A Penned Galaxy

Sarah, she/her primarily (fine with they/them though), 26. Welcome to my writing blog!

[pennedgalaxy]

Welcome to my blog!

Hi! The name's Sarah, feel free to call me Pen/Penned though! I go with She/her for prounouns primarily but am totally fine with they/them too.

Anyhow! This is my writing blog, I've had this blog for years now but decided to revamp it solely to use for my original writing, here's hoping I get some traction on this thing!

Ask box is open, let's have some fun and get creative peeps!

[doctorfiction]

Is it actually useful to dig bullets out of your own arm in a public restroom in an emergency situation, or is that something that just happens in movies?

About self-surgery in the bathroom of the local Exxon Station… Psychologically we all feel that getting the bullet out will help the problem but generally speaking it is best to let sleeping dogs lie and to bastardize Hamlet, “Get thee to a surgery.” The greatest concerns immediately post gunshot are circulation and airway. You are probably not going to have a breathing problem other than hyperventilation from fear, if you are shot in the arm. Your big concerns are bleeding and nerve damage. Have your character dorsiflex (hyper extend) his wrist, make an “O” with his thumb and index finger, spread his fingers apart, and then smile when he realizes everything is still hooked up. He flexes his arm a few times to see if blood is spurting or just oozing. If its just oozing, cover with a wad of moist paper towels, tear of a shirt sleeve and wrap tight enough to apply pressure to the wad of paper towel, but not tight enough to constrict. Have the character check the pulse at his wrist and note the color and temperature of his arm. If the arm is cold, pale white, numb or the nerve check is bad, your character has problems and needs to find his/her buddy who is an EMT.

The only indication for digging out the bullet would be if the bleeding is uncontrollable, otherwise, the bullet may actually be tamponading the tissue and slowing the bleeding at this point. Infection is later concern. The wound will ultimately need attention and the character will need antibiotics, but he has a few hours to worry about that.

If the bullet does need to come out, no probing with a pocket knife. Consider having him pour rubbing alcohol over a pair of “needle nose” pliers (from the nearest convenience store,) and then gently probe the wound path until he feels the metallic click of the plier’s tip on the bullet. He can then try to open the pliers, grasp the bullet and retrieve it. Apply firm pressure for 5 minutes and observe. If no bleeding he can do the towel and shirtsleeve thing. If significant bleeding, have him apply as much direct pressure as necessary to stanch the bleeding.

If your character is in the habit of being shot, he may carry a “Bloodstopper” product. They are small, useful, and I have them nearby all the time. The powder can be sprinkled on and will help with clotting. There is a product that you can insert directly into the wound track, “ouch,” that has the same chemical. They can buy your character some time.

[maggie-stiefvater-deactivated20]

Writers, here’s a fun resource: a real life doctor helping writers with medical details in their novels-in-progress.

[authorincrisis]

writing dialogue

The dialogue in your story is crucial to several factors that ultimately define the tale, including but not limited to character development, plot advancement, and description. It is one of the three main components of writing and should most definitely be kept in mind when proceeding with your tasks. Below, I’ve written some things to keep in mind when you are allowing your characters to converse and strategies that can help with accomplishing those goals.

1) Conversations should be natural and consistent: Nothing should sound like something your character wouldn’t say. For example, if your protagonist is meant to be serious and dark, they shouldn’t be saying ‘OMG, L8S ALIG8ERS, SEE Y'ALL RIGHT AFTER I FINISH MY HOURLY STARBUCKS RUN AFTER PILATES AT THREE. LUV YA AAAHHHHH!’ every three seconds. Yes, characters are complex and have unique moments depending on the circumstance, but even with that, they must remain consistent. Another note regarding this is that if your character does not sound natural or human, something must be altered.

2) Characters should have their own voices: If they all begin to sound monotone and the same, your story likely is as well. Everyone has a different thinking/speaking process, and that should accompany them throughout the tale. (I mean, life isn’t one character, is it? Imagine how horrid it would be if we were all just one)

3) Avoid small talk: You should definitely keep in some moments that show your characters are still human but if it isn’t necessary towards understanding/advancing the plot or characters, get rid of it. No one wants to hear about Carter’s new bedsheets, regardless of what snazzy patterns they have.

4) DIalogue is important, but it isn’t the whole story: Let actions show what happens rather than your character talking it all out. Better yet, mix them (narration + dialogue) for the best effect.

