#and the worst part is I was buying a new copy of Hamlet

[thebestoftimes]

50 QUESTION BOOK TAG FOR WORLD BOOK DAY

By me, Jess. I made this for world book day but then got depressed and didn’t post it on time lmao but here ya go kids be warned though it’s a long one. Also the numbers thing got fucked up and I couldn’t fix it.  I got a lot of these questions from other tags I’ve seen and google so if something sounds familiar... that’s why.

Who or what sparked your love of literature?

Aw my parents fueled my book habit when I was a kid and took me to the bookstore all the time and since then all my teachers have always encouraged me and made me love books even more than I thought possible.

Do you have an ‘odd’ book habit? (page sniffing/never leaving the house with a book)

It’s true that I never go anywhere without a book. I got one in my backpack or purse or reading on my phone but it’s always there.

Do you have a book that you think has changed your life? How?

A lot of books and series have made significant impacts on my life (like I can’t picture elementary school without Percy Jackson being in my life) but like as a person I can’t think of any one book that has changed who I am. It’s been a team effort.

Which book have you reread most frequently?

I think I reread Hush Hush every year lmao idk why

You can meet any author and ask one question. What author would you chose and what question would you ask?

I’d want to meet Shakespeare and ask him if all his characters really were just that gay or if we’re all reading too much into it.

Best book published this year so far?

It’s only March but The Gilded Wolves by Roshani Chokshi

Imagine you’ve started a book and don’t like it. Do you see the experience through to the bitter end, or are you able to talk away from it mid story?

I used to always finish what I started but now that I’m in college and have a mountain of a TBR I’ll just stop.

What book is top of your wish list/TBR pile?

Uhh A Winter’s Promise by Christelle Dabos  is on top rn

Favourite place to read?

My bed. Boring but a classic.

If you buy books, do you lend them out? Ever had a bad experience?

Of course. No all my friends respect my stuff and return them promptly.

What fictional character do you ship yourself with?

So many but I think Gansey and I from The Raven Cycle would make the best couple.

Weirdest thing you’ve used as a bookmark

I use whatever near me so I might have done something weirder but lately I’ve been using tissues because I have a tissue box by my bed and never real bookmarks. But I’ve used graded homework, a toy car, a crayon, earbuds, etc.

Favorite quality/qualities in a protagonist and antagonist

Wow this is s hard okay for protag I am a sucker for like stubborn, smartass with a martyr complex. Sad but true. Antags I love a good morally grey character or anti-villain. Tragic backstory but smart as hell. The worst (the best). Characters like the Darkling from The Grisha Trilogy, and Warner from the first Shatter Me book (I know he’s a good guy NOW but back then we all thought he was a sadistic and sexy villain).

Favorite genre and favorite book from that genre.

YA Urban Fantasy babyyy and that’d be City of Bones by Cassandra Clare or Lady Midnight by Cassandra Clare:)

  Best/worst movie adaptation in your eyes

Best: Harry Potter and The Hunger Games | Worst: Percy Jackson

Do you prefer reading your own books, or library books?

My own.

How do you choose your next book to read?

Literally whatever I’m feeling like at the moment.

Your favorite word.

I love many words but I have a soft spot for “lively” and “lilt”.

Book that got you hooked on reading/how you got hooked.

I’ve always been obsessed with reading but The Peter and the Starcatchers Series was like my shift from nicotine to heroine.

Opinion on dog-earing, margin writing, ect.

I only write in the margins of books I have to read for class/textbooks. And that’s for studying and active reading purposes. For any other situation: no.

Top 5 immediate to read in no order

A Winter’s Promise by Christelle Dabos

A Very Large Expanse of Sea by Tahereh Mafi

Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan

The Wicker King by K. Ancrum

A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E Schwab

Most underrated book you’ve read

Definitely The Foxhole Court/ All for the Game series. Fairly small fanbase for some of THE most amazing books I’ve ever read. And the memes will have you in stitches.

What is the first book that catches your eye when you look at your bookshelf?

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell because of the exceedingly bright cover/spine haha

How do you arrange your books on your shelves?

LOL I do not have a system at all. I keep series and authors together and that’s it. Everything is placed where there is room.

You have the power to change a book’s ending. Which ending would you change and what would you make happen instead?

I’d change the end to Allegiant and SPOILERS SPOILERS not make Tris fucking die over her shitty ass brother. I know why she did it but like Veronica girl wyd with that. And I’d want the entirety of Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins to be rewritten into a book that just focused on the domestic life of Finnick and Annie and no one dies.

Favourite book cover?

This is SO HARD. Either The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin or Ignite Me by Tahereh Mafi

Which book from your childhood has had the most impact on you?

My entire personality was shaped by the Maxmimum Ride series by James Patterson. For better and worse.

When reading, what do you value most: writing style, characters, plot, world building, pacing, etc?

Characters. I think all of those things are essential and as I read more and more, the pickier I get, but I find myself leaning towards being a fan of a book when I become obsessed with the characters. Like hey!! New friends!!! For my brain!!!

Do you prefer buying books or borrowing them from a library/friend?

Buying them even though I shouldn’t. It’s a real problem.

What books/sequels that are being published this year are you most excited for?

SO MANY OH MY GOD

Okay some of these already came out because it’s March right now but I’ll include them anyways.

SEQUELS/ SPIN-OFFS AND SHIT

The Wicked King by Holly Black; King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo; Dream by Natalia Jaster; Chain of Gold by Cassandra Clare; The Red Scrolls of Magic by Cassandra Clare; Capturing the Devil by Kerri Maniscalco, Call Down the Hawk by Maggie Stiefvater; Defy Me by Tahereh Mafi; The Shaw Confessions #3 by Michelle Hodkin

FIRST BOOKS

The Binding by Bridget Collins; Wicked Saints by Emily A. Duncan; The Gilded Wolves by Roshani Chokshi; A Curse So Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer; Romanov by Nadine Brandes; The Infinite Noise by Lauren Shippen; The Beautiful by Renee Ahdieh

Which fictional character would you want as a sidekick?

Percy Jackson because he’s my firstborn son and one of my favourite characters of all time. He is talented, smart, hilarious, an amazing friend, and the sweetest of boys (when he isn’t the sassiest of boys).

How many books have you read so far this year?

Only 15 I am so behind :(

What’s been your favourite read so far this year?

Oh man. Gotta be Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo :)

You’re stuck on an island with a suitcase big enough to hold five books. What books are they?

