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pleasesteponmeshmi · 3 months
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My work boots are the most expensive shoes I’ve ever owned.
Also the most comfortable. I chose them after trying on several different brands and comparing lifespan vs usage vs comfort - I needed them for a physically demanding job, not the weekend hiking trails. I could have easily chosen cheaper boots that would have lasted long enough to be worth their low price, but I know the Sam Vimes Boot Theory and knew weaker, less comfortable boots would make my life harder in the long run.
So when the outside edge of the heel started wearing down after three years of heavy use I went to the shop I got them from and said “hey this is a common problem for me with how I walk but now it’s affecting my ankles and knees and I don’t wanna have to buy a new pair, is there a way to fix this?”
The salesman at this very fancy upscale boot store said “oh yeah, there’s a shoe repair place that can give you some heel guards - it’ll keep the rubber from wearing out.”
So at 8am this morning right after my 9hr shift ends I went to the shoe repair shop and it is the most hole-in-the-wall, is-this-a-real-business-or-a-mafia-front, am-I-gonna-get-shot tiny cinder block cube I’ve ever seen in my life. I grew up plenty poor and love me a good hole-in-the-wall business, but going from upscale store to this cash-only repair shop gave me whiplash. Wasn’t expecting this when a guy who wears three piece suits to sell boots said it’s the best place to go.
The skinny kid behind the counter looks somehow 16 and 25 at the same time, but when I tell him this place was recommended he smiles and says to hand over my boots. I hand him the vaguely warm foot-smelling boots, and stand in my socks in the 3’ square entryway surrounded by every color leather polish you could buy and watch as he turns my boots around in his hands, sizes up a crescent moon bits of plastic, and unceremoniously hammers tiny nails through them before handing them back.
The heels are perfectly level again. I can walk without almost rolling my ankles. They don’t clack loudly on the pavement or feel different. This is gonna fix my knee pain. It cost $10.
This kid had every tool he needed within arms reach, worked fast and smoothly, I was in and out the door in less than 8 minutes, and it only cost $10.
I didn’t think anything could cost only $10 anymore. I’m so used to hyperinflation prices I was spiritually thrown back to the 1400’s visiting the cobbler in town square. This kid might have been that cobbler and just decided to never die.
I’m still reeling from the whiplash, and gobsmacked at the price, and thrilled I didn’t have to go buy new, worse work boots (cuz I don’t have that kind of money for a second pair, I’m expecting these ones to last a decade) and it feels like I just experienced one of the rare little chunks of magic that floats around our world.
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pleasesteponmeshmi · 4 months
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universe where Superheros are just all pornstars and the movies like Civil War where they collab are just huge orgies.
honey that's just the mcu
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pleasesteponmeshmi · 6 months
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the heights are wuthering, if you even care
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pleasesteponmeshmi · 8 months
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i love weird barbie
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pleasesteponmeshmi · 8 months
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I'm back with another crack meme, let's see how well this one does
If it does as well as my New Yorker Post then I'll make a navigation list for the memes :D
Bonus:
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pleasesteponmeshmi · 8 months
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RAAAA
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pleasesteponmeshmi · 8 months
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Dank spidey memes
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pleasesteponmeshmi · 9 months
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Fuck that post going around saying "you can have coffee in your story without justifying it :) you don't need to explain everything :)" I want, no, I DEMAND a fully researched ethnobotanical paper on every single food item in your work, if you don't explain to me where did potatoes come from in your fantasy setting or don't explain how the industry of coffee works over interstellar distances with full detail you are doing things wrong and I personally hate you and I hate your stupid story, fuck you
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pleasesteponmeshmi · 9 months
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MCU Ladies Week - Day 4: Actor Appreciation: Ruth Negga  
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pleasesteponmeshmi · 9 months
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PADMÉ AMIDALA Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002)
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pleasesteponmeshmi · 9 months
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Either you're frolicking in this field with me or you're frolicking in this field against me.
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pleasesteponmeshmi · 9 months
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pleasesteponmeshmi · 9 months
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pleasesteponmeshmi · 10 months
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pleasesteponmeshmi · 10 months
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betts do you have advice on finding your way to narratively satisfying endings? i struggle to end stories in ways that don’t feel abrupt or dropping the ball plotwise in some way
i have bad news for you: almost no one is good at writing endings. i would say less than 10% of what i read has a decent ending. and around 1% has a good one. i'm looking at my bookshelf right now and the only one i can see with a great ending is lord of the rings. the rest of them either have bizarre endings (the english patient), actively terrible endings (white oleander), and endings i didn't even get to because the story lost all structure and conflict at the halfway mark (a lot of them). in fact bad endings have disenchanted me so thoroughly that this year i've only read nonfiction.
that doesn't mean you shouldn't aim for a satisfying ending, but that you're not alone in struggling with them, and you shouldn't feel too much pressure to nail the landing. there are some stories where the ending isn't as important as the beginning.
