#ovophobia

[imonthemoonitsmadeofcheese]

Writing Process: brain vomit & polish

I posted this in the Fanfiction Writers Unite community, but realized that if I ever want to reference it no one outside of that community can see it, so I'm posting it here too.

This is very mechanics-of-writing focused rather than anything especially creative so unless you're actually interested in my writing process it's likely to be *very* boring. Readmore link to make it more easily skipable. ;)

I keep seeing people ask about writing process and getting replies involving outlines and planning and I'd like to show you a different approach because I write (and finish) a lot but I don't do any of that.

My writing process is more "brain vomit and then polish it."

Here's a walk-through of what I did for a 1k word story that was recently featured in a fan zine. There's three iterations and then a link to the final version with screen shots of how it appeared in the zine.

While it's not my best or my favourite, I think this illustrates my writing method pretty well and might be worth trying for those of you who are not finding success with the more organized and methodical methods of creating stories out of words.

It's not quite 'pantsing' but it definitely falls into the pantsing category more than the plotting one.

This is how oysters make pearls. I start with an irritant (an idea) and then add layers and polish until I'm satisfied it is pretty enough. In this particular case, it needed to be adhering to a theme (Destiny 2 wish dragons), had a specific word count (500-1k) and had to be done in time for a deadline (so it's not as polished as I'd make it if it was something I was making for myself, but I'm still happy with it).

You'll note the initial brain vomit looks nothing like the end result.

***iteration1***

Ovophobia - fear of eggs

from: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/0/hitchcocks-fear-eggs-phobias-rich-famous/

"Alfred Hitchcock suffered from ovophobia, a horror of eggs. “I’m frightened of eggs,” he told the Italian journalist Oriana Fallaci in 1963. “Worse than frightened – they revolt me. That white round thing without any holes, and when you break it, inside there’s that yellow thing, round, without any holes… Brr!” An egg was all surface or all innards: easily cracked but also impenetrable, horribly intact. “Have you ever seen anything more revolting than an egg yolk breaking and spilling its yellow liquid?” he asked Fallaci. “Blood is jolly, red. But egg yolk is yellow, revolting. I’ve never tasted it.” A punctured yolk seemed to bleed out its thick, gleaming fluid."

eggses baggins sucking eggs villanelle can't bring somethin' back if it isn't dead can't wish somethin' back if it isn't dead Ovophobia Aunor Mahal has a secret.  No one knows.   Aunor Mahal is afraid of eggs.

***iteration2*** (you'll note the complete lack of punctuation or coherent sentences - tense is irrelevant, so is logic - this is freewriting whatever comes into my head without any filter but attempting to stay loosely focused on a topic)

egg egg egg egg beginning feeling secure/hunter end feeling dread/prey dreaming city egg incubation room why is aunor in the room?  she was following drifter&eris who came to see the queen  drifter kept feeling watched - eris knows they're being watched but suspects it is aunor  drifter creeped out - aunor amused - but has to duck into room  must be unarmed to see queen  (drifter and eris also had to be unarmed) can't access her light powers  darkeness zone maybe or cabal light suppression  castlevania style  egg hatching scene - the babies are hungry about to devour her when she's lifted up with hive magic  mara, eris and drifter bemused at shitscared aunor  mara threatening because nothing better have happened to them eris makes snark about perhaps aunor will think twice before following them in future  drifter calls her a snitch (eris just intimidates, drifter does the talking) after drifter asks eris if she really needed to leave aunor in there quite so long since she could have pulled her out earlier eris says she deserved it  what if she'd made a wish?  mara's warding was preventing it - same as it suppressed aunor's light

***iteration3*** (this is very close to the end result - punctuation/capitalization sometimes exists but is not consistent - that gets dealt with last)

(tumblr wouldn't save my post due to it having too much text and this is very close to the final version, so here's pictures of it instead)

***final version for Ahamkara zine & posted to Ao3*** (everything I didn't keep is still in my notes and may be used in other stories/poetry in future)

Ovophobia on Ao3

One Last Wish Zine Volume 2

The space dragon on the opposite page is art by @microraptorreactor and the entire zine is full of cool Ahamkara (Destiny 2 wish dragon) art as well as stories and poetry.