I probably shouldn’t cheat and say How to Build a Boat huh

City of Bones by Cassandra Clare

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

The King’s Men by Nora Sakovic

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan

If you had to go out to dinner with any character who would it be and why? What would you talk about?

Will Herondale and we’d talk about books

Is there a book you have such a hatred for that you would throw it off of the highest tower knowing that the last copy of it will be destroyed so that not another living soul can read it or would you rather keep it and give it to someone else who might actually enjoy it?

The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne or After by Anna Todd

Do you believe books make nice decoration?

I mean. I think they should be read before used as decor but I love showing off my books so I guess both. But I don’t believe in buying books for the purpose of decoration instead of reference or reading lol

Do you listen to music when you read? Or do you need complete silence? 

I need silence or low amount of white noise. I used to read and listen to Taylor Swift when I was a kid but I can’t do it anymore.

Do you have a favorite book? If not are you in the group that believes there are too many great books out there to just choose one?

I tell people it’s City of Bones by Cassandra Clare but in all honesty no I don’t have a favourite.

Do you sleep with books under your pillow.

Nope

Do you go to the library or do you have a book buying addiction or are you one of those lucky people who is able to do both?

I do both. Mostly bookstore though.

Own any book inspired clothing?

Yes. Several items :)

Have you ever read a book in another language?

I read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, Tristan and Isolde, and Beauty and the Beast in French. And parts of Les Mis.

Strangest book you’ve ever read?

John Dies at the End by David Wong. Still not sure exactly what was going on. 

Favourite type of non-fiction?

Memoirs babey

Favourite non-fiction?

Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand

Favourite subject to read about?

History

Favourite book you’ve read in school?

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

Favourite work of Shakespeare?

Hamlet

Character you’d love as a mom or dad or guardian?

Hmm Sally Jackson, The Women of 300 Fox Way, or Tessa and Will (they totally count because The Last Hours Series)

I tag literally whoever wants to do this and @fangirl-daydreamer97 @acleeds12 @iviisastrawberry @221bdoom @bicycles-bees-bisexuals @betterthanapit @dippindots126 @vlctorvale

[williamlwolf89]

26 Creative Writing Exercises That’ll Punch Up Your Writing

Creative writing exercises are a great way to train your writing muscles. Ready to flex? Read on.

Wouldn’t you love to smash your content out of the ring every time?

To always land that knockout blow, just like your writing idols?

Imagine having the same audience of cheering fans, clamoring to read your next post (or to buy your first book as a published author).

Yep. That’s the dream, alright.

But let’s face reality. When you sit down to write new content, it never quite measures up to the greats. (How do they make it look so easy?)

You’d love to write like the heavyweight blogging champions that inspired you to start a blog in the first place, but right now you feel more like the puny guy at the punching bag. You may as well grab another soda and flop in front of the TV.

But don’t throw in the towel just yet.

You may not write like those blogging champions now, but that doesn’t mean you never will. If you exercise your writing muscles, you too can make money blogging and become one of the greats.

How to Exercise Your Writing Muscles and Become a Blogging Heavyweight

Exercise. (Groan.) Who needs it?

You do. We all do.

If you want to be physically fit, you need to exercise your body. And if you want to produce powerful, punchy content, you need to exercise your writing muscles. It’s a no-brainer.

But that doesn’t mean you just write every day without any training regimen.

Sure, that might get you there eventually, but smart writers will exercise with precision.

Free Course: How to Get Paid $200+ Per Post by Writing for Small Businesses

They will take 15-30 minutes every day to train specific skills. And they won’t just train once and think they’re done. They will go back and train the same skill over and over, until they have it down pat.

That’s how you want to approach the writing tips below.

When you do them for the first time, you might feel clumsy and unnatural. But after a few weeks of daily workouts, you’ll quickly notice a difference.

That’s how exercise works.

Ready to get started?

Then put down that soda, buddy. We’re going to the writing gym!

26 Creative Writing Exercises (Broken Down by Category)

6 Writing Exercises That’ll Make You Fearless in the Writing Ring

6 Writing Exercises That’ll Get Your Writing Style in Perfect Shape

2 Writing Exercises That’ll Give Your Writing a Hilarious Left Hook

4 Writing Exercises That’ll Beef Up Your Scene-Painting Skills

3 Writing Exercises That’ll Make You Pack a More Persuasive Punch

5 Writing Exercises That’ll Strengthen Your Storytelling Muscles

6 Writing Exercises That’ll Make You Fearless in the Writing Ring

Most writers hold back when they write. They’re afraid to open up and show all of themselves, terrified they’ll be rejected or ridiculed. And if it’s a paid writing assignment for a client? Forget about it. It’s a recipe for writer’s block and staring at a blank page.

The most powerful writers are fearless. They bleed everything they have onto the page, making people wince, gasp, sob or seethe. Their writing connects on a deep level because they’re not scared to be vulnerable.

If you want your writing to connect like that, you must train yourself to release your suppressed emotions and write with brutal honesty.

It’s hard to put all of yourself out there, but once you master the technique, it’s like unshackling the chains. You will connect with your readers on an entirely new level.

The creative exercises below will train you to be fearlessly vulnerable.

1. Tell Your Best Friends Why They Suck

I’m sure you love your friends dearly, but let’s be honest, sometimes they annoy the heck out of you.

Write a letter to each of your friends, telling them what you hate about them. Tell them everything you wish they’d stop doing and saying.

Don’t actually send it — I don’t want to be responsible for ruining all your friendships — but don’t hold anything back.

And when you’re done, move on to family members, coworkers, and so on.

2. Confront the First Person Who Broke Your Heart

Write them the letter you’ve been penning in your head since the day they reached into your chest, ripped out your heart, and left it bleeding at your feet.

Tell them about the physical pain and every emotion you felt at that moment. The ones that are seared into your brain forever.

3. Recall Your Most Painful Experiences

Think about the most painful experiences in your life — the ones that didn’t just make you shed a tear or two, but made you bawl bucketloads.

Try freewriting them. Write an account of those occasions and let all the emotions flood out.

You should be dripping tears onto your keyboard while you do this.

4. Confess Your Deepest, Darkest Secret

Write about a secret that you’ve kept locked away out of embarrassment — something about yourself that nobody knows and that you don’t want anybody to know. Now’s the time to unleash the beast.

Remember, whatever you write is for your eyes only, and once you’re done, you can tear it up right away.

