#i also want to write this short novel with time travel that I have planned since years ago

[wheelercurse]

I want to write many many many things but I don’t know where to start, so I end up doing nothing 😭😭

[steddieas-shegoes]

Congrats on 3K followers, which you so deserve! My request is because The Hold Steady's song "Stuck Between Stations" is stuck in my head and the lyric is, shockingly, "Tonight it's like he's stuck between stations". Have a wonderful writing weekend!

Thank you so much! I decided to take this super literally and do something a little silly. Hope you enjoy!

➰➰➰➰➰➰➰➰➰➰➰➰

The train was late, but what else is new?

Eddie watched the board as the estimated arrival time kept going up. He’d have to text Elliot to let him know he’d be late for their appointment.

At least Elliot was a regular client of his and would understand.

Eventually, only 18 minutes late, the train arrived.

Eddie shoved through the crowd to get on, not even caring if he had to stand sandwiched between sweaty people as long as he got to his shop.

By some miracle, he managed to get the only empty seat left at the back of the car.

And it was next to possibly the hottest guy he’d ever seen.

He was wearing tight jeans and a polo, glasses, a nose ring, and his hair was perfectly mussed. Eddie was such a sucker for the preppy hipster look. It never turned out well for him, but dammit if he didn’t try anyway.

“Mind if I sit?” Eddie asked the guy.

“Nope,” he replied, not even looking up from his phone.

He was furiously typing something, and Eddie was doing his best to not read anything.

But it sure was difficult and Eddie had pretty good eyesight and also never learned manners.

It’s not even that she left me for someone else. She tried to say that my coming out as bi ruined our relationship. Our relationship was ruined way before that! And she knew saying that would make me feel like shit so-

“Am I entertaining you?” The guy said from next to him.

Eddie startled and looked up, right into the warmest brown eyes he’d ever looked into.

“Sorry. It kinda seemed like you were working on a novel. I’m an avid reader.”

The man snorted and put his phone face down on his leg. “I’m Steve. You should at least know my name if you’re gonna know my business.”

“Eddie. I am sorry. Even more sorry your ex was clearly a piece of shit,” Eddie nudged his shoulder with his own.

The train started moving and Eddie glanced up at crowd of people in the car.

“Yeah, well. It was bound to happen. I wanted to settle down, she wanted to travel and focus on her career. Would’ve never worked,” Steve sighed. “Onto the next!”

Eddie snorted. “How long were you together?”

“Three years.”

“Ouch.”

“It was coming for a while,” Steve shrugged. “I feel like I mourned the relationship while I was still in it. Plus, she moved in with her new boyfriend, so it’s only a matter of time before I move in with mine.”

Eddie felt a weird pain in his chest. “Oh, you’ve got a boyfriend?”

Steve smirked at him. “Not yet.”

The train slowed and then came to a stop. The usual announcement for the next station didn’t start. Instead, an announcement let them know they were experiencing a short delay.

Eddie groaned and let his head hit the window next to him.

“I’m sure my shoulder is more comfortable than the window.”

Eddie’s head shot up at Steve’s suggestion.

Steve was blushing, looking down at his phone like he hadn’t even spoken. Maybe he hadn’t. Maybe Eddie imagined it.

“If you want. The last short delay took 25 minutes,” Steve continued, finally looking over at Eddie with a small smile.

“I have to let my client know I’m gonna be even later,” Eddie pulled his phone from his pocket to send another text. It may not go through underground, but at least he could say he tried.

“Client? Are you a therapist?”

“Close. Tattoo artist,” Eddie finished up the text and put his phone back in his pocket.

“Oh, my friend Will is a tattoo artist! He keeps telling me to get something, but I’m not the biggest fan of needles.” Steve looked apologetic. “I’m worried I’d pass out.”

Eddie was already planning exactly what he’d tattoo on Steve’s body.

“You’d be surprised how many people I tattoo who don’t like needles. Is it a pain thing or just the needles in general?”

“Both? I guess?” Steve was slowly leaning closer to Eddie’s side.

“Well, the pain is easy. I have a numbing cream I recommend to first timers or people getting something done in an especially sensitive spot that works great.” Eddie let his arm rest across the back of the seat, skin brushing against Steve’s back. “The other part is a little harder, but usually I go the old school distractions method.”

“Like a toddler with a shot?” Steve laughed.

“Exactly! I play music they like or put on a show they wanna watch. Sometimes we just talk the whole time. Sometimes they prefer to just close their eyes and pretend they’re somewhere else. Everyone’s different.”

Eddie watched Steve soak in that information. He technically didn’t take walk-ins anymore except for special events, but he’d be willing to have Steve in his chair right after Elliot’s appointment. He’d stay late. He’d do it for free if it meant having his hands on Steve’s skin.

“Have you ever had someone leave before it’s done?”

“Twice,” Eddie nodded. “Once was a drunk guy who insisted he was sober enough to do the tattoo and halfway through, he threw up and then just walked out. Don’t know if he ever bothered to get it done. The other was a woman who had chosen her ribs as her first tattoo ever. Don’t ever do that, by the way. Not a great start. She quit on the second word of the lyrics she was getting.”

Steve snorted. “What were the lyrics?”

“I hate to say it, but I don’t remember. I’m sure she regrets even trying all the time.”

Steve laughed again and leaned his head on Eddie’s shoulder. Eddie let his arm wrap around Steve’s shoulder and squeeze.

“So? You gonna get one? Did I convince you?” Eddie said quietly. He didn’t want to ruin this moment between them, stuck between stations for the foreseeable future.

“Hm. I’ll consider it. Do you have room on your books for me?” Steve turned his face into Eddie’s shirt.

“I’m sure I can make room for you, sweetheart.”

“Sweetheart already? What a sweet talker you are,” Steve mumbled against his shoulder.

“I read people pretty well and you are a sweetheart. No doubt about it.”

Steve groaned. “Are you always like this?”

“Not at all.”

Something in Eddie’s voice must have sounded genuine. Steve looked up at him, his face close enough to Eddie’s to feel his breath.

“This is kind of crazy.”

“What is?”

“This. I feel safe here with you. I’m ready to let you give me a tattoo even though I hate needles.”

Eddie’s fingers traced patterns along his upper arm, mindlessly planning out a tattoo already.

“Could give you one right here,” Eddie tapped his bicep. “Something small, dainty linework, a sunflower maybe.”

“A sunflower? Isn’t that kinda feminine?” Steve’s fingers were tracing a pattern on Eddie’s thigh. ��Not that I’m against it because of that, it just doesn’t seem to fit me.”

And maybe yeah, if Eddie thought about it, he could see how Steve’s body type was thicker, muscular, closer to jock than city hipster living off of coffee and cigarettes. Flowers might not be the first thing someone would think of when looking at Steve.

But when talking to him, when seeing how soft he got with an arm around him, how he turned into the affection, it was pretty obvious he should be covered in delicate work.

He deserves delicate things, Eddie could already tell.

He wanted to give him that.

He wanted to give him anything.

“Someone as radiant as you needs something that represents that. Anytime you’re ready,” Eddie couldn’t help the kiss he pressed to the top of Steve’s head.

The short delay turned into a long delay, but Steve and Eddie talked the entire time. When they finally got moving, Steve stayed on even though the next station was his stop.

“Think I’d like this tattoo artist to take my tattoo virginity,” Steve smirked at him as the train started moving again.

“As long as you’re okay sitting through my appointment first. Might get boring.”

“Doubt being near you could ever be boring.”

Getting stuck on the train with Steve turned into barely leaving his side for weeks, months, years.

Nothing felt as natural as being with his sunflower.

[lynnlovesthestars]

Serendipity.

Pairing: Astarion x OC (Lynn, changeling.)

Genre: fluff? idk not gonna lie..

Warnings: blood sucking, messy kisses?, my messy writing is a warning by itself.. honestly not much..

wc: 1.7k? fairly short but it was a blurb i accidentally wrote at 3 am.

summary: astarion was supposed to have a meal and ended up catching feelings- or something like that.

