WHY DID NO ONE TELL ME ABOUT PRO WRITING AID BEFORE?! THIS THING IS FUCKING GLORIOUS. HOLY SHIT. LOOK AT THIS.
IT GIVES YOU A WHOLE DAMN REPORT ON YOUR WRITING AND WALKS YOU THROUGH HOW TO MAKE IT BETTER AND WHY IT IS SUGGESTING CHANGES. THIS IS JUST A TINY CHUNK OF THE HUGE REPORT IT GAVE ME ON THE FIRST CHAPTER OF ONE OF MY PROJECTS. I AM IN LOVE.
AND IT WORKS WITH SCRIVENER. AND IT IS AFFORDABLE.
WHY DID NO ONE TELL ME?!
Seriously, a couple hours with this and my first chapter is so much better. It helped me see problems I KNEW I had (passive voice, showing vs. telling, adverbs) but was having a hard time sussing out. It has made editing so much more fun and easy because now I know what the hell I’m doing and what to look for instead of stumbling around blind shouting “adverbs? adverbs?” like a town crier. I can already tell I’m getting better at seeing things without the program having to show me too.
THOU is the subject (Thou art…) THEE is the object (I look at thee) THY is for words beginning in a consonant (Thy dog) THINE is for words beginning in a vowel (Thine eyes)
this has been a psa
Also, because H was sometimes treated as a vowel when the grammar rules for thou/thee/thy/thine were formed,THINE can also be used for words beginning with H. For example, both “thy heart” and “thine heart” appear in Elizabethan poetry.
For consistency, however, if you’re saying “thine eyes”, make sure you also say “mine eyes” instead of “my eyes”.
Further to the PSA:
Thou/thee/thine is SINGULAR ONLY.
Verbs with “thou” end in -st or -est: thou canst, thou hast, thou dost, thou goest. Exception: the verbs will, shall, are, and were, which add only -t: thou wilt, thou shalt, thou art, thou wert.
Only in the indicative, though – when saying how things are (“Thou hast a big nose”). Not in the subjunctive, saying how things might be (“If thou go there…”) nor in the imperative, making instructions or requests (“Go thou there”).
The -eth or -th ending on verbs is EXACTLY EQUIVALENT TO THE -(e)s ENDING IN MODERN ENGLISH.
I go, thou goest, she goeth, we go, ye go, they go.
If you wouldn’t say “goes” in modern English, don’t say “goeth” in Shakespearean English.
“Goeth and getteth me a coffee” NO. KILL IT WITH FIRE.
Usually with an imperative you put the pronoun immediately after the verb, at least once in the sentence (“Go thou” / “Go ye”).
YE is the subject (Ye are…). YOU is the object.
Ye/you/your is both for PLURALS and for DEFERENCE, as vous in French.
There’s more, but that’ll do for now.
Oh wow. Reblogging for reference.
i haven’t had my coffee yet, so all i can think of when i read through this is:
th’ain’t
th’dstn’t’ve
AND ANOTHER THING “thee/thou/thy” is informal “ye/you/your” is formal Also also…all of this is NOT Old English but is actually referred to as Early Modern English. If you were speaking Old English, it would sound closer to German.
^That.
And IT’S NOT MORE FORMAL to use THEE.
if you address someone you should use Thee or Ye (sometime used as the plural, sometimes it’s still Thee, rules are iffy) to as You, it’s an insult by intentional distance. If you call someone you should call You by Thee, it can be an insult via assumed intimacy.
(This is why some religions insist on still using Thee and Thou when talking to their Father God. Many of them modernly think it makes them sound more formal, but that’s not why the usage began, or why the more linguistically aware still do it. Not because it’s more formal, but because it’s LESS formal. You wouldn’t call your own Father “You” unless you wanted to imply disowning Him.)
Anyone you’re close to or on first name terms with can be Thee. Friends, family members, etc.
Anyone you want to point out is NOT your friend, respectfully or otherwise, is You. Which is why the King is still Your Majesty. You are decidedly not his friend unless you know each other really well. (See “Henry V”. If you can also call Henry by Harry or Hal, you can probably call him Thee.
One more note! “Ye Olde- as you see on shop signs is not prounounced Yee. There’s a character called a Thorn that was going out of style and being replaced by a curly thing that looks like a Y and IS NOT. It’s pronounced Th. THe olde apothecary shoppe. Not Ye Olde. That itself promptly went out of style as well but the error remains almost traditional.
and I am not addressing claims that I might be a vampire, lycanthrope, or other immortal just because I am fluent in Modern Middle English.
This whole post is a blessing because I read so much “ye olde” speak in historical stuff and everyone always gets their thee’s and thou’s wrong. Even big name authors with accuracy editors who ought to know better.
It’s more accurate to have your “poor folk” in your historical novel saying “thou” than it is to have the scholar or rich man with an education rooted in Latin, unless he’s down the pub with his mates, merry as a knave.
The whole thing just reminds me of people using Polonius’ speech in Hamlet (“to thine own self be true”), completely out of context, not realizing that the speech is intended to show Polonius as a foolish old hypocrite who enjoys dishing out council but rarely follows his own convoluted advice, which is often contradictory and falsely pious.
Which, I mean, Shakespeare often isn’t taught well outside of higher education, lets be honest. So why would they know unless they’ve studied it beyond the passing glance it gets that one year in high school before been relegated to the position of “too posh and old to be relevant” which is entirely not true.
Shakespeare is written in the language of the people, and is often more insightful and progressive than certain types of academics would like you to believe.
Despite the fact that I am not deaf, mute, or blind myself, one of the most common questions I receive is how to portray characters with these disabilities in fiction.
As such, I’ve compiled the resources I’ve accumulated (from real life deaf, mute, or blind people) into a handy masterlist.
I just did a quick perusal of the Coptic resources on this site, and it has all the resources I’ve personally found worthwhile and then some. These are resources that took me months, if not years, to discover and compile. I am thoroughly impressed. The other languages featured on the site are:
Akkadian
Arabic
Aramaic
Church Slavonic
Egyptian (hieroglyphics and Demotic)
Elamite
Ethiopic (Ge’ez)
Etruscan
Gaulish
Georgian
Gothic
Greek
Hebrew
Hittite
Latin
Mayan (various related languages/dialects)
Old Chinese
Old English
Old French
Old Frisian
Old High German
Old Irish
Old Norse
Old Persian
Old Turkic
Sanskrit
Sumerian
Syriac
Ugaritic
For the love of all the gods, if you ever wanted to learn any of these languages, use this site.
Likely helpful for various recon-oriented polytheists.
Expository dialogue techniques that don’t rely on characters randomly explaining things to each other that they should already know, but do rely on your characters being obnoxious gits:
1. Character A fucks something up hilariously; character B upbraids them at great length about exactly what they did wrong.
2. Character A wildly misreads a situation; character B corrects their misconceptions.
3. Character A tells a complicated and implausible lie; character B points out the obvious holes in their story.
4. Character A can’t find their destination; character B provides rambling and discursive directions.
5. Character A has a straightforward question; character B requests a series of extremely pedantic clarifications.
How to Promote Yourself as an Author via Social Media
1) First and Foremost, Don’t Overthink It.
I’m starting here, because this is a subject that can be very overwhelming, but it doesn’t have to be. Some writers/authors seem to have limitless time to dedicate to social media, but most of us don’t, and that’s okay. It’s better to prioritize your writing, but there are things you can do to work social media into your routine. Also, don’t feel like everything you post has to be related to writing, your writing life, or some super interesting event or adventure. Content is content. It can be just about anything.
2) Your Main Social Media Options, Just to Get Them Out there
– Tumblr – Facebook – Twitter – Instagram – Pintrest – YouTube – Goodreads – Google Plus – Writer/Author Blog
2) Get to Know Your Favorites
It’s better to have good visibility on a few platforms than it is to spread yourself thin across all of them. Even if you set up accounts on all of them, you don’t have to be active on all of them. Focus on the ones that work best for you, even if it’s only two or three of them. I recommend choosing at least two, if not three, then dedicate a week to each one. Set up your account (if you haven’t already), find and follow other writers/authors, especially in your genre. (Hashtags are helpful for this. Google will provide lists of hashtags for writers/authors on each platform.) Try to spend ten to fifteen minutes a day on that week’s chosen platform. Make a post, then spend some time liking and commenting on the posts in your feed. This helps to build relationships with other writers. And don’t be bashful. Anyone who has a public writer/author page is hoping for likes and comments, even from people they don’t know yet.
3) Choose a Primary Platform and Stick with It
As the saying goes, “Jack of all trades, master of none.” The same is true of social media, so even once you’ve narrowed the field down to your favorite two or three platforms, you may want to choose one that you use daily, for ten to fifteen minutes per day. Then, try to dedicate a little time to the other two, maybe on the weekends.
4) What to Do About Content
It depends on the platform, obviously, but here are some ideas:
– motivational quotes – book/reading related quotes – pictures that relate to what you write – pictures that inspire what you want to write – pictures that relate to reading/writing – posts from other writers/authors that are shareable – writing/reading related memes – aesthetics of your favorite books
Original Posts: – personal writing-related anecdotes – writing tip/advice posts (share what you know!) – photos of your writing space/reading area – pictures of handwritten quotes or tips that you want to share – aesthetics of your WIP – photos of coffee, tea, stationery, books, pets, nature – your monthly goals – end of month review of which goals you completed and which you didn’t
Tags/Challenges/Questionnaires: – “tag” challenges are sort of like hashtag photo prompts. Search for an existing tag challenge or create your own and tag your followers to join you. – monthly photo challenges give you a prompt for each day. These can be related to books/reading, writing, both, or anything else. – prompt challenges inspire daily short poetry or micro fiction – you’ve seen questionanaires here and probably on facebook, too. Often you can find some geared toward reading and writing.
Book Reviews, Movie Reviews, TV Show Reviews, Video Game Reviews – book reviews make for great content. It doesn’t have to be anything long and drawn out. Just a picture of the book, how many stars you give it, and a few things that you liked (or didn’t like) about it. – did you watch a movie over the weekend that you really enjoyed? Tell your followers about it in a spoiler-free review. – did you binge-watch a new TV show? Let others know about it with a spoiler-free review. – did you play a new computer, phone, or video game? Talk about it!
Support Other Writers/Authors: – if a writer/author you admire or follow posts something you can help promote, do it! For example, maybe an indie author your friends with has just posted that their book is on sale this week. Sharing that can promote audience sharing between you and them, it gives you content for the day, and it’s awesome to support other writers/authors, especially indies.
Arts, Crafts, DIY, Cooking, Adventures, and Other Hobbies – share your grandmother’s recipe for pumpkin pie – share a picture of the sweater you’re knitting along with your three favorite knitting tips and tricks. – share a picture of your bujo or planner layout for the month – share a picture of the cabinets you re-finished and talk about what the process was like. – share pictures and stories from the antiquing road trip you took over the weekend. – share a picture of the painting you’ve been working on. – share a picture of the room you cleaned out along with some de-cluttering tips – share a pretty picture of a flower you took on your afternoon walk
Spend some time looking at the content of other writers/authors on the platform you want to focus on. This is a great way to see what’s most common, what you can mimic, and what you can jump in on.
5) Set Up a Schedule
Whether you focus on one platform or three, it can sometimes help to set up a posting schedule. For example:
Monday – Blog post on author blog Tuesday – Re-tweet two or three writing-related tweets on Twitter Wednesday – Post a writing/book related photo on Instagram Thursday – Re-blog writing tip on Tumblr Friday – Break Saturday – Twitter re-tweets Sunday – Instagram tag challenge
That’s just an example, of course. If you focus on one social media platform, it might look more like this…
Facebook Posting Schedule: Monday – Re-post writing advice Tuesday – Post writing/reading related quote Wednesday – Share personal writing tip Thursday – Link to interesting writing-related article Friday – Book review Saturday – Picture from weekend adventure Sunday – Break
6) Social Media Management Apps
If you’re still feeling overwhelmed, you may want to look into a social media management app like Hootsuite, Pagemodo, or Sprout Social. (There are many others, too.) These sometimes cost money, but they can be well worth it if you need help managing your social media presence. Ultimately, these allow you to plan out posts in advance, so instead of worrying about it every day, you take maybe an hour every week to pre-plug in all your tweets and other posts for the week. When you see writers/authors who seem to post on all social media every day, this is generally how they do it.
7) Don’t Neglect your Writer/Author Blog
Last but not least, make sure you set up a writer/author blog and try to make a post in it at least once a month. Not only will this give you content you can share on the platforms you focus on, but it’s a great way to keep track of your writing journey and to keep your growing audience up-to-date with the latest news. Even just a short post to talk about your progress for the month and your goals for the next month is better than nothing.
8) Try to Relax and Have Fun with It
It may take you a little while to establish a routine that you’re comfortable with, but it will happen eventually. Just remember not to overthink things and not to feel like you have to do everything. Like I said, it’s better to choose one platform and post on it every two or three days than it is to be sporadic on all the platforms. Just do the best you can, and it’ll all make sense in time. 🙂
I’ve written a lot of fanfiction, much of it novel-length, and for whatever reason, never had too much trouble hitting 80k or 100k or more. Previous novel-length projects of mine had the bonus of already having established characters, and the plots were always based on essentially an escalation of the same scenario because the purpose was some sort of wish-fulfillment.
When switching from fanfiction to original prose, I ran into a major issue: having an intentional plot, that is, a plot that has an intentional structure, a framework that allows for intentional narrative contrast and symmetry. Essentially, writing something that’s meant to be enjoyed on more than one level. That, and constructing a cast of original characters that don’t look, act, or sound the same as each other or previous characters I’ve written.
I’ve been trying to write this novel like fanfiction, only to realize that a different medium requires a different approach.
In case it helps someone in a similar situation who’s stuck, now that I’m entering a place of good flow, I’m putting out a detail of my process for the novel I’m working on. It’s a combination of methods that, imo, takes what’s necessary and beneficial and leaves out the rest
Death By Catchphrase 