Damage, Ink.

They asked if I was a writer. I wrote back: maybe. They said welcome aboard.

[damageinkorporated]

Yes, it's me! Oh wait, this is the intro.

Hey there, I'm Dink, and this is my writeblr (main whatever on @toodumbforusernames).

Some Things About Me:

I love my music - mostly listening to alt rock, thrash/death metal, shoegaze and more! Favorite bands include Royal Blood, Metallica(Hence the blog name, haha), King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard and my bloody valentine.

I've been hiking since I was 10 and love nature. Besides bugs.

I'm sort of new, sort of not-so-new to writing as I'd been writing for a while but haven't been doing so for over a year now. Hopefully, this writeblr sort of motivates(forces) me into writing more.

Works?

Most of my works were some bad YA post-apocalyptic short stories, with my main WIP being again a hopefully-less-bad YA post-apocalyptic action/comedy thing...gonna do an intro to that.

Besides that, I find myself writing poetry/lyrics every now and then.

I also play bass guitar and want to make films so if either of those come to fruition with a decent result, I'll be posting those up here as well!

Other Things:

I'd love to be included in any tag/ask/blorbo etc. games!

Feel free to ask/DM me about anything, I'd love to have a lil chat!

[titsay]

[notesbyash]

think that everyone has their own personal theme in life

[notesbyash]

every nolan film is about time. it winds its way through his filmography; it is fractured in memento, distorted in inception, expanded in interstellar, reversed in tenet.

every hopper painting is about stillness. it is found in every brushstroke; at dusk in automat, at dawn in morning sun, at noon in office in a small city, at night in nighthawks.

i have a friend who orbits ideas of power, another who delights in the prosaic and the plain. one weaves around systems and structures, another returns always to wonder at the sea.

there are other elements of course - our lives cannot be measured by single concepts no matter how large they may be - but time and again i think we return to the things that fascinate, the things that intrigue, the things we cannot quite tear ourselves away from. the themes of our lives.

[zitasaurusrex]

I read Betsy Lerner’s The Forest for the Trees once years ago and have been carrying this idea she has about writers, form, and subject/themes around in my head ever since (bolding mine):

Finding your form is like finding a mate. You really have to search, and you can’t compromise—unless you can compromise, in which case your misery will be of a different variety. But just as there are probably only one or two people to whom you could commit yourself, there are probably only a few things you can write about, and only one genre, or maybe two, in which you might excel. It’s no coincidence that most authors’ bodies of work hover over two or three basic themes or take a single basic shape. Think of the novels of Trollope, Austen, Dickens, or Hardy; think of Hemingway, Faulkner, Fitzgerald. They each revisited the same themes, settings, and conflicts over the course of their writing lives. The James Joyces of the world, those who can move from short story to novel to epic, are rare, but then again, few writers master each form the first time out of the gate.

Even though most writers have a limited literary arsenal, readers find infinite pleasure in watching those gestures change and deepen over time. But if you aren’t yet sure what your themes are or what category you should be writing in, you need to take a full accounting of all the reading and all thewriting you have ever done or wanted to do. If you are one of the many people who dream of writing but have never successfully finished or, perhaps, even started a piece, I suggest you compile a list of everything you’ve read over the past six months or year and try to determine if there is a pattern or common denominator. If you read only literary novels, that should tell you something. If you’ve always kept a diary noting the natural world in all its variety, you might want to try writing nature essays.

It never fails to surprise me, in conversations with writers who seek my advice as to what they should write, how many fail to see before their very eyes the hay that might be gold. Instead of honoring the subjects and forms that invade their dreams and diaries, they concoct some ideas about what’s selling or what agents and editors are looking for as they try to fit their odd-shaped pegs into someone else’s hole. There is nothing more refreshing for an editor than to meet a writer or read a query letter that takes him completely by surprise, that brings him into a world he didn’t know existed or awakens him to a notion that had been there all along but that he had nevermuch noticed.

