k-itsmaywriting

[k-itsmaywriting]

What to Give a Sh*t About While Brainstorming Your Book

(A.K.A. Before You Even Touch That Shiny Blank Page)

↳ What You’re Actually Obsessed With Stop trying to write what’s trendy. What do you spiral about at 2 a.m.? What ideas make you grin like a gremlin and mutter, “Ohhh, that’s juicy”? That’s your story. Chase that weird, niche, can’t-let-it-go stuff. Your obsession will be the fuel that drags you through chapter 27 when everything sucks and you kind of want to fake your own death.

↳ Your Story’s “Why the Hell Should Anyone Care?” Not in a mean way. But genuinely—why should a stranger give up sleep to read this? What itch does it scratch? What feeling does it deliver? Figure that out early and let it guide you like a tiny emotional compass. If you can’t answer it yet, cool. But keep poking at it until you can.

↳ A Character With Big, Messy Feelings Don’t start with a plot. Start with a person. A disaster with a wound and a want. Someone who wants something so badly it makes them do unwise things. Get to know them like a nosy therapist. Let them tell you what kind of story they want to be in.

↳ Conflict That Isn’t Just Vibes Mood boards are fun. But conflict is what makes a story move. Make sure you’ve got some stakes, emotional, relational, existential, literal. If your idea doesn’t have anything to push against, it’s not a story yet. It’s an inspiration board.

↳ A Rough Emotional Shape Not an outline. Not yet. Just… the feeling. Where does it start (lonely)? Where does it go (rage)? Where does it end (hopeful)? Think of your book like a rollercoaster. You need the high points, low points, and those slow creaky climbs that make people scream. If it’s all flat? Snoozefest.

↳ The One Vibe You Want to Nail Every great book has a thing. An atmosphere. A flavor. Your job during brainstorming is to catch the scent of it. Is it spooky and tender? Funny and tragic? Cozy but secretly brutal? Whatever it is, write it down. Tattoo it on your brain. Let it infect every scene.

↳ Something You’re Scared to Write About You don’t have to go here. But if something in your gut says, “Oh god, I could never write about that”… maybe poke it. Maybe there’s gold in there. Maybe the story wants to heal something. You don’t have to bleed for your art—but if it makes you uncomfortable in a thrilling way? That’s your fire.

[k-itsmaywriting]

I can’t resist this thrill (work with me here) - Loewe/Agate

Fandom: Trails in the Sky / Sora no Kiseki Relationships: Loewe/Agate Crosner Tags: Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, Post-Canon, Mild Referenced Homophobia Words: 930 Summary: Never has Agate imagined grocery shopping would be like this

Also on AO3

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“I feel like I’m forgetting something.”

The words are out of Agate’s mouth before he realises it, as Loewe’s steps slow to a stop in front of him. 

Loewe looks over his shoulder, gazing at him wordlessly for a moment before he comes back to peer over the opening of the paper bag cradled in Agate’s arm. The clean scent of pine rises from his hair right as he comes close. It makes something skip in Agate’s chest and, damn it , he should really be used to this by now.

But still his breath catches. And the tips of his ears burn hot when Loewe looks up at him through his eyelashes and hums. “We need zucchinis.”

He pulls away, then, and begins to backtrack their steps. Agate follows closely behind, never staying too far from him, as if an invisible string stretches between him and Loewe, tethering him to wherever he goes.

There was a time when Agate couldn’t explain all these sensations. The racing heart, the sparks that shot through his spine whenever he got a little too close during their spars with that infuriatingly smug smile of his, and the strange, magnetic pull in his hands that wanted nothing but to bring him even closer. To shut him up. To feel the warmth of his skin, alive.

It feels stupid now, but they confused him, scared him.

Or at least they did, right until he became frustrated with them - enough to stare at Loewe right in the face and confess them. Because if he didn’t get it, then who would?

A season has passed since then. But even as winter begins to close in, with the sun shining over Ruan is still so bright - unchanging, unwavering, like the warmth of Loewe’s finger wrapped in his, all these months.

