@the-wip-project Day 31 (I Finally Understood The Question!! Yay! I Was Waiting To Read Other Replies

@the-wip-project Day 31 (I finally understood the question!! Yay! I was waiting to read other replies to see what I didn't get - pardon my English)

So now I can answer: 🔞

What’s a pet peeve you have, that you focus on to do differently in your own stories?

In intimate, or even downright smutty moments, I literally skip depiction of "bedroom eyes", or other "liking lips for entrance", or "liking lips in anticipation". That kind of stuff makes me C R I N G E like nothing else does. It's porn, but it's poor, cheap porn to me and I can't stand to see my favorite characters shown in that light. They deserve better smut!

I don't pretend the smut scenes I write are the best, but as much as I can, I don't objectify my characters, nor do I use what I call unnecessary details that just make the whole thing a mood-killer.

CHARACTER FACIAL EXPRESSIONS (WRITING REFERENCE)

EYES/BROWS

his eyes widened

her eyes went round

her eyelids drooped

his eyes narrowed

his eyes lit up

his eyes darted

he squinted

she blinked

her eyes twinkled

his eyes gleamed

her eyes sparkled

his eyes flashed

his eyes glinted

his eyes burned with…

her eyes blazed with…

her eyes sparked with…

her eyes flickered with…

_____ glowed in his eyes

the corners of his eyes crinkled

she rolled her eyes

he looked heavenward

she glanced up to the ceiling

she winked

tears filled her eyes

his eyes welled up

her eyes swam with tears

his eyes flooded with tears

her eyes were wet

his eyes glistened

tears shimmered in her eyes

tears shone in his eyes

her eyes were glossy

he was fighting back tears

tears ran down her cheeks

his eyes closed

she squeezed her eyes shut

he shut his eyes

his lashes fluttered

she batted her lashes

his brows knitted

her forehead creased

his forehead furrowed

her forehead puckered

a line appeared between her brows

his brows drew together

her brows snapped together

his eyebrows rose

she raised a brow

he lifted an eyebrow

his eyebrows waggled

she gave him a once-over

he sized her up

her eyes bored into him

she took in the sight of…

he glared

she peered

he gazed

she glanced

he stared

she scrutinized

he studied

she gaped

he observed

she surveyed

he gawked

he leered

his pupils (were) dilated

her pupils were huge

his pupils flared

NOSE

her nose crinkled

his nose wrinkled

she sneered

his nostrils flared

she stuck her nose in the air

he sniffed

she sniffled

MOUTH

she smiled

he smirked

she grinned

he simpered

she beamed

her mouth curved into a smile

the corners of his mouth turned up

the corner of her mouth quirked up

a corner of his mouth lifted

his mouth twitched

he gave a half-smile

she gave a lopsided grin

his mouth twisted

he plastered a smile on his face

she forced a smile

he faked a smile

her smile faded

his smile slipped

he pursed his lips

she pouted

his mouth snapped shut

her mouth set in a hard line

he pressed his lips together

she bit her lip

he drew his lower lip between his teeth

she nibbled on her bottom lip

he chewed on his bottom lip

his jaw set

her jaw clenched

his jaw tightened

a muscle in her jaw twitched

he ground his jaw

he snarled/his lips drew back in a snarl

her mouth fell open

his jaw dropped

her jaw went slack

he gritted his teeth

she gnashed her teeth

her lower lip trembled

his lower lip quivered

SKIN

she paled

he blanched

she went white

the color drained out of his face

his face reddened

her cheeks turned pink

his face flushed

she blushed

he turned red

she turned scarlet

he turned crimson

a flush crept up her face

WHOLE FACE, ETC.

he screwed up his face

she scrunched up her face

he grimaced

she winced

she gave him a dirty look

he frowned

she scowled

he glowered

her whole face lit up

she brightened

his face went blank

her face contorted

his face twisted

her expression closed up

his expression dulled

her expression hardened

she went poker-faced

a vein popped out in his neck

awe transformed his face

fear crossed her face

sadness clouded his features

terror overtook his face

recognition dawned on her face

SOURCE

LGBTQ+ BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS 🏳️‍🌈

@the-wip-project Day 29

First, thank you for pointing out ProWritingAid! I'm using it right now and the advice it gives is so much more consistent than Grammarly! The advice is really enlightening; I'm learning important things!

The question now:

What's a common theme in your writing?

There's no way to tackle that question other than directly: Family relationships are central to all my stories, and more specifically, how the individual can let their personality grow, express themselves and fulfil their goals or dreams in and out of the family circle.

One of my school years's reads (and study) had been "Nourritures Terrestres" by André Gide, from which the famous quote "Famille, je vous hais!" (Family, I hate you) comes from. I remember it had resonated powerfully inside me at the time, dealing with complicated relationships with my own family. The theme in the book advocated existentialist theories, advocating an individualistic stance, disobedience to educational principles, on the premise that a family was a closed-off space, where jealousy and pettiness festered, where sexism and other forms of moral violence thrived. The book dates back from 1897 and of course society was not what it was when I was a teen (Good Lord, thank you) but some representations were sadly still current (and still are, to be honest)

It turned out that it took nothing more to shed a different light on what was happening around me. And although I never took such a drastic decision as to disown my family, like Gide advised, I started thinking about what my place was, and what I wanted it to be. Ironically, I decided little about what happened thereafter; I more or less watched things happen with painful clarity, never knowing what to do with what was thrown at me. I'm a firm believer in communication; so nothing is more frustrating than when it doesn't work. Misunderstanding was ripe, division reigned, and living far away didn't help.

