Me As A Writer

this scene actually broke me and i havent even watched the actual episode

i7 tweets #2

MHA tweets pt.16- shigaraki appears

what is everybody's favourite dinosaur

personally, i definitely think that these phrases stand out a lot more to the writer than to the reader, but if you feel like those comparison phrases are adding up too much or getting a bit clunky, I’d recommend experimenting with metaphors rather than trying to look for replacements for “like” or “as”

to a reader, something like “her smile was like the rising sun” is super easy to read and can do a lot of work communicating theme and mood and details about the character (or narrator, depending) but switching it up to something more complex like “her smile was akin to the rising sun” can make a reader pause and go ‘huh that’s a little awkward’ unless that’s the style of language you’ve been writing in the whole time

that said, i think the simplest way to cut down on similes if you have too many (or don’t enjoy how they affect the flow of your sentences) is to use metaphors. they can help cut down that barrier between a character comparing two things (e.g. her smile & the rising sun) and instead appeal directly to a reader’s senses or their understanding of the world, so that the comparison just becomes part of the scene itself

for example, I was reading Sally Rooney’s Normal People during the unit on comparisons for a writing course I took and some that stood out to me were how she described “rain silver as loose change in the glare of traffic” and how that rain “[whispered] on slick roof tiles”

the first quote is a simile while the second is a metaphor, but both of them are making comparisons (the first comparing rain & loose change, leaning on a readers visual reference for shiny coins and implying that the narrator thinks these two things are alike) while the second one compares the sound of rain to the sound of whispering by making it part of the scene description directly. rather than say “it was as if the rain whispered on slick roof tiles” Rooney broke down the barrier that similes sometimes put up by directly appealing to the reader’s senses instead (sound here, instead of sight) and that’s effective bc a reader can very easily understand what it means for rain to whisper without the author having to put in a lot of work looking for a natural way to say “the rain seemed as if it was whispering on slick roof tiles”

and sometimes similes just work better than metaphors. it really depends but, as the author, you get to choose what works for you and what doesn’t

these kind of considerations can be hard to remember when you’re in the middle of writing, too, but the editing phase can be a great place to turn some similes into metaphors (or to decide that you like all your similes and to leave them be!)

i know a lot of my writing involves me writing exactly what I mean, and then scaling it back in the editing phase so that I’m showing what I mean instead of stating it all outright- and in that process a lot of similes end up incorporated in different ways (either by using metaphors instead or by dropping the comparison altogether and leaning more on body language and or theme to draw out the ideas and impressions i want a reader to get) so maybe that strategy could work for you too?

i got a little long-winded here but I hope this helps!

As a newer writer, I'm struggling to use similes in more ways other than by phrases like "like", "seeming as", "as if" or other versions of these three.

What are some of the other, if any, ways to compare something to something else, to avoid a book turning mundane?

Hi!

I voted for a discord server in the 50k novel challenge poll. I use discord a lot for various groups, both personal and community servers, so I wanted to offer to be an admin on the server to help with setting up and keeping everything running smoothly if Discord is what you choose to go ahead with.

I really love this idea and am looking forward to writing!

- Freyja

Thank you so much!

I’ll prob post the poll again at the end of Jan/beginning of Feb since there have been a few more interested ppl but so far discord is looking like the winner and I would def appreciate the help!!

Katsuki and Izuku argue that they can stay in clas A1 because they're both eight which means Katzuku is 16. So actually they didn't lie, they pass the age and quirk requirement so they should be allowed to skip 8 grades and go to high school.

Also because there's only 20 desks in clas A1, when they're unfused, Katsuki and Izuku just squish next to each other on the one chair. Which will inevitably result in one pushing the other out of the chair.

they make a compelling case

Week four:

22- fic- Short For Grenade

-slowly chugging my way through this one despite not having a clear plot. decided to make Katsuki take Nade chew toy shopping and then Izuku wormed his way in lol

23- fic- dabihawks companion piece to probably not (<-ao3 link)

-im changing a few details to have touya older when he's disowned by his dad (not presumed dead) since its a no quirk au. im kind of playing fast and loose with canon but i like the style of prose im using for this mini-series (though i have no idea if some of the sentences ive written are grammatically legal)

24- nada- family concerns and gift wrapping took precedence today but I did imagine that I was writing a whole sapphic book in verse while I took a much needed anti-headache nap, so that’s almost writing

