#WIP: PS

[pertinax--loculos]

I know I've said this before, but man, Psyche Shards is really making me do a lot of research I didn't really expect to have to do. -.-

The 'problem' is that I want the world to essentially be a corporatocracy; partly because I think it's a believable progression for society, partly because it solves a couple of plot issues I've had. But that means that for every government program etc that exists, I have to come up with a privatised version. And that then raises the question -- how would x program/organisation be profitable? What would change in the way they're run in order to maximise profits? And what are the knock-on effects of that on society and the other organisations or programs that they work with?

Which, don't get me wrong, is kinda cool to think about. But it's also a pain, and there's a reason I never did business studies in school.

[ghostcupdraws]

That sassy little scientist and the disaster he chose as his partner

[refinedstorage]

she just wants to pet the croc 🐊

[16th-of-a-twigg]

I only just started this less than an hr ago - but y'all get the gist 🤣 Can't wait to slap some colour on this baby Ko-Fi

[hula-zombie]

The Goths

The Goths are an aristocratic family with a dreary aura....

Transcript ⤵

Cassandra: It was the summer before our world turned upside down. Alexander just wanted to beat that last level, he practically lived in the basement. Dad, well… he was always busy with work. None of us saw it, or maybe we just didn't want to see it- You, disappearing, little by little until it was like you didn't exist.

[thedawner]

Eye lining in Procreate with 3 different brushes from 3 brush packs. Brush packs (and similar counterparts for PS/CSP) will be linked below.

🪥Procreate Vol. 10: ko-fi.com/s/100442a2e0

🔸CSP: ko-fi.com/s/7c748f00bb

🔸PS(need to add some extra brushes for this one): ko-fi.com/s/7a89a4b9f2

🪥Procreate Vol. 13: ko-fi.com/s/ca45ffe65d (3 in 1)

🪥Procreate Vol. 14: ko-fi.com/s/ffae710957

🔸CSP: ko-fi.com/s/01b3fb91b8

🔸PS: ko-fi.com/s/4dc75f6444

The paper texture is most likely from Infinite Pulp from True Grit Texture Supply though I'm not fully sure:

https://www.truegrittexturesupply.com/collections/infinite-pulp-collection

[pinescent-and-gingerbread]

✧.* Welcome to the Green Otter's Café! ☕🧋

Bozeman's finest brew, freshly ground and served at your preferred temperature ☕

Just some visuals I did for fun, for one of my upcoming fics!! (not sure yet, but the title might be either One Coffee, Black or Soluble Love). This is the Modern!Au fic, where Arthur will be a disgruntled cop struggling on a difficult case, and the Reader the owner of a super cozy coffee shop a few feet from his police station. As you might imagine, Arthur's days will get brighter as he frequents the café more and more...

Oh yeah, and another thing that is settled too, the story will take place in Montana!

Those visuals are purely fictional and only for fun! Also, nothing is AI-generated; I used Photoshop's mock-up files that are usually for real brands and companies to use LOL. The coffee's menu is from a Canva template I doodled on a little eheh. Anyway, I was just having fun with those and felt like sharing!

[emositecc]

Cooking something special! 👀

[pertinax--loculos]

2024 Goals

So, I know, I'm a little late for this given it's a solid week (or so) into the new year, but hey, better late than never, right?

My Real Life this year will primarily involve working to pass my course in order to become fully qualified in my new job. Fortunately, from about June onwards, that's going to give me a fair bit of time to work on writing, so I figured I'd try and put down some relatively specific goals regarding the WIPs I have.

My biggest issue with writing is finishing things. Since I joined writeblr, I've gone from having no WIPs in anything approaching a complete state, to three completed first drafts (Absent That Night, The Monstrosity, and Miles To Go) and one completed zero draft (Psyche Shards). That in itself in astonishing for me, but I'd also like to continue to work towards having 'publishable' (read: clean, cohesive, comprehensible) drafts. With that in mind, this year I am going to work on four projects.

