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[wit4writ]

words to use instead of ________

"Mad"

aggravated, angry, annoyed, boiling, cross, enraged, exasperated, fuming, furious, heated, incensed, indignant, irate, irritable, livid, offended, outraged, riled, steamed, storming, upset

"Nice"

amiable, charming, cordial, courteous, delightful, favorable, friendly, genial, gentle, gracious, helpful, inviting, kind, lovely, obliging, peaceful, peachy, pleasant, polite, swell, sympathetic, tender, welcoming, well-mannered, winning

"Pretty"

alluring, appealing, attractive, beautiful, charming, cute, delightful, desirable, elegant, eye-catching, fair, fascinating, gorgeous, graceful, intriguing, lovely, pleasing, striking, stunning, sweet

"Said"

alleged, argued, asked, asserted, babbled, bellowed, bragged, commented, complained, cried, declined, demanded, denied, encouraged, expressed, giggled, growled, inquired, moaned, nagged, rebuked, rebutted, replied, rejected, retorted, roared, scolded, shrieked, shrugged, stated, taunted, vowed, warned, whined, whispered, yelled

"Went"

avoid, bolt, bound, depart, exit, escape, flee, fly, hike, hop, jaunt, jolt, journey, leap, leave, lurch, march, mosey, move, pace, parade, pass, progress, retreat, saunter, scoot, skip, split, step, stride, stroll, tour, travel, vanish

more words to use instead other words to use instead another list of words to use instead

[wit4writ]

When fans miss Galavant so much they create their own fan musical synopsis of the first two seasons-

[wit4writ]

The queen has spoken.

GUYS

Here’s the link to the article

[wit4writ]

Adobe is going to spy on your projects. This is insane.

[wit4writ]

[wit4writ]

“Sire, Sire, Grave news, The Princess has been kidnapped”, “Oh has she?”, “Sire… should you not be more concerned?”. The king looked up from his reports, studying the guard’s face before laughing “Ah, you must be new here, don’t worry, she’s more than capable of handling herself”

[wit4writ]

Mumbling, the King looked away from his knight and muttered, “I need you to save the dragon… from my princess.”

[wit4writ]

The Chosen One is dead, killed while facing the Dark Lord. Grief and hatred together give rise to an unlikely pair of heroes who come together to defeat the evil now taking over the world unchecked. The Chosen One’s parents are out for revenge, and there is no room for mercy anymore.

[wit4writ]

[This idea has been rattling in my brain and I had to share it.]

I know we all love the ‘humans are space orcs’ concept… but imagine, onboard the new ship they’ve been assigned to, the human meets an actual space orc. A massive monster… fangs and tusks and scars and a battle-hardened stare, looming over all the other life forms on the ship in its thick indestructible armour it refuses to remove. It barely drinks, it doesn’t need sleep, its massive shoulders are heavy with the terrible things it has experienced. Compared to the squishy & delicate human body, this thing is a walking tank.

… Except instead of hating/ignoring one another, the human and the monster start bonding over both coming from death planets. The human is excited to find a life form who doesn’t quiver with fear at the vague description of a jellyfish and the monster is ecstatic to meet someone who understands the feeling of being bitten by a qua’lem (cats are pretty close). They sit together and compare dangerous animals and locations as the other aliens look on in confusion and fear… oh, you also have dense jungles of deadly hidden predators, boiling acid lakes, tamed predatory killers, and areas with horrendously high and low temperatures? Sick!! 

It doesn’t take long before the two of them become totally inseparable. The human loves not feeling like some kind of crazy outsider and the monster is overjoyed they’ve finally found an equal in this unkillable marshmallow.

Monster: When I was a youngling, a grol-lik stung straight through my armour. The pain lasted for approximately 16 human hours. Human: Oh yeah man, I get that. As a kid I got a wasp stuck in my shirt. It stung me like four times, it was awful, and all my cousins just laughed at me… Monster: [using their arm screen to research human courting methods] I see.

[wit4writ]

In a world where genies are commonplace and delight in granting wishes in the most inconvenient way possible, you are a defense attorney who must defend your client, a well-meaning genie who is charged with felonious wish-granting.

[wit4writ]

This somewhat fits under #2, but something I need to remind myself of is that stories change. They breathe and evolve and grow, and that may result in characters who simply don't fit anymore. For example, in one fantasy story I had, there was one character, a soldier who was working in a foreign kingdom, who had his own storyline involving racism and prejudice, but then the story changed, moving into an entirely different direction. Suddenly, that character and his storyline were clashing colours in my story tapestry, so I had to remove him, and save him in my drafts for a different tale. Sometimes, the story changes, and the characters change along with it.

When to Cut a Character

Last time we talked about getting rid of what’s not serving your story, but sometimes it can be hard to tell when something just needs a bit of adjusting to work, or needs to be cut entirely. This is a very case-by-case occurrence, but there are a few tell-tale signs for when a character just isn’t necessary.

