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spacebuck · 3 years

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Yo I've got three braincells and you've been writing for a while and I assume you have at least Four Braincells and could maybe help me? What do you do when you get stuck with a story? I don't have anyone to bounce ideas off of and that, unfortunately, seems to be the only way my thought process works through plots? Any ideas or other things I could try?? What is your process like????? Thank you!!

sorry i’m later than expected! roommate cooked dinner while I was on my way home so had to eat my one true meal of the day fghjk

okay so I have a few main things I do if I can’t plot-jam with a trusted person:

1. work on something else. i usually have two or three Main fics that I work on at any given time - if I get stuck on one, i’ll move to the next. it keeps things fresh, and gives me a chance to stew on what’s happening in the other one. it doesn’t work for everyone, to be fair, but I find it does work for me - and when I go back to the one I was stuck on, often even if I haven’t consciously worked out what to do, I can write myself out of the pickle i put myself in.

2. move on to a new scene. this one I feel can be ~controversial~ in the writing community mostly because there are many people who simply can’t just move on - I usually can’t either, but what I have figured out works for me is:

a. bullet point the rest of the scene i’m stuck on (if possible)m so I know where I want to go

b. move on to the very next scene

that way I get the beats of the scene i’m skipping, so I can trick my brain into thinking I wrote it, enabling me to move onto something that lets me reset my brain a bit.

3. take a step back and review the scene. if you’re struggling with it, or getting bored with it, it may be that it’s because it doesn’t actually need to be there, or it needs to be rejigged to work better with where you want the story to go. if you find that’s the case, don’t delete it - just start rewriting the scene again under it as you may even find you can reuse some stuff, or merge the two to get what you want out of it.

4. push through it. another potentially controversial one, but i’m of the mind that one bad sentence is better than no sentences at all, even if it takes you half an hour to get it out. you can edit a bad sentence, you can’t edit a blank page. sit down, set yourself a small goal (like one sentence or one paragraph)and just write it. if you find that things start to flow, then awesome, write more. If not, yay you got a sentence or a paragraph down, move on to #5.

5. go for a walk or drive or bike ride or run (if possible). getting outside, in the (hopefully) fresh air, and getting some exercise can let your brain have a chance to catch up, and you may start spinning ideas while you do it. if not, you got out of the house for a bit and that’s honestly far better for you than people realise. for reference, when I was writing howitzer and got stuck I would grab my skates and head down to the local rink, and remind myself why I loved the sport (and get some exercise in to get the body moving). i know it’s pandemic-times, so please only do this if it’s safe, and wear a mask.

5. go do something else completely. seems counter-intuitive right? but honestly, we’re living in unprecedented times, to use the overused phrase. we as a society are undergoing so much trauma day in and day out with no let-up, and even if we weren’t, it’s okay to rest. it’s okay to give your brain time to catch up and process things. sometimes we get writer’s block for a reason. if nothing else is working, it may be time to rotate your mental crop fields and leave the writing one fallow for a bit - unused, given a chance to recover - while you go work on a different field. that field could be anything - crafting, baking, playing a video-game, watching that tv show you’ve been meaning to, pick up that book, vacuum that couch. you could even literally do nothing at all, anything as long as it’s not writing! letting your brain rest is a huge part of the creative process, and when you’re ready to give things another go, go back to step 4 - set a little goal, see how you go.

i spent most of last year in spot number 5 - I had a lot going on irl, and needed to give myself space to deal with that. i only really started to come out of that at the end of October (which is why nanowrimo went okay) and then got slammed with renovations so I haven’t got much to show for it, but the majority of the words i’ve written this year are from November - and that’s okay!! sometimes that rest is a few hours, sometimes a few days, sometimes several months. it’s okay to need time!! if you feel like you need permission to rest, this is it - you’re allowed to!

this is longer than i’d planned (story of my life lmao) so i’m going to stop here, but I hope that’s of some use to you?? good luck finding the errant braincells!

#barneswrites #if this feels a little preachy i'm sorry i just have a lot to say kjhgfdfvgh #if you're still struggling once i'm off my secondment reach out and i may be able to plot-jam with you if you wanted as well!!#i don't have the capacity to at the moment but sooooon #anonymous #barnesanswers

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lxvntr · 4 years

Text

Resting with you

Idol: Felix X reader (minor Chan and seungmin interaction)

Genre: fluff, soft

Word count: 2.2k

Warning: minor cussing

A/N: this is my first fanfic so go easy on me!

