#and the plot is more like the writers were throwing darts at the wall and see what happens next

[justmefeelingtherain]

Rewatching Shadowhunters 8 years later is a Journey™️. But nothing will be more amusing than Matthew Daddario's deadpan acting and Kat's overacting.

[george-harrisons-last-biscuit]

Rewatching Help instead of sleeping Part 1

Why do we start this movie with human sacrifice and then immediately go into a music video for help?

Also I was just at an Aztec temple for the Sun God and they also did human sacrifices. I was told by the guide that a most of their sacrifices would volunteer.

Where did they get the screen playing the Beatles that they’re throwing darts at? Also I realize I should give visuals so here’s. A shitty photo taken of my laptop and a photo of the temple:

I’m so confused what religion/culture are they trying to imitate here with the human sacrifice ring people.

I love their house and this scene so much. I need an entire movie that’s just the Beatles living in this house. Is this what the show big brother is like? Just 4 houses without walls in between them.

I love how there’s just a random guy in George’s room who cuts his lawn with mechanical teeth and John pulls out his own book to read

How did that woman get into their house and have no one call the cops. Wait is it ever explained how ringo got the ring? Im only 8 minutes in I need to slow my roll.

This is so unapologetically racist beginning to end.

I can really tell they were high out of their fucking mind for the filming of this movie. Also the “Everyone laughs at Ringo’s Sudden Apprehension” reminds me of this scene in Velocipastor:

I remember the first time I watched this movie I had to look up the plot to it because I was so wildly confused.

There at some sort of restaurant with belly dancers and all the chef are being killed. Listen man you can try to kill Ringo without harming the employees.

Oh some fan gave him the ring that’s why.

Why are there so many words appearing in scream explaining what’s happening? I think I could’ve guessed they were going to a ring specialist

There’s so many batshit lines in this. Was this version of Ringo dropped on his head as a child why is he saying he likes to have his head stuck in between railing?

You know the writers were like ��the fan girls are gonna love this” when ringo’s pants fell off. 

I love her outfits in this movie but this has to be my favorite so far. I regret being completely sober for this re-watch.

I’m gonna stop commenting on the racism now but holy fuck did this not age well.

Also Paul being tiny and naked on the floor is also a fantastic moment of fan-service that Beatles fans definitely fell for.

I think these scientist are definitely a gay couple. They have a real sort of Dr Honeydew and Beaker vibe to them.

It’s ice time now.

Hearing George call the bomb a “fiendish thingy” is so much more fun knowing that I know about the vomit pet.

Bro almost got Saint Sebastian-ed. Also I feel like arrows through a window is a pretty ineffective way to kill someone like it’s too unpredictable.

Part 2

[willowtreehigh]

Final thoughts on s2!!:

Not once did I expect the Aussie writers to pull some voodoo shit and give us a bit more of a plot twist but I must admit I feel fed 8/10

I’m taking away -2 points though because Malakai couldn’t have just been a happy little chaotic bi icon.

I’m also minusing -1 point for the plot line that shall never be named (love the ace rep and the inclusion but I will never love having ✨ Darren and cash ✨ as collateral damage🥺🥺)

I also would like to note like when the fuck did Amerie and Malakai fall in love ????? Like I’m sorry is the love in the room with us ???? I swear they were just like hooking up and were bf/gf for like .05seconds. BFFR.

Also the plot line between them with the A******* felt real but also rushed ?? And also came out of left field ?? Like did the throw a dart at the wall and go hmmm yes let’s add that right now 🫡🫡🫡 in the basket you go.

Like yes it was beautiful and raw and vulnerable and a joy to see because usually Australian tv shows do not touch storyline’s like this with a ten foot pole let alone show her in the bath tub and the pain but also random ?? (Idk the midwife in me was proud but so random)

[danepopfrippery]

My cishet take (so sorry i know its not my place) is once we get a really CONFIRMED ACTIVE NOT TWO SECOND KISS AND DASH then the bitching will die down. Cuz theres queer media but i dont think any of them have hit ‘relationship’ time yet.

Im pretty sure David Jenkins is gonna ruin me and everything around me but if we get to the point the boys are madly in love and got at lwast a full ep to be in love before plot line drama well i think thatd settle a lot of it.

Thats really the thing: its so new (sadly) that while we’ve got confirmed queer love and attraction in several shows we have yet to see a couple or more be happy together more than that kiss and dash. Like i think league of their own wouldve hit this area better with their next season but amazon sucks dicks.

Whatever happens w ofmd if next summer or the next good omens gets their boys together, heartstopper does whatever (i havent watched it), and ofmd gets their 3rd season of happiness i think ppl will settle.

One good example of why bitching is like crazy ex gf had whitejo and darryl and they were darling but in the end they werent together and the separation felt forced. Its not queerbaiting (they were blatantly queer) but its not a happy ending either.

I think when they say queer baiting thats what they actually mean, not a happy ending for the plot or season.

(And fwiw i have no belief nandermo will exist anymore their just throwing darts at the wall and gonna run this show into the ground but iys not queerbaiting)

In fact just had to add this one: no who didnt get queerbaiting bitching? Righteous Gemstones. By the time they got done exploring the platonic friendship they ended w a kiss and matching rocking chairs. Do that show writers!

is it just me or does anyone else ever think about the hit queer media will take because of how quick people are to call things queerbait?

tl;dr: there's something so good about a slowburn that we won't get with queer media if don't allow these relationships to develop slowly, rather than fast so that you as a writer don't get accused of queerbaiting.

of course, i'm not saying queerbait doesn't happen. we do see it frequently. this is why i think people are too quick when it comes to calling things queerbait, because a lot of people have experienced it so much they're traumatized by it in a way. it's just there are a lot of things that aren't queerbait too.

my perspective here is that a lot of my favorite ships took 5-7 seasons to get together. and those ships are SO GOOD. because you see their relationship develop and they grow as people together before even acknowledging their feelings for each other at times. it's so cool and overall just very human.

i've never had this experience with queer characters because it's always so much faster (and a lot of that comes down to queer, especially sapphic, shows being cancelled). i think a lot of writers do this though because people will accuse them of queerbaiting. i remember hearing that people though ed and stede were queerbait at first. and now i'm seeing this with nandor and guillermo (both canonically queer characters on a show with other canonically queer characters, which i feel immediately disqualifies it as baiting). i'm not the biggest nandermo shipper in the world, but i feel like i could be if this plays out even longer. it's already good and complex because of it taking longer to play out (also, they don't have to end up together at all for it to be a canonically queer relationship btw. the show could end with guillermo being like "i hate you nandor i don't know why i was ever in love with you" or whatever and it would still be good. but that's a topic for another day).

this is all also on top of tv already killing the slowburn by taking such a huge fall from sitcoms having ~25 episodes per season to now like... 10 if you're lucky. so please i beg. don't kill the slowburn even further it's already on life support.

haiii :3 silly little ramble time for those of you that are reading under the cut... enjoy my internal monologue.

i promise btw that i'm not saying any of this to be mean to anyone that has called things queerbaiting that i said aren't in this post. i understand why people are quick to pull that term; this community is so traumatized as a whole. i just never watched any queer media until i was 20 years old so i've never gone through being queerbaited and my standards are all based on the heterosexual couples i watched on tv.

funnily enough, the reason why i never sought out queer media despite knowing i was queer since i was like 14 was because of knowing that it wouldn't be slow and that it would be too?? on the nose?? if that's the right phrase? our flag means death was the first thing that felt complex enough while still being a comedy, weirdly. then came a league of their own. and that's really all i've watched besides wwdits but like... i'm not watching wwdits bc i'm invested in nandermo so. that's different. idk why i started telling my story abt my relationship w queer media. but yeah. i need depth. not just "we're gay and in love"

[helaintoloki]

Of Monsters and Men

(collab piece with @obitwo !)

pairing: Dan Torrance x reader

warnings: language, nsfw content, smut, possessed Dan, some fluff sprinkled in throughout, 4k word count

notes: @obitwo and I are so excited to finally be able to share this with you all! This is my first time collaborating with another writer and it’s been such an honor to work with someone as talented as Claire! I wrote out the story/plot elements and Claire wrote out the smut sequence and together we made a piece we’re both very proud of. We sincerely hope you guys enjoy it!

summary: after narrowly escaping the clutches of the True Knot and the Overlook, Dan now has the chance to live a normal life with you at his side. But the hotel isn’t through with you just yet, and it’s up to you to satiate the hungry spirits.

It’s been exactly one month since the Overlook burned to the ground, and though the absence of Rose and the True Knot has made the world a much quieter place it definitely hasn’t rid your husband of the trials and tribulations that come with the shining. The ghosts of Dan’s past did not abate their torment despite having their home destroyed, and the task of locking them away in a box grew increasingly difficult with each new visitor. He was struggling, losing sleep, constantly worried about your safety as well as Abra’s, and despite how much you tried you weren’t sure how to help him. What could you possibly do to chase his monsters away?

It’s a tranquil evening in Frazier, leaves falling from the trees in the cool breeze outside as you get started on dinner for the night. You hope his mother’s old homemade chicken casserole recipe will be enough to provide some sense of comfort for your troubled husband. The Grady sisters had made a surprise appearance the night before and Dan was still recovering from the mental toll their visit had taken upon him; he had called in sick from work and stayed home for the day to nurse the splitting headache that had come with locking them away.

