Imran Writes » 2011

A View of Freedom

Posted by: flickimp In: Blog 30 Sep 2011 0 comments Tags: acceptable, ashley, choices, confinement, constraint, decisions, electricity, hindrance, moral beliefs, norms, open to interpretation, point of view, significant others, tendency, true freedom, viewpoint, willingness

FREEDOM – What is it?

Recently, a few folks on Twitter got into a conversation about what freedom is. With varying views, 4 of us decided to give a short summary of our opinion. Please have a read, and do post comments below on how your opinion differs, or if you can relate to our take on it.

Ashley Elizabeth

Freedom is a pretty open topic. I mean, it’s well open to interpretation. Freedom is defined as being free of confinement, regulation, or restraint. I, however, think most people interpret this wrong. It seems when freedom is brought up, people talk about what they are freed from; people spend more time listing what they are tied to.

(It is imperative that I note that this viewpoint of freedom stands from a fairly liberated and democratic point of view.)

Someone may say that responsibilities act as the hindrance to freedom. Some people may fault responsibilities such as bills, debt, family, or significant others. But in reality, those are allchoices. The responsibilities we have are ones we choose to live with. For example, I choose to have a computer, and therefore, I choose to pay for the electricity to power it.

I say I have true freedom because I suffer from no constraint, regulation, or confinement. Sure, there are things in my life (such as bills) that I have to bend to. But, I choose to. Freedom lies more in the mind. It is most likely why people feel they lack the freedom.

It is with purpose that I stand behind my decisions. I do not accept the “norms”. In fact, I have a tendency to challenge them. I have stopped thinking about what I’m supposed to do, and I make choices that I am happy to stand behind.

Make a choice, stand behind it, and be present in your situation.

Make the choice that you are going to be truly happy with. The choice that is solid to your core, moral beliefs, and your willingness to follow through. Then, instead of trying to pick it apart and looking for the strings that hold you back, look at the shackles you shed by making that choice.

Freedom is as intangible as your state of mind. It is a mental cage or a mental playground. It is a choice.

About Ashley Elizabeth:

I am a writer. I read, I write, and I edit. I also have a tendency to be an optimistic cynic. Follow me on Twitter @AEWrites … it’s the best place to distract me and interact with me. For ravings and rants:http://aeoutloud.blogspot.com

Ciara Ballintyne

Freedom. What is it? Like many idealistic concepts it’s hard to pin down.

When I looked up freedom I got these definitions:

1. the state of being free or at liberty rather than in confinement or under physical restraint: He won his freedom after a retrial.

2. exemption from external control, interference, regulation, etc.

3. the power to determine action without restraint.

4. political or national independence.

5. personal liberty, as opposed to bondage or slavery: a slave who bought his freedom.

You’ll notice there is a lot of talk about freedom from external control, regulation or interference, or lack of restraint. We certainly don’t have that kind of freedom in Australia or many other countries. Every time our government legislates to restrict guns, or ban smoking, we are subject to interference or regulation.

In my opinion, there is no such thing as the power to determine action without restraint. Some people restrain themselves by their own consciences. The rest will take what they want by force if something else (the law or a stronger person) does not restrain them. Action without restraint is nothing but the rule of strength. The law of the jungle. That’s not freedom at all, in my opinion.

My conscience restrains me. I’m happy for the law to restrain the people who don’t have one. And I regret there are places in the world that are not lucky enough to have the freedom we do.

Ciara Ballintyne:

Opinionated lawyer and writer of high fantasy. Born not made argumentative. Caution: contents explosive in the presence of idiocy. You can find more about me at http://ciaraballintyne.com or follow me on Twitter @CiaraBallintyne

Me … as in Imran Siddiq

Freedom deserves as many interpretations as the word itself implies. My take is a rather solemn one of caution. Most will state that they have the freedom to do whatever they wish to do, and that the hindrance against such would be a travesty against mankind. I agree to an extent, but then that does mean on what are they expressing that freedom to.

I happily use my freedom to purchase, listen, read, eat, and drink as I wish. The ‘halt’ comes if I intended to use that freedom to harm, scold, tease, or damage something/someone. Just because I own a hammer, it does not mean I can smash a wall. No - that is where the privilege part of freedom kicks in. I have the freedom to own a hammer, but I do not have the privilege to destroy.

