Writing Process

3 Overlooked Sources for Novel Research: Writing Tips

Novel research has gotten so much easier since the invention of the internet.

A quick Google search can either answer your questions or point you in the direction of someone who can. But there are a few areas of both the internet and the real world that I’ve seen underutilized lately.

Here are three overlooked sources for novel research. These are resources that either I have personally used and benefited from, or they’ve been used by someone I personally know.

I hope some of these can help you!

1) Netflix, Hulu, or other streaming services

Specifically, the documentaries section. Plenty of filmmakers have done research and documented experiences of people or situations that may be unfamiliar to you.

This can be particularly helpful if you have a character in your book who is experiencing something you personally have not.

Even if you don’t learn anything new from a documentary, there’s a power in seeing an experience or situation that you may need to write about on screen.

In my book series, my main character was kidnapped as a kid and raised to be a North Korean spy. One way I learned more about North Korea was through Netflix documentaries.

I can’t tell you how much it helped. I didn’t use any fact specifically, but watching them gave me a feel and understanding that I believe enhanced my books.

For craft research

Additionally, don’t write off TV and movies as a form of craft research.

If you’re struggling with the pace of your book, you may find a show or movie that’s incredibly well paced, or has a pace you’d like your book to have.

I have an author friend who broke a movie down scene by scene to understand its structure. She then made a revision plan so her book’s structure would match.

Or if you just can’t nail your character’s movement, find a character from tv/movies who reminds you of your character. Study their movements. Describe what you see. Then transfer your observations into your story.

And of course, you should also do some research on any documentary or video resource you use. Some are more respected and accurate than others.

2) Coursera

This is one of the best-kept secrets in education and online learning. Coursera.org allows you to enroll in online courses from top colleges and universities all over the world.

And as long as you don’t want a certificate, specialization, or degree, most are absolutely free.

Classes tend to run around six weeks, but it can vary from class to class. Courses are primarily comprised of video lectures, short readings, and forum discussions.

The time commitment is fairly minimal, and since you’re not getting a grade, you can do as much or as little of the work as you want. (I tend to only watch the videos…)

So, if you have a character who’s into biology or who’s a lawyer, but you don’t have a strong understanding of those areas, you can take a class on the topic!

They also have great psychology classes that can help you understand your characters and their development better.

But be warned. If you like learning just for the sake of learning, this can be addictive. Every time I log on I sign up for more classes than I have time for.

3) The Library

I know what you’re thinking! The library is totally not an overlooked resource for novel research. And for books, the internet, and general information, you’d be correct.

However, it’s easy to forget that magnitude of the library system. Libraries give us access to so much more than just books. You may also have access to museum passes, artwork, and even bones (from some medical libraries).

So, if there’s a local museum that would help with your research, but is a little too expensive, your library might be able to help you out!

And if you have a character who’s really into art, you could check out a piece of artwork so you can describe it accurately. Or if you’re writing a crime novel, having access to actual bones might be beneficial.

Also, keep in mind, you aren’t necessarily limited to the items in your library. I have a friend who got some very specific ink blots from a library out of state through an interlibrary loan program.

If you want to know more about what your library has access to, you should definitely pay them a visit!

I hope this helps with your novel research!

Now it’s your turn: What’s your go-to source for novel research? Do you have an uncommon or overlooked source you can share? Tell me about it in the comments!

Stop Editing While You Write: 5 Great Writing Tips

By Meghan 8 Comments

It’s important not to edit while you write. In fact, the mantra for every writer in the first or early drafting stages should be, “I’ll fix it later.”

It can be a challenge to keep that in mind, but it’s SO important.

If you’re editing while you write, you’re ultimately getting in your own way. It’s hard to edit a book in progress because you don’t really know what you have yet.You won’t know until you finish your draft.

Every time you stop writing to edit, you’re putting yourself farther from the finish line.

For the purposes of this post, I’m considering “editing” to mean both fixing language/grammar/sentence structure and more substantial plot changes.

Basically, anything that you might stop writing to fix.

Stop Editing While You Write: 5 Great Writing Tips

Here are five tips to help you stop editing while you write:

1) Make a list of problems

This is something I rely heavily on. In the past, one of my biggest excuses to stop writing and edit was, “I need to fix it before I forget.”

But every time I went back to fix something it kept me from moving forward.