the reason, i think, that so many endings suck is because the personal stakes of the characters are weak. i don't necessarily prescribe to the obligation of character motivations, but i do think what often repels me as a reader is that the characters don't really care about anything, and therefore neither do i. if your character wants something, then you have a naturally occurring ending: they get what they want, they don't get what they want, or (my favorite) they get what they want and there are consequences.
another reason i think endings fail is that a lot of stories i read are missing a third act or a final escalation. they reach the first climax and resolve, rather than reaching the first climax, addressing the aftermath, and escalating to an even higher climax. not all stories are set up this way, but a lot of them can be improved if the writer asked themselves, "and then what happens?"
that said, here's the theory as i see it:
because narrative is innate to human nature, there are natural instincts we have to types of endings, namely happy and sad. comedy and tragedy. it's a binary, yes, and i generally avoid those, but for me anyway it's often the first question i ask myself when i start plotting a story: will this have a happy ending or a sad one? do i want to invoke emotional satisfaction or cathartic sadness? if neither, do i want to aim for something complicated or bittersweet?
i try not to obligate myself to any particular direction, but in having a rough idea of the answer, i can at least begin forming a conflict. the big difference between a happy ending and a sad one is whether or not you're asking your audience to root for the success of the characters' plight. for example, let's say your story involves around the development of a romantic relationship. if it seems like the characters, after completing the obstacles of the story, have a chance to have a healthy, happy relationship, then your audience will be eager for them to get together. but if you write it in such a way that your audience thinks, "oh no they're awful for each other," then your audience will be waiting for the breaking point*. either way, you're establishing the anticipation of your audience. if it's a little of both, then your ending is going to be somewhere in the middle, which is fine. the point is, your characters' motivations are being addressed. that's all an ending really is.
*there are genres where the delight is wanting two characters who are toxic to each other to stay together, like darkfic. but i think that's a different conversation, because that's a specific lens through which to read.
okay, now that the big picture stuff is out of the way, here are some general tips/ways i help writers figure out their endings:
process of elimination. write down all the ways it doesn't end. then write down all the ways it could end. then narrow that list into one that works.
extreme stakes. what is the greatest possible ending? does the character die? does the universe end? these probably won't be the right ending, but they'll at least help you aim high.
start with the ending. personally my best work has always come from stories where i know the ending before the beginning, and therefore everything that happens in the story is actively driving toward that ending. and by "know the ending" i mean i have the final image in my head. (most of the time this doesn't end up actually being the ending, but i like having something to work toward.)
harmonize your conflicts. the resolution of all conflict is its opposite: harmony. that doesn't mean a story necessarily has to end that way, but it's at least a good question to ask yourself. how do your characters return to a state of peace?
stack your conflicts. the more threads you open, the more that needs to be tied up at the end, the longer and more satisfying your denouement.
take your time. my favorite endings are ones that slowly slide down the falling action because the stakes reach such intense heights earlier on. a lot of people seem to believe that rising action is more important, building tension and whatnot, but i also think it's good to interrogate that, and try to see your work in the opposite light. what happens if your protagonist gets what they want asap, with no trouble at all? how do they handle success? success is a complicated thing: the good always comes with some bad. what does that look like? (this is the reason lord of the rings has such a great ending. it really honors the characters and the story.)
let your characters do what they want. if you build strong enough characters, their choices will eventually lead you to an ending. give them agency to fuck up and force them deal with it.
work toward an illuminating moment. an illuminating moment is a reveal at the end of the story that casts all the rest of it in a different light, so that when you reread with the illuminated context, the story becomes something new. doing that involves working in a mystery of some kind. shorter stories tend to rely on the illuminating moment, where longer ones rely on the reader knowing what's going on in order to be invested for the long haul.
outside input. have a friend read it and ask what they care about most and what they're expecting to happen. maybe you want to address those expectations or maybe you want to subvert them, but either way it'll help you see more clearly what you're tasking your reader to care about.
steal from shakespeare. everything i learned about how to end my stories i learned from shakespeare. that doesn't mean his endings are how all stories should end, but that i admire them and those are the sorts of endings i want for my own work. it might help to reread/rewatch your favorite things and pay particular attention to how they end.
what do you want? if you're emotionally invested in your own story, how do you want it to end? what would make you most satisfied with your own work? often what drives me forward in my own writing is wanting my characters to be happy but starting them in a place where happiness isn't even a real concept for them, and so they have to go through the process of addressing the things that have happened to them and fight for themselves and what they want.
my big caveat here is that a "good" ending is subjective. people think Lost had a good ending but i'm still angry i spent five years of my life waiting for a payoff that didn't come. in workshops i almost always hear the advice, "you don't want your ending to be *too* neat." bitch yes i do. i want it to be a neat, tidy bow, every single thing accounted for, every thread woven back in.
but that's me. your taste is different and your readers' taste is going to be different. you're never going to satisfy everyone, so it's best to honor your own aesthetic and hope your reader understands where you've come from.
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pleasesteponmeshmi · 11 months
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#it’s not a season of the witcher if jaskier isn’t getting threatened by a mage
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pleasesteponmeshmi · 11 months
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reblog and put in the tags a lyric that absolutely cuts you. im so curious to see what makes everyone hurt
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