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claire-want-to-sleep-all-day · 5 months ago

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dokja's life is hectic. at least venti is there, with him. he covers dokja's ears when people discussing those nasty rumors, sings many many tunes to override those mocking laughters, tells dokja how is his mother doing in jail, more and more. three of them occasionally meet in dream and chatting about everything they can, courtesy of venti's magic. if dokja and venti never mentioned about their lives at school, sookyung will let it slip no matter how worried she is, because she trusted them.

but despite venti and sookyung's effort, they can't stop the bully to find their way to their little child. venti cries in helplessness while hugging his dear child, and dokja could only gives him a shaky unlucky smile, laying in the wet floor, beaten like rag. sookyung weeping silently when she see the hurt in venti and dokja's eyes whenever she mentioned about how they are doing.

and then.

kim dokja jumped. he was 15.

he survived. but his eyes is now dull and lifeless. the heartbroken is visible in venti and sookyung's eyes, when they reunite in dreams.

kim dokja wants to survive. if not for himself, then for his dear family. he has to survive, no matter what.

and a novel found its way to their lives.

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years passed. kim dokja is 28 when the apocalypse started. he did not killed kim namwoon, offered the grasshopper instead. dokja felt the wind is caressing his cheeks, and he gave it his small, genuine smile.

multiple constellations sending him indirect messages, and much more constellations is watching him, but dokja's mind only focus on that one constellation whose gaze is familiar. it feels like venti. feels like home.

and there he is, the 5th constellation in his sponsor list, masquerading by the modifier Singer of Skyward Sonnets. dokja grinning brightly, and the wind is laughing with him.

bihyung and other constellations are very intrigued by this new face. secretive plotter is intrigued too, but because of a different reason. this constellation gives him a very familiar vibe, like the breeze he sometimes felt during his journey to become the king of outer god. it's comforting.

when sookyung sees the modifier in her sponsor list, she immediately smiles brightly, her gaze soften and brimming with affection. she then looks at the sky and says: "i missed you, venti, dokja-yah." the wind whispered, "i missed you too, sookyung-ah, dokja-yah."

in the cabin, dokja replied with honeyed voice, "me too, mom, venti", eyes sparkling with adoration. three of them giggling, constellations are crazy and incarnations are confused, but they did not give a fuck.

with the start of apocalypse, their little family is able to reunite now. no more meeting in dreams only. dokja and sookyung basked in the warm gaze of the bard, and continue to do what they need to do in a ruined world.

----------------------------------------------------------

when dokja and venti reunite, it was when he returned from anguk station. joonghyuk glaring at the green bard standing with a lyre in his hand, eyes looking at joonghyuk as if he known joonghyuk would come.

it's infuriating. just like that man.

dokja, upon seeing venti, was in disbelief as first. but seeing his companions and constellations' reactions, he finally snapped out of it. he runs and jumps into venti's open arm, laughing to his heart content. the bard is laughing too, swinging dokja in the air and kissing his face. dokja blushed, saying "i'm not a kid anymore, you don't have to kiss my face!" along the line but his bright grin betrayed him. seeing venti's 'yeah yeah i know you are just to embarrassed to say you like it' look, he decided to retaliate by pulling venti's cheeks. the bard does the same. they look exactly like siblings.

dokja feels like he has returned to the days when his mother was still with them, reading playing and joking together.

everyone is damn shocked. this probably is the most expressive dokja they ever see. joonghyuk secretive plotter and kkoma joonghyuks are even more shocked. dokja's bright smile hit them like a truck. uriel is screaming. abfd and sun wukong is gagging/picking their ears at the sight. sooyoung and namwoon joins abfd, sangah smiles quietly, others are confused.

#omniscient reader's viewpoint #orv #genshin impact #this is part 2 and who knows when will i write the next #yes venti did watched over and protected sp when he wandered to become an outer god #bihyung and constellations are damn confused but they choose to ignore that #4th wall is a menace and it let joonghyuk sp kkomas see through the censored to teased them #4th wall is in trouble because it would work less effective when dokja meet venti and sookyung #basically dokja venti and sookyung stay at the same side of the 4th wall #and joonghyuk faces more trouble to penetrate the wall compare to the og lol poor him #poor him but don't worry venti will help him

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wastrelwoods · 2 years ago

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Got tag-gamed by El @willgrahambf!! Posting the list of all my current WIPs by title/description/whatever I have for them and then tagging as many people as there are WIPs! If you want to know more about any of them in particular send me an ask or a reply and I’ll find u a snippet or similar.

mille-fleur | nbc hannibal | abigail-centric primavera au, just sort of digging my teeth into the concept of abigail just happening to not die when she was supposed to Again and the way the cycles can keep cycling from there

and the deep blue sea | nbc hannibal | season one will character study I have been chipping away at forever made up of missing scenes and macabre fantastical dream sequences

fitcher’s bird | nbc hannibal | crimson peak au! hannibal and mischa lecter as a couple of codependent bluebeards and will in his haunted gothic heroine era...still working on the setup because i think it’s going to get long and involved but the vibes are really exciting to me

“genghis khan music video au” | our flag means death | i can’t look directly at fandom spaces for this show really but the goofy shenanigans of it did infect my brain so i am keeping this around for when the time is right. maybe by season 2. ANYWAY stede’s an off-brand james bond ed is a criminal mastermind they do a little dance make a little love etc

quicksilver in your hand | the left hand of darkness | god. fuck i was just consumed by the thought of pre-canon estraven pining for the weird alien. trying to make some of it happen but the way i need a glossary on hand makes it a little slow going

.....and that’s what I have! shorter than I expected but my list of unwritten ideas is much longer; the stuff i have actually put hands to keyboard about is blissfully brief. I am also not counting anything partly written that I will probably never have a reason to finish and post or we would be here all damn day!

damn the hannibal mutuals are tagging each other already well let me add @chaotic-plotter who may well have been tagged already and then ask around for @eternalgirlscout and @motherfuckingnazgul and @returnsandreturns and @heliological in the wider fandomsphere since we’ve been writing in different circles but I’d love to see what y’all are up to. FEEL free to ignore me or talk about original projects instead or whatever floats your boat

#tell em about malcom nolastname sarah. tell them all #my fic #tag game

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kmclaude · 4 years ago

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Forgive me Father, I have no awful headcanons for you, only a general question on comic making. How do you do it, writing-wise/how do you decide what points go where, how do you plot it out (or do you have any resources on the writing aspect that you find useful?) Not to get too bogged down in details, but I attended a writer’s workshop and the author in residence suggested I transfer my wordy sci-fi WIP into graphic novel script, as it might work better. (I do draw, but I don’t know if I have it in me to draw a whole comic—characters in motion? Doing things? With backgrounds? How dare, why can’t everyone just stand around looking pretty)

I was interested but it quickly turned into a lot of internal screaming as I tried to figure out how to compress the hell out of it, since novels are free to do a lot more internal monologuing and such compared to a comic format (to say nothing of trying to write a script without seeing how the panels lay out—just for my own sake, I might have to do both concurrently.)

As an aside, to get a feel for graphic novels I was rereading 99RM and was reminded of how great it was—tightly plotted, intriguing, and anything to do with Ashmedai was just beautifully drawn. I need more Monsignor Tiefer and something something there are parallels between Jehan and Daniel in my head and I don’t know if they make sense but it works for me. (As an aside, I liked the emphasis on atonement being more than just the word sorry, but acknowledgment you did wrong and an attempt to remedy it—I don’t know why that spoke to me the way that it did.)

I thought Tumblr had a word count limit for asks but so far it has offered zero resistance, oh well. I don’t have much else to say but on the topic of 99RM, Adam getting under Monsignor’s skin is amazing, 10/10 (about the Pride picture earlier)

wow tumblr got rid of the markdown editor! or at least in asks which means the new editor probably has no markdown....god i hate this site! anyway...

Totally! So first, giant thank you for the compliments! Second, I have a few questions in turn for you before I dive into a sort of answer, since I can give some advice to your questions in general but it also sounds like you have a specific conundrum on your hands.

My questions to your specific situation are:

did the author give any reason for recommending a, in your words, "wordy" story be turned into a graphic novel?

is the story you're writing more, like you said, "internal monologuing"? action packed? where do the visuals come from?

do you WANT it to be a comic? furthermore, do you want it to be a comic you then must turn around and draw? or would you be interested in writing for comics as a comic writer to have your words turned into art?

With those questions in mind, let me jump into the questions you posed me!

Let me start with a confession...

I've said this before but let me say it again: Ninety-Nine Righteous Men was not originally a comic — it was a feature-length screenplay! And furthermore, it was written for a class so it got workshopped again and again to tighten the plot by a classroom of other nerds — so as kind as your compliments are, I'm giving credit where credit is due as that was not just a solo ship sailing on the sea. On top of that, it got adapted (by me) into a comic for my thesis, so my advisor also helped me make it translate or "read" well given I was director, actor, set designer, writer, editor, SFX guy, etc. all in one. And it was a huge help to have someone say "there is no way you can go blow by blow from script to comic: you need to make edits!" For instance, two scenes got compressed to simple dialogue overlaid on the splashpage of Ashmedai raping Caleb (with an insert panel of Adam and Daniel talking the next day.) What had been probably at least 5 pages became 1.

Additionally, I don't consider myself a strong plotter. That said, I found learning to write for film made the plotting process finally make some damn sense since the old plot diagram we all got taught in grammar school English never made sense as a reader and definitely made 0 sense as a writer — for me, for some reason, the breakdown of 25-50-25 (approx. 25 pages for act 1, 50 for act 2 split into 2 parts of 25 each, 25 pages for act 3) and the breaking down of the beats (the act turning points, the mid points, the low point) helped give me a structure that just "draw a mountain, rising action, climax is there, figure it out" never did. Maybe the plot diagram is visually too linear when stories have ebb and flow? I don't know. But it never clicked until screenwriting. So that's where I am coming from. YMMV.

