#take from me everything. steal whole paragraphs from my rewrite if you want

[the-martyrfication-of-the-matron]

Are you happy when people borrow your ideas for their own content?

Very very much yes. But I always get worried that I’m only thinking it’s based off of me and that I’m being really conceited lmao.

[sirthisisa-wendys]

Investigations (Part 3): Ran Haitani x Fem!Reader

synopsis: when things are uncovered, can you handle the truth? Or are you doomed to make a mistake you can't rectify?

wc: 2.1k

tw: violence

masterlist

song recommendation:

Ran's past was a lie.

When you met him at the country club five years ago, your pasts had been explained in hushed tones and excited flurries of memories; sharing photos of the time before he was an executive of the communications company he worked in and the time before you were a journalist.

Ran said he had gone to jail twice, both for crimes he had been an accessory to as a delinquent kid, but that he'd cleaned up his act after and made his way up the corporate ladder. Nothing about gangs or being a Heavenly King in Tenjiku made it past his lips.

You had been honest, too. Your tales included the time you'd accidentally happened upon a massive gang fight, and that's how your investigative journalism skills began to bloom.

Who was fighting?

What were they going to do after?

Where did these gangs come from?

When did this argument start?

Why were they fighting?

How did gangs form in the first place?

Those were all the questions you sought out answers for that night and the next five years after, devoting your time and effort to finding the truth about everything.

"Babe?" You freeze, hands hovering over the keys at the sound of Ran's voice. You don't turn around - you can't even look at him the same these days - but he fixes that by walking over to you and turning you around in your chair. "What are you doing up so late?"

"Just doing some writing." His violet eyes search yours for the truth, but you know he won't be able to find it. Not while you're still trying to unravel his past. Ran kisses your eyelids sweetly, cupping your face in his large palms and littering his love across your face as you try your best to remain still and not confess about your research.

"Come to bed. It's late."

"I've got a few more paragraphs," you explain, motioning to the small print on your screen. "I'll be in bed soon."

But your lie is discovered shortly thereafter. It's five a.m. when Ran returns, seeing you slumped against your desk, arms cushioning your head, laptop screen blank. Instinctively, Ran pulls you out of your seat - making your notebook fall to the ground - grunting softly as he scoops you up into his arms and cradles you against his chest.

You willingly allow your husband to carry you to bed, where your two-year-old is also nestled among the sheets and pillows, thumb tucked into his mouth. And for a moment, Ran appreciates the view, seeing the two people he loved the most - besides his younger brother - laying in the bed he paid for, in the house he built, in the city he owns.

But then he remembers the slight disarray you left your things in at the desk and returns, picking up your pencil and notebook before laying them beside the laptop. Then his eyes catch "Ran's past?" written in bold, red letters, along with the words: "Tenjiku" and "Tandai" also written in the web of other words surrounding his name. "South Terano" is also on that web.

He'd have to take care of that in the morning.

And for the first time in a long time, worry bubbles to the surface of his mind, and Ran rips the sheet of paper from your notebook, tossing it into the kitchen trashcan and considering his deed done. He concealed his past to protect his family. And he's concealing the present to achieve the same goal; all for the future to be revealed later. That's how everything should be.

Right? _____________________________________________________________

"Ran," you whisper, lips running across his knuckles. His fingers cup your jaw, and his own lips press against your forehead, violet eyes darkening slightly. "It's six am. Where are you going this early?"

"I have to go into the office for a little while," he murmurs, kissing your forehead again. "I'll be back around lunchtime." Thoughts of Tandai and Tenjiku flash into your mind for a moment, but you smile at him sleepily anyway, absolutely sure these things are part of his past and not in the present.

"We'll be waiting for you, my love."

Despite all of your best intentions, though, you can't help but be consumed by the idea of Ran out, fighting, stealing, maiming... You consider asking him about these things, these concerns, but you decide against it as you're helping Kai with his lunch. If he wanted to leave it in the past, there's a good reason for it. He would have told you if it would be a problem later. Right?

Ran wouldn't jeopardize your family, your home, your life for something so... juvenile.

Right?

The clatter of keys on the counter in the living room brings you back to the present, and you perk up, your two-year-old mimicking your expression.

"Daddy!" Kai slides down from his seat and runs to greet Ran, clutching his father's legs with all his little might.

"Hey, buddy," Ran laughs, stooping to pick up his son with excitement. "How are you doing?" As son and father have a very stimulating conversation about playtime, you watch them in wonder, observing the way Ran makes his child a priority, just like he makes you a priority. But your countenance falls as soon as you see the blood spot on the bottom of Ran's lavender suit jacket. You know its blood because of the way it dried - that's no ketchup stain.

You fake a smile anyway, giving Ran a kiss on the cheek and tugging his jacket off after he sits Kai back on the tile floor.

"Hard day?"

"Kind of," Ran mumbles, and you catch the sight of a long scratch down the side of his neck. "But I made it through." You hum, taking the pin-striped jacket to the laundry room and slinging it over the side of the washer. You'd need that later.

"Need to relax?" you wonder, and Ran grins at you mischievously.

"Maybe later, after bedtime?"

_____________________________________________________________

But "later" never came.

Instead, Ran and Kai fell asleep on the sofa, watching a kid's movie, and you retreated to the office, powering up your laptop and pulling your notebook closer.

You immediately notice something's wrong, as the notes you had before were missing. Everything is gone. Not even a word of all the research you had done was there. Hadn't you written meticulous notes and names and things about Ran's past that could be interconnected? You break out in a sweat and search in every drawer of the desk, every place it could possibly be. You come up with nothing, and let out a frustrated sigh before slumping down in your seat and pulling up the computer history from yesterday. If you had to rewrite every single thing, that's fine. You'd just need more time to gather your evidence for the meeting on Saturday.

You're knee-deep in articles and police reports when you stumble across a more recent - actually as recent as this morning - article titled: "Ex-gangster found dead in meat factory". The picture of South Terano startles you, and you click on it, feeling a sense of dread as the article details how he was found hanging upside-down in the warehouse with a bullet hole in his head. And just like that, your newest lead has fizzled out. You groan, writing down "South Terano, deceased" on your notepad, then exiting the tab.

