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snotsloth · 6 months

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So, I got into a discussion with someone on the NaNo forums about pacing in a novel and what I learned about it during my English degree. Being a normal person who knows how to write a reasonable response to a simple question, I wrote this whole ass essay about how to speed up or slow down the pacing in a story. Then I realized what I had written was actually pretty decent advice, so now y'all also have to put up with me rambling about narrative pacing. You're welcome/I'm sorry.

Slowing down a Plot

Easiest way to slow down a story? Have your characters slow down. Take a breather. Maybe someone is injured. Maybe they have to wait on something else to happen before they take action. Maybe they just need a cup of coffee. Giving your characters a moment to step away from the plot and reflect can give your readers a bit of breathing space as well.

A great example of this comes to mind from Pride and Prejudice. Elizabeth goes on vacation with some relatives. It gets her away from the chaos of her family and all the drama and she has a chance to really think about everything that’s gone on with Mr. Darcy. This of course ultimately leads to her relatives asking if she would like to tour his estate, not knowing that this was the wealthy man whose proposal she had recently rejected. But the beginning of the trip feels like a little intermission where she has a chance to breathe and recenter herself.

On a smaller scale, elements like setting descriptions, inner monologues, exposition, or dialogue that is more focused on characters’ feelings vs. the mechanics of the plot can also slow down your story and give it room to breathe. I think back fondly to those long overwrought descriptions of feasts in the Redwall books from when I was a kid. They didn’t have much if anything to do with the plot usually, but they were fun, loving descriptions of food, merriment, and characters having a little time to show their lighter sides. But boy howdy did they go on forever and slow the pace of the story down!

Another more highbrow example of slowing the pacing would be soliloquies in Shakespearean drama. I’m thinking of Hamlet in particular. In the middle of all the chaos, political machinations, and personal strife, it’s easy to lose the thread of the plot if you’re not careful. You find yourself wondering, what on earth is this all for, what is going on in this man’s head? And then he steps out on stage alone and just tells you exactly what is going through his head (or is he?). Either way, Hamlet’s soliloquies throughout the play function as way-points, slowing everything down and giving both Hamlet and us a few minutes to think about what’s going on and why. Your characters’ inner monologues or conversations with others can be used to similar effect.

Speeding Up a Plot

Honestly, I still find this harder to do than the reverse, especially in a first draft like most of us are working on this month. However, there are also some basics you can think through if you feel like your story is dragging.

The first rule for speeding up a plot is the oft repeated -and oft hated- adage, “Murder your darlings.” Speeding up a plot often requires cutting the parts of your manuscript that you spent the most time on; backstory, world-building, extraneous dialogue about feelings that doesn’t move the plot forward, etc. Get rid of any passages that are standing between your reader and the plot that aren’t necessary to understanding said plot. I remember reading somewhere that, “Your readers don’t care about the coinage system in your fantasy world, but they do care that your characters don’t have enough money to bribe the guards to get into the city.” Or something to that effect. Basically, only explain what you need to and move on.

Along those lines, I’ll repeat another writing advice cliche, “Show. Don’t tell.” If there’s a way to explain something through the action of your story, do it that way. For example, I could write, “Amelia felt sad because she missed her dog.” Or I could write, “No click of claws across the tile greeted Amelia as she walked through the door.” Even though the second sentence is technically longer, it demonstrates Amelia’s feelings through the action of the story. This keeps the pace up and active, instead of passive and turned inward.

When all else fails, especially in a first draft, just skip over sections that are not integral to the plot. Just stick a note in brackets or something else that says, “idk they went and had dinner then came back.” Maybe you’ll write a dinner scene later if you decide it feels right, or you may just mention they had dinner and then get right back to whatever is more important to the story.

When to Focus on Pacing

Ultimately, pacing can be hard to get right on a first pass, so don’t get discouraged if it feels like your novel is dragging or if it’s moving too swiftly this early in the process. You can always circle back later. Plus, you won’t get a good feel for the overall pacing of your story until you have an entire first draft in front of you.

However there is one thing to be careful of while writing a first draft, and that is letting yourself get too bogged down in the details and losing interest in your own story. If that starts to happen, take a break from the current passage you’re writing and just go write a scene later in the story that excites you more. You can always figure out the connective tissue later.

