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[mikawritings]

Low level/continuous pain tips for writing

Want to avoid the action movie effect and make your character's injuries have realistic lasting impacts? Have a sick character you're using as hurt/comfort fodder? Everyone has tips for how to write Dramatic Intense Agony, but the smaller human details of lasting or low-level discomfort are rarely written in. Here are a few pain mannerisms I like to use as reference:

General

Continuously gritted teeth (may cause headaches or additional jaw pain over time)

Irritability, increased sensitivity to lights, sounds, etc

Repetitive movements (fidgeting, unable to sit still, slight rocking or other habitual movement to self-soothe)

Soft groaning or whimpering, when pain increases or when others aren't around

Heavier breathing, panting, may be deeper or shallower than normal

Moving less quickly, resistant to unnecessary movement

Itching in the case of healing wounds

Subconsciously hunching around the pain (eg. slumped shoulders or bad posture for gut pain)

Using a hand to steady themself when walking past walls, counters, etc (also applies to illness)

Narration-wise: may not notice the pain was there until it's gone because they got so used to it, or may not realize how bad it was until it gets better

May stop mentioning it outright to other people unless they specifically ask or the pain increases

Limb pain

Subtly leaning on surfaces whenever possible to take weight off foot/leg pain

Rubbing sore spots while thinking or resting

Wincing and switching to using other limb frequently (new/forgettable pain) or developed habit of using non dominant limb for tasks (constant/long term pain)

Propping leg up when sitting to reduce inflammation

Holding arm closer to body/moving it less

Moving differently to avoid bending joints (eg. bending at the waist instead of the knees to pick something up)

Nausea/fever/non-pain discomfort

Many of the same things as above (groaning, leaning, differences in movement)

May avoid sudden movements or turning head for nausea

Urge to press up against cold surfaces for fever

Glazed eyes, fixed stare, may take longer to process words or get their attention

Shivering, shaking, loss of fine motor control

If you have any more details that you personally use to bring characters to life in these situations, I'd love to hear them! I'm always looking for ways to make my guys suffer more write people with more realism :)

[mikawritings]

  After Risi refused to say anything other than ‘mama’, Illa resigned himself to his fate as her mother and decided to try something new.

"I said no to him twice and then shoved his head into a pole."

Naturally, they also never mentioned the other to anyone else or interacted outside of work. /  They considered themselves to be great friends.

  He hated rich people sometimes.

  "Would you rather be beheaded, hung, or burned?"

Favorite Lines Tag

Received this tag a while back from @autumnalwalker, so thanks! Passing it along with soft tags to @zmwrites, @penspiration-writing, @tisiphonewolfe, @smol-feralgremlin, and @i-can-even-burn-salad, as well as leaving it an open tag for anyone who wants to join in!

Rules—share your favorite lines from your WIP/s

I'm not gonna try and list my favorite lines from all my WIPs, nor am I certain these are my favorite lines, just lines I like a lot that I can remember lmao

From book 1 of my fantasy series “Because witches are bitches.”

From book 2 of my fantasy series “I don’t do the drug thing, but give me the stuff that makes drugs so I can save the rainbow kitties!”

From my unnamed WIP Because giving him a concussion wasn’t enough to let him know she missed him.

[mikawritings]

Me: I love talking about my story with people

Me once someone in real life asks me about my story:

[mikawritings]

In My Hands, You Are Gold (aot short)

AOT MANGA + ENDING SPOILERS

pls comment :>

Above the clouds, in a place where no one alive had ever been, Eren opened his eyes. The first thought that flooded his mind was that everything was blue; so blue. Not the dull, throbbing colour that lit up the paths- it was the bright and clear blue of the ocean and the sky that filled his sight.

Below him, everyone else was gathered. The last of the giant titans from his rumbling had fallen to the ground and were evaporating into nothing, yet he could still see his head, cradled in Mikasa’s arms. She held it like it was the most precious thing in the world. Eren took a step forwards and leaned down, straining to see how her arms were wrapped around him. He wanted to visualise every finger, to make himself remember how it felt to be held by her. When he really tried, he could almost feel her warmth.

Armin yelled out at the Marleyan soldiers that approached them and pleaded surrender. Eren clasped his fists and shuddered, then let go. Biting nail marks into the palms of his hands would do nothing and help no one.

