#but i like to write

[headlightsontonight]

sam thinks he's better than john, dean knows.

he can tell by the way his brother curls his lip whenever he brings up dad, chin lifted in challenge when dean defends their childhood. dean recognizes the motion, what it means, because that's how john used to look whenever dean asked him to reconsider a hunt, the next move, to not rip sam away from his brief moments of normalcy.

dean knows sam thinks he never fought, that he rolled over to pack immediately all the time. but when it was important, a soccer game sam had been practicing kicks for, a writing contest he had just won, dean would fight. he sees it on sam whenever they argue over the next course of action, when he asked sam to stop, to stop for his sake, stop looking, stop drinking, stop. it had the same weight it did against john, the same look that meant they'll do whatever they damn please, regardless of how dean feels about it. for the(ir) greater good.

he can tell by the way his brother bristles whenever he mentions something about john that sam didn't know, the countless secrets he hid tall enough to build dean's inevitable pyre. dean doesn't mention the secrets that sam is prone to keeping, the way he taps away at their shared laptop, screen shared between sam and the wall alone. dean doesn't remember the way sam stepped out of their motel room for phone calls with her, too lost in his own memories of being stretched across the rack.

he can tell by the disdain in his brother's voice whenever he talks about his childhood, days and nights lost to john's ceaseless hunt for revenge, single-minded devotion overriding the ones still alive. dean carefully doesn't think about jess, about how silent sam had been after the time loop, or how they avoided bobby for a few weeks after. he still doesn't know what happened, not really, and he doesn't ask. sam's unwillingness to leave him alone, to let him out of his sight, spoke volumes. dean doesn't bring up hell, the year before or after it, when he needed sam most. some things are better left unremembered.

(he can tell by the way sam grits his teeth whenever john stepped too close, hand hovering above his waist, moving to firmly grasp his shoulder. when john's eyes lingered a bit too long on dean, past the point of categorizing his injuries, or reassuring himself of dean's safety.

his brother doesn't touch him like that, movements unsure and fluttering unless one of them is on the brink of death, as if the heat on dean's skin is it's own brand of punishment. his eyes flicker over dean rapidly, as if dean is too much to take in all at once, unable to be savored. as if abstinence, or refusal to give into dean, will save him.)

sam thinks he's a better man than john, but dean knows better.

[lesbinewren]

we need to make using chatgpt embarrassing bc sorry it really is. what do you mean you can’t write an email

[clonerightsagenda]

I was rambling on the issue of museums and human remains and how certain populations are more likely to have their bodies put on display to be gawked at and then went "well I guess the Pompeii casts were of Europeans. there are bones in there right?" and Googled it to make sure, at which point I confirmed that yes there are bones in there, but more interestingly DNA testing revealed that a cast of an adult holding a child everyone assumed was a mother and child were, in fact, a man and a kid entirely unrelated to him. Honestly that's more moving to me. Maybe they were connected in a way other than blood, but maybe a stranger saw a child when the world was ending and thought the one thing he could do was hold them.

[bookwyrminspiration]

sometimes a theme recurs in your work without your permission. and sometimes it reaches a threshold where you're like. well now i think this is saying something about me against my will. don't know what though

[arynneva]

wait do people read first person stories and think they're the ones in the story???

Saw people talking about not liking first person, which is fair, but their reasoning was like "I would not do that" and I don't understand that mindset.

First person stories are still about a character. A character making their own decisions. First person isn't about you???? At least I thought it wasn't. What am I missing? I've always seen first person as just a more in-depth look into a character's mind and stricter POV. Not as a reader stand-in.

[inkskinned]

please i love you i'm begging you bring back suspension of disbelief bring back trusting the audience like. i cannot handle any more dialogue that sounds like a legal document. "hello, i am here to talk to you about the incident from a few minutes ago, because i feel you might be unwell, and i am invested in your personal wellbeing." "thank you, i am unwell because the incident was hurtful to me due to my childhood, which was bad." I CANT!!!!

do you know how many people are mad that authors use "growled" as a word for "said"? it's just poetics! they do not literally mean "growled," it's just a common replacement for "said with force but in a low tone." it's normal! do you hear me!! help me i love you please let me out of here!!!

[charbroiledchicken]

if it's good enough for you, then it deserves to be made. don't let anyone else decide if your story is worth it or not.

[snowstories]

My biggest tip for fanfic writers is this: if you get a character's mannerisms and speech pattern down, you can make them do pretty much whatever you want and it'll feel in character.

Logic: Characters, just like real people, are mallable. There is typically very little that's so truly, heinously out of character that you absolutely cannot make it work under any circumstance. In addition, most fans are also willing to accept characterization stretches if it makes the fic work. Yeah, we all know the villain and the hero wouldn't cuddle for warmth in canon. But if they did do that, how would they do it?

What counts is often not so much 'would the character do this?' and more 'if the character did do this, how would they do it?' If you get 'how' part right, your readers will probably be willing to buy the rest, because it will still feel like their favourite character. But if it doesn't feel like the character anymore, why are they even reading the fic?

Worry less about whether a character would do something, and more about how they'd sound while doing it.

[incandescent-creativity]

Do you ever write a sentence and then realize “Nah, that’s too self aware for you” and backspace a bunch of times.

[evidently-endless]

i think we should remind musicians they can absolutely make up little stories for their songs btw. it doesn’t have to be about them at all. you can invent a guy and put him in situations to music. time honoured tradition in fact.

[fromcainwithlove]

author’s notes today: hey guys so just a warning there isn’t 100% explicit verbal consent even though they’re both really into it so remember this is FICTION, also they don’t use a condom :((( but in real life safe sex is important!!! please be safe out there everyone

a/n back in the day: kept thinking about ____ stabbing knives through both of _____’s hands to pin him in place while they fucked so here you go lol =P

[almondpiglet]

ppl were drawing mikus from all over so heres habesha miku and her lil twin sibs rin and len!!

[acorviart]

not to sound like a boomer, but I need some people to learn how to write emails in a semi-professional (at the very least) format so you're not cold emailing a business/potential employer/any other stranger about formal matters in the exact same way you'd DM a close friend on instagram

the formality/language can loosen up in the email chain once you've established a rapport and you match the other person if they're being less formal, but please don't have the very first email you send a stranger be written in all lowercase ultra-casual sms slang with no greeting or signature and a billion emojis

[butchfalin]

the funniest meltdown ive ever had was in college when i got so overstimulated that i could Not speak, including over text. one of my friends was trying to talk me through it but i was solely using emojis because they were easier than trying to come up with words so he started using primarily emojis as well just to make things feel balanced. this was not the Most effective strategy... until. he tried to ask me "you okay?" but the way he chose to do that was by sending "👉🏼👌🏼❓" and i was so shocked by suddenly being asked if i was dtf that i was like WHAT???? WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY TO ME?????????? and thus was verbal again

[aphel1on]

nothinggg better than torturing an emotionally repressed character until every single trauma they've ever refused to process starts spilling uncontrollably out of the cracks. like a matryoshka doll situation of repressed trauma and baby you better believe i'm going in there with a hammer