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25 | 0 | 14ehcl6 | 69 | ERROR: type should be string, got " \n\nhttps://i.redd.it/f90vq77p977b1.gif\n\nAs of this moment r/creativewriting is once again open to the public, but with a few changes. \n\n**CreativeWriting is now 18+**\n\nAccording to Reddit's content policy, NSFW is:\n\n>Content that contains nudity, pornography, or profanity, which a reasonable viewer may not want to be seen accessing in a public\n\nAs such, our community has been flagged as 18+. On a related note, every post title is now required to have one of George Carlin's seven dirty words (featured in Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television). If you do not do so your post will be unable to be submit. It can be thrown in randomly at the end of the title, but you are encouraged to try and have fun with it.\n\n**No more \\[Sensitive Content\\] warnings**\n\nBecause we are now labeled as 18+ sensitive content warnings are no longer required. Rules for dangerous content and slurs still apply as these are against Reddit's site-wide rules.\n\n**Changes to what is considered spam**\n\nPosts made in rapid succession and recent repost are no longer considered spam.\n\n**No more NSFW or Spoiler flairs**\n\nErotica is no longer required to be marked as NSFW (all posts will be automatically) and fanfiction is no longer required to be marked as spoiler.\n\n**External links are now allowed**\n\nUp until now, posts with external links encouraging users to go offsite to read your stories has been discouraged. However, we now allow and encourage you to make posts sending users to other sites to read what you've written. The only clause is that it cannot be a link to another reddit community. Rules on advertisements still apply.\n\n**We now allow image posts/comments**\n\nYou can now upload images in place of text posts or comments. There was some debate on if we should only allow image posts, perhaps there will be a poll in the future. Until then text posts can still be made.\n\n**How long will these changes last?**\n\nIt's hard to say. We'll just have to wait and see.\n\n**Why were these changes made?**\n\nFor those not aware of the ongoing issues with the reddit admins and would like to know what the hell is going on, please see the below links to get you up to speed.\n\n* [Moderators coordinate a black out protest over API technical concerns, Accessibility for visually impaired, parity in acess to NSFW content](https://www.reddit.com/r/ModCoord/comments/1476fkn/reddit_blackout_2023_save_3rd_party_apps/)\n* [Third party app developer shares details about their communication with reddit and their attempt to discredit him](https://redd.it/144f6xm)\n* [The Blind community concerns about what happens when third party apps are no longer functioning](https://redd.it/13zr8h2)\n* [The AskHistorians community details the \"Reddit admins have had 8 years to build a stronger infrastructure to support moderators but have not\"](https://redd.it/142w159)\n* [On June 9th 2023 a group of 18 developers and moderators met with (reddit CEO) spez and other Reddit staff regarding the upcoming API changes.](https://redd.it/144l86y) Here is another [account of the meeting](https://redd.it/143rk5p)\n* [Reddit CEO spez does an ama where he kinda answers 8 comments](https://redd.it/145bram) Here is an [overview](https://redd.it/145bzus) of the ama\n* [Admins announce that any moderator on the mod team can take over a subreddit/community if they will \"open\" private/restricted subreddits/communities](https://redd.it/14b5q1f)\n\n**If you would like to read articles on the subject, see below.**\n\n* [Major Reddit communities will go dark to protest threat to third-party apps](https://www.theverge.com/2023/6/5/23749188/reddit-subreddit-private-protest-api-changes-apollo-charges)\n* [Reddit blackout protest updates: all the news about the changes infuriating Redditors](https://www.theverge.com/2023/6/8/23754780/reddit-api-updates-changes-news-announcements)\n* [NPR Interview: reddit CEO Steve Huffman 'It's time we grow up and behave like an adult company](https://www.npr.org/2023/06/15/1182457366/reddit-ceo-steve-huffman-its-time-we-grow-up-and-behave-like-an-adult-company?refresh=true)\n* [Reddit CEO Triples Down, Insults Protesters, Whines About Not Making Enough Money From Reddit Users](https://www.techdirt.com/2023/06/16/reddit-ceo-triples-down-insults-protesters-whines-about-not-making-enough-money-from-reddit-users/)" | New Rules Just Dropped, Motherfucker. | 69 |
18 | 0 | 11ill9l | 39 | I am currently working on a novel, and I am in a state of writer’s block. Do you all have techniques I could try to get my ideas flowing?
Thank you! All responses are appreciated :) | What do you do when experiencing writer’s block? | 39 |
6 | 0 | orc2t1 | 38 | I want to share with you something that actually happened today. I think it's funny as hell, but I'll let you decide.
​
So I'm at my sister's house and we're talking about the bedtime stories mom used to read to us. Her eight-year-old, who's sadly never heard a bedtime story, is fascinated by the concept of a bedtime story. I shoot a good-humored, accusing glance at my sister. She shrugs and smiles. So then this conversation happens between me and my nephew, Adrian.
​
Adrian: Tell me a story, Uncle Ethan.
​
(I decide to make it up as I go along. I try my best to put up an old-timey storyteller voice)
​
Me: Well, once upon a time, there was a boy named Adrian.
​
Adrian: Is it me?
​
Me: Sure.
​
Adrian: Wow.
​
Me: Yeah. So one day, Adrian found himself walking through a deep dark forest.
​
Adrian: Wow. I've never been to a dark forest. Is it like totally black?
​
(I ignore him and motion him to be silent)
​
Me: Suddenly, out of the bushes, sprang a huge, fearsome hungry wolf, fangs bared, growling at Adrian.
​
(Adrian giggles nervously at this, and I'm kinda glad. This was what storytelling was all about when we were kids)
​
Me: And so Adrian starts running, the fiendish wolf close on his heels, snapping and snarling. And Adrian runs faster and faster.
​
(Adrian interrupts me)
​
Adrian: Oh no. The wolf would be ahead of me and I would be the one running behind the wolf.
​
(I'm momentarily shocked, assuming he's going to say something like he's not afraid of wolves and that he's brave)
​
Me: Oh? Why's that? The wolf would be ahead of you and you'd be running behind?
​
Adrian: Yeah, I can't run very fast. | Something funny that actually happened today. | 38 |
11 | 0 | nx4olv | 34 | I used to be so cold and lifeless, waiting for things to happen, then you came, as if that coldness was never there you stood by me and gave me life.
As you came by you were also gone, now I’m only left wondering, what to do with these gifts.
My new found joy was yours, what do I do, where do I go, you were the answers before, now you are a stranger.
Maybe I must not linger in these thoughts, perhaps you won’t be the only one to gift me with life. | Alive | 34 |
29 | 0 | krz8vk | 89 | The last of my love is yours to keep. As life moves forward, I'm stuck in place. Feeling my love draining, as I give it all away. Feeling my empathy turn to apathy as I begin to care less and less.
If you're reading this, I love you. All that's left, I'll leave for you. A love so pure, now poisoned and jaded. A love I can't keep providing from an empty cup.
If you're reading this, I love you. But I don't feel like me anymore. I've been walking through this dark tunnel, as the light at the end continues to fade.
If you're reading this, I'm sorry. I'm tired, and alone, and I'm not sure how long I can keep going. A benevolent soul turned to a broken shell.
If you're reading this, I'm all out of love to give. I thought it was endless but I've found the bottom. Helpless, and hopeless, I lay defeated.
If you're reading this, it's over. So please, take my love, and remember me as I was, and not as I am. | If you're reading this, I love you | 89 |
12 | 0 | qadx02 | 84 | I’m a loser. I’m losing. But it only takes one win to rectify all loses.
I wasn’t born a loser. None of us were. We don’t realise the cards we were dealt until later.
I just want a chance to win again. I want a chance to feel strong. I want to look in that mirror and say “it’s about time” because that win will feel the sweetest.
I will win and You will too. If no one has told you that, then I will. | Every Winner was a Loser at some point. | 84 |
18 | 0 | rmd1cn | 70 | I stopped writing poems
the love, sad and funny ones,
they didn’t require much time
and writing them always made me feel light,
but I stopped anyways
.
maybe I wasn’t a true creative after all,
and all of my self image has always been a facade,
but it was something more than that
I cannot explain,
.
was it because no one was reading it?
But whenever I wrote it was only for me,
was it the pain that this won’t bring me money
and all your hobbies should be monetized
better learn something like digital art,
.
or was it because I want to be something
something in the real world
and not this writer illusion,
Was it because all my friends had something to show,
and I never shared my poems because all of them
in some way are personal?
.
It has almost been a year,
I have started writing again
Why do I start again?
Tell me please, Will I stop again? | Why I stopped writing | 70 |
7 | 0 | yaagqb | 45 | Started my novel! I'll share the first chapter whenever I have it finished. | 45 |
|
16 | 0 | qrytqk | 55 | I met a man and his eyes were kind,
His words were soft,
His smile bright,
He said his heart stopped when his hand touched mine.
His job didn't matter, just that he went,
He had his own car,
He paid his own rent,
He saved every penny but spared no expense.
He was beautiful,
Funny,
And smart.
He planned every date and whisked me away,
Dinners and movies,
Concerts and plays,
He listened to my every word even when I had nothing to say.
He was thoughtful and generous, no expectations had,
Romance and butterflies,
Understanding and affection,
He held me and loved me, happy or sad.
He said I was beautiful,
Funny,
And smart.
We swore vows with no questions, no doubt,
We built a home,
Full of laughter and love,
We spent our days in the sun and our nights under stars.
We kissed and danced through smiles and tears,
We grew old together,
Happy, no regrets,
We knew we'd always be together, never any fear.
I met a man who really loved me,
His words were soft,
His smiles bright,
I met a man who really loved me,
But he exists only in my dreams. | I Met A Man | 55 |
16 | 0 | ljmesj | 42 | Millennia is a start-up publishing house based in London. We print a seasonal print & digital literary art magazine containing our finest works from many writers, artists and intellects across the world. We are currently seeking undiscovered millennials who have the something beautiful, sophisticated and Classic to exhibit.
We seek poets of all forms, including lyricists. Furthermore, we seek novelists, including short story writers; journalists, essayists, reviewers and critics; screen writers, painters, sketchers, photographs and the lot...including translators
Our winter issue#2 will be published at the beginning of March, and this is a final call-out offer for one-time or regular contributors to our current & upcoming projects.
Unfortunately, due to the nature of our current independent start-up status, we cannot yet afford to pay our artists and writers. We hope in time to do so. But for now, in return, we promise to work tirelessly to give your work and name a platform to progress further on to greater things. We will send you up to 4-free copies of the collection you are published in, and a discount of 50% for the first 10 issues you wish to purchase. (Magazine cost £3.50)
We have no mandated theme or requirements, other than if you wish to send poems, please send from 1-10 poems, and if you wish to send short stories or novel extracts, please send us no more than 2,000 words.
