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gumnut-logic · 4 years

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Ooooh okay! For the ask thing, 41 and 33!

41. Any advice for new/beginning/young writers?

The One and Only Rule:

Any and all advice should be ignored if it doesn’t work for you. You know yourself better than anyone else. Try different things out until you find some things that work for you and run with them.

Things that have worked for me (that you might want to try out/discard):

The boring bits like layout and punctuation – unless you are going to remove every capital letter in a fic for some important reason, please don’t. Readability is very important. Punctuation exists for a very logical reason.

Beat – language has rhythm and beat. I have a background in poetry so I’m aware of this and read all my lines try to make sure they flow well (when I’m not already fifteen minutes late for work, that is). It is most obvious at the ends of my fics as they will beat to an end, often with a short one to three-word last line. This also explains all the weird structure in my fic. I am a fan of short and concise and often have one-word paragraphs. This may kick me in the butt if I ever try to go professional (beyond what I already write for work), but I feel it communicates quite well.

Don’t use the same word twice too close together – When you use the same word twice or more it messes with the beat. The words echo off each other and distract from the communication of the scene or action. Unless you want to emphasize that scene or action and match it to the beat. And yes, I have repeated those words on purpose. They actually kind of work in this situation. But the situation can change. And if you get the words off beat, you can end up with a poor situation. (Note: The first and third ‘situation’ are what I’m talking about). Yes, this proves why I’m a poor teacher.

Every word should, in theory, have a reason to be on the page - reread everything and kill off any word that isn’t necessary. Kill off extra ‘that’s and watch your ‘had’s – ‘that’ is a word that is often unnecessary. ‘Had’ can inadvertently mess with your tense and create passive voice. Look out for chaining ‘and’s, there should be no more than one per sentence unless unavoidable due to lists.

When writing action, write short and sharp. When writing calm, write slow and easy. This relates to beat and rhythm. You want your reader’s heart rate to increase to excite them or make them nervous, so increase the beat. The reverse is true for calm scenes – you will often here me ramble on about scenery when I have Virgil on a beach feeling the breeze, but hardly any description in an action scene, only movement.

One way to do this is to move your description to the verbs.

Virgil slammed down the chunk of concrete.

Virgil lowered the chunk of concrete.

The entire description of his action is contained in the verb. This is also why I don’t like wasting verbs by using things like ‘said’, ‘walked’, ‘put’, etc. They are empty verbs and lost opportunities to add colour to the prose. I prefer ‘screamed’, ‘whispered’, ‘grumbled’ or ‘shouted’ to ‘said’; ‘stomped’, ‘slunk’, ‘skipped’, ‘traipsed’ or ‘trotted’ to ‘walked’; ‘threw’, ‘chucked’, ‘dropped’, ‘plonked down’, ‘slid into place’ to ‘put. English has the largest vocabulary on the planet, use it.

The adverb thing – there is a lot of raving about adverbs being bad. I still haven’t entirely worked out how bad they are, but I’m a strong believer that if it sounds good and communicates clearly, then it is doing what it needs to do.

Tenses and POV – I prefer to stick with one at a time (though admittedly this isn’t the only way of writing, I just prefer it). I find it very disconcerting to be reading from inside one character’s head and then suddenly bounce to another’s mid-paragraph, or in some cases, mid-sentence. I like to stay in Virgil ‘s head for one section of fic, then break before skipping to Gordon’s. The reason for this is that looking through Virgil’s eyes comes with a very different world view to looking through Gordon’s eyes. For example, Virgil looking at the sea through an artist’s eye sees the ocean very differently to how Gordon would see it through his scientific background. Gordon might know the species of seaweed that has been washed up on the shore. Virgil might just see it as brown sea detritus. This leads to different phrasing and description. Also, each character thinks in its own way. I write Gordon much more colloquially than I would write Eos, for example. I could ramble on this bit for hours, but I’ll just say that there are a lot of reasons for watching points of view and what you do with them.

