#writing and stuff

[logophilist1982]

Franz Kafka

[phoenixofthegreenwood]

I feel like people who aren’t writings would be very confused by my and other writers accounts. I don’t want to speak for everyone, but I do genuinely love writing and most of the time I’m playing it up. But with anything and everything creative it can be hard sometimes to be to create even though you love doing it.

So if anything, I’m not annoyed at writing because I don’t like it. I’m annoyed that I can’t do something I love whenever I want to. But that’s just me

[dvcky-duck]

Dude the friggin deepsea au makes me wanna sob and throw up /pos like CHARPIM DIVORCE ??? THE (so far) MYSTERY OF PIM'S SCAR ON HIS EYE ??? THE STORY AND SKETCHES ?? that's some good shit and I'm eating it all UP ^⁠_⁠^

TYSM! also so far I have no idea what I'm doing uhm >_< I've kinda just been tossing around multiple different ideas and trying to figure everything out like maybe adding Charlie (maybe others too??) with Pim in the submarine or something but again idk I'm still very new to writing and this might not even become anything- so I'm sorry abt that!!

idk maybe I'll get inspiration and actually do stuff! who knows :)

anyways uhm- here's a doodle ig :]

(!blood!)

[desiredcaramellatte]

Pitaya X Hollyberry?

Ignore the setup I’m too lazy to copy and paste the symbols so generic dots it is

Yippeeee writing

When Hollytaya

Also apologies if this is a little ooc or short or whatever I’m just writing what pops into my mind tonight

Pitaya x Hollyberry

That one old married couple. Even if they’re not married, they still act like it. They fight so much it isn’t even funny, but it’s more playful fighting than anything.

Both are alco- err- juiceoholics. Hollyberry is the main one but Pitaya still drinks. Hollyberry is to blame for that.

“…where’d the rest of my juice go!?” cue Pitaya booking it to a hiding spot for the next seven hours with the remainder of the juice.

They spar. Often. And a lot. Hollyberry wins most of the time, but Pitaya still find it fun and absolutely relishes in their triumph the few times they get to pull the rug out from under Hollyberry and win one of their sparring matches.

Pitaya likes to randomly sit in Hollyberry’s lap for no specified reason. Whenever they feel like it, they’ll just go up to her and climb in her lap. They’re an overgrown lap dog, basically. It doesn’t matter if it’s in private or public, Pitaya is going to steal Hollyberry’s lap and make it their personal throne for at least two hours.

They get into fights over the dumbest things. Pitaya likes to randomly instigate them too. It’s never silent with these two around- either they’re having some fun, playful banter or they’re having a verbal fistfight.

Wildberry deals with so much shit. Now he has two juicoholics to deal with. Whenever he walks into the room to see Hollyberry and Pitaya fighting he just walks back out like he saw nothing.

Pitaya is the main chef out of the two. They love cooking spicy food and treats, and will happily present them to Hollyberry. They’ve also made some spicy food with juice mixed in- Hollyberry loves those the most.

Hollyberry still refers to Pitaya as ‘You old lizard’, in an affectionate face-punch sort of way. Pitaya both loves and hates it. They have started to literally respond to that name too, so Hollyberry could just yell out ‘old lizard’ in a public area and Pitaya will turn their head or come over.

Hollyberry has made it her personal goal to grow stronger just so she can almost choke Pitaya with her hugs. Pitaya can easily accept her typically life-force-stealing bear hugs with no problem, so Hollyberry is trying to find a way to enforce her trademarked hugs to her dragon.