He turned his attention back to Mikasa as the soldiers caved to Armin’s demands and the wind blew Ymir Fritz’ smiling smoke-shadow into nothingness. It was over, then. Mikasa clutched his head. Eren’s throat tightened. Freedom?

The rumbling was over. His last effort had brought him death, it had slaughtered millions- a billion- people like animals, but he couldn’t say for certain if Eldia was free. Eren lunged forwards and tried to push his hand through the clouds he stood on. Submitting and going along with Marley wasn’t good enough. Losing the power wasn’t good enough. Mikasa and Armin and Jean and Levi and every Eldian left alive needed to fight, fight fight, fight until nothing would ever challenge them again.

He thumped his fist against the transparent cloud cover until his fingers broke and his blood painted its surface. Every thump sent jabs of pain shooting up his arm straight to his heart, where it condensed into something angry and energetic enough to power him to punch the wall again. If he could get past the wall, then he could go back down to his friends and finally make everything right-

“I told you to stop! Do you ever listen?!” Two rough, familiar hands grabbed him from underneath his arms and dragged him to his feet. Eren turned around and pushed his assailant off him, then paused as his throat tightened even more. Every breath became a struggle, and his shattered hand didn’t hurt at all.

Carla Yeager gripped his shoulders tight and glared at him. “Trying to go back down there is almost as stupid as trying to join the scouts.”

“I need to,” Eren panted as his hand bled relentlessly. Normally, it would have healed by now, but he had a sinking feeling that Ymir was no longer with him. “I have to get back down there and finish what I started, I need to stay with them-”

“You want to stay with them?” His mother asked. Though her words were gentle, they pricked his eyes with salty tears.

He gazed back down at the group as they left with Marley. Mikasa still held his head. Would she bury it, or has his method to find freedom led her to hate him?

No, that was impossible. His heart clenched and refused to beat at the vague mention of it. Mikasa still loved him. She held her love for him as tightly as she did his head.

“She can live without you.” Carla brushed her hands over his shoulders and took his hands in her own. At her touch, his shattered bones knitted themselves back together and became whole. “I’ve come to take you back.”

“No.” Eren tried to pull away, but she was stronger than he remembered. Or he was weaker. She was holding him like she was about to take him up to bed, instead of leading him to nothing.

“She can.”

Eren swung his head back around and searched for Mikasa with eyes full of panic. However, the door to the carriage that was taking everyone home had already swung shut, and he couldn’t catch a glimpse. “I don’t want her to.” He thought back to the paths. She had come running when she saw him, had she not? She had to still need him. The alternative was too much to bear.

His mother clasped his head by the chin and forced him to face her. Everything about her was too much like his memories: her stare, the way her hair fell over her shoulder, even the painful way her hands clutched him. She was his mother, though she felt a lot smaller than she had when he was a child. Eren felt his lip begin to tremble.

“Do you know what I did to you?” He couldn’t speak much above a whisper.

“I do.” Carla softened her grip on his chin. “I know all of what you’ve done.” Then, she bowed her head and squished his arm. “And I know why.”

“What do you think?” Despite all the years, deaths and hurt, a mother’s opinion still meant the most to her son.

“I think you need to let go.”

Carla released his arm and chin then held her arms open. Eren fell right into the embrace and allowed his gathering tears to finally fall down his cheeks, landing damply on his mother’s blouse.

“Shh, shh.” She hushed him, patting his hair as his body rattled with sobs. “It’s okay.”

“I can’t,” he spluttered, “I want to go back. I don’t want to leave them.”

Eren could feel his mother’s clothes becoming drenched in tears, his throat was completely raw and painful and his head was beginning to ache. He knew his face was probably swollen and that he was holding onto Carla too tightly, but he couldn’t bring himself to stop as sob after gut-wrenching, screaming sob clawed out of his mouth.

It wasn’t fair. Now he was dead, and Mikasa was going to find someone else to be happy with. Armin would find someone else to talk to about the sea, someone new would bicker with Jean and maybe that same person could be the one to joke around with Connie and comfort Historia. Nothing about his rumbling killing Hange or his brother maiming Levi was okay. Eren cried, Carla stroked through his long brown hair and everything around them shone with brilliant blue.

“It’s okay,” Carla repeated to him. She pushed their heads together and kissed his forehead. She couldn’t allow him to turn his head up to look at her, because then he would see her tears too.

