Someone Tell Me How to Use Tumblr

[screnwriter-old-deactivated2021]

mundane scenes are important.

This is some unconventional writing advice, but here me out, because it's important and I don't see it being talked about enough:

Not every scene you write has to be essential to drive your plot forward. That's it. And your story doesn't need to be at high stakes at all times to be considered interesting, either.

Your scenes, that you include, should always be crucial to your story. Not important. Crucial. So, yes, it is important that your story isn't filled with scenes that don't affect or drive your plot forward, but it is also okay to include scenes in which your characters simply... exist.

Maybe it's not necessary to show your characters at work, signing papers at a desk (unless a dragon comes in and sets fire to the place or they get fired), but it might be necessary to have your characters invite a couple friends over, make some pancakes, and crack some jokes! A scene like that, while it might not contribute much to the overall plot of your story, will help bring life into it!

Giving your audience glimpses into your characters life, not only helps them connect with your characters, but it's a way for them to start caring more deeply about both your characters and the relationship between them.

Your story CANNOT simply be ACTION ACTION ACTION. Yes, it is important for your scenes contribute to your plot, but you can't forget the importance of establishing characters, as well as the world they live in and the dynamics between them!

YOUR PLOT IS ONLY HALF OF IT. If a scene is rendered useless in terms of plot development, but contributes in any way to the development of a character or relationship, it is not useless, nor is it a waste of space!

Learn what it means for a scene to be completely useless and what it means for it to be useful in terms of characterization, worldbuilding or exposition. You don't need to cut those scenes. Every scene has to serve a purpose, but there is a lot of purposes to be served.

So let your characters breathe, even for just a second. There needs to be down time. Otherwise the emotional impact you try to bring upon your audience won't come into play, because they have not been given enough time with your characters to start caring about them.

[garbage-empress]

time smells bad.

[chrome--horse]

what Synesthetic bullcrap is this now

[garbage-empress]

Listen

I accidentally leave the milk out overnight.

Milk smells bad the next day.

Why does milk smell bad?

Time gets in it.

[garbage-empress]

@ryanthecynic

[larckla]

Just realised this implies that a fridge cancels or slows time down

[garbage-empress]

As a simple experiment I will put some plutonium in my refrigerator and see if it decays slower, brb

[garbage-empress]

The results are in!

I have radiation poisoning!

[lastvalyrian]

this time it’s the opposite of Greek philosophy because you used the scientific method

[alittlebirdandhersecrets]

Wait but isn't that kind of true?

- frozen things don't decay (think dead hikers on mountains)

- frozen things have a longer shelf life (people eating their wedding cake a year+ later)

- if you're dying and doctors need more time, they'll literally replace your blood with cold saline to give them more time to do what they need to do (https://leakshare.org/doctors-officially-freeze-and-revive-human-patient-for-the-first-time/)

So... Yea. A fridge slows down time...

[catgirldick]

the heat death of the universe is when all of existence balances out to a uniform (probably) lukewarm energy level, so nothing can occur and thus diffuse energy again. aka essentially locking the universe in stasis

the cold slows down time, but only relatively so to the warmth. without either time cant exist at all

[sorio99]

[anastasian-dreamer]

*stared blankly for a minute* *presses button with music note on it*

*to the tune of Bo Burnham*

WELCOME TO TUMBLR, FOLKS!

[buggachat]

Part 1!

This uber-specific AU popped into my head and I wanted to share it!

I’m not sure what to call it. A bakery enemies AU? Suggestions would be appreciated.

Next / All

Details/explanation under cut:

Keep reading

[did-you-know]

Medieval castle stairs were often built to ascend in narrow, clockwise spirals so right-handed castle defenders could use their swords more easily. This design put those on the way up at a disadvantage (unless they were left-handed). The steps were also uneven to give defenders the advantage of anticipating each step’s size while attackers tripped over them. Source Source 2 Source 3

[severalowls]

Not really the best illustration since it totally negates the effect by having a wide open space for those ascending. Castle tower staircases tended to look like this:

Extremely tight quarters, with a central supporting pillar that is very, very thoroughly in the way of your right arm.

