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sir that’s my emotional support story that I’ve been working on for five years that still has no conceivable plot

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Sometimes people like to write things about florist’s shops.  Here are two things you need to know, the most egregiously wrong things.

1. It makes no fucking sense to sketch out a bouquet before you make it.  Every individual flower is different in a way that cannot really be adjusted the way other building materials can be adjusted, and each individual bouquet is unique.  Just put the fucking flowers together.

2. No one — in months and months of working at the flower shop — has ever cared what the flower/color of the flower means.  No one’s ever asked.  It’s just not something people tend to care about outside of fiction and it’s certainly not something most florists know.  You know what florists know?  What looks good and is thematically appropriate.

Here’s an actual list of the symbology of flowers, as professionals use it:

Yellow – for friends, hospitals Pink – girls, girlfriends, babies, bridesmaids Red – love Purple – queens White – marriage and death (DO NOT SEND TO HOSPITALS) Pink and purple – ur mum Red, orange, and yellow – ur mum if she’s stylish Red, yellow, blue – dudes and small children Blue and white – rare, probably a wedding Red and white – love for fancy bitches

Here are what the flowers actually mean to a florist:

The Fill It Out flowers:

Carnations – fuck u these are meaningless filler-flowers, not even your administrative assistant likes them, show some creativity Alstroemeria – by and large very similar to carnations but I like them better Tea roses – cute and lil and come several to a stalk, a classy filler flower Moluccella laevis – filler flower but CHOICE Delphinium – not as interesting as moluccella but purple so okay I guess Blue thistle – FUCK YEAH, some fucking textural variety at last!  you’re getting this for a dude, aren’t you? Chrysanthemums – barely better than carnations but better is still better Gladiolus – ooh, risky business, someone understands the use of the Y-axis, very good

Focal points:

Long-stem roses – yeah whatever Lilies – LBD, looks good with everything, get used as often as possible Hydrangeas – thirsty fuckers, divas of the flower world and rightly so, treat them right and they make you look good Gerbera daisies – the rose’s hippie cousin, hotter but no one admits it Peonies – CHA-CHING, everybody’s absolute favorite but you need guap Orchids – if this isn’t for a wedding you’re probably trying too hard but they’re expensive so keep ordering them

You know what matters?  THE CUSTOMER’S BUDGET.  THAT’S TELLING.

-$20 – if you’re not under 12, fuck off, get your sugar something else $30 – good for bouquets but an arrangement will be lame $40 – getting there, there’s something that can be done with that.  you can get some gerbs or roses with that and not have them look stupidly solo. $50 to $70 – tolerable $80 – FINALLY.  It sounds elitist but this really is the basic amount of money you should expect to spend on an arrangement that matters.  That’s your Mother’s Day arrangement.  You’re probably not going to spend $80 on a bouquet. $90 to $130 – THE GOOD SHIT, you’re likely to get some orchids $130+  – Weddings and death.  This amount of money gets you a memorial arrangement or a handmade bridal bouquet.  Don’t spend this on a Mother’s Day or a Babe I Love You arrangement, buy whosits a massage or something.

Miscellaneous:

Everything needs greening and if you don’t think that you’re an idiot. 

As a new employee, when you start making arrangements, you can’t see the mistakes you’re making because you’re brand new and you’re learning an art form from the ground up.

With a few exceptions customers don’t have a clear plan in mind.  They want you to develop the bouquet for them.  They want something that will delight their little sweetbread but you’re lucky if they know that person’s favorite color, let alone flower.

Flower shops don’t typically have every kind of flower in every kind of color.  Customers generally aren’t assed about that.  Most people don’t care about the precise shade of the rose or having daffodils in July, because they’re not boning up on flower language before they buy.  That would imply that they’ve got a clear bouquet in mind and, again, they don’t.

Being a florist is essentially a lot like what I imagine being a mortician is about.  You’re basically keeping dead things looking good for as long as possible.  You keep the product in the fridge so it doesn’t rot and look horrible by the time the family gets a whack at it, and in the meanwhile you put it in a nice container.

Anyway that’s flowers.

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Me: *writing*

Me: *reads what I just wrote*

Me: Huh. Well, that’s clearly foreshadowing.

