#scouthearted

[austrohungarianwriteblr]

Happy STS! How did you come up with the title for your favorite WIP? Was it ever something different? Have you ever thought of changing it? -tabbykatwrites

Hi and thank you! So I really only have one WIP that I’m allowing myself to work on, Unshakeable, and I went through a number of clever and vaguely sexy-sounding titles before I landed on this one. The reason I came up with this name was because of this scene I wrote, which was because of the following:

>be me

>be in university library doing research on hungary

> read in book that Franz Liszt gave up on learning Hungarian because of the word “Tantorithatatlansag” which loosely translates to “unshakeablity”

>find this hilarious and use it in a scene

There’s always the possibility that a future agent will say “you can’t call your book this, it’s barely a real word” in which case I will suggest “City of Music” or “The Austro-Hungarian Comedy Hour”

[mellimoe]

I REALIZED I’VE BEEN VERY BAD ABOUT POSTING MY ART LATELY SO I HAVE A HUGE BACKLOG GOING.

Here’s a commission I did recently for my friend @scouthearted for their super cool original magical girl project :3c

[em-dashes]

Happy STS! Do you have a plotline in any WIP that had to be cut for some reason? What can you tell us about it if so? How did it cut? Do you plan to use it again at some point? -@tabbykatwrites

Oho I’ve cut SO MANY subplots from APHELION. I’m the queen of convolution, and I constantly have to cut unnecessary things from my wips.

Behold, the first bullet point from my “Edits” document

The biggest subplot I cut involved six ghosts that were attached to Rian (think Jodie and Aiden from Beyond: Two Souls). Rian could also control the ghosts to do his bidding if he wants, as well as spy on people. They also helped Rian to teleport, something he couldn’t do on his own.

Unfortunately, all of this was redundant. Rian was already telekinetic--he didn’t need to control ghosts to do that. Rian was already telepathic--he didn’t need ghosts to spy for him. The teleportation powers felt illogical given how grounded I wanted the story to be (at least, as grounded as a sci-fi story with superpowers can be). Any conflicts the ghosts could provide were already existent between Rian and Bee and Cay.

Cutting the ghosts meant major shifts to the story, especially if I cut out the teleportation, which played a big part in the third act. My “Edit Notes” document delved deep into all the plot points I would have to change, and providing alternatives and solutions.

Turns out, APHELION without ghosts was MUCH better than APHELION with ghosts. Instead of the ghosts providing Rian’s internal conflict, Rian could have that internal conflict on his own. Instead of having the ghosts explain things that the characters wouldn’t otherwise know, now things can be left up in the air for ~mystery~ (and honestly the characters didn’t even need to know all that stuff anyway). It made the story much more streamlined, and it made Rian a much stronger character.

Here’s a post I made in February that detailed some other plot points I cut:

(at some point I had cut down the 6 ghosts to 3, but same difference)

I also talk about it briefly in this post from July 2019, after Camp Nano!

[asoftplxcetoland]

So you have in your sis: idiots in love project a boxer and a kickboxer. Is that writing what you know? It mentions in character intro why Nat took up kickboxing, but what made Jaimie start boxing? -tabbykatwrites

hi, @tabbykatwrites! thank you for the ask! 

it is absolutely not writing what i know lmao, the most exercise i ever do is yoga. i actually briefly mentioned jaimie’s history with boxing in this magm ask, but basically, after his dad died he was kind of an angry little shit of a teenager who kept getting into fights at school. his ma had absolutely no patience for this, and enrolled him in boxing classes. she told him if he was going to get into fights he was at least going to be able to hold his own, lmao. it ended up being the best thing for him, and he’s stuck with it ever since! 

[chayscribbles-archive]

spoiler!

(this actually applies to... multiple of my WIPs... but which ones? 😏)

send me “spoiler” and i’ll give you a vague spoiler from one of my wips!👀

[howdywrites]

Your words for find the word ask game are: "kind" and "soft"

Thank you, Tabby! <3

Kind (from Sisterhood of Blood) - “She looks just like you-” She eyed a wedding tintype sitting alone on an unruly bookshelf. Henry stood beside Eliza, kind eyes staring back at her. Dark hair combed neat on top of his square head.

Soft (from Love Is) - Warm air washed over Kit’s neck with a soft giggle from Emily. She sniffled and wrapped her arms around her shoulders. 

[elliswriting]

quiet, for find a word?

Send me a word, if it’s in my wip document I’ll answer your ask with the sentence that it appears in.

From The Romantic Trials and Troubles of Daisy Fraisier

“And…what about you?” I prompted, trying not to sound hopeful.

Erme raised an eyebrow, amused, before glancing down at the foot of the bed, awkwardly tapping their fingers on the arms of their chair. “I told you, you have the right impression of me, louloudaki,” they said, though there was something quiet and reluctant in their tone.

[ardawyn]

STS! Have you ever put one of your own hobbies or areas of interest and knowledge into a story? How did you do it?

Hello and thank you for the question :)

And well, not exactly. Rather, I put all my interests in the story and build a plot around them :D My interest for the Middle Ages probably came when I was around 16. I began to develop a fascination towards castles and medieval structures, so much even that I even had dreams about them. I still often dream of castles, walking the corridors or seeing them in the distance. I still remember one particular dream I had many years ago where I walked down a narrow cobblestone street, into a village and onto a little square where I then stood beside a well. That’s all that happened. But somehow that still is all so vivid in my head, how the place and the medieval buildings all around me looked like. Strangely, it always feels like a memory rather than a dream? It’s so weird.

I also became rather obsessed with swords (and bow and arrow). So my interest for everything medieval exists for like 10 years now and I’m still learning new things to love about it. It just always fascinated me somehow, especially the buildings and how they were able to build such structures at that time. 

So far every story that came to my mind is set somewhere around the Middle Ages. Because that is my area of interest and to be honest, I don’t think I ever want to write anything else. Never say never, of course, but I’m just not comfortable with anything else.