Freedom also comes with social barriers that can decrease the level you can apply. If someone heckles me in a conversation, I have the freedom to feel anger, pain, suffering, the dark side, but my social role might strangle my freedom to shout back. That is I being cautious. If I utilised my freedom, I could start an argument which would end up with someone being hurt. And as stated above, I do not want to use my freedom to hurt.

So, I will sing and dance that freedom makes us unique to be someone/something without become a dystopian drone, but we have to curb that freedom when a situation requires sensibility and morale to prevail.

Mark Brassington

“I’m free to be whatever I, Whatever I choose, And I’ll sing the blues if I want, I’m free to say whatever I, Whatever I like, If it’s wrong or right it’s alright.” – Oasis, Whatever.

Lyrics by Noel Gallagher and Neil Innes which sum my thoughts on Freedom.

It is my belief that God gave us all freewill, and therefore, the ability to make our own choices; and as I grew up I learnt the difference between making the right or wrong decision.

There have been plenty of times in my life that I have not felt free of a situation and completely trapped; being bullied at school, being in a job I hated, and under extreme pressure from the role itself and my then boss, even in previous relationships and of course bills; and as much as anyone of these things has brought me down and made me feel trapped I have pushed through them and come to move past them and accept them.

Probably the hardest thing for me from the age of about twelve onwards way for me to feel free to be myself, this ties in with me being bullied from around that time from at least another five(ish) years. You learn to not speak for fear of your own words being used against you, so that other do not learn who you are and what you like as this will become that latest in their line of ammunition during school life.

Eventually I left school but only to keep those same walls and as much as I became more confident as time went on the walls of trust still stayed up and I would say that only in the three or four years have I become free to be myself and tell people about me – “I read comics” “I am aspiring author” “I like sci-fi” – these were big things to admit but now I freely tell people and I would say that tough life lesson only gave me thicker skin.

So whatever makes you hold yourself back try to push these things aside as they are what makes you, you. Be free to be yourself.

About Mark Brassington:

In my day job, I work in Commercial Banking but I am unpublished aspiring author with hopes to one day tell my tales of fantasy and sci-fi. I blog about my progress and other things at http://markbrassington.wordpress.com/

You can follow me on twitter: @markbrassington

The Dedicated to Write Competition – Sept 2011

Posted by: flickimp In: Blog 26 Sep 2011 47 comments Tags: acceptable, amazon, bronze prize, closing date, comments section, competition, conversion, edit, exchange rate, experiences, freelance editor, gold prize, imran, imranwrites, leicester, letter, little bit, manuscript, nbsp, novel, offer, page critique, prize, prizes, query letter, september, silver prize, sirra, translator, voucher, win, writers, writes, writing

Finally, I can release my leash and hold a competition. There is a possibility that these will occur regularly, every month, depending on uptake. I am not just doing this for my benefit, as you will see in the rules of entry, but also to give something back to you, the writers. I appreciate how hard writers work and if I can do something to motivate and help you, then I will feel a little bit better.

So, without further ado, I announce:

The Dedicated to Write Competition Sept 2011

Closing date 11:59pm GMT Monday 10 October 2011

(Why don’t I call the competition Oct 2011, instead of Sept 2011, well, yes, I know, but let us continue)

The Prizes

1. Gold Prize = A 10 page critique - or – A Synopsis + Covering Query Letter Critique – by an excellent Editor. The winner can choose which option they go for.

When trying to make that all important step from a writer into a great writer, an editor is key. Sirra comes highly recommended. I strongly advise that learning from mistakes that occur in the first 10 pages of your novel will be a great move for the pages to come. And, having a Synopsis/Letter looked over by an experienced editor is just as important.

Sirra - As a freelance editor, translator, and writer, she looks forward to using her experiences and knowledge to turn your manuscript into a great book.

Follow her on Twitter @Sirra_girl
Her Editing Site = http://sirraedits.wordpress.com/
Her Blog Site = http://sirragirl.blogspot.com/

2. Silver Prize = £20 Amazon Voucher to spend on anything you desire. Depending on conversion-rate this could be (as per today’s £ to US $ conversion) = $30.99

3. Bronze Prize = £5 Amazon Voucher (as per today’s £ to US $ conversion) = $7.74

Note: I will use the conversion rate as per the day of payment to the winners, which will be Tuesday 11 October 2011.

