My main for more general writing prompts and tips. Maybe I'll post some original stuff. We shall see || For whump follow my whump blog @lilixloveswhump || Follow my main @lilix-love
.⋆♱ She kept saying his name like it would do something. Like if she said it enough times the universe would get tired of hearing it and give him back.
.⋆♱ "Stay awake," he told her, and she laughed, actually laughed, which was somehow worse than anything else. "You're going to have to give me a better reason than that," she said. He couldn't think of one fast enough. He's never forgiven himself for that.
.⋆♱ The machines made a sound and everyone in the room knew what it meant and nobody moved for a long time. His mother was the first one to reach him. She smoothed his hair back the way she used to when he was small and said, very quietly, there you go, baby. There you go.
.⋆♱ "Does it hurt?" she asked. He thought about lying. He'd been lying to her for months, what was one more. "No," he said. She looked at him for a long moment. "You were always terrible at that," she said softly, and held his hand tighter, and didn't let go.
.⋆♱ Nobody tells you that death smells like something. That it has a texture, a sound, a particular quality of light. She'd read about it in books and none of them got it right. None of them mentioned that the hardest part is the moment the room goes quiet and you realize you've been waiting for them to say something and they're not going to.
.⋆♱ "I need you to listen to me," she said, grip fierce on his collar, "you do not get to do this, you do not get to leave me here, I swear to god —" He put his hand over hers. Just that. Just his hand over hers. She stopped talking. She pressed her forehead to his and she stopped talking.
.⋆♱ He'd planned what he was going to say. Had it all worked out, all the important things, all the things that had been sitting unsaid between them for years. But when it came to it she was so small in that bed and she looked at him with so much love and everything he'd planned dissolved. "Hi," he said. "Hi," she said back.
.⋆♱ "Tell me something good," she said. Her voice was going thin, stretched out at the edges. He looked around the room—the bad lighting, the cold floor, the blood that was both of theirs now. "Remember that summer," he started, "the one where the car broke down and we had to sleep in that terrible motel—" "The one with the broken fan," she said, and almost smiled. "Yeah," he said. "Yeah, that one." He kept talking until she stopped hearing him.
.⋆♱ She had six missed calls from him on her phone. Six. She'd been in a meeting. She'd looked at the screen and thought I'll call him back after. She thinks about that a lot now. The specific weight of after.
.⋆♱ He left a voicemail the night before. Just rambling, nothing important, hey call me back when you get this, I found that restaurant you wanted to try. She has it still. She has listened to it one hundred and fourteen times. She knows because she counted.
.⋆♱ "You're going to be okay," she told him, which was a lie, and he knew it was a lie, and he loved her enough to pretend he believed her. "Yeah," he said. "Yeah, I know."
.⋆♱ He made it to the door. She needs people to know that. He almost made it.
.⋆♱ "You're going to forget me," she said. "You're going to forget what I sound like and then what I smell like and then it'll be little things, the small stuff —" "Stop," he said. "I won't." But he has. Pieces of her. And he hates himself every time he reaches for something and finds it gone.
.⋆♱ They found him with his book still open. Page 247. She bought the same edition, read to 246, put it down. She doesn't know why. She thinks she's waiting for something. Permission, maybe. She doesn't know who she's waiting to get it from.
.⋆♱ "It's not supposed to go like this," he said, mostly to himself, kneeling on the ground with hands that couldn't do anything useful anymore. "I know," she said. "I know." She was talking to him but she was also talking to the sky, to whatever was up there, to anything that might be listening.
.⋆♱ She was fine and then she found his handwriting on a grocery list stuck to the back of a drawer and she sat on the kitchen floor for a very long time.
.⋆♱ "Don't cry," he said, which was rich coming from him. "You're crying," she pointed out. "I'm allowed," he said, "I'm the one dying." She laughed. She hated that she laughed.
A collection of questions to help your followers learn more about your pairing's relationship, whether it be familial, platonic, queerplatonic, or romantic.
