#Ernest Hemingway said write drunk and edit sober

[mxmollusca]

I do my best writing after my sleeping pills have kicked in. I wake up knowing I did some writing but don't remember what about. I pull up the doc, read through it, and think "damn, I can really crank out the hits as long as I'm not making memories."

Ernest Hemingway said write drunk, edit sober. I say, write on lunesta, edit on strattera.

[welcome-to-green-hills]

So a while ago you said that you were cooking on a sonic science post. When do you think you’ll share it? I’ve always loved your sonic science posts. Also, could we send you topics and you write them?

Hello, my dear!❤️✨

Y’all are always welcome to send me a science-related topic tied to Sonic. I love answering them! If you have a topic, please send them!

As for the post in reference, I’m still working on it. “Write drunk, edit sober” as Ernest Hemingway says. I’m still in my “Mystery can’t articulate her thoughts well on 2.5hrs of sleep and caffeine.”

On top of that… I’ve got a question for y’all. Y’all are good if I post pictures of skulls with my science post? It’s a guide. I can always put a trigger warning just in case.

#mystery anon #off topic #I am an anthropologist #I am an archaeologist

[libbywednesday]

I’m GOING to get drunk and finish a chapter of my fic so if bloodlust updates later be patient because it’ll be my alcohol fueled gay ramblings

#shut the fuck up libby #Ernest Hemingway said write drunk and edit sober #so I take that to mean write drunk and don’t edit at all ever

[write-on-world]

#writers #writers on tumblr #writer #writing #my writing #writing prompt #daily writing prompt #daily writing #writing tool #story #ernest hemingway

[dagneyrobertson]

My life is not picture perfect. Oh, no, far from it. I clean up well, but who wants to spend valuable time, everyday airbrushing the truth?

Words have always been my medium. Don't get me wrong. I can decorate a home, or bake something delicious. I can apply full bridal make-up, losing myself in the creative process. I have amassed many compliments on those endeavors in my life. But when it comes down to it, I enjoy building sentences and shaping them into paragraphs.

I have a busy brain. I'm extremely analytical, but was raised to value aesthetics. My mother was artistic. My father? He was a newspaper editor. Imagine, you have ideas, but your editorial self crosses each one out before they ferment. There is a reason Ernest Hemingway said, "Write drunk. Edit sober." There is also a reason make-up was my first artistic medium. I remember telling many of my clients, "It's not a tattoo. Let's try it."

It is so easy to second guess, to pick at minutae, and to overthink. One of my favorite quotes comes from the screenplay for Bull Durham. "The world is made for those not cursed with self awareness." If I could create, with no concern for who will consume my works, things would flow faster and smoother. So, what is the laxative for my creativity? Is it to throw as much paint at the canvas as possible? Hoping something sticks? Putting the camera on auto and aiming it at whatever moves? Going back later to curate what works? I don't know. I do know professional writers write every day. They say discipline is more important than inspiration. I'll go 50/50.

What about you? Consume, curate or create? Go!

-Dagney

#dagneyrobertson #mymidlifecrisis #creativity

[cylonbarnes]

advice attributed to ernest hemingway (that he never actually said): write drunk, edit sober

me: is tipsy, can barely form these words let alone prose

[spacewolfqueen]

My boy Ernest Hemingway really said, “Write drunk. Edit sober.” And that shit is 100% accurate. Writing drunk is therapy. Deal with the grammar and spelling and plot holes later. 

[peterlieferii]

How Editing Old Contents Help With Your Web Rankings

The irony in the title is strong on this one. That matter aside, editing and updating your content could pave a way to drive more search engine traffic to your website. 

A good website interface is not enough to keep visitors on your domain, and it surely isn’t the main factor that encourages new traffic to it either. This is where fresh content helps. Contents that are optimized to rank above the results for search engines secure more traffic for your website.

Does it mean the more content you have, the better? According to research and statistics, not necessarily. This was observed by Neil Patel, a well-known marketer of this era. His observation proved that some top results on search engines are actually a year older, which we will discuss later on.

This plan of action could also help keep your existing customers engaged with your business, making them spend more time on your website, which could eventually result in conversions.

Despite the latter, this strategy requires caution and know-how for it to be executed correctly and effectively. Not every single article should be edited, only pick the ones where you can add more value. But after all, creating new content demands more time and effort, arguably with the same or even less return.

How Does It Help?

