Wisps of Smoke

Aspiring author, tumbling his thoughts in an attempt to find clarity in them.

[bookwyrmnick]

Movie Review: Aquaman (2018)

Movie Review: Aquaman (2018)

It would seem that the improbably has happened. No, pigs aren’t flying, and Hell still hasn’t frozen over, but DC has made a movie that was a genuine pleasure to watch. Wonder Woman made a valiant attempt, and there were certainly things to admire about that movie, but in a very similar way to how Thor: Ragnarok broke Thor out of a less-than-ideal mold, Aquaman has finally broken the “DC movie”…

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[gingerly-writing]

Prompt #1304

“You need to come home, little one.” The antagonist didn’t flash a fanged smile, didn’t need to -they both knew what they were. A coven head, an elder vampire, and by far strong enough the drag the hero back to the den with or without their consent.

Still, the hero stood firm, swallowed the inbuilt urge to obey their sire. “This city needs protecting,” they insisted.

“Perhaps,” agreed the elder vampire, “but not by what belongs to me.”

[bookwyrmnick]

It wasn’t a demeaning or degrading statement. It was just fact. All vampires belonged to their sires. The hero took an ‘at-ease’ stance, folding her hands behind her back. “I’m not going to fight you. We both know how that would go.”

Her sire smiled. “We do.”

“And I’m not going to argue with you. You taught me everything I know about debate, about philosophy, and wordcraft.  You can never convince me to leave with you, but I know I’m not going to convince you that this city is worth enough to you for you to accept losing me.”

“You are wise beyond your years, little one.”

“But the last thing I’m not going to do,” she said, an edge of steel creeping into her voice, “is leave this city willingly.  I know you can compel me to obey you, either by force or simply with a stern look and a proper command, but I will never work for you of my own free will ever again. You will have to order me to rest, order me to rise, order me to feed, order me along every step of every action you want me to take.” Her eyes flashed defiantly. “I’m not strong enough to break free of you, but I can make my service to you unbearable.”

Her sire’s eyes were stern, but there was a hint of amusement there. “My, my, it seems you have a point. Still, there are uses for an unresponsive body, and the mere game of seeing how far you are willing to push this should provide entertainment in its own right.”

She swallowed slightly, her conviction faltering for a single non-existent heartbeat. “Or,” she countered, licking her suddenly dry lips, “you let me stay here for a time. What is a decade to you, or even a century? I protect this city, I raise up heroes beneath my wings and train them to protect it once I’ve gone, and then I return to you, willing to serve, and all the more powerful, all the more useful.”

For a long moment, there was silence between them. The elder vampire stared into her eyes, and she held his gaze, not allowing herself to so much as blink. Finally, he said, “You are one of my finest children. I would not reduce you to being a puppet, jerked along by my whims. If your teenage rebellion requires you to spend fifty years protecting the humans with whom you once lived, then so be it. Far better than some.”

He raised one hand, pointing at her with a firm gaze. It wasn’t a proper command, but it made her spine tingle all the same. “But you will return to me in time, little one. I will not forget you, nor will I wait forever.”

She bowed, hands coming around to fold in front of her as she murmured, “I understand. I will not forget you either.”

When she raised her head, he was gone. She let out a shaky sigh, sinking to her knees there in the middle of the street, the strength sapped from her limbs. 

She had won.

[gingerly-writing]

okay so I’m curious: does anyone else have an age by which they want to have published their first book?

[bookwyrmnick]

Yeah, about three years ago at the age of 21. At this point, I'm not setting an age goal, because I'll just feel miserable if I miss it, and I don't feel like it would help me. I just want to get a finished novel out and see whether or not the world likes my writing.

[bookwyrmnick]

Insurance

Content warning: combat and death.

He waited thirty days between arriving in a new city and offering his insurance services.  Thirty days to let news of his arrival spread.  Thirty days to quietly warn the other metahumans that their wanton violence would no longer be tolerated here, that a new player had arrived to keep them in check.

The body count still piled up, but it gave him justification in the eyes of the masses.

It had been thirty-four days since he arrived in San Antonio. He had sold hundreds of coverage plans on his first day of business, and it had taken less than a week for careless hero-on-villain violence to destroy a shopping center who had taken his services. Mortell surveyed the destroyed building, still smoldering from the fires of the 'hero' who had cut loose against his 'villain', with a neutral expression.  

"I saw the fight," he said, turning to the business-owner who stood behind him, hat in hand and head bowed slightly. "Every news station had a chopper or a van in the area. There's no question as to the authenticity of your claim, merely the amount. File your paperwork with my assistant, and I'll see that you're compensated."

