marizzasblog

[marizzasblog]

Goodnight

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how writers feel knowing that they will never be able to read their own work for enjoyment (they wrote it with the intent of making something they haven’t seen before)

[marizzasblog]

#02 Wavering Resolve

“Honey.”

The Villain fidgeted with the ends of their nails, barely paying attention to the movie their spouse had selected. The lack of illumination in their shared living space except for the TV screen only made them feel more cramped. Villain’s gaze flickered to their lover’s face every now and then, an attempt to gauge their reaction. Though much to their dismay, the other was completely immersed in the movie—about superheroes nonetheless. They couldn’t fathom why anyone would want to watch a film about heroes, aren’t they overdone by now?

“...Honey,” Villain tried again, steeling their resolve as they finally locked eyes with them. Trying to ignore how the brilliant colors emanating from the movie played on their features brilliantly, reflected in their soft eyes. A sight to behold, but not what the Villain needed right now.

“Dear,” Hero replied with a snarky grin, slightly amused by their spouse’s display of anxiousness. Though a single look in their dilated pupils and stern expression told the Hero it was something serious. They shifted on the couch, giving them their full attention as they waited patiently for them to continue.

“I-” Villain struggled for a moment, a distasteful sensation curling up in their stomach. “I need to tell you something.”

Ignoring the obnoxiously loud sound effects from the ongoing fight scene, Hero tilted their head, raising their eyebrows in curiosity. “Yeah sure,” they replied softly. Letting the other work through it at their own pace.

The Villain had the sudden urge to retreat from the conversation. While the idea of not keeping any secrets from their spouse had been a long time promise, it was a dreadful matter to convey considering their… status. A criminal—or worse a monster, Villain wondered what words would come to Hero’s mind when they found out. If they found out.

Of course Villain practiced the words, carefully calibrating the perfect response to every reaction they could think of. They knew better than to hope for immediate acceptance and a bed of roses waiting for them after revealing their identity. At the same time, Villain couldn’t imagine their spouse wanting to be involved in the Hero-Villain business; they never had any interest in the matter. Not to their knowledge, at least.

God, what if they want to break up over this? Who would willingly want to be with a wanted fugitive of the law anyways? In fact, the Villain would be more concerned if the Hero decided to stay. Though all the worst outcomes ran through the Villain’s mind at that moment, a small part of them wanted to hold on to their spouse. Perhaps there was hope that they would stay for them. Entertaining such thoughts may be childish, yet it was a comforting notion that maybe their love could overcome their flaws after all. 

The couch creaked under their weight as they shifted again, it seemed like a faraway fantasy for the Villain, they realized how long they had been stalling and cleared their throat. Suddenly all of that practicing went out the window and they blanked, unsure of what to say or even how to act. Their fingers rubbing the nape of their neck, clinging on to the last sense of normalcy while they tried to compose themselves.

“I felt like I needed to tell you, I’m…” 

The world seemed to halt the moment they uttered those words. Their spouse, who was still patiently focusing on them despite their reluctance to even graze the subject matter, reached out a hand to caress their knuckles. Such a gentle action, their touch feather-like and warm, easing some of the tension in their shoulders that they didn’t even realize were present. Would that same comforting expression still be present when they told the truth?

Villain held their tongue, their eyes darting away for a moment. Nearly consumed by their thoughts as their heart loudly pounded inside their chest. They wondered if the Hero could hear the quickening rhythm. Hero leaned closer, their noses inches away from brushing against each other, resting their forehead against the Villain’s while cradling their hand. Their eyes locked on the other.

“...You’re?”

Maybe it wasn’t the right time. Villain wanted to hold on to this moment, this familiarity, if only for a few days, weeks, months perhaps. Losing something you once held dear, Villain didn’t know if they could handle that.

“...I don’t like the new rug.”

Hero blinked slowly for a few moments before a slight frown appeared on their lips, followed by an “Oh,” which implied both surprise and disappointment. Villain took their hand, entangling their fingers together while cursing themselves internally for their cowardice. “Yeah, it’s just… not great. I think we have to get rid of it.”

“What’s wrong with it? I thought you liked it.”

They pursed their lips for a moment, reaching for the remote to turn up the volume—as if the sound effects weren’t obnoxious enough—while they made up an excuse. “The texture really isn’t great, I mean I thought I’d like it but now? Not really.”

“Well okay, that’s fine,” Hero replied. Admittedly a bit taken aback since they had no qualms about that rug before, but if their spouse thought otherwise they didn’t mind compromising. Villain chuckled—awkwardly—rotating their head back to face the TV, still holding their hands together. 

