#write problem

[worthymartyrconstruct]

My childhood imaginary friend just sent me a voice note—twenty years after I buried him.

When I was seven, I had an imaginary friend named "Benny." He wasn’t like other kids' imaginary friends—he was always cold to touch, hated mirrors, and told me secrets about people he shouldn’t have known.

My parents thought it was cute… until I woke up one night with mirror shards under my pillow and Benny whispering, “We’re almost there.”

After a terrifying week, my grandma (old-school Catholic) made me "bury" him. Literally. We held a mock funeral in the backyard with salt, prayers, and a tiny wooden box I was told never to dig up.

That was twenty years ago.

Two nights back, I got a WhatsApp voice note from an unknown number.

It was Benny’s voice. Same raspy whisper. “Mirror, mirror, under bed… bring me back or you’ll be dead.”

I haven’t slept since.

I think something's crawling under my bed. And my bathroom mirror… it’s fogged up, but I haven't used it in days.

What do I do?

[rudamaruda520]

me as a writer

[nondelphic]

"just write a little every day" ok but what if i write nothing for 3 weeks and then suddenly type like i’m being hunted by god

[incandescent-creativity]

Do you ever write a sentence and then realize “Nah, that’s too self aware for you” and backspace a bunch of times.

[honorlessrogue]

today i wrote zero words! but i did think about my story twice in passing. that probably counts for something

[inkskinned]

please i love you i'm begging you bring back suspension of disbelief bring back trusting the audience like. i cannot handle any more dialogue that sounds like a legal document. "hello, i am here to talk to you about the incident from a few minutes ago, because i feel you might be unwell, and i am invested in your personal wellbeing." "thank you, i am unwell because the incident was hurtful to me due to my childhood, which was bad." I CANT!!!!

do you know how many people are mad that authors use "growled" as a word for "said"? it's just poetics! they do not literally mean "growled," it's just a common replacement for "said with force but in a low tone." it's normal! do you hear me!! help me i love you please let me out of here!!!

[solivagantingrebel]

editing is so funny because it's like "damn, i wrote 'before' two times within three paragraphs. they are going to stone me in the town square for this"

[worthymartyrconstruct]

My wife came back from the dead. But something’s horribly wrong.

Last year, my wife, Mira, drowned during our honeymoon in Kerala. The river swept her away. I saw it with my own eyes—her hand vanishing beneath the churning water, her screams swallowed by the current. Her body was never found. I returned home shattered, haunted by guilt and silence.

But that changed five nights ago.

At 3:13 a.m., I woke up to the sound of humming. Soft, lilting—Mira’s favorite song. I froze. I live alone. I’ve lived alone for months now. The tune floated through the hallway like a memory, leading to the kitchen.

I followed the sound, barefoot, heartbeat loud in my ears.

And there she was.

Mira.

Standing by the sink, hair wet and tangled, in the same red dress she wore the day she died. She turned slowly. Her skin was pale, almost translucent, lips blue. But it was her. Her eyes. Her smile.

“Hi love,” she whispered. Like nothing had happened.

I should’ve run. Screamed. Anything. But I just stared and whispered, “Mira?”

She nodded, stepped closer, and wrapped her cold arms around me. “I missed you.”

We spent the night talking. I didn’t ask too many questions. I didn’t want to break the illusion. I just… let myself believe. Grief does strange things to a man.

But by morning, I knew something was wrong.

Her reflection doesn’t show in mirrors.

She doesn’t blink.

She never sleeps.

At night, she stands by the window, staring into the woods behind our house, whispering in a language I don’t recognize. The dog next door won’t stop barking when she’s near. And three times now, I’ve caught her digging in the backyard. When I ask, she just smiles.

“I’m planting something,” she says.

Yesterday, I called Mira’s sister. I needed someone to confirm I wasn’t losing my mind. I asked her to come over. She hadn’t even stepped through the door before she went pale and said, “Who’s that?” pointing at Mira, who was smiling politely from the hallway.

“That’s Mira,” I said.

My sister-in-law backed away. “That’s not Mira.”

She left. I haven’t heard from her since.

Last night, I woke to find Mira lying beside me, eyes wide open, face inches from mine. Her voice was soft.