The man bobbed his head, stammering out, "Thank you, Mr. Mortell."

Mortell nodded as he turned away again, the future dancing in his vision as he looked ahead. The villain in question had been locked away in a supermax, out of easy reach, but also not a flight risk. He could be dealt with second. The hero, on the other hand, still roamed free, and as soon as he realized he'd destroyed a building insured by the Mortell Group, he might try to flee the city. As he climbed into the back seat of his town car, he pulled out his phone and searched the hero's headquarters; it made his job much easier that licensed heroes were required to be publicly accountable.

Three hours and one planning session later, Mortell stood across the street from the hero's office building, the long coat that concealed his gear flapping slightly in the breeze. The cars packed the street bumper-to-bumper, which allowed Mortell to cross without worry, and which would delay emergency response times.

He pushed open the double doors and stepped up to the front desk, giving the receptionist a warm smile. "I know you're just doing your job, so I'll get right to the point. My name is Declan Mortell. I'm here to kill Superhot, and any other metahuman that tries to stop me. Warn him or don't, as you wish, but I recommend evacuating the building when you're finished. Superhot is not known for restraint."

Wide eyes stared up at him, and he could feel her gaze on his back as he left the desk, making his way through a door and up the stairwell.  He took the stairs two at a time, a physically powerful form hidden beneath his tailored suit, mentally counting down how long it would take the hero to get the news.  On floor 24 of 30, the building shuddered as an distant blast echoed down the stairs from above.  Right on schedule.

Mortell burst through the door onto the top floor, taking in the situation at a glance. The formerly-glamorous penthouse office was, to one degree or another, on fire, and Superhot, his back to the stairwell, was throwing things into a suitcase, though at Mortell's entrance, he turned to face him, a scowl on his face, and immediately launched a stream of flame from his palm.

The flames singed the hem of Mortell's coat as he danced aside, flicking his wrist to draw a single dagger from a hidden sheathe as he sprang forward.  Superhot raised a hand once more, but Mortell had changed trajectories before the fire even left the hero's hand, ducking beneath it and driving his dagger into Superhot's chest with surgical precision.

Dark crimson stained the brighter red of the hero's costume as he staggered a single step backwards, slumping against his desk into a sitting position, his breathing faltering.  Mortell straightened his coat, gazing down at the fallen figure with no more expression than he'd shown at the site of the hero's destruction. He reached down and withdrew the weapon from the hero's chest, prompting a fresh gush of blood, then smoothly dragged the blade across his victim's throat. A choked death rattle escaped him, and the fires that had been feebly clinging to his fingertips died away.

Mortell produced a handkerchief, wiped the dagger clean, and dropped the cloth onto the hero's body. Carefully stepping over the growing pool of blood, he crossed to one of the windows, then pressed the tip of the knife against the glass and gave it a firm strike with the palm of his hand, cracking the glass. A hard blow from his elbow caused the window to shatter, but rather than climbing out onto the ledge, he stepped across to the stairway entrance, drawing a second knife as he pressed his back against the wall.

Running footsteps echoed up the stairs, and two more metahumans came running into the room, both of them stopping short, one letting out a cry, as they saw their fallen employer. Mortell stepped forward, coming up behind them both and driving one blade into each of them, puncturing the lungs. One fell immediately, but the other, a more hardy sort of fellow, spun around, lashing out with a backwards elbow that Mortell ducked under, coming back up to stab a second time, piercing the metahuman's other lung. 

Even the most durable hero needs to breathe, and after another feeble swipe, he, too, collapsed at Mortell's feet.

All threats dispatched, Mortell made his way to the broken window, carefully cleaning his daggers with a second handkerchief which he also discarded. He stepped out onto the ledge, pausing for a moment to listen to the distant sirens that approached, then leapt forward, clearing the narrow alleyway to land, rolling to bleed momentum, on the roof of the building next door. As he adjusted his coat, he pressed a button on his wristband, calling his driver. "Everything went down according to plan. I'll be there in ten."

Without waiting for confirmation, he crossed over to the roof access bulkhead, pulling it open and making his way down the stairs. His thoughts already cast forward, mentally running down the weaknesses and opportunities of the supermax where the villain was being held. The job, after all, was only half-done.

@gingerly-writing I hope you don’t mind the tag! You seemed very fond of/interested in Mortell’s story.

[gingerly-writing]

as per this post,

reblog this and tell me about your WIP!

[gingerly-writing]

also for this you can totally tell me about your favourite character, your favourite piece of worldbuilding, your favourite relationship!

anything!! I love hearing about your writing!

