#Happenstance and Magic
Explore tagged Tumblr posts
Text
More than just the Demon.
#ffxiv#digital art#zenos yae galvus#venat#endwalker spoilers#will forever be fascinated with this man#look guys look- the literal embodiment of wol's wings of hope LOL (and me going hehe about that and footfalls)#the part of me that adores digging into the nuance of character writing (intentional or otherwise) is just latched onto zenos#and venat-- they cant just give us two characters who get really important 1v1 duels#and ask really important questions#and love the MC and are willing to risk themselves so unconditionally#and have them not live rent free in my brain#--and maybe this tiptoes into the realm of crack theory so beware there will be a lot past here--#but I cant help but think zenos is akin to an oracle or warrior of light but was tempered/corrupted by zodiark#or some strange happenstance of varis (who shares visual traits to golbez before 6.0 ever came out and the dark mana burst)#and carosa (who it seems zenos got his looks from- and he already looks like he has ties to venat and argos like minfillia does)#was he a result of the eternal chess match between the two parties' machinations? or just some strange twist of fate?#another day of him being “emet's successful experiment” (again- intentional or no) making me thonk#theres something so strange about the final days dreams and how dark aspected he is- that his void abilities are more tied to him tbh#yet his mannerisms beyond just what he's been through almost reminds me of light corruption and the uncanny calmness#we see in most beings associated with the light in any significant way and like second phase eden shiva#he almost has all the marks of someone who shouldve already had the echo or blessing of light but for one reason or another#was unable to hear hydaelyns call#of course it doesnt help i mentally associate him with connections to zero and how she was corrupted before she was even born#and durante- who states uncanny ability and connection with light and darkness and yet favors dark magic more#i simply live with the idea that zenos' soul was an eternally faithful companion to wol's and#this time the cardinal sin of separating the pair finally happened to rather dire consequences lmao
160 notes
·
View notes
Text
BG3 is for remaking DnD characters that I miss playing so that I can throw them into a new campaign, right?
This is Serendipity! she's a wild magic sorcerer 🥰
#bg3#serendipity oc#she has a twin sister named happenstance who's a wild magic barbarian#they are Chaos Incarnate and were so much fun to play#but I haven't gotten to do any dnd since The Plague so I make do with what I have
7 notes
·
View notes
Text
Sutton really should have gotten better directions to the apothecary’s house before she left town. For some reason, she hadn’t thought about direction or distance when she hurried away from the old woman at the fruit stand. The edge of the town thinned out to a few cottages and, further out, fields for agriculture. But this city in Andolasia - had they told her the name of it? She forgot - was no peasant town. Given her late start, by the time she managed to leave the city center, it was growing late. A prickle of unease crept through her as she and Sprinkles trotted down a cobblestone road quickly transitioning to dirt. Perhaps she’d been a bit preemptive. She had no idea where they were going to sleep and she wasn’t sure she had much time to figure it out.
ao3 ffn wattpad
2 notes
·
View notes
Text
Look ok. I'm not a superstitious person. I love to talk about throwing out dice and "charging" them to help them roll better and all that but I don't really believe it. I'm just not a superstitious person I have a hard time actually believing stuff that really can just be attributed to random chance and human psychology.
However. However. The one piece of dice superstition I absolutely do believe. And will until my dying day. Is that the dice. Tell. A story.
#gerard rolled that nat20 perception check and. BY GOD#the dice. they tell a story it is real. the world wants a good story and so a good story it will have. and the dice are just one part of#the world that will let a story come to life#its. it's not just happenstance. its real and on purpose. and its magical.
7 notes
·
View notes
Text
okay so im returning to normal activities
green, signol, octave, boombox friendship
#nvm this isnt normal activities im insane#caught between 15 diff roblox fandoms and ava. im losing it#theres more characters in spr associated w/ music too#like base clef n tretone#but haha i cant draw them#so no#BUT IF I COULD#THE FRIENDSHIP WOULD *GROW*#im goig crazy over this idea u guys dont udnerstand#my only problem is HOW WOULD BBOX GET TO THE OTHERS#green can travel to games; spr has scissor magic 4 octave; n signol could just bother yaw until they let them roam around dimensions#BUT THERES NO DIMENSION HOPPING IN PH!#one of the others just comes across bbox by happenstance and kidnaps him ig....#okay doen rambling. explodes. next time u see me ill have a drawing of these 4#[lie]#itll prolly be poll bs again ;w;
4 notes
·
View notes
Text
›› Things were looking rather clean around the House of Lamentation today... Groceries had been taken care of, too. The mail had been sorted, a few repairs that have been needing urgent work done... In fact, there was an eerie lack of Mammon's noisy nonsense through the day to top it off; though there wasn't a lack of Mammon. Somewhere in the house, down on his hands and knees with a rag in hand, he was grumbling to himself a bit.