Wider, less steep designs tend to come later once castles moved away from being fortresses to simply noble family homes with the advent of gunpowder.

[mactiir]

Oh! Pre-gunpowder military tactics are my jam! I don’t know why, but this is one of my favorite little details about defensive fortifications, because the majority handedness of attackers isn’t usually something you think about when studying historical wars. But strategically-placed walls were used basically worldwide as a strategy to secure gates and passages against advancing attackers, because most of the world’s population is right-handed (and has been since the Stone Age).

Pre-Columbian towns near the Mississippi and on the East coast did this too. They usually surrounded their towns with palisades, and they would build the entrance to the palisade wall in a zigzag – always with the wall to the right as you entered, to hinder attackers and give an advantage to the defender. Here’s some gates with some examples of what I’m talking about:

Notice that, with the exception of the last four (which are instead designed to congregate the attackers in a space so they can be picked off by archers, either in bastions or on the walls themselves) and the screened gate (which, in addition to being baffled, also forces the attackers to defend their flank) all of these gates are designed with central architectural idea that it’s really hard to kill someone with a wall in your way. In every culture in the world, someone thought to themselves, “Hey it’s hard to swing a weapon with a wall on your right-hand side,” and then specifically built fortifications so that the attackers would always have the wall on their right. And I think that’s really neat.

[his-quietus-make]

Ooh, ooh, also: Bodiam Castle in Sussex used to have a right-angled bridge so any attacking forces would be exposed to archery fire from the north-west tower on their right side (ie: sword in the right hand, shield on the useless left side):

[petermorwood]

These tactics worked so well for so long because until quite recently lefties got short shrift and had it trained (if they were lucky) or beaten out of them.

Use of sword and shield is a classic demonstration of how right-handedness predominated. There’s historical mention of left-handed swordsmen (gladiators and Vikings), and what a problem they were for their opponents, but that only applies to single combat.

A left-handed hoplite or housecarl simply couldn’t fight as part of a phalanx or shield wall, since the shields were a mutual defence (the right side of the shield covered its owner’s left side, its left side covered the right side of his neighbour to the left, and so on down the line) and wearing one on the wrong arm threw the whole tactic out of whack.

Jousting, whether with or without an Italian-style tilt barrier, was run shield-side to shield-side with the lance at a slant (except for the Scharfrennen, a highly specialised style that’s AFAIK unique.) Consequently left-handed knights were physically unable to joust.

There’s a creditable theory (I first read it in “A Knight and His Horse”, © Ewart Oakeshott 1962, 1998 and many other places since) that a knight’s “destrier” horse - from dexter, “right” - was trained to lead with his right forefoot so that any instinctive swerve would be to the right, away from collision while letting the rider keep his shield between him and harm. (In flying, if a pilot hears “break!” with no other details, the default evasive direction is right.)

The construction of plate armour, whether specialised tournament kit or less elaborate battle gear, is noticeably “right-handed“ - so even if a wealthy knight had his built “left-handed” it would be a waste of time and money; he would still be a square peg in a world of round holes and none of the other kids would play with him.

Even after shields and full armour were no longer an essential part of military equipment, right-hand use was still enforced until quite recently, and to important people as well as ordinary ones - it happened to George VI, father of the present Queen of England. Most swords with complex hilts, such as swept-hilt rapiers and some styles of basket-hilt broadsword, are assymetrical and constructed for right handers. Here’s my schiavona…

It can be held left-handed, but using it with the proper thumb-ring grip, and getting maximum protection from the basket, is right-handed only. (More here.) Some historical examples of left-hand hilts do exist, but they’re rare, and fencing masters had the same “learn to use your right hand” bias as tourney organisers, teachers and almost everyone else. Right-handers were dextrous, but left-handers were sinister, etc., etc.

However, several predominantly left-handed families did turn their handedness into advantage, among them the Kerrs / Carrs, a notorious Reiver family along the England-Scotland Borders, by building their fortress staircases with a spiral the other way to the OP image.