25- fic x2- “probably not” companion piece & short for grenade

-just a line on the first one, the next section is still pretty up in the air as far as specifics, and a short continuation of the pet store scene in short for grenade :)

26- :( - meant to do some editing for short for grenade in the evening and then all of a sudden it was 1:30am and i was on my, like, 20th sonic fanfic soo no writing happened

27- fic and original- short for grenade & writing prompt

-rounded out that pet store scene for sfg (but this whole writing without a plot means im gonna need more intense editing than usual)

-looked around for a prompt to help me get over a little writers block and i was pleasantly surprised by the outcome! despite not having anything but the second line of the story in mind (the first line being the prompt) it actually flowed really easily and an actual setting/plot started to take shape around the dialogue. im happy with how the scene turned out

28- fic- companion piece to probably not

-got the intro to my next scene down. im excited to work on the dialogue between dabi and hawks as soon as im feeling up to it (curse you cold and flu season)

29- fic- companion piece

-i think the league dynamic in my no-quirk au is starting to come along nicely. also read through a lot of my old stuff, did some minor editing. proud to announce that i do actually like my writing (usually) and will prob be finishing up a few abandoned pieces to post on ao3 now that I’ve re-discovered they exist. short for grenade is on my to do list but prob won’t be up until Jan or Feb depending on what I decide to do with it, plot-wise

30- ficx2- let it sink in & short for grenade

-some touch ups to let it sink in bc i felt the beginning was really weak compared to the middle, + sharing a few lines of it on my page

-completed a writing sprint for sfg that went way better than expected. i might do a few more to get more of the content down before going back and fleshing out all the character development parts that got sort of glanced over. plan is to have this finished by the end of Jan!! 🤞very excited to share it

31- fic- short for grenade

-added a small section of banter between Katsuki and his mother because I love them, lol

I want to write at least a little bit every day in December so I’ve decided to keep a log and post it here to keep myself accountable! I’ll list whether it’s a fic or original, what it’s about, and a few of my thoughts about each project. posted weekly, I think :)

since im already trying to write every day in December, ive decided to try finishing (or at least making significant progress) in a medium length fic of mine that i honestly forgot existed until today

basically, the concept is that middle school bakugou gets a dog to help with his anger issues and then becomes super nosy when he finds out izuku had a bad experience with a dog when they were kids and tries to mastermind izuku into liking his dog (which ends up backfiring in the sense that bkg masterminds himself into liking izuku). here are some snippets! (the dogs name is Grenade btw)

*****

“Why the fuck didn’t I know Deku was allergic to dogs?” Katsuki asked over dinner, surreptitiously sneaking a helping of pork to the dog snugly resting at his feet. 

“Because he’s not?” his mother responded, pausing mid-bite to level Katsuki with an annoyed frown. “And I see you feeding that dog, brat. Stop it.”

“You can’t prove anything,” Katsuki shot back, only for Nade’s head to pop up from beneath the table cloth a moment later, a paw placed pleadingly on Katsuki’s thigh. 

His mother raised an imperious eyebrow. 

“Whatever,” Katsuki muttered dejectedly. “And yes the fuck he is. Him and Auntie totally freaked at the park today.”

His father’s utensils clattered to his plate in an uncharacteristic show of clumsiness. “You had Nade around Izuku?” he asked, concerned. 

Katsuki frowned at him. “Not on purpose,” he hedged. “He didn’t even get close.” Then he turned to face his mother again. “Because he’s allergic.”

*****

“Oi, Deku,” Katsuki said. 

Deku jolted out of his trance and blinked up at Katsuki. “I’m not a stalker!” he announced without prompting. “Your desk isn’t really that far away from mine and your handwriting is clear enough to be seen from several seats away and it's only natural that I would be curious ab- I mean, that my eyes would wander and just happen to glance over your notebook, it’s not like it was intentional or anything, and-”

“That’s not what this is about, nerd,” Katsuki interrupted, swatting Izuku’s concern away like an annoying fly. “You know dogs are walked on sidewalks, right?”

Deku’s stance grew more rigid and his eyes rapidly scanned the area for signs of Grenade, one hand instinctively grasping at his side and Katsuki batted away the wayward desire to lift Deku’s shirt to see if that’s where the scar was because that would be weird.

“Be curious about what you’re writing about” is not stock Common Writing Advice but it really, really should be. There are a lot of written works that fail due to the authors just being obviously incurious about what they are writing about.