#WordPlayful

[writingquestionsanswered]

I was here just a minute ago but I also wanted to ask if you know how to get involved in writing communities? I'd love some writer friends but I just don't know how to find people

Getting Involved with Writing Communities

First you have to find some writing communities to get involved with. One option is to see if there's a local writing group you can join. These groups often meet in person at libraries, bookstores, and coffee shops, where they discuss writing-related topics, do group writing sprints, etc. This not only gives you a chance to meet and hang out with other writers, it also provides the opportunity to meet potential critique partners, beta readers, and make new writer friends. Try visiting your local library, independent bookstore, or coffee shops to ask if they know of any local writing groups that meet there.

If you want an online community, there are plenty to choose from. Facebook has a lot of great writing groups, usually organized around a particular genre, writing advice expert, writing method, etc. For example, author and advice expert K.M. Weiland has a Facebook community called "Wordplayers" for readers of her Helping Writers Become Authors books. The Self-Publishing School web site has The Write Life Community. You might even find online writing groups for people in your city/state/country.

There are also other internet options, off Facebook, such as various writing forums, Discord servers, group chats, etc. You can also get involved in broader writing communities by following writing-related hashtags, following high profile posters, and following/interacting with people whose names you see over and over again.

Once you find some communities to join, it's a great idea to just observe for a little while. Get to know the rhythm of the community, who's who, what's what, and how things generally function. Then start with small interactions, working your way up to replies and eventually posts, making sure you're adhering to community guidelines.

I hope that helps! ♥

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

I’ve been writing seriously for over 30 years and love to share what I’ve learned. Have a writing question? My inbox is always open!

♦ Questions that violate my ask policies will be deleted! ♦ Please see my master list of top posts before asking ♦ Learn more about WQA here

[theatreinpractice]

Como estudar o enredo e o personagem em suas histórias favoritas: 5 etapas fáceis

E se eu lhe dissesse que a melhor maneira de aprender a criar enredos e personagens incríveis em suas próprias histórias é por osmose proposital? Primeiro, é claro, talvez eu tenha que explicar que “osmose proposital” significa ler muitos e muitos livros e assistir muitos e muitos filmes – e  estudar conscientemente o que há neles que funciona. Com essa explicação fora do caminho, é provável que você concorde. Mas é provável que você também não tenha certeza de como fazer isso acontecer. Como  você descobre  como estudar o enredo e o personagem nas histórias de outras pessoas?

Não muito tempo atrás, Wordplayer KM Updike (ela com as iniciais radicais!) me enviou um e-mail perguntando:

[Qual é] o seu processo para estudar o enredo, a estrutura, os arcos dos personagens, etc., dos livros que você lê e dos filmes que assiste? Já faz algum tempo que me pergunto como alguém estuda o trabalho do escritor enquanto lê/assiste.

Esta é uma excelente pergunta. Afinal, é fácil para Stephen King dizer:

Não me interpretem mal: este é um conselho tremendo. Mas também é bastante vago.

É isso? Nós apenas...  lemos?  E as respostas serão, o quê? Venha até nós?

Sim, realmente. Até certo ponto, pelo menos. Quanto mais lemos e assistimos histórias boas (e ruins), melhores se tornarão nossos próprios instintos de contar histórias – sem que tenhamos que fazer mais nada.

Mas para melhorar nosso jogo aqui, que tal fazermos  mais  algumas coisas? Hoje, vou lhe dar um plano prático sobre como estudar o enredo e o personagem (e muito mais) em suas histórias favoritas.

1. Comece com um plano de ação

O primeiro passo para ter um propósito é, obviamente, ter um propósito. Freqüentemente, você pode simplesmente querer observar os livros que lê e os filmes que assiste  em geral , deixando que os pontos fortes e fracos da história guiem seu estudo. Mas pode ajudá-lo a ir mais fundo se tiver uma lista de coisas às quais deseja prestar atenção conscientemente.

Eu recomendo uma  pequena lista. Quanto mais curto, melhor, na verdade.

Por que? Porque seu cérebro só consegue acompanhar um certo número de tangentes de uma vez (diz a mulher com vinte abas abertas em seu navegador). Você obterá melhores resultados se focar em um ou dois elementos ou técnicas primárias por vez.

Por exemplo, ultimamente tenho me concentrado no diálogo (tanto porque é algo em que estou trabalhando quanto porque estou planejando uma série de postagens no blog sobre diálogo para o próximo ano). Observo o fluxo e refluxo do diálogo, anotando o que funciona e o que não funciona. Qual é o efeito – e por que o autor pretendia isso?

Isso não quer dizer, é claro, que você também não possa tomar nota de algo interessante, em qualquer categoria, que se revele. Mas apenas  siga conscientemente certos coelhos em suas tocas.

2. Arme-se com marcadores e canetas

Jane Eyre: The Writer's Digest Annotated Classic (link de afiliado da Amazon)

Isto é apenas para estudantes sérios. Sério, eu só faço isso quando estou em modo de batalha total (por exemplo, como quando eu estava dissecando  Jane Eyre de Charlotte Brontë , para poder escrever sobre suas técnicas brilhantes em  Jane Eyre: The Writer's Digest Annotated Classic ).

