In My Head.

but you had this look of utter panic in your eyes. terror like the ocean. you grabbed my cheeks. im in a time loop.

i don't know why in movies the first reaction is to deny it. when someone is panicking like that, it's not appropriate to ask them to calm down. it didn't matter if i believed it, what mattered was that you believed it so much that it was consuming you.

so here we are. i pour you some of the dark roast. "you look like utter and entire hell," i say.

you push your fingers into your eyes. "you always say that."

i try to think of something funny to say that i wouldn't have said on previous time loops, but jokes don't land without the proper timing (lol). "remind me to think -"

"-yeah, of a joke that only works in the future. and before you say anything, i know you're pissed i just stole your punchline." you bolt the coffee, which is wild. it's very hot. you don't seem to notice.

i blow on mine to cool it down. i both am very pissed at you and also i can't see you in this amount of panic without wanting to help. but i'm also not really sure what we are, not since i saw you kiss her like that, no offense. it just was like, kind of rude when you knew i liked you.

and besides. i'm just like, barely a person. i write omegaverse fanfiction. i love the concept of a time loop, but what the fuck am i gonna do? send an alpha in there? i open my mouth.

you point at me. "you're about to ask why me. and then say some disparaging shit about yourself. i'm just a nerd who plays dnd or something. that self-own is slightly different each time." you sigh. "i know you think you can't really help me. i don't know who can help me. i only came to you because you fucking believe me." you check your watch, sigh, and throw your head back. you cover your eyes with one hand. "i've come here on 26 separate revolutions," you say. "you have believed me every time. and yeah, i have no idea how you fit into this but i just -" you sigh again. "i just like fucking talking to someone about it."

"do you need more cof-" i start, but you're already holding the empty cup out. i frown at it. "you're not getting any more until you promise not to bolt this one like an animal."

you laugh a little and sit up, pushing your hair out of your face. "okay, that's new dialogue. but to be fair to you, i'm not usually this rude. i'm still pretty new at all of this." you check your watch again. another sigh. i guess you're cruising for a personal best in the Sigh Olympics.

i almost tell you im not an NPC but i've played enough video games. to know i'm very much an NPC. i pour you another cup. "so what happens in the loop?"

"really bad explosion." you mutter into the mug. you put your elbows on the table (rude) and bury your face in your arms like an angsty teenager. one hand floats up while you talk, because evidently you literally can't talk without your hands. "i have to save the day and there's this bomb and i have no bomb training and it keeps moving, you know."

"do i die?"

you peek up from your arms. "yeah. bigtime. you keep trying to run or stay or do anything and you always super die."

"oh."

"to be fair, like, everyone dies in it though.... so you're in good company."

i hate that you make me laugh. i hate that being around you always feels tingly and strange, this electric tension between us. something that is evidently (given how you stuck your tongue down a stranger's throat literally 3 days ago) (well. 3 for me) super one-sided. i take a sip of my coffee and close my eyes.

i die today, i guess. a little spark of panic starts at the top of my hands and starts whipping up my wrists.

"shit," you say. you look at your watch and jump to your feet. "i have to go. if i can come back, i will. i am still trying to figure out when is best to do everything, you know? the order of stuff. maybe morning isn't good for us."

i look up at you and think about how you keep kissing me in the back of my car and in alleyways and in the dark. and i can never fucking get a read on you. and i also think about how incredibly panicked you look. how broken. how long have you been doing this? "i don't want to die," i say.

you glance downwards. "well, you're not really dead, you'll come back in the loop."

"but i will have died." my hands are shaking. i am trying really hard to stay calm.

you push your hands through your hair again. "i really have to go. i will have this discussion with the next version of you, though. it is like, something i am thinking about."

