#and I have a lot of other poetry I wrote in my notes app
Text
the sun is a painter. every morning, it casts the world in warm yellow haze. for the rest of the day, it stares at its creation, slowly viewing it at different angles. until at night it covers the world in a soft red glow, before going to sleep and doing the whole the over again tomorrow.
#dostxt#okay so I had this in my notes app dated June 8 2022#and I can't remember if I wrote it myself or I copied it from somewhere#and like I'm 99% sure I didn't copy because I likely would have reblogged it or at least written the name of the poet and title#and I have a lot of other poetry I wrote in my notes app#and exactly zero copied things because I deleted pretty much everything that I didn't type#(apart from hard to type emoticons)#back in 2021#so I'm pretty sure this is mine#but I can't remember for absolutely 100% definitively for sure#so uh... if it's not then please let me know and I'll delete it
26 notes
·
View notes
Note
What advice would you give someone who is writing poetry
Hey! I definitely have a lot to still learn myself as I'm quite new to my attempt at poetry (so I’d love to hear everyone else’s opinion/writing process in the comments) but since you're asking here's my take (sorry in advance if you just wanted a one-line answer..I’m not so good with that)..
In my opinion, poetry is all about provoking emotion..making you feel something..therefore “good” poetry is subjective due to the way individuals experience life and emotions differently.. In most cases (especially writing for fun/self-expression), it’s not something that needs to be technically correct (imo) like an academic essay, rather it just needs to make you feel something, so here are my tips/step-by-step process at this current time
Write for yourself AKA make sure that you like(love even) what you have written.. don’t write with other people’s interpretation/perception in mind (as “good” is subjective and you’ll never be able to settle on anything). You’ll feel much more motivated to write if you are encapsulating your own experience as accurately as you can (it feels productive to turn your pain into something more tangible).. Write the thing that you wish someone else had written that makes you think “damn.. that is so me” if you’re able to do that I’d call it a success. (My fav pieces still make me feel something each time I read them and make me feel glad I wrote them, as noone else had). I say this because we are all human at the end of the day if you’re feeling it, there’s likely going to be another human out there who is grateful that you have so accurately been able to translate a generally indescribable feeling into words.
To be able to do the above (make yourself & others “feel”) I’d start by reaching as far down into your emotions as possible.. Everyone knows about surface-level happiness, sadness etc. but what is it more specifically that you are thinking and feeling.. or what is something that you think you might feel or do if you were to become totally unhinged.. Imo poetry isn't the place to downplay your emotions or soften your language - say the things noone wants to say, the things that are “wrong” to say, don’t hold back, allow yourself to be violent, angry, sad, toxic, or pessimistic in your writing, even if you’re an optimistic/cheerful/kindhearted person irl (people are often SHOOK regarding the strikingly different persona I portray in real life vs my writing..we are all multifaceted creatures at the end of the day).
Now you might be wondering how to put the above into actual poetry..a lot of people will just “find the words” because they are talented like that, but for the rest of us.. Controversial (whilst beneficial)I don’t think an advanced vocabulary is necessary to write impactful poetry (my vocab is shit & has barely developed since I was 10 years old cause I stupidly stopped reading books until only a couple years ago).. So instead what I personally do is I write out in as much detail but in simple language, how I am feeling/what I want to portray..like you’re trying to express something in your diary or a text message you’ll never send… At first, this is going to look like a 10yro has written it and that’s so fine because you want a clear understanding of what you’re trying to portray in your piece.. now all your related thoughts are out, attempt to rewrite it in a way that is slightly more comprehensible (usually I’ll write it in notes app so I can still have the original versions to refer back to to make sure I am encapsulating what I originally wanted) and basically rewrite a couple times until it appears more refined
Then, your original wording might be perfect as is (I would say always go with your gut feeling) but the thesaurus and dictionary are your best friend!(bless google) If a certain word kind of “ruins the vibe” of the piece and it no longer feels “poetic” just google synonyms for that word, you can even search “synonym poetic” for further options. Don’t just use any synonym though.. If you’re undecided between a couple words I would highly recommend googling the specific definition of each word and compare, because usually definitions will have a very nuanced difference and that nuance can make all the difference in being able to accurately portray your point.
Have fun with the spacing, the lines the layout, the use of grammar (idk the terminology).. utilise these things to transform everyday sentences into an art form! Don’t get caught up in the right or wrong!
Now reread, you want that poetic rhythm of some kind, a state of flow.. Read in your head, then read out loud then read with your own experience in mind, then detach your mind from your own experience and read from an external point of view if you wish! Reading out loud will help you see if it’s readable (duh) and the wording problems, whether that be needing to change word or remove a word or add a word will likely fix themselves! I personally would focus more on emotional impact than aesthetic but ideally a bit of both is great!
This seems like an in-depth process but all this usually occurs within about 5-10 minutes per poem cause I don’t have the attention span to spend any longer on it (maybe oneday I’ll actually refine my work properly lol but for now it’s just my form of therapy). You’ve got this! <3
Other random things I’ve learned
-Keep a log of specific words, phrases, sentences, ideas etc. even if not at all refined in your notes app on phone as you randomly think of them so you can potentially come back to it later! (If you don’t you’ll likely forget and never think of it again lol)
-Sometimes the most simple thought/concept to us (based on the fact it has circled in our brains for a lifetime so we are bored of it) can be super impactful & significant to others, so just write it anyway
-Go with your gut feeling if you’re tossing up any of your ideas, words, expressions
-Remember that quote “art should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable ” - you’re never doing toooo much
-personally ive had to drop the academic ego and learn to be more than okay with being shit..you’ve gotta just do it and accept most the things you’ll write could be shit but it’ll mean there is opportunity that you write something decent amongst it all.
-DO NOT compare yourself to other people writing poetry cause it can be so disheartening!!!! we are our own worst critics.. just remember we are uniquely ourselves, no one else can write the way we write.
-PRACTICE!!!! But basically just do that by writing as much as you can. I know it’s always said but seriously I started writing daily 4 months ago and whilst I wasn’t actively trying to improve there is a massive difference noticed by myself and others between the quality of what I wrote 4 months ago and now.. It’ll just start to click! I write every day but some days I don’t have it in me to write a poem so I’ll just write a thought or feeling or diary entry for that day to keep the routine plus you can possibly come back to it for poetry inspo.