;D

[bookwyrmnick]

This should come as no surprise to you, as this WIP is your fault, but here goes.

Declan Mortell runs an insurance business that will insure anything, but only against one type of damage; metahuman collateral damage. If your car/home/pets/valuables are damaged or destroyed as a result of hero/villain conflict or super-powered crime, Mortell will reimburse you for it.

And then he will kill every metahuman involved in causing the damage in the first place.

This leads to a spike in casualties whenever he moves into a new area, but overall, crime drops significantly. The authorities and superheroes despise him, but among the common people, he’s revered, and that reverence (and his casually homicidal nature) make him untouchable.

Until one fateful string of events leads to him potentially being the father of a heroine’s child, and he agrees to put a hold on the murderous side of his business in exchange for her allowing him to be part of the child’s upbringing.  Things seem to be going well, until some disgruntled anti-heroes decide that one child is a sacrifice they’re willing to make if it means stopping Mortell.

[daisywords]

Characters But No Plot?

I’ve been struggling with the exact same issue for a long time, and now I feel like my wip is finally emerging (albeit slowly) from its chrysalis with maybe some semblance of a plot !? so here’s what I’ve learned:

So you have characters? lovely.

You have a setting? amazing.

You don’t have anything remotely resembling a plot? relatable, my dude.

So here’s what we’re going to do:

Step 1: feel out the general aesthetic/baseline that you want the plot to involve—epic battles? ocean’s-eleven-esqe heist? long meandering quest? political intrigue? lots of romance? tons of secrets? self discovery? solving mysteries? petty drama?

how big of a scale will this plot be on? what are the stakes?

is the fate of the world at risk? or just the fate of a relationship? are multiple countries in play, or do the characters never leave their small town?

This will depend on the characters you have, if their backstories are already fleshed out. And obviously the setting and worldbuilding you’ve already done.

Don’t be afraid to have a tight story with relatively small stakes. Not everything has to be about saving the whole world. On the other hand, if you’re really feeling juggling all the politics and diplomacy across an entire continent, you do you.

Step 2: Mash your setting and characters. It’s time to get more specific with all your enlightenment from step one.

Think about your setting, your world—what kinds of problems could exist that match the kind of plot you wanted in step one?

Which problems would specifically apply/relate to your characters?

Specific is the key. Don’t just give me “a war” or “a monster” or “an oppressive government.” Give me “Tina can’t get the supplies she needs for her healing spells because the collapse of a neighboring country’s government really did a number on the safety/success rate of trade routes” or “Prince Gary’s four older brothers have all mysteriously died, and now he’s the heir to the throne, even though he’s been raised in a monastery since he was three and has no idea what’s going on.”

Step 2.5: Why is your main character the Main Character? Or: Make the Stakes Personal

Part of specific is specific to your character. Your protagonist doens’t need to be some over-candied mary sue chosen one. But they need to be relevant. So make the plot/problem relevant to them, in a way that it isn’t relevant to others.

Sure, Tina could just shut her witch-doctor business down, except now her sister has the plague and she really needs that healing spell, so Tina’s just going to have to journey into anarchy-land to get that frickin flower, now isn’t she

Gary could just do what he’s told and shrug his shoulders’ except looks like his brothers were assassinated and he’s the next target. Hard to relax when you’re personally fearing for your life and can’t trust anyone around you.

Except maybe things aren’t working out. Maybe you don’t want to write about Tina or Gary as your precious MC.

Maybe you want to write about a young apprentice named Jane, or a cowardly monk named Sebastian.

So maybe little Jane is the one with the sick sister, the one who begs Tina for the cure, and sets off to find that missing ingredient when Tina explains the problem.

Or maybe Sebastian, Gary’s friend from the monastery is brought along as court scholar, and it’s he who has to prevent Gary’s assassination, because Gary won’t believe that he’s in danger.

Basically: What motivates your MC to get involved in all this nasty business in the first place?

Step 3: Who/What is your antagonist?

You know that problem? The one that’s going to suck for your poor little protagonist? Put a face on it. You might already have a fleshed out antagonist. Great.

(You might not want one specific person, and that’s fine. Man vs. society, man vs. nature, etc. stories can be great and you do you. But I’m going to discuss this like a single person for now.)

Ok so the problem. It’s now caused by a person. Was this intentional, or just a side effect of some bigger plan? What is that plan? What is concrete thing is motivating the antagonist? What inner desire is motivating the antagonist?

Warlord Ren, who overthrew Westland’s government, doesn’t care about Jay’s sister. He probably isn’t even aware that people in Eastland can’t get their medicine. He definitely isn’t doing any of this to hurt Jane. In fact Warlord Ren is the leader of a once-marginalized group in Westland, who were sick of being treated as second-class citizens. Warlord Ren is out for revenge. Violent Revenge.