Me, the author: I wonder what of…

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“On the 12th day of Christmas the pine trees gave to me, 12 hidden hours, a secret third half to each day as the sun ringed the horizon, when we could finally admit what’s in our hearts because not a word of it would be remembered

11 daytime stars, dark points in a bright sky, a constellation pointing me to the lands I imagined were there as a child, making it impossible to ignore them again

10 ancient poisons, each dose just barely strong enough to kill a moment’s worth of doubt, brewed from indigo flowers that were harvested to extinction during an age that was starved for heroes

9 words of warning, whispered within the songs of crickets and scrawled in my own handwriting between the stars: “The sea will be your only refuge from them”

8 caves of silver, carved by miners who left behind the precious metal either because something all the more seductive was calling to them from below, or because they were only seeking to hide from something calling to them from above

7 amber statues, depicting those who would be my enemies in the years to come, so that by contemplating their sad smiles I could be ready for them, forgive them before we even met, and perhaps, understand why one of them was me

6 guardian snowmen, absolutely still and forever unblinking, their eyes locked on the sky, ready to cry out at the sight of an approaching figure from the void, so that I can finally rest from my vigil

5 GOLD RINGS

4 wooden coins, the currency of the seasons, just enough to pay for a single summer to turn to autumn, to wrap the world in darkling sweetness as the storms and frost drown out the sun

3 bone pins, carved from the skeletons of long-extinct creatures, which would ward against misfortune, having already been tempered with all the bad luck they could endure

2 loyal dogs, skyhounds who will never stop seeking out crashed starships and time travelers, eager as they are to take me away from this planet and show me the silent wonders of their playground universe

And a wooden crown beset with lake stones, a priceless heirloom of the Forest King himself, given as a test of my humility, to see if I would cast it aside and accept my place among the quiet pine trees”

-QuietPineTrees

Merry Christmas, everyone.

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I would like to direct you to this post here (and I just reblogged it on this blog to save it forever...): 

http://inkskinned.com/post/168756887749/writing-prompt-s-at-18-everyone-receive-a

I recommend this on every level a story can be told at. The interweaving of multiple character’s threads, the second person perspective (fuck? a lot of pros do second person horribly) that flips gently to first person right at the end, the unique voice, the concise length, the fascinating worldbuilding, and the details deliberately left out. 

May I also draw your attention to the fact that this fill has a very loose definition of capitalization. The phrasing is distinct, choppy and complete sentences are not required. There’s a loose relationship to structure and grammar, but every bit of it is understandable and, in a lot of ways, very visceral in a way that fully structured prose is not. As a style, it’s messy, but feels very immediate. 

BUT, MY POINT--and the reason I wanted this as it’s own post and not like, added to the post itself to take away from the story--is that writing book or a short story is about story first. This, however nonconforming the style, is a properly told story. Whatever you’re writing, however you’re writing it, your goal is to be evocative within the medium. Focus on that first. How are you spinning your yarn for us, unfolding the story so that everything we learn is learned at just the right time (or not at all)? 

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At 18, everyone receive a superpower. Your childhood friend got a power-absorption, your best friends got time control, and they quickly rise into top 100 most powerful superheroes. You got a mediocre superpower, but somehow got into the top 10. Today they visit you asking how you did it.

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squid’s laws of fic (not inclusive)

first law: write the fic you wish to see in the world aka goddammit do I have to do everything myself around here

second law: it’s going to be longer than you think. much longer. hahaha so long. why are you crying 

third law: the time spent writing is inversely proportional to the amount of smut present, dammit

fourth law: flesh out your secondary characters. make them real people. have them take over. oh god. put them back. somebody please help 

fifth law: the time spent researching canon is directly proportional to the amount of time you’ll spend altering your plot. that one person on the internet 

sixth law: the time spent researching in general will eclipse the time you spend writing. the nsa agent monitoring your internet search history is curled up in a corner. his boss wants to know if you’re a threat. “I don’t know,” the agent sobs. “I just really don’t know.” 

seventh law: at some point, someone will ask what your favorite hobby is. you will feign a heart attack to get away

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To add to this: sometime this happens again after you’ve leveled up your skill. Your eye and desire will level up and the process starts over. Don’t worry, you will stagger your way to being awesome.

Writers: Your Skills May Need Time to Catch Up to Your Vision

Are you endlessly frustrated with most things you write? Do you find writing difficult, nay, impossible? Do you get the most fabulous ideas, only to find that executing them is incredibly challenging? That’s actually a good sign.

If you’re a new writer, and you have good taste, ambition, and originality, it’s going to take a while for your skill set to catch up to your vision.