AN: as i said its messy, maybe i should have sent it to someone to beta read it but also my therapist told me to not give a shit n post.. anyways i hope it was somewhat good cause im low on motivation lately ahah!\

Taglist: @spacebarbarianweird @sessils

Masterlist

Taglist requests

Kofi

Lynn and Astarion had built a small feeding routine over the few weeks they had started traveling together, where the changeling would offer him blood a few times a week when he didn’t get injured.

The changeling didn't expect to be so affected by their little plan. It was supposed to be easy: feeding and leaving, nothing more and nothing less. So how did he end up in a weird tangle of emotions?

Lynn had forbidden himself from feeling anything but anger, yet he couldn't stop his heart from going batshit crazy whenever the two Were close.

That day Lynn had been feeling cold, as the lack of sun in the underdark would expect, the reason why, when Astarion looked for him that night, he had found the changeling in a cocoon of blankets reading a book.

“I hope you’ll share that novel with me.” He chuckled as he stepped closer, crouching next to the bundle of blankets that was Lynn.

The changeling had not heard him as he sneaked in, and it became obvious when he had jolted up. “Gods you scared me” He held a hand to his chest as he heavily panted.

“Sorry, my precious” He smiled.

Lynn didn't like to admit how Astarion’s sweet names affected him, they had been growing closer though he wished for more.

Anyway, it was in these moments, when silence would dawn on the two, that Astarion would feel the ghost of his heart fluttering, jumping to his throat as he noticed those little details about Lynn.

In that moment it was the faint line of a cut on his neck, as if he had been decapitated and sewn back together. He wanted to lean in, trace that scar and press his lips to it. Astarion mentally cursed himself at the thought, he had been so drawn to the changeling, that whenever he was in his mind he couldn’t help but derail to thoughts he was terrified of.

Nevertheless Lynn was the one that moved forward this silence.

“‘Starion, you are here for your dinner, right?” He asked softly as he eased down under the warmth of the blanket again.

“Uh, yeah” He rubbed the back of his head. “But if you don’t feel like it tonight we can-”

“No please, come in here..” He invited him under the blanket with a soft smile, a smile Lynn had not wasted for many before, lifting the bulde just enough he could slide in without dispersing too much heat. “It’s cold tonight, like this we will be warm” He murmured tenderly.

The elf swore he felt like everything faded away from around him as he was engulfed by the comfort of the duvet and Lynn’s closeness. It was so much and not enough at the same time.

“There you go” The changeling laid on his side to make more room for Astarion as he moved his hair to the side to expose the raw pinpricks on his neck.

“You’re sure? I don’t want to ruin your blanket accidentally” Astarion murmured as he gently traced the hollows where his fangs last bit.

Lynn couldn’t hide the goosebumps that settled on his skin as he nodded and as his usual he wrapped his arms around the elf’s waist, helping Astarion relax in the intimacy of the moment.

Neither of them knew how they did it, how the simple act of wrapping one’s arms around someone to bring them close, could ease any uncomfortable feeling that could go through them.

Lynn felt his throat suddenly going dry, as Astarion grazed Lynn’s neck with his lips, his face warmed up with a flush, and for a moment he was glad Astarion could not notice the blush. 

It felt as if he wanted to leave a kiss against the pale skin, but just the remote thought would make him run.

It didn’t matter how many times he’d be cradled in his arms and felt the sting of the bite pierce through his body, Lynn would always feel his heart race when Astarion’s lips would cup the wound and would start draining him of his blood.

In that moment, he felt like everything was amplified tenfolds, the way Astarion delicately held his head and clutched to his hip, or the hushed sounds he’d let out as he fed. The blanket, he blamed the blanket for the heat that rushed through his body, for the incessant thrumming of his heart.

He felt his body go through so much: he would feel heavy while simultaneously feeling lightheaded, he would feel soft while feeling rough, he’d feel like he was finally breathing while also being breathless.

Astarion wanted to be slow, tender, let the sweetness of the changeling’s blood rush slowly against his tongue, and get lost in the intrinsically private moment.

His arms kept the body from slipping away, as if he was terrified Lynn would walk away from the embrace. Not from the feeding, but from Astarion’s soft clutch, afraid of him.

Lynn hummed as Astarion tongue quickly lapped at the wound, collecting the blood that was still spilling out.

The two were breathless, forehead pressed against each other, still dazed by the exchange. They wanted to blame the closeness or the blanket that was shielding them, but that would have been lying to themselves.

Astarion’s fingers were still laced in Lynn’s hair, while Lynn’s hands now rested on Astarion’s cheeks, gently caressing the skin of the elf.

Of all the times they laid like that, this moment was when he realized how soft Lynn’s hair were, or how warm and calming his breath against his cold skin felt, or how delicate the touch of the changeling could be. He could feel his breath still affected by the softness of each other’s touch.

It was one of those moments where one would hope they would be sane enough to read each other’s eyes, to catch that feeling that was juggling between them, or they could read each other’s mind, cause they wondered if their lips would taste just like how they imagined. 

They didn’t even speak, it was astounding how the two didn’t want to let go of the other. 

Lynn had been the one to find the courage, he gently pulled him closer, tangling his fingers in his curls as he crashed their lips together. 

On his lips he tasted what divinity felt like, as Astarion's grip became ironclad on his waist.

Their kiss was breathless, desperate as they couldn't let go of each other. When one would take a moment to breathe, the other would itch to close the distance again, lingering close until their lips were not tangled again.

If the whole camp would have been silent, the only sound that would have reverberated would have been their breathy pleas.

“Don't go” Lynn begged as he lingered close, earning another kiss.

This time Astarion was tender, he caressed Lynn’s cheek as he eased. His usually taught body became nothing more than gelatin as he pressed himself against him.

“Not going anywhere” He murmured as he kissed him again. Their lips teased, sucked, clasped as they desperately clung to each other. They became one as the night swayed between sighs and caresses. Their clothes were long forgotten as they laid forehead to forehead, cradled against each other as they let their tongues do the talking for them.

[zestymimblo]

Writeblr - ReIntroduction

Howdy howdy! I figured I'd type one of these out again because I'm trying to be more active on here, and also pushing myself to indulge in my passion for writing again... this helped last time, so I may as well give it another shot.

My name is Milo (he/xe) and I'm an aspiring author. I've always loved writing, and there's never been a point in my life where I didn't want to write in some capacity. It's easy for me to succumb to writer's block, but writing makes me happy and I want to be able to share what I create.

About Me

I'm a 21 year old (very gay) transman from Canada, and I want so badly to be able to travel to other parts of the world one day.

I'm a D&D nerd. When I struggle with a writing project, I often fall back on expanding my D&D worlds/characters. It's my safety net.

My career is in film. I work in the Art Department, mainly in props, and am working towards maybe becoming a Production Designer one day. Film work is a competing passion of mine, and you'll definitely find posts of me talking about work.

Like most other authors, I love weird shit, and you'll find a lot of weird stuff in my writing. Weird Fantasy is my favourite kind of genre.

In my writing you'll find themes of 2SLGTBQIA+, found family, fighting destiny, struggling under mega-corps/capitalism, nature vs nurture, self-discovery, different kinds of love, slightly unsettling surroundings, and weird lil monsters/freaky dudes.

My Current Projects

I have two writing projects going on right now. One I had to put on the backburner because I had written myself into a corner. The story wasn't progressing or flowing the way I had envisioned/planned, and I ended up getting more stressed than excited to write it. The other is one more laid-back for me to write. (Keep in mind, these short descriptions may be subject to change in the future)

The Strings of Willis Manor: Thistle Willis is sick. Her condition leaves her confined to the property of Willis Manor; a sprawling estate with lush gardens, dusty libraries, and secret corridors. At her attendance is Clementine (an automata handmaid, who was created with the sole purpose of tending to Thistle) and Andromeda Marrow (Thistle's childhood best friend). When her father doesn't return from a business trip to the South, Thistle's mother begins to fear the worst. In an effort to find a cure for her daughter, and establish Thistle as the head of the family business, Mama hires a Healer from an unknown land. But this cloaked Healer isn't who they say they are, and Thistle begins to uncover what really may be going on in the house she thought she could call home.

