Crashing Like Thunder

You didn't know that rock and roll burned... So you bought a candle and you lived and you learned.

[autie-j]

Streaming services: huge budgets for an 8 episode show

Me: ha back in my day we pretended the same Canadian forest was a different planet 20 times a season and we liked it

[segamascott]

[las-lus]

Oh I know this one! As far as we can see (with telescopes and satellites) everywhere else around the universe has a pretty similar distribution of mass. This means we can see a lot of solar systems like ours, sometimes a black hole or a pretty fucking big star, but most of whats around us is vacuum! So when we do calculations about the whole universe we assume that the whole universe is kinda like we can see: a whole lot of empty space.

But. The universe is infinite, and what we can see is a very small part of it. So maybe we are wrong! Maybe the universe has a whole lot of things and very little vacuum everywhere else BUT here!

So some scientists are assuming exactly that and redoing every single calculation we have ever done about space but assuming that instead of mostly vacuum the universe is mostly matter, and seeing what this would mean.

The tweet is obviously misleading, because there is no evidence we are in a "vacuum bubble". But there is no reason to assume we aren't in one and testing weird shit is what physicists do.

[accursedthing]

Ok dash reloaded but I saw a tweet screenshot comparing Netanyahu in Congress with Nazi Germany and I think those comparisons are generally apt but they said it as "this is Worse than Nazi Germany because the world legitimizes it" and I need you guys to know the world DID legitimize Nazi Germany. Their violence and racism was largely known, their positions were shared by leaders in many countries in the imperial core, and they operated pretty much with impunity for years before the war, which started not because other countries cared about Jews or Roma or anyone else's lives, but because Germany started threatening the power of other European nations. It's important to me that we all know this

[las-lus]

Yes! I need everyone to remember that the war just started bc Germany invaded Poland. Germany was commiting genocide for YEARS before the war started and the reason it started at all was because Europe was afraid of invasion.

The US only joined YEARS after the war started when it became clear nazis were bad for business (in particular bc France fell and the USSR the strongest front against them and the US didn't want communism to win the war).

Governments are hardly ever against genocide of minorities. People are.

[victusinveritas]

This has big "They China Food" (John Dies at the End) energy in the best way.

[writergeekrhw]

25 THINGS I’VE LEARNED IN 25 YEARS IN TV WRITING

Well, it’s actually been 30 years now, but here’s a spew I did 5 years ago on the bird app to commemorate my 25 years as a TV writer. 

I’ve edited it a bit for clarity. Hopefully some of you will find it useful.

1. In TV writing (and writing in general) there is only one unbreakable rule: Thou shalt not be boring.

2. Write characters people want to hang out with for an hour or so once a week for years to come. Even if they’re bad people, make them interesting, engaging bad people.

3. If your lead is a bad person, make them funny and/or sexy. Direct most of their bad behavior toward other bad people or themselves. Make them well motivated. Maintain rooting interest.

4. What makes a character special should be intertwined with what makes them struggle. Perfect people are boring.

5. Characters should complement/conflict with each other. No two characters should serve the same purpose/have the same backstory/have the same voice.

6. Cast the best actor, adjust the character to suit.

7. Give your leads the best lines/moments. No one is tuning in to watch the funny guest star. Like Garry Marshall said back on HAPPY DAYS, “I’m paying Henry Winkler $25,000 an episode. Give the Fonz the jokes.”

8. Your characters, good & bad, should reflect the reality of our wonderful, diverse world. White male shouldn’t be the default.

9. Avoid stereotypes. Stereotypes are boring.

10. If all your POV characters know some secret, the audience should know it too.

11. If your show hinges on a big mystery, know more or less what the truth is from the beginning. You can change it later if you need to, but write to a specific.

12. If your story doesn’t test your characters mentally, physically, psychologically, emotionally, or spiritually, you don’t have a story.

13. You can start by figuring out the Beginning, the Middle, or the End, but you don’t have an episode until you have all three.

14. Big suspenseful act outs (the last moments before the commercials) aren’t just a gimmick. They’re a good way to structure an hour of entertainment to make sure the audience is invested and your pacing is solid.

