coffee in one hand, pen in the other

over thirty | he/him | pnw

[impaledlotus-archive-deactivate]

Heads up, Seven up!

thanks @linearfault & @primroseprime2019 for tagging me! as i’m understanding the rules it’s 7 paragraphs & seven tags

i haven’t written much new recently (been stressing ha Ha), but i reread this clear & forte piece on the regs so i’ll post some of it :)

It happened on a quiet sort of morning.

It rained the night before, there was fresh dew on the ground in patches of wet earth and grass, and the land smelled of a certain kind of freshness that could only be found in nature. Forte breathed the smell in deep, sitting silently on the small patch of dry roofing that his childhood home had to offer.

It was good to be back, better even than he imagined. Forte was never suited for city life. People were constantly bustling, hustling; there was always an unyielding sense of urgency that was lost on him— an urgency that he couldn’t understand. With so little time on this earth, it was as though people were eager to do as much as possible to leave some kind of legacy behind. Piper was like that: brash, fierce, bold, unwavering. Last he heard from her she was almost at the top of her class at the knight academy. The mark she wanted to leave on this world was bright, and it radiated the same intensity. But quite her opposite, Forte preferred these quiet moments, and he was craving them by the time he finally was able to cash in some vacation time with Cameron to come see how everyone was doing back home.

Bass Landing was a quiet sort of place. People knew each other well, and there was never any need for formalities. The little community had been supporting itself on the backbone of the arts for centuries, and the familial ties that everyone felt there were too rich, and rooted in history to be broken. Forte grew up amongst his neighbor’s gardens, tall leafy plants teaching him his first lessons in utilizing visage; and the river that ran behind the furthest outskirts of the settlement was a tumultuous teacher of the treachery life could bring. Almost every year, the River Cadenza brought forth her waves and flooded the landscape. And every year as Forte watched, he began to learn how to predict her almost unpredictable nature. It was when he told his findings to his father that he received his first bow; for he had proven the intuition of a Ranger— and it was a test he was never informed he would be taking, but one he was glad he did all the same. It was easy to reminisce when he was on the roof like this. 

“Up so early already?”

Clear’s voice wasn’t an unwelcome one. He’d shown the medic the way up here when they arrived together two evenings ago, and each morning he would sleepily crawl up the rickety ladder to join him in watching the sunrise. It hadn’t been a whim that Forte asked him home either. After they finally talked 4 months ago, and Clear divulged the true meaning behind his avoidance, they’d been becoming closer than ever.

It was also not unwelcome.

i’ll tag @kudzupocalypse @magic-is-something-we-create @writing-is-a-martial-art @midnights-melodiverse @henrike-does-writing-sometimes @athenixrose & @jojoscoffeeandwriting with no pressure :’)

(and if anyone else also wants to do it just say i tagged you lol)

[jojoscoffeeandwriting]

sometimes i think of really fun oc questions to ask people but they’re always too rooted in our universe that i can’t ask and it bums me out. i really wanna know everyone’s characters first celeb crush, like :’(

[inspirited-goddess]

What’s the story behind your MC(s)’ name?

I’ve been coming across some really great WIPs and a lot of you guys have MC(s) with such unique names!! It makes me wonder what’s the story behind it?  Feel free to reblog with your response or put it in the tags!

As for me, my MC Bez’s name came to mind in the most unorthodox way. To put it simply, I was maladaptively daydreaming about my future as I usually do yes i’m a loser i know lmao and I was thinking what if I had a best friend named Bez? Then the next thing you know I added the name to my list of potential character names, then I finally decided I’d use it myself. It’s crazy lol

Anyways I’d love to hear you guys’ responses!

[renvinn]

I was tagged by @druidx to do this one (thank you!)

Most of the time, the names of my characters either just come to me out of nowhere or I play around with sounds in my head until a name jumps out of me.

The most interesting story I have for a character name has gotta be Dante. I only used “Dante” because I read a book YEARS ago with a MC that had the same name and was written (in my opinion) very poorly. With the power of my hubris, I thought, “The name ‘Dante’ deserves better than this jerkwad” and “I can do so much better.” Thus, Dante was born!

Tagging: @bardic-tales @cedar-west @author-a-holmes @writingonesdreams-main @druidx @indecentpause @kittensartswriting @aalinaaaaaa

[bardic-tales]

Thank you so much for the tags, @bluegreystarstuff and @darlingsmoon. I love your explanation of the names you choose for your characters.

