#also i screenshot my writing to fit with the formatting hope that is okay

[lesnickis]

@virginrule   ♡’d   for   a   starter   !

[ghostsofmemories]

My Poetry Editing Process

hello folks! after watching @coffeeandcalligraphy‘s vlog where she talked about editing poetry, among a lot of other cool things, i realized editing poetry is pretty much the only thing i have a solid process for, so i thought i’d share mine! this is all work from a new poem titled what’s in a basement?, thanks so much to @keira-is-writing for sending the prompt on instagram!

and because of the way this website is formatted, including image descriptions is a bit impossible. so if you need IDs or just want to take a different look, i’m including a link to a copy of the document with all my comments on it! the post might have a little more detail since it’s easier for me to explain things here, but i did my best not to stray too far from my comments on the doc. 

alright, that’s enough rambling, let’s get on with it!

phase one: writing the poem

okay, so here’s the original poem with absolutely no edits.  all my works start out as prose poems because line breaks are too much to think about when i’m in the middle of a stream of consciousness. there are some exceptions but for the most part, it’s always prose poetry first.

phase two: line breaks

this is the part where i add line breaks, even if i intend for it to stay a prose poem or remove the breaks at the end. this helps visualize the poem in a different way and because the lines are shorter, it’s less convoluted and allows me to focus on individual words and the sound of the parts that the brain naturally reads together.

i usually make a couple changes here out of instinct, but for the sake of this, i've left wording, punctuation, and formatting completely alone

phase three: basic changes

anything that immediately strikes me as odd gets fixed here. i might also start getting an idea of what the poem is trying to be at this point, which is good, because i need to start thinking about it. i might consider some changes to the form and structure, too.

in the first stanza, i'm mostly noticing a lot of redundancy which tends to be my biggest flaw in my poetry, so that's what i have to look out for the most. that's the first thing i'll go through and change, plus i'll do some line edits.

most of what i'll change here is wording. i might get distracted by formatting or punctuation but i try not to, because i might lose an idea or miss an opportunity.

i labelled all the changes i decided to make if you’d like to see why i did certain things. if not, feel free to skip ahead!

1) i felt this part was redundant, so i ended up changing it 2) i wanted to push the skin simile that appears at the end of the poem 3) freeze-dried was more specific than dried up, and i also liked it better since this poem takes place in a basement (and those are cold sometimes? it makes sense to me okay?) 4) i switched rhythm and sound because you wouldn't sway to a sound, you'd sway to a rhythm. and you wouldn't be unable to stand a rhythm, you'd be overwhelmed by a sound 5) i deleted this word because it was unnecessary 6) i just liked this better than the original to be honest

I also have the bottom, small stanza highlighted because i think it needs to be reformatted or moved around the poem. putting all those similar lines next to each other can be good in a lot of cases, but for this poem in particular, i think it would be more impactful if they weren't all stuck together.

phase four: reformatting (pt 1)

(sorry if these screenshots are getting harder to read! i have to zoom further out because the poem is spread along a larger area). 

i moved around the lines of the last stanza to match my intention, which was to give the reader a metaphor to keep in mind before reading (1) , to tie the first and second stanza together (2), and to give the reader something to consider after (3). this isn’t even close to necessary for every poem, i just think it fits this one well!

phase five: reformatting/form (pt 2)

the final phase is another reformatting one, where i decide if i want to keep the line breaks or not. 

for the sake of this poem, i decided to do an in between. i thought my formatting decision for the smaller stanza made more sense if it was the only part with line breaks. i also allotted to remove punctuation from those parts because i felt that it read more along my intentions (which were, in a way, intended to act as titles, or something separate from the poem itself. i wanted to do as much as possible to clarify that they aren't part of the storyline of the poem itself, but more of a supplementary material).

that's the end of the editing "process", but in reality, i'll probably come back to this poem anywhere between a week and a month from now and make some wording changes. sometimes when i come back to a poem after a long time (especially a poem with a story), i end up getting ideas for another part of the poem and might end up adding another stanza. one time i actually added four to a poem i'd written months ago!

overall, i have no idea if this was helpful or not, but i hope it was! or, at the very least, that it shed some light on something that people don’t really talk about. 

a lot of people say that poetry isn’t meant to be edited and that it’s best in its most raw, unedited form, which might be true in some cases (i have several poems that didn’t need this intense of editing. a list of poems i won’t write was hardly edited at all before i posted it!), but i don’t think you should always consider a poem done the second you’ve finished writing it unless it’s something you’re genuinely proud of.

again, huge thanks to @keira-is-writing @coffeeandcalligraphy for making this possible! if you have any other topics you’d want me to cover in a long-form post like this, feel free to send me an ask!

poetry taglist (ask to be added/removed):

@coffeeandcalligraphy @oasis-of-you​ @alicewestwater​ @cherylinanika @keep-looking-here​ @chloeswords @bookphobe​ @chewingthescenery​ @citruson 

[risthebrave]

okay so i was going to send in an ask for the director’s cut thing, but there were too many fics i wanted to ask about 😭 i’ll send them in but PLEASE keep in mind you don’t have to do them all i feel bad dmfjsjf

move so pretty (you’re all i see), sleeping on our problems, works like a charm, just a flicker in the dark, and sweet like honey

ahhh omg thank you for sending these in! i’m so sorry for how long it took to get out - i may have forgotten about it shjkskss also i don’t mind talking about all of them but i’m definitely going to keep each one short. you can find them under the cut:

move so pretty (you’re all i see) ~

this fic was started initially when i was doing word prompts using curiouscat! people would send me words and i’d write a quick little drabble/snippet... they’re typically around 300-ish words but i got the word “owns,” and maybe got a bit carried away? i think that prompt ended up being 1k words - too long to post using cc so i had to take screenshots and post as separate tweet. 

