Writing Exercise
Notes On Reading My Stories...
I wanted to share some notes on my stories, the universes that they inhibit, and the ways that they relate to each other. Please read this note first; I promise I will keep it brief. In general, there are three universes that I'm posting here: space, the detective, and fairytales. I'll make a master author's note the detective and space universes themselves soon, but here are the important parts:
By Dionearia Red7 months ago in Writers
Author's Notes: Little Snow-White
"Snow-White, Rose-Red, will you beat your lover dead?" "But Little Snow-White is still a thousand times fairer than you." Two women white as either snow or roses, two sisters that loved and stood together rather than attack each other, and a princess whose "dead body" was nearly sold and then given to a strange prince. These stories begged to be put together in a way that offered the romantic love of a fairytale as well as the familial love that is so often missing from them. Where to begin? This tale has some rather serious updates: gone is the evil dwarf, now is the evil wizard, who just so happens to be the Evil Queen's father. The darker versions of these stories could get very dark, and while Snow White and Rose Red is more fun and fluffy (save for the Bear and the dwarf's physical fights and the Bear murdering the... what was I saying?), but Little Snow-White? It is dark. I adore the original 1812 idea of the biological queen/mother even though most modern tales remove it - which is fair as it is the easier story to tell and one of the changes the Grimm's Brothers themselves even made, especial considering the queen wants to canabalise her fourteen or so year old daughter. The Prince in the 1812 edition then tries to buy the princess's corpse. Even by the second edition, the story is sanitised some, and, for modern readers, I wanted to make even more changes, even as I brought back some of the 1812 elements. I also combined my favourite Shakespearean tropes of cross-dressing for protection with true love complications, but I did keep the 'true loves' queer in keeping with my theme of this series. Ialways loved the idea of a woman disguising herself as a man in order to do what she needs to do, and my favourite stories growing up was a princess getting a knight to fall in love with her, and then, she would be revealed as a woman and they could be together: Zelda/Sheik, Mulan, Viola from Twelth Night amongst others. Now, as an adult, I understand and support just making them all queer, which, looking at the meaning of the word, they are. There is some really good Viola/Orsino genderfluid Fanfiction on A03. The framing narrative is back as well if you missed that.
By Dionearia Red7 months ago in Writers
Author's Notes: The Fairytale of Cinderella
Take an ancient story, add a queer foundation, characters that really want to make their marriage work, Rogers and Hammerstein, Into the Woods (just for flavour), a bit of soulmate magic, and, perhaps, you will find a true Happy Ever After. This story is the 'sequel' that would not be ignored about Cinderella. From the beginning of the film version of Roger and Hammerstein's Cinderella, I loved the relationship between the Prince and his Mother in the 1990s film especially; the reprise of 'Do I Love Her Because She Beautiful' (sung by Whoopi Goldberg) showed a loving mother who really does want the best for her son, even when she doesn't always show it well. This was compounded with tales of queer royals throughout history having both wives and lovers, some happy, most not. I wanted the best of both worlds: a queer prince but a happily married Cinderella who was finally free of her Stepmother's cruelty. This idea has formed over the years into this story. A bisexual prince with a male true love who marries a girl who loves him, and, somehow, they end up happily? Like all fairytales, this story features magic and love, but, also, a desire to work to make Happily Ever After really happen. I wanted to note that I know I stated in 'The Fairytale of Beauty and the Beast' that Cinderella was marrying a duke, but that had to change. She is now marrying a Prince. You will understand why in the text of the story. Again, grammar is stylised and not accurate or 'correct.' This is on purpose. I hope you enjoy this short, sweet, and lovely little story.
By Dionearia Red7 months ago in Writers
Craft over catharsis.
I like reading, 📚 I like writing, ✍🏾 I like sharing, I like exploring, and I like art. All the above, connect you to something. If I create by writing, I will want to share. Writing is an art, and a preserver of history, culture, and values. While art allows me to explore. Craft is a generic term for all kinds of art. It is not selfless but desires to share. It looks for a problem to solve, and solutions to adapt. When I think of catharsis, it is a temporary state, fleeting, might be exciting, and less involving. It sounds lazy, laid-back, and a bit selfish.
By Kusauka Chimbe7 months ago in Writers
I Had 2 Hours a Week to Write. Here's How I Still Showed Up Daily.
Two hours a week. That's all I had when I was working full-time and trying to build a writing practice on the side. Maybe 15–20 minutes a day if I were lucky. Some days, all I had was literally five minutes before I had to leave for work.
By Ellen Frances7 months ago in Writers
Two People, Going In Opposite Directions
Fiction prompt: Start or end your story with two characters going in opposite directions (literally or figuratively). What this brought back to me was a friend I met in recovery. He was every bit a Heyoka (they are contrary). When looking it up to give a description, it was attributed to the Sioux; the Lakota, and the Dakota people.
By Denise E Lindquist7 months ago in Writers
I use Inktober as a Writing Aid
If you are a writer reading this, you know just how hard it is to find content to write about. Oftentimes, we have writing groups that employ various methods such as word sprints to get that creativity flowing. However, I have been in many of these groups that died out due to the curse of inactivity. Another source we often use are writing prompt groups such as r/writingprompts on Reddit, but the very specific prompts on there can be limiting, or may not inspire creativity. There are plenty of other resources writers use to practice, but let me throw my personal resource out there: Inktober52.
By Callum Summers7 months ago in Writers
