#i reread this so many times to make sure there are no typos

[nbasource]

STEPH CURRY as Yu-Gi-Oh! Cards

happy birthday nico! @jabeur <3

[lavender-storm]

Does she feel the same?

summary | Theo always thought you were pretty, and no matter how much he tries to avoid you, he always ends up mesmerized by you.

pairing | Theo Nott x fem!Reader

warning | English is not my first language, so excuse my mistakes. I also typed this on my phone so even though I've reread it a hundred times, there's a high chance you'll find typos.

word count | 1,845

a/n: Happy New Year Everyone! I hope 2023 brings you everything you want and need! Be patient and stay kind to yourselves.♥️ I hope you enjoy this little story too! Let me know what you think. Thank you! xx

He decided that doing his homework in the library is the best decision, but of course he cannot have a second of peace anywhere. Of course she's here. She's everywhere he goes.

She's sitting alone at a table in the back of the library, the candles giving her a subtle glow that makes her look ethereal. Now how could he study, knowing that the gorgeous Y/N is only a few tables away from him? He would rather die, than admit his little crush on her, knowing that his friends would mock him. He doesn't have a chance anyway. But she's pretty. And kind, and smart and she's always a distraction. He doesn't know why, or how, but she's so mesmerizing to him, that he needed to avoid her as much as possible. Obviously, it wasn't working, and somehow, he always ended up right next to her, unable to act like a human being.

He's so deep in thoughts that he doesn't realize that his legs are moving on their own, until he's standing right beside her.

"Is this seat taken?" he asks suddenly, his voice is deep and raspy, and she stares at him in confusion. The library is empty, why does he want to sit here with her? Yeah sure, they have talked before, and they have many classes together, but they are pretty far from being friends. There's no reason for him to sit next to her. Unless… Unless this is another prank of him and his Slytherin friends.

Theo's expression is unreadable, she can't tell whether he's joking or not. But he doesn't move as he waits for an answer, eyes fixated on hers. Warmth creeps up her neck and cheeks as she silently nods, and without another word, he sits down to work on his essay.

Theodore can't focus on his homework for long, far too aware of her presence. He moves his chair closer to her, and puts his hands on the table. She's fidgeting with a few pages of the book she's reading, obviously nervous. Is he the reason she's nervous? Because right now, he finds it a little bit harder to breathe, and his heart is hammering in his chest. In any other situation, he would find these feelings repulsive and scary, but next to her it's exciting, it's pleasant. It's new. Does she feel the same?

He's unsure of what to do now, he can't do anything like this. Her perfume lingers in the air, and like an invisible rope, it's pulling him in, closer to her. His eyes are unable to focus on the words of the book. The urge to touch her hand is unbearable, his hands are itching to move just a little bit.

After a few moments, he moves his left hand again, his fingers barely touching hers, and her fidgeting stops. And his breathing stops. Neither of them move, as they bask in the feeling of electricity rushing through their blood from the small contact. Theo swallows the lump in his throat. He feels so out of control. He takes in a deep breath, and flexes his hand on top of hers before gently intertwining their fingers. She's totally still, unable to move, but Theo does not let her go. He can't. Not until she looks at him with those beautiful eyes. He drags his thumb across her skin, and finally, oh finally, she raises her head.

And the addicting, warm feeling runs through his veins like wildfire. He thought he could look away, as soon as he had her attention, he thought that a few seconds would be enough, but no. It's not enough. He suddenly needs more, more attention, more touching, more of her.

Her eyes are wide and shining, and he would give his soul to the devil to know what she's thinking right now. Does she see him as others? Does she find him scary? Or does she feel what he's feeling? It's so intense, so obvious, there's no way she can't feel this pull.

Her eyes are enchanting him, he's never felt like this before. He's not only unable to look anywhere, he doesn't even want to. Because in the dim light of the library candles, she resembles an angel. A fairy. A Greek goddess. She's so breathtaking, and he's so close to get on his knees and tell her all the things that run through his head, but a sudden voice pulls them out of the trance.

"Nott, where the bloody hell are you?" Blaise yells, and the librarian hushes him. He mumbles a quiet sorry. "There you are! Been looking for you dude. What are you doing here alone?" Theo raises an eyebrow. Can't he see that he is busy?

"I'm doing my homework w-" he tries to point out the obvious, but he can't. Because she's no longer sitting in front of him. What? Where did she go? She can't just disappear.

"Please do not run Miss Y/L/N! Nobody knows how to behave in a library."

He fucked up. He fucked up really bad, and now he's sure she's avoiding him on purpose. He can't do this, he feels miserable. No matter what he does, how loud he is, she acts like he doesn't even exist and it kills him inside.

"Could you at least pretend that you are listening to me?" Blaise asks Theo, who seems to be in a different world.

"I heard you Blaise, I'm pretty sure, everyone in this bloody school can hear every word you say."

Although he can't say that he comprehended every word, not when it feels like a million butterflies fluttering in his chest.

"For Merlin's sake, go and talk to her," Blaise groans when he realizes Theo's problem.

Out of all of his friends, only Blaise can read him like a book, and sometimes even he has a hard time figuring out what's going on with Theo. But not this time. This time it's so clear to him that it's actually annoying, how clueless Theo is. Does he really think he can't notice how his eyes keep drifting her way? Or how he sits up taller when he hears her voice?

"What are you talking about?"

"Don't act like you are stupid, Nott."

"I'm not acting like -"

"Oh so you're actually just stupid, great," Theo rolls his eyes at Blaise. He's really not in the mood right now. "You were with her at the library, weren't you?"

Theo just sighs, running a hand through his hair. Yes he was, but what does that matter? He couldn't even say a single word to her because Blaise is right, he really is just stupid. So stupid.

"I just… I sat down. I wanted to talk to her. But she didn't even want to look at me, and I... I probably looked stupid as fuck," he whispers, trying not to interupt Professor McGonagall's lesson.

"Yeah you probably did."

"Thanks."

"You're welcome. That's what friends are for, right?" Blaise smiles, trying to cheer him up a bit.

"She might not even know my name and I just sat there like an idiot, not saying anything."

"I'm going to be honest with you, because I love you. You are scary, dude. Like really scary. With the death stare you got going on. You know what I mean. The- yeah, that face! Exactly," Blaise points at him, and Theo slams his forehead on the table. That's just the way his face is, what is he supposed to do? "I'm not saying you scared her to death, but the chances are higher than you think."

Is that true? Is she really scared of him? He knows most people are either scared of him, or hate him, but he's not doing anything on purpose. Especially not when it comes to her.

But he is like this by nature, he can't do anything about that. He also couldn't care less about his reputation, how others speak of him, because why would he? He knows himself, his friends know him, and that's all that matters. And people will always gossip and create theories about others, so what's the point?

Until now, he didn't think that his reputation could influence how people feel about him. Thinking about how scared she must have felt, when he sat down next to her. He feels sick. Is that why she hesitated when he asked if he could sit down? Is that why she was afraid to move? Is that why she ran away as soon as he looked away? And Oh Merlin, what did she think when he grabbed her hand like a creep?

