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ofmermaidstories · 19 days ago

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Hello merms,

Quick question. I need some advice.

In the middle of planning a fic I am working on for the jjk fandom but I find myself a little overwhelmed.

I know that writing is the end all and be all but I was wondering what your planning process is?

How do you research for your works? Do you refer to your research often?

And what do you come out with at the end of a planning session?

I know I cannot write up a full chapter just after the planning. Do you have notes or bullet points detailing or skeletal of what the plot is going to be?

you absolutely can write up a full chapter just after planning. you can do whatever you want and whatever feels right, fer. 😌 there’s literally no right or wrong with this, we’re all going to have completely different approaches to writing bc we’re all completely different people. my own planning tends to be pretty extreme—i wouldn’t necessarily recommend it, tbh, especially if you’re already feeling a little boxed in about how to approach things. but maybe breaking your idea down into stages will help!!

essentially what i do is build up my idea in stages. 1) i get an idea, 2) throw some adjoining ideas for it at a wall to see what sticks 3) tidy things up into a rough outline 4) refine into a tighter outline 5) write the fic proper. Stages 1+2 are loosey goosey lmao, it’s just that like, free-for-all fun of being like “OMG i have an idea” and then the quick-grab brainstorming of pieces that’ll make it stronger. Stage 3 is more intentional, like, bullet points come into play, I start to move things around in a timeline—if there’s things that i need to research (places or things or whatever) then i’ll do that here. How I research depends on the topic—sometimes i’ll refer to proper references, sometimes it’s more casual like just asking other people about their experiences lmao. But either way the end result of whatever I’ve learnt is the same: it gets chucked unceremoniously into my outline, where appropriate (like if it’s being experienced by our Main Character), and referred to as I’m covering that part. Sometimes I make seperate notes—but I don’t tend to hover back and forth to them, because most of the time like, I’ve kinda already absorbed the important parts when I was obsessively learning about it, or whatever, LOL.

Stage 4 is probably the most subjective, tbh, bc by stage 3 I have the entirety of the fic in bullet point form—in Stage 4 i refine those bullet points into what’s essentially a rough draft of the fic chapter by chapter, like so:

Stage 5 takes the longest, because it’s the proper writing—I take what I refined in stage 4 and write the chapter proper, so that we end up with something like this:

i don’t do all the stages at once. i wish i did bc then i would wipe the floor with literally everyone forever lmfao, but they all take varying levels of energy/insanity, and sometimes ya girl here likes to lay face down in her pillows and not move for seventeen hours a pop. 😎💅🏽 when we start moving like a human being again, things might go like: i breeze through stages 1+2, start stage 3 if i’m really excited, sit on that for the first few days or week or so, and then eventually when i feel confident that the idea is sticking, move into stage 4 where i start to treat things seriously (ie, i sit there and work on it like it’s a proper project as opposed to me screaming at my friends). by stage 4, if i’ve done my job correctly, i’m straining at the leash to properly write—so once i’ve got the groundwork down i go for it. 🐎

i say this in the first post i linked, but i approach things in this way bc i like taking the ideas or whatever seriously—i have fun with each of these stages, i take my time with them deliberately because of that. its not a method compatible with instant gratification: it’s very much a system that relies on you finding your own fun in the process, for better or worse. my outlines are intensive because i need them to be, it’s the bones and flesh of the friend i am building myself, one i can pour my excitement about this project into, because the only one who cares about my ideas is me, LOL. i’m also a very slow writer, so doing things this way is like… reassurance, LOL. it’s okay that i take ages to do any one thing, because a lot goes into it, etc etc so forth and so on.

this hasn’t been advice, this has just been me telling you what i do. my actual advice, fer, for you specifically, is to make your notes for your research, hum over your idea for a little, maybe, give yourself some bullet points or whatnot if you need them—and then indeed just write that chapter. :) don’t psyche yourself out of having fun!!! just go for it!!!!!!! starting is the hardest part—so just start ferby. 🩷 everything will fall into place from there.