Now, I keep a running list of problems so I know what I need to check in on later. I keep bigger, overarching issues in a page on my notebook and more scene or chapter specific issues in the notes section in Scrivener. (If you’re in Word, the comments feature can also help with this.)

This way I only stop long enough to jot down some notes, then I get right back to my word count.

Meghan Rogers shares Stop Editing While You Write: 5 Great Writing Tips - in photo: the right to write written by a typewriter

2) For big changes, pretend you already made them and keep writing

Tell me if this sounds familiar. You’re moving through your books, hitting your word count, then out of the blue, you have a revelation about your project.

And it’s a MAJOR revelation.

One that completely changes the direction of your story, and it impacts things you’ve already written.

Since this revelation is so big, it would be easy to think you need to stop writing, go back, and put the changes in before continuing. But you don’t.

You need to keep moving forward.

Like the point above, all you have to do is take a time out and make notes about the changes you want to make.

Then you keep writing as if you’ve already made them.

Save changing previous writing for after you’ve finished drafting. If you don’t, it can become a domino effect.

Once you make one big change, it won’t be long until you start making others. Keep your eyes on the prize and get to the old stuff later!

3) Remind yourself that it’s supposed to be bad

It’s amazing what changing your way of thinking can do for your writing.

I think one reason a lot of writers have a hard time not editing while writing is that we get too focused on the end result.

When a book’s in its early stages, it is at its worst, so it can be easy to get hung up on how bad it is.

One idea that really helps me manage this is to remember that it’s supposed to be bad right now.

Meghan Rogers shares Stop Editing While You Write: 5 Great Writing Tips - in photo: Writing Tip: It's important not to edit while you write. In fact, the mantra for every writer in the early drafting stages should be, "I'll fix it later."

It’s not called the writing “process” just because it sounds good. It’s actually a process. Your work needs to be bad before it can be good.

So, if you’re in your first or second draft and your book is a hot mess/bad/the-worst-thing-ever-written, then CONGRATULATIONS! You’re doing a good job!! Try to remember that!

Once I got used to the idea that drafting + bad writing = a good job, it became a lot easier to accept and move forward. For more tips on this subject area, I have a whole post on embracing imperfection in your writing.

4) Write each day’s work in a separate document

Or, you can do each chapter/scene if you’d think that’d be best. The ultimate goal here is to put less of your work on your screen at once. There are two ways this can help.

First, sometimes it can be easier to fall into editing when you get stuck drafting. Then you might think, “Well, let me go fix some of the old stuff, so at least I’m doing something.”

And the next thing you know, you’re editing everything and not moving your project forward.

As much as this may feel like progress, it’s not. At least, not at this stage. It’s actually keeping you from finishing your book, which is a problem.

Second, it can also be hard to move on when you feel like what you’ve written so far could be so much better.

And if you’re having a hard time with Tip #3, simply taking the work off your screen might be the way to go. The less previously written work you have access to, the harder it will be to edit.

Meghan Rogers shares a write tip: If you're in your first or second draft and your book is a hot mess/bad/the-worst-thing-ever-written, then CONGRATULATIONS! You're doing a good job.

5) Write on the clock

I did a post a couple of weeks ago that touched on the benefits of writing on the clock and how I use this technique.

The idea is you set a reasonable writing goal to meet in a given amount of time.

As I mentioned in that post, one reason why I love this approach is that it focuses on quantity, not quality, which is important in the drafting stage.

It also makes it easier to push on and get your words down without editing while you write because you simply don’t have time for anything else.

I hope this helps you stop editing while you write!

If you’re looking for more tips like this, you might want to check out this post: 6 Tips for Finishing Your First Draft.

Now it’s your turn: Have you caught yourself editing while you write? If you have, how do you manage it? If you haven’t, what tips can you share? Tell me about it in the comments!

Follow me on Instagram!

How to Create a Novel Revision Plan: 5 Writing Tips

By Meghan 1 Comment

You finished the first draft of your novel! (Yay!!) And it’s probably a hot mess.

The good news is, it’s supposed to be–so you’re doing things right!

As exciting as it is to finish a draft, I know first hand how overwhelming it can be to tackle revision.

Here are some tips that have helped me create quality novel revision plan time and time again.

