things that are always a writer's friend

fuckyourwritinghabits:

Breaks! It is okay to take a break from your work and watch that movie twenty times. Breaks are your friend. It’s more likely that plot problem fix will occur to you not when you’re staring at a blank page, but inspecting your two month old chili and wondering if it’s still safe to eat. Really!

Sounding Boards! I cannot recommend these people any more! Sounding boards can be anyone - a friend, a forum, tumblr. They can know a lot or very little about your story. They can tell you if your dialogue needs adjusting. When you’re stuck, really really stuck, try this! It will help!

Bribery! You can have ice cream if you finish editing that chapter. You can buy that fancy pen if you wrap up your first draft. Really, dangle that apple in front of you and keep going. It will be worth it.

Art! I won’t tell anyone if your main character looks just like that guy in One Direction. (I don’t actually know anyone in One Direction. Please don’t tell me.) It is okay to troll tumblr/google for pictures of places/buildings/really hot people. For story research. Totally for story research.

Sleep! Not sleeping will just make you cranky. Sleep is absolutely your friend, and that dream you had where you could fly but not really and kept running into trees (…..or is this just me) can totally be turned into story fuel later. (Although fuck you trees, get the fuck outta my way.)