This week the speaker at church mentioned people that claim to be gender fluid and the other day my wife Haley and I were in the kitchen together.
I was making dinner while she was washing dishes. (Yes, I do most of the cooking in the house. It’s 2022. Let’s get over some strange gender norms shall we?)
Anyways, we were both in the kitchen and I have to be honest.
I am a great multitasker! NOT a multitasker. 1-track mind 1500000000000000%.
So even though I’m cooking and trying to have a fun conversation with Haley, let’s just say it’s hard for me to think about cooking and think about what my wife is saying simultaneously.
Let’s say it’s easy for me to zone out…
So I must have ask her something about her day, but the next thing I hear is,
“…and that’s when I realized I was gender fluid.”
Huh???? 😳
Instantly my mind was racing with all kinds of things to say,
“You were born with lady parts. What makes you think you’re gender fluid?”
“Let’s not be hasty. This gender fluid stuff is brand new to our culture and our society, let’s not jump to conclusions.”
“Gender fluid huh? What makes you think that?”
At this moment I realize my wife is staring at me.
I also realize I’m doing that dumb, eyes wide open, staring at the floor thing I do when my mind is racing.
Her eyebrows furrow, “did you hear me?!” She seems impatient.
I stutter, “uh yea! Yea! So gender fluid huh? What makes you think that?” I instinctively blurt out the last thing I was thinking.
I cringe at the thought of her answer.
She looks at me like I have three heads. “What are you talking about?!”
“You said you realized you’re gender fluid.” I start to chatter away nervously. “Now I realize we live in strange times and things could be confusing, but I’ve never heard or seen anything that makes me think you’re gender fluid. And this really is a new idea to culture and society. So we should take our time to see how things play out before jumping to any strange conclusions. Did I say strange?! I mean, I-I’m trying to hear you out and be respectful to your thoughts and opinions, but let’s be honest here. You were born with lady parts and-“
At this moment I look up to see Haley’s face. She bursts out laughing. “You thought I said I was gender fluid?!”
“Uh, ya…” I say sheepishly.
Now she looks at me like I’m REAL dumb (which I’m not arguing with.) She continues to laugh in my face.
“Honey, I said, that’s when I realized I was BLENDING FLUIDS.” She paused. “I told you something funny happened and I was making a smoothie and I forgot to put in the fruit. I was just blending fluids! Ahahaha! Oh, honey, you thought I said I thought I was gender fluid? You really need to learn how to listen.”
😳
Let’s just say I turned around silent and kept working on the food feeling VERY stupid. 😑
That’s what I get for half listening and assuming. 🤦♂️
Learn from me. If you don’t know what the person said, don’t try to fake it, just say “what.”
Dr. Hoppenhoffenheimer was buckled over in a city alley next to a trash can. Sweat dripped off his nose onto the asphalt as his hands gripped his knees.
He stared at the asphalt silently cursing himself for neglecting his cardio. “I’ll start next year…” he always thought.
Just then a dark figure appeared at the other end of the alley.
He saw the figure. His eyes grew wide. He picked up a briefcase, clutched it tight, and began to run again.
He ran out the other end of the alley. “Almost there!” He thought.
In his bad shape he could really only keep up a jog. He kept glancing back to see his assailant keeping a distance far enough to stay unnoticed by onlookers but close enough to be a real threat.
The doctor finally saw the door to his office building. It was red with a golden brass handle. When he reached out for the handle and turned it something pushed him in the back and then he felt a burning sensation.
He didn’t realize it yet but he had been shot.
The bullet went clean through and was now inside a small hole in the red door with the golden brass handle.
Dr. Hoppenhoffenheimer stumbled through the office door dripping blood on stained wooden floors.
“Alex! Alex!” The doctor cried out. He coughed up some blood.
His intern Alex ripped out his ear buds and ran to the front of the office from a stack of papers in the back. “Doctor! You’re bleeding! What on earth is going on?!”
“No ti-ime to esc-explain. Take the briefcase my boy. Eh, when you’re in a safe place, open it. See what’s inside. Protect it and share it with the world. It will change everything.”
Alex looked at the briefcase but was severely more concerned with calling for help. The doctor was bleeding profusely. He pulled out his cell phone.
“No! Boy! There is no time! The-they are right behind me and they will kill you too! Take the briefcase and ru-u!”
Dr. Hoppenhoffenheimer didn’t finish his sentence. His eyes rolled up and he breathed his last.
Alex was terrified but adrenaline kicked in and he just grabbed the briefcase and ran.
He remembered that the doctor had once before mentioned that he was on to a profound scientific breakthrough, but he feared he was being watched and followed.
The doctor told him that in case he went missing he had a safe house at a motel nearby on retainer. Alex grabbed a cab and headed straight for the motel.