-fake it til you make it !!!! poetry is expression !!! anything can be poetry if you want it to be :)
-I also read not long ago that writing isn’t something where you peak in your twenties (thank god for me) but rather a lot of writers become successful a lot later in life! So this gives me a lot of hope that things can only improve! Considering I was able to improve in 4 months, imagine 4 years or even 1!!(exciting! I hope I get much better!)
-If you want to know how to be more creative, more metaphorical or a lot more visual with your poetry.. Don’t ask me.. In fact I need tips myself!! I’m going to guess it has something to do with my shitty vocabulary.. I hope that I can challenge myself to improve with this overtime as well, but for now I find it cathartic to just work with my literal thoughts and emotions. Similarly, if you want to know how write about uniquely positive experiences hmu in the future when I’m more healed but maybe not yet lol.
CONGRATS if anyone actually read through all this… you deserve an award! (let me know if anyone actually did and if it was at all helpful) I hope you can find even just a component of this somewhat helpful??!! maybe it was all obvious who knows haha but also please remember I’m not very experienced in writing poetry myself, this is just my attempt at keeping myself sane :) All my love x
Edit: as someone else mentioned.. another great tip is to READ lots of poetry written by others, this will help immensely :)
89 notes
·
View notes
Text
Are there other fellow poets here in my little corner of Tumblr? I've always loved writing poetry but don't have many places to post it, and I'm a bit shy to post any of them here. A lot of these are mostly brain spillages, or on my notes app. But I think I want to solidify them somewhere. I think it would be encouraging if there were other people here that wrote poetry too (even if they never post it). Thank you 🫀
#just thoughts. most of mine don't rhyme and people i've shown them to criticize them because of it. but i just want to let them free.#i love poetry but have always felt insecure of mine. anyways.#mine
28 notes
·
View notes
Text
Fic tag game
got tagged by @fangeek-girl ❤️❤️
How many works do you have on Ao3?
I have 7 works but 3 of them are fanfic lol
2. What's your Ao3 word count?
1896 words total. Your girl is definitely one for brevity LOL
3. What fandoms do you write for?
Wednesday, that one drabble I made for The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, and I've been writing for Star Wars (though I haven't posted anything yet) and Mrs maisel (i wrote a whole short fic for that almost a year ago but I forgot about it completely until I found it in my notes apps, I should get around to posting it)
4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?
I don't have 5 fics total but here's my current count in order:
1-Lies
2-The world's a little blurry
3-Pretend
5. Do you respond to comments?
Yes always! the fact that people are READING my stuff and taking time to comment has me 🥺🥺🥺
My writing ao3 isnt linked to my main email adress though so sometimes it takes me a while to respond because I wont see it until I periodically check my fic stats
6. What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?
.....Probably The world's a little blurry let's be real (I'm going to fix it it in the next one in the series, I promise!!!)
7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?
akdadhjgsjgd hard to say all my shit is angsty, I guess Pretend?? kind of, it's less of a downer than the other ones. The final part of Come a little closer will have a happy ending though I promise! (already finished writing the end, I just need to write the beginning lol)
8. Do you get hate on fics?
No ❤️ I don't think any of my stuff has gotten enough attention for that lol
9. Do you write smut? What kind?
NO my ace ass has no experience with that so I wouldn't know how 🧍♀️🧍♀️🧍♀️(I might need to in some future project, fortunately a lot of my friends are perverts (affectionate) so I could probably ask for some guidance if it comes to that LOL)
10. Do you write cross-overs?
No, I'm not a big fans of crossovers in general so certainly have never felt compelled to write one.
11. Have you ever had a fic translated?
No
12. Have you ever cowritten a fic before?
No
13. What WIP you would like to finish, but doubt you ever will?
So many ugh I cant even choose, it's more rare for me to actually finish something than the opposite, that's why I'll never post anything unless the whole thing is finished (only exception is my current series, but that's because I felt like each fic making up the series were self-contained enough that they didn't need to follow up immediatly to work? if that makes sense - plus the first one was a one shot and only thought of how to follow it up after posting it)
14. What's your all-time favourite ship?
ANIDALA MY BELOVED
15. What are your writing strengths?
I think I'm really good at imagery and emotion (being a poetry writer goes brrrrr)
16. What are your writing weaknesses?
DESCRIPTIONS oh god I'm so bad at it. My fic are vibes only lmao, what are they wearing? where are they? what movements are they doing? NOT IMPORTANT how about I offer you 12 metaphors on how this character is feeling instead. (though I'm forcing myself to work on it haha)
I also struggle with any longer story arc... there's a reason all my stuff is so short lol
17. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?
If it's in french it would be pretty fun since it's my ✨first language✨ hehe. For other languages I'd see if one of my friends speak it but otherwise idk if I'd include it bc I don't want to butcher another language, I've seen too many english authors put french through the ringer it's painful 😭
18. First fandom you wrote for?
I guess Julie and the Phantoms? I never posted it but I had a pretty advanced fic for that. unless you count the 13 reasons why fic I posted on wattpas when i was early teen but we dont talk about that
19. Favourite fic you've ever written?
right now it has to be The world's a little blurry, I just love how it came out hehe
20. What fic would you want to rewrite one day?
none right now.
Anyway tagging @nonamemanga @beri-allen @unlifeira @realmermaid333 @suchaladyy @witchysith @king-crimson-works @theycallme-thejackal and anyone else who might want to do it!
16 notes
·
View notes
Text
When I was 16, I randomly watched (if I recall correctly) the 1996 version of Jane Eyre, with Charlotte Gainsbourg and William Hurt as Jane and Rochester. This is the only version I have been able to watch, as all others have off-put me in some way or another. I recommend it to anyone! It is incredibly sweet. I'll probably post more about that later.
After I watched, I was so emotionally moved, I rushed to read the book over the following four days. It was life changing! It made me think like a story never had before.
It also made me write. I began penning my own period novel, and worked at it for perhaps 3 years. I abandoned it mostly due to personal life events that made continuing it difficult and unappealing.
However, now I am 27. I decided to try NaNoWriMo after seeing John Green mention it in a video (at the tail end of November '23!) and was delighted to find... I loved it! And I wrote every day, every free moment. I stayed up late into the night. I was hooked!
