#ME: Just plops it into my college - vague verse

[indigowallbreaker]

Hi! I was wondering if you have any tips for writing dialogue? The way you write your dialogue flows and seems so natural.

First of all, thank you so much! As I've said a few times, dialogue is my favorite to write-- getting compliments on it makes my day :3

Let's see... tips for dialogue...

Unfortunately the best answer is “practice”. But that’s a vague and unhelpful answer. How does one practice? In my opinion: By writing only dialogue. 

Come up with a scene between two people. Now write it as if you were writing a play; who is saying what plus some stage direction. Try and get across the whole scene this way instead of relying on narration or inner thought. Don’t put too much planning into it. 

You don’t even need names! Just give each character an adjective: grumpy girl, happy teacher, distracted father, etc. A word to describe them and keep their ‘voice’ rooted in your head. A 5 year old, a teacher, and a father are hardly all going to sound the same.

Happy Teacher: Ah! Look, sweetie, your dad’s here!

Distracted Father: (jogs over, stuffing his phone in his pocket) Sorry I’m late. Coulda sworn it was her grandma’s turn today. (kneels down) Hey there, Little Miss! Ready to go home?

Grumpy Girl: ...Where’s Bugsy?

Father: Where’s-- Oh. Um. Daddy forgot Bugsy today. He’s waiting at home. Let’s get going so we can see him.

Girl: (starts to wail)

Teacher: It’s okay! You have your walrus in your cubby, right? Do you want me to get Artie the walrus, sweetie?

Girl: I want Bugsy! I want Bugsy! 

Not every person speaks the same way here. The father even changes his speech when talking to the teacher verses talking to his daughter. People speak differently depending on their background, accent, mood, who they are talking to, the situation they’re in-- there’s so many factors. The key is to figure out how YOUR character would speak in these circumstances. You will find this with practice.

My college writing professor actually gave me one of my favorite writing experiences for dialogue. It may be harder to pull off given the situation the world it is, but I think it’s still doable and definitely worth mentioning here.

Basically, eavesdrop on random people. But with purpose! 

Plop yourself down someplace public and listen to people as they pass you. The mall, a park, people on the sidewalk, etc. You don’t have to be close, just close enough to catch a sentence or two. Don’t worry about who's talking. Write down what you hear and how you hear it. I recommend doing this long hand.

For example, don’t just write:

“She’s been such a bitch lately.”

“Uck. I don’t even know why you’re still talking to her. Everyone knows she’s”

“She keeps talking to me. She texts me every night with whatever thing she’s pissed off about.”

Instead, write to get the inflection down. What sounds do they drag out? Do they cut one another off? What words do they emphasize? That turns the above into:

“She’s been such a BITCH lately.”

“Uuuck, I don’t even know why you’re still talking to her. Everyone knows she’s--”

“She keeps talking to ME! She texts me every night with whateverthing she’s pissed off about!”

The second version has much more personality, right? Maybe you can hear it a little better in your head? And that’s only a few lines! Don’t stress getting a full conversation or even a back and forth like this example (only getting to hear one side of a phone conversation can make a good jumping off point for conversation practice). Just a line or two as someone walks away from you will give you an idea of how people talk. 

Writing narration is different from writing Character 1 is different from writing Character 2. People don’t talk like text books-- and no two people speak in exactly the same way.

And again: Practice is key. With enough repetition, you can get the hang of dialogue. Just keep trying your best and don’t stop aiming to improve!

-

I hope this advice is useful! These tips worked for me starting out but everyone learns differently. There are writing advice blogs out there that might have other ideas as well. Blogs like writingquestionsanswered and wordsnstuffblog have helped me in the past. Best of luck!!

[egcdeath]

a blip in the reader-verse

chapter 4: going once, going twice

summary: you meet an interesting character while attending a charity auction.

warnings: soft moments, angsty moments. asshole ransom, soft ransom. you’ve been warned.

pairing: ransom drysdale x reader, overarching steve rogers x reader

word count: 3.4k

author’s note: before anyone asks, i don’t really consider this cheating since it’s just steve in a different universe. but i’d skip this chapter if it won’t sit right with you! 

p.s. i had to google translate some french, please don’t hate me if you speak french and it’s awful🥺

previous chapter / series masterlist

Sounds seemed to be the first thing you noticed as you entered a new universe. This was absolutely no different.

