#readers

[frownyalfred]

“I wish you could take kudos back.” Ugh. Putting aside the whole anti bullshit about this, and how they want to use kudos as implicit bullshit approval for things that aren’t “problematic”, here’s a scenario for you:

You’re walking down the street and see a girl wearing a cute backpack. You like the backpack, so you decide to wave at her and say “Hey! I like your backpack!”

The girl looks at you, smiles, and holds up the backpack. Upon second glance, as she holds it up, you realize the backpack isn’t actually a backpack. It’s one of those weird laptop bags with the straps that you can extend and wear in different ways.

This isn’t what you expected at all. You were complimenting her on the backpack, but this clearly isn’t a backpack. It was an honest mistake though! That being said, you don’t like laptop bags very much. Maybe you have an aversion to computers because they remind you of working, which is very valid.

1) do you take back what you initially said?

2) do you chase after the girl and inform her that you meant to compliment her backpack, and not her laptop bag, and she needs to know that?

3)or do you go on your way, knowing that it wasn’t quite what you had intended to say/do, but that’s okay?

You continue on through life complimenting people on their backpacks because it’s the nice thing to do, and you can’t ask every single person to show you their bag before you give them a compliment.

One day, a likeminded friend tells you “Ugh, I can’t believe you complimented her on her backpack.” You ask them why. “Well, I heard she also likes laptop bags.”

You puzzle over this for a moment before you reach the conclusion that complimenting the backpack was fine, and maybe you might not compliment her on the laptop bag if you see her wearing it, but that doesn’t mean you want to take back the backpack compliment. Or that you stop telling everyone that you liked their backpack in the first place, just in case they also like laptop bags.

(If you left kudos for a fic and it either wasn’t what you thought it was, you feel guilty, you feel ‘problematic’, or you’re worried someone will see your name and give you grief — don’t. This has been a PSA)

[battyaboutbooksreviews]

never feel pressured to read a certain book, a certain series, a certain genre. never feel guilty about loving a certain book, a certain series, a certain genre. never think a certain format (ebook, audiobook, etc.) "doesn't count" as reading.

being a reader is yours. read what you want, when you want, how you want. but please don't judge others for what they're reading, either.

[writingwithfolklore]

Every Plot Point Should Contribute to your Protagonist's Arc

Character is plot, and so if a major plot point doesn’t challenge your protagonist as directly related to what they are meant to learn, it should be adjusted—or taken out. That’s why I always recommend to start by building character first, and then outlining (or thinking, if that’s more your style) what will actually happen to them.

To really nail down your protagonist’s arc, I recommend using a technique I learned in film school called the Logline. I’ve written about the Logline before, but here’s the gist:

Loglines are a few sentences that show how the character begins, the conflict they go through, and then how they change because of it. The formula goes A but B so C:

A – Character and their flaw B – Conflict they go through C – How they change

This will tell you where they start, what will challenge them and how that will result in the person they become by the end.

Here’s an example:

We have this character named Moana who is headstrong and set to be the next chief for her people. However, we also know about her that she feels most at home looking at the ocean, and dreams of sailing—a direct conflict to what she’s been told is her place amongst her people.

That’s the character, so what conflict would force her to learn where her place is? Obviously, the writers force her out onto the ocean.

She becomes involved in a prophesy that says she must take the heart of T’Fiti across the sea and save her people. In learning how to sail, overcoming the trials of the ocean and its inhabitants, and proving to herself that she is capable, she learns of her place as the bridge between her people and their voyaging ancestors.

Place into a logline, this would look like:

Headstrong Moana has been told her whole life that she is destined to be the next chief to her people, and yet feels conflicted over her place and purpose as her heart eggs her to be on the ocean, away from her people. However, when Moana’s island starts dying due to a spreading darkness, she must travel across the sea to return the heart of T’Fiti and save her people, discovering her true place as the bridge between her people and their voyaging ancestors.

When you have your logline as your guiding light, plot points become a whole lot easier to plan. Everything that happens, you can compare back to your logline and ask yourself if you’re still on track to getting to C, or if it’s unrelated to their journey.

For example, maybe the writers of Moana wrote in a plot point where she has to fill in as chief on another island—does that challenge her to figure out what her place is? If a plot point takes a character back to their roots, or has them doing something they do well and often, it probably isn’t helping them to grow very much.

The inciting incident’s job is to take the character out of the safety and familiarity of their old world and place them as far outside of their comfort zone as possible. We know that Moana needs to figure out who she is and where she belongs by the end of the story, so every plot point should take her closer to that end point.

Wondering how to figure out what each plot point should be, or how to structure this change? Check back with me in a few days for the follow up to this post "the role of each plot point" that will answer those questions :-)

[richellegoodrich]

"Lavender lilies all dotted with spots. Sun-yellow daffodils clustered in pots. Blue morning-glories climb trellises high. Powder-white asters like stars in the sky. Thick, pink peonies unfold in the sun. Winter adieu now that spring has begun."

― Richelle E. Goodrich, Being Bold: Quotes, Poetry, & Motivations for Every Day of the Year

[knebellindemann]

[fatimazainab]

Margaret Atwood, The Blind Assassin

[mgcsheaven]

realistically there is no chance i will have time to read, imma still bring a book though

[starryvomit]

[ghostluv7]

[nemfrog]

The good child's own book, or Stepping stone to knowledge. 1830.

Internet Archive

[joytri]

Isn't it odd how much fatter a book gets when you've read it several times? As if something were left between the pages every time you read it. Feelings, thoughts, sounds, smells... and then, when you look at the book again many years later, you find yourself there too.. a slightly younger self, slightly different, as if the book had preserved you like a pressed flower... both strange and familiar.

- Cornelia Funke, The Inkheart

[hometoursandotherstuff]

I like Ink Drinker.

[edwardcreel]

hate when I read smut and the author doesn’t keep track of the characters’ positions or what they are doing so they just end up doing this

[richellegoodrich]

"Have faith and endure your trials well. Know that God compensates us for the pain and losses in our lives. Someday your heart will heal. Someday it will feel as if those years never happened, or at the very least, as if they were nothing more than a very bad dream."

― Richelle E. Goodrich, Hope Evermore: Quotes, Verse, & Spiritual Inspiration for Every Day of the Year

[curiositysavesthecat]

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