This would seem to be a bad idea, since the attackers (coming upstairs) no longer have their right arms cramped against the centre pillar - however it worked in the Kerrs’ favour because they were used to this mirror-image of reality while nobody else was, and the defender retreating up the spiral had that pillar guarding his right side, while the attacker had to reach out around it…

For the most part Reiver swords weren’t elaborate swept-hilt rapiers but workmanlike basket-hilts. Some from Continental Europe have the handedness of my schiavona with thumb-rings and assymmetrical baskets, but the native “British Baskethilt” is a variant of the Highland claymore* and like it seems completely symmetrical, without even a thumb-ring, which gives equal protection to whichever hand is using it.

*I’m aware there are those who insist “claymore” refers only to two-handers, however the Gaelic term claidheamh-mòr - “big sword” - just refers to size, not to a specific type of sword in the way “schiavona” or “karabela” or even “katana” does.

While the two-hander was the biggest sword in common use it was the claidheamh-mòr; after it dropped out of fashion and the basket-hilt became the biggest sword in common use, that became the claidheamh-mòr.

When Highlanders in the 1745 Rebellion referred to their basket-hilts as claymores, they obviously gave no thought to the confusion they would create for later compilers of catalogues…

[chroniclesofrettek]

Also, muskets had their whole “Flint and steel and gunpowder” thing on the right side so if you tried firing it lefty you’d get a face full of fire. More recently, rifles eject their spent shell casings to the right, so if you’re a lefty you get some hot metal in your eye.

[systlin]

good post this is a gOOD POST

[poemwriter98-deactivated2025091]

@moonlitskinwalker

[queerspoons]

reblog if ur bi, ur not biphobic, or ur best friend is a beautiful valid bisexual

[longlostwaywardsister]

[quousque]

YOU KNOW WHAT BOTHERS ME

when fantasy books describe the cloth of Quant Farmpeople’s clothing as “homespun” or “rough homespun”

“homespun” as opposed to what??? EVERYTHING WAS SPUN AT HOME

they didn’t have fucking spinning factories, your pseudo-medieval farmwife is lucky if she has a fucking spinning wheel, otherwise she’s spinning every single thread her family wears on a drop spindle NO ONE ELSE WAS DOING THE SPINNING unless you go out of your way to establish a certain baseline of industrialization in your fake medieval fantasy land.

and “rough”??? lol just because it’s farm clothes? bitch cloth was valuable as fuck because of the labor involved ain’t no self-respecting woman gonna waste fiber and ALL THAT FUCKING TIME spinning shitty yarn to weave into shitty cloth she’s gonna make GOOD QUALITY SHIT for her family, and considering that women were doing fiber prep/spinning/weaving for like 80% of their waking time up until very recently in world history, literally every woman has the skills necessary to produce some TERRIFYINGLY GOOD QUALITY THREADS

come to think of it i’ve never read a fantasy novel that talks about textile production at all??? like it’s even worse than the “where are all the farms” problem like where are people getting the cloth if no one’s doing the spinning and weaving??? kmart???

[systlin]

THANK U

[rosslynpaladin]

pro tip: what do you say instead? I gotcha.

 In Ye Olde Medieval Fantasy Dayes, everybody’s layer against skin (shirt tunic or shift) is gonna be linen. it’s almost never wool except stockings or hose (like pant legs). Say “undyed cloth” if you wanna make them sound simple and peasanty. Comment on how you can tell it wasn’t made for them (the fit is off) and has had probably eight owners before. 

