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Prologue
Hi! Welcome to my writing desk.
I take requests for flash fiction and prompts :) (original fiction only on this blog, sorry)
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I do tarot readings! Request one here.
My Writing: Chronicles of Lyrrhes Master Post Flash Fiction Fridays #flashfictionfriday
Q: Why do you post most of your writing on ko-fi? A: In a possibly futile attempt to keep it from being scraped, since ko-fi has more anti gen AI policy than tumblr
As a general rule of fantasy and sci-fi naming, the closer to the back half of the alphabet the average letter in their name is, the eviller they are. A name that doesn't contain any consonants north of R is poison frog colouration. If it uses Y as a vowel in a non-terminal position you're basically fucked.
Hello. I realize this might be overly personal for this blog but I was wondering if you had any advice for my situation. I'm trying to get back into creative hobbies like drawing and writing and while I made some progress with drawing I've really struggled with writing. It's been about ten years. I struggled with my mental health a lot when I was younger and essentially let my depression/anxiety and ADHD destroy all my creative ability. Logically I know the answer is to just write and write badly, but I'm preemptively disappointed and upset that what I write will be. Well. Shit. Or that I'll never improve. Or that I have no idea what to write. And when I do have an idea what to write it's all just gone from my head the second I sit down to write. So. Er. I guess I'm wondering if you have any advice or resources for people like me? Thank you :)
When you're juggling various different Back-Stabbing Brain issues, various pieces of writing advice - getting up at 5pm, forcing yourself to do it, etc - just doesn't work. For me, it's been a struggle to figure out even in optimal situations, so you're not alone. For me, the following is what worked.
Figure out your peak writing time.
Unfortunately, in our capitalist hellscape, you may not be able to use that time to your advantage. My peak time is from 2pm-5pm, right in the middle of work and fades right when I get home. Not ideal. But I can use that knowledge to take advantage of that time on my free days, and I can strategically time my breaks to do some writing. Or just write while pretending to work. Not that I would ever confess to doing that.
Taking the time to figure out when your brain is most willing to work with you is also very helpful. My brain will not work for writing after 8pm. It can, however, still do the dishes. Forcing myself to put off chores so that I can write is super hard thanks to my ADHD (which hates chores until I need to do something else), but I can combat that by making goal lists, scheduling my writing time (with set alarms on my phone!) helps me manage that.
Change location.
I can't get a lot of work done at home. I've tried. I've moved my desk around, I've locked down my internet browsers when writing, I have ignored the way my cat stares holes into my back to try to write. My brain, though, knows that the bed is right over there, we've got that pile of books to read, and oh hey, Tasting History has a new video. Also my cat wants to steal my computer chair and then get constant pets while in said chair because she is a princess baby. It's a losing battle.
What does work for me? Dragging my work to the library. Finding a cafe with enough space and quiet music to get some stuff done. Breaking out a foldable desk on the porch so that there is a closeable barrier between me and my distractions (the cats hate this option).
Changing location is something that works for me. If you have limited options, build barriers between yourself and distractions. Pile stuff on the bed so that it's not easy to give in and lie down for "just a minute." Close doors. Bribe your cats (or your kids). Use a standing desk - shifting your position can help lock down some of the ansty need to be doing something (my chair-stealing cat is more than happy to help with this).
I know of one writer who only gets work done by locking herself in her bathroom, because it's just enough change of scene to get her thoughts to settle. I know another writer who can only get editing done sitting in his parked car. However wacky, trying different scenarios to get something to work can really help.
Find the right tools.
The only way I can draft is by hand. It sucks and I have carpal tunnel, but my brain cannot type words into a blank screen. I need a pile of messy papers that no one else can read to work from.
I'm also very particular about what I write with. I use Uni Power Tank pens from Japan (because they're the only damn pen I've found that doesn't smear my left-handed writing), and I cycle through different types of paper I exclusively work with. Right now it's Five Star Reinforced Filler Paper with the triangle holes, not the round ones.
I don't know why this works, it just does. I've changed up what I've used over time, but as long as I'm consistent and not trying to write a chapter using differently-sized paper (insert scream here), I can get it done. Test out different tools and find what fits for you.
Organization isn't helping? Embrace chaos.
Jeff VanderMeer wrote an entire series on post-it notes, napkins, and on the backs of old bills. I wouldn't recommend that, but if a little chaos gets the job done, then do it. Spread a story across several half-filled notebooks. Map dialogue using only flashcards. Instead of waiting to sit down to get work done, scribble away while on a bus or on the move (safely, of course). Use a speech-to-text app to talk out your writing. Sometimes the more tactile you can make writing, the more you can break up those barriers keeping you from writing.
