Getting In My Tumblr Fill Before #502 Airs Tonight On Cw.

Of an excellent actress, a predictable script and a tripe load of heteronormative tropes.

I just watched Christmas Inheritance. Eliza Taylor is an excellent actress, I really enjoy her work. I enjoyed her work in this film but it was not easy to. The reason it was not easy to was: the horrible and predictive script, the somewhat wooden actors that were also in the film (Andie MacDonald was great, love her), the awful awful choice in eligible men available to “Ellie”. I mean seriously, I have not dated or tried to date a man in an age but surely their are more choices than: option one - entitled judgy rich elitist douche bag who treats his fiancé like a possession; or option two - judgy dismissive “set in his ways” not in touch with his feelings and can’t even look his love interest in the eyes traditionalist. Like wow both these dudes spent more time looking at inatimate objects e.g. cellphone or floor, than looking at the woman they are supposed to be into.

Is this what straight movies are like? Is the bar this low for male suitors? Surely there is more than one Justin Trudeau out there.

At one point I drifted off during a Ellie Jake scene because there was no chemistry and was like “how did Eliza and Alycia create so much chemistry in a post apocalyptic world when this Jake dude is stiffer than a nut cracker in this rom com?” Near the end I was just hoping Ontari would show up and kill the suitors. Sigh.

My only explanation for this film is that Ms. Taylor, as an Australian, had all these nostalgic ideas around “White Christmases” and was wooed by that aspect of the script. But that wasn’t real snow. Snow doesn’t spray up from the sidewalk midway up a stairway.

Le sigh.

Slick!

“The next commander will protect you”

-I don’t want the next commander, I want you

(Clarke and Lexa, 3x07)

catching song, great vid

happy 1 month anniversary! i’ve been in hell ever since 🔥

Fun activities

It's very endearing to me how many people are willing to keep an eye on a video feed so they can push a button and let a fish in the Netherlands get to the other side of a dam.

Writeblr Glossary

A list of words commonly used in the Writeblr community and their meaning!

I’ve gotten a lot of questions about what some things mean, so I thought it was time to compile a list of meanings.

Writeblr — A community of writers on tumblr; A blog that posts primarily about writing. See here for a more in-depth explanation. (Also written as Writblr on occasion)

WIP  — Stands for Work in Progress. Primarily, it’s a piece of fictional work that is still in the writing process and is unfinished. (Also see: WIP page)

OC  — Stands for Original Character. This is a character entirely of your own creation.

Tag list  — A tag list is a list of users who will be tagged in every post that a Writeblr makes about a certain WIP. It is often included at the bottom of a post, and people are free to ask to be included, or removed from it.

WIP Page  — A page or a post on a Writeblr that describes a WIP. Commonly includes a synopsis, setting, characters, etc. See here for what goes in a WIP page and how to make one.

Tag games — Tumblr games where people will do something (often answer questions, a snippet of their WIP, etc) and ask other users to participate by using the @ function in that post.

Ask games  — A tumblr game where a user will request people to send them things with the ask function. Often times will include a list of questions they wish to be asked.

Fanfiction  — Fiction written by a fan about an existing TV show, movie, book, etc. Often features the characters, the setting, etc. of that piece of media.

AU  — Stands for Alternate Universe. AUs typically feature the same cast of characters of a WIP or an existing piece of fiction with a major change or two. (For example, a Fantasy AU would involve placing the characters in a fantasy setting. There also may be an AU of what might happen if a certain character didn’t die in their story).

Canon  — Material or information that is accepted as an official part of a story. (i.e., the creator confirms it and includes it in their story).

Headcanons  — Ideas and interpretations of a fictional work that is accepted by a fan, but isn’t necessarily supported by canon.

Moodboard  — A collection of images meant to evoke a certain feeling or emotion. Often used by Writeblrs for their WIPs and OCs.

Have a word you’d like to see included? Let me know and I’ll add it!

Have a question on what a writeblr term means? Ask!

“Show, Don’t Tell!”: Using the Five Senses in Writing

This is an extended piece to my ‘Show, Don’t tell’ post. When writing the senses, I like to imagine the scene as if I were watching a movie. It’s the simplest way for me to picture and write when it comes to descriptions. You don’t want to overload the reader, but you do want to paint the picture instead of telling them. Staying aware of the five senses in your writing will dramatically improve your skill. It not only helps the reader be a part of the story but helps the writer set important scenes, without having to outright state what is happening. In this post, I will explain how I use the five senses in my writing. As always, my advice is subjective and only to show what I personally do. Whether you keep the senses in mind as you write, or you edit them in later, making sure you pay attention to keywords will help eliminate the stress of going back later to figure out what (maybe!) went wrong. 

