Something I’ve always wanted to do…is to create a small clothing boutique with my own designs. But the twist would be that each collection would be based off of an original story prompt written to show the various beauties of how our humanity can be expressed alongside the elements of nature and different places and time periods, and to empower those who wear the outfits with their stories in mind.

A way to further spread positive magick and influence through collaborative creativity, if you will!

https://www.themeparkconcepts.com/2022/02/05/what-sondheim-can-teach-us-about-experience-design/

What Sondheim Can Teach Us About Experience Design – Theme Park Concepts

jackdoe:

ambassadorquark:

when somebody mentions a “plot hole” in a piece of media and it’s just like “why would this character make an emotionally driven choice consistent with their morals instead of doing the most objectively logical thing in this situation, this writing sucks”

I’ve seen people abusing the term “plot hole” a lot as well so let’s clear things up now for anyone who’s not sure.

A “Plot Hole” is a gap in the internal logic of a narrative. Typically something that contradicts early established elements of a story. It can be a simple as a character knowing something they couldn’t possibly know, or as complex as an event taking place in the narrative that couldn’t possibly happen (again, based on the internal logic of the narrative)

And always remember, just because a narrative takes a turn you personally don’t agree with, as long as it follows the narrative rules established, it is not in fact a plot hole, and I ask than that you please get over yourself, Respectfully.

xo-queenievee-xo:

allthingslinguistic:

a-deadletter:

ademska:

reliand:

sergeantjerkbarnes:

simplydalektable:

hannahrhen:

sergeantjerkbarnes:

so i just googled the phrase “toeing out of his shoes” to make sure it was an actual thing

and the results were:

it’s all fanfiction

which reminds me that i’ve only ever seen the phrase “carding fingers through his hair” and people describing things like “he’s tall, all lean muscle and long fingers,” like that formula of “they’re ____, all ___ and ____” or whatever in fic

idk i just find it interesting that there are certain phrases that just sort of evolve in fandom and become prevalent in fic bc everyone reads each other’s works and then writes their own and certain phrases stick

i wish i knew more about linguistics so i could actually talk about it in an intelligent manner, but yeah i thought that was kinda cool

Ha! Love it!

One of my fave authors from ages ago used the phrase “a little helplessly” (like “he reached his arms out, a little helplessly”) in EVERY fic she wrote. She never pointed it out—there just came a point where I noticed it like an Easter egg. So I literally *just* wrote it into my in-progress fic this weekend as an homage only I would notice. <3

To me it’s still the quintessential “two dudes doing each other” phrase.

I think different fic communities develop different phrases too! You can (usually) date a mid 00s lj fic (or someone who came of age in that style) by the way questions are posed and answered in the narration, e.g. “And Patrick? Is not okay with this.” and by the way sex scenes are peppered with “and, yeah.” I remember one Frerard fic that did this so much that it became grating, but overall I loved the lj style because it sounded so much like how real people talk.

Another classic phrase: wondering how far down the _ goes. I’ve seen it mostly with freckles, but also with scars, tattoos, and on one memorable occasion, body glitter at a club. Often paired with the realization during sexy times that “yeah, the __ went all they way down.” I’ve seen this SO much in fic and never anywhere else

whoa, i remember reading lj fics with all of those phrases! i also remember a similar thing in teen wolf fics in particular - they often say “and derek was covered in dirt, which. fantastic.” like using “which” as a sentence-ender or at least like sprinkling it throughout the story in ways published books just don’t.

LINGUISTICS!!!! COMMUNITIES CREATING PHRASES AND SLANG AND SHAPING LANGUAGE IN NEW WAYS!!!!!!!

I love this. Though I don’t think of myself as fantastic writer, by any means, I know the way I write was shaped more by fanfiction and than actual novels. 

I think so much of it has to do with how fanfiction is written in a way that feels real. conversations carry in a way that doesn’t feel forced and is like actual interactions. Thoughts stop in the middle of sentences.

The coherency isn’t lost, it just marries itself to the reader in a different way. A way that shapes that reader/writer and I find that so beautiful. 

FASCINATING

and it poses an intellectual question of whether the value we assign to fanfic conversational prose would translate at all to someone who reads predominantly contemporary literature. as writers who grew up on the internet find their way into publishing houses, what does this mean for the future of contemporary literature? how much bleed over will there be?

we’ve already seen this phenomenon begin with hot garbage like 50 shades, and the mainstream public took to its shitty overuse of conversational prose like it was a refreshing drink of water. what will this mean for more wide-reaching fiction?

QUESTIONS!

