thecrookedwriterspath - Tumblr blog

[thecrookedwriterspath]

New type of narrator. Not unreliable narrator but narrator whose need for therapy is definitely influencing this story.

[thecrookedwriterspath]

So, there's a dirty little secret in indie publishing a lot of people won't tell you, and if you aren't aware of it, self-publishing feels even scarier than it actually is.

There's a subset of self-published indie authors who write a ludicrous number of books a year, we're talking double digit releases of full novels, and these folks make a lot of money telling you how you can do the same thing. A lot of them feature in breathless puff pieces about how "competitive" self-publishing is as an industry now.

A lot of these authors aren't being completely honest with you, though. They'll give you secrets for time management and plotting and outlining and marketing and what have you. But the way they're able to write, edit, and publish 10+ books a year, by and large, is that they're hiring ghostwriters.

They're using upwork or fiverr to find people to outline, draft, edit, and market their books. Most of them, presumably, do write some of their own stuff! But many "prolific" indie writers are absolutely using ghostwriters to speed up their process, get higher Amazon best-seller ratings, and, bluntly, make more money faster.

When you see some godawful puff piece floating around about how some indie writer is thinking about having to start using AI to "stay competitive in self-publishing", the part the journalist isn't telling you is that the 'indie writer' in question is planning to use AI instead of paying some guy on Upwork to do the drafting.

If you are writing your books the old fashioned way and are trying to build a readerbase who cares about your work, you don't need to use AI to 'stay competitive', because you're not competing with these people. You're playing an entirely different game.

[thecrookedwriterspath]

this is a poster i made for my call to action assignment in humanities! it's a bunch of basic and easy stretches for people who sit and work at a desk all day (me)

the idea is that you'd put the poster up above ur desk and do the stretches every 30 minutes or so,, the whole routine won't take more than about 6 minutes to complete and when done regularly it can prevent wrist, shoulder, neck and back pain! :)

all these stretches can be done while sitting (although i HIGHLY recommend you stand up and move around while taking a break from working)

you can get a free digital copy of this poster here on my gumroad!

[thecrookedwriterspath]

it always sucks in romances when characters aren't active participants in their own relationship or attraction. when it's always "why do i feel this way" and they can't name a single reason they like the love interest i'm like idk man i think you should get out of there maybe.

at some point if you're going too hard on the Genuine Confusion and the character having no clue why they're doing anything they're doing or why they even like the other party it's like. I think you were cursed by a wizard. or an author, which is something similar. it becomes something akin to The Narrative Has Mandated That This is A Love Story and Therefore I Must Be In Love rather than like. a convincing romance between parties who care about each other

[thecrookedwriterspath]

Hey artists, C. Spike Trotman, founder of Iron Circus Comics, just posted an invaluable thread on depicting different types of black hair. I’d do the thing where you screencap the whole thread and post it but it’s just too long (which is great because it’s a whole lot of useful information!) Give her a follow while you’re there.

Anyway, go check it out. I just wanted to save it and share it because I didn’t know how much I didn’t know!

[thecrookedwriterspath]

[thecrookedwriterspath]

"Do you ever dream of land?" The whale asks the tuna.

"No." Says the tuna, "Do you?"

"I have never seen it." Says the whale, "but deep in my body, I remember it."

"Why do you care," says the tuna, "if you will never see it."

"There are bones in my body built to walk through the forests and the mountains." Says the whale.

"They will disappear." Says the tuna, "one day, your body will forget the forests and the mountains."

"Maybe I don't want to forget," Says the whale, "The forests were once my home."

"I have seen the forests." Whispers the salmon, almost to itself.

"Tell me what you have seen," says the whale.

"The forests spawned me." Says the salmon. "They sent me to the ocean to grow. When I am fat with the bounty of the ocean, I will bring it home."

"Why would the forests seek the bounty of the oceans?" Asks the whale. "They have bounty of their own."

"You forget," says the salmon, "That the oceans were once their home."