[forevergreenwithenvy]

it’s violent, how desperate i am to be held by arms stronger than mine

amorous but i’ve never tasted the forbidden fruit eve and adam ate

these days i’m no longer girlish,

not delicate as a flower, not soft as a child

my skin is bruised, calloused and sore

and i’ve turned blue since green never suited me

i feel older than my age, like my years have betrayed me

it’s wondrous, being away from the duties bestowed on the less fortunate

second born, second best

i never let the thought rot in my head for too long

stretching my legs out on the mattress, the sun burns my flesh away

living as a stray, the idea never bothered me

i could spent the rest of my days perfectly content here,

with him or alone

fantasies never do me justice, i should sleep it off

before i fly too close to the sun and stars

i tread these treacherous waters alone

never truly ever had somebody to call home,

or fall into when my mind punishes me for daring to be hopeful

and when the night terrors come, i’ve got no more places to hide in this world

i want to reside in another’s soul, forever etched into their heart

like a scar that won’t heal

curl the blankets around my body to create the perfect silhouette

would you like me then?

forlorn, but i can bask in the afterglow of memories long since expired

forget where you came from or where you believe you belong

your mother’s womb is no longer your home, she’s only your reflection

it’s tragic, how my words always seem to fail me

my body is deteriorating, not because of age or greed

i can’t help but think some sort of wicked curse has been placed on me

i feel it all, from my weary bones to my crestfallen soul

my father used to say the sensitive never last long

so why am i still fending for myself in a lonesome world i was forced to take part of?

something is crawling out of my chest

is it your ghost? or is it mine?

i can’t be sure, not when i feel so lost

everything slips out my fingers like sand

[cor-corbinian]

What if Michael Distortion just continued to live Michael Shelleys life? Just shows up at the magnus institute to continue his job and neither Gertrude nor Elias/Jonah can get rid of him because technically Michael has a contract as an archival assistant.

Edit: Link to fic :)

[mimiyapshard]

he says that they were "old friends/acquaintances" but he means that there was some fucked up homoerotic unrequited longing, tension, murder, betrayal, unspoken words, terrible mistakes, more murder, toxicity, crimes and a tragic ending that somehow brought him to the creation of a new and better found family and i can't get enough of it.

[biromantic-nerd]

Tagged by @dustorangeheartssnow

Number of stories posted to ao3: 78

Number of stories posted last year (2024) to ao3: 6 (or 5 + 1 chapter update)

Word count of works posted last year: 30,862 BUT! Since I had a chapter update, it counted that first chapter so it was actually 30,862 - 5,141 so 25,721 words in 2024

Total word count: 652, 774!!!!! Uh WHAT

Fandoms I wrote for in 2024: Merlin BBC, DC Nightwing Batman, Supernatural

Pairings: Gwaine/Merlin for one and the rest were all gen. (Love gen) [edit bc I FORGOT my Ash/Sam fic is technically a pairing]

Work I’m most proud of (and why): Okay there is one standout answer in my mind, easy. It's my "With Magic Soaking My Spine" Merlin fic. I had this idea that I loved and I thought it was far too big for me to write, but I did it anyways out of love. I poured SO MUCH love into that story. I can't believe I almost didn't post it - or write it at all - because I thought I wouldn't be able to give my idea what it truly deserved.

It is, by far, the work I am most proud of. The idea that I loved was this 'what if misunderstandings au' that I knew I wanted to make comedic but as I wrote it knew I wanted to make it so sad as well. And I am so proud of how balanced it turned out. I also set out from the story to make it a love story between friends - a dedication of sorts to platonic relationships - and I could not be any prouder of how well I achieved that goal.

I wanted to focus on tender friendships, funny misunderstandings, and heartbreaking vulnerability. And I do think I achieved that.

So no matter what sort of 'oh I wish this wasn't so clumsy' or 'I wish I had polished the transitions better' - this fic is the work I am most proud of.

And that it resonated with so many people - I just am grateful and proud. That does make me really proud. This fic has the most 'Oh I actually laughed' comments out of any of mine.

Also!! I'm really proud of "Been Waiting For The Sun" (also Merlin BBC lol) because I set out to write something that was like how I used to write and it turned out pretty imo. It had the depth I wanted, the romanticism of an internal reflection. So that one really ended up how I had wanted to, how I envisioned it. Usually my fics fall short of my too large aspirations. But that one ended up how I'd imagined it.

