My little slice of Internet

35 - Bi girl who likes all kinds of things. NSFW 18+ disclaimer

[luna-azzurra]

Quick Tips for Writing Dialogue (AGAIN)

⟢ PEOPLE DON'T FINISH SENTENCES! IMPORTANT! they interrupt themselves, they trail off, they start talking about eggs and somehow end up confessing their deepest fear about becoming their mother. Your dialogue should derail like a drunk train conductor took the wheel. "I was thinking we could—no wait, did you feed the cat? Because last time you said you would but—actually never mind, what I meant was—" SEE? HUMAN. Beautiful chaos.

⟢ Contractions exist??? USE THEM. Nobody says "I am going to the store" unless they're an alien spy or your grandmother leaving a voicemail. It's "I'm gonna" or even "gonna hit the store" or if they're really casual "store run, back in 20"

⟢ LISTEN TO ME! Said is NOT dead but said is also boring sometimes. Yeah yeah, "said is invisible," the writing teachers chant while burning incense. But you know what? Sometimes people mutter, snap, whisper, drawl, bite out their words. Your character just found out their partner sold their vinyl collection? They're not "saying" anything, they're HISSING like a Victorian ghost

⟢ People repeat themselves when emotional!!! "I can't believe you. I just—I can't believe you did this." Not poetic. Real. That's the point!!!

⟢ Subtext is doing heavy lifting, what people DON'T say matters more than what they do. "Fine" is never fine. "Whatever you want" means "I will remember this betrayal forever." Your readers are smart; let them read between the lines

⟢ Accents/dialects: DO NOT WRITE THEM PHONETICALLY unless you want your book thrown across the room. Do NOT write "Oi guv'na, blimey!", instead show it through word choice, rhythm, syntax. "Right then, what's all this about?" works better than "Wot's awl dis aboot guvnah"

[luna-azzurra]

Lies Your Character Tells Themselves!!

✶ "I don't need anyone." (Reality caves when they're sick, alone, and no one checks on them because they trained everyone not to.)

✶ "I'm over it." (Caves when they see their ex happy with someone else and realize they've been paused for three years.)

✶ "It wasn't that bad." (Caves when they see someone else experience the same thing and feel protective rage they never felt for themselves.)

✶ "I work better under pressure." (Caves at 4am when their hands won't stop shaking and they can't remember the last time they ate.)

✶ "They'll come back." (Caves when someone new sits in their usual spot and the world didn't actually stop turning.)

✶ "I'm not like my parents." (Caves mid-argument when they hear their mother's exact words coming out of their mouth.)

✶ "I just need to be thinner/richer/smarter/better." (Caves when they achieve the goal and the emptiness is still there, unchanged, patient.)

✶ "I can quit whenever I want." (Caves when they try to stop for one day and their body betrays them with withdrawal, need, panic.)

✶ "Time heals everything." (Caves on the ten-year anniversary when it hurts exactly the same.)

✶ "I'm protecting them by staying away." (Caves when they find out the person spent years thinking they weren't wanted, weren't loved.)

✶ "It's not abuse if I provoked it." (Caves when they see a child get yelled at for nothing and want to shield them from everything.)

✶ "I don't deserve better." (Caves when someone treats them with basic kindness and they break down crying in a Starbucks bathroom.)

✶ "Asking for help is weakness." (Caves when they physically can't do it alone anymore and pride becomes a luxury they can't afford.)

✶ "People leave, that's just how it is." (Caves when someone stays through the ugly and they realize they've been the one pushing everyone away.)

✶ "I'm too damaged for love." (Caves when someone looks at their scars and doesn't flinch.)

✶ "Success will make me happy." (Caves at the top of the ladder when the view is just lonelier, higher up.)

✶ "They didn't mean it like that." (Caves when the same pattern repeats and excuses run out and they're tired, so tired of translating cruelty into kindness.)

✶ "I'm fine being alone." (Caves during a random Tuesday evening when the silence becomes a physical weight crushing their chest.)

✶ "Emotions are weakness." (Caves when they feel nothing at their own parent's funeral and realize they've amputated part of their humanity.)

✶ "I'll deal with it later." (Caves when 'later' becomes 'never' and the rot they've been ignoring finally consumes the foundation.)

[ijustwannawritepls]

Underused Microexpressions for Attraction

We’ve done lip biting to death... Let’s evolve.

