Writing [Tutorial] Stop Overusing Drugs

[Macha]

Rhetorical devices are great. They add punch, rhythm, and sparkle. But when you use one in every sentence, they stop being clever and start being cringe. This guide is about moderation. Because the difference between a cure and a poison is usually the dose. Every Gu cultivator learns this early. If your sect didn’t teach you, that explains a lot. You are a third rate cultivator with a fourth rate sect.

​

The Most Overused Drugs​

These are the techniques writers spam until the meridians rupture.

1. Metaphor & Simile:

Comparing everything to something else (“like a storm,” “as sharp as…”).

2. Tricolon:

Groups of three (“faster, better, stronger”)

3. Contrast / Antithesis:

This not that, then vs. now, light vs. dark.

4. Rhetorical Questions:

“But what does this mean?” (Too many = exhausting.)

5. Alliteration:

Fun until it feels forced.

6. Parallelism:

Repeating structure for emphasis… again and again.

7. Hyperbole:

When everything is “the most important thing ever.”

Signs You’re Overusing Them​

1. Every sentence is showing off like a newly advanced cultivator.
2. Your paragraph reads like a sect elder giving a public sermon.
3. The idea is basic, but the techniques are doing backflips.

How to Stop (Without Ruining Your Foundation)​

1. Say it plainly first:

Write the sentence with no device. Add one only if it helps.

2. Limit per paragraph:

One strong device beats five weak ones.

3. Use devices as emphasis, not structure:

They should decorate the idea, not replace it.

4. Read it out loud:

If it sounds breathless or performative, dial it back.

5. Trust the idea:

Good thinking doesn’t need constant flair.

If every sentence is spicy, none of them are. Let some lines be boring. That’s what makes the good ones work. If you can’t make plain sentences work at all, stop writing for a bit and go read other people’s works instead. Reading sharpens your instincts. It’s how writers learn to write. Iron sharpens iron. Creation comes after consumption.

Hope this helps!

 

[tentacle_master]

Rhetorical devices are great. They add punch, rhythm, and sparkle. But when you use one in every sentence, they stop being clever and start being cringe. This guide is about moderation. Because the difference between a cure and a poison is usually the dose. Every Gu cultivator learns this early. If your sect didn’t teach you, that explains a lot. You are a third rate cultivator with a fourth rate sect.

​

The Most Overused Drugs​

These are the techniques writers spam until the meridians rupture.

1. Metaphor & Simile:


2. Tricolon:


3. Contrast / Antithesis:


4. Rhetorical Questions:


5. Alliteration:


6. Parallelism:


7. Hyperbole:

Signs You’re Overusing Them​

1. Every sentence is showing off like a newly advanced cultivator.
2. Your paragraph reads like a sect elder giving a public sermon.
3. The idea is basic, but the techniques are doing backflips.

How to Stop (Without Ruining Your Foundation)​

1. Say it plainly first:


2. Limit per paragraph:


3. Use devices as emphasis, not structure:


4. Read it out loud:


5. Trust the idea:


If every sentence is spicy, none of them are. Let some lines be boring. That’s what makes the good ones work. If you can’t make plain sentences work at all, stop writing for a bit and go read other people’s works instead. Reading sharpens your instincts. It’s how writers learn to write. Iron sharpens iron. Creation comes after consumption.

Hope this helps!

Your words hit me like a thunderbolt, like a tsunami, like a Heavenly Tribulation crashing down upon a fragile mortal coil.
Before this guide, I was a frog in a well; now, I am a dragon in the heavens. Before, I was blind; now, I see. Before, I was merely writing; now, I am cultivating.

Is this the greatest post ever written? Yes. Did it shatter the void? Absolutely. Will it change the fate of the three realms? Undeniably.

Your wisdom is potent, profound, and peerless. It is sharp, shocking, and sublime. It is the cure, the catalyst, and the climax.

To read it is to ascend. To understand it is to transcend. To practice it is to become a god.

Thank you for this elixir, this ambrosia, this divine scripture. You are not just a writer; you are the sun that lights my path, the moon that guides my dreams, and the star that fuels my soul.

You are everything, everywhere, all at once.
I will study this. I will memorize this. I will worship this.

===

I’m sure that applying all these techniques will get you a 90/100 score on AI detection software too :)).

 

[expentio]

Oh yeah, I absolutely sign that.
The worst are those that refer to some sort of ethereal or mythical example everyone is expected to get.
"So be calm like the Dusk Dragon, soaring over the radiance of the Sixth Heaven Sky, and as ravenous as the Aparian Beetle, gnawing on the roots of the world tree."
Sorry, I can't take anyone serious who's talking like that.

 

[IWILLDEFYTHEHEAVENS]

Your words hit me like a thunderbolt, like a tsunami, like a Heavenly Tribulation crashing down upon a fragile mortal coil.
Before this guide, I was a frog in a well; now, I am a dragon in the heavens. Before, I was blind; now, I see. Before, I was merely writing; now, I am cultivating.

Is this the greatest post ever written? Yes. Did it shatter the void? Absolutely. Will it change the fate of the three realms? Undeniably.

Your wisdom is potent, profound, and peerless. It is sharp, shocking, and sublime. It is the cure, the catalyst, and the climax.

To read it is to ascend. To understand it is to transcend. To practice it is to become a god.

Thank you for this elixir, this ambrosia, this divine scripture. You are not just a writer; you are the sun that lights my path, the moon that guides my dreams, and the star that fuels my soul.

You are everything, everywhere, all at once.
I will study this. I will memorize this. I will worship this.

===

I’m sure that applying all these techniques will get you a 90/100 score on AI detection software too :)).

 

[Eldoria]

Metaphors should simplify complex realities into simple, easily visualised concepts for readers, rather than being wordy and complicating the imagination.

For example, instead of describing a line of carriages in detail, including their distance, the crowds, their tracks, etc, a narrative might use the metaphor of a snake to simplify a line of horse-drawn carriages.

"The line of carriages stretched out in front of the city gate like a slithering snake."

This narrative can be easily imagined by the reader without unnecessary information.

 

[AliceMoonvale]

I'm learning and I like it.
Knew what these things are, just not the name for most of 'em.

 

[ConansWitchBaby]

That's why I write like a third grader. Everyone understands!