#focusdumbass

[raevenlywrites]

Storyteller Saturday! What's the biggest worry your inner critic brings up about your WIP? Would your most fleshed out character of your WIP - if they faced the same inner critic about something of value to them - have a similar worry as you or is their struggle of a different kind? (If this question even makes sense lol sorry if not but I'm really interested)

My current worry is about treating my Jewish werewolves right. I know a lot of it can be fixed in later drafts, but it’s my first time *really* exploring a culture outside of my own. I’ve touched on things like this before: my Afro-Korean hyena family, my handful of aspec characters, my brief toe-dips into writing characters with disabilities. But for Aaron and his family, I’m trying to make him authentically, every day Jewish, rather than just making casual nods, and it’s really really scary. Being a displaced Hispanic kid, mostly out of touch with the culture of my father, I worry a lot about doing this justice and being authentic and just like, super duper struggling with impostor syndrome. It’s kinda been a constant struggle in my life. I’m not brown enough I’m not white enough I’m not gay enough I’m not trans enough on and on and on. So yeah, that doubt super translates when I try to write rep

A lot of these doubts wound up in Gil, tbh. I didn’t do it on purpose, but he is definitely a vessel for my doubts, having a journey that super mirrors my own. I hope he’s handling them better than I am, but since I’m still in the thick of it, I can’t really say XD

[katy-l-wood]

For STS, would your characters try foods they absolutely don't know? Who would dare, who wouldn't at all, and if someone dares, what's the food in question in your WIP they try and how do they like it?

I think Conifer would eat pretty much anything put in front of her, because she’s a survivalist and will do what’s needed. Marauder would probably be a little more wary, but she’d do it eventually if she had to. Valora has traveled a fair amount, so she’s used to trying things outside her comfort zone.

In their book, Camp Daze, the weird food for Marauder and Valora would probably be animal organs like liver or heart. Can’t waste anything during the apocalypse! I don’t think they’d run into any foods that Conifer would find weird, though, as she’s very in her element in the book.

[ace-malarky]

Happy Storyteller Saturday! Your characters found out that the anonymous commentator on their secret poetry blog is none other than their older (or younger) sibling. And they have no idea that the stuff they enjoy so much and are literally fangirling over is made by their sibling because your character writes with an alias. What do they do ?

hey, happy STS!

 This is such a delightful scenario and my first thought is now I want to write this but I’m tired so it’s not happening just now haha

 Assuming Asin is the one writing it and Merrok finds her blog, there is...

 Asin panics like there’s no tomorrow and actually stops uploading stuff for a while bc it’s personal and what if Merrok works it out, she thinks she’d actually die. But then Merrok’s comments are so kind and a little bit worried bc she’s never missed a day uploading yet and something must be going wrong and he’d like to help, if he can... and Asin spends a day straight up hiding as she goes through the backlog of her blog to make sure nothing there could give her away, and eventually decides if he hasn’t got it now, then he’s not gonna, but... she’s more careful about making sure that there’s no hint to her actual life ‘n’ goings on

 Skilkran works it out later, once they’re on ok terms again, but doesn’t bring it up bc he doesn’t want her to stop because it reminds him of before everything went to shit and it’s a comfort

[knightsofeclipse]

A for the a to z game if you want to :)

From this ask game (which was far harder to find than it should have been scrolling my blog :/)

Full Name: Athena Nicknames, If Any: Carter Hogwarts House:  Gender: Female Sexuality: Pansexual A Song I Associate With Them: Go The Distance (Disney’s Hercules) 3 Important Relationships: Mara, Kai, Ricko 2 Fears1 Element of their backstory: Not being able to do enough, failure, the loss of her entire family Thanks for asking :)

[spencecreates]

F for the name from a to z ask game if you like :)

Full Name: Flint Wilson Nicknames, If Any: Hogwarts House: Hufflepuff  Gender: Male Sexuality: Gay A Song I Associate With Them: Wanderer’s Lullaby  3 Important Relationships: Bf Bayard, Captain Thane, and Ronan 2 Fears: Death, Helplessness 1 Element of their backstory: Meeting Bayard

[sundaynightnovels]

Sunset orange and ocean blue if you're still doing these 🙂

hey!!! it’s been a while since i’ve last interacted with you!!! how are you doing??? omg i miss your writing and characters lasjldksa anyway! moving on to the ask:Sunset Orange: Your personal least favourite character in your wip

oh boyyyyyyy. maybe ren??? because seriously dude, you gotta grow a backbone! stop carrying everything on your own back!!! you think you’re being selfless by constantly giving your all to help others but you’re being selfish as heck by carrying their own weight on your shoulders, huh do you think yourself so powerful you can hold up their whole worlds? pffft. annoying.(jk i love him too but he needs to learn to think for himself and man, these character-types usually are the hardest to get out of their own heads.)Ocean Blue: Least favourite piece of dialogue from your wip

i’m sure there are a lot, but let’s take a look

this is like the most recent piece of dialogue that i have written that… well. i mean. i think it could be improved, it doesn’t really capture that sense of… maybe isolation that he feels? and denial? and how he’s just trying to protect himself??? idk . i mean. not sure how to improve on it yet but there’s definite improvements to be done.thanks for the ask!!!ask me some colourful writeblr asks

[lettersandinkstains]

🌹

Dying can mean renewal.

[wildswrites]

🌹

trigger warning for parental death and mourning

🌹  The last thing they’ll say goodbye to is their mom’s grave, and he’s looking forward to that even less. She may be but a body in the ground these days, but for years she was their mom. For always, to him. For always, to Marika as well. There was no them before their mom was their mom, and to be left without her is just as surreal.

thanks for the ask @focusdumbass!! and may i just say that your url is a huge mood.

[thearchangelwrites]

🌹

from hyacinth rising, chapter 11 

🌹: “You’re Laceleaf’s nephew? She… I haven’t seen Laceleaf in years. Jillian,” Justin says her name with a reverence that’s tinged with bitterness, like he’s bitten off something he was never meant to even touch.

[yvesdot]

@focusdumbass reblogged your post “daddariom-archived: …………………reblog this and say something nice about the person u reblogged it from because there’s too...”

Oh my gosh your tags... thank you... I actually like my icon scheme a lot (all my social media has some form of sarakipin vampire icon) because it stands out so sharply. I have arrived! And you will know it is me.

[raevenlywrites]

Happy Storyteller Saturday! Your characters are taking a break and settle down in a restaurant, pub, inn - whatever fits your theme more - and they order their meals and beverages but when they want to pay to move on in their journey, they notice they don't have any money with them. What do they do?

Tybee charms the server and encourages them to take their fifteen minute break and he finds a way to pay them, nudge nudge wink wink. He also leaves them a magical break, a little bit of good luck to bring something fortunate their way.

[katy-l-wood]

19 for the OC you least get to talk about if you want to

19: Your OC’s life is a musical. What’s the title of their big show-stopping song? 

I can’t really picture any of my OCs going full musical, but I imagine Vivian and Dustin singing/humming folk/work songs to themselves and to each other when they’re working on various things around Vivian’s house.

I make no promises on how good they are. They’re terrible.

[ace-malarky]

(I hope that question isn't too stupid for STS & that you hadn't a similar or the same one already, sorry if so!) If your story has Main Character-Side Character dynamics & they would have to do a group painting, how would that go? Would they agree easily? Or have very opposite ideas? Would the whole process turn to a mess or would it work out? Would one prefer to draw a bunch of grapes & the other would want to roam the outside to find sth. Or would they both hunt down some raccoons?

It’s all good buddy! There are no stupid questions

So in terms of Magic Thieves (bc that has the most delightful dynamic for this), it would go. so. hilariously badly.

 Skir would try to be super methodical about the whole thing, block it out, organise who’s doing what according to perceived strengths etc

 Elise would ignore that for nonsense and have some big dramatic grandiose idea that is absolutely biting off more than she can chew

The two of them devolve into a very bitchy argument with Skir trying to use his title/seniority over Elise and Elise taking exactly no shit and probably flicking paint at him

 Skren would try and appease both of them without a fight, try and modify both so it fits, offering sketches and the like but honestly his hands are shaking too much so nobody can tell what anything’s supposed to be.

 Elise would lose her temper first and drag Skren out to do literally anything else to blow off steam lmao

Millicent is the only one with any dedication to actually doing art, and it’s highly likely she’d get two canvases and leave Elise and Skir arguing over one while she does the whole thing herself

[knightsofeclipse]

If you're doing the ask game as well, would you like to answer Daffodil Yellow? Or Blood Red (or both) 🙂

From the Colourful Writeblr Asks

Daffodil Yellow: Does worldbuilding come easily to you?Sometimes but not always. Either I have so much worldbuilding and nothing to do with it or I’m struggling to come up with even the broader details, there is no inbetween. And I think that has a lot to do with when I find it important or useful to the story. Really, I’m more of a characters person. So if it doesn’t help me flesh out the characters, it doesn’t come easily.

Blood Red: Favourite piece of dialogue from your WiP?Oh gosh, it’s probably still the dumb “what did you bring to the table?” “Toast” exchange from Parallel Sparks. Upon re-reading the “exchange” in question, I should more aptly refer to it as “later”

