Stop thinking: “I’m not talented enough to execute this concept.”
Start thinking: “I’m going to be a stronger artist when I’ve finished this piece.”This is a fixed mindset vs. a growth mindset.
Your abilities are not static, and any challenges you have, anything that turns out different from how you imagined, is not evidence of failure, just a struggle towards improvement.
Tag: writing
People in badly written fantasy stories will usually talk about the major historical events of their world and how magic has affected the lives of everyone, but ask a person in the real world to describe the effects of WWI and the invention of the combustion engine on modern life and they’d probably couldn’t tell you.
Broke: every character seems to know everything about the history and lore of the world
Woke: most characters can’t tell you much besides the basics but there are some that can tell you more complete but specific parts
H Y P E R W O K E: Every character tells you a wildly different version of the past and what effects it has on the present, ranging from the government is an imperialist, colonizing body obsessed with power to the one true ruler was sent by the gods and has smote down anyone who got in his way to “Oh you mean Jeff, the quote unquote tyrant of the west? I knew that guy! He was alright, never did anything wrong really just wanted some soup.” And there’s no way to tell what actually happened
I like your thinking
wakeupontheprongssideofthebed:
You’re a regular office worker born with the ability to “see” how dangerous a person is with a number scale of 1-10 above their heads. A toddler would be a 1, while a skilled soldier with a firearm may score a 7. Today, you notice the reserved new guy at the office measures a 10.
You decide it’s best to find out what you can about this person. Cautiously, you approach his desk. He’s a handsome man, tall, but with a disarming smile. How could such a friendly guy with such cute, dorky glasses be dangerous?
You extend your hand. “I noticed you’re new here. What’s your name?”
He shakes your hand warmly. His gaze is piercing, as if he’s looking right through you. “The name’s Clark,” he says. “So, how long have you worked for the Daily Planet?”
This one wins.
It’s been a few weeks, and one of Clark’s friends shows up. She’s pretty and all, enough muscle that she must work out. First thought would be that she should be maybe a 6.
Clark’s introducing her around. “This is my good friend, Diana, she’s in from out of town.”
You blink, and take a step back in fear. You’ve never seen an 11 before.
The day Bruce Wayne shows up for his long promised interview with Lois Lane, you can’t help it, the mug your holding drops from your fingers and sends a shock of hot coffee and ceramic shards across the floor.
Clark stops a few feet away and squints at you worriedly from behind those ridiculous glasses you’re 99% sure he doesn’t actually need, and asks tentatively, “Everything all right?”
You ignore him in favor of staring at the inky dark numerals hovering over the beaming fool gesticulating some fantastic yacht story for a gaggle of secretaries and minor columnists.
That’s it. Your gift has officially gone haywire. There is no other explanation. Because there is absolutely no way that Brucie Wayne is a 10.
At this point, you’ve seen it all. Miled manner reporters and billionaires at a 10 and a model-like woman at 11. You were really starting to doubt your power. The day you really stopped believeing in it was when Bruce Wayne came for another visit, and this time with a kid. The kid couldn’t be more than 10 years old, a bit on the short side.
He was an 8.
The day you started believing in it again was when you saw on tv the formation of something called the justice league.
There were those same numbers over superman, batman, wonder woman and robin. That’s when you put two and two together. You wonder how nobody at the daily planet noticed that Clarke was Superman with glasses. You wonder why you didn’t notice. You wonder why nobody put two and two together that Diana Prince and Wonder Woman looked exactly the same. You look in the mirror as the realization hit you and you see your own number change from a 3 to a 9.
IT GOT BETTER
Despite this, you go about your life. You don’t talk to Clark – Superman? – and kept out of his way. His girlfriend Lois Lane – she was a five when you first met, but now she’s a nine just like you – tries to get you to interview Bruce Wayne, but you refuse. You meet other people in Clark’s group of friends with high numbers. The daughter of the police commissioner from Gotham. The forensic scientist from Central City. More and more people to avoid and worry about.
Meanwhile, your paranoia gets to you. You start working out. Training in self defense. Studying the Justice League, trying to find its members. Finding out all their identities so you can be ready.
One day you wake up with a ten above your head.