Once inside the doctor’s motel room Alex took a second to breathe. He looked at the briefcase.
He almost didn’t want to know what was in it. It was going to change his life and apparently “the world’s” as Dr. Hoppenhoffenheimer had said.
Still he took another deep breath and unlatched the case.
His eyes widened when he realized what he was looking at. “The Doctor was right,” he thought. “This will change everything, but who would-“
Just then Alex heard a high-pitched drill going through the door to his room. He had nowhere to go. Then the door kicked in.
It made a loud thud and dust from the past 60 years of cheap motel business ‘poofed’ into the air shrouding the intruder’s shape.
As the dust cleared Alex was shocked to recognize who stood before him.
“Dr. Smith?! You?! My dentist?! What are you doing here?!”
“Yes, it is tragic Alex. All these years I’ve cared for your teeth but unfortunately today I’m here to kill you and I need that briefcase. The world can never have what’s in that briefcase.”
“But of all the people, you as a dentist, why wouldn’t you want the world to have this? Why wouldn’t you want the world to have strong healthy teeth? Why wouldn’t you want them to have Dentitox?!”
“Alex, I always loved how passionate and naïve you are as a person, but son, I work for W. H. O. D.”
“W. H. O. D?”
“ Yes, the World Health Organization of Dentistry. We own stake in Trillions of dollars worth of companies that deal in “white gold.””
“White gold?”
“Yes! White gold! Sugar Alex! Sugar!
You see, we dentists draw in billions each year worldwide by the very fact that all humans are addicted to sugar, and with every gulp and every bite their teeth rot and need fixed. Dentitox would end all that.
Finally, the world would have a one size fits all fix for cavities. It would change the world forever and us dentists would fade away. Everything we’ve built would fall apart instead of your precious little teeth.
So as you can see, I must have that briefcase. No one can know that a product like Dentitox exists. No one can know that they can keep their teeth strong and healthy without their dentist!”
While Dr. Smith was busy blabbing his antagonist’s monologue, Alex had realized that the room lamp was close enough for him to grab.
He didn’t hesitate, he threw it as hard as he could into the evil dentist’s face. It hit the dentist in the mouth and knocked out all of his front teeth.
Alex grabbed the briefcase and ran shoving Dr. Smith to the floor. He made it out the door and narrowly slipped away from Dr. Smith and the evil W. H. O. D.
This time he didn’t know where he was going. He knew he couldn’t go to just anyone. He was now on the run. He knew his life would never be the same, but that he had to get Dentitox out to the masses. The world needed to know they could now have the bright shining strong smile they always wanted.
We haven’t heard from Alex in a while, but it’s not because he’s fictional!
…okay maybe it’s because he is fictional, but Dentitox isn’t!
If you’re interested in a solution to maybe have better teeth that can stand the test of time you should see if Dentitox could work for you here: Dentitox
*This is a fictional story, not based on true events. Nothing in this fictional story is medical or health advice. This is just meant to be a cheeky Affiliate Ad. And no Doctors or Dentists were harmed in the making of Dentitox as far as we know…*
Her parents noticed that she didn’t return after her morning walk like usual.
Karen was quite the homebody so any change in her usual routine was questionable at best.
But this was concerning. Karen moved back in with her parents after a bad breakup 7 years ago and hadn’t been out all night since.
Her mother called the police trying not to be worried and her father immediately drove around town putting up missing person papers with their number attached.
Later that day the police found Karen’s clothes on her usual walking trail. It wasn’t looking good.
At this news, her mother sobbed.
They also found a pack of Nitrilean diet pills in her pocket. Nothing else.
Her father did think the diet pills were odd. He knew Karen was exercising more but she hadn’t mentioned any pills and he thought maybe it could be a link to her disappearance.
He mentioned it to the police when her mother was out of earshot, but the police officer didn’t seem interested at all.
–
After two weeks of nothing, her mother’s nerves had only gotten worse. Despite her best efforts, her tea cup rattled as she placed it down.
She was especially unnerved that she thought she had been hearing voices the past few days.
Or rather, one voice. Karen’s voice.
She was certain her experience was nervous breakdown until one day the voice was so loud, she couldn’t ignore it anymore.
It sounded like Karen’s voice was coming right into her ear.
“Mom! Mom! Mother! Can’t you hear me!”
Her mother couldn’t pretend she wasn’t hearing her voice anymore. She looked to make sure no one was around to hear her talking to her missing daughter so no one would question her sanity.
“Karen! Darling! I can hear you! Where are you? Are you- are you dead?!”
She cringed at what she might hear back.
“No! I’m not dead! I’m- I’m right here!”
“Where?! I can’t see you!”
“I know mom. Mom, it’s hard to say this. So don’t freak out.”
“Oh Karen! What is it?!”