• Eyes flicking to someone’s mouth mid-sentence • Forgetting what they were about to say • Leaning in unconsciously • Mirroring posture without realizing • Smiling at something that wasn’t that funny • Adjusting hair or clothes when the other person enters • Noticing and remembering details no one else bothers to • A pause before pulling their hand away • Shoulders softening • Looking away first and then back again • Swallowing before speaking • Voice lowering slightly • Turning their body fully toward the other person • A delayed reaction to a touch

[luna-azzurra]

Ways to write Slow Burn Romance!!

┈୨୧┈ Give them reasons they CAN'T be together that aren't just manufactured drama. Not miscommunication. Not love triangles. Not arbitrary "I push people away" trauma with no real exploration. Give them REAL obstacles: they're on opposite sides of a conflict, timing is wrong, there are actual consequences to being together, they have incompatible life goals, there's a power imbalance they need to resolve first. The obstacles should be meaningful and require actual character growth to overcome, not just a conversation.

┈୨୧┈ Make the friendship foundation SO STRONG that readers ship them before the romance even starts. They should genuinely LIKE each other. They should have inside jokes. They should seek each other out just to hang out. They should trust each other. They should have fun together. When the romantic feelings start developing, it should feel like "oh no, I don't want to ruin this friendship" because the friendship is genuinely valuable. Readers should be able to believe they'd still choose to be in each other's lives even if romance never happened.

┈୨୧┈ Let the tension BUILD in layers over time. First they notice each other. Then they start seeking excuses to be near each other. Then they start getting jealous. Then they start having Moments. Then they start thinking about each other constantly. Then comes the almost-kisses. Then the accidental intimacy. Then the barely-hidden feelings. Each phase should have time to breathe before moving to the next level. Slow burn means SLOW - readers should be desperate for them to get together LONG before they actually do.

┈୨୧┈ Show how they change each other gradually. He starts smiling more because of her. She becomes braver because he believes in her. They adopt each other's habits and phrases. They start to see the world differently because of the other person's influence. Slow burn is about showing two people gradually becoming essential to each other's lives. They should be woven into each other's character development, not separate from it.

┈୨୧┈ Make the payoff WORTH the wait. After chapters or books of tension, the moment they finally get together should be EARNED and SATISFYING. A CONVERSATION where they're finally honest. A moment where they choose each other despite the obstacles. A confession that feels like a dam breaking. The first kiss should feel like the conclusion of a long journey and the beginning of something new. Readers have been waiting for this, so make it count. Make it feel like YES, THIS WAS WORTH IT.

[luna-azzurra]

Quick Tips for Writing Food

(๑ᵔ⤙ᵔ๑) TEXTURE MATTERS MORE THAN TASTE!! "it tasted good" tells me nothing. "The crust shattered into a thousand buttery shards" or "gummy, like chewing a tire" NOW I'm there. Crunch, slime, melt, chew, squeak (yes some foods squeak and it's horrible)

(๑ᵔ⤙ᵔ๑) Food is memory!!! your character doesn't just eat chicken soup, they eat the chicken soup that tastes like being home sick from school, like their grandmother's kitchen, like the last good day before everything changed. FOOD CARRIES STORY!!

(๑ᵔ⤙ᵔ๑) Temperature is a character!! scalding coffee that burns your tongue, ice cream so cold it gives you a headache, room-temperature pizza at 2am that tastes like regret. Temperature changes the entire experience!!!

(๑ᵔ⤙ᵔ๑) The SOUND of eating reveals character. Do they slurp? Chew with their mouth open? Cut everything into tiny pieces? Eat standing over the sink? These tiny details tell you who someone IS

(๑ᵔ⤙ᵔ๑) Describe what it does, not what it is!! Don't say "the spicy curry" say "the curry that made her sinuses open up like floodgates and her eyes water and why did she think she could handle this"

(๑ᵔ⤙ᵔ๑) Use WEIRD comparisons. "tasted like chicken" is boring. "Tasted like what I imagine a leather couch feels like" or "sweet in that chemical way that makes your teeth hurt" get SPECIFIC and strange.

[midnightwolfess]

The GO fandom right now. Grab your snacks your drinks and some tissues and get ready to buckle up

[luna-azzurra]

Setting & Atmosphere Ideas!! 

𐙚⋆.˚ The smell that hits before anything is seen 

𐙚⋆.˚ How a room feels different at 3am vs. 3pm 

𐙚⋆.˚ The sound that's only noticeable when everything else goes quiet 

𐙚⋆.˚ Light quality, yellow and warm vs. cold and fluorescent 

𐙚⋆.˚ The thing that's slightly wrong about an otherwise normal space 

𐙚⋆.˚ Temperature as mood (the specific chill of a hospital, the thick heat of a fight) 

𐙚⋆.˚ What a space says about the person who lives in it 

𐙚⋆.˚ The background noise that tells you exactly where you are 

𐙚⋆.˚ Weather that mirrors without being too obvious about it 

𐙚⋆.˚ The one detail a character notices that reveals what they're looking for 

𐙚⋆.˚ How familiar places look different after something changes 

𐙚⋆.˚ The texture of things: rough, worn, too-new, cold metal 

𐙚⋆.˚ Empty spaces that feel occupied. Occupied spaces that feel hollow. 

