#but if you don’t convey important information about your world

[marinecorvid]

watching random totk video and. damn Nintendo rlly did just make explanations for a bunch of shit and NOT put them in the game. incredible

[literaryvein-reblogs]

Writing Notes: Exposition

Exposition - a literary term that refers to the background information the reader needs to know for the world of your story to make sense.

Also: The technique of providing this kind of information in a story or film.

It includes anything from character introductions to dialogue, and is most common at the beginning of the story.

Exposition Techniques

There are several ways to use exposition to convey the background of the characters and events. Some of the most popular types:

DIALOGUE. A conversation between two or more characters allows for simple and effective exposition in a single scene.

NARRATION. A way to communicate a character’s true thoughts and desires, or give omniscient insight into a situation.

FLASHBACK. This places your character in context.

Writing Tips

You know the world of your story inside out, but now it's time to put it on paper and share it with audiences. If you're struggling with finding a good starting point or balancing how much information to present, try the following tips for effective expository writing.

SHOW, DON'T TELL. This means that you should always “show” things to the reader through action or character behavior as opposed to simply “telling” them. If you “show, don’t tell” well, you might not even need an exposition.

Weave exposition into the RISING ACTION. Good exposition is laid out without impeding the story and is seamlessly embedded within a scene. Move the central dramatic narrative forward at the same time that you lay out exposition. Describe how a bomb works at the same time as the hero is trying to detonate it. Explain how evil a bad guy is as the hero is actively running away from him.

SUPPLEMENT THE VISUALS. Use narration to add to the action that is taking place. While some imagery are better left for the reader to interpret, others can benefit from the clarity or context that your narrator can provide with supplemental information.

Create characters who act as a “STAND IN” for the reader. One way to get through exposition in your story is to have at least one character early on who is a stand-in for the reader; because they ask questions of the main character that the reader might have. He or she will help introduce the characters and the world without causing readers to be bogged down with excessive or conspicuous exposition.

Use ARGUMENTS to your advantage. In real life, arguments naturally escalate and romantic partners often bring up past events during fights making it an ideal scene to slip in background information. A fight about household duties between lovers can escalate to the point where the wife brings up her husband’s infidelity from 15 years earlier. This exposition feels natural because we believe that the wife may not be over the past infidelity and would mention it in the heat of the moment.

Be BRIEF—less is more. Only say as much as you need to for the reader to understand the story. Try writing a monologue for your character, exploring his or her entire background and back story. Then, start chipping away at it. How much of this information is important, and how much is ancillary detail? How much can you show in the scene versus having to say out loud? For example, does the character need to tell us they went to university, or can they throw on a college sweatshirt or stand in front of a framed diploma?

Give your characters SUBJECT-MATTER EXPERTISE. Let’s say you need to explain how a virus is slowly decimating the entire human race. Instead of having a lay person google the information in a scene, write a dynamic scientist character who has been researching this virus for years, is an expert on the topic, and whose job it is to provide information about the virus to others. For example, you could write a scene where the scientist explains how the virus works to the U.N. or has to go on CNN to explain it to the masses as this feels like an authentic thing that would happen in the world of the story.

Source ⚜ More: Writing Notes & References

[haru-dipthong]

Ep 4 of my Utena fansub is out!

This has absolutely been the toughest episode yet. It has several difficult phrases, the most dialogue of any episode up to this point, and a few phases that are really important to future episodes and core themes.

This episode's translation discussion

ねえ、じゅり先輩

Can I ask you something, Juri?

The bane of every translator’s existence — 先輩 (senpai). As I’m doing with 様 (sama), I definitely don’t want to include it untranslated as an honorific, but unlike 様 (sama) there’s no English word that could possibly be used in the same context to convey similar information. Instead, I’m trying to slip in some of the hierarchy in the characters’ general speech patterns. Here, the translation invents a whole sentence for Miki to show a bit of deference to Juri, instead of using the honorific.

-----

テクニックでねじ伏せるようないつもの迫力じゃなくて、なんだか音に潤いを感じるよ。

Your technique is usually so forceful and commanding, but today the notes have a kind of richness to them.

According to jisho.org, ねじ伏せる means “to twist someone's arm and throw them to the ground”. 迫力 means “force, impact, strength”. Touga’s verbiage here is intentionally violent. It indicates that underneath Miki’s polite, almost feminine demeanour and appearance, lies a boy who is already being moulded by patriarchal forces into a force of oppression. It was important to keep that hint of Miki’s potential for violence and oppression in the translation.

-----

前に言ってた、輝くものでも見つけたのかな？

Did you ever find that "glow" you were talking about earlier? (from ohtori.nu)

It seems you may have found that guiding light you were telling me about. (my translation)

This was a really tough translation, and one that has implications for the future, because I believe 輝くもの is used when listing the council’s reasons for duelling in later episodes, so the translation I chose needed to fit in that context as well.

Depending on the kanji used, もの can mean either “thing” (物) or “person” (者). A Japanese transcript I found actually uses the “person” kanji excusively. So it could be translated as either “something that shines” or “someone that shines”. I think I managed to preserve this ambiguity in the translation: “guiding light” could be a literal light, or it could be a metaphor for a person who’s very important to you.

-----

自分の中に永遠の美しさを持ってないと引けない曲なんだ

It's an ode to a beautiful life, where things never change. You need to believe in that to play it.

The Japanese literally translates to "This is a song [you/I] can't play unless [you/I] carry [eternal beauty/the beauty of eternity] within yourself". The subject of the sentence is omitted - is he talking in general or specifically about himself? Is 永遠 here acting as a noun (eternity) and の marks 美しさ as belonging to it (beauty of eternity) or is it acting in the genitive case and modifying the noun 美しさ instead (eternal beauty)?

These are all questions that matter in terms of making sense of the line, but not in the immediate sense of the translation, because the translation pivots on a different axis: 自分の中に…持ってないと. In english, translating this literally (carry … inside yourself) sounds unnatural. I think the Japanese gives more of an impression of carrying a worldview of eternal beauty; of seeing the world as a world that has eternal beauty. Textually, what Miki is talking about is carrying a dream of reliving the happiness of the past again, and then keeping it forever. He’s desperately trying to preserve that perfect time in his life, with him and his sister side by side playing that song in the sunlit garden. That's actually what this is about. And his duelling loss, and the scene where the image of the garden shatters, represents him finally being forced to move on from that need for permanence.

Permanence (or as most translations have it, “eternity” — 永遠) is a core theme of the work. All of the characters, in some way, are trying to preserve a form of status quo, or regain and retain a status quo that has been lost to them. Though Miki uses the word 永遠 here, I decided not to directly translate it. Rather than relying on the recurrence of a single noun to carry this theme, I wanted to allow the theme to stand on its own merit. I think translating it variously as “permanence”, “eternity” and other edge cases as I’ve done in this line ("where things never change"), will allow me to better convey this theme of wanting to keep things as they are, and the necessity of change and of letting those things go.

-----

Thank you to my editor @dontbe-lasanya (I still can't believe I get to say "my editor" lol), I'm sure it was as tough to edit as it was to translate!

For all episodes released so far, see the below drive folder. Be sure to follow the blog for updates if you want to watch along!

[novlr]

what is a good way to introduce side characters into a story without being overly descriptive

Interesting characters are essential to telling a great story. While your main characters are the stars of the show, side characters play a crucial role in adding depth, complexity, and realism to your narrative. However, introducing these supporting players can be a challenge, especially if you want to avoid the dreaded info dump. Let’s explore some effective ways to introduce side characters without overwhelming your readers with too much information at once.

The importance of side characters

Before we dive into the techniques for introducing side characters, let’s take a moment to appreciate their significance. Side characters serve many purposes in a story, from providing comic relief to offering a fresh perspective on the main plot. They can also act as foils for your protagonists, highlighting their strengths and weaknesses through contrast. Additionally, well-developed side characters can make your fictional world feel more authentic and lived-in, as if it exists beyond the confines of the main storyline.

Introduce side characters gradually

One of the most effective ways to introduce side characters without info dumping is to do so gradually. Instead of bombarding your readers with a character’s entire life story in one go, reveal details about them over time. Start with a brief description of their appearance, mannerisms, or role in the story, and then sprinkle in additional information as the narrative progresses. This approach allows readers to get to know the character organically, just as they would in real life.