Well, except for the fact that the first sound you noticed was the announcing of your own name.

From the moment your eyes opened, you were met with a blinding yellow light, and the urge to stand up. You glanced over at the table that you’d previously been sat at, and received raised brows from Aaliyah, who’d been sitting at the white, round table across from you, along with a hand gesture that shoo-ed you away.

You timidly walked up to the small and raised platform of a stage, and stood next to a person who vaguely resembled your old boss from your main universe.

“Alright, ladies and gents! Our final lady of the night, well, not a lady of the night, is the gorgeous Y/N L/N! Starting at $1,000, do we have any takers?”

You looked out into the ocean of round tables, and watched a decently handsome man, with dark hair and a beard raise his paddle, “1,500!” he called out.

The man received a death glare from someone else at his table, and looked up at both the stage and you to raise his own paddle. “2,500,” he responded in a bored tone.

After getting over the extreme ego boost that was being bid over, you let yourself take a good look at the second man who’d offered the cash, and,

Holy shit.

It was Steve, but it definitely wasn’t Steve. 

His hair was slightly darker, he was wearing a cream sweater and long, multicolored scarf that your Steve would never be caught dead in. He held an air of confidence and cockiness that you could see from miles away, and according to his bidding style, he was loaded.

After seeing him, you desperately wanted to find a mirror and find out if your own appearance had changed at all.

“Fine, $4,000,” the bearded man offered, glancing back and forth between you, and this alternate version of Steve.

“$5,000!” A new contestant jeered, this one a rather old man whom you could tell you wanted nothing to do with.

“Old fucking geezer,” the alternate Steve muttered. “$7,000.”

There was a gasp, and a silence throughout the audience. 

“$7,000 for Hugh, going once, going-”

“15,” the bearded man lifted his paddle once again. You glanced over to Aaliyah, whose eyeballs seemed to be bulging out of her head at this. 

“Fuck it, 30,” Hugh sighed.

The bearded man threw his hands up in defeat, and set his paddle all the way down on his table.

“45, final!” The old man called out.

“75,” Hugh glanced around the audience, a rather smug look on his face.

“Oh wow, $75,000 going once, going twice… sold to Mr. Hugh Drysdale! Miss L/N, is there something you’re not telling us about the nature of your date?” The auctioneer passed the microphone to you, and you laughed awkwardly into it.

“Nothing that I know of,” the rest of the crowd seemed to laugh with you at this, but you couldn’t help but feel the growing discomfort in your stomach. 

“Well, I’m sure the folks over at One Mission will be very happy at this sizable donation. Can we get one more cheer for Miss L/N?” You gave a friendly wave before awkwardly stepping off the stage while the people around you clapped.

You’d had a decent idea at this point of what was going on, but you couldn’t quite piece together why this Hugh character had decided to bid so high on someone he’d never even met. You sat back down at your table, and slipped your phone out of your pocket to look at yourself. Yep, same you. 

“Okay, what the hell was that?” Aaliyah asked you, a mixture of confusion and excitement present in her tone.

“Hell if I know,” you sighed, and scratched your neck nervously.

“I mean, I get it, you’re hot. But the price of a luxury vehicle for a date? You’re gonna have to let him finger you at least,” she giggled.

“Shut up,” you groaned at the thought. You were still feeling pretty confused about the fact that the Steve in this universe wasn’t actually Steve at all. You so far, you’d only really met Steves that were well… Steve. 

You internally lamented the situation, until you noticed someone plop down at the open seat at the table, causing you to turn and look at him. 

“This seat taken?” Hugh asked, and you shook your head. “Great, now it is,” he quipped.

“I’ll give you two a moment. I’m gonna go find my own socialite,” Aaliyah bantered, slipping up from her chair and following through on her comment.

“So you must really love those kids you just donated to,” you awkwardly chuckled.

“Oh hell no. Fuck those kids. I just hate losing, and I absolutely was not gonna let those douchebags win,” he looked down at his hands and played with his pinky ring in an extremely bored manner. 