Tender kisses grace the skin of your shoulder as Dan wraps his arms around your waist and brings you into his chest. He’s exhausted, but he craves the solace your presence brings him and is willing to suffer through the ache at his temples if it means he gets to have you near. Your smile is a sight for sore eyes, and he takes pride in the fact that you are his wife.

“Feeling any better?” You muse whilst Dan presses a kiss to your cheek.

“No, but I’m not feeling any worse either so I guess that’s a good thing,” he chuckles softly. “What are you making?”

“Oh, well I know how much you loved your mom’s casserole as a kid so I thought I’d try and make it for you. Just a little something to raise your spirits a bit.”

A soft smile graces his features at your thoughtfulness, arms winding even tighter around your waist as he nuzzles his face into the crook of your neck.

“How’d a guy like me ever manage to end up with someone as wonderful as you?” He hums against your skin, prompting a cluster of butterflies to form in your stomach.

“Oh, stop,” you giggle, lightly pushing him away. “You’re distracting me, I have to make dinner. Can you hand me the measuring cup? The glass one please.”

Dan’s head begins to throb as he goes to the cupboard, yet he thinks nothing of it as he retrieves the glassware. But then the room begins to spin and your voice sounds so far away as you start to talk about your day. There’s a rumbling from the darkest corners of his mind as the boxes begin to rattle, panic settling deep in his bones as both the measuring cup and Dan go crashing onto the floor.

“Dan!” You gasp, quickly falling to your knees beside him and resting your hands upon his taut shoulders. “Danny, are you alright?!”

A whine escapes him as he shuts his eyes and grips tightly at your thighs in an attempt to ground himself, hoping to fight the spirits off long enough so he can lock the boxes up tight and throw away the key forever before the spirits have the chance to escape. But they’re coming, and he’s too weak to stop them now.

“I can’t,” Dan pants heavily, a groan tumbling past his lips as he doubles over on the ground. He can feel the ghosts suffocating him, his breaths growing shallow with each box that unlatches.

“Dan, look at me. Danny,” you plead desperately. You don’t know how to help him, you don’t know how to make it better, you don’t know how fix it, and the helplessness you feel leaves you feeling sick with worry.

“You have to... You have to run.”

“Danny...”

“Run!” He bellows, startling you into getting up off the floor and back onto your feet. Your vision is blurry with tears as you slowly begin to back away from your husband whose shoulders are heaving with every strangled grunt that leaves his lips.

“Danny,” you weep softly from your spot in the kitchen doorway. He told you to run, but how can you leave him when he’s in so much pain?

Your quiet sniffles are the only sound in the kitchen when he finally stills. Dan is bent over on his hands and knees in a way that prevents you from seeing his face, and you take a single cautious step forward.

“Dan?” You call gently. “Honey, a-are you alright?”

Your husband raises his head slowly to meet your gaze, smirking at the horrified look that flashes across your features at the sight of him.

“Hi sweetheart,” he grins, and the sight of his milky white eye is enough to send you bolting towards the bedroom.

You can hear his thundering footsteps following close behind you, all kinds of threats and warnings accompanying them, but you urge yourself to run faster. This isn’t Dan, you have to remind yourself, this isn’t Danny.

“Come here, little pup!” He coos hoarsely with false tenderness, but his demeanor changes in an instant the moment you slam the bedroom door shut and lock it from behind you. One of his fists slams on the wood while the other hand violently twists and turns the doorknob. The frustrated growl that leaves him sends chills down your spine as you slowly back away towards the far corner of the room, eyes never once leaving the door.

“Open the door, little girl,” Dan says gruffly. “Open the door and I won’t hurt you. Let me in and I’ll forget the whole god damn thing.”

“I-I can’t,” you whimper, frantically scanning the room for your phone. As guilty as it makes you feel to do so, you know you have to call Abra. She’s the only one who knows how to bring Dan back, and you can’t afford to lose him to the Overlook. You’d almost lost him once, and you’d be damned if you’d let them win this time. Another bang on the door has you in hysterics- where’s the phone?!

“Y/n, darling, light of my life, open the fucking door,” he warns lowly. One more good strike to the wood will break it down, but Dan is willing to give you one more chance to behave yourself, to be the good girl he knows you are.

“Danny, please!” you sob, and with your denial of his request he slams his whole body against the door so that it breaks off its hinges and comes crashing to the floor.

“There you are,” he leers maliciously from the doorway, shoulders hunched and hungry gaze settled upon your trembling form in the corner. He staggers forward slow and calculated like a predator stalking his prey. The tears that fall down your face make you look all the more appetizing, and the fear that radiates off of you is almost enough to feed the hungry spirits festering inside of him.