❝ Devils below, Lucifer better appreciate this... ❞
#📖 » Open For Interpretation // «Open Starters»#🔮 » A Magical Happenstance // «Themed Event Threads»#💴 «MAMMON» ▸▸ Avatar of Greed 𒁍
5 notes
·
View notes
Note
A jazz club sounds nice— I quite enjoy the music. But more than anything, I’d like you to be comfortable.
I would like to take you out on a date. I didn’t want my approach to be too forward.. or jarring. That would make things awkward, yes? I’m interested in you and I’d like to know more about you, Audrey.
If you’d indulge me.
( @tettaki )
…i’ll think about it mr. kisaki. give me a few days and you’ll get your answer :) fair?
#🌺 ❝ 𝙩𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙩 𝙢𝙚 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙮 𝙣𝙞𝙘𝙚𝙮𝙨 ❞ ; inbox#but! if magically…perchance…by some happenstance#if i wake up to some coffee in the morning and an offer to join me on my morning walk as i take my dog out thennnnn#perhaps my decision will go from a few days to a day or two! :)
0 notes
Text
Hey, worldbuilding idea concerning "what if magic, but it's a science": the more you learn about magic, the more obvious it is that we actually know fuck-all about it. Like a layman will say "ghostly forces are more sensitive to the haunting ghost's relatives due to the bond of bloodlines" with the same obvious confidence as "a rock falls to the ground because it's heavy", while students of the magical arts are baffled by these forces, along the lines of "fucking magnets, how do they work." Nobody knows how any of this actually works.
An ancient mage who is famed to be the most wise of all the ways of magic will sigh at another confusing dead end, admitting something like "in all levels except physical, the fae do not exist", and someone with only happenstance experience with the supernatural goes "what are you talking about, of course they exist, I've seen them", and the mage, exasperated, agrees. Yes, of course they do exist. But they shouldn't. And we don't know how that works.
3K notes
·
View notes
Text
one of my dream stories to write is about a phantom thief who calls himself the angel gabriel and of course no one knows who he really is but it's actually because he's too embarrassed to admit that he's just a recently divorced salaryman whose wife left him because he's a total workaholic and phantom thieves should be glamorous and cool and not just gabe from the office having the weirdest possible mid-life crisis, dammit!
#writing#alexandria rambles#i cannot emphasize this enough...gabe is just Some Guy#the only reason he's any good at thieving is bc he found a magical artifact by complete happenstance that helps get him out of trouble#he is so ordinary that ppl would legit be mad at how ordinary he is after his identity reveal bc that's my exact sense of humor#my post
0 notes
Note
I’m not sure if you’re taking anymore requests but can you do poly141 who finds a small fairy reader? Mystical reader so little she fits in their hands?
Tiny baby reader… yes. Fair warning i wrote this while sleepy and tired and i completely forgot to add in when reader learns their name 😭 sorry for any more mistakes!
The forest was unusually quiet, blanketed in mist that made every breath feel cool and crisp. It was the kind of morning that seemed unremarkable, easy to forget. They walked carefully along the narrow path, hunting gear packed away in favor of simple jackets and quiet conversation. Retirement had given them, once a formidable task force, the luxury of slow days, but old habits died hard; their senses remained keen, always searching for any change in the air.
And that’s when they saw it- a flicker of light, faint and trembling, deep within a thicket. It could have been a trick of the morning sun, but they hadn’t survived as long as they have by chalking up everything strange, unusual think to happenstance.
“Careful.” John murmured, voice low and commanding. They nodded, pushing through the brush with quiet purpose and carefulness, until the glimmer came into focus.
There, tangled in a web of thin brambles, was something neither war nor time had ever prepared them for- a tiny, shimmering, actually-real fairy, no larger than the palm of a hand. Your wings, gossamer-thin and glowing with iridescent light, fluttered weakly as you tried to free you. You turned your head, eyes wide and filled with a mix of fear and exhaustion, and they all felt their breath catch.
