Ramblings of a writer

stuff I write and stuff i like about writing

[luna-azzurra]

Hurt / Comfort Prompts!!!

⋆˚✿˖° "You don't have to be okay right now. You don't have to be anything right now."

⋆˚✿˖° "When did you last eat. And water doesn't count and neither does coffee."

⋆˚✿˖° "I've got you. You're safe. I've got you."

⋆˚✿˖° "Stop apologizing for needing things. Stop it right now."

⋆˚✿˖° "You called me at 2am and I came. That's not something I did out of obligation. I want you to understand that."

⋆˚✿˖° "Lay down. I'm not asking."

⋆˚✿˖° "You've been holding this alone for how long. How long have you been holding this alone."

⋆˚✿˖° "I'm going to sit right here. You don't have to talk. I'm just going to be here."

⋆˚✿˖° "When did taking care of yourself become something you had to earn."

⋆˚✿˖° ⟢ "You're shaking." - "I'm fine." - "You're shaking and you've been crying and you're not fine and that's okay."

⋆˚✿˖° "I'm not leaving. You can ask me to leave and I still won't. You're stuck with me tonight."

⋆˚✿˖° "Has anyone ever just — taken care of you. Without needing something back." - "..." - "That's what I thought. Come here."

⋆˚✿˖° "You scared me. I need you to know you scared me and I need you to never do that again."

⋆˚✿˖° "I heated up the leftovers. You're going to eat them. We can fight about everything else tomorrow."

⋆˚✿˖° "Stop being brave for one second. Just one second. It's just me."

⋆˚✿˖° "I noticed you weren't okay three weeks ago. I've been trying to figure out how to say something."

⋆˚✿˖° "You don't have to explain it. You don't owe me an explanation. Just tell me what you need."

⋆˚✿˖° "Nobody should have to go through that. I know you did. I'm so sorry you did."

⋆˚✿˖° "Close your eyes. I'll stay until you fall asleep. I'll be here when you wake up."

⋆˚✿˖° "You keep saying you're fine and your hands keep shaking and I need you to pick one."

⋆˚✿˖° "I made your tea the way you like it." - "You remembered." - "I remember everything about you."

⋆˚✿˖° "You were there for me when I had nothing. Did you really think I wasn't going to show up for you."

⋆˚✿˖° "Rest. The world can wait. It's waited before. Rest."

[ashlovesfiction-deactivated2024]

I was browsing through other people's writing yesterday, when I suddenly came across this chapter excerpt, and let me tell you: it was written phenomenally. I mean, it just blew my mind, and it was no more than a few paragraphs. The vocabulary/language usage was perfect. The insight on the character's feelings was so believable. The tension built in just a few sentences was palpable!

I was crushed.

How could I ever stack up to something like that at my young age? I'd have to be editing my trilogy for years if I ever wanted to be that good, right? But I realized something this morning. . .

She is not telling the same story I am.

Her writing is supposed to have a consistently intense, dramatic, and mysterious prose. She can use strong words that aren't normally used in everyday life. She needs to have a lingering sense of mystery and drama. The story she is telling calls for certain stylistic choices, and just because mine doesn't have those elements doesn't make it worse in comparison.

My story, or rather, my genre, calls for very different elements. It's magical. It's funny. It's lighthearted (mostly). It's not being written for the same audience that the other user is writing for, and maybe that's what the root issue is with so many writers on Writeblr who struggle with insecurity and comparison. They're comparing their work to an entirely different genre! They're comparing two works that aren't even comparable!

Here's my two cents for today: remember what kind of story you're telling, not the person next to you. You tell the story that you need to tell, because nobody will ever be able to tell it like you!

[forgetful-nerd]

Spelling mistakes? I guarantee neither of us saw those at 3:00 AM Monday Morning.

[academicssay]

[alexaloraetheris]

I am printing these words out and gluing them backwards onto my forehead

[can-i-make-image-descriptions]

[Image ID: Tweet from Stephen Hopkins (@/ phil_lol_ogist) on 2022-09-16 reading: five years ago, i looked at myself and said, "the worst dissertation is the one i don't write" before proceeding to write the second worst dissertation /End ID]

[itsblosseybitch]

Made a new poster! :)

[zwoelffarben]

[skribblegurl]

some people think writers are so eloquent and good with words, but the reality is that we can sit there with our fingers on the keyboard going, “what’s the word for non-sunlight lighting? Like, fake lighting?” and for ten minutes, all our brain will supply is “unofficial”, and we know that’s not the right word, but it’s the only word we can come up with…until finally it’s like our face got smashed into a brick wall and we remember the word we want is “artificial”.

[heywriters]

I couldn't remember the word "doorknob" ten minutes ago.

[bumblewyn]

ok but the onelook thesaurus will save your life, i literally could not live without this website

[breelandwalker]

REBLOG TO SAVE A WRITER'S LIFE

[myfairkatiecat]

LIFE SAVED

REBLOGGING TO SAVE ANOTHER WRITERS LIFE

[sirowsky]

I use this every time I sit down to write. It's the best tool in the world and I would be lost without it!

[homunculus-argument]

Hey, random writing tip: Instead of having something be a ridiculously unlikely coincidence, you can make the thing happen due to who this particular character is as a person. Instead of getting stuck on "there's no logical reason to why that would happen", try to bend it into a case of "something like this would never happen to anybody but this specific fucker." Something that makes your reader chuckle and roll their eyes, going "well of course you would."

Why would the timid shy nerd be at a huge sketchy downtown black market bazaar? Well, she's got this beetle colony she's raising that needs a very specific kind of leaf for nest material, and there only place to get it is this one guy at the bazaar that sells that stuff. Why would the most femininely flamboyant guy ever known just happen to have downright encyclopedic knowledge about professional boxing? Well, there was this one time when he was down bad for this guy who was an aspiring professional boxer...

