alienbrainworm

[alienbrainworm]

been thinking about my old story I stopped working on like three or four years ago

I need to Not Be Doing That but alas here we are debating bringing back an old WIP

help me

[alienbrainworm]

Decided it would be fun to do a little character introduction for my main idiots with each of my WIPs. I'm also planning to do a proper WIP introduction at some point, but my sillies first <3

Event V: Haloed Horizons

Jakrin (he/it): Absolute nerd, resident mechanic. Loves ships probably more than himself and is absolutely mentally unwell. Traumatized as fuck, but he's getting better (lies) (mostly) (they all are so it's fine). Loyal to a fault to its family crew.

Syzygy (she/he): Pilot of the ship and absolutely not the captain of the crew, she'll deck you if you say that. He brought the crew all together and is the only reason they're all still alive today. Reasonable, smart, and extremely protective; she loves her idiots.

Chirp (they/he): Handles the communication part of jobs. The other three have a talent for pissing people off, purposeful or not, but he is also a master mimic and is adept at learning new languages. Also a resident prankster thanks to those mimicry skills.

Pyyri (he/it): Feral little shit of the crew. He's short and it's all filled with rage. Itchy trigger fingers and a knack for thievery, he's easily the one constantly bringing chaos upon the crew, and Jakrin's always more than happy to join in and help; much to the dismay of Syzygy and Chirp.

The Dead Life Theory

Theo (he/him): Fucked-up rich-boy-turned-circus-member. Brash and rude, he comes off as a total asshole, but when you get to know him... he's still a total asshole. But the tough exterior is hiding a good ally beneath all those snapping words.

Harlow (she/her): Extraordinarily protective and loving, but takes no shit, especially from Theo's smart-assed mouth. Joined the traveling circus as a younger teen and loved it, sticking around and only becoming more skilled at what she does. Filled with questions, all the time.

"Dog" Elkan (it/its): Aspiring swamp-creature. Loves exploring, collecting shiny shit, and getting into trouble. It grew up in the circus, as its parents run the thing, and it's spent basically its entire life training dogs. Loves its dogs more than anything, and it'll almost always choose dogs over humans.

333

??? (we/it): Doesn't seem to understand it's only one thing. Or... looks like it is, at least. Weird, off-putting, creepy, but... helpful?

Marilou: Confused as fuck. Doing the best a tired barista can do. Enraptured by the pretty girl weirdly determined to befriend Marilou.

Aimee (she/they): Absolutely self-confident queen who is haunted by the weird creature she met all those years ago when she went into a coma. I mean, what? They are maybe a little too in love with coffee, and are definitely way too sleep deprived from their reading habits.

Round Three of Calling You Mine (working title)

Cory (he/it): Confident, ambitious, and determined, he was always sure from a young age he would be a famous music artist and nothing would get in his way. Fell in a little too deep with shitty stuff, but made it anyways. Maybe with a few too many sacrifices, but he can put on his smile. A little hot-headed and quick to fight, but has a heart of gold he wears proudly on his sleeve.

Atlantis (he/they): Obsessed with everything ocean, he always assumed he'd be a marine biologist or something similar at some point, but quickly got wrapped up in the chaos and dreams of the up-and-coming soon-to-be-star Cory upon moving to the U.S. for college. Always rather avoiding confrontation but not afraid to stand up for himself or those they love, but sometimes... it's hard for him to tell exactly who those are.

Jackie (he/it): Hot-headed bastard who falls way too quickly, way too hard, and way too loyally. But also is extraordinarily self-destructive. A great combo, that surely caused no problems for him or its loved ones. Surely not. Other than that, passionate about storytelling and is constantly filled with random ideas that he loves sharing with his loves ones.

[alienbrainworm]

If anyone has good, free alternatives (preferably with mobile support) to Google Docs please let me know—I've been meaning to make a switch for a long while but learning about what the beta AI bullshit is doing it's my last push and I want to switch as soon as I can.

I'd really appreciate any help!

[alienbrainworm]

🚨⚠️ATTENTION FELLOW WRITERS⚠️🚨

If you use Google Docs for your writing, I highly encourage you to download your work, delete it from Google Docs, and transfer it to a different program/site, unless you want AI to start leeching off your hard work!!!

I personally have switched to Libre Office, but there are many different options. I recommend checking out r/degoogle for options.

Please reblog to spread the word!!

[alienbrainworm]

Question for y'all in the writblr communities—

I'm trying to figure out if I should put my random ramblies and gushing and other such posts (moodboards, stimboards, stuff like that, I think they're fun) about my dorks on a side blog or just commit to them on the main blog. What do you guys think?

Please reblog!

[alienbrainworm]

The Birth of Something Old

This is just a personal little post to be honest, something to mark the day and look back on because I'm a nostalgic kind of person. Keep reading if you wanna see me getting all emotional over my silly characters and their stories <3

Today officially marks the day of me actually starting my first draft for my first book!

It is... crazy to think about that, because these are characters I've been writing for a long time now. My main character had his two year creation anniversary on August 1st of this year, and my other main characters for this story are going to be two in less than a month.

I know that doesn't really seem like a big deal—most people here on writblr have gotten long past the point of first drafts for first books, especially when they've been writing as long as I have, but for me, it is a really big deal. It's me committing to this, to a craft and a project and I'm so excited.

This isn't my first time writing their stories, not by a long shot—they have thousands of words dedicated to them! But it's my first time trying to craft any sort of novel, and I'm really glad it's with this cast.

These four dumbasses mean the world to me, and so do all the background characters who won't be as explored with these books. I've been thinking about genuinely writing a book and sharing that writing for... probably over a year now? And look at me—finally on my way to do just that.

I have tons of work and learning curves ahead of me before I can really share this story with the world, but by gods am I so fucking excited to do so.

Going through different names, phases, evolutions, stories, this concept has been with me for so long. I love you, EV:HH, and I'm so excited to make you come to fruition.

And to Jakrin and Pyyri and Syzygy and Chirp—your stories are going to be told

[alienbrainworm]

[alienbrainworm]

basically I think that if your protagonist doesn’t want to fuck someone so bad it makes them look stupid, then there probably isn’t enough energy in your story. “Fuck someone” isn’t literal btw—they can want to uncover the secrets of their parent’s death, they can want to prove their worth, they can want a donut from one particular bakery—it can be anything so long as they want it so bad that they’ll make decisions that make any sane person go “are you a moron??”, with little to no forethought, or even tons of forethought and this is still the option they chose. Because they want to fuck that thing so bad.

[alienbrainworm]

sometimes i wish i could just write dialogue and no action sentences. like just straight up dialogue for 20 pages and the reader magically know who's speaking

[alienbrainworm]

This is the magic lucky word count. Reblog for creativity juice. It might even work, who knows.

[alienbrainworm]

I'm sorry but I have one draft that I never finished but I laugh every time I see it

[alienbrainworm]

Unreliable narrator? More like unreliable author

[alienbrainworm]

[alienbrainworm]

Fluffcember 2024

Heyho.

@alpaca-clouds here!

I was asked whether I would create Fluffcember as an official challenge this year, and I thought to myself: You know what? Why not?

Hence this blog - and a really early posting of the list.

Rules

This is a 1-month-challenge for fluffy fanworks.

All sorts of fanworks (art, writing, graphics) welcome.

We will however not accept any AI-Art or AI-Writing!

SFW and NSFW is both welcome - but please make sure to tag it accordingly.

Tag CWs if you share under this tag!

No minimum or maximum word count for writing!

We will reblog entries during the month of December!

If you have questions: The asks are open!

Full list of prompts under the cut.