(Backburner) - Beneath Tattered Flesh: In the hissing, polluted, Magic, and bronze city of Ritec, Caesar Dampton is trying to move forward. He's trying to get over a bad break-up, make ends meet, and help his best friend - Emersyn Riley - find her place in the world. Between running away from his ex, and trying to figure out what he wants to do with his life, Caesar is stuck in a downward spiral. Newt Gourdeau got the chance of a lifetime; a full scholarship to Verne Cobb University. Leaving their small town behind, they carved out a life for themself in the city of opportunities. They're trying to bury their problems in mystery novels, university studies, and attempting to find a scientific reason as to why some people in this world have Magic, while others don't. Their obsessions leave them in solitude for days. But when the unlikely pair see similar tragic events happen at the same time, but in different parts of the city, they stumble into each other's lives. Manipulation and death follow the two at every step, but they're both determined to get to the bottom of a gruesome mystery unfolding in the city... or die trying.

What I'm Looking For

As you could probably already tell, I'm not awesome at keeping myself "on schedule", which is code for "I sometimes let my life/anxiety/career/whatever eat away at my passion for writing and I'll abandon it for several months a time". Having a place to post updates, or even just little rambles, really helps me out.

So in all honesty, if you're interested in what you see, then feel free to stick around! I'd love to chat, do fun word tags, and just be in a community of like-minded people.

Thanks for reading!

[ausetkmt]

There are short stories, memoirs and novels written by White Southerners after the Civil War that tend to justify slavery. Some of these novels have made slave Christmases sound like beautiful times, writing about how enslaved men and women sang, danced and sat feasting on special meals during Christmas holidays, just as their owners did.

Some of these memoirs state that enslaved people wore their best clothes during Christmas and even played holiday games with their owners. But in reality, Christmas was never really a wonderful time of the year for enslaved people as these memoirs by White Southerners would want people to think.

It is true that many enslaved people got some time off from work during Christmas. The season becomes their longest break of the year, a break between the end of the harvest season and the start of preparation for the following year of production. They could travel to see their family or get married or partake in certain activities that they didn’t get to do at other times of the year.

“This time we regarded as our own, by the grace of our masters; and we therefore used or abused it nearly as we pleased,” abolitionist Frederick Douglass, who escaped slavery in his 20s, wrote. “Those of us who had families at a distance were generally allowed to spend the whole six days [between Christmas and New Year’s Day] in their society.”

Some enslaved men and women also received gifts from their owners — clothing, shoes or money — and ate special meals that they never tasted at other times of the year. But not all enslaved people got the above privileges, and with those who had these privileges, their owners could take back those privileges at any time. Some slaveowners even continued to brutally punish their slaves during Christmas.

It is documented that on one South Carolina plantation, a slaveowner locked up an enslaved woman during Christmas after accusing her of deliberately miscarrying her pregnancy. Runaway slave Gordon, who was nicknamed “Whipped Peter”, was photographed at a union camp upon escaping slavery in the south. Gordon’s photograph displaying his very conspicuous scourged back stunned Americans in the north. Sources say he was whipped at Christmas.

During Christmas, some slaveowners also forced enslaved workers to wrestle with each other to amuse the household or the slaveowners’ family. Other slaves were forced to get drunk by their owners. Some slaveholders also continued to buy and sell enslaved workers during the holidays. Other slaves were even shipped off, far away from their families.

Indeed, Christmas was not a good time for many enslaved people in America. As such, many took advantage of the holidays to plot their escape. In December 1848, Ellen and William Craft, an enslaved married couple from Macon, Georgia, used passes from their owners during Christmas to plan their escape. They boarded trains and a steamboat to Philadelphia. Harriet Tubman also helped her three brothers enslaved in Maryland to escape during Christmas in 1854.

And as Christmas became an opportunity for resistance, some slaveowners feared rebellion during the season. So they often armed themselves during the period or banned Black people from the streets amid intense security. Slaves who proved stubborn or their owners felt were acting strange were whipped or killed. These and many other disturbing moments made Christmas almost unwelcome for America’s enslaved people.

Even for those who received gifts, their owners were just reinforcing their control over them. Historian Stephen Nissenbaum writes that one slaveowner said giving gifts to enslaved people on Christmas was a more appropriate tool to control them than physical violence.

“I killed twenty-eight head of beef for the people’s Christmas dinner. I can do more with them in this way than if all the hides of the cattle were made into lashes,” he said.

[duckprintspress]

Meet Aether Beyond the Binary Contributor Terra P. Waters

Another day, another AETHER BEYOND THE BINARY creator to shine the spotlight on!

Before we get to that, just a note: hi, I’m Nina Waters, the lead editor, the person running this campaign, and the one who writes all these blog posts. I’ll be traveling for the next four days (Friday, Jan 12 – Monday, Jan 15) to vend for Duck Prints Press at Arisia in Boston. As a result, I will be slower to answer messages, reply to comments, and post updates (I’m going to try to post one, but I’m not sure I’ll have time). I appreciate your patience while I’m less available. And if by some chance, you’re attending the con, make sure you come and say hi! I’ll be at table D14 in the dealer’s room.

Now, on to Terra…!

About Terra: Terra is a scientist by day who lives in the Pacific Northwest with her family. She has been writing fiction as long as she can remember, and has always told her partner of 17 years that if she wasn’t a scientist, she would be an author. During grad school, she discovered fanfiction and immediately began writing her own. After many years and several fandoms (including Teen Wolf, Hawaii Five-0, and Stranger Things), she returned to writing original fiction. To date, she has self-published two novellas in a 90s-nostalgia polyamory comedy series and has drafted two YA/NA sci-fi novels. When not doing science or writing, you can find Terra indulging her yarn addiction and knitting.

Links: Archive of Our Own | Tumblr (pterawaters) | Tumblr (terrapwaters) | Instagram | Bluesky

Terra has previously published one short stories with Duck Prints Press, a Patreon-exclusive entitled The Wayward Timekeeper, and she also wanted to share a few of her works from AO3: 

Kope Kamekona (Hawaii Five-O, Steve McGarrett/Catherine Rollins/Danny Williams)

Forever’s gonna start tonight (Stranger Things, A/B/O, multiple ships and ot3s)

Other Delicacies (Our Flag Means Death, Ed Teach/Stede Bonnet) – this is the piece that Terra used to apply to Duck Prints Press, and several of us reviewers liked it so much that we sought it out and read the whole thing even though we aren’t in the fandom!

An Interview with Terra P. Waters

What motivates you to create?

My love for the ideas!

How did you pick the name you create under?

I’ve been using the name “pterawaters” since 2009, when I joined fanfiction.net. “Ptera” came from an old gaming character I had, “Ptera the Pterrible,” and “Waters” was a last name I really liked the sound of. For my original writing, I decided to go with a more conventional version of the name. I moved the P from the front of my name to the middle initial as an homage to my fannish writing name.

What do you consider to be your strengths as a creator?

My ability to brainstorm scenarios and know how to outline the plot from there. Longer-form works, where I get to dig into the character motivations and development. World building.

What do you consider to be your weaknesses as a creator?

Short stories, creating characters who serve the story I want to tell, adding enough description around the dialog and plot.

When and why did you begin creating?

I’ve been writing since I was a kid, and even took a lot of creative writing classes during college (aside from my science major). I get a lot of joy out of thinking “what if…” and then turning that idea into a story.

Are you a pantser, a planner, or a planster? What’s your process look like?

I’m most often a planner. I like to outline the story beats of any project before I write. Sometimes, I’ll be more of a plantser. I’ll write 1-2k words of an idea before I do the rest of the outline, so I can see if it’s an idea worth planning out further.

Which of your own creations is your favorite? Why?

I wrote a story called “Entanglement” that was part of a long Stranger Things fanwork series. It’s absolutely my favorite thing I’ve ever written, and I’m excited to get to the point where I can incorporate the rewritten version into my sci-fi series.

What are your favorite tropes?

Polyamory, First times/Getting together, Forced proximity (cuddling for warmth, only one bed), Soulmate AUs, Omegaverse, Fake relationship, Friends to Lovers

What are your favorite snacks and/or drinks to consume while creating?

I like herbal tea, candy, or a crunchy snack like popcorn. I’ve recently gotten into eating roasted lentils, which is a nice substitute for not being able to eat nuts anymore.