É aqui que você vai querer dividir seu estudo em mais algumas categorias – uma para cada cor de marcador. Percorra o livro, destacando adequadamente, sempre que encontrar uma passagem interessante. Escreva notas com abandono nas margens. Então, quando terminar, leia  novamente e digite suas anotações, expandindo-as para registrar completamente suas reações e novos conhecimentos.

Digo que isso é apenas para estudantes sérios, principalmente porque é um caminho rápido para interferir na leitura como puro prazer (e também para bagunçar seus livros de bolso).

Este é um estudo rigoroso no seu melhor e exigirá todo o seu poder cerebral. Nada de ler para dormir quando estiver fazendo isso.

3. Divida a estrutura

A maneira mais segura de entender o enredo e a estrutura da história é quebrar conscientemente a estrutura em livros e filmes – como faço regularmente para o banco de dados de estrutura de histórias . Como eu faço isso?

Comece com um atalho fácil: divida o número total de páginas de um livro ou o tempo total de execução de um filme por oito. Por que? Porque os principais momentos estruturais acontecem a cada oitavo da história:

1. Evento Incitante (12%)

2.  Primeiro Ponto de Trama /Fim do Primeiro Ato (25%)

3.  Primeiro ponto de aperto (37%)

4.  Meio /Meio do Segundo Ato (50%)

5. Segundo ponto de aperto (62%)

6. Terceiro Ponto de Trama / Início do Terceiro Ato (75%)

7. Clímax (88%)

Para filmes, uso meu prático caderno de quadro branco para anotar o minuto aproximado de cada ponto de inflexão, para que possa observar facilmente o tempo de execução e anotar o que está acontecendo.

Para livros, uso pequenos marcadores Book Darts para marcar a página apropriada em cada ponto de virada.

Dessa forma, não fico totalmente à deriva na história. Posso observar o relógio ou a contagem de páginas e saber que estou atento à respectiva rotunda do momento estrutural.

Esta é uma maneira fabulosa de compreender a estrutura da história como um todo e, igualmente importante, de compreender como os vários elementos estruturais podem se manifestar de maneiras muito diferentes de história para história.

Você pode estudar meus muitos exemplos no banco de dados de estrutura de histórias .

4. Examine suas reações

Sempre que você terminar uma história, reserve um momento antes de passar para a próxima história. Apenas sente-se e pense em suas reações ao que acabou de vivenciar. Pergunte a si mesmo:

Como a história fez você se sentir?

O que você gostou nisso?

O que você não gostou?

Você acha que foi uma história objetivamente boa?

Você não gostou mesmo assim? Por que?

Você acha que foi uma  história objetivamente problemática ou mesmo ruim ?

Você gostou mesmo assim? Por que?

Nas respostas a essas perguntas está sua maior oportunidade de crescimento como escritor. Se você conseguir destilar seus  sentimentos muitas vezes nebulosos sobre uma história em fatos lógicos sobre o que  o fez se sentir assim, você será capaz de adicionar as armas eficazes de outros autores ao seu próprio arsenal.

Eu uso essa técnica depois de cada história que leio ou assisto. É de onde tiro ideias para metade das postagens deste site.

5. Transcreva a prosa

Esse truque é especialmente útil se você estiver tentando decifrar o código não apenas de uma ótima narrativa, mas também de uma ótima  escrita . O que há na prosa de alguns autores que a faz cantar com tanta facilidade e força? O ponto principal da grande prosa é que ela é perfeita: não devemos pensar nisso, não devemos ver as rachaduras onde as peças estão unidas. Se víssemos as rachaduras, isso anularia todo o propósito.

Como resultado, simplesmente  ler uma boa prosa nem sempre é a maneira mais eficaz de aprender como escrever sua própria prosa incrível. O que você precisa fazer é sentar-se com um caderno, uma caneta e um livro favorito – e começar a transcrever passagens. Eu recomendo fazer isso à mão , com uma caneta de verdade, pois isso vai te deixar mais lento e te forçar a pensar e absorver cada palavra e escolha de pontuação.

Eu costumava fazer isso todos os dias, e nunca deixei de me surpreender como isso me permitiu ver de repente os blocos de construção que os autores usaram na elaboração de sua prosa. Seu domínio aparentemente inimitável da arte das palavras estava subitamente ao meu alcance. Foi algo que eu pude aprender – e você também pode!

Tem medo de que estudar estrague sua leitura? Não seja

Embora você possa aprender com outros autores, como eu, que detalham histórias e compartilham o que estão aprendendo em blogs e livros, você aproveitará melhor a experiência se fizer isso sozinho. Comece a abordar a leitura de livros e a exibição de filmes propositalmente, com a intenção de identificar e utilizar logicamente as ferramentas fornecidas a você pelos autores que você ama.

Mas e se isso estragar sua leitura e observação?

É verdade, pode ser. Alguns autores usam essas práticas e ficam cada vez mais hipercríticos. Mas, francamente, não deveria. Quanto mais aprendo a identificar como outros autores estão usando a arte, mais  aprecio suas histórias . De uma chance. Você transformará sua apreciação pelas histórias em geral  e sua própria escrita.

