#at this point i've basically posted the first page out of order

[petricorah]

more 🐢🦆 wip [id in alt]

edit: completed comic here

#at this point i've basically posted the first page out of order #im SORRY im impatient and this is like 10 pages #zukka #zukka fanart #mywips #i know i already did a “zuko sorts through his feelings with aggression” before but i sincerely think that his fight or flight turns on whe #his emotions are exposed and so whenever his crush finds out it's on sight #zuko “i hate having emotions so anyone who knows has to die”

[serinesaccade]

Les mis Enjoltaire ficrec list part 1

Hi all, I decided I'd do a scan of my extensive bookmarks list to bring together basically everything I've consumed of enjoltaire. I have not been publishing much but I can still share what brought me joy. These are not in a reasonable order (just by my reading history chronologically) and I'll be limiting them on a one-fic-per-author basis so I don't just recommend you my fave authors 100 times. See below the readmooore for the first part of this effort (page 1-5 of my bookmarks)

dressing apollo by Tegami

Model Enjolras and hot mess designer Grantaire on a reality TV show, handled brilliantly. What else do I need to say.  how sweet and lovely dost thou make the shame is also essential reading.

With My Feelings On Fire (Guess I'm a Bad Liar) by pumpkinspiceprouvaire

Enjolras and Grantaire enter the stupidest and pining-est arrangement of all time. This list is going to make it very obvious that I have trope preferences and frankly, I don’t care. This is Delicious and so is basically everything else by this author

Walk Me Home by kjack89 for serinesaccade

It is impossible to pick a good fic by kjack89 out of their infinite library of good fic so I cheated and picked the one written for me

no more cyanide kisses (i’m methylene blue) by Mousetrap

Hurts so good

send you my love on a wire by blairs

Hilarious fics, gotta love blairs

i looked to you instead by Anonymous

suckerpunch by televisionbodies

say my name a million times (and i still haven’t heard you say it enough) by dyhtps

the road not taken by Petr1chor

Another heavy debate over which fic to pick out of many greats

Revolution Barbie by StrangeOccurrence

Lesbiabs but like weirdly serious and sexual

It's You And It's Been From the Start by stellatundra

Screaming

best practices in seasonal dessert distribution: a primer by twofrontteethstillcrooked for stardust_and_sunlight

Brownie sweet

Beautiful & Good by Riotstar

Emotionally difficult for me to read like I am not sure I can continue but? Important?

in momentum. by AnnaBolena for ShitpostingfromtheBarricade

how long it's gonna be (before we get on the bus and cause no fuss) by samarskite 

The Finer Points of Communication by ShitpostingfromtheBarricade

God I love this author

And Pages To Go by femmebingley

here i am leaving you clues, by moonswinger

you can’t kill me after this fic bc I am already dead

Ho, Ho, Oh No by catstrophysics

stuck together by whooves

fire in our bellies and furtive little feelings by sarahyyy

Classic bigtime writer with big big list

the first time we met we hated each other by mariuscourf

I get so excited when they post

Silvertongue by resnovae

Compromise by Akigriffin

I am a sucker for acespec

What’s it like to date someone? by Wildrivver

Patron Saint of Silent Restraint by vivalataire for emmettcadrian

If It Ain't Baroque, Don't Fix It by vivalataire

Lost in Translation by ellevaire

It's Not the Same Anymore by ShameDumpster

Insanely cute and deeply real, I read it over and over

Witchboy by tothewillofthepeople

Ughh how does one write so good

#les mis #enjoltaire #exr #fic rec

[ronniaugust]

How To Write Good Dialogue (Part 1)

I'm gonna start this by saying I'm not trying to sound like a know-it-all. I am just tired of posts like these being absolutely fucking useless. I am aware this is basically me screaming into a void and I’m more than okay with that.

This guide is meant for intermediate screenwriters, but beginners are also absolutely welcome. :)

(about me)

-♠︎-♠︎-♠︎-♠︎-

I've noticed a rise in film students who want to make films that have no dialogue. Probably after your professor showed you Doodlebug, right? Fuck that.

I'll make another post about writing a short film, but all you need to know is: Don't waste the audience’s time. Most of these no-dialogue shorts have very little substance and take way too long to tell the shortest possible story. Not a good idea.

Useless Dialogue

Plain and simple, don't write useless dialogue. Useless dialogue is dialogue that just doesn't fucking matter. Dialogue matters by having ✨subtext.✨

What is subtext? Subtext is the meaning behind the action. That's it.

If I tell you that I love you and I got big doe eyes while I say it, it means I love you. If I tell you I love you through a clenched jaw without looking at you, I don't necessarily love you right now.

Simple, right? Great.

Now think about the subtext behind every line. Does your character mean what they're saying? Are they doing it to get what they want? What is going through their mind as they say it? As long as you know your character, you’ll have these answers ready to go. If you don’t, you’ll figure it out eventually. Just keep writing.

When you write your character walking into a Starbucks and saying, "One venti iced coffee," does that do something? Why do I need to see someone's boring Starbucks order? Do I need to know that your character's boring? Why are you writing a boring character? [Of course, in the rare situation where this is some revealing clue to the massive crime investigation, then it makes sense.]

Useless dialogue is any dialogue that has no meaning or purpose in your script. Delete and move on. You don't need to write entire conversations or scenes that bore us, just write what we care about.

I took a class once where my professor called a version of this "trimming the fat." Get us into your scene and out of your scene in as little time as it takes to have it achieve its full purpose in the script.

[P.S. You don’t “inject” subtext into your lines. Idk who started that vernacular in subtext teachings but I hate it.]

Show vs. Tell

I remember a glorious fight I got into with a Redditor last year about show vs. tell… TL;DR: Dialogue is “show” if you write it with intention and subtext. If someone says that dialogue is inherently “tell,” they’re wrong and can go fuck themselves.

Dialogue that is “tell” is expositional dialogue. But, hot take: Exposition isn't just in dialogue. It’s also those annoying clichés that make you roll your eyes in the theater (which we just call clichés and not exposition). I’m sure every professor I’ve had will disagree with this and then get me into a long conversation about it, but let’s ignore that for right now.

Have you ever seen a movie where a character rubs an old, worn-out photo of a young girl while looking depressed? That's exposition. That character has a dead daughter. No shit.

Clichés are incredibly annoying. We all know that. Assume that any cliché you see - in this context - is exposition and try your best not to write it. (Tropes are different and sometimes necessary, so I’m not talking about that.)

Point blank: When you have subtext in your lines, they are "show,” not “tell.”

Before moving on, I'll bring up that while technically the dead daughter photo is subtextual, it is as close to the character saying “My daughter is dead,” as you can get. Don't treat the audience like we're fucking stupid.

The First 15

If you don’t know what the Inciting Incident is, please look up “3 Act Structure” before reading this.

The first 15 pages of your script is the part that comes before the Inciting Incident. This is the part you want to get right because, although people probably won’t leave the theater, they will absolutely find something else on the streaming service they’re using. The people making said movie will also just toss your script in the trash before it’s even produced, so it's best to get it right.

Dialogue in the first 15 generally follows the same rules, but carries a heftier additional rule. All dialogue in the first 15 minutes must, must, must tell us something about your character.

Remember when I talked about that boring Starbucks order? Why is your character boring? Don’t write that. Don’t write nice characters. Or pleasant characters. Or friendly characters. No one cares.

You want empathy. This does not mean “relatable.” It means “empathetic.” There is a difference.

I personally relate to Vi in Arcane, but I empathize with Theo in Children of Men. Both are excellent, but one personally resonates a bit more with me. You cannot write a character that deeply resonates with every single person, it is impossible.

With each line of dialogue, you must be saying something about your character that generates the empathy. Instead of telling you how to do this, I’ll direct you to a movie that will do better than an explanation: Casablanca.

Watch how Rick interacts with the world. What kind of man is Rick? Watch what he does, what he says, and how he treats people and himself. Watch that empty glass on the table. Watch his contradictions. Everything. Those things matter and it’s what makes you want to watch Rick for the entire duration of Casablanca.

“Realism”

This is maybe more directorial, but make your characters human enough, not too human.

Too human is when you’ve tried your best to capture all those little life-like speech patterns. You know, the ones that no one fucking cares about.

If your character coughs, they’re sick. If they clear they’re throat, they’re uncomfortable. If a bruise isn’t going away, they’re going to die. Simple.

Every moment on screen matters. Everything the audience sees is meant to lead them to a conclusion. Not the conclusion, just a conclusion.

The realism you want is in the choices your character makes, not how many times they say “Uh,” in a sentence.

Conclusion

Dialogue matters and should not be treated lightly or without care. Once you have this all engrained in your mind, dialogue should become effortless.

If you want an excellent way to think about this, Robert McKee's Story has an excellent chapter that helped clarify this all for me. Here's an excerpt and the context.

Warning, spoilers for Chinatown.

"If I were Gittes at this moment, what would I do?"

Letting your imagination roam, the answer comes:

"Rehearse. I always rehearse in my head before taking on life's big confrontations."

Now work deeper into Gittes's emotions and psyche:

Hands white-knuckled on the steering wheel, thoughts racing: "She killed him, then used me. She lied to me, came on to me. Man, I fell for her. My guts are in a knot, but I'll be cool. I'll stroll to the door, step in and accuse her. She lies. I send for the cops. She plays innocent, a few tears. But I stay ice cold, show her Mulwray's glasses, then lay out how she did it, step by step, as if I was there. She con-fesses. I turn her over to Escobar; I'm off the hook."

EXT. BUNGALOW-SANTA MONICA

Gittes' car speeds into the driveway.

You continue working from inside Gittes' pov, thinking:

"I'll be cool, I'll be cool ..." Suddenly, with the sight of her house, an image of Evelyn flashes in your imagination. A rush of anger. A gap cracks open between your cool resolve and your fury.

The Buick SCREECHES to a halt. Gittes jumps out.

"To hell with her!"

Gittes SLAMS the car door and bolts up the steps.

Story by Robert McKee, pg 156

The context of this page is McKee's way of explaining how to write characters. I found it very helpful.

-♠︎-♠︎-♠︎-♠︎-

Thanks for reading! I probably forgot something, so I made this a “part 1.”

I hope this helps someone since I’m really tired of finding short films on YouTube that are all fucking silent. The few who have done it well have been copied to death, so please write some dialogue. I promise you it’s so much better if you do.

Asks are open! :)

#ronni august #ronni's writing tips #writing #writing tips #screenwriter #screenwriting #writing inspiration #writing ideas #writing inspo #writing advice #writing help #writing resources #how to write #writing tools #fiction writing #screenplay #writing motivation #writers of tumblr #♤ronniaugustwriting♤ #I know Casablanca is black and white but I colorized it with PS so it would look more cohesive in the header #196 #r/196

[pinkeoni]

The “Will Has Powers” Basics Post

I’ve realized recently that whenever I talk about Will having powers, I kind of just expect everyone to be on the same page as me, without really explaining much of what lead me to believe he has powers in the first place. I don't really have a good foundation to point to.

