Untitled

refseek.com

www.worldcat.org/

link.springer.com

http://bioline.org.br/

repec.org

science.gov

Both Season 1 and Before the Storm have a recurring motif of characters being visited by animals, which may or may not be supernatural messengers or portents. There's the crow accompanying Chloe's visions of William. The blue jay crashing into the window of Joyce's and David's bedroom, which seems to be associated with Rachel due to the blue feather earring she always wore. The doe, which is associated with both Max (who wears the "Jane Doe" t-shirt) and Rachel (as it tries to lead Max to Rachel's grave).

And finally, there's the blue butterfly, which seems to be the source of Max's power, but can also be linked to Chloe, due to it appearing right before Chloe found herself in mortal danger (and also at her funeral, should Nathan be successful in murdering her) as well as its colour, matching Chloe's hair. Furthermore, "to feel blue" means to experience sadness, which is an emotion dominating Chloe's mind before Max's return.

The blue butterfly at first glance seems most similar to the doe, as it may appear at the final resting place of its associated character. But I think these two beings are very different. In my mind, the doe is Rachel's spirit, or at least a portion of it, trying to guide others to her grave, so that her fate may be known by those who miss her. But the blue buterfly cannot be Chloe's spirit, for the simple reason that it arrives before her first brush with death.

I think that the butterfly is Chloe's egregore. In ancient apocryphal religious texts, egregores are angels sent to watch over human beings. But in later traditions that term acquired a different meaning - a supernatural entity spawned by human thoughts. Egregores come to be when someone experiences emotions and desires so strong, that they start manifesting outside of their mind. So an egregore could perform the role of a guardian angel, but instead of being sent down from heaven, it would be willed into being by the person needing protection. A "grassroots" guardian angel, if you will.

At the beginning of Season 1, Chloe is stuck in the past. The bad things that happened and were done to her are weighing her down, preventing her from moving forward. And what do people who are stuck in the past most wish for? They wish that certain things didn't happen or happened differently. I'm sure Chloe spent many nights wishing that her father didn't die and that Max never left. Wishing she could undo those events. And it's no coincidence that the butterfly visited Max, as Chloe's thoughts often dwelt on her, years after they were separated. Chloe's diary from Before the Storm shows that she constantly imagined what Max was doing, how her life turned out to be. Being separated from Max was such a momentous event in Chloe's life, that she must've thought about it a lot. Sometimes with disappointment or even anger, sometimes simply wishing things would've played out differently.

So the butterfly, Chloe's egregore, was spawned by her desperate desire to have her past misfortunes erased, as well as her constant thoughts of Max - her lost friend, her yet undiscovered love, who was both one of the sources of her grief, as well as one of the few pieces of hope she had left. This resulted in the power to rewind time, to undo evil that has already been done. But this power was not granted to Chloe - it was given to someone she hoped would return and make her life less dark. Even if that hope had all but faded by October of 2013.

The butterfly is absent in the "sacrifice Arcadia Bay" ending, because it did its job of protecting Chloe. The thoughts which had spawned it in the first place dissipated. Max came back and stood by Chloe in her darkest moments. Chloe is now moving forward, no longer stuck in the past.

But it shows up in the "sacrifice Chloe" ending, to say goodbye to the person it failed to protect. And because in the timeline where Chloe died, the thoughts which had spawned the egregore still lingered. The resentment towards a friend who abandoned her when she needed help the most. The disappointed hope she would return. The desire to have all the evils in her life undone. If Chloe is murdered on Monday, she dies having never been reunited with Max. She dies with her mind filled with the same desperate thoughts which spawned the egregore. So it lingers even after her death.

One thing that I've suspected is that Chloe knew that Max was back. And the reason for this... is the locations of all of the posters. For instance, we have Max's dorm having several posters. We have multiple posters leading from Max's classroom to the bathroom. We have a multitude right outside the front door, definitely meant to attract attention but...also giving Chloe a reason to loiter in front of Blackwell, as if she were waiting for someone. And finally we have the trail of posters left on the ground from when Chloe fled after the confrontation-gone-bad with Nathan.

The irony is that Chloe was so very close to reuniting with Max early. I have to wonder... if she'd gone that last step and seen Max hiding in the back, would she have called off her vendetta with Nathan, telling him "Stop drugging folks or I'll call the cops on you" and leaving Nathan wondering what happened while Chloe reunites with her best friend and just has zero shits to give about Nathan after that point?

Or would Max's presence have escalated events? Was the butterfly meant not only to call in protection for Chloe... but also for Max? Because Nathan had no gun when he later confronts Max. But given both Max and Chloe together... did Nathan murder both girls?

