A (Non-Exhaustive) List Of (Red-ish) Flags In Writing

A (Non-Exhaustive) List of (Red-ish) Flags In Writing

Particularly when writing people with a marginalized identity that you don't hold, it can be hard to tell what is an issue if you're not familiar with it. Research should be your main reference point, but sometimes you need to go with your instincts.

Here is a very non-exhaustive list of things that should flag to you that you need to take another look at it and do some more research:

Is a person/culture/group presented as "backwards", irrational, un-modern, or uniformly aggressive?

Am I using coded language (e.g. thug, slut, slow) to describe a character?

Am I associating sexual habits or preferences with a certain race, religion, gender, or class?

Am I dismissing or making light of devestating historical events that appear or are referenced in the story?

Am I prioritizing the rehabilitation of individuals or groups who commited violence, particularly at the expense of those who experienced that violence?

Are my characters, particularly my marginalized characters, embodying stereotypes with no other characteristics?

Do my marginalized characters exist simply so I can say I have included marginalized characters?

Am I applying every marginalization to one character so that I don't have to "deal with it" in other characters?

Do marginalizations, particularly disabilities, only appear when convenient?

Do marginalized characters, particularly Characters of Color, exist only to guide or care for white characters?

Creating a character

Creating characters is one of the most important things to do while writing. Characters can make or break a story. No matter how good the idea, if the characters are flat, people are not going to keep reading. Here are some posts to help you create interesting and memorable characters.

How to create a character - Basic Overview

Let's create a character! - Writing Game

How to make a character unique

How to write a bilingual character

How to write a character with glasses

How to use nicknames

List of names

Character Study

Fatal Character Flaws

Good traits gone bad

Physical Reactions

Giving the reader butterflies with your characters

Love Language - Showing, not telling

Love Language - Showing you care

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Writer challenge: think of a way to hint at magic/superpowers that isn’t overdone. We’ve all seen eyes that glow or change color, teeth that grow sharp, ears that get pointy.

I want to see a character’s eyebrows ripple into tiny scales when they’re concentrating on their powers. Or someone’s nose disappears when they cast a spell.

What hasn’t been done yet? 

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 use nicknames

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 emotional scenes

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 multiple points of view

Introducing a group of characters

Large cast of characters interacting in one scene

Redemption arc

Plot twists

Fatal Character Flaws

Good traits gone bad

More specific scenarios

Slow burn

AU ideas

Favourite tropes

How to create quick chemistry

How to write a bilingual character

How to write a character with glasses

How to create a villain

How to write a polyamorous relationship

How to write a wedding

How to write found family

How to write forbidden love

How to write a road trip

How to create and write a cult

How to write amnesia

How to write a stratocracy

How to write the mafia

Criminal past comes to light

Reasons for breaking up while still loving each other

Relationship Problems

Relationship Changes

Milestones in a relationship

Platonic activities for friends

Settings for conversations

Introducing partner(s) to family

Honeymoon

Date gone wrong

Love Language - Showing, not telling

Love Language - Showing you care

Affections without touching

Giving the reader butterflies with your characters

Reasons a couple would divorce on good terms

How to write enemies to lovers

How to write lovers to enemies to lovers

How to write academic rivals to lovers

How to write age difference

How to create a coffee shop atmosphere

How to create an atmosphere: Library

How to write a college party

How to write modern royalty

Arranged matrimony for royalty

Paramilitary Forces/ Militia

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

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Keeping a writer’s journal

Having a place to store your notes and ideas is very important because no matter how many times you tell yourself you won’t forget something, there’s a very high chance you will. Your brain has to process and recall lots of information every day, many of it won’t be related to writing, this is why it’s only natural to forget things.

A writer’s journal gives you a fun and comfortable space to look back at and add more and more detail to along your writing journey. You should make your notes in a way that suits you, there’s no specific way it has to look. Make it a place you enjoy and something you’d like to do wherever you are – on trains, buses, in café’s, at home or work.

You might use:

A traditional notebook

Lined/plain paper collected and arranged in a file

Your phone, tablet/Ipad, laptop or computer

It doesn’t matter what you use as long as it’s whatever works best for you. If you use something portable and easy to carry around, take it with you wherever you go and jot down things that strike you as interesting, unusual, useful and anything else you may want to come back to later. If what you usually use isn’t portable, write your notes in your phone and copy them into your preferred journal later.

A writer’s journal or writer’s notebook can be used to collect facts, fictions, observations from everyday life and anything else you come up with.

Your notebook can become a testing ground for trying out ideas, phrases, short-stories and scenes, bits of dialogue – all with the freedom and knowledge that if things don’t work out no one sees these trial runs but you; it does not have to be perfect. Overtime you may come to realise your journal can form a kind of personal ‘running-commentary’ to yourself, on your thoughts about your own work.  

Keeping track of useful details:

Taking notes of the details of people’s appearances who you find interesting or recognise as a source of inspiration can become a habit that will help you with describing what your characters look like or coming up with new ideas for characters. You can jot down any interesting or unusual things you see or hear. The same can be done for places – writing down things you notice while you’re at the park, on the train or bus, in a house, a café, a museum, on the beach etc, will all help you write about them in your story.

Your journal might include:

General notes and sensory observations of the world around you

Things you have seen or heard, felt, or read – perhaps a passage of other people’s writing, or phrases that you admire

Words, synonyms and word-derivations that are new or interesting to you

Facts you may want to remember

Lines or phrases that you might use in your work

Images: postcards, pictures, photographs, mood boards that are in some way significant to you, perhaps because they conjure up a scene or story you might write about

Descriptions or sketches of characters and places you might wish to write about

Notes about periods in recent or distant history that you’re interested in

Ideas and plot lines that might be useful in the future, or that you are gathering for particular pieces of work

Anything you write down, even a single line, can be the foundation for a greater story.

Happy Writing!

Instagram: kim.always.writes

HEY, Romance Writers!

A few followers have asked for tips on writing romance into their stories or as the basis of their stories. Here’s a list of sources that might help out.

Romance:

Top 10 Tips on How to Write Romance

How to Plot a Romance Novel

How to Build a Romance Thread in Your Story

9 Romance Writing Mistakes to Avoid

An Antidote to “Love at First Sight”

6 Ways to Get Your Readers Shipping Like Crazy 

Seven Great Sources of Conflict for Romances 

7 (Common Types of) Female Love Interests

20 Tips for Writing Lovable Romance Novel Heroes

Six Steps to Stronger Character Arcs in Romances

How do I write an interracial couple accurately? (ask)

Romantic Development/Compatibility (ask) 

80+ Barriers to Love: A List of Ideas to Keep Romantic Tension High 

50 Conversations To Have Before You Get Married 

Bad Romance:

Removing the Creeps From Romance

- Why The Surprise Kiss Must Go

10 Signs You May Be in an Emotionally Abusive Relationship

Edward & Bella Are In An Abusive Relationship 

General Tips for Writing Characters Love Interests:

5 Tips to Help You Introduce Characters

How to Write from a Guy’s POV

Writing Awesome Male Characters: What You’re Doing Wrong

How Do You Describe a Character?

4 Ways to Make Readers Instantly Loathe Your Character Descriptions

3 Signs Your Story’s Characters Are Too Perfect 

Is a Quirk Just What Your Character Needs?

Six Types of Character Flaws

Is Your Character Optimistic Or Pessimistic?

5 Ways to Keep Characters Consistent

9 Simple and Powerful Ways to Write Body Language

10 Body Language Tricks for Deeper Characterization

Describing People Part Three: Gestures, Expressions, and Mannerisms

33 Ways To Write Stronger Characters 

Conveying Character Emotion 

Distinguishing Characters in Dialogue 

How to Make Readers Love an Unlikable Character…  

Characters: Likability Is Overrated

How to Create Powerful Character Combos

Plus:

Five Signs Your Story Is Sexist: Part 1, Part 2

Five Signs Your Story Is Sexist – Against Men