“Oh, okay,” you nodded slowly. This man was a complete 180 to the type of Steve that you were used to. Your Steve was warm and caring, but this man seemed cold and apathetic. Your Steve would gladly lay his life on the line for anyone, and this man didn’t even seem to have the emotional capacity to hold the door for someone else. “So Hugh, what do you plan to do on our date?” You lifted up your glass of champagne and took a little sip.

“Call me Ransom, only the help call me Hugh. We’ll probably just go to Europe or something.”

You nearly spat out your drink at this. In fact, you felt a little carbonation in your nose. Then again, Ransom just spent ¾ of a hundred thousand on a date with you. “Jesus,” you murmured. 

“Think you can head out tomorrow?” 

----

Waking up in the bedroom of the apartment you seemed to share with Aaliyah taught you two things. One, you could apparently sleep in these universes and not wake up elsewhere, and two, the walls of your apartment were far too thin.

You glanced over at the clock on your bedside table, and noted the time. You had about an hour before you needed to be at the airport. 

You quickly threw a mixture of clothing, a phone charger, a packet of birth control, and some skincare products into a suitcase before heading out to the kitchen to grab a granola bar. You chewed half the bar before hopping into the shower, then tossing on some ugly, but comfortable travelling clothes. 

Maybe you spent a bit too long checking yourself in the mirror that morning with the newfound knowledge that you were now worth at least 75,000 dollars. Frankly, having multiple (attractive) men fight over you was the greatest boost to your pride that you’d ever been given.

Glancing down at your phone after the matter, you realized that you only had a few minutes to order an Uber to pick you up, unless you wanted to be late and miss your flight. 

----

You had your baggage checked, stumbled through TSA, and showed the screenshot of your plane ticket a boatload of times to a multitude of people before you finally reached the lounge, and found Ransom sitting on a sofa with a glass of whiskey in his hand.

“Why the hell are you dressed like that?” Ransom asked you as you approached, looking up and down at your outfit of a college sweatshirt and loose joggers.

“Because I want to be comfortable, you dick. Do rich people not like being comfortable?” You sat down beside him on the sofa, and slumped into the chair. Who knew travelling throughout the multiverse could be so tiring? “Besides, you have like seven holes in that sweater. I wouldn’t be talking about anyone else’s clothes if I gladly let moths have a four course meal on my things,” you scoffed.

That seemed to shut him up for a bit.

Eventually, your flight number was called, and you, along with the few other first class flyers piled into the plane. 

You sat down next to Ransom in a soft chair that seemed to lower back into some sort of makeshift mattress, and slipped your phone out of your pocket to send your friends a message that you were taking off.

“You excited?” You asked Ransom while he began to slip a pair of Beats onto his head. 

“Yeah, I like Nice,” he nodded, then grabbed his own phone to connect to the headphones.

“So you’ve been there before?” Ransom nodded, clearly trying to ignore you. “Do you have a plan on fun places to take me?” He shrugged.

You got the message, and huffed as you sat back in your seat. Right before takeoff, you received a message back from Aaliyah of a picture of her cat, and that was enough to bring a smile to your face. 

—— 

About 7 hours into your flight, you noticed Ransom picking out a movie to watch, and you found the idea intriguing. 

“What’cha watching?” You asked, leaning over a bit into his space. 

“Nothing,” he said stiffly, and you rolled your eyes.

“Porn?” You joked, glancing up at him to see if it landed or not. It did not. 

“You know what? You’re a lot prettier when you’re quiet.”

You slunk back into your seat at this and turned your head away from Ransom. The words really bit at you, considering that it sounded just like your Steve, and if you squinted enough, it looked like him too. But your Steve would never say something like that to you, right?

For a moment, you twisted the watch on your wrist consideringly, wondering if you should go to the next universe, where you might gain a little more respect from your partner. Yet something told you to wait it out. If this was still, in some convoluted way, Steve, he’d come around, right?

That alone gave you enough reason to stay.

---- 

You dragged your suitcase into a hotel room much too big for just two people after nearly 12 hours of an extremely awkward flight, and even more awkward cab ride to the hotel. 

After plopping your things down into the bigger bedroom of the hotel, you stretched rather dramatically in hopes of waking up some of the stiff muscles in your body. In the midst of this, Ransom came up behind you, and set a hand on your back, scaring the life out of you. 

“What the hell, Ransom! A knock or a ‘hello’ will do it next time!”

