This Is Genius??? Makes Me Wanna Write About It

Flash frowns internally—or maybe he does it externally, too—as he stares down a guy who has obvious interest in his baby sister. The man in front of him—Graydon or something—returns his gaze with no sign of backing down. "May I ask...what's your relationship with Jesse?"

Flash raises a brow, "are you that curious?"

"I am, yes."

"Well, I've been curious myself. What do you think of Jessica?"

"....She's my friend."

"Is that it?"

"Are you looking for a different answer?" they challenge.

"Yes. A manlier one."

"A...manlier one?"

"Yeah, you know, direct to the point, leaving nothing for you to guess, that sorta answer."

They blink and lean back, having leaned forward during their daring conversation. "I..." they mull it over, looking for the proper words, "I want to be the one she loves."

Flash stays silent, searching their face for deceit. Slowly, he nods, and looks away, arms crossed as Jesse returns with their ordered beverages. She looks between the two of them, noting the tells of displeasure in her brother. She smiles and starts up a conversation with Graydon, not caring for her brother's lack of input for now.

She smiles as Graydon looks at his watch and excuses himself, having errands to run. She waves him goodbye and watches him drive away. Only then does she look at her brother who's already staring at her, knowing that she'll want to speak with him. "...You don't like him?"

He sighs and sips on his coffee, watered-down with melted ice, "not satisfied with him, no."

She purses her lips and nods, sullen at the admission. "What is it about him?"

He peers up at her, "just...suspicious of him. Plus, I didn't like his answer."

"Well, what do you want him to do..?" she inquires, hopeful but clearly upset.

Flash shrugs, "treat you well."

"He does, though."

"Then date him."

"But—" she exhales loudly.

He sighs after a beat of silence, "do you like him?"

"Yes," she says, resolutely.

"Then date him, even if it might hurt in the future."

She frowns deeper, "it's like you want me to be hurt."

"If I wanted you to be hurt, you wouldn't be asking what your boyfriend or whatever can do to make me like him. You wouldn't even ask me."

She exhales, her brother has a point.

"It's not that I want you to be hurt, I don't. I'm your older brother, I want to protect you from harm, it's basically my duty."

She glances at him.

"But, I can't protect you from every harm without doing the damage. It happens, we all get hurt, no matter how careful we are. If I try to protect you from every thing that might hurt you, you'd be hurt. If I didn't, you'd be hurt. Doesn't matter what you do, you can't live a painless life. What matters is how you overcome those painful times. That's what I'm here for, I'll always be here for you."

She smiles tearfully.

"Date him if you like him, maybe it'll be the greatest choice you make. Some things are worth the pain, in the end. And if he ends up being an ass, then I'll be here for you. Point is, you'll get hurt no matter what, maybe you two would argue, maybe he'd treat you badly. You'll make mistakes and you'll learn from them, you'll get hurt and you'll be stronger. As long as you get out of there when it's getting...toxic, then be with him. It's the happy memories that matters, in the end, right?"

She nods, "yeah."

"Promise me you'll leave if it gets toxic, though."

She holds out her pinkie, linking it with his, "promise. And I know that you'll be there to pull me out."

He smiles, "make good friends, yeah? Good ones, the ones that'll stick with you no matter what."

"I will, I do....Thanks, Flash."

He smiles, "anything for my sister."

I legit watched "Willow" just for Tony Revolori, I will cry if they release season 2, like, 12 years later and it's not Tony anymore. I nearly cried when Graydon died but kept my hopes high, because if there's anything fiction is good at, it's never killing off characters.

Aaah, yeah, I can relate. I’m trying to let go of that, too. Might even get to finish my WIPs that way

Someone commented on a fic of mine which I honestly thought was the worst one in my series, so I decided to read it. Wow, I feel like I worded some things poorly. Get what people mean by “reading your own things is awesome” now, though. It’s like the author read your mind

Mayuzumi: Generation of Miracles? More like Generation of Weirdos.

Nijimura: Generation of Miracles? More like Generation of Homos.

PREACH!!

I’m sick and tired of all these fanfictions treating Ron like shit. Hermione and Harry keeping stuff from him, Hermione commenting on his eating, people treating him like a joke, making fun of his intelligence, making him not able to keep a secret, making him homophobic, and making him seem like an awful person. Im sick of it. Ron would risk his life to save Harry without a second thought and has done so before. He is smart, he’s great at strategy and not some idiot who’s only trait is being jealous. Ron is underrated and over-hated in this fandom and I’m actually so fucking sick of it.

Ron wasn’t jealous of Harry entering the goblet of fire like Hermione thought. It was obvious through what Ron said that he was mad that Harry didn’t tell him, and then lied about it. He let Harry practice spells on him through his fourth years in order to prepare for the tournament.

Ron left during the Horcrux hunt because he was wearing a horcrux. He regretted it immediately and tried to come back but couldn’t find them.

Ron Weasley, at thirteen, stared, who he believed was a mass murderer, in the eye and told him that in order to kill Harry he would have to kill him first and then proceed to double down on it!

Also, it’s not just the fandom either, JK also gave Ron the prefect badge. Hermione was so shocked because she had thought it was Harry and congratulated him only for it to be Ron and had to stutter and backtrack. It took molly a full page to congratulate him, and harry actually felt jealous. Only for Rowling to later make Dumbldore explain to Harry that the only reason Harry didn’t get prefect was because he had to much going on anyways. No. Ron deserved that! I’m sick of Ron not getting nice things.