#ofmermaidstories-asks

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curriebelle · 8 years ago

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do you always handwrite your first drafts or does it depend on the project?

Yep! I pretty much always write things out in ink first :) the only exception is if I don’t have access to a pen & paper, and then I’ll type notes out on my phone instead. Ink feels smoother than typing, it’s impossible to delete so you can’t second-guess yourself, and it’s easier to jump around and add notes.Also my writing is real big & messy so I have probably burned through 2 or 3 200-page spiral notebooks on WMT alone :’D

#currie writing #wise man's tree #I tend to be loosey goosey about most areas of life #but for writing #I have Very Strict Rules #re. first drafts #writing materials #numbers of edits #all sorts of things #it's quite odd but they come naturally to me now #I have Refined hte Technique

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deadlyflan · 5 years ago

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WIP - Chain Reaction

Since my first writeblr post established that I'm working on a fanfiction for the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fandom, and that fandom has 5,000+ official continuities, lemme specify my canon material.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: Secret Of The Ooze (1991) featured a scientist character (Professor Jordan Perry) with no particular moral alignment who expressed zero surprise that his company's toxic waste made mutants, knew how to sabotage Shredder's batch of mutagen to make his mutants 'intellectually inferior,' knew the turtle's origin story before they told it, and was able to whip up an effective 'anti-mutagen' in a sewer off the top of his head with no samples or false starts. Perhaps this is just a 90s kids' movie being loosey-goosey with plot holes? Maybe. But it's also an unexplored opportunity for FANFIC. So here we go...

The CHAIN REACTION starts...

1975 - last year of the Vietnam War.

TGRI (yes, G, b/c movie canon) is a privately contracted research firm for the Department of Defense. They've been working on chemical weapons for the government.

Batches of failed test chemicals are being shipped off-site for storage and disposal.

An anti-Vietnam protest attempts to blockade the truck, a traffic accident occurs, and TGRI techs in hazmat suits are trying to clean shattered jars of spilled ooze off the city streets before the city's news networks get too nosy.

They miss a container.

I'm sure you know where it landed.

Now, there's two stories running side by side: the one you know featuring turtles and ninjas and honor and April O'Neil and Casey Jones and a farmhouse in western Massachusetts... and the other story, featuring a frantic Department of Defense trying to tear the city apart to find the missing container. In the mid 1970s, the US is embroiled in the Cold War: spies and covert ops and industrial espionage! Did the communists steal the missing container? Will the Russians use our chemical weapons against us? Will the Chinese use the contents of that container to make super-soldiers? WHAT DOES THAT STUFF DO ANYWAYS???

It makes mutants. And Prof. Jordan Perry of TMNT II: SOTO (1991) knows that because for the 15 years that our familiar turtles have been running around and kicking butt, he has been part of a government-funded research and development program for refining, manipulating, and reversing the effects of mutagen on live subjects.

CHAIN REACTION Fic AU Summary:

It's now 1996. Oh shell. There's more mutants. Let's bust'em out. I'm sure nothing will go wrong.

#writeblrlifeweek #writeblr #tmnt #teenage mutant ninja turtles #fanfic #tmnt fanfiction #fanfiction #tmnt fanfic #secret of the ooze #tmnt 1991 #movie turtles #donatello #leonardo #michelangelo #raphael #tmnt chain reaction

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thomasconleyweb · 5 years ago

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Learn Proper Running Form to Increase Efficiency and Decrease Injury Risk

Running is the most simple and straightforward of fitness activities, so we generally don’t pay much attention to learning and refining proper running form. Consequently, there’s a widespread problem of joggers and runners with extremely inefficient technique that can lead to slower times and increased risk for injury.

Unfortunately, when you plod along at a jogging pace, the penalty for inefficient running form and lack of explosiveness is minimal. In contrast, when you sprint, you try to generate maximum explosive force with each footstrike, so even the slightest technique inefficiency or wasted motion delivers a severe performance penalty. Sprinting, Primal Blueprint Law #5, is a great way to clean up technique errors and drift in the direction of proper running form.