“Stay away,” you warn fruitlessly, “get away.”

“Is that any way to treat your husband?”

“You’re not my husband,” you avow emphatically in an attempt to put on a brave face despite how terrified you are. “I know what you are, and I know that you’re not really my Danny. You’re just... You’re just a false face.”

The man that stands before you ponders your profession with amusement before striking in an instant. Your wrist is grabbed swiftly in a tight grip, allowing him to raise your left hand in front of your face.

“What a pretty diamond on your finger,” he mocks before raising his own left hand. The golden wedding band on his ring finger glints in the light, his deriding gaze ticking back and forth between the jewelry. “Are these not a symbol of your undying devotion to me? Does this not mean that you are mine to have?”

You have no counterargument to give because he’s right; you had vowed to be there for Dan through sickness and in health, and this was a time of sickness. You were his wife, you had taken on the Torrance family name and promised to surpass any challenges that followed the title, so you’d just have to overcome whatever obstacle came next.

“What are you going to do to me?” You murmur, gaze nervously following the hand that slowly creeps up your chest and wraps itself around your neck. You can’t help the shivers that prickle at your spine as his hot breath fans against your skin, tongue darting out to lick an agonizingly slow stripe along the column of your throat.

“You’ve been very, very bad,” he says gruffly, “and now you’re going to take your medicine.”

Dan watches you, ultimately sinister as he rushes you towards the wall by the hand on your throat, slamming your back into it. He hungrily mouths at your neck, hands planted beside your head while his wet lips leave marks across your skin. He's eager, voice husky, breathing fervently across your shoulder. Hips jut into yours as Dan presses his hardness against you, trying to satiate himself with the sheer intensity of his movements. He growls at the contact, nothing short of animalistic.

“Are you going to hurt me?” You’re still apprehensive and afraid of what this twisted version of your lover could do, but there’s no denying the heat that rises off your cheeks and emanates from between your legs.

“Hurt you? Poor, pretty little thing, I’m not gonna hurt you.” He’s still rocking his hips against yours, friction between his jeans and your clothes. “Do as I say and you’ll have nothing to worry about.”

His dark and sensual stare does little to calm your nerves and you decide to give into him for your own sake. Hands lay upon your breasts, and Dan tilts his head back in satisfaction, groping and palming them.

“Touch me,” he croons and gasps when your hand reaches between his legs to palm his concealed length. He’s enjoying you, growing more and more primal with every passing moment. The sensation goads him and he forces his thigh between your own, harshly shoving it against your growing wetness. You pant as he further presses you into the wall, trying to rub yourself on his leg.

His thumb and forefinger catch your chin to tilt it upward, urging you to look at his blue eye and the ghostly white one.

“So desperate for me… and you were just trying to lock me out,” he mocks you, withdrawing his leg and letting your feet fully touch the floor again. In his trance, it’s what he wants; to feed off of the arousal, to release himself and be taken by his own desires. You want to fight it, but your involuntary whine betrays you.

Dan brings his face to yours, masculine features clouding your view.

“Do that again,” he snarls, hand returning to your throat and clamping down on it, earning himself another heavenly moan from your lips in return. He closes his eyes at the sound, leaning back and relishing in it, completely obsessed with having you at his mercy.

“Please, Dan,” you beg him for some type of relief to which he simpers cruelly. He needs to hear no more, bending down and wrapping his arms underneath you to toss you over his shoulder. Your arms dangle upside down, and you don’t bother to squirm. He walks purposefully towards the bed, hands gripping onto your ass before he lets you off, crashing on the mattress.

You huff at the drop, clearly appreciative of the manhandling. Dan is kneeling at the edge of the bed, yanking you towards him by your ankles and holding them firmly, his lips inches from your aching core.

All Dan is focused on is pleasure and power as he rips your clothes from your trembling body, careless of any tears he might have made. He sighs when he looks at you in your panties, a sight he usually compliments - but not now, he’s greedy, teeth grazing your hip to bite down on the fabric and pull it down your legs with the movement of his head. You feel yourself melting at the action, trying not to like this Dan too much - it’s not truly him, but the way he’s looking at you like he’s starving is entirely captivating, clouding you from your common sense.

He keeps his eyes on yours as he advances his mouth closer, then letting his gaze follow the curve of your thighs, spreading them neatly for his tongue and admiring them. He adorns them with harsh kisses, sucking to leave bruises on them, pleased with himself for marking you as his. His trail leads up to your wetness and he swipes a finger up your folds, gathering some of it and pressing it to his tongue. He likes the taste.

“Filthy girl.”

It’s then that his arms hook under your thighs to lock them over his shoulders. You’re unable to move, caught in him, and he knows that he’s going to torture you.