Lizzy, Gary’s first cousin once-removed, has a two-year-old son who just happens to be next in line for the throne after Gary. If her son were to become the heir, she could be guaranteed lifelong financial security and independence—and the ability to leave her terrible marriage. Too bad so many people have to die.

Step 4: What logical step would your protagonist take to solve their problem?

This is where things start being a plot. Like you get real events.

It goes like this: action > consequence > (re)action > consequence etc etcetec

Once the consequences extend wide enough that they affect the antagonist, that’s when we get the actual protagonist vs. antagonist dynamic we know and love.

So the consequences can start being actions of the antagonist as well.

There’s safety in numbers, so Jane teams up with a caravan also trying to cross Westland. But they turn out to be thieves, who rob her blind the first night on the road.

Sebastian, worried about Gary being poisoned, insists on being present for the entire preparation and serving process of anything Gary eats. However, Gary finds this unnecessary and frustrating, causing friction in their friendship. Better/worse yet, Lizzy hears about this arrangement, and thus knows that Sebastian is on her trail. Maybe she’ll try to discredit him, or get him thrown out of court. Maybe she’ll even frame him for an assassination attempt.

Step 4.5: Put your characters where the action is.

I feel like this is one of the main problems people run into when they kinda have the basis of a plot (the problem) but no real events: The most interesting things are happening elsewhere and are heard about in passing, instead of actually becoming those real plot events.

Bonus: Not sure where the action is? Try this: put your characters where the antagonist is.

This seems obvious, but sometimes it’s hard, because you have to reframe the concept you’ve had in your head for so long. You have to be flexible. You have to be willing to deviate from your original vision. You also have to maneuver things around sometimes in unexpected ways. But guess what? You’re in charge.

Maybe Warlord Ren is up to some wicked schemes. You wanted your story to be all about Jane’s quest through Westland. But if Jane just keeps traveling through different towns and getting stuck in different shenanigans, she’s never going to even hear about those wicked schemes, let alone be put into direct conflict with Warlord Ren. So we sacrifice our journey narrative a little to really spice things up: Jane joins Ren’s army. After all, she was just robbed; if she joins just until the next paycheck, she’ll be able to have the means to continue her journey.

Sebastian, a court scholar, wouldn’t be along on a hunting trip, right? so I guess he’s just have to hear about Gary’s near-death “accident” after the fact, right? Wrong. Turns out Gary feels bad after their fight about “poison paranoia” and invites Sebastian along on the trip. It’s very unconventional, but Gary wasn’t raised as a prince, remember? And the crown prince gets what he wants. Good thing Sebastion is going to be right next to Gary to keep that accident just “nearly fatal” instead of full-on fatal.

Step 5: Reexamine the problem(s)

So things should have escalated by now. Maybe the initial problem is what drew our MC into this whole mess, but things should be a lot messier by now.

So we’re supposed to have a climax, right? But how?

Do not fear, friend. Here’s what we need:

- The most exciting/action based problem

- The problem that tests your character/engages internal conflict the most

- the original problem (from the beginning)

And now put them in the blender. Turn it on. That’s good. A good smoothie. It’s climax flavored. It’s exciting. It’s action-packed. It’s emotionally compelling. It’s structurally sound and resonant.

Jane has turned out to be quite a capable soldier. She’s managed to get quite high in the ranks, and has managed to impress Warlord Ren himself. The trouble is, she’s had to do more and more things she feels wrong about, and is slowly losing the ability to justify her actions based on her desire to save her sister. She’s also witnessed the harsh punishments given to attempted deserters, which makes her plan to join only for a little while seem less feasible. Now, Jane’s been given an assignment to lead a squadron on a killing spree, of people who she suspects are just innocent civilians. If she follows orders, she will be awarded a high-ranking position, granting her the ability to ensure a safe trade route so her sister an finally get her medicine. But this still doesn’t feel right…

Lizzy has successfully framed Sebastion for attempting to assassinate Gary. Sebastian is now facing execution. His friendship with Gary is severely damaged, maybe even beyond repair. Gary believes that he really is guilty. But that’s not all: Sebastian knows that Lizzy has plans to kill Gary herself that very night, while he is locked in the dungeon. Even if he manages to break out, Sebastian has always been a nonviolent pacifist. Will he choose to use violence in order to save his friend, even thought Gary doesn’t trust him?