Project One is going to be the Vibes WIP. This is my 'first draft' project, ie something I'm starting without a whole lot of words down. I'm also approaching it in a novel way for me (working from vibes), so it's somewhat of an experiment in that sense as well. This is the project aiming to feed my need for discovery and chucking in cool shit that occurs to me over the course of my life.

(It's also pretty heavily linked to my new job, which is part of the reason I've decided to make it a key project this year. Any luck I'll be able to twist most new ideas/inspiration to fit within the scope of what I'm writing. Plus the actual form of the WIP is experimental enough that I can probably chuck in other random inspirations as well and deal with it later.)

Project Two is Psyche Shards. I have a (pretty much) complete zero draft for this, so I'll say the aim is to finish draft 1.5. This will be another new experience, in that I'll be writing from what amounts to a detailed outline; something I've never done before. I hope it will help me to pin down a process that allows me to finish more WIPs -- if writing from the zero draft works to keep the wordcount down to something reasonable, and is faster than my normal sort of draft one, then it will help to inform how I approach WIPs from here on out.

(I should mention, regarding wordcount, that the zero draft is 27k words. Not sure if I've mentioned this before, but I am a chronic fucking overwriter. So I'm hoping that having what I need to put down in front of me will help quell that issue. There's also issues with the climax of this WIP I still need to work out, but I think beginning to draft it in earnest will be the only thing that will fully help with that.)

Project Three is Absent That Night. 🥳 I've been saying for, like, over two years now that I'm going to write a second draft of this beast, and it's becoming my white whale, so it's about time I knuckle down and give it a go. It's intimidating as fuck because of how much I need to change, but I owe it to Latrell to sort my shit out, because it's a story I would really like to tell, and I cannot write either of the two sequels I have planned if I haven't wrangled the first installment into something coherent.

Project Four is theoretical, and a project-of-grace I'm giving myself in case I'm smacked with inspiration that just won't go away. I am going to try and make this a relatively high bar, however. I have an 'inspo' document where I can jot down notes and vague ideas, and I'm going to primarily use that for new ideas. If something does persist and develops on its own without my having to take time to sit down and think about it, then I will allow my muse to take me where it will and consider it project four.

(Ideally, I'd like to close out this year without touching a Project Four. Because, as I said, my main problem is starting things and then not finishing them, and this sort of random inspiration is a key reason why that happens.)

So there it is! Three/four key projects that I would like to work on for this year. I don't yet have any dates or deadlines regarding them, because up until March work is going to take priority and I don't want to stress myself out too much with anything else going on. However, I'm hoping to do a monthly update for the start of the year letting people know where I'm at, and if/when I get properly into working on any of these projects I'll increase the frequency of updates and sharing.

Another goal I have is perpetual, which is to be more active on here. I'm working on actionable steps to make this a reality, however, and I hope that that will bear fruit. There are far too many amazing, talented people on my dash to not spend at least some time on here every week. So I apologise to people who like numbers and deadlines (I'm one of them!), but these more ambiguous goals are the way I need to be at this point, and I'm enjoying the way they're inspiring me regardless. ^_^

What are you all's goals for the new year? Feel free to let me know! I'm way behind on what everybody is doing and would love to be updated by anybody who's managed to read this far. :D

[stabbyfoxandrew]

hii, how's it going? happy wipw ☀️

you know i love Angel Neil, Mafia Front and Arsonist Neil equally but i am HOOKED on the recent events of Mafia (devastating but really good), so could i ask for that? i will be more than happy with either of the others if they're flowing better though : )

thank you!! wishing you have a lovely week <33

WIP Wednesday (3/5) | Arsonist Neil / Firefighter Andrew AU (Part 286)

"Yeah, yeah. The Kev picture. That was from you, this is from us. Besides, this is a reason for you two to meet up again." Jeremy says with a wink that would've reduced Andrew into a puddle if he were anyone else. (Or at least, a younger version of himself.)

"Feeling devious today are we?"

"A little." Jeremy grins. But Kevin is unmoved.

"I already did my part," he says, passing the card back to Jeremy who sticks his bottom lip out at him. After a couple minutes of prodding, he folds like a lawn chair and slaps his signature— eight letters, no more and no less— right under Jeremy's with a huff. "Fine, there."

