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bloodynereid · 7 months

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Scream for Me | Halloween Headcanons for Scream Killers

pairings: stu macher x fem! reader, billy loomis x fem! reader, mickey altieri x fem! reader, jill roberts x gender neutral! reader, amber freeman x gender neutral! reader, quinn bailey x fem! reader, ethan landry x fem! reader

tw: slight smut (nothing too graphic but yeah it's mostly fade to black stuff), mentions of horror movies, kissing, alcohol, nothing much else? it's not that crazy honestly.

description: what do killers get up to during the spookiest time of the year? well spend time with their s/o's ofc.

a/n: part 1 in my halloween double feature project! i've been meaning to write for scream for agesss so hopefully i'll do that more now that i've actually taken a stab at it (you see what i did there). anyways these are just my personal preferences so if you want a specific killer or scream character that isn't in here you can request something cause my requests are currently open! hope you enjoy <3 and have a safe halloween!

STU MACHER:

You are obviously going to some type of Halloween party (maybe even hosting one??).

You spend the night cradled in Stu’s arms as horror movies play in the background and beer flows almost like it’s falling from the sky.

You had decided to do a couple’s costume that year. So Stu obviously chose Jack The Ripper and you went as one of his victims.

He had convinced you it would be sexy.

So you lay splayed on the couch in a corset and long flowy skirt with fake blood on your neck while Stu wore a flowy cotton shirt splattered with fake blood and tight pants.

It may not be totally period accurate but you guys looked hot.

Throughout the party you and Stu could barely keep your hands off each other, something that made the rest of your friend group groan.

The tension finally became irresistible when Stu did that particular thing with his tongue which had you pulling him quickly away from the couch and up to one of the unoccupied rooms.

Stu would later tell you that was one of the best Halloweens he’d ever had and you would readily agree.

BILLY LOOMIS:

You and Billy always went all out for Halloween - ever since you were kids.

Childhood best friends to lovers. Stu always teased you for being too tropey.

But you loved each other. Even when Billy started to pull away after his mother left his father.

That Halloween you knew you had to do something special, just to try and cheer him up.

Your plan started with watching a few horror movies before going over to Stu’s for the customary Halloween party.

You had decided to go as Hannibal Lecter and Clarice Starling, since you were both obsessed with the movie ever since you had sneaked into a showing when it first came out.

It was just the right level of insane and scary.

Your plan came to fruition during the middle of the party, when you swiftly pulled Billy away from your little group of friends and towards one of the bedrooms.

You may or may not have suggested an idea to spice up the bedroom - with some role play.

And well… let’s say that Stu had to push the volume of the music up so people wouldn’t hear the screams of pleasure coming from upstairs.

MICKEY ALTIERI:

You were both movie fanatics, which is actually how you two met - through the film studies class at Windsor College.

You had become fast friends and when October had rolled around you had spent nearly every day watching a horror movie in either your dorm or his.

He also liked to film you, he always teased you that you were his muse whenever he pulled out the movie camera just to capture your laughing face.

On Halloween night is when things actually changed between the two of you.

You had gone as one of your favorite characters from Pulp Fiction, Mia Wallace and Mickey was dressed up as Dale Cooper from Twin Peaks.

You had met up at one of the many frat parties that the campus hosted but had ended up leaving because even if insanity was reining on a night like this, having sweaty guys crowd in around you wasn’t your vision for a good Halloween.

So you had settled in on your bed since your roommate was busy making out with someone on your couch and put on the newest episode of X-Files.

However, instead of actually watching the tv show the two of you got into some weirdly deep conversation about aliens that definitely made you sound high on something.

That was when Mickey kissed you, before he pulled away quickly - blushing intensely that made you sort of glad that he had made the move you had been thinking about doing the whole length of the conversation.

You pulled him by the collar and kissed him deeply, leaving him slightly stunned before he relaxed in your hold and pulled away a few minutes later.

After confessing the fact that he had literally been in love with you since he met you, you basically pounced on him and the rest of the night was spent with Scully and Mulder in the background as you two kissed.

JILL ROBERTS:

Jill was definitely one of those people who didn’t really love Halloween, sure she loved watching horror movies and putting on a cute outfit but that was it.

So it basically took all of your persuasive ability to get her to come out with you, even if it was just for a walk to see all the decorated houses.

Jill pretended not to enjoy seeing all of the incredible decorations and the fall leaves but you caught her smiling and watching you with sparks in her eyes a few times.

Since she wasn’t all that big on Halloween you both wore pretty understated costumes.

You went as the moon - covered in all silver and glitter placed strategically on your face.

Jill went as the sun because let’s face it, she’s literally the sun in her day to day life.

After completing your autumn walk, you grabbed two hot chocolates from one of the coffee vendors at the town center before you both walked back to Jill’s place.

You spent the night watching some random tv shows and making out.

Even if you didn’t really do anything Halloween-related it ended up being one of the best nights you had ever had with your girlfriend.

AMBER FREEMAN:

STAB MARATHONNN

Tara had tried to drag you to one of the many Halloween parties that were happening that year but you knew you had to be around for your girlfriend’s yearly tradition - especially since it was the first year you had been officially dating.

You had gotten a bunch of snacks that you both loved and dressed up as your favorite characters from the franchise.

Amber obviously went as Ghostface.

You sat cuddled up on the couch right after getting to her house when school finished and watched each Stab movie, one after another.

Amber spent a lot of time explaining certain parts of the movie or added fun facts from the actual massacre.

Most of the time you couldn’t pay attention to what was going on in the movie but it was so worth it to hear Amber rave about random details.

You thought you were more than lucky to be able to have her as your girlfriend.

Obviously you only watched up until Stab 7.

DO NOT mention Stab 8 around Amber - you had learnt that the hard way.

The date night ended with you both having eaten all the snacks and slightly over exhausted.

But that didn’t stop you from kissing the life out of your girlfriend and having some definitely not PG-13 fun.

The mask was particularly attractive, okay?

QUINN BAILEY:

Being with Quinn meant that you had to live with constantly being surprised by her.

For Halloween you had decided that you would hit a few frat parties before going to an escape room (which was her suggestion surprisingly enough).

So you rocked up to the escape room place in your Harley Quinn (you) and Poison Ivy (Quinn) costumes and were led by a member of the staff towards one of the many rooms.

Since Quinn had picked everything out, you didn’t know what to expect.

You two ended up doing a noir version of an escape room, with dramatic music and every aspect in the room was bathed in black and white.

Even with being slightly tipsy (from pregaming vodka and the parties) and horny, you somehow made it successfully through the maze of rooms… with a lot of intermissions for fumbling in dark corners.

All Hallow’s Eve concluded with you carrying your escape room certificate back to Quinn’s apartment where you probably kept Tara and Sam up for the rest of the night.

ETHAN LANDRY:

The first time that you met Ethan was on Halloween night, even if the day fell on a weekday there were still parties raging in and around Blackmore.

Of course you had seen him around campus because you knew Chad from the random times he had asked you to tutor him in the mandatory chemistry course you both had to take but you never actually got to talk to him.