Some of the most striking and successful books in recent history were clearly born of a writer’s obsession and complete disregard for what, supposedly, sells. Few editors would have gone for a queer book about a little-known murder in Savannah that took its sweet time describing every other quirkof the city and its inhabitants before addressing the crime.Whatever John Berendt was thinking when he set out to write Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, it couldn’t have been the bestseller list, because almost anyone in the publishing industry would have told him that nobody would care about the story of a gay antiques dealer who languished in jail after shooting a cheap hustler. The book does, however, draw on what most certainly are Berendt’s strengths as a reporter, as a travel writer, and as a southerner with a gothic sensibility and taste for the macabre. Clearly, he was born to write this book, and he worked through whatever ambivalence and uncertainty he might have felt within himself or encountered from others.

Most writers have very little choice in what they write about. Think of any writer’s body of work, and you will see the thematic pattern incorporating voice, structure, and intent. What is in evidence over and over is a certain set of obsessions, a certain vocabulary, a way of approaching the page. The person who can’t focus is not without his own obsessions, vocabulary, and approach. However, either he can’t find his form or he can’t apply the necessary discipline that ultimately separates the published from the unpublished.

[notesbyash]

think that everyone has their own personal theme in life

[notesbyash]

every nolan film is about time. it winds its way through his filmography; it is fractured in memento, distorted in inception, expanded in interstellar, reversed in tenet.

every hopper painting is about stillness. it is found in every brushstroke; at dusk in automat, at dawn in morning sun, at noon in office in a small city, at night in nighthawks.

i have a friend who orbits ideas of power, another who delights in the prosaic and the plain. one weaves around systems and structures, another returns always to wonder at the sea.

there are other elements of course - our lives cannot be measured by single concepts no matter how large they may be - but time and again i think we return to the things that fascinate, the things that intrigue, the things we cannot quite tear ourselves away from. the themes of our lives.

[zitasaurusrex]

I read Betsy Lerner’s The Forest for the Trees once years ago and have been carrying this idea she has about writers, form, and subject/themes around in my head ever since (bolding mine):

Finding your form is like finding a mate. You really have to search, and you can’t compromise—unless you can compromise, in which case your misery will be of a different variety. But just as there are probably only one or two people to whom you could commit yourself, there are probably only a few things you can write about, and only one genre, or maybe two, in which you might excel. It’s no coincidence that most authors’ bodies of work hover over two or three basic themes or take a single basic shape. Think of the novels of Trollope, Austen, Dickens, or Hardy; think of Hemingway, Faulkner, Fitzgerald. They each revisited the same themes, settings, and conflicts over the course of their writing lives. The James Joyces of the world, those who can move from short story to novel to epic, are rare, but then again, few writers master each form the first time out of the gate.

Even though most writers have a limited literary arsenal, readers find infinite pleasure in watching those gestures change and deepen over time. But if you aren’t yet sure what your themes are or what category you should be writing in, you need to take a full accounting of all the reading and all thewriting you have ever done or wanted to do. If you are one of the many people who dream of writing but have never successfully finished or, perhaps, even started a piece, I suggest you compile a list of everything you’ve read over the past six months or year and try to determine if there is a pattern or common denominator. If you read only literary novels, that should tell you something. If you’ve always kept a diary noting the natural world in all its variety, you might want to try writing nature essays.

It never fails to surprise me, in conversations with writers who seek my advice as to what they should write, how many fail to see before their very eyes the hay that might be gold. Instead of honoring the subjects and forms that invade their dreams and diaries, they concoct some ideas about what’s selling or what agents and editors are looking for as they try to fit their odd-shaped pegs into someone else’s hole. There is nothing more refreshing for an editor than to meet a writer or read a query letter that takes him completely by surprise, that brings him into a world he didn’t know existed or awakens him to a notion that had been there all along but that he had nevermuch noticed.

Some of the most striking and successful books in recent history were clearly born of a writer’s obsession and complete disregard for what, supposedly, sells. Few editors would have gone for a queer book about a little-known murder in Savannah that took its sweet time describing every other quirkof the city and its inhabitants before addressing the crime.Whatever John Berendt was thinking when he set out to write Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, it couldn’t have been the bestseller list, because almost anyone in the publishing industry would have told him that nobody would care about the story of a gay antiques dealer who languished in jail after shooting a cheap hustler. The book does, however, draw on what most certainly are Berendt’s strengths as a reporter, as a travel writer, and as a southerner with a gothic sensibility and taste for the macabre. Clearly, he was born to write this book, and he worked through whatever ambivalence and uncertainty he might have felt within himself or encountered from others.