That day you get a call. You recognize the area code. Gotham. Your heart is in your throat. You should throw the phone away, run. They’ve found you. You’re doomed. You might be a ten, but you can’t beat them all.
You pick up the phone anyways.
“Hello?”
“Hey, this is Clark Kent. I was wondering if we could talk.”
Your mouth goes dry. “About what?”
Clark’s voice goes quiet. “Well. About the Justice League.”
You stiffen in your seat. Your adrenaline kicks in, and your eyes dart around the room. You can hang up, pack, grab a plane ticket to wherever and disappear. Your passport hasn’t expired, and you’ve been talking to Perry White about a vacation anyways. You could say it’s a family emergency and never come back.
But they’d find you. You know they’d find you. They’re goddamned superheroes. They can carry buildings. They could probably manage finding you.
“Hello?” Clark’s voice returns, tinged with concern, and suddenly you stop. Calm down. They’re the good guys. At least they’re supposed to be.
“Yeah, sorry, just a little shocked you–”
“Caught up to you?” Clark asked. He laughed a little, but it wasn’t teasing. His voice had his regular ease, the same casual tone he would employ to talk about the weather in the break room. “Yeah. Lois noticed your odd behavior, actually. We didn’t realize it was linked to the League until you refused to interview Bruce, and then we knew something was up.”
“Speaking of Bruce Wayne, are you using his phone? Your area code is Gotham, not Metropolis.”
Clark laughed. “Damn. Lois wasn’t kidding when she said you were the best investigator working for the Daily Planet.”
“I just notice things is all.” You laughed nervously. You still can’t shake your general unease. This guy could kill you without any effort. You’re no match for him, or for any of his friends for that matter. Hell, Batman didn’t even have powers and he’d still fuck you up.
“Yeah, and that’s a skill we could use around here. Would you like to talk about joining? Bruce can send you a car, bring you here–”
“No,” you say, sharper than you intended. “Sorry. I’d rather meet in public, if that’s okay with you.”
“Of course. Lunch or coffee? It’s still early, but it’s a bit easier to cram all of us in a restaurant than a coffee shop.”
“Lunch, I guess. And no superhero stuff.”
Clark pauses, then sighs sadly. You’ve heard this sadness before in rare amounts. When bad things happened and fear and greed overtook people, he’d always frown and sigh, like someone watching their best friend self destruct, unable to help or save them. “You’re afraid of us. Aren’t you?” His voice is concerned and hushed.
A pang of guilt starts to replace the fear. “You can throw around buildings like a sack of potatoes, Clark. Your friend is powerful on an impossible level, Bruce’s kid is a fucking eight–”
“Wait, wait, wait,” Clark said, the sadness disappearing. “You have a number system for us?”
“Look, it’s a whole thing. I’ll talk about it over lunch.” You grab your laptop bag. “Where are we meeting?”
Clark said something to someone else. “Got any restaurant ideas? They want lunch.”
Bruce Wayne – you’ve heard enough interviews to recognize his voice – said, “Saffron’s pretty good.”
“Jesus,” someone else said. You’ve heard the voice, but you couldn’t place it. “I keep on forgetting you’re rich.”
“You don’t think it’s a little much, Bruce? The pay at Daily Planet is good but not that good,” said Clark.
“I’ll cover their tab.”
“Okay…” Clark returned to the call. “Saffron, in…thirty minutes? You’re downtown, right?”
“You can get a table to Saffron in thirty minutes?” said the strange voice. “Boy, am I glad I made friends with you guys.”
“Yeah, that works.” You’re a bit hesitant, but you swallow your nerves. At least for now. Your thoughts about threat levels made you forget that Clark is a decent guy. All you could do is hope that he thinks you’re decent, too. “See you then.”
“See you then. Be safe. Bye.” Clark hangs up, and you’re left in your room. The worry is starting to turn into something different. Excitement.
You shove the phone into your pocket, grab your keys, and head out the door. You’re so full of restless energy you walk the whole way there. Once you arrive, you catch your reflection in the mirror and notice that you’re starting to suit that ten above your head.
KEEP GOING!!!!!!!
The hostess takes you to a hidden corner of the restaurant. It’s mostly empty, as though it’s only just opened. Sitting at a long table, chatting politely, was the Justice League.