Decked out in your Carrie costume you were drinking cherry schnapps (not wanting to get too drunk) in one of the many corners that the frat house had.

Your friends were either busy dancing or were flirting incredibly badly since they were drinking wayyy more than you were.

You had been so focused on the red liquid in your cup that you didn’t realize that someone had joined you until you nearly jumped at the sight of a rather cute boy in a cardboard knight costume.

Ethan had stuttered out that this was a dare and that he was sorry to interrupt your night but you only laughed and stayed talking to him for basically the remainder of the party.

You were even able to crack his shy facade and get him to dance with you in the corner when your respective favorite songs came on.

Halloween night ended with a promise for more and a phone number after you gave him a soft kiss, tinged with cherry.

hehe those were fun to write - i'll definitely be doing more in the future.

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darling-i-read-it · 3 years

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Muti headcanons for Will, Hannibal and possibly Clarice (if you write for her) with a reader who just will randomly kiss them on the cheek 🥺 thank you! Love your writing, hope you have a good day/night 💕

Hi! Here is a full headcanon with Will for this prompt which has already been written! Also I love clarice so I was very excited to see her bunched in with ma boys. Hope you enjoy!

Hannibal Lecter

- Hannibal adores small shows of affection

- it’s all in the subtleness

- just walking past him, talking to someone and then stopping to kiss his cheek gently…youve melted the man

- even when he’s cooking and you just sit on the counter watching before giving him a gentle kiss on the cheek in surprise

- all of the above make him infinitely happy

- he’s such a sucker for kisses

- there’s is a 85% he’s found a old painting of a couple kissing on the cheek and he’s hung it up somewhere in the house

- dramatic? yes

- but oh so adorable

Clarice Starling

- Clarice is much less into it than Hannibal but that isn’t to say she doesn’t enjoy it

- there’s a right time and place, is what she believes in

- so nothing like that at work or in a work setting

- however when it’s just the two of you at home she’ll totally become a blushing stuttering mess

- she tries to get you back which fails cause you just turn your head and kiss her

- it becomes an ongoing thing kind of and youre both too stubborn to give up

- plus the kisses are so sweet

- once it becomes a whole thing she’s much more lenient (but still, time and place she insists)

#Hannibal Lecter x reader #Hannibal Lecter imagines #clarice starling imagines #clarice starling x reader

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afipiafelis · 2 years

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Author's Forward: Writing a Dark Romance Warning

The story I am working on is a yandere villain x reader style story written in second POV. That means everything that happens to the protagonist is happening TO YOU. You. The Reader. Literally you. That could be really triggering and alienating under the best of circumstances, let alone with the crap that goes down in this book.

Considering the relationship portrayed is STRAIGHT UP MENTALLY ABUSIVE (ala Hannibal Lecter x Clarice Starling by the end of the book Hannibal), I am going to put a warning at the beginning that looks something like this:

A word of caution to unwitting readers: This story is a horror-style “dark romance” with a villain. Not a hero. Not an anti-hero. A villain.

The author promises that by the end of book two:

The villain ends up happy

The villain and the female protagonist end up in a monogamous relationship

The female protagonist (“you”) will not be maimed, permanently injured or killed

The relationship portrayed between the villain and the female protagonist (you) is at best unhealthy and, more often, horrifying. Elements of the sexual and “romantic” relationship story are purposely twisted to portray a pattern of mentally abusive behavior by the male “love interest” (antagonist).

Trigger warnings include but are not limited to: gruesome animal death (horse and dog), mental manipulation/abuse, graphic murder, improperly performed pet play (due to lack of informed consent between sexual partners), stalking, abuse of numerous corpses, societal complacency in allowing an abuser to maintain hold of the victim, female protagonist obtaining minor/nonpermanent physical injuries during the course of the villain’s plots to manipulate “you” (twisted ankle), mentions of alcoholism, mentions of graphic torture, and mentions of PTSD.

Final point:

If you ever watched a horror movie and said: “I would totally shag and bag the crazy serial killer if I could be guaranteed not to die/maimed/permanently injured/physically tortured”, this story is for you.

If that statement made you so much as raise an eyebrow, you should throw this book across the room and light it on fire.

I would love opinions on what changes would you recommend to make this to the point and useful for readers.

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kimhargreeves · 4 years

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Psychiatrist-Hannibal Lecter

(Based on the movie:The Silence Of The Lambs from 1991)

This is the Anthony Hopkins version and I will soon write the Mads Mikkelsen version😍

"Don't let him fool you, he was a psychiatrist afterall." my sister Clarice explains to me as we made it to the familiar building. We've been on a case recently for a few dissapearences and murders occurring around. My sister is a police and this is her first case, I don't work with her but this is my first time as well as a psychiatrist. Clarice has made it clear for me to keep things clear between Hannibal and I or he'll get in my head.

It's been three days since we started in this case together, I ask Hannibal a couple of things in exchange of information about myself, I tell Clarice and she finds a couple of clues around town about this guy called Buffalo Bill.

He was Doctor Lecter's patient and he's the one causing all these terrible murders. I planned on taking the guy down myself if I had the chance or encounter with him, but Hannibal assured that he is clever and won't give in so easily.

The more I started ti visit Hannibal thing's started to change for me and I can guarantee the same goes to him. I even started to visit him twice each week but I had to be careful cause the guards were beginning to doubt to let me in.

I never thought this would happen but i'm in love with a killer.

Hannibal Lecter is a gentleman, the way he talks,thinks and even uses his words. I wonder what made him into what he is today, is there a reason behind the possible lies he's told me.The elegance he says in his words caught me the minute we met, i couldn't help but remember of the Batman cartoons..how the psychiatrist fell for her patient.

It's against the law, it's forbidden but no one can help but fall in love with a person. Hannibal was being transferred to another facility which only made things worse and hard for me. I only have a couple of minutes with him.

"So there it is.. the last piece of information you and your sister Clarice needed. Clarice thanked him for everything while I had no words, I won't be able to see him now. I fought back the tears and stood up from my seat, "I'll never forget what you did for us doctor." i address him and he smirks a little, his hands behind his back the entire time.

"Nor will I forget our lovely chats miss (Y/N). Don't ever forget why you became the person who are right now. If I had the opportunity I would've congratulated you myself for doing such marvelous job at that."

"Doctor Lecter..there's one more thing I must ask of you." I tell him and handed the papers to my sister. Hannibal stays silent so I continue, "Do you think you'll ever remember this..I want you to know that I respect you as a person and for things you did. You did what you had to do and that's what's important." I began walking towards the bars and held onto them.

The guards beginning to walk towards us quickly in fear that he would do anything and that our time was up. "You're presence here has done a lot to me (Y/N), i'll always cherish the few moments we spent with one another." he gripped my wrist and pulled me closer to the bars. Clarice shouted my name fearing that Hannibal would take a bite out of me, but I knew he wasn't going to do that.

The second I closed my eyes I felt his lips pressed against mine, it wasn't long after the guards pulled me away and Hannibal slowly let go of my hand.

I fell in love with Hannibal the cannibal.

#silence of the lambs #anthony hopkins #clarice starling #psychiartist #hannibal x reader #horror #halloween #buffalo bill #jodie foster #hannibal lecter

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datashewrites · 5 years

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Requests are Open!

