ALSO! Do You Know How Many Fuckers Have Fucking Cheated On Their Partners? A Fuck Load. You Know This

I’m white. I know that. I don’t pretend I’m not. But gods do I hate that teacher right now. She’s not saying that at she doesn’t like the fact that you like fucking pineapples on your pizza, she’s saying that your ‘opinion’ literally goes against her entire fucking existence.

GO 👏 THE 👏 FUCK 👏 OFF. Also, the American educational system is trash. I applaud this child’s parents for giving her a voice and standing up against bias authority.

This has made me think so much…and not entirely about my characters.

Writing Grief

I’ve heard from many places - and wholeheartedly stand by - the idea that the larger the scope you’re trying to portray, the smaller your focus should be. For example, if you’re writing about a village that’s been destroyed, you don’t focus on the destruction everywhere, you focus on a little child’s doll lying half-scorched in the street. The idea is to channel as much of the emotion as possible into the smallest details. That’s how it’s the most potent.

Grief is one of these big things. Grief rocks your world, and it’s grip doesn’t go away as soon as the next thing comes around. It strikes at odd moments.

The thing with grief is that everyone experiences it differently, and everyone’s got different memories surrounding it. Given this fact, I’m going to describe questions who’s answers you may incorporate into your narrative, but I cannot give you a “this is how to write your character’s grieving.” The questions I’ve listed below are likely going to be most relevant at or just after another character’s died, when things are freshest and at their most raw.

(note: “or” questions do not necessarily mean you have to choose one or the other. You can, but it’s also saying, “is at least one of these the case?”)

How does it feel externally?

Do things feel too rough, or too soft? Too squishy or too unyielding?

Are yoru character’s sleeves damp or wet from wiping away tears? are there balls of tissues held tight in your character’s fists?

Is the air too cold or too warm?

Is the space too tight, or too open?

How does it feel physically internally?

Is your character’s jaw clenched or their muscles tightened?

Do their eyes sting or feel puffy from tears?

Are they dehydrated and/or hungry?

Does their skin feel cold to the touch?

Do they crave physical contact such as hugs, or do they not want to be touched?

How does your character feel emotionally?

Are they angry, scared, sad, or unsure?

Do they feel emotionally empty like there is nothing inside of them (do they feel cold but aren’t physically cold)?

Are their thoughts coherant, or are they scattered?

What do they notice? Colors, shapes, patterns, sounds, movement, tactile sensations, smells?

Is your character craving a sense or normalcy, or a sense of difference that reflects the difference of someone dying?

How does your character physically react?

Do they start crying or showing other intense emotions?

Do they try to hold everything inside and/or not show other people?

Does their movement style change (they’re jerkier, slower, etc)?

Do they not seem to hear anything anyone else is saying?

Do they try to overcompensate and/or pretend that what happened didn’t really matter (showing intense emotions seemingly unrelated to grief)?

Faerie friend of the damselflies. ink and watercolor on paper. there’s tons of damselflies around the stream. It’s very hot out but that doesn’t seem to bother them. hope everyone is staying cool. Instagram | Store

#storychronology

"Start in the middle”

Story chronology: a few options

You might have heard about the advice “in medias res”: to begin your story at a point when the action has already begun.

I will illustrate this point with an example. It’s a simple story I made up for this post, but you get the picture. [Extensive image descriptions below the cut.]

In medias res (Latin for ‘in the middle of things’), will tell you that you shouldn’t begin this story with scene A, because there is little action in it. Scene B is also not particularly exciting, and both A and B are not very representative of the story that is to come. The most exciting scenes in this list are F and G.

There are a few versions of how you can start your story.

1. You could start your story with scene C, and tell your story chronologically from there, so you skip A and B:

2. You could start your story with scene F, and then go back to the beginning:

3. Or you can do the same with scene G first: how did she get into this mess?

4. You could start your story with scene F or G, and go back, but ditch A and B because they don’t fit in the theme of the story.

or

5. You could start with scene G or F and throw away the entire chronology. Maybe scene B is a flashback when she sits at the police station and waits to make her phonecall. She can imagine the conversation with her parents and wishes she was back in the orchard she used to play at when she was 8.

Personally, I don’t like option 2 and 3, because the less exciting scenes A and B feel even more boring after an exciting scene like F and G. But I’m just pointing out the options.

When you set out to outline a story, make it linear at first, make sure every causal relationship is sound, and then play around with the order of the scenes to make it more interesting.

I hope this was helpful. Don’t hesitate to ask me any questions, and happy writing!

Follow me for more writing advice, or check out my other writing advice here. New topics to write advice about are also always welcome.

