aria-benedetto

[aria-benedetto]

Music Tag

I was tagged by @mundanemoongirl <3

Rules: List what songs remind you of your OCs, or even a song you think they would love.

And I am gonna tag, if you feel like doing it, @winterandwords @aria-benedetto and an open tag

Well, for most of my WIPs, there is a playlist linked in the WIP intro. So that feels kind of redundant :D

For some stories, I have That One Song that I connect more than others with the couple, for example Glass Shards with Arion - You're My Melody, and Till Death with Fivefold - Till Death.

For Sweet Little Lies, that song is Dance Forever Tonight by Peter Hollens feat. Evynne Hollens. I wrote like the last third to that song on repeat, lol.

#tag games #thanks for the tag!

[aria-benedetto]

[ID: Cropped screenshot of grammarly suggesting to change the wording "cooking still wasn't" to "cooking was stilln't" for clarity. End ID]

#dies laughing

[aria-benedetto]

"He wouldn't say that" in a 'fic author trying to use terms of endearment in a language they clearly do not understand' kind of way

#snort #Hirschkuh #I am laughing so hard right now

[aria-benedetto]

hot artists don't gatekeep

I've been resource gathering for YEARS so now I am going to share my dragons hoard

Floorplanner. Design and furnish a house for you to use for having a consistent background in your comic or anything! Free, you need an account, easy to use, and you can save multiple houses.

Comparing Heights. Input the heights of characters to see what the different is between them. Great for keeping consistency. Free.

Magma. Draw online with friends in real time. Great for practice or hanging out. Free, paid plan available, account preferred.

Smithsonian Open Access. Loads of free images. Free.

SketchDaily. Lots of pose references, massive library, is set on a timer so you can practice quick figure drawing. Free.

SculptGL. A sculpting tool which I am yet to master, but you should be able to make whatever 3d object you like with it. free.

Pexels. Free stock images. And the search engine is actually pretty good at pulling up what you want.

Figurosity. Great pose references, diverse body types, lots of "how to draw" videos directly on the site, the models are 3d and you can rotate the angle, but you can't make custom poses or edit body proportions. Free, account option, paid plans available.

Line of Action. More drawing references, this one also has a focus on expressions, hands/feet, animals, landscapes. Free.

Animal Photo. You pose a 3d skull model and select an animal species, and they give you a bunch of photo references for that animal at that angle. Super handy. Free.

Height Weight Chart. You ever see an OC listed as having a certain weight but then they look Wildly different than the number suggests? Well here's a site to avoid that! It shows real people at different weights and heights to give you a better idea of what these abstract numbers all look like. Free to use.

#this is really helpful

[aria-benedetto]

reblog if you are ASEXUAL, support ASEXUAL PEOPLE, or SECRETLY A DRAGON IN HUMAN FORM

#definitely a dragon #yep #absolutely #asexual

[aria-benedetto]

Happy STS, Elli!

(Hopefully) easy question this week: what is ypur favourite part of writing and storytelling?

Happy STS!

I had a very similar one here last week, so I waited a bit with answering this, which has absolutely nothing to do with my brain being full of bees and a fractal event going on in gw2 😂

The other one focused on writing, so this one is going more in the storytelling direction.

Those two are not exactly the same for me. For as long as I can remember, I have enjoyed daydreams, roleplaying, or creating backstories for characters I play in video games, but most of it has been lost to time. Writing takes some of it and makes sure it will last :D

On the one hand, there's obviously the whump. I enjoy it. I want to see the blood and the angst and the despair and the hope and especially the happy end, and there is little I can find out there that checks all my boxes (canon-inspired daydreams notwithstanding) so I want to make it myself.

On the other hand, there's the characters. There are little things I am delighted to see in a character (yes yes, my beloved sad ace mages, we've all seen that post), and I like to think that I also create characters someone out there will be delighted to see. Some of it is hard to talk about - for example, I always feel like I have "no right" to be proud of i.e. a blind char I made.

The thing that makes me love writing is that it can take a shape it couldn't in my brain alone. I remember one or two extensive daydream scenarios, but compared to a book, they would be like 30-50% only. After that, it all falls apart, I can't remember shit, I can't keep it all together, I keep moving in circles, it doesn't make sense. For some things, that is enough, fueling my bedtime for a couple of weeks before I move on. For others, it isn't.

