To Delve In Darkness

This blog is run by Phoebe™

[daily-prompts]

I need everyone’s best character advice. STAT.

[foresttheblep]

Know what they want, What they're scared of What/who they love What/who they're willing to sacrifice

Also their breaking point, what shit do they have to be dragged through before they give up everything just for it to stop. And if they regret it or not,

[everybodysangel]

Start with something you do understand about them and branch off from there. Personally, I find it easier to write for characters that have some aspect of my personality, amplified and then manipulated into something new or different. Or maybe we share some aspect of childhood. We don't have to be the same people, but my experiences are something I can understand and use to shape new people.

[she-who-fights-and-writes]

Knowing your characters’ limits and how to exploit them is essential for creating tension, and for writing excellent fight scenes/final battles.

Under what odds is your character able to win? What is their greatest strength?

Now take that strength away.

How do they account for that? Is it possible to still win, or is that strength all they have?

An acrobatic fighter who is shot through the leg. A knight whose trusty sword shatters. A sorceror who runs out of spells and elixers. A dragonrider whose steed is felled.

Find the limit and push past it! That’s how to raise the stakes!

[heywriters]

when expanding on a main character, it helps to develop the characters they interact with most often:

do other characters trust them, and should or shouldn't they? what do they base that trust/distrust on? how does this affect the main character if/when they find out they are [dis]trusted? who laughs at them behind their back? who is privately rooting for them? who frequently forgets they exist and who is the first to notice them when they enter a room? what would it take to change any of these opinions, and how good/bad would the effects of those changes be on the main character?

[tilthat]

TIL that in 2004, a comedian went on television posing as a Dow Chemical executive, taking responsibility for the Bhopal chemical disaster, and promising $12 billion in compensation to victims. Dow immediately denied the promise and apology, but their stock value dropped by $2 billion in 23 minutes.

via reddit.com

[zvaigzdelasas]

Mutuals do this

[kaputalism]

If you all don’t know about the Yes Men you really should check them out. They’re basically two generic looking white dudes who realized that by virtue of being generic looking white guys in Suits and being even moderately tech savvy in the early 2000s they could effectively con a wide variety of media outlets into thinking that they were legitimate representatives of whatever company they wanted, and utilized this platform mostly to critique and shame the companies they claimed to represent, and at the very least, severely publicly embarrass them, such as by offering to do a basic good thing and making the company go forward and publicly acknowledge something awful they caused AND openly admit that they refuse to take responsibility or to apologize of help, creating even more bad press for them and exposing them for the shit they are. Chaotic good shit.

[earhartsease]

Elon Musk Has Officially Lost $69 Billion This Year

The net worth of Tesla CEO Elon Musk has fallen by staggering amounts —  just over $69 billion year to date, according to Bloomberg's Billio

nice

[gentlyweirdplanteatingcreature]

nice

[kineticpenguin]

Nice

[shuttershocky-deactivated202512]

Nice

[aluminumapples]

nice

[drinkyourjuiceshelby]

[themythicalcodfish]

that’s the spirit

[traceytonight]

Like to charge, reblog to cast

[churrotowns]

the onion going hard in its landing page layout again...

i felt this in my soul:

[armandgender]

just touched my cat's forehead and immediately had the vivid feeling that i was in an olive garden eating breadsticks so i think i picked up on a memory. not sure when he was ever in an olive garden eating breadsticks but i think i'm right and im not going to question it

[number5theboy]

THE UMBRELLA ACADEMY SEASON 3

[ID: Three gifs of a moment from the Umbrella Academy Season 3 trailer. Number Five and Jayme Hargreeves are facing off on the first floor of the Hargreeves mansion. Unimpressed, Jayme asks, “What are you? Their mascot?”. Five gives a  sarcastic little smile before teleporting over to her and knocking her out. He coldly replies to her question, “More like their ringer.” End ID.]

[cowboydeanwinchester]

the outfit you’re wearing rn is what you’re wearing when an angel possesses you to do the lords work but instead falls in gay love with a hunter and wears that outfit for the next 15 years, what are you wearing?

[prokopetz]

The author’s biography doesn’t always tell you anything terribly significant about a literary work, but when I think about the fact that Sir Thomas Mallory, the compiler of the most well known English-language literary interpretation of the Arthurian myth cycle, was a double-dealing knight who fought on both sides of the War of the Roses, was repeatedly charged with horse thievery, escaped from prison or skipped bail at least five times, and evidently made himself so obnoxious to those in power that he was specifically excluded by name from a general pardon of prisoners on two separate occasions – an accomplishment in which he is, to the best of my knowledge, unequalled – well, that tends to suggest a certain interpretive lens, is what I mean to say.

[willowcrowned]

people are always like “oh I want Leia and Padmé to meet they have so much in common” but let’s be honest if Leia ‘I’d Stab Him Without a Second Thought’ met Padmé ‘I Can Fix Him’ Amidala there would DEFINITELY be blood

[willowcrowned]

Luke and Padmé: there’s still good in him!