“I’ve broken everything, haven’t I?” Eren bit down on his bottom lip so hard that it split and he began to bleed. “I knew what was going to happen…” He shoved his trembling face into the crook of her neck as she continued to hush him. “Can I go back?”

Carla quickly wiped her eyes with her sleeve as he looked up at her. He was sitting on her lap now, and his eyes were bright again- though if they were shining with hope or tears, she couldn’t tell. “Can you take me back? All the way back. To the beginning.”

Eren felt her stroke his hair back away from his forehead to kiss it again. “I can’t take you back. But I can take you somewhere new.”

His bleeding lip felt almost as numb as his lungs. “I don’t want to go somewhere new. I need to see them all again.”

“I can take you somewhere where you’ll be free.” His mother rubbed his back in circles as she spoke. Her voice was quiet like she was trying to get a feral cat to follow her. “Mikasa killed you. No one down there needs you anymore.”

“I killed you.” He mumbled into her neck. “And I still need you.”

“Come with me, Eren.” The way she spoke his name- so familiar yet so old, like a rusty toy being put back to use- made his tears resurface. “I promise there’s no walls, no death, and no one will leave you ever again.” Carla tucked her legs up so that her son was hugged on all sides. “Your war is over. You’ve fought the fight you needed to. Now rest.”

Eren’s skin was numb and his eyes were lined with tears that were beginning to dry into crusty salt trails down his face. He nodded, blinked out the rest of his tears and sniffed heavily.

Carla took his hand. Her skin was warm. As he followed his mother to wherever she planned to lead him, he took one last glance at the mortal world, at a small bird flying past. If an afterlife in the blue with no war and no walls was true freedom, then true freedom he finally had.

[mikawritings]

ᴛɪᴘꜱ ꜰᴏʀ ᴡʀɪᴛᴇʀꜱ [ꜰʀᴏᴍ ᴀ ᴡʀɪᴛᴇʀ]

don't let your skill in writing deter you. publishers look for the storyline, not always excellent writing. many of the greatest books came from mediocre writers—and also excellent and terrible ones.

keep writing even when it sucks. you don't know how to write this battle scene yet? skip ahead. write [battle scene here] and continue. in the end, you'll still have a book—and you can fill in the blanks later.

find your motivation. whether it's constantly updating That One Friend or posting your progress, motivation is key.

write everything down. everything. you had the perfect plot appear to you in a dream? scribble down everything you can remember as so as you can. I like to keep cue cards on my nightstand just in case.

play with words. titles, sentences, whatever. a lot of it will probably change either way, so this is the perfect opportunity to try out a new turn of phrase—or move along on one you're not quite sure clicks yet.

explain why, don't tell me. if something is the most beautiful thing a character's ever laid eyes on, describe it—don't just say "it's beautiful".

ask for critique. you will always be partial to your writing. getting others to read it will almost always provide feedback to help you write even better.

stick to the book—until they snap. write a character who is disciplined, courteous, and kind. make every interaction to reinforce the reader's view as such. but when they're left alone, when their closest friend betrays them, when the world falls to their feet...make them finally break.

magic. has. limits. there is no "infinite well" for everyone to draw from, nor "infinite spells" that have been discovered. magic has a price. magic has a limit. it takes a toll on the user—otherwise why can't they simply snap their fingers and make everything go their way?

read, read, read. reading is the source of inspiration.

first drafts suck. and that's putting it gently. ignoring all the typos, unfinished sentences, and blatant breaking of each and every grammar rules, there's still a lot of terrible. the point of drafts is to progress and make it better: it's the sketch beneath an oil painting. it's okay to say it's not great—but that won't mean the ideas and inspiration are not there. first drafts suck, and that's how you get better.

write every day. get into the habit—one sentence more, or one hundred pages, both will train you to improve.

more is the key to improvement. more writing, more reading, more feedback, and you can only get better. writing is a skill, not a talent, and it's something that grows with you.

follow the rules but also scrap them completely. as barbossa wisely says in PotC, "the code is more what you'd call 'guidelines' than actual rules". none of this is by the book, as ironic as that may be.

write for yourself. I cannot stress this enough. if what you do is not something you enjoy, it will only get harder. push yourself, but know your limits. know when you need to take a break, and when you need to try again. write for yourself, and you will put out your best work.

[mikawritings]

Angsty prompts

"After all I've done for you, this is what I get?"

"No. This is what you get for trusting me."

"But you wouldn't let that happen to me, B? Right? Please." But B never responds, just keeps looking straight on.

"This is the end, A."

"It doesn't have to be." A wipes the bloodied hair out of B's face, cradling their head in their arms. "Just hold on a little bit longer, help is nearly here."

A kills someone to goes to B to find comfort, but B is disgusted in them and what they've done.

B is killed. The one that killed them is playing with their corpse like a toy; all A can do it watch in horror.

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“who hurt you?” books, bro.

[mikawritings]

i'll use these when i finally figure out how to write smut smh

List of “we just happen to love hate fucking each other” prompts

“You definitely don’t hold someone’s hand while you’re fucking them if you hate them.”��

“Yeah, so what happened last night…” “You’d better not tell anyone else about it or it’s off with your head.”

“It’s funny how you’re such a softie in the streets but love it rough in the sheets, huh?”

“That was a bit too intimate for my liking.” “Yeah, same, let’s never do that again.” (They proceed to do [too intimate action] again many times after that.) 

“Let me just remind you — I’m not love fucking you. I’m hate fucking you.” “Okay, cool.” “So don’t go falling for me or else we’re going to have problems.” “I promise I won’t. Why the fuck would I fall for someone like you, anyway, just because you like to stick it up me every now and again?”

Character A accidentally laughing/smiling against Character B’s lips after a particularly rough make out session while Character B’s fucking into them. 

Character B being unable to get Character A’s accidental smile/laughter against their lips out of their head and thinking I must be going fucking crazy. 

“Did you just let slip that you love me or am I hearing things?” “…You’re definitely hearing things. You should go get your ears checked.” 

“This is for stress relief only,” Character A grits out as they drive into Character B again, hands pinning their hips to the mattress and revelling in the way Character B whimpers at the roughness they’re exhibiting. “No other reason.” 

“F-fuck, how— how the fuck are you so good at this?” “Because I’ve familiarised myself with how you want it and how you like it.” 

“Fuck me like you mean it just this once. That’s all I’m asking for, and then we can— we can pretend this time never happened.” 

Character A and Character B are embroiled in a heated argument when Character A spits out, “How about instead of using that pretty mouth of yours to argue with me over something you’re clearly fucking wrong about, you put it to better use?” (or, alternatively: “You sounded so much better when you were moaning my name last night, so how about we get back to that instead so I don’t have to hear you barking at me about something you’re clearly wrong about?”)

Character B calling Character A a term of endearment while they’re messing around and Character A freezes, heart thudding loudly in their chest. “What the hell did you just call me?” they ask, and Character B proceeds to call them that again, saccharine sweet, with a shit-eating grin gracing their lips. 

“Let’s— let’s make this quick. We can’t have anyone walk in on us.” “Mm, don’t worry, you always come undone so easily by my touch so I don’t think that will be any trouble.”

“Fuck you.” “That’s what you did last night, no? Or have you forgotten already?” 

[mikawritings]

~THINGS THAT MAKE ME SCREAM~

RINGSRINGSRINGS

falling asleep on their lap and playing with their hair

hands clenching

THIGHS clenching

running into a hug and person b twirling person a around (so cliche but PLEASE)

knowing when they are here

"you're mine." HOTTTTT

pulling each other into a hug after a fight

backing away after a kiss and laughing breathily + getting all flustered and not knowing how to talk

writing letters and not sending them

LAZY KISSES

"I'm in love with you, fix it."

burying your face in their chest after a long tiring day and feeling nothing but comfort

VEINY HANDS I REPEAT VEINY HANDS

touching hands.

embarrassing yourself so they would feel less embarrassed

eyeseyeseyeseyes

HEAVY BREATHING AFTER A VERY INTIMATE KISS

softly laughing when they do something embarrassing

leaving notes in random places

friends pointing out VERY visible hickeys

"I remember you told me about ___, so I got you this."

PULLING PERSON B DOWN BY THEIR TIE TO KISS THEM

height difference. cute.

hearing their heartbeat while cuddling

tucking person a's hair behind their ear

gulping when they get a bit TOO close to you

tracing veins

ear. kisses.

writing poems about them

keeping a book full of important memories

SMELLING THEIR HAIR IN A HUG

shoulder rubs

feeding each other

shy couples

"when I'm near you.. it's exciting. yet still comforting."

moaning into each others ears while doing the devils tango

[mikawritings]

i really struggle with pacing :(

Bad Pacing Advice

Anything that can go wrong, should go wrong. Right?

Not necessarily.

This is really common advice for when a plot feels flat or boring. And sometimes, it's really good advice. But sometimes, it the worst advice you could get. It really depends on why the plot is feeling flat.

A plot is made up of beats: events that have to happen in order to move the plot forward. Another way of saying this is, what things need to happen before the story's conflict can be resolved?

When a plot is falling flat, it generally has one of three problems. Either there aren't enough story beats, the story is moving too quickly from one beat to another, or the story is moving too slowly from one beat to another.

Making things go wrong is good advice if there aren't enough story beats. Too few beats means there might be too much space between beats where the story can sag and get boring. In other words, slow pacing. It can also make the conflict seem too easy to resolve, because story beats are often obstacles that need to be overcome before the story can satisfactorily end.

However, if your story is moving too quickly between beats, making things go wrong isn't always the right answer. It can work if you deliberately use a set-back to delay getting between two points that would otherwise be too close. But just making something go wrong for the sake of it will only add more beats to the story, it won't slow them down.

If your story is moving too slowly, making more stuff go wrong is about the worst thing you can do. At best it just makes your story longer. At worst, it adds new beats between your already existing beats, increasing the distance between them even more. It might seem counter intuitive but making things go wrong (killing a character, losing a fight, getting captured, friendship and relationship drama etc.) can actually slow your pacing down more.

I notice this issue a lot in epic fantasy stories. Maybe it's just me, but I find when things are constantly going wrong -- when the plot isn't getting any closer to being resolved because every time the characters try to take a step forward they end up worse off than before -- I get frustrated and bored. I just start thinking "here we go again. Get to the point!!"

Sometimes your characters need to succeed too. Good pacing isn't making your characters fail at every opportunity. It's knowing when to let them fail and when it's time to move forward.

[mikawritings]

said is not dead!! dialogue tags can take away from the impact of the speech in some cases. sometimes it's best to use a fancy word, but you need to know when 'said' is appropriate

can't believe it's 2022 and we still have posts around about not overusing "said" like seriously? Imagine if I made a list of words to use instead of "and." wouldn't that be stupid?

[mikawritings]

[mikawritings]

i love this

Many of the strongest and most virtuous knights have tried their best to pull the sword from the stone but they all failed. Therefore you are quite surprised when you see a peasant just casually pull the sword from the stone, clean it and then stick it back into the stone.

[mikawritings]

“Although we are grateful to you for defeating our oppressors, you were meant to die in battle…” your “allies” suddenly turned their weapons on you, “Your sacrifice will not be forgotten.”

[mikawritings]

cool stuff one can find in my forest includes burning water

[mikawritings]

How's nanowrimo going for you guys?

[mikawritings]

this is such a good idea! im excited for updates xx

Introducing Nathrheim Publishing, and a sneak peek at our first project!

Happy Halloween! @elijahrichardwrites, @fearofahumanplanet, @bpdgotmelike, and @thenightmarewrites are eager to announce our latest project - Nathrheim Publishing House, an independent punk publishing house with the goal of uplifting marginalized voices, radical leftist perspectives, and other works that find themselves struggling to gain representation in an otherwise insular and restrictive market.

Our goals?

To seek out and publish marginalized & othered voices of any sort - are you a POC? LGBT? Disabled, visible or not? Suffering a stigmatized disorder (Cluster B folks, line right up)? Lower-class? Any sort of outcast? You're the exact sort of people we're looking to represent. We feel there aren't enough perspectives on the market, and we want to change that.

An approachable, transparent business style. All too often, publishing houses are downright opaque about their intent and their work process, and it's hard to really get your foot in the door when no one will even inform you why you're being rejected. We aim to defy that norm.

We aim to particularly represent daring, provocative, rebellious, offbeat and all-around "weird" voices. Have you been told your work wouldn't sell? We think it will, and we're willing to put money on the line to prove it. We do not require an agent - if you have a story you want published and no one else wants it, send it right to us, we'll take a look.

Please reblog for visibility!!!

We are not open for submissions yet - for now, we plan on publishing our first book and fundraising the money required to take on other authors and publish them too. When we do take submissions, we are especially interested in works from the writeblr community as well as all categories listed above! As for our first book...

Jane Doe's Karma Killer, more info to come :)

Cover art credit to sewercryptid, https://www.artstation.com/sewercryptid