haunted-narrative

[haunted-narrative]

Unreliable worldbuilding exposition infodump.... Infodumping but it's borderline propaganda or conspiracy theory or pseudoscience..... infodumping that only shows one side of events, infodumping that might be more scientific/religious/political/personal depending on who u ask.......Infodumping that informs you of how a character views the world, and in turn how their world view has been influenced by politics, culture, etc. ....... infodumping that forces the audience to piece together their own idea of the world, after hearing out various unreliable views from various unreliable characters

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I was listening to a writing podcast the other day and they mentioned this really great tip that I think other new writers should know!

I guess this becomes part of the little "writing tip series" I've been doing so...

✨ Writing Tip #5 ✨

Summarize your scenes into one to two sentences.

This helps you figure out if the scene really works. If it takes more sentences to explain, you might be packing in too many events, which leads to clutter and confused readers.

🌟Bonus: Having a smol summary in your outline/notes helps keep the scene consistent later on, because you can glance back at it while writing.

💡I recommend making sure your summary includes:

Your character's goal for that specific scene

The conflict(s) that move the story forward

A hook for the next scene

Onward my fellow writers—go forth and write your story! 💜

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!! breaking news !!

idk who needs to hear this, but you’re still a writer, even if:

you don’t write everyday

you haven’t worked on your manuscript/plot in a while (maybe weeks, or months)

you “only” write fanfiction (some fanfictions out there are so much better than some published books imo)

you write regularly as a hobby but don’t want to make it your career

you don’t write novel-length stories and prefer drabbles (the length doesn’t matter, you’re still writing)

you don’t have original characters

you need dictionaries to write (whether that’s for definitions, synonyms or translation)

after writing for so long you still don’t know how to spell some words (why is “definitely” so hard to spell??)

you don’t think your writing is that good (chances are it is and you’re selling yourself short btw)

you don’t have a fancy desk set up or laptop or notebook for your writing (maybe all you have is the notes app of your phone and that’s enough)

a lot of the time you don’t know what you’re doing and you’re just winging it

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"I could help you. You should let me out of here."

"No, you're going to stay in jail for a while, you know, on account of all the murders, but I appreciate the offer, and I'll, uh, keep it in mind."

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how non-writers think writing works: creating a detailed outline and plan, writing each section carefully and weaving in all the different story threads like a master creator, expertly creating a masterpiece with care and precision

how writing actually works: daydreaming that one scene, creating a half-formed plot in a daze all around it, swearing at characters that don't magic themselves into existence, becoming absolutely obsessed with the story for a solid week, it becomes your entire life, you sit down open a blank word document and write approximately two and a half chapters, lose interest, daydream an entirely new idea for a new story, rinse and repeat

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show, dont tell: little decoration quirks that can say a lot your character

decor that's just a little too dated

dead and framed butterflies and other insects all over the walls

lots of potted plants

or maybe nothing but a dead cactus by the window

or all the plants are dead

pictures of friends and families

lots of mirrors—or maybe none at all

clock that ran out of battery long ago

shoebox under the bed with broken stuff that they can’t bring themself throw away

those cat shelf climbing walls

post-it notes with reminders on walls, doors, cabinets, …

whiteboard with doodles in many different styles from the visitors over time

unopened bottles of celebratory alcohol

cracked window

not a single pair of matching cuttlery

mostly empty fridge, but fully-stocked emergency shelves

swear jar

chair facing the window instead of the room

self-made artwork & diy decor

damage on the walls from the wallpaper being ripped off

photo albums with empty spots from images that were removed

decoration still in its packaging

beautiful but ineffective kitchen

religious altars and shrines

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Okay so I'm gonna ask another question here, but for ao3 users specifically, what is the general tagging etiquette like?

As in, you post a fic with a pairing as the main focus, but it's platonic, is there a way to tag it as such? And what for when it's romantic?

What needs to be tagged in general? Like the general theming for the fic or the subject matter and etc.

And outside of just tagging are there any other unspoken rules of the site that are important to know?

Asking cause I am generally less aware on how ao3 functions compared to other fanfic places

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"id let the world burn for you"

"I'd kill for you"

"id die for you"

"I'd sacrifice the world for you"

BORING!

Yawn snore snore. Honk shoo honk shoo.

I got twelve other guys ready to that for me. You already do that. You already destroy the world I would just happen to be there while you did.

The real question is.

Would you save the world for me?

Would you put aside your hatred for humanity and put my love for it Infront? Would you save the world because I love the world? Would you stop killing because I hate killing? Would you find a way to live because I want you alive?

Death and destruction are easy as hell. Do you know how fucking easy it is to kill someone? To blow up a building? Shure security is in the way but if it wasn't there it would be easy as hell.

You'd do the basics shure. But would you do the hard thing and save the world because I asked you to?

Would you push aside your hatred of everyone but me because I asked you to nicely?

Would you?