Outer clothing is gonna be either wool, or a blend called Linsey-woolsey, and again you could say Undyed, but dyes are not only common they are CHEAP and relatively easy. (innerwear is often left undyed or bleached to white because it gets washed to heck- like beaten by a wooden stick on a stone by the river- and dye would just fade out a lot so why bother. Ths is also why innerwear has ties, rarely buttons, unless you are so rich you have people doing your washing delicately because they’re hired to do only that. Buttons would get broken in the washing)

A poorer person is often seen in “russet”, a kind of rusty orange-brown color. Purple was famously reserved for royalty in many times and places, but its  also just hard to do. We see a lot more magentas and fuschias for nobles or common middle class folks than we ever see of Purple- and not many of those. Deep blue was more likely on very rich people, but a light blue was common for even poorer folks. Yellow was popular with everyone, and so was green, and many shades of reds, including the color we now call orange (they did not- this is why redheads are called redheads and not orangeheads). Your vision of everyone in very drab brown and mud colors is from Hollywood- most medieval-ren folks have clothing with colors. Sometimes garish colors, to the modern eye. Traffic cone Orange and acid green was a popular combo in the 13th century.

[elfwreck]

Example medieval dye colors. Lots of yellows and orangey-browns. Woad gave a range of blues that are basically what we think of as “denim colors.” There were purples - royal purple was a specific color from a specific source - but if you mix wine-dye and woad-dye, you get purpleish dye. (Getting the color to stay that way may be more difficult. Everything worn by peasants fades; they couldn’t afford the really good fixatives.)

More examples and explanations here: 

Plum, dusty purple, lavender, burgundy, chestnut, blood red

Walnut, chocolate, tan, linen, pale apricot, spice, dark spice

Peasant clothes were often more colorful than the nobility. Nobles could afford bright, clear colors that peasants couldn’t - but one mark of wealth was being able to buy all 4-8 yards of fabric for an outfit at the same time. So nobles would have a full outfit, including hat, stockings, even shoes, of one type of fabric (with ornamentation of a contrasting type, and as many buttons or bits of silver as they could get away with wearing), while peasants would often have a shirt, bodice or jerkin, skirt or pants, stockings, and hat of all different colors.

Dying or re-dying any one piece of clothing was within most of their cost limits - dye itself is cheap; fixatives cost. But boiling your shirt for an hour with onion skins in a copper pot would re-color the fading fabric.

[lloerwyn-deactivated20201104]

And yet more medieval dye colour samples:

[historic-old-guard-lover]

While centered on medieval Europe for the finer points, this is broadly true for any clothing needs

[whetstonefires]

‘Homespun’ is absolutely a valid term, but you gotta understand that when you deploy it you’re conveying the existence of an entire professional textile industry, and the narrator’s position relative to said industry being such that they consider it the norm and people making their own clothes from the fiber up being worthy of note. Which means your person is either stupid rich, or hella urban. Or that the setting you’re depicting has in general a highly professionalized textile base! From which the people in homespun are excluded for some reason. (And just like any other task in the world, the fact that everyone had to do it does not mean that everyone was good at it. How many people do you know who do their own laundry but like. Barely? Can cook, but only enough to get by? The average quality of spinning done as household chore is gonna be lower because people are doing it with no particular talent or passion, simply because it has to be done.) There’s a lot of information you can pack into a casual assessment like 'homespun,’ and no reason not to. Words mean things. Just try to use them on purpose.

[catchymemes]

[y0rkminster]

Not only did the husband end up falling in love with the peacock (named Chief), they ended up getting a chicken as well!

[hishap]

That ended more wholesome than I had feared and I’m glad

[senilthesynth]

exotic animals should not be pets 🙃

[imnotafeddammit]

Peacocks are domestic and extremely common ya city bitch

[weaponizedhorse]

when I lived in California as a teen there was gang of peacocks that beat the living shit out of my sisters cat

[greenleafsama]

Also if it’s being sold like that it’s more likely the animal cant go back into the wild and would need a person to take care of it. Birds that are rehabilitated mostly can never be wild again as they easily imprint on humans 🤷‍♀️

[kedreeva]

@senil888 @greenleafsama it… It’s not wild OR exotic. They are domestic game fowl in the US, the same as turkeys and pheasants. They’re farm animals at this point. Like chickens, just with different care needs. They’re sold at farm auctions and game bird swap meets alongside all other kinds of domestic fowl, and most of them aren’t even that expensive, like you can get a plain blue like that for $50-100 around here, which is the same amount I paid I adopt my cat. They’ve been bred so domestically and for so long that there are literally hundreds of color/pattern mutation combos. Do you even know purple peafowl actually exist? Bronze? Opal? Silver pied? Even most of those won’t put you out by more than $200 if you’re just looking for a pet. People pay more for dogs. Rats, mice, rabbits, and guinea pigs are considered “exotics” by vets, but that doesn’t mean we haven’t domesticated them.

