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doublegoblin · 8 months

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A year and some change in retrospective

Okay so technically It’s like a year and 2 months and like a day. While I made the account and started posting things in November of 2022 I made my intro post on the 23rd of Jan last year so that’s when I’m going to count myself as having officially joined lol. I got thinking about this on my way into work today and I got a little reflective. I’m going to be kind of rambling (what else is new lol) but it dawned on me that, damn dude, a whole year is still like 300+ days and life can go wild directions. I also figured this may be nice for the newer people who have started to follow me (hello and thank you btw). Things won’t necessarily be in chronological order, I mean they might, but, I’m also liable to jump around.

So let’s start with some backstory, all good stories start with backstory yeah?

Me and my -at the time- bf(we’re still together lol just fiance now) were on our way to my aunt's wedding…running late actually because I had the day wrong and blah blah blah. To kill time on the 3hr car ride I started to spit ball this idea for a story I had brewing, that would then become Rituals and Red Tape. I was writing it for myself for a while as a way to deal with being let go from my last job. Well I then had the silly idea to maybe share this with people, so then we get to November and I make a profile and start posting.

That’s right, I started my path on here to be someone putting out original works of writing. I mean, if you go to my profile and check out the pinned post you’d know this but let’s be real, nobody really does that lol. And as those of you putting out original stuff also know, it can be pretty quiet at first. I had in my mind that I was just going to have my stuff on my blog, maybe reblog writing stuff only; that uh…didn’t last long. I’ve met some pretty cool people on here, even if we never really talk I’m happy to see your stuff cross my dash. It was the whole song and dance of you follow me and I follow you, support network stuff. Took part in tag games, an OC fighting tourney thing, and just some other fun things. All the while I’m posting little one-offs, a new WIP here and there…that I eventually just kinda stop working on in favor of my first child.

I make a Wattpad and start posting what could be considered the 1.5 draft of the story. Things are fun, quiet, but fun

I start to engage in more fandom related things, because why not?

Then something happens, something that I didn’t think would take me in the direction I am going now.

I buy a $30 mic.

Voice acting and acting in general were always a passion of mine as a kid, and with a new stable job and comfy living I thought it was time to revisit some old joy. What was even better is that an artist I was following had a “casting call” for an animation she was working on. So with my little microphone and audacity(the program lol) I do the thing that changed my blog, I tried out…and I got a little part! I’ve never really been one to yearn for the spotlight but I took a chance and it worked out, and I was hooked after that.

So I started to use that mic more and more. First recording a short story of my own, recording a short story by a pal, then…well I guess you can call it doing some dub work.

Now in the past I had people follow me just out of the blue, but, with the first Five Pebbles recording it started to happen more and more. And those posts, well, they were getting some attention. Not a lot mind you, but like, more than the original works. Now I don’t say this with anger or bitterness, it’s just how stuff like this works out. So with what I thought was going to be a one-off thing, I knew I wanted to keep doing it. Yes the notoriety was fun, but more so, I was making something that was bringing people joy. So I recorded more, and more people saw it and liked it, reblogged it too.

Then I had that funny little idea. Something new to me that scratches a few itches at once. If you’ve followed me for THIS you know, the Kel Logs. Not only was I playing a game that I really enjoy(btw if you haven’t you should go play the game it is fun and but I won’t bog this down with info dumping), but I was doing some original writing and voice acting. It was the perfect storm.

Now I know I’m not the most well known person out there and this little fan fiction project isn’t like super famous, which I’m very okay with lol, but like the comments and stuff show I was having an impact on people in a small way. And it was having an effect on me, I was becoming more comfortable with my voice. Not going to sour the mood too much but I’ve struggled with voice dysphoria for a while and the joy I am able to bring people is so important to me, which I know sounds selfish.

So now here we are in the present, I know I’ve missed some stuff and simplified others, with people following me for fandom things and all that jazz. I thank every single one of you. Whenever my stuff get reblogged I do try my best to say something in the comments to those who say things in tags lol, sometimes tumblr won’t let me @ you but know I try. You all have no idea how much it means that I can bring joy to you and I don’t feel I can pay you all back other than to keep doing what I’m doing.

I haven’t worked on my original stuff in a while but I don’t think I’ll be tossing it to the side. In fact I know I won’t. I have a story I want to tell and it will be. So if you have any interest, please check it out and let me know what you all think. I want to always improve but I can’t know where to patch things up if I don’t hear about a leak lol. I’m getting super rambly so I’m gonna stop this here.

1 year later and I’ve gone from solely original writing to a strange hybrid of that and fandom stuff, and I couldn’t be happier with where I am.

So once again, thank you all so much for liking what I do and I hope to keep bringing you things to make you feel emotions.

#writeblr #voice acting #thank you all so much #rambling thoughts #some mushy words

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wallacejwriting · 2 years

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Hello! Welcome to the blog. This is an updated intro. I've been here for a minute, just wanted to tidy things up.

I am Wallace, but I also like Wally and Lace just as much (and I generally refer to myself as Lace), so feel free to pick your preference! They/Them or He/Him pronouns, in that order.

This is my writing sideblog. My main blog is over at @lacependragon! I will follow, like, comment on posts, and send asks from there, but I post my writing here and I reblog writing stuff to this blog.

I'm a queer, autistic author with chronic illness/pain and a whole lot of wips. I'm Canadian. I've been writing over half my life (and when you're a couple years shy of 30, that's not bad!) and I was reasonably popular as a fanfic author (RWBY fics mostly), something I've largely stopped doing as of September, 2021.

I'm very passionate. Which is to say I have a Lot(TM) of opinions. And I refuse to take personality tests even if I love them for characters.

Also I really love writing programs. I don't think you need them to be a good author, whatsoever, but god I love them so much.

My Writing

I write basically two things: big ass, character driven, SFF series with tightly woven plots & relationships, plus ridiculous amounts of lore and worldbuilding; and romance novels. That's it. I'm pretty sure I'm better at the latter, which I think is cool.

Also: I have a lots of wips. I cycle between them regularly but I always come back around to the others eventually.

I can sum up my writing as such:

Mostly SFF with a focus on fantasy and scifantasy

Character focused and driven

Often relationship driven - family, friendship, romance, etc.

Almost all of my protagonists are they/them NBs or some other flavour of trans

Mainly queer, disabled, neurodivergent characters

Queer and trans focused romances, also polycules

Found family, slow burn romance, platonic bonds, redemption arcs, overcoming adversity & trauma

Gray morality and tough decisions

Intricate world-building, in-depth magic systems, lots of fantasy creatures, and details on how these things interact with everyday and overarching life

Puns. A lot of puns.

A lot of silly combo words I use as a shortcut to avoid conlanging unnecessarily (though I do LOVE a good conlang)

Listen there's a lot of apocalypses in my WIPs. And overcoming them. It's a theme. It's because of the state of the world. Roll with it.

The Blog

What can you expect on this blog?

Character intros, WIP intros, worldbuilding posts, magic building posts, lore posts, and more

Lots of rambling posts about my WIPs, in general, and progress updates as I draft them

Screenshots and discussions of writing programs, including Scrivener, Word, Excel, Plottr, Aeon Timeline, Scapple, Powerpoint, Illustrator (for maps), Clip Studio Paint (for maps), Photoshop (for nonsense), and Notepad++

Snippets and chapters from various drafts of various WIPs

Inspiration posts for various WIPs

Reblogs of other writeblrs I think are great

Tips, tricks, and advice I picked up from my own experiences as a writer

Rambles about writing, the universe, and my process

Non-Writing Tag: #wall talk

The WIPs

[Under the cut because oh my goodness this is getting long]

Main Projects

THE METAHUMAN INITIATIVE Book One: Descent

Series Overview Urban fantasy, mystery/thriller, suspense, adult. Long as fuck.

Nat Carter is drawn to Veda City, a place built to uncover the secrets of superpowers in Metahumans, after the violent and mysterious death of their family. Once there, they set out to uncover who killed their family, why, and how it boosted Nat's own powers, only to realize that the conspiracy is far deeper than they ever imagined. And, somehow, Nat might be at the centre of it all.

BEURKRATTI: THE PLACE OF STONES

Series Overview High fantasy, urban/constructed fantasy, adventure, mystery, adult. Multiple connecting series.

The changing world brings forgotten history forward. The Wardens, the protectors of the world, struggle to find the source of the faltering ancient magic that is causing widespread destruction. Old gods and new are risen in the Free Cities, and nothing is as it seems. For a young Warden, Katya, an opportunity arises to seek the answers for her people's inevitable spiral into nothingness, only to find far more than she ever bargained for.

Currently Undergoing Major Revisions

Links: WIP Post [Being Updated] | Series Tag | Book One Tag [TBA] | Spotify Playlist [None]

BOOK OF FARSIDE Book One: City of Fractured Dreams

Series Overview Scifantasy, apocalypse, adventure, mystery/suspense, adult. Series.

A floating, island city suffocated by civil unrest is thrown into deeper and more violent turmoil after the return of the apocalypse kills its elite fighting force in one fell swoop. Everyone seeking power leaps at the chance to seize it, all while ignoring the dark fate that made it possible. Amidst it all, two siblings, separated by eight years and an entire city, struggle to find one another and not lose themselves in the process.

Links: WIP Post | Series Tag | Ramble Tag | Book One Tag | Spotify Playlist

PATHS MADE OF STARDUST

Series Overview Fantasy, magic school, mystery/suspense, young adult. Series.

Every year, new witches flock to one of the many witch colleges across Mokeno. This year, three students arriving at Starmont College will cross paths for more than just classes. Two first-year students discover a third is held captive by her father's illegal curses and fight to free her from his grasp. If they succeed, they can bring down one of the most corrupt men in the country. If they fail, getting caught will be the least of their problems.

Links: WIP Post [Being Updated] | Series Tag | Book One Tag [TBA] | Spotify Playlist [None]

RESTORING MOONBLOOM HOLLOW

Series Overview Romance, fantasy romance, polyamory, adult. Companion series.

A dying trading post on an abandoned road receives new life when a poorly worded ad tricks an alchemist into moving to the town. Unfortunately, Arlo is not the saviour Moonbloom Hollow was looking for. Two townspeople, Samir and Winnie, don't let Arlo's grumpy exterior stop them, however. They are determined to save their town, and Arlo is determined to save themself. Maybe, working together, everyone can get what they need, and maybe fall in love along the way.

Links: WIP Post [Being Made] | Series Tag | Book One Tag | Spotify Playlist [None]

Side Projects/Minor Projects

Supernova | wip post | tag Urban fantasy, contemporary, young adult. Standalone 15-year-old Andie has never belonged. Bounced from foster home to foster home, they figure they’ll leave the system when they age out. An encounter after school one day awakens powers Andie never knew they had and quickly turns their life upside down. A foster home that cares, foster parents who know their struggles, a new school, and even new friends. But where did Andie come from? And how did they get here? They need to know, or they’ll never be able to rest.

Ghostpossible | wip post | tag Urban fantasy, new adult. Standalone When Y2K hit, it tore open a portal through the ether, letting ghosts, spooks, and all sorts of monsters through. Sixty years later, the best people to tackle the dead and ghastly are the young, and Kai Yeung, part time college student and full-time big sibling, is trying to make it big in the ghost hunting live streaming business. Money is tight, and this is their best option. Until a guy named Archie shows up and reveals that he’s been possessed by an ancient magical artifact and the very grumpy warrior trapped inside it. If Kai can get the artifact off, they can sell it and provide for their sister for years to come, but that’s only if they can get it off Archie before those chasing him can catch up.

Demon Fuckers Anonymous | wip post | tag Fantasy, dark academia, new adult, erotica. Standalone. A disabled student in their upper years at a prestigious, elitist, bullshit academy for magical grad school struggles to keep up due to exhaustion and ableism. To get back on track, they summon a demon in hopes of getting him to help. But the summon uncovers a deep conspiracy beneath the bowels of the school, and a long pent up desire to connect with someone, mind and body.

Queer Witch Cozies | wip post | tag Urban fantasy, cozy mystery, romance, adult. Series Ciar Gallagher can find things no one else can, that’s their talent as a witch. So when a frantic man comes to the door one night begging for Ciar’s help, they’re pretty sure they can do it. But there’s two problems. One, the man is a regular human, one with no knowledge of magic, and two, he’s asking Ciar to find his kidnapped daughter, and Ciar’s never tracked a person before.

Care Home for Chosen Ones | wip post | tag Urban fantasy, contemporary, adult. Standalone 25-year-old Marlowe takes great pride in their career as a care worker at Sunrise Elder Care, especially in their chats with the remaining chosen ones of a long finished prophecy. But when strange shadows begin to haunt the care home, Marlowe must summon all their knowledge and their most trusty weapon – the push broom – in order to stop the returning Dark One and save the elder chosen ones and their home before it’s too late.

Persephone Project | wip post | tag Science fiction, mystery/thriller, adult. Standalone Five years ago, Axl Thorn was arrested aboard the U.S.S. Faraday for techno-terrorism and multiple counts of first degree murder. Now, the cybernetic attacks have made a resurgence, but this time someone else is behind the keyboard. Pulled out of holding to help, Axl is kept on a short leash by their pissed off personal guard, whose job is both to keep Axl out of trouble – hah! – and to keep others from attacking them. Yet as the attacks grow stronger, the unlikely allies must cast aside their differences if they have any hope of saving the station and all those it connects to.

#writeblr #my wips #my writing #writing intro #writeblr intro #updated intro

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you-are-my-neverland · 2 years

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[id: a graphic with a series of three images: a girl with her eyes cast in shadow, a statue of a saint dripping gold, and two hands with light between them. the text overlaid reads ‘the metamorphosis of the lost’ / end id]

THE METAMORPHOSIS OF THE LOST → A ROUND UP

“Kevla is rotten to the core,” June continued. She was as close to impassioned as India thought she would ever visibly be, reminding India of the times June had opened up before, the anger burning like a bright, cold, distant star in her eyes. “You can’t fix Kevla. All you can do is remove some of the damage.”

after roughly fourteen months of writing, i am proud to announce that the first draft of the metamorphosis of the lost is officially done. at the start of the summer last year (2022), i had only 120k words, and the end seemed unreachable. now, i’ve wrapped up the first draft at a rounded up value of 310k. it’s crazy to think that i’ve actually reached this point. i started tracking my writing progress during my summer goal of 200k, and continued to do so during the fall semester, of which i only failed to write one day. in retrospect, all those days where i was too tired to write more than a few sentences, with word counts under 100, and the months where i struggled to hit my goal of 500 a day - all those days piled up to the completion i achieved right on time for 2023 to hit.

will i definitely do more work on this novel? who knows. i can’t say for certain that i’ll ever go back to it, or that a second draft will occur. but i hope i will. i always planned for tmotl to have a companion piece, for this to be the first part of a duology. do i have nothing but a few scattered ideas tying the two together? yes. i do need to actually tackle the plot of that rumored companion novel soon.

“What did you ever do for me?” she asked bleakly. “I’m dead because of you. If you had cared at all, the Black Saint would have died long before I came back to find him still alive.” If he had been dead then, I might have come back to you, she didn’t say, because it was something that she would never be able to take back if she did.

i’ve posted a lot of (unpolished) excerpts on here before, so in honor of finishing the first draft, i figured i would let myself talk about the writing process and all the little things i haven’t shared yet! if you were ever interested in finding out more about this wip, or read the posts i’ve made and thought ‘idk what this is about but this is cool’ (as i never did post those character profiles or setting notes or anything informative beyond the wip intro...), read on.

(fair warning: it’s long.)

Kevla itself might be larger than life, but India didn’t believe in the city either. She just knew it existed, because she couldn’t ignore its presence in her life.

Maybe Kevla was God.

we’ll start with the city itself. kevla, a city set somewhere on the coast, estranged from the rest of the world that it can’t really be imagined somewhere on a map. kevla is, at it’s heart, a gritty thing to behold: it is a city that is trying to kill you, and the only thing that will save you.

there have been many times when i’ve looked at a wip and said, this wip is just going to be normal. there will be no magical realism in this wip.’ this was not the case for tmotl - when i was first visualizing the story, i knew that i wanted the city the vigilantes occupy to be alive in a very magical realism way. therefore, kevla is a sentient being, though it is never explicitly called that. it is only understood by the characters throughout the story, by anele and india and vin and june. it is talked about as something that acts on its own. in this, kevla becomes both the setting and a character.

kevla itself is neatly divided into districts. i live in the suburbs, and have not lived in any big metropolises, but i have visited nyc, and d.c. is kevla not exactly designed as a realistic city would be? yes. but i think it fits into the rest of the novel - kevla has to be small for logistical reasons, but it also has to be larger than life. it has to be a peninsula, with a raging coastline, and it has to have a living forest cutting it off from everything else. the people who live in kevla understand the uncanny nature of their city, but it is not unusual to them - it’s just the place they live.

He didn’t say anything. India drew in a shuddering breath and felt his chest expand slightly, in the barest way, ribs rigid through his costume. She could draw a knife right now, stab him fatally, slide it into the spot between the ribs, drive it in through his skin and break through his back. If not that, then a bullet at close range. The possibilities were endless. At this point, she could see the seams in his body armor. Everything and anything could be destroyed at this close.

india, india, india. tmotl definitely doesn’t have a single main character - june and india both share that title, and many other characters have a substantial amount of povs - but tmotl is also very much india’s story, because she’s the girl i wanted to write about first. an angry girl. an outcast. someone who is overflowing with all the wrong emotions. someone who bares her rage on her teeth.

india as indigo is directionless. she’s stuck in place, and she doesn’t know where she’s going. it’s only after she’s killed by the black saint and returns as the red saint that she finally has a purpose - to kill the black saint, and to prove the world (the vigilantes) wrong. to show them. where she had just been following other people’s paths, and rules, now she forges her own. still, even, she’s torn in her heart - does she really want burned bridges? does she want death? apologies? for all that india claims, she doesn’t really know, herself, but it takes her a long time before she can admit that to herself.

india is, at her core, unpredictable. she’s a series of contradictions, which is intended. no matter how much drive you have, it doesn’t amount to anything if you don’t know where you’re going, or why you’re going at all. she’s a treasure trove of trust issues, impulses, and sharp edged defenses. she doesn’t trust anyone, because she was abandoned from birth - there was never anyone in her corner until she met anele and vin. even then, even with a found family, she put up the walls; she wants to be understand, while believing so strongly in the fundamental divide between them all - that they will never understand what it’s like to be her.

india is a mouthpiece for something that often echoed throughout my thoughts, especially when first brainstorming for tmotl. who gets to decide who the good guys are in vigilantism? are you the good guys, india asks, because you didn’t let your trauma affect you? because you dealt with it ‘neatly?’ am i the bad guy for not being able to?

“I didn’t die easily,” June said ferociously. “None of us died easily. People like you didn’t let us die easily. Our death, to you, was nothing but a chance, but for us it was hell, over and over again. Why do you expect compassion from me when you never had any for any of us? You didn’t change anything. You didn’t save anyone. You took a legacy and let it live on.”

She swallowed back her anger and lividity, fingers curling around the knife handle.

“Complacency is a crime.”

june, our other leading lady. summer 2021, when i was first having the beginnings of an idea of what this story would become, june’s description was ‘a revenge driven victim of nonconsensual body modification/experimentation.’ she was always designed to be the perfect experiment, in a way. she’s the timepiece, not a cog, of the weaponization of children.

june’s story is one of agency. of irony. she’s dissociated from her body - it is just a thing she lives in. it was something that was made by other people. she uses that body to kill the people that made her, as if saying, ‘look what the body you made can you do. look what the thing you made is capable of.’ she is the sword that turns on its owner, the weapon that fights back instead of fleeing. where does the weapon end and the girl begin? she doesn’t even know herself.

june is the ice to india’s fire. they complement each other like that. she’s the level headed one, the executioner. india’s all impulsivity and anger, emotions spilling out over the edges as june keeps everything she feels close. she doesn’t even know how much she’s feeling at any time; june keeps everything muted, a further dissociation from the self.

her revenge is not really revenge so much as it is vengeance. it’s the only way she can even begin to reclaim her agency, and while she acknowledges that at some level, outwardly the reason for what she does is simple: so that it never happens to anyone else. not for herself, but for everyone else. or so she tells herself.

“We’re here,” Vail said. “If you ever want to talk more about any of it, we’re here.”

“But you’re not,” Emrys said, hating the way her voice cracked on the last word. “All of you are here, but you’re not there.”

They were alone. She felt terrible and peculiar, as if they were pins on a map, standing in the same city but far away from each other. As if walking in parallel lines, but heading in different directions. When India had been there, things had been different. When Aerin had been there, Emrys had thought she would at least have the comfort of knowing she wasn’t alone, but she was alone. They all were.

emrys wasn’t supposed to be that main of a character, but she ended up badgering her way into the story anyways, snatching up a large percentage of povs. she became very close to my heart, maybe because, out of all of the characters, she was the most like me in her mind (and i spent a lot of time in her mind). kind of like my embodiment of girlhood - she’s in her nebulous coming of age, in the background: confronting hard truths and hard feelings alongside grief, as she steps into new shoes all on her own. she didn’t quite end up following the ideas i had in mind for her, but i’m pretty satisfied with the emrys i have left.

emrys was supposed to be the hope of the group. in every story (at least for me), there must be someone who represents the new when it comes to the old (pain, trauma, tradition, etc). in a twist of irony, emrys herself became aware of this - she herself thinks that she doesn’t want to be hope, or in pandora’s box at all.

for a character that was supposed to be the happy, bright one, the emrys we meet in tmotl is living out an aftermath. that happy, bright girl is who she used to be. the girl she is now is one transforming, becoming a darker shadow to her brighter body. many of the things she does throughout the story would be considered uncharacteristic from those who know her, and even though the readers are not aware of who this girl used to be (and only catch glimpses of her), the reactions of other characters tell us this.

“You know why I saved you,” Catrin said.

“I do,” Vin agreed. He could never forget the life debt he carried so heavily on his heart, which had stayed his hand a hundred times over. It was the reason he was loyal to her after all; their relationship was built on mutual debt, with which came a degree of shared trust. Vin had always known that one day she might aim him at someone with intent to kill, and he would do it. If only to keep the balance.

onto vin, one of the older members of this vigilante group at 25, but no less important. he is supposed to come off as almost inhuman - flexible beyond measure, moving like a shadow, so quiet that he makes no noise at all, as if he was a ghost. vin is a mystery, and a private person, who is frustratingly hard to understand to his younger counterparts, such as india and emrys, and still an enigma to his older partners, such as anele. he has one of the most thought out characterizations (because i had so much to work out when it came to his character), but you probably learn the least about him throughout the story.

vin bears the brunt of india’s anger and emrys’ frustration in the story, partially because he’s so hard to communicate with (in a way), and partially because he’s the one they want to prove themselves to. he’s aloof and talented; he never messes up, or calls the wrong shot. he was built for the job, it seems. of course, this is what it looks like on the surface - underneath tells a story, the dark side of june’s moon. human experimentation to the point of dehumanization. on the surface, he looks ordinary. inside, who knows what he has become.

vin operates by a strict moral code. he’s brutal, and capable of extreme cruelty, but he never kills. in a fight, he says, the only thing that matters is the people you want to protect. one rule, but it’s the only thing that matters. this is where he and india clash - she wants the black saint dead, but vin will never kill (for reasons relating to backstory info that can’t be shared at this moment lol).

a fun fact, though, which i don’t think i actually mentioned in the first draft even though it’s so clever, is that vin is short for corvin. corvin derives from corvinus, which derives from the latin word corvus in turn. corvus literally means raven, but it also refers to the genus of birds including crows, ravens, etc. his vigilante name is crow btw.

Angry was too close to being a bomb herself, and for all her sermons on understanding bombs, Anele had already died in the face of one. She did not want to become one herself.

When bombs exploded, they left no survivors. Even the ones who lived were not untouched.

The ones who died, too, even.

anele!! the wisest of the bunch, maybe, if wisdom equals years. she’s not the mother figure, but more like an older sister to many of the vigilantes. someone you would go to for advice. where everyone else came from empty and hard childhoods, anele grew up loved with a single father, in a suburban neighborhood. she has memories she can look back on with fondness, instead of ones tainted by death or grief.

although anele is always moving forwards, she, too, is mired in the past. she grieves for herself. she visits her father as a ghost, leaving him things without ever knocking on the door, because she is afraid she wouldn’t be welcomed back as one of the living. so much of her current life is trapped in the half second before she died the first time. she might not have believed in the system, but she participated in it, until dying. then, she realized it was always going to fail her. despite being straight laced, she believes in the gray line between black and white, the area outside of laws and all that.

anele steps into the role of x-le with ease, but at the heart of the matter, she doesn’t trust catrin, especially since she never asked to be saved, or to be brought back to life with metal in her veins. she doesn’t allow this to color her professional relationships, but on a personal level, she doesn’t hide her scrutiny.

anele and vin have by far one of my most favorite relationships in the novel, mostly because she is, at least, deeply in love with him in a way that can’t even be described as love. it’s subtle, but interwoven in all their interactions. feelings where there shouldn’t be. emotion where it can’t exist. makes me go insane, honestly.

You didn’t have to answer, Diem thought, but couldn’t make herself say it, because a part of her had always been waiting. Ever since her childhood, when she had first heard the whispered rumors about her father, when she had realized that there would always be questions about her birthright and place following her, she had been waiting for a father to claim. For a father to destroy.

Her mother’s hand on her own, helping her slide the knife into skin, wiping the blood spray for her face gently, showing her how to clean the blade.

diem is, out of all the vigilantes (our heroes and heroines), the most antagonistic one by design. she is one of the characters that was meant to stay the truest to their original designs (of an old wip also called tmotl i half planned back in 2019-2020, of which several characters were taken off the shelf and dusted off for this story). the diem i created then was cutthroat and hard to the bone, the kind of person who used people and threw them away when she was done. here, her personality is a bit toned down, if only because she has to take the back burner - she’s not the leader, but now a ‘lackey.’ a team member. however, although diem might be one with the team, she very much chafes against the idea, an independent contractor.

daughter of the infamous bowman, a criminal overlord, and an unnamed man, diem grew up in a life of elite crime. she might have died since then, but it only made her harder. out of all of them, diem is the one who focuses the most on impartiality, of cutting things off before they drag her down. she cuts her losses before they can cut her. sentimentality has no place in her - she is a brutal machine, always pushing herself forward. the only soft spot she has is for vail, and even then, she’s hard pressed to show it. to diem, all her weaknesses became her strengths, including her death.

to india, diem is someone she wants to destroy. prior to death, they were always at each other’s throats, and after it, it’s no surprise that diem is the main voice preaching that india can’t be saved. their similarities only cause their differences to be more abrasive.

Kevla already had one saint. It didn’t need another. The audacity they had to call themselves Saints when all they did was contribute to the hell so many people were trapped in made Vail vengeful—he didn’t believe in Saints, and even if he did, they wouldn’t be the ones who walked the streets. Saint wasn’t a title one gave themselves; it had to be earned.

vail is the quiet one. where everyone else is brimming with opinion and emotion, vail is in the backdrop, a muted color against all the vivid, dark ones competing for space. he is kind and compassionate in comparison to diem’s hard headed ruthlessness, but he’s also the only one who can meet her head on without getting emotionally involved - maybe that is why he is the only one who can temper her.

vail is a man of family and faith, but he keeps both those things close to his heart. although he is a sentimental person, he is always hiding that part of himself, because it got him hurt, over and over again. family and faith hurt him, killed him, but he doesn’t know how to let it go. can’t.

all the characters pay homage to some sort of divine presence at least once or twice throughout tmotl, but vail is the only one who believes in a specific god, instead of an entity-that-might-be-a-god, or kevla-as-a-god-or-divine-being. kevla is a city that kills organized religion, but vail’s faith is too great to be killed.

He’d thought that he had gotten over it. That the past had stopped chasing him. That, when the past finally found him, Mika would be ready for it. That he would fight it. That he would kill it.

How many times had he dreamed of that night? How many times had he dreamed of another dreary Kevlan landscape, where this time he was the victor?

mika, son of the mockingbird. like diem, he believes in absolute strength, not allowing himself any sign of weakness. he’s very independent, and though he seems unwavering, he’s actually insecure in his identity, if only because of the immeasurable shadow his parents - a chemist and famous vigilante, respectively - left behind.

mika’s story is one of legacy. like his mother before him, he traverses the city in the guise of night, as phantom. he’s cynical, the pessimistic voice among those who believe in the best, and deals with everything that bothers him with coldness, putting up high walls. although he seems closed off, inside he carries a bone deep determination to survive, to defeat ‘evil’ and triumph. his thoughts on justice are often unclear, as is his morality, but he approaches the title of vigilante with a ruthless efficiency.

catrin flint, emrys’ aunt, is mika’s guardian, through a series of loosely explained events - often because it is not clear to mika or emrys themselves how catrin knew his mother, and what led her to take him in. mika never wanted another family, and that much is clear to both flints, but he is also the one who ends up being the most in emrys’ corner as she goes through grief and changes. he doesn’t agree with her on most things, but he stays by her side all the same.

mika was originally supposed to have a touch of magical realism to him as well - and he should still, if the necessary revisions are done and hints portrayed. mika was supposed to be someone who walked the shadowy line of the veil, seeing/communicating with the dead, or hand in hand with death (with nebulous connections to his own death or near-death experience).

Suicidal, Drakov had called him back then, when he had spared him and Jericho had thrown it away in favor of not taking the hint, trailing him because he had seen a lifeline in the other man, one he wanted to grasp, like flailing in the ocean and chancing upon a buoyancy device. It was coming out of a haze, like a dying man who had been living life with the expectation of it ending only to realize that he wanted to live.

But Jericho wasn’t fifteen. He was Jailbird, had been for years. He’d trained under Drakov, the only person he knew who had had the honor. He’d managed to survive in this shitty city, had gotten out of the trap where thousands of others had died, and had carved out a living without paying penance to anyone but himself.

jericho’s the only vigilante without a team, but he makes up for it by having plenty of connections. he’s india’s friend, before and after. he becomes mika’s and emrys’ connection in the grimy city, and potential ally. he communicates with the dragon, the only person who can reveal information on the assassin on a personal, instead of professional, level (with the exception of a few).

a vigilante who is more like a mercenary, jericho goes by the pseudonym jailbird, and mostly keeps to himself. he’s shrewd, witty, and plays the game as smart as he can as a kid on his own - and it’s worked; he’s managed to avoid any major trouble. out of all the cast, jericho is one of the few who avoids a near death experience.

still, he deals with a fair amount of imposter syndrome and guilt, most of which is only alluded to, as he only gets the rare pov. i can’t speak much on him because several big facts about him are technically plot relevant info that gets revealed in the novel itself.

June wondered if that was before or after he had died for the first time, before or after the first time he had tried to kill himself. With Rhys, the first time had never been the last. She thought of what he had said the last time they had talked so closely. I don’t care about life or death, June. I don’t care about the people I kill. I don’t care if it gets me killed.

She held the blade up to him. The pale light glinted on the edges, showing the smooth, glossy sheen of it all.

if winter were a person, it would be personified through rhys. aptly enough, his last name is winters, although this never gets mentioned in-text (i don’t believe). surprisingly, rhys doesn’t get a single pov throughout tmotl, even when most of the characters mentioned here get at least one (like mika). still, he has a presence, if only because he is june’s partner in crime. they come from the same history, cut from the same cloth.

rhys is the apathetic type of person who doesn’t believe in anything. he’s suicidal (to a lesser degree in the present, but this is still an explicit textual fact). he likes to weaponize his discomfort and acidic personality to make other people (namely kit) uncomfortable. human misery on the downlow, though this could also be attributed to the fact that he lives a miserable existence - as if his history wasn’t bad enough, in death he was saved and made alive only through the fact that he is literally toxic, consigning him to a life wearing a gas mask, as his breathe could kill people if it is not filtered.

in tmotl, rhys is in many ways an abettor. does he care for june’s revenge? not really, but he helps her with it anyways, because what he feels for june is complicated, but he would follow her anywhere, if only because she gives him something to do. does he care about kit? does he care about human life? who knows. sometimes he says things just to be contradictory.

rhys was also from the original wip, and he stays much the same, if a little more fleshed out. so does his and kit’s antagonistic relationship.

Flames were dancing in the fever bright blue of Kit’s eyes, his arm running red as he carelessly studied the tracker, letting it catch the light. She could see the thin displeasure set in Rhys’ mouth, even behind the gas mask, which snaked around his ears, the rebreathers fitted like a glove to the lower half of his face. He passed her a strip of cloth wordlessly, his own arm bound. She in turn took Kit’s hand, nodding at the tracker as she cinched a quick tourniquet.

“I know,” Kit murmured, and then threw the tracker back towards the warehouse. His skin beneath June’s cool, blood stained fingers was burning. She could feel the thud of his heartbeat beneath the thin skin of his wrist, beating a wild rhythm, but when she looked at him more carefully, he still stood unwavering, which was good enough.

this excerpt is actually from page number one. kit, our final ‘main’ character (besides the villains and adults of the story, which are not quite as interesting, and also don’t have much i can reveal about them without spoiling things), is part of june’s team of three. he doesn’t go out in costume like basically every single other character; he doesn’t even have a code name. he’s the technology behind june’s operation, the one who runs things behind the scenes for her and rhys.

kit is important because he’s who june wants to protect. he’s one of the reasons she keeps moving forward at all. he’s a failure, at least to the organization - they saved him, but they couldn’t make him something better. sometimes, when you fix something broken, it doesn’t turn out as it was. for kit, this means a slow, aching death sentence, fighting the deterioration of his own body.

still, kit tries to stay brave in the face of it all. he’s light hearted, especially in comparison to rhys and june’s dark moods. he’s a light - something june follows, and rhys abhors. much of kit is a mix of appearance and projection; it is as it looks, but it also isn’t. sometimes, you’ve barely scratched the surface, because as much as kit is the open one, he also has a history of lying and conning that mark him as as much of a street kid as india, or june was.

he’s destined for death. the only question - one that is revisited throughout tmotl in scenes - is how long it will take before he gets there.

That last day in the Fold had never stopped being a blade lodged in his sternum. Vin could still feel it, the wound it covered. If he ever pulled the knife free, he would bleed out, but the longer he kept it in, the more damage would be done in the long run.

He kept the blade in. It was the risk he could take, for now.

that’s it for now. i could go on and on, but i think i’ve written enough for now. if you have any questions about this work on the characters, or just want to know something, please reach out via my ask box or messages! i hope this piqued your interest - that being said, if you would like to be added to this specific taglist, or my general taglist, let me know in some way shape or form!

taglist: @cannivalisms @sunshineomeara @thepixiediaries @muddshadow

#.txt #wip: tmotl #wip: the metamorphosis of the lost #writers on tumblr #my writing #creative writing #wip info #first draft #writeblr #wip #wip excerpt #gratuitous amounts of folly here (me rambling about it)#this is SO long but in my defense this is what i want on my blog. long posts where i just talk about my writing #no more making stuff look pretty. i want it to be what i want. and that is about how much i LOVE what i write ok #anyways. hope this cleared some things up or made them more confusing #i have a whole tag you can peruse if you want to learn more or refresh your memory #10+ characters that i never introduced outside of excerpts...we love to see it #this is so crazy and insane and this took me days to write on top of that #but i'm DONE so please interact if you want #if you have the time <3 #and send me an ask if you want to know more!!!

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pine-niidles · 2 years

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October project updates

I said I’d do monthly project updates so here we go!

Beledrift

- Finished writing Lev’s toyhou.se profile and released him into the world (featuring extremely cool art go admire it!!)

- Make a bunch of progress on a variety of other characters profiles, though I didn’t manage to finish any more yet. [Erika and Myth are next up for completion as they won a poll I did on toyhou.se]

- Started writing some short 1-2 page comic snippets and thumbnailed a couple of them. Still thinking about how I want to do these [mainly, consecutivly to create some sort of storyline or just random scenes whenever I feel like it]

Goals for this month: Finish Erika and Myth’s toyhou.se profiles, maybe write a few more snippets.

Rose Garden

- I’ve been doing a few sketches here and there trying to solidify character designs and the figure out the style I want to do the comic in, there’s not too much concrete yet but I’m getting somewhere!

- Over the last few months I’ve been picking up the pace when it comes to scripting the comic and with nanowrimo this month my goal is to finish a rough draft of the script that I can ask friends to give me feedback on.

Goals for this month: Finish that script draft and find people to give me feedback on it, make a little more progress with concept art, make a proper project intro and post it here!

General Toyhou.se Updates

- I really picked up the pace with oc stuff this month and manged to complete a variety of shorter toyhou.se profiles:

- Doro is the first of her story/world to have a profile and I love her to bits <3

- My modern magic world is expanding even more as I merge other similar settings into it, making all of them more interesting and diverse. Jamie and Juniper are the latest to join in and with them I fiddeled together a new code for the world since the last one was very specifically made for it’s magic school students and staff. I think I’ll be fun to see these two different codes working together. Next up: I’m working on transferimg Cloudy, Zephyr, and Boreas into those matching templates.

- I decided to upload a bunch of oc memes onto toyhou.se because I personally enjoy seeing them on character profiles, more to come in the future!

Goals for this month: Create a profile for my latest dnd oneshot character Yoali.

#project update #beledrift #rose garden #toyhou.se #oc

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amrselim · 2 years

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youtube

تاكد انك مشترك في القناة 💯 ومفعل الجرس عشان يوصلك كل جديد 🔔 وما تنساش تعمل لايك للفيديو 👍 نشرك للمقطع هو اكبر دعم ممكن تقدمه لي ... https://bit.ly/3vDYUPR أتمنى أن ينال الشرح أعجابكم ...................................................................... https://bit.ly/3N9F3OH https://bit.ly/3ux7pwI شير مشاركة #BIMarabia اشترك في القناة لمتابعة الشروحات الجديدة videos https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZYaOLTtPmOQX1fgtDFW52Q?sub_confirmation=1 بيم ارابيا https://bit.ly/1TSqEbr ❤️ رابط الاشتراك في القناة https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZYaOLTtPmOQX1fgtDFW52Q?sub_confirmation=1 ❤️ روابط التواصل ✅ انستجرام https://bit.ly/2JY3wZP ✅ الفيسبوك https://bit.ly/3AcrQBO ✅ تويتر https://twitter.com/bimarabia ✅ لينكد ان https://bit.ly/2nqASDv ✅ قناة التلجرام https://bit.ly/3bu9Pod ✅ الموقع الالكتروني الشخصي https://bit.ly/3N9F3OH https://bit.ly/3suwyqU https://bit.ly/3bEr3zh augmented reality https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9c5h0X-Kqw&list=PLNMim060_nUKpt2st91YUPa7BqWd0U2eb open source مفتوحة المصدر https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNYyejjLa-s&list=PLNMim060_nUK6qoVzrpjLucG_aBNaz_Ny revit workshop ورشة عمل ريفيت https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FIZBNN7CLk&list=PLNMim060_nULOxkcpmsGdaRXRnEj7rmGC OPEN STREET MAP https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKHnpu5birw&list=PLNMim060_nUJBibv97w-SfqGMjQCDc6xT ال��دن الذكية https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nGsbGafZ6c&list=PLNMim060_nUKxO8GJj5c-9POTgiCfOdmE الاستدامة https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_dma-4wOJU&list=PLNMim060_nUKIQ9OEPA5xGjQ471AQyp3F How to use OpenAI's GPT-3 to spark content ideas By Anna Burgess Yang · December 28, 2022 As a content marketer and journalist, I write a lot. Client work, blog, newsletter, Medium—it's quite a bit of juggling, and I rely on a project management tool to keep it all straight. From my experiences with content, I know that creative people and teams often have a running list of ideas. Whether it's a never-ending Google Doc or a more formal calendar, having a repository of future topics answers the question, "What do I write about next?" When I first heard about Zapier's integration with OpenAI's GPT-3, I immediately saw the use case: start with my topic, use GPT-3 to expand on the ideas, and store the results in my project management tool. The result? Streamlining the steps of my writing workflow. New to Zapier? It's a tool that helps anyone connect apps and automate workflows—without any complicated code. Sign up for free. How does GPT-3 speed up the process? I follow a fairly standard writing process: ideation, some light Googling, outline, draft. But sometimes, even with a topic in mind, I don't know the exact direction I want to take. That's where OpenAI's GPT-3 can help. GPT-3 (Generative Pre-trained Transformer 3) is an advanced language-processing artificial intelligence tool that can generate human-like text when given a prompt. It's embedded in well-known tools such as Jasper.ai, Copy.ai, and Frase. The use cases for writers are widely varied, but for long-form writers like myself, GPT-3 can do things like: Identify subtopics related to a primary topic Write an intro or a conclusion Generate a counterargument for a topic Every writer has to figure out how AI can help based on their own style and what they hope to gain. I've found it really useful in generating subtopic ideas. I would have done this work anyway, using Google and reading related articles. AI writing tools simply speed up that process by bringing the information back to me rather than me going out to retrieve it. How to use GPT-3 within your project management tool I've tried many different AI writing tools, and one hump I've never been able to overcome is the workflow 1. Within OpenAI, you'll generate an API key. Click on your profile in the upper left corner, then select View API keys. The Personal tab for Anna Burge where you'll add your content ideas and the specific label you want to use. n unique contributions to the topic. GPT-3 is a springboard, not a final result. الذكاء الاصطناعي https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWmW84ZBrbg&list=PLNMim060_nUJs5lSTwbFK8Pe1BCUPT_EB by Omar Selim BIMarabia عمر سليم بيم ارابيا

#IFTTT #YouTube

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em-dash-press · 2 years

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How to Format a Query Letter

When you're ready to start sending your work to agents, you'll need to write a query letter. It's the way writers introduce themselves and pitch their books to busy agents who want to cut right to the chase.

Every writer will go through query letter drafting and revising throughout their experience, so following this guide won't be the last time you have to work on structure. However, these are the most essential parts of a query letter that can help you form your next draft.

**Heads up—every literary agent will have specific things they're looking for in query letters/submission packets. You'll find that within their bio on the website of their employer or in their profile on Query Tracker.**

**If you find a publisher's website and want to submit through there, you'll also need to edit queries according to their guidelines, typically specified under the "Submissions" part of their website.**

Most Important Takeaways

Query letters should only be one page long, unless a different length is okay with the agent according to their specifications.

Your query letter is a pitch, not a place for cliff hangers or flowery language. They want specific details!

It can take weeks or months for an agent to get back to you after you submit your query letter. Don't take it personally! They're very busy with current clients in addition to their open submission inboxes.

Step 1: Check Your Agent's Requirements

You can draft a general query letter, but you'll always have to edit it for each submission. Agents require different things, which is outlined in their profile on their employer's website or on Query Tracker.

Write down everything your dream agent wants in a submission packet or copy/paste to a new document. Missing information will likely result in them passing on your work, unless they're super head over heels for it.

Step 2: Write Your Greeting

Don't stress over this too much! It's smart to stick with something professional and always address them by last name, like:

Dear Ms. Greenburg,

If you're submitting to a general submission email, it's still good to address the agent you intend to query. Whoever is sorting through the inbox will pass it along to the right person.

Remember—your greeting should be the first line of your letter. Don't follow it immediately with your intro.

Correct: Dear Mr. Finch,

Incorrect: Dear Mr. Finch, I hope this finds you well. I wanted to...

Step 3: Write Your First Paragraph

Scary stuff! You might think this paragraph would include a bit about you, why you wanted to write your story, etc. However, that's not why your agent opened their submission inbox.

They are opening your query letter to find out about your project. To draft this paragraph, it helps to make a bullet point list of the necessary information, like:

Your manuscript's title

Your one-sentence summary

Its genre

Its word count

Its comparable titles (more on that below)

Your intended audience's age group (more on that below)

I'm going to make up some information to help you visualize this a bit better. My imaginary manuscript will be:

Title: The Phoenix Flies Blind

One-Sentence Pitch: When 17-year-old Samra Ularen runs away from home, her journey across the faerie kingdom of Cerathe introduces her to a gang of bandits hungry for her hidden powers and a weapon against the king—who happens to be her uncle.

Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy

Word Count: 75,000 words

Comparable titles: Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo and The Cruel Prince by Holly Black

Intended Audience: 16-21 year olds, plus adult women who enjoy YA fantasy

Let's put this into an introductory paragraph. After the greeting, the letter would start on a new line and look something like:

Dear Ms. Greenburg,

I'm seeking representation for my [debut, sophomore, etc.] [finished/unfinished] manuscript, The Dove Flies Blind (75,000 words). It's a Young Adult Fantasy story about Samra Ularen, who runs away from home and adventures across the faerie kingdom of Cerathe. She quickly becomes friends with a gang of bandits hungry for her hidden powers and a weapon against the king—who happens to be her uncle. People ages 16-21 will enjoy this story if they also love Shade and Bone or The Cruel Prince, which both share themes of adventure, betrayal, and self-empowerment in coming-of-age narratives.

Yes, it's a long paragraph, but agents want everything up front. Keeping it to 2-4 shorter sentences or 2-3 longer ones will tell them what they need to know about your book.

You may not be able to narrow down your paragraph. If that happens, don't panic! Separating the plot summary and your intended audience/comparable books could be two mini paragraphs and everything's going to be fine. As long as your letter stays one page long, it's all good!

Some notes for picking comparable titles:

Pick at least two-three books published in the last 2-3 years. Maybe in the last five years if you really feel that something that "old" is comparable to your theme/plot.

More recent books are best because it shows that your book will sell! If readers are buying the latest releases in your genre with similar plots/characters/themes, an agent will be able to sell your work much more easily.

If you need more help and don't have time to read additional books in your genre, check out these resources: What You Need to Know About Comp Titles; How to Find Compelling Comps for Your Book; Comp Titles: The Key to Pitching Your Book

Step 4: Write the Body of Your Query (~2 Paragraphs)

Let's break down the body of your query letter into two paragraphs. Each will have a specific purpose—there are no wasted words in queries!

Paragraph 1: Set the Stage

Your first paragraph will summarize what your character is like/where they are/what their life and world are like just before the inciting incident.

Example:

Samra Ularen lives in a manor just inside the capital city of Salmyre. She's spent her life attending classes with her closest friends and following the rules set by her single mother, Alora. There was nothing she wanted more in the world than a life on the sunny beaches lining their city, but when her mother says they're moving across the continent in less than 12 hours, Samra realizes how much her world means to her.

Paragraph 2: Introduce Your Protagonist's Challenges

The inciting incident is the lead into your next paragraph, which will explain how your protagonist's life gets more complicated throughout the plot.

Example:

After unsuccessfully trying to change her mother's mind, Samra runs from their manor in the middle of the night. She steals a horse from behind a tavern and takes off across the city lines, into rolling meadows and the Shadowed Forest beyond. She doesn't anticipate befriending bandits who live high in the trees and is even more shocked when they sense powers dormant beneath her skin. The bandits teach her how to wield flames from her fingertips while raiding travelers and villages. It isn't until after Samra befriends their leader and lives with them for a few months that they force her to help them kill the king and install their leader on the throne—but they don't realize she's actually his niece. In following along and planning to run at the last moment, Samra learns that her mother needed to move because they were in hiding. The king wanted Samra dead before she was born.

This is another long paragraph and could be edited down/likely split into two parapgrahs, but you can see how this sets up the stakes. Samra runs away from home, experiences independence for the first time, and has to choose between family members over a history she's never learned before. All while figuring out who she really is outside of her normal routine.

Agents need to know a manuscript's stakes. If they don't think there's enough risk involved for or by a character to make the plot interesting/get the reader personally invested, they'll pass without finishing your query letter.

If you're really worried about dense paragraphs, you could potentially separate these two paragraphs into a third by formatting them like: setting the scene; raising the stakes; summary of what your protagonist will learn/how it relates to your themes.

Step 5: Write About Your Background (1 Paragraph)

Your last paragraph is all about you! Talk about what makes you awesome and why you're the person to tell this story.

Here are a few examples:

I was compelled to write this story because I'm passionate about coming-of-age narratives and fantasy settings. Last year, I won first place in the National Fantasy Short Story Competition and published another flash fiction fantasy work in Generic Fantasy Magazine. Currently, I work full time for Google and write creatively as a hobby.

I graduated in 2013 from State College with a BFA in Creative Writing and a minor in English. Since then, I've placed as a semi-finalist in Fiction Stories Competition. I write creatively for fun and work full-time as a marketing assistant.

I've read fantasy since I could pick up a book and always wrote short stories in that genre. This is my first novel-length manuscript and it means so much to me because I think this genre needs more coming-of-age [other types of representation here] representation. This is a stand-alone novel, but I have ideas that could extend it into a trilogy.

You don't need a writing degree or first-place competition awards to finish your query letter. All the agents want to know is why you wrote this manuscript, plus whatever other career-related information may be relevant if you have anything.

Step Six: End With a Professional Goodbye

I like to end my query letters with a thank you, since many agents do lit work as a secondary job and have a full-time gig in another field. Even if they're full-time, they're likely dealing with hundreds of submissions at a time when they open to queries while working with their current clients.

You could end your letter with something like:

Thank you for your time and consideration.

I'm grateful for your time.

Thank you for your consideration.

And end it with:

Sincerely,

[Your First/Last Name]

Always Revise for Each Agent

If you're copying/pasting your query letter into submission boxes or emails and hitting send, you're not going to have good results.

You'll likely send a letter addressed to a previous agent or leave out formatting/required info specified in an agent's bio.

Always read through your current query draft and revise as needed before sending it to a new agent.

Best of Luck!

I hope this helps you draft your first query letter with a bit more confidence! Use these guidelines to get a rough draft ready and come back to it when you're in a calm, confident headspace to edit.

When in doubt, always refer to an agent's requirements in their bio or what's required in Query Tracker. That site will have a box for you to copy/paste your letter, but it will also ask you to type out specifics, like the bullet points in Step 3.

If you're going to submit more than one letter, I'd recommend keeping a spreadsheet! Record things like:

The name of the agent

Their publisher

A link to their bio

How you submitted your query (email, Query Tracker, general publisher submission page)

The date you submitted

If the agent specifies when they get back to writers (many will give 2-3 month turnaround estimates)

If they've responded (you could write things like "passed on my query," "requested a bigger sample," "requested the full manuscript," etc.)

It's much easier to reflect on who you might want to follow up with or who you've already queried as time goes on. It's rarely a good idea to query the same agent twice after they reject you, unless they specify what you could work on within your manuscript to make them more interested.

Get that first draft down and you'll feel much better about taking your second step into the journey of getting published. 💛

Other resources you might find helpful:

The 10 Dos and Don’ts of Writing a Query Letter

The Complete Guide to Query Letters

How to Write a Darn Good Query Letter

Read A Sample Literary Agent Query Letter, With Hints & Tips

How to Write a Query Letter: All the Do's and Don’ts

#writing #writing a query letter #query letters #writeblr #writing advice #writers of tumblr #writing tips #creative writing #writing help #writers #writing community #writing inspiration #query letter #querying #how to query

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tittyblade · 3 years

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tumblr etiquette 101

a list that is nowhere near exhaustive, from yours truly.

First off, welcome! Whether you’re a twitter veteran looking for anything but whatever twitter is, or a new user just done signing up, glad to see you in our ranks beloveds! Welcome home. Refer to this quick tour to make sure your fandom experience (or tumblr experience in general) is a positive one!

Disclaimer: I know it’s long, but please try to read or skim through til the end if you’re new here! This is by no means meant to be a rule book (for the most part lol), only a guide to help you get settled easier!

1) Your blog

This is where people will see and interact with you, so put some effort into it!

Try to choose a name (url) that’s simple. You can see it as your brand, it’s how people will perceive you and remember you. If you’d like to interact with other users here (and not use the site just for the content) it’s better to have something short and sweet, preferably without spaces. (Of course, these are only suggestions.) Rest assured, you can change it literally any time you want.

Have a theme. Utilize the tool that lets you edit your blog’s color or the font of your bio! You can make it match your profile picture, or your blog if it has a theme of its own. Make it feel homey :]

Fill in your bio. People will be checking out your profile probably more often than you think. Don’t leave it empty! Put in any information you’re comfortable with sharing and isn’t too personal (like your age if you’re a minor, or other TMI that can be found on other people’s carrds). It’s always better to add a name/nickname people can use to refer to you by, but feel free to use your blog description to shitpost still.

You can have an intro post. More often than not, you’ll see a blog have a pinned post, a post permanently appearing at the top of a blog until you pin another post or unpin it. You can make one of those, if you’d like to introduce yourself in more length, link any other socials or a carrd, and show others visiting your blog how you tag things so it’ll be easy for them to navigate. Not an obligation.

Keep your anonymity and your safety. It should go without saying, but there’s no harm in repeating it just in case. Your comfort, privacy and safety has the utmost importance. Don’t share any information you don’t want to. Don’t share your age if you’re a minor, or any other incredibly personal info. I’d encourage you to go by a nickname that’s not your real name, (blog name, your brand, remember?) since there’s safety in anonymity, and that’s lowkey one of the big deals of tumblr, but that’s up to you still.

Choose what you want to be visible. Your liked posts and who you follow are all things you can set to keep to yourself and hide from the publics eye, how handy! You should go through all the setting while you’re at it, set it to your comfort.

Side blogs are a thing. You can have multiple blogs that you can use for different things (see: different fandoms, art blog, etc) to keep them organized or away from your followers. Just remember that the replies and off-anon asks you send will be from your main blog, as well as where you follow other blogs from.

2) Interacting with others

You’ve set up your account, now comes the fun part!