Pick an approach

Before you get started, I suggest picking an approach for your novel revision plan. The two I’m most familiar with are chapter-by-chapter or storyline-by-storyline. (If you know of more, let me know in the comments!)

I recommend deciding this up front so you can plan and take notes accordingly.

Chapter-by-Chapter

The idea of this approach is that you’ll go through the book sequentially and address all of the problems in an individual chapter at one shot.

So if you realize your character is acting odd, storyline A is weak, and an aspect of storyline B doesn’t make sense, you’ll fix all of these problems in any given chapter before moving on to the next one.

This approach will probably work better for people who prefer to multitask.

Storyline-by-storyline

If you’re less of a multitasker (like me) you might want to give this approach a try.

Instead of juggling multiple problems at once, focus on one problem at a time.

In this case, if you notice your character is acting odd, Storyline A is weak, and an aspect of Storyline B doesn’t make sense, you first go through the book and fix your character in every scene where they are off.

Then you do the same thing for Storyline A, then Storyline B. I

personally prefer this method, but that’s because I know it works for me. If you’ve never tried either, give them both a shot at some point to see what works best for you.

Read your book

Now that you have your approach, take a step back and see what shape your story is in.

It might be tempting to start revising based on how you felt when you were writing, but this is often a bad idea.

Scenes that seemed good as you were writing may need some work for one reason or another, and scenes that seemed bad at the time may be surprisingly good when you read through.

I would recommend giving yourself some time off before you dive in so you can see things with fresh eyes. Shoot for at least a week if you can.

Once you start, don’t make any changes as you read–especially early in the revision process.

Your goal here is to simply see what you have to work with and to identify your novel’s problems.

Document problems as you go on a blank piece of paper. If you’re going chapter-by-chapter, try writing down each chapter number than listing any problems. If you’re going storyline-by-storyline, have a page for each character/storyline, then document page numbers and issues on the appropriate page.

Or figure out some hybrid that works for you (if you’re going with storylines, maybe document issues by chapter then sort them by storyline later).

Again, these are just some suggestions. Only you will know what works for you. Don’t be afraid to adapt these ideas as you see fit.

I suggest keeping these things in mind as you read, then mentally going through each area again once you finish and have a better idea of your complete book.

Consider freewriting

Once you know what your problems are, consider taking some time to work out your solutions in an informal way. This is how I start every brainstorming and revision planning session. I’ve got a whole post with tips and the benefits of freewriting, so I’ll leave it at that for now. 🙂

Address bigger problems first

Now it’s time to actually make your novel revision plan.

No matter which approach you take, I highly recommend addressing the bigger problems first.

The bigger problems require the most work and are easier to manage when more of your book is movable or expendable.

If you take the time to fix the smaller problems first, you may end up having to trash some of your solutions to solve your larger and more detrimental problem. And then you’ll have to go back and re-solve a problem you’ve already given time to. I

n some ways, being a writer is like being a doctor. If a patient comes in with multiple issues, doctors will always treat the most life-threatening problem first because it’s essential to the patient’s survival.

You should treat your book the same way. And if you do, you might even find that your smaller problems solve themselves.

Before you start revising, sit down and plan what problem, specifically, you’re going to tackle first, and exactly how you want to solve it. Then move on to your next problem.

You can apply this no matter if you’re going chapter-by-chapter or storyline by storyline.

Don’t try to fix it all in one round

I know I say this a lot, but it can’t be stressed enough.

If you’re feeling overwhelmed by a number of problems in your book, don’t try to fix them all at once.

Use this list as a guide and take them one at a time. You can always make another novel revision plan. There’s no limit to the number of revisions you can do to a book. Make it as manageable as possible and do whatever you have to in order to keep moving forward.

I hope this helps you create your own novel revision plan!

Keep in mind, these are just tips and guidelines that have worked for me. Modifying writing advice to meet your own needs and work style is essential to developing a happy writing life, so don’t be afraid to experiment!

Now it’s your turn: How do you approach revision? Have you tried a novel revision plan before? What works well for you? What have you struggled with? Tell me in the comments!

How to Write When Your Writing Process Fails You

By Meghan Leave a Comment

A few years ago, I found myself really struggling with my WIP. Ultimately, I found my writing process just wasn’t working for me anymore.

I had characters I loved and an idea I was excited about, but I had a terrible time getting everything to come together. I have a pretty reliable writing process. I know what I need to do in order to develop a story and be an effective writer.

