#I may do a random number thing to match the character with the prompt

[hyugaruma]

Valentine’s Day Prompt Drabble Lineup:

♡ these will be short, 250~ word drabbles

2/8: First Meeting

2/9: Asking You Out

2/10: First Date

2/11: First Kiss

2/12: Cuddling

2/13: “I Love You”

2/14: HAPPY VALENTINE’S!

Potential Characters (any preferences? hehe): Jesse, Binzo, Ranmaru, Yuken, Smoky, Raoh, Masaki

[dei2dei]

Ideas: Gotta Catch 'Em All!

(look, I know one whole Pokemon reference and I'm gonna use it.)

I was tossing around ideas with @calypsid about writing events and coming up with ideas and how to write for big events - in fandom, for the monthlong ones especially, but also if you're someone looking at submitting original fiction to a themed anthology or to a zine, or when you just want to WRITE dammit but the ideas won't come. When the idea hutch is empty and the plotbuns won't come, when the creative spring is trickling or you're at the bottom of the well of inspiration, hope is not lost. We put our heads together and came up with a baker's dozen ways to get ideas and look at prompts to get new inspiration when you need it. So if you want 'em, jump below the cut!

Stop looking at words.

Look at art! Listen to music! Maybe what you need is some song lyrics to get your brain going, or art. Play Sudoku. Go to a coffee shop and watch people. Change your mental or physical environment and see what happens.

Prompt lists

Don’t limit yourself to whatever event you’re writing for! If it’s for a fandom ship week, hit up a themed month prompt list (such as Fluffuary, AUgust, or Whumptober). If you’re trying to think of ideas for a zine pitch, trawl prompt lists from fandom or creative writing websites. Mash the TVTropes random trope button until something clicks.

Tarot spreads

Even if you don’t read tarot on your own, you can find websites where you can do tarot readings. Treat it as a story prompt generator: pick three cards, one that is your protagonist, one that is their goal, one that is their obstacle. Look up the meanings. Go wild! You can use the cards for protagonists, antagonists, story arcs…

Lists

Not prompt lists - but every idea you can think of adjacent to a prompt. Tropes, colors, sayings, characters, types (e.g. species of apple, types of wildflowers, names of cocktails)...

An alphabetical list with an idea for each letter of the alphabet.

A list of 20 ideas, as close or as absolutely wild as you want.

A timed list (write ideas for 5/10/15 minutes). The first chunk may be easy, the last few minutes impossibly hard, but right in the middle where your mind is starting to stretch? That may be perfect.

Once you have a list of any flavor, start looking for patterns: that’s a sign your brain is interested in SOMETHING. What ideas/symbols keep showing up?

Look for unexpected intersections

Ideas or prompts may have unexpected links. Randomize your list! Consider resonances between different prompts; they may seem different in a different order. Pick a not obvious combination of two prompts and follow it to the end - what if you put together “pirate” and “arranged marriage”? Use a wheel spinning picker and see what two things the computer matches up.

You can also take a pair of commonly-associated opposites, pick out their most common stereotypical traits. Now swap them. 

Play with other media

Take characters from one piece of media, the setting from a second (hey look, a fusion/AU!). What resonates between them? Grab a non-fiction book about a topic you’re interested in and read that. Ideas might percolate from a number of unrelated sources into one Super Cool Idea.

Change the setting

Turn a sci-fi show into a fantasy setting, or vice-versa. Add monsters. Add gods; add gods with reality-bending dice; add gods with reality-bending dice who are malicious. Flip your characters' genders. Remove the concept of gender entirely. Send your characters to the dimension next door, where only one thing has changed. Or many things. Or everything. Take the characters out of the plot of your fandom, or replace them with side characters; what changes?

Change your mind

Take the prompt at face value. Or, treat it sarcastically. Subvert the trope - or don't subvert the trope. Write the thing you've always wanted to see, even if you think it won't work. Turn everything about the prompt on its head and look underneath for spare ideas. Come at it from every angle you can think of.

Other people

Talk to people about the prompt. Read Reddit or Tumblr conversations, even ones only vaguely associated with the prompt. Let your mind go in new and interesting directions. 

Cool words

Have you run across an awesome word you wish you could use in a story, or a turn of phrase? Write a story around that. Or if you have a list of cool words you keep anyway, flip back to it, see if there are any that might come together in a story.

Titles

If you have a title you've always wanted to use, let the title inspire the fic instead of the other way around. 

First Sentences

Just start writing first sentences, whatever ones come to mind. Don’t be precious about them; the goal isn’t perfect sentences, the goal is something to get your brain moving. Don’t worry about continuing the story yet! Try and get a bunch down without writing any more of the story. If one speaks to you and demands to be written, go back to it after you’ve got your list down.

Deconstruct a story you love and then rebuild it!

Retell a favorite story (or a hated story you thought you could do better). How did they do X? Why did you love (or hate) something so much? Can you do that with some of your ideas? Take out the main character and their sidekick; how does the story read with just the secondary characters? What if you add someone new? How would the story look different as a documentary, a chatfic, an epistolary collection?

Some Links:

The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction (https://sf-encyclopedia.com/) - includes almost 15,000 entries for words associated with sci-fi. Scroll through, pick (3, 5, 7…) and shove them into a story. Or learn about new tropes/concepts/ideas.

Deep Water Prompts (https://deepwaterwritingprompts.tumblr.com/) - some Weird Prompts (several hundred) you can twist and interpret to your heart’s desire.

Kathleen Jennings’ short story “Some Ways to Retell a Fairy Tale” (https://www.tor.com/2023/11/08/some-ways-to-retell-a-fairy-tale-kathleen-jennings) is also a great list of ideas for ways to, well, retell any story.

[the12thnightproject]

Cursed Bingo 2024

The nature of this celebration depends on a combination of Asks and Fate, in a game of Cursed Bingo.

How does it work?

You, via the ask box:

Pick up to three characters, from Ikemen Sengoku or the "Katsuverse."

Pick one or two of the prompts from the list of 30 prompts below

Tell me what level of spice you are comfortable with: SFW, Steamy, or NSFW. Most likely, the stories will be SFW or slightly spicy (even if you are ok with NSFW), but if you aren’t comfortable with anything beyond SFW, I need to know.

Examples of asks: “Kenshin, Nobunaga; "This isn't What it Looks Like," Body Swap; Steamy” or “Sasuke; Stuck in a Time Loop; Poem; NSFW”

What will you receive?

I have no idea – Cursed Bingo is a celebration of pure chaos. You might end up with Masamune, Motonari, and Hideyoshi in an Iron Chef style cooking duel. You might end up with a sweetly romantic Mitsunari x MC scene. You might end up with a poem from Kenshin, sent to you via postcard (likely a Canva collage of some kind, as writer is in no way an artist).

Fate:

A randomizer will be used to arrange 25 of the 30 available prompts onto a bingo card (see example below)

I’ll be the only person who knows which numbers are on the card, and where they fall

As the numbered prompts are picked, I will mark off the bingo card

When the card gets close to ‘bingo’ I’ll let you know

As soon as a horizontal, vertical, or diagonal bingo is picked, it’s a Cursed Bingo, and fate decrees that I must include all five prompts from that bingo in a single fic (note, the person whose prompt pick triggers the bingo will still get their prompt fic… cursed bingo is a bonus for all… except me ~sob~)

Notes:

The prompts will generally decide the content of the piece, but I don’t write rape/non-con/dub con; underage sex; assault; major character death; animal abuse/death; pregnancy; slash; explicit sex (it’s not in my skill set, unless you want to read unintentional comedy); second person POV (usually not).

Length of piece primarily depends on chosen prompts (some prompts, such as mood boards and poetry, naturally lend themselves to shorter material)

Once a prompt is picked twice, it will be deleted from the available list

You can submit more than one ask, but in the spirit of fairness, I will answer everyone’s first asks before I work my way through additional requests.

Celebration ends at BINGO

EXAMPLE OF BINGO CARD

(These numbers will be randomized again)

Prompt List - these are either dialogue prompts (1-12), format requirements (13-21), or tropes (22-30). You may mix and match.

Dialogue (I must use the line of dialogue somewhere in the fic)

Format of Story (If none specified, the fiction will be in regular/prose story format)

Tropes

 “You did what?”

“This is why we can’t have nice things.”

“He/She/It’s behind me, isn’t it?”

“I can explain.”

“I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”

“This isn’t what it looks like.”

“It’s only a flesh wound.”

"It's perfectly safe! Safe-ish."

"You look better in my clothes than I do."

"What took you so long?"

"How have you survived this long by yourself?"

“-----“ [Requestor fills in the blank]

Blind items (gossip column)

Character study

Journal/diary entry

Tweets

Magazine Cover & article

Poetry

Postcard

Mood board [Requestor picks character(s), and I will generate mood board that the characters might have created for themselves]

Film Trailer

Trapped together

Body swap (you pick which two characters)

Body swap with their pet

Character wakes up pocket sized

Unrequited/Pining

Breakfast in Bed

Fake Amnesia

Accidental baby acquisition (note, doesn’t have to be a human baby)

Stuck in a Time Loop (e.g. like Groundhog Day)

Example of a Cursed Bingo

On the above card, suppose the first completed Bingo is the vertical middle row: 21, 14, 17, 25, 6

I then would have to write a character study, in the form of a magazine article, that includes a film trailer, and the story must be about the character waking up pocket sized, and somehow include the phrase "this isn't what it looks like".

[ladyc0312]

A Jikook Guide to RunBTS: 112-121

Yes, I'm still doing these! It's just happening more slowly than I'd like because writing for work + writing fic + trying to go to bed before midnight + so much amazing content being released that clearly must be poured over and dissected = less time to make guides. For anyone still with me, he's the next section!

Ep 112 “Dalbang School Part 1” (Ep: 5 / KM: 4)

The ones with BTS in a classroom driving Teacher Jin insane

5:58 - JM declares that he and Taehyung will pair up (by being the first to hug each other in a game), but then when Hobi blows the whistle at 6:38, JK runs over to hug JM before Tae can get to him.

6:58 - Jin asks why JM said he wanted Tae and then hugged JK. JM explains that he didn't hug him, he just found himself in JK's hug as JK cackles in the background.

7:24 - When Jin blows his whistle at the class, JK and JM mirror each other in putting a finger in one of their ears.

7:35 - Teammates JK and JM are immediately on the same page about wanting their team name to be Kim Seokjin. When they have to change it, JM quickly picks up JK's suggestion that they call their team Bang Sihyuk. These don't sound like particularly unique moments, but when you watch it, it just really strikes you how in sync the two of them are in terms of physicality, ideas, and sense of humor.

9:52 - After Jin comments that he heard JM did very well in school, JK adds that JM was the top student. When someone else asks if JM was the best or second-best, JK forcefully reiterates that he was the best student.

12:45 - When they get a question right, JK and JM clasp hands and bump their shoulders together.

13:10 - JM and JK both goof around, speaking in satoori and challenging JHope to a fight of sorts.

13:27 - When Jin repeats that they got the question right, JK and JM do exactly the same as 12:45, but seated this time.

14:22, 14:36, 15:13 - In all three of these moments, JM nearly falls over laughing at something JK did that no one else found anywhere near as funny.

23:36 - When JK says he's good at this game, JM laughs and pokes JK in the chest with a marker.

BEHIND 2:30 - JM takes a selfie of him and JK with his personal phone while they're supposed to be paying attention to Jin.

6:35 - JK cheers on JM and calls him Jimin-ssi when JM announces he's doing well on this spot-the-difference round. When Jimin modifies the brag to say he only found four, JK says "that's still quite impressive."

Ep 113 “Dalbang School Part 2” (Ep: 5 / KM: 4)

4:50 - We all know how JK is when he gets into his "focus" zone, especially in a competitive environment. But here, when JM rather rudely interrupts JK's melodica practice, JK just starts playing around with him and giggles.

7:41 - As RM & JH take their turn, jikook are whispering to each other in the back row.

11:42 - After quickly agreeing on a lunch option, jikook do a high five / handshake thing and then JM says "we think alike" and "we get along pretty well." JK responds "that's exactly it" and the on-screen captions tells us they are a "good match."

22:20 - This is where JK and JM start switching back and forth carrying each other on their backs to get under a limbo stick.

They go again at 23:35, 26:11, and 28:13.

And again at 30:22 and 32:16 and 34:30 because, even though they lost, they want to try to do it again to show that they can as a "matter of pride."

