indestructibleheart

[indestructibleheart]

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.

[indestructibleheart]

I really don't understand how "without getting kudos or comments a fanfiction author is going to assume that people who clicked their fic didn't like it" became a controversial take.

I don't know why some people think an author should imagine, or guess that people who click their fic enjoyed it it when nobody is telling them that.

If you're re-reading a fic constantly, or leaving it up in your tab so that it re-loads every day for a hundred days the author is not going to know that unless you tell them. They'd love to hear it. It would make their day.

And if you don't tell them you liked their fic, there's no reason for them to assume you did.

[indestructibleheart]

king & lionheart for @luainthewild

✨ 3.9k WORDS ✨ RATED T ✨ FANTASY AU ✨

"Can you tell us a story?" "Another?" He lifts his brows in mock astonishment. "I thought you'd be bored of my tales by now, little love." "Never!" Inés says, curls tossing as she shakes her head. "Please? You must have another to tell—something adventurous, perhaps? With a handsome prince!" She holds hands in front of her mouth like sharp teeth. "Or a dragon!" He pretends, just for a moment, to consider her request. "Well," he says eventually, his voice warming like the firelight, "there is one adventurous tale I haven't shared yet. No dragons, I'm afraid, but there is a prince—in fact, this prince was from the kingdom of Ervos… no more than a fortnight’s ride from this very inn. His story begins as he sets off to meet his betrothed: a princess from a rival kingdom…"

Somewhere between duty and destiny, everything changes.

✨ READ ON AO3 ✨ PLAYLIST ✨ AWY COLLECTION

[indestructibleheart]

and skinny dip in water under the bridge

✨ ~6k WORDS ✨ RATED M ✨ CANON DIVERGENCE ✨

"Wait. Hold up. Is that what I was?" The smile slips from Henry's mouth completely. "Pardon?" "New Year's Eve. Six years ago," Alex clarifies. "Was I a battle you didn't choose?" He watches Henry's face fall as the laughter is sucked out of him in real time; Alex instantly misses it. He wants to take it back—to stay in the version of things where he and Henry could laugh as they splashed in the water under the bridge. They can't do that now that Alex shoved Henry's head beneath the surface.

OR: Henry found a way to avoid the correspondence dinner. Alex never kissed him the Red Room. They never fell in love. Six years later, they both find themselves in New York City, living wildly different lives, and have a chance to start again.

✨ READ ON AO3 ✨

[indestructibleheart]

paper cut stings from our paper-thin plans for @b13-maybethistime

✨ 10.3k WORDS ✨ RATED M ✨ CANON DIVERGENCE ✨

“Whoa, wha—”  Alex goes a little cross-eyed as he watches her brush his curls back from his forehead. It reminds him of when he was a toddler, and June insisted on tucking him in at night.  “Why are you looking at me like that?”  Her fingers absently comb through his hair. “I need you to wake up, you little shit,” she says. Her voice is soft and fond and something else that Alex can’t put his finger on. It could pass as the answer to his question, but Alex isn't convinced June heard him at all.  “Yeah,” he drawls, prying her hands off his face and taking a very deliberate step backward. “You’re freaking me out here, Bug.” June's demeanor changes. Out of nowhere, her eyes go stern as stone—and there's none of that eerie softness in her voice when she speaks again. Instead, loud enough to make Alex's ears ring, she commands: “Wake up.”

OR: Alex never makes it to Kensington because fate has other plans. Nothing like a coma to put things in perspective, huh?

✨ READ ON AO3 ✨ LISTEN TO THE PLAYLIST ✨

[indestructibleheart]

[indestructibleheart]

[indestructibleheart]

your work matters, and you're not a very good judge of it.

you can have the fancy degrees and the years of experience. you can have zero idea what you're doing and nothing but a song in your heart. the way you view what you write will never be how i view what you write. which is why you gotta write whatever feels real and good and honest to ya.

i forgot this. it's really lonely to be an author. the world you slice through to carve into a page - it can't ever be fully realized. sometimes the sun is butter yellow, and i can never spread it onto toast to serve to you. i can never describe fully the feeling of a new england october, only that a place that is often too-cold is suddenly full of a strange and visceral warmth. if you're not a writer or an artist, the experience is like this: take a flower and study it. without eating it, cook me a meal that tastes like this flower.

so i didn't know how good the book is, only that i hoped beyond a hope that anyone out there might get a kick out of it. maybe someone nice will review it every few days, i thought. i just want it to help any 1 person.

i did a reading recently where far too many people were kind and thoughtful and so gentle with me that i got into my car and burst into tears. i've had a very rough year, and this experience felt like a hug. so many people telling me they love what i read from the book. and in it, listening to the laughter as i read - at jokes i have long since stopped thinking are funny - it sent a bird straight through my heart. oh shit, i thought. i've been so unnecessarily cruel to myself.

you have no idea how many people read your work and don't respond because they are too shy or busy or unsure. i have webcomics i've never commented on that i've been checking on weekly for actual years. there are artists on spotify i will never be able to see in concert. there are paintings in galleries that i couldn't afford but wanted to kiss. i love what you have made, and i have no idea how to tell you. i love you, and it hurt me and helped me and also sent me back home. i wish there was more time and more ways to shine the light back to you.

be gentle. you have no way of knowing if you're good enough, so you might as well make something that feels good to make. someone will love it. and that love is never wasted.

