thewriteflame

[thewriteflame]

Paying 5 yuan for hot gossip

English added by me :)

[thewriteflame]

They recorded tinnitus? It's a physical thing?????

#where's the off button then?

[thewriteflame]

[thewriteflame]

*Takes you by the shoulders* I ADORE character profiles and character trivia and likes and dislikes sections. I love knowing this ruthless, heartless, cruel man of a character has a childish dislike for mandarin oranges. I believe in the inherent beauty of all characters, no matter the background or moral stance, being made fundamentally human by assigning them insignificant culinary preferences. I stand by the supremacy of humanizing villains by giving them relatable tastes and trivial interests and ordinary hobbies. I treasure the hidden reminders that everyone is inherently human even when everything else we know about a character might suggest the contrary.

[thewriteflame]

My dream as a writer isn’t to get published and make a lot of money, it’s to have a fanbase devoted enough that I can post a story about a background character that had four lines or drop a piece of obscure lore and they go crazy over it

[thewriteflame]

shows should have 22 episodes a season again where half of them are low stakes silly fun shit happening. this i believe with my whole heart

[thewriteflame]

OC in Three Images

@megarywrites thank you for the tag!

Rules: post three pictures describing your OC, however vague or specific you wish

Ok I need to limit myself here... I shouldn't do all the important characters in one post. I'll do my pirate queen and my newest protagonists.

Shuntala

Sadie

Liam

No pressure tagging: @oh-no-another-idea @blue-kyber @emelkae @romances-not-tragedies @memento-morri-writes @theprissythumbelina and Open Tag

#oc: shuntala #oc: sadie #oc: liam #tag games #oc in three #wip: the revenged #wip: ttot #that's a throwing knife in the middle of Shuntala's btw #I came across it and was like yeah that's Perfect #also took me way too long to think of using Liam's favorite character

[thewriteflame]

OC in three images tag game

tagged by @coarsely (thanks!) this was fun trying to figure out how spoilery to be lol I present my main three characters from Seafoam

Rules: post three pictures describing your OC, however vague or specific you wish

Thala Galanis

Solera Aurado

Zeno Kokinos

tagging: @thewriteflame @bebewrites @isherwoodj @flowerprose @daisywords and an open tag!

#other writers #I love it when characters have assigned colors

[thewriteflame]

Out of context tag

Today's tags are brought to us by @sleepyowlwrites and @thewriteflame -- thank you, you both! <3 Here's a line I wrote today, actually...

“I thought he’d say, I missed you,” Steve said, feeling like the coffee was burning his throat, except he wasn’t drinking the coffee, and the coffee was cold. “I thought he’d say, Welcome home.”

Tags for anyone who sees this, and also @talesfromaurea @reneesbooks @charlesjosephwrites @chayscribbles and @theunboundwriter <3

#other writers #even without context this hurts

[thewriteflame]

Heads Up Seven Up

Thank you @romances-not-tragedies for tagging me! I finally wrote something since you tagged me all those days ago. ^^

Anyway a bit from The Taste of Thyme. I'm still getting a feel for Sadie and it feels a little awkward writing in first person after all these years but I think my newest WIP is taking shape.

I opened my messages as I walked towards the opposite door, the one leading out of TIME. I stopped as one marked important flashed up. A knot formed as I read the name D. Bon. Dominic Bonhuer. I closed my eye as I hit the screen to open it then peaked out of one eye. Let out the breath I had been holding. Nothing red. Re: Culture Series After reviewing your PP and budget I have finally approved your series proposal. DM. “Score!” I screeched as I threw my hands up, causing several in the halls to jump. I had only been asking every bi-year review since the dawn of my employment. “I got the series!” I announced to no one and everyone.

Soft tagging: @blue-kyber @violets-in-her-arms-writes @memento-morri-writes @megarywrites

#tag games #heads up seven up #heads up 7 up #wip: ttot #oc: sadie

[thewriteflame]

Heads Up Seven Up!

Thank you @bookish-karina for the tag!

From "Prodigal Heiress", we meet with Clarisse Berenguer without a good night's rest. I will add another line (in italics) in addition to the usual seven lines just in case.

Her mood did not improve by morning, exacerbated by the lack of sleep. Anyone in the breakfast table sensed for that. Even Luisa, notorious for her lack of understanding personal space, would not dream of disturbing the hornet’s nest, only silently sliding a cup of brewed coffee to her and leaving her be. Francisca and Carlos discussed the contents of the newspaper quietly so as not to aggravate her further. Carmela did not ask too much questions and instead placed her breakfast table in front of her. She was grateful for that. She left the house earlier than the rest of the household, wanting to get to her office as soon as possible and contemplate on the first plan of attack in her case. But to her dismay, she found herself face to face with the serious-faced Pablo Torres.

Taggig @winterandwords, @avoidingcertaindoom, @thewriteflame, @chauceryfairytales but this is also an open tag for those who want to participate.

Happy Writing!