Show, don’t tell

While it’s almost cliché now, another key strategy for introducing side characters is to show, rather than tell, who they are. Instead of simply listing a character’s attributes or history, demonstrate who they are through their actions, dialogue, and interactions with other characters. This allows readers to draw their own conclusions about the character based on what they observe, rather than being told what to think.

Use dialogue to reveal character

Dialogue is another powerful tool for introducing side characters without info dumping. Through conversations with other characters, side characters can reveal their personalities, motivations, and backstories in a natural and organic way. This allows you to convey important information without resorting to lengthy exposition or narration. For example, a side character might mention a past experience or share an opinion that sheds light on their worldview. By weaving these details into the dialogue, you can create a more nuanced and believable portrayal of the character.

Connect side characters to the main plot

To make side characters feel integral to your story, it’s important to connect them to the main plot in meaningful ways. Rather than having them exist in a vacuum, show how their actions and decisions impact the central narrative. This not only makes the side characters more relevant but also helps to create a more cohesive and interconnected story. For instance, a side character’s seemingly minor decision could inadvertently set off a chain of events that alters the course of the main plot. By establishing these connections, you give readers a reason to care about the side characters and their roles in the story.

Include a subplot

You can develop your side characters by writing them into a subplot. By giving them their own storylines that intersect with the main plot, you create opportunities to explore their motivations, challenges, and growth. These subplots can also serve to heighten the stakes of the main narrative, as the actions of side characters may have unintended consequences that ripple throughout the story. By carefully crafting these subplots, you can add depth and complexity to your side characters without overwhelming the reader.

Summing up

Introducing side characters without info dumping is a skill that takes practice and finesse. By revealing details gradually, showing rather than telling, using dialogue effectively, and connecting side characters to the main plot, you can create a rich and immersive fictional world that feels authentic and engaging.

Remember, side characters are more than just background noise; they are an essential part of any great story. By giving them the attention and development they deserve, you’ll take your writing to the next level and keep your readers coming back for more.

[qpp-townie]

I think part of what people struggle with when hearing a term like Queerplatonic Relationship is that it doesn’t fit into one of the boxes they already have set up for how the world works and so rather than make room for it, they try to shove it where it doesn’t belong or argue that it actually shouldn’t exist.

It is a term trying to convey information. It is not a trick or delusion or oversight on my part.

If I introduce you to someone and say ‘we are in a relationship’ most people (in the US at least) will default to thinking that means a romantic relationship which involved dating and now being a monogamous couple with sex, seeking marriage. Maybe not with that much detail, but that one word CAN carry a lot of implications that some would like to avoid from the start.

So i’d rather say ‘we are in a queer platonic relationship’ because that immediately tells you more information. It is a queer relationship and it is based on more platonic feelings (which doesn’t mean it is entirely platonic, but that’s an important part of it). It also tells you that these people have talked about their relationship and agree on this label, which should just NEVER be up for debate. If someone asks your opinion on a label that’s different, but same way you don’t get to decide who is queer or tell others what their feelings are, we are calling ourselves this for a reason.

But here’s the thing, saying that we are a QPR does not tell you the whole story! Same way saying you are dating, together with, married to, etc. someone, does not give you the full context of a relationship! Someone can say they are married, but later specify it is an asexual romantic relationship. Someone can say they dating and that can mean they are exclusive or seeking other partners. There are similar things qprs “typically” exhibit (but don’t have to), like closeness, living together, and no expectations of having to woo or romance the other person. But it is a broad term meant to encapsulate many types of relationships that fall outside the norm of building a nuclear family and amatonormative (romantic love is the most important kind of love) societal standards (which is not a universal standard for human relations, if there is a word in a different language/culture that fits better then that is of course okay!)

And I hope this can be a lesson about interacting with queer people/ people different from you in general, but rather than saying ‘that sounds like this thing/ that sounds fake/ I don’t want to call it that cause I’m used to this other thing/ i’m used to these boxes and just going to put you in one based on what you said’ just say:

‘cool! I’m not familiar with that, can you explain more?’ or even just ‘okay!’

[thegreatobsesso]

last lines tag

Tagged by my awesome friend @foxboyclit! Ha, so, I said to myself "I have baller last lines to post" but then I went into those last lines and immediately wanted to flesh them and continue the scene, so you asked for last lines but now you're getting a whole thing. Sorry not sorry!!!

-----------------------------------------

Octavius throws on a lush-looking pinstriped robe and whisks off to the minibar. Milo’s never been a big drinker, but Octavius has offered him something at the end of every scene lately and it’s turned into something he very much enjoys. He's just not entirely sure if it's got more to do with the alcohol or implication he'd like him to stay longer.

“You know, I didn’t understand a single thing you said,” Milo laughs, watching Octavius pour two glasses of red wine. 

“Oh, of course not,” he replies easily, seating himself back down on the bed. He hasn’t closed the robe, only slung it over his arms in his usual unrepentant exhibitionist way. “There’s nothing to understand.”

Milo squints at this, settling against him. “What do you mean?”

“Part of being a successful businessman in the corporate world is learning to maximize the number of words coming out of your mouth while simultaneously minimizing the amount of actual content you're conveying,” he explains, lazily slinging a strong arm over Milo’s shoulders. “It’s a skill that’ll put a one in front of anyone’s base salary.”

“Bullshit.”

“Exactly.”

“No, I mean, that’s bullshit. It can’t be that simple.”

Octavius cranes his neck to smirk at Milo and he hears quite clearly the unspoken Aren’t you precious? “I’m afraid it is. A well-kept secret of the rich and soulless.”

Sexually sated as he is, his professional curiosity is able to take the wheel. And he shouldn’t let it, but-

“Do you ever... feel guilty?” he asks, shooting for levity.

“Guilty about spewing meaningless drivel at robots in suits?”

“No, not that.” He swirls his wine around in the glass as if he had a clue why people do it. “The other stuff. You just called yourself soulless. I guess I’m just wondering if you ever feel... bad, about hurting people.”

Octavius extricates himself from Milo completely, sitting up and looking him directly in the eye. For a second he’s worried he pushed too far, but the expression on his face is one of begrudging amusement. 

“You’re being a therapist,” he notes playfully, as if he’s caught Milo in something terribly sneaky.

“Well, that’s what I am,” he laughs, relieved that he hasn’t crossed some inexcusable line. “And yeah, alright, I can’t help but be a little interested in how you think. Does that... make you uncomfortable?”

Gears are turning behind those stupidly brown eyes of his, but Milo’s certain he’s not considering whether he’s uncomfortable or not. For the first time, it occurs to him this might be a question an informant would ask, and a spike of anxiety erases all other thought. Has he just fucked up? Has he just fucked Shaelynn and the whole fucking operation?

“I don’t feel bad,” Octavius says, and his speaking again is such a mercy Milo feels like he might pass out. “Mind you, and I mean this in the least self-deprecating way possible, I am a single cog in a massive machine. An important one, to be sure, but still only a cog. And I may be loathe to admit it, but that makes me entirely replaceable.”

By any estimation he can judge the matter, Milo believes it’s an honest answer. He clears his throat, emboldened. “You make it sound really easy.”

“It is easy. If I weren’t doing what I do, someone else would be, and the only difference would be that I wouldn’t be rich.” He grins, and the sight still flips Milo's heart over. “I wouldn’t be able to offer you a two hundred pound glass after fucking you inside out.”

He’s chosen that moment for a sip and hearing that makes him choke on it a bit. “You’re...”

Octavius sets his glass on the bedside table and crawls closer, dripping sensuality as he moves in close enough for Milo to smell cigar smoke clinging to his skin. “I’m what?”

And when he does stuff like this, when he knows he’s on the verge of turning Milo into putty, it awakens a tiny part of him that otherwise hibernates unperturbed. “An interesting specimen,” he replies, trying to keep a straight face.

As predicted, he’s pinned down in seconds, being kissed relentlessly, rendering any further attempts at brattiness completely impossible.