Step 6: Resolve Everything

And that’s all, folks

[bookwyrmnick]

Heroes and Villains

Thanks to the creative gingerly-writingon Tumblr, I’ve recently acquired a set of characters and the bare bones of a story based in a world populated by super-powered metahumans, heroes, villains, and all shades of morality in between.  Our two main characters are Declan Mortell, an arguably psychopathic businessman/supervillain who uses his powers and schemes to further his company, and Aurelia…

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[gingerly-writing]

writing endings is infinitely harder than writing first lines and anyone can come fight me about that

[bookwyrmnick]

Writing the beginnings and endings are a cakewalk, it’s a cohesive filling that’s hard.

[gingerly-writing]

65. Why do you hate Trump so much?

uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

well

honey

Keep reading

[bookwyrmnick]

It me.  I haven’t known you long enough to understand your politics.  You were just a lovely writing blog who didn’t inject your political beliefs into your posts, which I always appreciated.

I voted for Trump in 2016, and I plan to vote for him again in 2020.  Yeah, he's kind of buffoonish, but corrupt?  Careless?  The American economy is thriving, despite the trade war he's invoked.  If he wins the trade war and re-negotiates our global trade deals, our economy will surge even higher.  Race hatred?  The "Unite the Right" rally, which the media has spent millions of dollars and endless hours covering, ended up being 30 idiots walking down a street, while a large group of (racially diverse) police officers had to hold back hundreds of (mostly white) “counter-protesters” who screamed epithets and insults at the cops.

If by healthcare you’re referring to his undoing of Obamacare, I can’t say I agree.  Premiums were climbing, and were going to continue climbing, under Obamacare, and those who couldn’t afford those premiums were being harshly fined.  

To your larger point about ordinary citizens, it was ordinary citizens who elected Trump, and ordinary citizens whom he serves.  If you look at a county-by-county breakdown of the 2016 election, it was primarily major urban centers who voted for Hillary, places of corporate greed and big business, while rural areas, suburbs, and farmland all voted for Trump.  His actions may seem endangering and reckless in the short term, but we have GDP growth over 4% for the first time in years.  Businesses are hiring again.  Taxes are coming down.  America is doing really well.

I can understand why, as a woman, you’re repulsed by Trump.  He’s made a lot of asinine, offensive, and misogynistic comments over the years, but that hasn’t spilled into his actual political actions.  His campaign manager was a woman, the first woman to ever win her candidate’s presidential election.  He has women in his cabinet, a woman as his Press Secretary, and his daughter Ivanka is wielding the influence of the White House for the explicit, singular purpose of promoting women in business.  

This is probably going to be the end of my Tumblr experiment, since, as you say, it is something of a Communist sinkhole, and I don’t imagine I’ll keep many/any followers once I post this, but I have yet to see any actual policy move that Trump has made that can be honestly construed as a pure negative.  We’re de-nuclearizing the Korean peninsula, ending a war that’s dragged on for decades, and getting back the bodies of our soldiers who died over there.  We’re taking a hard stance against Russian meddling on the world stage, and imposing sanctions on Iran over their treatment of a Christian pastor.  Yes, Trump is not an ideal person.  I will not argue that he is.  But he is a highly effective president, and he is not responsible for the racial hatred that has come to light in wake of his election.  The hatred flows both ways, and I don’t condone it from either side.

[gingerly-writing]

Here’s the real question:

Who are you going to dedicate your first published book to?

[bookwyrmnick]

I’m considering writing an anti-dedication to the people that I blame for my teenage angst.  

[agwitow]

A Writer’s Ask Game

Send me an ask with the number(s) you’d like me to answer!

The Basics 1.     Do you listen to music when you write? 2.     Are you a pantser or plotter? 3.     Computer or pen and paper? 4.     Have you ever been published, or do you want to be published? 5.     How much writing do you get done on an average day? 6.     Single or multiple POV? 7.     Standalone or series? 8.     Oldest WIP 9.     Current WIP 10.  Do you set yourself deadlines?

The Specifics 11.  Books and/or authors who influenced you the most 12.  Describe your perfect writing space 13.  Describe your writing process from idea to polished 14.  How do you deal with self-doubts? 15.  How do you deal with writer’s block? 16.  How many drafts do you need until you’re satisfied with a project? 17.  What writing habits or rituals do you have? 18.  If you could collaborate with anyone, who would it be, and what would you write about? 19.  How do you keep yourself motivated? 20.  How many WIPs and story ideas do you have?

