the dream was true

Forgot a word in Spanish, while speaking Spanish to me, but remembered it in English. Became weirdly quiet as they seemed to lose their entire sense of identity.

Used a literal translation of a Russian idiomatic expression while speaking English. He actually does this quite regularly, because he somehow genuinely forgets which idioms belong to which language. It usually takes a minute of everyone staring at him in confused silence before he says “….Ah….. that must be a Russian one then….”

Had to count backwards for something. Could not count backwards in English. Counted backwards in French under her breath until she got to the number she needed, and then translated it into English.

Meant to inform her (French) parents that bread in America is baked with a lot of preservatives. Her brain was still halfway in English Mode so she used the word “préservatifes.” Ended up shocking her parents with the knowledge that apparently, bread in America is full of condoms.

Defined a slang term for me……. with another slang term. In the same language. Which I do not speak.

Was talking to both me and his mother in English when his mother had to revert to Russian to ask him a question about a word. He said “I don’t know” and turned to me and asked “Is there an English equivalent for Нумизматический?” and it took him a solid minute to realize there was no way I would be able to answer that. Meanwhile his mom quietly chuckled behind his back.

Said an expression in English but with Spanish grammar, which turned “How stressful!” into “What stressing!”

From my bilingual parents:

- Only being able to do math in their original language. “Ok so that would beeeeee … *muttering* ocho por cuatro menos tres…”

- Losing words and getting mad at you about it. “Gimme the - the - UGH, ESA COSA AHI’ CARAJO. The thing, the oven mitt. Christ.”

- Making asides to you in Spanish even though you’ve told them to not do this as lots of people here speak Spanish. “Oye, mira esa, que cara fea.” “MOM FFS WE’RE IN A MEXICAN NEIGHBORHOOD.”

- Swears in English don’t count.

- Swears in Spanish mean you’d better fucking run, kid.

- Introducing you to English-only Americans using your Spanish name so that they mispronounce your name for all eternity because that’s what your mom said your name was. “Hi Dee-yanna!” “sigh, Just call me Diana.” “Yeah but your mom said your name was Dee-yanna.” 

- when vice versa, dropping English articles entirely. The, a, an: all gone. e.g. “I go to store and buy thing, I fix car and go to place.” This also happens when i am very tired 

- speaking English with heavy accent you don’t actually have - when my family and I are switching over fast, we say the English words in a very heavy Russian accent that mostly doesn’t show up otherwise 

bonus: 

- keysmashing in the wrong language when your keyboard is still switched over

We often judge a character’s kindness the same way we would the Powerpuff Girls: are they made of sugar, spice, and everything nice? I’m here to tell you that while sweetness can be indicative of kindness, it is not synonymous with it.

Characters are not only kind because they cannot fathom being cruel. Characters can be kind because they know just how cruel they can be and opt for compassion instead.

Characters are not only kind because they think nothing of themselves and only think of others. Characters can be kind because they desperately want someone to show them the same consideration after a lifetime of manipulation and rejection.

Characters are not only kind because they love to help with every little issue. Characters can be kind because they fear what will happen if they’re not, if no one else rises and all goodness falls away - and they see the same uncertainty in the person they’re assisting.

Characters are not only kind when they keep their mouths clean and their words affable. Characters can be kind by delivering painful truths while the world would let you live with honeyed lies, but they’ll help you grieve and grow from them.

monday’s child

[ transcript below ] and when you have to face the inevitable? what then?

Who is ready for NaNo?  

This bingo focusses less on the word count goals of NaNo and more on the little steps we take as we participate in it!

🤜 If you find NaNo is not for you, maybe this bingo will help you achieve some of your writing goals this November. Substitute ‘nano’ for ‘writing’ and you should be good to go.

🤜  You can fill this out as the month progresses, or you can do it at the end - it’s up to you. 

👏 Use it as a tool to see just how much stuff you did during NaNo - because even if you didn’t write 50k words, you still did a heck of a lot of work!  

BONUS!

🍎: describe the main themes of your WIP 

🍇: does your WIP have any subtle/implicit themes that are perhaps up to interpretation? if so, what are they? 