Ways That Fear Can Show Up (Without Saying “Fear”)
When it creeps:
• Foreboding — the air feels wrong before anything actually happens.
• Ominousness — silence that feels almost... purposeful.
• Misgiving — your instincts tugging at your sleeve, whispering, "Don't."
When it hits fast:
• Shock — your brain blanks
• Startled— your heart slams, you inhale
• Panic — thoughts fracture; your instincts beg for escape
When it lingers:
• Tension — jaw locked, shoulders up near your ears.
• Anxiety — background noise that lingers in every thought
• Dread — knowing something bad is coming and having to wait for it.
When it turns physical:
• Shivers — cold crawling up the spine.
• Sweat, dilated pupils, skin gone pale — your own body betrays you.
• Weakness — knees like jelly, grip unreliable.
When it overwhelms:
• Terror — too big to think around.
• Horror — something has gone wrong.
• Paralysis — body refusing orders.
When it distorts reality:
• Paranoia — patterns where there are none.
• Suspicion — every sound feels intentional.
• Unease — the sense of being watched without proof.
If you liked this, a small Ko-fi tip would mean a lot. No pressure!
If you're writing anything involving cons, scams, heists, or morally questionable characters who are very good at lying, here are some free resources I've been using for research. Saving you the "why is this in my search history" anxiety.
1. The FBI's Famous Cases & Criminals archive (fbi.gov/history/famous-cases) has detailed breakdowns of real fraud cases, Ponzi schemes, and confidence operations. The language they use is clinical and precise, which is perfect for getting the procedural details right.
2. The FTC Consumer Sentinel Network publishes annual reports on the most common fraud tactics in the US. Great for understanding how modern scams actually work and what makes people fall for them.
3. The Smithsonian's American Art Museum has a free digital collection of forgery case studies. If your character forges documents or art, this is gold.
4. Court Listener (courtlistener.com) is a free legal database where you can read actual court transcripts from fraud trials. Want to know how a real con artist talks under oath? This is where you find out.
5. The Internet Archive's collection of old newspaper crime sections. Search for "confidence man" or "swindle" in papers from the 1920s through 1960s and you'll find incredible real stories that would feel too dramatic for fiction.
Bonus: The Psychology of Fraud section on the Association for Psychological Science website has accessible articles about why people trust, how deception works cognitively, and what makes someone a convincing liar. Essential reading if you want your con artist characters to feel psychologically real.
Reblog to save for later. Your WIP will thank you.
Your characters are allowed to be bad people. Your story is allowed to have no moral lesson.yyour ending is allowed to be sad. The villain can win. The good person can do something unforgivable. The lovers can destroy each other. You are allowed to write the thing that no one asked for and everything that everyone told you doesn’t work and you are allowed to not explain yourself.
I've seen lots of depictions of hearing aids and cochlear implants in writing and art, and very few of them actually match what that character would likely actually use. An especially common mistake is drawing hearing aids like they are wireless headphones, which is not how the vast majority of hearing aids look.
Here's a guide on hearing device types, uses, and how to better decide which one your character would have!
(Reminder that this is not medical advice, or perfectly tailored to every single situation. I am not an audiologist, just a Deaf person on tumblr.)
Hearing Aids:
[Plain Text: Hearing Aids]
There are many different types of hearing aids. Which type someone uses will depend on their hearing curve, the features they want, and the type of hearing loss.
1. Receiver in Canal.
Receiver in Canal (RIC) hearing aids are the newest type, and currently the most commonly prescribed. They have a small behind-the-ear component with directional microphones and processors, and are connected by a thin clear wire to an in-ear speaker, which is covered by a piece called the dome.
RIC are most commonly prescribed for: mild to moderate hearing loss (although they can be useful for some people with severe hearing loss), high-frequency hearing loss, noise-induced hearing loss, tinnitus, and auditory processing disorder. RIC are also available over the counter.
