cosette141

[cosette141]

Hi, it's your CS Secret Santa again!

Oh I love Finding Nemo, Real Steel, Two Week's Notice, Mamma Mia. Valentine's day is great! I really like the movie New Year's Eve. It is built in the same way as Valentine's Day and has the same vibe. If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it.

I'm huge Harry Potter fan, I have the Eragon series in my library, but it's still waiting for its turn. A new book in the series has recently been released.

Do you have a particular song (or songs) that you associate with CS? I love adding lyrics to my work and it would be nice to add something you love.

❤️❄️❤️☃️❤️🎄

You've seen Real Steel!?? I feel like everyone I mention that to has never heard of it! 💕💕 I never thought I could love a movie about fighting robots so much, and they made it sooo heartwarming :D

Oh yes!!! I forgot about New Years Day! I remember being so excited to see it after the success of Valentines Day, it was so adorable too!

Ooh!! And you know what's so funny, I looked up the new Eragon book you mentioned cause I didn't know about it (it's been about a decade or more since I read the series) and I just saw that they announced Disney is making an Eragon TV show lol! Gosh I hope they do it justice lol, the Eragon movie they did was terrible XD

Ooh I love that question!! YES I have songs I associate with CS hahah XD The song I listened to a lot when writing a fic called Begin Again was this song "Sailor's Heart" by Zyke. (Linked to Spotify!) It's just sooo them :)

And I make fanvids a lot, and I made some for CS and these songs I felt fit them sooooo well :D https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLuvMF6yceQ7MpXZYJZfeL3-U6HN1uqiGk&si=sD4eFosGK5Eu9LRl

Do you have any CS songs?? You've gotta :D ;)

Thanks for the ask, Santa!! It was also a great birthday present for today hehe! 💕💕

[cosette141]

Ho-Ho-Ho! CS Secret Santa here!

I've been a fan of the series since the beginning. When I first saw the trailer, I was sure that this was my kind of story. Where I live, they only aired the first season along with the international broadcast, and the following seasons were aired with a huge delay, sometimes a whole year. I couldn't wait that long and wanted to watch along with everyone else, and I had to look for all sorts of options to be able to watch online.

I also started to shipp CS during the third season - The Neverland Adventure. Their first kiss won me over to the cause. Season 3 is my favorite of all.

Favorite moments.... oh there are so many, but let's narrow it down to 5 favorites:

5. ...and I'm always a gentleman

4. Muscle memory

3. First kiss

2. Middlemist kiss

1. (all time favorite) You traded your ship for me?

Two of my favorite things are movies and books, so I was wondering which is your favorite movie/movies (not Christmas) and which is your favorite book/books. (I realize this is a hard question especially if you're a fan of these things like me). Do you have a favorite genre for movies and books?

🎄🎄🎄

hi santa!! :D

yesss season 3 was the BEST <3 <3 I love pining CS hahha. Those moments were all so perfect!!

Oh you're totally right, that is an impossible question hahah theres so many XD

Movies!

Valentine's Day (it's got such a huge A-list cast and they somehow wrote the most adorable story to go with it!)

Monte Carlo (with Selena Gomez)

The Parent Trap (Lindsay Lohan)

Finding Nemo

Ella Enchanted

Real Steel (Hugh Jackman)

Two Week's Notice (Sandra Bullock)

School of Rock (Jack Black!!)

Enchanted

Mamma Mia (which funny enough I just watched a few hours ago for the first time in years haha)

Books!

The Mediator (series) by Meg Cabot

Harry Potter!

Eragon (The Inheritance Cycle series) by Christopher Paolini

Alex Rider by Anthony Horowitz (I devoured these books in middle school and high school!)

If you can sense a pattern, I tended to gravitate toward book series rather than standalones hahah. It's also why I love TV more than movies usually haha, I love when stories are really long and so many storylines get explored :D

Do we have any favorites that overlap?? :)

My favorite genre is probably action/adventure, comedy and romance when it's done really well (like captain swan) :D my favorite trope is 1000% hurt/comfort and fluff!!

[cosette141]

Merry Christmas, love.

[cosette141]

Hi, it’s your CS Secret Santa again!

I like those songs too. I haven't seen Holiday in handcuffs, but I'll definitely correct that mistake.

My favorite Christmas movies are Love Actually and Die Hard 😁, as well as Arthur Christmas and The Polar Express. As for Christmas songs, they are many: Santa Baby, Driving home for Christmas, I'm dreaming of a white Christmas, Have yourself a happy little Christmas, Last Christmas, Please come home for Christmas, It's starting to look a lot like Christmas ... I can go on 😄

And here are my next questions. How long have you been a part of CS fandom. What drew you to CS and what are your favorite CS moments.

