words n things

i need a polycule of tall skinny white guys preferably like around 10 of them so i can dress them up in nice outfits and give them cute little red ribbon chokers. (hiding a bowling ball behind my back) For no real reason

Hate Hate Hate stories that reward characters for refusing to do triage. 'I refuse to choose only one to survive even if it means both die' [plot contrives for this to be the only way both survive] is so weak. Making difficult decisions with no good outcome is not a moral failing

#it's boring! make them make a choice and deal with consequences!#if you want to write a story that doesn't have those stakes then you literally don't have to introduce the stakes#you made those up. the circumstances which presented them with that difficult choice was your doing#if you're going to take them to that place then do something interesting with it! otherwise you can just not make them go there! @coquelicoq oh these tags are GOOD

#you know i used to hate this trope less than i do now#but living through multiple times when it became obvious that lots of people BELIEVE THIS IN REAL LIFE#that it is somehow morally superior to NOT choose and thereby let something awful happen to everyone#rather than choose a less than perfect option and thus save at least SOME people#has really made me re-evaluate whether this is something i want to see rewarded in fiction#like i think a lot of people saw this in children's shows and then internalized it as The Truth In The Real World#rather than wish fulfillment that we're supposed to put on our critical thinking cap for the difference between fiction and reality#and as a result they don't realize that the Do Nothing Option is in fact an active choice and not a neutral option#and that when a magical third Save Everyone option doesn't appear then well they played no role in the Everyone Suffers outcome#so i'm just. not interested really in media that does this without making the characters fucking WORK for their third option#no deus ex. if you refuse to choose then you have to EARN that magical everyone lives outcome (@thesporkidentity)

Black Lady

eadwulf grieve my one and only. he’s bisexual. he has zero agency in the story. he appears like three times and all of those times he’s either following orders or being prevented from following orders. he’s the least favorite in the polycule. he’s the guy you think of when you think of ‘goon’. he’s a character basically tailor made to die but somehow survives to the end of the story by virtue of no one giving a shit about him. he has a homoerotic pvp against the guy his ex has been using as a stand in for him and then tries and fails to flirt with said guy. hes religious. he wears a big amulet with the symbol of a god and a smaller secret amulet to another god underneath. he stumbled his way into diplomatic immunity by being so hot that two incredibly powerful people can’t quite get over him. he’s so irrelevant you almost forget he canonically strangled his parents to death. he doesn’t know what a firbolg is. he’s even a wizard

it cracks me up that tatsu wanted dandadan to strictly have just a girl main character but he eventually caved and was like. fine I’ll put a boy. but I’m taking his balls away.

literally them im afraid (this can be taken in any context)

bloodweave is endlessly compelling to me specifically because astarion is a man who was kept as someone's slave for 200 years so the last thing he wants on this earth is to be dependent on someone else or god forbid have their pity. and gale is a man who devoted himself to someone for all of his life who never gave anything back to him and wants more than anything to be useful and good and wanted. and the ways gale knows how to do that are worship (astarion detests gods) magic (astarion isn't impressed) and cooking (astarion can't eat real food). he can't even be a source of blood because his blood is poison! gale can't give astarion anything except the one this he actually wants which is agency. what astarion needs is control and the ability to decide for himself exactly how much of anything and everything he wants and exactly when. and gale is ready and willing to give that to him because all he wants is to make someone else happy. and astarion knows enough about being somebody's plaything to know that the patience and dedication and service from gale should be acknowledged and rewarded. and guess what. that's all gale needs. they're perfect. they make me insane.

there's an extremely niche plot in romance fiction wherein our invariably heterosexual leads fall in love after a night of passion leads to an unplanned pregnancy and they're now bound together by an impending child. I cast no judgment on anyone who enjoys this, but since I'm an evil gay and this is my personal nightmare scenario I want to see a zany romance novel premised on the opposite resolution: a couple falls in love while on a whirlwind roadtrip to obtain a legal abortion

"oh but along the way they realize they actually do want to raise the child together and ultimately keep the baby" no actually they successfully get the abortion and then they get chili dogs or something

neither of them want kids and it's not because they're immature or selfish or afraid of commitment or irresponsible or whatever, they just don't want to be parents and that's not a flaw they overcome. obviously they have other issues because there has to be some kind of arc to this story but deciding to keep a pregnancy that was unplanned and unwanted isn't the solution.

some of you are very determined for this to not be a romance, to which I politely say shut the fuck up and get out of my sandbox. these idiots are going on an abortion roadtrip and they are falling in love on the way so help me god.

