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im-in-my-ophelias · 2 months

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Ways to un-stick a stuck story

Do an outline, whatever way works best. Get yourself out of the word soup and know where the story is headed.

Conflicts and obstacles. Hurt the protagonist, put things in their way, this keeps the story interesting. An easy journey makes the story boring and boring is hard to write.

Change the POV. Sometimes all it takes to untangle a knotted story is to look at it through different eyes, be it through the sidekick, the antagonist, a minor character, whatever.

Know the characters. You can’t write a story if the characters are strangers to you. Know their likes, dislikes, fears, and most importantly, their motivation. This makes the path clearer.

Fill in holes. Writing doesn’t have to be linear; you can always go back and fill in plotholes, and add content and context.

Have flashbacks, hallucinations, dream sequences or foreshadowing events. These stir the story up, deviations from the expected course add a feeling of urgency and uncertainty to the narrative.

Introduce a new mystery. If there’s something that just doesn’t add up, a big question mark, the story becomes more compelling. Beware: this can also cause you to sink further into the mire.

Take something from your protagonist. A weapon, asset, ally or loved one. Force him to operate without it, it can reinvigorate a stale story.

Twists and betrayal. Maybe someone isn’t who they say they are or the protagonist is betrayed by someone he thought he could trust. This can shake the story up and get it rolling again.

Secrets. If someone has a deep, dark secret that they’re forced to lie about, it’s a good way to stir up some fresh conflict. New lies to cover up the old ones, the secret being revealed, and all the resulting chaos.

Kill someone. Make a character death that is productive to the plot, but not “just because”. If done well, it affects all the characters, stirs up the story and gets it moving.

Ill-advised character actions. Tension is created when a character we love does something we hate. Identify the thing the readers don’t want to happen, then engineer it so it happens worse than they imagined.

Create cliff-hangers. Keep the readers’ attention by putting the characters into new problems and make them wait for you to write your way out of it. This challenge can really bring out your creativity.

Raise the stakes. Make the consequences of failure worse, make the journey harder. Suddenly the protagonist’s goal is more than he expected, or he has to make an important choice.

Make the hero active. You can’t always wait for external influences on the characters, sometimes you have to make the hero take actions himself. Not necessarily to be successful, but active and complicit in the narrative.

Different threat levels. Make the conflicts on a physical level (“I’m about to be killed by a demon”), an emotional level (“But that demon was my true love”) and a philosophical level (“If I’m forced to kill my true love before they kill me, how can love ever succeed in the face of evil?”).

Figure out an ending. If you know where the story is going to end, it helps get the ball rolling towards that end, even if it’s not the same ending that you actually end up writing.

What if? What if the hero kills the antagonist now, gets captured, or goes insane? When you write down different questions like these, the answer to how to continue the story will present itself.

Start fresh or skip ahead. Delete the last five thousand words and try again. It’s terrifying at first, but frees you up for a fresh start to find a proper path. Or you can skip the part that’s putting you on edge – forget about that fidgety crap, you can do it later – and write the next scene. Whatever was in-between will come with time.

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im-in-my-ophelias · 2 months

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“She was still glaring at the queens, her eyes lined with tears—tears of rage and despair, from that fire that burned her so violently from within. When she finally noticed Cassian, she looked up at him.”

I watched a tear slide down Nesta’s cheek. And I watched as Cassian reached up a hand to wipe it away.

She did not flinch from his touch.”

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im-in-my-ophelias · 2 months

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Nesta Archeron, 20/?

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im-in-my-ophelias · 2 months

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Nesta Archeron

So this post is for The people who say that Nesta is a cold bitch and all .

Let me tell you this

Nesta is the only HUMAN who resisted the glamour Tamlin did on her and on Elain and their father .

Nesta the girl who never went to the forest , hired a mercenary and went with her to the wall so she can go to Prythian to find Feyre , because what Tamlin did is not right.

She almost went mad bc everyone and everything around her is moving on and she is the only one who knows the truth .

She cared , yes she doesn’t show it but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t care

So before you judge her

Read this

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im-in-my-ophelias · 2 months

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It just hit me how it must seem to Nesta that Cassian is just toying with her and that his heart is with Mor.

- He and Mor have centuries of history together. Mor is stunning and sensual and open and warm and all the things Nesta doesn’t see herself being.

- Mor is the one who angrily warns Nesta off Cassian. To Nesta, it must feel like a territorial pissing match, (despite the fact that readers know Mor is just being a protective friend).

- Mor is the one who tries to disrupt the nessian winnowing moment, grabbing for Cassian while he’s clearly engaged with Nesta.

