Pick One: Fiction Tropes

Below I pit two fiction tropes against each other and pick the one I prefer.

Overly protective brother overly protective father?

Brother. I love this trope so much.

Haters to lovers or lovers to haters?

Even though I’m not the biggest romance reader, I enjoy a good haters to lovers storyline. Certainly more than love at first sight, gets married next month.

Haters to lovers or enemies to friends?

Enemies to friends. I’m here for platonic relationships.

Love triangle or love square?

I don’t love either, but I’ll go with a square. The more the merrier, I guess.

Rags to riches or riches to rags?

The former. I want characters to succeed.

A hero or an anti-hero?

Anti-hero. Not everyone can be brave and courageous or save the world, am I right?

Vampires or werewolves?

Thanks to Christopher Pike, vampire books gave me life as a teenager.

Funny friend or smart sidekick?

Give me both any day, but I often relate to a smart sidekick more. I’m just not funny.

Real dating or fake dating?

The latter all the way. It’s fun reading about people who have to pretend they’re in love.

I’d love to know which fiction tropes you would pick.

How Writers Deal With Haters

• Put them in a story and kill their character.
• Subtweet him or her.
• Publish a viral blog post.
• Reaffirm how right you are as well as how wrong they are in your mind.
• Roll your eyes like a YA character.
• Walk away and write a bestseller instead.
• Fall so in love with fictional characters you forget about your real life haters.
• Silently correct their speech or grammar errors.
• Build a fort using books to keep people out.
• Realize having haters means you’re doing something right.

Would You Rather: Bookish Edition

Would you rather only read the first book or the last book in a series? The first. I don’t want to be completely lost

Would you rather never go to a bookstore or a library ever again? Bookstores. I love libraries too much. I can always buy books online.

Would you rather live in a fictional world or have fictional characters live in your world? I want to live in a fictional world. That’d be fun.

Would you rather buy every book or borrow every book? I love buying books. My bank account doesn’t however.

Would you rather read out loud or listen to someone read to you? Read out loud. I don’t do it often enough.

Would you rather always bring a book with you or never be able to? Always bring a book. Ebooks make this much easier.

Would you rather throw a book into a fire or into water? Water. I don’t have what it takes to burn a book.

Would you rather eat dinner with your favourite author or favourite character? I’ll pick the brain of an author any day.

Would you rather spoil a book for someone else or have someone spoil a book for you? I can’t stand spoilers. So I’m going to spoil a book or ten for someone else. Sorry not sorry.

Would you rather have to recommend books you hate or be recommended books you hate? Be recommended books I hate. What an awful life either way.

Would you rather only read at home or on the go? I’m such a homebody. I do a lot of reading at home. I’ll survive doing other things on the go.

How To Tell A Good Story

Here’s my advice on how to tell a good story.

Create dynamic characters.

They shouldn’t be perfect because everyone is flawed in some way.

Make everyone want something.

As simple as wanting a glass of water or as complicated as saving the world.

Have stakes.

Every action has a reaction.

Don’t sugarcoat.

Tell the story in all it’s ugliness.

Never underestimate the intelligence of your readers.

Enough said.

Aim for clarity.

Confusion is bad communication.

Get creative.

Put your own twist on tried-and-true tropes.

Finish.

A complete story will always win against an incomplete one any day.

Give your readers some closure.

You don’t have to answer every question, but you still have to tie up a few loose ends.

Keep writing.

You won’t write good stories until you write a lot of bad ones.

Some Reasons Why I Write

I write because I cannot not write. I have voices in my head that won’t leave me alone. They want their voice heard, their story told.

I write because I hope others will relate to my characters. I want my words to resonate with them, so they feel less alone.

I write because I fell in love with writing. And every day I fall more in love. I’m reminded time and time again why I started.

I write for myself. For my own sake and sanity.

I write to find who I am. I’d be lost without writing.

I write to make sense of what I’m thinking or how I’m feeling. I don’t always know what I think until I get my thoughts down.

I write because it’s challenging. I like the challenge of creating. I want to push my creativity and expand my imagination.

I write to document and to record the moments I want to remember.

I write so I don’t forget. So I have a reminder of where I’ve been.

I write even when I don’t know what to say. Eventually, I figure out what I do.

I write because I believe the power of words. The right ones can change the world.

I write because I can. I’m lucky enough to be able to.

I write what I want. I get to make my own rules and break them if I so choose.

I write because I can’t imagine myself doing anything else in the world and enjoying it half as much.

30 Things This Writer Will Never Understand

1. Why people don’t bring me cake after I finish writing a chapter.
2. Why most of my chapters are short.
3. Why I’m so short and bookshelves so tall.
4. Why I can’t reach the top shelf even if I stand on my toes.
5. Why my toes are always cold.
6. Why my fingers are cold too.
7. Why my fingers are big.
8. Why my fingers like to hit the wrong keys.
9. Why my phone’s autocorrect doesn’t understand I hit the wrong key, resulting in many typos.
10. Why my friends feel the need to laugh at my typos.
11. Why I even have friends when I don’t ever leave the house.
12. Why fictional characters can’t be real friends.
13. Why my characters are selfish and whether that’s a reflection of myself.
14. Why I don’t get an idea every time I look at my reflection in the mirror.
15. Why I can’t describe facial expressions well even while staring at a mirror.
16. Why describing facial expressions is difficult.
17. Why writing is difficult.
18. Why I almost always tackle the most difficult idea rather than an easier one.
19. Why I can’t remember the ideas I don’t write down.
20. Why ideas pop into my head at the most inconvenient moments.
21. Why I don’t write more often.
22. Why I don’t always like what I write.
23. Why I occasionally like what I write and get too attached.
24. Why I always have to kill what I’m attached to.
25. Why killing my darlings isn’t as easy as it sounds.
26. Why dialogue sounds better in my head than it does on the page.
27. Why notebooks don’t have an infinite number of pages in them.
28. Why I fill up the pages without being aware of it.
29. Why I’m not aware of my surroundings at any given time.
30. Why I’m too aware and start staring at someone with the intention of writing him or her into my story.

Have You Ever | Writer’s Edition

• Have you ever killed off a character only to regret it and bring them back to life?
• Have you ever cleared your search history after a research session?
• Have you ever used a napkin like a notepad?
• Have you ever woken up in the middle of the night to write an idea down?
• Have you ever been caught staring at a stranger in public?
• Have you ever lost sleep worrying over your own characters?
• Have you ever stolen a pen from someone?
• Have you ever started a novel and actually finished writing it?

25 Signs You Might Be A Writer

1. You go on Twitter when you shouldn’t.
2. You cheat on your current work in progress with shiny new story ideas.
3. You bribe yourself to write using cake as a reward.
4. You start eating while working.
5. You make a mess.
6. You watch crumbs fall into the crevices of your keyboard.
7. You talk to yourself.
8. You imagine your manuscripts being turned into movies.
9. You realize that would require you to finish writing your novels first.
10. You love your story but you hate it too.
11. You also have a love-hate relationship with your characters.
12. You want to cuddle your characters, but you need them to suffer too.
13. You enjoy watching people suffer.
14. You roll your eyes when your characters don’t follow your outlines.
15. You wonder if you should even bother outlining in the first place.
16. You don’t listen to other people’s advice.
17. You liking giving advice about writing.
18. You almost never practice what you preach.
19. You stare at people all the time.
20. You consider inserting yourself into a story before thinking better of it.
21. You daydream more than you dream.
22. You know weird facts about random topics.
23. You can procrastinate like a professional.
24. You work way too hard and you’re paid way too little.
25. You write.