#other writers #sounds like Clarisse has had a rough 24 hours give or take

[thewriteflame]

Okay. It's time for an AI rant.

My nephew is 13 years old. Whenever he writes a paper for school, I check it over and fix all of his mistakes for him. He said to me, "Maybe I'll proofread your paper for you in exchange," meaning one of the scholarly articles I write for work. I said, "Cool," and gave him the file. And he said, "Well, this is full of errors! See, you always say you have a lot to correct on my stuff, and look at all the stuff you got wrong!" And I said, surprised, "What? Where?" Because I'm sure there are typos in the draft I sent him, but not, like, that many.

And then he pointed to the screen and said, "Look at all the blue and red lines you have."

And I said, "Yeah, but those are wrong. Like, those are blue and red lines I'm ignoring because the computer is wrong." And then I paused and added, "You know you can't proofread a paper by just looking at the red and blue lines, right?" And he gave me the blankest look, because that clearly is EXACTLY what he thinks. And it became even clearer suddenly why, whenever I correct something on his paper, his immediate reaction is, "It didn't have a blue or red line."

There's a very good reason for that: THAT'S BECAUSE THE COMPUTER ISN'T SMART ENOUGH TO KNOW THAT IT WAS WRONG.

I am so tired of being sold the idea that computers are better than humans and so we should just outsource everything to them, which is clearly the lesson my nephew is absorbing in U.S. middle school. COMPUTERS ARE NOT BETTER THAN HUMANS. Like, maybe they are better at humans at crawling through rubble to find people trapped inside. They are also better at preserving things in a searchable format. Things like that. Very limited circumstances.

I don't want to sound alarmist but everything I hear about people using generative AI freaks me out. It's not just that I'm freaked out by people being like, "I use it to write novels!" (Although I don't see how they do, I have tried to have it write fiction for me and the output was truly terrible.) But I recognize my bias around creative writing and so no one needs to credit my views on artificial writing. But! Other things are alarming, too! "I use it to brainstorm x, y, or z." But...why? Why not just...use your own brain...to...brain...storm? The computer doesn't even have a brain to brainstorm with! And you might be like, "But it comes up with things that my brain would never think of!" So would other people! You could also brainstorm with other people! Or even through Google to see what other people have thought before you (not AI). Please don't belittle the wonder of thinking.

I just feel like the marketing around generative AI boils down to "Wouldn't it be easier not to use your own brain to think about things?" Everyone. No. It would not be. Please just trust me on this. I'm not just an old person who is out of touch with technology or something. I promise. USE YOUR BRAINS. IT WILL BE OKAY.

[thewriteflame]

I've been rereading The Hunger Games which means I've also been thinking about my characters' lives if they were to be in Panem and I made myself sad realizing Shuntala and Nahuel would probably never meet

[thewriteflame]

"wow you're so creative" thanks it was that or go insane

[thewriteflame]

I literally do not understand the attitude of "oh no my audience figured out my hints I MUST CHANGE MY STORY" like I am thrilled when people catch foreshadowing in my stuff. I get to play coy when someone figures it out, knowing they're gonna have a big "I KNEW IT" moment at the reveal? Gets me higher than crack.

#I love having my own I KNEW IT moments as a reader so giving someone else that? yeah priceless (I imagine)

[thewriteflame]

out of context line tag game

i was tagged by @thewriteflame and this is from ch2 of the second draft of Seafoam

“I said, we could get married.”  My insides squirmed uneasily, and the absurd desire to laugh nearly overcame me. He was about to speak again, but I shook my hand between us, cutting him off. “I appreciate you trying to make a joke, but is this really the time?”

and i'll tag: @coarsely @daisywords @flowerprose @zmwrites and an open tag (no pressure!)

#Thala sweetheart I don't think it's a joke #also our 'we could get married' scenes are wildly different #other writers

[thewriteflame]

contrary to popular belief, someone who is fluent in their second language (L2) is unlikely to slip into their first language (L1)  in these circumstances:

if someone just said something to them in L2 (this a big unconscious cue, and you’d be really unlikely to respond in L1 right after that)

when swearing in the middle of a sentence (e.g. “oh merde, i forgot my keys!”)

during sex

when speaking to someone they normally speak to in L2

it is slightly more common in these circumstances:

swearing, as long it’s not part of a sentence (e.g. they might just mutter “merde” if they forgot their keys)

if they’re surprised (especially if falling/tripping or experiencing sudden pain!)

when speaking to someone they normally speak to in L1

in their sleep or talking to themselves

when very disoriented, such as when concussed or on certain drugs

that being said, it is very common for people to intentionally use their first language in front of people who don’t speak it for a variety of reasons (they might use a short expression they only know in L1, call their partner pet names, dirty talk during sex because their partner finds it attractive) – but this is on purpose!

also this doesn’t account for people who grew up in an environment where people often mix multiple languages in their speech (e.g. spanglish or franglais) – in that case, they may accidentally drop an L1 swear into an L2 sentence, though they’ll still generally stick to L2 when speaking to people who only speak that language

#languages #writing advice