storiesandmusings

[storiesandmusings]

Hi :D What's the best way to write a love triangle? I don't want to make it cliché or anything. Is it too overused or is there a way to write it good?

Guide: Love Triangles and How to Tackle Them

The “love triangle” is a trope that became a cliché (or commonly thought of as a cliché) simply due to the fact that it was done over and over again in the exact same way. But the thing a lot of people don’t realize about love triangles is that there are multiple ways of doing them, and there’s lots of room to put your own spin on things. Before we get into the different types of love triangles, let me bust a few myths.

Love Triangle Myth #1 - Love Triangles Are Cliché 

People think of a love triangle as A is in love with B and C, who love A back, and A can’t decide who to be with. So, Bella/Edward/Jacob, Katniss/Peeta/Gale, America/Maxon/Aspen, Catherine/Heathcliff/Edgar, Lia/The Prince/The Assassin, etc. But like I said above, and you’ll see after the myth-busting portion of this post, there’s more to love triangles than  A can’t decide between B and C.

Love Triangle Myth #2 - Love Triangles Are Unrealistic

I hear this complaint a lot, and I can only assume it comes from people only considering A can’t decide between B and C love triangles. But, the truth of the matter is, love triangles are all around us. Remember when you had a crush on Daniel from accounting, but eventually you found out he had a crush on Chloe from Human Resources? Yeah… that’s a love triangle. Did a friend once confide they were in love with their best friend’s husband? Love triangle. Or, maybe you spent hours on the phone trying to console your friend Angie after it turned out she and her sister were vying for the same girl, who ultimately chose the sister. Also a love triangle. Not unrealistic at all! :)

Love Triangle Myth #3 - You Can’t Make Them Fresh

Not true at all! There are always new and interesting spins you can put on a love triangle to make them fresh and unpredictable. Let’s take Angie, her sister, and their love interest as an example. Angie and her sister both have a crush on the same classmate. Okay, that’s one way to do it. But what if the classmate is someone from Angie’s past, who the sister never knew existed? What if the sister is in a relationship? The mutual interest between her and the classmate would be even more unexpected. What if Angie’s girlfriend has been missing for weeks, and during this traumatic time she discovers not only that her sister was interested in the girlfriend, but that the girlfriend might have returned some of that interest? See? Lots of interesting spins to put on a love triangle.

Different Types of Love Triangles

1. A’s into B and C, B and C are both into A.

2. A’s into B and C but that interest is unrequited in both cases.

3. A’s into B and C but that interest is only requited in one case.

4. A’s into B and C but B’s into C, and C’s into neither.

5. A’s into B who’s into C, who can be into A, B, A & B, or neither.

6. A  is admired by B and C but isn’t interested in either.

7. A is into B who’s in a loving relationship with C 

8. A is into B who’s into C, but also maybe A?

9. A is into B who’s into C, and also C is kinda into A.

10. A, B, and C are all into each other.

11. A is admired by B and C, who are also into each other, but is interested in neither.

12. A and B are into each other, but B is also into C.

13. A is in a relationship with B and C, and B also has a thing for C.

14. A’s into B, who’s into C, who’s in a relationship with A.

15. A’s into B and C, and somehow a D becomes involved.

16. A is into B for a while, then they’re into C for a while.

Making it Fresh

Twilight is kind of the quintessential A can’t choose between B and C scenario. Bella and Edward fall in love, Jacob has a thing for Bella, and then Bella unexpectedly develops feelings for Jacob. Stephenie Meyer tried to make it interesting by taking Edward out of the picture briefly. Then she made it weird by bringing in a fourth wheel, who regrettably happened to be Edward and Bella’s super-fast-aging vampire daughter.

One of the best ways to make a love triangle fresh is to play around with the circumstances. In Outlander, Claire loves Frank, but then she falls in love with Jamie, who falls in love with her, but Frank also still loves her. (So, A loves B and C, B and C love A.) (And yes,Outlander fans know there’s also a fourth component, but I’m focusing on the triangle right now. ;)) What makes this love triangle interesting is that Claire is married to Frank, accidentally travels back to 18th century Scotland, and marries Jamie because, with no hope of getting back to her own time, Frank might as well be dead. If you haven’t read the books or watched the show, you can imagine the shenanigans that occur.

