iphigeniadiedataulis

[iphigeniadiedataulis]

Anyway here’s a poem I wrote about my cat

After “Do not stand at my grave and weep”, author disputed:

Do not stand at your bowl and meow. I gave you food. It’s in there now. I feed you at the dawning light, I feed you at the fall of night. I feed you kibbles mixed with meat And wet food for a special treat. I feed you even though you scoff At all the food within your trough. I feed you and still yet you yell Like as a beast from deepest hell. Do not stand at your bowl and cry. I gave you food. You will not die.

[iphigeniadiedataulis]

Annoyed by people taking the line about how your brain isn’t fully developed until you’re 25 and using it to justify the most rancid takes that completely disregard teenagers’ and young adults’ autonomy, agency and opinions

[iphigeniadiedataulis]

Shocking how many people don’t know that hens lay non-fertilized eggs and think the yolk they’re eating is a baby chicken

[iphigeniadiedataulis]

This:

Exciting new frontiers in speculative physics, economics, chemistry, biology, zoology, psychology, theology, and/or ontology

some of the best SF i’ve read has been fanfiction in some of the strangest fandoms.

Things fanfic is reputed for inserting into the source material:

Sex

Things fanfic actually inserts into the source material:

Sex

Holding hands

Bizarre misunderstandings

Meticulous descriptions of food and clothing

The author’s unaddressed traumas

Found family

Plausible explanations for existing plot holes

Additional plot holes

Exciting new frontiers in speculative physics, economics, chemistry, biology, zoology, psychology, theology, and/or ontology

Tax evasion

Gender

Very bad puns

[iphigeniadiedataulis]

story concepts. part 1

Theme: Places

A house that has become actively homicidal.

An empty mall possesed by the spirit of greed.

A road that remembers its dead.

An empty doorway that likes to hide.

A bridge that would like people to stop jumping from it.

A property line that likes to move around.

A mountain range that likes to move around.

A kitchen that misses its previous witchy owner.

A library that wants children to stay forever.

A public hall which misses being a graveyard.

An apartment complex that fears being destroyed and replaced by a brand new luxury resort.

A city plaza infused with the spirit of revolutionary action.

A cave system that hoards jewelry.

Alternatively, a cave system that would like to see the sky.

A volcano that likes human stories.

A landlocked lake that wants to become an ocean.

A prison cell with an entrepenurial spirit.

And old rickety barn hellbent on travelling to the bahamas unnoticed.

A sewer system that wants to be a maze.

------------------------------------------------------------

All interactions are appreciated. If you liked this content or found it useful you can buy me a coffee :)

If you have any suggestions, requests or just something you'd like to say my asks are always open.

[iphigeniadiedataulis]

what to write about when you’ve got nothing to write about. part 3

Theme: Disappearing

One day your character wakes up invisible. What do they do? Rob a bank? Sneak into the restricted parts of the Library of Congress? Sneak into a politician's backyard and do something incredibly petty? Would they decide to permanently abandon their life? Is their invisibility forever? Can they control it? Would they tell anyone? How would people around them react?

One day a character wakes up and all of government records of their existence have been wiped. Here we can combine three different elements to make a story; you can change the character, change the government or change the nature of the records. For example, make your character an alien who has accidentaly fallen to earth, "the government" is a branch of a secret agency hellbent on dissecting them and the records are your run-of-the-mill electronic records. Your character could also be a princess, the government a foreign invading power, and the records literally all information about her existence wiped out from the minds of those who remember it.

One day your character wakes up and little brother/favourite cousing/elderly mother/best friend/favorite person has disappeared. Nobody remembers them. What do they do? Are they hellbent on getting them back? Does anybody believe your character? Does your character care that they appear crazy to those around them? Why has this favorite person disappeared?

Ever so often you find yourself vanishing into thin air, appearing at another time, another place. There are legends about you. What legends would those be?

Your character is investigating the mystery of a vanishing house in their hometown. This house appears in some very strange places. Most people are aware of it, but don't really have the time to care. Over time, this house has become the local criptyd. Why is the house vanishing? Why does your character care? Is it just a fun mystery? Is there a tragic backstory involved? Does your character investigate alone or with other people? Why is the house vanishing?

A whole city has vanished from the planet. What has happened? Which city? Why has it vanished? You can write it from the perspective of the people who were left behind or from the point of view of those inside the city. Is this due to alien/magical interference? Did someone run afoul of the fae?

Your character knows all the best curses to make someone disappear. What do they do with this power?  Make up a character backstory that justifies it. Do they have a past as an assasin? Are they staunch pacifists and so have never made anyone disappear? How did they learn these curses? From books? From someone else? Did they make a pact with a supernatural entity?

Your grandmother has a vanishing tea set. Make up a backstory. Why does your grandmother have it? Was it passed down from an elder relative? Has it been in the family forever? Why does the tea set vanish? Why can the tea set vanish? Does anyone use it to drink tea? If so, how? Does it make tea with special properties or just regular,old, boring tea? Does the tea set have any amount of sentience? What would happen if you were to break it? Is there anyone else interested in this tea set?