25:00 - JK points something out to JM and then pats his butt.

33:33 - JM announces they lost, and then jikook do another handshake / high five thing.

34:33 - JM does an... interesting pose for the camera where he puts his hand on a bent-over JK's back and smirks.

34:56 - Yet another handshake and JM pats JK on the back when they finally pass the limbo challenge.

BEHIND 5:55 - While examining the limbo setup, JM comments that JK is good at this. JK comes over to give a demonstration and JM watches him be silly with it and says "he's a strange kid" fondly.

6:21 - Another jikook limbo attempt - this one was cut because they did it too easily.

Ep 114 “League of Number One Part 1” (Ep: 3 / KM: 1)

The ones where BTS play games with League of Legends world champions

3:55 - After Jimin protests that he shouldn't be out, JK tells his hyung to turn around and face the back.

14:40 - JK fake-boxes JM after losing the hammer game.

18:18 - JK mimics Jimin's BWL intro.

Ep 115 “League of Number One Part 2” (Ep: 2 / KM: .5)

BEHIND

7:05 - JK comes over to check on Jimin's phone to make sure he's actually visible in the selfie the teams take.

Ep 116 “Team-Building Special Part 1” (Ep: 4 / KM: 1)

The ones with random games in that rec room-looking place that are a lot more fun than they sound

22:14 - JM and JK play around with the jump rope during breaktime.

22:26 - JM and JK play around like they're boxing with each other.

BEHIND 5:15 - JK appears to take an interest in watching JM's... back as he moves around acting out potential poses.

Ep 117 “Team-Building Special Part 1” (Ep: 4 / KM: 2)

5:30 - Despite showing pretty much everyone else touching everyone else in the pose guessing game, we don't get a single shot here or in the behind of JK feeling up Jimin. The above photo proves that it happened, though, so definitely side-eyeing the editors, here.

BEHIND 5:35 - JK keeps throwing water bottles when they're supposed to be taking a group photo. Jimin pulls him back next to him and puts an arm around his neck. JK puts an arm around Jimin's shoulders in return.

7:51 - After it's explained that JK is staying late to watch Jin do his penalty, a packed-up Jimin comes over and stands next to JK, waiting until they're done to leave.

Ep 118 “Photo Story Part 1” (Ep: 3 / KM: 3)

The ones where BTS play a Samsung-sponsored game involving getting specific pictures while a spy tries to ruin the fun

4:22 - JM appears to direct JK to go punish Tae and pats JK's back when he starts to obey. Something happens that we don't see when the angle changes - next thing we see, JM seems to be pushing JK? JM then giggles at JK pretending to beat up Tae. (After this, JK spins around like a ballerina. Not jikook-related, just adorable.)

29:51 - JK calls Jimin twice without adding "hyung."

32:28 - JM pulls JK along by the wrist. Meanwhile, J-Hope once again mixes up their names.

32:44 - Though there is now a group walking slowly together and he doesn't need to pull him along anymore, Jimin takes JK's hand again.

37:02 - There are a bunch of seats open in the room, but Jimin walks over to sit right next to JK.

BEHIND 5:40 - When JM tries to steal a post-it from JK, JK scolds him in satoori banmal. JM calls him out for not calling him with hyung and JK quickly apologizes (in a way some k-army jikookers have said is like how a married person would respond to their nagging spouse!).

6:09 - JK and JM meet up and JK tells JM he's exhausted. There's a kind of weird moment that I fully admit I may be reading too much into where JK seems to be walking right towards JM, then abruptly stops and turns, looking at the camera, before walking with Jimin in a different direction than he had been heading. Then, JM says he thinks their matching shirts are hilarious and that it's funny they're wearing them for the show.

Ep 119 “Photo Story Part 2” (Ep: 4 / KM: 3)

8:21 - "You are me, I am you" moment: Jimin does a ballet spin the same way JK did in part one.

11:18 - JK is the only one to vote for JM to be able to keep a picture in other than Jin (who has nefarious reasons for doing so).

29:40 - JM goes over to help JK see how many of his photos the spy ruined and almost falls over laughing when it becomes clear it's nearly all of them.

34:21 - JM puts his hand on JK's shaking leg to help calm him (see above photo), but JK is so irritated that it doesn't work like it usually does. Poor bunny!

35:17 - JM pulls at JK's shirt and hand, then folds over his back while trying to get him to confess that he actually lost.

38:24 - JM has a comforting hand on JK's neck when he's acting upset about losing.

38:32 - When it seems like JK is struggling to come up with an ending statement, JM helps prompt him.

BEHIND

0:55 - JK talks about how amazing it is that Jimin found so many cards.

3:51 - When JK is playing with the sequin art on the front of his shirt, JM leans over and starts rubbing on them, too.

5:11 - Jimin tells JK that, if he wins, he's going to make the loser hike Mt. Achasan. JK asks why he's looking at him when he says that and they both laugh. Jimin pats JK's chest and they laugh even harder. Jin and Tae both have "omg, these two" looks on their faces.

Ep 120 “Reply BTS Village Part 1” (Ep: 3 / KM: 2)

The ones with a real-life Mafia game inexplicably set in a 1970s village. It's... fairly difficult to follow, but the guys are into it and the outfits are great!

24:40 - Jimin breaks character and laughs when asking JK if he's the culprit.

29:40 - Caption: "The air is undeniably tense between Gamer Jeon and Chief Park." Not explicitly jikook, I just find it funny that the writers seem to be playing with some real life relationships, making sope best friends and jikook have tension that leads to banter...

BEHIND

5:34 - When Jimin is playing with the yo-yo, JK expresses concern that he's going to hurt his fingers (caption: Kook is just worrying for his hyung). Then, JK asks poutily and in banmal if he can play with the yo-yo multiple times and Jimins says no. Like, JK straight-up gives his hyung a command ("let me try that") using informal speech and no one bats an eye!

5:58 - Jimin starts singing a song about an ants. JK watches him. JK initially says to Hobi "look, he's a fool/dummy!" (in banmal again), then starts singing along. He jokes that JM doesn't know all the lyrics and Jimin says back "quiet, you."

Ep 121 “Reply BTS Village Part 2” (Ep: 3 / KM: 2)

38:48 - After having asked for it a bunch in the Behind of the previous episode, JK now has Jimin's yoyo.

non-jikook note: At the end of this one, they "time travel" to solve a mystery in Joseon-era Korea and I can't express how badly I want to see that. Please come back to that, Run!

BEHIND 0:58 - Jimin and JK play around accusing each other with exaggerated accents and formality. Jimin comes up behind JK and reaches out to touch his shoulder, but stops when Tae joins them and accuses them of plotting together.

9:05 - When JK says everyone else is so good at acting, Jimin compliments him that he was very funny towards the end.

[whiskehorange]

Rules

This is the official rules post to my page, which I do encourage everyone to read before sending in asks and/or requests, seeing as I am making a lot of changes to how I will be continuing to write on this blog!

Please Note Beforehand!

Regarding my chapters that I have written for Michael, Jason, Thomas, etc., I will not be finishing/adding to them. They are essentially what started my blog and I have no intention of adding to them for the sake of letting old dogs lie. They are horrific and that's why I love them. We all started somewhere, as cringe as those writings may be. Everything I have written so forth I have seen as what takes place after the events of the chapters, so there is your continuation.

You are more than welcome to send conversation starters, questions, complements, random thoughts, or anything like that even if my requests are closed! However if it is a specific request I will not take them.

I am open to movie and character suggestions, preferably horror of course, to further the void of who I write for, so don't be afraid to ask!

I do not write:

Incest

Pedophilia

Character x Character (unless platonic w/ reader involved)

Rape

Extreme fetishes including but not limited to: scat, piss, watersports, etc., and anything else I find uncomfortable writing

Graphic abuse

In depth self harm/suicide

Match-ups

I will write:

NSFW, SFW, fluff, angst, etc.

Gender neutral, male, female, non-binary, trans, etc. readers unless I feel as though I won't be able to correctly write for xgender (being a cis female the last thing I want to do for you guys is not write something correctly when it comes to pronouns/gender)

x Reader

Headcannons only unless I see the prompt fit for a short fic/have the motivation to focus on doing so

Mentions of rape, pedophilia, incest, abuse, etc. if the "reader" in question suffers from trauma. I will not write graphic content explaining and detailing it happening, but it can be mentioned slightly to describe the trauma the reader has in regards to the ask

Suicide/self harm. Preferably not the act of "offing" oneself, but the mention of suicidal thoughts are okay! I want to provide comfort to you guys who request when it depends on it. I know it's comforting to read such "negative" topics and it's something I handle well for the sake of bringing you guys comfort

I have no limit for how many characters you request for in an request, but I do ask that you keep it reasonable (i.e. I'm not doing every character on my roster under one request). Up to 8 to 10, if a number would been to be given, but you're more than welcome to go over that number or send separate asks for slashers & non slashers, if that makes sense!

[kiingocreative]

The Structure of Story is now available! Check it out on Amazon, via the link in our bio, or at https://kiingo.co/book

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If you ask around, a lot of successful writers will tell you that they look at their writing the same way they would a business. And what do successful business all have in common? They have clearly defined brands that are designed to appeal to their target audience or customers.

What does that mean, concretely?

• It means that they know what they stand for, what their values are and what they’re offering.

• It means that they know who their target customer is, in terms of demographics, likes and dislikes, and general lifestyle or habits.

• It means that their messaging and content is tailored to appeal to that type of customer…

• …So that, ultimately, when their ideal customer lands on their social media pages or website, they can relate to everything on there and be more inclined to purchase a product or service.

Being a writers is no different, in that your work will be, by design, targeted to only a segment of the population. Nurturing your brand is how you’ll ensure your book will be put in front of the right readers, and have the best possible chances of success.

Before you set out on your journey to building your online presence, therefore, think about what you want your channels to reflect—be it across social media or through your website. The online image you’ll be creating has to be consistent across all of the mediums you are leveraging.

This by no means implies your online persona should be fake—quite the opposite in fact! The more genuine your online image is, the easier it will be to maintain over time and the more believable and consistent it will appear (because it’ll be true!).

Why Your Online Image Matters.

Trying to maintain a fake image will, at best, make it unconvincing and, at worst, confusing.

And that’s the thing.

Most people reject what they don’t understand. If they check out your content and it looks all over the place or doesn’t make sense, they’ll simply move on. Confusion turns people away from your content before they’ve had a chance to hear what you have to say.

Ask yourself some questions before you start:

• Who are you? What makes you, YOU? What is unique to you?

• When people think of you, what do you want them to think about? Someone who’s fun? Quirky? Talks about things as they are? Someone who’s formal? Someone with a particular interest? etc.

• How does this translate into the look and feel and content of your social media channels, your website etc.?

Take some time to write this down and use it to create your brand guidelines. And I mean exactly that: write it down. Make it a rulebook, and refer to it regularly. It may change and evolve with time, but having a reference point you can physically consult (as opposed to shreds of an idea of what your brand is about somewhere in your mind) will keep you and your brand on track.

Everything you post about, and the format in which you share it (e.g. photos, videos, long captions, blog posts, newsletter etc.) should be in line with the image you’re building.

From there, identify who your target audience is, and make sure your message (and its delivery) is relatable and appealing to that audience. It can take some trial and error to get right, so give yourself room to learn and grow!

Your Instagram Brand: Content vs. Aesthetics.

Looking at Instagram, you’ll see two main types of focus:

• Focus on aesthetics: these are feeds with high quality, impeccable pictures, quirky reels/videos, with a consistent theme and colour palette, and a huge focus on being visually pleasing.

• Focus on content: feeds where more thought and effort is placed on the post captions.

There are different ratios in which you can combine the two. Go back to your brand guidelines and see which ratio or combination of the two feels like a better fit. Ask yourself what would be more relatable for your target audience. Find what resonates most with you and your brand and stick to it, especially at the beginning when you’re growing a platform.

If you’re unsure what’s right for you, there’s no need to reinvent the wheel. Take some time to browse Bookstagram and find accounts you like. See what they’re doing and use the techniques you can see are working for them and feel right to you. Find what works, throw away what doesn’t.

Whatever you do, keep it consistent.

Wherever you land on the ‘aesthetics focus’ to ‘content focus’ ratio, as with a lot of things the first thing that people see when they land onto your channels (be it your instagram feed, your website etc.) is… Well. What they SEE.

