kissjane

[kissjane]

With the latest crap of someone making an unofficial ao3 app and actually charging people to use it… why do you want an ao3 app so badly? Why are you willing to pay for an otherwise free website that works fine in mobile browsers? I’m so confused. Like, y’all are willing to have that as a security risk? And pay for it? I don’t understand at all. I saw people on the OTW’s recent post about it arguing for the existence of this app instead of against it.

Also, the whole thing is just so shady. There’s someone out there making money off of tons of people’s free work. Not cool, guys. Not cool. Don’t support the app.

[kissjane]

Look how adorable they are! Never mind I only went smut.

A small post-canon fic for the amazing series SMILEY (2022).

If you haven't seen it, fo find it and watch it.

Now with a companion piece by the briliant xjane that is E rated

#i write things #smiley #what's the shipname for Álex and Bruno? #fanfic #inspired by a friend #smiley 2022

[kissjane]

SKAM DECEMBER FESTIVAL 2023!

Everybody get ready for a warm and cozy December!

A bunch of artists and authors from all corners of the Skamverse fandom will deliver you a bite-sized morsel of goody goodness every day between December 1st and December 25th.

You can follow along with the handy guide below, as well as get a small hint as to what every submission will be about...

All this loveliness will be on Ao3, starting on December 1st! That's less than three weeks away!

P.S. I will be delivering a small gift on December 4th and December 22nd...

#skam #elu #davenzi #december event

[kissjane]

Writing Resources: References

Writing Resources Masterlist

Courtly life

Creatures

Fashion

Religion and Spiritual Beliefs

Science

Skills

Words are hard

World building

#writing tips #masterlists

[kissjane]

Welcome to the Tarlos Wedding Celebration Event!

Now that TK and Carlos are finally hitched, I wanted to host an event where we could celebrate the couple and how far they've come. I want to spread all the love and appreciation for these two incredible characters who mean so much to so many of us.

Each week, I will be posting 3 sets of prompts. One will be aimed more towards gifsets and edits, and the others will be a short prompt, as well as a dialogue prompt, aimed at everything and anything else you'd like to create. All of which will be listed below. Of course, you can pick from whichever set you want, mix and match them, and create as many posts as you like for each week. Lastly, you can get involved in whichever weeks you'd like. There is zero pressure to create for all of them.

The event will run for 4 months / 19th May -> 7th Sept

Please be sure to tag either #tarlosweddingcelebration or #tarlosweddingevent in your posts, and on ao3.

☆— under the cut, you will find the 3 lists of prompts —☆

list one

week 1 (19th - 25th May) — favourite tarlos centric episode(s)

week 2 (26th May - 1st June) — favourite tk and/or carlos rescue(s)

week 3 (2nd - 8th June) — favourite s1 moment(s)

week 4 (9th - 15th June) — favourite quote(s)

week 5 (16th - 22nd June) — favourite s2 moment(s)

week 6 (23rd - 29th June) — favourite comedy moment(s)

week 7 (30th June - 6th July) — favourite s3 moment(s)

week 8 (7th - 13th July) — favourite emotional moment(s)

week 9 (14th - 20th July) — favourite s4 moment(s)

week 10 (21st - 27th July) — favourite hug(s)

week 11 (28th July - 3rd August) — favourite background or underrated moment(s)

week 12 (4th - 10th August) — favourite musical moment(s)

week 13 (11th - 17th August) — favourite friendship (tarlos + ______)

week 14 (18th - 24th August) — favourite kiss(es)

week 15 (25th - 31st August) — free choice / or (themed prompt) tarlos + colours

week 16 (1st - 7th September) — free choice / or (themed prompt) the journey/evolution of tarlos

list two (each has two options - do with them what you want)

week 1 — alternate first meeting / disastrous first meeting

week 2 — hosting an event / out with friends

week 3 — career reversal / s1 alternate ending

week 4 — three little words / silent treatment

week 5 — no more catan / trapped together

week 6 — honeymoon shenanigans / a furry friend

week 7 — alternate proposals / another coma

week 8 — sacrifice / regret

week 9 — shotgun wedding / one final bump in the road

week 10 — only one bed au / soulmate au

week 11 — under arrest / date night

week 12 — overworked / hyperactive

week 13 — hanging with 126 / dinner with parents

week 14 — making up after a fight / tattoos

week 15 — free choice / or wedding themed angst and/or comfort

week 16 — free choice / or wedding themed fluff and/or smut

list three

(a special thank you to the amazing @tarlosweeklyprompts/@chaotictarlos for contributing these prompts for us)

week 1 — "You saved my life... I feel like I owe you."

