All The Feels! Thank You @ariatate Xoxo

my professor spent our entire seminar whining about how there’s too many girls in our group and not enough boys. he was like “i’m not saying women can’t be good surgeons but we need more men” no, we don’t. men suck. deal with it.

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Another good question from @the-wip-project on day 10 of this challenge.

1) how does a character react when a friend claims that their pet passion project actually belongs to the company they work for because it was created during company time?

2) what if the tower on an island in the river by my house became the only above water structure in this area by the end of the century?

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yay to long haired vegetables and their strap ons! lol

fanfic recommendation for someone who never read a fanfic?

Hi! Ok that’s a cool challenge. Please keep in mind that I’m leaving a lot of great fics out, some because it’s humanly impossible to remember everything and others because I refuse to make a list the size of the bible. Anyway, I hope you like my suggestions ^-^

If you don’t mind a bit of sexy times:

more women than warriors (modern au) by steklir is possibly my favourite fic of all time

in love and war and politics (modern au) by centuriesofexistence is hands down one of the best Clexa fics there is

what heart’s ease must queens neglect (modern royalty au) by thrace is just absolutely brilliant

blood rush in he hazy glow (modern au) by firetestsgold will always be a favourite of mine

oh you’ll find me between (the devil and the deep blue sea) (pirates au) by orangeyouglad8 is an awesome story with pirates and treasure hunts and mysteries ahoy

broken wands (fwb au) by smallamountsofmonster is one of my favourite HP au’s ever

she got me up all night (all i’m singing’ is love songs) (modern au) by mostlyunstablefangirl is my go-to happy one-shot

fight me series (modern au + canonverse) by fairytaleslayer is a beautiful second-person series of fics, two au and one canon

a pleasant undoing by mopeytropey (modern au) is one of those fics that I love, when the characters are roughly my age and I relate (and it’s simply amazing)

touch or carry (modern au) by paintthebrain has Clexa as beach volleyball players - need I say anything else?

suburbia (modern au) by raspberrytree has confident, sure of herself Lexa and it’s both sexy and fun

what is this feeling? (HP au) by aiscrimson is a soulmates au in the HP universe

“i found love” series (modern au) by crumbleduppieceofpaper wrecked me when I read the first one and is now patching me back up

black magic (magic au) by paintthebrain is awesome awesome awesome awesome awesome - awesooooome

two’s company series (modern au) by careyelizabeth is a wonderful ballet au

mystic coffee (magic au) by blindwire is magic, coffee shops, magic tattoos, tiny pet dragons, cool Clarke, and Lexa is glasses all wrapped into one

lifetimes (royalty au) by 8hedaofhearts8 is one of the most underrated fics there are - I love it to bits and pieces, it’s easily a top-5 of mine

if you don’t mind a lot of sexy times:

open windows, open hearts (modern au) by Sheisme is one of the hottest clexa fics out there

loving you in the light & dark series (modern au) by Tanagariel is one of the first I ever read

bare my soul (modern au) by Tanagariel was one of the first to explore the theme and it’s great

you’re fired (so yeah you win) (modern au) by LaFlashdrive was THE smutty fic in its time

this is heaven in hiding (modern au) by orangeyouglad is sexy, ridiculously well written, and fun

the whore’s queen (royal and medieval au) by w0rldofmy0wn is my current obsession

bought, owned, earned series (modern au) by sassymajesty is hot as hell and hits you hard on the feels

fearless. (modern au) by lordvoldyfarts is possibly the best road trip au ever

if you prefer your fics smut-free:

six (mythology au) by LingeringLillies is a beautiful, beautiful take on the Hades/Persephone story

habromanic (modern au) by alittlesoulcarryingacorpse is a sweet and witty one-shot

greencard (modern au) by coeurdastronaute (x and x) is heartbreaking but bloody fucking beautiful

the lay of looking-glass land series (canonverse) by KL_Morgan is a fantastic take on azgeda!clarke, it’s honestly so so great

in the shallows (canonverse au) by blindwire is my favourite role reversal fic

falcon (modern au) by anonbeme is the age gap fic you’ve all been looking for

light a thousand fires under me. (modern au) by sovereignchicken is a beautiful high school au that deals with peer expectations

hooked on a feeling (HP au) by onebigroughdraft is my favourite bundle of joy

love remember me (sweetly and tenderly) by betteronpaper is, like this friend of mine’s other fics, ridiculously well written and beautifully bittersweet

special category: comedy

the 300 (modern au) by bucklethorpe is pure hilarity and beautiful fluff

the business of caring (modern au) by coldmackerel is simply hilarious

it’s called contraband for a reason (prison au) by coldmackerel can’t be described

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I apologise once again to everyone whose fics I forgot to include or decided not to - I do love them.

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if you don't do anything else today,

Please have a moment of silence for the people who were killed instead of freed when news of emancipation finally reached the furthest corners of the american south.

have another moment for the ledgers, catalogs, and records that were burned and the homes that were destroyed to hide the presence of very much alive and still enslaved people on dozens of plantations and homesteads across the south for decades after emancipation.

and have a third moment for those who were hunted and killed while fleeing the south to find safety across the border, overseas, in the north and to the west.

black people. light a candle, write a note to those who have passed telling them what you have achieved in spite of the racist and intolerant conditions of this world, feel the warmth of the flame under your hand, say a prayer of rememberance if you are religious, place the note under the candle, and then blow it out.

if you have children, sit them down and tell them anything you know about the life of oldest black person you've ever met. it doesn't have to be your own family. tell them what you know about what life was like for us in the days, years, decades after emancipation. if you don't know much, look it up and learn about it together.