They aren’t wearing masks or uniforms, no bright colors and costumes. Clark Kent is in his usual office wear, Bruce Wayne is wearing a tailored suit, Diana Prince dons a nice blue dress, and Oliver Queen wears a nice button down. You don’t recognize two of them – a twenty something in jeans and a hoodie, a man in a green shirt, and a burly guy in a baggy t-shirt and old jeans who looks like he had just washed up from the sea. All of them, aside from Diana, are tens, of course.
Clark Kent stands, shakes your hand when you come in. “Glad to see you made it.” He introduces you to the others, and they all shake your hand quite happily and greet you like a friend. You learn that the guy in the hoodie is Barry Allen, the dude in green is Hal Jordan, and the beach dude is Arthur Curry. Waitresses, all ones, twos, and threes, come in with drinks, and one plops a mug of coffee in front of you, along with a small menu. Clark Kent gives you a knowing gaze.
Once the waitresses clear out, Bruce sits up straight. “Clark, would you rather I do the honors?” His silver watch glitters in the light from the windows.
“No, no, Bruce,” Clark says, setting down his glass of water. “I think it’s best if I ask them myself.”
Within a moment, you piece it together. “You want me to join the Justice League?”
Clark Kent cracks a smile. “How’d you guess?”
“You call me out of the blue, mention the Justice League, invite me to Bruce Wayne’s place, and then here, where you introduce me to a group of people who all look strikingly similar to the members of the Justice League.” You take a sip of coffee. “Subtlety is hardly your strong suit.”
Barry Allen laughed. “They got you there on that one.”
“Well, you’re right. At first Bruce wanted to handle the situation himself,” – you’d rather not think about what handle was a euphemism for – “but I insisted we do some more digging. We did, and what we found was…surprising. To say the least.”
You look at him oddly. You aren’t normal – no one else saw numbers floating above people’s heads – but you weren’t surprising. Your parents were the only ones who knew about your ability, and they’re long gone. You’ve got no checkered past, no odd history–
“You have powers.” Clark’s voice was clearly impressed.
“How did you find out about that?” The fear comes back, forming a knot in your stomach. “I’ve never told anyone else about it.”
“It’s not hard to notice,” Barry Allen says in between sips of soda. “Most of the information we got we got from Lois after she’s hung out with you.”
“I’ve never her told her anything about the numbers, though.”
Oliver Queen sits up, flashing you a confused look. “Numbers?”
Okay, something’s not right here. “The number I see over everyone’s heads,” you say, keeping your voice low. “It ties into how dangerous everyone is. Usually it’s just a one or two, maybe a three or four or five if they’ve got some kind of training or if they work out or whatever. Almost everyone at this table has a ten.”
“Almost?” Diana furrows her brow.
“You have an eleven,” you add.
Diana nods, smiling with a bit of pride and making an “I told you so” face to Bruce Wayne, who rolls his eyes. Oliver Queen clears his throat as Bruce and Hal pass him a couple bills.
“Ignore them,” Barry says, rolling his eyes at the three of them. “What you said was interesting – I might have to ask you a few questions on that later – but it wasn’t what I found. Remember the sensory and memory study you did when you were ten?”
You do remember it. Your parents were contacted by a scientist friend of theirs who needed kids to run a study on memory and stimuli. You remember it clearly. The large sterile room, the tests, the person conducting them, a handsome woman with a four above her head, the questions, the smell of latex gloves and fresh bleach. But you don’t remember the results. You were never told the results, other than that they were good, though with a test like that it was hard to say.
“Well, I found the tests. And they were superhuman.”
Oh shit this is the best one!
oh no, i don’t condone abusive relationships! i just write, reblog, and create art, fanfic, meta, gifsets, and other content that portrays an abusive relationship as sexy, attractive, ideal, and the only true choice for each character. most of the time i put them in happy aus or situations despite claiming that i only ship them because of the angst! that’s not condoning abuse, you silly antis!
this is giving me angry abuse apologist anons in my inbox please keep reblogging this i live on their tears
I am honestly fascinated to know what OP thinks of Brian Fuller’s Hannibal, both as a series and as a source of fanworks, given that its status as an adaptation arguably makes it a species of fanfic in its own right, too. Or Game of Thrones, for that matter.
