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Rosenberg Loses It On Police Officer Over Alton Sterling Killing #BlackLivesMatter #AltonSterling

I had a teacher in high school who was obsessed with this movie. Well maybe not to that extreme, but he did really like it and mention how it was iconic. Though I can’t remember the reasons given I felt intrigued to see why.

After watching the movie I was left with a few feelings a couple good and a couple not so great. I’m not really sure if it’s a good movie or a bad one.

James Dean is actually a pretty good actor. There are a couple more emotional scenes and he does a fine job at being believable and using his actual emotions… You believe him when he says what he says.

The story being told was enjoyable as well. I enjoyed following Jim Stark through his new high school. In that sense the story is relatable, even though when I was in high school the other kids weren’t trying to get into a knife fight.

Speaking of knife fights. I’m not sure if this is solely because I grew up in a time and place where you typically didn’t try to stab other people in a fight but it seems like a pretty awkward event. A knife is only a few inches long, and you try to hit the other person while avoiding theirs, and at least in a sword fight your sword can be used for defense. It seems a little silly looking back at it.

Now bear in mind when I said James Dean is a good actor I’m not saying the acting in the movie was good. The line delivery was fine, so the other actors did a decent enough job in that. But… Ok I don’t like posting spoilers, even if the movie is over 50 years old.

I’ll just say there are two different scenes that are very sad, or should be for 1 or 2 characters. Now this could be a fault of the writing, not the acting, as the movie takes place over a single day/night. However, when you experience a tragic event it tends to stick with you, or am I crazy? So when a character goes through an event with her long term boyfriend and is fairly sad and is consoled by our hero, I would not expect her to be flirting with (and kissing) said hero after the ride home, or start talking about spending the rest of her life with him an hour or so later.

On the same note, when our hero goes through his own tragedy at the end of the movie I would hope that when he introduces said girl that everyone else would still console him about what happened; especially since they are still standing in the same place watching the aftermath of the event. Instead of just being “happy” that Jim finally found someone.

Maybe I’m being hard on the movie, 1955 was a different time, but to me a movie needs believable characters and believable reactions, which this movie did not deliver on.

Overall though I did enjoy the main cast, the story was enjoyable even if the characters weren’t always realistic. I probably won’t want to re-watch it, but I don’t regret having seen it either.

“Having such a supportive family has really shaped the person that I am today. [My parents] say I was born with a natural confidence — but that wouldn’t be discovered without the unconditional love and support that they provided. Having that [kind of] family helps you really discover who you are.”

-itsmajo- said to writing-questions-answered: 

Hi!thanks for checking this out! So, my story occurs in Japan, in a city named Otaru. I’ve researched all kinds of technical info but can’t find more personal stuff. I was wondering if either you could post this so people living in the city(or at least in Hokkaido)and me could establish communication so I can learn some more about their daily lives?Also,if you have any info yourself, I’d be really thankful!Thanks again, your blog is an interesting read! 

Here are ten questions to ask that will not put your friend in a tough spot, but will still give you some useful input on your novel:

1. At what point did you feel like “Ah, now the story has really begun!”  2. What were the points where you found yourself skimming?  3. Which setting in the book was clearest to you as you were reading it? Which do you remember the best?  4. Which character would you most like to meet and get to know?  5. What was the most suspenseful moment in the book?  6. If you had to pick one character to get rid of, who would you axe?  7. Was there a situation in the novel that reminded you of something in your own life?  8. Where did you stop reading, the first time you cracked open the manuscript? (Can show you where your first dull part is, and help you fix your pacing.)  9. What was the last book you read, before this? And what did you think of it? (This can put their comments in context in surprising ways, when you find out what their general interests are. It might surprise you.)  10. Finish this sentence: “I kept reading because…”

Your friend is probably still going to tell you, “It was good!” However, if you can ask any specific questions, and read between the lines, you can still get some helpful information out of even the most well-meaning reader.

This is some stuff I’ve gathered over the years from various masterposts and poking around on the internet that help me with my creative writing. I hope you find something to help you, these have really gotten me far! (Note: Everything is free!)

Organization

Plotist

I can not stress how amazing this website is. You can keep track of your characters, events, plot lines, and settings. It’s great if your story has a lot of different characters and places you need to keep track of. You can create timelines in which you place in your characters and have a visual representation of where they are and the events happening while they’re there. There’s a lot of information about it on the site if you want specificities.

Pacemaker

This lets you set a goal for how many words/chapters/lines/etc. you want to write in whatever frame of time you choose. There are many options for how you can divide your time, and what your quota is for each day. It also gives you visual representations of your goals and progress. This is super helpful is you’re a procrastinator like me.

Names

Magic Baby Names

This site is awesome. You enter in a name, and it gives you a list of names similar to it. This is great for when you want a specific type of name (ex. specific to a time period, specific to a race) or when you have a certain feel for a name you want, but don’t have an actual name in mind.

List of Girls Names

Has a bunch of names for girls, both common and unique.

