#writing

[tenderwatches]

sometimes you need dialogue tags and don't want to use the same four

[allthingswhumpyandangsty]

reblog to give writers the power to write 10k words of porn without plot

[melodicwriter]

[nondelphic]

no one talks about how much of writing is just whispering “does this make sense” to the void

[ross-hollander]

I assure you: somebody, somewhere, is on the exact same wavelength as you are.

[elexuscal]

"what did students do before chatgpt?" well one time i forgot i had a history essay due at my 10am class the morning of so over the course of my 30 minute bus ride to school i awkwardly used by backpack as a desk, sped wrote the essay, and got an A on it.

six months later i re-read the essay prior to the final exam, went 'ohhhh yeah i remember this', got a question on that topic, and aced it.

point being that actually doing the work is how you learn the material and internalize it. ChatGPT can give you a short cut but it won't build you the the muscles.

[thehopefulquotes]

Destroy negative thoughts when they first appear. This is when they're the weakest.

Songide Makwa

[unravelingwhy]

my fave writing reminder

honestly, this phrase has been on my mind more times than i can count. i've kidnapped it, taken it as a hostage with no ransom money because i need it to live permanently in my head.

[rudamaruda520]

me as a writer

[stay-close]

Always, always trust your first gut instincts. If you feel something's wrong, it usually is.

Unknown

[sourdough-seal]

hyperfixation please stay with me long enough to complete the project. hyperfixation do not fade. hyperfixation finish what you started for the love of god

[luna-azzurra]

Writing characters who don’t know they’re in love

(PS: but literally everyone else does and is so tired)

These characters aren’t clueless, no, they’re not walking around like, “love? never heard of her.” They know something’s going on, they just won’t admit it (not to themselves, not to anyone.) Maybe they’re scared of messing it up, or maybe they think the other person doesn’t feel the same. Maybe they’ve stuffed the feeling so deep even a NASA rover couldn’t dig it out.

Whatever the reason, they’re not avoiding the truth as much as they’re…rebranding it. Calling it “friendship” while giving each other their only jacket and dreaming about each other’s voices like it’s totally normal behavior.

ꕤ They don’t realize it’s love, but they notice everything else. They clock every mood shift, every absence, every little thing. They definitely  know when something’s off.

⇢ “You changed your hair.” ⇢ “You looked upset earlier.” ⇢ “You didn’t text me back and I panicked.” ⇢ “You weren’t at lunch and it felt weird.” ⇢ “Are you cold?” hands over jacket without a second thought

They don’t say “I love you,” but their actions scream it constantly.

ꕤ they get weird when someone else gets close They’re not jealous. No, how dare you think something like that… they’re just keeping an eye out. For safety... Or whatever."

⇢ “Who was that?” ⇢ “Oh, you’re hanging out with them again?” ⇢ “I just think it’s interesting how you never cancel on them.”

They don’t say it, but they hate the idea of being replaced. It stings more than they’re ready to admit.

ꕤ they make excuses to be around each other.

Literally inventing reasons to be in the same space.

⇢ “Wanna study together? I’m struggling with this topic.” (They’re not.) ⇢ “Oh, I was just in the area.” (They weren’t.) ⇢ “You forgot this.” (It’s a single pen.)

They’d rather lie badly than admit, “I just wanted to see you.”

ꕤ  Their friends are so over it Everyone around them is either rooting for them or trying not to scream.

⇢ “You’re in love with them.” ⇢ “That’s not friendship, and you know it.” ⇢ “You made them soup. FUCKING SOUP. Just say you’re married already.” ⇢ “If I have to hear you talk about them one more time, I’m charging rent.”

Friends are the Greek chorus of this situation, like, brutally honest and endlessly tired.

ꕤ  There’s always a moment they almost figure it out That one soft, unspoken beat where the truth almost breaks through.

⇢ Watching them laugh like it’s the first time. ⇢ Seeing them cry and wanting to fix it more than anything. ⇢ Realizing no one else makes them feel like this. ⇢ Thinking, God, they’re beautiful.

Then they blink, panic a little, and go, “Huh. Weird.” And move on. Like absolute fools.

ꕤ  When it finally hits, it’s not cute, it’s catastrophic. Suddenly everything makes sense and feels like too much.

