Quotes from Stubs' 3am Rough Draft!
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"The undergrowth was alive with life."
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"He always smelled like beef. The rotten kind, too."
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"Tommahud ate like a dog, which made sense." (No elaboration on why it makes sense.)
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"[Placeholder Name] suffered an acute lactose intolerance, which was funny because her matern was a baker. It had become a game of sorts to guess whether her'd be regular or green with illness."
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"It's sort of like an egg, but it's a rock. And it's pointy. So, it's not like an egg at all."
Trying to salvage this draft but I honestly have no idea where I was going with this
I was trying to just write without stopping and I don't think it worked
Oof. Felt.
Sometimes those drafts become brainstorming pages, where I just keep writing whatever I can, regardless of whether or not it is super apparent how it fits the story
Same! I have so many attempts at writing that turned into… a bit of a disorganized mess for the same reason.
Yo I have a question.
So I’m writing a character in a Hunger Games AU with sensory issues, and while I have sensory issues myself they’re mostly auditory and that’s not what I’m going for here.
So when the tributes get all dressed up for the tribute parade and stuff, I don’t imagine that the Capitol stylists would normally use products (hair, makeup, etc) that are friendly to those with sensitive skin or sensory issues, and I was wondering how exactly to write about that, if that makes sense at all.
Yo I have a question.
So I’m writing a character in a Hunger Games AU with sensory issues, and while I have sensory issues myself they’re mostly auditory and that’s not what I’m going for here.
So when the tributes get all dressed up for the tribute parade and stuff, I don’t imagine that the Capitol stylists would normally use products (hair, makeup, etc) that are friendly to those with sensitive skin or sensory issues, and I was wondering how exactly to write about that, if that makes sense at all.
for makeup:
it feels like there's something caked on your face that you need to get off, like dust. it's hard to resist the urge to lick lips with lipstick on, which feels like sticky paint. eyeliner and eyeshadow makes the eyes itch and water, and I find myself constantly rubbing/pressing my eyes to relieve the discomfort.
for clothes:
leather can feel stiff, like its syffocating the skin, when its not loose enough. sequins feel terrible. I personally can't wear them because I feel as though I need to walk with my arms out to keep them from rubbing against the plastic, which feels like a thousand fingernails digging into your skin. itchy tags is a stabbing pain. belts/corsets/bodices that are too tight cause stomach ache after a while. there are some fabrics that can become staticky and cling to skin, which is hell. jewelry can feel cold on a bare neck, or just generally annoying if it's too close to it (doesn't have to be a choker), or slides down the back if it's long, or gets under the shirt, etc… bracelets that are too loose and slide down the wrist when the forearm is positioned vertically are annoying as well. trying to get a zip-up dress/shirt off when the zipper is small or hard to zip is one of the most stressful things ever, especially when the dress is tight. shoes that aren't tight enough will rub against the skin and feel hard to walk quickly in, but shoes that are so tight they crush your toes are worse.
hope this helps
Thanks! That helps a ton :D
Came up a with reasonable birth-to-death story for Hartka and weaved her into the main plot in a day, meanwhile this Tommad one-shot has been taking me two weeks of on-and-off writing and I have a single paragraph that I might get rid of-
How's everyone else's writing doing?
Came up a with reasonable birth-to-death story for Hartka and weaved her into the main plot in a day, meanwhile this Tommad one-shot has been taking me two weeks of on-and-off writing and I have a single paragraph that I might get rid of-
How's everyone else's writing doing?
Oof, that’s a mood.
Currently, I’m working on the timeline for my multifandom Hunger Games AU while procrastinating the timelines of my Outcast project and Fallen Light, and on the side I’m working on assets for one of my visual novels
(This sounds like a lot more than I’m actually doing lmao)
Came up a with reasonable birth-to-death story for Hartka and weaved her into the main plot in a day, meanwhile this Tommad one-shot has been taking me two weeks of on-and-off writing and I have a single paragraph that I might get rid of-
How's everyone else's writing doing?
woah congrats! character lore is so hard imo
my writings doing OK I guess? I feel likei have concepts. I have ideas. I just cannot put them into writing
also unrelated am I the only one who hates writing sad stuff for my characters??? like while I used to be crazy angsty now I feel like I'm always like "and she loves her family :) and he has a wife and kids:) and they're best friends :) and he runs in the woods and swims in the sea :) and anything bad that happens to them is for comedic effect :) or its in stark contrast to everything else also he lives in a lighthouse and calmly watches the water"
Oh yeah I totally relate……. shoves the angst, violence, gore, and overall not good times I’ve put my characters through under a table
Came up a with reasonable birth-to-death story for Hartka and weaved her into the main plot in a day, meanwhile this Tommad one-shot has been taking me two weeks of on-and-off writing and I have a single paragraph that I might get rid of-
How's everyone else's writing doing?
At a Complete standstill, one that i cant seem to get out of.
How's everyone else's writing doing?
