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Ciels

@ciels-writes

Bookish writblr | 15 | she/her | INFJ
@sinnentaivas
currently reading: “Louisa” - Louisa Thomas
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leave-her-a-tome
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marcvscicero

writing style: author from the 1800s with a severe love of commas whose sentences last half a page 

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fencer-x

I came out here, to this point, to this place, hoping against all hope and despite signs and portends suggesting otherwise that I might, somehow, find myself having a pleasant experience, and yet here I stand, alone against the world, feeling assaulted, attacked on all fronts, knowing not my enemy’s name nor his face nor whether our battle is done.

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WIP Introduction: Ghost of a Chance

Cadogan Montague is a first-class con artist. It helps that he’s a psychic, even though using magic is a criminal offense for anyone that’s not the royal family of Dovedon or their aristocratic council of advisors. But Cad’s got it all figured out. If he can rationalize his intuitions and mind-readings as deductions made from absurd details, people will think he’s a genius instead of a witch. So far that little strategy has worked like a charm.

But his latest con may have him in a bit over his head. Thing is, Cad needs to steal a certain royal jewel in order to pay off a very large debt to a very dangerous man, and the only way he can get inside the palace is by making a promise he can’t keep: getting rid of its ghosts. Literal ghosts. As in, the spirits of the deceased. Which he didn’t even think were real until he met them.

So how is Cad supposed to keep that promise and make off with the royal jewels without being caught as a fraud, a thief, or worse- an illegal magic user?

Basic Info

Title: Ghost of a Chance

Genre: Fantasy, horror comedy (light on the horror, heavy on the comedy)

POV: Third person limited, multiple characters

Status: First draft

Themes: abuse of power // found family // learning to trust // our connections to the past // personal identity

Main Characters

Keep reading

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ciels-writes

This sounds so cool!!!

Writing comedy can be hard and I can already tell it’s gonna en funny so major kudos to you!

(Also like if you wanna add me in that tag list...)

;)

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waterfallwritings
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aletheiawriting

why you should keep writing your story

  • because it’s a puzzle no one else will ever arrange the same way as you.
  • because there are ideas that simply won’t come to you until you write down the wrong words.
  • because all the bad scenes are the bones of the wonderful scenes.
  • because someone will love it: someone will read it once, and twice, and thrice; someone will ramble to you about the complexity of it; someone will doodle your characters out of love; someone will find it in exactly what they were looking for with or without knowing it.
  • because they have things to say, your characters. they’ve told you all those secrets and they have more to tell you, if you will listen.
  • because you love it even when you don’t; even when it drives you mad or when it accidentally turns into apathy; even when you think you’re doing it all wrong; you love it, and it loves you back.
  • because you can get a treasure even from things that go wrong; because if a story crumbles down you can build a shinier one on the same spot; because you won’t know where it will take you until it takes you there.
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s-graves-writes

How to Edit a First Draft

Or, how my WIP evolved from the nightmare that was draft two to the almost novel-like draft three.

My method for editing first drafts usually takes about two steps. 

  1. Read it over.
  2. Scrap it and rewrite the whole thing. 

Well, it’s a bit more complicated than that. I know, I know. It sounds really, really harsh. But with a first draft, you aren’t really editing it, you’re rewriting it. Because first drafts? They suck. Especially if you’re just starting out. 

Finishing a first draft can feel so good. You just wrote a shit-ton of words, and now you’re done! That’s how I felt when I finished my first draft (or, rather, second draft in this case, but that’s only because my first draft was a half-finished pile of trash that I won’t be counting for the purposes of this post). 

I mean, it’s how I wanted to feel. I was proud of the 50,000-odd words that I’d written, but I knew that it was full of structural problems, pacing issues, and even characterization. (Plus my main villain sucked. Like, really sucked.) 

So, without further ado, here are the slightly less simplified steps to rewriting that first draft: 

1. Get out a notebook, read over your manuscript, and take notes. 

  • Take notes on every scene. Ask yourself, is this scene necessary? Is it well-written?
  • Take notes on any ideas you have for improving the story. Would it be better if the love interest was also secretly a spy? Great! Now you have an interesting subplot. Write it down. 
  • Don’t get caught up in the little things. Does it say a character has blue eyes on one page and claim they’re green on the next? Are there a lot of grammar mistakes? Who cares. Is one of your characters consistently acting out-of-character? That’s a problem you should take note of. 

