Workshop on Worldbuilding

Hello fellow writers! In this workshop I’m going to teach you how to get started worldbuilding a fictional world. But remember, the same techniques won’t work for everyone, and this is not a definitive guide. I hope this will be helpful, but in the end, do what works for you.

Worldbuilding Geography
One important aspect of worldbuilding is coming up with the ‘lay of the land.’ Where does the story take place? What kind of climate is it? What flora and fauna are there? Is it an urban city, or sprawling countryside, or something in between? You don’t have to go too in depth if you don’t want to, but it’s important for someone reading your story to have an idea of how the places in your story look, sound, feel, and smell.
Something to be careful about with this aspect of worldbuilding is useless facts. For example, I’d stay away from making your world have something that’s basically a horse, but with bug antennae, and giving it a different name. If you do that just so that your world is different, don’t. But, if you have a reason for it, such as a post-apocalyptic world in which radiation has caused animals to mutate, then it works just fine. Basically, things should have a reason to them.

If you want to read something with fantastic geographical worldbuilding, I’d suggest The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien.

Worldbuilding Society
No matter whether you’re writing a fantasy, science fiction, or post-apocalyptic story, you need to think about people and the connections they build. In a fantasy or another story with a world completely different from our own, think about what the social norms are, how their society is governed, and how it has developed and changed over time. What languages exist, what do people eat, and how do different groups of people interact with each other? If you’re writing about some far-future sci-fi or post-apocalypse world, think about what happened to get humanity there, and most importantly, how people have reacted and adapted to that. Did their social networks and systems of governance have to change in order for them to survive? Are there resources, such as certain types of food and shelter, which no longer exist? Have people come together through these changes, or been torn apart? How drastic are all these changes?
By answering these questions, you can create a rich world that is believable and vastly different from our own. In my experience, this aspect is super fun to read and write about!

Worldbuilding in Realistic Fiction
Now, you might think that worldbuilding only applies to fantasy and science fiction, but that’s far from true! All genres need worldbuilding. Writing historical fiction doesn’t involve as much active coming-up-with-stuff as others, but it’s important to do research about the place and time you’re writing about, to stay true to history (if that’s what you’ve decided to do for a particular story) and to figure out how to incorporate those details into your writing. For contemporary stories, you’ll need to think about where your character(s) lives, even if it’s just the layout of their house. Do they live in the city or the country? In a made up place or a real one? If it’s made up, you get to develop the character’s entire town or city. But even if that’s not the case, it’s important to think about the networks and communities a character is a part of, from their friends at school, to the people and dynamics on their own street. How do the people in this place interact? What is your main character’s relationship with their family? What does everyone think of the main character?

For an example of good worldbuilding in a contemporary setting, I’d suggest reading The Penderwicks by Jeanne Birdsall.

Tips and Tricks
Worldbuilding is a super important part of creating a believable setting, and even believable characters. The world in which a character lives can influence their lives and dreams, goals and fears, and there are many ways to go about creating it. You can look up lists of worldbuilding questions online (or use the ones I’ve provided at the end of this workshop), or come up with your own questions. You can even just get out a piece of paper or open up a new document on your computer and start writing, following your train of thoughts as you brainstorm. Maybe you could try sketching out pictures of what people in your world wear, or write out different pieces of dialogue between people of different social statuses to experiment with how people in your world interact with one another.

In the end, there are probably as many ways to worldbuild as there writers in the world! Do what works for you, and don’t be afraid to do some research or look for inspiration.

Some Important Questions to Consider
Wow, we’re almost at the end of this workshop! Here are a few questions you can answer to help you get started with your worldbuilding:

- What do people in your world wear?
- What do they eat?
- What are some notable or important geographical features?
- What beliefs, morals, or ideals do people live by?
- Are there any large conflicts? If so, who are they between, and how did they start?
- What system of governance do the people have, if any?
- What is family life like, especially for your main character?

Dialogue

Prompt by @extrovertedd
“how to make dialogue interesting/different dialogue structures/words you can use instead of “said””

Overview & Things to Think About

Dialogue is one of the main factors that makes a novel. It can illuminate relationships, convey important information, make you laugh or cry. Seems important, right? Well, that’s because it is. That doesn’t mean you have to get it right on the first try, nor does it mean writing perfect dialogue needs to be your main focus. However, particularly when it comes to editing, dialogue is something that cannot be looked over.

When considering whether a line of dialogue is necessary, ask if it moves the plot forward or shows you something important about a character or their emotional state at that point. If it does neither, consider cutting it altogether. In the grand scheme of your novel, a fun conversation to write does not necessarily a useful conversation make.

Well, you point out, those tips require me to have written dialogue in the first place. For some, this is where the struggle lies.

To write dialogue, my tips would be to step back from the scene. Think of the character speaking. How did they get there? Do they want to be there? What are they hoping to get out of this conversation? A character who doesn’t want to have this conversation might speak more tersely, in short sentences. A character who is trying to control the conversation might easily dismiss another character’s words or use more forceful language.

Then think about their speaking habits and how that relates to their personality—a shy character won’t start waxing poetic on the smallest thing, but what if they really love a certain topic? In this case, contrast their lackluster, reserved speech in certain situations with their enthusiasm here. An outgoing, friendly person might take control of the conversation easily and tend to talk more easily about lighthearted topics. A thoughtful person might hold back for most of the conversation, then say something insightful at the end of it.

Think also about their education and background. Is this their native language? Is this a setting they’re used to? An English professor won’t talk the same way as a sailor. A simple change of “yup,” to “glad to oblige” can tell you a lot about the character’s manner and even hint at their history. Try listening to people you know or meet, and notice the difference in their choice of words. Be intentional with your dialogue. It might surprise you how much more natural it sounds!

Formatting & Punctuation
Okay, now you’ve written your dialogue and are happy with it. Great! Next, let’s do a quick overview of formatting.

Ah, the infamous dialogue tags.

A dialogue tag is where the author notes the character speaking. For example:

“Hello there,” said Obi-Wan.

Now, a dialogue tag is not always necessary (more on that later), but the rules of punctuating one are fairly simple once you learn them. Basically, if you’re using a word to describe how they said it (“asked, shouted, said, pointed out, explained, etc.”) you end the phrase within quotations with a comma, then begin the dialogue tag in lowercase (unless, of course, you start with the character’s name or something that needs to be capitalized). It’s that simple!

When adding a description of action, however, it works differently, which is where some writers get confused.
For example:

“I hate sand.” He frowned, thinking back to the blazing heat of two suns on his back.

In this case, you finish the quote with a period instead of a comma, as the action is not describing how he spoke.
However, you could also write it like this:

“I hate sand,” he said with a frown, “it’s coarse and rough and irritating and it gets everywhere.”

Here, the dialogue continues after a short dialogue tag. This includes a comma after the dialogue tag before the dialogue continues.

Finally, I’m going to touch on the topic of “said.”

Should you use it?

Short answer: yes.

Use the word said.

Now, this does not mean you should never not use said. Personally, when characters ask something and the author uses the word said instead of asked is one of my biggest pet peeves. I definitely suggest using words like “asked” or “shouted” if it better describes how the character is actually speaking.

However, try to avoid using a word other than said every single time. It is unnecessary and can seem like you’re trying to show off your vocabulary, ending up taking the reader out of the story. In the end, it comes down to personal preference, so mess around with different words to find out what you like.

That brings us to the end of what I can tell you about dialogue. I hope this helped in some way, and best of luck to you in all your writing endeavors.

sources: nybookeditors.com/2017/05/your-guide-to-writing-better-dialogue/
thewritepractice.com/dialogue-tags/

Writing Captivating Antagonists

Most beginning writers, myself included, write stories where this is the hero and that is the villain. No reason, no backstory–just because. However, if
you pick up any number of great books and read them, the lines are never so clearly drawn. However, at the end you usually know who your antagonist is.

To start off, I'm going to explain the difference between a villain and an antagonist. A villain is a person who is clearly marked as being evil and usually does evil for little to no good reason. A good example of this is Maleficent from Sleeping Beauty. We don't know if there's even a reason for her being the Evil Fairy/Witch/Mistress. We just know that she wears black and purple and has a lot of scary green magic, which, more often than not, signals a villain. We also know that her curse on Aurora was simply because she wasn't invited to the Christening–pretty ridiculous reason for a curse. However, a good example of an antagonist would be Maleficent from Maleficent. In this movie, she's evil because when she was young she fell in love with Stefan, a prince. But Stefan later betrays her, cutting off her wings and claiming he killed her so he could advance into the position of king. This is why she's evil, this is why she curses Aurora–it's a good reason that doesn't always excuse her actions, but we feel for her.

