#having a thing open to draft ideas is further than i've gotten with like
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Heyy!! Just wanted to ask: Do you have any tips for writing fight scenes? I kinda struggle with it
(if you see the same ask somewhere else it's because i asked a few people lol)
helloooo! i'm far from an expert, but here are some tips that first came to my mind:
[and, of course, don't feel pressured to do any or all of these things! write whatever you want]
focus on the little details—look at the setting. where are the two characters fighting? is it urban or rural? are they on a busy street, with lots of passerby or a deserted alleyway? what is in their immediate vicinity that can enhance the scene? perhaps there's a discarded bottle lying on the ground that one of the characters can grab in a spontaneous movement and throw at their opponent. the environment is incredibly important, because it can have a huge impact on the fight itself! after all, people will fight differently depending on the setting. if a villain is fighting a hero in a tight space, their movements are going to be different than if they were in a wide open space with freedom to move however they desire.
character. descriptions. CHARACTER. DESCRIPTIONS. I cannot stress this enough. without at least some descriptions, it'll sound monotonous. 'he hits them, then they dodge' blah blah blah. that's boring! spice it up a bit! what does the person's opponent look like? is their stance low to the ground? do they look more guarded than usual? perhaps there's a strange expression on their face or a gleam in their eyes. hell, maybe there's dirt, grime, or blood on their clothes. those simple things will further cement your characters and also keep the audience's interest as you move through the scene. plus, they're awesome for foreshadowing.
don't be afraid to break things up. a fight scene shouldn't be 100% fast-paced, otherwise the readers will be left feeling confused and things will progress too fast! when you really think about it, the majority of fight scenes are not filled with constant hits, punches, and kicks without a moment for a breather. personally, I'm very weak to the moment where the two characters will break apart and circle around each other, breathing hard. that kind of stuff will make things even more hard hitting. don't be afraid to include dialogue, either! dialogue really enhances a fight scene, in my opinion. [and yes, sometimes dialogue isn't practical. but even a simple hissed remark or muttered insult can go a long way!]
lastly, don't force it. that is going to sound stupid, but... if you're dreading the idea of writing a long ass fight scene... think about some alternatives to that! i kind of get stuck in this mindset sometimes of: 'oh, this needs at least three paragraphs of solid action & back and forth fighting.' I've definitely gotten into situations where a piece will be sitting in my drafts for MONTHS just because I can't get through one particular portion of it. at that point, I can't help but think: 'Why bother?' I really do think that, if I don't enjoy writing something, it will show. so keep that in mind as you write! writing what you want to write > writing what the story necessitates.
sorry if this doesn't make sense.. but these are just some things that work for me ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
#wow this turned out to be longer than I intended#oopsie hehe#defectivehero#writing#hero x villain#hero and villain#writing tips#idk#writeblr#writers on tumblr#yuh#gah I gotta post something on this account lol
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Dead Darlings Tag
Thanks for the tag @oh-no-another-idea! This one seems like a lot of fun.
🌑 Rules: Share a part of your writing you love that got cut for the greater good. It doesn't matter if it's a line or a paragraph. It doesn't matter if you might work it back in. If it's not currently in a WIP and you want to share, please do.
I'm gonna pass the tag along up front because this got a bit long. Softly tagging @ahordeofwasps, @wordwizards, @enchanted-lightning-aes, @dontjudgemeimawriter, and anyone else who sees this and has some cut content from their wips they want to share.
Now, without further ado, here's a character I absolutely love who I had to cut from the current draft of The Magician and Ms. Psychic that I've been looking for an excuse to talk about. I do have plans for bringing him into book two, but he unfortunately Does Not Fit into book one.
I put the scene under the cut because it's a bit long. (Also, please excuse the First Draft Rambling™)
There were at least a hundred rats all crammed into the old broom closet. Worn out pillows and blankets were spread out all across the floor, most of which were coated in rat droppings and teeny tiny teeth marks. Sitting cross legged on a thick cushion in the middle of the floor was a middle aged dude with a scraggly beard who didn’t seem the least bit concerned about the fact that there were at least a dozen rats climbing all over him.
"Are you the Rat Man?” I realized how stupid the question must have sounded the moment it let my mouth, but I couldn’t help it.
See, the Rat Man was something of a legend out on the streets. I’d heard countless stories about the man with the army of rats patrolling the city and reporting back to him with whatever juicy gossip they were able to scrounge up. If you needed an inside scoop on what was going on in the streets of Metrovale, your best bet might just be the Rat Man. He’d tell you what you needed to know, alright, but if he got a bad vibe from you, he might tell his rats to eat you.
