Which One Of U Was Going To Tell Me That Tea Tastes Different If U Put It In Hot Water?

which one of u was going to tell me that tea tastes different if u put it in hot water?

I have definitely gotten hung up on character names before, spending goodness-knows-how-long hammering out ideas until I hit the perfect one because if I don’t have the name right, I have a difficult time actually writing them.

I have also had instances of looking over something I wrote back in high school or college where I clearly went, “[Unusual Name]? Oh, yeah, that fits perfectly in this setting.” (Spoilers: it didn’t.) Names that were either just really awkward to say—often because I picked several random consonants and then just jammed vowels in between, or because I was trying to do a deep “Aragorn, son of Arathorn” thing with them but was starting with a much stupider name—or were far too “fantasy” to fit into a modern real-world setting. I’ve got note files where I made changes to various character names to make them better, so I would remember what changes happened to those stories.

Does anyone else have a mental roadblock when it comes to giving a character an unusual or unique name? I mean this within the context of this character being a twenty-something woman and the work being more along the lines of general/realistic or literary fiction, yet the name almost coming across like something in a young adult “not-like-other-girls” tale.

Names can really impact a character, and I’m one of those writers who gets stuck until the name is perfect for that character.

Writing Tips Pt. 1 - The Dictionary

Use a dictionary.

That word you’re 100% certain about? Might not actually mean what you think it means.

I’ve read several stories where an author frequently uses a complex word incorrectly, because it happens to be close to (but not quite the same as) a different complex word. It doesn't have to be that complex, either. I've seen someone constantly swapping "duel" and "dual" before (hint: duel is a fight between two people, while dual means two or double).

Even when you’re absolutely certain you know what a complex word means, double-check it. You’ll thank yourself later.

Writing Tips Pt. 2 - The Thesaurus

Similar to the first tip, use a thesaurus (in conjunction with a dictionary).

It's easy to fall into the trap of using the same words constantly when you write, and this can result in your writing feeling a bit samey. So use a thesaurus to shake it up a bit and help vary your language.

BUT.

Don't overuse the thesaurus.

A thesaurus is a good tool for finding creative variations on certain words so you don't start to sound too repetitive, but there's such a thing as going too far. Not every word in the thesaurus is going to be a perfect one-to-one swap. You can end up saying something unintentional, or completely losing the meaning of what you intend to say, if you overuse it.

Obligatory example: through middle and high school, I wrote stories, and wanted to shake up my writing because I'd heard that "said" is overused (it's not, by the way, but more on that another time). So I had a character shouting something, but because I didn't want to say "he shouted," I hit up the thesaurus.

And that's how you end up as a 13-year-old writer who describes someone angry as "ejaculating" their words.

So make sure that if you're using the thesaurus to swap words, you double-check the meaning of any word you swap to in order to avoid embarrassing yourself or confusing others.

Writing Tips Pt. 4 - Beta Readers

Since I just had a long post about commonly mixed-up words, many of which would escape a basic spellcheck, how do we handle that (and other writing gaffes that the most basic of tools will miss)?

You get a beta reader. Or hire an editor or proofreader. Or sign up with a publishing company that will assign you an editor.

Beta readers, editors, etc. can generally do a few different things for your writing, which is something you will need to discuss for whoever you sign on to help you out. Whoever it is, though, make sure they're someone you trust to actually know English well—or whichever language you'll be writing in—since the idea is for them to help you with your writing and catch the mistakes you make.

If English is not your first language, make doubly sure to get a beta reader who is fluent. Yes, Google Translate can be fairly decent, but you should still have someone fluent check it over, if only for the grammar.

Yes, yes, it’s November, but I didn’t have good photos of these until Sunday night, so you’re getting a last taste of Halloween two days late.

We moved to a new house last year just after Halloween, and our new place has more than double the number of windows the previous one had. I had several of these pieces up in the windows at the old house as part of our Halloween decorations, and wanted to continue that, so I had to spend some time expanding the collection to fill the new windows. And that means a crafting post to share.

Here you can see a bit of the process behind making these window silhouettes. I didn’t take progress shots while I was working on the pieces themselves (I was busy trying to get these done in time), but I did snap a photo of my project notebook (a single-subject spiral notebook in which I plan out any number of projects in ballpoint pen before I try knocking them out in person).

I started with some basic notes on what I wanted to get out of this. Specifically, nine windows, and the most basic composition idea behind them. I’d already spent time prior contemplating the basic composition, but if I hadn’t, there’d be more lines of brainstorming as I worked out on paper how I wanted to do this.

Once that was jotted down, I drew out nine frames in which to doodle ideas. I knew what pieces I had already, so I drew those in (the three tombstones on the top row, the pumpkins on the bottom row, the hand with the skull, the owl and the raven), then doodled other ideas as I went along, including some additional basic tombstone shapes. You can see on windows 2 and 5 where I scribbled over one idea with another, and the cat on window 9 was an afterthought (I already had it, but had forgotten to include it on one of the windows until one of my kids pointed it out). There are also margin notes clarifying beyond my doodles.

Once that was done, I broke out the poster board. The additional elements ultimately took six sheets of black poster board, and the original silhouettes I had were probably another four or five (I don’t remember at this point). I had a tape measure from the tool box for comparing poster board against the windows themselves to make sure things were cut out at the correct size, and I used a ballpoint pen to draw on the poster board before cutting, as it wouldn’t show if the pen-drawn side had to be facing outward. Start with large pieces first, like tombstones, and remember that things can always be pieced together out of larger sheets as needed (the crypt on window 5 and the Celtic cross tombstone on window 2 are both pieced together, as is the Reaper and his scythe on window 6). The tree branches were the last thing done, and they were cut as a series of lots (and lots and lots) of single wiggly sticks that were then assembled like puzzle parts to create branching shapes. I also ended up making an extra raven at my younger children’s request. It’s important to remember to save any parts you cut out of larger pieces in case you can use it for something else—case in point: the skull in the hand is cut out of one of the tombstones, and the cross on top of another tombstone is cut from a tombstone. Exacto knives are helpful for this.

Once all the silhouette pieces were cut out, I made the backing panels for each window. In previous years, I taped the silhouettes directly to the window panes, and then added orange backing material on Halloween itself so we could have the silhouettes up for more of the month, without blocking our view. This was not feasible in the new house, since the windows are made up of small panes of glass in wood framing, and taping directly to them wouldn’t work so well, so I decided instead to tape the silhouettes to the backing material, and only put them up the day before Halloween. It’s fine. They look better lit up anyway.

The backing panel material is orange plastic table cloths from the dollar store. It’s thin enough to let light through, while still providing a pleasant orange look to the windows when backlit. It’s also very cheap, so you have to handle carefully or you’ll end up with nicks and tears in it. Ask me how I know. I used clear Scotch packing tape to affix the silhouettes to the backing material.

At the bottom of my diagram, you can see a house shape I drew with windows numbered. That was me planning out where the silhouettes would end up on the house face once they were assembled. That done, we put them up on the windows with packing tape, and left the curtains open so the light from the room could illuminate the silhouettes.

In the photos of the windows, you can also see where I put handprints in the small panes to either side of the front door. These were done in black cardstock, by tracing my children’s hands. The panes were already frosted with privacy material, but I’m thinking of using some of the extra orange table cloth material to help color the panels next time.

Maybe sometime in the future I’ll do a mini tutorial on how to make the cutouts themselves, at least.