I should also state that there's Official Ways To Write Comic Scripts to Be Drawn By An Artist (Especially If You Work For A Real Publisher As a Writer) and there's What Works For You/Your Team. I don't give a rat's ass about the former (and as an artist, I kind of hate panel by panel breakdowns like you see there) so I'm pretty much entirely writing on the latter here. I don't give a good god damn about official ways of doing anything: what works for you to get it done is what matters.

What Goes Where?

Like I said, 99RM was a screenplay so it follows, beat-wise, the 3-act screenplay structure (hell, it's probably more accurate to say it follows the act 1/act 2A/act 2B/act 3 structure.) So there was the story idea or concept that then got applied to those story beats associated with the structure, and from there came the Scene-by-scene Breakdown (or Expanded Scene Breakdown) which basically is an outline of beats broken down into individual scenes in short prose form so you get an overview of what happens, can see pacing, etc. In the resources at the end I put some links that give information on the whole story beat thing.

(As an aside: for all my short comics, I don't bother with all that, frankly. I usually have an image or a concept or a bit of writing — usually dialogue or monologue, sometimes a concrete scene — that I pick at and pick at in a little sketchbook, going back and forth between writing and thumbnail sketches of the page. Or I just go by the seat of my pants and bullshit my way through. Either or. Those in many ways are a bit more like poems, in my mind: they are images, they are snapshots, they are feelings that I'm capturing in a few panels. Think doing mental math rather than writing out geometric proofs, yanno?)

Personally, I tend to lean on dialogue as it comes easier for me (it's probably why I'm so drawn to screenwriting!) so for me, if I were to do another longform GN, I'd probably take my general "uhhhhhh I have an idea and some beats maybe so I guess this should happen this way?" outline and start breaking it down scene by scene (I tend to write down scenes or scene sketches in that "uhhhh?" outline anyway LOL) and then figure out basic dialogue and action beats — in short, I'd kind of do the work of writing a screenplay without necessarily going full screenplay format (though I did find the format gave me an idea of timing/pacing, as 1 page of formatted script is about equal to 1 minute of screentime, and gave me room to sketch thumbnails or make edits on the large margins!) If you're not a monologue/soliloque/dialogue/speech person and more an image and description person, you may lean more into visuals and scenes that cut to each other.

Either way this of course introduces the elephant in the panel: art! How do you choose what to draw?

The answer is, well, it depends! The freedom of comics is if you can imagine it, you can make it happen. You have the freedoms (and audio limitations) of a truly silent film with none of the physical limitations. Your words can move in real time with the images or they can be a narrative related to the scene or they could be nonsequitors entirely! The better question is how do you think? Do you need all the words and action written first before you break down the visuals? Do you need a panel by panel breakdown to be happy, or can you freewheel and translate from word and general outlines to thumbnails? What suits you? I really cannot answer this because I think when it comes to what goes where with regard to art, it's a bit of "how do you process visuals" and also a bit of "who's drawing this?" — effectively, who is the interpreter for the exact thing you are writing? Is it you or someone else? If it's you, would you benefit from a barebones script alongside thumbnailed paneling? Would you be served by a barebones script, then thumbnails, then a new script that includes panel and page breakdowns? What frees you up to do what you need to do to tell your story?

If I'm being honest, I don't necessarily worry about panels or what something will look like necessarily until I'm done writing. I may have an image that I clearly state needs to happen. I may even have a sequence of panels that I want to see and I do indeed sketch that out and make note of it in my script. But exactly how things will be laid out, paneled, situated? That could change up until I've sketched my final pencils in CSP (but I am writer and artist so admittedly I get that luxury.)

How do I compress from novel to comic?

Honest answer? You don't. Not really. You adapt from one to another. It's more a translation. Something that would take forever to write may take 1 page in a comic or may take a whole issue.

I'm going to pick on Victor Hugo. Victor Hugo spent a whole-ass book in Notre-Dame de Paris talking about a bird's eye view of Paris and other medieval architecture boring stuff, with I guess some foreshadowing with Montfaucon. Who cares. Not me. I like story. Anyway. When we translate that book to a movie any of the billion times someone's done that, we don't spend a billion years talking at length about medieval Paris. There's no great monologuing about the gibbet or whatever: you get to have some establishing shots, maybe a musical number, and then you move tf on. Because it's a movie, right? Your visuals are right there. We can see medieval Paris. We can see the cathedral. We can see the gibbet. We don't need a whole book: it's visually right there. Same with a comic: you may need many paragraphs to describe, say, a space station off of Sirius and one panel to show it.

On the flip side, you may take one line, maybe two, to say a character keyed in the special code to activate the holodeck; depending on the visual pacing, that could be a whole page of panels (are we trying to stretch time? slow it down? what are we emphasizing?) A character gives a sigh of relief — one line of text, yeah? That could be a frozen panel while a conversation continues on or that could be two (or more!) panels, similar to the direction [a beat] in screenwriting.

Sorry there's not a super easy answer there to the question of compression: it's a lot more of a tug, a push-pull, that depends on what you're conveying.

So Do I Have It In Me to Write & Draw a GN?

The only way you'll know is by doing. Scary, right? The thing is, you don't necessarily need to be an animation king or God's gift to background artists to draw a comic.

Hell, I hate backgrounds. I still remember sitting across from my friend who said "Claude you really need to draw an establishing exterior of the church at some point" and me being like "why do you hate me specifically" because drawing architecture? Again? I already drew the interior of the church altar ONCE, that should be enough, right? But I did draw an exterior of the church. Sorta. More like the top steeple. Enough to suggest what I needed to suggest to give the audience a better sense of place without me absolutely losing my gourd trying to render something out of my wheelhouse at the time.

And that's kinda the ticket, I think. Not everyone's a master draftsman. Not everyone has all the skills in every area. And regardless, from page one to page one hundred, your skills will improve. That's all part of it — and in the meantime, you should lean into your strengths and cheat where you can.

Do you need to lovingly render a background every single panel? Christ no! Does every little detail need to be drawn out? Sure if you want your hand to fall off. Cheat! Use Sketchup to build models! Use Blender to sculpt forms to paint over! Use CSP Assets for prebuilt models and brushes if you use CSP! Take photographs and manip them! Cheat! Do what you need to do to convey what you need to convey!

For instance, a tip/axiom/"rule" I've seen is one establishing shot per scene minimum and a corollary to that has been include a background once per page minimum as grounding (no we cannot all have eternal floating heads and characters in the void. Unless your comic is set in the void. In which case, you do you.) People ain't out here drawing hyper detailed backgrounds per each tiny panel. The people who DO do that are insane. Or stupid. Or both. Or have no deadline? Either way, someone's gonna have a repetitive stress injury... Save yourself the pain and the headache. Take shortcuts. Save your punches for the big K.O. moments.

Start small. Make an 8-page zine. Tell a beginning, a middle, an end in comic form. Bring a scene to life in a few pages. See what you're comfortable drawing and where you struggle. See where you can lean heavily into your comfort zones. Learn how to lean out of your comfort zone. Learn when it's worth it to do the latter.

Or start large. Technically my first finished comic (that wasn't "a dumb pencil thing I drew in elementary school" or "that 13 volume manga I outlined and only penciled, what, 7 pages of in sixth grade" or "random one page things I draw about my characters on throw up on the interwebz") was 99RM so what do I know. I'm just some guy on the internet.

(That's not self-deprecating, I literally am some guy on the internet talking about my path. A lot of this is gonna come down to you and what vibes with you.)

Resources on writing

Some of these are things that help me and some are things that I crowd-sourced from others. Some of these are going to be screenwriting based, some will be comic based.

Making Comics by Scott McCloud: I think everyone recommends this but I think it is a useful book if you're like "ahh!!! christ!! where do I start!!!???" It very much breaks down the elements of comics and the world they exist in and the principles involved, with the caveat that there are no rules! In fact, I need to re-read it.

Comic Book Design: I picked this up at B&N on a whim and in terms of just getting a bird's eye view of varied ways to tackle layout and paneling? It's such a great resource and reference! I personally recommend it as a way to really get a feel for what can be done.

the screenwriter's bible: this is a book that was used in my class. we also used another book that's escaping me but to be honest, I never read anything in school and that's why I'm so stupid. anyway, I'd say check it out if you want, especially if you start googling screenwriting stuff and it's like 20 billion pieces of advice that make 0 sense -- get the core advice from one place and then go from there.

Drawing Words & Writing Pictures: many people I know recommended this. I think I have it? It may be in storage. So frankly, I'd already read a bunch of books on comics before grabbing this that it kind of felt like a rehash. Which isn't shade on the authors — I personally was just a sort of "girl, I don't need comics 101!!!"

Invisible Ink: A Practical Guide to Building Stories that Resonate: this has been recommended so many times to me. I cannot personally speak on it but I can say I do trust those who rec'd it to me so I am passing it along

the story circle: this is pretty much the hero's journey. a useful way to think of journeys! a homie pretty much swears by it

a primer on beats: quick google search got me this that outlines storybeats

save the cat!: what the above refers to, this gives a more genre-specific breakdown. also wants to sell you on the software but you don't need that.

I hope this helps and please feel free to touch base with more info about your specific situation and hopefully I'll have more applicable answers.