“Mom… I’m… I’m in your ear.”
“Aaaaagh!”
“Aaaaah! Mom, I said don’t freak out! You freaking out is like an earthquake for me!”
“Oh honey! I’m sorry! What do you mean you’re in my ear?!”
“Well Mom, I don’t know how to tell you this but I’m very very VERY small.”
“Very small? How small?!”
“Well, I’m in your ear! I don’t know exactly how small I am, but I appear to be micro-sized.”
“Karen! How did this happen to you?! Where have you been?”
“Where have I been?! I’ve been walking for weeks trying to get back to the house. And don’t even get me started on how long it took to climb up here.
As for how, I think it was my Nitrilean diet pills. I ordered them online to try to drop a few extra pounds, not get micro-sized!”
–
Unfortunately for Karen and her family there was no cure for her micro-sized accident. What were deemed to be radioactive diet pills got accidentally mixed into the bunch.
(This has a high level government conspiracy cover-up written all over it.)
But it worked out for Karen in some ways. She enjoyed being a homebody anyway, and they just micro sized her life: micro home, micro food, micro car.
It was a little weird at first, but the settlement from Nitrilean helped them readjust.
Even though this story is completely fictional Nitrilean diet pills are not. They may not micro-size you, but they might help you get started on that winter body you’ve been looking to get into. If you’re having a hard time getting started on your diet, see if these will help.
Just to give you a heads up, our site is run off ads and affiliate promotions. The promotion for this short story is Nitrilean. If you click any of the Nitrilean affiliate links in this post and decide to try them to help with your diet it will help us continue to put out free information and entertainment and it will come at no extra cost to you. Thank you and feel free to browse around!
*Nitrilean has not micro sized any customers and no settlements have paid for any customer micro sizing as far as we are aware.
How to Use the Stages of Grief for Your Character Development
The stages of grief often studied in psychology are stated as followed and usually appear in this order.
Denial
Anger
Depression
Bargaining
Catharsis
Psychologists try to use these to help people in real life deal with their grief and depending on where they are at in the list a psychologist might say they are close to or farther away from recovery.
In storytelling, we can mostly use these as a road map for our character’s story.
Introduce a character’s grief.
A good way to start the process is to put our character through a tragedy in front of our reader.
They lose a spouse or child. It could be any type of grief but usually, in the case of a good drama, it’ll be pretty traumatic.
In “The Good Dinosaur,” we see the protagonist lose their father in front of their eyes at a young age which sends them down the path of grief.
Help us see each stage.
Have your character say or do little things to let us know that they are struggling.
When it comes to the stages of grief they aren’t always obvious so you may want to have specific details in mind of how to show that the character is dealing with it.
Depending on how the character deals with it is in a way revealing to the audience the kind of person they are under the service.
For example in the denial stage depending on who you want your main character to be they may react in different ways.
Some character’s denial will look like them partying and having a good time. They may Do drugs and drink and do other things that seem like fun and pleasurable to the outside world but really the character is trying to drown their sorrow.
A different character may show their denial in a way of not dealing with the tragedy at all. They may never talk about it and they might get very busy with work and anything else they can think of to get away from ever thinking of the event happening.
They deny the fact by staying busy.
Anger.
You can break a character out of their denial by having another character “butt in.”
Your secondary character may see the protagonist in denial and may start to push them towards revisiting the event instead of running from it.
We see this very clearly in “The Lion King.”
Simba sees his father die and blames himself. He runs from the fact and lives a secondary life of luxury with new friends and a new life to avoid the pain of his past.
When Nala gets to him, she forces him to revise his past and face his darkness. His first reaction is anger, he wants to be left alone and doesn’t want to deal with it.
It doesn’t have to be a character that interrupts their denial. It can be an event or dream. It can be any number of things but usually, the character doesn’t just wake up one day and decide to change of their own merits.
You need to find your catalyst for their interruption of denial.
In everyday life sometimes people will get together for a friend and they call this an intervention.
Being forced to reconcile the past leaves the main character feeling depressed.
The weight is too much to bear emotionally and they fall apart under it.
Depression can last for hours, days, weeks, months, even years in some circumstances.
This amount of time is important for your reader to understand just how much the event really “wrecked” the character.
Denial and depression can both simulate a lot of meaning based on the amount of time it takes the main character to get through it.
If years are wasted in denial, anger, and depression this is a life change for a person. And they will have much baggage to work through and deal with.
This baggage comes as a part of their story arc. It takes time to sort through the traumatic event itself as well as the extra baggage they picked up being depressed.
I recently watched a story where a teen suffers the loss of her entire family in a crash. She immediately spirals into self-destructive habits. Goes from being a straight-A student in college to living in a brothel doing drugs and selling herself for drugs and money.