Out of nowhere, someone pokes his shoulder, to which he only responds with a groan.

Another poke.

Another groan.

Another poke, and someone clears their throat.

"What the fuck is wrong with you Blaise-" he starts but he's cut off by Blaise nodding towards something behind him. He must have fallen asleep, because class is now over and everyone's rushing out. With annoyance plastered on his face, he turns around, seeing Y/N standing there, with wide eyes. He quickly relaxes his face, and tries to put on a gentle smile when he sees her hesitation.

"Is tomorrow afternoon good for you?" Maybe he's still asleep. Maybe he's in a lucid dream or something. Cause there's no way in hell, that Y/N is actually asking him this. Why is she asking him this? His confused blinking brings a cute, kind smile to her face, realizing that Theo didn't hear a single word Professor McGonagall had said in class. "We have to do a project. We are paired together." She explains.

Oh.

"Yeah, sure," he answers like he's unbothered, even though he's on the verge of exploding.

"Okay. Meet me in the library at 4," He can only nod. He should say something. Anything. And he wants to, oh Merlin he wants to say so many things to her. But he swallows his words, unsure of what would be the right thing to say. Blushing under his intense stare, Y/N also nods, and with a small wave, she leaves the boys.

"Man, you have such a way with words," Blaise whispers next to him, earning a smack on the back of his head before he gets up to leave for lunch. Blaise would tease him some more, if this were another situation, but Theo's eyes sparkle with excitement, and he has a small crooked smile on his lips for the rest of the day, and even a fool could see, that Theodore Nott is falling.

[alphajocklover]

Possessed by the Power of Thor

**hey guys! This story was requestioned by someone in my dms who prefers to remain anonymous. I still wanna give them a shout out for helping me refine the story and challenging me to try something new. I’ve never done anything with macro or giant growth before so here goes nothing! Hope you like it!**

Ronald Blake loved superheros. He absolutely adored them. That might not seem so unique at first, after all most nerdy teenagers love superheros. Hell with the movies and the popularization of what was once considered fringe, geeky culture, most people loved superheros. A lot of jocks liked superheros. But Ron was absolutely obsessed. His bedroom was a shrine to his favorite heros, with posters and shelves of memorabilia covering the walls. His meticulously cared for comic book collection took up 3 closets, and was only allowed to be read with gloves. Ron would spend every day in his room, reading and rereading comics, dissecting how they worked and the tropes they used. Ron’s favorite superhero was Thor, the joy of almost sharing a name with his original secret identity (yes Thor had a secret identity once, as Ron will happily tell you) having sparked a lifelong love of the character. Normally none of this would be a problem. Sure Ron was fairly obsessive, but a lot of people got that way about their hobbies. The issue was that Ron used comics as a way to avoid life. Ron was, to put it crudely, fat and shy. The 19 year old had been overweight as long as he could remember, and though he had plenty of online friends, could barely talk to other people in person. He spent almost every day holed up in his room, losing himself in the fantasy of his comic books to try and forget how depressed he was.

That's what made the fact that Ronald was outside today so surprising. Usually the only time Ron left his room was to see his mom or to go to a convention. But today Ron was after something special. He had found someone selling a perfect replica of Thor's hammer, Mjolnir. There were plenty of people selling replicas like that, but this one was incredibly cheap, high quality, and even came with a base that it would be stuck to unless someone used special gloves to remove it. It was literally perfect and so cheap that Ron couldn’t resist. Normally he’d be more suspicious but the sellae had great reviews, and the pictures of the replica were many and detailed. Still he had insisted on seeing it in person before buying it. Ron had expected to open the door to find a fellow out of shape geek excited to show off his latest work and get some money. What he found instead surprised him. The man towered over Ron, and looked more like he belonged in a gym than talking to someone like Ron. He grinned confidently and greeted Ron with an incredibly firm, manly handshake.

“You’re Ron right? Ronald Black?” He asked with a charming grin

“Uh, B-blake actually. R-ronald Blake.” Ron said, shaking off his shock. The jock in front of him grinned wide before continuing.

“Like Donald Blake from the earlier comics. I guess it’s fate that you’re buying the replica. I’m Clark, Clark Keen.” Clark said with a charming grin as he hesitates for Ron to come in

“Like Clark Kent. That’s a c-coincidence. T-though you look more like Superman than I do like Thor…” Ron said with a slight self deprecating chuckle. Clark didn’t seem to notice

“Thanks man! I spend a lot of my free time working out. Muscle helps a lot when you're making things out of metal.” Clark said with a grin as he led Ron to his backyard “Now, there is something I have to tell you about this replica. The reason I’m selling it for so cheap. It’s… flawed.” Clark admitted. Ron’s heart sank to his chest. “I would have told you online but by the time I realized I hadn’t included the mistake in the seller info you were already here. See, the guy who engraved the writing on Thor's hammer made a typo. A big one.” Clark said. Clark opened the door, and revealed the hammer.

It was an incredible replica. Detailed, made of quality, lightweight, but realistic looking materials. Despite its intricacies it still looked just as intimidating and strong as it was supposed to in the comics. Ron could swear he even felt an aura of power coming off of it.

But the inscription was… off. It was supposed to say the phrase ‘Whosoever holds this hammer, if he be worthy, shall possess the power of Thor.’ There had been some small changes to it throughout the years, like making the he into a she when Jane Foster became Thor for a while, but that was the original words, the iconic ones that had lasted through the years.

That wasn’t what the hammer said

It read ‘Whosoever holds this hammer, if he be worthy, shall BE POSSESSED BY the power of Thor.’

Ron was devastated. He thought he had finally found an amazing cheap replica of his favorite comic book weapon, only for it to have a huge flaw. Sure it was a simple typo, but memorabilia like this was all about the details. It would be the first thing all of his online friends noticed. Clark could see the heartbreak on Ron’s face and tried to soften the blow

“I know it’s a bummer, but it’s still quality work. You’ve come all this way, why don’t you at least hold it. See how it feels in your hands.” Clark suggested. Ron was skeptical… but he might as well give it a try. Maybe he could ask how Clark made it. He seemed like a nice enough guy. Ron went over to the hammer with a strange sense of trepidation. As he wrapped a hand around the handle of the replica and lifted it up, he felt… strangely accomplished. He knew it wasn’t actually Mjolnir, that being able to lift it didn’t actually mean he was worthy of anything, but he allowed himself to lose himself in the fantasy and feel proud. That was until a horrible shock surged down his arm, causing Ron’s arm to seize up. He groaned in pain, and tried to drop the large hammer, but was unable to let go. What was happening? He felt like he was being electrocuted. He looked over to Clark in a panic, only to see a satisfied grin on his face. Ron began to panic.

“W-what did you do? What is this!?” Ron asked in fear. Clark calmly walked over to Ron, grabbed his hand, and led the disoriented man out to his backyard as he explained.