Soap was the first to recover. “Bloody hell,” he whispered, his voice tinged with awe. He took a cautious step forward, hands up as if approaching a skittish animal. He couldn’t believe his eyes, but you are real. You are actually real. “Hey now, it’s okay. We’re not gonna hurt ya.”
The fairy- you -watched him warily, but there was a flicker of hope in your gaze. Gaz crouched next to Johnny, brows furrowed. “We need to get her out of there,” he said, his voice gentle. “Quickly.”
Johnny nodded, already reaching into his pack for a small knife. “Don’t move, all right, wee one? We’ll get you free.” He kept his movements slow, mindful of how fragile you seemed. With careful precision, he began cutting away the brambles, each snip bringing a little more freedom and a little more light. Price and Ghost kept watch over them, cautious still but not really that worried considering your size.
When you were finally free, you collapsed, too weak to stay upright. Gaz caught you, cradling you in his hands as if you were made of glass. “You’re safe now.” he murmured, his eyes soft. He could feel the faint warmth of your glow against his skin, like holding a tiny ember. More proof that you are real, even if it seemed so impossible.
Your wings twitched, and with a shaky breath, you looked up at them. “Thank…you,” you whispered, your voice barely more than a sweet chime in the wind.
“You are talking,” Soap breathed, a childlike wonder lighting up his face. “You talk.” It makes you giggle just a little, if you are honest with yourself. Your wings attempt to flutter behind you, but they are not Quite Right. You shift on your feet, visibly unsure now.
John stepped closer, his gaze warm but measured, and bent down so his face was at the same level as your body. “Easy there. You’ve been through a lot, haven’t you?” His thumb, calloused from years of wielding weapons, gently brushed a stray leaf from your hair. He had to be extra careful, extra slow so as to not alarm you, and then holds his hand out for you to step into. “Your wings aren’t moving right, are they? We can help you.”
You shake your head slowly to his first question, looking away from his eyes. You’d never really approached humans before… always too big and scary, but there four were nice, at the very least. You and your unique magic couldn’t sense anything particularly bad from them, so that’s why you hadn’t immediately tried to fly far, far away from them.
You lean into John’s touch, sitting down and holding onto his thumbs for stability. You do know out of all of them, you still haven’t heard the masked one speak, just felt him bore his gaze at you, but you don’t care. “Where… are we going?” You ask instead.
“Near our cottage,” Price said, voice low and soothing. “Not far. We can bring you there, get you warm and fed, and you can let your wings rest there.”
You nodded slowly, exhaustion overcoming you. John held you close while they comtinued walking back. As you rested, your glow dimmed to a soft warmth that seeped into his palms and made them glow, a quiet reminder of your presence. The journey back was filled with silent glances- each man marveling at the fact that something so otherworldly, so impossibly delicate, had chosen to trust them.
When they arrived at the cottage, Soap carefully laid out a small, soft cloth on the table, creating a makeshift bed for you to rest one while Kyle thought you’d enjoy having a different option, so he placed a leafy pot nearby for yoh. Ghost silently set a thimble of water nearby while John stirred a pot on the stove, filling the room with a comforting aroma. You drank slowly, savoring every drop and feeling strength return to your body, to your wings.
“Better?” Ghost asked you at last, voice low, his eyes never leaving you. You nodded, a grateful smile breaking across your face despite the hints of fear caused by his mask. You didn’t see it, but there was a collective untensing of shoulders, worry lessening.
Over the next few hours, you spoke in halting words, telling them of the storm that had torn through the woods and separated you from your kin. They listened with full attention, not interrupting you. Kyle even offered you a finger to lean on when you shivered a little, reminded of the pain while you recounted your tale. But after that, you continue your rest, now the one asking them questions and learning who they are.
By evening, you were still nestled in the soft, makeshift bed near the fire, your wings catching the flickering light. As you drifted into a peaceful sleep, your light grew stronger- very content in your warm spot, and feeling safe and secure from wild animals and the weather outside. Occasionally, you feel different hands and fingers brush across your head, and each time it makes you let out a happy squeak, uncaring for the conversations happening in the background.