"but i don't get a next version," i say. i don't really have the language for this, because i haven't had 26 tries with you. i only have my memories: you, a week ago. drunk and telling me you loved me in my ear. you, kissing her anyway. you, months ago, throwing up on my birthday, whispering to me i ruin everything i touch, always, over and over. please don't ask. i can't ever fucking have that be you.

i run my finger along the rim of the mug. "i don't want to die in this one."

you seem baffled by this. "i get that but - time will reset, you'll be fine, you won't even remember we talked about this."

"but i know now." i stand up too. "i have to live the rest of this day knowing i could die. knowing i probably am going to."

"you could always die, to be fair."

i feel my hands get out of control. "earlier, you said i always say a different insult about myself. what if you're just going through different parallel universes and those are all just different - but real - versions of myself? what if you're not in a time loop, you're in a fucking universe loop?"

"if it helps, i've wondered this too. also, you're hot in all of them. if that helps."

i point at you. "no flirting. i'm trying to figure out if i die today."

"who's flirting?" you catch my wild hands and give me that long, perfect smile. like we're in this together. "i won't let ya die." you check your watch and sigh again. "well. maybe not this time."

i grit my teeth. you are so not making quips at me while i try to explain the existential dread i'm having. "does the time loop reset if i fucking kill you?"

"honestly i don't know how long it continues after i die, because i just wake up. it could be that the loop goes until the explosion for everyone, and we're all in the loop, or it could be that when i die, the loop restarts. when i die i wake up, is all."

i pull away from you and stalk into the kitchen and start doing all 3 of my dishes. "okay, first, you know i was joking. and secondly, this is exactly my point. you don't know if this is just a parallel universe. maybe in the ones where you died, the explosion happened and nobody reset and it's just you travelling." i have to stop and push my heel into my eyeball. "... how often have you died?"

i look at you. you look at me. you give me this very sad, halfway smile and a little what can ya do shrug. something in that action seems so old and weary that i want to burst into tears.

"i have to go," you say. "really. for real. there's this family of five i save from getting into a car crash. and i know it's like oh but we're all gonna die in the explosion anyway, what's the point. and..." you shrug again. "it matters to me, is all. at least i saved them for now. at least i saved anything."

you pad over to me and wrap me in a tight hug. you always seem so tall against me. i feel your cheek rest against the top of my head for a moment. for a second, it's just us, and the space is warm, and my heart is a little broken hare.

you leave me there, and i stand in my stupid badly lit kitchen with my stupid mugs. i think about you. i start texting my mom that she needs to get out of the city, but it feels pointless.

for example, instagram has disabled right click save. here I am trying to save a picture of this girl with a pumpkin sweater, but I am thwarted by the lack of right click save!

to get around it, right click and go to “inspect” or “inspect element” (it’s called different things depending on what computer you’re using)

shimmy around the webpage code until you find the “src” bit. It will helpfully tell you when you’ve found it because the image, and only the image, will light up as if you selected it.

that source is the link to where the image is hosted on the website. click the link.

find the actual hosted image. right click on that.

Credit to the thrifty witch ❤️

What non-Indigenous witches can use to purify:

Juniper

Goldenrod

Lavender

Rosemary

Bay Leaves

Garden Sage

Mugwort

Yarrow

If you MUST use white sage - or you'd like to support Indigenous businesses - make sure to shop from Indigenous crafters:

wanderingbull.com

whisperingwindsshop.com

sisterssage.com

sequoiasoaps.com

Etsy shops owned by Natives:

etsy.com/shop/VictoriaWhiteEagle

etsy.com/shop/Wildernativedesigns

etsy.com/shop/MySticksNStonesShop

etsy.com/shop/ThreeSoaringEagles

etsy.com/shop/QuixoticMinerals

Then I realized that for all the cottage-core, suburban homesteading, and other such things on the internet, that the reason why you don’t bale green hay might not be that well known.

Those of you with common sense are probably thinking along the lines of, “You have to cure it first so it doesn’t rot” and…

You see, the process that turns hay from green to golden brown is exothermic, which means it creates heat. With it loose out in the air, it’s not a big deal. When it’s all bundled up in a hay bale, there’s nowhere for the heat to go. And it can become a self-sustaining chemical process.