“See Ron, you may not know it but you’re a very lucky person. You live in a world without supervillains. Sure, you have your own issues, but you aren’t terrorized by city destroying monsters in shitty masks. Not every reality is so lucky.” Clark said cryptically, before continuing “There are worlds out there, other realities, that need heros. I find these world heros. Or, if there aren’t any to find… I make them.” Clark explained. Ron felt another shock wrack his entire body, like electricity in his veins. He was so consumed by his pain that he barely noticed as he began to grow, shooting up in height until he was an inhuman 10 feet tall. His shoulders widened to span more than 3 feet between them. Simultaneously, his fat melted away and the space it had occupied and more was soon taken up by enormous bulging muscles. They each grew to inhuman proportions: biceps alone like watermelons, pecs so large and jutting out so much they were in size similar to pillows…very hard pillows, abs so defined there are no words and legs long and wide enough with muscle to make all the muscular proportions fit, even look handsome. His jaw sharpened as his hair grew longer. He didn’t look like himself anymore or any human for that matter. He looked too tall, strong, handsome…like a god. Suddenly Ron understood.

“You’re… you’re turning me into Thor?!” He asked in shock. Ron had fantasized about being a superhero before, especially being Thor, but the actual prospect of being Thor was overwhelming. He couldn’t be a superhero! Before he could further panic, Clark interrupted

“While, not exactly. See the world you’re going too is one where people can grow to incredible size. You’re not just going to be Thor. You’re gonna be the biggest version of Thor ever.” Clark said with a smirk. Ron wanted to panic, but he felt strangely… confident? Almost cocky even. Suddenly Ron felt another shock as he shot up even higher, becoming even taller and more muscular. He continued like this for a while, growing in increasingly large spurts. First he shot up to 20 feet, then 50, then 200. By the end of the growth he was, well…

…600 feet tall, with muscles as big as mountains. Even with his massive height he had the proportions of a bodybuilder. No, of a god. That’s what he was after all. A fucking god. Somewhere in all the shocks and growth spurts Ronald Blake had been lost, and Thor Odinson, the giant cocky god, was born. This version of Thor seemed to have quite the ego on him, even more than his regular version. He ran a hand through his long, thick blond hair, a smirk on his handsome face. He chuckled as he saw the SHIELD helicarrier fly nearby. Midguardians were so puny it was almost pitiful. Still, he was a merciful god and loved playing the role of superhero. A familiar voice broke his train of thought as an equally gigantic version of Superman appeared behind him, a large grin on his face.

“So, you ready to save the world?” Superman asked. Thor held his giant hammer tightly, a confident, charming grin on his face. Fuck yeah he was.

[middlingmay]

It’s medication anon again! I just reread TODCL again (at this point I think I could read every chapter in my head without even looking at the screen that’s how many times I’ve read it) and I’m sure this will be revealed more later but I’m dying to know: pet names. the vision of Bucky being large and in charge (tm) and wanting to be so soft for his boy by calling him baby/doll/sweetheart makes me absolutely feral. I know he’s done it a few times but I feel like Gale would also go absolutely feral internally when it happens. Like did he just got offline the first time it happened? Also what about in reverse, like did Bucky get all giddy the first time Gale used a pet name? Inquiring minds would love to know 🩷😩

Hello You! How you feeling? Sending you good vibes, bubs.

Oh, God. Then you'll be intimate with the sheer level of typos I've missed. Every time I reread a section I spot something new and die off. I'm fixing them as I go, I promise.

They definitely both do pet names! So you've seen John call Gale 'doll', and Gale certainly liked it, but they were dealing with some heavy shit at time so it wasn't at the forefront of their minds. But! Now that they're together...

Bucky doles out the names left, right and centre. Doll is a favourite. Sweetness is too but mostly as a joke because Gale will push him. But John will try anything once. When he's in an environment where it's safe to do so, he likes to call Gale 'My guy', 'My fella', 'My man', or 'My beau'. Big on the possessives. You'll see some of this in a couple of chapters' time, as well as exactly what it does to Gale to hear it...

The first time John calls him pet names around other people, Gale blushes something fierce. If it's in the garage he normally throws the nearest thing at hand at Bucky or flicks him with a rag. The first few times John calls him a pet name in private though, Gale pretends to be unaffected: arches his brow and gives a tiny smile. But inside it feels like belonging. Like a marking. And he likes it. A lot.

But he finds it harder to give it back. He likes calling Bucky 'Johnny'. He calls him Romeo when John's being stupidly sappy, and occasionally calls him darling or honey. But. The one that really gets John? That Gale only says when he's in a certain kind of mood and his voice gets even lower? Is Sugar. Trust me, you'll see...

Thank you for the ask and I hope today is better! 😊

[bubblewrapsnek]

Phantomarine Live reread: Prologue

I'm anticipating the reread before the chapter finishes cause I want to read it now again, altho I wanted to wait the chapter to be over to have a cleaner finish line for mental order and to avoid posing questions to things that would be maybe have more ground to speculate on or outright be answered in a few days This is my first time rereading Phantomarine, so if anyone is actually goint to read these posts expect me to come to realizations about stuff that everyone knew ages ago probably, also it's my first time liveblogging something since a friend suggested it could be appreciated, I am not convinced there would be interested but it can't hurt I guess. That said I hate the idea of clogging with posts and like keeping stuff a bit more tidy, so I'll post one post per chapter with my thoughts, silly ramblings and whatever comes to my mind that I feel like sharing while trying to put my thoughts in order

So uhh if you exist and are reading, have fun and feel free to interact!

First thing I'll not here with a few examples and try to not say everytime, but I can't help seeing how the royal family brands EVERYTHING with the Manta, I swear you could fill a where's waldo book by searching the mantas in Phantomarine's pages at this A manta hat, manta drawer, manta desk, and a manta polo in just the first pages, I swear they have a disney park-esque gift shop outside the palace

A manta hat, manta drawer, manta desk, and a manta polo in just the first pages, I swear they have a disney park-esque gift shop outside the palace

Bonus neat things, the candle has the same pattern as Cheline's dress and there is what I guess is a samoyede on Irving's shirt

Next thing is something I hadn't noticed before but I've seen already people point out in the comments now, Irving having very clearly pink eyes, at first I thought it might have been lighting but in the pages where he is alive they are very clearly pink, and even when in shock the characters get drawn with pinprick irises, while the others get black dots he has pink and is even more blatant in the shot with the Fata morgana stabbing them where he is eye to eye with a Fata with the same eyes

Bonus: alive Lani is very cute

I pointed the next thing in another post but I love how Cheline wanted to be sure to scapegoat the Fata Morgana so much she painted the arrows and bow too with Cheth's name bands(confirmed to be painted on by the transcript too altho it was the only possible reason they had those bad with what we know now), also I love that the cyan outline was faintly on the Fata Morgana's eye from the beginning

I am also getting suspicious about the ghosts being blue and the veins(referred as such in the transcript) that spread from the bite being purple, tho I don't have a concrete or sound thought about this