You wonder if they’d let you stay with them…
#noona.posts#cod x reader#cod#cod x you#tf 141 x reader#tf 141#tf 141 x you#cod imagines#john price x reader#noona.asks#poly!141 x reader#soap x reader#ghost x reader#kyle gaz x reader#gaz x reader#ghost x you#simon riley x reader#poly 141#simon ghost riley x you#simon riley x you#johnny soap mctavish x reader#simon ghost riley x reader#call of duty x reader#noona.writes#kyle gaz garrick x you#simon ghost x you#simon ghost x reader#ghost imagines#simon ghost riley imagines#john price imagine
558 notes
·
View notes
Text
i reread all of chobits recently as insp for my next TT book and every time i think about some aspect of it all i want to do is rip it open and tear it apart and go "why?". it brings up so many concepts and scenarios within the premise of "what if computers looked like pretty girls" but it doesn't want to commit to saying anything about it or take its own world seriously.
i have a lot to say about chobits. arguably i have more to say about chobits than even chobits wants to say about chobits.
chobits is about sex except it isn't about sex at all. chi's power switch is in her vagina. we're shown images of chi doing sexy things, she gets tricked into doing a strip tease, and two separate men try to finger her and she does her Do Not Touch Me There magic powers thing, and we eventually learn every time she resets from the power button, her memories are erased, so you can't have sex with her without deleting her.
but we never unpack why her reset button is in her vagina, or why it's so important that nobody can ever touch her, or why people's personal computers were built with vaginas in the first place (we never have it confirmed that all persocoms have them, but that two separate men try to touch her there imply it's expected). why do the personal computers shaped like women have vaginas if not to fuck them. as a product, it is expected that you will fuck them*.
*i assume, because the comic never says so!
the man who invented persocoms is the same person who built chi and her sister, and he built them to be daughters for his wife. he put the reset button in chi's vagina. we never find out why. we never get a HINT of why. he built the chobits so they could feel and fall in love, but also built them so they could never fuck. you can extrapolate a reason why a man might build his daughter-androids that way, but the series itself never touches it, and never makes any sort of point about it. it's just presented as an immutable fact that chi can't fuck without it deleting her, as if it was born of happenstance and not a person's choice.
what does that actually say about anything? what is it trying to say about sex? is it about the commodification of female bodies, how once they're used up sexually they're worthless? that if you can't love somebody without fucking them, what good is your love? that love without sex is okay (but also a huge burden and sacrifice a man must accept for the sake of someone else's happiness?)
what does it want to say! chobits is about sex, but it doesn't want to commit to any specific message about sex.
and that's just ONE issue i have with it. there are so many things chobits wants to be about but won't say anything about. it wants to be about the persocoms replacing human connections, we constantly get told 'gee people hang out with persocoms a lot', chitose publishes a whole inexplicable book series about people preferring persocomes to humans. it's to the degree that a prominent character's husband gets So wrapped up in (presumably) fucking his android that he locks his actual wife out of the house, having just straight up forgotten she exists. we don't have anything to say about it though. she falls in love with a new man. the people who hang out with their persocoms too much are all background characters in crowds. we never look at how the rise in persocoms has affected society as a whole.
it wants to be about grief, in the story about the man who marries a persocom and has to watch her slowly degrade until she can't remember him anymore, or the kid whose older sister died and he tried to replace her with a persocom who he dresses up/treats as a maid and lives alone with despite being omega orphaned and 11 years old. but then it's fine. the man who married a persocom gets in a relationship with a high school girl 20 years younger than him (CLAMP!). it's fine! the boy who tried to replace his older sister just accepts that the persocom replacement won't replace her. still treats/dresses her up like a maid and lives alone. is she his legal guardian. i don't know. don't worry about it.
and it wants to be about women, because everything about the story is about women, all the persocoms are women, all the tragedies are wrapped up in the death of a woman, or a woman's heartbreak, or a woman's feelings. but it has fucking nothing to say about women beside look how pretty they are. my boobs are E cup, sempai :) teehee
it makes me insane.
friend @amphiaria put it best as "Unfortunately the story is uninterested in itself" and i can never forgive it for being so aesthetically good, giving us the best design for an android (the ear things are Perfect) and then being So Fucking Bad.
in conclusion:
620 notes
·
View notes
Text
Ok but the fact that king’s dad showed Luz his language because he saw how nice she was to king.
And the first time Luz finds a glyph? It’s in an episode where king is feeling left out. And right after Luz makes king feel wanted and important, her phone glitches and shows her the glyph.
