[F4M] Making Your Writer Girlfriend Sleep [Established Relationship] [Sleep Aid]

[00:00:03]Hey, honey. Up burning the midnight oil again?

[00:00:09]Yikes, the 4:00 a.m. oil. I did not realize it was that late.

[00:00:16]Yeah, yeah, early. I I got to start looking at the clock more.

[00:00:21]So, why are you still up?

[00:00:25]What?

[00:00:26]Why were you waiting for me? I told you I'd be up late, didn't I?

[00:00:34]Oh.

[00:00:36]I I I really said that? I I'm sorry, babe. I just got so caught up in the scene.

[00:00:45]No, it isn't interesting. That's the problem. I'm writing it and it's hitting all of the plot points I want it to, but it doesn't feel right.

[00:00:56]It doesn't feel real.

[00:01:00]Take that back.

[00:01:02]Take that back right now.

[00:01:05]I don't care if it's a fantasy book. Of course it still has to feel real.

[00:01:09]That's what writing is, especially fantasy.

[00:01:14]Fantasy is always the most outlandish, so it has to feel the most real of any genre.

[00:01:22]No.

[00:01:23]I mean it.

[00:01:25]Well, maybe real isn't the right word.

[00:01:29]Relatable might be closer.

[00:01:32]Readers have to see themselves in their problems in the story. Not literally see themselves, of course, but recognize what they're going through and how it's represented.

[00:01:43]Well, stories, good stories at their core are a macrocosm [clears throat] of everyday life.

[00:01:51]They take the problems normal people face and well, scale them up.

[00:01:58]No, no, I'm serious. Listen, you're anxious about your big presentation tomorrow.

[00:02:05]Aragorn's anxious about how he's going to beat Gaborit in a fight.

[00:02:09]You don't know how you're going to keep going when you're tired. Frodo doesn't know how he's going to keep going with that damn ring around his neck.

[00:02:17]They're the same type of problem, but on a much larger scale.

[00:02:22]And that's what they're there for, to show us what a real problem is.

[00:02:30]Okay, no, that's not what I meant. It's not a look how much worse he has it thing. It's more like inspiration.

[00:02:39]You look at the way heroes persevere through their problems, maybe you take some notes at how they actually solve them, and it gives you strength in your own life.

[00:02:49]If Harry Dresden can kill the queen of the fae, you can tell that Karen in the produce aisle to leave you alone. If Kylar Stern can keep being human after his wife died, you can get out of bed in the morning no matter how sad you are. If Battle and Rut and Sadie can keep walking through that damn desert, you can keep walking in your life.

[00:03:12]So what if the heroes are fake?

[00:03:15]The fire they light in your heart isn't.

[00:03:18]Even if the heroes aren't real, the stories are.

[00:03:22]And that's what matters.

[00:03:24]Because that's what heroes are for.

[00:03:27]They give us someone to look up to, a way to grab onto strength in our darkest hours.

[00:03:33]Humans have always been storytelling creatures.

[00:03:37]We All right, never mind.

[00:03:41]You don't need to hear me go on an hour-long rant about how myths and legends have shaped the development of humankind and how shared beliefs bind us together. I can already I your eyes glazing over.

[00:03:52]To go back to my original point, stories, the good stories, the ones you really care about, are the ones that feel the realest.

[00:04:01]And the ones that feel the realest are the ones where the hero goes through something similar to you.

[00:04:06]Obviously not the same thing. Story about someone agonizing over what to eat for 3 hours wouldn't be interesting, but something you can recognize.

[00:04:17]Your hero has to make a difficult choice with the fate of the world in the balance, and you see the same kind of thinking that goes on when you don't know what to eat.

[00:04:27]Okay, fine. So, that was a bad example.

[00:04:30]You get what I mean.

[00:04:32]Um you do get what I mean, right?

[00:04:37]I explained it coherently.

[00:04:41]Thank you.

[00:04:43]I don't think you know how badly I needed to hear that.

[00:04:47]I might not be able to write something that makes sense, but at least I can explain my brain.

[00:04:56]No, I can promise it doesn't. Well, I mean, it probably makes sense, but it doesn't work as a scene, and I'm using the two interchangeably.

[00:05:09]Shut up. I'm a writer. I can do what I want. You plebeian readers get to live with it.

[00:05:15]Wait, no, come back. I'm sorry. I didn't mean it.

