Dumb Stories and Whatnot

Hi! I post poems and shit that I make! I’m new to writing stuff, and I'm open to advice you have! She/her

[monster-time-deactivated2026022]

Btw this should kind of go without saying but TERFs aren't welcome on this blog. Go be lame as hell somewhere else.

[snakebites-and-ink]

I've already said that my number one piece of writing advice is to read.

But my number two piece of advice is this: be deliberate.

Honestly this would fix so many pieces of bad writing advice. Don't forbid people from doing something, tell them to be conscious and deliberate about it. This could help stop people from falling into common mistakes without limiting their creativity. Black and white imperatives may stop a few annoying beginner habits, but ultimately they will restrict artistic expression.

Instead of "don't use epithets": "Know the effect epithets have and be deliberate about using them." Because yes, beginners often misuse them, but they can be useful when a character's name isn't known or when you want to reduce them to a particular trait they have.

Instead of "don't use 'said'" or "just use 'said'": "Be deliberate about your use of dialogue tags." Because sometimes you'll want "said" which fades into the background nicely, but sometimes you will need a more descriptive alternative to convey what a character is doing.

Instead of "don't use passive voice": "Be deliberate about when you use passive voice." Because using it when it's not needed can detract from your writing, but sometimes it can be useful to change the emphasis of a sentence or to portray a particular state of mind.

Instead of blindly following or ignorantly neglecting the rules of writing, familiarize yourself with them and their consequences so you can choose when and if breaking them would serve what you're trying to get across.

Your writing is yours. Take control of it.

It probably sounds like I'm preaching to the choir here because most of my mutuals are already great writers. But I'm hoping this will make it to the right people.

[caba-111]

I like this advice. "you can do what you want, just do it with intention" applies to a lot of things.

[dumbstoriesandwhatnot]

More gum wrapper haikus

[dumbstoriesandwhatnot]

A haiku about clove chewing gum, on the wrapper of my clove chewing gum

[dumbstoriesandwhatnot]

[dumbstoriesandwhatnot]

A series of poems written on a usps receipt

[goldensunset]

my thing i haven’t made is so good 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

[dumbstoriesandwhatnot]

What if I wrote a play, something that is reasonable to want and possible for me to achieve

[dumbstoriesandwhatnot]

Right, red, ripe

Like a bright cherry tomato

Soft, fleshy, raw

Like an eggplant

Bitter, citrus, stinging

Like a lemon

Quick, bright, unecpected

A burst of flavor

[dumbstoriesandwhatnot]

Great poems come late

They’re never right on the dot

You just have to wait

[dumbstoriesandwhatnot]

It hurts me when you talk to me,

Hurts more when you don’t

I hate to see you smile

It’s almost as bad when you cry

All I want’s a hug again and for you to sing a lullaby

Is that too much to ask?

[dumbstoriesandwhatnot]

I’m 17 now and I’m

Almost a woman.

I drive my own car ‘cause I’m

Almost a woman.

I work hard at my job ‘cause I’m

Almost a woman.

There’s no time for tears; I’m

Almost a woman.

But I’ll never be you, ‘cause I’m

Almost a woman.

And I’ll ever be only

Almost a woman.

[dragons]

YOU KNOW WHAT DAY IT IS

edit: src: http://www.holidayinsights.com/moreholidays/January/appreciate-dragon-day.htm

[simplysebby]

I'm so fucking productive. I got so much shit done today.

ⓘ Fact check: This user did the bare minimum for the first time in 3 months.

[lemmaeof]

ⓘ Fact check: Be proud of yourself anyway bitch. Doing shit is hard.

[the-haiku-bot]

ⓘ Fact check: Be proud

of yourself anyway bitch.

Doing shit is hard.

Beep boop! I look for accidental haiku posts. Sometimes I mess up.

[theclonewriter-blog]

“This is your daily, friendly reminder to use commas instead of periods during the dialogue of your story,” she said with a smile.

[onewordtest]

“Unless you are following the dialogue with an action and not a dialogue tag.” He took a deep breath and sat back down after making the clarifying statement. 

[joehywheelah]

“However,” she added, shifting in her seat, “it’s appropriate to use a comma if there’s action in the middle of a sentence.”

[tenoko1]

“True.” She glanced at the others. “You can also end with a period if you include an action between two separate statements.”

[cj-amused]

Things I didn’t know

[prismatic-bell]

“And–” she waved a pen as though to underline her statement–“if you’re interrupting a sentence with an action, you need to type two hyphens to make an en-dash.”

[jawnwats-deactivated20160713]

You guys have no idea how many students in my advanced fiction workshop didn’t know any of this when writing their stories.

[kat-snow2613]

Reblog to save a life

[dumbstoriesandwhatnot]

New typewriter and new header!!!!!!

[bramblesand]

People, especially games, get eldritch madness wrong a lot and it’s really such a shame.

An ant doesn’t start babbling when they see a circuit board. They find it strange, to them it is a landscape of strange angles and humming monoliths. They may be scared, but that is not madness.

Madness comes when the ant, for a moment, can see as a human does.

It understands those markings are words, symbols with meaning, like a pheromone but infinitely more complex. It can travel unimaginable distances, to lands unlike anything it has seen before. It knows of mirth, embarrassment, love, concepts unimaginable before this moment, and then…

It’s an ant again.

Echoes of things it cannot comprehend swirl around its mind. It cannot make use of this knowledge, but it still remembers. How is it supposed to return to its life? The more the ant saw the harder it is for it to forget. It needs to see it again, understand again. It will do anything to show others, to show itself, nothing else in this tiny world matters.

This is madness.

[bogleech]

Thank you for this good PSA because I’m still seeing sincere, published, professional writers doing “ahhhhh oh no this monster was SO UGLY i’m mentally ill now!”

[brunhiddensmusings]

forms of eldritch horror include but are not limited to - nobody will ever believe you, you must live alone with this knowledge - you will never feel safe again, and you realize you were never safe before - everything that was familiar is now strange and abhorrent to the point anything that now seems normal should be held in utmost suspicion - having this new knowledge has opened doors that will continually reveal new equally cursed knowledge without end - death and madness are no longer escapes

[darkersoul]

I’ve always felt that the idea of madness or sanity in an eldritch horror sense were misnomers. If anything, I feel a better term is a change of perspective. There is nothing inherent in seeing a greater being that “drives you insane”, it’s that this being doesn’t fit into your previous worldview at all and you have to wrestle that. Every character can and should react differently, changing in ways that “make sense” for them. It’s either a change in worldview or attempting to fit the greater being into your preexisting one. Both will have negative results, but will be interesting as hell to explore.

[bramblesand]

You know what? Unironically, I think this is the best comment I’ve seen on this post.