They enter through the general store’s front door again, and Loewe has exchanged two zucchinis for eight silver coins on O’Neill’s counter before he can even comment on their quick return. Then it is only another half-minute before they’re back on the road to Loewe’s apartment.

“Shit, you were in and out of there faster than I’ve ever been.”

“We already let him talk our ears off about his so-called grand escapade to the Crosbellan wilderness.” Loewe huffs, “I believe that is enough of his fantasies for one day.”

Agate laughs, light. “You didn’t even let him get to the part where he rescued the lost kid who turned out to be Erebonian nobility or whatever.”

“Hardly a loss. He will tell it to me eventually.”

“You promised him next time.”

He huffs again. “A necessary compromise, if we are to start on dinner by sundown.”

Loewe continues forth, the back of his hand brushing past Agate’s palm as he does. But before he can go too far, Agate suddenly hooks his index finger around Loewe’s and tugs at it. Then he lifts his hand, locking their fingers together, and tilts his head slightly to kiss Loewe’s knuckles.

Loewe’s breath hitches. He stops in his path and turns to face him, eyes wide.

Agate looks at him hesitantly as he lowers their hands. “…What?”

He blinks. “You kissed me.”

Agate furrows his brow. “Do I not do that all the time?”

“Not in public, you don’t.”

“Oh...”

Loewe watches him for another moment, curiosity shifting through his eyes before he takes a slow step towards him, hand still in his. “What made you change your mind?” he asks.

Agate swallows. How is he supposed to answer that, when he didn’t even realise he wasn’t doing it in the first place?

Ruan is busy this time of the afternoon, with all the industrial workers and shopkeeps heading home for the day, picking up last minute groceries or milling towards the restaurants and the casino.

Agate would be naive to think not a single one of them has ever looked their way. He’s never sensed any malice, but with any look comes awareness, something to be self-conscious about. Maybe that was it.

He wonders when that stopped meaning anything, though.

He meets Loewe’s gaze. “I just did - screw what anyone else thinks.”

Loewe laughs. It’s light, soft and silvery like the moon in the daytime sky. “Then…”

He suddenly leans closer, his eyes half-lidding to a smoulder that he knows makes Agate’s mouth go dry, before pressing his finger against his bottom lip. “How about here?”

Agate’s heart pounds when he glances down. A flush rises in his cheeks, burning like the indignation that lights up in his chest, as the paper bag crinkles against his tightening grip.

But let it never be said that Agate Crosner backs down from a challenge .

It’s rougher than he means for it to be - when he leans in and crushes his mouth to Loewe’s with enough force that he leans back, the tip of his finger caught between their lips.  But Loewe only hums in that honey-sweet way of his, his smile widening as he returns his kiss. His fingers brush over the skin on the back of Agate’s neck before he presses closer.

Agate pulls away, then, and slowly opens his eyes. And when he finds a blush dusting Loewe’s cheeks and that light smile, just a little shy, he lets himself count it as his win.

Loewe tugs Agate’s hand back to him. There’s a new spring in his step when he turns towards the warm light of the sunset. “Maybe we can start on dinner a little later,” he says.

Agate laughs, and lets Loewe pull him into a run home.

[k-itsmaywriting]

But I swore hands were made for fighting - Loewe/Agate

Fandom: Trails in the Sky / Sora no Kiseki Relationships: Loewe/Agate Crosner Tags: Pre-Canon, Canon Divergent, Gangsters, Canon-Typical Violence, Robbery, NSFW (detailed tags on AO3) Words: 12,955 Summary:

The mission objective is clear enough: infiltrate and observe the delinquent gang in Ruan for one month, and report back. Loewe doesn’t know what the professor could possibly ever need with a bunch of unruly brats, but what is a tool’s place to question its master’s orders?

---

The Ravens are even more underwhelming than Loewe had imagined.

He turns his head to look around the high walls of the warehouse, gaze following the wide circle of bodies surrounding him. Each of the boys don a red bandana somewhere on their person - some tied to their belts, others around their heads - the colour stark where they snicker and scowl at him from the shadows.

As much as they bare their teeth, there is no refinement to their steps. No purpose in their stances except to appear threatening. And so Loewe looks at their eyes, wide and bright and reckless, where their youth betrays them. He would be surprised if any one of them is a day older than sixteen.