If your story is difficult to write, it’s not a sign that you should quit or change your idea. Keep writing, keep reading, keep practicing, keep studying, keep learning, keep writing, keep writing, keep writing.

I repeat: If writing is hard for you, it does NOT mean you are a bad writer. If your story is difficult to write, it does NOT mean your idea is bad.

It means you have a complex vision and you haven’t developed the skills you need to pull it off yet.

Many times, you’ll gain those skills in the very process of writing your story. Other times, you’ll have to put down that story for a few weeks, months, or even years until your skills catch up.

The process can be slow, but your abilities will catch up with your ambition if you keep writing. So keep going forward. It’s cool if you get discouraged: That’s part of the process, too. But please don’t quit.

One more thing: Don’t throw away or delete anything. Keep all your writing, including ideas and first drafts that went nowhere. I have stories I started five years ago that I’m just now able to carry out as I had originally intended. If you get that you didn’t have a bad idea, just a skill you haven’t developed yet, then you’ll be less tempted to throw away your writing in frustration or shame. And in the future when you develop the skills you need, you’ll be really glad you have them to go back to.

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Writer friends, mutuals and followers: you are all treasures.

As are the stories you weave, both original and inspired by other works. And It goes unsaid far too often. For every scene that extends my favourite worlds that much further, for every character you breathe life into, for every piece of yourself you have shared: thank you.

As an outsider, I can see that there is a huge lack of feedback when it comes to writers and their work. I have read the most stunning stories on here, most of which received little attention. I promise you that it is not down to the quality of your work, and that you should never doubt yourself over it. 

People like content that is quick to consume. Stories are not. They take time to craft and patience to read, but have a lasting effect that can’t be matched. The afterglow of lingering words and haunting plots, of lines that never leave you… It’s magic. It’s awesome. It’s something to be cherished. 

Please remember that, please take pride in it and please keep writing.

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I realized about halfway through that a lot of my Favorite Female Characters are from when I was bitty and that I immediately started with my deep favs rather than with recent favorites. The deep favs each made such a huge impact on me that I’ve carried them with me into my adulthood. Also, the kind of characters I’m drawn to at different times in my life really shifts and changes from pretty entirely heroic and role-model-esque to complicated and crunchy and interesting and playful.

Utena Tenjou. From Revolutionary Girl Utena, the (really excellent) anime. She had a major fucking impact on tiny High School me. She decided to be a prince, and then she acted like one, and that ended up like half of my value system right there. There were three VHS (not even a whole arc) at my video store, and the character hit me like a bag of trucks.

She-Hulk. I haven’t caught up on her new stuff, but I’ve read her comics (she’s a Marvel hero) up to the 80s and she loves being tall and intimidating and imposing and I sure as hell can relate. She’s awesome and can both beat people in the court of law AND punch the shit out of them.  

Rhapsody. I love her???? So much??? She’s from the Symphony of the Ages by Elizabeth Hayes, and she’s basically the best. She rolls up her sleeves over her skinny little arms and wades directly into the bullshit to do everything she can to make things right. She suits her actions to her values and her integrity is through the roof even when she makes mistakes and trusts too easily and falls in love with idiots. 

Cimorene. Princess/Queen Cimorene of the Enchanted Forest Chronicles, starting with Dealing with Dragons. She’s a princess who runs away to live with a dragon because she’s done fed up with all the bullshit being a princess puts her through. And she’s compassionate and resourceful and pragmatic and ends up learning how to lead people so she ultimately makes a pretty damn good Queen. Just, you know, her way, pursuing her own interests.

Jane, Stewardess of the Airlines. That’s...actually the name of her book. Jane, Stewardess of the Airlines. And it’s amazing. It’s one of the best best adventure books for kids I’ve ever read. Jane graduates as a nurse with her bestie, and is immediately hired to be one of the first stewardesses. So she’s highly trained and competent, and over the course of the book she rescues people with her hard-won medical skills, fights off kidnappers, learns to fly, plays a stunt double in a movie, and all sorts of fun. I just love adventure stories, and Jane’s is at the top of my favorites.

Marian Yaslana. From the Black Jewels series by Anne Bishop, she’s a secondary character, and I just adore her. She’s another of the pragmatic types, but I love her character arc in her little romance novelette, and I love her determination, and I love that she’s a quiet heroine. Determined and fierce and compassionate, but probably not going to go toe-to-toe to save the world (though she’d damn well try if she had to). 

