#writing challened

[halteinfachmaldeinefresse]

Someone: *trying to Flirt with Justus*

Justus: really? You think that works on me?

Bob: *goes up to whisper in his ear all sweet* i know it works on you but if you don't want me to try again, we can do something else?

Justus: *blushing hard* what the fu-

[wisedawn-whatever]

The words seem to be returning to me!!! I just wrote 1.5k for a fic I've been wanting to write for a while! Woo!

[mirabellemoira]

Ah shoot I forgot to do the jacaela challenge post

[scriptwriters-network]

Creative Writing Challenge – Part 2 –July

This MONTHLY challenge is for those who want to work on writing new ideas and who would like to maintain a continuous creativity flow with your writing.

Creatively writing short films are a great way to get started/or extend the passion in your career as a writer. A good short film can further help you develop your style and vision using story, drama, dialog, and imagery.

More here.

[haechoxo]

[10:35 am]

haechan's apartment was a mess. empty takeout containers littered the coffee table, clothes were strewn across the floor, and the air was thick with the scent of stale beer. he hadn’t expected any visitors, let alone you.

he had spent the morning trying to shake off the anxiety from his late-night confession, his mind replaying every word he had said to you. he was expecting a phone call, dreading and hoping for it all at once. when a knock echoed through the cluttered apartment, his heart leaped into his throat.

he stumbled to the door, tripping over a pair of sneakers on his way. swinging it open, he was met with the sight of you standing there, looking as unsure as he felt.

“i—” you started, then faltered, your rehearsed words suddenly elusive. “i said i’d call, but i thought... maybe we should talk in person.”

he stepped aside, motioning for you to come in. “uh, yeah, yeah. come in. sorry about the mess.”

you walked into his apartment, glancing around. it was a mess–but it was so very haechan. he looked at you, clearly embarrassed, scratching the back of his head and blushing furiously.

“i, um, wasn’t expecting company,” he admitted, trying to tidy up a bit.

“n-no, it’s okay, i didn’t give you a warning…” you were just as shy as him right now. “i think i’ve seen worse anyway.” you giggle, easing the tension a bit.

“can i get you something?” he asked, his voice awkward and hesitant. “water, coffee?”

you shook your head, mumbling a soft ‘no thanks’, as you took a seat on the couch.

haechan sat down across from you, the silence between you heavy. you took a deep breath, finally getting to the point, “i thought about what you said last night.”

he perks up in his seat a bit, eyes flickering with hope, “y-yeah?”

“i… i want to make it clear first, we can’t just—forget any of it happened,” he deflates, “the hookups, the dates that weren’t dates, our fights too.”

“r-right…” he hopes you can’t see that he’s about to cry again.

“but, we were friends before all of that. you were my best friend… a-and i don’t want to lose that either.”

“i don’t want to lose you either i–” he sighs, frustrated with himself, “i let things get so far out of hand, i won’t ever stop making it up to you for as long as you let me, y/n.”

your cheeks tinge with a blush at his words, “yeah you were stupid,” he genuinely laughs at this, “but i probably shouldn’t have agreed to your ‘proposal’ the first time it happened, i told myself it would be a one time thing, but then one turned into two, and two turned into three years. i agreed because i trusted you, because i liked you.”

haechan’s eyes widen, “liked?”

“well—i still do, i mean why else would we be here, but that’s besides the point!” you quickly try to avert the topic from your silly schoolgirl crush.

“if you’re serious about me, as you say, i can forgive you. if we start over.”

“start over?” seriously, how dense can he be.

“no more hookups, hyuck.” you deadpanned

“oh! right, of course, so… you mean, we can go out on a real date, for real?” you’d laugh at how endearing it sounded if he wasn’t so serious.

some things don’t change.

“well—no.”

“oh.”

“i wanna just… go back to being friends—for now.” you stated softly.

“yeah… yeah that makes sense.” he looks like a kicked puppy, you could almost laugh.

“it’s not forever, hyuck,” a breathy laugh leaves your lips, “just until things are back to normal, when we– heal? i guess, from what happened these past few weeks.”

he nods, “so… just friends?”

