the Athorment project

Here is a quick and dirty writing tip that will strengthen your writing.

In English, the word at the end of a sentence carries more weight or emphasis than the rest of the sentence. You can use that to your advantage in modifying tone.

Consider:

In the end, what you said didn't matter.

It didn't matter what you said in the end.

In the end, it didn't matter what you said.

Do you pick up the subtle differences in meaning between these three sentences?

The first one feels a little angry, doesn't it? And the third one feels a little softer? There's a gulf of meaning between "what you said didn't matter" (it's not important!) and "it didn't matter what you said" (the end result would've never changed).

Let's try it again:

When her mother died, she couldn't even cry.

She couldn't even cry when her mother died.

That first example seems to kind of side with her, right? Whereas the second example seems to hold a little bit of judgment or accusation? The first phrase kind of seems to suggest that she was so sad she couldn't cry, whereas the second kind of seems to suggest that she's not sad and that's the problem.

The effect is super subtle and very hard to put into words, but you'll feel it when you're reading something. Changing up the order of your sentences to shift the focus can have a huge effect on tone even when the exact same words are used.

These rules were originally tweeted by Emma Coats, Pixar’s Story Artist. 

You admire a character for trying more than for their successes.

You gotta keep in mind what’s interesting to you as an audience, not what’s fun to do as a writer. They can be very different.

Trying for theme is important, but you won’t see what the story is actually about til you’re at the end of it. Now rewrite.

Once upon a time there was ___. Every day, ___. One day ___. Because of that, ___. Because of that, ___. Until finally ___.

Simplify. Focus. Combine characters. Hop over detours. You’ll feel like you’re losing valuable stuff but it sets you free.

What is your character good at, comfortable with? Throw the polar opposite at them. Challenge them. How do they deal?

Come up with your ending before you figure out your middle. Seriously. Endings are hard, get yours working up front.

Finish your story, let go even if it’s not perfect. In an ideal world you have both, but move on. Do better next time.

When you’re stuck, make a list of what WOULDN’T happen next. Lots of times the material to get you unstuck will show up.

Pull apart the stories you like. What you like in them is a part of you; you’ve got to recognize it before you can use it.

Putting it on paper lets you start fixing it. If it stays in your head, a perfect idea, you’ll never share it with anyone.

Discount the 1st thing that comes to mind. And the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th – get the obvious out of the way. Surprise yourself.

Give your characters opinions. Passive/malleable might seem likable to you as you write, but it’s poison to the audience.

Why must you tell THIS story? What’s the belief burning within you that your story feeds off of? That’s the heart of it.

If you were your character, in this situation, how would you feel? Honesty lends credibility to unbelievable situations.

What are the stakes? Give us reason to root for the character. What happens if they don’t succeed? Stack the odds against.

No work is ever wasted. If it’s not working, let go and move on – it’ll come back around to be useful later.

You have to know yourself: the difference between doing your best & fussing. Story is testing, not refining.

Coincidences to get characters into trouble are great; coincidences to get them out of it are cheating.

Exercise: take the building blocks of a movie you dislike. How d’you rearrange them into what you DO like?

You gotta identify with your situation/characters, can’t just write ‘cool’. What would make YOU act that way?

What’s the essence of your story? Most economical telling of it? If you know that, you can build out from there.

Sources: [1] [2]

@crystal-kayos

Ok so basically people were talking about the Fae and how dangerous they can be. A young witch was like “we should just hex/kill them then” and that caught fire like you wouldn’t believe apparently. After that drama, it was immediately followed up by a group of witches seeing the attention that got and said “we could get that too” and decided to hex the moon.

Now I am not a witch but even by their rules this is flat out impossible, as the moon is a celestial body and also has forms in several deities and beings. That’s like deciding to tear down a building and thinking that throwing a pebble at it would do the trick. However it could still affect PEOPLE and mildly annoy deities of the moon

This however caught fire and now a lot of witches who have Moon Patrons are screaming about their patrons being hurt by this and other witches are calling bullshit and now they’re arguing with each other and apparently bad things are a-brewing

i think even if the moon was a rock with no deities, connotations, or power,,,,,

maybe it’s just me but i think we should still not??? hex the moon??? just because

i-

it just gives me bad vibes to hex the moon i think that the moon is probably

just

the moon is

sorry i think the moon is trying to intercept my brainwaves so i don’t share the secret of what the moon is bc it keeps slipping my mind every time i go to type it so ig i’m right but uh

well yeah the moon’s..,.,.,,...,,,,,

Superman: Man of Tomorrow #12 - “Superman’s Day Off” (2020)

Based on the god-tier post started by @pukicho

The latest version of Super Smash Bros. Crusade is out!