A Ghost that Writes

Hello I'm Ghost! I use they/them pronouns. This is a writing blog! REQUEST STATUS: Open! Banner by: shikkotsunin

[a-ghost-that-writes]

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[a-ghost-that-writes]

Fuel

Inspiration: One Word Writing Prompts [pt. 4]

Ship: Ino x Hinata x Sasuke

AU: Canon Divergent

They always say, you never know where life will take you. Hinata firmly believed that was true. She never would have imagined being in a relationship with both Ino Yamanaka and Sasuke Uchiha. It came as a total surprise that the last among the Uchiha had two wives, but at the same time, it made sense in an odd way. He had to make due with the hand he was dealt, she couldn't fault him harshly for that.

He wasn't a bad husband either, quite the opposite. He was kind, gentle and loved both her and Ino dearly. Likewise, he would do anything for his wives, and they were always grateful.

Now, while the night was still young, she sat by the fireplace. She liked to watch the crackling fire before bed. She was joined by Ino too, Hinata could tell that Ino was getting tired. The two of them were trying to stay awake until Sasuke returned home. Their effort would not be in vain, as they heard the footsteps of their husband.

They saw his warm smile as he joined the two of them at the fireplace. The combined warmth of the fire and the warmth of their love, filled their home in a magical way. Hinata couldn't have asked for anything better than this.

[chasecharmer-deactivated2018101]

so remember that worldbuilding website, notebook.ai, that was goin around and everyone was so excited, but it turned out you had to pay a (frankly outrageous) subscription to access any of the best tools? 

well i have exciting news: World Anvil. 

here’s what you get for free: 

yeah. all of them. double what notebook.ai offers for pay. yeah baby.

i’ve only been using this site for like half an hour, but i am in LOVE. please check it out and consider supporting the creators if you can! 

[luna-azzurra]

Tips for Writing Injuries

✧ Broken ribs suck. You don’t just “walk it off.” Breathing hurts. Laughing hurts. Existing hurts. Characters with rib injuries won’t be doing heroic sprints.

✧ Concussions aren’t instant naps. Dazed vision, nausea, dizziness, maybe even personality changes, but they’re not going to collapse neatly like in the movies.

✧ Blood loss is sneaky. It’s not just about dramatic pools of blood. It’s dizziness, confusion, and the body getting cold as circulation tanks.

✧ Adrenaline lies. Someone can take a serious injury and not feel it until the fight’s over. That “I didn’t realize I was bleeding until later” trope? Very real.

✧ Twisted ankles are brutal. One bad step and suddenly running is off the table. Even walking hurts like hell. Perfect way to ground a chase scene.

✧ Burns linger. Even small burns hurt more than most people expect. Blisters, infection risk, constant pain, it’s not just a cool scar later.

✧ Dislocated shoulders = useless arm. Characters can’t keep swinging a sword or firing a gun. They’re basically fighting one-armed until it’s fixed.

✧ Shock is a thing. Pale skin, trembling, rapid heartbeat, and eventually disorientation. A character might not even realize how bad their wound is.

✧ Stitches aren’t magic. Getting sewn up is painful and recovery takes time. They’re not instantly battle-ready after a needle and thread.

✧ Scars tell stories. Some fade, some don’t. Some stay sensitive forever. Don’t forget the aftermath when the wound becomes part of the character.

[naamahdarling]

Nausea is a way more common response to pain than people think.

Also, there's The Babbling.

[a-ghost-that-writes]

Sakura x Neji Oneshots Part 3

For: @narutorarepaireventhub

Kilig(Kee-leeg)Tagalog: The thrill and giddy feeling when you interact with your crush or when the person you love does something sweet and romantic.

Sakura was many things in her life: She was head of the medical education, leader of the medical shinobi sector, and third in command of the entire hospital in Konohagakure.

Needless to say, she worked hard and worked a lot. But despite all the titles and duties that she has, she is a wife and a mother of 4 beautiful children.

No one knew and loved these things more, than her husband Neji.