@wasureneba@allthingslinguistic

I’m sure someone could start researching this even now, with writers like Rainbow Rowell and Naomi Novik who have roots in fandom. (If anyone does this project pleasetell me!) It would be interesting to compare, say, a corpus of a writer’s fanfic with their published fiction (and maybe with a body of their nonfiction, such as their tweets or emails), using the types of author-identification techniques that were used to determine that J.K. Rowling was Robert Galbraith.

One thing that we do know is that written English has gotten less formal over the past few centuries, and in particular that the word “the” has gotten much less frequent over time.

In an earlier discussion, Is French fanfic more like written or spoken French?, people mentioned that French fanfic is a bit more literary than one might expect (it generally uses the written-only tense called the passé simple, rather than the spoken-only tense called the passé composé). So it’s not clear to what extent the same would hold for English fic as well – is it just a couple phrases, like “toeing out of his shoes”? Are the google results influenced by the fact that most published books aren’t available in full text online? Or is there broader stuff going on? Sounds like a good thesis project for someone! 

See also: the gay fanfiction pronoun problem,ship names, and the rest of my fanguistics tag.

This is super cool ngl

atreefullofstars:

So look. I agree there should be more queer folks involved in the creation of media, particularly mainstream media. (Other groups too but I’m speaking on queer folks right now.) Queer people are underrepresented and shoved to the side and poorly portrayed and that sucks, and there should be more of us involved, particularly when it comes to telling our stories.

HOWEVER

Nothing good comes of the idea that ONLY queer folks should tell queer stories or portray queer characters, or that it’s okay to critique and harass straight folks purely for telling queer stories.

Why?

1. Segregation is not going to work in our favor. We know how “well make your own, then” plays out when the other group has the resources and institutional power. Especially if there’s no one even making them pay lip service to “separate but equal.” It’s not going to be any better if the segregation is self-imposed.

2. Saying straight folks can’t make queer media gives them a convenient excuse to simply not include any queer characters at all in the majority of stories, and I thought we hated that? I thought that was explicitly a bad thing? We WANT straight creators to be doing their best to write us well so we’ll be represented in a full range of mainstream media. Saying they can’t do it right and shouldn’t try lets them off the hook.

3. It puts closeted queer creators in a bind. Either they stay closeted and be harassed by angry queer folks, they come out and expose themselves to harassment from bigots, or they simply never tell queer stories, their own stories. The world gets worse for some subset of queer folks and fewer authentic queer stories get told. Net loss.

4.It makes the small pool of out queer creators the arbiters of queer narratives, which sucks for people who don’t see themselves well represented. There is no single definitive queer narrative and the smaller the pool of Approved Creators the more we risk instating a false one.

5. It opens the door to further divisions within the community. If a straight person can’t possibly understand a trans person well enough to write about or act them, can a cis gay person? So should a cis gay man ONLY write characters who are cis gay men? Ridiculous. No, all queer people are not alike and do not have the same experiences. So either we need to overcome that to learn about and empathize with other people and stand in solidarity, or we’re all going to splinter off into our own little bubbles which, again, is explicitly bad for both our real-life community and our fiction.

We want people to write about others who aren’t like them. We want people to write about others who aren’t like them. We also want people like us to have the opportunity to tell our stories but making it an exclusive privilege can only backfire.

theauthorofus:

I find that a rise in LGBT in books, tv, movie etc to be so inspiring an outstanding. I love how people are finally getting the idea that if you want your audience to feel a connection to a character you charter has to be real. A HUGE part of real life is the LGBT community.
  But I dislike when shows and books just throw LGBT characters in there with no development. It is great to see some representation but why is that character gay for like two episodes or the last thirty seconds of a movie.

   When I first started writing LGBT I asked people I knew what it was like and the answer was always different. The only thing all those people had in common was it took time to find that part of themselves. It is so inspiring to hear those stories and to implement them can teach your audience such important lessons about self-discovery. When That story is just thrown in I feel like something great just got thrown out.

keepcalmandwritefiction:

“If you write to impress it will always be bad, but if you write to express it will be good.”

—Thornton Wilder

thatwritergirlsblog:

Writing a sub-plot

Here are some tips for writing great sub-plots, romantic or otherwise.

1. When to introduce a sub-plot

• Of course, every story is different. However, there is some consensus that it’s good to introduce your sub-plot a little ways into your book
• The main plot needs to be established first. The readers need to know the main character(s) and understand what the story is about. They need to care about the crux of the book and the characters first.
• Then, you can introduce an intriguing subplot to keep their interest.
• Don’t wait too long, though. Anything after 1/3 through might feel forced and misplaced.