Hero had to admit, they were slightly disappointed that Villain ultimately decided against revealing their identity, as they had many nights before. While Hero had their own fair share of secrets, they didn’t want to burden their lover with the pressure of unveiling their less than legal occupation if the Hero were to tell them theirs. So they waited until the other trusted them enough, secrets never stay secrets forever.  At least it was cute, this little game of to reveal or not to reveal they had going on. In spite of the fact that their lover was literally the fiend they had been trying to catch for months now, The Hero knew they would stay. Despite the consequences. They wondered if Villain knew that.

[marizzasblog]

This is so cute! 😭💕

"I love kissing your thighs."

"I know, you've told me a thousand times Arthur."

"They're so cute. The rest of you is slim but these? These are just a lovely chubby, I love them." – Arthur and Merlin

[Arthur can't help but admire the lovely sight of Merlin wearing tight thigh high socks because they accentuate Merlin's shapely thighs, thighs he kisses every night and rubs against every morning.]

[marizzasblog]

Prompt (450)

"I hate you," the villain spat. "The very thought of you disgusts me."

The hero stared at the villain, desperation lacing their voice. "Then why did you kiss me?"

[marizzasblog]

😍

“murder” - Jegulus microfic - @into-the-jeggyverse - 312 words

“I want a crow.” Regulus announces as he passes the last of a joint back to James.

Regulus and James were bored. It’s a Sunday night, they don’t have any classes tomorrow, all their friends are busy, and James had a joint left over from the party last weekend.

One thing led to another and now Regulus is lying on his back on the floor with his hands in the air. He interlocks his thumbs and is flapping his hands like a bird.

“You want a what?” James giggles from where he’s lying on the couch.

“A crow.” Regulus repeats. “You know… like the bird.” He flaps his hands in James’ direction for emphasis.

“Why do you want a crow?”

“Because they’re really smart and if you’re going to get a bird, you should definitely get a crow.” Regulus tells him.

“Who said I wanted to get a bird?” James asks.

“I did! Right now. Aren’t you listening?” Regulus drops his hands and rolls on his side to look at James.

“Sorry, love. I thought you wanted a crow.” James smiles at him.

“We should both get crows. We should get a whole murder of crows!” Regulus says excitedly as he crawls towards the couch.

“You want to murder the crows?” James asks with wide eyes.

“No, silly, that’s what a group of crows is called.” Regulus giggles and climbs up on the couch to snuggle in beside James. “We should get a whole group of crows, and we can feed them, and they’ll bring us little gifts.” Regulus yawns and cuddles even closer to James.

“Will they, now?” James says sweetly and wraps his arms around Regulus.

“Yup. That’s what they do.” Regulus says but his words are slurred with sleep and his breathing evens out almost immediately.

James squeezes Regulus one more time before he also falls asleep and has a very weird dream about crows.

[marizzasblog]

² BECOMING AN ACADEMIC ACHIEVER (And Maintaining It) ✿

First of all, have you ever come to wonder how a certain individual's succession came to be?

How were they able to rise on top, eventually catching everyone's attention and receiving all the wealth and glory you could ever wish to be bestowed to yourself. Of course, a lot of people already had answers to such an obvious question. They would say, "he's naturally capable." "he's naturally talented." "it's the GENES." or even, "it's a wealthy privilege." People would often connect an individual's succession with the natural order of things, which is admittedly a fact, but does that also imply that anyone who isn't born with exceptional privileges already tailing after them cannot succeed? I do not think so.

In the matters of academics, which is mostly our primary stepping stone to success, that definitely isn't the case as well. There are several ways to prosper in school, and graduate as an academic achiever, even if you started as a student who was typically greeted with a glaringly number of 75 percent on your report card.

And that is to PERSEVERE.

Cliché, no? Oh, the number of times we've seen this word literally everywhere. But fret not, because the word "persevere" is a generic term. Persevering, conventionally, is an act of pushing through no matter the hurdles you come across. As a student aiming to become one of the academic achievers, persevering is a powerful kind of mindset which allows you to resort to any appropriate means in order to succeed in your goal.

Persevering is the the positivity — the confidence you instill in your head, thinking that everything will be fine. Regardless of the difficulty of the subject. Regardless of your brain's incapability of concentrating, and inserting complicated terms, definitions or formulas in your head for a long of time. Regardless of these frustrating hurdles, you're still capable enough of searching for other ways to deal with your own weakness.