[rubd]

Nine out of ten people who have seen To Catch a Thief will talk about the famous “cigarette in the egg” shot. Would Hitchcock have conceived this very effective gag in black and white?* No, of course not, and yet if you think about it, what does color have to do with it? It’s not the yellow as such, but the egg yolk itself that produces this effect on us, funny for some, powerful enough to nauseate others. But, and this is the crux of the matter, without its color, this egg is only partially an egg. It exists fully only in color. It is only in color that cinematic expression attains absolute realism.

(* The black-and-white equivalent is the jar of cream in which the English tourist in Rebecca puts out her cigarette.)

Éric Rohmer, “Of taste and colors”, Arts 59, March 1956.

Have you ever seen anything more revolting than an egg yolk breaking and spilling its yellow liquid? Blood is jolly, red. But egg yolk is yellow, revolting.

Hitchcock on his ovophobia

To Catch a Thief

[cannondisabledcharacters]

Today’s disabled character of the day is Leon from Watermelon, who has bodily scarring, ovophobia character, and an unspecified trauma disorder

Requested by Anon

[Image Description: Drawing of a young boy with golden eyes and matching messy hair. He has lion ears and tail complete with two whiskers on each cheek. He's wearing a pointed hat, white gloves, a red high collared shirt, a black choker, and black pants. He's standing outside with a blue sky behind him.]

[anti-egg]

Day 763: Ovophobia.

[noriakidadyoinsearchhistory-blog]

I believe it's called Ovophobia.

Name for phobia of eggs

[scolek]

hey guys. i like eggs

HAHA APRIL FOOLS!!!! THOSE DISGUSTING FETUSES IN ALL THEIR FORMS CAN GO FUCK THEMSELVES, OVOPHOBIA FOR LIFE, I MEAN MAYBE NOT TO THE LEVEL OF PHOBIA BUT I CAN’T REALLY SEE MY OPINION TURN AROUND THEY SMELL AWFUL THEY TASTE AWFUL THERE IS NO GOOD EGG. ANY HOMOGENISED MIXTURE THAT IS OVER 40% EGG IS DEAD TO ME. 

DEAD!!!!

[meowm1x]

rilakkusami replied to your post:i am so angry that my body hates eggs for some...

Niki you are me. I want to like eggs so much but they 100% do not agree with me, I can’t stand them ;_; THERE ARE SO MANY GOOD THINGS YOU CAN MAKE WITH EGGS….

OH NO NOT YOU TOO ;____;

It really sucks because they're also a great source of protein arhghgh;;;

Thankfully there are some sites that talk about egg-free meals and such which is handy but man it's such a pain!

[imonthemoonitsmadeofcheese]

Ovophobia

Link to Ao3 if you prefer to read it there.

It was a trap. She should have known.

Aunor Mahal watched in horror as the smooth surface of the large egg almost as tall as she was split like a jagged lightning bolt with the sound not unlike breaking stone.

She had no weapons, no access to the light, not even a knife to defend herself.

A wet claw began to force its way through the breach.

No. Not a claw. A beak with one sharp tooth on the end.

The egg shuddered and toppled over, pulsating with frantic movement. Two other eggs shuddered nearby, each with their own rhythms.

Aunor crouched low and began to back away into the shadows created by candle-lit sconces all around the room.

A low hiss came from the darkness beside her. She flinched and tumbled away. Easily twice the size of a Cabal War Beast, the flower-faced body of a newly hatched and dripping Ahamkara Whim stepped into the dim light.

From the other side of the room, two more hisses echoed back.

Aunor found herself backing into the centre of the stone floor, surrounded by large, well muscled draconic forms. Their four-lobed faces trained on her. Their tails swished.

She could feel it: the antagonism, the malice and, above all, the hunger. Aunor took another step back and her foot slipped in the curve of a broken eggshell the size of a dinner plate. She fell and scrambled, crab-like, on all fours, desperately trying to put space between her and the pack of small dragons slowly approaching her.

They were apex predators and she was defenseless prey.

Aunor knew who had caused this. It was the Drifter and Eris Morn. They must have known she was following them. They must have orchestrated the whole thing.

The queen's guards insisting she remove her weapons, the convenient doorway Aunor had stepped back into to avoid being seen, the unexpected and uneven steps she'd fallen down, the amethyst wall which had materialized seemingly out of nowhere, preventing her escape.