2. Find what’s wrong with it. 

  • There’s probably something wrong with your first draft. There’s probably a lot of things wrong. Are the characters flat/inconsistent? Is it rushed? Is the plot nonexistent/all over the place? Recognizing the problems is the first step to fixing them. 

3. Re-Outline

  • Even if you don’t outline, after reading over your first draft, you should probably make one. Even if the plot of your first draft was perfect, you should still write down the progression of events and how they fit together.
  • This will help during rewriting, and also to work out any issues you have in the plot. 
  • For me, this included brainstorms, timelines, and character arcs. 

4. Take the salvageable scenes from the first draft and put them in a document labeled “Draft 1 Highlights.” 

  • You’ll be very tempted to take the scenes you like and copy-paste them directly into the new draft. DO NOT DO THIS. Just don’t. Chances are, by the time you get to them, the story will be shifted. You’ll also limit the freedom of taking the plot in a better direction if you feel obligated to include pre-written scenes. 
  • Make sure to hold onto the first draft. I’ve used the first draft as reference several times during the re-writing process, especially toward the end, where the first and second drafts overlap a bit more. Even so, even if the scenes are similar, never copy-paste. Open the first draft in a second window and look at it as you rewrite. Your second draft will be better for it. 

5. Start writing. 

  • You’re not going to get anywhere if you don’t start writing. When it came to my manuscript, I wrote about three or four first chapters before I found one that worked (and ended up using one of the earlier beginnings as a flashback later on.) And if you want, you can go out of order! It’s up to you, and everything depends on the level of revisions your WIP needs. 

I hope this helps!

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witchcraft-in-wonderland
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frankdelflno

For whoever needs these.

I NEED THE ITALIAN LAST NAMES SO BAD

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chronophobica

Surnames

Source: hearmeroarplay
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nootwrites

Character Appearances: Bury The Hatchet

Eldi’s appearance changes day-by-day, and he looks different for most of the story. But, I made the rest of them on @sangled​‘s picrew!!

Keep reading

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ciels-writes

Hell yeah!

Okay so Lou is gorgeous and !freckles!! aaahhh. She looks so sweet and I. Love. Her. She reminds me a lot from Elle from @heartstoppercomic, too!

Lyana looks so nice and smart and 😊

Each character just looks like how you describe them and Kai, chefs kiss, radiates charisma!

I knew Vinduri would be a badass, she’s amazing and I love her hair.

I love Kendra’s hair and she’s my favorite gay pirate

Thank you for listening to my TEDtalk.

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leave-her-a-tome

Be obsessed with your writing.

You’re allowed to be obsessed with your story. You NEED to be for it to be good. If you have it on your mind 24/7 you’ll be able to fix plot holes and make better scenes and charecter development. Play out your favorite parts in your head before you fall asleep. Daydream about it. Make memes and mood boards and play lists about it. BY ALL MEANS chat about it incessantly with your friends and family and mutuals. I’m rooting for you! Fantasize! Create! Obses!

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awrenthatwrites
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thatwritergirlsblog

Writing great friendships

Some of the best chemistry/relationships in fiction exist between characters who are/become friends. Here are some tips for making friendships come alive on the page:

1. Banter

  • One of the most interesting aspects of fictional friendships is the way the characters interact with each other whilst important plot points are occurring.
  • If your characters have easy banter, teasing one another without missing a beat and managing to bounce off each other even in the toughest circumstances, it will be clear to the reader that these two are/should be good friends.
  • Friends know each other well. They know the other’s character so well that they can easily find something to tease each other over. However, this also means knowing which topics are off-limits.
  • If you want to write a good, healthy friendship, your characters shouldn’t use humour/sarcasm as a way to hurt the other. It should be good-natured and understood as such from both sides.
  • Different friendships will have different types of chemistry. Some friends may tease each other with facial expressions. Others may already anticipate a snarky remark and counter it before it’s been spoken. Others will have physical ways of goofing around. 
  • Some friends might not tease each other at all. Banter isn’t necessary; it’s just a good way to make your characters come alive and make their friendship one that is loved by readers.
  • What’s important is chemistry - the way they automatically react to each other.
  • Think Sam and Dean in Supernatural or Juliette and Kenji in the Shatter Me series.