You see, the key to writing a good antagonist–not a villain–is the motives. An antagonist has got to have good motives–detailed motives. Don't stop at just stating that your villain wants immortality. Why do they want immortality?

And at the base of motives is backstory. Try to make it unique. Maybe you have a chaotic villain who just wants to be noticed–after all, didn't they grow up in a home with little support or even acknowledgement? Never noticed in school, always average average average. No one cared about them. No one saw them or loved them or even let them know they mattered. The only ones who noticed were the bullies at school who became the heroes of this story–the ones who weren't bullying in their eyes, but standing up to a bully. A bully who never bullied anyone–until they grew up, shaped by their experiences and angrily destroyed and hungrily wreaked havoc, all because they were never loved.

You see what I mean? You need a good backstory to have good motives and good motives to have a good antagonist. But you can't just dump backstory on readers, no one likes that. Instead, you add it in through their mannerisms, or maybe your hero is researching their villain on the superhero database and then it hits them like lightning that this was the kid they shoved into the lockers all those years ago, without realizing they only wanted care and love and attention. Or maybe you have a character arc and your antagonist comes clean, crying and explaining. An info dump that explains everything, an info dump we don't really mind. Just don't have your antagonist explain reasoning without going through a character arc–that's what we call a monologue, and it can be annoying and cliche.

In conclusion, try to steer clear of the reason-less evil trope, make sure to include your antagonist's motives and backstory, and give your antagonist the same amount of attention and care and detail you give your other characters.


Word count: 576
Prompt: @1IMaM

Pronouns
(Grammatical)
There are five main groups of pronouns. They are as follows:
Subject Pronouns
Object Pronouns
Possessive Adjectives
Possessive Pronouns
Reflexive Pronouns

Subject pronouns are your basic pronouns that are in the subject of a sentence. They are I, you, he, she, it, we, and they. For example: Susan went to the store. Susan is the subject of the sentence, because the sentence is about her. The appropriate subject pronoun would be she (assuming Susan is a female) to replace the word Susan. If we have the sentence: Susan went to the store and Susan bought milk for Susan's daughters. That gets really cluttered up because of multiple uses of the word Susan, so we replace them with she and her. Susan went to the store and she bought milk for her daughters. One thing also to note is that you can be used as plural. However, this is often used in a phrase like "you all (y'all)“ or ”you guys".

Object pronouns are as easy as subject pronouns. An object of the sentence is either an object of the preposition, a direct object, or an indirect object.

(wip)

Roleplaying
Prompt by @Luna-Lovegood-LOL (I'm starting it again)

What is roleplay anyway?
Roleplay is where you pretend/act out a character in a make-believe setting.
There are 3 types of roleplay:

Text-based
live action
tabletop

Text-based roleplaying takes place online where you mostly focus on the writing and the description (Just like we do in SWC!). Live action is where you roleplay face-to-face; you interact with the other person through talking, acting and occasionally combat. Table top can take in reality or online and mainly focuses on verbally describing your moves. All three are very fun! However, I'll be mostly focusing on text-based roleplay.

Steps for text-based roleplay
1. Choose if you like non-fiction or fiction. Yes, this may seem a bit strange, since they do essentially the same thing. Except that you will be writing the story with at least one other person, that being if you choose fiction.
When you roleplay, you take on the roleplay of a character and write their reactions to other characters/certain events. Here's an example of what a roleplay would look like:

@roleplay_queen0 (fake username!)
Anabelle plodded through the deep forest. It was as dark as it could be and it gave her shivers. She only heard the patter of the rain and the squelch of her rain boots. She looked up at the night sky and noticed no milky stars lighting her path. Suddenly, she didn't just hear the rain or her steps, but also somebody else's.

@villian_hehe (fake username!)
Darkfeather crept behind the little girl. He had been doing so for ages, not because he wanted the girl or anything, just so she could get them both out of the forest. The truth was, that, Darkfeather was scared of the dark, which is funny considering his name. Unfortunately, he heard the girl give a shrill shriek.
“Seriously? Had to just fail my plan with that scream, that sounded like a cockerel?” He whispered, still shuddering from the spooky dusk.

2. Now you know what a roleplay looks like, let me explain the rules:

• When looking for a site to roleplay on, some of them may be only focusing on certain roleplay topics, for example; vampires. I suggest using GaiOnline or Neopets.
  You can play with people you don't know, or already know, such as friends/family. Roleplayers sometimes can become best friends.
  Every time before you roleplay, make sure to read the rules on the site. Breaking them can sometimes lead to being banned.
  
  

3. Learn the terminology.
Although this might not seem to be the most important step, it certainly is if you're a beginner with many other amateurs.
RP - stands for roleplay. You'll sometimes see this in search threads.
OC - stands for original character.
Canon - stands for a character from an existing game, book or film.
Pairing - this refers to two players mostly engaging with each other, they will probably be in a relationship as the RP progresses.
Literate, Semi-literate and Advanced-literate - refers to the amount of writing per post. These terms are arbitrary as everyone has different ideas of what means what. In general, “semi-lit” refers to posts that are less than a paragraph, and “advanced-lit” refers to posts that are several paragraphs long.

4. Understand the main types of text-based roleplay.
Besides genre, roleplays fall into 4 categories: fandom, original, group and one-on-one. Choose the one that most describes you.
Fandom - an RP based on an existing universe from a book or movie, such as Harry Potter. It can contain both canon and original characters.
AU - stands for ‘Alternative Universe’. It is a sub-category for 'Fandom' and usually contains some changes, such as all the characters being reversed genders or them all being 3-eyed aliens.
Cross-over - a sub-category of 'Fandom.' It is a combination of two or more fandoms. For example Harry Potter and Hunger Games.
Original - an RP based on a completely original setting that the roleplayers make up. It can be anything: fantasy, historical, real-life, etc.
Group - an RP between a group of three or more people.
One-on-one - an RP that has 2 people. It is often a 1x1 and has 1-2 pairings in it.

5. Create your character if needed.
If you are playing a canon character, then you will not need to create one. When you are making an original character, you need to make them seem believable. Here are some aspects to think about:

Physical appearance
Personality
Skills and talents
Likes and dislikes
Backstory

WELCOME TO MY WORKSHOP EVERYONE
Hello everyone, I am pixie and this is my workshop about pronouns. Here I would discuss about pronouns


PRONOUNS
Pronoun has been derived from the Latin word Pronomen which means ‘words standing in the place of noun’ . So as the name suggests pronouns are the words that can be used as a substitute noun in order to avoid the repetition of noun in the sentence or in simple words we can say that pronouns are the words which could replace noun in a sentence. For example:
Jason was doing his maths homework
He was doing his maths homework. (He replaced Jason)
Children are playing in the park
They are playing in the park. (They replaced Children)
Now we will move further and discuss about the types of pronouns. There are seven types of pronouns, namely:
1. Personal Pronouns (I, you, he, she, it, we, they, me, him, her, us and them)
2. Reflexive Pronouns (myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself, oneself, ourselves etc)
3. Relative pronouns (that, which, who, whose, whom, where, when)
4. Possessive Pronouns (mine, yours, his, hers, ours, theirs)
5. Demonstrative pronouns(his, that, these, those)
6. Interrogative Pronouns(who, what, why, where, when, whatever)
7. Indefinite Pronouns(anything, anybody, anyone, something, somebody, someone etc)

1. PERSONAL PRONOUNS
Personal pronouns are the pronouns which are used to substitute proper noun. It can change its form on the basis of gender and number. Examples are given below:
i. Jenna is going to attend the ball party.
She is going to attend the ball party. (She replaced Jenna)
ii. My friends were playing football.
We were playing football. (We replaced my friends)
There are two sets of personal pronouns. Three in each set with both singular and plural forms and they are as follows:
a) Subjective case
Person Singular Plural
1st I we
2nd you you
3rd he/she/it they
b) objective case
Person Singular Plural
1st me us
2nd you you
3rd him/her/it them
The difference between the two cases can be distinguished by how we use them. For instance we replaced Jonny by he in the first given example. Can we use him instead? Obviously no we cannot do that because Jonny is a subject. By this example we can understand that subjective pronouns are used on the nouns which are subject and objective pronouns can be used with nouns which are object.



