It’s Hard To Keep Your friend’s Channel Running When You’re Exhausted And He Just Won’t Wake

Professional screamer

How I Wrote A Novel.

This, in a nutshell, is what I did to get a book with my name on it.

NOTE: This is just my personal way of making the words go. Other people have different ways to make their words go. In the world of words, there are no right answers. There’s just lots and lots of tea/coffee/tear stains.

1). The Idea

When I get an idea for a story, I open up a document, label it “Brainstorming,” and start making a bullet list of events that consist of the plot.

It has to be an idea with tangible weight. A stray bit of dialogue or something vague like Halloween, that doesn’t give me much to work off of. Halloween creatures living on the same street where it’s Autumn every day- now that’s something I can build from.

What kinds of creatures are they? What do they do? What do their houses look like? The best ideas are the ones that spark more.

2). First Draft

This is the easy part- and the most challenging. Easy, because there’s literally no bar. I just sat there and typed. But it’s a huge mental challenge.

When I was in first draft mode, I wanted that story out. I thought that by making it such a rough, far-away version from the concept in my head, I was only delaying the day where I’d hold it in my hands. Turns out, that’s what got it to take on physical form in the first place. So I quieted down, grabbed my laptop and some hot tea, and typed.

3). Dissecting the First Draft

After I finished draft one, I printed it all off and highlighted the scant amounts that were passable for the next phase. Dialogue, descriptions, setting- anything that didn’t look like it was up to par was scratched out and omitted.

I call the above pictures A Slow Descent Into Madness.

4). The Second Draft

On a fresh document, I rewrote the story altogether- and it make a difference. I was coming up with things I hadn’t even thought of previously. And it was surprising how much better the plot was than the first time around. But it was still rough.

5). Draft Three

My method was to start with the bigger, more obvious issues and work my way down. Any plot holes I found were noted, and my outline was constantly under revision. I cut out entire scenes and made mental notes on ways they could be fixed/replaced.

This is where I started cutting chapters in half to make the story flow better- but I didn’t bother writing in usable chapter titles. Instead, I improvised:

6). Drafts Four and Five

These were dedicated to correcting the smaller, less obvious plot holes. This was the point where the story finally started to look close to what would become the final version.

7). Drafts Seven Onward

With the story line looking how I wanted, I then moved on to sentence structure. That one song that looked terrible? Rewritten. Over-the-top descriptions and excessive prose? Gone.

8). Editing and Proofing

This is where I had outside help. Besides this useful tool, I had two people check for spelling issues and the overall story. Once it was in decent shape to be made public, I asked for some additional help.

9). Betas

My betas were in the age range that my novel was geared toward, along with a couple of teachers and parents (as it was middle grade). I gave them the full manuscript, along with seven basic questions like “Which characters were your favorite/least favorite and why?” and “Was there a part of the story that didn’t make sense?”

I gave my betas three months to read a 42,590 word story, and by the end they gave me back the review sheets.

10). Final Adjustments

After I read over the reviews, I let the comments sit for three days so that I could proceed with a clear head. I smoothed out any flaws, scanned over the MS twice to make sure everything was right, and that is how I got to the end of writing my first novel.

Next comes publishing- which is a different beast entirely.

Heard some important information on Twitter today, and thought I’d post it here for anyone who may not have heard it. This is actually a thing, devised by human rights organisation called Karma Nirvana.

Reblog to save a life?

Stranded/Lost One Shot

Prompt: Stranded/Lost

Fandom: Original Work

Jane ran through backyards glancing over her shoulders. She could hear a car driving down the street, and she prayed that it was just a resident of the neighborhood.

She continued running through the backyards until she ran into a road. She stopped and sat down on the front yard of some large house.

Headlights turned down the road, and Jane’s heart started to race.

Was it them? She got to her feet.

As the car got closer, it started to slow down.

It was them.

Jane turned to the house on her left and ran into the backyard. She started running through the yards again. This time she knew that the car that she heard was them.

Jane stopped. She could hear the car continue on, and she breathed a sigh of relief.

Looking around she tried to get her bearings, but she didn’t recognize anything.

Sitting down she cradled her head in her hands.

It started out as a normal day. She had gone to work and went home. That’s when she got a text from her boss asking her to come and grab some product to take to the warehouse. Just a normal errand. She asked her to do it all the time.