Tag list below, a few people I like and admire and of course, you can be too. If you like to be added to or removed from the list, let me know.

Extensive image descriptions also below the cut.

Keep reading

TOM HIDDLESTON

    Art of Villainy - Jaguar

I didn’t even realise I did this. Almost subconsciously, it’s just the way my writing is. I thought it was normal…? Okay. 

Hi, I'm rereading some of my work and I notice that most of the sentences start with a subject and it tends to get really annoying after a while. Any tips on other ways I could start my sentences?

How to Diversify Your Sentence Structure

This is a really common problem that I think a lot of writers have! Having a repetitive sentence structure without variation can make your prose really choppy, boring and difficult to read, while overall weakening your voice.

Here are some techniques to help you change things up a bit!

Switch around your subject

Very basic grammar: Every sentence has a subject and a predicate. I think when we think of subject in a sentence, we often think of person. This might be especially true in creative writing because we deal with characters.

For example:

Amelia opened her front door and walked outside. She felt a cold breeze blow through her. She realized that she wasn’t dressed appropriately for the weather. Amelia turned around and went back inside to grab a jacket.

In this example, Amelia is the subject of every single sentence, and a verb is followed immediately afterward. Because every sentence begins with ‘Amelia’ or ‘she’, there’s no variety and it’s a little bit boring to read. 

Here’s what it could look like if I switched the subject around somewhere.

She felt a cold breeze blow through her.

A cold breeze blew through her.

The difference is subtle, but now the subject of the sentence is the breeze, not Amelia. The sentence structure is still the same: The subject is followed by a verb. However, because the subject is different from Amelia, it still brings variety to how your sentences read. 

Here’s what it looks like now:

Amelia opened her front door and walked outside. A cold breeze blew through her. She realized that she wasn’t dressed appropriately for the weather. Amelia turned around and went back inside to grab a jacket.

Now that every sentence doesn’t begin with “Amelia” or “she” it seems a little bit more interesting.

Put dependent clause before subject 

So we changed one subject in a sentence, but we still have multiple sentences that have Amelia as the subject. It still doesn’t have too much variety in sentence structure, and as a result, it can be stilted.

So let’s try bringing a dependent clause before the subject.

She realized that she wasn’t dressed appropriately for the weather. Amelia turned around and went back inside to grab a jacket.

Realizing that she wasn’t dressed appropriately for the weather, Amelia turned around and went back inside to grab a jacket.

By bringing ‘realizing’ before the subject, I created a dependent clause and succeeded making the first word something other than the subject. 

However, because it’s a dependent clause, ‘realizing that she wasn’t dressed appropriately’ is a sentence fragment — it’s an incomplete thought. So I combined it with the last sentence to make it complete.

So after those two techniques, let’s compare the original with the rewrite.

Original

Amelia opened her front door and walked outside. She felt a cold breeze blow through her. She realized that she wasn’t dressed appropriately for the weather. Amelia turned around and went back inside to grab a jacket. 

Rewrite

Amelia opened her front door and walked outside. A cold breeze blew through her. Realizing that she wasn’t dressed appropriately for the weather, Amelia turned around and went back inside to grab a jacket.

Now because there’s a variety in sentence structure and subject, the paragraph  is not only more interesting to read, it also flows better and more smoothly. It also has the added bonus of diverse sentence lengths which was lacking before, and it helps make the writing more engaging.

I just wanted to note: there is nothing bad about having your subject as the first word in a sentence. I don’t want anyone to feel like they have to change every single sentence they ever wrote. Like in my example, the first sentence starts with Amelia. That’s fine.

The problem is that when every single sentence starts that way, it becomes repetitive. You can still have some sentences that start with your character, just make sure to throw in some other sentence structures, and your writing will be more engaging!

Outside of this specific example, you can also try playing around with dependent clauses in your existing sentences as well.

Jamie walked into the haunted house, despite her reluctance.

Despite her reluctance, Jamie walked into the haunted house.

The sentence is the exact same, but I just switched around where the dependent clause ‘despite her reluctance’ is placed. Even though it has the same meaning, it can provide a different feel or at the very least, switch up having your subject as the first word of every sentence.

I also talk about this in my guide about how to make your writing flow better. Sentence structure has a lot to do with making your writing sound cohesive and eloquent, so I would definitely recommend checking that out as well!

Thanks so much for asking Anon, I definitely struggled with this too when I was just starting out. I remember seeing how every single paragraph started with a name, and that was really annoying me, but I had trouble figuring out how to fix it. I hope this helped!

🕯 🕯 this is a summoning spell to get dancing queen by abba into the umbrella academy season three 🕯 🕯

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After The War: What Happened To Out Favourite Characters?