- Mor is the one who warns Nesta away from Cassian’s healing tent after the battle.

- Cassian is touchy and protective around Mor in front of Nesta all the time. He massages her feet after the High Lord meeting, he physically comforts her after Rhys gives Keir access to Velaris, they lounge together on couches. They show a level of physical comfort together that screams togetherness. To someone observant like Nesta, that would be setting off a thousand warning bells no matter how much flirting cassian does with her privately.

- The infamous battle tent scene, where Nesta shows rare, nearly unheard of vulnerability with Cassian. She touches him willingly for the first time, and stares into his eyes, and— he yanks his hand away as soon as Mor enters the tent. Must be *gutting* for someone who feels so much and guards her heart so zealously. She must have felt so foolish.

- While all Nesta can do is watch in the rain, Mor is able to go cut a path to Cassian mid-battle. Mor is the trained soldier with centuries of fighting experience under her belt. To Nesta, it must feel like she can’t compete - two celebrated warriors with that much rapport and history and mutual hotness.

- After the Nessian hybern death scene, it’s somehow Mor who winds up escorting Cassian off the field, with nesta watching. We don’t know how it happens, but somehow it’s Nesta on the fringes and cassian and Mor leaning on each other. Depending on how that went down, that may be the reason Nesta made it clear she wanted nothing to do with Cassian after the war.

In ACOFAS, it seems like Nesta knows Cassian is her mate. She tries to block out “all that he was,” and can sense that he follows her home. Knowing that must torture Nesta. Feeling like the cauldron shackled Cassian to her when he really wants to be with Mor. Feeling like all the attention he pays her is just the result of fate pushing them together and not his own natural wishes. Especially if she fears it was her feelings for him that bound them together when she was in the cauldron...she’d fight that with everything in her. She’d never want to take his freedom like that; and it would be so humiliating to her to have him want her only because magic forced him to.

That’s why his choice of her must be CRYSTAL clear in acosf. The Mor situation is going to have to come to a head. Cassian is going to have to put Nesta first - ahead of the Inner Circle, ahead of Mor. He’s going to have to do something to prove to Nesta that he wants her for herself. I need Nesta to know she’s IT for him and always has been, since the very first day she stared him down at that table.

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im-in-my-ophelias · 2 months

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Nesta's reaction to the whole mating thing??

Ah, yes!

I’ve touched on that a little bit on this ask here, but to take that even further:

One of the things that makes Nesta’s character so special is how much she values her autonomy and independence. She’s not a “people-pleaser” nor she is a “team player.” If she disagrees with you, she’ll push back. If she’s asked to do something, she’ll ask why. If she chooses not to do something, then gods help you. Oh, you’re a High Lord? Doesn’t matter. She’s pretty indiscriminate.

And honestly? How refreshing. Finally, a YA/NA female character who doesn’t automatically obey supernatural characters or think that they’re “better” by virtue of having powers or immortality. Some readers really rag on her hostility towards Fae, but keep in mind: the Fae kept humans as slaves. They fought a whole war over it. If you’re from a BIPOC community like myself, you understand better than anyone that the effects of slavery and colonization can fuck you up for generations. I’m honestly surprised that the repercussions of that aren’t like...ever brought up in a meaningful way? Like the IC talk about it as if it’s all in the past, but honestly I feel like the general sentiment among Fae is that humans are seen as second-class citizens (if not like pets or livestock).

ANYWAY NESTA’S AUTONOMY: Let’s remember that she’s one of the first people to observe that Rhysand is deeply in love with Feyre. If Rhysand wasn’t in love with Feyre, or if Feyre wasn’t in love with Rhysand, she would DEFINITELY intervene (much in the same way Feyre intervened with Tomas Mandray). Given that, I feel like Nesta believes in love, but would chafe at the idea of bonding because that’s something that she very much can’t control.

And this girl wants to be in control.

My hope for her character arc is that she really doubles down on her need for independence. I want her to question the myth of the mating bond. I want her to wonder whether her feelings are genuine, or if they’re just a product of a force that’s beyond her reckoning. Most of all, I want her to be able to MAKE A CHOICE. Regardless of whether there’s a bond or not, it’s up to Nesta to decide whether she wants a relationship. I’m very much in the camp of her keeping her autonomy, working on herself, being her own hero, and then deciding whether a relationship is right for her.

***

Ask me anything and I shall answer with love.