People’s opinion of you based on your content will likely be formed (often subconsciously) within seconds of landing on your website or feed. Within those few seconds, they’ll decide whether or not to stick around or bounce, never to come back again.

For that reason, it’s important to keep the look and feel of your content generally consistent. Remember, confusing people is the surest way to fry their brains and turn them away from your channels before they give you, or what you have to say, a chance.

Your channels should all reflect the same look and the same message, i.e. they should look like they belong to the same person, and not show people one person on Instagram, a different one on your website and yet another one on Facebook. Things need to line up for your audience to get a sense of who you are and what you’re about, so that they can evaluate whether or not they can relate to it all. Once again, and I can’t say this enough, confused brand messaging is your worst enemy.

Professional, or not at all.

Consistency is one thing, and it’s crucial, but it’ll mean nothing if your channels don’t all look professional. Professional doesn’t mean it can’t also have a casual vibe, or be a friendly brand. Professional means whatever your brand is, it should have a certain polish to it, and clearly show that it was thought through and well-executed.

If you’re not convinced, riddle me this: When you land on a website that looked hacky or unsafe, do you still stuck around and browse through it? Or when you find an instagram account with burry pictures, weird-looking captions and totally unrelated content throughout, do you still scroll through for more?

…

My guess is you wouldn’t, because when you find something that looks dodgy (or, in other words, unprofessional) you can’t get away from it fast enough. We all do, because on a primal level that sense of uneasiness, uncertainty and insecurity signals to our brain that there may be danger, and it triggers our flight response.

Here are some prompts to get you started with building professional-looking and consistent channels:

On Instagram:

• What’s your Instagram handle? It is unique and memorable? Find a handle that says what it does on the tin, and one that doesn’t include a string of random numbers and letters. e.g. @authorjohnsmith is good, but @johnny_1999 and @John_Smith99 aren’t because they say nothing about who you are and they won’t be easy to remember.

• What type of pictures are you posting? Are they all clear and high-quality?

• Will you be using filters? If so which one? Ideally pick one and stick to it to give your feed a homogeneous look.

• What format are you using for your captions?

• Are your captions properly spaced out and easy to read?

• What content are you planning to post? Will there be recurring themes? If so, which ones?

On your website:

• Does your website look professional? Or does it look like a dodgy website that people will want to run away from immediately?

• Is your domain clear, specific and easy to remember?

• What does your landing page (your website home page) say about you?

• What imagery are you using?

• Is the look and feel of your website aligned with the look and feel of your Instagram feed? i.e. do they look like they belong to the same person?

• If your website navigation clear?

• How many clicks does it take to go from your home page to finding key information about you and your books?

• Is it easy for people to get in touch with you?

REAL and GENUINE does it.

I appreciate that a lot of the information we’ve covered so far sounds like it involves a lot of over-engineering of your online persona, but that isn’t to say that to succeed you need create a fake alter-ego.

Quite the opposite, actually.

What it suggests is that you should take some time to think about what makes you YOU, what feels real and genuine to YOU and to see how you can best translate that into images and content that will help people get to know YOU and what you stand for.

The illusion of perfection won’t make you attractive. All it’ll do is make you seem one-dimensional, and most likely make it look like you lack substance. In this day and age, people like to be able to relate to others and to see what goes on behind the scenes, the good AND the bad.

That’s all that your writer brand is. And the people who can relate to it will be the ones who stick around to hear more of what you have to say and will be more likely to enjoy your books.

In fact, look at it that way: building our writer brand online is like matching-making our books to their ideal readers. It’s getting our work in front of the people who are primed to love it and embrace it. And if we’ll give our characters a chance to find their literary soul-mates, why wouldn’t we grant our books the same courtesy?

[mn0tes]

TATTLE GAMES🐮

⚠️May contain SPOILERS of The Promised Neverland (TPN) ⚠️

“Let’s run away together”

What is the “Identity V” mobile game?

Identity V is a survival horror multiplayer game designed for children 12 +. The story revolves around a detective who is solving a mystery behind a sinister game held within an abandoned manor. The game setup revolves around matches between 4 survivors and 1 hunter or 8 survivors and 2 hunters (depending on the mode). Basically to win, the hunter must kill 3 or 6 survivors or at least 3 or 6 survivors must escape before the game ends. The player can level up his/her characters by playing and winning matches. The rewards earned from the games can be used to upgrade the skill of the characters, receive items, obtain costumes, and many more.

Why I advice TPN fans to play this game and participate in the event?

If you are an avid TPN fan, I advice you to start playing this game before the “The Promised Neverland” crossover event takes place sometime in February or early Spring of 2021 but the exact date is yet to be announced. I just estimated those dates based on the deadline of the pre-registration. In my opinion, to fully enjoy this event, you’ve got to be familiar with the controls, mechanics, and intensity of the game before the awaited event so that it wouldn’t surprise you. 😉 Let me tell you, the game is intense especially for gamers who aren’t used to this genre. It’s an adrenaline pumping game that involves a lot of running around, hide and seek, and prompt decision making that will get new users addicted to it. All I can say is, a good battle strategy comes in handy in these games. Sounds familiar? Yeah! Just like in TPN, your practically playing tag with your enemy. Your strategy as a killer or a survivor matters a lot if you want to win and reap the rewards of your victory. For me, this game reminds me a lot of the Goldy Pond Battle Arc but unlike in the Manga, the number of players (hunters and survivors) are greater in TPN. Emma and the other survivor’s task is different compared to the game because they have to stay alive within the alloted killing time instead of just deciphering machines and activating exits to escape the game area. In Emma‘s case though, they are literally trapped and living in Goldy Pond, the bloody arena! They can’t escape! I’m excited to see how this plays out in the event because NetEase Inc. might alter the basic mechanics of the game to follow the main story of TPN so it’s something to look forward to. Another thing to look forward to are the costumes, items, and other rewards that are based on the TPN characters that you all love and cherish!!! 🥳 HOW COOL IS THAT! 🤩 Fans may get a chance to earn Grace Field costumes or maybe an Emma sleeve. 😭 I’m looking forward on seeing an Emma-looking survivor doll running away from a Leuvis-looking hunter doll or maybe a Norman-looking survivor doll rescuing an Emma-looking survivor doll. 😍 Heck, I think it’s the other way around but it’s still soooo CUTE. 🥲

How do I take part in this event?

It’s easy, just bind your game ID number in the pre-registration page. It’s totally free too!

How do I obtain a game ID number?

The game ID can be obtained if your already an Identity V player. The game ID number is shown underneath your user name in the settings menu. If your not a player, you need to download the mobile game first and start the game. Don’t worry, your not going to be thrown in the killing arena right off the bat.

What is the Manor IQ Test?

The Manor IQ Test is a teaser game for fans to enjoy while waiting for the crossover event. It’s a super hard, time pressured IQ Test that enables fans to experience the difficulty level of the test the premium cattle kids have to take every morning. I advice switching on the sound effects because it adds up to the creepy factor and the pressure of getting a perfect score. 😰

How to get a perfect score in the Manor IQ Test to avoid getting shipped out?

If your a fan of the series, you know the importance of getting a perfect score in every test. Perfect score = another day to live (in their case, it’s 3 months to live until the time when they turn 12 and their hard earn scores are deemed useless). 🤬

I feel you Ray 😣 so, I’m sharing the answer key to you guys. 🤫 Following this will ensure you to earn a “perfect scorer” title. 😬

Several Survivors stand in a line. If the Explorer is 15th in line counting from both left and right, how many Survivors are in the line? Answer: 29

Emily is older than Martha, and both of their ages contain the number "2". The sum of the two numbers in Martha's age is less than 4, Martha is two years younger than Emma, and the sum of these three ladies' ages is 74. How old are Emily, Martha, and Emma? Answer: 32, 20, and 22

What number completes the pattern? Answer: 16

There is a box in front of you that contains an abundance of perfume, syringes, and flashlights. You can only get one item from the box each time you open it. How many times do you need to open the box to guarantee two of the same item? Answer: 4

What number completes this pattern? Answer: 3

Figure 1 (front view) and Figure 2 (top-down view) are two views of a structure built with cubes of the same size. At least how many cubes are used to build this structure? Answer: 17

Mike the Acrobat has 6 juggling balls- 2 black, 2 white, 2 red. The Mind's Eye takes 4 random juggling balls out of his room each time and always puts one back before taking another. After four entries/exits, what are the chances of her getting 2 black juggling balls, 1 white juggling ball, and 1 red juggling ball? Answer: 4/27

Which figure completes the pattern? (circle, triangle, and square ver.) Answer: (the first option) square, triangle, and circle.

Fold Cowboy's lasso twice and cut it from the middle. How many sections are there? Answer: 5

Survivors A, B, and C have different professions; one is a lawyer, one is a magician, and one is a painter. The Hunters made guesses about who does what: Hell Ember: A is the painter, and B is the lawyer. Bloody Queen: A is the lawyer, and C is the painter. The Ripper: A is the magician, and B is the painter. It turns out that each of them was right about one of the survivors. Therefore, what is the correct profession for each Survivor? Answer: A. Magician, B. Lawyer, C. Painter

Which figure completes the pattern? (boxes and lines ver.) Answer: (the last option) square with a horizontal line in the middle

Each icon below represents a number. What is the sum of the three icons? Answer: 8

How many sides are there when a tetrahedron is attached to an equilateral square pyramid with the sides that share the same area? Answer: 5

Based on the information below, what is YY? Answer: 0

What figure completes the pattern? Answer: (the third option) The triangle with four triangles in the center

After getting your score, make sure to scroll down to unlock the special chapter.

Enjoy and Be creeped out!

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Because the reality is you’ve been shipped out!

Yes! That’s the hard truth the TPN characters faced. The scores didn’t matter! At the end of the day, their still meat, a merchandise that must be consumed. The demons and caretakers gave them false hope that there is a way out, a chance to have a future but holding on to that illusion and fake happiness will lead the kids to their doom. It’s such a cruel world! I hope that they will be able to capture that sad reality of deception in the upcoming event and I know they will. The other dilemma that’s been perfectly portrayed in this game is “Work together vs Betray your comrades to ensure your safety”. Have you ever wondered why it’s not required for all 4 survivors to escape the game? Well, it’s just practical and realistic that way, right? But it also mean that the three players can offer up their last teammate as sacrifice to distract the hunter while they escape. (Just like what Ray thought during the Jail break Arc, he was willing to be the bait to distract Mama while the others escape.)

I’m looking forward in seeing you in the game as my teammate or AS MY VICTIM!!! Don’t worry, I’m still learning the game so I’m usually a dumb hunter or an airhead teammate. 😓 (Sorry but I’m working on it!)

If you noticed my username “MN0tes” in the game, be kind enough and let me know maybe we can even create a group or something. 😎

[festiveferret]

FERRET’S BDAY BINGO

FRIENDS!!! 

This is that time of year when I post my bday prompts party opener and we roll in prompts for seven days leading up to my birthday. BUT this year was kind of crazy (lol) and I didn’t do anywhere near as many of last year’s as I’d like PLUS I still have some from the first year.

So this year I’m doing things a little differently. I still love making things for you guys for my bday party, so we’re taking a little inspo from @thewaythatwerust​ and we’re doing FERRET’S BDAY BINGO!!!!

From today until the end of August 7th, you can send me a bingo square prompt. It can be anything: a trope, a kink, a character, an AU, an image. I will trim out ones that I don’t feel comfortable with, put the rest in an random number generator and pull out 24 to fill my lovely card here:

If there are too many good ones to choose from, I’ll make a second card ;) Keep in mind that bingo prompts are usually short and sweet. If it’s more than a couple of words, it won’t fit!

Send me your prompts AS AN ASK so I don’t lose them. You can send more than one, but be considerate. If I get a ton from one person, I may pick only a few to throw in the draw. If you want to be tagged in the final product, be sure to be off anon, but anons are on as well.

If I can match a square with one of my outstanding prompts from the last two bday parties, I’ll do that and tag you both! 

Submissions are open from now until August 7th, and then it’s my birthday on the 8th! Thanks guys and happy birthday to meeee!!!