She showed up at the house and knocked on the door. No one answered, so she opened the door and went inside like she usually does.

She walked down the stairs to her boss’s office, and that’s when it got weird.

The door was open, which was never the case, and she could hear multiple voices in the room.

“We want the product moved right now.” A gruff voice carried out to the hallway.

“Like I said it will be.” Jane’s boss sounded confident like she had done this previously.

“What about the cops on our backs?”

“I have a plan in place. I have asked one of my employees to carry the product to the warehouse. If it is found, it won’t have any evidence pointing to us. Only to her. We will be in the clear.”

The scrape of a chair being pushed back startled Jane. That was her they were talking about. She backed up and started waling back up the stairs.

The office door was pushed open, and the gruff voice yelled, “Hey who are you?”

Jane didn’t know what to do so she started running. She pulled the front door open and ran down the street. She could hear the gruff voice and her boss yelling at her. Then a car started, and it pealed out of the driveway.

She turned to her right and ran into the backyard, then kept running.

Pulling herself out of her thoughts she looked around again and tried to notice some landmarks that would clue her in on where she was, no luck. She was lost. That’s when she saw the light.

The light shone between the two houses. Hesitantly she approached the light.

A voice echoed between the buildings, and she froze. It was the gruff voice that she had heard in the basement.

She quietly started backing up.

The voice started getting closer until she could see the figure past the corner of the house.

That’s when she turned and ran.

The gruff voice yelled “Stop.”, but she didn’t want to.

“Don’t worry. She doesn’t know where to go. We will find her again.” Her boss’s voice echoed, and Jane felt the pit in her stomach grow bigger.

What people think writers’ search histories look like: how to get away with murder, best way to dispose of a body, how long do humans take to decompose, how much blood do you have to lose to die, can i strangle someone with dental floss... etc

What an actual writer’s seach history looks like:

SUPERKIDDOS, part one! Once again I write too much dialogue… I just really like to see Damian rant. This is the gen, supersons + colin mash-up I’ve wanted for years lol so forgive the self-indulgence! Here’s the blurb:

The Supersons encounter an enemy that threatens to tear them apart: Meep Meeps, the newest fad hitting the country! When Damian gets kidnapped, however, his friend Colin must reach out to Superboy to help get their little Robin back…

Like with RSVP, I’ll be working steadily to get these out in five-page increments. For those curious, you can find all the pre-color work for this fancomic here: thumbs | inks part one

PARTS: Valentines prologue << Part One >> Part Two >> Part Three

OOOOOOHHHH!! I love this!!

Lets get a "the heroes "friends" hand the hero over to the villain" snippet in here! Love your writing, and hope you are feeling well.

I’m doing well, thanks, and thank you for waiting and I’m so glad to hear you like my stuff. I hope you like what I’ve come up with.

Hero was very confused when they entered the warehouse to see their friends sitting on crates only a few feet away from Villain, their sidekick and two henchmen. Hero tensed and couldn’t help but position themselves ready for combat.

“It’s alright, [Hero],” Villain said with a smug smirk. “You’ll be pleased to know your friends and I have come to an… well, an agreement.”

Hero turned to look at their friends in concern. They were not reassured to see them look away. Guilt was obvious on their faces, but why?“What’s wrong?” they asked the leader. Leader looked reluctant to reply so Villain cut in on their behalf.

“A deal has been struck. I will be giving up my master weapon, in exchange… for you.”“Me?!”“Yes. You belong to me now. Though it is a shame that your friends have been quite so cowardly and unfaithful towards you.”

Hero shook their head and turned to run. They tried the door they entered through but it was locked. Hero yanked at it desperately.“No, no, no! You’re lying! You have to be lying! You’ve hypnotised them, or they’re not real- something! They wouldn’t- you wouldn’t do this to me, we’re a team, family!”

Villain stood from their crate and smiled almost sadly, almost. “It’s a straight-faced deal. You for the weapon- I hardly needed to even negotiate. You’ve been misled all this time, and I’d apologise to you if it was my place to do so.”

Hero was almost certain their heart tore in two. Something snapped inside them, numbing heat rushed into their body, heavy and devastating. “No… Please. [Leader], please-” Hero tried to get some sort of reaction from them, they rushed to them and tried to hold them by their forearms, to reason with them. They didn’t understand, they couldn’t go with Villain, they couldn’t. Why were they doing this?!