What is your “dream project” – the thing you’d see as the culmination of your work as a creator?

I want to finish a series of at least 4 novels and have them all in print.

When you look at your “career” as a creator, what  achievement would you most like to reach – what, if it happened or has  already happened, would/did make you go “now – now I’m a success!”?

I would like to have at least one full-length novel printed and for people to actually buy it!

Tell us about your pet(s).

I have two orange cats, Gadget (the chonk) and Gizmo (anxiety in animal form).

What’s the best advice you’ve ever received?

Finish the thing. My writing got so much better once I forced myself to finish fan works so I could put them up for other people to read. Practicing the first part of writing a story without practicing how to write the end leaves you never finishing anything.

Terra’s Contribution to Aether Beyond the Binary

Title: Ancient Hearts Unearthed

Tags: academia, alternate history, cancer, character illness (serious), f/nb, f/f (background), fat, first kiss, friends to lovers, getting together, hospital, modern with magic, mystery, non-binary, panic attacks, past tense, phobia (claustrophobia), pining, professor, scientist, third person limited pov

Excerpt:

Victoria turned and ran a hand over the runes again. “What bothers me is that these are early Age of Aether markings. You see the way they’re using archaic forms of our letters?”

Sasha leaned closer. “I’ll be damned. This doesn’t match the bronze-era artifacts in the rest of the cave, either.” They made a tiny humming noise. “Who else would have this much knowledge of ancient runes?”

As Victoria leaned as close as she could to the wall, she asked distractedly, “What do you mean?”

“Obviously, it’s a fake,” they said, mulling over the problem in their head. “Sanderson has wanted my place on the admissions committee since he joined the department.”

“What if it’s not a fake?” Victoria made a tiny, excited noise. “What if this is early Aether Age work? What if this is a secret that’s been buried for almost a thousand years?”

Sasha’s heart swooped at the thought. “We have to find out what that inscription says.”

You've read the interview! You've read the excerpt! Now go back the campaign!

[elminsters]

4, 9, 13, and 20 for the tav asks plssss :3

Hi!! Thanks so much for the ask! Questions from here

4. how do they sleep with their LI (what position, does one steal the blankets, is one too hot/cold, etc)?

Eurydice's love interest is Astarion, and both being elves their nightly rest is pretty short. When they rest at the same time, they either lay snuggled up with one person's head on the other's chest or like rag dolls some kid threw on the floor in a heap, there's no in-between. They are both blanket hogs and both run cold. They also would lay in bed for hours after waking up if they could and it often becomes someone else's problem to get them moving in the morning.

9. if they had to be put in a “get along shirt” with a companion, who would it be?

Of the core 6? Probably Gale, even though they're best friends. They have 2 big fights during the events of the game, both involving his plans with the orb, and everyone else at camp is definitely sick of hearing about it. If we're talking non-origin companions, Halsin 1000%. I don't want to write a whole novel about why but Eurydice does not like him at all. It's very one-sided beef and Halsin is pretty oblivious to it but yeah. Halsin lmao

13. what makes them laugh? what does their laugh sound like?

Eurydice has a good sense of humour and laughs a lot, mainly at her own jokes. Her laugh is weird and not very pretty, and it usually starts by her making one really loud "HA" sound; if it's something really funny that's followed by silently chuckling and the occasional squeaky gasp for air. She also has a fake laugh that she uses when she's lying that's very dainty and refined and not at all what her real laugh sounds like.

20. if you were to try pickpocketing them, what would they be carrying?

Eurydice travels light, so anyone who tried to pickpocket her would likely be sorely disappointed. They would find a concerning number of healing potions, a Harper pin, a few gold pieces, and maybe the odd piece of jewelry that she picked up. They also would almost definitely get caught doing it!

[t-lane-writes]

 Who Should Be the Main Character of Ananke? 

Often, when reading books or watching tv shows or movies, I identify with secondary characters – almost never with the main ones. Long ago I ascribed this to a flaw in my psyche, which I will not dig into here, but I still stand by this opinion.

The problem starts when I write a story and place its most important character in the secondary position. The story loses cohesion. Like I said, I came to this realization some time ago, so in most of the stories I now have on my list, I managed to work around this problem. Perhaps Crystal Spring Valley started this way (in 2017) to some extent – initially I was more focused on Tenney, and Priya was only there to observe him. But even during the planning phase I realized she had to be more significant, more proactive and, over all the writing and then editing, I think I made Crystal Spring truly a Priya’s story.

Now I should do the same thing with Ananke.

I started Ananke way back in 2012. That was the time when I didn’t even realize that characters were important and was first and foremost focused on worldbuilding, on calculating all the distances between the planet, its sun, the spaceships traveling through the system, the amount of power they would require, things like that. When I submitted this story to a contest in 2014, I received a personalized review – and the reviewer told me that it was well written, but boring, because nothing happened to the characters.

It was a blow for me, but also a very important lesson. The characters who lived in this universe were cardboard cutouts, that was true. In the last ten years I kept putting this story on the shelf and taking it back, putting it away and returning to it. I tried to find the right people to inhabit the world – maybe that group? Maybe another?

[As a sidenote I want to say that I wrote a lot of fanfiction in that period of time (and before it too). I always enjoyed writing so-called “case fics”, and my stories were never popular in any fandoms. Here’s why: fanfiction, as a genre, is very character-focused – an unspoken rule I realized after that review of Ananke. So, I tried to make my fanfics more character-focused and I think I succeeded, judging by the kind of reviews I started getting (and the quality of friendships I built with other authors )].

The characters I thought would fit Ananke – one batch of them were characters based on one of the tv shows. I wanted to try writing this story as an AU fanfic. That didn’t work. Recently – as in 2020 – I decided to definitively give up writing another story that was going nowhere – but which, I felt, had good characters. My own characters that I’d come to love and care about a lot. What’s better then, than taking them, their names, their character traits, their relationships – and having them inhabit the empty world of Ananke?

It was a fantastic decision. With a small “but”.

The story I wrote was focused on two characters, Morgan and Conor, who are on an enemies-to-friends relationship trajectory (in the 2014 version they were one person, same as in the 2017 fanfic-inspired version). I think this version is good, I like it, but its 40k words long. It’s too short to be a novel and too long to be published in a sci-fi magazine. My friend said that I could expand it, that I could write more about the secondary characters, because they seemed interesting. I could explain some details of the worldbuilding that were unclear. I might even add facets to the two main characters, by exploring more of their relationships which, in this 40k version, were only brushed upon.

I didn’t want to do this, because that’s a lot of work and I already have so many other long stories that I love and want to write. So, the other option was to shorten it. Which is what I did in 2023 and failed spectacularly.

I chose Conor to be the main character of this shortened version. I had two reasons – for one, he had more interactions with the most important of the secondary characters, their boss, Stella. He also seemed to be making more decisions and I thought they were interesting, story-wise.

As I was nearing the final act of the story, I realized though, that the most dramatic decision was made by Morgan. He was the one who carried the real conflict. As much as Conor was making decisions – of course he was – he had nothing to lose. Morgan, meanwhile, put his life on the line, in that 40k version. Removing his plot in order to make the story shorter, not showing how and why he came to that point, was a gargantuan mistake.

Another realization I came to, was the one I started this entry with. The character from the 2014 version had the same fear I later gave Morgan. But I didn’t explore it at all, back then, because I thought it would be boring. It existed only in the back of my head. I tried to give him some other obstacles that never felt authentic. Even in the 2020 version, that fear was only vaguely introduced throughout the story, and became prominent in the final act.

Then, in 2023 version I removed it again. I wrote a story where Morgan, my most interesting character, and the one I could most identify with, became a secondary character. At this point, I should have known better, but some thought processes regarding Ananke were already rooted too deep for me to see it right away.

I did see it, eventually, and that I’m very happy about – and proud of.

Now, I’m about to start from scratch. And this time Ananke will be told from the beginning, as Morgan’s story. As a story of him fighting his fears, where the intricate worldbuilding (well, I am happy I have created such a rich world here ), as well as other characters (who at this point are well developed too ), will only be the background to his development.

#

Header by Julie Aagaard, through pixabay

tagging @echo-bleu , @hithelleth 

[dragonsaffron]

A Proper Introduction

This post has been sitting in my drafts for literal months at this point, but in response to the impending collapse of Twitter, I figured it was time to finally make a post about my writing so that I could start advertising on this platform.

So, hello, my name is Saffron (though some call me Becca). I am a autistic trans lesbian polyamorous dragonkin (she/they), and I’m a writer. As of right now, the bulk of my writing is available for free online. My main projects are my web novels, which I typically write two of at any given time, releasing chapters every other week on a regular schedule. The publicly available chapters of my novels are available in three places: you can read them on my Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/saffrondragon), on my wordpress page (https://beccawritesbooks.wordpress.com/) or on Scribblehub (https://www.scribblehub.com/profile/9163/saffrondragon/). Warning: Scribblehub is a free story hosting website, so although it has better support structures (bookmarking, ratings, etc) it is also full of weird hentai.

Like I said before, I have a Patreon. As of right now, there are two main benefits to being a patron of mine: at the lowest tier, you get early access to chapters of my books, usually between two and four chapters ahead of the free version depending on how well the writing is going at that time. There’s also a higher tier, which gives access to a collection of short stories I’ve written for Patreon (some of them smutty, others not), and the ability to vote on which short stories I will write next.

And now we get to the reason why I’ve been procrastinating writing this post for so long: now I have to try to summarize all of my various works! The Selene Series: Marcus Farrier is a physics graduate student who gets isekai’d to Selene, a steampunk world where humanity evolved to only have one sex. There, Marcus takes up the name “Emma”, and rapidly gets caught up in the chaotic and deadly politics of Selene, and begins having some revelations about their past, their gender, and how they got to Selene in the first place. The Selene series is actually my longest-running writing project, with four years and two-and-three-quarter books under my belt out of a planned four in total. Currently on hiatus, but I will return to it someday.

The Earthborn Emissary: Alex Sierra is living a normal life, with their girlfriend Miri and their best friend Quinn, until the day they fall ill, go into a coma, and wake up to discover that they’ve just emerged from their chrysalis. Alex is actually an Emissary, an insectoid alien from a species that has been driven to the brink of extinction by a genocide; now, their adoptive parents are going to have to take them into space in search of the other members of their species. My longest single book so far, and the closest thing I’ve come to writing what I would consider to be a “YA” novel. My most popular book, though I don’t quite know why. Currently completed, though I may write a sequel someday. The Chained Flame: My most recent and personal favorite of my novels. It’s a loosely-plotted dark fantasy story telling the life of Lindír, prince of the kingdom of Hvalheim, who was cursed at birth to have the body of a dragon. After growing up in the castle dungeons, Lindír finally finds his freedom, and ends up travelling the North as a wandering entertainer, a savage raider, a royal champion, and more. A very tragic book dealing heavily with the theme of traumatic upbringings. Also features a dragon protagonist who does not at any point become human, nor does he particularly want to. In-progress as of the writing of this post, but barely a week away from completion. I also have a couple of short stories posted, as well as two erotic Locked Tomb fanfics on my AO3 account. I generally post new chapters of my novels every second week, Selene updating on Thursdays and Chained Flame updating on Mondays. 

So yeah, that’s what I do for a living! I’ll probably start making announcement posts for new chapters, both in public and on Patreon, as well as any Patreon exclusives, votes, or anything else writing-related that I’m doing. Indeed, I might be making some more posts later today, so keep an eye out for that. Thank you in advance to anyone who spreads the word, and extra thank you to anyone who actually goes the extra mile and starts supporting me. To all of my followers who aren’t interested in my writing, you can block the “becca writes books” tag, which will cover all of my writing-related posts.

[blysse-and-blunder]

in lieu of a bachelorette party

10pm, sunday, aug 6, 2023

we're officially in the period of the summer that has been planned out since months and months ago, in the lead up to some dear friends' wedding; time is telescoping in a very odd way! after traveling the past two weeks, my re-entry was good but hard; i came back from my trip thinking i'd be all revitalized and looking around me with new eyes, which in a way i did, but then i was also pretty wiped. i didn't really want to spend all week hibernating, but i guess it was good to recharge my batteries since i also had five different party/gathering-type things (three this weekend, including the aforementioned bachelorette).

reading can't forget to mention finishing carmen maria machado's in the dreamhouse, which was gripping and devastating and still beautiful somehow. the experience of reading it was so...i couldn't stop once i got started, you know? short fragmented chapters, some funny, some incredibly sad. every once in a while there would be a detail or an allusion to something i could relate to, punctuating the intense surreality / unreality used to talk about the abuse with a sudden concrete reality that was. striking. loved the device of the footnotes, pointing out where certain things are matching up with folklore tropes? as a form of foreshadowing and ironic, devastating commentary? inspired. that's just one detail, but it's one i can sum up.

abrupt tonal shift and getting back to fantasy / adventure, a.k. larkwood's the unspoken name has been very engaging this week too. part one was...fresh but in a comforting sort of vein, with a young protag escaping a bad fate under the protection of a new mysterious mentor, who then helps her get an education, martial arts training, before he sends her out on a mission--reminded me of half a dozen beloved fantasy novels, with the addition of some fun details! for example, neither is actually described in much detail, but our main character and her mentor are clearly not Human; she has grey skin and tusks (my mind went right to a dnd-style orc?) and he has mobile, elongated ears, which seem to telegraph his emotions much like those in the goblin emperor and was an *immediate* delight to envision. just about a third of the way through this one now; it feels like a locked tomb book with a slightly different magic system, and i'm really enjoying it.

watching plane movies while returning home:

the battle of the sexes (2017) -- entertaining more because i didn't know the history and always enjoy the depiction of historical women's sports and sports teams; emma stone is great but has virtually no chemistry with either of her romantic counterparts, painfully straight energy overall. i was too entertained by watching steve carell and sarah silverman in their respective period hair and makeup . kudos to whoever was the tennis stunt doubles, it was legitimately fun to try and follow the games.

banshees of inisherin (2022) -- people who talk about the overdone stereotyped blarney-filled hollywood depiction of ireland in this one are missing the fact that it's an intentional (ironic?) depiction; see, the imprecision when it comes to year/time passing / calendars and whatnot. sort of waiting for godot-y in its heightened reality / absurdity. my lukewarm take is that it was definitely meant to be a play, and would have worked a lot better that way. not sure i'll watch it again, not sure i *got* it, but it will certainly live in my brain rent-free.

finished strange world (2022) as a palate cleanser-- i wanted to support it, the box office and overall reception to this was pretty disappointing but it's fine! like it's a cute kids' movie! you know, disney's first gay character, thinly veiled climate analogy lesson, absolutely gorgeous animation and colors, what's not to love.

the first three episodes of season 1 of the white lotus . hypnotizing like a train wreck, but i'll wait until i've seen more of it to give a real write-up.

listening you ever watch a viral video and then realize you're captivated by both the cute videos of people dancing and the soundtrack? (and recognizing the background scenery, and it turns out i was right!!) anyway i went and found these two tracks courtesy of just this experience, so thanks to youtuber thoraya i guess?

UPDATE: saw hadestown live today!!! the original broadway recording didn't prepare me for how much i would love it, how dynamic and captivating the live band and incredible ensemble would be-- and of course i was crying almost immediately, and was clutching my chest during 'wait for me' both times. but then again, the performance i saw didn't include this one instrumental track i love and had on my semester playlist all spring, so here:

playing finally got the cut-scene celebrating my community center completion in stardew, hell yeah. had two great dnd sessions; one campaign successfully defeated a monstrously-oversized jaguar and decided which faction we're going to attempt to win over first, while the other group went shopping and spent some downtime at base and gathering info on some individual plots! napoleon did exist in this world and was a gnome, and our organization assassinated him apparently??, also this just feels like a good time to mention that their resume also includes '1841 – Controlled controversy riots when “Dinosaurs” suggested as a creature alongside and separate from “Dragons” ', which sent us into absolute hysterics when the DM shared that.

making it's summer, so i crowdsourced a ratatouille recipe and could not have been happier with the outcome. saving it here for posterity!

working on i was very diligent with RA work this week, since it feels like i always neglect it over the summer for absolutely no reason, especially since it like. pays me. but i also have been using it as productive procrastination since i'm actively dragging my heels in sending the last few students their essay feedback and grade breakdowns from the summer course. it means confronting my judgments and math and possible mistakes from earlier in july, and trying to either defend or amend them as necessary, and i just have been. napping rather than actually do it. which is silly, and also stupid since i have actual work to be doing! just get this over with, and you can be free!

