#Little bit of writitng

[naavispider]

Updating the fanfic every day is already a huge blessing, so please take your time 💙 as for the meantime, I had an prompt/idea(?) I wanted to share, but it’s rather dark so it is 100% okay if you are uncomfortable with this, I was just thinking.

(TW: mentions of self-harm but nothing graphic) Spider going through the guilt and self-hate of helping his enemies destroy his friends and family he wishes would adopt him mist feel so overwhelming, so what if he, maybe in a bathroom before bed, looks at hismself and for a split second, just a split second, the hatered for the boy in front of him becomes too much and he picks up a razor blade.

He doesn’t want to do anything to himself, not at all, it is only a split second impulsive decision that he decides against the very next second, because he is no longer that desperate at this point of the story.

Sadly, he has no time to put the blade back as Quaritch walks in (did he forget to lock the door?) and just proceeds to stare at his son with a razor blade in his hands, and Spider scrambles to explain that it’s not what it looks like.

What do you think his reaction might be? (Again, if you’re uncomfortable with such themes you absolutely don’t have to respond, taking care of one’s mental health is always a 1# priority!)

Hi! I think for sure this is a realistic idea! 🥰 I can 100% see Spider picking up a blade and just sort of staring at it, wondering what it would be like for someone to actually use it - but of course not actually really considering it himself.

I can see this happening maybe in his room or as he is sat on the top deck of the ship swinging his legs over the side. He is having a quiet moment during some downtime (in between village raids) and Quaritch just forced him to translate for the Olo'eyktan and Tsahik. His eye catches something shiny left on the floor, and he picks it up - unsure what it actually is at first. He realises it's a razor blade and turns it over in his hands.

Quaritch has been looking for Spider since he realised the boy had disappeared upon returning from the Ta'unui village. He strolls around the deck of the ship and nobody dares interrupt him in his search. Then he sees Spider. And Spider has a blade in his hands. Confusion clouds Quaritch's thoughts for only a split second before all his years of military training force him to react, protect, and ask questions later.

He almost leaps over to the child, and grabs Spider's wrist that is holding the blade, pulling it towards him. Spider shifts with the sudden pull, confusion and hurt colouring his face. "Hey!"

"What the hell do you think you're doing kid?" Quaritch growled angrily, in disbelief at what he had just seen. He held Spider's hand up, which was still holding the blade. "What is this?"

Quaritch knew the answer of course - it was a rhetorical question, but Spider scrambled to find an answer. The boy frowned, anger and probably embarrassment making his decisions for him and clouding his words. "It's not... I wasn't... Let go of me!"

Quaritch took the blade out of Spider's hand and let him go. He stood up from crouching and threw the blade as hard as he could into the ocean.

"Do not ever think about doing that." His anger suddenly gave way to to the realisation that he had no idea what to say to follow this up. Crap.

"I wasn't," Spider held his furious gaze. "I just found it on the floor."

Quaritch tried to work out if this was true. He stared hard at the child, who hadn't attempted to get up from the edge of the ship. Spider's eyes were strong, fierce. Fire blazed beneath them. He obviously believed his own words. Quaritch sighed angrily and turned away, before facing back to Spider.

"Don't scare me like that," was all he could think to say.

Spider rolled his eyes, but it looked pained. "I wouldn't," he replied seriously, and Quaritch could feel a level of truthfulness bleeding through the space between them.

"Come inside," Quaritch ended the discussion with a jerk of his head towards the airlock.

Realising he didn't have a choice, and not wishing to create more drama, Spider followed ruefully.

Huh. So Quaritch was mad. He kept showing these insane reactions - firstly when Spider had a nervous breakdown in the forest, then when he had a night terror at Bridgehead, and now when Quaritch thought that he'd been contemplating killing himself.

Spider thought back to a time he would have likely done it. Memories of a cold, hard, lonely cell returned to him.

He pushed them away. Things had changed. So much. He knew he could never do it now. It was getting easier and easier to believe that Quaritch had developed feelings for him. And harder and harder for Spider to come to terms with that.

[indigo-flightly-falls]

hi shakign you you cannot just tell me you have a 3rd life fundy and purpled au and not tell me abt it I KNOW you said it's not fleshed out yet but if you wanna talk abt I'd be so so normal abt it I swear /nf (I'm the homocrafting bkog btw this is my main)

:0 helllooo!

So as I'm writitng this I'm realizing this is much more fleshed out then I thought lol

Okay well then. The basics of the au go as follows:

Sometime after the whole Purpled-killed-Slime deal, he meets up with Fundy to really think about what they've both been doing. And realize that they need a break, badly.

So, now they are faced with the challenge of breaking out of the Dream SMP! I don't know exactly how but between my headcanons of Fundy being God-adjacent and Purpled being a Watcher, it shouldn't be too hard to get out :)

They actually land in Hypixel for a bit, which offers them a chance to rest and save up some money for food and stuff! It is here they realize a huge problem. Because they are both still minors (I headcanon Fundy as 16 and Purpled as 17, going on 18 when this happens), they can't make a world for themselves without parental consent.