So that's what I want this post to be, not really too detailed but more of an introductory post. I'll explain the basics of my Will has powers theories, why I believe he has powers, and what kinds of powers I think he has. I'll be using evidence I've used in a lot of other posts while also keeping it simplistic and not trying to add anything too speculative or theoretical.

Evidence & Powers #1) Nancy's Dialogue and Time and Light Powers

I think one of the easiest pieces of evidence and my usual go-to is Nancy's dialogue in 4x07 when the teens are in the Upside Down. Nancy remarks that the Upside Down is stuck on the day that Will went missing, and then brings Will up again in regards to the lights. Both of her pieces of dialogue here implicates Will as the one who froze time and got the lights to work the way they do.

"The last entry is November 6, 1983. The day Will went missing. The day the gate opened."

"Will found a way. Will. He found a way to speak to Joyce through the lights."

(So I used to think it was "The day the gate opened. The day Will went missing." and not "The day Will went missing. The day the gate opened." but after rewatching the scene it is actually the former. My bad.)

Now obviously Nancy wouldn't know that Will is responsible nor do I think she has some kind of psychic intuition, but the writers would know and are writing her dialogue in a specific way that points toward Will in both instances. Bringing him up by name not one, not two but three times places emphasis on him specifically. I think that

El opening the gate had a part in this, but if it was her solely then I think Nancy's dialogue would read as "The last entry is November 6, 1983. The day El opened the gate." rather than trying to tie Will into it in the first place. Moreover, the gates that Vecna is opening with El's powers don't seem to be updating the Upside Down to modern times, Will is an important piece of the puzzle.

The light thing is something that I do think is solely Will, given that gate opening isn't brought up and Nancy brings Will up by name twice in the same line of dialogue.

The word "found" here is also interesting because it could have two meanings.

A) Will stumbled upon the lights ability

B) Will created the ability to communicate with lights

Had Nancy said "Will stumbled upon a way to talk to Joyce through the lights" it would suggest that the lights is a rule from the UD that has always been there. Nancy saying that Will created the ability to talk through lights wouldn't make sense for her to say because Nancy wouldn't have access to that information. "Found" is the perfect balance between the two— it makes sense given Nancy's access to information while allowing enough room to imply that Will had something to do with it.

Evidence & Powers #2) Will as an Artist and Creation Powers

If you created a tv character who had magic powers, but you couldn't reveal it until the final season, how do you pull it off without it feeling out of nowhere? How do you build up the reveal without completely giving it away.

Well, I would do it by attributing his powers with aspects of the character that has already been built up and that the audience has become familiar with.

It's established that Will is an artist from season one, and his art continues to be important to the plot it nearly every season.

In season one, Joyce is able to correctly identify that El is not because Will's drawings are much more advanced than El's stick figures.

In season two, Will uses drawings in order to help visualize his now memories and creates a map of the tunnels.

Not much in season three, but Will does use charcoal in one scene to demonstrate visually how the shadow particles work.

In season four, Will creates a painting for Mike that becomes an important moment in the season and sets in motion important events for the future (aka byler endgame)

I will admit that this piece of evidence by itself is not enough to convince an audience that Will has a supernatural link. Will is an artist -> Will has powers is a pretty far stretch. But I think that this combined with some of my other evidence could support what kind of powers I think he has, which I think is some from of creation ability. Will has powers because of xyz -> Will is also an artist -> Will has powers of creation is a better argument and what I'm trying to get at.

Without getting into all of the chunky theoretics here, I believe it's possible that Will may have the ability to create whole lifeforms and vast worlds, such as the Upside Down itself and the creatures inside.

Evidence & Powers #3) Will the Wise, Fire Powers & Prophetic Abilities

This goes along similarly with what I said about using Will's artistry to foreshadow his powers, or using another facet of Will's character to hint at powers without giving it away altogether. Although, I would say that this piece of evidence is probably a lot more obvious than the previous bullet.

"Will the Wise" is Will's Dungeon's & Dragons name, which comes up pretty frequently in the show. Will the Wise is confusingly labeled as both a wizard and a cleric, although both classes are magic-users within DnD.

Each member of the party has a DnD class and character, although Will's is the one that get's brought up the most. The name Will the Wise is referenced—

Episode one when Will is playing DnD

In a flashback later in season one

The episode title "Will the Wise" from season two

And in season three when we have our most obvious piece of powers foreshadowing, when Will dresses up in a Wizard costume

During this same scene, Will says that he has "seen into the future" which is why I suggest that he may have prophetic abilities. Vecna displays a similar ability when he shows Nancy the future in her vision.

It's also possible that Will may have some kind of fire abilities, based on one of Will the Wise's attacks being "fireball." (@reikunrei made a really great post recently proposing that Will's fire powers might extend to some of his other abilities rather than being purely a fire attack, but alas I cannot find it ((I am so sorry Wilbur)))

Evidence #4) Continued Connection With Vecna

Another reason why I suspect that Will may have powers comes from a series of questions:

Why is Will the first one taken to the Upside Down?

Why choose Will as the host of the Mind Flayer?

Why continue to have a connection with Will?

I think I could write-off the first two as incidental if the show didn't make it a point to continue this connection through seasons three and four, that along with Nancy's dialogue in season 4 discussed earlier. Could Will's disappearance have been a coincidence? Sure. Could Vecna have just needed Will to be a spy, and is completely disposable to him? It's possible. But if so, what is the narrative reasoning for maintaining this connection? Is it to just for the convenience of having Will as a beast sensor?

Something else that tips me off about Will's disappearance is the why it happens as well, which we aren't really told. We are told with Barb that the demogorgon is attracted to blood. Nancy and Jonathan later use this tactic to lure it to the house.

And yet with Will, we don't see any blood. In fact, they make a point to emphasize this when Hopper tells Joyce that there was no blood on his bike.

Evidence #5) Will's focus in season 5

Despite Will always being my favorite character and loving him so dearly, I didn't start seriously theorizing until I saw this tweet by Discussing Film, which came out shortly after vol. 2 was released.

I know that outside cast and crew comment shouldn’t be taken as gospel, as they have lied before for the sake of spoilers. Which is why I put this at the end, and why it’s not my only piece of evidence.

But still, it’s not like every comment is a lie, and even then, wouldn’t this be a wierd thing to lie about? And kinda cruel? Imagine saying “Oh, this gay character who hasn’t gotten a lot of screentime is going to be a focus.” only to say “Haha just kidding, he’s actually unimportant!” So I’m inclined to believe that they’re telling the truth.

So if this statement is true, then how could Will not have powers? How would you make a character the center of a show about the supernatural, if he has no tie to the supernatural at all?

#kinda posting at a weird time for me but whatever #had this in the drafts for long enough #will byers #will byers has powers #stranger things #byler #<- target audience #my theory

[20dollarlolita]

The process of how I bought my wheelchairs.

Someone's asked for help on this, and I've written a couple of really thorough posts that I never published, but here's the short I intended this to be short, but it's not version.

IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER: This is not medical advice. I cannot provide medical advice. I am sharing my own experience, and it should not be used as your only research for this issue. Any time I am saying, "you," please note that it is a style choice to use the second person, and not an indication of giving advice.

Quick note: if your doctor prescribed you a chair, make sure you know what kind of chair was prescribed, and why. The best chair in the world is still awful if it doesn't do what you need.

Also if your insurance will cover a wheelchair then, once you've made sure that your insurance will cover the chair you need, make the smart choice about where you'll buy these things.

The first time that I was using a wheelchair full time, I was borrowing this one from a friend. This chair is about $500, so when I was buying my first chair for myself, I was looking at that price point. If a chair I was considering was notably more than $500, I knew I could just get my own copy of this chair that I was already comfortable with. The chair that I was borrowing was three years old and had been heavily used, so I was confident in this model's lifespan.

The other big advantage of this is that it ships free with Prime, which meant that it was easy to send to a friend when I was tired of watching her use a inexpensive chair to get around the Disney parks.

But then I went on ebay and learned about the magical world of secondhand wheelchairs. The short version of the story is that a wheelchair can outlive someone's need for it, and so it's not super uncommon to see someone selling an older wheelchair for much less than the chair is new. A lot of the time, these are custom or modular chairs. Instead of a basic chair that's set up to one-size-fits-probably-most, modular and custom chairs have 10+ pages of options to select from in their order form. When you're buying a new custom chair, you pick every option to make sure it's perfect for you. When your goal to buying a used chair is to just get one that's better for you than a Drive Super Sport one-size-fits-hopefully-you chair, the secret to buying on ebay is to find out what features you absolutely need, and then to check the other elements of the chair and see if they will work for you.

Quick note, at the time that I was buying my wheelchair, I actually already owned a wheelchair, and had decided it wasn't going to work for me to use full-time. This is an Invacare Tracer and it was, according to the tag, stolen from a wheelchair rental place in 2010, and according to my mom, stolen from my neighbor's to-be-burned pile in 2019. So if we don't count alleged crime as a cost, this wheelchair was free. This is a great example of a chair that's set up to be one-size-fits-no-one-perfectly.

This wheelchair would be better than nothing, but it's heavy, the wheels are really far back, and it doesn't really fit in my car. The tires have no tread and are pretty worn, so they don't do great for outdoor offroading. All detachable parts of this (armrests, foot rests) had been lost a decade ago, and they're not cheap to replace. I already knew what kind of budget I was willing to spend, and I felt that just using this as my main mode of movement wasn't going to be worth the saving of the $500.

I do still use this wheelchair a LOT in my house, because it's a pain to get my real wheelchair out of my car and into my house (because stairs), but I wouldn't feel confident taking it out on the town unless I have someone to push me.

So the secret to buying a wheelchair on ebay is a three step process:

Determine how much money you're able to spend. The best wheelchair in the world isn't going to do you any good if you can't actually get it.

Determine what main features you want in a chair, and look for those.

When you find a chair that has those features at that price, check to see if everything else in the chair works for you.

(Secret step 4: be lucky enough to have someone listing the chair you need).

So I picked this chair (Which is a Quickie 2 Lite) mostly because the Medwarm wheelchair had been a bit too wide for me. This chair was narrower and had a lot of the traits of the Medwarm chair that I'd liked. It folded, had 24" wheels with tread, had feet plates that didn't stick way out in front. I didn't actually know how any of that felt until I had it, because I didn't have experience with multiple wheelchairs. My inexperience gave me a superpower, which was that I didn't need to get so critical of certain traits, because I had no idea what any of that meant.

Shipped and with tax, this was $400. At the time, I just went, "hey, this is like the wheelchair that I want, but without the negative trait of being as wide, and it's $100 less."

The main this about this chair that I learned that I love is that the center of gravity is farther forward than on the Medwarm chair (I believe it's set to +1"). This gave me a lot more power pushing myself. When I was using the Medwarm chair, it wasn't uncommon for me to ask friends to push me long distances. I very rarely needed that in the Quickie2.

But I did have to replace it.

