'the inability to distinguish between fantasy and reality'
Masterpost: How to write a story?
Compilation of writing advice for some aspects of the writing process.
- How to motivate myself to write more
- How to get rid of writer’s block
- Basic Overview: How to write a story
- How to outline a story
- How to come up with plot
- How to create a character
- How to make a character unique
- How to name your characters (Masterpost)
- How to start a story
- How to write a prologue
- How to write conversation
- How to write witty banter
- How to write the last line
- How to write a summary
- How to write a book description
- How to write romance
- How to write friendships
- How to write emotions (Masterpost)
- How to write an argument
- How to write yelling
- How to write anger
- How to write betrayal
- How to title fanfiction
- How to write an unreliable narrator
- First Person vs. Third Person POV
- How to write character deaths
- How to use songs in a fanfiction
- How to name fictional things
- How to write self-insert fics
- How to write multiple points of view
- Introducing a group of characters
- Large cast of characters interacting in one scene
- How to write dual timelines
- Redemption arc
- Plot twists
- Fatal Character Flaws
- Good Traits Gone Bad (x)
- Slow burn
Explanation posts about writing terms
Advice for writing relationships
More specific scenarios
- How to write a bilingual character
- How to write a character with glasses
- How to write heterochromia
- How to create a villain
- Reasons for becoming a villain
- How to write a morally grey character
- How to write an inferiority complex
- How to write a road trip
- How to create and write a cult
- How to write amnesia
- How to write being stabbed
- How to write a stratocracy
- How to write a heist
- How to write the mafia
- Criminal past comes to light
- Ideas for traumatic experiences
- How to create an atmosphere (Masterpost)
- How to write a college party
- How to write royalty (Masterpost)
- Paramilitary Forces/ Militia
- Superpowers Masterpost (Hero x Villain)
- Inconvenient things a ghost could do
- A Queen’s Assassination Plot
- Crime Story - Detective’s POV
- Evil organization of assassins
- Evil wins in the end
- Causes for the apocalypse
- Last day on earth
- Liminal Spaces
- Workplace AUs
- Signs of co-dependency
- What to wear in a desert
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words for your fight scenes
Breathe
draw, expire, heave, inhale, puff, suffocate
Catch
intercept, tackle
Climb
arise, ascension, mount, scale, surface
Cut
amputate, ax/axe, bisect, chisel, cleave, crop, cut up, dent, dissect, engrave, etch, fell, hack, lacerate, mangle, molt, mutilate, notch, peel, scar, scratch, shave, shred, slash, slit, trim, whittle
Dispose
boot, chuck, disposal, dispose of, do away with, elimination, kick out, rejection, scrap, throw away, void
Drop
alight, crash, decline, descent, dive, droop, duck, fall, flop, fumble, go under, keel over, light, percolate, plumb, plunge, sag, settle, sink, slump, stoop, submerge, suspend, thud/thump, tumble, wilt
Hide
ambush, bury, camouflage, conceal, cover, cover-up, cringe, disguise, dissimulate, embed, ensconce, envelop, isolation, lurk, masquerade, palliate, screen, seclusion, sequester, shrink, shut off/shut out, sneak, withhold
Hit
applaud, bang, baste, batter, beat, blindside, boot, buffet, bunt, chip, clash, clip, clout, collide, concussion, crash, cuff, deflect, drive, flail, glance, hammer, jab, jostle, knock, lick, nail, peck, plaudits, pound, punch, rap, scourge, slap, smack, sock, strike, swipe, tap, thud/thump, tip, whack, whip
Hold forcefully
apprehend, cage, clasp, clinch, confinement, constriction, cramp, detain, embrace, enslave, fetters, grasp, gripe, hold, incarcerate, overpower, press, shackle, snatch, strangle, throttle, wrestle
NOTE
- The above are concepts classified according to subject and usage. It not only helps writers and thinkers to organize their ideas but leads them from those very ideas to the words that can best express them.
- It was, in part, created to turn an idea into a specific word. By linking together the main entries that share similar concepts, the index makes possible creative semantic connections between words in our language, stimulating thought and broadening vocabulary.
Source ⚜ Writing Basics & Refreshers ⚜ On Vocabulary
Notes: Fight Scenes (pt. 1) (pt. 2) Word Lists: Fight ⚜ Pain
I love the lawyer metaphor, because whenever I see “John knew that...” in prose writing I immediately think “how? How does he know it?” Interrogate your witnesses. Cross-examine them. Make them explain their reasoning. It pays dividends.
All of this, but also feels/felt. My editor has forbidden me from using those and it’s forced me to stretch my skills.
This is your "show not tell" advice explained!
Editor here.
First, let me preface this with something very important: you can treat all of this advice as SECOND-DRAFT ADVICE. It is so much easier to rewrite this kind of stuff once you have words on the page. Telling yourself the first draft is totally appropriate and acceptable.
What we’re talking about here are FILTER WORDS (and to some degree verbs of being). Yes, “thought” words are included. But so are “heard, saw, looked, tasted, smelled” etc.—most words having to do with the senses.
This isn’t black and white advice; sometimes you’ll use these words and that’s okay. They’re not WRONG. They’re just weaker. And they’re weaker because they create distance between the reader and the experience of the character.*
If you want your reader to feel like they’re experiencing the story right alongside the character, you want to cut down on filter words.
*This is particularly important with first person and close third POVs. The reader always knows whose eyes they’re seeing through and thoughts they’re privy to. So you don’t need to tell them “I saw X.” Or “I heard X.” Or “I thought Y.” You can just jump into the action/observation as it’s happening.
This is also where you want to pay attention to verbs of being.
“It was rainy.” Versus: “The rain pounded against the roof.” Or “The rain howled like an injured animal.” Or “The rain tapped against the window like an anxious lover.” All of these are inviting the reader deeper into the experience of the story by using stronger verbs and similes. And, at the same time, they stir feelings (instead of TELLING feelings). And feelings keep your reader engaged. Engaged readers keep turning pages; engaged readers become FANS.
This is also where
you want to pay attention
to verbs of being.
Beep boop! I look for accidental haiku posts. Sometimes I mess up.

