Read More: See The Definitive Guide to Sprinting, Part 1, and The Definitive Guide to Sprinting, Part 2 for everything you need to know about sprinting.

Here, we’ll break down the components of proper running form. If you struggle with some of the technical explanations, watch the technique instruction video to help you grasp the concepts.

The Fundamentals of Proper Running Form

The basics of proper running form are pretty simple: Your body should be in stable position with your center of gravity balanced over your feet at all times. The classic image you see on trophies or in clip art of a runner with legs extended way behind or in front of the body represent egregious technique errors.

Instead, check out this slow motion video of the greatest sprinter of all-time, Usain Bolt. Wait until the sprinters get up to speed and are standing tall, then notice how Bolt and the other sprinters preserve straight and elongated spines at all times. Their feet land right underneath their bodies with every stride. The sprinters never lurch forward unless they’re diving for the finish line tape!

Proper Running Form: Like Riding a Bike?

The illusion that you must run forward—extending your legs or torso forward to cover ground—leads to overstriding at all speeds. If you alter the position of your torso relative to your moving legs, you’ll have a significant energy cost to recalibrate for the next stride.

Instead of trying to cover huge chunks of ground with forward-lurching efforts, envision running like you pedal a bicycle: Your upper body is upright and stationary (like sitting upward on the bike seat); feet cranking the pedals in a smooth circle, then feet returning to the same position under the seat with every revolution.

For the most efficient energy transfer on each stride, focus on getting your feet onto the ground and off the ground as fast as possible—as you would to pedal a bike faster. You can also strive to run like a deer or a canine companion, who exhibit a stable center of gravity (albeit over four legs, not two), incredible explosiveness off the ground, and zero wasted energy.

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3 Common Running Form Mistakes

The biggest issues I see that disrupt proper running form:

Upper body instability: Leads to unecessary side-to-side motion of the torso, arms, and pelvis

Destabilized core: Leads to overstriding

“Lazy feet”: You land and sink into the ground instead of exploding off of it

When you implement proper running form, you’ll feel lighter on your feet and more explosive right away. Let’s cover each of the fundamentals of proper running form so you can begin striding like a beautiful deer.

How to Correct Upper Body Instability

When your spine compresses and your neck retracts toward the shoulders during running, you lose kinetic energy, promote inefficient breathing, and instigate a fight-or-flight activation. Dr. Kelly Starrett, creator of The Ready State, author of the bestselling injury prevention and rehab masterpiece, Becoming A Supple Leopard, and all-around legend of the elite athletic performance scene, explains:

“We’ve seen up to a 30 percent decline in VO2 max due to compromised breathing and a misaligned load anywhere along the spine. When runners fatigue, they become destabilized. The pelvis gets overextended and their man-bellies hang out. Mechanically, the nervous system becomes compromised and unable to generate maximum force, or transfer energy into the ground. Furthermore, when the 11-pound head is destabilized and the neck is destabilized, the athlete defaults into a shallow, ‘stress-breathing’ pattern. This over activates the sympathetic nervous system—the fight-or-flight response—and makes workouts more stressful than they should be, and more difficult to recover from.”

Hold your head high and onward we go! To correct upper body instability while running:

Keep the torso and head quiet and tension-free at all times. Pay special attention to keeping the cervical spine elongated.

Keep the hips and shoulders forward-facing. Don’t swivel or rotate from side to side, and don’t rock the pelvis forward and backward.

The only energy output from your upper body should be to pump your arms for momentum. The faster you run, the more energy you’ll exert to pump the arms. At jogging speed, you essentially relax your arms and achieve a gentle, natural counterbalance swinging of the arms to help balance the swinging of the legs. When you sprint, you drive the arms forward and backward powerfully.

Regardless of running speed, you don’t want your shoulders to lurch forward, nor should any part of your arms or hands cross the centerline of your body. Envision your arms pumping back and forth in one plane like a locomotive engine or oil well.