To fight these children seriously would be a cruelty.

“What’s wrong, newbie?! Think you can’t handle ‘em?”

Read the rest on AO3

[k-itsmaywriting]

like having the world (everyday I dive with you) - Kikiyuki

Also on AO3

Words: 649 Tags: College/University AU, Established Relationship, Sneaking Out Summary: Shirayuki brings a girl home, and for the first time in her life, has the urge to be Bad. Title from Dive with you by Seori ft Eaj

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This buzz in Shirayuki’s fingers is a new sensation.

The scene itself is one Shirayuki is all-too familiar with - the white streetlight stark against the tree in her yard in the night, and the muffled sound of the TV and of Oma and Opa’s voices float from the living room window downstairs.

But tonight, this time, she ventures to a new frontier, as she steadies her feet on the slanted surface of the roof outside her bedroom.

Once she shifts her weight to her knees, she slowly turns and reaches her hands back inside her windows. Where she wraps her hands around slender wrists and, with a smile widening across her face despite the sweat on her brow, she pulls.

Sheer white curtains part like waves as Kiki emerges from behind them. The light from Shirayuki’s room glows a soft halo around the crown of her head as if she’s an angel gracing the earth with her descent.

But the smirk on her face is everything but.

She ducks her head as she steps her shoe over the window sill with ease. But she doesn’t pull away from Shirayuki, her wrists still firm in her grasp, as she swings her other leg over. And her other foot–

Her foot knocks a ceramic pot right off the ledge.

Shirayuki gasps. Heart in her throat, she lunges forward.

The pot lands snug in the palm of her hand, its touch much cooler against her skin compared to the hot panic in Shirayuki’s chest.

Above her, Kiki holds her breath. She watches Shirayuki slowly set the pot back into place, and then lets out a bashful laugh. “Sorry.” 

Shirayuki shakes her head with a hum as Kiki steps onto the roof and pats her shorts flat. “So much for sneaking out if that broke, huh?” says Kiki.

Her gaze adverts to her feet. “I could’ve knocked it from the inside. That’s entirely possible.”

Taking her hand in hers, she leads Kiki across the roof and towards the backyard, where the stepladder leads them down to the ground. They then crouch-run past the living room windows, the crunching grass beneath their shoes turning to solid bitumen road as she fishes her truck keys from the pocket of her shorts.

On her count, they bolt past the front wall of the house. And Shirayuki does her best not to giggle when she turns the key in the door, lighting them up orange, and climbs inside the driver’s seat.

Kiki steps up into the passenger seat next to her. She pulls the door shut behind her, and it’s only swung halfway closed before she reaches for Shirayuki, hand in her hair as she pulls her into a kiss.

Shirayuki meeps, her hand shooting out to steady herself against the headrest. Heat flushes across her cheeks and down her neck as she screws her eyes closed, melting into the hum of Kiki’s mouth on hers.

She pulls away, then, to settle back in her seat. But her eyes are still on her as she says, “You know, I never took you for the sneaky type.”

A nervous laugh tumbles from Shirayuki’s chest. She looks towards the wheel and turns the key in the ignition. The car rumbles alive beneath her, comfortable. “It’s…not really sneaking if you let them know you’re going out beforehand,” she blurts.

Kiki raises a brow. “…Out the window?”

Shirayuki swallows, mouth dry. She remembers how Oma’s eyes went skyward when she told her and Opa about her master plan to leave a secret way. And how Opa had simply sighed and said, just make sure the ladder is steady, okay? “Um, yeah.”

She tells her the story as they begin to drive through her childhood streets. And when it makes Kiki laugh like that, light like the silver of moonlight against the road, she can’t even be embarrassed about it anymore.

[k-itsmaywriting]

Right Here (Kaejean)

Fandom: Genshin Impact Relationships: Kaeya/Jean Tags: Rock Band AU, Sickfic, Christmas Fluff Words: 3,044 Summary: In which Jean gets sick on tour.

---

Jean is not herself tonight.