Jogadores de palavras, digam-me a sua opinião! Que métodos você usou para descobrir como estudar o enredo e os personagens de suas histórias favoritas? Conte-me nos comentários!

Texto Adaptado e Traduzido da minha professora de escrita criativa :  KM Weiland; vcs podem conferir o link do post original abaixo.

[julierysava]

🕵️‍♀️🔤 Wordplay Wednesday: Unraveling the Cryptic Clues 🔎🔤

Welcome back, intrepid word adventurers! It's that time of the week again when we put on our detective hats and embark on a thrilling journey of cryptic crossword-style clues and word puzzles. Are you ready to sharpen your linguistic skills and dive into the enigmatic world of wordplay? Let's crack these cryptic codes and reveal the hidden messages together! 🧩📚

🔍 The Cryptic Clues: Prepare yourself for a brain-bending challenge as we decipher these cleverly crafted cryptic clues. Each clue is a puzzle in itself, designed to tease and intrigue. Unravel the hidden words, embrace the twists and turns of language, and uncover the secrets within!

Musical departure may be labeled enigmatically (6).

Rearrange letters of "nobleman" to find a medicinal plant (7).

Disheartened, angry, and lacking direction (5).

An empty wagon's trail (4).

Acquire a novel, turning pages from the end (8).

🔤 Engage Your Inner Sleuth: Calling all word detectives! It's time to engage your inner sleuth and follow the trail of clues. Combine your wits, vocabulary, and wordplay skills to unlock the mystery behind these cunningly crafted riddles. Keep an eye out for hidden meanings and clever wordplay tricks!

📚 The Beauty of Language: Wordplay is a celebration of the sheer beauty and versatility of language. It allows us to play with words, explore new meanings, and appreciate the artistry of language creation. Embrace the joy of linguistic puzzles and savor the elegance of these enigmatic clues!

💡 Share Your Brilliance: Once you unlock the code or encounter a particularly puzzling challenge, share your findings in the comments below. Your insights and interpretations are a valuable addition to our wordplay community. Engage with fellow word enthusiasts, exchange ideas, and celebrate the brilliance of language in all its forms.

🏆 Wordplay Wednesday Continues: The adventure doesn't end here! Stay tuned for more Wordplay Wednesdays filled with fascinating cryptic clues, anagrams, and linguistic riddles. Challenge yourself, learn something new, and let's continue celebrating the magic of language and wordplay together.

Happy unraveling, Tumblr word maestros! 🧙‍♂️🎩

#WordplayWednesday #CrypticClues #WordPuzzles #BrainTeasers #LinguisticAdventure #PuzzleFun #DecipherTheCode #UnravelTheMystery #MindFlex #LanguageEnthusiasts #WordMaestros #WednesdayWordplay #TumblrWordGames #WordChallenge #LanguageNerds #CuriousMinds #LanguagePlay #PuzzleSolvers #ThinkOutsideTheBox #WednesdayPuzzle #WordplayEnthusiasts #ChallengeAccepted #TumblrMindGames #PuzzleAdventure #ExploreTheWords #WordPlayful #LanguageMystery #WednesdayRiddles #LinguisticMastery #WednesdayWordSearch

[owlofblue]

You're a wordplayer, luv. Hope those birds aren't too tweedy. Sylvester's been looking hungry again.

Wait when you say you sent emails in John's writing style... who were you sending emails to? 😂 I always tried to copy the way George was in interviews but I wasn't ever as witty as him

Imagine being a respected teacher with literal awards and honours framed on your wall... only to be emailed like this by a student:

[batgovernor]

Potcake Poet’s Choice: Max Gutmann, “Onset” ONSET Remember with my sitting parents I at napkins red with cloth a table high things struggling out to figure how these thin…

[shiranuieditorial]

Alrighty, a question! Don't exactly even need to know, but I'm curious. Which japanese names are used gender neutral? I have heard of a few, like Tsubaki, Akira, Minato and so on, but a list would be nice. On another note, Erika is a japanese name as well as german, right? Like Yuka is both an Inuit and japanese name x3 I do find it funny that complete different ends of the world could have such small things in common.

gender expressions & impressions of jp given names depend on: (1) the precise characters it comprises of, (2) the reading it uses, (3) societal trends and sentiments, and (4) each individual’s personal perception (and experience) of gender and the name. therefore, sooooo many names out there can be considered unisex and/or gender-neutral! there are hundreds of thousands of possible character combinations you can use to create given names, and what’s more to love is that unisex and gender-neutral names are pretty sought-after, especially in the modern day and the foreseeable future. we love our unisex names and we’re very proud of them!

if there’s any specific theme of names you’d like to see, you can send in an ask with your criterias and i’ll compile you a list. besides my gdoc of rare and unusual jp given names i shared in my previous post, i also have this gdoc of generic/basic/average jp given names you can sort through if you’d like.

indeed, erika and yuka are names that can exist in the jp language. maybe this tip will help with remembering and identification? you can make given names out of almost any set of syllables from the japanese syllabary, as long as it’s within reason (e.g. sounds good as a name, seems logical or plausible, 1–5 syllables in one name, etc.).