Leia, cocking her gun: not enough

[willowcrowned]

honestly though can you imagine Leia ‘if he wants me that badly he can damn well get better himself’ Organa meeting Padmé ‘I’m sure with my love and encouragement he won’t kill kids (again)’ Amidala? ten to one Leia spends five minutes with her and starts dreaming of knocking her teeth out

[twilightofthe]

#Leia and Padmé are SO similar on the surface in that they’re both well-dressed principled politicians#but the truth of the matter is that Padmé is a lot less principled than she thinks she is#and Leia is a lot less empathetic then she could be#and it all comes out to them having totally diametrically opposed opinions on things

You’re right and you should say it

[jacubesilvora]

Writing is not about 'telling an epic story' or 'making something that will outlive you'. Writing is about going "You know what would be fucking awesome?" and then committing word crimes

[thd-studies]

Hey, y'all! I got several questions on one of my posts, asking how I study for the LSAT. One of the best questions came from @procrastinatingculture. I won't purport to be an expert, but I have studied the LSAT for a few months now. I get consistently good scores with the following method. Of course, this is just my opinion. There is no single way to learn it best.

Familarize yourself with the sections, especially if you haven't seen the test before. Learn what each section demands from you and what skill set it is trying to test. For this task, I recommend Mike Kim's The LSAT Trainer. The book is really good for getting inside the mind of the test maker. It is my favorite prep book, but not the only one I have. It is notoriously weak about teaching logic games, which I'll talk about in a sec.

Take a practice test cold. Before you dive into hardcore studying, get your hands on a practice exam and take it. Keep yourself to the standard time limits, and don't worry if you can't answer all the questions on time. The LSAT is tricky to time, and learning to complete it is part of the journey. After the test, grade yourself. Note any sections that gave you trouble. Also note any question types that you struggled with.

Study logic games. Once you complete your practice test, you will probably find that you have aptitude for most parts of it. Often times, people who think they would be a good lawyer are correct about where their strengths lie. This is not the case with the logic games. The games are the least intuitive part of the test. They require a type of thinking (formal logic) that we do not employ in regular life or school work. Be prepared to dedicate a significant portion of time to logic games. To study logic games, I use Khan Academy's free LSAT prep course and Kaplan's Logic Games Unlocked. Kaplan is pretty controversial, but it works for me. Of course, there are plenty of books for different types of learners.

Practice and assess. Once you have the practice book of your choice, follow the drills there in. Once again, I recommend Mike Kim's book. It is particularly good for self-motivated students, who aren't seeking in person instruction. You should practice several hours per week for at least a month. Assess yourself periodically with a full practice test. You can purchase individual practice tests from Kaplan. I would recommend having at least 3. It is fine to reuse them.

Practice with the time. One of the toughest parts of the LSAT is the timing. Except for the very beginning of your studies, always time yourself. For individual practice questions, you can go over time. However, make sure you are always getting faster. Another reason I like Kim's book is the time suggestions it has.

Perfect practice makes perfect. After each practice, note your strengths and weaknesses. You will not improve quickly without self-evaluation. The Kim book and several others have self-evaluations throughout. Do not skip over them. You will get better through thoughtful practice, not through the raw amount of your practice.

Anyway, that's all I have to say. As I mentioned, this is just what worked for me. There's no perfect way to go about it, but I hope this helped someone.

[soracities]

the way ivan aivazovsky looks at the sea…i think…i think that’s what love looks like.

[soracities]

love is surrounding yourself with people who see you this clearly

[ataehone]

Still the freakiest fact about him is that despite being as tall as a person or more, he banged out these beauties in a day or two at most (and smaller ones ina matter of hours). The longest he spent on a painting, at age 81, to make his largest ever painting, was TEN DAYS:

It is 2.9×4.3 meters large. That’s 9'4"×14'1" for people in other measurement systems. It’s HUGE. There are artists out there that spend years on paintings much smaller than this. He was not one of them.

He also didn’t only paint the sea, but he MOSTLY painted the sea. Very few people could draw light filtering through waves the way this guy did and apparently it was tied into his layering technique that allowed him to paint so goddamn fast.

He is obviously my most favorite painter ever.

[soracities]

!!!

[iceman-maverick]

Noël, 02x10 

noël (west wing), aaron sorkin // trauma and recovery, judith lewis herman // planet of love, richard siken // rejoice,  julien baker // the lover, marguerite duras // last words of a shooting star, mitski

west wing web weaving 

[ratcoon]

My apush teacher told us about an interesting interaction between Jefferson and Hamilton.

Jefferson had Hamilton over at his house for dinner or something of that sort. Alexander saw three large portraits and inquired about who those men were and was told John Locke, Issac Newton, and Nathaniel Bacon (?), whom he described as the greatest men who’d ever lived. Hamilton promptly told him he was wrong and that Caesar was the greatest person to ever live. The reason I find this hilarious is because afterwards, Jefferson saw this as another reason why Hamilton was dangerous to the U.S. because he looked up to a dictator which is even better when you remember Hamilton being a monarchist. The teacher then told us that some historians believe Hamilton only said this to be a prick in Jefferson’s ass.

[catadromously]

the dubious philosophy of salmon

[ashstfu]

take the day off from being the bigger person and choose violence, you deserve it

[headspace-hotel]

I'm developing an interest in Medieval European history that's growing directly out of my extreme distaste for it. Like I dislike Medieval European stuff a great deal. But i've found so many facts that that are disturbing that I need to understand it. I need to know why the guys were so fucked up. I need to know