“Is slade wilsons thing for dick grayson a sex thing?” - the greatest thread in the history of forums, locked by a moderator after 12,239 pages of heated debate,

i dont think it's a sex thing but only because i think it Just being a sex thing would actually make it less sinister. & slade is not going to take anything from dick that dick has not put on offer and i just dont think Dick has offered sex to that man

he's not like a puppeteer he's not trying to control every aspect of Dick's life by himself he wants dick to want him to control his life. i think it's more akin to an artist with an uncooperative muse. like you found Your Muse but they dont want to be painted and it's hideously frustrating. We could make the most beautiful art together if you would just Hold Still and Let Me Watch You While I Work. and every once and while the muse will hold a pose but then he breaks RIGHT BEFORE the finishing touches and ruins the whole thing. slade finds it terribly frustrating and yes semisexual in the way that art is always somewhat erotic. not finishing your magnum opus is like a failed orgasm.

and although we from the outside can view it as deeply sexual i don't think slade himself has ever thought of it as such. like when you're watching a movie and someone is maintaining a weapon and the gun or sword is a very obvious piece of phallic imagery being worshipped right now but the character themself is not actually Having Sex With The Weapon

Cleaning and maintaining a gun is often erotic and nigh sexual but you cannot actually fuck the gun. you can put the gun in your mouth you can put the gun in whatever hole you want you can shoot yourself with the gun you can be penetrated by the gun and the bullet but the gun itself will not magically become sexual sans context. you cannot fuck the gun there is no gussy. but maintaining the gun can still be sexual. i am so off topic right now it's not even funny.

anyways. i don't think slade thinks of their relationship as sexual but if Dick told him he would put out slade would take a running leap into his pussy like it's the shallow end of the pool and he's drunk at a bachelor party but dick doesn't want to have sex with him and so slade doesn't want to have sex with dick. he might be a little disappointed that dick doesn't want to though. i think the fact that slade wilson, if it is a sex thing, does not want to force dick into it, he wants dick to come to him and ask. which given the context of their relationship i feel is pretty much just as frightful. He wants dick in a cage as a prized jewel of his collection but primarily he wants dick to want to be in that cage. Because he can't keep him in that cage by force both because Slade wants dick to want and need him and because when put into a cage Dick stops obeying basic laws of nature like eating and breathing. and there's no jewel in the cage if the jewel crumbles away to dust

Which is why when dick does that thing where he's like "I'm a bad guy now i have no morals im working for the MOB" slade pulls up and in spite of literally saying "you're lying, youre playing these people for fucking fools" follows that up with "so come work for me instead". like if youre gonna swindle someone can it please be me? daddy misses you kitten please come home and destroy my life please kitten. daddy wants to put you in a jar with a twig.

and this is why Dick pulls one over in him every single time because no matter what Slade cannot stop himself from wanting dick to want him. and so he goes into these interactions w his eyes wide open and literally watches as Dick betrays lies and backstabs his way back out of the cage, because Slade can never lock the door behind him. Because he wants Dick to want to be in there with him more than Dick wants to leave.

"has slade wilson jacked off to the thought of dick grayson" is another locked form page with 12239 pages of debate.

i mean that's exactly it right. he wants to entrench Dick into his family because he wants dick to want him. LIKE A LITTLE BIT HES TRYING TO BABYTRAP DICK WITH ROSE. Rose is everything Dick likes! like if youre baiting a trap for dick grayson rose wilson is the thing shes a young hereo she's in a bad situation shes looking for guidance and friends and family. that's catnip to him! Slade values what dick will do before he inevitably betrays him higher than he values whatever the betrayal will do to him, such as the relationship with his only daughter, who was at the time his only child. if i fill the cage with enough treats and toys and favors maybe he wont leave the cage this time.

it's a better trap to give dick grayson the things he likes and values than to keep them away from him. and slade wants rose to be the best, and what he he thinks of as the best is very specifically dick graysons best. so of course he's going to hand rose over to dick with a bow on her head. he wants rose to be just like him and he wants dick to care too much about something that slade has to ever stop caring about him, and maybe to stop trying to leave him. and unfortunately it does kind of work over and over again because this is the kind of attention and care and trust (however false the trust is) that dick really really wants and keeps Not Getting from bruce! Slade prioritizes dick over almost everything else. this is all dick really wants from people. its nasty work slade should go to jail for 50000 years.

So... I found this and now it keeps coming to mind. You hear about "life-changing writing advice" all the time and usually its really not—but honestly this is it man.

I'm going to try it.

I love the lawyer metaphor, because whenever I see “John knew that...” in prose writing I immediately think “how?  How does he know it?”  Interrogate your witnesses.  Cross-examine them.  Make them explain their reasoning.  It pays dividends.

All of this, but also feels/felt. My editor has forbidden me from using those and it’s forced me to stretch my skills.

[Link to the article for screen-readers]

[ID: The full text of an article. It reads:

"Writing Advice": by Charles Palahniuk- In six seconds, you’ll hate me.

But in six months, you’ll be a better writer.

From this point forward – at least for the next half year – you may not use “thought” verbs. These include: Thinks, Knows, Understands, Realizes, Believes, Wants, Remembers, Imagines, Desires, and a hundred others you love to use.

The list should also include: Loves and Hates.

And it should include: Is and Has, but we’ll get to those, later.

Until some time around Christmas, you can’t write: Kenny wondered if Monica didn’t like him going out at night…”

Thinking is abstract. Knowing and believing are intangible. Your story will always be stronger if you just show the physical actions and details of your characters and allow your reader to do the thinking and knowing. And loving and hating.

