#and I'm always down to hear someone go on an academic rant

[underthehedge]

I stg if anyone trots out the grandmother hypothesis you will end up in anthropology rant hell

Ok but, if you'd like to rant about it (or have a good rant you've already posted) I'd be interested in hearing it. Like, I was under the impression that the grandmother hypothesis was relatively well accepted, which, I guess it isn't?

Shout out to the ten primate species, four bat species, elephant shrews, and the Cairo spiny mouse. Nobody else gets it

[zyafics]

Hi! This isn’t a request but more so of asking advice from you. I saw that you’re also in college and I read that you’re double majoring. Did you already knew what you wanted to do when you got to college or did you explore your options? I was in nursing school, however I just got academically dismissed because I failed two nursing classes. I feel lost because I don’t know if I should continue nursing but at a different school or if I should explore other pathways and change my major? People are telling me that I’m still so young and that everything happens for a reason, and if it didn’t work out then it wasn’t meant to be. But I honestly don’t really know what to do. I’ve always wanted to become a nurse in the future but I feel like I never really explored other specialities in the health care field. I’m scared that if I do apply to another nursing program, I’m just going to fail again. I have no idea what to do and I’m petrified to tell my parents that I got kicked out… Maybe I’m just overthinking about this too much. Or maybe I just need to go to sleep, it’s 1 in the morning here in Hawaii LOL. Sorry for ranting, I guess I just needed to get this off my chest and just want to hear what someone would do in my situation 😭

omg, u lowkey came to the right person about this because i was struggling with my options. i came in pre-med, then i switched into mechanical engineering, then i went into earth systems, then i briefly considered philosphy/sociology/psychology, and then i jumped into environment systems engineering, then international relations, then back to environmental engineering, before settling on economics + data science!

so, yes, i did explore my options! i was looking at my life on a grander scale, outside of college and outside of just a job, and wrote down what i wanted and how i can accomplish them. there, i realized what i wanted (i wanted time to write my books, i want to go into law school, i want to work in policy, i want to travel the world, etc). i also tried several different classes to feel for something i wanted—i literally took econ 50 this year (as a junior) and adored all of it so i knew i liked econ and how challenging it presented itself to me.

i truly believe if u enjoy nursing, and really saw ur future in it, keep trying! transfer to another program, take a break, or even shadow other nurses to get a feel for the field! at heart and soul, i ask myself if this is the career i do for the rest of my life, will i be satisfied with it when i die? and that's usually how i sum up my answer.

also, if you've never explored other specialties, do a lot of shadowing! there's no shame in taking a break. there's no shame in taking a gap year. and ur path shouldn't feel the need to meet other people's expectations (versus your own time). i struggled with the same thing here (i think i'm going to graduate a semester late bc i chose my major so late) but it's okay! i realized that, just because i won't graduate on time with my class doesn't make me a failure. on top of that, college is my time, not everyone else's expectation of me.

but yeah, i completely get you!! dm me if u wanna talk so more <3

[msfbgraves]

Just popping in to say that if anons don't like your work they can write their own fics, tbh. That's highly entitled behavior and rubs me the wrong way. Don't feel the need to push yourself for people who are ungrateful.

Hey love, thank you! There's such a very, very fine line between being super grateful about the passion and engagement of readers and the ridiculous amount of joy this brings, and also noticing that expectations can get well, varied and many! And sure, if this were a romance commission I know the formula: big strong dangerous mobster is dangerous to everyone but True Love. Man I wouldn't write that if I didn't eat it. But I am not under contract to write that, I am much more interested in people being nuanced, and there's nothing but genre that dictates that the Beloved is always safe. And yeah, if people are paying for the genre it would be a betrayal to yank away that understanding, that safety for the loved person, and you'd have a right to complain. But this is not a Bridgerton tie in novel! There's nothing about gangsters that inherently makes them go soft! Lock them in a genre and they are bound by the narrative but spring them out of the genre and gangsta sometimes gonna gangsta! And the whole sense of being beholden to what readers expect from a romance, or being beholden to readers at all... I appreciate every single one and I love their ideas truly, but for everything I put out I most often get a request for yet more chapters. And then to hear: I don't like this chapter, I'm through, how could you, and still people mostly want yet more free story? I know it's a compliment, but it can become a bit oppressive. I have a backlog of at least six scenes to write! And it is really hard to feel you don't owe anyone anything when people write to say that not only do you owe people a story, you owe them a specific kind of story or else.

Or else what? You stop paying me what you're not? Reblogging what most are not? My social contract here is: I am not owed any readers or payment or interaction and I get to write whatever tf I want, which in this case is two mobsters in an arranged marriage who definitely have no idea some people think they're in a romance novel. I am an absolute slut for interaction and I do want to answer all asks because I love everyone but if every ask is a scene request those are going to take multiple hours to answer and I am noticing that when you have several pending requests it starts to feel a bit like due academic writing (which also doesn't pay, sigh). And the only thing I have a right to ask of my readers is not berate me when a story is not to their taste. Goodness, if you want something specific you will have to pay someone.

