nightmarethrenody

[nightmarethrenody]

I would not be the person I am today without this man. I owe him so very, very much.

“WORDS IN THE HEART CAN NOT BE TAKEN”

Sir Terry Pratchett, 28 April 1948 – 12 March 2015

“DON’T THINK OF IT AS DYING, said Death. JUST THINK OF IT AS LEAVING EARLY TO AVOID THE RUSH.”  

Art by Paul Kidby

#terry pratchett #RIP #Death #non timetis messor

[nightmarethrenody]

how do they rise up… #glorious25th

#see how they rise up #rise up #see the little angels rise up high #discworld #fabricati diem pvnc #glorious25th

[nightmarethrenody]

I have a dilemma; I have this sort of fame thing now, and lots of people are following me, and they have so many interesting things to say! Too many things. Can't read everything...

Q_Q

#my other problem is that I need some better dilemmas #'too many interesting people like me' #oh no #the tragedy #I must proceed to alienate everyone immediately #this is an excellent plan #no flaws whatsoever

[nightmarethrenody]

I don't usually do reblog meme things, but this... yeah. This accurately describes a majority of my existence.

Reblog if you daydream a lot.

This includes letting your ideas, stories and head-canons marinate in your head on a daily basis to the point of not writing any of it down because you’re either afraid of how it will turn out or too fucking lazy to write that shit down.

[nightmarethrenody]

*An update has occurred! Read the creator's own words about this.*

When Mr Eaten Goes Away: An Epilogue of Deeper Misfortune

There has been an unexpected twist in Mr Eaten’s tale, and it brings great sorrow to all. For reasons I will not go into here, the writer of the Mr Eaten’s Name content was forced to reconsider his approach. As such, all things related to the Name have been sequestered, pending review. I cannot say what changes may occur. They may be tumultuous, or minor; what I can say, is that I believe Mr. Kennedy will do everything he can to continue, and I do not begrudge him the time he takes to deliberate.

All shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well. That was the promise.

And sometimes, so it is.

Where are you?

Somewhere you would not hope to be. All this imagined journey. If you aren't a line on a map, you must be a dot, and that a vanishing speck.

 I had a dream that was not all a dream

You are filled with stagnant sunlight.

#Fallen London #Mr Eaten #Seeking Mr Eaten's Name #SMEN #Mr Eaten's Calling Card #music

[nightmarethrenody]

When Mr Eaten Comes a-Calling

About a week ago, Fallen London released a new feature: the ability to send calling cards to your contacts. I was one of the first to discover this, but I couldn’t possibly have known just how important it would turn out to be.

Below I have attempted to render a faithful account of these portentous events. This is the story of how I went where no other had before, and where, it may be, that no other will again. Forgive my tendency for grandiloquence, and read on, all ye Seekers...

I spent a few actions sending out cards to everyone I knew; as they gave a sizable amount of Making Waves, I’d hoped to upgrade my Profession. Then I noticed that I had Mr Eaten in my contact list. ‘Well, why not,’ I thought ‘what’s the worst that could happen?’ Ha. Haha.

So I sent my card to Mr Eaten. I didn’t really expect him to accept it, but I was still surprised when he declined.

I was even more surprised when he replied.

Oh dear. Oh dear god.

What could I do but accept?

 Ouch. That’s half of my stats gone, and enough Menace to make me go insane as soon as I get over being dead. Oh, but what a sinister curio I had gained!

My hands shook, and not just from the Nightmares inflicted upon me. Could this really be? While I was recovering, I reported all this on the forums. In the initial flurry of excitement, many people tried sending their own calling cards to Mr Eaten— but it seemed that no one else was even able to address it to him, let alone receive a reply.

I was to go this alone, then. Very well.

I have always made it my policy in these things to let some other intrepid explorer pioneer their way through the door to new and dangerous lands— not out of deference, but just to see what happens to them. Nevertheless, it seemed I was unique. If I did not do this, it would never be done.

I consigned myself to the role of the Ravenous Prophet, to go into the uncharted places and bring back knowledge to the ranked masses of hungry Seekers.

And so, as soon as my Menaces were reduced to marginally non-fatal levels, I set off to Wolfstack Docks, where a new storylet had been unlocked by my card.

  Visiting Mr Eaten’s Home Address

He won’t be there. He is nowhere. There is nothing here.

The Blind Helmsman

 Not the pub of that name. There is only one among the fraternity of the Docks who will take you to that place. He won’t do it for just anyone. And even then, he’ll need some persuasion.

When I first got there, it cost ten actions, and required Connected: The Docks x 15. When I returned later, the fare had been raised by 100 Echoes, required one to be a Person of Some Importance, and had a rather difficult Persuasive challenge.

If one fails this challenge, all they see is:

Nothing doing

He shakes his head slowly. "The seas are wrong," is all he'll say.

But if they succeed?

I have gone where no other foot has tread. Out here in the darkness, there is only one storylet to play.

Out here in the darkness, you are cut off from everything. Well, almost everything. I was accruing quite a lot of fame by now, and so I discovered that you can still receive calling cards. And Christmas cards. London’s postal service take themselves very seriously.

I sat down to Fast and Meditate. The fasting wasn’t really optional. Not much food out here.

If you are unlucky, you see this:

A wind like a pack of circling dogs

You huddle low. Your belly is flat: it flaps like a tent. Every part of you is pocked by angry restless flints. You could light a fire. No: no, you couldn’t.

If you still have some luck left that has not been shredded by the search:

Success here gave the quality:

Fasting and Meditating to a Foolish End – Hard-won Misery: You could spend your whole life here, until even the vitality of the Neath gutters in you, and you lie brittle beside the Well.

Little did I know, but I was actually quite lucky. I continued with my Fasting and Meditating for some time, and it was only later that both failure and success began raise my Nightmares and Wounds by a not-insubstantial amount. Failure also began to remove some Fasting and Meditating to a Foolish End. But more on that later.

When I had succeeded a couple times, bringing FaMtaFE to 7, there was an intriguing development.

These options allowed one to give a Reported Location of a One-Time Prince of Hell, Cantigaster Venom, or Veils-Velvet to the well in trade for progress. As you can see, I was only able to give one of these: the Location.

Whisper a treasured secret to the well

You will forget this. Yes. This is a gift from no-one to no-one. Everything is lost in the North.

A monstrous silence

This is the silence of the North, where water fades to not-even-space. Hell is forgiven their trespasses there. Haha. Hahahaha. Your throat rusts.

Time passed. A great deal of time. Everything here costs a great many actions. But they revealed more things to sacrifice to the well.

At 9, there was Master’s Blood. At 14 there was the Breath of the Void or an Impossible Theorem, the latter of which had never received even a mention until here and now.

I still do not know what these result in, and shall have to wait for others to discover that. Oh yes, there could be others. I am but the First; the Second uncovered this:

Rend it

Tear it. Trample it. Cast its ragged wreck into the well.

A scent like rage

He wanted to go free, he wanted his hunt, his stars. He gave them flesh of the Judgements' realm for his impatience. He, oh he, oh when my teeth are in him there will not be an end. No end.

Nevertheless, at the time, I did not see a clear purpose for the island. Was there something to be gained from these new options? In the absence of anything else to do, I continued to raise Fasting and Meditating even higher. I had a hunch.

Time passed, again. The mysterious quality, my only lead, went higher and higher without showing any sign of importance.

Until it reached 77.

My vindication came more forcefully than I expected. This is the fourth way to get St Destin’s Candle, but St Cerise? That is something that could only be gained from boundless tenacity or wicked betrayal in the game of Knife and Candle.

And St Forthigan’s Candle? Had never been seen at all. Even its name is a revelation.