(apologies for the deep-fried quality haha—this is the only kana-to-romaji chart i have ever saved, because i prefer linguistic charts to be as plain-colored, plain-fonted, and plain-formatted as possible.)

for clan/family names however, the rules aren’t as lax because most of them follow kanji and the most standard readings for said kanji. a small % of family names have a mix of kanji + kana in them, which still follow the standard readings of the kanji + of course the unchangeable readings of the kana. only very few (native, non-transcribed) family names out there are entirely written in kana (a real-life example of this is つわぶき峻 Tsuwabuki Toshi, the stage actor who played sakusa in the haikyuu stageplay). oh, and, because we can never have too many exceptions, jp culture also has this very unique occurrence where sometimes, some certain family names get to be as lax as given names in terms of the grapheme-to-phoneme relation, and some people have decided use this opportunity to be very punny wordplayers. these are very few in number, however, and they have history behind them! so i wouldn’t recommend the average writer/artist/fictionist to come up with some on their own. examples of this last one:

一 Ninomae | 一 means “one” | “ninomae” sounds like you’re saying 二の前, “before two”

小鳥遊 Takanashi | 小鳥遊 means “small birds play” | “takanashi” sounds like you’re saying 鷹無し, “there are no hawks/eagles” | ergo, small birds play outside because there’s no hawk preying around.

四月朔日/四月一日/四月朔/四月朔月 Watanuki | 四月朔日/四月一日 means “first of april” | “watanuki” refers to this word 綿抜き, “cotton-stripping; to take out the cotton [padding]” | there’s an old tradition of changing winter-wear cotton-lined warming robes and kimono into lighter summer-wear garments in the 1st day of the 4th lunar month, which is said to prevent children from suffering diseases and potentially dying. i’m a bit confused at what the big deal is with this tradition, because it just seems like common sense to me? seasons change and so do your clothes. that’s normal.

月見里 Yamanashi | 月見里 means “moon-viewing village” | “yamanashi” sounds like you’re saying 山無し, “there are no mountains” | ergo, you can see the moon and do some stargazing if your view isn’t obstructed by mountains. although, i have to point out the fallacy in this logic, as someone who lives surrounded by 3 whole mountain ranges, i know fully well that mountains only obscure a very small % to none at all of your ground view of the night sky. “starless” nights are all the clouds and pollution’s fault! so really, this name should’ve been called Kumonashi (from 雲無し, “cloudless”) instead.

i could’ve sworn i knew more than 4 of these punny family names...

(edit: i found more!)

飛鳥 Asuka | 飛鳥 means “flying bird” | “asuka” refers to the place name 明日香 (“tomorrow fragrance”) | basically, what happened here is that the word 飛鳥 (hichou), coming from the phrase 飛ぶ鳥の (tobu tori no, “flying bird of...”), became a pillow word for the place known as Asuka. both spellings were historically interchangeable.

春日 Haruma, Kasuga, Kasuka | 春日 means “spring sun; spring day” | the word 春日 (shunjitsu/haruhi) was used as a pillow word to introduce the place name Kasuga (which presumably had no kanji writing prior to this?). existing logical readings for 春日 include Haruhi and Haruka.

漢 Hata | 漢 means “han chinese”, the worldwide major ethnic group originating in china | “hata” sounds like you’re saying はた/端, “nearby; besides”

日向 Higa, Higano, Hina, Hinada, Hinata, Hiuga (Fiuga), Hyuga, Hyuuga | 日向 means “in the sun; [facing] towards the sun” | (1) for the Hinata reading; this name is composed of 日 (hi, “sun”) +‎ な (na, old japanese possessive particle, equivalent to modern の) +‎ た (ta, “direction; side”, archaic equivalent of 方). (2) for the Fiuga, Hiuga, and Hyuuga readings; dialectal differences shifted old japanese reading “Pimuka” into “Fimuka” → “Fiuga” → “Hiuga”. southern dialects and languages tend to have this fi- sound that’s nonexistent up in the north. (3) Hiruga may be explained as 「昼日」 (hiru + ka, “daytime sun”) with a rendaku 日 (turning the “-ka” into “-ga”, which is unnecessary, because rendaku doesn’t commonly happen to 日, but everything is full of exceptions today, so... 🤷). existing logical readings of 日向 include Hikou, Himuka, Himukai, Himuki, and Nikkou.

陽向 Hizashi | 陽向 means “in the sun; [facing] towards the sun” | “hizashi” sounds like you’re saying 日差し (may also be written 陽差し、日射し、陽射し、日ざし、陽ざし、日差、or 陽射), “sunlight; sunshine; sun rays”

五十嵐 Igarashi | 五十嵐 means “fifty storms/tempests” | “igarashi” sounds like you’re saying 伊賀嵐, “iga [city] storm” | i believe this may be a reference to the huge storm in 1612 which destroyed the famous iga-ueno castle.

五月雨 Samidare | 五月雨 means “fifth [lunar] month rain”, referring to the heavy rains that occur around early summer | “samidare” sounds like you’re saying 早水垂れ, “early rain fall” | this is a word (for the seasonal occurrence), a place name, and a destroyer name; not family name. i just thought it was cool enough to mention here!