#writing #making a graphic novel #writing a graphic novel #tutorial #writing tutorial

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confirmed-for-trash · 3 years ago

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watched Shaun's hairy plotter™ video on youtube last night and holy fucking shit this goes deep. tl;dr what a hateful nasty book series for children to read.

remember how bible thumpers hated these books and forbade their kids to read them? I'm very sad to say that this time they were right...but for the wrong reasons sgshshfkhkgl. cuz these books have neo-liberalism all over them and white xtians LOVE neo-liberalism. personally, I think if my lefty progressive queer ass even touched one of these books at this point, I would spontaneously combust.

I remember trying to read these books back in the early aughts even though I was already like 20. I thought the concept of Wizard School sounded pretty neat and I wanted to know why even grown adults loved these books so much. I got through the first three all right; didn't get the hype but I just thought maybe I was being too cynical. then books 4 and 5 happened.

I skipped book 4 and just watched the movie because holy damn have you seen that book? it's thicker than Lord of the goddamn Rings. would make good kindling for the bonfire BUT ANYWAYS

around 2006, I actually did attempt to read book 5. and that's what finally finally made me put the series away forever. because it's dismal and miserable in every way. every single fucking character including Harry Protagonist is an insufferable, unlikeable little bitch, and Jay Kay killed off the one fucking guy who actually seemed interesting, and in a stupid way to boot. so I said Fuck These Books and moved on with my fucking life...

but other adults in my age group kept insisting that this was some kind of literary masterpiece. getting tats of the fuckin triangle symbol and car stickers that say 'baby muggle on board' and other silly shit. I don't begrudge folks having their silly shit; I have my own silly things, we all do. but for the love of god I still can't understand why they picked THIS.

it's not just the hatred and pettiness and capitalism that seeps out of every page. though that is... definitely telling and off-putting, to say the least. it's the simple fact that there's very little to latch onto here in terms of character and plot. and where the hell is the sense of whimsy and magic and wonder? where are the clever solutions to sticky magical situations? where's the humor and fun? cuz it certainly isn't in this book series. I don't get what people saw in it other than their own nasty hateful reflections.

it's wild to me that the fantasy genre tends to be like this. fantasy isn't about wonder and whimsy and fun. so much of it is thinly veiled allegory for The Real World™ in which the author is free to say all kinds of racist shit but it's okay because it's not really real. sigh.

and that's just disappointing as hell. do yourself a favor and read Discworld instead. Mr. Pratchett knew what was up and he wasn't afraid to say it. also his books are actually hilarious and clever.

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notgonnarememberthis · 4 years ago

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find your way (back to me) - chapter nine

Here’s the next update, not gonna lie this one was a little slow going because I didn’t really know what I was going with here but thankfully I have the best co-plotter in the world and Em helped break me out of my stump. Hopefully I can work out some way to keep chapters rolling because I actually head back to school in a week. As always, all comments are loved and appreciated!!

The call came in around 5 AM. Gil was startled awake by the sound of his ringtone. His heart thumps painfully in his chest when he sees the missed texts from Malcolm. He’s wide awake when he answers.

“Malcolm? Are you both ok?”

“We’re fine.” The boy’s voice is thin, drained. The words don’t bring any sense of relief, there’s a second meaning behind them. Physically. “There’s another body. Mom found it in the kitchen almost half an hour ago. Agent Swanson and Edrisa are on their way now.”

“Is she alright?” He can hear Malcolm swallow. Contemplating the answer and Gil knows. All those years that she’d hid everything she was feeling from her kids, all of it went to hell the moment she found the body.

“It was Freddy.”

His eyes close in remorse for the stranger. The man had helped Jessica escape, it likely cost him his life. “Fuck.” The word slips out, truthfully but he hears the humorless chuckle from the other end.

“That’s what I said.”

“Where is she at now?”

“In the other room with Ainsley. It was bad. I’d never-”

“She never let you see that side. Neither of you.” Gil, however, had seen it all. When the children were safely asleep he’d hold her until she cried herself to sleep. When they were at school he kept her company so the empty house didn’t swallow her whole. He even went as far as to limit the bottles that she kept in the home at certain points, especially around anniversaries.

Her wedding anniversary was the worst.

“I’m on my way now.” It wasn’t hard, he’d fallen asleep in the same clothes he’d come home in minus his coat and shoes. The exhaustion had worn on him enough that once he hit his bed he was out.

Out enough to miss those damn texts.

He shakes his head. “Make sure everything in the scene is the same. If anything even feels slightly off balance in there I want you to mark it. It’ll be hard but ask your mother if she saw anything at all. If she heard something that startled her awake, anything. We’re going to catch this guy.”

“I know.” Again, the words are distant. The question lingers bitterly in the silence.

But will it be too late?

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

He arrives at the home soon after, blue and red light his way up the driveway. Emergencies beat him there, he spies Agent Swanson’s car as well. He’ll catch up with her after he talks to Malcolm and hopefully Jess.

The air feels chillier as he steps out, a sense of dread holds the chatter to a still. There will be no excited banter between Malcolm and Edrisa. No sarcastic commentary from JT or side discussions with Dani. Eyes fall on the sidewalk as he passes. His steps echo on the concrete, his mind racing as he steps inside the warmth of the home.

“I want to know how a serial killer carrying a fucking body got past three cops! One of which is a fucking FBI agent!” He hears Ainsley shouting as soon as he enters. He follows her voice rounding the corner to see her still in her pajamas and a pair of fuzzy bunny slippers absolutely laying into an officer. “How does that just happen? I don’t understand!” Even in the ridiculous pjs she holds the same command that she does as a reporter, intimidating and driven to have every answer.

“Ainsley.” She looks up at his voice. Her eyes give away everything, the fear hidden behind them is blatant, he assumes that’s exactly why the officer looked unfazed. She comes over and he can see she got little sleep. The dark circles under her eyes showcase her troubles, alone.

“Thank god you’re here.” She whispers, pulling him into a short hug. He feels everything that he was thinking in that embrace. The guilt for leaving earlier that night, despite their agreement. The house was way too big, too many extra bedrooms for them to have gone home. Maybe then, one of them two would’ve seen something.

“Where’s Jess?” He asks once she pulls away. Ainsley’s gaze softens slightly at the nickname before wordlessly guiding him through the halls. The path to Jessica’s bedroom is a familiar one.

The sight though, less so.

Malcolm sits in the chair staring blankly at the floor. His foot bounces at a rate that gives away his desire to investigate, but his reluctance to leave his mother alone. When he spies their movement it’s enough for him to pop up out of his seat, ready to join Edrisa in the kitchen.

Jessica sits on the edge of her bed. Hands clenched together and all too aware of the amount of people currently in her home. She relaxes, only a little at the sight of them.

“Gil.” She breathes, he smiles sadly at her. “Malcolm, go. You’ve been staring at the door for 15 minutes.” He doesn’t argue, but places a comforting hand on her shoulder as he passes. Ainsley lingers in the door behind him, eyes glued to the carpet.

“I’ll go talk to Dani.” She sighs, it’s clear she wants to help more but she knows more than Malcolm that Jessica is putting up a front for the two of them. Gil won’t get much out of her when her daughter is lingering in the room. She hardly cracked in front of them after Martin, she’d be damned if this bastard made her break in front of them again.

Right on cue as the door shuts behind her, Jessica is on her feet pacing across the room. “Gil,” She sighs, running her hands over her face and through her hair.

“Jess, you shouldn’t be moving around so much.” She shoots him a wide eyed look, as if challenging him to stop her. He frowns but doesn’t bring it up again.

“How, I don’t understand.” Her voice catches in her throat, threatening to tear away. “He was in my home. My home.” Her fingers twitch, a tell tale sign that she wishes she could reach for the nearest bottle and pour herself a glass. Or reach for pills. Anything to quell her rising panic.

“Hey-”

“Don’t.” She spins around, faster than she should. He can see the pain resonate through her face the second she does. “Don’t you dare tell me that it’s ok.”

“Jessica.”

“He was in here. He was in the room with my son.” His eyes widen, he hadn’t been told that when he was briefed on the drive over. The way she’s shaking he’s certain she mentioned anything to anyone else either. The thought alone sends a bolt of anxiety through his stomach. “There was a cup of tea on my nightstand. I thought Malcolm made it before he fell asleep in the chair but-”

“But what?”

“Malcolm said he fell asleep an hour before I woke up.” Her hands knot together, trying to stop the shaking. He goes to her, taking her hands in his slowly giving her more than enough time to pull away if that’s what she wanted. “I don’t know what to do.” She whispers the confession. Her eyes shine with unshed tears and she bites her lower lip to keep them under control.

“Stay with me.”

“What?” She blinks rapidly, caught off guard by his words.

“I want you to stay with me. My apartment has one entrance and the fire escape. Less murder tunnels, and quite frankly, I want you as close to me as possible.”

“But Malcolm and Ainsley-”

“They can stay if they’d like too. Hell, I’d be shocked if they didn’t.” His eyes trace over her. The bruises are finally beginning to fade but the scratches still mar her normally smooth skin. With him, he can make sure she heals properly. “I’ll keep you safe.” He promises and he holds his breath. Not once in twenty years did she even entertain the idea of staying somewhere other than her home. Even with the threats of numerous killers, discoveries of tunnels leading to god knows where in her basement, and the blood shed it held more value in the good memories than the bad. He expects her to reject him again.

“Okay.” She whispers with a short nod.

“You will?”

“It’s closer to Malcolm’s and I’ll have Ainsley stay with him until you catch him. I want everyone close.”

“I am still convinced both of them are going to be sharing the couch for the next few days.”

“Even better.” He chuckles at her attempt at a joke. She doesn’t loosen but he can see the relief in her eyes, he doesn’t imagine he could get herself to fall asleep in this room again. At least not for a while.

“Pack up your stuff. After I finish up here we can go back. I’ll make you breakfast and we can sleep in.”

“Oh now you’re just spoiling me.” She squeezes his hand with a small, reluctant smile. “Thank you.”