All the energy for arm swinging should come from the larger muscles in the shoulders, while your hands, forearms, and upper arms should be completely relaxed instead of tense. Sprinters make a point of extending the fingers to prevent a natural inclination to make a fist and tense the forearms. For the arm swing, pick an angle, such as 90 degrees, and preserve that angle throughout the arm swing. Avoid the common error of straightening your arm on the backswing, as this results in a loss of energy backwards.

How to Correct a Destabilized Core

While we emphasize relaxation instead of tension, realize that you need to generate explosive forward propulsion from your extremities from a stable base—your core and pelvis area. Again, the urgency of keeping your core and hips stable instead of loosey goosey is minimal while jogging, but extreme while sprinting.

Correcting a destabilized core seems simple, conceptually:

Make a concerted effort to slightly engage the core muscles throughout the stride pattern, especially at impact, and especially as you start to run faster.

This will preserve that straight and elongated spine as well as prevent the disastrous error of energy collapsing into the ground. This energy collapse is quite common and can cause the hips to become un-level upon each stride impact. Remind yourself to engage your core muscles—pull in those abdominal muscles—as you run. This will also help keep your spine elongated and your neck straight.

How to Correct “Lazy Feet” or Shuffling

To maximize explosiveness and minimize energy loss on each stride:

Dorsiflex the foot as soon as you launch off the ground. Aggressively flex the ankle and foot upward as high as you can (up to 30 degrees, toward the shin) as soon as your foot leaves the ground.

Through the stride pattern prior to the next impact, point the toes forward with the sole nearly parallel to the ground. This achieves an energy coiling effect in preparation for the next footstrike, where you’ll transfer that energy onto and off of the ground ground as quickly as possible.

You can also visualize the instructions above in the context of pedaling a bike. Pushing the pedal forward requires dorsiflexion of each foot in order to keep your feet on the pedals while completing the circle.

The opposite of dorsiflexed feet: lazy feet, which occurs when one leg leaves the ground and that foot remains relaxed in a drag through the air, toes pointed toward the ground.

When that uncoiled foot hits the ground on the next stride, there is no kinetic energy to leverage. The foot lands, spends much more time on the ground than a spring-loaded foot would, and the impact of your entire bodyweight transfers onto the pavement or trail. Then you recover from the impact, summon a bit of force, and get your foot off the ground again. This practice wastes potential explosive energy that could be returned by consciously (at first) dorsiflexing the foot.

Advance the video to the 4:30 mark and watch the slow motion of lazy foot. Look carefully and you’ll notice a barely perceptible collapsing of energy into the ground, even on that very slow jogging stride. Due to the energy collapse, the foot spends more time on the ground than it does with a quick stride generated by “strong foot” running.

Pretend that your running surface is hot lava. As soon as your dorsiflexed foot hits the ground, explode off the ground before you get burned. “On the ground, off the ground” is a great mantra as you move at any running speed. While a sprinter drives the knees high into the air, exploding off the ground and taking long strides accordingly, a jogger makes smaller circles and takes shorter strides. Nothing changes in your running form as you speed up except you take longer, more explosive strides.

Advance the video to 5:15 to notice how my technique looks the same at a variety of speeds.

Every time you jog, run, or sprint, strive to achieve the bicycling over hot lava technique and you will soon ingrain the “strong foot” running form to the extent that it will feel terrible to jog with lazy feet. Good luck and enjoy a more graceful and explosive running experience.

Have you tried these or other running form corrections with success? What’s worked and what still feels difficult? Share in the comments below.

Tremendous credit and appreciation for these lessons goes to retired U.S. Olympic team 1500-meter runner Michael Stember, who presented his running technique clinic several times at our PrimalCon retreats in Oxnard, CA. Michael captivated the crowd each time with an incredibly passionate and precise clinic on how to run properly. Now he does the same making sushi in Brooklyn, NY.