#TTWR

[erismourn]

I wish u could like replies like you can on tw*ttwr. Sometimes someone says smth and I don't have anything to say in return but I wanna acknowledge that I've seen it and I'm not ignoring them yknow

[mariana-oconnor]

I'm a little late, but if you're still doing director's commentaries, could you please do one for The Highwayman's Baronet or the Trouble With Roommates series?

Thanks!

I am!

The Highwayman's Baronet is possibly my favourite fic that I've written for Marvel. I just love it so much. The regency-esque setting was just totally out of my comfort zone... I bought myself a handful of regency romance ebooks to try and get into the vibe and none of them hit right. So I went to Jane Austen instead, who is a lot more the vibe I was going for. I also rewatched Sharpe.

I love Nomad Steve. I had just read the comic series where he gets all sad and cries in a dark room while hugging the flag. And his level of drama in those comics is just... *chef's kiss* And then I rewatched Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves for the eleven millionth time and there's a scene in that film (probably my favourite film of all time) where Robin is robbing a noble woman and he says "A woman of your beauty has no need of such trinkets" and kisses her hand and my brain went 'yes. YES. This is the level of drama Steve has. THIS, but with STONY.'

The opening scene was the first thing I wrote, over two years before I actually published it on AO3. I had this feeling of complete and utter melancholy that I wanted in that opening scene. I just wanted Steve to be totally lost and alone and grieving

I had a lot of trouble with this fic. I wrote 14k of it, then stopped for a year. Wrote another 15k, stopped for another year, then I saw the post for the cap-ironman big bang and decided 'you know what, fuck it. Let's go back to that Regency highwayman fic'. It wasn't easy after that, either. I almost gave up several times. At one point I started writing a whole load of scenes from Tony's POV, which didn't end up being a thing. It would have made the whole fic twice as long. But it did help me work out where I wanted to go.

I wanted to use Indries, because she seemed to be used so little in Stony fic, and in the comics she works with Obadiah so she fitted really well into the plot I was working with (which, let's face it, is sort of the plot to Iron Man 1).

The ending was so difficult as well... Steve and Tony just kept refusing to communicate properly. I don't know if it was the regency language that I was using or if I subconsciously just knew it needed the action climax and the romantic climax to be spaced out a bit more, with Tony on a more equal footing rather than in his sick bed and barely able to move. I think it works better as I have it now than how I originally planned it, though.

Steve and Tony's conversations were my favourite part to write; they were difficult but so much fun. The way both their personalities and the social mores of the setting combine to make this really acrobatic dialogue where they go from playing off each other in good humour to mistaking each other's meaning. And then you add in Obadiah - who was surprisingly interesting to write. Having to walk the line with him of everything he says being entirely reasonable, but also if you read it another way creepy/rude/manipulate af. That was a lot of fun. I love word play.

Loved writing Sam as well, a bit torn between wanting to tell Steve to calm down and stop being so dramatic, and just full on throwing himself into it. So in the end he compromises by judging him for his romantic drama and leaning in to the mad highwayman hijinks. Totally reasonable.

Basically this fic was a massive slog to write, but I love it and I am incredibly proud of it.

The Trouble With Roommates despite being a different pairing, different setting, entirely different tone, has a similar story, actually. They too were sitting in my WIP folder for years.

I first started writing it in response to the Winterhawk Week 2017 prompts, and I wrote the first 4 one after another, they practically wrote themselves. Then I left them sitting on my computer for ages until I had a bingo deadline coming up and I looked at them and I think that was when I added the fifth one, which is why that one doesn't really follow the prompt unless you squint. I think the 'game' I was going for was musical statues? And I found that they could all fit prompts from my bingo cards as well, so I... posted them as bingo fics instead. Is this cheating? Probably. Do I care? Not really.

On the other hand, my method of writing for them was completely different. With The Highwayman's Baronet, I was trying to write something good (fatal mistake). With The Trouble With Roommates I just wrote whatever seemed fun at the time. They are very silly fics written entirely for my own entertainment and they all flowed pretty easily when I got started. Although both play into my love of identity porn and ridiculous miscommunication nonsense.