[imo-chan-imagines]

『 Haikyuu!! Week 2020 | Day 2 』

· Sept. 26th → One Ball, Heart and Soul ·

Characters: Sawamura Daichi, Testurou Kuroo, Bokuto Koutarou, Ushijima Wakatoshi, Oikawa Tooru, Terushima Yuuji

Prompts: A. favourite position/role + B. travel/journey

Tags/warnings: Haikyuu!! (anime), PG, fluff, crack, headcanons, HaikyuuWeek2020

A/N: I found it so hard to pick a favourite position/role, because they're all so interesting and important, and I love everyone 😭 But I settled on the role of captain because of the headcanons I thought of. Captain Sqaud, assemble! So, want to find out what these boys are like on a road trip?

(Just to be clear, I do love all these guys. None of this is hate 😂) All my Haikyuu Week 2020 posts will be SFW, but I have some NSFW stuff on my blog, too. Feel free to check that out~ Thanks for reading! Please enjoy ♡ Imo~

☆ Sawamura Daichi ☆

Dad-chi™

Comes prepared with all the food, drinks, snacks, med kit, camera – literally everything you could possibly need on a road trip

Plans out the route beforehand down to the tiniest detail nothing gets past this man

As well as multiple backup routes in case there's diversions etc.

Plans for regular breaks at two-hour intervals where everyone can pee, stretch their legs, buy anything they need, etc.

He's the one who's driving he's not letting anybody else get a scratch on his van, lmao

And he's good at it

No speeding he's a cop, y'all but he doesn't dawdle either, no running red lights, turns corners well, keeps an even foot on the gas, etc.

Just a good time, tbh

Nobody is getting car sick because of him that would be a damn disgrace

"Stop fighting right now, or I'm turning this van around"

And will actually do it if you don't stfu, lmfao

Don't even think about making a mess and dropping your rubbish in the van you'll be walking home

Everyone else thinks his music is boring and for old people, but Daichi honestly doesn't care

Besides, it's either that or no music at all, because he needs to concentrate on the road

He takes this shit seriously. People's lives are in his hands, dammit!

☆ Testurou Kuroo ☆

Likes to switch between driving and riding shotgun/being designated navigator

Is fairly decent at both

Is constantly eating something but, like, he probably doesn't even know what it is

Some kind of edible is shoved towards his mouth by whoever's riding shotgun, and in it goes shut up. Not like that, you cretins 😂

Somehow manages to behave like an overbearing grandparent and an overexcited child at the same time?? Nothing new there, I guess 😂

I'm sorry, Kuroo, I love you. Please don't be mad 😭

Has a banging playlist full of throwback songs from the 90s and early 2000s

Drums along sofly on the steering wheel or dashboard constantly

HATES driving in rain he's low-key terrified he's going to aquaplane

Likes driving with the windows wound down and feeling the wind in his hair

Will plan the route, but then forget to save it/print it off, etc.

Cannot work Google Maps or SAT-NAVs to save his life Kenma, please help him

Actually packs properly balanced meals, but is heavy on the snacks, too

You'd think he'd drive too fast, but he's actually really responsible

Constantly telling dad jokes to try and keep people amused the groaners are the best

Would probably fight someone at the gas station if they started being a dick and causing trouble

Kuroo, baby. I love you, but please don't get arrested 😭😂😭

☆ Bokuto Koutarou ☆

Dear God, do NOT let him drive leave it to Akaashi, I'm begging you

Has really bad spacial awareness in a vehicle and drifts all over the place

Probably speeds without even knowing it, too

Likes to ride shotgun, but is a terrible navigator, so is nearly always made to ride in the back

Is the loud one that moves around too much and blocks the rear view mirror strap him in tight, Akaashi

Belts along at the top of his voice to whatever music is playing, he's not fussy

Was told to pack essential items in his backpack and proceeded to fill it with sweets and snacks and a pack of condoms??? and thought he did good

Bokuto: Bro, you said they were essential

Akaashi: NOT FOR EVERY SITUATION

Rarely ever has to pee, but when he does, it's always miles away from any service station, and he has to hold it for hours

Has definitely peed at the side of the road multiple times because he couldn't hold it any longer, but he wasn't even embarrassed as numerous cars zoomed past

Likes sticking his head out the window like a dog on the motorway which gives everyone else heart attacks

Like, get the hell back inside you maniac 😭

If the car has a sunroof, he's 100% standing up through it with his hands in the air just you try and stop him

And they will. Everyone will try

"HORSES!!"

Will get out of the car in traffic jams to find out what's going on and end up chatting with random strangers until it starts moving again

And he's very sad when he has to leave his new friends. Droopy hair and emo Kou for the next 2 hours :(

Unironically enjoys playing 'I Spy' for hours at a time

Is a bit much to handle in such a confined space for hours on end, but he's just so excited for the road trip

Will fall sound asleep in a matter of minutes if you set him up with a travel pillow and it's freaking adorable!!

☆ Ushijima Wakatoshi ☆

No music whatsoever it's distracting. Why would he want it?

Okay driver, brilliant paper-map navigator

Will sit and do absolutely nothing but stare out the window the entire trip if he's neither

Breaks too hard and accelerates too fast, though

Is also kind of heavy-handed with the gear stick he may or may not have snapped one off before...

Never give him a SAT-NAV, though, because he will follow the directions with 100% accuracy and end up driving through a wall or some shit don't try and deny it

Does he ever even blink when he's looking at the road? We may never know

Might be astral projecting, who knows

Forgets people need toilet breaks but refuses to make unscheduled stops

"Just hold it in"

Uh-huh, sure. That's how that works, Toshi

No snacks

Or rather, no fun snacks. Protein bars and mineral water all the way, babyyyy 🙃🙃🙃

Could probably drive all through the night without taking any breaks but that's irresponsible

Don't do it, kids

Will likely devour the entire KFC menu at the service station he's big, okay? He eats a lot

Is prone to leg cramp after long drives oh look, he needs a massage 😏

Doesn't get car sick. Ever. Upset stomachs are for the weak

Has garbage and recycling pouches on the backs of the front seats use them correctly, or feel his wrath

Isn't exactly a barrel of laughs, but it's somehow endearing just like always *happy sigh*

But it's actually a good thing

There's no hidden side to Ushi or any bad or annoying habits that come out of the woodwork on a long road trip

He's just the same old reliable, adorably straightforward Ushijima ❤

☆ Oikawa Tooru ☆

Calls shotgun and demands the aux cord every. Single. Time but it's pretty decent music, so no-one really complains

Not that he's any good at navigation pray for Iwa-chan

Is constantly taking selfies, making TikToks, and documenting the trip on his social media

#ROADTRIP #SQUAD GOALS #BETTER THAN YOU

Will send all the photos in the group chat when it's over, and they actually come out pretty well

Will not stop complaining if the air conditioning is busted and Iwa-chan will threaten to dump him in the middle of nowhere if he doesn't can it 😂

Iwa-chan: I shoulda left you on that street corner where you were standing

Oikawa: But'cha dIDN'T

Bonus points if you get that reference, lmao

Has to keep taking breaks because his butt hurts when he sits down for too long because it's fLaT

I'm sorry, Tooru 😭😭 Forgive me. I love you, really

Is constantly on his phone

But he points out pretty views and interesting sights to everyone all the time awww

Low-key needs to pee all the time, but gets defensive if someone brings it up please stop bulling him, travelling is hard

"Are we there yet?"

Seems kind of annoying, but is actually just genuinely excited to go on a road trip and spend time with his friends 😭😭

Buys matching souvenirs for everyone in secret to surprise them with 🥺

When people complain about all the photos, souvenirs, and enthusiasm, etc. and ask why he has to keep doing it, Oikawa says:

"I want to remember as much of this as possible. I want us all to remember as much of this as much as possible," with a sweet little smile 😭😭😭

And that's when everyone realises how mean they've been to him about being over-the-top and irritating, and they all feel terrible

Just like in the freaking anime, man

☆ Terushima Yuuji ☆

Will hijack the aux cord to play his incredibly niche music taste

Feet up on the dashboard when he rides shotgun

Shoes on is bad enough, but shoes off just stinks up the entire car you have to roll all the windows down, lmfao

Will break all sorts of road laws if you let him behind the wheel please don't

Daichi will come and arrest him 😭😭

Lives on energy drinks

That's all the drinks he packs. Nothing else

Travels in sports wear and sliders yes, even though you reallly shouldn't drive in sandals

Like he knows or cares 😭

Will chat to girls at the gas station and ask for their numbers, even though he's never going to see them again

"You never know, man! It could be, like, fate or something"

Yes, Yuuji, you do. And it's 'or something'

Thinks it's a good time to sext his current booty call because, like, he has hours of free time. What else is he going to do?

Probably forgot to pack actual food

Has to live off of snacks and cheap service station food for the duration of the trip

But not his own snacks, of course. Everyone else's one doesn't keep friends and buy one's own snacks

Genuinely doesn't realise if he's being gross or annoying, so let him down lightly like a bro and he'll probably make an effort to stop

Doesn't plan the route or anything, even if he's driving. Just punches it into Google Maps as he sits his ass down on the day and trusts it to get him there in one piece and on time

Entire Johzenji team: Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death...

For some reason knows how to change a flat tire, though, so he's good for something, I guess 😂😂

Probably saw a YouTube video on it. Maybe a WikiHow article

Somehow still manages to be an endearing part of the trip??

He smiles a lot and makes a lot of jokes, particularly when things go wrong, so it keeps everyone's spirits up

It definitely wouldn't be the same without him

© imo-chan-imagines 2020

[unrivaled-super-hottie]

Due to popular demand, we’re having another run of QZGS Masquerade: an anonymous writing event featuring identity shenanigans and cool prizes. 

There will be two parts to this event.

Part One (Oct 15th - Nov 15th): Authors write a fic and publish it anonymously throughout the month

Part Two (Nov 16th - Nov 22nd):  Readers try to guess who wrote what

You do not have to participate in part one (the writing) to participate in part two (the guessing). 

There are no sign ups! If you’re interested in participating, just read more for how to submit an entry!

[Part One – Fic Submission]

The task for any writer interested in participating is to write a 1000-2000 word piece. You may not go a single word below 1,000 or a single word above 2,000. This is to ensure you write enough to give people a fair shot at guessing your writing style while also keeping things short for readers going through all the entries.

YOU MAY SUBMIT YOUR FIC TO AO3 ANYTIME YOU WANT, AS LONG AS IT IS BEFORE NOVEMBER 15TH AT 11:59 PM EST

After you finish writing, you must make sure to include your fic in the “QZGSMasquerade2020″ collection before publishing. This will ensure that your fic is published anonymously (you don’t have to do anything special to make it anonymous, putting it in the collection automatically makes your fic anonymous). Also if you could include the tag “QZGS Masquerade 2020″ and link back to this post to encourage other people to join, that would be great! Everyone wins if there are more people to hide among!

After publishing, immediately fill out [this google form] so I can include you in the event roster. 

Keep in mind these rules:

You may only submit ONE fic entry. 

There is no required theme/prompt for you to write, but you are obviously encouraged to write characters/pairings/themes/styles you usually don’t write to throw people off guessing your identity. 

Any rating/pairing/crossovers/etc will be accepted as long as TKA characters are involved

Your fic must be written in English

Your fic must be a self-contained oneshot and able to stand alone, it should be marked as completed.

—

[Part Two – Author Guessing]

On Nov 16th, I will post a document of all the listed suspects [authors] and their fic on this tumblr with the tag #QZGSMasquerade2020. This will include the author’s AO3 and any other social media profile they may have provided.

Then a google form will be released for people to guess who wrote what.

A final tally of guesses will be shown on Nov 22nd.

—

[Prizes]

1)      The person who is able to get the highest number of correct author-fic matches will get a month subscription to discord nitro

2)      The author who is least correctly matched to their fic will get colored artwork based on their fic. If there is a tie, random number generator will be used to draw a winner among the tied authors. (Note: art may or may not be by me depending on my schedule, here was [the art] for last year’s winner ) 

3)      Then there is a raffle for a month subscription to discord nitro for the rest of the participants. You get raffle tickets based on the following criteria:

*You get one ticket for submitting a fic

*You get an additional ticket if your author profile on AO3 already has at least 1,000 words of fic on it (this count does not include your fic submission). Note that these words don’t have to come from TKA fic, it can be fic for any fandom. [This is to balance for the advantage new writers have in avoiding guesses]

*If you are in the top 50% of writers who were least correctly matched to their fic, you get an additional ticket

*If you are in the top 25% of writers who were least correctly matched to their fic, you get an additional ticket

[winterhawkwonderland]

FAQs 2020 Edition

Hey there, Wonderland Participants! As promised, here is your 2020 edition of Questions We Have Received. Some of these are repeats from blog asks or that we have previously answered, but this way it’s all in once place! 