Try out different things! You'll eventually find what works for you
Hey y'all why are writers always cold?
...why?
They're always surrounded by drafts!
How many mystery writers does it take to change a lightbulb?
Oh god.
How many?
Two! One to change the bulb, and the other to give it an unexpected twist at the end!
What do writers have for breakfast?
Coffee?
Synonym buns!
Where do all the struggling writers live?
How are you coming up with all these?
Where?
Writer's Block!
What do writers suffer from each spring?
(I've heard a lot of them over the years.)
Allergies. Next question.
you were close; A case of allegories
Why are writers always in great shape?
Circular prose
Nope! It's because we're always running out of ideas!
Did you hear about the famous writer who turned out to be a fraud?
I did not
His life had it's prose and cons...
Why is editing a better job than writing?
It's more rewording?
Correct! I am out of jokes. :(
okay, yes, I know that comma isn't supposed to be there but I want the reader to take a breath! I want a pause! Stop trying to correct me, I'm trying to control the flow of reading
Zoom In, Don’t Glaze Over: How to Describe Appearance Without Losing the Plot
You’ve met her before. The girl with “flowing ebony hair,” “emerald eyes,” and “lips like rose petals.” Or him, with “chiseled jawlines,” “stormy gray eyes,” and “shoulders like a Greek statue.”
We don’t know them.
We’ve just met their tropes.
Describing physical appearance is one of the trickiest — and most overdone — parts of character writing. It’s tempting to reach for shorthand: hair color, eye color, maybe a quick body scan. But if we want a reader to see someone — to feel the charge in the air when they enter a room — we need to stop writing mannequins and start writing people.
So let’s get granular. Here’s how to write physical appearance in a way that’s textured, meaningful, and deeply character-driven.
1. Hair: It’s About Story, Texture, and Care
Hair says a lot — not just about genetics, but about choices. Does your character tame it? Let it run wild? Is it dyed, greying, braided, buzzed, or piled on top of her head in a hurry?
Good hair description considers:
Texture (fine, coiled, wiry, limp, soft)
Context (windblown, sweat-damp, scorched by bleach)
Emotion (does she twist it when nervous? Is he ashamed of losing it?)
Flat: “Her long brown hair framed her face.”
Better: “Her ponytail was too tight, the kind that whispered of control issues and caffeine-fueled 4 a.m. library shifts.”
You don’t need to romanticise it. You need to make it feel real.
2. Eyes: Less Color, More Connection
We get it: her eyes are violet. Cool. But that doesn’t tell us much.
Instead of focusing solely on eye color, think about:
What the eyes do (do they dart, linger, harden?)
What others feel under them (seen, judged, safe?)
The surrounding features (dark circles, crow’s feet, smudged mascara)
Flat: “His piercing blue eyes locked on hers.”
Better: “His gaze was the kind that looked through you — like it had already weighed your worth and moved on.”
You’re not describing a passport photo. You’re describing what it feels like to be seen by them.
3. Facial Features: Use Contrast and Texture
Faces are not symmetrical ovals with random features. They’re full of tension, softness, age, emotion, and life.
Things to look for:
Asymmetry and character (a crooked nose, a scar)
Expression patterns (smiling without the eyes, habitual frowns)
Evidence of lifestyle (laugh lines, sun spots, stress acne)
Flat: “She had a delicate face.”
Better: “There was something unfinished about her face — as if her cheekbones hadn’t quite agreed on where to settle, and her mouth always seemed on the verge of disagreement.”
Let the face be a map of experience.
4. Bodies: Movement > Measurement
Forget dress sizes and six packs. Think about how bodies occupy space. How do they move? What are they hiding or showing? How do they wear their clothes — or how do the clothes wear them?
Ask:
What do others notice first? (a presence, a posture, a sound?)
How does their body express emotion? (do they go rigid, fold inwards, puff up?)
Flat: “He was tall and muscular.”
Better: “He had the kind of height that made ceilings nervous — but he moved like he was trying not to take up too much space.”
Describing someone’s body isn’t about cataloguing. It’s about showing how they exist in the world.
5. Let Emotion Tint the Lens
Who’s doing the describing? A lover? An enemy? A tired narrator? The emotional lens will shape what’s noticed and how it’s described.
In love: The chipped tooth becomes charming.
