[ID: a gif of water slowly sloshing around, colored in a random gradient of light pink, mint green, baby blue, and purple. the bottom fades to white and has “cabuyas” written in thin capital letters in a handwriting font. END ID]
CABUYAS — writeblr intro
✧・゚* ABOUT THE AUTHOR
hellu! i’m trinity, she/they, an 18 year old costa-rican-american who loves words and women. you can also find me on my multifandom main @queridaz and my asian media sideblog @neotrai!
i made a writeblr to do something with all the poetry i write, compile useful writing resources, and try to force myself to actually start writing my wips. i hope to make writer friends and have a grand ol’ time sharing my own work! i love reading and editing others’ work, so feel free to send your things my way!
about my url: cabuya is a tiny fishing village off the coast of the puntarenas province of costa rica. it's completely devoid of tourists and is my favorite place in the entire world.
✧・゚* ABOUT THE WRITING
i mostly write a bunch of poetry, usually some sad and/or metaphorical shit or political rants in the form of slam poems. as for stories, i mostly write fantasy, romance, or creative nonfiction. i wedge diversity everywhere, so there will be a lot of queer and cultural themes and characters conservative republicans would get heart attacks over. expect social commentary, especially about the queer or biracial experience, romantic fluff, and probably some pretentious sounding vocabulary!
✧・゚* WIPS
— waterlilies and broken bones
a collection of poetry in various forms ranging from sonnets to free verse, with themes of mental health, sapphic love, and absurd humor. written as my senior project for my high school program.
wip page | tag
— untitled: cindylan
dylan is supposed to be a noble lady spending her days learning and working in the castle, but all she wants is to be a knight. unfortunately, her family’s high status and close relationship with queen eleanor is forcing her into a life of being a lady in waiting—waiting for a royal suitor. queen eleanor is nice and dylan knows that living in the castle as her ward is a greater reality than those of any other young woman in the kingdom, but she’s just not happy and something feels... off. she soon discovers the queen's secret: a magical daughter named cindy who was destined to overthrow her. dylan starts unravelling the mysteries of the kingdom that she didn’t even know existed, falling in love and realizing her dream in the process.
introduction: coming soon | tag
— how soulmates are made
kymber and boabdil come from vastly different cultures, but with very similar pasts. one a youngest daughter of a dysfunctional american family and the other a middle son of a poor costa rican family, they meet at a college exchange program in san jose and fall in fairytale love. well, not quite. through twists and turns, their love story resembles more of a dramatic telenovela, with long distance, culture shock, and past traumas getting in the mix. a true story of over 30 years, they teach their daughter trinity what love really is and how soulmates are made not found.
introduction: coming soon | tag
✧・゚* TAGLIST
let me know if you’d like to stay on, be removed, or be added to the tag list! @vaelinor @eduardmanet @amaite @hennaswars @hysteriwah @lihaaz
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So my beta reader for the Big Fics is an astrophysicist, right. Who is currently also writing a hard sci-fi novel about the exploration of Phobos (more power to them, I cannot with the physics required for that, best I can do is soft sci-fi/fantasy and that reminds me I should finish that story).
Anyway I was bitching about how hard it is to come up with feasible planets in Star Wars because sometimes you need a new planet from scratch and sometimes you need to know more about a planet than the 'has jungles, is probably a moon technically' than Wookieepedia will give you, and they're like 'oh yeah I can do something about that'.
So they've written (in Matlab but they swear it will run as a .exe as well and I may be conscripted to embed it as a web tool at some point) a star system generator.
You input what you know about the planet (ecosystem, population, sun colour, does it have liquid water, does it have a moon or moons, is it a moon or moons, temperature averages, atmosphere, you get me) and it will give you the... everything else about the star system, in obedience to real-universe physics. And if you input nothing you get a randomly generated star system.
And I’m like oh I know people who will be into this with a vengeance, and they're not on Tumblr, so this is me seeing who exactly would be keen on, and I cannot stress this enough, a real-physics comprehensive star system generator.