week 2 — "Honey, where are the limes?"

week 3 — "The only good thing in my life, is you."

week 4 — "I told you I would never leave you."

week 5 — "You're my soulmate. Nothing will change that."

week 6 — "When I think about forever, all I see is your face."

week 7 — "Not to be cheesy, but you're literally the love of my life."

week 8 — "Walking out on you is the worst thing I've ever done."

week 9 — "Each day of my life I get to have you by my side is worth living."

week 10 — "No, I meant every word." "Then why don't I believe you."

week 11 — "You want me to wear what!?"

week 12 — "You're so silly."

week 13 — "How did I get so lucky."

week 14 — "I think I'm ready to talk about it."

week 15 — free choice / or "You're lying. He's not hurt."

week 16 — free choice / or "Why is Lou on the counter!?"

[hosted by @angeltk]

[kissjane]

chinese room 2

So there’s this guy, right? He sits in a room by himself, with a computer and a keyboard full of Chinese characters. He doesn’t know Chinese, though, in fact he doesn’t even realise that Chinese is a language. He just thinks it’s a bunch of odd symbols. Anyway, the computer prints out a paragraph of Chinese, and he thinks, whoa, cool shapes. And then a message is displayed on the computer monitor: which character comes next?

This guy has no idea how the hell he’s meant to know that, so he just presses a random character on the keyboard. And then the computer goes BZZZT, wrong! The correct character was THIS one, and it flashes a character on the screen. And the guy thinks, augh, dammit! I hope I get it right next time. And sure enough, computer prints out another paragraph of Chinese, and then it asks the guy, what comes next?

He guesses again, and he gets it wrong again, and he goes augh again, and this carries on for a while. But eventually, he presses the button and it goes DING! You got it right this time! And he is so happy, you have no idea. This is the best day of his life. He is going to do everything in his power to make that machine go DING again. So he starts paying attention. He looks at the paragraph of Chinese printed out by the machine, and cross-compares it against all the other paragraphs he’s gotten. And, recall, this guy doesn’t even know that this is a language, it’s just a sequence of weird symbols to him. But it’s a sequence that forms patterns. He notices that if a particular symbol is displayed, then the next symbol is more likely to be this one. He notices some symbols are more common in general. Bit by bit, he starts to draw statistical inferences about the symbols, he analyses the printouts every way he can, he writes extensive notes to himself on how to recognise the patterns.

Over time, his guesses begin to get more and more accurate. He hears those lovely DING sounds that indicate his prediction was correct more and more often, and he manages to use that to condition his instincts better and better, picking up on cues consciously and subconsciously to get better and better at pressing the right button on the keyboard. Eventually, his accuracy is like 70% or something – pretty damn good for a guy who doesn’t even know Chinese is a language.

* * *

One day, something odd happens.

He gets a printout, the machine asks what character comes next, and he presses a button on the keyboard and– silence. No sound at all. Instead, the machine prints out the exact same sequence again, but with one small change. The character he input on the keyboard has been added to the end of the sequence.

Which character comes next?

This weirds the guy out, but he thinks, well. This is clearly a test of my prediction abilities. So I’m not going to treat this printout any differently to any other printout made by the machine – shit, I’ll pretend that last printout I got? Never even happened. I’m just going to keep acting like this is a normal day on the job, and I’m going to predict the next symbol in this sequence as if it was one of the thousands of printouts I’ve seen before. And that’s what he does! He presses what symbol comes next, and then another printout comes out with that symbol added to the end, and then he presses what he thinks will be the next symbol in that sequence. And then, eventually, he thinks, “hm. I don’t think there’s any symbol after this one. I think this is the end of the sequence.” And so he presses the “END” button on his keyboard, and sits back, satisfied.

Unbeknownst to him, the sequence of characters he input wasn’t just some meaningless string of symbols. See, the printouts he was getting, they were all always grammatically correct Chinese. And that first printout he’d gotten that day in particular? It was a question: “How do I open a door.” The string of characters he had just input, what he had determined to be the most likely string of symbols to come next, formed a comprehensible response that read, “You turn the handle and push”.

* * *

One day you decide to visit this guy’s office. You’ve heard he’s learning Chinese, and for whatever reason you decide to test his progress. So you ask him, “Hey, which character means dog?”

He looks at you like you’ve got two heads. You may as well have asked him which of his shoes means “dog”, or which of the hairs on the back of his arm. There’s no connection in his mind at all between language and his little symbol prediction game, indeed, he thinks of it as an advanced form of mathematics rather than anything to do with linguistics. He hadn’t even conceived of the idea that what he was doing could be considered a kind of communication any more than algebra is. He says to you, “Buddy, they’re just funny symbols. No need to get all philosophical about it.”