Benefits: small and discrete, fairly powerful, best integrated noise filtering systems, highest mapping customizability.
Drawbacks: sizing is not infinitely customizable, not good for more severe deafness, usually don't come in fun colors, difficult to use with low dexterity.
There are several different dome types, as I mentioned. Domes are soft silicone or plastic pieces fitted in diameter to the ear canal, but come in a few different shapes depending on the type of hearing loss. I'll talk about the most common ones, but there are a few other rarer custom types.
Open/Vented domes have slits cut in the silicone. They are the weakest at keeping sound trapped, but have the lowest occlusion effect (hearing your own voice loudly). They are good for mild to moderate hearing loss, but they can cause a lot of feedback, especially at higher frequencies, so they're most useful for high-frequency hearing losses. The amount of vents in the dome can be adjusted to reduce leakage.
Closed domes do not have slits or have very few slits. They keep more sound trapped, but have higher occlusion. They are good for moderate broad-spectrum and low-frequency hearing loss, since they allow less high-frequency noise to escape.
Power domes have no slits and often have multiple layers for maximum amplification. They have the highest occlusion effect, although people using power domes typically have hearing loss in the range of 60-80 dB, so occlusion is often necessary to hear one's own voice. Power domes can make the ear pressure feel unbalanced since there are no vents.
2. In the Ear / Completely in Canal.
In the Ear (ITE) and Completely in Canal (CIC) hearing aids are a less popular, but available, type. They feature a solid combined processor and speaker that sits in the ear canal. There is usually a small wire or clear plastic loop that fits along the curve of the outer ear both to keep it in place and to pull it out.
ITE/CIC are most commonly prescribed for: mild-moderate hearing loss when RIC is not preferred or available.
Benefits: no behind the ear component can be more comfortable, microphones in the ear have highest directionality, subtle.
Drawbacks: fewer features available, higher occlusion effect, can fall out more easily.
(There are some ITEs that have a behind-the-ear component for volume/power control and structural support, but the processor, microphones, and speakers are all in the canal piece.)
3. Behind the Ear.
Behind the Ear (BTE) are the most powerful type of hearing aid. The microphones, speaker, and processor are all present in the behind-ear component, which is larger than other types of hearing aids. This component is connected by a replaceable plastic tube to a mold, which is custom-fit to the user's ear and allows for maximum sound retention/amplification. Like domes, there are several types of molds.
BTE are most commonly prescribed for: severe to profound hearing loss, moderate or higher low-frequency hearing loss, children.
Benefits: sizing is fully customized, easy to use with lower dexterity, good for athletics (less likely to fall out), highest aesthetic customization, most powerful amplification.
Drawbacks: larger size, high occlusion, higher risk of ear infections, molds must be replaced as ear shape changes, tubes must be replaced regularly.
There are lots of different mold types. An ear mold is custom fit by creating a cast of the user's canal and ear shell. More or less of the "shell" of the ear can be covered by the mold. All molds have a vent hole to allow moisture to escape, but some molds have more holes cut into them to allow airflow or reduce occlusion. Some molds are hollow, while others are solid. (Molds can also come in lots of fun colors, including marbled or glittery, although insurance won't always cover these.)
There are too many types of molds and considerations to really get into exact types here, but if you look up behind the ear hearing aids there are tons of references online. [One type of mold I've seen a lot in real life but that I can't find the name of online are sort of square-shaped solid (often colored) plastic with lots of holes in them. They remind me of a waffle.] In general, the more severe the hearing loss, the less "air space" there's going to be in the mold.
4. Bone Conduction.
Bone Conduction hearing aids (BCHA) are probably the closest-looking in real life to those headphone ones, although many of the over-the-counter devices calling themselves BCHAs that look like headphones are in fact just bone conduction headphones. Prescribed BCHAs are often two individual rectangular devices, attached via stickers or a headband. There are a few that go behind the ear, although no component of the aid is in the canal.