Also I am a bit baffled when Terry Silver - Terry Silver! - is not allowed to be an asshole. Which part of forcing Tory Nichols to break her own hand was fluffy? Of burning down Mike's store? Of beating Daniel and Stingray unconscious? Of leaving Johnny and Chozen for dead? The reason we see him be sweet with Danny is that he doesn't take the mob boss home... often. Even canon Terry is a sweetheart to Margaret and Carla. That is one side of him and it's real. But we know it's not the only side.

Thanks for your support and for letting me rant, it's been a tough week 😴♥️

[nightcall99]

Notes from 17.3.24

HS is gone again. I feel very tired. Outside of my regular routine, I think I'm agoraphobic or something.

Why are we both having dreams to do with bathrooms?

Here's some life ranting:

The 3D guilt things are coming back again. AL is going overseas soon and she casually let it slide that her 4 birds are going to be left at home by themselves for 2.5 weeks and that her mum wants her to ask another one of our co-workers, TC, to look after them. But I'm closer to her than he is, and instead of asking me directly, she dropped a hint like this to guilt me into offering to look after them. I said what she wanted me to say but my heart clearly wasn't in it. I don't want to. I just don't. Maybe I might have been open to it if she asked me more directly and given me more time to mentally prepare for it but not like this. Not 5 days before you leave. (And even then, I still don't want to). She said she'll just leave a mound of food for them and set up a camera and if they die, they die. And then I said, give me the keys to your house, I'll look in on them every few days. You'll have to tell me what to do though. And she changed the subject. Like wtf? Am I an animal abuser if I don't insist insistently on looking after them? I can't deal with this anymore. Why do I make up these scenarios.

To be honest I'm kind of relieved that she's going away for a bit. She can be very exhausting. I never know if we're actually friends or if it's a keep-your-friends-close-and-your-enemies-closer type situation. Sometimes in my life I think that if you peer in close enough, it's actually like that with everyone. Is that just the nature of human relationships? Are you supposed to feel a little hatred every now and then from someone, and you to them? I've always felt this my whole life. Everything is so low-vibe. I'm low vibe. I can't help it.

I don't know what I'm doing. The other day TC tried to convince me to give him my money for him to invest. I don't know much about money but I know used-car salesman tactics when I see them. He said, Think of me as a bank. You get interest from the bank every month don't you? I said, No, I never mix friendship with money. I don't think that he expected me to say that. Firstly, I said, do not talk to me about this crap at 9am in the morning. He IGNORED, and kept going even though I AGAIN SAID, STOP, ask me later when the caffeine has kicked in. And then he was like, I know you're paranoid Kath, so we'll sign a statutory declaration so you can rest assured I won't run away with your money. ????? We both know stat decs are not legally binding. After, he kept going on about bitcoin and tried that angle, saying like you and me and put in money blah blah this could happen. STFU. He has started undermining me in other ways lately, too many to count, and somehow I'm still nice to him. I tell myself I'm doing it to survive. That it doesn't matter anyway. The big boss came in and he was bootlicking like you wouldn't believe. Being amongst the energy of it make me sick. Somehow we thought that striking others down in order to get ahead was fun. I hate this game.

I don't know what I'm doing. There's an 18 year old shop girl who I think is flirting with me, and I think I'm flirting back. Am I that bored? Is this legal? My intern continues to fart all over the place. I spray lavender spray here and there but he doesn't get the hint. I took him aside briefly today to tell him his voice is too loud and everyone and their mum can hear his conversation regarding very sensitive matters with the patient, and he was picking his nose the whole time. I can't. Is this real? Still though, I am starting to feel really bad about not being more attentive to his academic progression. I honestly just ignore him most of the time, outside of being polite. Well, barely that.

Everyday, nothing changes. My perspective on the world is like night and day, depending on the energy. But still, nothing changes.

[catsbootleg]

Just realized I didn't leave a link to my ask about Papyrus - sorry about that :')

While I'm here, I wanted to go ahead and also ask- how'd you first realize you adored him? What are traits you own that he'd brag about if he was talking about you to someone else?

Moxie @tex-treasures

once again, thank you for the asks !!! also this is quite long (I ranted on for quite a bit) so there's that lol. hope you enjoy the answer!