So, I really got inspired by @trashyslashers writing and I decided to put myself out there as someone willing and ready to do headcanon requests for a rather large fandom and several horror characters. I normally write fics on Archive of Our Own, but I figured it would be easier to do requests specifically here on Tumblr rather than AO3. I feel confident enough to do headcanons, short blurbs, and prompts for these characters:

ALL DEAD BY DAYLIGHT KILLERS AND SURVIVORS (I can do the individual slashers as well, everyone except Bill Overbeck since I know nothing about him)

HORROR CHARACTERS:

Kayako

Sadako

Both film versions of Pennywise the Clown

Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins version) and Clarice Starling

Norman Bates (Alfred Hitchcock)

I can do NSFW for the Dead by Daylight characters but I do not feel comfortable doing NSFW for any others at this time. Thank you so much! Also, for some reason it won’t let me tag everything, so I hope it still goes out to everyone!

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jokingmisfit · 2 years

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My Sun, Moon, And Stars

Clarice Starling x fem!reader

Prompt- “The first time you smiled it felt like the universe aligned.”

I felt silly. Like a little kid. At first I tried to claim it was just a schoolgirl crush. Something small and ineffectual that would pass as the days go on. But, here I am absolutely in love with Clarice Starling. It is terrifying. It feels like the days only last a few minutes with her. Almost like if I blink I will miss it all.

We are best friends. I can't imagine what it could do if I told her. Aside from my fear of losing my closest friend it seems like anyone who openly flirts with or asks out Clarice gets turned down.

Then again, they are all men.

Then again, not everyone plays for the other team.

I have to do something about pestering feelings. I just don't want to lose her. Those bright eyes and simple conversations. Bringing each other snacks when we forget to eat. Movie nights and dancing to the radio. Making her laugh, making her smile.

Somehow in between all the chaos my world became hers, and it would crumble without her.

I have to get out of my own head. Whatever happens it was worth telling her.

I prop the popcorn on the table and grab the mugs of hot chocolate off the counter. It’s going to be a terrifying exciting movie night. I put the disk in the player and wait for Clarice to arrive. She’s never late.

As if on cue, how convenient, she comes walking in. I never have her knock because it’s pointless if she is going to come in anyway.

We always chat a bit before we start the movie. This is my chance to tell her. If things go well then we can probably continue on with movie night. If things go south then I set up the room for nothing.

“Hey, can I talk to you about something?” My voice is unsteady, dammit.

“Of course, is something wrong?” Her voice always sounds so sweet. Her accent lightly coats floats through the air.

I run my hands down my face and turn to face her more. In a last ditch effort to hide my nerves I grab my mug off the table and wrap both hands around it.

“Yeah, everything is fine I just. I jus- listen ok. Here me out. We are really good friends right?” I didn’t wait for an actual response before I continued. “We always hang out together. And have fun. And and and I just-fuck this is hard!” A let out a huff of air.

“Y/n what’s wrong?” She reaches out to hold one of my hands. Moving it to let her hold it I stare as she says, “Whatever is going on, you can tell me. Whatever you say I’m here to listen.”

“You're beautiful! I think you’re way too smart and so unrecognized for it and your hair is really soft and your accent is something I wake up wanting to hear and you make me so happy all the time and I think if you wanted to we could, we could be together…” I haven’t been looking at her so I moved my head to look back at her.

She looks at me with a soft smile and even puffs out a little laugh. I feel confused and scared. “The first time you smiled it felt like the universe aligned.”

I started laughing with tears in my eyes I haven’t noticed till now. “Ha! I think my heart just stopped!”

Clarice pulls my hand toward her and me along with it. Her lips land on mine, softly. With this my head spins and my soul brightens.

I’m so glad that we can be happy together.

#screw any opinions! i needed this and now i have it!#that was a bit mean #sorry about that #Clarice Starling x reader #clarice starling x fem!reader #silence of the lambs #hannibal #hannibal lecter #Clarice Starling #the codependency is strong in this one folks

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miyosmagines · 2 years

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Hello and Welcome!

Hey there! My name is Miyo and welcome to my blog! Welcome and please enjoy your time here!

Who I Write For:

Slashers/Horror:

- Re-Animator

• Herbert West

• Daniel Cain

• Meghan Halsey

- The Boy

• Brahms Heelshire

- House of Wax

• Bo Sinclair

• Vincent Sinclair

• Lester Sinclair

• Carly Jones

• Nick Jones

- Friday the 13th

• Jason Voorhees

• Pamela Voorhees

- Psycho

• Norman Bates

- Halloween

• Michael Myers

• Laurie Strode

- Carrie

• Carrie White

- Evil Dead

• Ash Williams

- Scream

• Sydney Prescott

• Stu Muncher

• Billy Loomis

• Randy Meeks

• Tatum Riley

• Dewey Riley

- The Shining / Doctor Sleep

• Danny Torrance

• Wendy Torrence

• Rose the Hat

• Abra Stone (Platonic Only)

• Crow Daddy

• Snakebite Andi

- Child’s Play

• Tiffany Valentine

• Charles Ray

• Glenda Ray (Platonic Only)

- IT

• Bill Denbourgh

• Beverly Marsh

• Eddie Kasparak

• Ben Hanscom

• Richie Tozer

• Stanley Uris

• Mike Hanon

- Jennifer’s Body

• Jennifer Check

• Needy Lesnicky

• Colin Gray

• Chip Dove

- Candyman

• Daniel Robitallie

- House of 1000 Corpses

• Baby Firefly

• Otis Driftwood

• Captain Spaulding

• Mother Firefly

- Repo! The Genetic Opera

• Shilo Wallace (Platonic Only)

• Nathan Wallace

• Blind Mag

• Graverobber

• Luigi Largo

• Pavi Largo

• Amber Sweet

- The Crow

• Eric Draven

• Shelly Webster

- The Craft

• Nancy Downs

• Sarah Bailey

• Bonnie Harper

• Rochelle Zimmerman

- Silence of the Lambs

• Hannibal Lector

• Clarice Starling

- American Mary

• Mary Mason

- Ginger Snaps

• Ginger Fitzgerald

- Black Christmas

• Billy Lenz

• Jess Bradford

Anime:

- Tokyo Ghoul

- Death Note

- Blood Blockade Battlefront

- One Punch Man

- Free! Iwatobi Swim Club

- Gangsta

- Hellsing

- Attack on Titan

- Fullmetal Alchemist

- Tiger & Bunny

- Ghost in the Shell

Games:

- Resident Evil (All Games)

- The Last of Us (First Game)

- Detroit Become Human

- Watch Dogs (1 & 2)

- Devil May Cry (All Games)

- Sally Face

- InFAMOUS: Second Son

- Spiderman PS4

Movies:

- MCU

- Venom

- The Outsiders

- Dead Poets Society

- Sam Raimi Spiderman Movies

- The Amazing Spiderman

- DCEU

- TMNT (1990/2007 series)

- ROTTMNT

- TMNT (2014 & 2018)

- Twilight

- Hellboy (2004 & 2008)

- Hellboy (2019)

- Ghostbusters

- Bright

- Battle Angel Alita

- The Heathers

- Labyrinth

- The Addams Family

- Beetlejuice

- X - Men

- Deadpool

- Donnie Darko

- Snake Eyes

TV Shows:

- Criminal Minds

- Castle

- Bones

- TMNT (2012)

- TMNT (2003)

- Stranger Things

- Castlevania

- Arcane

- Monster High

- Daredevil

Books / Comics:

- Marvel Comics

- DC Comics

- TMNT (Image Comics)

- TMNT (IDW)

- TMNT (Mirage)

Etc:

- Marble Hornets

- SCP

- EveryManHybrid

- Tribe 12

Rules and Regulations:

- Only 5 characters per ask! Asks are allowed to be multifandom

- This is a safe space for BIPOC, queer folk, all genders, and all survivors. Harmful comments will not be allowed.

