✧･ﾟ☽ 𝒫ℯ𝓃ℯ𝓁ℴ𝓅ℯ ☾･ﾟ✧

And then you smiled and, for a moment, I would have done anything to never see that expression fade.

I couldn‘t help the smile forming on my face when I realized you had been watching me the entire time.

It was an entirely inappropriate moment, but the smile had formed without me even noticing.

Only when my ribs began to ache, I managed to still my laughter and tame it into a wide grin instead.

No matter how hard I tried to act unaffected, I knew my lips were in the process of betraying me.

I smiled at you, and you smiled back at me, and suddenly this entire thing didn’t feel as daunting as it did before.

Even as my face began to ache, it was impossible for me to drop the smile.

Enemies to Lovers (and vice versa)

How to write Enemies to Lovers + Dialogue Prompts

Oblivious Enemies to Lovers Prompts

Enemies to Lovers: Falling for the flirt

Enemies to Lovers: Co-worker Edition Part I

Enemies to Lovers: Co-worker Edition Part II

Enemies to Lovers: Meet Ugly College Edition

Enemies to Lovers: Drama Club Edition

Enemies to Lovers: Apocalypse AU

Enemies to Lovers: Band Edition

Enemies to Lovers: Assassins Edition

Enemies to Lovers: Martial Arts Edition

Enemies to Lovers: Given up on life

Lovers to enemies

Reasons for lovers turning to enemies

Exes to Lovers

Exes to lovers prompts

Exes to lovers dialogue

Friends to Lovers

Reluctant allies to friends to lovers dynamic

Friends to lovers Prompts

Flirty friends to lovers Prompts

Friends with benefits to lovers Prompts

Friends to Lovers Ideas

Best friends to lovers Prompts

Childhood friends to lovers Prompts

Childhood friends to enemies to lovers Prompts

More:

Enemies to friends with benefits Prompts

Enemies to friends Prompts

☆ "You keep looking at me like I should remember you. I'm sorry. I'm trying."

☆ "They told me who I was. I don't recognize that person at all."

☆ "You loved someone who wore my face. I don't know if I can be them again."

☆ "Don't tell me everything at once. Let me find some of it myself."

☆ "I know I'm supposed to feel something when I look at you. I'm waiting for it."

☆ "You're a stranger to me. The saddest part is I can tell I wasn't to you."

☆ "My hands remember things my mind doesn't. That terrifies me."

☆ "Everyone keeps telling me who I was. Nobody is asking who I want to be."

☆ "I fell in love with you twice. Once before and once just now."

☆ "You kept everything. Every photo every letter. What do I do with that kind of love?"

☆ "I don't remember our history but I remember how you make me feel. Is that enough?"

☆ "Don't grieve me while I'm still standing here. I can't bear that."

☆ "I lost my past but I still have a future. I'm trying to focus on that."

☆ "You're the only thing that feels familiar and I can't explain why."

People tell we should study, work hard, get education, have talent to survive.

But no one tells that what we need most is our inner self.

Without it, what is the point of all the talent and education?

Maybe surviving is not the hardest part.

Vague writing makes readers feel nothing. Specific writing makes them see, hear, and care.

Instead of:

She was very tired.

Write:

Her eyes burned, and she reread the same sentence three times without understanding it.

Instead of:

It was a nice day.

Write:

The air smelled like cut grass, and sunlight flickered through the leaves onto the sidewalk.

Specifics create mental images.

They make abstract emotions tangible.

They build credibility, you sound like you actually experienced what you're describing.

Replace general adjectives like good, bad, big, nice, with concrete details.

Add sensory information (sight, sound, smell, texture).

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.

The best part about writing is also that sometimes you have to write.