The Planes of Existence universe has so many characters and regions that it would be hard to explain them all. Cold as Ice alone has 9 MC characters.

Here’s a few select few.

Keep reading

[aohendo]

Thanks for the tag, @bardic-tales​! I really love seeing how everyone comes up with their names (Vaene–gotta love it).

I’m definitely one of those people who runs off of whatever sounds right for the name. So Kiris Avkonin, Iiriok Nelovskevouk, and Batar ni Musyr? Just kinda happened (although Kiris’ last name has varied from a flat na Suem to Avenovur to Avdonin and has finally settled on Avkonin). Of those, the only one which was vaguely intentional was Iiriok’s, because I was using him to set the general tone of the worldbuilding.

For Attenuate/Reverberate, it was again mostly whatever felt right. That said, Madison does mean something along the lines of “strong warrior”, so hey at least it fits! Arcona, her last name, I actually pulled out of the memorial room in my high school. It was a really lovely space and great to study in right off the library, stained glass, stone floors and walls, ornamental wood… really lovely. That last name happened to be one of many in a column by the wall I was sitting near.

Tagging: @cactusmotif, @athenixrose, @whimsyqueen, @aschlindartroom, and anyone else who’d like to hop in!

[cactusmotif-deactivated20230816]

thanks so so much for the tag, @aohendo ! names are so special, they can say so much and do so much narratively, and im really grateful to have been tagged in a tag game focusing on them!

for my novel series, it was really random. Marco and Luanne were working names that stuck. they actually have alternate first names (that are derivatives of the same name, actually!) that sometimes I’m still tempted to go with, because they fit.

quite honestly, the definitions of luanne and marco don’t fit at all. to the point where their names take on a bit of irony. one of marco’s core character traits is how pacifistic his nature is. I wouldn’t call him a true pacifist, opposed to any and all violence for any and all reasons, but he is opposed to it in most contexts (except for self defense, such as if his life was threatened by an individual or by the existence of an oppressive structure.), a defining characteristic of his life is his inability to be a soldier. luanne’s name is, fundamentally, antithetical to who she is.

perhaps theres something interesting to that accidental irony, though! in marco’s case, I think it works rather well with his character arc. luanne’s, though, I’m not so sure, but I’m honestly just too attached to the name to change it! the sound of it just suits her so well.

tagging - @spiderfall @malandanti @blind-the-winds @crypticcodexcreations @fearofahumanplanet @ryns-ramblings @elijahrichardwrites @athenswrites

[fearofahumanplanet]

Thank you @cactusmotif this looks like a really cool tag :D

Unfortunately I have little reason to get into Serpents at least here because… well, obviously they’re based off real mythological gods, so I didn’t come up with the names! (That said, if you want to know any of the context or the history behind the names of these gods, please do let me know - I will be happy to fill you in!)

But there’s definitely other WIPs and easily a couple fully original characters from Serpents that I can elaborate on…

Nozomi Igarashi (Serpents They Stone) - Probably the most notable fully original character, Nozomi is a shinigami from Lower Japan (better name pending, but long story short the islands are split in two bc of godly disputes), and the daughter of its Empress Izanami. Her name is actually quite literal - I specifically chose it as it roughly translates to “strider of fifty storms”, which is both her canonical title and a reference to her mysterious heritage as a storm goddess from her missing parent.

Kora Lynch (Karma Killer) - This one was a lot of fun! Kora Lynch, the main character of Karma Killer, has her whole story revolve around being “lynched” and torn apart until she snaps and strikes back against her aggressors. The meaning of “Lynch” itself is incredibly obvious, but combine it with Kora - a name that means “pure”, and you get a meaning along the lines of “purity lynched”, which I picked because it was A) oh so thematic and B) just a kickass name.

Other Karma Killer Characters - A few of the names are directly taken from different horror movies, given that Karma Killer uses a very prominent 80s slasher homage aesthetic. Laurie Thompson, the “final girl”, was named after a combination of two of horror’s most famous final girls - Laurie Strode from Halloween and Nancy Thompson from Nightmare on Elm Street. One of the bullies, Billy, is named after a character with a near-identical role in the Stephen King novel Carrie. The police captain Lumis that hunts Karma is named after the man that hunted Michael Myers in Halloween, Dr. Loomis. Another bully, Harrison Krueger, borrows the villain’s last name from Elm Street. Kora’s father, who is later revealed to be a former Karma killer himself, is named Art, a reference both to his alias (the “Bleeding Bear”, for Art means “bear” in traditional Celtic cultures) and the slasher killer Art the Clown from Terrifier.