- I write NSFW. I will not write dubcon, non-consensual sex, age up underage characters, or write overly intense sexual scenarios

- Only send one request at a time please!

- I will put trigger warnings for triggering topics

- Please specify if you want something to be poly or specifically LGBT.

- I am more than willing to make the reader be of a certain sexuality, body type, religion, gender, or race! Please just ask!

- If not specified, I will write the reader as gender neutral. For unspecified gender in NSFW asks, the reader will always have female aligned genitalia.

- If you have any questions, please feel free to ask!!!!!

Requests : Open!!!

Masterlist

#imagines #x reader #slasher x reader #horror x reader #marvel x reader #slasher imagines #marvel imagine #dc x reader #dc imagines #stranger things

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takusan-no-ai · 1 year

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✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* Rules ✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*

I write light & heavy angst (past trauma, misunderstandings, death, ect.)

I can write a little suggestive (implied arousing, no detailed description)

I write platonic, familia, enemy, and romantic relationships

I write fluff, comedy, and lighthearted stuff in general

Don’t

I don’t write for polyamory, lgbtq+, nor general asks (short reader, ect.)

I don’t write smut or explicit sexual situations

I don’t write certain angst (cheating, rape, ect.)

I don’t write AU’s, alphabet list, bunny-boilers, nor emoji asks

About Writing Blog

This blog is for character x reader. I do not write character x character.

If, for whatever reason, I can’t write a request, I will delete it and move on.

Characters that are minors will be written with a minor reader in mind.

Characters under the age of sixteen will not be written in suggestive situations.

Readers under the age of sixteen will not be written in suggestive situations.

If you have any questions feel free to ask anytime!

I write headcanons, fics, imagines, and oneshots.

Headcanons • Request up to five characters, bullet points, no plot

Fics • One character, series, full plot, you can’t request

Oneshots • Request one character, one post, semi full plot

Imagines • Request up to five characters, bullet points+story, small plot

Fandoms

Carrie • Carrietta Nadine White, Susan Snell, Tommy Ross, Christine Hargensen, Norma Watson

Cool Doji Danshi • Hayate Ichikura, Shun Futami, Souma Shiki, Takayuki Mima, Motoharu Igarashi

Danganronpa • Makoto Naegi, Byakuya Togami, Chihiro Fujisaki, Kyoko Kirigiri, Ect.

Detroit Become Human • Conner, Markus, Kara, Carl Manfred, Elijah Kamski

Disney • Snow White, Tiana, Hercules, Tarzan, Tinker Bell, Hades, Jasmine, Ect.

Final Survivor • Cataleya Restrepo, Seong Gi-hun, Clarice Starling, Erin Harson, Ect.

Genshin Impact • Kaeya Alberich, Diluc Ragnvindr, Ajax, Jin Yun, Shenhe, Gorou, Qiqi, Ect.

God of War • Kratos, Atreus, Baldur, Freya, Odin, Thor, Heimdall

Hellboy • Hellboy, Abe Sapien, Liz Sherman, Nuada Silverlance, Nuala Silverlance

Injustice • Koriand'r, Selina Kyle, Bruce Thomas Wayne, Kal-El, Ect.

Mortal Kombat • Kitana, Li Mei, Liu Kang, Kung Lao, Shang Tsung, Kenshi Takahashi, Ect.

Oshi no Ko • Aquamarine Hoshino, Ruby Hoshino, Ai Hoshino, Kana Arima, Mem-Cho, Ect.

Resident Evil • Leon S. Kennedy, Ada Wong, Chris Redfield, Ashley Graham, Albert Wesker

Slasher • Megan, Billy Loomis, Stu Macher, Daniel Le Domas, Leena Klammer

Tears of Themis • Vyn Richter, Artem Wing, Luke Pearce, Marius von Hagen

Twisted Wonderland • Riddle Rosehearts, Rook Hunt, Idia Shroud, Malleus Draconia, Ect.

Undead Girl Murder Farce • Tsugaru Shinuchi, Aya Rindo, Shizuku Hasei, Erik, Ect.

#navigation #rules

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classic80sand90smovieloves2 · 4 years

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Masterlist

A list of my old writing that you can request I revise

Song Prompts

Meeting and Dating Headcanons~

Pretty in Pink

Andie Walsh

Duckie Dale

Blane McDonagh

Steff McKee

Sixteen Candles

Jake Ryan

The Lost Boys

Paul

Dwayne

Poly Lost Boys

Edgar Frog

The Breakfast Club

Brian Johnson

John Bender

Andrew Clark

The Outsiders

Sodapop Curtis

Dallas Winston

Two-Bit Mathews

Rumblefish

Steve Hays

Ferris Buellers Day Off

Cameron Frye

Karate Kid

Daniel Larusso

Johnny Lawrence

Dutch

Heathers

Veronica Sawyer

Jason Dean

Fast Times at Ridgemont High

Jeff Spicoli

Brad Hamilton

Better Off Dead

Lane Meyer

Weird Science

Gary Wallace

Wyatt Donnelly

Dream A Little Dream

Dinger Holfield

Bill and Teds Excellent Adventure

Bill S. Preston Esquire

Ted Logan

Dating Poly Bill and Ted

The Princess Bride

Inigo Montoya

Interview with the Vampire

Louis de Pointe du Lac

Children of the Corn

Malachai Boardman

National Lampoons

Rusty Griswold (European Vacation)

Cant Buy Me Love

Kenneth Wurman

The Chocolate War

Jerry Renault

Archie Costello

The Mighty Ducks

Fulton Reed

Dean Portman

Adam Banks

Les Averman

Porkys

Brian Schwartz

Anthony ‘Meat’ Tuperello

Tommy Turner

Tim Cavanaugh

Mickey Jarvis

Just One of the Guys

Terry Griffith

Greg Tolan

Dead Poets Society

Neil Perry

Todd Anderson

Charlie Dalton

Knox Overstreet

Steven Meeks

Earth Girls are Easy

Mac

Combat Academy

Perry Barnett

Waynes World

Garth Algar

Austin Powers

Toy Soldiers

Ricardo Montoya

Good Will Hunting

Chuckie Sullivan

10 Things I Hate About You

Joey Donner

My Bodyguard

Ricky Linderman

Melvin Moody

Stand and Deliver

Angel Guzman

Something Wild

Ray Sinclair

Three O’Clock High

Buddy Revell

Intruder

Randy

Young Guns

Jose Chavez y Chavez

Billy the Kid

Doc Scurlock

Dazed and Confused

Benny O’Donnell

Don Dawson

Kevin Pickford

Randall “Pink” Floyd

Fred O’Bannion

Mitch Kramer

Ron Slater

Shavonne Wright

Dogfight

Eddie Birdlace

Ladybugs

Matthew

Goosebumps

Sticks

Freddy Renfield

Twister

Robert ‘Rabbit’ Nurick

Stand by me

Ace Merrill

School Ties

Rip Van Kelt

Chris Reece

The Untouchables

Eliot Ness

The Godfather

Tom Hagen

(Young) Vito Corleone

(Old) Vito Corleone

Goodfellas

Henry Hill

Little Shop of Horrors

Seymour Krelborn

Newsies

Specs

Near Dark

Severen

Friday the 13th

Jason Voorhees

Scream

Billy Loomis

Poly Billy and Stu

Stu Macher

The Craft

Nancy Downs

Hocus Pocus

Max Dennison

Thackery Binx

Beetlejuice

Lydia Deetz

Adam Maitland

The Crow

Eric Draven

Ghostbusters

Ray Stantz

Aliens

Bishop

An American Werewolf in London

Jack Goodman

Sleepaway Camp

Ricky Thomas

Re-animator

Herbert West

Silence of the Lambs

Clarice Starling

Fright Night

Jerry Dandridge

Candyman

Daniel Robitaille

The Evil Dead

Ash Williams

Sabrina the Teenage Witch

Harvey Kinkle

Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Spike

Full Metal Jacket

Sgt. Hartman

Joker

Animal Mother

Pyle

Preference~ the boys with an s/o whose ex stalks them

Grease

Kenickie

Labyrinth

Jareth

Total Recall

Douglas Quaid

Requested “Would Includes” and Imagines/Fics~

Darry falling for Johnny’s sister

Allison Reynolds dating a shy nerdy girl

Starting a family with Cameron Frye

Making out with Cameron Frye

Cameron Frye comforting you when you’re upset

Getting drunk with the Ferris Bueller crew

Gary Wallace dating a tall girl

George Mcfly with a dominant flirty s/o

Comforting and being comforted by Will Hunting

Will Hunting having a crush on you

Being apart of the good will hunting gang

Armand with a virgin s/o (including nsfw)

Lestat and Louis dating a girl who loves horror movies

Making out with Duckie Dale

Duckie Dale cheering you up

Cliff having a crush on you

Making out with Cliff

Making out with Bryce

Bryce having a crush on you

The Lost Boys with an s/o having an anxiety attack + fighting depression

The Lost Boys with a sweet and innocent s/o

The Lost Boys with a curvy mate

The Lost Boys fighting with their mates

The Lost Boys dating a shy short girl

The Lost Boys taking care of you when you’re hurt

Getting drunk with the Lost Boys would include

David x Laddies older sister

Making out with Edgar Frog

Being Married to Archie Costello

Going to the beach with Archie Costello

Making out with Archie Costello

Darrys girlfriend landing a job at a local cafe as a singer

Making out with Kenneth Wurman

Being Cindys friend and Ronalds crush

Harold Sherbico having a crush

Kim Kelly dating her polar opposite

Neil Perry dating an artist

Making out with Charlie Dalton

Jealous Charlie Dalton

Jealous Knox Overstreet

A study date with Steven Meeks

Spending the winter season with Neil Perry

Comforting Charlie Dalton after he gets expelled

The dead poets walking in on Charlie and his secret, shy girlfriend

Simon Boggs having a crush on Laneys friend

Faking It-Cindy Mancini falling for the girl who paid her to be her friend

Spike having a crush on you

Steff McKee having a crush on you

Marko having a crush on you

David having a crush on you

Paul having a crush on you

Dwayne having a crush on you

Dwayne x vampire reader who dresses like Stevie Nicks

Making out with Keith Nelson

Meat having a crush on Peewees sister

Admit it- Mickey Jarvis and his future s/o having crushes on each other

Being a part of team USA and meeting Adam and Charlie

Dwayne Robertson having a crush on you

Sleepover with Bill and Ted (including nsfw)

Being pregnant with Ted Logans child

Starring in the schools Romeo and Juliet with Ted Logan

Ted Logan asking you to be his valentine

Spending Valentines day with Steff McKee

Spending Valentines day with Steven Meeks

Spending Valentines day with Keith Nelson

Spending your first Valentines day with Bryce

Wishing I Was Her (Nick Andopolis)

If You Want Out Just Say It (Ace Merrill)

Going on the Ferris adventure

Going on your own adventure with Cameron Frye

Making out with Randall ‘Pink’ Floyd

Travelling back in time with Marty McFly

Tommy Devito dating a chubby artist

Years Gone By (Michael Corleone)

Sonny Corleone dating his opposite

Phillipe Gaston x reader~ Fairy Tale

Being Fulton's sister and Dating Dean Portman

Comforting Todd when he’s upset

Being married to Bill S. Preston Esquire

Being married to Ted Logan

Spending Halloween/October with Knox Overstreet

Making out with Knox

A will they, won’t they relationship with Seth Brundle

Falling in love with Edward Scissorhands

Dwayne Hicks with an Android!Technician s/o

Private Joker dating an artist

Jareth falling in love with you

Being married to Matt Hooper and going to Amity

The way you make me feel~ John Bender

Being in a long term relationship with JD

J.D. with a chronically ill s/o

Archie with a chronically ill s/o

Making out with Ted Logan

Archibald Craven falling in love

Andy Dufresne falling in love

Nsfw Headcanons~

Group sex with the lost boys

Sam Emerson

Threesome with Obie and Archie

Armand

Archie Costello

(sub) Archie Costello

Obie

Johnny Cade

Cameron Frye

Duckie Dale

Blane

John Bender

Randy (Intruder)

Joey Donner

Kenneth Wurman

Keith Nelson

The Dead Poets Kinks

Knox Overstreet

Charlie Dalton

Steven Meeks

Todd Anderson

Neil Perry

Gerard Pitts

John Bender taking your virginity

Louis de Pointe du Lac

Dinger Holfield

The Lost Boys

Randall ‘Pink’ Floyd

Benny O’donnell

Fred O’Bannion

Cliff

Bryce

Johnny Walker

George Mcfly

Brian Moreland

(sub) Perry Barnett

Bill S. Preston Esquire

Ted Logan

Randy Meeks

Michael Emerson

Nancy Downs

Ray Stantz

Egon Spengler

Spike

Angel Guzman

Sgt. Hartman

Brad Hamilton

Douglas Quaid

Chris (night of the creeps)

Sonny Corleone with a shy, virgin s/o

George Mcfly getting jealous and being dominant

Grease Monkey (Keith Nelson smut)

Sins of the flesh and matters of the heart (David x reader + Dwayne smut)

#80s movies #80s imagine #80s movie imagine #80s movie headcanons #80s smut #80s movie imagines #80s movie headcanon #80s movie smut #90s movies #90s imagine #90s movie headcanon #90s movie imagine #90s movie headcanons #90s tv show imagine #90s tv headcanons

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mid0nz-archive · 4 years

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The Cannibal & the Consulting Criminal: How Silence and Sherlock Taught Me to Read

(I’m writing a series of autobiographical essays. This meta is a messy. messy warm up…)

PART I: TSotL The Odd Flash of Contextual Intelligence

Know your intertexts (and the limits of their influence)

I’ve spent a LOT of time writing about the influence of Harris on Mark Gatiss in particular. We have Harris to thank for Sherlock’s mind palace for starters. Moriarty and Dr. Lecter share many traits. Then again so do the psychiatrist and Sherlock. I’ll come back to these obvious connections between Sherlock and TSotL in a later part of this meta. (The connections are actually quite superficial.) For now I want to return to my first obsession: the genius cannibal who taught me how to read and the fandom that saved me from him.