Kaeya could tell the moment she stepped out of the tour van that afternoon. With each hurried trip to the livehouse and back, her hands were full with amps and Rosaria’s drums. And though she hid her face under her cap - or rather, Kaeya’s - there was no masking the heaviness in her feet as she stumbled up and down the stairs.

She insisted it was travel fatigue. Kaeya didn’t believe her.

Read the rest on AO3

[k-itsmaywriting]

your love-like eyes, the seasons lost inside

Fandom: Genshin Impact Relationships: Scaralumi / Wanlumi Tags: Canon Compliant, Fluff and Angst, Coffeehouse Conversations, yeah i talk life with the ladies now and again, Traveler Twins Angst Summary: After Lumine woke up one afternoon in Vimara Village, feeling like something was missing.

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When it rains, Lumine gets to be nobody again.

A thick, grey haze has fallen over the emerald roofs of Sumeru City, blurred by the rain that crashes against them in thrashing waves. Trees become whips in the wind and puddles pile high in the streets, splashing under the feet of scholars and wheels of merchant carts that rush by.

And everyone is far too busy - far too occupied - to notice Lumine cry.

Her feet move slowly across the path, and her shoulders heavy with the weight upon them - the weight that hangs over her chest, gapingly empty. It made a home inside her the way Caribert Alberich smiles in the mysterious photo she found that afternoon she woke up in Vimara Village - his figure a white shadow, belonging nowhere, but still placing himself in that space behind her shoulders and Aether’s.

Aether. 

When had he been there? It must have been some time after Caribert disappeared, but why can’t she remember –

Read the rest on AO3

[k-itsmaywriting]

For Us And For Them

Fandom: Genshin Impact Relationships: Kamisato Ayaka/Lumine Tags: Canon Compliant, Post-Action Patch-Up, Late Night Conversations, in the bath after you just got beat up you know how it is Summary: In which Lumine shows up at Ayaka's door at midnight, wounded.

Written for the Starlit Snowflake zine ! which is now out and available for free download <3 highly recommend checking it out - everyone's work is amazing!!

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Ayaka can’t sleep.

The Inazuma City summer matsuri is just days away, but there is still so much to do. Typhoons had suddenly raged throughout Narukami Island over the last week and majorly delayed their preparations and deliveries, and what had been finished were found in tatters.

She and the Yashiro Commission had been swift in placing new orders, rallying the right people, and gathering reserve supplies, of course. But to deliver anything less than fantastical would surely be disappointing the people’s expectations of their Princess.

No - she rolls over in her futon - the typhoons were not her fault. The clouds had rolled in during the night, and by morning the rain and winds were already thrashing upon the island. There was little they could do - little they could save. Berating herself will not turn back time.

But if she had done better, then maybe her brother wouldn’t have had to…

Read the rest on AO3

[k-itsmaywriting]

here, take my clamouring heart (Loewe/Agate)

Fandom: Sora no Kiseki | The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky Relationships: Loewe/Agate Crosner Tags: Canon Compliant, Missing Scene, Enemies to Lovers, Making Out, References major spoilers for Trails in the Sky SC Summary:

Loewe may not have lost this fight, but he certainly didn’t win it either. [Extra scene for Chapter 5 of Trails in the Sky SC]

Read on AO3

[k-itsmaywriting]

But you always wait for me, with that same face (Sucrose-centric)

Relationships: Sucrose & Noelle Tags: Canon Compliant, Post-Canon, One-Shot, Noelle is a Knight of Favonius, Sumeru Akademiya Summary: Sucrose and Noelle take a vacation to Sumeru City. But unbeknownst to Noelle, there is more to this trip than Sucrose is letting on. Written for Spun Sugar Anthology 2023

--------

The dirt path that crosses over the hills of Sumeru is well-worn, crowded by long lines of carts and Sumpter Beasts that inch towards the entrance of Sumeru City.

The morning air sticks against Sucrose’s skin. And as she looks over the cart to watch the river pass by them, she shifts uncomfortably in her seat and wipes the sweat off the back of her neck. When they had been in Gandharva Ville, the thick canopies of the rainforest was a wonderful source of shade, but out in direct sunlight, there was no helping the heat.