There had to be someone else you could ask. Shuji Hanma only provided you with Ran and Rindou's names, no one else.

"What's this?"

The door to the office shuts softly, and you look over your shoulder at Ran, who is walking toward you with measured steps, his eyes taking in your exhausted expression and the way you're hunched over that notepad. Again.

"What are you doing? You look tired, babe. Let's go to bed, yeah?"

Suddenly, pieces begin to click as Ran leans his hip against the desk, staring down at you in the chair with squinted violet eyes. "You threw away my notes... Didn't you?"

"What are you doing in my business, y/n?"

"Why didn't you tell me that you were in two gangs?" you counter, fingers shaking slightly. "Ran, this is something I needed to know before--"

"You wouldn't have married me if I told you." Ran's tone is cold, almost as if he's turned into the past version of himself without batting an eye.

"You don't know that." Ran leans forward, coming to eye level with you a smirking.

"I know you. And that's all I need." Ran reaches out a hand to close the laptop, still smiling and maintaining eye contact. "Now here's what you're going to do. First, you're going to stop digging into my past. There's nothing there that you need to find. Second, you're going to come to bed. It's late, you're tired. Finally," Ran cups your chin like he did this morning, except his fingers aren't so tender this time. "You're going to cut off contact with both Shuji Hanma and Taiju Shiba. I'm not really fond of either of them, and I'm not a fan of having them tell my business to my wife."

"They were only doing it because I asked."

"Taiju, maybe. Shuji isn't so eager to fuck you. I doubt he did it out of the kindness of his heart." You can't say anything to refute his claims. Ran is probably right. But you can't get one question out of your mind.

"Why are you trying to hide your past? What's there that I won't like?"

"What isn't there is the real question."

"What can you tell me about the gang that's just surfaced in Tokyo?" Ran's face slackens, transforming into a half-surprised, half-blank look that you realize is one that means he's been caught. "Oh, my fucking god," you breathe, tears stinging your eyes. "South, the fish, the murders, the crime... It's you. It's been you this whole time. I've been chasing my own husband down." Panic begins to set in, and your mind whirls around as you shake in your seat, bringing your hands up to your head. "Just tell me Rindou isn't in this," you breathe, but Ran doesn't answer you, still wearing that dumb look on his face. You let out a cry of shock, covering your mouth and trying to back away from Ran as much as you can.

The source is a lot closer than you think.

You slide down the wall, shocked into stillness as your sobs quiet, and Ran straightens up, placing his hands in his sweatpant pockets. The long nights, the early mornings, the bloodstains, the damn suits... It all led to this. Ran had never really left his old lifestyle behind. He'd gotten caught up in it, and brought you and Kai into it unknowingly.

"I never meant for it to get this... unhinged." You can't reply, tucking your knees into your chest as you stare past Ran and at the opposite wall, wondering how you'd missed the signs, the obvious signs that Ran was up to no good. "I know this is a lot to take in, but we can--"

"I can't stay here."

The words fall from your mouth and Ran flinches, shaking his head.

"No. You can't leave."

"Yes, I can," you mumble, standing and wiping your tears. "I can do whatever I need to do to keep Kai safe, and--"

"Kai is safer here than out there," Ran snaps, pointing at the window. "I'm not letting my son out of my sight. Your snooping has caused enough trouble as it is; I wouldn't have had to go and clean up this morning if you hadn't--"

"Don't blame this on me," you retort, pointing at Ran accusatorially. "You're the one who joined a gang and is still in one! What kind of role model are you for our son now?"

"I provide the best way I can," Ran grits out, clenching his fists. "You've never gone hungry, cold, or ill-clothed a day in your life while you were with me."

"I would rather die than enjoy a life paid for with blood money."

"Blood money? You really think--" You try to push past Ran, but he grabs your shoulders, yanking you back in front of him. "You're not going anywhere except to our bed."

"Let me go, Ran Haitani," you mutter, hands balling up into little fists. "Or I'll scream."

"Who will hear you? Kai?"

How had you been so foolish? Ran's lips press together momentarily as his violet eyes run over your figure, taking stock of all your five-foot-six stature. You're no match for Ran. Not mentally, and certainly not physically. Ran notices your defeat and his hands slide down to your wrists, tugging your delicate hands up to his chest.

"Everything will be fine," he whispers, drawing you close. "I'm taking care of us. Just trust me."

Just trust me.

[dannyboyzone]

Writing rules 101 by Kin

Intro;

Everybody has their own writing style, and you absolutely don't have to listen to me. This is only posted for two reasons, one being that I might not have the mental strenght to post request for 2 or 3 days due to personal reasons, the other one being hey, someone might find this useful.

It's not to nag though, it's more for fun and I am open to respectful critism.

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

1.

The first one that's the most important one is - In my eyes at least - that you should absolutely never write the character doing absolutely nothing.

Start out sentences with someone being in the middle of something, either something big or something small.

Example;

Not that good; Daniel woke up to the sound at his alarm, at 7:30 am and went to brush his teeth.

Alright!; Daniel shifted his gaze from the window back inside his kitchen. It was raining today, he couldn't help but wonder if it was a bad omen, or if his mind is simply trying to mess with him.

He opened the door to reveal his kitchen shelves, putting away the mug he had gotten from Gun that morning.

ex end.

Not only will it give more depth and possibilities for your story, but it will also keep the reader more entertained and in picture with what's happening.

Also, you are less likely to get a writers block.

2.

Please, if possible, do not write in a big text block.

By that, I mean not possible break in between lines at all.

Please try to make a format you are possible with, of what your gut feeling says feels right.

Example;

You could write like this.

I do not follow a possible format, but in my opinion the best format is one or two sentences starters. The next graph being three to five sentences.

It will not only make you more able to focus, and know where you left off but it is also helpful for the readers.

You can, of course add big paragraphs - if they are called that - but! People with certain disabilities, especially reading ones, will be able to pay attention more and not get overwhelmed if you follow the process of 'small text, big text, small text' or one similar to that made by your own. Also, were you aware that people who don't have English as their first language will be able to follow through more like that?!