For example:

You will start reviewing your notes as soon as you woke up in the morning in preparation for today's quiz or performance task.

You will start listening carefully to class, taking notes, searching Google to further comprehend the topic.

You will start implementing abstinence on yourself, locking one of the most distracting applications off your home screen, and then turning on the 'Do Not Disturb' mode so that the chats from your friends or the notifications from your favorite personality posting their new content would not disturb you.

You will also start forcing yourself — hypnotizing your brain that Math and Science is indeed A PIECE OF CAKE.

That is perseverance.

But is that all? After all the difficulties you experienced, the hard work, the number of times you prayed, you finally managed to earn yourself a majority of 90+ percent grade in your report card, resulting to an average of 90 percent and you finally got to be one of the academic achievers in your class. Now what? How do we maintain this now?

The simple answer to that, naturally, is to MAINTAIN. An entrepreneur becoming a billionaire after a decade of hardwork, or a singer finally gaining fame won't just stop after that and idle away as they sat on their new, glimmering, golden throne. They will try to MAINTAIN. But how exactly? Rinse and repeat.

After all the success you earned, you cannot start labeling yourself as someone "rich" or "intelligent" or even "iconic". You must not develop the thought that everything will stay, and will always do, because it does not, on the other hand, instantly labeling yourself as such will never bring anything good for you. Be humble.

You will eventually thrist, if you stop filling the drum with water. You will eventually starve, if you stop planting crops on your garden. It happens.

You must do everything again — everything you've done — before you arrived at this point, and develop the habit of working hard to maintain.

By: MARIZZA

[marizzasblog]

¹ WHEN TO TEACH ✿

We all know that "teaching" isn't only applicable to aspiring teachers and licensed—professional teachers. Anyone can be a teacher regardless of your profession, or who you are as a person, jobless or not, and we teach in various situations depending on our state of life. We may be teaching as a student, helping a fellow student comprehend a certain subject or a math formula. We may be teaching as a professional artist or author, helping aspiring ones. Or we may be teaching as a Priest, helping people build a closer relationship to God. As such, we also have different reasons to teach. But that doesn't mean that when we teach, our intentions are always positive, and that is something we need to keep in mind.

Naturally, we teach, even at random times, because we wanted to. But when should you not teach at all?

Do not teach, when you only wanted to assert dominance to the other person.

Do not teach, so that you would be able to show the other person that you are better — more intelligent, more educated, than them. Do not teach, whilst you're viewing the other person as someone dumb, or inferior to you.

Sometimes we do this subconsciously. It's inevitable, given that according to philosophers, whether we'd like to believe it or not, we are born Narcissists [1] We just can't notice it. We point at people, claiming that they're narcissists, although we may have done something narcissist-like days before. And that's natural. I'm a narcissist too. I crave for attention. I get excited whenever I talk about my achievements. But it is important to learn the skill that helps us realize and suppress the feeling as though we're so special, as if the world revolves around us, right as soon as this certain individual asks for us to teach them. Because we don't.

We must keep in mind, the moment we open our mouths — our brains preparing to share knowledge — that life is an ongoing pursuit of knowledge. "Learning is Eternal" as my Education professor used to tell us at college. No one gets to know everything, anything at all, even as we accomplished three to five professions before we die. Because we have to die, before we could even reach that point. Or we may never at all, because no one is above God.

Teach with the intention of helping the other person learn. Teach, because your heart felt blissful with the idea of the other person becoming enlightened, not because of you, but because of their own efforts to comprehend. Teach, not to gain recognition, or receive benefits, but instead to help elevate society. (You will never know.)

Teach, as a fellow learner.

You ask, is this even possible? As a would-be teacher myself, currently surviving the second semester of my first year, I do not know the answer to that. All I know is that gradually working on ourselves begets habit, and habit begets desired results.

We all know the universal law "give and take". We must receive what we give. I understand, and reciprocate the feeling. But through genuine and heartfelt intentions, comes with deserved recognition you may never have predicted. Because that's what the universe or God truly desires.

[1] - Referenced this from "The Laws of Human Nature by Robert Greene" explained by Escaping Ordinary which is a YT channel.

By: MARIZZA

[marizzasblog]

² BECOMING AN ACADEMIC ACHIEVER (And Maintaining It) ✿

First of all, have you ever come to wonder how a certain individual's succession came to be?

