Ainesseyspiegel - My Side Of Freedom

NaNoWriMo tip of the day: The "Distraction Free" Word Processors

For some of us, the ol’ Microsoft Word just doesn’t cut it.

Do you stop writing and check Tumblr or any other social network every time you see a (1) in your browser? Does this checking of the one become a thirty-minute or longer thing? Are you procrastinating from your writing right now?

One of the things that I find handy is having a “distraction free” or motivational word processor handy. They are designed to take up your entire screen, including the taskbar at the bottom. It keeps you from seeing all of your notices that ultimately drag you away from what you’re doing. They also are minimalist, so you don’t have all of these unnecessary bells and whistles to deal with. How many times have you changed fonts today?

Here are some of my favorites:

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How to Write a Fight Scene (Rebloggable Version)

Admin Note: This post is a rebloggable copy of our page on fight scenes. The page is being phased out, so from now on all updates will be made on this post and not on the page. 

Among the typically difficult scenes writers face in their stories, the fight scene definitely ranks high on the list. Below you will find several resources with tips for writing a good fight scene.

Action with a Side of Zombies: One of our articles focused specifically on writing action scenes. Bonus:  the examples all include zombies.

ArchetypesAndAllusions: An article on the three main types of fighters and their various approaches to kickin’ ass (or not).

TheCreativePenn.com: Alan Baxter, speculative fiction author, gives some great advice on characterization, setting, martial style, and cliches. 

StoryHack.com: A PDF that takes you through writing a fight scene step by step by Randy Ingermanson, compiled by Bryce Beattie.

MarilynnByerly.com: An extremely good guide to writing fight scenes. This guide includes tips on character viewpoint, mapping the fight, and tricks for writing each type of fight. 

Shelfari.com: This site is an interview with famed fantasy author R.A. Salvatore on how to write great fight scenes.

TheBusinessOfWriting: C. Patrick Schulze gives some good, solid advice on identifying and writing your fight scene.

EzineArticles.com: Marq McAlister explains how to make a fight scene pack some serious punch. This article is good for fine-tuning.

Martin Turner: Focusing specifically on sword-fighting scenes, Martin Turner writes in great detail on every conceivable detail of this type of time-honored fight scene. 

SeriousPixie.com: Susan tells you about the three types of fight scene writers and explains how to fix the problems that arise for each type.

David Alan Lucus: This multi-part guide gives advice in exhaustive detail on how to write an awesome fight scene.

NightFoot: This Tumblr post offers some great tips for writing fight scenes.

These links provide advice specifically for writing battle scenes:

Gerri Blanc: eHow’s article on battle scenes is a basic step-by-step list for you. It’s a good introduction to writing battle scenes.

StormTheCastle.com: This article takes you through an in-depth guide on how to write battle scenes for fantasy stories.

Rhonda Leigh Jones: Jones lists some dos and don’ts of writing battle scenes.

Other resources:

List of Martial Arts: Looking for a fighting style? Find it here!

List of Weapons: Every type of weapon you can think of is listed here.

List of Military Tactics: From troop movements to siege warfare, this list has got you covered.

Asylum.com: A few examples of awesome battle tactics from history.

BadassOfTheWeek.com: Get some inspiration for awesome fight scenes and fighting characters from this compendium of badassitude.

Thearmedgentleman: Austin has offered to share his knowledge on weaponry with any writers who have questions. Thanks, Austin! 

We hope this helps! If you have another link or a tip for how to write fight/battle scenes, hit up our ask box and let us know!

For who could ever learn to love a beast?

That awkward moment when you pull out a piece of writing thinking it needs a polish and instead it needs life-saving surgery, organ transplants, a stint in rehab, and quite possibly a stay in the Witness Protection Program.

Immortal Print

On Twins

I’m a twin, and I’ve been angry about twin stereotypes for years now.

The most prominent ones being: the exactly alike twins, the exactly opposite twins, the creepy twins, or some combination thereof. Like, I nearly vomit whenever I read the line, ‘X and Y were twins, but they couldn’t be more different,’ because that is just lazy writing. It is. How much more lazy can you get than to create a character and then just make another one the exact opposite?

Answer: You can make them exactly alike. This one I hate more, because seriously, in real life, how likely is it that twins will be completely identical, not just in appearance, but in personalities and attitudes and intelligence? I will cut slack for twins raised apart, because that can happen and that’s been proven, but seriously? If you have two characters be exactly the same, you might as well have one character, and try to flesh them out a little more.

Let me explain something about twins: if we’re really close, we tend to adapt to fill in each other’s weaknesses. For instance, my sister and I had an interesting pattern for making friends; my sister, an incredibly outgoing social butterfly, would meet people and make them part of our group. Then, it was my job to keep us staying friends with them, by doing things like making sleepovers, remembering people had feelings, and remembering birthdays. However, while this obviously distinguishes between twins and makes it clear they’re unlikely to be exactly alike, it also doesn’t mean they’re exact opposites. For instance, my twin and I are both not good at communicating over the phone; we both tend to be bad at planning our time effectively. The important thing with writing twins is to remember that there is an intricate pattern of alike and not alike, determined both by upbringing and personality. It’s complex, like any relationship, and it should be treated with the same care as any relationship in a story. On the topic of creepy twins, just know that me and most twins like me will gladly leave a scathing review on any story with poorly explained twin incest. Just, ew, man. Ew.

4 Ways to Reveal Backstory

Unless you’re the next J R R Tolkien, it’s best not to attempt a huge outpouring of historical backstory at the beginning of your novel. Your readers want a gripping story, not a history lecture.

There are many ways that you can gradually reveal backstory through your novel without having to halt the telling of your story.

Setting: Bombed buildings hint at a recent war, a flood may have left your characters living upstairs in their houses. Street names, pub names and building names can hint at historical backstory (such as Battle Square, Hangman’s Lane or The Burning Scholar Inn).

Culture: A town that used to be plagued by dragons may have a policy on killing lizards, a populace that used to be slaves may eat quickly, a town that suffers regular droughts may value water over money.

Character: A woman who was attacked may be scared to leave home after dark, someone who was criticised as a child may be a perfectionist as an adult. After a long war, a town may be very short on men, and the men that survived may have trouble re-adjusting to life.

Dialogue: Characters can, of course, talk about the past, but avoid another outpouring of historical information. Hint at things, leave clues, tell half stories; let your reader enjoy piecing everything together.

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