5) Don’t always use names: It isn’t natural. Only do this when capturing another character’s attention or to make a point.

6) Using said is okay: We don’t always scream, fume, pout, or sob. Sometimes, we just say, and that is completely okay! (More natural too) If not, however, here’s a post that can help.

7) Stutter Realistically: “I-I d-d-don’t e-ev-ever st-stutter l-like th-this-is. Instead, this is how I - how I stutter.”

8) Remember your dialogue tags: If you cannot tell who is speaking, it’s time to plug one of them in. It doesn’t hurt to add a ‘Sarah said’ from time to time so go ahead and do it! Maybe you know what you’re talking about inside of your mind, but your audience doesn’t.

9) Don’t talk too much: Sometimes, actions are stronger than words. If instinct calls for it, do it.

10) Proper punctuation: This is very important for readers, publishers, yourself, everybody. Here’s a quick guide that can help.

If you are struggling with any of these, the best way for a fix is to just read your writing out loud. From there, pick out lines and phrases, highlight them, and go off. Make changes as you recall previous interactions in your head and keep working on fitting it into the description and narration. Watch out for the things above and repeat this for as long as you need - in my experience, it usually makes for a pretty good session. If you have any questions, do not hesitate to ask and as always, I hope that this could help. Cheers!

[justawritingaid]

The Many Kinds of Narrative Hooks

A Narrative Hook is the opening line of a story, named for how the purpose is to grab the reader and make them want to keep reading, whereas the Full Opening consists of a few paragraphs to a few pages, depending on the length of piece, and contains the hook as its starting point. It’s important to have a strong opening line because it’s the first true impression a reader will have of your story. They may read the summary, but a summary does not form an impression as much as an expectation. It gives the reader an overview and exists outside the story; the hook is where the important content actually begins.

A strong hook can take many different forms and there are plenty of options to choose from, but all of those potential options have one things in common: they need to properly introduce the story. A strong hook does not lie to a reader, starting off bold and wacky when the rest of the book fails to keep up, or insightful when the theme never appears again. “Shock value” is cheap unless the rest of the book continues to reflect it. A hook is the first door the reader opens, and there is a big difference between a hook that’s genuinely bad versus one that’s just not in-your-face. It’s true that a bold hook is more likely to grab readers from the get-go, but if the rest of the story can’t hold up to that hook then it’s a failed story. A hook is not meant to lie about what’s to come or be the “best line ever”– good hooks all depend on the story they introduce.

Organization of the types of hooks vary and there’s no singular way to draw lines around the options, but I tend to classify hooks in three different categories: “bold statements”, “story setting”, and “straight to the point”.

1. Bold statements.

Bold lines are usually thought of as creating shock, confusion, and/or comedy, all forms of immediate intrigue solely based on the specific line. When using any kind of this opener, make sure it actually fits the story as a starting point. A lot of shallow advice likes to tote the bold statement as the best option ever, but in reality it’s not the best choice for every story and can make the writer easily come off as trying too hard if it falls flat.

The absurd/confusing at first glance.

It was a pleasure to burn.

- Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury:

On its own, that line has many varying implications from the ambiguity. Is the narrator burning? Is he doing the burning? Can this be taken literally? It’s an unexpected line. Then, the following sentence provides more context and the reader learns that that the character is burning something, and by the end of the paragraph they learn that he’s burning books.

When using this kind of line, you need to explain it at some point within that full opening, preferably within that first paragraph. It also needs to make some form of sense on its own and naturally flow into the following lines. Stories that start best with absurd/confusing first lines tend to be on the odd side, or at the very least can consistently provide the same level of boldness and type of interest that the line generates.

The information tease.

In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I’ve been turning over in my mind ever since.

- The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

What’s the advice that’s causing a clear disruption in the narrator’s mind? That word choice of “more vulnerable years” even raises questions about characterization.  

Almost any story can start with an info tease, but it usually finds its easiest home with stories that constantly work with questions, mysteries, or have a focus on learning information over time. This line also requires an explanation, though depending on subject matter it doesn’t have to be in the opening if it fits the plot to leave it be for a bit and the story can still have a strong opening without the info. You can introduce a question that the narrator themselves is still trying to figure out or have a more contained tease where the info is given right after it’s mentioned.  

*The voice.

If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you’ll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don’t feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth.

