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Dark Pine: Horror Shorts - Dark Pine 2- The Staircase (on Wattpad) https://www.wattpad.com/1273988975-dark-pine-horror-shorts-dark-pine-2-the-staircase?utm_source=web&utm_medium=tumblr&utm_content=share_reading&wp_uname=CrimsonCollector&wp_originator=i%2Fm6OPuPy8by2mEVJiDK9zqrDBDUYrHETKH%2BMTNOwiwd2piQcLSxFHah1YK9vXTiUKW76bxTHWQZGh71gA%2FMCSN01Gp2Z25lvwLSWFXfEXKbuEc%2FebvAfUpNUJX49nx%2B The town of Dark Pine is no stranger to local legends. In this series of short horror stories, take a look into a world where curiosity may just take you somewhere you weren't expecting. DISCLAIMER: Keep in mind, this is an ongoing series. More stories will be added over time.

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Giving This Another Shot

I know I pretty much abandoned this blog to focus on other things, but I figured why not give it another shot. Not sure how I'm going to posting on here. It's been a while. I've got a lot of projects in the works. So let's play catch up.

So, I've got a couple stories in the works. Two books, a dark fantasy and a poetry book. My fantasy adventure "A Deal of Deception" is now going to be strictly on Wattpad along with another fantasy adventure "Force of the Gods" will also be on Wattpad only.

The first three chapters of my dark fantasy book "The Collectors" is up on Wattpad as well as a sneak peek. As far as the full book goes, I'm currently on the last handful of chapters in the final part of the book. I'm aiming to release it next Fall. But if you're curious it's a dark fantasy, major dark academia vibes, about a world where this group called the Relegates are confiscating and destroying all magical items and are on the hunt for magical books called tomes. The story follows two characters journey's, Allistaire Radley, who finds himself in the possession of one of these tomes after learning his father has died; and Morris Davis, a former Collector taken in by the Relegates working with them to stay alive and conflicted about staying. The book is split into three parts. The first part follows Allistaire and his journey, which is where the sneak peek starts you off.

I also have a Buy Me a Coffee where I've been posting occasional updates and have some fun extras available for purchase including character posters I've drawn and the prologue sample for "The Collectors", which I recently lowered the price of since decided to add the first three chapters for free to Wattpad as a sneak peek.

I'm debating on opening an author store as well, but I'm currently waiting on a notebook sample to arrive.

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Some more advice I wish I knew before writing a book

I've made a post like this before, but I recently learned something that should've been obvious as someone who likes to read, but is never really talked about.

Paragraph alignment

The default most people typically stick with when they start typing, is left alignment. It's the default for most papers and things you type throughout your school years. BUT, if you look at the way most books are formatted, the text lines up on both sides of the pages.

That would be the "justify" alignment. It will make sure the text lines up on both sides of the page.

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Some things I've learned writing my first book

As a new author jumping into writing their first two books, I thought I might as well share some of the things I've learned that I wish I knew before hand.

1) Double space. Make sure your document is double spaced. You may not realize it, but most books are double spaced. And if you're submitting short stories, a lot of magazines will also require the documents be double spaced.

2) The tab key is tempting, but it's a no no. This is one I learned three chapters into one of my two books. The indent the tab key uses is considered a hard or harsh indent. I've been using seven spaces since to indent my paragraphs.

3) Don't worry about your chapter count, it will change over time. It sounds like it should be common sense, but it's something you can get hung up on very easily. You can feel like you either have too many or not enough chapters. I had a bit of an existential crisis thinking I didn't have enough chapters after seeing the required chapter count for a publisher that popped up on an indeed suggestion. Don't let those counts intimidate you. As you go on you'll find chapters that need to be split, or chapters that need to be added or taken out. Your chapter count will change, whether you outline the chapters first or not.

4) Rejections will happen. Whether it be short stories you submitted to magazines, or trying to get an agent or publisher. Rejections will happen. It's almost a rite of passage, or a "write" of passage, if you will.