Also, something I love a lot in comics is paneling so some of this won't be thoughts but just panels that are really pretty or fun or creative here I love how the action flows very well, having many details making what happens readable such as the "magic" squares making phae's body on the bottom edge of the silouhette in the middle also appear on the heart, showing the wound being "repaired"

Love the veins snaking behind her

Something I had completely glossed over was Phae's middle name being Augusta, and I do find it possible to have a reading on it, as Augustus was the name and title that Octavian took as the first emperor of rome, the member of a what can be considered a royal lineage establishing the name for himself and becoming a key turning point in the history of an empire, just as I can see Phae become the turning point for the history of her reign, a change of the guard and of the status quo of the kingdom she watches over

End in the end, to finish the prologue of this reread, a funny typo Cheth appears, tipping his fedora: "M'Phaedra"

[writing-in-spades]

good morning whump community

about me:: my name is koschei (or emmett), it/its he/him xi/xir, 21, american (cst), i tend to swear a lot

i’ve been lurking in the whumpblr scene on various blogs for awhile and writing stories since the age of eight (or something), figured i’d finally give posting a try!! just in time for whumptober which. definitely wasn’t planned no way i would never (lying)

first thing i’ve gotta say is that even in short form prompts like this, i tend to create entire worlds in my head to go along with whatever tiny snippets are written, so if anything is confusing please let me know because it probably made sense in my head

writing quirks, uh. i always notice i use way too many commas and parentheses and these mfers — i know, i’m working on it. i also have the vocab comprehension of an elderly white man from the late 1800s, way too much flowery language that might also make things illegible, so again, please tell me dhsjdhjsjdjdh. i write most of my stuff on another app and port it over, mostly rereading for mistakes beforehand, but if i do miss anything, it’ll probably just be your run-of-the-mill typos (pretty sure i’m at least mildly dyslexic lol). don’t count on it though

favorite whump trope will always and forever be a lab setting, so i’m sure that will show in my writing, but i also watch way too many tv police dramas, which will definitely influence things as well

if i miss a cw or tag for something, correct me

insert masterpost here

[topazadine]

Common Writing Issues that Reduce Readability

A short little Monday post so that we stop pissing readers off!

Beyond the usual issues that are easily fixed, like typos, there lie a few more pernicious problems that can drag readers out of a story kicking and screaming. Unfortunately, they happen to nearly everyone, no matter their skill level, and must be watched for carefully.

Now, I want to note that I am never attempting to prescribe how you should write. However, I want you to think back to the last time you read something that made you roll your eyes and give up - it's likely that at least one of these problems was present.

Here is the sum-up, and then we'll talk details. I will be showing examples of my own writing that include these deadly sins, so feel free to point and laugh.

Double describing

Overly long sentences

Overexplaining

Head hopping

Again, a big disclaimer.

I can't tell you how to write, this is just my opinion, you are the crafter of your own story, take what you like and leave the rest.

Alright, let's get into it.

Double Describing

Describing the same thing in two different ways right next to one another feels repetitive and annoying; it comes across as self-indulgent, like you're more interested in showing off how smart you are than telling a story. I have been a perennial offender in this, as shown by my story "Beyond Mortal Sight."

Here, I've highlighted the things that were double-described in blue. This includes:

The underworld

Higekiri

The crypt

The room being mostly empty

Pick the strongest descriptor and cut the other ones. You might think that this makes your writing weaker, but it actually strengthens it, as you're not diluting the description and can move along faster.

If you're not sure whether you're double describing, try removing one of the selections and see if you're still describing what you wanted to. Maybe you just need to tweak one of them, but both of them can still stand on their own; in that case, differentiate them more, or move them so that they are not right next to each other in order to provide better emphasis.

Now, sometimes you really do want to linger on a specific description, and that's fine. However, you need to ensure that you're looking at different aspects of the same thing.

I do end up lingering on the moths for a long while, and it doesn't get too repetitive (at least I don't think so) because I'm describing different elements of them.

Overly Long Sentences

The longer a sentence is, the harder it is to emphasize certain things, and the more likely that a reader will get lost aong the way and need to reread things. Of course, we want readers to take our time with the work, but paradoxically, readers are more willing to linger and reread with shorter sentences because they're not getting frustrated and glossing over key elements.

Take a look at this section of my story "A Tale of Two Citadels," which I've been meaning to rework for ages because it has chronic logorrhea. The sheer length of these damn sentences!

Right off the bat, we see that the first sentence blasts past the typical "four lines max" rule. The second one is slightly better, but it still has way too many clauses and can be confusing. The third one can easily be cut up into at least two sentences, maybe three, without losing the rhythm.

When reworked, you can see how much better it flows by the color coding.

The sentences are still complex, but they're more manageable for readers. The longer a sentence, the more difficult it is, and the more likely that your reader will get lost.

At the same time, you do want some complexity and variety in your sentence lengths. These are all about the same length, which can become a bit boring.

If I were really committed to editing this, I'd go further and add some very short sentences too.

Reading your sentences out loud, or using an auto dictation tool, can be very helpful to see whether you're overdoing it with sentence length. If you have to stop to take multiple breaths while reading a single sentence, then it is probably too long.

You can also color-code while you are editing to see whether your sentences are all around the same length. If so, see if you can cut a few of them up.

Overexplaining

This issue often shows up more when we are explaining why something happened, but it can start to feel boring and repetitive. As an example from my story "Shattered Pieces:"

This part happened right after someone was stabbed and, frankly, takes away a LOT of the tension from the story.

Is it really necessary at this exactly this second, when someone is lying on the ground bleeding, to explain why the incident happened? No, it's not. Half of this could be removed and the story would read so much better, like so:

Now we can move to the juicy stuff of Uguisumaru lying on the ground bleeding to death. Much more important.

A crucial element of writing is to reveal details as they become important, not before. This doesn't mean hiding things from your reader, nor throwing in things at random whenever you feel like; rather, it's about not forcing your reader to do the work of holding onto this information in the hopes that it will become important at some later time.

Is what Mikazuki thinking about here really that important to the overall story? No, we don't need that information. Maybe they can talk about it later, or maybe it will never be discussed.

Now, a quick sidetrack about foreshadowing here. Great foreshadowing works by not feeling like toil and by not beating the reader over the head with the information. They pick up on it, but they don't feel like they need to hold onto it. Careful foreshadowing sprinkled throughout a story feels effortless and natural, without imposing a cognitive load on the reader.

As I've mentioned before when discussing fantasy in general, we do not want our reader to feel like they are doing work. Few of us are at the level of someone like Mark Z. Danielewski, where we can create a book that is all about doing work but readers will still enjoy it because it is that entertaining. (I did not like House of Leaves personally, but that's just me.)

Therefore, our goal is to reduce friction as much as possible while still developing a fun, compelling, thought-provoking piece of fiction. We do this by avoiding infodumping, as I did in that above passage, and revealing information as it becomes important without seeming like things just come out of nowhere. That's where foreshadowing becomes crucial.

Head Hopping

This one is discussed often, but it's also really easy to accidentally do when you're working in third-person limited (my preferred POV). In small cases of dipping into someone else's head, it doesn't really cause concern for the reader, who might not even notice it, but it does make it harder to keep track of the main POV.