It's still in the debugging phase (last error fixed: every planet wants to have a population of exactly 5000 regardless of other factors, turned out to be a missing equals sign somewhere), but I'm psyched for this and trying to gauge interest for how high a priority 'make this an accessible web tool' needs to be.
Hey y’all I have an announcement! My web app that I’ve been working on, Afro Index, is now live! It’s a visual reference library of Black hairstyles, for artist, animators, writers, and anyone who wants to learn more about them!
Check it out at afroindex.org! 💛✨
A reference library for Black hairstyles with accurate naming,
structured filtering, and curated reference images.
hey so i'm hoping to get some writing advice about creative burnout? like i seem to write in fits and spurts. some months i can churn out a oneshot or chapter everyday and some months i can do one (1) creative thing only. so i'm wondering how to prevent creative burnout and how to just create more smoothly <3 thank you!
Creative Burnout & How To Ward Against It
First, I’d like to preface this all by saying you’re definitely not alone. You probably already know this, but sometimes it’s nice to be reminded.
I know from personal experience that creative burnout can leave you feeling hopeless, detached from yourself—the kind of identity crisis no one needs in 2020.
So buckle in, folks. It’s a dosy.
I. The Symptoms
Not to be the local WebMD page here, but signs of burnout can include:
Procrastination (more than usual)
Dreading writing and feeling stuck or overly perfectionistic when you try
Physical tiredness and/or irritability
Feeling like everything is monotonous
It’s more than just writer’s block. It’s a physical and emotional exhaustion response to something that goes deeper than a simple lack of inspiration. In my experience, and from a bit of research, I’ve found that what your brain is really looking for is dopamine.
Dopamine is essentially your brain’s chemical reward system for doing something interesting or exciting to you. As someone who is diagnosed with ADHD, I have chronically low levels of dopamine, so this is a constant struggle for me—but it is absolutely made worse by creative burnout.
II. The Problem
Studies have shown that the more we do A Thing the less that thing will give us dopamine (unless a component of the activity changes regularly). This is because eventually our brains desensitise to the stimuli provided by the activity, and subsequently, we become disengaged.
But it’s not necessarily The Thing (i.e. writing) that becomes boring. Actually, more than a few factors could be at play here, and the first step to finding a solution is to identify the problem.
1. ENVIRONMENT LACKS EXCITEMENT/CHANGE—
Sometimes, the monotony of everyday life can feed creative burnout. This becomes especially applicable in quarantine when you’re not leaving your house.
What we don’t realise is that even something as small as the variables of driving to and from work, or interacting with passing coworkers, gives us dopamine. So if you have the same routine every day that does not involve any added variables, your brain will begin staunching that dopamine supply.
2. EITHER TOO EASY OR TOO CHALLENGING—
In 1975, Hungarian-American psychologist, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, coined the term “flow”, which refers to a heightened state of creativity and concentration on an activity. Csikszentmihalyi posited that if your skill level is equal to the level of challenge in any given activity, you will experience this state of flow.
The chart below is taken from Csikszentmihalyi’s own study on the subject of flow and motivation. It examines “your skill level” on the x axis in relation to the “challenge level” on the y axis.
Essentially:
Too much challenge + not enough skill = anxiety, worry (which might lead to procrastination and perfectionism)
Too much skill + not enough challenge = boredom, apathy (which might lead to monotony, irritability, and other depression-like symptoms)
Skill level = Challenge level = Flow
3. NOT ENOUGH “ACTIVE” STIMULATION—
When it comes to dopamine seeking, there is a distinct difference between active and passive stimulation in the brain.
Active stimulation is any form of activity that you have to actively engage in. For instance; exercising, doing a crossword puzzle, or reading a book. These kinds of activities not only give you dopamine, they also facilitate critical thinking and problem solving thought processes, which act as catalysts for creativity.
