DEAR READER
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blake kathryn
Cosmic Funnies
"I'm Dorothy Gale from Kansas"
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JVL
@theartofmadeline
Not today Justin
Stranger Things
Today's Document
Xuebing Du
oozey mess
Lint Roller? I Barely Know Her
Love Begins
KIROKAZE
dirt enthusiast
RMH
Alisa U Zemlji Chuda
Product Placement
seen from Switzerland
seen from Australia
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from Czechia
seen from United States
seen from Malaysia
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from Malaysia
seen from United States
seen from Australia
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from Germany
seen from Malaysia
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from Switzerland
@hyx
“You absolute moron,” Cat says, and flings her arms around Em. His eyes widen for a split second, then he breaks out in laughter and hugs her back. “Thank the Sisters you're alive, Cat, but we are not doing that again.”
Smoothing her skirts back into decency, Cat separates herself gently from him. “It worked, though. You can't deny that.”
im going to have a stroke
Instead try… Person A: You know… the thing Person B: The “thing”? Person A: Yeah, the thing with the little-! *mutters under their breath* Como es que se llama esa mierda… THE FISHING ROD
As someone with multiple bilingual friends where English is not the first language, may I present to you a list of actual incidents I have witnessed:
Forgot a word in Spanish, while speaking Spanish to me, but remembered it in English. Became weirdly quiet as they seemed to lose their entire sense of identity.
Used a literal translation of a Russian idiomatic expression while speaking English. He actually does this quite regularly, because he somehow genuinely forgets which idioms belong to which language. It usually takes a minute of everyone staring at him in confused silence before he says “….Ah….. that must be a Russian one then….”
Had to count backwards for something. Could not count backwards in English. Counted backwards in French under her breath until she got to the number she needed, and then translated it into English.
Meant to inform her (French) parents that bread in America is baked with a lot of preservatives. Her brain was still halfway in English Mode so she used the word “préservatifes.” Ended up shocking her parents with the knowledge that apparently, bread in America is full of condoms.
Defined a slang term for me……. with another slang term. In the same language. Which I do not speak.
Was talking to both me and his mother in English when his mother had to revert to Russian to ask him a question about a word. He said “I don’t know” and turned to me and asked “Is there an English equivalent for Нумизматический?” and it took him a solid minute to realize there was no way I would be able to answer that. Meanwhile his mom quietly chuckled behind his back.
Said an expression in English but with Spanish grammar, which turned “How stressful!” into “What stressing!”
Bilingual characters are great but if you’re going to use a linguistic blunder, you have to really understand what they actually blunder over. And it’s usually 10x funnier than “Ooops it’s hard to switch back.”
I use Spanish and English daily, none is my native language. When I’m tired or did not have enough sleep I loose track of who to address in which language; I caught myself explaining something in Spanish to my English-speaking friends more than once. When I’m REALLY tired I’ll throw some Polish words in the mix.
There is nothing more painful than bad fake Spanglish by an American writer. Bilingual people don’t just randomly drop words in nonsensical places in their sentences ffs. “I’m muy tired! I think I’ll go to my cama and go to sleep!“ Nobody does that.
From my bilingual parents:
- Only being able to do math in their original language. “Ok so that would beeeeee … *muttering* ocho por cuatro menos tres…”
- Losing words and getting mad at you about it. “Gimme the - the - UGH, ESA COSA AHI’ CARAJO. The thing, the oven mitt. Christ.”
- Making asides to you in Spanish even though you’ve told them to not do this as lots of people here speak Spanish. “Oye, mira esa, que cara fea.” “MOM FFS WE’RE IN A MEXICAN NEIGHBORHOOD.”
- Swears in English don’t count.
- Swears in Spanish mean you’d better fucking run, kid.
- Introducing you to English-only Americans using your Spanish name so that they mispronounce your name for all eternity because that’s what your mom said your name was. “Hi Dee-yanna!” “sigh, Just call me Diana.” “Yeah but your mom said your name was Dee-yanna.”
- Your parents give you a name that only makes sense in Spanish. “Your name is Floor?” “No, my name is Flor.” “FLOOR?” “Sigh.”