Well, now you are!

ex end.

3.

" It is not necessary for you to always add who is talking while two people are having a conversation. " said Mira,

" That's right, but that rule only applies if it's obvious who is talking! " Zoe added to the conversation, with a cheerful smile.

Zack leaned back in his chair, holding a hand in front of his mouth as he yawned,

" If you are going to tell them the obvious anyway, just tell them that a sentence which is followed up by a quote should never have a dot but rather a comma. "

" Zack, don't be silly! Everyone knows that! "

" Actually... Some people might not! Let's not be judgemental everyone. " said the brown haired one.

" Pft, that's for beginners tho! "

" Hey!!! Let's also tell them that they can use differences between the people talking instead of their name too! " said his desk mate, as he looked up from the notes on their desk.

Zack leaned his head on Daniel's shoulder, closing his eyes as he made himself comfortable for a nap,

" Yup, especially if there is a pronoun difference. "

Mira turned to Y/n, holding their shoulder,

" Don't feel stressed please! It's alright to make mistakes, and writing is pretty hard anyway! Just follow your own pace! "

4.

Do not add anything that doesn't have a meaning.

Even if it's taking a sip of drink, it should have a meaning.

It's poisoned, dirty, the first step for someone to be healthy, the first drink someone has for survival, holds a significant meaning or It's to provoke someone.

It doesn't matter, as long as it adds something to the story.

If you do not make everything have a meaning that adds depth to the story or the personality of a character you are wasting the time of your reader and could possibly give them false hope.

Though, you don't immediately have to add the meaning of if in the same scene or even same chapter.

5.

Some sentences have multiple meanings depending on which word is pressed down.

Take an example, the sentence

" I never said she stole my money "

has 7 different meanings depending on the word you press down. Just try it out.

So if you might write a sentence with multiple meanings please write the pressed down word in italics.

If you want to say the person didn't steal the money, but someone else did, you would have to write,

" I never said she stole my money "

I hope it's clear with only one example!

6.

Your work is bad because you have read it at least a thousand times, but the people you will publish it to will read it for the first time and you will always have to remember that.

If you want to improve it though, write down everything in your notes, then fully delete it.

You can then open your post tab on your publishing site - like tumblr or something - and start rewriting it.

You will definitely only remember what's necessary in addition to your story.

I personally don't do this, but a lot of people might find it important.

7.

Always do research please, even if things won't always be accurate.

If you do research, less people will be annoyed by the inaccuracy and you will be able to add a lot of things that you couldn't have without them.

Also, you can avoid appropriating cultures and offending different kind of communities that way.

Along side that, please always state if your work will out of character or inaccurate on purpose.

Plus! Checking your spelling errors with a trusted app of yours will never hurt anybody! ♡

8.

If you have a writers block, please either

1. Change the weather; Opens up different kind of possibilities due to clothing, back ground, objects, air and reactions it brings out of others.

2. Add something dramatic; Only do this if it's absolutely necessary, because it could ruin your work. If everything goes right, add something that goes wrong and vice versa. This is only if you want to add angst in your fluff or wise versa.

3. Change the environments and/or the positions the characters are in; It gives a better perspective of the mood and general idea of the topic on hand that you are writing about.

4. Move on to the next scene; You can either leave the scene at that, or write the scene after that which can give you ideas for the one previous to that.

5. Make sure to clean the room you are in; Distractions and environment factors can change the way you feel about writing. Especially if not everything is clean, even if you don't like the mess. Also, drink water.

9.

Never add the end being a dream in longer works.

I don't mean the middle, a twist or a necessity. I mean the absolute end.

It just disappoints people and wastes their time.

10.

If you are writing anything other than romance such as action, horror, thriller ect I would like to say that, romance is not a necessity.

I beg of you, please don't add it if your main focus isn't romance.

Sure, people can have relationships but unnecessary romance rather drives people away than bring in more readers.

If your main focus is romance, please don't immediately make the people fall for each other.

It doesn't necessary have to be enemies or something you don't enjoy, but please remember that no one loves at first sight, and even people with a lot of chemistry can be shy!

Even if you love someone the first day you meet them due to something, it will definitely take a few hours and naivety.

So unless the main point is love at first sight, it's better to build up a relationship bit by bit.

11.

Be diverse with tension levels in scenes!

If a whole work is simply tense, or simply has a normal tone that can be either overwhelming or underwhelming.

For example, if your work is shorter, you can add a tiny moment where someone pouts yet gets cheered up with kisses a bit after.

If it's longer, you can add for example a race scene, which after ending is followed up with a group of friends smiling and having fun at a dinner table. If would not only give more depth to your story, but it could make viewers think and make their own headcanons of your story.

So, in short, please balance your story out. Readers have an easier time to finish a work that's balanced in the course of the same day over works that are over or underwhelming! ♡

12.

Every writer has a word that they might repeat too often. Mine are pronouns, but for others it might be fangs, headband, no, lenght or even cat.

Please try to recognise yours!

If you feel like you are repeating your key word more often than 3 times please rewrite your sentence(s) in a way it's more pleasant.

You will have an easier time writing and your reader won't feel like you are repeating yourself.

Also, you can improve your speech pattern that way. ♡

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Outro;

Whew, that was a lot. Kinda gave me a headache.

Please remember that these are tips and not to put anyone down. I would have just liked to help and make up for the lack of post. - Ouch, parrot much. - I enjoyed writing these, but if anyone got offended I apologise. Hopefully, this won't get ignored since I put a lot of effort in it. 🥲

Thank you for your time! <3

[hoidn]

if you want to play along, consider yourself tagged.

AO3 name: tree

Fandoms: these are fandoms i've written in, but they're not all my fandoms, if that makes sense. i've written quite a few things in exchanges just because i was familiar enough with the canon to take a pinch-hit or because i didn't know what i was getting myself into.