[korka-mindlore]

Writeblr (re)intro !

Hi, hi! I've had a writeblr before, but left after remaking my entire Tumblr account. Got a bit busy, but missed the community so much that I wanted back in <3

-About me-

Korka or Corky - whichever you prefer

adult

undergrad majoring in two foreign languages and their respective literature :>

I've been writing for about as long as I've known of myself, but only started taking it seriously in the last 5-6 years, and only in the past year or two did I really start figuring out what I want to write, so my style is still unpolished and I still consider myself in my "finding myself" era

major procrastinator and experiencer of what I think is executive dysfunction; I will try my bestest to be active on here, but I might take a week or seven to read a single excerpt, though not for lack of interest or trying!! Nevertheless, please tag me in your works so I won't lose them in the dash :3

-What I write-

prose, short story lover, but I have about three WIPs that would be about the length of a novel(la) (that planning stage sure is planning)

literary movements I draw inspiration from the most are the romantic period (especially gothic) and symbolist movement, as well as the spirit of avant-garde's experimentation and pushing boundaries

my biggest role model is Charles Baudelaire :>

genres I like to stick to: fantasy, horror, horror/dark fantasy, recently tried experimenting with social satire, but we'll see how that goes

I feel most comfortable in fantasy and historical, but I love writing horror the most

I love worldbuilding and writing body horror/gore the most, but describing body language and appearance is something I desperately need to work on

I'm a planner and a perfectionist, so it might take some time for me to intro my WIPs properly, but I'm more than happy to talk about my OCs in the meantime :>

I have four WIPs in varying stages of planning, all still practically nameless:

a historical (time-travel) coming-of-age WIP meant to be about the length of a novel-novella (skeletal stage, planning out characters and main plot points)

a fantasy political intrigue WIP of a similar length (planning stage, details need to be ironed out before I can work on it, but i have an outline, sort of)

(and the spin-off horror fantasy collection of short stories WIP set in the same world) (skeletal stage, planning out the characters and the storylines)

a satirical WIP on the "tiktokification" of the arts, mainly literature, and anti-intellectualism (newest, researching stage; I know nothing about this yet beyond the core message and idea, but I'm looking forward to developing it)

-What I'd love to read-

genres: horror (especially dark fantasy!!), fantasy, "cheesy" romances, historical!!!!! I'm not too picky on genres, but if you mix horror in it, I'll love it even more

details: ngl those hyper-specific fantasy academy settings in coming-of-age stories hit different, detailed worldbuilding is everything to me, best-friends-to-lovers? chef's kiss. enemies-to-lovers? even louder chef's kiss. Morally ambiguous characters, morally questionable protagonists, I just love when the cast is formed of imperfect characters where you can't with 100% certainty say "x is evil" or "y is good". Make me think !

I also love reading poetry, though I'm not the best at analysing it and understanding particularly deep analogies, I love poetry that deals with abstract feelings, interpersonal relationships and personal philosophies <3

-I don't know how to end this :> -

A bit more about what i love writing/reading:

I'm from a Slavic country and dislike the way Slavic characters get written in western media, so most of my OCs are Slavic and I love to see a fleshed out Slavic character

I love body horror as an allegory for bodily autonomy and beauty standards. It's fun as horror, too, but as an allegory - very fun to explore

In general, I'm weak for a good symbol

And on me:

I spent most of my time in the last few years writing fanfiction, but so eager to focus on original fiction, too

I tend to write on-and-off, I'm either busy or tired, and sadly can go months without any progress :< I hope this changes as I get more settled into life

But! I've taken a recent liking to just making OCs without any particular WIP attached to them, so I'll probs talk about them if nothing else :)

I just missed the community of a writeblr a lot, so I'm hoping to make friends on here ! ^_^

[veliseraptor]

@jill-question-mark replied to your post “December Reading Recap”:

I haven't been reading many "real books" since the before times. Would you be willing to share horror recs? The last horror book I picked up due to a rec was 'The Ruins' and I thought it was extremely bad :(

​so I keep saying I'm not writing recs lists anymore but then somebody asks me for book recs and the part of me that enjoyed exactly one thing about working at a bookstore arises from the depths like a sea monster

okay so. here's a few books from the last few years that I read and enjoyed, by my extremely arbitrary and weirdly hard to pin down standards of horror fiction

Echo by Thomas Olde Heuvelt. I actually think I liked this one slightly more than the other book I read by him (also on this list) and I don't think it was just because I find the towering horror of a thing much bigger and older than you scarier than witches. If you find mountains scary already this is not going to help. If you don't find mountains scary yet this might help you start. The premise kicks off with a mountaineer and travel journalist who wakes up with his climbing buddy missing and presumed dead, badly injured and claiming amnesia. It gets real bad from there.

HEX by Thomas Olde Heuvelt. The first book published in English by this author (who is Dutch), about a small town haunted by a very spooky witch, locked down by heavy surveillance in order to keep the curse from spreading. I think Echo was better, but this one was also good, and good enough for me to remember the author and come back to read the other one years later.

I have over the years come to the conclusion that if I want to find good horror really I should learn how to read more Northern European languages, between this guy and John Ajvide Lindqvist whose Let the Right One In, Handling the Undead, and Harbour I all read too long ago to recommend unreservedly (I don't know how they'd hold up now) but I loved at the time, and now am planning on rereading, so.

Songs of a Dead Dreamer and Grimscribe by Thomas Ligotti. I feel like I've recommended this one as "kinda Lovecraftian but without the racism and not in the, like, tentacles sense, in the 'the world is horrible and incomprehensible kind of way' and that's sort of the best I have. I'm not usually a short stories person (they're so hit and miss for me), and not all the stories in this collection were hits, to be sure, but the ones that did land landed hard.

The Hollow Places by T. Kingfisher. I think I marginally prefer The Twisted Ones (see below) from this author, but The Hollow Places deserves mention for creeping me the fuck out. I personally found the resolution a little less satisfying than the build-up (my perennial problem with horror! and possibly why short stories often work better for me in this genre specifically), but not so much that it ruined the rest of the work for me. This one is about a young woman who moves back into her uncle's house and discovers that she can walk through a wall into a very weird place. It is unfortunately not uninhabited.

T. Kingfisher has a gift for creating seriously spooky atmospheres and I think that was the biggest win for this book, from my perspective. Also ensured that I'll keep reading horror novels this author releases. (Not the novella, though. I've been burned one too many times by novellas at this point.)

The Twisted Ones by T. Kingfisher. There is one specific image from this book that is going to live in my head forever and I'm impressed. I don't usually get that happening with books, because I'm not a very visual reader, and it's hard to actually scare me with a book (movies are different), but it succeeded.

Another book about somebody who moves back to an old family house, but this one features a weird diary that just initially just sounds like a guy losing his mind. Or maybe not.

The Graveyard Apartment by Mariko Koike. This is the one on this list I read longest ago so my memories of it are less clear but I do remember that it kept me awake at night after finishing it, which, again, doesn't usually happen to me! Originally published in Japan in the 80s (seriously, I am pretty sure my problem with horror is just that all the best ones are originally written in other languages that I can't read), about a family that moves into a new apartment building constructed next to a graveyard. Things get weird, people start moving out, and there's something in the basement.

The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor LaValle. I'm weak to things riffing on Lovecraft (see below) and there's been a few of them in recent years, but this remains I think the one best executed. It's a novella that takes Lovecraft's infamous "The Horror at Red Hook" as its jumping off point, and makes a Black man its protagonist. It was the first book to really make me excited about what people could do with Lovecraft's work (but often aren't; I find most people writing Lovecraft pastiches don't do anything interesting with it). It's good shit, and (at least if you're me) readable in a single sitting. Maybe I should go reread it today, actually.