Short version of a long story was that when I went to being a most-time wheelchair user, the seat of my chair got smaller relative to my body. I'd picked a narrower chair because it was easier to navigate the world, but I'd actually picked a chair that was becoming too small for me to fit my Kitten Holding Legs into. I looked into getting a new chair.

So let's talk about the wheelchair that I bought and couldn't use. We learn from our wins and our misses.

This is a 19" Catalyst 5. There's a few problems with this one for me, but they all sum up to (for me personally) that it had more negative (to me) traits than the Medwarm one, but also was more expensive. I'd picked this one because it looked like it'd be more like my Quickie2 than like the Medwarm, but it just wasn't good for me.

My Quickie2's narrow, so I could put my feet right next to each other. This was the most comfortable way for me to sit. The way that KI measures a Catalyst frame and the way Quickie measures a Quickie 2 frame are different. My 15" frame Quickie 2 had a 14" wide seat, and this 19" Catalyst 5 had a 22" wide frame. The first time that I unfolded it, I knew that it was just too big for me to use comfortably. In addition, I didn't like the solid low-profile tires. I didn't like how far away the wheels were. It also had a really nice quality back, but the back had to be removed to fold the chair, so it was another step to take in and out of my car. It was also about 2" shorter at the seat than my old chair, and I already deal with being too short for my store's counters, so I didn't like losing that height.

So this was a case where I looked for traits that I thought I wanted: folding, wider seat. Then, instead of checking to see if the rest of the traits of the chair were things that I wanted, I just assumed it'd be okay. Personally, it just wasn't the chair for me.

I ended up learning that selling a used wheelchair on ebay is actually pretty easy as well, so the money I lost on this purchase summed up to the cost of a roll of bubble wrap to pack it up to send it to someone who would benefit from it.

When I was looking for my next wheelchair, I had changed what I wanted out of a chair. I knew that I wanted tires with actual tread on them, instead of solid poly smooth tires. I knew that I wanted a wider seat, but not too wide. If it didn't come with a little bit of camber on the wheels (that's where they slant towards the top of the chair), I wanted to be able to add it. I also wanted it to be a minimum of 17" high seat. But the biggest change was that I'd decided that I didn't really need it to be folding.

I drive a hatchback with back seats that can fold down, and I pretty much never have passengers. I decided fuck it, if I'm not driving people, I don't need to keep the seats up, so I could get a non-folding chair and just shove the whole thing in the back without breaking down. Without breaking down the chair. I could still break down. Life is tough sometimes.

So this is a Quickie GT, which is an old, discontinued model. According to the serial number lookup, it was made in 2009. The good news is that it immediately passed the Cat Test.

When I was looking at this chair, I saw that it was designed for people who push themselves, and would probably be less good for someone who needed other people to push them. This wasn't an issue for me, because I hate being pushed.

(same chair plus two cans of spray paint)

This chair was over the $500 budget (it was $670 with shipping and tax), but this time I'd done enough research to be confident that it'd be a lot better for me than the Medwarm chair. I stuck with Quickie as a brand because I felt like I better understood how they size their seats. The serial number lookup said that this chair was 17" wide, so I was ready to get a 16" seat, and that's what I got. It's got pneumatic tires, which don't just have tread but also roll along the ground like bicycle tires. I love this chair. Instead of two separate foot rests, there's just the one, so I'm a lot more comfortable with how I sit.

It does have the downside of this is the smallest it gets without taking off the wheels. The wheels come off easily and so it's not a big problem, but it's more steps to get it into the car if I don't want to fold back my seats. Also, the front plate doesn't flip up or go away, so if I want to propel myself with my foot I'm a lot more limited.

Once I don't need this anymore, I'm also going to need to either sell it or figure out where to store it. I can keep a folding wheelchair in the back of my closet in case I need it again, but this one will be taking up some space.

For all of the chairs that I got, I was really only searching ebay for a couple of days before the right one at the right price showed up. This is somewhat slanted based on what I need, because certain things do show up more often than others, and at different prices. Wider chairs tend to have less selection and be more expensive, while 12-14" wide chairs are really plentiful.

Let's get together and look at some ebay chairs. We're going to search "wheelchair" and set condition to "used". If you plop the sort system into "price+shipping: lowest first" and then start scrolling until you get past all the wheelchair parts and all the "free local pickup: <location that is in another country>" and into the actual wheelchairs that can ship, you can start checking out the market.

I immediately eliminate anything that doesn't have all the parts, that is too expensive, that is only available for pickup, that doesn't have foot rests, or a few other things. The first one that I saw that I didn't elminate was this.

The most important thing from this listing is where they post the serial number.

And that's because KI, Sunrise, and Permobil all keep databases of all the serial numbers of all the chairs they have sold.

You can now go onto a site that sells that chair and look up what all those things mean. Spinlife sells the Catalyst 5Vx, and if you click "help me choose" on an item listing, it'll usually give you pictures of the different options. For me personally, the draw of this one would be that it's a really good price, and it's roughly set up the same as my default Medwarm chair. I don't like the tires but I do like the side guards and arm rest combo.

This was on a listing for a chair where the serial number wouldn't pull up. I wouldn't consider this one since I can't tell the width or depth when the seller won't list it and Sunrise doesn't have it. I'm just dropping this screenshot because "SELLER NOTE TO SELF" and "BUTT PAD NOT INCLUDED" both made me laugh.

As a quick final note, this is not going to be cheaper than getting a really basic wheelchair off Amazon. However, as someone who has used really basic wheelchairs, getting something upgraded has a whole lot of value. One of the reasons why I really like lolita fashion is that we treasure used things that still have use, and so it's also got some value to me to see if I can get something used that still has use. In my experience, things got better when I tried to get something used. If you do want a really basic chair, it might still be worth it to check if they're available for nearby pickup. Plopping my location into "free local pickup within 30 miles" offers me a basic Drive chair for $20. It's reusing something instead of having to throw it away, and it's also $20. Can't argue with $20.

Anyway, that's half diary entry and half possible advice.

#20dollarlolita on wheels #tag later #going o have to actually go tag things later sometime

[mrghostrat]

I remember you posting a blurred gif of the outline of atws, so if you don't mind me asking, how do you do that? Like, get the outline onto paper and not just scenes in your head. That's something I've always struggled with, because it's hard to write without an outline, but hard to do the outline when I don't have a first draft? I'm not sure how to explain it so I hope this makes any sense at all lmao

ahh so fair! some people just don't operate that way and you gotta do what's best for your brain. no point exhausting all your energy trying to squeeze into a "standard writing process" that'll make writing even more difficult for yourself.

under the cut, i'm going to explain my writing process every step of the way, using scenes of ATWS. i hope it helps in some way? i don't think it's anything special, but this is just how i write to appease my adhd.

first, this might help: i once used storyplanner.com when i didn't know how to even start a story and i loved it. it's a great tool that can hold your hand every step of the way, or just prompt you to think on your own. there's over 20 planners that ask different questions like "what's your character's major flaw?" "what's the inciting incident?" "what outside elements hinder the character?" etc that will present you with a complete story structure when you're done with it.

ok, now, how i write:

as for the post in reference, that's the 2nd stage of my writing process. i get carried away with tangents and hone in on details, so i plan in dot points to try and force myself to keep it simple and stay zoomed out.

i just write what happens in chronological order, and if i have an idea for a later scene (or something that i just want to happen, but don't know when/where/how), i note that in a separate document that i can refer to while i plan. this also allows me to gloss over vague sections to keep my writing flow going.

stage 1:

i've started using Notion's "toggle list" feature to minimise the less important parts of a scene and keep myself focused on the overarching plot during this stage. this is what the first point looks like:

i go beat by beat, essentially amounting to an elevator pitch for each stage of my story. "crowley and aziraphale are streamer roommates" + "people start to notice they each live with someone and the speculation starts" + "crowley and aziraphale interact on twitch" + "they attend the edinburgh meetup" etc.

i finish a story before i move on from this stage. i won't start writing something in earnest until i know how it ends.

stage 2:

this is what you saw in my gif, and why that page was so long. that's every scene i'm going to write in the story.

sometimes i jump straight from stage 1 to writing, but ATWS required a lot more figuring out before i started any kind of prose. here i'm basically noting down the details of what each scene is, the brunt of what's happening. this is when i have to figure out those "vague sections" i glossed over earlier.

it's still just intended to be a rough outline so i know where the characters are and what's moving their relationship along. most of these dot points are short because i've already thought about them a thousand times, and may have more details noted down in a different document.

meanwhile some of them i'm planning out the scene as i'm dotting it, making not of dialogue that i want to include.

stage 3: my bracket method

i only use this stage when i'm struggling to write and need to baby step into it. this is my "bracket method" in which i write the scene without, like... caring? some people may consider this "double handling" which may drive you mad, but it's the most helpful thing i've ever done for my process.

i switch tenses, i write how i chat (no capitals etc) and just word vomit the scene without focusing on prose. ATWS came quite easily at first, and i didn't need to use stage 3 until i got to chapter 4 and hadn't written in a few days.

stage 4:

this is writing the actual prose, but i wanted to include it so you can see the differences, to help better understand my notes/planning/outlining stages:

and this is what a scene looks like with stage three bridging the gap:

#i swear this had a point #i think the point is: i literally just write each scene one by one as i think of them #but use all these little methods to keep it clean and tighten my own leash so i dont get carried away or lost #rat writes #ratwips #writing tips #writing process #art process #fan fic #ask a rat

[feelbokkie]

Emergency Bokkie's Room #2

(Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again)

I want to start off by saying that I'm not mad. At least not right now. I was at first, but I'm just tired at this point and something should be said.

You might have noticed that I haven't been as active content writing wise lately and that I've stopped tagging my mutuals in the hashtag section of my posts and there are reasons for that.

fair warning, there will be swearing below

there will also probably be spelling and grammar mistakes bc I don't care

I am getting tired. I'm not burnt out. God, I wish I was because i have so many ideas running through my head at all times that it's exhausting.

I'm straight up, no longer having a good time on this account and that's because of somethings that have been happening behind the scenes. I wasn't going to talk about it but at the end of the day, I should address them, even if it's only once.

In no particular order:

First, if you're going to harass my mutuals. Don't. I stopped tagging my mutuals via hashtags, I deleted my mutuals list, and I am painstakingly going through the old hashtags and deleting them. They're my friendships. Who I interact with, how I interact with them, and when I interact with them is between me and that individual.

If you want to be friends with me, talk to me. Ask anyone, I'm pretty pleasant to talk to when I'm not going through it.

But also, remember that I'm an adult and I can take care of myself. I don't need anyone fighting my battles for me. If you're concerned about who I surround myself with, take that up with me directly, or trust that can handle things on my own. Because, at the end of the day, I can. If you're mad that I'm friends with them and not you, maybe try having a conversation with me first before you go attacking people. Just a a help suggestion.

