It’s So Hard Being A Writer Sometimes Because You Can Tell Yourself Over And Over Again That You’re

plz add me to your taglist, this is awesome!!! :oooo

BLUEBEARD by Yah Yah Scholfield / the shining ( dir. stanley kubrick ) / crimson peak ( dir. guillermo del torro ) / revenge horror / about 4.3k words

Wait, but I think this is actually one of the spiciest, most interesting short stories I’ve done! It’s a very tasty commission for @janeaustenwlw, and I’m super happy to have been given a chance to write it!

The plot is simple—a woman is confronted by a ghost; the ghost gives her a task. I really can’t say much else without spoiling the story for you all, and I desperately want you all to enjoy this!

Inspirations for this piece include; Crimson Peak, The Shining ( specifically the character of Wendy Torrance), and the entire genre of revenge-horror films I suppose.

NOW AVAILABLE TO READ ON MY WEBSITE!

general tag list under the cut! if you’d like to be on my tag list, just dm me!

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Out of Context Line

Thanks @glasshouses-and-stones for tagging me! I've been busy with my studies, but writing. Planning on making an intro post about Liquor and Locusts when I have time, oddly it's gotten some interest after years in my asks. But for now here's a random excerpt from a chapter I'm revising this afternoon.

Tagging: @orphanheirs @tildeathiwillwrite @defeatistwriter, and anyone else who wants to join. Happy Saturday :)

Novel Moodboard: Neon Chatroom.

A little preview of a moodboard for my shelved novel, Yellow Houses. Although this project is now shelved I'll be making an intro for it soon so stay tuned!

yess a bonus vid! 🤩🤩 my question is, as a discovery writer, what signals to you that a chapter isn't working? And do you rework them, store away in a doc--or scrap entirely? much luv, hope you're staying safe :)

Q&A - ask me questions!

Helloooo! I thought I’d do an end of year writing Q&A for a bonus vid in my YouTube channel. If anyone has questions, leave them as a reply on this post or send me an ask (make sure to indicate it’s for the Q&A)!

I’m back, and currently drafting the final chapter of Project A.M.

PLEASE, I can’t wait to start draft two and whip this project into shape. But I always rush endings. Perhaps I should slow down and savour this first draft.

I forgot about this short wip, I hope I didn’t lose the actual document now

I wrote this short story a while ago, intending to submit it to some magazines, leaving it to decay chill until I had time off from uni to edit it. Currently busy af w *shiny* new novel, but  I wanted to share some of it on here to motivate me to work on it. Alors,,,,,,

genre: spooky lit-fic logline: Trudging through the barren Arizona desert after a night out partying, a group of friends come across a cupcake shop owned by a creepy old lady and her cannibal husband.  TW: drug use, dead rats, disturbing cupcake ingredients, murdery elderly people.

Everything had been going well up until I lost my pink sneaker. It jumped into an Uber and drove off waving, never texted or called, leaving me to live my life without protection from sharp objects or raccoon shit lying around my frilly socked feet. Then we missed the last bus.

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IT’S WARM IN HERE by Yah Yah Scholfield / 11.k words / Gothic Space Horror + Eldritch Space Horror

IT’S BACK! One of my favorite pieces and one of the first pieces of short fiction I’ve ever published! It’s Warm in Here is … ugh, it’s perfect, it’s got outerspace, it’s got intrigue and horror and fear, it’s reclaiming Lovecraftian horror from that racist white man, it’s written by a talented Black ingenue it’s so!

It’s Warm in Here, like all my stories, is about balance, familial and community bonds and the evening of scales. What makes something equal? How much blood is enough blood?

Like and reblog if you enjoy, and of course! Leave me messages and reviews!

mood!! same!!! good luck <333

just submitted to a litmag for the first time….

What's your short story writing process?? I love your works <3!

hello anon + thank you so much!! it mainly happens in three stages. i’ll try and break this up so that it’s easy to read, i’d also recommend checking out this post where i talked about my titling process as that’s something that also plays into the way i write my short story.

NOTE: i’m a pantser and i pants all my work. this process is super intuitive and tends to differ slightly for each story. for me i learn more about the story as i go and i’m just as in the dark as the characters.

1. THE IDEA. this comes from literally anywhere, and can be of any form: the main concept, theme, or aesthetic, maybe an integral image or aesthetic, maybe a specific title or lexicon. i’ll be exampling here to make it make more sense:

for saltwater, the story came first. i’d had this initial idea of a couple drowning in the ocean after one of them drives them both into it.

for it’s gene magic and/or turpentine, it was a vague concept that formed the idea although it has zero impact on the plot since i veered away from said concept.

for geometry of the holy moon (1 am), it was the aesthetic, the setting and the lexicon [specifically the word ”yearning”]. i was inspired by a conversation i had about desi mythology and singing to the moon.

for cranium, i wanted to write something in second-person and wrote the first line, ten followed though with my instinct.

for helium throat [although this doesn't really count considering that this is a revamp of an older story] it was the exploration of a character relationship + dynamic.

getting the idea for me is very intuitive, and it happens at a pace i can't fully keep up with so for most of the time when i get an idea i put it into my ideas’ doc and save it for later. i’ve talked about this before but having an ideas’ doc is a lifesaver because you will have inspiration ready at hand and it can be super organised too! [mine is divided into plot, pov, form, theme, character, titles, verbs, concepts, etc.]

2. THE FIRST LINE / PARAGRAPH. once i get the idea, and i choose to draft the story immediately, i write out the first excerpt / line. this can be a hit or miss. sometimes [like with helium throat and gene magic], the first paragraph lets me understand the voice + tone, and i’m able to draft the rest of the story in it. sometimes, like with gothm, the first line doesn't fully explain it [this may be because it isn't where the story’s meant to start, sometimes because it just feels wrong] and in this case i either scrap the paragraph and start over, or i keep it to add to the story at a later point. this first excerpt is important to me as it helps determine how the rest of the story’s going to go, helps me get a slightly better understanding of the aesthetic and the voice, and at how rich / sparse the prose style will be. [so for gothm, i knew it would be a very thick and dreamy prose style while with gene magic it would end up being short and punchy]

3. THE DRAFTING. this one’s going to get so vague, but basically i then just,,, draft the story! i always keep a notebox kind of thing for each one where i put in anything related to the story [so scene ideas, the wordbank, particular aesthetics, etc]. i refer to this as i go on drafting. when i’m at the beginning, i still don’t fully know what the story will be about but the more i draft the clearer this becomes. most of the time, the ending clicks for me first, and then the rest of the writing process involves me building the gaps between the current scene and the final one. sometimes, i’ll get a scene idea that will completely shift the story from the point it was going. a lot of times, i’d start adding in a specific detail which i’d end up making much more plot relevant later on. i always refer to my general ideas’ list while drafting as sometimes a random, seemingly unrelated concept or word can help me in uncovering the short story. my drafting process is hard to pin down as it’s rather different for each short story but it usually involves me stumbling around a bit and trying to make out more of the story until something clicks or becomes clear and i finish the rest with an exact understanding in mind.

and this is the gist of how i write the first drafts of my short stories! i’ve only just started editing them, and in that department i have no insight [and i’m suffering there too yikes]. but i hope this was able to help!!

Foreshadowing, agreed! But also—

Queue those random eating scenes and insufferable monologues. Can’t forget the matching character’s mood to an ornate object or cloud pattern.

I’ve come to realize that I’m an underwriter. Hbu?