1/2: So, to be honest (and I was younger so don't blame young me for not actually going to the source material first), my first exposure to Undertale and him was a comic dub. Yep. Hold your tomatoes /j. I was hooked immediately from then on and found out that fanfiction existed 2 seconds after. However, as I'm reading this fanfic...I realize that I feel way more fond of Papyrus than I do with the character I was actually reading the fic about and that I enjoyed whenever I was reading about him...then I'm like "wait...wait..." and my love for him has grown ever since. I would watch more comic dubs just to see him, I read fanfic at crack speeds... and when I played the game itself for the first time about *looks on fingers* 3 years ago, he was just everything I knew he was. Even though comics and most fanworks at the time were always like "he's a cinnamon roll!" (he is an actual person!!!! everytime i hear this phrase nowadays I foam at the mouth and literally everything the person says is now false beyond and before "cinnamon roll" in my mind.) I always knew deep down that he was not. He's his own thing, not just fodder. Not just character development for his brother. Not just "Sans' Brother". He is the great Papyrus, not a thing to be shoved under the rug or traded for something else. And still to this day, I intake stuff about him like a vacuum and I somehow love him more every year that goes by. like a new year happens and my papyrus loving stat goes up by 100 but this year it accidentally went up by 1000 and...yea I just love him very much

2/2: I think he'd talk about how passionate I can get about some topics and how my passion for life in general is always just visible. but in his usual grandiose I think he might say something like "HIS FIERY PASSION IS ONE THAT MATCHES MY OWN!" but in reality it's just me rambling on about splatoon lore and other things that are very interesting at the moment. and also me watching summoning salts hour long videos on the history of video game speedrunning for a specific game. and just loving life in every one of its strangely beautiful aspects. and even though a lot of people in my life say this so much that i' like "probably not lol", he would probably talk about my "high intelligence and mutual love of puzzles" because I DO LOVE PUZZLES THEY ARE COOL !!! I LIKE PUZZLE GAMES I DIG PLAYING THEM. EVEN IF ITS AN OBSCURE snes game that is based off of tarot and doesn't really have anything else to it other than the puzzling aspect. *stares at magical drop 2 for nintendo switch online* and I am really good at academics (everybody in my fucking classes cheat off of me lol and everybody calls me the smartest but boohoo they're probably just trying to cheat off of me more.) and I genuinely put work into the stuff I do and I do believe that I do quite well at some things. ...I think he's the only person I'd believe about my "smartness" though. I may get practically straight A's up in the mid 90s except for a B in my math class, but I've heard that a number doesn't determine much. ...I still think he'd brag about all of that "intelligence" though, even if I (myself) don't think it's something brag-worthy.

[flyingraijin]

okay I’m very courious about:

- tell me about a funny story or something

- tell me about your favourite band/artist/album/song

- (just if you want I’d like to hear your opinion about a stupid private and very long story… lol)

now my favourites

- your top anime/tv shows/movies

- fuck marry kill: round 1. bakugou, shinso, sero round 2. kirishima, kaminari, todoroki

Oooooo okay

- Tell me about a funny story or something

Uhhh all the funny stories I have are about one of my best friends, so I’ll tell one of those. 

So a number of years back, we were all at school and sitting in a geography class together. And my geography teacher (who was an absolute pessimist and really loved scaring us with all these stories about how the world is ending soon and we’re all gonna die and whatnot) was once again ranting about how human are destroying the planet and everything we know and love is going to be destroyed soon (all valid, of course). 

And so, he happened to mention the hole in the ozone layer, which at the time was what everyone was worried about. And when my friend heard this, they looked up, all concerned and worried, and went “Wait, there’s a hole in our atmosphere?” 

And so naturally everyone in the geography class went “In the ozone layer, yes.”

And bearing in mind, this friend I’m talking about is academically brilliant and one of the smartest people I know (which makes this story even funnier), they just stared around at the rest of us and then said, absolutely dead serious and still very concerned, “But then, won’t we all float out?”

We all absolutely lost it and then myself and a few other friends had to very gently, very kindly, explain to this person that that was not how the ozone layer worked and we weren’t going to float out. 

We’ve never let them live it down. 

- Tell me about your favourite band/artist/album/song

I have maaaaany many favourites so I'll just do a few but;

My favourite band since I was very young has always been Gorillaz, some of my favourite artists are Tame Impala and SZA, my favourite album of all time is Plastic Beach by Gorrillaz, but right now it's probably Ctrl by SZA (bc I've had it on repeat while I write) and my favourite song right now is either "Back In School " by Mother Mother or "Come A Little Closer" by Cage The Elephant.

- Yes, I would very much like to give an opinion on a stupid private and very long story :)

- Your top anime/TV shows/movies

Oh goodness.

My top anime of all time is Attack On Titan (just from the perspective of someone who loves stories, AOT will always be the gold standard for me).

My top TV Shows are probably Arcane, Clone Wars (yes that dumb kids cartoon) and then Euphoria.

My favourite movies of all time are Fantatsix Mr. Fox, Spiderman: Into The Spiderverse and The Breakfast Club.

- Fuck, marry, kill

Round 1: Bakugou Shinso, Sero

Aaaaaagh are you trying to kill me???

