#having to come back every sentence and correct a word or a phrase is also pretty neat

[lilcral]

i love this decrepit forgotten blog on this platform so far away from its glory days because it's the presentable alternative to screaming into the void. where else would i direct this utter lack of direction and the abyss i feel my life is spiraling into? a pillow? a wall? nah, that is so 2010s. on instagram? puhhh-leeeeeeaaase. no. this is the perfect balance between "i am on top of the world, everyone, this is a psa, please notice how i feel" and "tumblr is a digital version of norwegian woods at night and i embrace this cold, cause it makes me warm inside". not as warm as i'd wanted to, but i feel i've already been way too demanding lately. i must've forgotten how it feels to be this hurt. this hopeless. this powerless over life, over things that are no one's fault, over things that are strictly my fault, over hope, over dreams, over the tiny bit of good in my life that i have just thrown out the window. i can't and i shouldn't just get over it, but i so wish i could. it's been so long. i don't know how to cope with this anymore. it's so rusty in that part of my brain now and for a long time. all i can feel is ache that doesn't let me think straight. that doesn't even let me cry. "i ain't scared of living"? hell yeah i am scared of living. i am deeply scared of and also deeply scarred by living if it means it's gonna go on the way it's been these past 6 years. tomorrow marks the 6th year anniversary of my downwards spiral and i can't even eat my cake. and i can't have it either. and there's this voice in my head reverting to my 16 year old mind echoing "it's all your fault" and it's an echo louder than the 80% volume of the speakers blasting maggot brain for the millionth time while i dream of myself playing guitar at least half as well as eddie hazel. but the best i can do is probably weep just as he weeped when he wrote the first half of the song. coming to terms that there's nothing to do and fix anymore. there's nothing to fight, cause the battle's been fought and lost. coming to terms with the thousand spiders crawling around webs in my stomach and coming to terms with the fact that it's not them - it's me, a high percentage of "me, myself and i" and it's always been. and i'm broken and i'll always be this fucking broken and i have no hope anymore for change. best i can do is keep playing maggot brain till i reach one billion plays, and try to at least play the intro decently with my two left hands, while praying this hurt goes away or at least turns into numbness. i feel dry branches splitting out of my spine whenever i think "i'm so sorry" because no amount of sorry can ever fix this, what and who i've lost, or myself.

[corvid-language-library]

I see you talk about shadowing as a language learning method. I understand it had something to do with YT videos? Can you tell a bit more about that, how does it work and how did you come up with it?

Hi there!

Shadowing is where you listen to a language and simultaneously attempt to repeat what you hear - mimicking sounds and intonation - even if you don't understand it right away. By mimicking native speakers this way you acquire more native-like pronunciation while also (ideally) absorbing vocabulary and sentence patterns and grammar structures. I think this article explains it a lot better than I probably can!

The recommended way to do this is using audiobooks or podcasts with transcripts, but the reason I started doing this is because I would watch YT videos about useful phrases for daily life or videos about my target grammar, but I'd forget the sentences almost immediately and then have to find the motivation to sit down and rewatch an entire video, sometimes multiple times. "If only there were a way I could listen to the target sentences constantly and just practice parroting them back!" I found myself thinking. "It'd be so much more efficient than looking them up every single time or having to rewatch a whole 20-minute video!"

And then I realised I could literally just use Audacity (free audio recording/editing software!) and record from my laptop speakers myself.

So, I've been going on Youtube, watching various grammar videos and then recording sentences I want to learn from those videos. I record at natural speed first, then at 0.5x playback and then again at 0.75x playback. I then edit it together with two seconds between each recording and a repeat at each speed (plus one final repeat at normal speed). So an audio looks like:

1) Normal speed 2 second break 2) 50% speed 2 second break 3) 75% speed 2 second break 4) Normal speed 2 second break 5) 50% speed 2 second break 6) 75% speed 2 second break 7) Normal speed

Sometimes for shorter sentences, I don't bother to slow the audio down, so I'll just have it repeat 5-6 times at normal speed.

Once I've recorded everything and edited it together, I put the mp3 on my phone. I have a few different playlists (each one around 10-15 minutes in length) - some for specific grammar, some for specific situations (eg shopping, izakaya) - and I usually just stick one on repeat while I'm walking somewhere or doing some kind of menial task that doesn't otherwise engage my brain (doing dishes, ironing, making materials for work etc). And then I do my best to mimic what I'm hearing just behind the speaker (or along with the speaker). Usually the first few times I listen to a track I just try to speak along with the slower versions, or maybe just mimic the specific target structure. As I hear it more and more, eventually I can speak along with the audio word for word and focus more on my intonation.

I've found it helpful so far because it helps me learn sentences while building the muscle memory of how to say certain words/grammar. I can much more easily recall a sentence I've heard on repeat/practiced saying a hundred times than one I've heard in a video once and written down in a notebook somewhere. And if I can recall a sentence, I can substitute words using correct grammar rather than trying to figure out how to say something from scratch (and hopefully choose the correct option on the JLPT when the time comes!)

Hope that answers your question! Feel free to send more 😊

[perpetual-stories]

Common Grammar Mistakes: Part 1

Hello, hello. It’s me coming back at ya with another segment of grammar basics. Last time I posted about grammar, I had talked about punctuation. This time I will be going over common grammar mistakes that writers often make. Plus it’s been a while since I’ve posted about grammar.

1. Run-on Sentences and Comma Splices

Run-on sentences are known to be sentences that combine independent clauses without punctuation or the right conjunction needed.

Comma splices are known to be similar to run-on sentences but instead uses commas to combine two clauses that have no appropriate conjunction.

I know, I sometimes fall victim to comma splices.

Fixing a run-on sentence or a comma splice can be done in five methods.

Sentence example: Rachel is very smart, she began reading when she was three years old.

Solution 1: Separate the clauses into two sentences: Rachel is very smart. She began reading when she was three years old.

Solution 2: Replace the comma with a semicolon (my favorite one): Rachel is very smart; she began reading when she was three years old.

Solution 3: Replace the comma with a coordinating conjunction: “Rachel is very smart, for she began reading when she was three years old.”

Solution 4: Replace the comma with a subordinating conjunction. “Rachel is very smart because she began reading when she was three years old.”

Solution 5: Replace the comma with a semicolon and transitional word or phrase. “Rachel is very smart; as a result, she began reading when she was three years old.”

Pronoun Disagreement

Some of the most common grammar mistakes are pronoun errors. They occur when pronouns do not agree in number with the nouns to which they refer. If the noun is singular, the pronoun must be singular. If the noun is plural, the pronoun must be plural as well. For example:

Incorrect: “Every girl must bring their own lunch.

Correct: “Every girl must bring her own lunch.”

Pronoun errors are common in modern English, as writers try to avoid awkward phrasing or the implication of sexist language. Although this is an admirable goal, it is still important to learn the correct grammar and use it in more formal situations.

Mistakes in Apostrophe Usage

Apostrophes are used to show possession. However, you do not use an apostrophe after a possessive pronoun such as my, mine, our, ours, his, hers, its, their, or theirs. For example:

Incorrect: “My mothers cabin is next to his' cabin.”

Correct: “My mother's cabin is next to his cabin.”

In the case of it's, the apostrophe is used only to indicate a contraction for “it is.” For example:

Incorrect: “Its a cold day for October.”

Correct: “It's a cold day for October.”

Lack of Subject-Verb Agreement

Confusion over subject-verb agreement can be the source of many grammatical errors. When speaking or writing in the present tense, a sentence must have subjects and verbs that agree in number. If the subject is singular, the verb must be singular. If the subject is plural, the verb must be plural as well. For example:

Incorrect: “These recipes is good for beginning chefs.”

Correct: “These recipes are good for beginning chefs.”

Misplaced Modifiers

To clearly communicate your ideas, you should place a modifier directly next to the word it is supposed to modify. The modifier should clearly refer to a specific word in the sentence. Misplaced modifiers can create confusion and ambiguity. For example:

Incorrect: “At eight years old, my father gave me a pony for Christmas.”

Correct: “When I was eight years old, my father gave me a pony for Christmas.”

Sentence Fragments

Sentence fragments are also common grammar mistakes. A sentence needs to have a subject and a verb. A fragment often happens after another related idea has been expressed. For example:

Incorrect: “Sharon stayed home from school the other day. Because she was sick.”

Correct: “Sharon stayed home from school the other day because she was sick.”

Missing Comma in a Compound Sentence

A compound sentence expresses two complete and related ideas, and it usually includes a conjunction to connect these two parts. There should be a comma before the conjunction to indicate the two ideas are related. If that’s missing, it’s a mistake readers will notice. For example:

Incorrect: “Jim went to the store and Ella went with him.”

Correct: “Jim went to the store, and Ella went with him.”

No Clear Antecedent

An antecedent is a word that comes before a pronoun and helps the reader understand what the pronoun means. Generally, you can clear up this confusion by rearranging the wording. For example:

Incorrect: “The dad found the boy, and he was happy.”

Correct: “The dad was happy when he found the boy.”

Ending a Sentence in a Preposition

Another common grammar mistake is ending a sentence with a preposition. A preposition, by its nature, indicates that another word will follow it. In casual conversation, this type of error is no big deal, but you should avoid this mistake in your writing. For example:

Incorrect: “What reason did he come here for?”

Correct: “For what reason did he come here?”

Please follow, like, comment and reblog!

[wsdalt]

Hello! Quick question about Felps characterization if you don't mind!

