prompts et cetera

I mostly wanted a place to store good prompts and askbox things and other things I feel might get the creative juices flowing. Will also accept submissions, and may write to your prompt if the mood takes me... (I write NCIS, NCIS:Los Angeles, MASH, Lie to me*, Buffy, ResDogs and Hawaii 50 amongst others, you can find me as flootzavut on AO3 😊)

[flootzavut]

Friendly reminder that writing is a skill and it's okay to practise.

There's absolutely no rule that says every piece of writing needs to be perfect or needs to be part of a story or needs to be polished up and posted on the web for all to see.

Assuming that everything you write (or draw or create in any other way) has to be "good enough" to share can really fuck you up. Do it for fun, do it for practice, do it for the feral friends who will love it even when it's shit. It's okay to make complete bullshit sometimes.

Sometimes you'll write something only to go back later and realise it's not complete bullshit, and actually it's worth polishing up into something worth posting. Sometimes it will be complete tosh you want to make sure no one but you ever sees.

Both those outcomes are okay. Both those outcomes are practice.

Skill takes practice.

[anexperimentallife]

There are two main types of fiction-writing advice:

1. The "rules" that are mostly only intended to be followed to the letter while you're learning your craft, and to serve as a safe starting point.

2. Fashion. No, really, a lot of writing advice comes down to what is currently in style. Example: Right now, the most fashionable POV is tight third person (although first person is also widely accepted).

Mastering the rules and current fashions and writing within them at first will help you hone your chops to the point at which you will have the expertise to know when and how to intentionally break the rules or go against fashion for your desired effect--and you WILL break some rules eventually.

It's like learning to cook, though; you might start off following a recipe to the letter, but eventually you develop the insight to know exactly how adding that extra bit of cumin is going to affect the end result. Or like learning guitar--before you can shred like Hendrix, you've got to learn basic chords and fingering.

(Wrote this up because I know a lot of my followers are fledgling writers who dream if being published, and who get a lot of advice pushed at them.)

[anexperimentallife]

Also: The more you learn about and practice writing, the more you realize you don't know as much as you thought you did.

[catsdelightful-deactivated20240]

Hey artists, C. Spike Trotman, founder of Iron Circus Comics, just posted an invaluable thread on depicting different types of black hair. I’d do the thing where you screencap the whole thread and post it but it’s just too long (which is great because it’s a whole lot of useful information!) Give her a follow while you’re there.

Anyway, go check it out. I just wanted to save it and share it because I didn’t know how much I didn’t know!

[misslunarose]

This is an amazing resource, not only for artists, but for writers too! I love this!

{ID - tweet from @/Iron_Spike that reads, “Black Hair for Non-Black Artists: a Cheat Sheet Thread. Hi, folks! Just spur-of-the-moment decided to put together some reference for folks who want to draw/model black characters in their work, but arent confident they won’t make simple, obvious mistakes w/r/t black hair. END ID}

[obi-mom-kenobi]

I noticed in the comments that some people can’t see the thread, so I took screenshots for y'all!

More will come in reblogs, since tumblr has an image limit

[obi-mom-kenobi]

[alanaisalive]

The other night husband and I were watching a documentary about the yeti where they were doing DNA analysis of samples of supposed yeti fur, and every one of them came back as bears.

Anyway, the next night we watched a thing about some pig man who is supposed to live in Vermont. People said it had claws and a pig nose but walked upright like a man. Now, I happen to know that sideshows used to shave bears and present them as pig men. So every piece of evidence they gave of this monster sounds to me like a bear with mange.

So now the running joke in our house is that everything is bears. Aliens? Bears. Loch Ness monster? Bear. Every cryptozoological mystery is just a very crafty bear.

Bears. They’re everywhere. Be wary. Anyone or anything could be a bear.