-----------------------------------------

(the uhh, context here is that Octavius just finished fucking Milo while actively on a business call and made Milo be completely silent while he spouted empty CEO jargon in an even tone through the entire thing.) who said that

Tagging @revenantlore, @diphthongsfordays, @pertinax--loculos and @asher-writes to share last lines if they're inclined!

Also adding my tag list and info here because this turned into An Entire Thing(tm)

--

✨ WIP intro

🔖 tag list: @winterandwords // @foxboyclit //@revenantlore

@space-writes // @indecentpause // @words-after-midnight

@asher-writes

comment to be added or removed!

📝 all posts from WIP: gay crime bdsm story

[cirilla-fiona-riannon]

Galileo Galilei Main Story

Translations may not always capture the exact nuances or tone of the original text. Expect grammatical errors and inaccuracies.

Galileo: "Talk?"

His eyebrows twitched as I showed him the history books and biographies I had borrowed from the library.

Mitsuki: "I looked into your past while I waited for you today."

Galileo: "........."

Galileo: "I see. Did you find any useful information?"

Mitsuki: "You mentioned before a person who pursued the truth and was punished."

Mitsuki: "That was you, wasn't it?"

He didn't answer, and I continued.

Mitsuki: "You advocated heliocentrism, were put on trial for heresy, and sentenced to life imprisonment."

Mitsuki: "I don't know why it's recorded that you died afterward, but I'm pretty sure you lived with the bitterness of being denied the truth."

Mitsuki: "There's just one thing I don't understand, though."

Galileo: ".........."

Mitsuki: "The day I came to your place and mentioned, 'And yet it moves,' you got angry."

Mitsuki: "You told me not to talk about this man, as if you were angry with yourself."

A shadow fell over his expression, and the atmosphere around us turned cold.

Mitsuki: "It's as if you're denying yourself."

Galileo: "Enough. Stop talking nonsense."

Mitsuki: "Why do you speak as if you're denying your past self?"

Galileo: "I told you to shut up."

The anger in his voice made me tremble slightly, but...

(I can't back down.)

If I back down now, I won't be able to reach him.

Mitsuki: "Please tell me! I want to know. You should have stood by the truth you saw with your own eyes."

Galileo: "Stop."

Mitsuki: "For you, the truth should still be important, so why are you denying your past self!?"

Galileo: "I said stop!!"

Mitsuki: "----!"

In an instant, his strong tone made my body jump. He glanced away and said this.

Galileo: "Stood by the truth? I wasn't wrong at all."

(Galileo?)

Galileo: "But by bringing the truth to light, I gained nothing." 

Galileo: "On the contrary, because of it, I lost everything."

Galileo: "Everything... I..."

His lips trembled, and his words spilled like water overflowing from a cracked glass.

As he collapsed to his knees, it seemed like he no longer saw me.

Galileo: "If I hadn't advocated for the heliocentric theory, none of that would’ve happened."

(What is he talking about?)

Galileo: "Why even them? They hadn't committed any crime."

Galileo: "Why did everyone have to be killed by those humans!?"

(........)

He gasped for breath, clutching at his chest.

Galileo: “It’s all me. It’s all my fault.”

Mitsuki: “Galileo.”

Galileo: “I killed them. I killed them all!”

Galileo: “I was the only one condemned as a heretic and rejected by the world!”

Mitsuki: “Galileo!!”

Before I realized it, I was holding him tight.

Mitsuki: “You’re not wrong. You’re not wrong at all.”

Mitsuki: “So please, don’t hurt yourself anymore.”

I tightened my grip, trying to anchor his heart.

Galileo: “I’m not wrong?”

Mitsuki: “No. You’re not wrong.”

I repeated the same words, peering into Galileo’s face.

His amethyst eyes, once as deep as the ocean, now seemed hollow, like when he ate those Blanc flowers.

(He still has a past that I don't know about.)

A heavy past, one that involved someone's life.

(What I say may only be a temporary comfort, but I want to convey my message properly.)

(The image of him that I've witnessed must also be part of the truth.)

Mitsuki: "Even at this moment, the earth is turning. That's the truth."

Mitsuki: "The truth you've discovered will be passed down to many people."

Galileo: "........"

Mitsuki: "Your belief in seeking the truth, no matter what happened in the past, was never wrong."

Mitsuki: "If you continue to deny your past self, then I will continue to affirm it, no matter how many times."

Galileo: "........."

After conveying all the feelings in my heart, I embraced the person in front of me again, and he accepted it without saying a word.

A short time later, I left the university and walked alone down the main street.

After that, Galileo left the room without saying a word.

(I've seen him angry before, but I've never seen him blame himself like that.)

The vivid memory of his intense scream resurfaced in my mind.

(He said it was because of him that they were killed.)

(Maybe someone died as a result of the trial?)

Although Napoleon and Sebastian didn't mention anything like that, there might have been something not recorded in history or books.

(In any case, I went too far.)

(I dug into his old wounds and hurt him deeply.)

As the weight of guilt bore down on me, I suddenly bumped into something.

???: "Ah."

Lowering my gaze, I saw a young girl with chestnut-colored hair, and I quickly crouched down to help her.

Mitsuki: "I'm sorry. I was lost in thought and didn't notice you. Are you hurt?"

Girl: "I'm okay. I'm sorry for bumping into you."

Although the girl said so, her feet wobbled.

(Somehow, she seems worn out.)

Judging from her dirty clothes, it seemed that she was poor.

Mitsuki: "Are you alone? Do you have your father or mother nearby?"

Girl: "My brother... haa..."

The girl struggled to breathe and clutched her throat.

Mitsuki: "Are you okay? If you're in pain, I can call a doctor."

Girl: "No. That's not it."

Girl: "I'm just really thirsty."

The girl tightly grasped my hand and clung to it.

???: "Mireia!!"

Suddenly, someone shouted, and the girl suddenly released my hand.

Curly-haired boy: "Mireia, it's dangerous to be alone."

Curly-haired boy: "Are you okay, miss?"

Mitsuki: "You!"

The curly-haired boy who came running to us was the same boy with golden curls whom I had met twice before.

Mitsuki: "Is this girl your sister, by any chance?"

Miguel: "Yeah. I'm Miguel, and she's Mireia."

Mitsuki: "I see. I'm Mitsuki. Mireia, I'm glad your brother came for you."

Miguel: "Mireia, are you okay?"

Mireia: "Yeah."

Miguel: "Miss, did Mireia cause you any trouble? Did she hurt you or..."

(Hurt me?)

I tilted my head, feeling his concern for his sister didn't quite match his words.

Mitsuki: "She didn't cause any trouble at all. More importantly, Mireia seems to be in pain."

(Oh, right.)

I asked Miguel and Mireia to wait for a moment, then headed to a nearby bakery.

Then, I gave them the bread and milk that I bought.

Mitsuki: "You said you were thirsty, right? Are you also hungry?"

Mitsuki: "This is the least I can do, but please take it."

The two of them exchanged glances and smiled sadly when they saw the bread and milk.

Miguel: "You're very kind, big sis."

Mitsuki: "Eh?"

Miguel: "You tried to help me before, right?"

Miguel: "We've never had someone care about us like this since Mireia and I have been together."

(Have they been living a tough life?)

I didn't exactly know what happened, but my heart ached just thinking about it.

Miguel: "Thank you for being so kind."

(Kind, huh?)

(I've only done trivial things, and I've just hurt Galileo, so I don't deserve to be told that.)

Still, being thanked for reaching out made me feel a bit better.

Mitsuki: "No, thank you. I've been feeling down since earlier."

(Oh, by the way...)

When I asked where they lived, it turned out the siblings were indeed staying in the slums.

Mitsuki: "I've heard there have been dangerous incidents lately, so be careful, okay?"

Miguel: "You mean those rumors about vampires?"

(Miguel knows about it too.)

Mitsuki: "Yes. I don't think vampires are all scary, though."

Mireia: "I think so too. Vampires aren't scary at all!"

Miguel: "Mireia..."

Mitsuki: "Hehe, it's nice to hear that you're not scared of vampires, Mireia."

I smiled at them both as they walked away, holding hands.

(Thank you, Miguel.)

I didn't know how to face Galileo, but seeing you and Mireia made me feel a little better.

(I should go back now.)

(He’ll probably reject me, but I want to apologize to Galileo.)

