#it will make you a better writer

[rainintheevening]

Top 5 books that inspired you to write <3

Hmm, this is a fun one! Let's see, I'll go in chronological order, to the best of my memory. I have wanted to write stories/written stories literally for as long as I can remember. I can't remember a time before I loved writing.

Thoroughbred series (all 100+ books)

The huge cast! So many different characters, the passing of time, first and second generations—it was a whole world in some corner of Kentucky. So many of those lengthy kids' series would keep the kids the same ages, but in the Thoroughbred books everyone grew up, and some got married, and horses were born and died, and it was very true to life. I wanted to live in that world.

Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery (And everything else I've read from her.)

Her writing was so influential, the lush descriptions, the lively characters, the homey smalltown feel, the realistic passage of time... Mmm, I spent several years trying to copy her.

The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien

Everything about it, just everything. The first epic fantasy I ever read, and it changed me forever.

Miracle on 49th Street by Mike Lupica

It was less the story and more Lupica's style, but this book changed my life with the shocking realization that... fragments were cool? Fragments were actually sometimes exactly what was needed? And and But are okay to start sentences with? This book made me laugh and cry, and discover that some rules should be broken. Oh yeah, and happy endings totally happen.

Mastering the Craft of Writing by Stephen Wilbers

The BEST book on writing I have ever read. I appreciated Strunk & White because that was a handbook, a reference, and it helped me improve my writing a lot. You have to know the rules before you can break them, after all. But Mastering the Craft was the first book about writing that didn't make me feel like an utter idiot or a failure. It's written is such a friendly way, the exercises he gives are fun, and it's all about helping you find your own style, not how to write a best-seller. Love that book, it revolutionized my writing, took me from okay to good at this thing.

[mentally-ill-for-bes]

It's almost hilarious how even when Viktor is trying to get rid of his humanity it just highlights how partial he's to Jayce. His villain speech isn't even threatening, he searches for Jayce to talk especifically, he is still trying to convince Jayce to join him or to see the benefits of glorious evolution, I would say even trying to impress him. He touches Jayce's forehead even when it's not necessary to know his mind, he keeps the blanket even when he does not feel cold or warm long ago. He could have easily kill him but instead he decides to talk more with him about glorious evolution hoping he to accept him without realizing that Jayce is what makes him look the most human, the most desperate for company and understanding

[shanastoryteller]

i'm going to move on from supernatural posting, i swear to god, but first i'm going to talk about ep 9x07 bad boys

the episode itself is fine and good (i mean it's another example of dean having a support network while sam can't have anyone and dean keeping secrets while when sam does it it's the worst betrayal ever but that's not what this is about and sometimes i think about what this show did two earnest, loving traumatized characters by turning them into the most tragic versions of themselves and - ok, this really isn't what this post is about)

but fandom interpretation of this episode actually drives me up a wall because it does a disservice to literally every character

one, john did not leave them without enough money for food. dean gambled it and lost it. there's nothing in canon to say that john was taking longer than expected, that they were running out of money, none of that. dean gambled food money and lost it and then tried to steal to make up for it. he was 16 when this happened and it was a bad decision but i don't think he should be at all vilified for this. he made a dumb mistake and then tried to fix it with another dumb mistake. john was right to be mad and sam was also right to tell him that he shouldn't beat himself up about it. just like with shtriga - yeah, dean was climbing the walls stuck in that hotel room. but you know who else was stuck in that hotel room? sam. and he didn't get a break to go play at the arcade. again, i'm not blaming dean here, he shouldn't have been stuck taking care of his brother that young and he was a kid and john leaving his his children behind while hunting a child eater, whether he was using them for bait or not, is crazy. but dean stealing food wasn't about john's neglect and all the sacrifices dean had to make for sam. it was about him trying to fix his fuck up

two, and this is the one that really gets me, dean didn't go back with john because he had to take care of sam

listen. listen to me. i am speaking from experience when i say this

parentified siblings are still, first and foremost, siblings. especially with only 4 years between them. the show shameless i think did an absolutely excellent job with this and is why i love the first few seasons of it so much. fiona is without a doubt parentified, she is raising those kids, but she's also clearly their sister not their mother

i know later seasons dean and fandom like to make it seem like dean literally raised sam and john was just a background figure but like. that's not realistic, and frankly doesn't even make sense

the reason dean leaves sonny and goes with john isn't because he feels like he has to keep him sam safe. it's isn't because he feels like he has to raise him. it's because he loves him

you are reducing dean to the most pathetic woe is me archetype with this interpretation and ridding him of all his rich loyalty and care and love to saddle him instead with comparatively flat duty. dean is more than sam's caretaker. he's his brother