The cart suddenly stops. Sucrose jerks to the side and falls from her seat. “Woah!” she yelps, throwing her hand out to catch herself against the floor–

But a steady hand wraps around her arm - and she no longer needs to.

Read the rest on AO3

[k-itsmaywriting]

By the remains of that day, we burned (2/2)

Relationships: Kaeya & Jean, Kaeya & Jean & Diluc, Kaeya/Jean Chapter Tags: Grief/Mourning, Pre-Canon, Jean has parental issues, Kaeya has issues, Everybody needs a hug, Sparring in lieu of conversation, Angst with a happy ending Words: 4,567

Part I | Interlude

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Kaeya is soaked to the bone.

The rain and wind thrash at his face as he runs against it - into his eyes, across the skin of his neck. His coat is heavy on his shoulders as he raises his arm above his head, where the raindrops glow against the surface of his Vision, ice-cold beneath his fingertips. He grips it so tight his hands numb - this gift, this curse, his anchor, and his betrayal.

It is there one moment, gone the next.

Read the rest here

[k-itsmaywriting]

limelight (Ayalumi)

Relationships: Kamisato Ayaka/Lumine Tags: High School!AU, Impromptu Hair Cutting, Fluff Words: 963 Summary: Lumine tells Ayaka she’d look cute with a bob, and Ayaka runs downstairs to get her the kitchen scissors

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 “Ayaka, don’t laugh, I’ll cut it off wrong!”

 But Ayaka just can’t stop. Her shoulders shake as she leans forward, face in her hands as she giggles into them, remembering the sound of the kitchen scissors behind her head and the thought of them cutting across the length of her hair. Her tummy is starting to hurt. Or are they butterflies?  

 Lumine is laughing too. Her fingers tremble where they gently hold Ayaka’s hair between them. And where Ayaka looks at the two of them in her vanity mirror, her other hand holds the scissors high and away from her while she rocks about in her chair.

“I can’t,” Ayaka wheezes. “I’m just too excited! I’ve never had my hair so short.”

Read the rest on AO3

[k-itsmaywriting]

By the remains of that day, we burned (Interlude)

Relationships: Kaeya & Jean, Kaeya & Jean & Diluc Chapter Tags: Jean has parental issues, Kaeya has issues, everybody needs a hug Words: 1,914 Summary: Years ago, Kaeya took Jean to see the stars.

Part I

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Kaeya crept across the old floorboards of the attic. On the toes of his feet he shifted through the thick, humid air of the summer night.

He held his breath as he moved, careful not to make a single sound. For if experience was a teacher, then its lesson was that there was no noise in the night that Adelinde wouldn’t catch, no matter how asleep she seemed.

 And he was not particularly eager to spend his night explaining himself to her.

Read the rest on AO3

[k-itsmaywriting]

lean on me

Relationships: Kaeya/Sucrose Tags: Fluff, Comfort, Dating, Allusions to Anxiety, Kaeya needs a hug Words: 3,807 Summary: Sucrose has never seen Sir Kaeya so exhausted.

-------

Experiment #3

Starshroom glowed for 26 minutes out of soil. Did not restore Lumenstone Adjuvant energy under lab’s lighting conditions. Energy restored only in low light? How low? Or only at low altitude? Oxygen amounts?

Sucrose warily turns from her notes to the carton taking up half her bench. Buried in rocks and soil, the faint blue glow of the starshrooms seeps beneath the lid. She reaches her hand to it and lifts it slightly, quickly counting the number of shrooms left.

Ten. She hopes she won’t have to call in the Honorary Knight to retrieve some more samples for her, with the Chasm in Liyue being so far away. And that’s not even mentioning the potential changes she could make to the ecosystem harvesting so many of them at once. Perhaps it would be a better idea to run the experiments at The Chasm itself.

She sighs to herself.

“Sucrose.”

Sucrose jumps out of her skin, quickly turning in her chair to follow the voice. When she finds white-blonde hair beneath her door frame, she sighs with relief. “Mr Albedo,” she breathes, “Is something the matter?”