❤️🎁❤️🎄❤️⛄️

santa!!! hiii! :)

hahaha xD I think you'll like holiday in handcuffs if you like CS! It's an enemies to lovers movie :) hehe

awww yes! And now see I've heard about Die Hard sooooo many times but still haven't yet seen it lol! I'll have to correct that mistake too XD

I've been in the CS fandom since 2021 when my friend and I were in the pandemic stuck in different cities, so we would watch movies over video chat and she wanted to show me OUAT for CS, and I'm so glad she did! Falling in love with captain swan during the pandemic was so awesome for me, it really filled the void I had and helped so much with all the isolation and stuff, especially to meet so many other CS fans online too :)

So funny enough I didn't start to ship CS until Neverland! I think it was during the episodes where we were seeing more of Emma's and Killian's backstories and vulnerability that I was like "omg they're like two pieces of a puzzle!" I think what made me love them so much was just that - how much they fit, and how much they help each other grow and be themselves, and what one is missing the other has, and I just love them. It's like they're broken apart but whole together and i just loooove that :))

My favorite CS moment... it's all the cute quiet little moments. I love all the hugs, like the ones in White Out and the one in the time travel episode, and when Emma finds him in the Underworld <3 I definitely love the time travel episodes the best, but right next to that is when Killian finds Emma in NYC haha. I always wished that part was more episodes haha. Most of the fics I write are of softer moments that most shows that have a lot of plot don't have time for, which is totally understandable, but I definitely wanted more haha. If only I could draw or animate cause I'd love to *see* those moments in my head more than only be able to write them as fics hahah. But I guess I'll have to settle with imagining them lol XD

Were you watching OUAT as it was airing or were you late to the party like me? XD What are your favorite moments???

[cosette141]

Ho ho ho! It's your CS Secret Santa!! I hope you are doing well! I'm look forward to get to know you a little bit in the coming weeks and creating something for you! So here's my first question do you have a favorite Christmas movie or Christmas song?

hii santa!! :D i hope you're doing well too! <3

yayyy im so excited! :)

oooooh hmmmm..

Christmas movies: The Santa Clause (tim allen) - the first one! But I love the 2nd one too :D, and that's probably tied with the movie "Holiday in Handcuffs" with melissa joan hart!

And for the christmas song.. probably "Where Are You Christmas" by Faith Hill, but I also love the new-ish one "Santa Can't You Hear Me" that Kelly Clarkson & Ariana Grande did :D

what are yours?? 👀

thanks santa!! :)

[cosette141]

happy thanksgiving :D

It's the Thought that Counts (Leverage Fanfic) | Thanksgiving Story

Fandom: Leverage Author: cosette141 Words: 1631

Summary: When Eliot gets hurt and can't cook Thanksgiving dinner, the team gives cooking a try. It's the thought that counts, right? Happy Thanksgiving!

AO3

a/n: takes place during OG Leverage season 3

(story under the cut!)

Everyone stood in Nate's kitchen, looking toward a prone Eliot on Nate's couch.

It was Thanksgiving Day.

The plan had been simple: finish up the job they were working on in the morning, then reconvene at Nate's apartment where Eliot would cook them Thanksgiving dinner, as he'd been doing the past two years.

But… as usual, things didn't quite go as planned.

The con was completed successfully, but not without a hiccup; Eliot had gotten into a fight with a very well-trained security guard, who ended up pushing Eliot down a flight of stairs.

The stairs ended up causing Eliot a concussion and dislocated shoulder, which was set back into place that morning and now resided in a sling over his chest.

Just a handful of minutes ago they got home and Eliot had passed out on the couch.

Looking away from the hitter, the rest of the team looked back at each other.

It was Parker who broke the silence. "We should make dinner."

Three shocked eyes turn to her. "Uh," said Hardison. "What?"

"We should make dinner," repeated Parker simply. "Eliot can't cook with one arm." A blink. "We should make dinner."

"Parker," began Nate.

"One of us has to know how to cook," said Parker with a scrunched nose.

All heads turn toward Sophie.

Her brows shot up. "Me?" When they only kept staring, she leveled them with an annoyed glare. "What? Just because I'm a woman, you think I know how to cook a meal like that?"

From their stares, yes they did.

"Well, I don't," she said firmly, crossing her arms. "I grew up with people who cooked for us, and grifted everyone else in my life into either cooking or buying me a meal. I don't cook."

Parker deflated a little.

"What about you?" asked Hardison to Nate. "You weren't really a stay-at-home dad," at the worddadNate shifted a little, and the three of them tried not to notice. Gently, Hardison tried, "Did you pick anything up from Maggie?"

Nate laughed a little. "Maggie? No. She wasn't much of a cook herself. I mean, I can make grilled cheese and French toast like no tomorrow.. those were Sam's favorites." His eyes clouded a little and the others fidgeted where they stood. Nate shook it away. "But, ah… no. You put a turkey in front of me, I don't know what I'd do with it."

"We could order a thanksgiving meal from a restaurant," said Hardison, reaching for his phone.

"No!" said Parker firmly. Hardison stopped. "Eliot says that's not Thanksgiving. He told me Thanksgiving is about showing your appreciation for people through food." She leveled a strong gaze with the hacker. "Not restaurants."

The four of them stood for a moment, letting the fact that Eliot Spencer appreciates them sink in until Hardison pulled out his phone. He typed a little on it and said, "Ya know what? It's fine. None of us can cook. But here…" He flipped around his phone to show a screen of a YouTube video titled: Thanksgiving Dinner For Dummies. He grinned. "And this is why this is the age of the geek, baby."

Eliot's head pounded.

At first, he thought it was the remnants of his concussion headache. He knew it wasn't a bad concussion, only minor, but this didn't feel like that kind of a headache. This felt like—

"Aw, crap, what'd I just do—"

Yup, that was it.

A Hardison headache.

The hacker's voice floated in, along with the clatter of something to a counter. More sounds mixed in, actually—an electric mixer itself—crinkling bags and boxes, beeps and creaks of un-oiled hinges, and the cross of chatter—no, make that bickering—between Hardison and Sophie.

But as bad as the voices were for his headache, it was nothing compared to the smell.