Samantha Carter. From Stargate! She’s a scientist and military and she struggles with trying to be seen as badass as she is when she saves the day every other day and should probably be in charge of everything but still sort of suffers from impostor syndrome even as she’s fighting with people because she’s right and being amazing and and and I have a lot of incoherent feelings about Samantha Carter. Especially that she is, honestly, not a perfect character (either as the character herself, or in the writing of her character) and that’s really interesting to me. 

Vala Mal Doran. From Stargate also! (Even though I wasn’t originally planning to do two characters from the same series.) This is really silly, but I love her pigtails. And just. Her being her. Vulnerable and clever and very much a trickster-type, even if she doesn’t always win out with her schemes. I am very aware that she’s not always the most well-written, but I still want to squirrel her away and keep her. She’s a pirate and a thief and just so very much fun and everyone needs fun in their lives.

Ana Amari. From Overwatch, actually. There’s not a lot of canon for her except around the edges. A comic, some voice lines, the implications in her costuming and the little novelty spraypaint thingies you get in-game. Bits and pieces from other characters. But she’s like...a mom character who is also demonstrably the most bad-ass sniper in-world and one of her kids is a character in the game and as many times as I’ve heard some of the dialogue (so many times, ffs) she has multiple complicated relationships with the other characters, history, and...just, she is a really good character and I love her. And she makes MOM JOKES?! That are like...the stupid ones?! It’s great. And her taunts/etc in game are so wonderfully mom-joke condescending (Do you need someone to tuck you in?), like she’s built to be able to give as much shit as is required in an fps completely in character, and it just pleases me so much. And she likes tea and only has one eye and when she uses her sleep dart on her daughter during her ult when Pharah’s shouting, “Justice rains from above!” she says, “I think justice could use a little nap,” and it’s great.

Kitty Norville. So I love me some urban fantasy something fierce, and Kitty Norville is from the Kitty Norville series by Carrie Vaughn (who lived near me in Colorado and I would sometimes see when I was out shopping, very exciting). Kitty is a werewolf and it’s GREAT. I am very far behind on the series because I have trouble keeping up, but there are like fifteen or so of them now. The reason I love her (besides the fact that she’s just generally amazing) is that she’s an extrovert. She’s very, very proactive and hunts down things to get involved in, but she...likes people and likes talking to people. She’s a lot of fun and I really should catch up on her series. 

(Honorable Mentions: The Janets and Jade!) Janet Fraiser (Stargate) and Janet Van Dyne (Marvel) and Jade (Books of the Raksura). This is very difficult for me not to continue this list every time I think of a remembered favorite character that’s more recent that the deep favs. But! Janet Frasier is great, Janet Van Dyne is delightful, and Jade is wonderful. And these don’t mention my favorite Stargate Atlantis characters or my Trek characters that I love or Leverage or Person of Interest or Wheel of the Infinite or Outlander or BBC Merlin or...just. I’ma stop there. 

I’m terrible at tagging. So. If you’re actually reading this, please fill out this meme! I tag you. :) 

Top 10 Favorite Female Characters!!

Hey everyone!! I was tagged by the always lovely @ellasnotebook to do a top 10 favorite female characters tag :) it’s sort of self explanatory with the title, so here we go!!

1. Ellen Ripley (The Alien Franchise) - So this series has been with me since I was a youngun and my father showed it to me when I was around ten or eleven. From there, Ripley’s combination of intelligence and pure badassery definitely makes her my favorite all time woman character of all time, played by my all-time woman, Sigourney Weaver

2. Princess Leia (Star Wars) - Ok, you’re probably already noticing a trend, yes I like 70s-90s women in movies, sue me. I feel like Leia almost doesn’t need an introduction. She carries herself like a queen, speaks like one, acts like one, and I would totally let her punch me in the face.

3. Sarah Connor (The Terminator Franchise) - LAST ONE I SWEAR, Sarah is sort of this militant force but is also a mother and loves her son/leader of the rebellion. She takes nobody’s shit and even breaks herself out of an asylum in my all time favorite movie, Terminator 2: Judgement Day.

4. Luna Lovegood (Harry Potter) - Not only is she a smart Ravenclaw, but she made me, and the rest of the world, fall in love with being weird. She wasn’t afraid to do what she wanted and say what she thought, and that was powerful for me as a kid just like it’s powerful for me today.