A slow lick up your clit sends you trembling at which Dan groans, vibrations coursing through your body. He’s deliberately tentative, providing unhurried laps at your clit, waiting for you to break. After several tormenting moments, Dan is kind enough to give you a full circle of his tongue, and you writhe under his clutch, legs begging for freedom and hips rising against his face. It’s enough for him.

“Sit. Still.” He’s ordering you now, and you know better than to be a brat and do it intentionally.

His stubble meets your soft skin in a rush, his tongue swiping madly at your clit and you’re back to trembling pathetically. He’s fulfilled with your response, his sexual prowess sending moans from your throat that fill the room with urgency. An arm releases one of your legs to let a finger prod at your entrance, under the tongue that flits across you. It dips in teasingly, merely deep as his first knuckle and you take the opportunity to squeeze his head with your free leg.

At your sudden defiance by not sitting still, he reaches up to run a palm across your naked breast which makes you falter. His hand stays there, massaging as he continues to eat you out with exhilarating competence.

“Dan…” You choke, fingers tangling in his hair and tugging it to release the rising tension of your body. He snaps at the pulling, evidently stimulated by it. Making no mistake, he consciously groans into you again, except it’s primal and electrifying, making you yelp.

“Good… Keep making those pretty noises or I won’t be so generous,” Dan nearly barks at you, mean, his voice hoarse and drunk on his urges. Finally letting his finger slide all the way in, he withdraws it at the same speed, pumping it and drowning in the sounds that you make for him.

The tension continues to rise, your body shaking violently. Dan knows what he’s doing; just enough to keep you teetering on the edge. You know he’s saving it.

“More,” you whisper boldly, weak from his delightful touch.

“Do you deserve more?” He moves his face away, but adds a finger to the first one, roughly thrusting them both in and out of you and biting his lip. He sneers, “I’ll decide what you get.”

You pause simply to keep shuddering, unable to speak with the sensation of his fingers hitting the right spot. He stops and leaves you a blubbering mess of moans and whimpers, leading Dan to decide on your next sentence for locking him out.

He rises, looming over you supported by his hands, hair falling handsomely. Your own hair is gathered from beneath you into a ponytail and yanked down to give him plenty of access to your neck, biting down softly into the juncture of it and your shoulder. Your legs instinctively wrap around him, trying to keep him touching you.

“So impatient.” His lips graze your ear and he nips at the lobe. “Get over my knee.” Dan disembarks from you, sitting tall and spreading his knees apart on the edge of the mattress, feet set firmly on the floor.

You mistakenly hesitate for a moment and find a rough hand pulling your hair again, and an expression on his face that warns you I won’t ask again.

Pitifully crawling over, you splay your body over his knees, your stomach against one of his thighs and your ass right where he can hurt it.

Dan briefly lounges with you on his lap, his weight leaned back onto his palms, admiring the beauty before him. His hand travels up the back of your thighs, crossing up to your waist, dipping under to feel up your chest. He smirks wickedly, raising his hand up into the air and sending it crashing down to give a sharp and loud slap to your ass.

A high moan leaves your throat and he repeats the action, faster than the first time, little pieces of hair slipping into his face from the power he’s exerting. You feel it deep within you, the painful but delicious sensations of his calloused hands roughing you up, slapping you hard as all hell.

“Don’t you go locking me out again, pup. You got that?”

“Mhmm!” You groan frantically, waiting to feel his red-hot palms strike you again. They don’t.

He instead reaches under to grab your windpipe, lazily turning you over and getting you to straddle him.

“Words.” He has no tolerance left.

“I got it.” You blurt out quickly as you can, not trusting yourself to carry a sentence any longer than that.

Dan guides your hips to grind you against his hard length, back and forth. Your head tilts with the movements, idly lolling. Another quiet noise and Dan can’t take it anymore. He’s finishes with his teasing of you; he needs to unleash.

He assumes his full, intrinsic and feral state, pushing you back onto the bed, and you rebound with force. He keeps you down, wrists pinned above your head and his lips are searching your entire body, biting, sucking, bruising - hungry for anything he can get. You don’t dare move, knowing he wants your full compliance.

His jeans are long gone, underwear too, forgotten somewhere on the floor. His skin feels smooth but hot against you, a gorgeous and soft feeling when his chest collides with yours. Strong arms are positioned on either side of your body, Dan lining himself up with your entrance. Your raising hips cause him to prod, whining as the head of his cock teases you.

“Does my dirty girl want my cock?” He gives a low groan to your ear and you’re losing yourself in him. The word “yes” is hardly loud enough, an inaudible whisper.

This time he doesn’t care for precision to your obedience. He doesn’t ask for a clearer answer, content with your submission to him.

