butternuggets-blog

[butternuggets-blog]

[butternuggets-blog]

[butternuggets-blog]

joining the war on porn on the side of porn

[butternuggets-blog]

i love your writing so so so much, all of your stories, shot and long, are so entertaining to read and i like the style of them very much :D

but how do you keep your work so bitsesized? especially the ones from prompts- usually the ones I write from a prompt end up being pages and pages even when I try to keep them short? most of your prompt fiction is quite short, and im wondering how you manage that?

again, love your work so very much :]

Thank you so much for reading!

The answer is a lot of practice. I used to do these timed writes on here called "caffeine challenges" where I'd write on one prompt for one hour. I'd use the time to pace myself and put a beginning, middle and end on something during that time. Then I'd do a round of editing to flesh it out.

I've also answered a similar question before here(X) That was in 2017 though so I have some new thoughts (and use a lot less exclamation points lmaooo)

In that post, I say "magnify, not condense." I think a lot of times people try to put Big Ideas into small formats and then get frustrated when it feels flat on the page. It's totally okay to write longer pieces! But if you're looking to write something under 5k, make sure that the skeleton you're trying to fit in there doesn't need to break some bones first.

Short stories require a lot of trust in your audience. I'm very fortunate that the people who read my work are fantasy/fanfic people who understand what I mean when I write things like "No more dead girls." In that example, I'm relying on the audience's knowledge of the trope where women die to enhance character backstories or elevate the stakes.

Let's take a look at an example of what writing looks like when you trust your audience to varying degrees.

#1

Snow White was used to answering doors. It came from being a princess, even one as neglected as her. There were often advisors and court ladies coming to see her and ply her with gifts to use her minimal influence in their favor. The day she turned twelve was like that. A swarm of visitors filled her parlor, so many that the maids had to wake her at dawn to see the first and she didn't see the last until nearly midnight.

Then, again, the day her father remarried. She'd thought she'd get to sleep in that day, considering how her new stepmother was already looking at her, but the first knock sounded before she had even washed her face. That time was harder. Those visitors didn't bring her gifts and well wishes. Instead, they brought warnings couched in advise.

You will need allies, princess, when the Queen has an heir.

Meaning they thought she wouldn't last once the Queen did. The joke there was that Snow White did last and every year the Queen remained barren the knocks increased. The moment it began to look like Snow White would inherit...well.

No one expected the King to fall ill so quickly.

After that, she had a lot of visitors wearing all black. Mourning periods last a year in the Kingdom. Snow White rose with her visitors instead of the sun.

So when the knock came - three triple knocks and three taps - waking her from sleep, she didn't think about how she was in the forest or that it was very early or that the dwarves only knocked when their hands were too full of gems and they had to use their feet to kick the iron plate nailed to the bottom of the door.

"Come in," she said, sitting up in bed and rubbing her eyes. The bed was situated in the far right corner of the room, diagonal to the door. Whoever entered would be able to see her rumpled state. No one would enter her bed chamber that wasn't supposed to - only a maid, probably. Or a-- Her eyes shot open. Her heart skipped a beat. There weren't any maids here. No officials, no nobles, no advisors. The door handle twisted first one way. Then the other.

The dwarves' warning rushed back to her too late. Never answer a call in this forest. Did it matter that she was half-asleep?

Apparently not. The latch clicked when it fell and the door slowly began to move.

It creaked open which it shouldn't have considering how often the dwarves oiled the hinges. It was almost like there was a great weight monster on the other side of it, straining and straining against the wood. Snow White could feel this presence now as she jerked out of bed and stumbled to her feet in the center of the room. Did she have time to grab a pot from the hearth to use as a weapon? Should she push the door closed?

Too late. The door opened.

There was a witch on the other side.

#2

"Come in," Snow White said, sitting up in bed and rubbing her eyes. She froze. She heard the knock after she'd already spoken and she cursed old instincts as she leapt out of bed. In this new place, deep into the forest, no one would knock like that on her door, not at this house, not in that sly, triple-knocking pattern.

She wasn't a princess now. She was a girl in the forest. The dwarves gave her one warning. Only one.

Never answer a call in this forest.

The door knob twisted. Right. Left. Her feet faltered on a step towards the door. Then on a step away. Her eyes jerked to the pots in the kitchen. Should she..?

Too late. The door opened.

There was a witch on the other side.

#3

The instincts from her time in the castle woke before she did. Snow White flung herself out of bed and into the center of the room. Someone had knocked. She had sleepily invited them in.

Never answer a call in this forest.