When I am writing, what's on paper is done. I do not have to fear that I will forget what came before and can focus on what comes next. Which brings me to the second story telling part I enjoy:

The moment when it all starts making sense. When a character comes out of nowhere to fill a role I need, when I think of a scene or a line that matches what I set up before, when the end is in sight and I know that's gonna be the last scene, when a thing I had floating around in my mind for months finally settles. When I walk home and stop dead in my tracks to make a note on my phone, or when I word-vomit into my friends' DMs what's basically an outline but also not. The moment the idea I started out with becomes something I can imagine fully, from begining to end. Magical :D

#sts #storyteller saturday #answers to my asks

[aria-benedetto]

Happy Storyteller Saturday, Ari!

When you finish a first draft, how does it look? Is it readable or does it have more holes than a swiss cheese? What are your next steps, and how much changes?

(If you haven't finished one yet, what do you think how it'll look when you get there?)

Happy STS and thanks for the ask!

Fairly readable, I would say. I sometimes have things like [villain] in place of a name, but that's about it, I don't like skipping scenes.

For the second draft, I start over from the beginning. For stuff I'm fairly certain I want to keep, I reread and rewrite only the parts I want to change. For things I already know I need to rework, I tend to just rewrite them from scratch, especially with scenes that I want to go in a different direction or that were underwritten. In my current second draft, quite a lot is changing, which is part of the reason I'm stuck right now x'D

#ari answers asks #sts #storyteller saturday #sts ask

[aria-benedetto]

Watching the “you will excel at what you measure” trap devour basic moral practice in real time is fascinating in a terrible kind of way

[aria-benedetto]

OC in Three

Thank you @kaylinalexanderbooks for the tag! Post here.

Rule: Introduce a character with three images.

Gently tagging (no pressure): @keeper-of-all-the-random-things, @aria-benedetto

Geoffrey Marks

Made using Canva Pro and Adobe Photoshop

Meet Geoff in The Prince of Thieves, The Queen of Lies, and sometime in the next year, The Court of Rogues.

Other OC in Three Tags: Breanna | Colette

#tag games #ari wants to play #oc in three #let's try this #I will have to find fitting images #or make them #but I know who I wanna do

[aria-benedetto]

Word Find Tag

I was tagged by @kaylinalexanderbooks <3

My words: accept, appreciate, access, advice

Your words: bleed, breathe, behave, bargain

And I am tagging, if you want to do it, @sarandipitywrites @aria-benedetto @pleasestaywithmedarling @winterandwords and as always an open tag

Those are wonderful words. They all appear in Sweet Little Lies (WIP Intro), and only 1-3 times each 😅

Accept

“Oh Laurent, do you think I’m that naive? Do you think I believed for one second you were just taking a nice evening stroll when…” She didn’t finish her sentence. She didn’t think he’d be talking to her about this if there were people in earshot, but she wasn’t going to risk it. “I have long accepted that you treat the truth as an option rather than a necessity.” “And yet you’re here with me,” he mumbled. “And yet I am here with you.”

Appreciate

“How are the Fiery Wastrels selling?” he asked. “Not at all. I don’t have many customers I would inflict that upon.” “But you do have customers you would inflict that upon?” Aurelia laughed again. With him around, she found herself laughing and smiling more than ever. “Two or three,” she admitted. “Don’t worry, you’re safe. No ginger, and no chili.” “I appreciate it.”

Access

“I’ve been thinking,” he said. He was sitting on the stairs. “Some of those old buildings have direct access to the sewers. Do you know if this one has?” “I don’t think so?” “Hm.” His breathing turned strained as he pulled himself up. “You mentioned a backdoor. I didn’t see one?” “It’s in the storage room. I never use it.” “Mind if I check?”

Advice

Was it too early to call it love? Every time he visited, with every teasing word, every stolen touch, and every thoughtful gesture, she fell a bit more for him. He seemed earnest in his intentions but moved slowly, and Aurelia had the feeling that if she wanted more, she would have to take the next step. A few times, she had gotten close. When he said farewell in that tone that promised he would come back and took her hand with fingers that were so warm and gentle. She opened the window and let the nightly breeze cool her glowing cheeks. Some of the others had seeing partners. Perhaps she could ask them for advice.

#Word Find Tag #tag games #ari wants to play #thaks for the tag!