15. Every scene should be a consequence of the previous scene or a refutation of it.

16. A scene also needs a Beginning, Middle, and End. The end should propel the characters and/or audience into the next scene.

17. Every scene is a negotiation/confrontation between two or more characters who want different things or have different ideas on how to solve the same problem.

18. A good action scene is still a character scene. With punching. (This applies to sex scenes too, but you know, with sex.)

19. A crap page is better than a blank one.

20. It’s easier to cut than to add.

21. Good things rarely happen in the Writers Room after dinner. Go home, get some rest, write pages at home if you have to, start fresh in the morning.  Writers who have a life outside the writing room are better writers. Beware the showrunner who doesn’t want to go home to their family. That said…

22. Script by day one of Pre-Production. No matter what.

23. You’re a writer first. Almost nothing happening on set or in post is more important than the writing. Delegate when possible.

24. Make an extra effort to surround yourself with writers who are different from you (background, race, gender, orientation, etc). Listen to their perspectives, especially on experiences alien to you.

25. And in the end the love you take is equal to the love you make. In TV writing and life in general. 

[rphelper]

Face Claim Diversity Masterpost

Articles

A Few Tips and Resources for Writing POC Characters by writeworld

Additional tips on writing PoC characters by keyboardsmashwriters

Bro-Tip: Describing Skin Color by thetrolliestcritic

Cedarseed’s Guide to Human Types at edencomplex

Demographics, Representation, and Fiction by writeworld

Describing characters of color in writing by N.K. Jemison

Describing characters of color, pt. 2 by N.K. Jemison

Describing Skin Colors by thewritershelpers

Describing Skin Tone by Marion Sipe

Describing Skin Tone by writeworld

Gee, I don’t know how to research writing Characters of Color tastefully by missturdle

Kazza’s Guides: How to find face claims by kgillsrpc

More on Inclusiveness, Art, and Just Writing by writeworld

Re: POCs: Just Write by writeworld

The Term POC by writeworld

Tips on finding face claims by shackleboltrps

Why Writing Colorblind Is Writing White (a rant) by Kameron Hurley

Writing Racially and Culturally Diverse Characters by writeworld

Z Ponders: Why Face Claims Are Killing Creativity by thetrolliestcritic

Body Diversity

FC Help: Plus Size tag at fchelpers

Masterlist of Plus-Size FCs/FCs for Body Diversity in Roleplays by cl4p-tpwrites

Whosdatedwho celebrities by build

IMDB Lists

100 Hot Women of Color by Greenidge_Lewis

Beautiful Women of Colour by Daliouse

favourite actors of colours by phoenix310789

Gorgeous Leading Men of Color by rejavanation

The list of Top Bollywood Actors by miketellon

Sexiest Women of Color by SteelKeez

Young Actors & Actresses of Color by mirrormera92

Tumblr Blogs

actressesofcolor

diversityinfilmtv

faceclaimsofcolor

facesofcolor-rps

femme-homme-rp (tags)

fuckyeahethnicmen

fuckyeahethnicwomen

fyeahracebending

fyeahpocredcarpetfashion

modelsofcolor

northafricanmodels

stopwhitewashing

Tumblr Resources

Face Claim Masterlists by fchelpers

Faceclaims Table by dontmesswith-rpcw

FC Directory by rphelper

FC Suggestions: People of Colour tag at rphelper

POC characters tag at thewritingcafe

POC FC GIF hunts by rphelper

POC FC tag

POC tag at fuckyeahcharacterdevelopment

POC tag at referenceforwriters

POC tag at thewritershelpers

Skin Deep tag at writeworld

White Writers tag at thetrolliestcritic

Writing Race tag at cl4p-tpwrites

Web Resources

Whosdatedwho celebrities by ethnicity

Wikipedia List of American people by ethnic or national origin

Words Used to Describe Skin Color

[cherienymphe]

Do y'all remember being in fandoms and wanting to read a reader insert fic that included a character you liked? Or maybe even your favorite character? You were a little excited to see the world and storylines this author came up with and imagine yourself in the story but then you come across something that isn't quite right. Right isn't necessarily the correct word but for the nature of the type of fanfiction it didn't really make sense?