[iguanamouth]

oh shit

[throughshadow-to-the-edgeofnight]

[alanaisalive]

As the OP of this post, I’m going to threaten that if this gets to one million notes by the 10 year anniversary on 1 June 2026, one year from today, I will get a lower back tattoo of the loch ness bear monster.

[striving-artist]

At time of posting, this is at 711.6k notes

29 Days Remain

[thevulturesteeth]

711.6k notes? I show 419k!

Did they try and push through a note splitter again???

[flootzavut]

It’s reblogs versus total notes.

[alanaisalive]

The other night husband and I were watching a documentary about the yeti where they were doing DNA analysis of samples of supposed yeti fur, and every one of them came back as bears.

Anyway, the next night we watched a thing about some pig man who is supposed to live in Vermont. People said it had claws and a pig nose but walked upright like a man. Now, I happen to know that sideshows used to shave bears and present them as pig men. So every piece of evidence they gave of this monster sounds to me like a bear with mange.

So now the running joke in our house is that everything is bears. Aliens? Bears. Loch Ness monster? Bear. Every cryptozoological mystery is just a very crafty bear.

Bears. They’re everywhere. Be wary. Anyone or anything could be a bear.

[iguanamouth]

oh shit

[throughshadow-to-the-edgeofnight]

[alanaisalive]

As the OP of this post, I’m going to threaten that if this gets to one million notes by the 10 year anniversary on 1 June 2026, one year from today, I will get a lower back tattoo of the loch ness bear monster.

[striving-artist]

At time of posting, this is at 711.6k notes

29 Days Remain

[thevulturesteeth]

711.6k notes? I show 419k!

Did they try and push through a note splitter again???

[flootzavut]

It’s reblogs versus total notes.

[flootzavut]

There should be a trope of "aliens let them do it." Not necessarily sex, though that's an obvious one, but people who really want to do the thing and then for some reason, aliens want them to do the thing, and it gives them an excuse.

[flootzavut]

I've taken to replying this when I get spam comments:

Human creatives have the right to write/link related fics to mine, translate, make art for, make podfics of my fanworks, anything transformative that is human made. (Please let me know! I want to see!)

I don't commission random spammers who have obviously not read the story they're posting on; you will be reported/muted/blocked.

Baby authors out there, please hear this:

If someone wants to make art of your stuff, they will either just do it, or they will ask and not expect you to go to a different site to "discuss" it with them.

They will not ask for payment.

They will not comment generic things; anyone who's that excited about your story? It will be obvious they've read it.

This is generic. These people have not read my story. (These people have also not read my profile, where I explicitly say, in bold, that these kinds of comments will get reported.)

If you get comments like this, I promise they haven't read your story either. They are trying to get you somewhere they can message you privately, where more experienced people can't see and go "wait!" They want your money. (They have a strong chance of just being people feeding a prompt into AI, they're not even actual artists.)

Report them. Mute them. Block them.

Do not make contact with them on another social media.

Someone who's that excited about your stuff will comment right there and make the art anyway. I've made friends in AO3 comments, and exchanged contact information... because it was very obvious those people were engaged with the story I'd written.

If someone is commenting in a way that is highly complimentary but very generic? They did not read your story.

I know it sucks when you get shitty generic comments, you want them to be real! I get it! But you deserve better. Don't give these schmucks the time of day.

[longlivefeedback]

Why People Don't Comment: Data and History from the Tolkienfic Community

by @dawnfelagund

A quick summary: 

Commenting is a learned skill

Many people avoid commenting not because they didn’t want to comment, but because they didn’t know how to comment. 

Commenting is also a matter of confidence

Even among readers who are authors themselves, many aren’t sure what to say or how their comment will be received. 

A sense of community encourages commenting

People who feel more connected to the community, perhaps because of personal friendships and a sense of community built through other platforms and forms of communication, seem to have a greater desire to comment. After all, one feels less pressure when writing to a friend than an author to whom one feels little or no connection. 