Passive stimulation, on the other hand, comes in the form of television, social media, and YouTube. It’s anything you can consume without having to actively engage. Passive stimulation will indeed give your brain dopamine, however, it won’t activate your creativity.
The problem also lies in the speed at which you receive the dopamine from passive activities. Passive stimulation is so easy to access that the more you consume, the harder it becomes to pick up active stimulation. Your brain expects a hit of dopamine just by picking up a phone or turning on the TV—it becomes addicted to the quick fix of a Netflix binge.
III. The Solutions
Based on the problems mentioned above, I am going to list a few solutions. Keeping in mind that not every solution will work for everyone, these can act as both preventative measures and remedies for someone who is currently burned out.
1. CHANGE UP YOUR ENVIRONMENT/ROUTINE—
Aim to do at least one thing per day that will add “variables” to the monotony. This can be as simple as going on a long walk, dressing up in that bold outfit you always wanted to wear to the office but never did, or sitting at a different workspace in your home.
Anything you can do that’s simple, but might provide an extra variable to your day to spice things up. Note: this shouldn’t be the same thing every day.
2. CHALLENGE YOURSELF MORE—
If you find yourself bored by your work, try challenging yourself more. This could mean setting goals for yourself that go a bit beyond what you’ve been doing.
For example, if you’ve been writing 500 words per day, see if you can beat your own word count every day for the next week. If you’ve been writing mainly fluff pieces, switch it up and do an angst piece. See if you can write a book in a month, or start a blog where you don’t write fiction at all!
Anything you can do to add a little kick to your workload. Note: Beware of challenging yourself too much! This can lead straight back into burnout.
3. CHALLENGE YOURSELF LESS—
If you’re on the flip side of that coin, and find that you are anxious, procrastinating, and perfectionistic when it comes to writing, fret not. Just because you’re experiencing any of these things, doesn’t mean you’re incapable of doing the job with your skillset.
It just means your perception of the job needs to be shifted.
Procrastination, at its heart, is a fear of failure, which results in actively avoiding the negative emotions associated with the task that causes this fear. Perfectionism is a type of procrastination that is a combination of a fear of failure and a fear of success (or, more accurately, other’s critiques of your success) all at once.
Neither have anything to do with your actual skillset, but they have everything to do with your perception of your skillset. Obviously, this is a harder thing to fix, as it has to do with deeply ingrained levels of self-esteem.
What I can offer you is a tactic to trick your mind into thinking you’re capable.
If you have a task, big or small, and you are feeling overwhelmed by it (like you might go curl up in bed and scroll Tumblr), immediately break that task up into smaller tasks. Keep breaking up the smaller tasks until you have the smallest possible part of the bigger task without doing nothing.
Then do that smallest possible thing.
If your goal is to write a 2000 word one shot, a small part of that task is writing half of it. An even smaller part of that task is breaking the one shot up into “scenes” and writing one scene. For instance:
Jude wakes up to a sore throat, a runny nose, and a fever.
She tries to go to work, but Cardan, being the mother hen that he is, threatens to never make her another grilled cheese sandwich (her favourite food) ever again if she doesn’t stay home.
Jude agrees begrudgingly, and Cardan sits her down in front of the TV with a bottle of Gatorade. He leaves to go get medicine from the store.
When Cardan comes back, Jude is worse than before. He makes her soup and saltine crackers and spoon feeds her.
She complains the whole time and, in her feverish state, threatens to never buy him another bottle of wine (his favourite food) ever again if he doesn’t let her feed herself.
Each bullet point represents one “scene” of about 200-400 words each. Obviously, there will be more details that you work out as you write. But with these five smaller scenes, your goal is no longer writing the 2000 word one shot. Your goal is writing the first of the five scenes.
If you complete the smallest possible task, you can stop, and you’ll still feel like you’ve accomplished something because you can cross off that task from your list. But chances are, by the time you cross off one task, you may have inspiration enough to keep going.
