Women of Supernatural Creations Challenge | Prompt: Wayward ➤ Claire
Jody always said I’d get myself killed, hunting, and I’d be like, good. If I’m going to go out then that’s how I want to do it, doing something great. But Patience’s vision… It’s one thing thinking that you’re going to die but actually knowing it? For once a part of me kinda just wants to sit back and let Jody handle it, you know? Stay safe. But Sam and Dean saved my life and I can’t sit this one out.
How do you write a tense scene? I'm trying to write a scene about a character who has to choose between breaking his companion out of jail and risking his own freedom or leave his companion and continue on to achieve his previous goal alone. I can't figure out how to make this a full scene with real tension beyond just having him make the choice and dealing with the aftermath. Unless that's what you're supposed to do, I don't know.
Writing a tense scene is about more than just the moment or what comes after it; the real strength is in what leads up to the moment and how invested the reader is in the outcome. Don’t just focus on the immediate scene and what follows, but on what happens before the story even got there.
1. Setup is key.
Majority of tension in any scene comes from the setup. Current happening matter, but it’s like building pressure in a kettle on the stove. The tea kettle can’t whistle if there isn’t any heat underneath, so you need to build the tension over time before the scene even happens. That usually looks like:
Previously establish relationships. The characters’ relationship should be good enough for that choice to be a reasonable choice. Some characters put saving others over everything else, but many don’t, and the reader should be aware of how the characters tend to operate. It needs to make sense that saving the person vs moving on would be a believable dilemma for the character.
Previously establish stakes. The reader should be aware of why the choice would matter based on how the story has gone so far. What is there to gain and lose? If your plot makes sense and is easy to follow, part of this is already done for you.
2. Craft the tense scene to highlight the stakes.
Bring the previously-established stakes to the forefront. Readers should be invested in what the character has to lose or gain by making that choice, so it doesn't hurt to put a reminder in. This doesn’t mean you write a huge monologue explaining the options because the reader should already have an idea of what each one may imply, but give the choice a bit of pause to show weight. If it’s genuinely a hard choice, this pause will come naturally as the character makes the decision.
Additional tension can also come from how the scene plays out, with things like (but not limited to) time restraints, dramatic irony, and/or immediate situational factors like if they’re running from someone.
3. The choice should be hard to make.
You can still have a tense scene with imbalanced choices, but because you’re focusing on the choice, the real tension is going to come from how it’s hard to choose. How much the character dwells on this depends on who they are and how much time they have to dwell, but generally you don’t want to be churning out a choice analysis essay.
It should also actually play out like a choice for optimal effect. Another character, or force of the universe, shouldn’t swoop in and take away the choice or make it easier. Choices are part of character agency, and a high level of agency tends to lend itself to more tension. (In some stories, the external intervention would help highlight something about the character who failed to make the choice in time, but that doesn’t seem like the situation here.)
4. The consequences should be guessable (to a point).
Part of making a hard choice is deciding which set of consequences you’d rather deal with and choices with more tension tend to be understood in terms of implications. Choices can lead to unforeseen consequences, but it’s rare for a character to know literally nothing about what they’re choosing. You can have tension with unknown and barely guessable consequences, but that often comes off as a dice roll instead of the character having a real choice.
Your readers should be aware of what the implications of the choice are, and that info should mostly come from them following the plot and already knowing the stakes involved. You can add some more info in the scene to drive the implications home, but you don’t want it to become an essay.
5. The aftermath is cause-effect.
If the readers are invested in the outcome due to previous setup then it’ll help make what comes after this scene more intense. Because this isn’t a choice made at the climax, there will be plenty of time for cause-effect consequences to unfold. The character will deal with the aftermath as they see fit.
6. The writing matters too.
This is a bit of a “no shit” kind of thing, but it’s possible to botch tension by writing poorly. Since this is the first attempt and therefore the first draft, it’s not a problem if you don’t get it since editing exists for a reason, but writing with tension means utilizing things like (check out the included links):
Pacing. Good pacing helps create dramatic effect due to how the text is read. One-sentence paragraphs can be a good choice for poignant lines and the speed of the scene is directly related to how it’s written. A choice-related scene typically has a moment of pause when making the choice.
