot Generator

Brand Name Generator

Medicine Title Generator

Name Generator

Quick Name Generator

Vehicle Generator

Town Name Generator

City Generator

Fantasy Race Generator

Laws Generator

Pet Generator

Setting Generator

Species Generator

Terrain Generator

Subject Generator

”Take Three Nouns” Generator

Word Prompt Generator

Color Generator

Decision Generator

Dialogue Generator

Journey Generator

Title Generator, (II), (III)