He wanted to do something special for her, so he got a picnic by the river planned for just the two of them. It was a perfect evening and the couple shared a bottle of plum wine.

Sakura grinned before kissing Neji on the lips. "Happy Anniversary Neji~"

[a-ghost-that-writes]

Sakura x Neji Oneshots Part 2

For: @narutorarepaireventhub

Fix-It AU

Sakura sat quietly across from Neji. He found her crying in the marketplace trying to hide away so anyone wouldn't see her. So much for that plan...

Now the two of them sat there, waiting for the other to speak first.

"I-" They both said.

"You can go first." Neji said.

Sakura exhale. "I want to thank you Neji. Thank you for, being with me when I was upset."

"It's no trouble Sakura."

She let out a weak chuckle. "It is once you learn why I was crying... I saw them." She began. "Ino and Sasuke... They were getting groceries together..."

"Is that why you were crying?" Neji asked.

"It's stupid I know, I am happy for Ino and all but... I just-... I want what they have!" Sakura confessed. "I-I want someone to hold me, to get groceries with me! That's not crazy is it?!"

Neji shook his head. "Of course not. I think we all want something like that in our lives." He told her. "And honestly?" He paused. "I wouldn't mind if-... If you shared that life with me."

Her eyes went wide when she heard what Neji said. "Really Neji?"

He nodded. "Yes... But if you don't then-"

"No! No... It's not that at all. I just didn't know you felt that way about me. You took me by surprise!" Sakura said. "I think though... I think I'd like to give us a try too." She asked as she took hold of his hands. "Is that okay?"

Neji smiled and wrapped his arms around her in a warm embrace. Sakura wrapped her arms around him as well. The first of many embraces that they'll now be able to share together.

[a-ghost-that-writes]

Sakura x Neji Oneshots Part 1

For: @narutorarepaireventhub

Moving into our first house/apartment together

Sakura and Neji collapsed on the sofa in great relief. The newly wedded couple had just finished arranging the furniture in their brand-new home. It was a modest and decent home: It wasn't too far away from the hospital so Sakura could travel with ease. Neji didn't mind that either. He rather enjoyed the cozy aesthetic that this place had.

"Can you believe we actually have a house together?" Neji asked.

"Hardly!" Sakura replied in a dramatic fashion. "I swear, I'm gonna be pissed if someone wakes me from this dream."

Neji chuckled a little, scooting closer to his new wife. "It feels too good to be true, but it's real. We have a home to do whatever we want."

Sakura started to blush and she scooted closer to Neji. "Liike... Having kids one day~?"

Neji nodded. "Of course~ You know I'm fine with starting a family with you."

"I know, but I like hearing you say it." She confessed. "I get to start a family, with a wonderful husband like you. It's-... It's like a dream come true y'know?"

Neji gave a warm smile and put Sakura in his lap. He kissed her on t he lips tenderly as he looked into her emerald green eyes. "I know. I couldn't ask for anyone better to be my wife and mother of my children." He told her.

[a-ghost-that-writes]

Tenten x Sasuke Oneshots Part 3

For: @narutorarepaireventhub

Pulling them into a tight hug.

One might think a union between the infamous Sasuke Uchiha and Tenten won't work. That they're too different to be considered a pair. But it's because of that, the two of them have found a love that they can each enjoy. Their language spoke loudly, through hugs.

A hug for Sasuke, when he's suffering from nightmares and flashbacks in his sleep.

A hug for Tenten, when she finally gets to move up in the world and to be taken more seriously as a shinobi.

Whenever they shared a tight embrace, it was their language showing itself for the world to witness.

They were friends, they were lovers, they were husband and wife.

[a-ghost-that-writes]

Tenten x Sasuke Oneshots Part 2

For:b @narutorarepaireventhub

Wrapping a blanket around their shoulders from behind.

Sometimes, it's the little things in life, that we treasure the most. Tenten learned that well after a year of marriage to Sasuke Uchiha.

Whether it was the silent smiles shared between lovers. Whether it was their walks through the village together. Or even when they were sparring one another, just for the hell of it. All of those things were precious in her mind and heart.