the idea that came to me was something i love to read in fics: one of them walking in on the other masturbating. i didn’t intend for it to become anything more than that snippet but i what can i say? i got intrigued. my brain helpfully provided a backstory: best friends, harry maybe having feelings for louis but not wanting to ruin their friendship... 

fast-forward three days and i posted an 11k fic shjssks

this was my first attempt at writing a pwp so that was an interesting experience!!! i’m too obsessed with giving backstories and arcs to ever write just pure smut but this is the closest i’ve gotten??? 5.5k/11k being smut, that is. and for once coming up with the title wasn’t too hard because there’s one song i always think of when it comes to best friends to lovers and that’s lucky!! 

i don’t really know what else to say for this one! i remember sarah and i both wrote and posted pwps in a short span of each other so that was fun... she’s actually the one who motivated me to finish and post this fic instead of just letting the idea go. and her dog ended up in the story: chica <3 my absolute favorite <3333

sleeping on our problems ~

welp. this fic was a struggle for a long time. idk if i’ve talked about it on this blog but this fic was initially an exes to lovers fic!!! where they spent harry’s rut together right before breaking up and then louis finds out he’s pregnant and angst ensues. 

changing it to a one-night stand (even though it wasn’t only one night shjksks) ended up being a really good decision in the way that this new version of the story required a lot less angst and reflection of their past relationship, choices, actions!! that first fic was going to be a lot heavier i think shjsks but i really love how it turned out!!

barring the main tropes, the progression of the story and the outline itself changed so. much. in the process of writing... i found an earlier saved version of my outline and the story is almost completely unrecognizable haha. and actually the most recent saved version of the outline is also not 100% accurate to the final story because for the last 10k of the story, i was flying completely free shjsksk. 

also, even after i finished the fic, i went back and added two scenes the next day so it’s safe to say i changed so much of this story -- it was never supposed to be that long either hsjsksk the goal was 48-50k and i thought i was being optimistic!

somewhat in the same vein but also really different: this fic was one of the first fics i ever wrote out of order! before this, i had switched around maybe a couple times when writing a fic but mostly stuck to chronological order. but in this one i kept getting stuck with certain scenes and decided that i’d never reach my goal of finishing unless i switched to parts of the story i had the inspiration to write in the moment instead of getting stuck on one single part i had no motivation for. it really helped the process and i’ve been switching around ever since. 

another thing that really helped me actually finish this fic was the motivation and encouragement of people on twitter and i’m still so appreciative of it now :’) there’s no way i could have finished this fic without the kind words and well wishes of my mutuals!!

(also - i included an easter egg in this fic from another one of my fics... i suppose that’s sort of the type of insight that fits for these things? the ballet louis and harry saw in new york was swan lake <3)

works like a charm ~

ooo i wrote this fic for my friend’s birthday!! she loves hp aus and slytherin hl so it was just a given that i write that for her. i was on a deadline - pretty sure i made the doc on september 4th, aka nine days before i posted - and i hadn’t had my full outline done when i started which is is... let’s just say very uncommon. 

this is another example of me going off outline and changing the story as i went because initially the estimation was about 12k and the basic plot was that after they’d fuck for the first time, they’d immediately talk about the past and resolve those misunderstandings. but when i got to that point, i realized it felt too rushed for how the story was progressing so i extended it a bit and added some more *tension* and *miscommunication* until they finally got their shit together!

also i feel like some would find louis’ blatant lies when interrogated about his feelings for harry to be unrealistic but as someone who has definitely done the exact same thing (lmao - without the happy ending), i find it a definite possibility. and i mean, we all say stuff we don’t mean under pressure - whether it’s to louis’ (and my) extent or not. 

another thing i remember about this fic was having to work out with sarah - who was also posting a fic for this friend’s birthday - posting times and dates. we eventually agreed that she’d post first and i’d post the day after (neither were the actual day of the birthday because we were both running late!) this is a conversation we proceeded to have many other times since we both have made habits of birthday fics and we pretty much have the same friends. 

all of this was also happening in sync with us writing a fic together for our other friend’s birthday which was on the 8th... yes it was exactly as chaotic and stressful as you’re thinking but also fun! and i love all three fics involved!! haha. 

just a flicker in the dark ~

okay this fic is definitely my favorite thing i’ve ever written and i’ve said that before many, many times but it’s true! but it too changed so much from the initial idea to the final end product. 

in fact, the original idea was a 20k somewhat-crack fic where harry was a ghost and louis was the paranormal investigator trying to get him to stop haunting this house. it was just supposed to be a quick and fun halloween fic to work on while finishing up my first blff and finally making head way on my abandoned second blff... obviously, that changed drastically. 

it initially started with me getting the idea of louis and harry being partners and enemies. and then i was thinking... why not throw exes on top of it while we’re there??? that was completely self-indulgent since exes to lovers is my favorite trope of all time. but the idea was still that they were paranormal investigators trying to work a case on a haunted house and though the estimated wc had raised to 35k, i was still hoping that it’d be quick and easy because i had two other projects that needed a lot of my attention. 

