My sweet, a bit of a dreamer but strong-willed WoL, amazing art by @EildonMoon (eildonmoon.carrd.co/#contact) Thank you again for the gorgeous portrait 💕

Origami Around

Andulka
TVSTRANGERTHINGS

pixel skylines
Stranger Things
Monterey Bay Aquarium
Cosimo Galluzzi
I'd rather be in outer space 🛸
noise dept.
art blog(derogatory)

No title available
Three Goblin Art
taylor price
Misplaced Lens Cap
Show & Tell
One Nice Bug Per Day
No title available

blake kathryn
hello vonnie
Claire Keane
seen from United States

seen from Germany
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States

seen from United States

seen from Singapore
seen from China

seen from United Kingdom
seen from United States

seen from Germany

seen from United States
seen from Vietnam
seen from Sweden
seen from Türkiye
seen from Argentina

seen from Malaysia

seen from Malaysia
seen from Malaysia
seen from India
@cloud-orion
My sweet, a bit of a dreamer but strong-willed WoL, amazing art by @EildonMoon (eildonmoon.carrd.co/#contact) Thank you again for the gorgeous portrait 💕
G’raha Tia - FFXIV Endwalker
Why is he cute?
Hey Hector
(via)
Black for Valentine’s Day
Patreon | Redbubble
Good for this person. This is exactly what you do. Screw the job.
I had a job that made me work an all nighter, 30 hours straight, over Thanksgiving. I resigned that Monday and it was one of the most satisfying decisions I’ve ever made.
Part 3:
My mom just sent me this picture of my dog…I guess we got a lot of snow, then
update:
Great update
An aye-write Guide to Beta-Reading and Feedback!
Beta reading and feedback is an important part of the writing process! Whether you’re looking to fix simple spelling and grammar errors in a short drabble, or a full examination of a 150k epic, it’s really valuable to you and your beta-reader to have a good grasp of how to give - and receive - feedback!
How to Ask for Feedback One of the things that I will always suggest giving your beta-readers is a Beta Reading Worksheet. Simply put, the writer puts forward a list of questions, topics, or points they’d like the beta-reader to address. I did this when I sent my murder mystery out to betas:
As you can see above, the questions I chose gave me a great overall impression of how my betas felt about the novel and also I was able to address specific concerns that I had. Another great reason for giving beta-readers a list of questions is that it also helps them give you meaningful feedback, especially if the beta-reader is unsure of what you want from them or struggles to think of “good things to say”.
Be as specific as possible! Do you want your beta-readers to look out for spelling, punctuation, and grammar? Let them know! You don’t want them to comment on the overall story but more on the technical details? You need to tell them! The more you help them, the more help they will be able to give you!
.-.-.
Ideas for Questions for Getting Great Feedback Here are some questions that I’ve either seen used or used when considering feedback for all sorts of pieces! Some may be of use to you, others not, so feel free to adapt any of them to suit you!
GENERAL
As a reader, what did you like about the story?
What makes you want to read on?
What makes you want to stop reading?
What questions did the story make you want to ask?
Did the story hook you in?
PROSE AND TECHNIQUES
Was the prose easy to read?
Were the sentences too short or too long?
Were there too many adverbs or other writing quirks that stuck out?
How well is the prose written?
Is there too much description, too much dialogue? Not enough?
Does the text feel repetitive in places or are there descriptions missing?
DIALOGUE
Is the dialogue believable and easy to follow?
Can you tell who is speaking?
Are there too many distracting dialogue tags?
Does the dialogue seem boring or does it move the plot along?
CHARACTERS
Are the characters believable and interesting?
Do you know what their motivations are?
Were they described enough to picture them, or too much?
POV AND TENSE
Do you know what the POV (point of view) is?
Does the story stay in the right POV or does it switch and become confusing?
Does the written tense stay consistent?
Does it change or come across as confusing?
SETTING AND WORLDBUILDING
What did you think of the setting?
Was there enough detail to set the scene, or too much detail that overpowered the story?
Could you tell where the story was set easily?
Does the setting/world building come across realistically?
PLOT
Can you follow the plot of the story?
Does the plot seem too obvious or vague?
Does the story end satisfactorily or do you feel cheated/bored?
Are there any plot holes?
How is the story paced?
Does it move slow, drag on and bore you? Or does it move too fast and feel rushed?
Can you tell the theme of the story?
Does the plot and characters evoke any particular emotions?
Personally, I wouldn’t send everything on the above list to a beta-reader, you don’t want to overwhelm them after all, but you could pick and choose a couple!
.-.-.