So they turn to trying to hack into anarchy servers. Which can only go wrong.

They end up hacking into 3rd Life in the end, thinking it was just another anarchy server, and because again, Fundy is God-adjacent and Purpled is a Watcher, they somehow get in.

Fundy spawns in the forest, not all that far from the refugee group (the place that had to giant phantom attack), and has to explain to everyone that 'yes I hacked in but only because me and my friend need a place to stay for like four months until he turns 18 sorry again please don't kick us out.'. The group decide to let him stay if Grian agrees.

Purpled meanwhile, spawned in the desert! He quickly find Grian and also explains what's going on, but more... harsher? He doesn't know if this is a whitelisted server but if it isn't then he's gotta be harsh. Grian decides to take a vote with everyone, and they agree on letting the kids stay. What harm could they do?

Fundy ends up tagging along with Martyn, and yes that means he meets Ren. He ends up solidly on the side of Dogwarts, protecting it with his lives.

Purpled ends up following Grian to the desert due to him sensing that Grian is something like him (he never learned what a Watcher was, so this is basically his first time meeting another one). He's loyal mostly to Grian, and would probably betray Scar with ease.

However. Then fucking session four happens. After a good few months of peace and quiet, Grian fucking blows up three people. Two of which Fundy has already made very clear he would kill for. Purpled wasn't exactly happy to have blown people up, but he'll take any kind of kills he can get.

Fundy actually loses his green life after this, at that time when everyone gathered at the top of the hill. Scar accidentally pushes him off. When Fundy respawns, his body had changed. It's not uncommon for the players of life games to have changes to themselves, whether it be hybrid features or limbs being weird. Fundy however, loses an eye and grows wings. Neither of which he takes well.

Purpled is shocked at what Scar did, and almost goes for him, only stopped by the 'no killing on green' rule. However, he does start doing bounty hunter work again. Good server to try to get back into the swing of things.

Before it was late summer and everyone was still having a good time and now it's mid fall and Ren's made Martyn kill him and the Red Army is assembled and Joel's doing his own thing and people are dropping like flies. Purpled's first death happened during session five, and included a hoard of zombies and a very large pit.

And then the little raid Etho does on desert duo happens. Only this time, he had Fundy with him! Does it change anything? No. They both die.

And now Fundy's down his let arm, which makes it much harder to fight, and the anger at being weaker then the rest of Dogwarts make the bloodlust simmer beneath the surface.

Purpled meanwhile is trying to decide on the best way to proceed. Should he stay in the desert, with Scar, who killed one of his best friends? Or should he go live with Joel, and have an easy way to make more bounty hunter kills? He ends up making the choice once he's on red, killed by a stray TNT trap in the woods. He'll live with Grian for now, but if Scar does anything, then he'll leave.

And then sessions 7 & 8 happen! Oh joy! Purpled's out during session 8, near the beginning when attacks are random and on whoever's in your way. Fundy dies in the final battle of Dogwarts, shortly after Etho and by the exact same method.

They end up back on Hypixel and it takes them a few minutes to actually talk to each other. Because, after all, they really just hacked onto a whitelisted server and... what, found that people can be kind? That the Dream SMP was an odd one out? How does one exactly reshape their worldviews in such a short amount of time? And they still carry the scars. Fundy's still got his wings, and is down an eye and an arm. And Purpled's unable to fly after his wing got badly torn down the middle.

No matter what they think, the current situation is making a world for themselves. Or that is the problem, until Ren and Grian message Fundy and Purpled respectively.

Grian messages Purpled because he Knows the kid's a Watcher, and an untrained one at that. His power could be deadly if Purpled's not taught how to control it. He offers Purpled that chance to come to Hermitcraft, just for a little bit, to learn about his powers and how to protect people on servers.

Ren reaches out to Fundy because the kid's one of his soldiers, and Ren's not resting until he knows all of his soldiers (his family), are safe. He offers to let Fundy onto Hermitcraft, for many reasons but the most prominent one is so he can get Doc to help make Fundy a new arm.

And the kids go to Hermitcraft. And they promise to themselves they'll only stay for a month or two. And then that turns into three, and the into six. And suddenly, they've spent almost an entire year on Hermitcraft, and they don't really want to leave anymore.

[hwajin]

Hellow, I'm slightly new, but I've been holding this in for a while ane wanted to share.

There is something about your writing that makes it seem like I have an internal personal connection to each word that's been crafted for every action written.

