“ He Said You Were So Beautiful It Made Him Shudder “

This is my hotel. Thanks. Hey, what’s up? Nothing. Just that I’ve stayed here before, too.

But you know… I’ve heard and learned a lot of things about you, Nanase-kun.

What were you doing on New Years Eve, Oreki? Experiencing the life of a hermit crab.

if you guys have characters but no plot just put them in a scenario where they suffer the absolute most and you’re set

"To think I'd have trouble with a couple of intruders. Oliver is going to be mad at me later"

"What, you still don't know?

That boy has rank and power second only to the queen"

Shoma is leaving his coaching team!! 

I still believe he has to much more to offer and after following him for a while I reallly hope this finally leads him to golds at the bigger competitions 

anybody else a fan of these rlly niche oneshot fics that r simultaneously a little moody and angsty while being exceptionally tender and sexy. they’re always like 20k words and absolutely nothing happens plot wise except feelings stuff. and they always have a title (like this)

I'm so curious about the results

Fanfiction Reader Survey

https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/TM8YZ6Y

Hi everyone. I’m writing an essay about fanfiction and as such am collecting some anonymous data on why people read fanfiction and who it is that reads fanfiction. It takes up to 3 minutes (though I’d have thought less time) to fill out and would be extremely appreciated.

Thank you to anyone who submits a response and/or shares this post!

Psychology for writers: first impressions matter

I was thinking about plotting, and about telling a story chronologically or not.

It reminded me of first impressions and the primacy effect. Solomon Asch studied this in the 1940s I think. The primacy effect shows us that we appoint more weight to information that we learn first than to information we learn later.

He studied this by giving two groups of people a list of personality traits. For example, group one is introduced to a woman, “This is Anna. She is beautiful, funny, spiteful and mean.” Group two, however, hears this: “This is Anna. She is mean, spiteful, funny and beautiful.”

The second list is of course the reverse of the first list. You would think that both people form the same impression of Anna, because they are given the same adjectives. But no. Group one had a more positive impression of Anna and were more prepared to forgive her for her meanness and spitefulness than group two.

This is how you can use the primacy effect for your characters:

Introduce your main character by showing her doing something good first.

If you plan to redeem a villain in the end and make your readers feel positive towards him, show him having some small positive traits first, for example petting his kitten.

If you want your readers to go, “I knew this character was bad even though everyone trusted him, I just had this feeling he’s up to no good!”, show him doing something bad first, like kicking the kitten, and then some good acts. (”I never forgave him for kicking that helpless kitten!”)

Flashbacks, flash forwards and other ways to tell your story non-chronologically can influence the impression your readers have of your characters compared to a linear, chronological story.

I hope this was helpful. Don’t hesitate to ask me any questions, and happy writing!

Follow me for more writing advice, or check out my other writing advice here. New topics to write advice about are also always welcome.

Tag list below, a few people I like and admire and of course, you can be too. If you like to be added to or removed from the list, let me know.

Keep reading