St Destin’s Candle has no pre-requisites, as it is nothing to begin with.

St Cerise’s Candle requires that you not have it already, but that you have St Destin’s.

St Forthigan’s Candle requires both St Destin’s and St Cerise’s.

I considered pushing all the way to 100, but the lure of candles was too great.

And so I had to start over. It was around now that I noticed a change. Previously, the island had been safe, albeit time consuming; but now Wounds and Nightmares abound from every action. Worse still, the options to Fast and Meditate, and even the option to Return to London are now locked if you have more than 7 Wounds or Nightmares. Not only will you suffer when you get back to the Fifth City, you will not even be able to return. You will be stranded on this tiny, desolate speck of an island, wishing you had the luxury of escaping through death or insanity. Your only salvation would be Time, the Healer, slowly chipping away at your Menaces every week.

Now was the time I regretted my haste in setting out. Apparently, marginally sub-lethal levels of madness and injury are poor qualities for a voyage into unknown lands with a reputation for certain doom. Who knew?

Faced with such prospects, I opted to return to London with haste equal to that of my departure. I failed several times.

Not yet.

Perhaps tomorrow. In the meantime, you can scrape black lichen from the rocks to sate your hunger. Perhaps a little driftwood will have washed up on the beach. Yes, here. A tangle of shattered timber.

Eventually, I managed to attract help, and returned to London to prepare in earnest.

Home again

There! There! The boat's approaching. Perhaps they don't know the things that are said of this place, to approach so closely and so unwisely.

Fasting and Meditating to a Foolish End decreased slightly.

My opportunity cards weren’t even ruffled.

I will spare you the details, but I will tell you a little of what I did, so you will have some idea of how to prepare if you are ever bound for a journey to Winking Isle: Rid myself completely of my Menaces. Regained Connected: Docks. Stockpiled social action cures for Wounds and Nightmares; while you can’t receive or send them on the Isle, they can be accepted.

When I felt I was ready (some days later), I set out again. Everything was pretty much as I left it; aside from the change to the journey over, the requirements for sacrificing items to the well were tightened slightly. Speak the sound between stars (Breath of the Void) and A wrongness (Impossible Theorem) can no longer be used when you have more than 55 Fasting and Meditating to a Foolish End. Whisper a treasured secret (Reported Location of a One-Time Prince of Hell) locks after 66.

I rebuilt Fasting and Meditating to a Foolish End up until I had enough for another candle:

My stats cleaved in half once more. The Watchful gain was an error soon corrected.

Now, the nature of this cycle is this: If someone came to the island without any of the candles, they must grind all the way to St Destin’s. Their progress is reset, and they grind up again, to sacrifice St Destin’s Candle for that of St Cerise, where their progress is again reset. They must regain St Destin’s, re-grind, and then finally, they are ready for the sixth candle:

St Forthigan’s Candle: This candle is innocent of treachery. Long has it been maligned.

Yes, there is a typo in the candle’s name. I get the impression this whole thing was put together fairly quickly.

If one wishes to regain the other two candles, they can continue the cycle. It’s very slow going, though. Nothing new seems to be unlocked by St Forthigan’s Candle, but I haven’t had much chance to investigate it thoroughly.

And now my tale is almost done. There is but one little detail that I have not mentioned, though I noticed it early on.

Mr Eaten’s Calling Card is usable.

Offer Mr Eaten's Calling Card to a friend

It's a hoax, anyway. A Midnighter prank. Or worse, a Midnighter stratagem. Seal it carefully

Let no light fall upon it.

Thus, the card may be passed on to another Seeker. It seems to require that the recipient have at least 77 in the four main stats.

Once sent:

And gone

A weight lifts.

While the card remains in your possession (at least temporarily) after you send it, you cannot send it to another without canceling the invitation.