First though, a quick review of the dates and rules:

Dates: (as you can see, we are right on schedule!)

Monday 05 October: Signups open

Sunday 01 November: Signups close

Sunday 08 November: Assignments will be emailed - these will arrive in the email inbox you provided when you signed up so if you did not receive a confirmation email from us we do not have a means to contact you with your assignment - please message the blog ASAP

Sunday 22 November: Check-In #1

Sunday 06 December Check-In #2; Posting Date Signups

December 15-25: Gifts Posted

Friday 15 Jan: Round-Up Posted

Rules:

This exchange is for good-hearted fun! Remember that you’re getting a gift, not ordering a commission.

Don’t be a dick.

Works submitted for this event have to be original works that haven’t yet been posted elsewhere in the fandom. Everybody deserves a new, unique gift!

Remember to keep your recipient a secret until your gift is posted.

This event doesn’t allow any works involving the Big AO3 Four (Character Death, Underage, Rape/Non-con, Extreme Violence). Just… this isn’t the place for it.

This event is open to all ages — with the caveat that participants under the age of 18 will not be allowed to create or receive sexual content.

This year we are allowing art and writing.

Fanart: Final pieces should be digitally consumable. This can include fanart, moodboards, and the like.

Fanfic: Absolute minimum 1000 words; no maximum; expectation between 1K-3K.

All works need to be complete before posting — this includes multi-chapter work.

Now, onto the questions we’ve received so far!

If we write a story best formatted as multiple chapters and finished by the deadline, can we post just chapter one on the day the story is due and each chapter on a new day thereafter or does an entire multi-chaptered work have to go up all at once?

The multi-chapter work must be complete by your posting date and must be completely posted by the end of posting.  Basically, posting runs December 15-25th (dates overlap both Christmas and Hanukkah) - dates will be assigned on a first-come, first-served basis by google form sign-up, and your entire work must be completely posted by December 25th. If you have many chapters, we recommend that you choose an earlier posting date so that you can post a chapter each day until complete and still be done by final posting date. 

Will I get assigned to make either art or fic or do I get the prompts and choose which to make?

You will receive three prompts from your gift recipient and you may fulfill the request in whatever fashion you like as long as it respects the recipients DNWs.  If you can make all three prompts into one art piece or one fic, go for it. You can focus on only one prompt. You can mash up two of the three! Whatever inspires you, we encourage you to get creative!

Are we allowed to combine our gift with a bingo fill if we can fit a bingo event prompt into the gift exchange prompt?

We are okay with this as long as the following conditions are met:

The work produced must prioritize the recipient’s request. If you can make werewolf den mothering and canon-compliant mission AU match up in a way that makes sense and that meets the recipient’s requests and DNWs, go for it.

The Bingo event is okay with prompts doing double-duty for our event and theirs.

The work created must meet the cumulative requirement for BOTH events. For example we are asking for 1-3k at minimum. If the Bingo requires 500 words, you would need to produce at least 1500 words to meet the guidelines for both events. It is hard to give an example of how that would apply to art, but the general idea is that you are creating a body of work which cumulatively meets the requirements for both events. Mood boards might need 6-8 images instead of 4, for example, or art might have a detailed background or full shading rather than a black and white sketch.Please use your good judgment with the idea that you are creating a gift for someone to enjoy in addition to filling a Bingo prompt rather than filling a Bingo prompt that you happen to gift someone.

Are threesome ships allowed for the exchange? As long as Clint and Bucky are prominently included? Can we put that as a request?

You can request an OT3 as part of your requests, but as this is a Winterhawk event your creator is under no obligation to fulfill any poly ships that are not Winterhawk.  Additionally, the focus should definitely be on the Winterhawk aspect of the relationship. 

When we will receive our matches?

On or before November 8th, depending on whether the mods can dig themselves out of the emotional black hole we’re all currently in to get it done early.  We are working on matches every day!

How are matches made? 

Matches are made through a very sophisticated system of: first we match up sensitive topic requests, such as ace/aro, trans, etc. with creators who are comfortable with those subjects and will treat them respectfully. Then we ensure that unusual DNWs (things that don't fall under the Big 4 or that aren't what most would consider 'common' DNWs such as abuse) are not matched with people who might accidentally include that DNW in a gift.  For example, if you put werewolves on your DNW list, we aren't going to match you with someone who has submitted three werewolf prompts. That person likes werewolves, and you don't! It's not a good match! Finally, we pray over the spreadsheet to the Random Number Generator Gods, and they spit out divinely reveal Random Numbers for us to match. Entry number 1 gets matched to holy Russian Roulette entry number 25! Unless one of those already has been matched, that's the pairing that gets emailed out! This is the fairest way we have come up with to do the matchmaking, but if you receive a prompt you absolutely feel you cannot create for, please reach out to us and we will see what we can do about resolving the situation, whether that means we make a matching change, or we ask the gift recipient for new prompts.

How do posting dates work?

After the second check in, a Google Form will be emailed out to all participants - you will be able to choose a date on the form that you would like to post on, running the entire length of the posting period (December 15-25th). There will be a limited number of slots per day (4-5 spots) and they will be filled on a first-come, first-served basis. Again, we recommend that if you have a multi-chapter work and would like to post a chapter per day/every other day that you sign up for an early posting date so that your work is completely posted before the event ends December 25. 

What are the Check-Ins?

Just a way for the Mod Team to check in with participants to ensure things are running smoothly. We will ask you how your gift is coming along, if you’re having any trouble we can help with, and if you have any concerns you would like to voice.  

The second check-in is going to ask you to be a little more specific about your progress towards completion, and it will give us as mods an opportunity to offer you help if you need it - cheerleading, beta readers, etc. 

What if I need to drop out?

Please, please, please let us know as soon as possible.  We have pinch-hitters on standby, very willing to step in if needed - we understand that things happen! We will not even ask you why you need to drop out, we will just say thank you for letting us know and then we will pass your recipients prompts on to a pinch hitter.  No drama at all, and nothing to feel anxious about.  No one will even know that you dropped out unless you tell them.  Gifts are kept anonymous until posting day, and your recipient will still receive a gift regardless of whether you are able to provide it or not. 

[writingquestionsanswered]

Any tips for naming chapters? Especially closing chapters, as those seem to have a 'deeper' title of some sort in most books.

Chapter Titles: The Pros, Cons, Why, and How To

Chapter titles can be a great addition to your novel, but they’re not required and sometimes they do more harm than good. So, how do you know if chapter titles are right for your novel, and if so, how do you come up with them?

The Pros of Chapter Titles

Like book titles, chapter titles can serve a purpose beyond just being a name. Chapter titles can:

entice the reader to keep reading

serve as a visual backbone to reinforce your story’s structure

reinforce your story’s theme or tie themes together

enhance motifs and symbolism by echoing them

prompt your reader to look deeper

provide added context to the chapter’s events

The Cons of Chapter Titles

Just like with bad book titles, bad chapter titles can actually turn the reader off. When used incorrectly, chapter titles can:

seem forced and unnecessary

distract from the story

confuse the reader

make a story seem amateur and unrefined

make the writer seem lazy

spoil the reader on upcoming developments

Should You Use Chapter Titles?

If you have to ask, the answer is “probably not.” Maybe a better question would be, “Why do you think they would enhance your story?” If you don’t know what the chapter titles will add to the story or your reader’s experience, odds are they won’t add anything and will only come across as forced. But, if you have a good idea of what purpose they’ll serve–like, for example, they’re going to echo the motifs and symbolism to give your reader a deeper understanding of your character’s inner journey–they’re probably a good fit for your story.

How To Choose Chapter Titles

Choose a Theme/Unifying Factor: Beyond understanding why you want to use chapter titles (what they specifically add to the story/reader experience), the next thing you’ll want to figure out is your theme. Chapter titles may sometimes sound random, but good ones generally have some unifying factor, even if it’s not immediately obvious.

In Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson series, the chapter titles are all comedic, first-person “what I did”-style summaries. “I Become Supreme Lord of the Bathroom,” “We Hail the Taxi of Eternal Torment,” “My Birthday Party Takes a Dark Turn,” “Two Snakes Save My Life.” 

In Annie Proulx’s The Shipping News, the chapter titles echo the maritime setting of the story because they’re different types of sailing knots, like “Quoyle,” “The Strangle Knot,” and “The Love Knot.”

If you’re writing a story about a woman who goes home to Ireland to settle the estate of her recently deceased and very beloved grandmother, for example, you might title the chapters using Irish baked goods that the protagonist remembers baking with her grandmother throughout childhood. Or, you might go a step further and combine baked goods with other descriptors, like, “Spoiled Gooseberry Tart” or “Burned Brown Bread.”

Create Contextual Tie-In: What’s great about really good chapter titles is that they’re not just about the theme or unifying factor–each individual title goes a step further, hinting at the context of the chapter’s events or an important character in the chapter, or simply teasing what’s to come in a non-spoilery way.

In the Percy Jackson series, not only does the humor of the titles match the story’s tone, but they playfully hints at what is to come. While there’s a very literal sense to the chapter titles, you can’t possibly imagine how they’ll actually play out, so it doesn’t give too much away.

In The Shipping News, the style of knot chosen foreshadows the events of the chapter or a character’s predicament. For example, “Quoyle” (coil) is not just a knot style, it’s also the name of the main character, and more specifically, a coil knot doesn’t unravel easily and allows a coil of rope to lay flat and be walked over easily. This seems to tell us something about the character of Quoyle.

In my Irish grandmother example, perhaps “Spoiled Goosberry Tart” is a subtle reference to the turn taken by an otherwise romantic date with a man the main character finds interesting but a bit acerbic. For “Burned Brown Bread,” maybe it’s established that she has eaten brown bread for breakfast for as long as she can remember, so “Burned Brown Bread” implies something disastrous will happen in the morning.

Don’t Force It: If you’ve gotten this far and are still lost, chapter titles may not be the right fit for the story you’re working on. Again, the last thing you want to do is force them or create titles simply for the sake of having titles. Yes, people do that sometimes, but these are the kinds of titles that can turn a reader off and provide fodder for critics. So, if you find yourself struggling to even come up with a theme or unifying element, stick with numbers for now. At some point during the writing, revision, or editing process, you may find that an idea for a chapter title hits you. Then you can take a look into whether or not you can use that as a springboard for creating titles unified by the same theme or element.

Good luck!

————————————————————————————————-

Have a question? My inbox is always open, but make sure to check my FAQ and post master lists first to see if I’ve already answered a similar question. :)

[lyricfulloflight]

Ok, how about an angsty fic where Raven seduces Charles' boyfriends to "check they're faithful"

Okay, so my initial reaction to this prompt was: “horror, pure horror”, “Raven did what now?” “That bitch”.  But then, I wrote about it anyway.

I am not yet at 400 followers, so this post will be a bit of a tease.  I am at 398 followers though, so very very close.  When I get to 400 maybe I’ll fill a happier prompt?

I am posting the start of this because what started as a drabble is now turning into a fic.  So here’s the 2,500 + word ‘intro’ to the fic (dear lord what is wrong with me), that tackles this specific prompt.  Note to readers:  Erik is no where to be found in this part.  I decided, for reasons, that Erik would, ever be fooled by Raven trying to get him to cheat on Charles.  Never. (I think I decided this for my own sanity).

This fic will then continue, likely on AO3 at some point, as a fake-dating fic. I will include a few more notes at the end of this intro section to explain what will I have planned next.  

The Fall

Charles tried to be angry at Raven.  He really did.  He knew (as a telepath, how could he not know?), that most people would have reacted with anger, or outright rage.  Somehow, even all these years later with his mother and Kurt far away, hardly any influence left in his life, he could not help hearing their voices in his head; “You’ve brought this on yourself Charles.”, “This is all your own doing, young man.”.  The anger, the shame, the pain of it all turned inward.

Charles slipped away from the door where he’d overheard Raven talking to Hank, tiptoeing without so much as a sound - thank goodness for thick carpets.  The scene he’d just witnessed played over and over like a record stuck in an endless loop.

“Well I have to make sure don’t I?  That they really care for him.”  Raven had explained.  “Charles is such a horrible judge of character.  He really is the worst telepath of all time.”

“Still,” Hank had protested. “Luring his boyfriends away from him, tempting them to cheat, on purpose…that seems a bit much.”

