A Place Were I Write

A blog for posting my writing.

[oliviapaigewrites-deactivated20]

THIS IS AN IMPORTANT ONE! Don’t ignore this in your writing!

[rose-writes]

Self Discovery

For as long as I could remember, I’ve had a love for music. It has always been a big part of my life and whoever I listen to, expressed exactly how I felt at the time. It was my last three years of high school that I started to question who I really was. There are three main artists that played a big part in who I am today.

Up until my sophomore year, I mainly listened to Christian music and whatever music that was being played at the middle school dances. Throughout middle school, I mainly listened to what everyone was listening to at the time. I didn’t start to explore what music genre I really liked until my freshmen year of high school. I would always listen to what everyone else was listening to. In my hometown, there were two high schools that a majority of the kids would go to, one private, the other public. When it was my time to decide where to go, I chose the private school, I wanted to be with the people I knew in kindergarten. At first, it was fun and great, I was around people I knew since forever. As time on, my friends and I grew apart; I was so naive to think they would be my friends forever. Around the time my great grandma passed away, I found out when it was close to winter break, when my mom told me, my soul was crushed. I felt as if my heart was being ripped out of my chest. She and I were super close, and by the end of the year, I was slowly slipping into depression. Those last few months of my freshman year were pretty hard, but when finals started I had something to keep me afloat: music. The first band I really got into was, Paramore, all thanks to a friend.

That friend was named Rae, she always loved to dress in dark colors all the time. She was about my height, skin the color of clay, and had hair that was about my height, skin the color of clay, and had hair that was an ebony black. Her hair looked like the wings of a raven. Rae introduced me to her three favorite genres: pop punk, punk, and alternative music. One of the bands she showed me was Paramore and I fell in love with them. They instantly became my favorite; I related to some of their songs. As a birthday gift, my parents got me tickets to see them live a month before my actual birthday. When I went to the show I was having the most fun I had in months; I felt like was on cloud nine. For my next year of high school, I decided to go to public school, I wanted a fresh start. While I was still at the private school, towards the end my freshman year, I started to push people away. So I thought it was the best time to have a clean slate.

At the start, I didn’t have any friends, but then when I went to sixth period I ran into someone I have not seen since eighth grade. That person was Clover, I was his first friend. He moved from New York to Texas. In the beginning were good friends, but by the end of eighth grade, we drifted apart. Thanks to having at least one class together we started to reconnect, and by the end of sophomore year, we were closer than ever. Roll around to our junior year, and I became interested in the music he would listen to. One of his favorites was Halsey, he thought she was really cool. During our junior and senior year, we had a couple together, one being our favorite, Theatre. He introduced me to a lot of artists just like Hasley.

Two out of the many he showed me, Troye Sivan and Hayley Kiyoko, I really like them the most. At the I didn’t know why I liked them so much, that was until the school year was over. Over the summer after listening to them, I started to question who I was and wanted to be. The more I listened to Halsey, Troye Sivan, and Hayley Kiyoko, the more I felt I related to them somehow. As time wore on during my senior year, I start to realize who I really am. That I am not straight, but that I am queer.

[kurokoros]

Ok so I'm going to read your fic and *try* to comment on each chapter, but it's getting late for me so I might not comment until tomorrow. I hope some reviews will help you feel better. Sorry about your work situation, jobs that overwork you and get you hurt to boot are no fun I know. P.S I'm only about halfway done chapter one but so far your exposition is incredible. Something I'm jealous of, I suck at writing info-dumps :P

Ye, I’m pretty sure I’m going to end up bleeding every day I work and that’s going to suck lmao

To avoid info-dumps just try to space things out. If it isn’t immediately relevant or super important to the point where things wouldn’t make sense without it, cut it from the chapter and include it later. Don’t try too hard to push world building, letting it come when it wants.

[kurokoros]

You know, this is why content creators end up abandoning their works, right?

