For character development of course.
I miss my OCs right now.
Robert Plutchik created a wheel of emotions in 1980 which consisted of 8 basic emotions and 8 advanced emotions each composed of 2 basic ones.
Eight Basic Emotions
- Joy
- Sadness
- Trust
- Disgust
- Fear
- Anger
- Surprise
- Anticipation
Basic Emotion ⇄ Basic Opposite
- Joy ⇄ Sadness
- Trust ⇄ Disgust
- Fear ⇄ Anger
- Surprise ⇄ Anticipation
Combination of Basic Emotions (A + B) = Advanced Human Emotions (Opposite Advanced Emotion in Parentheses)
- Anticipation + Joy = Optimism (Disapproval)
- Joy + Trust = Love (Remorse)
- Trust + Fear = Submission (Contempt)
- Fear + Surprise = Awe (Aggression)
- Surprise + Sadness = Disappointment (Optimism)
- Sadness + Disgust = Remorse (Love)
- Disgust + Anger = Contempt (Submission)
- Anger + Anticipation = Aggression (Awe)
I actually had this diagram from my psychology class and I started writing a series or fics based on all the emotions.
But this one is way more detailed I’ll have to save it.
Some Words About Word Count
Consulting RPCW: Some Words About Word Count
Everyone worries about word count. Whether you’re writing a first draft, trying to reach a daily goal, or revising, you’re probably worrying about your word count.
When You Shouldn’t Worry about Word Count:
- Writing your first draft. All first drafts suck. Everyone can cut from their first draft, taking away thousands of words at a time. Don’t worry about your word count during this stage.
- Reaching a daily goal. It doesn’t matter how much you write in a day. Some days you may write two thousand words and some days you may write five hundred. I’ve gone from zero one day to five thousand or more the next. Having a daily goal is fine, but don’t beat yourself up if you don’t reach it every day.
- Writing chapters. Some chapters are one page long. Some are fifty. While different age groups have different chapter lengths (usually to keep the reader’s attention), you shouldn’t worry about chapter length. You can fix this later by splitting up scenes in to chapters.
When You Should Worry about Word Count:
- Final Revisions. Different genres have different word count boundaries, and for good reason. Knowing your genre is a must, and the word count for that genre comes along with it (unless you’re a famous author or a celebrity). Do all you can during your final revisions to get the word count within range.
- NaNoWriMo. You don’t have to worry too much about this, but the winners get some pretty good deals on writing software.
- Contests. There are contests for several genres, but those have word count limits. These word counts are often within the short story range, sometimes in the novellete range. Don’t go over these word counts. The judges will not make exceptions no matter how good your story is.
How to Lower your Word Count
- Adverbs. Writers don’t often realize how many adverbs they use. Using the “find” feature on Microsoft Word can really help with finding all these adverbs. Delete them. If you can’t delete them, rewrite the sentence. That can also get your word count down.
- Unnecessary Words. Words like to, through, under, at, onto, into, under, up, and down can often be omitted and the sentence will still work. Instead of saying She entered the room through the door say She entered the room or instead of saying the cat jumped up onto the bed say the cat jumped on the bed. Other unnecessary words include: adjective, articles, and pronouns.
- Scenes, Dialogue, and Information. Get rid of anything that is not needed. If a scene, a piece of dialogue, or some information does nothing to help plot or character development, get rid of it. I don’t care how much you love it.
- Redundant Phrases. Odds are you’ll find some redundant phrases in your writing. A big one in query letters is “fiction novel”.
- Transitional Phrases. Your high school English teacher probably pressed you to use these, but skip them in creative writing. Don’t use them in dialogue either, unless it fits the character’s personality (like the tenth doctor from Doctor Who, who often used “well” at the beginning of his sentences).
- Description. Don’t over do the description. No one cares what the store clerk looks like or what color your protagonist’s brother’s room is.
- Active Voice. Writing in active voice cuts down your word count a lot…if you weren’t doing that already.
- Dialogue Tags. Not every line of dialogue needs a tag or an explanation of the character’s action. Their words alone can give off a tone and the reader will be able to pick up possible body language and facial expressions.
How to Raise your Word Count
- Subplots.Add subplots. These help flesh out your characters and your world. It gives more opportunity to introduce new ideas and relationships between characters. Here is a subplot resource post.