You make the idea of simply being in love so poetic that it makes me reverberate my thoughts and my feelings about love and the passions it holds. It's so intimate, even the little moments hold a dearest scoop of time—a minute could be forever in your writing. It's like you want to stay there. Just be there. Unable to pull yourself back into reality

Poetry, you, your writitng. Thank you for sharing it. It helps me indulge every now and then—you make my hopeless romantic soul thrive. < 3

I would say more but I must share, I doubt I have the capabilities to say everything I feel. It is quite a lot, just know that you're very talented and I support so much of it. I love the way you view even the littlest actions, it's like a twinge and pang of emotions all at once.

Congratulations on 4k followers, so so so so so so so so deserved, truly. Hope this message isnt much of a bother, knowing this event probably has your inbox loaded. 🥰

this is so far from a bother omg i'm not lying i'm tearing up over this??? i really TRULY can't explain just how thankful i am for comments like these since capturing love the way i see it and making people love this form of loving i'm writing as well really really means everything and more!! like i so enjoy writing especially these small moments of intimacy so i'm so glad you noticed and love these! i'm such a hopeless romantic myself meaning i indulge with my own writing, and having other people enjoy and indulge as well is so mindblowing to me still. thank you SO so much, even though i'm having the event going on right now to give something back to readers who appreciate my work i don't think i can ever express just how grateful i am for every little bit of feedback <333

[cr0wbonezz-wr1ting-inc]

cr0w’s 1.4k writitng event!

hi everyone :D thank you all so so much for 1.4k followers!! i’m so happy so many people like my content and stuck around. i’ve done a writing event like this before, but it was a little bit of a disaster (it had a lot of mistakes ^^;) so this is kind of like a round 2!

the event;

this is a writing prompt event! you choose a prompt from the list below and write something based on/around said prompt. you can make it as long as you want. hc, drabbles, imagines and full fics are all allowed! you're allowed to change the prompt or genre (hurt/comfort, au's, ect.) if you want to.

some of the prompts were inspired by the lovely @/vhsmeme ! check them out for more great prompts ! ^^

rules & details;

anyone can join ! mutuals, followers, strangers - you’re all welcome :D

2 people per prompt !

you have until the end of the month (1st of august) to send in your entry

in your entry, tell me who you're writing for, what prompt, and if its in canon/irl *

strictly platonic for minors, keep every entry withing the cc’s boundaries *

structure your asks something like this:

"hello, can i do [character] with [prompt]?"

if this isn't specified i'm assuming it's canon, (see @/smp-boundaries)*

prompts below !!

fluff;

‘you want me to stay?’

c!technoblade / @blueestbluejay / done

‘you should be in bed.’

cc!foolishgamers / @mcyt-amber-tftsmp

cc!quackity / @sabinanotfound

‘this reminded me of you.’

cc!tubbo / @cmerearson

‘you’re like a dream come true’

‘everything okay?’

c!ranboo / @familyfriendlyweed / done

‘i won’t leave you behind.’

c!wilbur soot / @tuvblog

‘that's so cheesy, i love it.’

cc!wilbur soot / @angstyx / done

‘you’re the best thing to ever come into my life.’

‘we should change those bandages.’

cc!wilbur soot / @mcyt-sh1t

‘you're so beautiful i can't take my eyes off you.’

‘you saved me.’

‘wait here. i’ll go run a bath for you.’

‘you’re always welcome here.’

cc!tommyinnit / @mcyt-sh1t

c!tommyinnit / @bruh-catz

‘why are you staring at me like that?’

highschool au!dram / @mitzimania

‘you need to be more careful, idiot.’

cc!dream / @jschllatt

‘okay, bring it in.’

‘i was worried about you.’

cc!quackity / @bad268 / done

‘for me?’

‘i didn’t mean to scare you like that.’

‘did you miss me?’

c!wilbur /@m00nsthet1c / done

angst;

‘so was that also a lie?’

‘am i just supposed to forgive you?’

‘i don’t want to see you right now.’

‘of course i care!’

c!foolishgamers / @mcyt-amber-tftsmp

c!purpled / @valoinnit

‘don’t touch me.’

c!dream / @minty-ghast / done

‘what did i ever do to you?’

‘you’re too late.’

‘it’s your fault.’

‘you can’t leave me.’

‘please tell me you're lying.’

‘don’t forget me.’

c!ghostbur / @gh0st1esbl0g / done

‘i always wanted my final moment to be with you.’

c!tommyinnit / @bruh-catz

‘i’m doing this for your own good.’

c!wilbur / @alex-quackity

‘you never actually cared, did you?’

c!wilbur soot / @twixkid

‘___, where are you going?’

‘why did it have to be you?’

c!awesamdude / @mcytwheeze

‘you deserve it.’

‘why should i care?’

‘you can’t replace me.’