“Oh shit I left my wallet at the front desk” you said as you began to rush out the door of your hotel room. You’d been stressing about the Stray Kids concert you were going to attend the next day so it was predictable for you to forget a few things. “I’m just HOPING nobody opens it and checks my damn school ID or I’m swinging” you thought to yourself as you took the elevator down into the main lobby. Once the doors opened, you rushed to the desk to find it empty with no secretary. You waited for a while, but there was no sign of the secretary coming back. “Ugh you know what I’ll look for it myself,” you sighed as you became impatient. You went around the counter onto the desk where the secretary was SUPPOSE to be. You quickly started looking for it through the piles of papers and portfolios. “Oh there’s cabinets under here she probably placed it there.... hopefully” you sat on the floor and opened the drawers that were located under the desk.

You was so determined to find your wallet that contained the money you were going to spend at the concert, you didn’t hear when the front doors of the hotel open. “Excuse me...” you became extremely startled by the strange voice that you stood up so fast, you bumped your knee on the cabinet you were checking which caused some of the piles of papers from the desk to fall and scatter onto the floor.

As you stood there, your eyes met with the eyes of the deep voice that scared you. Your face became pale and your eyes widened as you saw who the voice belonged to..... Lee Felix. His hair was fluffy and messy as if he had just woken up, eyes puffy from sleeping too long, and clothes that seemed too big for him. “Hey um, can we get 4 rooms please?” He said as he rubbed his eye, which made him look soft. “.... oh um, I don’t work here, and I can’t find the secretary ...” you said, your voice lower than usual as you were nervous and still trying to process what was going on.

The door opened once again. This time, Chan walked in, also in comfy clothes and messy dark brown hair. “Hey Lix , the manager said he wants a room to himself so make it 5... oh, hello good evening ma’am” Chan said as he walked closer to the counter, keeping eye contact with you. You felt your face become red in embarrassment as you stood there with papers all over the floor and wearing your favorite pjs. “Is this REALLY how my idols are gonna remember me” you thought to yourself wishing she had worn cuter clothes.

“ oh, I never got to introduce myself, I’m Felix and this is Chan” Felix said while staring deeply into your eyes. “ oh... um im y/n” you mumbled as you looked at the floor, not being able to look at Felix as he looks so handsome it was intimidating. ”Oh Chan, She said she doesn’t work here and we can’t find the secretary” he said while facing Chan who stood next to him.“Darnugh I wanted to go to sleep alreadyyy” Chan complained as he began to wander around the lobby.

You began to look around trying to find a solution, and that’s when you saw the board that held the keys to the rooms. You walked towards it and you saw the keys to the rooms that were next to yours; There were exactly 5 keys. Your heart raced as you grabbed all 5 keys without thinking it through first. “ hey um, there's 5 keys to rooms that are next to each other, you guys could take them and head up to leave your luggage and stuff, I can wait here and let the secretary know once she’s back, that way you don’t have to wait for her.” Your voice was shaky and low as you tried not to fangirl and scream in front of your idols. “ wouldn’t you get in trouble though?” Felix said, looking worried for you. Your heart began to race as you saw the worried expression on Felix face, who was looking at you fondly “Oh I’ll be fine I can handle a few consequences”, you said trying to laugh off your nervousness.

Felix hesitated for a second, but proceeded to take the keys from you, as he was tired and just wanted to go to sleep, knowing that tomorrow was going to be a big day. “I’m guessing you’re next to our rooms right?” He smirked while looking at the guest list and seeing your name written down under the numbers of the room that was situated next to theirs. You became startled and looked up to Felix trying to figure out how he found out, that’s when you saw him reading the paper. You quickly took the paper from the desk, as you began to feel your face became red knowing that he knew what you did. You stayed quiet for a second before responding, “um, am I really? Oh, um I just grabbed whichever keys I saw were together.” You looked up shyly to see that Felix was already looking at you with a soft smile, his eyes becoming puffy crescents. “ it’s alright don’t worry, it’s actually comforting to know your next to me,” he paused as he placed the keys in his pocket.

“Actually, did you come alone?” He asked. This was a question that you never thought you’ll be hearing from him. You were honestly at the verge of fainting I’m surprised you haven’t already. “Yeah I did, I couldn’t find anyone to come with me to the co-“ you paused. as you were about to say concert, you remembered that they didn’t know you were a fan, and frankly you didn’t want them to know as it can make you come off as a saesang. You tried to think of something else to say, “ conference I have tomorrow, so I’m all alone” you giggled ever so slightly trying to lower your heart beat. “ oh, well since we’ll be next to each other, you should come over to my room and we can play video games…. IF THAT’S FINE WITH YOU YOU DON'T HAVE TO” Felix said a bit nervous by what he said.

You, who was even more shocked by what you heard, didn’t respond as you were trying to not pass out from the excitement and nervousness. “That was weird I’m so-“ you interrupted him “yes, That sounds fun! I haven’t played video games in a long time, I’m pretty sure I forgot how to at this point” you giggled and played with your hands as your cheeks became red from how flustered you were from his invitation. Felix, who was also flustered, nodded with a soft yet big smile, his freckles becoming hard to see from his blush.

