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a fresh start and a new tagging system

in an effort to reinvolve myself in 1x1 and writing, i’ve decided to give myself a fresh start. as of tonight (and the end of what i have left queued in the next day) i’ll be moving over to a new blog. i’ll slowly be following all of my mutuals as well so fear not!

#queue'd

troyottogifs

#fc: daniel sharman #c: ryland gentry

jakegyllenhaal

#c: roni latch

elizabeths-banks-deactivated201

People Like Us (2012, dir. Alex Kurtzman)

#otp: brigid x brennan

ironandvalor-deactivated2017030

#otp: willow x joel

nathanielwesninski

do you ever think about what happened after matthias died? crooked kingdom might end on what is, essentially, a hopeful note, but i don’t think these kids recover that cleanly or that easily. kaz brekker and his court nurse their grudges. they don’t forgive and forget. matthias helvar haunts them for the rest of their lives.

they don’t wage a war. they don’t hunt the young fjerdan drüskelle and cut out his heart. but nina, on her voyages in ravka, looks into the eyes of the fjerdan boys she wants to spare—the same as matthias’, but with none of the warmth—and remembers what his blood looked like on her hands. imagines that the blood of these boys would look the same against the snow. listens to the strange new power churning murkily at her fingertips and thinks, it would be so easy. in the darkest parts of the night she wraps herself in furs and imagines he breathes next to her. smiles through her tears and vows revenge not in the form of flesh and bone but in forgiveness —it’s painful, but she tries for him. there has been enough.

wherever she is, she pretends the lights are for him.

inej remembers the boy who had been taught hate and remembers the kindness he learnt instead. the boy who treated her with respect from the beginning, who found she was a storm and admired her for it. inej thinks of his strength; his unwavering presence and calm in the face of peril. remembers him whenever the ocean breeze brings the scent of snow and ice to her, and when she nestles in the roots of the tree in the garden of the van eck mansion, wondering if he found his god. sees cherry blossoms and thinks of him.

when the sun rises, and she is the only one on deck, she whispers a prayer. keep him safe.

the sight of matthias’ corpse is burned into jesper’s memory, awkward and ungainly, lying too still in the barge. he holds wylan a little tighter at night. brushes hair away from inej’s face, tucks his arm against nina’s shoulders, teases kaz. tells his father he loves him with more seriousness than the situation probably deserves. is left feeling hollow and slightly off-balance. jesper thinks of the conversation that seems an age away. ‘my ghost won’t associate with your ghost,’ matthias whispers. first he laughs, but this time, he’s not surprised by the fierce, sudden ache of tears. jesper doesn’t sleep that night. finds solace in a gambling den.

later, he pushes away the cards and storms out. let’s the rain fall on his face. strangely, it tastes like salt.

wylan finds his hands tremble at strange times. he sees a flash of blond hair and a long stride and whips around, blindly hoping that he defied everything just one more time—but every time it’s a member of the stadwatch, or the appleseller’s son. he knows how many times matthias saved his life, saved jesper’s. saved everyone. he holds it in to the point of breaking, before it rushes out in a flood—i wish i knew him better, he didn’t deserve to die, we were all supposed to make it jes, we were all supposed to make it—

of everyone, wylan thinks matthias deserved to be happy a little longer.

and kaz sits alone in his old office at the slat when everyone else is asleep or face-first in their cups. pours himself some whiskey and lets it burn down his throat. drinks a silent toast. an apology. because it’s his fault, isn’t it? they had believed they had won. he had believed. more fool you, he thinks bitterly. watches the birds veer and turn in the sky. knocks ink bottles over another forgery and finds himself standing amidst the wreckage of a broken room. thinks he should have fought a little harder. thinks he shouldn’t have let go so fast.

no one dares to comment he looks too tired for someone so young.

far away, on the shores on fjerda, the snow begins to fall heavier and thicker. the wind picks up.

the wolves howl.

#HOW FUCKING DARE #soc

diver5ion

#fc: antonia thomas #wanted fc

hotdudesloverextrem

#oh man here we go #c: frank longbottom #THE TATTOO BYE

melissa-benoists

#am i gal or is gal me

#i love her #fc: gal gadot

captainsnoop-deactivated2020041

childhood is asking your parents to go to mcdonalds but they say no because “we got food at the house”

adulthood is going to mcdonalds despite having food at the house, but not getting a drink at mcdonalds because you got drinks at the house

vibinwitch

Don’t call me out like this

#GO AWAY

cogesque-deactivated20210410

Words and Phrases to Douse with Holy Water

There are some words and phrases that are prevalent in the English language that we use so often we don’t even think about them. You’ll notice that I use several of these when I’m writing these guides/commenting on stuff–that’s the problem with them. We say them. Often. In my opinion, they exist only to make writing more difficult and clutter up that writing that you worked so hard on. Here are a few words and phrases that do not belong in your novel.

Note: These phrases can absolutely be used within dialogue tags, if they fit your character’s speech pattern.

ABSOLUTELY KILL

thing/something You are the author. You control the writing. You know what the thing is. Define it with a word other than ‘something’. If this word is used often at all, it gives the impression that you are not comfortable in/knowledgeable about the story that you are telling.

got There’s something about this word that just screams “UNEDUCATED!” when used in prose. If you’re not careful, it does the same when you’re speaking. Try using words like received, obtained, or earned.

used to This is just a straight up bad combination of words. Much like ‘got’, it will give your audience the impression that you are less educated than you actually are. If this phrase is prefacing a verb, drop ‘used to’ and change the tense of the verb. Example: “He used to dance.” vs. “He danced.” If you are using ‘used to’ to denote that someone is familiar with someone else, try using familiar, or accustomed to. ‘Used’ is too ambiguous, plus, very basic. a bit/a little/some/somewhat/sort of/kind of/about/just/a lot/very/pretty I have seen these words/phrases beaten to death in prose, and it gets tiresome real fast. Try using words like slightly, scarcely, nearly, and marginally if you must emphasize the thing you are emphasizing. Use these terms sparingly.

he could/she could/they could When you are using these phrases to preface a verb, you are slowing down the story. Try getting to the point more directly, rather than stating that he could/she could/they could feel/hear/taste etc. Example: “He could feel the warmth of the sunlight.” vs. “He felt the warmth of the sunlight.” absolutely/definitely/certainly/surely/completely/wholly Words like this are unnecessary. They slow down your writing and repeat something that has already been said.

every infinitive in your path An infinitive is preface with ‘to’ in its standard form, although it is a bit sneakier than that in application. Examples of infinitives include: was running, am eating, is breathing. You can replace these with some nice, solid verbs and you’ll be just dandy. (Like ran, eats, breathes.)

PUT ON TRIAL FIRST

#y e s #writing reference