Work I’m least proud of (and why): Sometimes I get really embarrassed about my fics because I know they're self indulgent. (Which is okay! I know that! But it still hits me sometimes.)

I only cringe because know they could be written way way better. At the time of writing, I really was a lot better at accepting my faults and writing to write without being self conscious of my shortcomings because at least I was writing and having fun.

But the thing is!! I never want to rewrite them because they are oddly charming in how bad they are. Because you can SEE that it's just my love for the ideas that kept me going. And people resonated with that!

So in a weird way I am VERY proud of how 'bad' they are. Because they're so full of love, and I think that's something to be proud of.

I'm not going to name a fic, actually, because I AM proud of all my fics. And I know how much hard work and love I pour into writing these, and so I just can't ever throw one under the bus. No matter how embarrassed I am by myself I get, I also just... cannot pick one. I thought I could but seeing some typed was like breaking my heart what do you MEAN I'm least proud of that fic or that one when I love them so so much because they are my children

share or describe a favorite review you received: I have so many I love!! I always think of the people who are in a situation where they are not supposed to laugh but do; they are in public, they wake up their cat, it's 3am. I have SO many favorites!!! Myth and Audie's comments on "Been Waiting For The Sun" are so sweet. And there are SO MANY really insightful comments on my DC fics (dustorange dear I know you are reading this and YES! You especially!!)

But my first thought for comments is ALWAYS this one from "With Magic Soaking My Spine" bc they were reading the story and stopped to comment about this part I had thought was particularly funny and HAD TO TAKE A BREAK from it I love it.

^ That is THE comment I think about first when I think of comments I've received. I love it so much.

But here have some more faves (all from With Magic Soaking My Spine because I just love the way people comment about it lol)

A time when writing was really, really hard: These past few years!! Okay more than a few.

This is a little personal and I don't want to get into the specifics of it, but writing has increasingly been a mental and physical challenge for me. I am progressively getting dumber and dumber - this is a fact, not a fish for compliments - and so that makes writing really hard in multiple ways. Mentally and physically, it just makes things harder to write by far and those are my biggest obstacles. It's like banging my head on the wall over and over again but I WANT to write despite that resistance - and sometimes my head is like a wrecking ball that it finally breaks through the wall enough for me to do so but the process just is painful. Emotionally, I do really struggle as well and lose motivation to write, even putting aside the mental and physical barriers that make writing hard for me, because I get frustrated with myself for not being the person I thought I would be if it wasn't for my existing factors.

I think it's something most people will think they can relate to - falling short of their ideal self - but I am being very literal about this. I don't just feel like I am dumber; writing is genuinely painful for me because thinking is painful for me and so my brain just... cannot think like it used to. And is dumber as result.

A scene or character you wrote that surprised you: Okay tmi but as I told my friends "I don't WHAT is in the water for SPN but it made me write a kink fic" (rated T though because I'm me) and I'd never ever had guessed I'd write that. But it was fun and imo a fun character study exercise.

A favourite excerpt of your writing: Okay from 2024?

When Sam re-entered the dining area, it took only a couple steps for Dean's head to swivel upwards and to the side, pin-pointing him with an intense look before his shoulders eased. Keeping his eyes on Sam, he grinned a brilliant smile and said something to Jo that made her scowl. He turned his gaze back to her as he laughed, loud and bright.

I like that because the Sam/Ash fic "The Smell of Your Hello" wasn't about Dean at all but I managed to do the brothers' intense bond justice in just the couple lines where Dean did show up.

I do like "An Ounce Of Peace Is All I Want For You"'s

The hair length looked a little familiar. With silent eyes, Dean measured it and tried to compare each strand to his Sam. It was a difficult task. These days, he often couldn't bear to look at his Sam. He counted bangs and layers and tried to match it in his head. There was a time when he could've placed each and every strand, no matter the way it parted. But now Dean looked and looked and could only visualize that maybe it was different from Sam's silhouette.

Uh of all time? Hard to say!