Mainly, do you have any tips on speech patterns? Like, repeated phrases/how they're repeated, and general voice things like that? (Genuinely the one thing I struggle with most ._. )

okay… unfortunately voice is also one of the things I struggle with—at least to put it down into words as an explanation? I’m not fluent in Portuguese which means a lot of dialogue quirks I’d otherwise pick up in English I probably miss. also this is off the top of my head so… maybe I’m just missing stuff due to bad memory in general oops

that being said: I will give it my best attempt \o/

(if anyone who is fluent in Portuguese would like to add on or correct anything I’m saying please do!)

firstly I would like to direct you to @/echotune’s mcyt character voice cheatsheet because I’ve written up bits for his character to go there before. It’s not exactly specific phrases, but I think knowing how he’ll react in certain situations can help make up for not knowing his exact phrasing? or for speech patterns being lost in translation

tone:

Felps’ voice goes high pitched a lot. This is kind of hard to write sometimes—or at least to continuously write in a scene because he kind of just throws his pitch around whenever—but you can add it there. It’s usually when he gets heated about something or… feels strongly about something in general? /if he’s defensive about something? But not really if he’s sad I think. and it’s not all the time so don’t worry about trying to incorporate it every time one of those situations hits

…on the opposite side of that he’s also very… deadpan I suppose? he can deliver absurd lines very casually and deadpan/serious, or absurd lines casually with a smile, or just really really commit to the bit. maybe I mean dry. he can say things very drily

aka 2 part 2: maybe obvious but just to clarify: committing to the bit means incorporating whatever emotion he needs to to commit to the bit. so he’ll fake being upset for example

laughs a lot while speaking, but can also stop himself from laughing fairly easily—specifically regarding the above two points

bursts into tears… fairly easily? but specifically surrounding Richas + he cried at Cellbit and Roier’s wedding. it’s usually only briefly and he kind of tries to suppress it a bit

there’s a specific warning tone he’ll use if someone says an innuendo… to him? I suppose? where he kind of just says the person’s name with that tone (I use “warning” or “chastising” to describe it—depends on what vibe you want in the scene) sometimes repeating their name. It’s always lighthearted though

specific phrases:

(disclaimer: see above note about me not being fluent in Portuguese. I’m trying to grab from when he speaks Portuguese rather than I when he speaks English because I often write him as “speaking” in Portuguese—just translated to English for fic purposes)

“pelo amor de deus” / “meu deus do céu” aka “for the love of god” / “my god in heaven”

I actually don’t think he repeats much? compared to other streamers?* the cc says “valeu valeu” (“thank you thank you”) when thanking subs from memory, but other than that I can’t think of much…? If he does repeat himself it would probably be moreso adding onto his previous sentence and rewording it a bit (*a lot of streamers end up repeating themselves because they’re talking to chat and sometimes this bleeds into how they talk in general). I think you mean more like… phrases that come up a lot, but this is still a good point

I think he throws around “man” and “bro” (the Portuguese equivalents: “velho”, “mano”) a lot, but not necessarily during serious moments (which is why this has faded out of how I write him, but I’m trying to bring it back for less serious moments)

“Sabe?” “Entendeu?” “Né?” “tá ligado?” To be honest I use “you know?” in English for all of these except Né which I write as “right?”. Né is kind of an “innit?” if that helps, but I’m not going to make him sound British so I use “right?” instead. The actual (google translated, sorry) English versions: “sabe?”—“you know?”, “entendeu?”—“understood?”/“understand?”/“got it?”, “tá ligado?”—“are you aware?”/“is it connected?” (which I’m kind of taking as “is it connecting?”) i feel like in Portuguese those last two are a bit more casual…? than what their English counterparts are, which is why I stick with “you know?” as a cover-all. but I could be wrong!

he adds “inho” (etc) to a lot of words. the best English translation is putting “little” before a word

I think your best bet is to watch some Portuguese streams of his—preferably with another character so you can listen to how he speaks with other people not just chat. this can include Richas! But I hope this helps a bit \o/!!

and again—if anyone who knows Portuguese better than me has anything to add or correct please feel free \o/!!

[clone-anon]

It's me again! I'm the one who requested the nonverbal male reader x Crosshair a while back.

I was wondering if you could do another short one expanding with the reader helping teach Cross more signs? I love how you wrote the last one and I'm absolutely in love with your writing!

Absolutely! For those interested, here is the first fic. This one definitely has a bit more of an s/o spin, I think. I also may have made the first part a bit angsty, but it ends well. I hope this is to your liking, but if you want changes let me know!

Crosshair knew how to sign letters pretty well. Like most things, he was incredibly precise and so he paid close attention to the position of his hands and fingers when signing. He was trying to learn more signs using the holonet, but it was often frustrating. There were sometimes multiple ways of signing what he wanted to sign and other times, there were some words that were skipped since signed sentences were different than spoken ones. Still, he persisted. He wanted to do this on his own and show you he took this seriously.

That started to change when one evening you went nonverbal. He understood you needed to leave the situation, but couldn't quite figure out what you were saying. He could speak, but didn't want to, instead trying his best to sign. He usually could figure out what you were signing, but tonight was different.

Signing K A R K, I don't know. He was mad at himself for not knowing more, and in that moment you were both overwhelmed. He took a deep breath and sighed. Your home? You signed yes. He took your hand and walked you home.

Once home, you made a suggestion. Bed? Sometimes, even if you couldn't communicate well, sleeping on it would help. Crosshair signed yes and got into bed with you. He pulled you against his chest and kissed you shoulder, holding you as you both eventually fell asleep.

The next morning, you both woke up feeling better, the overwhelm of the previous evening gone and seemingly helped by the comfortable shared space of your bed. Over breakfast, he finally asked.

"Teach me," he said, signing you teach me.

"Okay," you replied with a smile. "What do you want to learn?"

"At the very least," he replied, "I need to know the questions and phrases that would most help you. I can't keep signing out every word I don't know."

You appreciated his initiative in trying to learn to sign himself, but were more than happy to show him. The next hour was spent showing him the signs you used the night before as well as some others that would come in handy in those situations. I'm scared, hold my hand, too loud, need a break, I'm stressed, I'm overstimulated, I'm overwhelmed, Let's get some food, Can we go home, I need you. He was very open to learning, allowing you to correct his form whenever need be. Over the next few days, you showed him many more signs for every day interactions. It made things so much better, offering relief that the next time something happened, it would be easier.

For whatever reason, he liked the sign for together. It became another way of showing affection. I love you was easy to figure out and most people knew it. Together was a different. Signing together felt like his way of secretly tell you that you weren't alone and that he he loved you in one basic sign.

When Wrecker held a large party, you did everything you could to attend. It wasn't normally your favorite environment, but Crosshair was with you the whole time. Someone made some sort of loud comment not directed at anyone in particular and for whatever reason someone else decided the music needed to be louder.

I need a break, you signed. Come with me? It wasn't even a question Crosshair needed to consider, and you both stepped outside away from the crowd for a break.

Sorry, you signed.

No, he signed back firmly with a shake of his head. You are my boyfriend. I love you. We are in this - both of us - together.

Hold my hand, you signed with a hopeful smile. He took your hand in his own and sat with you until you were ready to go back inside.

[lakesbian]

ok i was going to read 1.3 and then say things about 1.2 but i'm sleepytired again so i will read 1.3 tomorrow. world's slowest bookread ever this thing is far shorter than worm and yet i will manage to make it take forever via power of being distracted easily

first of all: i have once again lost the fucking plot. lost in the sauce of bad things happening. i respond to horror like a baby watching keys dangle. so long as bad things are happening to blake i am going to be watching and clapping instead of thinking carefully. that's a lie i am absolutely still thinking carefully but i am primarily more invested in the bad things happening

ok no seriously though. ahem. as for thoughts on the universe thus far: no groundbreaking updates in that department. we're obviously getting more on rose but i do not have solid thoughts on her or the mirror world presently. watching and looking and contemplating but we'll get there when we get there.

i presume blake is correct abt the horrors being given specific instructions vs acting entirely autonomously--presumably others sent after him by whichever random enemy no 234325 he inherited. i'm aware "people can make pacts with magic guys to go do things" is an absolute nothing-statement when it comes to a universe called pact that runs on fairy-logic and we've already seen an example of it previously but my point is that i presume there are other specific ppl and/or entities w/ more character responsible for directing the attacks, and we'll meet them sooner or later.

exceedingly endeared to the atmosphere in this. as always wildbow will write one million redundant poorly phrased little sentences and then somehow it results in a genuinely compelling atmosphere. love the visual of blake driving the car around The Horrors & then it breaking down in the snowy darkness. the lights slowly going out et cetera.

also particularly endeared to him hauling down on the car mirror, getting the tire iron, going on a little monologue to himself about conserving heat, and then immediately having his Horror Movie Protagonist Preparations do nothing and go to shit and then he panics and runs into the woods and trips and almost dies. and he also starts crying near-immediately. and then going "that's fine. that's because of the wind. crying because of the wind. i'm fine" to himself while hysterically screeching at The Horrors he just very unsuccessfully attempted to beat back with a tire iron. he's not doing bad but he's not doing good either. literally just an extremely normal average guy who throws his back out running. it's fantastic. like whatever fantastical circumstances happen to him he still has the heart and soul of a Normal Guy who should be sipping his 7 dollar latte while he walks to art college instead of crying while trying to beat the shit out of fairies. and that's so funny. blake crying throwing up vibrating back and forth saying every swear word he knows in alphabetical order because he has to sew his own hand up So so fucking funny. taylor hebert could do pact but blake thorburn could not do worm. i was right that he could not handle having a juicebox poured on him without calling someone a cunt and slamming doors around about it.

i do hope i find out more about what caused his [pokes around in his brain with a spatula] Issues sooner or later bc it's more interesting to pick him apart if i know what exactly was going on there. but he looooves not thinking about let alone talking about bad memories and he might be a little too busy experiencing New bad memories to ever wheel 'em out for my pleasure. so we'll find out. holding off on any firm thoughts about him until i see if we get any more detail but either way he's interesting. certainly a guy ever. very endearing i like him

[zigdirty]

For math and logic questions especially, it's often incredibly helpful to read the last sentence of a long word problem FIRST to figure out what information is being asked. Sometimes the rest of the paragraph is just to confuse you. (It may not always be the last sentence but it will be the sentence asking the question, so look for a question mark.) Yes, that is a thing. Plus, even if the entire paragraph is relevant to the problem, sometimes knowing what you need to answer helps explain all the other details more easily than reading the details first. If you read the question portion first, then read the entire word problem, you may be able to solve the question while reading it. If you try to remember all the details reading the word problem as it is written, you can sometimes get confused before you even know what is actually being asked.

For any language questions that are asking you to choose a single word either from a definition or for a blank in a sentence, if all of the answers start with the same letter but ONE, the one that is different is almost always (99.9%) wrong. Because it stands out and you focus on it due to it breaking the first-letter pattern, your brain is more likely to choose it by default even if you don't read any of the word choices, so test writers almost never make that the correct answer. If you actually read all of the answers and you truly think the one word that is different (different starting letter) is correct, leave that question and come back to it at the end, and if you don't have time to spend on it at the end, choose that answer anyway (as long as you don't lose points for a wrong answer).

When the multiple choice answers are phrases or sentences, or basically not numbers or predetermined lengths for each answer (like a term or an equation), the longest answer is often the correct one, especially if that option is much, MUCH longer than all of the other answer choices. This isn't always true, as sometimes the long answers can be totally random and clearly wrong, and also some sneaky teachers that write their own tests can make these long answers wrong on purpose (like a philosophy teacher as an example), but typically test writers have a LOT of questions/answers to write and don't really have the luxury to spend a ton of time writing long answers when they don't have to write long answers. Thus, the long answers are usually required to be long: they are the correct answer.