The Vampire Diaries TV show did it another way. (And I specify the TV show because I know the books are a little different and I didn’t read them.) In the show, Elena and Stefan fall in love, but Stefan’s brother Damon falls in love with Elena, too. While there’s obvious chemistry between Elena and Damon, it’s a long time before she begins to question her feelings for Stefan, and an even longer time before she falls out of love with Stefan and in love with Damon.

Carrie Ryan put an interesting spin on the “two brothers in love with the same girl” triangle (in The Forest of Hands and Teeth) by putting one of the brothers in a relationship with someone else. Someone who causes things to get mighty prickly. 

So, you see, there are lots of different love triangles (and love “quadrangles” if you so choose) and plenty of ways to shake them up and make them interesting! As long as you make them interesting and make the reader care, you can do it well. :)

[storiesandmusings]

Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse

[storiesandmusings]

Writing Notes: Stages of Decomposition

The decomposition process occurs in several stages following death:

Pallor mortis

Algor mortis

Rigor mortis

Cadaveric spasm

Lividity

Putrefaction

Decomposition

Skeletonization

PALLOR MORTIS

The first stage of death.

Occurs once blood stops circulating in the body.

The cessation of an oxygenated blood flow to the capillaries beneath the skin causes the deceased to pale in appearance.

In non-Caucasians, the pallor may appear to develop an unusual hue; the skin will lose any natural lustre and appears more waxen.

Occurs quite quickly, within about 10 minutes after death.

ALGOR MORTIS

The cooling of the body after death.

The cooling process will be influenced by many factors, including the deceased’s clothing, or whether they are covered with bed linen such as blankets or duvets.

The body will typically cool to the ambient room temperature, but this alters if there is heating in the room or if there is a constant draught cooling the body.

RIGOR MORTIS

Can occur between 2 and 6 hours after death.

Factors including temperature can greatly affect this.

Caused by the muscles partially contracting, and the lack of aerobic respiration means that the muscles cannot relax from the contraction, leaving them tense, subsequently resulting in the stiffening we associate with rigor mortis.

This stage typically begins in the head, starting with the eyes, mouth, jaw and neck, and progresses right through the body.

The process is concluded approximately 12 hours after death (although, again, certain variables may occur) and lasts between 24 and 72 hours depending on circumstances.

Contrary to popular belief, rigor mortis is not a permanent state and is in fact reversed, with the muscles relaxing in the same order in which they initially stiffened.

The reversing process also takes approximately 12 hours, when the body returns to its un-contracted state.

It is possible to ‘break’ rigor mortis by manipulating and flexing the limbs. This is usually done by undertakers, pathologists or crime scene investigators who are attempting to examine or move a body – or by a murderer trying to hide their victim in the closet or the boot of a car.

CADAVERIC SPASM

A phenomenon that can be misinterpreted as rigor mortis.

The instantaneous stiffening of the body (most commonly the hands) following a traumatic death.

Unlike rigor mortis, the stiffening of the affected limb is permanent and is not reversed, causing the deceased to maintain the rigidity until such time as putrefaction causes breakdown of the particular muscle group.

Examples:

The deceased following an air crash were later discovered still clutching their seatbelts or arm rests in a final, desperate act of survival.

In a drowning case, the victim was discovered with grass from the riverbank still grasped in their hand.

Perhaps the most famous case of cadaveric spasm involves the rock band Nirvana’s lead singer, Kurt Cobain. Cobain reportedly committed suicide in April 1994. His body was discovered a few days after his death with a shotgun wound to the head, and tests revealed he had large traces of heroin in his system. He was reportedly discovered still clutching the gun in his left hand, due to cadaveric spasm. However, a great deal of controversy surrounds the veracity of this latter assumption, and indeed the cause of his death, with many people insisting and attempting to prove that he died as the result of foul play rather than suicide.

LIVIDITY

Also known as livor mortis, hypostasis, or suggillation.

Once blood can no longer circulate, it will gravitate towards the lowest point of the body.