It's a general insert, right? A fic where every reader is supposed to imagine themselves and feel included in the fandom but oh-

You see a comment about pale skin. Or maybe a comment about flowing hair. Or someone very explicitly describing someone's cheeks as red or pink. The same for their lips or if it's smut...well, you know. Pink everything else. They talk about throwing their hair into a messy bun or if they're gripping something, it's always "white knuckled".

You get this oh moment. This moment where you realize that despite what this author says, this wasn't written for you at all. Despite how inclusive they claim to be, someone who looked like you clearly wasn't in mind when they wrote it. It's blatantly a white reader even though it doesn't say it. And you try to think they didn't do it on purpose but doesn't that make it worse? The fact that people who look like you are such a non factor that it didn't even cross their mind that you...exist? You're a little disappointed because you wanted to enjoy it but how can you when the reader insert portion of the fic is clearly not what it's supposed to be?

But it's fine though because that's just one writer!

But it's not one writer or even two or even 5. It's majority of the writers in the fandom. Whether it was Marvel or 1D or whatever other fandom you were in. It was a plethora of writers going out of their way to exclude people. To make it clear who they wrote for and who they wanted reading their fics. And if you bothered to point it out, you were belittled. Your feelings were invalidated because "it's not that big of a deal". Your feelings just didn't matter.

To make matters worse, these fics had thousands of notes. It was a sign that people didn't care. They didn't care that people were being excluded and made to feel left out and like they didn't have a place in that particular part of the fandom. For years people showed that they couldn't care less and you wonder why you're even in the fandom at all. Why even interact with these people who've made it clear they kind of don't want you here? The fandom isn't fun for you and these people have made it that way.

And now those same people wonder why people go out of their way to write things like specific black inserts. Why people go out of their way to make people who've been excluded for years feel included. Why they would want to make a safe space for readers like that. Take a wild guess...

[heywriters]

Black fic writers here on tumblr have been getting anon hate simply for the audacity to write black reader inserts or OCs. Nah. Fanfiction, creativity, fantasy, and a platform to express yourself are for everyone. I feel ridiculous having to state that, like I'm talking toddlers who haven't learned to share.

[crunchbuttsteak]

[imnotrevealingmyname]

You can only reblog this on the 3st of January

[official-lucifers-child]

the 3st huh?

[callmebliss]

Yes, the thirdst, what do we not get here

[lolainblue]

Check in request

It’s been a long couple of years. Please consider checking on with your online communities if you've stopped being active in them over this time. I guarantee there is someone, somewhere who is worried you've become another grim statistic. Content here, reblog, make your own post, anything. Just make a little noise. Let us know that you're well. Reassure us that we're all still out here, fighting the good fight.

It's been a wild damn ride, personally. But I'm still standing. Drop me a note if you want to chat.

💙 Blue 💙

[prokopetz]

The secret to writing relatable characters is to picture yourself in their circumstances, carefully fix in your mind exactly what information would be available to you in that situation, and figure out what the worst possible decision you can imagine yourself honestly thinking seemed like a good idea at the time is.

[determinate-negation]

well now is probably a good time for a post like this, what are some essential readings on fascism in your opinion. i really like the point you made, that the right now has a reason to be on the offensive, didn’t even consider that.

thank you for asking! ive been studying (or trying to study) the far right and the history of fascism for the past four years and my position has always been that 

its wrong to characterize trump or the entire trump movement as fascist because they dont have a lot characteristics that define fascism

doing so obfuscates the meaning of fascism and the conditions fascism forms in, and it will make it difficult to analyze and prepare for an actual fascist movement

trump is more aptly characterized as proto-fascist. the actual fascist movement is on the horizon and will probably develop more post-trump

those characteristics that define fascism are absolutely emerging now so its crucial for radical and antifascists to understand what fascism is and what the historical precedent for it was. heres my essential readings:

Blackshirts and Reds: Rational Fascism and the Overthrow of Communism – Michael Parenti