The only one that didn't flow was number 6. I tried to stick to the Winterhawk Week prompt at first, which was soulmates/reincarnation, and I think I have a few thousand words of that. The basic premise was Clint is kidnapped by someone who believes that the Winter Soldier is their reincarnated soulmate and Clint has been systematically trying to break them apart over the course of several lives. It was kind of trippy and there was going to be this dream sequence where Clint got drugged into seeing his past lives and realised Bucky's true identity that way. It was just way too much, so I decided to ignore the prompts, because no one even knew I was using them in the first place, and just simplify it down to vengeance kidnapping but the reason that one took so long to finish was because I kept going down the reincarnation rabbit hole and getting lost.

[smudged-glasses-writing]

Genesis

Words written this week: 1,638

Content warnings: content that could allure to seizures (?)

~~~

Gabriel’s life began in an empty laboratory.

He opened his eyes to white walls. Despite the light hurting his optic sensors, he didn’t blink, and took a breath he didn’t really need. Electricity ran through his brain to set him in motion.

And just like that, the GABR.IEL Artificial Intelligence Programme had its first thought.

It’s cold in here.

Part of him knew the precise temperature was -10C, or 14F, or 263.15 Kelvin, but all that mattered was that he didn’t like it at all. He closed his eyes again, and everything came rushing in.

He was alive, the movement behind him whispered in awe. Gabriel wasn’t quite sure what that meant other than the instinctive definition of “not dead”, but it seemed to him “alive” meant to exist as more than thought, to have energy dancing inside you, to have weight and matter. His lips twitched into a smile.

His finger flinched, a light movement the cameras barely detected. Then again, more abruptly this time. And again.

Within minutes, his entire body was powerless to a wave of violent shaking, his eyes searching around the room for escape from the thunder that struck him from inside.

Someone behind him started yelling, although in fear or excitement he couldn’t tell.

So he did all he could, and opened his mouth to leave a terrified, glitching scream. 

~~~~~~

I don’t know, I might actually continue this. Taglist:@livingdeadwriteblr @lookslikechill (bc ttwr) @thewriteblrarchives @dc-writes @m-muses

[lookslikechill]

The Tuesday Writeblr Review: Intro!

Good morning, Folks!  Welcome to The Tuesday Writeblr Review introduction post!  

I first brought up this idea with the fantastic @livingdeadwriteblr, my co-host for this project, because I wanted something similar to Storyteller Saturday or Wip Accountability Sunday to encourage actually writing, updating our wips, and interacting with each other that is available to people who are very busy on weekends, such as myself!  Let’s get into it, shall we?

How it works:

Respond to THIS POST in some way to be added to the participation list!  

Being on this list is what will let your fellow participants it’s okay to send you asks & otherwise engage with you under the umbrella of this project on Tuesdays!  Being on this list will also put you on the taglist for weekly wip update compilations and a monthly post of fresh asks to pick from!  

(Of course, you are also free to ask your fellow participants questions off the top of your own head!  It’s all about making progress on wips and starting conversations, my friends.)

We encourage you to interact with each other on Tuesdays and take the rest of the week to make some progress on your wip and post an update, the update just needs to be posted BEFORE the coming Monday and have both me (@lookslikechill) and @livingdeadwriteblr tagged in it to be included in the wip update compilation post the next Tuesday!!  That is the way it will work each and every week, as well. 

There is no required format for your updates but I/we suggest:

WIP Title number of words written this week content warning/s excerpt/scene/chapter/what have you

As co-hosts, Randi and I will be switching on and off weekly posting the wip update compilations, and monthly posting the ask question posts! 

Today (4/30/2019) only this introduction post and the post holding the participation list will be posted.  The first monthly list of ask questions will be posted next Tuesday!  The first wip update compilation will also be posted next Tuesday, so please feel free to post your first wip update for this before Monday (5/6/19) to be included in that!

Taggin’ some folks to get this rollin’:  @requiemesque, @cawolters, @writeblrs, @wipshelves, @farrradays, @soul-write, @dahl-my-life, @elliswriting, @storyteller-kaelo, @newdivinities, @aslanwrites, @quilloftheclouds, @teacupwriter, @from-moonlight-to-daisies, @lie-hart, @the-real-rg, @jess—writes, @elisabethrosewrites, @undinisms, @cohldhands, & @knightsofeclipse!

Feel free to reblog even if you aren’t interested in participating/this timeframe is not for you! 