2. When to resolve the sub-plot

• The sub-plot should be resolved before the main plot is.
• Generally, you want your readers’ attention focused on the main conflict once you reach the climax.
• This means that you want to give them the resolution of the sub-plot a few pages/chapters before the big showdown of the main plot.
• You’ll see that most TV episodes also follow this guideline and it works.
• You can, roughly, aim for the ¾ mark if you’re unsure.

3. Remember the sub in sub-plot

• I love a good sub-plot, especially one about characters growing closer. However, if I pick up a sci-fi thriller from the bookstore only to read a 400 page love story, I’m gonna be disappointed.
• You classify your genre according to your main plot. What is the main conflict or purpose in your story? That should be the focus.
• A sub-plot of whichever variation is always secondary to the main storyline.
• If you focus too much on the subplot, it may overpower your real story and bump your book into a whole other genre.
• So, maybe have the romance take a backseat when the main plot comes to play.

4. When to indulge

• Let’s be honest; we all love writing our sub-plots. They often contain the scenes you envisioned when thinking up your story - the conversations and fluff, the banter and depth of character. This, unfortunately, means that it’s easy to get carried away, as I made clear in my last point.
• However, there is a part of your book in which you can indulge, a point during which you can explore the sub-plot to your heart’s desire.
• When is that point? The middle.
• Often, the main plot slows down in the middle of the book. The characters need training or there’s a period of false security etc. Many stories have a lull in the middle where the main conflict isn’t in full swing.
• And this is where the sub-plot shines. This is where characters fall in love and heroes reunite with long-lost fathers. This is where you get to place your darling scenes.
• And no, this doesn’t mean that your middle can be 200 pages and you can write an entire romance novel. It also doesn’t mean that the main plot must disappear. It’s just a stage in the story where you can let the sub-plot loose a bit.
• Also don’t leave every aspect of your sub-plot for the middle. It should be woven into your story.
• But use the middle to let the sub-plot shine.

5. Should you have a sub-plot?

• Personally, I think every story needs some form of sub-plot.
• There has to be some conflict/story/relationship that develops and adds intrigue aside from the main plot.
• Not having one could screw up your pacing, make your characters feel underdeveloped and generally make for a boring read.
• But, this is just my opinion. Each unto their own.

That’s it. Those are some basic tips on writing a sub-plot. I hope that they could be helpful. As always, my inbox and asks are open for any questions.

Reblog if you found these tips useful. Comment with the type of sub-plot you’re writing. Follow me for similar content.

herhmione:

tanaquil:

coniectanea:

carryonmy-assbutt:

herhmione:

names that have specific meanings

meanings of any names

popular baby names

upper class names

common last names

fancy last names

aristocratic/royal names

random name generator

random place name generator

list of latin words

english to latin translator

english to greek translat

or

greek mythology database

the culture of ancient rome

list of legendary creatures

fantasy name generator

feel free to add in any links!

This is awesome! Make sure to be careful with online translators, though-for example I just typed in “I am bored” into the latin translator and got back “i, cibi” which makes no sense at all.

I’M JUST GONNA BE THAT ASSHOLE WHO REBLOGS AGAIN BUT, PLEASE! don’t use use ancient greek/latin translators. if you just want simple words or verbs (for latin at least), use WHITAKER’S WORDS — it’s a secret classicists keep.

i wasn’t aware of this but YES DO AS THE TWO ABOVE SAY :)

headspace-hotel:

headspace-hotel:

thinking again about TvTropes and how it’s genuinely such an amazing resource for learning the mechanics of storytelling, honestly more so than a lot of formally taught literature classes

reasons for this:

• basically TvTropes breaks down stories mechanically, using a perspective that’s not…ABOUT mechanics. Another way I like to put it, is that it’s an inductive, instead of deductive, approach to analyzing storytelling.
• like in a literature or writing class you’re learning the elements that are part of the basic functioning of a story, so, character, plot, setting, et cetera. You’re learning the things that make a story a story, and why.Like, you learn what setting is, what defines it, and work from there to what makes it effective, and the range of ways it can be effective.
• here’s the thing, though: everyone has some intuitive understanding of how stories work. if we didn’t, we couldn’t…understand stories.
• TvTropes’s approach is bottom-up instead of top-down: instead of trying to exhaustively explore the broad, general elements of story, it identifies very small, specific elements, and explores the absolute shit out of how they fit, what they do, where they go, how they work.
• Every TvTropes article is basically, “Here is a piece of a story that is part of many different stories. You have probably seen it before, but if not, here is a list of stories that use it, where it is, and what it’s doing in those stories. Here are some things it does. Here is why it is functionally different than other, similar story pieces. Here is some background on its origins and how audiences respond to it.”
• all of this is BRILLIANT for a lot of reasons. one of the major ones is that the site has long lists of media that utilizes any given trope, ranging from classic literature to cartoons to video games to advertisements. the Iliad and Adventure Time ARE different things, but they are MADE OF the same stuff. And being able to study dozens of examples of a trope in action teaches you to see the common thread in what the trope doesand why its specific characteristics let it do that
• I love TvTropes because a great, renowned work of literature and a shitty, derivative YA novel will appear on the same list, because they’re Made Of The Same Stuff. And breaking down that mental barrier between them is good on its own for developing a mechanical understanding of storytelling.
• But also? I think one of the biggest blessings of TvTropes’s commitment to cataloguing examples of tropes regardless of their “merit” or literary value or whatever…is that we get to see the full range of effectiveness or ineffectiveness of storytelling tools. Like, this is how you see what makes one book good and another book crappy. Tropes are Tools, and when you observe how a master craftsman uses a tool vs. a novice, you can break down not only what the tool is most effective for but how it is best used.
• In fact? There are trope pages devoted to what happens when storytelling tools just unilaterally fail. e.g. Narm is when creators intend something to be frightening, but audiences find it hilarious instead.
• On that note, TvTropes is also great in that its analysis of stories is very grounded in authors, audiences, and culture; it’s not solely focused on in-story elements. A lot of the trope pages are categories for audience responses to tropes, or for real-world occurrences that affected the storytelling, or just the human failings that creep into storytelling and affect it, like Early Installment Weirdness. There are categories for censorship-driven storytelling decisions. There are “lineages” of tropes that show how storytelling has changed over time, and how audience responses change as culture changes. Tropes like Draco in Leather Pants or Narm are catalogued because the audience reaction to a story is as much a part of that story—the story of that story?—as the “canon.”
• like, storytelling is inextricable from context. it’s inextricable from how big the writers’ budget was, and how accepting of homophobia the audience was, and what was acceptable to be shown on film at the time. Tropes beget other tropes, one trope is exchanged for another, they are all linked. A Dead Horse Trope becomes an Undead Horse Trope, and sometimes it was a Dead Unicorn Trope all along. What was this work responding to? And all works are responding to something, whether they know it or not

An incomplete list of really useful or interesting reads from TvTropes.

please note that yes many of these are concepts that exist elsewhere and a few are even taught in fiction writing classes but TvTropes just does an amazing job at displaying the range of things that can be done with them

legitimately so much of the terminology I use to talk about storytelling, and even think about it in my own head, i learned about from TvTropes

• Willing Suspension of Disbelief
• Watsonian vs. Doylist
• Trope Tropes, for all the ways tropes are used, deconstructed, subverted, and played with.
• The Oldest Ones in the Book, which is basically my favorite thing on the entire Internet
• Punk Punk, for -punk subgenres
• Sliding Scale of Silliness vs. Seriousness,Sliding Scale of Idealism vs. Cynicism
• The Weird Al Effect is a fun one
• Chekhov’s Gun, Chekhov’s Boomerang,Chekhov’s Skill, and further variations
• Law of Conservation of Detail
• Law of Conservation of Normality
• Anthropic Principle
• Word of God,Death of the Author
• Sliding Scale of Fourth Wall Hardness
• Mohs Scale of Science Fiction Hardness
• Genre Savvy
• Flashbacks and Chronology breaks down all the ways you can handle chronology in storytelling
• Show, Don’t Tell is a very good breakdown of what is showing, what is telling, and how both can be used effectively.
• Lampshade Hanging
• Noodle Incident is just fun imo
• Genre Title Grab Bag
• Fridge Horror
• Rule of Cool, and also Cool of Rule
• The Smurfette Principle
• The Hays Code - not a trope but a very good breakdown of how the Hays Code affected storytelling in film

this is just a really short list of examples I encourage people who write or otherwise create stories to browse around on this site it’s so useful

iamthecutestofborg:

headspace-hotel:

headspace-hotel:

thinking again about TvTropes and how it’s genuinely such an amazing resource for learning the mechanics of storytelling, honestly more so than a lot of formally taught literature classes

reasons for this:

• basically TvTropes breaks down stories mechanically, using a perspective that’s not…ABOUT mechanics. Another way I like to put it, is that it’s an inductive, instead of deductive, approach to analyzing storytelling.
• like in a literature or writing class you’re learning the elements that are part of the basic functioning of a story, so, character, plot, setting, et cetera. You’re learning the things that make a story a story, and why.Like, you learn what setting is, what defines it, and work from there to what makes it effective, and the range of ways it can be effective.
• here’s the thing, though: everyone has some intuitive understanding of how stories work. if we didn’t, we couldn’t…understand stories.
• TvTropes’s approach is bottom-up instead of top-down: instead of trying to exhaustively explore the broad, general elements of story, it identifies very small, specific elements, and explores the absolute shit out of how they fit, what they do, where they go, how they work.
• Every TvTropes article is basically, “Here is a piece of a story that is part of many different stories. You have probably seen it before, but if not, here is a list of stories that use it, where it is, and what it’s doing in those stories. Here are some things it does. Here is why it is functionally different than other, similar story pieces. Here is some background on its origins and how audiences respond to it.”
• all of this is BRILLIANT for a lot of reasons. one of the major ones is that the site has long lists of media that utilizes any given trope, ranging from classic literature to cartoons to video games to advertisements. the Iliad and Adventure Time ARE different things, but they are MADE OF the same stuff. And being able to study dozens of examples of a trope in action teaches you to see the common thread in what the trope doesand why its specific characteristics let it do that
• I love TvTropes because a great, renowned work of literature and a shitty, derivative YA novel will appear on the same list, because they’re Made Of The Same Stuff. And breaking down that mental barrier between them is good on its own for developing a mechanical understanding of storytelling.
• But also? I think one of the biggest blessings of TvTropes’s commitment to cataloguing examples of tropes regardless of their “merit” or literary value or whatever…is that we get to see the full range of effectiveness or ineffectiveness of storytelling tools. Like, this is how you see what makes one book good and another book crappy. Tropes are Tools, and when you observe how a master craftsman uses a tool vs. a novice, you can break down not only what the tool is most effective for but how it is best used.
• In fact? There are trope pages devoted to what happens when storytelling tools just unilaterally fail. e.g. Narm is when creators intend something to be frightening, but audiences find it hilarious instead.
• On that note, TvTropes is also great in that its analysis of stories is very grounded in authors, audiences, and culture; it’s not solely focused on in-story elements. A lot of the trope pages are categories for audience responses to tropes, or for real-world occurrences that affected the storytelling, or just the human failings that creep into storytelling and affect it, like Early Installment Weirdness. There are categories for censorship-driven storytelling decisions. There are “lineages” of tropes that show how storytelling has changed over time, and how audience responses change as culture changes. Tropes like Draco in Leather Pants or Narm are catalogued because the audience reaction to a story is as much a part of that story—the story of that story?—as the “canon.”
• like, storytelling is inextricable from context. it’s inextricable from how big the writers’ budget was, and how accepting of homophobia the audience was, and what was acceptable to be shown on film at the time. Tropes beget other tropes, one trope is exchanged for another, they are all linked. A Dead Horse Trope becomes an Undead Horse Trope, and sometimes it was a Dead Unicorn Trope all along. What was this work responding to? And all works are responding to something, whether they know it or not

An incomplete list of really useful or interesting reads from TvTropes.

please note that yes many of these are concepts that exist elsewhere and a few are even taught in fiction writing classes but TvTropes just does an amazing job at displaying the range of things that can be done with them

legitimately so much of the terminology I use to talk about storytelling, and even think about it in my own head, i learned about from TvTropes

• Willing Suspension of Disbelief
• Watsonian vs. Doylist
• Trope Tropes, for all the ways tropes are used, deconstructed, subverted, and played with.
• The Oldest Ones in the Book, which is basically my favorite thing on the entire Internet
• Punk Punk, for -punk subgenres
• Sliding Scale of Silliness vs. Seriousness,Sliding Scale of Idealism vs. Cynicism
• The Weird Al Effect is a fun one
• Chekhov’s Gun, Chekhov’s Boomerang,Chekhov’s Skill, and further variations
• Law of Conservation of Detail
• Law of Conservation of Normality
• Anthropic Principle
• Word of God,Death of the Author
• Sliding Scale of Fourth Wall Hardness
• Mohs Scale of Science Fiction Hardness
• Genre Savvy
• Flashbacks and Chronology breaks down all the ways you can handle chronology in storytelling
• Show, Don’t Tell is a very good breakdown of what is showing, what is telling, and how both can be used effectively.
• Lampshade Hanging
• Noodle Incident is just fun imo
• Genre Title Grab Bag
• Fridge Horror
• Rule of Cool, and also Cool of Rule
• The Smurfette Principle
• The Hays Code - not a trope but a very good breakdown of how the Hays Code affected storytelling in film

this is just a really short list of examples I encourage people who write or otherwise create stories to browse around on this site it’s so useful

YES I love TV tropes so immensely. It combines two things my neurodivergent brain loves: fiction analysis and putting things into categories