‘what do you want from me?’

tagging mutuals for reach ! (sorry if this is annoying ;-;)

@dysfunctionalcrab @mothra-the-writer @inniterhq @dreamwvrld @strawberrymilkgeorge @punzobee @tuvblog @finnwrld @3nt1ty-g0t-l0st @cherios @chubbity @lavenderjacobs @sallysoot @dreamiewrites @what-thehonk @brainsanalysis @acidtabletz @korinawastaken @forutheworld @bozowrites @sleepyteddies @thefanficmonster @salinesoot @mayasimagines @griffintail @helliontherapscallion

[siren-virus]

Time for an ask now :D sent a day later than the schedule I was SUPPOSED to have but I suck at them XD

First is SWUP, you said that both Unicorns and Dragons are aliens that are apparently at war with one another. Like, they're from different planets and are waging wars over resources/colonies/bad first encounter/something else, or are they from the same planet and evolved together to be both space travelers, but their situation is similar to that of the USA and the Soviet Union, where they're raceing eachother and fighting over economical and political might?

Also, since there are Unicorns that are being sent to Earth only to return later, would there be Dragons there too? Would there ver be an encounter between the protagonist (I forgot her name XD) and a Dragon or another Unicorn besides Wine Aunt? Would some of the friend ever encounter and befriend a Dragon, either by being their friend despite having both of them meet and beat eachother? Or my favourite scenario in this case, be friends with both of them with them never finding out about it? XD

Now it's Free time (nice name btw, I can get a few vibes from that alone :D), the idea with the best trope to ever exist, found family (I'm also a sucker for those XD)

We have the protagonists (whose names I forgot yet again XD), the owner of the braincell bird lady, naive and overly curious problem human (and potential human disaster too since he live in a Dome, and was probably born with a silver spoon), and feral child (there can't be a better description for that XD). How many headaches would bird lady have a day when dealing with both of them at the same time? How would problem human interact with feral child? I can't imagine those interactions being peaceful most of the time. Would the feral child eventually come to see the other 2 as their parental figures? Accidently calling them mom and dad (or any other variation) in their misadventures?

Would the found family ever expand? would there be additions in the form of crazy uncle, stoic aunt, murder cousin, and/or more? Like, I can imagine their family expanding over time the same style as FMA:B, where they meet people that eventually become family to everyone, but considering that they're always traveling, they rarely find eachother (until the possible falldown once they reach the Dome at the end of the voyage, where there's almost always a big encounter and heartfelt goodbye, which only sometimes are left as goodbyes for separating found families is a major crime unless there's a really good reason for that).

Well, that's all the asks for your OCs/stories ideas for now, for even if I had more questions I'd still be missing some (or a lot) of info to make them XD

Birdy boy, Leo (who is a man, he'd be quite offended if you call him a lady.) Naive human, Tristian, very oblivious yes. Rich kid fed with a golden spoon, rather than silver. Mans has a butler! Quite ignorant to the wolrd, so he believed things would go smoothly when he left. Fortunately he's also an optimist. And the feral gremlin child, Robin. She's angry by default. Tristian adores her like a little sister, but Robin is like a cat (contrary to her name) she either hates, or tolerates.

With unicorns and dragons (no design yet, or at least an updated one) I was thinking they live in the same solar system, just on sister planets. So their ecosystems are pretty similar. They're both just very territorial. Plus they've gotten to the stage of harvesting other planets resources. So they've reached the point of going to different "earth type planets" But not on the level of having full control of their solar system. If you get what I mean.

So they're waging war over resources, colonisation, etc. Yeah let's say they're similar to Russia vs to USA, but more violent!

No dragons yet, but a little there's a rumour going around, so perhaps a dragon is on their way. But that's for me to know and you to find out. (If i ever develop this story and make a webcomic- sobs, I love developing shit, but me attention span is too short. By the time I've got something im on to the next thing. Thus the cycle continues!!)

Wine aunt/ Felidae is one of the few unicorns on earth. She's a bit out of sorts.

No plans for the dragons yet, but I'll keep that in mind.

Flee not free, we already got the dreaded swim show.

Birdy boy, Leo (who is a man, he'd be quite offended if you call him a lady.) Naive human, Tristian, very oblivious yes. Rich kid fed with a golden spoon, rather than silver. Mans has a butler! Quite ignorant to the wolrd, so he believed things would go smoothly when he left. Fortunately he's also an optemist. And the feral gremlin child, Robin. She's angry by default. Tristian adores her like a little sister, but Robin is like a cat (contrary to her name) she either hates, or tolerates.

Leo gets many a headache from the pair of them. Especially Robin, he's not above arguing with children. (Same tho).

Robin eventually mellows out (poor baby needs therapy, but therapy don't exist in a post apocalyptic society. As to whether she sees them as parental figures or brothers, you won't know til I say so. (i also wanna make this a webcomic, but- flops- takes effort. and commitment)

Found family would defs expand. I've got one in mind. But I might expand it further. I've got too many stories where its a main trio. Where's my main... 12'o. jk..... unless

FMAB... hmhm, I have an idea. You probably won't like it, seeing as you watched it. You'll find out eventually.

