I Always Find It Kind Of Weird That Matriarchal Cultures In Fiction Are Always “women Fight And Hunt,

The worst part about working on original fiction is u gotta wait like 5 years to get a book draft done in order to SHOW YOUR FRIENDS chapters. Ain't like fanfic where you can just....send em. Tis horrid.

The things I've seen about this whole fucking DOGE thing, from reputable sources, so far have been

there's a very good chance that this will basically be cut off before it even happens because it would require some form of approval from the House and Senate

presidents cannot make departments so it would actually be an office

their plans involve massively cutting down on regulations relating to safety and the environment and potentially getting rid of the FBI??? Inexplicable.

their promise of saving the country $2 trillion is literally impossible, like every single politician and financial advisor agrees that there is absolutely nothing that could be done to save that amount of money and very few expenses that can actually feasibly be cut (and would only save a few billion at most)

How do you do, fellow kids?

I have a homework assignment on color theory, and could really use your help! Do you have a minute to take a quick 7 question survey about the color in this picture? Follow the link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/ZYD7MDK

The war on drugs is rooted in racist policies . The failure of the war and drugs is obvious. We need to find a better solution, because people of color should never be the victims of racist policies. White Americans are more likely than black Americans to have used most kinds of illegal drugs, including cocaine and LSD. Yet blacks are far more likely to go to prison for marijuana, which is not a hard drug. Moreover , even when white people get caught , they get less time in prison. 

Downton Abbey Blues

Downton Abbey is over.  Naturally, I’ve been watching the series over again on Prime.  But that and the latest season of Daredevil aren’t enough for me.  So, I thought I’d share some other period shows with awesome ladies being awesome.  They’re listed in chronological order from the time period. 1928-1931: Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries (on Netflix) The Honorable Miss Phryne Fisher hasn’t taken…

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Writing from Scratch #2:

What is a Plot?

Different people mean different things when they use the word “plot,” and they are all correct, if not as descriptive as they could be.

Some people mean a story structure, like the 3-Act Structure; some people mean a plot archetype, like an underdog sports plot or a heist plot; some people mean the negative to positive or positive to negative trajectory of the main character, like Rags to Riches; and some people mean “to plot” as in “to outline.”

Throughout Writing from Scratch, when I say “plot,” I’ll be referring to the definition I’ve already hinted at: a plot is a problem and its solution. Plots of this nature can be very long if the solution takes a while for the character to arrive at or very short if the solution is solved without much trouble. In a story with multiple plots of this type, the plot that has its problem first introduced and last solved is what I will call the Long Plot.

Plot-Problems

There are four umbrella types that plots of this kind fall under – all based on the type of problem the plot has. And these are called the MICE* plot-problems.

Milieu

Inquiry

Character

Event

Over the next few posts, I will be diving into each in turn.

*The MICE Quotient was developed by Orson Scott Card, but I do deviate in my approach from the way Scott Card developed it and from the way most other writers teach it.

Plot-Solutions

A plot’s solution comes through what are referred to as the Try-Fail Cycles. The character is introduced to the problem, tries to solve it, and succeeds or fails. Most plots are solved after the character has failed to solve it at least once.

The Try-Fail typically goes in one of two directions: “Yes, but…” or “No, and…”

The “Yes, but” failure follows the character trying something with “yes, that technically worked, but now a new aspect of the same problem has been revealed.”

Obi-Wan and Luke hire Han and Chewie to take them and the droids to Alderaan. Yes, Han and Chewie get them to where Alderaan should be in orbit, but the Death Star got there first and blew the planet up.

The “No, and” failure follows the character trying something with “no, that didn’t work, and now the situation has worsened as a result.”

Harry and Ron run off to warn Hermione that there is a troll loose in the castle and get her to come back with them to the Gryffindor Common Room. No, they do not get a chance to warn Hermione about the troll, and they have locked the troll in the girls’ bathroom with Hermione.

“No, and” can also be a final – fatal – plot-solution, but this is not usually very satisfying. The ultimate plot solutions are typically either “Yes, and…” or “No, but…”

Prompt: Analyze a plot (that is a problem (subject) and solution with try-fail cycles (predicate)) in a favorite book, movie, or TV episode. I'll be posting my analysis this Sunday; if you're from the future, check it out here!

If you want to read more, you can check out my over 80 WfS posts on my website theferalcollection.com

My 90yr old Irish Catholic grandpa doesn’t miss with my gender. He’s never gotten my name wrong, or my pronouns, never even faltered over it.

It’s all so natural too: son, big man, young man…

We’ve never talked about it. He’s the only one who hasn’t pushed for details. He just accepted it and carried on because it’s not a huge deal.

It’s so comforting.

“it would be impossible for this disabled character to be played by a disabled actor because of the things this character can do in this movie” well then maybe…… you fucked up in the writing of this disabled character……

Writing from Scratch #1

Welcome to Writing from Scratch!

I’ve been writing a long time, and sometimes it feels like I lose the trees for the forest. Writing from Scratch is a chance for me (and you!) to get back to the basics of storytelling.

If you’ve never written a story before, if you’ve never felt like you could come up with one that would be worth writing, my hope is that if you follow along with me here, you will have the confidence and know-how to come up with an idea, build it into a story, and share it with the world.

These posts will be little, easy-to-digest nuggets. At the end of every post, look for a prompt and share your response in the comments!

What Is a Story?

A story can be defined by what it contains: at least one plot, character, and setting, and a style through which it is told.

Story Bits

To begin, let’s take a look at the second smallest unit of a story – the sentence. A sentence is a set of words that conveys a complete thought. And communication is fractal, meaning each part shares the same pattern as the whole. A story and its components, therefore, will also convey a Complete Thought.

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