How to Enter

In the comments section below, please enter in the provided order;

State you Name… or your Writing Name
Provide your Twitter ID
Provide the address of your blog/website. Will only accept entries from those working on a Novel/MS/etc.
Give a two sentence Elevator Pitch of your current Novel/MS
State the first sentence of your Novel/MS.

So… the focus of this competition is:

The Elevator Pitch = A 30 second short plot synopsis that intrigues the listener enough to want to know more. In the Elevator Pitch, do not give away the conclusion to your novel. Just intrigue me. —- A useful link for Elevator Pitches - http://www.writersworkshop.co.uk/blog/the-elevator-pitch/
The VERY First sentence of your Novel/MS… Can you hook me?

Note: MS = Manuscript

And other Rules to Enter

Must Follow me on Twitter @Flickimp
Must subscribe to my site using the Subscribe box on the right hand side.
Must Google Friend Connect on the right hand side.

I’m not asking for too much am I?

So, there you go… get that Elevator Pitch and the First Sentence in and hopefully you will have a chance of winning

Talking Animals beyond Middle-Grade

Posted by: flickimp In: Blog 22 Sep 2011 18 comments Tags: adult, age bracket, agent, alarm bells, Animal, blog, book, cats, count(*), disney, dogs, endearing character, first draft, Grade, greater danger, hansel, harsh truth, human qualities, imran, imran siddiq, imranwrites, leicester, literary, literary agents, little red riding hood, manuscript, MG, Middle, no doubt, novel, puss in boots, red riding hood, retribution, slush pile, stigma, strider, Talking, tea party, the last strider, three little pigs, word, write, writers, writers workshop, writes, writing, ya, young, young adult market

Some of the most loved stories that children read and forever remember involve a talking animal.

Little Red Riding Hood
The Three Little Pigs
The Tortoise and the Hare
Puss in Boots
…and many more

Though, during most part of my life, there was a stigma attached to talking-animal novels whereby they would be cast into the Middle Grade age bracket of novel writing. Now, don’t get me wrong, writing for MG is a great market. It is growing. But, it is not the one for me.

My first novel, The Last Strider, is about a cat who must overcome his fears of causing destruction and bringing about a greater danger that has been foretold. The novel will cover a vast range of topics including death, torture, destiny and retribution. Oh and the cat can talk. Sudden alarm-bells. Does this now mean I have to write for the MG market?

First draft of the novel was 148k — Yikes!
Current draft is 68k … perfect for the newbie in a Young Adult market.
But… if I tailored it for a MG… I might have to reduce the word count to between 35-50k.

And all because I have a talking animal.

Well, yes, that is the harsh truth. And many Literary Agents, no doubt, will drop my Synopsis into the Slush Pile-of-Doom when they see my 68k. Of course, there may be some that have a quick look, but in a majority will sling it.

Can I justify not writing for the MG market. Yes. Read again the one-liner about the book. Note; does the context give an indication of Little Red Riding Hood, a Disney inspired novel where the animals are cute? No. In fact, I best tell you that the cats are part of a world dominated by humans at war with raging, barbaric beasts. Yes, this is no Hansel and Gretal tea-party.

The Last Strider creates an endearing character (and his friends) who will suffer physically and mentally. The cats share human qualities, and in that they will have to answer emotive questions within themselves. Just because they are cats, you will not see them doing just cat-like things. Heck – I believe that the reader might forget they are cats because their journey could be coupled to that of a youngling.

Young Adults (and Adults) are more interested in an animal when it combines a form realism that they can relate to. If it is convincing and contains a plot that justifies the need of the talking animal, then go for it. The underlying theme can be the springboard from a MG to a YA.

It is a given that I have a hard sell to convince an agent to take interest, but then again, if I focus on writing a good novel and pitch it right, then opportunities could happen. Belief and focus.

There are novels out there, from the past, and new that contain a talking animal and have been written for the YA/Adult market. Here are some;

Watership Down: A Novel by Richard Adams
Tailchaser’s Song by Tad Williams
The Wild Road by Gabriel King
Piper at the Gate by Mary Stanton
Silverhair (Mammoth Trilogy) by Stephen Baxter
Fire Bringer by David Clement-Davies
Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh/Newbery Summer by Robert C. O’Brien
The Plague Dogs: A Novel by Richard Adams
Ratha’s Creature (The Named) by Clare Bell
Duncton Wood by William Horwood
The Abhorsen Trilogy by Garth Nix

Please do comment if you have a view on YA novels with talking animals.