5. Write Down the Worst Thing That Could Ever Happen

What’s that one thing that you constantly worry will happen? What’s that one recurring nightmare that makes you wake up screaming and sobbing?

Whatever it is, write about it. Get it all on the page and face your monsters.

6. Describe Your Most Mortifying Moment

Everyone has a moment they wish they could erase. The shame and indignity of something you said or did. The toe-curling embarrassment that still makes you groan in agony whenever the memory pops into your head.

Put it down in writing. Remember every mortifying detail. Relive the humiliation and spew it all onto the page.

6 Writing Exercises That’ll Get Your Writing Style in Perfect Shape

When you talk, you use more than your voice. You use inflections, hand gestures and body language to add emphasis and personality. But as a writer, your words must have power. Each one has to count.

Your content shouldn’t just get the message across, it should do so with flair and gusto. It should be so pleasing to read that readers flow from line to line.

That’s why every serious writer should spend serious time honing their writing style until it’s almost flawless.

1. Copycat Your Writing Heroes

One of the best ways to develop a strong writing style is to copy your favorite writers by hand — as in, pen to paper.

Pick a blogger or bestseller whose voice you admire and copy their content, word for word. Don’t think too hard about it. Just go with it.

As you write out their words, you’ll internalize their writing style, their pace and rhythm, their grammar, their word choice, and their sentence structure.

Make no mistake. This is one of the most powerful ways to sharpen your writing skills.

2. Replicate the Rhetoric from JFK and MLK

Famous speeches, like those from John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King, often use rhetorical devices to strengthen their message.

See this example, where JFK repeats the same phrase at the beginning of each sentence.

 What we need in the United States is not  division.  What we need in the United States is not  hatred.  What we need in the United States is not  violence and lawlessness; but is love and wisdom and compassion toward one another.

Or see this example, where MLK uses several rhetorical devices in a row:

 When we let  freedom ring,  when we let  it ring  from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city , we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children,  black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics , will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual,  “Free at last! Free at last!  Thank God Almighty,  we are free at last! 

These are marvelous writing tools you can use to make your content explode with power.

To get a good feel for them, google the transcripts of famous speeches, see if you can spot where they use rhetorical devices like the ones above, and then rewrite them to fit into five different contexts.

For example, you might rewrite JFK’s words as such:

What we need as [GROUP] is not [BAD THING #1]. What we need as [GROUP] is not [BAD THING #2]. What we need as [GROUP] is not [BAD THING #3]. What we need is [GOOD THING.]”!

The goal of this exercise is to practice these techniques until your brain absorbs the rhythm and inflection and it becomes second nature to recognize where to include rhetorical devices in your writing.

3. Eliminate 20%

Rambling sentences are a turn-off. Powerful content uses short and pacey sentences that are easy to read and simple to grasp.

That’s why you should train yourself to write concisely.

Select one of your old posts and rewrite it, paragraph by paragraph. Your goal is to cut around 20% of your total word count without changing the meaning or deleting a point.

Focus on shortening each paragraph itself. Cut flabby words, remove redundancy, merge sentences, and replace long-winded phrases with shorter alternatives. You won’t be able to do it for each one, but try.

Do this enough, and eventually conciseness will become a natural part of your writing process.

4. Write Your 400-Word Life Story

Nobody likes reading posts that go off on endless tangents and drag on and on about irrelevant nonsense.

You need to train yourself to omit the fluff and get to the point. You should only ever share the minimal amount that’s needed for the reader to get the picture.

In this exercise, write a story that paints a complete picture of your life, but limit yourself to 400 words. This forces you to focus on the most important events.

You can repeat this exercise with different topics as well. For instance, you might write a 400-word summary of the last movie you watched or the last nonfiction book you bought on Amazon.

5. Write a Movie Dialogue

You don’t want your content to read like an instruction manual. It should read like you’re having a conversation with your readers. This makes them feel more engaged with the content.

Writing fiction can help with this. So, before you write your next post, write a dialogue between yourself and an audience member on the same topic.

Think about how two people would chat (like in the scene of a movie), and reflect this natural flow in your writing.

6. Find Analogies for Everyday Life

Want to be a better writer? Analogies (and their cousins, similes and metaphors) are a writer’s best friend.

They can create powerful imagery, make complex ideas easy to understand, and add color and fun to your writing. But coming up with a great analogy is hard — unless you consistently practice writing them.

So make a list of everything you did or experienced yesterday such as getting up from bed, brushing your teeth, walking the dog, doing yoga, and so on. Now, for each activity, come up with a metaphor or analogy.

For example:

Every day I get up, I feel like a zombie. Some dark and evil force (the alarm) wakes me from my ‘rest in peace’. I claw myself out from under the covers and shuffle to the kitchen, moaning and probably drooling a little. I have only one drive at that moment: I must eat (breakfast, not brains), and I won’t stop until my hunger is sated.

Brushing with an electric toothbrush is like taking your teeth to the carwash. You push the brush onto each side of your teeth until they’re clean and then you rinse.

Training your brain to make connections between two unrelated things will get your creative juices flowing and make you more imaginative. Practice it enough and you’ll find that metaphors and similes will come to you naturally as you write your posts.

Hint: Finding great analogies is crazy-hard. Use this guide to make sure you’re doing it right.

2 Writing Exercises That’ll Give Your Writing a Hilarious Left Hook

Your content shouldn’t just teach and inspire your audience, it should also entertain. And sprinkling in the odd joke here and there can go a long way.

Humor helps you connect with your audience. It makes your content stand out in what may be an otherwise humorless niche, and this means it’s more likely to be remembered.

Don’t worry — you don’t have to become the next Jerry Seinfeld. But with these exercises, you can train yourself to find the funny in the mundane.

1. Look at the World Through Distorted Glasses

One reliable way to make people laugh is to put everything in the world into new and absurd contexts.

You pretend you don’t know what an object or custom is actually for, and then guess at what its true purpose is.

For example, you might look at an iPad and decide it’s a:

Frisbee for square people

Skating rink for mice

Chopping board for the insanely wealthy

See how that works?

Don’t worry about sounding silly. The trick is to think completely outside the box.

2. Pile on the Exaggeration

Another good way to go for laughs is to exaggerate something to the point of absurdity.

If you want an example of this in action, see this video of Phyllis Diller talking about her mother-in-law:

Get the picture?

Good. Now brainstorm twenty endings to each of these sentences:

My house is so small…

My cat is so lazy…

My wife is so bossy…

My home town is so hick…

My job is so boring…

Don’t worry if they’re not all comedy gold. The idea is to practice. The more you do it, the easier it becomes.

And when you’re done with this list, continue practicing. Use things you own or people you know, define a few of their characteristics (e.g., my car is red, tiny, old, guzzles gas, has powerful brakes, etc.), and then make a list of exaggerations.

4 Writing Exercises That’ll Beef Up Your Scene-Painting Skills

Dry content is boring. If you want to evoke a powerful response, you must evoke your reader’s senses.

You must paint tangible scenes, using visual and sensual language to make your words burst off the page in glorious technicolor.

Take this extract from one of Jon Morrow’s most inspiring posts, An Open Letter to Writers Struggling to Find Their Courage. It’s chock-full of words that paint a graphic picture of a fish:

Have you ever watched a fish suffocate?

You go fishing one day with your rod and reel, hook a fish, and reel it in, dragging it out of the water so you can get a better look at your catch. It’s lying on land, its gills pumping furiously, its eyes bulging, its mouth opening and closing in silent screams. Every once in a while, it flips around, trying to work its way back into the water, but it’s no use; the poor thing is hooked.

Minutes pass, and you can see the strength slipping out of it. It fights less and less, its eyes dull, and eventually, it goes still. Jon Morrow

When you read that, can’t you just see the fish flip-flopping in front of you?

Powerful, isn’t it?

Use these exercises to practice painting vivid scenes yourself.

1. Describe the Best (and Worst) Date You Ever Had

What were you wearing? Where did you meet up? What were the first words out of your mouth?

Describe your memories of the date, making them as vivid and tangible as possible.

Don’t tell us she was pretty. Tell us how her sparkling eyes made you tingle from head to toe. Make us picture the scene, hear the sounds, and feel your sensations.

2. Write About Meeting Your In-Laws for the First Time

Was it terrifying? Funny? Heartwarming?

Did your mother-in-law’s eyes laser your heart before her tongue lashed at your soul? Or was she as welcoming as fried chicken at a family barbeque?

3. Recall Your Most Vivid Memory of School

This one speaks for itself. So I’ll just give you an example of my own:

At primary school, I hated rice pudding with a passion. One day I refused to eat it, so my teacher refused to let me leave the table. It was a battle of wills. I sat, arms crossed, staring at the cold, congealed, white mush, with cheap jelly splodged across its yucky skin. Beside me, my teacher cajoled, pleaded, threatened, and silently cursed. I won.

What’s your most vivid memory of school? Describe every detail.

4. Write About Your Greatest Sporting Moment

Write an account of your most glorious sporting achievement, whether you’re an Olympic champion, or you and your brother won the under-fives’ three-legged race at your community fair.

Relive every triumphant moment as you realized you were about to make your own personal version of sporting history.

3 Writing Exercises That’ll Make You Pack a More Persuasive Punch

Your writing must be persuasive if you want it to stick in people’s minds.

It must persuade your readers to see your point of view. It must persuade your readers to believe in themselves. Sometimes, it must persuade readers to buy what you’re selling.

So here are some exercises to practice your persuasion skills.

1. Give Your Younger Self a Pep-Talk

Everyone is a work in progress, which is why one of the best ways to persuade people is to show them a better version of themselves. If you can inspire someone, you can persuade them.

But not everybody is naturally inspirational. That’s why you should practice.

You must have had moments in your past when you could’ve used some words of encouragement — moments when you felt scared, or concerned, or defeated.

Find these moments in your life, and write your younger self a pep-talk. Write down what you needed to hear in that moment. Inspire your younger self to keep their head up and keep going. Show them that better version of themselves.

2. Write a Super-Slick Sales Page for a Dinner Plate

You may not have any products or services on offer yet, but at some point, you probably will. That means you won’t just have to know how to sell, but you’ll have to get over whatever hangups you have about being “salesy.”

Pick an object from your house — something mundane, like a dinner plate, a pencil, or a towel — and write an over-the-top sales pitch for it.

Think about the benefits of the object, and what features it has that makes it stand out against other similar objects. By picking a mundane object, you force yourself to get creative when you think of its unique selling points.

3. Write an Assertive Op-Ed Piece for the New York Times

When you write a blog post, you must write with authority. That means you can’t be wishy-washy with your language and you can’t hold back your opinions because you’re afraid they might rub people the wrong way. (Remember, you have to be fearless.)

Train yourself to be assertive in your writing by picking a controversial topic you feel strongly about and pretending the New York Times asked you to write an op-ed on it.

State your opinion clearly and proudly, avoid ambiguity, and explain in no uncertain terms why you feel the way you feel.

5 Writing Exercises That’ll Strengthen Your Storytelling Muscles

Everyone loves a good story. And understanding the mechanics of telling a good story will make you a far more engaging writer.

Did you know, for instance, that most great stories follow a three-act structure?

It typically breaks down like this:

Act 1: The Set-Up. This act introduces us to the hero and the world they live in. It sets up the status quo and sets up the story’s main conflict by giving the hero a problem to solve or an antagonist to beat.

Act 2: The Confrontation. The hero confronts the problem. This act also typically includes the hero gathering the skills, tools, and/or alliances they need to confront the problem.

Act 3: The Resolution. The hero solves the problem. Their world has changed for the better.

When you do the exercises below, try and mix things up by writing shorter and longer stories. Write a multi-page story, then write a three-paragraph story. But apply the three-act structure every time, until you have it down pat.

1. Write Your Own Superhero Story

Imagine you’re a superhero who has to save the world from a terrible evil. Use your real life for inspiration, but sprinkle in fantastical elements to make things more exciting.

Where do you come from? What’s your superpower? Who or what gave you your powers? What’s your kryptonite? Who’s your evil arch-enemy?

Have fun with this one!

2. Write a Series of Café Stories

Sit in a café and observe the people around you. Pick someone who looks interesting. Now, use every ounce of your imagination and write his or her story.

What brought them to this coffee shop? Are they in the first act of their story and about to set off on an adventure, or are they in the third act and recuperating from the adventure they had?

3. Write Crime Thrillers About Your Neighbors

Did you ever see the movie Rear Window? Or have you read this year’s literary thriller, The Woman in The Window? Both follow a similar compelling storyline of someone witnessing a crime in a neighboring house… or did they?