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im-in-my-ophelias · 2 months

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soft nessian art appreciation post❣

credit: eklixio [instagram]

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im-in-my-ophelias · 2 months

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“I have no regrets in my life, but this.” His voice shook with every word. “That we did not have time. That I did not have time with you, Nesta.” She didn’t stop him as he leaned up and kissed her—lightly. As much as he could manage. Cassian said softly, brushing away the tear that streaked down her face, “I will find you again in the next world—the next life. And we will have that time. I promise.”

art: michelacacciatore [instagram]

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im-in-my-ophelias · 2 months

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[ACOSF Spoilers]

Okay so there are so many reasons why I fucking adore Nesta and Cassian, but my biggest is that Cassian doesn’t love Nesta because they’re mates, or because he has to. He loves Nesta because she is Nesta.

Cassian leaned to whisper in her ear, “The first time I saw that look on your face, you were still human. Still human, and I nearly went to my knees before you.

Yes, Cassian does admit that he knew they were mates the moment they met, but he appreciated her for her fierceness, her wrath, and her will. He admired her beauty, yes, but it was the darkest parts of her that immediately caught his attention, and never let go.

Cassian doesn’t just love the “good” parts of Nesta, either (i.e her strength, wit, beauty), but also the flawed, more jaded parts of her character as well. He loves her brashness, her temper, her fire. He loves her even when she is selfish and cruel and terrified. I love Feysand, don’t get me wrong, but I think a lot of their relationship is based on very superficial things such as the whole idea of Rhys essentially saving feyre. Nesta didn’t want to be saved, so Cassian didn’t save her, he helped her overcome her fear and trauma. He made her whole again without “fixing” her, because he was the only one who didn’t think her broken. What the IC saw as weakness in Nesta, Cassian saw as virtue. Nesta wasn’t allowed to be traumatised the way Feyre and Elain were. She wasn’t supported or helped or loved. No one reached out except him. Feyre especially enabled her for months, and then decided to judge her and accuse her and do to Nesta exactly what Tamlin did to herself. She, as well as the rest of the IC, are hypocrites.

Then there’s the argument that Nesta treated Cassian unfairly.

Nesta had loved Cassian since she'd first laid eyes on him. Had loved him even when she did not want to, even when she had been swallowed by despair and fear and hatred. Had loved him and destroyed herself because she didn't believe she deserved him, because he was all that was good, and brave, and kind, and she loved him, she loved him, she loved him

She did treat him unfairly, 100%, but Nesta was suffering immensely with BPD, trauma, and alcohol abuse. When she was pushing Cassian away, it wasn’t to hurt him, but to punish herself. Unlike everyone else, Cassian saw that, knew that, and did everything he could to stop her hurting because he loved her and had from the start. Even when he believed her to be selfish and conceited and unkind (as of acomaf).

But, off of that point, there are multiple occasions where Cassian treats Nesta poorly also, mostly in regards to Mor (who I’m not even going to get into rn). But, when Mor is around, Cassian is embarrassed to be seen close to Nesta, and distances himself from her, ashamed of his feelings but disregarding hers too.

Nesta and Cassian, to me, have the strongest, purest, and most compelling journey throughout the series because of everything they had to overcome within themselves. Rhys and Feyre go through countless outside enemies (and yes, Feyre’s depression, too), but Nessian’s battles are internal, and they have to truly find themselves before they can find each other, and that is what is beautiful about their story.

Cassian loves all of Nesta, and Nesta loves all of him. Their love his not conditional, nor superficial, and it is the realist of the entire ACOTAR series.

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im-in-my-ophelias · 2 months

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Reasons why Nesta and Cassian are mates (Part 2)

- Magic kisses?

Cassian only kissed her neck and she thought he was using magic. I’m sure she felt the mating bond for the first time.

“Is it some faerie magic of yours, to do such things?”

After this moment, Nesta doesn’t want to be close to Cassian

“I told you to stay the hell away from me” (Acowar)

And that only gets horse after Nesta decided to die with him. I believe she discovered about the mating bond here and wats to keep distance - just like Feyre did when she discovered about her mating bond.

“I don’t want anything from you.” (Acofas)

- She wants to get rid of “everything he was”

The question here is: what Cassian is? What did she mean by “everything he is”? Someone who can truly see her? Her mate?

Twin instincts warred within her: to leave the faelight untouched and make him wait in the freezing dark, or to ignite that bowl and just get rid of his presence. Get rid of everything he was.

Rhysand thinks that he understand Nesta:

Nesta had made it clear enough she had no interest in Cassian—not even in being in the same room as him. I knew why. I’d seen it happen, had felt that way plenty.

And what did Rhysand do when he was sure about the bond? He run away from her. So that’s why he undertands Nesta’s actions about Cassian.

His eyes locked on mine, wide and wild, and his nostrils flared. Shock—pure shock flashed across his features at whatever he saw on my face, and he stumbled back a step. Actually stumbled. “What is—” I began. He disappeared—simply disappeared, not a shadow in sight—into the crisp air.