Be Good to Your Betas Whether they’re beta-ing a three page short or a 400 page novel, beta-reading is a huge commitment, and can be a tough, and sometimes thankless, job. Giving them guides for betaing like above can really help! Here are some more top tips to help out your lovely betas:
Give them an as polished a draft as you can! This will help both you and your beta-reader get the most out of the experience.
Give them plenty of time! My betas had three months to read my 104k novel. More time for more words and more detailed betaing.
Be flexible! Life happens and things do go wrong.
It’s fine to disagree with what a beta-reader has to say - they are only one opinion after all - but asking for clarification or more details will serve you better than getting annoyed!
.-.-.
What If I Don’t Like my Beta Feedback? It’s definitely disappointing when you get some feedback that you don’t like. Especially if it’s a piece you’ve put a lot of heart and soul into. If you think there’s some problems with your beta feedback, consider the following points:
Get a second pair of eyes (or third… or fourth!) It’s always better to have multiple eyes on a piece of work - even just to make sure nothing gets missed - but especially if there’s discrepancies between feedback. If four out of five beta-readers pick up on an issue, odds are it’s something you may have to address, even if not in the particular way the beta-readers suggest.
Is the feedback fit for purpose? Does the beta-reader have an innate bias or dislike for a certain aspect of your work? So, if you’re told that your dialogue between two girlfriends is “cringe” and you discover your beta-reader dislikes romance, that feedback may not be fit for purpose. This is another reason why you should lay out your expectations and explain what your piece will explore before taking on a beta reader. A good beta-reader should be able to tell you how/why something works despite their own personal preferences.
Are you asking readers… or writers? A lot of people think readers make the best betas. Others argue writers. Personally, I think there’s value in asking a mix of both. Reader feedback may be able to indicate where things don’t “feel right” but may not be able to articulate exactly why. But reader feedback can also be invaluable because they’re the target audience! Whereas writers can usually articulate the problems “under the hood” of the piece, as it were, and help you with more targeted support. Fellow writers are also fabulous for earlier drafts.
Trust your instincts! At the end of the day, beta-feedback is just feedback! And your story is your story. You’re the one who knows it inside out, you’re the one who knows what you want to get out of it, and ultimately you’re the one who decides what goes into the piece. You don’t have to take every piece of advice as gospel.
the comments on this video killed me
extremely good Twitter thread and I recommend reading the whole thing [X]
Keep reading
hello this is actually fucking correct. I don’t really consider myself pro-shipper but ship-neutral - but I tend to end up with the ‘pro-ship’ label as a convenience. Because I and my friends have been regularly viciously harassed over the last three years by people who think ‘ship and let ship’ means ‘ohohohoho yes we are all into evil things irl’, as opposed to ‘look, basic fandom etiquette’. And I want to make sure other people who’ve been harassed by them know I don’t give a shit what you ship, just be decent to the actual real-life human beings around you. remember kids: if you’re the ones sending death threats and swearing explicit violence to strangers over (what you heard they like in) fictional pairings, you are actually not the ‘normal people’ here.
“Proship” is literally just a newfangled label that was born as a direct response to the anti movement, and it is for what used to be the default attitude in fandom.
Like you were either chill about shipping or you were an asshole, no ifs ands or buts. If you saw shit that made you uncomfortable or triggered you got the hell outta there and stayed away in the future. That was what people did. If you yelled at somebody for what they wrote it was called a flame and was often considered a form of trolling and was NEVER considered a valid form of criticism because it isn’t.
Personally I mostly just slap the label in my bio because I hope it wards off antis who might otherwise consider following me. Doesn’t always work, I’ve had to block a few, but I hope it keeps at least some away.
But it really just is “normal fucking person who doesn’t think death threats are the correct default when you find something in fiction that you consider disgusting because it’s really none of your business beyond blocking somebody if you have a. Ig enough issue with it”
If you don’t like it, don’t read it. That’s why tags and warnings exists. If I see something tagged that I don’t like, I skip past it. Going on and harassing the author isn’t going to do anything except make yourself look like an asshole.