Something was burning. Actually, several things, by how pungent it was. There was the distinct smell of burning plastic in there as well, among burning of meat, potatoes—a horrible burning smell—and cranberries.

Eliot finally wrenched open his eyes, finding himself staring at the back of Nate's couch.

His eyes stung a little and he coughed, both from the waft of smoke coming from the kitchen and the distinct cutting-onions thing going on in the air.

Not able to take any of it any longer, he levered himself up on the arm he could move and propped himself up on it, looking over the back of the couch.

Eliot Spencer has seen many terrifying, horrendous things in his life.

But nothing was quite as bad as the scene before him.

Nate's kitchen was a mess.

Pots and pans littered every counter, some overturned, and for whatever reason, one's contents were lightly on fire.

The stove was covered with pans and the oven was open, and both Sophie and Hardison were leaning over it. A thin trail of gray smoke trailed into their faces and they were arguing about something.

Parker was stirring something in a pot with the mixer, so close to the metal of it that it made a loud clanging sound that made Eliot wince for both his ears and for the safety of Nate's nonstick pan, especially when Parker looked toward Hardison and Sophie and said, "I think the mashed potatoes are done! They're finally blue."

And over at his dining room table, Nate was sitting in a chair, a drink in one hand and using the other to rub at his temples.

Eliot blinked.

"What the hell is goin' on?" demanded Eliot, loud enough to be heard over the mixer and Hardison and Sophie's bickering.

The noise silenced and each head looked over toward him.

Parker was the only one whose face lit up. "Eliot!" She put down the pan and skipped over to him. "We're making Thanksgiving dinner!"

Eliot blinked.

He slowly took in the mess of Nate's kitchen, and could pull out faint scents (minus the scorching) of traditional thanksgiving dishes. Even Nate's dining room table was all set up with five plates, napkins and silverware. The oven door closed and Eliot looked back over to see Hardison and Sophie handling a very-black turkey on a cookie sheet.

Two sheepish grins, one amused grin, and one bright and proud grin were shot his way.

Eliot worked to find his voice. "You guys…cooked?"

"Well," said Hardison, as he and Sophie put the "turkey" down on the counter. "With your arm all messed up it woulda been really hard for you to cook for us this year. And you were really tired and we didn't wanna wake you…"

Parker smiled wide. "And you deserve it!"

Not in any of the years since he's left home has someone cooked him a meal. Well, outside of the sludge they served in the prisons and dungeons from his darker days. Even on dates,hewas the one who cooked, and those relationships never lasted long to begin with. But Thanksgiving dinner? Meeting the team had been the first time he's ever cooked one, using the old recipes he learned from watching his mama as a kid.

After meeting the team, he'd cooked for them because they needed someone to feed them something better than the crap they ate. And he'd been heartbroken to hear that Parker had never celebrated Thanksgiving, Hardison and Sophie hadn't since they'd left home as kids, and that Nate hadn't since his son died.

So when he got hurt, he was more upset about not being able to cook than any of the physical pain. But this was something that happened once a year, and it was one of the only traditions he really cared about.

Seeing the four of them, surrounded by—what would probably be a very inedible—dinner, that they made forhim… was something that really warmed his heart.

It may have simply been the onions or the smoke still lingering in the air, but Eliot felt his eyes burn the smallest bit with tears.

"Dinner's almost ready!" said Parker brightly. "I made your favorite dessert too!" She picked up a dish that looked like a pile of tan goo. It took all of Eliot's self-control not to react badly.

"Uh," he swallowed. "What...what is it?"

Parker looked at him weird. "Duh! It's apple pie." As Eliot tried to hide the shock from his face, she looked back down at the… "pie."

"Oh!" she said, laughing. "It'll probably look more like a pie after it's done boiling."

He was thankful she turned her back then because he wasn't quite sure he could hide the utter horror from his face.

Though, Nate caught it, and Eliot watched his lips twitch into an amused grin.

"How the hell…"

Eliot looked over to see Hardison stabbing a knife into the center of the turkey, and it getting stuck. He tried yanking it out.

"Hardison!" yelled Eliot. "What the hell are you doing?"

Hardison looked up. "What? I'm carving the turkey."

"That's not—" Eliot shut his eyes. He got himself off the couch, making his way over to Hardison. "Who taught you how to hold a knife? What are you—give me that!"

"No, man—you only have one arm! I got it!"

"My one arm is more capable of doing this than both of yours now give me the knife!"

"No!"

Nate watched from his seat at the table. A normal man might worry at watching the two boys wrestle over a rather large knife, but he wasn't a normal man. And this wasn't a normal family.

But it was a family.

His family.

And for that, even as he later had to actually eat the questionable dinner his family made…

He couldn't have been more thankful to have them.

[cosette141]

Hi Ace! :)

Do you have good OUAT whump fanfics? (Or any user if you know good OUAT fanfics)

They can be from any season!

Thank you very much!

Have a good day

I do!! They're gonna be all Killian Jones whump though. Hope that's okay. That's pretty much all I read (minus a few August Booth whump fics)

You Are Not Alone by scientificapricot Summary: Killian is injured in a fight with Zelena’s flying monkeys. However, he finds that he doesn't have to deal with said injuries by himself.

Don't Let Go (Because I Can't Hold it Back Anymore) by cosette141 Summary: (canon divergence for s4 episode "White Out") Rather than Emma and Elsa trapped in the ice cave, Emma is trapped with Killian. They have to keep warm and stay awake as they fight the frigid cold, or their first quiet moment together may very well be their last.

