use comic sans to write

i hate this so much but this knowledge is too powerful to keep from you all.

last night @phaltu discovered that setting your font to comic sans in google docs improves writing speed and creativity by an insane amount. “no” i said and “die” but then i tried it and god. i wish it wasn’t this way. i wish it wasn’t true. i wish i could protect you all from this but it’s real. 

something about this font is so disarming. something about this font lets you look past the shape of the words and into their soul. i’ve never written so much as i did last night, on my phone, at 2am, in comic sans.

if you have writer’s block. if you lack inspiration. if you need this. don’t be afraid to use it. sometimes the things we find most horrifying are also the things we need the most. trust me. let comic sans into your life.

it’s true

update: this actually works. i’m so angry.

my friend told me about this and I laughingly suggested it to my wife (who had a good number of essays to write and less than a week to write them). She finished 3 essays in 2 days using comic sans.

She was livid.

my fifth grade teacher made us write all our papers in comic sans 🤷🏻‍♂️

okay, I’m doing this in my google drive now

Just used this on an art paper and, with a heavy heart, can confirm. Got it done two days before the deadline. Just don’t do what I did and submit it still in comic sans, though.

What to do in case of a plot bunny attack: Keep calm. Save your last work. You will likely not come back to it very soon. Write down everything you've got inspired to. Do it now or the plot bunny hops away. Feel good and excited about this new piece. Go to sleep. You need the rest, because the plot bunny will attack again. And then rinse and repeat.

Speed writing isn't all it's cracked up to be

"It doesn't matter if it's messy, it matters if it's written." "You can't edit a blank page." If you're like me, these kinds of sayings are everywhere in the writing community, encouraging you to let your writing 'suck' for the sake of getting something on the page. Speed drafting and word sprints are all the rage.

I get that mentality. I do. I just came back from a multi-year hiatus, and back then, I was known on Tumblr and writing circles for speed-writing. I regularly won word wars by a huge margin. But I've recently gained a new appreciation for slow writing sessions.

The work that I drafted during those word wars? It was also riddled with typos, and errors, and it wasn't my best work. There were occasionally good lines, and it wasn't necessarily bad writing, but there was a lot to clean up after the fact. The time I saved in drafting usually came right back around in editing.

Now, I sit down after work, or on the train, and write 200 or 300 words, carefully selected over the course of ten minutes. It's slower. But it's more deliberate. I let myself edit and tweak prose, and I feel happier with the end quality of the work.

To be honest, from the novel start to the final draft, I don't think that either writing style truly saves any time. Sometimes it's okay to agonize over a sentence for a few minutes. You don't have to rush past it for the sake of getting more words down. The mentality matters more to me; if you speed draft, but can't look at how 'messy' it is without getting discouraged, then speed drafting isn't for you. And if you're getting caught up on each sentence until you feel that it's completely perfect, then yeah, maybe you need to give a speed challenge a try.

But don't feel bad for taking time to be deliberate. It pays off sometimes too.

5 Tiny Writing Tips That Aren’t Talked About Enough (but work for me)

These are some lowkey underrated tips I’ve seen floating around writing communities — the kind that don’t get flashy attention but seriously changed how I write.

1. Put “he/she/they” at the start of the sentence less often.

Try switching up your sentence rhythm. Instead of

“She walked to the window,”

try

“The window creaked open under her touch.”

Keeps it fresh and stops the paragraph from sounding like a checklist.

2. Don’t describe everything — describe what matters.

Instead of listing every detail in a room, pick 2–3 objects that say something.

“A half-drunk mug of tea and a knife on the table”

sets a way stronger tone than

“There was a wooden table, two chairs, and a shelf.”

3. Use beats instead of dialogue tags sometimes.

Instead of:

"I'm fine," she said.

Try:

"I'm fine." She wiped her hands on her skirt.

It helps shows emotion, and movement.

4. Write your first draft like no one will ever read it.

No pressure. No perfection. Just vibes. The point of draft one is to exist. Let it be messy and weird — future you will thank you for at least something to edit.

5. When stuck, ask: “What’s the most fun thing that could happen next?”

Not logical. Not realistic. FUN. It doesn’t have to stay — but chasing excitement can blast through writer’s block and give you ideas you actually want to write.