Second,

i know i'm annoying at times. i'm the youngest child, it's in my blood. if you are getting annoyed by my rambles, simply just block them. I tag all my rumbles and I even made a helpful guide on how to do so right here and i even have a list of commonly used tags that i have on this account too that you can also block

Finally, I shouldn't have to say this because it should be very obvious but shit like this is never okay:

First of all, if you're going to be blatantly racist to anyone, unkindly get the fuck off my page. My fics are not for you. I don't have the time or patience to deal with you or your ignorant ass. If I see you being disrespectful towards anyone in my asks, comments, etc. it's an automatic block on all my accounts, I don't give a single fuck.

Secondly, I'm delusional, yes, but I'm also just having fun. I'm not actually trying to date anyone in skz or any other idol for that matter. It's called a joke, I don't know if anyone's explained the concept to you, but it's not to be taken seriously. Just like my page isn't. Me joking about me dating Seungmin and how "that man owns me atp" isn't serious and it wasn't serious enough for you to call me the n-word with the hard -er. Which, congratulations btw, you are the second person ever to call me that to my face (the first being my dad and he is the devil reincarnate so, what does that make you?).

I shouldn't have to sit here and lecture anyone on basic human decency and common sense but here we are. We are very rapidly approaching a future where I'm just not on tumblr at all anymore which sucks for a multitude of reasons and I'm just trying to have fun like everyone else.

Okay, that's all. For those of you who read through the end and didn't need to be scolded, sorry about that. Please take this big hug as an apology

#emergency feelbokkies room

[ilovereadingandstuff]

Okay, so I was doing some chores here at my house and, out of nowhere (something completely normal forr me as a fan of bnha), chapter 413 popped in my head, especifically pages 13-14, and I started rambling my ideas...until I realized something.

Izuku is going to lose OFA.

Ok, not that, which is literal text, but this:

Izuku is going to lose OFA, and while arguing with Kudou and the others vestiges, he was crying his eyes out because what mattered the most to Izuku about losing OFA, among ALL the consequences and intricate meanings which 'becoming quirkless again' could represent...It was the fact that OFA was a gift from All Might that made Izuku's heart ache in agony at that moment.

ch. 413 Here I want to note that the spanish official translation says exactly the same, so there's no contradictions.

It was not that he was going back to his past self, not that he most-likely would have to face that discrimination he went through all his childhood all over again. Not that losing his quirk could mean that he would have to stop being a hero. Not that he was gong back on being useless/worthless again...ANY OF THAT! BUT because he is 'losing the gift, meant for him, from his daddy might'...THAT'S what was causing his tears...

And from this, I see two things:

First...

IZUKU YOU BASTARD!!

HE'S AVOIDING AGAINNN THINKING OF HIMSELF!!

And, I'm sorry, but being quirkless is not goddamn easy!

It has been explained several times in the development of the plot that bnha's society is based on superhumans: people with quirks.

Being just a regular person without a quirk is a really complicated thing to deal with, and having that particularity means facing problems both on a social and psychological level.

In Aoyama's case, for example, his parents were so devastated over the fact that their son was quirkless, and therefore, he was feeling excluded and different from others, that they reached a point of despair that they made a deal with AFO and, well, you know the rest.

Another one that comes to mind is Ragdoll. Her inclusion here in the list could be debated, but what I want to distinguish about her character is that, after losing her quirk completely by AFO's doing, she had to face a huge set back in order to re-organize her new life now without a quirk. She didn't appeared in the story for many chapter until it was explained that she was still working as a hero but in the backstage, to say in a way.

And finally, Izuku is one of the clearer examples of all this (and that's why he's the protagonist).

He had to deal with bullying, rejection and exclusion (from their classmates when he was in elementary/middle school to the entire society against him). His OWN mother had her own troubles to support him over a dream that was impossible to achieve because, once more, confront villian with a broad range of hazardous quirks against a single person was basically suicidal...

On note of all this, I have to mention this scene (which I say now: I'll bring this up over and over again, a thousand times if needed). I've mention this specific situation in one of my posts before, but now I'll explain it more in depth:

ch. 72, pages 19-20

WHAT ABOUT THIS HORI!!??! HUH!!?? WHAT'S THAT?? WHAT IS THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN???!! "BIRTH DEFECT"!?? "HE JUST COULDN'T ACCEPT THE TRUTH"?!?!

This scene has always been stuck in my head since the first time I read it because...here it explicitly shows Izuku's demeaning perspective over 'being quirkless'.

Here he's saying that "it's a defect", an imperfection, something he lacks on (because society has made it a necessity or requirement).

And even in spanish, even though it doesn't translates as 'defect', it highlights the idea of 'he didn't get what he should have received' (in this case, that his parents 'couldn't provide him of that')

In both languages it is mention the phrase where he explains that ' ' 'his friend' ' ' always kept believing EVEN when the universe was proving him wrong again and again.

My point here is: Izuku has a negative view of being quirkless (just as any other person in-universe would have) and with that, the possibilities of him having a list of low self-esteem issues, lack of confidence and self-value even as a human being are REALLY high...

but then, the fact that Izuku, after having been thrown around for the most dangerous villian of all, shirtless and crying with a bunch of ghosts inside his head...when they're telling him of getting rid of what he should have had always what makes him human...he doesn't think of him. of the problems he would have to face. of the pain he would go through again...

Instead, he thinks of 'the gift from All Might', almost as if the quirk were a toy All Might gave him and that he shouldn't lose it because All Might would feel angry or sorry for him...

MAYBE, maybe I'm going around the bush and making no sense... but FUCK IT! I WANT ANSWERS, HORI!!

I NEED THEM!! I'M LOSING MY MIND!!!

Why is he refusing himself again?? Avoiding HIS feelings but worrying about others'? Or rather, worrying about THE THING instead the consequences it causes the lost of it??!

WHY IS HE ALWAYS THINKING OF ANYTHING BUT HIM?!

Second...

Ok. Now that I've calmed myself down and said what i was meaning to say...after having been screaming internally against Izuku and all his shit...the second point I wanted to talk about was that...

With everything that has happened, a GREAT opportunity would be presenting itself to develop the dad-son bond Toshinori and Izuku have been building since the beggining.

Let me explain:

When All Might first came to town and met Izuku, their bond began to form because they were interating with one another because of OFA. The 'you're my successor' was the excuse and only connection they had to be together. And for that same reason is how their relationship exists in the first place.

So...if Izuku loses OFA. If that excuse stops to exists...the only reason for them to continue being together would be the love they have develop for one another as father-son.

If Toshinori could spell out loud to Izuku that he cares for him beyond that 'you're my successor' or 'the one I gave it my quirk'...if they could transcend that lame excuse and finally spoke to each other as human beings...

GOD, maybe I'm projecting myself here because I LOVE their relationship and i would gladly like to see Toshi legally adopting Izuku or them calling each other 'my son' and 'my dad'...but, yeah...

Those are my ideas about the new chapter.

#izuku midoriya #midoriya izuku #bnha spoilers #bnha manga spoilers #bnha 413 #bnha 72 #dadmight #toshinori yagi #all might #ofa #bnha manga spoiler #bnha meta #mha spoilers #bnha analysis

[baby-alien11]

can I get a poly chad x fem!reader x Tara headcannons for scream 6 with no ghostface? reader is a roommate of Anika’s or something!

Hii anon, thanks for sending the request

I hope you like how I wrote your idea

being in a relationship with Chad and Tara

You've been friends with Anika since elementary school so it wasn't a surprise that both of you decided to go to the same college as roomates

Arriving at Blackmore, both of you entered your shared dorm noticing a girl already there accommodating her things in one of the rooms, along with her brother and other girl shorter than the both of them

That's how you and Anika ended being part of the Core Four group, along with Ethan who was roomie with Chad, and Quinn who shared an appartment with Sam and Tara

Soon enough, Anika and Mindy started dating

While you, Chad and Tara got close

Even when the three of you had different majors, study sessions almost everyday were now a tradition

That study sessions and all the time that the three of you spend together, alone or with the whole group, made new feelings develope between you three

Of course it wasn't a surprise that you liked boys and girls, basically you and Anika came out almost at the same time

During movie nights the three of you sat together in the same sofa, alternating the person who's turn is next to sit in the middle

They even trusted you so much, that they told you what they went trough last year in Woodsboro

And after hearing that, you ended up crying an telling them how strong they were for surviving that horrible experience

The most time you spend with both of them, you realised the feelings developing towards the two of them

But you didn't tell them those feelings because you didn't know how could they react to that

That was until during a dinner night in a cafeteria close to the apartment, Chad decided to do something about the situation

"I like you", Chad suddenly said

Hearing those three words, you and Tara looked at each other in confussion because he said that so abruptly

"Context please", you asked still confused

"Please promise me that you won't run after this, both of you", Chad spoke at what you and Tara nodded, "Okay, here we go, in this last months I've started to develope feelings for both of you, like more than friends"

"Thank God I'm not the only one who felt this way", you sighed in relief

"Wait, really?", Tara asked with a little smile

"It's not a secret I like boys and girls", you shrugged

"So, I guess we all in the same page", Chad continued now smiling, "What if we tried something? A relationship between the three of us, if it doesn't work we forget this happened and continue as friends, how does it sound?"

Sharing a look with Tara for a few seconds, both of you nodded with little smiles

"Throuple power! High five!", Chad exclaimed with excitement rasing both of his hands

"If you do that again we will break up with you", Tara threatened

That same night, the rest of the group was informed of the relationship situation, and certainly they had a mix of emotions like surprise, confusion and happiness

Things didn't change a lot after the relationship started

During go outs, Chad carried two jackets, one for the both of you

He didn't saw those jackets after that

On movie nights, the two place sofa was now yours, you and Chad sitting in it and Tara on top of both of you due to her being the smallest

Cooking together dinner for everyone (which almost all the time ended up with a little disaster)

Lots of cuddling, specially after an stressful day of classes

When you are late for class and have to run around the campus to go to your respective classes, Chad decided at one point to carry both of you and Tara to run towards your classrooms in order to be on time

Chad even let Tara and you to do make ups on him just for fun and post some of the photos on Instagram

The first kiss between the three of you was a little akward because when you attempted do do it, all of your noses collided with each other leaving a bruise in your noses for a few days

Chad is a simp

He often carry both of your bags around campus, your purses when going out to dinner or during shopping, if one of you had to do a big project he would carry it, doesn't matter how small or big it is

At parties, Tara had the habit to drink more than her body could hold, so you and Chad had to hold her hand in order to not loose her in the crowd

There was one time when she arrived too drunk to the apartment that you and Chad had to sit for two hours listening to Sam scolding you for letting Tara drink her weight in alcohol

Of course Quinn filmed the entire thing and send it to the groupchat

After that, both of you made sure to make her throw up before leaving the party and gave her water to hydratate

Of course, after a month of trying the whole throuple thing, everything worked well so the relationship continued

#baby alien creations #baby alien requests #scream #chad meeks martin x reader #chad meeks martin #chad meeks martin x fem reader #chad meeks martin x you #chad meeks x reader #tara carpenter #tara carpenter x you #tara carpenter fanfic #scream franchise #tara carpenter fluff #jenna ortega

[demetris-cocksleeve]

Hiiiii I've said it bef9re and I will say it again because let's be honest YOU'RE WRITING IS AMAZING!!!! I absolutely adore your creativity!! I was wondering if I can request something?