But when it came to this project, I found myself hitting roadblock after roadblock.

I talk a lot on this blog about the importance of finding your writing process, but let’s be real. Sometimes a project is just difficult!

Pushing forward when none of your usual tricks are working can feel like an impossible hurdle to overcome.

So, what do you do if you’ve found your process failing you?

I can only speak from my own experience on this, but here are a few things that helped me push on, get a draft down, and find my story when my process let me down.

Meghan Rogers shares writing process - in photo: Writing Tip: Most of the time, our inner writer knows what we need to more than the brain does.

Work with what you have

If you have something to work with, do your very best to move your story forward. Try not to focus on what you don’t know. Instead, modify your process based around what you do know.

I typically have a pretty solid idea of what my story is going to be, and I outline the whole book before I start writing.

But this time, I found I only had a solid idea of the first eight or nine chapters and then a fuzzy idea of what came after. I tried to get a clear picture of the rest of the book, but it just wouldn’t surface.

Instead of waiting for the rest of the book to come to me, I decided to outline the first eight chapters and start writing. When I got to the end of those eight chapters, I figured out the next eight, which I could see a little more clearly once I’d gotten the draft started.

I was able to write the entire draft in eight chapter chunks. In the end, I had a very messy draft but a complete draft nonetheless, and I learned a lot about my story while I wrote it.

Meghan Rogers shares writing process - in photo: person using a laptop

Trust your writerly instincts

Most of the time, our inner writer knows what we need to do more than the brain does.

Personally, I have never been one to take a brainstorming walk. I tend to get too distracted by my surroundings, and I never end up actually thinking about my story.

But when I was struggling to figure this book out, I felt compelled to take a walk and brainstorm.

Additionally, I randomly got a song I hadn’t heard in months stuck in my head. I soon realized it was a song that captured the feel of my book and main character perfectly. I downloaded the song and went for a walk, listening to it on repeat.

My brain told me this walk was a waste of time, but I went anyway. In the end, the combination of the music and the walk were exactly what I needed.

The music helped me focus my thoughts and I wound up with three revelations that proved to be essential in moving forward. I’ve continued these walks and they’re still generating ideas for me. In fact, walking might be a good idea for you if you’re struggling to write.

Studies have shown that walking can actually help us think and improve creativity.

Meghan Rogers shares writing process - in photo: Writing Tip: It's important to keep in mind that every project has its own needs that must be honored. What worked for one project may not work for the next.

Try to understand how this story is different from previous stories

Maybe your process is finely honed and effective, or maybe you’re still finding what works for you.

Either way, it’s important to keep in mind that every project has its own needs that must be honored. To accommodate those needs, you need to understand what makes your story different from the ones that came before.

This turned out to be a key for me. As much as the previous steps helped me to keep moving forward, understanding my story’s differences helped me go over the hump.

In this case, my idea came to me a little differently than it usually does.

Traditionally, I start with a character, an environment, and a growth trajectory, but this time I started with a story concept–nothing else attached.

It meant I needed to do more development work than I usually do, which I was prepared for. I did tons of work on the character aspect but I had inadvertently left my world underdeveloped.

These development holes were my main issue. I couldn’t tell an effective story in a world I didn’t fully understand. Everything started to take better shape once I solidified these details.

Now that I understand the breakdown, I’ll know to check in on development issues next time a problem like this pops up.

I hope this helps you when you feel like your writing process is failing you.

Now it’s your turn: What do you do when your writing process fails you? Tell me in the comments!

How to Draft Faster by Timing Your Writing: Writing Tips

By Meghan 2 Comments

Staying on task and motivated to write can be a struggle–especially when you’re in the thick of the drafting process.

One thing that has been revolutionary for me when I draft is writing on the clock. It keeps me focused on quantity not quality, which is vital at this stage of a book.

I’ve seen a couple different versions of this method. The more popular one is to set a timer and commit to working non-stop until the timer goes off.

You control how much time you set, but if you’re looking for a guideline, maybe start with 30 minutes. Here’s an online timer if you need one.

This approach may work for a lot of people–including you–but it wasn’t enough to keep me motivated. I needed to see some sign of success in order to keep going. I’m a goal-oriented person, so it isn’t enough for me to just have dedicated writing time. I need to be working for something.