As Mitsuki walked away quickly into the dusk, the siblings arrived in a deserted alleyway.

Mireia took a sip of milk and nibbled on the bread, but...

Mireia: “Big brother, it’s still no good. This isn’t enough at all.”

Miguel: “Hang in there a little longer, Mireia. I’ll definitely figure something out.”

Miguel: “I promise I won’t let you go hungry.”

Holding each other’s thin hands, the brother and sister disappeared into the dimly lit street.

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[shorthaltsjester]

being a huge fan of tlou but also like. thinking that certain stories are built for certain mediums. like the entire theme of tlou2 is grounded and fresh because it’s a railroad/story video game that still affords you mechanical choices in how you navigate the world. i just don’t have a lot of confidence that presenting that story in a tv show with the minimal adjustments that they did in s1 will be fulfilling or compelling in any comparable way. because with tlou1 some of the like. beauty of that story was simply that it was such an emotive story contained in the medium of video games. and some of that was retained just by hitting similar or expanded emotional beats in the show, like the episodes that expanded on the life of the characters and the realities of that world. but truly so much of tlou2 emotional depth and ‘why does this story matter��� rests in the fact that’s it’s your hands on the controller, continually choosing to go forward in the story and have hope that it will work out in your-as-ellie-or-abby-or-somehow-booth’s favour. and you simply cannot get that in a non-interactive medium like television. like i do think tlou2 is a good story but it’s a good story because of the investment required by the player to keep pressing buttons and keep returning and to feel the adrenaline like responses of high intensity moments and be jarringly shifted into backstories that only increase the frustration. in general i’ve been thinking a lot about cross-medium adaptation and on the one hand i am glad that season 1 makes the story of the last of us more accessible to people who wouldn’t pick up a video game but it’s also like. maybe instead we can destigmatize video games as this inaccessible and dangerous medium a bit more instead of just . implicitly agreeing . like no maybe your mom won’t pick up a video game controller and play the last of us . but maybe you can play the game in the living room. sometimes the mediums that stories are told in aren’t just important but are actually foundational parts of how the information of a story is conveyed and that’s not only okay but is fucking fantastic. we should be happy actually that there are so many ways to collect a bunch of themes and ideas and put them together and hold them out to someone else and say “won’t you consider this with me. won’t you feel these emotions and care about these characters with me.”

[ivenvs3000f24]

10: Interpretation ethics

As an ex-Catholic, I spent a good amount of time in my teens thinking about how my personal ethics and rules on morality both differ from and sometimes agree with Catholicism. However, I haven’t really taken the time since  then to extend my personal ethics past post-Catholic discourse and relate it to my environmental values. I think it’s very valuable to be aware of your own ethical stances in terms of interpretation. Our ethics are the filter that shapes how we interpret nature, whether or not we acknowledge it. And that interpretation is then past on to our audience.

The first belief I bring to nature interpretation is kindness. Showing kindness to the nature around us means walking lightly and respectfully as we explore. Showing kindness to each other means creating a space where everyone feels able to ask questions and learn. I believe that kindness is one of the key elements that goes into creating a welcoming environment. And welcoming environments set up the possibility for growth and learning.

I also believe that curiosity and discovery lead to caring. It’s very difficult to care about something that you don’t know much about. But by encouraging questions, sharing facts/stories, and pointing out the beauty all around us, a nature interpreter can create connections between their audience and nature. In tandem with curiosity and discovery, is the power of awe. I want to get people excited about that cliff, that leaf, that creek. Wonder is a very powerful tool.

Spent a very long time staring at this view awestruck when I visited Vancouver last summer

Interpretation also comes with many responsibilities. When you act as a nature interpreter, people are putting their trust in you to act responsibly in your role. The basis of this trust is safety. Like we learned from the Timiskaming Tragedy, a lot of things can go wrong in outdoor education spaces. Physical safety means being prepared for hazards, natural disasters and changing weather. But emotional safety also play an important role. Words have power. And that power can be used to harm others if wielded carelessly or irresponsibly. Sensitive topics have to be addressed with care and nuance. Your audience should feel welcome and included in the space you create, through the language used and interpretation employed.

I also think that nature interpreters have a responsibility to convey accuracy whenever possible. This is especially important when interpreting for children, who may not have the skills to properly fact-check your claims. Adult audiences also deserve access to well researched and meaningful information. Working as a nature interpreter means positioning yourself as an expert, and your audience is placing their trust in you to know what you are talking about. I believe in putting in the time and effort to research a topic fully before you share it with others.

There are several interpretation approaches that work best for me as an individual. And those approaches vary greatly by age group. For kids, who often have short attention spans, I think that exploration and games work best. Exploration allows kids to experience nature on their own terms and form a more personal relationship with the world around them. It also allows for the reintroduction of unstructured play that is missing from many kids lives. Giving kids a magnifying glass and a simple objective (eg. “Find as many colour as you can!”) gives them the opportunity to look closer at their surroundings and discover something new.

Games are also a powerful tool for interpretation. Minds often wander during lengthy explanation, but games keep kids focused and their attention on the task at hand. They can also help simplify complex topics and break them down into bite sized pieces. As an example, at my summer job last year, I ran a workshop for 10–12 year-olds who were planting a pollinator garden at their school. I wanted to convey the importance of building new pollinator habitat and introduce them to the concept of habitat fragmentation. So, I created a game that was kind of a mashup of musical chairs and shrinking islands. I placed picnic blankets (“habitats”) on the floor and told the children to pretend to be their favorite pollinator. As the music played, they could fly around, and when it stopped, they needed to find a habitat to stand on. As the game progressed, the habitats kept getting smaller and smaller as I folded down the picnic blankets to represent habitat destruction. Near the end of the game, we added another picnic blanket to represent the new habitat the students were creating. The game showed the students the importance of their garden, while also engaging them with the power of fun.

For adults, I think the best approaches for me to use are storytelling and writing. Stories have staying power, and also allow people to come to their own conclusions in a very fluid way. If I tell you about how I tried (and failed) to stop a park tree from being cut down when I was in the second grade, the take home message can be very different depending on how I spin the story and your own personal beliefs. You might walk away thinking about the importance of urban trees, the emotional bonds kids form with nature, or how privilege impacts how people engage with activism.

Article from The Stoney Creek News

From a personal standpoint, I think that writing is an approach that I am very drawn to. I enjoy the act of writing and like that I can fine-tune my words until I am satisfied. Evocative language can really come alive on the page, and writing allows lots of space for larger ideas to be explored. And, as a creative writing and ecology student, writing about nature in an interpretive way seems like the natural way to blend my two areas of study.

I know that my personal ethic will continue to develop and change as I grow as an interpreter. I’m looking forward to adding more nuance and challenging my own perspective.

[script-a-world]

Submitted via Google Form:

I have no idea if any religious texts explain this or not but when I have a world that has reincarnation in it, how does it explain increases in population and where all the new people come from if they aren't a reincarnation of a previous dead person? Obviously any religion never explains everything and clearly so many things are contradictive, but it might be a bit more important in my story when there is a lot of science that explains things. In my story, reincarnations are also a science and one important invention they have is a high-tech machine that can probe someone's mind/soul that can identify many of someone's previous lives. I'm not sure how to go about though with explanations. Obviously it will need a lot of handwaving. Now, this only happens with humans. I understand that real life religion people reincarnate as animals and so many other realms of existence but this is not true of my world. A part of my story focuses on researching to find the earliest known reincarnation.

Tex: How do they define a soul? How is this defined in relation to consciousness? If there’s the belief that there can only be one soul per body, does this inform their cultural norms on reproduction? Do certain people and their families have a higher priority on who’s allowed to reproduce, because of this? How restrictive would this be, and who and how actually enforce these rules?

Both religion and science are means of communicating to a culture on a mass scale, and because of that there will be inconsistencies in how this information is conveyed and the ability for the average lay person to understand what this information is, and its finer nuances.

Because of this, simply replacing one mode of communication about How The World Works ™ is not going to magically increase literacy on a subject, nor make anyone more likely to adhere to something. It’s the reason why religion leverages indoctrination tactics as a core part of its message - obtaining loyal followers requires a lot of work, and a risk/reward ratio to ensure compliance to a particular ideology. Filing off the identifying words and replacing them with different ones does not change the underlying perception of a “new” message.

Science, historically, has been just as politically-aligned as religion, because both have been deeply connected to money. How your world will define a soul, and consciousness, and how it ranks who gets to have what, will inevitably follow the papertrail that is money - it’s up to you how much of an economy to include, and what concepts like equality and egalitarianism look like in your world.

Licorice: This sounds to me like a question the scientists in your world would be busy exploring. In fact, from a narrative perspective, I think it would be more interesting if this were an aspect of reincarnation that they themselves did not understand yet. They could have many different theories floating around, different schools of thought endorsed by rival academic cliques. 

In our world it is often the case that scientists devise practical applications for natural phenomena that they don’t yet fully understand. They’re not sure why it works yet, but they know that it does. So it would be perfectly possible for your scientists to have plenty of unanswered questions about reincarnation, while at the same time inventing a machine that can read people’s past lives. 

For example, does reincarnation in their world operate like a parking garage, where no new cars can enter until a space becomes available? No new babies can be born until a body dies and frees up a soul? If this were the case, how would human beings deal with it? Would people remain pregnant for months or even years, waiting for a newly-liberated soul to enter the foetus so it can become a person and be born? Or would it not be possible to get pregnant at all unless a soul was available? In that case, might people who were desperate to have a child go out and murder randos? Would older members of the community be encouraged to hurry up and recycle their souls? 

Or maybe we can go the Philip Pullman route and argue that souls are made of Dust - space dust, star dust, magic dust, what have you - free-floating in the universe, which can be attracted to your earth by a variety of means. 

Or maybe they have actual gods in this world who simply create more souls as required. 

It would also be interesting to know what social distinctions - classes, if you will - might be created based on one’s soul level. For example, do souls that have undergone a certain number of reincarnations enjoy higher social status? More rights? Or maybe more responsibilities?

Another possibility is that souls can split, like amoebas, if they cultivate enough mana or whatever. Perhaps society is structured around ways of encouraging people to do this?

And finally, in your world, is there any end to the cycle of reincarnation? And is this something to be desired, or avoided?

I think you have a really neat idea there with a huge amount of potential. 

[gwenyn28]

Scriptwriting 101

Since there are a few people who really seem to think that a tv show is “just” a tv show I had the urge to explain a few things, especially concerning the writing process and what is seen on the screen.

I am not a screen-/scriptwriter myself but it is quite easy to dig into the world of writing and find the important points when it comes to tv shows and/or media in general.

Therefore, I decided to sum this all up in one post you can pull up whenever somebody tells you that “the curtain is just blue because it’s blue”.

First of all, the writers are writing for the screen. If you write a line about an internal monologue or thought you have to think about what it would look like on screen. Why? Well, that’s quite simple. Because the viewer isn’t able to look into the character’s head to see his thoughts. Therefore, you have to show it. To visualize it, using different narrative devices to do so.

If a character thinks “I don’t like him” but doesn’t want anybody to know, how would you portray this on screen? Maybe with a disgusted face. Maybe with a disgruntled noise. Maybe with a quip. You have to show the viewers this thought. this dislike. Otherwise, you won’t be able to get the message across.

Therefore, one of the most important rules for screenwriting is “Show, don’t tell”.

Usually, you don’t have a narrator who explains everything a character does. Ideally, the audience should be able to pick up on the context from the dialog and action.

For example: It’s not needed to be said that a character grew up as a person. It can be shown in a montage of his past. Or with a well-placed sentence to show this growth.

By experiencing a show, the only kind of information the audience absorbs is what can be seen and heard on screen. And that’s it.

Now people could say “yeah, isn’t this about the curtain then? If it is shown blue, then it is blue, right?”

Well, no. Yes, the curtain is blue. And that is what the audience can see. But the bigger point is to question WHY is the curtain blue. Okay, not everything is really that thought through, at least not the color of a random curtain. But other things might have a deeper meaning and subtext because the writers could not convey their idea/story otherwise.

They have to show some things so that the audience can figure it out what they wanted to tell with what they have shown.

Be it with words that are said or actions like giving a certain character a scene where they act like another character to show how similar they are.

And there comes the next big point. The “Show, don’t tell” rule is very often in correlation with the limited time the writers have for their story/episode. Usually, on tv you have a limited number of minutes for each and every episode. So, every second counts.

If you decide to write a certain part and to keep it in the episode, it has to be important. To show something without explicitly telling it.

So, some scenes might seem random and not important. But believe me, they usually are. Why would you keep something that blocks a time slot in your episode if it was not important for the plot, character growth or characterization in general?

Imagine. You want to write an episode of a show. And you have a general idea about the topic for this episode. You start to line it out, work around it, put life into it. And in the end, you notice that you have written a lot more than what would fit into the episode. What would you cut off? Right. Stuff that does not help the general storyline or the characters.

For example: You have written about a beautiful sunset. The birds are chirping, there’s a slight breeze. You can see a car passing by a park. What would you do? Keep it or cut it off?

Keep it if it is needed to show one of your characters walking around that park to pan in on him with the camera to set the tone for the next scene.

Cut if off if it is just a filler and in no relation with any story or character.

Many scenes are therefore intentional to show with actions or dialog what the writer wanted to convey in that scene. A tv show hasn’t the advantage like a book where every thought, every emotion can be described in detail. It is limited and has to use other methods to keep a storyline up and working.

Coming back to the aforementioned narrative devices. These are writing techniques used in writing in general, not only in media. They are important everywhere.

But let’s look at them from a tv show perspective. I have already explained why it is important to show stuff, mostly using dialog and visuals, so that the audience gets it and the possible subtext/context. Let’s look at how a writer would do it.

Foreshadowing:

This is a way to provide hints on what will happen in a later episode. You could show for example that somebody waits for a call, not being able to reach another person just to find out that said person wasn’t available due to an accident that will be shown at the end of an episode. The audience will then realize “Wow, that makes sense. Because the person couldn’t be reached before.”

Language:

It is always important what kind of language you use. Which words are said and which aren’t, mostly in combination what kind of tone they use. Calling somebody by their dead name and/or mispronouncing them get the point across that this person is a transphobe, for example. There’s no need to tell the viewer that this person is an asshole anymore because the audience already knows. So, the words that are used and how they are used is a vital point for the “show, don’t tell” because it can give a clue about the character or the situation they are in.

Plot devices:

It’s a technique used to move the plot forward. Plot devices can be objects or characters to show a certain character trait or support a storyline. For example, if you have a show and all of a sudden somebody from the past appears, a long-lost sibling maybe, it could be to show the difficult family situation. That sibling might be not important in the long run and could be gone a few episodes later. But it started another storyline and gave some insight to one of the main characters. Or the audience finds out that one of the characters has a relative with mental health issues who just appears in one episode which could be just to explain why a main character acted the way they did when faced with mental health issues in their current situation.

These are just a few storytelling tools that are often used in writing. And they all circle back to the “show, don’t tell” rule. Because if you look at each one of them and the examples I gave? Imagine how the situations would be without showing what I just described.

Would there be the “gasp” moment when you find out about the car accident without these little scenes before or would it be just “oh, car accident, whatever”?

Would it be believable if you have somebody call out another person as a transphobe without words used to show that the person really is?

Would it be understandable to start a new storyline without the long-lost sibling who started it?

No, usually, it wouldn’t.

Now, people could ask again about the “show, don’t tell”. Because why use these narrative devices when the rule is just to show stuff? Easy as that. Because otherwise a story would be boring.

It’s quite essential for a writer to put some tension into a story, to create a plot that hooks the audience (these are narrative devices as well, by the way). So, yeah. Show stuff. But make it exciting. Otherwise, nobody would tune in for the next episode.

This leads me to the next and probably last point.

Tuning in again. You might tune in again because a story is exciting. Yes. That’s one reason. Another one is or at least could be that the audience can relate to the characters. Writers usually give characters certain traits or flaws that the audience would get the feeling that this could be them. And that these characters might be fictional but still human somehow.

Characters don’t need to be perfect. They need to be relatable.

Connecting this with the main rule means that a character and his actions are just shown to give the audience a better feeling for them and who they are. So that they can relate. It’s usually important because if something happens off screen, the understanding might not be there. The audience needs to see things to understand what and why it happened. For example, a break-up offscreen always leaves the question about how and why they really broke up and that could dampen further scenes.