“Write drunk, edit sober” 

- Ernest Hemingway

It is believed that anyone can write anything, whatever mental state you have. But good editing could make that piece have essence and core.

Editing your content could certainly enhance its quality by providing better flow or calls-to-action. This could promote more interactions and if it’s relevant enough, chances are higher it would be shared, resulting in more traffic.

Neil Patel has presented in his blog that older content dominates the top results for google. He noticed that most materials on the top results are a year or two older. It’s because google’s algorithm would show the most relevant and most user-friendly content that exists, and updating and changing the date is not solely responsible for this effect, it could be that titles are improved to maximize your content’s click-through-rate.

Before You Even Start

You need to identify the contents that you would edit. Your main criteria should be materials that already gathered attention before. Regardless of how old the content is, as long as you can provide more substance and better information for it, then it should be prioritized as well.

Corrections and Relevance

Edits can start from the need of correcting spelling and grammar. Some typos and grammatical errors are significant enough to harm your content, not counting the notoriety of your website itself. Although this one does not necessarily affect your search engine ranking directly, it could be an issue on user experience which could affect the content’s performance based on engagements and interactions.

Another essential change is if you want to keep the content up-to-date. Editing your content could make it more accurate. By providing additional contexts and new information you are giving it more chance to be talked about, shared, and relevant enough to be referenced by other people.

A good measure to consider is to clean-up any broken links that are in your content. Nothing says “unhelpful” more than being redirected to a 404 page (or rather, no page). Luckily, simple tools like Broken Link Checker for Google can be used to fix this anomaly. Doing so would help Google see that your website is legitimate, thus helping it rank higher in search results.

You can also use the opportunity of improving your content by using more relevant keywords. Make sure not to overdo it though so your content would still be good enough for google’s algorithm.

 Extending Your Reach To New Levels

Updating content can also help it reach a whole set of onlookers that have significant differences with their buyer personas or their individual buyer’s journey. The deeper you penetrate, the more audience and traffic you have for your content.

This could be possible by expanding the topic from the main content itself. Adding new resources, better statistics, or even correlating it to recent trends helps signal google and other search engines that your content is the most accurate, most informative, and helpful as opposed to other sites.

A whole set of different audiences could also be attracted to the main content by expanding subtopics and other ideas from it. This is how you can explore and target different buyer personas and buyer’s journey level. This way you can generate fresh topics, and give value and traffic to new content that could be linked to your old ones.

As a result, adding related content that speaks to different audiences allows you to cover a vast area of the topics. Ensuring that your visitors remain on your website or at least give it value.

The same thing could be said in repurposing your content materials. Recreating your materials would allow you to make a presence on other platforms. You can make audiobooks, videos, presentations, or infographics out of the original content that you have.

Generalization

Wanting to boost your SEO could be challenging, but updating your old content might prove to be helpful. It is a good way to guarantee a huge improvement in your content’s ranking in search engines.

Starting with a good plan, analyze your existing content and prioritize editing content that will surely increase their value through editing. Reasons include relevance, corrections, and better optimization. Making sure they are up-to-date for your audience needs and google’s algorithm updates.

After focusing on the improvements, recreate existing contents and introduce them to different platforms you weren’t able to reach with the original. Take this time to refine keywords that tell google algorithm how critical your information is and how many people it could help.

Once updated, you would have to share the post again as if it were fresh content, but making sure that any previous interactions and notoriety of that posts are not compromised by these updates you are making. Remember, only update and edit the content that you would be able to add value to.

[writinginslowmotion]

"Write drunk, edit sober." (idk who said it but i thought it'd help u)

Thank you! Usually, that quote is attributed to Ernest Hemingway, but I don't think he actually said that.

I guess it could be worth a try! I usually don't feel like writing when I've been drinking though, haha

#asks #anonymous

[semercury]

ediblenonsense replied to your post: spotify just gave me an ad for vodka and i think...

write sober, edit sober - elizabeth ediblenonsense, 2019

OKAY SO! fun fact about the whole “write drunk, edit sober” quote that i think is actually really cool but  no one talks about because lmao self destructive writers and their addictions amirite? so aside from writers getting mad about how this glorifies addiction and perpetuates the myth that creativity stems from self destruction, it also was not actually said by ernest hemingway despite often being attributed to him. (also apparently, according to his daughter, he never wrote while under the influence of alcohol. he did, however, die by suicide, so like. i’m sure he wouldn’t want this kind of thing to be perpetuated.)