Why People Don’t Comment

The other day, in response to @longlivefeedback‘s initial post about increasing feedback on AO3, I reblogged the post and shared some of my own data and research around the topic. I am a Tolkien fandom historian and own the archive the Silmarillion Writers’ Guild. In 2015, as part of my research, I conducted a survey of Tolkien fanfiction readers and writers. The survey was approved by the Institutional Review Board of the university where I was a grad student at the time, and was administered using Google Forms. There were 1,052 total participants; 642 of them were authors, and 1,047 were readers. As I came out of the survey overwhelmed with data and unsure where to begin, a key area of interest among my fandom friends was commenting, so I have recently been looking closely at the survey items related to commenting, which brought me to @longlivefeedback’s post.

In addition, I am an archive owner myself, contemplating a major software change in the next year or so. Like probably every archive owner ever, I’d like to increase the amount of commenting and interaction that happens on my site. Therefore, I had been considering many of the same questions as @longlivefeedback about AO3 but on a smaller scale for my own archive. They asked me to share some of my research and conclusions from the past several months of crunching data and discussing what it means with other members of the Tolkienfic community.

Under the jump: Commenting as a learned skill, commenting and confidence, the 3Cs, and a case study in the Tolkienfic community.  

Keep reading

[longlivefeedback]

Why People Don't Comment: Data and History from the Tolkienfic Community

by @dawnfelagund

A quick summary: 

Commenting is a learned skill

Many people avoid commenting not because they didn’t want to comment, but because they didn’t know how to comment. 

Commenting is also a matter of confidence

Even among readers who are authors themselves, many aren’t sure what to say or how their comment will be received. 

A sense of community encourages commenting

People who feel more connected to the community, perhaps because of personal friendships and a sense of community built through other platforms and forms of communication, seem to have a greater desire to comment. After all, one feels less pressure when writing to a friend than an author to whom one feels little or no connection. 

Why People Don’t Comment

The other day, in response to @longlivefeedback‘s initial post about increasing feedback on AO3, I reblogged the post and shared some of my own data and research around the topic. I am a Tolkien fandom historian and own the archive the Silmarillion Writers’ Guild. In 2015, as part of my research, I conducted a survey of Tolkien fanfiction readers and writers. The survey was approved by the Institutional Review Board of the university where I was a grad student at the time, and was administered using Google Forms. There were 1,052 total participants; 642 of them were authors, and 1,047 were readers. As I came out of the survey overwhelmed with data and unsure where to begin, a key area of interest among my fandom friends was commenting, so I have recently been looking closely at the survey items related to commenting, which brought me to @longlivefeedback’s post.

In addition, I am an archive owner myself, contemplating a major software change in the next year or so. Like probably every archive owner ever, I’d like to increase the amount of commenting and interaction that happens on my site. Therefore, I had been considering many of the same questions as @longlivefeedback about AO3 but on a smaller scale for my own archive. They asked me to share some of my research and conclusions from the past several months of crunching data and discussing what it means with other members of the Tolkienfic community.

Under the jump: Commenting as a learned skill, commenting and confidence, the 3Cs, and a case study in the Tolkienfic community.  

Keep reading

[writersisland]

Writing Prompts: Betrayal (Question Vers.)

✦ “Was it worth it?”  “Would it make you feel better if I said no?”

✧ “Did you at least learn a valuable lesson from this?” “Did I learn– Do you want to fucking die?”

✦ “Are you expecting me to beg?”  “Are you expecting me to show mercy if you don’t?”

✧ “You ever gonna forgive me for this?” “In this lifetime? Take a guess.”

✦ “Are you just gonna stand there?”  “What else should I do? Beg?

✧ “Given my history, I wonder why you even gave me a chance?” “I'm wondering that too just about now.”

✦ “This is a joke, right?”  “Am I laughing?”

✧ “You really never suspected me?” “Why would I have?”

✦ “You knew all along. You knew it was gonna end this way, didn’t you?”  “I hoped it would.”