I'm gonna have to say fuck Sero, marry Bakugou and kill Shinso although it causes me much pain to have to choose between any of them.

Round 2: Kirishima, Kaminari, Todoroki

Damn, you really wanna hurt me huh?

I guess fuck Kaminari, marry Kirishima, kill Todoroki

Anon/Honesty Hour

[flowerbloom-arts]

Diggory Hodgkins ran up to his older brother, Samuel, after school had ended, he was rather excited because Samuel seemed to have been working on a new thing they'd be doing come after school on a Friday.

"Hullo Samuel!" He cried "We ought to do that thing we spoke of doing on this fine day?"

And a fine day indeed it was, not a single cloud in the sky, though the skies never seemed to appear that clear blue hue as depicted in illustrations or paintings, still, it was better than totally grey, atleast the sun was quite visible. Diggory would often get excited whenever the weather was anything other than dreary, though pathetic it may sound to some people, he enjoyed what little sunshine the heavens gave them.

"Hmh!" Samuel hummed with a nod.

"Yes!" Diggory exclaimed with a sense of victory, the two brothers started walking out of the school's campus, with Samuel in the lead "So what is it, might I ask? Excuse me! I know you like keeping secrets until the right moment but could you atleast spare a morsel of detail about it? My mind has been racking at what it could possibly be! But of course, one could never figure out what may be going on in that head of yours, oh goodness no."

"You'll see." Samuel stopped to pick up a wooden plank and some rope that he hid in a bush.

"Oh! Are those what you'll be using for the project?" Diggory guessed rather quickly.

"Yes." Samuel confirmed.

"Oh goody!" Diggory clapped "Perhaps I could guess what it is?"

"No." Sam answered harshly "How was school?" he asked and continued walking.

Diggory seemed a little deflated but understood that he shouldn't pry for answers to something he'll see quite soon, he adjusted his school satchel in a huff "Well." he started before following behind his brother "Quite the same actually, you know how it is. Teachers rambling academic nonsense for hours on end, peers picking on eachother, bland everything else. Seriously, I'm sorry but school is just so boring, yeah? How could anyone manage to sit down and listen and expect us to pay attention when there's nothing that even could be interesting!" He started to complain "What could possibly be so enticing about figuring out the third angle of a triangle? What would possibly motivate me to be invested in figuring out such a trivial conundrum to me personally? The teacher certainly never provides a solid motivation, it all becomes forgettable hogwash that has nothing to do with what I want out of life. Though I may possibly be rude, I'm sure you found that sort of thing fascinating given it may pertain to engineering in some way, right?" He paused for an answer from Samuel but then continued anyway "I guess you always were the academically inclined one, I'm over here 'daydreaming my school days off 'and 'being distracted' and whatever else people might say. It's interesting, really, how unlike eachother we are despite sharing the same blood, so to say." Diggory crossed his arms and started kicking a small pebble as a temporary companion on their journey "Some might even use the word funny. All I know is that we're stuck together until something or other separates us, and I believe that's what brothers ought to do. Shame we have a four year difference between us, wouldn't it be cool if we were twins instead?" He looks up at him eagerly, but then looks down again "Ah, you probably find it ridiculous that such a thing would be important. The prospect is rather poetic in my mind but I don't suppose you would endorse it, sorry. We do appear to live in two separate bubbles that might converge into a venn diagram with little in common... Excuse me, we must've had this conversation before, I must sound like a verbal equivalent of a merry-go-round... Have we had this conversation before?" Diggory paused a little for an answer "Samuel, I am genuinely asking this time."

"Ah. Yes, I think so." Samuel said thoughtfully, sometimes it was hard to tell when Diggory was actually looking for an answer or just pausing before continuing his rants, so it was often that he needed to clarify so Samuel can answer. Samuel stopped at a tree in front of a cliff side view and laid down his wooden plank and rope.

"Oh, all right, I suppose that sounds correct... Goodness these aren't actually conversations, really, I should stop calling them that." Diggory saw that Sam had stopped and looked at the sea "By my tail, that looks gorgeous! Does the ocean always sparkle like that?" He said in awe.

"Only in shining daylight, I believe." Samuel replied, inspecting the branches of the tree.

"Well, that's simply another reason to hate the drowsy weather. I can not wait until we get to travel across the ocean and get to live in country where there's more sun and less imbecilic grey clouds overhead, oh, the dream." Diggory continued staring at the sparkly waters before the pebble he was kicking before had landed on his head, thanks to the aim of his brother no less.

"Think you can climb?" Samuel asked, pointing a thumb at a nice-looking tall branch of his tree.

"Oh yeah! Hold on just a moment!" Diggory dropped his satchel and took off his shoes in a hurry. He ran up and started climbing the tree "It's a real shame you can't do this sort of thing, brother."