In rivalry: The smirk becomes smug.
In mourning: The face becomes blurred with memory.
Same person. Different lens. Different description.
6. Specificity is Your Superpower
Generic description = generic character. One well-chosen detail creates intimacy. Let us feel the scratch of their scarf, the clink of her earrings, the smudge of ink on their fingertips.
Examples:
“He had a habit of adjusting his collar when he lied — always clockwise, always twice.”
“Her nail polish was always chipped, but never accidentally.”
Make the reader feel like they’re the only one close enough to notice.
Describing appearance isn’t just about what your character looks like. It’s about what their appearance says — about how they move through the world, how others see them, and how they see themselves.
Zoom in on the details that matter. Skip the clichés. Let each description carry weight, story, and emotion. Because you’re not building paper dolls. You’re building people.
writing is easy. writing is so hard. writing is fun! nothing is more agonizing than writing. i forgot to do literally everything else on my task list except writing. i am doing anything but write
it’s easy to forget, so I’ll remind y’all: you can make fantasy versions of anything. yes even things you might not think about. like soil types. I am thinking of fantasy soil types right now
A lot of fiction these days reads as if—as I saw Peter Raleigh put it the other day, and as I’ve discussed it before—the author is trying to describe a video playing in their mind. Often there is little or no interiority. Scenes play out in “real time” without summary. First-person POV stories describe things the character can’t see, but a distant camera could. There’s an overemphasis on characters’ outfits and facial expressions, including my personal pet peeve: the “reaction shot round-up” in which we get a description of every character’s reaction to something as if a camera was cutting between sitcom actors.
When I talk with other creative writing professors, we all seem to agree that interiority is disappearing. Even in first-person POV stories, younger writers often skip describing their character’s hopes, dreams, fears, thoughts, memories, or reactions. This trend is hardly limited to young writers though. I was speaking to an editor yesterday who agreed interiority has largely vanished from commercial fiction, and I think you increasingly notice its absence even in works shelved as “literary fiction.” When interiority does appear on the page, it is often brief and redundant with the dialogue and action. All of this is a great shame. Interiority is perhaps the prime example of an advantage prose as a medium holds over other artforms.
fascinated by this article, "Turning Off the TV in Your Mind," about the influences of visual narratives on writing prose narratives. i def notice the two things i excerpted above in fanfic, which i guess makes even more sense as most of the fic i read is for tv and film. i will also be thinking about its discussion of time in prose - i think that's something i often struggle with and i will try to be more conscious of the differences between screen and page next time i'm writing.
My favorite writing tip I’ve seen lately was to create a Scraps folder, especially if you’re working on something long-form. That way you have somewhere to dump scenes or bits that don’t quite fit but you don’t want to delete them entirely either. And sometimes you’ll find that they slot in perfectly somewhere else in your story.
YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YRS YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES
“Style for a writer, like colour for a painter, is a question not of technique but of vision. It is the revelation, which would be impossible by direct or conscious means, of the qualitative difference in the ways we perceive the world, a difference which, if there were no art, would remain the eternal secret of each individual.”
— Marcel Proust, In Search of Lost Time, Vol. VII (via exhaled-spirals)
The disease of writing. This pathological hope of grasping, even fleetingly, the expressible marrow of every lived moment, and the kernel of what remains unspoken in all speech.
— Pierre Péju, La Vie courante
it's my own fault. i'm an adult now so i don't have to impose those Rules on myself
the ones where if it's my suggestion and it doesn't work out, it's my fault it was bad
the ones where i can't get upset, so that mom can be upset and little sister can be upset, but i cry when i'm frustrated and i get too loud when i'm feeling strongly and someone has to keep their cool here so i can't let it get to me because it's fine what are you even upset about
the ones where everyone can back out but me
the ones where she can forget and she can fall asleep but i can't because that means i don't care
the ones where they're asking me for something and i say ok and put in the work to get it going because we have to keep it up or else what's the point but no one else is looking for the solution so i present one but no one else wants to look at it
and if we go back to that first rule, the one where if it's my suggestion and it doesn't work out. well, it's my fault.
so im and adult and i don't have to impose those Rules
but im not going to make that decision. you're going to have to remember. you're going ro have to wake up. and actually go. and actually give your opinion. and actually also make a decision.
because im not actually the only one imposing those Rules. so im refusing to play that way, i guess.
