#this is a circular story

[filmnoirsbian]

Agamemnon by Aeschylus translated by Ted Hughes

#tcp #the oresteia #agamemnon #cassandra #plays #in the beginning #an open window #this is a circular story #id in alt text

[felizusnavidad]

if you were a movie what kind of genre would it be?

probably a comedy because my life is a fucking joke

no, but seriously, i love this question! i think i'd be a mix of a musical and horror. actually, i'd love to be a sung-through story about ghosts! (and it has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that i am kinda obsessed with ghost quartet lately btw. i just think being a ghost would be fun, i could scare people i don't like.)

#imagine being home alone at night and all of a sudden someone starts singing a song #that's me i'm in your walls going WOOOOO all night long! #(or rapping in your walls) #(that's even scarier) #i'm sorry i'm fucked in the head #thank you for that excellent question tho! #anon #yes i got your letter yes i'm doing better* #btw #one pot of honey #one piece of stardust #one secret baptism #the photo of a ghost #this is a circular story

[lazuliquetzal]

I keep on telling people you're the only one who knows how to plot. Can you teach all of us how to plot, please? I love you.

I AM SUMMONED? PLOT BRAIN SUMMONED?

I love plotting. It's my favorite part of the writing process. Plot is "things that happen" and the best part of writing is imagining things that happen. I'm going to assume that whoever may be reading this knows how to imagine The Happenings, so I'm gonna be talking more about structure, but in like, a kinda abstract sense.

A good plot is a little bit more than a string of events. Plot is like music: there's variation in rhythm and sound and melody, but ultimately there's cohesion, because it's all one song. You can have a bunch of wild things happening, but no matter how strange, there should be something that links them all together, because you're telling one story.

Plot structures are patterns in stories. I'm pretty sure most of them were developed as analysis tools (as in, story already exists > look! it follows this pattern) rather than as writing tools, but people use them as writing tools because it's a neat little way to organize the chaos that is "shit happens." Stories follow patterns for the same reasons music follows patterns: we enjoy the certainty of hitting certain beats. But we also like being surprised. A good pop song doesn't sound like a random collection of sounds, but it also doesn't sound like the middle slider of other songs.

There is this shared concept in both music and writing: the idea of tension and release. Basically, you're playing with reader expectation: there's an imbalance in the experience (tension), and we want to see that imbalance resolved (release). All the common plot structures deal with this basic pattern:

You set an expectation

There are complications to the expectation

You meet the expectation

And this rhythm is happening on multiple levels in writing. Scenes follow this structure (we're gonna get past that door, we're gonna find the murder weapon, we're gonna collaborate and come up with a plan) and all those scenes feed into the overarching expectation (we're gonna solve this murder!). I usually think of chapters as their own mini-story, part of the larger whole. And I think of scenes as their own mini-story, part of the larger chapter. I have engineer brain. I see the gears spinning in the clock. That's why all my chapters have at least One Important Thing happening, because that's that particular chapter's Step #3.

And One Last Important Thing:

In music, a delayed resolution is almost always more interesting than the standard resolution. In writing, that means you wanna drag out Step #2 for as long as you can. That's where the bulk of the story is happening, that's how you build tension, that's how you get people to turn the page.

So when you write a fake dating fic, those bitches better not get together until the very end. I came here for fake dating, not for real dating, damn it. If you resolve that expectation early on, you better replace it with a different expectation that's just as engaging.

But also don't drag it out for too long. Sorry. The hard part of writing is learning the difference between too short and too long. Writing is unfortunately a nuanced skill which is why my advice is like "do this but not too much teehee." But tension and resolution is just rhythm, you can build a sense for it if you engage with enough stories.

#asks #yellowocaballero #writing #writing advice #THANKS FOR ASKING ME THIS MEG I LOVE PLOT I WILL TALK ABOUT HER ALL DAY AND I LOVE YOU TOO #i haven't read a fake dating fic in a long time i just brought it up because it was the first Trope Thing that came to mind #i didn't go into different plot structures because i was trying to boil them all down into the very basic building block of question-answer #but if anyone's curious i usually favor a circular plot structure #the ending reflects the beginning. the song loops: the same beats but with new perspective. cycles. #and by that i mean 'story starts with dink being mean to time' and 'story ends with dink being mean to time (but now it's affectionate) #lazuli talks

[maedhrus]

– aeschylus, the oresteia

#the terror #the terror amc #james fitzjames #theterroredit #*mine #something about fitzjames and stories and identity and the inability of escape and the loop of tragedy #not even transfemmes will be spared the relentless crush of a circular story