BUT! some people have interpreted this quote to mean something other than literally suggesting people use alcohol to write. it is meant to be taken in the same vein as not caring what your first draft is like and then going back to edit. the “drunkenness” of this quote is supposed to be from passion! write without reservations, about whatever, saying whatever! use all the purple prose and crazy descriptions you’d like! but when you edit, you have to be more serious, kill your darlings and all that.

so yes, write drunk! drunk on your own passion for the story you are telling!!

#ediblenonsense #reply #stuff sarah says #i just think this is Neat

[danafaithwriting]

tagged by @forlornraven i’m doing my tag games way out of order but whatever, i’ll get them all done i promise 

Doing the first section for Jude

List five basic facts for your OC

vampire hunter

cries over fall out boy

bisexual 

musician

gives good hugs

I forgot these were basic facts and I was about to tell you about the ARG he definitely made and was like woah tone it down

If your OC could have any superpower, which would it be and why? 

I think he’d pick time travel for himself, if only for the ability to save his parents and sister and hopefully not affect the future in any other way. Of course, were I to give him time travel, it’d be an involuntary symptom of anxiety a la Sam Barnes in The Bright Sessions and he would hate it. 

Anyway, I think empathic abilities would do him good. 

Post a pic / gif that describes your OC

i’m not gonna do that bc i can’t think of any and i’ve had this post done in my drafts for days and i just want it out in the world

Summarize your WIP in 10 words or less: a vampire hunter, his vampire in-law, and a vampire war (in-law is one word right?)

Do you have any villains in your story? Warden. Plus the whole concept of traditionalist vampires but like. that’s an antagonistic entity more than a villain. 

What’s easier for you to write, dialogue or description?  If I could get away with never writing description again I would

Do you have a favorite writing-related quote?   I used to have a button that said ‘Write Drunk; Edit Sober’ on it, attributed to Ernest Hemingway. (for the record, writing drunk really doesn’t make your writing any easier or good)

If you could assign your story one song, what would it be? Everything Is Shit Except My Friendship With You by Ballpark Music, apparently. 

Where do you get inspiration from? The Adventure Zone and the Beat (which is a gay club in my city and just gives me mega vibes every time I go) (actually every club I go to gives me Vampire Industry vibes I just rarely go anywhere but the Beat)

Do you tend to overwrite or underwrite in your first draft? I’m a serious underwriter and I hate it. 

I’ll taaaggg........ @panismightier @oliviagordonwrites @sleepy-and-anxious @writer-bat

#all danas go to heaven #vampire industry #enjoy

[conduitstreetcat]

Unholy Union - Finished!

With a very special chapter. So, we were talking about a tequila-sodden midnight orgy on the beach, because of course that's what Jim Moriarty and Sebastian Moran do when in Mexico.

It is lost in the sands of time which one of us came up with the brilliant idea to write said tequila-sodden midnight orgy whilst being drunk ourselves, but both writers agreed it was a great thought, and Jim and Seb were only too happy to go along.

The downside was that after one evening/night (writers live on different continents) of drunken writing, the boys had only had one shot and a bit, and were only about an hour into the orgy.

So as we didn't feel like letting the side down, we decided to do it again the next night. And the next. And the next.

The below is the result of those four nights; lots of beer, margaritas, and rum; and the two best characters writers could ask for.

Ernest Hemingway is reported to have said 'Write drunk, edit sober'. Apparently he never said this, and we didn't - except for a few continuity errors we fixed so as not to jar you, our dear reader, below is the text as she was writ in those long sloshed summer nights.Hope you enjoy it - we four certainly did. Read it on AO3

#mormor #sebastian moran #jim moriarty #tequila #cocaine #lots of sex #of course #also sweet #drunk writing

[mytipsyturvy]

Daily MCO Drink #112, MCO Day #113: DEATH IN THE AFTERNOON, made with one measure absinthe topped with prosecco. . Tastes just like what it is: absinthe and prosecco. The original recipe uses champagne though, and was apparently invented by Ernest Hemingway, who ordered it by asking the bartender to "pour one jigger absinthe into a Champagne glass. Add iced Champagne until it attains the proper opalescent milkiness. Drink three to five of these slowly." . Well, he also reportedly said writers should “Write drunk, edit sober”, so I approve wholeheartedly. . #absinthe #prosecco #deathintheafternoon #cocktail #tipayturvycocktails #mytipsyturvy #dailyMCOdrink https://www.instagram.com/p/CCYGIe-JXJc/?igshid=1klmcbqrplw1v