List of Boys Names

Has a bunch of names for boys, both common and unique.

Most Popular Surnames in the US

Having a practically unheard of surname can sounds awkward, unless it has some sort of relevance to your story. Keep it mainstream and believable by picking from this list. If you scroll to the bottom there are also options for popular surnames in America by race, which can be quite helpful.

Last Name Generator

If you’re not one to sit and scroll through lists, then try out a surname generator. You can also enter a first name and see how the name and the generated surname look next to each other. This can also generate a lot of other types of names, like for locations or boats or teams or first names or whatever.

Angel Name Generator

This generates believable sounding angel names.

Fantasy Name Generator

This site has a lot of different options for mythological creatures, and you can also choose what length you’d like.

Inspiration

Pinterest

Having some visuals can be quite helpful if you need inspiration. Just play around with search terms and you’ll find some cool, inspiring stuff. You can also create an account and pin pictures that inspire you to look at later. If you want, you can have different collections of pictures if you want to organize your pinned pictures with different labels. As an example, here’s mine (which you could also use for inspiration).

Tumblr Blogs ( 1 2 3 4 5 6 )

(Warning: Some of the links are nsfw and/or potentially triggering) These are a couple of blogs that have some cool pictures that are good for inspiration. Also, I recommend creating a blog that you use to reblog things that inspire you for whatever your writing. I have one for a novel I’m writing and looking at it always gets me inspired.

Music

Noisli

I love this site. You can turn on sounds like river, fire, storm, railroad and others. You can combine them to create different environment sounds, and choose the individual volume of each one. Another thing this site does, is it has a space for writing. It’s very simple, just an empty space, but the background slowly changes color as you write. It’s not distracting like it sounds, it’s actually very relaxing, and the change is nice so you’re not staring at the same-looking screen for hours.

myNoise

This site is good if you want to hear the background noise to your story. It has themed generators for specific sounds like a battlefield or a spaceship, but also other types of sounds. It’s great for getting into the mood or the scene.

Night City Sounds

This is great if your story is set in the city, or even a town. It sounds extremely real and is very relaxing.

Star Trek Bridge Ambience

You don’t have to be a Star Trek fan to find this useful. It’s really good for any type of future-y setting, especially a spaceship or work setting.

8tracks ( 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 )

8tracks is my go-to site for writing music. You can search by mood, genre, fandom/character (good for fanfics), or anything else that comes to mind. There are also tags like “writing inspiration” and “character inspiration” that have great stuff. You search multiple tags at once, to get the exact feel you want. You can also make collections of playlists, which is helpful to organize by things like “fight scenes” or “insane characters.” I’ve linked playlists that are great for writing inspiration above, each with a different theme. Also, here’s a helpful masterpost that has a collection of 8tracks playlists for writing that are categorized by scene type.

Video Game Music

Video game music is designed to get you hyped and concentrated, which is great for writing! It’s also quite fun to listen to, so if you’re looking to write an exciting but light-hearted scene, this is good to get you in the mood.

Future/sci-fi music

This is actually just a link to one of Daft Punk’s ablums. It was the soundtrack to Tron: Legacy, so it’s super intense and future-y sounding. You can listen to the album anywhere, really. They also have songs that aren’t on that album that are good for future writing.

Information

Other Masterposts ( 1 2 3 4 )

These are some masterposts I use a bunch that have lots of great writing resources. They’re mostly resources for writing characters, but the first one touches on a couple different topics.

List of Character Flaws

If you feel like you’re character is a little too perfect, here’s a bunch of flaws you can give them. However, know that this list was originally created for RPG characters, and anything that would give the character a disadvantage would be considered a “flaw,” so that’s why a few of the suggestions are a little odd. It’s a great list otherwise, and extremely helpful.

Color Symbolism

This is a site that explains what all the colors stand for and mean, and what they’re associated with. Throwing color symbolism in your story can be really cool and an easy thing to do to make your story a little deeper.

Survive Nature

Hello! Today I’ve decided to post a compliation of stores which cater to the plus size figure. I receive numerous messages asking for plus size stores so I though I’d make a large list with all sorts of links for you. I’ve put a small comment on each store to help you pick ones that are worth looking at. As a note, the below text may not show up on your blog if you have captions disabled. Hopefully this helps x

Clothing

Addition Elle — Stylish and on-trend items, generally on the more expensive side. Sells swimwear. Currently only ships to the US and Canada.

Alice and You — Available on Asos, Shopstyle, Simply be and Debenhams. Quite expensive items. Ranges from sizes 18 to 28. See individual sites for shipping information.

Alight — Relatively inexpensive items, good online reviews. Based in the US, ships internationally.

Ashley Stewart — Ranges from sizes 12 to 26. Based in the US, ships internationally.

Asos Curve — Ranges from sizes 10 to 28. Great styling ideas and on trend pieces. Relatively good prices and offers several plus size brands. Sells swimwear. Offers international websites, ships worldwide. 