4. ENGAGE IN ACTIVE STIMULATION—
Since active stimulation has been proven to turn on the creative “tap”, try incorporating more of these activities into your daily routine:
Exercise: As the resident couch potato, I hate to say that exercising is good for creativity, but it is. Even if it’s just going on a short walk, so long as you’re moving.
Reading: Sometimes you have plenty of ideas, but no words to fit those ideas. Fill your well of words by carving out an hour or two each day for reading a good book.
The Creative Process: In the writing world, the creative process is a process of about 20-30 minutes that the writer partakes in every day before they start writing. This process should be creative, but also have nothing to do with writing. You can try colouring in a colouring book, painting, organising a page in your bullet journal. Anything that is creative but does not make you think about everything you have to do that day. Think of it as creative meditation.
Listen to music: Having APD, I personally can’t listen to music while I write. However, studies have shown that if you listen to at least ten songs per day, it will significantly benefit your dopamine levels and overall mood. If you’re like me and prefer to work in silence, maybe stick on a couple songs during your creative process. If you can manage music and writing together, get out those headphones!
5. KEEP A REGULAR SCHEDULE—
I know this is the most cliche point in the book, but it’s valid. This doesn’t mean do the same thing at the same time every day over and over, because ultimately we’re looking to avoid monotony.
But having pillars of structure to bolster the excitement can definitely work to keep you from slipping into burnout. Going to sleep, waking up, and having your meals at relatively the same time every day are good examples of this.
Feel free to change up the things you do between breakfast and lunch, but make sure you have those pillars of consistency so your brain knows that a break is on the horizon and doesn’t get tired.
6. PACE YOURSELF—
This is particularly difficult for those of us who are coming out of a creative burnout, but I urge you to pay special attention to this one. If we are suddenly hit by inspiration and the writing is flowing and flowing and flowing, eventually we will hit the point of highest dopamine capacity for writing.
Not putting a check on the flood of inspiration coming out of a creative burnout, I’d argue, is actually a guarantee that many of us will experience burnout all over again. It becomes this vicious cycle in which we are trapped.
While it feels great to write non-stop and receive immediate validation for that work, try to limit yourself to how much you’re writing and how immediately you post your writing (if you plan on posting it).
Whenever I finish a one shot or a chapter of something, I like to allow at least one day for editing before I post. This timeframe is important, because it acts as a buffer of rest between writing marathons.
You can take however long you need for the editing process, but definitely make sure you have a set amount of time in place. Otherwise, your brain might not have enough time to come down from what is essentially a writing high, and you will always need to reach greater heights in order to achieve that same level of dopamine.
~~~~
Overall, the most important things to take away from all of this are:
Change up your environment
Keep your brain actively stimulated
Have pillars of structure between which you can run about chaotically to your heart’s content
I'm not the biggest fan of guns but I need them in my new WIP. Guns are probably one of the most used tools within most medias, besides being one of the most misused tools. So how can we write them? (my other post on guns focuses on the damage guns can do to a body so go there if that's what your looking for)
Part of a Gun
Action: The action is the brain of the gun. It is the part where you load, fire and eject the casings.
Stock: The stock is the handle of the gun. It is made up of the butt and the fore-end.
Barrel: The Barrel is the nose of the gun, the point where the bullets are fired from. Once a bullet is fired, it travels through the barrel and out the muzzle.
Muzzle: the muzzle is the hole the bullet exit from.
Bore: The bore is the inside of the barrel
Cylinder: The Cylinder holds the rounds in a revolver. It rotates as the gun is fired, pumping bullets into the chamber.
Grip: The Grip is where you hold gun.
Hammer: The Hammer on a revolver is a pin like instrument that strikes the primer which fires the bullet from the gun.
Clip: An clip stores the rounds of ammunition on a single line-like device that can be placed into magazine.
Magazine: The Magazine is a container that is spring activated, which can be detachable of fixed. It holds cartridges for a repeating firearm.
Trigger: The Trigger is what you pull yo fire the gun
Trigger Guard: The trigger guard is the loop that fits in front of the trigger to shield it from accidental firing.