#112 #113 #absinthe #prosecco #deathintheafternoon #cocktail #tipayturvycocktails #mytipsyturvy #dailymcodrink

[bubblegum-switch]

Kitziwch – Human Things

Anonymous asked: i've got a request! I honestly just want something with lance getting reCt tbh, so uh. They're in the castle and so, allura and coran are like "lmao whats ticklign" and they want someone to demonstrate it, so they chose keith and lance to do it, first lance is all like scared n, stuff but then keef breaks the awkwardness and just pouncess on lance and coran is there just taking notes with allura And when they're done pidge says something like lmao good blackmail material and they're both SHOOK

Ask and you shall receive, friend :) I hope I did it justice

Title: Kitziwch – Human Things (b/c I can’t title for shit)

Word count: app. 3.6k (Side note: holy shit that’s longer than I anticipated)

Rating: it gets a b i t suggestive at one point but nothing more than like PG-13

Time: Before the end of season 2 I guess maybe, Shiro doesn’t have his Bayard so…

Characters: The main 7 (Keith, Hunk, Lance, Pidge, Shiro, Allura, Coran)

Pairing: pre-Klance

Genre: so fluffy it gave me cavities

Themes: Ticklish!Lance, Pining!Keith, ticklish!Keith, brief ticklish!Shiro to kick off the plot, this scenario is such an oldie but a goodie and I feel honored to write it, f u c k I’m so weak for Lance getting reKt you have no idea, I don’t know what “““correct form””” is but I needed a good opportunity so I could be very wrong but fuck that I don’t really care, it takes like over 1k words to get to the meat of the story I’m so sorry but I needed enough exposition for this prompt, I love using personal experience for help with writing haha…, am I minorly projecting my synesthesia onto fictional characters now is that what is happening, I’m writing this whole thing while over-tired over the course of several late-nights at like 11pm-4am and I think it shows, Ernest Hemingway Mr. Write-Drunk-Edit-Sober would be proud but then again what is editing, my tired ass decided to just fuckin give Lance a special kind of love for it which is why it gets suggestive *winks with both eyes*, fuck I need sleep, I did a surprising amount of research for the title, don’t ask me why Keith is so skilled he just is, Lance is literally a ball of ticklishness help him it’s adorable, I had so many options for endings  I hope I did this one right, there will likely be a part 2 b/c of another prompt I got that this can lead into so…

A/N: Ok so “Kitziwch” [kind of pronounced kitzee-ucx I think] is a word I created to be the Altean word for “tickle” out of the German word “kitzeln” and the Welsh word “Ticiwch” because of reasons you’ll find out at the end of this

---

At the training deck, Allura was trying to get a better feel for each of the paladin’s combat strengths and weaknesses. She was going to have each one go up and complete a relay of sorts – which was made of an opaque maze (unlike the electrified invisible one), fighting several types of drone-bots, and testing the accuracy of their Bayard. Coran was watching as well, taking notes on each round.

Pidge was up first, and she made it through the maze quickly, but lost time at the flying drones and accuracy due to the short range of her Bayard.

Then it was Lance’s turn. He didn’t get through the maze as fast as Pidge, but more than made up for it with accuracy.

Hunk was about in the middle so far for the maze time-wise, but was able to quickly obliterate the drones. However, his Bayard was not as precise as Pidge’s or Lance’s due to its comparably wide damage-field.

Keith practically danced through the maze, even though he got hung up a few times. He slashed through the drones and had a near-perfect score on accuracy.

Shiro was last to go, and after getting through the maze and the drones he was getting ready for testing the accuracy of his arm.

“Hold it!” Allura rushed to him. “I can’t ignore you Earthlings’ improper form any longer. I have held my tongue but I’ve had enough.”

“Aw, why didn’t you tell us? I would’ve fixed it,” Lance said from the sidelines.

Allura smiled apologetically. “You were all on a roll. I didn’t want to interrupt you, but I just can’t let this finish uncorrected.”

Shiro relaxed his stance. “Sure, Princess how do I stand?”

“Alright Shiro, hold your back in a straight line – don’t hunch over,” she said casually, circling him as he followed her directions. “Hm, good. Now, keep some bounce in your knees – you look too stiff, and if you can’t move freely you can’t evade.”