[starrysharks]

wip

#zeno's art #ultimate x-calibur #wip #optico #nova starbridge #paro chroneko #dj v con #clyde blacktooth #hrm.... you lot are looking a lot more geometric than usual.... #paro stands out amongst all these spikeys ive gotta round out nova a bit more #but yea here are the new designs! once again less of an overhaul and more of a natural progression as theyve developed with my style #let me explain some design stuff : #here in this new rewrite of the story optico is actually a star sailor AI #programmed to take the nimbasa galahad students to the academy dome (which orbits merlienete) #and so has floaty hands to use the control panel . he can “summon” more hands or just go without them #nova is basically unchanged but her hair has been a little altered so she doesnt have that middle part thingy #(it was hard to draw) #and also her second ahoge is gone #paro is more circular and has a longsleeve undershirt now #his bag is hammerspace and can carry huge tools! #vcon is also mostly unchanged but now has starfish stuck to his pants #because i thought itd be funny if her pants were so long that stuff got stuck to them #clyde is the only one 100% unchanged save for hair #alright im sleepy

[everysongineverykey]

taking the lines "journeys made and lessons learned, you may feel like you're alone, but no matter how much the wheel turns... the journey always ends up back at home" and "batteries can be replaced, but some things stay the same... no matter how much we twist and turn, we're still dancing in chains" and placing them on the Dhmis Lines That Strike A Chord Inside Me So Deep The Vibrations Echo In My Bones shelf in my brain next to "it's out of my hands, i'm only a clock! don't worry, i'm sure you'll be fine... but eventually, everyone runs out of time"

#don't hug me i'm scared #CIRCULAR. NARRATIVES. CYCLE. OF TORMENT. STORIES. THAT. WILL. NOT. LET. GO. #YOU MAY FEEL LIKE YOU'RE ALONE!! BUT NO MATTER HOW MUCH THE WHEEL TURNS! THE JOURNEY! ALWAYS! ENDS UP! BACK AT HOME!!! #anyways lesley dhmis my beloved. i support womens wrongs💙 #dhmis

[variousqueerthings]

the nature of being a johnny lawrence fan, is that it is often indistinguishable from being a johnny lawrence hater, and I don't think I have that with any other character. usually I'm very protective of my faves (including in cobra kai, daniel, sam, kreese, and tsilver), but johnny, I very much enjoy reading all the reasons people dislike his character, nodding along like "yeah what an inconsistent mess, you're so right, carmen pls u deserve better narrative to work with, terry silver was telling the truth when he mocked his fatherhood abilities, but alas the writing will never support it"

#johnny lawrence fans 🤝 johnny lawrence haters -- wtf is going on with johnny lawrence's character in s5???????? #johnny lawrence #cobra kai #ck #i can write miles of text about the queercoding of johnny lawrence #and also about how terribly inconsistent the writing for him is due to a sexist notion that he must be a Badass #actually i think johnny lawrence is one of the most interesting case studies of this phenomenon #obvs most famously archetyped by dean winchester -- but i think jlaw is even More That #1. literal 80s character so all these people read him through a particular nostalgia lens #2. in a show that is possibly Thee most trope-filled nostalgia show i have ever seen be that way Accidentally #(riverdale was doing it on purpose -- stranger things... yeah maybe but i think cobra kai is even more on the nose actually) #3. played by quite a sensitive actor actually who deeply cares about the nuance of the character #which appears to be at constant war with the intentions of the narrative he has to appear in #4. and like. the writers Know about the queercoding because they've interacted with fans (nicely actually) #but they have literally no idea what to do with it but ALSO have lampshaded it occasionally #it's... it's fascinating.... #they want so badly for him to win but they're going about it the wrong way -- the narrative continues to be circular/an inward spiral #nothing has changed except for the reactions of other characters #jlaw must remain static because of our nostalgia but also be important to the story somehow #the Tension of it all is personally delicious to me but man is it frustrating as well

[thensson]

Succession, Season 4 Opening || H of H Book, Anne Carson || Wolf in White Van, John Darnielle || With Open Eyes, Succession 4x10

#dark academia #web weaving #academia #on circular stories #cycles of abuse #shiv roy #siobhan roy #succession hbo #anne carson #succposting #tom wambsgans #he's the new logan roy #john darnielle #poems #quotes #litblr #alternative academia #poems and quotes #succession

[answerguiltygear]

nsfw

#answer guilty gear #guilty gear answer #gg answer #answer gg #I had to make up a laptop because I couldn't remember if anyone had used one in gg lol #if they have and it's inaccurate oh well #the bottom one I used the weird circular keyboards they use in the story modes #inspired by those 'nsfw' threads on twitter of the office guys doing funny stuff #AnswerGuiltygeART

[filmnoirsbian]

What Comes From Picking Flowers: Part Seven (part one)

#tcp #what comes from picking flowers #previously known as #misery's wife #my writing #id in alt text #patreon #this is a circular story

[chasing-after-the-abyss]

Sometimes y'just gotta… what even happened here.