Once again it's for alec volturi (shocking I know😂😂) yandere/possessive alec x vampire reader. You can choose how they meet but basically he kidnaps her and she fights for a long time just entirely resists him physically and verbally like constantly talks back. Until eventually after many escape attempts (failed because jane or felix or demitri brings her back evrytime) she gives in and starts to love him. He collars her as a sign of his possessive ownership and she is submissive to him and with him but aggressive ig to everyone else( sorry idk how to word that last part) if it's too much or you're not comfortable I understand❤❤

(A/n: Got me smiling and shit-😂)

(Just in case anyone either never read the books or doesn't remember it from the books but, since vampires are the same temperature, they feel warm to each other)

(Here's a pdf of the book; page 436, 7th line down for any doubters lmao)

Word Count: 1,464

Summary: In which Alec takes a bit too much interest in his mate

Warnings: Kidnapping, Stockholm Syndrome, Collaring

Age Rating: Pg 13

Tactile Power Transferal- the ability to take another vampire's power with a touch and transfer it to whom the user pleases.

Very useful

Unfortunately for you, that's what Aro thought too

Double jeopardy because you found out your mate was a member of the elite guard

You would have been mostly fine with it had he not gotten possessive as much and as quick as he did

It got to the point of not being able to leave the castle unless under order of the kings

Naturally, you fought the imprisonment, but you were never successful

Which leads us to your current predicament:

"Put me down!" You yell, fists pounding the executioner's back.

Not that it affected Felix in any way.

You had managed to escape once more, but was quickly tracked down by Demetri. Once you were cornered, the larger of the two had unceremoniously tossed you over his shoulder so the trip back was -albite just a fraction- easier.

"You do realize that if you stopped running, you wouldn't have to be carried back all the time?" The tracker quips.

"Shut up you damned, bloodhound..." you growl.

He scoffs. "Ouch. That'd actually hurt if it was scent that I track."

You settle for glaring at him, not wanting to deal with him any longer.

-

"From now on, there will be guards stationed outside your chambers; they will be posted outside the door and windows." Aro states with a finality that you can't bring yourself to argue.

Caius chimes in as you lower your gaze to the floor. "How many times do you think we will put up with your traitorous actions? The only reason you're still alive after running away all these times is because of who your mate is. Don't mistake it for leniency. And don't think our patience isn't thinning. Keep this behavior up and you will see first hand why we are known as such fierce rulers."

"Take her back to her room." He commands Felix.

So starts your walk of shame back to captivity.

As much as you hate him for repeatedly placing you back in your cage, you appreciate that he only walks quietly behind you through the halls.

Finally reaching your room, you see that the guards are already positioned. You step in, locking the door behind you.

"You'd be a lot happier here if you stopped fighting."

"I'm not in the mood for you, Alec." You can't bring yourself to care that he's seemingly made himself at home in your room. Too mentally exhausted from constantly pushing against an immovable force.

Somewhere in the back of your mind, you know you'll never escape. That it would be so much easier to just give in. Maybe you should. It's not like you have any other options.

'You could always expose yourself. They'd have to kill you then...' No. You ignore the tiny voice. You're not that desperate -not yet any way.

In a flash, Alec has you pinned to the wall by the neck.

His face is twisted into a gnarly sneer.

"You think you have a choice?" He lets out a crude laugh. "You will 'be in the mood for me' whenever I so much as snap my fingers, do you understand me?"

He emphasizes his question by applying more pressure. You can feel the beginning of cracks snake their way around your neck as he waits for your response.

You know it's not just a bluff. He's ripped a limb off before when you spat every curse you knew at him. Turns out the process of limbs reattaching themselves isn't a fun one.

"Do. You. Understand?" He presses further.

"Yes." you whimper as the pain increases, skin splintering like wood left to dry rot.

Just as soon as it started, he lets you go. You let out an unneeded yet shaky breath. He's never threatened death, even if it would only be temporary.

Shit.

There really is no saving yourself.

'All it takes is one step into the sun,' the voice reminds.

'Though, if you really don't want that, there is another way...' The voice is right, but that would mean going against everything you've been fighting for.

'You don't really have much of a choice anymore,' it reminds.

Maybe you're right...

-

Over the next few months, you had stopped trying to run. You had fought every nerve in your body that jumped when Alec was near. Started to force yourself to initiate physicality and affection. Even though you felt like you were burning with every touch and pet name, you pushed through it so that maybe, just maybe, you could trick yourself into thinking you actually loved him.

You don't know when pretending turned in to being genuine. All you know is that one day you were feigning being happy to see him and the next, you were practically bouncing in place as you waited for him to get back from his guard duties.

Only going through the motions of a kiss turned into eagerly pressing kisses to his face and neck, making your way to his lips when you'd been separated for weeks.

You'd fallen and you'd fallen hard. It should scare you, but you can't bring yourself to care when you were no longer mentally and physically in pain. Not when you stopped being guarded 24/7, not when Alec seemed so happy about your new attitude; constantly bringing you beautifully crafted pieces of jewelry or carefully arranged bouquets of your favorite flowers. Not when he would whisper the loveliest things to you in the dead of night as he held you against his chest.

The kings were also pleased with your turn of attitude, though the same couldn't be said for a specific pair within the guard. Let's just say you still hold a grudge against the two that repeatedly humiliated you; carrying you around the castle over their shoulders -or worse, one time they had you held between them: one holding you under the arms while the other held your ankles like you were a fucking jump rope.

So, no, you wouldn't be amicable towards those two any time soon.

You break from your thoughts when your mate enters your, now shared, bedroom with a small box in hand.

"What's this?" You question when he sits next to you, handing the parcel over.

You gently pull the ribbon and take the lid off to reveal a beautifully woven choker. It's a black satin, sewn with a deep red lace. In the middle is a little bow with silver 'A' charm.

"Just a little something to show who you belong to," Alec answers.

You glance to him and back the collar. "It's beautiful." You run you finger lightly along the red lace. "Put it on me?"

"Of course," he holds his hand out for the box. You hand it to him amd turn to the side.

You feel his warm hand glide across the back of your neck, moving your hair out of the way. Alec brings the collar across your front and easily clasps it in the back, fixing your tresses to their original position.

You turn back to him as he takes hold of your jaw, pulling you into a searing kiss.

"You're mine," he murmurs into the kiss.

Your hands slide into his hair as you mumble an agreement.

Before you can blink, your back is on the mattress and Alec is hovering above you. He trails his kisses down to your jaw and to your neck, slowly kissing his way to the neck of your top.

You can't help the stuttered breath that leaves you when he nips at your collarbone.

Looking down at him, a whisper of his name leaves your lips. "Alec..."

His eyes are near black when he looks up at you. You can't help but pull him back to your lips, teeth clashing as you both lose your sense. Not that you can be bothered to care; all you can focus on is 'Alec, Alec, Alec' playing like a mantra in your mind. His taste, his smell, his feel. He's invading all your senses and you couldn't be more content.

Alec loops a finger under the choker, pulling you to be impossibly closer. He breaks away only long enough to ask: "Let me show you who you belong to?"

"Please," your legs wrap around his hips in a futile attempt to pull him even closer.

An almost sadistic smirk appears on his face as he dives back to your lips. He hikes one of your legs higher so he can press his hips to yours and-

Oh.

Oh, it's going to be a long night.

Not that you can find it in yourself to mind...

#alec volturi x reader #alec volturi smut #alec volturi #alec volturi x reader smut

[queer-ragnelle]

I am so sorry if you have answered this before, I was just wondering if you knew of a good way to get into Arthurian literature? Like… what to read first and what definitely not to read first?

Everything I can find when I search for a good list or order talks about modern retellings, but I am not sure how to get into the older ones. They are a bit hard to approach, so I am worrying that I may be going about it wrong.

I’ve just been slowly collecting different tellings from old book stores over the years, but there is so much that I am not sure where to begin..

hi there! no need to apologize, it's all very overwhelming and confusing. i've answered this question before, but have since added more literature, so i'll go in depth. :^) determining where to start really depends on what you're looking to get out of your reading experience.

lots of people recommend le morte d'arthur by sir thomas malory for an overall understanding of the basic premise without having to read the long and scary vulgate cycle. but as i said in this ask, it's not my favorite text, as it truncates the story so much it can cause confusion. yet it's the "shortest" (ie 1,000 pages lol) recounting of events from arthur's conception through his death, as well as incorporating the often-excluded story from the prose tristan, and adding character-defining elements we've all come to accept as part of the "canon" such as gareth beaumains's humble beginnings as a kitchen boy. (in the vulgate, his story is largely the same as the elder bros he tags along with. in fact, @lefresne and i discovered each of us had a transcription/translation of the vulgate which referenced two different manuscripts of the same story, but had swapped the names guerrehet/gaheriet [gareth/gaheris] and confused the hell out of us bc we had varied accounts of the same scene and were both right! scribes mistake? point is there's not a substantial differentiation between them until the post vulgate and le morte d'arthur, so reading that will give you needed context/depth!)

on the other hand, le morte d'arthur doesn't include some even later additions to the "canon" that are now famous and get incorporated into many retellings, such as sir gawain and the green knight and the wedding of sir gawain and dame ragnelle. (are these a deal breaker to comprehend a retelling? not necessarily. but despite gawain's track record with many ladies, if an author writes in a wife for him, on god, they always choose ragnelle. so that poem is a must<3)

so it's really your own judgment call! no matter what, you'll likely need to read more than one book for fuller context to understand the common "fandom" talking points and frequently adapted stories. in any case, i've just made an FAQ where you can go and figure out what stories will suit your needs. i hope this helps. have a nice day!

#arthurian legend #arthuriana #arthurian legends #arthurian mythology #reading recommendations #reading reccs #ask #anonymous

[jessenitrogen]

If you are still accepting Bulkjack requests, how about Bulkhead taking care of an injured Wheeljack?

YES IM DEFINITELY STILL TAKING BULKJACK REQUESTS IVE BEEN A LIL SLOW LATELY AN E WAYS

THIS TOOK A LOT LONGER THAN IT SHOULDVE OH GOD

no dialogue in the first two pages bcuz i didnt like it plus had to change the original dialogue I was gonna use but I might use it later

personally dont think this turned out the best but, bonus points cuz I'm getting in comic making practice and any bulkjack art is a win for me sO, hope ya like it somewhat atleast!!

A bit more info and just me going on a lil rant basically here aYUP

FIRST TWO PAGES, Wheeljack can turn his arms into blasters if he needs to but, is using a gun instead because it's some type of immobilizer (doesnt keep anyone immobilized for long, used to apprehend aggressive cybertronians) since the point of the mission that both he and Bulkhead were on they were not to hurt anyone, just to stop whatever skirmish was happening at the time

THE TWO CYBERTRONIANS in the background are my characters, and are two of a triplet group. they're not autobot or decepticon but they are acting on orders from someone else here.

