Contemporary F/F Audio Books

Wanderlust

I never wanted to leave

I've only ever know here

It's all I dreamt of

And now you want me to go with you,

Sweep me far away from the only life I know

The only life I ever wanted to know

And the scary part is

I want to go with you

— write-away-from-here

a writeblr introduction

hello writeblr! i’m zie, a long-time writer and perhaps poet but that’s sort of stretch who just decided to publish my stories and other collection of words here. i had a tumblr account way back in 2013 but i wanted to start anew, so here i am.

about me:

she/her, aro-ace, infj(p), type 4, libra but pisces at heart, ravenclaw

overly enthusiastic for art, literature, books, music that punctures your inner psyche, psychology, philosophy, and you guessed it, theatre!

the superior time are afternoons and midnights, it’s when my imagination goes crazy and my aesthetics shift and morph

guilty pleasure is watching barbie movies and writing long-ass essays that i’m sure my professors are tired of reading, but oh well

i don’t know how to make cool edits like all the other splendid authors here on tumblr so heavens PLEASE, i hope my words will suffice

about my writing:

i love writing themes about mental health, fantasy, magical beings, and anything that borders on idealism, much like one of my favorite authors

pantsing or outlining a storyline really just depends on my mood. characters always go first before the plot, because i usually deem them as real people and the book revolves around them. they deserve just as much.

i am a sucker for symbolisms, metaphors, and paradoxes, it’s not that i overuse them, it just gives you a feel of what my oc’s are feeling.

i love creating dialogues, you’ll see a lot of ‘em. don’t get sick of ‘em, i beg of you.

current wips (all of which are subject to change):

sleeping at last is a mental-health centralized and mystery fiction set in the modern times of a fictional country/city. it explores the death of a recurring female character and how her friends try to search for the events leading up to it, making themselves subjects to ill-starred events all the while being under the same roof of adwell house, a mental wellness sanatorium for orphans such as them.

of curse and glory is a fantasy and dark academia story set in an alternate universe unbeknownst to humankind. it narrates the story of four kingdoms which do not know their history. but when the heirs of each kingdom receive an ancient message from those who claim are the oldens, they begin to uniyeld truth from a provocation—saving everyone else’s lives in the process.

in our orbit is a fictional romance story set in new york city, manhattan where two men meet each other in chaotic circumstances inside an art museum. when push comes to shove, they must decide whether or not love is worth keeping in the sacrifice of their dreams.

poems and essays is pretty much self-explanatory. this will be a series of thoughts constellated into words that i’ll share with the world. from my heart to yours.

please reblog if you’re also a writeblr because i would love to interact, be mutuals, and follow all of you! writeblrs supporting writeblrs, everyone!

contents coming very very soon in a poeticparchment near you!

The Ten Genres

From Save the Cat by Blake Snyder

“Take the story from ‘What is it?’ to ‘What is it most like?’”

Monster in the House

A monster, a house, and people inside the house who really want to kill the monster

House = confined space

Monster = formed from a sin committed by a character

Jaws, The Exorcist, Alien

Golden Fleece

Quest myth

A hero goes on the road for one thing and ends up with themselves

The goal is internal growth

Milestones = people and incidents that cause change within the hero

Star Wars, Back to the Future, The Road Trip

Out of the Bottle

“I wish I had a _______” + “What if?”

An underdog who does not succeed for long

Has a moral

Alternative: comeuppance in which a character with that _______ has it taken away

Bruce Almighty, Love Potion #9

Person with a Problem

An ordinary person finds themselves in unordinary circumstances

Primal problems like love or survival

An average person must solve the Problem by finding it within themselves to be the hero

The bigger the enemy, the bigger the odds to overcome and the more heroics

Terminator

Rites of Passage

Life transitions and their external conflicts

“Monster” is vague, unseen, unnamable

Ex. teenage years, vices to overcome, midlife crisis, any crisis really, old age, break up, grieving

Everybody’s in on “the joke” except the hero

Only experience can offer a solution

Victory is accepting the Problem and surrendering to it

Ladybird, Call Me By Your Name

Buddy Love

Love story in disguise

Can include romantic love, usually platonic

hate/disagreement to realizing “we need each other”

“We need each other” causes more conflict because who can tolerate needing somebody?

All is lost moment = separation, fight, goodbye-good-riddance

Resolution = surrender egos to overcome Problem

One is changed, one is the changer

Don Quixote, Thelma & Louise

Whydunit

Why over who

Does not include hero changing

Audience discovers something about human nature

Walks on dark side

All about discovery

“Are we this evil?”