The burden has been passed, and the world turns. I do not know what its ultimate fate will be—whether it is to be passed from hand to hand, until every Seeker has their candles, or whether it is destined to languish indefinitely in the void from whence it came. What I do know is that I have placed it in the hands of a trustworthy Seeker, and that now everything is up to them.

If this card ever ends up in your hands, reader, know this: This venture will cost you a great deal. It will scour your stats to the bone. You will find yourself drowning in Menace. Anything you do will take an incredibly long time, even if all goes well. And it is unlikely to go well— almost everything has a 50% chance to fail catastrophically. Even your attempts to leave will founder. The island is a very dangerous place, and by the word of its creator, it is unpredictable. There are very likely traps that even I have not sprung. Be careful. Treat every rock with suspicion, treat every shadow as an assassin.

I only succeeded because I was incredibly lucky. I stumbled upon the card by luck, and I stumbled upon the island before most of the peril had been put in place. I was lucky to survive the islands tribulations with more progress than setbacks. And I was also very, very lucky to have the support of many kind people on the forums. Their aid and encouragement was invaluable in my quest, and for that I thank them all.

I hope that this story shall go down in the annals of Fallen London history, recorded alongside such tales as The 50000 Rats, The Mirrorcatch Box, and The Beheading That Turned Out Just To Be A Goldfish.

With the greatest respect, I bid you farewell. May your betrayals be ever by arrangement, and your candles always lit.

                                                  The mad, damned, Lord of Seekers,

                                                               -Alexander Feld

                                                        Ars Enixa Est Candelam

N.B. It seems that even I was ignorant of just how lucky I was. Alas, the quest has tolled a final note of doom, and this recording may be all that is left of the Winking Isle. I have written an epilogue which I hope shall elucidate you. I have also composed a lament.

#Fallen London #Fallen London spoilers #spoilers #Mr Eaten #Seeking Mr Eaten's Name #SMEN #Mr Eaten's Calling Card

[nightmarethrenody]

“Everybody has a secret world inside of them. I mean everybody. All of the people in the whole world, I mean everybody — no matter how dull and boring they are on the outside. Inside them they've all got unimaginable, magnificent, wonderful, stupid, amazing worlds... Not just one world. Hundreds of them. Thousands, maybe.”

--Neil Gaiman

There are some times when I'd really like to say something, but I know I couldn't possibly put it better than someone else has done.

My video SONDER | THE DICTIONARY OF OBSCURE SORROWS is now featured on Vimeo’s Staff Picks. If you haven’t seen it yet, fullscreen it and bask in the HD. Written, edited and narrated by me.

sonder, n. the realization that each random passerby is living a life as vivid and complex as your own. 

#philosophy #words #people #Neil Gaiman #quotes

[nightmarethrenody]

Beautiful. Ethereal.

Petrified wood fossil with opal formed in the growth rings.

#beautiful things

[nightmarethrenody]

#art #beautiful art #fallen london #darkness and light

[nightmarethrenody]

Besides the fact that Calvin and Hobbes is the comic I cherish above all others, Bill Watterson is my biggest creative influence and someone I admire greatly as an artist. Here’s why:

• After getting fired as a political cartoonist at the Cincinnati Post, Watterson decided to instead focus on comic strips. Broke, he was forced to move back in with his parents and worked an advertising layout job he hated while he drew comics in his spare time. He stayed at this miserable job and submitted strips to comic syndicates for four years before Calvin and Hobbes was accepted. About this period Watterson wrote: “The only way to learn how to write and draw is by writing and drawing … to persist in the face of continual rejection requires a deep love of the work itself, and learning that lesson kept me from ever taking Calvin and Hobbes for granted when the strip took off years later.” (Also see the Advice for Beginners comic.)

• Watterson sacrificed millions (probably hundreds of millions) of dollars by never licensing and merchandising Calvin and Hobbes. He went through a long and traumatic fight with his syndicate over the licensing rights, and although he eventually prevailed, Watterson was so disillusioned with the industry he almost quit cartooning. “I worked too long to get this job, and worked too hard once I got it, to let other people run away with my creation once it became successful. If I could not control what my own work was about and stood for, then cartooning meant very little to me.”