So, in conclusion. If something isn’t on screen it leaves the audience without something to relate to. Some might say that it probably wasn’t something important then and yes, I would agree. But there is also the possibility that something is left off screen on purpose to make the audience wary of a situation of a character because they haven’t seen things with their own eyes.

To sum this all up then:

A tv show doesn’t do stuff just because they can. The writing is intentional because they have limited means to convey their story to keep it exciting and relatable. Otherwise, the audience wouldn’t continue to watch. So, maybe the next time you talk to somebody about a show, think about the possibility that there has been some subtext to it. And not just that the curtain is blue.

[bestworstcase]

So...

Fell from the sky into a "crazy world"... trying to get home... trying to get to the tree... tree causes ascension/rebirth/renewal... tree could be considered home... "we just want to go home/to the tree"... they literally need to ascend back to Remnant...

And at the risk of sounding very stupid, is this going to be some "you just gotta believe" magic? Is Ruby's Total Breakdown really holding them all back from getting out? I get that's kind of the narrative point here but still... ugh fuck, I'm just losing it right now.

NO BUT ALSO, YES! BUT ALSO, NO. mostly no but a little yes.

if you’ve never read the books (or watched the musical, which has proven to be a significant creative influence because they wrote this volume for !!!me!!!) the single most important thing you gotta know about wonderland in order to follow along with what rwby’s doing with the ever after, is that wonderland is about taking abstract ideas—metaphors, idioms, the null case, etc—literally and taking concrete things and treating them as absurd. the result is a very particular way of looking at the world. everything is sideways and stretched and turned inside out and also the same. the harder you try to understand it the less sense any of it makes, but it also makes perfect sense if you begin with the assumption that of course it makes sense. it’s very much like a dream.

the ever after nails this way of looking. absolutely knocks it out of the park. everything the cat says is true, but only if you know how to think like the cat. otherwise the words make no sense and obfuscate more than they explain.

for example: ruby asks the cat which of their names they prefer to go by, and the cat answers “oh, i don’t go by; that belongs to the days and years! but if you are asking what i am, i am indeed a cat most curious.” if you listen to that with regular ears it just sounds like the cat is talking cryptic nonsense and refusing to give a straight answer. but! in the cat’s perspective they’re not only being quite clear, they’re giving ruby a lot more information than she asked for: the days and the years go by, but the cat does not, because the cat is a cat most curious.

the cat cannot ascend because it is their purpose to know everything. the cat doesn’t, can’t, partake in the endless cycle of life and rebirth. all afterans change when it’s their time to change, but for the cat it never is and never will be. the days and the years pass them by, and they are always so. very. curious.

you see? they mean precisely what they say.

one of the things that makes 9.8 is SO COOL is that the cat code-switches to reveal their ulterior motive—they repeat all the same information conveyed by “oh, i don’t go by!” but this time speaking in ruby’s (& the audience’s) language. and then, while they do slip back into afteran speech a bit when they get irate (“it’s not a place you go, it’s a place you know!”) for the most part once they’ve made this switch they stick with it. and that’s really fun, because it pulls back the curtain to show off the machinery of the wonderland logic the ever after runs on. it’s not gibberish, it’s nonsense. there’s a kind of sense to it, if you feel around for it with your hands.

(a similar thing happens with the paper pleasers in 9.7: note the purple star explains the village’s desire for ascension in very clear, straightforward, unambiguous terms. now think about how jaune perceives ascension, the lengths he goes to to prevent it, and how the purple star says they keep trying to tell him that he’s wrong. they learned to speak his language and he still refused to listen.)

so, anyway, what this means for the tree and the way out is this:

the cat told them how to find the tree.

“you do not go to the tree.” the tree isn’t real. you can’t go to the tree—you can’t move spatially from point a to point b and expect to arrive at the tree, because it’s not something that exists as a spatial point. it’s something else. it’s an idea. it’s a metaphor. you do not go to me, i go to you; what am i? that’s what the tree is. it’s a riddle without an answer, except for all the answers it has.

“the tree goes to you.” it’s something more like the days or years, which go by; the tree goes to. it doesn’t matter where you are, where you’ve been, or where you’re going. the tree will be wherever you are when you’re there, because the tree isn’t tethered to any one point in space. the tree is everywhere and might be anywhere and certainly it’s always somewhere. (“it’s a place you know.” if you know where the tree is, you’re already there. if you don’t, you’re not. it’s very simple.)

“unless, of course, you’re me. you see?” this is two separate statements intertwined as one. just as the days and the years go by for the cat, the tree never goes to them—they can’t ascend. that’s the first thread. the second thread is a hint. how do you get the tree to be where you are? you need to be “me.” you need to be yourself, you need to know yourself, and you need to want to become yourself. the riddle is “what are you?” and the answer is “myself.”

(<- the you you wanted to be when you were still you.)

and this is exactly what happens when the tree goes to ruby. the first time, when the herbalist asks the question, she comes face-to-face with her younger self and has the shattering realization that she no longer knows who she is. the second time, the tree reaches out to her with the broken pieces that shattering shook loose, and ruby’s answer is “i’m fine. i can handle it.”—not quite an identity, but a belief about herself. and the third time, ruby says “i don’t want to be me anymore,” but then she realizes that isn’t quite true. she resists the cat, as much as she can, and the cat cannot become her. there is—waves hands—something in ruby rose that only ruby rose can be, and with everything else eroded away that something is what the tree goes to when ruby calls out to it by drinking the tea. there’s some narrative exploration happening here of what “myself” can mean, the different angles and layers of identity: the way ruby once saw herself, the stories she tells herself about herself, the essence of who she is deep down inside her heart. and ascension, of course, is about assembling all of these disparate pieces into a completed whole. you break, you rebuild.

BUT.

& this is the important part!

the tree isn’t the way home, it IS home. it is, specifically, the home of the ever after. afterans conceive of ascension as a return home to shed their burdens like an old coat, to rest, to heal, perhaps to dream for a while of what they would like to be next, in order to ready themselves for their return to the waking world. just as you can spend the night in a friend’s home, a non-afteran can rest for a while in the tree and perhaps be revitalized, but the tree isn’t their home. they’re houseguests.

could the tree get them home? open a door? help them find their way? maybe. if they look at it from the right angle, because all of these things can be metaphors for the healing and renewal the tree provides. but maybe not, because their perspective right now is all wrong. they still don’t GET IT. if they want the tree to get them home the first thing they need to know is that the tree can’t get them home: you don’t go home, home goes to you.

(home is where the heart is; it follows that if you find your heart, you’ve found your home—and found you’re home, too. if their path home runs through the tree, it’s a path made of metaphor and verbal sleight of hand. you see? it’s very simple once you get the hang of it.)

(this also, as a sidebar, elucidates why the cat cannot ascend; the tree is not their home anymore than it is rwbyjn’s. the cat is the heart of the ever after—they are the part that knows, the part that very rarely forgets, when they fill broken hearts with pieces of their own what they’re really doing is saying i remember, i remember who you were and are and will be, i remember the pieces you forgot, let me remind you of them now—but the cat’s heart is with their maker. they can’t ascend because they can’t go home and they can’t go home because their home is on remnant and their heart and their home will always be on remnant until they know why she left them here.)

(<- the cat thinks their maker left them to make humans. they don’t know, but the bubbling resentment behind their uncertainty suggests that the cat believes that she left them behind because she liked humans better. they are, accordingly, desperate to become human. finding their way to remnant as a cat wouldn’t do them any good if their maker isn’t interested in them that way anymore; it’s not enough to just find her, they need her to ANSWER THEM.)

…um.

so, the way to get home is to solve all the riddles—what are you looking for? where can you find it? what will you do? what will you be? what are you?—in, i would guess, roughly that order. the act of answering itself is what gets them home, because in the course of answering they will find what they’re looking for as a matter of course, because what they’re looking for really is where their hearts are.

