by AR Zavala

One of many, many attempts at a writblr. Aspiring scifi author, zine maker, and artist. my ko-fi

[arixabala]

This has to be at least my fourth time trying to make a writblr, hopefully this time it’ll stick. I’m Ari, a 24yo butch lesbian (she/her) who draws, bookbinds, and makes zines in addition to writing. I mainly write scifi but I’ve been known to put out the occasional bit of fantasy and even a poem or two. I’ve got two novels in the works right now and some vague ideas for more, plus a dozen ocs who don’t have a home. Hopefully in a few days I’ll get around to making proper intros for the novels.

Projects

Sunrise Over Venus: a sci-fi suspense novel.

Venus has a drug problem. A "psychotropic drugs are addictive and overprescribed" drug problem. A "Mars has a monopoly on all atristeine sales" drug problem. An "illegal Sunshine market has sunk its claws in from the hospitals to the street dealers" problem. Sunshine is easier and cheaper to acquire than legal atristeine, and the Martian cartel has made a killing by undercutting the legal market.

Dominic Vanark arrived on Venus with just a backpack and a dream. So did Perigee James, from the Belt. So did Sascha Hargrave, from a Martian satellite. Venus is a safehaven for immigrants like these, even the drug addicts and ex-cartel. The Venusian sunshine market is corrupt and life-ruining, and Dominic believes he's found just the group of allies to shake up the system.

wip intro post here

Under Your Sky: a sci-fi romance novel.

New Vandenberg isn't anyone's first, second, or even third choice of a home; it's just somewhere people end up. For Slava, Earth itself was a last choice. Since he was a child, his mother spoke of raising her children planetside, and if Earth was the only place that would take a passport-less space wanderer, then this was where he would honor her last wish.

Earth has not been kind to him. Earth is cruel, New Vandenberg, California is cruel, but he paid for his one-way shuttle ticket and fully intends to live with the costs. Kelly Nehar, the complete stranger who took him in, isn't cruel. Kelly is kind and curious and dreams of leaving this miserable planet - and everyone on it - light-years behind. For now, though, they're stuck on the ground together.

wip intro post here

[horreurscopes]

having ocs is like she's my daughter. she's my power fantasy. i'm giving her everything i hate about my personality. she's a war criminal. she's never done anything wrong in her life ever. i love her. i hate her. i'm making her life miserable. who did this to her. she's unlikeable but everyone should like her. she's baby. she does cocaine in the bathroom

[horreurscopes]

everyone tagging this "me but my ocs are guys" get OFF my post this post is for mean and irredemable wretched bitches who PERCH ON THE CEILING and HISS AND SCREECH and are SO CRINGE and SUCK SO BAD. FICTIONAL CUNTS ONLY!!!!!!

[nat-20s]

The desperate desire to create vs the oh so constant sleepiness plaguing my every action

[shydreamyechoes-deactivated2023]

So, since I keep seeing this on writerblr and have actually learned a bit about this process in my writing classes, I feel the need to say something. Nothing wrong with joking about spinning ideas around in your head and not writing, it's something we all go through. However, I feel like there's some real writing shame connected to the idea, and I think it's important we as writers lessen that.

Although a lot of writers see these as days or hours of lost progress, allowing yourself to become immersed in an idea, a world, a character, etc. is actually a super important part of the writing process. Yes, you may have no word count that day, but internally, you are expanding on content, plot threads, and what have you that is extremely important to having a word count later.

So, as someone that often pushes myself to write when I need more time doing this, please don't feel bad about just daydreaming about your wip or sitting on it for a while. It may feel like nothing, but it is a part of the writing process.

[roach-works]

writing is so hard i want to be praised for all my most clever lines right now

[roach-works]

everyone is like ‘writing is so isolating’ but i write three lines and immediately hit up all my friends for attention like im a cat who’s never been fed

[frenchsiren]

[Text description:

Someone has to leave first. This is a very old story. There is no other version of this story.

END]

Richard Siken, the worm king’s lullaby; from “War Of Foxes”

—

[ID: Tumblr user @slowwshoww writes:

suzanne collins killing prim after everything katniss did to save her………. THATS how you write a story about the brutality and futility of war ma'am thats what we call a compelling and fucked up narrative yessums thats storytelling babes!!!!

Tumblr user @books—and-cleverness adds a quote from an interview with the author of the book:

« That was one of the first questions I asked her when we sat down: ‘Did you always know that [Prim] was going to die?’ And she said, ‘Oh yeah, of course, that’s the whole point.’ » (x)

END ID]

–

[ID: Tumblr user @orpheuslament:

i love tragedy i love circular narratives i love ppl who cannot escape their fate & characters that have been dead since the beginning

END ID]

—

[ID: Tumblr user @faustandfurious:

the worst fictional deaths are actually the ones you see coming, where there is enough foreshadowing that you have time to hope, against all odds, that the character will survive, even as you realise that there’s no way out this time, they’re not going to make it, this was always how it was going to end.