[indestructibleheart]

Tagged by @cha-melodius and @priincebutt! 🥰

I'm pretty sure I've complained publicly about this obnoxious phenomenon that's been plaguing me for almost a year: I can write a fic until I've got two or three scenes left to finish, and then my brain refuses to go any further with it. I just get stuck.

And I don't know what it is... but it's so fucking annoying and I'm about to start biting people at this point.

This one particular fic is, to quote @rmd-writes, "a conversation and a kiss away from being done," but it hasn't budged more than a handful of words in like a month. I'm hoping that, if I share some it, something in my brain will come back online.

Here goes:

"Your country doesn't make Cornettos," Henry continues, "but the fellow at the supermarket recommended something called 'Drumsticks'?" He scrunches his nose. "They were not even remotely comparable, but… Then, I remembered another recommendation…" With that, Henry pulls open the freezer and Alex immediately clocks the yellow box of paletas in the drawer. "Dude, these were my entire fucking childhood," he says, immediately snatching the box and fishing out a coconut bar. "When did I…? I don't even remember talking about…" Henry chuckles, politely taking the box and selecting one of the strawberry ones.  "Christmas," he explains. "You mentioned Helados when you rang me at Christmas. I was walking aimlessly down the freezer aisle when I first arrived in the city, and…" "And you just happened to remember some random brand of ice cream I mentioned?" Henry's answering smile seems sad.  "Alex," he says, achingly sincere. "I remember everything."

Tagging some lovelies under the cut. If you have not been tagged and you want to be, consider this your tag!

@anchoredarchangel, @cha-melodius, @cricketnationrise, 

@firenati0n, @guillermosfamiliar, @hgejfmw-hgejhsf, 

@hippolotamus, @inexplicablymine, @jettestar, 

@kiwiana-writes, @lilythesilly, @lizzie-bennetdarcy, 

@missgeevious, @myheartalivewrites, @ninzied, 

@nontoxic-writes, @notspecialbabe, @orchidscript,

@piratefalls, @priincebutt, @rmd-writes, 

@three-drink-amy, @treluna4, @vanillahigh00, 

@welcometololaland, @ships-to-sail, @stellarm, 

@stereopticons

[indestructibleheart]

First Line Analysis

Thanks to my beloved @kiwiana-writes and @stereopticons for the tag! I've never played this one before.

RULES: post the first lines of your last 10 fics/chapters posted on AO3 (if you have less than 10 fics posted, post the first lines of all your fics) and try to draw some conclusions.

So, disclaimer... There's a huge gap in dates between my last three fics (excluding a drabble collection) and the rest.

I do, however, have some more recent WIPs that have the first line written, and I'm gonna fill in some gaps with those because I feel like they're more representative of my writing now. They're in order of when I started working on them, and then I hit my last published fics.

First Lines:

Alex didn't plan to push Henry Fox into oncoming traffic. (all we are is skin and bones)

"That’s it," Alex says, dropping to the couch in a huff. "I’m going to lose my mind." ('till the gravity's too much)

Henry drops his well-loved copy of 'The World in the Walls' onto his nightstand, the resulting thud unreasonably loud in the silence of an otherwise empty house. (WIP)

"Alejandro! Get your ass out of bed." (WIP)

"I'm telling y'all," Alex is saying, punctuating with dangerously large bites of his pancake burrito. "The dude's a dick." (WIP)

"I've got an Earl Grey—"  Like Pavlov's bell, the words pierce through Alex's hyperfocus to ring loudly in his ears, but he doesn't let himself look up until: "—for… Henry?" (WIP)

It's only five in the morning when Alex walks into the New York field office, only to find it's already been thrown into total chaos. (WIP)

When they’d first started dating, David had hated the days he worked at the store without Patrick. (sophomore slump (or comeback of the year)

It’s certainly not the most tasteful birthday party he’s ever had. (to david, with love)

“Really? This is where you want to do this?” (please tell me I won't wash away)

Analysis:

So, obviously, I'm one of those people who likes to start with dialogue.