“No need to thank me.” He places a soft kiss on the back of her hand and leaves the room, ready to dive back into the case. His mind is cleared knowing that Jessica is safe and will be coming home with him rather than staying in a house that has far too many secrets for his own comfort.

He didn’t even see her grab the note from the nightstand and slip it into her shirt pocket.

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whereistheonepiece · 4 years ago

Note

7, 9, 11, 21 for the writer ask game!

7. What do you think are the characteristics of your personal writing style? Would others agree?

Oh god, I don't know? I've tried asking others but didn't get anything haha. I guess the characteristics of my writing would include shortened sentences that are there for emphasis, repetition, and an emphasis on emotions. Hard to say if others would agree tho lol, though I have seen people mention how they like the little details I put in, so I guess there's that?

9. Are you more of a drabble or a longfic kind of writer? Pantser or plotter? Do you wish you were the other?

I'm definitely more of a drabble pantser. I usually start with the one idea and if people seem interested and I have the ideas, I continue. Damn, that's how my multichapter fics end up being. I mean, Late Nights started out as like a 200 word drabble that came from Law saying "Why don't you call me by my name?" When I choose to continue a fic I do have some idea of where the story is going to go from there. But in theory I'd like to be someone who can write longfics.

11. What do you envy in other writers?

I envy people who can write and just not care whether someone's going to read it. I'm a bit of an attention whore and like to know when people like my stuff by telling me in a comment.

Also sometimes I'll come across writers who write beautifully and I'm like "I want to write like that" lolol.

21. What other medium do you think your story would work well as? (film, webcomic, animated series?)

Webcomic or film, I think. I do think film has influenced me because I focus on the characters' body language a lot in my work and I think all of the movies I watch have influenced that.

#asks #monaliar #thank you!

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vandorens-archive · 5 years ago

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ten questions tag | i was tagged by: @mshelleys, @emdrabbles, @pe-ersona, @evergrcen and @septemberliterature. thank you so much, and i’m so sorry i’m getting to this so late!

everything is under the cut!

@mshelleys

i. if you could change the genre of one of your wips, what would you change it to and how would the story/characters change?

So, trahison already features a ghost and a brief stay at a manor. have i considered turning it into a full fledged horror because of that? perhaps.

ii. do you think of your characters as actors playing a part in a movie or as people in history actually doing things that effect the future?

i think of them as actors playing in one long, crazy, unpredictable play.

iii. role swap your protagonist and antagonist but keep their personalities the same; how different would your story be?

honestly, not different at all, because when it comes to it, the subject of trahison’s antagonist (s) is pretty complex.

iv. are any of your characters based on you, family, friends, or someone else you know?

oh, absolutely. my characters range between self inserts, to characters i wish i was more like, to characters that are essentially walking, talking, breathing love letters to the people i care about.

v. how long have you had your main protagonist(s) of your wip(s)?

I’ve been working with marin, nate and ruby for years, long before they were even called that and were a part of a dystopian crime novel (don’t ask). antoine joined them soon after, followed a while later by beth and isadora, and miles was invented during the plotting stage.

vi. do you prefer to write chronologically or just make a bunch of scenes and order them after they’re written?

it depends on what i’m working on and how serious i am about it, but if we’re only talking about trahison, then chronologically!

vii. imagine the problem in your wip is sorted out, how would the protagonist recount the story to their children if they asked?

with a far away look in his eyes and an uncharacteristic fondness in his voice, marin would turn to his children, and tell them how extraordinary his friends were during his university years—their zeal, their inquisitiveness, and conveniently leaving out the uncomfortable loyalty they all had towards each other, until time and life’s commands separated them.

viii. favorite (non-spoilery) line(s) of your current wip(s)?

This small bit of description, albeit a little purple prose-y, is one that i’m very, very proud of.

“ The morning rain had made its grave in the dirt, the bittersweet smell—like exotic black tea—rising into the air. It was the night pluviophiles came to dance. If I think hard, I can still taste the ghost of the raindrops on my tongue and sense Beth’s radiating warmth beside me; its own ghost ” - trahison, chapter three

ix. if your wip was a movie, could you see it be done in the 70s, 80s, 90s, 2000s, or 2010s? why that decade in particular?

so, fun fact, i hadn’t decided when to set trahison (see: the big question mark in my plotting notebook) but i have recently made up my mind and decided to set it in the seventies! if it was a film, then i could see it being made in seventies france! very a la the dreamers.

x. are you able to just make up a story on the spot, or do you need help (plot generators or other outside influences)?

sometimes i’ll take the help of prompts or media, but otherwise i just come up with things on my own!

@emdrabbles

i. what do the names of your main characters mean? did you pick them for the meaning or another reason?

i picked the trahison characters’ names based on two things: how much it related to the character’s backstory or personality, and how pleasing it sounded out loud. here are the meanings of their names:

marin — of the sea

ruby — deep red; precious stone; behold a son

elizabeth — god is my oath

nathaniel — gift from god

antoine — priceless one; beyond praise

isadora — gift of Isis

ii. what book are you currently reading?

I’m currently reading the time machine by h.g wells!

iii. last sentence written?

“ When the end of the world comes — I’ll film it ” — copycat, or the one where i predict the future.

iv. who are some of your faceclaims?

i usually don’t use faceclaims, but if i had to choose:

marin van doren (trahison) — timor simakov

eloi hill (psychophantia) — maxence danet fauvel

cass parker (penny lane) — monica tomas

v. gimme some worldbuilding facts!!

alright, here’s one: in the world of psychophantia, not only is the magic system and your powers controlled by your morals, but so is your social ranking, your education, and any future you may have—to an extent.

vi. do you outline? if so, do you have a specific method?

i’m a plotter and only really work well with a solid outline, however, my outlines range from a series of messy, incoherent bullet points to meticulous scene-by-scene planning based around the three act structure. this post is my go to for plotting assistance!

vii. favourite author?

Like every tumblr user ever, i love donna tartt and maggie stiefvater, but i’m also a huge fan of f.scott fitzgerald, agatha christie and vera caspary!

viii. what is your oldest wip?

trahison! It went through many, many changes — from changes in genre to changes in character names, and there’s still a possibility that it could change even further.

ix. what is your favourite wip?

every wip i reblog under my #others. tag! You all are so damn talented!

x. where do you get your inspiration from?

everywhere around me! from conversations i have with people, from films and books i consume, from the music on the radio — i like that anything and everything can inspire me to create.

@pe-ersona

i. in one sentence, explain your current wip!

a group of secretive students attempt to become immortal, only to uncover the worst parts of themselves — and each other — as they do.

ii. was writing your main interest or did you have other interests?

although writing is my main interest (see: my social media bio on every platform ever), i also like to journal, sew, cook and make videos! my interests usually do have to do with the intention of creation.

iii. what’s your favorite genre to write? to read?

I love writing horror and mysteries. those are my favourite genres, but i also love reading a good contemporary romance!

iv. what is one goal you have for your wip this year? how’s that goal going?

to finish the first draft! so far, not so bad, though i do wish i could write more, but unfortunately, time constraints plus school restrict me from doing so.

v. how old is your wip? or when did you start writing your wip?

trahison is nearly three years old, but i only started writing the current version of it a year ago.

vii. what scene made you cry or laugh or both?

these lines made me laugh out loud the first time i wrote them:

“ Up the stairs stumbled Miles, my slovenly genius roommate. He grinned at the giggles and winked at the exasperated stares.

The gall of him!

I wanted to be him.

He managed to find his balance enough to reach our dorm. I immediately stepped back to let him in, and to make sure I was in no association with his uncomposed state. Nate gave a disapproving look at his back as he staggered in.

I took another step back, raised a pointed eyebrow, and closed the door ” — trahison, chapter three

vii. how many ocs does your wip have? who’s your favourite?

my main wip, trahison, has six main characters. out of the main six, my favourite has to be nathaniel. he is very much the epitome of pure, and sometimes i wonder how he ended up in the middle of such a dark plot.

vii. you have a brand new idea for a wip, what do you do?

brainstorm, brainstorm, brainstorm. scribble down whatever the hell pops up in my brain, attempt to link it together by a thin string of yarn, cross my fingers and hope for the best.

ix. you are having your first book-signing, where are you?

i’m in a small bookstore, nestled in a corner near the storage room. almost no one knows about this town, so the line is small but chatty, fans exchanging theories and analysing certain paragraphs. the sight of them makes me feel warm inside.

x. you have the ability to live in any book, publishing or not, what would it be?

would it be too cliche to say the harry potter universe? other than that, other worlds i would love to be a part of is the world in my novel penny lane, or in midst of a detective story.

@evergrcen / @septemberliterature

i. how did you come up with your wip’s title? what does it mean in relation to the story?

okay, so i discovered the word ‘trahison’ after hearing my french teacher say it, and immediately knew i had to use it for something. ‘trahison’ means betrayal or treason in french, which is one of the main themes in the novel.

ii. do you title your chapters? if so, what’s your favourite?

I don’t, but I would love to!!

iii. what’s a recent line you really like?

Not a very dramatic or noteworthy line, but here’s one from a poem i’m writing:

“ So the two of you get in the car, proceeding to have an argument with the radio ” — examples of easy solutions, or the one where the internet has no answers.

iv. are there any writing-related quotes you really like?

“i think a lot of art is trying to make someone love you” — keaton henson

v. do you have an idea for a cover design for your story?

A black background with serif text, that’s it. It’s simple. It’s mysterious. It’s the type of vibe I want to exude.

vi. what sort of au can you imagine your story being?