I originally (11 years ago) had written my story on the notes app on my iPad -- I know, I know. I likewise kept a notebook as a hand written key for OCs backgrounds. That has been since lost -- I believe I discarded it, as I did many things in my college days. But I had emailed copies of my Notes to myself and was able to use them as a starting off point.
Let me tell you -- a lot of it was discarded, but some parts surprised me! It can be invigorating to rediscover your old art -- and be impressed or moved by it. Though, I am arguably better at writing and plot development now, with experience (English degree) and just life stuff.
Anyway, it's been like two months and I already have around 350 pages -- with lots more to write. I didn't think I'd ever actually write a book, but this is one of my biggest projects yet. And it's been a joy to create something! Since I graduated, I have slowly fallen out of my love and dedication to art -- it lingers but is overshadowed by daily life. I'm married and have a toddler now. But I believe I can have both! I am seeing inspiration and beauty everywhere -- I cannot escape it! I initially feared writers block but I have found myself to have the opposite problem. I can't turn my writers brain off. My OCs conversate in my head all day. Not being able to write down their ramblings is agony.
I'm rereading Jane Eyre, revisiting old artistic inspirations (music, period romances, books, poetry, etc.). I feel like I'm in my art-girl renaissance.
I even returned to Tumblr, if that tells you anything.
The point of this is mere unloading. To share my obsession somewhere safe. Bc I'm afraid of seeming silly or bugging anyone with my interests (introverts be like). Thank you for listening. I hope I finish my book, and make art that makes me feel something. That's it for now.
I hope you know there is a story in you.
#writing#jane eyre#books#nanowrimo#john green#charlotte bronte#writing inspo#art#artists on tumblr#writers on tumblr
7 notes
·
View notes
Note
🧃📚🔪?
🧃 ⇢ share some personal lore you never posted about before
(and now I understand I barely post 'personal lore' haha)
I like peaches. used to have a poetry phase and even attended poetry readings where I read my stuff (and had my photos on a local news webpage). took a second place in a remix competition held by my favorite musician, but it didn't lead me anywhere. I have scars from being sunburnt.
📚 ⇢ what's the last thing you wrote down in your notes app?
just a shopping list, so I wouldn't forget to buy things.
🔪 ⇢ what's the weirdest topic you researched for a writing project?
I think a lot of people research wounds or poisons or any other morbid thing so it's not strange anymore. but not so many look for information about the first crewed vessel to reach Challenger Deep. so I guess Trieste bathyscaphe is it.
4 notes
·
View notes
Note
what inspires you the most when you’re writing songs? does it just come to you? is it based on prior experiences? i’m so curious!!!
literature, surrealist paintings, and people inspire me most :)
i write tons outside of writing songs. usually i refer to what i've already written. if i'm feeling a bit blocked i'll write poetry for surrealist paintings (often frida kahlo or remedios varo)
Harmony- Remedios Varo Sun and Life- Frida Kahlo
for example, i wrote poems for each of these paintings. i made up stories for them. for this remedios varo painting i imagined the women in the walls were spirits of genius, and the person in the chair was an artist that they were communicating with to make a song. it reminded me of how it feels when i make songs, like an outside source is speaking through me. one day i'll probably use that idea for a song of mine <3
The Book of Disquiet by Fernando Pessoa
i like picking out books that are slightly densely poetic. i’ve been frequenting the book of disquiet lots lately. i’ll usually only read a page or three at a time but i’ll read them with immense attention and care. i’ll annotate and make note of words/ phrases that spark something in my brain. then i tuck them away in my notes app and write a few poems based on whatever sparks something. having your own library of ideas is essential for having inspiration at your fingertips.
the people that inspire me tend to have a confusing quality about them. they have an air of softness and a quiet sadness that most people ignore. they listen intently to those that have something valuable to say (i am drawn to people that value intellectual qualities over appearance and other qualities, etc.) they almost always have aquarius/ air placements. i like how they look at people when they talk. i like how ppl stare off to corners in the room (because eye contact is too intimate for them) and they continue to stare and stare and absorb every word that expels from the lips that they find most interesting. whether my lips or not, i love feeling, and watching, them absorb. they have a quiet sadness, as i’ve said, but also a quiet genius. every person i’ve fallen for has been a muse to me because they have been uniquely talented, and had a music knowledge that sent me down paths of euphoric creative discoveries. thus, they inspire not only the stories in my songs, but also the sound itself.
if you scroll through my diary entries on this blog you’ll find a specific initial pops up more than the others. he was the muse for my upcoming album and all the songs i’ve released this year so far.
7 notes
·
View notes
Text
Simon x Billy
The Year of OTP: January
Chapter 1: Where’s Giuseppe WTF?
January prompt: Historical au (because 2015 counts as the past)
Note: Simon x Billy is a slow-burn m/m fic; turns NSFW (male/male, consensual) beginning tamely at Chapter 7.
Meet the OTP: Simon Lewis, author and star of The Mortal Instruments, who keeps writing himself into his novels; and Billy Delaney, Irish handsome devil and international chef of mystery; and also Italy. It’s sort of like a threesome. TMI AU: Instead of Simon Lewis being only a character in the best-selling YA series, he is now also the author of that series. TW: References to having been cheated on, bad language, bad humor, Irish-isms, calling young people criminals, making fun of Americans, LGBTQIA+ themes, having to wait for the NSFW chapters to show up.
Masterlist || ao3 || Next
Chapter 1: Where’s Giuseppe WTF?
———/Simon/———
OK, fine, baggage claim was a little rough. Finding baggage claim was a little rough. Finding Customs was a little rough. Customs was Customs. I mean, what’s to know, they look at you suspiciously, and if you smile excitedly cuz you’re in a new country, they look at you suspiciously some more, and you start wondering if they’ve noticed something you haven’t.
At least that’s how I felt. Like, maybe I have a single very long nose hair or something horrifying like that. I don’t know? They’re Customs. They notice shit like that.
On a positive note, they’re just fine communicating with people who only “have” one language. They asked me if I had Italian, and I kept waiting for them to finish their sentence. You know? Like, do I have Italian… Food? Relatives? Then they were like, “Do you have any other languages?” And I’m thinking, maybe I caught one in-flight. Planes are well known for making people ill. Or I could’ve caught something cool, like Norwegian! In fact, I could’ve had it my whole life and it’s just never had any symptoms. You never know.