𐙚⋆.˚ The way sound travels differently in grief vs. joy 

𐙚⋆.˚ Objects that carry history without explaining it 

𐙚⋆.˚ The specific ugly of a beautiful place when you're in the wrong mood 

𐙚⋆.˚ Noticing the exit first (what that says about a character) 

𐙚⋆.˚ The before-storm stillness applied to non-weather moments 

𐙚⋆.˚ How a space shrinks when tension fills it 

𐙚⋆.˚ The detail so specific it makes everything around it feel real

[luna-azzurra]

Quick Tips for Writing Descriptions

⟢ PICK THREE DETAILS MAXIMUM! your reader doesn't need to know every piece of furniture. Give them the broken clock on the mantle, the smell of cigarettes embedded in the couch, the water stain on the ceiling shaped like Italy. Their brain will fill in the rest. You're not writing an insurance inventory!!!

⟢ Use the senses people forget. Everyone does sight and sound, but what about: the metallic taste of fear, the way humidity makes your clothes stick, the phantom itch of being watched, that gross feeling when you touch something unexpectedly wet. GET WEIRD WITH IT

⟢ MOTION IN YOUR DESCRIPTIONS!! (Please?) don't just tell me the curtains are blue, tell me they're "shuddering in the AC blast" or "hanging limp like they've given up." Static description is a sleep aid. Make things MOVE

⟢ Your narrator's voice should COLOR everything! A depressed character won't describe the sunset as "beautiful mauve and amber streaking across the sky," they'll think "the sun's dying again, doing its whole performance art thing with the clouds"

⟢ Stop with the mirror descriptions! :( "She looked in the mirror and saw her auburn hair and green eyes" NO. Banned. Forbidden. Find literally any other way. Have another character notice. Show through action. Slip details in naturally. The mirror thing is lazy and we all know it

⟢ Similes and metaphors: COMMIT OR DON'T DO IT! "like" is not a get-out-of-jail-free card. "Her anger was like a storm" is BORING. "Her anger rolled in with the methodical inevitability of a hurricane, and he was standing in a trailer park in Florida" now we're TALKING

[poetry-protest-pornography]

This is the best one

[ruffboi-mags]

(in case anyone needs context, since i know there's a bunch of younguns who didn't even know the "It's gonna be May" meme... The song playing is NSync's song "It's Gonna Be Me", the guy in the mint green t-shirt is NSync member Lance Bass, and the guy in the pink hoodie is his husband Michael.)

[luna-azzurra]

Writing advice from someone who's read way too much fanfiction!!

─ .✦ If your villain monologues for more than two paragraphs, your hero should've escaped by now or at least checked their phone. Real people don't wait politely for evil speeches to finish. They interrupt, get bored and say things like "okay but can you get to the point I have dinner plans."

─ .✦ Stop having your characters look in mirrors to describe themselves. Your protagonist doesn't wake up and think "I looked at my reflection and saw my shoulder-length auburn hair and piercing green eyes." They think "ugh I look like death" and move on. Find literally ANY other way.

─ .✦ If every sentence in your action scene is the same length it reads like a grocery list with violence. Short punchy sentences for fast moments. Longer flowing ones when they catch their breath and realize oh god that hurt. Variety is your friend and so is rhythm.

─ .✦ Your character can cry without it being beautiful. Let them be UGLY. Let their face get blotchy and their nose run and their eyes puff up. Let them hiccup and gasp and wipe snot on their sleeve. Crying IS GROSS!

[luna-azzurra]

Underrated Female Character Dynamics

✧ Women who are competitive with each other but it's not catty or about a guy. They're both trying to win the same research grant. They're rival chefs. They're competing for department head. It's professional, it's intense, and they grab drinks after because they're adults.

✧ The "mom friend" who's actually a hot mess in her own life. She's got everyone else's problems solved, therapy-speaking her friends through breakups, but her own apartment? PURE DISASTER. Her love life? CATASTROPHIC. Her sleep schedule? WHAT SCHEDULE????!