...dark academia au anyone?

just kidding. in all seriousness, though, i can see a royalty/political au for trahison, or a medieval fantasy au!

vii. which oc would be the most angry with you as the writer?

eloi. i really need to give that poor boy a break.

viii. if you had to tell the story from a different pov, which character would you choose?

ruby! she’s the token enigma of trahison, so i think her point of view would be very interesting to see.

ix. what would be your oc’s taste in music if they lived in our world?

OKAY let’s see:

marin — classic rock, so the who, queen, def leppard.etc

ruby — that one person who you’re pretty sure only listens to classical music, but is actually very attuned to modern day music. she would mostly listen to female singer-songwriters, so take lorde, marina, lana del rey, and other such artists.

beth — take one look at her playlist, and you’ll see that ninety five percent of it is mitski, while the other five percent is bedroom pop. she would like very tender, calm, cry to in bed music.

Antoine — same as marin, but add other modern day music artists with eclectic sounds, such as twenty one pilots, arctic monkeys, that sort of thing.

nathaniel — classical music, instrumentals, and film soundtracks make up his playlist. if it has sung words, he won’t listen to it. has little to no understanding of modern day music and is too scared to find out more about it.

isadora — 2000’s diva pop plays in the background of her life. rihanna is her go to whenever she gets to control the party. Don’t be surprised if ‘rich girl’ by gwen stefani starts playing in your head at the sight of her.

x. what’s one personal goal you want to achieve by the end of the story?

finishing it with pride!

#( FINALLY i've caught up with everything i've been tagged in ahhh )#games.#long post

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atembomb · 5 years ago

Note

2 20 38?

Yay, I love these!! Thanks @emblematik!!

2. Pantser vs Ploter?

For the main story arc, a total plotter. I have to have a whole outline laid out or I’ll never make any deadlines and I’ll never have any good foreshadowing or Chekhov's Guns laid out for end-game satisfaction lol

Characterization? Ride or die pantser. I feel like I get to know the chacters as I write the story, and I mostly conjure up their personalities while imagining dialogue on long walks in the woods

20. How many WIPs and ideas?

WIPs? Only one now! (The Poetry of Logic) because I just posted my weirdly verbose and experimental scandal/prideship one-shot I’ve been working on, I Dream of Rain, tonight!

https://archiveofourown.org/works/25275298

I am taking on anything and everything as a suggestion for a new oneshot because I think having a short word count side project really helps with writer’s block.

I also have a reylo WIP that was really popular, The Call of the Void, which was my baby but it’s probably permanently abandoned because the fandom got too toxic for me ):

How many ideas? Oh god like infinity but they’re always these massive novel length epics that might die in my mind.

38. Weirdest story idea you’ve ever had?

I’m glad you asked because this will never get written because the discourse it would generate would literally drive me off all platforms BUT:

Since I'm super obsessed with bizarre and original AUs...

Southern Gothic Civil War Louisiana Voodoo Prideship AU

Basically how could Gozuboro be even more evil? Obviously as a slave owner in the old south, basically the worst thing you can be tbh. After mokuba gets sent off to the civil war and dies and Kaiba gets to know Kisara and Isono, he has a change of heart and kills Gozuboro and agrees to smuggle them and all of the remaining slaves north. He does this by making a voodoo deal with a river boat gambler, who is actually atem the crossroads demon, who agrees to take them up river on the boat in exchange for Kaiba’s soul. This means he will be damned to play cards on the river boat against the gambler for all eternity.

But yeah, I can do all the background research I want to make it rich and real and meaningful but I’d never have the balls to post that on this hellsite LOL

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abysshall · 5 years ago

Photo

MICHAEL LANGDON ; PLOTTING POST

american horror story apocalypse

first of all this character comes with a few trigger warnings such as ‘ murder, satanism, apocalypse / end of the world themes & violence. ‘ whilst not all of my threads will involve those things, or any of them, i just wanna make sure anyone potentially affected by those themes knows how to block them from the dash!

by liking this post you are letting me know that you are interested in plotting with me sometime or want to interact somehow!

i have outlined a few plot ideas here and on my plotter page, but you are totally free to think of something you’d like! by liking this though, i may contact you via im or ask, send you memes or message you if we are mutuals on discord or twitter! it is essentially permission to plot, so that i know who is down for interactions !! :)

feel free to message me any time, for specific plots or topics to avoid, i’m pretty chill i promise ‘w’

GENERAL

michael is the son of satan, the anti-christ born into a world that is ripe for remaking. from childhood, he was surrounded by an usual and unnatural life, abandoned by his birth mother and father, thrown into the care of his grandmother before she too was unable to look after him. he was a difficult child, unaware that the brutal and violent acts he committed as a child were evil at all. as he grew older, he obviously realised he wasn’t quite right, but with his family being now made up entirely of ghosts who feared him, he had no-one to encourage him down a healthy path. he craved paternal affections and connections, seeking them out later in other people, but they never stayed for long. his relationship to satan is kind of messy. his dad doesn’t really communicate with him on what to do, or how to do it exactly, but is more akin to a presence/feeling than a physical ally. however, as of right now michael is still dedicated to bringing about his father’s wishes, unaware that he’s more of a pawn for the apocalypse to come about, than on equal parts with the devil. so generally he is emotionally messy, interested in human sins and lies, likes to meddle in things to cause drama, doesn’t mind a cheeky murder but is also still quite naive and lonely at heart.

FRIENDS

OTHER BADDIES ; so whilst michael might have had a rough start to his villain origin story, he’s still evil unfortunately. so generally anyone who has a darker personality, favours cruelty and pain over kindness, he’s gunna be more attracted to them than anyone else. it would be relatively easier for these people to meet him too than others, simply being darkness attracts darkness.

SATAN-CONNECTED PEOPLE ; whether your muse is a satan allegory, knew a version of satan personally or might even be another world’s anti-christ, wouldn’t it be fun to put them in the same space as michael :)

TROUBLE MAKERS / CHAOS-LOVERS ; they may not be the big bad villain, but they love starting some fires! he loves a bit of chaos, a bit of trouble. let’s make some people cry

POSSIBLY PARENTAL / KIND HEARTED PEOPLE ; so whilst generally his company would be more of the chaotic type, he still is emotionally quite vulnerable. he yearns for emotional connections that make him feel safe and secure, like that of a parent and son. if your muse is of that type, maybe we can work out something where their patience gets tested having to take on this burden of a creature.

MANIPULATORS ; whilst he himself is good at manipulating people, he’s also somewhat ready for the corruption. his heart is weak, so it might be easy to prey on his loneliness, for example. without powers, without the support back home, he’s essentially nobody with no-one to look out for him. take advantage of that.

ENEMIES

if the bible is your go-to moral compass then you’re a target for his cruelty, i’ll say that much. as he’s essentially the messiah of hell, there’s no doubt there would be tension between himself and any true believers in god. he’s the representation of sin, of pain and chaos, the bringer of the end of the world. you can guess what his plans might end up being here...

good-doers and nice people in general who want to remove evilness from the island :/

got a bone to pick with the devil? maybe your muse takes it out on this kid instead. he kind of represents satan when satan’s not there so, feel free to throw any devil related angst this way too!

witches. god damn witches. witches cause a few problems for him back home, killing people he has around him and generally trying to stop him. he doesn’t have a high opinion of them at all :/

if you bully him too hard without his powers he might cry ;w;

PLOTTING IDEAS AND OTHER INFORMATION CAN BE FOUND HERE

my rules ♱ my application ♱ my stats ♱ my twitter

#isola plotting call #long post /#i tried not to make it too long ahhh im sorry #———— ( out of character ; 𝐡𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐬 ) ╳

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epixolon · 6 years ago

Text

Hey so I started ORV about 2 weeks ago and I need to place down my feelings and I hope y’all appreciate it. Most of my predictions about immediate events turned out to be wrong, like they were through most of the novel, but some of the longer ranged ones might still be possible, and as you will read i haven’t edited these, so most of my stuff will be wrong, but I don’t much care, it’s stream of thought. Enjoy

Chapter 0-206

* Dokja will bookmark and use either Jonghyuk’s regression, or Nirvana’s reincarnation.

* Dokja will devour a constellation’s story in order to get their stigma, rather than go through the process of bookmarking it, with my personal guess being zeus and the lightning carnival since that’s been mentioned a bunch and he already has electrification.

* when the fourth wall has devoured things so far, dokja gets a better understanding of the being, so maybe if he devours a constellation like, say, zeus, he will gain a better understanding of the constellation to allow for bookmark

* Soon enough he’ll use unidentified wall to communicate with his allies, probably the underworld, maybe Uriel, definitely Jonghyuk and co. outside Seoul in an attempt to consolidate his power before the coming storm of the nebulae opposing him.

* Yoosung will find a way to be a sacrificial bastard like Dokja so she can upgrade her stigma from him by following his story.

* The fourth wall makes a lot of sense both as a representation of Dokja’s inner thoughts and subconscious, mostly seen as the ways that he’s been traumatized, such as with his mother, are when he becomes most like the fourth wall and the benefits are lost.

* The being inside the wall that his mother saw is unclear to me, i could maybe see the subconscious pride and confidence that he has with himself and the knowledge he possesses, but it could also be the author in some fashion, especially with that bit of advice he got in the outer god’s stomach

* The fourth wall is a great piece of writing for every reason possible, but also makes sense within the universe as to how it can do this stuff: we see everywhere that when a constellation wants to do something direct, it has to use up probability, and anyone that wishes to oppose its actions can use some of that probability as well such as with Kyorgius (I don’t remember how to spell his name, the tiny man), or even the outer god, and probability storms are when nobody will use this probability to oppose them, the universe sets the balance right. And so the fourth wall uses probability

* The fourth wall represents two things: 1. how probable is it that a book character can affect a reader? that’s unlikely right? even more so to be able to know the reader in some intimate fashion? and 2. we see sparks every time someone tries to read his mind/abilities. the fourth wall essentially absorbs that probability and stops the skill, and i think a similar thing happened with the unidentified wall as it seemed to be using a lot of probability to do anything and the fourth wall just took it all in “with a bigger spark”

* the unidentified wall i think will possibly become “identified” as something, either a definite thing straight from ways of survival, or it will be open to possibility like Heewon’s crouching figure, in which case i see like a 30% chance it is influenced by the fourth wall and becomes something similar to it

* I definitely think there’s a possibility the secret plotter is related to the author, and you see it much more when in a reread the constellation seems to occasionally hear his thoughts or potentially understand more about the situation than it should be able to, without being overboard obvious about knowing dokja’s attributes.