A Snowball's Chance by cosette141 Summary: After Emma rescues Killian from Hades in the Underworld, David and Snow tend to some of Killian's physical wounds, and end up healing emotional ones. (aka, Snow and David acting as parental figures for Killian) hurt/comfort oneshot

The Servant by natascha_ronin Summary: Killian is tortured in the Underworld by a familiar face.

Last Time by thoughshebebbutlitle Summary: The last time he had been in a hospital bed they had been completely different people. She had handcuffed him to the bed then, but now she waited anxiously for him to wake; the rise and fall of his chest was a reassurance that he was still alive.

To Take a Heart by MisfitWriter Summary: Set in Season 3, after the incident in the boathouse. Killian is left on his own. Zelena ambushes him with the intention to take his heart and force him to take Emma's powers. Our pirate is about to prove that there is one thing stronger than any magic...

We're Living in a Desperate Time (We Won't Give Up) by LadyofAvalon Summary: He knew he was in for bad weather when the Crocodile appeared and knocked him out again. It only got worse from there.

You can take the boys out of Neverland by WinkyCutto Summary: The Lost Ones don't like having to live by the rules and Henry and his family are about to find out that bringing them back to Storybrooke may not have been the best idea... Hook whump galore, you have been warned.

Pale by SignoriaSickFic Summary: Set in the 6 weeks of peace in S4. Killian catches a nasty stomach bug and, feeling sick, fails to answer his phone. Enter a worried Emma who finds herself playing nursemaid to her indisposed pirate boyfriend. Warning: mentions of vomiting.

[cosette141]

AHHH I LOVE IT IN ALL ITS ANGSTY GLORY

THANK YOU FOR KEEPING THE BELOVED EVENT ALIVE THIS IS AMAZING <3

For more feels, you got the comic with sound on. ENJOOOOY!! also sorrynotsorry

Captain Swan event: Angsty August by @cosette141

[cosette141]

aHHH

Do you guys remember Captain Swan event: Angsty August by @cosette141 ? No? Oh well, you better remember cause I finally found the will to finish my 2nd idea I had back in 2022.....

[cosette141]

How (and Why) to Write through One Character’s Eyes at a Time - Using CHARACTER POVs to Make Your Writing More Visceral and Emotional

*Just thought I'd share this writing tip that I learned over many years of reading and experimenting on my own, because I don't often see this stuff talked about anywhere. Hope it helps someone else! :)

There’s something that’s very rarely talked about when it comes to prose and fiction narration, which brings me to writing this. 

And that’s character perspectives.

This is NOT a post about choosing between first and third person perspective. Choosing a character perspective (aka POV, or point of view) is a step after that, and it’s a step that some writers don’t even know exists (no one told me, at least, lol). 

This post is about the importance of writing in one character’s perspective at a time. By “at a time,” I mean per section. (Think, every time there’s a chapter change or a line break, that’s the end of a section.) 

Staying in one character’s head/POV at a time in third-person is essential to get the reader emotionally invested. Without it, your reader is just reading a bunch of interesting events one after another.

Now, what do I mean by staying in one character’s head at a time?

Before we get really into this, let me give you an example.

Here’s an example of not staying in one character’s head:

Aiden pulled up on his motorcycle, feeling pride well in his chest that he managed to get his license before his sister, Lisa. Over on the driveway, Lisa watched Aiden sit on his motorcycle, jealousy running through her every vein. The front door opened, and their parents walked out. Their mother frowned. I never wanted him to drive that thing, their mother thought bitterly. Their father smiled wide, feeling his own sense of pride that his son was able to finally drive his old bike. 

I switched POV four times in that paragraph - I went into each character’s head. 

Now I’ll do the same exact scene, staying only in Aiden’s head: 

Aiden pulled up on his motorcycle, feeling pride well in his chest that he managed to get his license before his sister, Lisa. She stood there on the driveway, arms crossed, eyes narrowed at him. He smiled a little more to himself, knowing how jealous she was. A creak tore his attention from her, seeing his parents come out of the house. 

First his mother, who frowned immediately, looking at the bike with something between anger and worry on her face, eyeing the machine like it was something disgusting. In contrast, his father walked out with the biggest smile, and Aiden knew he made him proud. 

-.-.

Now in Lisa’s:

She watched from the driveway as her brother rode noisily down the road and onto the driveway. I’d have done that way better, she thought bitterly. Aiden, however, gave her a smug look as he took off his helmet, making her glare deeper at him.

She heard the front door open behind her. Her mother came out, and Lisa was happy to see the woman frown instantly, even if Lisa knew it was because she didn’t like the bike rather than the boy riding it. It was her father’s bright smile that made her blood boil more, for that smile should have been for her. 

-.-.

The mother:

Mother heard the machine before she saw it, feeling dread. She walked outside anyway, her husband following her, to see her little boy step off the dangerous thing. That smile meant he passed his test, and it made her frown. 

She could see Lisa’s negative reaction as well, glad she wasn’t alone in that. But her husband’s clear excitement made her worry shift instantly to anger. I’ll be talking to him about that later. 

-.-.

And finally, the father: 

Father heard the engine the moment it turned onto the block, and he quickly followed his wife to the door. 

There he was, in all his glory, his bike. And, of course, his son. That smile on Aiden as he stepped off the bike made Father’s grow. Father was elated; he was passing down the same bike he was given to by his own father. 

He knew his father would be proud he was keeping the tradition alive.

-.-.