Is Life is Strange actually the death-and-rebirth of Max Caulfield? Was she in the Storm at the start because she was shot in the bathroom, was symbolically killed by the Storm following it, and then wakes up in Jefferson's classroom with a redo, and magic powers?

And in that case, is the Butterfly in Sacrifice Chloe meant to symbolize that Max was protected and survives, even if Chloe did not? If Chloe brought the butterfly into being... a butterfly that drew Max into the back of the bathroom and out of Nathan's sight... then perhaps it was never meant to protect Chloe at all. Perhaps the entire point of the Butterfly is Chloe protecting Max from beyond the grave, while in Sacrifice Arcadia Bay, Chloe herself is there to save Max?

When you read a book or fic or whatever and are blown away by how amazing the writing is you can just go, "huh, how is the writer doing this? what things are they doing to get this affect?"

And if you can't figure it out you are allowed to google it. Check out YouTube videos, blog posts, and the wealth of posts on Tumblr even. If the writer is famous enough there might even be full-length academic papers on Google Scholar or JSTOR, or even 100+ page published books dissecting their style (Tolkien, for example, if you like his style). If you still can't find the information, ask someone. Ask more experienced writers or writers who write in a similar style. Ask writing advice blogs/channels. Ask the writer/author themselves.

And if you still can't figure it out, you can keep trying things and reading similar stuff, observing until it clicks.

I just say this because, well, reading someone else's writing and feeling like yours is horrible in comparison is pretty much a universal writer experience. I see a lot a posts on Tumblr offering encouragement like, "it is okay if you writing isn't like theirs, you just have different strengths," and "actually your writing is better than you think it is, you've just been staring at it too long." And these are valid.

But also, just because you can't write like that now doesn't mean you can't learn. You don't have to resign yourself to a particular style just because it comes easier to you. It is completely okay to be happy with the style you have, but it is also okay to not be happy with it and wish you could write like your favourite writers instead.

1. An irrelevant point of view

It’s extremely frustrating as a reader to read the opening scene of a novel, get invested in the story and start rooting for the POV character, only to have that character never show up again or show up as an unimportant character.

Your readers will feel betrayed. Why did they get emotionally invested in this character? Why did they care?

One of the most important functions of your first scene or chapter is introducing your main character and getting the reader to root for them.

Don’t waste that crucial moment on an unimportant POV.

2. Too many characters

Starting to read a new book is usually a bit confusing. You have to get to know new characters, a new world, a new writing style etc.

Don’t add to that confusion by introducing two dozen characters in the opening scene. Readers won’t remember their names or care about them; they’ll just feel overwhelmed and confused.

Additionally, readers will also struggle to root for the main character, because there are too many other people crowding the scene.

3. Telling

My name is Lisa. I’m a short, feisty brunette who loves horse riding. I have two best friends called Anna and Daniel, and we carpool to college every day. I have a crush on Josh, one of my tutors, but he’s twenty-seven and isn’t interested in me.

Telling is boring. It has its place, but the start of your novel is not it. The above paragraph could have been an interesting scene in which you showed the reader all the information via action and dialogue.

Unless you’re using subversion to surprise the reader, e.g., My name is Lisa and I’m a class-three demon, don’t start with telling. 

Immerse the reader in the story through action, dialogue and the senses. Show us who the main character is, don’t just tell us.

4. Description

Please don’t start your book with a page-long description of the setting. In fact, I would recommend not starting with description at all. 

Yes, a few lines of description later in the opening scene is fine. But the reader needs to care first. 

No matter how beautiful your writing is, readers won’t be sucked in by a five-paragraph description of a field.

5. Worldbuilding info dump

Please don’t start your book with an explanation of your world’s climate, politics, history, magic system etc. 

Once again, the reader needs to care first. 

There needs to be action and conflict and a compelling plot. The world exists as a backdrop for the story and the characters – it’s not the protagonist and it shouldn’t take up the opening scene.

6. The dream sequence

The main reason that this is a bad way to start your book is that it’s been done way too many times.

But that’s not the only reason.

It also feels like a betrayal to the reader, because they got invested in the story and the character and the events, and then you tell them it was never real.

And oftentimes the storyline and world of the dream is much more interesting than the actual story, which makes the latter look very boring in comparison.

7. Looking in a mirror

Once again, it’s just been done too much: A character looking in a mirror and describing their physical appearance to the reader. 

Firstly, no one describes their appearance in detail when they look in the mirror.

Secondly, the reader doesn’t even know who this person is. We don’t know if we’re interested in the character yet. We don’t know why we should care. So, we don’t want a detailed description of the character’s appearance right off the bat.

Show us interesting aspects of your main character’s personality, hobbies and life. Weave in physical description as it becomes relevant. It’s not important enough for the very first paragraph.