You turned to look at him, and became a bit flustered at his shirtless, short-clad figure. It was silly, because you’d seen Steve naked a million times before, and this was simply Steve in another universe. 

“You coming to the spa with me?” He smirked as you blatantly checked him out. “Okay, yeah. You’re coming with me. I’ll meet you at the front door.”

You spent around an hour at the spa with Ransom, sweating yourself out in the sauna until you were likely majorly dehydrated, soaking in the heated pool until your skin became pruny and wrinkled, and ending the night with a massage that sent you straight to sleep.

Like, deep sleep. When you became even slightly conscious, Ransom was laying you in your pillowy soft bed. As your eyes opened the slightest bit at him, he scoffed and rolled his eyes.

“Pretending to sleep, how cute,” he muttered sarcastically. You’d argue with him, but you were simply too exhausted to do so. In fact, you were convinced you’d just given him a whole monologue about how travelling makes people tired, but the most that had exited your mouth was a tiny squeak. 

You watched Ransom leave the room, before your head collapsed onto your shoulder, and you fell back into a nice rest.

When you awoke, it was not on your own will.

An overly saturated light attacked your eyes from behind your eyelids, and came all at once, snapping you out of your dreamless slumber. When you glanced over at the harsh source, you noticed none other than Ransom by your window, with a hand on the drape.

“Time to wake up. It’s like, 3 PM, by the way,” he huffed before exiting your room, not even allowing you to reply. 

You groaned in annoyance, having an off handed thought about how jet lag was kicking your ass, before rolling out of bed and trying to find something nice to put on.

By the time you left your room, Ransom was standing by the door, aimlessly scrolling on his phone. “You wanna go for a walk?” 

“Sure, I guess. I’m kinda hungry though, so maybe we can stop somewhere first?” 

Ransom shrugged and gave you what seemed like the hint of a smile, and you hurried to put on your shoes before heading out. 

——

The two of you ended up on the patio of some local restaurant, your eyes skimming the menu while Ransom took sips of his complimentary water. 

What seemed to be out of nowhere, a burly man came rushing over to your table, and appeared to be approaching Ransom, as he turned his head to look at the man, then quickly looked away.

The man, who you could only assume to be the owner, clapped Ransom on the back, and in return, Ransom slumped over in embarrassment. 

You were definitely going to enjoy this.

“Où étiez-vous?, Ranny?” Where have you been?

“Occupé, Henri.” Busy, Henri. Ransom clearly had a dark red blush on his face now, and he glanced at you as if you could offer him some sort of assistance.

“Trop occupé avec la dame?” Too busy with the lady? Henri asked with a smirk.

“No!” 

“Présentez-moi à elle,” Introduce her to me. 

Ransom sighed dramatically, then sat up from hunching, “Y/N, this is Henri. He’s a family friend,” you couldn’t help but notice how pleased Henri seemed, “Henri, this is Y/N, mon rendez-vous,” My date.

“Nice to meet you, Y/N,” Henri extended a hand out to you and you gladly shook it. He turned back to Ransom, and continued grilling him. “Est-ce votre cavalier ou votre petite amie?” Is she your date or your girlfriend?

“Mon rendez-vous!” My date! You don’t think you’d ever seen anyone become this flustered so fast.

“Hey Henri,” you interrupted, feeling a tiny bit left out, “any way that we could order first, then you could come back here and tell me all the embarrassing stories about Ransom you can remember?”

“That sounds fun to me,” he shrugged.

——

During lunch, you’d learned more about Ransom than you ever knew you needed to know. In the midst of it all, you couldn’t help but to think about how different he was compared to your Steve. His parents were extremely wealthy (no surprise there), he went to boarding school in Nice (which explained his ability to speak French), and Ransom was a bit of an art nerd (perhaps some characteristics could transcend universes).

Surprisingly, he was starting to grow on you. Which was why you were far from opposed to his suggestion of going sight-seeing around the town. 

The first stop you took wasn’t too far from the restaurant. A quaint little gift store with tiny knicknacks lining the shelves, and a relentless, old, orange cat who did not seem to want to leave Ransom alone.

“You should pet her, Ran,” you suggested, leaning down to do so yourself.