“Look, two of those guys wanted to sleep with me when I was a woman and told me they weren’t even really gay.  If Charles can’t pick boyfriends who know their own sexuality, then he obviously needs my help.  You wouldn’t want him to actually keep dating these men would you? They all cheated on him!”

“With you. Because you intentionally tried to lure them away.  What if you hadn’t intervened?  You never know everything might have been fine!”

“It wouldn’t have been fine, Hank.  They’re CHEATERS.  If they didn’t cheat with me, or whoever I was pretending to be, they would have cheated on Charles with someone else.  They are scum.”

“If you say so.”

“I do say so. I’m protecting my brother, like any good sister would.”

“I feel the ethics of this situation are rather…murky.”

“Whatever, Hank.  I am a great sister.  A loving, protective, thoughtful sister who wants only the best for Charles.  And all his boyfriends have been awful, so I have no regrets.”

Had all his boyfriends been so awful, Charles wondered?  Perhaps they had.  Luke had been quite self-obsessed.  Really any man who needed to go to the gym every single day, and complained when they weren’t open on Christmas morning, was likely not the best match for Charles. Oliver had clearly been more interested in Charles’ money than anything else – he’d always looked happier after Charles gave him a present than he did after sex, which had been more than a little depressing.  Peter, well Peter had a small…appendage…and Charles was certain he would have broken things off with him even without Raven’s ‘helpful’ interference.

It was difficult to remember all the times he’d caught his boyfriend’s cheating, or had to listen to their admissions of having cheated, and realize that every single time his partner, the man he’d loved (or was at least hoping to love) had been kissing his sister.  Best not to think about it too deeply.

Hank, of course, had a point – perhaps the cheating never would have occurred without Raven forcing the issue.  Which, of course, was where the anger should have come in.  But Raven had a point too, they may well have cheated anyway, they could have already cheated before Raven’s seductions for all Charles knew – and that, that was where the self doubt came crashing through.

It seemed, and really how had Charles not realized this before, that he simply was not very lovable.  He was not worth someone’s commitment, their devotion, or their undivided affection.  Charles, by himself, was not enough.  His mother had certainly known, and his step-father.  Apparently even Raven knew Charles was lacking, why else would she have done what she’d done?  Why else would she have had such success?

Clearly, it was time to give up dating, to give up the fanciful idea of finding ‘the one’.  It was simply a waste of his time.

Charles spent the next six months devoting himself to casual encounters, one-night stands, fuck buddies, and random hook-ups.

He also spent very little time with Raven, though if anyone asked he would have vehemently denied it was intentional.

Casual sex was…empty and meaningless.  It burned at Charles’ heart and ate at his soul.  To go through with it, to make himself into the person he needed to be to flirt outrageously and tempt men who would clearly otherwise overlook him, he drank.  He drank a lot.  He drank copious amounts of fruity drinks with little umbrellas and sexually charged names.  He was reckless and wild.

It worked.  Though, honestly he didn’t much like himself in the morning.

He still got up and did it all again the next weekend.  And the weekend after that.  And the weekend after that.

Eventually it had to start feeling right, either that or it had to end.

It ended.  To be precise it crashed into a heap of of drunken excess and drug induced haziness.  

It ended in with Charles being shaken awake by a troubled looking young woman in the very dirty bathroom of a club who’s name he couldn’t remember.

“Are you okay?”

Charles peered up at the young woman through heavy lids that couldn’t seem to open completely.  His head was pounding, his telepathy muted to nothing more than a whisper, and he wasn’t completely sure he could stand if he tried.

“I’m fine.”  He winced at the croak of his own voice.

“Yeah, I’m not buying that.”  The young woman replied pointedly. “Is there anything I can do for you?”

Charles felt at his pockets and found them empty.

“Would I be able to use your phone?”  Charles asked with a wince. “I seem to have misplaced mine.”

“Took your stuff, huh?  Assholes.  Come out to the front, you can use the phone at the bar.  I don’t really have much money I can lend you -”

“No, no, I don’t need any money.”  Charles rushed to interrupt. “I…I’m sure someone can come and pick me up.”

“You know…”  The women began hesitantly, “you should probably use my phone.  You…you’re not going to want to go out there.”

“I look that bad, do I?”  Charles said with an embarrassed smiled.

“Yeah. You look…well, make your call and see for yourself.”  

She held out her phone and Charles took it.  He dialed a number he hadn’t called in months, crossed his fingers and hoped for an answer.

Raven picked up after six long rings.

“Hello?”

“Hello, Raven.  It’s Charles.”

“What the fuck are you calling me for at five in the morning?”

“I need you to come get me.”

“Come get you…are you in some kind of trouble Charles?  Are you hurt?”

Charles could hear the sounds of movement through the phone and the edge of panic in Raven’s voice.

“I’m fine.”  He answered. “I just…someone stole my phone and my wallet at a club and I need a ride home.”

“Where are you?”

Ah, good question.  Charles took the phone away from his face momentarily and smiled his best charming smile at the young woman currently staring down at him.

“Where am I, exactly?”  He whispered.

He wasn’t exactly surprised by the sad look the woman gave him as she recited the name of the club and its address.  Charles was more than a little depressed to realize he was quite so far away from his home in the Upper East Side of Manhattan.  It would likely take Raven the better part of an hour to come get him.  He sighed.  There was nothing for it, he had no one else to turn to who cared enough to come get him and had a car.

Charles got back on the phone and gave Raven the address.  He had to pull the phone away from his ear  when she yelled at him for being an idiot and making ridiculous choices and why would go to some club that was almost outside the city, etc, etc.

“You’ll come get me though.”  He ventured when her tirade ended.

“Yes, you fool.  I’m almost down to the parking garage.  I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

Charles hung up and handed the phone back to the young lady, and thanked her profusely for her kindness.  She nodded, gave him one more sad, troubled look and then left.

Alone, Charles managed to heave himself up off the floor, though not without a great deal of effort.  His limbs were stiff and sore as if he’d spent a good portion on the evening stuck in a very uncomfortable position, which frankly seemed quite likely.

One look in the mirror was all it took to understand why the young female employee had thought he might not want to come out of the bathroom. Charles was absolutely covered in…things.  He was almost certain a great deal of the sticky, multicoloured stains on his shirt were from various types of alcohol.  However, he also had to admit that the crunchy, dried substance in his hair was most certainly not alcohol. He immediately turned on the tap and stuck his head under the bathroom sink.  There was no way in hell he was going to have Raven pick his up from a club with come stuck in his hair. He had some dignity after all.

After washing his hair as best he could, Charles decided it was best to try the same with his shirt.  He winced as he struggled out of his white v-neck shirt, his muscles protesting each movement.  He succeeded in the end, and ran the shirt under hot water for several minutes before wringing it out and sticking it under the hair dryer in an attempt to dry it out.

As he held his shirt under the air flow, he took a quick glance at his torso and discovered he was covered in bruises, many of which bore the distinct look of finger prints.  His neck was worse than anything, absolutely covered in great purple bruise and teeth marks, one of which appeared to have broken the skin.

Charles found himself shaking at the sight and the realization he had no idea how he’d gotten any of the marks.  A wave of nausea hit him like a freight train and he stumbled into the nearest stall and vomited violently.

What in the world had he done?  How could have have let himself fall this far, spiral to such an incredible low point?  Waking up in a bathroom with no memory of the night before was appalling and terrifying.  As a telepath, he was generally cursed with excellent recall of people and events.  He couldn’t remember anything about the night before beyond accepting a particularly large slushy drink from a man at the bar.  Which meant, dammit, that he had more than likely been drugged. Lovely.

When Raven arrived he was going to get her to drive him directly home, where he could have a very, very hot shower, and he was immediately heading to the nearest clinic for testing.  And he was never, ever doing this again.  Ever.

Forty five minutes later, almost on the dot, the kind young lady from earlier poked her head into the bathroom and let him know his ride was here.  By that time Charles shirt was still stained, but mostly dry and smelled slightly less of alcohol and…other things.  Charles took one last look at himself, the damp hair, the dark circles under his eyes, the mass of bruises on his neck and prepared himself for an epic dressing down from his sister.

Her absolute stunned silence when she saw him was somehow a million times worse.  Raven always had something to say and to think his behaviour had literally shocked her into silence was a clear message unto itself.  Charles had crossed a line that even Raven had no response to.

The silence lasted almost until they reached Charles’ apartment building.

“Charles…” Raven’s voice was barely audible above the low level volume of the radio. “what are you…what do you need me to do?”

Charles sighed. “I’m going to go upstairs and clean myself up.  Then I need to head to the clinic.  You’re…”  He closed his eyes, hesitant to make the offer, but determined to push onward, “you’re welcome to come with me if you like.  But I’m fully capable of taking care of myself if you’re busy.”

“Fully capable…” Raven whipped her head around to stare at Charles as she parked down the street from his building. “Charles have you seen yourself?  You look atrocious.  You look…I’ve never seen you look like this in my life.  I will take you to the clinic.  I will take you to a therapist.  I will take you anywhere and do anything that will guarantee I never, ever see you like this again.  This is scary Charles.  You’re scaring me.”

“I’m sorry.”  Charles said, reaching out to touch Raven’s hand. “I made a mistake.  It’s not going to happen again.”

“I’ve barely seen you in six month Charles.  Has it been six months worth mistakes?  Six months of morning like this that I didn’t know about?”

Charles felt crushed under the helpless look in her eyes.  The truth was the last six months had been full of out of character behaviour and more than a few risky choices.  Nothing compared to the past 24 hours though.

“I…I’ve had a rough go of it lately.  I was trying to be someone…else.” Charles said, meeting Raven’s gaze directly.  “I was trying to be someone who’s sister didn’t feel she had to vet their boyfriends because they were a shit judge of character.  I was trying to be someone who’s boyfriends didn’t all cheat on him with said shapeshifting sister.”  He finally admitted.

“Oh. Oh, Charles.”  Raven’s eyes teared up, though in typical fashion, she somehow held them at bay. “I didn’t know…you weren’t supposed to know.”

“I know.  But I found out and I thought…I thought I should try something different.”

Raven huffed. “So you decided not to judge anyone’s character at all and just sleep with any man with a pulse.  That’s a brilliant choice Charles.”

Charles winced as Raven struck him firmly on the arm.

“Promise me you will never do ‘casually reckless’ again Charles.  Promise me you’ll just go back to being you.  The real, genuine you that I, and anyone worth your time, will love.”

“I promise to never do casually reckless again.”  Charles vowed.

They exited the car and walked slowly to Charles’ building where they were greeted by a surprised, but doing he best to hide it, doorman who had known Charles since he was sixteen and starting college. Charles felt himself flush from the roots of his to the collar of his shirt.

When Charles finally got upstairs and opened his front door he felt a wave of relief: home, safety, comfort.

Raven however, wasn’t quite done.

“You didn’t promise the last bit Charles.  You didn’t promise to be your genuine lovable self again.”  She said with a teasing smile.

“No I didn’t.”  Charles agreed. “I think…I think after everything, the last six months, my inability to have a loving committed relationship with a man who won’t cheat on me, I think I can admit the truth:  I am simply not fit for romantic consumption. That man, that ‘lovable’ man you think me to be?  He doesn’t exist.”

Charles turned on his heel and headed for his room.  He took a long hot shower.  He went to the clinic and got tested and waited none too patiently before he finally received a clean bill of health.  He moved on with his life.  If that life was now a perpetually lonely single life, he told himself he simply didn’t care.  He told himself he didn’t care so much, he almost believed it.

The End…so far

So this fic will turn into a fake dating situation where Raven and Hank are getting married.  Charles, who has lived in last five years as a celibate monk is in need of a date.  He knows how much it will mean to Raven if he starts dating again, especially for her wedding.  He runs into Erik one day (literally because that’s how this trope works folks) and spontaneous asks him to pretend to be his boyfriend at his sisters wedding.  Erik agrees.  Fake dating commences.

Thank you @akasanata for putting this story in my brain with your prompt.  I apologize for this first part being so…dark, but it really couldn’t be anything but I don’t think.

[the-blind-assassin-12]

Turn ‘Em Out

A/N: Soooo. I recently posted a list of questions for you to pose to my characters. (I got so many good ones! I’ve worked through about half of them but I have a few more to get to and you know me, I tend to ramble.) Well there was one in particular that I truly hoped someone would ask when I posted that list, and was strongly considering writing the answer to it regardless...but then it DID get asked! And I was pumped! But then I started writing it and...well...it got LONG. And it came with a slew of other asks, so I decided that it was best to answer this particular one separately, and I’ll finish the rest that came in that batch next. Anyways. How’s that for rambling, huh? 