You live in a very nice house that you got dirt cheap. The only problem is that certain parts of the house may vanish at any given time. You really don't have the money or the energy to move. Describe your daily life in detail. Make up some journal entries. Imagine there is a scientist sudying your house. How would they go about it? Imagine you invite a filming crew to make a documentary about it. What would the final product look like.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

All interactions are appreciated. If you liked this content or found it useful you can buy me a coffee. :)

If you have any suggestions, requests or just something you'd like to say my asks are always open.

[iphigeniadiedataulis]

what to write about when you’ve got no idea what to write about. part 2.

Theme: Planning a magical school

Imagine a character responsible for building a magical school.

Where would this school be? A magical castle in Scotland? An alternate dimension? Floating in the clouds? Find pictures or art for inspiration. Describe the architectural style. If you've decided to put your school in the basement of an industrial building, how do people get there? Is it hidden or does everyone know where it is?

Who would teach there? Eminent wizards and witches? Eldritch beings? Intelligent dragons? Random apparitions and the spirits of the dead? Make a teaching roster.

What would be taught there? Alchemy? Necromancy? The Dark Arts? Light Magic? Elemental Magic? Technomancy? Make a list of subjects. Imagine you have to justify this list of subjects to… someone. Maybe a Board of Trustees, maybe your fellow magicals, maybe to your students. Maybe you are the supreme overlord and don't have to justify yourself to anyone. Just how wacky could you make the curriculum then? What doesn't get taught? Why?

Who are your prospective students? What are their ages? Their species? Are they all human? Do they need to have magic or do you accept everyone with academic interest? Do they need special accomodations? Make a profile for each type of expected student. Make provisions for dealing with unexpected students.

What level are students expected to reach? Is this a magical university? A magical kindergarden? Maybe you don't sort students based on age but on ability. Maybe there are different certifications for different tracks. Maybe you don't care for certifications at all and students graduate with a trial by combat. Maybe students never graduate at all and this is a "you can check out any time you want, but you can never leave" kind of deal. Maybe you think each student is the best judge of their own progress and don't apply exams at all.

What is the schedule like? Is this a boarding school? A college with dormitories? Do you provide live-in accomodations for students and teachers or do people have to live elsewhere? Does the school operate year round or only during specific times? Is it always open? Does it only open for a couple of hours after noon. Write down the schedule.

How do you get funding? Are you infinitely rich and so don't need to worry about money management? Do you have rich patrons? Do students pay tuition? Is the school self-sustainable, providing for everything it needs by itself? Do you use your own students as a labor pool?

What supplies do you need? Do you provide a roof, shelter, protection, food, etc, for your students? Do you have a library? What books does it contain? How would you organize it? Does the internet exist in this scenario? Do you store any information in computers? Can you direct your students to internet-based magical communities? Base your supply list on your curriculum. If you teach Necromancy, for example, you'll probably need dead bodies. How do you get them? Is it legal? Does it go against any taboos?

Are there any other magic schools in your story? Is yours the first one? Do you have competitors? How do people learn magic if they don't attend a school? Do they learn from ancient tomes? Is there an apprenticeship system? Place your school in context. Why is it necessary or why do you want it to exist?

----------------------------------------------------------------

All interactions are appreciated. If you liked this content or found it useful you can buy me a coffee :)

If you have any suggestions, requests, or just something you'd like to say my asks are always open.

[iphigeniadiedataulis]

what to write about when you've got no idea what to write about. part 1

make up a themed reading list of books that do not exist.

make up a book about a subject that does not exist. write a synopsis, an outline, a brief description of the author.

write a review of a movie you've never seen going only by what you've heard of it.

write a description of a movie that does not exist.

make up a callout post for a fake youtube channel. Describe all wrongdoing in detail. Link to fake news articles. Make up your own chronology of events. Use timestamps to identify key evidence in the videos.

talk about a made up book that was tragically lost to book burnings. What secret knowledge was it concealing? Who wrote it? Is the author known? Put on your tin hat, go into full-conspiracy mode. Maybe a secret society is rumored to have the last surviving copy, passed down through the ages from master to student, or heavily guarded in some secret inner sanctum. Maybe this book is rumoured to grant special abilities to any who own it. Maybe there is a secret society hell-bent on erasing this book from existence.

write a whiney blog post about and Extremely Specific Genre TM that does not exist. Maybe this genre is Ruining the Universe, maybe you're saving us all from it.

Take an existing book and play genre roulette: maybe Isaac Asimov's I, Robot is now a sports chronicle or a folktale, maybe the Great Gatsby is now a detective novel or a revenge western.

Resurrect a dead author and make them review a book published after their time. What would Agrippa think of Harry Potter? Get Jane Austen to review Twilight or Mark Twain to review Stephen King. Would they publish in Literary Review Magazines TM? Make carefully produced video essays on Youtube? Upload shitty edits on instagram? Rant to the camera on TikTok?

Every book or movie in your library can give you a superpower. What power would that be?

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

All interactions are appreciated.:)

If you have any suggestions, requests or just something you'd like to say my asks are always open.