sparkingstoryinspiration

[sparkingstoryinspiration]

i hope you guys come back soon; i've been following you since middle school :( we miss you ❤️

🥺 tysm thats so kind. maybe someday!! unfortunately our mods are all pretty busy, adulthood really sneaks up on you

you can find some of us on our study and bookstagram here if you're interested! we're definitely more active there than are here haha

[sparkingstoryinspiration]

POST PLUS IS COMING, WHETHER YOU WANT IT OR NOT!

Despite the fancy survey, changes to the UI and TOS reveal we’re getting the service in the future whether we want it or not. Obviously, Post+ is a terrible idea that is trying to bank revenue on user content. Unlike patreon or onlyfans, tumblr’s primary focus is on FAN content. The legality of this is NOT in the users favor and as the new tumblr TOS states, said users will be entirely liable for whatever legal matters arise.

SO WHAT ARE WE DOING?

Besides filling out the survey, it’s time to show tumblr we mean business and show our displeasure by hitting them where it hurts.

Ad revenue.

We’re proposing a 24 hour log off as phase one of this protest.

WHEN IS THE PROTEST?

AUGUST 6th, 2021        12 am Eastern Time (US)          5 am Greenwich Mean Time          6 am Central European Time          8 am Moscow Standard Time          1 pm Australian Western Time          2 pm Japan Standard Time          3:30 pm Australian Central Time          4 pm Australian Eastern Time

AUGUST 5th, 2021

11 pm Central Time (US)          10 pm Mountain Time (US)            9 pm Pacific Time (US)

THE END TIME IS 24 HOURS FROM START TIME!!!

So no posting, no queues, no likes, and no reblogs!

WHAT IF I CAN’T/WHAT ELSE CAN I DO?

Like this post and share it AS MANY TIMES AS POSSIBLE. Use the hashtags #tumblrlogoff2021 or #postplusprotest on ANY and ALL social media.

WILL THIS WORK?

Maybe, maybe not. It’s an attempt at doing SOMETHING.

BECAUSE I’M A TIRED IDIOT, USE THIS TO DOUBLE CHECK YOUR TIME ZONE!!!!

#first post in probably a year but #this effects u #as writers this whole tumblr post plus bs should be very concerning! #remember #we control the hellsite <3

[sparkingstoryinspiration]

High Payoff Scenes.

If that scene you meant to be emotional, jaw-dropping and climactic isn’t working right, try taking a step back. 

All the usual aspects of a good scene also apply to the buildup toward a good scene. As well as including all these aspects into the scene itself, remember that at the point where your awe inspiring scene hits…

The reader should already feel deep, ‘positive’ emotions for the characters involved, whether that be love, intrigue, or an I love to hate them feeling.

The reader should already understand and have witnessed the characters struggling in some way with the goals they are working towards during that scene.

The reader should already have a clear picture of the character’s relationships and emotions, and understand which direction they are moving.

The reader should already be well-based in the plot and have a good understanding of every piece of information they need order to be fully immersed in the scene. 

The reader should already have a clear picture of the current stakes and playing field, so they can decide what outcome to root for. (Or in some cases, they can feel the same desperation the pov character has as they realize there are no good outcomes.)

Most importantly, remember that there are no perfect first drafts, and barely any half-decent second, third, or fourth drafts either. If you need to rewrite and rewrite a few times over, that’s okay. 

Just because the amazing scene in your head seems to fall short once it’s written, doesn’t mean all its amazingness isn’t still buried in there somewhere.

#reblog

[sparkingstoryinspiration]

Conflict prompts

1. Write a story with a headstrong, take no shit character pushed to work with a lazy, well to do, annoying character by forces outside of their control

2. Write a story set during the worst storm in history in the most beautiful place to ever exist where people have never dealt with such an experience

3. Write a story where a couple must go on an epic journey that requires them to confront all of the things they hate about each other

4. Write a story about a character raised to believe in something so strongly they can hardly separate themselves from it until something unexpected forces them to do just that

5. Write a story with two estranged siblings who must band together to fulfill their individual goals and confront the thing terrible event that drove them apart in the first place

#thoughts on this new prompt type? #writing #ideas #inspiration #prompts #stories #writing ideas #writing inspiration #writing prompts #story ideas #story inspiration #story prompts #story starters #story sparks #plot bunnies #mod s

[sparkingstoryinspiration]

🌸 Spring Themed 🌸 Three Set Prompts!