80 likes compared to 10 reblogs means that only 12% of people decided that what you did is worth showing other people.

If you like the thing, reblog it. You don’t even have to add tags, just spread it so that a) other people can see it, and b) the creator gets recognition for what they did.

Obviously, those numbers are never going to match, but the divide should not be that huge.

It’s even more important right now, because tumblr is garbage and they’ve stopped allowing anything with an outside link from appearing in tags. Writers/artists cannot tag things to their twitter/store/writing website. That can cause a significant drop in views, especially for newer creators.

Like… we aren’t asking for much. A few reblogs. Reviews/comments. No creator should have to beg for that much.

[babyboy-dan]

Shout out to the fic writers that struggle to get 25+ notes on their 2k+ word one-shots

Shout out to the fic writers that consistently put out fics and still don’t get many notes

Shout out to the fic writers that constantly mess up grammar and spelling simple words we all do that we’re human

Shout out to the fic writers who write beautifully sculpted, 50k+ word chaptered fics and don’t get any feedback (or again, many notes)

Shout out to the fic writers who are insecure about their writing and never get any feedback they think will help them improve their writing

Y’all fic writers are awesome and deserve so much recognition

[lostlegendaerie]

Tips on Writing Characters Without Faces

so yeah, we all know that facial expressions can tell us a lot about how a character is feeling, but what if that isn’t an option? how can you make someone emote if they don’t really have standard facial features? the answer; body language.

let’s consider how emotions are conveyed on a stage production vs movie with Sweeney Todd. First, the stage play:

Note how Todd’s entire upper body goes into his gestures, how he’s single-mindedly focused on his dreams and ideals; how his hands GRAB for each imaginary ‘man’ with these sharp, aggressive, destructive movements and how that contrasts with Mrs. Lovett’s body language; how her hands linger in the air and gravitate towards Todd even after he’s pulled away, and the slow turn she gives him. It does an excellent, though exaggerated, way of conveying their relationship (her focus is on him and making him happy, his focus is entirely on revenge)

Contrast this to the movie:

Same lines in the song, much more subtle. Lovett’s eyes still track towards Todds, which reminds us she’s still more focused on the outside, but all of the emotion is in their faces. Were this not a close-up shot in a movie it’d be very, very hard to read their expressions.

While I do recommend you watch a few stage plays (in person near the back row if you can) to actually study body language for yourself or try out charades with your face covered with friends/watch how cosplayers or mascots emote, here’s a few shorthands to get you started (US-centric so expressions may vary on your region):

Head:

perfectly still - fear, intense attention, feeling under scrutiny

tilted up - recollection, intimidation (looking down nose at threat, aiming to appear taller)

tilted down - intense thought, shame (avoiding eye contact), depression/sad feelings

turned away - not giving person full attention, avoiding subject/conflict without being combative

cocker-spaniel (sideways) tilt - confusion, curiosity, amusement

Hands

at the forehead - fatigue (wiping away sweat), illness (checking self for fever, feeling a headache), realization/memory (a ‘well duh’ tap)

at the eyes - fatigue or headache (shielding eyes from light), distress (blocking out a painful view, concealing tears)

at the nose - disgust (a pinch at the nostrils,) irritation (rubbing at sore spot on nose from glasses wear)

at the mouth - nausea, surprise, repressing an emotion/stopping self from saying something

at the chin - contemplation, tiredness (face resting in hand)

rubbing back of neck - a need to relax tension, embarrassment, slight unease/desire to distract self

at the chest - surprise, self-protection (reaction to a wounding statement, sometimes used sarcastically), strong emotions (clutching at heart, could be good-strong or bad-strong), need for security (touching necklace/adjusting clothing to conceal more)

at the stomach - pain (clutching, pressing), satisfaction after a meal, protectiveness towards fetus when applicable

at the hip(s) - confidence, intimidation, nervousness (if grabbing for weapon)

at groin - concealment/unease (usually male-coded as protection of genitals), politeness (hands folded in lap)

on thighs - exhaustion (bent over, hands on legs supporting tired upper body)

formed into fists - holding back an intense emotion, preparing to fight

toying with something - restlessness (bored, nervous energy, craving something they can’t touch) or deliberate disrespect of property (playing with personal objects someone holds dear as an intimidation tactic)

Arms

at sides, relaxed - default posture

at sides, tense - unease, restraint (soldier at attention, person holding still to avoid being attacked), fear

crossed at chest - disapproval, displaying authority, unease (hugging oneself)

crossed at stomach - pain, intense laughter (caused by sore stomach muscles from laughing)

up, fingers laced behind head - confidence, relaxation

one arm on back of furniture - confidence, invitation for someone join them

general rule - the further arms are away from body, the more confident/dominant a person means to appear; exposed torso indicates that they don’t see anyone around as a threat to them

Legs

square with shoulders - professional, restraint, protective stance

wide stance, one foot a little back but planted - defensive stance, expecting to receive blows (knees may be unlocked - seen in swordplay and fencing)

weight on one leg - relaxed, tired, may also be leaning on something or pair with one ankle tucked behind the other

uneven stance - could indicate old injury

foot tapping/bouncing - boredom, nervous energy

Whole Body:

stiff and still - fear, unease, standing to attention

limp or pliant - relaxed, tired, pleased

shoulders back/head up - alert, focused, aggressive

shoulders forward, hunched - tired, ashamed

leaning towards person - interest, intimidation (looming over them), aggression (usually paired with tense arms or hands in fists,)

leaning away from person - relaxation, confidence, disgust (recoiling)

smooth/fluid movements - joy, confidence, experience

stiff motions - fear (reactive, fight or flight), pain (reluctance to move), anger (either fighting to keep control of emotions or lashing out), cold (conservation of heat by keeping limbs near body)

cracking joints/stretching - preparing for a fight, often reading as confidence in abilities

general rule - close contact/proximity can read as intimidation (paired with tense body - an invasion of personal space) or affection (paired with relaxaed body language, gentle movement) or passion/attraction while distance can read unease/distaste/fear/dislike.

with those in mind, let’s read this scene from Red vs Blue (a personal fav of mine for body language) featuring agent texas from season 8.

So first of all, very relaxed upper body; limp arms held away from the body, which slowly come back to rest on her hips as she looks at what she’s done. Watch how her lean shifts at the end as her center of gravity shifts, and how she has to move her right leg to restabilize herself when she’s finished pushing it. This reads, in order from the start of the loop; detachment (the least amount of her body is involved in the action as possible), relaxation (smooth movements, the deliberation of those little steps backwards) and confidence (hands on hips.) We can tell a ton about this character just in this gif alone, based on her body language.

in summary! this list isn’t exhaustive, but hopefully it gives you some ideas for ways of making characters emote in fics when you can’t see their faces.

[rose-writes]

Nightmares (Spring Moon One Shot)

•word count: 712•

The forest was silent and still, I took a deep breath. We been walking for what felt like hours. My feet felt like they were about to give.

“We should probably stop here for the night and set camp.”, Lunar said.

“Good idea Lu. Those three trees over here are good to tie the canopy to.”

“Alright I’ll set it up, while I’m doing this can you go look for fire wood? And get some herbs for the tea?”

“Sure thing.” I replied as I set my backpack on the ground and grab my small satchel from the front zipper.

“And one more thing don’t call me Lu.”

“Alright whatever you say, Lu…”

She looked over her shoulder and gave the look. I flashed her a cheeky smile and chuckled.

“Okay sorry Lu…” I say as she throw a small pine cone at my shoulder “okay, okay I’m going.” She just rolled her eyes then turned around and went back to work. And then with that I went to go get what we needed.

After about ten minutes of getting the wood and the herbs I headed back. When I came back the canopy was all set up.

But Lunar wasn’t there.