[soul-write]

The Tuesday Writing Review

Wip: Breathing Flowers

Words written this week: somewhere around 1.1k

Warning: mention of death and suicidal thoughts , also the ocs are having a flight

Except: not edited

"Hyma. I loved you. Loved. And because of you I got this stupid disease. But not because of what you think. I loved Ethan too. And they loved you too! And they loved me too! Who am I kidding? Ethan probably still loves us. But you only love me. I got this stupid disease again just because I didn't wanted to broke their heart."

All this was said with such a plain tone. She had the surgery. And for the second time. Emotions and feelings are even harder for her to express now. I didn't know what to do.

"And you came here to confess? And left Ethan alone. I bet you told them you left. I bet they suffer a lot now. Hyma forget me. This won't happen. Better go back to Ethan. I don't want them to die because of something as stupid as love."

Screams. We screamed a lot. She told me everything. But I wasn't feeling guilty. It wasn't my fault I didn't love Ethan. You can't force love. They are stupid for not having that damn surgery.

Ian started laughing. She was still sounded like before, but the way her cold eyes looked at me made me shiver.

"Ethan wants to die for years. They wanted this for years before they met us. "

Notes: I'm tired. I'm almost done with Hyma's story and I'm glad. As for the context , the disease that they are talking about and that all three had is the Hanahaki Disease which if not treated can kill you.

@lookslikechill @livingdeadwriteblr

[silver-wields-a-pen]

The Tuesday Writeblr Review

“Your employer was shot,” she replied, choosing to omit he died. She didn't know company protocol and preferred to wait for the police, though everything would end up dealt in-house, anyway. Yueliang knew little about the dealings of chaebols and company politics, but she assumed it wouldn't be like the TV dramas. Judging from the secretary's behaviour the deceased wasn't well liked, or they were used to assassinations. I need to learn more about these people, though this company may no longer be required reading with the boyfriend's death. “Please inform the police to canvass the building opposite this one. There is a shattered window in the stairway between floors twenty-one and twenty-three. They should check the CCTV.”

“Will Deputy Director Kim need medical assistance?” Spurred to action, the secretary grew more lifelike, going back to her desk and picking up the phone.

A medical examiner would be more suitable. She nodded. “An ambulance should attend. Please inform me when the police arrive. I'll lock the door until then to preserve the location.” She didn't wait for an answer this time, but the unhappy look on the secretary's face was an intriguing reaction.

Yueliang shut and locked the door, then turned back to assess Miss Park. She had her head out of the bin by now and was sitting on the floor behind the upturned table. She made for a pathetic figure with her tear-stained face and slouched posture. She'd kicked her boots off at some point during Yueliang's conversation with the secretary and curled her red painted toes into the plush carpet like a cat kneading. “Miss Park.” Yueliang crouched beside her and put a hand to her forehead. “How are you feeling?”

“Awful,” she croaked, sniffing. “I'm so embarrassed.”

“It's a natural reaction to stress,” Yueliang replied in a soothing voice. “You’re not injured?”

Miss Park shook her head. “You saved me.” She dipped her head. “Thank you.” She sniffed again and said, “Is Deputy Director Kim okay?”

She hasn't realised. “I've asked for medical assistance,” she replied, avoiding the truth.

@lookslikechill @livingdeadwriteblr

[toceaselivingceasewriting]

TTWR Update: Still no freakin’ title

Words written this week: 4,000

CW: none

Roshi nodded, lowering his eyes to burrow deep holes into the cracked, dry ground. “Give them some time to mourn. An hour, at least, to lay their families and friends to rest.”

Ebe nodded and went off to inform the people of their decision. Roshi stayed, on his knees, letting apathy consume him as he wallowed in the suffering of his people. Ken was gone, toiling away in the poppy fields of the Alliance. More than half of his neighbors and friends had been slaughtered the night before, and now he was asking them to march deep into the Dry Lands on a hunch of salvation to the East. He closed his eyes, fighting back the helplessness deep inside his heart, hemming it in so it would not destroy any remaining hope that may yet linger there.

A heavy hand fell on his shoulder, and his eyes opened. Tattered, burnt pants led to a shirt that had been torn to shreds as his eyes traveled up the figure in front of him. The man who had been mourning his son only a few feet away a moment before stood over him, dirty face streaked with the wet reminders of his pain. He knelt down in front of Roshi and stared into his eyes, his own bloodshot from the memory of his loss.

