charlesjosephwrites

[charlesjosephwrites]

going on hiatus

I'm about to disappear for a bit for mental health reasons. Thought I'd actually warn y'all so my mutuals don't worry about me this time. I don't know how long I'll be gone (a few weeks at least), but I promise I'll be back eventually.

If any of my mutuals who don't have my discord want it to stay in contact, feel free to shoot me a message asking for it. I'll lurk here for a couple of days before fully going into hiatus mode to check my messages. Fair warning, I'm not always good at responding to discord messages in a timely fashion, but I'll do my best.

Love y'all <3

(gonna queue this up a few times to hit my mutuals in other time zones)

[charlesjosephwrites]

writing is insane because one day you open a doc and 4 hours later you’ve invented an entire fake religion and a girl named Opal who commits arson

[charlesjosephwrites]

[charlesjosephwrites]

[charlesjosephwrites]

Don't Mess Up Your Character Introduction

Your characters only get one introduction, and from that very first moment, readers will form their opinions and impressions of that character. Once they have, it’s incredibly hard to change their minds, so you have to make sure that you make the right first impression.

In my last novel (currently querying right now!) I had a beta reader come back to me to say that he really didn’t like my female protagonist. However, in his notes on the actual manuscript, there were several parts he highlighted because he was very sympathetic to her—so why didn’t those parts sway him? It was because they came too little, too late. He’d already formed his thoughts on the protagonist as a person.

I heard recently that Finding Nemo’s flashback that the movie opens with was initially later in the film to explain why Marlin was such an overprotective parent, but test audiences really hated him, and by then, all the tragedy in the world wouldn’t convince them otherwise. Instead, Disney moved the flashback to the beginning so that we started the movie sympathetic to him, and were able to overlook or understand his more annoying/frustrating traits.

I’m saying that right out of the gate, if we’re meant to root for them, you need to show us why. If we’re meant to hate them, you also need to show us why. Don’t hold onto your cards, don’t keep secrets too late, because once we form an opinion on someone, it’s difficult to change.

When that opinion does need to change (such as when you’re pulling off a villain redemption arc), it typically takes the entire story and genuine character growth to do.

See my post here on why we root for a character.

[charlesjosephwrites]

Celestial Spectacles

A/N: a poem based on this prompt and my love for stars. Pretty impressed by this one.^^

Word Count: 128

TW: None

***

Above the dark sky Entire different worlds exist Filled with celestial sights To be behold indeed

Light and dark collide In the deep expanse Creating a cosmic fusion With radiance that shines

Planets revolve around the Flames of the sun Rockets land on a Surface of the moon

Wistful eyes that gaze Upon the distant wonders With a bold curiosity Of a scientist waiting

To explore the realms Of the wide unknown To learn a story Of a truth untold

Flickering various little stars Twinkle and shine bright Within the wide space Of a sparkling galaxy

Comets go and fall Crash with a course Leaving a seared mark To the land below

Space remains to be Beauty made from stardust Often unseen and hidden Far out of reach

***

[charlesjosephwrites]

[charlesjosephwrites]

I am SICK and TIRED of seeing so much hate towards Al! Al hasn't done ANYTHING to hurt ANYONE! Al is harmless!

But I can already hear the Al haters out there!

"Al isn't original!" No shit, Sherlock! That's what we love the most about Al.

"People aren't supposed to look like that!" That sounds like a problem between you and God, and frankly, plenty of people like the way Al looks.

"Al is just too WEIRD!" Have you ever thought that you might be to NORMAL to actually appreciate Al?

I think you all need to apologize to Al right now!

APOLOGIZE TO HIM

APOLOGIZE TO WEIRD AL RIGHT NOW!

[charlesjosephwrites]

[charlesjosephwrites]

I see the original post going around every so often and it saddens me a little that it's never accompanied by this thread explaining why it's completely understandable how a child would arrive at these spellings in accordance with english phonetics

[charlesjosephwrites]

Ohhh. This meme hurts. 🤣

[charlesjosephwrites]

The Snap That Changed Everything - WIP Intro

[image id: Cursive text reads "The Snap That Changed Everything" over a background of a bloodstained wall surrounded by Christmas lights. There is also a black and white heart on either side of the text. In the bottom right hand corner, smaller text reads "a wip by @charlesjosephwrites"]

trigger warnings: violence, murder, Mafia/gang related activities

Benito Bellini is a Mafia enforcer from the big city, where he always does what needs to be done with cold, calculated ease. Cameron Snap is a small-town journalist who's made it her personal mission to bring joy to the people of Snickerdale. After screenshot from a video on Cam's social media page turns into a viral meme and threatens to expose a retired Mafia soldier, Benito is sent to Snickerdale with an urgent mission: find out how much sensitive information is already out there and eliminate the journalist before she has a chance to expose them further. As Benito cozies up to Cam in search of the information she needs, he's confronted with the realization that there's no way the overly-enthusiastic, happy-go-lucky Cam has any idea what sort of trouble she's gotten herself into. To make matters worse, Bianca finds himself catching feelings for this dork.