Follow to your heart’s desire. If you care about others seeing who you follow, fear not! In tumblr, usually only two types of blogs keep their following visible to others: newbies, and big blogs using it to point people on other good blogs’ direction. Just turn it off, and go ham following people.

Customize your dashboard. Gonna mention just two things here: this is another reason why it’s really important that you follow blogs without sparing, your dash will collect dust otherwise; and you should turn off “best stuff first” in your dashboard settings, to have a better community here and all.

Follow tags. You can set it in your settings that posts with your followed tags appear on your dashboard.

You can check the og post for edits and context. When you see a reblogged post you don’t understand the context of (or don’t recognize the character in case of fanarts), click on the profile so it will take you to the original post. From there you can check the original poster’s tags to get the context, or see if there have been any edits made to the post, since when you edit a post it doesn’t update any past reblogs.

Send people asks... This is how you make mutuals, people! Do it off-anon if you’d like them to know your blog, or anon if you’d rather not! (You can still end your messages with a signature to show you’re the same person, -[name] is one example.) Send them nice messages, ask their opinion on something, discuss things, or just straight up shitpost lol. Go wild. The sky’s your limit and it’s definitely more than 280 characters.

...and let them ask you! You can set your preference in the settings, do it on desktop tumblr to access more settings tho! What you can customize on mobile is limited (like letting people ask you things anonymously, that’s only on desktop settings). In my personal opinion, it’s always better to tag their username (or a nickname you give them, if they’re a friend) on that post, since you wouldn’t want your interactions with your friends to get buried in your blog forever.

Comment on posts. If you have something to say but don’t want the post to appear on your blog you can add a comment. The owner of the post will get a notif for it, but for anyone else you need to tag them.

For the love of god, reblog. People will only see your liked posts if you have it visible to public and they specifically go on your blog to look at them. You like something? You reblog. It’s already hard for posts to circulate properly, if you don’t reblog them literally no one will see them. If not for anything do it for the artists. Just hold and drag on mobile to fast rb.

3) Your Posts

Finally here! Don’t be a lurker, post and engage!

Make use of “read more”. If your post is long, add it. That’s what you clicked on earlier to expand this post. On desktop leave an empty line and you’ll see three dots appear, and on mobile type :readmore: on that empty line.

Draft a post to come back to it later. Pretty self explanatory.

Queue your post. Whether it’s your own post or you’re reblogging, make use of the queue feature to a) not spam reblog and fill up the dashboard of people following you and b) keep your blog active while you’re gone. Mess around in the settings, it’s fairly easy to set up.

Schedule your post. Same as queueing, the only difference is you get to choose the exact time your post will go up. Handy if you want to schedule a post for certain dates like april fools, or 5 years in the future for some reason.

Format your texts. You can do all kinds of fancy stuff here (that’s a link, try pressing on it). Twitter doesn’t have this, make use of it. Changes depending on whether you’re on mobile or desktop. (Desktop has less features.)

Check your stats. If you’re trying to understand the algorithm better or want to look at some pretty graphs you can get your data on that on desktop tumblr.

@ people in comments. You’ll get all the notifs when people comment on your posts but they won’t see your reply unless you tag them in your message.

4) Tags, and tagging a post

This is where my earlier statement “this isn’t a rule book” stops being applicable. It’s not a war crime to go against these, I won’t come chasing you (don’t take my word for this) but you’ll work up a bad rep. Just saying lol.

Do NOT crosstag posts. It’s really tempting to add unrelated tags to increase your posts’ interaction, I know, but that’s not what tumblr is about. Don’t be a dick and make other communities’ experience worse for them.

Always tag your posts with “crit/critical/discourse/etc” if it calls for it. There’s no exceptions to it. This is the reason you see people migrating to tumblr. Let people enjoy things.

Don’t main tag a critical/negative post. If your crit post is about “Thing”, you add the “Thing critical” tag, but not the “Thing” tag. People block crit tags if they don’t want to see it, don’t shove it in their faces by main tagging it.

If you don’t want to see something, just block it. Another reason why people are able to survive on tumblr. You don’t start discourse, you don’t make call-outs, you block. You can find something for every community you can think of if you go looking for it. The worst of the worst probably won’t ever appear on your dash, but if you’re worried or feel the need for it, you know where the block button is.

Feel free to shitpost or ramble. More often than not you’ll see people rb a post with a comment, and their elaboration will be in the tags. The tags are only visible on your profile and the notifications of the owner of the og blog. Just a thing people do.

Reblog artists’ posts with nice comments in the tags! Commenting on a drawing is usually done through the tags (Not an obligation, again, just a thing people do. Feel free to add your comment on the rb itself if you’d want other people to see it tho!) and leave nice messages for the artists! It’s a win-win for everyone involved.

If you have more than a single follower, always use the common tw warning tags. You don’t need to tw everything, but tw’ing some common things is the bare minimum human decency. Keep it safe for others.

Tag a post “long post” if it’s really long. Pretty self explanatory. Don’t make people scroll through all that please lol.

You can use them to organize your blog. This is more of a pro tip, if you’d like to not miss a post in your blog, cause they will start pilin’ up soon enough.

#Liveblogging is pretty fun. If you’d like to talk to people during streams, don’t forget to add the relevant tags still! Again, you won’t show up on people’s dash otherwise.

Whew! That got out of hand. Hopefully I didn’t bore you too much. Check out blogs like @heritageposts and @hellsite-hall-of-fame to honor our past o7. @mcytblr-hall-of-fame too maybe :eyes:. Anyways, don’t forget the most important rule of them all:

Enjoy your stay! You’re meant to have fun on here while also making friends (if that’s your thing). Just be kind and respectful of others, you’ll get the hang of the rest! <3

#mcyttwt #mcytblr #dream team #dream smp #mcyt #dsmp #tumblr #how to tumblr #gonna tag ppl now so more users will see it lol #dreamwasteken #georgenotfound #karl jacobs #technoblade #sbi #twitter #twitter discourse #sbitwt #sleepytwt #sleepy bois inc #HOLY shit this took so long omg my back literally hurts rn #the fuckin lengths i go to make sure tumblr doesnt get tainted w twt LMAO #anyways if youre seeing this you should follow me look at how sexy i am i spent the last 2+ hours typing this goddamn list out #also: ignore how i literally sound like its 2014 at some parts here lol i tried my best #also ignore how wack the paragraph breaks are tumblrs formatting hates me and its 4 am im too tired for this #third also: some bits here are supposed to be ironic keep that in mind pls #rolan.txt #long post #save #yes im tagging my own post as save what about it

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thenumbersgameif · 2 years

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may i ask for some wisdom on how to start writing interactive fiction? if it's alright with you :))

that's perfectly alright!

i can explain to you my personal process how i go about it

personally, for me it starts with the inspirations--songs (mostly), art, shows, movies, games. i start to create the vague setting and then the characters; Romantic Interests or Companions.

I make mood boards for them, pinterest boards, playlists, write up their profiles, incorrect quotes with them.

I spend 1-2 days thinking about the WIP itself as well; if it's do-able. if it's not too complicated.

i write up every variable i want to have in a separate google doc, and i write up codes i want to/will use in another doc.

it's important to think if this is something you're ready to spend days working on; the coding and writing. you will likely experience burn out, get mean/entitled anons, commenters. it's important to consider that. some people might hate the characters you love, etc.

for SaS, i made the blog when i already had half of the prologue written. i published the done and beta tested demo on december (took me about a month to finish the prologue) and then i took a few months break, changing details about Chapter 1 many times.

for TNG, i made the blog with nothing written but the intro post. and it's still fun!

tumblr blogs are helpful to get a hold of what your characters are, + it gives (me) the motivation to write, because i see the feedback and that people enjoy my creations.

for SaS, the first thing I wrote to set it in stone were the endings. I knew how the story would end before I knew how it would begin (and i changed the beginning 2 times!)

for TNG, i'm more going with the flow of what i feel up to. the missions with the vibes of 'monster/criminal of the week', the domestic interactions, the tension, the angst, the humorous scenes.

so, to make semi coherent list and to sum it up:

Have (even a vague) sense of the world of you WIP

Have the characters (ROs, companions, side characters) drafted in any way, even vaguely

Think about the plot--what will keep you enticed with the IF

Think about what you want to read

(optionally) Draft an intro post and a tumblr blog--the if community here is 99% supportive of each other

Read up on coding, make a list of useful codes

Make a list of variables you want / you will use

you just started your If!

#lin rambles #if: the numbers game #if community #anon asks #interactive fiction

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nuoyipeach · 3 years

Text

Don't Lie

Park Sooyoung X Nakamoto Yuta

warnings: student-prof relationship (uni level), slight smut

tags: @yutahoes

Knowing this might be her last party in a while, Sooyoung threw out any and all worries and thoughts and simply enjoyed herself throughout the night, her friends cheering her own in celebration of her new job.

"Drinks on me!" she cheered raising her glass, her friends following along as the waiter came to their table filling their glasses. It wasn't long before her and a few others were already on the dance floor, going crazy as her body moved to the beat. At some point she stopped, and her eyes met another familiar pair as both got caught in a trance. She knew who it was, despite not knowing his name, and she loved his company.

A wink was all this man needed to down his last shot and head her way, grabbing her waist immediately and spinning themselves, her body pulled closer to his by the sudden action.

"Nice to see you again beautiful." the man whispered as they danced sensually.

Sooyoung smirked, locking her hands around his neck and cocked her head. "Missed you too handsome. Maybe this time I'll get to find out my mystery man's name before what bedsheets he's got?" she teased. The man simply chuckled, when he suddenly stopped dancing and moved closer to her lips.

"Yuta."

"Sooyoung."

And like the many nights before, Sooyoung didn't go home until the morning after with tired limbs, but a smile on her face. Only this time it was bigger as she stared at the man's number in her phone, excited for the promised date next weekend.

>>>

The date would have to wait, however, as Monday was the start of her new job at a new place. Sooyoung was nothing less than an overachiever, landing the job as a teaching staff at a university just by the age of 24, somewhat the same as her final year students.

Looking at herself one last time in the mirror, she smiled at herself happily and headed out, going over a drafted intro she thought of in her mind. It hadn't been that long since she left a university herself, and she knew how ruthless some could be in university. Soon she stood in front of the lecture hall, watching from a distance as students flooded in.

She waited a couple minutes to see if anymore would enter, then went in herself, and to no surprise caught everyone's attention as she stood on the lecture stage and started connecting her laptop to the projector, a short profile of herself appearing. "Good morning everyone, I'll be your lecturer for this semester, Ms Park. Nice to meet you all."

She heard a few whispers and chuckled, but didn't let that affect her flow as she continued. "So I'm supposed to have about thirty students. Could you all maybe name yourselves so I can get to know you better?"

There were about nineteen so she figured she could remember names easily, and the students stood up naming themselves. Just as the last few were about to finish, the door flung open and groggy man came in. Sooyoung shook her head noticing he was definitely hungover, his friends chuckling as they made space for him to sit.

But that was when she saw his face, and lost all colour in her own.