CARRIE is also another one of my characters. I've drawn her and posted her here bfore actually ehehehe

#transformers #maccadam #tf #tf mythos #fan continuity #continuity #au #comic #wheeljack #bulkhead #wheeljack x bulkhead #bulkjack #tfp #transformers prime #robots in disguise #rid #art response #request #tf ocs #transformers art #my art

[boltedfruit]

How I Outline/Plot: Including Author Resources for Developing Characters and Self Publishing

First and foremost, everything I’ve included in this doc that references resources (such as the plot outline below), is also available for free on the authors’ respective websites. I just wanted to recreate the template Scrivener file I use when starting a new project as I’ve collected everything in one master file.

MASTER TEMPLATE GOOGLE DOC: https://tinyurl.com/boltemp

I recently posted the chapter count for my upcoming Mafia MM romance I'm writing for NaNoWriMo this year and was asked how I plot by @duckyreads

Below, I've included screenshots of the first couple beats of my process and how much detail I usually include when outlining. The template I'm working from is an edited one of Romancing the Beat by Gwen Hayes, who offers her beat sheet for free on her site and in a Scrivener Template.

Using Romancing the Beat, I first went through and made a separate page for each story beat for my protagonist, Zac. I can't do just normal three act structure as it's too vague for me. I need Too Much to work with, then I can whittle it down later. I then did the same for the love interest and Mafia boss, Joe. (name might be changed idk yet.)

The colored dots represent which act of the story I'm in. Light pink= Act 1: Set Up, Dark Pink= Act 2: Falling, Blue= Act 3: Retreating, and Purple= Act 4: Shake it Off.

I also want to note that even though the epilogue is written in for both characters' POV, I'm only writing it once, from Zac's POV. So not every single beat necessarily translates directly into its own chapter. A few from Joe's POV are definitely combined more than once.

So Chapter 1, Scene 1: Zac's sister Riley has made him a dating profile and set him up on a date with who will soon be revealed as a crime lord.

I'm repetitive, because I've gone back in at different points and added little notes here and there. But my basic points I want to convey right off the bat: Zac is a hot mess who drinks to excess at times, has a sister who loves him but he is always putting her in a hard position, and has issues with money and violence from his childhood.

I also like to include some dialogue or rough snippets for scenes because it helps make the scene feel more concrete to me. I don't always do this though.

This is Chapter 1, Scene 2. Very short and to the point. (This was something I originally started writing as a fic btw.)

This is Chapter 2, Scene 1 and is the first from Joe's perspective.

It's plotty compared to the first chapter. I haven't done any nitty gritty location research yet so I put stuff I don't know yet in asterisks or brackets or in something like "XXX", because XXX is easy to find and change with ctrl+f > replace.

This is from Chapter 3, Scene 1. Just vibes.

This is from Chapter 4, Scene 2, from Joe's POV after the date.

This is what I ended up with. I'm sure as I work through it, the chapter count will go down. I don't really want my romance book to be so long, but I saw recently that 50 Shades is apparently over 500 pgs, which is wild to me. I'm also doing alternating POV, so it'll be switching between my protag and the love interest.

My outlining/plotting steps:

Decide on genre and type of story structure I want to use.

Decide on my protagonist and lay out a new page/note for every story beat of whatever structure I'm using.

Go in order or jump around and write a little per beat based on how I want a scene to go. For me, feeling is more important than knowing exactly what's going to happen. I'm not naturally a plotter, so I still like to not be constrained when I'm actually writing. (ie I'm not adhering to some rigid word count per chapter.) And if I changed something or added a thing while writing, I go back to the outline after and add it in so it all lines up and I don't forget something I did.

If a beat doesn't fit its own chapter, I make it a scene. It's also okay for multiple beats to happen in one chapter too.

Do the same for any other POVs involved in the story. Try to make each character have their own arc as well, no matter how small.

Really my main advice is go with your gut first because you can always add on or retract later. Write what you want (with some awareness of genre tropes/audience wants if you're trying to write to market to some extent). All book publishing is fickle and mean a lot of the time. And honestly unless you're one of the few who gets picked up by traditional publishers and offered an amazing deal, you'll be expected to pay for all the things you'd be paying for with self publishing, except with fewer rights to your own work. I'd rather pay and manage my own website, ads, and ARC readers and retain total rights to my own creations than give my rights to a publisher who might hold my book up for years, and still expect me to fund my own advertising, book tours etc.

And besides, if you self publish, there is no rule you can't have another book (and then even your backlog) traditionally published later on. You can have both.

#self publishing #writing #indie authors #boltedfruit writes #guess that's a tag #boltedfruit fic #I get heated about how trad authors are treated especially new ones

[butterflydm]

WoT reread: The Strike at Shayol Ghul & some final thoughts, post-reread

So, I was not planning to do a full reread back when I first picked EotW back up again! My primary motivation was to refresh myself on books 1-3 so that I would be prepared for S2 of the show, lol.

But I'm glad that I did this reread. There was a lot in the books that I had forgotten or where I'd bought into the fandom party line despite the books themselves not supporting the arguments imo, so it was great to dive into them again and see what I think and not simply what general fandom thinks. Thanks so much to everyone who commented on or interacted with my reread posts. <3

While this next bit is technically not a reread because I never got around to reading it when it first came out, I went ahead and read "The Strike at Shayol Ghul" (written in 1996 by Jordan). Thanks to @wafflelovingbatgirl for reminding me about its existence! I may try to get around to reading "River of Souls" (about Demandred, by Sanderson) at some point, but TSaSG was easy to find online.

here there be spoilers

The Strike at Shayol Ghul

It's pretty short -- it's "an introduction" written by someone in-world -- Jorille Mondevin, who is the Royal Historian for the Queen of Kandor. Looks like the Queen that we know in the series -- Queen Ethenielle. Nice. I always enjoy 'in-world" texts, so this is very interesting.

She's telling the queen about a recent discovery of a "partial copy" of a "history of the world" from the drilling of the Bore until the end of the Breaking of the World. We get a worldbuilding note here: that the practice of printing survived the Breaking "when so much did not", which helps explain the high literacy level in the Westlands. While many inventions were lost, the printing press survived! Though most of the actual writings were lost during the Trolloc Wars and the War of the Hundred Years.

"We must marvel at any writing that has survived more than three thousand years." So true, bestie. (I've decided that Jorille and I are besties) "What we know is based on fragments, copied and recopied a thousand times, but at least we know something from them. Even a little knowledge is better than ignorance."

I love how this feeds into the basic concept we're dealing with -- history becomes legend. We're talking about that process here, of knowledge being reduced to fragments that are passed on.

Oh, man, reading this does remind me about reading about IRL fragmentary texts. "Such a history would no doubt be a vast, multi-volume work, yet of the two hundred and twelve surviving pages, the largest number of consecutive pages number six, and nowhere else more than two."

She notes that the dates given in the text make no sense, because "no calendar dating from the Age of Legends has ever been found". There are references both to large-scale events such as cities destroyed by balefire during the War of the Shadow, as well as mentions of individuals' personal appearances. But nothing that tells the special significance of most of the people mentioned.

The six consecutive pages that survived are of particular interest, because they are about the sealing of the Bore by Lews Therin Telamon and the Hundred Companions.

"We still cannot be certain how long passed between the creation of the Bore and the actual beginning of what would come to be called the War of the Shadow, yet plainly at least fifty years and possibly more than one hundred were marked by a rapid decline in the social order". During the first three years of the War of the Shadow, the Shadow made great in-roads and then during the next four, Lews Therin pushed them back to reclaim some of what was lost.

But ultimately, the Shadow began to prevail because it did not care if it left disaster in its wake. It was soon clear that they were losing again and their losses were accelerating. "If they were to win at all, it must be done quickly".

There were two plans proposed at the time that are mentioned here: first Lews Therin's idea of directly attacking the Bore itself. The Seals were going to be used to shut the Dark One away from the world. The plan was considered risky due to the Dark One's influence on the immediate area surrounding Shayol Ghul, with Lews Therin admitting that he expected few or perhaps none of his "raiding party" (of twenty thousand soldiers and 13 Aes Sedai) would survive. Additionally, there was a concern that if the seals were not placed in precisely the right locations, the strain of them would rip open the Bore entirely and free the Dark One.

The other plan, in opposition to this, was proposed by Latra Posae Decume. Her plan was to use two massive sa'angreal (the ones that Rand ended up using during the cleansing of saidin) to push the Shadow's forces back and erect a barrier around Shayol Ghul until... you know, they figured something better out. Downsides to this plan: the Bore has kept getting bigger since it was first drilled, so it might continue to do so behind this barrier as well, and if the Dark One got loose inside the barrier, the barrier itself might come undone under the strain.

Latra and Lews were both, apparently, very convincing speakers, with Latra getting every female Aes Sedai "of significant strength" to sign what the manuscript calls "the Fateful Accord" though Jorille doubts that's what it was called at the time. I wonder if the 'strength level' was "Nynaeve-level" or if it was lower and more like "Egwene/Elayne-level". It was believed that the signing of this accord killed Lews Therin's plan in the water, because "men cannot create a circle, only be brought into one created by a woman".

Work on the massive sa'angreal was rushed into production. There is, Jorille says, a lot of speculation among historians about whether or not the sa'angreal would have worked as Latra had proposed. She also mentions speculation about whether or not women going with Lews Therin into his plan would have protected saidin from the taint or if it would have only meant that saidar was tainted as well.

But disaster struck as the sa'angreal were completed. The place where the access ter'angreal were created (needing to be done remotely due to "uncontrolled resonances during the finale stages" -- Jorille doesn't know what that might mean, but I'm guessing it would mean feedback leading to a big boom) was overrun by Sammael and the forces of the Shadow, though they did not find the access ter'angreal.

With the sa'angreal unusable, Lews Therin argued again for his plan but Latra wouldn't budge. As time had passed, even more of the female Aes Sedai had pledged to the Accord, even though they weren't strong enough to be part of the circle anyway. "Tempers and passions rose, and an apparently unprecedented division along male-female lines began to develop among the Aes Sedai in general, if not within the Hall itself". The Hall decided to stay with Latra's plan, attempting to smuggle the access ter'angreal out of the area now controlled by Sammael.

Jorille notes that all those making the attempt to find the access ter'angreal were later found out to have been captured, tortured, and killed, though none of them betrayed the location of the ter'angreal to Sammael.

As the Shadow swept forward, there was the "re-emergence of the peace faction" who argued that negotiations should be held with the Forsaken. Jorille notes that this peace faction, over the course of the War, would send people on its own to try to negotiate with the Forsaken but, upon the return of the delegations, they would act out plans that aided the Shadow's cause "though it seems that in some instances, they were completely unaware of what they had done" (aka Compulsion).

Despite how dire the situation had grown, Latra's resistance to Lews Therin's plan held firm. "the lines of division had hardened to a point where many female Aes Sedai refused to speak to male Aes Sedai, and the reverse as well". Lews Therin decides to act on his own, without the Hall.

Jorille notes at this point that Latra had earned the name Shadar Nor, translated as "Cutter/Slicer of the Shadow" but what deeds earned her that title have been lost to history.