What’s a tip that unexpectedly helped with your writing? Let me know!! 🍒

@wuxiaphoenix

Zoom In, Don’t Glaze Over: How to Describe Appearance Without Losing the Plot

You’ve met her before. The girl with “flowing ebony hair,” “emerald eyes,” and “lips like rose petals.” Or him, with “chiseled jawlines,” “stormy gray eyes,” and “shoulders like a Greek statue.”

We don’t know them.

We’ve just met their tropes.

Describing physical appearance is one of the trickiest — and most overdone — parts of character writing. It’s tempting to reach for shorthand: hair color, eye color, maybe a quick body scan. But if we want a reader to see someone — to feel the charge in the air when they enter a room — we need to stop writing mannequins and start writing people.

So let’s get granular. Here’s how to write physical appearance in a way that’s textured, meaningful, and deeply character-driven.

1. Hair: It’s About Story, Texture, and Care

Hair says a lot — not just about genetics, but about choices. Does your character tame it? Let it run wild? Is it dyed, greying, braided, buzzed, or piled on top of her head in a hurry?

Good hair description considers:

You don’t need to romanticise it. You need to make it feel real.

2. Eyes: Less Color, More Connection

We get it: her eyes are violet. Cool. But that doesn’t tell us much.

Instead of focusing solely on eye color, think about:

You’re not describing a passport photo. You’re describing what it feels like to be seen by them.

3. Facial Features: Use Contrast and Texture

Faces are not symmetrical ovals with random features. They’re full of tension, softness, age, emotion, and life.

Things to look for:

Let the face be a map of experience.

4. Bodies: Movement > Measurement

Forget dress sizes and six packs. Think about how bodies occupy space. How do they move? What are they hiding or showing? How do they wear their clothes — or how do the clothes wear them?

Ask:

Describing someone’s body isn’t about cataloguing. It’s about showing how they exist in the world.

5. Let Emotion Tint the Lens

Who’s doing the describing? A lover? An enemy? A tired narrator? The emotional lens will shape what’s noticed and how it’s described.

Same person. Different lens. Different description.

6. Specificity is Your Superpower

Generic description = generic character. One well-chosen detail creates intimacy. Let us feel the scratch of their scarf, the clink of her earrings, the smudge of ink on their fingertips.

Examples:

Make the reader feel like they’re the only one close enough to notice.

Describing appearance isn’t just about what your character looks like. It’s about what their appearance says — about how they move through the world, how others see them, and how they see themselves.

Zoom in on the details that matter. Skip the clichés. Let each description carry weight, story, and emotion. Because you’re not building paper dolls. You’re building people.

My personal brand of humor is "horrible, useless advice delivered in an authoritative way" and this is the result of it

Well, now I'm just imagining a whole book. Chapters like "Sleep: what is it?" "Where and when should you sleep" "Sleep is more common than you might imagine, these famous people also slept" "What ARE you supposed to do with your arms?"

YOU. You absolutely get it. This is the unreality I desire.

drink your coffee. read your books. it's chaos out there.

Eugene gets me

HAPPY LIMINAL SPACEMAS, COUCHES

someone I follow on the bird app just announced they’re starting a very exclusive private fic server because they and a bunch of other people want to talk about how much they love the fics they’re reading, and as an author can I just say that a really great place to talk about a fic you love is in the comments for that fic

I understand that people are trying to create safe spaces, but as the number of comments that I get on my fics dwindles with each passing year, knowing these spaces exist where my fics are being discussed, places that I am excluded from, makes me want to write fic LESS

I mean I guess who cares, right, because if I stop writing, there’s 10,000 other people that will continue…but if you participate in a fic “book club” server and you say nice things there about a fic you loved, maybe copy and paste that into a comment on AO3?

the only thing fanfic writers are asking for in return for hours of hard work is attention. please don’t rob us of the one thing that we hope for when we hit “post”

this is directly related to this post I made about how fanfic authors now are treated like content mills, and not like valued members of a creative community who thrive on interaction. for the past decade, we’ve watched the fandom ecosystem disrupted over and over, as NSFW fan artists seek safety by putting their work behind paywalls, and self-conscious fic readers squirrel away their feelings in invite-only communities

an easy way to do your part to fight against the evils perpetrated by social media is to leave a comment on a fanfic you love

but don’t take my word for it – here are some responses that my fellow authors have left on this post:

The fact I had a fic that was fairly beloved and NO ONE commented on it because it was all being done in a fucking book club server made me want to scream.

