Anyone Wanna Make A Bi Girl Band Called “between The Florals And The Flannels”

some fucking resources for all ur writing fuckin needs

* body language masterlist

* a translator that doesn’t eat ass like google translate does

* a reverse dictionary for when ur brain freezes

* 550 words to say instead of fuckin said

* 638 character traits for when ur brain freezes again

* some more body language help

(hope this helps some ppl)

Writing advice you're not going to like.

People sometimes send me Asks wanting writing advice.  I suck at it.  I don’t really know how I do the writing, or how one should do the writing, or what one should do to get better at the writing.  All I can ever think to say is “write a lot of stuff and you will get better at the writing.”  Which is true, but hardly a bolt from the sky.

Well, as it turns out, I do have one piece of Legit Writing Advice, and I am going to share it with you, right now.  If you were in any of my writing workshop groups at a con, you’ve heard this advice already.

Warning: you’re going to fucking hate it.  But if you do it, you will thank me.

If you have a piece of fiction you’re serious about, something you might want to actually shop around, or just something you really are into and want to make it as good as you can…do NOT edit it.

Repeat.  DO NOT EDIT.

REWRITE.

As in, print out the whole fucking thing and re-enter it, every word (or use two screens).  Retype the whole thing.  Recreate it from the ground up using your first draft as a template.  Start with a blank page and re-enter every. single. word.

I hear you screaming.  OH MY GOD THAT’S INSANE.

Yes.  Yes, it is.

It is also the most powerful thing you will ever do for a piece of fiction that you are serious about.

Now, let’s get real.  I don’t do this for most things.  I don’t do it for my fanfiction.  But if it’s something original, something I might like to get to a professional level - I do it.  You absolutely COULD do it for fanfiction.  It’s just up to you and how much time you want to sink into a piece.

You can edit, sure.  But you WILL NOT get down to the level of change that needs to happen in a second draft.  You will let things slide.  Your eyes will miss things.  You will say “eh, good enough.”

The first time I did this, on someone else’s advice, I was dubious.  Within two pages, I was saying WHY HAVE I NOT BEEN DOING THIS ALL THE TIME.  I was amazed at how much change was happening.  By the time I got to the end, I had an entirely different novel than the one I’d started with.  When you’re already re-entering every single word, it’s easy to make deep changes.  You’ll reformat sentences, you’ll switch phrases around, you’ll massage your word choice.  You’ll discover whole paragraphs that don’t need to be there at all because they became redundant.  You’ll find dialogue exchanges that need reimagining.  Whole plot points will suddenly be different, whole story arcs will reveal their flaws and get re-drawn.

You cannot get down to the fundamental level of change that’s required just by editing an existing document.  You have to rebuild it if you really want your story to evolve.  You will be AMAZED at the difference it will make.

It will take time.  It will seem like a huge, Herculean task.  I’m not saying it’s easy.  It isn’t.  But it is absolutely revolutionary.

Try it.  I promise, you will see what I mean.

*PSA: Tipsy!Lori wrote this post.  In case you couldn’t tell.

Me: *at work*

Brain: oh hey so here's the cure for that writer's block you've been having

Me: *driving*

Brain: and here's some eloquent dialogue to go with it

Me: *at the grocery store*

Brain: remember that plot hole? fixed it.

Me: *in the shower*

Brain: you know that scene that's been giving you hell? here's three perfectly plotted ways for it to play out

Me: *actually sits down to write*

Brain: *dial tone*

help

Sometimes a disability is an all-or-nothing, you can either do an activity or you can't. But often it's much more complicated than that. Some disabilities come in waves, some in acute attacks. Some can technically do an activity, but it's gonna cost them later with pain or worsening of symptoms.

If someone can do an activity one day, but tell you they can't the next day, believe them. If they're a loved one, you can inquire as to why in order to understand them better. If you don't know the person well, the best thing to do is to say "ok" and leave it at that.

Us disabled people have to constantly explain ourselves, defend ourselves, handle being accused of lying or exaggerating. We feel like we're constantly in front of a judge, having to prove our very being.

Having someone go "Sure, no problem" when we say we can't do something, will make a disabled person immensely grateful.

For context, my ranger ooc accepted a boon from an ancient wisp. After fighting a froghemoth, our party later found out that there is a downside to the boon: anything my character kills now resurrects with full health a minute later.

The next night while on watch, our cleric noticed a massive shape looming just beyond our shelter.

Cleric, waking us up: “Guys, we have a frog-lem.”

This is a friendly reminder to never, ever publish your book with a publishing company that charges you to publish with them. That is a vanity press, which makes money by preying on authors. They charge you for editing, formatting, cover art, and more. With most of these companies, you will never seen a cent of any royalties made from sale of your book. A legitimate publishing company only makes money when you make money, they will never charge you to publish with them. If a company approaches you and says "Hey, we'll publish your book, just pay us X amount of money," tell them to go fuck themself and block them.

i have a hill to die on real quick

you don’t need purity in the material you consume

you have a brain, you are capable of critical thinking, you can sift through the material and keep what is edifying for you and discard what isn’t

flaws don’t necessarily make material worthless

the avatar, and the last airbender :: an aang meta

I’ve been wanting to write this meta for about six years, and now seems like as good a time as any, so without further ado: Why Aang Sparing Ozai is the Most Important Scene in ATLA, from both a Character and a Thematic Standpoint.

And with that thesis out of the way, let’s go all the way back to the beginning.

Aang is the titular character of the series, two fold. He is both the Avatar, and the last airbender, and it’s these two facets of identity that inform his arc as much as the duality of Zuko’s scar informs his. So why then, is one arc written about and praised endlessly and the former is rather left in the dust, so to speak? 

There’s a few reasons for that, I think. The first is that Zuko is a more traditionally masculine and therefore Western protagonist. He has a more understandable loss, too. People can relate to losing a parent, or to an abusive household. These are traumas and ghosts, the brooding nature, that we are regularly shown in Western media, over and over again. The angry man who lost his wife/daughter/sister. Who does bad things like burning down villages and kidnapping people, but can’t you see that he’s just sad inside? And I’m not saying that’s all Zuko is. There are plenty of subversive things about him, his arc, and his poignant story of overcoming emotional and physical abuse. He is an incredibly important character and deserves all the praise he gets.

I just think Aang is just as noteworthy, and doesn’t get nearly the amount of credit he deserves. Aang is not a traditional Western protagonist at all. He makes jewelry, is vegetarian, loves animals, cries easily, tries to avoid violence, and has a fun loving nature. Many people deride Aang’s behaviour as childish - and sometimes it is - but the best parts of him, his forgiving nature, his fun loving nature and compassion, isn’t because he’s young. They come from him being an Air Nomad. And without those same traits being displayed towards him, Zuko never would have become the character we know and love (but more on that, later).

So yes, as above, Aang’s arc is about the reconciliation of him being the Avatar, and him being the last Airbender. Each part is equally as important as the other. If you can’t understand that, then you don’t understand the show, full stop. 

Okay? Okay.

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