Discourse on Colonialism – Aimé Cesairé 

Technology, War, and Fascism – Herbert Marcuse (this is a collection of essays. the most important and illuminating one is State and Individual Under National Socialism)

The Fascist Revolution: Towards a General Theory of Fascism - George Mosse (this is a cultural history of fascism, he’s a little anti-soviet but its very good otherwise. his other books on nazism and european history are also great)

Fascism and What is Coming – Michael Novick

Lectures on Fascism – Palmiro Togliatti

The Fascist Offensive and the Tasks of the Communist International in the Struggle of the Working Class against Fascism – Georgi Dimitrov

Anatomy of Fascism – Robert Paxton

Selections from the Prison Notebooks (1929-1935) – Antonio Gramsci

i have a few posts which are tagged #fascism that may be of interest, this one here has more resources on german culture, nazi culture, and pre-fascist militias. also reading about italian and german history from the late 19th century to the 1920′s is very helpful for understanding the historical context

[racwraithe]

[robinlestrange]

Suffering a bit too much from numbers 1 & 7 atm 😒😬

[theliteraryarchitect]

Quick Writing Tip: Accents

Hi friends! Every so often I get an Ask about how to do accents. Here’s an excerpt from my book The Complete Guide to Self-Editing for Fiction Writers that gives advice about it:

Avoid changing spelling to show an accent. This is called “eye dialect” and it’s notoriously difficult to read. What you want to go for is “ear dialect,” (disclaimer: I made that term up) which is achieved by altering word choices, syntax, and grammar.

Eye dialect:

There wos other genlmen come down Tom-all-Alone’s a-prayin, but they all mostly sed as the t'other wuns prayed wrong, and all mostly sounded as to be a-talking to theirselves, or a-passing blame on the t'others, and not a-talkin to us.

— Mark Twain, Bleak House

Ear dialect:

She is a friend of my mind. She gather me, man. The pieces I am, she gather them and give them back to me in all the right order.

— Toni Morrison, Beloved

Eye dialect was popular a century ago, when writers like Mark Twain used it—often pejoratively—to draw attention to “improper” English spoken by their characters. The misspellings are supposed to make you “hear” the accent in your head: “Wos” for “was,” “genlmen” for “gentlemen.” Not only is “eye dialect” difficult to read, these days it’s considered outdated, classist, and racist.

Toni Morrison’s dialect, on the other hand, uses word choices and punctuation to convey her character’s nonstandard English: “she gather them” instead of “she gathers them;” “in all the right order” instead of “in the right order.” If your story has any accents, try to use syntactical cues instead of misspellings to get your character’s voice across.

Hope this helps!

[oliviapaigewrites-deactivated20]

The blurb, the hook, and the synopsis!

[creativepromptsforwriting]

what are some reasons characters can break up while still loving each other?

Hi icy-hot :)

I think as long as the reason for break up is not falling out of love, in every other scenario there could still be love between the exes.

So here is an incomplete list of reasons:

Reasons for a break up while still loving each other

inconsolable differences:

different views of social and political ideology, religion, morals, habits, etc.

personal issues:

wanting different things out of the relationship (romantically, sexually)

different ideas about children/ child care

neverending problems with SO’s family or friends that SO doesn’t want to lose

betrayal: cheating, lying about important issues, not having each others back

physical distance:

established long distance relationship (met on year abroad, met on vacation, over the internet, etc.)

new long distance relationship (one of them moves away for work or school, being in prison)

more reasons:

being blackmailed into breaking up

being forced to marry someone else

not being in a position where they are allowed to be in a relationship

not being able to be together because of class differences, differing ethnic background, religions, not conforming to the society’s expectation of a “couple” due to their sexual orientation and/or gender identity

realizing they’re better apart, because they are toxic together

I hope some of the reasons are helpful for you.

Have a great week!

- Jana

[chandelyer-deactivated20241003]

Poem Bangkok “Timeless Collection, Chapter I: The Rose of Heliogabalus”

[demigoddessqueens]

New outfits, perhaps