So she sat by the fireplace, gently rubbing her pregnant stomach, when Sasuke came from behind to wrap a blanket around her. The soft crackling of the embers made the night feel extra warm and cozy. She smiled and scooted closer to him as he joined her.

"I love you." She told her husband.

Sasuke kissed her forehead gently. "I love you too."

[a-ghost-that-writes]

Tenten x Sasuke Oneshots Part 1

For: @narutorarepaireventhub

Finding Peace/An End to the War

Sasuke never imagined his life would turn out the way that it did, but if you ask him: Would you do it all over again? What do you think he'll say?

His life was filled with sorrow, anger, and depression. His world was shattered by his older brother's hands. The home- what was supposed to be his home was nothing but a corrupted lie. So what does a person in his shoes do?

Should he rebel and risk it all on a great of revolution? Or should he just accept his fate and try to do right? Well, he does both actually.

He fought hard for the corruption to end in Konohagakure. It was him verses an entire village, but with his work and with time, he achieved his goal. The village yielded, and the justice he sought for all his fallen kin was avenged at last. There were a lot of major changes, even his peers couldn't help but be impressed by his tenacity.

And one would think: he's going to be alone for the rest of his life...

Well, he stunned everyone once again, when he took Tenten as his wife. No one not even his teammates, saw the match coming. Sasuke was always private with his personal affairs and Tenten could respect that. They were married in the summer. Despite his intimidating and cold demure, Sasuke was all in all a good husband to Tenten.

Right now, the couple were enjoying some quiet time as the sun began to go down. It was one of their own little rituals. His arm wrapped around his wife's waist in a loving embrace, while Tenten rested on his shoulder.

It was always times like this that made Sasuke glad he took the steps in life that he did. He wouldn't trade what he had with Tenten for the world.

[i-will-write]

how i sleep knowing i write shitty fiction but at least don’t use chatgpt

[writingwithcolor]

How to Write Non-Fluent ESL English

@interneet​ asked:

Hey, I’m reading a story at the moment where immigrant characters speak in incredibly broken English. It’s really jarring. Is there a way to respectfully write characters speaking in broken/non-fluent English without it coming across unrealistic and racist or would you advise just leaving that out of your writing altogether?

This is going to turn into a bit of a guide…I’ll try not to get too carried away with linguistics stuff :)

A Note on Terminology

I’d definitely go with “non-fluent” over “broken,” as the term “broken” has quite a negative connotation that also tends to be used in describing stigmatized languages, language varieties, and dialects that are, in fact, used properly according to their own internal rules (AAVE and many Global Englishes, to name a few). 

Another term you should know for this guide is ESL and L1/L2. I’ll use L1 to refer to first language, L2 for second language, and so on—you can keep adding numbers. ESL is “English Second Language,” which is pretty self-explanatory, but there is a crucial distinction between that and dominant language. I myself am technically ESL, as I started learning English at around age 3. However, since I live in the US where English is the dominant language, I quickly gained in English proficiency and lost Japanese proficiency. While I still have around middle schooler proficiency in Japanese, English is my dominant language now. An immigrant character may be ESL but completely fluent in English.

Should You Write It?

It depends on whether or not the character’s English proficiency is plot relevant. Keep in mind that with writing non-fluent english, you don’t want to overload speech with mistakes, or make it incomprehensible. The most you should do is use it to establish character (say a character has just moved overseas, and in the story their English improves over time) or to further plot (maybe there is important info that needs to be communicated and there’s a barrier). If it’s not relevant, and it’s just in order to establish that they’re a foreigner, don’t do it. It’s Othering, and there are other ways to establish culture and culture shock. As I said before, not all immigrants have a poor command of their destination country’s dominant language. 