Citizen Kane, Mystic River

The Fool Triumphant

Underdog and the advantages of anonymity

Set underdog against an establishment

Usually includes accomplice that’s in on the joke and gets brunt of repercussions

Outsider thrill of victory

Forrest Gump

Institutionalized

Sacrificing goals of few for the many

Groups, institutions, “families”

Honors institution AND exposes problems of losing individuality to it

Breakout character’s role is to expose group goal as a fraud

Told from newcomer’s perspective who can ask “how does this work?” and eventually: “who’s crazier: them or me?”

Group dynamic is crazy and self-destructive

Pros and cons of community over self

Loyalty can blind common sense

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, August: Osage County

Superhero

Extraordinary person finds themselves in an ordinary world

Foster empathy through hero being misunderstood, their pitfalls and disadvantages, and human qualities

Zoolander, X-Men, Gladiator, Dracula

weird thing about writing is that like, even if no one decides to rep me and I don't get published and don't become a bestseller, if not one of those things happen, I've still got the book. I still have the story. It's a thing that you don't have to commit your entire life to but that you never have to give up if you don't want to.

it's just ingrained in my head that I will never stop writing, regardless of whether I'm empirically successful or not, cuz it's not about the success. It's always been about the stories.

— The Pinnacle of Art; a wip intro

[a wip by @ambrosichor​  | wip tag | other writings]

general

genre: dark academia

pov: first-person; vincent northwood

status: first draft; ongoing outlining bc i don’t know how to plan

concepts: good ol’ murder, aestheticism, classicism?, elitism?, homoeroticism? all the -isms?, love irregular polygon, unrequited love, pining, yearning, longing, discussions of art and philosophy, the meaning of life, ‘luxury’ crimes, life imitates art

inspiration: the secret history, the talented mr. ripley, the story of notorious art thief stéphane breitwieser (which you should read bc it was delightful and eye-opening)

the cast

i. vincent northwood - our narrator; the outsider

“I tell this story not because I want to but because I have to — to honour he who died at my hands”

our sad and brooding, incredibly insecure and lonely, narrator. heartbroken and abandoned, fresh from a breakup with his highschool sweetheart, vincent runs away from home in a quest for independence and ‘soul-searching’, in an effort to forget his first love and perhaps find a new one? life comes to a surprising turn when he finds teary eyed alexander in the middle of an empty art gallery.

ii. alexander donadieu - the leading man; inspired by stéphane breitwieser + dickie greenleaf

“the pleasure of having is stronger than the fear of stealing”

the everso suave and debonair alexander donadieu. easily bored by life and people as shown by his short attention span and selective nature. it’s a wonder how he manages to stay friends with nate and delia even afer all these years. although, he never fails to be the centre of attention while being adored by many. always intellectually starved and seeking a thrill in his life — will jump at any opportunity to wreak havoc.

iii. nathanael laurent - the right-hand man; hopelessly in love

“i just want to be loved delia.”

a part of the laurent family, nathanael is well known on campus for his old money connections. studies law and doesn’t mind it though he wishes to study the arts. at least he’s making his father proud, right? alexander’s right-hand man and best friend — will do anything for him, makes alex’s idiotic ideas into reality. is madly in love with alex but represses his feelings as he cares too much for him and cordelia. just wants the freedom to have his own desires.

iv. cordelia waldorf - alex’s girlfriend; hates the reputation

“but you’re his…” / “i’m not anyone’s”

is the only reason this group hasn’t fallen apart. alex’s girlfriend of an odd number of years. loves alex and nate with all her heart but desperately wishes for a female friend in her life. too understanding for her own good, a quality which alex constantly exploits. often lonely due to alex’s flighty nature. eager to meet and make people feel welcome — is glad to have met vincent. trying to separate herself from the reputation of ‘alexander donadieu’s girlfriend’. trying to carve her own path.

taglist

currently no taglist. if this is your sort of thing please don’t hesitate to ask to be added <3

[dm / ask / reply to be added~]

7 Ways End Your Novel

Figuring out the right way to end your novel can be difficult and it can make or break your story. If you’re stuck, try to understand that your ending should match the tone of your story. Here are a few common ways to end a novel to keep in mind:

Happy

There’s nothing wrong with a happy ending. If you want your novel to end on a joyful note with everyone getting what they want, that’s perfectly fine. Just make sure it’s in line with how your characters have behaved throughout your novel.