Ammunition
Bullet: is the projectile that exits the gun.
Cartridges/Shell: This is the case, primer, propellant and projectile (bullet). The bullet sits in the cartridge case.
Shotshell: Are rounds of shotgun ammunition, containing pellets rather than a bullet.
Gun Safety
1. Keep the muzzle pointed downwards (not near your feet or others) when not using the gun.
2. Unload gun when not in use
3. Always check the safety.
4. Be sure of your aim. Don't fire blindly because you'll end up wasting bullets and you might hurt somebody
5. If the gun is jammed, don't look down the barrel to see why it's blocked. Point it away from you, open the action and remove the blockage safely.
6. Keep your barrel clean. Any excess cleaning fluid even dirt can mess up your shot or even cause blockages that can burst the barrel
7. Don't alter your gun in any way on your own. Even if you're a self proclaimed expert, don't touch the gun. You can fuck up the intergrity of the weapon.
How to Hold a Handgun
1. Your dominant hand should grip the gun, high along the back strap (back of grip). This will give you better leverage and handle the recoil better.
2. Place your other hand against the other side of the grip. Four fingers should sit snugly under the trigger, while your index finger should rest against the trigger itself.
How to Hande a Rifle/Long barrelled Gun
Hold the rifle with two hands, hold the grip of the rifle with your dominant hand. Your fingers should wrap about the base of the rifle, under the trigger guard.
Your non-dominant hand should be wrapped firmly around the base of the grip. Holding the gun right will help reduce recoil and ensure better control.
How to fire a Gun
Align your sights. Your gun has a sight at the front and at the rear. Aim and align your sights through these points. There should be equal space between the sights.
Set your sight. When you’re aiming a gun, you’re you are looking through the front sight, the rear sight, and your target. When you're aiming at the target, it will look blurry. The sights should but clear.
Press rather than pull the trigger. You should squeeze it, applying constant pressure until the weapon fires.
Things every Writer should know about Guns
Hollow Point Bullets are not more deadly than full metal jacket bullets. Though a hollow point will cause damage, full metal bullets are actually more likely to over-penetrate and move when with the flesh, causing a more devastating wound.
Guns are really loud. How loud exactly? Most heavy duty guns could cause hearing loss. It simply isn't possible for two characters to have a lovely chat while firing weapons.
Rifles with scopes make it easier to shoot but they won't make a beginner a sudden genius marksman. Scopes help but they don't perform miracles.
Shotguns shoot shells not bullets.
Your character should not tuck a just fired handgun into their waistband or else they will get a nasty burn.
Silencers or better yet, suppressors do not silence your shots. They actually lower the sound by a few decibels.
Don't have your character fire gun sideways. They will fuck up their wrist and look stupid while doing it.
Most rifles and shotguns aren't pump action
If you drop your gun, if won't fire itself.
The clip and magazine are two different things. They can't be used as synonyms.
When somebody is shot, they don't go flying back. They crumple on the spot.
The exit wound of a bullet is larger than the entry point.
Most beginners will have trouble with recoil. Bloody noses and black eyes are common is one doesn't know what their doing.
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I was wondering if you knew any basic guides to outlining a novel for the first time?
Outlining a story is very, very important. Without an outline and thorough planning, your story will veer off in wildly different directions and will cost you a ton of time editing later, like my book did.
1. Get the characters down first
Characters are like the chess pieces of the story. Their moves and strengths/weaknesses will decide what is going to happen and how it will happen. Sure, you can have a nice plot and setting, but without the characters, the story is meaningless.
Here is the character chart that I usually use:
Name (First/Middle/Last/Maiden name)
Aliases/Nicknames
Age
Race
Gender
Sexuality
Height
Weight
Eye color
Hair color
Clothing style
Religion
Political views
Personality Traits
Strengths and Weaknesses
Likes and Dislikes
Family
Friends
Enemies
Role in the story
Backstory/past
2. Choose a template
Just bulleting the events does not give the plot the dimension that it deserves and does not really accommodate side plots.