Umm… not too bad I think. I've made progress on a fanfiction story I've been wanting to write for a while. And I think I have two "original" ideas for different stories… one of them is for a series ☺️
How did you guys come up with a series-wide title for your writing? I realize I just been calling my project the "Everchill shenanigans" and while endearing, it doesn't really match the gritty, angsty, main-character meltdown I had in mind
I've been thinking of calling it Red Snow, but that's already been used, and I think I could come up with something better-
Lost in Blood and Bone was another idea, but I don't like it much- very fitting, but I think it's a bit too edgy
I also thought of Sharpened Stones- huge maybe, but I think it's alright, if a little long
Ultimately I know the most about my writing, so I know it's best for me to figure it out myself- I've just been blanking a lot lately. Hopefully the holiday break helps with that.
Realistically? I went on a fantasy book title generator and compiled a list, and then mixed a couple of them together to get “Beneath the Heavens.” Funny enough I was also thinking about “Thorns and Roses” but I didn’t know at the time that “A Court of Thorns and Roses” was already a book. Imagine my surprise when I saw it at the local Walmart book section.
I will say though it took a lot of time and thinking about titles beforehand, and I’m still not sure if it fits the story as much as I’d like it to.
my series-wide title is just my MC's first name. As in the Blank-verse.
also, if you've been calling it the Everchill shenanigans, changing shenanigans for saga or chronicles or some similar word would work.
I hope the break gets your wheels spinning again :)
I had some help when coming up with the series name but I think it works since the name is “Steam and Sorcery” and the world that my series takes place in is, admittedly, heavily based on a steampunk version of D&D… but if I find out that name is taken then 🤷♀️ I’ll figure something else out.
Okay, so I’m currently reading a new series, and I'm in love
The first book is called Convergence, it’s by Craig Alanson, and it’s an adult fiction/fantasy ✨without any spicy themes!!✨
Lots of cursing, though, and only one mention of nudity as far as I know
It’s comedic, but it’s not a comedy, so that’s great
Basic synopsis: the main character, Kazimir Wolfe, is a wizard living in modern-day America. The secondary main character is a talking dog named Duke, who can talk because he’s possessed by the spirit of a 3,000 year old wizard from Babylon named Marduk. The world currently has little to no magical energy, but the world starts to converge with the Nether, and therefore magic is coming back. Since this would destroy the world, Kaz has to stop it. Uh yeah
Crackling creek
running through the trees, jumping over logs. nothing could stop her, not anymore. she only slowed down as the tarein became familiar, that mossy rock, the tree she carved a long, long time ago. was it really so long already? when she would dance with her friends and beloved, among the brambles and bushes?
there. she could hear babbling brook, the singing stream that changed her. never. never would she be the same after her love hopped over the line, crossed into the other side.
there. she saw it. she heard it. that dazzling smile, such charming laughter. Every time she came to the creek she fell in love all over. her love on the other side of the water, beckoning, taunting her to just take a few more steps. there were the river steps, there was her love, but neither of them would ever cross the stepping stones again.
like always she smiled back, back at the one she loved on the other side, asked them to come back. her heart broke, just like every time before. she knew her love would never come back and she could never join, on the other side. so she left. her feet, dragging in the underbrush, her tears left at the creek.
How did you guys come up with a series-wide title for your writing? I realize I just been calling my project the "Everchill shenanigans" and while endearing, it doesn't really match the gritty, angsty, main-character meltdown I had in mind
Urk, I've got a few more ideas I'm debating on.
- Blade's End
- A Storm of Cinders
- Tattered Legacy
- Winterflames
Also, if I'm being honest, Lost in Blood and Bone is starting to grow on me- little edgy, but so is the protag
I had a dream last night that I re-read a really good book. Said book does not exist. By the time I thought to write down plot of non-existent good book, I had forgotten all of it. Now I'm sad-
How did you guys come up with a series-wide title for your writing? I realize I just been calling my project the "Everchill shenanigans" and while endearing, it doesn't really match the gritty, angsty, main-character meltdown I had in mind
Urk, I've got a few more ideas I'm debating on.
- Blade's End
- A Storm of Cinders
- Tattered Legacy
- Winterflames
Also, if I'm being honest, Lost in Blood and Bone is starting to grow on me- little edgy, but so is the protag
I love Winterflames. Also i think "Blood and Bone" is a thing already, though that doesn't have to matter, I suppose
Urk- For whatever reason, I can't decide on literally ANYTHING about this spin-off excerpt whatever-it-is, so here's a bit of the draft before I decide to delete it- I'll probably rewrite it someplace else in the timeline because I'm out of ideas of how to extend what's here.
Also, content warning, near-death situation and grieving(?). I know not everyone's in the mood for that, so I'll spoiler it-
Spoiler - click to show.
He should've died then.
She knew it well, and she fought to scrub the event from her recollection. What good did it do to remember?