#orv #omniscient reader's viewpoint #orv spoilers #HSY deserves an award for actually maintaining a full circular timeloop #meanwhile KDJ and YJH are just like 'there are two of me and we both kept the trauma in the divorce (with ourselves)' #two KDJ in one story is how you get 'Apostle of Eternity and Epilogue' #I think both are true #It's just the narrative that has to finish with one or another #the 'system' if you will #meanwhile two YJH is just him being stubborn enough to break the narrative so he can get a happy ending (TWO happy endings) #good job man you were written to break the system and you did it #SP and OD need to get themselves an extra HSY copy to really complete the symmetry but there aren't any because she's too well adjusted! #DID NOT THINK YOU WOULD WIN THAT AWARD HSY #my posts

[haunthouse]

into the woods really is one of the stories of all time. love to force the narrator into his own story and kill him (because he's not writing you how you want to be written, because you want a better story (who wouldn't?), because he's easy to blame). love to create a circular story by later becoming that narrator (who is also your dad) (like father like son), retelling the story as if your point of view isn't just as skewed and just as likely to be fought against by those within the story. love it!

#kaylee.txt #into the woods #yes i just saw the bway production. most of my thoughts are 'jesus christ pippa soo' and 'the witch is kinda a milf' but im also like #rolling around the concepts of Narratives and Narrators and Agency in my head #the last time i saw into the woods (a community theater production of it) i was in high school and did not catch that the baker - #- ends the show by telling the story of what happened to his own son + how circular that makes it #its just. an endless cycle of storytelling!

[iimr3]

the build up to the actual taking of the photograph in ghost quartet is sooo fucking good. i love the way GQ tells the story by circling around the event itself & giving us bits of information (& it does this with OG Rose & Pearl's story too; the way the musical ends with The Wind & Rain drives me up the fucking wall in a good way)

before anything we know rose's camera is broken. then we get the play-by-play in The Subway– girl is pushed onto the track, no one can stop, the photographer doesn't help. then in The Photograph we see the fallout & learn why her camera is broken: she smashed it because she's disgusted. she took a photograph instead of being a hero. immediate next song we learn what happens after the camera shop from Scheherazade: Rose gets a new camera and the camera shop owner gives her the number of the subway driver. then you get usher part 3 (one of my favorite songs), where we see the events of The Subway but with full details. right before Roxie kills Lady Usher, we hear the photograph before we see it ("I heard a flashbulb rip")

And God. the way the song shifts when Pearl falls onto the tracks. we get so much buildup around the photograph, and usher part 3 literally slows down time to walk us through it: Pearl is pushed onto the track. Rose is there. Rose takes the photograph instead of being a hero. Pearl smiles for the camera. "I let the train rip through me."

& then in Midnight, Gelsey tells us that Rose and the subway driver have kids– sisters.

#insane show #the wind & rain is succhhhhhh a song to end on #esp after midnight..... like ur left w this feeling that these people have reconciled. pearl gives rose the astronomer/subway driver back #the bear & pearl chat #but still. rose still kills her #and the fact that we learn pearl didnt die from the bear but from rose getting drunk and pushing her inthe river #its a circular story!!!!!! FUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! #op #ghost quartet

[mirefireflies]

“the end is neverending.”

the end is where we begin — thousand foot krutch / that’s not how the story goes — daniel handler and nick urata (a series of unfortunate events) / undertow, ouroboros, and dancing with a stranger — natalia schäfer / a valediction: forbidden mourning — john donne / the end — mark strand / endings (n/a) — elly smallwood / afternoon in february — henry wadsworth longfellow / every thing on it — shel silverstein / road to hell (reprise) — hadestown

#shall we make this post all over again #it’ll never be different #web weaving #circular narratives #it was always going to end this way #that’s just how the story goes #a series of unfortunate events #asoue #thousand foot krutch #ouroboros #natalia schäfer #john donne #mark strand #elly smallwood #henry wadsworth longfellow #shel silverstein #hadestown

[attheendoftheline]

You might say that the boy was touched…

I adore the fact that we get to see Orpheus’s not only be “blessed” by the gods with his voice, but also have a real connection with them. Now often times being blessed or favored by the Gods never goes well— usually it’s a few years of good stuff happening then a gnarly end or string of bad luck (no different here). What I like is that here Orpheus has a tangible relationship with at least two of the gods. Being Hermes Ward and Persephone? Well she just likes him.

