Tips For Writing Those Gala Scenes, From Someone Who Goes To Them Occasionally:

Tips for writing those gala scenes, from someone who goes to them occasionally:

Generally you unbutton and re-button a suit coat when you sit down and stand up.

You’re supposed to hold wine or champagne glasses by the stem to avoid warming up the liquid inside. A character out of their depth might hold the glass around the sides instead.

When rich/important people forget your name and they’re drunk, they usually just tell you that they don’t remember or completely skip over any opportunity to use your name so they don’t look silly.

A good way to indicate you don’t want to shake someone’s hand at an event is to hold a drink in your right hand (and if you’re a woman, a purse in the other so you definitely can’t shift the glass to another hand and then shake)

Americans who still kiss cheeks as a welcome generally don’t press lips to cheeks, it’s more of a touch of cheek to cheek or even a hover (these days, mostly to avoid smudging a woman’s makeup)

The distinctions between dress codes (black tie, cocktail, etc) are very intricate but obvious to those who know how to look. If you wear a short skirt to a black tie event for example, people would clock that instantly even if the dress itself was very formal. Same thing goes for certain articles of men’s clothing.

Open bars / cash bars at events usually carry limited options. They’re meant to serve lots of people very quickly, so nobody is getting a cosmo or a Manhattan etc.

Members of the press generally aren’t allowed to freely circulate at nicer galas/events without a very good reason. When they do, they need to identify themselves before talking with someone.

writing tips: adding nuance and that 'it' factor

you've read good fics, and you've read great fics. fics that make you squeal and kick your feet and ache for the next installment. and it's not always because his dick is ten inches long. (sorry)

(this also applies to reg stories)

how do authors do that??? it's fanfiction, how is it so good???

well, first of all, there are some amazing writers (love you guys) but also, there's nuance.

the little things.

give your characters a 'thing'. a running joke, a piece of symbolism, a secret handshake, something like that. give a character a recognizeable 'ism' (like a habit or a tell) that someone relentlessly teases them for. nicknames! adorable. these things add little bits of color to the relationship and to the character arcs. don't force it, but if it happens, let it!

2. dialogue!!! omfg dialogue.

good dialogue is the shit. seriously. dialogue is so fucking important for literally everything. 'but pygmi, i suck at dialogue!' get over it. just kidding, practice! bookmark your favorite pieces of dialogue and try to identify what makes it so good. my favorite tip: don't edit the dialogue. no filter. just have the characters go off and say what they want. later, when you've found the gems, edit the gunk out but seriously! use character ai for inspiration if you need. no shame.

3. relatability.

for some reason, people have equated relatability to cynicism. that's not accurate. relatability means your character doesn't always have witty comebacks. sometimes they deepthroat the boot, it you catch my drift. if your MC always has a retort or a snapback, the bickering gets old. add some stumbles. it's ok! ur character is still a badass xox

relatability can also mean being humble. not pitiful, humble. your character can be good at something, but maybe not the best. everyone has a 'thing', something they're good at, but we still have moments of insecurity. I'm tired of reading 'they were the best mechanic in the galaxy blah blah blah' can you tell i read mando and poe fics or what give it some spice! don't make them a useless mess tho. gross.

you know what being a person is like. you are one, and if you're not you are surrounded by them. guess what - the characters in your fandom are people too (maybe?). my point is, even though it seems like they are superhuman or unreal...they are. write them as such. you can do it.

4. personal touches.

your writing has a voice. use it!!!!!! you can tell the difference between different writers because of their little touches. as a reader, i love those! it makes me feel closer to the story, if you add funny commentary or whatever.

5. staying with the story.

not with canon necessarily, but keeping the plot steady and the characters consistent. it's hard, because comments on your story can influence your story, but stick to the script. stories change, but if you throw it every direction, your readers will be like 'this person needs to figure it tf out bye.' keep a little checklist, stay organized. organization is key for continuity.

xox love u

SICK GROSS EW GO AWAY: aka how not to act like a manchild when ur sick

Different kinds of sick need different kinds of care. don't be fucking useless. lemme help.

Head cold:

Take a decongestant. wait ten minutes. take a hot shower and blow your nose a thousand times. Bro i swear it helps so much i fucking love itttt

Claritin D also works a lot

fresh air. open a window and turn on a fan. it helps your room not feel stuffy and gross.

blow your nose, don't just sniff it up. ew.

salty spicy food. the salt breaks down the enzymes of the mucus in the back of your throat (which is why it hurts) and the spice helps clear your sinuses. I like spicy pho or ramen, cause I can save the broth for later and sip on it.

drink a fuckton of water, but also eat too. "feed a cold starve a fever" or whatever is BULLSHIT. eat. drink. shut up.

avoid caffeine if possible. your body needs to go slowly to help feel better, don't jam it full of Monster or Red Bull or coffee. diluted green tea would be the most caffeine.

Chamomile tea with ginger. honey too if you don't like the bitterness.

hot water. warm things. help the throat and loosen the phlegm in your lungs.