Suddenly, another printout comes out of the machine. He stares at it, puzzles over it, but you can tell he doesn’t know what it says. You do, though. You’re fluent in the language. You can see that it says the words, “Do you actually speak Chinese, or are you just a guy in a room doing statistics and shit?”

The guy leans over to you, and says confidently, “I know it looks like a jumble of completely random characters. But it’s actually a very sophisticated mathematical sequence,” and then he presses a button on the keyboard. And another, and another, and another, and slowly but surely he composes a sequence of characters that, unbeknownst to him, reads “Yes, I know Chinese fluently! If I didn’t I would not be able to speak with you.”

That is how ChatGPT works.

[kissjane]

I should finish the sequel to this...

The King and his knight.

@topjoediscord

[kissjane]

List of “idiots in love but are in denial” prompts

“I don’t like them like that. Absolutely fucking not. What the hell?”

“I mean, I’d make out with them but like — platonically, you know?” “…You can’t make out with someone platonically.” “Of course you can! We’ve done it like, so many times before already.” 

“And why do you think I’d ever like them? I have taste.”

“Would I tuck them in bed and kiss them on the forehead? Yes. Would I fuck them in bed and then pepper kisses all over their face? Also yes. But neither of those options have to mean anything.”

“What do you mean I look at them like they’re everything I could ever want? I call bullshit! That’s slander!”

“You’re so cute.” “What?” “I said you look like a sack of shit, fuck you.”

“What do you mean by that? I do not daydream about us getting married and building our dream home in the country side where no one can bother us on a daily basis.”

“…But there’s just no way, right? Me? Liking them? That’s… No.” 

“What? We’re not looking at each other like we’d rather be alone in a private suite than be here with you guys. Don’t be stupid.” “Then stop eye fucking each other for one second.” “But we weren’t? That’s a ridiculous accusation. Friends don’t do that.”

“Shut the fuck up, I don’t care that they’re looking at someone else like they’re in love with them. Why should I care? It’s none of my business.”

[kissjane]

One day my partner is watching some YouTube video. Suddenly he looks up to me in abject horror and asks, "Did you know some people don't have mental images?". I looked up in what I imagine the same abject horror and say, "You mean you see images in your head?"

So that's how I found out I have aphantasia.

I don't see mental images. None. Ever. I don't dream images. I don't fantasize about real people. I recognize my coworkers of ten years when I see them, but ask me right now to describe them and I wouldn't be confident as to their hair colour, their eye colour, whether they have glasses or a beard. I don't write any descriptions in my fic. I sometimes skim over descriptions when reading. I never feel upset when seeing a movie adaptation of a book that a character doesn't look like I pictured them because... I didn't picture them! If you ask me to imagine an elephant, I think the words grey and large and trunk. I don't see an elephant.

To me, it feels like it would be so exhausting to have images in one's head all the time...

Okay so wait a minute, with this aphantasia thing. I don’t think I have aphantasia because I process audio fine, in fact I prefer not to have any visual, but apparently there is some relationship between it and ADHD. I’m not trying to be confrontational in any of this but I’m bewildered by the idea of mentally picturing things you listen to or read about. It’s bothered me since I posted the ask. 

I can picture things in my head, if I stop and make a conscious decision to build them, but if I’m doing that I can’t do anything else – I can’t listen to a podcast and picture it in my head and also do something with my hands. Come to think of it I probably couldn’t even keep up with the podcast if I was trying to picture it in my head, I’d struggle to choose which things to imagine and by the time I got them built they’d have moved on. It never feels like a very useful thing to do, because I’ve already got the words, that’s the important part, and I’d rather be doing stuff. I just assumed that most of the time when people talk about picturing stuff they’re either doing it very deliberately, like a guided meditation, or they’re being poetic, like people don’t actually do that, we just say we do as a way of describing someone thinking about something.

So, I’m listening to a podcast in which the host reads a letter from Napoleon Bonaparte to his brother, discussing his brother’s relationship with his wife (“she’s still young, let her dance if she wants, don’t lock her up with the kids all day.”) If you see images in your head when you hear audio, are you seeing the host reading off a sheet of paper, or Napoleon writing the letter, or Napoleon talking to his brother, or are you seeing Napoleon’s brother being mean to his wife? If you don’t know what any of these people look like, do you just make something up? 

Jesus Christ, when people read erotica do they picture the sex happening? What’s that like? You just get porn in your head involuntarily? I mean, not involuntarily, you’re choosing to read the text, but it just shows up when you do? 