“Thank you, Roshi.” The man’s voice quivered as he spoke. He wrapped his arms around Roshi’s shoulders and pulled him close, burying his face into his chest. “Thank you for not letting us die in that hell. Thank you for trying to save my son.” He pulled away and met Roshi’s eyes once more. “I would follow you to the ends of the earth. Never doubt that.”

Tags: @lookslikechill @livingdeadwriteblr  if anyone else wants to be tagged in my WIP updates let me know!

[the-melissa-mckinnon]

Tuesday Writeblr Review: Which OC would be the most likely to do something absolutely insane on a triple dog dare?

Thanks so much for the ask! 

And I find it hilarious how easy it is to answer. LOL! I’m currently in rewrites for my Fanon to Canon story and Arlo would, without a doubt, do anything on a triple dog dare. Which is why, I’m sure, Parker goes to great lengths to make sure that doesn’t happen. And, of course, there’s Mason who is probably doing the daring because he’s a dork and we love him for it. 😆 

[timetravelingpigeon]

TTWR: How fast and loose are you playing with time travel? Is the science behind it mostly ignored, or do you play heavily into the pseudo-science to explain everything?

Oh, I’m playing it so fast and loose. It is explained about as much as it is in Groundhog Day itself; which is to say, not at all. I’m trying to keep everything internally consistent, but I’ll be the first to admit that the “rules” Col eventually figures out exist entirely to set up, frame, and drive the plot. There is no science behind them, just authorial fiat and the barest veneer of logic.

Time loop? Sets up the plot. 

Restricting it to mental time travel? Avoids the problem of having Col age, letting me string this plot along as far as I want. 

Weird loophole that lets them carry electronic data back (that they themself even admit to having no idea how it works?) 

My guess as to why this happens? It’s somewhere in the intersection of neuron pulses and electrical circuits. Anything further than that is a venture best left to the experts. So left to the experts, in fact, that I don’t even know what those experts would be. Physicists? I’m guessing some kind of physicist.

An excuse to let Col have a better memory of timeline permutations than they realistically would (and provides the framing device of the story.) 

Loop resets when they die? Now I can raise the stakes much higher. 

And, the big one, the whole complicated “metaphysical anchor” thing (that I haven’t really gotten into in the excerpts?) A set of clauses that makes the main chunk of the story far more convenient, both by having Col instantly reset whenever an unrecoverable failure state is reached (i.e. they die and/or the one guy who actually has a chance at stemming the tide of zombies dies,) and getting them almost immediately back into the action by changing their starting point to literally hours before they meet with their partners in crime (and also influences a few plot points.)

Since Col themself isn’t a scientist (or even any sort of sci-fi fan,) they don’t particularly care about getting into the nitty-gritty of “how” or “why.” Which means I figure that, as long as I apply the rules consistently, the reader won’t really focus on it too much either.

(And, I’m gonna let you in on a secret: not even I know what The Event is)

(Morgan’s superpowers, though, I do lean more into pseudoscience-y stuff, mostly because his powers are much more grounded in physicality. Time travel, (especially uncontrolled mental time travel,) you can gloss over pretty easily as some sort of unknowable energy magic-y thingy. Super strength and a potent healing factor? That’s going to beg for an explanation, even a basic one. His powers are still complete bullshit, don’t get me wrong, but at least they’re the sort of bullshit that a scientist-type character can talk about without descending into technobabble and, again, have their own internal logic.)

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE ASK! :)

wow this got long

[the-terminal-show]

BITHCHsfk.....literally would not have seen if some king on wiki didn’t ping me..leaving l1mbo ttwr for eye health is ACTUALLY terrible. no on fence though big mistake on not giving him gold pin stripes on the pants I mean IT’S RIGHT THERE....c’mon... still I’ll take it

[peri-hellion]

Thank you for answering my question! I think you're right - it did feel a little S2-ish. And while there's nothing wrong with that for a one-off, I don't think it's indicative of S4 (I hope it isn't). Like, Georgie seemed a little flippant in TTWR, but I can't help but wonder if that was to allow the writers to showcase Rudyard and Antigone bonding? Like, by the end of S3, I feel like Rudyard has *two* sisters in Georgie and Antigone, and maybe there was only room for one this episode?