“just friends.”

haechan looks visibly relieved, content with the current status of your relationship with him, he wouldn’t mind you keeping him at arms length, so long as you were keeping him at all.

“so... can you tell renjun to unblock me on twitter now?”

sigh.

previous - next

a/n ; APOLOGIES FOR THE LATE UPDATE💔,, i was unfortunately busy yesterday and couldnt stay locked up in my room 😔 and writing a “reconciliation” type of scene was so much more difficult than the angst… like this was a genuine challenge for me… BUT… only one more chapter after this…😰 im thinking of all the little bonus text chapters and silly blurbs i can make but only if u guys would wanna see those so lmk!! ik this isnt the best, i feel like i am better suited for angst, but lmk what u think! advice is always appreciated! xoxo jelly

[morbethgames]

Halloween Special, Current Projects, New Patreon Content

I am so sorry about the radio silence as of late. Between the stuff earlier this week (yes, that stuff), dealing with deaths of people, and university; I've been very busy and mentally drained. However, the good news is, you can play the mini game of The Bureau, "Witchy Woman" right now! The link is at the bottom of this post! Eventually I'll integrate it into the main game, or put it out as potential free DLC or something, but for now there are no stats and it's not tied to choices from the base game.

Tonight is a special case. The MCT has been called in as a favor after finishing up our most recent case. A friend of Kris's reached out, and the local P.D. has let the MCT take the lead on this one. A house party in the beginning of October up in Maine has turned sour. A party-goer has been reported deceased.

We just finished a job, but in this line of work, there's always another case to solve. So here I am, approaching the residence with my team, about to find out exactly what happened on this cold, damp night.

Because it's not part of a bigger game or story, and the only pacing I had to worry about was that of the investigation, this is much more freeflow than other investigations in the main story. Go back and forth between the crime scene, the perimeter of the house, interrogations, and more! The more you discover evidence, the more new options will unlock in conversations, and you have an evidence log in the stats section that updates every time you find out something relevant to the case.

I'm only promoting this now, even though it's been done for a couple of weeks, because it was part of a Jam and I didn't think it would be fair if I got votes from a community built over a few years when others in the Jam would not have had that same benefit. I wanted it to be an even playing field, even if it meant holding out for a bit. So, I apologize for making you all wait.

There are still things I'd like to do for this game, things I'll end up adding, but it is at the very least ready to play. It's 40k words, so have at it!

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

Right, next up, something I'd like to announce. I'm working on a serialized fiction that I'm (hopefully) planning to turn into a book. The first 3 chapters are going to be posted for free, both here on my blog and on my Patreon, though not quite yet. Chapters after that will be released on Patreon for the people who pay the $5 tier.

I'll be honest, it has been extremely cathartic to go from writing an IF where the chapters are all pretty much the length of a book themselves, to writing an actual book where a chapter is about 4k words. It's a very nice breath of fresh air, and it by no means, entails that I will stop working on Bureau. In fact, it may even help speed up rate of production, funnily enough. Having something to keep my mind turning while having writer's block about a scene in the IF will help me constantly generate ideas, and that's really nice to think about.

A small college town is rocked by a horrific murder. In wake of the events, a couple of friends begin investigating this personal tragedy, determined to get to the bottom of what happened at the Scribe City college. The lesson is quickly thrust upon them that loss leads to pain, but pain is temporary, and loss can be forever. So what comes after the pain? They need to explore that journey together, and in the process, navigate the complicated things feelings that have started to bloom.

The book (serialized fiction for now) , called Love In Stasis, is going to be a 'WLW romance small town college murder mystery'. You will explore the relationships that these characters have and continue to form, and just how messy things get when tragedy sparks love. I have almost 25k words done for it, about six and a half chapters, and I'm going to try to get 50k words done with it by the end of the month. A writing challenge that's totally not tied to the name of any organizations.

If this works out, I could reward patrons with static fiction while not having to worry about providing everyone with constant things tied to the IF itself, and I could work on The Bureau at a pace I'm very comfortable with.