Fuck goodbyes, its always see you later alligator. til death do them part kinda deal.

Fair enough, I gotta start writing stuff down anyways. I'm such a visual creature I always forget about the writitng

[obscuresquirrel-writer]

How to Start a Story*

Hey, I’m @/obscuresquirrel on Instagram! :D

It kinda goes without saying, but if you wanna write... you might need to know where to start 😂

*This is just personal experience. Of course, you can start however you want, lol.

Step One: Inspiration and Ideas! (Plot)

This is a little self-explanatory, but to start, you need inspiration and at very least an idea. 

Looking at writing prompts, dialogue prompts, etc. (look at hashtags or prompt accounts) can really help strike some thoughts and plot for your writings. 

Even if it's just a temporary story, a practice one, you could create a character or use dialogue that you could take forward.  

Or... Create Characters Ahead of Time!

Let's say you find a meaningful name somewhere that immediately creates a person in your mind. Or two people you find attractive that you merge to create a resplendent angel. 

So you have this blank slate of a person. Develop them, give them traits and background, and create a world around them. 

Introduce a plot device, and there you go! A start!

Step Two: Outline the Plot!

Before you write, it is ideal to have targets, checkpoints, and a plan to mould your writing around.

You don't have to plan your whole novel out in one go, because when you start you’re not expected to know exactly how it ends. But, doing it chapter by chapter is a good method. Its the one I and many others use. 

I also find that having a key ‘pillar�� for every chapter (that you can advance when you get there) is suuuuuuuper helpful. Like one sentence that describes the content of the chapter. This can set it out for you and is easy to change.

Step Three: Start Writitng!

You can start writing after you’ve done some basic character and plot planning! You may not have to plan as detailed as you think. Whenever you’re ready, go with the flow.

Look at my post on Drafts for the different types of drafts! But remember that the 1st draft is in no way perfect and you can change anything later! 

Have fun, write what you want, bond with your characters, and good luck!

Thanks for reading! I hope this helped you, even just a little bit. Follow me on Instagram @/obscuresquirrel for more! Feel free to message me. Peace out dudes ✌

[callmenickk]

The thing about making a movie that's very different from writing a book, of course, is that the act of writitng is actually a very solitary experience. It requires peace and quiet. By its nature, it's even a little antisocial. You can't mingle with people when you're writing. You might share bits and pieces of your work with a loved one and your editor, but it still forms inside your head and comes out in spurts of creativity baked inside your heart. To make a movie, though, requires the craftsmanship and artistry of hundreds of people coming together. It takes a village to make a movie. A city of people.

RJ Palacio, Wonder

[drdelphinecormigay]

hi! here for some writing advice that’s also kind of just a question:

you write fluff really really well and i’m curious where you get the inspiration for it? personally i used to (when i wrote for clexa) insert a lot of my personal experiences and scenarios into the fluff i wrote (like little things my gf would do, etc), but now that i’m not actively in a rs im kind of lacking inspiration if that makes sense

and ik most people’s writitng is influenced by personal events, but like, to what degree? ur hcs for example are very specific, so i’m wondering if you draw from experiences or are some people’s brains just made for writing fluff and mine isn’t haha

Hey! Happy to give some advice! And I totally get you.

Soooo, I’d say my inspiration for fluff is a bit of a combo. Like, having been with my gf for as long as I have, I do definitely draw inspo from that. But like, only to a certain extent. I’d say majority of the situations I write about are not ones that I’ve experienced specifically, rather I insert small elements that I have experienced into them, if that makes sense? So like, I know how it feels to be first dating someone you really like, and I know that awkward ‘should i hold their hand?’ feeling etc. But the scenarios themselves are completely made up.

In terms of making up the situations and my hcs, a lot are based on fics and books and films and shows I’ve watched. I basically sit down and think: ‘if I were going to read a fic, what would I like to read about?’. Plus like, there are so many common tropes so I often just shimmy them around to fit the characters and the narrative I want. Sure, they often just spring into my mind, but often that stems from a small idea that I can then build into a more complex scenario.

If you’re struggling for inspiration outside of a relationship, the things I’d do are A) think over your favourite fics and consider the things about them that you love the most. What character tropes do you enjoy, what’s the best dialogue, what the scenario that makes you feel all fuzzy. And how can you plan something that feels similar. B) prompts. Prompts are the inspiration-lacking writer’s best friend. Honestly I read them so regularly and then end up planning out a million different one shots in my head bc they’re so good for prompting sparks of ideas in your head. I really genuinely find them so useful!

Other than that, chatting through random hc ideas with other fans is a pretty decent one (Lena’s discord server is great for that if you’re into writing more canon compliant angsty stuff, I’ve been so inspired recently).