Pacing can be a really subjective thing and hard to get a feel for, but reading a wide variety of books, trying different types of native styles, and doing multiple drafts of your own story will help you get a feel for what works best for you. The most important thing is to keep working at it and keep trying new things until you find something that works for you. Thank you for reading this giant spontaneous essay, and best of luck this month!

#writing advice #writing #nanowrimo #nano 2023 #yay i used my degree for something!

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greatresponsibility · 2 years

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intro / headcanons / stats

( AN OPEN WINDOW IN AN EMPTY APARTMENT; CRUMPLED LAB NOTEBOOKS; BRUISED RIBS, DARK CIRCLES, AND A GOOFY SMILE )▸ welcome to latverion, PETER PARKER (SPIDER-MAN). it’s time to be gracious, for in this vast multiverse, you have been saved by emperor doom. according to records you are 22 and use HE/HIM pronouns. emperor doom expects you’ll enjoy your career as a STUDENT, or else. excellent. we look forward to your contribution. ( CLAIRE, 24, GMT, SHE/HER, CHARLIE ROWE )

ABOUT BASICS

FULL NAME: peter benjamin parker (pete to friends)

ALIAS: spider-man

AGE: 22 (october 14; libra)

AFFILIATIONS: n/a (loosely affiliated with the Avengers and Fantastic Four, not properly part of any team)

GENDER AND PRONOUNS: cis male, he/him

FACE CLAIM: charlie rowe

IN-DEPTH ANALYSIS

POINT OF ORIGIN:

i pull from just about every canon, so a big mix of everything! peter is predominately 616 and insomniac/ps4-based, with elements of the raimi and tasm films for backstory and characterization (y’all will pry hipster skateboarding loner peter parker from my cold dead hands). i’m pretty flexible with blending to make things work, but he is just about everything except for mcu-based. i do work within the mcu timeline and relationships to fit plotting as needed (ie, pete teamed up with the avengers for a bit when he was a little older, but is not a proper team member, etc etc). there’s a whole essay breaking down what i take from each canon somewhere. you don’t want to read it.

ABILITIES/SKILLS:

spider physiology: enhanced speed, strength, & flexibility, regenerative healing factor, can stick to walls; master acrobat/gymnast; danger precognition; genius-level intellect; some pretty nifty web-shooting technology

HAVE THEY BROUGHT ANY FAMILY OR PETS WITH THEM:

nope! but he does really miss his aunt may; being this far apart from her for so long is strange and uncomfortable, and he worries about her.

ANY HEADCANONS YOU WANT OTHERS TO KNOW:

i’ve got a whole (lengthy) page here, but the greatest/most important hits:

i am extremely passionate about jewish peter parker--he’s not especially observant, but it’s culturally very important to his identity

peter also deals with pretty extensive trauma, mental illness, and anger issues, but is coping with it all through bad jokes and punching criminals -- i am fascinated by 616 peter’s generally unhinged menacing aura; he’s a good person, but he’s not a particularly nice person; he’s incredibly smart and often arrogant and standoffish and quick to anger, but he tries really, really hard to do better

comics/films peter is quite distinct from mcu peter, so his general vibe is pretty different! he’s much more of a loner than a team player, and saw himself more as a contractor than an actual avengers member/fanboy. if anyone, he’s most likely to team up with the fantastic four, who he considers more family than anything else

QUESTIONNAIRE

HOW DOES YOUR CHARACTER FEEL ABOUT EMPEROR DOOM?

Hail Doom. Nah, he’s not thrilled. Doom is a) creepy and b) authoritarian, and Peter’s not particularly about either of those things. It’s nice he’s funding research, but the surveillance state is not helping his case. Peter’s built his life on doing what’s right, protecting common good, and standing up for the little guy. Doom is not it. Out of suit, he’s polite. He’s not raising suspicions. He’s keeping his head down, not making a fuss; glowering, but playing along. In the suit? Another story entirely. Something’s off here. His spider sense can feel it, etc etc. Or maybe he’s just worked under J. Jonah Jameson long enough to know when the vibes are simply Not It.

HOW DOES YOUR CHARACTER FEEL ABOUT THE BATTLES? ARE THEY TRYING TO AVOID THEM? OR ARE THEY EAGER TO JUMP IN?

