Leta R. Patton 🥀👑
@ehsleeta
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Historical fiction & historical fantasy author. MFA graduate. Lover of rococo, roses, & things that glitter in the moonlight. Rep: @RedPenKaitlyn . She/her.
Chicago, IL
Joined October 2018
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Introducing All You Can Write August! A two week event from Aug 1st - Aug 15th with one main goal: write as much as you can! Anyone can join with any writing goal. There will be daily writing opportunities to post about your work and keep you motivated. Let's have fun and write!
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Books do not all have to be literary masterpieces with life-changing themes in order to be considered valid. Books that are purely for entertainment and comfort purposes are valid, too. Just because a book is meant to be read for fun doesn't make it any lesser than.
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I CANNOT be the only person that needs explicit instruction to understand what to do, right??? Like I'm supposed to be doing something at work and my coworkers were all "just go and do it."
Like you truly don't understand much "just go and do it" does not help me.
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Do people actually reach out to their favorite authors to tell them how much they liked their books? Is this a thing people do? I always *want* to but am forever stuck in "I don't want to bother anyone" mode.
For published authors, do you like when people reach out?
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It is a truth universally acknowledged, that writers will become massively inspired to write when they are busy with other responsibilities and cannot actually do so.
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One big thing I want to see in 2020 is strong female characters who don't have to reject femininity to be considered strong. More women who kick ass while wearing dresses and makeup. More women who have quiet strength. More women who don't think being like men makes them strong.
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@ImBrittanyEvans
The way I refer to people on Twitter I've never once even had an interaction with as 'my friend' all the time 💀💀💀💀
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Yet again reminding everyone you really, really, really don't have to include sexual assault towards women in your historical fiction books in order to make them more "accurate" and "realistic" like....you really don't.
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Normalize books with strong male/female friendships that have absolutely no mentions of sexual tension or romantic attraction thanks.
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Wait why are we romantizing people refusing to accept that their partner broke up with them and thus continuing to pursue them??
Not respecting someone's wishes isn't cute or swoon worthy idk how to tell you this.
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Anthony Bridgerton is great and everything but I am BEGGING, PLEADING, CRYING for a LI/guy MC in a romance novel who is kind of a dork and has a good sense of humor and is...idk...NICE to the person they are interested in. Brooding and angry is fun and all but I'm *tired*
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I JUST GOT ACCEPTED TO GRADUATE SCHOOL. I'll be getting my MFA in creative writing!! I moved back to America specifically to apply for grad school, and I can't believe I'll be able to study writing formally ahhhhhhh I'm so excited. I've wanted this my entire life 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭
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I unknowingly got on a book train! And what a nice surprise it was 📚🚈
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Your honor I'm a writer I was not built to make multiple flashy 10 second videos a week in order to promote myself and my books
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Today I saw a woman who was in her 80s wearing a beautiful brooch and I told her I loved it and we talked for a while and then she took off the brooch and gave it to me?? She said she'd had it forever and wanted to give it so someone who would love it as much as she did 😭😭
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I'm so done with the 'coldhearted killer who treats me terribly but they are sexy and mysterious so it's okay' trope. I want to read about people who are kind and a little awkward to the person they are attracted to. More 👏 soft 👏 love 👏 interests 👏 please.
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I'm begging on my hands and knees for publishing to please publish historical books set in different time periods and locations than the three (3) locations and time periods that have already been published 5000 times before.
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I'm talking to this guy and he's telling me he's a big reader and really likes fantasy. So I ask him what books he likes, 100% expecting him to say something like LOTR or A Song of Ice and Fire.
No.
This dude goes "I love Vampire Diaries and Divergent and ACOTAR"
W H A T
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Is New Adult.....actually becoming a thing???? Please tell me New Adult is actually becoming a thing.
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If your beta reading comments are demotivating someone to the point where they don't want to work on their book anymore, you're doing it wrong. Yes, writers need to learn how to take critique, but beta feedback should make someone EXCITED to do edits, not the opposite.
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If anyone needs to hear this, at the time I got my offer of rep, I had just deleted my book from my computer because I was so convinced nothing was going to come of it.
I had to search through my email to find the most recent version of my book I'd sent off so I could revise it
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Does anyone ever look at their work and get SHOCKED that they wrote it? Like...all those words came from *me*? To create an entire story? *I* did this? Surely not.
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HELLO??? EVERYONE??? I would just like to announce that nearly two years, 375 pages, and 107k later, my 4th book is DONE. I was writing this while moving, working two jobs, and going to school full time, and it was NOT EASY, but I DID IT.
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Idk which YA female MCs need to hear this but hating dresses isn't a personality trait.
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I got told yesterday by a friend I wasn't a "real writer" and therefore "wasn't really busy" when I was discussing with her the reasons I can't hang out as much these days as I used to. Idk how she expects me to become a "real writer" without working for it first?? Some people 🙃
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If you're sitting down to write today, please remember you don't have to write thousands of words in a sitting for it to be worth it. 1k is better than zero. 500 is better than zero. 10 is better than zero. It's not always go big or go home. Sometimes trying is more than enough.
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I was at a café with the guy I'm dating, working on my book. At one point, he leans over, looks at the book, and says in complete and serious awe, "You're so cool."
Anyway, it's hard to remember when you're surrounded by the pressure of publishing, but writing is really cool 💕
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I hate that writers, including myself, feel like they can never share anything imperfect. Like a typo or awkward sentence will mark them as bad writers. The art of creating is beautiful, and having the guts to put your work out there should be celebrated, even if it's not perfect
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I have a constant internal struggle between wanting to grow my social media platforms for the sake of marketing my books and building my author brand and wanting to melt into the void, delete all my social media, and write my books in peace.
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Unpopular opinion but women in HF/F can be unable to fight and still be strong. Women can have thoughts and beliefs that match their time period and still be strong. Women can get rescued by a man and still be strong. Women can like dresses and embroidery and still be strong.
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Me: God, I hate writing so much.
Non-writer: Then why do you keep doing it?
Me: Because I love it.
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Hey people who don't write historical fiction just wondering how it feels to not have to spend three hours researching before you start writing a chapter just so you can effectively describe a casual meal at someone's house.
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The condescension toward YA writers on this site is really something lol. Y'all do know that YA is just an age group and people who write YA do it because of personal preferences only, and it has nothing to do with a writer's actual talent or skill level, right????
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You never know which of your books is going to make it in this industry, but please remember writing is never a waste. One book might get you an agent while one might make you fall in love with writing again and another might teach you how to worldbuild. All writing is worth it.
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In light of recent announcements, I just want to remind everyone that cold querying absolutely definitely 100% works.
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I was on a hiking date the other day and we went to this cliff edge and I said, really casually, "wow this would be a great place to murder someone" and my date looked at me like I had two heads and that's when I realized non-writers don't just Say That.
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How do we all feel about the female protagonist battling the evil inside them with evil winning at the end? I've always wanted to write a slow descent into evil type MC and am considering it for my next book but people get so angry about female protagonists with major flaws 🙄
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It feels so, so surreal to be able to say this, but I'm thrilled to announce I'm now represented by
@RedPenKaitlyn
at Belcastro Agency!
I'm so excited to have found a champion for my 18th century Versailles book with lots of humor, clock magic, and misbehaving goats 🎉
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And everyone is looking at me like I'm wild for saying I need more instruction to understand? No one even told me WHERE to go.
Ahhhhhhhhh
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I am begging, absolutely BEGGING, people to stop reading one (1!) YA book, deciding it's mediocre, and then coming to the conclusion that YA as a genre only consists of mediocre books.
1 book does not, and never will, speak for an entire age group, genre, or target audience.
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It says a lot about who you are as a person if you see a woman expression pride over her accomplishments and your first instinct is to diminish them 😬
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I see tweets every day that are like "This pov is bad. Prologues are bad. This tense is bad. This trope is bad." And friends, the last two years have been hell. As long as someone isn't writing anything offensive or harmful, let people write whatever brings them joy. I beg.
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My coworker earlier: You only work here part time, right? Do you have another job?
Me: No, I'm a student.
CW: Oh studying what?
Me: I'm getting my MFA in creative writing. I write books.
CW: Yuck! I hate writing. I hate books even more.
Me, still smiling: Great 👍
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Leave positive comments while beta reading! Critique is super important, but it's arguably just as important to tell the writer what is working about their book. They need to know if the beats are hitting and the correct emotions are coming across. All negative is never helpful.
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With pitmad around the corner, and as someone who got agent likes every time I participated and first came in contact with my agent though pitmad (though a pitch contest was not how I got my offer--I'll get into that later) I wanted to make a thread about general tips and tricks:
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I did my first public reading! I talked a bit too fast and was the only person who wasn't reading literary fiction or a memoir, but I DID IT. My first ever reading! A milage has been reached!
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Shoutout to everyone who struggled to write this year. Whether you managed to finish a book against all odds, only got half a book written, only wrote a few thousand words, or wrote none at all, you're still a writer, and you should be proud ❤
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Does anyone else have that *one story* in their brain that they really want to work on, and have wanted to work on for a while, but still haven't started because they know they need to become a better writer before they can?
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The most ridiculous thing about NA not really existing, is how it's become so normal to age down characters and have 17 year olds all be gang leaders and assassins and powerful rulers that when teen characters *actually* act like teens, THAT is what is seen as unrealistic 🙄
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Okay real question though, if yall were part of a badass fighting group in a fantasy novel/video game/movie, what would your weapon of choice be?
100% I'm a twin daggers kind of girl.
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Does anyone else just....stop whatever they're doing to stare off into space and think about plot points in silence for thirty minutes or????
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Writers are wild. We spend hundreds of hours researching and writing books and revising them over and over and over again never knowing if we will get a single penny for them or if anyone will ever read them and we're all like "Hell yeah I want to keep doing this!"
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The fact that this tweet turned into a bunch of people tagging authors in the replies to tell them how much they like their work is so 🥺😭❤ (also this has convinced me to actually reach out to authors now and tell them I like their work!)
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Someone needs to do a study on the resilience of writers because it's so wild how we're all out here getting absolutely devastating, soul crushing news on a random Tuesday and then on Wednesday decide to keep going anyway.
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Being a writer is wild because it means your mood for the day is based entirely off how you feel about your book/writing at the moment.
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Does anyone have that one WIP they started or an idea that has been brewing in their head for years, just sitting and waiting until they get skilled enough to effectively write it?
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As a writer, I think you need to very quickly come to terms with how there will be instances when you put so much effort and so much time and so much heart into something, and it all amounts to....nothing. And that's just how things go, and there isn't any way you can prevent it.
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Hello???? I just found an old British dating show where ten men and women go to an English manor house and spend the next few weeks together living and dressing as if they are all in the Regency era to try to and find a romantic match the way they did back then?? I'm LIVING.
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Are you even a YA author if you don't have at least one (1) scene in your book where your MC blacks out?
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As a historical fiction writer I'm in a constant state of "Omg my WIP is going to be considered trash because not enough facts. Must add more accurate facts."
But I'm curious what scifi and fantasy writers struggle with. What do you guys worry about when writing scifi/fantasy?
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Yet again grappling with how I want to DM an author and tell them how much I'm enjoying their book but I don't want to be a bother 🙃
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Because Nano is coming up tomorrow, here is a reminder that Nano is supposed to be a *fun* way to get a lot of writing down. Do what you can, and don't beat yourself up if others seem to be making more progress than you or if something comes up and you can't finish.
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I just spelled shilouette right on the first try so I'm now unstoppable.
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Hi, normalize putting the same amount of time, effort, and creativity into developing the platonic relationships in your books as you do the romantic ones 👌
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100 writers could be given the exact same story prompt and every single one of them would come up with something wildly different and I just think that's neat.
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Oops just queried the one agent I've always wanted to query but was always too scared to query and now my query is out there oh no. But I have to take chances even if it's scary, right? 🙈
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Flying across the world to show up at your ex's apartment unannounced as a "surprise" to try and get them back is way more romantic in books and movies and way way way less romantic in real life 🙃🙃🙃🙃
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Wow I really do feel sorry for authors who have their books accused of 'copying' another popular book/movie/TV that has *just* been released like publishing doesn't take a billion years and like said author had written the book, gone on sub, and gotten in published in two months.
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One small thing that has REALLY changed my writing confidence is switching my language from saying 'if' to saying 'when'
WHEN I get an agent.
WHEN I get a book deal.
Nothing about this industry is guaranteed, but 'when' implies you're willing to work until you get there.
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Someone just asked me about my book and I talked about the plot with confidence without hesitating or saying, "well, it's kind of weird but..."
Everyone please clap.
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Is having a strong attachment to the first book you ever *seriously* wrote a thing for most authors? Like the first book you took seriously and tried to make something of. Even if you've had to shelf it and move on to the next, is that special, strong attachment still there?
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Yet again I am begging agents to remember that querying writers are people and people sometimes make harmless mistakes or don't do everything by the book because that's how being human works and there is no need to publicly blast people who are clearly just trying their best.
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It's so funny to me how people absolutely salivate over a book series where a *17 year old boy* is supposedly a notorious crime boss, yet think that books where the MC and LI aren't white are unrealistic lolllll
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Books with profound themes and messages are *absolutely* very valid and important, but I think everyone tends to underestimate how greatly books meant for "entertainment" can help someone who is struggling.
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Did it hurt? When you spent three hours looking up a specific thing for one sentence of your book, only to cut it all out later in revisions?
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Everyone needs to witness this picture I just took of the wild storm I've been watching for the past hour
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I just got a job teaching creative writing to kids as part of a non profit, and not only will it be super fun, it also pays really well 😭😭😭😭 It was pretty unexpected but I'm so excited!!!
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Why does it seem like everyone who is good at writing is also good at drawing except me why did the drawing genes skip me WHY. Or maybe the joke is I'm just good at neither!
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Learn to be your own motivation. There are going to be times where it's just you, alone, working at something without anyone reading it or or raving about it or even caring. The *only* person who is always going to make sure you keep going no matter what, is you.
Art Twitter is doing a variation of this meme + it made me curious: what is the best writing advice someone’s given you?
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My main goal as an author isn't to be a NYT bestseller or get my book turned into a movie or a six figure deal, I just want a big enough consistent fan base to be able to write the experimental book of my dreams without worrying about my agent or editor telling me no.
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Everyone: Wrote 10k yesterday and managed to finish this draft of my book!!!
Me: This week I wrote three paragraphs.
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My writing improved so much once I finally realized strong writing on a sentence level and strong craft/storytelling are two entirely separate things, and you need to focus on *both* and improve *both* if you want to produce a strong book.
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Just quit my job to move back to America and become serious about being a writer. I've lived abroad for seven years, and this is going to be a HUGE change, but it's time to move on. I can't believe I actually did it 🙈
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I'm a historical fiction writer but WOW would I love one day to write a really good contemporary thriller.
What is a genre that's completely different from the one you normally write but one that you'd love to write eventually?
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I've been seeing a lot of people getting discouraged about querying lately and I want to make a tweet about how my querying process was HARD and it was AWFUL. I was not a miracle case. I got so many full rejections I lost count. I still feel embarrassed whenever I think about it.
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Dear publishing universe, please, I beg of you, do NOT make me get a tiktok 🙏🏻🙏🏻😭😭
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Does anyone else ever read their work and get absolutely FLOORED that it came from them???
Like.... *I* wrote this? All of this? I created an entire plot and cast of characters and world? By myself? With *my* brain?
Wow.
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Querying is so weird because at some point down the line you just get used to the soul crushing disappointment and someone asks "How are you?" And you're like, "I got my dreams absolutely demolished and feel like a failure and had a breakdown so it's been a normal Tuesday 🤷🏼♀️"
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I had to do a lecture as part of my MFA graduation requirements, and the topic I chose was crafting side characters. People seemed to find it helpful, so I wanted to make a thread about it on Twitter as well.
Here are 7 tips and tricks to crafting effective side characters 🧵
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Did I miss the memo where simply reading for enjoyment is not a thing anymore? Or are we all just really out here expecting books to be perfect and nitpicking every tiny thing wrong with them?
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Who wants to join my rebellion against the need for books to have a plot? Down with plot! Up with scenes where characters are injured and talk about their feelings in the dark!
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One thing that really irks me is when readers expect characters to be perfect and complain when they're not. Let teenagers be dramatic. Let the book's MC sometimes be weak, jealous, and selfish. Let them make bad decisions. Let 👏 characters 👏 be 👏 real 👏 people.
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Single on Valentine's day for the first time in four years, but this also means I'm no longer in a toxic relationship with my mentally abusive ex who always tried to make me feel selfish and awful for writing so I will happily stay at home in PJs today eating chocolate by myself.
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I will have a small twitter exchange with someone a grand total of one time and then suddenly I just feel the compulsive need to reply to every one of that person's tweets with lots of capslock and punctuation and enthusiasm. No one asked me to do this and I'm sorry.
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For months I've put my writing dreams on hold. I've paused opportunities and held back on achieving my dream because everything was too much and I knew I couldn't produce quality writing. But today I've finally started writing again, and I'm so excited to restart my journey!
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Can the YA market start focusing more on scifi please because good scifi is high key amazing and I hate how it seems to barely be a thing these days?? I demand more! (Also anyone who knows any good recent YA scifi recs PLEASE TELL ME I BEG)
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You know what I want more of? Platonic declarations of love. Friends having long conversations about how much they mean to each other. One sibling telling another how they could never live without them. Platonic soulmates shouting "I LOVE YOU" in the middle of danger 👌👌👌
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