anadrym

[anadrym]

[anadrym]

Okay, I can't resist. Here he is!

Me: should be writing

Me: impulse buys an antique carousel horse instead of writing

[anadrym]

Yes there's a typo in the first option but I am not redoing the whole thing

[anadrym]

[anadrym]

i ❤️ men screaming in excruciating agony and pain and writhing on the floor and crying and begging and pleading and desperate and vulnerable and and and and

[anadrym]

Me: should be writing

Me: impulse buys an antique carousel horse instead of writing

[anadrym]

Alignment Chart of Ways To Title a Fic On AO3

[anadrym]

GUESS WHAT'S FINALLY HAPPENING IN THE NEXT CHAPTER?????

[anadrym]

Proposal for new fandom etiquette:

If you read a fic because it was linked/recced somewhere, you leave a comment saying "came from XXX" and that comment doesn't need to include anything else.

Because when all of a sudden there's a lot of activity on one particular fic I WANNA KNOW WHY!!!!!

[anadrym]

Always the writer, never the reader.

[anadrym]

everyone needs a creative outlet to stick a creative fork into

[anadrym]

How it feels working a 9 to 5 and having too many WIPs of varying forms and genres alongside unrealistic expectations for myself as a writer yayyy xox

[anadrym]

standing outside your house. knocking on your window. Hey please take a break if you need to i promise we won't mind :)

Opens the front door.

Sets new chapter on the doormat.

Closes the door and watches you through a crack in the curtains.

[anadrym]

Chapter 24 of Left Behind is up!

[anadrym]

Okay. I'm so sorry to not have kept y'all updated. This past week's chapter is done but needs to be proofread. I'm gonna finish that up in a bit, and the chapter will be posted later today. The extended notes will be posted here on Friday. And hopefully the next chapter will be done for the Friday after that (July 4).

[anadrym]

hey uh new type of ao3 spam comment just dropped. (I know it's spam because the fic they left this comment on . doesn't have chapters. lmfao). Report this kinda comment as spam and don't take it personally it is literally recycled bullshit

[anadrym]

Write Characters with Deep Emotional Wounds

(Without Making Them Walking Tragedies)

╰ Start with the scar, not the stabbing. Everyone talks about what happened to your character (The Big Trauma) but honestly? It’s the aftermath that matters. Show me the limp, not the bullet wound. Show me the way they flinch at kindness or double-check locks three times. The wound shapes them more than the event ever did.

╰ Don't make them "Sad All The Time" People with deep hurts aren’t just dramatic sob machines. They make bad jokes. They find weird hobbies. They have good days and then get wrecked by a song in a grocery store. Layers, my friend. Pain is complex and it sure as hell isn’t aesthetic.

╰ Let them almost heal and then backslide. Real healing isn’t linear. One good conversation doesn’t erase ten years of bottled-up grief. Your character might think they’re over it, and then one tiny thing, a smell, a phrase, a look, knocks them right back into the hole. Make them earn their healing. Make us ache for them.

╰ Give them armor and show the cracks. Maybe it’s sarcasm. Maybe it’s perfectionism. Maybe it’s taking care of everyone else so no one notices they're broken. Whatever mask they wear, show us the hairline fractures. Let us catch the moments where they almost drop the act.

╰ Don’t turn their trauma into their only personality trait. Yes, they’ve been through hell. But they also love spicy chips and bad reality TV. They have dumb crushes and secret dreams. A tragic backstory isn’t a substitute for a full human being. Let them be more than the worst thing that ever happened to them.

╰ Let their wound warp their decisions. People protect their wounds. Even badly. Especially badly. They might sabotage good relationships. Or push away help. Or cling too tightly. Make their past live in their choices, not just their flashbacks.

╰ Don’t make the world validate them for existing. Not everyone is going to understand your wounded character. Some people will misunderstand them. Blame them. Get frustrated. And honestly? That’s real. Let your character find their people, after facing the ones who don’t get it. It’s so much sweeter that way.

╰ Wounds can make them kinder—or crueler. Pain changes people. Some become protectors. Some become destroyers. Some do both, depending on the day. Let your character’s hurt make them complicated. Unpredictable. Human.

╰ Don’t heal them just to tie a neat bow on your story Sometimes the best ending is messy. Sometimes the healing is just starting. Sometimes it’s just hope, not a full recovery montage. That’s okay. Healing is a lifelong, terrifying, brave process—and readers feel it when you respect that.