Diction. Word choice tends to be more important during important scenes. Having clear meaning can help drive the points home and can even convey emotion in scenes where the character doesn't have time to extensively emote.
Language structure. Shorter sentences are blunt. Longer sentences have a sense of flow and can be calming if written with certain words, or jarring if the end on a very different tone than they began. The way you structure your language can affect how a scene is read and interpreted.
Good luck with your tense scene!
————————
Thinking of asking a question? Please read the Rules and Considerations to make sure I’m the right resource, and check the Tag List to see if your question has already been asked. If you can give back, please consider supporting me on Ko-fi or via Venmo Username: JustAWritingAid
Honestly I love Disney, but the thing I absolutely hate is that I’m not able to see Disney Channel where I am. Not through Hulu or any of those cause I don’t have American Card to pay with. And like honestly I’m down paying but obviously they don’t want the money so like WHAT GIVES????
So does anyone have any link where I could watch Zombies 2 without registration or valid American card etc. like similar to putlocker or something cause that’s legit the only way for me to see this movie and I want to see it so bad. PLS!
If you’re lucky enough to get a best friend that goes along with all your crazy and isn’t afraid to goof around like a pro, hang on to them with your life.
I started to reblog this post about how casting Lashana Lynch as 007 was ‘lazy’ and ‘not inclusive’ to call OP out for being a fake nerd fuckface who had no idea what they were talking about, but decided I didn’t feel like the can o worms it’d open, so I’m gonna rant here for a sec:
Casting Lashana Lynch as 007 is’t taking a white character and simply casting them as black. Why?
BECAUSE 007 IS A CODE NAME. 007 ISN’T WHITE. ISN’T MALE. 007 CAN LITERALLY BE ANYONE.
So, she’s not “black James Bond”. She’s “the new 007″.
Which is why this IS inclusive. It’s working within the source material to add a POC, notably a where there had previously not been one, for no reason. There’s no reason why that franchise can’t have a WOC secret agent. They’re not taking James Bond and going “Hey! Look! He’s black now!!”
Her 007 is going to be a completely new character.
This is awesome. Stop trying to under mind it and just chill. Either see it, or don’t.
WARNING! SPOILERS UNDER THE CUT, DO NOT READ IF YOU HAVEN’T SEEN THE MOVIE!! from this point onwards, reading is on your responsibility. you have been warned.
Alright, Descendants 3, where to begin with this...
First off, thinking that this is Cameron Boyce’s last movie ever, it makes me feel very sentimental and sad and I hope that the movie would’ve done him justice more. But I’m afraid that while it was a cute and aesthetically pleasing movie, that is about it.
After watching it a couple of times now, I have one word for D3: clusterfuck. I’m not going to lie. D1 was great, D2 was good but D3 wasn’t really the ending this saga deserved. NOW KEEP IN MIND that I haven’t read the books and I personally think that the movie still should take time to explain things. Plus the books came after the first movie anyway so...
In a nutshell, the plot is inconsistent, the movie is rushed and lot of the character development (save from Mal’s and Audrey’s) is pretty much murdered and just ditched away.
Beginning with a song like (Good to Be Bad) like every Descendant movie, it gives the movie the energy that it lacks towards the end. The VK’s choose Smee’s sons, Celia and Dizzy to come to the Isle and return to Auradon, only to get them after giving them time to pack their things.
Next thing we see, Ben and Mal are getting ready to embark to the Isle with the VK’s. They stop in front of the Beast statue though and Ben sings (short acoustic verse “Did I Mention”) to Mal, then proposing to her. Audrey is not pleased but hey she’s back and damn she’s rocking that hair!