Ebony rolled her eyes. "It's a nice dream," she said with a soft smile. "But, how useful are our powers going to be?""We'll make them useful," Ivory said with conviction. Her determined expression turned to one of realization. She opened her mouth and pointed at Ebony, closed her mouth and balled the finger back into her fist. Her brows knit together. "You're already pretty sold on this, aren't you?"Ebony shrugged, "had to make you work for it."Ivory pounced onto the bed, took the pillow from Ebony's lap and smacked her with it. "Okay, smartypants, then how about you put some work in, too? Name us." She poised the pillow, ready to swing it again."Or," Ebony said, raising her hands to shield herself from the next blow, "we could sleep on it and brainstorm later." She ducked as Ivory swung the pillow. "I know; you hate later. But, seriously, it's after midnight and we have school. There was a reason Jenny put an eleven o'clock curfew on her party."Ivory sat back in defeat. "Fine. But you better have something to bring to the table for breakfast."Ebony brought the toast over to the island where her mother, Beth, was reading a news article on her laptop. The counter top was covered with a thick layer of papers and Ebony had to find a stack she could move aside to be able to place the plate of toast down. Beth smiled thankfully as she felt paper against her hand and looked to find toast."Is this all about last night?" Ebony asked, sliding on to the stool. She looked at the hazardously stacked pages in front of her, scanning the words from one page to the next between blinks. "That is a lot of art coming in.""Yes," Beth sighed. "And no way of knowing which one the thief was after." She hit the space bar twice, scrolling to the end of the page she was on. "All of these pieces have a history of being targeted."Ebony picked up a page that had caught her attention and skimmed it in less than a second. "Not just targeted. A few of the artifacts have been stolen before."Beth's shoulders drooped. "That just puts more pressure on me not to let them be stolen again." She reached out, intending to grab a piece of toast, and smacked the edge of the plate. Toast took off. It sailed through the air. Ebony reached out, relaxed, and plucked each piece from it's trajectory. Last, she collected the plate before it could hit the floor and returned everything to the counter."That was so cool," Ivory entered the kitchen with damp hair. She passed the island and went straight to the fridge. Pulling out a carton of juice, she eyed up the bowl of fruit on the shelf. "If I threw you an orange, could you catch it all karate master style?" "You tell me?" Although it was a simple response, Ebony's tone made it into a question.Ivory mulled it over. "Yes," she said carefully. She shrugged, "Cool."Beth looked between her daughters, not at all following the conversation, and returned to her computer screen. "Could you come by the museum after school? We have a special guest coming," she sighed, "with the break-in I don't think I'll have time to show them around with everything else I have to get done.""If there are no new homework assignments," Ebony said around a piece of toast, "we should have plenty of time to show someone around."Beth smiled. "Thank you." She picked up her computer, balancing it on one forearm, and took her coffee mug in her other hand. She looked at the paper-cluttered counter with exhausted eyes, gave her head a shake, and disappeared towards her bedroom."So," Ivory placed two cups on the island and poured juice into both, "what did you bring to the table?""Toast," Ebony said. For emphasis, she popped the last corner of her slice into her mouth. "In all seriousness, though, I was thinking we should have theme names. Like, Lady Light and Lady Night," she pointed to Ivory then herself respectively.Ivory pulled a face. "No offense, and by that I mean full offense; those kind of suck."Ebony shrugged, reaching across the counter to take her glass. "That's my offer. I brought something to the table." She chuckled into her juice. Ivory began pacing a circle around the island. "Well, I think our names shouldn't be too similar. We already kind of have that base covered. What about something to do with our powers? How about Detecta?" She waved cheesy finger guns.Ebony raised an eyebrow. "I think that's worse than mine." She slapped a hand on the counter, sending a few papers to skitter around and resettle. "Maybe, and I think this is a brilliant idea, we live a day with our powers and see what words come to us.""In other words," Ivy stopped pacing back in her original spot and placed her hands on her hips, "later.”

[halfbloodlycan]

okay for your brainstorming, I would chose the animal communication, work in a shelter and talk to the animals and once they told me they feel their end coming I would ask them for their last thing they want to experience or try or do and make that able. Probably not very magical and adventurous but yeah, probably didn't help haha sorry

I didn’t even consider shelters! This could extend to helping animals in not so great shelters that put them down. They could be saved if their end wasn’t natural.

[sundaynightnovels]

"sunset", I'd love to see if it turns up in your WIP, or "soft" if that's easier

yay!! thanks for the ask!! i’m almost certain i have a ‘sunset’ in my wip, but not too sure about a ‘soft’...also!! i saw your tags in the reblog (omg yes i’m a tag stalker, i love reading them) and sorry about the small text in my screenshots!! i’ll try to make the text bigger next time!!! i mean, i know i could always copy and paste, but i always have this really weird anxiety about copying and pasting my own work on public platforms... when it is extremely easy for others to... yknow, also copy and paste them back. not that they can’t do it with screenshots, but that just requires a tad bit more effort, yknow??? so yup! OKAY. for “sunset”, let’s take a look... it’s been mentioned four times!!! but i’ll just give one instance of it here (i zoomed in on the text until like... 130%, but somehow on tumblr it still seems kinda small since they like to resize things...):

in defense of Ren, he has protested before!! zhen’s just being an ass!also, i wanted to give “soft” a try... omg there are 21 instances of “soft” in my wip!! what a surprise! let me just give you the first instance where it occurs:

(if it’s not instantly clear from the way he speaks, this is from Shou’s pov btw!)thank you for the ask!!! i had fun!