He steadily presses himself into you the rest of the way, guttural moans seeping through his mouth that latches on to yours. Your thighs squeeze him closer and he stays a moment, fully immersed and gasping.

“So. Fucking. Tight.” The words almost can’t make it out of him and he leisurely pulls back, re-entering you with full, lusty force. You cry out his name and he basks in it, pumping himself faster, reaching so deep inside you that you can feel it reaching your stomach, your body quivering with the stimulation.

“Oh… Dan!” Tears are forming in the corners of your eyes with the sheer strength of him, and a thumb reaches to rub tight circles on your clit that still glistens with the wetness of his tongue. His mouth is agape, bottom lip curling onto his teeth from the pure effort he’s giving, and effort is about the only thing he’s giving. Otherwise, all he knows is to take.

Your jaw is swiftly and skillfully pried open, and Dan, possessed and sickeningly tempting, spits into your mouth, no regard left in him. It’s something he’s never done, especially not when he’s your proper Dan, and you like it. You swallow firmly and draw him in.

His head falls into your shoulder, biting it at the pleasure you’re giving him. You sigh, spent, and he bites again. He doesn’t flounder, maintaining steady and thrilling strokes that make your body stiffen and shake. Dan’s hankering grows and he plunges in a last time, reveling inside you before flipping you onto your elbows and knees and taking you immediately back onto his cock. His hands grace the curve of your hips to push and pull you over his length, and he yells out in his rapture.

His fingers trail up your back to wrap around the back of your neck, bringing your back flush to his chest, ruining you from behind. You sit atop his thighs as he stretches you out so good and not a single coherent thought passes through your mind. Thin sheets of sweat are the only thing between you.

His repeated hitting into the right spot has you wailing, your hands covering his own as he’s surely sending you over. Tingles sweep through your limbs and you come undone around him, clenching him harder and getting his cock all the more wet, trying to fall forward onto the bed and catch your breath. You’re given no such freedom, and he continues pounding into you, whispering dirty things into your ears as your orgasm is drawn out impossibly long.

“Nasty thing, you’re gonna make me cum.”

And so he does, warm inside you and it starts to leak out with his last excessive thrusts. He keeps you to his chest, panting, but his grip loosens ever so slightly.

A dull blissfulness clouds your senses and hazes your surroundings, eyes fluttering shut in an attempt to savor the warmth you’ve been encompassed in. The experience was new and terrifying, but it had satiated a craving deep within you that you hadn’t even been aware of in the first place. From behind you, Dan pulls out of you with a deep groan and allows his head to fall against your shoulder.

“Danny?” You call hesitantly, unsure as to which Dan you’re speaking to. It’s silent for what feels like a long time before he speaks again.

“Y/n?”

“Oh, honey,” you sigh in relief before shifting in bed to face him. He looks absolutely spent, but the white film over his eye is gone and with it the spirits of the Overlook.

“What happened?” Dan asks tiredly, eyes widening at the various marks that little your body. “D-Did I do that?”

“Technically, yes. But um, you had a little help,” you explain meekly. “They came back.”

“Oh, sweetheart, I’m so sorry,” he’s quick to apologize, the hands that had just choked and spanked you not too long ago now coming to rub soothing circles into your bruises. A content sigh leaves your lips at the feeling.

“Don’t apologize. I umm.. I was able to handle it.”

“Did... Did you like it?”

“Honestly? Yeah,” you nod with a sheepish smile. “You were terrifying, but you were also really, really good. I’ve never done anything like that before.”

“I’m happy to hear that?” Dan says questioningly, prompting both of you to laugh. He smiles then, adoringly and full of love. “Oh, my brave, sweet girl.”

“I love you,” you sigh happily, taking his face in your hands and pressing a sweet kiss to his lips. “In sickness and in health.”

“In sickness and in health,” he repeats with a gentle smile, wrapping his arms around your waist before pulling you into another passionate kiss.

[jesspaulblog]

WHY YOU ONLY “WRITE WHAT YOU SEE” IN SCREENPLAYS After basic formatting issues, the most common mistakes I see in beginner screenwriters’ work are details that the audience can’t possibly know hidden in the action slugs.

Often, screenwriters transition from being short-story and novel writers, but as the separate titles suggest, there are major differences between these types. Besides the variable formats and page/time constraints, there is one jarring difference that prose writers might have a hard time wrapping their head around, and there is a big reason why:

You are writing for a movie.