Prompt: @something-tofightfor asked What’s in Ryan’s pockets? 

Word Count: 2,667

Ryan’s got a lot of pockets, which is great because there are a lot of things that he needs and space in his pack and guitar case is limited. He can literally only take with him what he can carry, and he can’t carry too much because he needs to be able to quickly get on and off the trains, so he can’t be too weighed down. This means that every single thing that Ryan Brenner has in his pockets is absolutely essential. 

Let’s start with what he’s got in his jeans. While he’s out and about, his wallet is in his right back pocket. There’s an outline of distinct wear and tear in the shape of the thin, brown leather billfold where he keeps the cash he makes from busking, two pictures, and his driver’s license. Currently, on your floor, he’s got about $168 in cash, most of it made that very day on the 16th Street Mall. The two pictures both have curled, torn edges, the older of the two has a thick crease down the middle from where it had been folded when it lived in a different wallet with a smaller pocket. The older photo was of Ryan with his cousins on the beach from the time he got too drunk and fell asleep without sunscreen. He and Taylor, both red as a radish, were in the center wearing grimaces to go with their burns, surrounded by Patrick, Fitz, Zach, Jimmy and Tommy with wide, goofy, drunken summer grins on their faces. The second photo was from his first year on the rails, out in Oregon with the group of friends he shared his first tattoo with. Oz, Robin, Louie, Nikki, Georgie, Cowboy and Kissie with Ryan mid step to get back into the frame before the timer on the camera went off. The crew was camped out by the bay, two tents that belonged to Oz and Nikki popped up behind the group with a makeshift clothesline and a rock ringed fire pit visible to the left. Cowboy, Robin and Georgie all wore frozen laughs, Ryan’s mouth quirked to the side and his eyes narrowed in a comeback to whatever smart ass comment Oz had just made. Both of them reminded him that he had his tribe of people scattered across the country and back home in Georgia, and he’d pull them out on cold, lonely nights on the train or sleeping in a park, and looking at them would always make him feel less alone. He could almost hear their laughter and feel their embrace, and when the hour was appropriate the next day, he’d give someone a call just to fill his ear with a familiar voice. 

His driver’s license was issued in Montana about four years ago. At that point he still had about a year on his Georgia license before it would need to be renewed, but he didn’t want to limit himself and have to go back if that’s not where the road was taking him. He’d be back soon enough for another cousin reunion, and he didn’t want there to be a lapse in valid I.D.s. They were hard enough for him to get when they weren’t expired; without a permanent address, the amount of paperwork you need to bring to the DMV is astounding. So since he had planned to spend a whopping 4 weeks in Livingston, MT to help Georgie’s uncle’s friend repair fences and patch the roof of the barn after a particularly harsh hail season (the price was RIGHT so even though it meant sticking in one spot for much longer than he was used to, Ryan couldn’t pass it up) he decided that it was as good a time as any to get a new license since Byron, the owner of the ranch and the man who was putting him, Cowboy, Virginia and Georgie up in the guesthouse, had allowed Ryan to use his address to have some mail forwarded, so voila! A “permanent” Montana residence. Montana licenses are good for eight years, too, so he’s still got a while before he needs to decide where to renew. 

Ryan’s back left pocket held a pair of thick wool gloves, palms tucked in and fingers waving free. They’d been a Christmas gift from Cowboy and Virginia (Ryan knew it was really Ginny who’d chosen the gloves with him in mind.) and they saved him from frostbite on plenty of occasions. They were bulky with insulated lining sand reinforced deerskin palms, and when his hands had all but cracked and bled from playing for hours in winter weather, they were a welcome reprieve. He couldn’t wear them getting on or off the trains, because the knit stitching was liable to snag on some part of the car. Ryan has heard his share of stories about what can happen when your clothes get caught in a chain or a rough, weathered edge of the steel, so he slips them off right before hopping and shoves them in his pocket. (He’s got a pair of canvas work gloves, too, but they’re inside the main part of his pack with his clothes. Those are for odd jobs and things that crop up along the way) 

Ryan’s knife is in his front right pocket. It’s small, with a carved wooden handle. It’s old. Older than Ryan. It belonged to his grandfather and His aunt (Patrick’s mom) gave it to him when he was home around his 22nd birthday. It wasn’t a secret that Ryan was granddaddy’s favorite; he saw the same spark of mischief and excitement for life that he had as a younger man. Some of Ryan’s favorite memories from his childhood are of summer afternoons, when the sun was too hot to be out for too long and he and his cousins would be forced to find shade for an hour or two, and he’d sit on the porch next to his grandfather as he whittled whistles and figurines. He’d pile up the curled shavings, wrapping them around his fingers as he watched forms of bears and birds appear out of solid blocks of wood. Once he asked him if he could teach him how to carve. 

Granddaddy laughed and ruffled Ryan’s mop of soft brown locks, lightened from the summer sun. “When yer older, Ry’n. You’ll chop yer fingers clean off, I teach ya now.” 

Ryan never got to learn. The time was never right before he left, and there never seemed to be enough when he was home, and then time ran out and Ryan was left with one of the biggest regrets that he’ll carry; that he didn’t make the time. So when his aunt gave him the knife when he was home around his 22nd birthday, Ryan’s eyes went wide before blinking fat tears from the corners, and the knife instantly became his most prized possession. He still doesn’t know how to carve, but he uses it almost every day. 

His left front pocket is for random extra necessities, which vary by season. In the winter there might be a few hand warmer packets, cough drops or some kind of hard candy, maybe some tissues or a handful of paper napkins. 

The heavy canvas coat he wore held some of the most vital items as those pockets closed with zippers or buttons. The inner breast pocket housed his black plastic flip phone, the charger cable wound around it. It was by far the most important item he carried in terms of survival. The ability to call for help should he need it was crucial, making the charger cable just as important as the phone itself. It was also his link to the people that mattered most to him, his way to let them all know that he was okay, a way for them to do the same. Radio silence from time to time was normal, but contact through the network every few weeks or so put everyone’s hearts at ease. Right now, around your third or fourth song on your floor in front of the fireplace, Ryan’s wondering if you’ll be added to that network… wondering if you want to add him to yours. 

The lower inside pocket is larger, so it can hold a few of the bulkier things that he carries. There’s a keychain sized flashlight that may have been attached to an actual keychain at one point. Ryan’s not even sure where it came from, but it has come in handy on more than one cloudy night when he couldn’t rely on the moon or stars for visual assistance. A standard Bic lighter (currently a plain red one) and a book of matches from a motel he’d stayed in with Georgie and some of his new friends down in Jackson, MS a few months back. He had about twelve matchbooks in a plastic zipper bag in his pack, habitually taking them anytime they were offered- motels, diners, truckstops. Plenty of smoke shops that he’d stopped in offered a free book with a pack of papers. Being able to start a fire for cooking or warmth was crucial, and having fire to light an expertly rolled smoke was a bonus. There was also always a length of twine, coiled and tied off to avoid tangling into a knot. It was useful in dozens of ways, some of the most used being as additions to fire starters, makeshift clotheslines, and replacement shoelaces. Loose or untied shoes due to a broken lace are unacceptable for a number of reasons, but all purpose twine works as a stop gap until he can get new laces. Whenever he gets close to running out, Ryan visits a local hardware shop and restocks. 

There’s one more inner pocket on the opposite side. It’s small but it only has very small items in it, and they almost never leave their place so it works just fine. Ryan’s not a superstitious man, but he’s not about to turn down good luck, so this pocket serves as a tiny treasure trove of things he’d acquired over the years that have supposedly been partially to blame for his continued good fortune: a lucky penny Taylor had given him before he left the very first time. She was only 14 then, but she swore that penny was with her on “the best days of her life” and she wanted Ryan to have it so only good things would come to him on his travels. She probably doesn’t remember it anymore, but Ryan’s kept it the entire time. Tucked in with the penny is the first guitar pick he’d ever used, his own little charm that he wasn’t sure was lucky per say, but that he couldn’t seem to part with. There was a four leafed clover that Robin had sent him from somewhere outside Seattle along with a postcard. (When he’d make it back to Georgia, usually every three years or so, he’d always have a small bundle of letters and postcards from his road family. Maybe someone spent a week longer than planned in a city that they fell in love with and they wanted to share the recommendation. Maybe someone saw something or heard something or felt something that reminded them of him. Maybe someone just missed him and wanted to write it down. Ryan tried to scribble notes now and then, too.) 

The last item in that pocket was a flint arrowhead that he’d been given as a gift a few summers ago. He’d been staying in Kentucky for about a week or so with Cowboy and his cousin Nate, and Nate’s ex wife had unexpectedly dropped their son Julian off about two days in to Ryan and Cowboy’s stay. Aat first Ryan’s inclination was that he and Cowboy should hit the road and change their plans, maybe head on up to Ohio or Pennsylvania for a stretch, but Nate insisted that they stay. Julian was 9 but had the attitude of a 19 year old, and Ryan couldn’t really blame the kid from what he’d seen of his parents. (He was grateful to Nate for letting him have a place to crash, a shower, somewhere to cook and rest up. But it was clear from the way that he and Maya, Julian’s mom, screamed at each other, neither of them were mature enough to raise a well adjusted kid.) By the third day, Julian was bored as all hell, and Nate had no real clue what to do with him. Ryan figured it wasn’t that hard, just offer to include him in what you’re doing and see if he bites. “Hey Julian, I’m headed into town to hit the hardware store. Need to get some twine. You wanna come?” “Hey, Julian, I’mma sit out back and play a little, maybe see some constellations if you wanna join.” “Julian, we’re goin’ fishin’ later, you in?” By the end of the stay, Julian’s mood had improved and Nate was left dumbfounded, asking Ryan if he had kids and how he knew how to get through to his son. 

Ryan shrugged. “Just treat ‘em like people.” 

Julian had found a handful of arrowheads on that fishing excursion after Ryan showed him what to look for and where he was most likely to find one (along the banks of the small river), and when he and Cowboy were getting ready to head out, Julian shoved one in Ryan’s hand with a nod of his prematurely serious head. If his granddaddy’s knife took the number one spot, and his guitar held number two, Julian’s arrowhead, Taylor’s penny, Robin’s clover and his pick collectively took the number three slot in the things that were most important to him. Ryan wasn’t superstitious. Not at all. But whether those items brought him luck or not, he wouldn’t be caught without them. 

The two front pockets of his coat were usually empty unless his scarf was stuffed into one- depending on where he was, if the sun was high sometimes it was warm even in winter, and he’d find himself sweating in the thick, cable knit scarf. But in just an hour or so the weather could change drastically, so rolling it up and securing it away in his pack would be inconvenient if he’d be needing it again so soon. The old Carhartt’s front pockets were deep and wide and the entire scarf fit in one with no problem. The other would sometimes have a granola bar or a bag of nuts, something quick he’d picked up at a convenience store or gas station that he could munch on through the day, in between songs or while seated in the back of a pickup hitching from the train yard to wherever the next destination was. 

It would be too much to get into every item in his pack, but the essentials in the top front pocket include a toothbrush and paste, small travel sized bottle of mouthwash, bar of soap stored in a seafoam green plastic clamshell holder, and a travel sized shampoo. In a separate zipper bag in that same portion is a small tube of sunscreen, one of moisturizers, a few band aids, some tape and an antiseptic cream for small burns, cuts and nicks. In another of the front pockets he keeps his leather bound notebook, two pencils and a pen, along with a small print out map that boasted stars and circles for all the places he’d traveled to- circles meaning he’d been there once, stars indicating multiple visits. His harmonica also had a home in that pouch for easy access on long quiet stretches of rail.  

There wasn’t a stitch of extra space anywhere on him, but somehow Ryan always managed to fit anything and everything that he needed. He’d left things with people and gained new items along the way, but somehow the amount of space he had always accommodated exactly what he needed it to. 

.

@something-tofightfor @its-my-little-dumpster-fire @suchatinyinfinity @lexxierave @thesumofmychoices @songtoyou @traeumerinwitzhelden 

apologies if you didn’t want to be tagged in this essay, i just went with the Passing Through taglist :) 

[a-sharlayan-abroad]

Music Meme: U’feynril

THE RULES:

You have to randomize, so no hand-picked theme songs! [Break the rule if you want though, because why leave this stuff to chance??]

