#storytelling books best

[jackshiccup]

despite knowing what was going to happen, snotlout's redemption and eventual downfall was so so heartbreaking to me. we spend the past 10 books witnessing how much he's tormented and bullied hiccup that we all feel the same anger and frustration and resentment as fishlegs does in the beginning of 11. i was, maybe, even rooting for something a little bad to happen to him so that he can feel even a fraction of the humiliation that he put hiccup through. but time and time again hiccup, with his inherent goodness and wonderful capacity to always try and see the best in people, reminds us that people need and deserve second chances. even third, fourth and fifth chances. even when hiccup was faced with the certainty that snotlout was set on betraying him from the start.

that's why it was so satisfying to get to the emotional catharsis of the swordfight. snotlout practically begging for hiccup to hate him and hiccup genuinely not having it in him to be able to. and even after that, even after he disarms hiccup and is seconds from killing him - he doesn't. and then hiccup comforts snotlout through it. he tells him words that snotlout didn't know he's been desperate to hear. he tells him he's being too hard on himself. he tells him he's a hero. he opens a door inside snotlout's life for the first time in a long time. despite everything, he offers him another choice to join the dragonmarkers. and snotlout accepts. he bows to hiccup, he calls him king, pledges his sword to his service forever, shakes his hand and chooses to bear the dragonmark.

and it's this moment we finally seeing the seeds of change planted in snotlout sprout - instigated by gobber teaching him a lesson in the amber slavelands and reminding him what the black star represents: pride, honour, bravery. all the times we see snotlout give in to vulnerability and ponder on his choices, he's always holding onto it. which makes it all the more symbolic when he hangs it around hiccup's neck during his last act of valour.

just like how the book tells us that the tides can change so fast, through hiccup, my heart was able to give snotlout another chance too. and it's because of hiccup's belief in snotlout's potential for more that makes you feel so strongly about his death. snotlout's excitement at finally being on hiccup's side, at doing what's right, at having the opportunity to actually be a hero - we can't help but feel that burst of pride, we can't help but root for him. and so we feel the loss, as hiccup did. and it's a point driven home when hiccup ends the epilogue with how he’s carried snotlout and his sacrifice with him all throughout his life. and how time has rubbed away at the black star.

that now the star doesn't look black at all. just gold.

[solovelyanddry]

Imagine watching an adaptation of The Yellow Wallpaper where the husband was proven to be correct in his treatment of the narrator and you will begin to understand my problems with Poor Things (2023) as an adaptation (and, frankly, as a film).

[carnivalcarriondiscarded]

Phullo there, I’d like to ask you a question! I hope I won’t be such a bothersome.

So, I’m planning to write a story about Laughingstock and since I find your storytelling very pleasing I figured it’d be a great idea to ask for your advice about the writing!

My Idea in general for this story is just Howdy taking a day off from working in his bodega. And basically, he’ll be just wearing normal clothes.. shocking truly.

And thennn, Barnaby and Howdy accidentally stumbled into each other’s path. They later then of course had a very long conversation that lasted until evening maybe.

Of course there’ll be some fishy moments like them looking at each other with goggly eyes and other cheesy romantic nonsense- but it’s just mainly them having their usual conversation with a ‘couple’ of jokes here and there. It’s supposed to be a sweet memory for them to remember basically.

So, what I’m really trying to ask you for is- how the heck do you start a story exactly and not make it into just the dialogues? Like, I want my story to be kind of long but I’m afraid it’ll be just them, y’know, talking and I really don’t want it to be boring.. therefore, I really need your help.

I am so sorry if it’s such a bad timing considering the fact that you just had an interview which I am very proud for you for that! Even if it didn’t go as expected at least you did good half of it.

Soo, yeah! I’d very much appreciate your advice and I am sooo sorry that this was soo long!!! And again, a bad timing too.. but hey if you got any time, please consider answering. Thank you..

