writer and reader

to get better at writing, you need to read. to be a better reader, you must write.

[fantasykim]

Movie Platforms

I've been writing on Google Docs for... forever, since I started writing at the age of nine(i think) and now it has been corrupted with AI and all that shitty stuff, so I've been hunting for a new platform to hold all of my writing.

I've found a wonderful platform and I'm starting my move, its called Ellipsus and its great!

going into this, my main fear was how long and tedious moving all my projects was going to take, seeing as i've got about 8354297634523965 WIP's.........

I have since discovered the biggest problem is deciding if I should really bring them all with me, or if I should leave behind the ones I haven't touched in 10 years.

then there are the dead end projects, I started maybe a few months ago but quickly realized I didn't like or saw no future for... do i bring them with me?

how do I decide which WIP's to orphan or not?

it's hard, I feel bad now...

[fantasykim]

writing con's

I try to go to writing cons when I can, it's a great way to meet other writers, editors, and even publishers. this weekend I've been at LTUE in Provo Utah, and been staying with a friend who lives locally, and I have made so many wonderful connections and friends.

if you're a writer and want to make more connections within the community, i highly suggest going to any and all writing cons you can get to.

[fantasykim]

I am cold.

T^T

[bun-maska]

Tell me you are a writer without telling you are a writer.

I'll go first

I have 1000s of pinterest boards that all start with a "project something" as title.

[thecomfywriter]

[aalinaaaaaa]

Me and my rake of notebooks <3

[fantasykim]

I start learning dozens of skills, but never finish learning them. only so I can portray them properly.

[fantasykim]

$$$ Words

Creative writers all remember being taught the difference between a $1 word and a $10 word. The word "said" is worth $1, but there are many $10 words that could replace it: "whispered" "shouted" "mumbled" and so on. Not only is it more interesting than "said", but it tells you exactly how the thing is said!

BUT I have found there are some $10 words that have specific tones for specific genres- but there aren't Synonyms with the same meaning but different Tone for the opposite genre.

This leaves me in a lurch when I'm trying to describe the setting in a horror book during a kidnapping. The bag gets ripped off the mans head and I need to describe what he see's- but how do I do that? his "surroundings"? boring, $1. "the room around him"? worse, hardly $0.20. I would use the word ambiance- but that just feels wrong! it's got the wrong tone and I can't find a word with the same meaning, but a darker tone. Technically there is "atmosphere" but that's only $5!

I've seen plenty of lists showing $1 words vs their $10 words- but where are my tone specific ones? I need it!

[fantasykim]

my little brother

I love my little brother more than anything in the whole world. he is literally my favorite person. I don't know what I would do without him. not only that, but he is also the cutest thing in the whole world!!! curly brown hair, tan skin, freckles, long eyelashes that make me jealous sometimes... he turns 9 this year(2025). I am so proud of everything he is and everything he's done so far, I can't wait to see what he becomes.

I had a herniated disc in my back a while ago(from jumping in the leaves) and when I was on the ground crying about the pain he was sitting right next to me, coaching me through deep breaths and gently petting my head to help me feel better. (he even asked if it was my period, lol)

whenever I look even remotely sad he comes over and asks if I'm okay, and offers me a hug. he'll rub my back and tell me everything will be okay, even though he's way younger than me.

I always tell him he doesn't need to take care of me, but that he's very sweet, and I love him. I like to believe he treats me this way because I've set a good example of how to treat people by treating him this way.

[fantasykim]

Short Stories On The Side

with a book I'm getting ready to publish I'm also writing a collection of short stories that I will publish later on, showing some other characters back stories, like the main characters parents and stuff. what's hard is figuring out which ones people will actually want to read, and which ones people will just skip over.

I started out with ideas for seven short stories, and I've already cut out two of them. now I only have five, (yay math) but I'm considering cutting out two more- then I'll only have the three, and I don't want to give my audience only three- so I'm struggling to decide if it would be better to give them just three short stories, of add a few in that they might not need but just to make the collection a little bigger.

what would you want in a small collection of short stories that are extra content for a book you love?

[fantasykim]

The 2025 Me

I'm what the numbers like to call "over weight" when I'm actually just a normal sized woman, and it's infuriating.

I've decided to take control of my life this year and become the most buff butch lesbian that's ever butch lesbianed.

How will I do this?

Hell if I know, but I think the first step is creating a place where I can work out at home since I literally would rather die than work out in a public place.

Now. How do I dress? How do I get pretty girls to notice me? How do I act?

I've never been a butch lesbian before. So any pointers are welcome. please help, I need it.

[fantasykim]

Audio Book Production

I have been trying to work with this guy and he started saying he was sick a few weeks ago.

Right after I asked for a certain thing to change with the way he reads, (ie. pauses in the wrong places, inflections on the right words)

I listened back to some of the clips he's sent me and I started noticing a lot of the signs they say to look for when trying to figure out if someone is using AI for their voice, and I guess the reason he says he's sick is because he can't get his AI program to do what I want it to do.

He was supposed to have finished sending me the recorded book by oct 31, (it is now Nov 12)

Like he literally signed the contract, and now, for the past few days he hasn't been responding to any of my messages. So it's sus. And I'm 99% positive he's using AI. I went to his page where he advises himself and each sample audio he has provided sounds different, he's not consistent and I'm just upset.

so I asked my younger siblings to help me write the email I would send him in order to fire him. I want him to feel like he's been called out by a child, so I asked them to use all the Gen-Alpha slang they could think of. Here is the result.

