chavawrites-blog
HIATUS
chava · xxvi · mexican · jewish i'm an ownvoices author of varying degrees of fantasy.♍♐♋.::ON HIATUS UNTIL 10/1::.
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Instagram ads piss me off. Like, yes, I do want those black waterproof boots embroidered with a gold sun and moon, but I hate that you know that about me. I hate the little AI oracles sitting in their digital caves making algorithmic prophecies about my spending habits, then sending sending their electronic servants to me with hedonistic temptations targeted at my weaknesses... I’ve already got nice boots, thanks!
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so it turns out if you can get a key to the money box on laundry machines if your apartment makes you pay for laundry
if you’re going to buy one make sure you get the right one for the brand of money box your landlord uses
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People who try to tell me things are ‘not that deep’ fundamentally misunderstand me, I am not a fish desperately in search of the ocean, I am a magpie that roves the canons, searching for shiny things to put in my nest. Whether or not it actually is given deep narrative weight by canon itself is of secondary importance to the fact that it has the potential to be interesting, and thus, I covet it.
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nobody ever talks about how saying non-binary genders don’t exist is racist as fuck
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Elizabeth put her hand against the bark of a tree. “Did we take the wrong turn?”
But this was the clearing. Same pattern of trees, same bubbling stream.
“No,” I said. “This is it.”
Ten minutes ago there were tents set up, and there’s no way they could have packed them all up so fast.
“Did they leave?” Asa asked.
Fry stepped into the clearing. “They wouldn’t.”
“Then where are they?”
I bent down beside the stream. There was no reflection.
“Or where are we?”
[taglist: @musicofglassandwords 💚 (lmk if you want to be added!)]
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Nut collector faerie
He collects nuts and makes talismans out of them.
Naz Nemati
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flowers in mugs
If you’d like this artwork as a phone wallpaper or to download and print at home, it’s available as downloadable art here in my shop!
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Comprehensive, town council approved list of portals:
• The drinks refrigerator at the back of the 7/11 near the disused steelworks.
• Mrs Laura Whitman's basement (God rest her soul).
• Any three tins of line and pole caught tuna, when left to spoil and arranged in an eastern pointing isoceles triangle.
• The area in [REDACTED] where the normal background static of the town becomes noticeably louder and no plants grow.
• The mathematical centre of the O'Donoghue corn field.
• The K-P aisle in the town library (excluding Christian holidays).
• The bathroom in the gas station at the towns west exit. PLEASE NOTE: this portal may not be explicitly visible to all individuals who seek it, and indeed neither may the gas station. In order to access this portal, lift the receiver of the pay phone outside the gas station and whisper your mother's maiden name followed by your greatest fear into it clearly and with emotion.
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I’m going to establish myself as a writer who never writes straight relationships. Then, one fateful day, I’m going to introduce a straight couple. I will make them the healthiest straight relationship ever without ever saying they are a couple. I’ll keep it subtext most of the time. Still, they will be as well developed as my plethora of gay-ass characters. Then, just after subtext becomes maintext and they’ve finally admitted their feelings for one another and given in to those feelings
I’m going to kill one of them off for drama
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Orange Cat: [unfriendly/somewhat sharp meow]
Second cat slowly looks at the camera.
Man, filming, bashfully and sounding somewhat frightened: Sorry!
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Another Way to Think About Character Flaws
Flaws are circumstantial.
Don’t try and divide your characters into “good” and “bad” traits and only punish them for the bad, but rather “strengths” and “weaknesses” that are relevant to how they fit into the particular scene and story.
Being a kind person is generally thought of as a “good” trait, or a “strength”, but there are times when kindness is a disadvantage. Maybe that character ends up with work piled on them because they want to lift burdens from others, maybe their offering to help a stranger gets them kidnapped, maybe they stop to rescue a turtle crossing the road at a blind corner and cause a car accident.
Are there traits that make sense to be labled “bad”? Absolutely– but stories shouldn’t rely on black and white interpretations of personality because people and circumstances aren’t black and white. Almost all traits are simultaneously a strength and a weakness, the degree of which depends on the situation the character is in. “Positive” traits can create poor outcomes for characters just as “negative” traits can fix or prevent problems for characters, and stronger stories work with both types of traits to create a true-to-life dynamic where “flaws” are all contextual.
Because strengths and weaknesses are context-relevant, it’s possible for the trait to switch between a benefit or hindrance depending on the scene. A character with a compassion for animals may spend half the story benefiting from their care for abandoned pets, but that same trait can turn into a hindrance if they severely injure themselves trying to save an animal and it interferes with their shelter work. The trait isn’t “bad”, but it has consequences that aren’t always “good”.
All of that ties into character agency. “Agency” is the ability for a character to make decisions that affect the plot, and agency should have consequences that can be either good or bad depending on the context of the choice. Even if a choice is coming from a “good” trait that’s primarily thought of as a “strength”, it can become a weakness if the story calls for it– and that call is made by the writer. Because we don’t tend to think of “positive” traits as potential weaknesses, it’s easy for stories to fall into series of punishments for “bad” traits when in reality there are consequences no matter the traits that a person has.
The same trait that leads to a beneficial choice early in a story can lead to a poor choice later on. The same trait that caused a problem at first can help the character at the end. It’s possible for characters to grow and adapt as they face the consequences of their choices that stem from their traits, but it’s also possible that they don’t change (at least for one particular trait).
