Mac Verse

Prompts for writing Eyes like that

☆ She had silver eyes with the faintest blue at the rim, like a cloud that can't decide if it wants to be sky.

☆ She had eyes like the surface of a frozen lake. Silver-grey, still, and you were never quite sure how thick the ice was.

☆ She had grey irises like a winter sky and she looked at me like I was the first thing she'd seen in a long time that made her want spring.

☆ His eyes were the color of a storm I would have walked into without a coat if he'd asked me to.

☆ His irises were the silver of a sword that has never been used. Beautiful and cold and quietly waiting for the moment it becomes necessary.

☆ He had grey eyes that went silver in certain light and I spent an embarrassing amount of time engineering the right light.

Your action hero just got shot in the shoulder, stitched it up in a motel bathroom, and is now running through a forest. I need you to know that a shoulder wound severs muscle, nerves, and sometimes bone, and the human body's response to that is not "mild wincing followed by full range of motion." here is what injuries actually do to peoplee...

⊹ Adrenaline is REAL and it does allow people to do extraordinary things immediately after injury, BUT it is a loan, not a gift. you borrow the function and you pay it back later with interest. Your character might genuinely be able to run for twenty minutes after being stabbed. and then the adrenaline drops and everything the body was delaying arrives all at once. the collapse is NOT weakness. it's biology collecting its debt. write the debt collection. it's more interesting than the heroic sprint anyway.

⊹ Blood loss changes cognition before it drops you. you don't go from "fine" to "unconscious." you go through a whole middle stage of confusion, poor decision-making, emotional dysregulation, a strange calm, tunnel vision, difficulty forming sentences. Your injured character making a bad call, saying something they normally wouldn't, becoming suddenly and inexplicably gentle--that's blood loss. use the middle stage. it's dramatically rich and almost nobody writes it.

⊹ Recovery has a timeline and the timeline is long and boring and inconvenient to plot. a broken rib takes six weeks and during those six weeks sneezing is a genuine emergency. a concussion means no screens, no reading, no bright lights, and symptoms can persist for months. a stab wound to the abdomen means weeks of infection risk, limited mobility, and a specific kind of exhaustion that has nothing to do with sleep. Your character being sidelined and frustrated and useless for a long time is not a narrative problem. it's the story.

i love you all and i need you to stop writing trauma as a single breakdown scene in the rain after which the character is Healed and Ready to Love Again. that is NOT trauma :(

⊹ Trauma doesn't announce itself. it shows up as your character suddenly not being able to eat a specific food, or going very quiet in a loud room, or laughing at the wrong moment because their nervous system decided that was the appropriate response. it's mundane and weird and it makes no sense from the outside. the dramatic flashback sequence is the least realistic part. the most realistic part is your character suddenly needing to leave a grocery store for a reason they can't articulate.

⊹ The body keeps score and it keeps it in the strangest places. a particular smell. the quality of light at a certain time of day. a tone of voice that sounds like someone who hurt them. your traumatised character doesn't think "this reminds me of the bad thing." their heart rate spikes and they don't know why. they feel wrong and they can't locate the feeling. they're irritable for three days and only later, if ever, do they make the connection. write the disconnection. it's more honest.

⊹ trauma also does not make people universally sympathetic and wise. it makes some people controlling. some people funny at inappropriate times. some people very good in a crisis and completely unable to handle a normal day. some people are generously kind to strangers and absolutely terrible to people they love. trauma shapes behaviour in contradictory, inconvenient ways that don't resolve into a lesson. your traumatised character can be difficult to like. that's not a flaw in the writing. that's the WRITING.

Things to consider when Writing about Schools/Academies!!

⊹ What is this school actually for. training mages? knights? spies? just normal education? because "prestigious academy" means nothing if you don't know what they're prestigious at

⊹ Who gets in and how. is it merit based, do you have to be rich, legacy admissions, secret tests, random selection, born with the right abilities. what happens to kids who don't make the cut

⊹ What's the age range. are these literal children or young adults or mixed ages. because a school with 11 year olds has very different problems than one with 18 year olds

⊹ How strict is it. prison vibes with tons of rules? pretty chill? different rules for different student groups (which is unfair and causes drama)?