Unlike a book or an online story, your work is NOT the final publication, the movie is. Your screenplay is more of a manual or a tool than it is the presentable, final product. As more seasoned screenwriters will learn, your “manual” is just the bare bones of a meaty, bloody, fatty, intricate, sentient, full-figured being. It’s a map that gets the cast and crew on the road, but the journey is far from just a route on paper. The filmmakers must translate and SHOW what you are implying, and details that no one can see or hear in the confines of the film will not only get lost but end up confusing the movie’s plot for the audience. Still a bit confused as to what not to include and why? Here are the specific things that don’t belong in the action slug: 

ABOVE: Need more of the basics? Watch the video above to learn how to START screenwriting.

1) Thoughts & Feelings Too often writers might take shortcuts to describe in the action slugs:

Jack exits the hospital. He is feeling depressed.

In fact, whenever you type He is [adjective] or He feels [adjective], take it as a ringing bell that should signal you to rethink the sentence. Of course feelings and emotions are major parts of character set-ups, but when you are relaying this in your script, make sure that any actor reading their action slugs can find ACTIONABLE details to enact. Instead of the above, write:

Jack slowly shuffles out of the hospital with a somber frown, eyes on the ground. 

This depicts the exact type of “depressed” you are looking for from your character’s demeanor and makes it actionable for the actor. The actor or director may of course change details to how they want to portray the feeling, but you have at least made your blueprint more comprehensive to your exact vision.

An even bigger offense is trying to include “thoughts” that the audience could have no way of ever knowing. For example:

Jack watches a black Cadillac go by and remembers the times when his Dad used to take him on car rides when he was 5 years old. 

…how would the audience know he was thinking this?? To remedy this, you could include the mention or imagery of a black Cadillac earlier in the movie, say, as Jack looks through an old photo album where we see the same car, he and his dad smiling in the front seats. But, describing what’s in his head in the action slug is completely useless and may eventually be confusing to the plot if it’s an important detail that isn’t shown.

2) History Another similar aspect that will not be helpful in the action slug is history of the characters/plot or past events. For example: ‘Jack and his dad always had a troubled relationship’ is not something we can tell by you including this in the action slug. This is not a novel. You MUST relay back-story within items we can see or hear. A better way to convey this would be:

Jack and his dad avoid eye contact and sit in awkward silence until Dad chokes out:

DAD “Stop grinding your teeth. I spent 2 paychecks on braces when you were a kid.”

If something happened in the past (or even in the present day but outside the scenes we see), it must be conveyed through things we hear or see in the scenes that the audience gets to watch.

 3) Unknowable Facts There might be details about your characters, locations or plot that are important to know, but if you’re hiding them in your description, you’re doing your story a huge disservice. For example:

Carla hits her alarm and slowly sits up in bed. She is a nurse.

Excuse me, how does the audience member watching this movie know she is a nurse as she’s waking up in the morning? If you left this detail at just that but never showed us how she is a nurse, you could exclude this detail from the movie for good. Instead, try something like:

Carla hits her alarm and slowly sits up in bed. She gazes to her closet where her cartoon-print scrubs and hospital badge reading “Carla Esposito, Head Nurse” hangs clean and pressed on the back of the door.

HOW TO TRANSLATE “UNSEEN” DETAILS INTO YOUR SCRIPT Do you have a few of these unknowable details in your actions slugs already? Here is how you better your story (and your screenwriting skills) by showing the aspects of your script that are currently lost in the action slugs.

1) Character Expressions Feelings and emotions can easily be translated by expressions. This is helpful for directors and actors because often even descriptive emotions like “elated”, “proud”, “sullen”, “terrified” etc. are not technically actionable. Screenwriters will often try to get away with sentences like: 

Jack descends the last step in the basement. He is terrified.

But if you truly want to practice good screenwriting habits of showing and not telling, use language more to the tune of: 

Jack descends the last step in the basement, his eyes darting around accompanied with a quivering lip of nervous fear.

Directors and actors will always inevitably make changes during production that will suit their visions best and that is an appropriate part of the process, but being clear and detailed in the screenplay just means that your original intention will at least be understood even if production decides to take it in a different direction.

2) Actions Along with expressions, character actions also do a great job of relaying how a character feels or who they are. Instead of this cop-out description that the audience would never be able to tell:

Gunther is a proud millionaire who doesn’t care about the people around him.

Maybe write:

Gunther lazily throws a wad of bills at the doorman. Gunther’s careless toss causes the money to bounce past the doorman, making the employee run to catch it.  

3) Hair, Makeup & Costume To continue with the example above, describing a character like Gunther may take some time and multiple examples to really drive home the full explanation of this character. One or two actions may not be able to tell us everything about Guther’s wealth, carelessness and general demeanor. Gunther’s expensive suits, slick hairstyle and designer leather briefcase will tell the audience something about his character’s bank account and also if he focuses on material showiness or not before he even throws the bills at the doorman.

For sad Jack from further up in this article, we could describe his current state not only by his expression or his slow, shuffling gate but also by telling the audience (and the makeup department) that,

His eyes are marked with tired, dark bags and his hair is tussled and unclean.