[aria-benedetto]

Six Sentence Sunday

I was tagged by @mysticstarlightduck and @kaylinalexanderbooks <3

Uhhhh, dinner's ready, @little-peril-stories if you want to aaand @aria-benedetto if you want to and open tag if you want to.

Let's pretend I can't count. Or that "Mhm" isn't a sentence.

“Well, if he thought you were me, he wasn’t expecting fire.” “But he would have expected earth,” Laurent pointed out. “Which, as we both know, can be just as deadly. Doesn’t make sense.” “Mhm.” Cedric rolled his cane between his hands. “I take it we’re not questioning him anymore?” A disgruntled noise was all the reply Cedric got.

#tag games #thanks for the tag! #I'll have to dig out my WIP to do the tag games I'm sitting on x'D #Well #maybe that will motivate me

[aria-benedetto]

Happy STS, Elli!

What are the most and least important aspects to you when it comes to character-creation? Are there any that don't matter to you at all? Is this different when it comes to reading about other people's characters?

How easy is it for you to change things about your characters when they don't work for whatever reason? Do you tend to change the story to fit the characters or the characters to fit the story?

Happy STS, let's not talk about the time this ask spent in my drafts.

I think there is only one absolutely important aspect: They gotta be fun. They can be fun for lots of different reasons (which are highly subjective and situational, who knows which char clicks), and being self-loathing tormented sad ace mages is only one of them 😅

Least is probably how they look. Hair color/style is probably the only thing I actually think about for most - I still have to look at Cedric's portrait every few weeks because I keep forgetting his eye color, and I forgot Merry's when I wrote GS as well XD I can't picture shit. It's not relevant to me. I could write a whole book without any character described and would barely miss something.

This is even more so when reading, I definitely have completely forgotten how characters look before, and I will again, and I have read stuff I really am not a fan of because I liked a character.

Consciously changing, once the story is done, don't even know if I could. While writing, things keep changing, because I start with a bag of vibes instead of a filled out character sheet.

Occasionally, some things come up while I write more (backstories, side stories, stuff like that) which is hard if the main story has already been posted/shared and I am torn between changing stuff or having stuff that doesn't match.

Usually, that's small things; for example, in the first version of GS, Damien wasn't forced to stay with the rebels, did paperwork instead of using his magic to hurt people, and he consciously used his brothers name (thinking it wouldn't matter). After writing Undeserved and the flashback pieces, I could no longer do that, he would never have put Valadan in danger, and the whole Ed thing was too fun—but the character is still the same.

#sts #storyteller saturday #answers to my asks #I absolutely feel you in the not knowing how characters look like sphere #half the time even if someone is described it just doesn't register #unless there is a lot of emphasis or frequent mention

[aria-benedetto]

Sweet Little Lies

[ID: The title of the story, Sweet Little Lies, written in a pink to yellow gradient over a picture of various glass jars filled with assorted, colorful candies. All other images in this post are decorative dividers showing a row of round, white, flat candies with a pink heart in the middle. End ID]

“I don’t want to keep you from working. Which is what I assume you were doing before I came in, not that it’s any of my business what you’re doing back there.” He nodded in the direction of the backroom, aware that he was talking too much. Again. “If you’re worried about leaving me alone up front, I can stand in the doorway and keep in your line of sight.” 

“My line of sight, huh.” A moment of silence settled between them in which the woman inclined her head. “I wouldn’t mind some company,” she then said. “Name’s Aurelia, by the way.”

“Laurent,” Laurent said before he remembered that he should not have given her his real name. Whatever. He was only here to buy some candy, right? “Pleased to meet you.”

📖 Synopsis

Aurelia’s days are filled with work. A charming stranger with a voice like soft caramel is a welcome distraction, even though she has more to worry about than the question of whether his lips are as sweet as his words. Someone is trying to put her out of business, and their methods keep escalating.

Laurent is scouting a target for his best friend’s heist when he dives into a candy store to avoid being spotted by the guards. What starts as an attempt to kill some time ends with his heart lost to the store owner’s warm smile. He wants to see her again but returning to the scene of the crime is playing with fire.

Fortunately, Laurent is a fire mage.

📖 About

Genre: Fantasy romance

POV: Third person past tense, split POV

Word Count: ~35k

Status: Drafting

Content Warnings: Genre-typical violence, off-screen deaths. That's it. That's the warnings.