It's also important not to dip too often into peoples' heads while you're doing omniscient POV, either. Here, in this segment of "Dreams Within Dreams," we have at least four partial POVs, which I have color coded:

This is technically fine for an omniscient POV, but dipping into too many heads too quickly can become overwhelming and exhausting for the reader. Thankfully, it is an easy fix by simply removing the assumptions of judgment and focusing entirely on the actions.

I mean, it's still not the greatest writing, but we have a more opaque, birds-eye view of everyone, rather than constantly jumping in and out of everyone's head.

This is especially hard not to do when you have numerous characters all together in one scene, which is why it is often easier to avoid having a huge group of individuals together, especially if you're not confident in your skills yet.

The more characters you juggle, the more you need to ensure that you're not leaving anyone out and that everyone gets at least one line without it feeling choppy. This scene definitely could have used a lot more work so as to feel more natural. But that's the joy of fanfiction! It's all about learning and growing as a writer.

Nowadays, I try to limit my scenes to two "main" talkers and then add at least one line for other side characters if I have a big group, but I specify that they're off doing something else so people don't wonder where the hell they went.

And that's about it for today! Again, my posts are never about telling you how to write. I am sharing what I have learned as both a reader and writer so that you can make the choices that best fit your story. Happy writing!

If you enjoyed this, perhaps you'll consider purchasing my book, 9 Years Yearning, a gay coming-of-age romance set in a fantasy world. Which does not include any of these sins. Only $2.99 or ZERO DOLLARS with Kindle Unlimited!

If you're not sure about spending your hard-earned money, check out this review to learn more.

[theminecraftbee]

2 and 29 for the fic asks ^_^

2. Do you read/reread your own fics?

sometimes! for one thing, this is normally my typo last line of defense, reading over my own fic several times after i post it, because for some reason that's when i'll finally catch the ones that slip by. but also like... sometimes i want to re-read my stuff! i wrote it because i liked that premise too, you know?

29. Share a bit from a fic you’ll never post OR from a scene that was cut from an already posted fic.

oh let me open docs and see... oh yeah this is my first extremed timed attempt that got entirely scrapped because i couldn't make it work so i started over with what i could actually write! maybe one day i'll come back to the premise.

“You know, one of these days, we’ll stop meeting like this,” Joe says, running a hand through his incorporeal hair as he takes in the scene. There’s a summoning circle on the ground, of course, and several hastily-lit candles. They’re a fire risk, with the curtains in the room, but Joe’s not that worried, on account of the fact that with the blood everywhere the fire might spread less quickly. Like, he wouldn’t know? He’s neither a serial killer nor an expert on fire? He’s a spirit. A ghost. A being from beyond. He has other things he does. But if he’d had to guess… “Save me, oh beautiful Joe Hills,” cries the bard who summoned him. “You’re my only hope!” Joe sighs. “Oli, you can just ask. You don’t have to—what have you gotten into?” Joe says, actually taking in the—oh, boy, that’s… a surprising amount of blood. And the level of dismembered that body is, well, geez, Joe might be dead himself, but like, he’s not that kind of dead, he’s… Well, whatever is happening here isn’t good, that’s for sure. “I didn’t know who else to ask,” Oli says quietly. “I don’t—well, after this I don’t have many friends, I think. I didn’t do it.” Joe believes him.  “I didn’t—Joe, I didn’t know what else to do. I didn’t—I didn’t,” Oli says. “Okay,” Joe says. “Oh gods, someone’s going to get back here,” Oli says. “That wouldn’t be good,” Joe agrees quietly. “You’ve gotta help me, Joe,” Oli says. “Well, that’s what you summoned me for,” Joe says, but he doesn’t exactly argue. “I know a place you can go. Come with me.” “Okay,” Oli says. “Okay.”

[mumblingsage]

I was going to link a blog post or article defining "zero draft" but I'm actually not happy with any of the results. They all have too many rules!

"zero drafting is writing a rough draft (usually no longer than ten pages) of your novel"

My zero draft was at least 15 or 20 pages long, though it's hard to measure because at some point the file was a combination first draft of the beginning of the story and zero draft of the remainder (you can start the first draft before you finish zero drafting, if you've zero drafted to the point you feel ready, don't let anyone tell you otherwise). You shouldn't be worrying about numbers anyway. If your zero draft is 2 pages, that's also fine. You are not going to get a fucking bad grade in zero drafting! That is not normal to want or possible to achieve! Not even God will ever know or care how many pages this thing was!

"don't put dialogue in zero drafts; that's a detail to hash out later"

Why are we forbidding fun!? Developing character voice is part of the discovery phase a zero draft is perfect for! You shouldn't feel pressured to write out specific details, but if you start having them as you brainstorm, the zero draft is the perfect place to put them! The mental effort of having ideas, repressing them, and then hoping to remember them later to put into a first draft is way more stressful than just writing them down (and again, writing down an idea that comes to you is fun!)

"don't worry about the form of the book when you zero draft"

At this point if a zero draft isn't about details in the story and isn't about the shape of the story, I'm not sure what it is about (it's about both. It's about whatever you've got to work with.)

"don't worry about grammar or spelling"

I mean, you will write wonky sentences and have a ton of typos in the zero draft, that's life and it's not a problem (not even God will read the zero draft). But "how does this sentence function" isn't a bad thought to have in mind every time you write a sentence, not least so that when you come back to reread your zero draft, it actually makes sense to you, plus building a habit for how to think while writing. Here I feel the same way I feel about the "don't include details": it takes more effort to suppress this stuff than it does to write with it. And if you are actually writing with no grammar...inasmuch as that's even possible...if you're slamming down strings of verbs and nouns without connective tissue? That's just not a draft, it's an outline of the "grocery list notes-to-self" format. Also a fine thing. But why call it a draft.

"a zero draft takes about an hour to write"

I have never sat down and written a zero draft from beginning to end. I open the WIP file (literally my zero drafts are in a big honkin' file titled "WIPS"), write down the ideas I have, leave it and come back later, hours, weeks or months later, often in 5 or 10-minute spurts, sometimes in 2-hour ones if the juices are wildly flowing. I do not sit down thinking "I will write straight through from the beginning to end of the story", that's too much organization to worry about bringing into zero-draft work. I write what I have and put it in an order I think it might go in. The shape of the plot happens as I write, it doesn't guide what I write.

"Sage, at this point are you sure you aren't the one in the wrong and what you're recommending isn't actually a zero draft?"

I might be, but I'm not sure what else to call the thing I do, which is certainly shaped like a primordial draft that's more detailed than an outline but far less organized or in-character than a first draft.

[khaleesiofalicante]

holy shit

“Arthur, I want everything with you,” Kincaid said, laughing helplessly. “By the angel, how could you even think…I…I dream about you. About touching you like that.”

Arthur had a lot of dreams. But never like that. It made him feel incredible to know that Kincaid had dreams like that. He bit his lip and looked up through his eyelashes. “Really?”

