just a tiny studyblr

run by a slightly less tiny student

[oliveandlearn]

attention studyblr folks:

bullet journals aren’t for everyone

you don’t need a fancy bujo spread every week to be a studyblr

you can use a normal planner and still be a studyblr

you can use cheap bic pens and still be a studyblr

you can never buy a muji pen or mildliner and still be a studyblr

you can have a computer that isn’t a macbook and still be a studyblr? like what is this apple worshipping cult?

you can type all your notes and still be a studyblr

you don’t have to take honors/ap/ib classes to be a studyblr

you don’t have to go to a 4 year college to be a studyblr

nontraditional students are beautiful and valid and you are working so damn hard

learn your own way. don’t let others get you down.

[thespecsappeal]

Skipping Lectures: How to ditch class and get good grades

Studitonious loves 8am lectures. Every day he cartwheels to class, radiant with the joy of acquiring new knowledge. Morning coffee? Ha! That’s for uncultured plebeians. He has no need for caffeine when he has his daily shot of morning eDUCATION!!! 

Here’s the thing - Studitonious doesn’t exist. Or if he does, he needs to get some serious help. Yet, there seems to be a common misconception that a “perfect student” must emulate this model. 

Getting up at the crack of dawn? Well, you don’t need to get up if you never go to sleep… #lifehacks. Oh, there’s a blizzard outside? No biggie, the cold never bothered me anyway. Everything is worth it because getting good grades is all. so. wonderful. Right?

Well, here’s a thought. What if you don’t have to attend all your lectures to get good grades? What if instead of forcing study habits that work against us, we develop flexible routines that work for us? What if we began studying smarter, not harder?

Let’s get one thing straight - not all lectures are created equal. There’s a big difference between ditching class to binge your latest Netflix obsession vs. ditching class because it’s counterproductive to your learning. Here are a few factors to consider:

Is attendance compulsory?

Does participation contribute to your grade? Do you have any in-lecture assessments? 

If the answer is “yes”, then go to your lecture. The mark may only be worth 5%, but would you rather have 5% added or deducted from your grade?

Are your lectures recorded?

At my university, all lectures are automatically recorded due to Access & Inclusion policies but this isn’t the case across the board.

If there’s any lecture-exclusive content (i.e. content discussed in lectures but not in the slides, group activities etc.) and your lectures are not recorded it’s a good idea to attend.

Is the content actually helpful?

Does the lecture aid your learning in a way that other mediums (reading lecture slides/the textbook, attending tutorials/labs etc.) do not? For instance, if your lecturer just reads off the slides, you can save time by looking at them yourself.

Is your subject more “hands-on”? For courses that are more heavily based on solving problems, I often find doing the problems myself way more helpful than watching my lecturer solve them.

How dense is the content of each lecture? Sometimes, there is simply too much to absorb in the given time slot. E.g. I once had a flipped class that had a brief 1-hour intro lecture to a week’s worth of content. Since it just briefly skimmed over everything, it was more worthwhile to study the concepts in detail myself.

Do you actually pay attention to the lecture?

Are you actually awake? I once had a friend tell me he attended all his 8am lectures despite always falling asleep because he “just felt like he should”. Bro, sleep.

How engaging is the lecturer? Obviously, you shouldn’t skip a class just because the lecturer is “boring” but there is a certain point where the line is crossed. In first year, one of my professors took long pauses between every second word and spoke very s l o w l y. Needless to say, he was much easier to listen to at 2x speed.

Note: there is a significant difference between a bad lecturer and just being distracted. If it’s your meme addiction, not the quality of your lecturer that’s making you lose focus, turn off your phone.

Other factors to consider:

Do you have any other commitments (e.g. other courses, work etc.) at the same time? While it would be nice to try and re-arrange your schedule sometimes things just don’t work out.

Are you sick? If you’re feeling rough mentally or physically, you should consider taking a day off.

Ok, so you’ve decided that you’re better off not attending your lecture but what should you actually do instead? How do you deal with this newfound flexibility and freedom?

Develop a study routine (and stick with it)

The key to skipping class successfully is just doing consistent work. If your lecture is 2 hours long, pencil in a 2-hour study session.

It’s important to maintain a sense of regularity and routine. Treat your study sessions like a compulsory class - do them at the same time each week. It may even help to study at the intended lecture time.

The most common pitfall is to go “Oh it’s easy, I’ll just skip my lecture and do xyz instead”… but never do xyz.

Identify the lecture’s problems and provide solutions

Why exactly did you decide to skip your lecture? How are you going to make your independent study more effective? If you don’t do something more useful with this “free time”, you’re just wasting it. Be specific.

Here are a few examples:

 Problem: Lecturer speaks too slowly. Solution: Watch the lecture recordings at a faster speed.