Yes it is winter still im just tired of it

1. a walk on a brisk morning, ice frosted windows, a bouquet of flowers from a farmer’s market

2. distant bird song that wakes a character in an unsavory place, April showers, a character named May who betrays another

3. a picnic just before it’s warm enough, a love that blossoms like early spring flowers, a promise made in good faith

4. a bet for who can do something before the first flowers spring up, a robin with a worm, borrowing someone’s jacket

5. a gurgling fountain in a park, days that grow slowly longer, a time for moving on and fresh starts

#getting kinda... out there #enjoy #or i will take it personally <3 /j #i hope i did that right im not super familiar with tone indicators #but it was a joke #anyways #writing #ideas #inspiration #prompts #stories #writing ideas #writing inspiration #writing playlist #story ideas #story inspiration #story prompts #story starters #story sparks #plot bunnies #three set prompts #mod s #spring themed

[sparkingstoryinspiration]

Write a story including a set of three things

1. a detective, a pet fish, a bus

2. eye glasses, a golden dice, a journal chronicling a tragically failed experiment

3. a sweater, a cigarette, a rose garden

4. an umbrella, a field, a paper airplane

5. a wedding dress, a closed store, a one way ticket

6. an ominous and threatening greeting card, face paint, a broken cell phone

7. a can of orange paint, a pair of mismatched shoes, a mysterious repeating noise

8. a rainy day, time travel, a broken family

9. an intelligent and unusual pet, a new city, a photograph

10. a fire, a soccer game, enemies to friends

#writing #ideas #inspiration #prompts #stories #writing ideas #writing inspiration #writing prompts #story ideas #story inspiration #story prompts #story starters #plot bunnies #three set prompts #mod s

[sparkingstoryinspiration]

Dialogue prompts

1. “You can’t just make it disappear.” “No, but I can make myself disappear.”

2. “What the hell is that?” “Don’t worry, it’s not staying for dinner.”

3. “Am I missing something? Why does he want you dead?”

4. “She came back.” “From the west?” “From the dead.”

5. “Say, whatever happened to you and I?”

6. “I can never go back.”

7. “Do you ever wonder what would’ve happened to us if we hadn’t be tossed in prison together?” “Well, we wouldn’t be back here now would we?!”

8. “I wish we could start over.”

9. “The docks, half past midnight, bring a weapon.”

10. “You can’t just do things like that! I thought you were dead!” “Yeah? And I thought we were a team!”

#writing #ideas #inspiration #prompts #stories #writing ideas #writing inspiration #writing prompts #dialogue ideas #dialogue inspiration #dialogue prompts #dialogue #story ideas #story inspiration #story prompts #story starters #story sparks #plot bunnies #mod s

[sparkingstoryinspiration]

hey hello hi there

do you live in georgia? are you 18 or will be by January 5th? Please please please PLEASE vote!!! 

and even if you don’t live in GA, check out some of these links below. (source for above photo) 

Fair Fight - info in English and Spanish! Donate to Fair Fight here, and learn about volunteer opportunities here 

Need a ride to the polls? No problem, check out this link! They offer FREE rides to the polls and are wheelchair accessible in the ATL metro area, august, albany, savannah, macon, and columbus. 

Need info on early voting? Find it right here 

Important dates 

Dec 7th - registration deadline 

Dec 14th - early voting begins 

Jan 1st - absentee ballot request deadline 

Jan 5th - election day (last day to vote!!) 

(source) 

Early voting is in full swing, don’t miss your chance to make your voice heard! We NEED to win both seats in GA for Biden to have any chance of being an effective president. I cannot stress how important this is 

#ga runoff #georgia runoff #reblog from mod s' other sideblog #pls vote you guys!!!!