Most writers have very little choice in what they write about. Think of any writer’s body of work, and you will see the thematic pattern incorporating voice, structure, and intent. What is in evidence over and over is a certain set of obsessions, a certain vocabulary, a way of approaching the page. The person who can’t focus is not without his own obsessions, vocabulary, and approach. However, either he can’t find his form or he can’t apply the necessary discipline that ultimately separates the published from the unpublished.

[homunculus-argument]

One worldbuilding thing that's always fun to do is take something you've encountered in the real world, and apply something similar with the same logic into your own. Like those sayings that have two halves, but people usually only know the first half and misunderstand the saying - like "birds of a feather flock together (until the cat comes)" or "great minds think alike (but fools rarely differ)." So I came up with a few for The Book I'm Not Writing:

Hungry dogs are loyal dogs (until someone else feeds them) - neglecting and mistreating your underlings may work as a short-term tactic for making them obey, but it's also a guarantees that they'll betray you at first chance.

The mouth of an idiot is as loose as the strings of their purse (so be there when gold may drop out) - just because nine out of ten things that someone says are completely useless doesn't mean you should dismiss them altogether. They might still know useful things, even if they can't tell it's useful.

Blood makes a foul dye (it stains, but it won't last) - here "foul" is often interpreted as "brutal" or "gruesome", when it's meant as "of low quality". Using violence as your way to establish dominance and maintain authority because it's easier than building networks of mutual trust and respect is as stupid and short-sighted as using blood to dye clothes because it's cheaper than proper pigment.

A fool will starve to death while waiting for grain to grow (but it is also a fool who'll slaughter an ewe an hour before it lambs) - Immediate problems require immediate solutions, but you'd better make sure that your drastic emergency solution is the right one.

A blind horse will go as you guide where a half-blind one dare not (both through the darkness and down a cliff) - an agent who doesn't know the purpose of their task will obey blindly, where one that knows some part of it might disobey out of distrust, but neither is as reliable as one that does see the big picture, can draw their own conclusions from the information they gather, and adjust their plans accordingly.

[daisywords]

"came back wrong" what about Came Back Afraid. You used to be brave. Too brave maybe, defying the odds at every turn, a fighter, cocky, playing with fire, first to throw yourself at the enemy. Until one day it all caught up to you. You came back, somehow, but now you know all too intimately how it feels to lose, to die, to be destroyed. Now you flinch and freeze and cower at the slightest provocation. Who even are you now if you can't be brave? The grave may have let you go, but the mortal fear still grips you tighter than ever.

[hauntedgardenking]

i don’t think you quite get it, a mouth full of gold fishes

september is nearly gone, and october will burn its bridges

my goodness when extra terrestrial early morning i grew

for another seven sundays, the aquarium seams split

i was spectral in old hymnals with annotations for you

here you placed your fingers the grooves where you sang

a million hallelujah’s and i’d wish you’d breathe kattajaq

“lift yr skinny fists” all caught at the back of my throat

i wish you’d bend holy holy holy flayed gorgeous on the dawn

[ink-flavored]

Out of Context Line tag

thanks to @rachaellawrites for the tag!

I've been working on my Anthology Blast today and if there's ever an out of context line to post, it's absolutely this one

Geni didn’t get two steps before the pink toy flew off the display and shoved itself between her legs.

Enchanted sex toys, amirite?

Tagging: @foxys-fantasy-tales @noblebs @ceph-the-ghost-writer @auntdarth @damageinkorporated

@srjacksin @alesseia and whoever else feels like it!

[ink-flavored]

🧑‍🍼100 Question OC Family Dynamics Ask Game👨‍👩‍👧‍👦

Get into the weeds of your OC’s family relationships with this game! Can be applied to blood, adopted, and found family dynamics. Remember to send an ask to the person you reblog it from to make sure everyone gets to play!

🔢How many parents/guardians did they grow up with? How many do they have now?

🤝Did they get along with their parent(s)/guardian(s) in childhood? Do they now?

💞If they had more than one, which of their parents/guardians did they get along best with in their childhood? Is that still the case?