🍉: how to the themes of your WIP tie into, or contradict, each other? 

🍊: are you writing your WIP within any particular context (be it thematic, socio-political, or trope wise)? if so, how does your WIP fit into the context? 

🍋: does you WIP have any symbolism? if so, briefly describe it and its intended purpose. 

🍌: does your WIP have any hidden symbolism? if so (and if willing), describe it. 

🍐: does the symbolism in your WIP draw from or refer to any other sources or media? if so, what are they? 

🍑: list out the top five tropes that appear in your WIP. 

🍒: does your WIP avert or subvert any tropes? if so, which ones and how?

🍓: does your WIP deconstruct any tropes? if so, which ones and how? 

🥝: are there any secret or spoiler tropes in your WIP? if so (and if willing), describe them. 

These are photos taken by Robert Landsburg of the eruption of Mount St. Helens in 1980. He realized he would never get to safety in time, so he kept taking pictures of the ash cloud for as long as possible. Then he put the camera securely in his bag and lay down on top of it to protect it before being engulfed in the pyroclastic flow. When they found his body, the recovered the pictures were invaluable to geologists because no one had ever been able to document an eruption that close up before.

I was here. I explored. I saw this. Remember me.

                                        ｓｈｅｎｚｈｏｕ： C ２０                                           ━━       𝒏𝒂𝒏𝒐         2020 .

[  27/09/2089 ,  “HOME  SWEET  HOME!” .  start  recording:  ]  test,  test,  hey  is  this  thing  on?  okay  yes, hello!  this  is  [ REDACTED ]  from  team  alpha, we’ve  just  landed  on  xiphos  and  i’m  sure  you’re  pleased  to  hear  that  we’re  setting  up  well.  you  uh,  you  guys weren’t  kidding  when  you  said  this  place  was … vacant. feels  kinda  weird  knowing  we’re  only  people  here.  i- i  don’t  know  i’m  sure  i’ll  get  over  it  sooner  or  later,  haha.  but  uh,  all  jokes  aside  i-  i  have  pretty  good  feeling  about  this.  i  feel  like  we  were  meant  to  be  here,  y’know?  *distant yelling*  oh,  duty  calls,  i  gotta  run.  don’t  miss  me  too  much  over  there … talk  soon.  [  end  recording.  ]

                                         ━━ 𝐛𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐜 𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 . 

𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐥𝐞 :   shenzhou: c20. 𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐫𝐞 :   na  sci - fi  space  horror. 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐬 :   plotting  &&. outlining. 𝐬𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 :   xiphos ,  an  uncharted  arctic  planet. 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐬  &&.  𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐬 :   all  poc  &&.  lgbt  main  cast ,  atom  punk  &&.  ray  punk  aesthetic ,  major  &&.  minor  character  death ,  questioning  morals ,  found  family ,  manipulation ,  corruption ,  murderous  alien  creatures ,  space  lesbians ,  the  dangers  of  human  nature ,  desperately seeking  the  truth  no  matter  the  consequences ,  deadly  ambition ,  mental  spiraling  &&.  unraveling ,  the  absence  of  the  concept  of  time. 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭  𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 :   body  horror ,  murder ,  gore ,  cannibalism ,  alcoholism ,  drug  use ,  suicide ,  derealization  &&.  depersonalization ,  vulgarity ,  sexual  scenes. 

                                           ━━ 𝐬𝐲𝐧𝐨𝐩𝐬𝐢𝐬 .

they said the future was limitless. and they weren’t wrong: humanity took to the cosmos, with space exploration becoming a daily occurrence, mars was colonized in ‘46, robots became cherished members of every household and essential workers in shops and factories. everyday we learned something new, something that brought us power and fame and fortune.

and those same three things became our downfall, our collective quest for power doomed us. we became our own true enemies. 

it’s been thirty years since the beginning of what has come to be known as “ the great war ”, and we’re desperate. the world as we know it is dying a slow, brutal and excruciating death and we’re powerless to do anything but sit and watch as it all comes crashing down.

