#sideways stories from

[incognito-princess]

I'm reading "Sideways Stories from Wayside School" to my class- I don't want to spoil the book for you, but in the first chapter there's a teacher who turns naughty children (and not naughty children) into apples. Yesterday I was finishing my apple after lunch and my class was dramatically horrified, exclaiming, "Who was that?"

[school-of-all-time]

Semifinal: Wildcliff vs. Wayside

[notbecauseofvictories]

I finally listened to the latest episode of the silt verses ("latest" meaning "it came out in january, I've just been really busy") and I don't want to be negative but I liked faulkner better when he was unhinged. No more pseudo-therapy or painfully honest conversations for these characters, they need to march to their doom being lonely, unfulfilled, and tragic.

[kjelmose]

30 classrooms, supposed to be sideways

[andyoullhearitagain]

Just me?

[pastafossa]

How do you get past writer's block? I have a fic that I'm working on that is updating on a schedule, and I made the mistake of giving myself a month off in between parts and now I can't really get back into writing it. I don't want to leave it abandoned because I have a few people who I know are really invested and I don't want to leave them hanging, but I'm having a hard time getting as excited to write it as I did before.

Ok so I'm in a weird place for this, hilariously. Because The Answer That Usually Works For Me (TM) and that carried me through a regular weekly update schedule for almost two and a half years is, in fact, not at present working for me apparently my brain can write through a pandemic but not through recovery from the shit that went down in December/Jan so we found my writing kryptonite. However, I'm going to assume you're closer to 2021 Pasta than 2024 Pasta. SO LET'S GO WITH THE METHOD I NORMALLY USE SINCE IT WAS SUCCESSFUL FOR YEARS. Cause that's the thing: sure, I've written almost a million words, and pumped out chapters for years (ignoring the past few months) but I promise, I hit the same walls as everyone else even when nailing weekly uploads. But over those years, I came up with a fairly solid list of steps that I'd go through one by one.

Fun one first: when I'm in a block, I almost always try re-engaging with canon first. I'd rewatch my favorite episodes, binge a whole season, or even the whole series depending on how much of a boost I needed. For me at least that was often like Pavlov's bell, my favorite story triggering a flood of affection. I'd remember why I loved this fandom and the characters so much, and it could often kickstart my brain and excitement back into gear. If you really want to dangle a carrot and your fic touches on canon, focus on watching parts you're excited to get to in your story. A big one for me in TRT for example was the post-Nobu, Nelson v. Murdock episode, since I'd had that planned for TRT almost since the start, and I was very excited to reach the hurt/comfort I had planned. Even if your fic isn't following canon though, see if it'll give you a creative rush again!

So let's say step 1 doesn't work, either because the canon just isn't hitting the spot or because your fic is dealing with something else. In this case, my next step was usually to jump ahead to write a scene I was really eager to get to. It was often a short blurb, but it was always something I REALLY wanted to explore, and because I'm also a reader who likes exactly the tropes and plots I'm writing, I want to read what fucking happens. Except, fuck, I'm not there yet, am I? And I can't see how that scene finishes until I write my way up to it and finish it. This is my own carrot. Multiple scenes in TRT were written months or even years in advance, simply as a way to bribe myself. This is also an option!

But maybe this doesn't work. Sometimes it didn't. This is when it got a bit more serious. For anyone who was reading at the time, you'd have noticed that I'd sometimes drop side fics, either Matt POVs or one-shots. This was me, in essence, working on the shower principle (basically, ideas/solutions will come if you stop thinking about it and do something else, like take a shower). I figured if I went and wrote something else - either with less stress, or something fun and dopamine-inducing - the part of my brain focused on my Big Fic would wander around the writer's block beneath my notice. And it almost always worked, all while I still kept my brain trained that, hey, even if we're not writing This Thing, we're still writing.