They'd led her to this, to the lair of Riven's progeny. And now Aunor Mahal was about to be devoured. There would be no trace of her. She could not summon her Light. Her ghost would, likewise, be unable to resurrect her here.

This was to be her end: eaten by newborn dragons. Deposited in front of them like a worm before hungry baby birds. Very, very large, hungry baby birds.

Aunor jumped up, her hands formed into fists as she prepared to fight back. But the first punch she threw at the first Whim who lunged toward her went wide. A tail wrapped around her wrist and tugged her further forward, pulling her off balance. Another tail, whip-like, wrapped around one of her ankles.

She fell, twisting, trying to land on her stomach but a tug of the tail around her wrist flipped her on her back. She felt a claw raking across her torso from one hip to the other. Gentle. Unwrapping her, like a present, or the wax around a delicious cheese. Her Warlock robes parted as though they were paper and her bare stomach stood out against the deep purple of her clothing in the dim light.

One of the flower-faces opened and sharp teeth descended to tear open her abdomen.

Aunor screamed.

"No." Mara Sov's voice echoed through the cavernous hall.

The sharp teeth barely indenting, but not yet piercing, Aunor's flesh, stopped. Warm spittle dribbled down into her belly button

"Drop it." Mara ordered.

A disgruntled snuffle came from the dragon with Aunor's midsection in its jaws. Its mouth opened wider, releasing her, and it backed away.

"Heel." Mara's voice commanded.

The draconic limbs pinning her down lifted and and Aunor, panting, stared up at the low stone ceiling for a few moments before her hands flew to her stomach. Feeling that her flesh was still intact, she pulled her tattered Warlock robes to cover the hole before sitting up to look across the room.

The Awoken Queen stood, eyes blazing, hands outstretched at her sides. All five of the newly hatched Whims crouched obediently at her feet. The two remaining eggs still shuddered on the floor, their bursting immanent.

Out of the nearby shadows, Eris Morn and the Drifter approached Aunor. The Drifter crouched down beside her with a smirk, his elbows on his knees.

"Well now, if it isn't our favourite Snitch. Did you come all the way out here just to spy on me and Eris? That's flattering." He licked his lips with a shit-eating grin.

Aunor glared at him.

"Oh, we knew you were there. Good thing Eris noticed you were gone and went lookin' for ya through the Ascendant Plane. Sure would'a been unfortunate if we hadn't been here to help ya out, now wouldn't it?"

Aunors lips curled into a defiant snarl but she said nothing.

"Might even go so far as to say you owe us one," he continued.

"Enough," Eris chided him. "Aunor is a Warlock of the Praxic order. I'm sure she would have been fine without our assistance."

"With all her weapons confiscated at the door by security and in a Light suppression zone?" The Drifter looked up at Eris with a smile. "Maybe... Good thing we don't need to find out."

Candlelight glinted off of his teeth much the same way it had the teeth of the Ahamkara. The Drifter's teeth were not as sharp, but his smile was just as mean and his eyes were just as cold.

"Eris," Mara called to her from across the room.

"My queen," Eris strode over quickly.

"Who is this?" Mara sounded tired.

"Aunor Mahal, a Praxic Warlock of the Cormorant seal, the same order as Eriana-3, from my fireteam. She is a member of the Hidden."

"And do you vouch for her?" the Queen asked.

Eris looked back at Aunor sitting on the ground for a long moment, her three eyes boring into Aunor's two. Aunor held her gaze.

One of the two Ahamkara at Mara's right hand made a low hungry growl. Mara tapped her finger lightly on its head. "Wait," she whispered.

After a few more seconds of staring Eris sighed and turned back to Mara to answer. "Yes. She is, above all else, a member of the Vanguard and will not," Eris glared once more back at Aunor before returning her three-eyed gaze to Mara Sov. "...interfere with Vanguard operations. Including this one."

"Seems like she's already interfered," The Drifter said, still crouched beside Aunor, still grinning. A coin materialized in his hand and he began to fiddle with it.

Eris turned her scowl toward him.

His eyes went wide and the coin disappeared. He raised his hands. "Sorry!"

"There will be no further issues, my queen," Eris intoned. "Drifter, take Aunor back to the Derelict and await me there."

The Drifter chuckled. "Babysit the spy? All right, fine. You got it Moondust." He stood and extended a hand down to Aunor.

Aunor glared at him and stood up without his help.