Longmire (TV), The X-Files, Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen, Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman, House M.D., Star Trek: Voyager, Ancient Greek Religion & Lore, The X-Files RPF, The Cutting Edge (1992), Blade (Movie Series), Northanger Abbey - Jane Austen, Hannibal (TV), Girl with a Pearl Earring - All Media Types, Lady of the Shard (Webcomic), The Fionavar Tapestry - Guy Gavriel Kay, The Wake - Paul Kingsnorth, Battlestar Galactica (2003), Stranger Than Fiction, Charlotte Gray (2001), Green Gables Fables, Firefly, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Ibis Trilogy - Amitav Ghosh, Octopus Steals My Video Camera and Swims off with It While It's Recording (Short Film), Gilmore Girls, The Middleman (TV), Fairy Tales & Related Fandoms, JAG (TV 1995), Hamlet - Shakespeare, The Fall (TV 2013), The Abyss (1989)

the fandoms i haven’t yet posted anything for are many and varied, and any WIPs that may exist for them will likely die with me, which is probably a very good thing.

Number of fics: 94 (?!!)

Fic you spent the most time on: no friggin' idea. i sometimes spend weeks just trying to get one paragraph right and then write two thousand words the next day which need very little editing. it might take me over a year to write something from start to finish that's not much more than a thousand words, but how much of that span of time was spent actually working on that particular fic isn't something i keep track of.

Fic you spent the least time on: hope falls harder — it's one sentence; i spent longer scraping together the title and summary than i did writing the work. in my defence it's in a made-up language that only exists in the text, so it was a difficult sentence.

Longest fic: some wild and necessary hunger with 24,606 words. because of course a trope i didn't like at all until i discovered i liked it in very specific contexts turned itself into my longest fic. of fucking course.

Shortest fic: hope falls harder with 41 words. however, since it's the only fic anywhere ever for this canon, i still win the prize for the longest fic in the fandom.

Most hits: A Wild and Distant Shore with 32,785 hits. fork me. that is terrifying. (what's interesting is that to suppose the truth of it possible has the next highest number at 30,440 and it was written nine years later, so it's accrued hits at a much faster rate than my older P&P fics, but it doesn't even make it into the top 5 by kudos. so a lot of hits but fewer people like it? i'm so curious!)

Most kudos: A Wild and Distant Shore with 1,084 kudos. folks continue to dig the P&P smut.

Most comment threads: if you came this way with 80 threads, but it's an extreme outlier. the next three highest are in the mid-low 30s, which i think is more indicative.

Fave fic you wrote: within the last few years, probably Darlin', everything's on fire (with Through Worlds as a close runner-up). i am genuinely proud of my zombie apocalypse AU. i think it's one of the best things i've ever written.

Fic you want to rewrite/expand on: as @sarking said, "I’m not a rewriter – it’s hard enough to get something out of me once, or to get a draft and a finished product out of me." i'm also not an expander, with one recent exception. when i write a fic, i tell the story i've got to tell and then there's no more. that said, someone once mentioned they'd like to read chakotay's side of if you came this way and my brain mulled over that to the extent that it's got a title (no mean feat) and its own document, and i've actually noodled a bit at it.

(noodling is, of course, a different process to writing; noodling is to writing what doodling is to drawing. although to continue the alliterative parallels i suppose it should be 'woodling', but as that just looks ridiculous, let's not.)

however, there are many barriers to this fic's completion, among other things that it's daunting trying to match myself. even while i was in the process of writing it, i knew if you came this way was something special. not necessarily the best thing i've ever written in strict terms, but certainly the most joyful in process (at least up until the very end). which isn't to say it was easy, just that somehow all the stars aligned so that my love of the characters and my love of language combined into something wonderful and the process itself became a celebration of that love. oh my god it sounds like i was on acid or something at the time, but i wasn't. just my usual cocktail of crazy meds.

Share a bit of your WIP or share a story idea that you’re planning: i'm knee-deep in my het big bang fic that won't quit and is definitely not the fic i had intended to write hahahaha. it's for That Show I Can't Stop Making GIFs For Or Writing Fic For Apparently. but! i'm also noodling away at a J/C voyager fic for the kind soul who bid on me in the fandom for australia auction. this may or may not be the final version, given that i haven't written the lead-up yet and i haven't written these characters at all in some time, but i quite like it as it stands, so here we go.

"It has to be me," she said.

"Captain—"

A single raised hand forestalled his protest.

"I've already had this argument with Tuvok. Please don't make me repeat the experience, Commander." She strode a restless to-and-fro across the Ready Room. "Perhaps it makes me a prude but I believe that sex is a private act, not a performance."

"It doesn't make you a prude."

Janeway carried on as if she hadn't heard, her eloquent hands in agitated motion. "And how can I, in good conscience, order someone to... to... perform?"

It was a split-second decision, instinctive.

"You won't have to order anyone, Captain."

She stopped, frowned. "What do you mean?"

"I'm volunteering for this mission."

Her whole face softened into gentle distress. "Oh, Chakotay. I can't ask that of you."

"You're not asking. I'm offering."

[woojinieemoved]

dating a park at a park ―

member: park woojin

genre: fluff

writing type: paragraph

word count: 1.3k

summary: you and woojin go on a date at the park and yall do something that embarrasses the both of you

a/n: so like i was gonna rewrite this but im tired and i want to write new stories so sorry if this sucks bcuz this is the first scenario i wrote when i first created my account!

my masterlist

It was early in the afternoon and Woojin receives a text from you saying:

“Woojinie!! It’s nice out so let’s have a date day at the park :-) <3″

He smiles reading the text and blushes slightly at the little heart emoji at the end of your text.

“Alright. I’ll meet up at your place at 12:00?”

You instantly rely agreeing to it and happily go to your bedroom, ripping everything out of your closet trying to find a cute outfit to wear. After throwing as many outfits as you could, you finally settle for a simple outfit: a long knit cardigan with a simple tee tucked into some high-waisted shorts. You had around a hour left before he were to arrive and ran to the bathroom to throw on some simple makeup and appreciating how cute you looked, hoping that your boyfriend would too once he got here.

Woojin was probably as frantic as you were, throwing on as many outfits he had as well, also settling with a simple outfit of a graphic tee that looked nice with the flannel he wore over, rolling up the sleeves, and a pair of ripped jeans. It took around 10 minutes to take a car to your place, so he used his time wisely, making sure he had all of the things he needed for the day, aka his wallet, phone, and his love for you ;) im sorry lmao   Looking at the time on his phone and realizing it was almost 12, he runs outside and catches a taxi to your place.