At the end of that episode Eda asked how she was casting magic with paper, and king says “I don’t know but she did it all on her own”
That line fell flat for me at first, because Luz found the glyph by accident… happenstance bc her phone broke. But now.
Luz found the glyph by being kind. By making friends and including others. She did do it all on her own.
6K notes
·
View notes
Text
Writing Notes: Horror
Horror is a genre within creative writing that relies on one thing: instilling a sense of fear in the reader.
The horror genre is multifaceted—there is a kind of horror for every kind of person.
For some, the most effective scare is the idea of being trapped in a haunted house. For others, it’s being chased by a serial killer on Halloween.
Some of the best horror comes from scary things that can manipulate an audience’s feelings, creating a sensation of uneasiness and fear that stretches beyond consciousness and permeates deep within the psyche.
Horror writing is sometimes categorized within the broader category of thrillers, but not all horror follows the thriller structure.
Classic horror fiction—whether expressed as a novel, novella, short story, or film—will tap into topics that reliably frighten most humans.
Common topics include ghosts, werewolves, vampires, zombies, serial killers, murderers, and the fear of the unknown.
These horror tropes can often devolve into clichés.
A downside of horror’s popularity is that many horror books and movies recycle old content in non-creative ways, but when properly executed, horror stories can thrill audiences and even provide commentary on the human condition.
Horror Subgenres
1. Apocalyptic - In this subgenre, the world is ending or society is collapsing. When this happens, it’s usually because of some creature, demon, or religious event (while climate-oriented apocalypses are more sci-fi).
2. Body Horror - Involves the mutilation, experimentation, or violation of the human body. It can focus on disease, dismemberment, infestation, sexual acts, or a complete transformation of the physical form.
3. Comedy - Horror and comedy seem so at odds with each other, but they work so well together (kind of like spice and chocolate). A trademark of comedy horror is how the protagonist somewhat stumbles through the story, arriving at the end through luck and ridiculous happenstance rather than skill or growth.
4. Cosmic/Lovecraftian - With its origins largely attributed to H.P. Lovecraft, cosmic horror makes us feel small against a threat that is ancient, massive, and incomprehensible. Cosmic horror looks at intergalactic entities, ancient gods, the machinations of the universe, and how helpless we are against it all.
5. Dark Fantasy - Another crossover, this time with the fantasy genre. In dark fantasy, you have elements of magic, fictional creatures or worlds, and everything else that makes fantasy great, plus you add in a good dose of scares. This can also involve other subgenres, like body horror.
6. Dark Romance - Another crossover genre, dark romance takes the feel-good romance genre and makes it horrific. While this subgenre can simply include morally questionable characters and a grittier tone than most romance, it can also include kidnapping, forced confinement, BDSM, psychological and physical abuse, and sexual violence or sex where there is no consent. Bear in mind that it still needs to include the tenants of romance stories, though.
7. Extreme Gore - Not for the faint of heart, this subgenre includes books that have detailed torture scenes or otherwise disturbing and depraved acts. This genre is all about shocking your audience with how awful your characters act or are treated.
8. Folk Horror - Embraces urban legends and folktales. These range from old pagan gods in the woods to weird rituals performed by isolated groups or villages. Sometimes there is a supernatural element to them, even if the “supernatural” is simply perceived or believed by some characters (e.g., Midsommar).
9. Found Footage/Documentaries - Though this subgenre is more common in films than books, found footage and documentary horror stories are about a crew of people recording their experiences, usually unaware of the true danger they are about to face.
10. Gothic - The great-grandparent of modern horror, gothic horror is the brooding, atmospheric genre containing what most of us would consider classics (e.g., Dracula and Frankenstein). Sometimes you throw in a dash of romance, but these tales tackle topics like death and mortality.
11. Post-Apocalyptic - After some world-ending disaster, how horrifying have things become? Post-apocalyptic horror shows us a world without rules or structure. It can contain unrealistic elements (zombies, demons, etc.) or realistic possibilities (cannibals, gangs, and so on).
12. Psychological - Places the spotlight on trauma, mental health, manipulation, phobias, and everything else that causes you to become stressed and anxious. Home invasion stories (i.e., The Strangers) fall under this subgenre.
13. Slasher - Involves violent horror that is more about a single killer stalking and eventually killing a group of people (traditionally targeting teens and using a blade). This subgenre isn’t necessarily as violent or gory as others, but uses suspense to make the reader hold their breath.