Samuel leaned against the tree and made a disinterested hum of confirmation, he didn't actually care much for it. He lifted his ears up as he waited, ready for another rambling.

Diggory continued climbing "Like in all seriousness, climbing trees is rather fun. You get to the tippy top on a tree and you get to see the world from a whole new perspective! Everything is alot smaller and perhaps at the right view you could pretend everyone is a tiny little creature that you can squash between your index and your thumb," he reached the last branch of the tree- the one he needed to get to, of course "Like this!" Diggory closes one eye and pretends to squish his brother's head between his fingers "But I suppose someone of your size already gets that sense, big blue."

"Yep. Which is part of what drives everyone away, I suppose." Samuel looks up at his brother and throws the rope up to him.

Diggory catches the rope in his paws "Well it's not just that, atleast from what I hear of you from others." He looks down at the rope "What am I to do with this, exactly?"

"Tie it to the branch." Samuel says as he takes out a knife from his own school satchel.

"Hm." Diggory ties a knot and started pondering what this latest contraption could possibly be again. "Is this another one of your 'practical joke' inventions for your enemies?" Samuel always liked building pranks for anyone he happened to dislike, it used to be a big habit years ago but later the amount of them dwindled as he matured, but even at his current age it's still not out of the realm of possibility.

"Nnnnnope." Samuel said, he put up the wood plank against it at a certain height and chopped off the rope with his knife accordingly, then threw the cut off rope up at his brother again "Tie that one about..." He uses the plank as a reference and placed his hand at a certain spot "Here."

"Well if it isn't a practical joke then what else could it possibly be?" Diggory adjusted the position of his rope to his brother's hand placement and tied a knot on the branch.

"Be patient, will you?" Samuel cut off the excess rope, he put the knife back in his satchel and took out a hand drill to use it on the ends of the plank.

"You know carrying those sorts of things on you is part of the reason why everyone thinks you're weird, right?" Diggory said.

"Mphm." Samuel replied as he's finished drilling the holes of the plank "By the by, you can come down now." he put one of the ropes through one of the holes and tied a knot under it, he did the same for the other one. After he was done he put his hands on his hips rather proudly.

Diggory climbed down enthusiastically to see what his brother had just created "A... Swing?" his enthusiasm seemed to turn into a rather puzzled expression toward his brother "Sam, I love you dearly, but I have to admit you have created far more impressive things than this. Unless this isn't all of it?"

"Eh. That's just about it." Samuel answered with a shrug.

"Really? But- why?" Diggory was absolutely bewildered by this.

"It's for you. You like looking at the sea, thought you'd like something a little more convenient." Samuel was still relatively proud of this small achievement.

"Ah, for me?" Diggory lightened up a little and went to sit on the newly built swing "Hm! I guess it is rather convenient for me!" He started swinging on it lightly "Such a nice view today, too. Suppose I should thank you, then!"

"No need." Samuel sat on the grass next to him and took off his own shoes "Rather exhausting. School. Possibly other things aswell. Nice to take a step back and make something like this with you." He slouches over and rested on his knee to view the ocean.

"Heh. Yeah..."

The two brothers sat with eachother until the sun came down, it was rather peaceful that day, the greyish blue skies just seemed to look like regular blue.

[teatotally]

I've just been rereading some of your wonderful longfic and you write such good action i'm so envious, especially Don't Wait Up for Me. Someone said it was cinematic and I think thats a good description. Whenever I try to write action I just can't or it doesn't seem very good, and I wonder if you have any advice as a writer and editor about how to write action scenes, or just any writing advice in general.

First, I have to apologize for taking so long to respond; it’s been hard to get back in the swing of things after surgery. Second, thank you so much for the lovely compliment, and I’m so glad you liked Don’t Wait Up for Me, because that’s one of my favorite things I’ve ever done.

To your question: I sometimes feel like I could write a book, just based on the sheer volume of crap I read for my job and the way all these things pile up for me, but there are hundreds of writing advice books out there, and some of them are even actually good so no one needs another one. :-D But I think there are some specifics to writing action, and in particular action within fanfiction, that are fairly unique and not always addressed in tutorials.

When I’m copyediting fiction especially, I often find my attention wanders or my eyes glaze over because of flabby or weak writing, and that’s just death for a scene where people are supposed to be doing stuff and hooking the reader. The same mistakes kind of pile up and up, and this is pro published stuff. Fan readers are pretty forgiving mostly, but a lot of these issues have an unconscious effect on us, we forget fics that could be memorable because we skimmed over stuff that should engage us.