It’s not about making sure a character has “flaws”, it’s about structuring the story to show the consequences of traits that can help or hinder them depending on story circumstances. Personality isn’t divided into “good” or “bad”, but is a dynamic aspect of character that should interact with the plot to create consequences that can be all over the spectrum of “helpful” or “harmful”.
Flaws in one situation are not necessarily flaws in another– and a story should reflect that for a strong mix of reality, tension, and well-rounded characters.
Thinking of asking a question? Please read the Rules and Considerations to make sure I’m the right resource, and check the Tag List to see if your question has already been asked.
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For Writers:
Reblog if it’s okay for your followers to leave you an ask telling you what the one thing is they remember you for as a writer. Is it a scene or a detail or a specific line? Is it something like style or characterization? Is it that one weird kink they never thought they’d be into, but oh my god wow self-discovery time?
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Good things about fall (fuck off I know it's August but we're all mentally in fall)
Pumpkins
Apple cider🍎
🍎caNDy fUCking APples hOLY SHIT🍎
Pumpkin spice everything
Those LITTLE fucking pumpkins
HaLLoWËÉÑ
Big fuckin hoodies like now I can buy some big merch hoodie watch
Denim jackets you cover with patches
Cool fucking grunge tights bro we getting fishnets and shit
Sweaters
Witchy outfits
The whole world appreciating spookiness as much as you do
🦇🦇bats🦇🦇🦇🦇
Cryptids bro, spooky bro, everyone's themeing everything in spook and you're just in your 24/7 spook and suddenly it's spook time and your purpose has been fufilled
Everyone cosplays on Halloween
The tacky kind of Halloween shit like purple and orange and sparkly I fucking love
Appreciating the moon more
Horror movies all the time 🎥
Hot chocolate is back in season
Halloween fairs and haunted houses and shit
Apple/pumpkin picking
Those little fuckin sugar cookies with the pumpkins on them
CARVING PUMPKINS
Pretending to be a fairy in a cottage baking a shit ton of pasteries
Pies
Tea
Fall leaves fucking obviously
When the weather is just right
That sense of mystery autumn has
Witchy everything
Ghost hunting
Exploring abandoned/haunted locations
I JUST FUCKING THRIVE AND EVOLVE TO MY ULTIMATE FORM IN FALL OKAY
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my kink: loving characters that start out as assholes and turn into heroes
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Reminder to remove your own crutch words from your characters’ dialog!
When I’m talking or writing in my own voice, I use a couple of words excessively: well, just, pretty.
Everything is, “well, that’s just pretty great, isn’t it?”
You probably have similar “crutch” words–words that you unconsciously favor. You can also call them “filler” words. Go-to words. They’re a big part of your voice. (That is, not the sounds you’re making, but the personality of your verbal and written communication, as well as your internal monologue.)
Your crutch words probably won’t be the same as mine, but it’s not hard to figure out what they are. When you’re writing dialog, it’s pretty easy to let these words slip in, even if you’re aware of them. So that all of your characters will be repeatedly starting sentences with “well” and preferring “pretty” over “very” or “really.”
Did two characters use “just” in their dialog multiple times on a single page, with no real purpose other than that it sounded more natural that way? Then that’s probably one of your words.
Now, here’s where I may lose you for a moment. It’s okay if right now you’re thinking “so you want me to make my characters speak unnaturally?“
To you. Sure.
That use of your crutch word sounded most natural to you because that’s your natural voice, but it’s not you who’s speaking. It’s your character. Having all of your characters speak in your natural voice will make them all sound like you, which will make them all sound the same.
It’s your job, as an author, to find these words and ask yourself: “is this the character speaking, or is this me?”
If the answer is “oh no, this is me,” then delete the word. Sometimes it’ll be just that easy. “Well” can be deleted from the front of a sentence, and “just” can usually be removed without changing the meaning of the sentence, too.
Other times, you may need to replace words, or even whole phrases. Think of who this person is, where they’re from, and what they know. If they don’t say “pretty good” do they say “decent?” Do they leave it at “good?” Do they say “groovy, man?” If they’re begrudgingly admitting it, they may say, “it was fine, I guess.”
None of these choices changes how “good” the thing being described is, but they’ll have a subtle effect on the voice of your character. And when one character says “the show was fine, I guess” and the other character says “the show was groovy, man” your dialog won’t just convey what your characters thinks about the show, but who they are as people.
And that’s what good dialogue does.
Is it okay to give one character your crutch words? Of course. Unless you have a strong idea for their unique voice, your protagonist will probably be the one you’ll be lending most of your own voice to, as you’ll get the closest to not only their written and verbal communication, but their interior monologue as well.
Give other characters their own crutch words and phrases. They’re a natural part of voice and language. If you’re struggling with coming up with another voice on your own, pay attention to the people you talk to. Steal them from your friends and family. Does your aunt begin every story with “oh, [your name], you don’t even know.” Have your protagonists’ aunt/neighbor/mom/whomever do that, too.
Recognizing your crutch words won’t only help you remove your own voice from your characters’ speech, but will give you the opportunity to replace those words with real characterization. Your dialog will be so much stronger for it.
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