2. Mutual support 

  • Unless you purposefully want to write an unhealthy/toxic friendship, your characters should both be supportive of the other. 
  • This means that, even if one is the MC and the other the side-kick, both should be cognisant of the other’s feelings and problems, and should be considerate in this regard.
  • Few things will make your MC as likable as remembering to check in and be there for their best friend even when they are in the thick of a crisis.
  • You need to show your characters being vulnerable in front of each other and being supportive in ways that are tailored to the needs of each friend.
  • So, if one of the characters really responds to physical comfort, the other should know to give hugs/rub their back when they’re not feeling well. Similarly, if one of them doesn’t like being touched and responds to material comfort, have the other bring them ice cream and join them for a movie marathon. Whatever works for your characters.
  • What gets me every time is when a character is falling apart and won’t listen to/be consoled by anyone but their best friend (but this is just personal preference).

3. Knowing the other’s past/family life

  • This really only applies to characters who have been friends for quite a while.
  • Good friends know each other’s backstory - the highs and lows and mundane details. They know they layout of their family home and they probably know their family members well.
  • Friends will often talk about these things, only having to mention a few words for the other to know what they’re talking about i.e. “The ‘09 Thanksgiving disaster” or “You know how Uncle Fred is”
  • This will instantly make it clear that your characters are close and have come a long way together. 
  • Perhaps there are issues at home/trauma from the past that the other character will immediately understand. So, if one character appears with a black eye, their friend might know that the father was probably drunk the night before and got violent. Or if the character has a nightmare, the friend might know that it was about childhood abuse etc.
  • This can also apply to good things i.e. if one of the characters gets a nice note in their lunchbox, the other might know that their grandma is in town.
  • Whatever works for your story should be used to indicate the level of unspoken understanding the friends have.

4. Being protective

  • Few things will make your readers love a friendship more than the friends being fiercely protective of each other (in a healthy, non-territorial way).
  • Has someone hurt one of the characters? The other should be furious and want to exact revenge. Does someone say something demeaning to one of the friends? The other should defend them immediately and vehemently.
  • This can also take on a humorous twist if one of the characters starts dating someone. The friend can make extra sure that said date is sincere and promise to exact vengeance if their friend is hurt.
  • This can also be a great plot device, since it could explain why the MC’s best friend joins the quest/goes along on the journey. Perhaps this is the main plot point: a character seeking to protect/avenge their friend.
  • If you want to go in a toxic direction, this can be taken too far i.e. a friend who never lets the other spend time with anyone else/stalks the other/is patronising etc.

5.  Common interest(s)

  • Even if the two characters are vastly different, there should be something that keeps them together besides loyalty.
  • This is especially important for characters who become friends throughout the course of the novel.
  • This doesn’t have to mean that both of them go hiking every weekend or want to become pilots one day. It could be something small, like a love of cheesy movies or a shared taste in music. Maybe they both enjoy silence/don’t like other people. Maybe they are both social justice warriors, but for different causes. 
  • This could also be common characteristics instead of interests. Perhaps both are very ambitious/funny/social.
  • There should just be some factor that ignited the friendship and brings the two of them together.
  • This doesn’t necessarily have to be a big part of your story, but you should at least have it mentioned to make the friendship appear more authentic.

Reblog if you found these tips useful. Comment if you would like a Part 2. Follow me for similar content.

this works kind of with 3, but inside jokes are also really important! people are more likely to bring back an old joke than they are to say “omg remember that time when you drunk-texted me? that was soooo funny”

sort of along those lines, traditions. handshakes, going to a certain restaurant, movie marathons for a particular reason… all of this is showing that your characters have been around long enough to develop stuff like that.

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pens-swords-stuff

Writeblr Glossary

A list of words commonly used in the Writeblr community and their meaning!

I’ve gotten a lot of questions about what some things mean, so I thought it was time to compile a list of meanings.

Please click here to see the most up-to-date version of this post!