⇢ Flashbacks. ⇢ Internal screaming. ⇢ “Oh no.” ⇢ “OH MY GOD.” ⇢ “Has it always been this obvious??” ⇢ “Wait. Everyone knew?!”

Yes. Everyone. The friends, the neighbor’s cat. You were the only two who didn’t get the memo...

[the-real-nikki19]

a writing competition i was going to participate in again this year has announced that they now allow AI generated content to be submitted

their reasoning being that "we couldn't ban it even if we wanted to, every writer already uses it anyway"

"Every writer"?

come on

[rafeslvbug]

rafe taking care of maybank reader and no one knows that he has a super soft side for her?? he drops off extra food for her and small gifts (clothes.. new phone... money?) one day she suddenly doesn't text and says pass and he finds out she's sick and no one is home to take care of her? (pls?)

rafe taking care of maybank!reader

it was small. a little curse under your breath. poking of your bottom lip out, when your phone died on you for the third time today. poor battery life on your iphone 7 that you’d had for years now.

it was small, but nothing slipped past rafe.

you knew whenever you walked up to him, and he had that ridiculous grin on his face, even in front of jj, that he was up to something. usually it’d be a kiss, the type that’d make jj want to run off and find a bush to puke in. today? a little pink bag. dangling it by the strings, holding it up for you, making eye contact with jj across the road for the briefest moments before back to you.

the box, an image of a pink iphone, was heavy in your hand, causing your jaw to fall. you blinked at it in shock, like it was a figment of your imagination. bound to disappear. a cruel trick.

“well..open it then,” he nudges your shoulder, though you hand stays firmly wrapped around the box. almost unwilling.

“rafe..” you begin, and he tuts, folding his arms across his chest. you give him your “i’m not taking this” look, and he shoots you with his “you don’t have a choice” look.

“your phone’s crap, i know you must’ve saved hard to get it baby, an’ i’m proud but i wanted to get you a new one!”

you bite your lip, turning the box over in your hands. it feels expensive, a limited edition item you don’t even want to unwrap.

“okay don’t think of it as for you! it’s for me, i want to be able to text my girl without her phone dying before she can respond, or her phone cutting off mid-call,” his finger tilts your chin up so you’re staring at his eyes. creased at the corners, brimming with joy. he loves this. loves taking care of you. loves spending his money on you.

“are you sure?” you ask, not wanting to force this on him. the last thing you want is to become one those spoilt kook brats.

“don’t ever ask me that again.”

a squeal escaping your lips, you throw your arms around his neck, giggling when he lifts you in his arms by the waist. “thank you,” you repeat like a mantra, kissing him between each time you say the phrase. rafe only chuckles, holding you tighter.

from across the road, kiara’s pulling jj away from crossing towards you guys, while he faintly yells, “what did that bastard give you?”

there’s rapping on the door to the chateau, and john b groans, throwing his head back as he yells at whoever it is to “go away!”.

then the returned yell of, “open up!”

jj throws his cap onto the table, dramatically exclaiming, “oh for god’s sake! y/n you keep bringing that rat into out house!”

“jj don’t call him that, he’s come with good intentions!” you scold, getting off the couch to answer the door, rafe’s scowl dissipating at the sight of you.

“hey baby,” he drawls, holding out the large takeaway bag you ordered from him, treating him like some personal uber driver; he was more than happy to abide.

“wrap it up!” jj starts shouting, coming to join you guys in the doorway and pausing when he sees the food. jj’s a known sucker for food.

“he got the burgers you like,” you blink innocently up at your older brother. cautiously, as if rafe’s gonna bite him, jj takes the bag from his hand, peeking through and nodding when he does find the burgers.

“thanks man,” jj nods, about to walk off with the food before you call him back.

“hey!”

“hey?” he pokes his head back around the door. pretending to be oblivious wasn’t fooling anyone, certainly not you.

“rafe got the food..so don’t you think he should get to eat the food he bought..?” you ask, slowly, accentuating the fact that rafe bought the food for all of them, himself included.

fishing through the bag, jj pulls out the meal he assumes is rafe’s, based on everyone else’s preferences. “here ya go cameron,” he holds out rafe’s food to him, to which rafe accepts with one of his classic smiles of amusement. “go eat in your car.”

and the door slams shut.