Maybe from "Twinges When It's About To Rain"

Today, just as it has always been in these years of doing this, he enters the room and approaches the couch. Bruce glances over the novel in his hands and then resumes reading, now with a small smile. Dick climbs onto the couch with years of practice, snuggles close to Bruce in a way that isn't possible outside this parlor room, outside of this couch so beloved to Bruce first and now beloved to Dick as well. A family heirloom of emotional attachment.

I REALLY like that last sentence. It's one of my faves.

I think - out of all time - it once again comes to "With Magic Soaking My Spine" as the winner. It's my favorite fic of mine for a reason, I guess.

"Do you ever think about the Fisher King?" Merlin blurted out. "And about how lonely he was?"

Arthur shook his head. "The Fisher King was long dead when we came upon him. He couldn't have been lonely. Merlin, is everything alright?"

"He still must have been lonely," Merlin argued even though he couldn't tell Arthur that the Fisher King had been alive only moments before Arthur had entered that room. "Being in that room, all alone, knowing he was going to die."

Arthur stood up, alarmed. "Merlin, what are you - " He stepped around the desk and raised one hand, as if to touch him.

"I think I'm lonely too," Merlin continued on, and Arthur paused. And then, gently, he let his hand come upon Merlin's shoulder like he had intended.

"I understand," Arthur said quietly.

Merlin shook his head. "I don't think you do. But I want you to."

Arthur stared at him intently, mouth pursed as he contemplated Merlin before him and his words. "Alright. Then tell me."

Having that vulnerability in my comedy fic was absolutely necessary and I think it's one of my best passages and one of my best characterizations. I can hear Merlin say it.

How did you grow as a writer last year: At the end of the year, I really tried to just embrace my writing regardless whether or not it was what I wanted it to be. I actually had some days of clarity in December where I got a lot of writing done and tried to focus on being thankful for that instead of wishing that I could do better than I am able to do.

How do you hope to grow this year: I want to write things and not hold them up to my personal standard. I used to be better at that, but it's so hard for me because I know I can do better in theory. But I will end up not posting at all if I waited until for myself to be 'better.'

It's a hard balance, but I want to try and accept my shortcomings while still trying to make things as polished as I can. I really do wrack myself over it, and I want to try and give myself the grace to be stupid. Yeah maybe there's no ending or no intro, but that's okay. Maybe I could have written this better, had I not been in the physical and mental state that I am, but I AM this way, and so maybe my writing shouldn't be on hold until I am 'better' because I'm not getting better. I don't need to be better in order to exist. Yeah, I want to give myself permission to exist in messy, stupid ways.

That being said!! I hope to grow by not giving up on myself either!! I don't want to accept that I can never try! I am ALWAYS trying!

It's such a hard balance for me, but I hope to grow by trying less and trying more - which sounds wild, I know.

Who was your greatest positive influence this year as a writer (could be another writer, beta, cheerleader, etc.): Okay so. I do have two friends I go to and just tell them all my writing ambitions and they kindly cheerlead for me, even when it's not their fandom. But they are my cheerleaders more than them influencing me. You know, I have to go with @future-dregs bc SO many of the tag conversations we have just get me so inspired to create something. The conversations make me go '!!!!' and then I just am excited.

Anything from your real life show up in your writing last year: Yes. I'd like to say [redacted] but like. I'm already oversharing so! Here we go!

Writing about mentally ill characters tends to work in experience from my life. It's just one of those things. Writing about Dick Grayson, Sam Winchester - yeah I draw from experience.

And I was undiagnosed for a long long time (still am for some of the things) so characters that aren't ~officially~ mentally ill are my Favorite kinds. Like they are - it's canon for sure but they're not given a name for their mental illness. So I can rub my little hands together and do whatever I want.