I personally use the zigzag method that I discovered from this post. I branch off of the zigzags for my side plots so it looks kind of like a graph.
You can also use the subway method, which I found on the nanowrimo website.
There are a whole other host of outlines to choose from if you search them up!
3. Know that you don’t have to stick to it
An outline is just that: an outline. It’s not the final decision for the plot, it’s the first draft for the plot. If you’re writing and one of the points just isn’t working anymore, you don’t have to keep it because it was a part of your outline.
Almost every writer struggles with fight scenes in one way or another, even the experienced ones. There are more components to a fight scene than to any other scene, in my opinion.
A fight scene combines dialogue, action, pacing, and every single other element of writing into a deadly concoction that can be hell to write and even more hell to edit.
That’s why I’ve provided a helpful list of tips that you can use to make your fight scenes the best that they can possibly be!
1. If Your Fight Scene Doesn’t Take Place in a Hot Air Balloon, Then It Probably Should
Now, this is not in the literal sense.
Hear me out:
A fight scene in a field where the two armies/teams collide head-on? Boring. Overused. Underwhelming.
A fight scene in that same field with those same two armies but during an earthquake where the ground is opening up beneath them? New. Avant Garde. Keeps the reader on their toes.
It doesn’t literally have to take place in a hot air balloon; what I’m saying is that you should push the circumstances of the fight scene to make it new and interesting.
A personal example is when I had a fight scene that really just wasn’t working for me; it was dull, it dragged on, and it was a bitch to get past the writer’s block.
But then, instead of having the fight scene out in the open like how I’d originally intended it, I made a split-second decision to have it take place in a tunnel, and let me tell you, it was AWESOME.
The new setting made the battle a lot more visceral; it was tight and cramped, and the characters were tripping on bodies and slipping in blood as they were jostled around in a tight space.
Doesn’t that sound more interesting than fighting in an open field?
Having the surroundings inhibit or alter the fighting style is what can make a fight scene truly a masterpiece.
Even if your battle has to take place in an open field, you can add different elements like an earthquake, the enemies’ swords being on fire, or different battle strategies to make it super cool experience.
Here are some examples of well-set fight scenes where the surroundings are taken into account to make it all the more interesting:
Club Fight (John Wick, 2014)
Carnival Fight (Stranger Things, Season 3 Episode 7)
The Hound vs. Beric Dondarrion (Game of Thrones, Season 3 Episode 5)
Jason Bourne vs Desh Bouksani (The Bourne Ultimatum, 2007)
Clarice Starling vs Buffalo Bill (The Silence of the Lambs, 1991)
Church Fight (Kingsman: The Secret Service, 2014)
Staircase Fight (Atomic Blonde, 2017)
Kitchen Fight (Sleepless, 2017)
2. Brevity is the Soul of Wit (AKA, Keep Your Writing Simple)
The way you write during a fight scene is a great way to keep a good pace.
Your readers should be on the edge of their seats, dying to know if their favorite characters are going to live or die; they don’t want to read big words like “indubitably” and “scintillating.”
Feel free to reference my post about writing pain here.
Your word choice should be gritty. It should reflect the desperation of the fight.
Don’t use long, winding sentences and flowy paragraphs for fight scenes.
Short sentence fragments.
Paragraphs that barely last a line.
Scattered, grammar-breaking clauses that put the reader in the same frantic state of mind as the characters.
(You see what I did there?)
Also, fight scenes are the major scene where the “show don’t tell” rule applies. If you only had a choice to follow that rule on one specific occasion, it should be during the fight scenes.
The readers should know how your characters are feeling just by their actions, not by you outwardly stating it.
Example:
The knife shredded the sleeve of her jacket, blood bursting forth and running down her arm. It surprised her at first and hurt like hell, but it didn’t take long for her to grow furious.
Vs.