“Okay,” he replied, trying his best to follow suit. “Am I doing it right?”

She paused behind him. “Here, let me help you angle yourself a bit better.”

She reached forward and put her hands on his sides to adjust him. He jumped a little, but Allura credited it as surprise and shrugged it off. She tilted him to the left a little bit to balance himself, pressing her fingers into his ribs accidentally, and he involuntarily snorted out a surprised laugh.

This time, she quickly retracted her hands. “Everything alright, Shiro? Are you hurt?”

He rolled his eyes good-naturedly and smiled at her. “I’m fine, don’t worry, it didn’t hurt.”

She looked at him quizzically and tilted her head. “Then why did you make that noise? That was a laugh, right?”

“I guess I’m a little ticklish, that’s all,” he chuckled, shaking his head. “That shouldn’t get in your way again, I just didn’t expect it… Allura?”

She looked like she was deep in thought, trying to remember something that was forgotten a while ago. She looked to Coran, who looked back at her, just as confused. “Do you know what he’s talking about, Coran?”

“No, I’ve never heard of that before either. I don’t know what he means.” He turned to the other four paladins. “Can any of you translate? Altean often overlaps with your language, but there’s no word for that.”

“I can try to explain,” Pidge volunteered. “Basically, someone is ticklish, you can tickle someone, and that someone gets tickled. Linguistics aside,” she adjusted her glasses, “basically it’s when someone is touched in a way that makes them laugh. Some people like being tickled, some people hate it, and there are people that are more ticklish than others.” Pidge smirked, “for example, I’m not that ticklish. Shiro, on the other hand… well you’ve seen that he is.”

“Thank you, Pidge,” Allura said, still confused. “I think that helped, but I still don’t really understand it. How can touching someone make them laugh? And can everyone do this?”

“I agree, I’m still confused as well,” Coran piped up. “Can we have a demonstration? I think that might clear it up.”

“Oh yes, I think that would be great, Coran!” Allura agreed. “But how do we get someone to demonstrate it?”

“Well, if you want two people to show you what it is, I recommend some people who you want to see laughing, or to get revenge on. Tickling can be a great form of revenge, sometimes. It can also be a good bonding experience.”

“Alright, Pidge, then I think it should be…” she thought for a moment.

Lance’s eyes were wide, and he was trying to act like he wasn’t affected by this when every iteration of the word made him want to crawl out of his skin. He noticed Keith hiding his face behind his hair a little more than normal. Hunk, however, was completely fine through the whole conversation so far – not even blushing (like Shiro was, oh boy his face was pink).

“Lance and Keith.”

“What?” Lance shrieked, and then cringed at how terrified he sounded. Keith turned his head away so no one could see the grin that was beginning to invade his face, as well as the blush that sat upon his skin.

“Well, I think you two have some differences you need to work out, and Pidge said that tickling can be used as a bonding experience. Plus, Keith never laughs, and maybe I’m considering this revenge for you constantly flirting with me, Lance,” she said brightly, laughing at the end and showing she wasn’t actually upset.

“Yes, I think they would make a good match-up for this ‘tickling’ thing,” Coran agreed. “I can take notes on this to better understand it.”

Allura walked over to where the red and blue paladins were inching away towards the door. “Come on you two,” she chirped, grabbing their wrists and pulling them into the center of the room. She stood them face to face – or as good as she could get them since neither one would meet the other’s eyes – and she retreated back to where she previously stood next to Coran. “Alright… now start… tickling each other?” She glanced at Pidge to see if she had used the word correctly, and was given a thumbs-up in return. She smiled satisfactorily, and waited.

Lance shifted uncomfortably where he stood. Neither paladin moved or looked at the others.

“Why aren’t they doing anything, Number Five?” Coran whispered to Pidge, pen poised above his notepad.

“They must be shy about this, but don’t worry. Maybe they need incentive to get started.” She smirked, before shouting “if neither one of you starts tickling then someone else will tickle both of you!”

She grinned broader when she saw their faces turn redder and Lance nearly squeaked at the threat as Keith huffed through his nose.

Allura whispered to Pidge that she had an idea. “Keith, Lance was complaining about your mullet again yesterday!” she yelled to them in a sing-song.

