Entire World Imagined, Not One Book Finished

Flash: Practicality (He wears pretty much anything sporty... don’t know if arm warmers count)

Hatori: Practicality (Being half-naked with only chains and shorts does that to you)

Saki: Aesthetic (Being a navigator lets you dress however you want)

Saizo: Practicality (Hey, fishnets are very crucial to keep moist)

Naoya: Aesthetic (Nothing like promoting your brand while giving your enemies  unrelenting fear)

Kamui: Practicality (Although they do wear a bunch of belts)

Minako: Aesthetic (She still has to look good, even when slashing apart monsters)

The thing about Shakespeare that made him so good was that he wrote plays that would appeal to everybody. Yes he wrote dick jokes to appeal to the common man. There was a standing-room-only section for people who couldn’t afford seats, and he wanted to make sure that audience came to see his shows.

But even the Queen came to see Shakespeare’s plays. And I’m sure Shakespeare’s mindset wasn’t “How do I appeal to the Queen? Dicks.” Sure, she liked the character of Falstaff, but Falstaff isn’t just hur bdur alcohol; between the three plays he’s in, he has more lines than even Hamlet.

blonde/brunette = feminine

blond/brunet = masculine 

From the Oxford English Dictionary site for blonde: 

Usage The alternative spellings blonde and blond correspond to the feminine and masculine forms in French, but in English the distinction is not always made, as English does not have such distinctions of grammatical gender. Thus, blond woman or blonde woman, blond man or blonde man are all used. The word is more commonly used of women, though, and in the noun the spelling is typically blonde. In American usage the usual spelling is blond for both adjective and noun.

The same site says brunette is British while brunet is American. I haven’t seen brunet used much here in the U.S., but my old dictionary I had in college says brunet is the adjective and brunette is a noun. 

English may not assign gender to nouns and adjectives, but it sure picked up a lot of gendered words from other languages. We can just as easily say dark or light-haired, but when using foreign words English can’t always ignore the rules that come with them. Likewise, by the source you quoted and by popular knowledge, the terms themselves are used primarily to describe women, making them gendered after all. Men seem to be more often compared by height and stature than hair color. Even women’s hair products use the terms more than men’s do.

Until I get to fanfiction online where writers with a first language besides English are trying to differentiate between characters who all have the same hair colors. Epithets abound, the spellings get confused, and the readers are unsure which blonde or blond is being referred to at the moment. That’s where I notice the gender conflict the most, among English dialects from around the world, and among writers who’ve learned the usage of the word from purely commercial sources.

Personally, I feel like a 1950’s housewife or Carolyn Keene when I use “blonde” or “brunette” in reference to anyone. It’s much better to just use their names, or find a less common physical attribute than hair/eye color to differentiate each character.

alternatively 

Embarrass your protagonist. Make them seem weak and vulnerable in some way.

Shoot someone. That always takes the reader by surprise. 

In relation, kidnap someone. Or, rather, make it seem to your protagonist like someone has been kidnapped. 

Have one of your side characters disappear or become unavailable for some reason. This will frustrate your protagonist.

Have someone kiss the wrong girl, boy, or person, especially if you’ve been setting up a romance angle. It’s annoying.

If this story involves parents, have them argue. Push the threat of divorce, even if you know it won’t ever happen. It’ll make your readers nervous.

Have someone frame your protagonist for a crime they didn’t commit. This could range from a dispute to a minor crime to a full-blown felony.

If this is a fantasy story involving magic or witchcraft, create a terrible accident that’s a direct result of their spell-casting. 

Injure your protagonist in some way, or push them into a treacherous scenario where they might not make it out alive. 

Have two side characters who are both close to the protagonist get into a literal fist-fight. This creates tension for the reader, especially if these characters are well-developed, because they won’t know who to root for.

Make your protagonist get lost somewhere (at night in the middle of town, in the woods, in someone else’s house, etc.) 

Involve a murder. It can be as in-depth and as important as you want it to be. 

Introduce a new character that seems to prey on your protagonist’s flaws and bring them out to light.

If it’s in-character, have one of your characters get drunk or take drugs. Show the fallout of that decision through your protagonist. 

Spread a rumor about your protagonist. 

If your protagonist is in high-school, create drama in the school atmosphere. A death of a student, even if your protagonist didn’t know them personally, changes the vibe. 

If your story involves children, have one of them do something dangerous (touch a hot stove, run out into the road, etc.) and show how the protagonist responds to this, even if the child isn’t related to them. 

In a fantasy story, toss out the idea of a rebellion or war between clans or villages (or whatever units you are working with). 

Add a scenario where your protagonist has to make a choice. We all have watched movies where we have screamed don’t go in there! at the top of our lungs at the main character. Make them go in there. 

Have your protagonist find something, even if they don’t understand the importance of it yet. A key, a document, an old stuffed animal, etc. 

Foreshadow later events in some way. (Need help? Ask me!)

Have your protagonist get involved in some sort of verbal altercation with someone else, even if they weren’t the one who started it. 