It was nearing 12 and you were anxiously waiting in your living room waiting for Woojin to arrive, looking back and forth at the time on your phone until you finally hear the sound of the doorbell being rung and you jump up from the couch, running to the door to open it. You see Woojin standing in front of you and you both immediately smile at each other, Woojin’s cute snaggletooth always standing out. Woojin pulls you in for a quick hug and blushes at how good you looked. “Are you ready y/n?” Woojin asks while holding onto your hand lightly. You nod your head and smile up at him, making the corners of his mouth rise a little, the two of you taking a taxi to the park since it was pretty far.

Once you guys got to the park, you were excited to see all the bright green nature and the blooming flowers, instantly smiling and gazing at your surroundings. Woojin watched you bounce around in excitement and chuckled, walking fast to catch up with you. He grabbed your hand and you jumped in surprise seeing it was only your boyfriend. You both walk around, eating snacks, and taking lots of pictures together. Woojin was still sort of camera shy, but he didn’t hold back on sneaking some photos of you for himself to admire later. You were swinging his hand slightly as you guys walked around the park, embracing the nice weather and surroundings, Woojin appreciating your beauty more than the area and just thinking how the flowers behind you made you look even more beautiful than before.

After walking around for a while, you’re legs get a little sore and you nudge at Woojin. “Can we take a rest? My legs are getting tired.” You say and softly massage at your thigh, frowning a little and looking up at him. He blushes at the sight of you squishing your thigh and quickly looks away.

“Y-Yeah. There’s a bench over there in the shade. Let’s go sit there.” He says and leads you to the bench, waiting for you to sit down first. There was a drink machine near the bench and Woojin takes notice of it. “I’m gonna grab a couple of drinks. You stay here and rest up.” he said and placed a small kiss on your forehead and flashing you that same cute smile before walking to the machine to buy some drinks.

You blush a little touching your forehead and sitting back, smiling at how great your date with him has gone. You sit back and suddenly remember Jihoon telling you a couple days ago about the thing you did upset Woojin and a frown appears on your face. Woojin is walking back with two cold bottles of water and he sees you sitting on the bench looking upset and immediately becomes concerned, walking faster and plopping himself next to you.

“Y/N? What’s wrong? You look upset?” Woojin said as he opened the water bottle before handing it to you. “Have you not been enjoying our date?” he asked with a worried look and gazing at you with puppy eyes.

Since you were sort of dozed off thinking about what Jihoon said, you were sorta startled when Woojin sat next to you. You thanked him for the water and took a sip, letting out an exhale of satisfaction. You were surprised hearing Woojin’s question and let out a small sigh followed with a smile. “Nothing’s wrong with our date. It’s just...” you hesitate and look to the side. Woojin frowns and scoots closer to you and putting his arm around your shoulder saying, “C’mon. Tell me what’s wrong. I don’t want my girlfriend to be sad while we’re on a date.” A waft of Woojin’s cologne as he gets closer to you and feeling the warmth of his arm around you.

“Well... Jihoon told me that the thing I did a couple days upset you.. I don’t know how much it upset you so suddenly remembering made me feel bad about it.” You said slowly, looking down and fidgeting the cold water bottle in your hands, crinkling the plastic lightly. Woojin stares at you for a little and snorts a little, bringing is other hand up close to his face to cover it slightly. You look up at him looking confused wondering why he laughed, but slightly relieved that he didn’t look mad. 

“He was just messing with you y/n.” he chuckled and you widen you eyes in surprise. “Jihoon.. I can’t deal with him...” you sighed and pouted. “If you knew it was a joke why didn’t you tell meeee” you whined and huffed, looking forward. You were honestly relieved that it was just a joke, but you were a little mad that he didn’t tell you it was only a joke that Jihoon pulled on you. He held in his laugh watching you get all pouty and smiled, nudging your arm.

“Don’t be mad~” he says and shakes you softly, looking at you with big puppy eyes. “Will you stop being mad if I act cute for you?” he asked, tilting his head with a grin on his face. You decided to ignore him a little longer, curious what you think he’ll do next. “Hmmmm? Fine. I’ll do it.” he said, you still facing forward with your arms crossed.

Woojin starts making kissy faces trying to grab your attention, slowly inching closer to your cheek. You notice the kissy faces he was making from the corner of your eye, trying not to smile at how adorable he looked making those faces. Waiting until he got close enough, you quickly turn your head to steal a kiss from his lips and got up to run away towards where the drink machine was in embarrassment. 

You ran away, holding your hands on your cheeks quickly burning up and flushing red and Woojin sat at the bench shocked and in awe, his face quickly turning extremely red with a huge smile appearing and hid his embarrassment on his face with his hands. You crouched near the machine giggling and couldn’t believe that you actually did that.

Once you two got over being super embarrassed, you walked back to the bench, flashing him a shy smile, Woojin also giving a shy smile. In the end, the whole situation was very embarrassing but pure and the date ended without any problems.

[i-am-a-fan-of-empty-spaces]

You know but if I had enough willpower to do absolutely anything right now I'd read books. I'd read about what it takes to be a better person. I'd read the stories of the lives of people I admire, looking intently for some great small secret to steal. I'd read religious texts and sutras. I'd read "good" books and also "bad" books I enjoy and I'd dissect the bad books to figure out why I enjoy what I enjoy. I'd read books ABOUT things, like culture and sex and art and violence and animals and rocks and death. The world would become so real and rich from it.

If I had any willpower left over I'd do what Hunter S. Thompson did with the Great Gatsby, I'd rewrite em all word for word hoping to learn what it feels to inhabit a voice, or maybe I'd just write down passages to decorate my walls. It's a blurry world we live in. But in this world after I read everything will be sharp, I'll speak words that pull out the contents of my heart in whole ugly unbroken form and speak words that reflect the world with sharp uncomfortable clarity to walking strangers.

If I had any willpower left I'd learn to keep an entire paragraph in mind at a time, like on Ritalin the sand in a box hardened into something still and quiet. Then I'd begin trying to write something really really good. It would be huge and take years. I'd be reading and meeting people and learning during these years, sharpening the world until it becomes almost too much to bear.

