I Really Should Be Writing

Inspiration for the writing that I don’t do.

[writing-prompt-s]

"Wait, so you're telling me that you don't have a secret identity, that's just straight up your full legal name?" "Yeah. All the other superheroes have cover names, pseudonyms or similar, so everyone just assumes that mine is the same."

[writing-prompt-s]

The queen is 6 years old. The plan was to, like, have a regent or something, but she’s doing such a good job that no one can be bothered.

[writing-prompt-s]

Several "silent protagonist" type adventurers are getting on the guilds nerves with their refusal to speak, so in an attempt to teach them a lesson the guild leadership forces them to team up. Much to the guilds annoyance they all manage to work together flawlessly in spite of never speaking.

[prokopetz]

If you want to write in the classic high fantasy mould, you don't have to be hung up on food specifically, but there must be some very mundane thing you're prepared to cultivate a sincere interest in and describe in excruciating detail every single time it comes up. Clothing. Furniture. Architecture. It doesn't work without it.

[luna-azzurra]

Hurt / Comfort Ideas!!

⋆˙⟡ She gets injured but hides it because she doesn’t want to slow everyone down, and he only notices when she starts answering questions too slowly.

⋆˙⟡ He comes back from a fight acting normal, making jokes, brushing everyone off, until she sees his hands shaking when he tries to pour water.

⋆˙⟡ She has a nightmare and wakes up quietly crying, trying not to disturb him, but he’s already awake and pretends not to notice until she chooses to talk.

⋆˙⟡ He is sick but insists he’s “fine,” so she sits nearby doing her own work just to make sure he doesn’t collapse alone.

⋆˙⟡ She breaks down in the least dramatic place possible, like a grocery aisle or hallway, and he has to gently guide her somewhere private.

⋆˙⟡ He gets overwhelmed in a crowd, and she notices before he says anything because he stops making eye contact and starts looking for exits.

⋆˙⟡ She keeps apologizing while he bandages her wound, and he finally says, very quietly, “you don’t have to earn being taken care of.”

⋆˙⟡ He thinks nobody remembered the anniversary of something terrible that happened to him, but she did. She just didn’t know whether bringing it up would hurt more.

⋆˙⟡ She refuses comfort because she thinks accepting it means admitting weakness, so he just sits beside her and says nothing until she leans into him.

⋆˙⟡ He is used to patching himself up alone, so when she gently takes the first-aid kit from his hands, he looks genuinely confused.

[luna-azzurra]

Sick days Ideas!!

⋆˙⟡ She insists she is “totally fine” while clearly standing in the kitchen with a fever, one sock on, and absolutely no idea why she came in there

⋆˙⟡ He notices she keeps rubbing her forehead during dinner, so he quietly starts lowering the lights and making tea before she even admits she feels bad

⋆˙⟡ She gets sick but hates being taken care of, so he has to act like he is “just happening” to leave soup, water, medicine, and blankets within arm’s reach

⋆˙⟡ He falls asleep on the couch with a fever, and she sits on the floor beside him changing the cold cloth on his forehead while pretending she is not worried out of her mind

⋆˙⟡ She loses her voice and has to communicate through dramatic hand gestures, notes app messages, and increasingly aggressive facial expression

⋆˙⟡ She keeps trying to get up and help even though he’s sick, so she finally points at the bed and says, “lie down before i physically put you there”

⋆˙⟡ She wakes up from a nap confused and feverish, and he talks softly until she remembers where she is

⋆˙⟡ He hates medicine, she hates drama, and somehow giving him cough syrup becomes a full diplomatic negotiation

⋆˙⟡ She gets sick on a trip, and he cancels the big plan without making her feel guilty about it

⋆˙⟡ He notices she only admits she is sick when she physically cannot keep pretending anymore, and that tells him more about her than she meant to reveal

[luna-azzurra]

Okay this took me embarrassingly long to figure out but, your character needs a thing they do that has nothing to do with the plot. A specific, weird, small habit. She counts stairs. He can't throw away receipts. She reorganises the fridge when she's anxious. It doesn't matter. It doesn't go anywhere. But the moment you give someone a habit that serves no narrative purpose they stop being a character and start being a person. And the reader can feel that difference immediately even if they can't name it.