• Luckily Watterson didn’t quit and took a sabbatical instead. Eager to reinvigorate his creative mojo on his return, Watteron proposed a radical new layout for his colour Sunday strips. For those not familiar with comic strip lingo, each week a newspaper comic will have six ‘daily’ strips (usually black and white, one tier, 3-4 panels) and one ‘Sunday’ strip which is larger and in colour. Previously, the Sunday strip was comprised of three tiers of panels and looked like this. The layout was restrictive and the top tier had to be completely disposable because a lot of newspapers would cut it and only run the bottom two tiers in order to save space so they could cram in as many comics (or puzzles, or ads) as they could.

Watterson was sick of the format restraints and wanted more space to experiment and push his storytelling ability so he (with his syndicate’s support) gave newspaper editors a ballsy proposition. They would have to publish his Sunday comics at a half-page size with no editing, or not publish it at all. By this time Calvin and Hobbes had been running for over five years and was extremely successful so Watterson had the clout needed to pull this move off. Despite fearing many cancellations, he was pleasantly surprised that most newspapers supported the change. Free of the shackles of tiers and panel restrictions, Watterson gave us visually exciting and beautiful strips that hadn’t been since the glory days of newspaper comics in the 1920s and 30s. He was free to create strips like this, and this and this. “The last few years of the strip, and especially the Sundays, are the work I am the most proud of. This was close as I could get to my vision of what a comic strip should be.”

• After working on the strip for 10 years, when Calvin and Hobbes was at the height of its popularity and was being published in over 2,000 newspapers, Watterson stopped. He had given his heart and soul to one project for 10 years, had said all he wanted to say and wanted to go out on top. “I did not want Calvin and Hobbes to coast into half-hearted repetition, as so many long-running strips do. I was ready to pursue different artistic challenges, work at a less frantic pace with fewer business conflicts, and … start restoring some balance to my life.” Since retiring the strip, Watterson has pursued his interest in painting and music.

It’s pretty incredible when you think about. Could you say ‘no’ to millions, I repeat, MILLIONS of dollars of merchandise money? I don’t know if I could. Would you stop creating your art if millions of people admired your work and kept wanting more? I don’t know if I would.

Reprints of Calvin and Hobbes are still published in over 50 countries and the strips are as fresh and funny as they were 20-25 years ago. It has a timeless quality and will continue to entertain comic fans for generations to come. Great art does that.

- The quote used in the comic is taken from a graduation speech Watterson gave at his alma mater, Kenyon College, in 1990.

Brain Pickings has a nice article about it. The comic is basically the story of my life, except I’m a stay-at-home-dad to two dogs. My ex-boss even asked me if I wanted to return to my old job. - My original dream was to become a successful newspaper comic strip artist and create the next Calvin and Hobbes. That job almost doesn’t exist anymore as newspapers continue to disappear and the comics section gets smaller and smaller, often getting squeezed out of newspapers entirely. I spent years sending submissions to syndicates in my early 20s and still have the rejection letters somewhere. I eventually realised it was a fool’s dream (also, my work was nowhere near good enough) and decided webcomics was the place to be. It’s mouth-watering to imagine what Watterson could achieve with webcomics, given the infinite possibilities of the online medium. - My style is already influenced by Watterson, but this is the first time I’ve intentionally tried to mimic his work. It’s been fun poring through Calvin and Hobbes strips the past week while working on this comic and it was a humbling reminder that I still have a long way to go. - The quotes I’ve used in the write-up above are taken from the introduction to The Complete Calvin and Hobbes collection, which sits proudly on my desk.

128. BILL WATTERSON: A cartoonist’s advice

#quotes #bill waterson #drawing #creativity

[nightmarethrenody]

Dress suitably in short skirts and strong boots, leave your jewels in the bank, and buy a revolver.