One I'm putting on here but with a caveat is My Heart is a Chainsaw by Stephen Graham Jones and the caveat is only because I am not a huge slasher horror person, and that book is very specifically a love letter to slasher horror; I really enjoyed it and I am going to read the sequel, but it's a different flavor from most of the stuff on this list and since you'll see it recommended by many other people I didn't put it down here.

lastly I will say that I am, unfortunately, a Lovecraft fan, and while I am far from recommending that people read Lovecraft, and I am absolutely not saying he wasn't a massive racist (he was), I will say that a lot of the horror I think about when I think about horror that I really enjoyed has been Lovecraft short stories. If you're interested I can share that list, but I tend to refrain from recommending either (a) H.P. Lovecraft's work generally or (b) recommending Lovecraft at all to the general public.

I hope this helps and gives you at least one new thing to read! and if anyone has recs for me I will gladly take them. always on the hunt for more horror and I have altogether too few people I trust to steer me to good stuff.

[adinelleggreeo]

Novel Length Ideas I'm Working On!

So now that I know how to plan my stories, I'm planning them!

I bought some of those clear folders that you can just slip your papers through to organize everything and I have a folder for each.

I've had many, many, many stories over the years, but these are the ones I've decided to focus on.

Not Another Paranormal Romance

Loved the idea for this one and really want to continue with it. You can read the short story I wrote from this idea here, here and here!

Diary of an Ex-Witch

A recent idea (like a week old or so) Was definitely inspired by reading the Bible and understanding a few things about GOD a bit better.

Time Warp/ Rewind

Name is pending. This is an idea I had when I was 17 and I absolutely HAVE to write this! Especially since I've gotten so many new ideas for it! It will be about two 3rd formers (13 to 14-year-olds) who mysteriously travel back in time to the week before they were cruelly pranked by their peers.

K.I.D.S

This was a story idea from when I was 15, heavily inspired by my favourite series at the time, N.E.R.D.S by Michael Buckley (I still have and read all the books to this day!)

----------------

This story grew in originality as I got older and it went from being about exceptional kid spies (veeeerrrry similar to N.E.R.D.S) to regular kids unintentionally caught up in the secrets and drama of the hidden. I'm still working on organising my thoughts for this one, especially since I plan for it to be a trilogy.

I do plan to work on some short stories, both to share with you and to exercise my writing muscles. I may also share some snippets of writings based on these novel-length ideas. I find that writing shorts featuring your characters are a good way to get to know them.

[charlidrawz]

Her Tears Were My Light | .:Review:. | Trying Something New!

For a long time now I've been scrambling to find a way to stay active as well as continue posting more frequently online, and I think I've settled on writing reviews, Top Ten+ Lists, and the like!

For those who don't know me, I'm Michael (Mike/Mickey/Mika), also known as "Charli" online! (He/They pronouns)

I am a mega nerd, as well as an artist and gamer who loves to make playlists and bracelets in their spare time, as well as voice over work when able! (Reading, voice acting, singing, etc...)

I might make videos at some point, I'm not sure yet, but I have been working on a script for one at some point!

This is just a quick review I wanted to try my hand at, and I apologize in advance if I'm still fiddlin' around with Tumblr to figure out how it works after all these years, haha;;

Tl;dr: This is my first review (via Tumblr on my "main" account) I'll be posting!

Today I will be reviewing her tears were my light by NomnomNami

her tears were my light by NomnomNami is a visual novel available for purchase on Steam, Google Play, and itch.io.

You can see on the itch.io site that it has a word count of 6k, as well as 3 notable endings.

It's a quick playthrough, as well as a pleasant read, and the endings are rather easy to get.

I, personally, took my time reading and processing the story and artwork, so it took me around 20 min to about half an hour.

I am an achievement hunter on Steam, so I'll mention a couple of noteworthy bits of information for my fellow completion scavengers:

There are achievements, but I believe they're in that inactive state where the game won't show as a "Perfect Game" on your account.

There are options and settings you're able to fiddle around with to speed up the dialogue and skip through it, so that helps for folks who just want that 100%;

though I will say, this was one of those games I actually sat down and enjoyed, so please take your time if you're not in a rush to have the best experience possible!

The writing was stellar with brilliantly designed characters and gorgeous yet simple art, perfectly complimented by Nami's beautiful ost for their story.

I don't want to spoil too much of the actual content in the game itself, but it was wonderful enough that I left a review on Steam, wanted to attempt a more in-depth one here, and found myself unable to resist the urge to create a playlist for it.

I mentioned on Steam as well that I also plan to share this with my fiancé later, and I might draw some fanart for it at some point.

Spoilers Beyond This Border!

｡･:*˚:✧｡╔═*.·:·.✧ ✦ ✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧ ✦ ✧.·:·.*═╗｡✧:˚*:･｡

Now that all of that's out of the way, I wanted to actually talk about the characters and some topics in the game themselves!

her tears were my light nearly had me crying; it was a touching and emotional story.

I love Space's design, Nil's writing, and Time's concept especially.

Making use of the save files was rather brilliant in my opinion, which I've rarely seen used, appropriately and well, in games- especially visual novels.

I won't include the Life is Strange franchise; it's not a mere "visual novel", and has a different tone and aesthetic.

If you like time travel and lgbtqia+ friendly stories with deep and excellent writing though, I do highly recommend it.

I actually felt disappointed that it was so short- when usually I'm nearly complaining that the viznovs I play, even the ones I like, cough Danganronpa cough are so long.

There was so much heart and soul put into these characters you only know for such a short period of time that it feels so abrupt having it end so quickly... after having made such a fuss over how long Nil waited for Time.

I can't stress enough, this isn't a complaint about the game- quite the opposite, honestly.

This feels like the perfect transition that could be used to go over a different review for another game by the same creator which I've considered doing, and I wasn't able to leave one for it on Steam because I had borrowed the game via Steam Share with a close friend of mine.

The game was the perfect length, honestly.

I had just enough time to complete it without stressing about finishing it; but it also still had enough content, good and interesting content, to leave at least me with a desire to play it again.

her tears were my light leaves the player with enough of (aforementioned) content to consume that they can create their own ideas and headcanons, aus, fanart, songs, and the like with their own creative minds.

Before I head out, I will say:

I personally prefer the ending where everyone is happy. Ɛ':

Hi, there!

I'm Michaela! Aka Michael, Mickey, Mike, Mika, etc... or Charli, as I go by online!

I'm an artist and gamer who loves cosplaying and voice acting, as well as making playlists, bracelets, and props in my spare time!

Wanna support me and/or see more content from me?

I do commissions, and occasionally requests!

If you have any ideas for a game, movie, show, anime, manga, comic, book, etc, that you want me to check out and review, lemme know in the comments or hmu via dms, Discord (CharliDrawz#9544), or my email (katyzworkz@gmail.com)!

as for commissions, you can contact me the same way if you're interested in an art piece or hiring an artist to help with a project!

I have a carrd for that (which might need to be updated) with info on what I do and don't do!

I am open to ship/pairing drawings, fanart, backgrounds, etc...

I don't do overly explicit NSFW or gore, nor do I do anything too overly detailed, realistic, or mecha.

I can do cartoony styles, furry/anthropomorphic art, 2d drawings, etc... but I will not draw a character without a reference.

I don't do full complete animations, but I am up for trying short moving avatars for a price.

I also do Spotify, SoundCloud, and YouTube playlists!

(I haven't used SoundCloud in a while, though; I apologize if it's a mess in there.)

These are a lot cheaper, and are easier for me to make!

Prices start from around 50¢ for super short 5-10 song playlists, to $10+ for a full hour/100+ track playlists.

(Whichever is reached first. The price depends on the length and how long it took to make it.)

‧˚₊꒷꒦︶•☽────✧˖°˖☆‿୨♡୧‿☆˖°˖✧────☾•︶꒦꒷‧₊˚⊹

Did you like this review?

Feel free to share it with your friends and repost!

(with credit, of course~)

[sweetpiccolo-blog]

hii, here about the mashups

what i like to do as hobbies are reading novels (especially romance), watching movies, dancing and workout.

i have asian features, my height is 161 cm. have a brown hair that reach my lower back and also a very dark brown eyes.

i speak fluent indonesian and english, because i am from indonesia. also speaks German since i am currently studying in Germany. can also understand some mandarin (bcs i'm half chinese) and korean.