If you wanna mull some hcs over, fire me a dm. And if you’re really struggling, I’m sure I (or other anons) can produce a prompt list to help you (or any other struggling writers) so inspiration!

[alwaysfortracer85]

Yep lol, like imagine yelling "I stan the king of cent" and the said king is flopping badly having minimum offers in the industry and all of those few offers are crap....... Imagine spending your fandom life writitng threads with "filming ads is a job too", "filming vlogs is the same as doing variety", "gyegye is busy doing smth important behind the scenes", "gyegye is distancing from cent" etc. This is so humilitating and I could even pity them a little bit if they were not creeps hating on everyone in the name of some shady mediocre gyegye

[nicodiangelbaby]

Intoxicated By Your Eyes

Dan stood in a corner of the (gay) bar, clutching his drink with one hand while he looked around the room for someone he might find attractive. So far he’d had no such luck, everyone seemed to be either too drunk to carry out a conversation, or they were already with someone.

He decided to go through his phone for a while, while he finished his drink. “Hey there”, he heard someone say in a flirty voice behind him. “Why are you standing alone?” Dan turned around to see a black haired guy, a vodka bottle in his hand, already more than half empty. “Umm..I’m alone because there..i-isn’t anyone here my type..”, Dan said, stumbling over his words a little because holy shit this guy was cute. He had the bluest eyes ever, and Dan felt he would happily agree to drown in them. He wasn’t even that old like the other men around here, Dan guessed he was not more than a few years older than him. “How do you know that? Surely you haven’t talked to everyone here”, he said in a silky voice.“For all you know I might be your type”, the boy added, his eyes glittering mischievously and his black fringe getting into his eyes. Wait is he flirting with me? Dan thought, feeling butterflies in his stomach. He giggled slightly, leaning over Dan, causing him to blush profusely. “I’m Phil.”, the boy said. “And I really like your cute little ass”, he added, eyeing Dan in such a way, it made him turn completely red. “M-my name is Dan, and I’m pretty sure you’re very drunk right now, Phil.” Dan said, savouring the last word. Phil the name felt good to say out loud.

“Well what do you say I buy you a drink Dan?”, Phil said. He was flirty when he was sober, but when he was drunk, his flirty-ness was on a whole new level.

Once they’d gotten their drinks, Phil insisted they dance a bit because “why are you even here if you’re not going to dance?!” Dan reluctantly joined him, secretly enjoying Phil’s flirty glances and their “accidental touching”. “Ooh I love this!”,Dan exclaimed as a Kanye song came on. “Kanye? Seriously?”, Phil remarked, although the sarcasm didn’t seem that strong because he’d already started dancing to it. A Beyoncè song came on next and Phil, still drunk as shit, ended up showing Dan his moves - if doing the chicken dance can be called that. Dan started to loosen up a bit, realising he really did like this dorky guy. He was thinking about his blue-green eyes, that Dan could spend all eternity looking into, when he heard Phil say something to him. “What’d you say?”, he asked him loudly, so as to be heard over the music. “Do you think the first couple to have twins were freaked out, like do you think they went ‘we only ordered one’?!”, Phil asked loudly. “Phil you have no idea how much shit you’re talking right now.”, Dan laughed.

Dan had advised Phil not to drink anymore, but Phil had refused to take his advice seriously, saying he did not listen to guys that told him to stop drinking, no matter how hot they were. That made Dan shut right up and blush like a tomato.

Dan decided it was time to leave when Phil voiced his intention of announcing to the entire bar that he “used to be a twink” when he was 17. The idea made Dan laughed, but he wasn’t about to let Phil humiliate himself like that - even if he didn’t know him that well.

A little while later Phil was back to talking absolute nonsesnse in his drunk state.“Who do you think is more likely to survive the Apocalypse? Hermione or Batman?”, Phil asked Dan in a very serious tone. “You know what let’s get you out of here before you tell a bald guy his head looks like an egg or something.”, Dan giggled. “A bald guy’s head might look like an egg”, Phil thought aloud giggling like a four year old. Dan shushed him leading him out of the bar, but not before adding,“Of course Hermione would survive, she was the brightest witch of her age. Geez Phil!”.

“Listen, Phil, we’re going to my place if that’s okay with you. You’re in no condition to go home alone, I doubt you even remember your own address.”, Dan explained to the drunk boy, once they were outside the bar. “I’m just going to act like that’s the genuine reason you’re taking me to your house, although we both know there’s some ulterior motive involved.”, he whispered in Dans ear, winking at him unabashedly. “I’m going to act like you didn’t just say that to me.”, Dan said, feeling his cheeks grown hot.