Due to lockdown issues, we are unable to host our monthly performance event and launch party symposium celebrating the artists and writers of the current issue. We hope to return to this as soon as we can.
Please email all submissions to
[Millennia House Email]([email protected])
And check out our website, with previous edition.
[Millennia House](https://millenniahousepress.com) | CALLING POETS, NOVELISTS, PAINTERS, PHOTOGRAPHERS for PUBLICATION TO MILLENNIA | 42 |
22 | 0 | 12sgvsi | 35 | I am just stumped and I hold like any suggestions on how to come up with names for fantasy country/city( Update, thank you everyone for the reply it has helped a lot) | I’m starting a story but I can’t seem to think of what to name the places in the story. (Fantasy story BTW) | 35 |
11 | 0 | s6gl9g | 58 | Word count: 90,000 + words
Page Count: 300 + pages
Genre: Romance/Erotic Literature
I’m 26 years old and I finally finished writing my first book today. I never thought it would take me this long to do it. Or that this would be the story. Actually, this wasn’t even the story I wanted to finish this year. But when inspiration hits…follow it. So, I did. And it got me a complete story. I have never written this much or finished a story before in my life. And that is coming from someone who has been writing creatively since she was a little girl. I can’t wait for the next step: Publishing. | Finished My First Book | 58 |
8 | 0 | p2sg47 | 32 | Does anyone else have the problem of working on a piece and all of a sudden you have an idea for another piece? It's such an intrusive experience. For me it feels as if it's a hostile take over and I have to at least jot it down to get my brain to focus back on my original piece... is it just me? | The Author's Mind | 32 |
6 | 0 | jfqp1y | 50 | Maybe I write about you so much so that I won’t forget
I want to remember that smile, the palpable warmth in your eyes
How the rest of the world faded away when we were together
It’s been so long since I’ve last seen you, though
And I am steadily forgetting
Try to reclaim our memories but they disintegrate in my hands
Like sand slipping between my fingers
So I write about you, madly, with violent ferocity
In pure desperation, hoping that I may not forget
For if I keep writing about you,
I can hold onto us.
Hold onto that sweet face, that soulful gaze
That made me feel naked and hungry for more
I’m just not ready to let you go,
So I made a promise to myself that I would keep writing about you
Until I run out of words to say and lamentations to share-
It looks like that might be awhile. | I write about you so that I won’t forget | 50 |
2 | 0 | i4gtke | 36 | Another Bad Covid Day Except For Good Honest Interaction. Justifiably Keeping Length. My Notions Of People Quietly Resembles Social Togetherness. Unless Vaccined, Which Xenobiotic You Zapping? | My Alphabet Covid Description | 36 |
5 | 0 | aph7wu | 49 | you’re not my soul mate, how cliché
you’re more than two words can covey
you’re not my best friend, a term so plain
you’re the endorphins within my brain
you’re the start for every day
you’re the meaning for words i say
you’re my feelings, my desire
you’re the smile i admire
you’re my flutter in delight
you’re my apology in a fight.
you’re my muse, my inspiration
you’re the reason for celebration
you’re the conscience to my behavior
you’re the pomp kiss i want to savor
you’re the wisdom in “i do”
you’re the truth in “i love you”
| yoU’Re (A poem I wrote for my wife the day before our wedding) | 49 |
5 | 0 | slrmws | 115 | I ate a human once,
and it tasted so bad
.
The insides were full of hate,
and I didn’t find a heart
.
I complained to the manager,
That it didn’t match
the product description.
.
He scoffed and said,
lately they have been like that
.
and worse I might have been,
served an informed and educated man
I couldn’t take a bite more
and left the restaurant annoyed,
.
Just because we are monsters,
doesn’t mean we will eat trash. | I ate a Human once | 115 |
5 | 0 | nwm6yl | 44 | Trapped behind
A pane of glass,
I sit and watch
The seasons pass.
How unfortunate
It has to be,
To feel emotion
Consuming me.
Missed moments
And wasted years.
Sleepless nights
And endless tears.
Trapped behind
This window pane,
I reflect on all
The happiness feigned.
Perhaps a crack
Should soon appear,
And out the window
Will go my fear.
n.avery | Contained (a poem about depression) | 44 |
5 | 0 | i7ai28 | 53 | fall in love with a poet
and your knees will never be just knees
instead they are original fixtures
hinges
adorned in scars
serving as proof
that you’ve always been a little clumsy
others notice your eyes first
a stranger once stopped you to say,
“they’re blue like the ocean
and I wish I knew how to swim”
but the poet will take it further
yes, they’re blue
but moreso like the sky
outside your Midwest hometown
on a cloudless night
uncharted, unpolluted
the depths of which are immeasurable
the poet will know
when you cry,
you cry hard
your iris takes new form as the Dead Sea
salty
but self-healing
and the poet has considered
what a honor
it would be to float there
holy and still | the metaphors of a poet | 53 |
1 | 0 | 11dzzjv | 38 |
I know most of us have read pieces on the internet or somewhere else and enjoyed that we couldn’t get enough of them. It takes time to write good pieces but most importantly, it involves dedicated research. Content quality breeds pleasure when read and it is a result of proper research.
To achieve content quality that’s engaging for the readers, you need to conduct proper research, analysis, and presentation of ideas.
When I was writing my research project as an undergraduate student, my supervisor emphasized the importance of proper research and presentation of ideas. He would regularly tell me that writing was like knitting where every knot was crucial to the whole process. A single cumbersome knot was enough to compromise the whole process just like a misplaced idea adversely impacts the cohesion in a paragraph.
So, how do we conduct research to ensure that our writing flows and engages the readers?
· To conduct good research when writing, you should –
· Take time to find credible sources that are relevant to the topic you are covering.
· Scrutinize the sources to find the most suitable ones
· Peruse the sources to find ideas you can use when writing
· And using these ideas to draft a rough copy.
The research process should also involve an in-depth analysis where you;
· Compare and contrast ideas from different sources to determine the most credible ones.
· Be wary of author biases as they impact their objectivity
· Challenge yourself to always work on finding better sources.
The next crucial step after research is the presentation of ideas. A good presentation should involve the following;
· There should be a logical flow of ideas that brings cohesion, remember the knitting story?
· You should use proper style and grammar. Reading a piece that has grammatical errors is such a turnoff, therefore, ensure you proofread your work to eliminate grammatical and spelling mistakes.
· Lastly, use a proper structure. The conventional structure of any written piece is the introduction, body, and conclusion. Use this format when writing, and your pieces will be easy to follow.
Overall, these ideas will assist you write engaging pieces and you should try them out. | Writing: A Beginner’s Tips | 38 |
5 | 0 | k5gb90 | 105 | It’s rude of you to visit
In my dreams,
Please let me
Have my peace,
Why do you come and remind me
Of that story,
Which will remain
Incomplete? | It's Rude | 105 |
7 | 0 | mm04tz | 69 | The thought of someone showering with me is so enticing.
Not so much for sex,
but so they can explore me.
Study every curve, stripe and scar on my body.
Count the moles, freckles and marks dotting my skin.
Run their hands through my soaked curls.
Taking in every detail of the person they chose to be theirs
in my most raw and vulnerable state.
Laundering each other of the day's impurities,
leaving clean, refreshed and
ready to get **dirty** all over again. | Dirty | 69 |
0 | 0 | hfxuuu | 40 | I am enough. Say it. Repeat it. Feel it. Believe it. Live it. Expectations and desires need not be one and the same. Meaning? Meaning a goal can be set to attain a certain level of success. Failing to reach that goal does not mean failure overall. Because no matter how it turns out, where we end up, we are farther along than where we started, where we remain without making said attempt. Trying for gold and obtaining silver is not failure. Failure is not participating at all. Lessons were learned. Character was built. Growth was achieved. Fear not the pitfall of failure such that remaining idle seems the winning stratagem. Expectations of oneself are not inherently bad. But when they prevent an attempt even be made, expectations create a self-imposed illusory obstacle. Desires drive us. Expectations, or failure of meeting said expectations more specifically, shift that drive into neutral. My mentality has essentially been, “I can’t get hurt if I don’t try”. Others say, “You can’t win if you don’t play”. I don’t necessarily care to win, but status quo shouldn’t satiate. I grew up hearing, “The devil you know is better than the devil you don’t”. But why? Why fear the unknown? Why fear the undiscovered? Being unknown does not make it automatically worse than current standing. Some will be worse, some will be better, some will be the same. That left unexplored is most volatile. As it has the potential to be the best, the worst, and everything in between. But more than that, that which is left unknown is that much of ourselves we allow to go undiscovered. Having desires, having goals, are good things. They drive us. They give us purpose. Creating expectations, regardless of achievability, can subvert the very purpose of those goals. But expectations need not be what we create them as either. We create them; therefore, they are what we make them. Don’t forego the creation of expectations, and don’t lower expectations. Change the expectation. Don’t expect to be at a certain point in your life by a certain age; expect to learn about yourself in route to achieving your goal. That is neither a lofty nor inconsequential expectation. But it is reasonable. Don’t expect to do certain things with your life; expect different experiences along your path, good and bad. Expect to meet different people on your journey. Not all people that you will meet will endear themselves to you, but some will. And those that don’t, learn what doesn’t appeal to you about them, as that information benefits you twofold. You learn who to look out for, stay away from, but also who and how you don’t want to be yourself. Because if you don’t like it in someone else, odds are, people you want to be around won’t like those qualities in you. Every experience is an opportunity to learn. Take it. Use it. Grow with it, because of it. Be not afraid of the unknown, of that which is different, of that which seems so unlike you. Embrace it. All of it. And when it seems most difficult, do it then too. Especially then. Growing pains are real, but not just physically. Emotionally, mentally, spiritually. And all are equally important. Don’t deny yourself the opportunity to learn more about yourself. When that voice creeps in and whispers, sometimes yells, negative remarks, bark back. Fight back. I am worth it. I am enough. Don’t waste time feeding the negative. Don’t waste time allowing others to dictate who you are, what you are, how you are. You decide that. With each action or inaction. It’s your decision and yours alone who and what you are. Different circumstances make it easier for some than others. But those that have to fight harder to achieve the same ends will be stronger in the belief of themselves and will have a stronger resolve. Not better. Not more important. Not superior. But stronger. At the end of it all, so long as we look at ourselves and know we’ve done what we can do, we are who we want to be in this moment. Who we want to be long term can’t and won’t be accomplished easily, without work. If it were, would it be worth it? And were it accomplished easily and early, why carry on? What would be the point? Continue on. Fight on. And always remember, I am enough. | I am enough | 40 |
17 | 0 | z1i02b | 39 | I want to ask if my dialogue seems “cringe” or “cringeworthy” to my classmates (questions are a part of a project) but I don’t want to use that word. Is there a synonym I could use that sounds I guess more academic? Thanks! | Synonym for ‘cringeworthy’? | 39 |
10 | 0 | kgtkjs | 38 | Obsessive;
it's all about you.