Ultimately communication is the key – you are trying to get a scene and evoke a certain kind of emotion from your reader. If you can communicate that, you have succeeded. How do you know you’ve done it? Get someone you trust to read through it. Even better, get a beta reader with a nasty red pen to read through it and scribble all over it (if you are ready and feel strong enough to take CONSTRUCTIVE criticism with possible suggestions to fix any problems). Ultimately, it is your fic and you have final say, but I find it very important to get someone to at least look at it with fresh eyes, particularly if I’ve been staring at it too long and the pictures in my head leave me too biased to see clearly. Also, great when you get to the point where Virgil, big tough guy, is bawling his eyes out and I’m going ‘how the hell did that happen?’ Did he have enough motivation to end up that way? Have I thrown him out of character? Omigod ::tears hair out:: What is happening? Scribbs and Veggie help!!!!!! What have I done?! Yeah, a reader often helps to sooth the nutzoid writer.

Which leads onto this – outside the writing of the work itself, find a good group of friends to share it with. All creativity is best shared. It makes for a better experience. It also opens you to learning and encouragement. If you land in a shitty group of people who mess with your mojo and crush your spirit, get another group of friends. You don’t need crap.

Be willing to interact with the group in a positive and open manner and share your experiences. Comment on other people’s work and generally be kind. You often reap what you sow. Not always, but it is generally good to be nice anyway. Different writers have different experience and confidence levels. Writers groups should be a safe environment where everyone feels confident that they can put their work out to the group and receive encouragement. Never give unasked for criticism and if you are asked for your honest opinion, always state it in private and couched with a lot of reassurance and positivity.

Be open to learning, but remember the One and Only Rule at the top of this page. Take what works for you, and ignore the rest. That is actually a good general life rule – I used it when I had my babies – the advice you get the moment you announce you are pregnant is insane – the one and only rule works well in that situation.

Be always aware that you will never have learnt everything. You will always be learning new stuff and that makes it fun.

Umm, I rambled a bit, er, sorry ::hides:: Also, I’ve probably forgotten several things.

Oh, another question ::takes a deep breath and dives in::

33. Have you ever killed a main character?

Yep.

I used to do it a lot more years ago in other fandoms. Usually only in barely prose closer to poetry when I was feeling dramatic.

I’ve only done it once in this fandom. Poor Gordy. I’m sorry. But there was fix it fic! Thank goodness for the Scribbs :D

Oooh, look, I answered that in less than 2000 words ::headesk::

Nutty

(I’m ridiculous, I’m sorry)

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migleefulmoments · 4 years

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"Hahaha. A friend pointed this out. W online shops too!" What does this even mean?! I don't know anyone in 2020 who doesn't online shop besides my 80 year old grandparents because they refuse to learn how to use a computer 😂 I don't get how Will, a 30 something year old man, online shopping is worthy enough for Abby to comment on it. I'm sure Chris does it too. And Darren.

On Nov 5, Darren wrote this post and the cc fandom lost their shit.

They decided that organizing 10 costumes for multiple events in two different states for two different people was not worthy of acknowledgment- especially since they wore several purchased costumes. They spent the next 30-ish days mocking her “online shopping skills” like the petty idiots they are and now they bring it up two months later.

Anonymous asked: this is funny, C posted a photo of beard, D posted photos with the beard. Almost like they were sitting next to each other and saying “ok ok I will say this”

ajw720 answered: The only difference, C controls his SM and the bearding, D does not, but they knew the Halloween post was coming when C posted his belated b-day wishes (not that he acknowledged they were late).

It really is, if you can remove the very human, tragic element, like a script for a really bad D Movie. C posts “Happy Birthday, Babe!” a day after the man’s actual b-day and “D” praises his fake bride for MAKING TEN costumes. Sure praise her if she actually designed them and sat with her sewing machine. No, she went online and ordered things (I doubt she even went to a store). And 3 couple costumes were cheap frankly. The only thought was how narcissistic she could be in their execution (as @flowersintheattic254pointed out even the Mario costume had a reason, it was a reminder of Japan and the fake encagement by referring to the ad that paid for their trip there).