Keith’s eyes snapped to Lance’s in an instant, biting back a grin. Thank you, Allura, for giving me an opening. “Again with the mullet?” He started inching towards the blue paladin. “When are you gonna let it go?”

Lance began protesting as he inched backwards, hands raised in defense. “No no no she’s lying Keith, I didn’t insult your mullet yesterday… to her anyway!”

“Oh, so you did?” he cracked his knuckles, and Lance squeaked.

“W-well,” Lance’s voice was unnaturally high. He gulped and steeled himself, stopping in place. “It is pretty terrible…”

That was the final straw. Keith yelled “enough with my hair!” and pounced onto Lance, knocking him to the ground.

Keith lay on top of Lance for a moment, blinking down at him and realizing Lance could’ve gotten hurt from that.

“Did that hurt you?” he asked quietly.

Lance fought back a smile, “no.”

Keith’s face finally split into that large grin – one of the first Lance had ever seen on him. “Good, because then this definitely won’t.”

The blue paladin’s eyes grew wide and his face grew pinker as Keith’s words fell from his lips. He didn’t have time to dwell on it much, however, as soon all thoughts were abandoned as he felt hands on his hips and two thumbs brushing over the skin. His breath hitched in his throat as he bit his lip and began to smile.

The pressure from the two digits increased, and he began squirming and laughing in little breathy huffs. “K-Keith come hahahon buhuddy…”

“So you remember me being your ‘buddy’ but not our bonding moment?” he teased, changing to squeezing Lance’s hips causing sharp, shrill laughs and him to buck up and down.

Lance felt what seemed like electricity shoot through his body, and his mind went blank. “NOHOHO KEIHEEHEETH,” he pleaded through laughter.

“If you say so, I’ll stop with your hips…” the red paladin near-growled (which made the boy underneath him blush even harder), and, in keeping with his word, shot his hands to Lance’s stomach. In desperation as his laughter reached a fever pitch, he reached to grab Keith’s hands. Keith was having none of it, grabbed them, and pinned them above his head. Keith held them with just one of his own hands, putting enough weight on them both to not hurt them but keep them in place. He tsked down at Lance before returning one hand to his stomach and scrabbling his fingers wildly, causing the blue paladin to dissolve into hysterics.

Lance couldn’t even protest anymore, for a few reasons (one of which he’d explain to Keith later, much to both of their delights), but mostly because he couldn’t physically form words with Keith’s hands there. However, it became even worse(?) for Lance when the red paladin decided to take it up a notch and stick his hand underneath his shirt to tickle Lance’s bare skin.

Lance’s vision erupted into brightness as his laughter turned silent from the fast, firm fingers digging gently into his stomach.

Keith’s face dusted pinker as he marveled at how soft Lance’s skin was, before realizing that Lance probably needed more air than he was currently getting. He let him laugh silently for a few more moments before letting up.

Lance panted, catching his breath and smiling largely. His relief was short-lived, however, as Keith’s hand crawled up his side, on top of his shirt once again. Lance was back to squirming as he felt his fingers walk slowly up his waist, and ribs, and then finding their target in his left underarm. Lance shrieked as Keith’s fingers danced in the hollow, and skated around the edge.

“KEIHIHTH COHOHOME OHOHON YOU’RE MEHEHEAN”

The red paladin laughed. “You think that’s mean, I’ll show you mean.” Keith let go of Lance’s hands, which instantly shot to grab him again. Keith stopped tickling for a moment to take one wrist in each hand. He maneuvered them under Lance’s back so his own weight was holding them down, allowing Keith to use both hands. He pressed his knees on either side of the blue paladin to keep him in place, and sat on his hips. Keith reached behind him and squeezed Lance’s knees, extracting deep belly laughter and causing his legs to flail around to their maximum allowance.

Keith inched his hands up to Lance’s thighs, and alternated randomly between squeezing and fully tickling and lightly tracing them. Lance dissolved into uncontrollable giggles at the latter two techniques, and let out yelps interspersed with short, barking laughs when he dug his fingers in. The layer of denim was no match for Keith’s teasing touches.

Keith’s fingers drifted from the top of Lance’s thighs to his inner thighs, but due to the quick change in his laughter Keith moved back to save him any embarrassment. Well, any more embarrassment. Keith didn’t fail to notice the… *ahem* lengthening of the individual laughs and how they seemed to become more throaty and less… less like laughs and more like something that under other circumstances he would be thrilled to hear.

Lance didn’t notice.

