mostly void, partially stars

Real thing that changed how i write: I started asking "what does this character think is wrong with them" and separately "what is actually wrong with them." Those two things are almost never the same. She thinks she's too much. She's actually terrified of being too little. He thinks he's bad at commitment. He's actually just never met someone he trusted enough. The gap between their diagnosis of themselves and the real thing, that's your character arc right there. you don't have to explain it. just write both.

that's a cat ✅️

getting lost in boston is fun because I turned around on a street corner three times and some guy yelled "hey stupid! the bus is that way!" very helpful interaction and accurate insult, 10/10 no notes

one time I walked around a building a couple times looking for a bathroom and this guy went "this bitch thinks she's on a merrygoround, where the fuck are you tryna go? bathroom? one floor down to the right behind the door that says bathroom."

My very first time in Boston. I was absolutely miserable, trying to drag my giant suitcase up a lengthy set of stairs in the pouring rain. This guy who had already reached the top looked back at me with the most pure expression of disgust I’ve ever seen in anyone’s eyes, marched back down the stairs, grabbed my suitcase, carried it to the top, left it there for me, and walked away without ever saying a word. I think about him often.

right so reportedly we got the karaoke scene in the movie because ryan gosling overheard sandra hüller singing to herself in some downtime on set and approached the directors to say "if we have her here and don't ask her to sing in the movie then we're insane," so the scene was hastily planned and recorded during the last day they had with that set; stratt grew up singing in an east german youth choir because hüller did, too. a fun meta textual wrinkle this adds is that gosling is also a singer but grace doesn't take a turn with the mic, so you can read the scene not just as stratt saying "I am a full human being, I just can't be for this project, you get to see it for two minutes before I turn it off again" but additionally "you could be doing this exact same thing but you aren't even willing to give us two minutes." his doomed work friend the trained choral singer, his fated bestie the being who communicates only through song, his world-saving probes named for the most famous musicians ever, his choir-based soundtrack underpinning all his actions, and his unwillingness to ever sing himself.

that's a cat ✅️

that's a cat ✅️

I go outside regularly

no you don't

okay fine I go outside weirdly

my beautiful wife, severe thunderstorm warning, is texting me 😌😚😍😍

that's a cat ✅️