Instead, you’ll have to Un-pack that to something like: “The mornings after Kenny had stayed out, beyond the last bus, until he’d had to bum a ride or pay for a cab and got home to find Monica faking sleep, faking because she never slept that quiet, those mornings, she’d only put her own cup of coffee in the microwave. Never his.”

Instead of characters knowing anything, you must now present the details that allow the reader to know them. Instead of a character wanting something, you must now describe the thing so that the reader wants it.

Instead of saying: “Adam knew Gwen liked him.”

You’ll have to say: “Between classes, Gwen was always leaned on his locker when he’d go to open it. She’d roll her eyes and shove off with one foot, leaving a black-heel mark on the painted metal, but she also left the smell of her perfume. The combination lock would still be warm from her ass. And the next break, Gwen would be leaned there, again.”

In short, no more short-cuts. Only specific sensory detail: action, smell, taste, sound, and feeling.

Typically, writers use these “thought” verbs at the beginning of a paragraph (In this form, you can call them “Thesis Statements” and I’ll rail against those, later) In a way, they state the intention of the paragraph. And what follows, illustrates them.

For example:

“Brenda knew she’d never make the deadline. Traffic was backed up from the bridge, past the first eight or nine exits. Her cell phone battery was dead. At home, the dogs would need to go out, or there would be a mess to clean up. Plus, she’d promised to water the plants for her neighbor…”

Do you see how the opening “thesis statement” steals the thunder of what follows? Don’t do it.

If nothing else, cut the opening sentence and place it after all the others. Better yet, transplant it and change it to: Brenda would never make the deadline.

Thinking is abstract. Knowing and believing are intangible. Your story will always be stronger if you just show the physical actions and details of your characters and allow your reader to do the thinking and knowing. And loving and hating.

Don’t tell your reader: “Lisa hated Tom.”

Instead, make your case like a lawyer in court, detail by detail. Present each piece of evidence. For example:

“During role call, in the breath after the teacher said Tom’s name, in that moment before he could answer, right then, Lisa would whisper-shout: ‘Butt Wipe,” just as Tom was saying, ‘Here’.”

One of the most-common mistakes that beginning writers make is leaving their characters alone. Writing, you may be alone. Reading, your audience may be alone. But your character should spend very, very little time alone. Because a solitary character starts thinking or worrying or wondering.

For example: Waiting for the bus, Mark started to worry about how long the trip would take..”

A better break-down might be: “The schedule said the bus would come by at noon, but Mark’s watch said it was already 11:57. You could see all the way down the road, as far as the Mall, and not see a bus. No doubt, the driver was parked at the turn-around, the far end of the line, taking a nap. The driver was kicked back, asleep, and Mark was going to be late. Or worse, the driver was drinking, and he’d pull up drunk and charge Mark seventy-five cents for death in a fiery traffic accident…”

A character alone must lapse into fantasy or memory, but even then you can’t use “thought” verbs or any of their abstract relatives.

Oh, and you can just forget about using the verbs forget and remember.

No more transitions such as: “Wanda remember how Nelson used to brush her hair.”

Instead: “Back in their sophomore year, Nelson used to brush her hair with smooth, long strokes of his hand.”

Again, Un-pack. Don’t take short-cuts.

Better yet, get your character with another character, fast. Get them together and get the action started. Let their actions and words show their thoughts. You -- stay out of their heads.

And while you’re avoiding “thought” verbs, be very wary about using the bland verbs “is” and “have.”

One of the most-common mistakes that beginning writers make is leaving their characters alone.

For example:

“Ann’s eyes are blue.”

“Ann has blue eyes.”

Versus:

“Ann coughed and waved one hand past her face, clearing the cigarette smoke from her eyes, blue eyes, before she smiled…”

Instead of bland “is” and “has” statements, try burying your details of what a character has or is, in actions or gestures. At its most basic, this is showing your story instead of telling it.

And forever after, once you’ve learned to Un-pack your characters, you’ll hate the lazy writer who settles for: “Jim sat beside the telephone, wondering why Amanda didn’t call.”

Please. For now, hate me all you want, but don’t use “thought” verbs. After Christmas, go crazy, but I’d bet money you won’t. End ID]

on ao3 like some of these doves aren't even wounded

#people used to be freaks #we used to be a country (@spikeface)

teen wolf is fr show of all time. their commitment to using edm makes it work. introduce the most dog coded character and go this is a werewolf. scott genuinely thinking lycanthropy is a disease. the asshole jock character is that way because he's adopted and his best friend is a gay guy who btw everyone likes. scott being shocked allisons family are werewolf hunters versus jackson immediately going “it makes sense. argent in french is silver” jackson hating scott so bad because hes suddenly good at lacrosse that he genuinely tries to murder him. scott not caring that there might be a serial killer on the loose bc he just wants his inhaler back bc those things are like 50 dollars. scott also not caring that hes a werewolf bc hes got work and homework and lacrosse and a pretty girl to impress. and his genius sarcastic best friend has adhd. and all of this happened in the first season.

my thing i haven’t made is so good 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

The Shepherd of Spring