⚠️Do they go to their parent(s)/guardian(s) for advice regularly? Only in emergencies? Never?

📞Do they speak with their parent(s)/guardian(s) regularly?

🪢How did they bond with their parent(s)/guardian(s) in childhood? Do they still bond that way?

🏈Did they pick up any hobbies or interests from their parent(s)/guardian(s)? Which ones?

😤Did they ever intentionally go against their parent(s)/guardian(s) in a fit of defiance? What did they do?

🫵Were they often grounded by their parent(s)/guardian(s)?

📖What values did their parent(s)/guardian(s) really drill into their head?

🤔What are things they picked up from their parent(s)/guardian(s) that weren’t intentionally taught?

✂️Have they completely cut off one or more of their parents/guardians? Why?

🚼How many siblings did they grow up with, if any?

🛝Did they get along with their sibling(s) in childhood? Do they now?

📅How far apart in age are they and their sibling(s)?

😡What’s the dumbest sibling argument they’ve ever had?

😇What’s the fondest memory they have with their sibling(s)?

😋Do they have any goofy inside jokes with their sibling(s)?

💝What do they like most about having sibling(s)?

💔What do they dislike the most about having sibling(s)?

👍What’s a situation where they really appreciated having their sibling(s) around?

👎What’s a situation where they wished they’d been an only child?

1️⃣If they’re an only child, have they ever wished they had siblings?

⚔️Are they protective of their sibling(s)? Are their sibling(s) protective of them?

📢Do they speak with their sibling(s) regularly?

🎹Did they pick up any hobbies or interests from their sibling(s)? Which ones?

🙅‍♀️Were they the type to do the complete opposite of whatever their sibling(s) did? Why?

🚩Have they completely cut off one or more of their siblings? Why?

⭐Did their parent(s)/guardian(s) show favoritism between siblings? How did that impact the siblings’ relationships? The child-parent relationships?

🫴Did they have trouble with being asked to share their friends with their sibling(s) growing up? Vice versa?

2️⃣Are they a twin/triplet/etc.? Identical or fraternal?

🌍How did being a twin/triplet/etc. impact their relationship to their parent(s)/guardian(s), their twin/siblings, and the world?

♊If twins/triplets/etc., did their parent(s)/guardian(s) obsess about making them exactly the same? How did that impact their relationships/personalities?

🧓Do they have living grandparents? Did they ever meet their grandparents?

🫂Were their grandparent(s) a big part of their childhood?

🏠Did they go over to their grandparents’ house often?

🪑Were their grandparent(s) regular caretakers when their parent(s)/guardian(s) weren’t available?

✨Did their grandparent(s) show favoritism between siblings? How did that impact the siblings’ relationships? The child-grandparent relationships?

🌪️Did their grandparent(s) show favoritism between their parent/guardian and one of their siblings? How did that impact the family?

⛈️Have they completely cut off one or more of their grandparents? Why?

🤯Do they have aunts/uncles/piblings and/or cousins?

🥳Do they get along with a particular aunt/uncle/pibling best?

🙋Do they get along with a particular cousin the best?

👋Were they close with their aunt(s)/uncle(s)/pibling(s) in childhood? Are they still?

🫰Were they close with their cousin(s) in childhood? Are they still?

🤪Do they have a “fun uncle” type family member?

❌Have they completely cut off one or more of their cousins? Why?

😵Have they completely cut off one or more of their aunts/uncles/piblings? Why?

📏Do they know their extended family well? Are they basically strangers?

👀How often do they see their extended family members? Which side of the family do they see most often?

💗Do they prefer one side of the family more?

👨‍👩‍👧‍👦How would they define “family”?

‼️What’s the most important part of having a “family” to them?

🙏Are there things about their family they wish were different?

💪Do they identify strongly with any family terms? (i.e. big/little sibling, a parent, Aunt/Uncle/Pibling [name])

💒How do their cultural values inform their relationship with their family?

⁉️Do they have a family relationship that’s considered unconventional in their culture?

🫄Do they want to start a family of their own one day? Have they already?

📝Do they want to emulate their family’s dynamics? Do they want to avoid it as much as possible?

🏫What would they teach their kids about what family means if/when they have any?