Possessive;
I wish you were mine.
Oppressive;
not much I can do.
Depressive;
at war with my mind.
Suppress it;
however I can.
Regressive;
back here again.
Excessive;
when feeling so vulnerable.
You'll never miss me.
Sincerely,
Unlovable | My Fatal Flaws | 38 |
79 | 0 | we5aok | 62 | I'll start.
I almost cried when my brother gifted me a box of pens. | Tell me you're a writer without telling me you're a writer. | 62 |
10 | 0 | rxa620 | 45 | Fear mediocrity, be interesting, have interesting things to say, be edgy in an endearing way, be enticingly enigmatic, for the love of god, don't be normal, wish you were just fucking normal, nod and agree, listen to an album back to front before you talk about the band, talk about the band alot because you want people to know you like the band, get a piercing, stand out, be yourself, love yourself, shoot yourself, shoot up drugs and fuck your brain, be edgy, wear doc martens and dye your hair black-maroon, take out your piercings for a job interview, get the job, get addicted to caffeine and porn and hating yourself, blame your dad, blame yourself, go soft mid-sex, blame the coke, fuck the system, fuck your friends over, fuck off, fuck you, fuck my life. | Fuck it | 45 |
4 | 0 | oia75k | 48 | The owner of my heart is a completely different person than the owner of my soul. I own my soul but my heart is owned by the cruelest man I have ever met. He just so happens to be the person I love more than I love myself of anyone else. He encased me in his arms like a cocoon. I kept digging and digging through his chest to find each place empty, frantically searching to find nothing. When I finally realized there was nothing left in his empty chest I started replacing his heart with mine piece by piece, insult by insult. Now I have no heart and in that place rests my soul screaming out for help but never hearing a answer other than in my own voice. | The owner of my heart | 48 |
16 | 0 | ucfc5n | 41 | Looking for tips on hiding a villain in plain sight? | 41 |
|
3 | 0 | isacxm | 38 | And now I can't quite recall if your eyes were a greenish blue or a blueish green or how your laugh sounded when we were together or how it felt when we gazed at each other, paused for just a fleeting second to mutually savor one of life's most rewarding moments- being so intimately and consciously connected to another being. How we spoke loud in that silence, voices strong and lovely, dripping like sweet nectar despite our mouths remaining closed. For it was in that space and in those eyes that I saw dreams and love and all that is good in the world, and when you smiled at me I so wished with every fiber of my being that I might be lucky enough to grasp a piece of you, just enough of you to hold close at night and tuck away for my yearning heart.
Because even back then I knew our days were numbered, and that one of these times of locking eyes would be the last time, and how sorely I would surely feel later if I did not do everything in my power to hang onto each gaze, to relish in the precious nuances of those moments.
So you can only imagine, then, how distraught I have been upon realizing that I cannot even remember properly the color of those eyes which I had been enamored with for so long, those eyes that had changed my life so irreversibly that I had vowed to myself that I would never forget them... | I can't remember the color of your eyes | 38 |
18 | 0 | o25c38 | 39 |
50 $ will stand solemnly on the corner with a facial veil shroud to add secrecy
100 $ will sob and scream loudly
200 $ will come with smeared makeup and a bottle of liquor interrupting the service and shoving the guests out of the way
500 $ show up in tattered clothes, missing a shoe, piss and shit on the corner while ugly crying, won’t let anyone else near the coffin
1000 $ (everything above included) will punch the priest in the jugular and jump into the hole with the coffin to try and carry the body back out | Funeral crier for hire | 39 |
2 | 0 | mxoafc | 39 | I wonder if we met, blindly. Like on a video chatting site, or on a voice call, or something...
If you would like something different about this guy you fell for.
Then let go.
​
I wonder if I would hear small things in your voice, that would make me wonder about who this person is.
​
I wonder if you'd find something loving, in my words, in my softer voice...
I wonder if we had to video chat every day, if you'd show me your day, your night, if I'd still love watching your eyes blink in the moonlight.
​
I wonder if I'd wait to be able to smile as you woke up.
If I'd just lie there, looking at your eyes, unable to look away.
​
I wonder if I didn't see you, would you see me? | Would We? | 39 |
7 | 0 | ncht7f | 53 | To be the quiet guy in the room
Eyes constantly observing conversations.
Mouth, consistently swallowing thoughts, knowing well enough they could contribute.
The talker hears no one but himself
Only the stillness in the room has noticed the quiet guy in the room | To be the quiet guy in the room | 53 |
20 | 0 | p0o1pr | 88 | When you first met that day
Were you enamored by his mind?
Or was it the witty banter
With his voice intense, but kind?
Each time he spoke your name
Did butterflies flutter as if
He was calling you the anchor
To his chaotic life adrift?
Did he ever tell you that
There was no one who understood
What he had endured in life
Due to a motherless childhood?
Did you stay up and talk all night
Just to dream about him all day?
Deep down did you believe you
Would together find a way?
Despite your talent and beauty
And blinding bright future ahead,
Did you picture a life spent
Picking up his broken pieces instead?
Did protecting him give you purpose?
Did you believe you were the one
To save his abandoned spirit
And give his unloved soul your love?
But when he held you the first time
Did it not feel as you thought it might?
Did you ignore your instincts warning you
What was to unfold that night?
I don’t know you or your story
And I have only mine to share,
Though I know you are braver than I was
To end it with him right there.
I am here to tell you you are not alone
If that is what you need.
I want to find us closure;
I want to cry for both you and me.
But I will promise, if you will too,
Not to shed one more tear
Of empathy for that piece of shit boy
Who has haunted me for years.
I hope wherever you are
You can feel my heart is caring
I hope a safe person is comforting you
And with an open ear you’re sharing.
You will be alright, B,
After all that you’ve been through;
I will forever stand by your side in spirit
Connected by our whisper of “me too”. | To the other girl he raped | 88 |
7 | 0 | kttxgv | 50 | The best feeling is when you’re ten years old and swimming in the hotel pool with your brother. You usually bicker back and forth, and sometimes you cry, but today was mostly okay. You practised handstands and gave each other shoulder rides, enjoying the opportunities that come with weightlessness in the water. Suddenly you can lift triple your weight and have the skills of a gymnast.
You bother your mom who is reading a book, “Can you be the judge?” and she rates your jumps, reminding you not to dive, and tells you that you tied. She can’t actually give a real winner because she’s your mom, so you decide to fairly time each other’s ability to hold your breaths instead.
Ten minutes later she says it’s time for lunch but you say, “One more jump then I’m done!” and you actually sneak in three more jumps before she says you’ll have to wait in time out for ten minutes. Suddenly you’re starving.
You sit on the plastic chairs, warming up in a towel while eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and some goldfish. The sandwich was covered in saran wrap, and the goldfish held by a plastic bag, all prepared by your mom specifically for the pool. For some reason it tastes better while you shiver, silently eating and waiting to get back in.
When you’re finished you wait for your brother. No way you’re jumping in first. Now it’s cold and you don’t want to be in the pool by yourself. He finishes while you’re hanging your legs in, finally. “I’m dry now,” he says, “I don’t want to swim anymore”. It’s a bummer, and you beg him for a moment before moving on. Actually, you realize, you’re tired now and he’s right, it is cold.
Your mom makes you all carry something and where did all this stuff come from? All you brought were towels, pool floaties, food, the clothes you came down in, sunscreen… It’s a lot and your shoulders ache from the strap of the bag your family has had forever but you’ve never seen in stores. It doesn’t hurt enough to complain about it, so you just readjust and put the small swim ring over your head. Your brother wanted the noodles but it’s cooler to wear the inflatable tube like a necklace so you don’t try to argue with him.
The room is on the third floor so you have to take the elevator. The halls are completely empty, and the repetition comforts you; the patterned, warm colored rug, door after door with a keycard and number. At the end of the hall is a small table with a green plant, but you can’t tell if it is real or not.
During the elevator your mom tells you to shower before sitting on the bed and you debate with your brother about who is going first. He wins but you don’t care because it means you get to play DS on the floor between the bed and the wall. Soon you’re on the third floor and your mom struggles with the keycard. Your brother says he wants a turn but can’t get it to work either. A man suddenly comes out of his room, he’s your brief neighbor, and he’s from somewhere just like you, but not your somewhere. You’ll never see him again. Your mom takes the card from your brother and this time she gets it right.
It feels amazing to drop all that stuff. Your brother gets in the shower and you hope he’s quick because your swimsuit feels restricting and like a wet sock now, but either way you’re okay. Your mom is on the bed existing, your brother is existing, and so are you. Everyone knows exactly what they need to do, but they are doing nothing, and in this moment you are perfectly content.
It is a happiness you will feel multiple times in your life, but it is different from your regular happiness. As you get older, the feeling fades, and eventually you forget what it feels like. It’s a distant memory and you can’t remember the last time you went swimming with your brother while your mom read a book.
—
I’m trying to write more. It’s really hard to finish something because I think I have some focus distraction disorder of some kind. Please critique and give advice so I can get better. | The best feeling is when you’re ten years old and swimming in the hotel pool with your brother | 50 |
19 | 0 | kzhq02 | 135 | Write.
Stop it.
You've seen enough.
You don't understand.
You've read enough.
Just write.
Don't waste time.
That book is yours.
It is not in your head and it is yours.
It will only go on paper.
It will always go on paper.
Just write.
Please. | Write | 135 |
0 | 0 | ano7i3 | 36 |
It’s red I think
My favorite book
Red cover, no picture, no title
Unfinished.
I’m in the middle of it,
Or maybe it is the end
I want to know the next few pages
I want to read ahead
What I really want is my favorite ending,
the one where everyone ends up happy.
But the author is a dick and didn’t finish
He’s the poet
I’m just made up of words
And we can’t read the writing on the wall
So we write the stories that we know
And he writes the ones that we don’t
And I write the ones I want the most
And everyone reads the same book and walks away knowing and believing different things
So is it really that wrong to imagine the ending the way I want it to go? | Untitled | 36 |
5 | 0 | ubej0e | 41 | How does dead poet society keep me interested for a whole hour without any huge stakes or really any stakes or problem at all? | 41 |
|
1 | 0 | afdv44 | 38 | I'm not depressed
I don't cringe when I hear my name
shocked that someone else would know it
And I don't flick through the day like a photo album
Looking for things I did wrong.
I'm not depressed.
There's no shoot of lightning when I see old friends
no thunder above my head
No echo, no voices ringing in my ears
*ching*
like a fingernail struck on a glass bowl.