A few hours had gone by, you found your wallet and decided to head back up to your room without waiting for the secretary. Your mind was rushing with emotions and thoughts trying to comprehend the situation. “ holY SHIT I JUST MET THE FELIX AND CHAN” you screamed in your head as you couldn’t actually scream fearing that Felix might hear you. You decided to change into cuter sweatpants and a hoodie which was way too big for you, making you look small and cute.

You left your room and walked down the hall to felix's room, which was right next to yours. You stood there for a minute, hesitating to knock knowing Felix will be right on the other side. Once you decided to knock, you were surprised to see seungmin opening the door.

“Holyshitholyshitholyshit” you screamed in your mind seeing seungmin standing right in front of you, his eyes red from the lack of sleep and his hair messier than felix’s. “ hi, um, is Felix here?” You said shyly. “ seungmin let her in!” You heard Felix’s voice coming from the inside of the room. Once inside, you saw two beds and the tv, which was set in the Mario kart menu screen. He was sitting in the farthest bed from the door, surrounded by blankets and pillows. You stood in the corner of the room not sure as to where to sit. “ come here” Felix said as he patted the empty space next to him on the bed. You listened and sat down next to him, Trying to keep a moderate distance from him to not make him uncomfortable. “Here, you know how it works right?” He said as he handed you the Nintendo switch controller. “I wasn’t born yesterday” you said sarcastically, which caused Felix to let out a small laugh.

You both played for a bit, Felix winning to you often as he had played this a lot of times with his hyungs back at the dorms. You also kept getting distracted by looking at him and how comfortable he seemed to be with you, though he didn’t truly knew you. “That’s not fair! you’ve probably played this much more often than me!” You complained as he turned off the switch. “ hey, you said you knew how it worked so I didn’t go easy on you” he said with a slight smirk on his face. “I’m tired of playing, and since seungmin is sleeping and we can’t be loud, do you want to watch a movie? I mean Unless you’re tired you should go to sleep, I wouldn’t want you to be sleepy at your conferences tomorrow.” He offered. You contemplated as it was 1:00 AM and you were more worried about him being tired tomorrow knowing he’ll be performing. “I’m fine, I’m worried you’re going to be tired tomorrow morning,” “ I’ll be fine don’t worry about me… so is that a yes to the movie?” Felix asked once again, looking fondly at you, in which you were sitting in his bed wrapped in a blanket and making sweater paws. “It better be a good movie though,” you said teasingly.

He went on Netflix and chose a popular movie about high school students who worked for a mafia. He went back to bed and laid closer to you than you were expecting, which made you blush again as you felt his knee and shoulder slightly touch yours. During the movie, you began to feel sleepy, your head began to bob around as you tried your hardest to keep yourself awake.

Your tiredness was more powerful than your will to stay awake and you rested your head on felix’s shoulder. You stayed there for a few seconds before shooting your head up realizing what you did, causing you to lose some sleep. “Omg Im so sorry Felix I didn’t mean to do that,” you exclaimed as your blush went from pink to red and your eyes were wide yet puffy from being sleepy. “ it’s okay don’t worry, I don’t mind it. You can go back to sleeping on my shoulder, if it’s comfortable.” His deep and tired voice sounded very soothing and comforting. He placed his hand on your cheek and guided your head back into his shoulder, softly moving your hair behind your ear. You were too tired to try and deny him, so you went back to laying on his shoulder. “ here get more comfortable,” Felix got your hand and looped it through his arm, making them intertwine. You was too tired to comprehend what was happening, so you went along with it. He kept his hand on yours, slowly rubbing his thumb up and down, the comfort of his shoulder and the warmth of this hands and body slowly drifted you back to sleep.

The next morning, you woke up and realized you were on your bed. You were confused as to how you ended up in your own room if you don’t remember waking up. that’s when you remembered what happened the night before. Though it was a blurry memory, you remembered that Felix carried you, bridal style,back into your room and covered you up to make sure you kept the warmth he provided to you. You sat on the edge of the bed, your cheeks and body started to feel warm, your heart pounding so hard you can hear it. You noticed a piece of paper on the nightstand. You stood up and walked over to see the word “Felix” written on it. It was a note.

“Hey y/n, you fell asleep yesterday during our movie lol, it’s okay though no hard feelings here. I carried you back into your room since you looked so comfortable with me, I didn’t have the heart to wake you up, I hope you’re okay with that :/ Also, I saw the Stray Kids lightstick on your table, meaning you already knew who I was this entire time. Hehe Anyway, I’m guessing your ’conference’ is our concert, so I hope to see you there in the crowd.Also, After the concert, come and meet me backstage with the pass that I left on the table, I'm hoping you're open to go on a coffee run with me, I’ll like to get to know you more :) -Felix”

This was only the beginning….

-to be continued-

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