SEE: On Sight

One of the easiest ways to go about elaborating sight is to eliminate words related to vision (look, saw, gazed, peek, etc). It also helps to stay aware of items, colors, sizes, etc. Do the same thing you’d do with words related to sight, eliminate them. Of course, don’t erase every word or phrase, but being proactive, keeping them in mind, and avoiding them will help you avoid overloading your reader with too much purple prose. (Granted, I would die for purple prose, but I understand that’s not everyone’s thing). 

Examples:

Jill saw Jack running. He carried a silver pail. He tripped and fell down the hill. 

 There are a lot of sight-words in this example. As the writer, it is your decision to choose what you want to elaborate on, whether it is one thing, or all of them. How much of the story you want to paint is up to you—

Jack’s feet blurred against the green grass as his toe caught his ankle. He rolled on his side, his silver pail flying into the air and reaching Jill first.

Jill craned her neck to find Jack staggering down the hill. Water sloshed from the sides of the bucket, swinging and glistening in the sunlight. He stumbled and grabbed for the handle with his second hand as the pail threatened to leave his grasp, and then he slipped, toppling down the hill.

In both of these scenarios, the reader can “see” that Jack is running and tripped without specifically stating that Jill saw it. They also “see” he had a silver pail and dropped it. 

Being more visually descriptive is also very important for facial expressions. It takes a simple mood and elevates it. Describing the expression also gives the reader the chance to “feel” that way too, almost like a mimic, which helps them visualize and empathize with the character.

Example:

Maxine made a disgusted face.

Think of what a disgusted reaction looks like; usually, it involves frowning, pinching your nose, sticking out your tongue, etc. Sometimes, it can help to look in a mirror and write what you’re seeing, too.

Maxine flared her nostrils and stuck out her tongue.

In the latter example, the reader is able to infer that Maxine is disgusted by how the writer described her reaction.

HEAR: On Sound

Describing sound can be tricky. It’s also hard to remember when to use it. We tend to think of sound in terms of music or voices—okay, okay, sometimes we sprinkle in animals howling or the wind blowing, too!—but sound can be incredibly important in setting a scene and is often under-utilized. Sounds let the reader know their surroundings without pulling from what is going on and adds intensity!

Examples:

Manuel sat nervously at the coffee table.

Again, as the writer, you can decide where to incorporate the use of sound. Here are a couple of suggestions, based on the above example:

Manuel’s fingers drummed against the table and drowned out the low whistle escaping from between his teeth as he exhaled. All around him, there was cheerful chatter, through which the barista’s loud voice occasionally sliced.

Manuel’s thoughts whirred and hummed, a dull grinding and the clinking of glass broke through the constant thump of his knee against the underside of the table.

In both of these examples, the reader was able to gather that Manuel was nervous (tapping knee, drumming fingers, low whistle). They are also able to gather he is in a coffee shop (or a restaurant of sorts) without explicitly saying so.

TOUCH: On Sensation

The best way to handle touch is by imagining whatever it is you are describing and what it feels like. If you don’t know how something feels, google it. Don’t describe a snake as slimy just because its scales are shiny and gives it a slime-like effect. That said, touch doesn’t just deal with what your character is physically touching. It can also deal with emotions and help to express them without saying outright how your character feels. 

Example:

Opal touched the silk blanket. She felt sleepy and closed her eyes.

Here we can elaborate on what the blanket feels like when Opal touches it and how she feels to indicate she is tired: 

The supple fabric slid between Opal’s fingers like water. Her tired muscles sagged and sharp, tiny pinpricks pressed against her heavy eyelids as she lay back.

The reader knows the blanket was very soft and also that she is tired without specifically stating she was sleepy. 

TASTE: On Flavor

Taste is a fun sense to mess with. It can show the reader so much more than how delicious the bread is (or how gross dirt is). I like to play around with taste in the weather/air, the taste of fear, the taste of cat hair in your mouth because there is always cat hair in your mouth… all right, maybe that’s a personal thing.

Example: 

The sun rose over the city.

What do you use for taste here? A city can’t taste, the sun doesn’t taste, but your character does!

Yellow light spilled over the streets, soaking the grit from the rainbow puddles into the air. The bitter grease lingered and settled in his mouth, strengthening every time he scraped his teeth against his tongue. 

Experiment with taste in your writing. Describe things you wouldn’t normally think to taste, like crude oil*. The internet is a good resource when it’s something you don’t want to try yourself, like crude oil**. Chances are, someone out there has already tried it and explained what it tastes like online.

SCENT: On Smell

Ahhh, smell. Smell lets the reader know so much: they can figure out where a character is, what they’re doing, where they are, etc., just from a few scent-related descriptors thrown around. Smell is also useful in triggering memories or past events.

Danny walked through the forest.

You can use so many of the five senses here! But since we’re focusing on scent, let’s zero in on that:

A crisp hint of pine lingered in the air and blended with the pungent decay of the brown needles underfoot.

Without stating anything about a forest, the reader has an idea of where Danny is. You can also use smell to show emotion! 

Danny was in love.

