#owlkalinity's writing process

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Sometimes the curtains are blue to represent sadness. Sometimes the curtains are just blue.

And then there's when the curtains are blue because you wanted them to be blue and then find out it perfectly works as a representation for sadness.

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Owlka's Tips for Writing

(I'm being kind of tongue-in-cheek here. But still, if you'd like to know some of my actual thought processes, I am happy to provide! Just pop into my askbox.)

Start writing at such a young age that you were never told your writing was bad. This way, when you get older, your writing is actually passable, and you can potentially use your old bad writing for a hilarious dramatic readings series.

Have many projects going at one time, so that you can procrastinate on one by working on the other.

Create more than 400 characters, but only use about 50 of them.

View/experience/read about lots of other media, from all over the place, from decades-old video games to violent Flash series. Eventually, you either 1. will find a character that reminds you of one of your own, or 2. get inspiration for a character from a character in that other media. (But watch out! Both of these methods tend to lead to brainrot for your own characters. Not recommended unless you have a lot of time on your hands to spend thinking about your newfound blorbo.)

Set hypothetical release dates for your stuff, in case you get fans. This creates accountability, so when the time comes, you're guilted into finishing something for your fans that don't exist yet. (This is actually the only reason why The Acorn Detective Agency book 1 is finished.)

Have someone who is way more interested in logical worldbuilding than you are fix your plot holes for you. (Thanks, roomie!)

Make art for your stuff too, for double the creative agony.

Also, if you're going to make art, change your artstyle about three times a month to make sure you never get art that looks the way you want it to.

Analyze your work like a high school student in a language class. This way, you can find some awesome symbolism that you didn't even intend on! (I have done this enough to write an actual essay on it.)

Post your work only on platforms that care about tropes, especially tropes you don't have in your work. This way, you fill a niche! And what a niche it is...

And probably more I can't think of right now! Might make a part 2 if I get some more.

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Thinking of doing Whumptober this year ngl

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Thought about my characters dying. Cried till 1:30 AM

The characters die in canon. How the heck am I going to write it

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Making the tags "owlkalinity's writing process", "owlkalinity's art escapades", and "owlkalinity's music chaos" to better classify my posts.

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The top 10 things I've had to write down in my annotated character playlists, in no particular order:

Let’s ignore that this song is probably about prom.

Ignoring the “deranged murderer” theming for a bit...

Let's ignore the potential love implications and just focus on the assassination bit. (These last two were about the same guy.)

Now we enter the territory of “whoops, I thought about it once and now it's here forever”.

Ignoring literally every other lyric set in the song, I managed to apply this song to [Aromantic Character] through the power of Strong Confident Woman™.

And that’s how I turned this love song into an ode to [the nanobots from my books].

Now, of course, their motto is a little less “yeah let’s go boiiii” and a bit more “oh so they’re a little arrogant”.

In [a show I got inspiration from], hoverboards are used to get around, and no, I don’t mean the weird handle-less Segway ones.

Yes, I am actually familiar with the concept of VTubers, thanks for asking.

This song is about high school girls’ first relationships, and the disapproval of their fathers and the other older men in their lives. Aside from the meta-context, there is no real connection to [Very-Much-Not-A-High-School-Girl Character].

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When you have to read Literal Scientific Articles to find info on your character's species

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This person in the notes is absOLUTELY RIGHT

its unreal how all of my favorite characters have exactly the same traits and hobbies and diagnoses as me

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Maybe it's just because I'm a furry but I still can't believe that some old genuinely-trying-to-be-educational sources treat certain animals as horrible. Like I literally have an encyclopedia from 2005 that describes hyenas as "the least pleasant animal of the savannah".

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Something I have noticed in my most recent endeavors in writing This Freaking Book™ are that my attempts at character design are an attempt at rectifying the horrific character designs that my characters were inspired by...

So technically this counts as the whole "doing-better-than-the-OG" thing?

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Scalies of Tumblr, I have a question.

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I love that this comment on my works masterpost is still technically true, just for a different guy. Wait. Actually.

Two different guys. Sigh.

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When I feel lazy, I write out my ideas in script format because it's easier. Unfortunately, this means I have to improvise when it comes to description.

One of the best things I've gotten out of it is this descriptor:

(with what can unfortunately be best described as an ΘvΘ face)

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If I had a nickel for every piece of media with both a canine named Pepper and a chameleon named Leon, I'd have (at least) two nickels, which... well, you know the rest.

(If y'all know more than just this one, please tell me! I want to know if this is common whatsoever, because if it is, oh boy...)

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It was completely unintentional that, in The West, With Glory, two out of three of my Mapicck!Canadian characters happen to have a red and white colour scheme.

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Fuck it. I'm going to rework The A.D.A. again. I want this book to be the best fucking thing in existence and if it takes me years then so be it!