Now this is where things go a bit off the rails. I understand Audrey still holding resentment to Mal even though at the end of D1 she seemed to be amicable with her so - what’s the dealio Audrey? Of course we can assume that her resentment grew back during D2 - the movie she wasn’t in. Her grandmother is there and basically gives Audrey shit cause she lost Ben to Mal (like wth is it with this hatred from grandma, chill out lady...).
Mal, Ben and VK’s go to the Isle and while they’re leaving back Hades tries to break out and use his ember but Mal fights him (as a dragon) and gets him back inside. In Auradon, Audrey sits in her room and embraces her darkness (”Queen of Mean”, one of the best songs in my opinion, holy shit), stealing the Queen’s crown and Maleficent’s staff turning to Dark!Audrey and suddenly possessing magic and knowing how to use it without any training? Okaaay, shady much? I mean it could be the staff also controlling her so I’ll give the benefit of a doubt here.
Alright so Hades tried to get out, Mal makes the hard decision to shut down the barrier forever with Ben after reasoning with him and feeling guilt for possibly endangering Auradon. Cut to Evie’s little cottage-manor, Audrey pays Mal a visit, cursing her to turn into a hag. That kind of didn’t really serve a purpose in anywhere else than maybe Audrey’s mind if she thought that Ben wouldn’t love her? Idk man. Anyway, Mal can’t reverse the spell because “there’s nothing that can reverse the staff’s spell”. Oh but waaait....
The VK’s decide to get Hades’ ember, going to the Isle and suddenly Mal turns back again because dark magic doesn’t work in the Isle. So... Mal/VK’s just forgot that? I doubt it because they did live there for such a long time. Oh well, moving on. Celia is with them cause she runs errands to Hades. Meanwhile in Auradon, Jane’s having her birthday party and Audrey crashed it, cursing everyone asleep. Except Jane cause she jumps into the Magic Lake - again something that can reverse the staff’s spell that is supposedly non-reversable? Did anyone actually fact-check the script, I wonder... And well - she takes Chad with her. Oh the loyal, dumb puppy.
Alright back to the Isle, Celia gets the key and we meet Dr. Facilier shortly, he’s actually a nice man (oh and btw so was Dizzy’s grandmother aka. Cinderella’s stepmother before too...) which I have kind of hard time imagining BUT nonetheless I kinda like it? They get out and find Harry + Gil and couple other pirates stealing their bikes (same kind Mal took to the Isle in D2) and run after them. Celia and Mal go to Hades’ lair.
They find Hades napping, but then he wakes up, Celia trying to distract him so Mal can get the ember. But whoops, he grabs Mal’s hand. And then we learn something shocking! (not really) “Hi Dad.” Oh well look at that, Hades is Mal’s dad. Even though I recall that in the first movie it was said to be a human male? But then again, makes sense why Mal has such great magical powers. They argue and get a nice rock’n’roll duet together (”Do What You Gotta Do” and boy I’m fawning over Cheyenne Jackson’s voice!). Celia kinda does background “ooh”s which is... so weird really. Like why?
I’m not gonna lie, I kinda enjoyed the bickering chemistry between Hades and Mal as father and daughter. He clearly cares about her but tells her that her mother was not an easy person to be with and he never stayed in contact with Mal. Now this is about everything that we learn about their relationship. Mal has a certain resenment at him but Celia reveals that Hades being her father explains him asking about her. Mal tells her that Evie is the only one that knows.
Meanwhile in Auradon, Audrey visits Ben making him an offer to make her his queen again but he thinks she’s under a spell and Audrey realises he doesn’t care about her. She uses magic to turn Ben into a Beast and also turns Fairy Godmother running towards the Museum to get her wand into a statue (not shown how she made that happen really... but later on we see that she can apparently see ppl in the staff u know, like a CCTV kinda thing).
VK’s get back to the portal and when they cross over, Harry and Gil do too. They try to stop them and in the midst of it the ember drops to the water (spoiler: if it gets wet, it stops working). Uma catches it and then turns back into human. They strike a deal when Mal makes a promise to let any of the VK’s that want to get out of the Isle, get out.
