wintersenwritings

[wintersenwritings]

Sharing nonsense for fun and profit

Why I Even Started Writing in The First Place: A Mini Essay Exactly No One Asked For

By Me

I started writing early, and I mean EARLY: 9 years old, I was scribbling comics on scrap paper (I can't draw for shit, fyi). By 11 I'd upgraded to... ripping off movies.

My first "work" was an entire notebook of a fanfic/sequel/riff/thing set in the mansion from the Haunted Mansion (2003). What was it about? Well, name something stupid and it was probably in it. The writing itself had potential, but my lack of a single original idea sort of curtailed the whole thing.

By 12 I was writing whole rip off epics based on horror movies: The Ventriloquist (Dead Silence but stupider), Heaventon High (Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II if it was less gory and written by a 12 year old). You get it.

I mostly drifted in and out of this for awhile, telling people I was a "writer" while mostly just cramming my made up characters into premade things from videogames and movies. (A KH fanfic took up three whole ass notebooks, if you can believe it).

I didn't have access to the internet until I was 16, but when I finally got online, it opened up my creativity... somewhat for the worst. Some horrific NSFW fanfics might still be floating around online, but mercifully most have been deleted into datascape hell where they belong.

Tumblr introduced me to a small roleplay community, and I made a friend (no details here) who would roleplay with me a lot. We started with movies (ROTG and HTTYD, because it was 2014 and we were tumblr girlies TM) but it graduated to making original characters with complex backstories and carry overs.

I created a lot of good oc's with those rp's, and they created some characters I still love (even though they've since stopped rping and do their own things elsewhere). I also created some putrid shit and paper thin oc's with no features, but that happens.

Things happened as they do: I just started. Stories from artwork, stories from prompts. I kept at it, doing short pieces for friends, and family. At some point (probably 2018 or so) elements I use constantly now started creeping in, and my writing started to take a bit of shape. Eventually I dabbled in world building with Bal Moral, a sprawling universe based in Grimm fairy tales and Greek mythos that didn't get anywhere important.

Now I'm here, sharing my nonsense on tumblr and banging away at a novella I've got no plans to abandon, even of life's usual bullshit has made the time working on it stretch to three years.

Tl;dr: Hopefully I have some mild attempt at talent now, but I'm gonna keep at it.

[wintersenwritings]

Original template cr: @mhuyo from Twitter

[wintersenwritings]

Stop scrolling, start writing.

[wintersenwritings]

Lies and bullshit, it's only half done and roughly 2,000 words.

Oh well.

This, at 3 am, but if I write during the day it reads like a toddler keysmashed on my laptop. My brain is weird.

Also, teaser for a short I'm getting done over the weekend. 4,000 words max.

[wintersenwritings]

A poet I ain't, but it gets the job done. Plus, they need to rhyme at least a little for me to still claim this is a semi sequel

[wintersenwritings]

You wanna know the real difference between someone who just talks about writing and someone who actually is a writer? Well, it’s not talent, nor some magical lightning bolt of inspiration from the heavens. It’s just sitting your ass down and doing the damn writing. Consistently. That’s the whole big, unsexy secret.

[wintersenwritings]

This, at 3 am, but if I write during the day it reads like a toddler keysmashed on my laptop. My brain is weird.

Also, teaser for a short I'm getting done over the weekend. 4,000 words max.

[wintersenwritings]

Oops

[wintersenwritings]

Tagged by @gioia-writes-and-others for three questions. Since I'm in the process of a backstory for him, I'm using Riven.

how would you describe their personality / aesthetic?

Riven is formal to an almost unhealthy degree, obsessed with his appearance at court and before the people. He didn't used to be like this, but time changes everyone.

He keeps his hair, which is a light blonde, tied back severely, bound with a cord of vine and horse hair to keep it in place. He has some magic, but considers it extremely uncouth to use or discuss it.

Again, he didn't used to think this way.

what’s your favourite thing about them?

