#i just want to smush their faces and whisper *you deserve better* into their eyeballs

[wellhalesbells]

17 and 18 for the writer’s asks? I’m about due for the annual re-read of How Marshmallow got his Weetabix Back and also Of Bananas, Babies and Buzzkills, so I need to know these things for research purposes. Just to make extra sure I know what to look out for

17. something you use a lot in your writing but didn’t notice until it was pointed out?

honestly, the thing that comes right to mind is: 'just.' why do i talk to other writers who are like, 'haha, you know what i do, i overuse just,' and at first i thought, 'sucks to be you, dude, tra la la laaa' only to find out i very much suffer from the exact same affliction. it's everywhere and nothing sounds right without it so i don't even know how or where to begin excising and i've been forced to give up and let the 'just' locusts swarm over everything i create.

so that's a thing.

more thematically, though, things that i didn't really notice until they were pointed out to me: i don't often have my characters say 'i love you,' (turns out that's pretty true, i think i've just seen it as shorthand too often - more in published work than not, too - where the work isn't put in to advance the relationship because we have this sweet emotional bell to ring instead) and that i don't create hard endings, which i wasn't really aware of until it was made clear to me that i wasn't doing what i was supposed to. i just... always have thoughts for where those characters in that 'verse would... go, i can't help it, i've lived with them in my head for however long and i just keep making story so i can't help but leave thread for that story to be continued if i so pleased, or at least not contradicted. also, just more widely: i'm not finishing at a deathbed so of course the story isn't finished, just that particular adventure, you should feel like the characters are going to embark on a new and different one tomorrow imo.

18. a cliché thing you use in your writing?

argh, see this is a hard question because a cliche implies that it's something that is overused and tired, and if i'm using it: i don't think it's tired. the overused and tired cliches, i generally purposefully use them and subvert them. it's one of my favorite things to do actually. sometimes as absolutely heavy-handedly as i can. travis in hibernation station/subway sleeper is a really good example of that. i was not subtle because fuck that whole concept tbqh. that fic includes a lot of cliches i dislike so i could flip them on their heads. and some that are just genuine happy buttons for me: like miscommunication. idk what you'd find the most because i don't think i repeat things too often, there's usually a different itch i was scratching with everything i write, but i guess i also wouldn't know since i try not to write in cliches. which means, if i am, i don't know about it, haha.

writing style meme.