You wouldn’t know it from looking at him, but Peter Parker has never met someone he hasn’t immediately wanted to fight. Does he want to be used in some sort of weird government gladiatorial scheme? No! Does he want to beat someone up in an arena? Sure! He’s much stronger than anyone gives him credit for, and he’d like a chance to prove his worth. That said, he doesn’t do well answering to anyone or anything, and he’s super not into being used as a pawn in someone else’s game. Forcing people to fight for sport is inhumane--just because he likes to process his feelings by Punching Someone About It doesn’t mean anyone else should be made to. So, yeah, he’s keeping out of it.

WHY HAS YOUR CHARACTER ACCEPTED THEIR JOB POSITION? WILL THEY USE IT TO GET CLOSER TO DOOM? OR WILL THEY USE IT EXPLOIT HIM? OR DO THEY SIMPLY LIKE THEIR JOB?

Peter was a student in his own world, so he’s a student now. He’s smart, he’s good at school (or he was, before Spider-Man took over his life), he likes having access to the campus labs and research facilities to work on his own tech. He likes the challenge, he likes the continuity, and he’s never been good at keeping regular working hours. Besides, Aunt May would want him to graduate. He is starting to realize that he could probably use a paying job, though--maybe there’s a Bugle out here? Maybe he could get a lab position? It might be worth looking into taking down Doom from the inside, if he can pass his classes first.

#intro #latverion:intro

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multi-lefaiye · 2 years

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happy blorbo blursday! if you're participating today I'd love to hear about whatever oc is in the brain microwave as of late :)

OKAY i wanted to answer the Rook Vibes asks first b/c i decided that i'm gonna talk about rook here :D i did talk about them a bit with those vibes, but i want to talk about them more because they are my special little guy.

first up, let me share some art of my baby <3 this is a color palette meme thing i did for them! i randomly generated a color palette and found a random pose and outfit and went wild.

[Image Description: A drawing of my OC Rook in a limited color palette, shown from around the knees up. The palette is primarily made up of shades of blue, with a vibrant red as well. Rook is a lean person with scars littering their skin and large, pointed ears. They have eyes with black sclerae and colored irises, short dark hair, long claws, and sharp teeth. In the drawing, Rook is wearing a loose wrap around their chest and shoulders and a long skirt. They are holding a baseball bat with one hand, resting it on their shoulders, and their other hand is resting on their hip. The background of the drawing is dark blue with a red stripe diagonally across it. End ID.]

ANYWAY so rook is the protagonist of a wip i keep going back and forth on the name of, but for now i just call it 'rook' as a working title. simple title, it's fine. the basic premise of the story is that it's about rook, a monster that's kinda like. some sort of zombie shapeshifter creature. rook was the victim of a violent, horrific murder, and they were resurrected an unknown amount of time later by someone who wanted a pet monster to order around and do his bidding.

instead of becoming their creator's little pet monster, though, rook ends up being found by a local woman named kay, who sees humanity in them when no one else does and takes them in. she and rook become friends, and a large chunk of the story centers around rook, who has no memory of their existence as a human, trying to Be A Person.

however, WELL, rook does know their death wasn't pretty, and as much as they want to be a nice person and have a happy life, they also want some kind of justice (or vengeance, whatever works). another big element of the story is rook trying to hunt down the one who killed them and get their fucking revenge. already a daunting task, made harder by the fact that they don't remember anything about what happened in the first place.

i'm very into stories that center around recovery, mental health, and identity, so that's a lot of what rook's story is. with an added element of "rook wants to do some murder so so badly."

anyway uhhh some facts about rook:

i have a lot of thoughts about rook's powers and the drawbacks of those powers, as well as why they have them in the first place, but honestly that's probably worth a whole separate post. i've thought about making them a void-walker, but i want them to have their own lore. (plus, well, rook is a shapeshifter and void-walkers can't do that)

rook was given their name by their creator, a man who's obsessed with chess metaphors. they're also not the only monster he's created--boy's goin for the whole set. they initially rejected this name, but eventually they come to reclaim it as their own. they make their own meaning.

for a while, rook really leans into the perception that they are a terrible, horrible monster who only causes harm. they refer to themself as a devil and a demon and a bunch of other shit, because there's a period in their story where they decide to be just as monstrous as they were "meant" to be.