Notice how in these four examples here, we’re sticking with one character, seeing that scene as if through the character’s eyes, one by one. 

That’s how you want to think about third-person, 95% of the time.

As if you, the writer, are inside the character’s head, only able to hear, smell, touch and feel what that one character can.

The big question: why do we want to do this? Why shouldn’t we live in everyone’s head?

Because - which of those examples did you enjoy more? The all-four-at-the-same-time POV, or the one by one? If anything, you were able to feel more in the one-by-one. And that’s because you were put right in the character’s shoes to experience what they experience. 

That’s the beauty of reading (and writing) - being able to live vicariously through characters. 

If we switch from head to head of the characters in the same scene, the moment you settle into one person’s shoes, you’re taken out and put in someone else’s. It’s like someone letting you sit in the driver’s seat of a new car and asking you, “How does this car feel?” As you start to see what you feel, you’re picked up and pushed into a new car, and asked the same question. Naturally you’d respond, “I don’t know what I felt; I was only there for two seconds!” Since that switch happens so often, you never get to settle into it, you never get to relax into it, you never get to sit there long enough to really feel it. Only long enough to get an idea of what that car is like on a more objective level. 

In stories written in prose, we want to let the readers sit, feel and settle into that character so they can experience it. Just like you want to feel that car seat and atmosphere, so you can experience the journey of your drives. Not just get to your destination. (AKA, not just list plot point after plot point).

The reason this is just for prose and not script or playwriting is because both scriptwriting and playwriting don’t stay in one character’s head; it’s in all the characters’ heads the whole time. Simply because the script’s job is to tell the director and actors how to show it. If the script says Lisa is jealous, the director and the actress will decide if she crosses her arms or glares. 

But, in prose, we (the writers) do the showing. And showing occurs where we show how characters feel. A script is a bit more open for interpretation, but a prose story or a novel is more like a moment captured in time, and we’re just recounting exactly as it happened. It won’t be done a different way; this is it. 

It’s vital to write in one character’s POV at a time in order for your reader to not just know what’s happening in your story, but to experience your story. To live through your character. If you don’t stay in one character’s POV at a time, your reader will not be able to feel what your character feels. This makes the difference between a reader simply understanding what’s going on in your story, and actually living vicariously through your characters. 

THE IMPORTANCE OF STAYING IN ONE CHARACTER’S POV AT A TIME

I’ll reiterate that this post is not about choosing first or third-person POV. However, to explain what I mean about character POVs, let’s revisit first and third-person POV. 

We’ve all heard of the two major narration perspectives in novel writing: first person and third-person. (There’s also second person but less than 0.5% of books are written in that one). To quickly define them:

First-person narration speaks from one person’s mind and perspective as if written like a diary straight from their mouth. It uses I, me, we. 

Ex. I walked to school today. Dana didn’t talk to me. Instead I spent the day with Ashley; we walked home together. 

Third-person narration speaks as if from an unrelated party that follows the main characters around. It’s like that deep narrator voice that comes on before or after many cartoons and says things like, “Superman has saved the town; now our hero is off to his next adventure.” It uses he, she, they.

Ex. She walked to school today. Dana didn’t talk to her. Instead, she spent the day with Ashley; they walked home together. 

(If you’re curious, second-person speaks with you and us and is most often used when writing a letter to someone. Ex. I miss you, do you miss me? Therefore it’s used more rarely in stories as narration, though sometimes this peeks in even in 1st person narration where sometimes the character will address the reader as  “you”, as in the narration.) 

BUT that’s not all we need to know about character perspectives! There’s something about POVs that people forget or don’t understand about third-person perspective that people usually do with first-person. 

To get the most emotional investment, you have to stay in one character’s head at a time, even in third-person.

It’s most obvious in first-person to see when a writer jumps from character to character in the same paragraph, chapter, or book as a whole. 

Let me explain:

Ex. I love her. I look at her across from the quad, wanting to tell her. I love him. I see him staring at me from across the quad. 

Here the confusion is clear. 

First you’re confused because you don’t know what’s going on - those things contradict and don’t make sense next to each other, and somehow later you find that they’re not the same person. 

But say we separate it with a line break or making it two chapters:

Ex. 

I love her. I look at her from across the quad, wanting to tell her. 

   .-,-

I love him. I see him staring at me from across the quad. 

Here, it makes much more sense. Names would make it even easier to discern, but we get the fact that two people are here. 

It is possible to write first-person stories in different characters’ heads, but usually the author will let you know which character is speaking by posting their name before their section or making it very obvious. 

But, what I want to talk about here is that we need to do the same thing in third-person perspectives. 

In 95% of all writing scenarios in fiction prose, it is essential that you stay in one character’s head at a time (per section, chapter, or the entire story). That 5% of scenarios is for where emotional investment is not as important; think of slapstick humor, or stories where we get the rare chapter that follows the bad guy, say in a spy novel, where the chapter is only there to give us exposition. (That’s not to say you can’t write your story in one head at a time 100% of the time, nor is this to say that you’re wrong if you do not. This is just a more impactful way of writing, so I recommend it, but writing is also art, and therefore I would never come out and tell anyone they are doing it wrong.)

Again: this is for prose, not script or playwriting. 

Notice also my mention of: emotional investment. 

This is all about connecting your reader to the story in the strongest way possible.

At this point, you might be wondering something like this: “But if I have a scene with two or more characters, and both of them do something vital in a scene, how do I write it just from one of them?”

Have no fear!