Example: A supine body will display pinkish/purple patches of discoloration where the blood has settled in the back and along the thighs.

Occurs about 30 minutes after death, but will not necessarily be noticeable until at least 2 hours afterwards as the pooling process intensifies and becomes visible, finally peaking up to between 8 and 12 hours later.

Once it is complete, the lividity process cannot be reversed.

Therefore a body discovered lying on its side, but with staining evident in the back and shoulders, must have been moved at some point from what would have been a supine position at the time of death.

It is worth noting that if the body has had contact with the floor, a wall or other solid surface, lividity would not occur at the points of contact as the pressure would not allow the blood to seep through the capillaries and pool. The specific area of pressure will be the same colour as the rest of the body and a pattern of contact may well be evident.

PUTREFACTION

Derives from the Latin putrefacere, meaning ‘to make rotten’.

The body becomes rotten through the process known as autolysis, which is the liquefaction of bodily tissue and organs and the breakdown of proteins within the body due to the increased presence of bacteria.

The first visible sign is the discoloration of the skin in the area of the abdomen.

Bacteria released from the intestine cause the body to become bloated with a mixture of gases; over time these will leak out, and the smell will intensify to unbearable proportions.

Typically, this will attract flies that will lay eggs, which develop into maggots.

Bloating is most evident in the stomach area, genitals and face, which can become unrecognizable as the tongue and eyes are forced to protrude due to the pressure of the build-up of gases in the body.

At this stage, the body will also begin to lose hair.

The organs typically decompose in a particular order: starting with the stomach, followed by the intestines, heart, liver, brain, lungs, kidney, bladder and uterus/prostate.

Once all the gases have escaped the skin begins to turn black: this stage is called ‘black putrefaction’.

As with all the other stages of death so far, the rate of putrefaction depends on temperature and location. A body exposed to the air above ground will decompose more quickly than a body left in water or buried below ground.

During putrefaction, blistering of the skin and fermentation can also occur:

Fermentation - a type of mould that will grow on the surface of the body. This mould appears white, and is slimy or furry in texture. It also releases a very strong, unpleasant, cheesy smell.

As the putrefaction process comes to an end, fly and maggot activity will become less, which leads to the next stage.

DECOMPOSITION

The body is an organic substance comprising organisms that can be broken down by chemical decomposition.

If the body is outside, any remains that have not been scavenged or consumed by maggots will liquefy and seep into the surrounding soil.

Thus when the body decomposes it is effectively recycled and returned to nature.

SKELETONIZATION

The final stage of death is known as ‘dry decay’, when the cadaver has all but dried out: the soft tissue has all gone and only the skeleton remains.

If the cadaver is outside, not only is it exposed to the elements but it also becomes food for scavengers such as rats, crows or foxes.

As the remains are scavenged, the body parts become dispersed so it is not unusual to find skeletal remains some distance from where the body lay at the point of death.

The way in which skeletal remains are scattered in such cases is of interest to archaeologists, and is referred to as taphonomy.

Where a body has lain undiscovered at home for a period of time it has also been known for family pets, typically dogs, to feed on the body. The natural instinct of a pet is to attempt to arouse the deceased by licking them, but once it gets hungry, its survival instinct will take over and it will consider the body as little more than carrion: it will act with the same natural instinct as a scavenger in the wild, which will feed on any corpse, be it animal or human, if it is starving.

Obviously the number of pets, the body mass of the deceased and the time lapse before the body is discovered will influence to what extent it has been devoured.

For further research on the stages of decomposition and the factors that affect it, look up body farms. These are medical facilities where bodies are donated for research purposes so scientists can specifically observe the decomposition process. However, be aware that some of the images are quite graphic.

Source ⚜ More: References ⚜ Autopsy ⚜ Pain & Violence ⚜ Injuries Bereavement ⚜ Death & Sacrifice ⚜ Cheating Death ⚜ Death Conceptions

[storiesandmusings]

What it Takes to Forget If memories were ink If these pages could think Then I would burn it all Then I would rather fall

-Part of my Wings of Pages series

[storiesandmusings]

« I had not yet learned that there are ways to read such that books stay with you—in you—forever. I was years away from the understanding that there are certain books that modify your chemical composition so palpably you fear you might no longer breathe air or drink water. And it becomes clear that something ever so slight but important in the way you read the world is altered forever.