“First of all, don’t call me that. Second of all, if you pet her once, it’ll literally never stop,” He glanced over at you from where he was standing at a set of tourist-oriented keychains.

“Are you speaking from firsthand experience?” You grinned down at the cat who was now aggressively rubbing its head against your hand.

“Yes. Luis may seem nice, but one second you’re petting his head, and the next, you’re carrying him around the store, the whole time he’s whispering in your ear for you to buy more things.”

You were a bit taken aback at this, for a second concerned that the man you’d impulsively travelled to Europe with had a few screws loose, since he was apparently hearing local cats speak to him. That’s of course, when Ransom broke into laughter. It took you a second before you laughed a bit too.

“That was so weird, man. Don’t do that again,” you lightly punched his shoulder, then went to pick up Luis who was more than happy to be transported around like an infant. 

After buying a nice mug and a postcard to give to Aaliyah once you returned home, and parting with Luis who seemed to feel a bit, you suggested hopping in a cab to visit one of the many art museums Nice had to offer. 

After a bit of bickering in the backseat, the two of you compromised on the Modern and Contemporary Art museum, and you couldn’t help but feel a tiny bit excited.

Around two hours post-arrival at the museum, you realized that, maybe modern art wasn’t exactly your thing. But it certainly was Ransom’s. He rambled on and on about different pieces that seemed completely mundane to you. Who knew that someone could talk for nearly half of an hour about a canvas painted completely one color?

You noted a shift in Ransom’s attitude towards you. It was clear that you were willing to put up with his little antics, and as the day went on, he began to let down more and more of the tough guy persona he’d had up for so long. To your Steve, at least, art was something that made him feel a bit vulnerable, and you figured that Ransom held the same sentiment. This thought made you feel vaguely homesick, and go in for a half-hug from Ransom, who gladly returned it while he shamelessly effused.

It wasn’t the same, but for you, it was good enough.

----

You very much enjoyed the rest of your day with Ransom, hopping from interesting site to interesting site with him, and sharing a multitude of fond memories that you hoped would stick with you throughout your inter-dimensional travels.

You ended the night with him on the piano bench in the lobby of your hotel. He wordlessly played a Chopin piece while you mindlessly listened. It was a rather relaxing experience, and quite the finale of your day. You had a bit of a nagging feeling that this was the finale of your time in this universe as well.

“Today was really nice,” out of nowhere, Ransom began.

You hummed in agreement, “it was.”

“I guess I shouldn’t have taken you to all my favorite places on day one, but oh well,” he half chuckled to himself, and you pulled back to look up at Ransom.

“You took me to your favorite places? That’s.. Wow. That’s really sweet,” you glanced down at the piano, then back up at Ransom. He gave you a soft smile in return.

This was the moment, right? The silence that followed that was your perfect opportunity to be kissed. Yet, Ransom wasn’t taking it. So you decided to lean forward slightly, and do it yourself. Catching onto what you were getting ready to do, Ransom moved away from you slightly, and shook his head.

“Hey, I don’t really do that,” Ransom looked down at you, and bit the inside of his lip. 

Deep down, you knew that this was just a man who looked like your man rejecting you, but the less rational side of yourself only told you one thing.

Steve was rejecting you.

He was leaving you again, he wouldn’t even kiss you. The thought of it put you somewhere between seeing red, and seeing nothing at all from the tears that were now flooding your vision.

The one thing that had once convinced you to stay, was now begging you to leave. 

You reached down to your watch, and fiddled aggressively with it. Part of you felt bad for leaving a version of yourself to deal with the awkward aftermath of what just occurred, but another part of you just wanted to get the hell away from all of the distressing emotions you were feeling. 

That part of you seemed to be stronger than anything else. You glanced down at your watch, pressed the button on the side that you were told could make you leave, and let nature take its course after feeling the soft vibrations run throughout your arm.

next chapter

[heartlikearchive]

            “ I swear this shit never happens whenever I’m filming ALONE. But then you come up here and my camera suddenly decides its time to act up. ” A red flush steadily works its way up her neck, blotchy with a unique blend of frustration and embarrassment. Mostly FRUSTRATION, though. Theo’s seen her face-plant the floor too many times in a pair of heels for Betty to feel too embarrassed.  “ Aha! Got it! –– You ready? ” 

–– @nothingsurvived liked! 