And seriously how are people not questioning that she spent the entirety of her month picking TEN costumes? Who has time for this? I know, i know, a person whose only role in life is to play fake plus one.

I am just so tired by D in particular being utterly dragged down by the useless dead weight by his side and his team’s sole ambition to promote her and make her sound like a decent person.

If they wanted to praise her, maybe they should have forced her to participate in the zero waste initiative instead of sitting drinking by the pool or have her volunteer to help young girls who have been kicked out of their homes, or have been raped. Or pick any cause and truly volunteer her time to promote it. If she is not going to actually get a job and pursue a career, please force her to do something that is actually of value and contribute something good to the world. But to praise her for picking TEN costumes?

Praise that comes from a man who this year alone won three awards, is starring in a show he created and wrote the music for, has his first big movie premiere this week, is exec producer and star of a huge show on N/etflix, just announced his starring role with 2 A++ lists actors next spring on Broadway, celebrated the 5th anniversary of the festival he created, volunteered his time for the zero waste initiative, performed at several charity events, and was just yesterday name limited series actor of the decade. Where is the praise for him from his “bride”? He at least deserves it.

How do they not see how ridiculous it is for someone with D’s accomplishments in 2019 alone praise a person for purchasing TEN costumes for Halloween? And stans, how do you accept that this is right or normal. You really know nothing about him and have such little respect for him as a person if you continue to accept the character his idiotic team has created on his behalf. It is so far from the person he is and that he generally holds himself out to be when given the opportunity.

This isn’t about being a “gay fetishist” or “hating woman” this is about wanting for D to be fairly and accurately represented and no longer forced to participate in this stupid, life sucking game to promote a person that contributes absolutely nothing to the world. If you want to have a strong female role model, there are so many, i’ve talked about a few in the past few days (thus far Nancy, Lea, and Phoebe) and will continue to do so, but please stop worshiping a person whose sole reason you are speaking about her is her connection to D, even if you refuse to accept it is fake.

klainecentric Finished reading the funniest ig story of the day, the qween being praised for sitting in front of either a sewing machine or computer...bravo your majesty qween....your my hero well done.👏👏. And all I can think of is how irrelevant the statement D made about being an emotional horder, being a very private person and finally D saying he's lazy when it comes to social media, I'm internally screaming in frustration because yeah we know D wouldn't have written a post praising that lazy good for nothing waste of space but he's coming across as a lier and it's extremely damaging to his character as a person. I absolutely hate lying and every time another "private" moment is posted to the world is another small piece that's chipped away from what D has originally stated about privacy. PBB, nobody cares about your cheap arse highly flammable costumes you buy online, did you forget about your piano baby adult strip club. I'm sure there are still plenty of people out there you can hire to rub and flaunt their flanges all over the beer taps, why don't you keep busy on that instead. If you want to make costumes, I'm sure you can sew some mighty fine titty tassels together. It'll be cheap nasty, sound familiar.

souly So, let me get this straight. We should all praise a person for going online, looking up different costumes in online stores, putting those in their shopping basket and hitting “buy”? Because I do that at least once a week with other stuff. Do I get praised for that now? Pretty please? I’m doing good work there and buy a lot of stuff, therefore I must be the best person ever!

notes-from-nowhere You’re my Queen. Please, love me.

souly

(I think I got it right. I’m getting the hang of what said person is doing. Wheee! ;))

notes-from-nowhere You nailed it 🤣

ajw720 Yesterday I got a delivery of car food. And instead of his usual seafood mix up greats, I got him shrimp flavor. I’m awesome!!!!!

souly Oh, hey! I think we should all take pictures of whatever we bought online during the week or month and make individual posts on all of our social media accounts about it. Because, you know…

cassie1022 I picked up stuff I ordered online at Target and PetSmart. Does that count? Should I receive accolades because my cat will have fresh litter to do her business on?

souly Only if you post the pictures to prove it! ;)

ajw720 As soon as I get home. Pictures forthcoming. Shrimp cat treats and I also got a burgundy blanket for my new comforter!!! Life goals!!!!!!!!!!!

souly Okay, so, let’s see… What did I buy online during the past month that can be shared as pictures? Some things are gifts, so I obviously can’t post anything about those yet. But I think these here are safe.