This book would become my whole world. I would love it more than me. When I can't write I would cry until I could write again. In our lives things get boring; in this world I'd find a few months in that it isn't getting any more boring to work on but strangely has gotten actually more exciting. I have passed a certain threshold where it has now become something so heavy and lasting that I know I can't let it go. Some mornings I find myself waking up excited to write. I open up the document I am awed genuinely at how good it is. It keeps getting better every sentence I add. I never want to stop. I want to see how much greater it will get.

One day at the end of years I would make the last change, and it would be imperfect but something close enough to the true pure vision, closer by miles than anything in this world I have done. I go "holy shit I did it, fuck yes fuck yes I did it", I tell my friends, I walk outside giddy into the night and buy the biggest most expensive meal. And I know I've made something good, because the feeling I get from holding it in my hands is the same feeling I get from holding all the great books I have loved, of holding some holy relic, of here is something with a meticulous perfect vision told in hundreds of sentences densely woven and it is a testament to the richness of being human. And despite all the self help books I will have read in the Years Of Reading I would become the cockiest person ever. It would feel good.

[lovingtimetravelexpert-blog1]

I aspire to be a one shot author,can i get tips from you for a beginner like me?

Hi, first of all sorry for the late reply (I’ll make up to it by taking this most seriously - forgive me in advance for the long post that is about to come) and second of all thank you for asking. I feel honored.^^I do have some tips for One-shots (some of them can be applied to longer fictions, too):1. Think about a situation, a theme, a motif or an object, which stands in the focus of your story. This will give the story its substance and a frame. Some writers use prompts to help them. Others prefer to write their own ideas. Writing never happens on a whim. You’ll always have something on you mind, you want to show. Concentrate on it and ask yourself, how would the characters react to it? For instance, how would they react if they found an abandoned puppy? Would they act emotionally or rationally? From this point you already start to formulate a story. I’ll give you an example, I worked on: Mayura comforts Shimon (situation)

Why would she need to comfort him?

How would she learn from this situation?

Will she run to him and comfort him or are they in a situation, that makes her comfort him?

Are they together yet or just friends?

Where do they meet?

Would he let his emotions show in front of her?

Would she hug him or just bring him tea or something?

Etc.

By answering these questions I already formulate a bit of the plot, a certain mood and a rough setting. In this case I will make something happen to Sayo and Mayura learn from it through Yuzuru. She will run to Shimon directly to comfort her friend. The other questions I left unreplied, yet, because I felt like I needed to feel the mood first and so I made notes:

Yuzuru running errands,thinking about Mayura. That girl with a strong heart, who remindedher so much of Seigen, the man Yuzuru had looked up to all her lifeand admired from afar, caught up in a web called unrequited love.

Sometimes you’ll have more abstract themes, that aren’t directly depicting a scene but focus on a motif. For example I worked on the motif “Holding Hands” once. This kind of One-shots needs a clear frame. So I thought about the beginning and the ending first:

Reaching out for each other on the battlefield[…]And then there was now. As they slowly made love, savoring eachnew emotion together, they held onto each other. While their bodiesunited, they held each others hands, fingers folded into each others.

One thing of importance: Don’t mix too many things together. If you work on a motif, don’t switch to an object and then to the motif again, if it’s not the ending. I once wrote this One-Shot called “The Vermilion Bird”. It has the theme “Shimon’s life”, which I ended in a situation of the now to have impact on the reader. You don’t want to dissolve this impact, so let it be. Just connect the situation with the theme in the last paragraph to have a round story. Et voila!

2. Think about possible dialogues, that center around the situation, theme etc. It often helps me to start from this angle. I just write a dialogue without mediation, e.g. “he said with a look of doubt in his eyes”. Instead I just picture a realistic dialogue.

Back to the example of Mayura comforts Shimon:

Yuzuru runs some errands and hears:“Ikaruga Sayo?”“Yes, I heard, it isreally bad this time. Since the last tattoo she has fallenunconscious and won’t wake up. And her body is tormented by a strongfever.”“The Ikaruga family mustbe on their toes.”“Sure they are.”She had to tellMayura-sama.

We don’t know, who is talking and how Yuzuru reacts to it, yet it feels realistic because it is dialogue anyone can imagine. The phrases of mediation aren’t as important as a realistic dialogue… Yet…

3. Think about settings which will serve the mood or fit the theme. Where is this going to play? Will there be more than one setting? Which is the most important setting? Which mood should the settings display? What parts of the setting might be important to the characters?

Again back to the example:

We’ll start off at some market place. But it won’t be as important as the scene in which Mayura does comfort Shimon. Yet it can establish a contrast to the grave main scene, so it might be a light mood.  You can use all kind of stuffs to construct the mood. Maybe the weather is bright, maybe it’s a warm summers day, maybe the vendor who sells the best apples waves friendly at Yuzuru. The more connected to the character or the story, the better.

The market was busy today. However, the vendors smiled at her just as friendly as usually, while she bought one item of her list after another. Soon she reached the stall of her favorite fruit seller. Yuzuru let her gaze swipe over the freshly green looking apples, making her mouth water. She might pick a few of them plus the red ones, everyone else in the house seemed to prefer. Today she wanted to be a bit more selfish. Yet, coming to think about it, she did not know, which apples Mayura-sama preferred. The young, kind girl had lived only for a few months at the Amawaka estate. She had eaten the red apples. But did she like them more than the green ones? With a smile Yuzuru picked up two more green apples. If Mayura won’t like them, she had two more for herself.

4. CHOOSE A PERSPECTIVE! This is one of the most famous rookie mistakes. Either beginners don’t settle for a perspective at all or they fail at a coherent perspective. It’s the question of who sees.