[luna-azzurra]

Villain origin stories that are just sad!!

˙⋆✮ The moment they decided softness was a liability and started practicing hardness

˙⋆✮ Being told they were too much until they became not enough on purpose

˙⋆✮ The betrayal that didn't break them but quietly ended who they were before it

˙⋆✮ Asking for help once at the worst possible time and learning never again

˙⋆✮ Watching someone else get everything they worked for and being told to be grateful

˙⋆✮ The love that was conditional for so long unconditional stopped feeling real

˙⋆✮ Being made to feel small by someone they looked up to during a year they can't undo

˙⋆✮ The grief that had nowhere to go and eventually became something else entirely

˙⋆✮ Trusting completely one time and having it used against them with precision

˙⋆✮ Waiting to be chosen so long they decided choosing was weakness

˙⋆✮ The version of them that existed before a specific date nobody else remembers

˙⋆✮ Being punished for the truth enough times to become an excellent liar

˙⋆✮ The dream abandoned not by choice but by circumstances that felt like choice

˙⋆✮ Caring loudly in a room that rewarded not caring and learning the lesson wrong

˙⋆✮ The childhood that required a mask so early they forgot faces underneath are allowed

˙⋆✮ Being right about something important and being destroyed for it anyway

˙⋆✮ The moment the world showed them who it protected and who it didn't

˙⋆✮ Growing up watching kindness get punished and cruelty get rewarded and taking notes

˙⋆✮ The apology that never came and the personality built around the absence of it

˙⋆✮ Being the cautionary tale in someone else's story without ever getting their own

˙⋆✮ The door that was closed so many times they stopped knocking and started breaking in

˙⋆✮ Loving someone who treated love like a weapon until they learned to do the same

˙⋆✮ The version of events everyone agreed on that left them entirely out of the truth

˙⋆✮ Surviving something alone that no one should have survived alone

˙⋆✮ Being failed by every system that was supposed to catch them and deciding to need none of them

[writing-prompt-s]

Vampires are not weak to garlic in particular. Rather, any allergy a vampire had in life becomes a deadly bane in undeath. The garlic thing is just a matter of one famous vampire having that as their thing.

[creativepromptsforwriting]

Prompt #1314

"I love you."

"And you will get over it. Eventually."

[creativepromptsforwriting]

soft intimacy one-liners

"You're just so beautiful to me."

"Come here... I want you close for a moment."

"You're safe with me. I promise."

"Your skin is so soft."

"Let me hold you for a little while."

"I didn't think I'd ever let someone in like this."

"Please don't hide yourself from me."

"You make me feel so much calmer."

"It's okay to need someone. I also need you."

"You can trust me with the soft parts of you."

"I feel ready to be completely open with you."

"Let's take it one day at a time, okay?"

"We don't need to rush. We can move at your pace."

"You make me want to share everything with you."

"You can lean on me, I don't mind."

More: One-Liners Masterpost

[luna-azzurra]

Confession Ideas!!

⋆˙⟡ She confesses her feelings during an argument because she gets too angry to keep pretending she doesn’t care.

⋆˙⟡ He almost tells her he loves her, but stops himself and says something stupid instead, and she spends the rest of the night trying to figure out what he meant.

⋆˙⟡ She leaves him a letter confessing everything, then immediately regrets it and tries to get it back before he reads it.

⋆˙⟡ He confesses while half-asleep, thinking it’s a dream, and she has to act normal the next morning while quietly losing her mind.

⋆˙⟡ She blurts out “because I love you” in the middle of explaining why she saved him, and then both of them just freeze.

⋆˙⟡ He confesses after thinking she’s about to leave forever, because panic finally beats pride.

⋆˙⟡ She has rehearsed the confession perfectly, but when the moment comes, she forgets every word and just says his name.

⋆˙⟡ He tells her he loves her in another language because he assumes she won’t understand, but she does.

⋆˙⟡ She confesses indirectly by saying, “I don’t know who I am when you’re gone,” and he understands immediately.

⋆˙⟡ He tries to confess casually and fails so badly that she starts laughing, which somehow makes the moment more honest.