So Uma, Harry and Gil are now going to Auradon with the VK’s to help them. Kinda reluctantly. Gil gets all pumped up for fresh food and all which is kinda cute x’D And Harry ofc is trying to steal money from a sleeping student but Jay stops him. Dude is awake though and tells the VK’s what happened. They go to look for Ben and go to his castle, eventually finding the walls clawed and end up in a fight between some armors that Audrey controls (”Night Falls”).
Eventually they beat Audrey together and almost celebrate. But not quite cause they are enemies. Evie is trying to play the middleman, suggesting an icebreaker game which doesn’t really take off. But props to her for trying. Also I should say that she suggested trying to be friends when they met Uma, Harry and Gil at the entrance to the Isle.
After the fight they split up - the boys go into the woods trying to find Ben while the girls go search Audrey’s room and Uma finds her diary where she mentions the fairie’s cottage. Then the girls go back to Evie’s where they found Smee’s twins and Dizzy sleeping as well as Doug. Evie tries too wake him up but can’t (duh, he’s under a spell). Uma’s all like “he’s under a spell. is she not a fast learner?” and Mal tells her that Evie’s emotionally involved. Which brings us to the ah so sweet - true love’s kiss (”One Kiss”). But Evie is unsure cause they haven’t used the L-word yet. When did Evie become so insecure though? She has been super confident throughout the series even though imho her storyline with Doug has NOT gotten the moment in spotlight it deserves. But wait, she kisses him after the song and he wakes up! Aww so it is true love. Bitches I wanted to see more of them before this bc they’ve been in the background (also can I mention that Doug has turned into like a young Nicholas Cage clone with his long hair and all and dam he’s cute!).
The boys find Ben, now in beast form and trying to kind attack them (and failing adorably) when Carlos calms him down and takes a splinter from his paw (i mean... he has paws now?). Kinda reminds me of Tinkerbell and the Neverbeast when Fawn took a splinter from the Neverbeast’s paw :’D Anyway, back to the story. Then Jane arrives with sort of a hose, getting Ben all wet with the water from the Enchanted Lake and he turns back too human - except he has a little beard/stubble and kind of fangs? Also Carlos and Jane meet again and are all cute together. Harry tries to make a move on Jane but Carlos literally blocks him, lol.
Back to Evie’s. Mal and Uma are talking when suddenly boards start covering the house. Audrey’s magic has gotten stronger cause Mal can’t reverse it alone but when Uma joins in with her shell, they manage to beat it, making Audrey angry.
They build up a plan and Gil, Doug and Jane go look for the Fairy Godmother while the other’s go to the Fairie’s cottage, finding Chad locked in a closet. They walk out and then comes the moment of truth. Evie tells Ben that Uma + the pirates joined them cause Mal promised that the kids from Isle can come to Auradon. She reveals that she lied to everyone, making her friends mad. Celia takes the Ember, throwing it into a pool of water. Uma and Harry leave. Evie faces Mal, who obviously feels awful and her friends are mad at her. Then poof, they’re turned into stone. Mal sings what is - I assume - the song to build up her confidence/self-searching (”My Once Upon a Time”) and confronts Uma asking for her help to beat Audrey. But Uma turns her down even after she tells her that she saw the good in Uma - that she really cares.
Next we have Celia calling for help cause Audrey has her on top of one of the towers. Mal turns into a dragon, trying to battle Audrey but can’t do it on her own. Uma and Harry happen to come back and Uma’s suddenly like “she can’t do it on her own, i’m here girl, i’m here” forgetting that Mal totally lied to them and kinda screwed them over and helping her igniting the ember again.
With the help from the ember, she beats Audrey. Everyone is awakened, except Audrey who’s fading away after being hit back with the magic. Mal can’t wake her up even with the crystal and tells Ben, Beast, Belle and everyone else in the room that Hades could. While they doubt it, Mal tells them that he’d do it - for her, he is her father after all. Ben is a bit shocked but sends guards to get him from the Isle.