Years ago at Slate, I copyedited a book review that made me laugh, because it was a lot of these problems in a nutshell:

His writing is riddled with clichés that are daily struck down by conscientious high-school teachers. The characters always think “for a moment,” as if a sustained thought is impossible in the Wagnerian world. “Silence” plagues the pages, and it often “follows” speech. The thunder claps “Whrromp!” Every glance is recorded, for no discernable reason—everyone is “looking” or “focusing” all the time. The faces repeatedly “light up.” People don’t smile—they “start to smile"—and they do things “a little,” even if much happens “all of a sudden.” Here is a typical passage: “Liz started to smile, then started to say something, then thought better of it. Her smile faded for a moment, while she seemed to concentrate on a thought.”

That’s the kind of writing that can just utterly kill action scenes. So what would I tell you to avoid that kind of stuff? :

1. Use strong verbs. If you can do one thing, it’s to use strong verb forms and avoid constructions with lots of to be verbs and -ing forms. If you consistently use five words where you could use two, readers can tire or tune out without even understanding why they do that. I read a lot of otherwise good stuff that just wears me down with the “he was going to have to” and “she was starting to think” and “he’d been working in” and “I’ll be needing to” or what have you. It doesn’t seem like much, but pages of that can drag your prose down fast and tighter forms can help–”he had/wanted/would have to” and “she thought (ran, cried, etc.)” and “he’d worked in” “I need to” and so on. Even in this paragraph, you’ll notice I’ve used mostly stronger verbs, not many helper words.

A lot of fan writers don’t edit themselves after writing, and this is one area where it shows the most. We tend to want to share our stuff right away, get some fannish love, or we have to hit a challenge deadline. But if you want to write better action scenes, reading over your work to find those places where you could tighten the verbs can really help. (When we speak, we might say, “I’m going to be reading over my work and finding weak verbs.” Totally normal. But in actual writing, punchier forms like “I will read over my work to find the weak verbs” are livelier, and that really adds up in action.) I spend the bulk of my fic time looking for places where I can use one or two words where I wrote five or six in the initital stage of getting it all down.

2. Omit needless words. Most editors I know respect, but don’t use, Strunk & White’s Elements of Style, because it was written by prissy old white guys and pointlessly fussy. But this one is advice that many of us would agree is pretty useful, and in an action scene it can be the difference between eyes glazing over and a rapt reader. It’s heavily related to the first point. 

There are some writers I love but who frequently put me to sleep with that five or six words where one or two would do issue. But it’s not only verbs where you see it. Speech is less formal, not carefully constructed or edited, so in dialog it’s not as bad, but when describing movement or setting, the tighter the focus, the easier it is for your reader to get caught up in the action scene. You’ll often hear writers lament certain words they use a lot of–just, really, sort of, a little, etc. We all have those tics, and it’s worth it to search and replace, because those add flab to the writing. They’re not inherently bad, and I don’t like discouraging new or learning writers from perfectly fine words (I have a HUGE rant about the “never use adverbs” bullshit which I’ll spare you), but it’s always illuminating how much we can undercut the action with a lot of filler words. It took me years to break myself of the habit of using finally, for instance, and now when I notice it I always ask myself when I edit if I really need it. Is everyone doing things just “a little”? I slice it out.

3. Vary your sentence structure and length. This is another thing I see a lot of with newer writers, where their sentences are often constructed in the same way (”Steve walked into the machine. The doctor injected him with serum. Howard was turning his machine on. Then Steve screamed and Peggy was yelling to shut it down.”). That’s an overly simplified example, but it’s stultifying. Action scenes tend to require shorter, choppier sentences anyway to make them dynamic, but a steady diet of that will put you to sleep. Including some details, using different types of words, playing around with clauses and phrases and listening to the cadence of what you write can really enliven things. Where can you combine two sentences, or three? 

4. Punctuation is your friend. This isn’t (only) because people are picky about punctuation: you’d be amazed at how punctuation can affect the pace of an action scene. Like, I see writers frequently add commas where they don’t need them, which once or twice, no big deal, but sentence after sentence where you’re taking that comma pause as you read can really grind the pace down. Fanfic isn’t academic or severely formal writing, and there’s nothing wrong with people punctuating how they hear things in their heads, but it can leave the reader frustrated or confused, and with action that might not be the desired outcome. Missing punctuation, or using the wrong thing, can trip people up and throw them out of that big action set piece, or fatigue them. 

I see it a lot with commas around a little, just as an example, where you don’t need them, and if you’re a writer who qualifies every action with that (”Steve smiled, a little”) it’s amazing how fast those add up. Em dashes (aka long dashes, double dashes) are a wonderful tool, but if every sentence has them, that slight pause can get frustrating, particularly if it’s in the middle of something that should be fast-moving.

5. Blocking. Make a little movie in your head, block it out. Know where your characters are at any given moment, whose hand is where, that sort of thing. (You can do this after you write the scenes, so you won’t bog yourself down in self-censoring.) Many people suffer from White Room Syndrome, where they can’t see any details about their world and everything happens in a white room—I always told students that if they did, then watch movies or TV and steal details and world-building from them, or just use stuff in your own personal life. But try to imagine it and block it out once you’ve written down the basics, so that your reader can follow along with you and see where the action is taking them.