If you see answer choices that include an answer All of the above with all other answers being actual answers, try to disprove one answer choice first. If you get lucky and disprove it, you've ruled out that choice AND All of the above.

If you see All of the Above and None of the above as answer options on the same question, whoever wrote the test is an asshole, and you'll have to look at every other answer thoroughly. You may want to save that question until the end. If you end up pressed for time at the end, just go with your designated answer choice for when you don't know. (This also applies if one of the answer choices has More than one of the above as an option, as well.)

If you have a really awful test-maker and they want you to select the answer that is the "most correct" then you may want to write on your test (if possible) on the off chance you have to argue your answer against the teacher. Typically with these types of questions, more than one answer is correct, but they expect you to answer the one that is the most correct. This is a stupid expectation and highly subjective, but that can be to your benefit. Select the answer you think, then write some quick notes off to the side of the question that will remind you why you thought that answer was most correct when you chose it. If you get it wrong, and you can get the test back, you could argue the question is invalid or has more than one right answer, and a good teacher will award you the point if your argument is sound. But you may not remember your thinking during the test when you get your grade back some time later, so the notes on the test itself next to the question are intended as insurance, to remind you and give you the best chance to make a compelling argument.

Every single time I say the phrase “I was classically trained in the art of multiple choice tests” everyone in the room who’s not a millennial laughs at my joke while all the other millennials in the room immediately look like they just walked in on a funeral by accident.

[batmanisagatewaydrug]

Hey, its the anon that sent you that trans ask a bit ago! I have another question if that's ok? This time I'm trying to understand pronouns. In your answer to my last ask, you were talking about how we need to respect the pronouns that people choose for themselves. I was wondering if pronouns are tied to gender? Like from my experience most cis males use he/him, but I've seen some stuff about he/him lesbians? What is that. I'm not trying to be rude or anything, I genuinely don't really get it. Are pronouns like favorite colors? The person just chooses whatever they vibe with regardless of their chosen gender (or ungender for those who are outside of the binary)

oh hey dude, welcome back! first off I would like to thank you for the phrase "ungender," which I will be peppering into my vocabulary starting immediately.

so, what's the deal with pronouns? starting at linguistics 101, a pronoun is just a word that can be substituted for a noun or group of nouns in a sentence. that includes words like "I," "you," "we," and "us," but the most commonly discussed and debated pronouns are those that are implicitly gendered.

the basic assumption in English is that he/him/his are pronouns used to refer to men, while she/her/hers are for women and they/them/theirs are for either groups of people or someone whose identity is unknown - for instance, saying "they all went running together" or "someone lost their wallet here, I hope they come back to get it."

as with many cultural norms that are often taken for granted, this rather simple binary approach to language becomes incredibly complicated as soon as you acknowledge that not everyone can be easily parceled off into male/man/he/him and female/woman/she/her boxes!

your comparison to favorite colors isn't a bad starting place, because - much like favorite colors - the seriousness with which people take their pronoun usage can vary wildly from person to person. and much like having a favorite color, none of those preferences are wrong!

for some trans folks, having people use the correct pronouns is a very big deal, because it indicates that the people talking to and about them recognize and respect their gender identity. also, it's just kind of shitty if, say, you're a trans woman who gets referred to as "he" all the time, even if some of those are by people making sincere mistakes, because every instance of misgendered puts the burden on a trans person to either speak up for themselves and potentially cause a scene or just sit quietly and take it, both of which are pretty depressing options. this is a big part of why including your pronouns when you introduce yourself and wearing nametags or pins with pronouns listed are such a big thing in so many queer spaces - it can seriously cut down on the hurt people experience when they get misgendered, and it helps normalize the idea that someone's appearance doesn't necessarily indicate their gender or the correct pronouns to use for them.

for other queer people, their relationship to their gender can be so nebulous and variable that they're comfortable using multiple sets of pronouns - he/they and she/they are both common - or not having any preference at all. I include myself in that category - while I have no problem with the pronouns that people generally default to when they talk about me, I also really don't have any beef with other pronouns getting thrown into the mix. every once in a while someone throws a he/him my way and I think that's simply delightful. it's hilarious, frankly, and you'll never catch me complaining about it, because it's not necessarily any more right or wrong than she/her or they/them or anything else people can think of.

speaking of other things people can think of - some folks prefer using what are known as "neopronouns" which are generally meant to be detached from gender. some sets of neopronouns include xe/xem/xer, ze/zem/zir, and e/em/eirs. I'll say right now: learning to incorporate neopronouns into your vocabulary can be difficult, and that's okay. making the effort to learn and use them if you meet someone who prefers them is what matters. the folks who use these pronouns are being super brave trying to create a space for themselves by inventing language where there previously was none, and I salute them.

to answer your question about he/him lesbians - they're great and I love them! there's a long and rich and BEAUTIFUL history of lesbian expressions of butchness and masculinity, and for some lesbians that extends to wanting to be called by pronouns that are traditionally used for men. some of those lesbians might also take testosterone or otherwise consider themselves transmasculine and/or nonbinary while still being lesbians while others will eventually find the most joy identifying fully as trans men; the world of lesbian gender expression is nuanced and lovely and holds space for a great deal of ambiguity. likewise there are gay men, especially those with particularly feminine or otherwise gender nonconforming presentations, who prefer to use she/her pronouns; bounce rapper Big Freedia is a notable example.

it's also worth noting that many people who are 100% cisgender sometimes dip into adding they/thems to their pronouns as a gesture of solidarity and support to normalize the use of gender neutral pronouns, which I think is cool and rad. this can sometimes cause confusion on the part of onlookers - most recently, actor Rahul Kohli became aware that some fans were under the incorrect impression that he's nonbinary after he changed the pronouns in his twitter bio to he/they - but honestly, I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing! uncertainty can be a great conversation starter and make space for a lot of learning.

in short: sure, pronouns can be a lot like favorite colors. some people pick one early on and stick with it forever, some people change it up every day. some people refuse to pick just one, and some people don't have a favorite at all. for some people their favorite color is an extremely serious matter, and for others it's all about the vibes. all that really matters is that when somebody tells you their favorite color(s), the polite thing to do is accept that and behave accordingly.

[fromchaostocosmos]

I got an anon that I had deleted because it was not worth my energy essentially telling me that I was blaming Christians because I didn't want to be called Islamophobic and that Palestinians are Muslims so that who is at fault.

I looked at that messaged, sighed in exasperation, and then deleted it.

Islam does have a concept of martyrs and martyrdom. Islam is more into martyrdom than Judaism, but no where near Christianity is.

Also not all Palestinians are Muslim.

But the most important part to all of this and the reason why I put the blame where I did and why I spoke about Christianity and cultural christianity is because that is who is at fault.

I have in multiple posts pointed out how the Palestinian people have said time and again that what that man did does not help and that they do not want people doing that.

And I have time and again seen people who are from the west, people who are not Palestinian praise this man and his actions. Call him Martyr, use the phrase Rest in Power which is something that comes from the Black community specifically I believe the African-American one and has no place being appropriated.

I am not Palestinian and I am not a Gazan, but I have to ask myself how they must think and feel seeing certain rhetoric that gets used by Hamas and their predecesors being used by people who claim to their supporters.

See unless you are from our communities you might not know, but back in 90's to mid 2000's (someone please correct me on the dates) there would be non-stop suicide bombings in Israel.

It would front page news on Jewish newspapers, but not in any other ones. Like Wall Street Journal or New York Times were not putting this as front page news.'

I remember being a kid and this being a topic of discussion all the time. Because it was all the time right. Buses was on the most commonly attacked places and buses were how most Israelis got around in Israel.

The people who commit these suicide bombings were often young and they were told they were going to be Martyrs and saviors. That they would help usher in a new age. That their families would taken care of and would be rich.

It is honestly very tragic. Palestinians can speak to what the reality looked during that time and what these diffrent terrorist groups and governments, to be honest I'm not sure what to call them, better than I can ever try to because they are the ones who living under it, with it.

I can speak to what it was like as American Jew growing up, but I can speak to what the experience of Palestinians were during that time nor would I want to try because that is not my place.

All I can say is that can imagine that to see people who say they support using the same language and radicalization tactics as the ones who used your children, your people as literal canon fodder must so painful. And it must cut so deep when these people who say they care about will not listen to you and keep speaking up over you and acting like they know better than you.

I truly do not think Palestinians hate Israelis and/or Jews. I firmly believe with every part of my being that they too want peace. Does this speak to every Palestinian person probably not, because they are not monolith no group is. But I think that this goes for the majority.

I think if we as people with out horrific governments from both sides would get out of the way and if people who nothing to do with the land could shut up for once and just let us talk with out cutting us off and interfering, peace could be something real and tangible.

[If in this post or my other one in this thread there is a sentence where it seems like a word might be missing because it makes more sense once you add it, then odds are that is the case. Due the way my brain is wired when I am writing, especially when it is a lot, in head I will head the complete sentence, but I don't always end up writing all out. Unfortunately my brain looks at what is written and goes all everything is there because it reads it as if every word has been written.

Same goes with spelling errors if you see a spelling error where it is just something slightly off you are right. I am grateful for spellcheck, but learning disabilities due what they do and sometimes spellcheck doesn't catch everything and/or I spelled something correctly so it doesn't get caught, but it is not the word I was intending to use]

Something I really don't understand is this obsession the anti-Israel crowd (in the West) have with death and martyrdom. All they care about is dying, and often killing for their cause; I see nothing about building a better future that isn't based on the murder of 9 million Israelis.

It's easy to die for a cause. The challenge is living to make a better tomorrow.

[escapetoluna]

How to learn a language when you don’t know where to start:

General Plan:

Weeks 1 and 2: Purpose:

Learn the fundamentals sentence construction

Learn how to spell and count

Start building a phrase stockpile with basic greetings

The Alphabet

Numbers 1 - 100

Subject Pronouns

Common Greetings

Conjugate the Two Most Important Verbs: to be and to have

Basic Definite and Indefinite Articles

Weeks 3 and 4: Purpose:

Learn essential vocabulary for the day-to-day

Start conjugating regular verbs

Days of the Week and Months of the Year

How to tell the time

How to talk about the weather

Family Vocabulary

Present Tense Conjugations Verbs

Weeks 5 and 6: Purpose:

Warm up with the last of the day-to-day vocabulary

Add more complex types of sentences to your grammar

Colours

House vocabulary

How to ask questions

Present Tense Conjugations Verbs

Forming negatives

Weeks 7 and 8: Purpose:

Learn how to navigate basic situations in a region of your target language country

Finish memorising regular conjugation rules

Food Vocabulary and Ordering at Restaurants

Money and Shopping Phrases

Present Tense Conjugations Verbs

Weeks 9 and 10: Purpose:

Start constructing descriptive and more complex sentences

Adjectives

Reflective verbs

Places vocabulary

Weeks 11 and 12: Purpose:

Add more complex descriptions to your sentences with adverbs

Wrap up vocabulary essentials

Adverbs

Parts of the body and medical vocabulary

Tips for Learning a Foreign Language:

Learning Vocabulary:

What vocabulary should I be learning?