“That’s me alright.” He chuckled, a soft little noise that may have put some of my anxieties at ease if it wasn’t for the fact that I currently had several hundred rat eyes all staring directly at me. “Please. Take a seat.” The Rat Man gestured towards the cushion on the floor across from him.
As far as I could tell, that cushion was the only thing in the room not completely covered in rat shit. That didn’t exactly inspire me with confidence, but I managed to swallow my pride enough to sit across from him.
“So…” The Rat Man rested his hands on his knees as he leaned towards me. A rat poked its head from somewhere in the mess of curly hair on his head to stare at me with its bright red eyes. “What can I do you for?”
“Well, um…” I tried not to stare, but that was much easier said than done. By some miracle, I managed to shift my gaze down towards my bag. “I brought…” My voice caught in my throat, and I drew in a shaky breath. “I brought lunch.”
I’ve never seen someone so happy to see one of those cheap ass gas station sandwiches in my life. I’d barely gotten it out of my bag before he lunged forwards to take it from me.
“Oh wow. You’re a real peach, you know that?” The Rat Man ripped the plastic wrapper off the sandwich and tossed it aside. A couple of rats grabbed the wrapped and dragged it out of the room.
He’d barely freed that thing from it’s plastic prison before he went at it, chowing down until he was left with just the sandwich crusts. He stared down at the crusts in his hands for a moment, then tore it up into little pieces to toss to all his little rat buddies.
I didn’t realize my mouth was hanging open until he turned back towards me. I tried to play it cool, but judging from the embarrassed smile that tugged on the corners of his lips, he had definitely noticed.
“So uh…” He accepted the water bottle from me with a gracious nod, but he wasn’t nearly as eager to get at it as he was the sandwich. A little sigh fell from his lips as he cracked open his water bottle. “What did you want from me?”
“Well…” I cast my gaze down towards my lap. I couldn’t quite figure out what I was supposed to do with my hands, so I just sort of held them out in front of me awkwardly and hoped that I didn’t look too weird. “I was hoping someone could tell me where I might find that Shapeshifter Guy.”
“Shapeshifter Guy…” The Rat Man echoed thoughtfully, tapping his chin with one long, bony finger. “Let me see…”
The rats all fell silent as he turned towards them. He started making some weird chirps and coos like he was giving a rat speech to all his rat friends. He looked so ridiculous I may have laughed if he weren’t taking it so seriously.
As the Rat Man finished his weird rat-speech, all of the noise in the room quieted down. The rats stared up at him for a few moments before slowly parting to form an aisle in the middle of their group. For a moment, they all stood still, staring up at the Rat Man expectantly. Then, one rat slipped out from somewhere near the back of the crowd, and it ran right up into the Rat Man’s outstretched hands.
“Anton!” The Rat Man chuckled happily. He carefully cradled the rat in his hands as he sat up straighter. “I knew you’d come through for me!”
“Um… it has a name?”
He didn’t even justify my question with a passing glance. He just lifted the rat up to his ear to listen to it squeak away, presumably letting him in on all of its juicy rat-secrets. The Rat Man listened intently, nodding along for several moments before he finally turned towards me.
“I have an address,” he said. “Do you have something to write it down with?”
I couldn’t help the little frown that tugged down the corners of my lips as I patted around in my pockets for my phone. “Do rats even understand street addresses?”
The Rat Man’s mouth gaped open slightly, like he couldn’t believe I would even ask that kind of question. “They understand a lot more than you think they do.” He looked me up and down, nose wrinkling up in thought. “Magician.”
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wip wednesday
Hi hi hi hi hi, it's Wednesday and I feel like yapping, what else is new.
I've been working a lot on the Evie/Halsin pwp since talking about it the other day and I have more to say about it apparently. Explanation and draft snippet both under the cut due to high spice levels.
So - even though Evie is sexually experienced, I don't think she has a lot of experience talking openly about her desires with a partner. She's had a lot of one off hookups and brief relationships and I don't think she has really been comfortable around or truly trusted any of them. Which has probably led to things like unsatisfying sex or uncomfortable boundary pushing and that sucks, I hate that for her.