Those are the main things I can think of off the top of my head. Whenever people compliment my action scenes, I realize most of that’s probably due to my ruthless self-editing in fic: I edit the fuck out of action segments to tighten, tighten, and then tighten some more. There are a ton of good grammar and writing books out there; one of my favorites, especially for beginners or people who aren’t sure about things like English-language punctuation, is Diana Hacker’s A Writer’s Reference. And practicing, examining what the writers you admire are doing, looking at your own work and seeking out constructive comments, can be so helpful. Fandom’s got a really rich group of people involved in creating fanworks, and many of them are willing to help you learn stuff or share their knowledge.

[anime-matchmaker-blog]

match up with a haikyuu, knb and ao no exorcist male pls? I'm a 160cm cancerian ambivert-NFP girl with long black wavy hair, curvy body, who loves cuddles n getting spoiled but i have my mood swings. Im a very romantic, cheesy n friendly person, loud, cheerful, can be extremely weird once u get to know me. I wear my emotions at my sleeve and is VERY easy to please. Despite being a fun-loving, carefree girl at times, im mature enough to lend my older sisters a shoulder when they need it. (cont-)

(-cont) I love dancing, reading/writing poetry, swimming, extreme sports, beaches, animals n going in road trips. Im adventurous but have my lazy days where i spend the whole day doing nothing in bed. Im a strong girl, i survived chemotherapy bfore. I dont judge, read people like an open book and try my best to be kind to everyone, im a very emotional n sensitive person. I have adult ADHD which comes with depression n anxiety. I have days where i breakdown n need constant reassurements. (cont-)

(-cont) im polite and respectful to people esp elderly people. I love talking, i can talk about a lot of things, ranging from stupid topics to questioning the world’s existence, to cheesy/sappy shit to deep life conversations. I get along with ppl of all ages. I LOVE my friends (note most of them are childhood friends and are guys, bcus guys have less drama), they spoil me which will prob make my bf jealous. THANKS GUYS!

Sorry for the wait! Thanks for your patience and I hope you’ll like your matchups C:

Your matchups are…:

Haikyuu!! - Sugawara Koushi

Suga’s first impression of you is that you’re no stranger to guys. He sees you around school often, always with an entourage of guys who you appear to be friendly and close to. At first, he’s just someone in the background and you don’t notice him - he’s just another pretty boy, after all. You don’t see him completely until you run into him on the street and he reaches a hand out to you as he introduces himself. You remember who he is and you let him walk you home. The silence is awkward, but you keep a steady stream of questions flowing and by the time you reach your home, both of you are laughing and friendly to one another. Suga says he’ll see you around before heading off.

Somehow, Suga gets sucked into your existing pool of friends, but he manages to stand out because of his attractiveness and charm. He enjoys your weirdness and your playfulness, but he can also sense your serious side, especially when it comes to touchy subjects with your friends or in school. He walks home with you when he doesn’t have practice and you make every walk last longer by taking detours or alternate routes. Suga contributes to this by making his own journeys through the neighborhood and the two of you begin to discover elements about the community you never knew existed. These walks are never quiet now - you’re always talking, always engaging in Suga in a variety of topics. His range of knowledge helps when it comes to the random subject changes.

There are days when you and Suga are at one another’s houses simply working on homework or reading, days when you two are out and about running rampant in the city, and days when you’re planning road trips to get out of the city. Whenever you seem to have a bad day, Suga drops everything and marches over to you to make sure you have company and necessary essentials. Sometimes he won’t be able to make it because of volleyball so your other friends take charge, but their care isn’t the same as his. Suga is the team mom, after all.

Your closeness with Suga appears to be the same as with your other guy friends so when the shift occurs, neither of you notice. Suga is first to confess his feelings though and he insists that no matter how you feel about him, he’ll always love you.

OtsuboTaisuke (Kuroko no Basuke): His height and appearance might makehim appear rather intimidating at first, but he’s actually pretty friendly andisn’t that hard to approach. Your talkativeness actually makes it rather easyfor the two of you to get friendlier with each other since there’s always some mundanetopic you can use as conversation fodder. While at first, Otsubo will merely greetyou upon seeing you around the school since that’s the polite thing to do, butafter having a few conversations with you, those casual greetings will turninto longer talks between the two of you. He won’t mind listening to whateverit is you have to say, finding the majority of the topics you decide to bringup to be interesting though sometimes he can’t help but wonder how those sort of topics end up beingchosen. Your politeness and respect towards others definitely is a part of youthat Otsubo finds admirable since that can’t be said about some people. Plus,with how easy it is to get along with you, you’re certainly someone Otsubowants to hang out with more.