These are the books that make us grow up or sometimes realize that we have long since grown up. [...]

A few years ago, I got very interested in the idea that everyone who is incurably obsessed with books has a Life Ruiner. The Life Ruiner is the book that sets you on the path to a life built by and around reading. To call it a Life Ruiner is not to say that a life of letters is necessarily ruination—but rather, to identify it as the book you can’t ever recover from, that you never stop thinking about, and that makes you desperate to reach that frightening depth of experience with other books.

A Life Ruiner [is] the book that will not let you go. It is a book that starts you on a quest, but not a quest that will end in resolution or salvation— rather, a grail quest like the actual Arthurian Grail quest, that can only end in dissolution and further mystery. After you encounter a Life Ruiner, your reading is altered in ways you may not realize until you’ve read ten or a hundred other books and found that you cannot return to the way you read before, or perhaps the way you thought or lived before. I think of the Life Ruiner as the book that first gave you the hot impulse to keep pursuing whatever it was that astounded you about it, to keep peering at it even if it made you feel like your brain was melting, like staring into the sun. »

— Sarah Chihaya, Bibliophobia

[storiesandmusings]

[storiesandmusings]

Actually-good and very queer summer reading list!

Our society is seeking to ban queer lit and silence the voices of LGBTQ+ youth. Soo we thought about how we can amplify them. And we came up with a little trade: you get to read LGBTQ+ lit, we get donations to support LGBTQ+ youth.

We're calling it our 2025 Summer Reading Challenge, and we put together a list of some amazing fic and non-fic LGBTQIA+ books for you to read. It's super easy to help us raise critical funds:

🌈 Choose some fave books from our list, or add your own.

🌈 Start a fundraiser on IG, TikTok, via our Tiltify campaign, or by joining our challenge on FB - we've got free downloadable graphics you can use here, plus how-tos on setting up a fundraiser!

🌈 Share it around to your followers and IRL friends and family - encourage them to make a donation every time you finish a book, and see how many you can get through by Sep 1st.

Basically: read books, share queer stories, refuse to be silenced, support LGBTQ+ youth.

For book access, remember that many public libraries give you access to platforms like Libby with your library card, which allow you to download and read books for free, even if they don't have the physical books on their shelves. Books Unbanned also gives access to various libraries' collections with free e-cards for people ages 13-21!

[storiesandmusings]

Hey horny writer lil heads up for you guys, the “ai” google is forcing into docs to “scan for grammar errors” has been proved to also be scanning for spicy content and multiple ppl have already got notifs saying like “we’re sorry, there was a system error and some of your work was lost” and it was only the horny stuff so uh

Pleeeeease back up your files !!!! Don’t lose your horny to a robot, that’s Doc’s job, not Docs’…

[storiesandmusings]

Writing Advice that Will Save You from Crying over Chapter 3 Again

☽ Sometimes “writer’s block” is actually just your story being broken and your brain knowing before you do. Respect the vibes, go back. Something stinks.

☽ If you’re stuck in the middle, skip to the part you’re excited to write. Chronological writing is a suggestion, not a law.

☽ “Kill your darlings” is not about deleting every cool thing you love. It’s about not hoarding scenes like a dragon with dialogue you wrote in 2017 that doesn’t even make sense anymore.

☽ You do not need to write like your favorite author. You need to write like you, caffeinated and slightly unstable.

☽ Talking to yourself in the mirror as your character is not weird. It’s called method writing. You’re not unhinged, you’re dedicated.

☽ Aesthetic Pinterest boards and playlists are writing progress if they make you feel like a god again.

☽ You can write the climax before you finish Act 1. You can rewrite Chapter 1 thirty times and then delete it anyway. You’re not behind, you’re in hell with the rest of us.

You’re allowed to write stuff that’s not “marketable.” You’re allowed to be weird. Write the story that would make you feel seen. The niche finds its freaks.

