Babbling Books

Skyler Anthum's writing spot

[psychedelicswamp]

i am SO SICK of unhappy endings. idk about anyone else but the #1 reason i like fiction is because everything can always work out no matter how bad it is. “what if the good guys lost” shut up. you are so fucking boring. give me happy endings or give me nothing

[psychedelicswamp]

not that y'all have to reblog this version but i wrote this post because i was frustrated that people claim that happy endings are “unrealistic” and “disrespectful to real people” but i feel like that misses the point of Fiction, i.e. Not Real, and like. who’s to say happy endings Aren’t realistic? of course there’s more than one way to tell a story and process experiences etc etc but maybe i spent too long being abused and wanting to die to accept that Everyone is Destined for a Sad Ending. isn’t it reassuring to read about characters who, against all odds, triumph and find happiness? doesn’t that give you a shred of hope for your life?

[irhinoceri]

This post got a lot of hostile responses and passionate rebuttals in the notes. This actually came across my dash with some snarky “gee OP maybe some people like to feel something other than happiness” response as if that was a legendarily hot take. Disappointed by the person who reblogged that one, to be honest.

I get that people are attached to their sadness porn, and get defensive at the idea that some may find constant suffering boring, but a lot tumblr took this one person’s preference for happy endings way too personally… like OP was gonna come into their homes and take their angst fic away from them.

So. This reminds me of when I was like 19 or so, and I was all about angst and unhappy endings. Like, I still kind of am an angst writer, but one thing really made me rethink my stance that unhappy endings were somehow better and more true and authentic than happy ones.

I made a friend over the internet who hated sad endings and said “no thanks” to any media I recommended to her that didn’t have a happy ending. At first I thought that is was childish and immature of her, even though she was around 30 and I was just about to turn 20.

But I was definitely the one being childish.

She had had a much, much harder life than me. Yeah, I had struggles, and I was depressed. But she had gone through A Lot. Death of family, chronic sickness, estrangement from family, homelessness, failed relationships that left her so broken-hearted she had sworn off dating and self-isolated to protect herself from more disappointment. In the time I knew her, she would often go AWOL for weeks or months because she was homeless due to being unable to work because of her chronic illness, and so she couldn’t access the internet, and I would worry that she was dead. I had no way of knowing.

She could write some pretty angsty fiction, too, mind you. We were friends because of loving each others’ writing. But she wanted happy endings. She challenged me to end my stories in less tragic ways than I had planned. To try to figure out happiness even when I thought it would be easier just to end it sad. She wanted the suffering to be worth something, in the end. And how could anyone in their right mind begrudge her that? To argue against that? To tell her that her stories should end badly? Should I have told her that her sadness defined her more than her hope for joy? Is that more respectful?

So yeah, if you’re gonna be on tumblr talking about how happiness is trite and boring, all I can say is that you don’t fucking know the life stories of people who only want happy endings, who reject sad, tragic endings, or who are tired of entertainment that is chiefly derived from death and trauma and loneliness and hopelessness. Maybe it’s fun for you to vicariously experience struggle because your life has been easy and that bores you. Or maybe it’s cathartic for you precisely because you have suffered… but if that’s the case I’d think you’d all have more empathy. Hey, maybe you just really like to feel emotion when you consume fiction and watching other people be happy doesn’t elicit any emotional response in you, and you cannot fathom why it is comforting for some people to see things work out well. Who knows.

[tenacious-scripturient]

no matter what i write, no matter what i make my characters go through—i there’s always a happy ending waiting. that is the one thing i promise, no matter what.

i owe it to my readers, and i owe it to myself.

[silver-wields-a-pen]

People who only want tragic endings are generally the kind who’ve never experienced genuine tragedy. People who want happy endings know tragedy and reject it in fiction because they can’t in real life

[kainablue]

Other people who prefer tragic endings are the ones whose own personal tragedy drives them to seek comfort and recognition. Because they can’t get a happy ending in real life and it hurts when others do, even in fiction.