At first I didn’t think much of it. She might have gone to go to the bathroom. But after I set up the fire, I started to get worried. It was getting dark quickly. It’s not safe especially in the forest at night alone. So I got up and started to call her name.

“Lu! Lu! Lu where are you? Come on Lunar this isn’t funny.”

Just after I finished that sentence I realize that she is not one to joke around. I pulled myself out of my thoughts and realized I’m back at our camp again. The first two times this I didn’t think much of it. But this is fifth time I’ve ended up here. It’s like I’m in a loop that’s getting replayed over, over and over again. Ugh. This is getting frustrating. I fall to my knees, facing up to the sky. Lunar where are you?

“Lunar!”

I yelled into the darkness. I can’t believe this happening. I can’t lose her too… I just can’t. No, I have to hold it together, I have to be strong. For her I have to. I take a deep breath and then stand up…

“April!”

I look frantically for a sign of her but nothing.

“Lunar!”

“April!”

“Is that you?”

Nothing. Nothing but darkness. Then a bloodcurdling scream cuts though the darkness. I take off running towards it. Then in the sea of darkness I see her. Lunar’s back is facing me, we’re about a few feet. I slow down and then stop.

“Lunar thank the cosmos you are okay,”

Just when I’m about to reach over and tap her shoulder. She disappears for a split second then reappeared. And now she is less than a foot away front of me. Her eyes that once were a beautiful purple are now pitch black.

Lifeless and empty.

Then in a whisper she says “April why? Why did you leave me?”

I didn’t I try to say but no words come out. I put my hand on her shoulder but it goes right through. In horror I try to say her name but nothing. Please no… please this can’t be happening.

“April… April?”

Lunar starts to fade. Then darkness absolute darkness.

“April? Wake up… please wake up.”

I shot right up from my pallet; my face wet with sweat. Sitting next to me is Lunar with her hand rubbing my back. I take a deep breath, relieved it was only a nightmare. Lunar is looking at me with a stressed expression on her face.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah I’m okay. You can go back to sleep.”

“No you’re not.”

She reaches over to wipe away the my tears but I grabbed her hand.

“You’re crying so aren’t.”

Before I can say anything she pulls me into a hug.

“It’s just a nightmare everything will be okay. You know you can tell me anything okay.”

She pulls away and I nod. I place my head on her shoulder. We both look up to the trees and the starry night sky.

“Together?”

“Together.“

Fin~

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So what do you guys think? :3 I’d love to hear you guys’ input

[cherrybombs-and-rabbitholes-dea]

IF. YOU. READ. A. FANFIC. WRITTEN. BY. SOMEONE. FOR. FREE. PRESS. THE. LIKE. BUTTON. OR. LEAVE. THEM. A. REPLY.

IF. YOU. DO. NOT. DO. THIS. ON. TUMBLR. THEN. THE. AUTHOR. DOES. NOT. KNOW. IT. HAS. BEEN. READ. AND. WILL. MORE. THAN. LIKELY. GET. DISHEARTENED. AND. STOP.

[rose-writes]

Ugh I really want to write :(

[rose-writes]

Yet I can’t think of anything 

[rose-writes]

Ugh I really want to write :(

[thehikingastronomer]

Hey, Writers

Yes, you. You, with the pen in hand, the laptop atop your lap. You, with the scribbles and the scrawls. You with the tappity-taps and clickity-clicks. You, with the eraser marks. You, with the red and green squiggles. You, who knows a piece of written paper equals a little more than half a typed page. You, who knows 50,000 words is about 100 regular pages. You, who doesn’t know how to spell a word because you’ve only heard it spoken, but never seen it written. You, who stuffed your work in the attic drawer. You, who saved your story inside a chain of files so nobody would read it by accident.

Your writing is important. Don’t give up.

[cluegrrl]

Your writing is important even if you’re not one of those who has the energy and social skills to make yourself popular.

Your writing is important even if you’re shy and can’t really introduce yourself well, or broadcast your achievements to the world so people know how to find you.