there's also no reason for dean to feel this way. he just massively fucked up in taking care of sam - that's why he's with sonny in the first place. john has alternate people to take care of sam when he can't do it himself, as he has just proven, and while i don't think we should turn a couple teenage mistakes into making dean incapable, dean absolutely would - and did! he carries every fuck up regarding sam with him! so right now he's really, really low when it comes to his own estimation to take care of sam and leaving sonny because of that doesn't make any sense

but he looks at his brother and is reminded how much he missed him and loves him and realizes staying means he loses his brother. the good and the bad. so he goes, because he loves sam more than anything else

this is also why sam leaving for stanford cuts him so deep. that's why this moment is a parallel to that rather than being unrelated. stanford isn't about sam leaving dean even though he has a duty to care of him, because he doesn't. dean's 22 and at this point is always hunting with their father so there's no reason for sam to believe his presence is necessary for either john or dean's safety

no, dean's mad because he chose his love for his brother over a normal life and sam didn't

(sam didn't want to choose at all but this isn't about him)

anyway. dean fucks up sometimes and john sucks but not quite in the ways fandom thinks and dean loves his brother past reason or sense

[foxx-queen]

so about the choice in act 3. I feel like the writers wanted to do the suicide mission from me2 AND the companion choice from me1. which clashes at its core because the whole point of the me2 mission was that if you did all the companion quests and worked for it, you could keep everyone alive. and I get wanting the shock of having one of the companions die no matter what, but at this point in the game after the obvious set up, it just feels like one of those haHA surprise! moments

then there's the fact that it's between davrin and harding. the black man and the fan favourite from dai. like it feels so stacked against davrin at that point.

I picked davrin first, and then I went back and picked harding, thinking maybe that was the right choice to keep her alive. and here's where the whole choice gets even worse for me, because harding, instead of using her stone magic, the actual thing that would give her an advantage against ghilan'nain, she climbs up to the exact same spot as davrin, and uses her bow. she tries to use arrows against a giant multi-limbed blight enhanced being. it's stupid! of course she dies!

I had expected that if you picked harding, she would use her stone magic, which would distract ghilan'nain because of the history with the titans, giving lucanis enough time to act. it would have worked really well as a continuation of her character arc, and it would tie into her personal quest in a way that would make it clear that the effort we put into doing that was what makes the difference.

but by not doing that and having her die no matter what, it instead feels like it doesn't make sense. davrin, at least, is just a man with a sword. his death here makes sense because he's against impossible odds.

which brings it back to feeling really bad that the choice was between him and harding. because for this sacrifice / loss to make sense, it feels it should be davrin. for this narrative beat to make sense, it should be davrin dying.

it feels like the writers are saying: the correct choice here is davrin. he's the only companion who should die no matter what. to signpost this at the moment you make this choice, we will have the other choice be the fan favourite from dai. because no one will want to risk her potentially dying.

it feels bad. it feels racist. davrin deserved better.

[secretidentie]

Bruce finally feels settled in his role as batman. Dick just went to college, the Justice league is doing well and he's got a new Robin. So he decides it's finally time he made his parents proud and finish medical school (and totally not because he wants to be in college at the same time as dick, that's ridiculous Alfred).

Obviously since he's the prince of Gotham he can't really go to Gotham U without being recognized or harassed and since he owns half the buildings he knows he won't be treated fairly so he decides to study in Metropolis.

This is how he ends up in a communication and ethics elective class with a Clark kent, a journalist for the daily planet who is getting his PhD. They slowly develop from strangers to study buddies and maybe even more while Bruce balances academic pressure, with being batman and a dad to dick 2.0 jason.

As the year goes on and he has to deal with assignments, group projects, literal teenagers and not always being perfect Clark's apartment slowly becomes a safe space as he learns to ask for help and accept change.

[the-daily-dreamer]

Ryan Condal you are so fucking stupid and I hate you so much.

Because how are you going to sit there and say Alicent recounted a fabricated version of Blood and Cheese to historians to make Rhaenyra look bad and that’s why you changed it.

The very same Alicent that you say has been humbled this season and betrayed her sons to help Rhaenyra.

How are you so stupid that you can’t even keep her characterization the same in your own brain when you rationalize your butchering of the story you were tasked with adapting. Which one is it? Is Alicent the humbled Rhaenyra helper who wanted to doom her male relatives. Or is Alicent the bitter Rhaenyra hater who destroyed her reputation in the histories. SHE CANNOT BE BOTH RYAN.