It was peaceful, almost, with the memory buried far within the mantle of her mind. Life could float on neat and orderly, like a sigh of wind sweeping the leaf-litter into place. Just like it should be.
But that fear had never truly gone – it lie dormant, instead, waiting to cast its icy grip upon her heart.
That dark cellar in the corner of her mind ate away at her, hissing its virulent vapors in the throes of her forgetting. It had extended its claws through the holes in the cellar door, and it raked at her subconscious begging, beseeching to be remembered. It cried to cloud her thoughts with a waking nightmare. She'd forget, wouldn't she?
No.
She was remembering now.
The reddened snow pooled before her, streaking away into the rippling tarn. A dazzle of setting sun pricked her eyes, and frigid water lapped at her moccasins. Her folk never gathered by the lake like this. Never in a thousand seasons! But there they were, gathered by the shore and clamoring over each other like a barrel of hummer-flies.
"Ersid?"
She'd scarcely caught her name, and her approach came slow, grudging, aching. Ersid knew. She knew, but she was pulled into the crowd.
There it was. The cellar door had burst open, and the nightmare was here. She was living that moment again – her heart withered to papery tatters and fell away. Ersid had seen the lurid image a thousand times, but it never lost its bite, never failed to freeze her solid.
A tiny body had been dredged from the waters, pale, pocked, and rended with countless wounds, near-frozen in the algid chill.
It was him.
Alternatively, I'll write some fluff and come back to this later- I'll think on it
Urk- For whatever reason, I can't decide on literally ANYTHING about this spin-off excerpt whatever-it-is, so here's a bit of the draft before I decide to delete it- I'll probably rewrite it someplace else in the timeline because I'm out of ideas of how to extend what's here.
Also, content warning, near-death situation and grieving(?). I know not everyone's in the mood for that, so I'll spoiler it-
Spoiler - click to show.
He should've died then.
She knew it well, and she fought to scrub the event from her recollection. What good did it do to remember?
It was peaceful, almost, with the memory buried far within the mantle of her mind. Life could float on neat and orderly, like a sigh of wind sweeping the leaf-litter into place. Just like it should be.
But that fear had never truly gone – it lie dormant, instead, waiting to cast its icy grip upon her heart.
That dark cellar in the corner of her mind ate away at her, hissing its virulent vapors in the throes of her forgetting. It had extended its claws through the holes in the cellar door, and it raked at her subconscious begging, beseeching to be remembered. It cried to cloud her thoughts with a waking nightmare. She'd forget, wouldn't she?
No.
She was remembering now.
The reddened snow pooled before her, streaking away into the rippling tarn. A dazzle of setting sun pricked her eyes, and frigid water lapped at her moccasins. Her folk never gathered by the lake like this. Never in a thousand seasons! But there they were, gathered by the shore and clamoring over each other like a barrel of hummer-flies.
"Ersid?"
She'd scarcely caught her name, and her approach came slow, grudging, aching. Ersid knew. She knew, but she was pulled into the crowd.
There it was. The cellar door had burst open, and the nightmare was here. She was living that moment again – her heart withered to papery tatters and fell away. Ersid had seen the lurid image a thousand times, but it never lost its bite, never failed to freeze her solid.
A tiny body had been dredged from the waters, pale, pocked, and rended with countless wounds, near-frozen in the algid chill.
It was him.
Alternatively, I'll write some fluff and come back to this later- I'll think on it
Why does the last part sort of remind me of The Terror? (in a very good way!)
Very eerie, I like it
I've been back to making a fantasy creatures again, and if I'm being honest, I feel like my species names are too Monster Hunter-y
Example, I have this otter/crocodile/seal and I've decided on calling it a Drehadlago.
It comes from "comadreja," which is Spanish for "weasel" (close enough to otter) and "lago," which is Spanish for "lake." I swapped the j for an h to keep the pronunciation, and the first half kinda looks like "dread," which is fitting because they are aggressive ambush predators.
But is it too much? Like, if you saw that word on a page, would you get caught up on trying to sound it out? I feel like that's my main issue with fantasy names- it's too fantastical. I've been looking into Monster Hunter etymology lately, and I feel like it's starting to leak into my original stuff, for better or for worse.
question for ya'll: How do you describe a characters appearance in story? I feel like anytime I try to describe extensively what a character looks like and is wearing, it feels clunky and breaks flow in the writing
i write little hints of how they look
smth like "they pushed back a strand of black hair from their face" or have a character comment on their clothing.
I do the same thing;
The wind ruffed her raven hair
His green eyes roved over her face
they pursed their pale lips
idk, random lil bits. hope this helps!
rIIIIIIght so ik Ive put this doc up on this chat a LOT, but I need you guys to see the last bit!! some of you may have seen the fourth (I think? not counting lol) installment, but I finished it so ye
https://www.notebook.ai/documents/228982
pls rate 1/10 + feedback! how'd I do?? I've been thinking of this scene a lot so I finally wrote and yayyy it turned out better than the original draft!