Keith hoped none of the others did, and he filed it away in his mind for later. He figured it was probably best to move his hands somewhere else.

He brought his hands to Lance’s sides, spidering from his waist to the middle of his ribs as best he could. Lance’s belly laughter returned, but he wouldn’t look at Keith – he kept turning his face away to try to hide – which the red paladin thought was adorable.

“MEHEHEAN”

Keith laughed along with him. “Alright, I think I can live with that,” he smiled down at him. He wanted to kiss Lance’s blushing cheeks, and he almost did before remembering the other 5 in the room.

He felt Lance’s ribs under his fingertips, and he dug into them a little more, making sure to press in-between the bones. He used both hands to play Lance like a twin piano with keys to the left and right. The blue paladin’s laughter became shrill at his upper ribs, and Keith was a little resentful that he couldn’t really get at Lance’s underarms while he was in this position.

Although, there was a place Keith wanted to try. He moved his hands slowly to Lance’s neck, dragging his fingertips gently the whole way. He began wiggling his digits against the soft skin there, causing Lance to scrunch up and start giggling. He tickled the right side of his neck, and watched Lance try to trap his hand between his head and shoulder. He tickled the left, and Lance did the same. When he tickled both sides of his neck, however, Lance tried to pull his head into his body like a turtle and wrenched his eyes shut.

Keith laughed again. He didn’t think Lance would’ve been able to be taken down by a few light touches on his neck (or his thighs, but that was another matter).

He didn’t want to keep at his neck too long, since that was a dangerous place to linger for a few reasons, but he didn’t want to be done quite yet. He decided to give his neck a break, and figured that it was a gamble for the next spot. Either it wouldn’t be ticklish and he’d have to move fast, or Lance would be even more adorable just by default.

Keith brought his hands to Lance’s ears and lightly brushed his fingers on their undersides on the thin skin and around the outside ridge of each one.

He played his cards right.

Lance’s giggles became effervescent as he scrunched up his face and turned his head from side to side as Keith’s heart melted.

“Nope, you can’t escape it now,” Keith teased quietly.

“Kehehehihith cohohome ohohohon…” Lance whined, but not for him to stop. He just… he couldn’t handle being teased.

Keith stayed tickling his ears for a few moments, before deciding that there wasn’t enough of a canvas to work with. He withdrew his hands, trying to figure out where to strike next. Hm.

“Do you think he’s done?” Keith heard Coran whisper to Hunk.

“He shouldn’t be, he’s forgetting a couple key spots,” he said back.

Keith grinned. Right. He slid off of Lance, who didn’t move right away.

All he did was ask, “are you done?” But not even in a tone conveying annoyance, just simply a question posed as if asking the time.

“Not yet, turn over,” Keith told him, and Lance froze, blush returning to his face.

“Come on, Lance!” Hunk encouraged.

“Yeah, it’s for science!” Pidge supported.

“And inter-cultural studies!” Allura chimed in.

“I’m writing as fast as I can!” Coran yelled in a hurry, apparently marking down everything that occurred.

“Come on, Lance, do it!” even Shiro was getting in on it.

Keith smiled down at him. “Come on, either you turn over or I go back to your stomach…” he raised a claw-shaped hand over him.

Lance groaned and flipped himself over, but Keith caught the smile on his face too. Lance was even biting his lip to keep from grinning more.

Keith sat on Lance’s thighs, facing his feet. He grabbed one of Lance’s legs and pulled his foot back towards him, eventually grabbing onto his left ankle. He pulled off Lance’s sneaker, and held it tighter before descending five wiggling fingers onto his upturned sole.

Lance erupted into laughter the instant Keith made contact.

“AHAHAHA KEHEHEHIHIHITH WHAHAHA—COHOHOME OHOHON”

The red paladin shook his head, chuckling and smiling fondly. He spidered his fingers along Lance’s arch, sliding farther down his legs so he could put more weight on Lance’s calves so he wouldn’t need to hold onto his ankle.

Lance felt fingers dancing as close to the base of his toes as they could get with how tightly they were curled. He shrieked with laughter as he tried to kick his foot out of Keith’s grasp, but it was held tight.

Keith smiled, and laid his leg over Lance’s spare one, holding it down with his weight. He leaned forward, and with the hand that was tickling his foot Keith pulled his toes back and held it in place. He was practically sitting on the back of his knees as he took his now free hand and tickled his stretched-out sole.