we knew it’d end like this but we didn’t know it’d come this soon.

the CNSA have been working diligently for years to find an answer as to how we can survive this, and after decades of desperate research they think they’ve finally found a possible answer. xiphos, an uncharted arctic dwarf planet, the perfect place to start anew.

and so, SHENZHOU: C20 was breathed into reality: the purpose, the answer. the very thing the survival of humanity hinges on. 

on september 2nd, 2089, the CNSA held their breaths as SHENZHOU: C20 was a go. fifty-five   taikonauts were planned to go to xiphos, to scope it out, to see if xiphos truly was the answer. they were told that they were alone on xiphos. they were lied to.

it’s been two weeks since earth has last heard from alpha team. the select few people who knew about SHENZHOU: C20 presume the taikonauts dead. while the CNSA insists SHENZHOU: C20 never existed in the first place, successfully sweeping the whole mission under the rug and forcing others to do the same. SHENZHOU: C20 and alpha team became a myth, and the elite of the CNSA intend to keep it that way

but some refuse to forget alpha team, desperately craving the answers they so deserve. liu yongxing, one of the top donators of the CNSA is one of these people, a father who’s daughter was one of the fifty-five taikonauts apart of mission SHENZHOU: C20. with both the CNSA and the chinese government refusing to give answers, he hires yao mengzhi, an investigator for hire who was the only one crazy enough to accept the mission. mengzhi, along with her merry crew of space investigators and rescuers set out  (  motivated by the promise of large sums of cash  )  to uncover the truth behind the mysterious disappearance of alpha team.

fifty-five taikonauts went to xiphos and fifty-five taikonauts never returned, and the black swans intend to find out why.

                                           ━━ 𝐭𝐚𝐠𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭 .

(  for  this  post  i’m  gonna  be  tagging  my  universal  taglist ,  to  be  added  to  the  taglist  please  interact  with  this  post  or  send  me  an  ask .  thank  you !!  )

The Character-Driven Plot Wheel

1. Emotions drive actions.

Make your hero act on their deepfelt emotions. This not only adds meaning to their actions, but also helps communicate to readers your hero’s core emotional struggle.

2. Actions trigger consequences.

When your hero acts, give their actions consequences that affect the plot, themselves, and/or the surrounding characters. For example, driven by curiosity, maybe your hero opens Pandora’s box; maybe they act recklessly and someone dies; or maybe they stand up for what they believe in, but at great personal cost. Consequences raise the stakes and empower your hero with agency.

3. Consequences compel change.

Use the consequences of your hero’s actions to create a crucible of growth — challenges and situations that force them to take the next step on their character journey. That step may be forward, or backward, and it may be large or small; but something inside them changes.

4. Change influences emotions.

When a character goes through a change, even a small one, allow it to affect them emotionally. Maybe they feel increasingly frustrated or guilty. Maybe they’re afraid, having just taken another step closer to abandoning their old way of seeing the world. Or maybe they finally feel peace.

Regardless of the form it takes, remember to reflect your hero’s change in their emotions. Then let their emotions drive action, to trigger consequences, which will compel further change.

Lather. Rinse. Repeat.

And there you have it! That’s how you write a character-driven plot.

So what do you say?

Give the wheel a spin.

— — —

𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞 - 𝐰𝐢𝐩 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧

genre: literary fiction, tragedy

pov: third person limited

status: outlining

themes/tropes: running out of time, rebirth, living in the moment, magical realism, identity crisis, impulsiveness, emptiness, tragedy, unrequited love, 

setting: unspecified small town in the american midwest

small synopsis:

In the middle of of nowhere, in a small insignificant town, there lives a god who is hiding from Death. Though they have no true name (at one point the names and lives blend together) they were first known as Life. They’ve been dying and being reborn since the dawn of time, and they’re tired. At this point, they’re ready to let Death end the cycle.

But this time Life may have found someone, someone to live for. But will it be enough?

characters:

dominic - they/them. a reincarnating god

death  - they/them. rejected by society and the one they love most

jordan - she/they. local mysterious soul

playlist