2. REFLEXIVE PRONOUNS
A reflexive pronoun is the objective pronoun of the sentence which refers back to the subject of the sentence or we can say that a reflexive pronoun ends with –self or –selves referring back to the subject. For example, I cut myself yesterday while cooking the dinner. Here the object (myself) is talking about the subject (I) only, so we can say that myself is a reflexive pronoun. Examples:
A. She prepared herself for the test. ( here, herself is reflexive pronoun)
B. He baked the cake by himself. ( here, himself is reflexive pronoun)
C. I was looking at myself in the mirror. ( here, myself is reflexive pronoun)
REFLEXIVE PRONOUNS- (myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself, oneself, ourselves, yourselves and themselves.


3. RELATIVE PRONOUNS
A relative pronoun is a word that is used to connect an independent clause to a relative clause. Relative pronouns are meant to provide more information about the subject it relates to. For example, in the sentence ‘this is the painting which jenny painted’ which is connecting this is the painting and jenny painted and it also gives us more information about the painting so we could say that which is a relative pronoun is. Examples:
A. The musician who wrote this song id Italian.
B. Do you know the reason why Sara and Zara are not talking to each other?
C. This is the house where I used to live before.
RELATIVE PRONOUNS- that, which, who, whose, whom, where and when.


4. POSSESSIVE PRONOUNS
A type of pronoun which indicates possession is known as possessive pronouns. For example in the sentence‘this shirt is mine’ mine indicates that the shirt belongs to me, so we can say that mine is a possessive pronoun. Examples:
A. My frock is made up of silk.
B. This is her ice cream.
C. This is their presentation.
POSSESSIVE PRONOUNS- Mine, ours, yours, his, her and their.



5. DEMONSTRATIVE PRONOUNS
A pronoun which is used to point out or represent the nouns that act as the subject or object in a sentence is called demonstrative pronouns. For example in the sentence ‘I am talking about that cow’ that is pointing out the cow which is the object of the sentence so we can say that ‘that’ is a pronoun. Examples:
A. Those chocolates are mine.
B. This book belongs to Sara.
C. I love that show.
DEMONSTRATIVE PRONOUNS- That, this, these and those



6. INTERROGATIVE PRONOUNS
The pronouns which are used to ask questions are called interrogative pronoun. For example in the question “why are you laughing at me?” why is used to ask the question so we can say that ‘why’ is an interrogative pronoun. Examples:
A. What is the price of this dress?
B. Where are the students?
C. When is the competition held?
INTERROGATIVE PRONOUNS- What, which, who, whom and when.



7. INDEFINITE PRONOUNS
A pronoun which particularly does not indicates toward a person, thing or amount is known as indefinite pronouns. For instance we can say in the sentence ‘does anybody have a pen?’ anybody does not refer to any specific person but anyone who has a pen so we can say that anybody is an indefinite pronoun. Examples:
A. Everyone is present in the class.
B. Anybody is ready to go to school.
C. Gulab is hiding something from Murad.
INDEFINITE PRONOUNS- anything, anybody, anyone, something, somebody, someone, nothing, nobody, none and no one.

DONE!!!

980 WORDS.
Cabin- Tragedy

Short Stories and How to Write Them

What is a short story?

Short stories are simply a shortened, less detailed version of a novel. The only requirement to write a ‘short story’ is to have a fully developed theme. These mini-novels are fun to both read and write- especially write. A famous short story is ‘The Monkey’s Paw’ by William Wymark Jacobs, which I will be referencing throughout the workshop -warning spoilers ahead. Please remember there are many ways to write a short story and if you do it a different way that is completely valid! This is only how I write them. (Do not find it necessary to read all the bits and pieces if you only want to learn how to write a descriptive or action piece)

How do you approach writing them?

Firstly, like in any story, you need inspiration. However, unlike in a full novel, you don't always need a full plot from the get-go. In fact, it can even be a singular word that kick-starts your writing.

Secondly, you plan what you are going to write. Again, and I can’t stress this enough: !THIS IS NOT A NOVEL!
Now, you probably know that but there is still a high chance you will write it like one. With short stories, less planning is needed. You don’t need to build a world- but of course you can- due to the fact that this style of literature is short and doesn’t require a full-on understanding of every detail. For example, it is -probably- unnecessary to know what the typical food in the neighboring countries are if you are writing a short, horror story.
Keeping that in mind, you will still need to know what you're writing about, even if it’s only a vague idea that you are going off of.

The last and final step before writing is -and this is the same for writing anything- FIND MOTIVATION TO WRITE IT! I’m sure everyone has an experience with writing with no motivation: it almost always turns out badly. So, get into the headspace and don’t push yourself to write something when you don’t feel like it; doing that is a good way to get burnt out. I cannot stress how much motivation is key.


How to write a short story:

After the preparation stage, the writing starts. On the whole, I find short stories quite simple to write because they are usually no longer than 10,000 words. This means a lot less commitment, so they are easier to finish. As I mentioned before, not too much planning is needed -but can of course be used- so you do have slightly less structure which can be frustrating to some people. If this is you, I would advise you to have a vague plan.

The first step when it comes to the draft is, obviously, the opening. However, remember that this is a SHORT story. This will impact how we craft the writing as we develop the plot points. Say if you were writing a piece with a lot of action, there couldn't be too much of a build-up due to how concise the piece is.
This means that when we open the story, we want to move relatively fast onto the main point.
The Monkey’s Paw starts with a boy and his father playing chess, and the mother knitting by the fire. Now, although this does not sound like it is reaching the point, less than a page later, a new character is introduced. This character is a peculiar man who plays an important part later on.
This gives us a great example of a quickly moving story.

However, if we were writing a descriptive piece, it would be a more vague view of the overall picture. What is happening? How does everything fit together?
DO NOT go into too much detail for the opening as that may take from the story as a whole.

Next, is the build up -for an action story. For a descriptive piece, you would ‘zoom in’ on a specific detail. I have separated the build up and the zooming in into two different sections.
BUILD UP: After the opening, like in most novels, there is a build up. This leads up to the climax and, in some cases, creates suspense. Again this is not an overly long part of the piece- usually around 2-7 paragraphs.
If we look at W.W. Jacobs piece, the peculiar man runs into the house in a state of distress. He tells them about the monkey’s paw and reveals it, telling the family he had his two wishes. He then tries to persuade them to burn it. Even giving them a warning about how it only causes more pain. The father still takes the paw and makes a wish. However, it seems as if the wish didn't come true.
This creates an ideal build up because it has the readers wondering why the paw didn't work. Why did it work for the man but not the family? Was the man lying? Did THEY do something wrong?

ZOOM IN: When you ‘zoom in’ in a piece of writing, you focus on one detail. While in the opening you were vague and showed the picture as a whole, in this build up, you find a detail.
For example, if you were describing a Viking Mead Hall, you may talk about the music. Is it energetic? Does it give the room life? Or is it gloomy? Does it foreshadow something?
By picking out one detail, the reader’s image will further develop. Continue this 3-4 times.

Next is the conflict. This step is very similar to writing a novel. Whether the story is descriptive or full of action, you usually need to have a conflict. However, how this is viewed varies. For example, in a descriptive piece, there might be something that doesn't feel right. Or there might be the corner of a bloody knife peeking out from under a tablecloth. In contrast, in an action tale, a bomb might go off, or a loved one dies. Either way, something bad or unnerving happens. This is what the entire story has been leading up to.

This step is optional because not all stories need a resolution. In fact, it is important that not all stories do because if they did, we wouldn't worry about who was going to win! There would be very little suspense.
It is actually quite common for short stories not to have a solution at the end of them

Finally, we have the ending. No matter if there was a resolution or not, all short stories need an ending. The ending just ties off your story and completes it, cliffhanger or not.



You may or may not have learnt something from this workshop, or you might have disagreed with everything that I said, but either way, this is a way of writing short stories quickly and simply.

Word count: 1093 words

Link to Monkey’s Paw pdf in case you want it: https://www.kyrene.org/cms/lib/AZ01001083/Centricity/Domain/2259/The%20Monkeys%20Paw%20-%20text.pdf

Plot twists

Once upon a time, a lonely boy met a girl lost in the woods.
The girl was tired, for she had been wandering for many days. She was scared, for it was rumoured that there were monsters in the woods.
The boy had been sent away on some mindless chore as usual when he saw her. She was bathed in dappled green sunlight, with hair the colour of gold and eyes shining like rubies. She looked like the most beautiful creature alive.
To her, he was the first person she had seen in so many weeks, ruddy cheeks and holding a bucket, gaping at her awkwardly.
“Hello miss,” he said, “Are you lost?”
She stared at him with those exquisite blood-coloured eyes, dead silent.
“No,” she grinned and her teeth were sharp and coated with something thick and dark, “I’m not lost.”
And then she turned, hair became fire, eyes turned into embers and skin became scales. The monster laughed.
And so she was finally full, satisfied with her meal.
And the boy fell to the monster in the woods like so many before him.
…

Did that surprise you? Was that at all what you were expecting? Did you guess that there was some sort of trick involved, perhaps the title of this workshop clued you in?
Or did you feel chills down your spine and sit up in your seat a little straighter? Did you feel like you got punched in the gut but couldn’t help but come back for more?
That my friends, is a plot twist. Or at least the best I could do with limited setup. And in this workshop we’re going to dive more on what exactly they are, writing them effectively, and a couple of tips and tricks as well as some activities (optional! Not part of the weekly, don’t sue me SWC).

