It Is Important, I Think, To Make Your Protagonists Weird, Even Deranged, In Some Unusual Direction.

It is important, I think, to make your protagonists weird, even deranged, in some unusual direction. This is because doing so opens up a wild vista of bizarre actions for them to think are natural, some of which no one has ever done before and which have space for a protagonist of doing that.

Yes, you can have antagonists and mentors and prophecies shoving them unwillingly along at every step, but frankly the antagonist is overworked and does not have time to burn every peasant village the chosen one might be raised in. You can't collect taxes from smoking ruins!

Decide what you need your protagonist to do, and then create a character who will just Do That given half a chance. Saves a lot of effort all around.

A Valentine Birthday

For @mysticstarlightduck for @writeblrcafe Secret Valentine's Day Event. And yes, I'm your Secret Valentine. I hope Valentine's Day will be full of love for your family and friends.

This is also dedicated to those birthday celebrants who were born on Valentine's Day as well.

And lastly, one last thing: Happy Birthday to Jaehyun of the Kpop boy group NCT, who was born on Valentine's Day as well. Happy Birthday to our NCTzen's (offical fanclub name) Valentine Boy. ❤️

With love,

Queennie (@/sadfragilegirl)

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

I was born on Valentine's Day.

It's seriously true!

I was definitely born on the same date as Valentine's Day. Which means, I am going to celebrate 2 events in one day. It is such a rare thing when someone celebrate between a birthday and general holiday in one day, which is really cool.

Every year, I wore my very best clothes by the time the event is finally today and decorate the whole house filled with both Valentine's Day and Birthday themed decorations.

My mom is baking Valentine's Day cookies and a birthday cake. Every year of my birthday and Valentine's Day, she came up with new ideas on making new desserts. From chocolate truffles to black forest cake. From candy heart chocolate bark to red velvet cheesecake.

While my dad is cutting fresh flowers, including roses in pink and red to put it on a flower vase. Just like my mom, he also came up with new ideas to decorate the whole garden. From flower arrangements to bush sculptures. My dad also has a fruit and vegetable garden as well to make delicious party food.

My siblings? They are in charge of making Valentine themed arts and crafts. And every year of my birthday, they send me a wonderful and creative homemade birthday and Valentine's Day card.

And my friends, my cousins and my relatives from far away? They greeted me a "Happy Birthday and Happy Valentines Day" from text messages and E-Cards received by an Email. They sometimes send me physical cards too because I really missed the handwritten letters just like the old times.

I heard a knocking sound of the door. As I approached the door and opened it, it's my love of my life, which we've been in a relationship for a very long time, came for a visit.

"Happy Valentine's Day, honey", She sweetly said as she received a box of chocolates and a bouquet of different kinds of flowers.

"Thank you very much", I replied.

"But also..." She said when she showed me her homemade heart shaped strawberry cake, "Happy Birthday!"

"Wow, you made this cake for me? How thoughtful of you", I exclaimed with flustering cheeks glowing. How can my love of my life baked this cake so amazingly beautiful? Must be her hands that is full of work of art of a masterpiece.

Once my family and my love of my life are finally gathered at the dining table, we gave each other a toast and sang a Happy Birthday song to me. I even make a wish on those two Valentine's Day plus birthday cakes from a candle.

We also happily ate and chat together with all the food that my mom and my dad prepared.

When it's finally time to have my own moment, I clapped my hands as a call to pause for a while to my family.

"Mom, dad...And all of my siblings...I would like to make a big announcement to all of you."

"What is it, dear?" My mom asked.

"What kind of big announcement?" My dad asked curiously.

I turned to my love of my life and commanded, "Please place my hand onto yours."

And my love of my life ordered to do it with a gleam of a smile.

I pulled a small box from the pocket of my pants and said....

"All those long years we're been together, it's time to go to the road to forever."

I opened the box that inside is an engagement ring.

"Will you be my forever love of my life from eternity? For better and for worse? From achivements and downfalls? In sickness and in health? Till death to us part?"

My love of my life was surprised with tears brimming into her eyes and said, "Yes! Yes I will, my forever love!"

My entire family not only cheered but also cried because how my life has grown so fast after that announcements that I was going to get married with my love of my life after years we're been into a relationship for long years.

We embraced each other after I placed the engagement ring into her ring finger.

"Oh, sweetheart!" She exclaimed in tears of joy. "This is the best Valentine's Day gift ever!"