Writers, when you write do you get mental images as you go? I often will pause in writing to build a mental image in my head and then describe it but as soon as I do it disappears, and it’s mostly a waste of time so I really only do that when I need to describe a space that people are moving around in (like the fishing lodge with the kitchen bar dividing the living room and kitchen, I do have several mental “camera snaps” of that setup, but I don’t picture it when I’m writing about it). 

This might explain why I always get yelled at for not describing people in my books. It’s simply unimportant to me 99% of the time and awkward to try and insert it the other 1%. I don’t picture people in my head when I read – they’re a personality, a collection of characteristics. My characters don’t have faces to me, like how people in dreams don’t have faces, you just know who they are. I describe them but that’s just words I really like, or I pick out people who already exist and just say “oh they look like that”. Obviously when someone wants a description I do my best to supply it, but in prose it’s just not important. 

This is genuinely blowing my mind. This is why people always want descriptions of things! They get to see the descriptions! Reading a book must be like going to an art gallery anytime you want without moving. Is that what it’s like? Is this super common, like am I the weird one, or is this just like for people with super vivid imaginations? 

#aphantasia

[kissjane]

Hi folks! Here is the masterpost of writing tips and guides I’ve written! These guides encompass what I have learned, found useful, or what works for me, so I hope they are in some way useful for you! 

Finished guides:

Showing vs. Telling

A (Quick) Guide to Foreshadowing

Writing About Food

A Guide to Opening Lines

Top Tips for Clues, Red Herrings and Breadcrumbing

Beta Reading and Feedback

A Guide to Inciting Incidents

A Mini Guide to Writing Mysteries

A Guide to Writing Unreliable Narrators

A Quick Guide to Varying Sentence Starters

Upcoming Guides:

Imagery (Using simile/metaphor/personification and other literary techniques)

My asks are open for any suggestions for guides or questions/topics to included/covered! 

Disclaimer: As with every writing guide and every piece of writing advice, these guides are in no way to be taken as completely 100% correct for everyone! The wonderful thing about writing is how personal it is and there is no one-size-fits-all in writing advice! Nor should there be. 

#writing tips

[kissjane]

So. Rec me some fandoms.

[kissjane]

GUYS...

... Did you know next week marks the fourth anniversary of the start of Skam France S3?

That's four years since we saw Lucas and Eliott hanging out at a bus stop, four years since we fell in love with Lucas playing the piano, four years since the hedgehog and raccoon drawings, four years since Eliott wearing the Romance hoodie, ... The list goes on!

I know right, time flies when you're having fun! :slight_smile:

To celebrate, we want to challenge everybody to create some art inspired by the episode titles and post them in the right week on their platform of choice. It can be inspired by the episode itself, or one of the clips in the episode, or just be inspired by the title.

Obviously, we interpret 'art' in the broadest sense possible: visual art, digital art, written art, audio art - whatever you feel like really!

It doesn't have to be long or polished, just create! I will write a little fic for one person who manages to do something for every week (just let me know, because I might miss some of your creations - feel free to tag me!).

Oh, and most importantly, the art you create doesn't have to be Elu-centric (though it would be great to see our chaos boys, of course)! It doesn't even have to be for Skam France - any Skamverse goes, as long as it's inspired by the title of the S3 episodes! So even if you have never seen any Skam France, you can still let the creativity flow!

Have fun, and I'm looking forward to all the art popping up!

PS Here's the list of the episode titles...

January 19 to January 25

Je crois que je suis amoureux (I think I’m in love)

January 26 to February 1

La curiosité (Curiosity)

February 2 to February 8

Infiltration (Infiltration)

February 9 to February 15

Le garçon qui avait peur du noir (The boy who was afraid of the dark)

February 16 to February 22

Au même moment à l’autre bout de l’univers (At the same time in another universe)

February 23 to March 1

Insomnie (Insomnia)

March 2 to March 8

Assumer (Assume)

March 9 to March 15

Coup de tête (Impulse)

March 16 to March 22

Les gens sont comme ils sont (People are as they are)

March 23 to March 29

Minute par minute (Minute by minute)

#skam france #skam #elu #art challenge

[kissjane]

Hey friends. Do this:

This probably took this person 3 seconds to do but it immediately told me that they liked my story enough to come back and read it again and they liked it again the second time.

Your favorite writers Do Not Know that you think about their stories after you read them. I generally assume that my stories make people happy for the few minutes they’re reading and then they never think about it again. To know that that’s not the case and that someone has returned just makes my little heart swell with joy.

I needed this today. If you’re the person who left this comment (or if you’ve ever commented on any of my writing) I love you.

