I agree that this isn't really how relationships work in real life - although, while maybe not quite as dramatic as portrayed in a John Green novel, teenagers often do feel a need to place people into boxes, to love or hate them without nuance. Slowly, we learn that this isn't really possible, but when trying to figure out our relationships with other people - especially if we have romantic attachment to them - we can quickly over-analyze and our feelings can swing pretty dramatically. At least, that's been my experience, as someone who recently exited that age group...

There's some great info here already that I'd love to add to! When I was about twelve, an unfortunate accident, involving a glass jar and my own clumsiness, resulted in sixteen stitches in my wrist. As someone who has a weak stomach, low pain tolerance, and was (is) a little melodramatic, this was a BIG DEAL for me. So if any of your stitched-up characters are little weaklings like me, maybe I can help! I remember the wound itself wasn't painful at all - the glass was so sharp and cut so cleanly that I didn't feel it. I didn't even know I was injured until I looked down and got a nice view of the inside of my arm. That was when I freaked out, and I covered the wound and didn't look at it again until it was neatly stitched up. The needle to freeze my arm was the only painful part, but I remember the doctor and nurses hyping up the pain to be worse than it actually was - although it was still bad. If you've ever had a tooth filling or any kind of local anesthetic, you know that sharp, shooting pain that spreads through you and then just disappears. The stitches themselves felt like tugging. You know when you wake up in the middle of the night and your arm is completely numb because you've been laying on it, and it just feels like there's a block of wood attached to your body? Now imagine something grabbing at a piece of skin and tugging at it. You don't feel it, but you do, you know? The biggest worry after I got my stitches was that the wound would get infected, so I kept it wrapped up and washed it with disinfectant every day. I think it was a couple of weeks before I got the stitches removed. At that point, the wound had mostly healed but certain areas started to bleed again, so they glued plastic strips across to hold it in place for a few more days.

Welcome, Laurel! Good luck with your world and characters (and, eventually, with your story as well)!

I read split narratives a lot, and my current WIP is actually a split narrative! To add on to the excellent advice already provided, I would say that it's important to make sure each character has a distinct voice; they notice different things in the environment or one of them is more introspective, or something like that. You know your characters best, so just make sure the reader can distinguish between them when the perspective jumps back and forth.

Thanks so much for sharing! I'm not at the publishing stage yet, but when I get there, like Carolina said, it might be easy to get taken in by one of these things. Especially when you're new to the process. I guess it's good to remember that if it seems too good to be true, it probably is.

Welcome, Rivka! That's so exciting that you're in the publishing phase! What kind of poetry do you write?

I've heard others say that one of the best ways make sure your antagonist is strong is to make sure that their behavior is caused by a logical belief, goal and motive - these beliefs can be wrong, and founded on faulty logic, but the character should believe they're true. Make sure you know what their goal is and why they want to achieve it so badly. Here's an example of a well-rounded but pure evil villain from recent pop culture: I'm an unabashed fan of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and I think Thanos from Avengers: Infinity War is a great villain; he's obviously crazy, and completely evil. He wants to kill half the universe in order to solve the problem of overpopulation. But he's completely calm and rational about it, believing it's his duty after his own planet perished due to overpopulation. A lot of viewers, myself included, understand where he's coming from and why he thinks it's a good idea, even though we completely disagree with it and know that it's wrong. This might be stuff you've heard before. I'm still learning about antagonists myself, as I tend to lean toward *internal* struggles rather than actual antagonists in my stories...

Though I don't have Synesthesia, I've heard of it before and I think it's so interesting! Kind of off-topic (or maybe not since this is a writing community) but I've also seen instances of writers using Synesthesia-like techniques as a way to add layers to their imagery. I especially love "All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr (not a Christian writer, but a really great novel with beautiful prose, set during WWII). One of the main characters is a blind girl, and she sort of visualizes sounds or smells. One example that I remember is her description of her uncle's voice as a "piece of silk that you keep in a drawer and take out occasionally to rub between your fingers," except worded much better

Welcome, DrErnie! It's really inspiring to hear a story about someone who wrestled with their faith and came out stronger in it. Best of luck with your writing!

Welcome, and I wish you the best of luck in finding some writing buddies! Looking for beta readers and criticism is one of the reasons I'm here too, although none of my WIPs are quite at that stage yet, so for now I'm just learning and getting a feel for the group. What kinds of things do you write?

Welcome, Ceci! I also do the locking-my-work-in-a-dungeon thing, and the thing where I start too many stories at once. How's your worldbuilding going? I also have a fantasy novel in that stage, and it's super fun, but also a little overwhelming!

I completely agree, Claire! Growing up, I especially enjoyed "Spirit: Stallion of the Cimmaron," because it introduced me to my lifelong love of horses!

Hi everyone! I'm Juba. I'm a student, but behind closed doors, I'm a writer. I've always loved writing, and for a long time ideas flowed faster than I could get them onto the page. Sadly, with a busy student life and many distractions (*cough* YouTube and Netflix *cough*), I've lost a lot of my inspirational drive. However, though I've acknowledged that it's going to be hard work, I've decided that writing is something I will always love and want to do. I've been checking out a lot of other writers' platforms on the Internet and thought I should join a few online writing communities. As a Christian, this seemed like a safe and caring space to branch out as a writer, and after lurking for a few weeks I thought I'd start joining in! I'm looking to learn more about the writing process, find other writers to connect with, and learn how to be a good critique partner (as well as hopefully receiving some critiques from others, once I'm brave enough to send out my work). As far as what I write, I have a few short stories in progress, as well as some novel ideas in the early stages - one that's more 'general' fiction, one in the Fantasy genre, and a YA novel I've been working on for about a decade. I'll read pretty much any genre, but I especially want to become more knowledgeable about the ones that I'm writing in. (I just love stories in general, so settling on one genre seems claustrophobic to me!) My interests outside of reading/writing include horses, tea, and movies - especially PIXAR movies. Yes, I know that they're kids' films, but I think that there's so much to learn from them as adults, and as storytellers.