* ok and with it laughing when he forces down the fourth wall, like he could tell what happened, and when he was “snapping at the great old ones looking at you,” I’d say he’s pretty damn powerful, maybe even more than narrative grade, and maybe it’ll just be the christian god or the devil or whatever something, but it could also be the author i think

* As we’ve seen most clearly from Dokja’s use of the sword song of the maritime war god, but not Jihye’s ghost fleet, constellations can have multiple stigmas, so i at least am predicting Dokja will give the fourth wall or possibly character list, or maybe even a copy of the ways of survival text (i definitely don’t think she’ll get ORV or bookmark though, those are protagonist powers), as a stigma later on for Yoosung, but i def could be wrong about that.

* I think there’s a possibility Sooyoung will tell everyone that Dokja is a reader before he gets back, but i could see it not happening.

* when 41st Yoosung is born as a dokkaebi, i wonder if using her channel will break the contract he and Bihyoung have. i think he might switch over to the channel for his covert revolution actions at the very least, and just block channel access to the vedas and the other nebulae, and might switch over his scenarioing to the new channel entirely

* actually, when he was in Seoul, he said his contract was cancelled, so maybe he can stream with the both of them now, or even just 41st Yoosung

* i think there’s a possibility that Sooyoung actually did plagiarize the text, but just doesn’t remember, either because she’s becoming more like a character like the two prophets, because when the author deleted the text from the internet her mind got frazzled, or when she made her first clones, the memory of reading it went with it and got destroyed when the clone died

* the author in the first chapter said that their story won a contest, and while in retrospect it seems like a lie, i wonder if there’s the possibility that like with peace land, who’s author sold the setting, if the author wrote the story either without meaning to

* like if Sooyoung actually did just write her own story from a dream, maybe the author did the same and just got more of the dream enough to realize the coming reality of the story, and maybe the dream was them acting like actual prophets to the world before the constellations were going to show up anyway

* the debt/free service time mentioned by the dokkaebi in the beginning is interesting, and i wonder if the end of the scenarios is having enough coins to buy either the planetary system or even just more time of free service away from the constellations.

* Dokja might eventually get more attributes, maybe something like writer or fanfiction writer or revisionist to get new powers given the ways he’s changing the story, either something like avatar (or maybe he’ll just use bookmark for that) as a way to either die more or make a nebulae out of one constellation, or some bullshit reality bending power like writing is, or just like a more reliable use of the other constellations’ Deus Ex Machina to do anything he wants, with enough probability of course

* compounded because in his attributes window we see more skills ■’d out

* given Myungoh’s daughter, will Dokja be adopting a 4th child in the near future?

* maybe asmodeus wants to feed the 73rd demon king to his child

* do you think anyone we’ve met, maybe someone from the constellation banquet, has the ancient dragon’s heart we see Dokja looking at in the Ichthyosaurs’ stomach?

* does/will Dokja look very different from how he did previously because of the golden dragon heart (which based on the heart we’ve seen previously should give him a lot of regen and storage of his magic) and the arm? along with the rest of the broken pieces that became his ruined body that probably only vaguely resemble his face? and the demonic energy he had before and might have again, and maybe ending up as the 73rd demon king

* his face is apparently blurry to people, even with a new story on it, i wonder if he’ll lower the fourth wall to let people see him at some point

* Jihye mentioned that his face is blurry, but Gilyoung has mentioned that he looks fine, so to me that indicates it’s maybe the fourth wall

* do you think there will be any romance by the end? i get the Jonghyuk and Dokja romance implications, but at least as far as the Fate goes, it looked a lot more to me that Dokja’s true love was the love of a good story, and that he died from the story he told with his friends, that proof alone isn’t enough for romance to me, so i could see it ending with none, no romance at all and the story just ends with Dokja and his 7 adopted children.

* why are there 72 demon kings, but they’re in the 73rd demon realm and asmodeus has 32 realms under his control? is there a mistranslation or a misunderstanding going on or what?

* maybe asmodeus absorbs/devours/suborns any demon king that he can and just takes his land, and so he wants the 73rd realm

* could be related to the question of asmodeus’s child above

* i think destroy evil from samyeondang might come up in the demon realm

Chapter 207-214

* I love Uriel now I think, and Biyoo

* i wonder if Dokja can bookmark unidentified wall, or if Hayoung can learn bookmark

* I’m unsure if the revolutionary will end up being a bad person or not, because i think I might have a problem if Dokja just kills the revolutionary, but maybe they’ll sacrifice themselves, or die elsewhere, or maybe they can give it up willingly, idk

* i could see the end of the novel being all the star stream being destroyed, which means no dokkaebis and no stories, so the constellations start to die, and we either get a sad ending of Dokja dying as a constellation, or we get a nice one of him (and maybe some other nice constellations) surviving on Biyoo’s Bootleg, or maybe the same barstardry he pulls, with him doing another “I don’t die when I am killed” and coming back from death again

* I wonder if Hayoung and maybe Dokja will find/convince the 15 year old to allow/make a way for Sooyoung to keep her sanity while following the story, like maybe a new story for the constellation, idk

* ooh shit, Dokja having read the story is spreading, yoo sangah at least suspects, i wonder if everyone will know by the time he gets back

* it’d be a funny scene if Uriel notices Biyoo’s Bootleg and tells Jonghyuk about it to avoid the dokkaebi, and so they miss each other for a bit until Dokja does something stupid/self-sacrificing enough (maybe by a plan from the Duke) that Jonghyuk realizes it’s him and comes and saves him

* i had a dream the dokkaebi had british accents whenever they spoke, and the idea of a foul mouthed floating cat going around saying “oi cunts moider each other or ah’ll shank ya nan” is just hilarious to me

Chapter 215-224

* <3 <3 Fuck Kim Dokja <3 <3

* I figured the hair was going to be involved, but not explicitly that

* If Dokja can find a way to with relative consistency summon the soldier, that’s great

* ok asmodeus is the king of the 32nd. ok, not 32 of them

* Dokja normally says no to potentially unfair support like this from constellation level beings, but i’d actually like to see him deal with asmodeus and just manage to manipulate it so that he is the king of all demons or something

* If Dokja gets support from Asmodeus, than the demon will probably leave his incarnation body there and use it as a puppet to pop in when needed even as he attends to matters in his own kingdom most of the time. This’d open the possibility of Dokja getting to adopt another child, which is always good to see

* I’m also real curious how the possibility of the people who were once characters finding out they were, and what differences there will be to the “real” people, although the fact that the two prophets are characters now is intriguing

* So far it’s just Sangah who knows, but I wonder if Heewon and the others will even be allowed to understand the concept, given the ways the filtering has prevented it in the past

#long post #omniscient reader's viewpoint #orv #orv spoilers

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momo-de-avis · 6 years ago

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Do you have any tips on how to start writing? I'm really bad at expressing my thoughts well so I figure if I write like, a diary or something I may get better at talking,

A diary is actually a good thing! A great thing, actually. Because it allows you to practice for yourself only. It’s one of those little writing corners where you can just be yourself, unlimited, boundless, as you wish, and no one will criticize you. If you allow your thoughts to just pour onto the paper, even if only a paragraph per day, I guarantee you will grow. It’s important for writers to keep practising, and it’s common advice to just tell WRITE EVERY DAY, which isn’t so helpful as people make it seem. Most of the time, people use this to mean like, write a story, a short story, participate in NaNoWriMo (if you’re like me and don’t like to set up goals like Nano does in fear of disappointing yourself or are just plain bad with deadlines, Nano is a terrible idea). But actually, a diary does wonders. It’s the perfect way of practising, and it goes both ways---you vent and you practice. It’s for you alone.

First of all: don’t be too demanding on yourself. Whether it’s word/page count, deadlines or quality of what you’re creating, it’s important to keep in mind that you’re just starting and, even if you aren’t, it’s a first draft. First drafts are supposed to be just that---the very first time you write down your idea. It’s supposed to be a rough diamond that will be shaped later on into whatever you want it to be. For some people, that means write it once and then rewrite it entirely (I’m those people), for others it just means it’s got a main body, and then you just work what you have. It really depends. People have different methods, so no matter how much others tell you to do this way or that way, it’s your way that matters.

Keep exploring your possibilities so you’ll find your work method. Listen to other’s people’s advice only to the limit of your abilities. If you try out a method and you can feel it in your bones right off the bad it just doesn’t work for you, quit it. It’s no good forcing something you’re not on par with. Just scratch that altogether. Methods, discipline, plotting---that varies from person to person and I detest when others say there is a right or wrong way to do things. There isn’t.