Making such a dramatic shift in life causes a natural flow of extra events to work through once the character gets interrupted and has to face their past.
Hitting rock bottom.
At this point, the character has given up on denial and given up on running away. They are willing to change they just don’t know how and don’t have anything left. Psychological research has come to call this “the bargaining stage.”
In this stage, the character usually bargains with someone more powerful than them.
Whether it be God, or just someone willing to help that is in better circumstances.
They may find themselves in a situation where the hotel owner says, “you can stay here rent-free for now, but if I catch you with one needle, just one and you are out again! You understand?!”
And they say yes. This is the bargaining. They are finally willing to “play ball.”
They are not running anymore and they want help. They don’t know how hard it will be to say no to all the temptations they’ve built up in their denial and anger but they are at least taking steps to get back to a better way of living.
Just because they are in the bargaining phase doesn’t mean they are out of the woods just yet. In fact, this usually means things are about to look even harder for them in retrospect. They are going to go through suffering to get out of the hole they are in.
A great release.
By this point, you should have built up a lot of tension for the reader. So much so that they are actively looking forward to a break in the tension for the main character.
This stage can be known as catharsis.
The character will most likely go through a few more pumps in the road leading to an ultimate climax and then release or relief. They may have finally made it through all the steps of their grief and they might be able to start living a better life.
This depends on if your story for them is a tragedy or not.
If it is a tragedy they may end up dying because of their life choices during denial and anger.
So keep this in mind if you are writing something where they end up not making it through the other side because your setup might end up being slightly different.
By following the natural 5 associated stages of grief as observed by some psychologists, you can see a clearly mapped out story arc for the main character.
The audience can watch the main character go through traumatic grief, the recovery process, and see where they end up because of the trauma, and how they personally made choices revolving around it.
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How to Avoid Being Overly Self-Conscious About Your Writing
I get it. You want your writing to be perfect. You don’t want someone to come along and tell you it could be better.
So you’re on your 4th edit just to be sure that everything little jot and tittle is correct (“jot and tittle” means every tiny detail.)
If you’re on a 4th edit and you’re rounding your way to number 5 that could be a tell.
Sometimes we can get in the way of our own work being good and successful. We get overly self-conscious about it and we want every little thing to be perfect and before we know it we’ve actually destroyed the thing we were first working on.
We “perfected” it. And in the processes killed the original work.
I don’t know if you’ve ever had this happen to you but hear this scenario.
I spent one hour on a project and just sent it out on a whim not really caring about it and everyone loved it.
Versus,
I spent months and months grueling over another project correcting every small detail. I spent hours upon hours slaving over it till I was sure it was my life’s masterpiece.
I sent it out to the cheering masses! *crickets*
What happened?!
Sometimes when we are overly self-conscious about a thing, that’s not a good sign and we should avoid putting too much time into “perfecting” it.
Perfect is the enemy.
What is perfect?
It literally means not one error. It’s perfect.
Is it really possible for us to write anything that’s perfect?
I mean in theory, maybe, but realistically?!
People are so subjective. It is like throwing a handful of skittles (taste the rainbow) at a bunch of colored holes one time and hopping every single one landed into the right colored hold on the very first throw.
Can it be done? Sure. Will it likely be done by you or me, probs’ not.
So don’t worry about your work being perfect. Not everyone is going to like it anyway. Just give it to the people that do like it and give them more.
Not Everyone is going to like our writing, no matter how hard we try to please everyone.
I’m sorry. It’s just true. If we are trying to write our space cowboy novel for everyone in the world to love and enjoy, then we have already failed. It’s just never gonna happen!
I may like space cowboys and you may like space cowboys, but my wife, um no, not so much.
She will continue to like decorating and organizing on a level that I’ll never fully comprehend.
But that’s okay!
That’s why it’s fun to be able to make all kinds of content and just find the right people that will love your content because it aligns with what they already like.
Look for people that are going to like what you’re writing because it’s what they want to read about, not because you made it so that everyone “should” like it.
Don’t spend your time worrying about kicking down that door. It’s not worth it. Trust me.
When you are writing in your room, trolls will come to your window and they will heckle every idea and thought you have for your project.
Ok, not real trolls. Cyber trolls. People that have no apparent life other than the sole purpose of finding content creators to criticize all day and night.
They do it so well and so often you have to assume someone is paying them. They couldn’t afford the time otherwise.
Maybe it’s a conspiracy: The T.R.O.L.L. Org. is hot on the case making sure every content creator has at least three trolls that have the availability 24/7, rain or shine, snow or hail, fast internet, or slow to make sure your work gets way overly criticized.
Ignore them.
Ignore your inner critic.
It happens when we’re young. Someone says something mean about something we’ve created. Something we care about. It devastates us.