While it’s not like the two of you have a lot in common, it’ssimply entertaining being around you and that’s more than enough for Otsubo towant to be friends with you. Though basketball is the main sport he’s into,learning about your interest in extreme sports does intrigue him and prompt himto ask you more about it and that might lead to you inviting him to try it withyou one of these days. He also wouldn’t mind going swimming with you if you’reinterested since that’s a good way to get in some exercise too. If you’reinterested and asks him, Otsubo would totally be up to teaching you or playingbasketball with you too! Since Otsubo is the captain of the basketball team, hehas responsibilities he has to tend to and practices to attend of course, sothere are often days where he can’t spend much time with you. He’d love to hearabout your adventures that you go on with your other friends though, or he’d chastiseyou a bit for lazing around in bed being unproductive but he won’t mean that ina negative way much. It’s also really refreshing how even with your fun-lovingand carefree side, you can be pretty mature when time calls for it. Sometimesbeing the captain will lead to Otsubo feeling rather stressed and it’d be niceif he could talk to you as a way to let off some steam. On the flip side,Otsubo will also be willing to lend you his ear and shoulder when you need it.

It surprises Otsubo how you wear your emotions on yoursleeve and it sort of contrasts with him. Not that he has a hard time showinghis emotions or anything but he just keeps them in check more often. It doesmake seeing how you’re feeling that day easier though but with how sensitiveand emotional you are, it can also be a bad thing since you might end up beinghurt easily. When Otsubo notices that you’re upset or feeling down, he’ll tryhis best to cheer you up. If you need someone to listen to your problems andrants, he’ll lend you an ear. If you just want someone to be there with you, he’llquickly offer to stay with you. He isn’t super affectionate or used to beingaffectionate but if it’ll help make you feel better, he could learn to enjoygiving you cuddles. Otsubo is good at lifting his teammates’ spirits on thecourt and he hopes that works off the court too since it’ll certainly come inhandy in helping you. He might be at a loss regarding what to do when yourbreakdowns occur and will turn to his friends, your friends (if he knows themor have spoken to them before) and probably the internet to help him figure outhow to help you. He wouldn’t mind providing you with the reassurance you needto feel better, as long as it helps you. Your anxiety and depression also hashim stumped since he hasn’t friended people like you before, but Otsubo isdefinitely willing to learn.

Your cheery personality rubs off on Otsubo the more he’saround you and he finds your romantic cheesy side to be quite adorable. Hedoesn’t know much about romance at all and will probably resort to the Internet(after asking Takao once and getting teased in response) to see what sort of “romantic”acts he can do for you to make you smile. Giving you chocolates and flowers arethe first thing he tries, and then if you seem okay with him being close toyou, he’ll attempt holding your hand and giving you hugs. He does feel jealous at times at how closeyou and your childhood friends are but will understand that that’s just howyour relationship with them is and won’t interfere. As long as you’re happy andyou make time to spend with him, that’s all he needs.

Ao no Exorcist - Suguro Ryuji (Bon)

At the beginning, all of your guy friends will protect you from Bon because of hos frightening he appears. You insist that it’s just his face and not much can be done to fix that…but after a while, you realize you really shouldn’t approach him. He’s loud, rash, competitive…yup, you should definitely keep your distance. Despite this, you still run into him in the halls sometimes and he doesn’t pay you attention, so you try to not look at him either. Still, when he accidentally runs into you and makes you drop your supplies, he takes the time to help you pick them up and make sure you’re okay before continuing on his way. Maybe he isn’t so bad after all.

His academic prowess is outstanding and you’re surprised to hear that he’s at the top of his class. Since none of your friends can rival him, you decide to approach Bon and ask him to tutor you in your weaker subjects. He tries to shrug you off by recommending you to another student, but his own friends persuade him to take you on. You can tell he’s serious about the schoolwork so you keep your playfulness down during the tutoring sessions. Afterwards, you do what you can to loosen Bon up by taking him to your favorite stores or on walks to your favorite hiding spots. He’s still uptight and serious during class, but once school is over and no one else is around, he relaxes around you and even though he doesn’t quite admit it, he loves the playful side of you.

In your downtime, the two of you can be found reading a lot. You can’t get Bon to read anything other than bibles and holy scripts, so you read poetry to him in exchange for listening to him recite fatal verses. Bon is capable of keeping up with your shenanigans, which makes up for his lack of talkativeness - he’s a big-mouth, but when it comes to nonsensical things or philosophical subjects, he tends to be quiet. He’s also great at perceiving emotions so he’ll be able to tell if you’re having a bad day or not. He’s still working on comforting you though, so your other friends will have to school him in that department.

Relationships and friendships are pretty much the same to Bon, so his friends have to help spell out his feelings for you. He doesn’t exactly confess and when he does, he stutters and mumbles the words. It doesn’t matter too much to him if you don’t return his feelings…so long he’s able to remain as your friend, he’s happy to be whatever you want him to be.