Writing Update 5/8/2025

I adore this so much. The emotions of the characters can just be felt. I don't know the full context, but even so, it was clear how much they cared about each other, and they truly felt like family.

I wish we could love.

WIP; Out of Sight and Mind

Context: Ari, who has returned to his hometown following his parents death, was a teenage runaway who faked his own death to escape abusive parents. This is a conversation between him and his brother about being in love for the first time since he left, and the childhood that pushed them apart.

Neptune is Ari's childhood best friend, who he loved but dragged into some shit situations.

Edward is Ari's current love interest.

Written for @flashfictionfridayofficial

--

"I loved her, and I haven't loved another person since," Ari whispered with intense soberness to the ceiling. His eyes were red in the glare of the morning sun, yet dark as if the night had never left him.

"I know," Eli sat down with surprising tenderness in his voice - a moment of peace he rarely had, given only for the expressive heartache Ari rarely showed. Not even time could truly sever a brother's love.

"It feels...wrong, somehow."

"Because you love him, or because you're loved at all?" Ari breathed in the air, and it turned into something sickening in his stomach. Nausea fell like waves upon him, his hand finding his forehead just to press down, feel less like every piece of him was falling away.

"I suppose I don't have a leg to stand on, to be upset she lied to my face...after leaving her."

"It broke her into pieces, but it pushed her to her own freedom."

"I was a chain on her."

"You were," it was solemn, truthful, "...you pulled her downwards, and letting go was the only way she'd see the sky again." Ari felt the tears burn, hearing it spoke so plainly. "But you were a teenager, forced to make decisions no teenager should have to make - it'd hardly a blame you chose the wrong one."

"You never forgave me." What if he hadn't changed, what if all these years were a mirage, and he only ended up breaking Edward the way he broke Neptune?

"I never understood." Ari pressed the heel of his hand against his eyes and begged the tears to stop. His body felt hot with the want to curl up in a ball away from Eli, from Neptune, from everyone. He'd hardly had a second of silence since he'd got to this god-forsaken place. "But I overheard you talking to Edward, and I do now."

"I never wanted you to know."

"I know," Eli's voice cracked, "...you subjected yourself to years of my anger to protect me from the truth."

"I wanted you to have good parents, and they loved you-"

"But they hurt you."

"It made me stronger."

Eli shook his head "...not stronger, traumatised, look at you Ari; a boy tells you he loves you, and you feel like it's the end of the world, that's not strength, that's pain."

"I just don't understand."

"You are so much more lovable than any of us have ever made you feel," Eli's voice shook with a deep tremble that reminded Ari of thunder rumbling through the sky. The natural order, disturbed by a tremor in the humidity. "Alicia is better at this than I," he laughed with discarded mirth, "...you are my brother, and you came here for me knowing it would tear you to pieces, and I love you."

Ari didn't know what to say, his mouth opened and closed, but the words burned and stopped in his throat. He desperately wanted to say it, to tell his little brother he would jump in front of a bullet for him, that he'd tear apart the world to keep him safe. But he didn't. He looked at Eli with something dejected and fearful, and just prayed that he understood.

NOTICE: As more and more fanfic writers are using generative AI for their works (you uncreative dweebs), I hereby swear on everything I hold dear that I have not and will NEVER use generative AI in ANY of my written work. Everything I post will be organically and creatively my own.

Gorgeous! I loved it. Very vivid imagery.

There is a field in my head that never ends

It's filled with purple, pink, and blue flowers

that cushion me when I lay down to rest

Their petals take all of my weight

and save my skull from the ground

The sky above me is dark

then it's light

the change happens every time I close my eyes

All of my work to date (1,300,000+ words) has been scraped and added to a dataset shared in multiple places online for the purpose of training Generative AI. If you write fanfic, yours probably has too.

It's years of work—countless hours—countless body aches, missed meals and lost sleep. All of it, for free. For joy, for the love of it. For your love of it—and someone felt entitled to take that and use it for their own personal gain. For profit.

As a writer, it's hard not to be angry about that. I do however, think it's important to highlight this:

Generative AI will never replace us.

AI can't make you feel what I make you feel—what any other writer on earth can make you feel—because real emotion, real connection and real storytelling comes from the heart and it doesn't have one.

AI has never felt hopeless, it's never felt alone, or burdened, or in love, or so ecstatically happy it could cry. It doesn't know grief, it doesn't know joy, it knows simple binary code—zeros and ones, and that's all.

The joy of literature is in connection and in our humanity, and call me sentimental, but that is something that cannot be taught.

miss me w that

Intro post ₍^. .^₎⟆

♡: My name's Laila.

♡: I'm 18 years old, and I've been a writer for 3 years.

♡: I made this blog to meet writer/artist friends, advertise my works, and make helpful posts!

♡: I love angst and making my characters suffer.

♡: I enjoy making Spotify playlists and Pinterest boards for my stories and ocs, which I will totally be sharing on my blog once I'm happy with them!

♡ My current WIPs are ♡:

-Silver / I [Remastered]

-Emerald / II

-Leonardo

-Chess is a Game for Six

-Warfarin

-Psychology 101

-A+ [Remastered]

♡ My published works are ♡:

-Silver / I

-A+

(but i dont like either of them so I'm rewriting (ᵕ—ᴗ—))

Find me on wattpad and discord with the same username!

(enlightened-feline and enlightened.feline)

Navigate through my blog using the following tags:

-🌸wips

-🌸rbs

-🌸polls

-🌸writing tips

-🌸daily reminders

-🌸sillies

-🌸prompts

That's all! Bye now sillies ≽^• ˕ • ྀི≼

the more girls you add to a story the more yuri situations you're able to produce.... something to consider

I am going to make the villain so plural and no one can stop me.

📖Help Rural Library After Fire 🚒

Thought I would try to signal boost for this small village. The library in the village of Prescott, Michigan was lost in a fire last month. While the building was insured, they need donations to keep summer programs running and other temporary needs. They still need supplies, including storage and craft supplies for the kids!

Donate on their website ● Amazon wishlist ● Updates on FB ● News article

Please reblog to boost! I know book lovers here understand how important libraries are.

Can we make this post do numbers? 💥