How were they able to rise on top, eventually catching everyone's attention and receiving all the wealth and glory you could ever wish to be bestowed to yourself. Of course, a lot of people already had answers to such an obvious question. They would say, "he's naturally capable." "he's naturally talented." "it's the GENES." or even, "it's a wealthy privilege." People would often connect an individual's succession with the natural order of things, which is admittedly a fact, but does that also imply that anyone who isn't born with exceptional privileges already tailing after them cannot succeed? I do not think so.

In the matters of academics, which is mostly our primary stepping stone to success, that definitely isn't the case as well. There are several ways to prosper in school, and graduate as an academic achiever, even if you started as a student who was typically greeted with a glaringly number of 75 percent on your report card.

And that is to PERSEVERE.

Cliché, no? Oh, the number of times we've seen this word literally everywhere. But fret not, because the word "persevere" is a generic term. Persevering, conventionally, is an act of pushing through no matter the hurdles you come across. As a student aiming to become one of the academic achievers, persevering is a powerful kind of mindset which allows you to resort to any appropriate means in order to succeed in your goal.

Persevering is the the positivity — the confidence you instill in your head, thinking that everything will be fine. Regardless of the difficulty of the subject. Regardless of your brain's incapability of concentrating, and inserting complicated terms, definitions or formulas in your head for a long of time. Regardless of these frustrating hurdles, you're still capable enough of searching for other ways to deal with your own weakness.

For example:

You will start reviewing your notes as soon as you woke up in the morning in preparation for today's quiz or performance task.

You will start listening carefully to class, taking notes, searching Google to further comprehend the topic.

You will start implementing abstinence on yourself, locking one of the most distracting applications off your home screen, and then turning on the 'Do Not Disturb' mode so that the chats from your friends or the notifications from your favorite personality posting their new content would not disturb you.

You will also start forcing yourself — hypnotizing your brain that Math and Science is indeed A PIECE OF CAKE.

That is perseverance.

But is that all? After all the difficulties you experienced, the hard work, the number of times you prayed, you finally managed to earn yourself a majority of 90+ percent grade in your report card, resulting to an average of 90 percent and you finally got to be one of the academic achievers in your class. Now what? How do we maintain this now?

The simple answer to that, naturally, is to MAINTAIN. An entrepreneur becoming a billionaire after a decade of hardwork, or a singer finally gaining fame won't just stop after that and idle away as they sat on their new, glimmering, golden throne. They will try to MAINTAIN. But how exactly? Rinse and repeat.

After all the success you earned, you cannot start labeling yourself as someone "rich" or "intelligent" or even "iconic". You must not develop the thought that everything will stay, and will always do, because it does not, on the other hand, instantly labeling yourself as such will never bring anything good for you. Be humble.

You will eventually thrist, if you stop filling the drum with water. You will eventually starve, if you stop planting crops on your garden. It happens.

You must do everything again — everything you've done — before you arrived at this point, and develop the habit of working hard to maintain.

By: MARIZZA

[marizzasblog]

¹ WHEN TO TEACH ✿

We all know that "teaching" isn't only applicable to aspiring teachers and licensed—professional teachers. Anyone can be a teacher regardless of your profession, or who you are as a person, jobless or not, and we teach in various situations depending on our state of life. We may be teaching as a student, helping a fellow student comprehend a certain subject or a math formula. We may be teaching as a professional artist or author, helping aspiring ones. Or we may be teaching as a Priest, helping people build a closer relationship to God. As such, we also have different reasons to teach. But that doesn't mean that when we teach, our intentions are always positive, and that is something we need to keep in mind.

Naturally, we teach, even at random times, because we wanted to. But when should you not teach at all?

Do not teach, when you only wanted to assert dominance to the other person.

Do not teach, so that you would be able to show the other person that you are better — more intelligent, more educated, than them. Do not teach, whilst you're viewing the other person as someone dumb, or inferior to you.

Sometimes we do this subconsciously. It's inevitable, given that according to philosophers, whether we'd like to believe it or not, we are born Narcissists [1] We just can't notice it. We point at people, claiming that they're narcissists, although we may have done something narcissist-like days before. And that's natural. I'm a narcissist too. I crave for attention. I get excited whenever I talk about my achievements. But it is important to learn the skill that helps us realize and suppress the feeling as though we're so special, as if the world revolves around us, right as soon as this certain individual asks for us to teach them. Because we don't.

We must keep in mind, the moment we open our mouths — our brains preparing to share knowledge — that life is an ongoing pursuit of knowledge. "Learning is Eternal" as my Education professor used to tell us at college. No one gets to know everything, anything at all, even as we accomplished three to five professions before we die. Because we have to die, before we could even reach that point. Or we may never at all, because no one is above God.