Do They belong in Middle Grade?

Or done right, can they earn their place in a YA market?

And please forward to any literary agents who may want to comment on the MG/YA fine line regarding this.

Do I Need An Editor?

Posted by: flickimp In: Blog 18 Sep 2011 27 comments Tags: cliche, comma, conflict, cyberdyne, denial, dialogue, edit, editing, editors, grammar check, illusions, imran siddiq, imranwrites, job, leicester, mankind, no doubt, novel, POV, review, slap in the face, tangent, word count

Hell Yes!

A dashing summary of why I need one.
I think up a novel
I plot
I write
I complete
I stand back and say “Tres Bien”

You show your novel to a friend/relative and they announce; “This is the most fantastic novel I have EVER read!” At this point, your head implodes and you spend the evening picking up your remains. Illusions form in your newly constructed head, and with that you engage on a self-comitted drive to seek out an agent.

Urm… stop right there Starbuck.

Just because you ran your document through spell/grammar check, does not mean it picked up everything further than the basics each Cyberdyne T-100 would perform. I knew, from the moment I started writing that I would need an Editor to aid me in understanding millions of issues; like:

(note – not all apply to me, but these are common issues)

Prepositions
Comma misuse
Head-Hopping all over the place
Missing the key ingredient of Conflict
Internal and External Dialogue is missing to bring your Character to life
Waffling words that might give you a huge Word Count – but was it all necessary

AND… they will advise where you have gone on a tangent, over-detailed, under-detailed, or performed every cliche known to mankind.

The Editor’s job is not to rewrite your MS. No – that is your job. After you receive your work back, I strongly recommend that you do not simply hit “Accept all Changes”, but actually go through and learn from it. Where your Editor has taken the time to give you a review; read and learn from it.

Many Editors will provide a Free-Service where you can submit a sample and they will advise on tell-tale issues that will no doubt reoccur within your MS.

Do not take this a “slap” in the face, but learn from it. Those that think their work is perfect, and will not accept an Editor’s view after it has been reviewed are in denial. Or to put it another way… living in Doucheville. Yes – you read right – Doucheville… there are may residents that remain there forever. Do not move in.

Enjoy and love your writing. But be positive about putting your faith in a well sourced Editor and trust them.

If you do provide Editing services, feel free to add a link below

Edirevising

Posted by: flickimp In: Blog 15 Sep 2011 6 comments Tags: ands, blog, book, carpet, chapter, character development, creativity, dialogue, disconnect, formality, hook, imran, imran siddiq, imranwrites, inner voice, leicester, manuscript, narrative impact, novel, peter pan, siddiq, sin bin, strider, sums, the last strider, three months, worthlessness, write

Yes.

A new term I bring to the world.

Edirevising = The Editing of a Manuscript amid frantic Revising of what was once sacred, but is now good for the sin-bin.

That sums up my current routine which will continue for a good three months. I am ploughing through The Last Strider, and Disconnect, in a bid to seed out the worthlessness, inject muchos awesomeness and invoke a novel that I would be proud to submit. Hang on… does that mean I am going through line by line, checking, altering, manipulating and rehashing… Yes.

The context of the novel will not change.
The plot will not change, BUT;
There will more character development.
More focus on the setting and can you picture the scene.
Better dialogue. Reduce the formality, unless the character deserves it.
Watch for those ‘ands’, ‘justs’, ‘thats’ and ‘as’.
Ensure every chapter ends with a hook. No, nothing related to Peter Pan.
Bring out the inner voice.
Sharper the narrative. Impact – Impact – Impact.
Make that carpet pulled from under your rug moment feel that more terrifying.
…and on a side note.. I am making time to read more books… to help inspire my creativity and see ‘how did they do it’.

Surely at about this time, I should produce a new timetabula and it will come… eventually. Fully colour coded with an inbuilt key that is invisible to those not in my parallel universe. For now, I am working hard and that means the little seconds of time I had to do other things…are … defunct.

Plan of Action = Complete the Edirevise of The Last Strider by Mid October, and then Disconnect by end of November.

Let’s roll people.