So I’ve been reading some fics and hanging around the fandom. And I see a lot of things about what our favourite witches and wizards get up to after Hogwarts. I’m going to share some of my thoughts. The epilogue and Cursed Child don’t exist in this. Good that? Continue.  HARRY POTTER        Job: Harry, I think, would fit well as the DADA professor at Hogwarts. A final fûck you to old Voldy, yea? Besides, he would’ve been tired of fighting. Tired of playing the part. He’d fit well as the laid back DADA professor. I like to imagine he’d be sort of like Lupin. One thing I think might happen, but am not sure about, is that he’d go to the Americas. Get away from everything.  Love: I honestly think he wouldn’t get with Ginny. From what I understand of him and would give an educated guess on, he would take that as a reminder of everything that happened. The war. The deaths. He might be with her for a while, try and appease everyone. But he’d just see Fred. He’d start to drift. Become distant.  DRACO MALFOY

Job: While I don’t want this to happen, it might be possible that he’d be kicked out of Wizarding world in Britain. If he wasn’t, he would’ve became a Healer or an Auror(sp?). If he could get a job after the war, he probably would’ve faced prejudice and a bunch of shit. He might’ve left on his own. Obviously not giving up on magic, but just leaving all that shit behind. I think he’d become a Muggle movie star. Playing different roles. Not having to face who he is. Being able to believe, even fleetingly, that he wasn’t Draco Lucius Malfoy former Death Eater. Besides, he’d be good at it. He had to lie all the time. Mask his real feelings. Be someone he wasn’t. Etc. Love: Who knows? I ship Drarry aggressively so I’m inclined to believe that would find its way to work. Though he wouldn’t get with a Greengrass. Or Pansy. Also, he definitely wasn’t straight. 

GINNY WEASLEY 

Job: Chaser. It’s pretty well agreed upon that she’d become a Chaser for some team or another. I don’t really have much more thoughts.  Love: Again, not Harry. I’m not sure how this would go about; she might realise that she was only really attracted to a Harry because he saved her. She might still love Harry but because she’s Ginny fucking Weasley who’s awesome, she’d forgive him. 

NEVILLE LONGBOTTOM 

Job: Herbology professor at Hogwarts. I’m firmly seated in this belief.  Love: Not sure. I like to believe he’d get with Luna Lovegood. They just seem to work perfectly with each other.  LUNA LOVEGOOD 

Job: Who knows? I think she’d either become a professor at Hogwarts(unlikely, but if so, she’d be Care Of Magical Creatures) or a writer for The Quibbler.  Love: Again, who the hell knows? It’s Luna. I learned a long time ago not to try and predict what she’ll do or assume anything about her. Nope. Still, I’m inclined to believe she’d get with Neville. 

HERMIONE GRANGER

Job: She’d definitely become the Mistress of Magic(Or Minister of Magic). After that, I’m inclined to believe she’d be the headmistress of Hogwarts. It seems the sort of occupation she’d do. Of course, she’d still be an activist. SPEW would have become a national organisation and succeeded in its mission. Then, of course, she’d move on to other ambitions. Each more noble than the last. No matter how ridiculous they’d sound, how impossible, she’d always achieve them.  Love: Now this is a hard one to answer. I don’t like Romione and personally think it’d never work. Maybe they got married but then got divorced after a year or two. I don’t think she’d do much with love. 

RON WEASLEY 

Job: Auror. I’m certain of this. 100 p% certain.  Love: As I stated before, Hermione but then they broke up/ got a divorce. After that, I’m not sure what. 

My feelings are strong though few. 

Didn’t want to derail the last post I reblogged (about Serbia), so I’m making my own)

! I know only like 8 people follow me but like if 8 people find out about an issue they didnt know about then I think that’s great tbh

OK SO

another country with a heap of problems right now is Belarus. I’ve reblogged posts about it before and yes I’m refusing to stop cause I see nothing about it anywhere.

Belarus has had the same president since 1994. Since he came into power, the country hasn’t had a SINGLE FAIR ELECTION.

Covid-19 has caused many problems there. The country still hasn’t imposed any official measures. The president has been quoted as saying ‘I don’t see any viruses here’ and the country has had horrendous amounts of cases, I’m not even sure if the figures are accurate, they could be fabricated.

There is an election this year. Protests broke out in Belarus because of the imprisonment of the president’s strongest competitors in the election. Random people have been arrested off the streets and the police have been violent.

The worst part is that there’s very little media coverage.

Please reblog this, or at least research the topic it would mean a LOT

obsessed with the idea of vampire snow white