14. Splatterpunk - Is known for its disregard of limits when it comes to violence—both physical and sexual. Gore and depravity are grossly abundant.
15. Supernatural/Paranormal - Some folks separate these two subgenres into different categories, but there is so much overlap that they’re basically the same. If you have to, think of supernatural horror as stories that involve werewolves, witches, vampires, and other monsters. Paranormal horror, on the other hand, involves ghosts, demons, and haunted houses.
Tips for Writing Horror
1. Read more horror. There’s no better way to understand what a good story looks like than to read one for yourself. Read as much as you can so you are aware of what other horror writers are doing.
2. Focus on your own fears. Much like comedy, horror benefits from authenticity. So get personal: If you can scare yourself, you can probably scare an audience.
3. Create three-dimensional characters. Write characters whose character flaws feed the action of the story. All good literature and film contains well-wrought characters with desires, emotions, and a backstory. The more human you make the characters of your story or screenplay, the more their missteps and bad choices will resonate with an audience.
4. Recognize that the real can be scarier than the surreal. Sure, you can make up an army of googly-eyed bad guys or plant a severed head in your main character’s bed, but will you really scare your reader? Not necessarily. In most cases, psychological horror sticks with audiences far longer than a jump scare or gross-out moment in a slasher film. Toying with people’s real-life fears tends to scare them much more than just grossing them out.
5. Use the environment. Scary movies and television shows can use jump-scares as an easy way to frighten an audience, but writing scary literature requires its own method of manifesting fear. Setup your environment in a vivid way to fully immerse your readers into your setting. Vividly describing an enclosed space can elicit feelings of claustrophobia. A dark and quiet house becomes more frightening when a character suddenly hears the creak of an upstairs floorboard. Being an outsider in an unfamiliar place, like a small town with no cell phone service and where everyone knows each other, is already unsettling—and if you add a malicious paranormal force to such a setting, you can enhance the feeling of isolation and ramp up the anxiety of the scenario.
6. Write longer sentences. You can heighten your readers’ fear by writing paragraphs with longer sentences. Periods provide natural pauses for readers to take a breath, but if you stretch out your sentences, you build anticipation for the reader—which they might not even realize until they reach the end of the sentence. By using tactics like this, you immerse the reader into your horror story, making them feel what the main character feels and creating a heart-pounding connection.
7. Make your readers breathe faster. Whereas long sentences can amplify the intensity of a story, short one-sentence paragraphs can force your readers to take more frequent breaths while following your narrative. Crafting abrupt lines builds tension in your scary story writing, making the readers’ eyes move more quickly down the page searching for the relief that the protagonist is safe. This can make your audience breathe faster, contributing to the feeling of panic and anxiety.
8. Leverage fear of the unknown. Fear of the unknown is a common theme that can be tracked throughout many of the best stories in horror fiction and horror movies. When there is something that negatively affects us that we cannot control or properly identify, it creates a feeling of panic and dread. Teasing your readers with something not quite definable or a bad guy no one knows how to stop can increase the level of tension and fear when writing horror stories.
9. Lean into dark imagery and your readers’ collective imagination. Consider what images might be frightening to a reader (and yourself). How much of a description of a clown do you need in order to make a reader feel uneasy? How large and grotesque does a rat need to be? Leaving some of these images more general than specific will allow a reader to fill in the blanks with what is most horrifying to them. Example: If you read the word beast, what do you see in your imagination? Most words carry connotations and personal connections. Allow your words to work for you to create the maximum scare.
10. Want tension? Sprinkle in some foreshadowing. Foreshadowing is a powerful tool in your writing arsenal, but it is particularly effective in horror, especially when writing in third person. Foreshadowing is when an author alludes to a future event by showing us something now. The key to foreshadowing is to use it sparingly. We want to up the tension and the fear our readers are experiencing while they yell at the oblivious protagonist not to open the door. We don’t want the reader to know every single thing that’s going to happen.
11. Focus on the moment where things shift. You should consider a pivotal scene in your story idea and try to build around that scene or that moment where the plot actually “shifts.” Sometimes that could be reflected in a realization by the protagonist. Other times it can be represented in some type of ironic twist at the end. By looking at that singular element of your story idea, you cut away the fat so that the reader is left only with the most resonant part of the story.