I saw a post talking about how Terry Pratchett only wrote 400 words a day, how that goal helped him write literally dozens of books before he died. So I reduced my own daily word goal. I went down from 1,000 to 200. With that 800-word wall taken down, I’ve been writing more. “I won’t get on tumblr/watch TV/draw/read until I hit my word goal” used to be something I said as self-restraint. And when I inevitably couldn’t cough up four pages in one sitting, I felt like garbage, and the pleasurable hobbies I had planned on felt like I was cheating myself when I just gave up. Now it’s something I say because I just have to finish this scene, just have to round out this conversation, can’t stop now, because I’m enjoying myself, I’m having an amazing time writing. Something that hasn’t been true of my original works since middle school.
And sometimes I think, “Well, two hundred is technically less than four hundred.” And I have to stop myself, because - I am writing half as much as Terry Pratchett. Terry fucking Pratchett, who not only published regularly up until his death, but published books that were consistently good.
And this has also been an immense help as a writer with ADHD, because I don’t feel bad when I take a break from writing - two hundred words works up quick, after all. If I take a break at 150, I have a whole day to write 50 more words, and I’ve rarely written less than 200 words and not felt the need to keep writing because I need to tie up a loose end anyways.
Yes, sometimes, I do not produce a single thing worth keeping in those two hundred words. But it’s much easier to edit two hundred words of bad writing than it is to edit no writing at all.
This is the second time this post passes on my dash and it’s the best advice I ever got. I can’t write consistently in one go, it’s always about 50 words and then I get distracted and just have to do something else for a while. Do the math quickly: trying to write 2000 words a day takes a looooong time that way. So there were many days where I just didn’t even start writing, cause I wouldn’t reach my goal anyways and feel like a failure. Then I stumbled upon this post and I thought: hey, let’s give this a try. And it works! I set my goal between 200-400 words a day and that’s perfectly doable. Some days I get into the flow and I write a whole lot more. On other days, I struggle to get those 200 out but hey, at least I wrote 200 words and reached my goal. Whatever the outcome, t makes me feel good and accomplished.
Writing takes practice, so even if it’s only 100 words a day, it’s better than nothing. If it worked for Terry Pratchett and me, than it can work for you too!
My own tags because I am particularly proud of them:
#l also endorse this method #The important thing is to get your butt in the chair and make a habit of that #The writing follows like a stray cat: you need to sit long enough to lure it into your lap #At which point you’re stuck there until the writing leaves (you finish) or you need to go to the bathroom badly enough to disturb it
I want to write. I have ideas. I open document. I type four of the worst sentences ever created in the english language. I daydream the rest of the scene. I close document.
A11 - Much More Interesting
Under normal circumstances, Scriptmaster Amaranthe Bix and her two apprentices would have stolen away under the cover of darkness the first chance they had. But these were most decidedly not normal circumstances.
The first rather extraordinary circumstance was that their destination was distinctly more interesting than the dwarven ruins the three of them were originally headed towards: Swordmaster Imer Amolynn’s manor, dramatically nicknamed the Library of Blades. The house was more than halfway filled with the most enticing texts from millennia ago, and was only a couple hours from the Keeping Forest, the keeper and releaser of the most interesting individuals often carrying the most interesting scripts, stories, oral traditions, and more. The Library and the Forest: the two reasons the court magus believed Imer’s house to be the best base for their current mission, and the first two reasons Amaranthe was more than happy to tag along. She and Imer were friends, but the Swordmaster was famously defensive of the Library, and this was a rare chance for the three of them to explore it unchecked, as Imer would very much be busy with other things. Things he and the court magus would prefer her to be busy with, but how could she be? The Library of Blades was within reach!
This other circumstance really only sweetened the deal, becoming a delectable third reason to nod along with whatever plan they came up with, despite Amaranthe having already made up her mind to go. She and her apprentices were a part of the first group who would go to the Library, accompanied by Imer himself and two women from the most mysterious and therefore most tantalizing class of both Scriptmaster and Spellmaster: the Songmaster. Singers of the ancient languages, some of the last people alive to know the sounds of the Mer, to be able to feel the meaning of the drake verses, and be able to keep the power in the words that had long since died out for everyone else. The few of them that were left kept to the north, the misty mountains and bottomless lake, away from civilization and protected by the thorny, judgmental forest at the edge of their valley, but this had lured them out, put them right in front of her. Amaranthe shivered with anticipation of the conversations they would have, and Amaranthe did not often do this for conversations with the living. Oh, it was absolutely seductive! How lucky they were that the court summons had reached them in time!
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