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@sleepingseeker
do u ever send smth in a chat thats not even risqué like “i luv salsa” but no one responds so u start overthinking it like…. maybe one of their parents died making salsa…… maybe they were all just talking abt how they hate salsa……. maybe salsa isnt evn real and they have no idea what im talking abt
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i have watched approximately 54535624664534 of these so here is my Ode to Hallmark Christmas Movies
How I turned an idea into an outline
With NaNoWriMo around the corner, I thought I might show you how I plotted my novel.
This is the story structure I used:
0% inciting incident
0%-20% introduction in the world, ends with a point of no return
20% first plot point: the hero receives his marching orders
20%-50% response to the first plot point
35% first pinch point: reminder of the nature of the antagonistic force
50% midpoint: big fat plot twist that changes the hero’s AND reader’s experience
50%-80% attack: the stakes are higher now
65% second pinch point: again reminding the reader of the antagonistic forces at hand
80% second plot point: the final injection of new information into the story to give the hero everything she needs to become the primary catalyst in the story’s conclusion (no new information past this point)
80%-100% resolution + final conflict + return home
I didn’t make this up. I think it’s by Larry Brooks, if The Internet informs me correctly. Fun Fact: once you pay attention to it, you’ll see this structure everywhere. Just take a look at any Harry Potter book, for example.
These points are the “bones” of my story. Next, I decided what “flesh” to put on them.
I simply made a list of things I like to read about:
Books about books and libraries
Magic
Quirky characters
Intelligent, fast-paced and sometimes silly
So, I combined this list and the structure points into a story that makes sense. Because I don’t want to spoil my plot / I am still to shy about my wip, I will make up a new plot for this post, so I can show you.
0%: The hero does something magical without knowing how she did it. She discards it, because everybody knows it can’t have been real.
0%-20%: We see the daily life of the hero: she is unhappy because all she wants to do is read, but she is not allowed to. She reads in the dead of night and is punished for it by her evil stepcousin. She finds a book on magic.
20% It all clicks together: she can do magic!
20%-50% The daily life for the hero changes. Instead of reading all night, she practices magic. She now loves books even more. She has little victories over her evil stepcousin, but hasn’t won yet.
35% The evil stepcousin finds out that she can do magic and takes away the magic book.
50% She discovers she can do magic without the book.
50%-80% The hero is not the only one who is bullied by the evil stepcousin. Her younger cousin is a victim as well, and he doesn’t have magic to defend himself. The stakes are raised, this is bigger than herself now. The younger cousin also wants to read, so they have several bonding moments over reading.
65% The evil stepcousin hurts the younger cousin, he’s in a coma now.
80% The hero discovers the evil stepcousin could do all these evil things because he knows magic too.
80%-100% The hero confronts the evil stepcousin, fights him off, nearly loses but wins in the end. He gives up and releases his power over the younger cousin who wakes up from the coma.
It’s not the most genius plot ever, but I literally made this up in minutes. So can you! And imagine the genius plot you can come up with if you spend more than a few minutes on it.
Then I calculated how many scenes I need in which part of the story. My wip is a YA or 12+ book, so I want it to contain about 75,000 words in total. I want my scenes to be around 1,000 words long to keep it snappy, so I need 75 scenes.
Scene number 1 (0%) is the inciting incident, scene number 15 (20%) is the first plot point, scene number 26 (35%) is the first pinch point, scene number 37 (50%) is the midpoint, scene number 49 (65%) is the second pinch point, scene number 60 (80%) is the second plot point and scene 75 (100%) is the last scene.
Some sidenotes on the 1,000-word scenes:
That’s more of a vague rule of thumb than a strict rule. If your scene needs to be longer or shorter, make it longer or shorter of course. My wip has some 2,300-word scenes as well.
Having 1,000-word scenes does not mean I have 1,000-word chapters, that would be really short. I will divide my novel into chapters after I’m finished writing my first draft.
For NaNoWriMo, maybe you could write scenes of 1,667 words, so you do one scene per day. A 50,000-word novel has 30 scenes of 1,667 words. Inciting incident is at scene 1, first plot point at scene 6, first pinch point at scene 11, midpoint at scene 15, second pinch point at scene 20, second plot point at scene 24 and scene 30 is your last scene. That’s just an idea, you got to see what works for you.
Then I made up in one sentence what will happen in every scene. For example: “They meet the dragon and he sends them on a sidequest.” Now my outline consists of 75 one-sentence scenes. This way, I prevent the problem of the sagging middle and other pacing problems and I still get to surprise myself when writing.
From those one-sentence scenes, I flesh out every scene into a first draft, using the process I described in my post How I never have to face an empty page when I write.
And that’s my first draft! I hope everything is clear. Feel free to ask me questions if it isn’t.
I’m gonna tag a few people I admire, who I hope are interested. If you aren’t, feel free to ignore me, or message me to take you off my tag list. If you would like to be added to my writing advice tag list, let me know.
Keep reading
Quick Plotting Tip: Write Your Story Backwards
If you have a difficult time plotting, try writing or outlining your story backwards—from the end to the beginning. Writers who have a difficult time outlining, plotting, and planning their stories often benefit from this technique. You’ll need a general idea of what your story is about for this to work, and of course you need to know the ending, but you might be amazed how helpful this trick can be.
Why is writing backwards easier? Basically, instead of answering the question “this happened… now what comes next?,” you’ll be answering the question “this happened… so what would come right before that?” which narrows the possibilities for your next move and can help keep your story on track. (Incidentally, it’s also the way Joseph Gordan-Levitt’s character comes out on top in the film The Lookout.)
Writing backwards can also help you more tightly weave together your subplots, themes, and character relationships, and keep you from going too far down any irrelevant rabbit holes.