I know there's more to learn and I'm sure I'll learn more along the way. But it's been a lot of help along the way.

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Where I've been

Writing. Reading. Mostly writing.

I've been focusing a lot on the two books I'm working on. I've been learning a lot about writing a book in the progress. I've been keeping up with my main blog over on Blogger that goes by the same name, "A Return to Writing". And sort of keeping a vlog of sorts with updates on things over on tiktok as Nanoficto92.

Since the last time I've posted on here, two of the three short stories I submitted via Submittable have been rejected. So, I've experienced the rite of passage most writers experience now. Keeping my fingers crossed that the third story gets accepted. With how work has gone from slow season to seemingly no season with a day here and there very spread out, I could use the money I could get from it.

It's certainly been an experience so far.

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Writing Advice Using FNAF as an Example

The theory community and Security Breach are a great example for new writers on intention and translation.

The "Gregory is a robot" theory is the perfect example. Now, I'm not dismissing the theory. I'm just using two bits people tend to use as evidence for this theory as examples of how people can translate things differently.

Diehard theorists will look at things like the bit at the start of the game where Freddy says Gregory seems broken before rushing him to the first aid station, and see that as Freddy seeing him as a broken piece of machinery. But, a casual player and viewer could see it differently. Like I see it as Freddy responding to Gregory saying he heard Vanessa down there and Freddy rushing him to safety knowing that the closest place is a first aid station. It also introduces the hiding mechanic.

Another example I like to look at is when Freddy gets Roxy's eyes and says that Gregory looks different. Theorists look at it as Freddy seeing Gregory as what he "truly" is, a robot(as the theory goes). Meanwhile, looking at it differently, Roxy has x-ray vision. Who's to say it isn't Freddy not being used to looking at a person, especially a child, and seeing a skeleton. Let's not forget the dialogue where he has his existential crisis seeing the endo skeletons. He didn't even know what his own insides looked like. Now he can probably see Gregory's skeleton and it's weirding him out, hence his response.

What a creator intends as a translation of something and what people actually translate it as can differ greatly. Keep that in mind when approaching anything in your own writing, or anything in general.

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Why I never say what type of relationships are in my work

I genuinely never know.

I don't write relationships into the plots. If two characters end up in a relationship, cool. But I want it to feel like a natural progression. I don't want it to feel like the usual love triangle or enemies to lovers or have it be a focus. If a relationship happens, it happens.

I don't plan out my stories with relationships in mind. I plan them out based on plot ideas I think would be cool concepts. Take a book I'm working on at the moment, the first of three books in a series, two of the characters just happen to live together, but I wouldn't say they're in a relationship just yet. I haven't decided what their relation to each other is. For now they're close friends and house mates. They certainly share a house together. It's like the living situation version of "those two people sure are standing next to each other". As of right now, they're just close friends that live together.

Or take another book I'm working on, it's a fantasy adventure. Two of the main characters are partners in crime. They're rogues. They're the closest thing to family they've ever had. And that's it. They aren't a thing. Heck, even if I were to make one of them be in a relationship, it wouldn't be with the other in the pair. It'd be a horrible one sided relationship because I know the other half wouldn't feel the same if that did happen.

Granted, I'm also a firm believer in "you don't need a romantic sub plot to have a good story", which is probably why I don't write with romantic relationships in mind. But I'm not against having those relationships in there. They just aren't my priority when writing.

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I finally realized what "write what you know" means

Had an epiphany while going through my chapter outline earlier. I finally get what "write what you know" means.

Like a lot of other writers, I always used to hate hearing that advice. It was never really explained. We were always just told "write what you know" and a lot of people, myself included, took it at face value. And I've seen a lot of people take it as a very frustrating "we can only write about what we know and can't write about anything else".

That's not what it means.