The How-To

There are two components that I’ll address: 

The types of errors to include, and

Writing accents (or not)

First, grammatical features are better to use than phonetic ones. We’ll get to why when we talk about accents, but for now, note that it’s more respectful to use for ESL errors than pronunciation. Here are some examples of grammatical features: 

Word order

Inflections (eg. the attachment of affixes like -s, -ed, etc. to indicate tense, person, number, etc. of a noun or verb)

The presence or absence of certain morphological constructs that appear in some languages but not others (eg. Japanese has topic markers like wa, and English doesn’t; English has definite/indefinite articles like the but Japanese doesn’t)

If you’re writing an ESL character, ask beta readers & mods on this blog who speak the character’s L1 to see if the grammatical features of your character’s ESL speech are consistent with typical English fluency errors. Here’s an ask I answered on Japanese, and Mod Rune gives a good example on Korean here: 

A Korean is more likely to try and put someone’s title behind their last name (e.g. Obama President rather than President Obama, Lestrade Inspector instead of Inspector Lestrade)

Second, we want to avoid in-dialogue portrayals of phonetic differences, which is also called “eye dialect.” Here are some examples from a piece of media many of us are probably familiar with, but I don’t think deserves a citation: 

“Will you please inform zis ‘Agrid zat ze ‘orses drink only single-malt whiskey?”

“Eh? No, don’ go! I’ve — I’ve never met another one before”

“Anuzzer what, precisely?”

“Another half-giant, o’ course.”

Both speakers have an accent that is shown within the writing through misspellings of the words they’re speaking (one is French, one is West Country English). This is a stereotypical (and often hard-to-read) portrayal of accents that Others the speaker and unfairly puts either their dialect differences or their perceived proficiency in English at the forefront of their dialogue. And this is with European characters! Imagine how this would look on people from other parts of the globe. 

Another major reason why we want to avoid eye dialect is because of the racist history of (pejoratively) writing accents in literature. In early American writing, Black characters were written according to minstrel stereotypes, and with it, a stereotypical way of speaking that was emphasized through eye dialect. Here’s a thesis that explains the history of eye dialect in American literature to supplement that idea, if you want to learn more. In addition, unless you’re a linguist or dialect coach who is trained in the phonetic inventory of the L1 & speaker tendencies, you tend to perpetuate media stereotypes that may not be reflective of actual speech. This can be very harmful. 

Here’s a link on how to describe accents instead, and here are some good perspectives on being a 1st generation immigrant and struggling with accents (how that affects them when they’re teased for it, and also strategies they have taken to overcome a knowledge gap). 

In Conclusion

Before writing an ESL speaker’s English in a different way from the rest of the cast, consider whether or not this is really needed in your story.

If you do decide to write their speech differently, look at the grammatical features of their L1 and talk to real speakers of that L1 to get a realistic idea.

AVOID EYE DIALECT! 

Thanks for stickin’ with me, folks. 

~Mod Rina

[writingwithcolor]

@evanescentjasmine​ says:

sometimes an ESL speaker who doesn’t know or has forgotten a word in English may end up literally translating it from their other language. For instance, I forgot what the burners were called once and called them the eyes of the stove. Because that’s the word in Arabic. It didn’t even register as weird until my friend mentioned it later.

Oh YEAH that’s a great thing to add, so much circumlocution…

@fuckexpectations says:

something I think should be avoided as well is people reverting to their first language without reason. Like they are mildly annoyed by something and they instantly drop the English. Or they use random first language words in the middle of a sentence entirely in English in a way that doesn’t even make sense.

Oh god, absolutely! I do hate when that happens. The only time I or anyone else has brought in words from their L1 in English speech, is if they’re speaking with other bilinguals and are looking for either an equivalent word in English or an untranslatable word. Oh, that and expressives. Japanese doesn’t really have strong native swear words, but if I stub my toe I will go, 

いたっ!（from いたい・痛い “it hurts”）

rather than “ouch/ow” !

A note on my point about swearing: For the most part, I think switching only happens when it comes out without you really thinking through it (so, again, when you stub your toe), if the character is using emphatic swearing as extra vocabulary (eg. “watch it, asshole!”, “damn, I missed the train”) they’ll just use English. Don’t be like, “watch it, arschloch!” or “kuso, I missed the train.” It’s…shall I say…cringy as fakku. 

