Alex Fox

Haven’t done any art in a while since I’ve taken on way too much in life halp

I haven’t art-ed in a while, I’m neck deep in this rewrite and I’m dying save me

Shitty Reid drawing: a million hours

Hissy Luc: ten seconds

I wrote this out a while ago but never posted it anywhere, so here’s a bit about how I get my first draft to the next level. So much editing still happens after this, but here’s my first steps!

Reread, note anything you’re worried you’ll forget in a notebook, but try to read for pleasure.

After, write down things that stuck out to you. Think overall plot, character arcs, and anything noteworthy in the subplots. Think of scenes you might want to add.

Then, add the scenes you thought up and take away any you hated. If you take any out, write down any plot related things you deleted Or any information that you’ll now have to add into another scene.

Let it sit for a bit after this. Come back in a week when you have fresh eyes. Again, reread for pleasure but feel free to take notes as you notice them. Don’t worry about sentence structure or anything, you just want to make sure it overall works.

Create a but/therefore outline. Write down every scene/event and link them with either: but, therefore, or and then. After you’ve reached the end, go back and highlight every time you wrote “and then.” You will want to change these into buts or therefores. Figure out what needs to change to make this possible, but don’t edit the manuscript until you’ve fixed every “and then” in the outline.

Fix the manuscript, find places to add any information you cut by deleting scenes, do another read through to make sure everything flows, then set it aside for a week.

Tagged by @gh0st-writes because he’s the best 😊

The words are: desperate, running, emotion, and start.

~~

The bed found them, Luc hovering over Reid as Reid hit the mattress, just barely sitting up. He didn’t want to sit up. He wanted to fall back and pull Luc with him. But Luc held him there, hand on Reid’s bare back, easily lifting him. Reid’s left hand, now free, found Luc’s hip and used it to hold himself up, the shock of Luc’s bare flesh sending waves of urgency through him. This was a bad idea. A terrible idea. He needed it so desperately.

~~

Luc turned just as the gun went off, so that he didn’t get a chance to react. Blood sprayed out his back as he stumbled into the house a step. Two more shots fired and the kid took off running. Luc hit his knees, slumped over, and looked down to the blood coating his shirt.

~~

She watched Reid a moment, and he did his best to hold himself together, to show no emotion. He couldn’t break apart. Not for this. He didn’t want to have to explain the gaping hole in his chest. He just wanted to move on.

~~