Sad

Writing a sad ending depends on how you built up your novel. A sudden, sad ending shouldn’t come out of nowhere. It should tie in with the tone of your story. If you want to write a sad ending, make sure it makes sense in the world you’ve created.

Open

Sometimes due to the nature of your story, your ending will remain open. Maybe your audience will have to come to conclusions themselves or maybe you’re leading into your next novel. If you’re writing a sequel, writers will often end with it open or a cliffhanger.

Complete

Happy or sad, some writers tend to complete their novel. These means they’ve tied up all loose ends, plots, and subplots, and created a solid ending. Usually this leaves no room for a follow-up and the novel can stand complete on its own. 

Twist

The twist ending can be hard to pull off, but if done correctly it can really blow your readers’ minds. This is when you lead up to one conclusion and then reveal that an assumed truth was false the whole time. Study up on twist endings if that’s something you want to do in your story.

Tie-back

This is when the ending ties back around to the clues in the beginning. Stories with a tie back ending sometimes have a full loop and give the story a feeling of completeness. They make readers feel as if everything is connected in some way.

Epilogue

An epilogue often gives readers details beyond the perceived ending. Writers will sometimes use epilogues if there’s a lot to sum up. Just make sure the epilogue fits your novel and it’s not something you can explain in the main sections of your story.

-Kris Noel

hello i changed my nano wip pls support my terrible decision and equally terrible characters

How to Add Dimension to Your Story's Theme

A lot of writers believe you cannot intentional write to a theme. I completely disagree. And I’m suspicious that those who say that, just don’t understand how to write to theme intentionally. They claim that if you do, you’ll just become preachy. Sure, that can absolutely happen, but it only happens when you don’t understand how theme actually works in a story.

You see, for a theme statement to be powerful, it needs to have opposition. Who cares if the tortoise in “The Tortoise and the Hare” wins, if he isn’t racing the hare to begin with? No one. The thematic statement (“It’s better to move forward at a steady pace than go so fast we burn ourselves out”) is only powerful because we see it paired up with its opposite (the hare).

Often it’s helpful to breakdown how theme functions, like I did in this article. But here is a quick recap.

Every story has a thematic statement.

A thematic statement is essentially the teaching of a story. So for the Good Samaritan, the thematic statement is, “We should love, be kind to, and serve everyone.”

The Little Red Hen: If you don’t contribute or work, you don’t get the rewards of those efforts.

The Ant and the Grasshopper: If all we do is have fun and entertain ourselves, we won’t be prepared for difficult times.

Harry Potter: Love is the most powerful force in the world

On a broader scope, we have a theme topic. The subject or topic about which something is taught. It’s the concept, without the teaching attached. It’s what the theme or story is “about,” in an abstract sense.

Here are the theme topics of those stories:

The Little Red Hen: Contribution and work

The Ant and the Grasshopper: Preparation

Harry Potter: Love

In a strong story, the theme topic will be explored during the narrative, through plot or character or both. The story will ask (directly or indirectly) questions about the theme topic. This can happen through main characters and main plots, or side characters and subplots, or all of the above.

Often, in most stories, the protagonist’s character arc starts an a false or inaccurate idea about the theme topic and ends on the true thematic statement. Example: Harry starts unloved and powerless, living in a cupboard. By the end, he’s surrounded by supporters, and he’s willing to sacrifice himself (the ultimate manifestation of love) to pave the way for Voldemort’s defeat.  

Between the false thematic statement and the true thematic statement is the struggle that leads to transformation, or at least, demonstrates a point.

Sounds great, right? But what do we put there? After all, that transition part of the story will take up most of the story, and so far, we only have black and white: false thematic statement vs. true thematic statement. I mentioned that the theme topic needs to be questioned and explored. And by the climax, it needs to be proven. Do we just reiterate the same false statement and true statement over and over?

Life is rarely so black and white. It’s more complex.

To get ideas, it’s helpful to give your theme topic more dimension.

Luckily, Robert McKee (who I’ve been re-studying, as you may have noticed) has a method that will help you do just that. He doesn’t technically relate this to the term “theme,” but he relates it to what he calls a story’s “value,” but I consider that concept nearly the same thing as “theme topic.” (He’s just coming at it from a different angle.) So, I’m going to show how it applies to theme.

