Feltons's Mistress
A relevant song about my feelings for Harry Styles
What A Very Potter Musical taught me about writing
“You’re such a spare” - Harry Potter
Eliminate extra characters.
As Voldemort would say, “Kill the spare.” Though I’m certainly not advocating for the use of unforgivable curses, it’s important that characters play a function in the story and that two characters don’t play the same function.
“I’m holding out for a ten, because I’m worth it.” - Draco Malfoy
Find the strongest, most visual way to show the scene.
Sometimes the first idea that comes into our thinking modules (also called brains) is not the best idea. I find it helpful to go back to some of my most important scenes and make sure that I’ve shown that moment in the most dramatic way possible.
“Are you kids ready to fight a dragon? Of course you’re not, you’re just children.”-Albus Dumbledore
Give your characters incredible challenges, but also give them the tools to overcome those challenges.
This was something I had to address in my current novel. I needed to give Anna, my female sixteen year old MC, a believable history that would provide her with the tools (abilities) to face what a normal sixteen year old girl couldn’t. Sometimes these can be fantasy powers but in my case, I had to come up with a realistic scenario that would give her the strength to fight back.
“Ok is wonderful” - Voldemort
Don’t let things get too easy for your characters.
It’s important to always keep challenges present in your characters lives. Never let things get calm or “okay”. In the fictional world things are really taken to a higher level, if your characters are okay it’s the same as them being wonderful – and where’s the conflict there?
“What the devil’s going on in here?” - Snape
Write clearly.
The last thing you want your readers to say is “What the devil’s going on in here?”. Mystery is great but readers should never feel lost. They should be able to follow the clues along with the characters and feel an active part of the story, rather than wading through it totally unsure of what’s going on.
So that’s it. Everything I learned about writing from avpm. Oh, there’s one last thing. If you’re experiencing writer’s block, go out and get yourself a pack of Red Vines. I mean what the hell can’t they do?
(have no idea why the numbers are messing up like that… you all can count to five right?)