☽ Beta readers are not gods. Take what resonates, ignore what doesn’t. If five people say your story drags at Chapter 8? Maybe listen. If one person says “make it all about the dog,” maybe don’t.

[storiesandmusings]

purge of 2002? of 2012? what ARE those?

Oh, how quickly the past is forgotten. 

They are part of the reason A03 is a thing now. Not the whole reason, but part of it. 

The Great Purges of 2002 and 2012 are when ff.net got a wild hair up their ass about THINK OF THE CHILDREN and nuked any fic posted on there that was explicit. Thousands upon thousands of nc-17 smutfics were lost.

It’s what led to the creation of alternate hosting sites for smutty fic…AdultFanfiction was the one I went to…but thousands of fics would never be recovered. 

[storiesandmusings]

K. M. Weiland:

Why Intentional Storytelling Matters in an Era of AI and Algorithm-Driven Content

Intentional storytelling—the kind that grows from a writer’s unique vision and voice—is at risk of being quietly drowned out by franchise formulas, AI-generated content, and the pressure to produce faster than ever. If you’ve ever felt like you’re just going through the motions instead of creating something that truly matters, you’re not alone. Let’s explore what’s being lost, and what we can reclaim.

In This Article:

What Intentional Storytelling Is Not: Avoiding Formula and Empty Content

How Modern Media Incentivizes Unintentional Choices

Why “Just Following the Formula” Falls Short

Tools vs. Crutches: Knowing the Difference

What Is Intentional Storytelling? Defining Purposeful, Authentic Narrative Craft

What Makes Details Matter: Cohesion and Resonance

How Subtext Reflects the Integrity of a Story

What AI Can’t Do for You (Unless You Know Yourself First)

Why Intentional Storytelling Matters More Than Ever in an AI-Driven Content World

How the Creative Landscape Is Changing

Why the Story Still Starts With You

Two Questions to Guide Every Writing Decision

[...]

[storiesandmusings]

They should invent a being a writer that doesn't come with being isolated and diminishing returns on what you are given back compared to how much you give

[storiesandmusings]

Apparently a lot of people get dialogue punctuation wrong despite having an otherwise solid grasp of grammar, possibly because they’re used to writing essays rather than prose. I don’t wanna be the asshole who complains about writing errors and then doesn’t offer to help, so here are the basics summarized as simply as I could manage on my phone (“dialogue tag” just refers to phrases like “he said,” “she whispered,” “they asked”):

“For most dialogue, use a comma after the sentence and don’t capitalize the next word after the quotation mark,” she said.

“But what if you’re using a question mark rather than a period?” they asked.

“When using a dialogue tag, you never capitalize the word after the quotation mark unless it’s a proper noun!” she snapped.

“When breaking up a single sentence with a dialogue tag,” she said, “use commas.”

“This is a single sentence,” she said. “Now, this is a second stand-alone sentence, so there’s no comma after ‘she said.’”

“There’s no dialogue tag after this sentence, so end it with a period rather than a comma.” She frowned, suddenly concerned that the entire post was as unasked for as it was sanctimonious.

[storiesandmusings]

love the library. there's no risk. you can take out a book and go "wow this sucks" and just give it back. and when you do that you're still making the library's Number Go Up so you'll be able to roll the dice on even more books. all for the low low price of free/you already paid for it with your tax money so you might as well use it

[storiesandmusings]

If you're reading this...

go write three sentences on your current writing project.

[storiesandmusings]

I think my strongest recommendation to writers with day jobs is to take a random day off every so often and devote it to writing and nothing else. every time I do this it is magical!

[storiesandmusings]

🔹 Someone else's fiction cannot cause you physical harm.

🔹If someone else's fiction is causing you emotional or psychological harm, or distress, you can put it down and not read/watch it.

🔹Your emotional well-being is not the responsibility of fiction writers.

🔹Someone else's fiction is not about your personal trauma.

🔹When reading or watching fiction, you always have the power. You can always stop. You are never reading fiction without your own consent.

🔹Fiction writers are not responsible for other people's mental health.

🔹The content of a piece of fiction does not reflect on the morality of its author.

🔹Just because someone writes about bad things happening, doesn't mean they want those things to happen.

🔹Don't like? Don't read.