“Every book has three things: a beginning, a middle and, most importantly, a twist!”
- Goosebumps

What is a plot twist?
Most of you probably have a pretty good idea of what a plot twist is, since they’re fairly common in literature and pretty much exactly what they sound like. A plot twist is a literary device that introduces a sudden, unexpected change that sends the story in a different direction. These twists are often foreshadowed, which is when you allow the reader hints of what's to come while withholding the full picture. I didn’t have much room for foreshadowing in the example above, but you can go back and pay attention to the eye colour. Foreshadowing, while effective (and fun!) , isn’t necessary to create a good plot twist.
As masterclass.com put it, “Plot twists are changes in a novel, short story, movie, or TV series that subvert expectations. They don’t follow the linear path that may have been suggested by an author at the start of the story. When properly executed, these misdirections genuinely surprise the audience and thereby enhance their engagement.”

The twists you’ve untwisted:
“Luke, I am your father,” “The prophecy wasn’t real,” “You? But I thought it was-”
You’ve probably heard some variation of the above plot twists somewhere before. The antagonist is the protagonist's father, the bad guy wasn’t the bad guy you expected, the chosen one isn’t the chosen one at all.
Why do these plot twists work? They all provide internal conflict to the protagonists and an external conflict to the plot. In other words, they push the story forward while being enough of a surprise to gain the reader's attention.
The basic plot twists you’ve probably all heard of are - ally turned antagonist, a red herring, the story must be over - but something happens and it’s worse, a new character changes everything. I would go into these in detail, but there’s a word limit so… Most plot twists follow these basic types since they’re tried and tested to give satisfaction to the reader, but coming up with your own makes your story less predictable.

On actually writing plot twists:
How do you write a good plot twist? How do you conceal just enough to give the reader that moment of ‘wow! I never say that coming’?
There’s a couple of rules that can turn an okay plot twist into a great one -
1. Make sure the plot twist affects the story and the characters, it should either be a point of conflict or resolution.
2. The main goal is to satisfy the reader.
3. Be creative! Going beyond the usual plot twist can add a lot of colour and originality to your story.
4. Go against the setup! In the example above, I tried to add a fairy tale romance-like atmosphere to throw the readers off guard when the monster is revealed. This doesn’t always work, but feel free to play around with the mood and tone of your story.
Hiding a plot twist just enough to leave the reader with enough satisfaction is an art. If you withhold too much information, it will seem like you’re cheating the reader. On the other hand, the readers are smart. Too much foreshadowing or even following a predictable plot means that they will be able to guess it. The trick is to find the right balance. Beta readers help with this obviously, and as a general rule of thumb it's better to overdo it than underdo it. Even if someone anticipates the plot twist, the ‘aha! I knew it can be just as satisfying as the ‘wow, I never saw that coming!’ moment.

Some techniques:
- Elevate a minor character: they can be an antagonist, or a spy, or withholding crucial information, or maybe the protagonist’s greatest asset! Anything you can think of!
- Withhold information from the reader: use an unreliable narrator, create a riddle, just don’t tell anyone - whatever works for you. This doesn't always give the best satisfaction, but is very convenient and easy.
- Trope subversion - if you have a character who follows pretty stereotypical tropes, that could be an opportunity for a plot twist! The damsel in distress is actually setting up a trap to lure the hero in, the shadow-dwelling villain puppeteering the government is actually a child, the Mary Sue character is a spy and is hiding their true personality even from the readers.
- Let your character find the twist organically: Some twists are planned and others just spring into being. If you see a natural point for a plot twist, take it! It could be the difference between a good story and a great one!

A common misconception:
Not all plot twists have to be game-changing bursts of truth at the climax of your story. They come in all shapes, sizes and places. Putting a smaller plot twist in the middle or even the beginning of your story can be an excellent way to ramp up the tension. Sprinkle in misinformation, mess around with characters that can’t be trusted, hide people’s true intentions.

Activity (only do this if you want, not part of the weekly):
Write out a plot twist for about 100 words. It could be anything, a trusted character betraying the protagonist, a prophecy being a lie, or a character learning that they’re the child of ants. Anything!
Now go back and write a couple of shorter scenes - around 50 words - to foreshadow this plot twist!

Summary:
Just a quick recap -
Satisfy and surprise the reader
It needs to affect and change the direction of the story
Don’t worry too much about the plot twist being predicted, that can provide satisfaction in its own way
That being said, don’t go too hard on the foreshadowing
Any kind of plot twist works!
Have fun!

Conclusion:
That’s it! I hope this workshop gave you the information you were looking for! Sorry it’s a bit long and complicated and all over the place, I got a bit (very) carried away. That being said, plot twists are always really fun to read and worth the effort to write. Keep in mind that I am by no means a professional writer and the things that I say and that work for me might not necessarily work for everyone. Above all, I hope you had fun! Byeee~

Mercy ~ 7/11/23
Workshop
Writing is one of the most powerful mediums for expressing emotions. Whether it's joy, sadness, anger, or even love, emotions can be conveyed in a way that resonates with readers and brings them deeply into the story. However, conveying deep emotions in writing can be a challenge for many writers. It requires a level of vulnerability and honesty that can be difficult to achieve. In this workshop, we will explore some techniques for conveying deep emotions in writing, so that you can create stories that are powerful, moving, and memorable.

1. Start with a strong emotional foundation

The best way to convey deep emotions in writing is to start with a strong emotional foundation. This means taking the time to understand your characters and their emotions. What motivates them? What are their fears, hopes, and dreams? By understanding your characters on a deep emotional level, you can create stories that are rich with emotion.

2. Use sensory details

Sensory details are a powerful tool for conveying emotions in writing. By describing the way things look, smell, taste, feel, and sound, you can bring your readers into the scene and help them experience the emotions of your characters. For example, if you want to convey sadness, you might describe the way the rain falls heavily on the roof, the way the wind whistles mournfully through the trees or the way the protagonist's tears taste salty on their lips.

3. Show, don't tell

One of the most important rules of writing is to show, not tell. This is especially true when it comes to conveying deep emotions. Rather than telling your readers how your characters feel, show them through their actions, expressions, and thoughts. For example, instead of saying “Samantha was sad,” you might describe the way she slumped her shoulders, the way her eyes filled with tears, or the way she struggled to find the right words to say.

4. Use dialogue

Dialogue is another powerful tool for conveying emotions in writing. By using dialogue, you can show your readers how your characters interact with each other, and how they express their emotions through their words. For example, if you want to convey anger, you might have two characters engage in a heated argument, with each character shouting and interrupting each other.

5. Use metaphors and symbolism

Metaphors and symbolism are powerful tools for conveying deep emotions in writing. By using metaphors and symbols, you can create a deeper emotional resonance with your readers. For example, if you want to convey the feeling of being lost and alone, you might describe a character wandering aimlessly through a dark forest, with no clear path in sight.

6. Be honest and vulnerable

Finally, the most important technique for conveying deep emotions in writing is to be honest and vulnerable. This means not shying away from the difficult emotions, but embracing them and allowing your readers to experience them with you. It means being willing to share your own emotions and experiences with your readers, even if it's uncomfortable or painful. By being honest and vulnerable, you can create stories that are truly powerful and deeply moving.

In conclusion, conveying deep emotions in writing is a challenge that requires a combination of strong emotional foundations, sensory details, showing rather than telling, dialogue, metaphors and symbolism, and honesty and vulnerability. By using these techniques, you can create stories that are memorable, moving, and true to life. So go forth and write with emotion, and see where it takes you! DD

How to created 3D, relatable characters

Hey, I'm Minecrafter (AKA Miney or Mines), and welcome to my workshop! Today we'll be discussing the topic of making characters. Specifically, how to make them relatable to the audience. Now, what makes a story good? You may say, the premise, or the plot, which are key things in a story. But first and foremost, I'd say it's the character(s). To put it simply, if there's no character, there's no story. To enhance that, you need compelling characters that anyone can relate to and empathize with. This task may be a bit daunting, maybe you're stressing over the fact that you have to do all the research, finding out how to make it right? But in all truth, you don't have to get everything right. You don't have to research for years to know how to make a character. You only have to get three things right, and we'll be discussing these key ingredients to creating relatable characters today. If you don't agree with me, by all means go and do whatever you want! But take this advice and store it for later, you might need it.

