The Thing That Scares Me The Most About Writing Historical Fiction Is Not Being Able To Write In The

the thing that scares me the most about writing historical fiction is not being able to write in the right tone. I worry the dialogue may bleed modernity and ruin the experience for the reader. At the same time, I worry it’ll sound incomprehensible for the sake of adherence to the era’s nature. How can I strike the happy medium?

-penned by j. m. medna (2024)

“We… need to forgive ourselves… for all the things we didn’t do. All the things we should have done. You can’t get stuck on the regrets of what should have happened.”

— Mitch Albom

REVERSE TROPE WRITING PROMPTS

Too many beds

Accidentally kidnapping a mafia boss

Really nice guy who hates only you

Academic rivals except it’s two teachers who compete to have the best class

Divorce of convenience

Too much communication

True hate’s kiss (only kissing your enemy can break a curse)

Dating your enemy’s sibling

Lovers to enemies

Hate at first sight

Love triangle where the two love interests get together instead

Fake amnesia

Soulmates who are fated to kill each other

Strangers to enemies

Instead of fake dating, everyone is convinced that you aren’t actually dating

Too hot to cuddle

Love interest CEO is a himbo/bimbo who runs their company into the ground

Nursing home au

Most of the situations you find yourself in are a result of a choice you took or failed to take. Rarely, are you subjected to situations by force, because someone else tugged the strings of your life in such a way that rendered you without choice. You are not a puppet bound by the limbs. You have control of your life, your mood (mostly), your life outlook, your social circle, your productivity (or lack thereof), and a big part of your health (physical and mental).

You don’t like X,Y,Z? Get up and go change it, or at least attempt to figure out how to change it. Don’t settle for using other factors as your scapegoats. Don’t settle for blaming people in your path or conditions.

Your life is in your hands. How good or bad it turns out is also in your hands. Whether you fulfill your potential or rot in waste is also in your hands.

So next time you throw your hands up in the air with a defeated shrug and say something along the lines of “I didn’t do ABC, become ABC, win ABC because of DEF” take a moment to realize that DEF is you. Because of your own self you didn’t get far. Because you are your own worst enemy and most stubborn obstacle.

Wake up! Seriously, wake up! The life of others you envy while scrolling social medias could be yours; you could create your own version of it if you would just get out of your own fucking way 😤

Stop justifying your failure

But also stop fearing failure

Fuck it fall scrape your knees bruise your arms but GET BaCK UP instead of saying “welp, it didn’t work cuz I fell”

WINNERS NEVER QUIT

read that again

You only fail if you stop

read that again

-penned by j. m. medna (2024)

Religion?

Occasionally skeptically solipsistic but most of the time full blown existential crisis

I don’t have a voice. I choke with silence. I absorb my surroundings without commentary fearing I may say the wrong thing, the unfiltered thing.