 Problem: Lecturer just reads off the slides, providing no new content. Solution: Read the slides yourself, making your own notes and saving yourself time.

Problem: The lecture is too theoretical in comparison to the assessment scheme. Solution: Do more practice problems instead of just going over abstract concepts.

Find a study group

Having friends who take the same course can honestly make the experience so much better.

It can also help increase accountability. For instance, you would probably feel more guilty ditching a group vs. solo study session.

However, this can be a double-edged sword. Sometimes my “study sessions” with friends will just dissolve into us looking at memes for hours. Make sure you’re actually going to study!

Banter is great, but remember when to have fun, and when you need to focus and get shit done.

[robotjiji-deactivated20190529]

if you’re going to keep domesticated scientists you NEED to provide them a lab befitting of their subspecies! you can’t keep a physicist in a biology lab, or vice versa. each subspecies of scientist has different research needs!

[amerillo342]

What do you recommend we feed our scientists? Can a biologist survive on a diet of geologist-specific rock samples?

[robotjiji-deactivated20190529]

nope! geologists are a specialized subspecies that eat and lick rock samples by nature, behavior not found in any other subspecies. for the most part, scientists of all subspecies (including geologists) will seek out quick, convenient food such as ramen and pop tarts, which is why feral and stray scientists can often be found digging in dumpsters for these foods. computer scientists, in particular, need a reasonable amount of mountain dew and doritos every day to fuel their hours-long coding sessions.

a biologist can survive on hot pockets and other convenient fare, but will also be very appreciative of pizza or chinese takeout every once in a while, much like their cousins, chemists and physicists.

[brightlotusmoon]

Okay but could the neurologists live off chocolate and coffee as long as they get their leafy greens and lean meats? There’s a lot of boosts for serotonin and dopamine there.

[dukebee]

Just because they like treats doesn’t mean their dietary habits should be structured around them, neurologists often prefer a varied diet! SAY IT WITH ME - CHOCOLATE AND COFFEE ARE 👏 NO 👏 SUBSTITUTE 👏 FOR 👏 THE 👏 STIMULATION 👏 OF 👏 PLAY!

And we’ve all seen the warnings, they’re no joke. Play with low quality essays is just exposing your scientist to toxins. Make sure they’re clearly marked as peer-reviewed before you even consider giving them to your scientist.

Yeah, I get it, it takes a lot of specialized care and time. But it’s cruel to keep a scientist of any breed if you’re not going to help them socialize with other scientists and the best way to satisfy their care needs in that regard is regular conference attendance.

Not all major airlines or hotels allow scientists so please do your research in advance, find out if there are additional fees or restrictions. It’s not unusual for hotels to prohibit leaving a scientist unattended either in public areas or in your room. And please, take proper measures. I don’t care how well behaved your scientist is, it has to wear a lanyard in public.

[luminous-studiess]

things i wish i could tell my freshman self: a list of miscellaneous college tips from a graduating college senior

1. having a huge set of highlighters are overrated. it’s better to just go over your readings with a good pen and annotate/underline as you read because that means you engage, ask questions, and take in information better. 2. always. pack. your own. lunch. pack. your own. coffee. this will save you so much money.  3. when in doubt, sleep. sleeping is better than studying. if you don’t know tomorrow’s coverage, it’s better to go that test well-rested and a little confused than sleepy AND confused. just sleep. 4. putting too much pressure on yourself is unhealthy. overwork is often romanticized as “a good work ethic” or “being productive”, but honestly, you’re abusing your body. it’s better to reframe pressure or negative motivation (”you MUST get high grades” “it feels good when i stay up all night because it means i’m studying like hermione/rory/etc etc”) into something positive and healthy: “i’ll finish these readings before 12 so i can get some sleep!” “it’s my dream to _______, so i’ll do my best!” 5. make friends with someone in every class you have, so you can ask about missed work. if you can, make friends with the professor to show that you care. 6. there’s more to college than academics. honors and high grades aren’t everything. don’t be afraid to go out and have fun!

[stemcellee]

January 26 2019

Anyone have any advice on how to ~network~

I’m having lunch with my research group and they want me to meet an former member who is now in a biotech & cancer drug research company and I’m like /nervous

Stressed because midterms lol but I think this quarter is actually flying by (when things are going really well the time never lasts long enough :// )

[palaeolithics]

cats are incredibly helpful study partners

[lazy-polyglot]

Friendly reminder - you’re not a full time professional athlete. you’re not a fashion icon. you’re not supposed to be perfect. Shitty grades happen and it doesn’t mean you’re not smart. So if you’re trying to balance studying, working, volunteering, exercising, learning languages, and expect to be a perfect multilingual Victoria Secret model with straight As, a job, and volunteer time, as well as being a good friend and making time for yourself, you’re gonna have a massive breakdown and fail. You don’t have to be perfect. Navigating into academia is hard. Nobody is asking you to be perfect. Results matter, sure, but effort is important and valuable as well. You’re learning. 