Tummy bug/nausea:

light foods. nothing high in sugar, carbs, or sodium. plain bread, chicken or vegetable broth, limit the fruit juice.

nothing really acidic. Coffee especially. dairy is also eep maybe no.

water is good. always drink lots of water.

don't starve it. a lack of food will also make you nauseous. small, easy snacks throughout the day.

avoid heavy amounts of medicine. if you need to take it, obviously take it, but dumping paracetamol/advil/tylenol/ that stuff will only make it worse.

sleeeepp so much sleep

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ADVIL AND TYLENOL AND WHEN TO USE THEM:

stop mixing them up, they do different things.

Tylenol: acetaminophen. Pain relief. easier on the stomach than ibuprofen/advil.

Advil: ibuprofen. pain relief, anti-inflammatory. better for fevers and any swelling pain. harder on the stomach, take with food and lots of water.

take care of yourself please, always sleep and water love you xox

writing tip: getting started!

ahh! blank page! spooky shit right there. getting started is really hard, and it kinda feels like grasping at straws to figure out where to start. here's some pointers!

pick your favorite place. what part have you been dreaming about? what line of dialogue has you kicking your feet and screaming with laughter? what was the scene that made you want to write? start there. you've thought about it the most, you're motivated, and you can build from there. building backwards isn't bad.

find the right mindset. pick an ambience, light a candle, watch some writertok motivations on youtube (i do that all the time) read something that inspires you. don't wait until you're motivated to write, but take initiative to get yourself there.

write it stupid. start with the stupidest most basic disgusting sentences ever. don't try to add mistakes, I mean like this:

"the sky was light and it was warm outside her window. she got up and walked downstairs. then she made breakfast."

to:

"It was a warm morning. She woke up slowly, pulled on a sweater and went downstairs to make breakfast."

to:

"Morning sun peeked through her window. She had been awake for a while, groggily breaking through the haze of a good night's sleep. After lounging for a couple minutes, the thought of eggs was too good to resist. grabbing her sweater, she went downstairs to prepare breakfast."

this is really helpful with deep/difficult or action packed scenes. if you're really struggling, write in a cliff note version and move on. I hate the whole [put the scene dec in a bracket], I feel like it looks weird and it bothers me more than avoiding it. just slip in a couple sentences and mark it for later.

4. this is a personal opinion, but don't do the '500 words a day' or '2 pages a day'. productivity is productivity. I find myself trying to subscribe to a numerical scale and inevitably resorting to 'i wrote 400 today, i'll just do 600 tomorrow to make up for it' and then it turns into 'i did nothing today, i'll double it tomorrow' but we know that won't happen. as long as you are writing, that is progress! don't kill the will to write in your attempt to write more.

maybe will post a part 2, xox bye bye!

thank you! i was just tryna do a basic overview to get the gist going, but i appreciate the elaboration xo ( i figured if i tried to introduce every possible sentence it would get overwhelming so i only provided a couple. i've just seen some blatantly incorrect uses that i wanted to note)

writing tips: conjunctions and the dreaded 'nor'

conjunctions are in-between words that connect two clauses in a sentence or phrase. but, yet, although, however etc.

the difference:

'but' is a coordinating conjunction. you use 'but' after a comma. "she liked dogs, but her sister had a severe allergy." DO NOT USE IT AT THE BEGINNING OF A SENTENCE. Use However.

'however' is a conjunctive adverb. it introduces a new sentence to the original clause and usually describes the action that contrasts the interpretation. "she liked dogs. However, her sister had a severe allergy, so the family couldn't get one."

-

NOR. nor nor nor. aur naur. aur naur, it's nor. ok i'll stop.

'nor' has everybody in a chokehold. it is not just another way to say 'but, however, yet.'

it means 'neither.'

"here nor there" means 'whatever you're looking for isn't here or over there.'

incorrect:  I neither can talk to you, nor can I text you.

Correct: I can neither talk to you, nor can I text you.

it's a common mistake to use it in a double negative. it still means neither. it looks hella different, but use it the same. use 'nor' with neither as a way to say the same thing without the same word.

double negative:

"I don't have neither the time nor the patience!"

correct:

"I have neither the time nor the patience" or "I don't have the time or the patience."

nor is buddy-buddy with neither. don't use nor by itself. it's gross.

xox love you

writing tips: editing software

we all (or most of us) have some kind of editing ai software like grammarly, the google docs editor, etc. these are fantastic for catching things that slip through the cracks.

but.

they are not always the best. I know it's tempting to scour your documents until the little error counter hits 0, or the 'writing score' is top marks, but that isn't a great scale. ai (specifically grammarly) does a terrible job evaluating tone and artistic significance. it uses by-the-book programming that works for emails, but not so well fro creative writing.

this being said, don't just mindlessly clikc the 'accept' button for every suggestion. read the writing, consider what it's asking, and decide for yourself. if it's correcting grammar or suggesting a better sentence, think about why it needs fixing. don't rely entirely on the software. that doesn't build editing and revising skills.

being able to confidently edit and analyze your writing is a huge skill that a lot of new writers are losing because of software. not to say you shouldn't use it, but try to learn with it. if I write a sentence that grammarly doesn't like and it flags me, I'll read the sentence and try to figure out what's wrong with it. then, identify other sentences in my writing that have the same pattern and see if rewriting will help it be smoother.

this doesn't always happen. you might rewrite it and think 'yknow, i liked the original.' great! keep the original. It's your writing, not grammarly's.

xox love you, see you next time