Outside of the homages, Violet Vance, the shy girl that later becomes Karma’s devoted accomplice, is quite literally named after the “shrinking violet” trope - specifically to throw people off her role until it’s too late (a trick that, by and large, worked).

In regards to Miasma - most of their names are derived from actual historical figures in the real Anglo-Norman invasion the book is based on, giving hints at their places in the story (though, naturally, given the fantasy and alternate history, I set up those preconceptions only to defy them half the time). Hail is probably the most notable exception, and her name is a pretty blatant example of “rule of cool” - she’s an undead revenant with cryomancy, call her Hail. Striguil’s name derives from the real-life “Strongbow”’s actual name, but Striguil only ends up being the inspiration for a different character that fills the historical Strongbow’s role. Aoife was the name of a woman forcibly wed to an invading Norman king, just like in the book, etc.

Tagging @purgatorydotexe, @365runesofpassion, @writing-is-a-martial-art, @afoolandathief, and anyone else who is interested

[impaledlotus-archive-deactivate]

this is such a fun tag :’)

to break down my 3 main wips— i’m going to do it more by naming convention because like many writers i tend to scour websites for names; some have rhyme and reason and others do not & i lowkey want to talk about the worldbuilding around tcol’s names so let’s just get into it lol.

Keep reading

[0f-th3-wi1d-deactivated20240905]

i want long, pointy fangs. you have no idea how happy fangs would make me. give me fangs. now.

[jojoscoffeeandwriting]

so like a part of mark’s combative nature (i’m thinking both his big mouth he runs constantly but all the way to fighting is foreplay) is because that’s pretty much how he got interactions with dad isn’t it? like fuck

[jojoscoffeeandwriting]

okay, so mark’s mother (angela) left with he was like five. she had grown to despise mark’s dad (gael) and resent the children and it was just sort of all around horrible. she was right to get out, did it the wrong way. not the point. 

something that just sparked in my min (thanks tiktok) is what mark grew up hearing about her. like there’s no way on earth gael spoke kindly of her, he’s a garbage human. but his grandparents likely didn’t either, it was just in that judgey uppity way where you don’t know it’s shit talk as a kid, ya know? 

now i wonder if this plays into why mark carries such a chip on his shoulder for what he feels like is abandonment. it’s definitely WHY he thinks it is. buuuuut also why is that the path he took and walt didn’t? 

[tilthat]

TIL Sharks love heavy metal because the low-frequency vibrations are similar to the sounds made by struggling fish

via reddit.com

[big-robot-fan]

I dare you to find a more metal sentence than “Sharks love heavy metal because it sounds like their dying prey”

[its-a-writer-thing]

Things you can centre a story around that are not conflict:

- Growth

- Discovery

- Bonding

- Evolution

- Finding acceptance

- Healing

Conflict is the most dramatic core for fiction, and therefore the most likely to be glorified, but it is not the only option.

Write what pleases your soul.

[jojoscoffeeandwriting]

okay so i made some bits for my plotting notebook i’m really proud of but i’ve got this flip insert thing of info, right? all these stats from a character development thing i found but also i’m including cute drawings for like star sign and and alignment but i have two more blank spaces. we don’t do hogwarts houses anymore but all of that stuff always felt as made up as hogwarts houses to me. like you can make anyone fit anywhere, ya know? so i never paid much attention to that stuff because it told me nothing. however, it might help fill in the gaps??? I dunno. if anyone has any ideas on what else i could use that’s less factual and more fun….i’d love to know but also what’s that thing with the letters everyone uses?? 

thanks in advance

[lunarmoment]

I think the thing with the letters you’re thinking of is the Myers-Briggs/16 personalities test (if you’re thinking of stuff like INTJ and ESFP). I also really like this one color test that I found years ago. Basically there are four colors and they indicate what you’re motivated by:

Red = power

Blue = emotions

Yellow = fun

White = peace

I feel like focusing on overarching motivation helps with character design, even though it does feel quite similar to Hogwarts houses. Unfortunately, I don’t remember where to find the test itself, but I think you can figure it out for your characters without going off a list of questions. There’s also the enneagram test you may want to check out, but it is quite complex and may fall into the functional rather than fun category!