- The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

When you have a narrator with a strong voice then a bolder opening line can introduce them well and give the reader a good impression of who they’re going to be “listening to” for the rest of the book. However, you need to make sure you’re not just taking refuge in audacity and thinking that automatically makes it good. All bold openings still need to fit the story and make sense to be the intro.

*This option can very easily be thought of as its own category in general, because it’s possible to integrate it into every single other option. It’s placed under “bold statements” because it’s a bold and direct statement of character to write with a strong voice.

Keep reading

[oscarfuckingwilde]

This is great overall but the 1984 one is more than just “Facts, facts, facts”, because the whole point of it is that clocks don’t actually strike thirteen, they only go up to twelve and then start over, so it’s used to suggest to the reader that something is off.

[justawritingaid]

“Some hooks can have multiple effects so those categories aren’t meant to be thought of as rigid”

It’s even bolded in the post.

[dynamicsymmetry]

Good stuff.

[tarysande]

Guys, I edit professionally. This list is legit. Incorporating these suggestions before you hire an editor will save you A LOT of money. Even if you did these and nothing else, you’d see significant overall improvement in your work.

That said, you don’t have to overthink these things when you’re writing a first draft. If you write, “she said angrily” in a first draft, you can always revisit the phrasing in a second draft. I mention this because overthinking style can lead to a loss of momentum, and losing momentum is why so many people never finish a draft. Give yourself permission to write fast, write messy or ugly, and edit your draft into beauty later.

[hokkyokuro]

Character mannerisms to consider!

Mannerisms, in this case, are the little details that are unique to each character of your story! These are perfect ways help the reader know more about your character’s personality without needing to read through multiple sentences of description or dialogue. Mannerisms also become incredibly useful when you need to convey things like social status, upbringing, mental health status and how they interact with the world/people around them.

There are hundreds of unique ways to use mannerisms, for example linking one character to another despite their lack of interaction in the story. The dialogue and description might point to Character A having never met Character B, but they might share the same mannerisms, which would hint to some kind of past link between the pair.

How much space do they take up? Do they spread out when they sit or stay curled-up? Do they flail their arms to gesture? Do they speak loudly or quietly? Who listens when they speak up? Do they make a sound when they move?

How does your character sleep? What position? Do they sleep restlessly or soundly? Do they prefer covers, or do they sleep without?

How does your character greet people? Are they welcoming or reserved? How genuine are they being?

How much do they mirror others? Do they mirror everyone? (Mirroring is a subconscious behaviour where two+ people in a conversation will copy one another’s body language. This usually means there is a connection of some kind being made. Lack of / exaggerated mirroring might indicate towards a mental disorder or other (ex: personality disorder, neurodiversity, anxiety etc)

Which part of their body is the most expressive? Does your character use their hands a lot or do they tuck them away? Do they need movement to ground themselves (swaying, rocking, fidgetting…)?

Who would your character turn to in a group of people for comfort? Would they acknowledge that person more? Would they engage in a conversation with only them or would they just glance their way?

Do they have a re-occuring habit to indicate a mood? Do they crack their knuckles when excited? Do they bite their lip ring when angry? Do they look at their hands when sad?

How do they gesture? Do they speak with their hands? Do they point, nod or use their eyes to show something? Which movements are conscious, and which aren't?

Do they have a comfort item or person? Is there something they always think of? Is there something they hold with care? How much do they value that thing more than others?

How would they react to another person’s misfortune? Would their eyes light up? Would their heart hurt? How genuine would they feel? How genuine would they act?

Is there anything that makes them OOC (out of character)? (This is a good thing! One tiny OOC aspect can make a huge impact on that character) Perhaps they’re cruel but love cats? Perhaps they’re known for being the kindest but smile when they think of something tragic? How often do they act strangely? Do they do it in front of anyone? Do their actions indicate this or solely their thoughts?

I hope this helps you develop your characters! If you have anything to add, feel free to do so!

[kedreeva]

People keep requesting to add my fic to collections and I don’t know if they know this, and I don’t know if people who allow their own stories know this, but once you add your story to a collection, the owner of the collection can perform fuckery with your story.

Like, I’m REALLY glad that collections exist, and I’ve put my work into some collections when I made those things specifically for those collectuons. Collections are a useful tool for things like bangs, where the stories need to be hidden until the reveal….. but that also means that the person in charge has the ability to hide your works from the public. Like, without you agreeing, because you already “agreed” to that by submitting to the collection. Which means works you previously had available suddenly disappear from where people can find them.