✧ Female friendships that survive one of them getting into a relationship. Groundbreaking, I know. Her boyfriend isn't threatened. She doesn't disappear. They still have brunch. Novel concept.

✧ Women who are mentors but not in a "wise old crone" way. She's 32, she's tired, she didn't sign up to be a mentor but here's this younger woman asking questions and dammit, fine, she'll help.

✧ Best friends who don't agree on everything and that's okay. One's a vegetarian, one works at a steakhouse. One wants kids, one doesn't. They're not trying to convert each other, they're just vibing with their differences.

✧ Female characters who are allowed to be mediocre at "feminine" skills. She can't braid hair. Her baking is questionable. She's been wearing the same makeup look since 2015 because she figured it out once and she's not experimenting.

✧ Women supporting other women in weird specific ways. Not just "yas queen." Like, "I'll create a distraction while you steal your ex's Netflix password back" support. "I'll pretend to be your fake reference for this job" energy.

✧ Older woman and younger woman friendships that aren't maternal. They just... like each other? They met at a concert. They bond over niche interests. Age gap but make it friendship, not a lesson.

[luna-azzurra]

List of Character flaws

─ .✦ Stubbornness, Unyielding in one's own views, even when wrong.

─ .✦ Impatience, Difficulty waiting for long-term results.

─ .✦ Self-doubt, Constant uncertainty despite evident abilities.

─ .✦ Quick temper, Excessive reactions to provocations.

─ .✦ Selfishness, Prioritizing one's own needs over others'.

─ .✦ Arrogance, Overestimating one's own abilities.

─ .✦ Trust issues, Difficulty trusting others.

─ .✦ Perfectionism, Setting unreachable high standards.

─ .✦ Fear of change, Avoiding changes.

─ .✦ Haunted by the past, Old mistakes or traumas influencing the present.

─ .✦ Jealousy, Envious of others' successes.

─ .✦ Laziness, Hesitant to exert effort.

─ .✦ Vindictiveness, Strong desire for revenge.

─ .✦ Prejudice, Unfair biases against others.

─ .✦ Shyness, Excessive timidity.

─ .✦ Indecisiveness, Difficulty making decisions.

─ .✦ Vulnerability, Overly sensitive to criticism.

─ .✦ Greed, Strong desire for more (money, power, etc.).

─ .✦ Dishonesty, Tendency to distort the truth.

─ .✦ Recklessness, Ignoring the consequences of one's actions.

─ .✦ Cynicism, Negative attitude and distrust.

─ .✦ Cowardice, Lack of courage in critical moments.

─ .✦ Hotheadedness, Quick, often thoughtless reactions.

─ .✦ Contentiousness, Tendency to provoke conflicts.

─ .✦ Forgetfulness, Difficulty remembering important details.

─ .✦ Kleptomania, Compulsion to steal things.

─ .✦ Hypochondria, Excessive concern about one's health.

─ .✦ Pessimism, Expecting the worst in every situation.

─ .✦ Narcissism, Excessive self-love.

─ .✦ Control freak, Inability to let go or trust others.

─ .✦ Tactlessness, Inability to address sensitive topics sensitively.

─ .✦ Hopelessness, Feeling that nothing will get better.

─ .✦ Dogmatism, Rigidity in one's own beliefs.

─ .✦ Unreliability, Inability to keep promises.

─ .✦ Closed-offness, Difficulty expressing emotions.

─ .✦ Impulsiveness, Acting without thinking.

─ .✦ Wounded pride, Overly sensitive to criticism of oneself.

─ .✦ Isolation, Tendency to withdraw from others.

[iolausian-fields]

𝗫𝗲𝗻𝗮: 𝗪𝗮𝗿𝗿𝗶𝗼𝗿 𝗣𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀 s4e21 - The Ides of March

[finalproblem]

Something happened today.

[memories-of-ancients]

Carved and red lacquered wooden bowl, China, dated 1589

from The MET

[only-tiktoks]

[kawree]

Y'all for real please do these. Even if you're certain your posture doesn't suck. One day you will wake up with impinged shoulder pain like I did and let me tell you it fucking HURTS. Do these exercises even just once a week and it will make such a difference. Especially my fellow creatives out there, stop shrimping over your work and go do these right now. RIGHT NOW.

[symptomesper]

Also, if you’re even a little concerned about getting a hump or having trouble standing fully upright in your old age, this is how you prevent that. If you want to be up and about when you’re old you have to start when you’re younger. And keep in mind there is no bad time to start and it’s never too late. Starting today is way better than never starting at all.

[memories-of-ancients]

Silver mounted miquelet pistol, probably Mexico, late 18th century

from Bonhams