I know it sounds stupidly obvious when written out like this, but when you're up close to your writing, it's hard to see the forest for the trees. Some time ago I finished reading a book, where the whole plot hinges on character A, who is 100% certain that character B is dead, personally getting up and coming down from the top rooms of a castle, to the gates, at 3 am, to come look at some drunk who claims to be this guy who died 17 years ago. Why would A do that, if he's sure that B is dead?

Because he's a Warrior Guy from a culture of Loyalty And Honour, and hearing that someone's got the audacity to go about claiming to be his long-lost brother in battle, there is no other option than to immediately personally go down there to beat the ever-loving shit out of this guy. Who then turns out to actually be character B, after all.

[vulcanette-deactivated20260506]

[greater-than-the-sword]

I'm going to be incorporating "We no longer dare to imagine better worlds" into my vocabulary starting now

[bitchfitch]

writing advice for characters with a missing eye: dear God does losing an eyes function fuck up your neck. Ever since mine crapped out I've been slowly and unconsciously shifting towards holding my head at an angle to put the good eye closer to the center. and human necks. are not meant to accommodate that sorta thing.

[hiddenramen-deactivated20250513]

one of my greatest pet peeves in fiction, and it is truly stupid I know, is that no one seems to understand how genuinely hard it is to kill someone via stabbing. stab wounds have a mortality rate of like 5%. especially abdominal stabbing. tv shows and movies show dudes getting stabbed one time in the lower abdomen with a tiny knife and then they fall over. like what did he die of precisely. that man died of Small Knife

[flowerbleedme]

the knife was discreetly laced with a point blank gunshot to the head

[allthingswhumpyandangsty]

reblog if you’re a writer who feels guilt whenever they’re not writing and being productive, so I know I’m not the only one lol

[catsi]

more characters with heterochromia. fuck it. it’s no longer ‘cringe’ to give your OCs two different eye colours it’s actually extremely cool and fun and sometimes extremely sexy. godspeed

[no-gender-only-soup]

As someone who only knows how to go on long rants about pretty eyes in my writing, I approve this message

[a-tiny-rainy-afternoon]

And remember that there’s different types of heterochromia, such as Central heterochromia ( a condition that I have) where the inner and outer eye is different colors or even sectoral heterochromia where there’s a spot on the eye that’s a different color (and it doesn’t wrap all the way around)

And lastly STOP CALLING REPRESENTATION OF PEOPLE’S CONDITIONS IN MEDIA “CRINGE”

[lizluvscupcakes]

Ooh pretty

[klaasje]

writer’s block (dry) = no desire to write, no ability to write (bearable)

writer’s block (wet) = HUGE desire to write, no ability to write (very evil)

[wolfeyedwitch]

Thank you for this distinction. I hate it.

[temporary-dysphoria]

a non-selective plan for the resurgence of fic commissions

[majorenglishesquire]

Too many children in the comments like ‘I think authors should be able to share ko-fi links :) it’s just nice’ and ‘OP is just a cop.’ Homie, OP is trying to keep AO3 fully functional without interruption. I will report your ass, too, because I value fic artists and our freedom of expression and my audience and our shared history far more than I value the few bux you wanna make on a commission.

It is not hard to link to your Tumblr or Twitter with a vague message like, “If you’re looking for my other works or other ways of supporting me, go here: link.” I have had people buy me coffees after enjoying my fic and asking where to support me. I threw up a link to my Tumblr and people cared enough to follow it. They were fully understanding when I explained in the comments that they could not commission me and I could not link them directly to any donation platform, but they could go to xyz link to read more. And they did! Nobody has to put AO3 directly on the firing line.

Go ahead and commission independently. Just do it anywhere else except on AO3. And then don’t come crying to the community when you, personally, get a C&D from a massive corporation.

AO3 is our bullet shield. Tumblr will pull your shit down. Wattpad won’t fucking protect you. LJ and FF.net already sold our asses for one (1) corn chip. AO3 is trying to protect us, you goddamn lemmings.

If you cannot follow the rules that protect fanspaces, you do not belong in our fanspaces.

The only people who misunderstand this are doing so intentionally and maliciously. Do yourself a favor and block the infants who think this isn’t a big deal.

[kedreeva]

Please remember that this ALSO INCLUDES FANDOM CHARITY AUCTIONS.

When you post charity auction fics, DO NOT note that they are commissions in any way. You can note them as “here is my thank you gift to X for such-and-such event” but please please PLEASE do not list them as commissions.

[the-sacred-now]

I think a lot of younger people are seeing this as a moral panic by OP. These are NOT being laid out as moral injunctions! This is not about being good! This is about covering your own ass and keeping fandom away from larger-scale legal trouble. No one is saying “If you break the rules you’re BEING BAD!” They’re trying to tell you “breaking these rules is DANGEROUS for yourself and potentially others as well!”

[psychotic-gerard]

saw someone on instagram say “you shouldn’t post your art until it’s good” and that comment filled me with rage so i want to say to every beginner artist or artist who feels their art is not improving no matter how long they’ve been at it. i love you and i love your art and everything you post bears part of you and that is so beautiful. block everyone who says otherwise they are not entitled to freely consume what they rag on.

[byjove]

here are some interesting surnames I have seen on old graves:

*they’re not inherently “weird” or “rare”, they’re just names I noted for possible future use in my writing

[byjove]

Honestly Woolslayer is the best werewolf surname of all time. It rules.

[ad-wills]

writers and artists will go "this isn't good enough." my brother in christ, you're creating something new out of nothing and expressing yourself creatively. your productivity and unrealistic standards of perfection do not define you or the worth of your art. you're doing great.