Let your protagonist get sick. No, but really, this happens in real life all the time and it’s rarely ever talked about in literature, unless it’s at its extremes. It could range from a common cold to pneumonia. Maybe they end up in the hospital because of it. Maybe they are unable to do that one thing (whatever that may be) because of it.

Have someone unexpected knock on your protagonist’s door. 

Introduce a character that takes immediate interest in your protagonist’s past, which might trigger a flashback.

Have your protagonist try to hide something from someone else and fail.

Formulate some sort of argument or dispute between your protagonist and their love interest to push them apart. 

Have your protagonist lose something of great value in their house and show their struggle to find it. This will frustrate the reader just as much as the protagonist.

Create a situation where your protagonist needs to sneak out in the middle of the night for some reason.

“But to praise despair is to condemn delight, to embrace violence is to lose hold of everything else. We have almost lost hold; we can no longer describe a happy man, nor make any celebration of joy.”

This is a little 3-act structure, but it breaks it down way further into more manageable pieces, and those pieces have some focus and tent-poles to help you along. (and I’ll be up front and say K.M. Weiland is where this method comes from, not I, and her blog digs much deeper into the method than I can here)

Your first 25% is the beginning, obviously. You set up the premise, the characters, lay the groundwork, foreshadow the ending, About half way through the first act (12%-ish), the protagonist is called to adventure - asked to not only go on a journey or complete a different goal than the one they’re already pursuing (even slow-burn coffee shop aus get this call, it’s called your OTP’s other half makes eyes at them), and in doing so, undergo a shift in themselves. But they probably turn it down, or don’t commit, or in some other way aren’t as invested as they ought to be in what’s really important. They want to pursue Their Thing and the important thing can just go away.

At the 25% mark, you run into the first plot point. At this point, the protagonist can’t turn away even if they wanted to. the antagonistic force - and note I say force, not person, it could be bad weather for all I care - punches your protagonist in the fucking face. one hit knock out. from this point on, we move into act 2.b. and into the reaction phase. your protagonist is trying to figure out what the ever loving fuck what just happened. to go back to the coffee shop au, this is your character getting flat out rejected the first time they ask the LI out and spending the next quarter of the book trying desperately to woo the love interest. but… let’s say his flaw is he’s arrogant. he does it in ways that aggrandise himself without considering what the LI wants. that’s the next quarter sorted out. about half way through this act (let’s say at like, 37%), your antagonistic force makes another move and ups the stakes, but also shows its hand a little bit and provides your protagonist with clues on why shit ain’t working. let’s say the LI is being wooed by someone else, and this rival publically drags your protagonist’s ridiculousness. this is your first pinch point.

then we get to the 50% mark, and the second plot point, midpoint. your protagonist is made aware of how fucking stupid he’s been. the truth punches him in the face. maybe the LI faces tragedy and berates your protagonist for how self-centered they’re being. the LI’s world is turning up-side down, tragedy has struck, god-damn it, and you’re prancing around going me me me? how dare you. how fucking dare you. it’s a chance for the protagonist to look clearly at themselves. and we move into act 2.b., the action phase. the protagonist has knowledge now, tools, and starts to move in the right direction, but he’s trying too hard to have the best of both worlds. he wants to be his old arrogant self but look like a good person, so he does this huge wild acts of kindness that just look like he’s trying to prove how generous he is to literally everyone. like act 2.a., part way through, the antagonistic force flexes again (at like, 63%), but this time, it’s to show what the protagonist has to lose. the protagonist … i don’t know, plans to ask the LI on a date, but, surprise! the LI has been dating the rival this entire time and the protagonist realises how much it hurts. it might be appropriate to let him have some small victory towards the end of the act, but it’s a little evil and gonna make your readers so mad, because,

then, at the 75% mark, we ruin their goddamn life. that’s right, fuckers, we’re moving into the third act and it’s all gone horribly, horribly wrong. the rival proposes and the LI says yes, literally anything, put the nail in the goddamn coffin. it’s over. doneski. fuck you all, thanks for playing, you lose!!! and this is where you really start ramping up the pace and tension. you know that climatic ending you’ve got in your head? time to pull it out and use it. up until the 90% mark, your protagonist weighs up their options, recovers, wrestles with the truth they learned at the midpoint - and decides to commit. they’re gonna be less self-centred, more humble, and using that knowledge, go into the climax and finish this thing up.

(i’m not thinking of a climax for this dumb au i made up on the spot.)

so, in summary:

act 1: set up - i’m happily ignorant

12% - a call to adventure

25% - the first plot point, where your character can’t refuse the call any more

act 2.a.: reaction - what the fuck is going on?

37% - the first pinch point, where the antagonist demonstrates their power and provides the protagonist with a clue

50% - the second plot point/midpoint, where the protagonist figures out the problem

act 2.b.: action - i know what’s going on but i want it all

63% - the second pinch point, where your protagonist realises what they’ve got to lose

75% - they lose everything

act 3: recovery - i know what to do

87% - the protagonist prepares until this point and launches into the climax

98% - resolution for reflection