Scribbled Fiction

Photo by  Rahul  from  Pexels NextGen. Into the Spiderverse. All Imagine Dragons and 21 Pilots music. All these are intensely popular right now, and they all have a common thread: They admit that the world isn't great, and they're not trying to convince you otherwise. And I think that's what makes  them popular. I'm not talking about Dark Fiction, as in gritty, hopeless, broody literature that leaves the reader feeling hopeless. I'm talking about the stories that just acknowledge that the world is dark. Why do we need darkness in fiction? This new generation of readers, my  generation of teens and children, want to hear a different message. One they can resonate with. The message of the generation before us was, 'It's gonna be okay.' And people do still need to hear that it's going to be okay, believe me. That message is still massively important. But this generation already knows this. We've been raised on stories with ...

I did another video for the channel!! This time around, I really wanted to show off my character-drawing skills, so I did- and my ego was knocked back accordingly.  Rachel  and I teamed up to try to draw our characters at ten minutes apiece, so... I'll just let you figure out how well that went. Before we start, though, let me show you a picture, just to prove I actually can draw. Okay, just bear that in mind as you watch the video. You have to view in browser to see the video, or if that's not working click here . We definitely want to do a part two sometime! That's it for today! See you this Thursday with a post about why we need darkness in fiction. How do our drawing skills stack up against yours? Which was your favorite drawing? Let us know in the comments! My  Twitter My  Instagram

There's a problem here. People seem to be demanding more diverse novels, and I'll demand with them, don't get me wrong. Just let me get my picket sign. Out of habit, I write white characters, because 1) That's what I read, and 2) I am white. Sorry. I want to write more diverse characters and I've even considered changing some of my existing characters to include a more diverse cast. BUT there's a really big problem here that's holding me back. There is undue pressure put on anyone trying to write diversely. Allow me to show you what I'm talking about. Someone tries to write a Chinese heritage character. "She clearly doesn't know anything about this culture." Someone tries to include a black character or two in their novel. "Token characters. Such poor writing." Someone writes a Latina heroine instead of the white girl they were originally thinking about. "Where's the African-American represen...

What is up, my people! I thought that today it would be really fun to write a list of more obscure subgenres for people to try. Bear in mind that this isn't an exhaustive list(a term that here means a list of all the things) of subgenres, that would have to be a completely different thing and would take, wow, a lot of time and energy. Today we're just going to go through some lesser known subgenres to help you find something new and fun to explore. Chances are, after this, I'm going to be writing some really weird short stories, but if I've done my job right, so will you! Fantasy Subgenres Photo by  Artem Sapegin  on  Unsplash Military Fantasy.  Important note: There's lots of fantasy that has military elements, but that's not what this is. Military fantasy is specifically fantasy that focuses on the lives of soldiers. Whether they have magic or they're fighting evil wizards, it focuses on the military and their lives within the world. Science...

"Write what you know." What does that even mean? It's one of the oldest pieces of writing advice out there, but to me, it's either confusing or just something I don't agree with. If I don't quite understand what I'm trying to write about, I research until I feel I understand it fully. So, if you think about it that way, can't I write anything and be writing what I know? I've heard some people say that this is outdated writing advice, and I've heard some people still quote it as good writing advice. Write what you know, they say. So what do I know? I know that life is harder than anyone lets on, and that good stories make it easier to bear it. I know that we live in a fallen world where horrible things happen every day and that we can't fix it without God's help. I know that good people more often go unnoticed, but they make bigger changes than all the rest combined. But if I think harder about this, I find that all of these...

All the non-writer people seem to think that we're super smart or something. Let us all take a moment to giggle to ourselves. Done? Good. Let's move on. So, um, where did this come from? Are people just learning about writers like J.R.R. Tolkien and Andy Weir and assuming that we're all that intelligent? Cuz I'm not. I need Google Maps to figure out my proximity to anything in the state I live in. I can never remember how to spell unneccessary.(by the way, that's not it.) It takes me an average of five to ten years after the fact to think of that word I was trying to use. *cringe* I'm not sure exactly what people think they're saying when they assume in their literature classes that we know every fact that we include in our novels for certain(ha) and that we put everything we put in for a reason(HA! HA! HA!) and even that we know what we're doing at all(I'm crying laughing now please stop). Some days I squint at my screen and just go,...

Photo by rawpixel.com from Pexels As I previously put on my Twitter: I don't have a muse. I have a troll. And he's eating all my chips. #writerslife #writinglife #mymuse #writerproblems #writinghumor — Scribbled Fiction (@ScribbldFiction) March 4, 2019 How dare he. I kind of want those, okay, dude? In such situations as this, it can be difficult to find something to write about. The muse- sorry, troll- is completely out of your grasp, you have resorted to eating all the celery since all your chips are gone, and worst of all, the words just aren't coming because you don't know what to write about. At all. So where will you find your inspiration? Worry not, my wordlings, your fairy godmother is here for you. Today I have 6 different methods already figured out for you. Surely out of the six you will find something that works for you, and you can find something to write about. 1. Use a song. There are so many songs out there (specifically by Urielle...

Since Rachel already helpfully started me on this series with her post on  world building tropes , I must continue it! Y'all know how I love to talk about tropes and the like. Today's post is on sci-fi, admittedly a newer genre so there are fewer tropes, but there were some I wanted to talk about anyway. So, onward! 1. Questionable science        Ever watch Because Science's video on space battles ? Or. . . any  of his videos? Not only does he break down the actual science of what would and wouldn't really happen in popular stories, the way he does it gives you good ideas for how to write your own story! Now, I'm not saying I want realistic science in everything . I love my wormholes and lightspeed travel and the fact that Peter Quill totally didn't die within seconds of taking his mask off in space! I'm just saying it would be cool to see some more realistic elements involved in sci-fi novels because the ideas that come along with them are AWESOME....