Also The Fact That On Ttpd She's A Huge Mess Of A Person Is Great. I Don't Love Everything About That

I'm so sad that my favorite teacher is retiring

She is such a real one

She literally made a new seating chart today and put me next to my crush

She's literally the best an I'm going to miss her so much

A Writer's Guide to Character Development

I don’t know about you guys, but I can only answer “what’s your character’s favorite flavor of ice cream” so many times before I realize those lists are not going to help me actually write the character.

So, instead, I like to drabble practice. Answer these ten key questions about your character (answer in character). Then, after you know them a little better, write ten scenes (NOT part of your planned story) with the ten prompts below. Set it in your world, but it can be whenever you want—pre-story, or post-story, or mid-story. You could even write two scenes for one prompt, contrasting where your character starts the story and where they end up, or write one in first person and then write it again in third.

Just has to cover events that are NOT plot points. The point of the exercise is to come up with scenes you can toss out as soon as you finish them. You might end up using some of the lines or scenes you come up with, but for now you’re just playing around. 

QUESTIONS

What does your character tell everyone is their greatest fear? What is it actually? Is it the same? Why or why not?

What is their greatest strength and greatest weakness? 

Name the most important people to this character. All of them. Family and close friends and lovers.

Does your character have enemies? Who and why?

What is your character’s favorite holiday and why? 

How does your character like to present himself/herself? How do they dress? How do they act? Are they friendly or standoffish? Do they like to make a scene, or are they a wallflower?

What is their love language? How do they express it, and how do they best receive it?

What is their highest virtue? What is something that peers would praise about your character? What do they value most in other people?

Are they messy or neat? Why or why not?

If your character could change one thing about their life, what would it be and why? And, conversely, if they could only save one thing from their life, what would it be?

PROMPTS

Your character has had a bad day. What happened?

Your character’s loved one is sick. What do they do?

It’s your character’s birthday.

Someone is hiding something from your character. How do they uncover what it is?

Your character has just heard the news. A character they loved is dead. Describe the rest of their day.

Your character is on their own for dinner.

Your character has the day to himself/herself. No responsibilities, nothing. What do they do?

In the middle of the night, your character hears a noise in the house.

Your character knows they will die at midnight. What is their last day like?

Your character suddenly develops amnesia. Their loved ones try to jog your character’s memories by taking them to familiar locations and reminiscing. 

Sometimes it's really hard being emotionally intelligent and self-aware, and also being good at analyzing people and yourself, especially when combined with being an overthinker. I know I'm right, even if it doesn't appear true yet, because my brain recognizes the patterns and has this cycle of self doubt that probably leads to self sabotage. I'm so tired of people not being able to be as emotionally intelligent as me, as it just leads to the loss of relationships and me being jaded, when everything could have been avoided with just simple communication

For Novice Writers: the quick test for Are You Being Scammed Or Not...

I read a sad case today of a young writer who had had her story rewritten into illiteracy by a so-called publisher, who then abused her in email when she wrote to complain. She wsn’t getting paid for her story – instead she was actually buying copies of the anthology to show people that she had sold a story. And I thought, it is time to remind the world, and to enlighten young writers, about…

Yog’s Law: 

Money flows towards the writer.

That’s all. All writers should remember it.  When a commercial publisher contracts a book, it will pay an advance against royalties to the writer. Money flows towards the writer. Literary agents make their living by charging a commission of between 10 and 20% on the sales that they make on behalf of their clients, the writers. When advances and royalties are paid by a publisher the agent’s percentage is filtered off in the direction of the writer’s agent but the bulk of the money still flows towards the writer. If a publisher ever asks for any sort of financial contribution from a writer, they’re trying to divert money away from the writer, in direct contravention of Yog’s Law. If an agent ever asks for up-front fees, regardless of what they call them (reading fees, administration costs, processing fees, or retainers), then they are trying to divert money away from the writer, in direct contravention of Yog’s Law. It’s a brilliantly simple rule. We should thank James D Macdonald for it in the best way there is. Buy his books

Money flows toward the writer.

No, that doesn’t mean that the author should get paper and ink for free, or that he won’t pay for postage. It does mean that when someone comes along and says, “Sure, kid, you can be a Published Author! It’ll only cost you $300!” the writer will know that something’s wrong. A fee is a fee is a fee, whether they call it a reading fee, a marketing fee, a promotion fee, or a cheese-and-crackers fee.

Is this perfect? No. Scammers have come up with some elaborate ways to avoid activating it. But it’s still a good and useful tool, and will save a lot of grief. Any time an agent or publisher asks for money, the answer should be “No!”

ANOTHER FUCKING BLUE

ttpd is like... this fucking sucked... it was my fault... fuck joe... this also fucking sucked... fuck matty... i thought i was gonna die... straight up commit me to an asylum... FUCK matty... fuck joe... no one knows me... fuck kim kardashian... i created every problem and every consequence i have to face... please see me as human... i am exposing my flaws so you see me as a real person... fuck jake gyllenhaal... if you're gonna be so up my business you better realize how fucked up my business is... also hi killatrav ily... there is nothing redeeming about this chapter of my life... hi mom ily... this ALSO fucking sucked... there may be good in the world... here is every sin i have ever committed... i was promised love and forever repeatedly and no one ever delivered... my reaction to trauma was awful... i made so many bad decisions... if you're gonna crucify me do it for good reasons... are you not entertained?

Either we're getting 1989tv announcement or she's trolling us massively

If you’re like me and you have the debilitating habit of beating yourself up over things, look yourself in the mirror and just go “I am young and I am allowed to make mistakes. It’s not that serious.” Bc it really isn’t. It is not that serious at all. This is not our second time living. We did not have a rehearsal for what the correct way to live is. This is our first time and we are allowed to stumble. It’s fine. It’s not that serious.

And then there was one (1989 song left)