⊹ What are the social hierarchies. obviously there are cliques but what are they based on. wealth? power level? what year you're in? family name? talent?

⊹ What happens if you fail or get expelled. are you just sent home in shame or is it worse. do people sometimes not survive the training. how often do students drop out or disappear

⊹ Who are the teachers and why are they teaching. washed up former heroes? people who never left? actually passionate educators? suspicious people using it as a cover? mix of all of them probably

⊹ What's forbidden. certain magic, certain areas of campus, relationships between students, leaving grounds, specific books/knowledge. and obviously your protagonist will break these rules

⊹ How do students get sorted/grouped. houses? teams? specializations? randomly? and do these groups have rivalries because they should

⊹ What's the curriculum actually like. is it actually useful or are they learning weird outdated stuff. are there classes that are just covers for something else. what are the hardest classes

⊹ Where is this school located. isolated castle? middle of a city? pocket dimension? floating island? does it move? can students leave or are they stuck there

⊹ What traditions does the school have. tournaments, festivals, hazing rituals (the dark kind), graduation ceremonies, weird old customs nobody questions

⊹ Is there corruption in the faculty/administration. favoritism, taking bribes, secret agendas, covering up student deaths, embezzling, working for the villain

⊹ What's the diversity situation. is it segregated somehow (by class, species, magic type)? integrated but with tension? do some groups face discrimination from staff or other students?

⊹ What happens outside of classes. clubs? underground fight rings? secret societies? banned parties? students sneaking out? romantic drama?

Your character has been in a coma for three weeks and just woke up, said something profound, recognised everyone in the room, and will be walking by next chapter. i love you. i respect your commitment to the plot. but i need you to sit down because we have to talk about what the human body actually does when it's been unconscious for three weeks.

⊹ Waking from a coma is not waking up. it is a gradual, nonlinear process that can take days or weeks. there's no moment where the eyes open and the person is back. there are stages: responses to pain, then to voice, then to commands, then inconsistent awareness, then windows of consciousness that come and go. Your character might recognise someone they love and then have no memory of it an hour later. the people waiting at the bedside have to live in that uncertainty for a very long time.

⊹ Muscle atrophy is immediate and significant. after one week of immobility, you lose a measurable percentage of muscle mass. after three weeks? your character cannot sit up unaided. they cannot stand. their legs do not work the way they used to and getting them to work again involves weeks of painful physiotherapy. They will not be walking to the window to look meaningfully at the sky. They will be trying to hold a cup without dropping it.

⊹ Cognitive effects are real and unpredictable. memory gaps. difficulty concentrating. words disappearing mid-sentence. personality changes that might be temporary or might not be. your character waking up is the beginning of finding out who they are now, which parts came back intact and which parts are different in ways that can't be fixed by time or willpower. The person who walked in is not quite the same person who wakes up.

⊹ The psychological experience of the people who were waiting is also almost never written properly. you visited someone unconscious every day for three weeks and talked to them and held their hand and made decisions about their care and lived in a sustained state of grief and hope at the same time. and then they wake up. and you're supposed to be relieved. and you are relieved. but you're also exhausted in a way nobody is acknowledging, and slightly angry in a way you can't justify, and you've changed too while they were gone. the reunion is complicated. Write the complicated.

some of y’all will be engaging in witch hunt, accusing writers left and right and then wondering why more and more writers take their works down and don’t share them with you ungrateful losers anymore.

“this fic looks like it was created by ai” yeah that’s because ai was trained on human-made works and it was trained to mimic human-made works.

you claim you hate ai because ai harms real artists, yet you are out there accusing and harassing artists because “their vibes just aren’t right”. at this point, you are the ones who cause more harm — to art and the writing community — than ai does.

you are the ones killing art and writing community, the community you want to “protect against ai”.

so at this point, you’re killing the community faster than ai is. good luck when the community you want to protect has no human-made work left because you accused and harassed genuine artists/writers away and the only things that are left for you to read are actual ai-generated fics.

✮ Bad apologies are worse than no apology. Your character says "I'm sorry you feel that way" or "I'm sorry but..." and wonders why the other person is still mad. They're not actually taking responsibility, they're deflecting. Or they apologize way too much for little things, making it about them and their guilt instead of the person they hurt. Show the difference between PERFORMING remorse and actually FEELING it. Real apologies are specific. They name the harm and they don't make excuses.