END ID]

–

[Text description:

Do you still believe myths

can save you? Foolish creature

Let me be clear: every version of this story

Ends with you being slaughtered.

END]

Tory Adkisson, Anecdote of the Pig

–

[ID: Tumblr user @sawasawako:

if you’re dead at the end of the story were you dead from the beginning. oh emily brontë we’re really in it now

END]

–

[Text description:

This was always going to happen. She’s been dead from the beginning.

END]

Aeschylus, The Oresteia

–

[Text description:

This is why people cry at the movies: because everybody’s doomed. No one in a movie can help themselves in any way. Their fate has already staked its claim on them from the moment they appear onscreen.

END]

John Darnielle, Wolf in White Van

[whatagrump]

Apparently a lot of people get dialogue punctuation wrong despite having an otherwise solid grasp of grammar, possibly because they’re used to writing essays rather than prose. I don’t wanna be the asshole who complains about writing errors and then doesn’t offer to help, so here are the basics summarized as simply as I could manage on my phone (“dialogue tag” just refers to phrases like “he said,” “she whispered,” “they asked”):

“For most dialogue, use a comma after the sentence and don’t capitalize the next word after the quotation mark,” she said.

“But what if you’re using a question mark rather than a period?” they asked.

“When using a dialogue tag, you never capitalize the word after the quotation mark unless it’s a proper noun!” she snapped.

“When breaking up a single sentence with a dialogue tag,” she said, “use commas.”

“This is a single sentence,” she said. “Now, this is a second stand-alone sentence, so there’s no comma after ‘she said.’”

“There’s no dialogue tag after this sentence, so end it with a period rather than a comma.” She frowned, suddenly concerned that the entire post was as unasked for as it was sanctimonious.

[thewritinggrindstone]

And!

“If you’re breaking dialogue up with an action tag”—she waves her hands back and forth—”the dashes go outside the quotation marks.”

[writing-is-a-martial-art]

Reblog to save a writer’s life.

[arixabala]

Everyone I’ve shown my SOV excerpt to thinks Sascha is way older than I intended. He’s only 43 but he’s got grandma energy and I can’t stop laughing about it

[devilswalkingstick]

i think more characters should have canes actually. theyre cool. theyre sexy. they can have swords in them. they come in any color u want.

[picklebutch]

hi im stepping in as ur local cane user and i just wanna quickly add this about cane swords: if someone is putting weight onto their cane, they almost definitely aren’t using a cane sword (some exceptions may be possible). this is because the usual cane sword is made hollow with a relatively flimsy exterior metal as to not scrape against the interior sword, and thus the handle is typically the only solid part.

trust me–i’ve been on the lookout for a sturdy cane sword for years that would be practical for use and everytime i could feel it struggling under pressure.

it makes it relatively unreliable as a cane for the majority of people who use canes…. however! there is a neat alternative!

you can instead opt for a trusty knife hidden in the top of the cane, therefore making the rest of the cane sturdier to use, and, additionally, less likely to be checked when passing security. another fantastic cane that a friend of mine has actually unscrews the handle to reveal a tiny compartment that fits a small bottle. she mentioned it’s an antique, so we theorized that it was for cocaine back in the day, but it could fit other things (cyanide, maybe for a disabled spy character?)

also, as someone who also is trained in sword-based self defense: i find that i can relatively translate most basic strikes using my cane, if needed. just something to use….

what i’m getting at is there are lots of ways to expand upon epic cane usages.

[silly-jellyghoty]

Yeah, who needs the sword if you can just whack and crack bones to begin with? Just get one with somewhat pointy metal end for extra stab if necessary and you are good.

[the-writer-muse]

i know we writers complain about writing a lot as a joke, and that’s completely fine, but it’s also important to remember why we love it and what we find in it!

we keep coming back to the blank page because we believe we can fill it. we build something from nothing more than our own imaginations. we transfer thoughts to words to paper to people. writing really is one of the most beautiful things we can do, and that’s one of my favorite things about it.

[arixabala]

Question 1 for the unique writing asks.

What themes would you like to write about that you feel don’t get explored very often?

I really like writing about alienated characters who don't quite fit in anywhere. It stems from my experience as a Hispanic Jew who was never quite enough of either of those and from moving around a lot so I never really had a concrete home. There's a unique kind of loneliness that comes from being unmoored like that that I like to include in all my projects.

[arixabala]

9. What scene was the hardest to write for yo and why?

10. What scene was the most fun to write for you and why?

Thanks for the ask! I'm going with Sunrise Over Venus for this since it's what I'm currently working on.

9. I haven't even written it yet but I'm struggling with the scenes where Dominic is working on developing an analogue to sunshine. I know way too much about drug discovery and I have to find a way to pare it down to be interesting.