[these-r-the-thoughts]

The Academic Job Search: It’s Not You, It’s Them. – Casey Fiesler – Medium

When I was on the academic job market, I was fortunate enough to have a number of wonderful people give me excellent advice. I had sample…

“So much of academia is about rejection, and the job search is perhaps the worst of all. There are so very many constraints, and none of those constraints care about how great someone’s work is or how much you like them. Just like there’s a great deal of randomness in the paper review process (mostly re: who reviews your paper), there is perhaps even more randomness in the job hunt.” 

[bongmamaw-deactivated20210105]

i’ve stopped trash talking comic sans after learning the font is actually one of the only dyslexia-friendly fonts that come standard with most computers and i advocate for others doing the same

[not-safe-for-earth]

In the event that you would like to continue hating Comic Sans, other dyslexia-friendly alternatives include Arial, Verdana, Tahoma, Century Gothic and Trebuchet.

[bigbardafree]

thank

[invaderxan]

Random fact: Verdana is one of the few fonts which was specifically designed to be as easy to read as possible, even at smaller type sizes. It was designed this way for use on screen, but the same principles apply in print too. This is part of why some Universities use Verdana as their default font for documents.

[sanctum-sanguinem]

“In the event that you would like to continue hating Comic Sans” is one of the best things I’ve ever read on this website

[writernotwaiting]

@pedeka @lunariagold @darklittlestories

[anastasiaoftheironwood]

I’ll take Comic Sans over Arial any day. 

[writernotwaiting]

Century Gothic and Trebuchet are both quite handsome typefaces.

[iamhisgloriouspurpose]

I’m partial to Century Gothic as well. It’s serif, but not boring.

[catwinchester-deactivated201901]

There’s also a dyslexic font designed especially for dyslexic people to read.

You can install on your tablets, laptops and browers etc, so not only can you change things like documents into it, you can change websites into that font as well! 

[catwinchester-deactivated201901]

I’m sure you’re bright enough to do a google search, but since I’m dumb enough to forget to post a link, here it is. Better late than never

https://www.dyslexiefont.com/en/dyslexie-font/

[captainlordauditor]

I default to arial for this reason, but I will now be defaulting to verdana or dyslexie. nice.

[formlessdemi]

I don’t think I have dyslexia but that dyslexie font was the easiest fucking thing to read ever. Books should be written in that shit.

[lunariens]

ALSO!!!

For computer reading, when you mix up lines of text, there’s a web browser app called Beeline Reader. It looks like this

The colors are also customizable, to an extent and while I don’t have dyslexia, I have adhd which makes reading large amounts of text harder and this helps A LOT.

[psychstxdies]

Hey if you’re a studyblr majoring or minoring in psychology, neuroscience, chemistry, and/or biology (or similar), and/or are pre med (or pharm) can you like or reblog this? Trying to find more people to follow!!

[marias-studyblr]

Classic Books List

“Why read the classics? A classic is a book that has never finished saying what it has to say.” These are a few recommendations, books everyone should read. Don’t let yourself be convinced they are good: read and decide for yourself!

(no particular order intended)

Don Quixote - Miguel de Cervantes

The Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck

North and South - Elizabeth Gaskell

Hard Times - Charles Dickens

The Karamazov Brothers - Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Wuthering Heights - Emily Brontë

The Waves - Virginia Woolf

Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen

Great Expectations - Charles Dickens

Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen

Hamlet - William Shakespeare

Richard II - William Shakespeare

Little Women - Louisa Alcott

The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald

The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde

Emma - Jane Austen

Anna Karenina - Liev Tolstói

Jane Eyre - Charlotte Brontë

Romeo and Juliet - William Shakespeare

The Age of Innocence - Edith Wharton 

Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck

Lord of The Flies - William Golding

One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel García Márquez

Persuasion - Jane Austen

War and Peace - Liev Tolstói

Macbeth - William Shakespeare

The Tell-Tale Heart - Edgar Allan Poe

Dracula - Bram Stoker

The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar - Edgar Allan Poe

Frankenstein - Mary Shelley

The Metamorphosis - Franz Kafka 

Moby Dick - Herman Melville

Mrs. Dalloway - Virginia Woolf

King Lear - William Shakespeare

The Fountainhead - Ayn Rand

Nineteen Eighty-Four - George Orwell

Jean Barois - Roger Martin du Gard

Wives and Daughters - Elizabeth Gaskell

Brave New World - Aldous Huxley

To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee

The Catcher in the Rye - J. D. Salinger

Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky

[neuromedical]

I’m glad eduroam is such a paneuropean experience 😂

[gadgets-cnl]

50 Top Online Learning Sites

Rejoice fellow uni students looking for some studyspo, we urge you to take a few free lessons, as well as academic lessons provided from actual universities on several topics. Have a look at the 50 top learning sites you can find online to help you save some time.