The doc is called "negotiation" right now because it's kind of what she's working through with Halsin here. Asking for things she wants, saying no, experimenting with new things with a person she trusts enough to be vulnerable around. And that would be an element of any of the relationships I've put her in so far but I thought the concept was specifically fun to write about with Halsin because 1) he's going to be unphased by anything she does or doesn't want and 2) he's experienced enough to have some big ideas while also being very thoughtful about how Evie is feeling the entire time. Basically he's a good dude and I just wanted them to really enjoy each other!
Anyway this scene was basically the seed idea everything else has sprung up from. I haven't gotten the exact phrasing yet (hence this beginning basically mid-thought) but roughly what they're talking about here is Evie being kind of a smart ass/brat and then Halsin asking if she's trying to incorporate that into their encounter. Okay, have fun!
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“Is that what you want? Attention?” The hand in her hair tightened its grip and Evie gasped as her head was gently tipped back. “Or perhaps to be punished?” Her blood pounded in her head and she felt dizzy with it, a worrying sort of vertigo that made it hard to breathe. She struggled for the right words. Evie wanted to be game, to be adventurous, but the thrill had ratcheted up faster than she could follow. “I don't…I don't think I want that,” she said falteringly. Halsin instantly released the hold on her hair and then both arms were at her back, gathering her even closer for another kiss. “Sorry,” Evie mumbled. “Hush, no apologies.” Halsin kissed the corner of her mouth. “You came here to enjoy yourself. And a game is only harmless when all parties are interested in playing.” He kissed her neck. “Tell me what you do enjoy.” Evie tilted her head with a small whine. “Boring things. You’ll laugh.” “Tell me.” Nerves swirled in her stomach again as Halsin nibbled and kissed over her neck, scattering her thoughts with each touch. “I like you.” Her cheeks were hot. “I like big men with muscles and chest hair. But I like girls who are soft and pretty. I - ah. I like when people are nice to me.” He opened her collar further to mouth over the swell of her breast, near her heart. “I like that too. Giving beautiful creatures like you exactly what they want.”
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Now that the prologue is done, I can't thank the fans of this series enough.
No, we haven't hit any particular follower milestone. The story has just begun. And most of you haven't given me any sort of financial support to help me out, either. (And that's alright! I haven't asked, lol.)
I'm thanking you for just being apart of the audience.
I started PB in a little blue notebook during the summer of 2015. It was originally meant for my eyes only. And a big part of the reason why was that, when I googled things like "Special Ed makes me feel bad," there wouldn't be much of anything coming up. There were Quora forums! A couple of YouTube videos. Articles here and there.
But it wasn't a lot. Not enough to help me out for long. And it only hammered the idea further into my head that I was alone in what I endured. As I got older, grew up, and away from the program and people who took my disabled youth, I constantly felt this urge to talk about it. What SpEd had put me through. What I'd lost. What I'd seen & heard. The things I did and didn't learn. Even though I was never a very open kid, let alone teenager.
I hated that no one was talking about it. And how nobody knew what happened to kids like me behind closed doors. At 13 and 14, almost none of the new friends I made had ever heard a life story like mine. And I've always found that wild: I had a LOT of friends! (Still do!)
So I kept drawing it out. Kept working on the story in notebooks, sketchbooks, my friends' DMs, and anywhere else words could go. Sometimes, my family would catch glimpses of the concept art. Sad sketches of Matthew crying, freaky drafts of Monster, or tense moments between what would become Class 7-C.
And one of my parents would be like, "Why is your art so depressing?" They'd roll their eyes. And they'd add on, "People's parents aren't gonna like it!"
No, I never told them what the story was about. I never even told them it was a children's media (because it kinda isn't! I'd personally put PB as 13+?) These were judgments made with just one glance at computer papers covered in pencil strokes; sketchy and shapey little kids who didn't look like they were having fun.
I knew they were wrong. But the audacity still pissed me off. There aren't many times where it's appropriate to boss somebody else around in how to tell their story, you know? Not only that, but I also worried about not having an audience back then. Sure, all my friends loved my work. But at the time, I was the only one who'd really experienced anything "Special Education" in life. Thus, these were General Ed kids watching it unfold. Able-bodied eyes and (as far as I knew back then) neurotypical minds, watching and learning from whatever I made.
And I liked that. But that wasn't the only group I wanted to be seen by. I wanted disabled people, especially youth in their teens and twenties, to see it. That's my primary audience. And shit like that made me wonder if I'd ever find it. Had me second-guessing myself a little, you know?
But I shook it off. It's like that thing teachers always say in class. "If you're confused or have a question, ask: whatever it is, you probably aren't the only one thinking it!"