If you don’t want to write or outline completely backwards, remember that you’re free to jump around! If you’re feeling stuck in your story or novel, jump to the middle or end and write a few scenes. Many writers get stuck because they feel they have to write their story linearly from beginning to end, which results in an overdeveloped (and often irrelevant) beginning and an underdeveloped ending.
So go work on that ending! It’s much more likely that you will need to change your beginning to fit your ending than the other way around, so spend time on your ending sooner rather than later!
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The Literary Architect is a writing advice blog run by me, Bucket Siler. For more writing help, check out my Free Resource Library, peruse my post guide, or hire me to edit your novel or short story. xoxo
How to prepare for NaNoWriMo
Even if you’re a pantser, you need a plan for NaNoWriMo because you don’t want to waste your precious writing time with research and mulling over plot points that go nowhere.
What you need:
A Plot. Just the very basics. Beginning, middle, end and what ever you know about special scenes that come to your mind. Notes on scrap paper or an unsorted list are just fine.
Characters. You have to know something about your main characters. Write down their names, gender, species and quirks.
World facts. You don’t need Tolkien levels of worldbuilding but you want to write down the basic facts about your world so that you don’t have to worry about it as you write. Again, this can be just notes on scrap paper.
That’s it.
You will add to all of this of course as the story grows, you will learn more about your characters and about your world and you can just add it to your notes. But this is your base to grow your story on.
How to Plot Your Story Using the But/Therefore Method
Here’s another sneak peak from my forthcoming book The Complete Guide to Self-Editing for Fiction Writers!
The but/therefore method* is an easy way to create your plot and test the cause-effect connections between your plot and character motivation.
If you don’t have a plot yet, it can help you create one. If you already have one, the method almost always reveals gaps that need to be addressed with new or stronger chapters/scenes. (For help with your character motivation, check out the PDF “Creating Character Arcs” in my Free Resource Library.)
Use this template for each scene or chapter:
[Main character] wants ______, but _______, therefore ______.
In the first blank, put the motivation for that chapter or scene.
In the second blank, the conflict or obstacle.
In the third blank, the result or action the character takes, which leads into the next goal, and so on, and so on.
Chapter-by-chapter it might look something like this:
Chapter 1: Julian wants to ask Matt to the dance, but he’s scared of being rejected, therefore he slips a cryptic note into Matt’s locker.
Chapter 2: Matt doesn’t see the note. Now Julian wants to get into his locker and retrieve it, but the principal sees him trying to jimmy open the lock, therefore Julian is given detention for a week.
You can also do this scene-by-scene. My suggestion would be to start with the chapter outline, see what it reveals, then move into the scenes. If you’ve already written a draft, you can outline your draft using the template, which should reveal holes in character motivation, plot, and cause/effect, all with one fell swoop!
Hope this helps!
*I adapted this method from South Park writer Trey Parker, who first introduced it in the documentary Six Days to Air.
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The Literary Architect is a writing advice blog run by me, Bucket Siler. For more writing help, check out my Free Resource Library, peruse my post guide, or hire me to edit your novel or short story.
The Complete Guide to Self-Editing for Fiction Writers will be available for purchase soon. Follow the link if you want to be notified when it is released. xoxo
You’ve seen this, right?
It’s the first trailer, to give people unfamiliar with the show an introduction to Crowley and Aziraphale.
Inktopber prompts!
Sources:
Keep reading
when u dont like ur art take a deep breath and remember u created it from nothing, like a god
Does this apply to writing too?
Yes. Writing is an art and this totally applies
Autumn feels
I think all writers need a friend who will encourage their desire to write absolute garbage. Not necessarily something that is badly written, but like, stupid self indulgent bullshit. “Cringey” aus or crossover fanfics. Aus or crossover fics of your own ocs.
Writing that stuff is fun and is great practice, but sometimes I feel like “wow, this is hardly productive, why am I even writing this, who else would ever want to read this?” The answer is your friend who encourages your trash writing, that’s who. Write it for yourself and for them.
🍁🍂 Blessed Mabon 🍂🍁
here’s a list of some little things you can do to celebrate Mabon and the Autunm Equinox 🍂🍇🍎
🍁 relax and reflect on the year so far
🍁 count your blessings and take a moment to be grateful for everything you achieved or manifested this year
🍁 harvest your herbs or crops and leave small offerings in their place (or in a nearby harvested field if you don’t grow your own)
🍁 adorn yourself in autumn colors, like red, orange, and burgundy
🍁 go for a hike through the woods
🍁 let go of things that no longer serve you to make room for more opportunities
🍁 light some candles, set some intentions, and meditate
🍁 make an altar and some offerings for your deities
🍁 drink wine, tea, or warm apple cider
🍁 eat spice cakes, breads, nuts, and autumn fruits and vegetables
🍁 wear a warm cozy sweater
🍁 clean up your house or sacred space a bit to bring in new energy
🍁✨🍂
Everyone must take time to sit and watch the leaves turn.
“our teeth and ambitions are bared” is a zeugma
and it’s a zeugma where one of the words is literal and one is metaphorical which is the BEST KIND
I didn’t know about zeugmas until just now! That is so awesome, everybody:
zeug·ma ˈzo͞oɡmə/
noun
a figure of speech in which a word applies to two others in different senses (e.g.,John and his license expired last week ) or to two others of which it semantically suits only one (e.g., with weeping eyes and hearts ).
ISN’T THAT AWESOME??
#in english class in high school my teacher had us write our own zeugmas in class#and one guy came up with ‘he fell from her favor… and the window’#i am forever looking for opportunities to use that one
She dropped her dress and inhibitions at the door.
What’s this? My favorite rhetorical device showing up on my dashboard?
IT HAS A NAMEEEE!! OH MY GOD!!!