I’m just… really, really flummoxed by the idea that creating something which features abusive/badwrong relationships is generally understood to be Drama provided it’s in some sense original, but if the same thing happens in fandom, then we somehow lose all ability to distinguish between depiction and endorsement.
This is just me spitballing, but I wonder if it has something to do with the fact that it’s frowned on in fandom – and with reason! – to offer criticism or critical analysis of individual fanworks, especially fics, so that a certain percentage of those thwarted critical impulses get redirected into generalised and vehement moral condemnation of specific ships and tropes.
Like: when it comes to books, comics, TV shows, games and films, the established culture of critical reception means that we’re usually able to criticise a specific narrative without being told that the very act of doing so is Mean And Unacceptable – and again, I completely get why fanfic has the conventions it does around unsolicited crit or analysis. But when it comes to analysing a given original work, regardless of the invariable disagreements about taste and whathaveyou, there’s a general critical ability to distinguish between such options as:
- the author is deliberately and skilfully exploring darker themes in a way which I, personally, find fascinating
- the author is deliberately and skilfully exploring darker themes which I personally, cannot enjoy
- the author has attempted to explore darker themes but has, in my opinion, failed in a way that undermines their intentions
- the author has, in my opinion, used darker themes without considering their implications within the wider narrative
- the author has, in my opinion, used darker themes without considering their implications to particular readers
- my knowledge of the author leads me, personally, to suspect that their uncritical use of darker themes is the result of, and therefore a testament to, their actual worldview
- the author has stated clearly that their worldview informs the treatment of darker themes in their work, such that their depiction is, by their own admission, an endorsement of particular themes, though not necessarily specific acts contained in the work
All of which are really crucial distinctions to make, and just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to analysing a work which might delight and infuriate by turns. Which isn’t to say that there’s ever a fannish failure to apply these distinctions to original works, too: manifestly, once a particular work is branded Bad, then anyone who dares create fanworks of it is tarred with the same Bad brush. But when they are applied, which is most of the time, these are all distinctions predicated on the ability to distinguish and discuss an individual work in a critical or negative fashion – and in fandom, where works are produced predominantly for free, often by new or developing writers, often as a catharsis for personal trauma, often for an incredibly niche audience, and, crucially, very often in contexts where sexual fantasies, dark or otherwise, form the basis of what are otherwise in-depth narratives, this sort of specific criticism is not only difficult to make, but subculturally taboo.
So instead, people get worked up in general about individual ships or squicks or tropes that they dislike, especially when they appear in confluence – and again, I understand why! Because a fanwork, unlike an original story, is based on an existing narrative, which makes the creative distortion visible to readers. If someone takes what is canonically a happy, PG narrative and writes a dark, sadistic fic about the characters, it’s easy to feel that something innocent is being defiled; while on the other hand, if someone takes what is canonically a warped, abusive dynamic and reworks it as something light and fluffy, it’s similarly easy to feel as though they’re trying to exonerate or elide the original darkness, because why else would they bother?
In both cases, that angry, reactive feeling is easily intensified in a context where, once particular ships or fannish character interpretations become dominant in the minds of multiple fans, such that the thing being exalted is fundamentally separate to the source material – or, as just as often happens, is fundamentally separate to the preferred interpretation of the reactive person – then it’s easy to look at any and every reference to it, however brief, as lots of people saying, in shorthand, “I love and approve this awful, abusive concept because I think abuse is okay.”
But here’s the thing: people come to fanfic for all sorts of reasons, and they don’t owe you, personally, an explanation for their choices – because unlike, say, Guillermo del Toro, they are not public figures with a certain inherent degree of responsibility or accessibility to their readership. Among my friends who write fanfic, I know people who’ve written their own sexual assaults or rapes into fics as a way to help them process those experiences, or who write darkfic as a safe outlet for sexual fantasies they’d never want to actually try in real life (or who did try them, and had them go wrong, or who want to create a reality where all the bad things they’ve experienced are, in this fictional medium, wholly under their control, and not the control of the person/s who hurt them.) There are people who face their fears by putting them in fanfic. And on, and on, and on.