Next time you’re walking your dog around your neighborhood, pay more attention to the homes you pass. Now write a synopsis of a short thriller inspired by any of the houses you see (or can see into). Let the front yard, architecture, and possibly the people drive your twisted tale.

4. Write a Graveyard Tale

Go to your local graveyard and wander around the tombstones. Take inspiration from the inscriptions and write a series of short stories about the characters you find.

How did they die? Who did they leave behind? Are they connected to anyone else in the graveyard?

5. Write a Fairy Tale about the Big Bad Wolf

Think of your favorite fairy tales (Little Red Riding Hood, Snow White, Hansel and Gretel) and rewrite them from the bad guy’s point of view.

Put yourself in their shoes. Think about what motivated them, what they were trying to achieve, and whether they cared what other people thought of them.

Do the same for each of the main characters in the story (e.g., the mom, the grandma, the woodcutter). And finally, create a new disinterested observer and write the same fairy tale from their point of view.

This will teach you to think more deeply about character development in your stories.

Which of These Creative Writing Exercises is Your Favorite?

You made it!

You’ve completed a full run-through of your writing workout.

All you have to do now is start practicing these exercises for real.

Every day. Every week and every month.

Find two or three exercises or creative writing prompts that appeal to you and start a regimen for 15-20 minutes a day. After a couple of weeks, pick another two or three and start again.

Keep refreshing them. Keep enthused and keep at it.

Before you know it, you’re going to go from that puny guy at the punching bag to heavyweight writing champion of the world.

Yeah! (Cue Rocky music!)

About the Author: Mel Wicks is a seasoned copywriter and marketing strategist who helps bloggers and entrepreneurs put the ‘OMG! Where do I sign up?’ into everything they write. Build your 6 major writing muscles with her free Writer’s Bootcamp infographic, and smash your content out of the ring every time.

The post 26 Creative Writing Exercises That’ll Punch Up Your Writing appeared first on Smart Blogger.

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Views at Attingham Park

So last week I had a bit of a mini melt-down when it came to reading. Couldn’t get my head in the zone at all. I put it down to being more than a little bit tired (which I still am) but at least I have had a long weekend to pretend to get over it. I say pretend because in reality I’ve tried to be very active this weekend with a nive three mile walk in the deer/cow park on Saturday and then a mere seven miles or so up and over the Long Mynd on Sunday.

Cardingmill Valley In Shropshire

Now the canny (and local) will spot that the big loop walk around Cardingmill Valley is actually only a little over five miles, the rest of you will probably neither know nor care. However, Mandie and I took a slight detour while on our walk as we spotted a sign at the edge of a footpath which holds a key link to our ancestry and decided to go and take a little look.

Medlicott is a very (very) small hamlet in Shropshire, set back in the shadows of the Long Mynd, and part of the reason that Jen Med’s is Jen Med’s and not Jen Luc’s. Medlicott is a family name, my Nan’s maiden name in fact, and our ancestry can be traced right back to when the little village got its name way back in 1100 and something, when old Llewelyn de Medlicott (or Modlicott) was awarded the land by some King of some variety for doing something loyal to the crown-ish.

A wild horse on the Long Mynd

I do actually have all of the details, courtesy of one my Great Uncles who researched the family tree many moons ago. He was able to race our lines all the way back from my Nan’s family circa 1900, through to the 1100’s, but this is a book blog not ancestry.com so I’ll spare you. Still pretty impressive though and Mandie and I were thrilled to see the signpost. Unbelieveably, after forty years living in the county, this was actually our first time atop the Long Mynd so the first time we had ever been this close to Medlicott. We didn’t quite have time to make the walk this weekend, but we will go back sometime soon and make the trip all the way down the hill to take a look at what was once family land. We’ll probably try and pop over to Wentnor Church too which is the final resting place of many of our family from years ago. I know – pretty cool right?

View at Pole Bank – the highest point on the Long Mynd

The biggest problem with walking up a very big hill is that at some point you have to walk back down it. Now it’s not the exercise that does me in – I can handle that. But I should probably explain that if there is one thing in this world that I am truly scared of, it is heights. Like all phobias, mine is severly irrational in how it presents itself. I don’t have the slightest problem with being high up, standing on top of a hill and looking out over a valley. I don’t have a problem making the craggy climb up the nice wide path to begin with. I do, however,  have the slightly less irrational fear of plummeting to my death, which is why I don’t like sanding on high bridges all that much, especially bouncy ones, can’t always walk to the edge of barriers, no matter how safe they are and can only go outside at the Empire State Building if I go out the North Manhattan side as South is far too windy and I am worried about being blown over the impossible to be blown over barriers that surround the viewing floor. Yes – I know. Irrational…

Now while the climb up Cardingmill Valley, if you go a certain way, is occasionally steep, with absolutely breathtaking (literal and metaphorical) views, it is also a nice wide path. What Mandie and I didn’t know is that the path down the other side, past Townbrook Hollow, is equally as steep but a lot less wide. And there are sections that you have to climb over really craggy bits of rock and round tree roots which doesn’t sound too bad – unless you have a crippling paranoia about plummeting to your death. With legs like jelly, I mostly walked, occasionally inched down on my arse, but ultimately tackled the impossible (for me) and made it to the bottom. Totally glad I did it but by god it was a long way. Very few people die on this route (to my knowledge) and I know the worst that could have happened was I ended up sliding down a fairly high hill a little way, but I still hated it. So, with a near constant soundtrack of ‘I’m going to die’, ‘I hate this’, ‘I can’t see round the corner – I hate this – I’m going to die’, ‘I can’t do this’ and ‘Stupid, stupid, stupid hill’, we made it down this from top to bottom (see path on the right)

From top…                                                               to bottom

along a path which was only occasionally as generous as this

but which was mostly steep bank or rock to the left and steep bank or drop to the right.

On the plus side, all of my protestations kept Mandie’s mind off the fact that she too hates heights, although she did on occasion nearly fall off the path from laughing at me so much.

We’ll be heading back again soon. The views were amazing.

The Wrekin and the sheep shelf

None of this was remotely bookish but it was a nice distraction on a sunny Bank Holiday weekend. All of this walking seems to have had an impact on my reading too as I’ve been way more productive. Waaaaay  more productive. Like a 250% increase in output. Yes folks – i read 3.5 books. Much more respectable than last weeks 1.5 i think.

Oooh. I lie. I actually read an apocalyptic type of book set largely in South Shropshire, only a stone’s throw from Cardingmill Valley so it was a bookish retreat after all. And we could see Stiperstones from the top which features in Mark Edwards’ The Lucky Ones so most definitely bookish. And yet, despite my assertions about my impending death, no apocalypse had occured by the time we left, which was a touch disappointing to be fair as it took ages to get out of the car park…

I got a little bit of book post this week. Three little bits in fact. One was my purchase of a signed copy of Yesterday by Felicia Yap from Goldsboro Books. I also got a copy of Payback by Kimberley Chambers from Harper Collins for helping out on a Readers Room survey and Nothing Stays Buried by PJ Tracy from Penguin Random House as I’m on the blog tour next week. I also received a lovely e-arc in the shape of Dead Lands by Lloyd Otis which again I’m on the blog tour for in October.

Purchase wise I have been very well behaved, mainly because I had already been pre-order crazy. I pre-ordered a copies of Silent Lies the forthcoming release from Kathryn Croft, The Secret Mother by Shalini Boland and All The Little Children by Jo Furniss.

You’re impressed with my restraint aren’t you? I can tell. As I’ve read three of these books already, it’s barely an increase in my tbr at all really …

Books I have read

Untainted Blood by Liz Mistry

An unmissable new crime thriller

In a city that is already volatile, tensions mount  after a Tory MP in Bradford Central is discredited leaving the door open for the extreme right-wing candidate, Graeme Weston, to stand in the resultant by-election. 

However, Graeme Weston is not what he appears to be and with secrets jeopardising his political career, he must tread very carefully.

Meanwhile, a serial killer targets Asian men who lead alternatives lifestyles and delivers his own form of torture. 

As DI Gus McGuire’s team close in, the deranged killer begins to unravel and in an unexpected twist the stakes are raised for Gus.

Are the murders linked to the political scandals or is there another motive behind them? 

DI Gus McGuire and his team are back and this might be their toughest case yet.

I’ll be sharing my review on this book later in the week. It’s the one I started during my London break last weekend but didn’t quite finish. Remedied that this week and very happy I am too. A great story set against a backdrop of racism and intolerance. YOu can buy a copy for yourselves here.

…

Nothing Stays Buried by P.J. Tracy

Nothing Stays Buried is the eighth book in P.J. Tracy’s addictive and internationally bestselling Monkeewrench series

There’s a search for a missing girl, and another for a serial killer: death holds all the cards . . .

When Marla Gustafson vanishes on her way to her father’s farm, her car left empty on the side of an isolated country road, even Grace MacBride and her eccentric team of analysts are baffled.

Meanwhile in Minneapolis, homicide detectives Gino and Magozzi have a serial killer on their hands – two women murdered in cruelly similar fashion, with playing cards left on the bodies. But one card is an ace, the other is a four – it seems the killer is already two murders ahead.

With both teams stumped, it slowly becomes clear the evidence is inexplicably entangled. And they have little time to unravel the threads: a twisted killer is intent on playing out the deck…

This was my first taste of the Monkeewrench team but it won’t be my last. Sadly one of the people behind the mother daughter writing team passed away, but her daughter has committed to carry on writing and I’ll be looking forward to reading more, as well as going back to read the first seven books when time allows. In this instalment cases surrounding drugs, serial killers and a missing woman all collide while the Monkeewrench team come face to face with their deadliest ever foe – Mother Mature. You can get a copy of the book here.

…

All The Little Children by Jo Furniss

When a family camping trip takes a dark turn, how far will one mother go to keep her family safe?

Struggling with working-mother guilt, Marlene Greene hopes a camping trip in the forest will provide quality time with her three young children—until they see fires in the distance, columns of smoke distorting the sweeping view. Overnight, all communication with the outside world is lost.

Knowing something terrible has happened, Marlene suspects that the isolation of the remote campsite is all that’s protecting her family. But the arrival of a lost boy reveals they are not alone in the woods, and as the unfolding disaster ravages the land, more youngsters seek refuge under her wing. The lives of her own children aren’t the only ones at stake.

When their sanctuary is threatened, Marlene faces the mother of all dilemmas: Should she save her own kids or try to save them all?

Now this is a book I’ve actually had sat on my kindle for a while after the author contacted me in regard to the round the UK challenge I started at the beginning of the year. Being set in my home county I couldn’t resist and from the very beginning I was pulled straight into this apocalyptic mystery. It held me from first page to last and I powered through in just a few hours. This and Monkeewrench totally helped me find my reading mojo again. You can bag yourself a copy here and find out why.

…

The Girl Who Came Back by Kerry Wilkinson

Thirteen years ago Olivia Adams went missing. Now she’s back… or is she?

When six-year-old Olivia Adams disappeared from her back garden, the small community of Stoneridge was thrown into turmoil.  How could a child vanish in the middle of a cosy English village?

Thirteen years on and Olivia is back. Her mother is convinced it’s her but not everyone is sure. If this is the missing girl, then where has she been – and what happened to her on that sunny afternoon?

If she’s an imposter, then who would be bold enough to try to fool a child’s own mother – and why? Then there are those who would rather Olivia stayed missing. The past is the past and some secrets must remain buried. 

An absorbing and gripping psychological thriller that will have you holding your breath until the final page.

Another read for a blog tour, you’ll have to wait just over a week for this review. I thoroughly enjoyed this mystery and trying to piece together what really happened to Olivia when she went missing all those years ago. You can pre-order a copy of the book here.

…

Three and a half books. I feel like I’m back. Which is just as well as I need to read three books a week between now and mid November to hit my reading targets and be ready for the Christmas feature throughout the month. No pressure…

Blog wise another full on week. I’ve had some booklove, some reviews and even a cover reveal.

#BlogTour: The Ashes of Berlin by Luke McCallin

#Review: 99 Red Balloons by Elisabeth Carpenter

#BookLove: Mike Sahno

#CoverReveal: Shalini Boland & Bookouture

Review: All The Wicked Girls by Chris Whitaker

Reblog: #TheSister by Louise Jensen

Review: The Last Resort by Steph Broadribb

Review: Three Weeks Dead by Rebecca Bradley

#Booklove: CJ Harter

Review: The One by John Marrs

This coming week is another busy one. I’ve got blog tours galore this week, every other day, starting today with Witch Dust by Marilyn Messik. On Wednesday it’s my turn on the Nothing Stays Buried blog tour. Friday sees me sharing my thoughts on Untainted Blood and Sunday I finally get to set free my feelings on Richard Parker’s latest offering, Hide and Seek.

I’ll also be sharing a little more #booklove, this time with Claire Brown. Do hope you can join me.

Have a fabulous week of bookishness all

JL

Rewind, recap: Weekly update w/e 27/08/17 Views at Attingham Park So last week I had a bit of a mini melt-down when it came to reading.

[ethicallysourcedhumanmeat]

Lost Boys: Day 3

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Day three is only one chapter, also warning for suicide mentions

Saturdays are not the same when you’re not in your own home, and they’re really not the same when you’ve got an entire day of work ahead of you.  Noelle gets up early and meets Nina at the rink.  She’s waiting by the door laughing at Jumin and Zen bickering in the messenger when Nina saunters up, keys ready.

“I thought I said to take your time,” her friend yawns.

“I thought you said you’d be here already,” Noelle laughs.

She sets up a few cameras around the rink, this was Nina’s private rink time, it would just be the two of them.  Nina is on the ice in no time and Noelle takes her time getting her skates on, video of Nina warming up wouldn’t hurt. 

Noelle pulls her sweater off and makes sure her phone has connected to the little speaker she’d brought back, she sets the playlist to repeat and catches up to her friend. 

Nina points at her chest. “It’s been a while are you sure you’re ok in that thing?”

“I’m good,” Noelle gives her a thumbs up.  “I need some pairs shots and I don’t think they’re ready for gay mascots just yet.”

“Ironic considering the inspiration,” Nina snorts.

Between them she has plenty of video to finish her storyboard and do a short rotoscope demonstration for the client’s approval.  If she works most of the weekend she can even be ahead of schedule.  It’s an uneventful day both in her temporary home and in the world of the RFA.

She misses her own apartment, whoever Rika was in life she did not have nearly enough table tops in her apartment to accommodate the kind of space Noelle needed when she worked.  She makes it work however, between taking Darryl for walks and fielding calls and chats in the messengers she’s not even sure how she’s still going.  After the last few days she should be ready to fall into a coma.  But somehow she’s ahead of the schedule she’d set to be specifically ahead of schedule.

When her phone rings Darryl whines at the Tina Belcher groan she uses as her ringtone, it’s mid afternoon and she’s sitting on a table at the dog park.

“Two calls in one week, this is the worst lottery I’ve ever won.”

“Where are you right now?” Jumin asks.

She groans. “Since when are you my keeper?  Is there something going on I should be worried about?”

Jumin hates not knowing.  She can hear it in his voice, he wants her to admit she’s the woman in the messenger.  But Luciel had been very clear, under no circumstance could she tell him, and she knew Jumin enough to know he’d never outright ask her.  Anyone else he would but not her.

“You were not answering your home phone; I was simply curious how your new project was progressing.  Mr. Jeong had expressed some concern that you had taken a large amount of tools with you when you’d left yesterday.”

“What specifically was his concern?”

“Noelle, if you grind your teeth like that you will break them,” Jumin scolds her.

“Fuck off,” she laughs. 

“Well,” he says expectantly.

“It’s going well, I did not steal anything, I took some cameras and spent this morning at the rink.  I’m way ahead of where I thought I’d be but this is the easy part really, I still need to find a second skater and I do have a back up presentation I’m going to prepare.”

“The client seems to be very clear on what they would like.”

“They are but all of the notes seem to want to leave any kind of copyright issues up to parody laws.  I can only shave so much off this with my connections; legal fees are a whole different ball game.”

It hadn’t mattered how many times she ran the designs with the client’s specifications she couldn’t see there not being a legal issue.  This was a sales campaign not fan art.

Jumin makes a thoughtful sound.  “Could you send me a photo of my nephew, and I will let you get back to your day.”

Noelle laughs, and hears the line go dead.  She snaps a selfie with Darryl, careful not to reveal any of the apartment, and sends it off to Jumin who responds with a photo of Elizabeth III.

*

What a day it had been.  He’d gone for a run first thing, all the way to the library and borrowed a copy of Hamlet.  He’d overheard No’s friends talking about how she knew almost the entire script by heart and he’d felt inadequate.  He’d never been good at school and he’d been so focused on musicals he’d never even considered performing something like Shakespeare but No had actually studied it.

And all that stuff she’d said about her childhood.  It was stupid that he was jealous that she’d had voice lessons for so long when it had caused her so much pain but there was a small part of him that couldn’t help it.  Her father may have expressed it horribly but he’d been supportive of her talent.  Zen slaps himself, supportive in a terrible, awful way.

He scanned over the scene, he wasn’t exactly sure what he was looking at, and he should have gotten her phone number.  He did have Elle’s number though.  He’d already called her once, and then she’d called him when he was getting the shower.  God that girl, she might be as bad as he was.

His eyes wander his small apartment and settle on the little lunch bag on his counter.  Had anyone ever brought him lunch before?  Fans had sent him sweets, and there was the odd woman and even man who had given him pastries, or bought him lunch but no one had ever made him a lunch, not since his mother.

He’s relieved when it’s time to leave for his meeting.  Not that the meeting itself had been anything exciting.  He was uncomfortable with how the writer seemed to throw herself at him, the way she took every opportunity to touch him.  He’s distracted, by Elle and her flirtatious call, and by unreadable No, who makes him lunch and lays her heart bare but seems to look right through him.

It’s all he can do not to check his phone at every opportunity.

*

“Missed a spot,” Luciel snickers as he hears the little pop that indicates his timed crumb bomb was successful.

Vanderwood growls from somewhere behind him but is sufficiently distracted, Luciel minimizes his work and glances at the security camera’s in the apartment.  Elle had been busy all day.  They’d gotten up and taken off just as he was starting to pass out at his keyboard this morning, and then they’d been working hard since. 

He’d caught Elle, fielding messages from the app, and taking calls and all the time there were sketch books, and paper being filled with sketches.  They resolution was not good enough to see what they were doing but from what he’d caught through monitoring the call Elle had gotten from Jumin later that day, Luciel could see that it was work.

At least Jumin seemed to expect that level of commitment from everyone at C&R, not just Jaehee.

“That’s a familiar face,” Vanderwood squinted over his shoulder.

“Ah!” Luciel shrieked, he was rewarded with a slap to the side of his head.  “Madam, you gave me quite the frighten,” he snorted.