The Favourites 21.  Who is/are your favourite character(s) to write? 22.  Who is/are your favourite pairing(s) to write? 23.  Favourite author 24.  Favourite genre to write and read 25.  Favourite part of writing 26.  Favourite writing program 27.  Favourite line/scene 28.  Favourite side character 29.  Favourite villain 30.  Favourite idea you haven’t started on yet

The Dark 31.  Least favourite part of writing 32.  Most difficult character to write 33.  Have you ever killed a main character? 34.  What was the hardest scene you ever had to write? 35.  What scene/story are you least looking forward to writing?

The Fun 36.  Last sentence you wrote 37.  First sentence or your current WIP 38.  Weirdest story idea you’ve ever had 39.  Weirdest character concept you’ve ever had 40.  Share some backstory for one of your characters

The Rest of It 41.  Any advice for new/beginning/young writers? 42.  How do you feel about love triangles? 43.  What do you do if/when characters don’t follow the outline? 44.  How much research do you do? 45.  How much world building do you do? 46.  Do you reread your own stories? 47.  Best way to procrastinate 48.  What’s the most self-insert character/scene you’ve ever written? 49.  Which character would you most want to be friends with, if they were real? 50.  [Other question—ask me anything]

[gingerly-writing]

Ilyri Emperor Darlian and his husband, King-Consort Chalro

“The last Ilyri emperor was a good king and a brilliant strategist,” Koronis argued. 

“There is a reason,” Olympéa seethed, “why your people never crowned him as the first imperator. He murdered his own c h i l d r e n.”

Keep reading

[note-katha]

fight meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

[gingerly-writing]

*confused noises* whyisthisonmydashwhat’shappeningwhatmonthisthis

coincidentally I’m really hyped to start working on the TSE histories once I finish my first draft of the actual book!! so this is a really convenient inspiration boost, thank you!

[bookwyrmnick]

I mean, Koronis isn’t wrong.  Hitler was also a brilliant politician and effective leader.  

They’re just garbage people.

[concerningwolves]

Join in on a chaotic collaborative live write!

Read the rules/information first, and then follow the link at the end to start.

What is it? 

A silly, fun collaborative writing event that ends on Monday 00:00 (midnight) GMT, at which point I’ll disable the link sharing and see what chaos you’ve created. Imagine if a bunch of equally powerful gods of storytelling were in charge of creating a small fictional world in two and a half days. That’s basically what this is.

I will give you a prompt-type opening as a starting point, and after that, you’re free to do whatever. There will also be some event prompts throughout the doc for wild and funny accidents.

You can have as much or as little involvement as you like and join in or leave at any point.

You can:

Suggest changes

alter the prompt

Add sentences in to alter events

chat in the comments

create characters

suggest a change to what other people’s characters say and do

worldbuild to your heart’s desire 

so if your heart desires dragons, give it what it wants.

The only set rules are that,A) everyone needs to come to some kind of agreement, even if it’s just a loose one; B) Keep the content PG-16, and C) Be kind to one another. Don’t start slanging matches and respect that everyone has a different creative process.

Please reblog if you decide to join in!

Here is the link.

What happens afterwards? I’ll read through the doc, finalising all changes and cleaning out the extraneous editing until it reads like a story(ish), adding an ending if I need to - and then post the result. I won’t disclose who wrote what, and if you don’t want to have your name tagged in the credits part, then send me a message to let me know.

Happy writing x

[gingerly-writing]

Prompt #1084

“Just tell them!”

The hero shook their head. “I may be in love with them, but they’re still my nemesis. They never get to know.”

[bookwyrmnick]

“He’s going to notice when you avoid him for six months.”

“I’ve avoided him before.  Never for six months, but a few months isn’t unheard of.”  She shook her head, cradling her stomach with one arm.  “That’s why I told you.  I need you to keep him busy.”

“You’re joking, right?”  Their sidekick stood up, pacing rapidly back and forth across the room.  “He’s a psychopath.”

“I know.”

“The only reason you can keep him as your nemesis for an extended period of time is because of this inexplicable thing you two have going on.”

“I know.”

“He’ll kill me!  That’s not an exaggeration, either; remember what happened last time a hero tried to consistently foil his schemes?”

She winced slightly, a vivid mental image springing into focus.  “I remember.”  She reached out and took her sidekick’s hand.  “But he won’t kill you.  Killing you would hurt me, and he wouldn’t do that.  Not in that way.  He’ll come up with increasingly elaborate plots, trying to force me out of hiding, and he’ll present you with wild theory after wild theory as to why I’m avoiding him this time, but he won’t kill you.”

“That’s not much of a relief.”  The sidekick sighed, using his free hand to pinch the bridge of his nose.  “So, what, in six months you show up and pretend nothing happened?”