So instead of just writing with a timer, I add some word count goal-oriented checkpoints along the way. This helps me keep my draft moving.

This technique won’t be for every one, but if you want to give it a shot, here’s how it breaks down:

How to Draft Faster by Timing Your Writing: Writing Tips

Make a realistic estimate

First, I make sure I have enough time to meet my daily writing goal if I were to work virtually non-stop. If I don’t have enough time, I either adjust the goal or see if I can find more time later in the day.

If you don’t know what’s realistic for you, you may have to set the timer and just write non-stop for half an hour to get a baseline.

This step is important!

I honestly believe one of the keys to finishing any project–writing or otherwise–is to put yourself in positions where you won’t be discouraged. If you create goals that are too unrealistic for you to achieve in the time you have to work, it’s highly likely that you will get discouraged.

Don’t do that to yourself. You are better off planning on taking more time to finish your book and actually finishing it, than getting overambitious, getting behind, and giving up.

Adapt for your own writing window

Once I know how much I can accomplish in a half hour, I adapt that number to the window I have to fill.

I typically write in two-to-three hour chunks. My half hour word count, when I work constantly, is about 600 words. My daily goal is typically around 2,500 words, so I know I need at least two hours to meet my goal.

If I have less time, I need to consider cutting my goals back. If I have more time, I consider either cutting my time back or, if I have it in me, increasing my goal.

One thing I wouldn’t recommend is having way more time to write than you need to achieve your goals. This defeats the purpose of this approach.

In my experience, it makes you more likely to take your time and maybe even wander off to the internet. The point is to stay focused, so don’t let yourself wander. Change your goals or writing window instead.

Meghan Rogers sharing How to Draft Faster by Timing Your Writing: Writing Tips - in photo: hand of a person typing on a keyboard

Create checkpoints within your window

I found that in order to keep my motivation up, the best thing I can do is to create checkpoints for myself throughout my window.

You can create your checkpoints as frequently as you want, but I’ve found that the more frequent mine are, the more motivated and focused I am.

So for me, I’m not just trying to write 600 words every half hour. I’m trying to write 100 words every five minutes.

Maybe you don’t need to break your goals down quite this much for your draft, but I find it helpful.

It’s easier and less intimidating for me to think about writing 100 words every five minutes than 2,500 in two hours. It also keeps me from thinking I can spend five minutes scrolling the internet and “make it up later.”

I can’t spend five minutes that way if I know I need to spend that time writing 100 words.

Additionally, each time I meet a small goal it reminds me that I can do this and it fuels me to keep me going.

Learn your super-focused rate

You may not have this experience, but I found that once I learned to be regularly focused and on the clock, I could write even faster if I needed to.

600 words/half hour is my manageable goal. I know that if I work at a steady, but fairly calm rate, I can reach that goal without too much extra effort. It’s more about staying focused than anything else.

However, once I learned to stay focused, I found that if I’m really locked in and time is limited, I can write 900 words/half hour.

I don’t like to do this often because I will absolutely burn out, but learning to write on the clock has helped me see that I can write at this rate if I need to.

It’s a nice card to have in my back pocket for days when time is tight.

Meghan Rogers shares a writing tip: One thing I wouldn't recommend is having way more time to write than you need to achieve your goals.

Adapt as needed

Your days and life may be inconsistent at times. There may be aspects of this approach that just don’t work the way you need them to.

When that happens, don’t be afraid to mix it up! See if you can nail down exactly what isn’t working and why, then modify to meet your needs.

The ultimate goal is to get your closer to finishing your draft. Figuring out how you work best is a big part of making that happen! So definitely make a change if you need to.

I hope this helps you draft faster!

Now it’s your turn: Have you ever tried timing your writing? Does it help? What tricks help you get a draft down? Tell me about it in the comments.

How to Identify Your Novel’s Problems: Revision Tips

By Meghan 2 Comments

You finished a draft of your novel! Yay!!

After you take some time to fully appreciate the fact that you reached the end–which you should definitely do–it’ll be time to dive into revision.

But knowing where to start can be tricky. If you’re coming off the first draft, the whole story might feel like a hot mess. If you’re coming off the third, your book may be better but still not “there” yet.

So, how do you know where to begin? Like everything else in writing, I recommend breaking things down into as many steps as possible and taking things one step at a time.