Teach with the intention of helping the other person learn. Teach, because your heart felt blissful with the idea of the other person becoming enlightened, not because of you, but because of their own efforts to comprehend. Teach, not to gain recognition, or receive benefits, but instead to help elevate society. (You will never know.)

Teach, as a fellow learner.

You ask, is this even possible? As a would-be teacher myself, currently surviving the second semester of my first year, I do not know the answer to that. All I know is that gradually working on ourselves begets habit, and habit begets desired results.

We all know the universal law "give and take". We must receive what we give. I understand, and reciprocate the feeling. But through genuine and heartfelt intentions, comes with deserved recognition you may never have predicted. Because that's what the universe or God truly desires.

[1] - Referenced this from "The Laws of Human Nature by Robert Greene" explained by Escaping Ordinary which is a YT channel.

By: MARIZZA

[marizzasblog]

Love this! 😭💕 I always struggle writing characters that shows emotions... I wish I could write something like this.. 🤧

Range of Emotions Tag~

Thank you @finickyfelix , @the-golden-comet , @theink-stainedfolk and @nczaversnick for the tag!

Rules: Choose one OC at a time, search any of your writing featuring that OC, and share passages where that character expresses each emotion in this list: joy - anger - sadness - anxiety - fear - disgust - embarrassment. Bonus points if the emotion is implied but not listed in the text by name. If there’s a reason the character does not ever express one of those emotions, feel free to share that reasoning instead.

I'll go with Leon~

Joy [this is the closest thing to joy that he has felt recently]

I go inside and for the first time in a long time I feel good. I can hardly believe it, but things seem to be going well with Kilian. He seems nice, he seems to try to understand me, to see me, and that's more than many others have done. Maybe living with him isn't so bad after all, maybe my life isn't a complete hell.

Anger

"Stop it," I say gruffly. He frowns and comes closer, but I raise my hand. "Don't you dare come any closer." He freezes, surprised by my words. "You can stop your bullshit act. I heard you. I heard you talking to Midas." He pales and opens his mouth. He stands there like a fish out of water, but I'm not done yet. "Was it fun? Did you enjoy watching me try like a complete idiot, even though I hate everything here…" I see his face slowly dropping. He lowers his eyes, but I continue: "I thought I was really helping, that I was finally doing something right… turns out you've been fucking with me the whole time." My voice gets louder without me wanting it to, as if all the pent-up emotions want to come out at once. "I've had enough of this. I'm tired of being ordered around, of things I don't understand, of Dr. Steffens and of you."

Sadness

I bite my lower lip to hold back the tears. I bury my face in my hands and whisper, "I'm tired… I'm tired of everything…why can't I rest?" Because it's all his fault. This is revenge for the death of his parents.

Anxiety

"I mean… I…" my breathing picks up again and my hand cramps. I have to explain myself, and quickly. I don't want to be a liar, I don't want to look bad. She won't believe him, no way. "I think…" This isn't good, I can already feel the knot in my stomach and the dizziness. "Mr. Martens?" Margaret's voice tells me she realizes something is wrong.

Fear

"It's really not my fault," I try to defend myself to the black figure. Just like when I was little. Just like when I knew nothing and needed someone to help me, but only got more wounds. Tears threaten to fall as I transport myself back to that one day. That day when my world collapsed. To the day the figure visited me for the first time. Hands are in my face and I scream. I cover my face and whimper, "Don't hit me." I shake my head and repeat, "Don't hit me, I'm being good." These words are not directed at the ladies in front of me, but at the figure that seemed to be getting closer.

Disgust

As I fought the choking sensation and the burnt egg mixed with the tears streaming down my lips, I understood that tenderness is always followed by pain.