This is Juneteenth.

white people CAN interact with this post. share it, spread it.

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Filling In The Gaps

When we write, sometimes a story comes with all the pieces stuck together for you. Most of the time, it comes piece by piece. Here’s to finding the pieces to go with the ones you already have.

Need a Genre:

I think this will help

List of Genres (play darts with it or something)

Need a Plot:

Adventure Generator (Fantasy)

Plot Idea Generator (can get a little wacky)

Plot Twist Generator (General)

Genre-based Plot Generators 

SO MANY PLOTS

Really random plot generator 

“Put your character in a bad situation” Generator

Need (a) Character(s):

Name Generator (Fantasy)

Name Generator (All Genres, including Surnames)

All the Character Generators (I’m not kidding.)

EVERY SINGLE CHARACTER GENERATOR (You still think I’m kidding)

Another character description generator (General)

Character Backstory/Details/Appearance Generators

Or just look through Pinterest “Character Inspiration” boards. So many good faces on there. I like this board and this one.

Need a Setting:

World Generator (Fantasy)

Fictional Location Generator (General)

City Generator

Fill out your Setting Generators

Need a Scene:

Ask These Guys for a prompt!

Prompty prompt prompts

I Just Need Something!:

First Line Generator (you will spend most of your time laughing)

Prophecy Generator (to make you feel all foreboding and such)

This link has plot and genre and character building helps. 

All the generators!

Title Generator

Just search for writing prompts! Tumblr has SO MANY, and Pinterest has just as many.

Go forth and conquer, friends.

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Day Thirty-six

of @the-wip-project‘s challenge

Q36: The relationships you write, what kind of power-dynamics do they tend to have?

A36: In a romantic pairing, one character is 100% smitten and the other is not. (Unfortunately, I experienced this quite a bit before I met someone who was equally into me as I am in them. I guess this trope is a bit of a loose tooth for me that I like to wiggle from time to time.) By the end of the story, though, this pairing is over.

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Let me just add some color to the wlw side of tumblr…

There’s one actress in this post who has played a queer character on three… not one not two, three different shows

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I’m going to try this!

how to make a story file

As I am preparing for Camp NaNo*, I have been working on my story file. It occurred to me this might not be common or popular practice. “Story File” is a name I gave it and maybe some of y’all have a different name with the same contents. 

*There’s still time to apply to join my Camp NaNo cabin!

My Story File contains everything about my story that doesn’t go in the outline.

It’s broken up into major categories and specific templates. So without further ado, here is how I structure my Story File. 

Intro

Title

Logline

Synopsis

Genre

Estimated Total Length (word count)

Draft Length Goal (word count)

Character Bank

Main characters and brief, one-sentence descriptions with ages

Themes and Character Development

Central Question

The Yes/No question that is being asked through the whole story

Should have objective qualities, rather than subjective

i.e. “Will they fall in love?” (subjective) vs. “Will they leave their partners and become a couple?” (objective)

Thematic Questions

These are the internal conflict questions that reside in your character(s) and your story

ex. “Can there really be a successful government?”

ex. “Does grief excuse bad actions?”

Themes at a Glance

Words or phrases that relate to the themes of the story

ex. person vs. nature

ex. isolation

ex. grief

ex. first love

Motivation / Stasis State / Final State

for each main character, you should write a sentence or two pertaining to these three things

Motivation: What is the drive behind this character and their past, present, and future actions? What part of their background makes them the way that they are? What are they looking for? What do they want out of this/a situation?

Stasis State: What are they like before the inciting incident? What problems and questions do they have?

Final State: What has changed about them and their outlook? What questions have they resolved? What has happened to their internal conflict?

Relationships

I usually make a little web of the MCs and their relationship to one another. One for the stasis and one for final.

Stasis: How do these characters see each other? How do they act toward the other? (All before the inciting incident)

Final: How do these characters see each other now? How has their idea of one another shifted? 

Even if a character dies before the end, include the most recent relationship status in the Final web.

ex. this is how I organize it, using the Draw feature of Google Docs

Character Bank

This is just a very preliminary character bank. If you prefer a more in-depth one, check out my 6 Box Method.

Per (relevant/important) character:

Name

Nickname/preferred name

Age

Field/Occupation

Physical Description

Personality

Personal History

Education/Occupation History

Extra Notes:

Worldbuilding Bank

(Check out my worldbuilding posts on Categories Pt. 1 and 2 for better context)

Seasons and Climate

Languages

Other Cultural Pockets

Folklore and Legends

Fine Arts

Dress and Modesty

Classes

Jobs

Currency and Economics

Shopping

Agriculture and Livestock

Imports and Exports

Literature, Pop Culture, and Entertainment

Food and Water

Holidays and Festivals

Family and Parenting

Relationships

Housing

Religion and Beliefs

Government

Health and Medicine

Technology and Communication

Death

Transportation

Plants, Animals, and Human-environment Interaction

Education

Beauty Standards

Gender and Sexuality

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I hope this helps y’all and supplements what you’re probably already doing. I know it’s helped me tons to have everything in a central place.

Best of luck!

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