If you were into the Percy Jackson series, I’ve seen people speculate which godly parent their characters would have, which could be fun to do :)

[jojoscoffeeandwriting]

Yes!!!

That’s what i’m thinking of!! i think i blocked it out from all the times school and work made me take it lol. like you said, though, i don’t think i need it. it’s more about filling some blanks in a silly little junk journal plotting notebook that helps me keep motivation or inspiration depending on the day. (and it organizes things in a way that makes sense to my brain that, say, gdocs doesn’t give me but it’s also a massive bit of procrastination)

i’ll look into the color theory though. that sounds neat and it’s something i’ve never heard of. similar to hogwarts houses is fine, those do a very good thing in that people look at them and know a bunch of traits but, ya know, the whole problem with that lore and author. but i like fun digestible, easily representable things. 

Because for some characters like mark and dahey from punks kinda dead...i don’t need anything more to develop them. it runs too deep but that doesn’t stop me lol

I could (just now thinking of this) do other sorts of things based on birth. like i know there’s a tree one i used to use in stuff before i had original characters!! 

but thank you so much for this, you’re awesome!!! 💖💖💖

[jojoscoffeeandwriting]

okay so i made some bits for my plotting notebook i’m really proud of but i’ve got this flip insert thing of info, right? all these stats from a character development thing i found but also i’m including cute drawings for like star sign and and alignment but i have two more blank spaces. we don’t do hogwarts houses anymore but all of that stuff always felt as made up as hogwarts houses to me. like you can make anyone fit anywhere, ya know? so i never paid much attention to that stuff because it told me nothing. however, it might help fill in the gaps??? I dunno. if anyone has any ideas on what else i could use that’s less factual and more fun....i’d love to know but also what’s that thing with the letters everyone uses?? 

thanks in advance

[jojoscoffeeandwriting]

this was some sort of shower thought? i’ve been feeling tomas and lin lately and several half ideas crashed into one. this isn’t really much at all but i don’t care. i made it. i like it. that’s what matters. 

AND i’m writing in mark’s pov again. it’s been so so long. here he is, though, talking about a gathering at his house and thinking about some fears and worries for the future. please pay attention to the trigger warnings!!

Word Count: 575

Triggers: homophobia, fights, broken bones

The deluxe, expanded back garden was filled with people. I didn’t know most of them, those I did were all bunched together in one spot and talking. While we were just a little out of place, we wouldn’t miss this for the world. It’s what you did. Not an obligation, though, an honour. 

Tomas was back from the hospital. He’d only stayed a few days but it could have been a few hours and we’d still have done this. Dahey and Lin had spent far too much of the afternoon hanging fairy lights around the fence which, I hate to admit, they were right; it looks amazing. Stranger after stranger showed up with provisions. There was enough alcohol here to get the whole street drunk. 

In the centre of it all was Tomas, sitting in his favourite chair and telling everyone the story all over again. We’d all heard it, the real version, but somehow these were our fishing stories. Eventually, it turned into taking on fifty people, knocking them out with one hit, and having the most clever comebacks. No one wants to correct us. The fake version is so much easier to swallow. 

His left wrist is wrapped in a white cast and it makes it easy to believe he’d given as well as he’d gotten but those of us who aren’t just here for a show of support know it came from catching himself as he fell. No one pipes up to say that, of course. Though we do groan when he makes the joke for the billionth time about limp wrists. He doesn’t even have children, let alone grandchildren so I don’t know why he’s repeating horrible jokes like my granddad. 

Watching him hold the crowd’s interest, making them laugh and coo and whisper like some sort of conductor leading the weirdest orchestra, has me feeling like I’m watching the Tomas that used to be. The Tomas that exists in the stories he tells us all the time. “When I was young like you and could do these things…” I can’t help but wonder if, in twenty years, Dahey and I will be bothering the neighbour kids with embellished stories of our youth. Will all our fighting and protesting make it so they never had to sit with their arm in a sling, trying to keep their blackened eyes from showing too much sadness? Will it all be for nothing? 

Tomas says it’s worth it. Twenty years ago he never thought he’d be living with someone he loved but it doesn’t seem like we’ve changed enough. Change takes time though, Tomas and Lin agree on that. I want it now. I’m tired of parties after hospital stays. While it’s nice to see all the people who are there to support each other, it’d be nice if we didn’t have to. 