Lance continued his high-pitched laughter as he began clawing at the cool tile of the floor. Keith scratched along his cotton-covered arches, and Lance went limp with loud giggles bubbling out of his mouth as if he was a popped bottle of champagne.

Keith could’ve tickled him there forever, if only just to hear him laugh like that until the end of time.

He moved his nimble fingers to his heels and brushed around the edge, and Lance’s laughter became fuller again as he shot up, propped up on his elbows, eyes wrenched shut and face flushed.

Keith snickered at the instant reaction, and he was amazed that Lance hadn’t even said the word “stop” at any point. Keith knew that they were about equal in strength, but Lance never made a move to push him off…

Keith’s thoughts were interrupted as he felt clumsy fingers at his sides. He fought back his own laughter as Lance tried to retaliate. He had managed to bring himself up far enough so he could reach Keith, but he could barely do so.

However, it was enough for Keith’s incredibly sensitive sides. He started losing focus from the light touches, and as he arched his back and removed his hands from Lance’s feet, beginning to laugh himself, the tables were turned. Lance was able to roll out from under him and tackled him, situating himself on top this time.

“Write that down, write that down!” Allura was lightly smacking Coran’s arm out of excitement.

“Is that legal?” Coran asked Pidge and Hunk.

Pidge smiled, “all is fair in love and tickling.”

Coran nodded seriously, and continued jotting it down in his notepad.

Lance smirked down at Keith, who was sprawled out on his back with Lance pinning down his legs with his own. He was panting heavily and his face was deeply colored red, but his eyes were bright and happy.

“You know…” the blue paladin began quietly, and Keith had the impression that the words were not meant for the others to hear. “I could get my revenge right here, right now.”

Keith would’ve been worried, if not for the fact that everything other than Lance’s voice was conveying pure joy.

“Or… we could run back to my room and I could tell you things that would probably be good for both of us.”

Keith nodded quickly. “Yes. Let’s go do that.”

The two jumped up and began running out of the room before they heard—

“Think that’s good blackmail Shiro?”

Lance and Keith froze, and looked back at Pidge with wide eyes.

“I wonder what I can use this for…” she pondered aloud with mock-innocence.

“You were recording that?” both paladins asked simultaneously in embarrassment.

She smirked. “Remember that the next time I ask for the cookie jar,” she laughed. “Because who knows… it might just get broadcast to an entire planet, then they’ll know that the great Blue Paladin of Voltron is incredibly ticklish.”

Lance began walking towards her. “You wouldn’t…”

“Oh, I think we both know I would, and that I’ve had enough of your discrimination against people under 66 inches tall,” she teased in a sing-song voice.

Lance cracked his knuckles, walking closer to her, who didn’t back down. “Keith? Wanna help me here?”

Keith grinned evilly, “it would be my pleasure.”

“Oh my gosh!” Allura cried out, smiling largely and stopping the two in their tracks. “I just remembered something, Coran!”

Her advisor looked at her as well. “Kitziwch, right?”

“Yes!” she smiled, and the paladins could see right through her act. “We do have a word in Altean for that, it’s ‘Kitziwch’.”

Lance and Keith blinked at each other.

“You know, Keith, I think she knew all along. I think she tricked us into this!” The blue paladin said with mock-surprise.

Keith fake-gasped in return. “I think you’re right! But what do we do about Pidge and her blackmail, and Allura?”

“I do not know, there’s only two of us…”

“But there’s also two of them…”

“Fair point, buddy, so what ever shall we do?”

Keith grinned. “I think we have one clear option.”

“Shall we attack to defend our honor?” Lance readied his stance.

Keith followed suit, “absolutely.”

#voltron tickling #klance #tickling #tickle fic #ticklish!lance #ticklish!keith #filled #lance mcclain #keith kogane #vld tickling #mine #jeezus there's so much tickling in this #a good thing abt not being able to say the word and not always being able to type it: #is that i have to get creative with my descriptions lmao

[emhoardsbooks]

perfectchekov replied to your post

well, as ernest hemingway once said: write drunk, edit sober ;) good luck though emily!!

exaaaaactly  👀👀

#perfectchekov

[mimmblemimmble]

Ernest Hemingway wrote, "The world is a fine place and is worth fighting for." But he also said to, "write drunk and edit sober." I think he neglected to edit this line from For Whom the Bell Tolls so I fixed it.