But let's say this doesn't work either. You're well, and truly, stuck. Been there now and then. And, you're going to hate this one. I hate it but it works 9 times of 10. And it is: Write anyway. Half of it was spite. I was not going to give up my schedule, I liked my schedule. The other half was that I knew myself. I knew if I could just get past the chapter/plot/dialogue I was struggling with, I'd be able to roll along again. And so I made a rule: whatever I wrote didn't have to be pretty. It just had to exist. If that meant I wrote, "Jane chased the cat in circles and caught it. She was happy." then that's what I wrote. Because everything, EVERYTHING, can be fixed in editing. But you can't fix what doesn't exist. And so there were those nights when I would scowl and groan and snarl and bash my head against that writer's block until 5 in the morning, but in the end Jane chased that fucking cat adn caught it, it was written. Hilariously, sometimes those chapters have wound up amazing (likely because I spent so much time hammering at them) and reader favorites. There are absolutely, I believe, moments where you can, and should, see if you can push through.

But that brings me to *waves* now. A lesson I've only recently recently and with encouragement. Namely... sometimes brain no go and that's ok. My steps work for me 99.9% of the time, but I've done the above during the past few months, and it just... hasn't dragged me out entirely out of it yet. Sometimes, our brains demand that break, especially when things just aren't going great. There's a reason TRT had a break of roughly 2 years between chapter 4 and chapter 5 (feel free to check the chapter index with dates on AO3!). I had some life things happening and I just was not in a place to write, even if I was still busily plotting and planning and thinking about TRT behind the scenes. And that was ok. We're not machines. I came back like a bulldozer in Jan 2021, yes, and bulldozed through weekly updates, but that break was needed. And now I'm obviously taking a short one again while I recover from everything. It's ok if you're not in a place for it. So the last step is one I've been told a lot by dear friends recently as they helped me through this: be kind to yourself, and try not to stress if none of the above works. The story will always be there, and if TRT is any indication through all its highs and lows, your readers will be there when you start up again.

[kahran042]

This is the only day you can reblog this until next year.

[picturebookshelf]

Sideways Stories From Wayside School

Original Edition: 1978 -- This Edition: 1985 Story: Louis Sachar -- Art: Julie Brinckloe

[gayvampyr]

is it even worth it to get your wisdom teeth removed

[eclipsecrowned]

ok, jester's hat is off.

i'm on an edge due to my dad's health and an unrelated incident today just ripping out my mental stability at the root. i'm not well, things aren't looking so hot in terms of coming back from this. i'm likely to be either taking a big step back or throwing myself into the hobby depending on which side of the coin my fucked up brain lands on. i hate to do this as i feel like i only just started getting back into the swing of things but i'm hitting a wall mentally and need to start organizing that space, as it were.

if i do hang around things are likely to turn self indulgent for a minute, i'm likely to be more scarce in dms, i might focus on what's short/gives the fastest returns in terms of effort vs results. it isn't me playing favorites or trying to alienate anyone, i have just been here before and i know where it ends.

[shunshuntaiga]

From instagram❤️

[school-of-all-time]

School of All Time Final!

Welcome to the final!!

Asks are open if you want to send in propaganda. May the best (most interesting, most awful, most iconic, whatever) school win!

This tournament began with 256 schools (technically more if you count the qualifying rounds). If you want to know how we got here, you can see all the brackets below the cut:

The final bracket:

The preliminary brackets:

[brittlebutch]

Brian isn't oblivious. He knows that he's playing with fire, tempting fate, testing Tim — however it's phrased, Brian knows exactly what he's guilty of. Unfortunately for all of them, that's never been enough to keep Brian from doing anything.

--

word count: 3232

[allegorymetaphory]

I still spend a nonzero amount of time thinking about sideways stories from wayside school.

[bells12]

I think about this chapter a lot.

[an-aura-about-you]

you ever stop and realize something and get mad because you SHOULD have realized it AGES ago because you've had all the pieces for a while now but you can't explain it to someone else unless they also have all the pieces or you are willing to show them all the pieces so they can also see how they fit?