“Why are you watching this kid?” Vanderwood ignores him and watches the monitor intently. 

Luciel turns and narrows his eyes on his handler.  “Are you both members of the androgyny club or something?”

“My last problem child had this job,” Vanderwood shrugs.  “It was a little below us really, a smear campaign but whatever, the agency was pretty new back then.  Find dirt on this kid, or plant it if we couldn’t.”

“So what did you do?” Maybe this would explain the bizarre mishmash of information his background check had turned up.

Vanderwood shrugged.  “Made it up, she was a pretty good kid, reasonably wild. The step brother was kind of a mess but from what I’ve heard he’s out grown it, despite everything.  We altered some text logs, a few photos.  Her father paid us a lot of money to drag her through the mud and make sure no one forgot it.”

Luciel’s eyes flick to his computer and his chest tightens.  The worm he’d released to delete all the hits on Noelle and Jumin had picked up a program releasing them within moments.  He’d disabled his own agencies program. He tries to suppress a smug smile.

Elle had only just come back into the apartment with their giant people named dog, he wondered if that was a habit they’d picked up from Jumin. He watched Elle, through 4 cameras while he listened to Vanderwood explain how it was this agency, Vanderwood’s previous agent even, that had, as Elle put it, ruined their life.

Camera one in the entry way watches Elle, kick off their boots and leave them in the middle of the floor, camera two on the computer catches a pair of jeans flop over the back of a chair and Camera three in the kitchen shows Elle in a pair of briefs and a hoodie chugging juice from the carton.

“Whatever you’re doing,” Luciel turns to look as Vanderwood barks, “can wait, you need to—” he pushes his hair back and snorts.  “Well she’s smarter than I’d have thought.”

He looks back to the monitor, three of the feeds are warped like a bad dream sequence, Elle comes into focus on Camera one, a jar of oil under their arm.  They flip the camera off but walk away leaving it intact.

*

He’d never seen Jumin so angry.  He’d pulled him out of fights more often than either would have admitted to their parents but that had been years ago, not since Noelle.  But right now, even with Rika in the other room getting ready to go out he thought that Jumin might hit him.

He’d never been afraid of Jumin before.

“This isn’t my fault,” he said softly.  But he knew from the way Jumin’s scowl wavered that he lacked conviction

They’d all seen the news, his mother had called him before dawn the urgency of the news superseding their different time zones.  Noelle was in the hospital.  Noelle had almost died.  It had been unclear then, as the news broke exactly what had happened and his mother, for all her absences, had whispered into the receiver, did he think her father hurt her.   Rika had been lying next to him when he hung up staring expectantly with her kind eyes, bright even in the dim light of his phone. 

“That sounded serious, is your mother alright?”

“She’s fine,” he’d said.  And then he’d lied.  It had been almost a year since Noelle had moved, this relationship was new he didn’t want her to know about Noelle, know that he’d given up so easily.  Rika was so fragile at times and he felt so guilty.

Jumin glared at him from the doorway.  “She tried to kill herself, Jihyun.”

He would have rather Jumin hit him, hearing Jumin of all people say it out loud had been worse than reading it in the paper, or fielding the inquisitive texts from his mother.  Still he had trouble believing it.  “Are you sure,” he ventures, trying to keep his voice even.  Rika is in the next room.  He doesn’t want her to know.

“Do you know how many reporters have called me? There’s a gaggle of them in lobby just waiting for me to come back down.” He pushes past V and sits heavily in an armchair.  “My father called Mr. Lee, it’s not conjecture on the media’s part she did this to herself.” Jumin leans forward with his head in his hands. 

“I’m sorry,” he says, he doesn’t know what else to say.

“You should tell her that,” Jumin snaps at him. 

The door to the bedroom opens after a few moments of uncomfortable silence and V watches Jumin transform, the harsh angles of his face soften and his shoulders relax, he smiles at Rika.

“Oh,” she chirps, “am I running behind I thought we were leaving at 7.”

Jumin smiles softly at her.  “No, you’re perfect; I had just stopped to let V know I won’t be able to come with you tonight.”

“Are you sure?” She pouts.  “V is acting like someone died today, I was really looking forward to letting you cheer him up after the show.”

He watches the way Jumin controls his breathing when he shifts his focus from Rika to himself.  “I’m sorry Rika,” he doesn’t take his eyes of V as he stands.  “I’m sure as lovely as you are in that dress Jihyun will have a hard time staying sad.

Why was he remembering that?  That had been the night Rika had first seen Hyun. She’d been so upset that Jumin had canceled on them, and they’d gotten into a fight on the way to the theatre, he was hiding something, and she could tell, she could always tell.  He’d been relived when her attention switched to the show stealing boy with the red eyes and silver hair.  They’d gotten dinner afterwards and she’d spent the whole evening trying to find out more about him, distracted from her earlier ire.

No one has been to see him since last night.  She’d declared today a day of joy and ecstasy and as so often happened he was excluded.  His job was to suffer, though truth be told the tightness in his chest felt lessened and his head seemed clearer somehow.  It was almost a relief to be alone on these days, even with the dark turns his thoughts would take by evening.  He knows he’s safe from himself.  He knows Saeren is outside his door.

Saeren had taken him out past the signal jammer earlier that day to receive and return calls to Luciel. 

“Only Luciel,” he’d cautioned, spitting his brother’s name.

Luciel had spoke hushed, and excitedly about the new member, whispering about Hyun and his growing infatuation, and from the sounds of it V could guess Luciel had a small crush of his own.  “R-respect,” Luciel had stuttered when he said as much.

Saeren growls and glares when V laughs.

He checks his messages while Saeren huffs and groans impatiently at him.  He wants to be done out here, left to what small bits of joy and ecstasy he is allowed while monitoring the RFA and V.

“There are a lot of messages from Jumin,” V finds himself saying.  “He wants Luciel to give him this Elle woman’s background check? He wants me to call him, he says it’s urgent.”

“No,” Saeren says and he grabs V’s hand leading him roughly back into Magenta.

He’d argued briefly that Jumin would be more suspicious that he’s being ignored than if he’s appeased or fed excuses but was met only with Savior’s said, and the usual threats of violence.

His fingers brush the lens of his camera and he wonders if there’s enough vision in his left eye to capture the way the last light of the day plays across the tile floor of his room, does the reality look as stark as he thinks? 

He considers briefly if he fell from his window camera in hand, would the last image he captures be a beautiful as her smile.