Identify what stage your book is at

The first thing to know about revision is that you don’t have to tackle everything at once.

In fact, I would recommend you don’t even attempt to. If you do, the idea of everything you have to revise might get overwhelming very quickly, and it will be all too easy to give up.

Instead, consider first breaking your revision down into two stages–early stage revision and late stage revision. I tend to revise at least two drafts with the “early stage” guidelines and two drafts with the “late stage” guidelines.

Regardless of which stage you’re on, at this point in the revision process, we’re just looking at the problems. We’ll touch on addressing them later on.

Side note: These are guidelines that have helped me, but don’t be afraid to modify this to meet your own needs!

Early stage revision – First and Second Drafts

In the early stages, it’s more important to focus on the bigger developmental issues. These are the big elements that shape and carry your book. Don’t worry about the writing itself yet.

At this stage, there’s a good chance you’ll have to rewrite a lot of what you’ve already written, so worrying about the language isn’t the best use of your time. Early stage revision is more focused on story arcs and similar big-picture issues.

Check your characters

Take some time to assess your characters and their development.

Are the coming across how you want them too?
Do your main and secondary characters appear in the story with some level of consistency?
Do all of them serve a purpose? If not, are there characters you can cut?
Does each character have some kind of development?
Do their actions and reactions line up with who they are and with their overall growth?

Check your plot/storylines

Next, consider your main plot and storylines.

Does your overall plot have crisis points or rising actions that consistently build to the climax?
Does the middle drag?
Is your plot too front-loaded or back-loaded?
Do you have storylines that get dropped halfway through the book?
Are there storylines that are imbalanced or inconsistent?
Are there storylines that are so small or confusing that your book might be better off without them?
Is there something missing from your book that adding another storyline might explain?
Do the events in each of your plotlines make logical sense?
Does every scene play a role in your plot?

Check your setting/world

Now assess the world your characters are living in.

Is there a good understanding of the “rules” of this world?
Can readers find their way around?
Is there a good grasp of the culture and problems?
If there’s magic, are the rules clearly explained?
If you changed history in our world, are the changes clear?
If you created the world, is it fully developed?

This section will probably be more important if your sci-fi or fantasy writers who developed your story’s world, but elements of this will probably apply to every writer on some level.

Late stage revision – Third and Fourth Drafts (and up)

Once you feel good about the bigger elements of your book, it’s time to take a closer look at the smaller ones. Late stage revision focuses on your book’s detail and language issues.

Check in with early stage issues

You probably made some big story changes in the earlier stages, so take a second to check back in with them and make sure everything still lines up and makes sense. If it doesn’t, I suggest fixing those elements and making sure you’re happy with the story itself before you move on.

Check believability

Now that the story is set, take a look at how believable the situations are. Do you rely on coincidence too much? Is there a reason for your characters to be acting as they are? Do things happen ‘just because you want them to’ too frequently? (This is something I’m super guilty of…)

Check your facts

If you set this story in the real world, make sure you double check all of the real world facts and situations you put your characters in. Consider things like:

Is it possible for your characters to get from Point A to Point B in the time you say they do?
If the locations your characters visit are real, do you have the details correct?
If you’re writing about a culture or situation you haven’t experienced first hand, are you getting those details right?
If you set your story in a world you made up, are your details consistent?
Are you following the rules you set for your world?
Are you sticking with the ‘facts’ you established for yourself and your world?

It can be hard to get everything 100% correct and accurate, but you should do your very best to try.

Check your writing (aka editing)

Once you finish rewriting and making changes, and have all of the details in your story in place, you can finally worry about your word choice, grammar, and sentence structure.

I highly recommend not worrying about this until the last step. This way, you won’t waste time polishing something you end up trashing or rewriting.

Implementing the changes

As you go through each section in this post, I’d suggest making a list of the problems in your book, then go back through your story and tackle them one problem at a time.

You might want to start with a free write or brainstorm before you start writing out the changes.

I’m planning on doing a full post on how to make a revision plan, so keep an eye out for that if this is something you’re interested in hearing more about!

I hope this helps take the pressure off revision!

Keep in mind, that these are just some tips that I’ve found helpful. Play around with them. Don’t be afraid to change them up and make them your own!

Now it’s your turn: How do you approach revision? What works really well for you? What do you struggle with? Tell me in the comments!