I am actually an ambivert but my mbti says that i am leaning more towards the extrovert side (ENFJ) 😂. always shy around some new people that i met, but can be really talkative and "crazy" if i am comfortable with them. my zodiac sign is Leo.

i like to cook and go for a walk around a lake or just enjoying the nature. really like to travel to new countries and cities. also love Dogs and been a Ferrari and Redbull fan since i started watching F1.

i really dislike chemistry with a passion and insects.

thank you in advance 🫶🏻

Hi fellow ENFJ!!! How are your studies in Germany? I find it very impressive that you study so far away from your home. Hope you like these matches!💙: D

A/N: Hey guys, I want to apologize for the wait. I deeply appreciate your asks and I want to write them, but I kinda have to balance school, sleep and work. I could write faster but I do not want to half-ass the asks. I enjoy answering them and I wanna be sure I do my best on all of them. It might take longer for me to answer you, but do not worry, I see your requests and I will write for you. Thank you for the patience&lt;3

This is only my opinion, so be sure to let me know what you think about it later : )

LET US GET STARTED!

Header by @dvluc

Your match is...

☆ Daniel Ricciardo☆

Even though you are shy at first with strangers, I feel like you and Daniel would instantly click together. With his charm, you would feel yourself loosening up and letting out your playfulness in a short while. He would match your “crazy” energy and get into trouble together with you. There is nothing on your job atm? You bet he is taking you along to do with him whatever he had planned without telling you what it is.

You want something? You get it. He is willing to do literally anything for you. Because you give him enough support by just being with him. His cheeks hurt from how much he smiles when you are together, but its not like he minds.

Spending time in nature… expect to get dirty. Hikes, road biking and swimming are on the programme. Even a walk can turn into a whole day adventure, because you had such a heated conversation that you didn’t notice you got off the track. A common activity would be taking the dogs from nearby shelter for a walk, even into the nature, since you can´t have a dog- Daniel travels a lot and he doesn’t want to leave not only you but your furry child as well.

I think everyone has seen Daniel dancing, so he is no stranger to grooving. When your favourite song plays, he jumps up and starts spinning you around. Don’t expect some professional moves from him though. It is just for fun to get the blood pumpin´!

You would travel a lot together. Its more fun like that. Getting to know new places together, enjoying the atmosphere and various cultures. I feel like going to countries which languages you can speak is on your to-do list. Showing Daniel where you study/studied in Germany, visiting Indonesia together and so on. You hating insects would make you not want to stay for long in Australia but Daniel swears to protect you from any creature that crawls into a 5 meter radius to you so no worries there. He’s your hero!

Of course there are days when you two don’t feel like doing much so just simply staying at home and binge watching a show or movies and cooking yourself something would do the magic. Even the most energetic people need to recharge sometimes.

BONUS: He constantly asks you what books you are reading, what they are about, how far did you get, how did it end and so on. He knows you like them and he even sometimes tries to act out certain scenes from the books and even if it doesn't work out, at least he got to make you laugh : )

[parkerlyn]

I love ur characters and world building sm! I really want to try out doing a fantasy story but I'm not sure where to start. Do you have any tips?

Hi! Oh, where to begin haha. I think first of all I'll caveat that I'm no expert and that there's no one-strategy-fits-all. But I can at least give what my experience was at the high-level when starting The Nameless!

I would say the first thing for me is thinking about broad strokes - i.e. theme and tone for the story. Are you writing epic high fantasy? Low fantasy? Urban fantasy? Alternate history? Are there huge, overarching themes you want to write about? Is it a serious, more "mature" adventure or something more whimsical and relaxed (though not to say you can't explore serious themes in those sorts of stories too!) What is the scale of conflict you want to write? Do you want to write a happy ending? A tragedy?

Predictably because I refuse to shut up, this turned into a novel so more under the cut:

Asking these questions doesn't mean you have to have a ten-point bulleted plan for each one, but at least helps to steer you in the direction you want to go. Keeping high level, then, I can say for The Nameless I went into worldbuilding in regards to culture first. In my case, there's a major theme I've always wanted to explore that's [spoilers]. So I knew I wanted to incorporate that and it's been a crucial driving point for the plot. Then I took a lot of inspiration from D&D and fey-related tropes and stories, which led to the thought of how a culture might shift if fey/sheevra deals were a lot more prevalent and well-known vs more mysterious and less-encountered. The world formed after that thought, and I'd definitely recommend looking at some world-building questionnaires or guides out there, even for topics that probably aren't going to be relevant within your writing.

It will almost definitely never be mentioned in the game, but someone asking me about how farmland and agriculture worked in a significantly barren world led to me thinking more about the food culture of each of the four cities, or travel between them i.e. the Crossings vs the river entrances, and more about weather and trade. A lot of random questions here on tumblr have also helped nail down other details! I've also been lucky enough to have a close friend and my SO absolutely pick apart my story and ask random questions which made me think, so don't be afraid to talk through things out loud even when you don't have everything completely fleshed out.

Again - not that I'm expecting to go into a biosphere breakdown or trade laws of each city ever in game, but it did really help to make it more real in my head. More...lived in. And that helps with finding your characters and their motivations too. Obviously having the major goals or alignment of a character are vital for determining who they are at their core. But being asked "What's [character's] favorite meal or drink" or "What is their favorite time of day? memory? person?" or "What does their room look like" really helps to make them come alive for me, at least. I love the grand adventure of fantasy stories, but I love the small moments and details equally and in my opinion they're just as - if not even more - important.

Along that line I will say take notes!!! Write shorts that are smack dab in the middle of the story!!! Jot them down in your phone!! Write them on the back of a receipt!! Even if it's incoherent later (RIP 🤝 ajfdksalj), anything can help jog a memory or an idea, and like any craft, writing takes practice. Re: apps available, I use Scrivener more now to combine both writing and note-taking and it's the easiest for me to switch/sync between my main devices (aside from my base game folder in Visual Studio Code that's synced to my Dropbox, but I can't open that on mobile). But there are lots of wonderful free alternatives like Obsidian and Evernote (Evernote is free on a limited amount of devices, then goes into paid plans), and many more!

There's also another piece of advice I've heard which is to know how your story is going to end before you get too far. I waffle a little on recommending this one because I think half the fun is the journey to get there, and sometimes the end takes a bit to form. I do know how The Nameless is ultimately going to end, but there are still pieces missing in the middle and definitely more I want to finesse. So I'd say at least start with an idea of what sort of ending you want like in those initial questions - this will really help with your direction and determining a goal for the characters - and iron out the details as you go.

General advice outside of writing tools is to not expect or hold yourself to perfection and to not compare too much to other peers. This is so hard to do sometimes because I do want things to come out well written the first time around. But there's no way I'd write something without reading through it again, and that's what editing is for! That's what everyone has to go through! Take advice and do writing practices based on what you like from other author's writings who inspire you, but at the end of the day, your voice is your own.

Lastly the most important piece of advice I have is - at the core of everything - to write the story you want to tell. Write for you. This is also something I think can be hard to hold onto, especially if you do put a WIP out into the black hole of the internet and update it like an IF game.

Yes, if you're trying to make a living off writing or wanting to build a community around a story, the unfortunate reality of it is that that particular "success" criteria can sometimes depend on who likes it or who promotes it or how/how often you promote it, etc, if you're going purely based on interaction or follower counts or what have you. But honestly, there's always going to be someone who likes and even loves your story, and someone who can't stand your story or just can't get through it. And that's perfectly fine! But I mention this because if you try to write the story you think others want, then it'll impact your writing - whether it's not your voice anymore, or less lively or less enjoyable.

Don't get me wrong, there are absolutely times when I want to yell and groan and rip my hair out over something that doesn't sound right in The Nameless, and there's always going to be lows and highs in any pursuit. But at the end of the day, it's worth it because I know this is the story I want to write and share, and I hope it comes across how much I genuinely love this world and its characters.

Anyway! That's my long ramble for the day (and sorry this took so long to respond to). Again, this should definitely not be word of law, but just my experiences so far with writing. I hope it helps and good luck with your story! I'm sure it'll be amazing. 💖