jessaerys

[jessaerys]

i don't know man, i just wish that we could [suddenly realising i'm coming dangerously close to expressing a real and earnest thought instead of filtering everything through several layers of intangible running bits] blow up the entire world. or something.

[jessaerys]

we still get immediately shoved out of our immersion in tv shows or films when The Girl find a dead body and immediately shrieks - we just don't find it realistic because we're pretty confident most people would gasp rather than shriek (i.e. sharp inhale rather than sharp exhale) and it also feels unnecessarily (and predictably) misogynistic too, as men encountering corpses almost never do the same on screen

also of course please do tell us if you've actually encountered a corpse unexpectedly, because tumblr is absolutely a place where some people have done this thing and we love a good anecdote

suddenly imagining "burst into song" as a potential response

#impossible to know since it's a psychological scare rather than a good ol jumpscare but i am a shrieker and i hate it. i can't help it it's #if you startle me i WILL be making a loud noise. the thing with tv shrieks though is that they are not the right kind of shriek. it's #always an AAAAHHHHH when it should be a [short eagle noise]. do u understand

[jessaerys]

why did she make florence sing with her IT'S SO EMBARRASSING sfskdfjdksjkdfkjdsfsdfgdjkgjkdf. hydrogen bomb vs coughing baby

#tswift

[jessaerys]

the bestie and i love little joel so when we watched his video tortured poets department (real version) where he improvised a bunch of stupid made-up taylor swift songs before the album dropped i thought he had made up the tracklist. like i fully thought big/little joel of youtube fame had come up with a dozen and change incredibly funny spot on parodies of taylor swift song titles 💀😭 so the other night we're in the car and we're like well we might as well play the album .and,.

#I COULD NOT BREATHE WHEN I REALIZED IT WAS THE REAL TRACKLIST #god i'm rewatching the video rignt now and losing it; .again. it's so dumb but something about his sense of humor tickles me fgjkfkjllkdl #tswift

[jessaerys]

ok. fortnight slaps it has got to be said

#but like a midnights outtake #tswift

[jessaerys]

there are so many mediocre novels in the world. they should do something about that

#<- currently wasting hours of their life listening to the first 40 minutes or so of my libby loans. 3 down 7 to go something here has #to be decent

[jessaerys]

christ i feel terrible today. why does god allow the suffering of sexy people

#executive function??? NO curse of Ra

[jessaerys]

#5 mostly weed. i have maybe 3-4 drinks a year. tops. probably less

[jessaerys]

imo growing up with a father who was/is a religious and secular community leader and then not speaking to him for a decade and counting after i turned 20, when i was supposed to get to know my parents as Real People, did irreparable damage to my romanticization of the Patriarch figure

i'm aware there's some societal conditioning going on here but i am soooo not immune to stories about the solemn masculinity of a salt-of-the-earth patriarch seeking to lead and protect that which is his while he battles his own inner demons and perhaps even buckles under the weight of his responsibility

#cartoon ass freudian parody

[jessaerys]

i'm aware there's some societal conditioning going on here but i am soooo not immune to stories about the solemn masculinity of a salt-of-the-earth patriarch seeking to lead and protect that which is his while he battles his own inner demons and perhaps even buckles under the weight of his responsibility

[jessaerys]

You wouldn’t last an hour in the asylum where they raised me

#SKSJDJDFJJDJDJDHDBF

[jessaerys]

my celebrity crush? wendy zuckerman from the podcast science vs

#i don't even know what she looks like i just love her voice and curious nature i could treat her so right

[jessaerys]

had a psych appointment which are usually like 15 mins and quite easy and i like my psych a lot. so why do last minute cancellations still feel like crack cocaine

#the joy i experienced when i got their text #i love not having to do things

[jessaerys]

is that blood platter or did bro get jumped

#how did i miss these!!!! #i love mello's scar here also near needs to be covered in blood more often. you're so right #death note

[jessaerys]

This porno didn’t fuck around

#im gonna be so real with you guys i am 100000% going to watch this #EDIT: NVM ITS 3 HOURS LONG???? #does anyone have the pornless cut 🙄

[jessaerys]

this might be weird to ask, but how do I critically look at another person's writing and implement what I like in their writing in my own writing? I've been having trouble improving in my writing, and frankly Im not sure how to go about doing that, even. It's easy to see what I like about another person's writing, but hard to pinpoint exactly why...

THIS IS NOT WEIRD TO ASK. It is, in fact, the most important question EVER.

How to Read Like a Writer

Re-read. If you get halfway into a chapter and think, Wow this chapter is super creepy–I wonder how they did that. Or get to the end of a book and think, I feel the poignancy of the fragility of human life in an inherently volatile economic system–I wonder how the writer made me feel that way… Go back and re-read that shit.

Read slowly. When you read like a reader, you read pretty fast. When you go in for your second, or third, or fourth re-read of a passage, chapter, or book that you want to know more about, read it slowly. Really. Slowly.

Read for technique, not content. Readers read for content (”In this paragraph, Damien gave Harold a classified envelope.”). Writers read for technique. (”In this paragraph, the writer made me feel curious about the contents of the envelope by giving sensory details about its appearance and weight.”)

Ask the right questions. They usually start with HOW: How did the writer make me feel? How did they accomplish that?

Read small. Did a chapter make you feel sad? Find out WHERE EXACTLY. What paragraph, sentence, or WORD did it for you? Was it a physical detail? A line of dialogue? A well-placed piece of punctuation? Stories are made of words and sentences. Narrow it down.

Practice. Reading like a writer is a skill that takes time to develop. Over time, you’ll get better at it!

How about y’all? Anything to add to this list? I made it off the top of my head so I’m sure I’m forgetting something. What have been your experiences with learning to read like a writer?

Hope this helps!

//////////////

The Literary Architect is a writing advice blog run by me, Bucket Siler. For more writing help, check out my Free Resource Library or get The Complete Guide to Self-Editing for Fiction Writers. xoxo

#obviously i still have a lot to learn but this is a skill ive honed since my teens and im very proud of it :') #this is what i mean when i say i like talking about the technical dimension of writing. the nitty gritty. the looking under the hood #like drawing fundamentals. color theory and form and value and anatomy etc. all of those things exist in the realm of prose too #and they can be learned

[jessaerys]

baby reindeer, e04

#baby reindeer #rape / #sa / #): ): ): ):