Art and Music

Dave Conservatoire — Dave Conservatoire is an entirely free online music school offering a self-proclaimed “world-class music education for everyone,” and providing video lessons and practice tests.

Drawspace — If you want to learn to draw or improve your technique, Drawspace has free and paid self-study as well as interactive, instructor-led lessons.

Justin Guitar — The Justin Guitar site boasts over 800 free guitar lessons which cover transcribing, scales, arpeggios, ear training, chords, recording tech and guitar gear, and also offers a variety of premium paid mobile apps and content (books/ ebooks, DVDs, downloads).

Math, Data Science and Engineering

Codecademy — Codecademy offers data science and software programming (mostly Web-related) courses for various ages groups, with an in-browser coding console for some offerings.

Stanford Engineering Everywhere — SEE/ Stanford Engineering Everywhere houses engineering (software and otherwise) classes that are free to students and educators, with materials that include course syllabi, lecture videos, homework, exams and more.

Big Data University — Big Data University covers Big Data analysis and data science via free and paid courses developed by teachers and professionals.

Better Explained — BetterExplained offers a big-picture-first approach to learning mathematics — often with visual explanations — whether for high school algebra or college-level calculus, statistics and other related topics.

Design, Web Design/ Development

HOW Design University — How Design University (How U) offers free and paid online lessons on graphic and interactive design, and has opportunities for those who would like to teach.

HTML Dog — HTML Dog is specifically focused on Web development tutorials for HTML, CSS and JavaScript coding skills.

Skillcrush — Skillcrush offers professional web design and development courses aimed at one who is interested in the field, regardless of their background — with short, easy-to-consume modules and a 3-month Career Blueprints to help students focus on their career priorities.

Hack Design — Hack Design, with the help of several dozen designers around the world, has put together a lesson plan of 50 units (each with one or more articles and/or videos) on design for Web, mobile apps and more by curating multiple valuable sources (blogs, books, games, videos, and tutorials) — all free of charge.

General – Children and Adults

Scratch – Imagine, Program, Share — Scratch from MIT is a causal creative learning site for children, which has projects that range from the solar system to paper planes to music synths and more.

Udemy — Udemy hosts mostly paid video tutorials in a wide range of general topics including personal development, design, marketing, lifestyle, photography, software, health, music, language, and more.

E-learning for kids — E-learning for Kids offers elementary school courses for children ages 5-12 that cover curriculum topic including math, science, computer, environment, health, language, life skills and others.

Ed2go — Ed2go aims their “affordable” online learning courses at adults, and partners with over 2,100 colleges and universities to offer this virtual but instructor-led training in multiple categories — with options for instructors who would like to participate.

GCF Learn Free — GCFLearnFree.org is a project of Goodwill Community Foundation and Goodwill Industries, targeting anyone look for modern skills, offering over 1,000 lessons and 125 tutorials available online at anytime, covering technology, computer software, reading, math, work and career and more.

Stack Exchange — StackExchange is one of several dozen Q+A sites covering multiple topics, including Stack Overflow, which is related to computer technology. Ask a targeted question, get answers from professional and enthusiast peers to improve what you already know about a topic.

HippoCampus — HippoCampus combines free video collections on 13 middle school through college subjects from NROC Project, STEMbite, Khan Academy, NM State Learning Games Lab and more, with free accounts for teachers.

Howcast — Howcast hosts casual video tutorials covering general topics on lifestyle, crafts, cooking, entertainment and more.

Memrise — Lessons on the Memrise (sounds like “memorize”) site include languages and other topics, and are presented on the principle that knowledge can be learned with gamification techniques, which reinforce concepts.

SchoolTube — SchoolTube is a video sharing platform for K-12 students and their educators, with registered users representing over 50,000 schools and a site offering of over half a million videos.

Instructables — Instructables is a hybrid learning site, offering free online text and video how-to instructions for mostly physical DIY (do-it-yourself) projects that cover various hands-on crafts, technology, recipes, game play accessories and more. (Costs lie in project materials only.)

creativeLIVE — CreativeLive has an interesting approach to workshops on creative and lifestyle topics (photography, art, music, design, people skills, entreprenurship, etc.), with live access typically offered free and on-demand access requiring purchase.

Do It Yourself — Do It Yourself (DIY) focuses on how-tos primarily for home improvement, with the occasional tips on lifestyle and crafts topics.