BCHAs are bone conduction rather than air conduction, which means they get the sound to the cochlea by vibrating the skull bones rather than sending sound through the middle ear. BCHAs are often temporary aids (see BAHA in the CI section of this post).
BCHA are most commonly prescribed for: severe conductive or mixed hearing loss, microtia/atresia, and young children.
Benefits: more powerful and safer long-term for conductive hearing loss, typically no in-ear or over-ear component.
Drawbacks: require an external component (stickers or headband) to stay attached.
5. Airpods / Actually just headphones
Did you know, Airpods were recently approved by the FDA as over-the-counter hearing devices? The noise filtering technology makes smart wireless headphones a possible alternative for mild hearing loss, auditory processing disorder, tinnitus, or anyone who can't get prescription hearing aids. These are not a long-term solution, nor are they used by audiologists, but for people who just need a bit of a boost, having their headphones in all the time might be their way of navigating the world.
-
All hearing aid types have their benefits and drawbacks, and no aid will ever be perfect for someone. Even the best hearing aids available can't make someone become Hearing. Some people who are severely to profoundly deaf report hearing aids giving them around 60-80% of what a hearing person can hear, and this number improves with decreasing severity of hearing loss. Still, nearly all d/Deaf/hoh people struggle to some degree with auditory processing. They may use hearing aids to give them general awareness of background noise (eg fire alarms), or for a boost while lip-reading, even if they don't help in understanding noise more generally. Hearing aids can also die or malfunction, removing the benefits they provide.
-
Cochlear Implants:
[Plain Text: Cochlear Implants]
Cochlear Implants, or CI, are surgically implanted devices that stimulate the cochlea.
More on CI in one second, because I promised a return to BAHAs, which are a type of surgically implanted hearing aids. They get to go in this section because they are implants.
BAHA stands for bone anchored hearing aid (as opposed to BCHA, which stands for bone conduction). BAHA are the long-term alternative to BCHAs. A titanium plate is anchored to the skull, and an external hearing aid component attaches to the plate and vibrates it.
BAHA are most commonly prescribed for: severe to profound conductive hearing loss, microtia/atresia. (One of the major use cases for BAHA is Treacher-Collins Syndrome, which often causes bilateral microtia. Since the hearing loss is purely conductive, and traditional hearing aids do not typically fit people with microtia even without atresia, BCHA/BAHA are the best aids.)
Back to CIs. Unlike BAHAs, cochlear implants are implanted into the cochlea to directly stimulate the auditory nerve. They bypass the outer, middle, and inner ear systems, so they are useful for any type of hearing loss.
In order to qualify for a CI, one needs profound hearing loss across all or most frequencies, and the presence of both the cochlea and the auditory nerve (CI won't work without those structures). Someone can qualify for a CI in one ear but not the other; even if someone is qualified to receive implants in both ears, they're expensive and the surgery has risks, so many bilaterally deaf people have only one implant.
In the United States, CIs are approved starting at 9 months old, but not any younger. (This is a problem for auditory development--although CI are often billed as a "cure" or "complete treatment" to deafness, the reality is that even bilateral CI users who received speech and auditory therapy from the moment their devices were programmed still lag behind hearing peers in auditory development, because they are deaf. But that's part of a larger conversation regarding deaf development and audism.)
CIs have a small disc that magnetically attaches to the skull near the implant site. That disc transmits the sound through the bone, which is then transmitted to the auditory nerve. Usually, the disc is connected to a wire, which runs to a behind-the-ear processor piece. CIs have a couple different types, just like hearing aids. I'll run through them pretty quickly.
1. "Button" CI.
These are fairly new. They only have the magnetic disc; all the processors and microphones are inside it. They're less visible, but less powerful.
2. Behind the ear microphone.
The BTE component contains the microphones and processors. There is a hook to keep it in place on the ear, but no part of the CI goes into the ear canal. These have similar directional power to BTE hearing aids.