Your writing is important even if you accidentally offended that one really popular person and now nobody who likes them will read your stuff, let alone comment.

Your writing is important even if you aren’t good at writing to fic prompts, and never make half of a ficlet bingo card, and are afraid to join Big Bangs or gift exchanges.

Your writing is important even if there’s only a handful of people who like your ship/fandom/angle on such and such a character, and they’re always the only ones who talk to you about it.

Your writing is important even if the people you read never bother to read your work, and they never say why.

Your writing is important because You. Are. Writing!  Not because you are shilling it everywhere and tapdancing to win the attention of readers who might possibly leave you a comment but only if they think you’re cute.

Your writing is important because it brings something into the world that was not previously there.  Because it gives you a voice that outlasts you.  Because someone, somewhere, needs to read what you are writing, even if they never scratch up the courage to say so.  Your writing is important because every time you do it, even if you don’t publish a word of what you write, you are learning something new.  Something that will make the next thing you write even better.

Your writing, my darlings, is important.

Because.

[acebarduil]

August 21st: Fanfiction Writers Appreciation Day

[bettsfic]

I think this is a great idea! Also maybe we could rec our favorite fics on our blogs that day too? Mass sharing!

I’ll probs queue up fic recs to post that day. Sounds good?

[luninosity]

oooh! do this! :D :D

It is not surprising news that fanfiction writers are highly underappreciated.

There’s something wrong with the numbers: let’s take a popular fic with almost 4k hits. For let’s say 700 readers, it will get about 50 comments and 300 Kudos (those numbers are just an example, sometimes it’s worse than that). Maybe I’m being too kind, maybe not, but things stay the same; there’s something wrong here. Can you see it?

It takes us days, weeks, sometimes months to write a story for you. We write for ourselves yes, but we also write to share. We write to offer you content about your favourite characters. We write to bring our and your ships to life. It takes you a fraction of second to leave a Kudos, ten seconds to one, two or a few minutes to leave a comment.

And here lies our problem: there’s no proper sharing if there’s no proper feedback. An author not getting comments is generally a sad author. If I didn’t get feedback I’d wonder what’s the point in keeping on writing. A comment makes a writer’s day, most of the time even motivates them to write more.

Another important thing thrandythefabulous and I noticed: why on Earth do so many readers don’t comment (even kudos) if the fic has been up for a little more than a week or two? Why? Your feedback is still welcomed and much appreciated.

We write for ourselves, but also we write for you. And sadly, many readers are being quite… ungrateful, when giving feedback is the least they can do to thank the people offering them stories for free.

So, before we get started on our little day, let’s talk about comments:

It doesn’t matter if other readers already said what you wanted to say, we’ll still love reading it again in your words.

It doesn’t matter the fic has been up for weeks or months or years; comments on those ones are unexpected and so, it makes them ever better.

It doesn’t matter if you don’t have much to say, we’ll be glad anyway.

Most authors leave the comment section open to people who don’t have an AO3 account, which means you can still… comment! How amazing is that.

That brings us to our little Fanfiction Writers Appreciation Day.

The point of this day is simple; on August 21st, writers and readers alike would go on AO3 (or any fanfiction website really), on Tumblr, and leave a comment on their favourite fics (even the fics they enjoyed!) and/or send their authors a message about their works.

It doesn’t matter if you’ve already or never commented. It doesn’t matter if the author doesn’t know about this post. It doesn’t matter if the author already knows how much you love their work.

Just let writers know you love the fics they write for you, simple as that!

And well, don’t forget to keep leaving a Kudos and a comment in the future, and make writers happy!

[you-make-me-wander]

thebeethatcouldhavebeen​ Thank you so, so much! It does mean a lot to us to have some feedback, I really can’t say that enough. Thank you for reading my work ❤

Signal boost this, guys!

AUGUST 21ST: FANFICTION WRITERS APPRECIATION DAY!!