So, Lews Therin launches his own assault against Shayol Ghul, with the "Hundred Companions" (though Jorille says that text notes they numbered 113 at this point) and ten thousand regular soldiers.

"Exactly what occurred that day can never be known, only the results. Of the soldiers, not a single man or woman returned to give any account." It is known that the seals were placed safely, that "all thirteen of the Forsaken" were at Shayol Ghul and trapped in the sealing along with the Dark One. If that had been the only result of the attack, then the world would likely have recovered well over the next few years, Jorille speculates. "Civilization has retained a large degreee of cohesion in the ares held by the Light" and without the top generals, the armies of the Shadow fell into struggles for power among themselves. "In any case, the War of the Shadow must be said to have ended that day at Shayol Ghul."

But, Jorille adds, this was not the only result of the assault. "Instead, there was the counterstroke from the Dark One at the moment of sealing, and saidin itself was tainted." Lews Therin and his companions "went insane on the instant" and by the time the taint was discovered, hundreds more male Aes Sedai had been driven mad by the taint. "That fateful day at Shayol Ghul ended the war, and began the Breaking of the World."

She says that the manuscript itself, in its own introduction, speaks for what the people at the time were suffering: "Whoever reads this, if any remain to read it, weep for us who have no more tears. Pray for us who are damned alive."

Very informative and pretty evocative as well. One of the things that I love about WoT is the post-apocalyptic setting and one of the things that I love about that setting is learning about the world before and during the world-breaking event (one of the reasons I also love the Horizon Zero Dawn games).

I have no clue why I didn't read that back when it was first published. It's great and it's pretty short. Though I realize that a lot of that information had kinda filtered into my world-knowledge already, lol.

My personal ranklist for the WoT books:

The Fires of Heaven (😍)

The Shadow Rising (😘)

The Dragon Reborn (😘)

The Path of Daggers (😘)

New Spring (😘)

The Great Hunt (😄)

The Gathering Storm (😄)

Lord of Chaos (😄)

The Eye of the World (😄)

A Memory of Light (🙂)

Towers of Midnight (🙂)

A Crown of Swords (🙂)

Winter’s Heart (🙂)

...

...

...

...

...

Crossroads of Twilight (😒)

Knife of Dreams (😒)

While I am glad that I did a full reread this time, there are definitely parts of the books that mostly frustrated me and I'll probably just skim past them in future rereads (I suspect I will want to do at least some rereading after S2 airs) -- I'm not sure if I'll ever reread Mat & Perrin's sections of CoT & KoD again. That's essentially the heart of the Slog right there.

Some things that definitely changed for me during this reread:

a. I noticed how much shipping material there is for Cauthor as a pairing (obviously this is mostly in the first five books but there are crumbs even after they separate). Very exciting to me! I didn't go into my reread expecting much, because fanon had definitely affected my memories of Cauthor and I was assuming that their friendship permanently broke in TGH after Mat found out that Rand could channel. Very untrue! I (and many of the other readers, I must assume) was just too young to pick up on all of Mat's subtext back when I first read the books.

b. Gawyn's stock massively rose for me. One of the best points that @markantonys made to me about Gawyn is how similar his 'coping with trauma' behavior is from the outside to Rand's is -- we just spend so much more time in Rand's head that we understand him and his choices better than Gawyn's. And I think that the TV show bears that out a lot because show!Rand got a lot of the same complaints thrown at him as book!Gawyn does. I gained a lot of sympathy for Gawyn over the course of this reread.

c. Min's stock, on the other hand, massively fell. I remembered her as my least favorite of Rand's romances but was still fond of her, but wow, my reread burned away so much of that fondness. Which is kinda a shame, because now it's going to be a genuine effort to make sure that I don't hold the sins of book!Min against show!Min, whereas before I did my reread, I was liking show!Min a lot. But between her (admitted to in her own PoV!) manipulation of Rand to get him to fall in love with (the invented version of) her, the way she acts in their relationship (to pick a few things: trying to force him to be jealous because she thinks it makes the sex hotter; threatening him with knives; reading his mail and trying to burn it before he gets the chance to read it himself; punching him hard enough to make him grunt), and the way she changes herself to suit the person she believes she needs to be to get and keep Rand's attention... it's just yikes all over. She's not my least favorite character in the books, but she's definitely the character who fell the furthest down on my list after my reread.

d. While I didn't like Tuon any better in this reread, Sanderson does set up the Mat & Tuon relationship to be much less.... character-breaking for Mat than it was in CoT & KoD. Mat's brain starts working again around Tuon in AMoL and she actually experiences some minor consequences for her actions, it seems like, instead of just skating through everything on brainwashed autopilot like she did in the Jordan books. I actually feel like the Mat in AMoL is prepared to Do Something about the Seanchan Empire and slavery, while it felt like CoT & KoD Mat would have just rolled over and let Tuon do whatever she wanted because (much like Min) he'd given up his morals and personality for the sake of his prophesied romance.

e. I was able to really parse through and see what I liked and disliked about some of the 'plot shortcuts' that Jordan used -- the ta'veren shortcut of coincidences is mostly fun, because it forces the plot to happen when the main characters are there but gives an explanation for it, but it also affects random things (like people falling off buildings or the rate of weddings in a town), but wow did I dislike some of the heavy-handed romance prophecies and how they mostly seemed to be used to bypass crucial relationship development (especially in Rand/Min and Mat/Tuon).

f. There are also the two major Mat-related plotholes I noticed that still bug me so much, even now, one during Jordan-era and one during Sanderson-era:

Everyone's vow of silence about Mat being trapped in Ebou Dar (Nynaeve is the worst offender because she spends weeks/months with Rand and never bothers to tell him that his best friend was left behind in enemy territory).

Mat's magical teleportation to Ebou Dar at the start of AMoL that completely breaks the logistics of the narrative.

Both in clumsy service of attaching Mat to the Seanchan storyline At All Costs (Even Logic), which really does stand out to me as the worst plot choice that Jordan locked himself into way too early on via prophecy and then didn't know how to handle when it actually showed up on the page.

#wot reread #the wheel of time #wot #wot book spoilers #wot spoilers #wot a memory of light spoilers #wot amol spoilers #wheel of time #the strike at shayol ghul

[kimyoonmiauthor]

Dear Agents, Writers are not Psychic, please auto include YOUR Trigger Warning Policies

Some background, because no one is going to click on the profile part of the page. I'm aware of that.

The first part of this is that I have an Anthropology degree, which the majority of the classes are concentrated in Systems, such as racism, sexism, etc. The BA would have had a certificate if I didn't have to travel 2-3 hours one way in order to get the certificate.

The second part is that I've been around the publishing industry inside of it, published by it, reading up on the history of it, reading an astounding number of writing advice manuals to track down one diagram and crying over that, to know how the industry works. I know I don't list all my credentials, but seriously, how long do you want a bio?

The third part is that I've worked with websites, UX (User Experience) and the whole idea of User Experience is that even if it functions, it doesn't mean it works without the ability to interface with humans.

And lastly, I have C-PTSD. I know how fucked up PTSD can be. And what a trigger feels like. What a flashback feels like. It's not OMG, I feel icky and have no emotional toll. It's I need a therapist to manage my triggers because it wears me out to have an anxiety/depression attack. And I know how fucked up triggers can be. I've written blog posts about it.

You are not everyone.

User experience is about Empathy. This means you realize: You are not everyone else. Everyone else is not you. They are not going to do what you think is best, so how do you make everyone happy through best practices?

Other agents aren't going to WANT what you want. They are selling different genres, they have different life experiences. Just because it works for you doesn't mean it works for anyone else. By saying, Well, every agent should do as I want, isn't helping anyone.

History

Before the 1900's, most stories were serialized, and only the popular ones got full books. Before the 1960's-1970's according to Steven King's On Writing, there were no Agents. You simply submitted to the publisher. (Agents should know their publishing history, I'm just saying... you should know the history of your own profession.)

Agents became a requirement in the 1990's, not the 1980's. Before that, you could hire a lawyer. And many early agents were lawyers.

This meant because of print tech, and the requirement to join a union, the way to submit to an agent was EXACTLY THE SAME.

The Neurdivergent rejoice. They are happy with this.

But then the internet hit in about the mid-2000's and then agents started to be paid more and more like crap. And then with the plummeting enjoyment, and the publishing industry realizing that they could dump people from their staff and PUT IT ALL ON THE AGENTS, the standardization of the forms fell with it.

Why would this be in UX terms? Well, now agents aren't doing it "for the money" and in basic psychology this means they want more individualistic things. You're likely to do it for the side money, you want to have it the way you want to have it, because what's the point if it's not fun? Thus the standardization in the industry falls apart as people put forth their own individualistic wills. (Do you need the fancy psychology terms. I can do that.)

And then with the internet the industry and everyone started to MAKE UP THEIR OWN RULES.

The ND people are crying. WTF.

Especially the autistic people who like structure and rules that are even and easy to understand. (I had a long conversations about this. I did the research.)

Why would someone want a different trigger policy than me?

People represent different genres and have different aims

This is where the empathy and the ability to actually go through other agent blogs comes in. You need to be able to read other agents, their genres and realize that writers have different genres and combination of genres they are submitting to.

You might be looking ONLY at contemporary Romance, but there are agents that represent Horror, Thrillers, and Mystery and dark fantasy. Even without that, there are subgenres of fiction that might *require* triggers be included. Abuse Romance is a thing (50 Shades) and there is Dystopian SFF.

The agents that rep these genres want the thrill of the surprise. The agent wants to not have to know what's up front to experience the story first hand. This is what I've read from those agents. The ones that rep Horror are more than likely to not want trigger warnings from my asking over and over again. And they are less likely to list a no list to the trigger list.

But those self-same agents *also* represent things like Romance. Because like everyone else on the planet, people like more than one genre.

BTW, out of all of the agents, the agents that rep Romance from my asking around, because no one else is crunching data are more likely to want trigger warnings, but I'm telling you it gets tricky when you're mixing Romance with Supernatural, Mystery, and Fantasy.

BTW, Fantasy and SFF as genres, RANGE WILDLY. So the triggers are going to be all over the map.

And for the people who rep Horror, etc, the reason why your (US) romance agents want trigger warnings is because romance works on a totally different emotional basis compared to Horror. Expecting your potential clients to know that and your fellow agents to follow suit when they have a totally different agenda is not reasonable.

This is where UX comes in. YOU, agent, Have do the work to bridge the gap between you and the other agents. If you all are going to have different policies about triggers, then writers are going to also do their best guesses and try for a middle.

People have different triggers than you.

I have a trigger around melamine floors. Do you have a trigger around melamine floors? Does it make your spine go cold it makes my spine go cold. Do you get a mild headache thinking about them especially if they are white? No? You don't?

Would it be reasonable for me to ask you to guess that about me?

Would it be reasonable for you to take all of my feelings about it because I never informed you this was the case?