Countess Markievicz, 19th century Irish revolutionary, dispensing eternally relevant fashion advice (via 3liza)

#best fashion advice #quotes

[nightmarethrenody]

Hey everyone! As NaNoWriMo approaches, and the month of November itself, I thought it would be a good idea to put together a masterpost of tips, techniques, and preparation exercises. I did not make any of the content listed below myself, so credit goes directly to the respective content creators. Happy writing, and remember- keep your head up. It’s not about quality, it’s about finishing. You got this. Good luck.

NANOWRIMO ADVICE:

10 Tips from the Writing Box

Five Things I Wish I’d Known Going Into My First NaNoWriMo

Pre-NaNoWriMo Tips

October 31st Planning Advice

How To: Write a Novel in 30 Days

How To: Start Your Novel

7 Habits of Highly Effective Writers

Is Your Novel Working?

Story Idea Generator

How To: Reach Your NaNoWriMo Goal

Staying Motivated

GENERAL WRITING TIPS:

Developing a Well Paced Novel

How To: Write a Novel Using the Snowflake Method

The Opening Hook

How To: Write a Novel

Effectively Outlining Your Plot

Developing Your Style

Novel Outlining 101

9 Simple Writing Habits

Dialogue Writing

Busting Your Writing Rut

CHARACTER BUILDING:

Name Generator

Name Playground

Behind the Name

Characterization Tips

Character Chart

Seven Common Character Types

Advice for Writing Specific Characters 

Pre-Writing Characters

Main Character Tropes

Creating a Likeable Character

The Universal Mary Sue Test

Myers Briggs Personality Test

100 Positive Traits

Character Development Exercises

Eight Bad Characters

Using Mental Illness in Your Writing

Family Tree Designer

123 Character Flaws

Writing Realistic Platonic Male Friendships

Writing Intriguing Male and Female Characters

Writing POCs

Writing Sexuality

Writing Primary Characters

Writing Secondary Characters

PLOT & CONFLICT: 

How To: Write Without a Plot

36 Dramatic Situations

Tips for Writing a Compelling Plot

Plot Development

The Art of Foreshadowing

Plotting Without Fears

What is Conflict?

Conflict Test

5 Tips for Writing an Effective Plot Twist

How To: Outline Your Novel in 30 Minutes

25 Ways to Plot, Plan, and Prep

Plot Bank

The ABCs (and Ds and Es) of Plot Development

12 Things to Keep in Mind When Writing an Ending

Various Plot Resources

#writing #reference

[nightmarethrenody]

The Woods Shall be My Sanctum

Often, the world tires me greatly. It is at these times, burdened with the numerous ills of humanity, that I retreat to the forest that surrounds my home. There I can find blessed loneliness, a reprieve from all my worldly sorrows. There are no distractions in the forest; the world there simply is, without begging me to take part in it. I take comfort in it, being perfectly alone and beholden to no other.

Especially I love the night. The world's hum and bustle ceases, leaving only a gentle breeze and a drizzle of rain. I can step out into the night, and be enshrouded in darkness and peace. In this tranquil state, I can clear my mind, letting my thoughts drift meditatively from this to that, bereft of the chaos that usually accompanies my musings. My eyes gaze gently upon the borders between shadow and my faint light, not as an inquisitor demanding secrets to be revealed, but as a subtle admirer of craftsmanship. I demand nothing of the night, and it demands nothing of me. I merely welcome its cool embrace as it invites me into its realm. Long minutes pass quietly, letting me collect my thoughts, and choose which to leave behind. Having taken my precious moments of solitude, I can return to my world of light and noise, to shoulder my burdens once more-- but perhaps I will find that they have grown a little lighter. Or perhaps it is that I am just a little bit stronger.

#posts from my journal

[nightmarethrenody]

Another Halloween themed post.