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Gentle reminder, that being stuck doesn’t mean you’ve failed your story. Sometimes it means your story is asking you to pause, breathe, and listen closer. Silence is part of the dialogue too. So trust that when the words return, they’ll definitely return much stronger. And remember, you've got this.✨

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Unreliable narrators are one hell of an idea. You can just write whatever, and if a reader points out "hey the way this scene happened should not be physically possible if it's done the way this character described it", you can just be like "yeah I don't trust that fucker either."

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God and Pantheon Prompts

• A god of rivalry and competition

• A pantheon of gods that has slowly changed in perception over the millennia to resemble entirely different ideals, and the original gods aren’t happy

• Each family worships their own ancestors

• The inverse of the trope where gods rely on mortal worship to sustain themselves: they rely on mortals not knowing they exist and on hiding in nature

• A god of liars and choice

• A pantheon that repreeents a specific (not all-encompassing) set of traits; the stages of human life, means of destruction, constellations, parts of the body, types of art, fears, types of death, etc.

• There are no naturally occurring gods, and every one is a human who’s ascended through some means

• When one god kills another, they gain rights to their victim’s domain(s). Or, inversely, the domains become wild and uncontrolled

• A god of gravediggers

• The gods have been dying out over the millennia. What happens to a god when they die?

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how to write endings that don’t let readers sleep

✦ killing everyone is lazy. corpses are boring. the real cruelty is survival—but the kind of survival where the character will never sleep right again. give them trauma, paranoia, scars that don’t heal. it’s way worse than a clean death.

✦ horror endings should feel unfinished. neat bows are for romance novels. if your reader closes the book thinking “oh good, it’s over,” you’ve failed. the best endings itch. they should feel like there’s still something lurking just off the page.

✦ leave something unresolved. don’t describe the monster’s body—describe the mug it left behind. the voicemail still playing. the dog still waiting at the door. absence is scarier than closure.

✦ the last line is everything. it should feel like a splinter under the skin. short, sharp, unforgettable.

examples:

“she turned off the light. something else turned it back on.”

“the baby monitor crackled: don’t forget to feed me.”

“his reflection waved first.”

“she tucked herself into bed. then felt the blanket tuck tighter from the other side.”

✦ horror doesn’t end when the book closes. horror ends when the reader stops thinking about it… which should be never. the goal is for them to set your story down, turn off the lights, and then immediately turn them back on again because something in the silence feels too heavy.

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6 Quick Writing Exercises to Wake Up Your Imagination

We all hit those blah writing days. Your fingers are ready, your doc is open... and your brain goes static. That’s where writing exercises come in — small creative boosts to shake off the dust and get back into your story flow. Here are six to try when your words feel stuck in traffic.

1. The 5-Minute Word Sprint

Pick a random word (use a generator or close your eyes and point at a book), set a 5-minute timer, and write anything involving that word. No stopping, no deleting.

2. Dialogue Without Context

Write a short convo between two people. No descriptions. No setting. Just back-and-forth lines.

3. Rewrite a Scene in Another Genre

Take a scene from your current story and flip the genre. Drama becomes comedy. Fantasy becomes sci-fi. Romance becomes horror.

4. Describe a Place Using the Five Senses — No Sight Allowed

Can’t mention what anything looks like. Only sound, touch, smell, taste, and intuition.

5. Character Swap POVs

Write a paragraph from the POV of a side character reacting to your main character. Bonus if the POV is brutally honest or completely wrong.

6. One Line Story Hooks

Write 3 one-sentence story starters that make you want to keep writing. (Example: “I woke up married to my enemy, and worse — he knew it before I did.”)

You don’t need to write a masterpiece every day. But showing up — even for a silly exercise — keeps the creative part of your brain warmed up. Try one of these before your next writing session, and see where it takes you. 🍒

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I made this sticker design purely for selfish aesthetic reasons but if you also like it you can get it here 🌿🌼❤️

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french language resources masterlist

Last updated: 23/06/2025

Websites

RFI Savoirs has lots of listening and reading activities (from A1 to B2)

Apprendre le français TV 5 Monde has listening activities from A1 to B2

Tester son niveau - this is a free placement test (just listening)

CNTRL Dictionnaire is a dictionary

France Université Numérique - free MOOCS (massive open online course) with different levels: Level A1 - Level A2 - Level B1

Kwiziq (a website that you can test your level and study grammar)

Books/Reading

GEO Magazine is a online magazine with articles about nature and history

Library Genesis has many books in french and other languages too

TV/Movie

TV 5 Monde has series and movies from France and other countries (for free), available for desktop and mobile (ios and android)

TV 5 UNIS has series and movies in French (mostly from Quebec). Some of the shows are not available outside Canada (but you can use it with a vpn)

Podcasts

Artips podcast (art, music, science)

France culture podcasts (various subjects)

Psychologie et Bien-être

Émotions

Apps

WLINGUA app (both IOS and Android) teaches grammar

Other

French grammar pdf exercises - if you search the topic you're learning (example: le passé composé) + pdf, you're going to find many pdf activities from University of Quebec. Like this one: Passé Composé UQuebec

Artips is a newsletter about art, music, science and ecology that you receive in your email. You can chose the topics you wanna subscribe (example: I subscribed for art and music newsletters).

Bon courage !

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