My favorite ones that aren't dialogue are action-oriented.

If it's not just a line of dialogue, I apparently like identifying the POV character right away.

I actually like all but one of these quite a bit.

This was fun! Tagging: @lilythesilly, @nontoxic-writes, @rmd-writes, @ninzied, @cricketnationrise,

@cha-melodius, @three-drink-amy,

and anyone else who wants to play!

[indestructibleheart]

Thank you to @kiwiana-writes and @cha-melodius for tagging me this week. Anyone following this blog knows I'm having A Hard Time, but I appreciate y'all still including me. I swear I'm still alive, lol.

With encouragement from MJ himself and @rmd-writes, I'm not sharing words this week, but actually some discussion re: The Big Secret Collab. Because reasons.

✌️✌️✌️

Tagging some lovelies under the cut. If you have not been tagged and you want to be, consider this your tag!

@anchoredarchangel, @cha-melodius, @cricketnationrise, 

@firenati0n, @guillermosfamiliar, @hgejfmw-hgejhsf, 

@hippolotamus, @inexplicablymine, @jettestar, 

@kiwiana-writes, @lilythesilly, @lizzie-bennetdarcy, 

@missgeevious, @myheartalivewrites, @ninzied, 

@nontoxic-writes, @notspecialbabe, @orchidscript,

@piratefalls, @priincebutt, @rmd-writes, 

@three-drink-amy, @treluna4, @vanillahigh00, 

@welcometololaland, @ships-to-sail, @stellarm, 

@stereopticons

[indestructibleheart]

Group of Friends Prompts

one of the characters insists that every group of friends needs to have a regular Karaoke night and they expect everyone to come

their friend group is physically affectionate with each other and they don't care what other people think about that

one character gets surprised with an intervention by their friends - bonus points if the problem they’re talking about is actually not that serious

the whole friend group is living together - which is a dream and a nightmare in one

one character is sick and a bit of a handful as a patient, but they need someone to take care of them, so their friends rotate as the nurse

as their friends it was their job to check out any potential partner to see if they were worth being with their friend

the friend group loses one of their members during a parade/concert/event and are trying to find them

one character comes across a mystery in the neighborhood and they make their friends come with them to solve it

the friends wanted to have a fun night out, going to the movies or the bowling alley, but for some reason everything is closed and they have to find something else to do for fun

one of the characters has an important game or audition, etc. in a different city and their friends want to surprise them and drive there to support them. What follows is a chaotic roadtrip and the question: will they make it in time?

they were not just friends; they liked to joke that they were a dysfunctional family enough to believe it was actually true

they missed the last train/bus and it’s the middle of the night and they’re still 20 km away from the place they live/stay at

two of the characters are always bickering with each other and their friends have to figure out how to handle them together

having a chaotic friend group comes hand in hand with a truly unhinged group chat

they shared everything with their friend group, relying on their different opinions to come to a conclusion to any problem

they all met on the internet and it’s finally time for their first meeting in real life

If you like my blog and want to support me, you can buy me a coffee or become a member! 🥰

[indestructibleheart]

One Night Stand Prompts

by creativepromptsforwriting | do not repost

Person A is not a kiss and tell kind of person, so their friends start to think that they have been alone for way too long now and set them up with Person B. What the friends don’t know is that they both already know each other – intimately.

It was supposed to be a one night stand. Then it became a second night. A third - and suddenly they realized that they had never left.

Person A normally does not go out to clubs. They normally don't accept drinks from strangers or dance with them. And they normally do not go home with them.

Remembering every last inch on Person B's body is not a weird thing, just because they only hooked up that one time. They had just been very thorough. And now the memories are haunting them. In the best way.

Person A's last one night stand ended with a misunderstanding and a lot of awkwardness. To cheer them up again, their friends set them up with a blind date. They meant well, it’s not their fault that it’s the person they had previously slept with.

Person A's friends are obsessed with setting them up with blind dates, and A knows they mean well, but they are just not interested in dating, so they just ask their last blind date and one night stand, Person B, to fake date them, so A's friends stop setting them up.

Can you still call it a one night stand if they actually already had one years ago?

Person A had never had a one night stand before, so they don't know what the correct etiquette is. They are currently bringing breakfast to Person B, who is still in bed, because that's the polite thing to do, right?

What is the worst thing that can happen when you have someone in your bed that you just had an amazing night with? Your parents deciding to pay you a visit, who are just so excited to meet your new partner.

Person A and Person B are in a committed relationship and very happy. So happy that they decide adding a third person for just one night won't change anything.