I'm still learning as a writer. I'm still learning new things I like, and how I like to produce content. All I know is that I like producing art in the form of writing, and I most certainly will not stop doing that anytime soon, and now that the Halloween Special is done, I will be getting back to the base game.

Which will start with a complete recoding of the gender variables. I've already started on that process, so no more multiple versions of each chapter. One version. One set of gender variables. Much more condensed coding and script. So, people out there who said that wasn't going to change, I just have to say what I'd said all along. My coding was indeed bad. However I will also say something else I've said all along. I do take criticism.

That being said I'm never using multi-replace and you can't make me. I like being able to read what I'm writing.

More to come in the near future.

Stay Brilliant,

-Vi

https://cogdemos.ink/play/viisbae/the-bureau-halloween-special-witchy-woman

Patreon Link

[the-way-astray]

Listen. She asked for tips on how to write two people making out. I delivered. I personally am quite good at writing making out, in my own opinion. I do not know that my advice will mean her writing of the making out is GOOD. I did specifically say I did NOT want to imagine you and Keefe being like Sophie and Keefe in Living in a Blur Chapter 10 when she said LIAB was her inspiration. And we all know who this is, what she's writing, and that you are entirely at fault for basically challening her.

okay, well, now i'm curious. skipped to chapter ten of this fic and first of all:

maybe this is normal in the fic community but as someone who has little exposure to fic culture . . . is it just me or is it weird to apologize for not updating a fic when you're sick???? i don't know . . . something i noticed. that seems weird . . . it's not like you're me sitting there with your finished fic at your fingertips cackling at the screen, not posting it for the sake of torturing your readers . . . like you literally do this for free . . .

anyway now to the meat of it.

this is bad. this is terrible and horrible. if alayda writes me like this i may have to find her and kill her and frame you for giving her tips. i thought kissing keefe was bad enough but it can apparently get so much worse . . . i don't want to picture keefe without a shirt on which i will be forced to do if i'm written into a liab-style make-out session with him . . . ew. and please . . . not the singular hotel bed . . . have mercy, alayda . . .

excuse me i am not responsible for this. you are. this is roughly 25% your fault, 75% alayda's fault. when did i freaking challenge her???? i told her not to do this . . . i hate you . . . you did this to me . . . i never asked for this . . . i'm just an uptown keefe hater tryna live my life . . . and you fucking gave her the tips knowing exactly what she was planning on doing with them . . .

[krisslegacy]

troy denning write a woman challen- FAILED.

[lovebugs-and-snakecharmers]

LBSC Sprint Challenge December 2023

(Sprint art by @verfound, find the original here)

It's become a tradition that we do a Secret Santa Sprint Challenge on our discord server for December, so we're not posting new prompts for this month. However, you can still:

Pick any previous challenge prompt, or play LBSC Smooch Roulette to generate a prompt!

We'll be posting our Secret Santa pieces between 12/22 and 12/29, so you have until Friday, December 29 to complete your 3 15-minute sprints/45 minute art sprint and post the results. Once you’ve completed the sprints, you have 24 hours to edit (which can include some new writing to smooth transitions and make it feel complete, and whatever work you feel appropriate to get your art to a state you consider ‘finished’).

Please note you may sprint in the language of your choice, and you can either translate the final fic before posting, post it in the original language, or both as you choose. You can join us on the LBSC discord or sprint on your own! Just be sure to tag @lovebugs-and-snakecharmers in your final post so we will see it and reblog it. The rest of the rules can be found here under the cut.

Rules!

We’ll post a beginning and end date to the challenge, and a prompt.

Writers, If you choose to participate in the event, write for that prompt in up to three 15 minute sprints. No writing outside the sprints until you have completed all three! After the 3 sprints are complete, you have 24 hours to edit (which can include some new writing to smooth transitions, etc). You can also choose to break that 45 minutes up differently if you find a different split works better for you.  After those 24 hours, post what you’ve got. Tag your posts with @lovebugs-and-snakecharmers so we can reblog it to the LBSC blog. If you post your work on AO3 or somewhere other than Tumblr, you can leave a link in our ask box or in the appropriate discord channel so we can be sure to promote it. After the designated challenge end date, we’ll compile a listing of the submissions and post it to the LBSC blog.

