witty writer

hiya, i’m hayden, i like writing and here’s a rundown of my wip.

edit: i forgot to say like… what it’s about. so hi, ghfty is about a home and specifically a group of kids that live there who have unnatural powers and use them to fight off unnatural creatures. ronnie movies in and ends up falling for one of the boys in the group and is trying to figure out what they’re even doing.

geraldine’s home for troubled youth (working title, subject to change)

characters:

geraldine: runs the home with her husband, richard. put the group together and finds people for them to help. 35

richard: a lawyer, not home much. 41

annie: their legally adopted daughter. 13

ronnie/mikey: new to the home, 18, gay, a sex worker, leaving an abusive home, mean and closed off but softer underneath that exterior. mixed. possibly has a gift like the group’s.

callie: a background character so far. ronnie’s best friend. he left her behind in her own abusive situation for the home. does not live at the home. 17

jared: pansexual, cis and white. a big jerk. only interested in sex and what he deems his (aka ronnie). does not live at the home. 19

the group™:

brian: trans boy, soft, he’s an energy-based telekinetic, but he’s admittedly not very good at it (yet?). 17

silhouette/sil: brian’s best friend. she’s a lesbian (or feminine-attracted) and she likes knives. she can turn invisible. she’d been going by sil before she realized she could turn invisible, but isaac started calling her silhouette when he found out, so she uses it as a nickname for silhouette. 18.

kelly: agender kiddo, has a Big Fat Crush™ on sil. they’re a mega empath, to the point where it affects them negatively sometimes, but they’re good at tracking and recognizing energy paths because of it. 17 (they/she, either is cool)

isaac: leader of the group and has been there longest of all of them. he’s psychic and uninterested in anything but his power, the group and helping people. 19

Emery’s favorite nightmares were the ones that didn’t know they were nightmares. They shuffled along on ungainly limbs like puppies learning to walk, urged forward by a treat, oblivious to the waking world around them. As they became more corporeal, they bumped into lamp posts and mailboxes, stumbled over their own feet, even sometimes made little hiccupping noises of surprise. Some barfed blood or sang horrible banshee songs or accidentally queued up in line at the ATM.

Cute. They were kind of cute.

You sneaky little bastards

So I’m doing another writeblr boost.

a kiss scene doesn’t have to lead to sex. it can, ofc, but it doesn’t have to. your characters can kiss for the sake of kissing and nothing more. kissing is hella enjoyable in and of itself, so it doesn’t always have to be a means to an end

a story doesn’t have to be steeped, marinated, and executed with tragedy to be a Real Story. obviously you can and should put your characters through the wringer, but if you don’t tell a story with hope and happiness it’s not really a story worth telling. be brutal but don’t be 100% dismal and bleak

a fantasy doesn’t have to be centered on a war, especially if you don’t feel fully capable of writing about war. they’re tricky and unruly beasts, and if you aren’t willing to give them the proper treatment (read: not romanticizing them), you’re better off not writing about war in the first place

your royal character can be fine with arranged marriages. they don’t always have to run away to escape them only to fall in love with the betrothed they were running from in the first place

on the note of romances, your story A. doesn’t need a romance if it doesn’t fit and B. doesn’t necessitate every character getting into a relationship by the end. for some people, romance isn’t their idea of a happily ever after, so you don’t have to force that into your book

perhaps the most unpopular, but it needs to be said: your female character should not slap your male character. ofc there are times when a slap is warranted, but if he’s just being a dick he doesn’t need to be slapped. that’s physical assault and abuse, which should never be acceptable, even if it makes some people laugh (it shouldn’t and yet it always does 🙄)

your female character A. doesn’t have to be thin, B. doesn’t have to be a Strong Female Character, and C. doesn’t have to go through nauseating hardships (read: sexual assault or physical abuse) for her story to be worth telling

just like fantasy doesn’t need to be centered on war, it also doesn’t need to be centered on medieval england. fantasy can happen at any time in any region of the world with any level of technology.

traditionally feminine values/traits in characters of all genders doesn’t mean they’re an inferior or weak character.

a female character can want power or have a desire to rule and not be evil.

me: don’t say it

me: don’t say it

me: don’t say it

me: don’t say it

me: don’t say it

me: don’t say it

me: don’t say it

me: don’t say it

but before [Character] could [verb], ACTION!

[Character] was about to [verb] when ACTION!

but no sooner had [something] than ACTION!

but just as [something boring], ACTION!

BANG!/CRASH!/BOOM! ACTION!

“Character dialogue starting some sentence about–” ACTION!

Character’s internal monologue starting some sent– ACTION!

Narrator starting some– ACTION!

… ACTION!

So, I was going to send this as a message to @oabuckvu, but instead I thought I’d post this here since others may also find it helpful!