In all fairness, it should probably be reworded for more people to get it. But what the phrase means is not "write what you know" but "write from what you know". You should be using your own knowledge and experiences as inspiration. Use it as reference. I had a scene I was working on in a chapter that made me realize this is what it meant in a note I wrote in the outline. I had a scene with a note saying something like "have them watch the character kinda like that time in college when that creep that looked like Mr. Tiny watched you from his car". I was using an experience I had as reference. And that's when the advice actually made sense.

So write from what you know. Use it as reference and inspiration.

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Security Breach from a creative perspective

As an artist and a writer, I think the way to tackle the main problem people have with the game(other than the bugs) would be to have the game be relatively similar in gameplay but instead of an active "in its prime" pizza plex have it be like a dead mall kinda situation where part of it's been shut down for some time now and parts of it are still active. You'd have to go through parts of the main active area and parts of the pizza plex that were shut down or retired for one reason or another. That way it would've still had that feeling of the other games while bringing in the new look and gameplay.

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Does a story need a romantic relationship?

This is probably going to be a bit of a hot take for tumblr of all places considering this isn't my first blog on here, so I know what people typically write on here.

BUT

As someone writing a three book series, the question of "do I need to add a relationship" is coming to mind. I don't think every story needs a romantic relationship of any level. I'm in the mindset of "when you're writing, if the characters seem to be headed that way, fine. But don't force it because that's what every other book in the genre has".

I'm probably boring for saying that. But that was something I struggled with back in my teens when I first was like "I wanna give writing a shot". I ended up taking something I wrote back in middle school as a picture prompt story and expanded it into a four chapter story that I shared on deviantart(it no longer exists, don't bother looking for it). And when I looked back at it, the first half felt fine, that was the bit that was from the prompt. But everything else felt so forced. It felt like I wrote it like that because I thought that's how stories were supposed to be. "There should be a weird forced relationship, right?" It didn't feel natural or even like it was part of the same story. So I deleted everything else but chapter one. So that was three chapters of a forced romantic plotline that was just unnatural and felt like it came out of nowhere.

I don't think to have a good story you need the main character to have a love interest. If a relationship happens along the way, that's perfectly fine, but it shouldn't feel like it came out of nowhere.

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Writing chapters is an experience

I realize this is probably the wrong site to really be talking about writing that isn't spicy fan fiction, but this is a blog about me getting back into writing and I like blogging. So here I am.

Recently I started planning out a three book supernatural fantasy series. I haven't properly written anything with chapters in ages, so this is an interesting learning experience. I'm on my second pass at chapter outlines now to see what needs to be reworked from the first outline. So far it's made me realize I have no clue how long a book should actually be because it seemed a little short. Through this second pass I'm also seeing what can be split into different chapters.

It's really becoming an interesting lesson. I do know that if this were a decade ago I would've stuck with the first pass and over outlined everything. And when that happens it's near impossible for me to actually write the story because it feels like I already wrote it because of how in depth the outline became.

This time around I'm trying to keep it as general and basic as possible so I get the idea of what I was going for without basically writing the whole story in outline format.

I know a lot of writers on here are younger, I'm probably one of the older users on here. I turn thirty this year. But let me say one thing, while pantsing it can have its pros, sometimes an outline can give you at least a good idea of what direction to go in. It's just a matter of trying not to go overboard on the outlining and trying to keep the notes simple.

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I may have started planning out a three book supernatural fantasy series. The more I'm planning it the more I'm seeing bits and pieces of some of my favorite shows and movies I grew up with. There are little bits of Buffy and some characters vibes that are very Star Wars and Charmed. I'm playing with things I've always wanted to see more of in fantasy books.

It's definitely more of like a Buffy meets something like I guess Shadowhunters over all vibe wise, but I'm not aiming for it to be YA. I definitely want some horror aspects in it since I am mainly a horror writer and I enjoy writing horror. But I'm gonna try to keep it as tame as possible since it's not the main genre of the series. That's actually why I need to rewrite the intro a bit. It was originally written a good decade ago when it was intended to become a horror thriller, so it's really dark.