There are hundreds of thousands of words in every language, and the large majority of them won’t be immediately relevant to you when you’re starting out.Typically, the most frequent 3000 words make up 90% of the language that a native speaker uses on any given day. Instead try to learn the most useful words in a language, and then expand outwards from there according to your needs and interests.

Choose the words you want/need to learn.

Relate them to what you already know.

Review them until they’ve reached your long-term memory.

Record them so learning is never lost.

Use them in meaningful human conversation and communication.

How should I record the vocabulary?

Learners need to see and/or hear a new word of phrase 6 to 17 times before they really know a piece of vocabulary.

Keep a careful record of new vocabulary.

Record the vocabulary in a way that is helpful to you and will ensure that you will practice the vocabulary, e.g. flashcards.

Vocabulary should be organised so that words are easier to find, e.g. alphabetically or according to topic.

Ideally when noting vocabulary you should write down not only the meaning, but the grammatical class, and example in a sentence, and where needed information about structure.

How should I practice using the vocabulary?

Look, Say, Cover, Write and Check - Use this method for learning and remembering vocabulary. This method is really good for learning spellings.

Make flashcards. Write the vocabulary on the front with the definition and examples on the back.

Draw mind maps or make visual representations of the new vocabulary groups.

Stick labels or post it notes on corresponding objects, e.g when learning kitchen vocabulary you could label items in your house.

How often should I be practising vocabulary?

A valuable technique is ‘the principle of expanding rehearsal’. This means reviewing vocabulary shortly after first learning them then at increasingly longer intervals.

Ideally, words should be reviewed:

5-10 minutes later

24 hours later

One week later

1-2 months later

6 months later

Knowing a vocabulary item well enough to use it productively means knowing:

Its written and spoken forms (spelling and pronunciation).

Its grammatical category and other grammatical information

Related words and word families, e.g. adjective, adverb, verb, noun.

Common collocations (Words that often come before or after it).

Receptive Skills: Listening and Reading

Reading is probably one of the most effective ways of building vocabulary knowledge.

Listening is also important because it occupies a big chunk of the time we spend communicating.

Tips for reading in a foreign language:

Start basic and small.  Children’s books are great practice for beginners. Don’t try to dive into a novel or newspaper too early, since it can be discouraging and time consuming if you have to look up every other word.

Read things you’ve already read in your native language. The fact that you at least know the gist of the story will help you to pick up context clues, learn new vocabulary and grammatical constructions.

Read books with their accompanying audio books. Reading a book while listening to the accompanying audio will improve your “ear training”. It will also help you to learn the pronunciation of words.

Tips for listening in a foreign language:

Watch films in your target language.

Read a book while also listening along to the audio book version.

Listen to the radio in your target language.

Watch videos online in your target language.

Activities to do to show that you’ve understood what you’ve been listening to:

Try drawing a picture of what was said.

Ask yourself some questions about it and try to answer them.

Provide a summary of what was said.

Suggest what might come next in the “story.”

Translate what was said into another language.

“Talk back” to the speaker to engage in imaginary conversation.

Productive Skills: Speaking and Writing

Tips for speaking in a foreign language:

If you can, try to speak the language every day either out loud to yourself or chat to another native speaker whether it is a colleague, a friend, a tutor or a language exchange partner. 

Write a list of topics and think about what you could say about each one. First you could write out your thoughts and then read them out loud. Look up the words you don’t know. You could also come up with questions at the end to ask someone else.

A really good way to improve your own speaking is to listen to how native speakers talk and imitate their accent, their rhythm of speech and tone of voice. Watch how their lips move and pay attention to the stressed sounds. You could watch interviews on YouTube or online news websites and pause every so often to copy what you have just heard. You could even sing along to songs sung in the target language.

Walk around the house and describe what you say. Say what you like or dislike about the room or the furniture or the decor. Talk about what you want to change.This gets you to practise every day vocabulary.

Tips for writing in a foreign language:

Practice writing in your target language. Keep it simple to start with. Beginner vocabulary and grammar concepts are generally very descriptive and concrete.

Practice writing by hand. Here are some things you can write out by hand:

Diary entries

Shopping lists

Reminders

What could I write about?

Write about your day, an interesting event, how you're feeling, or what you're thinking.

Make up a conversation between two people. 

Write a letter to a friend, yourself, or a celebrity. You don't need to send it; just writing it will be helpful.

Translate a text you've written in your native language into your foreign language.

Write a review or a book you've recently read or a film you've recently watched.

Write Facebook statuses, Tweets or Tumblr posts (whether you post them or not will be up to you).

Write a short story or poem.

Writing is one of the hardest things to do well as a non-native speaker of a language, because there’s no room to hide. 

There are lots of ways to improve your writing ability, but they can be essentially boiled down to three key components:

Read a lot

Write a lot

Get your writing corrected

[akirie-tea]

Hello! I am currently an incoming freshman in college and also majoring in Chinese Studies. Are there things that I should know, or handy tips I could use (esp. in learning Mandarin, although the question could be answered in general as well)? Thank you so much in advance. ���

Hmm, I thought about it for a little while, and I have a few general tips I think is very useful for when you start learning Chinese in a professional environment;

- Chinese is a very difficult language to learn, especially if your mother’s tongue is a European language. This means it’s essential that you dedicate A LOT of time in the beginning of learning Chinese to studying and doing homework. It’s crazy how many of my classmates have fallen behind on Chinese, because they didn’t study hard enough - they got lost, a lot dropped out because they couldn’t understand the professors anymore. Do yourself a favour and give it all you’ve got from the beginning, so you don’t fall behind.

- I use Pleco for individual word translations, and Baidu translate 百度翻译 for sentence translations. It’s the best translators I know. Pleco is amazing, because it can do so much, like show the stroke order of many simple characters, accurately translate 成语 phrases, shows you how a character is built up, etc. Baidu translate is the most accurate translater for Chinese that I know of, I use it when I have many many pages to translate and need a quick overview of what the text is about, then use Pleco for individual words that I’m unsure of what means or to check if the Baidu translation is correct.

- I don’t know how you will be taught, but my professor made us have tests every week to write down pinyin and hanzi that we had learned that week. If your professor does not do that, I suggest you try and write down all words you’ve learned every week. That helped me tremendously when I first started learning Chinese. Just take a paper, write all the characters down that you learned, then either have someone (like a a classmate) read it out loud to you, so you write it down from memory, or see if you can remember them yourself from memory. You could also record yourself saying the characters and then play the recording and write them down.

- Don’t be shy to speak when you are learning Chinese. If you don’t use the language, you will learn it slower. I have classmates who still cannot pronounce shi ci zi xi sounds, even after so many years. It’s crucial to learn the correct pronounciation, otherwise native Chinese will have no idea what you are saying. So practice practice practice whenever you get the chance.

That’s the most fundamental tips I have for starting your Chinese learning. Of course there are other excellent things you can do, like find a 语半, but I don’t think that’s necessary until you’ve at least learned the basics of Chinese. Try your best to be diligent student, don’t fall behind or it’ll come back to bite your butt.

如果你想学好中文，你必须努力学习！

Good luck! Chinese is a very rewarding and beautiful language, if you appreciate it well, you won’t fall behind as easily!

[serendipitous-magic]

What is your writing advice for young people who want to write fanfiction and original stories in the near future?

If this is just Way Too Much, skip to the end (#16). My most important piece of advice is there. I also happen to think #5 is pretty good.

-_-_-_-

1) Literally just write. Write whatever you want, and do a lot of it.

_-_

2) You don’t have to post everything. In fact you don’t have to post anything. You can, don’t get me wrong, but it can be intimidating to sit down and think “I will now write something that other people will see and read and judge with their eyeballs.” Because that’s probably gonna lead to nerves and writer's block. Just write down the ideas that you have, the things you want to write, whatever’s in your brain that you want to explore and expand upon and make into something. And then if you want to, share it. Or don’t share it. I have plenty of half-baked ideas and documents and random story chapters and shit hidden away on my Google Drive that will never see the light of day, for a whole number of reasons. I wanted to write it but it wasn’t ~Spicy~ enough to warrant posting, or it’s only like an eighth of a good idea, or it’s like one scene with no story around it, or it’s just something incredibly self-indulgent I just wanted to write for my own enjoyment.

Point being, don’t write for other people. Don’t write so that other people can read it; write what you want, write for yourself, and then if you want to share it, do.

_-_

3) You can pretty much ignore any and all of these for fanfiction. In fact, you can ignore pretty much any rules or guidelines you want for fanfiction. Fanfic is a sandbox. You don’t have to be a “professional writer” to post fic. No one expects you to be Stephen King or Margaret Atwood. Fanfic is just for playing in a fandom and having fun. If you wanna write a 50 chapter slow burn with very little plot aside from the OTP slowly getting to know each other, and no real stakes or central conflict, I guarantee people would read that. Really, fanfiction is the Old West of writing: lawless, wild, unpredictable, and free.

However, here are the rules you must follow:

-Separate your paragraphs. (I’m sure you know this already, but I’m gonna say it anyway just in case.) Do not post one big block of text. Make a paragraph break when someone new is talking, when the characters are in a new place, when a new event occurs that changes the scene, when a chunk of time has passed, and when there’s a major change in subject.

-I know it’s obvious, but... grammar, punctuation, and capitalization. They exist to make writing easy for readers to read, and more people will read your stuff if they don’t have to stop and try to figure out what you meant.

-Use tags and labels, as is possible with whatever site you’re using. Especially if you include possibly triggering content in your story. Again, I know it’s obvious, but it’s common courtesy. Bonus: tagging the themes and content of your story helps readers find it and read it :)

-If possible, limit the use of all-caps and exclamation marks / question marks. 99% of the time, one ! or one ? will do. If you overload the page with a lot of all-caps and long rows of exclamation marks or question marks, it hampers readability.

... That’s literally all I can think of. And, like I said, it’s all pretty basic stuff. You were probably rolling your eyes like, “Uh, yeah, Gwen, I know.” But that’s literally it. You can pretty much do whatever you want in fanfic.