I haven’t updated that fic in two years now.

I cannot express enough how imperative it is to show the writer how much you love their work. The comments don’t have to be novels themselves - even just an “I loved this so much!” Or keyboard smashing works wonders to keep the writer going. Please, we need to bring back supporting writers and artists now more than ever!!!

PLUS, plus…if people are talking about fic in private servers and not telling the authors, those people get the idea that the fic writer is “big.” Meanwhile the fic writer is sitting there, staring at a Google doc, struggling to find the motivation to write the next chapter, with 2 comments on a 20k fic.

They don’t feel big. They don’t feel appreciated. They don’t feel motivated. And they might stop writing or shelve their fic, never knowing that people were loving it in private.

Honestly this is the same for social media threads or even on this very app. If you can, tag the author. A lot of us have our socials in our AO3 profiles.

Feedback is lovely. Knowing what people like, what people enjoy in our writing, it’s so encouraging.

IF YOU BELONG TO A BOOK CLUB SERVER, THE CHANGE CAN START WITH YOU:

GIVE BACK TO THE AUTHORS WHO HAVE GIVEN YOU SO MUCH

Like, it’s not even really about getting “repaid” so much as it is that we want to be part of the conversation and community too. That’s why we wrote and posted the fic - we want to have those discussions about characterization and omg that one moment in the last episode and etc. The fic is our opener. And when no one says anything where we can see, how can we be part of the discussion and community we want so badly?

when the story is just not working, but you keep writing anyway

Current mood…

Reminder that she actually wins that season, so keep your head up.

Reminder that she constantly had trouble believing that she deserved to be there and her first few could best be described as ‘not the worst’.

And she won. She stayed positive, cried when she needed to, and kept going.

Once more:

Some advice for when you’re writing and find yourself stuck in the middle of a scene:

Never delete. Never read what you’ve already written. Pass Go, collect your $200, and keep going.

This is the literal best writing advice I have ever read. Period.

Special note: “Kill someone” means kill someone in the story. Please do not kill random real life passers by every time you hit a block. My lawyer says misunderstanding writing advice is not an acceptable defense. See you all in 25 to 50 years.

Help I read the first line as “kill yourself” and then was really surprised when the rest of the points were actually reasonable tips

Should’ve clarified the first point sooner. I’ve gone out and killed a person. Their body is now decomposing under my bed what do I do.

Interesting story.

According to the list above, if you’re stuck, you could always write a sex scene.

Tumblr skews young, so let me just share this.

The worst thing you can do in a job is not be bad at something. It's to say you are great at something while being bad at something. If you need to improve and you're upfront that you're not the best, people will probably help or teach or explain. They will sympathize when you get put on a task you're not qualified for.

If you claim to be awesome at something when you demonstrably suck at it, all of that good will and sympathy is gone and it will not come back.

Confident is good. Stand up for yourself, know your skills.

But the other side of this is to Know your Faults.

This message brought to you by the 23yo who bragged about how he was great at X and had the best program for it, and I spent the weekend doing his job for him because he is so so bad at it, and only about 5% of what he did is salvageable.

This. Again. Ongoing. jfc

i hear your “slow progress is still progress” and raise you “sometimes you will find yourself making no progress and that is okay”

we’re human and we’re not always going to be progressing every minute of our lives, and sometimes we need extra help to get to where we want to be and there’s nothing wrong with that

Walker 03.12 | Best Laid Plan

As a fiction writer with a self-imposed deadline and big plans for different projects, I wanted to say this to anyone who needs to hear it.

Go easy on yourself.

Do not push yourself beyond what you can handle if you are already doing as much as you can handle.

Do not put your health on the backburner in favor of whatever project or thing you are working on.

Be kind to yourself.

Have patience with yourself.

Indulge in your hobbies.

Work a decent amount, but always take time to recuperate.

If your body is exhausted and tired, or you can feel yourself getting sick, rest.

Your body knows what you need, and sometimes, often times, it needs rest more than it needs you pushing through it.

Be gentle with yourself physically, mentally, socially, and emotionally.

The project more often than not will be there tomorrow for you to deal with.

"Life isn't a support system for art. It's the other way around." -- Stephen King

Remember to treat yourselves well, writers. :)

We stan ❤️

Walker 03.07 | Just Desserts

You both were frightened. And you know what that does to you and the fire. For Todd, well he became... a living doorway to the shadowlands, I think.