He’s brought to the Castle in shackles and he works his magic, waking Audrey up. She apologises to Mal and then Mal apologises to her as well as Ben and then Audrey’s grandma apologises to Mal. It’s an apologyfest, and all is fine again. Yay? Hades is escorted back to the Isle and has a nice little moment with Mal, giving her the ember. Celia, Uma, Harry and Gil also go back to the Isle.
Mal and Ben attend their engagement party and she surprisingly declares that she can’t be the Queen of Auradon - she can’t turn her back to the Isle. So in conclusion of a long speech, they open the barrier (even though the Beast is against it but Ben shushes him :D) and Mal becomes the Queen of Auradon and the Isle. (”Break This Down”) The people from the Isle (with Uma’s leading) notice this too and meet some of Auradon’s people halfway and have this big closing number with lost of dance and singing.
And then people rejoice. Gil and Jay seem to have sparked a friendship. Harry brings comedy to the scene being like “so she’s deeeefinitely taken?” bout Mal, then trying to make a move on Evie and finally Uma who’s not having it. And then Harry ends up dancing with Audrey. Okay, seems legit.
Then there’s Hades, being happy for Ben and Mal (and also giving Ben the “i’m watching you eyes”). They dance into the palace yard (or somewhere) and the scene cuts to the core four, staring at the passageway to the Isle, apparently to go meet their parents (cause they didn’t come to Auradon?) and the end credits roll.
ALRIGHT.
Plotwise yes, it’s a clusterfuck. The whole movie is very rushed, it’s like they tried to include too much things. Like said, at the end of D1, it seemed that Audrey and Mal were somewhat civil, then Audrey was spending some time in the fairies cottage/seven acres woods/something like that in D2 and we didn’t see her at all. Suddenly she’s all hateful and resentful again and her grandmother is being a total jerk to her. Whole turning into evil happened almost right after the movie opened so there was no proper lead to it really. Nothing to explain WHY Audrey went back to resenting Mal and Ben and Auradon.
Then Mal’s father. Alright, pretty much everyone knew by now that Hades was gonna be Mal’s father even though I recall that in the first movie or somewhere else it was said that it was a human male. What happened in their past could’ve and more so SHOULD’VE been dug into a little more cause Mal is resentful at him for not being around - but why wasn’t he around? Why didn’t he call her? After all, he had been asking about her from Celia so obviously he does care for her.
The other VK’s were even more pushed to the side than before. I do get that Mal is kind of the lead here, but they did kind of sideline their character development. The other VK’s were in such minor roles I could easily say that they might as well be taken out altogether. Evie tried to be a peacemaker, she gets a few lines in couple of songs and one song to herself. Her character has also been very confident and craving for love, kind of seducing Doug in the first movie and making him accidentally jealous in D2 and suddenly she’s insecure? Yeah, love can be scary sometimes but of all the characters I just don’t see it characteristic to Evie to suddenly become uncertain of herself in the terms of love. Jay’s more like acting as a guide to good to Gil and Harry for the time being and Carlos is just being his adorable self. Still can’t believe there was no Jarlos kiss! (also he got Jane a pendant saying “Jarlos” as her birthday gift, how adorbs!)
The main problem is that there isn’t really a proper climax in the movie. It starts off god and then falls flat on it’s ass. May I also point out that not ONCE in these movies have Mal and Ben had a duet together - yes they’ve shared songs but also with other people in them - and they are the “true love” couple after all which is a bit disappointing. I mean Ben has been kind of put into thee background in the movies too - and in this last one even more so, whenever the core four have been side to side. But even in the last movie - since they’re engaged after all - I was surprised that when they opened the barrier, Jay was next to Mal (as well as Evie), squishing her hand and her leaning into him. In the end Ben is the king and Mal’s fiancee so in my opinion, he should’ve been next to Mal, not behind her (as much as I do love Mal). And I mean I was also waiting that the other VK’s would’ve met their parents too. But no. Disappointment.