Let’s start with one of my fav new shirts. (Excuse the grainy quality. I had to quickly edit it for privacy reasons. :p And yes, that’s a butterfly mirror.)

The rest are behind the cut to save your dash from drowning in too many pictures. ;)

cheekyface72 You’re my queen from now on…

ajw720 I think emmy/sag/gg/CC winner DC should write a post @soulypraising your awesome, amazing, unparalleled online shopping skills! You earned that praise. That cat toy is particularly spectacular.

*********************

Just A Taste of M’s Amazing Online Shopping Skills that are worthy of such Praise

ajw720

Super Mario with inflatable Dragon $54.66 (x)

Princess Peach $78.99 (x)

chrisdarebashfulsmiles. i can’t

flowersintheattic254. When you add the fact that the wedding was sponsored so heavily, and her history of outfits I think it shows Mi@rren is something that’s always been done very much ‘on the cheap’.

From work vacays (honeymoon included), RC ‘glue gun’ looks, thrift shoes and subsidized weddings.

It’s BUDGET BEARDING!!!

leka-1998. It’s not worth more than this, that’s for sure.

notes-from-nowhere We are so ungrateful. She worked hard to find the gloves.

I bet she had to click on another link to find them. She deserves another accolade.

ajw720 @flowersintheattic254 Budget Bearding! I LOVE It! (and something tells me D’s SW costume in particular was far cheaper than either of these).

souly That Snow White dress can be found for about $25 in a ton of online shops. I stumbled upon it even before Halloween way too many times. 😂

@notes-from-nowhere The plush question mark block can be found in a couple online stores like this one. She simply glued it onto some gloves - or asked L to do it with that glue gun of hers.

flowersintheattic254 Well funnily enough I think we may have confirmation that 🚽🚽 glued on the puppies so I guess YES to the question mark block too!!!

cassie1022 They can’t even glue things properly. Why am I not surprised?

leka-1998

So, so amazing. Bow to the kween and her not so helpful helper.

************************************

There are lots more...I figured enough of your brain cells died reading the ones I posted. On Nov 30 she is STiLL bringing it up”

Anonymous asked:

Whenever I see miarren gifset they always use the same quote underneath (the rolling the windows down quote) and at first I rolled my eyes and thought uh not that quote again, and I can't believe it took me this long to realise it's because there is literally no other quote that can be construed as loving. You can hardly put down "she's a big girl" whenever you make a set of gifs with M beaming and D looking like someone murdered the dog he's allergic to.

ajw720: And I love the Emmy quote as it was an absolute reference to his character who was a psychopath. Pretty telling if you ask me. But that reference is over their heads.

And pretty much the only one. Guess saying he’s a ball and chain kind of guy isn’t romantic. They can’t even take pooping exes as he clearly steered the conversation away from her. Lovely lady of many moons? Nah she sounds like a stranger. Saying nothing changes after marriage? Sounds boring. It’s a struggle. But hey she’s an excellent online shopper that he done got hitched to!!!

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yoi-secret-valentines2017 · 7 years

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Perfect Harmony

Happy Valentine’s Day, @renrenners! I hope you enjoy this * w * (Fun fact I did not know before writing this: Kazakhstan was the 9th biggest buyer of chocolate last year, at a whopping 10.9lb of chocolate per person!)

_________________________________

‘Beka!’ Yuri shouted through the door. ‘Beka, I’m here!’