We spend the rest of our lives shutting out the voice they created in our heads that constantly shouts, “You’re not good enough. This is trash. Nobody will ever read this. Do this. Grab a garbage can, open the lid, throw it in, replace the lid and go binge Netflix like the rest of us.”
It feels like that. Like the inner voice just wants us to give up. We don’t want to feel the ridicule of people making fun of what we poured ourselves into, our work.
So we overcomplicate every little line and never give the thing a chance at seeing daylight.
If we just would have hit the publish button or sent the fanfic to the readers we could have seen how people reacted.
We could have learned what our fans like and what they are doing and then written to them in a way that is geared towards their preferences.
Ignore negative comments. Just keep moving forward and find the people that do like what you’re doing.
Just remember, it’s really easy to mock someone else’s work. Is really hard to create something amazing. Wouldn’t you rather be the person that created something amazing?
Being proud of what you’ve accomplished is good. Being arrogant and constantly bragging and rubbing it into other people’s faces is bad.
Being humble about your writing doesn’t mean you sit there and trash talk your work and constantly deprecate it in your own mind.
Being humble is just not being arrogant. If other people want to say nice things about what you’ve done that’s great.
You don’t have to be overly self-conscious about your work because you like it and want to share it with others.
You can just share it and then learn from how they react and respect their opinions.
When you put your writing out there, someone is going to say something negative.
There are too many trolls for this not to happen so just be ready for it.
It’s not easy to ignore and only you can decide how you will react, I recommend ignoring it, but it is hard.
Be ready. Someone will talk bad about your work. The best way to overcome it and be the bigger person is to create more. Of course, learn from real mistakes, but be careful taking advice from someone that never writes or is really bad at writing and then they come to you and criticize what you’ve done.
Don’t forget to enjoy creating things.
It’s good to feel the enjoyment of finishing a thing and enjoy the feeling of accomplishing goals, but I also want to point out that getting out of our own heads sometimes means remembering.
We who are overly self-conscious need to remember the enjoyment of just simply creating a story.
Maybe it’s been a long time since you just sat down to write a short story just to capture a moment, a memory, or a teaching to keep for yourself or share with others.
Creating can be a lot of fun, but when we get overly loaded down with what others might think about it, we ourselves start to question too harshly the validity of our own creativity.
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Some of us write because we love to. Some of us write because we must and some people write just to finish a thing.
It is extremely difficult to finish a book once you’ve started it, but what tools can you use to help you finish and not make it a waste of time? (I should really say, “what mindsets” will help you finish a book?)
Make it a math thing.
Some books are easily mapped out and thus can be “mathed” out.
Here’s an example:
How many words do you need?
60,000
How many can you realistically write a day?
500-1000
Okay, this will take you 120 to 60 days to finish this book before editing. So that is 4 to 2 months.
Now that you have a realistic daily going is no longer a “will I ever finish writing this book?” dreary thing. It’s a, “if I just write 1,000 words today, I will finish this thing soon.”
Writing 500-1,000 words a day is much more manageable than just staring at your book thinking I have to finish this thing!
Don’t write it because you enjoy it.
For some, this advice won’t make any sense. “Don’t write it because I enjoy it?”
I’m not really speaking to the person that has no problems finishing their books. They enjoy writing that much that it’s just fun to finish books.
I’m talking to us mere mortals who do love storytelling but at some point, our book becomes the dark thing that mocks us in our closet.
It becomes the unmentionable creature that lurks in the study.
Don’t even dare ask me how my book is coming along because it’s not. It’s not coming along and even though I’ll love it forever I just might throw it out the window on a rainy day and let bygones be bygones.
I’m speaking to that person.
Don’t write just because you enjoy it, because at some point in the process you probably won’t enjoy it. And when that happens you are likely to stop. But why? Well, because you started out enjoying it and now you don’t enjoy it so what’s the point?
We must change our mindset. Let’s shift the way we think about writing a book.
Perseverance will help you more to finishing a book than any other trait, along with discipline.
No one who loves writing wants to hear this, but it must be said.
When you go to write a book don’t think about it like some fanciful adventure. Think about it like work and the work is, “I’m going to write some of this thing every day until it’s finished and then I’m going to edit it.
Write a book to finish it.
If you can change the way you think about writing your story, you can finish it. You just have to be stubborn, persevere and finish the darn thing.
Don’t let feelings hold you back.
If you can change the way you motivate yourself to write instead of just writing when it’s fun. Try to enjoy the feeling of finishing what you started.
You will mostly finish many books and in the process, you might just become a successful author.
But it’s okay if you don’t because your goal wasn’t to be a successful author.
It was to finish the book, ergo, you are a successful writer.
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I’m sure many young writers struggle with this thought. Maybe you have students or children that look up to you as a writer and you want with all your heart for them to feel confident to write.