There’s two ways around this: one is to write the scene in one person’s POV, and then in the next chapter, backtrack, and write the same thing from the other character’s POV. If both POVs are super vital, this is really great for that. I’ve done this many times, but it’s not viable for every situation. It works best when, say, the characters were in different locations but talking on the phone, and we get to see what both of them were doing and feeling at the same time. Or, if one or both of the characters are hiding a secret or their intentions from the other character, and we want to backtrack so the audience has both points of view. There’s a lot of reasons to do this, and we’ll go over that a little later. 

Essentially, you’ll choose one person’s POV for each scene, and there’s a special way to decide on that character, and a special way to factor in the other character’s actions and emotions without a flashback.

The second way around it is to commit to one person’s perspective by deciding whose perspective is the most important to the story.

And if you’re wondering but what about the other characters?, I’ve got tricks for that too.

There are many ways to tell the reader what the other characters are doing, thinking and how those other characters feel without being in their head or perspective. 

Sound like witchcraft? 

It… kinda is. 

But first… 

We need to figure out what character’s perspective is the best one to choose, and this is, at least, how I do it.

HOW TO CHOOSE WHICH CHARACTER TO SEE THROUGH

In 95% of prose (that other 5%, again, being more exposition scenes or scenes where it’s not really about emotional investment such as slapstick comedy) we need to choose one character’s POV to follow - one set of eyes to see through at a time. Think of that one character you’re choosing as the camera we’re seeing through. And remember - you can change character POVs throughout your story. Just make sure you make a break in the chapter when you switch, or start a new chapter entirely so that the switch doesn’t confuse your readers. 

But here’s the million dollar question—how do you choose which character to see through?

That is entirely up to you, the writer. 

There’s a few ways you can decide. 

The best way to decide which character POV to use is which character is most essential and interesting to see through? 

That entirely depends on what is going on in your story and what matters to you. 

For example, if the story is about how Aiden goes off to be this champion of motorcycle racing, about his struggles and journey to win the pride of his father, then we probably want to see things through Aiden’s point of view, feel his pride, etc. 

But what if this story is about Lisa? What if Lisa wants to gain her father’s pride, and this moment with Aiden showing off makes her determined enough to go out and get her own license and race against him, winning the race and her father in the end? This chapter from Aiden’s POV doesn’t make sense anymore then. The story is about Lisa, and this is a pivotal moment where she gains enough fire to spur her into action. 

But what if the main character is the father? And this is the moment where his son is beginning to set after the dream he’s always wanted for himself? And the story is about how the father bonds with his son in the way he never did with his own father, achieving a goal he never could himself? In that case, this scene doesn’t make sense in Aiden’s nor Lisa’s POV. 

But what if the mother is the main character? What if the story is about how the mother lost a sibling to a motorcycle accident, and now her son’s dream is to race them of all things, so she sets out to try to stop him from following his dream by sabotaging the championship, and perhaps her relationship with him and her whole family in the process, leading her to have to make a very crucial decision in the climax? In that case, again, no one’s POV makes more sense than hers. 

See how it totally matters on the context?

But, what if the story has two main characters? And you want to spend time with both of them because they both are interesting and essential to see through? What if it’s a sibling rivalry between Aiden and Lisa, and both are important to the story? How do you choose which character’s perspective to take for a scene they’re both in?

I fall into this trap all the time. Often I have more than two characters I want to use for the scene I’m writing. So, how do I choose which POV to take?

If they’re all essential in the scene, then move onto who is the most interesting in this moment? No matter what, someone will be.

Let’s take the example where Aiden and his father have the father’s storyline - where the father wants the son to win a race he lost as a kid.

They’re both main characters who will bond in the story. But in this moment, who is more interesting to experience this moment through? The same way you’d think about what outfit you want to wear today, think of your character POV. Which character seems like more fun to write right now? Which one fits the mood? The theme? Whose thoughts and feelings do we learn from more in this moment? Which character is more emotionally invested?

Well, I think this is the beginning of the story, and later Aiden will learn that his father is trying to live through him rather than support him. But he doesn’t know that in the beginning. So, Aiden’s simply happy. But his father is witnessing the beginning of a second chance. I think I’d take the father’s POV. There’s just more to work with there, and I feel an emotional weight with the father - I’m more interested in the story from that perspective. Basically, I have more to work with and draw on with the father, due to the emotional baggage he has and the ulterior motive. Aiden’s story is a bit more one-dimensional at that point, if we’re going with this context for the story. So I just simply have more pieces to play with with the father, and it’s much more interesting (at least to me).

And if you’re torn on which character to choose, do what I did earlier— write the scene out in each character’s POV separately. You’ll know which ones are more fun to write cause they’ll feel good. They’ll feel right. The ones that aren’t right will be shorter and harder to write. For me, that was the mother. I didn’t feel very interested in her part of the scene. That’s how you narrow them down. 

There will never be a tie.

Someone will win. 

And again—even if it ever does get close to a 50/50 split between characters, you can always backtrack. We’ll talk about that later.

HOW TO SAY WHAT OTHER CHARACTERS ARE DOING AND FEELING THROUGH ONE CHARACTER’S POV

So you’re probably thinking to yourself that if you have to stay in one character’s head at a time, everyone else’s thoughts and feelings and POVs are going to fall off the face of the earth, right? Actually, that doesn’t have to happen!

You can tell the reader what other characters are thinking and feeling even when you’re staying in one character’s head at a time.

This is not as hard as it might seem.