Are there also genuinely abusive people whose work reflects what they believe is okay IRL? Yes, there are; but that’s also true of people who create original works, not just fanfics (see: Woody Allen), and while we absolutely condemn those individuals when the truth comes out, we don’t respond by issuing a moratorium on any future stories containing elements favoured by the abuser, because regardless of the purity of your intentions, it’s pretty much impossible to say Thou Shalt Not Create This Particular Thing without simultaneously banning a lot of stuff that, actually, it would’ve been good to keep, because stories – and people, and stories about people – are just that complex.
Anyway. This kind of got away from me a bit, and like I said, this is just me theorising, but the more I think about it, the more I feel as if there really is a correlative relationship between fandom’s regular forays into total moral puritanism and its inability to offer criticism except at a general level.
File this under “super obvious yet I always seem to forget it.”
I don’t write romance (I totally respect people who do, though!) but this is also great writing advice in general! What is preventing the protagonist from achieving their goal?
Why can’t these two people be together now?
Why can’t the mystery be solved now?
Why can’t they overthrow the evil overlord now?
If you don’t have a solid answer for these questions, that’s a good indicator that the plot could use some more work.
Also test your answer a little bit. If it’s as thin as they’re just refusing to sit down and have a simple conversation, you might want to re-think how things are going.
As a beta reader/editor, I tend to ask this question a lot: “Why are they doing it this way when there’s a much easier path available?” That’s not to say that they should take the easier path, because that would usually be boring. Instead, the point is that the question needs an answer–either eliminate the easier path or give them a very clear reason for not taking it. (And if I’m asking the question, that reason isn’t as clear as you think it might be.)
I find it very difficult to root for characters who have a sensible option available and just don’t take it. If the only reason is “Because there wouldn’t be a story otherwise,” you haven’t actually found the story yet.
you ever start rereading your WIP to get in the mood and write more and you get so caught up that when you get to the end you’re like “bitch? where’s the rest?” and you realize you’re the bitch and you have to write it
I need some input. At one point in a story of mine, two of my characters are going to communicate using sign language. I’m torn between trying to describe the motions, or writing it how it would be found in a sign language manual. I feel like the former would be harder to engage in, but the latter is usually written in caps, especially with finger spelling. I don’t want people reading it to think that they’re yelling at each other. Thoughts?
A fantastic example of ASL in fic is Moth and Flame by @wittyy-name !! Here’s their guide for their ASL dialog here.
Important Key: This fic contains a fair amount of sign language
<“With quotation marks indicates they are speaking as they sign.”>
< Without quotation marks indicates they are just signing. >(one thing to note is if you do this and have html editing enabled, the program will think it’s code and it won’t be visible, so make sure when you do this it’s in rich text.)
They write ASL well. They start the first use of ASL dialog with a description of the sign so readers clue in that it’s ASL, and then unless the way the sign indicates something else (like sarcasm or emotion or stuff like that) they don’t usually describe it, which allows you to bypass the ASL grammar for smoother writing (grammar in ASL is much different than English. If that’s gonna be relevant to the fic narrative I’d include that but if not I’d say probably just stick to what you’d write if it were normal dialog)
Generally they stick to “signed” instead of “said” unless the character is speaking at the same time as well. Otherwise, they just treat it like regular dialog and I think the fic is stronger for it.
Behind the cut are a few of my favorite quotes that I think convey this well!
So. Here’s the thing. It’s ableist af to differentiate like this, just as it’s racist af to differentiate languages. Italics are used for emphasis; if the words being used don’t need to be emphasized, then using italics is useless. All it does is automatically Other the character. The same goes for using special characters to separate what the Deaf or mute character is saying. If you wouldn’t use it for characters who speak audibly, then don’t use it for a Deaf/mute character, either.
Now let’s talk specifically about writing sign language. (I’m not specifying ASL, because there are multiple dialects. Some of this is covered in the answer above, but I’m going to clarify, anyway, because the examples given behind the read more aren’t ideal.)
It’s okay to describe signing in specific situations. For instance, if the first character is Deaf and the second character is not, but does understand signing, describing the motions of language in the first two sentences is a great way to establish that they are, in fact, using sign language. Here’s an example:
He makes a vertical fist, then circles it over the middle of his chest.
