Baristas, Space Pirates and Mages

A Writing blog by Mealla

[starryeyedstray]

hey if you're the type of writer that's like me where you tend to write specific scenes first that vaguely weave together into a plot, you might like using obsidian as a writing app.

my frustration with other writing applications is that i will write my scenes out of order and it's hard to move things around and rearrange them on a regular document.

but with obsidian there's this canvas feature where you can just write all your scenes and plot moments on these little cards that you can freely rearrange. you can color code them and connect them too.

here's the canvas i've created for my current multi-chapter fic: (if you zoom in you can see all the text in each card this what it looks like zoomed out)

as you can see, i color code them based off chapters and will group them next to a document card with the working title of the chapter. anything not color-coded are scenes that don't have a proper place quite yet or it's just world building references. this app can also be good for note-taking and collecting research!

best of all, it's FREE!!! the only downside is that if you want your stuff to sync across devices, you do have to pay for that. i constantly hop between my laptop and desktop so i pay for the syncing. but if you write on only one device it's completely free!

i typically use it for organizing my thoughts for a first draft. once i get all the scenes arranged and mostly written out, i will copy and paste them into ellipsus (also free & highly recommended as a google doc alternative) so that they're all in one document that i can edit.

[faktillon]

Die besten Fakten als Buch 👉 https://shopillon.de/faktillon/ Ehrliche Nachrichten auf 👉 der-postillon.com

[bruciemilf]

Did I daydream this, or was there a website for writers with like. A ridiculous quantity of descriptive aid. Like I remember clicking on " inside a cinema " or something like that. Then, BAM. Here's a list of smell and sounds. I can't remember it for the life of me, but if someone else can, help a bitch out <3

[bruciemilf]

I FOUND IT BITCHES

[dramono]

This is going to save me so much trouble in the future.

[meallawriting]

Writing 2021

A bit late lol.

Anyway, I only wrote Fantasy last year, about 50:50 in two projects.

TOTAL WORDCOUNT: 289157

Hexengilden 319 0,11 %

The Kinky witches. Not a lot, I think I only finished a thought leftover from 2020.

Battlemages total: 144383 words, 49.92%

A story about an orphan elf who grew up among humans and became a very talented soldier mage at a very young age (for elves). She is soon noticed by the Crown Prince of the elven nation, and while they don't get along at first, they soon find out that they have more in common than just being really good at magic. With his father, the former Emperor of the Elves and now the king of the small nation, planning to retire, they have to deal not only with their own personal past, but also the remnants of an oppressive elven empire that fell apart hundreds of years ago.

Baristas Seelensammler: 139069 words, 48,08 %

A young trans man goes to hell. Thomas' mother definitely believed that when she threw him out after he outed himself as soon as he finished his Bachelor's degree. Nevertheless, it really got better after that, and with supporting friends, a loving vampire husband (that's another long story), Thomas thought he finally got the life he wanted. And then he died and was greeted by Mephistopheles, who told him outright that Thomas' soul belonged to him, and he would now work for Hell. What follows is a journey of self-discovery (Thomas was relieved to find out he didn't go to hell for being queer, but for being sacrificed by some young wanna-be satanists who only knew about Mephistopheles from their German lessons at school), his family history (a long line of assholes being involved in local politics back to the days of the witch hunts), and that the Politics of Hell are something no mortal should be involved with.

Kald Geschichte 5386 1,86 %

Some idea I had for my Soleado-verse (Kald is another country in that world). It's about the heir of a Duke who falls in love with the Crown Prince, and their struggles with their parents' legacies and the looming revolution. It didn't work out/was too boring as a story.

[transxfiles]

me: *writes fic*

me: great! time to post to ao3-

ao3 summary box: *exists*

me: 

ao3 summary box:

me:

ao3 summary box: 

me:

[rooksandravens]

[rjeddystone]

Ooh, this is actually kinda a neat thing, because you can think of it as a checklist:

Who: Main character(s)

Why: Character goal or desire (stated)

Why: Character need (implied)

When: Inciting Incident

What: Means (that achieves the goal/need)

Where: Place A >> Place B

How: The Plan

Obstacle(s): antagonist or challenge

For example:

Who: Bilbo Baggins, a respectable hobbit of Hobbiton

Why: Treasure, wealth (stated)

Why: Adventure, self-respect (implied)

When: After supper

What: Quest

Where: Hobbiton >> The Lonely Mountain

How: A company of dwarves, a wizard, and an ancient map and key

Main antagonist(s): a dragon

Thus, in less than 100 words:

Bilbo Baggins is a respectable hobbit in Hobbiton, never making any trouble or having any adventures. But when a wizard and a company of dwarves invite themselves to dinner, Bilbo finds himself joining their quest from the shires of Hobbiton to the legendary Lonely Mountain, the home of a long lost treasure, and quite, possibly, a dragon.  

~~~~

The Anatomy of Story by John Truby is a really good book by the by, if anyone’s interested in this sort of thing.

[7842758406546745643087-deactiva]

[ID: A screenshot of tags that say in all caps #i already wrote the fic u want me to write it again???? /end id]

[meallawriting]

My 2020 summary.

Overall, the year was really successful in terms of writing. I wrote 223.365 words, about 20k more than last year. I am too fucking lazy to do the pretty graphs I did last year, I break the percentages down under the cut, but the one above is all I managed this year.

[image description of the main graph. about three quarters of the graph are in shades of green, one quarter in two shades of light blue). Two thirds are in light green shades, makred as “This is the kinky shit” in red writing. A small portion in dark green is marked “some baristas”, the lighter of the blue section “that NB time traveller” and the darker Absolutely no decorum. Description end]

Fantasy totalled to a whopping 77% of my writing. From that. 84% dealt with my kinky witches - I think the subject made it easy to throw out a lot of words. I don’t think I am that good at it (though I didn’t cringe too much when I reread it), erotic scenes are an easy filler.

The rest is some Baristas, a topical lockdown story with Johanna, an immortal who survived both the plague and Spanish flu, being absolutely pissed about everyone, a supernatural crossover because I had some ideas, and the majority yet another attempt at rewriting the Baristas and probably giving up on them apart from shorts here and there. They just don’t work well in longform. I started a newer project about Battlemages at the end of December, maybe this is going to big, maybe not, who knows.

[image description: A breakdown of the words I wrote with fantasy themes from an excel sheet. The different projects are marked in different shades of greens. The following word counts were achived: Fantasy (total) 171668, Hexengilden (witches’ guilds, my kinky witches project) 93511, Hexengilden 2, Baristas: Lockdown 2207, SPN crossover 2208, Nekromantin (Johanna project) 2209, Baristas V. XX 17767, Battlemages 249. Description end]

As always, my main focus is in fantasy, so science fiction didn’t get too much attention. I wrote some Absolutely no decorum, about Meredith accidentally going back into the past, but it didn’t made too much sense, so I abandoned it. Probably more interesting was my Camp Nano project about a nonbinary person who can travel through time because their father came from a time traveller society - think Out of this World meets the time travel of The Time-Traveller’s Wife. It was a challenge to write nonbinary in German since we literally don’t have a universally agreed upon pronoun like the English ‘they’ or Swedish ‘hen’ and I switched pronouns throughout the story to find the one that felt right (didn’t find it).

[image description. A breakdown of the words I wrote with science fiction themes from an excel sheet. SciFi (total) 51697, Zeitenwanderer (lit time traveller) 20065, AnD (Absolutely no Decorum) 31632. Description end]

[wordsnstuff]

Resources For Writing Sketchy Topics

[shellalana]

eluvisen:

scorpio-skies:

wordsnstuff:

Medicine

A Study In Physical Injury

Comas

Medical Facts And Tips For Your Writing Needs

Broken Bones

Burns

Unconsciousness & Head Trauma

Blood Loss

Stab Wounds

Pain & Shock

All About Mechanical Injuries (Injuries Caused By Violence)

Writing Specific Characters

Portraying a kleptomaniac.

Playing a character with cancer.

How to portray a power driven character.

Playing the manipulative character.

Portraying a character with borderline personality disorder.

Playing a character with Orthorexia Nervosa.

Writing a character who lost someone important.

Playing the bullies.

Portraying the drug dealer.

Playing a rebellious character.

How to portray a sociopath.

How to write characters with PTSD.

Playing characters with memory loss.

Playing a pyromaniac.

How to write a mute character.

How to write a character with an OCD.

How to play a stoner.

Playing a character with an eating disorder.

Portraying a character who is anti-social.

Portraying a character who is depressed.

How to portray someone with dyslexia.

How to portray a character with bipolar disorder.

Portraying a character with severe depression.

How to play a serial killer.

Writing insane characters.

Playing a character under the influence of marijuana.

Tips on writing a drug addict.

How to write a character with HPD.

Writing a character with Nymphomania.

Writing a character with schizophrenia.

Writing a character with Dissociative Identity Disorder.

Writing a character with depression.

Writing a character who suffers from night terrors.

Writing a character with paranoid personality disorder.

How to play a victim of rape.

How to play a mentally ill/insane character.