Feel free to sprint in whatever language is most comfortable to you! You can post it in your own language or translate it before posting, or both!

Artists, you have 45 minutes to sketch and 24 hours to do any cleanup or coloring you’d like to complete. You can split your 45 minutes up however you like, or not at all. There’s no requirements on your finished piece, just aim for whatever goal seems challenging but achievable to you.  Tag your posts with @lovebugs-and-snakecharmers so we can reblog it to the LBSC blog. If you post your work on Instagram or somewhere other than Tumblr, you can leave a link in our ask box or in the appropriate discord channel so we can be sure to promote it. After the designated challenge end date, we’ll compile a listing of the submissions and post it to the LBSC blog.

If you’re wavering as to whether or not you think you can accomplish anything in 45 minutes, we really encourage you to give the challenge a try. You may be surprised what you can do! Feel free to join us in the discord linked above so we can encourage and cheer you on.

Obviously, this has to run a bit on the honor system and we won’t be tracking your times, but please do your best to honor the spirit of the challenge! If your sprint fic becomes an Entire Thing (these things happen sometimes) and you want to continue it, feel free! However, please still post whatever you’ve got after your 3 sprints with the tag. No fair busting out a fully polished fic or art without showing us what it looked like at the challenge stage!

We want to keep this a positive space and event! This does NOT mean that you can’t write or draw anything critical of a character or episode, but it isn’t the space for character bashing or hate either. Please keep the characters in character and save the more speculative work for another time. NSFW sprint works are permitted but must be tagged appropriately (please use “NSFW LBSC sprint challenge” for easy filtering on the blog) and with appropriate warnings.  (More FAQ about the process here)

This is a Lukanette blog and a Lukanette event, so while Lukanette does not need to be the main ship, it needs to at least be included or referenced and considered endgame (in other words, they don’t have to be together by the end of your work, but the intent is that they’re headed in that direction). The decision about what qualifies for reblog rests solely with the LBSC moderators. If a piece hasn’t been reblogged within a couple of days, either the mods felt the piece didn’t meet the criteria or it was simply missed; you are welcome to reach out in the asks to inquire which. There are plenty of other spaces out there for other ships and OT3s, and people are welcome to use the challenge rules and prompts to write for their own ships! They just won’t be reblogged to the LBSC blog, and we ask that you please not use the event tag (a modified form is fine - “InsertAlternateShipName sprint challenge” instead of “LBSC sprint challenge,” for example).

Happy sprinting!

[eldragon-x]

I want to write some kinda post about how I still wish Loop's battle was more challening and while the combat in ISAT in general becomes pointlessly easy it still serves the narrative in other battles and how I can put up with ISAT's gameplay being a bit bothersome because it overall serves the narrative well and one of my other favorite games of all time is Gates to Infinity which has annoying gameplay for no narrative reason and is just bad but I cant write that post because its just a soup of vaguely connected thoughts

[lyzelky]

Snippet Saturday!

@eraserspiral tagged me forever ago, but I didn’t have any new writing I could share until now! Sorry about the wait!

“Oh— uh—“ She looks towards the smoke curling lazily towards the sky and the faint silhouette of structures beyond the distant treeline.

Zorru had made the Gith’s conquest sound like a bloodbath, but by the lack of screaming and general carnage around the immediate area, she wonders if it has anything to do with Githyanki at all.

She has half a mind to march over there and see for herself, but she remembers Shadowheart’s irritation about rushing ahead, and holds herself back.

“Astarion,” She says instead, and she sees the elf’s ear twitch. “Would you mind scouting ahead? You’re the stealthiest of us, by far.”

She hopes the flattery will curry his favor, but Astarion sniffs and turns up his nose.

“And risk getting disembowled by a rabid gith? I think not, thank you.”