時雨 Shigure | 時雨 means “timely rain; winter rainfall” (originally referred to rainshowers in late autumn to early winter, occasionally late summer and all of autumn too, but today, shigure only refers to a winter rainshower) | “shigure” sounds like you’re saying the classical/literary verb 時雨れる, “to rain a shower” | the history is a bit blurry on this one. 時雨, as a word, was an orthographic borrowing from chinese. it happened a hefty long time ago, and was incorporated into old japanese as the classical verb 時雨る (shiguru), which was later given the modern rendering 時雨れる (shigureru), which then presumably became the clan name Shigure.

日本 Yamatono | 日本 means “base/foundation/origin of the sun” and is the modern name for japan | “yamatono” sounds like you’re saying 大和の, “of the yamato people’s” | 大和 (yamato) was the ancient name for japan before it was changed to 日本 (nihon/nippon), and also the name of an ancient province, the name of the current dynasty (and consequently, the imperial family as well), the name of an old battleship, and is sometimes still used to refer to japanese people in a historic way. it’s worth noting that the reading of “yamato” itself isn’t grammatically logical for the kanji 大和. my best theories as to how 大和 became yamato are: (1) homophone of 山都 (“mountain metropolis”), (2) homophone of 山門 (“mountain gateway”), and (3) homophone of 山人 (“mountain people”); but i haven’t seen any proper, in-depth linguistic study done on this, so i can’t guarantee anything. the kanji 倭 [yamato, shitaga.u | wa, i] was likely based on 大和 after it got its “yamato” reading, so 倭 isn’t an important factor in this discussion (as of right now, at least).

hope this answers your curiosity!

[castielgeralt]

How to Study Plot and Character in Your Favorite Stories: 5 Easy Steps

What if I told you the best way to learn how to create amazing plots and characters in your own stories was by purposeful osmosis? First, of course, I might have to explain that “purposeful osmosis” means reading lots and lots of books and watching lots and lots of movies–and consciously studying what it is about them that works. With that explanation out of the way, chances are you’re in agreement. But chances are, you’re also not entirely sure how to actually make this happen. Just how do you figure out how to study plot and character in other people’s stories?

Not too long ago, Wordplayer K.M. Updike (she of the rad initials!) emailed me, asking:

[What is] your process for studying the plot, structure, character arcs, etc., of the books you read and the movies you watch? I’ve been wondering for a while how one goes about studying the writer’s work as they read/watch.

This is an excellent question. After all, it’s easy for Stephen King to say:

Don’t get me wrong: this is a tremendous piece of advice. But it’s also pretty vague.

That’s it? We just … read? And the answers will, what? Come to us?

Yes, actually. To some extent anyway. The more we read and watch good (and bad) stories, the better our own storytelling instincts will get–without our having to do even one thing more.

But in the interest of upping our game here, how about we do a few things more? Today, I’m going to give you an actionable plan for how to study plot and character (and lots more) in your favorite stories.

1. Start With an Action Plan

The first step in being purposeful is, of course, to have a purpose. Often, you may simply want to observe the books you read and the movies you watch generally, letting the story’s own strengths and weaknesses guide your study. But it can help you dig down deeper if you have a list of things you want to consciously pay attention to.

I recommend a short list. The shorter, the better, in fact.

Why? Because your brain can only keep track of so many tangents at once (says the woman with twenty tabs open in her browser). You’ll get better results if you focus on one or two primary elements or techniques at a time.

For example, lately, I’ve been concentrating on dialogue (both because it’s something I’m working on myself and because I’m planning a series of blog posts on dialogue for sometime next year). I watch the ebb and flow of dialogue, taking note of what works and what doesn’t. What’s the effect–and why did the author intend it?

This isn’t to say, of course, that you can’t also take note of anything interesting, in any category, that reveals itself. But only consciously follow certain rabbits down their holes.

2. Arm Yourself With Highlighters and Pens

Jane Eyre: The Writer’s Digest Annotated Classic (Amazon affiliate link)

This is for serious studiers only. Seriously, I only do this one when I’m in full battle mode (e.g., like when I was dissecting Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre, so I could write about its brilliant techniques in Jane Eyre: The Writer’s Digest Annotated Classic).

This is where you’re going to want to divide your studying into a few more categories–one for each color of highlighter. Go through the book, highlighting appropriately, whenever you find an interesting passage. Write notes with abandon in the margins. Then, when you’ve finished, go through again and type up your notes, expanding on them to fully record your reactions and new knowledge.

I say this is only for serious studiers primarily because this is a fast track to interfering with reading-as-pure-pleasure (and also to making a mess of your paperbacks).

This is rigorous studying at its best and will require your full brain power. No reading-to-get-to-sleep when you’re doing this.

3. Break Down the Structure

The surest way to get a grasp on plot and story structure is by consciously breaking down the structure in books and movies–as I do regularly for the Story Structure Database. How do I do this?