(obligatory musical note: “home is where you keep your hopes and your memories/it’s more than where you sleep, it’s the place where you dream”—the essential mechanism outlined here, of finding your way home by finding where your heart is because wonderland is not about going home, is the central conceit of the musical; and i really cannot stress enough how much 9.8 set up for the next to episodes to resolve by following the same narrative beats. the characters are split up the same way with each group facing the same fundamental challenges in the same general circumstances, and the only piece not yet on the board is the mother-figure who arrives at the penultimate moment to protect alice from the defeated hatter’s wrath. which, um. UM! so, i think it’s a pretty safe bet that the thematic resolution of this volume will resemble that of the musical pretty closely, and the narrative workhorse for that theme is the getting home mechanism.)

the TL;DR here is, getting home is about—well, knowing. to get yourself home, you need to know three things: 1. what are you? 2. what is home? 3. where do you find it?

and once you know that, it’s easy.

ruby having a breakdown isn’t holding them back. (quite the contrary; ruby’s been the one finding the way home this whole time. she doesn’t know it yet, because she can’t see the whole picture, but she’s been the only one doing what she’s really supposed to do all along—letting the world guide her, turning her gaze inward and trying to see. she isn’t seeing clearly, so she thinks she’s falling behind, but really she’s still leading the way. just, in a much different way than she thought she had to.) nothing is holding them back, per se. they just haven’t learned everything they need to learn, and the things they know, they don’t know how to put together yet. once they know, they’ll already be home.

[aphfanficwriters]

Every month we will pose a question and collate responses as a fun and informal little exercise in getting to know each other and spark discussion. This month's question is:

“Which writing rule do you most enjoy breaking?”

relmu / @iamnompuehuenu: this is my personal preference, but i absolutely adore flowery writing that borders on purple prose. maybe it's because the literature i grew up with is filled with metaphors and decorations and that rubbed off on me, but i just find it extremely beautiful and dramatic… I've come to learn that English-speaking writers are more direct and that purple prose is not seen with good eyes, but i like it so much i have to remind myself to not put too much emphasis on descriptions and metaphors when writing lol. it sometimes becomes heavy to read but for me it's a joy, though i understand it's not for everyone 🙏

prush / @proosh: you can take run-on sentences from my cold dead hands

Wasps / @petiolata: "Avoid epithets" is the one I enjoy breaking the most. To me, it's very similar to "show, don't tell". Like every writing practice that people get told "don't do that!" about, they have their time and place. Both telling and epithets can create distance, or emphasize certain qualities about the character. They can also convey information faster. I think a lot of the criticism of them comes from a lack of understanding that people read fics for different purposes and so writers will write with different effects in mind. If a fic is meant to be an extremely fast-paced suspenseful ride—and that's more important to the writer or audience than elegance of writing or creating deep POV closeness—and an epithet best serves that, then isn't it the best choice to use the epithet? What makes good writing is widely debated, but what makes a good writer in my opinion is intentionality. The ability, skills, knowledge, to accomplish exactly what effects you're going for. And sometimes that means making choices that serve pacing or kink appeal over elegance or POV depth. I probably don't use many epithets in my fics, but knowing how much unfair flack they get makes me celebrate every single one.

Tama / @delgumofics: I generally try to follow the rules since I'm always trying to grow as a writer. I think mine is run-on sentences though. If I'm writing a scene where a characters understanding of the world is supposed to be different in some way, like they're really high, or they're very emotionally charged, I use a lot of run-ons to express that. I try to put myself in their heads pace and think how they'd think, and when someone is fucked up or really emotionally charged, grammar and pacing kind of go out the window. Thought becomes one long stream of ideas and feelings so I try to express that sensation with words. That usually results in run-ons dotted with short snappy single or two word sentences mixed into the paragraph.

WhiteWings / @smuttyandabsurd: "Write what you know" seems to be taken as "write only what you know" which is a terrible rule. Write what you don't know. Push the limits of your knowledge. Deep dive into research and learn things you didn't know so you can write about it… Or don't! Revel in making it up and writing with terrible inaccuracy, it's called artistic license babes. It won't appeal to everyone, of course, and you may very well annoy a bunch of people, but you can't please everyone and you shouldn't try to.

Didi / @teaedon: first draft is the final version, and i don't cut anything out (well, rarely).

Yukihitomi / @arthurhonda: Writing rules? Don’t know em. Too busy destroying the English grammar. Punctuation besides commas, periods, exclamation points, and question marks don’t exist.

And there were those who didn't understand the assignment... 😅

Eru / @eruverse: Wasn’t aware there were rules, I do what I want and what fits best

@folightening: I'm not even aware what the rules are so I've no idea. I just write how I want.

Beetroot / @council-of-beetroot: Does anyone have a list of writing rules to reference?

Mossman / @one-more-mossman: I don't even know what rules the writing has [...] Uneducated swine I am

[tinkertoysdamn]

Waiting for a Star to Fall (tentative title) WiP

More WiP nonsense because I need to jump-start my inspo.

Will be Thorquill, Starmora and eventual Thorquillmora because I CAN!

In cultures all across the universe, there have been superstitions about falling stars.  Though most of them are mere meteors and thus have no magic, there are a precious few that hold real power.  To possess such a thing could change the tide of fortune and overturn dynasties.  The hope of a single wish could be enough to drive men mad.    

It was with this in mind that Heimdall watched as a mysterious object crashed into one of the vast forests of Vanaheim.  As trusted watchman of the gods, it was his duty to report such an anomaly.  “My liege,” he spoke through his telepathic link to Odin, “I believe we have a problem.”

Less than an hour later, Odin the All-Father called his two sons into the throneroom, burdened with a heavy purpose.  “I entrust to you, my sons, a most important task,” he informed them.  “A star has fallen within the Nine Realms and it must be retrieved at once.”

“A true fallen star?”  Loki, the youngest son, knew the ways of magic and was highly skeptical.

“Your mother confirmed it,” Odin said.  

Frigga, Queen of Asgard and one of the most powerful magic users in the realm, held out a compass made of gold.  “I’ve enchanted this compass to follow the cosmic energy the star has left in its wake.”  She waved her free hand above it, curling in her fingers in a slight gesture.  A faint blue line appeared on the compass face.

“Where has the star fallen?” Thor asked.

“Vanaheim,” Odin informed them.

The home of the Vanir, it was friendly to Asgard, though seldom visited by any of its people.  Reports of it were limited mostly to the stories Thor’s friend Hogun had told them.   

“If it has landed in Vanaheim it shouldn’t affect us.”  A scholar of magic, Loki knew the folklore surrounding fallen stars.  Any wishes granted should stay in the world on which the wish was made.  

However, Loki did not know everything despite how he pretended otherwise.

“Yggdrasil connects Asgards to the other Realms,” Odin said.  “Any magic set loose on Vanaheim soil could have a ripple effect on all Nine Realms.  The star must be secured and locked in our Vault.”

“Why not use it ourselves?” Loki suggested.

With a single eye, Odin could convey oceans of disappointment.  “Because it is not our way.”

(INSERT ALL THE IN BETWEEN CONNECTIVE NARRATIVE TISSUE HERE)

“Can you loosen this up?” Peter complained, wiggling in distress.  “I can’t feel my hands.”

Thor spun the chair around and knelt down.  That was when he noticed two things at once: first that underneath the expected sweat, Peter had a rather unusual smell, one reminiscent of stardust.  Second, Peter’s hands were already untied.  

With sudden violence, Peter jerked his head backwards, smashing into Thor’s forehead.  

Startled, Thor fell right onto his rump.

Peter sprang to his feet, sprinting toward the open door of the spaceship.  With practiced ease, he activated his mask and kicked himself into the air with his rocket boots.  By the time Thor made it to the door, the man had disappeared.  

Baffled, Sif’s lips thinned as she shouted, “You let him get away.”

“It shouldn’t matter much,” Loki said, holding out his mother’s gift.  “I still have the compass, the word of a mortal doesn’t mean much.”

“Don’t be so sure, Loki,” Thor said.  He smacked a fist against the metal door frame, denting it.  “That man smelled like stardust.”

“What?”  Uncertainty, then realization crossed Loki’s face.  “Oh no.”  

“That’s right.”  Thor pointed in the direction of their fleeing quarry.  “That man was the star.” 

