Writing Dysfunctionally

Al. 29. Butch. I come here to write, and to read, and to struggle. Transparency about the grit without glorifying it. Big believer in Rosanne Bane's Around the Writer's Block methodology.

[bpd-dylan-hall-deactivated20190]

“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

[tuesdayisfordancing]

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??

[professorsparklepants]

#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

[siesiegirl]

She dropped her dress and inhibitions at the door.

[crumbvulet]

What’s this? My favorite rhetorical device showing up on my dashboard?

[thranduilland]

IT HAS A NAMEEEE!! OH MY GOD!!!

[candiikismet]

I LOVE THIIIIIS!!!

[orriculum]

One I’ve loved was “on their weekend trip they caught three fish and a cold”

I love these they’re like a pun and a metaphor wrapped up into one neat phrase

[the-problematic-trolley]

I, this feather, and your fly are down.

[foxytonic]

I broke my vows and my chains.

[allthingswhumpyandangsty]

[themeadowscene]

I would love to see a fantasy novel where the lore that the reader / protagonist learns at first is not true

[themeadowscene]

e.g. they're told that this kind of creature has some kind of psychic or pheromone-based "mate bond" that cannot be broken; but it turns out that's a popular myth that has never been scientifically substantiated, and is basically used to keep people in bad relationships (basically the equivalent of "human women are biologically submissive")

[themeadowscene]

"lore" is imo too often treated like information that the author is giving the reader, and it just happens to be using the medium of diagetic (that is, 'in-story') exposition.

it's so much more interesting and dynamic to treat "lore" as information that is generated and disseminated in-story. who is telling the protagonist this information? under what historical and social circumstances was this idea formed? what political motives are there for trying to get people to believe this information? which characters would disagree with it? would the protagonist believe it, or be sceptical? does the plot bear it out, or cast doubt on it?

[myjetpack]

My latest Guardian Books cartoon

[walmart-the-official]

Hey, don’t cry. Free online database of Japanese folk lore

[bleu-guacamole]

Might I add, free database of mostly European folklore and myths

[walmart-the-official]

:0

Thank you!

[marinella-ela]

[b1gtimerush]

set the scene setting prompts (but a little more specific) from yours truly.

001, a convenience store past midnight.

002, a hospital waiting room at 3 in the morning.

003, a photoshoot outdoors in the middle of winter.

004, an indoor filming set of a detective's office.

005, a new house/apartment filled with unopened cardboard boxes.

006, a swing set in an empty playground at night.

007, on stage in an empty theatre.

008, inside an old abandoned house.

009, an empty cemetery at night.

010, the arrival hall at an airport.

011, the last train compartment that's not full.

012, the roulette table in a casino.

013, on the deck of a cruise ship.

014, a kitchen during a black out, surrounded by candles.

015, a treehouse in the middle of the woods.

016, on the dance floor during a wedding.

017, behind the chapel before the wedding ceremony starts.

018, backstage during the middle of a concert.

019, a crowded club during a bachelorette party.

020, standing in front of a painting at a museum.

021, a small, intimate family barbecue.

022, a gazebo while it's raining.

023, the back of an empty bus.

024, a hotel room with only one bed.

025, an empty balcony while a party goes on inside.

026, a bar just after closing.

027, an empty sports stadium.

028, lakeside while the sun is setting.

030, an empty stretch of road beside a broken down car.

031, in front of a suspicious pool of blood in an empty parking lot.

032, in the crowd of spectators during an underground fight.

033, a plane during a bout of turbulence.

034, on kiss cam at a sports game.

035, at a table during a charity gala.

036, a masquerade ball.

037, a halloween party in a suburban house.

038, the beach in the late afternoon.

039, a dressing room after a big performance.

040, exploring the depths of a mysterious cave.

[kosmogrl]

[soon-palestine]

Eva K Bartlett

https://ingaza.wordpress.com/about-me/

[intersectionalpraxis]

This global strike is for 1 week. It starts on January 21st and goes until January 28th. These folks on X have complied information for people to read about. This is the LEAST we can do. The bare minimum. Unless it is for necessity or you have to work of course -please participate.

As always, free Palestine!