Start with an easy shortcut: divide the total page count of a book or the total running time of a movie by eight. Why? Because the major structural moments happen at each eighth of the story:

1. Inciting Event (12%)

2. First Plot Point / End of the First Act (25%)

3. First Pinch Point (37%)

4. Midpoint / Halfway through the Second Act (50%)

5. Second Pinch Point (62%)

6. Third Plot Point / Beginning of Third Act (75%)

7. Climax (88%)

For movies, I use my handy dry-erase board notebook to note the approximate minute of each turning point, so I can easily watch the run time and take note of what’s happening.

For books, I use little Book Darts bookmarks to mark the appropriate page at each turning point.

This way, I’m not totally adrift within the story. I can watch the clock or the page count and know to be on the watch for the respective structural moment roundabout there.

This is a fabulous way to grasp story structure as a whole and, just as importantly, to understand how the various structural elements can manifest in vastly different ways from story to story.

You can study my many examples in the Story Structure Database.

4. Examine Your Reactions

Whenever you finish a story, give yourself a moment before rushing off to the next thing. Just sit there and think about your reactions to what you just experienced. Ask yourself:

How did the story make you feel?

What did you like about it?

What did you dislike?

Do you think it was an objectively good story?

Did you dislike it anyway? Why?

Do you think it was an objectively problematic or even bad story?

Did you like it anyway? Why?

Within the answers to these questions lies your greatest opportunity for growth as a writer. If you can distill your often nebulous feelings about a story down into logical facts about what made you feel that way, you will then be able to add other authors’ effective weapons to your own arsenal.

I use this technique after every story I read or watch. It’s where I get the ideas for fully half the posts on this site.

5. Transcribe the Prose

This trick is especially useful if you’re trying to crack the code of, not just great storytelling, but great writing. What is it about some authors’ prose that makes it sing so effortlessly and powerfully? The whole point of great prose is that it’s flawless: we’re not supposed to think about it, we’re not supposed to see the cracks where the pieces are joined together. If we saw the cracks, that would defeat the whole purpose.

As a result, simply reading great prose isn’t always the most effective way to learn how to write awesome prose of your own. What you need to do is sit down with a notebook and pen and a favorite book–and start transcribing passages. I recommend doing this longhand, with an actual pen, since this will slow you down and force you to think about and absorb each word and punctuation choice.

I used to do this every day, and it never failed to amaze me how it allowed me to suddenly see the building blocks the authors had used in crafting their prose. Their seemingly inimitable mastery of wordcraft was suddenly within my grasp. It was something I could learn–and that you can too!

Afraid Studying Will Ruin Your Reading? Don’t Be

Although you can learn from other authors, such as me, who break down stories and share what they’re learning in blogs and books, you’ll get more out of the experience by also doing it yourself. Start approaching your book reading and movie watching purposefully with an intent to logically identify and utilize the tools handed to you by authors you love.

But what if it ruins your reading and watching?

It’s true, it might. Some authors use these practices and find themselves growing hypecritical. But, frankly, it shouldn’t. The more I learn to identify how other authors are using the craft, the more I appreciate their stories. Give it a try. You’ll transform both your appreciation of stories in general and your own writing.

[knoxvillecomedy]

Where to Laugh: Knoxville’s Comedy Calendar (2/22/19)

Honored Guests:

KevonStage @ City Hills Church - Friday, 3/1 at 7 pm Jason Scholder @ Last Days of Autumn Brewing - Friday, 3/1 at 8 pm Matthew Tate @ Grove Theater (Oak Ridge) - Friday, 3/1 at 8 pm TomorrowQuest Theater @ Gatlinburg Improv Festival - Friday, 3/1 at 10 pm Four First Names @ Gatlinburg Improv Festival - Friday, 3/1 at 10 pm Nashville Improv @ Gatlinburg Improv Festival - Friday, 3/1 at 10 pm Two Sketchy Dames @ Gatlinburg Improv Festival - Friday, 3/1 at 10 pm Shenanigans @ Gatlinburg Improv Festival - Saturday, 3/2 at 6 pm The Maybe Pile @ Gatlinburg Improv Festival - Saturday, 3/2 at 6 pm My 4 Dads @ Gatlinburg Improv Festival - Saturday, 3/2 at 6 pm M-Prov @ Gatlinburg Improv Festival - Saturday, 3/2 at 8 pm Underhanded Improv @ Gatlinburg Improv Festival - Saturday, 3/2 at 8 pm Ian Covell’s Highwire Improv @ Gatlinburg Improv Festival - Saturday, 3/2 at 8 pm Reasonably Priced Babies @ Gatlinburg Improv Festival - Saturday, 3/2 at 10 pm Lowkeybush @ Gatlinburg Improv Festival - Saturday, 3/2 at 10 pm The Cardigan Party @ Gatlinburg Improv Festival - Saturday, 3/2 at 10 pm Blue Plate Special Improv @ Gatlinburg Improv Festival - Saturday, 3/2 at 10 pm * All Gatlinburg Improv Festival shows are at Sweet Fanny Adams Theater.