He’s still prickly from this morning, although why is something she hasn’t the faintest. Her eyes slip to Gale, who hasn’t met a tree root he hasn’t tripped over, to Shadowheart, who glowers, and then to Lae’zel, who certainly possesses the grace to spy, but who would no doubt abandon them in lieu of her kin. Finally, her gaze lands on Wyll, and her tail flicks hopefully.

“Alright then, how about Mr. Frontiers? You up for a bit of sneaking?”

Wyll’s face brightens, but before he can answer, theres a tinkle of cold laughter from Astarion, and the elf materializes in their midst.

“Pretty he might be, stealthy he is not. He’ll wake the dead stomping around in those… whatever they are.” He gestures nastily to Wyll’s well-worn, clunky boots. “I suppose I’ll have to play the spy, if we’re all to survive with our hides.”

His dark eyes meet hers, as if challening her to contradict him. She isn’t going to— he really is the sneakiest bastard she knows, or can remember anyway, but Wyll breaks the silence before she can say so. 

“You think I’m pretty, Astarion?” He grins.

Astarion makes a spitting sound like an angry cat, and without another word, stalks off into the distance, and is swallowed by the treeline. 

in short:

Tav: Hey Astarion can you do this?

Astarion: Absolutely not.

Tav: Hey Wyll—

Astarion: ExCUSE me? Are you STUPID? I’m the clearly the better pick. I cannot believe you’d expect Wyll to do this, instead of me, Astarion Ancu—

Thanks for reading! Tagging @gilded-glitter @atsadi-shenanigans @dwarfsized, @ghouliar0berts and @amoremagnificentbastard!

[bug-decal-kissing]

Hey friends!

A new work, Monster by my_own_new_paradise, was published today, with 2/13 Chapters released! It has a rating of General Audiences and Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, with additional tags "Fantasy, AU, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe, alternative universe, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Scarab has traumas, Scarab needs a hug, prismo needs a hug, Everyone Needs A Hug, magical flowers, lake, Slow Burn, Slow Romance, Slow Build, Insecurity, Insecure Scarab, knight scarab, human prismo, Scarab is insecure, Prismo is a God, technically Prismo is more than a thousand years but he looks like a 30 years old man, Humanoid Scarab, he's still a beetle, he's a knight, i already said that, Magical Forest, Magic, Orcs, Elves, seriously this story is a kind medieval fantasy love story, Does that make sense?, i hope it does, it's obvious one of the characters is writting the story but I won't say who, I mean the story is ridicuosly crazy, Sort Of, I Don't Even Know, anyway I hope you all like it, take italics away from me"

You can read it here:

I haven't read a fantasy fic where Scarab runs away before and I am LIKING IT >:] BUT MY POOR BABYYYY MY POOR SON HE DID NOTHING WRONG YOUR HONOUR :[ He just needs some therapy and he will be okay </3 And also maybe a kiss/j

Time Room Shenanigans + More, by DrakianDH and Feeling_Dubious, was updated today, with 19/19 Chapters released! It has a rating of General Audiences and No Archive Warnings Apply, with additional tags "Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Romantic Fluff, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Fluff without Plot, Oneshot Prompts Challenge, One Shot Collection, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Light Angst, Angst and Feels, Alternate Universe - Human, Kinda, It's really just a big collection or random stuff I made for January's Writing challene, frick spelling btw, Prohibited wish - Freeform, PWish, No Plot/Plotless, Some Plot, Maybe - Freeform, idk - Freeform, Among Us References, but like for one chapter, and no one's gonna get it"

You can read it here:

COLLAB TIME YIPPIE!!! Prismo has an identity crisis 2024/silly also SCARAB WITH A STRAW HAT IS ADORABLE TO THINK ABOUT AAAAAGH/pos Priaster is stronger than I could ever be; if I ran into a giant bug man, I would be on my hands and knees apologising for forever/silly They are so GOOBERLY with each other RAAAAAAGH FALLS OVER/pos

[denimbex1986]

'Andrew Scott and Paul Mescal might just be the most emotionally devastating couple you will see on screen this year. In the sensational All of Us Strangers, Scott plays Adam, a lonely screenwriter living in a near-empty London tower block. When he meets his neighbour, Mescal’s Harry, the two begin a tentative love affair, finding solace in each other’s arms. It is a film that deals with all manner of high-intensity emotions – grief, parental love, seclusion, loneliness, bullying, coming out. The protagonists’ sexualities are an intrinsic part of them and their story – but so are many other things.