"What have they done to ruffle you this time, mon tresor?" Jean says when he enters to find Kevin pouting. He pushes his hand into Kevin's hair while Jeremy explains this new plan. By the time he's through, Kevin is almost melted into the couch under Jean's hand and Jean looks amused. "You are making us sign this card to get Andrew laid."

"No! Well, I mean. Maybe, I don't know. But Andrew is our friend and he likes this hot guy and that's a good enough reason, now sign." Jeremy says, thrusting the pen into Jean's hand. Instead of using the table like a civilized person, Jean signs it against Andrew's back.

"Moreau."

"I am nearly done, hold still." Jean chides. Then the pen is clicking and the card is right in front of Andrew's face. "There you are. Go forth and get laid, on us."

"Merci, I guess." Andrew glances down to see Jean's addition and it's... gibberish. It also has his name mixed up in it.

"Joyeux Noël. Soyez gentils avec Andrew, Jean Moreau #29"

"What did you write?" Andrew demands.

"None of your business. It is not meant for you," Jean brushes him off.

"Kevin, translate," Andrew says, putting it in front of Kevin. His green eyes cross the page and a smile crosses his face. Then Jeremy feels it's his duty to do the same, the same sappy smile on his lips.

"If Monsieur Flame needs help, he can use the Google." Jean tells him. Andrew throws a glare his way but Jean does not catch it, so Andrew merely tucks the card into his jacket, exchanges another round of goodbyes, and leaves.

[lilis-palace]

wcif for the lamp on your latest post? 🤭 (i love ur content sm !!!)

POST IS HERE

OOoo, this lamp is a wip!😅 I tend to include little wips in my preview pics, cause some of them just seem perfect for those shots, & i lack the self control to stand against my aesthetic instincts :D

[pertinax--loculos]

Hey Ink! Sorry it's taken me so long to get to this, The Holidays(TM), y'know. -.- But your questions have definitely awakened something inside of me, so I hope you're still interested (and I apologise in advance for the length 😅).

So, to answer your questions:

1) Yes, there is a very specific inspiration for Psyche Shards, but I'm honestly very glad you're not sure what it is and I don't really plan to reveal it. :D The idea is to write it out in such a way that no one will ever guess the actual inspiration lmao.

Generally speaking, though, the inspiration is a friends-to-enemies-via-betrayal kinda plotline, and since developing the characters and whatnot I've been working on what exactly that means and how it plays out in the WIP proper.

2) Oooh, so Shards! Shards are the bit of fantasy that I've introduced to the 'pretty much our world' setting I have in order to make it bend to my will. 😂 Essentially, they're gemstones -- Treated in such a way that, when they're implanted under the skin, they give the person ~special powers~.

The idea is that each gemstone pretty consistently gives each person who has it implanted the same sort of abilities. For instance, if someone is implanted with a ruby, it acts to remove fear. Tanzanite gives the person a low-level empathetic ability, and so on and so forth.

This is part of the WIP that involves a lot of worldbuilding -- for a start, I want to make the gemstones themselves difficult to obtain (which, given these sort of 'our world to the left' WIPs I write are usually vaguely post-apocalyptic, isn't too hard). But then the Shards I've given Casey and Ira are basically one of a kind, so I have to figure out why that's the case too. So far, some of the features I've come up with include the Shard having differing power depending on the person's personality; which Shards are easy to replicate and which aren't (some can be implanted into different people and just have no effect); the cut, clarity, and quality of the stone potentially affecting how the Shard acts; and what Gemhance is trying to achieve with the Shards (ie they don't want to build an army, they want to sell stuff; and to sell stuff they have to focus on the less powerful Shards that are easier to replicate, in order to sell to the masses).