1. The first key thing to get right is… drumroll please! *drumroll*
Fatal flaws!
Your character is flawed. Messed up, to put it bluntly. But that's what makes them interesting, the fact that they aren't perfect! They have a fatal flaw, a misbelief about the world or themselves, a weakness. Whatever you wanna call it, this flaw has been integrated so much into your character's belief that it is a part of their identity. Whether they realize it or not, it controls their life. Every action they've done has been based on this misbelief. It's basically the voice in the back of their head telling them what is true. Plot twist, it's not actually true. That's what your character has to realize at some point in the story, identifying that fatal flaw that has been holding them back. Why is this the number one most important key thing? Because it ties in with the story's overacting theme. The thing that your character realizes, the truth they find out, is the theme of your story.
Bottom Line: Make your characters flawed. Perfect character have nothing to learn and therefore have no internal journey to struggle through. Memorable characters always experience a change and discover something new as a result of their journey.

2: Continuing with the last part, the next key ingredient is Internal Conflict.
As mentioned in the final part, memorable characters have an internal journey, thus there has to be a conflict. Without internal conflict, your character has no deep struggle that pushes them along on their journey. Now, internal conflict is a very vague description and has a lot of definitions, but the one I'll be using today is from the author Abbie Emmons: Desire vs. Fear. This means your character wants something desperately, however they have a conflicting fear is holding them back. Quote, “These two forces are constantly opposing each other and creating a kind of friction that lights up your story with a sense of urgency.” Your character knows what they want, but they're trying to get to it while avoiding the thing they are afraid of. Usually, this comes up in the inciting incident, but whatever happens won't matter, unless the audience knows why it matters to the characters. Internal conflict helps us understand why what's happening matters to the reader, because it gives us understanding of why it matters to the characters. When you start a new story, you don't have to fill out a giant profile for each of your characters, you just need to answer these three important questions:
- “What does my character want?”
- “What are they afraid of?”
- “What is their misbelief/fatal flaw?”
Bottom Line: In order for your characters to be relatable, they must struggle with internal conflict (e.g. desire vs fear.) Without internal conflict, your character just becomes a punching bag for the plot. If we don't know what matters to the characters, we don't know why this story matters to us.

3: The third and final thing is Key Goals.
This is what drives your story forward, why your characters are going on the journey that they are: your character's goals. We've already established what your character wants and why they want it. What we haven't touched on yet is how they're going to get it, but avoiding their fear at the same time. Early on your character is going to be pushed out of their comfort zone by the inciting incident, and it going to force them to make a decision. This is essentially an impossible choice for the character, but they need to face the two options: Stay inside their comfort zone and risk never getting what they want, or, journey into the unknown to accomplish their goal, but still avoiding their fear. Obviously, they will choose the one that sets them out on their journey, or else there would be no story.
Bottom Line: If your character doesn't have a clear goal, your reader will quickly lose interest in their story, because there's no burning question of “Will they get what they want, will they succeed, will they find happiness?”

And with that, that concludes our workshop! Now, you may be asking, “Where's the rest of the information I need to make a relatable character?” The rest of the character making process is fairly easy, just collect tips and tricks and learn as you go along. Remember, you're never going to get it on the first try. You'll fail, and learn from your mistakes, and then get back up and continue! Good luck on your writing, until we meet again! Minecrafter, signing out.

Credit to Abbie Emmons for most of this
<3 from Fantasy

Interesting ways to start a scene/new chapter/poem/any type of writing

Workshop requested by: @extrovertedd
Word counr: 578

Hey everyone!! I'm Ava and this is my first time writing an ORIGINAL workshop. Earlier I was a leader in SMC and I wrote the beginning of the megathread (SQUEE) and I used a huge influence from the SWC opening threads. So, this'll be fun!

Let me start by saying - I have a 90 percent chance of adhd, which means I literally cannot focus on one thing without somrthing else engaging me. (Example - studying with music is okish and studying with gaming is even better) and so I like extremely fast paced things. You'll understand the meaning of this confession later.

Step 1: how to start, basically, the beginning of any writing form.

To have any start of a writing, you must have an idea to write about. And for a proper beginning, you must think very very hard about the genre and pacing of your story.

If your book is somewhat of a horror book, you might want to start of with something like this-

“Sticks and stones won't break my bones” was a silly expression to Charles, who observed the skeletons outside his house crumble to dust day after day due to the branches from breaking trees or pebbles flung by children on bicycles.
(and yes, I did judt make that up on spot so give me credit if you're going to make this a massive book.)

Due to rhese words, we're already wuestioning: WHY IN THE HELL ARE THERE SKELETONS OUTSIDE HIS HOUSE?! And the majority of people who both this book because of its genre will be very pleased.

Me, personally, I like stories starting off with a bigbang (Thus my favorite series Percy Jackson.) Here's an excerpt from the starting of one of the pjo books:

The end of the world started when a pegasus landed on the hood of my car.

Now to a person like me who will lietrally quit a kdrama if the first episode isnt fast enough (and for those of you who know, first episodes usually end with us knowing three fourth of the plot line.)
The thing which got me so impatient in the first place is Percy jackson, and I am not in the least bit guilty.

A good way to start a literature peice is to understand how it sets the readers mind on the perspective of the book or thing they are reading. Example, a person who might be reading Percy Jackson could be thinking about the comedy and fast paced themes about the book which entices them to read on.

SO to conclude:
A good way to start a book is no way! There is no book which has a perfect beginning, but there are books which have some beautiful openings. The important part to make a beginning more meaningful is to base it mainly to set the readers aspect on the story ahead. If we start a horror book with “It was a nice sunny day,” I think I would personally already get bored, but that's just me.

Of course, of the peice is lit-fi, non-fi or something light, “a nice sunny day” wouldn't be the GREATEST beginning, but it would be appropriate.

Having a good beginning is what shapes the rest of your story, since most authors spend more time on their plot twists than beginnings. The beginnings are often the most important parts of novels.

Thankyou for listening to my probably not useful workshop Have a good day!

Workshop - Descriptive Writing

Intro -

Ever heard the saying show don’t tell? Well, that applies to descriptive writing. Descriptive writing is a form of writing in which you engage the reader's senses and attempt to show them what you are imagining. It’s kinda like plastering all your thoughts on paper for someone else to read. It is a very handy skill to have as a writer and is used in nearly every piece of writing that you see. So it is most important that you know how to write it.

Five senses -

So to write a good descriptive piece you need to include the five senses, aka, smell, hearing, taste, touch and sight. Including these can improve your description tenfold. Although don’t use them like, I can see flowers, I can smell the flowers, The flowers feel soft. Thats not going to engage your readers. Try to include them with out declaring it or making it overly obvious. The soft hues of the flowers encouraged me to come closer and as I did I was instantly grateful as their pollen filled buds were releasing as delicious aroma. Leaning down to touch the petals I was almost scared by their fragileness, yet I still wanted to go frolicking in the dainty meadow. That used the senses sight, smell and touch and it was much better than the previous one. It shows that engaging the readers senses can be a crucial part of describing anything. But how to do so? Well to begin with you don’t have to use all of the senses you might just choose the most appropriate ones for that scene or description and you should also use the appropriate describing words to enhance the sense that you are trying to include. But more about that later. Also, try not to go over the top with the description as it is sometimes too much for the reader and can make them become bored or confused.

Descriptive words -

You should always make sure that you are using the correct adjective, adverb, whatever at the right time or in the right sentence. If you use the wrong describing word then it can throw off your piece and stpo the reader from connecting properly. For example, if you wanted to write a description about a dark alley you wouldn’t describe it as happy or encouraging, (with a few exceptions,) you might describe it as gloomy or threatening. Of course there is such thing as an oxymoron which is when to seemingly opposite words work together in your story, such as deafening silence or a sad smile. Coming back to describing words you also need to make sure that you are using words of the right quality for your audience, which is why you should always identify your audience first. If you were writing for five year olds you wouldn’t use big words or sentences that they wouldn’t understand, but if your audience was adults you wouldn’t use poor quality words that are overly simple either.