What I’m saying is please stop random requests to random people to be in your random collections. I know you probably don’t have ill intentions, but there’s no way to tell. And if you’re getting requests to be part of random collections, please be aware that if you approve them, you won’t be the only one in control of some elements of your posted stories, including whether or not they “exist” to the average reader. If they mark the collection as “unrevealed,” you story stops being accessible to the public. And they have the option to mark the collection “anonymous” which I’m pretty sure turns the author from being You to being Anonymous.

And I say all of this because I have seen this happen to people. I have had friends whose stories “disappeared” because they approved a random collection invite and the collection owner turned everything “unrevealed” (likely without even knowing or understanding that it would hide it for EVERYONE not just hide the collection so no one would see they had it, it’s not like a private bookmark). And while I haven’t seen anyone do this maliciously (at least none I can prove) I can see where it could be USED maliciously. So please, just be careful out there.

I wish AO3 had a way to auto decline collection invites- they gave us a way to auto-accept, so I don’t understand why the opposite isn’t true. If I wanted my story to be part of a collection, I’d submit it myself.

[kedreeva]

Uhh okay, so someone replied to this that they didn’t know how to remove a work from a collection. 

Copy and past the following link, and where it says “yourusernamehere” type in your AO3 pseud.

https://archiveofourown.org/users/yourusernamehere/collection_items?approved=true

This should take you to a page where your works that have been approved for collections resides. You can remove your works from collections by selecting “rejected” instead from the drop down menus.

If the direct link doesn’t work: go to your AO3 dashboard, click “collections” on the side bar, click “manage collected items” button at the top right, click “approved” button at the top right, and you’ll be at the right page to remove your works from collections.

[shamelesslymkp]

hey! so from someone who tried her hand at making a collection to collect fics centered around a specific theme, I found out a super cool thing! you can create collections of bookmarks.

want to add a fic you love to that super-specific collection you made for Fics With Werewolves Set In London? bookmark it and add the bookmark to your collection! 

no fuss, no muss, no permission required from the author (since it’s YOUR bookmark), no chance of fucking up their fic (since it’s YOUR bookmark), presto chango, you have a collection that rocks but doesn’t rock a poor fic writer’s boat!

[kedreeva]

Thank you for this info, this is very valuable (and relieving) knowledge.

So please, as readers, this is a MUCH BETTER option!!

And in the notes I have found several other things:

Some people have wondered why this is a thing, or if it’s a bug. This is a FEATURE not a bug. The collections feature is often used for things like big/mini/reverse bangs, fic exchanges, challenges etc where authors and/or artists and/or other fannish content creators submit their work early to the collection and the collection is left unrevealed until the set public reveal date of the event.

This is a GREAT feature. We LIKE this feature A LOT. It’s just that if you aren’t aware of this feature and what it can do, it can negatively affect you outside of those purposeful situations.

Someone confirmed that the “mark collection anonymous” feature does turn the story from being written by you to being written by anonymous.

You can also remove your work from a collection if you go to the “edit” page of the story (not edit chapter, but the main edit), scrolling to where it says “post to collections/challenges” and clicking the (x) by the collection you want to remove the work from. If you only have one or two stories in collections this is fine; if you have a lot, the manage collections page will let you do them all at once.

You can check if your story has been affected by logging out and going to your works page. If your work in the collection is not visible (and you have not marked it as “must be logged in to see”) then it may be that the collection is unrevealed.

Someone suggested that the bookmark collection feature would be a great way to make a private collection, since you can make bookmarks private.

I checked and found that authors cannot remove a bookmarked story from a collection. This makes sense, as bookmarks are not FOR the author, they’re for the reader. They are reader spaces.

You do not have to own a collection to add a bookmark to it.

If you, as a writer, have your story in a collection currently and you would like your story to still be able to be found in that collection without the risk of your story “disappearing” if the collection is made private, you can create a bookmark of your own story, and add it to the collection before removing your actual story from the collection (providing the collection is not closed).

If you do the above, you can link to the collections your story belongs to in the notes of your story (beginning or end notes) if you’d like to foster folks in the community being able to find similar stories easily. Slightly more work on your part, BUT a boon to fandom community as a whole because it will allow for readers and writers to collaborate and maintain networks of stories. Adding your story as a bookmark is also something you can do if someone requests that you add your story to their collection- if you want to reject the request to add the story, you can then add a bookmark for them after, and a link to the collection in your story notes.

