starting a collection of my favourite AO3 author’s notes

honourable mentions

The POV of a Character Trying to Survive a Funeral

☽ the quiet horror of being surrounded by people but feeling absolutely alone.

☽ trying to remember how to stand, how to breathe, how to body when grief makes everything mechanical.

☽ hands trembling for no reason except that the world feels wrong-shaped now.

☽ staring at the coffin because looking away feels like betrayal, but looking too long feels like breaking.

☽ noticing stupid little details, like a crooked flower, someone’s too-loud shoes, or the way the wind refuses to cooperate.

☽ the guilt of thinking about anything except the person you lost.

☽ that surreal moment where you expect them to walk in late, because your brain hasn’t caught up to the truth.

☽ the way voices sound muted, like they’re being filtered through water and cotton.

☽ replaying the last conversation on loop, trying to find words you should’ve said differently.

☽ the painful intimacy of watching strangers cry over someone you loved.

☽ holding back tears until your head hurts, trying to be “composed” for no real reason.

☽ the numbness that feels safer than the grief beneath it.

☽ the strange, unfair anger at people who aren’t crying.

☽ the strange, unfair anger at people who are crying.

☽ wanting to leave, but your feet won’t move; wanting to stay, but the air feels too heavy to breathe.

☽ the body remembering the weight of their touch even as the world forgets their voice.

☽ feeling like you’re underwater while everyone else is above the surface.

☽ searching the crowd for someone who understands you without needing words.

☽ being terrified of the silence after the funeral, the moment when everyone goes home and the grief stops being shared and becomes yours alone.

☽ the private ritual of whispering a goodbye no one else hears.

☽ the small, cruel moment of stepping back into normal life and hating that the world keeps going.

☽ the ache of carrying two weights at once: the person you lost, and the version of you that doesn’t exist without them.

Quick tips for writing Sleep Deprivation 

☽ Memory becomes absolute garbage. Like “why am I in the kitchen?” garbage. “What was I saying?” garbage. Their brain is running on buffering screens and regret.

☽ Fine motor skills? Ha. They’re dropping everything. Pens. Phones. Entire moral compass. They’re basically a malfunctioning claw machine.

☽ Hallucinations creep in. That jacket on the chair? Suddenly a person. That noise? Definitely doom. Everything becomes mildly haunted.

☽ Time gets weird. Five minutes feel like a year. A full hour disappears and they swear they blinked wrong.

☽ Irritation skyrockets. They get mad at chairs. At air. At gravity. At the audacity of other humans continuing to exist.

☽ Their voice sounds weird. Slow, scratchy, like they swallowed sand.

☽ They walk like a drunk baby giraffe. Walls suddenly jump closer. Floors rise unexpectedly. Coordination said: “I’m out.”

☽ Zoning out becomes a hobby. They stare at random objects like they’re trying to understand quantum mechanics.

☽ Vision blurs in and out. Like someone smeared Vaseline over their eyeballs out of spite.

☽ Their body just hurts. Not a dramatic pain, just the “why does my skeleton feel like it’s buzzing?” pain.

☽ Food cravings go feral. They’d fight someone for a stale cookie.

☽ Terrible choices. They will absolutely say “I’m fine” while making decisions that end in disaster.

☽ Random emotional implosions. Crying because their sock feels wrong? Yes.

☽ Cold hands. Cold feet. Cold heart. (Okay maybe not the last one, but it feels like it.)

Tips for Writing Injuries

✧ Broken ribs suck. You don’t just “walk it off.” Breathing hurts. Laughing hurts. Existing hurts. Characters with rib injuries won’t be doing heroic sprints.

✧ Concussions aren’t instant naps. Dazed vision, nausea, dizziness, maybe even personality changes, but they’re not going to collapse neatly like in the movies.

✧ Blood loss is sneaky. It’s not just about dramatic pools of blood. It’s dizziness, confusion, and the body getting cold as circulation tanks.

✧ Adrenaline lies. Someone can take a serious injury and not feel it until the fight’s over. That “I didn’t realize I was bleeding until later” trope? Very real.

✧ Twisted ankles are brutal. One bad step and suddenly running is off the table. Even walking hurts like hell. Perfect way to ground a chase scene.

✧ Burns linger. Even small burns hurt more than most people expect. Blisters, infection risk, constant pain, it’s not just a cool scar later.

✧ Dislocated shoulders = useless arm. Characters can’t keep swinging a sword or firing a gun. They’re basically fighting one-armed until it’s fixed.

✧ Shock is a thing. Pale skin, trembling, rapid heartbeat, and eventually disorientation. A character might not even realize how bad their wound is.

✧ Stitches aren’t magic. Getting sewn up is painful and recovery takes time. They’re not instantly battle-ready after a needle and thread.

✧ Scars tell stories. Some fade, some don’t. Some stay sensitive forever. Don’t forget the aftermath when the wound becomes part of the character.