then came the first day of october. i woke up after having the craziest dream about louis and harry and the ghost that was not really a ghost. i ended up writing about 7k that thursday and the story really just took shape from there. the first sequence i wrote was actually the scene where louis goes into the backyard and ends up in the pocket dimension where the spirit imprints on him - i think it was a 3.5k scene and it just flew out of me sjksjsk. after that i took a small break to start my outline but it was more of a messy list of ideas and details and things i wanted to include than my usual organized format. the next scene i wrote that day was the scene where louis is in the bedroom and the demon is there but harry is not but then he is (i’m so good at describing things, right?) that’s actually one of my favorite scenes i’ve ever written and the funny thing is that i barely even knew all the details of the demon plot by this point but my hands just kept typing and my brain had the tendrils of the story forming and that amazing feeling that this is something good. 

i could ramble on forever about the process of writing this fic but i’ll just say that it’s the most fun i’ve ever had writing anything ever. word-building and supernatural elements are my favorite and getting to delve into those things here was so much fun! the entire process took twenty-five days (spanning from october 1st to october 28th - with a small three day break to focus on finishing miss wedding au!!) and though i did have some small struggles and moments of writer’s block, for the most part the story just came to me. and it’s so amazing to me because i didn’t even have all the details and facets of the plot until louis did too but it ended up working out??? if anything, it showed his process of figuring things out really well because it was the process of me figuring things out!

also this was the first time i heavily featured a fic pet in a fic and i fell as much in love with venus as everyone else did :’) she has my heart, truly <3 i love this world and these characters so so much and i hope to return to it sometime in the future!

sweet like honey ~

whooo, okay, this fic... yikes. this fic was a capital s Struggle. 

so basically this fic was written for the blff and though it came out first, it was the second prompt i signed up for, prompt 63: Friends to lovers AU where Harry and Louis are best friends and flatmates in Uni and they both need money, Harry for his gym membership and Louis for cute stuff like sanrio plushies, so they decide to film homemade porn videos together. Louis is shy and sweet and maybe inexperienced and Harry kinda doms him.

i remember the exact moment i saw the blff post on tumblr about it being allowed to sign up for another prompt from that point on - i was sitting at the counter at my friend’s ranch’s kitchen eating crepes and browsing on my phone. i saw the post and immediately signed up for this prompt because it had been my second choice and though i love love loved my first prompt so much, i was disappointed at not being able to write this one... but i did!

the idea and basic outline was actually completed way back in july/august but for some reason i just couldn’t make any actual progress on it for so long??? i’m pretty sure the document was stuck at 5k for over three months shsjksks to be fair, i did keep pushing it to the side in favor of other newer fics but i was just experiencing the biggest barrier when it came to this story and characters. 

in fact, i actually reached out to the mods in late october about a potential extension - they informed me that all writers could use a two week extension if needed and i figured that would be fine. however, i didn’t end up using it! within the first few days of november, i managed to pull the wc up to 8k by the skin of my teeth (was still majorly struggling) - i was still sure i’d need an extension but then something really awful but in this case, helpful, happened... 

election week. 

basically, i’m a big stress-writer. writing is what i do when i’m upset or anxious or stressed because it truly is my happy place. i wouldn’t say writing during that week made me feel much better about everything going on but it provided a distraction. so much though that i went from 8k to 24k in the span of a few days... and i have absolutely no recollection of writing any of it. 

not only did i not need any extension, i also somehow ended up finishing early by a few days. and i really liked what i had!! or what i remembered of it anyway shjskks.

one thing i remember really focusing on in terms of these characters and dynamic was having it actually just be them starting as friends and developing feelings later. i feel like a common trope in friends to lovers fics is having one or both of them with pre-existing feelings that they feel is unrequited. obviously there’s nothing wrong with that (i’ve written it myself lol) and it’s a common trope for a reason - because it’s good - but i wanted to try something a little different. them actually filming these videos is what acted as the catalyst to them beginning to view their relationship with new eyes and open the door to the eventual feelings that developed. 

i also had so much fun writing harry’s pov in this one haha. i feel like this version of him was really bold and shameless and super easy for me to develop. 

this is also the closest i’ve ever gotten to meeting my estimation word count... ever. my estimate was 32k and it ended up at 33k!!! and yes i’m more proud of that than i should be lol

-

anyways, i pretty much just rambled but if anyone sees this and gets some good insight out of it, then yay! feel free to send more director’s cut inquiries!! i love doing them (even if it takes me weeks - sorry again!)

[booksandeverything-in-between]

My journalism journey

... has only just begun! 

This is my post for the “Life Narrative” assignment for JTC 326. I’ve added a “keep reading” tab because I hate putting extremely long posts on my dashboard! Keep in mind too, I’ve formatted this to fit the platform, so it’s not strictly professional. 

Also  — this is the first time I’ve shared my Tumblr with anyone who is not my sister, but it’s the perfect platform for this. 

** All pictures were taken by me unless otherwise specified, some taken from my old blog posts on here. 

A note before I start: When I first thought about this assignment, I had so many things I thought I could share, a lot of them deeply personal, somewhat dark and just not the right fit. I had a bit of a crisis; I cried a little. There is so much in my past that makes me, me, that I’ve only ever really shared with my therapist, but have generally wanted to write about. But it’s hard, and I don’t know how. And a whole lot of other stuff. BUT THEN

I realized I could share a story that I have always wanted to share! It perfectly relates to our class too and basically everything anyone would ever need to know about me! It’s amazing! I’m so excited! I hope you like it! 

(line break) 

It’s the summer before sixth grade. That’s how I define, or sort, my life, in my memories. It’s the year of school, or it’s the summer before/after. It’s not my age, or the calendar year; it’s school. For a long time my whole identity revolved around school, so it fits. 