And if this is some weak attempt at saying Alicent will change again…FUCK YOU. Because you threw out her season 1 characterization completely for this season 2 humbled Alicent arc. Only to apparently throw it all out AGAIN for a queen in chains who hates Rhaenyra and will ruin her reputation arc for seasons 3 and 4. In which case WHAT WAS THE REASON. WHY DID YOU EVEN DO THIS. JUST KEEP THE CHARACTER CONSISTENT

—

I’m just saying. That Ryan Condal is not even capable of figuring out who he wants Alicent to be. So he just uses his weird misinterpretations and hatred of Alicent to excuse every bizarre and stupid creative decision he makes. And all that does is make Alicent a character with absolutely zero consistency. Because she is Rhaenyra’s best friend, then she’s Rhaenyra’s biggest hater, then she’s Rhaenyra’s supporter again (the toasting scene???), then she’s a usurper, then she helps Rhaenyra, then she’s apparently going to hate Rhaenyra all over again and recount fabrications to history. And on and on it goes.

At this point just let Alicent hate Rhaenyra and be done with it. I’m tired

[thenotoriousscuttlecliff]

The older I get the more I realise there is just nothing to Jean and Logan as a couple, he's just the cool bad boy alternative to her straight laced boyfriend, and no writer has ever bothered to develop them beyond that. Logan really has more of a dynamic with Scott than he ever had with Jean. When written well, Scott and Jean feel like genuine partners with neither character overshadowing the other, but when she's paired with Logan, Jean seems to just become the love interest or worse a prize for Logan to win for being a good person, the relationship always reduces her.

[queens-nightmare]

Step 54: How to (literally) be on cloud nine (1/2)

You guys don't know how excited I am that I can finally show them having a date without fearing anyone having a problem with this, because some of y'all might remember how the fandom was towards Snatchnessa ships. But they can. They had a carefully written build up with heart-to-hearts and other stuff >:3c

========

Step 53 | Step 55 | All steps of Route of Recovery

[luminique]

hii hii lumii !! I ADORE your interpretation of lighter so far— I love him smm

anyways, I hope my req is okay but I was wondering if you could do a comfort fic ? maybe reader has been a lil distant lately and just in some feels and he gives them a lil talk after being blown off here and there to find out they were having issues w their mental health and not feeling good enough and maybe he’s caught off guard because reader is usually so out going and always has a smile on their face and to see them feel so small makes him wanna take care of them so much and gives them so much reassurance and gentle kisses and cuddles 👉👈

I hope it’s okay !! I’ve been in the feels lately

hi anonn !! im gonna answer this one first because i've been in the feels too and i think we all deserve some reassurance, especially after all of the sad lighter story.

i don't take lighter for the kind to be too intrusive. that's not to say that he doesn't notice the way you're staring off into the distance, as if always having something on your mind. or the way you left earlier than usual for the SoC's nightly hangouts around the fire. or the way you had just been distancing yourself from him.

maybe you just needed a day, or two, and so he waited. he waited, and waited, but it just seemed like it was getting worse. he was beginning to get anxious, coming up with possibilities and worse case scenarios. even his favorite grape-flavored lollipop couldn't reduce the anxiety that was building up inside of him as he followed after you one night.

he shook off his nerves, spending quite a bit of time at the front door of your lodging while in blazewood. mentally practicing what to say so that he wouldn't make things even worse than they already were. one step, two deep breaths, three knocks on your door. he cleared his voice, usually confident and smooth but now carried a hint of worry in it.

"hey, uh... everything alright?"

you could hear the ruffling of his jacket, the soft metal clinks of his gloves. he didn't dare open the door until you allowed him to, so he waited, just like he always had. "lighter? yeah, everything's fine," was that a slight crack in your voice? no, no, he had to have imagined that. he knew it was wrong but he had waited long enough. he turned the knob, opening the door just a little bit but still not walking in.

"you don't have to tell me everything. just... know that i'll be here, waiting for you." he wasn't the best at comforting, nor was he good at even navigating these sorts of things but at the very least, he wanted you to have the knowledge that you had him. it didn't take long for you to finally get up, opening the door that separated the both of you. you looked so... different. the light absent from your eyes, the edges of your lips normally turned upwards but now they weren't. if he couldn't say what you wanted to hear, maybe you'd understand through his actions.

his arms wrapped around you. squeezing you just a little tighter than usual as he somehow made the both of you waddle backwards into your room. he had kept his gloves in his pants, not wanting to hurt you even more with them. his embrace was a familiar warmth, like the fire during particularly cold nights in the outer ring. you could hear his heart racing, was it from nervousness? anxiety? fear? even he didn't know.

he took this as an opportunity to place soft kisses on the top of your head but then stopped all of a sudden. he turned around to the door and realized that it was still wide open. he kicked it close with his foot, feeling embarrassed at the fact that he had to stop because of something so minor. he wanted you to feel safe, to have privacy, to be able to breathe without others barging in. technically, he had invaded this space of yours but you were slowly melting into him, as if you had been waiting for this too.

every passing second hugging you, kissing you, it made his own worries disappear. he hoped the same for you as you slowly spoke to him about your own problems. as he listened, he'd pause every once in while to give you a deadpan stare. not because he was making fun of you or anything, but it genuinely baffled him how you could say such things about yourself. you felt so insecure about yourself and your image, about being with him, being with the SoC. he had to physically stop himself from just blurting "i love you" every time you said something so degrading.

instead, he chose to wait and listen. his calloused hands gently caressing yours, his lips pressing kisses on the side of your head as you nuzzled into him. he loves you for who you are, the person in front of him, not the image that you had made yourself out to be in your mind. but he waits for you to let it all out before he says anything else. he will wait, he will listen, he will always be there for you.

