cruisin for a boozin

Grab a few events (minor or major doesn’t matter) from earlier or later in the story and trace out the causal chains. What caused it and what did it cause? Can the domino effect lead to a new event?

Trace out the “story” of the main cast’s motivation. How does the motivation interact with the story and how does the motivation change over time?

Go hunt for story elements you put in earlier that could be escalated into subplots.

Take a few characters who have different levels of information (or are more or less close to antagonists) and go through the story from their perspective. Perhaps you don’t know what should come next for your main character, but it might be obvious what comes next for a different character.

When you throw in new characters, first try to repurpose old characters. This makes them feel less cheap and gives them a better chance at developing depth. And when you do want to use a totally new one, consider someone who’s related to an existing character or a causal chain. The reader might already be wondering where X character’s parents are, after all. 

man

people realy don’t need to be this bad but they are, somehow

I hate all of this honestly 

non-finance related but still wtf worthy: 

people apparently choose to wear these things?

like

no one is holding a gun to their heads? 

Step 1: Stay in bed as long as you possibly can. 

After having gone snow blind from looking at white houses all morning, I finally came across this beauty, built in 1905, in a refined Edwardian style with elements of the prior Arts and Crafts movement in London. It’s been carefully reno’d- cozy colorful, and a bit moody. 

Greeted by a black staircase with an attractive black & white runner. The walls are a sophisticated, moody deep green with black trim. 

Cozy and formal navy blue living room. But, there are whimsical touches, such as the pencil drawing over the fireplace.

A black dining room gets lots of light thru floor to ceiling windows and a door to the garden. Plus, a fireplace with a green tile hearth stands out.

Love this feature- windows open from the kitchen to the dining room. 

The kitchen is fabulous. Trendy forest green cabinetry and a pink ceiling with a built-in matching pink cabinet.

The kitchen opens to a breezeway that leads to the patio.

Another bit of fun on the stairs - a framed Dracula poster.

Upstairs is a tranquil deep green and black main bedroom. 

Beautifully updated bath with deep green subway tile and white mosaics.

A sophisticated nursery in deep blue and black with a stunning fireplace.

These beautiful stairs lead to the attic guest room.

The guest room has been remodeled with two big skylights and window seats, plus a sink.

Patio with stunning gardens.

Further back on the property is a wonderful greenhouse. 

Grab a few events (minor or major doesn’t matter) from earlier or later in the story and trace out the causal chains. What caused it and what did it cause? Can the domino effect lead to a new event?

Trace out the “story” of the main cast’s motivation. How does the motivation interact with the story and how does the motivation change over time?

Go hunt for story elements you put in earlier that could be escalated into subplots.

Take a few characters who have different levels of information (or are more or less close to antagonists) and go through the story from their perspective. Perhaps you don’t know what should come next for your main character, but it might be obvious what comes next for a different character.

When you throw in new characters, first try to repurpose old characters. This makes them feel less cheap and gives them a better chance at developing depth. And when you do want to use a totally new one, consider someone who’s related to an existing character or a causal chain. The reader might already be wondering where X character’s parents are, after all. 

So, for instance, I couldn't say "this book didn't give its characters strong agency or goals". I instead had to say, "the characters in this book acted in ways that often felt misaligned with their characterization as if they were being pulled by the plot."

I think this is really important because a lot of "critiques" people give, if subverted to address what the book does instead of what it doesn't do, actually read pretty nonsensical. For instance, "none of the characters were unique" becomes "all of the characters read like other characters that exist in other media", which like... okay? That's not really a critique. It's just how fiction works. Or "none of the characters were likeable" becomes "all of the characters, at some point or another, did things that I found disagreeable or annoying" which is literally how every book works?

It also keeps you from holding a book to a standard it never sought to meet. "The world building in this book simply wasn't complex enough" becomes "The world building in this book was very simple", which, yes, good, that can actually be a good thing. Many books aspire to this. It's not actually a negative critique. Or "The stakes weren't very high and the climax didn't really offer any major plot twists or turns" becomes "The stakes were low and and the ending was quite predictable", which, if this is a cute romcom is exactly what I'm looking for.

Not to mention, I think this really helps to deconstruct a lot of the biases we carry into fiction. Characters not having strong agency isn't inherently bad. Characters who react to their surroundings can make a good story, so saying "the characters didn't have enough agency" is kind of weak, but when you flip it to say "the characters acted misaligned from their characterization" we can now see that the *real* problem here isn't that they lacked agency but that this lack of agency is inconsistent with the type of character that they are. a character this strong-willed *should* have more agency even if a weak-willed character might not.

Mfs when they put an egg in their instant ramen: