I have the 2026th answer in 2026. But I'll put it off for a while; so I can create a memorable and useful thread. 
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Women were crowded in front of the men's dressing room.
“So handsome…”
“Excuse me,” I stopped in front of the line, my eyes widened.
A man in a black suit stood tall at the front of the crowd. His black hair was shiny, neatly combed.
His eyes were soft. His lips were ruby red. His face glowed in the light. His nose was sharp like mine.
“He looks like Becks."
“Does he… have… a girlfriend?”
Some advanced narrative skills you can learn after mastering, "show it don't tell it": (1) Setup payoff; (2) symbolism; (3) foreshadowing; (4) object trigger; (5) layered narrative; (6) non-linear plot; (7) subtext; (8) story within a story.
My vision blurred, a rough man's voice haunted my mind. "GET IN!"
"No..." My eyes welled up, my hands clutching my head.
"Sofie," a soft voice echoed in my ears.
My brother held my shoulders. "Calm down! I'm here," his finger brushed the corners of my eyes.
"Brother... I'm not crying."
My brother nodded. "Now you understand... why I'm practicing, right?"
"Prove it!"
"Leave it to me," he patted his chest.
Narrative techniques that create an organic comedy without cringe:
(1) straight man vs funny man, pit 2 contrasting characters against each other to create a chaotic situation.
(2) comic relief, use a misplaced clown character to reduce tension.
(3) sitcom, build a serious setup, pay off absurdly.
(4) unreliable narrator, create dramatic irony through the lens of a biased narrator.
I opened my Quora account and found 1.8 million views after four years. Before I met SH, I was active on Quora during the pandemic. But I've long since abandoned it. The reason? An old ailment... the site is filled with toxic content.
A group of teenagers in black, cloud-patterned robes carried black sacks on the side of the road.
I stopped in front of the black and white line. They walked across the zebra crossing.
A teenager in an orange mask stopped in front of me. He held up a black metal bar. A stack of blood-stained papers was stuck to the end of the bar.
I swallowed hard as he turned to me. Don't come any closer!
Mickael stared at me, his shoulders shaking. “Sofie… actually I—”
“Let me guess,” I interrupted him.
“You… already know?” Mickael’s cheeks flushed.
“Of course I know,” my lips pursed. “You want to apologize to me for teasing me for three years, right? Now you want to apologize because you’re not sure you’ll ever see me after graduation.”
Mickael stood there, his mouth agape.
I walked across the tiled floor, down the office corridor. A young man in a black suit slowed his pace as he passed me.
Our eyes met briefly. He nodded and smiled. I returned the gesture with a brief nod
The sound of a body collapsing echoed through the corridor.
“HEY, WALK WITH YOUR EYES!” Mr. Rex snapped.
“Sorry, sir." He quickly stood up, bowing.
My lips pursed. Don’t blame me for being too beautiful, okay?
Ideally, a fiction contains 3 layers of narrative: (1) an entertainment layer, making a story feel light and can be enjoyed by readers, (e.g. wish fulfillment); (2) an emotional layer, which provides an emotional touch (heart warming, etc) that makes the scene have a related meaning for the reader; (3) a twist layer, which provides a revealing value that explains the depth of the theme of the story.
Have you ever felt like becoming a protagonist while and after narrating a chapter?
For example, you're narrating a narcissistic female protagonist who feels beautiful. Then, you feel proud of your beauty when FMC compliments her beauty... especially if you're writing in the first POV.
It's as if a fictional character has possessed you.
The first POV dilemma: the more detailed the environmental description, the more rigid the narrator feels.
The more in-depth the narrator's characterization, the more vague the environmental details become.
The solution is to describe environmental details based on the narrator's reactions in the scene. Minimize the narrator's role as a passive observer, making narrator as an active commentator.
I'm trying to push my writing limits. But it seems 3K words, or the equivalent of 2 standard chapters, is my daily writing capacity now.
Giving unique habits to side characters can give a story a more colorful and alive.
Which is more difficult to write (subjectively) between realistic fiction (which takes worldbuilding in the real world) vs fantasy fiction (which takes worldbuilding in another world) assuming the genre is the same and without supranatural, magic and monster elements?
What makes writing feels alive is that the writer enjoys the process of writing creatively.
My shoulders are shaking, my cheeks are wet. I'm not crying.
In first-person perspective, you're forced to narrate through the character's head, body, and senses. Therefore, first POV is ideal for developing character depth. On the other hand, first POV is inherently weak in worldbuilding because you can only narrate as far as the character perception. Therefore, this perspective is less suitable for fast-paced action and epic battles.
Unexpectedly... narrating the first POV of a narcissistic female protagonist turned out to be fun to write. You can freely praise yourself through humorous and charming inner monologues. For a narcissist, the world feels like it revolves around her, even over trivial matters.
My head was smoking.. when I tried to write a romcom scene about having dinner with a handsome boss. -
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