Writing a character who self-harms.

Writing a character who is high on amphetamines.

How to play the stalker.

How to portray a character high on cocaine.

Playing a character with ADHD.

How to play a sexual assault victim.

Writing a compulsive gambler.

Playing a character who is faking a disorder.

Playing a prisoner.

Portraying an emotionally detached character.

How to play a character with social anxiety.

Portraying a character who is high.

Portraying characters who have secrets.

Portraying a recovering alcoholic.

Portraying a sex addict.

How to play someone creepy.

Portraying sexually/emotionally abused characters.

Playing a character under the influence of drugs.

Playing a character who struggles with Bulimia.

Illegal Activity

Examining Mob Mentality

How Street Gangs Work

Domestic Abuse

Torture

Assault

Murder

Terrorism

Internet Fraud

Cyberwarfare

Computer Viruses

Corporate Crime

Political Corruption

Drug Trafficking

Human Trafficking

Sex Trafficking

Illegal Immigration

Contemporary Slavery 

Black Market Prices & Profits

AK-47 prices on the black market

Bribes

Computer Hackers and Online Fraud

Contract Killing

Exotic Animals

Fake Diplomas

Fake ID Cards, Passports and Other Identity Documents

Human Smuggling Fees

Human Traffickers Prices

Kidney and Organ Trafficking Prices

Prostitution Prices

Cocaine Prices

Ecstasy Pills Prices

Heroin Prices

Marijuana Prices

Meth Prices

Earnings From Illegal Jobs

Countries In Order Of Largest To Smallest Risk

Forensics

arson

Asphyxia

Blood Analysis

Book Review

Cause & Manner of Death

Chemistry/Physics

Computers/Cell Phones/Electronics

Cool & Odd-Mostly Odd

Corpse Identification

Corpse Location

Crime and Science Radio

crime lab

Crime Scene

Cults and Religions

DNA

Document Examination

Fingerprints/Patterned Evidence

Firearms Analysis

Forensic Anthropology

Forensic Art

Forensic Dentistry

Forensic History

Forensic Psychiatry

General Forensics

Guest Blogger

High Tech Forensics

Interesting Cases

Interesting Places

Interviews

Medical History

Medical Issues

Misc

Multiple Murderers

On This Day

Poisons & Drugs

Police Procedure

Q&A

serial killers

Space Program

Stupid Criminals

Theft

Time of Death

Toxicology

Trauma

@eluvisen what timing for this to pop up on my dash! 8D

@scorpio-skies I’ll say!

[meallawriting]

[monsterkinkmeme]

You are the second-born of a human royal family. 21 years ago, your parents bargained for you to be given in marriage to a magical being in exchange for prosperity for their lands and your sibling. The first that you or your (actually nice and outraged by all of this) sibling hear of this is when your suitors arrived today to collect. Your parents each made the same deal with a different being, and somehow never figured that out. (Bonus Challenge: no demons or fae)

[prompt-dealer]

45 Dialogue Angst Prompts List

“Do you understand what happened?”

“Is the weight of your sins too heavy?”

“Would you know the end if you saw it?”

“How many times do I have to repeat myself?”

“Do you feel anything?”

“Are you sure you’re the hero?”

“Is it too hard?”

“Why are you here?”

“Haven’t you done enough?”

“Is this how you wanted this to go?”

“Are you happy now?”

“What made you like this?”

“Did the ends justify the means?”

“Are you going to be okay?”

“How many were lost?”

“Why didn’t you call me sooner?”

“Did you mean to forget me?”

“Can you feel it?”

“Why are you still fighting?”

“Did you forget you’re only a mortal?”

“What if I don’t come back?”

“How can you say this is okay?”

“Do you know what you’ve done?”

“Are you afraid to lose me?”

“Is that the worst you can do?”

“Why did you come?”

“Do I mean anything to you?”

“What are you afraid of?”

“Is this what you wanted?”

“Where were you when I needed you?”

“How is any of this justified?”

“Why would you tell me that?”

“Do you think I’m afraid of you?”

“Is there anything you won’t do to get what you want?”

“How long have we been fighting this?”

“Are you okay leaving things like that?”

“Do you think it might be time to give up?”

“What makes you think I can forgive you?”

“Isn’t this what you wanted?”

“How many more sacrifices must you make?”

“Am I supposed to just sit back and let you ruin everything?”

“Are you lonely now?”

“How did you survive?”

“Did he hurt you?”

“Can you still love me?”

[thewritingumbrellas]

Writing a piece and struggling with character voices, so I had to dig up my old notes on it. I thought I’d share.

Write out a short 500 words in their voice, with the first few sentences stating their name and their wants. “My name is X. I am Y. I want Z.” Then just ramble. I promise you’ll discover something about the character and the world.

Look into other characters you like and decide what attracted you to them in the first place. Why do you like Klaus Hargreeves from Umbrella Academy? Or Buffy from Buffy the Vampire Slayer?

Give them a literal, actual voice in your mind. Pick a famous voice actor, audiobook narrator, or actor and picture them speaking as you write.

Give them more internal dialogue. I’ve found a lot of “bad characters” are the ones who passively watch the story play out and don’t have any feelings towards it. Add snide mental comments, add thoughts and feelings.