Also any response yet? On the interview of course.

hmmm... in my experience and Knowledge Accumulated Over The Years via reading And writing... the best place to start is to just drop in. no story introduction, no "it was a dark and stormy night", just Start. it sounds like your story begins with Howdy taking the day off, so maybe kick off with him getting ready / choosing an outfit, or w/ him reflexively almost opening the store before he stops and chides himself for almost forgetting that he's taking the day off

to combat the dialogue, maybe detail him leaving the bodega to go into the neighborhood. what does he see? hear? feel both physically and mentally? is there anyone else out and about? set the scene! ive been struggling with this too lately since i haven't seriously written in a while and i haven't been reading actual books

WHICH! IMPORTANT TANGENTS!! read well-written books, Not fanfic! im not saying dont read fanfic ever or i'd be the world's biggest hypocrite, but also read actual books. it's important to study how published authors write, how stories are structured, dialogue and action. because these books have more often then not gone through a Rigorous screening process. multiple drafts, beta readers, publishers reading it with great scrutiny before agreeing to publish - of course there are exceptions, but a lot of books are the highest quality they can be, and will outshine most fics. because, and i say all of this as good things, fics are unregulated. most dont have beta readers. a lot are from amateur authors new to the scene. there will be spelling mistakes, weird grammar & sentence structure, etc - most fics have Entirely different writing styles from each other. so if you only read fanfic, That is what your brain will learn, and it's gonna be harder for you to write. published books have less variation in styles, and the styles are subtler. there's less spelling mistakes if any, so your spelling will improve. your internal vocabulary will expand. even if you don't consciously study what you read, your brain will pick up on & internalize patterns, how action works, how dialogue works, how to structure a story, all that good stuff. if you want, i can recommend well-written books! i've been an avid reader since... like, ever. i've got recs galore! you can tell me your preferred genre & literary interest and i'll probably have something for you! and if you're not big on books, well... get out of your comfort zone lmao, books are fucking awesome and i guarantee there are plenty out there that you would love.

and when you're writing dialogue, intersperse it with little actions or the main povs' internal dialogue. if there's a natural lull in the conversation, explore that lull! what do the characters do in this moment? what's going on around them? sprinkle bits of setting in so that your reader knows where they are and what's going on.

plus, exploring the non-dialogue sections of your story can, and often will, spark inspiration in your brain for scenes and actions to fill out the story if you want it to be long (but also! if you just want to write the scene of their conversation, that's the beauty of fanfic - there's no requirements. do whatever you want lmao). when Howdy is going into town, maybe Wally calls him over for a quick pose - does Howdy say yes or no, and how does that decision change the story? maybe Julie invites him to join her in a game, or Eddie stops to talk to Howdy about him being out and about. maybe there are some complaints over the bodega not being open. what's the lead-up to Howdy and Barnaby running into each other? do they literally run into each other? what happens when they do? those are just a few possibilities of many!

remember, when you're writing, you're that story's god. you can do literally fucking anything. you decide what the characters do, where they go, what happens in their world. that mindset should help you bolster the plot instead of just "these two characters have a conversation", yk?

i hope this helps!

[fictionadventurer]

In my continuing quest to learn more about Laura Ingalls Wilder as a writer beyond the Little House books, one of the most surprising things I've learned is that apparently she wrote a small collection of cutesy poems about nature fairies.

They were originally published in a children's column in the San Francisco Bulletin in 1915, and are apparently about a couple of fairy characters who paint flowers and bring dewdrops and bring about other natural phenomena. This post goes into more detail about the poems, and the interesting blend of practicality and whimsy that goes into her presentation of fairies.

It also provides one of the poems.

And this quote about the importance of giving children fairy tales that's almost Chestertonian.

Wilder explained why she preferred such magical images of natural processes in a column for the Missouri Ruralist called “Look for Fairies Now.” She argued that children needed tales of fairies to help them see beyond the surface and to use their imaginations. In the olden days, she explained, farmers left some of their harvest for the Little People who “worked hard in the ground to help the farmer grow his crops.” Perhaps this idea was just superstition, she continued, “but I leave it to you if it has not been proved true that where the ‘Little People’ of the soil are not fed the crops are poor. We call them different names now, nitrogen and humus and all the rest of it, but I always have preferred to think of them as fairy folk who must be treated right.

On the one hand, this feels like just another example of how it was apparently a requirement for female authors of a certain era to write cute nature fairy poems. But with the context of the quote, it's also surprisingly fitting for who she is as an author.

[rearranging-deck-chairs]

obsessed with their different reactions to being called starcrossed lovers

[indigoinka]

So, I won an award this weekend.

I have an award winning subscription.

I am an award winning author.

Winning author award am I.

🤯

[meljwrites]

"And my favourite movie has a character who knows that her child will die before she even dates the future father. I live for angst." listen I already knew we had tastes in common but I cannot fucking believe your favorite movie is Arrival too. catch me crying 3am to On the nature of daylight

Yes!! I am in love with the way they use peoples perceptions of cinematic language to trick the audience and reflect the themes of the story. like they really kuloshoved the fuck out of us.