Also "tell yourself it's never gonna happen again" is inspired from my life 😬

Any new wisdom you can share with other writers: Honestly dustorange said it best: "If what you want to write doesnt seem like it will have an audience and no one will want to write it but you REALLY love your idea, WRITE IT and do so with such like satisfaction and like dignity that you’re writing something truly a product of YOU and YOUR intuitions and knowledge and desires and thoughts, not just some burned-CD version of what you think some abstract Audience arbiter of popularity wants. Don’t even worry about things being popular. I know people say dont worry about that and then it is sad when your thing is unpopular or less popular and its like okay well. But its serious and its very important to not let people pick you up and move you from what you want."

But I guess my advice would also be to write whatever you want. Write the 'overdone' trope that's been done a million times. YOURS is worth writing. Get weirder. Write the fic you think no one will read but YOU want to write. Your idea seems too common? Too outlandish? Write it.

It seems not enough? Write it!!!!

You'll be amazed at yourself later. In the moment it might feel awkward or embarrassing. But when you listen to your inner self, there's something inside you that grows. It's a muscle you are strengthening. And the only way to do that is to do that! It feels clumsy sometimes trying to follow your heart, but you can practice! You can grow more comfortable with yourself!

And this is not to be confused with 'you have to come up with ideas on your own.' That is not what I mean by listening to yourself. Community is such a beautiful, fun thing, and if you get ideas from that then that's wonderful! You don't have to abstain from writing about the things you talk about with other people in attempt to 'only listen to yourself.'

But what I mean is that if you are enjoying an idea, you are thinking about it, and you find yourself wondering what that idea would look like - give into it! Give it a chance! And if you did get your idea from community discussions, please forget what the 'reception' of your idea would be like. I know sometimes I feel like my idea wouldn't live up to the hype or the intelligence that other people bring to the table. So sometimes that's scary or cringe! I get it. But that's what doing it for you means. You want to imagine what this idea looks like? Please do so. It's like trying a new flavor of ice cream. Maybe it'll be a sample, maybe you'll take home a pint, maybe you love it, maybe you think you are the only person in the world who would taste this flavor, maybe you think it should be popular but will be overlooked because of other flavors, maybe you're scared of not getting your usual flavor, maybe you convince yourself to not get ice cream at all because of it. But listen!! You can!! You CAN!!

Once I wrote a rarepair fic where I was the 2nd ever fic for that pairing. There was NO demand for that, I thought, but I wanted to write it. It's one of my favorite fics even though it's cheesy because I wrote it for me - and also personally because I feel like I did their characterizations well. Six years later as I'm checking, there are now 13 fics total with that pairing. And I just think that's neat.

My fics have moments or scenes or conversations that are so self indulgent. My friend read me for filth and once said I write the conversations I wish I could have. And it's true! That inspires a LOT of my writing! I just like to write the things I want to work through, whether that's fluff or angst or whatever.

And I think there's a lot of pressure for people to finish multi-chaptered fics but you can literally start an infinite amount of them. If you want to work on something new, you are ALLOWED! I often take YEARS in between chapter updates. Also so far only 1 (one) person has ever complained about it lol. So don't think that you have this obligation to never start something unless you know you can finish it. Start it anyways!!! So many of my favorite stories are 'incomplete' but they complete ME!!! Don't be afraid of starting! (I'm still working on that for one shots lol! It's scary thinking you won't ever finish something but you have GOT to try anyways!)

Any projects you’re looking to starting (or finishing) this year: My FebuWhump fics are actually progressing really good, so I'm going to be able to participate this year! And not only participate but quite a few! I'm really surprised! And one of them, I am far more proud of than the others. I am really looking forward to posting that one! (SPN fans be on the lookout for 'A Garden Locked Up' come February 👀)

[monsterbananatv]

WIPS GAME

Thank you @hailqiqi and @the-biscuit-agreement for the tag!

Rules (totally didn’t forget these originally):

Make a new post with the names of all the files in your WIP folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. Let people send you an ask with the title that most intrigues them, and then post a little snippet or tell them something about it! Then tag as many people as you have WIPS.