Organisation -

You have to be wary of how you organise your writing, for example, if you were writing a description of what you can see you wouldn’t write about the flowers, then the sky, then maybe the footpath, then flowers again. Thats just confusing, why are the flowers coming back in when you just talked about it. Try to make it flow from one point to the next. You could describe the flowers, then describe how the flowers look against the sky, then the sky, then how the sky is reflected in the puddles of the footpath, then the footpath. Or, or, something like that.

Outro -

Okay I’m out of stuff. Well probably not but I can’t really think of anything else at the moment. Please remember that these are all suggestions and my word is probably not what you want to listen to. This was actually fun to write, though you all probably know how to write descriptively so I didn’t need to do this. These are probably some of the most important things to remember when writing, remember them. Now go forth and write well.

-Livy out ; D
-690 words

Naming Things
Hello there, and welcome to my workshop on naming things! A mistake many authors make is to just choose a name from perhaps another book that they've read or just a cliche name such as Mary or James. These might work occasionally, but most of the time, they won't make your characters memorable and unique. So, today, we'll be diving into the art of creating good names!

1) Character Names
First things first - let's talk about character names! I'm going to start by telling you one thing - don't use cliche character names. Mary, Jane, Bobby, Sue, Linda… and so on - if you name one of your characters like that, they probably won't be remembered. The name Dumbledore is super unique, so it's really easy to remember, even if you're not into Harry Potter. But let's say I named him Christopher. You probably won't remember him unless you're a huge Potterhead! One of the ways I make unique names is to just let something weird pop into my head by assembling random vowels. Whether it's Lilegrass or Kiremeen, use it! Another way you can do so is to look for symbolism. If I'm writing a novel whose protagonist has pyrokinesis, I might want to find a character name that relates to fire, like Ember or Fintan. You can also use your character's origins to create a name using online generators, such as this one - say your character is a Japanese samurai. Instead of calling him Kieran, you could call him Katsu, a Japanese name that means victory! You can also use these techniques for place naming.

2) Novel-Naming
Next, let's talk about naming your novel. This could, well, make or break your success and make the difference between someone picking up your book or just neglecting it. Your story title shouldn't reveal too much information, but be captivating and have some sort of relation to the book. It could be clear - like Percy Jackson and the Olympians or more obscure - like MiNRS. One of my tips is to search for a less well-known word that has a relation to your book, such as hiraeth (meaning n. homesickness for a home you can't return to, or that never was) or ataraxia (meaning n.a state of freedom from emotional disturbance and anxiety; tranquillity). This helps connect these words to your story, but in a way that your reader can't easily interpret it. If you're not sure what to name something, read your story. What is it about? What is the main goal and the genre? What is the general vibe of your story? These questions are great to help you know what to name something.

In short, naming things isn't as simple as just going online and generating a random name from a generator. Names should hold meaning - they're not just things that you call your character. In good novels, places, names, even streets - they hold a special meaning that the author can probably easily explain - and it'll most likely make sense! So, the next time you're naming a character, just remember one thing - don't name them Mary!
this is probably the most terrible thing i’ve written this swc haha-

How certain movements/habits can show strong emotions? Ex. Eye twitching when mad, biting nail when nervous, etc

Hello! Welcome to my workshop : ) Would you like tea, or coffee? It doesn’t matter what you pick, always remember to hydrate with water. Now that that’s out of the way, we can start : D

Today, we are going to explore the phrase ‘show, don’t tell.’ Specifically, body language and different ways to portray emotions from different people. Take a mirror, and make a face. Angry, intrigued, curious, happy, any emotion will do. Observe how your face changes, and describe the action in text. Example; His eyes narrowed, she raised her eyebrows, etc.

The facial expressions you create are universal, and most people would understand the emotion you are describing without you needing to further clarify. If I wrote, “He narrowed his eyes, crossing his arms.” What could you, as the reader, infer from that sentence? Is the emotion positive or negative? You could probably grasp the idea that the man is angry, disappointed, jealous. Who knows? You could always go into more detail, like “What does the narrator think of this action? What do they infer?”

By the way, did you know that most of human communication is non-verbal? Using body language also adds depth to conversation, and let it flow more naturally, because have you ever been in a chat where you are both stiff as a board? Even then, it clearly means you were nervous, or the situation was awkward.

Now, going back on topic. Have you seen someone bite their lip, their nails? Or cracking their knuckles? These are usually habits that are attached to certain emotions. There isn’t really a ‘normality’ for these little details, because different people, different habits. But some common ones would be biting your nails/lips due to nervousness, gritting your teeth for anger/upset, eye twitching, also courtesy of anger.

Anyway, use ‘show, don’t tell’ moderately, which includes this. It could slow the pacing of your story, and throw the bigger picture away in favor of small details. And because you are seeing the actions through the lens of the narrator, they might not pick up the tells. So yes, you could add body language to an important plot point that indicates this character was actually lying, but have an idiot narrator that didn’t notice. You’ll have to reinforce the idea that they were deceived at least once, to make the plot twist believable, but you get the idea.

We’re getting side-tracked here. If you’re looking for a cheat sheet of body language that conveys certain emotions, you could always search it up. There are many guides and articles that could help you ^^ Also remember to never overuse it, and that its uses and interpretation, whether this is right or wrong, depends on the narrator and their ability to perceive their surroundings, and deduce an explanation.

That is all for this workshop! If there are any spelling mistakes, or mistakes in general, feel free to inform me (*・ω・)ﾉ I hope this has been helpful, and if it wasn’t you can sue me /j <33

-508 words, not counting prompt

How To Not Make Your Backstories Suck

Hiya, I'm Nikki, and here's how to not make your backstories suck! Backstories are a very important part of characters, but sometimes it's tempting to leave them unknown. And it's not wrong to leave it mysterious! But backstories can give you a better, more thorough understanding of your characters, and they can be the perfect touch to your story, so here's my workshop on how to make backstories!

To start off, think of your character. Think of the events that shaped them to be who they are currently. You can do this in any order, just main events. It helps to jot it down so you don't have to focus on remembering all of it and can arrange a timeline at the end. For example, a character of mine named Hunter. When he was young, he was abandoned by his parents. A pilot had crash-landed in a forest and found him. He was raised by the pilot until he was 17, and then he moved out. These are basic events that happened to my character. The events shouldn't be detailed just yet; there's always time for details later!

Once you finish that, you're probably ready for the next part; the setting I'm not going to go full into how to make a detailed setting, as this workshop is about backstories, but basically, try to keep it realistic and interesting. Your character probably won't stay in one place for too long. For example, my character Hunter. He lived in the forest.

Now, just ‘the forest’ is kind of plain, right? What interesting things could happen to our character in a setting like that? The forest in Hunter's story isn't just any forest, it's dark, horrifying, scary. The carnivorous plants wither on the forest floor, the dead trees blocking out the light as they hang over the black ground. Cold, dry wind slips through, as the leaves rattle and shakes. Things lurk in the dark, waiting to strike. That's much more interesting, right? You can try basing settings off of real places, or letting your imagination run wild!

It's probably a good time to start sprinkling in some details on top and start putting all of it together, writing things in between. Don't write too much, but enough for it to start coming together and make sense.

You probably have a lot of your backstory done, right? If not, it's ok! You should start adding details that are relevant to present day events. If your going to keep the backstory in your writing, your keeping it for in for a reason, right?

Things to think about when writing backstories:
- Don't overload with backstory, remember, the past is important, but nothing affects us more than the present.
- Remember to balance telling with showing!
- And, most importantly, have fun! The perfect backstory for your characters can be hard!

Anyway, that's about it for this workshop! Now you know how to make cool backstories! I hope this helped, writing backstories can be a lot of fun!

How to Elevate your Poetry
1,192 words


Table of Contents
1. Themes, Ideas, Concepts and Inspiration
2. Literary Devices (Metaphors, similes)
3. Word Choice
4. Other


Themes, Ideas, Concepts and Inspiration

I’m sure most of you at some point in life have had a lesson on theme in school. The main idea, the underlying meaning of a story, as cheesy as your teacher might have made it sound, theme is very important in any piece of writing, poetry especially. Some examples of themes include:
-Good vs. Evil
-Injustice
-Coming of Age
-Love
-Courage
And there are many more, deciding on a theme for your writing can be beneficial because you have the message you are trying to convey in mind. And you have a point to come back to when you get stuck.

Themes are needed in order for a concept to be developed. A concept for a story can be anything from just a general idea to a built out plan of your story. At least for me concepts are just a string of thoughts I’ve written out as an idea for a poem. I don’t think too much, just write anything that comes to mind and then edit it later on. And for others creating a concept means sitting down and planning out different points that will turn up in their writing.