Chief was almost certainly being sold because someone hatched him on purpose from their pets. Chances are good that if these two have a “local” livestock auction, they live in some approximation of “the country” rather than the city, so I’m guessing they are perfectly capable of keeping both of these birds just fine. Whether they do or not I don’t know, but even if they don’t, it wouldn’t change the fact that plenty of people on farms do.

Like me, for example. Here’s one of my purple kids looking for some attention. That’s their pen in the background. He was out free ranging with my chickens.

One of my ladies begging for a treat:

Here’s our pens:

Here’s a baby I was babysitting for a friend down the road that has them. Two of my other neighbors have them too.

Like. They’re galliformes, the same as chickens, the same as turkeys. They look fancy but I promise you, they’re not.

[traditionalaviator]

They just shiny! That’s it! No FOWL done!

[axendil]

Interesting and all well and good for the US of A but… You know the world keeps going past American shores and in other English speaking countries these little guys are certainly exotic and should not and rarely are pets outside of rehabilitation centres/zoos… So… Everyone is right?

[kedreeva]

@axendil Actually they’re domestically kept on every major continent except antartica, including MOST english-speaking countries and also a LOT of non-english-speaking countries so…. no, they’re really not just a “US of A” thing.

They were originally domesticated in Asia/SE Asia, not the US, and they’re still kept there. Australia has really strict no-import laws so they’re doing the best they can with colors and patterns down there (last I heard they have pied, white, cameo, and I think BS? maybe Steel, and I’m PRETTY sure they managed to get green imports to make spaldings at some point) but they definitely keep them on farms there too. Europe has a really beautiful morph called EU violet that is SO much bolder than the US purples, but we’re having a difficult time getting them over here since it’s a few thousand dollars to ship w/ the vet work, but people are doing it. Germany has a morph just started up called Elfenbien that is a mutation of a mutation, something Went Wonky in the opal mutation and caused a sex-link blackshoulder pattern to appear, but since the original breeder doesn’t know what exactly is going on yet, he’s not really spreading them to the other breeders in the area yet. I belong to several peafowl groups online and I regularly see posts from Russian, African, and Brazilian breeders, and just this weekend I had a long discussion with someone in Scotland who was lamenting not having purples yet and I got to introduce her to another Scottish breeder who has EU violet, and show pics of the differences. They’re considered domestic fowl in England, and kept on farms. I’ve seen fewer Canadian breeders/keepers, possibly because it’s so cold up there they don’t fare well, but I definitely have seen them there too.

BUT LIKE lol it’s not a USA Only thing for them to be kept on farms or as pets, so like, maybe hop down off that high horse until you know what you’re talking about? Also the dude and his wife in question are from the USA anyway so that’s where the debate is taking place?

[catcusxx]

Peacocks are considered pests in parts of nz. There used to be a wild pair around our house but someone shot them :(

[sabainism-deactivated20210630]

annabeth ‘i had to work twice as hard to be recognised as a senior councellor bc im blonde’ chase, senior counsellor of cabin 8 (a cabin that only has blonde people)

[perseannabeth]

#percy in the sidelines trying to subtly ask if it wasnt maybe the fact that she was 12 in a group of 17 yr olds…. #annabeths like no its bc im BLONDE percy (via @perceabeth​)

[batcii-archive-deactivated20210]

how did jk manage to write ootp and not come to the conclusion that the only career w any true meaning for harry james potter was as a goddamn professor at hogwarts like how do u write the da scenes and say “nah he’d want to be a wizard cop”

[hugisak]

#just let him dress in warm sweaters and have tea with neville in the staff room and help first years #harry james potter as hogwarts longest serving defense against the dark arts teacher fucking fight me (@batcii)