FEATURING:

-> a campy, Hallmark-esque romance with a crime thriller twist

-> themes of found family, redemption, and finding love in unexpected places

-> T4T romance

-> cozy, small town vibes

-> a Christmas in July themed sweets festival

-> a very determined nine year old sleuth who keeps getting uncomfortably close to the truth

-> an Australian shepherd named Churro with a knack for herding the neighborhood kids

-> an excuse for me to post about the new WIP I've been hyperfixating on

PLAYLIST:

[The playlist cover is a picture of Cam made with this picrew.]

[charlesjosephwrites]

i saw a post about someone naming a character after their enemy to torture them and realized we all live in vastly different worlds. so now i’m curious! where do you fall? as always, nuance is welcome :)

[charlesjosephwrites]

[charlesjosephwrites]

The Snap That Changed Everything - WIP Intro

[image id: Cursive text reads "The Snap That Changed Everything" over a background of a bloodstained wall surrounded by Christmas lights. There is also a black and white heart on either side of the text. In the bottom right hand corner, smaller text reads "a wip by @charlesjosephwrites"]

trigger warnings: violence, murder, Mafia/gang related activities

Benito Bellini is a Mafia enforcer from the big city, where he always does what needs to be done with cold, calculated ease. Cam Snap is a small-town journalist who's made it her personal mission to bring joy to to the people of Snickerdale. After screenshot from a video on Cam's social media page turns into a viral meme and threatens to expose a retired Mafia soldier, Benito is sent to Snickerdale with an urgent mission: find out how much sensitive information is already out there and eliminate the journalist before she has a chance to expose them further. As Benito cozies up to Cam in search of the information she needs, he's confronted with the realization that there's no way the overly-enthusiastic, happy-go-lucky Cam has any idea what sort of trouble she's gotten herself into. To make matters worse, Bianca finds himself catching feelings for this dork.

Featuring:

-> a campy, Hallmark-esque romance with a crime thriller twist

-> themes of found family, redemption, and finding love in unexpected places

-> T4T romance

-> cozy, small town vibes

-> a Christmas in July themed sweets festival

-> a very determined nine year old sleuth who keeps getting uncomfortably close to the truth

-> an Australian shepherd named Churro with a knack for herding the neighborhood kids

-> an excuse for me to post about the new WIP I've been hyperfixating on

(I haven't decided whether or not I'm going to keep a taglist for this WIP yet, but you can let me know if you'd want to be added to a potential taglist just in case I decide to make one in the future)

[charlesjosephwrites]

Updated my WIP intro because I made some Changes since I last talked about this WIP.

Mainly, I realized my protag is trans and now I get to go through my whole document fixing his pronouns (which,,,, isn't a Huge Deal since it's been like over a week since I've written anything in this WIP and I need to reread the beginning to remember where I was at in the story anyways, but Still. It's gonna be a Process.)

I'm really excited, though. I have no idea why it's taken me this long to write a trans guy protag considering I'm a trans guy myself, so it should add a fun extra layer to the whole thing. (I've written plenty of trans side characters, just not main characters for some reason.)

The Snap That Changed Everything - WIP Intro

[image id: Cursive text reads "The Snap That Changed Everything" over a background of a bloodstained wall surrounded by Christmas lights. There is also a black and white heart on either side of the text. In the bottom right hand corner, smaller text reads "a wip by @charlesjosephwrites"]

trigger warnings: violence, murder, Mafia/gang related activities

Benito Bellini is a Mafia enforcer from the big city, where he always does what needs to be done with cold, calculated ease. Cam Snap is a small-town journalist who's made it her personal mission to bring joy to to the people of Snickerdale. After screenshot from a video on Cam's social media page turns into a viral meme and threatens to expose a retired Mafia soldier, Benito is sent to Snickerdale with an urgent mission: find out how much sensitive information is already out there and eliminate the journalist before she has a chance to expose them further. As Benito cozies up to Cam in search of the information she needs, he's confronted with the realization that there's no way the overly-enthusiastic, happy-go-lucky Cam has any idea what sort of trouble she's gotten herself into. To make matters worse, Bianca finds himself catching feelings for this dork.

Featuring:

-> a campy, Hallmark-esque romance with a crime thriller twist

-> themes of found family, redemption, and finding love in unexpected places

-> T4T romance

-> cozy, small town vibes

-> a Christmas in July themed sweets festival

-> a very determined nine year old sleuth who keeps getting uncomfortably close to the truth

-> an Australian shepherd named Churro with a knack for herding the neighborhood kids

-> an excuse for me to post about the new WIP I've been hyperfixating on

(I haven't decided whether or not I'm going to keep a taglist for this WIP yet, but you can let me know if you'd want to be added to a potential taglist just in case I decide to make one in the future)