Just Another Writer Blog

A place for me to write about things that interest me, both in fiction and in reality.

[katiebirdwrites]

IT'S TIME BITCHES!

I now have a standalone blog for my writing. Now I can actually reply to people and like things.

Go follow over at @starfellprophet

[katiebirdwrites]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

Tags: Graphic depictions of violence, implied/mentioned torture, implied/mentioned child abuse, angst, PTSD, aftermath of torture, eventual platonic oc relationship, AU, Original character(s), Harvey is a disaster (affectionate)

Title: Lightbound

Fandom: BLOODMONEY!

Wordcount: 6,690

Update: 09/13/25

[katiebirdwrites]

Everyone out there shipping Harvey x reader. Meanwhile, I'm shipping Harvey x therapy.

[katiebirdwrites]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

Tags: Graphic depictions of violence, implied/mentioned torture, implied/mentioned child abuse, angst, PTSD, aftermath of torture, eventual platonic oc relationship, AU-ish, Original character(s), Harvey is a disaster (affectionate)

Title: Lightbound

Words: 4,628

Fandom: BLOODMONEY!

Update: 09/10/25

[katiebirdwrites]

---

tags: Graphic depictions of violence, implied/mentioned torture, implied/mentioned child abuse, angst, PTSD, aftermath of torture, eventual platonic oc relationship, AU-ish

title: Lightbound

status: WIP

ship: N/A

fandom: BLOODMONEY!

wordcount: 2,158

date created: 9/9/25

SUMMARY:

The strain of trauma permeates one's entire life if one allows it to. That was something he'd found out the hard way. He wasn't sure if the drinking or the divorce came first. Then there was the cleanup act. Then, finally, something worth doing with his life. Eleven years after his attack, Harvey Harvington finds himself using that experience to aid in severe trauma cases. When a particular call comes in, he quickly finds himself in the middle of something much larger than he could have anticipated. The question is if he can keep a tight enough hold on the safety net he's made himself, and will he have the strength left to haul someone else into it with him?

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

[katiebirdwrites]

Thank you so much to the handful of you who have liked this fic, both here and on AO3! I haven't written a fanfiction in years, so seeing those hearts is really...

...heart-warming. //shot

[katiebirdwrites]

---

tags: Graphic depictions of violence, implied/mentioned torture, implied/mentioned child abuse, angst, PTSD, aftermath of torture, eventual platonic oc relationship, AU-ish

title: Lightbound

status: WIP

ship: N/A

fandom: BLOODMONEY!

wordcount: 2,158

date created: 9/9/25

SUMMARY:

The strain of trauma permeates one's entire life if one allows it to. That was something he'd found out the hard way. He wasn't sure if the drinking or the divorce came first. Then there was the cleanup act. Then, finally, something worth doing with his life. Eleven years after his attack, Harvey Harvington finds himself using that experience to aid in severe trauma cases. When a particular call comes in, he quickly finds himself in the middle of something much larger than he could have anticipated. The question is if he can keep a tight enough hold on the safety net he's made himself, and will he have the strength left to haul someone else into it with him?

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

[animatedtext]

[hollowsart]

I just think they should be inter-dimensional friends and hang out sometimes.

when you’re 6′2″ and your bestie is 5′3″

[pic 1] [pic 2]

[nchant6dkitty]

50 Fight Scene Ideas

Two people fight without waking or disturbing a third person.

Someone uses an object that isn’t usually considered to be dangerous as an effective weapon.

It’s impossible to tell the real opponents from the ones who are illusions or holograms.

People fight in zero gravity.

People fight underwater.

People fight in a building that’s on fire.

Two people fight, and an unlikely bystander saves our main character.

Two people fight, but when a third person attacks our main character, his other opponent saves him.

Fortunately, his blood is also a weapon.

One of the fighters is drugged or drunk.

Someone’s trying to unmask the person who’s attacking him.

Someone finds out that she’s fighting the person she meant to join forces with or save.

Someone fights while wearing something that makes them appear the opposite of tough or intimidating.

They fight naked.

They fight in Times Square on New Year’s Eve.

A protester and counter-protester fight.

Someone shoves his opponent into a body of water, and then rescues him when it’s apparent he’ll drown.

Someone gets help from an animal.

A friend, co-worker, or ally suddenly attacks someone.