[tattooedsiren]

#but it would be so perfect??? #bc it would help normalize his life so much #like there would just be this generation of kids who are like #‘ugh who cares that he killed the dark lord he gAVE US HOMEWORK OVER BREAK’ #like the beginning of every year there would be the new first years who would freak out a little #but then it would calm down #and most of the students would literally forget #until like clockwork the fifth years would have their history of magic class on the second war #and they’d all show up to DADA looking a little awestruck and everyone would be extra quiet #and harry would give this kind of annoyed sigh—except it’s fake bc he TOTALLY knew this was coming #bc binns is a bro and he totally gives him a heads up every year #and harry wouldn’t have any lesson plans for the day and instead he would just sit at the front of the room and answer everyone’s questions #but otherwise everyone would just be like ‘professor potter!! i can’t get my patronus to work! help me!’ #and like they’d go home at the end of the year or for break and their parents—who ARE still starstruck by harry james potter #would pester their kids with questions#and the kids would just be like ‘merlin i don’t know?? potter’s such a huge dork you should hear him talk about proper wand movements’ #but they would all love him #and he would feel safe and normal and utterly accepted #AND I NEED THIS IN MY LIFE (via @cinematicnomad)

[saywhatjessie]

Not to mention it would be an ultimate Fuck You to Voldemort, who put a curse on the teaching position in the first place.

Like, Jo, I don’t want to tell you how to do your job, but COME ON

[timemachineyeah]

I already queued this but also, you do this, but still have Ginny become a famous Quidditch player. Imagine the first time Harry gets called “Ginny’s husband” before “the boy who lived” or “the chosen one.” Imagine how fucking pleased he’d be.

Imagine the first time a student comes up to him looking starry-eyed and Harry’s thinking “Oh no” because he doesn’t want to talk about Voldemort or the war but instead this little eleven year old is like “ARE YOU REALLY MARRIED TO WEASLEY FROM THE HOLLYHEAD HARPIES???!?? WHAT’S SHE LIKE?” and he’s like “oh thank god” because he could talk about Ginny all day. 

[optimysticals]

Yes. Good.

[sainamoonshine]

he goes to events and the Harpies PR people keep giving him name tags that say “Harry Weasley” and at first it’s a running gag but then its just a thing

[honyakukanomangen]

Japan Men’s High School Volleyball Calendar (Tokyo)

This schedule focuses on the Tokyo schools (Nekoma and Fukurodani). The schedule concerning the schools in Miyagi prefecture (Karasuno and Seijou) can be found in this post. (Similar events were copied from the previous post.) Decided to do this after getting a request and realizing that there are significant differences between the two regions.

Goes according to the Japanese school year, which starts in April. All matches are best-of-three unless otherwise stated. All Tokyo district tournaments are played only on weekends or public holidays. You’ll see why Tokyo is a killer district as you proceed…

Keep reading

[vampireapologist-archive-deacti]

Honestly something that bothers me more than most things is having my compassion mistaken for naivety.

I know that another fish might eat this bullfrog right after I spend months rehabilitating it.

I know that turning a beetle back onto its legs won’t save it from falling over again when I walk away.

I know that there is no cosmic reward waiting for my soul based on how many worms I pick off a hot sidewalk to put into the mud, or how many times I’ve helped a a raccoon climb out of a too-deep trashcan. 

I know things suffer, and things struggle, and things die uselessly all day long. I’m young and idealistic, but I’m not literally a child. I would never judge another person for walking by an injured bird, for ignoring a worm, or for not really caring about the fate of a frog in a pond full of, y’know, plenty of other frogs.

There is nothing wrong with that.

But I cannot cannot cannot look at something struggling and ignore it if I may have the power to help.

There is so much bad stuff in this world so far beyond my control, that I take comfort in the smallest, most thankless tasks. It’s a relief to say “I can help you in this moment,” even though they don’t understand.

I don’t need a devil’s advocate to tell me another fish probably ate that frog when I let it go, or that the raccoon probably ended up trapped in another dumpster the next night.