[kissjane]

hi hope you are well. i just wanted to say thank you for writing. i had a rough year in 2022 and if it wasn't for your writing, i don't think i'd be here. i love the way you write elu and you are an amazing writer.

Hi darling!

Thank you for your lovely message.

I'm so sorry 2022 was rough. I'm really grateful I could bring a bit of sparkle in dark times. Please treat yourself with care and compassion, and don't be afraid to find help if you need it. If that's in a fic, great - but know there's other resources out there, too, if things get hard.

I'm gonna be posting another Elu fic over summer, at the very least (she says - knowing she hasn't started writing it yet 😬), and I have a WIP folder that's overflowing with stuff I should really finish at some point... If only I didn't need a job to put food on the table!

Wishing you a happy and healthy 2023, and looking forward to hearing your opinion on my next fic,

Jane 💙

#asked! #my anons are better than your anons

[kissjane]

🫣👀🔍

#connection #change #strength #pleasepleaseplease

[kissjane]

Editing tip: Are you suffering from -ing disease?

Hey all! Another tip from the editor’s desk. This one is about verbs that end in -ing.

In fiction, -ing verbs can be accurately used to:

(1) Indicate that two actions are happening simultaneously.

Example: While running to catch the bus, Jake dropped his keys.

(2) Show that an action is ongoing or still in progress.

Example: Ingrid wanted to use the oven for her pot roast, but the muffins were still baking.

Jason had been attending college for three years.

But when you misuse or overuse -ing verbs, it quickly becomes tedious and awkward for readers.

As an editor, here are the most common mistakes I see beginning fiction writers make with -ing verbs:

Lees verder

#writing tips

[kissjane]

Story Structure Explained: Pinch Points, Midpoints, Plot Points, and Middles (Warrior Phase)

Some writers find the middle of a story very difficult to write. They know the beginning. They know the end. But they don’t know what comes in between. After this article, you should have the information you need to finish filling in that middle! And filling it in, in interesting ways.

This post focuses on the second part of the middle, aka, the “active” or “warrior” phase of the story, and will take you from the midpoint up to the climax.

For the beginning part of story structure–the prologue, hooks, setup, and “orphan” phase–visit this page.

For the first part of the middle, between the inciting incident and the midpoint, or the “reactive” or “wanderer” phase, visit this page.

Midpoint

At the midpoint, new information enters the story that changes the context. It moves the protagonist from reaction to action. He stops being a wanderer and turns into a warrior, trying to fight back and attack, usually with a clearer goal or a more refined strategy. In other words, he is now more empowered than before.

Midpoints can be mind-blowing. Or they can be subtle. In the film Interstellar, the midpoint also serves as a twist. The context shifts and the audience and protagonists realize that there never ever really was a plan to save the humans on Earth. It was all a ruse to provide people hope. Once Cooper learns this, he changes into warrior mode, determined to do whatever it takes to return to Earth and/or save the people there.

Other midpoints aren’t as drastic. It might be the protagonist sitting down to eat and suddenly having a profound realization that changes the perspective of everything she’s been reacting to.

In Spider-verse

The midpoint in Spider-verse happens at the very end of the scene where Miles and Peter B. Parker steal the computer from Alchemax, and it goes into the very beginning of the next scene, the bus ride with Gwen Stacy.

Prior to this, even if Miles and Peter have a plan, they’ve largely been responding. And the only reason they need to go to Alchemax in the first place is because Miles himself broke the override key.

However, by the end of this scene, a few things have changed that steer us into the next phase:

1. Miles learns how to unstick intentionally 2. And how to use his web, intentionally 3. By this point, he’s learned how to listen to his spider senses. 4. Peter and Miles begin working together as a team

In other words, things they were reacting to are starting to get under control. Sure, Miles still doesn’t have control over all his powers, and maybe that’s a variation, but it works because he has control over the iconic, main Spider-man powers.

On the bus ride afterward, Gwen Stacy reveals she knows where they can go to make another override key, promising they’ll make sure the new one doesn’t break, and thus giving Peter and Miles a clear plan and a clearer path to defeating the antagonist.

Warrior State (and Character Arc)

From the midpoint to the climax, the protagonist is in a stronger proactive or “warrior” state. Armed with what they’ve learned as a wanderer (which may include having mentors, friends, and helpers), the protagonist is ready to make more proactive efforts or actual attacks on the antagonistic force.  According to Larry Brooks, they may literally fight back, hatch a plan, enlist assistance, demonstrate courage, or show initiative.

They may not always be successful (after all, the story isn’t over), but they are brave and intentional. And not only will they be fighting the antagonistic force, but their inner demons as well (which relates to character arc and theme).

Keep reading

#writing tips #Plot Structure