10. Definitely the climax. It's all action which is pretty unusual for me so I'm having fun trying to make it work.

[tartts]

unique writing asks🖋️

What themes would you like to write about that you feel don’t get explored very often?

What are some common elements of stories you are tired of seeing? What would you avoid writing about?

What loves do you tend to write about? Agape (unconditional, spiritual love), Eros (romantic, passionate love), Philia (affectionate, platonic love), Philautia (self-love), Storge (familial love), Pragma (enduring love like between long-married couples), Ludus (playful love, infatuation you feel during the “honeymoon period”), and Mania (obsessive love that leads to madness and jealousy)

In your works, is blood thicker than water or is the blood of the covenant thicker than the water of the womb? (Are familial ties or friendship ties more important?)

Would you rather write a happy ending that soothes the soul or a tragic ending that hurts the heart?

What point of view do you tend to write in? Do all of your pieces use the same POV? Do you have strong opinions on the POV used in novels?

Favorite description in your wip? (If asked more than once, respond with a new piece each time)

Favorite dialogue in your wip? (If asked more than once, respond with a new piece each time)

What scene was the hardest to write for you and why?

What scene was the most fun to write for you and why?

Set the scene for us. What are your settings like and do you have any pictures saved that represent them? Do your characters travel and see more than one? What are their names?

What is the fashion like in your wip? Do you have any pictures saved of outfits your characters would wear?

What traits do you share with your original characters or what traits do you wish you shared with them?

If you’ve written more than one story, what traits do your protagonists tend to share?

Why physical quirks do your characters tend to have? Eyebrow raising, picking nails, biting lips, pacing, crossing arms, etc.

What motives do you give your original characters? What drives them? How much tragedy did you subject them to?

Are your protagonists always the “good guys” and your antagonists always the “bad guys” or do you like to do anti-heroes and grey morality?

What writers have inspired you with their use of language? What are some of your favorite quotes?

“For fans of ______!” What works would you say are similar to yours?

If you were published and had complete control over your covers, what would it look like? Do you have any specific artists that you’d like to illustrate it? Do you like when characters are pictured on covers or do you prefer inanimate objects?

How do you come up with titles? Do you use placeholders or tend to change your titles while writing the first draft?

How do you come up with character names? Do the names have a special meaning? If so, what are they?

Do your prefer reading series or standalone novels and does that reflect on how you write?

Do you let your story evolve as you write or do you meticulously plan everything prior to writing the first draft?

Do you start your novels with dialogue or description? Do you end your novels with dialogue or description?

What do you feel like you need to work on as a growing writer? How can you improve?

Do you have playlists for your wip? What are some of the songs in it?

Do you need background noise to write? If so, what do you listen to?

How do you share your writing? Do you use any writing websites and, if so, share your profiles!

What is some of the best writing advice you’ve read or received? Why does it work for you?

[storybookprincess]

i know it’s been said before, but it bears repeating: a big, big part of maintaining your confidence & self esteem as a creator is fully embracing the concept of “you don’t have to be good like them.  you can be good like you.”

for example, i’m not someone who’s particularly good at coming up with complex, elaborate plots or incredibly unique ideas.  it’s just not how i choose to write.  and it would be easy for me to look at someone with an elaborate, super unique plot & decide that because i don’t write like that, i’m not a good writer.  after all, unique plots are good, and my writing lacks those, so my writing must not be good, right?  well, no, actually.  i just have different strengths, like taking a simple premise & digging super deep into its emotional depths.  that’s what i do well & it isn’t any better or worse than people who do elaborate world building or come up with really creative and unexpected plots.

your writing is never going to be all things to all people.  it just isn’t.  inevitably, you’ll have to make creative choices that favor certain aspects of writing over others.  there is truly no getting around that & it’s honestly a good thing, because it means you’ve developed your own style.  but you’ll always encounter other creators who posses strengths that you don’t.  it doesn’t mean one is better than the other or that your writing isn’t good enough. 

comparing yourself like that would be like taking a piece of pizza & a cupcake & going “oh no, that cupcake is so sweet & my pizza isn’t sweet at all.” or “gosh, the garlic crust on that pizza is delicious and my cupcake doesn’t have ANY garlic.”  obviously your pizza isn’t sweet.  obviously your cupcake doesn’t have garlic.  a food can’t have every single delicious flavor at once.  the cupcake is good like a cupcake.  the pizza is good like a pizza.  so you don’t have to be good like them.  you can be good like you.

[theoddcryptid]

Here’s some odds and ends of pictures and failed pictures from the lunar eclipse last night. The blood moon was too dark for me to get a good good photo but I tried.

[arixabala]

I’m back

Vacation was amazing, and I’m finally home and semi with it after a rough travel day and not having my land legs back yet. I’m a week behind on my writing workshop so naturally I’m back to tumblr posting instead of catching up

[arixabala]

I've been so incredibly inactive lately, my bad. I plan to get back to it the week after next bc I'm going on vacation next week. Expect a massive influx of all the tag games I missed