[vmprsm]

i fully support this endeavor. i dont say for my own fics, but for everyone in your fandoms. im going back through my bookmarks and kudosing all of them, and leaving comments on my favorites. as a writer who has just recently had the utter joy of dedicated commenters on my fics, after months of toiling, i deeply understand how important it is to us to know we are appreciated.

[voltronlegendarydefenderss]

I reblogged this for Conan

[rose-writes]

[rose-writes]

Nightmares (Spring Moon One Shot)

•word count: 712•

The forest was silent and still, I took a deep breath. We been walking for what felt like hours. My feet felt like they were about to give.

“We should probably stop here for the night and set camp.”, Lunar said.

“Good idea Lu. Those three trees over here are good to tie the canopy to.”

“Alright I’ll set it up, while I’m doing this can you go look for fire wood? And get some herbs for the tea?”

“Sure thing.” I replied as I set my backpack on the ground and grab my small satchel from the front zipper.

“And one more thing don’t call me Lu.”

“Alright whatever you say, Lu…”

She looked over her shoulder and gave the look. I flashed her a cheeky smile and chuckled.

“Okay sorry Lu…” I say as she throw a small pine cone at my shoulder “okay, okay I’m going.” She just rolled her eyes then turned around and went back to work. And then with that I went to go get what we needed.

After about ten minutes of getting the wood and the herbs I headed back. When I came back the canopy was all set up.

But Lunar wasn’t there.

At first I didn’t think much of it. She might have gone to go to the bathroom. But after I set up the fire, I started to get worried. It was getting dark quickly. It’s not safe especially in the forest at night alone. So I got up and started to call her name.

“Lu! Lu! Lu where are you? Come on Lunar this isn’t funny.”

Just after I finished that sentence I realize that she is not one to joke around. I pulled myself out of my thoughts and realized I’m back at our camp again. The first two times this I didn’t think much of it. But this is fifth time I’ve ended up here. It’s like I’m in a loop that’s getting replayed over, over and over again. Ugh. This is getting frustrating. I fall to my knees, facing up to the sky. Lunar where are you?

“Lunar!”

I yelled into the darkness. I can’t believe this happening. I can’t lose her too… I just can’t. No, I have to hold it together, I have to be strong. For her I have to. I take a deep breath and then stand up…

“April!”

I look frantically for a sign of her but nothing.

“Lunar!”

“April!”

“Is that you?”

Nothing. Nothing but darkness. Then a bloodcurdling scream cuts though the darkness. I take off running towards it. Then in the sea of darkness I see her. Lunar’s back is facing me, we’re about a few feet. I slow down and then stop.

“Lunar thank the cosmos you are okay,”

Just when I’m about to reach over and tap her shoulder. She disappears for a split second then reappeared. And now she is less than a foot away front of me. Her eyes that once were a beautiful purple are now pitch black.

Lifeless and empty.

Then in a whisper she says “April why? Why did you leave me?”

I didn’t I try to say but no words come out. I put my hand on her shoulder but it goes right through. In horror I try to say her name but nothing. Please no… please this can’t be happening.

“April… April?”

Lunar starts to fade. Then darkness absolute darkness.

“April? Wake up… please wake up.”

I shot right up from my pallet; my face wet with sweat. Sitting next to me is Lunar with her hand rubbing my back. I take a deep breath, relieved it was only a nightmare. Lunar is looking at me with a stressed expression on her face.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah I’m okay. You can go back to sleep.”

“No you’re not.”

She reaches over to wipe away the my tears but I grabbed her hand.

“You’re crying so aren’t.”

Before I can say anything she pulls me into a hug.

“It’s just a nightmare everything will be okay. You know you can tell me anything okay.”

She pulls away and I nod. I place my head on her shoulder. We both look up to the trees and the starry night sky.

“Together?”

“Together.“

Fin~

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So what do you guys think? :3 I’d love to hear you guys’ input