Anyway, I’m bored. My older sister and I can only do so much Netflix-watching (because we didn’t have cable) on the Wii (because this was 2011), and I need something to stimulate my active mind. Here comes books! 

I’ve always, always been an avid reader. I was the first person in my first grade class to start reading chapter books  — something I liked to brag about a lot back then. But I’m about to be a middle schooler, so I need to find something a little more mature. My parents decide that I’m at an appropriate age to start reading some of my sister’s old books, which were originally marked for garage sale. 

One of these books has a long, juicy title, with a teen girl posed on the cover in a preppy school uniform, hand on her hip. I don’t have to look this up to remember; it is forever in my mind. The book is I’d Tell You I Love You, But Then I’d Have to Kill You by Ally Carter. Juicy, right? AND I LOVE IT. Seriously. Love. It. 

Photo: I’d Tell You I Love You, But Then I’d Have to Kill You by Ally Carter. 

... And I guess I move on. That part is a little fuzzy. Enter: Back to School Night, sixth grade. I always would go with my mom, because I loved school, and nights like those I thought were super cool. So, I’m hanging out with my best friend Sydney by the stairs, and she has this book from the school library with her. 

Do you believe in fate? Was it kismet? I do not know; I will not guess. But I do know, I freaked the f*ck out. Because it was the book, by Ally Carter!! I loved that book! When I asked Sydney where she got it, she said in the library, and there were a bunch of other books like it. 

That made me pause. Honestly, I couldn’t believe it. Because, what do you know, it was a series!! There were three other books to be read! How, oh how, did I not know this? It had to be fate. 

I can still picture exactly where the books are, in the Preston library. The smaller shelf, up against the wall, right by the opening into the conference/meeting room space (I don’t know what we called that room???). Bottom shelf. 

Who knew a series about teenage girls going to a spy school would set me on this path? 

Suddenly it’s the summer after sixth grade, and once again, I’m bored. But, I have access to a netbook, that my grandpa gave us. Something entices me to start Googling these books. I find Ally Carter’s website. I found out that there are going to be two more books in the series. And I stumble upon this Google search suggestion, with the word fanfiction. 

And wow. 

Stories, countless stories, about my favorite books. Eventually, I make my own account on fanfiction.net, I try my hand at some of my own stories, I get a smartphone and make this very tumblr account when I turn 13, I find a place where I can express all my nerdiness in peace and all-caps, without any sort of ridicule fear. 

But that’s not the end, nor the point, of this story. 

Photo: The first four books in the Gallagher Girls series by Ally Carter. 

(line break) 

So here I am, spending all my free time secretly reading fanfic and trying to write it, and hating my life sometimes and thinking about what I want to study in college because that’s my best chance at escape from this life that I feel I’m stuck in. 

But I can’t think of anything to write! I love to read; I enjoy writing; I am learning more about grammar because my dad has me grading his grammar quizzes he gave his JTC 300 students; but still, something isn’t right. I viscerally hate English class. 

But! There’s a way I CAN write, without it being creative! My dad is going to school for photojournalism, my sister took a high school journalism class, and now it’s my turn to register for classes in high school. I sign up for Journalism 1, the precursor to Journalism 2, which is the class that houses the student newspaper. It’s a great plan. It was a good class.

I was looking through my old journal the other day, and I came across this line dated from September 23, 2014, just into the beginning of my freshman year of high school. “I want to be a journalist.” 

Photo: A journal entry that reads, “I want to be a journalist.” 

My sophomore year of high school, I take Journalism 2 and join the paper. I’m kind of terrified because there are a bunch of people I don’t know and now I’ll actually have to go out and report and talk to people ... but we do some really fun team-building, and people seem to like me, and I relax. I feel, just a little, like a really belong. 

And I had felt that way before, during band, and with some of my friends, but this thing, this journalism thing, I’m actually good at it. And there’s this one moment that sticks out to me still. 

It’s probably 7:20 a.m. I’m trudging up the steps to Spanish class, and I do not want to be there. It’s not that I don’t like school, or I don’t like my classes, because I do. But I’m tired, and it’s not what I want to be doing. I think, if I could spend the entirety of my day in my journalism class, I would be happy. 

To this day, as a college student, I am jealous of the people who get to spend their whole days doing journalism. 

I’ve found more than a home. I’ve found a place where, for what feels like the first time, I can speak my mind. I can be sarcastic, I can make a pun and I can also point out when there’s a bad typo somewhere and have that be appreciated. 

Halfway through my first year writing for the paper, I’m given extra responsibilities and get to start copy editing articles from the students in the J1 class, and I start to learn how to redesign/maintain our Wordpress site. I go on a class trip to Los Angeles, an amazing feat of independence for me, and I feel valued. And then, I’m award the position of Copy Editor for the next school year! It’s amazing. 

I learn my junior year that the freshmen whose articles I edited were afraid of me. Afraid, of me! (For reference, I am five feet tall). But once they met me, they were like ‘Woah, Serena’s not scary!” and now we’re good friends. I’ve since learned to be less harsh/blunt in my editing. 

My senior year, I was Editor-in-Chief. That was something I dreamed about as a freshman, but wouldn’t let myself actually fathom. And even though I felt like I could have done a much better job, and I had a lot of personal sh*t to do with too, by the end of the year, I knew that I was leaving behind a strong legacy. 

It’s really something special when people you love give you a speech, crying, telling you how much you welcomed them, how much you made them feel like they had a place to grow, to be, and how much you’ve inspired them. 