- conjugating English words with Russian grammar and vice versa. Sometimes both at once, which is extra fun. самолет -> самолетас -> самолетасы
- when vice versa, dropping English articles entirely. The, a, an: all gone. e.g. “I go to store and buy thing, I fix car and go to place.” This also happens when i am very tired
- speaking English with heavy accent you don’t actually have - when my family and I are switching over fast, we say the English words in a very heavy Russian accent that mostly doesn’t show up otherwise
bonus:
- keysmashing in the wrong language when your keyboard is still switched over
- using ))))) instead of :))) or other culture-specific emoji/typing quirks
all of the above
I don’t actually speak Tagalog, but my mom’s Filipino. One of my favorite things is when she forgets how to preposition, so something is ‘in the table’.
SOMEHOW I NEVER REBLOGGED THIS?!?!?!?!? this is one of my absolute favorite posts on all of tumblr also, to add to the pile of fun things bilinguals do: cackling over bilingual puns that nobody else in the room will get and then being completely unable to explain why this is funny
Interesting. Reblogging this for future reference.
my favourite is that feeling when you have the perfect response to something but halfway through saying it you realised it’s in a language the other person doesn’t speak so you either just kind of… fade out, or try desperately to make it make sense in the other language
I lose my place all the time when I’m counting in English, but never when I count in German.
I’m swedish but at this point I’m so fluent in english that I can switch between languages on a dime.
i hate forgetting a word in english and having to describe but realizing that i cant describe it in english. so im just stuttering between russian and english and none of my english speaking friends can help
oh by the way this is the closest yall are going to get to me ever starting a stronger god than i
A Note on Writing Kind Characters
We often judge a character’s kindness the same way we would the Powerpuff Girls: are they made of sugar, spice, and everything nice? I’m here to tell you that while sweetness can be indicative of kindness, it is not synonymous with it.
Characters are not only kind because they cannot fathom being cruel. Characters can be kind because they know just how cruel they can be and opt for compassion instead.
Characters are not only kind because they think nothing of themselves and only think of others. Characters can be kind because they desperately want someone to show them the same consideration after a lifetime of manipulation and rejection.
Characters are not only kind because they love to help with every little issue. Characters can be kind because they fear what will happen if they’re not, if no one else rises and all goodness falls away - and they see the same uncertainty in the person they’re assisting.
Characters are not only kind when they keep their mouths clean and their words affable. Characters can be kind by delivering painful truths while the world would let you live with honeyed lies, but they’ll help you grieve and grow from them.
Yes, your characters can be pure, selfless, innocent angels. They can cute as a button and sweet as pie! But they can also be human: healing others instead of harming them because of the hurt they know they could bring about. Instead, these characters - flawed and damaged as they may be - choose kindness.
monday’s child
i.k.b
[ transcript below ] and when you have to face the inevitable? what then?
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Who is ready for NaNo?
This bingo focusses less on the word count goals of NaNo and more on the little steps we take as we participate in it!
🤜 If you find NaNo is not for you, maybe this bingo will help you achieve some of your writing goals this November. Substitute ‘nano’ for ‘writing’ and you should be good to go.
🤜 You can fill this out as the month progresses, or you can do it at the end - it’s up to you.
👏 Use it as a tool to see just how much stuff you did during NaNo - because even if you didn’t write 50k words, you still did a heck of a lot of work!
BONUS!
If you work better with print outs and stickers, I have made a mostly white, A4 version of this same bingo board and made it available HERE, so you can print it out and tick off each box whichever way you like!
project eden- nano2020 wip
how do you stop a tragedy?
you stop it with a choice.
-- word count 20kish?
-- synopsis teresa rosario is running. ong gim hui is scared. theo ecceleston is angry, and park jangmi is trying to stay afloat. though they don't know it yet, all of them are going to die in seven days—and it seems their only hope is the stories of those who have come before them.
-- featuring lesbians of colour, free will, stories, female friendship, religious symbolism in the wheels-with-eyes kinda way, plot that is 99% winging it
I KNOW THIS IS LATE. I KNOW IT'S LATE AND I'M SORRY. ACTUALLY I WASN'T EVEN PLANNING ON POSTING THIS BUT YOLO I GUESS.