- Introduce a New Character. But this character has to be relevant. This character may come along with a new subplot or even the main plot. Odds are, they’ll add a few thousand words.
- More Conflict. Raise the stakes for your character. Make them take a wrong turn (literally or figuratively). This will add more relevant scenes and keep your reader interested…as long as it’s interesting.
- Add Description. I know I said to cut description, but some of it can be helpful. Put your reader in your character’s place. Use all five senses, not just sight.
- Revise. You may find plot holes or missing information. You may even add a scene for clarity.
Word Counts* by Genre:
- Adult: 75k - 95k
- General Sci-fi: 100k - 115k
- Hard Sci-fi: 90k - 110k
- General Fantasy: 100k - 11k
- Epic Fantasy: 90k - 120k
- Contemporary Fantasy: 90k - 120k
- Urban Fantasy: 90k - 100k
- Paranormal Romance: 85k - 100k
- Romance: 85k - 100k
- Horror: 80k - 100k
- Mystery/Crime/Thriller: 75k - 90k
- Middle Grade: 25k - 40k
- Fantasy/Sci-fi Middle Grade: 45k - 65k
- Upper Middle Grade: 35k - 45k
- Young Adult: 50k - 80k
- Picture Book: 300 - 1k
- For All Debut Authors: Try not to exceed 100k
*There are exceptions to word count. These are just guidelines.
"I think the most important thing I learned from Stephen King I learned as a teenager, reading King’s book of essays on horror and on writing, Danse Macabre. In there he points out that if you just write a page a day, just 300 words, at the end of a year you’d have a novel. It was immensely reassuring - suddenly something huge and impossible became strangely easy. As an adult, it’s how I’ve written books I haven’t had the time to write, like my children’s novel Coraline."
Important advice from Stephen King. ALWAYS pay attention to writing advice from Stephen King.
Managing to…shovel shit from a sitting position.
Everyone, that is pure genius.
And pretty much what I do whenever I try too hard with my writing.
The problems of writing
pitchblack-the-nightmare-king:
- Having a Beginning
- Having an Ending
- But WHERE’S THE MIDDLE?!?
- HOW DO I GET TO THE ENDING
- WHAT IS A PLOT
- WHAT ARE PLOT DETAILS
- WHAT IS WRITING
And most importantly:
- HOW DO I TITLE
Writing Prompts for Couples of Characters
- 1. What do they like to talk about?
- 2. What don’t they talk about?
- 3. What have each of them given up for each other?
- 4. What compromises have they made with each other?
- 5. Do each of them know how the other takes their tea/coffee/other?
- 6. How much do they trust each other?
- 7. In what ways do they prefer to show affection for each other?
- 8. Do either have habits that annoy the other?
- 9. What habits does each find endearing in each other?
- 10. What is the division of power like in the relationship?
- > Firsts
- 11. How did they meet?
- 12. When did they realize that they were interested in each other?
- 13. How did their first kiss go?
- 14. What was their first fight about?
- 15. How was their first time having sex?
- 16. When did they first tell each other that they loved them?
- > Lasts
- 17. What was their last phone call (text/letter/insert applicable) about?
- 18. What was the last lie each of them told the other?
- 19. When was the last time either slept alone?
- 20. Where did they last have dinner together (and what did they eat)?
- 21. Will this be the last relationship each of them has?
- 22. What will their last words to each other be?
- > Describe or Draw
- 23. Each of the pair from the other’s point of view
- 24. A hug between them
- 25. A kiss between them
- 26. One borrowing the other’s clothes
- 27. The pair entertaining themselves on a rainy day
- 28. One caring for the other when they are injured/sick
- 29. One cooking for the other
- > Miscellaneous
- 30. How would the pair fare in a post-apocalyptic setting?
- 31. If they were a fruit or vegetable, which fruit or vegetable would each of them be?
- 32. How quickly, and through what means, would each be able to tell if an imposter had replaced the other?
- 33. How well would the couple do as a team in a bar fight?
- 34. Who buys the milk when they run out?
- 35. If one was abducted, how would the other respond, and how capable of organizing a rescue would they be?
- 36. Who handles spiders?
