#third thing

[bettsfic]

hi betts! i was wondering if you would be willing to explain a little further about the third thing in a concept you spoke about in the feb '22 issue of lkwrnl? would you describe it as an unexpected conflict? i'm just not sure i've wrapped my head around it! thanks! :]

sure! "third thing" is really not a great term for it and i wish i'd thought of a better one before writing that newsletter. sometimes i use the phrase "initial escalation." an initial escalation is something that elevates or complicates the conflict just as the audience is getting grounded in the story.

my definition of a conflict is "establishing a status quo, and something happens to interrupt the status quo." the third thing/initial escalation is, "something happens to complicate the interruption of the status quo."

here is a very simplistic/ridiculous example:

you have the protagonist, let's say a hero, driving the forward movement of the story. you then have the antagonist, a villain, pushing against that forward movement and slowing it down.

a hero getting to their destination without any obstacles is not very interesting. a villain thwarting their efforts creates a conflict. but still, that's two things, two forces, and i can kind of predict where it's headed. that's not a bad thing. it just means i'm grounded in the story.

the third thing, the initial escalation, would be to put both of them in a burning building. this complicates our understanding of their motivations. they can no longer prioritize their primary objective; they have to work together to escape the burning building. they're suddenly allied.

now i have no idea what to expect. will the protagonist and antagonist being on the same side for a time alter the trajectory of the story? will it change decisions we predict of hero vs. villain?

note that the burning building/third thing/initial escalation is not a twist. twists happen at the end of a story. this is merely an early complication that alters the anticipated plot trajectory.

most stories don't have a third thing. many don't even have a second thing. i'm looking at my bookshelf right now to find an example and noticing how few of my books have a plot at all. and that's fine. plot isn't really necessary in telling a good story.

upon looking at my letterboxd diary, i've found an example. the last movie i watched was Poor Things. the premise is that Bella (Emma Stone) is a grown woman whose brain has been transplanted with that of a newborn infant, and so she's learning how to be a person. as she grows, she feels stifled by her "father" (Willem Dafoe) and wants to see the world. she gets her chance when a sleazy lawyer (Mark Ruffalo) offers to help her escape, in exchange for being at his mercy (but she doesn't understand that).

it's your basic princess story in the format of a bildungsroman (i did really like this movie, but i'm an easy sell on bildungsromans). it's still three things:

forward movement: Bella growing and discovering how to be a person, which is a story with its own merit

opposing force: her father keeping her safe by imprisoning her, halting her growth and desire for sex meaning

initial escalation: the lawyer sweeping her away, only to trap her too, so that she has to escape his grasp as well, and in doing so her growth, the forward movement, is happening but it's more complicated now than it would have been if she'd just walked out the door

(note: this is a VERY fucky movie, and i mean that literally. there's so much sex. like so much. truly regret seeing this with my sister.)

sometimes the escalation is in the structure of a story, like an alternative point of view or another timeline. sometimes it's an added element to a trope that subverts our expectation of how the trope plays out. anything that escalates or complicates the inciting incident in act 1 of a story is a third thing.

again i want to emphasize that there are many amazing stories that only have forward movement, especially if what's driving it is exploratory. most stories have two dimensions, and those are also perfectly good stories. the third thing only exists to escalate and complicate, and not every story needs that.

#writing advice #third thing #initial escalation #plot #conflict

[fieriframes]

[The third thing Mary does is surrender completely.]

#s37e05 from authentic to inventive #guy fieri #guyfieri #diners drive-ins and dives #third thing #mary

[allegaury]

neither insult nor compliment but a secret third thing

#secret third thing #brb crying #dark cottagecore #coquette #dark academia #chaos walking #blorbo #dark academic aesthetic #insult #compliment #meme #wtf lmao #girl help #send help #flirting #backhanded compliments #tumblr memes #third thing #how to react #lmao #chaotic energy #desi blr #desi humor #desi parents #desi #brown parents

[tiredfoxtf]

.

#> tired shitpost #discourse #hi hello i just woke up #first of all i am not leaving if you care #at least right now #second thing #i won't be responding to ANY sort of asks about the situation #this blog is meant to stay discourse free or light #third thing #my opinion regarding the matter has not changed #wait keep yourself calm and collected stay safe and logical #do not fuck your brain with what if scenarios #this will not help in the slightest just cause more stress #actually please #distract yourselves with whatever works the best #do not jump to conclusions

[designerdollar]

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#not professionally diagnosed #not self diagnosed #but a secret #sexier #third thing #✨peer diagnosed✨ #mercrx #typography animation #motion design #motion graphics #kinetic typography

[deepfriedtrout]

Harbinger women doing the time-honored Mondstadt tea break started by Lisa Minci. You can pry the ‘Scaramouche has the same ungodly sweet tooth as Ei’ from my cold, dead hands.