Easiest example is first person narration. You write from the perspective of one character only. AND IT HAS TO STAY THAT WAY. The character won’t know what others feel. Depending on the character he/she can guess/understand the gestures and mimiques they make, but not all characters are as empathic. “I stood in front of the bed. Steven wore a frown. It made me feel uneasy not knowing why he started to frown all of a sudden.” But this is wonderful because you can play with it, you can form suspense with it. Why is Steven frowning? (In literature there are very interesting experiments on I-narration but they are more artifical.)About third person narration: With third person narration it’s the most important thing to know beforehand which perspective you are going to take. Is the point of view bound to a certain character? Is it omniscient and the narrator knows more than any character? For instance the narration can look into the thoughts of one character and skip to the future of the character, that he won’t know yet. (It is a very difficult perspective to stay coherent with.) Then there is a neutral focalization (according to Gerard Genette), in which the narrator knows less than the character. E.g. “She stood in front of the bed. Steven wore a frown. She started to frown now, too.”

The easiest and most common perspective is the internal focalization. It enables you to depict the feelings and thoughts of one character like the I-narration but you can choose more than one character to look into within the whole story. You could start with one character and then change the perspective in the next part of the story (Just don’t mingle them in one part). If you do this correctly, you won’t need the unnecessary remark of “[Character X] POV”. (I don’t know why people started to do it, because it is superflous and sometimes it does not even fit the perspective they actually wrote. So please, just don’t. Please.) Also this decision will ultimately determine, how you write.

In my “Mayura comforts Shimon” example Yuzuru is internally focalized. I could easilly rewrite this scene into I-narration. However, if I had an omnicient narrator, I could add which apples Mayura really preferred but I would need to rewrite the scene a bit with phrases of mediation to prevent the addition from standing out too much. And in neutral focalization, I would have to cross out everything, except Yuzuru reaching the fruit seller and looking at the apples.

5. Try and error. The earlier points were about the what of a story - and a bit about the how at the last point. But the thing that makes your story unique is your style of writing. However, this is something nobody can easilly teach you; there are tips but a style has to be as coherent as the perspective. So if you write a poetically sentence because you’ve read somewhere, you shall write with a lot of metaphors and the next sentence is blunt, it won’t feel round. (It can lead the focus of the reader but that is not something a beginner should try without establishing his style first.) 

How to find your style then?

Write. Just write. It does not have to be a One-shot. It can be 100 words about some random thing. It can be a scene, it can be the description of a car. It doesn’t matter.

Another strategy is to copy. Copy a style of an author whose style you feel comfortable with. This doesn’t mean I am fond of stealing. But it helps to read and to imitate, to get a feeling first. At some point you will automatically have a feeling for words, a certain structure of sentences as well as paragraphs.

Now…

I hope, I didn’t scare you off with this. You don’t have to master everything in the beginning. You don’t have to follow every advice. I think the first three points are easy to follow. Number four is the most difficult thing and I still struggle with it, sometimes, too. But if you know about perspective, it will help you deal with it. And remember, nobody is born a writer.

[tessatechaitea]

Batman #11

If you are a regular reader of this blog, I want to congratulate you for being a jenius.

You could say, "Good job on killing all of those child murderers. I have one more that could use some killing. You may have heard of him?"

The narrative returns to the present so I can get some of that sweet Batman's Suicide Squad action. But first, a little more sexual tension full of bat boners and cat juices.

Being with a 237 times killer is probably a huge turn-on. I mean in the context of having killed child murderers! Also, having The Ventriloquist watch is probably a turn-off. Probably.

Apparently Wesker, the Ventriloquist, is the key to Batman's entire plan. Remember when ventriloquism was all the rage and everybody was using it in their gothic horror novels? Hmm, you probably don't remember the 18th century and I doubt you've ever read Wieland. But you probably remember how Superman used to solve about eighty percent of his problems with super-ventriloquism! I bet Tom King wrote this entire story thinking, "You know what hasn't been a key plot point in comic books in a long time? Ventriloquism! Get to work, brain! Don't distract brain, penis!" Wieland also featured spontaneous combustion way before Dickens thought he was cool using it in Bleak House. Dickens was such a hipster dildo! While Catwoman and Wesker sneak in under the prison and head toward Psycho Pirate's cell, Punch, Jewlee, and Bronze Tiger march right up to the front door. Bronze Tiger has the hardest job of them all: having to listen to Punch and Jewlee practically fuck each other in front of them with their cutesy banter. Bane sends a guard to let them in for some reason. I guess Bronze Tiger applied for a visa to visit Santa Prisca. Catwoman and the Ventriloquist have a little Breakfast Club moment as they crawl around under the prison headed to Cell Block D. Is this entire story just a rewrite of The Breakfast Club? Five strangers (Punch and Jewlee are technically one person) stuck in detention together facing off against a raging bull running the place with constant narrative shifts in power as the day progresses? Wesker is the nerd. Punch and Jewlee are the basketcase. Bronze Tiger is the athlete. Catwoman is the criminal. And Batman is the princess. It totally works.

Must Bane always conduct business from his toilet of skulls?

Catwoman decides to screw up Batman's plan (unless Batman's plan was for Catwoman to screw up his plan! But I don't think so because Batman allowed his penis to distract his brain). So instead of rescuing Psycho Pirate while Bronze Tiger distracts Bane, she drops into Bane's "throne" room to reveal the entirety of Batman's plan. Which, basically, amounts to Batman breaking Bane's back for revengesies. Oh, and also getting Psycho Pirate to help Gotham Girl. Although that's beginning to sound a bit like Bush's WMD excuse for invading Iraq which he just wanted to do anyway. You know, for revengesies! Catwoman slices Punch and Jewlee's throats and steps on Bronze Tiger's face. If Punch and Jewlee really die (which, I can't see why they shouldn't, being the perfect kind of D-list villain fodder for Batman's Suicide Squad which the actual Suicide Squad never remembers to put on their team) it means Batman's Suicide Squad has been more aptly named than any of Amanda's since The New 52 began. Catwoman offers Bane knowledge on how to break the bat if he'll give her a plane and money and help her disappear. That could also be part of Batman's plan because he really wants her to be free. But I don't think killing Punch and Jewlee would be part of his plan. Even though Catwoman actually kills them, I'm fairly certain that planning somebody's murder is one of the few rules Batman would follow in his Here Are The Various Reasons Why That Person's Death Was Not On Me Rulebook. The Ranking! +1! Fine. Here's my confession: I actually like this more violent, desperate Catwoman. It's way more catlike than the whole steals but doesn't kill thing! Cats are fucking murdering monsters! It's part of the reason I love them so much.