The knife shredded the sleeve of her jacket, blood bursting forth and running down her arm. Her eyes widened as she clamped her hand over the wound, but as she watched the blood trickling through her fingers, her expression contorted into something monstrous.
See how much better the second one sounds? You can tell exactly what this character is feeling even though I didn’t explicitly tell you.
Something else that also helps fight scenes is literary devices.
Similes. Metaphors. Onomatopoeias. Hyperboles.
If you use these (sparingly, mind you!) it can really give your fight scene that kick that you’ve always wanted it to have.
Examples:
She rose to her feet as blood streamed down her body in a torrent, her eyes blazing like a thousand suns.
He turned to regard his opponent with clenched fists and a smile like razors.
She fought like a wolf trapped in the confines of a human skin.
The buildings crumbled as if made from silk and twine rather than metal and stone.
Be careful not to overuse them, though! If every other line has a literary device, it loses its punch!
3. Your Characters Shouldn’t Be Invincible
You shouldn’t be giving your characters the “invincible plot armor” treatment.
While all of the unnamed lackeys get swamped by the “unimaginable power” of the enemy, they shouldn’t be coming at your main characters any slower than they come at everyone else.
Your main characters should be having the shit kicked out of them.
There should be something about the fight that makes the readers think, “Wait a minute, they might not survive this.”
For example, let’s take Character A. Character A is strong, fast, and well-trained. The perfect soldier. He can hold his own in a fight.
However, what if his dominant hand is injured? How will he compensate for the injury?
The point of a battle is saying “On what circumstances will my characters be able to win” and then pushing it just a bit further into the grey area between “decisive victory” and “devastating defeat.”
A character who relies on speed getting their leg injured.
An expert cavalryman whose horse falls halfway through the battle.
A flying character grounded by a wing injury.
A magical character running out of potions and spells.
You want to push your character to their physical limits, take them out of their comfort zone and plop them right into the thick of it.
Only then will your fight really build tension, and tension is what every battle needs in order for the readers to not feel like their time has been wasted; if they know the characters are just going to win, then what’s the point?
Here are some fight scenes that do a good job of not knowing if the main characters are going to win:
The Battle of the Bastards (Game of Thrones, Season 6 Episode 9)
The Battle of Winterfell (Game of Thrones, Season 8 Episode 3) (Although the characters have undeniable plot armor, you don’t know if the battle itself is going to be won or not)
The Final Battle (Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part 2, 2012)
T’Challa vs Killmonger (Black Panther, 2018)
4. Study Other Fight Scenes
Whether they be in books, TV shows, or movies, a bit of research never hurts! (Which is why I’ve been putting recommendations throughout this post)
Watching fight scenes helps you get an idea of what you should describe, and reading fight scenes gives you an idea of how to describe it.
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[ID: a sonnet typed in black cambria text on a white background, the title and last line highlighted pink. poem transcription under the cut. END ID]
rose colored glasses — sonnet by trinity rain
ABOUT THE POEM.
for my poetry collection of a senior project, waterlilies and broken bones, i had to write a shakespearean sonnet. this type of sonnet is written in iambic pentameter, has three quatrains and a couplet, and follows an ababcdcdefefgg rhyme scheme.
up close she’s a mess.
her cracks and muddled colors easy to see.
she’s too close to herself to see anything
besides the messy blobs she makes,
ugly and brisk strokes too defined to ignore.
but she doesn’t realize that she’s a work of art,
everything falling into place if she’d only step back.
amaité.- mayan origin name, that translates to “rostro del cielo” or “face of the heavens”.
— about.
hello i’m marcy! my pronouns are they/she and i’m an aspiring writer with who never exists completely except for that opportune moment. if i’m not usually crying over fictional, i tend to write words hoping they make sense.
my favorite books are le petit prince, these violent delights, wuthering heights, cien años de soledad, if we were villains and the revenge of the sith novelization.