12. Establish the mundane. Mundane is just a fancy way of saying normal, but the message still rings true. Most story structures tell you to start by establishing the Ordinary World: what our protagonist’s normal life is like. This is important for showing us how important the larger conflict is, because it threatens the protagonist’s normal. In horror, establishing the mundane is arguably more important. In a story where connecting with the character and empathizing with them over the godawful stuff you, the author, put them through, the reader needs to understand just how bad life has gotten. Then you can take both your characters and your reader from a place of comfort and familiarity and plunge them into whatever shadowy hell you’ve concocted.
13. Choosing your POV. By choosing to write your story from a first-person perspective, you are putting the reader exactly where your character is. There are 2 types of third-person POV—limited and omniscient. It is advisable to stay away from omniscient. Part of writing a good horror story is withholding information from the reader, which third-person omniscient doesn’t really allow for. Considering the pros and cons of the different points of view, choose the right one for your story.
14. Avoid clichés. Clichés are boring and predictable, and a horror scene that is predictable is likely to not be scary. A good horror story can still use familiar horror tropes, but a great horror story makes them its own. Look beyond the obvious when trying to write a scary scene—what is something readers wouldn’t expect? How can you surprise them with fear? Use enough of the existing tropes to be identifiable as horror, but make sure you insert your own originality into the mix. One of the reasons people gravitate to genres in general is because they have certain expectations for what should happen in the story. Look for ways to flip archetypes on their heads.
15. Practice. If you’re struggling to get a handle on writing a good story that’s scary, practice with story prompts (see some sample prompts below). Writing prompts can expand your range of thinking and open up new avenues of imagination that you hadn’t thought of before.
Horror Writing Prompts
A scary doll comes to life.
A scene from a nightmare comes true the next day.
Days go by, and your parents don’t come home.
You feel yourself slowly becoming a monster.
Your friends start to disappear, and no one else notices.
You’re lost in the woods, and you don’t know how you got there.
You’re inhabited by a ghost that controls you and makes you do crazy things.
You have no reflection in the mirror.
The teacher is a monster, but no one will believe you.
You hypnotize your brother, and you can’t snap him out of it.
A fortune teller reveals that you are evil.
Someone follows you home, and it’s your exact double.
You find a diary that tells the future.
Every time you wake up, you’re a different person.
Your parents explain that you are actually an alien from another planet.
You know someone is watching you day and night from the house across the street.
You realize you are shrinking.
While reading a scary book, you realize that you’re a character in it.
Someone is living in your mirror.
Everyone knows the new neighbors are vampires, and the kids invite you over for a sleepover.
All the cats in a small town vanish in the middle of the night….and all that remains is a set of big, scary teeth smashed into a car door.
A group of friends takes on the zombie apocalypse.
Strange things start happening after the grandfather clock starts to speak.
You finally meet your child’s imaginary friend. Who turns out to be a serial killer.
When a local police officer goes to investigate the haunted house down the street, he finds a young girl who died decades ago.
Sources: 1 2 3 4 5 6 ⚜ Writing Notes & References
#writing notes#horror#writeblr#fiction#spilled ink#writing prompts#writers on tumblr#poets on tumblr#literature#writing tips#writing advice#writing prompt#writing reference#creative writing#dark academia#light academia#studyblr#lit#booklr#bookblr#writing inspiration#writing ideas#writing resources
317 notes
·
View notes
Text
Chapter 21
Steve stopped a ways from the crowd; close enough to be easily in sight, but far enough to give them some privacy. Her heart raced in her chest and her hands shook as the possibilities sank in. He hadn’t corrected Volstagg’s assumptions. Steve had thanked him for his well wishes. But it was impossible.
ao3 ffn wattpad
1 note
·
View note
Text
and if I said sjm’s more misogynistic than grrm? what then?
because throughout asoiaf it’s made very clear that Westeros is a patriarchal society (a lá feudal England) wherein sons are favored over daughters and women are simply wives and mothers and little else. grrm’s female characters must carve their own paths, claw out their own power in a society that will not outwardly allow them it, and yet it’s made very obvious that the women can stand up to men. they are often just as brave, clever, or conniving; they want the same things & they possess the same powers, and the barriers placed against them are purely man-made.