[psychic-refugee]

Fanfiction Pet Peeves

These are just my opinions. I don’t name any specific author or story.

It seems like for the most part it is considered rude to post criticisms on fanfiction. I think as a community we’re trying to be more inclusive of all writing “styles.” I am a big believer in writing the story I want to tell, so I have to recognize that my style won’t be for everyone. I do think this is a positive direction, but I think it also cuts down on the responses/reviews people would get. I’m not opposed to it, but if this is what is considered the proper etiquette then we have to accept that we will not get as much feedback.

Now I know there is a difference between a criticism and a flame. I’m not saying we should allow flames.

I keep seeing all these posts about leaving a review, but I feel like we’re not giving them leeway to review. And sometimes, not leaving a review is a review. I always assume that if my hit count is higher than my review counts, then the difference are the people who didn’t like the story enough to review. Whether or not because they found it boring or hated it, that’s left a mystery.

I think with the advent of the “not beta read, all typos are my own” tag or warning, it’s basically telling the reader that they did some proof reading but for various reasons, they don’t have an editor basically. I think because fanfiction is a hobby for most of us, then it’s fair not to go that extra effort. Probably because I do it. lol. I try to get everything I can, but a few things always manage to slip by. So, most don’t take note or bother to mention typos unless it’s particularly egregious. The only exception I would make would be to writers whose first language isn’t English. I have come across stories where it’s clear there is something lost in translation and having a beta would be necessary.

E.g. a GOT fic where they called Gregor Clegane the “Enormity that Rides.” His nickname is the Mountain that Rides. I get that they maybe thought they were using a synonym, but in this instance, it doesn’t fit because Mountain that Rides is what he is known as, not necessarily a description.

I think it’s a fine line between something that is written well or poorly and personal taste.

There is just so much fanfiction out there, it’s hard to review them all. There have been many cases where I don’t even make it past the first chapter, the story just doesn’t interest me or there is something about it that is off putting.

Here are a few things that make me not want to read the story at all.

 “I suck at summaries” and variations thereof: basically the author is bashing their own writing and they still want you to read. I don’t have time for that. If the author doesn’t have the confidence in writing a few sentences, I can’t imagine their actual writing being worthwhile. This is especially true for AO3 with its tagging system that can actually help give us an idea of what the story is about. There are thousands of fics written daily, I can’t read them all and this is part of the triage of me deciding to read something. The only time I may ignore this is if the OTP is exceptionally rare or the fandom is small. In those instances, I’m not as picky because I don’t have much to pick from.

I also wonder if it’s not some form of compliment fishing. Like they want you to feel bad for them for being insecure, and they want you to say “no, it’s great!” I have no patience for those type of people.

Overtagging: If a fic has a million tags, my eyes just skip over it. This usually isn’t a problem for normal stories, this usually happens because it’s part of an anthology. It just looks super obnoxious to me. I would rather they just start a new fic each time and tag accordingly. There are some who overtag, listing literally every character that may show up despite their actual contribution to the story. If a character is just kind of mentioned or seen in passing or is talked about as part of exposition, then I don’t think they need to be tagged. Character tagging is really for the main characters. If I’m looking for X and your story shows up, but X is just seen in one chapter and it’s not about them, then I’d be irritated. The same goes for any “Warning” tags. Over tagging just clutters everything up, and I personally can’t stand it.

I’m also not a fan of doing whole sentences as tags. “I wrote this when I should have been…” and variations of things that would do better in notes rather than tags. Like I’m never going to filter for whatever your inane excuse is for the writing the story in the first place. It’s just dumb, obnoxious, and unnecessary to me.

No proof reading: This is different than not beta read. There are some that outright admit that they haven’t proof read. Sometimes, they’ll say “I’ll get to it later,” which I don’t understand at all. It’s fanfiction, we do it for free. There are no actual deadlines, I don’t understand why they don’t proof read before they publish. Then there are those that say “not proof read” and leave it at that. I’d like to think I’m a decent writer, and my first couple of drafts are always pretty rough. Even with several rounds of proof reading, I still manage to miss things. Not even trying seems so lazy and arrogant. I feel like they’re giving me advanced warning to not bother.

What makes me stop reading after the first couple of chapters.

Format: If the format is off or makes it hard to read, I just can’t bother. There are writers who somehow are able to write on their mobile device. I don’t know if they just don’t have access to a computer, or perhaps don’t want to leave evidence of writing fanfiction. Either way, I respect that they have limited means, but I don’t want to read it. The worst is when they don’t put in hard returns, either for separate paragraphs or when writing dialog. Basically, they don’t include enough white space. Trying to keep track of where you are reading with a never-ending paragraph creates eye fatigue, and it takes away from enjoying the story.

Then there are writers who don’t use punctuation. There was one author that refused to use capital letters, ever. They cited E.E. Cummings as justification. Not only did I have a problem with this readability wise, the justification didn’t make sense to me. Like nothing about the story really spoke to me about using this particular syntax as a way of any meaningful expression. But that’s just my personal opinion.

Wiki Storytelling/Choppy writing: This happens when there are too many simple sentences, or the narrative feels like it’s just a summary. Like there’s little to no description of what the character was feeling or where they are. I’m not saying we all need to be G.R.R.M. or Tolkien, but I want more “meat” in my story than:

Mal was told to get the wand. Her three best friends went with her. They got into the limo, it was scary. They tried to steal the wand but set off the alarm.

This type of story telling is boring to me. I think we find this mostly with very young writers.

AUs of movies with no unique features: where the fandom characters replace the characters in movies and the writers basically rewrite more or less line by line what happened in the movie (e.g. Descendant’s characters in Legally Blonde). I feel like I could save time if they just told me “X movie but with Y actors.” Not only do I feel it’s a waste of time to read it, I would think it was a waste of time to write it. Like assuming we’ve seen the movie, we know what happens. If the replacement characters do nothing to add or alter the movie, then I don’t see a point of the story.

Anyone have any fanfiction pet peeves?