Adafruit Learning System — If you’re hooked by the Maker movement and want to learn how to make Arduino-based electronic gadgets, check out the free tutorials at Adafruit Learn site — and buy the necessary electronics kits and supplies from the main site.

Grovo — If you need to learn how to efficiently use a variety of Web applications for work, Grovo has paid (subscription, with free intros) video tutorials on best practices for hundreds of Web sites.

General College and University

edX — The edX site offers free subject matter from top universities, colleges and schools from around the world, including MIT and Harvard, and many courses are “verified,” offering a certificate of completion for a nominal minimum fee.

Cousera — Coursera is a learning site offering courses (free for audit) from over 100 partners — top universities from over 20 countries, as well as non-university partners — with verified certificates as a paid option, plus specializations, which group related courses together in a recommended sequence.

MIT Open Courseware — MIT OpenCourseWare is the project that started the OCW / Open Education Consortium [http://www.oeconsortium.org], launching in 2002 with the full content of 50 real MIT courses available online, and later including most of the MIT course curriculum — all for free — with hundreds of higher ed institutions joining in with their own OCW course materials later.

Open Yale Courses — Open Yale Courses (OYC) are free, open access, non-credit introductory courses recorded in Yale College’s classroom and available online in a number of digital formats.

Open Learning Initiative — Carnegie Mellon University’s (CMU’s) Open Learning Initiative (OLI) is course content (many open and free) intended for both students who want to learn and teachers/ institutions requiring teaching materials.

Khan Academy — Khan Academy is one of the early online learning sites, offering free learning resources for all ages on many subjects, and free tools for teachers and parents to monitor progress and coach students.

MIT Video — MITVideo offers over 12,000 talks/ lecture videos in over 100 channels that include math, architecture and planning, arts, chemistry, biological engineering, robotics, humanities and social sciences, physics and more.

Stanford Online — Stanford Online is a collection of free courses billed as “for anyone, anywhere, anytime” and which includes a wide array of topics that include human rights, language, writing, economics, statistics, physics, engineering, software, chemistry, and more.

Harvard Extension School: Open Learning Initiative — Harvard’s OLI (Open Learning Initiative) offers a selection of free video courses (taken from the edX selection) for the general public that covers a range of typical college topics, includings, Arts, History, Math, Statistics, Computer Science, and more.

Canvas Network — Canvas Network offers mostly free online courses source from numerous colleges and universities, with instructor-led video and text content and certificate options for select programs.

Quantum Physics Made Relatively Simple — Quantum Physics Made Relatively Simple” is, as the name implies, a set of just three lectures (plus intro) very specifically about Quantum Physics, form three presentations given by theoretical physicist Hans Bethe.

Open UW — Open UW is the umbrella initiative of several free online learning projects from the University of Washington, offered by their UW Online division, and including Coursera, edX and other channels.

UC San Diego Podcast Lectures — Podcast USCD, from UC San Diego, is a collection of audio and/or video podcasts of multi-subject university course lectures — some freely available, other only accessible by registered students.

University of the People — University of the People offers tuition-free online courses, with relatively small fees required only for certified degree programs (exam and processing fees).

NovoEd — NovoEd claims a range of mostly free “courses from thought leaders and distinguished professors from top universities,” and makes it possible for today’s participants to be tomorrow’s mentors in future courses.

IT and Software Development

Udacity — Udacity offers courses with paid certification and nanodegrees — with emphasis on skills desired by tech companies in Silicon Valley — mostly based on a monthly subscription, with access to course materials (print, videos) available for free.

Apple Developer Site — Apple Developer Center may be very specific in topics for lessons, but it’s a free source of documentation and tutorials for software developers who want to develop apps for iOS Mobile, Mac OS X desktop, and Safari Web apps.

Google Code — As with Apple Developer Center, Google Code is topic-narrow but a good source of documentation and tutorials for Android app development.

Code.org — Code.org is the home of the “Hour of Code” campaign, which is aimed at teachers and educators as well as students of all ages (4-104) who want to teach or learn, respectively, computer programming and do not know where to start.

Mozilla Developer Network — MDN (Mozilla Developer Network) offers learning resources — including links to offsite guides — and tutorials for Web development in HTML, CSS and JavaScript — whether you’re a beginner or an expert, and even if you’re not using Mozilla’s Firefox Web browser.

Learnable — Learnable by Sitepoint offers paid subscription access to an ebook library of content for computers and tablets, and nearly 5,000 videos lessons (and associated code samples) covering software-related topics – with quizzes and certification available.

Pluralsight — Pluralsight (previously PeepCode) offers paid tech and creative training content (over 3,700 courses and 130K video clips) for individuals, businesses and institutions that covers IT admin, programming, Web development, data visualization — as well as game design, 3D animation, and video editing through a partnership with Digital-Tutors.com, and additional software coding lessons through Codeschool.com.

CodeHS — CodeSchool offers software coding lessons (by subscription) for individuals who want to learn at home, or for students learning in a high school teacher-led class.

Aquent Gymnasium — Gymnasium offers a small but thorough set of free Web-related lesson plans for coding, design and user experience, but filters access by assessing the current knowledge of an enrollee and allows those with scores of at least 70% to continue.

[cyborgsmanifesto]

dealing with the worst case scenario

your condom breaks

you feel a lump on your breast

your friends are ignoring you

you’re stranded on an island 

you got rejected by a crush

you get into a car accident

you got stung by a bee/wasp

you got fired from your job

you’re in an earthquake

your tattoo gets infected

your house is on fire

you’re lost in the woods

you get arrested abroad

you get robbed

your partner cheated on you

you’re on a ship that’s sinking

you fall into ice

you’re stuck in an elevator

you hit a deer with your car

you have food poisoning

your pet passed away

you fall off of a horse

you or your friend has alcohol poisoning

you have toxic shock syndrome

your house has a gas leak

[4velitta4]

I feel like this could be useful in my future

[astrologypixies-deactivated2016]

REBLOG THIS. I CANNOT STRESS HOW IMPORTANT THIS GUIDES ARE, BOOST THIS SHIT

[littlebigsillygirl]

Just in case. Plus the links are legit.

[lets-get-fictional]

How many types plot structures are there and how are they used?

Hiya! Thanks for your question! Plot structures are important for creating a good story.

There’s an infinite amount of plot structures depending on the story you’re telling. Some types are better than others within certain genres. Here are the most common plot structures, and how they’re used:

The Four Main Plot Structures:

Freytag’s Pyramid:

Also known as dramatic structure, this is the most simplistic of plot structures, and probably the one you were taught in elementary school. In this type of story structure, the climax falls in the middle, and the latter half of the story consists of falling action and the resolution. This was developed to analyze Greek and Shakespearian plays that use a five-act structure.

Why it’s good: It allows authors to explore the consequences of one’s actions. It’s also good for story analysis.

Why it’s bad: Long resolutions get boring fast. Modern novels don’t use this because no one wants to read a story where the villain is defeated in the middle.

When to use it: Children’s books and short stories

It’s good to use in children’s books because the goal of most children’s books is to teach kids a lesson. Using Freytag’s Pyramid gives writers the chance to teach kids the consequences of doing something wrong (lying, bullying, etc.). It works in short stories because the limited length prevents the denouement from being too long and boring the reader.

Examples: Any of Shakespeare’s plays

The Fichtean Curve:

This is what most modern novels use, no matter the genre. The Fichtean Curve features a varying number of crises (or mini-climaxes) within the rising action to build up to climax about two-thirds of the way through the story. The falling action is short and used to wrap up loose ends or establish a new way of life for the characters.

Why it’s good: Putting crises throughout the story will keep readers hooked until the end. It also helps to keep good pacing. Despite being frequently used, this structure is loose enough that anyone can use it and make it unique for their own story.

Why it’s bad: Too much action can be overwhelming. This structure also doesn’t work well with certain story types such as Voyage and Return, Rebirth, or Comedy.

When to use it: Action-packed stories, Overcoming the Monster plots, or Quest plots

Examples: Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern, World War Z by Max Brooks, or Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard

The Hero’s Journey:

Another common plot structure that is seen in modern novels (especially western literature), and can be combined with the Fichtean Curve. Often, modern novels are a combination of the two. What makes the Hero’s Journey unique is that the protagonist must go through a literal or figurative death that completely transforms them. The death is usually, but not always, the climax of the story. Another key difference in The Hero’s Journey is that the protagonist must atone for their past rather than overcome it or move on without going back.

Why it’s good: Allows for great character development in character-strong stories.

Why it’s bad: Nearly every western novel, film, or TV show (successful and unsuccessful) uses this plot structure. It’s a little overdone, but if you can put a good personal twist on it, it can work out just fine.

When to use it: First-person stories, stories with small casts, Voyage and Return plots, or Rebirth plots

Examples: To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan, or Divergent by Veronica Roth

In Media Res

Latin for “in the middle of things”, In Media Res is a unique plot structure. Rather than start with an exposition that builds up to the action, In Media Res starts right in the middle of the story. If you were to start your story at the second or third crisis point of the Fichtean Curve, you would get In Media Res.

Why It’s Good: Dropping people in the middle of the action will hook the right from the beginning.

Why It’s Bad: Starting with the action can be disorienting for readers. Make sure you fill in the backstory as the plot moves on.

When to Use It: Stories with small casts, Crime plots, or Mystery plots

Examples: Hatchet by Gary Paulsen, The Lord of the Flies by William Golding, or The Iliad by Homer

There are plenty more plot structures, but these are the main four, and all others are based off these in some way. Keep in mind that most stories use a combination of these plot structures, so you don’t have to stick to just one.

Thanks again for your question! If you need help with anything else writing related, feel free to send in another ask. Happy writing!

- Mod Kellie

If you need advice on general writing or fanfiction, you should maybe ask us!

[lazy-polyglot]

Friendly reminder - you’re not a full time professional athlete. you’re not a fashion icon. you’re not supposed to be perfect. Shitty grades happen and it doesn’t mean you’re not smart. So if you’re trying to balance studying, working, volunteering, exercising, learning languages, and expect to be a perfect multilingual Victoria Secret model with straight As, a job, and volunteer time, as well as being a good friend and making time for yourself, you’re gonna have a massive breakdown and fail. You don’t have to be perfect. Navigating into academia is hard. Nobody is asking you to be perfect. Results matter, sure, but effort is important and valuable as well. You’re learning. 

[daisywords]

Characters But No Plot?

I’ve been struggling with the exact same issue for a long time, and now I feel like my wip is finally emerging (albeit slowly) from its chrysalis with maybe some semblance of a plot !? so here’s what I’ve learned:

So you have characters? lovely.

You have a setting? amazing.

You don’t have anything remotely resembling a plot? relatable, my dude.

So here’s what we’re going to do:

Step 1: feel out the general aesthetic/baseline that you want the plot to involve—epic battles? ocean’s-eleven-esqe heist? long meandering quest? political intrigue? lots of romance? tons of secrets? self discovery? solving mysteries? petty drama?

how big of a scale will this plot be on? what are the stakes?

is the fate of the world at risk? or just the fate of a relationship? are multiple countries in play, or do the characters never leave their small town?

This will depend on the characters you have, if their backstories are already fleshed out. And obviously the setting and worldbuilding you’ve already done.

Don’t be afraid to have a tight story with relatively small stakes. Not everything has to be about saving the whole world. On the other hand, if you’re really feeling juggling all the politics and diplomacy across an entire continent, you do you.

Step 2: Mash your setting and characters. It’s time to get more specific with all your enlightenment from step one.

Think about your setting, your world—what kinds of problems could exist that match the kind of plot you wanted in step one?

Which problems would specifically apply/relate to your characters?

Specific is the key. Don’t just give me “a war” or “a monster” or “an oppressive government.” Give me “Tina can’t get the supplies she needs for her healing spells because the collapse of a neighboring country’s government really did a number on the safety/success rate of trade routes” or “Prince Gary’s four older brothers have all mysteriously died, and now he’s the heir to the throne, even though he’s been raised in a monastery since he was three and has no idea what’s going on.”

Step 2.5: Why is your main character the Main Character? Or: Make the Stakes Personal

Part of specific is specific to your character. Your protagonist doens’t need to be some over-candied mary sue chosen one. But they need to be relevant. So make the plot/problem relevant to them, in a way that it isn’t relevant to others.

Sure, Tina could just shut her witch-doctor business down, except now her sister has the plague and she really needs that healing spell, so Tina’s just going to have to journey into anarchy-land to get that frickin flower, now isn’t she

Gary could just do what he’s told and shrug his shoulders’ except looks like his brothers were assassinated and he’s the next target. Hard to relax when you’re personally fearing for your life and can’t trust anyone around you.

Except maybe things aren’t working out. Maybe you don’t want to write about Tina or Gary as your precious MC.

Maybe you want to write about a young apprentice named Jane, or a cowardly monk named Sebastian.

So maybe little Jane is the one with the sick sister, the one who begs Tina for the cure, and sets off to find that missing ingredient when Tina explains the problem.

Or maybe Sebastian, Gary’s friend from the monastery is brought along as court scholar, and it’s he who has to prevent Gary’s assassination, because Gary won’t believe that he’s in danger.

Basically: What motivates your MC to get involved in all this nasty business in the first place?

Step 3: Who/What is your antagonist?

You know that problem? The one that’s going to suck for your poor little protagonist? Put a face on it. You might already have a fleshed out antagonist. Great.

(You might not want one specific person, and that’s fine. Man vs. society, man vs. nature, etc. stories can be great and you do you. But I’m going to discuss this like a single person for now.)

Ok so the problem. It’s now caused by a person. Was this intentional, or just a side effect of some bigger plan? What is that plan? What is concrete thing is motivating the antagonist? What inner desire is motivating the antagonist?

Warlord Ren, who overthrew Westland’s government, doesn’t care about Jay’s sister. He probably isn’t even aware that people in Eastland can’t get their medicine. He definitely isn’t doing any of this to hurt Jane. In fact Warlord Ren is the leader of a once-marginalized group in Westland, who were sick of being treated as second-class citizens. Warlord Ren is out for revenge. Violent Revenge.

Lizzy, Gary’s first cousin once-removed, has a two-year-old son who just happens to be next in line for the throne after Gary. If her son were to become the heir, she could be guaranteed lifelong financial security and independence—and the ability to leave her terrible marriage. Too bad so many people have to die.

Step 4: What logical step would your protagonist take to solve their problem?

This is where things start being a plot. Like you get real events.

It goes like this: action > consequence > (re)action > consequence etc etcetec

Once the consequences extend wide enough that they affect the antagonist, that’s when we get the actual protagonist vs. antagonist dynamic we know and love.

So the consequences can start being actions of the antagonist as well.

There’s safety in numbers, so Jane teams up with a caravan also trying to cross Westland. But they turn out to be thieves, who rob her blind the first night on the road.

Sebastian, worried about Gary being poisoned, insists on being present for the entire preparation and serving process of anything Gary eats. However, Gary finds this unnecessary and frustrating, causing friction in their friendship. Better/worse yet, Lizzy hears about this arrangement, and thus knows that Sebastian is on her trail. Maybe she’ll try to discredit him, or get him thrown out of court. Maybe she’ll even frame him for an assassination attempt.

Step 4.5: Put your characters where the action is.

I feel like this is one of the main problems people run into when they kinda have the basis of a plot (the problem) but no real events: The most interesting things are happening elsewhere and are heard about in passing, instead of actually becoming those real plot events.

Bonus: Not sure where the action is? Try this: put your characters where the antagonist is.

This seems obvious, but sometimes it’s hard, because you have to reframe the concept you’ve had in your head for so long. You have to be flexible. You have to be willing to deviate from your original vision. You also have to maneuver things around sometimes in unexpected ways. But guess what? You’re in charge.

Maybe Warlord Ren is up to some wicked schemes. You wanted your story to be all about Jane’s quest through Westland. But if Jane just keeps traveling through different towns and getting stuck in different shenanigans, she’s never going to even hear about those wicked schemes, let alone be put into direct conflict with Warlord Ren. So we sacrifice our journey narrative a little to really spice things up: Jane joins Ren’s army. After all, she was just robbed; if she joins just until the next paycheck, she’ll be able to have the means to continue her journey.

Sebastian, a court scholar, wouldn’t be along on a hunting trip, right? so I guess he’s just have to hear about Gary’s near-death “accident” after the fact, right? Wrong. Turns out Gary feels bad after their fight about “poison paranoia” and invites Sebastian along on the trip. It’s very unconventional, but Gary wasn’t raised as a prince, remember? And the crown prince gets what he wants. Good thing Sebastion is going to be right next to Gary to keep that accident just “nearly fatal” instead of full-on fatal.

Step 5: Reexamine the problem(s)

So things should have escalated by now. Maybe the initial problem is what drew our MC into this whole mess, but things should be a lot messier by now.

So we’re supposed to have a climax, right? But how?

Do not fear, friend. Here’s what we need:

- The most exciting/action based problem

- The problem that tests your character/engages internal conflict the most

- the original problem (from the beginning)

And now put them in the blender. Turn it on. That’s good. A good smoothie. It’s climax flavored. It’s exciting. It’s action-packed. It’s emotionally compelling. It’s structurally sound and resonant.

Jane has turned out to be quite a capable soldier. She’s managed to get quite high in the ranks, and has managed to impress Warlord Ren himself. The trouble is, she’s had to do more and more things she feels wrong about, and is slowly losing the ability to justify her actions based on her desire to save her sister. She’s also witnessed the harsh punishments given to attempted deserters, which makes her plan to join only for a little while seem less feasible. Now, Jane’s been given an assignment to lead a squadron on a killing spree, of people who she suspects are just innocent civilians. If she follows orders, she will be awarded a high-ranking position, granting her the ability to ensure a safe trade route so her sister an finally get her medicine. But this still doesn’t feel right…

Lizzy has successfully framed Sebastion for attempting to assassinate Gary. Sebastian is now facing execution. His friendship with Gary is severely damaged, maybe even beyond repair. Gary believes that he really is guilty. But that’s not all: Sebastian knows that Lizzy has plans to kill Gary herself that very night, while he is locked in the dungeon. Even if he manages to break out, Sebastian has always been a nonviolent pacifist. Will he choose to use violence in order to save his friend, even thought Gary doesn’t trust him?

Step 6: Resolve Everything

And that’s all, folks