Embarrassment

I turn red with embarrassment and just want to crawl away somewhere. So I decide that breakfast is over. "Thank you for cooking, it was delicious." I storm out of the kitchen before he can say a word.

~~~~~

tagging with no pressure @leahnardo-da-veggie , @the-inkwell-variable , @inseasofgreen and open tag~

[marizzasblog]

if it's good enough for you, then it deserves to be made. don't let anyone else decide if your story is worth it or not.

[marizzasblog]

Woah 🥹

nothing humbles you faster than realizing the sentence you’re most proud of is grammatically incomprehensible.

[marizzasblog]

Character Building

Some things to think about when building/describing a character:

Physical traits

Hair: color and length. Maybe it's natural, maybe it's dyed

Build: height, weight, muscle

Face: maybe they have a longer nose or forehead. Think about specific features like freckles, gapped teeth, jaw shape, acne scars, lip shape

Eyes: eye color, shape, 

Backstory

Where is your character from?

Do they have family? How has that affected their personality?

What are their goals?

What are their likes/dislikes?

Strengths and weaknesses

Age

Personality

Voice: is their voice deep? Lilted? Strained?

How do they react to stressful situations? 

What do they wear?

Are they kind? Meaner? Restrained? 

How do they move? If they're older maybe they're a bit slower. Maybe your character is clumsy or move awkwardly

Body language/face: is your character normally more serious? Do they have RBF? Maybe they smile more or their face is more relaxed at rest. Maybe they leave their hands on their hips a lot, or prefer them crossed or in their pockets.

How are they perceived by others? How do they view the people around them? 

Should I dive deeper on some of these?

[marizzasblog]

body language descriptions please?

(eg: she cocked her head)

thank you 💗💗💗

Body Language Descriptions

-> feel free to edit and adjust pronouns as you see fit.

Anxiety/Nervousness

She fidgeted with the hem of her shirt, her fingers tugging nervously at the fabric as she struggled to find the right words.

They bit their lower lip.

He looked away, unable to meet her gaze, a clear indication of his guilt.

She absentmindedly rubbed her neck.

He chewed his nails, a nervous habit that he couldn't seem to quit.

They rubbed their hands together nervously.

He tightened his jaw.

She felt beads of sweat forming on her brow, betraying her calm facade as her heart raced.

Frustration/Impatience

Their fists clenched at their sides.

He tapped his fingers rhythmically against the table, a clear sign of impatience as he waited for her to finish.

He rolled his eyes, the gesture full of exasperation as he dismissed her words.

She let out a heavy sigh, the sound heavy with resignation as she faced the inevitable.

He threw his hands up in defeat.

Curiosity

He leaned forward in his chair, eager to hear more, his eyes sparkling with curiosity.

She raised an eyebrow, her expression skeptical as she questioned his intentions.

She tilted her head slightly.

He watched intently, his eyes wide with wonder as he took in every detail of her story.

Confidence/Assertiveness

He stood tall with his shoulders back, projecting confidence even in the face of uncertainty.

They sat on the edge of their seat.

She gestured wildly, her hands moving animatedly as she tried to express her excitement.

He stood with his hands on his hips, exuding an air of authority and control over the situation.

They held their chin up high, projecting self-assurance even in the face of adversity.

Defensiveness/Resignation

He crossed his arms over his chest, a defensive posture that spoke volumes about his discomfort.

He braced himself against the wall, a protective stance.

She folded her hands in her lap, a sign of restraint as she fought the urge to speak.

They shrank back slightly, their shoulders hunching as if trying to make themselves smaller in the face of criticism.

He held his breath momentarily, steeling himself for the inevitable conflict he sensed was coming.

She covered her face with her hands, overwhelmed by the situation as she tried to block out the world.

Thoughtfulness/Concentration

She furrowed her brow in concentration, her mind clearly racing as she tried to solve the problem at hand.

She nodded slowly, processing the information, her expression thoughtful and contemplative.

He stared blankly into space, lost in thought as he processed what had just been revealed.

He drummed his fingers on the table, the rhythmic sound a sign of his deep contemplation.

She tapped her foot lightly, her mind racing.

Eagerness/Excitement

He paced back and forth, his restless energy manifesting in the constant movement as he considered his options.

She bent forward, her elbows resting on her knees, a sign of intimacy and engagement in the conversation.

She swayed slightly from side to side, a subconscious display of her nervous energy as she waited for the verdict.

He bounced on his toes, his excitement palpable.

She jumped up and down, a spontaneous display of her joy that couldn’t be contained.

[marizzasblog]

How I learned to write smarter, not harder

(aka, how to write when you're hella ADHD lol)

A reader commented on my current long fic asking how I write so well. I replied with an essay of my honestly pretty non-standard writing advice (that they probably didn't actually want lol) Now I'm gonna share it with you guys and hopefully there's a few of you out there who will benefit from my past mistakes and find some useful advice in here. XD Since I started doing this stuff, which are all pretty easy changes to absorb into your process if you want to try them, I now almost never get writer's block.

The text of the original reply is indented, and I've added some additional commentary to expand upon and clarify some of the concepts.

As for writing well, I usually attribute it to the fact that I spent roughly four years in my late teens/early 20s writing text roleplay with a friend for hours every single day. Aside from the constant practice that provided, having a live audience immediately reacting to everything I wrote made me think a lot about how to make as many sentences as possible have maximum impact so that I could get that kind of fun reaction. (Which is another reason why comments like yours are so valuable to fanfic writers! <3) The other factors that have improved my writing are thus: 1. Writing nonlinearly. I used to write a whole story in order, from the first sentence onward. If there was a part I was excited to write, I slogged through everything to get there, thinking that it would be my reward once I finished everything that led up to that. It never worked. XD It was miserable. By the time I got to the part I wanted to write, I had beaten the scene to death in my head imagining all the ways I could write it, and it a) no longer interested me and b) could not live up to my expectations because I couldn't remember all my ideas I'd had for writing it. The scene came out mediocre and so did everything leading up to it. Since then, I learned through working on VN writing (I co-own a game studio and we have some visual novels that I write for) that I don't have to write linearly. If I'm inspired to write a scene, I just write it immediately. It usually comes out pretty good even in a first draft! But then I also have it for if I get more ideas for that scene later, and I can just edit them in. The scenes come out MUCH stronger because of this. And you know what else I discovered? Those scenes I slogged through before weren't scenes I had no inspiration for, I just didn't have any inspiration for them in that moment! I can't tell you how many times there was a scene I had no interest in writing, and then a week later I'd get struck by the perfect inspiration for it! Those are scenes I would have done a very mediocre job on, and now they can be some of the most powerful scenes because I gave them time to marinate. Inspiration isn't always linear, so writing doesn't have to be either!

Some people are the type that joyfully write linearly. I have a friend like this--she picks up the characters and just continues playing out the next scene. Her story progresses through the entire day-by-day lives of the characters; it never timeskips more than a few hours. She started writing and posting just eight months ago, she's about an eighth of the way through her planned fic timeline, and the content she has so far posted to AO3 for it is already 450,000 words long. But most of us are normal humans. We're not, for the most part, wired to create linearly. We consume linearly, we experience linearly, so we assume we must also create linearly. But actually, a lot of us really suffer from trying to force ourselves to create this way, and we might not even realize it. If you're the kind of person who thinks you need to carrot-on-a-stick yourself into writing by saving the fun part for when you finally write everything that happens before it: Stop. You're probably not a linear writer. You're making yourself suffer for no reason and your writing is probably suffering for it. At least give nonlinear writing a try before you assume you can't write if you're not baiting or forcing yourself into it!! Remember: Writing is fun. You do this because it's fun, because it's your hobby. If you're miserable 80% of the time you're doing it, you're probably doing it wrong!

2. Rereading my own work. I used to hate reading my own work. I wouldn't even edit it usually. I would write it and slap it online and try not to look at it again. XD Writing nonlinearly forced me to start rereading because I needed to make sure scenes connected together naturally and it also made it easier to get into the headspace of the story to keep writing and fill in the blanks and get new inspiration. Doing this built the editing process into my writing process--I would read a scene to get back in the headspace, dislike what I had written, and just clean it up on the fly. I still never ever sit down to 'edit' my work. I just reread it to prep for writing and it ends up editing itself. Many many scenes in this fic I have read probably a dozen times or more! (And now, I can actually reread my own work for enjoyment!) Another thing I found from doing this that it became easy to see patterns and themes in my work and strengthen them. Foreshadowing became easy. Setting up for jokes or plot points became easy. I didn't have to plan out my story in advance or write an outline, because the scenes themselves because a sort of living outline on their own. (Yes, despite all the foreshadowing and recurring thematic elements and secret hidden meanings sprinkled throughout this story, it actually never had an outline or a plan for any of that. It's all a natural byproduct of writing nonlinearly and rereading.)

Unpopular writing opinion time: You don't need to make a detailed outline.

Some people thrive on having an outline and planning out every detail before they sit down to write. But I know for a lot of us, we don't know how to write an outline or how to use it once we've written it. The idea of making one is daunting, and the advice that it's the only way to write or beat writer's block is demoralizing. So let me explain how I approach "outlining" which isn't really outlining at all.

