Curse-Breaking!!

Curse-breaking has 3 main parts: preparation, the actual breaking, and healing. It's a lot like treating a wound. First you wash the wound, then you apply medicine, and then you bandage it so no bacteria can infect it. Curse-breaking works the same way.

So, for example, a typical curse-breaker spell might start with cleansing the room with a selenite wand or incense, and then leaving out a bowl of salt to capture residual energy. You can do this by using elemental energy to burn out astral parasites, too. Then, you'll cast your spell. You can use the Sphere of Protection and change the wording to ask the elements to clear out and banish curses and negative energy, for example, or you can invoke an entity's help and protection. Then finally, the "bandaging" part. Do something that "proves" that you can't be harmed. Set up a ward or cast a protection spell, cleanse yourself, or carry a protective stone like celestite or obsidian.

The most critical part of curse-breaking though is to understand that a big component of a curse is *psychological.* A curse, hex, whatever *cannot* affect you unless there is already a weakness there to exploit. In other words, a curse can't affect you without your say-so, consciously or otherwise (almost always otherwise). So simply put, you need to start and finish by taking your permission away. Start by *knowing* that any curses against you are no longer effective, and end by *knowing* that all curses against you have been lifted. In some cases, just knowing that a curse is there and saying "This curse is not effective against me" can be enough to break it.

Of course, truthfully, the best way to break a curse is really, y'know, to avoid getting cursed in the first place. That said - curses come in many different forms, and many of them are actually not cast on purpose. Curses can be caused by someone wishing ill on you - literally or metaphorically - or by someone thinking badly of you very hard. Fortunately, those curses tend to be weak and mostly harmless, and will often clear up on their own after a time. However, just like with a physical cut, you can speed the healing process by taking care of yourself and following some magical first-aid... And you can also prevent anything worse happening.

Hotel Spirits, like house spirits, are connected to a place. Unlike house spirits, hotel Spirits are also disconnected in a sense. They're liminal spirits of a liminal space, a self-contained area with its own rules, both part of a larger world and separated from it. People don't typically linger here, so energy collects from many different people and constantly moves. This is a safe place for many, and yet a place of secrets for others. It's a place where joy is found (vacations, adventures, waiting with anticipation to meet a loved one) and also more negative emotions (loneliness, betrayal, sorrow).

Therefore, hotel spirits seem to be liminal and adaptable as well. They're constantly moving and often unseen. They're protective of travelers and yet protective of the secrets of their place as well.

Hey hey!

Oh, hello my dear @saturnsilence. This is such an interesting question to be asked - thank you ❤️!

Writing isn't very relaxing for me, haha. It's like...hm. It's like getting out of my head by getting really deep in my head. It's the good kind of stress, when it works out well. The bad kind when I don't write at all.

It comes more down to ease of writing: What You're Falling On is still, to this day, the easiest fic I've ever written. Second would be Oh, But You're Good to Me.

We Should Kiss qualifies too, I think, in a different way. It was painfully therapeutic, but both the easiest and the most difficult story I've ever written. That includes Deductions.

I joke with my IRL friends that I've adopted "method writing." I didn't always. Maybe it's just the evolution of how I write. But certain stories get so deeply within me that they consume me. This makes writing more therapeutic for me (it gets it out, out, out, out of me, finally), but hinders writing other fics that aren't my new focus.

Aww, thank you nonnie! You're a gem ❤️

OH GOD. THE SMUT TALK. I knew this day would come. I have dreaded it, and waited for it, in equal measure. None of this is going to be comfortable. Buckle up and read under the cut because I get a little ~descriptive~.

Mostly trash, lol, but let me try to give you something more concrete, huh?

I write daily, and try for a minimum of 444 words. Sprints really help me (timed writing periods where my total word count is calculated start to finish), as well as gamification like 4 The Words. I highly recommend checking it out! You can do it free for a month (no credit card number to 'secure' your account required) and it's not that expensive if you choose to stay. During November - Black Friday and Nanowrimo! - they do massive discounts!

I switch the story I'm writing...almost daily. I usually don't write the same fic for more than two days straight. This keeps me more dedicated to completing scenes (do it while I can!) while also spreading myself over the...many WIPs I have going.

Write midday if possible. This is generally not an option, because of work. But if I can take a 15 minute break, and do a small sprint in that time, I end up feeling really productive and then amped to get back to it once my work day is done! I'm working remotely, so I know this isn't useful for everyone.

I know the first draft isn't great, but that's a-okay. It's better to finish, than to give up trying to fix the same trash section over and over. Write the story, fix it later. I find that the answer usually comes before you're done.

So you’re not going to read one story to really get that sense. I am a self-proclaimed disaster. I write first POV, second POV or third POV, present tense or past tense. Always AU, which means I have more leeway on a character’s personality than canon or canon-divergent stories. Sometimes I world-build with intense dedication (does anyone want to know the likelihood % of half-breeds surviving in utero in Deductions with medical reasoning as to why?) and sometimes I talk about Inuyasha hiding in a Corner of Sad because it be like that sometimes.

Look, if I had to pick one fic? Leverage. It kind of has a bit of everything but the back-and-forth present/past is a uncommon device for me and likely to never be used again.

My romcoms are styled pretty similar, genre-wise, so if you read Slipped, you get a general sense for what Got No Idea, Tell Me I’m Crazy or Pennies & Dimes will be like.

Why not just give up completely, I ask myself realizing this simple question has become an essay response, and I’ll suggest you read the fic of mine that matches what you’re feeling up for: Mystery? Deductions. Modern day Inuyasha retelling(ish)? That Flesh of Mine. Horny af? Breathless. Fantastical? Nepenthe. Want kid fic, family feels and my messiest writing because it’s just feelings? Oh, But You’re Good to Me. Crack-to-the-max? Winging It. Intense second POV feelings? Immutable. 

Oh my darling, well I’m SO EXCITED that you’ve been inspired to write your own stories. That’s AMAZING. I LOVE THIS.

Look, I’m going to be real with you: what works for some does not work for others. I, myself, operate in two different modes: RomCom Mode and Psycho Plot Mode, which you can read about here.

Sometimes plotting too much makes you too worried to actually write. Sometimes writing without plotting will get you stuck later on. My best advice is to be a Plantser. Do both. WRITE. WRITE WRITE WRITE WRITE. Just do it. WRITE IT. But because you must already have ideas/scenes/pieces of dialogue, jot those down. Get a notebook, or put it in Excel (like my crazy ass does) or a word doc or whatever. Jot the ideas down. Does one idea connect to the other? How? Maybe Person A needs to be betrayed by Person B, but have no idea how they’ll be betrayed? NO PROBLEM. The characters, I find, have a life of their own. Jot down what you know and keep chugging away. Move towards the plot points or scenes you’ve already envisioned. You have a direction, and as your characters develop and you add actions and dialogue, this very loose outline you’ve made starts to fill itself in. Your loose outline becomes a serious outline, and maybe one day you figure out the ending. HUZZAH. Jot it down and don’t you dare stop, you beautiful gem, you.