“I’ll tell him I had a bad case of mono.  It’s a stupid reason, but it’s all he’s getting.”  She squeezed his hand, looking up into his eyes.  “He can never know, understand?  If he knew, God only knows what he would do.  I know him better than anyone, but even I can’t say whether he’d take to the notion fondly, and want to control it, or if he’d see it as something coming between us and try to… get rid of it.”  She shivered.  “Secrecy is our only option.”

“And if he finds out?  Finds out not only that it exists, but that you lied to him about it?  Hid it from him?”

The hero’s hands curled into fists.  “Then I’ll deal with him.  Whatever that entails, I’ll make sure no one but me gets hurt.” (( @gingerly-writing ))

[gingerly-writing]

ahhhhhhh how cute!! I love how supportive the sidekick is, and how the hero is trying so hard to hide her pregnancy. is it bad that I sorta hope the villain finds out, just to see how he would react??

[bookwyrmnick]

(( What @gingerly-writing wants, she gets. ))

She could hear the door opening from the kitchen, where she bent over the counter, chopping vegetables for a soup.  “You’re back early!  Did he not show up today?”

“He got tired of the runaround.”

The hero’s grasp on the knife shifted from cooking to combat, and she whirled toward the sound of his voice.  Her eyes were wide, and her heart raced.  “H-how?”

Her villain didn’t respond immediately.  His gaze slid from her eyes down over her, taking in her civilian clothes, the rounded belly peeking out from her loose shirt, her bare feet, and only after the end of all that did he bother to notice her knife.  “So long as you kept coming out to meet me, I didn’t attempt to discover your secret identity.  When I tired of your sidekick, however...”  He shrugged lightly.  “It only took me a week when I put my mind to it.”

She tightened her grip on the knife, cheeks coloring slightly from his casual examination.  “What about-”

“Your sidekick is fine,” the villain cut her off with a dismissive hand wave.  “A series of traps took him out of the picture for a few hours.  He’ll escape eventually, or I’ll release him when I’m done here.  I just couldn’t have him interrupting us.”

Her eyes narrowed.  “And what is it you plan on doing here?”

“Is it mine?”

The tip of the knife sank a few inches, and her gaze was drawn to his.  His question, so forthright, so earnest... but coming from someone like him, it couldn’t be.  Her knife came back up to combat readiness as she cleared her throat.  “I don’t know.”  He always knew when I lied.  “I only had one moment of foolishness with you, and I was seeing someone else around the same time.”

“Who?” 

The coldness in his voice had returned with a vengeance.  “No one you know.  He’s not in the picture anymore.”  

He was quiet for several heartbeats, his gaze absently directed at her midsection, chin resting on his knuckles.  “Do you have a doula?” 

Another disarmingly earnest question.  “I... a what?”

“A doula.  A midwife.  Someone to assist you leading up to the birth, during the birth, and in the weeks immediately following.”

“No...  No, I’m flying solo here.  I have an OBGYN, but-”

“I’ll send you a list of candidates tomorrow. Be a dear and pick one without putting up a fuss.”  He had already pulled a small tablet out of his coat and begun tapping at it.

“What?  No, no way!  Why would I ever trust someone you sent me?”  She shook her head, the knife hand having fallen to her side, confused frustration replacing fear.  

The tapping ceased, and he took two steps towards her, cupping her face in his free hand, eyes gazing intently into hers.  In a moment of panic, she swung the knife upwards, but the wrist of his hand holding the tablet casually blocked against hers, holding the knife at bay.

“If there is even the slightest chance that you carry my heir,” he murmured, thumb tracing her jawline, “then I am going to make sure that you, and he, are given the best possible chance.”  He grinned softly, adding, “As to why you’ll accept my assistance...  Let’s make a little deal, hm?  As long as you’re allowing me to assist with the care of this child, I will not commit acts of villainy.  No heists.  No murders.  No schemes or plots.  If you are going to focus on this child instead of on me, then I will do the same.”

Her cheeks burned with a confusing mix of emotions.  Fear.  Suspicion.  Hope.  Arousal?  She kicked herself mentally, letting the knife fall from her fingers, clattering to the floor beside them.  It’s not him.  You just haven’t felt anyone touch you but your doctor in months now.  “If I agree to this... how long could I expect it to last?”

He smiled, but it wasn’t his usual, mirthless smile.  An uncomfortable smile, as though he didn’t use it often, but one with the faintest flicker of genuine warmth.  “As long as you allow me,” he repeated, slowly guiding her hand back down from its attacking position.  “If that lasts until the child is 18, then 18 years.”