For now, my friends don’t go anywhere alone. We’re always more diligent after these things. Dahey and I will keep bringing dinner over to Tomas and Lin. People tend to forget after a couple of days. But before that wrist has healed, we’ll all have forgotten this moment. Dahey will run down the street to get the drinks we forgot wearing make-up or a blouse. Scout will take the bus home too late. No one will come round to check on Tomas and the day the cast is off, no one will celebrate. 

Until we’re reminded all over again.

[jojoscoffeeandwriting]

i write ONE thing and suddenly my confidence goes through the roof???? i was just scrolling my blog, cleaning up and stuff, and like read so many of my posts and had to fight the urge to spam everyone because i love my one shots and my characters so much. they’re so good. 

[romcommunist]

ireland fruity as hell…they speak gay lick?

[antihell]

tag the oc with freckles

[jojoscoffeeandwriting]

oc description tag game

tagged by: @blushroomx​

tagging: YOU!

rules: describe an oc physically and mentally.

Of course I’m going to do my boy Mark Hopkins from Punks Kinda Dead

physical:

     hair and eye color, approximate height, defining features.

Okay, so Mark is 5′11″ and will occasionally just lie and say he’s six foot tall, especially if he’s wearing docs. A little over 200 pounds. He’s...wide. I don’t know how to best describe it but he’s not thin, he’s never been thin, physically he won’t ever be thin. He’s muscular, broad shouldered, nice thick thighs, but it’s not the six-pack abs, insane work out sort of muscular. It’s rugby and punk rock. There’s a little pudge around the middle because he can’t eat like he’s 14 anymore and that is just the reality of getting older. 

He’s a white guy, permanently sunkissed, which is strange in England. With pretty generic brown hair, he makes up for that in hair cuts and dyes but it’s got some curl to it, very, very thick. His eyes are also very brown because they’re gorgeous and underrepresented. There’s a slightly crooked nose thing going on because it’s been broken more times than he can count. 

(I’m not sure what else to add. I use Noah Centineo as a faceclaim but he’s sort of “the best i can do” in Hollywood kind of thing. I don’t have a good pic crew either because they aren’t really diverse in body type. which...obviously is the major obstacle here for having someone to represent Mark but I won’t make him a skinny guy)

mental/emotional:

     how are they doing?

Tragically, Mark’s fill with a lot of anger and it takes little for it to come out. He can be the life of the party, tons of fun, and loads of trouble but that flips like a switch. Mark has that golden retriever energy. He’s the sort that doesn’t see his dad’s three year sabbatical from fatherhood as being abandoned, he sees it as three rad years he got to live with his grandparents. Only these things are sitting as problems in the back of his mind, in a way he doesn’t know or understand or see and therefore has him with this hairpin trigger. 

As for more story specific, he’s not doing well and that’s sort of a major part of the story. When he was like thirteen he set out to become famous. He loved music and believed so, so hard in his band and his best friend and everything. Naïve but motivated and now he’s lost the naïve part, he can see the writing on the wall, it’s not going to happen but how does he deal with the only dream he’s had in life not being a reality? Worse, how does he pretend it doesn’t bother him like it does all his bandmates? 

That all comes with this side of failure. Okay, a heaping main course of failure. He set out to do one thing with his life and no amount of faith and confidence (and some skill) got him there. He has no back up plan, no back up skills, because this was going to be it and now he’s an absolute failure at twenty-five. Something that weighs so, so heavy on him but is also lining up with one brother graduating university and the other going into university. They’re succeeding and he’s failing. There’s a WHOLE load of childhood trauma that links to that. 

So Mark is sort of falling apart and while he tries to hold himself together and pretend everything is okay, he has to figure out what the fuck he’s going to do with his life now. 

(there’s a lot with Dahey in here too but this is already a mile long)

two things you love about him: 

- he’s a big hearted puppy dog type so full of love

- he has amazing taste in music 

two things you hate about him: 

- how absolutely sappy he is

- the unchecked anger

[jojoscoffeeandwriting]

if i took my dash, or writeblr in general really, as a metric for what’s going on in the writing community it’s nothing but fantasy. no one is writing anything else. therefore my wips would fill a needed section. hell, i could fill the whole section with just a couple stories. this is today’s motivation

[penname-tbd]

the struggle of being in a one-person fandom for your wip is too real. i don’t post about it enough for anyone to even know what the hell it’s about but every once in a while my brain gets intensely consumed by the need to talk about every single aspect of it