[luna-azzurra]

Random Character Traits!!! Part 13

⟡ Has extremely specific feelings about which bowl is the correct bowl for cereal

⟡ Orders the same thing at every restaurant but likes to look at the menu anyway

⟡ Eats the least popular chip in the bag last as a sign of respect

⟡ Considers 'there's food at home' a threat and also a lie

⟡ Will not eat food if it is touching other food. This is non-negotiable

⟡ Has a hierarchy of which part of the meal gets eaten first and it is sacred

⟡ Gets unreasonably excited about a specific snack they hadn't thought about in years

⟡ Describes everything they eat as 'actually not that bad' even if they love it

⟡ Stress eats for five minutes then stops and sits with what they've done

⟡ Refuses to share food but will eat from your plate without asking

⟡ Has a complicated emotional relationship with leftovers

⟡ Rates every meal they eat internally and sometimes out loud by accident

⟡ Gets offended when someone doesn't like their food recommendation

⟡ Eats cereal at 10 PM and calls it dinner with full confidence

⟡ Uses 'I already ate' loosely and creatively

⟡ Insists on cooking but cannot follow a recipe without going off-script

⟡ Has a backup snack for the backup snack, always

⟡ Considers the crust of bread to be optional every single time

⟡ Will eat a whole meal just to get to the dessert they already had in mind

⟡ Orders something new and then immediately regrets not getting the usual

⟡ Negotiates which half of a thing they want before splitting it

⟡ Saves 'the best bite' for last and then feels sad when it's gone

⟡ Gets personally victimized when a restaurant discontinues their go-to order

⟡ Smells every food before eating it. Every single food. No exceptions

⟡ Eats the filling out of the thing and leaves the outside with no remorse

⟡ Calls any meal before noon 'breakfast' regardless of what it is

⟡ Has very specific feelings about ice levels in drinks

⟡ Eats something so fast that they're hungry again before they've even processed it

⟡ Asks what's in a dish and then orders it anyway if it sounds good

⟡ Has declared a specific combination of foods their 'comfort meal' and it is deeply unhinged

[luna-azzurra]

If you want to know whether your villain works, ask if they think they're the hero of a different book. Not "do they have a point," a point is easy, anyone can have a point. Ask if, in their own head, they're the one doing the noble hard thing while everyone else is too weak to understand it. That's the version that scares people. Not evil for evil's sake. Conviction.

[luna-azzurra]

Ways to describe Love!!<3

[luna-azzurra]

What Characters do when they're Alone!!!

˙⋆✮ Talking out loud to themselves through problems like no one is listening because no one is

˙⋆✮ The face they make when finally alone after too long being perceived

˙⋆✮ Dancing in a way they would die before doing in front of anyone

˙⋆✮ Practicing conversations that will never happen or already have

˙⋆✮ Eating whatever they want with zero performance of restraint

˙⋆✮ The shows they watch that they'd never recommend because they reveal too much

˙⋆✮ Crying at something small that was really about something large

˙⋆✮ Lying on the floor for no reason and finding it solves something

˙⋆✮ Narrating their own life quietly like a documentary no one commissioned

˙⋆✮ The hobby they've never mentioned to anyone because it belongs only to them

˙⋆✮ Laughing at their own thoughts in an empty room

˙⋆✮ Rehashing old arguments and finally saying the perfect thing three years too late

˙⋆✮ The way their posture completely changes when the last person leaves

˙⋆✮ Making elaborate meals or eating cereal over the sink with no in between

˙⋆✮ The music played at volumes that would concern the neighbors

˙⋆✮ Sitting in silence so deliberately it becomes its own kind of noise

˙⋆✮ Allowing themselves to want things they'd never say out loud to another person

˙⋆✮ The kindness they extend to themselves only when no one is watching

˙⋆✮ Falling apart in the shower because it's the only place that feels private enough

˙⋆✮ The version of themselves they are at 2am that no one else has ever met

[luna-azzurra]

Something I had to unlearn: giving your character a tragic backstory is not the same as giving them a wound. A backstory is just information. A wound is the thing that makes them flinch at something totally unrelated fifteen chapters later and the reader goes "oh." If the backstory doesn't leave a nerve ending somewhere in the present-day plot, cut it. Nobody needs the trauma. They need the flinch.