If you're getting my drift:

LIST YOUR TRIGGERS. Not everyone has the same triggers. Write it out. Asking people to manage and guess your invisible triggers is unreasonable. It does harm to others. You don't want them to do harm to you, it's your responsibility to let people help you by making it known. 100% I know this as a person with C-PTSD and also with Sensory issues. It's not other people's responsibility if they don't know about it. It is 100% mine to let them know if I have an issue and it's too much. If they don't respect you after you have let them know, then the onus is on them, not before then. It's also anti-ND to expect people to *guess* your triggers. But it's also better for your mental health so people don't submit something you don't want.

Trauma *is* fucked up. But part of recovery is taking control and taking control of your triggers and processing them. So let people help you by you listing your triggers you don't want to see or be warned about in fiction.

Set clear boundaries

Goal-setting: Ask yourself questions like “What is the goal in setting a boundary or needing to set a boundary?”

Start small: Setting boundaries can be hard and uncomfortable. The key is to start small and focus on one at a time.

Be clear: Focus on what you want as clearly as possible.

Practice: If thinking about setting a boundary makes you nervous, write out what you want to say beforehand or practice stating a boundary in the mirror.

Keep it simple: Less is more with boundary setting. Try not to overload someone with too many details at first. Just pick the main thing that is bothering you and focus on that.

From the website.

Make your boundaries clear. If you don't list triggers, don't ask for a trigger list on your forms, don't make it known on your website, assume everyone is going to do it that everyone agrees with you, and don't put it where people can see it, then you are responsible for the result and in making it more clear. You can't act like a victim if you haven't set clear boundaries.

Act like an adult and set your boundaries.

BUT WHY would anyone write it/not want a warning as an agent?

Some people like to deal with their triggers in fiction. It's distant, not real, it gives them a sense of control, like a safe word in BDSM. A lot of reading of horror and thrillers in particular are when people are anxious. This is according to Stephen King that greater fear means a spike in his sales. (Interviews, Writing Excuses). You should be paying attention to that... just saying. This is marketing. You are also (unfortunately) part marketer, not only lawyer.

Some people are using it to ask for rights. Buy being clear as a victim of abuse, etc that helps people feel empowerment by *stopping it*.

If people want to stop homophobia, that means they have to talk about homophobia. Taking power back from the oppressors feels good. This is like step 3 of recovering from trauma, though. I've covered previously that after victimhood, you should be aiming for survivor, but the aims of a social justice person are transformation of trauma and that has to be somewhat different and is somewhat opposed to being a victim.

Everyone is healing in a different way and speed than you are. Again, everyone is not you. This is marketing too.

BUT OTHER AGENTS SHOULD DEAL WITH MY POLICY

No, they shouldn't. You are not everyone else. See the UX rule.

How Do I Fix it?

Put on your forms a trigger policy. Try to get other agents to also put on a trigger policy standard.

You can copy-paste the following and cut the irrelevant:

Trigger Warning Policy

I would like you to give a trigger warning: Yes/No.

I would like you to give a trigger warning:

In the query

When I request fulls.

You should not submit if your manuscript has:

You can submit if your manuscript has, but warn me:

Skip trigger warnings for these genres:

[List genres]

Listed nicely and UXed like that with the bold? Yes. Makes it easier to read.

Where should I put it?

There's a fancy UX term for this, but the basics are: If it's important to you, you will LIST it in multiple places. And since writers, even if they wanted to be aren't psychic at grand distances and are submitting to you from places like Australia (because you should know that) and from other countries. They will have no clue what you want if people want different things. So all of these places.

Manuscript Wishlist

Your Profile on your website

Query Manager (You can put it at the top and sometimes with the query part)

Submissions Guideline Page (especially if you don't have Query Manager)

Why not on Twitter?

No one is going to read thousands of tweets and work through your tweets that are going to disappear to find your trigger policy. !@#$ No. Too much time, too much effort, those things disappear, and those are not for permanent information.

If it's Absent...

The user will assume if it is absent in the query manager, especially, there is none, and they can do as they like or guess. Absence is assumed this way.

If you need the long psychological reason why, in UX this is true, then imagine it this way (extended analogies are my jam):

Cashier A is not labeled. Cashier B is not labeled in a store.

You want to check out of the items you've collected in the store and not steal things. You're likely to do as you like. And choose between Cashier A and Cashier B.

Cashier A is labeled now: Returns.

Cashier B is labeled with a cart icon.

You want to check out. You're likely to choose Cashier B.

Therefore, if it's absent on the form, people will do as they like. Basic marketing, psychology and UX. If you want it to be known, you label it.

Mechanically list it. Put it visible everywhere.

Make the form standard on Query Manager and Manuscript Wishlist

Even better yet is to make it standard on agent websites.

Here is the contact for them.

MSWL: https://www.manuscriptwishlist.com/contact/

Query Manager: https://querymanager.com/contact.php

Here is what you can write:

Hello,

[Honest reasons you love their website]

I would really like a standard form for trigger warnings. The form would look like something like this:

I would like you to give a trigger warning: Radio buttons: Yes/No.

(Require) If no, then the rest of the form doesn't need to be filled out.

I would like you to give a trigger warning:

If yes require...

Radio buttons for:

In the query

When I request fulls.

You should not submit if your manuscript has: (Optional)

You can submit if your manuscript has, but warn me: (Optional)

Skip trigger warnings for these genres: (Optional)

[List genres]

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Sincerely,

[Name]

BTW, I put programming and UX info into the letter to make it easier on them. Because again empathy and again, I'm HSP, so I can't help it. I want to make implementation as easy as possible.

Please don't abuse the word "Trigger"

BTW, Please do not for the sake of people with C-PTSD and PTSD say something you "dislike" is a "trigger." Dislike should be Content warning. And in that case just list it with your usual "Don't send me this."

Saying something is a trigger because you dislike the trope–please don't abuse the word trigger this way.

Yes, there are low level triggers that don't make sense. I've covered melamine floors before as a trigger for me and institutions. But usually I don't trip out if it's in fiction. But that might be you. Again. Not everyone has the same triggers for fiction, because you are not everyone. Or as Mr. Rogers liked to say loosely You are unique.

While you're at it...

BTW, I also listed other things that agents disagree on. Just do it as a part of your policy to list them.

Conclusion

To me, at this point, if you don't list it and rep a bunch of different genres, I'll choose what I guess is best. If you hit more than one, then yeah, I'm left guessing.

And as an HSP, agents getting really mad at both ends, to the point they are willing to get irritated, I can't take that on. Writers are left confused and in the middle. So instead, just use the form I listed. I mean, it's not that hard to copy-paste.

Your little bit of work up front will help everyone else. Make it a standard that all agents list a trigger warning policy EVERYWHERE it can be visible. We can't guess and no one is going to read all of your Twitter.

Marketing ideas also work towards your clients. You want them to do a certain behavior, then you have to also market yourself well, which means you need to be making your trigger policy known and visible.

#dear literary agents #user experience #psychology #marketing #querying #querying standards #triggers #trauma

[radioactive-earthshine]

Forgive me for being ignorant in your inbox but could you explain just how Bart is from another reality??? I've read all of Impulse and Young Justice and this never came up once I think. Did I miss something and I'm just being dumb?

Hello, you're not dumb. This was something not established until several years after Young Justice ended and takes place during the era of TTv3.

The words used is "parallel timeline" and not necessarily 'another reality' but they are talking about the Multiverse. Alternative timeline is also an acceptable way to describe what happened with Jenni and Bart and the entire story can be found on two pages in Final Crisis #3 ... if you even accept it.

This was written by Geoff Johns for the Final Crisis event where three Legion teams are brought together to take down Superboy Prime once and for all, fix reality, and to bring back Kon and Bart who were at this point in time very dead (but not really...)

Basically, Geoff decided to try and answer an old question of what future timeline did Barry Allen actually have his children in if the post-zero hour reboot should have wiped out Don and Dawn Allen, because the future would have changed to one that Barry should have never visited.

Bart and Jenni's origins are all deeply entwined with the Post-Zero Hour timeline, however Bart's first introduction and first rumblings as a character put him right before that Zero Hour reboot happened (by a couple months) so there were some.... questions... about his existence AND Jenni.

Bart technically could still exist as he was evacuated before the reboot hit, but Jenni... Jenni should not have existed in the Post-Zero Hour reboot at all if she was born before then unless the writers decided to reboot her too (which would have been an acceptable answer).

Geoff decided to try to untangle it (above) but he didn't do it particularly well because the above doesn't make sense in regards to both Jenni and Bart's established back stories.

1.) Jenni's backstory FIRMLY states that when Don and Dawn were murdered Jeven evacuated Jenni and himself back to his homeworld - granted this could still have happened with the above in place but if he arrived in an alternative timeline what home would he have to return to?

2.) Iris did NOT watch Jenni and Bart age to teenagers in days this just didn't happen. Jenni did not have Bart's hypermetabolism and she was actually normal until she got her powers as a teenager. By that time, Iris and Bart were already in the past. Iris broke into the facility holding Bart and evacuated him to the past, when he was physically 12, and then he aged to age 14 while fighting Wally. Jenni aged normally so there was no 'watching them age to teenagers in days'.

3.) Thaddeus Thawne. This makes BOTH Thad Thawnes impossible because President Thawne ordered both Don and Dawn murdered and engineered their deaths very shortly after Bart's birth, in fact Bart's birth is what prompted this! If they were from an alternative reality/timeline why would the new Thawne think to do this if Bart was already born? Also, why would he create Inertia who was the person at fault for Bart dying and is the "bad thing" that happened to the Flash Family Adult Brainiac is talking about. Yes you could say President Thawne is THAT unhinged (he is) but it just doesn't seem likely.

4.) If Don, Dawn, Jeven and Meloni jumped to an 'alternative timeline' then which Iris helped Bart escape to the past? Are there two Irises? The comic seems to imply that it was the original Iris but it's still vague enough to leave some holes. How did the original Iris get to Earth 247? Also, Iris did not reunite with Jenni until Jenni visited the past because when Iris rescued Bart - Jenni was on Arrok.

5.) Mushy memories as an excuse to cover up some blatant holes in the character's heads and the readers own recounting of events is lazy.

6.) Meloni Thawne's recounting of events in previous comics always paints a very clear picture that her father watched her fall for Don and was adamantly against it - if she was from an alternative timeline/reality then why would the President Thawne in the new reality (Earth-247) still be so persistent in trying to stop her union to Don? If she was reality jumping then she would have already married AND had a kid so... moot point.

It just doesn't work. Even if you are generous and claim it was cosmic soup as a result of the explosion it doesn't work.

But this is canon but it's canon that doesn't work - we get this sometimes and it's just up to the reader to decide what is and is not canon. If you never read ANY of the 90s comics, this would make sense and would be fine. But if you did, this would just make you scratch your head.

There's more impossibilities you can pick at, and some things that happened in the comics that Johns' fix does actually fix, but I am tired and am not going to go into them right now.

Other mysteries and mushy timeline nonsense; Jenni is actually supposed to be 2 years older than Bart.

#bart allen #jenni ognats #mine