He's a complete jerk, and sometimes Lestrain needs to be yelled at anyway, so here's a reason. It's also interesting to layer his personality, with a rage against his past hidden beneath this facade of perfect court attitude.

fun facts about them / their creation

Lestrain originally had a mother only, but after seeing the Hobbit series, and falling for Thranduil's design, I made him a cold and calculating father instead. (Prince Nuada from Hellboy II added some of the hidden rage and skills in fighting Riven currently has)

Riven has only appeared in two things, but his backstory might be worth expanding at some point.

BONUS, because I'm unhinged and no one can stop me, technically:

Three questions, about my witch Scarlett

how would you describe their personality / aesthetic?

A bit of your classic wiccan earth mother... except her powers run to the darker side, and she rarely uses them for good.

Taken to wearing red and earthen tones, she prefers skirts, leggings, and pull overs, so as not to stick out too much in her small town. Her hair (fire red) is always kept perfect with a spell, a little secret of hers.

what’s your favourite thing about them?

Chaotic good is one of my favorite character types, and Scarlett toes the line of it. Sometimes she's helping people defeat a demon, sometimes SHE raised the demon for shits and giggles.

fun facts about them / their creation

Scarlett began life as Susan, and died once in a rp when she got set on fire (Don't ask!). She somehow ended up as Scarlett along the way, and some (unadvised) Riverdale binging gave her red hair, sarcasm for days, and high fashion sense.

She's been in three stories, two rps, and a terrible Sims playthrough where she set a couch on fire and died in the first five minutes of play (Rest in pieces, idiot)

Tagging @aintgonnatakethis @nightmaricwriter @graveyard-run @winglesswriter @shepardstales

[wintersenwritings]

[wintersenwritings]

Playlist/nonsense below

Lestrain Wintersen:

Age - 128 (28 in human years, since elven childhood is 100 years)

Interests - Anything that upsets his father, partying, stealing books

Sexuality - Pansexual

Personality - Desperately trying to buck the responsibilities put on him at birth, Lestrain is your classic disaster playboy, often stealing from merchants, falling in and out of beds, and getting thrown in the dungeons more than once.

Current stories - Reign in Rags (Prequel/DnD fanfic)

(Les is mostly used for gaming, Sims, and roleplays, but I'm planning a decent story for him in the future. Obviously he's my favorite oc, considering my blog is named for him)

Misc. - Face claimed as Austin Butler in The Shannara Chronicles

Fun facts - "Lestrain" spelling wise is an extreme bastardization of "Lestat", and originally he was very much like The Brat Prince. Over time he changed some, but I did steal the blonde hair and inability to keep one lover at a time (Much less bloodshed though).

Playlist - To follow with his disregard of the proper and terrible love life, a lot of male covers of female led songs, indie pop, and songs about failed love

[wintersenwritings]

What

[wintersenwritings]

me opening my wip like a haunted house door. creaks. screams. regret.

[wintersenwritings]

sorry you've been feeling down lately !! are there any super fun bits of ur oc backstories you're excited about writing? what are some of ur favourite songs on their playlists?

A hazard of getting old 😄but thanks!

I'm excited to flesh out Riven: he's Lestrain's father, and mostly existed for a story where there needed to be a conflict. He's been such an empty shell of a person, that he NEEDED an overly dramatic backstory just on principle. The fact it involves dueling affairs, an accidental murder, an on purpose murder, and terrible clothing choices made it a lot of fun to write.

My favorite playlist is probably going to end up being Scarlett's: a lot of Fleetwood Mac and Amazing Devil. Cliche? Perhaps. Do I care? Not a bit

[wintersenwritings]

Been a little down lately, so I spent way too much time adding stuff to some OC's backstories, and doing overly complicated playlists for each of them.

Expect a dump of all the info no one asked for about my OC's later on this week

[wintersenwritings]

writing tip #3829:

finish

[wintersenwritings]

Trying to write something inspired by/semi sequel to a hundred year old poem is not, in fact, as easy as it sounds.