Day 16: Chocolate

Day 17: Snowed in

Day 18: Mistletoe

Day 19: Fondue

Day 20: Fairy Tales

Day 21: Cabin in the Snow

Day 22: Winter Storm

Day 23: Confessions

Day 24: Christmas Tree

Day 25: The Perfect Gift

Day 26: Forgiveness

Day 27: Family Gathering

Day 28: Cold Turkey

Day 29: Mint

Day 30: Warming Up

Day 31: Fireworks

[alienbrainworm]

Writblr Introductions (vrs. 2)

Feel like I should probably make a better intro and WIP list, so here it is!

About Me:

✮ Hello! I'm Milo, an 18-year-old aspiring writer.

✮ I use he/him and it/its pronouns!

✮ More details about me on my carrd!

✮ I absolutely adore anything horror, fantasy, sci-fi (especially having to do with aliens and space), dystopian, stuff like that!

✮ I also enjoy DND (though I don't have friends to play with), drawing, music, and reading (of course)!

✮ I'm a trans man, gay, aroallo and apl, and neurodivergent, so like... if you're a bigot, kindly fuck off. I have zero tolerance for racists, sexists, ableists, homophobes, aphobes, transphobes, TERFS, or any other flavor of bigoted asshole. Get out of here.

anyways, enough about me, onto stuff

About My WIPs:

I have four WIPs I'll likely be talking about on here, though none of them are very far progressed. The first three are ones I'm actually working on right now, the last one is more like... a hopeful wish for the future. All of the main characters in these books/series are queer and probably neurodivergent in some way or another. All of these names are also totally plausible to change, so don't be shocked if that happens.

‡ The Dead Life Theory: We've heard of the dead internet theory, but what happens when that affects real life... a bit too much? That's what TDLT explores, when three teenagers, amongst all their own troubles, are faced with the possibility of being humanity's last chance at life.

∞ 333: A duology exploring self discovery, self loss, and self love. One focusing on the inarguable, almost eerie, strangeness of the nightly occurrences known as dreams, while the other focuses on weirdness of the daily occurrences known as life.

✧ Event V: Haloed Horizons: What happens when you're a single individual who manages to wreak a lot of havoc in a galaxy filled with a lot of individuals who manage to wreak a lot of havoc? Well... it's a lot of havoc—assassinations and revolutions and love and hatred and failures and successes, it's all happening all the time, everywhere, so maybe it's more fun to enjoy it from the view of a starry-eyed, impudent little alien.

♪ Round Three of Calling You Mine: Life can get a lot more interesting when you're in the public eye, and that's exactly what the three members of the band Within The Array suddenly face when their entire worlds begin falling apart, piece by piece and bit by bit, all sparked by a couple of hotheads being a little too tired one night.

[alienbrainworm]

Do you have any good words to use instead of exclaim?

Thank you, I love this blog so much!

So glad to hear this. Thank you! <3 I love making these writing references as well.

Exclaim - to cry out, speak, or utter in a strong or sudden burst of emotion

Assert - to state or declare positively and often forcefully or aggressively

Aver - to allege or assert in pleading

Babble - to talk enthusiastically or excessively

Bellow - to make the loud deep hollow sound

Bewail - to express deep sorrow for usually by wailing and lamentation

Blabber - to talk foolishly or excessively

Blat - to declare positively; to utter loudly or foolishly

Blunder - to utter stupidly, confusedly, or thoughtlessly

Blurt (out) - to utter abruptly and impulsively

Bray - to utter or play loudly or harshly

Burst out - to say (something) suddenly

Caterwaul - to make a harsh cry

Chirp - to utter (something) with a cheerful liveliness; to make sharply critical, complaining, or taunting remarks

Clamor - to utter or proclaim insistently and noisily

Crow - to utter a sound expressive of pleasure

Gab - to talk in a rapid or thoughtless manner

Gabble - to say with incoherent rapidity

Gush - to make an effusive display of affection or enthusiasm

Hoot - to shout or laugh usually derisively

Howl - to cry out loudly and without restraint under strong impulse (such as pain, grief, or amusement)

