Hello, writerly friends~ ♥︎
You asked for a Writing Advice Masterpost, so here it is! Below you will find a collection of the best questions and answers from the last two years. Not only that, but they are also organized so you can find the answers to your questions quickly and get on with writing.
But wait, there is more!
This post is more than just a collection of advice, it’s a nexus for writing advice, resources, and information! That’s right, this post is going to grow over time. I will be updating this masterpost WEEKLY with new answers, writing advice videos, playlists, and more! So, make sure to bookmark this page and follow my blog (maxkirin.tumblr.com) so you don’t miss a thing~ ♥︎
Prompts
- Daily Story Seed
- Daily Weird Prompt
- Daily Character Question
- Your Writing Horoscope (Discontinued)
- “Can I publish a story based on one of your prompts?”
Virtual Writing Academy
- Episode #01: Writing An Intense Scene
- Episode #02: Fleshing Out Characters
- Episode #03: Writing An Engaging Story
- Episode #04: Writing Different POVs
- Episode #05: Writing A Compelling Antagonist
- Episode #06: Writing Things You Have Never Experienced
Motivation & Inspiration
- Daily Writer Positivity
- How to Finish Your First Novel (M. Kirin’s Origin Story)
- What Confidence Is and Is NOT
- How to Regain the Motivation to Finish That Book
- “I’m afraid writing is a waste of time”
- “I’m half-way through this book and I’m stuck”
- Stop Trying to Impress People
- Stop Trying to Make Your Parents Proud of your Writing
- Your Parents Disapprove of Your Writing?
- You’re Not The Worst Writer In The World
- English Not Your First Language? Neither is Mine
- A Tip for All Young Writers Worrying That Nobody Will Take Them Seriously
- Dealing with Hate and Harsh Criticism
- You Need to Develop a Thick Skin
- Neil Gaiman’s “Make Good Art” Speech
- Feeling Down About Your Writing? :c
Planning, Outlining, and Getting Started
- M. Kirin’s (Strange) Guide to Planning Your Novel
- M. Kirin’s Click-n-Drag Story Generator
- Which outlining method is the best? (Video)
- “I want to write a book but I have no idea where to start”
- The Story-Idea Test
- M. Kirin’s Secret for Starting books, and Finishing Them
- M. Kirin’s Top 3 Tips to Start Writing and Never Stopping
- The 10-Minute Writing Trick
- Tips for writing Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Paranormal
- How Much Worldbuilding is Enough?
Dialogue
Editing & Revision
- M. Kirin’s Top 5 Revision Tips
- How to Love and Care for Your Beta Readers
- M. Kirin’s (subjective) secret recipe for the second draft
- When is the best time to edit a story?
- M. Kirin Talks About Editing, and Speeding Up Your Story
- M. Kirin Uses Evernote to Revise Books
- “Kill Your Darlings” VS “Cut What You Love”
- Writing Killer Plot-Twists and Mystery Novels
Hot Button Issues
- Realism is a dirty word
- Racist & homophobic language in fiction
- Inaccuracy in Fiction (Video)
- M. Kirin drops a few bombs on ‘creative vocabulary’
- “I want to write but I don’t have the time”
- Is it bad to have too many LGBTQIA or POC characters?
- “My antagonist is POC/LGBTQIA, is this bad?”
- “All my characters are LGBTQIA, is this bad?”
- When to let go of a story
General Advice
- Overcoming the First Sentence
- Overcoming the First Sentence, Again
- Overcoming the First Sentence, Redux
- The 10-Minute Rule
- Making Boring Scenes FUN to Write!
- Stories are like children
- Let’s Talk About Titles (And Then Talk Some More)
- M. Kirin Reveals the ‘Secret’ Behind Style
- How much description/scenery is too much?
- How can I write faster?
- I want my readers to love my characters
- I think my book may be too short for my genre
- My story doesn’t have an Antagonists, should I add one?
- I killed one of my main characters by mistake, what do I do?
- M. Kirin’s Writing Advice for Fleshing out Romantic Relationships
- A warning about character names and meanings
- Help! My characters are not doing what I expected them to!
- A warning about character sheets
- A talk about the beauty of first drafts, and pacing
- Is getting attached to your characters… bad?
- A note on Antagonism, and whether you need a villain or not
- Past or present tense?
- Is swearing okay? And other muthafuckin’ truths
- “What emotion do you find hardest to write?”
- “What writing software do you use?”
- Communication, a must for collaborative works
- Researching illegal things, cousin? I got just the thing for you!
- Joss Whedon’s Top 10 Writing Tips
- M. Kirin’s Tarot Cheat-Sheet
Publishing
Writing Music & Playlists
- Writing In The Dark (Relaxing, Unobtrusive)
- Writing About Love (All the Feels)
- Writing & Fighting! (Super Intense!)
- M. Kirin’s Favorite Music to Listen to While Writing
Last Updated: 07-11-14. Click HERE to see the latest update.
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