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starstruck-cupid · 1 year

Text

The Sweater

Part two of my Charlie fic. Currently unnamed

(part one)

A/N: this has not proofread but was edited by a grammar bot. I'm trying my best to keep everything consistent and not giving to many specifics about the reader. I'm experimenting with formating. If anyone has advice or constructive criticism, please share.

(edit: name change. Formerly unnamed)

TW: mentions of stalking (?), Spoilers for the movie Psycho, I think that's it

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I can feel the warmth of the early morning sun. I sit up, rubbing the sleepiness out of my eyes. I slept hard. Looking at the clock, it was only 8:30 a.m. I slowly drag myself out of bed, walking to my bathroom.

It's cold. The window is open. Did I leave that open? I could have sworn I closed it. It's not uncommon for me to. You'd think I'd be more weary considering I live in Woodsboro. The crime rate here is surprisingly low, if you ignore the Ghostface incidents.

I began to analyze myself in the large mirror. I was still in the oversized sweater. My hair is messy, and there's an evident dusting of darkness under my eyes.

I leaned towards the window and pulled the curtains to the side. Charlie is at his window. He's sitting at the desk in front of the window. He's staring at me. I climb into the bench of the window and wave. He doesn't wave back. Instead, he pulls his phone out.

I hear my phone ping, reminding me of the unread texts from last night. Sliding off the bench and walking into my room, I grab my phone off the nightstand. Two texts from Charlie, and two from an unknown contact.

Opening Charlie's texts, they read

3:00 am Can we talk?

9:00 am Can I come over?

Despite being embarrassed at the reminder of last night's events, I quickly texted back. Charlie should know that he's always welcome.

Throwing my phone on the bed, I search for bottoms. Grabbing and slipping on a random pair of pajama bottoms, I hear the bathroom window being slid up. It's been squeaky for a week now. It served as a nice warning that Charlie had entered.

As he walks into my room, I move towards the stack of DVDs.

"What do you want to watch?" I asked Charlie, looking over just in time to see him flop down on my bed, face first, making my phone jump into the air. No answer. Deciding to throw on a classic, I slide a stolen copy of Psycho into the DVD player.

I shuffled over to the bed, sitting next to his head. I softly ran my hands through his hair.

"What's wrong, sweet boy?" I asked in a gentle manner. I wasn't expecting a full, in depth explanation. In fact, I wasn't sure I'd get an answer at all.

"Kirby" was all he said. That's all I needed to know. I continue to silently massage his scalp. In this case, it was best not to say anything. Charlie has had a crush on Kirby for longer than I've known him. Kirby was nice, maybe a little reckless. She was beautiful. I could absolutely understand why he liked her. Still, it hurts. I don't know why it hurts, but it does.

Charlie flipped around to lie on his back. Looking up at me with his light, tired, puppy dog eyes. Charlie is easy to read. You can see his emotions through his eyes.

Except in this case. The emotion in his eyes is unrecognizable. I've never seen this emotion flash through his eyes.

As if he noticed me analyzing his eyes, he quickly looked away. He lays his cheek against my thigh and pulls at my sweater.

"I like when you wear this," he said, softly, yet bluntly.

My face got warm. Quickly, I turned my head to the tv. Watching as Norman stabs Marion while she's showering. Still focused on his comment, I almost don't hear how Charlie mumbles something about how I'm wrong in thinking that Psycho was the first slasher.

Charlie and I are always debating about movies. One of the most common debates is whether Psycho or Peeping Tom was the first slasher. I know he's right. He always is. I can't let him win, though.

Letting out a small giggle, I started flattening out the hair that I had fluffed up. I felt him smile against my thigh. Leaning back against the wall, I looked at my phone.

The unknown texts.

I forgot about those.

Grabbing my phone, I open the texts. There was no contact name.

3:30 am You really shouldn't leave your windows open. Can't put a girl with such good movie taste in danger.

3:30 am VIDEO MESSAGE

That doesn't make any sense. I open the video

It's me. It's a video of me in bed, in just my sweater and underwear.

"What the fuck?"

#charlie walker x reader #charlie walker

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kirwell · 7 months

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my advice to the writers out there

I'm writing this instead of my book right now,, cause intrusive thoughts

I’m someone who likes to look around for writing advice to get new perspectives and helpful tips and ideas from other writers. But sometimes I’d hunt around for validation from videos to see if I was “doing things right” with my own book, and I can’t tell ya how damaging that’s been for me in the past on my writing journey.

While taking advice and constructive criticism is good and progressive and can help you see things from another perspective to better your writing, I also can’t stress enough to take things with a grain of salt when it comes to other people's opinions on genres and tropes.

Has someone else written something like my story before? Probably yeah.

Are there tropes in my story that have already been in other books/other media? Oh yeah, I don't doubt it.

Are some people tired of seeing certain themes and settings in stories? Sure. Everyone is into different things.

Does that mean my story shouldn’t be written at all, and I should just write something else instead? Hell fuckin no, yo !

I love my story because I’m telling it the way I WANT in my own style, my own characters, and with my own messages that I want to tell. Putting your heart and soul into your writing is a real thing ya’ll, and that will stand out.

I love high fantasy stories with medieval themes, magic, fantastical worldbuilding, great adventures, and grand quests with a party of characters I can love and relate to. I love wizards, elves, fairies, demons, and all the things you imagine when you hear “classic fantasy.” That genre has always inspired me and brought out the most creative side of me.

So when some people say, “Don’t write that,” or “Don’t write this,” because it’s been touched upon before and nobody wants to read that anymore, it would bum the hell outta me.

So should I NOT write my own story and share it because a part of it fits into a familiar trope within the genre? Does that mean my story shouldn’t ever be read and that it’s inherently not good?

If you have a story to tell, and you wanna tell it, then write it! It’s your book, it’s your story, it’s your characters, and you’re allowed to enjoy what you’ve created.

Take constructive criticism, be flexible, and be open to learning and changing, like you would with any other skill. I wouldn’t be where I’m at in my writing capability today if I had never listened to advice and practiced over and over again.

But don’t let anyone take away your creativity!

Changing the whole theme of your story because it may not appeal to some readers or publishers is the most ridiculous, damaging thing I’ve heard. There will always be people who won’t wanna read what you’ve written, or publishers who aren't interested, and that’s okay. That’s to be expected with anything creative. But if you like something, write it, and don’t let others say you shouldn’t. It’s damn near impossible to be 100% original in every aspect of your story and avoid every single used trope, if that’s even possible to do anymore these days. Trying to be perfect will drive you insane.

Personally, the more you try to “change this” and “change that” in order to check off your originality boxes, the less happy you’ll be with your work. That's been my experience, at least. I went through a lotta versions of my book to fit what writers in their videos were telling me it should be in order to be accepted and appreciated, and I wasn’t happy with any of it and felt really stuck.

Try and find the right kinds of videos and communities that’ll inspire you, encourage you, and help ya in places where you’re falling short. Some channels can really suck out all of your creativity and make you second-guess everything you’ve created, wondering if your story will ever be good enough.

A setting where a character or a group has to go on an adventure to fulfill a certain goal is something I really like, and to be told that specific trope is dull and overdone was discouraging on a whole other level. Why should I write this if nobody even wants to read it?

I’ve had to stop watching channels in the past because this idea was preached so much and I believed it, and it was depressing reading comments who felt the same as me.

“I gotta rewrite my whole story now.” “Oh no, my story is like this!” “Guess I shouldn’t write about that in my story.”

Please don’t give up on your stories because of personal opinions on a genre or a trope! We all have opinions, likes, dislikes, and prefer different things. Nothing is set in stone.

For me, a story is about the journey and what the characters go through and how they make me feel. If you wanna write a vampire love story with witches and werewolves and a love triangle, go for it! If you wanna write a story about a school for magical creatures in a fantasy world, go for it!

Make a story YOURS and don’t be afraid to tell it! Someone out there will love what you’ve made and it’ll inspire them just like you were inspired. Write for YOU and for all those people who love what you love and will wanna read the fuck outta your book!

,,I hope this was actually useful advice for someone out there. Cause this is something I wish someone would have told me years ago. Now go write and have fun with it !

#I hope this helps somebody out there #writer advice I wish someone gave me years ago #is any of this coherent?#I feel like im giving salty vibes here- but I don't mean to #just wanna encourage people to write what they love #and not get to swept away by others opinions #ya feel?#writer rant #writer problems #writing advice #writeblr #creative writing #fiction writing

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