[starsgivemehp]

Ramble about your Reds please

WELL ALRIGHT BUT JUST SO YOU KNOW I HAVE FOURTEEN DIFFERENT ITERATIONS THAT ARE DOCUMENTED, AND OTHERS THAT AREN’T, SO, YOU ASKED FOR THIS

They all have their own Undernet handle following starsgivemehp, so that they can talk to each other with minimal confusion

---slate = “blank slate,” i.e. the Red that is baseline, with nothing extra to him so far. Whenever I start a new verse, I start with a slate.

---bond = the Red that’s with @pyrocicle‘s Dove, named so because he’s bonded, and he’s the main Red I tend to use in the discord server

---protecc = “baby”, the Red that post-Gaster’s-Return Dove has. She, ah, long story short, was punted back to when Red and Vex were very young children, and essentially became their mother. Hence, baby. (the Vex’s username is ended with “attacc” because memes)

---edgy = also known as “Dr.” but not because of medical, because him’s smart. That’s the bitty version of Red, who is an edgy-type and bites because he was abused and neglected by a previous owner. ANYONE CAN HAVE A THREAD WITH A BITTY RED IF THEY WANT THO.

---rose = “thorn,” the flowerfell version of Red, who wears the necklace and remembers each reset and reload with perfect clarity. Unlike the usual Red, who only gets vague, fuzzy memories

---dream = “narc” THIS red was a Red that was killed so many times in the judgement hall, he started to give up. The human just kept coming back and killing him, until he gradually stopped fighting and giving it his all, doing less and less, dying earlier and earlier, until the reload that he laid himself down on the floor of the hall, closed his eyes, and simply let the human kill him immediately. His soul was cracking and he was going to die forever, had @biryu13‘s fae Anguish not stolen him away to put in a nicer timeline. In a timeline where the monsters had been human, and the fallen human was a monster, Red became human and had narcolepsy, triggered either at random, or when thinking too hard about the hopelessness of his old life/being unable to fight. Hence the name “Narc”

---dead = “goner” In one timeline, Anguish granted Red a wish. That wish was... “i wish vex still needed me.” She granted this wish... by taking his soul away to her slice of the void, leaving the dust of his body. Vex found his dust in his hoodie and broke down, proclaiming he needed his brother... He became more hardened, his only intent to do his job. Meanwhile, Red was placed in a pleasant, amazing dream about reaching the surface, getting married, having children... his soul’s HOPE rose to its maximum, 50. Eventually, with the help of several characters, Vex beat Anguish’s challenge and got his brother back. Red lost his memories of being in the dream, but retained his 50 HP, and they have an overall healthier relationship. It was a great event, I don’t really use this one much anymore though.

---hope - “Joi” You met this one, he’s the “good end” from the Yandere Pap verse. He was taken away just before the closet incident, and plopped in Jazz’s world, where he could safely have his baby, find love, and soulbond. He’s a survivor story and that version of Jazz’s world is quite lively.

---balljoint = “Toy” A bitty Red specifically created for a underground-born, skeleton Dove. He was made by a cold River Person scientist, as an experiment, but was a failure due to having low magic control. He was abandoned in a box in the snow, and was taken in by the Dove. He is so named because he pretends to talk with her little dolls, whom he first thought were other real, tiny people.

---galaxy = “Starlight” A red who soulbonded with Anguish. Because Annie has always loved Reds very much and god damn it, Tag SWORE he would make her keep one. He would make her one specifically to keep. This Red never had a brother, so he grew up lonely, and is so happy being in Annie’s family.

---dust = “Fade” the new name I’ve given the aftermath of the Yandere Pap verse Red. I couldn’t keep calling him “Pet” forever, he doesn’t want to be called that. He’s struggling with dealing with such high LV, but he just recently made a few world-destroying friends who are surprisingly soft with him...

---biker = “Cups” a Red who’s on the surface now, in college, and is roommates with one of @biryu13‘s characters, Remmie. Yes, the “oh my god they were roommates” applies here, they gon’ get together. I’ll do a surface college Red with anyone. But do note he’s in for his masters, not his bachelors.

AND THERE ARE JUST A FEW OTHERS, one of which is just too nsfw for here, lmao, the others are just one-shot ones