[thecrookedwriterspath]

“omg you’re so creative. how do you get your ideas” i hallucinate a single scene in the taco bell drive thru and then spend 13 months trying to write it

[thecrookedwriterspath]

gotta create the art you want to make. don't make what you think someone else wants. don't make what you think has mass appeal. don't make what you think will sell. don't make anything less than what you want to make. make EXACTLY what you want to make. make it from your soul. please don't stifle yourself! it's YOUR art! only YOU are possible of making it with YOUR ideas and YOUR visions and YOUR skills!! make YOUR authentic art!! we want to know what YOU specifically will make!! YOU!!!!!!

[thecrookedwriterspath]

it’s monday i’m in the labyrinth

[thecrookedwriterspath]

Friendly reminder that How To Date A Werewolf is out on Patreon for the $5+ tiers!

How to date a werewolf? It’s easy. First, you have to meet him. Then, you have to woo him. What, you know all of that? Fine. I suppose that’s really the easy part. After all, werewolves aren’t the same as vampires or the undead. They can come out during the day, work a job, make friends, set up profiles. You’ve probably met dozens of them without realizing it. You’ve probably hated them. Loved them. Known them. Lost them. Without ever knowing that they had something deep and dark and dangerous just beneath the skin. But this isn’t about the ones you’ve lost. This is about the ones that you’ve found. Rather, about The One that you’ve found.

The full story is just under 4k words! Check it out!

[thecrookedwriterspath]

A pike jumped out of the water likely chasing prey and got stuck in a branch and died. Now, a bird has made a nest in its mouth. One of the most interesting things I’ve seen.

[thecrookedwriterspath]

platforming palestinian joy is just as important as sharing the suffering they're enduring during this genocide. despite continued displacement and bombardment, you cannot steal their joy and spirit. happy birthday to this sweet baby 🖤🇵🇸 may they grow up to see a free palestine

[thecrookedwriterspath]

hey here's a website for downloading any video or image from any website.

works w/ youtube, soundcloud, twitch, twitter (gifs and videos), tumblr (video and audio), and most other websites you're probably lookin to download stuff off of.

[thecrookedwriterspath]

About the AO3 "No Guest Comments for a while" warning

If you're not following any of AO3's social media accounts you might be in the dark as to what kind of "spam comments" have engendered this banner at the top of the site:

These spam comments have been posted about a great deal on the AO3 subreddit for the past couple of days. Initially they comprised a bunch of guest (logged out users) bot comments that insulted authors by suggesting they were using AI and not writing their own fics. Some examples, from the subreddit:

But it then escalated to outright graphic porn images and gifs being posted in comments, again by logged out 'Guest' accounts. Obviously, I'm not going to give examples of those, but between these two bot infestations, AO3 has clearly decided to act and has temporarily closed the ability to post comments for users who are not logged in with an AO3 account.

Unfortunately, this means that genuine readers who don't have an AO3 account won't be able to leave comments on fics that they enjoy.

If you are a genuine reader who doesn't yet have an AO3 account, I strongly suggest getting yourself on the waiting list for one. More and more AO3 authors are now locking their fics down to registered users only - either due to these bot comments or concerns about AI scraping their work - which means you're probably missing out on a lot of great stuff.

Hopefully guest commenting will be enabled again at some point soon, but I suggest not waiting until then. Get yourself on that list.

Wait times are going to be longer than usual at the moment, due to the current Wattpad purge [info on Fanlore | Wattpad subreddit thread], but if you're in line, then your invite will come through eventually.

Update: There's now a Megathread about this on the AO3 subreddit.

[thecrookedwriterspath]

so i have a crazy work week coming up but want to spend what free time i do have working on something fun. which of these do you guys want to see more of, soonest?

the absolution of father greene: sequel to the possession of joshua roe (which is currently with beta readers); possession horror

penny-posting story: supernatural romance geared toward an adult audience

unicorn guidebook: theoretical coffee table book about different unicorn subtypes

anatomy of a slasher: writing guide + workbook/challenge book all about making a good slasher

werewolf survival guide: just what it says on the tin but there's both a hunter and a hunted edition

shed: rewriting the first 5 chapters of shed, finally