But where do you start all of this? Where do you get inspiration? All people are different but if you’re looking for things to try, I find inspiration in words. It sounds a little weird, like in SWC my cabin has a word of the day and those inspire me to write poems completely revolving around the word. Something else lots of people use as inspiration are issues they hold close to them, for me I wrote a poem about a relationship I got out of and a situation I felt that was so complicated I just needed to figure it out and put it into words, find something to relate to it. I know some poets find lots of inspiration in nature and love taking walks and just writing, even if you feel like your idea is “unoriginal” or “basic” write it. You can bring a whole new perspective. And just for the fun of connecting all my previous topics, themes can be found in your inspiration, and themes along with ideas are needed to build your concept. And all of this can help you plan out your poem and start writing.

Literary Devices

Literary Devices can be used to improve your writing drastically. Using something like personification can add so much depth and meaning to your piece. But I know sometimes it’s hard to start using them, and wrap your head around how to implement them in your poetry. So here are some basic explanations of a few literary devices I think are great for beginners, and are simple enough, but can really add a new layer to your writing!

Things that will be covered:
-Metaphors
-Similes

Metaphors
Metaphors can be a figure of speech or representative of something symbolic. They describe something by saying it’s something else. Metaphors don’t use like or as unlike similes, for example a metaphor could be “Her eyes were diamonds” now we all know her eyes weren’t actually diamonds, but the speaker says they are to paint an image in our minds, to make us think something. It’s also a much more interesting way of saying “her eyes were blue.” Metaphors can be great in poetry especially because it gives the reader something to think about, if you say “Maria is a chicken” it can mean so much more then if you say “Maria is silly” the readers can connect Maria being a chicken to being scared along with being silly, maybe you are saying Maria is small like a chicken, we will never know. It is much more interesting for a reader to read about Maria being a chicken rather than her just being silly. Metaphors add lots of meaning to your writing of used properly and they are one of my favorite things to put in my poems.

Similes
Similes are similar to metaphors, but instead of saying one thing is another, they compare the two using the words like or as, “Maria is like a chicken” “Her eyes were as blue as diamonds.” Similes are a great place to start because of how simple they are, yet how much the can bring to your piece. I enjoy using similes in my writing because it can get across exactly what I want the reader to be thinking. And like metaphors they make your writing more interesting to read, instead of “Her eyes were deep blue” you can say “Her eyes sparkled a deep blue like the ocean” which paints a clear image in your readers mind. If you are completely new to the world of poetry and literary devices, I recommend trying to add a simile in your writing.

I would highly recommend researching others, and trying to work them into your future writing.

Word Choice

Word choice is a very important part of writing, especially in poetry. And sometimes it’s very hard to find the right word. One of my favorite ways to improve my vocabulary is by using thesaurus.com which gives you a multitude of different synonyms for words or phrases. While this can slow down the writing process I find it to be highly beneficial, especially if you are just starting trying to use a higher level of vocabulary. I also try to avoid using filler words in my writing as much as I use them in everyday conversation. The words you use can say so much about the piece, and change the tone of the writing completely. Especially in poetry where typically there’s multiple layers or a story to be told and the words you use can show this. Some switches you can make in your writing:
A lot, lots - a multitude
Very good - outstanding, glorious, magnificent,

On the topic of finding the right word, like I said I use thesaurus and typically there is a long list so I go through that, and look at the definitions and try to put them in the poem. It’s just trial and error at least for me. But everyone has different strategies and its all about finding what works for you.

Other

Now obviously these are all just my personal advice, thoughts, etc. And these don’t necessarily apply to every single poem or type of poetry ever. I mostly write free verse so that’s where my knowledge strides, and what most of this can be applied to. Now this also is just advice and tips, and I would love to hear other peoples tips and advice. This advice will probably not apply as well to Haikus as it might to free verse. Now saying all of that I hope my workshop still helps you on your writing journey. If you want any feedback or constructive criticism on a poem or poems feel free to ask me, I would love to read your work!

Hello good people of SWC! I am here today to bring you a step by step guide on writing non-fiction books. Many of the guides I found online like to go on for ages with the most basic of writing tips, how to stay motivated, how to be profitable, or how to get things published. I know there are already guides out there for many of those things, and that many of us in SWC aren't exactly concerned with being profitable, so in this guide I did my best to give information on the important part: writing the book itself.

Step 1: Choose your idea.
Every book is about something, and is written for a purpose. It may exist to tell stories, to educate people on a topic, or even to convince readers to understand a certain stance in a heated debate. If you’re planning to write a non-fiction book, chances are it’s one of the latter two. You might already know what topic you want to write about, but maybe you aren’t completely sure.
When in doubt, write something you already love! Maybe you’re an avid sports fan with a love of strategy and statistics, or you want to tell the world all about your favorite underrated animals. If there’s a class you’ve enjoyed doing in school, or a random fun fact that fascinates you, those can also be great starting points to find an idea. Is it something specific and scientific, or covering a more general and broad topic?
Another thing to consider is that there are different subgenres within non fiction. Narrative non fiction contains a true story: something like memoirs, biographies or autobiographies. Expository non fiction is more focused on a topic itself, and includes textbooks, how-to books, and self-help books. (Think the “___ For Dummies” series, which is surprisingly informative). This guide generally focuses on writing expository non fiction, but many of these points can apply to both.

Step 2: Research!
This is possibly the most important part of writing non fiction- and if it’s a topic you love, it can be the most fun as well. Chances are you already know a fair amount about the thing you want to write about, but it’s important to make sure you have your facts right. While researching, take note of anything that might be useful- basic facts, quotes from experts, or even stories involving the topic- as well as any new ideas or questions you think of while researching.
Most of all, don’t forget to write down what sources the information is from! This isn’t just something you do in school to get a better grade- having good sources shows readers that you aren’t just making stuff up. It also makes it far easier to find that particular book or webpage again if you want to come back to it later. (Hopefully you know by now that something like Wikipedia is not a reliable source.)

Step 3: Consider your audience.
Do you want to write a book for other people with lots of knowledge in your topic, or for people who have very little information and happen to be interested? Are you writing something aimed at children, with short attention spans when it comes to reading, or for people old enough to handle something longer?
Your intended audience plays a key role in the way you write and structure your book. Something for very young children may rely more heavily on illustrations, and give just enough basic facts to give the child a respect or appreciation for the topic. Slightly older kids may prefer an action-packed story about the topic, with facts sprinkled in to explain what’s happening. If you’re writing for a teen or adult audience, you may want to go for multiple chapters to explain the topic in detail.
Which leads right into…

Step 4: Make an outline.
Writing a non fiction book is a lot like writing an essay, but longer. To get started on an outline, simply make a list of everything you want to cover in the book- it doesn’t have to be in any particular order at first, or include much of the research. A sentence for each point is plenty.
Next, it’s time to decide what order the points should be presented in. As a general guideline, most non fiction books start with basic facts or a brief history of the topic before moving into more complicated or lesser known areas. Take a chemistry textbook for example. It probably starts with very simple concepts, like how to measure things precisely, before ever mentioning the periodic table. Towards the end of a chemistry textbook, though, you’ll be using all sorts of complicated conversions.
Once you have a general order established for your points, you can start numbering the chapters (or pages if it’s aimed at younger children), and possibly combining a few points in each chapter. Everyone has a different way of outlining, but here’s a basic example I tend to follow:

1. (Main Topic)
-a short story to introduce the topic (could be history, personal experience, etc)
-basic fact about the topic
-more basic facts about the topic
2. (something diving a bit deeper into the topic, or building on the previous chapter)
-explain this new more specific concept
-examples of why it’s significant (could be real world situations, or just why it’s interesting)
3. (either continue building on 2, or use another point that branches off of 1)
-basically the same outline as 2

You can repeat this whole thing (or your preferred method of outlining) for each chapter! I personally like to add quotes or statistics I want to use in the chapter outline, as well as points about the information itself.

Step 5: Writing
Finally, the part we’ve all been waiting for! Once you’re satisfied with your outline and research, it’s time to get started with the actual writing. Follow your outline, and while you’re writing, keep your audience in mind. If they’re already knowledgable in the topic, you may be able to assume they know the vocabulary related to the topic- but if you want the book to be accessible to anyone interested, it’s generally best to define any specific terms before you start using them in the book.
You can think of each chapter like an individual essay- if you’re a fan of outlining, you can even make an individual outline for each chapter. In general, though, you’ll probably want to start by introducing the focus of the chapter, defining important elements of it, then providing examples to further illustrate the main focus. At the end of the chapter, you could feature a takeaway- a summary of the pain points that were introduced- or even a cliffhanger, by teasing at how it will tie in to the next chapter.

aand that's it for this guide- good luck with your writing!