When the HLs said there has never been a High Lady, they were telling the truth. There hasn’t been. This isn’t because of tradition, or Fae misogyny, or even happenstance… the very magic of prythian chooses a new High Lord. The life-force magic of an entire continent has been hijacked by agnatic primogeniture, creating a system wherein women are passed over in the line of succession and are therefore physically weaker than men.
grrm’s female characters are well-written, complex women whose worth is earned through their struggles against the patriarchy. Feyre did not earn anything, she was handed a meaningless title in spite of prythian’s misogyny. that is not feminism, that is simply one woman with the privilege of being The Exception.
205 notes
·
View notes
Text
Within Your Eyes Intro Post
DEMO [Last Updated June 22nd, 2024]
You are a Warden, a monster hunter who has come to the Kingdom of Auris which has become the forefront runner in it’s acceptance of magic and supernatural alike within the West Highlands. But when strange happenstances occur, you are called upon not just because of skill, but also because of your condition. A condition you’ve lied about for last 12 years.
Unearth the secrets that magic holds as a new form is discovered.
Befriend or romance those who attempt to worm through the cracks of the mask you wear. Or will you fight to keep them at arms length?
Regardless of where your journey takes you, your feathered friend will be at your side. As he always has been.
This story will be 18+ for the following reasons:
Explicit and erotic intimate scenes
Death, including of a child
Violence, blood and gore
Thoughts of suicide
Mentions of suicide
Self harm
Explicit language
Mental trauma
Horror elements
Feelings of being watched
NOTE: Your character will be pretending to have a disability (blindness), not because of a disorder but out of self preservation.
This list may be updated.
You are running away from your past. As you take a this new job, you're forced to confront it. What vices do you use to cope? Will you learn to rely on others or will your raven be your only source of comfort? Will you feel guilty for your lies? Yours will be a journey of self-forgiveness, or maybe you'll only fall deeper into despair.
Play as a man, woman, or non-binary. Gay, straight, or bi.
Plenty of customization options from physical appearance to clothes.
Φ Admos de Le Wren ─ Male | Draconian | Second-Born
Admos, the Dragon Lord of Auris, ascended to the throne following a devastating conflict with his father, bypassing his older brother's claim. This decision deepened the rift among his siblings. As he enters his fifth year as sovereign, Admos grapples with guilt and uncertainty about his role in the family's discord. Will you help him find clarity or fuel his doubts?
Φ Lyth/Lyari de Le Wren ─ Gender Selectable | Draconian | Tenth-Born
Ly took on the role of Viceroy/Vicereine in Auris and became their brother Admos's Right Hand, playing a vital part in the kingdom's recovery after a conflict with their father. However, an incident they triggered over a year and a half ago almost led to another war, casting doubt on their suitability for their position and their aid to their brother. Will you help Ly grapple with their past actions and uncertainties about their role as Viceroy/Vicereine, or will their internal conflicts remain unresolved?
Φ Leese/Lea van Laere ─ Gender Selectable | Human | Vampire
Born into nobility, Lee's life as the child of prominent figures in Lenia took an unexpected turn when they were turned into a vampire. Forced to leave their home, Lee now wrestles with their new identity, desperately seeking meaning in their existence and if it's worth maintaining.
Is Lee a monster consumed by instinct, or can you help them reclaim their humanity?
Φ Xiang Xiaowen/Xiaodan ─ Gender Selectable | Human
Xiao, an ambassador dispatched to Auris to aid the Dragon Lord in Council matters, fought hard to secure their role. Serving as an unofficial advisor, they frequently share insights to assist Admos. Yet their unwavering dedication to obtaining this position hints at a deeper motivation. Perhaps they will reveal it to you.
Φ Gabriel Duarte ─ Gender Selectable | Human
Assigned to you as an assistant of sorts, the recently knighted guard is searching for their place within the Order. Perhaps their new mission will set them on a path for glory, or sink them beneath the turmoils it takes to obtain.
Φ Hestia ─ She/They | Elf? | Witch
Even the most kind have their secrets.
Φ ???
Poly Routes: Lyth/Lyari and Gabriel | Leese/Lea and Gabriel | Xiaowen/Xiaodan and Hestia
Love Triangle: Admos and ???
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FAQ
Romance Information Post
Ko-Fi
Tumblr Asks are disabled for the time being.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
WYE will always be free with chapters released once they are finished.
This is a planned trilogy.
Thank you for reading and for your support! ♥
#interactive fiction#within your eyes if#text based game#text based adventure#twine game#twine wip#twine interactive fiction#twine if#twine story#cyoa#interactive game#interactive novel#twine games
1K notes
·
View notes