I know!!!! I know!!!!!!! But today I had the power to help! So I did! And it made me happy!

So just leave me alone alright thank u!!!!

[shrineart]

THIS.

[the-rain-monster]

I heard a story about this, a parable I guess.

There was a big storm and a ton of starfish were washed onto the beach, stranded much further up than they could get back and beginning to bake in the post-storm sunshine. A little girl was walking down the beach, picking up starfish and throwing them back into the sea. Some guy comes up and asks her what she’s doing. “Saving the starfish,” she says.

He looks around at the huge beach and the hundreds of starfish, and says “You can’t possibly save them all. I’m afraid you’re not gonna make much of a difference.”

She throws another starfish back into the ocean, and replies “It made a difference to that one.”

[the-real-seebs]

Yeah, I mean, we know we can’t change all the things. But have you ever noticed how much better life is when you’re around people who change things when they can?

[theangriestlittleunicorn]

Kindness is a choice. Even if it’s small, it’s worth it.

[itsladykit]

This is what I’m talking about, when I say that kindness and compassion do not equate with ignorance, stupidity, or naivety. Being cynical does not make someone more intelligent or more worldly. 

Kindness is not weakness.

Kindness is brave. Especially when you also know that your kindness might not be returned, may even be met with anger or cruelty. It’s reaching out with an open hand, knowing that it’s just as likely to be bitten as it is to be held. 

Kindness is hard. If you can’t find it in yourself to be kind, then fine. But don’t make it more difficult for those that can.

[nat-20s]

There was definitely a point where it Hit Donna that her best friend is not only 907 but also holy shit an alien and she is immediately filled with 10 million questions and Ten notices and is like fine I’ll submit to the mortifying ordeal of being known and they spend a solid 4 hours going through the list

[nat-20s]

“Do you need to breathe?”

Yes

“Do you need to eat?”

Yes

“Do you need to drink water?”

Yes. Just generally assume that I have to do all the basic survival things that humans and also a good 79% of all life has to do.

“Right. So you…cant survive in outer space?”

No.

“Underwater?”

No.

“Extreme hot or cold temperatures?”

Donna I’m starting to think you’re planning to kill me.

“Look pal you managed to survive cyanide poisoning with anchovies and, unfortunately, not the worst kiss I’ve ever had. The possibilities are pretty endless here.”

That…what was the worst kiss you’ve ever had then?

“Oi! Who’s asking the questions here?”

[hilariousseagoat]

They r sitting criss crossed apple sauce on the floor of the tardis across from eachother and Donna has a giant ass steno pad slowly working her way down the list. There also may be biscuits but no tea.

[time-to-write-and-suffer]

welp

This is what I’ve become. Look what you’ve made me do, you monsters.

Have some legit writing tips from yours truly:

Don’t throw a way an entire writing tool because some doink on writeblr told you to. Learn how and when to use it instead. Yes, this includes clichés and tropes.

Repetitive uses of the word “said” will be noticed, but sometimes you can replace it, often you can leave it out entirely. Personally, I often use “[person] said” to break up dialogue and indicate a pause. It’s also often necessary to show who is speaking, and sometimes that’s more important than how they spoke it.

You don’t always mumble, roar, breathe, scream things, do you? Sometimes you just say them. You just speak. And that’s fine. Let your characters to that too, not everything has to be stuffed with emotion and imagery at all times. In fact, if it is, it will quickly lose meaning as a side effect of its adundance. (This is why I don’t like purple prose.)

“Said” is invisible. This isn’t good, nor is it bad, it’s just a thing. If you need an invisible dialogue tag, use said. If you need something flashier, don’t use said. Easy-peasy.

Part of being a writer is knowing what words to use and when. Shocking, right?

If you replace all dialogue tags with entire paragraphs of description, it’ll massively slow down your dialogue. It will also indicate pauses in dialogue to the reader, so unless your characters are taking their sweet time to answer for whatever reason, keeping that shit at a rapid pace will make it read as more natural.