- He is always questioning himself about her – why he needs to be with her, why he cares so much.

What did he care? What did he care? He had enough shit to deal with. Throwing in a mortal who would have a few more decades before things between them became awkward was…foolish.

He’s an experienced male and Nesta isn’t the first female he is interested in. But he knows – since of the beginning – that this time was different.

But from the moment he’d met Nesta, the cold fire in her blue-gray eyes had been a temptation of a different sort.

He didn’t know why the hell he cared. Why he’d bothered. Even from the start. Even after she’d kneed him in the balls that one afternoon at her father’s house.

- They can feel each other, even when they aren’t close

Cassian did not circle over the house. But he could feel Nesta’s attention as he soared for the wall. Even shielded from sight, he could feel those blue-gray eyes on him. The feeling chased him all the way back to Velaris.

He’d followed. She’d known it in her bones, her blood. He’d kept high in the skies, but he’d followed until she’d entered the building.

And Cassian knew that something was wrong with Nesta when she was in another room

The door opened, and Cassian stalked in, face grave. The sight of the wings, the Illyrian armor in this opulent, pink-filled room planted itself in my mind, the painting already taking form, as he said, “What’s wrong.”

Nesta detected Cassian’s injury though his armor, even when Rhysand – who knows Cassian for more than 500 years – didn’t notice.

But Nesta had jolted to her feet, staring at Cassian, at the helmet he had tucked into the crook of his arm, the weapons still poking above his shoulder, in need of cleaning. […] But she surveyed his seven Siphons, the dim red stones. And then she said, “You’re hurt.” Rhys snapped to attention at that.

- Cassian knew what Nesta was looking for – what she was thinking, maybe.

She ignored him and rose to her feet, searching the bedroom again. Her coat… “Your coat is on the floor by the front door,” he said sharply.

- He can’t stay away

Their moments before Wings and Embers aren’t pleasant, but he’s still thinking about her and he quickly agrees to go to her house. During the first scene between them in Acowar, Nesta is being rude with Feyre and Rhys, but Cassian still tried to get closer and talk to her.

But Cassian sauntered over to Nesta, a half smile spreading across his face. She stood stiffly while he picked up the book, read the title, and chuckled. “I wouldn’t have pegged you for a romance reader.”

He also visited her almost every day.

“Nesta spoke as if you’ve been up at the House … often. You’ve offered to train her?” Cassian’s hazel eyes shuttered as he crossed a booted ankle over another, stretching his muscled legs before him. “I go up there every other day.”

And he confessed the truth for the first time out loud in Acowar

“Why do you bother, Cassian?” […] But Cassian said quietly as we headed for the dining room, “Because I can’t stay away.”

Feyre’s question also insinuates something that I already mentioned: they barely know each other, but yet he made Nesta a promise and he is feeling really bad because he couldn’t protect her even when he was almost dead.

About all that, we have another parallel between Feysand and Nessian:

“Is that mate of yours going to stand in the cold all night?” I blinked, wondering if she’d somehow sensed the thoughts between us. “Who says he’s here?” Nesta snorted. “Where one goes, the other follows.”

- Nesta’s powers and Cassian

Cassian can feel her powers and it usually show itself when she’s around him.

“Have you seen any glimpse of it since?” “Nothing.” The House loomed, golden lights at the walls of windows and doorways beckoning us closer. “But I can feel it—sometimes.” He added a bit ruefully, “Usually when she’s pissed at me. Which is … most of the time.”

Nesta confirms it in Acosf (sneak peek)

Being near him made her want to shatter things. As her power sometimes did, unbidden. Secretly.

During her training, Amren mentioned Cassian and then Nesta’s powers responded to it immediately.

“I’m sure Cassian’s still sniffing around upstairs.” Nesta’s lips twitched upward. Amren pointed at her with a slender finger ending in a sharp, manicured nail. “Concentrate. Vital organs must be shielded at all times.”

After Rhysand made Nesta vomit after their flying, Nesta was about to attack him, her eyes were burning with power and then Cassian decides to talk to her. He not only avoided a conflict, but also made her calm down – and also her powers.

“Do you know,” Cassian drawled to her, “that the last time I got into a brawl in this house, I was kicked out for a month?” Nesta’s burning gaze slid to him, still outraged—but hinted with incredulity. He just went on, “It was Amren’s fault, of course, but no one believed me. And no one dared banish her.” She blinked slowly. But the burning, molten gaze became mortal. Or as mortal as one of us could be.