So this whole idea has inadvertently made me focus a lot on how to build a business, when all I really wanted was an excuse to make Casey the only mind reader in the WIP. But so goes the life of a writer, I guess! 😂

3a) Is sort of a spoiler, but also not. At the beginning of the WIP, Casey and Ira are estranged (the reason why is definitely a spoiler ;)). Something has gone down between them that has entirely destroyed any trust they might have once had, and Casey has built a life with Gemhance without Ira involved in any way, shape, or form. Realistically, it would take something world-altering to get them together again.

That world-altering event comes about because of Joshua.

3b) Because, you see, Ira loves Joshua more than life itself.

They have a backstory that could be a WIP in itself, but the gist of it is that they grew up in foster care. Ira was the only one there to protect Joshua, and he did absolutely everything to do so. When he aged out, his first priority was a job and stable housing so he could get Joshua with him. That worked, fortunately, but Ira was doing whatever he could to get money, and it wasn't a fun time.

So when Ira was 22, he found an ad for an experimental program -- the Shard program. Food, board, and a stipend for whatever work they could offer if they agreed to take part in what amounted to a medical trial. Sounded like the answer to his prayers. Joshua was only 16 and so couldn't participate, but the organisation was desperate enough they agreed to pay for him as well.

For a time. Until they decided to implant Joshua with a Shard.

Two years later, Ira leaves the city with no plans to ever come back.

Eight years after that, the story starts with Ira coming back for Joshua's funeral.

4) Ahaha I love this question. ^_^ Honestly, my zero drafting is not normally as clean as the snippets I've shared here. However, there are definitely parts that are. The way I zero draft is basically writing out what I want to happen, and then if the words start flowing in a clean, 'normal' drafting kind of way, I go with it until I hit the point where I run out of words. 😅

But, in the interest of full disclosure, have a bit of true zero drafting from one of the earlier scenes, including a section of 'cleaner' drafting in the middle:

[...] because I’ve gotta set up the below exchange, probably as Casey’s getting exasperated/ready to leave. So they’re discussing something and Casey knows that they’re actually talking about something else, but he can’t figure out what it is because they’re sorta shielding their thoughts by actively thinking about something else (ie they also know how his Shard works). The fact he’s so preoccupied with their thoughts is probably how he gets Lawson’s intention below, too. Not sure how the convo would go, but it ends with: 'Casey plucked it from his mind a heartbeat before he spoke. It was the only reason he didn't flinch when Lawson said, "Reminds me of Ira." He was able to keep himself stonefaced, to concentrate on not reacting at all, up until the moment Lawson's eyes slid sideways towards him and he added, "Last thing we need is another Joshua." Casey punched him, then.' —> there’s a bit of a kerfuffle and Ulan ends up breaking it apart. Takes Casey to her office, and Urbana is there too, which suggests to Casey that this is a Big Thing because Urbana is usually at Other Company doing Whatever.

5 & 6 combined) So, you will get to read more of both Psyche Shards and the Vibes WIP this year! :D I know that doesn't really sound promising lmao, but I'm currently drafting a '2024 Goals' post where I go into this in more detail. The gist of it is that I'm narrowing down what I want to work on this year, and it's four projects -- Vibes WIP, PS, ATN, and (to give myself a bit of leeway) a theoretical new WIP if it seizes me and won't let me go.

There's more to the actual goals involved in these, but I am so glad for your interest in both PS and the Vibes WIP, because I've purposefully chosen WIPs in different stages to work on this year. I'm really great at starting shit and not doing anything with it, so this year will be the year of working towards completion for things! And PS, the Vibes WIP, and ATN are gonna be big parts of those. :D

Thanks once again for your curiosity! I fucking love talking about my projects, always, and it's super inspiring to be answering some questions about them. ^_^ Hope you don't mind me talking (typing) your ear off lolol. And I hope you had a wonderful holiday season and are looking forward to everything that the new year brings. <3

I just have to say thank you so much for all your reblogs today, you've given me my dopamine hit for, like, the next three months. 😍 So lovely to read your comments! As always feel free to ask about any WIP, always happy to chat. ^_^ I've also somehow just realised that My Dearest Enemy is on Wattpad (!!! I know, I'm sporadically active, I miss big announcements 0.o) so as soon as I'm on break I'll definitely be diving into that. :D

Of course!!