Yuri heard the calm pad of feet before the lock grated and the door to Otabek’s apartment swung open. Otabek had a tea towel and a half-dried plate in his hands, which he carefully set on his hall table before Yuri could jump to hug him. Yuri had missed his best friend. The US had been interesting, but although he’d enjoyed creaming the other skaters, he’d missed Otabek. While Victor and Yuuri had been there to cheer him on and keep him occupied, he still missed his best friend. Anyway, the stupid-headed newlyweds spent half the time wrapped up in their own little world. But, if he tried to get away from their lovey-dovey-ness (and the affection they tried to include him in, ugh), JJ found him. The self-absorbed bastard. But that wouldn’t have been important if he’d had Otabek.

He flung his arms around Beka.

‘I missed you.’ Yuri mumbled into Otabek’s neck. Quietly. Obviously. Otabek wasn’t meant to hear him.

‘I missed you too.’ Dammit. Yuri scrunched his eyes tight shut in embarrassment and hid his blush against Otabek’s collarbone. When Otabek next spoke, Yuri could feel it rumble through his bones.

‘Did you have a safe journey?’

Yuri nodded, then realised Otabek couldn’t see it. He lifted his head a little.

‘It was alright. A bit of turbulence, and the movies were shit as always. At least the screaming baby was in economy rather than first class.’ He laughed. ‘I liked Almaty airport. It’s nice to see an airport that’s more than just another big glass and metal box.’

Otabek chuckled.

‘Yes, I’d forgotten how much I’d missed its wavy roof until I finally came back here.’ Yuri smiled fondly, burying his face back into Otabek’s shoulder. For a few moments, he just let himself breathe. The pair gently swayed in their hug before Yuri shot to attention.

‘Oh! I almost forgot!’ He ripped his leopard-print backpack off his shoulders and started rummaging through it. Everything had got out of order in the taxi. Aha! Of course it was right at the bottom. He pulled what he was looking for triumphantly out of the backpack and waved it in front of Otabek’s face.

‘A duty-free bag?’ Otabek quirked an eyebrow. ‘Saw a watch you liked?’

Yuri shook his head, and pulled out the contents of the bag.

‘They’re already selling Valentine’s chocolate over there, and this stuff was reduced to clear!’ It was a large bag of wrapped chocolate truffles, just barely within its use-by date. ‘It was between this and Mozart Balls – why do they sell those dumb things in every airport around the world, anyway? – and this bag was bigger, so.

‘And this,’ Yuri brandished the cellophane-wrapped case like a weapon, ‘Is one of the best movies. Ever.’

Otabek squinted at the cover.

‘’The Lion King’? You know we have Disney here, right? I have seen it before.’

‘Yeah. And? Doesn’t mean it’s not a great movie. Anyway, I’ve seen your pathetic DVD collection. There’s no Disney in it.’

‘I had them all on video once.’ Otabek smiled the soft, private smile that Yuri knew he only shared with him. ‘All of them. You’ve seen the Aristocats, right?’

Yuri scoffed.

‘Of course. Another great movie. Just like Alice in Wonderland.’

‘And Aladdin, and Oliver and Company?’ Otabek was teasing him softly.

‘Yes, Aladdin, but I’ve not watched that other one.’

‘Not my favourite, but the main character is a cat, and it has a happy ending. No parents dying or the like.’

‘…I’ll add it to the list.’ Yuri blushed. He’d never had anyone who got to know his interests so well before.

Otabek stretched (Yuri purposefully averted his eyes from the small strip of skin his shirt revealed when it rode up) and led Yuri into his living room.

‘Did you eat already? I can make food if you want.’ Yuri shook his head.

‘I had a load of snacks on the plane.’

‘No meals?’

‘I’m an adult, Beka! I’m capable of feeding myself. I found some terrible lentil thing in the terminal which tasted like ass. The snacks were to get the nasty taste out and they filled me up.’ Yuri flopped down onto Otabek’s overstuffed sofa. ‘Do you want to watch this movie or what?’