Her eyes darted to the twisting door knob then to the pots in the kitchen. Her shaking legs couldn't decide whether to run forward or back. Or maybe--

Too late. The door opened.

There was a witch on the other side.

-----

(Forgive any errors, this is a quick example)

In my mind, those three options do very different things. The first example fits in a longer piece. Maybe a novella (30k words). It gives us a deeper look into Snow White's past and takes care to lay out the context for why she invites the visitor in. I consider this style of writing very gentle. It's a slower pace and gives the audience a lot to work with. Even if a reader skimmed this example, they'd probably end up at the same place of understanding as someone who read it more thoroughly.

The second would my preferred as someone who writes short stories between 4k and 10k words. It gives us a hint about why she opened the door (old instincts... not a princess anymore...) but not specifically why (it doesn't give us the scenes of visitors in her parlor). It trusts the audience to understand that Snow White had visitors because she was a princess, therefore princesses must have a lot of visitors for one reason or another. Then when it comes time to flee or fight, her thought process is implied rather than shown. (Should she...?) It invites the audience to panic and plan with her, but doesn't tell them how she does it.

The last would be something I might use in a flash fiction piece. To be honest, it would probably be my opening. By opening with Snow White flinging herself out of bed, only belatedly realizing she'd invited someone in, I'm trusting the audience to understand a lot. That she was sleeping and was woken abruptly, that Snow White is filled with adrenaline by the realization, that she had received a warning (and because it is Snow White, the audience might understand it was from the dwarves), and now she must fast the consequence of unwittingly ignoring it. It sets a punishingly fast pace for both Snow White and the audience.

-----

Sorry for the long read! The TLDR is that in order to keep my work bite-sized, I pretend that the person reading my story is me. That they've read all the stories I have and that I don't need to explain every moment deeply for them to understand the stakes/character.

The bonus is that if I do it like that, then when I do dive deeply into the character (usually at the climax) it has more impact and leaves the story feeling well-rounded.

Thanks for reading and sorry for rambling! I was a lot more succinct in 2017

[butternuggets-blog]

wish $20 was $20 again.... it's literally $5. if ur fucking lucky

[butternuggets-blog]

On April 8 we celebrate the death of Margaret Thatcher, and remember all the lives she destroyed.

[butternuggets-blog]

You see I too often sat in school classes and thought “when am I ever going to need this, I’m never going to be an engineer, I’m never gonna be a scientist, I’m never gonna be a linguist” and then I grew up and it turns out a lot of bigots and cults and scams and grifts hinge their entire business model on you just. Not knowing what a protein is or some shit

[butternuggets-blog]

*shaking you by the shoulders* tradwives are a part of american white supremacist fascism. they are not, in fact, a product of "liberal choice feminism". please get this through your head before you fall down the radfem pipeline

[butternuggets-blog]

Just to clarify, there's a bill that would STOP credit card companies from controlling who's allowed to spend money on porn or "risque" (read: queer) content. If you don't think big business should be able to tell you what to spend your own damn money on, call your senators and reps to let them know! It's the Fair Access to Banking Act, H.R.987 in the House, S.410 in the Senate.

[butternuggets-blog]

i hate when a piece of kids media is so well made that people start saying "clearly this was made FOR adults not for silly little babies. we are the true target demographic" like cmon man. you don't have to pretend it's something it isn't. sometimes things that are made for 12 year olds are good.

[butternuggets-blog]

A Psalm for the Wild-Built.

(I think we need something summery and positive. I’d highly recommend Becky Chamber’s Monk & Robot series of books; a solarpunk dream with a healthy mix of philosophical journeys.)

[butternuggets-blog]

🐀Thimble at Work🥐

Art is my own. Reblogs ok. Reposts w/credit ok.

Follow me on Instagram.

No AI was used to create this drawing. I do not support and do not allow use of my art for machine learning/to train AI software.

[butternuggets-blog]

Hear ye, hear ye! Ye AU-gust 2025 prompt list is here!

What is AU-gust? It stands for Alternate Universe August, and it is a creative challenge for everyone. Writers, artists, fans; anyone can join! Be sure to check out our FAQ for more answers! Join us on BlueSky, AO3, Discord and under the tags #au gust and #au gust 2025.

The AO3 collection for AU-gust is now open! :)

Special thanks to @yaoyorozoops for creating our wonderful graphics!

[butternuggets-blog]

in keeping with the continued purification of the internet, itch io has shadowbanned or outright deleted all adult games.

[butternuggets-blog]

Moon Toad, end of the 18th to 1st half of the 19th century Guangzhou, China

[butternuggets-blog]