As for plotting, there are several ways to go about it---but take this with a grain of salt. I never followed a single method until I found out there are names for this shit. What I do is called a zero draft, or the Direct Writing Process. Word vomit onto paper, in other words. I have an idea, I think about it for a while and just pour it out. I personally work very well with freewriting and improvisation. I am a pantser---that means I don’t plot, I just define my characters, my conflict, my goal, some plot points and go on instinct. Most of the times, other plot points emerge as I write. They just pop up in the process. Other people can be plotters: they plot the whole thing down to the detail. Those are more likely to use methods like the snowflake method, or the 3 Act Method (I personally hate the 3 Act method. I think it’s super limited and most stories these day’s don’t necessarily follow a 3 act structure, but a structuralized (around 5 acts, if you will) plot that has inciting incident (the thing that sets the story off), plot points (the things that push the plot forward), plot twist (NOT necessary in a story, and I hate that we’re in a day and age that’s convinced people that a story MUST have a plot twist---it really doesn’t. Sometimes being predictable is good), and a conclusion. The 3 Act thing is mostly used in cinema, from what I learned).

(Keep in mind there are other methods, these are just the ones whose names I remember)

Pick up books within the genre you’d like to explore and read a lot. Now, I know, this is that sort of shit people just love telling new writers as the number one advice, but I think what lacks is telling people ways of how to read when you’re a writer. So here is how I do it:

I mark pages that have passages that I want to go back to, underline sentences that inspired me and make mental notes of literary devices and word combos that are new and useful to me. The reason why it’s so important to read a lot when you want to write is to submerge yourself in the millions of styles out there in order to find your voice. Re-read passages that make you go ‘shit, that was really good!’ and let yourself be submerged by it. Disconnect from the world if you have to. Re-read the books that have inspired you. When you finish a book you loved, ask yourself why you loved it---take notes, even. Just write down the things you enjoyed, make little essays for yourself. It’s not just that reading a lot helps when you want to write, you gotta THINK about what you read. For youself (USE YOUR DIARY :D).

And on that account, and I am dead serious here, read bad shit. I mean it. Read the worst possible book you can find. You’re going to read a lot of advice saying ‘you shouldn’t do this when you write’, and I’ll tell you right off the bat that I HATE ‘should-and-shouldn’t-dos’ advice for writers. You’ll read that fragmented sentences and heavy thick paragraphs are a bad thing because it wears out the reader, then you pick up Donna Tartt and realize she does that A LOT. So why does she get away with it? Because she’s good at it. The advice should always be ‘do it well’, not ‘don’t do it at all’ (generally speaking, do not trust someone who tells you there are other rules to writing besides grammatical).

But the bad books? Bruh they’re a perfect guide to How Not To Do Things because, contrary to Mister White Male Pulitzer spreading advice on Literary Hub, those books actually show you why it doesn’t work. And by showing you how it doesn’t work, you get an idea of ONE WAY it shouldn’t be done. So while Donna Tartt is great at heavy, thick paragraphs, you pick up fucking Eragon and get the gist of just one way it won’t work: when it forces you to pick up a thesaurus and basically search for every other word in there.

Then, of course, practice. By practicing, I mean---do whatever the crap you want. I cannot express enough how much I want every knew writer out there to cover their ears and go BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH every time someone tries to tell them what they should and shouldn’t do, because when you’re starting, it’s REALLY IMPORTANT that you just go out of boundaries as best as you can. You learn from your mistakes. But you gotta know why they’re mistakes. No one learns a damn thing by being told ‘this is bad’. You gotta see it for yourself. You gotta feel it. You gotta experiment. Because it might just happen that one day, it won’t be bad. And that will mean you will have found a way of reverted a rule---and that in itself means you’re finding your own voice.

So keep experimenting. I’m serious. Don’t be afraid of trying out. Never wrote Sci-fi? Fuck it. Try it out even without reading a book---it’s for yourself, get into the mood and do what you please. Never tried poetry? Go ahead. Be wacky about it. Make it visual, fuck rhyming and do what you please. Want to write a thing that’s historical but haven’t researched that bit of history? Experiment all the same. Go back and forth between your reading and your writing (one thing I do a lot is put the book I’m reading down for a second to go write something because I got so inspired by what I’m reading. If that happens to you, my advice is---bruh let it out. Don’t tame it. Don’t put a lid on it. FLOURISH).

There’s one thing I like telling people: there is no such thing as a bad idea, there are only ideas that need working.

I repeat: no such thing as a bad idea.

You really wanna write something that just came up to you but you’re thinking ‘I’m afraid this is too cliché’? Fuck that. For the love of God, AVOID thinking about the word cliché at all times. Clichés aren’t bad, they’re only bad when they aren’t worked properly. And there’s a reason they exist---people like them. So, let’s swipe that away right now and focus on what’s important: you have an idea, and you want to work it. But something feels off. That just means you need to rethink some concepts, NOT that the idea itself is bad.

Keep in mind that, sometimes, a story takes time to mature. It might mean you’re too young to write it (the one I have on wattpad that’s a first draft btw, Best of Times, I had the idea at 18, but it’s very political and I was Clueless (TM), I had to wait until I matured). Be patient and kind to yourself---you need time, and with you, so does your story. Don’t force anything out, cause a lemon can only squeeze so much juice. Leave a WIP unfinished if you have to, and jump to another one to clear your head---there is absolutely no problem with that (boy do I do that).

With that in mind: Sometimes, walking away from a WIP is a good thing.

Now, as for expressing yourself: as I mentioned above, reading a lot might help. But here’s the thing. Expressing yourself doesn’t come from reading and understanding literature, it comes from yourself. Read a lot and take notes, pay attention to literary devices, ESPECIALLY pay attention to how certain writers break rules. But then, work yourself out.

See, bruh. Work your vision. Look at the world around you. You know how they say a musician is good when they develop good earing? A writer is good when they learn how to see, to see into the world around them in their own way. Listen to the people around you, enjoy the little things in life, observe life’s intervals. Actually, on this aspect let me recommend a book: Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli. It’s a YA I think, very small and it was the one book I read when I was 13 that changed my life. It’s also a life-lesson for writers on the matter of ‘how to make the cliché absolutely beautiful’ and ‘how to grab a plot that’s been overdone and make it special’. Here is a synopsis.

So, all in all, I would say: read, experiment, see and practice. Search for your inner voice. Don’t EVER throw away an idea.

HAPPY WRITINGS, ANON

#Anonymous

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kiliosthestarmaker · 6 years ago

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Nyehehe 1-49 >.> all of dem 😏😉

I EXPECTED THIS BUT YOU’RE GOING TO K I L L M E

The Basics1. Do you listen to music when you write?

YES, Gods yes! The inspiration! The characterizations! The playlists I listen to when dealing with a particular character I love it I crave it!

2. Are you a pantser or a plotter?

Plotter, most things have already been decided on within my stories.

3. Computer or pen and paper?

Computer, I’ll use a pencil and paper only when I have no tech on me.

4. Have you ever been published, or do you want to be published?

I’d like to be published

5. How much writing do you get done on an average day?

Interesting question, I have no clue

6. Single or multiple POV?

Kind of multiple? It’s all in third POV but we follow around different characters

7. Standalone or series?

*cackles* SERIES

8. Oldest WIP

A whole series called Ratio Cor that I finally got back too

9. Current WIP

Worlds Rejoined

10. Do you set yourself deadlines?

No. Gods no, I’d stress myself out.

The Specifics11. Books and/or authors who influenced you the most

Lord of The Rings

J.R.R. Tolkien

George Martin

Harry Potter

Rick Riordan

C.S. Lewis

My two writer friends Wolfe and Jacks

12. Describe your perfect writing space

My room, blasting with music in the morning when I have no school

13. Describe your writing process from idea to polished

Sure

A) Wake up at 2 AM with an idea

B) write it down

C) go back to sleep until you have to wake up properly

D) Write out a decent plot

E) Characters

F) World Building (My fav part)

G) Write and Feel your book

H) Make others suffer with you

14. How do you deal with self-doubts?

Music and talking to Wolfe

15. How do you deal with writer’s block?

Music, scrolling through Tumblr, talking to Wolfe and Jacks

16. How many drafts do you need until you’re satisfied with a project?

Who the heckity heck knows

17. What writing habits or rituals do you have?

Grab some food and a drink

18. If you could collaborate with anyone, who would it be, and what would you write about?

I WOULD COLLABORATE WITH @princess-east AND @stressedwolfe and it would probably either be about the gods or some action/adventure/fantasy thing and we’ve done it before AND ALSO @koalajake CAUSE THE IDEAS HE HAS

ADORE

19. How do you keep yourself motivated?

My dad expresses interest in my plots (the only family member that do), he tells me about showing it to other people at work or while he’s busy with something and the person just so happen to be there. My loves also encourage me.

there is also music

20. How many WIPs and story ideas do you have?

........ ehe well there is 1 collection, 4 series within that collection and about 3-4 books within each series sans one which will probably have more than that. Other than that...I have many, many ideas

The Favourites21. Who is/are your favorite character(s) to write?

I absolutely love writing Kilios, not only is he my favorite character, he’s just purely iconic.

22. Who is/are your favorite pairing(s) to write?

Most of my pairings are platonic as most characters are teens or children. There’s also those who have been married and are widowed now so-

OH THERE IS KOLFE I ABSOLUTELY LOVE WRITING THOSE TWO

23. Favorite author

Wait I have to choose??

24. Favorite genre to write and read

Fantasy

25. Favorite part of writing

WORLD BUILDING!!!! I SWEAR ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS BE LIKE “Hey Kilios you wanna help me build a world for this AU?” or “Hey Kilios can you help me build the world for my story?” AND I WILL BE ALL OVER THAT

26. Favorite writing program

Lmao does google docs count?

27. Favorite line/scene

From...from my book?

(Ratio Cor)

“Okay...” She hums softly as she screws on her arm. She flexes the mechanical fingers slowly before twisting her wrist. She grimaces slightly at the creaking of the joint. “Grandfather where’s the thing?”

“What thing?”