But I'm excited to be giving this a shot. I have the general idea for each book planned. Now it's just actually plotting each one out.

It's been a weird experience so far considering it originally was just an intro. I originally thought I wrote it back in 2019 when I was doing a story a day, but thinking about it, I'm pretty sure I wrote it back in 2012. So I initially wrote it a decade ago now and it had literally no plot, it was just a catchy intro with a cool transition scene.

It wasn't until I found some notes I started writing back in 2019 when I had found the story again that I was able to really look at what was there and realize the potential it had. From there I went through the different questions I asked myself in those notes and made additional notes. I started running with some ideas and that's how I started noticing things like it working better as a supernatural fantasy, or even that it could be a book in general and not just a short story.

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The Keyboard is Everything

Seriously, when I started writing more on the daily I realized how much my keyboard was better for light typing and not what I was starting to get into.

I found out that for me, mechanical keyboards are better. I need keys that are more spaced out and have more curved tops. I need that to be able to really tell where I am on the keyboard. It also keeps my fingers from sliding over the keys and hitting the wrong keys.

Since swapping from my last keyboard that had flatter slimmer keys to a mechanical keyboard, I immediately found myself looking down at the keys less. It's a lot smoother to type when I'm not questioning where my fingers are.

If you're considering getting into writing fulltime, figure out what keyboard is best for you. You'll be typing a lot. So you want something you know you'll be comfortable typing on for long spirts of time.

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A Writing Tip I Wish I Knew

Get a keyboard that's good for you.

I recently started to double down on writing and the biggest thing I learned was that my keyboard may be perfect for my desk and some light typing here and there, but it's not the best for a lot of typing.

I've noticed that since the keys are slimmer and flatter my fingers slide around the keys. I spend more time hitting backspace and looking down more often to know where my fingers are on the keyboard. I've noticed the lines on the F and J keys aren't very raised so I can barely feel them making it easier to lose track of where I am on the keyboard. It's a good keyboard for the desk, but not for typing.

For me a more mechanical keyboard with clunky chunky keys are probably better for me. I grew up with keyboards like that. But also, there's less of a chance of my fingers sliding all over the place on the keyboard.

If you plan on getting into writing, figure out what kind of keyboard works for you.

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Took a leap of faith

I submitted my first story. Even the day after, I feel like I'm coming off of an adrenaline rush.

I'm super excited about having done that. Not gonna get my hopes up. Rejections are part of the journey so it's always possible that it might not get accepted. But, the fact that I just put my work out there and could potentially get my first real writer's paycheck in a sense, it's surreal.

Whenever I read about authors I love and their journeys they always talk about the time during the cycle of submitting stories. I rarely see them talk about that first submission. After hitting "Submit" I immediately was like "I just did that" and it was just this wave of shock that I actually went through with it. Even if I get rejected, I still gave it a shot.

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My Problems With Wattpad

I'm still very much on the fence on whether or not I want to delete my Wattpad or keep it and give it another shot.

But I was looking through it and I do have some gripes with the site. The obvious ones is that, despite it having Horror as a genre, it's definitely overrun with spicey fan fics and Romance stories. It only really recommends those types of stories even in the "recommended for you" options. It's frustrating to say the least.

Another problem I noticed while going through some of my own work is that it doesn't count anything as a full read. The little progress bar at the top will say "just a few seconds left" even when the screen is fully scrolled to the bottom. Now I'm genuinely curious how many reads my stories have actually had that weren't counted because of this.

Something that almost got me back on board was the new paid stories feature. It seemed promising. And then I found out that it's invite only to get your stories to be paid stories. It doesn't even really specify how you get these invites. It seems almost pointless to even have that as a feature.

I'm still very stuck on the fence on whether to give it another shot or delete it.

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Sometimes working on a project is printing out a draft of the story to work from so you don't have to keep opening Google Docs, and then chillin' listening to the vinyl of the "Rocketman" soundtrack.