In a nutshell D3 is a movie about Audrey being a resentful brat and turning dark, introducing Mal’s dad pretty shallowly adding pretty much nothing into her story arc or character development. Except her forgiving her father pretty fast. Too much is trying to be fitted into 1hr45mins. Mal and Hades could’ve had their own movie working it out. Audrey could’ve had a thorough build up to what led her to the dark path.
Aesthetically it’s very pleasing and I enjoyed the music and I do love the cast. The end was kind of bittersweet and the whole movie was a bit unreal once you know that Cameron is no longer with us (rest in peace). So this is and end of and era. Despite this honest and well - unfiltered - review I thank the cast and crew of Descedants from the bottom of my heart that they have brought these movies to us.
What if the red-haired girl in the trailer is actually Elsa’s and Anna’s lost sister? I mean it might bee farfetched but think about it - she has powers and Elsa has powers. What if Anna has powers too but hasn’t just got her them yet for some reason - I could see her as the spirit of spring or summer, since Elsa is obviously Winter and this new girl seems to be Autumn. And well, there are definitely symbols that would read as the four seasons in the poster snowflake and in the trailer.
What if something happened in their childhood and their sister was thought to be dead or abducted or something - maybe she showed dangerous powers before Elsa and therefore their parents sent her away to “be trained” or whatever with the trolls or others who were capable to teach her and for their own safety, they wiped both Anna’s and Elsa’s memory of her? And before the sister was in good enough control, their parents died hence why they wouldn’t remember her?
But then “ Elsa starts to hear a strange sound from the north calling her.” What if her magical powers match to those of their sister and she’s calling her? I mean am I not the only one who’s seeing her resemblance to Anna and I think she’s too old to be here daughter in Frozen 2. I mean it could be, who knows.
ANOTHER MORE POSSIBLE (AND MY #1) THEORY. What if that girl is Gerda and the boy is Kai? Like in the original HC Andersen book “The Snow Queen”? Frozen #1 would’ve been a prequel to the actual “book adaptation”. Kinda. Sorta. Disneyfied.
Long story relatively short: There is an evil troll who has made a mirror that distorts the appearance of everything it reflects. While trying to carry it to heaven, it slips from their hands, breaks and the splinters travel around the world, FREEZING THEIR HEARTS (”beware the frozen” heart anyone????) and basically making them act like dicks.
Gerda and Kai have been friends for a long time, living as neighbors and playing together. One day the splinters get to Kai and make him aggressive and cruel. “The only beautiful and perfect things to him now are the tiny snowflakes that he sees through a magnifying glass.” (Wikipedia quote bc i couldn’t have said it better).
Lotsa things happens, Kai gets taken by the Snow Queen who makes him forget Gerda etcetc. (and obivously this isn’t Elsa, but the big TROLL we see in the trailer who made the mirror!!!) and meets Gerda too, eventually Gerda takes in on an adventure to save Kai after hearing that he’s held in the princess’ palace and eventually defeats the Snow Queen’s spell.
“When Gerda reaches the Snow Queen's palace, she is halted by the snowflakes guarding it” --> in the trailer we see snowflakes or whatever those arrow thingies are in the front of Elsa’s and Anna’s castle, COINCIDENCE? I think not! And the water horse in the trailer kinda reminds me of the art of the book too though they were more like... ice/blizzard horses (and in the book Snow Queen’s sled was mentioned to be drawn by something that looked like hens soo...?)
All I’m saying that either this girl is actually Gerda (which, now that I think of it, makes a bit more sense than the lost sister theory but still) or she’s the lost sister of Elsa and Anna. Or she and the boy are actually Anna’s and Kristoff’s kids which at this point would just be kind of a disappointment.
“At last she could run no longer, so she sat down to rest on a great stone, and when she looked round she saw that the summer was over, and autumn very far advanced. She had known nothing of this in the beautiful garden, where the sun shone and the flowers grew all the year round.“Oh, how I have wasted my time?” said little Gerda; “it is autumn. I must not rest any longer.”
Lemme know ur thoughts, reblog and reply and whatnot!
pixelskylines
izzy806
gamechangershow
dailybridgerton
amandla