“The...the thing...uh...whot yz yt collud… THE OIL!” Kala exclaims after figuring it out. She hears her grandfather laugh. Kala huffs softly at the laughter. Her grandfather taught her the surface language at a young age. He told her it might come in handy one day, but she doesn’t understand why it would. The Markian language was harder to learn afterward.

(Working Title: Caelum Enterprise)

“That's a child.” Kai whispers. Kilios nods his head in agreement. “That’s a child.”

“Thirteen years old.” Kilios offers with a small grin. Kai’s face turns blank, and he stares at Kilios. A cold rage settles in his soul.

“So, I have to kill Zeus?” Shadow chokes on his laughter as he wraps his arms around Kai’s waist. Kilios snorts in amusement even though he knew his friend could kill the Lightning God if he wanted to.

“Now, now. Revenge is best served cold as you may know.” Kilios hums softly as they smirk at each other. Shadow and Oketh look at each other before shaking their heads in exasperation. “Zeus seems to want this kid somewhat broken down, so we’ll give the child the best childhood.”28. Favorite side character

Kai and Shadow, purely for their dynamic

29. Favorite villain

K,,,kilios

30. Favorite idea you haven’t started on yet?

Three siblings were reborn as siblings in the modern world. One problem, the ex-youngest sibling is the only that remembers their past and the evil that caused them to die before has followed them. So now, the sibling has to reawaken their siblings' past selves and strive off the evil force all alone. What will happen if the evil, instead of harming the ex-youngest sibling, takes them away to where they are treated as they should be and are loved. What happens when their siblings do reawaken and come after them? What happens if the ex-younger sibling doesn’t want to go? After all, they found love in the darkness. They found light within it as well insert King Keir who isn’t willing to let his consort be taken without a fight.

The Dark31. Least favorite part of writing

The,,, the writing part

32. Most difficult character to write

Alim??? I guess cause he’s like grandfatherly and most characters I’ve done in the past never met their grandparents??

33. Have you ever killed a main character?

Yes, even better! I’m going to kill one in one of my books!!

34. What was the hardest scene you ever had to write?

Kilios’,,,, death I’m-35. What scene/story are you least looking forward to writing?

KILIOS’ ORIGIN STORY

The Fun36. Last sentence you wrote

“Yeah, I’m alright.” She assures her grandfather after he gives her a look showing that he didn’t believe her. “So, what’s for breakfast?” She quickly changes the subject.

37. The first sentence or your current WIP

“Three creators, each lost in their own right. Their names were taken from books and erased from history. The first to come back will be the one who breathes the anger of volcanoes. Next will be the one who freezes the stars. Finally, the one with powers that are forbidden will come to light. Once together united as one. All will hail the Cold Sun.”

38. Weirdest story idea you’ve ever had

All of them

39. Weirdest character concept you’ve ever had

A manipulative character that ends up saving the world due to having the ability to see at least ten steps of ahead and calculating an infinite amount of possibilities for options due to having who is literally the concept of the creation of stars and demihumans/hybrids as a bearer (Aka Kilios)

40. Share some backstory for one of your characters

AHAHAHAHA

Kyle Evren was born from a phoenix and the Primordial God Khaos. The toddler was neither male nor female. Ze was an outlier much like the being known as Udushunamir, who was a being created by the Egyptian Great God Ea. Kyle was born to die for the Gods.

Kavya Esther was created with the body of Saiph and life was breathed into her by Astraea. Her mother was a phoenix and the Star Goddess Astraea. Kavya was very radiant and creatures of all sizes tended to flock to her. The child was kind and lovely. Kavya was born to die for the Gods.

Kit Keir was born from a phoenix and the Hindu Celestial Deity known as Rahu. Kit was both male and female. Due to cer odd parentage, Kit gained both sexes from cer parents. Kit was a very elusive and dreamish teen. Ce would often be found drifting off into cer own little world without a care of anyone around cem. Kit was born to die for the Gods.

Kilios Caelum was born from the ashes of who he used to be. He was ruthless and tired. He was angry at what he’s been through. He swore to rise far above what he attempted to accomplish beforehand. He would build an empire, he would rise to the sky. Kilios refused to die for the Gods.

The Rest of It41. Any advice for new/beginning/young writers?

Jot down any idea you have, no matter how vague or bizarre it is, write it down.Research, for the love of the gods, research whatever you need for your book and please please use multiple sites.Talk to other writers and ask for input, it’s alright to be nervous so just message them privately. Hell, you can ask me I’m always up for learning about new writers.

42. How do you feel about love triangles?

As long as it makes sense and doesn’t cause the main plot to be pushed as a subplot I’m good with it fam

43. What do you do if/when characters don’t follow the outline?

Mutter dark threats under my breath and curse my characters for putting me in the backseat of my own damn writing.

44. How much research do you do?

Literally, a third of my whole writing process is contributed to pure research.

45. How much world building do you do?

By the time I’m done, if someone finds it they’d think I just found the world and wrote down what the people told me.

46. Do you reread your own stories?

Yes and it’s physically painful

47. Best way to procrastinate

Youtube and Drawing

48. What’s the most self-insert character/scene you’ve ever written?

KILIOS IS LITERALLY ME THEN HE WENT OFF AND GOT HIS OWN STORY THE BASTARD

49. Which character would you most want to be friends with, if they were real?

All of them because they are my children and I love them.

#kilios answers #my king 💜🐺🎃💜#has killed me #writer's asks

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nny11writes · 2 years ago

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Have you ever participated in nanowrimo? If so, what was the experience like!

I have, and I have even "won" it before! Bu this is a long ass answer so I'm putting it below a read more. :p

So, here's the deal with the experience of nanowrimo. If it does not mesh with your writing methods, it is an absolute pain in the ass and you can feel like dirt during and afterwards. That's not a reflection on you as a writer or on the event! But the nature of nano means you have to average ~1700 words a day to finish.

For some people, that means ignoring all spelling and grammar mistakes, writing in ways that you personally hate or think are "bad writing", and really pushing yourself to get it out there.

Despite how much I tend to write, I fall directly into that category! So Nanowrimo for me, personally, is painful and frustrating.

THAT SAID: I still participate basically every year.

Why? Why do it if I hate the writing experience?

Because I like what I have to practice and learn to do it!

I have to let go of my perfectionism in a way I can't/don't typically in any way shape or form. I've learned to better manage expectations and disappointment. Several years have taught and re-taught me that I can "fail" or "lose" or "write bad" and that it's not the end of the world. Putting the ego and fear to rest from the combo "I am the worst writer and everyone wishes I'd stop"/"I am a writing god, why aren't you laughing and enjoying my work damn it!" that I suffer from. Learning that I can say "I'm gonna do it" and then can change my mind without consequence has been a godsend.

I think a lot of fanfiction writers specifically would benefit from trying nano at least once! Not because the experience will be fun, but because it will be valuable.

And that all said, I have genuinely enjoyed myself several times as well! I've been participating basically every year since 2010, and part of why I enjoy it is having embraced life as a planster. That's right, I'm a pantser and plotter rolled into one fun sized package. And nano gives me a space where I basically get told to do whatever I want however I want and actually allow myself to go buck wild! Regardless of if I end up planning more than writing or writing pure nonsense, it's a freeing experience as long as I don't let my expectations get warped into punishments.

So, for example, last year in 2021 I participated in NaNoWriMo and started working on my Bloodborne AU! It ended up being a lot more outlining being jammed between written sections so I didn't get too far in my word count despite my outline being over 24k words. 😳 It was still an absolute blast to just jump into and write haphazardly, and while I've kept very little of the original so far, it didn't die just because I failed at nano. It just had to wait for a while instead :)

Another super fun one was 2010 when I wrote "Stop Me If You've Heard This One Before". It was my first attempt and I really enjoyed the challenge of writing daily without over thinking it. I worked my ass off to write that novel and still write fanfiction at the same time. And when I finished the month out, I beat the challenge at 50,004 words with a generic corporate mook meets a blue collar worker and falls in love while learning to be a better person plot line but this time for lesbians (who were totally not B'Elanna and Seven of Nine, s-shut up!). At the time I was very proud of it, even if it included me writing up family recipies for the first time ever and writing out every number as they counted (Held her breath for 10 seconds then exhaled for eight? No! She held her breath; one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten. Then she exhaled her inhaled breath; one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight!). Trash fire fiction, but I felt very accomplished and pushed the right amount that first year!

On the other side, in 2015 I tried it when my anxiety and depression were spiraling wildly out of hand but I was still in denial about it because I didn't want to do meds or go to therapy. Really was just trying to force myself along while being miserable 95% of the time and thought nano would help. Shockingly, it did not do that! My science fiction novel outline was shit, I abandoned it immediately anyways and I hated everything I did manage to write. I'd write a little then nothing for several days, just feeling bad I wasn't writing, then a little more, then nothing and feeling bad, etc. I hit almost 30k by the end of the month and I hated the experience, hated the book, hated myself, and hated everyone else who was having a great time. I deleted "Black Moths" from my computer and the back up USB I used at the time, and I deeply regret that. I don't even remember what my story was. I really wish I could read it though, because I bet anything it wasn't bad at all, but it's still gone forever as far as I can tell.

This has gotten wildly out of control (when do my answers not get out of control?) but TL;DR: I have and the experience has been a total mixed bag of highs and lows, that I would absolutely recommend every writer attempt but not feel bad if they need to stop at any point for a good stress cry.

(Also, wanna be my writing buddy if you're doing it?????? I'm on there as Nny11 with the lumpy pic and everything :D)

#nanowrimo #national novel writing month #thanks for asking!#somehow both complaining and NOT complaining about writing #what can I say #I'm skilled that way!#not sure if i'll do it this year #and I know I'm already late if I do #but often nano takes over and I don't write what I want to which is not that much fun #and these days I'm in writing for the fun :p

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