[mylifeinfiction]

My Best of 2023: My Top 5 Non-2023 Books

1. The Count of Monte Cristo (Alexandre Dumas, 1844)

2. No Country For Old Men (Cormac McCarthy, 2005)

3. Britt-Marie Was Here (Fredrik Backman, 2016)

4. In the Miso Soup (Ryū Murakami, 2003)

5. The Storyteller (Dave Grohl, 2021)

Note: These were chosen from the 10 Non-2021/Non-King books I read in 2022. (Low, I know, but once again I got caught up in new releases.) Same as previous years, Stephen King gets his own Top 5. The only Classic I managed was The Count of Monte Cristo, which was epic and took up pretty much my entire January. My first two reads for 2024 are Lonesome Dove and Don Quixote, so hopefully I'll get in the trend of reading more Classics throughout the rest of this coming year.

Thank you all so much for reading/sharing/etc. And please follow for My Top 5 Stephen King Books of 2022 & My Top 10 2022 Books, Coming Soon!!

-Timothy Patrick Boyer.

[july-19th-club]

this past little while every time ive gone oh here's something new i think i'd enjoy lets watch it ive sat down and watched it and been like. i had a good time doing this it was not a waste of a few hours . i enjoyed myself & then ill go see what the reviews are and they'll be like jesus CHRIST that was boring . overcomplicated. undercomplicated. poorly performed. and in general an embarrassment to the medium which just goes to show you that i shouldnt be a professional critic and critics shouldnt watch movies with me

[tolerateit]

had been meaning to read elena knows for a while now and finally got around to it. need a few days to think about it, dead sure the book will stay with me for a long long time and i definitely recommend it if you want to read something raw, brutally honest and absolutely wonderful

[histoires-en-bouteille]

I can't sleep.

I think something is about to happen. Something really wrong. I can't explain it to myself, but I just know it. Deep in my guts, I know it.

I feel like every step we take brings us closer to the end, somehow.

We're about a day away from Alcura. We've mostly met passive creatures, the kind that run away when they see you. Sometimes they stare, long enough to give you the creeps.

There's always one that stares for too long. One that makes you feel like you're their prey, their object of curiosity. You never know how they think, you just know they stare. You see their eyes, so big, so dead, and you could swear there's something behind those fucking eyes.

Ava doesn't say anything. Me neither. We haven't talked in...I think we haven't talked in a week, at least. Sometimes shit go wild between us.

It's back. Staring again. Fuck, that thing is seriously creeping the fuck out of me. Ava is sleeping. Usually she would stare back until it would leave.

I can't do that. I'm not superstitious, I know Ava always says I am, I'm not, but you know what they say about those who stare back? They always get snapped from the sides. So busy looking straight into the dead eyes in front of them, they get too caught up in the moment and forget to watch their sides. That's how Big Grum got torn to shred.

I'll keep a side-eye on that thing. I feel like it's been following us, but I'm not sure. But it's been days and I can't sleep. I can't fucking sleep because whenever I close my eyes I feel my heart...I fucking feel that... that presence.

Mami used to tell us that if we feel a presence, we must keep our eyes open, because if we close our eyes, they'll be right there when we open them again.

Right here, in front of us, staring and grinning.

I should really shut up. Writing these things only makes me feel worse. There's no way I'll be sleeping tonight. No fucking way.

I just hope we can reach Alcura tomorrow. I don't feel like being outside with Dead Eyes any longer.

_

Extract from Todd's Journal. - Dead Eyes.

_

Notes from transcriber:

The extract was entitled "Dead Eyes" as a reference to the nickname given to the creature observed by Todd and Ava on their first trip to Alcura. The emphasis on the eyes of the creature became the focus of scholars curiosity, as well as an object of controversies. Dead Eyes has indeed been suspected of being █ █████████ ███████████ ████ ████ ██ ████████ █████ ██ █████████ ████ ███ ███'█ ██████████. (What's Behind The Eyes?, 150-163) ███████████ ████ ██████ ████ ██████ ██████ ██ ██████ ███ ██████, ███ ███ ██ ███ ████ ████ ██ ███ ████████ ██████████. (Archives of Security Register)

Dead Eyes became a recurring image in Todd's journal, and could be found from page 25 to 53, a section of the journal which corresponded to their second trip to Alcura. It also marked the disappearance of Dead Eyes's physical presence - though one can argue that Dead Eyes remained omnipresent in Todd's retelling of their travels, as defended by Elina Baker in Dead Eyes: The Haunting of A Presence (Baker, 23)