If you like my blog and want to support me, you can buy me a coffee or become a member! And check out my Instagram! 🥰

[indestructibleheart]

This or That: RWRB Edition

I was tagged by a bunch of amazing people, all of whom I will tag under the cut below because tumblr STILL won't let you tag more than four people on one line.

// Cakegate or the Great Turkey Calamity // Red Room or tack room // strumpet or biscuit // Don’t Stop Me Now or Your Song // Yes, good, carry on or We all must learn and grow // Prince Buttercup or Hoe Dameron // Henry runs on NYE or Henry runs from the lake house // I am very, very gay or Bisexuality truly is a rich and complex tapestry // fire under your ass for no good goddamn reason or bottom of the pie crust chat // baby or sweetheart // The whole bloody time or set me on fire // Empire Strikes Back or Return of the Jedi // AN INCOMPLETE LIST or your body comes back to me in dreams // burgundy velvet suit or midnight-blue bomber jacket // bad metaphors about maps or hometown stuff // obtuse fucking asshole or then fucking have me // America: He is my choice or Never tell me the odds // sería una mentira porque no sería él or history, huh? // I’m never gonna love anybody in the world like I love you or I love him on purpose //

Honestly, I don't know who hasn't been tagged in this. I feel like I've seen everyone I know doing it... SO I'm gonna do the open tag thing.

If you have not been tagged, please consider this your tag—and also @ me so I can see it! I was tagged by:

@kiwiana-writes, @lilythesilly, @firenati0n,

@welcometololaland, @rmd-writes, @hgejfmw-hgejhsf,

@cha-melodius, @ninzied, @orchidscript, and @myheartalivewrites.

[indestructibleheart]

Hello, hope you’re doing well! I knowing you have the conflicts for couples and the fighting & making up, but I need help coming up reasons for a petty fight? Like something small they get upset over that isn’t very high stakes as something having to do with money would be.

I do have a few lists like this, but they are more about the bigger issues. So I'll try to come up with a few little things to fight about for you :)

Conflicts for Couples

Little things to fight about

stacking the dishes next to the sink

not washing the dishes or putting them in the dishwasher

not unloading the dishwasher

throwing their clothes on the floor

putting their shoes on the stairs so the other one constantly stumbles over them

leaving the toothpaste open

making themself food and leaving the unused ingredients out in the open

forgetting to take out the trash

not helping to put away the groceries

constantly forgetting to bring things from the supermarket or bringing the wrong thing

making them both late all the time

being very indecisive when it comes to plans

More:

Fighting & Making Up Prompts

Conflicts for Couples Part I

Conflicts for Couples Part II

I hope you like these ideas :)

- Jana

[indestructibleheart]

hooray

[indestructibleheart]

Hi, I love your blog! What would be the best way to write a multiple POV story?

Hi and thank you! :)

How to write multiple points of view

@creativepromptsforwriting on IG | do not repost!

Benefits of multiple POVs

you can explore different characters and the situations they are in plus their thoughts and feelings

you can have multiple main characters while still writing in first person POV

you can use it to expose an unreliable narrator

you can have completely different storylines happening at the same time

Choosing POVs

Why do you need multiple POVs? You should always consider if it is really neccessary to write from the perspective of multiple characters.

Whose going to tell the story? If you decide on multiple POVs, you still need to decide who exactly is going to tell the story and which part are they telling. Think about how you want to tell the story and assign the POVs accordingly. Try to stay under 6 POVs to not confuse the reader too much.

How much is from their perspectives? Are there two perspectives and they tell the story 50/50? Or are there more and it's one or two whose POV the reader sees the most and others just have smaller scenes? If you have more than two POVs, you should consider one main POV and give them the most scenes to give the reader something more stable to go along with.

How to write it

It is definitely not the easiest way to tell a story. You need to:

decide on first person vs. third person POV for your scenes (I would stick to one of those options for every POV)

decide who's the most important character in each scene with multiple of the other POV characters, to assign the POV for that specific scene

give each character a unique perspective and voice

make sure that it's clearly stated that the POV is changing and whose perspective the reader is reading now

use the different POVs to build up the characters, don't waste a scene on something completely irrelevant if you don't have enough time with their perspective

Some more advice

Don't tell the exact same scene from different perspectives, if it's not an important stilistic choice. You can do it with short scenes to show how different they see what happens or to show that they remember things differently or to help put the real story together. But I would only do it once for that reason and a small portion of the story. Otherwise it can become boring for the reader to basically re-read everything.

Don't write in some character's POV that is really not neccessary for the story. Changing POVs can be exhausting for a reader who tries to get into each character, so don't overdo it.

Same thing with switching too much. Don't switch every couple pages. Let the reader become familiar with each character and their part of the story, otherwise they can lose track on who's who and what do they do.

Hope this helps and have fun writing!

- Jana