—wip: asystole
trying to find they way in life, two past lovers meet again only to find out their love is burning them to the point they can revive over time.
someone once said that the saddest word in the whole english language was almost.
he was almost in love and she was almost good for him.
he almost stopped and dropped everything, she almost waited.
and they almost made it.
things the ocean promised Icarus: he wouldn’t even feel the crash. the splintered remains of his ribs. it would require no effort just to let himself go adrift and then sink. anyone can say they have seen the sky, but how many can talk about the depths of the waters? his lungs can easily be replaced to not breathe air (granted that he dies first). doesn’t the blue just open like a mouth to swallow him whole? he feels the vertigo. the ocean would lay him to rest. if he feels the slightest hint of the fatigue the fall is easier to trust than being caught by the clouds. it only takes closing his eyes, without effort.
things the sun promised Icarus: wouldn’t he like to know what the sun tastes like with a mouth wide open? burnt skin with cracks coated in gold as compensation. those lousy wings of wax and bronze could be changed for the real thing made of flesh and feathers (Apollo has many swans that don’t want their wings anyways). doesn’t the light just curve like the skin of a god that might just caress the dents of his ribs? he feels the searing. the sun would kiss him, he has never been kissed. it’s an open invitation, as long as he can reach that high, and he can, of course he can. his eyes are burning and of course he can.
the results: neither offered a safe place to land when the handcraft feathers fell loose, anyways. Icarus’ back was charred and he went down like a bullet.
Hi there! For those of you who don’t know me, I’m Chazza, and I’ve been in the writeblr community for a few months now. My main blog is a studyblr, and during my time in that community I’ve seen and/or participated in several challenges. Therefore, I thought it might be fun to have a writeblr one too! The idea is that you answer a question per day in a post (which can be another post or one specifically made to answer the question). Hopefully, it’ll help to bring the community together, share details of your writing and allow us to get to know each other :) This challenge will start on Monday, 15th March 2021. If you want to join, please either reblog this post (would be much appreciated to spread the word!) or send me an ask to let me know. When you post, tag them with “#chazzawrites challenge”! I hope it doesn’t flop and that you enjoy participating!
The questions (daily for 30 days)
1. Introduce yourself
2. How long have you been writing for?
3. Introduce your main WIP
4. Who is your favourite character from your main WIP?
5. How long have you been working on your main WIP?
6. What excites you the most about your main WIP?
7. Introduce a secondary WIP (if you have one). If not, would you ever work on multiple WIPs at the same time?
8. Who is your favourite character from your secondary WIP (alternatively: who is your 2nd favourite character from your main WIP?)
9. How long have you been working on your secondary WIP? (alternatively: what’s your oldest project?)
10. What excites you the most about your secondary WIP? (alternatively: what else excites you about your main WIP?)
11. Who is your oldest OC?
12. Have you ever abandoned a WIP? What do you think of it now?
13. Have you ever finished a draft?
14. Have you ever been published?
15. Are you a plotter or a pantser (or somewhere in the middle)?
16. What’s more important to you: characters, plot or worldbuilding?
17. Do you have a favourite genre to write?
18. Do you have a favourite POV (eg first person) to write in?
19. Do you have a favourite tense to write in?
20. What are your favourite books/authors?
21. Is your writing style and/or WIP influenced by a particular book or author?
22. Tag a writeblr whose WIP you love
23. Tag a writeblr you love seeing on your dash
24. Tag a writeblr whose character/s you love
25. Self-promo time! Share a snippet from your main WIP that you’re proud of.
26. Self promo time! Share a snippet from another project that you’re proud of.
27. What’s your favourite thing about the writeblr community?
28. What do you think could be improved about the writeblr community?
29. How much have you written this month? Are you happy with your progress?
30. Thank you for participating in this challenge! Final question: what is your favourite part of writing overall?
If you have any questions, please feel free to send an ask or message me :)
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please reblog if you’re an active writeblr!!! bonus if you’d like to be my friend 🥺!! i’d like to be more active in the community since i just came back from an almost two year hiatus lol