Their leader pushed them away. “I’m sorry… It’s the only way. I hope you understand.”

Hero felt their legs wobble, their lip tremble and tears threaten to spill. Then another wave of heat hit them like electricity. Anger, betrayal, hopelessness it all boiled together and overflowed within seconds. Hero punched Leader as hard as they could. “I am not just property for you to just give away! I won’t go!”

Hero made to hit them again but Villain caught their fist. Hero turned sharply and tried to free their arm. “Get your hands off me! I’m not yours!”Villain looked up at the group of friends. “You can go now unless you enjoy seeing your Hero beg their supposed friends for help that is. Don’t worry, I’ll take good care of them.”

The heroes took their leave, some looking more ashamed than others. Hero fought with a fire in their eyes. “Revoke the deal! Please! [Leader], don’t do this! [Leader!] I trusted you!”

It took Villain’s Sidekick and two henchmen to get them under control, wrestling them to their knees and holding on tight to their arms while Sidekick had a handful of hair as a warning. Hero slumped forwards and struggled not to sob in front of their enemy. Their breathing was heavy and forced out through gritted teeth.

“I told you no one would care about you,” Villain observed. “They didn’t even try to fight for you.” When Hero didn’t retaliate, Sidekick let go of their hair. They took up a pair of handcuffs and secured their hands behind their back. The henchmen let go of them for the time being. “Let’s go. I’ll give you the chance to come with some dignity.”

Hero didn’t budge, they looked so deep in thought that they hardly acknowledged what was said. Villain sighed and crouched down in front of them. “I told you to pick better friends. Now your decision has come back to haunt you, the best thing you can do now is to forget about them. On your feet and come with me.”

Hero still couldn’t move, “I don’t understand…”

Villain stood and dismissed them with a flick of their wrist. “People are scum, [Hero]. Sooner you learn that the better off you’ll be.” Hero let the henchmen take them under the arms and drag them to a waiting van.

Batfam + table manner/eating habits headcanons

BRUCE WAYNE-

In public, Bruce is extremely well-mannered and classy when he eats, even going as far as to use the correct spoons and forks for what he’s eating. At the dinner table at home, he’s still pretty neat, eats politely. Down in the cave he just devours his snacks because Batman is gritty and also very extra.

DICK GRAYSON-

Follows the etiquette fairly well, as far as the others know. Eats in reasonable portions, if a little fast. Saves the class for events, dates, and family meals. Can otherwise be found slumped over at the breakfast table shoveling cereal into his mouth with milk dripping down chin.

BARBARA GORDON-

Doesn’t put much thought into how she eats. Dignified, never really messy. Big snacker, small eater. Very aware of what foods are too messy to eat in public without an accident, chooses her foods/serving sizes related to where she is/who she’s with. Likes to eat her sides before her main course.

JASON TODD-

Can actually be as well-mannered as Dick, contrary to what others might (annoyingly) think. Eats large portions at once, and eats them quicker than most (which Bruce suspects might be a habit from before he took him in, when he had to eat what he could when he could). Keeps napkins on hand always. Only really eats messily when trying to annoy/embarrass Bruce or when exhausted.

TIM DRAKE-

Raised to be, of course, very classy, neat, put-together, the absolute picture of etiquette. Puts on exactly that illusion when in public. When he’s alone, this boy is a mess just because he doesn’t care. Eats without really focusing on eating, which leads to a few messes. Will eat with any silverware that’s available, once ate his soup with a fork. Picks at his food a lot, doesn’t always finish his food.

CASSANDRA CAIN-

Eats very politely, if a little slowly. Sometimes hesitates before taking a second serving. Takes small bites but finishes her plate. Doesn’t use the “proper” silverware, really enjoys sporks. Wipes mouth every few bites even if what she’s eating isn’t messy.

STEPHANIE BROWN-

Gives no shits. Eats how she feels like eating. Will eat pie for breakfast and eggs and bacon for a snack. Is fairly neat with her eating in public and at the manor unless Tim says something, then she will purposefully eat everything with her hands and then chug his drink.