These are all Lockwood and co (as that’s all I write), and I like to think my wips titles are funny but that could just be me lol

1. Disney and co fic exchange - Aladdin

2. Lucy??? What’re you doing here???

3. Lockwood loses a tooth and is totally fine with that mmhm (damn you Yammy)

4. Norrie dies (rip) but it’s a obw fic

5. Untitled document (oooo how spooky)

6. Rain fic wow

7. A very merry Portland row Christmas

8. Sleepover time baby

9. She took his coat!!!!

10. Never beating the big brother allegations

And honestly those are pretty much all my wips. Some of them will be finished eventually, some are lost to my google docs

Hmmm who to tag who to tag, I feel like all my writing friends have already been tagged for this lol, maybe @cats-and-metersticks @itripandfallalot @twinkle-toph and @brainrotallthewaydown1312 if you would like to share!

[lexywrite]

I wrote, yesterday

[cashmereink]

“Just write” is the worst advice. It’s constantly thrown around without any regard as to what actually keeps people from writing.

Of course they want to “just write”. But it’s not that easy.

We’re taught to never put anything out into the world unless it’s acceptable or pretty. That’s why most people spend their time deleting sentences and staring at a blank page.

The best advice is:

Write Steaming Swill

The best thing our English teachers could have done for us is required a nasty-ass draft be turned in along with our pretty final projects.

You will get nowhere with your project until you dump it out as a pile of hot garbage first.

For the love of sweet, sweet, peanut-buttery Christ, stop hesitating and deleting in the name of your finished story that doesn’t exist yet.

Write hot garbage and then clean it up.

[criticallyacclaimedstranger]

The best part of winter is definitely lazy, sunny Sundays when snow covers everything outside my window, and I'm warm and safe indoors, listening to Kate Bush singing about fucking a snowman.

I do this every winter, it inspired me to a fic, and I can't describe the feeling it conjures in me. But I remember writing at eight on a Christmas eve morning, listening to this record, hurrying to post a part before I had to start prepping for my family's visit.

I don't know. It's something with my home, my lovely little cottage, and that album, and that song, and others songs on that album, and Sundays in the winter, when the snow lays a thick, quiet blanket over everything.

Sunday morning I can't find him The sheets are soaking And on my pillow Dead leaves, bits of twisted branches and frozen garden Crushed and stolen grasses from slumbering lawn I can't find him Misty

Oh, please can you help me? He must be somewhere Open window closing Oh, but wait, it's still snowing If you're out there I'm coming out on the ledge I'm going out on the ledge

[chaoticmemelover]

Spring with the burn of the Sun that gets lost in the wintry winds of the shade, the bloom of a million flowers from the cracked earth of the desolate days of the past, the renewal of life and spirit, the wandering feet changing paths enchanted by the bounty of nature, the hope that germinates from the ruins of past, the crunch of fallen yellow leaves beneath my boots, the green of budding leaves that dominate the pupil of the eye, the time for choosing between cold coffee (probable cold and cough) and hot lemon tea (probable burn of the throat), the joys of laying on the lawn with grass sticking to hoddies that would bid farewell soon (unless you're weird enough to wear 'em in summer cause HOODIES duh), the lazy lay in sun cause cats do have a lot in common with humans...

[dapperpostcard]

rhetorical triangle besties!!!!

Logos - appeals to the audience’s reason with logical arguments

Pathos - appeals to emotion, making the audience feel… emotions

Ethos - reliable authority figure that brings comfort to the audience

[makoheadrush]

I have been combing through my old fics - still working on new stuff but nothing major. Really I’m just writing a few paragraphs a week at most, I certainly don’t write at the volume I used to (and haven’t really posted anything new in absolute eons).

I’m realizing now though - I never finished migrating some of my stuff from FF.net over to AO3, which is pretty much the only place I post these days, when I do post. (Does anyone even use FanFiction.Net anymore???)

Sooooo maybe I’ll work on moving the rest of my stuff over later today. Everything old will be new again? Something like that. Hell, I’m re-reading some of my stuff now, and barely remember writing some of it in the first place. I guess some things will be new to me as well. :)

Definitely have the itch to write again, it’s just a matter of carving out some time to do it.