For those asking, “am I too young to write?” The answer is an empathetic no! Definitely not! In fact, the youngest person to ever publish a book was Dorothy Straight. She published her first book, “How the World Began,” in 1962 and still holds the mantle of youngest published author.
Granted, that was in 1962, but if that makes you doubt, ask yourself if there weren’t plenty of highly skilled writers then competing against her for that publishing spot?
Write now even if you’re worried your writing isn’t as good as it will be when you’re older.
This is a common doubt among young writers. They might say to you, “but my writing isn’t as good now as it will be.”
This is the natural problem for all writers no matter what age. Maybe every once in a red moon a writer “is born” with an innate ability to just write.
But for the rest of us shlubs, it takes years of work, practice, and discipline to get good at writing.
In fact, if your young writer starts writing now they will be better than writers that choose to wait and start later in life.
It takes time to work through writing immaturities no matter what age you start. Might as well start now!
You may feel alone in your writing.
You might be keeping your writing a secret because you’re afraid to share it and get ridiculed.
There is some wisdom here. You really shouldn’t show your first drafts to just “anyone.”
Don’t get me wrong. We all definitely need to let others read our writing and speak into it. Is helpful to not feel alone and do not make easy mistakes. We want to know if our devices are working correctly and other writers will help with this.
My point is, you want to choose the people you let read your first drafts for input. You wouldn’t want to give to someone that has malicious intent or just wants to make fun of you.
Examples of people you’d want to share it with:
Other writers
Avid readers
People that love storytelling
People you trust
People that want you to succeed
Writers group
Editing group
These people can be found in your life or online. Don’t share too much with complete strangers but find the right communities for you.
“When I look back at my writing when I’m older I’m gonna cringe.”
Preach!
I look back at some of my writing when I was younger and I shiver with feelings of cringe.
The thought of anyone reading it…😱🤮
It would be one of those traumatic embarrassing moments that I would think back upon for the rest of my life 😂.
But then I read some stuff and it takes me back to a time and place I cherish and I wish to know more about.
It’s hard to capture how we think and feel at each different age in our life, especially between our teen self and our 20s and 30s.
So if anything, as someone who wrote when they were young and diving even more into writing now, I personally wish I would’ve written more as a young adult.
So personally, I wouldn’t worry about cringe writing later. I would encourage writing it now, and then you’ll have it to work with later.
You’ll miss out on what you can capture now, which you might not be able to later.
Whatever age you are now, it will be almost impossible to capture the same way you would write something 10 or 20 years from now.
Ha! To further that point it’s almost impossible to write something the same way between this month and next month.
So many things come into our lives on a daily basis that affects the way we think and thus write.
So don’t miss the opportunity to write the way you think now, because very soon you won’t be able to write this way.
Tweet- So don’t miss the opportunity to write the way you think now, because very soon you won’t be able to write this way.
If you write it now, you can revisit it later.
You really have nothing to lose writing down your story ideas now.
You definitely will lose most of your story ideas if you don’t write them now.
If you write it down you can revisit it as much as you want and do whatever you want with it. Turn it into a million short stories or turn it into a novel later.
If you don’t write it down today, you are missing out big time on being able to look at it later when you’re older and having that thought or ideas to work with.
Start a blog to capture your ideas.
If you own your own blog then you can write whatever you want on there and keep it as your own.
If you start a free blog, they can cancel your account and all your ideas whenever they want.
But at least Blogspot can’t just take down your post because they feel like it (if you own it yourself.)
With your own blog, you can start to experiment with building an audience that one day you can share your books with.
Write everything.
Don’t cringe away from writing down anything that inspires you.
For example, write:
Songs
Poems
Short story
Notes
Feelings
Journaling
Important events
Fun facts that inspire you
Quotes
Etc.
I personally went through years of depression that God helped me get through, and something amazing that came out of those wretched times is songs that I wrote that were inspired from that time.
I would never want to go through that depression again, but many beautiful things came out of it with God’s help and those songs are something I’m so glad I wrote and will cherish forever.
So don’t be embarrassed about what you write and what inspires you, just do it anyway.
“I read a lot. Isn’t that good enough?”
It is very good. Reading other’s work will definitely help you become a better writer than those that don’t read, but, to be honest, in order to find your own voice and style you must start writing your own stuff.
If it were as easy as reading a lot alone then every good reader would instantly be a good writer.
To start figuring out your own voice, start writing short stories.
See if your writing sounds too much like your favorite author.
If it does, try broadening your reading selection to get more input that doesn’t sound the same.
After some time and practice, you will start to feel more confident in the way you sound when you write.
Get through your “junk” writing while you’re young.
One of the biggest reasons to start writing young is that it takes time to work out the “bad writing” most of us suffer from.
