I wish I knew what I was doing @ofspades - Tumblr Blog

awww the like button turns into a rainbow when you press it! that's so cute...hey staff what's with all the trans women you keep nuking?

manuciruja

i think we should be ridiculing them more for this. you don't get to try and go all "queer website" when your staff likes to go on nuking sprees targeting the trans fem users

smadsel

would be remiss not to mention that the rainbow notably straight up just removed the trans flag colors from it. like they’re gone. it’s the progress flag minus the trans flag colors.

smadsel

that’s not the whole flag, now is it

manuciruja

hey staff what the fuck

villainessbian

hey staff don't you think you're being too on-the-nose

shrodingers-catgirl

HEY STAFF DONT YOU THINK YOU'RE BEING TOO ON-THE-NOSE

star-mom-selkie

happy pride month

#tumblr

yiddishfisting

the fun thing about trying to talk to any "professional" of any kind - psychiatric, therapeutic, medical, whatever - about addiction is that if you're an addict yourself your opinion does not count whatsoever. in fact, it counts negatively, because by virtue of being an addict everything you say in your own defense or based off your experience is somehow a ploy to absolve yourself of having an Evil Addiction or any accountability related to being an addict. and by "accountability" i mean mostly apologizing for the fact that you dared to get addicted in the first place and then not immediately tragically die because don't you know that being an addict is a Sin done by Bad People

yiddishfisting

which is why it's very popular and attractive to call literally everything an addiction, because then you have an inherent moral advantage over whoever you're talking to because oh well they're on the internet too much. they're on their phone too much. anything they say is colored by their Addiction and therefore their input is inherently wrong

yiddishfisting

it like legitimately makes me crazy knowing that our entire view of addiction is warped by a christian organization inspired by a nazi-sympathetic LITERAL cult but you're not allowed to say that, because god fucking forbid we're not putting intense protestant guilt into everyone who actually has a physical addiction, let alone wielding the same cudgel against whatever popular activity we're creating harmful stereotypes about that week (generally those favored by women or children).

and we Also can't say that because somehow it becomes "you're excusing the abusive actions done by addicts" when like. no i'm not. people do fucked up things bc of their addictions. people also do fucked up things anyway. assigning bad behavior to The Addiction ignores the societal problems that explain to why people end up with addictions in the first place, and also creates tropes like "the abusive alcoholic father", which places the entire blame for the abuse on alcohol. and fun fact! most of us aren't abusive white men!

smoqueen-deactivated20251108

im actually cleft in twain right now can i call you back

fuer-diesen-sommer

Information

iconuk01

"The Source"

by Luo Li Rong

View this post on Instagram

iconuk01

Yes, this is Luo Yi Rong, who absolutely is the same sculptor from that astonishingly inept self-own by an idiot.

#art history #other people's art

optical-trapping

rajieeeee

The Final part to my comic.

Part 1, 2, 3

#other people’s art

wafflewarrior111

So... I found this and now it keeps coming to mind. You hear about "life-changing writing advice" all the time and usually its really not—but honestly this is it man.

I'm going to try it.

missroserose

I love the lawyer metaphor, because whenever I see “John knew that...” in prose writing I immediately think “how? How does he know it?” Interrogate your witnesses. Cross-examine them. Make them explain their reasoning. It pays dividends.

heck-in-a-handbasket

All of this, but also feels/felt. My editor has forbidden me from using those and it’s forced me to stretch my skills.

ineedthesons

This is your "show not tell" advice explained!

tarysande

Editor here.

First, let me preface this with something very important: you can treat all of this advice as SECOND-DRAFT ADVICE. It is so much easier to rewrite this kind of stuff once you have words on the page. Telling yourself the first draft is totally appropriate and acceptable.

What we’re talking about here are FILTER WORDS (and to some degree verbs of being). Yes, “thought” words are included. But so are “heard, saw, looked, tasted, smelled” etc.—most words having to do with the senses.

This isn’t black and white advice; sometimes you’ll use these words and that’s okay. They’re not WRONG. They’re just weaker. And they’re weaker because they create distance between the reader and the experience of the character.*

If you want your reader to feel like they’re experiencing the story right alongside the character, you want to cut down on filter words.

*This is particularly important with first person and close third POVs. The reader always knows whose eyes they’re seeing through and thoughts they’re privy to. So you don’t need to tell them “I saw X.” Or “I heard X.” Or “I thought Y.” You can just jump into the action/observation as it’s happening.

This is also where you want to pay attention to verbs of being.

“It was rainy.” Versus: “The rain pounded against the roof.” Or “The rain howled like an injured animal.” Or “The rain tapped against the window like an anxious lover.” All of these are inviting the reader deeper into the experience of the story by using stronger verbs and similes. And, at the same time, they stir feelings (instead of TELLING feelings). And feelings keep your reader engaged. Engaged readers keep turning pages; engaged readers become FANS.

the-haiku-bot

This is also where

you want to pay attention

to verbs of being.

Beep boop! I look for accidental haiku posts. Sometimes I mess up.

defilerwyrm

The most valuable advice that Author Ex gave me through the years that we wrote together was this: the problem with all these filter words is that they create distance in the POV.

That means that when you read a line like

John saw that the curtains were open.

It immediately takes you OUT of the character's perspective and instead tells you what they experience as a secondhand observation.

You don't have to get fancy or purple with how you rephrase things like this. Not everything needs a ton of breathing room.

You wanna know what's perfectly impactful while keeping a tight POV?

The curtains were open.

Simple as that.

#references #writing references