🍎🍋🍌!
thanks for the ask! im doing this for project eden. it got weirdly long sorry i just have many feelings about project eden
🍎 - choice & destiny - - teresa is controlled by what others think of her. theo's life is controlled by her religion. jangmi and gim hui both feel like they don't have a future (aka destiny) bc of depression and instability, etc etc.
everyone in the cycle is also terrified of ending up like the people before them because the island makes it abundantly clear that This Will Not End Well, Y'all Are Going To Die Whether Y'all Like It Or Not. the whole point of the island is to punish people which it sees as irredeemable, leading them towards tragedy as a result of their own actions in a sort of contrapasso—and it's only when jangmi and teresa are able to overcome their fatal flaws (selfishness and lack of self-love) that they break the cycle and leave the island
🍋 - this whole story is just six kilos of symbolism in a trench coat wdym. ok the most blatant one is the way this story is literally just a retelling of purgatorio by dante aligheri aka my love my life. the island is basically mount purgatory, the house on the river is the terrestrial paradise and gim hui and theo are virgil and statius. also [SPOILER] is an allusion to canto 30 & teresa has bonus beatrice symbolism because i felt like it.
🍌 - i don't know what it means by hidden symbolism because this entire story is so in your face it hurts so for this i'll focus on the tetramorph — those four animals in christian art (also found on the rider-waite wheel of fortune tarot card) that symbolise the four evangelicals and also happen to neatly correspond to our four mcs. i didn't actually plan for this to happen but i had four characters and nothing to lose so [shrug].
jangmi = ox = [spoilers]
theo = angel = haha religious motif go brr.
resa = eagle = freedom (in the american sense but also in the general sense y'know? and if there's nothing resa wants more it's to feel free.)
gh = lion = idk she's singaporean. this is sort of ironic because she wants to come off as Strong and Brave and Snarky and Takes No Shit but winds up being a little bit of a paper tiger :( pls give her a hug
+ for fun here's the wheel of fortune tarot card
(also for fun here's the passage in the bible linking these four fellas with the concept of destiny and fate and whatnot
... And the first beast was like a lion, and the second beast like a calf, and the third beast had a face as a man, and the fourth beast was like a flying eagle. And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within: and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, LORD God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come...
neat thing is that it's from revelations too! specifically rev 4:6-8. just thought it was cool because the later parts of purgatorio pull heavily on revelations & ezekiel - ex. pls see the procession in the terrestrial paradise which is just a bunch of symbolism thrown directly at your face for a canto straight)
themes, tropes and symbolism writeblr game
🍎: describe the main themes of your WIP
🍇: does your WIP have any subtle/implicit themes that are perhaps up to interpretation? if so, what are they?
🍉: how to the themes of your WIP tie into, or contradict, each other?
🍊: are you writing your WIP within any particular context (be it thematic, socio-political, or trope wise)? if so, how does your WIP fit into the context?
🍋: does you WIP have any symbolism? if so, briefly describe it and its intended purpose.
🍌: does your WIP have any hidden symbolism? if so (and if willing), describe it.
🍐: does the symbolism in your WIP draw from or refer to any other sources or media? if so, what are they?
🍑: list out the top five tropes that appear in your WIP.
🍒: does your WIP avert or subvert any tropes? if so, which ones and how?
🍓: does your WIP deconstruct any tropes? if so, which ones and how?
🥝: are there any secret or spoiler tropes in your WIP? if so (and if willing), describe them.
🥑: what is your favourite theme, trope and symbol from your WIP?
The End, by Alister Lockhart.
Bruh, if you don’t think that having historically significant events well documented from multiple perspectives is a good thing, then idk what the hell u doin.
Besides, like, that is literally a Giant Monster Rampaging Through The Town. What the fuck is the everyday person gonna do other than Tweet/Instagram/Post about it going “It’s the apocalypse you guys! Eyyyy lmao #apocalypse #deathrising #nofilter”?
#like come on your cellphone may not defeat the beast#but it can gain you like 50000 followers before the skies start raining blood so#who’s the REAL winner here? (via @purplebloodedmajesty)
And heck, even if your own death is inevitable getting information out could help save other people, even if it can’t save you. ‘Here are 20 livestreams of the giant tentacle monster including how it moves and attacks, how can we beat it?’ is way more useful than ‘an entire city got wiped off the map and things smell vaguely of calimari idk man’
reblogging for this perfection: ‘an entire city got wiped off the map and things smell vaguely of calimari idk man’
I personally would be trying to give the Great One flowers and chocolate, but I don’t fault others for watching to get a picture of something so glorious and terrible. 😍
These are photos taken by Robert Landsburg of the eruption of Mount St. Helens in 1980. He realized he would never get to safety in time, so he kept taking pictures of the ash cloud for as long as possible. Then he put the camera securely in his bag and lay down on top of it to protect it before being engulfed in the pyroclastic flow. When they found his body, the recovered the pictures were invaluable to geologists because no one had ever been able to document an eruption that close up before.