✮ Sometimes your character doesn't know how to apologize. They were never taught. They get defensive instead. "Well you did X" or "I wouldn't have done it if you hadn't..." They're so afraid of being the bad guy that they can't admit they messed up. Show that resistance. The pride and fear mixing together. The way they're digging themselves deeper while trying to save face. They know they're wrong but they can't make their mouth say the words.

✮ A good apology is vulnerable as hell. Your character has to sit with the discomfort of hurting someone. Look them in the eye. Say "I fucked up. I'm sorry. You deserved better." No buts. Just acknowledgment. And then they have to wait for the other person's response. They don't get to demand forgiveness. They don't get to move on until the other person is ready. Show that powerlessness (Please.)

honourable mentions

go on now, do it.

75 prompts to write drabbles or longer stories.

"We need to take a leap of faith."

"I won't let them take everything from us."

"This is the only way."

"We're on the same team."

"You can't keep running away."

"We need to make this right."

"I have some questions for you."

"Wanna test it for yourself?"

"I can't believe you said that."

"You have to make a choice."

"This is our chance to change everything."

"We need to be brave."

"I can't do this without you."

"You have to face the truth."

"This is bigger than both of us."

"We need to act fast."

"I can't keep living a lie."

"We need to find the courage to move forward."

"We have to be honest with ourselves."

"This isn't over yet."

"We need to take a stand."

"I'm not alone in this fight."

"We can't let them destroy everything we've built."

"I believe in us."

"We have to keep the faith."

"I'm not as strong as you think."

"I can't keep living a lie."

"You have no idea what I've been through."

"This is bigger than both of us."

"We have to find a way."

"I can't believe you did that."

"We need to be strong."

"This isn't about revenge."

"You can't hide forever."

"We need to stay focused."

"I never wanted any of this."

"You have to face your fears."

"This is our moment."

"We need to find the truth."

"I can't let them win."

"You really need to trust your instincts more."

"This isn't about winning."

"We have to make a stand."

"I never thought it would come to this."

"You have to let me in."

"This is our chance."

"We need to be ready."

"I can't believe I trusted you."

"You have no idea what I've sacrificed."

"This isn't just about us."

"We need to stay calm."

"I can't keep doing this forever."

"I can't let them take everything."

"You have to trust me."

"This is our fight."

"Who are your friends?"

"Don't start from the very beginning."

"Personally, I have no idea."

"We need to be careful."

"I wish I could believe you."

"We can't keep doing this."

"How did we end up here?"

"You know I can't stay."

"We have to take a risk."

"I don't want to lose you."

"You need to let go."

"This isn't the end."

"We're not that close."

"I had a bad feeling about this."

"And it seems like I was right about it."

"We can't let fear control us."

"I never expected this."

"You have to make a choice."

"We need to act fast."

"This is just the beginning of our story."

Drabble Masterlist

Have fun creating and writing!

When planning novels, writers generally fall into 2 categories: “plotters” and “pantsers.”

A plotter - is someone who meticulously plans and outlines their story before they begin writing.

If you’re a painstaking outliner who spends a large amount of time in the prewriting stage charting out plotlines, devising characters, and worldbuilding, you fall into the plotter category.

Most successful writers do plotting to some extent.

If you take any bestselling published author, chances are they’d fall into the plotter category.

If you’re new to writing, trying out writing as a plotter can give you a good sense of how pre-writing can prepare you before you dive into the writing process.

If you’re the type of writer who likes to fly by the seat of your pants and write without a roadmap, chances are you would identify as a “pantser.”

A pantser - doesn’t spend a lot of time evaluating writing methods or planning out story structure, nor do they follow a paint-by-numbers approach to novel writing.

It is the preferred method for Stephen King and many other successful writers.

Pantsing can be a great way to quickly get into the writing process and beat writer’s block.

Whether you are working on your first novel or a followup to your most recent bestseller pantsing can be a great method for jumpstarting your process and getting your creative juices flowing.

How to Approach the Writing Process as a Plotter