[cryptid-kaz]

Good Fuckin Tropes™

Characters realizing for the first time that their injury is going to scar horrifically 

character A: *reveals something shocking* - character B: okay - character A: why aren’t you freaking out - character B: it’s been a weird fucking day man

Characters having complete breakdowns after realizing they’re becoming one of/have always been one of the monsters their side is fighting 

Character going absolutely berserk and tearing the enemy apart after someone they care about is killed/injured 

Big menacing characters being absolute nerds and sweethearts 

On the flip side, tiny cute characters that will fuck you up 

Heroes realizing they can’t fight on their own, but can win with the Power of Friendship 

Character A: Yeah, I can’t make you do *thing,* but they can - character B: *smirks*

Character being ridiculously proud of their best friend and showing them off and cheering them on way more than necessary 

Character suddenly realizing they’ve been in love with their best friend for years in an “oh shit” moment 

“Remove your weapons” *removes weapons* “ALL your weapons” *removes even more weapons* “ALL OF THEM” *removes one more giant weapon that realistically couldn’t be hidden anywhere on the human body* 

Talking animals getting offended when humans assume they’re just dumb regular animals 

A group of characters that has no idea how to deal with a child getting saddled with having to take care of a kid 

Characters talking to their dead SO’s grave 

Sweet innocent characters that cuss like sailors 

Feel free to add on! 

[solassitudes]

my singing voice is good for showers and mornings in the kitchen and drunken nights and lullabies for babies who need sleep and im okay with this

[solassitudes]

i think it’s silly to be ashamed of your art because it’s not in a museum and of your voice because it’s not selling out stadiums. there will always be people who enjoy and appreciate what you can do.

[rosesastrology]

Idk why but this hit me really hard and I’ve been staring at it for a couple minutes.

[ethuil]

[stimman4000]

.

[wildlyunlikelybabe]

I suddenly understand why jewelry is expensive

[pwntishness]

Hopefully people will start to realize why trades in general are so expensive. You're paying for someone's experience to make a good finished product that takes skill and years of practice.

However there is also a giant gap that needs to be filled in trades. As people are aging out of jobs like tailors, carpenters, bookbinders, leatherworkers, etc, there aren't enough young people going INTO the trades to repopulate the jobs.

Please. Please. Consider going into trades.

[wemblingfool]

These are the kinds of jobs people "fall into," because they aren't visible, and are never talked about.

Kids never grow up telling people they want to be a bookbinder. They don't know they even exist. And schools never ever present them as valid options. And if they do talk about them, they are treated as invalid compaired to NFL Linebacker, President, and Brain Surgeon. After all "jewelry maker" is something people do to supplement their "burger flipping" income, and not an extension of blacksmithing.

But that's the crux of it, isn't it? Crafting and trade skills are an extension of artistic skills, which are often seen as completely invalid, and a total waist of time.

[interstellarneighbourhood]

^^^^

[amazonpoodle]

also seriously if a character isn’t white, i promise your only descriptive options aren’t food words and varying degrees of tan. it’s okay to say brown. pale brown! light brown! golden brown! medium brown! dark brown! deep brown! so many kinds of brown!

BROWN BROWN BROWN BROWN BROWN

[laffbending]

#brown is not a bad word #you do not need euphemisms #B R O W N

[lgbtqiafeminism]

This post by writingwithcolor might help in picking good words to use plus reading about why not to use food words! In general if you’re writing a character of color I highly recommend @writingwithcolor

[cukibola-deactivated20200917]

Thank you!

[shovel2-deactivated20151204]

I ATE A BIG BAG OF FACTORY REJECT SEEDS UNTIL A HEALTHY FLOWER UNFURLED IN MY CHEST ...

I MISTOOK THE SENSATION FOR LOVE AND DIED.

[keficafe]

Im.. Soft 🥺🥺🥺

cr. 

[notquite09thereyet]

Dude I am crying. This is so beautiful.