There are many more such photographs of unimaginable perspectives taken moments before death, only because of the compelling human desire to assert that we were here, this happened, this was real. It’s the most human desire there is - to reach out across time and space to connect with our fellow beings until our last breath.
That’s haunting
I fucking tear up every time I see this post because that’s it. That’s the essence of what it means to be human.
I was here. I explored. I saw this. Remember me.
Fuck
ｓｈｅｎｚｈｏｕ： C ２０ ━━ 𝒏𝒂𝒏𝒐 2020 .
[ 27/09/2089 , “HOME SWEET HOME!” . start recording: ] test, test, hey is this thing on? okay yes, hello! this is [ REDACTED ] from team alpha, we’ve just landed on xiphos and i’m sure you’re pleased to hear that we’re setting up well. you uh, you guys weren’t kidding when you said this place was … vacant. feels kinda weird knowing we’re only people here. i- i don’t know i’m sure i’ll get over it sooner or later, haha. but uh, all jokes aside i- i have pretty good feeling about this. i feel like we were meant to be here, y’know? *distant yelling* oh, duty calls, i gotta run. don’t miss me too much over there … talk soon. [ end recording. ]
━━ 𝐛𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐜 𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 .
𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐥𝐞 : shenzhou: c20. 𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐫𝐞 : na sci - fi space horror. 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐬 : plotting &&. outlining. 𝐬𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 : xiphos , an uncharted arctic planet. 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐬 &&. 𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐬 : all poc &&. lgbt main cast , atom punk &&. ray punk aesthetic , major &&. minor character death , questioning morals , found family , manipulation , corruption , murderous alien creatures , space lesbians , the dangers of human nature , desperately seeking the truth no matter the consequences , deadly ambition , mental spiraling &&. unraveling , the absence of the concept of time. 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 : body horror , murder , gore , cannibalism , alcoholism , drug use , suicide , derealization &&. depersonalization , vulgarity , sexual scenes.
━━ 𝐬𝐲𝐧𝐨𝐩𝐬𝐢𝐬 .
they said the future was limitless. and they weren’t wrong: humanity took to the cosmos, with space exploration becoming a daily occurrence, mars was colonized in ‘46, robots became cherished members of every household and essential workers in shops and factories. everyday we learned something new, something that brought us power and fame and fortune.
and those same three things became our downfall, our collective quest for power doomed us. we became our own true enemies.
it’s been thirty years since the beginning of what has come to be known as “ the great war ”, and we’re desperate. the world as we know it is dying a slow, brutal and excruciating death and we’re powerless to do anything but sit and watch as it all comes crashing down.
we knew it’d end like this but we didn’t know it’d come this soon.
the CNSA have been working diligently for years to find an answer as to how we can survive this, and after decades of desperate research they think they’ve finally found a possible answer. xiphos, an uncharted arctic dwarf planet, the perfect place to start anew.
and so, SHENZHOU: C20 was breathed into reality: the purpose, the answer. the very thing the survival of humanity hinges on.
on september 2nd, 2089, the CNSA held their breaths as SHENZHOU: C20 was a go. fifty-five taikonauts were planned to go to xiphos, to scope it out, to see if xiphos truly was the answer. they were told that they were alone on xiphos. they were lied to.
it’s been two weeks since earth has last heard from alpha team. the select few people who knew about SHENZHOU: C20 presume the taikonauts dead. while the CNSA insists SHENZHOU: C20 never existed in the first place, successfully sweeping the whole mission under the rug and forcing others to do the same. SHENZHOU: C20 and alpha team became a myth, and the elite of the CNSA intend to keep it that way
but some refuse to forget alpha team, desperately craving the answers they so deserve. liu yongxing, one of the top donators of the CNSA is one of these people, a father who’s daughter was one of the fifty-five taikonauts apart of mission SHENZHOU: C20. with both the CNSA and the chinese government refusing to give answers, he hires yao mengzhi, an investigator for hire who was the only one crazy enough to accept the mission. mengzhi, along with her merry crew of space investigators and rescuers set out ( motivated by the promise of large sums of cash ) to uncover the truth behind the mysterious disappearance of alpha team.
fifty-five taikonauts went to xiphos and fifty-five taikonauts never returned, and the black swans intend to find out why.