i wrote a short story a couple of years ago about rook's murder and all the backstory around that, only to decide later that none of that was canon anymore for the most part. welp!

the actual perfect rook song is louie zong's song pumpkin's revenge. once again, if i had the energy to make something with them based on this song.... it'd be all over for y'all (i'm kidding)

rook loves animals, but unfortunately most animals are afraid of them :(

rook is a shapeshifter, but they don't actually have that much ability to change their physical form without a large amount of effort and energy. there are a lot of things about rook's appearance that generally can't change, regardless of the form they take, such as their scars and sharp teeth.

okay yeah that's my baby <3 i love them so so dearly and they matter so so much to me <3

#talk to the bunnykitty #eggstra special #blorbo blursday #rooky rook rook my beloved #i look at rook and go 'oughghg my precious baby'#while they're like. chewing on garbage or something #love them

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chasingmemoriesofficial · 3 months

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CM Backstories: Zane (The Main Protagonist)

CM!Zane is 100% the main protagonist of the Chasing Memories AU instead of Lloyd or Kai. It just makes more sense with how the story's being written. And now I can go deeper in his backstory.

So, first up, Zane is still a robot. Kind of. Like I said in a previous post, CM!Zane is a magitech cyborg, utilizing nanotech and Lunarian magic (for a later post).

Dr Richard Julien had a blank endoskeleton built that he'd been experimenting with for years, but he never actually did anything with it. He only turned it into a proper "android" after being forced to by his own father, a notorious crime boss named North Julien, after the deaths of Richard's first- and third-born sons Lance and Zane (the latter known as Zane I and Zed) and the imprisonment of his second-born son Jackson.

The doctor's fourth son and youngest child, Dorian, was only 12 years old when this all went down and was North's only remaining successor (as Richard wanted nothing to do with the criminal organization).

Richard didn't want Dorian involved in his grandfather's empire, so North gave him a choice: either use his skills in both magic and robotics to bring back one of the dead boys (preferrably Zed, as he'd had a much better head on his shoulders than both of his older brothers) or North would train Dorian as his heir.

So Richard chose option one, and retrofitted the endoskeleton he'd already built with Zane's specifications and built him up to appear as human as possible. Zane was programmed to be the perfect mobster that North wanted, and he was almost perfect. He just needed the magic aspect.

So Dr Julien, after being goaded by his own father, dipped into necromancy and attempted to bring Zed's soul out of the Departed Realm to power his creation. Except, someone ELSE tried summoning Zed's soul at the same time.

Because a soul can't be in two places at once, Zed's soul split itself in half to compensate. Because the doctor could only summon half of Zed's soul, it could only animate the artificial being but not control it.

However, one day the doctor's recent ex-wife, Amelia, was killed in a supposed car crash, but Richard realized it was staged and she had been murdered. Which left Dorian alone.

It didn't take long to trace the murder back to North, so Richard, seeking revenge, poisoned the old man's wine with arsenic. After North was dead, Richard had Dorian sent off to his aunt and uncle's in another region, returned to the workshop, and reprogrammed Zane.

Zane, now a blank slate, spent the next 16 or so years living as the doctor's son, not knowing of the very messy extended family that was all mostly dead or of their "reputation".

A few months after being reprogrammed, Zane went out in the woods to explore when he came across a very large sleeping wolf. It was pretty young, but Zane didn't know that.

Being the naive little "child" that Zane was, he obviously thought that petting the sleeping wolf was a good idea. And at first, the wolf didn't react... but then it smelled Zane. And when it woke up and looked at him... it attacked him.

Zane escaped the wolf with his face and upper torso ripped open and his arm hanging by a couple wires. Dr Julien tried to calm him down after repairing him, but Zane refused to go outside again, terrified that the "monster" would come and get him. (Keep in mind that being a blank slate, Zane basically has to mentally develop like a child. He's only a few months old when this happens.)

Zane did not leave the workshop for the next 16 years or so, until the Skulkin came and took the doctor. The doctor (who wasn't on death's door and was in fact decently young for an Elemental Master) made Zane run, but the skeletons caught up to him.

The skeletons attacked Zane and beat him up hard enough to damage his CPU, which locked his memory files to protect them. And because he was outwardly designed to be "human", he was found at the edge of the woods bleeding and bruised, so when he woke up with no memories, everyone assumed it was because of the beating he'd taken (and they were right).