5. Weiss Schnee (RWBY) - I have a feeling a lot of you don’t watch RWBY (first of all, why??), but Weiss definitely deserves to be on this list. She may be heiress to a fortune, but that doesn’t mean she isn’t incredibly intelligent, caring, and powerful. Also she’s my wife, so.

6. Alphys (Undertale) - MY MAIN GAL AAAGH I just love her so much!! No one shall touch my dinosaur babe, she’s probably one of the most relatable characters ever

7. Pidge Holt (Voltron: Legendary Defender) - I can’t believe after only a couple months Pidge is making this list, but I feel like now that I’m ENTRENCHED in the fandom, I’m able to assert my right and put her on here. If any of you wonder what I’m like in real life, I’m the exact same as Pidge. No, I swear. Ask anyone.

8. Zelda/Shiek (The Legend of Zelda) - This is gonna seem super weird but I actually really like these gals…a lot?? Especially Sheik, I’ve always thought she was sooooo cool, like that was the ideal badassery I wished to achieve some day.

9. Mallory Archer (Archer) - If you guys haven’t watched this show, you have to, first of all. Second of all, Mallory is definitely who I want to be when I’m older, cool and yelling at my kids to do my dirty work for me. Those’ll be the days.

10. Storm (X-Men) - Now that we’re on the topic of childhood heroes, I definitely have to put Storm on this list. One, she can control the weather, which is basically instantly the coolest power ever. Also, she has this quiet sense of authority that I find really interesting.

-

I’m tagging @origami-ing, @lisa-writing, @feeling-2016 , @shipthedame, @oliviagordonreads, @the-bookdevourer , @johnwatsonsleftnipple, @landofgay @writingevil, and @lucidcat

Have fun!! :D

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Oh gosh, how delightful is this! I’m very lazy, so I’m just gonna...answer the questions. :grins: 

Briiieeeff explanation of story: Scifantasy where an ex-cop gets caught between two superpowered factions, both of which try to woo her (literally and figuratively). 

It’s Halloween night! What is your protagonist dressed up as?

Something low-key, like a closet costume where she threw on a mishmash of her weirdest clothes and rolled out to the party like that. Like the armwarmers clearly make her an 80′s popstar, or she goes in all black and finds plastic fangs at the grocery store and goes as a ‘vampire’ that looks just like everyone else, or she draws lines on her face and calls herself a robot. She’s also wearing make-up, which nobody knew she even owned, and that’s how everyone knows it’s supposed to be a costume.

Who in your cast refuses to dress up and shows up at the Halloween party without a costume?

Jackie, probably, leader of the protag faction. She’s, uh, sort of staid. The burden of leadership and all that. Just give her some alcohol and put a party hat on her and she’ll be content.

Which character wears the most outrageous costume, and what would it be?  

Oh lordy, definitely Shelly, one of the protag faction. She’s like the oldest person at the party and long ago gave up on shame as boring. She’d probably go to the party in a confection of hoopskirts and tulle. Glinda, the good witch of the north, everyone’s fairy godmother. Like. Full crown and wings, the works. All out. She also has the best candy. 

On Halloween, werewolves, vampires, and zombies are on the prowl. Which of your characters get caught in their clutches, and which creature do they subsequently turn into?  

...my protag would def get caught and turned into a werewolf. She’s just. She’s very fierce, and she’s be like ‘fight me’ to the wolves and it would end poorly for EVERYONE.

Who wins the contest for best costume?  

My primary antag. Hands down. He’s very, very into making a spectacle of himself and loooves the attention. If he wanted to win, he’d make sure he’d win. Even Shelly’s Glinda costume wouldn’t come close.

Who hands out toothbrushes to the trick and treaters?

Maggie, one of the antag faction. She’s the totally done one who just wants to be left alone. If toothbrushes are what it takes to gently encourage people to never darken her doorstep again, she will hand out toothbrushes.

Which two of your characters decide to pair up and do an angel/devil costume together?

I’m crying laughing forever at this question, because no hesitance: Rose and Sunny. Rose’d be the devil and Sunny the angel. Everyone who saw them would also know that those costumes were totally only going to make it to the bedroom that night and no further. The electric tension between them could power the block for a week, even though nobody sees them kiss at the party.

Someone is too scared to even attend the Halloween party. Who is it?