DAMIAN WAYNE-

Little Bruce. A bit more dignified in private than Bruce is, though. Very classy. Does, however, eat a LOT. More than any of his siblings, because he’s growing, and because nobody else eats the food Alfred cooks for him because there’s no meat. Takes his time eating. May occasionally talk with his mouth full before correcting himself.

DUKE THOMAS

Average table manners and eating habits. Tries to make conversation during meals, always clears his plate. The person who drinks soup straight from the bowl and will eat cereal out of a cup. Never talks with his mouth open, will make you wait a good minute for a response while he is chewing. Spills things on occasion and makes sure Alfred isn’t around before muttering a few curses.

i honestly don’t think authors grasp the effect dark haired, morally grey characters have on their readers. like i mean they can literally kill a man and most of us will still be here like

My First Try!! :)

Thanks for the prompt @grab-an-idea!

Prompt: “Who are you? Show yourself!”

The job had gone wrong. It was supposed to be a small break-in. Get in, grab the artifact and leave. They had practiced it multiple times, and it had gone flawlessly. It all went wrong when they did it for real.

They had found the window, gotten into the house, and found the artifact. Or where it should have been.

“Where is it?” Chief whispered. “We’ve been watching this house for days, and no one has touched it.”

“What do we do now?” Clara asked. “Do we leave or look for it?”

Chief paced back and forth fiddling with his hair. 

“Chief what do we-”

“Shh, I’m thinking.”

Clara nodded and sat down on the floor. Chief kept pacing, switching between fiddling with his hair and his belt.

Clara sat for what felt like hours before Chief stopped pacing.

“Did you hear that?”

Clara stood up. “Hear what?”

Chief didn’t respond, and they both fell silent again. The faint sound of footsteps echoed down the hall. 

“We have to go. Now.” Chief grabbed Clara’s arm and took off running. They retraced their steps through the house.

Once they got to the window, both out of breath, they stopped. 

“What’s going on? Who is that?” Clara knelt breathing heavily.

Chief, still holding onto her arm, pulled her up. “We have to get out of here. I’ll explain later.” 

Clara nodded and opened the window. Chief let go of her arm, and she crawled out. Chief crawled out after her, and they both climbed down to the backyard. 

Chief pointed to the forest that surrounded the house, Clara nodded, and they took off running.

“Clara go to the right. I’ll go to the left.”

“Why? Shouldn’t we stay together?”

“They want me. You’ll be safer if we split up.”

“Who are-“ Clara stopped. She didn’t want to leave Chief’s side he had helped her through so much, finding her on the street after her parents died and raising her like she was one of his own. Tears started to fill her eyes.

Chief grabbed her by the shoulders. “I will see you at home. I promise. I will not abandon you.” 

Chief pulled her into a hug and wiped the tears from her eyes. Chief let go of her and took off running. Clara wiped her hands on her pants and ran in the opposite direction. 

Clara’s lungs started to ache. Not being able to run anymore she sat down on a nearby log. She closed her eyes and focused on getting air back into her lungs.

Who was chasing them? The family that lives in the house was out of town for another week. They would have seen the family car outside and would have called the job off. 

Where was the artifact? It was their ticket out of the city. Chief promised Clara that they would move to the country and live a normal life. 

Her thoughts were cut off by the sound of approaching footsteps. She jumped to her feet. “Who are you? Show yourself!” 

The footsteps stopped. Clara cautiously took a step towards the sound. She saw a large shadow standing in the distance. “Chief is that you?” 

“Nope.” A gruff voice said. The figure started to run towards her.

She yelped and ran. The footsteps were getting closer. Clara, ignoring her screaming lungs, kept pushing forward. 

She wanted Chief to be with her. He said that this guy would go after him, not her. She closed her eyes for a second pushing back the tears that were forming in her eyes. She opened her eyes and jumped over a log. She almost cleared it, but her back foot caught the edge, and she fell hard on her stomach. 

She curled into a ball and tried to get her breath back. The footsteps got closer and closer until she could see black boots standing right in front of her.

“You must be the new sidekick.” A rough hand grabbed her by the hair and pulled her to her feet until she was face to face with him. 

“Who are you?” Clara clawed at the hand holding her hair. 

“I was the last sidekick. Until he found you and pushed me aside, now I’m going to make him pay. I thought the artifact would be enough until I saw you.” His lips parted into a wide smile. “We are going to have so much fun.”