Because journalism, especially student journalism, is about so much more than the news. It’s about a community. It’s community with your fellow reporters and editors, it’s comradery while kicking ass, it’s creating a community with your readers and your peers, it’s learning about the community you live in and sharing the ups and downs of life. 

Photo: A screenshot from my Instagram account of my high school journalism family, taken at our end of the year picture my junior year of high school. We had this running joke that I was going to be a world-dominator type person (because I’m so tiny and quiet) and my teacher said, “Okay, Serena now push Katie over” because I was taking over as EIC. Photo credit goes to my teacher (not going to post his name here). 

(line break)  

I have a lot of setbacks, too. I have anxiety. Like, a lot. Of anxiety. I haven’t been formally diagnosed with General Anxiety Disorder, but I think I should be. 

I used to think I was just shy. And that was partially the case. But I grew from it, in large part because of journalism. I went from not sitting in my designated seat at the beginning of class because there were older kids in the way my freshman year, to leading the entire class three days a week my senior year. I liked high school journalism because I could get away with asking my friends for quotes, or just not really quoting anyone at all. 

I spent one quarter at the University of Denver last year, and it was somewhat the same thing. They didn’t have any strict standards on a number of sources, and I wrote articles that didn’t require speaking to a lot of people. But then, I took over nine months off from school in what should have been my freshman year of college, and thus took nine months off from journalism and reporting. So starting at The Collegian was a challenge. 

I am still damn proud of myself for getting up the courage, on the second day of classes at CSU, to go down to the newsroom and ask about reporting. I wouldn’t be where I am today if I didn’t, and I love where I am today. 

To think that wasn’t even a year ago ... 

Photo: Here I am, remote copy editing for The Collegian, the week after Spring Break. Photo cred to my dad. 

When I started at CSU, I felt good. I was nervous, but transferring was a really good decision, and I’m from Fort Collins, so I felt more comfortable. And at first, my reporting felt really good.

But then I got too stressed with school and work, and that stress led over to increases social anxiety when I was reporting. I went to this community meeting and tried to talk to people there, but I felt helpless and quiet and I left and cried to myself. I then conducted my interviews over the phone. 

I even had to take a break for a few months last semester, because I had a panic attack with the mere thought of approaching people I didn’t know. 

But I worked through it. Aided by Xanax and peer support, I interviewed a bunch of people at the Eva Schloss event and felt really good about it. I also saw my high school journalism advisor, because his wife works at CSU Hillel, and talking to someone who knew my struggle felt good. 

For a long time I’ve doubted if journalism, if news reporting, is something I’ll actually be able to do. It’s the only real thing that makes me feel like I have a purpose, the only thing that makes me not feel depressed about life, but I am still so worried I’ll hold myself back in some way. 

That hasn’t happened yet. 

(line break) 

It’s the summer before my junior year of high school, and I am about to go meet up with the other members of the new leadership team, Katie and Kathleen, at Starbucks. I’ve recently got my license and it feels really good to be driving myself around. 

I go to Target and buy a fancy looking notebook with the last $15 I have to my name, because I don’t have a job yet. I go to Starbucks and discover I like drinking tea. I talk with Katie and Kathleen and we brainstorm what we want the journalism class to look like next year. What we want to change, how we’re going to get students to know that we exist. 

It’s the summer before my senior year, and I bring this same notebook to a meeting at Dazbog that I have with our leadership team to get ready for the school year. I’m in charge. It’s weird, but in a good way. There are a lot more people there, and I fill pages upon pages of ideas, and agendas I want to start the first weeks with. 

So much had changed in a year. My parents got divorced, I started working a lot, I was looking more seriously into college. But so much was the same. The same people, the same work, the same purpose. It was good. 

It’s the second semester of my first year at CSU, my sophomore year of college. I’m at home, cleaning my room, procrastinating because I don’t want to write my final essay. I get a text from Laura, asking if I’ve heard back about the editorial board yet. I had shut my phone off because I was checking my email so obsessively. 

And there it is. I am going to be the 2020-2021 News Editor for The Rocky Mountain Collegian. I still don’t fully feel like I know what I’m doing, even though I have all this experience. News is happening, but it’s summer. Do I write about it? Do I ask other people to write about it? Can I express the authority and knowledge I know I have, to people who have more experience at the paper than I do? It’s still early. 

The day I get the news, I pull out an old, blue notebook that’s barely filled. It’s the perfect place to start brainstorming the things I want to change on the desk and the things I think are super important for Laura and me to talk about. 

I forgot that I had notes from my Editor-in-Chief days in there. 

Photo: The notebook!

It feels like I’ve completed a circle. Like all the highs and lows of my last few years have led me to here, right back to where I’m supposed to be. Where I’ve always known I would be. 

I know who I am; I know where I belong; I know my place and my purpose in this world. 

Ally Carter’s Gallagher Girls series brought me to writing, and writing brought me to journalism. In my obsession with those books, the unofficial motto of the CIA really resonated with me. “And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.” 

Community and truth, that’s journalism. 

I want to be a journalist.

I am a student journalist.

I am a journalist. 

[ink-flavored]

Thank you so much to everyone who’s followed me since I made this blog! I never expected to get to 100 followers this quickly, and you all mean a lot to me <3 With that in mind, I decided to share some of my knowledge about screenplays for you all. Thank you all again for following, and I hope I can make more of these in the future!