A:

Addison- child of Adam- English Adina- slender- Hebrew Alby- from Alba- Latin Ally- friend- English Ash- ash tree clearing- English Azra- pure- Israeli Asa- physician- Hebrew Arin- enlightened- Hebrew Arlo- army, hill- old English or barberry tree- Spanish Avery- elf ruler- English Alex- defender of mankind- Greek Arlen- promise, oath- Irish Ambrose- immortal- Latin Aspen- tree- English August- dignity, vulnerable- German

B:

Blaine- yellow- Scottish Blake- blonde, dark- English Bryce- swift- Celtic Brooklyn- broken land- English Bradley- clearing in a woods- English Bailey- bailiff- English Beck- brook, stream- Norse

C:

Chyler- beloved- English Cody- child of cuidightheach- English Charlie- charles- English Chris- christ- English Coby- supplanter- Latin Casey- brave- Gaelic Corin- spear bearer- Irish Cameron- crooked nose- Scottish Colby- town, dark- Norse

D:

Dakota- friend- Native American Devon- poet- Irish Delaney- descendent of the challenger- Irish Drew- manly- English Denham- habitation- English Dael- knowledge of God- Hebrew Danny- God has judged- Scottish

E:

Ellis- Jehova is God- Greek Ellery- from the elder tree island- English Evan- youth warrior- Irish Emery- brave, powerful- German Eden- delight- Hebrew Ellison- child of elder- English

F:

Farron- iron grey- Anglo Saxon Freddie- peaceful ruler- German Frankie- free one- French Fynn- river in Ghana- African Finch- bird- English Flynn- child of red hair- Irish

G:

Gene- well born- English Gale- cheerful, pleasant- English Glade- shining- English Glen- valley- Gaelic

H:

Hollis- Holly tree dweller- English Harlow- rock, army, hill- English Halley- lived near a grove- English Hadley- Heather field- English

I:

Isa- devoted to God- Teutonic Ives- archers bow- English Iggy- firey one- English

J:

Juniper- youth producing, evergreen- Latin Jesse- gift- Hebrew Jo- God is gracious- English/German/French Joey- may Jehova add- Hebrew Jordan- river flow- Macedonian Jet- black gemstone- German

K:

Kellam- at the ridges- Norse Kelsey- from the ships island- English Kendall- royal valley- English Kai- sea- Hawaii

L:

Logan- hollow- Scottish Leslie- garden of holly- Scottish Lee- dweller near the wood- English Lane- path- English Luca- bringer of light- Italy Lirit- poetic- Hebrew Lex- defender- Greek Lakota- friends- Siouan

M:

Mattie- strength in battle- German Morgan- sea defender- English Misha- God live- Russia Max- greatest- Latin Mattise- gift of god- French Monroe- from the mouth of the river Roe- Irish

N:

Newlyn- from the new spring- Celtic Noel- Christmas- French Nicky- victory- English Nat- gift of god- English Nova- chases butterfly- Native American

O:

Oakley- from the oak tree meadow- English Oak- tree- English

P:

Perry- dwells by the pear tree- English Piper- one who plays the pipe- Scandinavian Pema- lotus- Tibetan Puck- unknown meaning- Dutch Parker- park keeper- English

Q:

Quinn- fifth- Irish Quinta- fifth- Spanish

R:

Reese- firey- Welsh Rey- king- Spanish Reed- red, clearing- English Rune- secret- Norse Rue- herb, regret- English Rain- blessings- American Riley- dweller by the Rye field- English River- river- English Rowan- red- Gaelic Rory- red king- Gaelic Ronson- child of ron- English

S:

Sawyer- cuts timber- Celtic Stevie- crown- English Shiloh- owner- Hebrew Sage- wise one- French Saxon- knife- Teutonic Sammy- bright sun- Finnish Scout- to listen- French Shane- gift from God- Irish

T:

Tex- texas- American Toni- worthy of praise- Latin Theo- God given- Greek Taylor- to cut- French Tyne- a river in england- English Tyler- maker of tiles- English Terry- powerful ruler- English

U:

Umber- shade- French

W:

Wyatt- guide- English Willow- graceful- English Wynne- fair- English Wren- song bird- English

X:

Xen- religious- Japanese

Y:

Yael- mountain goat- Hebrew

Z:

“I should really take notes while I write,” I command myself as I search through every scene which includes a certain side character, attempting to find the descriptor I used for their skin tone.

“I SHOULD REALLY TAKE NOTES WHILE I WRITE,” I scream while pounding my head into my keyboard, hoping desperately that somehow I will magically stumble upon that one scene where a side character mentioned the full name of someone who doesn’t even appear until the third book.