Censorship used to be a bad thing. I write a lot of dark and messed up stuff but it doesn’t mean I support it. Disturbing events are part of real life and you’re not helping anyone by hiding it and pretending it doesn’t exist.
Exactly.
Fandom these days has shifted for the good in that tagging is heavily emphasized and considered good etiquette–both as warning AND advertisement to potential readers. It’s one thing to be upset if you get blindsided by something (though death threats are still not valid), but if it’s clearly warned for don’t go looking for it.
Also, on AO3 in particular, the “Not Rated” IS a rating warning meaning “this work could contain anything from G to E content” and “chose not to use archive warnings” IS a content warning meaning “this work could contain anywhere between none and all of the major warnings”. These ARE proper tagging because they mark a work as “reader beware, only enter if you are prepared to potentially encounter an E-rated work with all the major warnings present”. If you need to avoid a work that has a certain rating or contains certain content it’s best to avoid those sorts of works.
I got 4 and almost died
Otters will forever be the most dramatic creatures on the planet🦦
This is literally the most bomb-ass D&D story I’ve ever read in my life oh my god.
Holy shit ._.
Some RP sessions have better stories than actual fiction. I mean, goddamn.
For those having trouble reading the text:
We had a campaign in D&D where we assembled a steampunk-ish time machine. After many sessions travelling through time, uncovering mysteries and learning harsh lessons about changing history, we had to stop a time-travelling cult from destroying the gods, and therefore the world. We failed.
Our machine crashed, we were stranded earlier than we had ever been able to travel. We found the Gods, but only a few of them were present - it was as if some had never existed. Then we realised - we had to become those Gods. Our party was entirely divine (Cleric, Paladin, Avenger, Invoker), and each of us was a worshipper of a god who had been unmade - and we were the only people in existence with enough knowledge of the forgotten deities to assume their roles.
But two of the players were worshippers of Io (in his twin forms of Tiamat and Bahamut, who would of course form later after Io’s ‘death’), and only one could become Io. The other would have to be the un-created Asmodeus.
So the most just, honourable and dedicated Lawful Good paladin I’ve ever seen roleplayed became the god of tyranny and evil. If he hadn’t, the gods would never have defeated the primordials, and the world would never have been completed.
In our setting, Asmodeus is every bit the epitome of evil you would expect him to be. Nobody but the gods who abide his presence know him as otherwise. He adheres to his role because he knows he has to - and that in doing so, the world can exist. He can never tell anyone his duty, and no-one who knows can ever discuss it.
In the farthest recesses of the Nine Hells, in a chamber sealed tighter than any other in existence is a pocketwatch of finest gnome craft with a photo of his family in it - his wife, son, and little baby girl.
They were killed by an orc army marching under the orders and banner of Asmodeus. Their deaths are what drove him to become an adventurer.
Return from the Stars, by Stanislaw Lem, published 1961.
this is wild
An aye-write Guide to Inciting Incidents!
Ah, the good old inciting incident. The proverbial snowball, the catalyst, the call to action, whatever you want to call it, the inciting incident has a simple function: to change the status quo
In other words, the inciting incident is what sets your story in motion. It’s an event that forces your main character(s) on the journey that will occupy them for the rest of the story. A status quo is essentially the “normal life” for your main character before things change.
.-.-.
Let’s consider some questions about the inciting incident. These were all things that I, at one point or another, struggled with when it came to writing.
Is the inciting incident the same as the hook? Not generally! Exceptions exist of course - some inciting incidents technically happen before the book even starts, and some start as early as the first page, but generally they’re different things. The hook is your attention grabber, something that immediately engages you right at the beginning of the story, usually your first line or first paragraph.
The inciting incident isn’t usually what draws your reader into the novel, the inciting incident is the point where the reader decides not to put down your novel. Or as my partner says, the hook is what pulls you into the room, the inciting incident locks the door behind you.
.-.-.
Is the inciting incident done TO or done BY the protagonist? Both happen, but external force is the most common kind of inciting incident: the mysterious letter arrives, the stranger appears, the murder is commited, the partner leaves suddenly, the job ends, the aliens descend, the King dies, the treasure is stolen, etc.