Collection owners should get an email when bookmarks are added to your collections that you didn’t add (providing you have selected the option “Send a message to the collection email when a work is added” in the collection settings).

If someone adds a bookmark to your collection that you do not want them to add, you can just go to the manage collection items page and reject it, which will remove it from your collection.

Alternately, you can switch your collection to “moderated” instead, and it will cause your collection to require you to approve additions BEFORE they are added, so you can still monitor what goes into your collection.

Alternately, you can prevent anyone from having the option to add anything to your collection by selecting the “collection is closed” option in the collection settings.

If your works are in collections currently with no problems, there’s no reason to panic. You don’t have to remove your works unless you want to. Most people really are just grouping up works with no ill intent. I just wanted folks to be aware of what it means for you to be in a collection, and give anyone that needs it the tools to fix it if it does become a problem. And also to make folks who DO make collections aware that they should not be marking those collections unrevealed or anon because it screws with the writers.

I want to be VERY CLEAR and say again that the ability to turn stories unrevealed/anon is a FEATURE of the site. It is a really, really great tool for events. It is NOT AO3 that is the problem here; the shift in how users use the feature is what causes this to become a problem. This feature is supposed to be for collections, challenges, exchanges, etc. It was not originally intended to be a way for users to group their favorite stories. But humans, being the creative little shits that we are, were given a toolset and found a way to use it that benefits us. Unfortunately, the toolset includes tools which can be harmful to some if people aren’t aware how and why to use those tools, or use them without permission. This is just a PSA on what tools exist, how they can be used, and what risks there are for using them.

[writingmaz]

Writing Tips

Punctuating Dialogue

✧

➸ “This is a sentence.”

➸ “This is a sentence with a dialogue tag at the end,” she said.

➸ “This,” he said, “is a sentence split by a dialogue tag.”

➸ “This is a sentence,” she said. “This is a new sentence. New sentences are capitalized.”

➸ “This is a sentence followed by an action.” He stood. “They are separate sentences because he did not speak by standing.”

➸ She said, “Use a comma to introduce dialogue. The quote is capitalized when the dialogue tag is at the beginning.”

➸ “Use a comma when a dialogue tag follows a quote,” he said.

“Unless there is a question mark?” she asked.

“Or an exclamation point!” he answered. “The dialogue tag still remains uncapitalized because it’s not truly the end of the sentence.”

➸ “Periods and commas should be inside closing quotations.”

➸ “Hey!” she shouted, “Sometimes exclamation points are inside quotations.”

However, if it’s not dialogue exclamation points can also be “outside”!

➸ “Does this apply to question marks too?” he asked.

If it’s not dialogue, can question marks be “outside”? (Yes, they can.)

➸ “This applies to dashes too. Inside quotations dashes typically express—“

“Interruption” — but there are situations dashes may be outside.

➸ “You’ll notice that exclamation marks, question marks, and dashes do not have a comma after them. Ellipses don’t have a comma after them either…” she said.

➸ “My teacher said, ‘Use single quotation marks when quoting within dialogue.’”

➸ “Use paragraph breaks to indicate a new speaker,” he said.

“The readers will know it’s someone else speaking.”

➸ “If it’s the same speaker but different paragraph, keep the closing quotation off.

“This shows it’s the same character continuing to speak.”

[pennedgalaxy]

Soulmate AU ideas

Okay so I was talking with my friends about soulmate AUs and we got to talking about soulmate tattoos. Primarily the ones where the last thing your soulmate says is tattooed on your skin. Here are some of my ideas.

Polyamorous tattoos.

Tattoos in sign language.

Pro-tattoo factions and anti-tattoo factions. In my world/universe the pro-tattoo faction was called The Red String Foundation, the anti-tattoo faction was called The Broken Cord Coalition.

Reincarnation set in a soulmate tattoo universe. They keep dying before they can have a relationship.

Soulmates meet on the battlefield and one of the soldiers kills the other and then realises they were their soulmate.

Aromantics either have no words, or their soulmate is someone who is/would have been their best friend, it depends on the individual.

Museums showing the history of soulmate tattoos, caveman carvings with them in, ancient murals with them in, etc...

Teenagers using drugs together to have near death experiences to see if their partner is their soulmate.

Serial killers who kill people to see if they are ‘the one’