alana-k-asby

[alana-k-asby]

If you truly want to see less 'said' then don't replace it with attention-grabbing alternatives. Just leave it out wherever it's obvious who's speaking.

PSA: SAID IS NOT DEAD. Said is not an overused word you need to cull out of your drafts. Said is not the devil. Said is a dialogue tag that your reader's eyes glaze over, barely noticed, allowing your dialogue to shine. Allowing your characters to speak without the narration overshadowing them. Said is doing a wonderful, thankless job! Said is not dead, you take that back—

#writing

[alana-k-asby]

some people think writers are so eloquent and good with words, but the reality is that we can sit there with our fingers on the keyboard going, “what’s the word for non-sunlight lighting? Like, fake lighting?” and for ten minutes, all our brain will supply is “unofficial”, and we know that’s not the right word, but it’s the only word we can come up with…until finally it’s like our face got smashed into a brick wall and we remember the word we want is “artificial”.

#writing

[alana-k-asby]

#gowns forever

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French Dress from The Met.

Year: 1860–61

#gowns forever

[alana-k-asby]

Interesting approach to drafting!

Making the Most out of your First Draft

As someone who used to write every first draft without planning and then use that to figure out characters and outlines, I have a lot of experience in first drafts that are incredibly helpful to forming an actual story, and drafts that don’t add much.

              So here’s how to make the most out of your first draft:

1. Write what doesn’t make sense

One of the most helpful first drafts I ever wrote abandoned plotlines and started new ones as though they had existed all along like several times. It was also the longest draft I had ever written because I had packed so many ideas into it. The reason why this is helpful is because you can test out what a plot point will look like in the middle or even end of your story without having to go back to the same beginning again and again.

It doesn’t need to make sense, just try things out. Disappear characters who don’t work, add a best friend near the end that acts like they’ve been there the entire time, whatever idea you’re interested in you can try out without worrying too much about what makes sense or what you’d need in place to set it up. It's like literally stream of consciousness writing, and you're going to learn so much more about your world, plot, and characters than trying to make it make sense.

2. Write poorly

I spent a lot of that first draft having characters monologue to themselves or each other about their interests and problems and lives which allowed me to explore their backstories and voice even if that’s not something I would do in a final draft. I had the wackiest plot points to see how my characters would react, what would happen to the plot, and if I didn’t like it I would keep going like nothing had happened, I did a lot of yadda-yaddaing over worldbuilding and setting the scenes and making up things on the spot to see if they’d stick, skipping sometimes to the interesting stuff, or adding in a random scene just for fun.

It doesn’t have to be good. Even a little bit. You’re learning about your world and your characters and the story you want to tell, but you aren’t writing it yet. Allow it to be the worst thing you’ve ever written.

3. Make notes on what you like

As you go through and throw spaghetti at the wall (figuratively speaking), make notes on the things that stick. If you write a line of dialogue you really like, or a piece of backstory or even a vibe, make sure to make a note of it somewhere. This will help you narrow down your ideas to what you want to keep when you start writing your story. And if you’re like me and you want to outline or plan your subsequent drafts, these notes will be invaluable to start forming your planning.

Anything else I missed?

#writing #creative writing #writers #writing community #writing inspiration #writing advice

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Heh, we definitely had to make a conscious choice to stop revising the opening chapter and go on with the story!

#writing #writing problems #current wip #wizard prison #writing memes #writers #writing humor #writers on tumblr #writeblr

[alana-k-asby]

1900-1905

#gowns forever

[alana-k-asby]

@lightthewaybackhome Inspiration!

Brooch

Marcus & Co. (New York City, New York)

c.1900

This exquisite brooch is one of the few extant examples of plique-à-jour jewelry made by the New York firm of Marcus & Co., whose reputation at its prime rivaled that of Tiffany & Co. Herman Marcus (1828–99), a German–born and Dresden–trained jeweler, arrived in New York in 1850 and worked for a number of prestigious firms before establishing Marcus & Co. in 1892. Following his death, the company continued under the direction of his two sons, George Elder Marcus and William Marcus.

The brooch is a superb example of Marcus & Co.’s work in plique-à-jour enameling, in which the "cells" of color have no backing, allowing light to shine through the transparent enamel, thereby creating the effect of stained glass. One of the only jewelry firms of its day to succeed at this challenging technique, Marcus & Co. followed the lead of such innovative French designers as René Lalique. The sensitive 3-dimensional sculpting of the sweet pea blossoms and leaves, as well as the naturalistic coloring of the enamels, reflects the Art Nouveau aesthetic that prevailed at the turn of the century. Indeed, close parallels can be drawn with the brilliant naturalistic work of Louis Comfort Tiffany, whose oeuvre is so well represented in the Met’s collection.

The MET (Accession Number: Accession Number: 2016.107)

[alana-k-asby]

"When I write I am a maker. I think about what I am making. St. Thomas called art reason in making. When I write I feel I am engaged in the reasonable use of the unreasonable. In art the reason goes where the imagination goes."

Flannery O'Conner

#reading #literature

[alana-k-asby]

Here's THE masterpost of free and full adaptations, by which I mean that it's a post made by the master.

Anthony and Cleopatra: here's the BBC version, here's a 2017 version.

As you like it: you'll find here an outdoor stage adaptation and here the BBC version. Here's Kenneth Brannagh's 2006 one.

Coriolanus: Here's a college play, here's the 1984 telefilm, here's the 2014 one with tom hiddleston. Here's the Ralph Fiennes 2011 one.