“jj!” you yell, following your brother into the living room where he’s begun dishing out food. pope and cleo are snickering in the corner, sarah pouting for her older brother and john b and kie laughing at jj’s antics.

“what?”

“give me my food.”

“don’t tell me you’re gonna–“ you snatch your food out of his hand, quickly rushing out the house and up to rafe’s car. knocking on the window, you grab his attention, leading him to beckon you in with two fingers. you’re beaming as you climb into the car, settling your food on your lap. “thought i’d join you.”

“was waiting for you to join me,” he chuckles, sipping on his drink.

“thanks for the milkshake,” you grin, a true teenage girl, infatuated with her boyfriend. rafe murmurs a “your welcome” before leaning over to pinch a fry.

“jj forgot to give me my fries,” he says casually, munching on the crinkle cut he just stole.

shifting your food off your lap, you open the door and hop down, “wait here i’ll get it back!” you tell him, running off back inside the house, ever so eager.

“oh wait wait!”

you pause by the chateau door.

“steal his fries too!”

you burst into giggles, but nod anyways, running out the house a minute later with two loads of fries and an annoyed jj.

yet another casual slip of the tongue. “god i wish jellycats weren’t so expensive,” you muttered, upright in rafe’s bed as he slept, a heavy arm draped over your waist.

you didn’t notice his eye peek open, the subtle glance he took at the giraffe on your screen, labelled ‘back in stock’, priced £45.

he could afford that.

he ordered it the first moment he could. once you had dozed off and he could discreetly turn his phone on. you had rambled to him on more than one occasion on how fast certain things can get sold, so he chose not to risk his luck buying the ‘rolie polie giraffe’ by prolonging it for more than he needed to.

purchased!

another night, the parcel’s been tucked under his bed for a few hours, waiting for the right moment. then he sets it on your lap, drawing your attention from the movie on the tv infront of you to the blue plastic.

you let out a small gasp.

the jellycat logo is written everywhere on the outside. you don’t even care which one it is. you didn’t even think he knew you wanted this stuff. but when you open it? and your dream jellycat is in there? rafe’s attacked with an onslaught of kisses.

“how did you know?” you ask, pressing a kiss to his cheek as he chuckles through the whole thing.

“saw it on your phone,” he grins, puckering his lips for another kiss you’re more than happy to give.

“i love you,” you smile, elated.

“d’you love the teddy more?” he asks, giving you a pointed look.

“maybe…but i’ll name her after you? so it’s basically loving you more..?” you giggle, rafe rolling his eyes but accepting his fate anyways, pulling you towards him with an “i love you too.”

“oh my god! she’s sick, okay?” jj throws his hands up at rafe, annoyed with the man whose been pestering him at his job for the past half an hour to figure out why you haven’t been texting him back. jj returns to his mowing, while rafe runs back to his car, starting the engine and immediately driving to the chateau.

when he knocks, he’s saddened to see you answer the door, wrapped in blankets, nose red. “hey rafe,” you sniffle, rubbing your eye with the back of your hand. he moves to step over the threshold only for you to try and push the door closed.

“hey baby– what? what are you doing?”

“don’t! you’ll get a cold! get back out!”

“baby–“

“out, rafe!” you shoo, not opening the door again until he stepped back. it was a mistake, however, because the moment you opened the door fully again he darted forwards, past you and kicking the door shut behind him.

“rafe,” you groan, cut short by a sneeze.

“awh baby,” he brushes back your hair, guiding you back into your room. settling you down on the bed, he empties out the contents of his bag. medicine. soup. one of the many jellycats you keep at his place.

“don’t you have work?” you murmur, accepting the medicine he holds out to you.

“wonderful thing about owning a company princess, days off whenever you want,” he sighs, sitting down next to you on the bed, pulling you into his chest.

“you’re gonna get sick,” you say, cuddling into him.

“well, you’re not doing much to stop that anymore are you?” he chuckles glancing down at your snuggled form against him. you simply shrug, and rafe shakes his head, settling back with you.

[nondelphic]

characters should be weird. they should have strange little hobbies and say things like “do you think birds believe in god”