cxriousminds

[cxriousminds]

i love resurfacing on all of my blogs ♥

[cxriousminds]

      “See?” Elva holds up a painting. It’s really, really bad. She tried so hard to do a still-life of an apple sitting on the table in front of her, but the watercolors just didn’t turn out, and it looks like a lopsided beach ball. “Apple. I’ll title it Apple. And now I’ll go burn it because it’s atrocious. Just ‘cause I know what good, pretty art looks like doesn’t mean I can make good, pretty art.”

[cxriousminds]

i can’t decide if i want a new fc or not

b/c diana agron is so cute bu t??? idk

[cxriousminds]

heh heh

just so we’re all aware, hatred and assholery is not tolerated on this blog ♥

[cxriousminds]

hello my loves~

[cxriousminds]

      “Frick frackin freaking fuck bitch ass poser.”

“Wow. Rude and short.”

[cxriousminds]

      “.... Tall ass motherfucking giraffe boy.”

“Funny. I always thought the first ghost I’d meet would be taller.”

[cxriousminds]

      there’s a pause. lips part and form a small o shape, and she takes in a small breath. ‘any animal...?’ if you look closely, you’ll see the spark in her eye as a curious, devious idea forms. of course, this is offset by her girlishness and absolutely, well, cuteness when there’s a small squeal and a big smile on her lips.

      ‘does this mean you’ll fly me to africa so we can fee zebras?’

               `why are you so pro-duck?` listen close, you can hear piper sigh and remove herself from jason’s slightly constricting grip. there she goes. now he’s defenceless. `look… elva, i’d feed any other animal with you but DUCKS.’

[cxriousminds]

@romanstorm

Elva simply gives him a long look. Her eyes remain expressionless, but after a moment she gives a small, disappointed sigh.

      “---Why are you so lame?”

[cxriousminds]

tumblr’s being a bitch and not reblogging things right :/

[cxriousminds]

Are These Filter Words Weakening Your Story?

After putting my writing on hold for several weeks, I decided to jump back in. I expected to find all sorts of problems with my story–inconsistencies in the plot, lack of transitions, poor characterization–the works. But what began to stick out to me was something to which I’d given little thought in writing.

Filter words.

What are Filter Words?

Actually, I didn’t even know these insidious creatures had a name until I started combing the internet for info.

Filter words are those that unnecessarily filter the reader’s experience through a character’s point of view. Dark Angel’s Blog says:

“Filtering” is when you place a character between the detail you want to present and the reader. The term was started by Janet Burroway in her book On Writing.

In terms of example, you should watch out for:

To see

To hear

To think

To touch

To wonder

To realize

To watch

To look

To seem

To feel (or feel like)

Can

To decide

To sound (or sound like)

To know

I’m being honest when I say my manuscript is filled with these words, and the majority of them need to be edited out.

What do Filter Words Look Like?

Let’s imagine a character in your novel is walking down a street during peak hour.

You might, for example, write:

Sarah felt a sinking feeling as she realized she’d forgotten her purse back at the cafe across the street. She saw cars filing past, their bumpers end-to-end. She heard the impatient honk of horns and wondered how she could quickly cross the busy road before someone took off with her bag. But the traffic seemed impenetrable, and she decided to run to the intersection at the end of the block.

Eliminating the bolded words removes the filters that distances us, the readers, from this character’s experience:

Sarah’s stomach sank. Her purse—she’d forgotten it back at the cafe across the street. Cars filed past, their bumpers end-to-end. Horns honked impatiently. Could she make it across the road before someone took off with her bag? She ran past the impenetrable stream of traffic, toward the intersection at the end of the block.

Are Filter Words Ever Acceptable?

Of course, there are usually exceptions to every rule.

Just because filter words tend to be weak doesn’t mean they never have a place in our writing. Sometimes they are helpful and even necessary.

Susan Dennard of Let The Words Flow writes that we should use filter words when they are critical to the meaning of the sentence.

If there’s no better way to phrase something than to use a filter word, then it’s probably okay to do so.

Want to know more?

Read these other helpful articles on filter words and more great writing tips:

Filter Words and Distancing Point of View

The Reasons Editors reject Manuscripts

Filter Those words and Strengthen Your Writing

[cxriousminds]

      “So easy to be loved—so hard to love.”

                                                                               — Zelda Fitzgerald Save Me The Waltz

[cxriousminds]

vooooodoooooooo~

@cxriousminds

wow amazing

a ghost

[cxriousminds]

@lcverboy --- ♥

      “Happy Valentine’s Day, Sandy!” Just like last year, she held a rather large bouquet in her arms, filled with a pastel rainbow of different flowers. Extending it toward him, she put a bright smile on her face, cheeks pink with joy. “I hope you don’t mind just flowers---I got them kinda late and they were out of the good kind of chocolate at the store.”

[cxriousminds]

Whatever happened to that apollo kid you rp'd with?

      probably answering this like 10 years late b/c i’ve been gone & so busy w/ school but....

which one? if you’re talking @second--sun, they definitely still exist.

as far as the one whom i was shipping with, they kind of disappeared :/ i haven’t talked to them in a long time and tbh elva misses her sunshine bf

[cxriousminds]

[cxriousminds]

When you get this, respond with five things that make you happy! (: Then send it to the last ten people in your notifications anonymously

      oh boy!

the Percy/Calypso ship

properly characterized children of Aphrodite

cats

apples

pepsi

♥ thanks sweetie!