write for the people who will one day pore over the words you've chosen.
write for the people who think you could never have gotten so far.
write so you can bring words to life.
write so one day you can look back and see how far you've come.
write to inspire people who are too afraid, or who cannot, put words to paper.
write, because if you don't create this, who will?
and if anything, get up and go write for yourself. there's still so far to go. take a break, breathe, but go back. there's still so many things to share.
Now, I come to you as a friend and as a foe with the wisdom of a piano from the 80s. In all my time *authoring*, I have learned to read as a writer. And it can be annoying as heck because sometimes I want to read a bad story just to relax and destress, but in my head I’m correcting it. But it helped me! So let me help you.
Strange, what’s the difference?
Great question. The key difference is questioning. Reading as a writer means you are more analytical with what you read. You should be questioning everything: why did I get immersed here, why did I reread this paragraph, how come this scene feels rushed but the next one slow?
The goal is to implement the best of what you see other authors do into your own writing, and this can be very biased based on your own style. Remember: Not everyone likes the same stuff, so here are some general question to help you analyze what you read better to reach your audience
How did the author create/fail to create a visual setting?
Was there a lot of sensory detail? Were the details easy to visualize, or did they jumble my thoughts and confuse me?
Why am I bored/super excited reading this right now?
Does the author use various sentence structure? Is the pacing too slow, too fast?
What is making this scene so confusing?
Are the characters’s voices not distinguished enough? Is the sequence of events out of order? Did the author not elaborate on key events in the plot?
Finally, you’re going to ask yourself how would YOU change it. How would you make this scene better? How would you ease the confusion? How would you keep the reader from getting bored and create that reading experience that got US into writing? Reading as a writer takes time. Critical thinking with even the bad stuff can be difficult and unappealing, but it will help your writing ten fold. We’re all writers here. Let us learn from each other
today i am bringing you another list with my top 3 favorite (free!) tools that I find helpful for each phase of writing a novel.
brainstorming phase
Fantasy Names Generator- not only for fantasy (you can also generate real names). this website is just... amazing! it helps you come up with names for characters, places and locations, descriptions, generate traits, outfits (yes, outfits!!), and probably something else you could ever think of.
The Story's Hack - this one is so cool! you can generate names for everything, create your own generator, and practice writing through writing exercises! plus, you can save your generated names to see later, and you earn coins for each idea generated (you can later buy themes - dark, snow, forest, etc)
RanGen - my last favorite generator on this list is RanGen! you can generate plots, appearances, archetypes, love interests, cities, worlds, items, and more.
developing the idea phase
Bryn Donovan- in this blog you can find master lists under the tag "master lists for writers". it is so helpful when you first start developing the characters and need to find the right words to describe them and to find some quirks and flaws!
Story Planner - ah, the number of times I've talked about this website... please, PLEASE take a look at it, you won't regret it. this website has literally everything you need to fully develop your idea with outlines for you to fill in step by step.
Describing Words - honestly, this is a lifesaver. don't you struggle to find the right word to describe something? well, with this website all you have to do is to type the object you're trying to describe and see which description fits better to you!
revising phase
Language Tool for Google Docs - i know we all have heard about google docs before, but the truth is, it's almost impossible to find free softwares to check grammar and spelling. so, google docs is useful, because it automatically revises it for us, and it's completely free. plus, you can add adds-on, such as "language tool".
Unfortunately, there's only one (free) tool that I actually enjoy for the revising phase. if you know some others, please let me know so that I can try them out and feature in this list.
exporting phase
Google Docs- i find google docs very easy to format and export to .epub, so i'd recommend using it as a free tool.
Reedsy - this is also a free tool available online. all you have to do is to write down each chapter (copy and paste) or import your word document. it will format the document to your liking and export it to pdf, epub and mobi.
that's everything for now! i hope this post was somehow helpful or inspiring!
if you want to see more master lists full of resources, check these:
It should come to the surprise of absolutely no one that Hachi and Nana’s relationship is my favorite in the series, if not my favorite fictional relationship of all time.
So I am going to talk a lil here about their love for each other and their (lack of) communication of their feelings for each other to each other which truly led to the tragedy in the series.
Stories that prioritize the relationship between two adult women are few and the center of NANA’s story has always been the relationship between these two women who love each other more than even the mangaka’s expectations. Even when other (male) characters distract Nana and Hachi from each other, the women continue to address only each other in their internal monologues - the only exception ever being Ren, who they both address once after the reveal of his death.
It’s these internal monologues that are one of the most distinctive parts of NANA’s narrative. It becomes a mystery to unravel during your first read/watch of the series as it becomes clear that Nana isn’t around anymore in the future - ‘is she dead?’ is the first conclusion you jump to, as a future Hachi addresses Nana like she could be a ghost haunting her memory… And then the story switches it up and it’s a future Nana sharing her internal monologue, addressing Hachi, just as the narrative kicks it in to high-gear as Hachi starts and ends her relationship with Nobu with only a couple chapters and the revelation of her pregnancy changes the entire landscape of the story.
It’s absolutely melancholic, when you really go back and read all of their internal monologues as they continue to address only each other and think back upon the tragedies they went through, some of which are still mysteries to the us (the audience), and continue to think only of each other.
