M. Kirin's Blog, page 232

You know that scream of absolute despair you just heard, somewhere in the distance?Yeah, sorry. That...

You know that scream of absolute despair you just heard, somewhere in the distance?

Yeah, sorry. That was me.

I just realized I merged the sketch and line-art layers of this piece like, half an hour ago.

It’s time for another writing tip! Today I want to talk about Planning a Novel, particularly...

It’s time for another writing tip! Today I want to talk about Planning a Novel, particularly about a sort-sighted notion a lot of writers fall into. Which is…

How Much Planning/Outlining is *Enough*?

Most people fall into one of two camps: Planners and Pantsers. Planners do lots of outlining and world-building. Meanwhile Pantsers don’t do that much planning (and tend to fly by the seat of their pants, hence the name).

The key here isn’t the difference between these two people, but rather the simila...

I’m going to try and post new art every Friday, to keep me practicing and improving! 😤✨Today I want...

I’m going to try and post new art every Friday, to keep me practicing and improving! 😤✨

Today I want to share with you Cami (they/them), who is another of the characters from my upcoming novel! Cami runs a music venue, and may or may not be Hoshi’s partner. 🦋🌈

I heard some of you were having trouble naming characters, or just wanted to know of my super-duper...

I heard some of you were having trouble naming characters, or just wanted to know of my super-duper secret shortcuts.

So let’s do that! 😉

The Fastest Way to Name a Character

We’ve all used baby name sites and random name generators, but neither of these are fast enough for me. You want to know my secret for naming characters in a flash? .

Whenever I want to come up with a character name, preferably in a contemporary setting, I ask one question:

What year/decade were th...

How to Set a Creative GoalI’m going to be blunt here: a lot of creative people tend...

How to Set a Creative Goal

I’m going to be blunt here: a lot of creative people tend self-sabotage by giving themselves goals that are (1) not healthy and (2) completely unrealistic. I know because that used to be me.

I like to lead by example, so I’m going to give you my easiest, quickest, most successful guide for how to set your goal; regardless of whether you want to write a novel, edit said novel, pick up drawing, or learn an instrument.

1 - A Matter of Time

Ask yourself the following question:...

Hoshi (they/them) is the protagonist of my upcoming novel!They have the psychic ability to read...

Hoshi (they/them) is the protagonist of my upcoming novel!

They have the psychic ability to read minds, which they use to help people~ 🦋🌈

The very last thing I do before sending a manuscript to my editor is use a text-to-speech program to...

The very last thing I do before sending a manuscript to my editor is use a text-to-speech program to *hear* the book. 🤖💬

It’s the EASIEST way to spot missing words / right words in the wrong place (aka the typos that spellcheck would never catch).

My current novel is almost ready—and I cannot describe in words how *good* it feels to read through the chapters that gave me so much problem and see how far they’ve come. 😭

Just a couple more days, and this book will be in the hands of my editor~ 💌

That’s the thing about progress, you know? You can’t see it while it’s happening, only when looking...

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That’s the thing about progress, you know? You can’t see it while it’s happening, only when looking back. That’s why you have to keep going. ⭐️✨

Do you have a writing question? 🤓I’ve opened my tumblr asks for the first time in (actually)...

Do you have a writing question? 🤓

I’ve opened my tumblr asks for the first time in (actually) forever! So, if you have a question you’ve been meaning to ask—send it my way!!

💌 maxkirin.tumblr.com/ask

“Are long sentences bad?”I made a few posts recently talking about editing advice,...

“Are long sentences bad?”

I made a few posts recently talking about editing advice, focusing mainly in improving flow by breaking longer sentences into shorter ones. Understandably so, several people reached out to me asking if long sentences are actually bad.

The answer is no, long sentences are not bad.

I don’t hate long sentences, in fact I very much like them! I treasure the times when I get to write a long, intricate sentence. But, here’s something that editing will teach you:

Just because you ...