Meanwhile, the train ran on time. And the Red Sea parted. Two impossibilities amounting to miracles.
So yeah, sure, I’d done some prepping for the trip. I refuse to reveal my sources as they are completely mortifying. OK fine, it wasn’t even an app. It was a book. With pictures in it. More specifically, the one my parents used when they planned their trip to the Amalfi Coast.
I used it to plan Our Trip. The one that became My Trip. Flying solo. In so, so many ways.
Believe me, and you need to trust me on this one: Never propose to a girl you met in costume. And if you did and it turned out great, shut up. And mazel tov. May all your children have bar and bat mitzvahs with a good dj. And puppies.
Just remember, your first impression of her is while she’s cosplaying someone else. You might find you’re falling for a personality that isn’t really her on the inside. The whole thing is exhausting. Because my beautiful but cruel shiki found somebody else to cosplay with.
She revealed this shortly after breaking up with me.
No, Simon. I do not choose you. No, Simon. I never choose you. Said every girl ever.
She gave me lots of reasons why. Constructive observations for my next relationship, she said. So at least I had something to think about on the plane to Naples that made me feel really good about myself. For 22 hours including two layovers and a bonus train ride from the airport to downtown Naples. (Trust me, just fly into Rome. Why didn’t it occur to me to fly into Rome?)
I once read a book where the most flamboyant, exciting character said something of extreme poetry and wisdom. (Because poetry and wisdom can both be extreme. Whatever.) It went a little something like this: “Unsolicited advice is just criticism.” Ok fine, I’ve read it more like 25-30 times. Alright look, I can’t be coy. I wrote it. And 25-30 is how many revisions my editor tried to convince me to take it out. (I won.)
I like stories that stretch out over like 20 books in a series. You get to stay with the characters you love until you finally stop re-starting the series the minute you close the last page of the last book. Again.
I think I’d be a vampire irl. And I have thought a lot about it. I mean a lot of thinking on this topic. And you can’t convince me that fairies and werewolves are even in the running for best paranormal destiny.
I like stories where choosing to be a vampire is one of the safer bets. Because you’re already dead.
Don’t start. I’ve fought table top duels over this and I refuse to go over that ground again. Take my word for it. You want to be a vamp.
She was a vamp. I was a vamp. (D, because who else?) We thought we were made for each other. Until she didn’t. Think that anymore. I guess she’d been not-thinking that anymore for months and months. And here I am, presenting her with a trip to Italy where I was going to propose. I had it all planned out. I mean I had it all planned out. Because that’s how I roll. (A 20-sided die, obviously.) Ugh. So when she says she doesn’t want to leave the city, I’m like, “But it’s Italy! And me!”
Turns out the trip wasn’t the only thing she didn’t want.
Turns out she was also being quite literal about not leaving the city. And so, like the heartless traitor she is, she abandoned Brooklyn for the Upper West Side and a yoga instructor with a man bun and half a million followers on Twitter.
Half a million? What even is that? I mean, I get 100 followers -- wow, friend, you are on fire! I get a million followers -- wow, somewhat famous person, you are on fire! But, like, what’s halfway between the two?
So the “hot yoga instructor” -- her words, not mine -- is a person that exists. I told her that she didn’t have to be mean about another, hotter guy. And you know what’s coming next. You totally do.
The hot yoga instructor is an instructor of hot yoga.
But since I mentioned it, she laughed and said he is also a hot instructor, of yoga.
Thanks. I don’t feel angry tears at all when I think about that.
Anyways, I was talking about trains in Italy running on time, and somehow I land on vamps. Welcome to the brain of Simon Lewis, enjoy your stay.
Oh my god. There’s a McDonalds here. It’s like a crime against Italian humanity. “That should be illegal,” I announce to no one in particular. Followed by “Shut up, Lewis, that guy over there is staring.” And yes, I do use my last name when I scold myself out loud in public. Because people find that attractive and charismatic.
So the train in Italy running on time is actually my problem. “My driver” isn’t due for another 30 minutes. Which means I get to spend an additional 30 minutes enjoying my own company some more. And also avoiding talking to any strangers. Which is particularly difficult in the Naples train station. And even more unlikely when you’re standing in the same spot forever and ever.
I’m full of my mother’s dire predictions of criminal young people offering their services to help you find your way around the train station. And when that fails, they’re supposed to start begging for money. And when that fails, Oliver and the Artful Dodger pick your pocket. So put your money and your passport down the back of your underwear or something equally unworkable when you’re dealing with Customs.
That little gem was actually written in the margins of the travel book. By my mother. So I wouldn’t forget to keep it in my pants. “Simon, don’t forget about the criminal young people. Keep it all in your underpants.”
So standing here looking like I’m waiting (and waiting and waiting), I’m an easy target. But as my t-shirt says, I’m from Brooklyn. We do not pay people to tell us where we are and which line to stand in. It’s a matter of pride. Unbelievable. Being from Brooklyn, I understand trains. I can find my way around any train station in the world. Hubris! But it’s true. Even in foreign alphabets. It’s in my blood, it’s in the East River, it’s in the soot-flecked air we New Yorkers are born breathing.
So here I am in the Naples train station with my underwear full of credit cards, IDs, and my emergency contacts laminated in both English and Italian. And now I also have that hot tingling in my eyes and the slight burn in my sinuses that threaten angry tears again.
I’m supposed to see a little old man with a big old mercedes, holding up a sign saying “Simon Lewis.” His name is Giuseppe and he came very highly rated on travelbookie.com. Very highly rated.
So, ok, ummm- This guy is definitely not Giuseppe. He doesn’t look that much older than I am. He’s an awfully chatty Irishman named Billy. So I’m like, “What’s Billy in Italian?”
“Fuck if I know,” he laughs. “They just say Beelee. Which puts me off every time, if I’m honest. God bless ‘em, they’re beautiful people, right, but Beelee is so wrong.”
“What’s your last name?”
“Delaney.”
“So in Italian, you’re Beelee Day-la-nay.”
“Y’speak Italian then, do yeh?” he laughs.
“Fluently. This app taught me how to say ‘dog’ and ‘blouse’ and I leveled up really fast — one of my great talents, by the way.”
“Leveling up, is it? Or Italian?”
“Italian. Certo. That means ‘certainly,’ but you use it kind of like you would use ‘obviously.’ Why is it pronounced ‘chair toe?’ No seriously, I’m asking.”
“Obviously,” he snorts, ignoring my lingual curiosity. “Are you mansplainin the language of the place I live to me?”
“Certo.”
Billy rewards me with a low chuckle. It may have been low and just a chuckle, but it was real. Being a connoisseur and collector of bad puns and dad jokes, I have a finely tuned ear for real laughter, as opposed to the usual laughing-just-to-be-nice.
“So I’m better off with Beelee Daylanay. I’ll have a talk with my boss and ask him to use my full name or nothin at all.” That at least gets a snort out of me. Until he says, “What about you? Are you lookin forward to bein Seemon? Sorry, mate. I think yours might be worse than mine.”
———/-/———
We’ve been talking all this time and I forgot to look out the window. As if I’m not on my dream vacation. Runner-up, actually. I’m holding my best dream vacation (Venice) for when Ms. I Do Lewis actually says, “I do.” And I will not book the rooms til after she does.
“Sorry, what was that?” I’ve been staring into space and ignoring Mr. Daylanay, who is now looking at me funny in the rear view mirror.
“Nothin important. Where’d you go, mate?”
“New York to Frankfurt to Milan to Naples. I flew out of JFK.”
“I’ll pretend to know where that is. No,” he says, “I meant just now. You disappeared behind your face.”
Um… “I did what?”
“I’ve been the only one enjoyin the sound of my voice, apparently, since you went quiet about five minutes ago. So where’d you go? Back behind your face,” he prompts.
“That’s an awfully private question, Mr. Daylanay. I’m not sure we’re good enough friends for letting you behind my face.” I kinda stumble on the word friends, cuz, well, we’re not.
“What. Is that like bein let in to visit the little man behind the curtain? That sounds a bit-”
“Yeah, yeah, I know how it sounds.” I make sure to roll my eyes loudly so he can hear. My mother always says she can hear my eyes rolling from the next room.
“Cagey one, aren’t ya?”
“Nosey, intrusive one, aren’t ya?” I counter.
He bobs his head and gives me a simple, “Ok.”
And now it’s gone quiet. I decide to disappear behind my face again for a while. I quite like it there. Maybe one day the whole world will join me. (Obscure movie reference, don’t bother.)
“Does she have a name?” he breaks into my sinking mood.
“What- Why?”
“Well, Seemon, because every story worth tellin about people generally has a name or two in it. Unless yer feelin all avant-garde while you're busy behind your face, contemplatin. Things.”
Ok, now I’m starting to get tired of his persistence. “I like to think of her as She Who Shall Not Be Named.”
“Like Voldemort. In a nighty.”
The bark of a laugh just erupts out of me before I can stop it from encouraging him. “That is the most disturbing image I’ve ever had.” My dull ache of a mood evaporates as quickly as it came, uninvited and unwelcome on this trip.
“You’re off the hook for now, but if I see you again, I’ll want to hear more about Ms. She Who Shall Not Be Named.”
And just like that, I’m annoyed again. “No.”
“Ok,” he says again.
———/-/———
While apparently spending more time behind my face, I realize I’ve ignored over 45 minutes of the view in a foreign country. Again I’m annoyed. Isn’t he supposed to be narrating the countryside or something? Giuseppe would be narrating the countryside. I frickin paid for that narration.
“So what am I looking at?” I lob at him.
“Naples.”
“Funny.” I hope he can hear my eyes rolling.
“Hold up, I haven’t finished! That great U-shape, right, that’s the Bay of Naples. The city herself is over there in the distance, all the way at the far end of the bay. All the wee towns strung out and all bunched up against the sea as tight as can be sketch out the shape of the bay and on along to the Sorrentine Peninsula -- where we’re goin. The big blue bit beyond the bay-”
“Is the Mediterranean. Yeah, I got that much.”
“Nah, mate. You don’t. See, it’s the Tyrrhenian Sea, which is just the part of the Mediterranean between the boot of Italy and Spain.”
“Thanks so much for the oceanography lesson.”
“Bit tetchy, aren’t yeh?” he says, eyeing me in the rearview mirror. “Look, mate. I’m sorry if I rubbed ye up the wrong way with makin conversation. I’m just not used to fillin in on the guest delivery service. That’s a specific kind of hospitality. Mine might be a bit more suited to conversatin across a bar. In that situation, all of this would have been charming.”
I can see him smiling at me in the rearview, trying to reset the mood.
“So you’re a bartender, not a driver. But you do work at the hotel. Right? Or…”
“Yeah sure’n I’ve been known to fill in at the bar when I’m needed.” He clarifies, “Acourse it’s the height of the high season, and all the staff are absolutely inundated with guests. It’s a busy kitchen, and no mistake.”
“So you’re not a bar-”
“Aaaaand, here we are,” he declares, pulling off the road going way too fast into what appears to be open air. But when I don’t feel us driving off a cliff, I open my eyes to see an ornate iron gate, a tile roof, a million flowering bushes, and more than one fountain.
“Allow me to be the first to welcome yeh to the Hotel Terrazze di Limoni. I’ll just fetch your bags, shall I?”
———/Read More/———
Masterlist || ao3 || Next
———/Disclaimer/———
I’ve stolen liberally from Cassandra Clare, TJKlune, and all m|m authors I’ve ever read.
#year of otp 2023#year of otp#january chapter#simon x billy#chapter 1#where’s Giuseppe wtf#simon lewis#billy delaney#robert sheehan#year of otp January#January chapter 1#january#the year of otp 2023#the mortal instruments books#the mortal instruments#me and mrs jones#bbc me and mrs jones#firstpersonnarrator#by firstpersonnarrator#simon is simon
7 notes
·
View notes
Note
i hope this doesn't come across as rude or bothersome but you mentioned in another ask that you use your discord server for fic planning/writing/taking notes, and i was wondering whether you'd like to show or give some insight on it? like what channels and how it's built up essentially? it sounds pretty convenient and i was wondering what it looks like! (maybe it'd be something for me who keeps notes scattered in different docs and note apps and analog on grocery receipts.......)
