Aliciel Alone
Bio
A Dark and Lonely Imagination
Find me on Tumblr, Bluesky, Skylight, TikTok, Vocal, Medium, and your favorite music platforms.
Stories (72)
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Writing Without Historical and Cultural Inaccuracy or Offense- The Violet Project Diaries - Entry 8
Hollywood’s horror industry has been pretty abusive towards ancient and indigenous culture. Shamanic practices from indigenous civilizations (eastern and western) and many other beliefs or customs have been poorly represented in horror media and the most depressing part about this is when ignorant audiences believe the Hollywood representations. It’s this kind of slander in western media that distances and even shames the ethnic roots of people of color. In a previous blog post, I mentioned that I feel neither African or American enough to have any real sense of belonging ethnically. I can research my ancestors, do an AncestryDNA test, or just go visit Africa if I want, but the connection will always be lacking in some way thanks to colonization and the poor, unfair judgments of my ancestors to this day. There are even African American families who cling to the Abrahamic religions to make sure they fit the status quo. So, as a horror and dark fantasy writer myself, I want that to change.
By Aliciel Alone6 years ago in Journal
To The Writer Ashamed of Resting - The Violet Project Diaries - Entry 7
One technique I learned in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is talking to yourself as you would a friend when you’re having a rough day. When I gave myself a rest day yesterday, I felt so guilty and ashamed. It felt like I was purposefully being unproductive and negligent of my career. I had to fight myself not to get on the computer and write something or blog something because I knew my cynicism wasn’t speaking truth. Really, I was just bullying myself because I’m used to setting unreachable standards and beating myself up for not reaching them. Too many times that has left me exploited, drained, and just miserable. So I wanted to write a letter to myself and to you, fellow writer, if you have trouble resting like me.
By Aliciel Alone6 years ago in Journal
The Violet Project Diaries - Entry 6 - Character Design and Conspiracy
No warm up today! I’m jumping right into the novel! Okay, so already I’m seeing that I need to work on character dynamics. Do you ever read your first draft dialogue or a section of dialogue that never got to meet an editor and realize how unnatural and awkward it is? Or sometimes the dialogue is really cliche and the energy between the two characters becomes muted; the statements sound forced and out of character. This is why I really like studying personality types. I do a mixture of astrology and the MBTI when I design my characters and breaking down how they express themselves, develop their motives, who they are friends/enemies with, and so much freaking more. Another thing I do is pay attention to the dialogue and acting when I’m watching a show and think about how characterization comes to life through their speech, mannerisms, and facial or bodily expressions since those are descriptors necessary for fiction. Combine that with context and you get a solid, believable scene.
By Aliciel Alone6 years ago in Journal
The Violet Project Diaries - Entry 5 - Studying Karma as a Writer
Warm Up: I started with blogging about karmic patterns and then moved on to reading about karma itself just to make sure I really understood what it generally meant. This quote from Brittanica caught my eye:
By Aliciel Alone6 years ago in Journal
The Violet Project Diaries - Entry 4 - Flowing in Circles
Warm Up: Published an old, melancholy poem from my journal today called “A Plea to Death”. I really like it. It’s Poe-esque. Yay consonance. I did my best to pay attention to the metre/meter since I made each stanza into a limerick (which is kind of unintentional). Limericks are usually happy or funny so maybe that was a weird choice. Oh well. That happened. I hope that eventually I get over the nervousness in my stomach that bubbles up every time I post a new piece. I know it’s nerves, but it’s still awful. Insecurity sucks.
By Aliciel Alone6 years ago in Journal
The Violet Project Diaries - Entry 3 - Kill Your Darlings (or torture them)
Today, I’m a bit off due to a weird night, which means I gotta be real with myself and take it easy without slacking off. When I’m like this, I head to YouTube and look for great videos that discuss or critique storytelling. I keeping getting “How Bojack Horseman Subverts Narrative” recommended to me so I watch it.
By Aliciel Alone6 years ago in Journal
The Violet Project Diaries - Entry 2 - Don’t Be Perfect or Lazy
Warm Up: I published a poem called “Winged” earlier. I don’t know why my stomach is churning. It’s almost nausea, but it’s not sickness. I know it’s nerves, but it’s quite uncomfortable. So referring to the first entry… yeah I have a difficult time posting any kind of work as is sometimes. I don’t mind critiques or anything, but there’s something different about, this… You know what my problem is? Everything has to be a project. Everything I do has to be ridiculously complicated so it feels “wrong” that I did something simple, like publishing an expressive poem online rather than adding it to an elaborate collection of poetry that is carefully planned. See, I’m glad this happened because this is exactly the kind of thing that holds me back from actually developing my career. I make it incredibly hard and set these crazy high standards for myself so I’m forever lost in a limbo of neither success or failure. How ridiculous! I don’t mind putting in the work I need to do, but I really need to knock off the perfectionism nonsense. It’s a creativity killer.
By Aliciel Alone6 years ago in Journal
The Violet Project Diaries - Entry 1
My scattered brain has buried me into new projects time and time again. I initially started a blog to keep track of my own progress and it did help me get the first draft done. Now here I am with the second draft, swaying back and forth between that and any other new project that pops into my head. It’s aggravating realizing only now that this was a strange procrastination technique masquerading as productive career building.
By Aliciel Alone6 years ago in Journal
Prose of The Magician
Swaying between the fine line of arrogance and confidence, destruction and creation. That place of transformation many dare not to step. They’ve been taught to quiver at other powers, staying grounded as the boom of the gods shake the world. When that boom rattled your bones, however, you were not shaken. You resonate with the thunder as if it were a destined call. Rather than keep your head to the ground, you stare down the heavens with a finger pointing at the cosmos and another to the underworld.
By Aliciel Alone6 years ago in Poets
Elemental Magic - Fire
Fire introduced himself as the fuel for survival and a slow killer. I thought thinking of his slow burns made my teeth chatter not realizing the cold surrounding was the chill of fear. I admired his trickster ways and wanted to learn from him, while I hid in the cold without knowing why.
By Aliciel Alone6 years ago in Poets