Clearing her throat, she urged them to continue, until the friend group came.

"Jungwoo."

"Chittaphon, but call me Ten."

"Taeyong, and this is Yuta. Sorry about his state." the man pointed to his hungover friend, who's head still remained down. Sooyoung nodded and thanked him, before going on with her own self intro.

"I'm Ms Park, but you can call me Sooyoung-ssi considering we're not that far apart in age. Yes I'm close to yours, and yes I'll be taking on your final semester. I don't want any nonsense happening though, so please stay serious and let's get through this fast."

She knew her name would urge him to finally look up, and he did but she was quick to face away. One good thing about her was her focus, and as soon as she did so in teaching she completely disregarded Yuta's eyes throughout the class.

After almost three hours of teaching, she dismissed them for lunch, greeting a few as they left. And just as she expected, he remained until everyone else was gone. She didn't bother looking and continued packing her things, hearing his chair against the floor and then footsteps towards her.

"Didn't think I'd find you any sexier, but you sure proved me wrong." Sooyoung didn't need to look to tell be was smirking, back turned towards him. "But for real, let's not let this affect our date on Saturday."

At this she turned. "You do realise it's inappropriate, and also against rules, which yes I've read."

"It's not inappropriate. We met before this, close of age as well I assume, and it's not like we're giving each other any advantages concerning academics."

Sooyoung furrowed her brows wondering what he meant by the last thing. But he was right, so she sighed looking directly at him. "Fine, one date."

"No, one date to start of the many others to come." he replied closing up to her. "I genuinely want to get to know you, so stop being so professional with me outside class hours. I know you'd like that too."

Sooyoung hated that he was right, but at least got him to agree to having their date far from campus grounds, even asking they meet at the destination instead of him picking her up. It was in a smaller area of town, but they didn't mind as they sat and spent time getting to know each other better, and Yuta knew for sure he loved the woman already. It was upsetting that all they could do now is have daytime dates, and then back to phone calls and texts only on weekdays, plus the weekends he had assignments.

Like he said, that was the first of many more dates, but not as much as he had hoped. Finally a week before their mid-semester break, he came up with an offer.

"Let's go to Osaka. No one will know we're there together and we won't get caught." he pleaded over the video call. Sooyoung shook her head. She really did feel bad for him, and herself considering the feelings were mutual.

"I don't know if I can afford that..."

"It's on me. It's my hometown, we can stay at my place and I'll take you around. Please?"

He was desperate, and she knew she couldn't say no. And a week later they were in his family home. Yuta's parents were very welcoming, his sisters even attempting to speak Korean to get to know Sooyoung better. She thought he probably didn't tell them about their problem yet, but turns out they did as his mother handed her a letter she attempted to write in Korean, wanting to make it as personal as she could.

I know how hard it must be to be with my son as your student, but I'm proud he found a woman like you. You're so strong and forward as he has told me, and so smart and independent. I know you met before class so trust me there's nothing wrong with your relationship. I trust you'll get through it wisely for now and one day be able to walk around with your head held high, and your hand in his. You're the first I've heard from him who I genuinely like, I hope you'll be one of us someday.

Sooyoung smiled as she finished reading the letter, though it did leave a bit of a weight in her heart. She hasn't told her own family yet, scared of their reactions, but here Yuta was parading around proudly that he was the one she's dating.

Sighing she put it away in her bag and laid down on Yuta's bed to rest, her eyes closing slowly as she heard the shower turn off. She already washed up and changed, and was so tired she didn't realise when she fell asleep, or how Yuta sat and watched over her with a smile when he came out of the bathroom. He crouched next to the bed on the side she faced and moved some hair away from her face to see it better.

Even like this she was so beautiful. He was truly infatuated and couldn't get himself to look away even as he changed into his pyjamas. He quietly slid into the covers next to her and gently pulled her into his embrace, watching stiffly as she shifted and relaxed into his hold causing a smile on his face.

Tired, he laid a gentle kiss on her forehead before falling asleep himself, unaware of the unconscious smile formed on her lips.

Yuta had planned out their whole five day trip diligently, not wanting to waste a single second of it. It mostly included them going to his favourite places and spending time together, lesser of activities as he wanted to just share the moments with her.

On the first two days he showed her around his hometown and where he grew up, his school, favourite restaurant, football field, and the mall. On the third day he decided to take her to the bamboo forest for some fresh air, and was content when she obviously loved it.

Sooyoung didn't rush, taking her time to walk through the forest and take in the nature. It was very calming compared to the busy city life back in Seoul, and the sudden thought of moving to a place like this filled her mind.

Shaking her head when Yuta popped into her imagination too. And now she knew there was no escaping this man ever.

The man who had been taking pictures of her the whole time she walked aimlessly. Yuta smiled to himself as he looked through them, his beautiful woman in front of a beautiful landscape, happiest he's ever seen her.

They stopped by some food stalls where he got her takoyaki and some chocolate mochi sticks. As they sat to eat she noticed a sinister smile on his face and raised her eyebrow questioningly.

He suddenly held her chin to have her face him. "My lady, hotter than takoyaki, sweeter than chocolate. Will you fall into this melting love with me?"

Nothing could've made her cringe any harder than the words coming out of her boyfriend's mouth in that moment. Sooyoung didn't even know how to react, ending up choking on the mochi, looking away from him.

Of course Yuta had a laugh, not before calming her down with some water though. As she composed herself he continued laughing, wiping the chocolate off her angrily pouted lips. "I'm sorry. But it's true, you're hot, and you're sweet."

Deciding to have her own fun, Sooyoung retorted. "Is that all I am to you? I thought you'd see more in me to love about." she looked away faking sadness. And just like she predicted, Yuta panicked and turned her back to him.

"No no, I mean you're just so hot, and you're such a sweet person. But of course I love you for more than that. Like, you're so smart, and dignified, and very particular about your wants and needs. Just, everything about you is perfection itself. And if not to others, then I'm glad it's just to me because I know for sure people would be dying to have you the way I do."

Her small joke backfired, hard. From her pretending to be angry, to now having tears in her eyes. What he said was very simple, yet it somehow made her heart beat faster and faster.

"Love?" he suddenly called her, "What's wrong? Are you really that upset by it? Why are you about to cry?"

Love. That was her breaking point. She knew nothing was worth giving up what she had with this man, and leaned into his embrace, nuzzling her face into his neck to avoid people seeing her cry.

"Why do you have to be so damn perfect?" she whispered. "No matter how I think, how scared I get, how I try to make myself dislike you I can't because not only are you such a amazing man... but I love you so much more than I thought..."

Yuta chuckled and hugged her tighter, kissing into her hair. "I won't let this affect your career, I promise. I'll lay off the PDA, it's just another nine months, and then we're both free to be together publicly wherever."

She looked at him with a smile, and they soon returned back to his place. She wanted to do something special for him, something personal, and thought of the perfect idea. After dinner, she excused herself to bed early while Yuta talked to his parents and went into his bathroom. She let the tub fill up, adding in some bubbles, and stripped out of her clothes into a bathrobe, then waited on his bed. The moment she heard his footsteps she scrambled to sit up in a sexy pose.

Yuta came in, but instead of getting seduced, he bursted out laughing at her. "Are you really doing this right now? Here? In my family house?" he couldn't contain himself, but stopped seeing her upset face. He wiped his eyes and smiled sincerely at her, going to sit next to her and hug her, though she faced away angry at his reaction. "Alright alright, I'm sorry. Just never expected this from you. Do what you wanted to do."

Sooyoung looked back at him, still upset. "I wasn't trying to necessarily seduce you... I got the bath ready, I thought we could get in together."

Yuta couldn't help himself hearing her idea and pushed her onto the mattress, causing her to squeal as he made sounds of satisfaction while nuzzling into her neck. "God could you be any more perfect!" he groaned, pulling away and looking at her as they shared eye contact. "I love you. Come on then, let's get in."

Yuta sat in first, followed by Sooyoung straddling his lap facing him, both naked down to the last underwear. She leaned her face close to his and simply let their noses touch as they smiled, his hands tracing up and down on his back. She shivered at the contact, her body pressing into his more until no space was left between them.

"I hope you never leave me." he suddenly whispered encasing her in his arms. "I haven't said this, but I really don't see myself with any other woman but you. I see you in a white dress, you in my bed, you waddling around with a baby bump, you next to me the day I close my eyes forever."

"Oh my God." Sooyoung frowned at the last part. "Don't talk about death like that. Or at all. We're still new to this Yuta." she pointed out. He sighed before pulling her head closer to rest on his shoulder, his cheek rested on top of her forehead.

"I know. But it's the truth. Promise me we'll never break up."

"That's a pretty big commitment..."

"I'm ready for it."

Sooyoung knew her answer. She just wanted confirmation they were on the same page. She peeked up at him, holding his jaw with one hand and kissing his cheek, causing him to look at her.

"I promise, you'll be the only man who I ever love this way."

Their eyes locked for a long time, until Yuta took the initiative and kissed her passionately. Slowly he pushed her head away, then pulled her waist closer until their lower parts touched. Sooyoung moaned, she could feel him, and she knew her arousal wasn't hidden any better even under water.

She snaked her hands around his neck, got up for a second before sinking into him, both letting go of their kiss to let out moans of pleasure. Yuta was the first to pull her back closer, their movements consistent as they continued to exchange kisses, his soon going down to her chest.

It was a long night in the bath tub, their skin pruned by the time they came out. But their actions didn't stop there as they continued to make love in his bed.

Once they finally stopped they both decided to just shower again in the morning, and simply dug into each other's embrace under the sheets, wide smiles on both their faces.

>>>

Things seemed normal. Another six months and Yuta would officially graduate, meaning he'd finally be able to kiss his girlfriend without anyone complaining. It was hard on his part to stay away from her so much, the only time they could feel each other's hugs were just the weekends.

Sooyoung went easy on him. She could see how stressed he was with his final year thesis, and would drop by in their weekends just to help around his apartment so he could focus on his work. She didn't have much of a workload as he did since she was only starting with one class this year, so she decided helping him through would benefit them both.

One thing always stuck in her mind. She noticed how Yuta was always going into the dean's office every now and then, and wondered what exactly he does there. But he soon disregarded her curiosity figuring it's best to stay out of his academic life unless involved.

Weeks passed by, and four months left before Yuta was done. They had a short semester break, during which the two went to Jeju to spend time together freely. Their three day trip was filled with just strolling around sights, sharing food and memories, lots of overdue hugs and kisses.

Yuta was so happy he almost forgot about life back at university, and he knew so did she as they laid down together on the ground at a beach. She laid down sideways, her head on his shoulder as her finger traced circles on his tummy, while his fingers played with her hair from behind.

"I can't wait to do this every night..." Sooyoung whispered. "I didn't think we'd last this long, and I'd be so in love with you. I mean, we were just strangers who'd hookup at the club, but something about you felt comforting..."