  • Writeblr — A community of writers on tumblr; A blog that posts primarily about writing. See here for a more in-depth explanation. (Also written as Writblr on occasion)
  • WIP  — Stands for Work in Progress. Primarily, it’s a piece of fictional work that is still in the writing process and is unfinished. (Also see: WIP page)
  • OC  — Stands for Original Character. This is a character entirely of your own creation.
  • Tag list  — A tag list is a list of users who will be tagged in every post that a Writeblr makes about a certain WIP. It is often included at the bottom of a post, and people are free to ask to be included, or removed from it.
  • WIP Page  — A page or a post on a Writeblr that describes a WIP. Commonly includes a synopsis, setting, characters, etc. See here for what goes in a WIP page and how to make one.
  • Tag games — Tumblr games where people will do something (often answer questions, a snippet of their WIP, etc) and ask other users to participate by using the @ function in that post.
  • Ask games  — A tumblr game where a user will request people to send them things with the ask function. Often times will include a list of questions they wish to be asked.
  • Writing Sprints — An activity done by writers, where they write as much as they possibly can for a set amount of time (often 10-15 minutes). Can be done with multiple people, and is a common activity for a group of writeblrs to partake in.
  • Fanfiction  — Fiction written by a fan about an existing TV show, movie, book, etc. Often features the characters, the setting, etc. of that piece of media.
  • AU  — Stands for Alternate Universe. AUs typically feature the same cast of characters of a WIP or an existing piece of fiction with a major change or two. (For example, a Fantasy AU would involve placing the characters in a fantasy setting. There also may be an AU of what might happen if a certain character didn’t die in their story).
  • Canon  — Material or information that is accepted as an official part of a story. (i.e., the creator confirms it and includes it in their story).
  • Headcanons  — Ideas and interpretations of a fictional work that is accepted by a fan, but isn’t necessarily supported by canon.
  • Moodboard  — A collection of images meant to evoke a certain feeling or emotion. Often used by Writeblrs for their WIPs and OCs.
  • Ships — The concept of a fictional couple. Can be either canonical or not. If you ‘ship’ someone with another character, you like the idea of them being involved with each other, often romantically.
  • OTP — Stands for One True Pairing. This is often used to describe someone’s all time favorite ship.
  • BrOTP — Someone’s favorite platonic ship. A portmanteau of ‘bro’ and ‘OTP’.
  • Beta Reader — A person who reads through a draft before publication to give suggestions and feedback to the author to improve it. Can be paid or unpaid, depends on the author.
  • Sensitivity Reader — A person who reads through a draft to check for issues of representation, cultural inaccuracy, insensitive language, etc. For example, if you are a white author who has black characters in your story, you should have a sensitivity reader who is black, so they can let you know if you are accidentally being offensive, or misrepresenting them in any way. Many writers will have multiple sensitivity readers to give them feedback, so they can make the proper changes to be more inclusive and culturally sensitive. Can be paid or unpaid, depends on the author. 
  • TW — Stands for trigger warning. Often followed up with the trigger (i.e., tw: self-harm). This is to warn people that there is sensitive content in a post or a WIP, and that if they do not want to see it, they should not proceed any further. Used in tags and the top of the actual post for visibility, and often accompanied by a “Read more” cutoff.
  • OP — Stands for Original Poster. It refers to the person who originally made the post. If someone says ‘thanks op’ on a post, they are addressing the person who created the post in the first place, not the people who have reblogged or added things to it.
  • Planner — A person who plans out their story before they write it, often with an outline. (Also see: Pantser and Plantser)
  • Pantser — A person who does not plan out their story, or plans very little before they write it. Comes from the term ‘flies by the seat of their pants’. (Also see: Planner and Plantser)
  • Plantser — A person who does both planning and improvisation in their writing. A portmanteau of planner and pantser. (Also see: Planner and Pantser)

Have a word you’d like to see included? Let me know and I’ll add it!

Have a question on what a writeblr term means? Feel free to ask me!

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Rain of The War

drip

drip

drip

falling down from the poison-green sky

beating like the army drum

roaring like the mother’s tears

because billy’s never coming home

and mary’s boy’s lost a leg

an’ uncle james from virginia hasn’t spoken to her in years.

The War’s been a-growin’ for three years

and She’s seen many young men in blue and gray

whose corpse’s rotting scent only gets washed away by july storm.

She’s heard the roaring shouts of cannonballs

and the crying of many a young wife

because she can’t start a life with her husband anymore.

She’s seen mothers and children flee and cry

because their home is bein’ stormed with men and boys in charcoal-gray uniform.

and as gunshots ring through the city

the mother clutches her child’s face and says

”hush, babe. all is good.”

though with doubt in her mind, she smiles

even though a letter from henry hasn’t come since april.