Writing Different Character Voices
by @unhinged_musings

Introduction
Developing different character voices is an intrinsic part of characterization. I’ve heard it said that a truly good writer, at least in this respect, has character voices so distinct that if you were to remove everything but raw dialogue from the page you would still be able to discern which character was speaking which lines. Distinct voices help give all characters strong personalities and an identity on the page. Different character voices can also allow for better comedy, since characters can interact in more memorable ways. Also, each character can have their own sense of humor, so even if one joke doesn’t land for the reader, another one from another character might. Finally, distinct voices can help make certain characters feel more real, or even relatable, to the reader. They can bring a sense of creative passion and love into your piece that wouldn’t be there otherwise. This workshop will, ideally, help you accomplish this task! I’m not an expert, though, so take everything I say with a grain of salt.

Part One: Creating Personalities
Before a character can have a unique voice, they have to have a distinct personality their voice can convey. Are they moody and grouchy? Positive and bubbly? Distinguished and aloof? Are they cowardly, or brave? Smart, or a bit air-headed? Arrogant, or humble? They need something that makes them them, that makes them interesting and substantial. This is what will give you fuel for giving them their own recognizable voice.

Part Two: Creating Speech Habits and Gimmicks
Next, you must come up with a character’s vocal mannerisms. There are many areas in which people speak differently. For example, how often they speak and how much they say when they do speak. Another area for variety is word choice. A character can be anywhere from annoyingly flowery to devastatingly primitive. When making decisions in this area it is important to take into account a character’s background. A scholar well-versed in the language would most likely make use of more advanced words, while a refugee from a foreign country first learning the language would probably speak much more simply. Another thing that could vary from character to character is how politely they speak - whether they say whatever is on their mind, regardless of how it affects whoever hears it, or are always kind and respectful no matter who they are speaking to and how they feel about them. In short, there are many different ways and styles of speaking, and a good author utilizes many of them.

Part Three: Implementing Parts One and Two
The final part of this workshop is implementing the above two parts. When writing dialogue, remember to always keep every character’s way of speaking in the back of your mind. There’s no point in developing the previous two parts if none of it is used in your writing. Try not to stray too far from your original concept - inconsistencies are sometimes very noticeable and can take away from the character’s identity. This doesn’t mean to not give your character an arc or development, but to make sure any change in their personality and speech has a reason behind it, and is believable.

Conclusion
I hope this workshop taught you a few things, and that those things will help you improve your writing. Feel free to ask me any questions, or to look deeper into this subject yourself. Happy writing!

Silvi’s Workshop on Blurbs
684 words
Welcome to Silvi’s workshop on blurbs. This will tell you how to make blurbs attention-catching, but not too overboard (thanks to Aquxii- - for this idea).
Blurbs are what tell you the main plot of the story, but they don’t give you too much information. They are quite short usually, and mysterious. They are on the back of almost every book. They should be slightly teasing to the reader, giving you a basic idea of the start of the story, but not from the middle and end, that would spoil the story too much.

Examples:
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone: (thanks to J.K Rowling for this book)
Harry Potter thinks he is an ordinary boy-until he is rescued by a beetle-eyed giant of a man, enrols at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, learns to play Quidditch and does battle in a deadly duel. The Reason: Harry Potter is a wizard!

This blurb has a slight joke at the end, and is quite simple. It gives you a simple idea of what the book is based on and something that the main character does. The blurb doesn’t tell you much about the story, so that it tempts the reader and makes them want to find out what happens later in the book. This is the first book in the series and often the first books have the most mysterious blurbs; the books later have less mystery in them. This blurb is also quite short, which gives it more tension. This will also draw the reader in like the mystery in it.

The Tale of Troy: (thanks to Roger Lancelyn Green for this book)
Step back in time to the battles and sieges of ancient Greece when the beautiful Helen of Sparta is abducted by Paris, a prince of Troy, and the Greek fleet sets sail to seek their vengeance on them.
And after a decade of war, we join Odysseus, the last of the heroes, on his thrilling adventures as he makes the long journey home to Greece.
This, like the last one, tells you about the main theme of the book, but doesn’t tell you much. It has no detail and is quite short, giving nothing away to create a sense of mystery, which will pull readers in. There is no information about the actual battle, just a simple explanation of what it is about.

To make a short and snappy blurb like these, that pulls the readers in, first you will need an actual story. Let’s say it was about an adventure through some mountains on a hot air balloon. You will need your characters' names and have to vaguely introduce them. If they were called Tom and Lucy, then you would say a tiny bit about them and how they come to be together. You will have to say where they live too.
For example:
Tom and Lucy live in a small village in Norway. They seem normal at first, but Tom comes from a country far away and Lucy is the secret daughter of the President of America.

This will give away a little bit of interesting information that will make the reader want to find out more. Next, you will need to present the problem. This should only take up one sentence and should be something like this:
But when their friends mysteriously disappear, Tom and Lucy have to go on an incredible adventure to find them.
This will only tell you a tiny bit and has an air of wonder about it. The next bit can say something that they do along the way.
They make some wonderful and amazing friends along the way.
Or:
They find some astonishing secrets on their journey and love every moment.
The final bit is optional, but can make it slightly more interesting.
But will they find them or just become prisoners themselves?
This last part ends on a question mark, which will make it more exciting and mystical.

I hope you enjoyed this workshop and it helped you, I hope you have a great session! Bye!

I am sorry if this has been posted twice, it's just that I couldn't find mine when i checked it.
Weekly Part 1
Silvi’s Workshop on Blurbs
684 words
Welcome to Silvi’s workshop on blurbs. This will tell you how to make blurbs attention-catching, but not too overboard (thanks to Aquxii- - for this idea).
Blurbs are what tell you the main plot of the story, but they don’t give you too much information. They are quite short usually, and mysterious. They are on the back of almost every book. They should be slightly teasing to the reader, giving you a basic idea of the start of the story, but not from the middle and end, that would spoil the story too much.

Examples:
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone: (thanks to J.K Rowling for this book)
Harry Potter thinks he is an ordinary boy-until he is rescued by a beetle-eyed giant of a man, enrols at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, learns to play Quidditch and does battle in a deadly duel. The Reason: Harry Potter is a wizard!

This blurb has a slight joke at the end, and is quite simple. It gives you a simple idea of what the book is based on and something that the main character does. The blurb doesn’t tell you much about the story, so that it tempts the reader and makes them want to find out what happens later in the book. This is the first book in the series and often the first books have the most mysterious blurbs; the books later have less mystery in them. This blurb is also quite short, which gives it more tension. This will also draw the reader in like the mystery in it.

The Tale of Troy: (thanks to Roger Lancelyn Green for this book)
Step back in time to the battles and sieges of ancient Greece when the beautiful Helen of Sparta is abducted by Paris, a prince of Troy, and the Greek fleet sets sail to seek their vengeance on them.
And after a decade of war, we join Odysseus, the last of the heroes, on his thrilling adventures as he makes the long journey home to Greece.
This, like the last one, tells you about the main theme of the book, but doesn’t tell you much. It has no detail and is quite short, giving nothing away to create a sense of mystery, which will pull readers in. There is no information about the actual battle, just a simple explanation of what it is about.

To make a short and snappy blurb like these, that pulls the readers in, first you will need an actual story. Let’s say it was about an adventure through some mountains on a hot air balloon. You will need your characters' names and have to vaguely introduce them. If they were called Tom and Lucy, then you would say a tiny bit about them and how they come to be together. You will have to say where they live too.
For example:
Tom and Lucy live in a small village in Norway. They seem normal at first, but Tom comes from a country far away and Lucy is the secret daughter of the President of America.

This will give away a little bit of interesting information that will make the reader want to find out more. Next, you will need to present the problem. This should only take up one sentence and should be something like this:
But when their friends mysteriously disappear, Tom and Lucy have to go on an incredible adventure to find them.
This will only tell you a tiny bit and has an air of wonder about it. The next bit can say something that they do along the way.
They make some wonderful and amazing friends along the way.
Or:
They find some astonishing secrets on their journey and love every moment.
The final bit is optional, but can make it slightly more interesting.
But will they find them or just become prisoners themselves?
This last part ends on a question mark, which will make it more exciting and mystical.

I hope you enjoyed this workshop and it helped you, I hope you have a great session! Bye!