She was silenced when Yuta suddenly turned on his side as well, capturing her lip with his in a passionate kiss. He pulled away shortly just to reply with a smile. "I don't regret a thing. I'm glad you found comfort in me, and thank you for trusting me. I know it's harder for you than it is for me, sometimes I feel like I'm forcing you."

This time Sooyoung kissed him back to shush him, and was thankful it was dark as they turned so she was on top of him. "Don't say that. Don't think you're in the wrong. I'm still with you because I love you, no other reason and you know it."

Yuta smiled, tearing up slightly. He was just so in love, he never thought this would happen to him from simply sleeping with someone at a club a few times. His heart beat so much he was sure she could feel it as they kissed again, slowly packing away and moving their session back to their hotel room.

Just four more months, and they'd be happy everyday like this.

>>>

The stares and whispers at Sooyoung didn't go unnoticed, and it bothered her a lot. She didn't know what was happening as she walked through the halls towards the staff room, when someone pulled her aside into an empty hallway.

"Lee Taeyong?"

"Sooyoung-ssi, I'm only doing this because he's my best friend despite the fact he even hid it from me, but you should leave today." he said in a low voice. "Somebody in our faculty, specifically our batch, saw you guys at Jeju and spread the news in the students forum. The staff will find out soon today, it's best you go home. Yuta will take care of it all."

She couldn't believe her ears, almost falling to the ground before Taeyong grabbed her arms to hold her still. "We... We hid so well, how..." she breathed unevenly, then looked back up at her student. "Where's Yuta now?"

"Dean's office." before he could say any more she dashed off towards the said room, grabbing even more attention than before. Once she reached, she fixed herself and entered, seeing Yuta sitting across their faculty dean. "I'm here-"

"Yes we know everything Ms Park." the older man cut her off, sighing as he stood up. "I've decided to put you off for just a week for damage control, and Mr Nakamoto here will be given extra work to cover up his demerit from this."

Sooyoung didn't like it one bit. She read the rules, she should have been fired, not that she wanted it but this new situation got her even more confused. She looked at Yuta who also stood up and faced her.

"I told him I'm the one who approached you, so you won't be taken fault for anything."

Something about this made her mad. Why's he hiding the truth and taking all the blame? If he preached her so much about nothing being wrong with their relationship, why's he suddenly doing the opposite?

Yuta could tell she was mad, but missed holding her hand as she stormed off slamming the door. He quickly chased behind her until the main entrance, and grabbed her hand turning her around.

"Why are you mad? I just saved your career..."

"Why?" she cut him off. People started to watch, mostly students who already know what happened and now were eager to see the follow up. "Why did you lie to him? You approached me? What happened to we met before classes? We were together before my job and we didn't know this? Why didn't you tell him the truth!?" her voice only increased with every sentence, causing more attention to divert to them.

"You told me yourself your career comes before anything. I didn't want you to loose what you worked so hard to gain just like that. Besides, this won't go your papers, and I'll just work extra to cover up my demerits. What is there to be mad about?"

She didn't know. She didn't know why she was mad. Was it at herself for letting him take the blame? Was it at him for not just telling the truth? Was it at the fact that they even got caught at all?

Her head hurt, and she pressed her palm against it. "I need to go home." she said before swiftly leaving to her car, leaving Yuta more confused than ever.

For the week Sooyoung was home, she didn't respond to Yuta's calls and messages at all. At one point he even came to her house, but she saw how he was suddenly reluctant to knock, sat outside for a few minutes, then left. Her heart ached seeing his state, but she needed time to herself. She needed to sort out her thoughts.

She found out from Ten that Yuta had a connection with the dean, something like family friendship or such. They didn't know exactly, but he apparently knew of their relationship from before because Yuta told him as a precautionary measure. This upset her more. She didn't like that he was taking advantage his ties to save her career, she felt like she was using him, and that's definitely how others would see it when they find out.

She wasn't wrong. The moment she stepped into campus questions were thrown at her about how she really got this job. She knew her age would cause a stir, she never thought it would go this bad. After constant teasing from students, her eyes met Yuta's friends, Yuta standing between them. He wasn't looking, but the students calling her name got his attention.

"And I almost had respect for you, Sooyoung-ssi."

Sooyoung had had enough, throwing her books onto the floor with a scream. "SHUT UP!" she looked at all of them. "I'm done, if this is how it is, I'll leave, I'll quit. I hope you learned something from me from all of this." Her eyes met Yuta's, and she knew she'd regret what she was about to say, but did it anyways.

"Never let your heart speak over your mind."

With that she ran off back to her car, glimpsing at the rare view mirror to see Yuta running up behind her, and quickly driving off. It was her mistake to let their relationship go this far, one she doesn't regret enjoying, but she definitely regrets happening.

The right person, at the wrong time. The worst pain one can experience in love.

She drove to her parent's house, knowing Yuta wouldn't find her there. She ran into her room and cried, leaving her parents perplexed. Her mother came in and sat by her, asking what happened, and Sooyoung could only tell the story in broken sobs.

"Why did I fall in love with him... I HATE MYSELF!"

>>>

Sooyoung knew she wasn't fired for a reason. The dean not only did it for Yuta, but after the hallway incident he felt pity for her, and instead allowed her to take a sick leave for as long as she liked. But she knew she couldn't take too much of an advantage of it, so after a week she walked back into the building, holding her resignation letter.

"Ms Park you better not be serious." the dean spoke against her as she placed it on his table. "We love having you here, and I know the backstory which I will share with the others, so we can give you an exception of the rule. You shouldn't have to leave because of it."

But Sooyoung was persistent on her choice. "I'll apply somewhere else. Even if we're not together after this, I just can't be here anymore. I'm not going to quit my career, I just need a change of venue. Too much happened for me to feel comfortable here anymore." she stood up and bowed, and left after apologising once more.

Sighing she first went to her table to clear away her things. She opened the drawer at the bottom, and smiled sadly at the few gifts she had gotten over the last few months, her heart now breaking as she realised how much her students loved her in such a short time. They didn't see her the same anymore now obviously, but she doesn't hate them for that.

She packed them away into a bag, along with all her other things, and headed for her car. It was pretty silent, just a few students coming and going around her.

Until a shriek stopped everyone in their tracks.

Sooyoung turned to where they looked, and saw a female student on the ground, looking up. They followed her gaze, to the roof of their five story building, and realised why she had screamed as they all made out a figure standing at the edge.

"Holy shit! Call emergency! Get staff! Everybody do something for God's sake!" she heard some of the students yelling, others rushing around for whatever reason. She looked back up, eyes widening as she realised something that dropped her heart to the ground.

The shirt this figure wore, was her gift to Yuta.

"NO!" students watched as Sooyoung screamed and ran into the building, climbing up the stairs as fast as she could getting the attention of people who didn't even know what was happening from the inside. She didn't care how they looked at her. The only thing in her mind was Yuta.

Is he crazy? This over one mishap? What's wrong with him!?

She finally reached the top and panted as she barged through the door to the roof, freezing again as she watched the man dangle his foot over the edge, hands in his pockets as if he was the calmest right now. "NAKAMOTO YUTA!" she screamed getting closer, and grabbed his arm pulling him back. "What the hell do you think you're doing!?!"

Yuta stared at her lost, blinking a few times before releasing his arm from her grip. Suddenly he reached his ears, and pulled out his earbuds that had been hidden under his long hair. "What's going on?" he asked, finally hearing all the screams from the ground. He peeked over to see, but Sooyoung pulled him away and made him face her strictly.

She stared at him for a while, trying to sort out her thoughts and words and emotions, everything going on in her. It was a mess, and finally she just broke down in front of him. Yuta quickly caught her before she could fall to the ground and hugged her, letting her cry into his chest when she suddenly started hitting him.

"You sick asshole! Do you realise how much pain you just gave me from standing there, for no reason at all!?! What the hell is wrong with you!?!"

Yuta was still confused as he hugged her, until he noticed his friends were there as well, and he mouthed at them asking what happened. Ten smacked his forehead groaning, Taeyong sighing before he explained.

"You standing there caused a ruckus, we thought you were gonna jump!" he came closer and smacked Yuta's head. "Who the f*ck stands at the edge of a building listening to music like that you dumbass!?!"

His eyes widened and he pulled out Sooyoung. "You thought I was going to die?" she stared at him in disbelief at his question.

"Is that all you can say? You just gave the whole campus a heart attack! How did you think I'd react idiot!" she smacked his shoulder. Yuta pulled her back into a hug, rubbing her back in an attempt to soothe her.

"Sorry, sorry. I was just thinking about things..." he pulled her out and cupped her face. "I was thinking it's my fault you're leaving, and I'm really sorry for that. I wish I could turn back time and fix it all."

His friends sighed and went back inside, deciding to let the couple sort things out. Sooyoung wiped off her tears and stood up, Yuta following along, waiting for her to say something while he still held her hands. After a few seconds she looked back at him.

"It's not your fault. I'm switching because I want to. I guess you could say I'm a coward, but I don't want to stay somewhere I've had issues in." she stood closer, releasing her hands from his hold and cupping his cheek. "I wish I could turn back time too, we could've worked this out another way, or I was working somewhere else. I... I still love you Yuta." she hugged him, leaning her head against his chest.

Yuta stood a while before hugging her back, and kissed her head. "I want us to be together again, now that you're moving. But it feels selfish... Part of me says to give you space and time."

They stood hugging for a while longer, Sooyoung sniffling to get rid of her tears from earlier. Finally she pulled away and looked up at him, hands still grabbing his shoulders. "Give me a week. Let me settle in my new college, then you can take me out again." she finally smiled, after what felt like too long.

Yuta's heart felt lighter, a smile on his face as well. He leaned closer and pecked her lips, but before he could pull away she responded back with a kiss. It felt familiar, like home. Their hearts filled up with emotion as they finally held each other knowing they're safe. Just as it was about to get heated, she quickly pulled away and covered his mouth with her hand as he chased after her.

"Calm down," she chuckled before hugging him again, "we'll have more time for this later."

"Don't make me wait too long baby." he whispered hugging her back. "I might pull another stunt on purpose this time."

"If you do, you'll have to take cold showers every night you stay over for a month."

His eyes widened. He pulled her out and saw the evil smile on her face as she winked back. "Cat got your tongue?" she said again, causing him to laugh in disbelief.

She knew she wouldn't be able to keep him off that long anyways, and was quick to call him just four days after she settled in at her new job. This time she chose a college, deciding to teach people a little younger than her at least.

Yuta came over immediately, and lucky for him, he didn't need to take a cold shower and instead slept peacefully that night, holding his girlfriend tight in his arms, their bodies entangled under the blanket.

>>>

another ending that I'm not too proud of (눈‸눈) hope you enjoyed it though♡

#nct #red velvet #nct 127 #nctvelvet #nct yuta #nakamoto yuta #red velvet joy #park sooyoung #fanfiction #fluff #angst #yujoy #nct fic #red velvet fic #professor student relationship #romance #mature #smut

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