[meallawriting]

This thread is a great starter for folks who want to write a Muslim character into their work! There is a glaring hole though on how to approach LGBT+ Muslims. It’s a difficult subject if you’re an outsider looking in, and it carries connection to cultural influence too.

[trochaictrimeter-deactivated202]

more questions to consider while writing places

if your mystery town or your fantasy kingdom still feels flat after all your worldbuilding efforts, have a look at these. as a research assistant at a literary/historical mapping project, these are some questions i lose sleep over.

1. Borders and boundaries - Are the borders of the city, country, province, particular neighbourhood the same as they were a few years ago? How about hundreds of years ago? What determines their borders? Are/were they disputed? If areas were conquered, was it done legally? Was it ethical and how do inhabitants feel about it? If areas were lost, do its inhabitants feel nostalgic for their previous country? Or do they deem it independence? 

2. Names - Has your palace/hall/city/kingdom retained its name from its genesis? Is it named for someone? Have their been pushes to change the name? Has the name just changed gradually due to languages? Do places named for specific purposes retain that name even as the purpose changes, i.e., is The Playground still called that after a war where they had to bury their dead there? What do local inhabitants call places that other people don’t often call/recognise? Does your place have any proper noun places that can be referred to as common nouns, i.e., if you say the river somewhere in London, Londoners almost certainly mean the Thames, even though there may be other rivers? 

3. Locations - Why is your place there instead of somewhere else? Was it inherited, bought, sold, convenient or something else? If your place relocates geographically, do people still think of it as the same place i.e., is the Globe Theatre that burnt down the same place technically as the one we have today? 

4. Stories - What record do these places keep? Do their places of worship have names of donors? Do libraries keep record of its readers? Do ports keep records of who enters and leaves and what they’re carrying? What kind of stories do people whose families have lived there forever have to say? What kind of stories do people who have come there later say?

5. Celebration - What is this place known for locally? Does it have a global significance and how do inhabitants feel about it? Are they proud? Do they have a day to celebrate that location? Does the day have accurate historical context and significance? What are nostalgia levels like? How about patriotism? As for the context, where would you find a just history of your place? Are cartography methods fair and accurate? If yes, how do they do it? If not, why not? Does everyone have access to such knowledge?

6. Flora and Fauna - What kind of relationship do your inhabitants have to the physical place? If your average character walks down a road, can they name all the trees native there? Are there wild animals or particularly pretty animals that are just pests to them? Are the flora and fauna considered merely resources or do people have bonds with them? Who has access to them, if as resources or as friends/pets/muses/whatever?

If you liked my tips, consider buying me a virtual coffee to keep me writing.

[meallawriting]

I realised some ugly truths about Meredith Newman tonight while watching the launch stream and I have no idea to deal with this.

[meallawriting]

What i hate most about writing is that there isn’t any “silent” worldbuilding. You can’t just add a newspaper with some worldbuilding in the background. No extra movie posters, street scenes or the TV/Radio/books. You have to mention it, and by mentioning it, it might mean that it is important. 

Why didn’t I just learn how to draw instead

[writing-prompt-s]

“There comes a moment in everyone’s life where they do the most awful thing they have ever done, and ever will do. And I hope with all my heart that moment has already passed for me, because I have done terrible things, and it scares me to think of what could be worse.”

[writing-prompt-s]

You’ve been scheduled for an excecution at a guillotine, however, due to unknown reasons, your excecution keeps getting delayed. You’ve been waiting for years.

[thethornofzadash]

At this point, the monarch can just admit they’re in love with me, so I can convince them of my revolutionary ways and we elope together. Or they finally remembered what I was in for and do it right away before they forget again. I know. It’s hard to remember things if you don’t do them right away. What do you mean, your permit to use the guillotine ran out AGAIN? Aren’t you the fucking monarch? Don’t you know I started this revolution to get rid of unnecessary paperwork? Hey, why are you making me an advisor now, I tried to overthrow you! But okay, here are my plans to minimize bureaucracy... First step - we need to eliminate the monarch. That’s the easy part, you just need to sign here, don’t worry, you will stay head of state until we have the elections. Next step ...