Script Formatting Guide: The Basics

[Next Guide: Parentheticals and Special Headings] [Ko-Fi]

In my (admittedly, short) time on writeblr, I’ve noticed some people who like to write scripts. That’s really cool! However, I’ve also seen a good number of said scripts that aren’t up-to-code, as it were, in the formatting department, which is essentially a death sentence if you want to get that script produced. I’m fortunate enough to attend a university that teaches the ins and outs of TV and film script writing, with at least a dozen classes of screenwriting technicalities under my belt, all taught by current industry professionals, so I figured I would use my powers for good and write up some instructions for present and future scriptwriters!

Don’t be ashamed of formatting a script incorrectly, because if you don’t do a metric assload of research, you can miss A LOT of information. Please do not feel bad for not knowing everything. But, if you’re really dedicated to writing scripts – for TV, film, shorts, or even video game cutscenes* – you have to understand a few things:

Script writing is 80% formatting. You might have the greatest screenplay in the world, but you’ll be laughed out of every studio in Hollywood from the first page if your formatting is off by a centimeter. The slush readers are begging for an excuse to throw out your script. You can’t give them one. You have to know your formatting before you know the name of your own child.

You are not the director. As a newbie writer, the first script you ever hand off to a studio isn’t going to be yours to do with as you will. Neither will the second, third, or fourth. The director will not be you, nine times out of ten, and whoever the director is will mess with your story as they see fit. You have to be okay with that.

Throw all prose rules out the window. A lot of unlearning happens in scriptwriting, especially if you’re a prose writer by trade. They’re essentially polar opposites. It was really hard for me to get used to writing scripts, but now I can kind of switch my brain on and off between modes.

Still want to write scripts? Great! Follow me under the cut.

The first thing you should do is get some kind of dedicated screenwriting software. Don’t go blowing all your money on Final Draft or something, but it’s important to have software that knows what you want. DO NOT use Microsoft Word for screenwriting. Please. I am begging you not to. It doesn’t know what it’s doing. It’s like using crayons to try and make an oil painting, or something equally ridiculous. Here’s a list and another list of free screenwriting programs.

Next, check out this really handy glossary of screenwriting terms. I’m going to be using the professional lingo in this post, so just CTRL+F on that site if you don’t understand something.

If you’re really dedicated to scriptwriting, get the most recent version of The Screenwriter’s Bible by David Trottier. Buy it, borrow it, download it, torrent it, steal it, use telepathy, I don’t care, but get this book. Once you have it, read it cover to cover, then read it again. This book is now your life. It has everything you need to know about script formatting and then some. I have it open on my lap as I type this, because formatting is that crucial to getting your script circulated.

To teach you the basics of formatting, I’ll be using screenshots from a couple of my own scripts! They’re not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but they were also picked to death by my professors, so they’re the best examples I have. Plus, I don’t want to rag on anyone else’s script, or try and compare my knowledge to that of an industry professional – because I’m not.

Without further ado, let’s format that script! (Apologies for the quality)

A little daunting? Don’t worry. All of this is a lot easier to explain than it looks.

Margins (Red)

The margins of your script (yes, this matters), should always be as follows:

Left margin at 1.5 inches from the left edge of the page

Dialogue at 2.5 inches from the left margin

Dialogue tags (the character’s name in all caps) at 3.7 inches from the left margin

Action lines at 3.1 inches from the left margin

If you don’t do this, the slush readers will notice, and your script will be thrown out. Most screenwriting software will do this for you, but it doesn’t hurt to check!

Bonus advice for this section: your text should always be 12-point Courier font – there are absolutely no exceptions to this rule.

Scene headings and Sub-headings (or Sluglines) (Dark Blue)

Ask any screenwriter, they’ll tell you the most common script formatting error is the scene heading – or slugline. Why is it the most common error? New writers not understanding what it’s for.

The slugline’s job is to tell the director, the costumer, and everyone else on set where and when they’re shooting. If it’s wrong, then the entire production of your script is thrown into chaos. Even if you write your script by yourself in an apartment, you have to keep in mind that dozens of people’s livelihoods for several months depend on your formatting. No pressure.

So what is a slugline? In prose terms, it’s the setting. In screenwriting terms, it’s what the camera sees when your movie starts. For just a little bit, you get to be the director, and this is how.

The slugline is always in all caps, and always begins thusly: INT., EXT., or INT./EXT.. INT. for “interior,” meaning that the camera is inside a house or a building. EXT. for “exterior,” meaning that the camera is outside. INT./EXT. is reserved for vehicle shots.

After the camera location, comes the actual setting! This can be whatever you want – so long as it’s short, snappy, and consistent. So, the scene heading in my script is “EXT. FOREST” which means that I have to keep saying “FOREST” every time I want to go to a new scene. I can’t suddenly say “EXT. PRETTY FOREST,” because that implies that the camera was moved to a different location – even if I meant the same place.

But you’ll notice there’s something following that “EXT. FOREST.” It’s called a “sub-heading” and it’s exactly what it sounds like. If you have a house, for example, that’s called “INT. HARRY’S HOUSE” and you want Harry to be in a specific room in the house, you would write “INT. HARRY’S HOUSE – LIVING ROOM.” You really shouldn’t have more than one sub-heading.

The last thing in a slugline is DAY or NIGHT. No other times are permitted, because telling the lighting crew to set up for “twilight” or “midafternoon” or “dawn” isn’t as easy as saying “day” or “night.” Keep it simple. You can imply what time it is in the action lines.

There are other kinds of sluglines called “special headings,” but they get complicated, so we’re going to save them for a different post.