“They’re for me. I like looking at wedding dresses,” Arthur said, dreaming of himself dressed in gorgeous white silk.

reference to his death???

Arthur often dreamed of Harry living in the institute. Maybe even in Idris. It made a lot of sense to him. Harry would make an excellent shadowhunter. He was brave and kind and very intelligent too.

ohhhhh

“I missed you so much,” Kincaid whispered in between the kisses, still clutching at the boy’s waist. “I missed you, Arthur.”

“I missed you too, Kin,” Arthur pressed a kiss behind his ear. “I dreamed of you every night.”

“Oh my god. You bought me flowers,” Arthur gasped and grabbed the bouquet from him. “Gosh, they are so beautiful, Kincaid. Thank you. I love it.”

Oh.

Oh no.

“You are so romantic,” Arthur said shyly, burying his face in the roses and inhaling the scent. “I had a dream like this.”

death again??????

Arthur had so many things he wanted to do if he ever got to go on a date with Kincaid. Sometimes he dreamed about it before bed.

dream dream or summa dream?????

“What are you doing here?” Arthur looked around incredulously, making sure this was real and not another dream. “You’re supposed to be on a date with Theia.”

He had never dreamed of living in a place like this. He’d never really dreamed of living together with Kincaid or marrying him or anything like that.

He didn’t know why. Maybe he was just too afraid to think about it.

ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

“Just because someone is trying to kill you, it doesn’t make them the villain,” Hermes told him. “Maybe he is trying to kill you because you’re the villain.” hermes been knewwww

His son had always been a little whimsical that way – living in a dream world and protecting himself from all the ugliness of the real one. 

OH MY GOD

He wished he could dream. Just once.

So that he could Arthur again. Now wouldn’t that be nice?

WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK DANI

It still felt like a dream. HHGTGTGH

He didn’t want Lance or Kincaid to get hurt. He often dreamed about them crying. Both of them. His nightmares plagued him now, reminding him of what could happen if he didn’t take the risk.

so that "crying " is indeed a typo and kincaid is going to die ha ha what is real

Arthur had nightmares all the time. He came running to the master bedroom saying he saw things and heard things and felt things.

Max and David had explained to him – or did their best to do so – that what he so was very much real, and he shouldn’t be afraid.

“Hm,” Arthur said and smiled. “Daydreamy.”

Kincaid smiled at that.

He supposed it suited the boy. He did look very dreamy. Like something out of a picture book for children

“We will see each other again,” the boy smiled at him. “We’re destined to be together, Kincaid.”

Arthur, on the other hand, had always been a dreamer.

He dreamed about the things he wanted in life. He dreamed about the things he wanted to come true.

do i have important tests to study for? Yes. did just spend three hours rereading lbaf? Also yes

I made a list of most of these before I got this ask so I guess we both wasted time today.

Well done with this, btw. Nicely done 💜

[galadrieljones]

hiya gala!! 🎃 and 🍂? i hope you have a fantastic day!!

Thanks for the ask @myreia ^_^ I hope you have a great day, too.

🎃 pumpkin: do you have any favorite brainstorming techniques? how do you like to gather ideas for your wip?

I answered this one earlier, you can find it here.

🍂 leaves: what does your editing process look like? how does your wip typically change as you work on it?

Because I am seemingly always super strapped for time, the most important part of my process is getting started. Failure to launch is, in my experience, the only cause of "writer's block." I just need to break the seal, get started. My earliest drafts as I mentioned in the linked ask above are usually just super spare scene sketches in the notes app on my phone because of this. No details or descriptions. I just put a little (...) to note where I know I need an action, or a description, or a note on the environment to flesh out the pacing later on. I will do this sometimes before bed, or when I'm doing other things.

Once I'm ready to work on the actual story then, these days, I usually just work right in AO3 for fanfiction. It just keeps me in the right mode, since I write and read so many different things as part of my job, other projects, etc., and AO3 just makes me feel like, okay, THIS is the safe place lol. THIS is my happy place (I copy/paste frequently into a note or word doc to back up my work fyi haha). When I'm ready to write, like to actually type, I don't usually copy/paste writing from my notes. I retype it, now working in the details/actions/descriptions that I skipped before, because like I just really needed to get down the big beats, but now it's time to make the scene come alive. I find that retyping from scratch rather than copy/pasting is important, because a lot of the time, the emotional output or directionality of a scene will be a little different once I add in the details. Things almost always need to be tweaked.

Once I have a completed draft, I usually sit on it for as long as I can. An old professor once taught me that, with writing, you usually need a couple days to let a draft marinate before going back to it again. I can't remember what he called those days, but this was useful advice for me, as I'm always in a rush. Sometimes, I only have a couple hours to wait or one night. In any case, in that time, any problems with the existing writing usually bubble to the surface of my consciousness, and I can go back in and work on them later, often times on my phone, while I'm off doing other stuff or hanging with my kids or my husband on the couch, etc. I do a lot of my editing this way, like in the car while waiting for my kids to get out of school lol. I used to need solitude to write, but I have three kids and I have adapted lol. If I get too precious about my workspace, I get nothing done.

Anyway, even as my job entails editing books for a living, that editorial work is always grand scale, like finding the shape of a story. I am actually a terrible copy editor lmfao as I hate that kind of little nit-picky stuff. Line editing drives me insane. I will occasionally run things through the editor on word to make sure there's nothing glaring, but I don't get hung up on typos. You will probably see at least one per chapter with my work 😂 😭 I do usually reread my chapters after I publish them, and if I find something that's really bothering me, I'll go back and fix it asap.

Anyway, that's pretty much it!!

October-themed Writeblr Asks ❤️

[thekuraning]

fic writing asks : 17 and 27, 28?

hope you’re doing well!! I’m just about to finally catch up with the latest chapter of moving on in a maelstrom (I haven’t checked my ao3 inbox for updates in a hot minute!!), thank you as ever for writing!

WASABI THANK YOU FOR SENDING im hanging in there i hope youre doing good too <3 and i hope you enjoy the latest chapter grelhbqughoeiqg

:') i talk a lot gomen

17. talk about your writing and editing process

so i'm definitely not the kind of person who sits down and outlines their story and all the plot points or does a ton of planning (kind of a bad habit probably!!) and mostly my fics comes from some broad concepts or ideas, vibes, or any sort of vivid scene I imagine up while im daydreaming on the way to work, and then I just kind of run with it. Actually I think from all the fics I've actually tried to follow an outline for in the past, only one has gotten past a handful of chapters (that would be Turning Point, which is shockingly complete!)

And like the scenes or vibes or ideas aren't always related to major plot points or anything either, they're just character moments and either a) do not need backstory to explain the situation, so they get to be a oneshot, or b) are VERY PARTICULAR about the backstory of the Scene and then they end up a full-fledged novella/novel/epic.