Do your research.

Thomas Harris, author of The Silence of the Lambs, choses every word with great care. How many people, for example, do you know called Hannibal? Clarice is more common I suppose, but it’s certainly not a run-of-the-mill monicker. While starlings are the most common of birds have you ever met someone with that surname? Have you ever met a Lecter? What if I told you there is an extremely obscure historical figure called Hannibal the Starling? (You’ll find the reference in Smith’s Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology if you seek.) Would you think that Harris must have heard of that man? Possibly. Possibly. If I told you that Harris makes most of his characters’ names up– that they sound plausible enough, but unless you’re an everyman like a Jack Crawford or a Will Graham you’re a Francis Dolarhyde or an Ardelia Mapp.

Ardelia Mapp? In the novel Ardelia is Clarice Starling’s roommate at the FBI academy. When exams roll around and Clarice has been too busy hunting Buffalo Bill to read her textbooks, it’s Ardelia who makes sure that Clarice knows all about search and seizures. Adelia Mapp. Ardeila Mapp. What kind of name is that? It helps if we cram along with Clarice:

Mapp v. Ohio, 367 U.S. 643 (1961), was a landmark case in criminal procedure, in which the United States Supreme Court decided that evidence obtained in violation of the Fourth Amendment, which protects against “unreasonable searches and seizures”, may not be used in criminal prosecutions in state [or] federal courts. (x)

Hey Thomas Harris!

Recognize when there’s a joke and you’re not getting it.

Thomas Harris amuses himself with language. Clarice comes from the Latin root clar and the words related to pertain to brilliance and light and the illustrative. And Lecter? So many people have tried to trace its origins but all becomes clear when you think about its etymology. In Latin lector means reader.

Clarice’s boss, Jack Crawford, likes to quote impressive sounding things out of context. Dr. Lecter mocks him for picking and choosing passages of the Meditations of the Roman Emperor, Stoic philosopher, and persecutor of Christians, Marcus Aurelius.

“I’ve read the cases, Clarice, have you? Everything you need to know to find him is right there [in the case files], if you’re paying attention. Even Inspector Emeritus, Crawford should have figured it out. Incidentally, did you read Crawford’s stupefying speech last year to the National Police academy? Spouting Marcus Aurelius on duty and honor and fortitude— we’ll see what kind of a Stoic Crawford is when Bella [his wife] bites the big one. He copies his philosophy out of Bartlett’s Familiar, I think. If he understood Marcus Aurelius, he might solve this case.” “Tell me how.” “When you show the odd flash of contextual intelligence, I forget your generation can’t read, Clarice. The Emperor councils simplicity. First principles. Of each particular thing, ask: What is it in itself, in its own constitution? What is its causal nature?” “That doesn’t mean anything to me.” “What does he do, the man you want?”

I could go on and on about how Harris allows Dr. Lecter to reference Stoicism and all kinds of other ideas for his own amusement. I say amusement because the reader need not understand Dr. Lecter’s jokes to enjoy Harris’ books. Clarice doesn’t and she doesn’t pretend to. Oh how Dr. Lecter fancies his student! I could go on and on because the entire fucking book is a compendium of in-jokes. That in itself is Stoic food for thought. Diogenes Laertius recounts a Stoic idea that Harris likes to chew on.

“Some appearances are expert (technikai), others are inexpert; at any rate a picture is observed differently by an expert and the inexpert person.”

Julia Annas explains:

A non-expert will just see figures; the expert will see figures that represent gods. The expert is right— there really is that significance- and the non-expert is missing something. What is more surprising to us is the claim that the appearance is itself “expert.” The expert is not seeing anything that is not there for the ignoramus to see. It is the fault of the ignoramus that he fails to see what is to be seen, because he fails to understand the content of what is presents to him. (82) - Hellenistic Philosophy of Mind by Julia Annas

Lecter, the consummate reader, is the expert. Clarice, who’s not more than one generation from the mines, is the ignoramus. Yet she shows the odd flash of contextual intelligence.

Discern clues from NOISE.

Though their relationship was weird, close, and lasting Clarice would never realize that Dr. Lecter gave her everything she needed to know to catch Buffalo Bill the first time they met!

On that fateful day, with instructions from Jack Crawford to note anything and everything she sees, Clarice shows enough intelligence to asks Dr. Lecter about the drawings in his cell. Dr. Lecter replies:

It’s Florence. That’s the Palazzo Vecchio and the Duomo, seen from the Belvedere. Do you know Florence?“

If Clarice were prepared "to read” Dr. Lecter’s work, she might have understood the significance of the image. She’s the very model of the Stoic ignoramus.

Clarice finds Buffalo Bill/Jame Gumb by recognizing his personal acquaintance with the first victim he skinned, Fredrica Bimmel. They both lived in Belvedere, Ohio where Clarice finds Gumb while Crawford’s teams go all SWAT on John Grant’s last known address. We find out later in the novel that Dr. Lecter knew Gumb lived in Belvedere, Ohio. Perhaps he was musing on the facts of the case while composing his sketches.

Jack Crawford, of all people, should have noticed the name “Belvedere” and made the connection. His dying wife’s name is Phyllis but he’s called her Bella for most of their entire relationship. Phyllis and Jack were both stationed in Italy and during one of their outings, a man called Phyllis “Bella,” or beauty. Bella is the feminine form; “bel” is the masculine form, as in bel vedere, or beautiful view. We learn later that Clarice has to work hard to trick herself into seeing any beauty in Belvedere, Ohio.

Now you’ve got the facts. Theorize with them.