Overall, your slugline should look always be a camera location, setting, sub-heading if applicable, and a time. Dashes go between the setting and the time of day, as well on either side of the the sub-headings. There’s always a space between the slugline and the action lines, and you need a new slugline every time you go to a new location. If, in my example, my character Aiden were to drop out of the tree, I would need a new slugline because the camera would follow him out of the tree.

Action Lines (Purple)

Action lines are exactly what they sound like: lines about the action. But don’t get too relived when you see something that looks like prose. Action lines don’t have a lot of rules, but the rules they do have are set in stone**.

If you’re particularly fond of writing description, you might want to brace yourself when I tell you that your action lines should never exceed three lines. If you can keep them below three lines, that’s even better. Pull up any unneeded orphans (single-word lines), and use what little room for description you have to make your script concise, succinct, and visual.

Speaking of visual: everything you write in your action lines should be able to be picked up by a camera. That means no internal thoughts, nothing happening off-screen, absolutely nothing that the audience can’t see. This took me forever to get used to, but if you don’t get used to it, your script is doomed. If it can’t be seen by a camera, it can’t go in your action lines. Only describe what’s vital for the audience to understand, then move on as fast as you can.

Additionally, you action lines should always be present tense. Full stop. Not even the most acclaimed screenwriters violate this rule. When you watch a movie, TV show, short film, etc. everything is happening in the present – you’re watching it in the present. You write in the present as well.

SFX (Pink)

Sound effects are a bit of a sticking point in scripts, because nobody agrees on what kinds of sound effects need to be capitalized. I learned to capitalize all sounds that aren’t human sounds, because the editors and sound mixers need to know what sounds they have to add in. Grunting and coughing can be done by the actors in their scene, so it’s usually okay to leave those kinds of noises lowercase. If you want to capitalize them, it’s not wrong, but if you do, remember to keep it consistent. If you do it once, you have to do it for the entire rest of the script.

Character Introductions (Orange)

When you introduce a character for the first time – and only for the first time – you have to capitalize their name, give their (approximate) age, and a quick description of their demeanor and personality. By “quick,” I mean “eight words maximum.”

Why do this? For the casting director, of course! As in all things screenwriting, you are working with and for a lot of people before you even finish your first draft. They need to have some kind of idea of what kind of person they need to cast, and the actors need to know what kind of person they should be portraying.

You don’t have to give an exact age like I did – I’ve seen people get away with “early 30s” or “mid 20s” – but whichever one you choose, keep it consistent for every character you introduce.

With the description, however, it’s best to specific. Give a quick insight into your character’s personality, even if it’s just one word. “Vain,” is one, “anger-issues,” is another. “Bird enthusiast,” is vital to Aiden’s character, so I included it in his description.

Never describe clothes unless it’s unique or vital to the character – a leopard patterned three-piece suit is specific and unique enough to warrant a place in the description. Jeans and a t-shirt? Not so much.

Dialogue (Light Blue)

Finally, something familiar! Writing dialogue follows mostly the same rules as in prose, the only thing missing is the ability to add description to that dialogue. In fact, most screenwriters will tell you not to add description to your dialogue. It’s a controversial topic that I’ll be getting into in a different post, because discussing the usefulness of parentheticals is a can of worms that I don’t need to open on a Back to Basics post.

You can suggest dialogue description by showing us the character’s facial expression in the previous action line, but be careful. If the actors feel like you’re railroading them, then they’ll get mad. Divas, am I right?

Aiden is talking on the phone in my example, but the dialogue is exactly the same as it would be in any other situation. I mentioned he was talking on the phone in his introductory section, so now he’s talking on the phone unless specified otherwise. It works the same way for every kind of dialogue.

Dialogue Tags (Green)

This is where your character’s name goes, in all caps, centered on the page. The only thing I can really say about this is to make sure their name is spelled correctly and has no space between itself and the dialogue.

CONT’D and Additional Tags (Light Green)

CONT’D is something that most – if not all – screenwriting programs do automatically, but in case yours doesn’t here the gist. Add a “CONT’D” when a character that had been talking previously is interrupted by a page break or action line. All it means is that his dialogue isn’t breaking from line to line, and it’s still the same character speaking.

There are other kinds of “add on” tags to your dialogue tags, all of them going in parenthesis next to the main tag. The most popular ones are O.S. and V.O. – “Off Screen” and “Voice Over.” Getting these mixed up is a rookie mistake, and a lot of rookies do.

O.S. is used when a character that is in the scene speaks off-camera. This does NOT apply to phone calls, radio, TV, etc. because the character isn’t in the scene – they’re somewhere else. They’re being heard in the scene, but no person is there. For situations like that, you’d use V.O. instead. V.O. is used for narration, phone calls where one party is in a different location, and any voice coming from a different location from the one that the current scene takes place in.

Conclusion

Alright! Well that’s the very, very basics of screenplay formatting down. I hope this has been useful to you. If you all enjoyed this post, I’d love to get down in the nitty-gritty about scripts and screenplay formatting with you all. I’ve learned so much at school, even though I don’t want to be a screenwriter, so it would be awesome to share this knowledge with all of you.

Thanks for reading, and happy writing!

– Annika

*Video game cutscenes use something called “modified screenplay format” which is different than what we’ll be covering in this post, but it is based off of traditional script formatting.

**If you’re a very well-known writer/director, you can get away with this. But you have to be Steven Spielberg levels of legendary, or you’ll be kicked out so fast. Unfortunately, the film industry is Like That.

