Seeking Out Physical Affection

enemies to lovers midpoint prompts

as the request stated, that ‘i am trying really hard to keep hating you‘ phase, or what i like to call the reluctant friend stage. feel free to use :)

“i think we’re friends now.” “God, don’t say that.”

“everything is just a competition for you… isn’t it?” “isn’t it for you, too?”

“h—” “don’t talk to me.”

“i’d pay good money for you to admit you tolerate me.” “tolerate being the operative word.”

“why can’t you open up to me?” “why do you want me to?”

they’re so used to hating each other sometimes the snide remarks just slip out LMAO

like “should i get you something too?” “you can get out of my fa— woah, hehe. sorry.”

“you’re still on that?” “still on that..??? STILL ON THAT?????? I CANT STAND YOU???!!!(!;!”

a whispered moment between them ; “i’m trying so hard to hate you.” “why?”

they’re trying hard to hate each other then something happens (plot) and they’re stuck together which makes it ten times harder

“be honest with me.” “but why? why would i do that?”

“stop.” “stop what?” “being so kind to me.”

remember… they hated each other a couple chapters back. what changed? why did it change? who did it start to change in first?

the moment where your character asks themselves; “when did this nuisance become so important to me?”

surprisingly no headache but i'm feeling too insecure to write jdfklgjdf.

“You have to get to a point where your mood doesn’t shift based on the insignificant actions of someone else.”

— Unknown

I really think everyone needs to truly internalize this:

Fictional characters are objects.

They are not people. You cannot "objectify" them, because they have no personhood to be deprived of. They have no humanity to be erased. You cannot "disrespect" them, because they are not real.

Saw a post about the reading order of a beloved author and how their early books are a bit rocky and mediocre. Imagine if we created a writing environment that believed in and supported people, so that they could start with a slightly dumb story, and be given the connection/resources/validation/support to grow over the course of a lifetime. They wouldn’t have to hit the ground running with a splendidly workshopped series, an mfa, and an audience of TikTok followers who have promised to buy it, so that all a gatekeeper needs to do is collect the money. They could just be a chicken shed cleaner, or a mediocre small-town journalist writing one column a week (which is a job that people used to have and support an entire family - imagine writing 500 words a week and having that be your whole day job lmao) with a bad book, and forty years later they’d be a Great.

I’d like to live in a world with more Greats. There are a lot of chicken shed cleaners who are Greats and we’ll never know them.

I do not want it to be like “back in the old days” where it was only men (with housekeeper wives) writing mediocre books. I want secure material circumstances for people, and I want time for them to do something that may never “pay off.”

You are still in my notifs

Good.

I wouldn't wanna be anywhere else.

Expanding a thought from a conversation this morning:

In general, I think "Is X out-of-character?" is not a terribly useful question for a writer. It shuts down possibility, and interesting directions you could take a character.

A better question, I believe, is "What would it take for Character to do X?" What extremity would she find herself in, where X starts to look like a good idea? What loyalties or fears leave him with X as his only option? THAT'S where a potentially interesting story lies.

In practice, I find that you can often justify much more from a character than you initially dreamed you could: some of my best stories come from "What might drive Character to do [thing he would never do]?" As long as you make it clear to the reader what the hell pushed your character to this point, you've got the seed of a compelling story on your hands.

五夏 2023

i hate when ppl act like the only reason to not like a "sad" ending is because you can't take it or whatever. personally as a tragedy enjoyer, i hate a poorly written ending. i hate an ending that is just kind of a bummer. i hate an ending that feels mean-spirited to the audience. i hate an ending that's redundant. i love a sad ending that is thematically consistent, poignant, and bespoke to the rest of its narrative.

“You cannot find peace by avaoiding life.”

— Virginia Woolf