3. In-ear microphone.
The processors are on a behind-the-ear component, but they receive signal from a microphone positioned at the opening of the ear canal. These give the best directional sound filtering, since they receive the auditory input from the same place as a hearing person, often with the benefits of the shape of the outer ear.
4. Mixed type CI + hearing aid.
These are also very new! Previous CI techniques, and many surgeons today, destroy residual hearing, so when the CI processor is disconnected, the user receives no auditory input, even if they had some before getting a CI. However, some new techniques can preserve residual hearing, and the cochlear implant can be combined with a hearing aid. This device looks like a BTE hearing aid with either a mold or power dome, but also connected by a wire to the magnetic disc of a CI.
-
What type of CI a person has depends on the technology when they were implanted, what sound quality they want, or what they can afford.
The sound from CIs don't match how hearing people hear things. CI have way fewer neural connections than the cochlea has. Bilateral CI is often more effective for oralism than unilateral, but even then, CIs do not replicate natural hearing.
A CI can be implanted at any age, although it's most "effective" in infancy or adults with new-onset hearing loss, rather than people who have grown up d/Deaf. Getting a CI in adulthood is a very personal choice and can have a lot of meaning for a Deaf person.
-
Gene Therapy:
[Plain Text: Gene Therapy]
This post has gone on long enough, and this isn't a hearing assistive device, but it is something to consider in a sci-fi or post-modern setting, and something we (the Deaf community) have to deal with right now.
There are currently new therapies (around 3 years in trial) that target OTOF mutations that cause severe to profound congenital deafness. OTOF mutations cause the loss of a protein that turns cilia movement in the cochlea into neural signals. The gene therapy introduces the gene that codes for this protein into the inner ear.
A small study on around 20 children, teens, and young adults with profound hearing loss (>100 dB) saw hearing curves change to 56 dB +/- 30 dB. I couldn't get the raw data because I couldn't access the study, but that means the average participant is still moderately hard of hearing and still needs hearing aids and accommodations. Depending on the metrics for calculating that error, there was likely at least one participant who remained severely to profoundly deaf after the gene therapy, and no participants became medically hearing.
We still have no data on if this gene therapy lasts forever or what kind of side effects it has. It also only works for a specific class of OTOF mutations, which account for many cases of congenital genetic deafness, but not all. Every single study on the gene therapy is produced by one company. This technology has not yet been peer-reviewed or tested for long enough. Nevertheless, hearing people are treating this as a cure, that the Deaf community doesn't want.
If a deaf person wants access to a technology like this, that is again their choice. Forcing this onto infants and children without autonomy or the ability to make an informed decision is horrible. The push to "cure" deafness goes hand-in-hand with the destruction of Deaf culture. It is eugenics. If you're going to include gene therapy or some other magical "fix" to deafness in your story, think about that.
My horoscope app keeps telling me things that I already know. That's what people say: that the star-sign-mumbo-jumbo are just vague statements, and you apply what is told to you to your life. Maybe I need them to tell me. Maybe if I hear it from someone else, I'll listen.
speaking to the void here probably but I think I'm gonna try to start posting little evanescent pieces of writing when a thought comes to me but I don't have the time (at that moment) to fully flesh them out into something more eloquent so. stay tuned for that I guess
he would not fucking say that, but with disability.. he would not fucking be able bodied. sick n tired of characters walking away from multiple life changing injuries without a scratch. let’s get some natural consequences in here.
give that knife/sword fight survivor nerve damage. give the character who was shot in the gut a stoma. give that fire survivor lung damage and an oxygen cannula. give that leg injury survivor a cane. give that starvation survivor gastroparesis. give that spinal injury survivor a manual chair or powerchair.
while we’re at it, give your characters congenital disabilities too, just because. give them intellectual and development disabilities. give them acquired and postviral illnesses. dare to make somebody bedbound. for me.