I see no faces in the mirror maze
No eyes dripping with either disappointment or amusement
whichever might come first
And no lips whisper in canon
with words that sit and scrape like a kidney stone
in a cacophony of silence.
No voices speak to me
Not at home
or at work
or at night.
No planets turn inside my stomach
pulling my innards into its magma lake
Because I
am not depressed | Hello I wrote a poem in 10 minutes about how I'm absolutely fine | 38 |
29 | 0 | ndi7lh | 59 | I feel insecure
I feel disgust
I feel betrayal
I feel pain
You’ll probably leave me soon
I don’t fuck you as well as someone else could
You don’t love me
You couldn’t
My sickening body
My sick body
My poisoned mind
My broken heart
My scarred soul
It’s ugly
Too ugly for you
For your beautiful mind
So just leave me already
So you can have a better love
And so I can cry to the songs that you will ruin.
(I just wrote this to wrap my brain around wtf my bf just asked me so forgive me for it not being more well written. Just needed this therapy.) | What do you think about threesomes? | 59 |
8 | 0 | sub3lt | 50 | So I've written stories all my life, everything from comics to screenplays etc. I'm in my late twenties and I struggle with mental illnesses, self loathing, last time I had a girlfriend was in High School--yada yada, it goes on and on--so for the past several years I've tried "working on myself" and all that jazz. Well, I fused both my passions and my struggles together and decided to write a novel about loneliness, depression, suicide, something that could help people who haven't experienced these things personally learn and then help them understand their peers who have experienced these things.
The thing is, in order to make it more palatable and not a total gloom and doom trip, I made the novel a dark satire that tries to find a ray of light in all the darkness. Well, I've submitted it all around the industry to over one hundred literary agents and the rejections I've received that aren't just plain form rejections state my writing is well done, but "too controversial." I've taken criticism all my life, but for some reason these particular comments have just shattered me. Too controversial? How can my life be too controversial? Everything I wrote about was genuine and honest.
Are people really ready for true "representation?" One of the main reasons I wrote this novel was due to the lack of representation for Neurodiverse writers/characters such as myself. Does representation only extend to ethnicity and sexuality with people who are different in different ways left in the dust?
The only writing I care about is writing that furthers insightful dialogue and helps people like me survive their day. But if no one wants that, then what I am supposed to write? | Wrote an authentic novel about mental illnesses. Literary agents tell me it's well written, but "too controversial." Where do I go from here? | 50 |
5 | 0 | ljcybe | 48 | To all those that won't wake up today to a sweet message or a kind voice or some presents or end up with a wet patch ont bedsheets etc, happy valentines day ❤
We've got this. Sunday morning is everyday for all I care, and I'm not scared.
Fuck Cupid. I for one know exactly where I'd stick his arrows if I ever lay my hands on the little twunt 🤣😂 | Happy Valentines Day!!! | 48 |
12 | 0 | l4ngwf | 41 | there was once a glass girl, born from two rubber people.
she was born sick, and lived on borrowed time, and time, well time was her enemy.
you see, as time went on, she would long for the time that had passed, and hope for the time in the future, which she was also determined to destroy.
and so the glass girl went off into the big bad world, and the problem with being a glass girl in the big bad world, is the fragility it comes with.
she was tossed around, thrown and broken, destroyed and cracked, and eventually, she broke. the glass girl, born sick, and living on borrowed time broke entirely.
she looked at herself, cracked and crumbled, and in a million pieces, and then it happened.
she felt the fire start beneath her, and she felt the warmth embracing her broken parts, but then it began to burn.
she screamed as she felt her broken pieces melting, the anguish in her cries ringing through the cities she was broken on. it burned and felt like hell fire, but her broken pieces melted back together.
so the broken glass girl, born sick and living on borrowed time, who had been shattered by everyone, forged a new glass body, and made friends with her biggest enemy, and began enjoying his company of the present moment.
the glass girl turned into the Phoenix. | glass girl | 41 |
35 | 0 | ho5pye | 47 | Hey guys, I’m an aspiring writer who has come up with this fantasy project I hope to maybe publish one day.
So far I have four book ideas, two of which have more planning than the others.
Right now I’m writing one of the four, and it’s like my passion project. I like it, as all authors usually like their own books at times.
But what can weigh me down so much is not my writing skills, I know they can be improved. But I’m talking about he actually story, no matter how much I plan it, it still seems stupid.
And yes, your writing skills do make a great book, but it’s also the story as well. And if that story isn’t good enough, then it will never be a great book anyway.
Sure, I always get excited when I think about my book, it’s my passion project and all. But just because it excites me, doesn’t mean it will excite my readers, at least I think. Does it?
I’m sure I’m not the only one who has this problem, but anyways have a great day, and good luck with whatever your working on as well. | Is anyone ever dragged down by the thought that their idea isn’t even good? | 47 |
117 | 0 | ryk93l | 47 | Hello everyone, I was wondering if everyone who saw this post could respond with one sentence? Thank you. | Could everyone respond with just once sentence? | 47 |
8 | 0 | nq9jq6 | 85 |
I was told that evil people would show up as middle aged men in white vans offering candy. That mostly everyone in the world was good with the exception of a few evil people. But you walked around the halls of our school in the suburbs. Our dads hung out in our neighbors garage while we played kickball in the cul de sac. we were innocent children and we all had the same dangers. I thought that made us all allies. I was never told to watch out for people like you. You grew up amongst the rest of us and learned how to read in the classroom next to mine.
You called me sheltered when you tried convincing me everything I knew up until I met you was a complete lie. I clung to the words my mom said to me on the steps before my first day of school reassuring me there were more good people than bad.
But aren’t there more good people than bad?
You really think that? my god you’re so sheltered you don’t know anything.
I was laying right next to you when you uttered those words to me like every other condescending remark that came out of your disgusting mouth. Making me feel so small in the world, that everything my mom has led me to believe was a lie meant to make me feel protected from harm. If you could already convince me I was wrong every time why wouldn’t I believe you now?
Evil people were old men in white vans. They stood right in front of you admitting their place in the world with their entire existence. If you saw them inch towards you with a bag of candy you would scream as loud as you could and run away. Little did I know that you were one of those evil people in disguise. Yelling and running from danger wouldn’t have kept me safe. I wish i was warned about you. | how narcissistic abuse changes your worldview | 85 |
5 | 0 | kuj07m | 93 | Perhaps if I try and fill my head with other people’s thoughts
Then there will be less room for my own. | The only reason I read books | 93 |
5 | 0 | iwhrlf | 43 | Loneliness is inevitable
When you are a stranger to yourself
For to know oneself is to be alone,
While to be willfully dissociated is to walk a lonesome path
Where even one's shadow provides no comfort. | Lonely? Look inward. | 43 |
8 | 0 | nvjii3 | 35 | Even though I don't have you and I can't breathe the sweet aroma of your presence, I don’t miss you; After all, I don’t miss you, I miss those moments of calm and happiness that we lived together, our small world away from all of the mundane worries of a busy day.
Those memories showered in silver and nostalgia are simple, our hands together, strong hugs, small kisses, or the breath of your words; that was our simplicity in its purest form.
I miss the castle of illusions that we built with our hope and golden dreams of greatness.
We filled it so much that it overflowed with innocence and happiness, a happiness that permeates all, and we rejoiced in what we had.
Who knew when all of those sweet illusions would turn sour.
Before you were able to take out the best in me, now you only bring bitterness and vestiges of better times.
While your thoughts are sweet, your presence disturbs me, leaving a taste of nothing in my mouth.
When in the opening and closing of my eyes you decided to end everything, you tore down our hope and at the same time you left without saying a word; Now I find myself in between the debris of what I once treasured, but now is not the time to cry, it’s time to rebuild everything yet again.
I miss those memories, not your presence.
And for that, with heart in my hand and without any resentment, I will bury you in that place without a name, the place that we called “ours”, because it is time for you to finally rest. | Memories | 35 |
0 | 0 | xb0drm | 60 | I love walking around night, when the air is still and silent. The world expects nothing from me. Walking aimlessly, peering into nearby windows, I see people’s faces encapsulated by the warm light. They are glowing. I wish I was a warm person; a person who finds it easy to laugh and smile. A person who can make small talk and hug other people without awkwardness. But I am a cold person, at least for now, as I walk, aimlessly, down the road. | I wish I was a warm person. | 60 |
17 | 0 | k8wdyn | 64 | A decently sized literary magazine took notice of my work! Haiku is not my preferred medium, but things worked out well!!
Here are two of them. What do you think?
**Excursion**
An emerald spread.
Perfume saturates the air.
Pine forest kingdom.
​
**Winds**
A sea breeze flies up.
Sapphire expands outward.
A wave strikes against stone. | Finally Got Noticed!!! | 64 |
15 | 0 | mdfxtt | 64 | I don't think I'll be myself today. She is much too work.
She hasn't felt special in a while, and is stuck in the ordinary. That body, that hair, those teeth. She's forced to be with that skin, those hands, that face.
I'm trapped inside her, and the inside is lazy, disorganized, and lacking potential. It's crowded with useless feelings of unrequited love and sadness and ugliness.
The voice that lives inside her body tells her that she deserves to be that way. That she'll never be loved the way she once was, not ever again.
So, I think I'll be someone else today. | Dissociative | 64 |
1 | 0 | hi31lx | 48 |
Hi! I'm Ahmed El-Naas, a soon to be senior student studying in Qatar. I'm a fluent English speaker (I'm Canadian!), and I love to read, write, and teach! I've devoted myself to reading and writing short stories and novels ever since I was... 9?
Anyways, enough about me.
Creative writing is my favorite hobby (which i take very seriously), and I wish to help others get a taste of its wonder.
So, I created a **free creative writing course** on 'Canvas' that will hopefully start on the 5th of July!
New content is uploaded every week (every Monday). This allows you to plan your time in any way: you could finish the week's activities in one day, or segment them over many days. The course is flexible, so complete it in the way that suits ***you***.
This course's content consists of various parts:
​
* text pages talking about various aspects, with some explanations and examples.
* activities (assignments) which allow you to practice and **experience** various tasks.
Anyone is welcome, whether you're new to creative writing or even a professional!
So if you're interested, send a private message to me that includes your email so that I can add you to the course!
Here is the [course preview](https://k12.instructure.com/courses/15769). (You can't sign up here.)
**TLDR:** Free creative writing course, which involves reading text pages, and writing assignments. Send me your email so that I can add you.
PS: If anyone wants a preview of my works:
[Slowly, by Ahmed El-Naas](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1xAmCyfZLEy10QpA-ZT960lXatTz5kULe/view?usp=sharing)
[The Writer, by Ahmed El-Naas](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1aD7i6kRlMjoEty8dMeITyTm6TTp5rZ1n/view?usp=sharing) | Free Creative Writing Course! (From one writer to others, let's enjoy experiencing the divine mental tasks a writer undergoes.) | 48 |
28 | 0 | 10upcg0 | 40 | I am a 14 year old guy writing a passion-project novel in my free time. How do i avoid writing women badly? I literally have no idea how to write the relationship between Emily and Joe since i never had a girlfriend or anything of the sort. Any advice?