“You’re starting to forget what I looked like, aren’t you?”

I didn’t answer.

She leaned closer. “Don’t worry. I’ll remind you.”

I pretended to sleep, heart hammering.

Tonight, I tried to record her. Just to prove I’m not insane. I set up a camera in the living room where she spends most of her time. But when I checked the footage… nothing. The room was empty. Hours of footage. No sign of her.

But here’s the thing—while I watched it, I felt her breath on my neck.

Just now, as I write this, I heard something. A low, wet sound from the backyard.

Digging.

I looked out the window.

There are five holes now.

Each perfectly shaped. Human-sized.

And Mira is standing beside them, humming her song. But she’s not alone. Something is coming up from the earth—hands, white and shriveled, reaching out.

I don’t know what she is. Or what she brought with her.

But I know this:

That thing is not my wife.

And I think I’m next.

[so-many-ocs]

revising your writing is just like "is this weird. is this a weird sentence. is this the weirdest most poorly-worded sentence ever written by anyone" and the sentence in question is "he walked across the room"

[nondelphic]

writing is 10% storytelling and 90% rearranging three sentences for an hour like you're trying to solve an ancient curse

[snowstories]

My biggest tip for fanfic writers is this: if you get a character's mannerisms and speech pattern down, you can make them do pretty much whatever you want and it'll feel in character.

Logic: Characters, just like real people, are mallable. There is typically very little that's so truly, heinously out of character that you absolutely cannot make it work under any circumstance. In addition, most fans are also willing to accept characterization stretches if it makes the fic work. Yeah, we all know the villain and the hero wouldn't cuddle for warmth in canon. But if they did do that, how would they do it?

What counts is often not so much 'would the character do this?' and more 'if the character did do this, how would they do it?' If you get 'how' part right, your readers will probably be willing to buy the rest, because it will still feel like their favourite character. But if it doesn't feel like the character anymore, why are they even reading the fic?

Worry less about whether a character would do something, and more about how they'd sound while doing it.

[dionysiaproductions]

[chodzacaparodia]

It's frustrating that you can come up with the plot of an entire fic in just a few seconds, but writing it all down can take anywhere from never to forever.

[deadghostgirl12345]

[luna-azzurra]

Emotional Walls Your Character Has Built (And What Might Finally Break Them)

(How your character defends their soft core and what could shatter it) Because protection becomes prison real fast.

✶ Sarcasm as armor. (Break it with someone who laughs gently, not mockingly.) ✶ Hyper-independence. (Break it with someone who shows up even when they’re told not to.) ✶ Stoicism. (Break it with a safe space to fall apart.) ✶ Flirting to avoid intimacy. (Break it with real vulnerability they didn’t see coming.) ✶ Ghosting everyone. (Break it with someone who won’t take silence as an answer.) ✶ Lying for convenience. (Break it with someone who sees through them but stays anyway.) ✶ Avoiding touch. (Break it with accidental, gentle contact that feels like home.) ✶ Oversharing meaningless things to hide real depth. (Break it with someone who asks the second question.) ✶ Overworking. (Break it with forced stillness and the terrifying sound of their own thoughts.) ✶ Pretending not to care. (Break it with a loss they can’t fake their way through.) ✶ Avoiding mirrors. (Break it with a quiet compliment that hits too hard.) ✶ Turning every conversation into a joke. (Break it with someone who doesn’t laugh.) ✶ Being everyone’s helper. (Break it when someone asks what they need, and waits for an answer.) ✶ Constantly saying “I’m fine.” (Break it when they finally scream that they’re not.) ✶ Running. Always running. (Break it with someone who doesn’t chase, but doesn’t leave, either.) ✶ Intellectualizing every feeling. (Break it with raw, messy emotion they can’t logic away.) ✶ Trying to be the strong one. (Break it when someone sees the weight they’re carrying, and offers to help.) ✶ Hiding behind success. (Break it when they succeed and still feel empty.) ✶ Avoiding conflict at all costs. (Break it when silence causes more pain than the truth.) ✶ Focusing on everyone else’s healing but their own. (Break it when they hit emotional burnout.)