By describing a character’s look, we get more clues about what you previously tried to convey in the unsee-able action slugs.

4) Objects and Location Details How might we know how rich Gunther is before he even leaves his house in the morning? Describe the interior of his mansion in the action slugs. This lets the audience (and the art department) know not only that he is rich, but how rich he is and what his style of wealth is: does he live in a futuristic, minimalist home on the lake-side with bare, white walls and remote-controlled window blinds? Or does he live in a gawdy, gold-plated mansion with designer clothes, velvet furniture and fine art covering every inch of space? This kind of thoughtful description that the viewer can see will give us a more detailed description of Gunther’s personality and what he does with his money.

Objects can also tell us more about your character or plot. For example, if Carla carried around a bright, pink journal wherever she went, we’d be able to tell a couple things right off the bat: 1) she is overtly feminine per social cliché with the bright pink personal item, and 2) she is some kind of writer or note-taker, depending on what she writes in it throughout the movie.

Objects can also shine a light on things that aren’t so obvious, and including them can save your plot. For example, if you read, Jack stands on the corner, smoking a cigarette staring at a gawdy, rentable mansion that is currently being used as funeral home, how exactly do we know it’s being used as a funeral home? Instead use language, like:

Jack stands on the corner, smoking a cigarette staring at a gawdy, rentable mansion as people dressed in head-to-toe black shuffle in and BLACK BALLOONS anchor onto the walkway railings.

5) Dialogue I included “dialogue” last on this list so you could explore more of the possibilities for actionable description before the most obvious tool. Dialogue is the easiest way to convey details and the actual source of the common advice “show, don’t tell” from screenwriting experts. But, when you need to give specific exposition or relay a detail we can’t see, dialogue is a simple, useful and classic screenwriting device to do this. 

To take from our previous examples, how can we know more about Jack’s troubled relationship with his dad? He could meet another character for coffee after he leaves the hospital, and in their conversation, Jack could explain:

JACK “We never had a great relationship, ya know? Since I was a kid, everytime I'd say or do anything, and I mean ANYTHING, he'd voice some kind of criticism. So, to avoid being berated everytime I was around him... I just stopped coming around.”

Now the audience knows more about Jack’s relationship with his dad than they would if you buried it in the action slugs where no one can see it. The way someone simply talks also tells us more about the character than even what they are saying. Utilizing slang, diction and even hesitation sounds create a specific character who differs from the rest and shows off a personality.

So, what is your favorite way to divulge “unseen” details in your movie? Read below for more screenwriting tips! 

P.S. EDIT 4/27/19:  Going into this article, I knew it was a controversial topic as the root idea of writing it in the first place was to argue my opinion on the divisive subject. I got a lot of great response on Facebook after pimping out this link, “great” meaning both sides of the argument were often presented very passionately and with great defenses to back up even opposing opinions. 

I’d like to take this post-script to concede that some specific examples of “writing what you DON’T necessarily see” can be appropriate in the right situation. The best example I saw was when a detail was necessary to the behind-the-scenes production. Ex. from Batman: 

(paraphrasing) “EXT. BANK BACK LOT - NIGHT. Four men in clown masks creep around the bank’s back wall, avoiding parking lot lights. The last clown turns the corner: this is THE JOKER.”

Though the audience does not know this yet, it may be a shortcut for the actual director, cast and crew to know that Heath Ledger needed to be wearing that mask on this shoot day to reveal himself later in the scene and that this particular clown of the bunch was to be focused on cinematographically (my spellcheck is saying, ‘yes, cinematographically is a word’, haha). But, even this example still lends to some caution in making sure that the hidden details are paid off in the end, which, as we know in Batman, they are.

Even with good exceptions like the above, I still implore screenwriters to get into the habit of writing what is seen in more cases than not. This is the difference between being a prose writer and being a movie writer: narrating the SPECTACLE. If you want your vision to have the best chance at being accurately adapted to the screen as best as possible (even through artistic and business modifications from the director and studio), don’t obscure your intention EVEN MORE by making filmmakers translate your ambiguous, short-sighted hidden details. 

I got the idea of this article after reading too many first-time-ever-screenwriters include hidden details in their beginner drafts in the WORST way possible: confusing the plot with details that are never actually presented and missing opportunities for better writing because of action-slug secrets. Don’t keep important details of your story a secret from the screen. 

When that very rare instance of hidden action slug detail may seem appropriate, first consider if there is any way to SHOW it, and then if not, go ahead and add that unseen detail to your action slug. Just make sure that this hidden detail is acknowledged at some point in the actual action, visuals or audio of the script or this secret will get buried in the subplot that no one is going to pick up on.