“There’s nothing to be sorry for,” she tells him.
Boom. Your characters are speaking to each other in sign language. Continue writing their conversation conventionally, like you would for any other character. No italics; no special characters; no using phrases like, “he signed”. It can be inferred from the text that they are signing. Sign language is language, so you can use “he said”.
Also, sign language uses different grammatical conventions. You can’t just translate word for word. “Do you want to play?” becomes “Want play?” The rest of the words are assumed. Think of them like silent vowels.
It makes more sense to simply write out this dialogue, as opposed to describing the physical signs. Your characters are speaking; let them speak.
Another important part of sign language is body language. You’ve probably seen videos of translators who get “into it”. In reality? They’re just speaking. When you don’t have a voice to inflect with, you have to use your face and body to add that infection. There isn’t anything unusual about it. I guarantee that your Deaf/mute characters have seen it before, because that’s how they talk.
If you’re excited, you sign excitedly. If you’re flirting, you’re being flirtatious. Angry? I guarantee that translates into the way your hands moved. It isn’t necessary to describe what it would “sound” like; again, that only Others the character.
Treat your Deaf/mute characters like people. They are.
[cc: @ao3commentoftheday @weekendwritingmarathon and no offense intended to @genderfluidlancey <3]
Thank you so much for this important information @shiphitsthefan!
You have a few options, I think.
You can keep the all-caps convention and explain in an author’s note at the top of the chapter that this is how sign language is usually presented in a written form.
You can give generalize descriptions of movements without diving into all of the intricacies that are A) hard to describe in a narrative sort of way and B) potentially difficult to picture for a reader who hasn’t had a lot of exposure to sign language.
You could also embed images or videos of the sign language motions (mid-fic or at the end of the chapter perhaps?) to give your readers a better idea of what it actually looks like.
Anyone else have some ideas?
It’s ableist af to differentiate like this, just as it’s racist af to differentiate languages.
As a bilingual Latina, who code switches all the time, that’s not racist at all. If anything you’d be erasing their identity as a Latin@, because language is an important component (not the sole component, but it’s up there.) Showing that a character speaks both Spanish and English, or that they code-switch between the two, or use Spanglish, will actually tell us a lot about the character and their background. There’s also cases with two bilingual people, where one person speaks in English and the other responds in Spanish. You could imply someone is Latin@ in other ways, but mentioning the language is quick and clear. Or you could write what’s spoken in Spanish in Spanish and translate it, but that could be clunky and take too much time. In all honestly if an author mentions a character speaks Spanish and how they use Spanish it’s not othering their just implying their ethnicity and background. If you were not to address it,
you would be erasing their identity, especially because if a Latin@ doesn’t speak Spanish that in and of itself tells the reader a lot about their background and experiences as a Latin@.
But that’s just me and my opinion.
thanks for adding that on. It’s good to get other perspectives on things
The very best writing tip you will ever hear is this:
Analyze stories.
Don’t just listen to what other storytellers say you should do, figure out what you like about the stories you enjoy and learn to replicate that.
Want to learn about pacing? Examine stories you think flow fantastically.
Want to learn about description? Study your favorite author’s descriptions.
Want to learn about characterization? Critique your favorite characters.
Want to learn about foreshadowing? Explore how it’s done in stories where the plot twist blew your mind.Storytellers giving advice to other storytellers is fantastic and useful, but you will never know something as thoroughly as you know the things you figure out for yourself.
And by analyzing the stories you love instead of listening blindly to advice, you’ll never be swayed by the bias of other writers and you’ll never take in advice that’s suited for a story you wouldn’t enjoy writing.
So put on some thinking caps and go analyze those stories.
When the author does the title drop
People often say to me: “You draw like some kind of inhuman machine. If I eat your brain, will I gain your power?” The answer is yes, but there is another way.
The key to precise drawing is building up muscle memory so that your arm/hand/fingers do the things you want them to do when you want them to do them. Teaching yourself to draw a straight line or to make sweet curves is just a matter of practice and there are some exercises you can do to help improve.
If you’re going to be doodling in class or during meetings anyway, why not put that time to good use?
blackash26 