[write-on-world]

[for-the-freaks-and-geeks]

[disteal]

Hey, we're fundraising to help our friend replace the belongings she lost in an IDF strike on Gaza!

You might have seen this post floating around about our friend Swin who went to volunteer as a medic in Gaza, and whos residence was bombed the night before she was able to escape through Rafah.

Well, she's home! And we're so grateful to have her back, but the explosion utterly destroyed a lot of her belongings, including her phone, and left her with some minor injuries that'll need some care.

We'd like to raise some money (around $2000) on her behalf to replace this stuff; it doesn't sit well with us at all that Swin should go through so much to help people and be left with nothing but a bill.

We'd really appreciate any help, whether it's through sharing this post or donating, and there's more info on the Gofundme page!

>>Here's the link to the Gofundme!<<

We'd also like to mention while we've done this with Swins consent, she's requested privacy while she recovers. If you've got any questions or concerns, please direct them our way! (my dms and asks are always open, and you can reach out to darling @classychassiss who's drawn our banner and helped me organise!)

[classychassiss]

YES!! WE'RE LIVE!! Please please consider donating to the fund! It's been so great having her back and it would be lovely to know she is also stocked up and safe as well :)

[classychassiss]

WOAH!! THANK YOU ALL We're almost at our $2,200 Goal!

Can we get a final push this weekend and meet it? Please continue to share a donate and thank you so so much for those who've done so, we cannot express how much we appreciate your generosity!

>> Here's the link again for posterity <<

[sunbeambisexual-deactivated2025]

[mortalityplays]

The thing about writing advice is that most people who are in a position to give it don't really know how they do what they do.

It's like playing Hamlet: an actor can talk about the personal processes that help them to interrogate the text and get into the character's head, and they can talk about the experiences they've had that prepared them for the role, and they can talk about what they want their performance to convey and maybe even reflect on why they make certain choices. But they can't give you a ten step guide to playing Hamlet. It fundamentally doesn't work like that.

It can be frustrating. Sometimes the advice you get from authors you admire, authors whose work you relate to in an unspeakable way, is just not a good fit. It can be discouraging (why can't I see the world like they do? why can't I be up and awake and produce 2000 words before breakfast?) or it can even set you back (I mustn't use adjectives. I have to plan every page. I can't get started until I know the protagonist's grandmother's maiden name). You have to learn to see it as the individual talking to themselves, rationalising a largely automatic process in terms that can only ever correlate, never fully explain.

Only one piece of ageless advice has consistently held true for generations of good, bad and happily mediocre writers, probably since the dawn of society: steal time from your day job.

[bonbobi]

so what if I sucked his dick. his knuckles were split and bloody from defending my safety and my honour what else was I supposed to do

[creativepromptsforwriting]

Six Word Sentences

"Do what you have to do."

"Not what I came here for."

"What do you want from me?"

"Don't talk to me ever again."

"I will see you later, ok?"

"What a silly question to ask."

"I can't stop thinking of you."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Feel free to never come back."

"You are always on my mind."

"That was such a dumb idea."

"Do you have a better plan?"

"I don't feel like doing that."

"What more is there to lose?"

"Don't you see that I'm hurting?"

"I love you, but not enough."

"A little help would be great."

"You can't handle a little pressure."

"I know what I am doing."

"My life is empty without you."

"How am I supposed to know?"

"I don't want to hear it."

"This was a spectacularly bad plan."

"It's good to know you're safe."

"Don't come near me ever again!"

"What a silly thing to say."

"I couldn't care less about you."

"This is not what I expected."

"Where are my manners, my dear."

"I can't risk losing you again."

[hapalopus]

Animorphs really has a way to turn every scifi trope on its head. "Why do alien invasions always start in America?" Actually the body snatchers first landed in a Middle Eastern farming community where they kidnapped the first guy they saw, read his mind, and concluded that, since he was terrified of the US soldiers who had brutally destroyed everything he knew and loved, the US would be the ideal place to center their invasion. This is revealed in the spin-off "Visser" which is an excellent stand-alone book that can be read without any prior knowledge of Animorphs. And you can read it for free and with the author's blessing right here:

https://files.animorphsfanforum.com/ebooks/pdf/Visser.pdf

[hapalopus]

The reviews are in!