His relationship with Hermes was expanded in a sort of unseen backstory, in Working on a song Anïas goes into detail on how he came to be under his wing. He was partly raised by his mother but she’d be gone for impossible lengths of time on her own, so she left him with Hermes. The idea of a minor goddess showing up on the doorstep to a train station with a wiggling magical toddler and going ‘here’ is wildly entertaining to me— even more so for Hermes just to “alright” and keep him around. No better city for a musically inclined kid either.

I love how some of this is seen throughout the show, most of the time and especially in the beginning Hermes watches him sing with the proudest look on his face. Yet he’s not entirely easy going, there’s several times through the show as both a narrator and a father figure he tries to snap him out of things or explain what has to happen and how. That amusement can very easily turn into frustration one of my favorite lines is in Chant where Hermes tries to pull Orpheus back into the story and realize what’s happening with Eurydice - he’s yelling at this point “talk about oblivious”. He’s stern, he’s annoyed but the same man who’s told a million bedtime stories to the same kid.

Hermes wants to interfere so badly. Do you know how easy it would be for him to tell Eurydice to not take the deal or to get Orpheus away from his table? But he can’t on two front. Being a God and being a Narrator. In stories like this there’s just nothing you can do and that must kill him… he has some stake in this game! He raised that boy! How many times has he seen this happen wanting things to go right and how many times has he has to sing it again? It’s the fates that keep messing with things— the world of mortals goes the way they want and they’ll be damned if they change it any time soon.

Now persephone? She’s fun, honestly she gives “Wine aunt” energy. Popping in sometimes completely unannounced and slipping candy and drinks across the counter to her favorites. She would have seen Orpheus since he was a child as she always comes through the same station (hell it’s Hermes line. This man does everything it’s mentioned in the book he’s also conductor). She adores Orpheus, he’s a sweet guy and a generous server. He takes her coat and always makes sure everybody has a full glass and is happy. I can imagine it being a late spring night and he’s still at the bar listening to her stories— complaining or just talking to talk— not out of obligation but out of a genuine hope for friendship.

And Eurydice? The girl is brand new to town, no one’s seen her before but Persephone instantly offers her a drink and to dance and enjoy herself. She then sees the look the two have in their eyes and all but pushes them together like Barbie’s. Once again I morn her cut Chant II line talking about how they reminded her what true love was. She also takes a different route then Hermes by trying to interfere directly. She speaks up! She yells! She makes Hades listen, I think she actually realizes— unlike Orpheus and Eurydice — that she’s just as trapped by the narrative. So she steps in…she tries, it does little difference though.

Unlerelated note but if the gifs are getting annoying tell me

#hadestown #hadestown broadway #hadestown musical #orpheus hadestown #hermes hadestown #persephone hadestown #eurydice hadestown #meta #character study #character dynamics #character relationships #anaïs mitchell #backstory #retelling #Greek gods #circular story #doomed by the narrative #angst #Hadestown meta #rambling

[lord-squiggletits]

The thing that makes me mad about finding cool quotes/references to use as titles or some such for stories is they're basically impossible to consciously look for. Sure you can just Google "cool quotes" or something but it's just gonna return stuff that everyone knows. By nature the coolest quotes always come from things that you read/watch/listen to and are drawn towards, maybe not even realizing why you're drawn to them. You can't "look for" cool quotes because by nature the coolest quotes are the ones that are cool to you personally. So ultimately the only reliable way to find profound phrases/references is to consume a lot of art and find the things that are meaningful through sheerly opening your mind and trying new things

#squiggposting #like my fic titles/chapter names are varying degrees of clever or obscure #but i picked them bc they have meaning #'we are the music makers' is a poem that i found out about from one of my favorite movies as a kid #'for once nothing is burning' is from a poem in q quote compilation post on tumblr #inspiration strikes randomly and unpredictably. that's why it feels so novel #'pay unto evil' came from a bible verse which is like. the generic 'how to title a work of literature' trope #but theyre meaningful bc i picked them from things i found profound #and they work as titles bc they fit the story bc both the story and the title were specially chosen by me #idk if my explanation is becoming circular now