Our first drafts as well as many of our ideas are not great, to be honest, and it will take time and much writing to work through the bad bag to find the good gold.
Starting young is better than waiting till you’re older. Might as well get going and get good now. 🙂
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This is a tough subject, but it’s important. Most of us suffer grief in our journey through life and for some writing will help with that grief.
C.S. Lewis in a 1963 letter to American scientist Thomas Van Osdall, with whom he struck up a correspondence late in life, the author wrote of his sadness to learn that Van Osdall’s only child, Thomas, had been killed in a car crash at the age of 18, in 1962.
Lewis, recalling his own grief at his wife’s death, wrote: “You tell a most moving story. I too have lost what I most loved. Indeed unless we die young ourselves, we mostly do. We must die before them or see them die before us. And when we wish – and how agonizingly we do, o how perpetually! – it is entirely for ourselves, for our sakes, not theirs.”
At the passing of his wife, Lewis wrote: “A Grief Observed.” At the passing of his mother, he wrote a book too.
Write short stories that help you process.
I read recently of a man who lost his pup to lymphoma after 14 years together and he said during that time that writing a short story helped him cope with the loss.
Writing short stories can be very comforting. It isn’t overwhelming like a novel and you can get out the feelings you want to in a short amount of time.
With a short story you can capture a moment, a feeling, or a memory that otherwise might have slipped away.
Write characters that are inspired by your loved one.
I recently read of another man that also experienced immense grief. He lost his young boy.
He said he wrote fiction to help cope with his loss. He even made a character like his boy.
He said that putting his boy’s personality into the character, seeing him on the page helped him feel more at peace than any therapy.
Writing about him made him feel better more than anything in years.
Write what inspires you.
Writing just like creating music or artwork seems to be very helpful and cathartic when dealing with pain, suffering, and loss.
When we feel our most pain emotionally, an overflow of that pain can be turned into something useful. It can be the creation of something else.
For years, I personally dealt with depression, and something that seemed to make me feel a little better was writing music.
The pain was hard but I am grateful for the songs that came out of it and what I have to remember from those times.
Even these days writing for this blog helps me in an emotional way that is difficult to describe. I want it to succeed, but even if it doesn’t, I imagine I will be grateful to possess the writings and the learning and growing that came of it.
What about you…
Have you observed great grief in your life?
Have you written or created anything to help with the emotional pain?
4 Tips For Science Fiction Technology Ideas and How to Name Them
Naming stuff in science fiction can be fun, but if nothing immediately comes to mind it can become tedious and rather difficult at times.
You might think that creative people have a superpower and names for things in their fiction just come to their mind without any work or effort.
I assure you, this is mostly not the case. For the ones that seem to make it look easy, it is because they have tricks they use to help them put together names more easily.
Hopefully, these tips help you name your sci-fi stuff faster and better.
Word mash.
Word mashing is a foundational trick for naming stuff in fiction.
Let’s say I have a new gun. It looks like a revolver, but it shoots bullets that stop time in a certain limited space and amount of time in the direction I shoot them.
If I pointed this revolver at you and shot it wouldn’t kill you, but it would freeze you for let’s say 5 to 10 seconds while I run away and when time resumes for you it will look as though I have vanished in the speed of light. (This is actually an awesome idea for a gun if no one has done it yet. This needs to become a trope. I’ll be sad if it doesn’t.)
So how do I name this time freezing revolver? A video game might do just that, “time freeze revolver,” but that’s no fun. Let’s try to word mash something.
Time-freeze-revolver
Examples:
Freevolver
Retimer
Treeze revolver
These sound really cheesy to me, but hopefully you get the idea. Just keep mashing until something sounds right to you.
Use mythology to name sci-fi technology.
This is a common trick. Take names from mythology and name your new stuff after them.
Let’s use the time freeze revolver again.
If I had to go off the cuff quick I’d just call it, “the Chronos revolver,” which is in Greek mythology for time.
Mash ancient words.
Mashing ancient words is one of my personal favorite tricks because usually, the name sounds a lot better mashing ancient languages than mashing English.
English sounds cheesy to me whereas ancient usually sounds mystical and mysterious.
Let’s try Latin.
Time- tempus
Freeze- glacio
Revolver- revolvere
Examples:
glaciotempus revolver
Temglac R
Glaciorevo R
To me these just sound way cooler than English. (It might be a personal thing, but I’m betting you think so too.)
Initials and acronyms for naming stuff in sci-fi are done often and it does usually sound pretty good.
Examples:
T.F.R. Gun
T.G.R. Gun
T.G. Ray Gun
Add numbers for more effect:
T.F.R 900
I can see the dialogue now, “this is the T.F.R. 900.”
“What’s the T.F.R. stand for?”
“Time freeze revolver.”
“You’re joking.”