I truly came onto your blog because I remembered those lovely lines from your Vibes wip that you shared for that "first lines" tag post and I wanted to read more about it. But then I learned that you barely talk about or have any posts tagged 'Vibes wip' 🥲 But instead I stumbled upon your Psyche Shards story and now I am Not Okay/Not Normal about it!!

Questions? You ask if I have questions???

What was the inspiration behind PS? 🧐 In one post I read you said it should be obvious but unfortunately I am not part of any fandoms so it went over my head

What are Shards?

What is the relationship between Casey and Ira? (feel free to not answer this if that is a big spoiler) Does Ira love, hate or love-hate his brother Joshua?

What is your process behind zero drafting and how can I learn to get immaculately written snippets in my zero draft like you?

When will I get to read more snippets of PS?

When will I get to read more about the Vibes wip?

[kustar-ryumi]

WIP❗️❗️ am getting pissed at drawing the hair . . .

[tricksterringmaster]

i had this idea in my head for such a long time since i saw aurorasboring's video on tiktok lol

[minas-linkverse]

Hero, do you um.. do you have friends? Like do you get to visit Midna or anyone else who's not in the god realm?

The Hero's spirit is only allowed to interact with the mortal realms in special circumstances, but this rule applies to all the goddesses too so they're not too bothered by it. Too much interaction by them starts ripping reality apart anyway. Dunk!

Thankfully the God realm is also a kind of afterlife! Most spirits there are kind of blobby and simply waiting to go back to the world of the living as a new life, but any ~Special~ souls can be called with their earthly memories intact. Sometimes Hero goes hang with the Zeldas.

Midna's just here, tho. She comes and goes as she sees fit.

[daffi-990]

Seven(ish) Sentence Sunday ✍️

Tagged by @diazsdimples @giddyupbuck and @wikiangela. Thank you lovelies mwah 😘

Have a little something from LA Lonely -> this is after the fun and orgasms of Buck and Eddie’s hook up. Still don’t know if I’m going to go full spice 🌶️ or just do a quick little run down of things.

Prev snippet & mood board here

Buck expects him to start pulling his clothes on and to give him the whole “this was fun, but I gotta bounce” speel, but Eddie surprises him by climbing back into bed and nudging Buck to roll onto his side so Eddie can scoot up behind him and hold him.

Buck freezes for a moment because no one does this. They have their fun and then they leave. They don’t stay and they definitely don’t cuddle.

Eddie must feel him go tense because his hold loosens and he moves as if he’s about to pull away. “Is this okay?”

Buck grabs at the arms that are wrapped around him, stopping Eddie’s descent. “Y-yeah. It’s-it’s okay.” He pulls at Eddie’s arms and the man settles back behind him, burrowing his face into the juncture where Buck’s neck meets his shoulder as he shuffles closer.

Soft kisses are pressed into his skin and Buck is helpless but to relax back into Eddie, letting the comfort and warmth of whatever is happening wrap around him.

“Stay?” He whispers, not sure if Eddie can hear him but not being brave enough to say it any louder. He feels like he’s asking too much.

A kiss behind his ear. “Okay.”

No pressure tagging: @hippolotamus @puppyboybuckley @exhuastedpigeon @spotsandsocks @devirnis @wikiangela @hoodie-buck @honestlydarkprincess @homerforsure @monsterrae1 @missmagooglie @mellaithwen @nmcggg @lover-of-mine @ladydorian05 @loserdiaz @bekkachaos @wildlife4life @watchyourbuck @weewootruck @elvensorceress @eddiebabygirldiaz @evanbegins @rewritetheending @rainbow-nerdss @captain-hen @jeeyuns @jesuisici33 @glorious-spoon @fortheloveofbuddie @fiona-fififi @disasterbuckdiaz @thewolvesof1998 @try-set-me-on-fire @theotherbuckley @steadfastsaturnsrings @tizniz @athenagranted @alliaskisthepossibilityoflove @spagheddiediaz @sunshinediaz and as always, anyone else who wants to share something -> consider this your tag ☺️