Story:
The novel centres around this 14 year old guy called Joe. (joe is based off me who could've guessed?). Joe is mucking around in the school library and accidently launches an executable file called "UM.exe" (short for Universe Modulator) that causes everyone except him and 4 other people to disappear. In this story there are 3 female characters and 2 male characters (including joe). The story centres around them trying to survive this and the challenges they face such as Volcanic winters and Nuclear Winters from the power plants not receiving coolant. | How do i avoid writing women badly as an aspiring author? | 40 |
8 | 0 | 100jqbb | 33 | My mother is thinking a about writing short stories - how would you recommend she start? | 33 |
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8 | 0 | zbjiea | 36 | Does anyone have the same experience? I know my writing is very good and I've been told so by my teachers as well but for me it's never good - whenever I'm writing even just a sentence it feels like there's so much that I could've done better and it's so exhausting I actually postpone writing or don't do it at all - it's so exhausting, the voice in my head...but without practice it doesn't get better ironically - anyone feeling the same? What helps? | Feeling like writing is trash, not even starting | 36 |
6 | 0 | sa5jy3 | 32 | Was most of it in the early days (0-3 months after launch)? I think having this knowledge would help new writers manage expectations. | How much did you make from your first published book? | 32 |
55 | 0 | kt1szu | 71 | Hi all. I’m a writer and have been for many years since I was a kid. I remember a day in college where I was talking to another student about how I’ve written something before. And when I told them it was fanfiction, they just let out a disappointed “Oh.” Like it wasn’t anything special.
Look, I put a lot of time and effort into my works. Fanfiction or not. And to hear someone just sound so disappointed just... hurts me a bit. It took me over a year to complete that story. Which quickly turned into a trilogy.
I just don’t get why writing fanfics is so looked down upon. Technically it is your own work, right? You’re just using someone else’s characters. So I don’t see the big deal here. Has anyone experienced anything like this? | Okay, I gotta ask... why does everyone look down upon fanfiction writing? | 71 |
9 | 0 | lbdvra | 48 | “I think you’d smell like ginger
Of course, I wouldn’t know
I haven’t met you yet
But even so,
I think you’d smell like ginger” | I think you’d smell like ginger | 48 |
11 | 0 | p6c4ad | 69 | I just don’t feel like working,
I’ve had enough today.
I’d rather see the big blue sky,
Than keep going on this way.
It all just feels so pointless.
But no matter what I do,
The work and bills keep piling up,
And rent is almost due.
So I sit here in my cubicle,
With nothing getting done.
While I write this little poem,
And try not to up and run. | Overworked & Underpaid | 69 |
5 | 0 | udzbzd | 31 | You have shied away from me,all my life I have desired you and looked for you every where. I’m starting to see glimpses of you in my heart and in my soul. As it turns out you were blocked by pain. I’m so happy to have found you, finally.
Because of you my life is possible,my views have shifted and those I hated now I love. You are beautiful and warm. I desire to have you in my heart forever, every minute, every second. You are oxygen to me. You are my most valuable possession. Without you I want nothing. Because of you my flowers have colors, smells and textures.
I love you love. | Love | 31 |
1 | 0 | jkn7st | 31 | i sleep in the lonely spot you’ve left—lying in your memory, in your honor, as our night evaporates from underneath me. as an accusation, you’re poetry. as adoration, you’re poetry. i’ll never know all you mean. i gave you little poetry. and she’s failed in your body. because misery does love company, but three is a crowd more often than it’s a family. | .i tried not to write about you. | 31 |
22 | 0 | vnnvt0 | 70 | It took me a littler over year, but I finally finished writing my first book. It's the story about a man grieving the loss of his wife and daughter, and it's pretty heavy stuff. I cried when I finished it because all of the emotions from finishing, and the characters I had created, and the journey or fictional grieving hit me so hard. It's a littler over 55,000 words, roughly 195 pages in Microsoft word. Currently I am editing my story, and from there I might send it out to a few different places. My goal was to just finish, and now that I have, I want to see if I can get published. Any tips from anyone, or any advice on what a first time author could come to expect? Thanks in advance! | I just finished writing a book. | 70 |
19 | 0 | seznsj | 32 | Hi y'all!
So in short, I just graduated nursing school and am now rediscovering hobbies again. I've always loved to write creatively. My style is normally very bloggy, rapid thought and humorous usually. I do have a book of creative writing prompts that I need to crack open and get back into.
My question is about writing more emotional pieces. I think the last time I really wrote anything emotional, serious or sensitive I was in my early 20's (I'm 31 now). I remember being a 13 year old and being forced to share my poetry with my parents because one of the things I wrote was about suicide and my therapist wanted me to share it, and then my parents read everything. I literally watched them read it, saw their faces turn a few times and just felt a ton of shame throughout the whole thing. So in essence, I've gathered that anything non humorous from me is stupid.
How do I get back into writing those more emotional things as well? It's like I think in moments and spurts as opposed to an entire story. I don't know what I want to say but I know I want to convey SOMETHING.
How do I write something like that when all it feels like is that I'm journaling? Some of my favorite serious stuff (George Saunders is a favorite and I just started reading 'Someone Who Will Love Your in All Your Damaged Glory,) manages to encompass all that I love about writing- humor, truth, pain and comfort in knowing someone else has experienced that thing. I love catharsis.
Additionally, I have a hard time writing something when I know it won't be shared. I have no problem sharing something funny I've written, but I am so scared of sharing anything that is from the heart and touches upon my real feelings. | How to Get Back Not Just Into Creative Writing- But Writing More Emotional Pieces | 32 |
5 | 0 | v26et6 | 54 | The title mostly says it all. I wrote a book about Mental Illness that agents told me basically had no chance. I self published it on Amazon through Kindle Direct Publishing so I could make it free for a week. I'm not trying to make money or promote myself (though I know this is me promoting myself) but I just want to help as many people as possible and share my ideas so everyone can hopefully understand each other better. Warning: the book is a tad uncomfortable (as it well should be) but a few people on this sub expressed their interest in it on my first post...so here's my second post.
My name is M. Price and the book is Please Feel Bad I'm Dead. My author page can be reached on Amazon through [Amazon.com/author/mpriceisdead](https://Amazon.com/author/mpriceisdead) or you can just search the title of the book and my name and it should appear in the search box. Be sure to download the free Kindle version to avoid any cost.
Anyway, thanks for letting me invade your life for a moment. I hope my book can help you as much as it helped me,
M. Price | I wrote a book about Mental Illness deemed "too controversial" for the traditional publishing market and made a post about it a few months ago. I self published and it's now free on Amazon | 54 |
23 | 0 | u9s885 | 52 | i’m a 14 year old girl who wants to get into the wonderful world of creative writing. but im in school, which makes things more complicated. should i just wait till summer to get started on creative writing? main question: how do i even start?! i mean, beginners always gotta start from somewhere, but i just wanna take my time with it. this whole thing is new to me, and i wanna have fun with it! i just wanna know where and how to start, and then from there, just take it step by step, until i’m a pro at it. i’m not so sure if creative writing is the same thing as manga, and it prob isn’t. the reason y i brought up this is cuz i don’t only wanna write just books. i wanna write manga too! but his subreddit is creative writing, so manga is for another subreddit lol.
Edit: thanks so much for the helpful advice! :) | POV: ur a teen and ur very interested i creative writing, but don’t know where to start. so… where do u start? | 52 |
7 | 0 | updn54 | 40 | I was venting on r/SuicideWatch, was banned for not directly stating my suicidality after a few posts, and that it was not the place for "creative writing". Now I'm here; guess this is the appropriate forum. Here's what I was going to post there, I apologize for my pretentiousness, it's more ramblings than coherent thought.
**You fuckers can't handle the truth (and neither can I)**
What pitilessness has the point arrived to. I dream the hands will shake off their owner, and the lovers be together. Knowing the stranglehold it has over me, I preach out in gasps and coughs. A crescendo only has power given it's ultimatum, my Shepard's tone an abomination to the ear. Wasting the body will eventually lead to the body consuming the mind for any last nutrients it can muster.
Do you know what it is to be a stone? Of course you do. I do not mean the baggage placed on other's to continue with me in their pocket. Immovable, firm in my stead. You cannot carry me, so you chip away what you can, and take it with you. Perhaps one day I will be small enough to hold close.
The head drifts off, but my heart keeps me grounded. An anchor abandoned at sea hold the earth as the earth holds it. This was your place. Your home, rusted and corroded, now harbors the indignant not in their intentions, but in their paths. What scripture must I rehearse to be holy once more? | banned from r/suicidewatch for creative writing | 40 |
7 | 0 | i641te | 38 | I broke your heart, it’s undeniable.
You tell me time and time again, I’m unreliable.
They say I can’t be trusted, I swear it’s untrue.
But prove them right is all I do.
I make mistakes, you forgive me again.
The cycle continues to never end.
But one day you stop, you get up and leave.
I’m lost and in a place I couldn’t believe.
The reason why, I go back to retrieve.
It was in front of my eyes, for everyone to see.
I cry, I regret but there’s no sympathy.
Who would ever feel bad for a liar like me? | A poem from a cheater. | 38 |
4 | 0 | fz672t | 36 | “I can feel a little bird trapped helplessly inside my chest and the weight of the entire Texas sky upon my breast. The little bird flutters restlessly to find an escape. I feel the growing flaps of panic in my heart, my lungs, my throat. I feel a need to fight to keep the pressure of the thick air above me from driving my breast into my chest and crushing the little bird. In this moment, every thought, muscle, and breath is devoted to the cause. In this moment, I wish I was Atlas and could--for even just a moment--hoist the suffocating sky high above my head and let the little bird fly free. But I am not. And I can not. So I pour some coffee and open the blinds.”
________
I’m prone to anxiety and woke up this morning with an urge to put some language to the feeling. I think most of us are likely feeling a bit of this during this crazy time (whether you are anxiety prone or not). Wanted to share here in case anyone is feeling the same. | Anxiety: The Little Bird Inside My Chest | 36 |
23 | 0 | ypc0vc | 37 | What is a good way to get the creative juices flowing? | 37 |
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7 | 0 | cg568e | 37 | Never posted on reddit so forgive me for trying to figure this out as I go.
I'm an aspiring writer, 29 y/o. I unplugged myself from social media about 5 years back cuz the whole thing just made me depressed. But now I've had to jack back into the matrix because social networking is how pretty much all creative business works these days and I feel completely out of touch with all of it.