Synopsis Tips

Posted by: flickimp In: Blog 11 Sep 2011 18 comments Tags: agent, amp, arc, bits and pieces, blog, book, chapter, character, cornerstones, covering letter sample, critique, disconnect, edit, editing, emotional element, flickimp, gizmo, google, google co uk, Gremlins, HELP, imran, imran siddiq, imranwrites, leicester, literary agent, Luke, nbsp, redir, review, rls, safari, search client, Star Wars, submission guidelines, synop, synopsis, teddy bear, uk search, utf 8, uy, write, writers, writing, www google co uk

When submitting to a Literary Agent there are usually some things that are a must… A covering letter, Sample Chapters (depending on submission guidelines), and the dreaded Synopsis. Why dreaded? Well, it can be the most frustrating part of your novel. You have just spent weeks, months, years on perfecting your novel, and now, you are going to dissect it onto (possibly) one page?

Quote Doc Emmet Brown: “Great Scott!”

There are millions of sites with Synopsis tips and examples. I strongly recommend that you have a look. Some links that I found useful:

So now comes bits and pieces from what I have learnt.

Start Synopsis with a question and end with a resolution to that question.

Do not end on cliffhangers… will they, won’t they. Show the agent that you know how to answer the main question.

Who is the hero and what is their beef? (Beef = problem)

Only mention Secondary Characters if they affect the plot. If your character has a dad, but the dad doesn’t do anything that progresses or hinders the character/plot, why mention it?

Ensure your plot includes all of the escalating series of turning points. There will be dry moments in a novel, but tease out the ‘Wowzer’ moments.

The Synop doesn’t have to follow the sequential order of your plot. It can be an arc in itself, because it will centre around the character.

If you do not bring an emotional element to your character, then the reader will say “who cares” when you tell us that his favourite teddy-bear just got trampled on by the dastardly twins of chaos. (who?)

Think of the set-up, what made the character pursue this path? Is there conflict against them? How will they try to overcome this? Is there a high point where they think everything is good… but then lo behold… the rug is pulled from under their feet… everything is dark… everything seems lost. Then comes the climax. The showdown. The point when Gizmo ties that bandanna around his head and goes charging in to pile-drive the Gremlins. And then the resolution.

Important to ascertain the External Conflict and the Internal Conflict. External = Arrows pointing at you. You are trapped. Internal = But you must save her, and you only got into this mess because you desire your kiss.

A story can have multiple conflicts and obstacles. You solve one and then another hits you in the face. Think of Star Wars Episode IV. You get a ship, but the Stormtroopers come after you. You escape, but then you get sucked into the Death Star. You hide, and manage to get to the Princess. But then the whole station knows you are around. You escape again, you see your mentor get slashed down… you think F@@@ but you get away. <— That is the rug pull moment. The climax you head into is the chase over the Death Star. “Use the Force, Luke.” <– Up to this point, Luke and Co do some skirmishes, but they keep running away. Here… in the climax, he has to go in hard to face his fear and bring the resolution that gripped me as a child.

Maintain present tense except when you are writing a back-story.

Watch out for wordiness and repetition

Do not add in every little subplot unless it ‘seriously’ affect your character.

In writing my Synop, I applied the following approach;

A4 Paper
List the number of Chapters… 1 to 21
Against each one I put one liners of what the Chapter is about.
What happens to Who and When, Why does it Happen, and How does it Affect my character.
Keep it simple.
I then scan through and tick the relevant chapters that are imperative to the question I define from Chapter 1.
Then I write.
First draft = 2 pages = 900 words
Second draft = 1 page 500 words.
Third Draft …not done yet, but I think i can nail it down to 1 page of 400 words?

Last points = No need to double space. Maintain 1 inch margins and do not use fancy fonts.

These are my views, but if I have missed anything out… please comment below

Additional comment from @Sirra_Girl Su http://sirragirl.blogspot.com/

Just a quick write tip : If you plan to query your book in U.S. you must have 3 different length synopsis. 1 page, 2-3 page, and 5 page.

How Critiques Have Helped Me

Posted by: flickimp In: Blog 09 Sep 2011 10 comments Tags: @, ashley, beta, blogspot, critique, disconnect, edit, editing, eye colour, feelings, girl, HELP, imran, imran siddiq, imranwrites, internal dialogue, leicester, lion, manuscript, novel, painting, personal time, POV, prepositions, review, run on sentences, short space, siddiq, sirra, snippet, su, suah, the last strider, twitter, www youtube

In an earlier post I gave my utmost promotion for using BETA and Critique readers. << Offers explanation of why the difference is and why they should be considered. Firstly, a huge thank you to two generous ladies that gave their personal time to look over my work and to offer their advice.