“There is a gay storyline at the centre of it that we thought would appeal to LGBTQ audiences,” says Scott, who grew up believing he would never play lead roles because he was gay.

“But we’re dealing with lots of different forms of love. I don’t think people give a f**k about what sexuality they are when they respond to this film. It just wouldn’t be true to say that it’s just gay people [who] respond to this film. People get it. They get it and I love the fact that people are talking about love and they’re talking about emotionality and they’re so moved by it.”

“I think the least groundbreaking thing about this film is actually the sexuality,” agrees Mescal, who pinpoints the more universal emotions, such as loss, as the real heart of the movie. “That to me is remarkable and groundbreaking.”

Scott and Mescal are sitting together in an overly beige hotel suite. Scott, 47, is dressed in a white Lacoste jumper, while the 27-year-old Mescal is more casual still in a white T-shirt. They are relaxed in each other’s company, and spent the weekend in their homeland for the Irish premiere. “It felt cathartic,” says Mescal. “A great celebration of the film.”

Scott has been nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Actor and is delighted by the reception the film has been getting. “Genuinely wonderful,” he beams.

All of Us Strangers is the brainchild of writer-director Andrew Haigh, who previously proved his talents for shedding light on human frailty with the gay one-night-stand tale Weekend (2011) and 45 Years (2015), which starred Charlotte Rampling and Tom Courtenay as an elderly couple whose relationship quietly implodes in the run-up to their 45th wedding anniversary.

Haigh clearly has an eye for formidable on-screen pairings. “I don’t think [Scott] has had a lead film role like this,” the director tells me. “And so that kind of excited me… I love the idea of taking someone that you might not have seen do something and then seeing them do it.”

He cast Mescal after seeing him playing the quiet, lost student Connell in the 2020 TV phenomenon Normal People. “It was clear that his star was on the rise.”

Since then, Mescal has been ­Oscar-nominated for 2022’s father-daughter indie Aftersun, proving Haigh’s intuition was spot-on. “It’s like he’s been blown out of a rocket into stardom.”

Despite all its immensely human themes, All of Us Strangers is also a ghost story. As Adam attempts to write about his childhood, he starts to revisit his family home and encounters his mother and father (Claire Foy, Jamie Bell), who are delighted to see him. Except something is amiss. They look straight out of the 80s –which they are. Both died decades earlier in a car crash when Adam was 12 – he is now, somehow, communicating with their ghosts. It seems he has the chance so many wish they had: to say things to loved ones after they are gone. One of those things is that he is gay. It is one of the film’s most touching scenes, as he explains, unashamedly, with Foy’s prissy suburban housewife shocked by the revelation.

Both Scott and Haigh are gay, and while the scene elicits laughter at her outdated views, it must surely speak to their own experiences.

“I remember growing up in the 80s, and it was a very rough time to be gay,” says Haigh.

“Back then people did not like gay people. And families did not like the idea of their children being gay. So I think it’s really important to remind us that that’s how the world used to think.”

As Adam’s visits continue, we see how his parents, as he ­imagines them, soften and accept him. We also see how much regret they bear that they did not do this when he was a bullied child, crying in his room. To borrow from the Frankie Goes to Hollywood song that features heavily in the film, it is a hymn to the power of love.

“I think it’s about the idea that you have to let love in,” says Scott.

“You can survive, and you can trap yourself and lock yourself away. But you’ve got to let it in. Because [otherwise] what’s the point of having the privilege of breathing in this world?”

True enough. But it is also a film about isolation and the way, especially in big cities, we can cut ourselves off from those around us. Like the characters, “I’ve lived in an apartment block that felt like I had no connection to my neighbours”, says Mescal.