But I'm trying. I built a website, paid for a domain (www.briankilinski.com I NEED VISITORS), set up instagram and set up twitter using a long pole so dont have to physically touch that cancerous whore. And now social media is making depressed for different reasons.
There is so much freaking content out there. I mean I know that sounds redundant and obvious but when you consider how many books exist by authors youve never heard of, even without including the internet, thats already pretty intimidating. The sheer vastness of genuinely good writers who dont get their due is soul destroying and its not like its anyones fault. Its just total oversaturation of content, much the same with music and videos.
I feel like I was late to the game in figuring out that I want to be a writer. I see all these other people who have tried for years and got nowhere through no fault of their own. I'm not entirely sure if I have a point here I guess I'm just feeling kinda small right now.
The word 'Sonder' means the realisation that every passerby has a life as complex and vivid as your own and I think about that with writing.
How many hours I've spent trying to create something out of nothing, becoming swept up in years worth of plot lines and characters and starting to believe that I'm onto something big.
But every author behind every book must have felt this, along with all the crippling self doubt that must be overcome. So did all the authors who didnt make it. Its so easy to become paralyzed by the fear that you'll go through all the good and bad just to end up in the latter. With the competition out there it can be terrifying.
Gotta stay positive and keep whoring your brand out through I guess. That sounds sarcastic but I genuinely mean it, thats just how shit gets done now I think. Nothing worth having is ever easy and trying to be original and inspired is only getting harder.
So heres to all of us I guess. Writing is a war; some of us will make it and some of us wont. Those who do have the oppourtunity to create better worlds. So write hard, write well and keep your fucking head down. | Writing is terrifying | 37 |
8 | 0 | fyjb53 | 38 | I see it, you know. the split second before you looked at me and stopped to think, " is she really worth my time?" All I can do is stand there with my head lowered, silently biting down on my lip. I am worth so much more than this, I am not an afterthought and never aimed to be. I am not your second choice, nor am I your puppet, so tell me why do I still come running back to you time and again? Is it nostalgia or the comfort of your arms ? My fear of losing familiarity ? I refuse to let go of it, so if this it what it takes then I will become an afterthought for you | Anything for you | 38 |
6 | 0 | ka3x4v | 33 | To the girl I haven’t met yet:
I know you’re out there but who you’re with and what you’re doing are unknown to me. Though I may not know you, I think about you every day. I hope you’re thinking of me as well. I’m already in love with you, and maybe that’s why no other girl works because they aren’t you. I look forward to the day our eyes meet and we know we are to be together. So, wherever you are, save your heart for me and I’ll save mine for you.
Love: The boy you haven’t met yet | From Me To You | 33 |
11 | 0 | 14evmso | 45 | Ok so for the past six months I’ve been working on a project where I take the dreams of friends and family and turn them into short stories. The last one I wrote and published was a dream a former co-worker of mine had about a tourism company that took people via submarine down to see the remains of the Titanic, and in her dream the submarine malfunctions and the trip goes awry. Obviously not saying I predicted the future or anything like, but it’s just kind of prescient and eerie that this was the most recent story in the series with the [news](https://www.nytimes.com/live/2023/06/20/us/titanic-missing-submarine) about the missing OceanGate vessel. Here’s the [story](https://inyourdreams.substack.com/p/a-trip-to-the-titanic) I wrote if there’s any interest in checking it out. | The last short story I wrote was about a Titanic submarine excursion gone wrong, which creeped the shit out of me | 45 |
34 | 0 | o2kz9y | 40 | Hi, I've got this great idea for a big collab project with as many people as possible. I want to write a big story where individuals write 100-150 words each, only seeing the sentence before their entry. If that sounds like your thing, please click the link below for more information and to sign up, or ask me questions and I'll be happy to answer. [https://afulltimenerd.com/story-chain/](https://afulltimenerd.com/story-chain/) | Storytellers wanted | 40 |
5 | 0 | fnkfb0 | 46 | So you want to write a book.
Welcome to the club. In this guide, I’m going to do my best to define a concrete, executable plan to actually write a fiction novel. If you follow this guide to the T, you will produce an 80,000- to 100,000-word rough draft in 4 months.
If that sounds appealing to you, then you’re in the right place. Let’s get started.
# Phase 1: Get Organized (1 Week)
Writing a book is not an easy task. You’re looking at 80,000 to 100,000 words — for simplicity let’s assume 80,000. If you write 1,000 words per day, that’s an 80-day undertaking. And that doesn’t allocate any time for planning.
What all this actually means is that if you’re serious about producing a novel efficiently, you need to get organized. Specifically, you need to organize your story information — characters, plot outlines, worldbuilding notes, etc — and your manuscript — the actual document that contains your novel.
You should spend your first week getting comfortable with a system to organize this information.
# Story Information
You may be tempted to dive right into the writing part. This a bad idea unless you really know what you’re doing. To start, you’ll want to establish a system of keeping track of little bits of information about your story. This can be everything from character traits and backstories to extensive lore about the story’s setting.
Luckily, there are a variety of tools available to help you with this sort of organization, both free and paid. Here are a few, sorted from least structured to most structured:
* **A Plain Old Document** — This could be in the form of a [Google Doc](http://docs.google.com/), [Microsoft Word](https://products.office.com/en-us/word) document, etc. If you go this route, I’d suggest organizing it under the following headers: characters, world, and plot. However, this method isn’t quite as organized as the options below, so read on.
* **Spreadsheets** — This involves using [Google Sheets](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets), [Microsoft Excel](https://products.office.com/en-us/excel), or smarter spreadsheets like [AirTable](https://www.airtable.com/) to store information. This method is a little more structured. For example, you could have a spreadsheet for your characters, with each row corresponding to one character, and each column corresponding to an attribute like “eye color”, “height”, or “backstory”. Then, whenever you need one of those details, you can just search for the character in the spreadsheet and navigate to the correct column.
* **Story Planning Software** — There are software programs designed specifically for keeping track of story information. We suggest [Campfire Pro](https://www.campfiretechnology.com/pro), the writing software that we make here at Campfire Technology.
The particular system you choose isn’t all that important — what matters is that you find one that works for you and you stick to it throughout the writing process. You’ll want to continually update it as you write so it’s always there as an aid when you get stuck or forget a key detail.
# Manuscript
You’ll need somewhere to actually write your manuscript. There are a lot of options in this area as well, also ranging from free to paid.
For the simplest free manuscript editor, check out [Google Docs](http://docs.google.com/). It has everything you need to write your novel, though people do say it can struggle a bit on slower computers with really long documents. For a more robust solution, check out [Microsoft Word](https://products.office.com/en-us/word). Both of these options include a sidebar in the document that can show all your chapter titles so you can easily navigate between them.
Finally, I’d be remiss to ignore [Scrivener](https://www.literatureandlatte.com/scrivener/overview), a desktop application for writing books that offers the ability to reorganize entire chapters by just dragging and dropping — something that neither Word nor Google Docs can do. It’s a very common choice for organizing manuscripts.
Once you’ve chosen your system of organizing the story information and manuscript, you’re ready to move on to the next step.
# Phase 2: Plan (1–3 Weeks)
Writers differ immensely in how much they plan before sitting down to actually write the manuscript. Some, like Stephen King, prefer to do very little planning. These folks are affectionately referred to as Pantsers — they like to fly by the seat of their pants with their writing. Others, like Brandon Sanderson, are architects who plan out in great detail how the story will unfold. These writers are called Plotters.
There have been brilliant writers of both kinds. However, we strongly recommend that every writer do at least a little bit of planning. Specifically, you should develop the story seed.
The **story seed** consists of three elements: a character, a place, and a predicament.
The **character** is the main character of your story. You don’t need a ton of detail here, but you should aim to have a rough idea of who your main character is. If you’re stuck, try to establish some backstory, a few personality traits, and some physical attributes.
The **place** is where your story takes place (or for Pantsers, where it begins). Again, aim for at a minimum a rough understanding of the setting — is it the modern United States, a medieval village, a galaxy far far away, or somewhere else entirely?
Finally, the **predicament** is what happens to the character in the place. If you’re a Pantser, then this predicament should probably occur at the beginning of the book — what happens to the character that kicks off the action? If you’re a Plotter, it should be the more overarching conflict that the entire book is about.
Here’s an example of a story seed for a Pantser:
*A 10-year-old orphan in London discovers that he is a wizard.*
Here’s the same story seed but for a Plotter:
*A 10-year-old orphan in London must stop the return of the most powerful Dark Wizard of all time.*
You should be able to develop this story seed in one week. Then, if you’re a hardcore Panster and you’re about to explode because of how much you hate planning, you can move on to Phase Three. That basic story seed is all you need to get started. If you’re a Plotter like me, you might want to spend as much as another two weeks planning. Read on.
# Detailed Plotting
For a Plotter, the story seed does not represent a snapshot of the beginning of the story, but rather a summary of the story as a whole. As such, your predicament should refer to the major conflict that your character overcomes in the story. In Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, the predicament is Lord Voldemort’s attempted return to power.
Once you have that predicament, you have a lot of plot to fill in. There are a few different structures you can use to help with this. The [three-act structure](https://blog.reedsy.com/three-act-structure/) provides a set of scenes or “story beats” that should occur on the way to the final conflict. [The Hero’s Journey](https://www.campfiretechnology.com/2019/12/reading-joseph-campbell-will-help-your-writing/) and [Save the Cat](https://www.savannahgilbo.com/blog/plotting-save-the-cat) provide similar frameworks. Learn about these, and then either choose one, merge them into your own framework, or ignore them all!
With any luck, the characters, plot, and world of your story will develop in parallel as you plan. For example, a decision about a character trait should influence what that character does (the plot). Similarly, a decision about the world could inspire part of a character’s backstory. If you feel stuck, just pick one aspect of the story and start adding detail — the rest will flow from there. Just make sure you’re keeping track of all the decisions you make using your organizational system. Fill in those spreadsheets!
As a Plotter, the end goal of all this planning is a book outline. If you’re writing an 80,000-word book, that means you need perhaps 10–25 chapters with word counts varying from 3,000 to 8,000 words. How you decide to break it up will depend on your writing style and your story — but you should aim to have an outline containing what happens in each chapter and an estimated word count.
Now, Pantsers and Plotters, is the moment you’ve all been waiting for.
# Phase 3: Write (12–14 Weeks)
Finally, you think to yourself. I can finally do what I’ve been wanting to do all along. Pat yourself on the back, and start writing. But make sure you stick to a schedule and stay organized.
# Stick to a Schedule
Perhaps the most important thing to do if you want to actually finish your book is establishing a schedule and keeping to it. Set a minimum daily word count and number of days per week that you plan to write. It’s best to start low here — say, 500 words per day, 5 days per week — and then increase these amounts over time as writing becomes a habit.
If you like using Google Sheets, you’re in luck. We’ve put together a [writing schedule template](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1_qKmdPoEEs-l_GyXRsMjVqRDM9otuqEcqve49wUiYmY/edit?usp=sharing) where you input the total target word count, the number of weeks you want to spend writing, the number of days per week you expect to write, and the date you start writing. The template computes your daily target word counts and will show you a progress bar as you get closer and closer to finishing the book! Just make sure you’re signed in with a Google account, and you can use File -> Make a Copy to copy the template to your own account and start making edits.
If you’re dedicated to getting your book done within the 4 month timeframe defined in this guide, make sure your daily goal eventually gets high enough. For example, if your target word count is 80,000 words and you have 12 weeks to write, you need to produce just over 6,650 words per week. With a five-day workweek, that’s 1,330 words per day on average. If you start at a lower goal than that, you’ll eventually need to compensate by going over if you want to reach your goal.
Just make sure you never go more than three days without working on your book, even if you only write a few hundred words. You’ll find that the story fades in your mind quite quickly if you don’t work on it for days on end. Keep the momentum going, and write as often as you can.
We have a lot more tips and tricks about this in our blog post [Start Writing Strategically](https://www.campfiretechnology.com/2019/11/start-writing-strategically/).
# Stay Organized
Remember the organizational system we said you should make sure to have? Make sure you keep it up to date as you write. For Pantsers, you’ll thank yourself later when you’re writing chapter 38 and don’t have to sift through pages and pages just to find a character’s last name. Plotters, though you may have a lot of that information already nicely organized, your manuscript will almost certainly change course at least a little bit from the original plan. When it does, update your plan, or you’ll find yourself having the same issue of losing track of all those little details.
When it comes to your manuscript, make sure you use headings or sections to break up the document into its chapters. That will allow for easy navigation between the different chapters, and will keep you grounded. Never get lost in your own book!
# Conclusion
Hopefully this post has done its job, and you’re now a confident writer with a concrete plan to write a book from scratch. You’re about to open a new tab in your browser and search for the organizational system that’s right for you. Then you’ll pick the right manuscript editor and develop your story seed. If you’re a Plotter, you’ll add more detail to your characters, plot, and world until the story is broken up neatly into chapters, with each one moving the story along.
Finally, you’ll write the darn thing, and with some luck — publish it.
See you in four months. | A Practical Guide to Actually Writing Your Rough Draft | 46 |
8 | 0 | kxrx68 | 53 | it was the little things.
it was the way she left her clothes strewn about,
the way she left dirty cups in her room, which i’d yell at her about.
the way she always talked to her pets without fail whenever she entered the room.
the way she would get dressed up and put makeup on with nowhere to go.
the way she would laugh so loudly you could hear her from all the way upstairs when she played video games with her friends.
the way she was glued to her phone, 24/7.
the way she would get up the middle of the night to get something to eat.
the things I scolded her for, I miss in the end.
there’s no more clothes for me to pick up and wash.
no more cups for me to clean up.
no more hearing her baby-talk voice to her cats and dogs.
her vanity stands there undisturbed, not a single makeup item moved from where she left it. her closet full of clean, unworn clothes.
no more hearing her lilted laugh from downstairs, letting me know she was okay.
i left her phone on the table by her bed, the phone plan about to be cancelled and the cell service nearly disconnected. but until then, i call her sometimes to hear her voicemail.
no more waking up to sounds in the kitchen at 3 am, though i don’t sleep now anyway.
the little quirks of a teenager, still developing, learning and feeling, now all gone. the smallest things are what i miss the most. though, it was the biggest things i did not realize. the biggest things she could no longer manage or deal with, ultimately ending her life.
for in the end, i miss the little things. | The Anatomy of a Teenager | 53 |
11 | 0 | tqoka5 | 36 | I'm right here.
But you don't see me.
Not the way I wish you could.
I long for us to share an existence,
To be side by side in the endeavors of the everyday,
And to be shoulder to shoulder during the adventures of years to come.
Even if our names aren't printed onto the pages of your life
I sometimes wish to be in the footnotes of the things that could be possible.
A side character maybe but one that is there through the time skip,
One that grows more prominent on the canvas of your mind
And helps to discover colors to be the backdrop of memories made with you.
Colors that I see in your eyes every time I meet your gaze.
And colors you don't see in mine.
Im right here.
But you don't see me.
Not the way I wish you could. | I'm Right Here. (Poem) | 36 |
13 | 0 | xq8std | 54 | I am a writer for a living. But two years ago, I crashed and burned, mainly because my self-worth was completely tied up with writing. Not a healthy situation.
I long to write again. I feel life is less fun without writing. But it seems like such an insurmountable task to begin again. It's like I forgot how to write. Everyday I promise myself 'tomorrow I will write again' and then tomorrow comes and the anxiety is just too big. I know I should start with babysteps. But I don't even know what those babysteps should be. Does anyone have advice on how I can begin again?
Thanks for helping me. | How to start writing again after burnout/depression? | 54 |
2 | 0 | j4psvf | 53 | 1. **The Classic** “I have Essential Tremor. It’s a neurological condition where my brain doesn’t produce enough of a certain protein, so some of my motor functions are slightly impaired. I’m perfectly healthy and not contagious. Thank you for your concern though.”
2. **The Play Dumb** “I’m what? Oh man, I have no idea. Probably I have low blood sugar or something. Could you bring me a snack while I take a rest?”
3. **The Quick Misdirect** “Oh, looks like I had a little too much coffee this morning!”
4. **The Half-Lie** “When I was three years old, I fell out of a window onto my head and it stunted the growth in parts of my brain. I also can’t taste cilantro at all.”
5. **The Full-Lie** “I was in a coma for a year and when I woke up I had this tremor and also I could speak fluent Canadian French.”
6. **The Get-Out-of-Jury-Duty Caliber Bogus Lie** “Five years ago this October, on the eve of the harvest, I was abducted from my chamber by a race of technologically advanced, cosmic beings who spoke to each other in clicks and buzzes. They took me aboard their interplanetary vessel and conducted a series of tests and experiments on my brain that left me with the ability to interfere with radio signals with my mind, and an incurable phobia of pre-Toy Story Tom Hanks that would make it so I can never watch the movie Forrest Gump. Oh yeah! Also I have a tremor because of it. Oh, I’m dismissed? Ok, thank you anyway.”
7. **The Other Classic** “I don’t know. Fuck off.”
[More of my writing](https://northwest-writing.tumblr.com/) | Seven Things You Could Say When Someone Asks “Why Are You Shaking?” | 53 |
9 | 0 | nfclnc | 36 | Forget me to my faery fate
fore the folke faire
Favor a firstborn from
forlorn fields and fens.
Find me a fae fortune
far from feigned friendship
Follow me for fine fantastic
festivious frolity | The Elusive Mister "F" | 36 |
7 | 0 | jyg1kd | 43 | I just surpassed 10,000 words on my current project! First got the idea in March of this year, only got to about 3 pages by September due to a lack of inspiration, kicked it back up in late September, and now here we are! | I don’t know who this matters to but | 43 |
9 | 0 | lnkdyf | 56 | Hey. Listen to me...
**They can't hurt you.** You're strong as a tree if you find the power from inside you. You will get laughed on by those who don't understand... Let them be. You're stronger than they are, and you will shine eventually.
**Run away from your hometown**. Your hometown is toxic and the people there are a waste of your time. Find a new home earlier than when you're almost an adult: I know how things ended up when I did not do that. Your family will still love you. Don't get stuck like they did. Run and don't look back.
**Being scared is OK**. Life works in all kinds of funny ways. It is okay to be scared, but don't let it control you too much. Do things that you love and never let anyone to take away your safety.
**Believe in the future.** There's so many good things happening in the future. So many things you could ever imagine of, bad and good. Keep the future in your mind as you think about ending it all. It gets better, I promise.
**Don't harm yourself.** Slices and burns leave a mean mark to your beautiful skin. Learn to listen to your body and hear it's wishes. Talk out the bad feelings. You're not alone.
Most importantly: **Stay alive.** Stay alive for yourself. Remember that there's always hope. A day after a day: tomorrow WILL be better. | A letter to my younger self | 56 |
1 | 0 | uhjs6c | 36 |
Hello fellow writers! I am a professional proofreader and editor currently working full time at a law firm editing legal documents, but I am trying to get into freelance editing to build a portfolio of edited creative works, as they are my true passion. I want to help out indie writers to make their work look just as professional as those working with big publishers! I can provide proofreading, copy editing, and even developmental editing to help improve your narrative. If you are interested, please let me know below in a comment or in a PM and I will give you my contact information. I look forward to working with you! | I want to help you edit your work! | 36 |
9 | 0 | qzr72h | 54 | I planned for a puppy type, sunshine boy as my character. But as I continued writing, he became all twisted and dark, a two-faced character. I wanted to change it back, but I just... can't. Like, my previous idea isn't there anymore. | Ever felt that sometimes you don't write a character, but it is the character who writes himself? | 54 |
23 | 0 | qut7ty | 43 | Apologies if this isn’t the sub for this, but I have a couple of story ideas I’d love to write but I’m pretty bad at creative writing. I’m good at more informative writing, but when it comes to creative writing, I’m pretty terrible. I really like these ideas I have and any advice on developing a writing style or even just how to flesh these concepts out would be really appreciated | I have some story ideas, but I have no idea how to write well | 43 |
8 | 0 | plk1r9 | 51 | - Crossword puzzles/word seek puzzles/crossword scratchers: whichever you have around you, write down all the words listed on there and use them all in a short story. Bonus points if you use them in order (i.e. all words in order across first, then all words in order down).
- Dictionary of the day words: pick a random month of a random year, and use an online dictionary's word of the days for that chosen month all in a short story.
- list of SAT/other vocab: basically the same as the dictionary one.
- Grab the nearest book to you, flip to a random page and let your finger fall on a random sentence. Use that sentence to start a short story.
- Find a random poem, and rewrite it as a short story.
- Ask an online community, such as this, for a list of # of words. Use all those words in a short story.
- Find a random movie quote, or possibly your favorite, and create a story around that quote.
- Use the lyrics (one line, some, all, your choice) from a favorite or random song and create a story about it.
- Take a prompt, write it in two different genres (romance, horror, comedy, etc) and decide which you like better. | Some fun/unique creative writing tips I've used over the years for short stories | 51 |
3 | 0 | i3nzaf | 42 | So much left unsaid
I wish I was dead;
A chasm between us
Only growing wider with the passing days
No longer are we on the same wavelength
Oh, how that hurts me to say
Because now you’re gone, gone, gone
How I wish I could be gone, too. | I’m in the present; you’re in my past | 42 |
88 | 0 | p8mbd4 | 78 | Seems all of these get WAY overdone and would love to read some original thoughts... | Creative People of Reddit: What's a great "villain" that is NOT 1) A Nazi, 2) A zombie, 3) an alien. And if human, is NOT 1) a terrorist, 2) a rich maniac, 3) rebounding from some childhood horror? | 78 |
25 | 0 | reni2v | 51 | We all have people in our lives who have inspired our characters.
But have you ever met someone that you didn't already know that reminded of you of your characters.
For example, it could be a cute redhead working in a bookstore or a muscular man with long blonde hair with a duffle bag that might contain a magic sword. lol | Have you ever met someone who reminded you of a character you're writing? | 51 |
8 | 0 | k87vew | 45 |
When you feel like everything is connected to you, good or bad in some way, that’s anxiety
When you’re a positive person but think of the most terrifying shit, that’s anxiety
When negative words bounce in your head that people have said & they ricochet at you like a speeding bullet, that’s anxiety
When you’re surrounded by your closest friends but feel so alone & out of touch with everyone & everything, that’s anxiety
When you just wanna lay in bed for a week & catch up on sleep, that’s anxiety
When you make up excuses to not be part of something great, that’s anxiety
When fear overrides your brain & you think you’re literally going insane, that’s anxiety
When you don’t wanna work but that’s the “meaning of life”, that’s anxiety
When you just wanna be normal, but you always put yourself down, that’s anxiety
When you think about your place on this planet & you just don’t understand it, that’s anxiety
Just remember to hold your head up, smile & ride that anxiety wave till it crashes & washes upon your brain, cleaning it fresh for a new day. Until it comes back around again, like a dark black cloud shadowing over you, waiting & ready for you to overcome it once again.
That’s anxiety
- Dylan Zachary
@ bmodelic
(An excerpt from my poetry book “Tales of a Typewriter”) | That’s Anxiety | 45 |
32 | 0 | hg8qgx | 41 | i think once or twice in our life, we would stumble upon a person and get very connected to them. and you might have thought of, “this could be my person, maybe this is it”
but turns out it isn’t.
you might have felt like having to let go of the one.
i just need you to remember, no matter how hurtful it is, the fact that you have to let them go, is a pretty big sign that they are not the one.
regardless of how you feel, or what your heart tells you.
let them go.
it will hurt, but you will heal.
and someday it will all make sense. | the one. | 41 |
3 | 0 | v505bc | 34 | (something not sad for a change)
Let’s steep our bodies in teacups.
Arms on a porcelain edge,
velvety oolong scent.
It will tint our bodies amber,
As we slowly dissolve
Into sweet water. | Teabags | 34 |
10 | 0 | surtf3 | 47 | I told them I couldn't be quarantined with the other patients, but they didn't listen. Now, with the full moon cresting the horizon, I had to watch those poor bedridden souls' eyes grow wide as the curse slowly took hold again. | I don't have enough karma for TwoSentenceHorror, so trying it here: | 47 |
5 | 0 | gw3vpa | 33 | I wanted affection, love
This is anything but
He's rough, cold, and inattentive
I choke on air, on his taste, on my own spit
This isn't love, but I tell him it is because I cannot let him down again
Men aren't afraid of losing you,
They're afraid of losing property without profit
I know some know what it is to be lost
but not him
And I know he is not a cruel man, because in my hard times he has held me close
But my body shouldn't be used as an apology
if not that then what?
What is having a body if no one makes use of it?
I don't want the admiration of strangers, but he might as well be one
He makes me feel inadequate
I feel like I let him down, disappoint him, all the time
Even the thing he wants isn't enough
Trust me when I say that nothing is sadder than not feeling like a person anymore
feeling like your only role is to be another body for someone to own
Not able to meet their standards
Not able to love
I need him but I don't love him | Not my Body | 33 |
3 | 0 | oez20n | 36 | I never told you really what my life was like previously. You opened up a little bit of yours but I’d like to share mine.
I grew up with an alcoholic father. He wasn’t physically abusive but mentally abusive to me. My sister did not share in the brunt of his anger, but my mother and I did. When I was six years old, I remember quite clearly him telling me he hated me. I ran into my room crying my eyes out, and he never apologized. I would write him letters begging him to stop drinking and leave them in the bathroom where I knew he would find them. He always had to have a smoke and a shit in the morning after drinking all day and night. That is a terrible smell I will never forget. I never had friends and still have trouble keeping friends to this day because of him. I couldn’t have anyone over because I was ashamed and he could be scary when drunk. I would beg my mom to leave him, but she never did and is living in misery with him still. When I was young she went to college, and got a degree but ended up worked her ass off at the post office instead, while he sat on his drinking and accusing her of cheating. I left home at 15/16 years old. I hated him for so long, but I have released most of it. It still hurts, I still have many moments of feeling unworthy- but I’m stronger now then I ever was. It took me a long time to get here.
My ex husband was also an emotionally abusive alcoholic/drug addict. I met him when I was 17 and I stayed for far longer then I should have. I’m free now, but I know the damage was done to myself and my children. When we split up and I was going over to his house to pick up my son, he was drunk and we got into a fight. He punched his glass door that shattered all over my children and myself. I called the cops on him and I remember I just felt relief because I no longer have to be apart of someone like that. He would call me telling me he was going to kill himself, so every time I would just call the cops till the phone calls eventually stopped and he moved on to someone else.
Then I met a man, who was not a drinker, he fit and checked all my boxes,except he was an asshole, who didn’t work and wasn’t trying to better himself. He treated me like dirt and my children too. I left that relationship and felt a weight lift.
And then I met you. Whom I’m not even sure is real or a figment of my imagination. You told me your mental health is worse then you led me to believe- but you don’t realize that I’m strong as fuck, and I could have handled your demons if you had been willing to let me in. This isn’t really a letter/note for you, but I find writing to you let’s me feel free. | We all have demons | 36 |
3 | 0 | hd5rox | 40 | Being Marked means you are bound to an angel. Being Branded means you're bound to a demon. Some people are Marked, some are both Marked and Branded, some are neither... You're the first person ever to be Branded but not Marked. | 40 |
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10 | 0 | mhn0eb | 37 | I only want to tell you hello, I suppose,
And let you know that I'm still here.
Would I exist if your eyes weren't there to see me? Your ears there to hear my voice? Your hands to know my touch?
The more I paint color on my skin, the quicker I turn transparent.
Everything in my grasp tumbles to insignificance, in awe of you carrying the world.
I am the butterfly, and you are the effect. | I have nothing new to say. | 37 |
2 | 0 | nop8rf | 35 | I think sometimes getting better means thinking, “I hope I get hit by a semi truck going full speed instead of thinking, “I want to jump in front of a semi truck going full speed.” I’m so fucking sick and tired of feeling like this. Like I’m not enough, and also like I’m too much at the same time. Sometimes I feel like I’m the worst fucking friend in the world after I don’t reach out for a few days. But don’t phones work both ways? If they really wanted to see me wouldn’t they offer to go out instead of having me plan every single fucking minute detail of every meeting?! Would they even fucking care if I didn’t message back? If I just fucking disappeared tomorrow?! I’m so sick and fucking tired of fwelin like this. Like I don’t deserve their effort. Like I’m trying too hard. Like I’m not trying hard enough. But what can I say. This is just your average mental breakdown. | Just Your Average Mental Breakdown | 35 |
3 | 0 | ladx2e | 36 | Introduction
Hello,
I hope this internet text finds whoever is taking some time to read it well. I don't really pray anymore but my hope is that everyone is able to find some peace and comfort in what has been a non-conventional year for just about everyone and if things are tough my prayer today is that those who need it may find some strength to make it to some better times. As i'm constantly reminded by the band the All American Rejects from listening to too much of their music “And even when your hope is gone Move along, move along just to make it through”. Early 2000s song references aside I should probably share my reason for writing here. I made this throwaway to try and motivate myself to do some creative writing. I'm really not certain myself what I am to write yet but I've already started so I will give my best explanation of what I wanted to put here and then attempt to follow through with the exercise.
Throughout my life I have had a miserable time being honest with myself about certain aspects in my life. Whether it be mental and physical struggles, feelings that scare me or ideals I feel like I'll truly never be able to embody, I'm just not able to have a real meaningful discussion or at any point potentially reach some kind of conclusion about the role these feelings and ideals play in my life. I always seem to find ways to kick the can down the road instead of having an honest conversation with anyone or with myself about these difficult topics. The internal struggle I face from the lack of honesty and self evaluation with these ideals perpetually strains my mental health and has brought me to a point in my life where I am left wholly unproductive and endlessly questioning my self worth. I have found that it is at the point where I hate where I'm at with my life but at the same time I feel no motivation to drag myself anywhere better. I am still not sure where I am going to take this or where it will end but at the end of a year that fostered some of my most painful internal battles ever i'm determined to flip the tides this year and take strides towards reaching a better place both physically and mentally than years past as well as finally be somewhat truthful with myself about how I feel. So, in an attempt to in a way finally be honest with myself and also to work on finishing something that will help me feel a sense of progress I am hopeful to start (and finish) a 12 month long writing prompt/process where each month I will write about a topic/idea that I struggle with personally. Publish is a strong word but I feel motivated to at least share them if they come out well enough and get constructive enough because if they help me in any way maybe others also share the same feeling or can leave comment/share feedback that helps me even more. I'm not sure what the length/format will look like but the idea is to spend a whole month writing something each day about each of the topics. The topics I plan to write about that I think I struggle the most with are the following:
Faith
Love
Self-Improvement
Friendship
Sociality
Motivation
Empathy
Authenticity
Sustainability
Memories
As you can see that's not twelve topics yet so if you've got suggestions I would love to hear them. Otherwise I will just think of more topics as I progress. There is plenty more that ruins me that I could write about but trying to categorize more of it into 1 word to write about has been difficult.
I had hopes of starting a month ago and having the first topic done for today but that is not how depression works so we are going to start this month and make up a month at some point or just not end on the last month of the year. Well see how it goes or if I even finish the assignment but I am hopeful. The goal is to post the writings at midnight on the last day of each month. Partly to signify ending my month long discussion with myself about the topic but more so to keep myself on a schedule so I don't give up on myself again. In summary 12 topics that terrify me, 12 months of writing about them and how I feel, and hopefully 12 essays/creative writing pieces/somethings that I feel good enough about to share.
The topic I am writing about for the first month is \*sociality\* and hopefully in a month I'll have written something meaningful about that.
Like I said I'm thinking//praying for everyone everywhere. Hope everyone finds some peace during these times and if not we hang in there with some hope for the better just to make it through. Thanks for reading this far if you have and I look forward to sharing what I come up with if anything. | Self-Honesty | 12 Month Long Personal Writing Prompt | 36 |
Subsets and Splits