[lucifer-is-a-bag-of-dicks]

concept: woman makes deal with demon to have it’s child in exchange for eternal life or some shit

woman then makes deal with witch and offers her first born for like, riches or something

woman dumps demon baby on witch, absconds with her winnings and leaves witch and demon fighting for custody

half demon baby grows up learning magic and visiting hell on weekends and every second christmas

[sepulchritude]

does the woman act as a sort of vodka aunt who shows up sometimes to teach the child how to work the system?

“here you go timmy, have a new xbox. this year I’m going to teach you the ins and outs of magical tax evasion”

[lucifer-is-a-bag-of-dicks]

SHE DOES NOW

[improvewithtutorials]

Clothing and Folds Tutorial by juliajm15

[gojiro]

Fun Vampire Fact; the reason that Vampires traditionally cannot see their reflections in a mirror is because mirrors used to be backed with a reflective layer of silver — which, as the metal of purity, would not ‘interact’ with Vampires, who are the Devil’s work.

However, modern mirrors have used aluminum as their reflective backing for many years now — and aluminum is not a ‘picky’ metal at all. So Vampires are able to see their reflections in modern mirrors.

[roseate-rein]

All I can think about is a vampire used to not seeing their reflection in mirrors for centuries, and one day they are just walking along and unknowingly pass a mirror backed with aluminum and THEY NEARLY SHIT THEMSELVES.

[skysinger-musings]

[pleasegivememyaccountback-deact]

reblogging for that gif

[corvidprompts]

“You’re such a complete disaster.” groans the villain, scooping the unconscious hero off the sidewalk “Like, holy hell, how does anyone let you out of their sight. Stop picking fights with people you aren’t ready for.”

[wolfsrainrules]

I like it

[palaceofash]

this is my favorite

[prokopetz]

Level 1: Prophecy proclaims that no man can kill villain; killed by woman.

Level 2: Prophecy proclaims that no weapon can harm villain; pushed down stairs and dies.

Level 3: Prophecy proclaims that villain will be brought low by no mortal hand; kicked to death by angry mob.

Level 4: Prophecy proclaims that no power on Earth shall be villain’s undoing; fatally distracted by sun in eyes.

Level 5: Prophecy proclaims that only power of laughter can defeat villain; beat up by clown.

[t-a-c]

Level **: Prophecy claims that villain cannot be killed by man nor beast, at day or night, or inside or outside. He is killed in a doorway at sunset by a half-man, half-lion (this is actual Hindu myth)

[theclonewriter-blog]

“This is your daily, friendly reminder to use commas instead of periods during the dialogue of your story,” she said with a smile.

[onewordtest]

“Unless you are following the dialogue with an action and not a dialogue tag.” He took a deep breath and sat back down after making the clarifying statement. 

[joehywheelah]

“However,” she added, shifting in her seat, “it’s appropriate to use a comma if there’s action in the middle of a sentence.”

[tenoko1]

“True.” She glanced at the others. “You can also end with a period if you include an action between two separate statements.”

[cj-amused]

Things I didn’t know

[prismatic-bell]

“And–” she waved a pen as though to underline her statement–“if you’re interrupting a sentence with an action, you need to type two hyphens to make an en-dash.”

[jawnwats-deactivated20160713]

You guys have no idea how many students in my advanced fiction workshop didn’t know any of this when writing their stories.

[kat-snow2613]

Reblog to save a life

[virtuous-thing]

I love how easy it can be to learn stuff like this through tumblr and not through school.

[thepersonalquotes]

[writing-prompt-s]

Since the first star started burning, there has been Life, and there has been Death. They have witnessed everything, the dinosaurs, the ice age, and everything before and everything between. Since they have witnessed everything, they have also fallen in love. But one day, somebody kidnaps Death, and Life is determined to get their lover back.

[writing-prompt-s]

Beauty and the Beast, but Beauty kidnaps the Beast instead of the other way around.

[writing-prompt-s]