When she was trying to track the cauldron, Cassian not only made her feel confident to do it, but he also calm her down when she used more of her powers.

“Nothing can harm you,” he repeated. Nesta was still looking at him when she finally shut her eyes.

“Go deeper,” Amren urged. “Find that tether between you.” She stiffened, but Cassian stepped closer, and she settled again.

- The Hybern King scene

When the King hurt Cassian again, her powers came back all at once, with full strength.

The king snorted. And brought his foot down upon Cassian’s nearest wing. Bone snapped. And his scream— I thrashed against the Cauldron’s grip. Thrashed and clawed. Nesta exploded. All of that power, all at once—

Cassian told her to leave, to save herself. But she can’t leave him.

Nesta gritted her teeth, trying to haul Cassian up once more. A broken sound of pain ripped from him. “Go! ” he barked at her. “I can’t,” she breathed, voice breaking. “I can’t.”

- Cassian’s only regret

Cassian is a 500 years old male, he did a lot of things in his life – still he only regret was about not having time with Nesta.

“I have no regrets in my life, but this.” His voice shook with every word. “That we did not have time. That I did not have time with you, Nesta.”

He believes that what they have is something stronger that he ever felt, he knows they will find each other in the next life.

“I will find you again in the next world—the next life. And we will have that time. I promise.”

- She rather died with him than live without him.

And covered Cassian’s body with her own. Cassian went still—then his hand slid over her back. Together. They’d go together.

- The Bone Carver scene

“What did you wake that day in Hybern, Prince of Bastards?”

Nesta went to the Cauldron and she was thinking about Cassian and Elain, but the Bone Carver said that Cassian wake something. What did he wake during Nesta’s transformation? When Feyre died, her soul followed Rhysand, he kept her in this world. Nesta died inside the Cauldron too, maybe there’s a parallel here and Cassian woke Nesta after she died, just like her screams/voice woke him at the end of ACOMAF.

- Battlefield moment

Cassian was in the sky and Nesta screamed his name. How did he hear her? She probably called him thought the mate bound. Nesta knew that even in the middle of a war, if she screams Cassian’s name, he would come for her as his priority.

“CASSIAN!” She scrambled to her feet, as if she’d leap into the skies. Her body lurched, and she went down, heaving again. A figure shot from the Illyrian ranks, spearing for us, flapping hard, red Siphons blazing—

Did he know? That she had screamed for him, knowing he’d come….

- More parallels of mate references

Before meeting Rhysand, Feyre painted the night sky for herself – a reference to the man she was mated.

“I painted stars and the moon and clouds and just endless, dark sky.”

She painted flames for Nesta – a reference not only to Nesta’s essence, but also to Cassian, who Feyre described as “made of wind and earth and flame“

“Nesta,” I said, starting on the other wing, “I painted flames for her.”

- And in Acofas we also have this moments:

Feysand:

“Most males would help their mates if they’re about to break their heads on the ice.”

Nessian:

He easily kept pace, an eye out for any treacherous patches of ice on the cobblestones. They’d barely survived Hybern. He didn’t need her snapping her neck on the street.

***Bonus: Rowaelin

- Saw everything

Rowan Whitethorn saw everything. From the moment he met her, he saw all of Aelin.

Except him. He could see it, feel it. That first afternoon, he’d looked at her—not at the face and the body that human men marked, but her—and he had seen it all.

- Lack of control

Nesta’s scent and touch made Cassian lose control. Aelin’s blood did the same with Rowan.

“That was the first time I really lost control around you, you know. I wanted to chuck you off a cliff, yet I bit you before I knew what I was doing. I think my body knew, my magic knew. And you tasted… So good. I hated you for it. I couldn’t stop thinking about it.”

“Every instinct in his body came roaring to the surface, so violent he had to choke them with a brutal grip or else he’d find himself on his knees, begging her for a touch, for anything.”

There’s also the fact that when Rowan felt all those things about Aelin, he wanted to “chuck her off a cliff”. Cassian and Nesta are described as “opponents” since of the first moment together.

Cassian was sizing up Nesta, a gleam in his eyes that I could only interpret as a warrior finding himself faced with a new, interesting opponent.

But from the moment he’d met Nesta, the cold fire in her blue-gray eyes had been a temptation of a different sort.

- “Woman of other males”

Sometimes I wonder: Why did Cassian ask about Nesta been with a man if he didn’t care about it? He was there, almost begging for a touch and he wanted to know if she has someone.

She was young—twenty-two, twenty-three at most. But had she been with a man? He shouldn’t have cared, or wondered, and it made no difference to him.

Maybe it’s something similar to this thing in Tog and Rowaelin:

“You don’t bite the women of other males.”

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