#columbina genshin impact #arlecchino genshin impact #scaramouche genshin impact #snippets #genshin impact #trout talks #is lisa joining in/going to watch the sparring session between jean and eula，just actually having tea with the two or is it another #third thing

[linipikk]

Aziraphale shielding Crowley from water

and Crowley shielding Aziraphale from fire

#good omens #ineffable husbands #lini writes #sitting here waiting for another version of this since I like things in threes #it is past midnight and i seeing things #third eye wide open

[toddchavezwatchescartoons]

#oregon #whales #the third thing

[captainjonnitkessler]

You know I used to think "tumblr's absolute refusal to actually engage with the Trolley Problem in favor of insisting that there must be a third, morally pure option that doesn't require them to make a hard decision and anyone who asks them to make a binary choice is just a short-sighted idiot is really fucking annoying, but I guess it's not actually doing any harm".

Anyway that was before we asked tumblr at large to decide between "guy aiding a genocide but making progress elsewhere" and "guy who would actively and enthusiastically participate in a genocide and would also make everything else much, much worse for everyone elsewhere" and the response was that there must be a third, morally pure option that doesn't require them to make a hard decision and that anyone who asks them to make a binary choice is a short-sighted idiot.

#there is not a third option. it is either trump OR biden #and one of those will be much MUCH worse for palestine #i'm really really sorry that these are the options. i wish they weren't. #but WHAT third option are you trying to take here? what on earth is your proposed outcome #that will actually make things better for palestine? #because letting trump win the election is NOT going to help them #i'm sorry but you need to set aside your feelings and take the option that will lead to less harm to palestine in the long run #you talk such a big game about how people need to be willing to make sacrifices to help palestine #but you yourself aren't even willing to hold your nose and vote to stop things from getting worse? #or did you think 'sacrifice' only meant not getting mcdonalds for a few months? #us politics

[feelo-fick]

why are you still here, then????

#trick question its because he cares about them so muchs 👍🫶 #this is the second only clean thing i have #and the third is ummmmm! well im gonna save it for now because i kinda wanna make it better #anyways. actual tag time #dungeon meshi #chilchuck #chilchuck tims

[klimthi]

I don’t know if it’s a me thing, or like a societal thing, but it animated things, it always feels like voice acting for female characters is rather sexual sounding

It might just be how women grunting or breathing loud has been so sexualized

A specific weird example of this is with Nya from ninjago

#ninjago #women #third thing

[fieriframes]

[The third thing Mary does is surrender completely.]

#s37e05 from authentic to inventive #guy fieri #guyfieri #diners drive-ins and dives #third thing #mary

[bigmilkagenda]

Celia: hey is there a way to get all the ones about being buried alive or whatever?

Chester, a good boy screaming to be heard: hello 👋 here is a statement about being buried under the weight of countless artifacts 🪔👗📔🐻🪴🗣️🕰️ at the Hilltop Centre branch of the Oxford Peoples Trust 🕸️🕳️😣

(or, you know. It's a warning. For her, or for the listener. Time will tell, babes!)

#tmagp spoilers #the magnus protocol #tmagp #magp 1 07 #how many spiders can u fit in a celia? #or it could be just as it appears! or a secret third thing!

[nebraska-tourism]

ok im gonna start actually posting on this website after years of casual lurking. you guys better do a very minor amount of preparation following this development.

#oh boy time to tag my post #i sure am going to add some funny information in the tags #third thing

[beanghostprincess]

Petition to give Usopp a gun. Not because of anything plot-related, I just think he looks extremely hot.

#'he should have a gun because it's more useful' shut the fuck up he should have a gun bc it looks hot #i am aware that the third image thing isn't a gun but do i look like i care about it he's pretty #usopp simping hours yayy #one piece #usopp #one piece colorspread

[bloodraven55]

marcille with falin: don’t worry baby i’ll help you get a new job if you need one just say the word you know i’d do anything for you 🥺🥰

marcille with laios: do it yourself you freeloader 🙄🤬

#marcille isn’t in love with laios nor does she hate him he’s a secret third thing to her (bestie who’s an idiot but he’s her idiot) #dungeon meshi #delicious in dungeon #farcille #marcille donato #falin touden #laios touden #dungeon meshi marcille #dungeon meshi falin #dungeon meshi laios