🚸Would they want their kids to be involved with their other family members, or as far away as possible?

🎭Are they worried about “becoming like their parent(s)/guardian(s)” as they age?

🤐Are they keeping any “family secrets”? How serious are they?

🙊Are they keeping any secrets from their family? Why?

🔮Do they have any “family curses”? Are they real?

😉Did they have any family friends growing up that they saw regularly? Do they still?

🏆Is their family well-known where they grew up? For good reasons or unfortunate ones?

💊How much caretaking did/do they do for their older family members? Is it more or less than is expected of them?

🧼How much caretaking did/do they do for their youngest family members? Is it more or less than is expected of them?

🩺Do they expect their kids or other family members to take care of them when they get older?

😱How would they react to being asked to care for an ill and/or elderly family member long-term?

🏡When did they move out of their childhood home? Have they moved out? Do they plan to?

🏢Would they ever want to live in the same house with their family members long-term? For their whole life?

📌Do they live close to their family? By choice?

🗺️What’s the maximum distance they’d ever live from their family?

🦺Can they count on their family members to help in an emergency?

😢Have they ever disappointed any member of their family?

😔Have any of their family members disappointed them?

🎖️What’s a time they felt extremely proud of their family?

🎉What’s a time their family celebrated one of their achievements?

💢Do they argue with their family a lot? About anything in particular?

🙈How many embarrassing stories would their family be able to tell about them?

🗣️How many embarrassing stories could they tell about their family?

📚What’s a family story they always tell people?

💛What’s their favorite story that their parent(s)/guardian(s) have told?

🪦Were any of their partners given the “if you hurt my kid, they’ll never find your body” talk from their parent(s)/guardian(s)? How embarrassing was it?

👌Were their parent(s)/guardian(s) accepting of their partner(s)?

✌️Did their sibling(s) accept their partner(s)?

🤗Do they consider their partner’s family to be their family too?

🤢What kinds of traits in other families are they jealous of, if any?

😄Is there any trait they particularly appreciate about their family?

🫡Are they proud to talk about their family to other people?

👂Do they enjoy listening to other people talk about their families?

🎳Are their friends welcome among their family? Only certain friends?

🎈Do they celebrate any extremely specific holidays that their family pretty much invented from scratch?

🐕Did they have any family pets growing up? Do they have any now?

🐈Were their parent(s)/guardian(s) opposed to having a pet? Did it ever change?

🐸Did having a family pet encourage them to have pets if/when they moved out?

🐭Do they consider pets to be a part of the family?

🃏Wild card! Ask anything you want!

[damageinkorporated]

not to jinx it but feeling a little pull back to writing...

[ink-flavored]

Last Line Tag Game

Tagged by @chaosgene, thank you!

Another from the Space Cruise WIP, it's gonna be a big longer than one line:

Kavi threw their arms around his neck and frills, and embraced the dizzy feeling paired with David Bowie’s words: No matter what or who you've been No matter when or where you've seen All the knives seem to lacerate your brain I've had my share, now I'll help you with the pain You're not alone

This WIP is going to unapologetically ride for Bowie and other glam rock artists, because that's the personal interest of mine I want to evangelize for in this WIP

Tagging: @foxys-fantasy-tales @noblebs @ceph-the-ghost-writer @auntdarth @damageinkorporated

@srjacksin @wyked-ao3 @alesseia and anyone else who wants to share!

[ink-flavored]

Anthology Blast! Nov. 2024

For this challenge, I'm going to aim to complete 12 short stories, 6 from each anthology, before the end of the month. Read more about it here! I'll update this list whenever I post a completed story, first on Ko-Fi and then on Tumblr.

Tales from Athendrolyn

?

?

?

?

?

?

Athendrolyn After Dark

?

?

?

?

?

?

[sageswriting]

Writeblr intro ♡

Hello :) You can call me Sage/Corbin, and I'm 20 years old. I've been an artist for more than half my life, but only "recently" have realized my love and skills for writing.

I had an account here before, and I had a book going on wattpad, but I gave it up because I don't associate with that old me anymore.

♡ What I like to write ♡

> anything fantasy ! I also love horror.