A Motivational Ramble For Writers

I think most motivational speeches aren't necessarily motivational in the long run because unfortunately, they lack so many aspects of reality. Yes, of course hearing all the longggg metaphoricalllllll poems and forty different beautiful ways of phrasing 'you can do it' may be motivational for that day, maybe even the next week. Still, I don't at all think that's going to open your mind in a way that genuinely allows you to FEEL motivated.

So I'd like to maybe change that. Of course, my words are only as effective as you allow them to be, but I'm going to share narratives that have personally helped me. I'm aware everything doesn't work for everyone, but I truly hope this provides motivation.

To condense a righteous "my writing journey" monologue into a simple sentence, I've been a new author before just like every other, and yes I can definitely relate to what you go through before finding yourself—and the courage to put yourself out there.

For starters, I need you to ask yourself why you're afraid. Don't tell me you aren't, because I'm almost sure that's not true. And if I AM wrong, think back to the times you have been, and reflect on them.

The reason I say I'm almost sure that's not true… is simply that to be unmotivated, you need to have something holding you back. It's obviously not the sheer desire not to write, because if that were the case, you wouldn't be reading a writer's motivation post would you.

I think you're afraid of going against the grain. 

I think you're afraid that by going against the grain, you won't succeed in that genre.

I think you're afraid that if you do experiment with genres, you'll not gain an audience, or lose the audience you've already gained.

I'm quite aware it's not just easy to stop being afraid, but I'm going to put it bluntly. Stop being afraid. You need to plant that seed. Water it as slowly as you'd like, but plant it.

You as a new author will never in a million years get anywhere when you stick to one genre. Sure, people may shower you with compliments about your skills with it, but sometimes you need to throw away that comfort in validation, and open your mind to a bit of criticism—which in the writing world, is essential for growth. Don't tell me you aren't good at drama if you've never attempted it. Don't tell me you can't attempt it because you think you won't do well.

Did I like it when I was told my storytelling ability was not really put together to handle a romance? Absolutely not. Especially since I had WAY too much confidence at the time, because I surrounded myself in a criticism-free shelter. 

But anyway, no I didn't like that. But I'll tell you I didn't let it make me throw a piss fit and quit, I just sucked it up and moved on to the next genre, as I did with all the genres imaginable. I can now confidently say I suck at everything but psychological drama. And that's from a place of honesty, I'm at peace with that fact after…many trials and errors haha.

So in the most loving way possible, author to author, e-friend to e-friend even though we probably have never spoken… suck it up, and grow from what you had to soak in. 

Quit letting inevitable criticism get you down, and stop being afraid of possibly receiving it. Especially if you're a fresh new writer. I know it's hard to hear stuff like that, but as you haven't yet allowed yourself the time to experiment, it's important to take criticism a little more seriously than you would when you've been writing for a while. Don't let it make you put your story down, or let it give you depressive writers block.

My first-ever critic meant to be somewhat-insult was "You think you're all that because you know how to use metaphors, but this is really just a heap of just that. Metaphors. There's no story here whatsoever."

Yes, I vividly remember that because wooooo did it piss me off. But you know what? I look back and wish I could hug that person because reading my old work, that was true. But once again, I used that anger to reverse that curse. And even sometimes I find it still rings true, but I'll continue to work on it.

So authors, get angry. Get STEAMING. Get PISSED. But in the midst of that, you need to have the hunger to prevail. If you're just sitting behind your screen angry steaming and pissed, that person won for the reason they all along had. To make you quit. Yeah, sadly people get off on that. It's unfortunate that some criticism will be rude especially when people have the convenience of hiding behind a screen—but it's reality.

YOU NEED TO WIN by using that as fuel to NOT QUIT, BUT SUCCEED. Because just like me, you'll probably find that early-on criticism was almost always true. They could have worded it…nicer, but it usually rings true.

So now, I want you to remember every insult you've ever received if you can. Let it brew…let it make you want to succeed, and not quit.

Writing…is a learning process.

You never stop learning, so drop that mindset if you have it. Criticism isn't always meant to be malicious, so drop that mindset if you have it. You aren't this writer against the mean, cold world because someone pointed out imagery isn't your strong suit, drop that mindset if you have it.

People want to help more than tear down, mostly. I do, anyway. Obviously you have your trolls in any environment…but lots of people mean to help, and when you have hostility against criticism—you'll automatically take it negatively.

So anyway, I hope this has been slightly more motivational than the general YOU CAN DO ANYTHING YOU SET YOUR MIND TO DRINK WATER rants.

Because one more piece of advice, that's a lie. If you aren't good at romance you just aren't, that's alright. Put your energy into the genre that you ARE good at. You can't force it. So get to experimenting, stop being afraid, you will find your niche. If your audience leaves because you're doing essential experiments, I wouldn't bat an eye over those toads. You'll find a new and solid one. It's a process.

Get to writing, I believe in you.

Why is it that the people you see yourself in the future with is the one that leaves your present? But the person you couldn't foretell would stay in your future was the one who is?

I have so many WIPs that if only I knew how to work with myself, I’d have finished or at least made sm progress. I’m trying to actually plan my fanfic now but am struggling. Some of these WIPs will never see the light of day so I’m thinking of just posting them as prompts or headcanons

Shout out to my writers that don’t plan their fics at all. Readers be like “I can’t wait to find out what happens next!”

Babe me too