Which means the next thing you know, your barn is on fire because the hay spontaneously combusted.

Alright so if you’re a writer then you’ve probably familiarized yourself with plot…and the structure it provides to a novel. There are countless articles online on “how to plot a novel” or the like. Which is fantastic for you writers because it’s at a fingers reach from us. Not so great when there’s about…a billion ways one can go about plotting a novel. It can seem daunting and overwhelming and more important confusing! 

I want to break down this massive task bit by bit. Starting with the very bare bones and working into more detailed parts. Making it more manageable.

 Now, I know some of you might roll your eyes and say I know all there is to know about plot. I was you. I went into every workshop and craft class thinking the same thing. And yet, when I started plotting my recent WIP ( The Cost of Defeat ) I realized I didn’t know jack. I thought every story I ever wrote would adhere to my system of structure because of sheer will and blunt force. Yeah wrong.

It wasn’t until just recently I started diving into the structure ( because I like pretty diagrams and being organized way more than I should) that I discovered there are a lot of different Plot Structures out there. No one bothered to ever teach me let alone discuss these things. My mind was blown. 

Some worked better for me than others. Some mesh better together than others. It’s all about experimenting and figuring out what works for you. And I’m hoping that this will also help others, or at least give a jumping off point. Now it’s not a whole list ( there’s a lot of elements that I could probably talk about by themselves) but it’s a good overview of the popular ones that reoccur a lot.

1) Freytag’s Pyramid

Freytag’s pyramid is the most basic plot structure I know. It’s the one we’ve all seen in school when we start learning about story structure and analysis.

This bad boy is the simplest plot structure used to dissect and understand Greek and Shakespearean Plays. 

Pros     x Simplistic. Makes it easy to understand      x Great for those just starting ( or those who want to understand film and literature analysis.     x Great for AP Literature/Comp papers

Cons     x It creates simple stories     x Not super awesome for modern novels or anything longer than about 25K words

Uses     x Children’s Literature. Picture books mostly. Children are still learning to understand things like conflict effect on characters and having such a long falling action allows for that.     x Short Stories. Since short stories are compact for punch, this structure allows you to get the most done without boring the reader in 25K words or less.   x Analysis. This structure is the easiest and most common to apply to plays, film, tv and even in classic literature. It’s a great way to dissect plot and events in order to better understand the pieces working parts 

Examples: Shakespeare's Hamlet and Romeo and Juliet                    Sophocles’s  Antigone                    Henrik Ibsen  A Doll House

2) Three-Act Structure

The Three-Act Structure is probably the most known. We all know this intuitively as storytellers. Everything needs a beginning middle and end, after all.

This structure is very similar to Freytag’s Pyramid but adds elements that beef up and create points of interest. Obstacles, for example, add conflict and build up suspense for the climax. It’s also important to note that the falling action and resolution is much more compact.

Pros    x  basic building block for all good stories    x  Roadmap-like so you can be systematic about things    x  Good “big-picture” visual

Cons    x  Pacing is super important for this    x  Bit rigid and formulaic

Uses     x  Literally anything. Because it’s versatile it works on  a plethera of stuff, let your imagineation run wild.     x Film analysis. This struccture is like the holy grail in almost any film class ( sometimes they call it the four act structure)

Examples:  Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Sherlock Holmes                    Alfred Hitchcock’s  Vertigo                    Jane Austin’s Pride and Prejudice

3) The Fichtean Curve

The Fichten Curve Is really unique in that it starts right with the rising action. There ain’t no time to build up or nice slow introductions, you’re dumping the readers right where it hurts. But you make up that lost time with the small bits of exposition

This is one of the most popular plot structures for modern novels.