I’ll be honest, this was hard for me to wrap my head around, at first. But over time, the idea has become clearer to me.

So here is how this goes, from my perspective, in relation to theme (I’ve altered it slightly).

First, identify the theme topic of your story.

Then identify its opposite. Its contradiction. 

From there, you have what he calls the “contrary.” It’s not really the theme topic’s exact opposite, but it’s not the theme topic either. It’s contrary to the theme topic. It’s not the thing, but it’s not the direct contradiction of the thing. It’s different, in some way. 

Then we take it a step further. We look for something more negative than the negative. What is worse than the opposite? What is a step more extreme? McKee calls this the “negation of the negation." 

Let’s fill this in with the theme topic of love, so you can see how this works.

The opposite of love is hate. Simple. But then it gets more complex. What is contrary to love? It’s not the same, but it is not a direct opposite either. Indifference isn’t love, but it’s not really hate either. It’s in between.

What is worse than hate? What is a step more negative? Or more extreme? What is the negation of the negation?

As McKee explains, it’s one thing to be hated and to know it. But to actually be hated by those who you think love you? People who want to pretend they care about you, but actually wish and do you ill? Now that gives me shivers.

Lees verder

I was wondering if you knew any basic guides to outlining a novel for the first time?

Outlining a story is very, very important. Without an outline and thorough planning, your story will veer off in wildly different directions and will cost you a ton of time editing later, like my book did.

1. Get the characters down first

Characters are like the chess pieces of the story. Their moves and strengths/weaknesses will decide what is going to happen and how it will happen. Sure, you can have a nice plot and setting, but without the characters, the story is meaningless.

Here is the character chart that I usually use:

Name (First/Middle/Last/Maiden name)

Aliases/Nicknames

Age

Race

Gender

Sexuality

Height

Weight

Eye color

Hair color

Clothing style

Religion

Political views

Personality Traits

Strengths and Weaknesses

Likes and Dislikes

Family

Friends

Enemies

Role in the story

Backstory/past

2. Choose a template

Just bulleting the events does not give the plot the dimension that it deserves and does not really accommodate side plots.

I personally use the zigzag method that I discovered from this post. I branch off of the zigzags for my side plots so it looks kind of like a graph.

You can also use the subway method, which I found on the nanowrimo website.

There are a whole other host of outlines to choose from if you search them up!

3. Know that you don’t have to stick to it

An outline is just that: an outline. It’s not the final decision for the plot, it’s the first draft for the plot. If you’re writing and one of the points just isn’t working anymore, you don’t have to keep it because it was a part of your outline.

Write what feels right.

Happy outlining, and good luck with your story!

My Personal Character Files: The 6 Box Method

This is for my science fiction WIP, so some things may need to be added/modified depending on your genre. I will also include a screenshot of an example at the bottom so y’all can see how I set it up in my Doc.

1. The Quick Ref

I use this as the first page of my “Character FIles” Doc.

I put all my important characters in a list, then add their height, age, and the page their complete file can be found on. This is helpful when I need to know if a character would have to crane their neck upward to look another character in the eyes. Comes up more than I’d have guessed.

2. The Individual Profile: 6 Box Method

I add and subtract stuff based on how important the character is. Without further ado…

Box One: Reference Photo

This is where I add in any actor, model, drawing, etc that I base the look on. When I don’t need one, sometimes I’ll put in a picture that represents the character’s style.

Box Two: The Introduction

Full Name

Nickname(s) 

Age 

Occupation 

Current home 

Situation: How do they enter this story?

Motivation: What do they want?

Favorite quote/saying

Biggest strength

Biggest issue 

Strongest trait 

Box Three: Behavior

Personality

Habits

Ambition/Short and Long Term Goals

Greatest fear(s)

Phobias

Biggest secret(s) 

Social skills

Interior talents

Box Four: Background

Home moon/planet

Important history

Family

Friends, Enemies, Acquaintances, and Colleagues

Finances

Education

Phys. Health/Mental Health

Religion

Romantic/sexual preference

Interests/Hobbies

Box Five: Appearance & Physicality

Height

Body type

Skin tone/Ethnicity/Species

Facial description

Prominent/distinguishing features

Dress 

Mannerisms

Physical talents

Box Six: Speech

Normal tone

Language & accent

Favorite phrases

3. The Example

Rey from The Force Awakens. Made in Google Docs.

Boxes 1 and 2

Boxes 3 and 4

Boxes 5 and 6

Best of luck on your writing journey!