The best way to think about this is to think about how you would describe people sitting in a room with you. 

Say you’re in a waiting room at the DMV. There’s two people waiting beside you: a man and a woman. 

Now if someone asked you what the man was feeling, would you be able to say, “He had his license taken away and was nervous he wouldn’t get it back”? 

Of course not! 

He’s a stranger. And unless he says these words out loud, we have no idea what he’s feeling or thinking. And we certainly can’t literally feel what he’s feeling. 

What we need to do is infer.

We can infer what he’s feeling. If someone is crying, they’re probably upset about something. If someone is tense, they’re probably nervous. If they’re holding a bridal magazine, they’re probably getting married. Do we know this for sure? Of course not. But this is as far as we can get to knowing those people around us, because we are in our own head, and we cannot go into someone else’s.

So, put your main character—let’s call him Jack—in this waiting room. If we have this guy sitting next to him in the waiting room, and he’s all tense, not even leaning back into the chair, and very uptight, what can we infer? The man beside Jack looks like a deer in headlights. He seems to be nervous about something. 

The word seems (or synonyms of it) will be your friend. 

Because if instead we say “The man beside Jack is nervous,” we don’t actually know that. We’re inferring based on what we see. Remember: we only see and feel through one character. 

Let’s take the woman.

There’s a woman waiting next to Jack. The woman is dressed to the nines, and briefly Jack realizes her purse must cost more than his whole apartment. She’s inspecting perfectly manicured nails as if looking for a flaw. She seems to think she’s better than this place. 

More inferring. We’re taking what we see the woman wearing to give her the beginning of a personality, the beginning of us trying to understand what she could be thinking and feeling.

Doesn’t mean we can’t do this:

The woman dials a number on her phone, telling the person on the other line, “Yeah, I’m still waiting. … Look, I don’t know why I had to go and get these stupid clothes and manicure. I hate these nails. I can’t wait to get them off.”

Now we have a totally different personality. Our character was wrong about this woman. You can also show what other characters think and feel through dialogue, just like in the example with the woman on the phone.

This is where we get clever.

Just like what I did with the woman on the phone call, you—the writer—can come up with ways for the main character you’re seeing through to learn what the other characters are thinking and feeling. Using actions or things the other characters do or say, such as talking to our MC or someone else and saying things about what they’re thinking or feeling, or facial expressions, to help denote what they’re feeling. 

This is an example of not staying in Jack’s head:

Jack looked over and saw a woman dressed to the nines. She seemed like she didn’t think she belonged here with the rest of them. 

The woman, Sandra, hated that she had to come here. She was missing an important appointment with a divorce attorney, and she was nervous about it. 

Across the room, Jared, a teenager was anxiously waiting to hear about the state of his license. He didn’t want to lose it for a dumb mistake; his parents were going to kill him.

Jack’s name was called, and he got up.

Here’s the same thing in Jack’s head:

The earlier examples of just staying in Jack’s head helped to keep us grounded in him more; this way around feels very surface-y. 

WHAT TO DO WHEN YOU WANT TO GIVE MORE THAN ONE CHARACTER POV IN THE SAME SECTION

The first option you can choose is what I mentioned earlier; you can just do the same section twice, from both perspectives. I’ve used this for phone conversations a lot, to show what was happening on the other side of the line: 

Damien shook his head to himself, sitting alone at the restaurant his brother was supposed to meet him at an hour ago. He dialed his number and waited as it rang.

“Hello?”

Damien’s brows kneaded at his brother’s voice; he sounded weird.

“Jack?” asked Damien. “Where are you? You were supposed to be here an hour ago,” he said, the accusation falling heavily.

There was a pause from the other line, and Damien’s anger was traded for suspicion… and concern. But before he could ask, Jack said hollowly, “I’m… in a little pickle, here. Can you come pick me up?”

Damien sighed, signaling for the waitress to bring the check for the drink he ordered. “Why?” he asked Jack, already knowing he wasn’t going to like the answer; his reckless little brother tended to get into these “pickles” often. “What did you do now?” he asked with an exasperated sigh.

Now, let’s see what was happening on the other line:

Jack’s phone suddenly rang; it was Damien. 

Uh oh; his brother was going to kill him for being late. 

Jack reluctantly picked up the call, panting hard from where he was stuck under the ladder that fell on him two hours ago. “Hello?” he coughed out.

“Jack?” came the confused voice on the other line. It was his brother; Damien. “Where are you? You were supposed to be here an hour ago.” 

Jack winced, trying and failing to free himself from the ladder pinning him down. “I’m… in a little pickle, here. Can you come pick me up?”

“Why?” asked Damien, but Jack could already hear suspicion in his tone. Then, an exasperated sigh. “What did you do now?”

If we kept this in the same scene, we miss the emotion, and we also miss the mystery. I, personally, love the fact that if the Damien perspective comes first, we don’t know what’s wrong with Jack yet, and we’re confused along with Damien. 

Also notice things in this like “Jack could already hear suspicion in his tone.” This is another way you can be in Jack’s perspective, but tell us how Damien’s feeling. He hears suspicion in his brother’s voice, rather than coming out and saying Damien is suspicious. Or, Jack hears an exasperated sigh from Damien, rather than saying Damien is exasperated. 

Plus, you can also have the characters simply just assume what the other is thinking or feeling. That’s such a human thing to do, and it makes your narration feel even more relatable.

This same technique works even if we don’t have a phone conversation in separate locations, and instead just want to see both perspectives so that we the reader have the whole picture, even if the characters themselves are still stuck inferring.