Todd often wrote about local beliefs and superstitions, as well as myths and stories he (and Ava) grew up with. The story of Big Grum - accessible on the online version of ARKives (ARKives, Formative Tales) - is what scholars commonly define as a "formative tale" for children, providing them with "life lessons and warnings related to the real life conditions and habits of [their] natal village[s]". (Dictiocon Online)

Todd briefly mentioned an altercation between Ava and himself. He gave no details whatsoever on the matter, but did say that "Sometimes shit go wild between [them]," proving the reccuring arguments they would have while travelling. In another extract entitled Home, Todd wrote about a violent altercation which led both parties to not talk to each other for more than three weeks. He also confided in his journal of this fight being "the worst [they] ever had" and explained how "miserable" it made him feel. (Home, 84)

_

@chaoticvampirejedi @m-o-o-n-s-g-o-o-n-s

[judgingskeletons]

BOoOoOoOoOoOoNE!

[toribookworm22]

Happy STS! What's the last thing in a WIP that did not end up going at all the way you thought it would go?

Hey, Winter! Thanks for the ask!

Honestly, I usually have no idea how things are going to go. 🤣 Very much a pantser. I've had some stories take a sudden turn on me before. My dark fairytale ended up darker than it started, with some new villain characters.

But probably the biggest one is what ended up happening with my Animatronic Saga.

*rubs hands together*

Ready for a story?

So about 4 years ago, I was working on what was supposed to be the last book in the series. But damn, did I get stuck. Majorly stuck. For months. So I decided to go ahead and edit the first book, update the style, fix typos.

Quarantine hit. Suddenly, I had lots of time.

But I was still stuck. So, I edited the second book. Alright, cool. Onto book 3.

And BOOM!

A golden opportunity. A door I hadn't had the key to open when I wrote the first draft. A path I wasn't willing to take the first time around. Muses and The Fates singing to me, here, little writer, this way.

Suffice to say, I decided to see where it led me. Worst outcome: I'd waste a couple months and go back to the original drafts.

Best outcome?

Well, the best outcome was what happened. The Animatronic Saga is a 5-book series with an ending I never could've imagined; with twists and turns and arcs I never saw coming.

Technically speaking, because of the rewrite, there are 4 other books and an alternate ending that fizzled out before I could close it.

Here, little writer, this way.

Thanks again for the tag! ❤️

[quincywillows]

maybe it’s just that kind of day but i’m getting emotional thinking about how my favorite book ever like the one most special to me that i never tire of and that has so many lines i adore to pieces was a book i came across by happenstance. it was a something something medal winning book when i picked it up in the school library in fifth grade, or maybe fourth grade -- who can remember now -- but i didn’t care about that. i just picked it up by chance, to try it, and somehow it never made its way back to the school library. it still has property of my school county inked on the top of the pages. and it’s my favorite book to this day, with a magic that has not faded.

when people ask me my favorite book and i say it, literally not one person has recognized the title. it’s not a new york times bestseller. the author isn’t one of the big-name writers of this generation. it doesn’t have people raving about it on tiktok or twitter, it didn’t have hype parades down the street and all over the internet when it was released. in fact, it wasn’t sold to me at all -- wasn’t shoved down my throat by too-good-to-be-true raving ARCs or algorithms that guarantee i’ll love the next overhyped, recycled, cookie-cutter product coming out of the publishing houses.

it’s just a story that i stumbled on. that i liked. that touched me, tickled my brain in just the right way, stuck with me for years in a way that a goodreads choice winner or new york bestseller literally never has.

that is what storytelling is to me. it isn’t about the money. it isn’t about the hype. it’s the idea that one day, without your knowledge and likely with no prompting or money exchanged, someone will stumble upon your story and it will never leave them. it will pique their interest, capture their imagination, touch them in just the right way to become theirs. and you will probably never know how much it meant to that one person. but it doesn’t matter. it exists with someone else, is shared with them, and it gives them the same warmth (or excitement, or inspiration, or comfort, or all the above) to read it. to keep it on their shelf, digital or tangible; to keep it in their heart.

maybe that’s romanticized, or naive, but it’s all i can think about these days. it’s what i think about when i finish reading yet another lackluster published novel and wonder what’s missing. it’s what i think about when i ruminate on what i want from my writing “career,” what really matters to me, why i spend all the time weaving narrative and writing words that i do.

it’s about sharing the story, to anyone who decides to read it. it’s not about the money; it’s not about the hype. we write because someone someday might read our words and they’ll be exactly what they wanted, what they needed, and it’s a joy to share it.