So like for example, I started on Maelstrom fic for a very specific scene with a very specific character--and you might expect it to be related to the main villain! Except I didn't even have a design for him until the day I sat down to write chapter 5 (which came to me in a caffeine-fueled fever dream) and wasn't even sure what his NEXT ability would be until chapter 8. Yeah he's the main antagonist. But this entire fic. This entire damn fic. Is a stepping stone. To a scene where Yuri is going insane under house arrest and Barnaby goes to visit him. And it's the funniest fucking thing in my head. Like I want to be so clear this is just an elaborate slide puzzle to a one-paragraph gag and I have no idea if the set-up is even worth it. But then once I get started writing things kind of start to fall into place like dominoes because I spend a lot of time overthinking the world building and the canon orz

Anyways as for editing uhhhh well!!! You have probably noticed!! I have SO MANY TYPOS IN MY CHAPTERS!!! My cat hears me say so many swears after chapters are posted :( I tend to be like constantly reading and rereading and editing... the first half of a chapter. The further I go the more excited I get to post! And the less I end up reading. So uhhh yeah if anyone ever goes back to read any fic I've ever posted EVER and you're like huh I don't remember that or huh I thought it was different yeah. yeah it was. I edited it 3 months later when I reread part and realized I had 15 typos, non-sequitors, and the worst sentence composition known to man OTL

27. your favorite part of the writing process

getting experimental with it! :') i like fucking around with imagery and description and pacing to try and see what kind of vibes i can squeeze out of something. actually i forget how long ago it was but i think my buddy isleofair sent an ask once where I went on a rant about what makes a slow burn a slow burn and ever since then I've REALLY wanted to try and write a slow burn that diagetically takes place in like. one or two hours. i have no idea how it would work but i think it would be really fun to try.

otherwise i think my favorite thing is like world building but through the little background details, like trying to squish in regional dialects or brands or in-universe entertainment franchises. I was really fucking proud of myself for Barnaby's Gatorade ad reel and his promotional coffee in Maelstrom lmfaooo or like getting so fucky with Proton's slang in my pokemon fics. Still trying to figure out how to write an entire oneshot about no one understanding what he means when he says "freezycaff."

28. your least favorite part of the writing process

>:( what do you MEAN I have to have a coherent plot!!! What do you MEAN I should probably plan to avoid plotholes!!! What do you MEAN i have to write through writer's block or take breaks when I burn out creatively!!!!! NO STOPPING ONLY VIBES ONLY GOOFS AND GAFFS!!! ONLY FICS!!!

On a more serious note. My least favorite part really is since I don't do a lot of planning beforehand :( sometimes all I got be them vibes, and getting from point a to point b can be like pulling teeth if I'm not like. manic. A lot of times I feel like I have a big picture with a lot of missing little pieces, and sometrimes I just can't figure out a satisfying way to get over it. Then the perma-hiatus hammer comes out UmU RIP in pepperonis dead fics from 2018.

Thank u again for sending!! <3

[sflow-er]

🎁 💛 🎨 for the writers asks if you’re still doing them.

(If you’ve already answered any of these, replace with one you were hoping someone would ask!)

Hi! Yeah, I'm still doing them!

🎁 Have a piece of a WIP you want to share?

Well...sure! Here's an angsty snippet from the next chapter of my WIP, The real deal. I was actually hoping to get the chapter out this week, but I've been kind of swamped with other stuff, so I guess any readers hoping for an update may appreciate this.

[Context: Henry has just joined the Society. Walter is not happy about it.]

Walter has to stop there to quell the desperation that has not so much crept as it has rushed into his voice. He screws his eyes shut and hugs himself for comfort, trying to make it look like he’s just crossing his arms in frustration. The true meaning of the gesture isn’t lost on Henry, who soon reaches out to put his hand on Walter’s upper arm. “Hey. Are you okay?” Walter opens his mouth to say yes. What comes out is, “No. I’m really not.” Henry rubs Walter’s arm through the sleeve and hesitates a little before asking, “Would you like a hug?” “I’m not…in a hugging kind of place right now.”

💛 What is the most impactful lesson you’ve learned about writing?

Man, this is a tough one! There's always more to learn, and also so many things I have "learned" but not really taken to heart (such as "use a placeholder when you get stuck" haha).

I'd say maybe 'think of your readers as people, not numbers'. The writing itself has to be for me, because the worth of the story or my worth as a writer should not be determined by what anyone else makes of my writing. But I still think it's okay to acknowledge that I wouldn't be posting the stories anywhere if I didn't want to connect with people through them. The important part is not to think about it in terms of hits or even the number of kudos or comments, because that just leads to all kinds of self-doubt if the fic/chapter doesn't reach that many people (I am a niche writer in a small fandom, after all). I find it much more useful and joyful to think about it in terms of the actual human beings on the other side of the screen who have taken an interest in the story and let me share it with them.

🎨 - I already answered this one here. But since you suggested picking another one, let's do this (I tried to pick one of the yellow ones to at least match the colour):

🌻 How often do you read your own fics?

I write what I want to read, so I do reread my fics every now and then. Some more than others, but a couple of months ago I actually reread one that I had not revisited in ages, and I'm glad I did because it was better than I remembered.

Sometimes I reread for no particular reason, other times after a nice comment on an older fic. Or when I need to check something - just the other day, I went to check a minor detail in my magnum opus for my WIP (which is a prequel), and I ended up rereading the last five chapters... Oops.

(Sadly, rereading does often reveal typos or other little errors and fixing those does take me out of the story a bit, but I still enjoy it!)

Thank you again, @gulliblelemon! These were fun 💜

[Ask list for reference]

[jamiesfootball]

7, 18, and/or 28 for whatever fic you want!

This got super long so I'm putting it under a cut

7. How did you decide what character(s) would narrate the fic?

Fic chosen: the one that makes you sick

This one came to me in pieces. Usually when I'm figuring out who's going to narrate, the choice is driven by how the plot presents itself when the story is first taking shape. In this case, Keeley's pov is the one that came to me first as the one watching things unravel in Brazil with Jamie. Shortly after I began writing that, Roy's pov closed in as the person who Knows what happened to Jamie in Amsterdam. Jamie texting him from Brazil wasn't in the original game plan, but it filled itself in as Roy grew to have more reason to believe that something had gone wrong. From there, Jamie's pov extended itself naturally as the person experiencing everything. Once I had that, the flashbacks to how we got to that point layered in, and the story in its entirety snapped into shape.

Looking over my fics, I actually don't use multiple narrators that often within one story. If I do, they're usually broken into chapters or parts. So this was an interesting exercise for me

18. Talk about your editing and revision process

Fic chosen: Oh God You're Gonna Get It (You Have Not Been Given Love)

I've mentioned before that the editing process for this one is extensive, but this one is really just a souped up version of my usual editing process.

Rereading

I am a very non-linear writer, so the first thing I try to do is reread everything and make sure I didn't completely forget to write a section. When I'm blocked on a transition, I will usually leave myself a note in [brackets] so that I can easily find that section later and fill it out. I'll also bold sections that I don't think are particularly well-written so that I can come back and fix those too. Fixing those are my main obstacle, so to help resolve things:

Highlighting

I have two highlighting methods, one for narration and one for dialogue. For narration, the goal is to switch to a different color highlighter every time there's a big idea change. This helps me find what I call 'floating ideas', which are either an idea that's gotten separated from its topic paragraph and needs to be moved, or a new idea that I've introduced without setup or resolution - essentially, fluff that doesn't serve a purpose and can be cut.