But as above, this isn’t always the case! Some inciting incidents are definitely character driven.
.-.-.
Must the inciting incident be a negative event? Nope! As long as the event changes the status quo, it’s still an inciting incident! It can be as much a positive event - winning the lottery, achieving something, gaining superpowers, having a first kiss - as a negative one.
.-.-.
Does the inciting incident have to be a BIG event? Not at all! Many people choose the inciting incident to be quite an eventful thing: Hagrid telling Harry he’s a wizard, Lucy discovering Narnia in the wardrobe, Katniss volunteering for the Hunger Games, etc., but this is not always the case. It will depend very much on the genre and tone of your story, but as long as your inciting incident signals change, it does not have to be a massive event.
.-.-.
Should the inciting incident happen in the first chapter? Nope, it doesn’t have to! It can - but you’ve got lots of options! One thing worth keeping in mind, especially with short chapters, is that because an inciting incident deals with the change of status quo, doing it in chapter one can be tricky. A change may not mean as much if we aren’t invested in the characters.
.-.-.
So when SHOULD it happen? There are two answers here! One short answer is that an inciting incident usually falls between 10-15% of the book. However, the longer answer is simply that… it depends! Genre, pacing, and tone will influence when your inciting incidents happen.
.-.-.
Benefits of Earlier Inciting Incidents
Quicker overall pacing
Quick immersion into the plot
Benefits of Later Inciting Incidents
Helps readers acclimatise to worlds (good for fantasy and sci-fi)
Helps us get to know characters more (good for multi POV/large casts)
A slow build up can build tension (good for suspense/horror)
As with everything in writing, there are traditions and expected conventions, and any deviation from the “norm” can be very effective! Remember every writing guideline can be broken or bent :) As long as your inciting incident signals a change in some way and propels your MC into action, you should be good no matter where you choose to place it!
.-.-.
So what should an inciting incident achieve?
Change the status quo The inciting incident should signal change, upset something, unbalance something, propel a character into motion/action.
Create questions for the reader The inciting incident should introduce the central problem of the story. What will happen to your characters because of this inciting incident? What adventures/mysteries will come to attention because of it?
Generate some sense of urgency The inciting incident should introduce some jeopardy, some stakes, the ticking clock in response to the event. Remember – the inciting incident is the call to adventure, not the adventure itself. It is a signal that things are about to change.
.-.-.
Cool! Can It Do Anything Else?
Illustrate key aspects of character(s) How your character reacts to the inciting event gives us an idea of their personality, their values, goals, strengths and weaknesses.
Set the tone for your story You can use the inciting incident to indicate things like mood and atmosphere which you will follow up over the course of the story.
.-.-.
Inciting Incident and the Link to Story’s End Another handy-dandy thing an inciting incident can do is refer forwards to the story’s end. Knowing how your story will end, climax or conclude is very important to an effective inciting incident, as the two must be related in some way.
For example:
Status Quo: Maria is in love with Lucille.
Inciting Incident: Maria believes Lucille is going to ask her out, but instead, she asks out Maria’s best friend - Emily. Maria now has to try to navigate her friendship with Emily - all the while still being in love with Lucille.
Story’s End: The conclusion of the character is signposted to us to be about all three of these characters, indicating perhaps a confrontation? Maybe a love triangle? Or perhaps a polyamory relationship? It could be anything - but the important thing to note is this: whatever interrupts our protagonist enough to change the status quo must keep a permanent impact. Don’t decieve your readers by making the inciting incident and ending unrelated.
Obviously, this is a very simplified explanation and storyline, but the essence remains the same. A strong inciting incident will be made all the stronger by knowing, and referring to, your climax/conclusion.
.-.-.
Inciting Incident Checklist
Does it change the status quo?
Does it generate questions?
Does it create urgency?
Does it tell you anything about the characters?
Does it tell you anything about the tone of the story?
Does it tip its hat to the story’s conclusion?
Everything is cake!
“What a weird way to cut a gross squishy watermelon. Oh, it’s cake, cooo-aaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!”
New Ask game. Send me one of my fic titles and I’ll tell which was THAT SCENE for that fic.