Ava and Viv at Target — Ranges from sizes 14 to 30. Based in the US.

Avenue  — Creates lookbook ideas and good sale offers (currently up to 60% off). Ranges from sizes 14 to 30. Sells activewear, shoes and underwear. Based in the US, ships internationally.

Boohoo Plus — Ranges from sizes 14 to 22. Offers on trend pieces between $10 and $100. Offers international websites, ships worldwide.

Carmakoma — Ranges from sizes 10 to 24. Relatively expensive items upward from $40. Ships internationally.

Casual Plus —Ranges from sizes 16 to 24. Relatively inexpensive items. Based in the US, ships internationally.

Charlotte Russe — Ranges from sizes 14 to 26. Well priced items between $5 and $50.

City Chic — Ranges from sizes 14 to 24. Sells swimwear. Currently only ships within Australia and New Zealand. Items prices between $35 to $150.

Chi Chi Plus — Available in their stores, on Asos and Modcloth. Sells items for special occasions. Upward from $90.

Club L Plus — Available on Asos. Sells items for special occasions. Upward from $40.

Eloquii — Ranges from sizes 14 to 28. Offers on trend pieces between $10 and $100. Relatively expensive items upward from $50.

Eshakti — Ranges from sizes 10 to 26. Offers customised sizing. $40 coupon for registering. Currently only ships within the US and Canada.

Evans — Ranges from sizes 14 to 32. Well priced items between £7 and £200. Offers European and US websites, ships accordingly.

Forever 21 Plus — Ranges from sizes 18 to 24. Great styling ideas and on trend pieces. Relatively good prices between $3 and $70. Sells activewear and swimwear. Based in the US, ships internationally.

Gwynnie Bee — Similar concept to Rent the Runway for plus size women. Ranges from sizes 10 to 32.

H&M Plus — Ranges from sizes 10 to 28. On trend pieces at decent prices. Sells activewear and swimwear. Offers international websites, ships worldwide.

Inspire at New Look — Ranges from 18 to 28. Prices between £3 and £50. Sells swimwear. Based in the UK, ships internationally.

Lane Bryant — Ranges from sizes 14 to 28. Sells swimwear, underwear, shoes and activewear. Upwards from $10. Based in the US, ships internationally.

Lucky Brand — Ranges from sizes 14 to 28. Offers some tailored pieces, especially jeans. Upward from $30. 

Missguided Plus — Ranges from sizes 14 to 24. Great styling ideas and on trend pieces. Relatively good prices between $5 and $80. Sells activewear and swimwear. Offers international websites, ships worldwide.

Monif C — Ranges from sizes 14 to 24. Offers on trend pieces, usually tailored for going out. Good sale offers. Sells swimwear. Based in the US, ships internationally. 

Nordstrom — Ranges from sizes 12 to 24. On trend pieces at prices upwards from $10. Based in the US (offers free shipping always), ships internationally.

Rainbow — Ranges from sizes 12 to 22. Decent prices between $10 and $50. Currently only ships within the US.

Re Dress — Offers vintages and modern looks. Ranges from sizes 10 to 30. Upwards from $30. Based in the US, ships to Canada, the UK and Australia.

Rue 21 — Similar to Forever 21 in price and styles. Ranges from sizes 12 to 24. Only ships within the US, excluding Alaska and Hawaii.

Simply Be — Ranges from sizes 10 to 28. Prices between $30 and $100. Based in the UK, ships within Europe and to the US.

TS14 Plus — Ranges from sizes 12 to 24. Sells swimwear and activewear. Relatively expensive. Based in Australia, ships internationally. 

Torrid — Ranges from sizes 12 to 28. Prices between from $10 and $100. Offers on trend pieces. Based in the US, ships internationally.

Violeta by Mango — Ranges from sizes 10 to 22. Relatively expensive between $40 and $300. Offers international websites, ships worldwide.

Swimwear

Some of the stores above, like Additional Elle, Asos, Forever 21 and Lane Bryant sell swimwear. Read their comments to find more stockists.

Becca Etc — Sadly not an online store, but I thought I’d include it anyway. Available only in the US and at select online stores including Macys and Nordstrom. Currently only ships the to US and Canada.

Blums Swimwear — Ranges from sizes 16 to 24. Sells underwear and resort wear. Currently only ships within the US and Canda 

Curvy Swimwear — Ranges from sizes 14 to 26. Relatively expensive, separates starting at $40. Currently only ships within Australia.

Curvy Swimwear — Ranges from sizes 14 to 26. Relatively expensive, separates starting at $40. Currently only ships within Australia.

Plus Size Bras — Ranges from sizes 12 to 32 (differs according to style). Prices upward from $40. Based in Australia, ships internationally. 

Sea Jewels Swimwear — Ranges from sizes 20 to 32. Upwards from $30. Currently only ships within Australia.

Swimwear For All — Ranges from sizes 8 to 32. Currently stocking the limited edition Gabi Fresh collection. Based in the US, ships internationally.