Cymbelline: Here's the 2014 one.

Hamlet: the 1948 Laurence Olivier one is here. The 1964 russian version is here and the 1964 american version is here. The 1964 Broadway production is here, the 1969 Williamson-Parfitt-Hopkins one is there, and the 1980 version is here. Here are part 1 and 2 of the 1990 BBC adaptation, the Kenneth Branagh 1996 Hamlet is here, the 2000 Ethan Hawke one is here. 2009 Tennant's here. And have the 2018 Almeida version here. On a sidenote, here's A Midwinter's Tale, about a man trying to make Hamlet. Andrew Scott's Hamlet is here.

Henry IV: part 1 and part 2 of the BBC 1989 version. And here's part 1 of a corwall school version.

Henry V: Laurence Olivier (who would have guessed) 1944 version. The 1989 Branagh version here. The BBC version is here.

Julius Caesar: here's the 1979 BBC adaptation, here the 1970 John Gielgud one. A theater Live from the late 2010's here.

King Lear: Laurence Olivier once again plays in here. And Gregory Kozintsev, who was I think in charge of the russian hamlet, has a king lear here. The 1975 BBC version is here. The Royal Shakespeare Compagny's 2008 version is here. The 1974 version with James Earl Jones is here. The 1953 Orson Wells one is here.

Macbeth: Here's the 1948 one, there the 1955 Joe McBeth. Here's the 1961 one with Sean Connery, and the 1966 BBC version is here. The 1969 radio one with Ian McKellen and Judi Dench is here, here's the 1971 by Roman Polanski, with spanish subtitles. The 1988 BBC one with portugese subtitles, and here the 2001 one). Here's Scotland, PA, the 2001 modern retelling. Rave Macbeth for anyone interested is here. And 2017 brings you this.

Measure for Measure: BBC version here. Hugo Weaving here.

The Merchant of Venice: here's a stage version, here's the 1980 movie, here the 1973 Lawrence Olivier movie, here's the 2004 movie with Al Pacino. The 2001 movie is here.

The Merry Wives of Windsor: the Royal Shakespeare Compagny gives you this movie.

A Midsummer Night's Dream: have this sponsored by the City of Columbia, and here the BBC version. Have the 1986 Duncan-Jennings version here. 2019 Live Theater version? Have it here!

Much Ado About Nothing: Here is the kenneth branagh version and here the Tennant and Tate 2011 version. Here's the 1984 version.

Othello: A Massachussets Performance here, the 2001 movie her is the Orson Wells movie with portuguese subtitles theree, and a fifteen minutes long lego adaptation here. THen if you want more good ole reliable you've got the BBC version here and there.

Richard II: here is the BBC version. If you want a more meta approach, here's the commentary for the Tennant version. 1997 one here.

Richard III: here's the 1955 one with Laurence Olivier. The 1995 one with Ian McKellen is no longer available at the previous link but I found it HERE.

Romeo and Juliet: here's the 1988 BBC version. Here's a stage production. 1954 brings you this. The french musical with english subtitles is here!

The Taming of the Shrew: the 1980 BBC version here and the 1988 one is here, sorry for the prior confusion. The 1929 version here, some Ontario stuff here, and here is the 1967 one with Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor. This one is the Shakespeare Retold modern retelling.

The Tempest: the 1979 one is here, the 2010 is here. Here is the 1988 one. Theater Live did a show of it in the late 2010's too.

Timon of Athens: here is the 1981 movie with Jonathan Pryce,

Troilus and Cressida can be found here

Titus Andronicus: the 1999 movie with Anthony Hopkins here

Twelfth night: here for the BBC, here for the 1970 version with Alec Guinness, Joan Plowright and Ralph Richardson.

Two Gentlemen of Verona: have the 2018 one here. The BBC version is here.

The Winter's Tale: the BBC version is here

Please do contribute if you find more. This is far from exhaustive.

(also look up the original post from time to time for more plays)

#literature #theater #film

[alana-k-asby]

Summer Ensemble with a Swiss Waist

c.1866-1868

Palais Galliera

#gowns forever

[alana-k-asby]

Even though Psyche escapes the brunt of her trauma thanks to Sul's lending of his treasure, it's still there, lurking around the edges and waiting to be dealt with.

The snow that made Rune so happy weighed heavily on Psyche’s soul. Winter dragged, the cold air bringing back memories of lying on the ground through a long freezing night, bound hand and foot, abandoned and alone. She felt like a branch about to break under the snow’s weight. And if she broke? What half-forgotten terror would smother her?

-Stoneheart

@alana-k-asby

#stoneheart #asby and jones #writing #psyche sullivan #rune sullivan #winter #fiction #bookblr

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Two Piece Ball Gown, ca. 1895

Jeanne Paquin

via Europeana Fashion

#gowns forever #and ever and ever

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ab. 1882 Home dress with "Cul de Paris" bustle by Charles Frederick Worth

silk, warp velvet with bouclé velvet in a floral pattern, honey-colored silk satin; feed; Silk in damask technique, cotton gauze; Finishing: silk satin ribbons, cotton machine lace

(Kunstgewerbemuseum Berlin)

#gowns forever

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Dress, 1912

#gowns forever

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Thomas Gainsborough (1727-1788) "Frances Browne, Mrs John Douglas" (1783) Oil on canvas

#gowns forever

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James Sant (1820-1916) "Self-portrait" (1844)

#art