They hailed a cab from outside the bar, Dan focusing on directing the driver to his building, while Phil continued to whisper flirty, and at times funny things in his ear. At one point Phil asked loudly, “When we reach your house Dan, will you let me squeeze your cute little ass”. This brought blood rushing to the cheeks of the brown haired boy, leaving him absolutely speechless, and earned them several dirty looks from the cab driver. ——————— The next morning Phil woke up in a bedroom he was pretty sure he’d never seen before. His head throbbed, making it hard for him to take in his surroundings. He saw a note on the side table that said, “have this” along with a smile face, pointing towards a cup of coffee and two painkillers. Once he’d finished drinking the coffee, Phil could feel his headache subside. By now he remembered where he was, he had gathered bits and pieces together from his sketchy memory of the previous night. He was at the house of someone he’d met the previous night at the bar - Dan.

He went downstairs looking for him, and found him in the kitchen, making two bowls of cereal. “Nice” Phil thought - cereal was his favourite thing to have for breakfast (or for anytime for that matter). “Good morning!”, Dan smiled, noticing Phil had woken up. “Did you sleep comfortably?”, he asked in a concerned tone. “Oh yes! I just have a headache, that’ll go away soon. And t-thank you for letting me sleep here last night.”, Phil replied, blushing slightly. “I wasn’t going to let you wander the streets of london that drunk, now was I?”, Dan laughed, a laugh so infectious it made Phil smile too. “I didn’t do anything stupid last night, did I?”, Phil asked, clearly embarrassed. Dan began to blush, remembering all the stupid and slightly (well,extremely) suggestive things Phil had said and done the previous night. “Well not much,”, he said finally, “although you did say a bald man’s head looked like an egg and you also did the chicken dance.” As Dan’s word registered in Phil’s mind, his face took on a horrified expression. Looking at his scared and embarrassed face Dan couldn’t help but laugh.

And then suddenly Dan stopped laughing, his face turned red and he said in a barely audible voice, “ you also told me I had a cute ass, and later, when we were coming back here, you asked me if I’d let you squeeze my cute little ass when we got home.”

Phil stood rooted to the spot, his cheeks turning the color of a beetroot. He looked as though he was waiting for the ground to swallow him up, to save him from this embarrassing situation.

“Hey don’t worry!”, Dan said, and then added with a smirk" I didn’t really mind you saying that you know.“

A cheeky smile spread on Phil’s face, one that made Dan want forget everything else and get lost in the blue-green eyes of the beautiful boy. “So now that I’m here”, Phil said, still smiling, “how about we grab a cup of coffee or something?” Dan could not have been happier to hear those words. “Phil,you literally just had coffee!”, Dan laughed, showing off his cute little dimples that made Phil want to kiss him until they couldn’t breathe. “Come on, you know what I mean”, Phil couldn’t help but smile.

“It’s a date!”, the brown haired boy said, seizing his opportunity to he bold. “It’s a date.”, Phil agreed, smirking cheekily. ————–

This is something I wrote about a month back (and I’ve clearly not improved at writitng). Feel free to reblog/repost/like/comment/follow if you want🌼 I have exams in a month so I’ll post a fic this week and then I might be inactive for a while Feel free to send in prompts or ideas 🌸

[protopics-blog]

STORYBIRD

A new year, a new semester and round two of Pro-Topics. Off with a great start, introducing a spectacular platform originally owned and created by Kaye Puhlmann called Storybird. What I love about this product is that it not only encourages the use of digital platform in a positive way  among kids, but it makes writing fun again whether it’s self-expressing or school curriculum.

Honestly I think, this concept for this platform was a great and unique idea because as a kid, you are so oblivious to things happening in your surroundings that you sometimes create story from nowhere. Actually I could remember when I was very little, how I used to create story lines while I was playing with my toys where I would be the narrator of their life / story - their Voice.

It’s pretty cool, that kids today can express their emotions, life story visually in a way where others could get a glimpse of  experiencing their adventurous mind/ thought process  through their eyes. And how one day, they would be able to look back - later on in the future on stories they’ve created as a child as well as being able to share with others among their age and older.

STORY BIRD

BACKGROUND OF STORYBIRD

How it works

design

Analytics

Design

Before we get into this remarkable platform of digital story making, here’s a bit about Kaye Puhlmann, the Co-founder of Storybird Inc.

Say Hi! to our guest speaker Kaye Puhlmann @linkedin

Kaye Puhlmann is now the Co-founder of Storybird since it was sold last year and she is also  a past graduate of Sheridan College.Her simple idea  has attracted millions of writers, readers, and artists to the Storybird platform. From families, friends,teachers, students, amateurs to even professionals have created more than 5 million stories—making Storybird one of the world's largest digital storytelling communities. That’s certainly a great achievement.

EXPERIENCE

STORYBIRD INC.