[disenchantedif]

may i ask for more information about the magical society and human society?? im confused by it, sorry. mainly in how the magical community is so tight-knit and huddles its people into magical spaces (like you said theres only one magical college in this area?). like id like to hear more about that, especially since i assume through chekov's gun that humans/hiding from them is going to be important later? i apologize if i am nearing spoilers. i ask because it's part of why i decided to play a banshee, because they look so human, that i assume having more human-passing characters would be advantagous to the team haha

(i guess i could just be confused in the sense that i am misreading, in which case i apologize. i hope i am not missing the mark totally in what ive processed about this world's lore and relationship with humans)

id also like to hear about why the characters are designed like they are in the sense of "why not more monstrous, why are they so human-looking naturally?" at first I assumed it was because of glamors but then i realized then that Vik would have no horns and Theo no wings and so on with glamors activated. and im asking out of genuine curiosity, not judgement or entitlement; i love character design so im curious why you decided on this relatively high percentage of humanness over a lower (really monster them up basically) or even higher (like Harry Potter and the like where everyone's human, even nonhumans really) percentage. because it seems like theyd still need glamors to interact with humans outside of their secret-society to cover up several traits, but also they wouldn't need much. in most stories i read or urban fantasy, it's either Harry Potter No Glamors Needed We All Pass As Humans™️ or its something where characters have a really monstrous true design that looks very little like their human-glamor-disguise form. what you decided is neither of those things, so im really curious what made you decide that because i dont see it often! (/tone indicactor: i swear to god i dont mean for this to sound critical, im just curious and i think i worded this well enough to convey that im only feeling curiosity but i SUPER apologize if my tone implies judgement)

admittingly, i am more of a monster-fucker than most so i am more used to Katee Robert's The Dragon Bride, if not a full-on dragon love-interest, than i am a dragon like Viktor haha but, again, i do like your designs! im just curious on why that percentage of humanness, basically, in addition to my aforementioned question about this magical society's relationship with humans. your desired percentage reminds me a lot of X-Men's typical idea of mutants (like more Wolverines and Cyclopses over Beasts and Nightcrawlers, if that makes sense) which is oddly nostalgic for me, it makes me miss the X-Men cartoons i used to watch hahaha

So, when it comes to the different supernaturals, you have to understand that there are far more humans in the world. That means a lot of intermixing and typically a lot more human genes as a result.

As I’ve said before, there are totally cambion that are literally half demon (typically they have horns and their eyes are fully black, etc.) and draca with more dragon blood (Vik’s mom is fully human so he and his siblings don���t have wings and the more prominent draca traits aside from horns and slitted pupils).

Sirens are probably the most “supernatural” looking, because of the eyes that glow in the dark, the gills, the claws, the sharp teeth. That’s also because siren pods are more secluded groups that really only interacts with other pods.

As for the magical society’s relationship with humans, the obviously supernatural looking individuals do require glamour as humans at large are not aware of the supernatural.

For example; if an assault or murder were to happen on college grounds, supernatural police officers would be contacted over human police officers due to pre-existing placements on police forces across the world.

The Council, which is the supernatural governing body in each country, has their own officers within the police force that use magic to ensure the continued safety of other supernaturals (though keep in mind the police can still be just as corrupt as the institutions they serve, magical or not).

They use things like mind manipulation and the like to ensure they can detain supernaturals safely to reduce human casualties while maintaining the secrecy of their world.

However, human standards and morals have long since infiltrated the supernatural community. It’s why nephilim are so trusted despite the majority of the old families being corrupt politicians. It’s an interesting relationship to be certain.

[decoraciondigital]

Essential Digital Marketing Strategies for Small Businesses

Every entrepreneur has a concern in his mind about, how can I turn my small business into a multi-national company, but doesn’t have any idea where to start, in this blog, DDMS has brought “Essential Digital Marketing Strategies” which are necessary for small business & startups to gain maximum reach and ROI When someone opens their business for the first time, they usually don’t concentrate on attracting their customers or clients, they sometimes become dependent on offline marketing strategies like - newspaper ads, flyers, etc. Companies have a perception in their mind that if they provide quality products and high-standard services, they will eventually grow their customer base. 

There are many solutions out there, conventional marketing has its advantages but there is a more simpler and effective solution, Nowadays it is essential for businesses and brands to go for digital marketing, Ignoring digital marketing risks small businesses falling behind and being overtaken by competing companies. It is essential to make your online presence in today’s world.

Digital Marketing Strategies for Small Businesses -

So how can a business start using ‘digital marketing strategies.’ How can you run ads that will generate more revenue for your company, what to post on your social media handles to gain reach and engagement, If you also have these types of questions in your mind then DDMS is here to help you out. The simplest and easiest way is to work with a digital Marketing Services Provider by doing this you’ll save time & also you don’t have to worry about anything, But things still have to be defined by you like what is campaign and what is your purpose to get the most out of it. Here are some tips to get you started, 

Identify your company’s main objective

You must know the main objective of your campaign before starting it, or the services that you going to start related to digital marketing, Always examine your results and techniques of digital marketing strategies for more website traffic, lead generation & brand recognition, obtaining more customer base, Etc. 

Competitor analysis and target audience 

If you want to expand your business the major thing you have to do is competitor analysis, it will give you an idea of who are you competing with what are their USPs, and What are they posting & also you’ll get to know hot make your product and service better, this information can be used effectively for greater insights into the tactics and strategies used by our competitors.

Build your online presence on social media

Social Media is an essential & effective ‘Digital Marketing Strategy,’ a business must have a social media profile defining about company’s product or services in an engaging way that the audience likes. Nowadays, customers who are willing to buy first open social media to see the company’s account, social media is a really important factor in growing your business because it gives you access to engage with your targeted audience, building your brand reputation & making customer relations in a really simple way. 

Post Videos or Reels

Single posts or carousel posts are not that popular digital marketing strategy on Instagram & Facebook in comparison to videos that we upload, videos get more reach and become more effective if they are engaging, videos can also be used by brands for conveying their message to their audience resulting in building a connection, It doesn’t matter whether they are informational, Promotional or Humorous video, the main purpose is that it should be relatable so that it gets likes and shares, It needs efforts to make, but it is well-worthy

Advantages of digital marketing for small businesses

These are some of the key benefits that small businesses can get after implementing these digital marketing strategies.

Cost-Effective: Digital marketing mostly costs less than conventional marketing, making it accessible for small businesses that are not willing to pay more for marketing.

Targeted Reach: It allows small businesses to target their specific audiences based on their Behaviour, Interests & demographics, Which leads them to the customers solely based on their niche. Cost-Effective: Digital marketing services mostly cost less than conventional marketing, making it accessible for small businesses that are not willing to pay more for marketing.

Targeted Reach: It allows small businesses to target their specific audiences based on their Behaviour, Interests & demographics, Which leads them to the customers solely based on their niche.

Measurable Results: Digital marketing provides detailed analytics and insights, Which help businesses track their performances and make decisions based on business insights.

Increased Visibility: Digital Marketing makes online presence through search engines and social media, helping businesses attract more customers and increase brand awareness.

Improved Engagement: Social media platforms and email marketing allow businesses to direct interaction with customers, resulting in customer relationships and loyalty.

Greater Flexibility: Digital marketing strategies can be adjusted easily based on performance and changing market conditions, offering agility and adaptability.

Global Reach: It enables businesses to reach their audience globally without the need for a physical presence of a company in multiple locations.

Enhanced Customer Insights: Businesses can gather valuable data about customer preferences and behaviors, helping to tailor products and services to better meet their needs.

Brand Building: Consistent and strategic digital marketing helps in establishing and strengthening a brand’s identity and credibility.

Increased Conversion Rates: Well-optimized digital marketing strategies can lead to higher conversion rates, turning prospects into customers more effectively.

Conclusion 

Digital marketing can seem difficult, but the right strategies can make all the difference for small businesses. By focusing on clear goals, understanding your competition, and engaging effectively on social media, you can significantly boost your online presence and grow your business.

At DDMS (Decoracion Digital Marketing Services), we’re here to simplify the process. Our team offers tailored Digital Marketing Services to help you achieve your goals with ease. Let us handle the details so you can concentrate on what you do best—running your business.

Ready to elevate your digital marketing game? Contact DDMS today and let’s get started on your path to success!