Prettyboy! He’s sort of hapless, and he doesn’t really do well in crowds. He’s not exactly an introvert, he just has crazy amounts of anxiety. So...not scared, but definitely not coming unless protag drags him. Which she might, poor kid. He needs so many hugs.

Who overdoses on Halloween candy and ends up sick?

Shelly. Did I mention she has no chill? She has no chill. She 100% knows better than to make herself sick with candy, but that won’t stop her.

Which character is most likely to place a curse/hex on someone and who would they curse?

Rose. Rose would hex people ten ways from Sunday in a heartbeat. She’d curse my protag, my antag, and maybe a little curse for both Jackie and Shelly whenever she’s particularly annoyed with them. She’s an equal-opportunity curser. Nothing nasty, she just doesn’t see why she should have to take shit from anyone when its well within her power to take care of the problem with a bitty little hex. 

ALL HALLOWS WRITE tag!

Originally found here. Came across it on @writeblrconnections . Noone tagged me but I like the game.

The Rules:

#1 – Provide a BRIEF description of your novel before starting.

#2 – Don’t use the same character for more than 3 answers.

The Questions:

It’s Halloween night! What is your protagonist dressed up as?

Me: So what are you wearing to the costume party?

Amarra–> Do I have to go? *sigh* Fine, a gypsy… maybe.

Tara–> Queen of Hearts. Adds to  the fun of saying ‘Off with their heads’

Rehaan–> Nothing. Why should we even wear costumes?

Niharika–> Tara. Can’t wait to see the look on her face when she finds out. It’s not going to be her prim and proper version. I’ll make sure that it makes everyone laugh. *dramatic evil laugh*

Avni–> Rosie the Riveter

Who in your cast refuses to dress up and shows up at the Halloween party without a costume? 

Rehaan.

Which character wears the most outrageous costume, and what would it be? 

Niharika

On Halloween, werewolves, vampires, and zombies are on the prowl. Which of your characters get caught in their clutches, and which creature do they subsequently turn into? 

Tara will probably get caught by the werewolves and turn into one. She’ll be back leading the pack.

Who wins the contest for best costume? 

Tara, mainly because the judges are scared to let her lose.

Who hands out toothbrushes to the trick and treaters?

Which two of your characters decide to pair up and do an angel/devil costume together?

Niharika would have chosen to be the Devil and make her best friend Amarra the angel but she had better plans.

Someone is too scared to even attend the Halloween party. Who is it?

Amarra. She of the people and not the costumes but she goes anyways for Niharika.

Who overdoses on Halloween candy and ends up sick?

Rehaan. It’s also because Avni told him to have some self-control.

Which character is most likely to place a curse/hex on someone and who would they curse?

Once at the party, Tara would definitely curse Niharika for her mocking costume.

I’d like to tag @lisa-writing @the-bookdevourer  @byjillianmaria  @brynwrites @ava-burton-writing  @courtlesssapphire

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My recent dislike is antagonists that are there simply to be two-dimensional cutouts to hold the opposite opinion from the protagonists. Like, I understand villains being villains. Muhahaha and all that, time to take over the world, etc. and so on.

But when the protagonists are nuanced and gray-shaded and complicated, and the antagonists are just essentially yelling ‘no’ over and over until the protags cover their ears and do what they were going to do anyways...

Just. So frustrating. SO FRUSTRATING. 

I’ve been reading a lot of fic recently, and this is sort of a common pitfall. It’s especially annoying when they take a character who is a protag in canon and make them an antag with this type of non-characterization. 

Like. Why. Why on earth. 

Dislikes game

I want to get to know some of my followers so I’ve decided to start asking questions and hopefully get a discussion going. Today’s question is bout dislikes  What’s a dislike you discovered through reading or writing? Something that had surprised you, that maybe you hadn’t thought about. Reblog and tag if you want to.

I’ll go first. I curse in my every day speech and it doesn’t bother me. Recently I’ve read some books by Jennifer Fallon and I have learned that I do not like reading the word ‘bitch’ in my reading. It irked me every time I saw it.

What are yours?

@the-bookdevourer @awritersnest @courtlesssapphire @ava-burton-writing @mcfrankauthor @taylormayemorrison @roninwritingofficial @brynwrites

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With NaNoWriMo only a month away, I figured I would create a small calendar to help bring others together through a mix of fun and preparation. While making this, I did my best to keep it genre neutral so it didn’t sway towards one or another, which was admittedly hard since I write fantasy. When I did start to sway, my dear writing group corrected me.

