I'm Sure You've Seen Posts Floating Around About Leaving Comments On AO3 As A "second Kudos" But Seriously,

Body Language Cheat Sheet for Writers

As described by Selnick’s article:

Author and doctor of clinical psychology Carolyn Kaufman has released a one-page body language cheat sheet of psychological “tells” (PDF link) fiction writers can use to dress their characters.

Eight rules for writing fiction: 1) Use the time of a total stranger in such a way that he or she will not feel the time was wasted. 2) Give the reader at least one character he or she can root for. 3) Every character should want something, even if it is only a glass of water. 4) Every sentence must do one of two things — reveal character or advance the action. 5) Start as close to the end as possible. 6) Be a sadist. Now matter how sweet and innocent your leading characters, make awful things happen to them — in order that the reader may see what they are made of. 7) Write to please just one person. If you open a window and make love to the world, so to speak, your story will get pneumonia. 8) Give your readers as much information as possible as soon as possible. To heck with suspense. Readers should have such complete understanding of what is going on, where and why, that they could finish the story themselves, should cockroaches eat the last few pages.

– Kurt Vonnegut

What's the difference between 'enemies to friends to lovers' and 'rivalmance'?

First off, different writers will have different interpretations of certain tags/genres within fan fiction. This is my take on them:

Enemies to Friends to Lovers shows the progression of two people who start out hating each other, slowly grow closer and then fall in love. It’s a really common trope that you see in a lot of literature and film. One example: an assassin is sent to kill the protagonist, but the two of them get stuck having to work together towards a common goal, even though they don’t trust one another. Over time (usually through a couple “you saved my life when you could have run” encounters) the two of them become friends. They genuinely care for each other’s well-being and they have each other’s backs. Slowly, their feelings become romantic. The closer they become, the more their attraction grows. It may take them some time to admit to these feelings (usually held back by the fact that their circumstances should be pitting them against one another), but eventually they become lovers.

Rivalmance is a bit harder to pin down. A rivalmance could be something as tame as two people who are antagonistic and yet still love each other or something as extreme as two people who hate each other and yet have a sexual relationship. The fan fiction I’ve seen in this category more often than not sways toward the latter.

Rivalmance doesn’t usually have the same progression into kindness as Enemies to Friends to Lovers has. More often than not, the members of a rivalmance still genuinely dislike (and possibly hate) each other. Many times intimacy in a rivalmance is based upon mutual lust rather than love or tenderness. Hate sex is far more likely to show up here. 

If we took the same story as above, the assassin and the protagonist still hate and distrust each other, yet there is an undeniable sexual tension between them. They are forced to work together, yet they do not build mutual trust. They may grow to care for each other’s well-being (as in, they wouldn’t want to see the other killed), but it’s more motivated by their circumstances than any real love or empathy. Their intimacy couldn’t really be mistaken for “making love”. Oftentimes there is a power struggle between the two of them throughout all of their interactions and sex is often no different. They are not particularly kind to one another, nor are they very giving unless they expect to receive something in return. 

No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader. No surprise in the writer, no surprise in the reader.

Robert Frost

a.k.a. you may find your work Bad and Cringy™️ but you wrote something and that’s a Good Thing™️.

All writing is good practice and progresses you as a writer.

Sharing this on both blogs since it's so amazing and I'm awed by it.

Ryiah Lavellan, commission for sinedra 

Based off a dream I had. This is not me, but I dreamt of a girl in love with a pirate captain. She waited on the shore, waiting for his ship's signal but it never comes and she stood there in terror asking "What do I do now, Cass? What am I supposed to do now?"

@sinedra provided her name, Cece. The pirate captain's name is Caspian and he is here:

There are Russian citizens who understand that Putin’s invasion of Ukraine is wrong, and they are showing up & showing out.

👉🏿 https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/russia-cracks-down-home-front-its-troops-invade-ukraine-2022-02-24/

For all the tankies and misguided “leftists” who somehow think that backing Putin is the way to show how “pure” their “communism” is—THIS is how you do it. THIS is how you rise up. These Russian protesters aren’t talking shit, while hiding behind a keyboard, in the safety of a country that’s safely not being invaded. These Russian citizens are openly protesting Putin’s war and their own government. They are putting it all on the line and literally risking everything to protest Putin’s imperialism. They are showing solidarity with the people of Ukraine.

Bravo. 👏🏿👏🏿👏🏿 Bravo. 👏🏿👏🏿👏🏿

Stand With Ukraine 🇺🇦

Remember, you will always be growing as a writer. There is no peak, only improvement. It's a continual learning curve and you can only go up from here. So keep writing lovelies.

Shoutout to all the fanfic writers who pour their heart and soul into a fic and it doesn’t get enough notes.

Shoutout to all the writers who’ve stopped writing because their work wasn’t appreciated enough.

Shoutout to all the fanfic writers for whom writing is like a coping mechanism.

Shoutout to all the writers who have resorted to writing as a way of expressing themselves.

Shoutout to all the writers who project their trauma into writing.

Shoutout to all fanfic writers.

You are valid. You are important. People like what you do. And no, its neither awkward nor pathetic. Its ok, its wonderful.

And i love you honey, please remember that I’ll always support you .