“I have too,” nods Scott. “Also, not to be cliché about it, but both of us are Irish. And there is a – what’s the word? – friendliness that’s part of our culture. You see people on the road and you wave at them. You say ‘Hi’. It’s quite chatty, I suppose. London, it’s four times the size of the population of Ireland. I’ve certainly had a thing where I think I’m going to try to make friends with the person – or at least acknowledge the person – who works in my local supermarket that I see every day. For me, that’s kind of important to establish community.”

Their Irishness bonded Scott and Mescal, but there is an effortless, easy-on-the-eye chemistry between them that goes beyond a common nationality. Haigh says they were trying to get across a plethora of different things – “intimacy and tenderness and compassion… and sexiness”.

“I had an unjustified confidence in the fact that Andrew and I would get on professionally,” says Mescal. “And personally, I think that’s ultimately what people are saying when they describe chemistry. Chemistry is kind of like this magic word. Does it look like those two people like and love each other?”

Harry tenderly bathes Adam at one point; in another scene, they take drugs in a gay club, with Adam gently requesting Harry take care of him.

“Chemistry is so situational,” says Scott, whose equally charged chemistry with Phoebe Waller-Bridge when he played the “hot priest” in Fleabag brought him further into the mainstream in 2019.

“The imagination of the audience creates chemistry. If they like us as actors, they’re going to have an excitement about putting those two people in the same room. There’s a lot of different things, as well as our relationship, that dictates it and then you work on the actual physicality. But chemistry isn’t just about sexual chemistry. It’s about loads of different forms of chemistry.”

Encouragingly, Haigh reports that there was no “pushback” on any of the film’s more explicit sex scenes. “Everybody was very supportive about how to tell the story,” he adds.

“I do think it does show progress [in telling queer stories]. This isn’t a tiny film made for $500,000. This is a slightly bigger film. And I do think that we have progressed to a stage where we can tell these kinds of stories; whether they become massive blockbusters, of course, is a different matter, because of course they won’t. It’s not Barbie; it’s a different type of movie.”

Sadly, the Academy failed to nominate All of Us Strangers for any Oscars this week. Nevertheless, Mescal feels it is important even to be in the conversation.

“Films of this scale and size are so important to me,” he says. “[There] should be space for more films like this. If we need to free up more space by getting rid of ‘X’ film or ‘Y’ film every year, I think that would be a good compromise. Audiences actually love being challenged. I don’t think they want to go to the cinema and be thinking about what time it is or what their Facebook or Instagram feed is doing.”

Both actors have big-budget projects up next. Mescal stars in Ridley Scott’s Gladiator 2, while Scott plays Patricia Highsmith’s charming serial killer in Netflix’s Ripley, due out in April. But it is films like this that seem to matter to him most. “Of course, we all love a bit of fast food,” he says. “I’m not saying there isn’t room for that. But if that becomes the pervasive thing we all consume, it’s just a little unhealthier.”

All of Us Strangers is “nutritious” by comparison. “This film, I have no doubt, will continue to connect with people for years. And that is genuinely thrilling.”'

[scriptwriters-network]

Creative Writing Challenge – Part 2 –   March

This MONTHLY challenge is for those who want to work on writing new ideas and who would like to maintain a continuous creativity flow with your writing.

Creatively writing short films are a great way to get started/or extend the passion in your career as a writer. A good short film can further help you develop your style and vision using story, drama, dialog, and imagery.

Find out more here.

[amaranthsynthesis]

fic writing ask! 2, 15, 27

2. a character whose POV you’re currently exploring

Right now I'm looking at Enver Gortash through an au lens--so I'm playing with the manipulation and the power complex we see in canon, but nascent and unformed. Right now his personality is colored by repression and shame instead of the survival drive and rationalization that he would have had to develop once he was sold into the hells, embedded into an economy literally based on the buying and selling of souls. This is fun for me because I really get to break out the Catholic Upbringing complexes, but I'm interested in exploring an alternate route to reach the canon baseline rather than fix-it-ficcing my way out of it!

15. favorite weather for writing

answered here!