He gives her a small, apologetic smile. “Nothing in particular. It’s only that, ah…” He clears his throat. “Captain Kaeya is waiting outside.”

Read the rest on AO3

[k-itsmaywriting]

in which diona sneaks into the dawn winery in an attempt to sabotage, and diluc foils her plans by being nice

“Well, well, if it isn’t Little Miss Diona from The Cat’s Tail.”

Diona pounces from the barrel and flips onto the ground. Heart in her throat and bow in her hands, she breathes hard as she steadies her feet. She looks up, and finds, standing at the door to the cellar, a man in a black coat and hair as red as fire.

She hisses, “Diluc.”

Diluc steps across the threshold. His posture is elegant and proper, and his expression mild - as expected of a renowned businessman. How infuriating. “It’s a pleasure to finally meet you,” he says kindly. “I’ve heard lots.”

He walks towards her, and Diona finds herself backing away. Until her back hits another barrel, and Diluc slowly holds out his hand.

Diona swallows. Her eyes dart to his outreached hand, then to the arm that snakes behind his back. She can’t see a weapon, but…

She hugs her bow closer to her chest while she reluctantly shakes his hand. She might hate it, but her daddy always taught her manners.

Diluc takes a step away when he draws back his hand. And Diona asks, “How did you know my name?”

Diluc hums. “Well, some of my patrons at the Angel’s Share like to enjoy the occasional drink from The Cat’s Tail too. And they have much to say about the talents of their youngest bartender, especially relating to her one-of-a-kind cocktails.”

Diona grumbles. Talents, they say. She’d much rather they hate her drinks so much that they never touch alcohol again. Ugh, so much for that.

“Would you like to stay for dinner?” asks Diluc. “I was just about to head home after checking on some things here, but I’m sure Adelinde wouldn’t mind a last-minute guest.”

Diona reels, scowling at him as if he’d just slapped her. “Dinner? With you?!” She scoffs, crossing her arms. “Why would I ever–”

Her stomach roars.

It’s an uncomfortable sound, squelchy, and Diona is sure that Diluc heard it too. Her cheeks burn with humiliation.

“You must be hungry from the long journey from Mondstadt,” he says. A note of amusement colours his voice as he steps aside. “Come now, I’ll show you the way to the dining room.”

[k-itsmaywriting]

Pro Tip: The Way You End a Sentence Matters

Here is a quick and dirty writing tip that will strengthen your writing.

In English, the word at the end of a sentence carries more weight or emphasis than the rest of the sentence. You can use that to your advantage in modifying tone.

Consider:

In the end, what you said didn't matter.

It didn't matter what you said in the end.

In the end, it didn't matter what you said.

Do you pick up the subtle differences in meaning between these three sentences?

The first one feels a little angry, doesn't it? And the third one feels a little softer? There's a gulf of meaning between "what you said didn't matter" (it's not important!) and "it didn't matter what you said" (the end result would've never changed).

Let's try it again:

When her mother died, she couldn't even cry.

She couldn't even cry when her mother died.

That first example seems to kind of side with her, right? Whereas the second example seems to hold a little bit of judgment or accusation? The first phrase kind of seems to suggest that she was so sad she couldn't cry, whereas the second kind of seems to suggest that she's not sad and that's the problem.

The effect is super subtle and very hard to put into words, but you'll feel it when you're reading something. Changing up the order of your sentences to shift the focus can have a huge effect on tone even when the exact same words are used.

In linguistics, this is referred to as "end focus," and it's a nightmare for ESL students because it's so subtle and hard to explain. But a lot goes into it, and it's a tool worth keeping in your pocket if you're a creative writer or someone otherwise trying to create a specific effect with your words :)

[k-itsmaywriting]

An album about Shirayuki and her friends’ daily lives in Lilias

1.  0714 - Breakfast with Ryuu

2. 0957 - Suzu in the Pharmacy

3. 1424 - Yuzuri in the Greenhouse

4. 1731 - Obi Under the Lanterns

5. 0126 - Shirayuki in the Library

[k-itsmaywriting]

An arrangement of the first half of The Meeting: A Day of Destiny from the AnS OST :)

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