For dialogue, the goal is literally to only highlight the dialogue itself. None of the dialogue tags, movements, details, etc. Only the words. This helps me focus on how the words flow as a conversation. This is also useful for visually identifying if I've gotten too verbose between dialogue beats.

Audio

When in doubt, I use one of those voice robot things to read everything back to me. This is good for picking out the overall flow and rhythm of the words. It's also useful for finding typos after I've reread something a hundred times.

The next chapter of OGYGGI(YHNBGL) is currently on the audio phase for the first 4 scenes, and on the highlighter phase for the final scene, which is a beast.

28. Write a new summary for the fic, but badly

this one was hard so I did a couple

The Dick String Incident - Local team would rather tie strings around their dicks than even consider asking their boss to repeat himself

Oh God You're Gonna Get It (You Have Not Been Given Love) - how much therapy can one man cram into summer break

You're Gonna Go Far, Kid - what if life isn't a finite story you can win but instead an infinite series of decisions that gently shape your future when you're not looking? and also you made bad decisions with yorkshire pudding?

Muzzled - two traumas for the price of one muzzle while the author attempts to reverse engineer a ransom/hostage situation

Loosely Tangled - how many people can I have touch Jamie's hair in one story (answer: about 9)

[kittenofdoomage]

Hi, I'm the anon that asked about how to improve at writing smut. I started a writing blog called LittleGhoulGhost in which I write for the characters of the band Ghost. My writing style is fit more for snippets and glimpses into the lives of the characters, but I want to be able to do chapter stories as well. I've read your work for a long time, and originally found you on AO3. How do I improve my writing stamina and string chapters together? The way I think is in movie format, and it's typically only for certain moments. It's hard to get what I see into words.

Hello!

Moving from drabbles to series can be a challenge, for sure! With longer stories, I find writing a synopsis/summary of each chapter helps, or even just a rough outline of your whole story. It doesn't even matter if you write it in order, you can always go back and tweak it if your characters end up going in a different direction (they will do that!).

When you say you think in movie format, so you mean you see the scenes/pictures, rather than the words? Because my brain works the same, I don't think in words, I replay the scenes over and over in my head (usually at about 3am but eh, that's being a writer, I suppose 🤣) and even do it with ones I've already written if I'm not entirely happy with them.

My other tip for writing a long series; it can sometimes be useful to just not write it in chapters to start. Write the whole thing, as rough as you like, then reread it a bunch of times and figure out where your chapter placement would work best. I tend to keep my chapters between 1k and 4k, but please bear in mind, I'm actually crazy, your chapters can be as long as you like.

As with all writing, the real key is practice, practice, practice. Get yourself a friend or a fellow writer who is happy to check your work for grammar etc., reread it as much as you can (you will never catch ALL the typos but don't feel bad about it, major publishers miss them sometimes too!) and make as many edits/drafts as you need. Make moodboards, banners, really get into your story.

Most of all, don't feel bad about how long it takes. Writing is bloody hard! I've got WIPs I've been working on for three years 😬 with the stamina, while yes, you wanna get the work done, don't force it. I've found forcing it only frustrates me with what I've written, and you cannot rush any form of art. Take your time, and enjoy the world you're creating.

(Side note: I had no idea who Ghost was before they started playing them a lot on Planet Rock and now my favorite song is Call Me Little Sunshine)

I hope I didn't waffle and that all makes sense ❤ GOOD LUCK!!

[little-peril-stories]

2024

It's the time of year where many of us think about the future and what's to come. I don't really do New Year's resolutions, and I've never done a real list of goals before. But as I'm thinking about what 2024 will bring, I'm feeling for the first time the desire to lay out my goals - or, at the very least, create a to-do list.

It might be interesting to see how much I overestimated my ability to get stuff done next year. 😅

No pressure to read this, it's largely for myself!

The Queen of Lies

Continue posting semi-regularly. Given the way the first half of the school year has gone, I figure that's probably the best I can do.

Rewrite Act 3. I'm actually so excited for this, and it's all planned out! But it's still not written, even if a lot of the juicy dialogue is sandwiched between bullet points of what happens.

Edit it...eventually. Perhaps in the latter half of the year. Or perhaps that's a 2025 job. Who knows?

angsty heist wip

Reveal the title. Coming sooner than you think.

Post the WIP intro early. TPOT's came when it was about half posted, and TQOL's came only a day before Chapter 1. I think I'll mix it up for angsty heist wip. Nobody peek on my drafts and see how long the wip intro has been chilling there. 😅

FINISH WRITING THIS DAMN BOOK. It's just got to happen. I've hit 2/4 POV character's midpoints, and the delicious confrontation/finale still needs to be written. It's all the good stuff!

Figure out posting plans. It's not coming until TQOL is done, so this is a very vague and fluid goal.

Book 1

Review beta feedback thoroughly.

Make a concrete plan for what I actually want to change and what I don't.

Apply feedback.

Reread and edit for typos/little things.

Do a second beta round.

Start preparing query materials in earnest.

Book 2

lol. start it again? postpone to 2025? who knows. low priority.

The Prince of Thieves -- the journey to self-publishing

Okay, real talk: the list below is long. I've never done any of this before, so I have NO clue of what's realistic and what's not. Is all of this possible in the year 2024? Maybe not. Is that okay? It's gonna have to be! The point of it isn't to marry myself to this list or else I've FAILED, but to have a clear idea of what commonly needs to be done in order to self-publish a novel. If some of the stuff doesn't happen, well, so be it! I’m also quite aware that the list below is not exhaustive. There are probably a million things I haven’t thought of!!

DONE - ISBN account made and approved

DONE - decide on pen name. Finally!

Beta stuff! Send it off, wait for feedback, review feedback, and then apply it. I'm almost there.

Attempt cover design. I am 73% confident in my ability to do it well. With an artist AND a graphic designer/marketer in my family, I think I've got a team who can help me with the technical/Photoshop stuff.

Hire cover designer if failure. (Definitely a possibility.)

Decide on book format/interior design elements. Pretty confident I can do this myself. 96% sure.

Make an author website. For realsies. (aaahhhhhhhhh)

Increase social media presence. Try not to cry about the existence of TikTok. Try not to get in my own head about this. The truth is the thought kind of makes my skin crawl but I also understand how it is is pretty much a necessity.

Learn marketing and create a marketing plan. I got this. probably. maybe. ennnhhhh.

Consider character/scene art commissions. I am uncertain about this one. Finances will determine whether this happens or not.

Cry a lot and be okay with that. I think I'm going to struggle a lot with this whole process. And you know what? That's all right. I will learn a lot. And even if it's scary...well, that will make it all the more rewarding in the end. 💕