And I searched for stuff like PAPERBOY, hadn't I? Yeah. I had. So by that logic, other people definitely would be, too.
So I stuck to my guns, and... check it! Y'all showed up!
One thing I've noticed ever since publishing part 1 is that the PB Nation is pretty damn devoted. You guys have been patient, passionate, silly, and unapologetically yourselves since the get-go. And the response to every old promotional comic or post I've made has been OVERWHELMINGLY positive and curious. I've gotten fucking fanart, man! More than once! I've had the honor of meeting a few of you in person already! And for the ones who haven't caught me out with my friends in New York, believe me, I REMEMBER who comments what.
By the way, you guys should spam my comments more. Fuckin' love that shit. SPEAK TO ME, lmao. Even if it's like, the most irrelevant PB question ever. Keyboard smash in my comment sections. Send me disability reels you like. Tell me what you wanna see from the story. Whatever, as long as it doesn't bleed into parasocial territory!
I've gotta have one of the best audiences out there. So thank you! For just... being around. Here's to hoping y'all enjoy the journey we're aboutta go on.
#paperboy pb#paperboy#author's note#disability#disabled artist#disabled writer#webtoon canvas creator
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2022 Year in Review Tag
Thanks for the tag, @vsnotresponding! This one really got me to think (and to scheme for a better 2023!)
Total Number of Completed Works: Aha.... none
Total Number of WIPs Worked on This Year: 3 big ones, lots of small ones in between that I likely won't touch again (short story ideas my beloathed)
WIPs Neglected This Year: Every other (active) numbered project I have, pretty much. So... Projects 2, 9, and 7. Also 6 probably, since I put it on hiatus.
Looking Back, Did You Write More Than You Thought You Would This Year, Less, Or About What You’d Expected?: Wayyyy more. I wrote very little this year and then impulsively decided to do NaNo, which I won somehow after topping 12.5k as my previous best WC total in a month. I still have whiplash.
Did You Take Any Writing Risks This Year?: Putting pro. 6 on hiatus was a big one. I struggle with finishing projects so putting it on hiatus was a big risk, but I want to finish it so badly I think it'll work out this time. Also NaNo.
Do You Have Any Writing Goals For The New Year?: I want to finish Project 3, at least this rough draft. It's not the story I want to write but I want to start finishing things even if they're not perfect. So I guess my goal is defeating my perfectionism
Biggest Disappointment: I'm exactly as far into Pro. 6 as I was last year, even further behind because I might have to start over. That hurts a bit but I have more worldbuilding and direction now at least.
Biggest Surprise: Working on Pro. 3 again. I just assumed that one would stay in my WIP graveyard lol.
Most Popular Story Of The Year: I barely post my own work, but I think I've gotten the most traction out of Pro. 3, probably because that's what I post the most
What’s Your Own Favourite Story Of The Year?: By default, Pro. 6. I'm pouring my heart and soul into that one
Story Of Mine Most Under-Appreciated By The Universe, In My Opinion: None yet, I really need to post more
Most Fun Story To Write: Project 3. It's so campy it's perfect
Most Unintentionally Telling Story: Project 3 again. The direction it went in surprised me a lot. There was no reason for me to make it so dark and I don't even like dystopian fiction but that's how it went. It's not what I meant to do but it's still interesting at least?
Open tag for backlog reasons!
#2022 year in review#tag game dump 2023#thanks for the tag!!#february's not too late for this... right? haha?
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can anyone tell me why i’m getting the Extreme Urge to write another joshifer series/potential full length when it’s almost 2019 and josh and jen haven’t been a thing in nearly four years lmao
#Jodi rambles#Joshifer#Joshifer fanfiction#Help???#HERE'S THE THING LOL#AND THIS IS WHAT MADE ME START TWAAL SO I'M TOAST#I HAD A DREAM THIS MORNING#I NEVER EVER HAVE JOSHIFER DREAMS#BUT LATE NIGHT THOUGHTS/DREAMS LEAD TO TWAAL#AND NOW I'M GETTING REAAAAL ITCHY BECAUSE I DREAMT OF THEM#y'all#this is a problem because i've got a freaking dRAFT IDEA/BRAINSTORM THING OPEN RIGHT NOW#DEADASS#SO I'M IN TROUBLE LOL#idk if it'll amount to anything but like#having a thing open to draft ideas is further than i've gotten with like#the hawaii fic i was dabbling with lmao#send all the help you can
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