One person dumps a gallon of something over the other person’s head.

One person chokes the other with a computer cord.

One person chokes the other with a string of Christmas lights.

Someone defends herself from an attacker while driving at top speed.

They fight in a hospital, which makes it easy for the main character to patch himself up afterward.

Bullying the bartender or server was a mistake.

She knocks out two men with one move.

They fight in a locked closet.

He celebrates his victory too early.

Someone leaps from a considerable height to land on an opponent.

Someone breaks the rules of the duel.

Her opponent vaporizes before she can stab him.

He accidentally wounds a bystander.

Someone was only pretending to be knocked out.

Her weapon gets stuck.

Priceless objects get damaged in the brawl.

Someone uses a bed sheet in the struggle.

The fight is a ruse to distract people from what’s really going on.

Someone repeatedly tries to avoid the fight to no avail.

Someone takes refuge in a disgusting place.

He finds himself battling a creature he didn’t believe existed.

They fight on slick ice.

He fights three challengers in succession.

Her glasses get destroyed and she can barely see.

He steals his opponent’s car, not realizing his allies rigged it with an explosive.

Someone’s ridiculous move or antic catches an opponent off guard.

Someone loses an opponent in the crowd and then finds her again.

A garden tool becomes a deadly weapon.

Someone hurls a shopping cart through the air.

Someone gets bashed with a crown or tiara.

He accidentally kills his opponent.

[anexperimentallife]

[screnarchive-deactivated2022042]

me justifying the actions of my found family of morally gray characters

[katiebirdwrites]

The beauty of horror as a genre is how far suspension of disbelief can go. It probably has the broadest range of suspension of any genre because the audience doesn't necessarily have to know why something is happening. In fact, why might detract from the overall story. They just need to know that it's happening, it's bad, and the character is in danger.

[katiebirdwrites]

NaNoWriMo daily goal complete! Let’s keep the pace!

[katiebirdwrites]

Whoever Says “Said is Dead” is Lying to You

This is a lesson that I didn’t learn until my junior year of college. Up until I entered a formal creative writing program, I’d been told by countless high school teachers and that “said is dead”, and it was something I held onto throughout community college because it had been so completely drilled into my head. 

Let’s think about the word “said”, for a moment. 

Do you actually read “said” every time you read a line of dialogue? 

Most people don’t. Most people simply skim the word and use it as a marker to identify who is speaking. 

Said is not repetitive in the way that copious use of another word would be, because our brains tend not to read “said” every time it shows up as a dialogue tag. This allows for dialogue to flow better, because the reader doesn’t pause on every tag. 

Seeking to use a different word for ever tag can make dialogue seem uneven and janky. At times, it can even take the wind out of a serious scene if the author reaches too much to avoid the word “said”.

To that effect, I’ll take an example from Stephen King’s book “On Writing”.

King highlights the usefulness of the word “said”, and provides examples of “said is dead” going too far, one of which is the dialogue tag “jerked out”. 

Some of you might be sitting there thinking “that’s a ridiculous decision and I would never use that tag.” However, some people who don’t have a grasp on appropriate dialogue tags might. There was a time when I was much younger that I might have just to avoid the dreaded “said.”

So, that being said, should you only use said?

No.

There’s absolutely a place for other dialogue tags. Alternative dialogue tags are best used for a change in tone, or to better convey volume or emotion. 

Adverbs are a subject for another day, but if you can use an alternative dialogue tag to convey the tone of a line, it’s much cleaner than using said with an adverbial modifier. .There’s no need to use two words when you can only use one and get the same thing across to the reader. 

Said is the best marker you can possibly use for conversational dialogue, and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. There are enough complexities in the writing process already without you having to wonder if you’re using “said” too often.

[katiebirdwrites]

Hey, if you followed from my RP blog, thanks for doing that. 

This is a sideblog, so unfortunately I won’t be able to follow anyone back. 

If you didn’t follow from my RP blog, I’ll have to kindly ask you not to request it, because I am selective and it’s not good for my anxiety to have a lot of strangers in my cool-down zone. 

I also want to note to please be gentle with me during the first bit of me working on this blog. It’s taken a lot of thought for me to decide to make something public and search-accessible, as last time I promoted a blog publicly, I was caught up in a bit of an unpleasant situation.