saintsdream

[saintsdream]

when a powerful figure is reduced to kneeling. when the lord is forced to bow. when the exile stumbles into an unwelcoming bar. when the “beast” is chained by their horns. when a god is dragged behind their enemy’s chariot, a captive and trophy. when the loyal “guard dog” character is muzzled and the silver-tongued thief falls silent in horror.

that’s the shit

it’s about the contrapasso. the reversal of roles and the sudden, plunging terror of being unable to hide.

[saintsdream]

Margaret Atwood, from The Collected Poems; “Dream 2: Brian The Still-Hunter,”

[saintsdream]

@dailyaoc​ event 01: get to know the members  —  the green bone saga by fonda lee

“The clan is my blood and the Pillar is its master,” she whispered. “I have a lot of regrets in life, but those oaths aren’t one of them.”

[saintsdream]

cannot stop thinking about “if soulmates do exist they’re not found. they’re made” and how much more wonderful a concept it is. you were not made to fit with someone else, you were made be yourself and it’s up to you to choose who fits with you and how they fit. you get to wake up every day and choose to have the people you love the most belong with you and that makes it so much more meaningful than some random act of fate forcing you together

[saintsdream]

How to Kick a Reader in the Gut

Disrupt the reader’s sense of justice. 

This generally means setting a character up to deserve one thing and then giving them the exact opposite. 

Kill a character off before they can achieve their goal. 

Let the bad guy get an extremely important win. 

Set up a coup against a tyrannical king. The coup fails miserably.

Don’t always give characters closure. 

(Excluding the end of the book, obviously)

A beloved friend dies in battle and there’s no time to mourn him.

A random tryst between two main characters is not (or cannot be) brought up again.

A character suddenly loses their job or can otherwise no longer keep up their old routine

Make it the main character’s fault sometimes. 

And not in an “imposter syndrome” way. Make your MC do something bad, and make the blame they shoulder for it heavy and tangible.

MC must choose the lesser of two evils.

MC kills someone they believe to be a bad guy, only to later discover the bad guy was a different person altogether.

Rejection is a powerful tool. 

People generally want to be understood, and if you can make a character think they are Known, and then rip that away from them with a rejection (romantic or platonic) people will empathize with it.

MC is finally accepting the Thing They Must Do/Become, and their love interest decides that that’s not a path they want to be on and breaks up with them

MC makes a decision they believe is right, everyone around them thinks they chose wrong.

MC finds kinship with someone Like Them, at long last, but that person later discovers that there is some inherent aspect of MC that they wholly reject. (Perhaps it was MC’s fault that their family member died, they have important religious differences, or WERE THE BAD GUY ALL ALONG!)

On the flipside, make your main character keep going. 

Push them beyond what they are capable of, and then push them farther. Make them want something so deeply that they are willing to do literally anything to get it. Give them passion and drive and grit and more of that than they have fear.

“But what if my MC is quiet and meek?” Even better. They want something so deeply that every single moment they push themselves toward it is a moment spent outside their comfort zone. What must that do to a person?

Obviously, don’t do all of these things, or the story can begin to feel tedious or overly dramatic, and make sure that every decision you make is informed by your plot first and foremost. 

Also remember that the things that make us sad, angry, or otherwise emotional as readers are the same things that make us feel that way in our day-to-day lives. Creating an empathetic main character is the foundation for all of the above tips.

[saintsdream]

GO GIRL!!!! GIVE US ROT!!! GIVE US DECAY! RETURN TO THE EARTH

[saintsdream]

I hope you guys like…eventually live the life you want to live and I hope nothing haunts you for too long and I hope you’re all kind to yourselves

[saintsdream]

i love that the phrase is “in love” like love is a place. like somewhere you could live.

[saintsdream]

ok but dismantle the idea that you should finish your writing as quick as possible. some of my favourite books (stand-alones. with series i cannot choose) were written over the span of many years. the secret history was written in 10 years and the same with the song of achilles. all the light we cannot see took 9 years to write. almost every fan fiction takes the span of a few months to create and even then they aren’t perfect. lotr took 16 years for tolkien to compose. jkr took six years to write the philosophers stone. victor hugo wrote les mis in the space of 12 years. yes, many good books and stories are written over the course of a few months, but everyone’s different and it might take some more time for you. all im saying is that all these amazing books have changed and shaped literature and they weren’t written in a day. so take your time, it dosent matter if your work dosent turn out to be a masterpiece, you can perfect it day by day until you’re satisfied. don’t feel compelled to rush

[saintsdream]

[saintsdream]

a relationship should be 50/50 I tell her my sins and she sharpens the knife

[saintsdream]

girlie stop scrolling through tumblr you are one second away from crumbling under academic pressure

[saintsdream]

that feeling when a book messes you up so badly you have to set it down and close it and just stare out the window for 5 whole minutes to gather yourself

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if nesta was a man yall wouldve been on yalls knees for her. but because shes a female “villain” or toxic female character yall are shittitng on her.  same with zoya, yall despised her at first. yet i see men who are far worse than her (rhysand, darkling) and yall are madly in love with them. if men did tthe same shit as zoya and nesta yall wouldve said “omg so hot <3″ hypocrisy, misogyny, disgusting,  ignorant, 

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illustrations taken from ‘Matériaux et documents d'architecture et de sculpture, Paris, 1872-1914′

[saintsdream]

Fictional men + Great Manners + Tattoos

[saintsdream]

a concept: it’s just chilly enough to warrant a thick sweater. the rain beats against the window. there’s a homemade pie in the oven, and its scent fills the room. the cat is snoring softly near the hearth. life is calm.