If You Ever Doubt Your Writing, Be It Your Themes, Or The Reason Behind It, Remember That H.g Wells Wrote

I gotcha! Thank you for the reply!

How hard was it to set the tone and environment for your horror/thriller?

It wasn’t terribly difficult but it was also a nightmare I had one night so I kind of just channeled my fear from the nightmare into the work hahaha It did take a lot of edits though and watching lots of crime shows and horror movies definitely helped! I also tried to keep it fairly realistic cuz I feel like there’s nothing scarier than something happening in real life

pick-me-ups for writers

for the self-conscious beginner: No one makes great things until the world intimately knows their mediocrity. Don’t think of your writing as terrible; think of it as preparing to contribute something great.

for the self-conscious late bloomer: Look at old writing as how far you’ve come. You can’t get to where you are today without covering all that past ground. For that, be proud.

for the perfectionist: Think about how much you complain about things you love—the mistakes and retcons in all your favorite series—and how you still love them anyway. Give yourself that same space.

for the realist: There will be people who hate your story even if it’s considered a classic. But there will be people who love your story, even if it is strange and unpopular.

for the fanfic writer: Your work isn’t lesser for not following canon. When you write, you’ve created a new work on its own. It can be, but does not have to be, limited by the source material. Canon is not the end-all, be-all. 

for the writer’s blocked: It doesn’t need to be perfect. Sometimes you have to move on and commit a few writing sins if it means you can create better things out of it.

for the lost: You started writing for a reason; remember that reason. It’s ok to move on. You are more than your writing. It will be here if you want to come back.

"Always look on the bright side of life." 🎶

merrill, everything is on fire

Meanwhile at the PB emergency meeting...

"WHO LEAKED THIS INFORMATION? WE WERE GOING TO CHARGE FOR THAT!"

Crack theory time.

The Endless Summer crew managed to save the World, but unbeknownst to them they ended up back in time.

So they hop onto a plane and start flying back home. But because Jake is flying they crash and die horribly.

The only thing to survive the crash unscathed is Jake’s jacket (because it got “accidentally” thrown from the plane). The jacket is blown away by the wind until it is found by a Berry High student

And that is how Micheal Harison got his signature look….

Little tribute to the rover that’s had me emotional all day… RIP Oppy.

I miss her.

Estella wearing a flower crown

Well said. I have just been way more busy lately, but yeah, it is discouraging when I do manage to write something it only gets like a third of the notes now. I am so extremely appreciative of those people, even one note is amazing really, but it really makes you start to wonder if people are losing interest in your work. Or just do not like it.

I think you’re right, some of the content creators I knew almost dont post anything anymore. Those who do get less traffic unless they’re style is really good, on hype or if they’re content includes Kamilah (since she’s really popular). All I see in my dash are shitposts whether funny, edgy etc. and they’re the ones who gets most traffic. I still like those but its like 70% shitposts and 20% fanfics, 10% edits, fanarts, aesthetics etc. I just miss seeing more creative content in my dash.

This is very true. People stopped creating original content and started making more shitposts than ever, but that’s probably because of notes. Someone that doesn’t like a certain character, won’t like or rb a post, while a shitpost speaks to everyone. It’s sad to see so many great writers/editors/artists stop posting their stuff, bc of some notes. They seem to think that their stuff is unimportant, even though that’s what a fandom is about. When they get like 60 notes, while a not very funny post gets 1k in one night, its not very surprising that they feel discouraged.

Writing Characters Who Don’t Know How to Relationship

Hey everyone, Abby here with another writing post! Today we’re talking about those classic characters, the ones who have crushes and no idea how to act on them.

Everyone knows that one person who can’t relationship. They can’t romance and at the moment it seems hopeless, but it’s also kind of entertaining to see how things work out for them. Today I’m giving advice on how to write that character, things to do and not to do, as well as some ideas to get the inspiration flowing.

So, your character doesn’t know anything about relationships. How do we know? These things usually start off with two things: a crush and a character who has no idea what to do with it. Do they act on it? Do they not? Do they stay friends? Do they just keep staring until their crush gets the message and asks them out? (That was weirdly specific but we’re rolling with it.) Who knows? Not them.

We’re also going to remember that anyone can have no idea how to relationship. It’s not always the quiet kid in the back with the high grades and big glasses, please remember this. It can be the star of the basketball team or the girl who’s friends with everyone. It can be anyone.

Also, there’s a difference between being “good in bed” and knowing how to maintain a proper relationship. There is a huge difference. Characters like this who get into serious relationships can end up being abusive or (more likely) only in it for the sex. If the other person wants a legitimate relationship, things aren’t going to work out.

If you’re character has no idea what they’re doing, they probably fall into one of two categories. They’ve either never been in a relationship or they’ve been in multiple that didn’t make it very far. So, you could probably consider them naive when it comes to relationships. So when they get into a real, lasting one, they’re going to be in love with the idea of being involved with someone. This can often be a misunderstanding or misinterpretation; they might project that love of being in a relationship onto the person they’re with, which could lead to some major issues.

Another problem is the media. It only portrays the extremes. You never see anything in the media about people in regular relationships, they’re either madly in love or falling apart. There’s no in between, and because your character has no experience to tell them otherwise they could fall into the trap of believing that’s the way real life goes. (Hint: it’s not.) This could end up creating a lot of unnecessary drama when things are going fine, because there’s nothing you would see in the news about that and your character expects action.

I just realized I’ve made this more of a list of the negatives of writing these characters. Why not some positives?

This is a relationship, and it’s important to them. If your character cares, they’re going to do everything they can to keep this relationship in a healthy state. This could include things like random little surprises, trips to random places for some time away, things like that. These things are all considered endearing and will definitely earn them some Romance Points™. 

If this character hasn’t been involved with anyone in a while (or ever) and they’re happy in their relationship, you bet they’re going to talk about it. This might include proclamations about how happy they are, how great their partner is, etc.

If your story is set in today’s world, the Internet is a thing. They’ll probably be turning to all sorts of articles to help them out, and the fact that they’re doing this is definitely a good thing. Even if they do something wrong, they cared enough to try.

So, there are some tips to follow. Just to get the ball rolling (because this topic isn’t a stranger to anyone, I’m sure) I’m going to throw in a few examples/ideas for your clueless characters.

Being afraid to talk to their crush.

Thinking about simple exchanges (saying hello in the hallways) for ten million years.

Finally working up the nerve to ask their crush out.

The intense joy that comes after they say yes.

Or the bout of sadness that comes from rejection.

Brainstorming little things to do, like making breakfast in bed or arriving to their house with a bouquet of flowers.

Intense confusion about first kisses, when they should happen, how they should go.

Long phone calls or texting late at night, being exhausted in the morning but it’s okay because at least they got to talk.

Things like this. I would probably die of a cute overload if book characters did anything like that; maybe I’m reading the wrong genre, but I don’t think I see enough of it.

Anyway, that’s all I’ve got for today. Like a lot of the topics I write about, there are plenty more pointers to give, but I think this would be enough to get you going. If there’s anything you’d like to see me write about in my next post, please don’t hesitate to leave a message in my ask. Until next time, stay lovely <333

person: oh you write? are you any good?

me: yeah I guess

also me: he furrowed his brow, his brow furrowed, brow furrowing, his brow knit together, a wrinkle creased his brow, his brow browed browingly, brow—

I love this idea! 😃

Choices Positivity!

Hey guys! Starting something new here; Choices Positivity! All you have to do is send an ask (anon or not) about a fellow Choices player and we’ll post it right here to share with the whole fandom. Remember to spread kindness!

If you have any questions, send a message!