Wundergeek - Building Rome In A Day

my recipe for drawing hands!

(small note that this is a shortcut that is more abt style and ease than anatomical accuracy. it helps to take time to really properly study hands, makes it easier to bend the rules a bit like this and have it still look good!!)

(learn rules b4 u break them or whatevah)

Also!!!! Adverbs are useful in describing body language meant to convey emotional context: Aspen stopped themself, holding up their hands apologetically.

Just saying that they held up their hands gets rid of the emotional context - you can hold up your hands angrily, or aggressively, or sarcastically. They're also a lot more useful for conveying sarcasm without just saying the character is being sarcastic: “Aren’t you forgetting something?” Becks asked sweetly from the doorway.

So yeah. Vary your parts of speech, but also

I know adverbs are controversial, but "said softly" means something different than "whispered" and this is the hill I will die on.

The thing that helped me go from "no motivation to write" to being on track to have written 200K words of fiction in one year was unlocking

the power of spite

by reminding myself that writing cozy stories of successful queer romance where nobody dies and everyone gets a happy ending will really piss off the fascists.

Snippet from Book 2: Since his mom was out, Corey sent her a text saying that he was heading to Yulia's, then messaged Yulia to say he wasn't feeling well and was staying home that evening. With any luck, he'd be back before they found out he'd lied to both of them.

Here’s an invaluable writing resource for you.