She’s seen nurses on battlefield,

getting another wounded every minute.

they rush about in their dull dresses

dresses as colorless as the faces of the men piled outside.

when the nurse steps outside for fresh air,

as she’s only been breathing the breath of the dead,

all she sees on the battlefield is a sea of gray and blue,

several bodies in uniform strewn about.

rain comes as homesickness pulls at her stomach,

not of a place, but a time.

a simpler time before The War

when she could walk outside without seeing a corpse

before she lost her brother peter to the army.

but The War, she has learned, is unforgiving.

The War looms on with Her devilish eyes,

green and serene like the atlantic,

deadly and foreboding like a rainy sky.

#poetry#poem#history#historical poem#historical poetry#civil war#short poem#my poem#my writing#writeblr#poetblr#writing#writer#new poets on tumblr#my post
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reblogged

Don't worry so much about your diversity.

I find that, when adding more diverse characters to stories, I tend to get worried about how to properly represent them. I end up doing hours of research for one minor background character that I end up scrapping because I see people talking about how hard it is to perfectly portray them.

Don't worry about your diverse characters being perfectly accurate. Don't worry about knowing every single little thing about a minority group to write a character. Know your basics, know the stereotypes to try to avoid, and create them as you would do with anyone else.

Research and perfection can come far later on when you have access to people from that group that can give opinions. For now, just write them.

Don't fear diversity.

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solarflare-ink-archive

Uhhhhh writeblrs? Fantasy writeblrs??

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ciels-writes

Moderate fantasy here!

‘Bout to start another WIP which will be either

  • demonic possessions, murder, Victorian London fantasy
  • trope-twisting, lgbtq, contemporary fantasy

Currently WIP is a Machiavellian dystopian story : )

it's totally random but i'm strangely hyped for the victorian london fantasy- it just sounds so good!

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ciels-writes

Thanks a million!

The Victorian era is too saucy to not be written about...

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solarflare-ink-archive

Uhhhhh writeblrs? Fantasy writeblrs??

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ciels-writes

Moderate fantasy here!

‘Bout to start another WIP which will be either

  • demonic possessions, murder, Victorian London fantasy
  • trope-twisting, lgbtq, contemporary fantasy

Currently WIP is a Machiavellian dystopian story : )

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nootwrites

Woahh- both of those WIP ideas sound so good!!! 

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ciels-writes

Thanks! Right back at you for yours

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reblogged
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solarflare-ink-archive

Uhhhhh writeblrs? Fantasy writeblrs??

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ciels-writes

Moderate fantasy here!

‘Bout to start another WIP which will be either

  • demonic possessions, murder, Victorian London fantasy
  • trope-twisting, lgbtq, contemporary fantasy

Current WIP (starting second draft) is a Machiavellian dystopian story : )

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nootwrites

A little guide to my wips!! (Part 1)

Bury the hatchet: A swashbuckling fantasy novel about two kids: Eldi, a young shapeshifter whose reckless tendencies get him into trouble more often than not, and Lou, a “prince” who was prophesied to see visions of the future but just… doesn’t. In fact, she isn’t really a prince, or a boy, at all. 

I’m currently beginning my second draft of this story! I came up with it nearly two years ago, and hopefully this time around will be better than the first dfghjjhgfdfghjk

(tag: Wip 1: gays… in the ocean)

Unnamed Contemporary Fantasy: In the world of this story, everyone is born with magic. Magic exists as coloured light that people can summon up from their hands, thought to be a projection of one’s soul. However, once a cult discovers a way to steal people’s magic, killing them, perhaps the one girl born with no magic at all could be useful after all.

I’m 60k words into my first draft of this one!! It’s a three-part story, and I’m currently starting part 2!

(tag: Wip 2: Mara time!!!)

Ponderings of a staircase: This one is fully scripted, possibly for an audio-drama podcast! When Lecia, a young girl exiled from her town, hunts down a witch for the bounty on her head, she makes a deal with her. Soon, she discovers an entire world in the basement of the mansion the witch lives in, one with hundreds of monsters and creatures trapped within it’s walls. 

This one is still in the brainstorming stage. 

(tag: Wip 3: down down down) 

There are quite a few more, but I won’t bombard you with all of them in one post. I’ll make more parts to this, describing my other Wips! :D

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ciels-writes

these !! sound so interesting !!!

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