[sparkingstoryinspiration]

Dialogue prompts

1. “Well if you aren’t going then why should I?” 

2. “You forget yourself. Are you a prince or a poor man? You have decisions to make, I suggest you make them soon or risk the future of your kingdom.” 

3. “Mom and dad didn’t say you were coming.”  “They didn’t know.” 

4. “I came to you because you’re supposed to be the best. Am I mistaken?”  “Unfortunately for you, no.” 

5. “Are you from around here?”  “No, I arrived today. With the other survivors.” 

#writing #dialogue #ideas #inspiration #prompts #stories #writing ideas #writing inspiration #writing prompts #dialogue ideas #dialogue inspiration #dialogue prompts #story ideas #story inspiration #story prompts #story starters #story sparks #plot bunnies #mod s

[sparkingstoryinspiration]

Write a story including a set of three things

1. a blizzard, a bucket list, soul searching 

2. a theme of loneliness, a stray cat, flickering gas station lights 

3. a falling out of love story, an open window, something broken 

4. a swing set, a supernatural experience, a character who is lost 

5. a garden, a magic key, a child of warring parents 

#writing #ideas #inspiration #prompts #stories #writing ideas #writing inspiration #writing prompts #story ideas #story inspiration #story prompts #story starters #story sparks #plot bunnies #three set prompts

[sparkingstoryinspiration]

Dialogue Prompts

1. “Don’t tell me what to do! It’s my curse.” 

2. “Oh, just kick me off this cliff! It would be merciful at this point!”  “I can’t do that my liege, I was charged with-”  “With keeping me alive, yes, I am aware.” 

3. “I thought you’d be scarier.”  “Excuse me?”  “Well, I don’t know. I just thought, ‘reclusive vampire who lives on a mountain, he’s probably scary’ and . . . .”  “And?”  “And taller. I thought you’d be taller.” 

4. “Your mother always loved you best in red.”  “Yes, well my mother also always loved me best in prison so I think I’ll go with the blue.” 

5. “Well? What are you waiting for?”  “I thought this was gonna be the moment where you confess your undying love for me before I run into the thick of the battle where I’ll probably be martyred? Or did I read the moment wrong.”  “You read the moment wrong. Go!” 

#writing #dialoge #ideas #inspiration #prompts #stories #writing ideas #writing inspiration #writing prompts #dialogue idea #dialogue inspiration #dialogue prompts #story ideas #story inspiration #story prompts #story starters #story sparks #plot bunnies #mod s

[sparkingstoryinspiration]

Hi everyone, we have some exciting news!

We just added a new mod, pls give a warm welcome to mod maddy!! ♡

#not a prompt #mod maddy

[sparkingstoryinspiration]

Write a story including a set of three things

1. a grey sky, a farm, a broken fence 

2. a magical item, a middle schooler, a pawn shop 

3. a letter without a return address, a stockbroker with a dark secret, a curse of a family who really deserves it 

4. two opposing organized crime families, a silver coin, a painting 

5. a garden, a talking bird, a shattered window 

6. an ill parent, an after school job, a suspicious person 

7. a shopping mall, time travel, bells chiming 

8. a warm fire, a traveler seeking shelter for the night, a deal to be settled in blood 

9. reincarnation, a spell that goes wrong, a smashed vase 

10. footprints, fog, a bus 

#could it be? #yes! a post! #for the first time in?? months?? #we're sorry lmao #writing #ideas #inspiration #prompts #stories #writing ideas #writing inspiration #writing prompts #story ideas #story inspiration #story prompts #story starters #story sparks #sets of three #three set prompts #mod s #popular

[sparkingstoryinspiration]

An aye-write guide to Showing vs. Telling

I’ll bet that if you’ve ever taken an English class or a creative writing class, you’ll have come across the phrase “Show, don’t tell.”  It’s pretty much a creative writing staple! Anton Chekov once said “ Don’t tell me the moon is shining. Show me the glint of light on broken glass.” In other words, showing should help you to create mental pictures in a reader’s head.