In hindsight, I still don't know what I could have done differently, and although I reached an even state of satisfaction in my personal life, my family is the shadow of what it used to be. I did reach that state where I can express myself freely and be at peace with whom I want to be. Outside of my family indeed; but it saddens me to no end.

So, yeah, no surprise my stories are mostly all about family misunderstandings, secrets, division and reconciliation, hurt and comfort.

@vividly-creative

I read you and I feel you *hugs*

I've had similar thoughts about all the stories I've created (I'm having them right now for my 18-month old wip and the one I started... 3 days ago), a feeling that getting to the end is going to be so worthwhile because what I have in mind is so amazing, and at the same time so daunting that it actually stops me in my tracks, because what if I ruin this beautiful thing I have in my mind? What if it never reaches my expectations, and above all others'? And this is the one moment when the poisonous temptation to compare our work to others' pulls out its claws and drooling fangs.

From one thought to another, one day, I eventually considered things from a different point of view and came to a certain conclusion that I'd like to share with you. Maybe it'll ring something inside you, or maybe not.

Recently I've said in a post that I was a planner, and I am. This is the only way for me to beat this whimsical habit of mine: procrastination. I'd procrastinate for almost everything, and while I wouldn't mind postponing work-related stuff, it'd suck more to see myself postpone hobbies that are supposed to make me feel good. Writing falls into that category. Except that procrastination is not just postponing (and it certainly isn't idleness, we know that) Procrastination is also when you decide to do/create/start/continue/review another task instead of the one you "were supposed to do" (please, note the quotation marks), for reasons ranging from subjective importance to objective inclination.

It's not a flaw, it's not even a bad habit, but it certainly is exhausting in the long run.

But procrastination tells us something about us, creators.

Procrastinating is dreading the moment when the project, our project, will reach its term. When we'll have to part from it, when this project will live on with a life of its own, where it's meant to be, exposed to other people's scrutiny and comprehension. When it's no longer ours, and we have no control over it anymore. And yet, our parenthood over this piece of work is intact. We've been its source of life, its legal guardian.

We're responsible for its existence, as well towards its outcome, by making sure it's prepared for what's to come, autonomous, viable, acceptable, defendable. Perfect.

The fear of separation and the quest for perfection go hand in hand with procrastination.

Setting up a deadline, a date, a goal to finish a wip is like scheduling this separation and the grief that'll come with it, because it feels like a part of us will leave too, and there'll be nothing we can do about it. So, we hope it'll go in the best of ways, with flying colours. When the moment comes, we hope we'll be up to it, that the void that'll come after will be tolerable (but if we have other wips on the backburner, it'll hurt less, won't it?)

So, yeah, this is how I feel when I write my stories. I love to see them grow, develop, gain confidence. I'm always eager to write them down, to read the words and sentences flow and discover what I wanted to write (honestly sometimes I don't even know what I write...) And I'm so looking forward to knowing the end (LOL!!) while dreading that moment when I'll have to say goodbye.

Nobody likes to say goodbye to something/someone we love. I said goodbye too many times, without knowing that things were actually over, without making sure that I was happy with the way things were between them and me, that this part of me could go without any reason for future concern or regret.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that your wips might go when you finish them, but you can be sure they'll meet amazing people (readers, publishers, you name it) and make them happy. Don't be afraid to finish them and let them go (at your own pace).

Your creativity will never let you down. Take care 🤗

Doubting Myself

Lately I’ve been creating a lot of stuff, back to back.

I’ve been writing a lot and bringing characters to life. I’ve been working so much on my novel, my word count is getting up, my word document is getting longer and I’ve been receiving positive feedback from my friends.

Still, I feel likeI’m barely making any progress.

I have brought so many ideas to life  and I’m proud of myself and of what I created… but  it feels like it doesn’t mean anything.

My portfolio could and should have much more work in it. It feels like I’m behind and I always will be.

No matter how much I create, I constantly feel like I could’ve made more and I need to make more.

I want to have this inhumane amount of art made within a couple of hours. 

The moment I start writing a scene I’m picturing how I want it to sound at the end and I start asking myself if I’ll be able to even finish it. The second I start a new sketch I begin ruminating how it should look and I want to skip the process to finally see the end result.

I have to keep reminding myself that a successful piece of art is the one that makes you proud and allows you to grow as an artist; but that does not mean it will always be satisfying and I get that.

I love to create.

I want to create.

I chose to create.

But it’s hard to enjoy the process sometimes, when you keep telling yourself “This is the time I will finish this novel.“

“This is the piece that I will finally send to publishers.” 

“This is the work that I will have hundreds of rejection slips and just that one approved, because it only takes one publisher to say yes.” 

“Today I’ll make the photograph that gets into a calendar.”

“This is the art project that will make people take me seriously.”

“This is the one that will make me an artist.”

It ’s exhausting.