1. You struggle to remember to include them in scenes or dialogue

If you often feel like you’re adding your character into a scene just because we haven’t seen them in a while, or even find yourself forgetting they exist at all—they are just as, if not more forgettable to the readers. This is a big sign you can cut them out, and save yourself the effort of including them in random scenes.

2. Their dialogue/purpose could be given to someone else

The best way to check if someone (or something) is necessary is to try to take them out. If you find that you can give a character’s plot importance and dialogue to someone else (or split across multiple characters), you can cut the character. By trying this with all your characters, you’ll find that only the absolute necessary ones remain. Besides, a smaller cast of characters is often easier to develop and juggle, allowing them all to shine throughout the story.

3. They only really show up as a plot device

While maybe not necessary to cut out completely, characters who only show up at the most convenient times to provide some plot device or deus ex machina tend to land flat. When I catch these in my own work, I cut them out to force my main characters to solve their own problems.

One big example of this (and spoilers for the movie Passenger (2016)!) is when the characters, who are the only ones awake on the ship, need access to a certain room they don’t have the clearance for. This door proves an obstacle for the entire movie. Then, we reach the third act and need to end the movie so one of the other passengers who has access to that door wakes up because of a sudden malfunction, helps them through the door, and then dies soon after.

Given that was in a blockbuster movie, I’m sure you could get away with doing this, but I personally would have cut out that character and figured out a way for them to solve the problem on their own. (I think even if they had woken him up intentionally, giving them action and agency to solve this problem, it would have been better, but I digress).

There are tons of purposes for characters which is what makes this so case by case. If you’re unsure about a character being necessary, try taking them out and evaluate what is lost. If nothing is lost, or whatever’s lost can be made up by someone else, maybe the cut should be permanent.

                Any other signs a character is worth writing out of the story?

[wit4writ]

Aliens have captured you, and placed you in one of their nature preserves. However, they have sorely miscalculated on two issues: The amount of calories needed to keep a persistence predator sated, and the lethality/brutality of a hangry human.

[wit4writ]

Love how tumblr has its own folk stories. Yeah the God of Arepo we’ve all heard the story and we all still cry about it. Yeah that one about the woman locked up for centuries finally getting free. That one about the witch who would marry anyone who could get her house key from her cat and it’s revealed she IS the cat after the narrator befriends the cat.

[wit4writ]

ReWatch: Galavant - S1, E1 - 4

Ep 1: Pilot The show started and in minutes i was smiling.  If you haven't seen it, please give it a chance.  It's filled with musical numbers, snappy dialog, even more clever lyrics and over the top characters.  Plus it has Timothy Omundson.  It's on Hulu: go watch go watch go watch.  :-)

Love the twist that the love interest decides to take the "easy" path of riches and stays with the King (that kidnapped her) and she becomes the biggest evil and not the King.

Ep 2:  Joust Friends John Stamos??  I don't remember him; how could I have forgotten him, what with the slight eye make up.  I love that.  And he's so fun as an evil competitor on the joust. Which turned into an absolutely joke because it was against Galavant, who trained too hard and couldn't move his arms and Jean was poisoned and threw up in his armor (gross!).  Once the riders fell off, the horses just turned and walked away.  And the battle collapsed into which jouster could get off the ground first.  That's what makes the show so funny.

The montage of Galavant training, complete with dousing himself with water; pander to the audience, I see you!  The songs!  You're growing on me, just like mold - haaahaaa - I was destined to love this show.  The hug between Gareth (big bad body guard!) and the King, so sweet.

Ep 3: Two Balls They even sing the recap, lovelovelove

The kicking of the eunuch was a bit much, but some of the humor is very childish - and that's ok.

Ep 4: Comedy Gold Pirate shanty!!!!!  For a band of pirates that have no boat.  No real pirate skills, couldn't even cut the rope.  He had to untie the rope holding Galavant.  Poor pirate-like people, they need to practice being yarhar pirates. 

These actors had a great sense of timing, the way they played off each other so well.

Fave dialog Galavant: Don't you need a boat to be pirates?

I got a little distracted sometimes and forgot to type some thoughts as I watched the ep, it's why some of them are ... light on thoughts. :)

[wit4writ]

calling all authors!!

i have just stumbled upon the most beautiful public document i have ever laid eyes on. this also goes for anyone whose pastimes include any sort of character creation. may i present, the HOLY GRAIL:

https://www.fbiic.gov/public/2008/nov/Naming_practice_guide_UK_2006.pdf

this wonderful 88-page piece has step by step breakdowns of how names work in different cultures! i needed to know how to name a Muslim character it has already helped me SO MUCH and i’ve known about it for all of 15 minutes!! i am thoroughly amazed and i just needed to share with you guys 

[wit4writ]

May your pain medication always kick in right after you take them. May your compression garments always slip on your body with ease. May you always find your footing when you walk. May you wake up with energy and zest. May your sinuses always be clear

[wit4writ]

They are already selling data to midjourney, and it's very likely your work is already being used to train their models because you have to OPT OUT of this, not opt in. Very scummy of them to roll this out unannounced.