Pros     x  A lot of opportunities to ramp up the stakes, bit after bit     x Good for pacing     x  Great for Overcoming Monster & Quest stories     x Translate over almost any genre

Cons     x Not a lot of time to slow down, breathe     x Not suited for Voyage and Return, Comedy or Rebirth stories

Uses    x Thrillers/Mystery novels. You need something to keep readers in the story, chomping at the bit. here’s the plot structure for you.    

Examples: Max Brooks’s World War Z                  

4) Plot Embryo/Hero’s Journey

The Hero’s Journey is also super common in the literature (namely western literature) With this plot the protagonist ( the hero of hero’s journey) undergoes a literal or figurative death-like transformation that changes him. 

The protagonist must venture from one state into another. To take it a step further there’s a variation called the Ploy Embyro. Dan Harmon takes the hero’s journey a bit deeper and modernizes. [ here’a great video on it by youtuber Rachel Stephen x] 

As you can see, the Hero’s Journey and Ploy Embyro are both cyclical. This baby comes full circle in both plot and character. They have similar plot points. But if I were to gush about this the post would be waaay longer than it already is. This is one of my preferred methods because it just makes sense for me and allows me to have some freedom and wiggle room while still adhering to the 3 acts.

Pros     x Character development holla, cause this is where it’s at.     x Visually appealing     x  Simple 8 point outline ( for those who might not enjoy long-winded outlines)     x  Works alongside A beat sheet ( if you use that sort of thing)     x  The holy grail for myths.

Cons     x Overdone ( but it doesn’t have to be a bad thing)     x Not suited for those who really detailed outlines

Uses     x Adventure Stories. It is all about the adventure and journey with this     x Myth Retellings. I mean it’s based on the myth structure of the Odyssey and the like so it makes sense

Examples: Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird                    Rick Riordan’s The Lightning Thief                   J. R R. Tolktien’s The Hobbit

5) In Media Res

A literal translation to “In the Middle”. This plot structure dumps you right in the middle of the story.  Think if you were to open a story on the second of third crisis/pinch point. there’s still a lot of upward trajectory to go before the climax.

Don’t confuse this with simply opening a story mid fight/action. Media Res starts well deep into the story itself, close to the climax but with enough room you can still build up to it.

Pros     x High Actions     x Simple and fun to play with     x A good use for flashbacks     x Hell of a hook for readers

Cons     x  Can be confusing for reader’s if not done right     x  No build up     x takes some finessing to get just right

Uses      x Mysteries. This is a great plot if you want to start a story perhaps where the killer has already committed the murder.    x Epic Poems. Maybe you wanna write the next epic poem, this is great for that.       Examples  John Milton’s Paradise Lost                    Homer’s Illiad                    George Lucas’s  Star Wars 

Now I could go on and on but this monster of a post has carried on long enough. If there’s a certain structure you’d like me to go into more detail about feel free to leave a comment on this post and I’ll be sure to add it to my line up!! As always happy writing/creating!

BUT - literally, the term “shipper” was invented in the X-Files fandom to designate the people who were pro-Mulder/Scully (which was FAR from everyone). The term “shipper” was not in wide fandom use before the X-Files made it common parlance PRECISELY BECAUSE OF THE FIGHTS OVER IT.

The people who shipped it and said so vocally were often targets of fandom dismissal, mockery, and general animus with every argument from “why can’t some relationships on TV just be platonic?” to the “that’s not what the X-Files is ~about~ and stop making it all girly with your dumb romance crap” being circulated with regularity.

Not to be a fandom old about it, but I was there Gandalf, etc. And time is flat fucking circle.

Some of the anti-Destiel nonsense is just homophobia. But a lot of these arguments have been made about hetero pairings in the past. (not to mention a lot of the anti-Destiel nonsense in the SPN fandom comes from Wincest shippers who would be more than happy to see Dean/Sam make out if they thought there was a snowball’s chance in hell The CW was willing to take a nosedive as bad as HBO was)

~*~