━━ 𝐭𝐚𝐠𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭 .
( for this post i’m gonna be tagging my universal taglist , to be added to the taglist please interact with this post or send me an ask . thank you !! )
ｕｎｉｖｅｒｓａｌ ( if you want to be removed please send me a dm , thank you lovely!! )： @jugularrs , @adrestaie , @vandorens , @emdrabbles , @mshelleys , @spillme , @piyawrites , @apollchiles . * thank you all for your interest , ily !!
How to write a character-driven plot
The Character-Driven Plot Wheel
1. Emotions drive actions.
Make your hero act on their deepfelt emotions. This not only adds meaning to their actions, but also helps communicate to readers your hero’s core emotional struggle.
2. Actions trigger consequences.
When your hero acts, give their actions consequences that affect the plot, themselves, and/or the surrounding characters. For example, driven by curiosity, maybe your hero opens Pandora’s box; maybe they act recklessly and someone dies; or maybe they stand up for what they believe in, but at great personal cost. Consequences raise the stakes and empower your hero with agency.
3. Consequences compel change.
Use the consequences of your hero’s actions to create a crucible of growth — challenges and situations that force them to take the next step on their character journey. That step may be forward, or backward, and it may be large or small; but something inside them changes.
4. Change influences emotions.
When a character goes through a change, even a small one, allow it to affect them emotionally. Maybe they feel increasingly frustrated or guilty. Maybe they’re afraid, having just taken another step closer to abandoning their old way of seeing the world. Or maybe they finally feel peace.
Regardless of the form it takes, remember to reflect your hero’s change in their emotions. Then let their emotions drive action, to trigger consequences, which will compel further change.
Lather. Rinse. Repeat.
And there you have it! That’s how you write a character-driven plot.
So what do you say?
Give the wheel a spin.
— — —
Your stories are worth telling. For tips on how to craft meaning, build character-driven plots, and grow as a writer, follow my blog.
hmmm if anyone’s interested im really bad at plot but i do have like … some good writing tips that aren’t just “don’t use adverbs!” because fuck all that shit
okay so this is like… the writing PROCESS. not like “write good” lol. here u go:
Keep reading
today i am thinking about what we leave behind. in the store, on all of the bath mats, someone has drawn a heart or left a handprint. in the pen aisle, each page of the test paper is covered in names and little drawings and fuck covid and over and over again - hello hello hello hi hello. on the street i live, three houses have perfect hopscotch lanes carefully transcribed with rules and everything - jump here! now do a spin! graffiti of a deer on the side of a building, names scrawled into setting concrete. initials carved into park bench seats. In the bathroom, in silver sharpie - i hope you’re okay out there. i love you, you’re beautiful, keep trying. geocached tubes of trinkets, jackets left out in case somebody needs it. a note on my windshield - closed your door it was a little open have a great day and stay safe! my friends and i, fully grown adults, build a sandcastle on the edge of the ocean.
inside of returned schoolbooks. inside of little secret pockets. hi hello hello hello. what a beautiful calling. you and i are in different times, and will never meet, but here is the greeting i’d owe you. if you never get to see this person, what do you say? hello! i love you. be good out there. be safe.
𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞 - 𝐰𝐢𝐩 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧
genre: literary fiction, tragedy
pov: third person limited
status: outlining
themes/tropes: running out of time, rebirth, living in the moment, magical realism, identity crisis, impulsiveness, emptiness, tragedy, unrequited love,
setting: unspecified small town in the american midwest
small synopsis:
In the middle of of nowhere, in a small insignificant town, there lives a god who is hiding from Death. Though they have no true name (at one point the names and lives blend together) they were first known as Life. They’ve been dying and being reborn since the dawn of time, and they’re tired. At this point, they’re ready to let Death end the cycle.
But this time Life may have found someone, someone to live for. But will it be enough?
characters:
dominic - they/them. a reincarnating god
death - they/them. rejected by society and the one they love most
jordan - she/they. local mysterious soul
playlist
𝐭𝐚𝐠𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭 | 𝐚𝐬𝐤 𝐨𝐫 𝐫𝐞𝐛𝐥𝐨𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐚𝐝𝐝𝐞𝐝
oc ships : VIRGINIA ROMERO & ELIZABETH LOVELL
There’s still art in this city, if you know where to find it- and I just might have found it in you.