There is another explanation as to why Crawford might have missed the clue in Dr. Lecter’s drawing from Clarice’s notes. Clarice does not know Italian. How would she have written the sketch’s title in her report? Dr. Lecter does not say, when she asks about the sketch, that is is the Old Plaza and the Dome seen from the Belvedere (pronounced in English, be-vuh-deer as in Belvedere, Ohio). Dr. Lecter says all the proper names in Italian except “Florence.” Florence is the English name for the city Italians call Firenze. Clarice’s ear would catch “Florence” and it may be that her report stated that the sketch was of Florence, but no further details. She doesn’t, after all, ask Dr. Lecter how to spell the names of the places with which she is unfamiliar. Crawford, reading a reasonably detailed report from Clarice, might have only noted that Dr. Lecter was sketching Florence– enough detail for a report if you don’t know what you’re looking at. Clarice, while an ignoramus in the Stoic sense, shows potential. Dr. Lecter is polite when he surmises that she is “innocent of the Gospel of St. John.” He calls her innocent, not ignorant. She’s simply not an expert in iconography. She sees all she can see in the image. Crawford, however, is experienced enough with Dr. Lecter to know how important images are to him. Will Graham captured Dr. Lecter in Red Dragon by recognizing that one of his victims was posed in a tableau of a Wound Man in one of Dr. Lecter’s books. Graham was an expert. We can’t be sure from simply reading the text that Dr. Lecter isn’t making the epiphany of “Belvedere” especially difficult to decode even if Clarice were to have written a verbatim transcript of their discussion. In speech Dr. Lecter may be pronouncing the proper names as an American would, or, alternately, with an Italian accent. He could be pronouncing the incidental proper names (Palazzo Vecchio and the Duomo) in an Italian accent and “Belvedere” in an American accent to dare Clarice and Jack to take notice. Or, he could be pronouncing all the names in an Italian accent, a fact could be lost in translation between Clarice, innocent of Italian, and Crawford, who knows just enough to have had an epiphany. Each scenario is possible and each reveals a slightly different interpretation of Dr. Lecter’s motives. If we take Thomas Harris himself as the final authority, in the audiobook Harris reads Dr. Lecter’s part. Harris says all proper nouns including “Belvedere” with an Italian accent (albeit with a Mississippi drawl.)

Yeah ok SO WHAT?! And what about Sherlock?!

In Part II I’ll talk about TSotL as an intertext to Sherlock and the limits of this influence. I’ll compare Dr. Lecter’s method of reading to James Moriarty’s. I’ll talk about why & how I crawled out of the cannibal’s skull and into the consulting criminal’s and where I am going next… Or I just might try to revamp this to make more sense. I dunno…

#Repost of an old meta I deleted but need for a new project.#The Silence of the Lambs

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writinggeisha · 5 years

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How to write dialogue in fiction

Dialogue in the novel: tricks, tools and examples

Speech gives life to stories. It breaks up long pages of action and description.

Getting speech right is an art but, fortunately, there are a few easy rules to follow. Those rules will turn your dialogue from something that might feel static, heavy and unlifelike into something that shines off the page.

Better still, dialogue should be fun to write, so don’t worry if we talk about ‘rules’. We’re not here to kill the fun. We’re here to increase it.

“Ready?” she asked.

“You bet. Let’s dive right in.”

Dialogue rule 1: keep it tight

One of the biggest rules in dialogue is: no spare parts. No unnecessary words. Nothing to excess.

That’s true in all writing, of course, but it has a particular acuteness (I don’t know why) when it comes to dialogue.

If you include an unnecessary sentence or two in a passage of description – well, it’s best to avoid that, of course, but, aside from registering a minor and temporary slowing, most readers won’t notice or care.

Do the same in a block of dialogue, and your characters will seem to be speechifying rather than speaking. It’ll feel to a modern reader like you want to turn the clock back to Victorian England.

So don’t do it!

Keep it spare. Allow gaps in the communication and let the readers fill in the blanks. It’s like you’re not even giving the readers 100% of what they want. You’re giving them 80% and letting them figure out the rest.

Take this, for instance, from Ian Rankin’s fourteenth Rebus crime novel, A Question of Blood. The detective, John Rebus, is phoned up at night by his colleague:

… “Your friend, the one you were visiting that night you bumped into me …” She was on her mobile, sounded like she was outdoors.

“Andy?” he said. ‘Andy Callis?”

“Can you describe him?”

Rebus froze. “What’s happened?”

“Look, it might not be him …”

“Where are you?”

“Describe him for me … that way you’re not headed all the way out here for nothing.”

That’s great isn’t it? Immediate. Vivid. Edgy. Communicative.

But look at what isn’t said. Here’s the same passage again, but with my comments in square brackets alongside the text:

… “Your friend, the one you were visiting that night you bumped into me …” She was on her mobile, sounded like she was outdoors.

[Your friend: she doesn’t even give a name or give anything but the baresr little hint of who she’s speaking about. And ‘on her mobile, sounded like she was outdoors’. That’s two sentences rammed together with a comma. It’s so clipped you’ve even lost the period and the second ‘she’.]

“Andy?” he said. ‘Andy Callis?”

[Notice that this is exactly the way we speak. He could just have said “Andy Callis”, but in fact we often take two bites at getting the full name, like this. That broken, repetitive quality mimics exactly the way we speak . . . or at least the way we think we speak!]

“Can you describe him?”

[Uh-oh. The way she jumps straight from getting the name to this request indicates that something bad has happened. A lesser writer would have this character say, ‘Look, something bad has happened and I’m worried. So can you describe him?’ This clipped, ultra-brief way of writing the dialogue achieves the same effect, but (a) shows the speaker’s urgency and anxiety – she’s just rushing straight to the thing on her mind, (b) uses the gap to indicate the same thing as would have been (less well) achieved by a wordier, more direct approach, and (c) by forcing the reader to fill in that gap, you’re actually making the reader engage with intensity. This is the reader as co-writer – and that means super-engaged.]

Rebus froze. “What’s happened?”

[Again: you can’t convey the same thing with fewer words. Again, the shimmering anxiety about what has still not been said has extra force precisely because of the clipped style.]

“Look, it might not be him …”

[A brilliantly oblique way of indicating, “But I’m frigging terrified that it is.” Oblique is good. Clipped is good.]

“Where are you?”

[A non-sequitur, but totally consistent with the way people think and talk.]

“Describe him for me … that way you’re not headed all the way out here for nothing.”

Just as he hasn’t responded to what she had just said, now it’s her turn to ignore him. Again, it’s the absences that make this bit of dialogue live. Just imagine how flaccid this same bit would be if she had said, “Let’s not get into where I am right now. Look, it’s important that you describe him for me . . .”]

In short:

Gaps are good. They make the reader work, and a ton of emotion and inference swirls in the gaps.

Want to achieve the same effect? Copy Rankin. Keep it tight.

Dialogue rule 2: Watch those beats

Oftener than not, great story moments hinge on character exchanges,that have dialogue at their heart. Even very short dialogue can help drive a plot, showing more about your characters and what’s happening than longer descriptions can.

(How come? It’s the thing we just talked about: how very spare dialogue makes the reader work hard to figure out what’s going on, and there’s an intensity of energy released as a result.)

But right now, I want to focus on the way that dialogue needs to create its own emotional beats. So that the action of the scene and the dialogue being spoken becomes the one same thing.

Here’s how screenwriting guru Robert McKee puts it:

Dialogue is not [real-life] conversation. … Dialogue [in writing] … must have direction. Each exchange of dialogue must turn the beats of the scene … yet it must sound like talk.

This excerpt from Thomas Harris’ The Silence of the Lambs is a beautiful example of exactly that. It’s short as heck, but just see what happens.