> about my ocs

> I like writing questions for others to answer about their WIPs/OCs

♡ My WIPs ♡

> I was always a creative kid. Since I was young, I was always creating new characters and universes, but not long ago, I made the decision to mix it all together into one/start fresh. "Immensus" or "Immensusverse" is now the name I gave it.

> I will be writing short stories/books located in this universe, in fact, any fantasy stories i might write and all my ocs belong here !

♡ more info ♡

> i wont be sharing my writing anywhere else anymore, i dont think. I'll share it all here :)

[ink-flavored]

Worldbuilding Whenever Tag Game

Tagged by @void-botanist thank you!

Rules: Share a cool worldbuilding factoid from your current WIP and tag some pals to do the same!

I've been thinking about my anthologies, as usual, so I'll share a fun fact about dryads!

While dryads can walk around without their roots plugged into some dirt at all times, it is more common in dryad-heavy communities in the city and when they're living among the other trees obviously. When dryads root down, they can absorb nutrients like regular trees, but if their roots touch another dryad's they can communicate solely through their root network. It can be compared to telepathy in other creatures, where they can feel each other's immediate wants, needs, and feelings. Dryads also root down when they "sleep", and for those that live in the city, they either have a special flower pot/terrarium/etc. where they can root, root outside their yards outside their actual homes, or have an entire section of the floor ripped up to be able to root down into the earth.

I like dryads! I hope I make them sound cool :3

Tagging: @foxys-fantasy-tales @noblebs @ceph-the-ghost-writer @auntdarth @damageinkorporated

@srjacksin @wyked-ao3 @alesseia @vacantgodling and anyone else who feels like it!

[damageinkorporated]

going through my saved drafts cause why not, and apparently I wanted to do this one! so here is a bit I like thinking on from the post-apocalypse WIP (maybe to be named Gun to a Swordfight, but I'm really unsure) The Hagglers are the only group in the post-apocalypse that have managed to spread past continents, and have somehow* ended up being the most prominent trade organization. Most settle into the largest available buildings around a population, while many that are in either communities too large or too small have tents. Virtually every common good is sold on Haggler stands, and prices tend to be regulated not by a definite standard, but usually by the Haggler guards who are free to kick out any overpriced stands.

Oh, also, NO VIOLENCE ON HAGGLER GROUNDS. NEVER.

*: A lot of early expansion, violent excursions on different groups, using the re-established Internet and actually sailing across the Atlantic to establish new outposts in Europe. They still are not aligned with any other group, though small ones often are on friendly terms with local groups that help keep the peace or supply the goods.

[damageinkorporated]

this fucking season got me rambling

Autumn is not yellow here. It's orange and...red. Oh such a red -a hue I honestly hadn't known- perhaps we can use 'gamut' to descrşbe not just the limits of color reproduction, but also the hues of one's life, as it expands and shrinks as we experience new things, fall in and out of routines, decide to move our attention to make out all the little varieties in the vibrancy and nature and life.

Or not. I don't know, but this red is beautiful and I can't wait for trees to paint the city in this amazing hue.

Am I sad because it's nigh impossible for me to capture this and send it to loved ones? Yes. But, at least I'm here to experience it. And tell about it.

[abalonetea]

Luke doesn't like new people. He doesn't have menus in his diner, he doesn't have the same welcoming air to him as everyone else in their small town, he doesn't even think a bus should stop within walking distance of the town limits.

That hasn't changed.

Ava, as it turns out, is just the sole exception.

[snowstories]

My biggest tip for fanfic writers is this: if you get a character's mannerisms and speech pattern down, you can make them do pretty much whatever you want and it'll feel in character.

Logic: Characters, just like real people, are mallable. There is typically very little that's so truly, heinously out of character that you absolutely cannot make it work under any circumstance. In addition, most fans are also willing to accept characterization stretches if it makes the fic work. Yeah, we all know the villain and the hero wouldn't cuddle for warmth in canon. But if they did do that, how would they do it?

What counts is often not so much 'would the character do this?' and more 'if the character did do this, how would they do it?' If you get 'how' part right, your readers will probably be willing to buy the rest, because it will still feel like their favourite character. But if it doesn't feel like the character anymore, why are they even reading the fic?

Worry less about whether a character would do something, and more about how they'd sound while doing it.