Local Heroes:

Cumberland Striptease @ Hodges Library (UT) - Friday, 2/22 at 8 pm Knox By Night Band @ Salt Lick Saloon - Friday, 2/22 at 8:30 pm John Upton @ Tennessee Brewsky’s (New Tazewell) - Saturday, 2/23 at 9 pm Open Mic Comedy Night @ Bearden Brickyard - Sunday, 2/24 at 6:30 pm Desert Pig Comedy open mic @ Tennessee Brewsky’s (New Tazewell) - Sunday, 2/24 at 8 pm Headliners (sketch comedy) @ Bearden High School - Monday, 2/25 at 7 pm Friendlytown @ Pilot Light - Monday, 2/25 at 7:30 pm Comedy on Tap @ Casual Pint-Downtown - Tuesday, 2/26 at 8 pm Einstein Simplified @ Scruffy City Hall - Tuesday, 2/26 at 8:15 pm Open Door Comedy open mic @ Scruffy City Hall - Wednesday, 2/27 at 8 pm Cumberland Striptease @ Gatlinburg Improv Festival - Friday, 3/1 at 8 pm Wordplayers Playback Theatre @ Gatlinburg Improv Festival - Friday, 3/1 at 8 pm Involuntary Sports Party @ Gatlinburg Improv Festival - Friday, 3/1 at 8 pm Full Disclosure @ Gatlinburg Improv Festival - Saturday, 3/2 at 6 pm Einstein Simplified @ Gatlinburg Improv Festival - Saturday, 3/2 at 8 pm Open Mic Comedy Night @ Bearden Brickyard - Sunday, 3/3 at 6:30 pm

* All Gatlinburg Improv Festival shows are at Sweet Fanny Adams Theater.

[intsui-blog]

Do we really know the (sh)ape we’re in? -intsui Back to the roots for a sec. Arms legs and squiggly heads🙃 Thanks a bunch for seeing my stuff!_! #conceptdesign #onedayatatime #trippyartworks #conceptart #doodlesketch #thoughtfulart #conceptartist #undefined #squiggly #graffiticharacter #semiabstract #whatcolor #characterdesign #artfriendly #instasketch #psychart #legsfordays #interpretiveart #illusionart #zentangleart #opticalillusions #wordplayer #freeverse #artist #dailyquotes #dailysketch #ooh #zentangle #dibujantes #lineworker https://www.instagram.com/p/Brye_gMBDcA/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=3bkqqgqhv1nr

[cosmogreys]

Ogden nash quip

it's two tired," e.g Pun - Wordplay groaner Pun - A play on words Pun - Verbal groaner Pun - Knock-knock joke, usually Pun - Groaner? Pun - According to oscar levant, it's "the lowest form of humor-when you don't think of it first" Pun - "pick a cod, any cod," e.g Pun - Groan inducer Pun - Word joke Pun - "my bike won't stand up. Pun - Equivoque Pun - 'miró, miró, on the wall,' e.g Pun - Wit's end? Pun - 'let us spray,' e.g Pun - Play on words Pun - "mir—, mir—, on the wall," e.g Pun - Bit of cerf humor Pun - Many a crossword clue Pun - 20-, 39- or 53-across, say Pun - Many an 'airplane!' gag Pun - Bad humor? Pun - Bit of wit Pun - Cause for a groan Pun - Cause of a smile, maybe Pun - Ogden nash bit Pun - Crux of some riddles Pun - It may elicit groans Pun - 'queen of denial,' e.g Pun - 'the santa clause,' for one Pun - 'queen of denial' for queen of the nile Pun - It may involve a homophone Pun - Wordplayer's ploy Pun - Groan and bear it? Pun - "don't be fuelish," for one Pun - Groaner of a joke Pun - Semantic antic Pun - "treat homonyms as synonyms": walter redfern Pun - What 61-across contains Pun - Bit of paronomasia Pun - It may not be intended Pun - Slain rapper big _ Pun - 'queen of denial', e.g Pun - Yuckster's specialty Pun - "i can't ride my bike.

[thestoryreadingape]

What Do You Want Me to Write About? - by K.M. Weiland…

What Do You Want Me to Write About? – by K.M. Weiland…

on Helping Writers become Authors: Hey, everybody! I can’t believe we’re almost into the final quarter of 2022. As I’m starting to think about what I want to share on the blog next year, I thought I’d take the opportunity to ask you—since many of my best post ideas come from questions here in the Wordplayer community. So… What would you like me to write about? Continue reading HERE Give your…

[draft-zero]

DZ-79: Interweaving Timelines 2 - The Social Network

How can interweaving two timelines change how we feel about a character?

In this Part 2 of Interweaving Timelines (aka The Stu Monologue Episode), Mel, Chas and Stu tackle Sorkin/Fincher's The Social Network. As you’ll hear, it is clearly Stu’s favourite of the examples we cover and, ah, *not* Mel’s favourite. While all three bring their own biases and opinions on the reality of Facebook as it has become, we do manage to put the destruction of democracy to one side to actually analyse the meticulous craft that this film displays.

We analyse Sorkin’s on-the-page skill with time jumps, managing intercutting and introducing characters - as well as explore how the flash-forward technique manages the absence of stakes (i.e. we know Facebook exists) and creates a different emotional experience to the flashbacks of Destroyer. Finally, and most importantly, we look at how the interweaving timelines change how the audience feel about Mark Zuckerberg (as portrayed in this film).