And with that, this is one of the best memories during the celebration of Valentine's Day and my birthday.

Valentine's Day and Birthday isn't about the gifts, flowers and chocolates, but also it is the time that to spread love and happiness to the people that I loved most in the whole wide world.

Writeblr Secret Valentine!

For @theglitchywriterboi as a gift for the Secret Valentine's Day from @writeblrcafe! I'm your Secret Valentine this year, and I wish you a very happy Valentine's Day with lots of cookies (if you like cookies, that is)!

Since I've never participated in an event like this before - and am I not very good when it comes to writing standalone non-fiction prose (: - I chose to gift you an excerpt from one of my fantasy WIPs, Enchanted Illusions (which is currently in the first draft process)!

I wrote this fluffy, fairytale-style "first date" scene between my Victorian characters with the spirit of this holiday in mind, and what better time to share a piece of it than this very event? I really, really hope you enjoy this one! It's one of my favorite moments in that WIP.

With care, from Ani! (@mysticstarlightduck)

[...] The silky curtain suddenly dissolved beneath her fingers at the slightest touch, turning into a hundred little lights that floated away to the ceiling of the secluded hall, where they scattered on the dark stone, like stars in the night sky, illuminating the room in warm blue.

Walking into the room proper, she was quick to notice the soft music that seemed to surround her - as if there was an orchestra hidden in these walls, unseen and faintly, playing notes carried by the night wind and echoed by the marble statues in the pilasters above.

It was a stark contrast from the lively tavern just above their heads where they'd spent the beginning of the night, though both places were a different kind of wonderful, and wild and refreshing ... and everything she would never have dreamed to witness in her previously sheltered existence.

These past few months on the road had truly been full of surprises - ranging from the very good to the dreadful and the unexpected - all of which allowed her to finally know herself beyond the confines of the girl she was raised to be. To know the world and the people in it, and surprisingly find someone in their crazy world with whom her heart seemed to entwine, desperately, softly, madly in love.

Harriet playfully twirled around, watching the fabric of her skirt flow, following her steps, giddy with wonder. "Wow." She breathed, mostly to herself, and it was all seemed she could say, turning around.

She saw Augustus', who was still standing by the doorway where they'd arrived a moment ago. His eyes fixed on hers, lovingly, mirroring hers as she took in the sights around them, and most surprisingly, a genuine, relaxed smile on his lips - for a moment, he had the look of someone who was lost in a dream, time passing slowly in the seconds before he blinked himself back into reality.

"I've never known you to be the speechless kind, Hattie. It's almost uncanny!" He immediately teased with a chuckle, before his voice softened "I knew this place would make you smile - and it seems I have succeeded, haven't I?"

With that final, rhetorical question, he walked into the room. There was an uncharacteristically anxious bounce to his strides, a perfectionist tic as he fidgeted with his ruffle tie and adjusted his glasses, closing the distance between them rather quickly. It wasn't hard to notice how much he wanted everything to be as perfect as humanly possible, even though he was just as inexperienced as her when it came to these matters. They were much like kids dipping their toes in the sea for the first time - unsure, giddy, afraid of the vast unknown that seemed to sprawl before them with no idea of what they would do next. But still, hopeful.

The fact that he was trying, that he cared so much as to make all of this possible on a simple night, was proof enough for Harriet that they were right.

So when he reached out a hand, and asked, "May we... have this dance?" - in a voice little more than a whisper, tentative but sure at the same time, Harriet knew that the answer was surely yes, and would always be, as she took his hand in hers. [...]

“Death and the Lady” by Joseph Hall (1906)

write weird shit. Write indulgent au fanfiction and self insert fics. Write creepy horror scenes and random character crossover dialogue. Write in a different genre. Write that sex scene that you know won’t make the cut. Write about sentient furniture turning into werewolves that try to date your MC. Write whump or hero/villain fic. Write your kink. Write your worst nightmare. Write your delusions of power and fantasies of control. Write whatever the fuck you feel like. Write whatever comes to mind. You don’t have to share it with anyone (but you can). Your writing impulses don’t define your morality anymore than your reading preferences, and actually going outside your comfort zone will improve your writing skills (making a horrifying villain sympathetic requires good characterization). Even if it doesn’t improve your skills, that’s still something you created out of nothing. It’s still valuable. Don’t let purity culture kill your creativity. That’s how culture stagnates. That’s how writing stops being fun.