You don’t have to follow this exactly, you can change certain days to fit what you’re working on or mix them around. This is just meant to be as a guideline. 

I will be attempting to do my own creation, so you can keep a look out. I will be following the tag the-bookdevourer, so you can either drop my username in your tags or tag me directly if you’d like me to check your stuff out. If not, it doesn’t bother me. 

All I hope for is that everyone spends the month of prepping having fun and finding friends along the way! :)

If anyone can’t read what’s in the boxes, just message me and I’ll send you a list of what they say. If enough people message me, I’ll simply release a text version of them.

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There’s also the option, if you wanna take it, of an indie publisher or small publisher, rather than one of the big traditional publishers. The indies do good work, but you’d still have to share your revenue, and most don’t have the same reach as the tradpubs. Still, there is something to be said for their marketing options and having a team to back you up. It’s...you gotta weigh everything, but it’s not just tradpub vs. selfpub now that there are more avenues for distribution, and even indies can get your books on shelves and in libraries through print-on-demand systems. Like, if you put your book in ingram, everyone can get a hold of it, and that’s just part of the system now and available to you if you take the steps.

But! My point! Right! Some of the ones indies/small publishers with good reputations are absolutely 100% on the lookout for just about every ‘niche demographic’ type book out there. Publishing is glacially slow, and a sea-change in publishing is worse, but there’s now much more of a landscape between tradpub and selfpub that you might want to investigate once you’re at the querying stage. :) 

the960writers replied to your post “I need to get this rant off my chest”

I’m the first to admit that tumblr has a skewing of perspective thing going on but maybe it’s just a stronger lens for something that happens. Which is a convoluted way of saying that the rest of the world might follow tumblr’s ideas eventually too. Meaining, (gods can she come to the point already) if you write it, they will come. Or something like that. someone take this reply away from me.

I think I see where you’re going with this! I mean, Tumblr is generally young and young people as a whole are generally open minded, or at least more so than older generations. I’m hoping that being open-minded is something that I’ll be able to find outside Tumblr when I go to publish and, as much as I worry, I think I will find it. My demographic might not be “everyone”, but I think there are plenty of people who would want to read this. Others who are lgbt+ too, yes, but I also think straight (probably young) women would, as well. Women generally read vastly and widely. I guess what I’m saying is that I need to not worry that my demographic is like three people lol. My one friend, who’s a little further along in the publishing side of things than I am (basically he’s at the critiquing and querying stage, I’m still bogged down in endless drafts and rewrites), seems to think I’m going to have a hard time publishing and will have to self-publish. I know why- as a straight white dude, it doesn’t appeal to him. Of course it doesn’t, he’s not my demographic. He’s pretty much the opposite of my demographic lol. (Not that straight white dudes can’t enjoy it- my husband loves my stories, but he’s also incredibly open-minded and aware of things in a way a lot of dudes aren’t.) But just because the people books have been written by/for for centuries isn’t my demographic, it doesn’t mean that I won’t have readers. I need to stay confident that my stories will find the people they’re meant for and the people who would enjoy them. :) Yeah, I might ultimately decide to self-publish, but that doesn’t have to be my only option. Now I’m rambling. Help. XD

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Do you know any writing hashtags or communities on twitter?

#MSWL - the Manuscript Wishlist tag, which only editors and agents can post in, is a tag that allows writers to see what editors and agents are currently looking for

#amwriting - for writers who are writing

#amediting - for writers/agents/editors who are editing

#tenqueries - a tag in which agents review ten query letters by saying why they rejected or accepted them (there are other variations of this)

#whattoread - book recommendations

#WIP - for writers and their works in progress

#querytip - tips for writing query letters

#litchat - posts about books and whatnot

#storystarter - a type of writing prompt tag

#askagent/#askeditor - self-explanatory

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How to Write Characters in Realistic Polyamorous Relationships

Earlier this week, an anonymous follower asked: Any advice for writing a REALISTIC poly relationship?

Friend, you are in luck. As a polyamorous person, I’m always looking for more stories that include good poly representation! So first, we’re going to dig into some information about what poly is and what it isn’t, go over some vocabulary, and discuss how polyamorous relationships function in the real world, and then I’ll get into some dons and don’ts for writing polyamorous relationships. Read on under the cut!

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