That being said, here’s my advice for both fanfiction and original work...

_-_

4) A quick and dirty rule for coming up with a plot, starting a story, keeping up pacing, or maintaining tension: figure out what dreams, desires, and goals are nearest and dearest to your main character’s heart (see #16). Then set up the main conflict to be directly in opposition to that goal. It doesn’t have to be in a tangible way, though it could be. But, if your main character wants more than anything to reach the ships on the southern coast of your world and sail to a new life, make sure the main conflict immediately prevents them from doing that - in fact, make sure to send them north. If your main character just wants to keep their loved ones safe, kidnap the loved ones. If your main character just wants to date their best-friend-turned-crush, make sure they think they have no chance - or, make them cocky about it, and make sure it makes Person B determined not to ever like them. You get it. Figure out what your character most wants, and then keep them from having that. Boom - your conflict now ties in with your character's motivation. It's like instant yeast for plots.

_-_

5) If you’re anything like me, you want your first draft to be Good, despite all that advice about how the first draft doesn’t have to be good and it’s just to get words on the page, yadda yadda. And if you’re somewhat of a perfectionist (like myself), it’s easy to get stuck looking at a blank page because you don’t have The Perfect Words, and you want what you write to be Good the first time.

Here’s how I cheat that:

Instead of trying to write a Good First Draft from a blank page, hit the enter key a few times, skip a little down on the page, change your ink to red (or blue, or whatever - just something immediately identifiable as Not Black) and just thought vomit. Write whatever the hell you’re thinking, exactly as you think it. Don’t worry about it being readable, don’t worry about narrative flow for now, don’t worry about covering all the details, don’t worry about anything except either a) getting all the details of your idea out onto the page, whether that’s a lot or whether it’s just a sentence or two, or b) if you don’t have an idea yet, finding your way there.

Because this method is also very good for finding your way to ideas when you’re stuck in writer’s block.

Because of how human brains work, getting this stuff out onto the page - in all its messy, stream-of-consciousness glory - will likely spark more thoughts. As you write your original idea about the scene, it’ll likely spark more ideas. Creation begets creation. If you just start thought-vomiting your ideas onto the page, chances are you’ll think of more things as you go, and you’ll start filling out description or dialogue or tone or action or whatever, and pretty soon the scene starts writing itself.

Not sure where you’re going with the scene or which ideas you wanna use? Use a lot of ambivalent language in your “thought-vomit draft.” My pre-writing notes are chock-full of the words “maybe,” “perhaps,” and the phrases, “At some point...” and “...or something like that.” In this way, I don’t tie myself down to one idea; it’s just an idea, and I’m keeping it on the page in case I use it, but I might chuck it in the trash or change it or whatever.

And then, once your ideas for the scene (or story, or chapter, or whatever) are on the page, then go back to the top and start translating them into a “real” first draft. Use black ink, and start copy-pasting chunks of the thought-vomit up into the top part of the document and translating them into Draft 1. Separate out paragraphs where paragraph breaks should be. Add the correct punctuation and whatnot. Change “describe the lobby here - include potted plants, fancy carpet, blood stain, etc.” into an actual description of the lobby. Flesh it out, or condense, or whatever it needs. And if you’re still stuck, change back to red ink and ramble some more until you find a path that feels right, then plug that in. This keeps you from looking at a blank page, and it allows you to generate a kind of Draft 0.5, somewhere between a plan and a first draft.

You don’t have to use every idea. Like I said, jot down whatever comes to mind, put a “maybe” before or after it, and keep working. If the idea grabs you and you wanna keep expanding on it and exploring it, cool. If you just wanna jot it down so you don’t forget it and then move on, also cool. Red-ink draft / “thought-vomit draft” is your time to jump around in the timeline, add or finesse details at whatever point your brain moves to, etc. Don’t try to do it exactly in story order, because you will get tangential thoughts and ideas, and you will not remember to write them down five pages later when you finally get to taking notes on that scene. Trust me. On that note...

_-_

6) Write everything down the moment you think of it. Seriously.

“I’ll remember it when I get around to writing that scene in a couple days / weeks / months (/years).”

You won’t.

Write it down.

Phone, journal, google docs - hell, my family regularly laughs at me for grabbing a napkin during dinner and scribbling thoughts down alongside pasta sauce stains.

And then, once you have it written down somewhere...

_-_

7) Consolidate your writing ideas in one place.

Maybe this isn’t really your style, and that’s totally chill.

Buuuut, if you’re Type-A like me - or if you tend to be somewhat unorganized and you know you’ll lose track of your writing notes if they’re scattered across multiple notebooks, journals, napkins, phone notes, etc. - having one consolidated document of notes is a life saver. I keep mine on Google Docs so I can access it, add to it, and look through it for inspiration anywhere at any time. When I have one of those Shower Thoughts that I jot down on my phone or on a napkin during dinner, I set myself a reminder on my phone to type it up in my Story Ideas document later.

(Or, if the idea I had was for a story of mine that I’ve already started planning / drafting / whatever, I put it in the document for that story instead of the Big Random Story Ideas doc. You get it.)

_-_

8) Have other ways to collect and save writing ideas, besides just writing stuff down. If you like Pinterest, make pinterest boards of your characters or stories or settings or whatever. If you’re big into playlists, make a playlist for your character / setting / story / etc. Or both. Or something else. I’m not good at drawing, but maybe you are, and maybe you like to draw your ideas. Whatever form it takes, having another way to save ideas and think about your stories is invaluable.

_-_

9) Some writers can just start writing with no idea where the story is going, and they just kind of figure it out as they go. I envy those writers. And I do that sometimes for fanfiction, where the stakes are somewhat lower and the audience is reading more for scene-to-scene enjoyment (and to see their OTP kiss) than for a Driving And Compelling Narrative.

But here’s the thing: especially if you’re just kind of starting out, writing without some sort of plan is really, really hard, and will likely lead you into a slow, meandering narrative that will likely frustrate you.

Even if you think you’re someone that just can’t write with a plan (and again, I have the highest respect for pansters out there - I don’t know how you do it, you crazy bastards, but you keep doing you) - even if you think “I can’t work with plans, they’re too prescriptive, I just want to write and see what happens -”

Try at least making the most skeletal of plans.

Even if you have no clue what 90% of the story is, yet. That’s fine. But you need to have some idea of what you’re building to, even if that’s nothing more specific than a feeling, or a turning point for your character. Even if your entire plan for everything beyond Chapter 1 is, “At some point, Charlie needs to realize that Ed was lying to her.”

This is where those Draft 0.5 notes come in handy. Because, more than likely, working on your current scene that way will spark ideas for later scenes, which you can put down at the bottom of the document and save for when they become relevant. In my experience, the line between planning ahead and making a Draft 0.5 is exceptionally thin. One can quickly turn into the other.

If you’re really, really resistant to the idea of planning ahead, that’s okay. It’s not everybody’s style. But for the love of all that is holy, write down your ideas for future scenes, even if you’re a person that doesn’t like to plan and writes only in story order, because you will not remember that idea once you get to that scene.

_-_

10) You don’t have to write in order.

Here’s the thing: I’m a person that can only do my Draft 1 in story order (meaning, chronological order). I just have to be in that flow; I need to write in story order for me to best channel where the character is at from scene to scene, both narratively and emotionally.

But my Thought Vomit Draft is another thing entirely. By using the brain hack of putting my notes in red (or another color, it doesn’t matter) and going down to the bottom of the document / page and taking notes there, and then integrating them into whatever plan I have, and then translating them into Draft 1 once I get there in the story - by doing that, I can get my good ideas onto the page (and expound upon them and let my muse carry me and ride that momentum while I’m in the moment of inspiration) without writing out of order.

Maybe that’s just me. But if you’re a person who really prefers to write in story order, that could be hugely helpful to you. It is to me.

_-_

11) Emotion and motivation will do more for your story than technicalities of plot.

If your characters really care about something, and their journey through the (shaky or weak) plot is emotionally engaging, it will be a much more compelling story than a story with a “perfect” plot and unrelatable or unmotivated characters.

If your characters care about what they’re doing, and it means something to them, and their goals and actions are driven by dreams or fears or emotions that are integral to who they are, your audience will care too. If you have a perfectly crafted plot that hits all the right beats and has high stakes and fast pacing and drama - but your characters don’t connect with what’s happening in a way that’s deeply meaningful or emotional for them? You’re gonna have a hard time engaging readers.

When in doubt, prioritize character emotion and motivation over plot. Emotion is what drives story.

This power is highly exploitable. (Just look at pulp novels and shitty but entertaining movies.) You can even use it to glaze over plot holes or reinvigorate a limp narrative. Use it that way sparingly, though. It’s a band-aid, not a surgery. 

_-_

12) Evil villains are hard to write - mostly because there are very few truly evil people in the world. (There are a few. Billionaires and several big name politicians come to mind.) But by and large, there aren’t that many evil people. There are plenty of bad people, but bad people have some good in them, somewhere in there. Trying to write an evil villain is hard, because they often turn very cartoony.

Here’s a tip: it’s much easier to write antagonists who aren’t evil. Even if they’re bad people. Of course, there’s no reason you can’t write a villain that’s just truly evil - a serial killer, or an abuser, or a billionaire, or someone who legit just wants to hurt people or blow up the earth or stay in control of an oppressed population, or whatever. But chances are, it’s gonna be really hard to make them feel real, and even harder to create a plot around them that doesn’t feel forced or contrived.

Instead, try writing an antagonist / villain whose motivations and goals directly clash with your protagonist’s - but not because they want to take over the world or see people suffer. Write an antagonist who’s chaotic good, but whose perception of the situation is completely opposite from your hero’s. Write an antagonist whose only desire is to save people, and who will do anything to achieve that goal - anything. Write an antagonist who believes in the letter of the law, and will hinder and oppose the hero’s methods even if they agree with the hero’s motivation. Write an antagonist who got in way over their head and did some things they regret, and now they don’t know how to get out, and they’re doing their best but whatever they set in motion is too powerful for them to stop now.

Write villains who are human. Write a killer who thought they were doing the right thing by taking their victim out of the equation, who vomits at the sight of the body and sobs over the grave they dig. Write a government leader who truly believes she’s doing what’s best for her people in the long-term, even if it might hurt them in the short term, and is willing to endure the hatred and belligerence of the masses if it means securing what she thinks is a better future for her people. Write a teenage bully that thinks they’re the one being picked on by the world, and they’re just fighting back, standing their ground. Write a scientist who will break any code of ethics and hurt anyone he needs to - in order to bring back his baby sister from the grave, because he promised her he’d protect her and he failed. Write an antagonist who is selfish and self-centered and capricious - because in order to survive they had to look out for Number One, and that habit ain’t about to break anytime soon.