✧ “Are you sure you want to do this?” “Are you?”

[pettydavis]

they need to start making clothes out of material that can clean glasses well again

[skribblegurl]

some people think writers are so eloquent and good with words, but the reality is that we can sit there with our fingers on the keyboard going, “what’s the word for non-sunlight lighting? Like, fake lighting?” and for ten minutes, all our brain will supply is “unofficial”, and we know that’s not the right word, but it’s the only word we can come up with…until finally it’s like our face got smashed into a brick wall and we remember the word we want is “artificial”.

[heywriters]

I couldn't remember the word "doorknob" ten minutes ago.

[bumblewyn]

ok but the onelook thesaurus will save your life, i literally could not live without this website

[breelandwalker]

REBLOG TO SAVE A WRITER'S LIFE

[myfairkatiecat]

LIFE SAVED

REBLOGGING TO SAVE ANOTHER WRITERS LIFE

[sirowsky]

I use this every time I sit down to write. It's the best tool in the world and I would be lost without it!

[lois-lanes-strapon]

Writing Prompt

Of all the stupid, irresponsible things she’d done in her life, this had to be the worst.

[sourdough-seal]

“omg you’re so creative. how do you get your ideas” i hallucinate a single scene in the taco bell drive thru and then spend 13 months trying to write it

[flootzavut]

I'm begging readers to look at the description of the "chose not to use archive warnings" tag on AO3, realise it's not synonymous with "no archive warnings apply" at all, then decide whether or not to read the fic in full knowledge that a fic tagged with "chose not to warn" can literally contain ANYTHING that is usually covered in specific warnings.

Personally I filter it out 95% of the time because I don't like potentially unpleasant surprises, but it's a completely valid tag, and vilifying people for using it in the way it's supposed to be used because readers haven't read the description ain't it, folks.

The author chose not to warn for content, or Archive Warnings could apply, but the author has chosen not to specify them.

Read this. Read it again. Then next time you click on a "cntw" fic, remember this before you choose to read, and if you DO choose to read, remember that this tag is literally a warning; if you ignore it and stumble across something you don't like, before you yell at the author, remember that you were warned and you chose to read anyway.

[youneedsomeprompts]

~ JUST MARRIED ~ WEDDING PROMPTS

requested by: anonymous

Feel free to use and reblog!

deep and meaningful looks

"I do!"

welcoming the guests

a small private wedding

a big wedding that deserves the term 'wedding of the century'

meeting people they haven't seen in ages

walking down the aisle

personal vows

exchanging the rings

smiling into the kiss after the other says 'I do'

throwing the bouquet

having an oddly specific wedding theme

first dance to 'their' song

slow-waltzing

everyone tearing up at some point

"Where are they? The ceremony is about to start!"

excited giggling

secret wedding

being surprised by bad weather just before the ceremony

last-minute arguments

neverending gratulations

"It's so different than I imagined."

guests bringing unexpected wedding dates

a very unusual 'flower girl'

a drunken speech by the 'maid of honour'/'best man'

a giant wedding cake

endless bottles of sparkling champagne

"You're quite the lucky groom/bride."

just wishing for a moment of privacy

"You're all I could ever ask for."

being nervous until they see their s/o walking down the aisle

look of love

spinning the other around because they're so excited

holding hands

"I've waited so long for this moment."

"I can't tell you how happy I am."

having one arm around their s/o all the time

whispering naughty comments into their s/o's ear

looking forward to taking off their uncomfortable clothes

a very odd wedding night

[flootzavut]

How to deal with the "Chose Not To Warn" warning on AO3 in one easy lesson:

"Chose not to warn doesn't sufficiently prepare me for this story" then don't read it "but" don't read it "what if there are triggering topics" don't read it "I can't read a fic with X warning" then don't read this story "what if I really want" don't read it "but I" DO NOT READ IT "but why won't you cater to-" DO. NOT. READ. IT.

Hope that helps!