hi dear!! oh my gosh not rude or bothersome at all lmao i'm more than happy to talk abt it! (i'm gonna put it below the cut tho cause it's a long boi)
ya so basically i have a personal discord which tbh i use for a LOT of stuff (beyond just fic planning) and i honestly can't recommend it enough??? generally apart from fic specific stuff i use it as a cache for links to art i really like or share often, random thoughts on genshin lore or other things, poetry, gift ideas for ppl in my life, to-do lists, cosplay concepts when i was more into cos, etc lmao
as for fic planning specifically!! the vast majority of my thoughts fall into a 'other projects' channel, which is my catchall for oneshot ideas, vague fic concepts, quotes, etc. fics end up with their own specific channel usually if they're longfic/chaptered or if i end up with just an overwhelming amount of ideas/thoughts about them lmao
one actually good diverse example of a channel i had was for chosen (x) where i had a TON of reference images for various zhongli imagery and symbols & i detailed out a lot of the thoughts i had on where those images should be carved on childe. i had a variety of scene ideas laid out although not all of them had a ton of detail, and i had dialogue snippets that i really wanted to use. i also wrote in a lot of the lore to make sure i had a coherent place to reference or adjust if needed, including some stuff that really didn't make it into the fic itself but needed to make sense in the background so that i could pull on it as required. notes as well for things i wanted to be sure to mention, cause they were relevant to the story but didn't come up right away or were part of the foreshadowing or i thought they needed clarifying somewhere.
i'm sure there are ways to be more efficient or organized about a fic, but this works well for me since i have discord on my phone and it's far less effort to pop into a channel and write some stuff down rather than navigate gdocs and look for a planning doc and make notes there. PLUS i only ever had planning docs usually for a fic i knew would be chaptered/long from the start, and didn't really have anywhere to put short ideas or random thoughts lmao
basically, here's my writing category in discord:
although looking at this i could probably hide the kathb fic channel now that i'm done writing it lmao (i usually hide channels when the fic is finished, just so i don't overcrowd anything but don't lose stuff either lmao)
notes in these channels can manifest in a lot of ways but USUALLY it's dialogue or scene ideas that come to me when i'm busy with other stuff and i want to put down, or when it's something that won't happen for a while but idw forget (i am very forgetful). or just generally when i sit up at 3am with the perfect string of prose for a scene and i have to write it down RIGHT NOW or i'll lose it. this happens often enough that i keep my phone on my other projects discord channel when i go to bed so that if i do indeed wake up with an idea, i can just unlock my phone and start typing lmao
occasionally, i have actual research on certain things in those channels, or a timeline if things start to get messy (if you followed me in my bnha days, i had a channel for my fantasy dabihawks au that spiraled into a whole series and i really needed a coherent timeline for that) but for the most part it's scene and dialogue ideas! oh, and sometimes if there's art or smth that inspired the idea, i'll toss it in there too so i can reference it or be sure that i link to it when i post the fic. ah, and sometimes it's just stuff like this with minimal context lmao
one of the bigger things for me that works really well is my other projects channel tho? that allows me to string stuff together and pin ideas and reply to other messages so i know what the heck i'm referring to when i just slap a line of dialogue or smth in there lmao. cause it used to be super hard for me to feel like a fic was gonna warrant its own planning gdoc, and something about putting a ton of notes directly into the fic doc below where i'm writing just never worked all that well for me lmao
it also serves as a great place for me to dump ideas and refer back to them easily, or expand upon them without having an actual fic doc somewhere? like, i have ideas i haven't actually started writing but i've added lots of notes and thoughts and stuff for, so it's great to have that somewhere easily accessible and searchable and all in one spot lmao
i'd say if ur standard modus operandi has been scattered notes everywhere, this is a huge upgrade in terms of being able to not only keep everything in one place but separate it out in an efficient way (you could probably get more efficient than i am, too, like having a category for specific ships/fandoms or even for a specific fic with channels for more specific purposes like research or dialogue or character notes, etc) - like, the whole thing is searchable, too, so if you misplace something or can't find it, you can still search for it in one single location. overall, cannot rec enough lmao
hope this helped a bit!!
5 notes
·
View notes
Note
4 18 38? :)
4 How do you choose which fics to write?
im not sure i choose? i think its like... if i can get a solid outline for the whole fic, ill try it out. i dont rlly try to write fic that i think will turn out Super super long, bc i MUCH prefer oneshots, but if i think ive got a solid oneshot ill try it. theres a lot of VERY brief unfinished onehsots in my notes app
18 Do you enjoy research? Which fic of yours required the most research?
...i love research but only super stupid research. this weekend i wrote abt a guy with a metal hand snapping to punctuate smth he was saying and thought "wait, CAN you snap with a metal hand?" and spent like 20 minutes researching it. the answer was "it depends on how articulate the fingers are and also it wont make a real snapping noise, itll just be metal hitting metal." i ignored this information and kept the scene as is. the man's other hand was normal flesh and blood and i could have switched to have him snap with his other hand at any point in time
38 What is your most self-indulgent posted story?
i feel like any good writing is self indulgent? thats what makes it fun! all your writing should be self indulgent!
...that said. im not sure if this counts for self-indulgence, but i do remember thinking of the idea for "if it rhymes, it's true, but i hate poetry" and deciding "no, i wont write that, that requires too much emotional honesty of me"
and then, yknow. i wrote it anyway, several months later
#ask lew#thewrongshop#i have more dumb research examples than that. many which are dumber#i LOVE dumb research
4 notes
·
View notes
Note
11, 22, 33, 37 and 40 for the writer asksss plisss :^]
11. Do you believe in the old advice to "kill your darlings?" Are you a ruthless darling assassin?What happens to the darlings you murder? Do you have a darling graveyard? Do you grieve?
It REALLY depends on the story for me. But I do remember one time i invested a lot of time and energy into a character who quickly became my favorite…only to realize that if she stayed alive, the plot made no sense. I grieved for weeks lol
22. How organized are you with your writing?Describe to me your organization method, if it exists. What tools do you use? Notebooks?Binders? Apps? The Cloud?
HOOOOO BOY. I write a lot of stuff in my notes app but I am trying to make timelines for my stories just to keep track of everything. I also like collecting Tv tropes as a way to make outlining more fun
33. Do you practice any other art besides writing?
Does that art ever tie into your writing, or is it entirely separate?
I wish I did! Both my parents are artists too, but I was never particularly interested in anything outside of character design.