Write villains who aren’t even villains. Write antagonists who oppose the hero because of moral differences. Write antagonists who are trying to do the right thing. Write antagonists who treat the heroes with kindness and dignity and respect and gentleness.

They don’t have to be good. They don’t have to be Misunderstood Sweethearts who “deserve” a redemption arc. They can be cruel and nasty and dismissive and callous and violent and etc. etc.

Just hesitate before you make them Evil-with-a-capital-E. Because evil is hard to write, and honestly, boring to read. Flawed human beings with goals and motivations that directly oppose the main characters’ are much easier to write and much more interesting to read.

Ask why. Why is your villain trying to take over the world? What does that even mean? Are they trying to create a Star-Trek-like post-capitalism utopia, but they know that won’t happen in a million lifetimes, so they’re trying to do it by force? Are they actually super in favor of human rights, but they got very impatient waiting for the world to do anything about poverty and war, so they decided to take it into their own hands? Are they determined to fix the world - no matter the cost? Are they terrified and overwhelmed, but committed to see it through to the end? Or - maybe they’re just doing it on a dare. Maybe they don’t really give a shit about world domination, they were just a mediocre rich white guy who decided to fuck around and find out, and now he’s kind of curious how far he can take this thing. And now he’s kind of an internationally-wanted criminal, so he’s kind of stuck living on his hidden private island in his multi-billion dollar secret base, strapping lasers to sharks’ heads for the hell of it. Gross, selfish, uncaring, and dangerous? For sure. Evil? Depends on your definition. See, now we’re getting somewhere.

_-_

13) It’s tempting to let the plot control the characters. It’s easy to drop your characters into a situation and see how they react. But here’s the thing: that doesn’t drive plot. In fact, it bogs down pacing. Instead, try to build you plot off of your characters’ actions and decisions. Let your character build their own situation. Not to say it should go they way they wanted it to go; in fact, usually, their grand plans should go to hell very quickly. But having the characters take action and make decisions, and letting the plot develop based on that, is much easier to make compelling than making a rigid series of events and then trying to herd your characters into them.

_-_

14) Having trouble justifying a character’s actions? Consider having them make the opposite decision, or having them approach the situation in a different way. For example: you need your character to go meet the bad guy, for plot reasons, even though there’s no way it’s not a trap. If the character goes, readers are gonna be groaning with their head in their hands, because c’mon man, that was really fucking stupid. But he’s gotta go, because the plot needs that. Two ways you might handle this: a) He knows it’s probably a trap. He decides not to go. The plot conspires to get him near the villain anyway. Or, b) He knows it’s a trap. But he needs to go, for (insert reasons here). So, he approaches it in an unexpected way. He brings backup, recruiting a side character we met earlier in the story. Or he arrives on the back of a dragon, because ain’t nobody gonna fuck with a dude on a dragon. Or he goes - early, and ambushes the villain. It may work, it may not. He may get himself kidnapped anyway. But it moves the plot along without having Stupid Hero Syndrome.

_-_

15) This is a legit piece of advice: if all of this sounds overwhelming, literally just ignore it and write what you want. For real. Writing should be fun, and every single writer operates differently. If you’re sitting here like “I’m getting stressed just reading this,” just flip me a good-natured bird and get on with your life. I promise I won’t take it personally. Same goes for literally any other writing advice you see. Lots of rules and guidelines can very quickly make anything thoroughly un-fun. Just write. If you’re passionate about it and you do it for long enough, you’ll start figuring out the tips and tricks on your own.

_-_

16) Here’s the best piece of advice I can give you: know your characters. More importantly, know what’s important to them. Build their personality and decisions off of that, and build your plot off of their decisions.

I see a lot of character building sheets that ask a shit-ton of questions like “What’s their most prized possession?” “Do they like their family?” “What’s their favorite food?”

And while these are good questions, my problem with this type of character building is that if you start there, with the little stuff, you’re building on nothing. IMO, to make a truly strong character (not strong like Inner Strength, strong like effective), you need a strong foundation.

Here are the things you must know about your character:

a) What are their greatest fears / deepest insecurities? And I don’t mean “wasps” or “heights.” I mean the deep shit. I mean fears like “living a meaningless life,” or “turning out just like their parents,” or “that no one will ever love them,” or “being powerless.” You may say, “But they’re really scared of wasps! They fall into a wasp nest when they were little and got stung so much they almost died!” Great! That’s a fantastic bit of backstory. They should absolutely be afraid of wasps, and that should absolutely be an impediment later in the story. But dig deeper. What about that event actually scarred them? Was it the helplessness? Stumbling around, swatting at the air, not being able to do a single thing to stop what was happening to them? Was it that they were alone, and no matter how loud they screamed, no one was coming? Was it the bodily horror of feeling themself turn into an inhuman creature as they swelled up from the stings, unable to move their fingers or face normally anymore?

And don’t forget insecurities, because those factor in, too. Are they deeply insecure about their identity? Do they believe, deep down, that they’re ugly? Did they grow up poor and they’ve always been really touchy about that? Why? Dig deep. Figure out what really, really bothers them.

b) What are their hopes and dreams? What do they truly want out of life? What do they consider the most valuable to their experience here in this thing called life? Is it the freedom to forge their own path and be independent? Is it the approval of their family or peers? Is it a home? Is it knowledge, or understanding? Spiritual fulfillment? Is it deeply important to them that they contribute to their community, or protect those they love? What do they need in order to feel truly and deeply fulfilled in life?

Figure out those two things (each one encompasses several things, btw, you don’t have to stop at just one for each), and then use that to inform how they behave and the types of decisions they make within the story. 

It also informs character behavior and personality. 

Let’s say we have a character who’s afraid of helplessness. They’re probably gonna be the person that always wants to do something, try something, no matter how hopeless the situation seems. They’d despise just sitting and waiting, probably, because it makes them feel powerless. They might even be the person that makes rash decisions and acts impulsively and puts themself in danger unnecessarily, because in their mind it’s better than being at the mercy of fate. This is one way you could use a character’s personality to inform their decisions, which in turn helps to inform plot.

Or, let’s say we have a character whose greatest fear is being left behind or forgotten. We may have a chatterbox on our hands. They might be obnoxious. They might love the spotlight, constantly vying for attention no matter the situation, because deep down they’re so afraid that they’d be forgotten otherwise. Or, it may go the opposite way. They may be so afraid of people leaving them that they’re terrified of bothering people. They don’t want to do anything that could annoy people, anything that might give people a reason to leave them. They might be exceedingly polite, quiet, accommodating. A push-over, really.

These are two nearly opposite types of personalities, both stemming from the same core fear/insecurity. You can go a lot of different ways with it. But if you build on that strong foundation, you’ll have a strong character, and a stronger plot.

Likewise, the structure of your story can and should inform the design of these character traits. If you need your characters to team up near the end, it may be impactful if you give your main character a deep fear of commitment, an insecurity about being unwanted or left behind, and make them highly value independence and freedom. That could make their team-up for the final battle very meaningful. Conversely, you can use your character’s deepest fears and desires to help design the plot. Is your character deeply insecure about voicing their opinions or taking a stand, because of trauma they faced in the past? Make them face that. Build that into the climactic third act. Give them the big inspirational speech where they stand up and talk about what they believe to be important, what they think the group should do. And then design that character arc to run through the story, giving you more handholds and stepping stones, more pieces of foundation on which to design the plot.

In this way, character should inform story as much as story informs character. It’s a feedback loop.

Bonus: if you build your character and your plot off of each other in this way, it automatically starts to build in the foundations of that emotional investment I mentioned earlier. If your character’s decisions are based on what they most want and do not want in life, you basically have your character motivation and stakes pre-built.

Note: you need to know these things about your villain, too.

-_-_-

I’m genuinely sorry about the length of this, lmao. But you did ask.

Best of luck!

Edit: I forgot an important one:

17) Start when the scene starts and end when the scene ends.

What do I mean by that?

If your notes say “Danny asks Nicole out after school and majorly flubs it,” start the scene when Danny approaches Nicole after school. Better yet, cold-open the scene on “I was wondering if, you know, you’d wanna. You know. Hang out some time?”

Don’t start that morning when Danny goes to school, unless you’re gonna cover the school day in like one or two sentences. Don’t spend whole paragraphs going through the school day, unless it’s to cover other plot points first (in which case apply these same guidelines there), or if the paragraphs are there for a specific reason, like to illustrate how stressed he is and how it seems like every little thing is going wrong. Even then, trim the fat as much as possible. Expounding and describing everything Moment-to-moment is for the meat of the scenes, not the leading-up-to and coming-away-from.

Here’s my rule of thumb: study how and when movies cut from scene to scene. Movies have exceptionally strict, limited time for storytelling; they’re excellent examples of starting a scene when the plot point starts and ending when it’s over. If you can’t picture a movie showing everything you showed, start the scene later and end it earlier.

[moviemuncherao3]

Okay so with were, it is almost completely random but use sparingly to avoid confusing readers I'd say.

For me I use "it were" instead of "it was" when referring to events rather than actions. "That party? Yeah it were okay." Or "yeah that dinner were a bit of a alright"/"yeah that dinner were alright"

Bit of alright just means that it was very good but we're sometimes an understated lot and that's a general northern thing, not specifically Manc.

"She were sending a text" could be used, but I typically don't, I would say "was". Depends who I'm speaking to, if it's another Mancunian I might say were because it's not going to be corrected, but somebody else from outside of Manchester might.

As for innit, yes it is a replacement for isn't it, but sometimes it's just tacked on.

"That music's alright, innit?" (Asking for your input because you are there and you can hear it.)

"Yeah it were just bad, innit." (Rhetorical, they are describing something you weren't present for, and innit is being used as filler).

Now, we brits have a love of swearing, and a very common phrase is "fucking hell", but in my accent, if you start a sentence of with "fucking hell" it tends to sound like "kinell" because we tend to skip over syllables. If you're mid speech it will be the full "fucking hell".

This is why Jamie's dad says "ickle" as in my "ickle son", just means little. We don't do this for every word, but we do something similar for hospital, "ospickle" (we also sometimes are not a fan of h). Again, typically if we're talking to other locals so we don't get corrected. Also, ickle is used more in a mocking way towards a person usually or baby talk

We drop the g on a lot of words too, buzzing is said buzzin, going is go-in, happening- happenin, we're just not a huge fan of saying words in full.

Typical brit things- we swear more than expected amongst friends but might be more reserved around strangers (Roy Kent's of the world aside).

We're not likely to say "hello, how are you?" Outside of formal or upper class settings, the majority of us are just going to say "y'alright?" And we're not asking how are you are, the correct answer is "y'alright" back if you're strangers, and "yeah, you?" If you know each other, regardless of if you're alright or not. The reveal of your real feelings can come after, but it's almost reflexive at this point to say "yeah, you?"

Don't be afraid to use the word cunt. We don't overuse it and older gen (60yo+) tend to find it a bit distasteful, but we don't limit ourselves. It can be used in both friendly and unfriendly. So if you're in hysterics with your best mate, you might say "you daft cunt" and basically in that context you're calling them that in a jokey way. But, if you're really pissed off with someone, not a friend(!), you might say "fuck off, you stupid cunt". It is extremely unlikely you would call a mate that when pissed off because that's seen as just a bit too far. You only use it against friends in positive ways.

Up north is seen as being more friendly, and I'd argue it's true. I'll happily strike up a convo (coversation) with strangers at the bus stop or on the bus, the pub, the shop, basically wherever if it feels right. I say hello/y'alright or smile to people I pass on the street. This does happen down south, but with much less frequency. If you started a convo on the bus in London you're either gonna get odd stares and politely strained replies or told to piss off depending on the mood.

If you want to send me any text and have me review it, give me a shout 🙂

Also, for phonetics, listen to the way Noel and Liam Gallagher talk in interviews or UK Shameless scenes on youtube. It will give you some good insight

britpicking? (Ted Lasso)

So, I seem to be continuing to write lots of Ted Lasso Roy/Jamie/Keeley fic. :D Is anyone interested in britpicking? I'd be especially interested in someone who can help with the essentials of a Northern/Mancunian dialect (e.g., when it's appropriate to say something like, "she were sending a text" vs. "she was sending a text") and also with "innit" (which I know is linguistically more complex than just replacing "isn't it" and has been evolving). I'm happy to beta/ameripick in return, if desired.

I currently have a couple WIPs that are a few thousand words each.

[acciofanfics]

Beg (pt.2)|James Potter|NSFW|

Pairing: James Potter x Reader

Warnings: Language, Smut, poorly written smut.

A/N: Idk, I feel sometimes I’m making real progress in trying to improve as I write and other times I feel like it’s the absolute worst. This is an absolute worst time. Lol -S

—————————

“Is that what you want? You want me to beg?” James knew that was the correct assumption, it seemed obvious enough, but even if it hadn’t then the smirk on her face was confirmation in itself, “Please?”

“I think I expected a little more from someone who was so confident with his words earlier and especially from someone who wants me to skip class.” (Y/N) had to admit she found the exchange a little nerve wracking. She wasn’t ever quite so bold or demanding of him and to be honest she wasn’t even sure James would play along with the role reversal.

Flustered? Is that what he was feeling? All hot and bothered, being denied and teased and then expected to come up with a coherent sentence that she would accept. “I- please just stop all the teasing. Touch me and for the love of Merlin let me finish.”

James found his mouth slightly agape when she walked right past him and fear washed through him at the prospect that she was actually going to leave him again. The relief was immediate when she was down on a desk, “Come here.”

He didn’t need to be told twice. James was in front of her waiting for further instructions within the second. He didn’t have a chance to feel pathetic before she grabbed hold of his tie and pulled him down to kiss him. He eagerly returned the affection, only whimpering slightly when she pulled away. Though he didn’t have much of a chance to feel disappointed as he watched her wiggle out of her underwear.

He reached out immediately, hands sliding under her skirt and letting the fabric gather higher, he thought he might actually get somewhere until she stopped him. “Fuck, please don’t make me stop again. You’re killing me…”

She giggled a bit, and James wanted to fault her for getting off on the feeling of having a little control, but recognized the hypocrisy pretty quickly. He also wanted to avoid anything that would have her walking away and leaving him high and dry. Thankfully, that didn’t seem to be her intention, “Don’t worry, you don’t have to stop. I just think I’d like you on your knees instead, to really get full experience of you begging you know?”

Damn, she really was ruthless and James would keep a mental note of this for future encounters. Right now though? He dropped to his knees, grabbed hold of her thighs to pull her as close to the edge of the desk as he could and quickly ducked his head beneath the remaining fabric of her skirt before she changed her mind.

The rest James didn’t need instructions on, and he immediately got to work his tongue gliding through her folds. He couldn’t help but make an appreciative sound at the taste, she was already so wet and he was glad to see that clearly she hadn’t been as unaffected by him as she made it seem like in class, though she was a talented actress clearly. It was almost a bit suffocating under her skirt, as he hungrily latched onto her clit while he slid a finger inside, but it felt entirely too good hearing every sound she made and feeling the way she clenched around his fingers and the way her legs would tighten around him when he stroked that one spot within. It was suffocating, but it was a welcome feeling and he didn’t even think he realized what he was doing until he was being called out on it.

(Y/N) heard his rustling with his belt and the button on his pants, “Don’t you dare…”

James groaned against her, pulling his mouth away to speak, but letting his curled fingers continue pumping in and out of her. “Please, please, wanna be inside you…. Fuck, please.”

“Get up here then.” The voice that had remained unchanging for so long finally held a bit of desperation in it, but James wasn’t too focused on analyzing the pitch at the moment. It was quite shocking to see how well he was following directions given his normal track record.

James’ lips connected with hers in a sloppy kiss, he was sure she could probably taste herself on his tongue, and hopefully she found it as intoxicating as he always did. In an effort driven out of desperation he finished unfastening his pants at what he assumed would be a record speed, not bothering to do anything but pull them and his underwear down far enough for his cock to practically spring out. “Can I please? I don’t think I can wait any longer…”

“Y-yeah go ahead-“ Her sentence was cut short by James sinking himself into her. Pausing only momentarily when their hips met to sing her praises.

He set a brutal pace, the wooden desk underneath her scraping against the floor in protest each time he thrust back in. James knew that there was no doubt they were probably being too loud, between the moans, groans and grunts, the sound of skin slapping against skin and the furniture banging against the floor it would be a wonder if they didn’t get caught. Still, he found himself unable to care about anything other than how absolutely amazing she felt wrapped around him and how much he needed this. He was close almost as soon as they started, but with squeezing him and moaning in his ear he didn’t think he’d be able to hold out much longer. “I’m so close, I’m about to- please can I, ahh, can I cum?”

“You can-“ (Y/N) didn’t have a chance to finish her sentence before she felt his hips still after burying himself as deep as he could possibly go. James shuddered and muttering some curses in her ear as he finally, finally felt that release. His body felt heavier and lighter all at the same time as he recovered, his breathing a bit heavier than usual.

“I’m a little surprised, I didn’t know you were actually capable of following rules.” (Y/N)’s breathy chuckle brought one of his own out.

“I just hope we can say the same about you. What’s that phrase? What goes around comes around?”

[pumpkinpaix]

hello there, hope you're having a nice day <3

so i've been reading a lot of fics lately, uk for sanity's sake, and i've noticed that in most of them, lwj doesn't use contractions (eg., says do not instead of don't)?? and i think he doesn't in the novel either but i don't remember lol so i can't be sure but anyway that made me curious - does chinese have contractions as well? does he not use it bc it's informal?

hello there! I’m doing all right, i started to answer this ask while waiting for a jingyeast loaf to come out of the oven 😊 many thanks to @bookofstars for helping me look over/edit/correct this post!! :D

anyways! the answer to your questions are complicated (of course it is when is anything simple with me), so let’s see if I can break it down--you’re asking a) whether chinese has contractions, b) if it does, how does they change the tone of the sentence--is it similar to english or no?, and c) how does this all end up with lan wangji pretty much never using contractions in english fic/translation?

I’m gonna start by talking about how formality is (generally) expressed in each language, and hopefully, by the end of this post, all the questions will have been answered in one way or another. so: chinese and english express variations in formality/register differently, oftentimes in ways that run contrary to one another. I am, as always, neither a linguist nor an expert in chinese and english uhhh sociological grammar? for lack of a better word. I’m speaking from my own experience and knowledge :D

so with a character like lan wangji, it makes perfect sense in english to write his dialogue without contractions, as contractions are considered informal or colloquial. I don’t know if this has changed in recent years, but I was always taught in school to never use contractions in my academic papers.

However! not using contractions necessarily extends the length of the sentence: “do not” takes longer to say than “don’t”, “cannot” is longer than “can’t” etc. in english, formality is often correlated with sentence length: the longest way you can say something ends up sounding the most formal. for a very simplified example, take this progression from least formal to absurdly formal:

whatcha doin’?

what’re you doing?

what are you doing? [standard colloquial]

may I ask what you are doing?

might I inquire as to what you are doing?

excuse me, but might I inquire as to what you are doing?

pardon my intrusion, but might I inquire as to what you are doing?

please pardon my intrusion, but might inquire as to the nature of your current actions?

this is obviously a somewhat overwrought example, but you get the point. oftentimes, the longer, more complex, more indirect sentence constructions indicate a greater formality, often because there is a simultaneous decreasing of certainty. downplaying the speaker’s certainty can show deference (or weakness) in english, while certainty tends to show authority/confidence (or aggression/rudeness).

different words also carry different implications of formality—in the example, I switched “excuse me” to “pardon me” during one of the step ups. pardon (to me at least) feels like a more formal word than “excuse”. Similarly, “inquire” is more formal than “ask” etc. I suspect that at least some of what makes one word seem more formal than one of its synonyms has to do with etymology. many of english’s most formal/academic words come from latin (which also tends to have longer words generally!), while our personal/colloquial words tend to have germanic origins (inquire [latin] vs ask [germanic]).

you’ll also notice that changing a more direct sentence structure (“may I ask what”) to a more indirect one (“might I inquire as to”) also jumps a register. a lot of english is like this — you can complicate simple direct sentences by switching the way you use the verbs/how many auxiliaries you use etc.

THE POINT IS: with regards to english, more formal sentence structures are often (not always) longer and more indirect than informal ones. this leads us to a problem with a character like lan wangji.

lan wangji is canonically very taciturn. if he can express his meaning in two words rather than three, then he will. and chinese allows for this—in extreme ways. if you haven’t already read @hunxi-guilai’s post on linguistic register (in CQL only, but it’s applicable across the board), I would start there because haha! I certainly do Not have a degree in Classical Chinese lit and she does a great job. :D

you can see from the examples that hunxi chose that often, longer sentences tend to be more informal in chinese (not always, which I’ll circle back to at the end lol). Colloquial chinese makes use of helping particles to indicate tone and meaning, as is shown in wei wuxian’s dialogue. and, as hunxi explained, those particles are largely absent from lan wangji’s speech pattern. chinese isn’t built of “words” in the way English is—each character is less a word and more a morpheme—and the language allows for a lot of information to be encoded in one character. a single character can often stand for a phrase within a sentence without sacrificing either meaning or formality. lan wangji makes ample use of this in order to express himself in the fewest syllables possible.

so this obviously leads to an incongruity when trying to translate his dialogue or capture his voice in English: shorter sentences are usually more direct by nature, and directness/certainty is often construed as rudeness -- but it might seem strange to see lan wangji’s dialogue full of longer sentences while the narration explicitly says that he uses very short sentences. so what happens is that many english fic writers extrapolated this into creating an english speech pattern for lan wangji that reads oddly. they’ll have lan wangji speak in grammatically incoherent fragments that distill his intended thought because they’re trying to recreate his succinctness. unfortunately, English doesn’t have as much freedom as Chinese does in this way, and it results in lan wangji sounding as if he has some kind of linguistic impediment and/or as if he’s being unspeakably rude in certain situations. In reality, lan wangji’s speech is perfectly polite for a young member of the gentry (though he’s still terribly rude in other ways lol). he speaks in full, and honestly, quite eloquent sentences.

hunxi’s post already has a lot of examples, but I figure I’ll do one as well focused on the specifics of this post.

I’m going to use this exchange from chapter 63 between the twin jades because I think it’s a pretty simple way to illustrate what I’m talking about:

蓝曦臣道：“你亲眼所见？”

蓝忘机道：“他亲眼所见。”

蓝曦臣道：“你相信他？”

蓝忘机道：“信。”

[...] 蓝曦臣道：“那么金光瑶呢？”

蓝忘机道：“不可信。”

my translation:

Lan Xichen said, “You saw it with your own eyes?”

Lan Wangji said, “He saw it with his own eyes.”

Lan Xichen said, “You believe him?”

Lan Wangji said, “I believe him.”

[...] Lan Xichen said, “Then what about Jin Guangyao?”

Lan Wangji said, “He cannot be believed.”

you can see how much longer the (pretty literal) english translations are! every single line of dialogue is expanded because things that can be omitted in chinese cannot be omitted in english without losing grammatical coherency. i‘ll break a few of them down:

Lan Xichen’s first line:

你 (you) 亲眼 (with one’s own eyes) 所 (literary auxiliary) 见 (met/saw)？

idk but i love this line a lot lmao. it just has such an elegant feel to me, probably because I am an uncultured rube. anyways, you see here that he expressed his full thought in five characters.

if I were to rewrite this sentence into something much less formal/much more modern, I might have it become something like this:

你是自己看见的吗？

你 (you) 是 (to be) 自己 (oneself) 看见 (see) 的 (auxiliary) 吗 (interrogative particle)？

i suspect that this construction might even be somewhat childish? I’ve replaced every single formal part of the sentence with a more colloquial one. instead of 亲眼 i’ve used 自己, instead of 所见 i’ve used 看见的 and then also added an interrogative particle at the end for good measure (吗). To translate this, I would probably go with “Did you see it yourself?”

contained in this is also an example of how one character can represent a whole concept that can also be represented with two characters: 见 vs 看见. in this example, both mean “to see”. we’ll see it again in the next example as well:

in response to lan xichen’s, “you believe him?” --> 你 (you) 相信 (believe) 他 (him)? lan wangji answers with, “信” (believe).

chinese does not do yes or no questions in the same way that english does. there is no catch-all for yes or no, though there are general affirmative (是／有) and negative (不／没) characters. there are other affirmative/negative characters, but these are the ones that I believe are the most common and also the ones that you may see in response to yes or no questions on their own. (don’t quote me on that lol)

regardless, the way you respond to a yes or no question is often by repeating the verb phrase either in affirmative or negative. so here, when lan xichen asks if lan wangji believes wei wuxian, lan wangji responds “believe”. once again, you can see that one character can stand in for a concept that may also be expressed in two characters: 信 takes the place of 相信. lan wangji could have responded with “相信” just as well, but, true to his character, he didn’t because he didn’t need to. this is still a complete sentence. lan wangji has discarded the subject (I), the object (him), and also half the verb (相), and lost no meaning whatsoever. you can’t do this in english!

and onto the last exchange:

lan xichen: 那么 (then) 金光瑶 (jin guangyao) 呢 (what about)？

lan wangji: 不可 (cannot) 信 (believe)

you can actually see the contrast between the two brothers’ speech patterns even in this. lan xichen’s question is not quite as pared down as it could be. if it were wangji’s line instead, I would expect it to read simply “金光瑶��？” which would just be “what about jin guangyao?” 那么 isn’t necessary to convey the core thought -- it’s just as how “then what about” is different than “what about”, but “then” is not necessary to the central question. if we wanted to keep the “then” aspect, you could still cut out 么 and it would be the same meaning as well.

a FINAL example of how something can be cut down just because I think examples are helpful:

“I don’t know” is usually given as 我不知道. (this is what nie huaisang says lol) It contains subject (我) and full verb (知道). you can pare this straight down to just 不知 and it would mean the same thing in the correct context. i think most of the characters do this at least once? it sounds more literary -- i don’t know that i would ever use it in everyday speech, but the fact remains that it’s a possibility. both could be translated as “I do not know” and it would be accurate.

ANYWAYS, getting all the way back to one of your original questions: does chinese have contractions? and the answer is like... kind of...?? but not really. there’s certainly slang/dialect variants that can be used in ways that are reminiscent of english contractions. the example I’m thinking of is the character 啥 (sha2) which can be used as slang in place of 什么 (shen2 me). (which means “what”)

so for a standard sentence of, 你在做什么? (what are you doing), you could shorten down to just 做啥? and the second construction is less formal than the first, but they mean the same thing.

other slang i can think of off the top of my head: 干嘛 (gan4 ma2) is also informal slang for “what are you doing”. and i think this is a regional thing, but you can also use 搞 (gao3) and 整 (zheng3) to mean “do” as well.

so in the same way that you can replace 什么 with 啥, you can replace 做 as well to get constructions like 搞啥 (gao3 sha2) and 整啥 (zheng3 sha2).

these are all different ways to say “what are you doing” lmao, and in this case, shorter is not, in fact, more formal.

woo! we made it to the end! I hope it was informative and helpful to you anon. :D

this is where I would normally throw my ko-fi, but instead, I’m actually going to link you to this fundraising post for an old fandom friend of mine. her house burned down mid-september and they could still use help if anyone can spare it! if this post would have moved you to buy me a ko-fi, please send that money to her family instead. :) rbs are also appreciated on the post itself. (* ´▽` *)

anyways, here’s the loaf jingyeast made :3 it was very tasty.

[stomp-that-ho-regard]

Yeah, they do this all the time. They cherry-pick certain sentences and twist words around, then boldly claim that you were implying something you weren’t. And they miss the point entirely.

I'm convinced they do it deliberately. They know what they're doing, but at that point, they're so desperate to argue, that they'll start grasping at anything they think they can use to try to make you look stupid or weird.

The argument was that people say 'BY is heteronormative'. No one has EVER said that. It reminded me of this:

'BY is heteronormative' is entirely it's own phrase. Something I never said or even implied.

I still think the 1950's thing is an apt comparison though, because it was very specifically based on what I was told about the M/9 reunion. This is copy and pasted from the anon message: Yasha is not really a distinct character anymore. Beau works for the Cobalt Soul, while Yasha housekeeps and cooks roadkill for dinner. Beau, sitcom dad that she has become in these last six months, appears to expect an empty chair and a full plate when she gets home. Yasha obliges. She’s subservient to Beau’s wishes. The second I read that, I went, "This sounds like the 1950's.", because it fucking does. That's it. Nothing more, nothing less.

But you also can't help but wonder why Marisha and Ashley thought this was the ideal scenario. It could very much be, as you've pointed out, that they are two cishet women viewing this through a very specific lens, that for them, makes this the ideal. Which is honestly kind of disheartening.

Because I don't vibe with this dynamic at all, in general. And the genders of the people involved do not change my feelings on it. It's not suddenly 'better' because it's two women. The whole housewife/breadwinner thing feels boring, bland, and archaic.

I genuinely believe that if these two players were actually queer, this would not have been the scenario they chose. I don't know what they would've went with, but for sure, it would not have been this.

Theirs is a very straight take on how a lesbian relationship should function. (Straight people love to put queer things in boxes because it makes it easier for them to understand. They have a fairly narrow and limited view on relationships in general, and because of that, this fictional pairing that they're acting out ends up feeling narrow and limited too.)

This brings me to my next point. You're right when you say that the fandom doesn't want to hear that the cast is straight/majority straight. They lose their fucking minds. And I've brought this up before, in this post, and included a collection of tweets.

But this tweet was by far the worst one...

I mean, this shit is fucking bonkers.

And every single one of these people base their beliefs off of hearsay. They take other fans' claims at face value. They believe them wholeheartedly, and don't bother trying to verify any of it. And that's why when you ask these people "can you give me a link to something?" they have nothing to give you. They're simply making inferences based on casual comments, random quips, and 'body language'. Sorry, not sorry, but that is true delusion. There is no other word for it.

To bring this back around to the main point.. I still think the 1950's comparison works. I'm not backing down from it, and I'm not correcting it, because it doesn't need correcting. This person says that "media literacy is dead" while at the same time having zero reading comprehension skills. They want to be edgy and clever so badly, and want to clapback so badly, but they just end up coming to the most brain dead conclusion over a point that's pretty straightforward and easy to understand for people who are not deliberately trying to twist it.

So, I was doing my once-in-a-blue-moon 'beaujester' twitter search, and usually expect to find some nonsense. And I found this tweet...

(Well, I've definitely blocked you now, RON. What is it with the MEN in this fandom constantly commenting on/trying to police wlw ships/shippers?) Anyway, I found it in reply to THIS:

Look at the amount of likes on the first tweet. Jesus... (update: I just checked again and the likes are over 600.)

Here's the LINK to the tweet, so you can go read all the infuriating replies. Free block list, ya'll!

And I also had to wonder, if that second tweet was possibly referring to me. And holy shit, I was actually right. Did a little digging and bingo...

It's THIS post, that I made on November 20. For some reason it took her 8 days to find it/comment on it. All I tagged it with was 'op' 'ask' and '2 asks 1 post'. This person wouldn't have even been able to find that post unless they were following me or already stalking my blog.

And then brought me up NINE MONTHS LATER.

And all while sporting that handle lol

Wild.