RUNNING ORDER

00:00:00 - Introduction

00:01:48 - The Social Network

00:07:36 - The flash forward structure

00:18:46 - Why did we pick this film?

00:29:41 - What are the stakes?

00:42:45 - Time jumps & transitions

00:52:59 - Audience's perception of Mark

01:00:45 - Storyteller cuts

01:09:20 - Sorkin vs Fincher

01:16:07 - Wrap up & key learnings

01:23:15 - Backmatter

LINKS

Watch: The Social Network written by Aaron Sorkin and directed by David Fincher

Read: Wordplayer - The Storyteller Cut

RELATED EPISODES

DZ-78: Interweaving Timelines 1 - Destroyer

DZ-43: Driving Sequences – Character and Plot Intensity

This episode brought to you by ScriptUp – https://www.scriptupstudio.com – use promo code DZ10 to get 10% off.

Many thanks to all our patrons but particularly to Randy, Garrett, Bjorn, Joakim, Khrob, and Sandra. They’re good humans.

Please considering rating or subscribing to us on Apple Podcasts or sharing us on the Social Medias! We like finding new listeners. We are @stuwillis and @chasffisher on twitter. And you can find @draft_zero on Instagram and Twitter.

Check out this new episode of Draft Zero

[orionredstarr]

hey! I just wanted to say I was so excited to find out the sparrabeth shippers are still around, alive and well, I became one myself over twelve years ago and I thought I may be the only one still hung up on them - there's really no point in this message, but it's great to see a decade later, the sparrabeth shippers still care :)

OF COURSE, I must answer another Sparrabeth fan!!! There are quite a few of us around, actually. We have not been that active since the last movie, but trust me, we are here~ :) So, welcome to the fold and glad to have you join us! 

I too have been a long time shipper like you. I started out in Live Journal about 12 years ago. At the time I was not writing so much Sparrabeth FF, but after DMC I became hooked and a “Sparrabeth nut”, as I call myself ever since.

Never had I seen such romantic chemistry between two movie characters in Cinematic history, and let me tell you….the writers Ted and Terry heard from me at their Wordplayer website. One of them even answered me to confess Jack and Elizabeth WERE supposed to wind up together! However, I am not clear who put the kybosh on it by the time they started with AWE, then pulled all the current Sparrabeth bits from AWE and re-routed the entire film.

SOoooo, needless to say there were “bitter herbs” cast with Sparrabeth shippers for certain, because AWE was a disaster (out of the 3 films comparison).

Anyway, looking forward to seeing your posts, and once more - welcome to the fold!!! Other Sparrabeth Shippers, please stop by and give a shout out of “hello” to our newest fan!! :)

WELCOME @iamalwayscalmandobjective

ORS

[batgovernor]

Launch: Potcake Chapbook 6, "Wordplayful"

Launch: Potcake Chapbook 6, “Wordplayful”

The sixth in the series of Potcake Chapbooks, ‘Wordplayful – poems to amuse and amaze’,is now beginning to wander around on both sides of the Atlantic (and hopefully further afield). This one is a little different from the earlier ones in the series: puns and puzzles, poems that can be read vertically or in reverse, wordplay in a variety of forms… but, yes, all formal poems, stuffed full of…

[whenhack]

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[glamourweaver]

I mean... he’s way too late to be written on it himself(not Romantic era), but if you were tracking his number based on similarity to the Romantics, he’d be closer to Austen than Byron, what with being a crisp wordplayer who mocks social class.

Oh my God I’m not sure of the accuracy of this scale but I made one anyways.

1: Jane Austen. Theoretically Romantic, mostly a clever satirist more interested in the novel as the perfect vehicle for social commentary than in poetry for capturing emotion. Very little chance of swooning and/or dramatic death. A very safe spot on the Romanticism scale.

2: Dorothy Wordsworth: Actually a Romantic, though not excessively so! Enjoy your long walks in the country. Keep those diaries. Your brother can mine them for publishable material until people consider them finally worthy of academic interest a century or two later.

3: Wordsworth. May result in later becoming annoyingly conservative but mostly harmless. Go ahead and wander lonely as a cloud. Gaze upon that ruined abbey.

4: Charlotte Turner Smith. Recover that English sonnet and transform it into a medium that mostly expresses sorrow! Help establish Gothic conventions! Have what Wordsworth called a true feeling for rural England! Die in penury and be forgotten by the middle of the nineteenth century!

5: Blake. ?? Who even knows man. Talk to angels. Create your own goddamn religion. Confuse all of your contemporaries.

6: Mary Shelly. Go ahead and run off with that unhappily married poet who took you on dates to your mother’s grave, but this may result in carrying your husband’s calcified heart around in a fragment of his last manuscript the rest of your life. But also, arguably inventing sci-fi as a genre… so that’s some consolation.

7: John Keats: listen to that nightingale but be forewarned: you will die of TB in Rome and everyone will mock you for dying of bad criticism instead of, you know, infectious disease.

8: Coleridge. May result in never finishing a poem and a severe opium addiction.

9: Percy Shelly. May result in being expelled from Oxford and in premonitions of your own death by drowning.

10: Full Byron. Never go full Byron.