“Nope.”
“And the 900.”
“This gun gives a blast radius of time freeze for about 9 seconds in the direction you point it for and 100 yards give or take.”
“Are you kidding me? You’re saying I can time freeze an entire town for 9 seconds with one shot.”
“Oh, mercy no! It’s a revolver, not a cannon! It has a blast circumference radius of about 7 to 8 feet. So to say there won’t be a collateral effect is stretching but an entire town? That would be impossible unless they all lived in a small 8-foot circumference tube.”
(Can anyone else sense the foreshadowing on blasting this baby down an 8-foot tube to save the day?)
I couldn’t tell you why but just combining initials and numbers gives the name a good sci-fi idea feel.
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9 Tips How to Come Up with a Fictional Character Name
I don’t know about you but choosing a name for a fictional character can really ruffle some people’s feathers.
It can be a nagging pain not knowing what direction to start or even having so many names to choose from that it feels like a daunting task.
Hopefully, these ideas will ease a bit of that pain for you.
Ask the internet.
Go to forums, Facebook, Reddit, and Twitter, and make a simple post.
You can title it: Looking for ideas and inspiration on what to name my fictional character.
Then describe the character and maybe a sentence or two of what you’re looking for and see what comes of it.
It may turn into nothing, but at least with this trick, you won’t be stuck in your own head for a bit.
Google baby names.
There are a bajillion (is that a real number?) sites that exist for mostly this one purpose: to help people name other people.
With a baby name site you can plug in a first letter preference and then boom, you’re off to the races.
You’ll have so many name options that you won’t know what to do.
It’ll be awesome, trust me.
Take a poll.
If you’ve narrowed it down to 3-5 names you can go to a place like Reddit and ask for people to vote on a name to help you decide.
Again you can title your post something like this: Help me choose a name for a fictional character.
Then drop the names into the description with a few little details and see what people think.
Working together with others will save you time and it’s actually enjoyable to collaborate.
Try a name generator.
These things are pretty handy and fun too. You could waste hours generating names so have a plan ahead of time.
I’d say click through 100-200 max and write down ones that stand out to you. Then see if you can narrow that list down with friends and then when you have about 3-5 you can do a poll online.
Make their name an allusion to a theme in the story.
An allusion would be something like: Peanut butter is his Kryptonite.
Peanut butter isn’t really a green rock from an alien planet (just so everyone is clear on that) but it is his weakness.
If one of your major themes is “man’s inhumanity to man,” you can have your main character name their cat Hitler or their name could be Stal in reference to Stalin. It’ll take more digging for your reader to put these things together, but if they ever do I imagine they might find it clever.
If you are creating a science-fiction or fantasy story it is likely that your world has multiple languages and such.
You should give them a name that makes sense with their culture and language.
For example: in star trek a Klingon would have a name that sounds like and makes sense in Klingon. You wouldn’t name them John.
A twist on this logic is if the Klingon has a child with a human and then gives it a human name or a name that melds cultures.
Use their culture to name them.
What type of culture is your character from?
If your character is a troll, then they might obviously have a troll sounding name, maybe something a little guttural sounding.
If they come from a culture that worships mythical deities they may name their children in honor or in hate of certain deities.
“We named him Arforre. It means, “he who fights for Arelis’ sight.””
Or
“We named him Balukbane. It means, “Baluk brings only pain.””
Use ancient languages.
Make use of ancient languages to gather ideas. Try languages like Latin, Hebrew, and Greek.
Here’s an example:
Let’s say you want your character to have a strong name. Let’s be simple, what is Latin for strong?
You get:
Fortis
Robustus
Validus
You could literally choose one of these for your character (I personally like Fortis as is.) or you can change it a bit and have a good strong name.
Examples:
Fortisius
Lidus
Robu
Robus
Fortus
Fortoss
Etc.
You can be as creative as you like or even mash them up:
Valistus
Rodus
Vod
Forval
Vatis
Valtis
The possibilities are fairly endless.
Take your time.
Don’t worry. Take your time. Wait for the name to feel right.
Continue to make a list of names that stick out to you and work your way through that list. Exercise the process of elimination and keep the names you created and for other stories or other characters in the story.
Give them names that are memorable.
At the end of the day, you are naming your character for the purpose of your reader being able to distinguish whom you are talking to and when you are talking about them.
Your names can be very complicated or even outlandish, but just keep in mind the point of a name is so that people can distinguish who you are and how to talk to you.
In storytelling, names are often much more than that (with allusion and such) so there is no problem having a well thought out clever name.
The point here is, if naming your fictional character is really stressing you out and it’s not fun or doesn’t add much to the story, don’t stress. Just pick one that helps your reader remember and distinguish them easily from the other characters.
Help your reader out by giving them imagery for each character and then move forward.
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