Tristan Stone. I hope you are doing well, homie. You did not lock in according to my standards, and unfortunately, I'm crashing out. You are an opp, and I don't want you here. You've triggered the wrong Gen-Z'er. You are too Skibidi for my Sigma story, and I must choose a more alpha male to be my narrator. I apologize, but this book is Mad Lit and fire for real. You are not cooking, and you sold. TBH, your voice is sus and low-key giving AI. You have big negative aura, and give me the ick. ugh brother, UGH. Respectfully, *insert name*.

[fantasykim]

Main Fandom Problems.

my biggest problem is that my fandom is more or less dead. it's fitting, but it's still sad.

Death Note came out in 2003. 21 years ago. and I have watched it upwards of 200 times, read the entier manga series a hand-full of times, and much more.

my best friend isn't really into Anime, or Manga. which is sad... mostly because she's the one I co-write with. I desperately want to talk to her about all my theory's, and ideas, and stupid thoughts, and maybe even write a fic or two with her.

but she wont watch/read it.

there is a live action movie on Netflix. but it's bad, so I would never recommend anyone watch it.

there is also a Japanese drama adaptation. but it's also not that good.

there is a musical of death note. not a lot of people know about this, but one of the problems with it is it only covers 65% of the full story, it ends after one major plot point. (iykyk) so then she would be missing half the content.

she does love to read books though. so I thought- hey, what if Death note had a novel version? you know, the exact same story, following the manga exactly, just, all written words and no pictures. maybe then she would read it.

but this doesn't exist.

so what did I decide to do? I decided I would just make it for her. so here I am, half way through chapter one of Death Note, realizing what a stupid idea this is.

it's so much damn work, and only one person is ever going to read it. I can't publish this. I can't make money off of this. its not even fanfic so I can't put it on AO3, only one person will ever read it.

why do I do these things to myself???

[fantasykim]

being queer

gotta dramatic hair cut to commemorate my devastation

the next logical step is to get a nose piercing.

maybe then I'll go kiss some girls out of spite.

either that or FroYo.

[fantasykim]

Wedding?

i'm trying to write a wedding scene in my book, and originally I had just planned on skipping past the script from the priest or whatever, but then I realized one of my characters was born catholic, i can just look up that stuff and easily write it in! but then I realized my characters were gay, two men wouldn't really be able to find a catholic priest willing to ordain- especially since they are supernatural in some way, along with every guest at the wedding.

with that realization, i came to the conclusion I would have to come up with my own religious marriage ceremony for my characters since they can't use a Catholic priest, and I do want to write the wedding scene.

so. here I go. creating a whole new religion from scratch.

again.

[fantasykim]

Audio Book

I'm at a point in my life where I'm turning my book into an audio book, which is super cool, but I'm not the one reading. I got the chance to hire an amazing woman to do the reading for me.

my friends have been nagging me to make it into an audio book for forever, but i had been under the impression that in order to hire someone I had to pay them up front, and I've never had that kind of money, so I was sad and resigned to never having an audio book.

I was telling my friend about this the other day while we were at Wendy's, and a man paused to let me know he was an Audio book narrater. he found his jobs on a website where they could be paid with royalty shares, with no upfront payment.

this man is a mini miracle to me, that was only a few months ago and now my first audio book is in production! if you're looking for a way to start your career as an audio book narrater, or you want to get your book as an audio book but don't have the money for an upfront payment, I highly recommend this website.

the woman I hired has never done an audio book before, but is very talented and has a lovely voice, one that I feel is perfect for my book. It felt meant to be for us to work together and I owe it all to the man from Wendy's.

website : acx.com

[fantasykim]

Struggles of Co Writting

I tend to Co Write a lot of the fanfic i make, me and my best friend write it, and sometimes I'll spend so much time thinking about what's going to happen next in the fic, that when we get on to write, I'll forget to re read the last page to remind myself where we are, i'll just re read the last line or two... big mistake. this makes for large continuity errors, like-

"since when did they get in the car? two lines ago they were shopping for gogert"

or

"I thought they were at home, not at the park???"

and every time its my fault. never once has my co author done this. it's always me.

[fantasykim]

Blurb Writing

when writing a blurb (the bit on the back of the book) it's hard to know how much to share and how much to keep a secret. I want to get the readers interested, but I don't want to spoil ANYTHING.

the hard truth is, some of the plot twists in the first 5-10 chapters (depending on how long the book is) need to be spoiled in the blurb.

writing the book is easy! all you have to do is write down everything that happens!

writing the blurb on the other hand, it's the hardest part of writing.

you have to write down ALMOST everything that happens...

where does the line get drawn?

I've got no f***ing clue!!!

I wrote the book, and now you're telling me I have to write it all over again in 2-3 paragraphs?

I QUIT!!

[fantasykim]

Dream Sequence

when I write dreams, I tend to use a lot of floaty, words- not sure how else to describe that, lol, but when I write nightmares (which I do more than dreams) I use more sharp and jagged words.

I describe things as glitching in and out of frame. I say things change in the blink of an eye. No details get to be consistent. Where the door is, which way her hair is swooping., the distance between the dreamer and the others, the color of the sky, walls, and other people's eyes.

I do this because it's how I experience dreams/nightmares.

I don't know how other people dream but reading the way other people write dreams is strange to me, because it doesn't feel like a dream to me. so I'm curious, how do you experience, and write dreams in your guy's writting?

[fantasykim]

Character Building

when I am working on a story, and I'm trying to create new characters, or maybe just develop one I already have, I like to draw them. it helps me work out their personality.

they way the stand, the clothes they wear, their resting face. and then I draw them doing fun things, or things they like to do. it really helps me work out my characters and their own personal story.

for example:

(Flory is a ship name, for Flora, and Rory)

(red head is named Evangeline, or Eve for short)

(she prefers Eve)