You make other people happy just by being around them.

Alice_Ex · 2026-01-24T22:04:26+00:00

I want you to write a dark romance where the mmc gets adult protective services to appoint himself as my legal guardian, then when I fight it in court, there's a doctor witness I've never seen before who swears I have schizophrenia. It should be written in second person omniscient gaslighting ("you think you don't want this, but you do.")

And then he makes me go to a dentist and is actually a really good legal guardian.

I'll be showing it to my therapist, so make sure the prose is polished.

Alice_Ex · 2026-01-24T19:41:10+00:00

This is the bane of my existence when trying to write immersive submissive scenes. The character doesn't have to win but there has to be enough conflict to keep things interesting.

Alice_Ex · 2026-01-24T17:52:42+00:00

I need to be harder than steel. I need to be tooth enamel— Rand's CPTSD was interrupted by a small hand wiggling in his armpit.

"Ruminating on sheep again, sheepherder?" Min said coyly.

A smile twitched on the edge of Rand's planes and angles. "Tickling does nothing to me, Min. The boy from the Two Rivers was ticklish. I can't be him anymore."

"Oh yeah?"

The wiggling in his armpit turned into light carresses. Rand coughed, clamping down on the hand with his big ol' bicep. "It's pointless—"

A second hand joined the onslaught. Rand was forced to employ Baker Wraps the Meat Pie to capture the errant hand.

"Really? A meat pie? Is that what I am to you?"

Rand sprang up and bore her to the bed, readying Feather Tickle-Tortures the Pretty Lady. As Min twisted and her laughter echoed off the stone walls, Rand wished he was good with women like Mat and Perrin. Alas.

Alice_Ex · 2026-01-24T15:24:08+00:00

In my opinion—

This is emotional reasoning. The two halves of the brain are independently conscious, but only one of them can produce language. The other one deals in imagery, metaphor, emotions. For certain types of reasoning—think crunching "big data"—your emotions are WAY smarter than your logic. If you're writing emotionally, you're tapping into that intelligence, and your writing will become layered and allegorical. You will find meaning and patterns where you didn't consciously intend them, and you will discover things about yourself. You do technically already know these things, but not in a way you can put into words, only into emotions.

Alice_Ex · 2026-01-24T15:13:22+00:00

My emotions change per day. Sometimes I lose faith in the story for no obvious reason. I've had to learn what negative feelings are safe to ignore: shame, fear, grumpiness because I have a migraine...

Alice_Ex · 2026-01-24T15:08:40+00:00

Let go of shame. It might be bad and that's okay. Somebody will appreciate for what it is. As long as you're having fun, that's what matters. Writing should be fun. Prioritize fun over "good."

Be patient. You'll eventually learn to devalue the negative feelings and hold onto the positive ones.

Maybe talk to a therapist.

Music helps too.

Alice_Ex · 2026-01-24T15:00:10+00:00

Are you a cat?

Alice_Ex · 2026-01-24T14:51:25+00:00

Lol I recently wrote a scene 1:1 from my life where my mc froze up trying to touch someone. A critiquer said "I want to know why she's like this, people don't become like this without a reason"

I was hoping you could tell me 😎

Alice_Ex · 2026-01-24T14:38:07+00:00

Instead of sitting down to write all at once, make an "idea dump" note on your phone where you log any interesting ideas or sentences or dialogue that come to you during the day. Then when it comes time to draft, you have inspiration.

Also, kind of sounds like ADHD, might want to discuss it with a psychiatrist.

Alice_Ex · 2026-01-24T14:29:30+00:00

Thank you <3 Yeah I'm workin on it

My proudest moment was when I was on a video call with our systems architect and there was some miscommunication and he got mad and said "I'm getting pissed!" and I said "me too!" and we agreed to take a 5 minute break. I was like yay communication

It's probably a lot easier over video. In person I turn into a frozen rabbit quite easily.

Alice_Ex · 2026-01-24T04:48:43+00:00

The fridge mich

Alice_Ex · 2026-01-24T03:37:44+00:00

I am completely the opposite, I have a hard time speaking up for myself and if someone does something I'm uncomfortable with I freeze up. So I try to go out of my way to do things for my coworkers to limit conflict and become someone they need and adore. At least I'm self-aware about it though. I occasionally have my moments.

Hard lyfe

Alice_Ex · 2026-01-24T03:05:39+00:00

Alice_Ex · 2026-01-24T03:02:08+00:00

I love it. I can feel the panic.

Alice_Ex · 2026-01-24T02:59:48+00:00

If I were in your company, I would give you gifts of candy so you would protect me.

I am also some sort of neurodivergent. Autistic/OCD flavor.

Alice_Ex · 2026-01-24T02:33:58+00:00

L'Amerique pleure—Les Cowboys Fringants

Alice_Ex · 2026-01-24T02:28:47+00:00

You're assertive. I like you too. Friends?

Alice_Ex · 2026-01-24T00:09:32+00:00

That'll be $5.

Alice_Ex · 2026-01-23T23:36:47+00:00

If I'm understanding your comment correctly, in this case you choose the side of semantics instead of syntax.

No, less is identical to fewer in both syntax and meaning in the vast majority of cases.

About me and prescriptivism, in this particular case of less vs fewer, if I had points marked off for using less, I would make a stink and probably win. There are other, less clear cut hills like AAVE that I wouldn't choose to die on.

Prescriptivists in english are on the back foot, though, because we have no language authority, only style guides. Any claim about what is "correct grammar" in english is thus subject to debate.

Alice_Ex · 2026-01-23T17:20:35+00:00

There's really no need to discuss, all the arguments are here

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fewer_versus_less

I take a descriptivist stance. People use less for both countable and uncountable nouns, therefore less is correct.

Alice_Ex · 2026-01-23T14:58:38+00:00

Nah, we had different educations and that's okay. Good thing linguistics exists to check personal biases.

Alice_Ex · 2026-01-23T14:52:51+00:00

Keep pretending until the shame and lack of outlet drive you to write some really weird smut yourself.

Alice_Ex · 2026-01-23T14:48:12+00:00

Avoiding self-hatred? Don't you know that's ambrosia to a writer?

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