Inveigh - to protest or complain bitterly or vehemently

Orate - to speak in an elevated and often pompous manner

Perorate - to deliver a long or grandiloquent oration

Repine - to feel or express dejection or discontent

Roar - to utter or emit a full loud prolonged sound

Screech - a high shrill piercing cry usually expressing pain or terror

Shout - to utter a sudden loud cry

Shriek - to utter a sharp shrill sound

Shrill - to utter or emit an acute piercing sound

Snarl - to give vent to anger in surly language

Spout - to speak or utter readily, volubly, and at length

Squall - to utter in a strident voice

Squawk - to utter a harsh abrupt scream

Squeal - to cause to make a loud shrill noise

Vociferate - to utter or cry out loudly

Wail - to express a prolonged cry or sound expressing grief or pain; loud lamentation

Whine - to utter a high-pitched plaintive or distressed cry

Yammer - to utter repeated cries of distress or sorrow; to utter persistent complaints; to talk persistently or volubly and often loudly

Yawp - (or yaup) to make a raucous noise

Yowl - to utter a loud long cry of grief, pain, or distress

Hope this helps. If it inspires your writing in any way, please tag me, or leave a link in the replies. I would love to read your work!

More: Word Lists

[alienbrainworm]

The Mini Guide to Crafting Compelling Royal Characters for Fiction Writers

Creating royal characters can be both exciting and challenging. These regal figures often play pivotal roles in stories, capturing readers' imaginations with their power, privilege, and the weight of responsibility they carry. Whether you're writing historical fiction, fantasy, or contemporary novels featuring monarchs, this comprehensive (mini) guide will help you develop authentic, multi-dimensional royal characters that will resonate with your readers.

Understanding the Basics of Royalty

Before diving into character creation, it's essential to have a solid grasp of what royalty entails. Royalty typically refers to members of a ruling family, including kings, queens, princes, princesses, and other nobles within a monarchical system. These individuals are often born into their roles, though some may ascend to power through marriage or other means.

Key aspects to consider:

Hierarchy and succession

Royal duties and responsibilities

Protocol and etiquette

The concept of divine right (in some cultures)

The relationship between royalty and their subjects

Remember, while these elements are common in many royal systems, you have the creative freedom to adapt or reimagine them for your fictional world.

Developing Your Royal Character's Background

Every character, royal or not, needs a rich backstory. For royal characters, this background is particularly crucial as it shapes their worldview, values, and decision-making processes.

Consider the following:

a) Lineage: What is your character's family history? Are they from a long-standing dynasty or a newly established royal house?

b) Upbringing: How were they raised? Were they groomed for leadership from birth, or did they have a more sheltered upbringing?

c) Education: What kind of education did they receive? Was it formal, focusing on statecraft and diplomacy, or more well-rounded?

d) Relationships: How do they relate to their family members, courtiers, and subjects?

e) Personal experiences: What significant events have shaped their character and outlook on life?

Crafting a Unique Personality

Avoid the trap of creating one-dimensional royal stereotypes. Your character should be as complex and nuanced as any other well-developed protagonist or antagonist.

Consider these aspects:

a) Strengths and weaknesses: What are your character's admirable qualities? What flaws do they struggle with?

b) Motivations: What drives them? Is it a sense of duty, personal ambition, or something else entirely?

c) Internal conflicts: What personal struggles do they face? How do these conflicts affect their rule and relationships?

d) Hobbies and interests: What passions do they pursue outside of their royal duties?

e) Sense of humor: How do they express humor, if at all? Is it dry wit, sarcasm, or something else?

Balancing Power and Vulnerability

One of the most intriguing aspects of royal characters is the juxtaposition between their immense power and their human vulnerabilities. This balance can create compelling internal and external conflicts for your character.

Consider:

The weight of responsibility and its impact on their personal life

The isolation that often comes with a royal position

The constant scrutiny they face from the public and court

The struggle between personal desires and duty to the crown

Creating a Believable Royal World

Your royal character doesn't exist in a vacuum (I hope not). They're part of a larger royal ecosystem that includes family members, advisors, courtiers, and subjects. Developing this world adds depth and authenticity to your story.