37. If you were to be remembered only by the words you've put on the page, what would future historians think of you?
“Damn, she wrote a lot about obsession and fucked up love, wonder what she was interested in”
40. Please share a poem with me, I need it.
I sadly rarely read poetry, so I can’t find any off the top of my head, but here’s my first paragraph from my new story, From Ashes to Salt:
The woman stirs to the sound of the sea and a bitter taste on the tip of her tongue. She takes one small, shallow breath in, and another out. Her eyelids are like lead on her face, she cannot open them, not yet, it is not time.
1 note
·
View note
Text
new things
I accidentally deleted my other Tumblr while I was trying to stalk this girl I knew in high school. she's one of the best people I've ever known, and I feel so lucky to have been around her for a few years. I'm not sure what she's up to, but the way she made me feel has been so beautifully replicated in a lot of my current friendships. I love women. of course she's a cancer. and her birthstone is ruby. lol. I literally wrote a song about women who emulate ruby energy and how they guide me and touch my heart.
what does this blog have in store? I think poetry and pretty things. maybe my songs. I'm not so brave as of yet.
I'll start us off with my most recent notes app musing:
[Comic panel idea
ice cream truck driving
cop on motorcycle pulls it over
ice cream man is so nervous, sweating and shi
cop orders an ice cream
last panel: cop dead on sidewalk, shot]
not rly sure what that's about. promise there will be less violence in coming sharing.
1 note
·
View note
Note
9, 12, 15!!
9. what's your writing process like?
i get inspiration really randomly, especially as i watch movies or listen to music. i'll normally jot down lines in my notes app until i get time to actually write. then i normally turn music on and ask people if they want to sprint with me and write what i can!
oh also i don't write in order bc i get blocked really easily that way so my docs always have gaps in there where i write [they talk about x here] or some other placeholder and fill those in later
12. what's your perfect environment to create/write?
i'm normally the most creative in the afternoon/evening. the absolute ideal environment would be rain outside my window and low lighting.
15. how do you think your writing has improved over time?
my writing has improved a lot i think and that's really down to reading more and picking apart what plots/themes/strategies appeal to me and why. also just with experience. i keep my first couple fics up to humble me but i really can't stand to read how i wrote in them skdns.
i also think i've just changed in terms of what i'm interested in writing. i used to write (bad) poetry in my teens because that's how i worked through emotions,, then i've written fics for the last few years,, and now i'm finally exploring what it means to write my own stories. i've just been doing a lot of brainstorming lately abt what i want my own writing to look like and im excited abt that!
0 notes
Note
Fic writing question: 4, 12, 19 and 20!
thank you for the ask! // from this ask game
4. Which has the most “you” in it, however you’d define that?
oh, i think that would have to be until the starlight fades into night. i don't really know where that story came from except one day i was in a weird, blind panic and i scribbled as much as i could of this story in my notes app: something that's usually only reserved for personal writing. so i guess the fact that i wrote this on my notes app, something that's usually meant either for fic outlines or personal poetry / journaling / prose pieces means that i might have poured a bit more of myself into it.
12. What WIPs do you have going now? Are you excited about them?
so many. so many. excluding star wars related wips, i think my main wips (that haven't been posted yet) for beyond evil is the joseon dynasty jwds au (which i am . . . so excited to post, bc it's already very near and dear to my heart. i also think it's . . . very different from anything i'd written before, in part because i think the pining/slow burn levels are genuinely off the charts this time (and i say this after / while writing the fake married jwds au, where joo won and dong sik only finally kiss after 97k words).
besides that au, i've got some other shorter wips: i have one that has something to do with joo won and dong sik and ice skating (brought to you by a real life event that happened to me yesterday lmao), another wip that has something to do with joo won, cats, and growing trust/affection . . . another wip that's about ghost yu yeon, another wip that's like . . . i think it might be a two or three-parter, but it's hades/persephone jwds au (there is one scene that started that au and i am so excited) . . . there's yet another fic that i haven't started but i want to start, but so far it's just titled "alexa play this is me trying by taylor swift" . . . i have one fic about jeong je and dong sik and whatever the hell was their youth (i'm as much on team "park jeong je unrequited feelings for dong sik </3" but also "park jeong je and lee dong sik may or may not have actually had some kind of "more than friends" relationship, but mostly because a) they know each other best + so think okay, it's harmless to try this with each other, right? and b) two queer boys growing up in a small town? yeah.). oh, and of course . . . a midnight mass/beyond evil au that's so far called "and to dust you shall return", and there's one scene that lives rent-free in my mind and i don't really know if i'll survive it.
i realize this answer is now three paragraphs long, so i'll stop here--but as you can tell, i am very excited about them.
19. Do you make up scenes at work/on the bus/at the gym? Who are the characters that pop up the most? Do you write them down?
i make up scenes wherever i go! although i'm more than willing to admit that some of my fics were written/scribbled down in my notebook during my 10 am class last semester . . . i'm pretty sure that was where i wrote the entirety of with paper rings lmao--
the characters that are currently popping up in my head the most are, of course, probably han joo won and lee dong sik. although oddly more of han joo won these days. i'm not sure why--i think he needs attention right now. obi-wan kenobi comes to mind every once in a while too (we're currently on a break, but y'know, we get coffee from time to time).
but anyways--i do write them down! or try to, as soon as i'm able.
20. Go nuts, and talk about writing. Or write me a little ficlet-whatsit using a character/image/line I shall now specify:
talk about writing . . . just writing itself? i feel like after watching things and noticing the interweaving themes/character archetypes, i'm becoming pretty influenced by mike flanagan. or at least, i want to write something that draws on what i've learned/observed of a lot of mike flanagan's works: something that's frightening, but something that's also very quiet and very lovely. something about loss, for sure, and something about a love story disguised in horror. i've honestly fallen in love with that genre--something twisted and terrifying turning out to actually be a love story (beyond evil, the haunting of bly manor, the haunting of hill house, midnight mass) . . . and so, i think it would be cool to write something like that of my own one day. (which is what i'm kind of doing? i have a few original works that very much sit in the horror genre, but also, it's about people falling in love despite the potential of loss and so on and so forth.)