Part I: Superstitions

GHOSTS AND SPIRITS

Iron and Ghosts

The Early Ghost

Guide to Ghosts

Ghosts

Gravestone Symbolism

10 Little Known Mysterious Ghost Types

Ghost Types

The Different Types of Ghosts

Haunted Places

Cemetery Folklore

Writing a Ghost Story

Tips for Writing Ghost Stories

Ghost Cliches

Horror Cliches

ZOMBIES

The Science of Zombies

Zombie Biology

Zombie Sociology

Zombie Myths

Stage II and Stage III Zombies (pictures)

Vampires vs Zombies

Undead Creatures

Zombies

Guide on Zombies

SHAPE SHIFTERS AND HOMINIDS

Werewolves and other were-beasts

The Shape Shifting Process

Shape Shifters

Hominids of the World

Werewolf Myths

Science of Werewolves

Werewolf Behavior

Werewolves vs Vampires vs Zombies

Werewolf Anatomy

Wolf Body Language

Lycanthropy

Werewolf Myths and Truths

History of the Werewolf Legend

SEA CREATURES

The Mermaid

Sea Creatures

Books About Mermaids and Sea Folklore

Sea Creatures: Books

YA Mermaid Novels

Best Mermaid Books

Awesome Mermaid Books

Mermaid Anatomy

A Dissection of Mermaid Anatomy

VAMPIRES

African Vampires

Writing the A-Typical Vampire

So You Want to Write a Vampire Novel

Avoiding Vampire Cliches

Vampire Cliches

Vampire Burial

Vampire Mythology

Vampire Biology

Vampire Virology

Vampire Sociology

Vampires in Folklore and Literature

AVIAN CREATURES

Underused Bird Mythologies

FAIRIES AND FAE

Types of Faeries A-Z

A Guide to Fairies

Other Names for Fairies

Books About Faery

Best YA Fairy Books

Best YA Fantasy Series About the Fae

ANGELS AND DEMONS

A Glory of Angels

Angels and Demons Resource Post

Do You Give Angels Flaws or Not?

Unusual Angels

More:

Creating Creepy Creatures

Mythology Meme

Master Post of World Mythology, Creatures, and Folklore

Figures of Norse Mythology

Those Who Haunt the Earth

Writing Horror, Paranormal, and Supernatural

Genre: YA Supernatural

List of Mythical Creatures

Mythological Creature Picture Spam

How to Make Your Supernatural Characters Unique

Supernatural Theme Story

Myths and Urban Legends Masterpost

Original Gods, Goddesses, and Myths

World Building Basics: Myths and Legends

Mythical Creatures and Beings

Symbols by Word

Mythology Meme

Writing Paranormal Characters into the Real World

#writing #reference #mythology

[nightmarethrenody]

The significance of plot without conflict

In the West, plot is commonly thought to revolve around conflict: a confrontation between two or more elements, in which one ultimately dominates the other. The standard three- and five-act plot structures—which permeate Western media—have conflict written into their very foundations. A “problem” appears near the end of the first act; and, in the second act, the conflict generated by this problem takes center stage. Conflict is used to create reader involvement even by many post-modern writers, whose work otherwise defies traditional structure.

The necessity of conflict is preached as a kind of dogma by contemporary writers’ workshops and Internet “guides” to writing. A plot without conflict is considered dull; some even go so far as to call it impossible. This has influenced not only fiction, but writing in general—arguably even philosophy. Yet, is there any truth to this belief? Does plot necessarily hinge on conflict? No. Such claims are a product of the West’s insularity. For countless centuries, Chinese and Japanese writers have used a plot structure that does not have conflict “built in”, so to speak. Rather, it relies on exposition and contrast to generate interest. This structure is known as kishōtenketsu.

Read More

#narrative structure #literature #philosophy #writing

[nightmarethrenody]

#words #vocabulary #writing #reference

[nightmarethrenody]

#history #gif