27. your favorite part of the writing process

Hmmm this is challening. A lot of it is feedback, honestly! Not even just praise although of course everyone likes that, but I love seeing how people react and having discussions about it. That's super fun!

Less expansively, I really enjoy being able to go back and read through a fic once I feel like I've reached a finishing point and getting to actual LISTEN to it with intention--I tend to write with an ear (heh) towards auditory anyway, but I also tend to read and think so quickly I can skip that step. I looove getting to hold a polished (semi polished) piece in my hands and get to just enjoy the lyricism and wordplay, it's very satisfying both to hear and to know that I've accomplished something that could be called lyrical.

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ask me more from here ~

[nicholsroy]

November updates & December goals

Blog | Monthly updates

It's nearly December (which, side note, is wild - does it feel to anyone else like this year, in particular, just flew by?), a time where things tend to slow to a near-halt in terms of productivity as we prepare for various winter holidays. In terms of the personal writing schedule I maintain in my head, however, it feels a bit like things are busier than ever. Without further ado, updates and follow-up on November's goals are as follows:

November updates

NaNoWriMo: Absolutely blew this out of the water like a boss.

Nah, I'm totally kidding. I'd be lying if I said I was upset about this, though, because I "failed" for the best possible reason - I regained my full motivation for putting together LIFE IN BLACK AND WHITE's final manuscript, and have been fully focused on that for about the last 10-15 days. That being said, I did count all new words from scene editing toward the NaNoWriMo goal. Here's my (approximate) breakdown:

Warmups/drabbles: ~1,098

THE DOTTED LINE reoutline: 2,036

SUPERNOVA zero draft: 6,700

LIFE IN BLACK AND WHITE scene editing: ~3,000

I extend my encouragement and congrats to everyone else who took part, regardless of whether or not you "won". As an old curmudgeon who's participated in the challenge most years since 2008 (won five times, excluding one Camp NaNoWriMo win), my philosophy about this and similar challenges is basically: even if you don't "win," you've probably written more words this month than you would have otherwise. I know I did.

Query preparations:

I still can't believe I'm seeing this low of a chapter/WC discrepancy for this novel.

Goals for the final version of the manuscript, other than line editing/playing around with prose, fixing plot holes/inconsistencies, addressing beta comments, and fact-checking, include making the novel more marketable/more of a "typical" thriller in any way I can that doesn't affect the overall story. This has included things like restructuring the novel to make it "truly" dual timeline (ie. chapters now alternate consistently between THEN and NOW segments across both Acts), choosing strategic areas to end chapters and to split the Acts and main story arcs, and limiting individual chapters to 5,000 words maximum. This has resulted in more and shorter chapters, but it's also, weirdly enough, allowed me to more easily incorporate content about core story messages and themes, address some kind of unfinished/potentially unsatisfying plot threads, and develop parts of Gabriel's story that were previously lacking without completely obliterating the word count. I am very excited about this, especially because some of the aforementioned plot elements have been major headaches for years!

With the new structure, I've set myself a WC goal of 50,000 words per Act (bringing the total to 100,000 words). My actual goal is 110,000 words for the novel, but I want to try to leave myself as much wiggle room as possible for whatever new scenes/partial scenes/bridging scenes I need to add to close gaps with the dual timeline structure.

After this process is finished, I'll need to do a final readthrough for consistency, and then it's capital-D Done (until an agent asks me to edit it again, anyway)!

In terms of preparations for the actual querying process, I added one agent to my query list this month (and am considering adding a second).

Reading: I'm now 10 books (83%) into my reading goal for 2023!

Read this month:

The Keeper by Jessica Moor

December goals

Currently, my only writing priorities for December are:

To finish the line edit and re-assembly of LIFE IN BLACK AND WHITE, Act I;

Get at least a good chunk into the line edit and re-assembly of Act II;

Finish my query letter (finally).

I may also participate in another NYC Midnight challenge this month (a 250-word flash story this time), but this will depend on a few different factors.

I will also read at least two books in order to finish my 2023 reading challenge. These will most likely be A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara and Angels Before Man by Rafael Nicolás, unless something else comes up prior to the end of the month.