Key elements to consider:

Court dynamics and politics

Relationships with other noble houses or kingdoms

The role of advisors and how they influence decisions

Traditions and customs specific to your royal setting

The economic and social structure of the kingdom

Addressing the Challenges of Royal Life

Royal characters face unique challenges that can drive your plot and character development. Some common themes include:

a) Succession disputes b) Balancing personal happiness with duty c) Navigating political alliances and conflicts d) Managing public opinion and maintaining legitimacy e) Dealing with threats to their rule or life

Use these challenges to create tension and drive your story forward while revealing more about your character's personality and values.

The Impact of Historical Context

If you're writing historical fiction or a fantasy inspired by real-world monarchies, it's crucial to consider the historical context. Research the time period and culture you're drawing from to ensure authenticity in your character's behavior, beliefs, and challenges.

Key areas to research:

Social norms and expectations of the time

Political systems and power structures

Technology and its impact on governance

Religious beliefs and their influence on royalty

Gender roles and how they affect royal duties and succession

Avoiding Common Pitfalls

When creating royal characters, be mindful of these common mistakes:

a) Making them too perfect or too villainous b) Ignoring the realities of royal life (e.g., lack of privacy, constant duties) c) Overlooking the impact of their decisions on their subjects d) Failing to show growth or change over the course of the story e) Relying too heavily on stereotypes or clichés

Incorporating Royal Etiquette and Protocol

Royal characters often adhere to strict codes of conduct and protocol. While you don't need to become an expert in royal etiquette, incorporating some of these elements can add authenticity to your story:

Forms of address (Your Majesty, Your Highness, etc.)

Court ceremonies and rituals

Dress codes and regalia

Rules of precedence in social situations

Diplomatic protocols when interacting with other royals or dignitaries

Exploring Different Types of Royal Characters

Remember that not all royal characters need to be ruling monarchs. Consider exploring other royal roles, such as:

The rebel prince or princess who rejects their royal duties

The reluctant heir thrust into power unexpectedly

The exiled royal fighting to reclaim their throne

The royal spouse adapting to life in the palace

The illegitimate child discovering their royal heritage

Each of these archetypes offers unique storytelling opportunities and challenges for character development.

Balancing Historical Accuracy and Creative License

If you're writing historical fiction featuring real royalty, you'll need to strike a balance between historical accuracy and creative interpretation. While it's important to respect known facts and timelines, you also have the freedom to explore the inner lives and motivations of these historical figures.

Tips for balancing accuracy and creativity:

Thoroughly research the historical figure and their time period

Clearly differentiate between historical fact and fictional interpretation

Use author's notes to explain any significant departures from known history

Focus on filling in the gaps in the historical record rather than contradicting established facts

Developing Royal Character Arcs

Like any well-rounded character, your royal protagonist should undergo growth and change throughout your story. Consider how their experiences might challenge their beliefs, alter their perspective, or force them to confront their flaws.

Possible character arcs for royal characters:

From naive idealist to pragmatic ruler

From reluctant heir to confident leader

From isolated monarch to connected leader who understands their subjects

From power-hungry tyrant to benevolent ruler (or vice versa)

Remember, character growth doesn't always have to be positive. Sometimes, the most compelling stories involve characters who face moral decline or tragic falls from grace.

Remember, while the trappings of royalty may be grand, at their core, your royal characters are still human. They love, fear, hope, and struggle like anyone else. It's this humanity, set against the backdrop of power and responsibility, that makes royal characters so fascinating to read and write about.

Happy writing, - Rin T

Hey fellow writers! I'm super excited to share that I've just launched a Tumblr community. I'm inviting all of you to join my community. All you have to do is fill out this Google form, and I'll personally send you an invitation to join the Write Right Society on Tumblr! Can't wait to see your posts!