Dialogue is probably the easiest way to show how characters relate and react to each other. By focusing on their appearances or surroundings, you will take the focus away from what they’re actually saying.

Example: You don’t watch your friend brush their hair for a solid minute before you respond to their question, right? If you describe a character brushing their hair before your protag responds, that’s what it’ll read as, so know when to describe and when not to.

Sometimes you genuinely don’t know what to answer, though. If your character describes something in detail in the middle of a conversation, it could indicate that they aren’t quite “there” and are distracted. If they instead start an internal monologue, it could mean that they’re thinking hard about their answer before responding.

Also, if you’ve properly established a character as, for example, having anger issues, showing us how his veins pop and he throws his arms around while screaming every time he gets angry will do nothing and give us no new information. Telling us he was pissed will be enough to know how he expresses it. If the reader has enough background info already, they’ll be able to interpret how the character is saying something just based on what they’re saying. 

Show don’t tell is good, but it’s not a law and will never be. Sometimes you have to tell things. If you wanted to show people your story, you’d just draw it or make a comic, right? But you’re not, you’re writing. You can’t avoid telling, because you’re telling a story.

Show don’t tell is often misinterpreted by writers as “use four paragraphs when five words would convey the same information”. Using more words to describe something indicates that it’s important, because you draw the reader’s attention to it by using up their time on this description. 

Example: If you describe a character’s death with the same amount of words as you describe another character sitting down on a chair, either that death won’t be quite as impactful, or that’s a really intense chair. 

Wikipedia’s article on Show Don’t Tell: “The goal is not to drown the reader in heavy-handed adjectives, but rather to allow readers to interpret significant details in the text.” Significant details. Meaning: try not to waste your showing on shit that doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things. Because when you show actually important things, they won’t be seen as quite as important, because everything else so far has been described the same way.

People read because their imagination does half the job for them. Don’t remove that aspect from your writing by describing things that may not need to be described. Sometimes what we don’t see is what’s more interesting. Let the audience fill in the blanks.

Nothing is off-limits. Nothing is “wrong”. Writing is an art. Learning how and when to use specific tools and words, understanding their effects and how they work together, is what will make you a stronger writer.

[star-kovs]

Superheroes being 197% done with wii music playing

[accurate-incorrect-marvel-quotes]

This is a gift to humankind

[biggest-gaudiest-poltergeist]

fun things to slip into conversation include

“i’m kinda fucking w/ the fourth wall here but-”

[biggest-gaudiest-poltergeist]

“I’m only saying this for foreshadowing purposes”

[nienna14]

“this’ll make more sense when you meet your nemesis but-”

[biggest-gaudiest-poltergeist]

“shit that’s not in the script”

[biggest-gaudiest-poltergeist]

“i thought we cancelled this story arc”

[jelly-writings]

“Probably gonna rewrite this later so-”

[biggest-gaudiest-poltergeist]

“because this trope isn’t overused enough”

[solena2]

“Look, just because you didn’t read ahead-“

[biggest-gaudiest-poltergeist]

“i think i just went through an entire character arc”

[chrishallbeck]

Parenting.

hallbeck.com

[sushinfood]

THANK YOU

[bentheechidna]

I love this one personally.

[aqueerkettleofish]

[rootbeergoddess]

It gotta better

[randomfandomfamily]

THIS👏IS👏SO👏IMPORTANT👏 These comics RADIATE good dad energy and I am LIVING for it!

[frogbeart2]

This one made me so happy.

[fnaf-fanatical]

I really like this one

[maffidraws]

I mean…an accurate representation of everyday at Vesuvia High?  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I honestly can’t explain Onoras and Lucios relationship without absolutely meming it to the max! Also joining Onora is Lorica who belongs to @rein.esse (on instagram) Julian, Asra and Lucios designs belong to @_savydigital_ (on instagram) and so does this AU!

More memes to come? Maybe  (✿╹◡╹)

[jyuukichannart]

Can’t believe I hadn’t reblogged this gem ahsfagdhf 👀👄👀✨💛✨💛✨💛✨