Vibes: dark wooden shelves filled with glass jars / the smell of warm sugar / a bloody handprint on the window / blueberry muffins and lavender tea / stolen touches between fire and ice / a rainbow of candies / dancing slowly at a grand ball

Other Things:

Moodboard | Character Art by @bumblingdragon

📖 Cast

Aurelia

“I don’t believe a single word you say, Mister Beaufort.”

As a candy-smith, Aurelia is a master of her craft, and her store a paradise filled everything from fruit drops to rainbow lollipops. She doesn't need much to be happy: good friends, a nice cup of tea, and a stranger who promises to get rid of the man trying to destroy her life.

Laurent

Am I too late to witness the miracle of rainbow candy making?”

Accountant by day and fence by night, Laurent is used to lying, and his charm has saved him more often than his magic has. He doesn’t like candy, but he will try every single flavor in this store if it means he gets to spend more time with the owner who stole his heart.

📖 Tags

I haven't posted much about this yet, but the few tags that exist are:

#wip: lies

#Laurent is a guy to count on

#Aurelia is a sweetheart

Currently aiming for a mid-May release, which would give me two months for editing and formatting. Fingers crossed.

#I wanna read this :D

[aria-benedetto]

A small collection of my favourite sapphic art I did in 2023 🌸

#so pretty <3 #ari loves pretty art

[aria-benedetto]

Happy (late) STS, Kate!

What type of narration/POV do you prefer when writing? First, Second, Third person, omnoscient, limited? Are there any you have never written or would never write?

What about reading? Do you prefer some over others? Are there any you hate?

Happy STS! Thanks for the question!

Great question! I don't have a clear favourite, but I gravitate to first-person, present tense OR close third-person, past tense.

(For my own skills development and craft I'd like to do a first-person, past tense story at some point, since I haven't written solidly in that POV+tense for years, but I don't have anything in the works atm.)

I don't think I could write anything extended in third-person, present tense. I mean, never say never, and all that. But it doesn't quite click with my brain.

As for reading, I'm not fussed! If first-person, I don't care about the tense. If third, then I prefer past for sure. But really, I'll read anything.

However, I don't really think of POV and tense as a 'preference' thing for me. It's what serves the story:

TPOT is in first person because I wanted to get in the characters' heads so readers can feel their angst and pain with them.

TQOL is in third person because I wanted it to feel extremely distinct from TPOT, and because I wanted to be able to play with language (for ~ romance ~ reasons) more than first-person Will is capable of.

I tried to write my off-Tumblr Book 1 so many times in first person and couldn't make headway until I switched to third, and suddenly, a few months later, I had a completed draft. Something about first-person wasn't serving the story (who knows now what it was...it was a few years ago lol), but changing the POV made things click. 🤷‍♀️

Thanks for a great question!

#answers to my asks #sts #storyteller saturday

[aria-benedetto]

Hi, Tumblr. It’s Tumblr. We’re working on some things that we want to share with you. 

AI companies are acquiring content across the internet for a variety of purposes in all sorts of ways. There are currently very few regulations giving individuals control over how their content is used by AI platforms. Proposed regulations around the world, like the European Union’s AI Act, would give individuals more control over whether and how their content is utilized by this emerging technology. We support this right regardless of geographic location, so we’re releasing a toggle to opt out of sharing content from your public blogs with third parties, including AI platforms that use this content for model training. We’re also working with partners to ensure you have as much control as possible regarding what content is used.

Here are the important details:

We already discourage AI crawlers from gathering content from Tumblr and will continue to do so, save for those with which we partner. 

We want to represent all of you on Tumblr and ensure that protections are in place for how your content is used. We are committed to making sure our partners respect those decisions.

To opt out of sharing your public blogs’ content with third parties, visit each of your public blogs’ blog settings via the web interface and toggle on the “Prevent third-party sharing” option. 

For instructions on how to opt out using the latest version of the app, please visit this Help Center doc. 

Please note: If you’ve already chosen to discourage search crawling of your blog in your settings, we’ve automatically enabled the “Prevent third-party sharing” option.

If you have concerns, please read through the Help Center doc linked above and contact us via Support if you still have questions.

#very relevant

[aria-benedetto]

Important author question

#generally yes #because that way I can actually find the chapter I'm looking for #not that the titles are all that creative #they are just there so I know what exactly happens in chapter 13 #and where to look for which scene