Co-founder , Head of Growth

Jul 2013 - Present 

CRITICAL MASS 

VP Creative 

Jan 2008 - Jul 2013

CRITICAL MASS

Creative Director

2006-2008

BLAST RADIUS

Creative Director

Dec 2000 - Dec 2005

VANCOUVER FILM SCHOOL

Instructor, VFS Foundation Visual Art and Design (Part-time)

Sept 2003 - Apr 2004

INFINET COMMUNICATIONS

Creative Lead Company

Jan 2000 - Dec 2000

FUSION INTERACTIVE

Creative Director

Jun 1996 - Jan 2000

FREELANCE

Art Director

Jun 1996 - Jan 2000

FREELANCE 

Art Director 

May 1995 - Jun 1996

SHERIDAN COLLEGE

Instructor, Graphic Design

1995 - 1996

EDUCATION

MCMASTER UNIVERSITY

Bachelor of Arts - Political Science (Honours)

1988-1992

SHERIDAN COLLEGE

Computer Graphics

1995 - 1996

SHERIDAN COLLEGE

Graphic Design (Diploma)

1992 - 1995

STORYBIRD

“WRITE, DISCOVER and SHARE:- books you’ll always remember.”

Storybird is known to be an unique language arts tool where you make use of illustrations to inspire students to write stories whether it’s for K-5, longform chapter books for Grades 5-9 and poetry for everything in between.

“Starting with pictures” in a learning scenario is very powerful as it stirs the emotions while engaging the brain and jumpstarting students into their text. It also avoids the blank page syndrome and it’s effective.

More than 5 million students and 400,000 educators today, uses Storybird where they’ve published 15 million stories and read them for several billion minutes.

Storybird is FREE to use and has even help schools to raise funds.Their artwork are created by illustrators and  and animators from around the world and has inspired writers of any age to turn those images into fresh stories.

Website: https://storybird.com/

Blog: https://storybird.com/blog/

Twitter: @storybird

Youtube: storybird

design:-

The logo was created by a designer from England. Originally the first logo design of Storybird had look  a bit much like twitter’s logo. To me when I first saw it , it looked like a tooth that has been rotated horizontally - wild imagination as always.

STORY FORMATS

Poetry :- this is where you drag words unto the artwork you have chosen and then you start creating your poems.

Picture book:- this is basically a book which has pictures on each pages and you tell a story with the image/ character on that page.

Longform:- this is a book that tells a story with various chapters.

FOR AGES:

Preschool (1-4)

Kid 5-8

Tween 9-12

Teen 13-19

Adult

CATEGORIES

Adventure

Animals

Diary

Dreams

Education

Family

Friends

Guides

Health

Humor

Life

Literary

Magic

Mystery

Poetry

Romance

Scary

School life

Sci-fi/Fantasy

HOW IT WORKS

Below is a link to show you how to create a picture book via Storybird.

Click here:- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rEgdOO4UZVo

In this 3 minute tutorial with just drag, drop and write - you can learn how to create a  picture book on Storybird

Analytics:-

Storybird has over a million users and over timer, they developed new features due to the feedback their users were telling them. How to better develop the UX  experience such as looking at :-

What the users’ need 

What is going to make the brand money?

Basically the platform was basically driving their team and so they try to look more in depth at the users experience through analytics - analysing the traffic of users.

As they later discover that most of their users at the time were students, many more than they’ve imagined.

THE KEY PRESSING QUESTION: “ How are we gonna profit from people using this platform?” “How are we going to make money?”

People that used the platform in a sense, didn’t have any money - students , teachers!

So it was back to the drawing board - this where she advised us:-

“Do not diss your analysis or designers or business partners”

From there, they made use of DATASTUDIO - a google software that turns your data into informative dashboards as well as reports that are easy to read , easy to share and fully customizable.

This software helped them have a better, accurate visual look at their data  on the business development over the months of Analytics, Acquisitions, Retention, Engagement and Revenue.

Design:-

“There’s nothing like holding your own book in your hands.“ So this is where they decided to created this addition to their platform where you  also make physical copies of your book or poetry you have  created.

Click here: -https://storybird.com/marketplace/shop/

Picture Book Options :

Hardcover book

Softcover book

Digital Download Bundle

Longform Books

eBooks

Printable PDF download

Poetry

Art print

Folded cards & envelopes

Flat notecards & envelopes

Greeting card (Digital download)

Art

Art print

Writing Journal 

Folded cards

iPhone 5 Cases - didn’t even know they can make case, sweet!

Habit Loops

This is where you are awarded crowns due to your continuous story making via the platform.

Crown days : “Earn crowns for 3 writing days in that week - keep writitng”

Badging system: 

This is given as rewards for publishing books or more hearts you earn. These badges were also designed by Kaye but she wanted them to be enhanced a bit to give that more glossy look so the upgrades were done by the logo designer.

You can see these badges you acquired, display via your profile.

Hopefully I would get time and I could create my own profile where I could start creating my very own storyline. This is a platform I could really see myself dabbling into for curiosity, but first I want to read this known popular longform book called Strings: what’s stronger? True Love or Soulmates by GreenPanda62. I heard it is really good :D #amustread