[sunshineysprinkles]

i was wondering if you had any happy book recommendations? i'm looking to try and be more positive and what i'm reading would really help. thank you xxx

I just got so excited over this ask?? I love books.Hmm, I'm not really sure about happy books, though! The thing about stories is that there's gotta be some sort of conflict to usher the plot along, so most aren't purely happy. But I'll try to give some that might fit your fancy! And congrats for trying to be more positive! I'm proud. Disclaimer before I start: a lot of this is going to be fiction because that's my own personal preference, but I do plan on looking up some recommended feel good books, so! 1. Milk and Honey/The Sun and Her Flowers by Rupi Kaur - These are 2 poetry books that have a lot of positivity in them and female empowerment stuff, too. There are a good number of sad poems in both, too. But they're formatted in a way where it's like...it starts as sad, but the end of the book is all about healing and recovery and stuff. I've personally read these both and I enjoyed them very much!2. Simon VS the Homosapien Agenda by Becky Albertalli - I had to put this here because the movie is coming up. Okay, so this book is mostly a really laid back, realistic fiction about a closeted gay boy who's having an online relationship with a kid he doesn't know at school. Not gonna give too kuch away, but it's a good book! Not too much conflict. For the most part, it's a happy one. There is an instance of forced outing, though, so beware of that.3. Wonder by RJ Palacio - I haven't personally read this yet, but it's on my list and people have called it heartwarming. Plus there's a movie out for it now. It's about a little boy with a facial difference and how it affects his view of the world, from what I've read. I'm looking forward to it!4. The Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan - A bit older than these others, but. I'm trying to recommend ones that aren't boring, but also aren't too too heavy? What I like about these books is the comedy. They were originally written for tweens and teens, but I think all ages can enjoy them. This does have more conflict than the other recommendations so far, but. It's set in a universe where the Greek myths are real. A boy Percy Jackson discovers he's a son of one of the Greek gods and goes to a camp for people like him, demigods. And..yeah. He gets into a lot of trouble and adventure with his two best friends, a witty child of Athena named Annabeth and a tin can loving saytr named Grover. I love the narration style for this.5. Milk and Vine by Adam Gasiewski and Emily Beck - Okay, this one isn't that serious. But I had to add it because seeing screenshots of it makes me laugh every time. They basically took the format of Milk and Honey (1) and parodied the book so that rather than meaningful poems, each page is filled with vines. Classic. I'd imagine flipping through it would give you a good laugh and it's really cheap from what I saw.6. The Mincing Mockingbird Guide to Troubled Birds by Kim Bagwill and Matt Adrian - You might have seen some pages out of this circling around because they're hilarious. I haven't personally owned the book, but I've seen pages out of it and I would live to have it myself. Just...look it up. I promise you'll enjoy the images even if you don't want the book. (They're not positivity stuff, but they're funny. Don't take after those birds pls.)7. An Abundance of Katherines by John Green - It's been a long time since I've read this, but I recall enjoying it a lot. Compared to his other stuff, it wasn't heartbreaking. It was pretty mellow and chill. Basically about a boy who keeps dating Katherines (always with a K?). After his latest relationship, he tries to develop a formula to predict who will break up with who. That was a horrible summary, but. Again, it's been years. I just remember it was good and not sad, I didn't cry for once reading one of his books.8. R.H. Sin - More poetry, but his books are pretty good. Like Rupi, they do have quite a few sad ones, but for the most part it's meant to be inspiring and empowering. Also, he loves his wife so much?? I adore that. That's about all I can immediately think of? I realize after writing this maybe you were looking for books focusing solely on positivity and self care stuff. But I can't say I've read much of those. I'm sure you could find good ones on Google, though! There's a website called GoodReads I think where people leave reviews on books and all, sooo. Anyway, I hope this helped in some way, ahh! I'm sorry if it wasn't what you wanted. And I hope your day is lovely!

[briteboy]

Umm I'm not sure how to word this but.. at what point during story development do you recommend actually posting it? Like should you finish writing the whole thing, then post? Should you finish half of it and the write as you go? Should you break it up into parts? i hope this makes sense because im struggling to see if my story is far enough along to post.

sooooo okay. to start...i at least finish planning the whole thing (for the most part, or i do as much as i can) and that kinda sets the goal timeline i try to stick to and it’s the reason i always say things like “this has to happen before this does” lmao.

with that being said, i don’t think i could ever actually write something out fully before posting it, but i do usually write out a large enough portion of it just to kinda prove to myself that i’m truly dedicated to it and willing to put work in before it gets any attention. to give you an idea with novembers, it was this time last year that i’d written out the rough draft of the dialogue, like...up until santi and lou kissed, and by that point i was like “okay, i think i have enough to go from here” (a lot was also added in as i started actualizing it as well, because rough drafts are never set in stone)

but okay so...planning santi’s stuff was weird, generally i try to write small scenes that i can fit into one post each, and i definitely didn’t intend for those scenes to be in parts/chapters, but as i went along, i kinda realized that’s what was happening and it worked for the best. i think i would recommend that kinda format to anyone with a really ambitious storyline or a lot of events or characters to showcase or whatever, especially if there’s a shift in the tone of the story or whatever. i think doing that helped me a lot.

this is so long lmao i’m sorry but the only way i knew how to answer this was to kinda show you how this story came into shape. my final piece of advice for you is that if you feel like you have enough planned and written, you’re probably good. as long as you can keep up the momentum and find something that works for you in terms of writing, taking screenshots (because i assume we’re talking about the sims here) and keeping a balance between the two, you shouldn’t have a problem