[00:05:20]I I Please, I'm sorry.

[00:05:27]Learn. Uh I I'm bad at learning things. I don't think Wait, no.

[00:05:36]Learn to insult my readers.

[00:05:39]I learned to not insult my readers.

[00:05:45]Oh, no, I'm still going to abuse the English language.

[00:05:48]You can't make me stop that. No one can.

[00:05:52]Look.

[00:05:53]I started this whole writing gig for three reasons. One, money.

[00:05:58]Two, women. Three, the ability to write whatever I want on a piece of paper and force people to read it.

[00:06:05]If I'm not writing the worst thing anyone's ever seen, then what even is the point?

[00:06:15]Stop trying to take this away from me.

[00:06:19]You didn't have to point it out.

[00:06:23]What is that?

[00:06:24]What if I'm straight? I can still get women.

[00:06:28]What? Is somebody getting jealous?

[00:06:33]Ooh, territorial. That's a good word.

[00:06:36]Give me a second.

[00:06:40]Sorry, what?

[00:06:42]Inspiration struck. I had to write it down.

[00:06:48]Oh, it doesn't always go back to writing.

[00:06:52]It's just on my mind right now.

[00:06:55]Sue me.

[00:06:59]I mean, yeah. I love it.

[00:07:02]If I didn't, I'd probably be doing something that made actual money right now.

[00:07:07]My apologies about that, by the way.

[00:07:14]Wow, that is a heavy question. Um Well, there's a lot of reasons.

[00:07:22]What I was talking about earlier immediately springs to mind.

[00:07:26]The opportunity to write something that resonates with people.

[00:07:30]The opportunity to write something that people love to read. That gives them strength when they need it.

[00:07:37]Creating something like that or trying to, it just feels right.

[00:07:46]There's more than that, though.

[00:07:50]Getting to put my characters and my worlds and my magic systems on paper for the world to see.

[00:07:56]To finally find a use for all the crazy my brain's been coming up with since I was old enough to think in terms of gods and monsters.

[00:08:04]Using the English language to its fullest extent.

[00:08:08]I joke about bullying the poor collection of words, but it's honestly pure fun to find the exact correct phrase to convey a thought.

[00:08:17]Or debating in my head whether "Wouldn't you rather go with someone else?" fits the character better than "You wouldn't rather go with someone else?"

[00:08:29]Really?

[00:08:31]That's what you stopped me to ask about?

[00:08:36]"You wouldn't rather" conveys slightly more possessiveness.

[00:08:41]"Wouldn't you rather" sounds like you're trying to get the other person to go with someone else, but "You wouldn't rather" is just hesitancy about whether they actually want to go with you.

[00:08:53]Now, shush.

[00:08:54]You asked the question, I'm trying to answer it.

[00:08:57]That's right. You should be sorry.

[00:09:01]What have I gone over?

[00:09:03]Writing something that will inspire people. Putting the chaos in my brain to work. Twisting the language to suit my purposes. What am I forgetting?

[00:09:13]Oh, the credulous phrase. Absolutely love that.

[00:09:17]>> [gasps and laughter] >> Being dead serious is unquestionably the best part.

[00:09:24]People telling me I'm good at things. No matter whether I deserve it or not.

[00:09:29]Beautiful.

[00:09:30]What?

[00:09:32]Were you expecting something awesome about loving every single person who reads what I write and being so grateful they give me a chance and all that. No, no, no wholesomeness today. Only arrogance.

[00:09:47]Deal.

[00:09:50]>> [laughter] >> Hey, rude.

[00:09:54]Yeah, yeah, I love you, too.

[00:09:58]So, what's with the sudden interest in my passion for writing?

[00:10:02]Usually when I get to talking about it, you just smile and nod along.

[00:10:09]Listening, yes.

[00:10:11]Paying attention, please.

[00:10:14]You're not slick.

[00:10:16]I can tell when you check out every time.

[00:10:20]Oh, yeah?

[00:10:22]What did I say yesterday about character scenes versus plot scenes?

[00:10:31]A word-for-word quote, impressive.

[00:10:35]Now, what does it mean?

[00:10:40]Mhm, mhm. Didn't think so. So, I'll ask again.

[00:10:45]Why the interest now?

[00:10:51]Oh, that's that's really sweet, actually.