There’s a bunch of ways to do this, and relying on inferring things about the other characters is really key. When you only see through one character at a time, it’s all about what that character thinks about the other characters, what they assume, what they suspect. But that makes the story even more interesting and clever in its own right, because when the reader isn’t entirely sure what’s going on either (in a suspenseful way), it makes the story that much more satisfying. Even if the main character draws wrong conclusions and then later realizes they’re wrong. There’s so much room for interest and character development.

So, you don’t have to write this way; you can feel free to continue writing in all the characters’ heads at a time. 

But if you do want to keep readers even more engaged, to really get them emotionally invested and allow them to live vicariously through your story, then I really do recommend trying this on for size. :) 

[cosette141]

ahhh ITS SO GREAT 🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰 you are so great at drawing!! this story was so much fun to write, its so amazing to have such a perfect visual now! <3 thanks so so so much star! <3

thank you so much for sharing!! I will cherish it always 🥰🥰🥰

drew fanart for @cosette141 fic, Shawn Walks Into A Bank!!!

so, spoilers ahead!!!

anyways!!! here's the link https://archiveofourown.org/works/13524783/chapters/31024230

Cosette is literally an amazing fanfic writer and I highly recommend reading all her fics!!!! (she has a bunch they are so so so good and so so so whumpy and amazing)

[cosette141]

Looks like they are currently working on the problem. Fanfic.net is NOT dead. They are NOT hanging us out to dry.

[cosette141]

I was going through my captain swan tag and saw a fic that you did that was about Killian regaining his hand for the date in 4x4. It was awesome but was kind of disappointed to see no new chapters. No harm done at all, just kind of like, ah man. In any case, just letting you know I loved the fic and would love if an update comes. (No pressure, I’m struggling to update my own WIP)

awe ahaha thanks! that's really sweet! <3

i definitely did forget about that one being unfinished for a hot second 😅 but I have a few ouat fics that're unfinished on ao3 as well and about a dozen unposted ones I'm definitely still planning to get back to! My muse is taking a vacation from ouat at the moment but it will circle back!! Hopefully in a few months or something haha, but for sure I'll be back :D

thanks for the ask, it means a lot that you liked the story! <3

wishing muse fairy dust to you as well for your wips!! :)

[cosette141]

[cosette141]

Before and After: a Rewrite of a 9-Year Old Fic :)

Comparing my 2015 writing (from a Psych fic called "Space") to my 2024 writing as I revise this old fanfic!

When I found a 9-year-old fanfic of mine again and couldn't stop cringing, I decided to give it a makeover, and here's a before and after of a section :D

ORIGINAL (2015):

"Get him up."

Shawn woke with a start. He winced as his head erupted in pain and his eyes cracked open. Someone had just dropped him onto solid concrete. Shawn shut his eyes, cringing from the throbbing headache. What happened? Everything was a painful blur.

"Get up."

Shawn felt a sharp kick to his back and he opened his eyes again. He was lying in the middle of an empty parking lot, the cold concrete almost soothing his pain. Everything hurt. The world was spinning.

NEWLY REVISED (2024):

Shawn’s eyes shot open, sharp agony thrusting him gracelessly into a world of pain.

A groan caught somewhere in his throat as he blinked, but his vision was a blurred kaleidoscope of gray and black— concrete? —yet the daylight only made the his pounding head more excruciating. He screwed his eyes shut, barely holding in another groan. Even with his eyes shut, the world was spinning, and Shawn desperately tried not to be sick.

“Wake up.”

The sudden voice from above him, male and unfamiliar, made Shawn’s eyes snap back open. And suddenly he realized what caused the fresh pain and the abrupt wakefulness—he’d been dropped or thrown to the ground. Yes—this cold, hard, unforgiving thing was, in fact, the ground.

That didn’t yet explain why the world was still spinning. (Other than the scientific fact that the world was spinning constantly that Gus would remind him of if he were here.) Was Gus here? Was this the Mexican border? Is this payback?

Better question: where was here?

Shawn shut his eyes again, cringing from the vicious headache. Upgrade that mild concussion from the Elin case to… whatever came after severe.

-.-.-.

AO3 link (but I'm not done revising it yet so if you read it, I'd suggest marking for later until about July 2024 to get a better reading experience haha)

My thoughts about the revision:

Back in 2015, this was my 2nd fanfic I'd ever written, my first for Psych, and I definitely can see now how much more I leaned toward "telling" than showing. Also, how little descriptiveness I used when it came to emotions.

Ultimately the biggest change I think in my writing is how nowadays I try my best to write "through a character", as if the narrative is through their eyes, feeling what they're feeling through all five senses, telling the story through their filter of what the character is currently going through. So these days if I have a concussed or confused character, I'd want to lean more toward having the narrative describe the situation in more of a roundabout way, so that the reader themselves are struggling to understand what's going on along with the character. I love stories where the reader feels like they're literally the character, or feeling exactly what they're feeling, and that I feel was really missing from the original version.

Instead of just saying "his head erupted in pain", describing the visceral experience of it was missing. A head injury is more than just pain--it's confusion, dizziness, lack of focus and memory, and a lot of that description was missing too. Rambling narratives are great for showing a confused or panicked character, and this character in particular is already known for yammering on a lot so I definitely had to add some of that in, haha.

This has been such a fun thing to do to revisit, haha. :D

[cosette141]

Nice. Week. Kbrown

[cosette141]