Otabek sat beside him, and immediately Yuri rearranged himself to be curled against him.

‘Did you buy that in America?’

‘…yeah?’

Otabek held his hand out for the case, and when Yuri gave it to him he flipped it over.

‘I thought so.’ He pointed to a little icon on the back cover. ‘It’s Region One, Yuri. We’re Region Five. My DVD player won’t play this.’ Yuri’s heart sank for a moment. Then, a thought occurred to him.

‘My laptop can play it. I don’t have a DVD player so I use my laptop for everything.’

It was only when they were settled – laptop resting on Otabek’s little coffee table, blankets carefully strewn around the pair – that Yuri realised his massive mistake. For them both to watch, they had to be far closer than Yuri had expected. Otabek was – quite distracting. The urge to go boneless against him and relax close to him was far too strong for Yuri’s liking.

He fiercely pushed his attention to the movie.

‘It’s weird hearing it all in English, isn’t it?’ Yuri murmured.

‘Not really. I grew up watching them in English with Kazakh subtitles.’ Otabek’s words were hot breath on Yuri’s neck. Aargh. There was no escape. ‘Did you bring those truffles for us to eat now?’

‘A-ah. Yes.’ He pulled the bag over, opened it, and offered it to Otabek.

‘Thanks.’ Otabek opened one and popped it in his mouth. He chewed a few times, then grimaced, swallowed, and grimaced again. ‘American chocolate tastes so odd.’

‘You don’t like chocolate? I don’t get to have it that often.’ Dammit! He’d hoped he could have a nice evening with his best – er, only, – friend, and now he was ruining it all!

‘I like chocolate. This is… American chocolate isn’t the best.’

‘There’s a difference?’

‘There’s a diff-‘ Otabek cut himself off and leapt from the sofa. A small part of Yuri’s brain noted it was probably the most animated he’d seen Otabek off the ice. He heard kitchen cupboards clatter before Otabek reappeared, holding a blue-wrappered something. He sat back down and handed it to Yuri. ‘Try that.’

It was a chocolate bar, in a blue-and-gold wrapper designed to look like the Kazakhstan flag. Yuri broke off a square and popped it in his mouth.

His eyes widened. It tasted a lot creamier than the other chocolates he’d had. He savoured the square.

‘It’s good!’

Otabek was smiling his little pleased smile again. Yuri suddenly realised how close he’d gotten to Otabek, that he could just smell the tang of the – apparently inferior – American chocolate on his breath. He also realised that the soundtrack playing from the movie was the stupid love song. But – somehow, the moment was intoxicating. He was seized with a mad urge.

He slowly leant in and brushed his lips against Otabek’s. Yuri felt rather than heard Otabek’s breath hitch when their lips touched. His lips were warm, and surprisingly soft.

Then he moved away and turned back to the movie.

‘Yuri.’

He wasn’t looking at Otabek. He was watching a movie.

‘Yuri.’

‘I’m watching the movie.’

‘Yuri!’

He spun to look at Otabek, surprised by his emotional tone.

Otabek looked flushed, colour high in his cheeks, his fingers tracing his bottom lip.

‘Uhm.’ God he sounded stupid. Otabek was probably going to kick him out now, or something.

‘You…’ Otabek’s voice was muffled a little by his own hand. ‘…you like me?’

‘Uhm…’ Ground, please open up. Swallow Yuri now. He would rather die than answer that question. After a few long moments where the traitorous floor refused to crack and end Yuri’s suffering, he relented. ‘Y-yeah.’

Before Yuri could leap up, gather his things, run back to the airport, get on the first plane he could and never return to Kazakhstan again, he felt Otabek’s hand hesitantly brush his wrist. He – he couldn’t make his brain work. He could only stare dumbly at his wrist until Otabek’s other hand tilted his chin up and then-

And then-

Otabek was kissing him.

#yoi secret valentines #writing #yuri plisetsky #submission

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