Yes, I think that’s totally valid, especially for a one-off that really didn’t feature a lot of Georgie. As someone with five sisters, I get a little overly salty about narrative demonstrations of multi-sibling/found-sibling relationships, but I also don’t write podcast scripts and can’t totally relate to the demands of featuring a ton of characters in a 20-minute ep, especially when all of those characters have complex past histories! I’m sure it isn’t indicative of S4, I trust the WO crew. 

[nemowritesstuff]

ttwr: What do you do to avoid or control distraction? Do you ever create stories/characters for real people you see out and about?

Sorry for the delay.

I actually do my best writing when surrounded by distractions. I usually write when there is a ton of background noise - music, YouTube, Discord pings, sitting at the airport, etc. - which helps me focus. Don't know why. Maybe because I really want to block out the noise, so I focus more on writing? Sounds plausible enough, I guess.

While I normally don't write them down, I do occasionally think up an elaborate backstory about random people I pass by in public. The stranger the circumstance, the more elaborate the backstory.

Thanks for the ask!

[mariana-oconnor]

@ameliahcrowley replied to your post “Weekly Word Count”

Ooh! More trouble with room mates!

That’s the plan... although I’ve started this one 3 times now. I’m pretty sure it’s the big reveal fic, which is making it more complicated than the others. *sigh*. But I think I might have just solved an issue I was having with it.

[smudged-glasses-writing]

Tales for the Sun and Moon (ttwr excerpt)

Words written this week: 1.109

Content warnings: physical injury and scarring

@lookslikechill @livingdeadwriteblr

Excerpt (yes it is from the sunburnt king again):

The brilliant light refracted throught the crystal of the crown, and for a moment a halo of the Sun herself surrounded the new king. Then it fell on his subjects, who ran away, blinded, and their screams filled the air.

Instinctively the king brought a hand to his face to protect his eyes. The crown tilted on his head, juat enough for his hand to be covered by its rays. None of the people can remeber if he yelled, or even whimpered in pain that day, but the red scar never abandoned his arm.

They later said the Sun became furious with him for disrespecting the Moin like that, and they even learned him by a new name: The sunburnt king.

[lookslikechill]

The Tuesday Writeblr Review: July Asks

Welcome to July’s ask list for The Tuesday Writeblr Review!  We (@livingdeadwriteblr, @soul-write, and I) encourage you to send asks on Tuesdays and spend the rest of your week writing, planning, and updating.  Also, feel free to ask any other questions you feel like in the name of TTWR, especially any inspired by the ones listed here!  Onward, and enjoy!

The Asks:

General Writing:

How successful do you feel you were when writing in the month of June?

What is (wip of your choice/current wip/etc) about?

Do you have a favorite time period to write?

Do you find it easier to write at home or elsewhere?

Would you share a line you’ve written recently that you are especially happy with?

Characters:

When writing from different characters’ POVs, do they each have a distinct “voice”?

How many characters do you usually have in your cast?

How relevant are familial relationships when you develop your characters?

Which of your characters has your favorite mannerism or quirk?

Do you, or have you ever, reused or reworked older characters for a newer project?

Inspiration:

Would you share with us a piece of media, of any kind, that inspires you?

Do you have a cliche or trope that you just love to death?

Do you ever create stories/characters for real people you see out and about?

Does your own writing ever inspire you to keep writing?

Do you keep track of your ideas anywhere?

About The Writer:

What do you think your writing says about you?

When was the last time you stretched?

What do you do to avoid or control distraction?

Do you have siblings?

Have you traveled much?

The four categories are fixed, but the questions will change at the beginning of August!

The Participation List:

@lookslikechill - @livingdeadwriteblr - @sixstepsaway- @samueldeckerthompson - @nemowritesstuff - @the-number-26 - @harrybpoetry - @soul-write - @smudged-glasses-writing - @writingonesdreams - @madammuffins - @cataclysmic-writer - @the-melissa-mckinnon - @silver-wields-a-pen - @crystal-ink8 - @toceaselivingceasewriting - @notmyproblemdude - @tales-from-a-golden-pen - @sexychristina18 - @theswordofpens - @bookishbearx - @royalbounties - @timetravelingpigeon - @midterms-crisis - @farrradays - @nightmaresandfireflies - @pedlimwen

Ask These folks your questions! If ya wanna try askin’ others, make sure they know why! And tell them to interact with our participation post so we can throw ‘em on the list! Thanks!