As before, I’ll give you the dialogue itself, then the same thing again with my notes on it:

“The significance of the chrysalis is change. Worm into butterfly, or moth. Billy thinks he wants to change. … You’re very close, Clarice, to the way you’re going to catch him, do you realize that?”

“No, Dr Lecter.”

“Good. Then you won’t mind telling me what happened to you after your father’s death.”

Starling looked at the scarred top of the school desk.

“I don’t imagine the answer’s in your papers, Clarice.”

Here Hannibal holds power, despite being behind bars. He establishes control, and Clarice can’t push back, even as he pushes her. We see her hesitancy, Hannibal’s power. (And in such few words! Can you even imagine trying to do as much as this without the power of dialogue to aid you? I seriously doubt if you could.)

But again, here’s what’s happening in detail

[Beat 1: Invoking the chrysalis and moth here is almost magical language. it’s like Hannibal is the magician, the Prospero figure. Look too at the switch of tack in the middle of this snippet. First he’s talking about Billy wanting to change – then about Clarice’s ability to find him. Even that change of tack emphasises his power: he’s the one calling the shots here; she’s always running to keep up.]

“No, Dr Lecter.”

[Beat 2: Clarice sounds controlled, formal. That’s not so interesting yet . . . but it helps define her starting point in this conversation, so we can see the gap between this and where she ends up.]

“Good. Then you won’t mind telling me what happened to you after your father’s death.”

[Beat 3: Another whole jump in the dialogue. We weren’t expecting this, and we’re already feeling the electricity in the question. How will Clarice react? Will she stay formal and controlled?]

Starling looked at the scarred top of the school desk.

[Beat 4: Nope! She’s still controlled, just about, but we can see this question has duanted her. She can’t even answer it! Can’t even look at the person she’s talking to.]

“I don’t imagine the answer’s in your papers, Clarice.”

[Beat 5: And Lecter immediately calls attention to her reaction, thereby emphasising that he’s observed at and knows what it means.]

Overall, you can see that not one single element of this dialogue leaves the emotional balance unaltered. Every line of dialogue alters the emotional landscape in some way. That’s why it feels so intense & engaging.

Want to achieve the same effect? Just check your own dialogue, line by line. Do you feel that emotional movement there all the time? If not, just delete anything unecessary until you feel the intensity and emotional movement increase.

Dialogue Rule 3: Keep it oblique

One more point, which sits kind of parallel to the bits we’ve talked about already.

It’s this.

If you want to create some terrible dialogue, you’d probably come up with something like this:

“Hey Judy.”

“Hey, Brett.”

“You OK?”

“Yeah, not bad. What do you say? Maybe play some tennis later?”

“Tennis? I’m not sure about that. I think it’s going to rain.”

Tell me honestly: were you not just about ready to scream there? If that dialogue had continued like that for much longer, you probably would have done.

And the reason is simple. It was direct, not oblique.

So direct dialogue is where person X says something or asks a question, and person Y answers in the most logical, direct way.

We hate that! As readers, we hate it.

Oblique dialogue is where people never quite answer each other in a straight way. Where a question doesn’t get a straightforward response. Where random connections are made. Where we never quite know where things are going.

As readers, we love that. It’s dialogue to die for.

And if you want to see oblique dialogue in action, here’s a snippet from Aaron Sorkin’s The Social Network. (We don’t usually reference films so much on this blog, but there’s an obvious exception when it comes to talking about dialogue.) So here goes. This is the young Mark Zuckerberg talking with a lawyer:

Lawyer: “Let me re-phrase this. You sent my clients sixteen emails. In the first fifteen, you didn’t raise any concerns.”

MZ: ‘Was that a question?’

L: “In the sixteenth email you raised concerns about the site’s functionality. Were you leading them on for 6 weeks?”

MZ: ‘No.’

L: “Then why didn’t you raise any of these concerns before?”

MZ: ‘It’s raining.’

L: “I’m sorry?”

MZ: ‘It just started raining.’

L: “Mr. Zuckerberg do I have your full attention?”

MZ: ‘No.’

L: “Do you think I deserve it?”

MZ: ‘What?’

L: “Do you think I deserve your full attention?”

I won’t discuss that in any detail, because the technique really leaps out at you. It’s particularly visible here, because the lawyer wants and expects to have a direct conversation. (I ask a question about X, you give me a reply that deals with X. I ask a question about Y, and …) Zuckerberg here is playing a totally different game, and it keeps throwing the lawyer off track – and entertaining the viewer/reader too.

Want to achieve the same effect? Just keep your dialogue not quite joined up. People should drop in random things, go off at tangents, talk in non-sequiturs, respond to an emotional implication not the thing that’s directly on the page – or anything. Just keep it broken. Keep it exciting!

Dialogue rule 4: reveal character dynamics and emotion

Let’s take a look here at Stephen Chbosky’s The Perks of Being a Wallflower as another example.

Protagonist Charlie, a high school freshman, learns his long-time crush, Sam, may like him back, after all. Here’s how that dialogue goes:

“Okay, Charlie … I’ll make this easy. When that whole thing with Craig was over, what did you think?”

… “Well, I thought a lot of things. But mostly, I thought your being sad was much more important to me than Craig not being your boyfriend anymore. And if it meant that I would never get to think of you that way, as long as you were happy, it was okay.” …

… “I can’t feel that. It’s sweet and everything, but it’s like you’re not even there sometimes. It’s great that you can listen and be a shoulder to someone, but what about when someone doesn’t need a shoulder? What if they need the arms or something like that? You can’t just sit there and put everybody’s lives ahead of yours and think that counts as love. You just can’t. You have to do things.”

“Like what?” …

“I don’t know. Like take their hands when the slow song comes up for a change. Or be the one who asks someone for a date.”

The words sound human.

Sam and Charlie are tentative, exploratory – and whilst words do the job of ‘turning’ a scene, both receiving new information, driving action on – we also see their dynamic.

And so we connect to them.

We see Charlie’s reactive nature, checking with Sam what she wants him to do. Sam throws out ideas, but it’s clear she wants him to be doing this thinking, not her, subverting Charlie’s idea of passive selflessness as love.

The dialogue shows us the characters, as clearly as anything else in the whole book. Shows us their differences, their tentativeness, their longing.

Want to achieve the same effect? Understand your characters as fully as you can. The more you can do this, the more naturally you’ll write dialogue that’s right for them. You can get tips on knowing your characters here.

A few last dialogue rules

If you struggle with writing dialogue, read plays or screenplays for inspiration. Read Tennessee Williams or Henrik Ibsen. Anything by Elmore Leonard is great. Ditto Raymond Chandler or Donna Tartt.

Some last tips:

Keep speeches short. If a speech runs for more than three sentences or so, it (usually) risks being too long.

Ensure characters speak in their own voice. And make sure your characters don’t sound the same as each other.

Add intrigue. Add slang and banter. Lace character chats with foreshadowing. You needn’t be writing a thriller to do this.

Get in late and out early. Don’t bother with small talk. Decide the point of each interaction, begin with it as late as possible, ending as soon as your point is made.

Interruption is good. So are characters pursuing their own thought processes and not quite engaging with the other.

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