The good, the bad and the ugly - Follow along on my journey to finish writing a story I've tried to finish for years
19 posts
Thetrieracompany - The Triera Company - Tumblr Blog
I have … a tip.
If you’re writing something that involves an aspect of life that you have not experienced, you obviously have to do research on it. You have to find other examples of it in order to accurately incorporate it into your story realistically.
But don’t just look at professional write ups. Don’t stop at wikepedia or webMD. Look up first person accounts.
I wrote a fic once where a character has frequent seizures. Naturally, I was all over the wikipedia page for seizures, the related pages, other medical websites, etc.
But I also looked at Yahoo asks where people where asking more obscure questions, sometimes asked by people who were experiencing seizures, sometimes answered by people who have had seizures.
I looked to YouTube. Found a few individual videos of people detailing how their seizures usually played out. So found a few channels that were mostly dedicated to displaying the daily habits of someone who was epileptic.
I looked at blogs and articles written by people who have had seizures regularly for as long as they can remember. But I also read the frantic posts from people who were newly diagnosed or had only had one and were worried about another.
When I wrote that fic, I got a comment from someone saying that I had touched upon aspects of movement disorders that they had never seen portrayed in media and that they had found representation in my art that they just never had before. And I think it’s because of the details. The little things.
The wiki page for seizures tells you the technicalities of it all, the terminology. It tells you what can cause them and what the symptoms are. It tells you how to deal with them, how to prevent them.
But it doesn’t tell you how some people with seizures are wary of holding sharp objects or hot liquids. It doesn’t tell you how epileptics feel when they’ve just found out that they’re prone to fits. It doesn’t tell you how their friends and family react to the news.
This applies to any and all writing. And any and all subjects. Disabilities. Sexualities. Ethnicities. Cultures. Professions. Hobbies. Traumas. If you haven’t experienced something first hand, talk to people that have. Listen to people that have. Don’t stop at the scholarly sources. They don’t always have all that you need.
I feel like I'm finally at that point where I can begin to show my closest friends the first part of my work, it just needs a little more love.
I'm trying to treat it like a college essay and printed it out on paper, because I sure can't seem to focus on it enough when it's on the screen.
If this works it's going to help me so fucking much in the future, too 🙏
If only I could write as easily at home as I do at work!
Happy STS!
What are the dietary staples of one culture/region in your word and how do they affect the geography, politics, culture, religion and/or economy?
I realize I haven't thought about that at all, but it sounds like an interesting way to further explore the world so I'll def try to think of it in the future
Fiction often imitates real life situations. In fact, fiction is a great way to explore and raise awareness about real things.
It's not inherently disrespectful to show real things in fiction, or comparing between fiction and real life. It's all about how you go about it.
Last Line Tag
@squarebracket-trick thank you for the tag and sorry for the late answer! ^^
He will explain himself to me.
I do have a piece of writing advice, actually.
See, the first time I grew parsnips, I fucked it up good. I hadn't seen parsnips sprouting before, right, and in my eagerness I was keeping a close eye on the row. And every time I saw some intruding grass coming up, I twitched it right out, and went back to anticipating the germination of my parsnips.
But it turns out parsnips take a bit longer than anything else I'd ever grown to distinguish themselves visually. It's just the two little split leaves, almost identical to a newly seeded bit of kentucky bluegrass when they first come up, and they take a good bit to establish themselves and spread out flat before the main stem with its first distinctive scallopy leaf gets going.
I didn't get any parsnips, not that year, because I'd weeded them all out as soon as they showed their faces, with my 'ugh no that's grass' twitchy horticulture finger.
The next year, having in retrospect come to suspect what had happened, I left the row alone and didn't weed anything until all the sprouts coming up had all had a bit to set in and show their colors, and I've grown lots of parsnips since. They're kind of a slow crop, not a huge return, but I like them and watching them grow and digging them up, and their papery little seeds in the second year, if you don't harvest one either on purpose or because you misjudged the frost, so it's worth it.
Anyway, whenever I see someone stuck and struggling with their writing who's gotten into that frustration loop of typing a few words, rejecting them, backspacing, and starting again, I find myself thinking, you gotta stop weeding your parsnips, man.
[ID: A “This Barbie is” generated movie poster with a photo of a hand pointing directly toward you and the caption edited to read “This Barbie is not working on their WIPs.” End ID]
Things almost every author needs to research
How bodies decompose
Wilderness survival skills
Mob mentality
Other cultures
What it takes for a human to die in a given situation
Common tropes in your genre
Average weather for your setting
I want everyone’s best one liner writing advise!
Mine is that you have to know the ending of your story before you start it.
gentle reminder: you are very capable and I’m excited for your future
slightly less gentle reminder: you do have to work for it
The line of succession stuff is fascinating! Do you think you could explain the different ways you're supposed to address royalty, be it kings or queens or princesses?
Forms of Address for English Royals and Nobility
Quick clarification: forms of address vary across eras, countries, and even courts. So, take this as a general English guide but be sure to research the specific era, location, and even court or household (if you’re writing about or inspired by a particular monarch or noble) to find specifics.
King & Queen
His/Her/Your Grace (before 1500) His/Her/Your Majesty (after 1500) Sir/Ma’am (following initial address of Your Majesty, after 1800)
Crown Prince/Princess (Heir to the Throne)
His/Her/Your Royal Highness
Prince & Princess
His/Her/Your Highness
Duke & Duchess
His/Her/Your Grace
Children of Duke & Duchess
My Lord/My Lady
3rd Person, eldest child with title: according to title (Lord + Title) 3rd Person, no title: the Lord + First Name, the Lady + First Name
Marquess/Marchioness, Earl/Countess, Viscount/Viscountess, Baron/Baroness
My Lord/My Lady
3rd Person: His Lordship/Her Ladyship
Children of Marquess/Marchioness, Earl/Countess, Viscount/Viscountess, Baron/Baroness
My Lord/My Lady
3rd Person: Lord + First Name, Lady + First Name
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Have a question? My inbox is always open, but make sure to check my FAQ and post master lists first to see if I’ve already answered a similar question. :)
I suppose the advantage of having several writing projects at the same time is that at least I can procastinate project C by writing on project D only to the next day procastinate D by working on B 🤡
The disadvantage, of course, being that nothing will be finished this side of the millenia
How to Finish
I drew this poster for Jon Acuff and his FINISH book tour. Big thanks to Jon for this collaboration, his book has some great ideas about how to complete creative and life goals.