[grabby-smitten]

Now this is one of the reasons why there’s so much smut/porn written by women for women with male characters.

[little-hermit-crab56]

WHY IS THE NINJAGO FANDOM OUTSIDE OF TUMBLR SO FUCKING TOXIC

[solace-saphylos]

The internet is a wonderful place.

[epickiya722]

Seeing someone say they hope Gege gets hit by a car and others going "good" because he's sick was just... look, hate or love the story but it's extreme to wish harm on some guy over FICTION.

You know, one reason why some people stop creating is because people do shit like that.

Imagine being someone who writes a fic and someone comments how they wish harm on you. OVER WORDS. THAT THEY DIDN'T HAVE TO READ.

Ridiculous, isn't it?

[henke-penke]

Fuck it,

World Tour but with Eva instead of Duncan !!!

Some plot points I conjured up while procrastinating my illustration

Eva ends up on Team Chris Is Really Really Really Really Hot.

She's almost immediately wary of Alejandro, but will write it off since she's not good with people, so it's likely just her reading into things wrong.

However, this changes in Germany, when Noah makes note of his own suspicions.

Owen is the one medically evacuated in Jamaica.

Team E-scope wins the challenge in London, and because there is no Duncan to capture, Team Amazon loses. And realistically, Heather would be voted out, sad but true

This means that Alejandro is in a bit of a situation, because Noah and Eva are both onto him and they along with Izzy have the majority vote on their team. (Which, they've technically had since day one, but Alejandro wasn't aware of their suspicions of him prior, he didn't see it as a threat)

His best strategy is then to take away that advantage. Because of his interaction with Izzy in the Paris episode, I'm going to say that Alejandro manages to convince her to vote herself, and Izzy leaves in Area 51.

Because of this Team Chris now has to stay on a winning streak where Eva and Noah will try their damn hardest to get Tyler to vote with them. Which will be a fucking task because he and Alejandro are friends.

And quickly for the Amazons. Because there's no Duncan, Courtney and Gwen can properly establish a friendship. Absolutely not without a handful of hiccups along the ride, but it'll be much more stable without him being there and they can actually talk out any issues they may have.

If we're rolling with the canon of Team Victory being eliminated in the first half of the season, then the players making the merge will be; Alejandro, Eva, Noah, Tyler, Courtney, Gwen, and Sierra (Cody is eliminated in Australia I have my reasons trust). Which means that with the addition of Blaineley, we get an f/f couple in the wedding challenge hell yeah !!

Oh and Eva makes final four because she's awesome like that

[martyrbat]

i love you writers with intellectual disabilities. i love you writers who have a limited vocabulary. i love you writers who struggle with grammar and sentence structures. i love you writers who struggle with executive dysfunction. i love you physically disabled writers. i love you writers who have to have someone else do the typing/writing as you speak outloud. i love you writers who repeat themselves. i love you writers who have to take frequent breaks. i love you writers who are on hiatus. i love you all so, so much.

[ophelia-j]

AO3 commenters: you have no idea how important you are to keeping authors writing. To making us happy. To improving our day, by even the smallest amount.

I've been struggling with my mental health a bit lately and I was feeling more than a little down this afternoon, as life was feeling especially relentless. Then I got this comment, over a year after I posted the final chapter:

I was so touched. Touched that PrincessFi1 had not only read FBD once, but read it TWICE!! Over two parts, it's 387k words! That's genuinely astonishing to me, and it parted some of the clouds that had been over me all day.

Yes, I love it. Yes, it contains some of my writing I'm most proud of, out of anything I've ever written. To find out that other people love it too, even now, over a year after I finished it, means so much to me.

I made myself laugh, cry, sob like a baby, smile like an idiot. I worked through some stuff, alongside our boys, and I just wanted to say here, for the record: everyone who's been on that journey with me, especially those who took the time to tell me in the comments, THANK YOU. From the bottom of my heart: thank you. Your investment, your encouragement, your love - for K/S and for FBD, meant I actually finished a work I'm still proud of, and look back on with such affection.

And I'm carrying a fair amount of guilt that there are now hundreds of comments in my inbox that I've read, but not responded to, so I wanted to post this:

If you've ever commented on a fic and didn't get a response, I am going to take the liberty of responding on behalf of all writers: we thank you, we love you, and we are so, so grateful.