Consider this an apology for the previous sadpost:

AU where BEFORE it’s too late, Nate turns to crime specifically to fund Sam’s treatment. Pulls together a crew of people he knows are good because he’s chased them all before. Does a heist, gets the money, Sam gets better.

But now Nate’s discovered he likes crime and can use it to help people. So he keeps doing it, but he has to engage in wacky hijinks to keep his family (and Sterling) from finding out.

(Yes, and) Sam eventually forms Leverage Kids, and his mom is like "Okay, this Robin Hood thing seems like the kind of kid I want to raise, I'll be the responsible adult for you hooligans... but don't tell your father." Yet somehow Nate is still clueless for like a full season or more, and the plot becomes more and more like a Benny Hill skit, until they meet on the same heist but with different clients: Sterling hired Nate, and his daughter hired Sam.

if you have a niche sport/job/hobby it’s your sacred duty to make the most specific incomprehensible AUs with the characters you like. no more coffeeshop aus no more college aus you have to put those guys in a microbial lab. your fave is a high school english teacher. that show is about bowling now sorry. THIS IS MANDATORY!!!

BTW, the belief that you have to leave where you are and go somewhere in order to connect with nature is part of the problem. You can literally connect with nature anywhere; yes, even in an urban environment. You have birds, bugs, plants, weather, seasons, etc. A lot of people need to stop thinking of nature as something out there and start recognizing that it's something that's already right here.

Commission for Lucy for their partner for Christmas.

eating him

this is so sweet 😭😭😭

has anyone noticed that to clean smth u often have to get smth else dirty

massively fucked up

like where does it end

Image description: a tweet by divinelydaria.

saw an inspiring video that said you need to have 4 hobbies.

create, consume, cavort, commune

create: bring something to life
consume: appreciate the art of another
cavort: move your body daily
commune: have a community to socialize with

end image description.

hank green's 2025 bingo card is gonna make me pass out

I know it’s not the same thing but Hardison and I are gonna be here for you forever.

If this isn’t proof that these three are in a relationship, idk what is.

specific tropes in romance that always heal something in me that it never broke

1. like, forehead kisses, soft love confessions, peppering kisses all over the lover's face. promises that are kept, hands those are held with a gentle love, and hugs that engulf the heart too.
2. or when they rest their head on your chest, or lean on you for support.
3. "your tears kill me," kinda thing. or when a sunshine character finally cries and bawls their entire life's hurt out into their comfort grumpy character (plus point, if the grump feels guilty thinking if they had done something to trigger this emotional outburst)
4. communication. no matter hard the topic is, how big your differences are.
5. listening to the other person yap
6. admiring their facial features and seeing not just the outer structure but the person that they really are.
7. them getting angry on ur behalf
8. cradling each other in hugs basically
9. feeling emotional walls break when you're with that one person particularly
10. gentle communication. yearning to do more for your lover (!!!!)
11. affectionate smiles and eyes crinkling with a smile that's directed specially at you.
12. finding their laugh contagious.
13. the feeling of being accepted, despite flaws and all
14. silent domestic acts like being in the kitchen together, dressing up together, them drying ur hair while u sit between their legs
15. occasionally stolen kisses
16. or one deep kiss that just lights your world and fulfills your soul and heart.
17. sleepily nuzzling into each other!!
18. reaching for each other despite being asleep, with mumbled endearments and whispers of need!!!
19. laughter coming easily by their side, like happiness is just another day to day thing (this can also be about self love. when u truly love urself and prioritize your own rights and cherish the fact that you're you. happiness becomes beautiful even in solitude)
20. their fingers buried deep in yo- OOPS.?! :)

“We also unfortunately – we couldn’t do the flashback we wanted to do there which was Eliot going – when he goes ‘what, you have to fight an alien?’ We wanted to do the flashback of Eliot just like, covered in green goo with like, a Ka-Bar, just kinda panting. Just covered in green goo and just like a tail whipping around just as he kind of finishes the job. And we were just like ‘nah, we can’t. We can’t.’” - John Rogers, The First Contact Job DVD Commentary

A lot of fiction these days reads as if—as I saw Peter Raleigh put it the other day, and as I’ve discussed it before—the author is trying to describe a video playing in their mind. Often there is little or no interiority. Scenes play out in “real time” without summary. First-person POV stories describe things the character can’t see, but a distant camera could. There’s an overemphasis on characters’ outfits and facial expressions, including my personal pet peeve: the “reaction shot round-up” in which we get a description of every character’s reaction to something as if a camera was cutting between sitcom actors.

When I talk with other creative writing professors, we all seem to agree that interiority is disappearing. Even in first-person POV stories, younger writers often skip describing their character’s hopes, dreams, fears, thoughts, memories, or reactions. This trend is hardly limited to young writers though. I was speaking to an editor yesterday who agreed interiority has largely vanished from commercial fiction, and I think you increasingly notice its absence even in works shelved as “literary fiction.” When interiority does appear on the page, it is often brief and redundant with the dialogue and action. All of this is a great shame. Interiority is perhaps the prime example of an advantage prose as a medium holds over other artforms.

fascinated by this article, "Turning Off the TV in Your Mind," about the influences of visual narratives on writing prose narratives. i def notice the two things i excerpted above in fanfic, which i guess makes even more sense as most of the fic i read is for tv and film. i will also be thinking about its discussion of time in prose - i think that's something i often struggle with and i will try to be more conscious of the differences between screen and page next time i'm writing.

In my limited experience, I've noticed if you try to put "interiority" into your story, you start being accused of "head hopping." And "head hopping" to many writers is a "deadly sin." Especially if you're writing any version of third person.

Mostly because third limited and third omni are so fuzzy around the edges of where they meet, no one can really tell you what it means and it will vary from writer to writer and editor to editor.

So what ends up happening is they strip it all out and it becomes this very, yes, cinematic type of experience, an ultimate 3rd Omni if you will, even if they're doing it in 1st POV. In some cases, this is leading to what I call a lack of "physicality" where the author won't even describe what the character's body is doing emotion wise. "I hate those cliches, they pull me out..." I hear. I respond, "your book is flat and lifeless. I don't feel any weight with these characters. I don't feel anything with them." Interiority and physicality give heft to the writing as much as pretty descriptions and snappy dialog. It's simply a tool in a toolbox that needs to be practiced and learned like any other.

What I love about reading is I get to know what the character is thinking and feeling. This is how I connect to them and empathize with them. In general as a writer, the two most important things I try to come up with for a character is a) what do they have in their pockets (if any) and b) what do they think about before they go to sleep? This has not steered me wrong yet.

Of course I have yet to write a story about a writer who thinks about stories before they go to sleep b/c that would feel way too meta. Anyways, bless, and happy writing.