I write in a Notion table, where every scene is a separate table entry and the scene is written in the page inside that entry. I do this because it makes writing nonlinearly VASTLY more intuitive and straightforward than writing in a single document. (If you're familiar with Notion, this probably makes perfect sense to you. If you're not, imagine something a little like a more contained Google Sheets, but every row has a title cell that opens into a unique Google Doc when you click on it. And it's not as slow and clunky as the Google suite lol) (Edit from the future: I answered an ask with more explanation on how I use Notion for non-linear writing here.) When I sit down to begin a new fic idea, I make a quick entry in the table for every scene I already know I'll want or need, with the entries titled with a couple words or a sentence that describes what will be in that scene so I'll remember it later. Basically, it's the most absolute bare-bones skeleton of what I vaguely know will probably happen in the story.

Then I start writing, wherever I want in the list. As I write, ideas for new scenes and new connections and themes will emerge over time, and I'll just slot them in between the original entries wherever they naturally fit, rearranging as necessary, so that I won't forget about them later when I'm ready to write them. As an example, my current long fic started with a list of roughly 35 scenes that I knew I wanted or needed, for a fic that will probably be around 100k words (which I didn't know at the time haha). As of this writing, it has expanded to 129 scenes. And since I write them directly in the page entries for the table, the fic is actually its own outline, without any additional effort on my part. As I said in the comment reply--a living outline!

This also made it easier to let go of the notion that I had to write something exactly right the first time. (People always say you should do this, but how many of us do? It's harder than it sounds! I didn't want to commit to editing later! I didn't want to reread my work! XD) I know I'm going to edit it naturally anyway, so I can feel okay giving myself permission to just write it approximately right and I can fix it later. And what I found from that was that sometimes what I believed was kind of meh when I wrote it was actually totally fine when I read it later! Sometimes the internal critic is actually wrong. 3. Marinating in the headspace of the story. For the first two months I worked on [fic], I did not consume any media other than [fandom the fic is in]. I didn't watch, read, or play anything else. Not even mobile games. (And there wasn't really much fan content for [fandom] to consume either. Still isn't, really. XD) This basically forced me to treat writing my story as my only source of entertainment, and kept me from getting distracted or inspired to write other ideas and abandon this one.

As an aside, I don't think this is a necessary step for writing, but if you really want to be productive in a short burst, I do highly recommend going on a media consumption hiatus. Not forever, obviously! Consuming media is a valuable tool for new inspiration, and reading other's work (both good and bad, as long as you think critically to identify the differences!) is an invaluable resource for improving your writing.

When I write, I usually lay down, close my eyes, and play the scene I'm interested in writing in my head. I even take a ten-minute nap now and then during this process. (I find being in a state of partial drowsiness, but not outright sleepiness, makes writing easier and better. Sleep helps the brain process and make connections!) Then I roll over to the laptop next to me and type up whatever I felt like worked for the scene. This may mean I write half a sentence at a time between intervals of closed-eye-time XD

People always say if you're stuck, you need to outline.

What they actually mean by that (whether they realize it or not) is that if you're stuck, you need to brainstorm. You need to marinate. You don't need to plan what you're doing, you just need to give yourself time to think about it!

What's another framing for brainstorming for your fic? Fantasizing about it! Planning is work, but fantasizing isn't.

You're already fantasizing about it, right? That's why you're writing it. Just direct that effort toward the scenes you're trying to write next! Close your eyes, lay back, and fantasize what the characters do and how they react.

And then quickly note down your inspirations so you don't forget, haha.

And if a scene is so boring to you that even fantasizing about it sucks--it's probably a bad scene.

If it's boring to write, it's going to be boring to read. Ask yourself why you wanted that scene. Is it even necessary? Can you cut it? Can you replace it with a different scene that serves the same purpose but approaches the problem from a different angle? If you can't remove the troublesome scene, what can you change about it that would make it interesting or exciting for you to write?

And I can't write sitting up to save my damn life. It's like my brain just stops working if I have to sit in a chair and stare at a computer screen. I need to be able to lie down, even if I don't use it! Talking walks and swinging in a hammock are also fantastic places to get scene ideas worked out, because the rhythmic motion also helps our brain process. It's just a little harder to work on a laptop in those scenarios. XD

In conclusion: Writing nonlinearly is an amazing tool for kicking writer's block to the curb. There's almost always some scene you'll want to write. If there isn't, you need to re-read or marinate.

Or you need to use the bathroom, eat something, or sleep. XD Seriously, if you're that stuck, assess your current physical condition. You might just be unable to focus because you're uncomfortable and you haven't realized it yet.

Anyway! I hope that was helpful, or at least interesting! XD Sorry again for the text wall. (I think this is the longest comment reply I've ever written!)

And same to you guys on tumblr--I hope this was helpful or at least interesting. XD Reblogs appreciated if so! (Maybe it'll help someone else!)

[marizzasblog]