She stared up at him with wide eyes.  The villain who had never gone more than two weeks without committing a major crime was offering to give up crime for nearly two decades?  “I can’t possibly believe that,” she said, almost a whisper.

“Then we’ll just have to take it one day at a time.”  He released her, stepping back and turning for the door, tapping away on his tablet once more.  “You’ll have that list by tomorrow.”

[gingerly-writing]

Prompt #1084

“Just tell them!”

The hero shook their head. “I may be in love with them, but they’re still my nemesis. They never get to know.”

[bookwyrmnick]

“He’s going to notice when you avoid him for six months.”

“I’ve avoided him before.  Never for six months, but a few months isn’t unheard of.”  She shook her head, cradling her stomach with one arm.  “That’s why I told you.  I need you to keep him busy.”

“You’re joking, right?”  Their sidekick stood up, pacing rapidly back and forth across the room.  “He’s a psychopath.”

“I know.”

“The only reason you can keep him as your nemesis for an extended period of time is because of this inexplicable thing you two have going on.”

“I know.”

“He’ll kill me!  That’s not an exaggeration, either; remember what happened last time a hero tried to consistently foil his schemes?”

She winced slightly, a vivid mental image springing into focus.  “I remember.”  She reached out and took her sidekick’s hand.  “But he won’t kill you.  Killing you would hurt me, and he wouldn’t do that.  Not in that way.  He’ll come up with increasingly elaborate plots, trying to force me out of hiding, and he’ll present you with wild theory after wild theory as to why I’m avoiding him this time, but he won’t kill you.”

“That’s not much of a relief.”  The sidekick sighed, using his free hand to pinch the bridge of his nose.  “So, what, in six months you show up and pretend nothing happened?”

“I’ll tell him I had a bad case of mono.  It’s a stupid reason, but it’s all he’s getting.”  She squeezed his hand, looking up into his eyes.  “He can never know, understand?  If he knew, God only knows what he would do.  I know him better than anyone, but even I can’t say whether he’d take to the notion fondly, and want to control it, or if he’d see it as something coming between us and try to... get rid of it.”  She shivered.  “Secrecy is our only option.”

“And if he finds out?  Finds out not only that it exists, but that you lied to him about it?  Hid it from him?”

The hero’s hands curled into fists.  “Then I’ll deal with him.  Whatever that entails, I’ll make sure no one but me gets hurt.” (( @gingerly-writing ))

[gingerly-writing]

"Her Majesty Queen Rhea Rhyli of the planet Ilyri would first of all like to know a) what you seek to do with this classified information and b) whether you wish to sleep with her and, if so, what time you might be available." A) File it away for personal use, and B) Yes, and all times.

if that ‘personal use’ is for treason or blackmail, you’re dead already. if not, welcome to her bedchambers!

she might still kill you afterwards.

[bookwyrmnick]

Honestly, worth it.

[gingerly-writing]

Prompt #1064

“Where do civilians go during a bombing?” the villain asked, finger hovering over the big red button. They brought their finger down, then looked up with a smile. “Everywhere.”

[bookwyrmnick]

Sirens went off across the city, a familiar sound in the world’s number one hotbed for hero/villain conflicts.  It happened almost weekly that two supers strong enough to cause significant collateral damage clashed, and the city had, years ago, seen fit to install a bunker for the citizens to retreat to.

The bunker was a single, massive structure beneath the center of the city, with subway-esque stations scattered all over for civilians to use to access it, travelling safely below ground, out of the way of any fighting, to the bunker proper.  With well-practiced smoothness, all of the city’s non-essential personnel filed into the transit stations, bustling along to safety.

He turned around, pulling a small black box out of his coat, eyeing the restrained servicepeople who were supposed to be running this control booth.  “It’s strange, isn’t it?  How easily people adapt to new scenarios.  I mean, way back when, packing tens of thousands of people into a bunker the size of a stadium wouldn’t have even been entertained as an idea!  They would have said it made people too vulnerable!  But knock over one too many buildings on the surface, and some fat cat with a government contract assures you he can build a shelter that nothing can breach.”

The box glinted in the dim light as the villain slowly opened the lid, revealing another, smaller, red button.  “Now, people are so used to the ‘safety’ and ‘security’ of this bunker that all objections have died down, and no one thinks twice about packing the city’s entire innocent civilian population into one place like a can of sardines.”  

His smile was cold as he glanced at the clock.  “All but the last of the stragglers should be arriving by now.  There will be survivors on the outskirts, so my dear heroine can have first-hand accounts delivered to her by civilians left nearly unrecognizable by burns.”

He pressed the red button, and the city center erupted like a volcano.

“Let the bodies hit the floor.”