~Mod Rina

[firstdraftpro]

This is a writing app 💜 Hello and welcome! This is the official Tumblr debut of the neurodivergent-friendly, collaborative writing app that I've been building for the past five years: First Draft Pro! Designed by a writer, for writers. Equally appropriate for plotters/pansters, non-fiction/fiction, solo-writers/co-writers. Plus, with no AI-training! Also very important: this app is entirely funded by users, which means there's no parent company with nefarious intent re:data, and no investor with goals that are counter to the goals of users! I'm honestly so proud of it. Other cool features include:

a notes folder per project where notes are interlinked like a personalised Wiki

notes can be pinned into chapters for reference

novel structure templates (including romance, romantasy, 3 act structure, short story structure, 30-day novel structure, story genius structure)

goal tracking and streaks

light mode & dark mode

scene by scene version history

a free plan (not just a 14-day free trial)

[nanowrimo]

3 Ways To World-Build

When you’re starting a new writing project, you’ll probably do a lot of exploration of the world you’re creating. Whether you know a lot about your setting already or it’s all just a question mark on a big blank map, here are some tips from participant Victoria Schroeder for building your novel’s world:

1. Draw a map of your world.

When I was fourteen, I spent a hot summer week drawing a map.

I took a blank sheet and said “I am going to draw the best map anyone has ever seen. There are going to be borders. There is going to be one big river.” I drew the map (and let’s just say it needed work). Then I remembered that countries have people. “Huh… country in the north means it’s… cold? So… what do I know about Russia?” I followed that up with  “I will use my history knowledge to develop a world for a story! These’ll be the best countries ever!” Six years later I’ve cared for that map like a rosebush; prune the stuff that’s not working, water it, and let it grow as it pleases.

2. Draw a map of your characters.

A separate map took longer because it was built around someone. This character was, H, was originally designed as someone’s love interest, so she was inserted into a strong, well developed group. I wanted H to be more than “the love interest.” I had questions and H made me think. How do I make her interesting?

Keep reading

[veronicaleighauthor]

[a-ghost-that-writes]

His Only Fear

For: @narutorarepaireventhub

Ship: Madara x Hana

AU: Modern

Potential Trigger: Childbirth mention

So it actually happened. Hana Inuzuka- or rather Hana Uchiha, gave her husband the most precious gift possible- a child. A son, to be specific. Her water broke in the middle of the night while they slept. He was hyper aware of what was happening. It was the only time in his life where he was truly scared. Scared for his wife safety, and for the safety of the child.

With the hell that was childbirth said and done, both Hana and their son Ryuusuke were sleeping peacefully.

The doctors said that they were both healthy, but Madara's nerves were still getting to him. Mostly concerned about fatherhood. Was he actually ready to be a father? Would he even be a good father?

He looked at his newborn son, so small and helpless. This was his blood now. He watched them as they dreamt peacefully, he had his whole future ahead him and that brought a small smile to his face.

He then looked to Hana. She must have been so exhausted after going through childbirth...

He won't bother her, and instead placed a small kiss on her cheek. Despite his fear, he would still do his absolute best. He is a husband and now a father, so he would be the solid foundation for his new family.

[a-ghost-that-writes]

Where's His Love?

For: @narutorarepaireventhub

Ship: Shizune x Madara

AU: Canon Divergent

Shizune was many things, and in love was one of those things. She was deeply in love, but it was painful...

The pain came from the man she chose to give her all too... That man was none other, then Madara Uchiha. A man, a monster and she fell for him...

The way he looks into her eyes was enough to make her blush every time. And when he touches her, it's like her body comes alive in a way she never knew existed. You don't forget things like that...

Despite what everyone has warned about him, she still gave her heart to the Uchiha. She willingly and wholeheartedly...

Tonight, she was with him. He fell asleep first as he was spooning her in his arms. She liked to use this time to turn and face him, taking in his splendor fully. She placed a hand on his face. She would wonder what his feelings were about her. He wasn't one to express such emotions easily, but that was alright in her eyes.

She knows where his love is, and she felt honored and even blessed that she was the one who gets to experience it first hand.