Copy the text and post as your own! DON’T REBLOG! Give it some pizzaz! Grab a screenshot! Have fun with this~

Tag meeeee [@myymsaetayuun] [please?] so I can see the wonderful music that you all connect with your characters! I absolutely love seeing all the inspirations that everyone has out there. I also really love music!

It’s 34 prompts long. Why? I dunno, it seemed like a cool number to stop. Also, they have no rhyme or reason to the order to facilitate the shuffle effect! If you have more to add, ADD THEM! Go wild! Now then, let’s get started.

I’m grabbing these songs from playlist I made for when I write Feyn, so let’s see how this goes. We’ll find how well these songs actually fit her, I guess!

U’feynril Jamrha

1. How the world sees them

Bad Ideas - Tessa Violet

{........... alright, good start.}

2. A song to play on a good day

Live Well - Palace

3. What acquaintances and the random person thinks of them

Shelter - Porter Robinson

4. A song for those who want them [sexually]

Anxiously - No, It’s Fine

5. When they make others happy

Some Grace - Hop Along

{Oh good, I’m sad now.}

6. When they are happy

Like Real People Do - Hozier

7. A theme for a life goal

Sex - EDEN

{Okay fine this one made me laugh.}

8. Giving bad advice

Bloom - The Paper Kites

9. Giving good advice

Love is All - Tallest Man on Earth

{This is a pretty good one.}

10. What they think their theme song is

Ghosting - Mother, Mother

11. Their funeral song

Knot in my Heart - The Zolas

12. What everyone else thinks is their theme song

Safe as Houses - aKING

13. When they see someone they love

Landslide - Oh Wonder

{Oh okay, OUCH my heart.}

14. When they are having a bad day

40 Day Dream - Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes

15. A song about their life’s purpose

New Life - Alex Ernst

{Aw okay I don’t hate this one at all.}

16. When someone reminisces about them

Guilty Party - The National

{Cool and I’m sad again.}

17. A song that might be constantly stuck in their head

This December - Ricky Montgomery 

18. A song someone might serenade them with

Up We Go - Lights

{This could hypothetically be uplifting in acoustic.}

19. A song they would serenade to someone else

Fine, Great - Modern Baseball

{Alright maybe if she was very intoxicated.}

20. A song they might hum or sing along with

All These Things That I Have Done - The Killers

21. A song they would perform, or at least karaoke

I Keep Going - Caamp

22. A theme when they are in the general public

Carried Away - Passion Pit

{Oh I like this match! It’s not bad.}

23. A theme for them in private

A Thousand Bad Times - Post Malone

{YIKES.}

24. A theme for their deepest desires

22 (Feat. Delaney) - Abstract 

25. Thinking back on a traumatic, sad, or unpleasant memory

Devil Like Me - Rainbow Kitten Surprise

{DOUBLE YIKES}

26. A song to their best friends

Three Thirty - Eighty Ninety

27. Waking up in the morning [Or night if they are nocturnal!]

Monsters - Chaos Chaos

28. Finally being able to fall asleep

Always Alright - Alabama Shakes

29. When they fall in love/lust

Fences - Magic Bronson

30. Thinking back on a happy, serene, or pleasant memory

New Birth in New England - Phosphorescent

31. A song to their family

If Only For Memories - Streetlight Manifesto

{HOLY SHIT THISSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS IS PERFECT}

32.  Dissociation music

Just a Boy - Angus & Julie Stone

33. Manic music

Still Feel. - Half Alive

{I can dig it.}

34. A final theme that means everything to the character [it’s especially okay if you cheat for this one]

Sunflower - Post Malone & Swae Lee

{I did not, in fact, cheat on this one.}

Thoughts: This was fun! I got a giggle out of some of the shuffles, and am a little surprised that even a fraction of them were accurate at all. Thanks for tagging me @illia-ast :) I appreciate it!

Your turn!

Tagging: @eorzeasfrozenknight, @alluring-adornments, & @mai-takeda to try this out! Also anyone else who might want to do it!

[buckybarndoors]

Salvation - Part One

So here is my small addition to the perfect writing challenge that @thefvcker-tucker created for her amazing mile marker in hitting 500 followers! I really really hope this plays out well, and remember if you all enjoyed please don’t forget to leave feedback and, most importantly, spread some love to the lovely person who created this Supernatural - themed challenge in the first place!

Pairing: Angel!Bucky x SingleMom!Reader

Prompt: “If I am your salvation, you are mine.” Warnings: Mentions of attempted suicide and drinking, along with a lot of reference towards religion; any of all which is mentioned is also never meant to be insulting or rude in any way, for it is the thought of a fictional character attempting to make sense of their own world :)

SALVATION SERIES MASTERLIST

Not proofread, so please ignore any mistakes in the following!

*gif not my own and imagery found by the poster @nemfrog*

     I have never been the kind of person to believe in God, even when life seemed to get the better of me and things seemed to be going to up and holy shit. No, for me, there was never a ‘man upstairs’ that helped with the little things or set my life and destiny out for me by giving commandments to live by and roles to fill. But, especially, there were no little angels with glorious voices and fluffy, feathery wings to match their golden, floating halos. The only angel and saving grace that I needed in my life was currently seated in the back seat of my car, happily sucking on one thumb while her free hand gripped tightly to the ratty old bear that she had found at the local Goodwill when we had stopped by earlier in the year. She was the only thing that I needed to keep me sane. Not some long-haired, holy and righteous man that claimed my life in his hands in return for my own faith and unrequited love.

     It may seem random enough to go on a sudden tangent about religion and the limits of my own belief when it came down to it, but it all wouldn’t have even happened if that stupid man wouldn’t have cornered me in the street while I was attempting to carry my little darling Judith into the car from the local daycare she stays in while I work, flinging papers into my face and saying things along the line of “Do you deserve to be saved?” or “What miracles has our Father given you?” before I had time to even realize what in the hell was going on and why such a man was screaming in my face in the first place. By the time I reached the car, Judith was wide awake and undoubtedly not going back to sleep anytime soon and I was about fed up with the people in this damn city that I was just tempted to keep on driving past our apartment and just take both me and Judith to my parents house for the weekend, if only just to catch a small, well-deserved break.

     But, instead, I heaved a large sigh and shifted the gear so that the car now hummed in ‘Park’, resting my forehead against the steering wheel if only to relieve just some of the pressure that was beginning to build in the space behind my eyes.

     “Is something wrong, Mommy?” A pause, before the little angel in the back of the car continues. “Are you upset because I sleeped at daycare when you told me not to? I promise I never do it again! Please don’t be sad.”

     I couldn’t help it. If anything, my very own daughter was kind of like my own kryptonite. With her gapped front teeth, curly hair, eyes that could make anyone turn into a puddle of goo and her inability to yet realize that ‘sleeped’ and ‘slept’ were not one and the same just made everything seemed the slightest bit lighter on my shoulders. So when the corners of my lips turned just the slightest bit upwards and the tension in my spine started to dissipate, I raised my head up from the steering wheel and shifted so that I was looking back at her, the smile still lingering on my face.

     “I’m not upset, Angel,” I promise, watching as the pout on her face slowly morphs into a large, toothy grin as she giggles and squirms in her car seat, removing her thumb from her mouth so that it could be seen as brightly as she wanted it to be. “Mommy’s just a little bit stressed, but how about we go inside and get you to bed?”

      In almost little to no time, the engine was shut off and I had the small girl in the safety of my arms as she clutched tightly to my neck with one hand and gripped the old bear in her other as if it were her lifeline. Haphazardly, I jam my only free hand into the pocket of my jacket and take out the keys to the apartment building itself, for since it was past eleven p.m. there was nobody there to let me inside, as per usual. But, just as the key itself made its way into its place inside the lock, Judith’s giggly voice in my ear catches my attention.

      “Mommy! Mommy! Look at the pretty man over there! He gots wings - is he a angel?”

      On instinct, my grip on her tightens just in the slightest as I turn with furrowed brows, one hand still placed on the now unlocked doorknob as my eyes dart every-which-way around us. Of course, I didn’t actually believe that my darling little girl saw a man with wings, but it wasn’t like her to have imaginary friends that went past her stuffed animal companions and picture books that littered her room. But now, as I gazed around us, it almost seemed as if Judith was, indeed, making up the simple fact of a man’s existence, wings or no wings. For there was nobody but us standing in the large expanse of street and sidewalk that we stood on and only the distant sound of something fluttering in the nonexistent wind of that summer night that truly kept the both of us company.

     “You missed him, Mommy! He flew away. But I promise he was there! He stand over there with big black wings and-”

     “Hush now, love. Let’s go to bed now. I have a big day tomorrow and you wanna keep me company, don’t you?”

     “Yes, Mommy.”

      With Judith tucked in and sound asleep (after a big battle on whether or not she could sleep with me for the night) while I consume a couple (four) glasses of wine to help settle the war going on in my own head, it was easy to say that I was already fed up with the new day that was to come, and it wasn’t even two in the morning yet. It was hard to tell whether or not the fact that I had the day off of work tomorrow was a miracle hidden within a nightmare, for the mere reason entirely that I could even earn this day free from any annoying customers claiming that I got their order wrong from the beginning of the day or any of the drunken men that came in to the bar that I worked inside of during the night as my second job would be because a stupid, meaningless Doctor’s appointment. Even now, as I gazed down at the seemingly endless pile of bills that sat atop the coffee table in front of the couch that I currently sat on, it almost seemed to echo in my mind just how dumb I was for believing that this Doctor’s appointment would be any different than the last.

     For, after all, who could possibly cure a poor woman without the proper funds to even put her daughter before herself, much less her own health, when she was slowly but surely going blind? It sounded like a nutcase. I was a nutcase for even believing the Doctors when they claimed to want to keep seeing me every time something new arrived instead of believing the obvious fact: I was slowly but surely going into a heavy debt that I just wasn’t going to be able to pull myself out of. All for some stupid pair of eyes that just couldn’t seem to work correctly.

     Without even thinking about it, I down the last few drops of what was left of the fifth glass of wine in my hand, scrunching my nose and wiping what lingered around my mouth with the back of my hand before setting down the glass object on top of the bills that read a lot of numbers with way too many digits than I favored. I felt lame as I pushed myself back to lay across the expanse of the couch, pressing my back against its cushions and tucking my legs underneath my body so that I could lay comfortably enough to ease just a little bit of the weight from my shoulders and back. This time, I didn’t have Judith to keep me from getting too in my head, just as it had been once before and reminding me all too much of the troubled times I had driven myself through when she wasn’t even alive to stop me from doing so. After all, she was my saving grace, forever and always, even if she didn’t know it. And if my sight was what it meant to make me a good enough Mother for her to have, then so be it. No matter the cost.

     “God,” My voice was breathy as I sighed, feeling lame for even saying the words but continuing nonetheless as my eyelids fluttered closed against the exhaustion that lingered inside of my bones. “Whoever you are, or whoever’s even listening to me right now while I slowly go crazy, I’m begging you to hear me out for a second. Just for a second.”

     I paused, for the air around me had grown thick with something that I couldn’t place, almost as if I were truly tricking myself into believing that somebody else other than myself was in the room with me, listening intently to the sound of my words as they slipped from my mouth. But still, I kept my eyes tightly sealed in fear of scaring away the feeling altogether. For even if it was a trick of my brain, it almost felt like it was what I needed at that very moment. The feeling of someone finally listening.

      “I don’t know how to be the perfect mother for the little angel that’s sleeping right now, but what I do know is that I so desperately want to be. So please, if there’s anything, anything at all that you can do to make sure that she grows up with all the happiness and love that she could ever need and so much more, with or without my sight, I desperately need to see it soon. I don’t know how much longer I’ll be able to-”

     With that sentence, my voice broke, separated by the tears that slowly began to drip down my cheeks, staining the fabric of the couch underneath my head with its salty remnants. There was nothing left for me to say, even if I did have the entire world of words flowing through my head as I let my cry, tucking my face deeper into the pillow.

     And it wasn’t until I finally fell asleep that night did the feeling of company disappear, easily pushing away the darkness of normal loneliness that had I grown so used to in the many nights of slumber and filling my dreams with the remnants of blue eyes and dark emerald and jade feathers that blended in so perfectly with the darkness of the night.