Showing helps readers bond with the characters, helps them experience the emotions and action more vividly, and helps immerse them in the world you have created. So “show, not tell” is definitely not bad advice - in certain circumstances. But it has its place. More on that later. 

So How do I Show? 

Dialogue

Thoughts/Feelings

Actions

Visual Details

So instead, of telling me “He was angry”, show me how his face face flushes red, how his throat tightens, how he slams his fist, how he raises his voice, how his jaw clenches, how he feels hot and prickly, how his breathing gets rapid, how his thoughts turn to static, etc.

Instead of telling me “The cafeteria was in chaos”, you could show me  someone covered in food and slowly turning crimson, children rampaging under the feet of helpless adults, frenzied shouting, etc. 

Handy Hint! Try to avoid phrases like “I heard”, “I felt”, “I smelled”, etc. These are still “telling words” (also known as filters) and may weaken your prose, as your readers could be taken out of the experience and you may lose their attention.

Is Showing Always The Right Thing to Do? 

No! Absolutely not! Showing is not always right and telling is not always wrong! It’s important to develop the skill and instinct to know when to use showing and when to use telling, as both can be appropriate in certain occasions. 

So, “Show, don’t tell” becomes “Show versus tell”. 

What is Showing and Telling? 

Showing is “The grass caressed his feet and a smile softened his eyes. A hot puff of air brushed past his wrinkled cheek as the sky paled yellow, then crimson, and within a breath, electric indigo”

Telling is “The old man stood in the grass and relaxed as the sun went down.”

Both of these excerpts are perfectly acceptable to use in your writing! But both do different things, although their meanings are pretty much the same. The first example is immersive, sweeping, visual, engaging. The second example is much more pared back and functional. But both have their places in prose! 

Telling is functional. Think about when you tell people things. You tell your children dinner is ready. The news reporter tells you there’s a drop in crime rates. Your best friend tells you she’ll be late because her car broke down on the way to yours. These are brief and mundane moments in everyday life. 

So, do these deserve multiple paragraphs with sensory detail and action/feeling/thought for every little thing? Do you need to spend an entire paragraph agonising over a minor detail when there’s a sword dangling (physically or metaphorically) over your MC’s head? No. And I’ll explain why. 

When To Use Telling

As before, telling is functional. It’s brief. It’s efficient. It gives a gist of a situation without getting bogged down in detail.

Showing is slow, rich, expansive, and most certainly not efficient! 

Here’s an example of some telling: 

“Years passed, and I thought of Emily less and less. I confined her to some dark dusty corner of my brain. I had to elbow my memories of her to the side. I was too busy with other things. Finishing school, then university a year later. Life was full and enjoyable. But then, one dark cold September night…”

You can’t show this example, unless you wanted to waste page after page of your MC waking up, going through everyday life, to get to the point your actual story started. If you do that, you will likely kill off any interest a reader would have in your novel and likely, your book itself.

Summing Up 

Showing: 

Should be used for anything dramatic

Uses thoughts, feelings, dialogue, action, and visual detail 

Will likely be used more than telling

Telling: 

Can be used for 

Delivering factual information

Glossing over unnecessary details 

Connecting scenes

Showing the passage of time 

Adding backstory (not all at once!) 

[sparkingstoryinspiration]

REBLOG

REBLOG

REBLOG

#not a prompt #no time for prompts we have democracy to save #seriously tho sorry we’ll post prompts again eventually #pls reblog even if u aren’t American this is important !!

[sparkingstoryinspiration]

V O T E (part 2)

#us election #voter rights #voter registration #election 2020 #vote for biden #fuck fascism

[sparkingstoryinspiration]

V O T E

too tired to make a speech just here to say you fuckers better vote ik we have plenty of american followers so drop off your ballots (dont mail them its too late!) go to the polls, wear a damn mask, vote for biden (i hate him too! do it anyway!) and hope and pray we get another 4 years to drag ourselves out from under fascism bc it wont end after the election, no matter who wins but this is where we have to start. 

#not a prompt #fucking vote!!! #dont be stupid #don't be a fascist #vote for biden #you dont have to like him #just dont be a fascist it really isnt that hard