Suah @Sirra_Girl http://sirragirl.blogspot.com/
Ashley @AEWrites http://aeoutloud.blogspot.com/

Do visit them. Su also offers Editing Services.

So here is a snippet of where I was going wrong;

Not fragmenting sentences whereby I fell into the trap of run-on sentences.
Diluting the impact of ‘impact’ sentences.Keep them short.
Overusing commas. Great Video –> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPHyfCq8Lyc
Not explaining the character well. Eye colour. Clothing. They were too vague.
Painting an image of the setting as I wrote, rather than give you the room as the character saw it.
Lack of internal dialogue, thoughts, feelings. Important when you lack of dialogue.
Forgetting the basis of prepositions. They backed away. Backed away from what? The person, the wall, or the lion?

In a short space of time, I took all of this on board and made a commitment to improve.

And I like to think that I have come a long way in doing so.

Listen people… you don’t have to change your way of writing. But… if someone says, “Hang on, I see a problem.” I advise you to take notice.

Standard Formatting for Manuscripts

Posted by: flickimp In: Blog 06 Sep 2011 6 comments Tags: bottom right corner, common sense, courier new, edit, editing service, editor, imran, indentation, information genre, italics, kitty, leicester, literary agency, manuscripts, paragraph, pen name, quotation marks, sentences, siddiq, sirra_girl, sized fonts, stabbylove, standard manuscript format, su, times new roman, title pages, twitter, unfamiliar term, word count, writing tips

A fantastic Guest Post by a member of the #stabbylove.

Su is a great multi-talented editor who does’t hide behind words, and has a blog that I strongly recommend in following.

——————-

Standard format for manuscripts. This was not unfamiliar term to me as a translator/editor. In fact, it’s common sense. Each MS should error-free in every sense including the format when submitting to a literary agency or a publisher. Well, I knew that, but not all writers did. So I decided to do a post for all the writers. I hope this helps.

Standard Manuscript Format

1) Margin: 1-inch all around

2) Font Size: 12

3) Font Type: Times, Times New Roman, Courier New (may change with the trend)

4) Indentation before paragraph: 10-space (Use a set tab instead of spacing 10 times)

5) Space between all text: Double

6) Space between sentences: Single space after period

7) Scene break: Use special characters (***, ###, —, etc) in a new line, centered

8) Do not use bold or italics throughout the entire MS

9) Do not underline text to emphasize. Put quotation marks or italicize the text

10) Book title, your last name, and page number: On the right-justified header (upper right corner)

11) Chapter heading: On top of the page in either same or different sized fonts, centered or left justified. The first line of the paragraph about a third way down.

12) The End: The end of the manuscript should be marked with a clear ending.

13) Title pages should include: Your book information (Genre, word-count, no. of pages depending on publishers) in the upper left corner. The title should be in the middle of the page followed by your name (pen name) underneath it. Your contact information and your real name should be at the bottom, right corner.

Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/sirra_girl

For writing tips, visit my writer blog: http://sirragirl.blogspot.com/

For my editing service, visit my editor blog: http://sirraedits.wordpress.com/

Thanks again to Su for this

There will always be a difference in view/opinion, but I greatly respect her advice above and am already following it.

Stabbylove

Posted by: flickimp In: Blog 02 Sep 2011 5 comments Tags: art, fun, group, imran, imran siddiq, imranwrites, leicester, love, nbsp, stabby, tweet, tweeters, twitter

An image to support the awesome tweeters of #Stabbylove created by me.

As said by the one that brought the stabby to our editing minds:

“#stabbylove is something we created to justify being stabby towards idiots & douches. It’s where we hang out. Like pubwrite. But stupid. Yep”

Here is the cleaner definition: Stabbylove is helping a writer set his manuscript on fire and then helping him rewrite it. Because it was that bad. And I can’t lie. Out of love.
The General Definition Stabbylove is telling your best friend that yes, that dress makes her bum look big. Because she needs to know, and you love her.
Stabbylove is about providing honest feedback with the genuine intention of helping someone to improve or fix something.