[00:10:57]Thank you.

[00:11:01]Yeah, I I know, I know I have to sleep sometime, but I've been working on this for so long and I'm so close to cracking it. I can feel it.

[00:11:10]I just need to figure out how to make the characters a little more characters and a little bit less caricatures.

[00:11:22]Are you sure?

[00:11:24]I mean, I know you like reading, but do you really want to look at what I'm writing?

[00:11:33]Uh uh I'll okay then Now keep in mind, this is just one chapter. It's actually pretty close to the climax, so you're going to be missing a lot of context. You also might not get some of the references they make to world-building and the character relationships and Maybe you shouldn't Can I just take that back? Hey, don't Okay, shutting up.

[00:12:04]Well?

[00:12:07]What do you think?

[00:12:13]No, don't just tell me it was good. I know it wasn't. My writey sense is going off.

[00:12:21]I can tell when something isn't right.

[00:12:26]Yes, that.

[00:12:28]That's precisely the problem. Thank you.

[00:12:33]No, it's definitely a big problem. I don't have a scene if I can't make the characters feel right in it.

[00:12:42]If you have suggestions, I am very open to them.

[00:12:49]No, I already thought of that. Doesn't fit with the style of the book I'm trying to write.

[00:12:58]No, that Wait.

[00:13:02]Wait a minute.

[00:13:04]Wait a damn minute.

[00:13:06]That's genius. You're a bloody genius. I knew there was a reason I kept you around. Thank you so much. That's exactly what the characters needed.

[00:13:18]Sleep?

[00:13:19]No, I can't sleep now. I have to write this down. Hell, I can get this scene done and I can start working on the actual final battle. Maybe chop off a huge swath of the book tonight. This is amazing. Thank you.

[00:13:32]Hey, what are you doing?

[00:13:35]Babe, why did you just pick me up?

[00:13:38]Why am I over your shoulder like a And I do not use this term willingly, sack of potatoes.

[00:13:46]This is very undignified.

[00:13:51]No, I don't need to sleep right now. Put me down. I'm going to work at all of this by the morning. I have so many lines in my head right now. They need to be on paper.

[00:14:01]Babe, please. You don't know what you're doing. You Huh?

[00:14:08]What kind of question is that?

[00:14:11]I didn't think of it because I didn't think of it?

[00:14:18]It just didn't occur in my brain. I don't know what else you want me to say.

[00:14:25]Well, your brain works differently than mine. I spend 4 hours trying to think of something you come up with in a second. That's just how it is.

[00:14:35]I'm not jealous.

[00:14:38]I don't see what that has to do with anything.

[00:14:41]Look, my lack of sleep is irrelevant to my writing process. In fact, I write better when I'm sleep deprived. I can show you chapters to prove it. Just put me down and I can pull them up.

[00:14:55]This is not what I meant by put me down.

[00:15:00]You're crushing me. I can't breathe.

[00:15:05]Okay, so you're not crushing me, but get off anyway. I need to write things down.

[00:15:13]No, my brain won't work better in the morning. My brain never works anyway.

[00:15:17]This is the closest I'm going to get.

[00:15:21]I don't remember when woke up.

[00:15:24]Around 6:00 a.m.

[00:15:29]Um, a decent amount of sleep.

[00:15:34]A few hours.

[00:15:38]Of course I'm getting enough I Yeah, okay. I should sleep more. But not right now. Right now is the wrong time.

[00:15:49]Now he's fake snoring.

[00:15:52]Big lug.

[00:15:54]Thinks he can do this to me just cuz he's bigger and I He's sleeping.

[00:16:03]Rude.

[00:16:07]I will get you back Chris. You realize it's just a matter of time.

[00:16:15]Make snoring gets louder. Of course it does. So uncivilized.

[00:16:22]Uh Oh, I'm really tired.

[00:16:29]Right.

[00:16:31]Maybe I shouldn't be writing tonight.

[00:16:34]If this is all it takes to knock me out.

[00:16:38]Can you get off of me for real though? I don't think I can sleep like this.

[00:16:45]Okay, that's Hey, what Uh-huh.

[00:16:49]Cuddles.

[00:16:51]Yeah, that's fine.

[00:16:55]That's nice.

[00:16:58]See you in the morning, babe.

[00:17:02]I love you.

[00:17:20]>> [music] >> Mhm.