5 notes
·
View notes
Note
Hii Tag! Can I ask for some advice about writing? I'm a beginner to fic writing - having only written a few short oneshots so far but I enjoyed writing them a lot during that time. But now I'm slowly losing interest in Star Wars, and I don't feel a lot of inspiration or have many ideas (I'm not in any other fandoms either). But at the same time, I still want to keep writing, if only so I can practice the skills and improve my writing style so future me can have an easier time when she sits down with a story idea she truly likes. Do you have any suggestions? Thank you!
I would really recommend to turn to writing prompts and creative writing exercises. I had a writing professor back in undergrad who gave me some of the best writing advice I’ve ever been given,which is to practice writing as often as you can,no matter if it’s good or cohesive or not. In her classes we would take 15 minutes to sit down with our notebooks and write whatever we wanted,whatever came to mind it didn’t matter. It could be a grocery list,a jumble of words that didn’t even form sentences as they popped in your head,the point was to get pen to paper and teach yourself to write.
I personally always found this helpful because I have ADD and really struggle to sit down and break into the ‘Star are aligned’ creative mode that allows me to hyperfixate and create. I tend to sit in front of a computer screen and waste three hours because I don’t want to get up and work on something else because I need to be writing,but also I have a mental blockade that won’t allow me to concentrate and complete a task.
And this is where writing prompts comes in. I have always found it easier for immediate creativity to start writing something based on someone else’s prompt. There are sites with writing prompts,or entire books,they don’t have to be long,even just a couple sentences. The class that developed my writing the most in college was actually my senior advanced poetry course. My area of writing has always been prose and the one area I don’t struggle in is story ideas,but the prompts I was given in my poetry course completely changed how I approach my writing. Because instead of a prompt that was like “there is a blue door in the woods that you open” or something of that nature,it was things like “write something with an emotional refrain” or “give me a poem with the word fuck in it.” Simple prompts based more on writing techniques than plot ideas.
But when I’m stuck and want to write but have no brain juice for story ideas I go to writing prompts,my exhibition piece in college wound up being an entire story I wrote based on a one sentence reply to a prompt in a freshman writing class. A poem I published was for a prompt given to me for a homework assignment. It’s fun to just have fun with writing,no pressure to create anything for consumption or intended to be for anyone. I find I make the most breakthroughs in lyrical or style choices when I’m just aimlessly writing in my notes app at work.
If you’ve fallen in love with writing but find your passion for fanfiction waining that’s perfectly fine. Write for yourself,write for the sake of writing. Sit down with a notebook or a notes app or your computer and just put down whatever comes to mind. Maybe your inspiration to create stories online will come back and maybe it won’t,either way just create for the simple joy of it.
13 notes
·
View notes
Note
ok i talked abt rossetti + elizabeth siddal’s self portrait as part of my art history final 2 years ago and i am dying to know about christina. please
CHRISTINA ROSSETTI!!! i honestly barely knew anything about the portrait before seeing that post i would love to know more. i am so fascinated by christina georgina rossetti born 1830 died 1894, so she’s like ridiculously quintessentially victorian, she basically never knew another monarch. when she was a child she was angry and had a lot of tantrums, her and her brother the painter one dante gabriel were know as the two storms whilst their others siblings maria and william were known as the two calms (suuch classic irritating twee victorian fake middle class art family shit but i find it faintly endearing). she dropped out of school at the age of 14 due to a religious breakdown, and never went back. during and after that she was really fixated on christianity especially anglo-catholicism and its very specific doctrines. she was REALLY into it in a way the rest of her family werent (except her sister who became a nun i guess). she’d been writing poetry since she was very young, cus she’s from this eccentric art dynasty they played writing games as kids and shit - her maternal uncle was john william polidori who wrote the first published vampire story and was lord byrons doctor if that rings any bells? that relation specifically is sooo interesting to me bc its about legacy and who you are remembered as and whether youre noticed and also maybe youre gay? yk. i love it.
ANYWAYS. she was so into religion that it stopped her getting married twice. she was engaged to the prb painter james collinson for a bit but broke it off bc he reverted to roman catholicism and she couldnt be doing w that shit. she later got engaged to charles cayley and also broke that off for religious reasons! Or At Least Thats What They Say. she also turned down a possible proposal (ppl dont know if he proposed and the whole affair is a guess) from john brett, which she wrote a fun mean poem about called no thank you john. anyway she never married and she pursued lots of Things but none of them really went anywhere, she wanted to be a nurse w florence nightingale in the crimean war but got rejected, she worked with “fallen women” in her 30s and 40s. shes not one of those tragic figures who never knew fame while they were alive tho, she was pretty successful and released multiple collections. she was publicly antifeminist and declined to sign petitions in support of womens suffrage but wrote this one unpublished poem called from the antique that explicitly expresses her dissatisfaction with her limited life as a woman.
she got ill lots, as is classic for old timey lady poets, like emily dickinson style. she got depressed lots and after her dad died her family didnt have much money. she wrote a lot about inadequacy, as a woman and as a person and most often as a servant of god (every fucking poem ends up about jesus i swear to god it gets annoying). her brother was more successful and her sister was more devout and she never seemed to get the things she wanted and she never really had any friends, especially female ones. almost every time she was published, it was by her brother, william michael, who also published her works en masse after she died, and we have explicit sources showing both her brothers would tell her not to publish poetry they deemed out of character or unwomanly. i dont mean to entirely demonise them as the Bad Guys of the story but i find it very.... interesting that when u look at her poetry that is available but not officially published there are both feminist poems and a couple of pieces that coiuld be interpreted as love poems towards women. there are (admittedly pretty unfounded as far as i can tell) theories that even more of them existed and were destroyed, but i should say we DO know that there are missing poems and destroyed scraps that pique ones interest i will say!
ive read her collected family letters and what stood out to me is HOW ridiculously fucking boring they are. i think theyre hiding something.. i am fascinated by all of it. she interests me. i have some kind of parasocial relationship with her and i feel like her work is SO easy to translate to modern day and what ppl our age are writing about like she wrote what is essentially lonely notes app poetry about religious guilt and sexual repression and hating herself like. god i sound like those ppl who say dantes inferno is fanfic but i think about it a lot and i think about her a lot and i would recommend a lot of her poetry... if anyone wants specific recs do ask. to me its a story about hiding and repression and wanting to be good. jesus christ okay u did not ask for this but youre getting it. you made me start thinking about her again this is on you.
21 notes
·
View notes
Last Seen Blogs