Zane, the amnesiac teenager, gets taken in by the director of the local youth center, Ashwin Glenn (old OLD fans will recognize that surname from the 2-in-1 books from around the pilots/season 1), who is the first person who doesn't fear Zane because of his supposed identity.

Dr Julien had the foresight to write Zane's name and "birth"day on a piece of paper and stick it in Zane's pocket, which leads everyone who found him to believe he's Jackson Julien's rumored bastard child, because Jackson did in fact get a girl pregnant, and her child would've been born around the summer of 1991, and Zane's "birthday" does fall in the summer of '91.

Of course, Jackson's ACTUAL son is somewhere else, but there's no one left alive who can contest that... or is there?

#ninjago #chasing memories au #fanfic #alternate universe #worldbuilding #backstory

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james-fun-in-the-sunderland · 1 year

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pt 2 . still vicky. 31, 35, 40, 51, 67, 69. 🙄

NO need for all of these rolling eyes SMH... u didnt evven have to send these sirrrr

ANYWAY link back to the 69 ttrpg asks i GUESS

31. do they respond well to praise? how about criticism?

as said in the last ask he does respond well to praise however it all depends on WHO is praising and how OVERT and how OFTEN... praise him too much and he'll get MAD but praise him too little and he will also get mad, he doesnt respond well to criticism. if you criticise him too much he may actually completely hate ur ass, but thats if he thinks it isnt deserved and EVEN THEN he will still get annoyed like whatever man >:/

35. when did they feel loneliest?

i feel like this ones a LITTLE obvious but while his mom was in the hospital probably! his childhood home would be all empty he'd have no one to come home to and he would only come home after doing jobs and visiting her so he had no time for literally anyone or anything else, not that he really had the energy for anything else anyway, at least after she died he would go out and just talk to anyone off the street but while she was still alive it was just him and a dying woman while he pushed away anyone else bc he felt extremely vulnerable during this time too (he was also like. 25 so he was also just dealing w being a young adult and all the angst there so . he was NOT doing well)

40. if you had to remake this character right now, how would you change them?

GOOD QUESTION id probably make his hair different, change his backstory a lil and quite a few scars ! alot of stuff w him is either in active development or straightened out so id probably change more of the actually established stuff ... maybe give him a different clothing style, make him more outward with some traits like his musical ability... hmmm this is such an interesting q

51. what element of their backstory are you proudest of?

ALOT OF IT im always very proud of my lil characters backstories hehe... i try to make them all make sense for the person a character has developed into and i feel like vickys especially really reflects that, if i really had to choose one aspect it would be how death just follows him all throughout his backstory, people dying annd leaving him left and right making him really feel surrounded by it ya kno... not even just with the obvious stuff like ALOT of his childhood friends end up dying lmao its just fun themes ...

67. do they consider themselves to be special?

NO absolutely not, hes literally described himself as just another average joe DESPITE COMPLETELY NOT BEING ONE . this man cannot die and works for like 5 different mobs and yet hes like nah im just a normal single father man, idk why ur saying im so weird. he also just gets weirded out by the idea of someone finding him so special... ofc he really would love to be special in a way he can control, i suppose thats really it huh, he really loves control and if people find him special for his deathlessness or anything its like... ok but he doesnt CONTROL that... he can control his talents though so if someone found him special for that hed be like YEAH literally im so cool

69. what’s one secret they don’t want getting out?

the classic. lets go through the obvious ones, his deathlessness, even though its an open secret he really doesnt like people talking about it, his crime too of course but he doesnt even care that much about that either, like even less, his daughter even knows and has talked abt how he kills people for money so... his whole past is a secret even to his daughter bc hes just a private person... i suppose also the main one would be his real name (for people who dont know his real legal name isnt actully vicky love, its louis cox! ( louis pronounced louey bc hes french lol)) he started fully going by vicky when his mom died so he just doesnt like to be called louis bc it reminds him of his 'past life' ... hes got alot of secrets huh... these are really the only things he DOESNT want to get out tho, most other things hes private about he doesnt really care if people learn it

#rev lore #the secret uestion was hard and i feel like not interesting at allllll augh but he doesnt HAVE any secrets hes just a private guyyy #OC: Vicky Love

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