Alenny

My name is Jen

[alennyjenny]

he's very underrated

[writing-prompt-s]

You run a café on the edge of life and death. Souls who have been departed from their bodies temporarily, such as in comas or near-death experiences, can relax in your quaint cafe for as long as they need before they can either return to their bodies or begin their journey to the afterlife.

[althememelord]

Ok but imagine if one of the bartender is just an immortal so after their shift ends they go back to the realm of the living. Go about their lives and one day one of those near death experience ppl recognises them.

[alennyjenny]

wait this is awesome. i want there to be a romance about this barista immortal and a slightly-odd mortal (that everyone else considers crazy.) i think the romance would be best as a "we cannot be together forever, but that does not stop us from enjoying each other's company in the present."

[writing-prompt-s]

You run a café on the edge of life and death. Souls who have been departed from their bodies temporarily, such as in comas or near-death experiences, can relax in your quaint cafe for as long as they need before they can either return to their bodies or begin their journey to the afterlife.

[alennyjenny]

I've had more customers than usual, lately. Whether that makes me happy or sad... I'm not sure. I love to see people arrive. The toil of life is still fresh in their memories. There is confusion in their eyes- they expect tricks, struggles, and more disappointment. Then our gazes meet and I smile. "What can I get you?" I ask. Before they can search for their non-existent pockets, I add, "It's on the house." People have a lot of questions. Why are they there? Is this heaven? Hell? Can they see their family? Oh- and a lot of people also ask: are their pets here? If the patron is nervous, it can take more than a minute to calm them down. I don't mind, however. It's just another part of the job. I let them know that, no, they're not in heaven nor hell. They're in my café, where life and death both have no meaning, and afterlife is an unnecessary concept. There is just... coffee, tea, a few bakery treats, and a view of the cosmos. There's no need to stay, and no rush to leave. Our options are unlimited. The more they try, the longer the menu grows. It's a place where all the ingredients in the world exist, and all the ingredients not in the world also exist. Family may join. Yes, their pets may show up. But only if the patron really needs them, and enjoys their company. They do not need to worry if their loved one has already died or not. In this café, there is no time. Their loved one can live a full life of ripe age, and still arrive just a few minutes after the patron. The most difficult thing is to convince the patron they are safe. Life fills you with fears and distrust. Life promises punishment; that by not adhering to some arbitrary idea of good/bad, your fate for eternity will shift. I don't say anyone is wrong in their beliefs. I merely say: in my café, no one needs to worry. You can stay as long as you'd like.

[alennyjenny]

finally getting to my assignments after a day and a half of procasinating resting feels good.

[syn4k]

if anyone ever finds a way to legit cheat death then my money's on ao3 authors being the ones who do

[16woodsequ]

Straight up, my sister has instructions and a detailed doc to follow if I die with unfinished works

[ladycordis-deactivated20240208]

you don’t always have to be on a conquest for self growth or constantly be on a mission to achieve happiness. it’s okay to be a person who experiences emotions. you can endure the most gut wrenching feelings and be screaming and crying on your bedroom floor, and still recognize that it’s temporary and not a setback in your path to healing. That, my love, is the goal. That is true peace: understanding that your emotions are not to be pathologized, but simply a part of the human expirence; reassuring yourself that your body is equipped to handle intense situations. Let yourself be a person. I love you.

[ladycordis-deactivated20240208]

forgive yourself. all you were doing was what you thought was best at the moment. you didn’t have all of the information or awareness that you do now. treat your past self with love and compassion, they did all they could.

[beepingweepwoop]

Whenever I write it's either one of two cycles I have either 1. Me:*thinking of the best story,plot, and/or idea of my life

Me actually writing it:

Then giving up

Or 2.

Me:*In the middle or beginning of a story I'm writing

Me:*All of sudden get writers block or get anxious of writing then not touching it for a year

[alennyjenny]

Everytime the author reaches a point of emphasis, they start throwing in real cool words that I haven't heard before. I like it. It's like an artist pulling out weird tools to get the right shape or texture as they get into a part of the sculpture they really like

[alennyjenny]

the unbridled evil joy of writing a loving family knowing you're going to tear them apart traumatically.

[alennyjenny]

if the eye is the window to the soul, then writing is the thought of the soul. When i read a book i can feel the author's mind inside it, like a living person trapped in the pages, moving through the words. i want to trap myself in a story. i want to lay down my worries and hopes for someone else to see.

[ad-wills]

[loz-tearsofahomo]

I was telling my dad about ao3 and he asked "But why would anyone do it if they're not being paid?" And that genuinely makes me so sad. The fact that the majority of people are told things are only worth doing if there is financial gain in it. Oh you're an artist? Artists don't make any money.

Sometimes the point isn't money. Sometimes it's just to create.

[alennyjenny]

yes <3 creating in itself is a gift

[alennyjenny]

appreciation

what i have may not be everything i need, it may not be much at all, but it's something. Something is enough.

[alennyjenny]

little parts of the day

watching the sky get dark outside my window, the wind is picking up, and now leaves are flying horizontally

the heavy drum of a heli passes by above, and the whirr of a lawn mower grows louder by my window.

the sky stays dark, the trees move, and leaves fall normal. the copter's passed, lawn mower moved on, and the little moment is over.

[going2hell4everythingbutbeingbi]

writing sucks because I don't want to write my book I just want to read other people's fanfic of my book but for them to write it I have to write the actual damn book first do you see my problem

[whetstonefires]

I don't actually agree that the beginning and end of a story are the hardest parts.

Beginnings should not be hard. Like the very beginning, the hook, takes careful crafting, but you won't be able to optimize it until you've written enough of the story to know what it's really about and how the tone is going to be like, so don't bother trying. It's the start, you have nothing binding you, you are totally free, just pursue your vision.

Similarly, the ending should not be super difficult. Hard to make really good maybe, especially the more balls you have in the air, but it's necessarily derived from the story you already wrote. Either you have the pieces set to assemble into a conclusion, or you don't. Putting in more effort on composing an ending will not fix 'don't.'

Which is why the hard part is the third quarter. When you have to stop adding new fun shiny story toys and start lining shit up for the payoff, so that i.e. when you sink that revelation in the corner pocket it has enough context to mean something, but doesn't feel so obvious nobody cares. And just generally do all the most boring workish parts of making a narrative go.

All without seeming to slow down in such a way as to lose your audience's interest.

Scale-up of the 'if you're fully stuck on a sentence the actual problem probably happened a few sentences ago' rule: if you're routinely absolutely snookered by trying to end pieces of fiction, it's the fussy grunt work in the third quarter you probably need to level up at.

[alennyjenny]

this makes me nervous to fail in the third quarter