How do you smell love, K? Well, you’ve got me there: you can’t. But as a writer, you can think of what love means to you and of things you associate with love, and work from there. Personally, I imagine it would have a sweet smell, maybe too sweet.

A rush of flowery sweetness filled his nostrils as the handsome young man walked by.

There you have it. Of course, there’s a lot more to writing the five senses, as there is with anything, but this is to give you a basic idea of what I do when I’m writing. Being proactive and keeping the senses in mind while writing can be tough and exhausting, but the more you do it, the easier it becomes. And you don’t leave it all for editing! Remember: the most important thing is to keep practicing. 

Happy writing!

* Please do not taste crude oil. I can’t believe I have to type this, but some people want to eat Tide Pods, so here I am.

** Do not taste crude oil. You will die.

People keep asking “How can anyone have a problem with AO3 doing fundraising!”

And I’m just like…. Have people not noticed all the virulent anti-AO3 hate on tumblr propagated by the anti shipping community? Antis have a problem with AO3 raising money because they hate the fact that AO3 won’t allow them to censor content they don’t like and doesn’t tolerate bullying. That’s who is putting out these posts like, “how can this nasty site raise so much money?” Read between the lines.

And for all the people who are just like, “If they don’t want AO3 to to raise money why don’t they just not donate?”

Because antis are incapable of saying “this isn’t for me so I won’t support it but I don’t care if other people support it. They have to actively discourage other people from supporting the thing. At the same time, they also won’t stop using AO3 because 1) they’re a bunch of fucking hypocrites who want readership and that’s where the readers are and 2) they’re too lazy to put together their own archive using AO3′s open source code because that would require doing coding and buying servers and doing all the moderating they want, which is hard, and they just want to engage in empty virtue signalling, which is easy

Anyway, my point is, people need to be aware that these people are out there and they hate AO3 and they want it to go away even though they’re actively using the platform. They’ve even said they want AO3 to fail so something “better” (re, something they control) can take its place. Some of them are blatant about it, calling AO3 a cesspit of pedophilia, and some of them are subtle about it, saying more innocuous things like ‘Does AO3 really need 130K a year?” “Shouldn’t you give your money to individual needy people doing gofundmes for stuff that’s more more important?”

But all of these people have the same end goal, which is the destruction of the archive, and the way they’re going about it right now is to try to discourage people from donating.

So instead of asking, “Why do people object to AO3 raising money?” start telling people “Hey there are people out there who hate AO3 and want to destroy it and we have to protect the archive from them.” And donate, if you can, and signal boost, if you can’t.

Lexa’s expression as she listens to Clarke in this scene is so intense! I would love to hear Lexa’s internal monologue as she listens to Clarke. « Clarke is so beautiful, confident and smart. And intense. I imagine she is really good in bed, her passion, focus, intensity... Oh jok! Clarke asked me a question. Focus and spit something out. That wasn’t so bad. Phew. Jok! She was not impressed hmmm ... what is Quint doing. Oh wow! Clarke is so amazing. Wait where is she going? Air ...? I need Air. Okay, call a recess and then casually follow her with an expendable warrior. Here we go... »

Day forty-nine

of @the-wip-project​‘s challenge.

Q49: How do you get yourself in the mood to write? Do you have a ritual?

A49: Trying to fall asleep... just kidding! That is often when ideas come to me, but I digress. To put myself in the mood I do have a ritual:

Decide what I want to write.

Clean for 15 minutes while listening to music from the era I’m writing in.

Write for 25 minutes.

Take a 5 minute break

Review, am I writing what I set out to write? If it is better and relevant, then continue otherwise go back to 3.

Write for 25 minutes.  

Repeat as necessary until I’ve run out of time.

Oh my! One of the best clexa fanfics presented as a graphic novel? Yes please!

Lightning Only Strikes Once: A Clexa Comic

      Lexa? Lexa? Oh my god, she’s coming back! You are invited to join us on this journey with Clarke and Lexa as we bring them to life in a comic book series!       Lightning Only Strikes Once: A Clexa Comic is an adaption of the popular fanfiction written by Fiona. The story sends our heroes back to the beginning of The 100, from which it’ll change the events of the first two seasons of the show and then spin a completely original new story. Certain plot points and developments will be similar, but many will diverge from the original television program. Subjects such as xenophobia, racism, queer baiting, and many others for which the show has been criticized will be treated with the utmost care to ensure that the same mistakes are not repeated.       We started this project to bring the writing of Lightning Only Strikes Once to life and help fans see a whole new story play out, but we need your help to make this happen. We are launching a GoFundMe page to help crowdfund the production costs. Our goal is to produce a quality comic book. Additionally, we are donating a portion of each book order to the Koh Tao International Primary fundraiser promoted by Eliza. The funds would help sustain the running costs of the school and support as many children as possible so that they can receive the education they all deserve.

Get your book now!

     To get the latest updates and sneak peeks, visit our blog to learn more about the project and how you can be a part of this charitable venture!

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