8. Starting way too early

Yes, most books don’t start with the inciting incident (although I recommend that they do), but the start of your book shouldn’t be too far away from your inciting incident.

So, don’t start with a long scene describing the main character’s everyday life. The readers want the thing to happen.

Providing context and introducing the main character is fine, but don’t leave the reader hanging for too long before you get to the good stuff.

9. Trying too hard

“Your first line has to be amazing and hook the reader. It needs to be something no one has ever read before.”

I bet you’ve heard that piece of advice hundreds of times. It’s not bad advice, but taken to the extreme, it creates an opening that is disjointed, conflated and confusing.

Your first scene should introduce your character, story and voice. So, don’t write a single line of profound purple prose that has very little to do with your actual story as a first line.

Focus on writing a good story. Introduce the reader to the book and make the main character intriguing. You don’t need a mind-blowing first line.

10. The lesson

Most books have a theme or something the author wants to say. Oftentimes, that takes the form of a life lesson.

This is good, but the lesson needs to be subtly woven into the story.

It should not be forced down the reader’s throat in the very first scene.

Don’t tell me what I’m going to learn, show me the lesson through the story.

If you’d like to read a Fantasy Adventure novel that does not have any of these opening mistakes, check out my debut To Wear A Crown.

whatever was left, that was ours for a while.

sunrise - louise glück

And it's not about apps or digital being faster, I'm all up for physical media, but commercially produced CDs from the 90s and early 2000s are reaching the end of their functional lifespan*, and are starting to fail.

If you have a lot of CDs, it would be a good idea to rip them into high fidelity digital audio, to preserve them.

*CD/DVD lifespans are tricky. Some estimates in peak, perfect conditions and maintenance go for almost 200 years. Others calculate between 20 to 30 years in "normal" use, though no one can agree what normal is.

I recommend buying a cheap DVD reader/writer unit -I bought mine for less than 20 USD - and then batch ripping stuff. Surprisingly Windows Media Player works out of the box, just make sure to save things in the correct format (mp3 or MP4) so you're not limited in playback.

You can of course find more robust options online, including VLC, to rip your files. Ripping a CD will not damage it or prevent it from working, it'll just make sure you have the option to burn a new one if your original happens to fail. This is 100% legal and ethical (and would be ethical still even if illegal, because piracy is always ethical in late stage capitalism and corporations are not your friends.)

I recommend redundancy for your backups (remember that time Apple fucked up with people's files by replacing them with itunes shit? Yeah) and if you're really techy, set up a NAS by your router, with your backups.

If your rips are high quality you can feed it to your computer/tablet/phone/any device in your network and always have access to CD quality audio no matter where you are.

Sources!

*slams fist on table* BETS FASHION SHOW!

In honor of Life is Strange: Before the Storm coming out in a couple of weeks, here is the final comic entry for What If?

Enjoy, and thank you for being with us all this time!

Punctuating Dialogue

✧

➸ “This is a sentence.”

➸ “This is a sentence with a dialogue tag at the end,” she said.

➸ “This,” he said, “is a sentence split by a dialogue tag.”

➸ “This is a sentence,” she said. “This is a new sentence. New sentences are capitalized.”

➸ “This is a sentence followed by an action.” He stood. “They are separate sentences because he did not speak by standing.”

➸ She said, “Use a comma to introduce dialogue. The quote is capitalized when the dialogue tag is at the beginning.”

➸ “Use a comma when a dialogue tag follows a quote,” he said.

“Unless there is a question mark?” she asked.

“Or an exclamation point!” he answered. “The dialogue tag still remains uncapitalized because it’s not truly the end of the sentence.”

➸ “Periods and commas should be inside closing quotations.”

➸ “Hey!” she shouted, “Sometimes exclamation points are inside quotations.”

However, if it’s not dialogue exclamation points can also be “outside”!

➸ “Does this apply to question marks too?” he asked.

If it’s not dialogue, can question marks be “outside”? (Yes, they can.)

➸ “This applies to dashes too. Inside quotations dashes typically express—“

“Interruption” — but there are situations dashes may be outside.

➸ “You’ll notice that exclamation marks, question marks, and dashes do not have a comma after them. Ellipses don’t have a comma after them either…” she said.

➸ “My teacher said, ‘Use single quotation marks when quoting within dialogue.’”

➸ “Use paragraph breaks to indicate a new speaker,” he said.

“The readers will know it’s someone else speaking.”

➸ “If it’s the same speaker but different paragraph, keep the closing quotation off.

When you accidentally sext your crush your nude pic instead to your weekly fuck boy, but then your crush’s crush found it first before your crush gets to even see dayum tits. Later, your crush’s crush quick replied back to you which you begin screeching like a pterodactyl and ask Google to track her down just to delete that message before your crush see it and breaking into a stranger house.

BONUS: