nonsequitur22

[nonsequitur22]

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

#i'd call my dad and say #hey are you missing one of yours? #because i think i found one on the loose #lol jk jk id check their pulse then call 911

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the problem with being creative is that you start to feel very guilty when you haven’t created anything in a while

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You've heard of OTPs and NoTPs, now get ready for...

WOAH-TPs, pairings you never considered but now ship.

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I think a lot about who I am to other people in the world–particular who I am to strangers as a mere concept in their lives.

Today this woman called our information desk and said, “my son’s band is playing tonight. I want to come see him, but he never answers his phone…..I want to be there. Have you heard anything about his band?”

And I felt so bad for this lady but I’m not in the music scene around here so I had to tell her no, sorry.

Five hours later, I’m hiking and run into a group of guys setting up for some outdoor performance, and as I watch them unload the drums it hits me.

“Hey,” I said, “are y’all in a band?”

They said yeah and smiled and I told them “one of your moms called today. She wants to watch you play, but she can’t get a hold of you. Call your mom.”

And they all pulled out their phones and started discussing whose mom it probably was as they presumably dialed their own.

And now, unless we meet again and recognize each other, that’s who I’ll be forever to those guys–some mysterious courier for mom-messages who came out of the woods and told them their mom called.

I didn’t even tell them why their mom called me. Who am I to their mom?? Nobody even asked. They just took my word for it and called their mothers.

Amazing.

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We celebrated my brother's birthday at my house last night. My dad arrived late, and apologized because he couldn't stay long. He claimed that he had somebody in the van.

And then he chuckled.

It didn't take his children long to let out a communal groan, the only valid response to a "dad joke."

I gave him a piece of cake and then sent him on his way back to the morgue.

#nonsequitur writes #some BODY #tbf body pickups happen all the time #and my house was on the way #most people brought gifts to the party #but my dad brought a corpse instead #oh btw he manages a cemetery/crematorium

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“Who would become grand master of the order after Yoda?”

I think the unspoken order goes Yoda -> Mace -> Ki Adi Mundi as of PT, in an AU where the order survives longer it’d go Yoda -> Mace -> Obi Wan (older and more wise like in OT)

Mace def feels like he’d be looked to as the leader without Yoda, and he’s got a good head on his shoulders: keeps up with the politics of the reublic and is wary of authoritarianism, is a skilled general and great warrior, heavily invested into the Jedi order and its role as peacekeepers and defends all life - even the zilo beast. He’s everything a great Jedi leader ought to be imo , if only he could live t 900 like yoda lol

Ki Adi Mundi feels like he’s got wisdom, awareness and skill and also the seniority , but wouldn’t be the go to followup as he feels more of a “default” Jedi - would do a good job and earnestly invest himself into the development of the order and defense of the republic; he’d tow the line in the war and flourish in peace time, but not reach the heights of Mace or Obi Wan. Tho I could see an argument for Plo Koon in this similar tertiary role

Obi Wan who ages into his OT adjacent self he’d achieve that wisdom and talent , and we know his diplomatic and Command skills, and he’d be a bit more proactive and assertive in the council than a Ki Adi Mundi imo which would make him be looked to as a leader imo, and his expirences with Satine, Maul, Anakin, the war, relief, etc. would all put him in a great position to guide others and the order at large

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idk who needs to hear this but when your english teacher asks you to explain why an author chose to use a specific metaphor or literary device, it’s not because you won’t be able to function in real-world society without the essential knowledge of gatsby’s green light or whatever, it’s because that process develops your abilities to parse a text for meaning and fill in gaps in information by yourself, and if you’re wondering what happens when you DON’T develop an adult level of reading comprehension, look no further than the dizzying array of examples right here on tumblr dot com

#i really love threebooksoneplot's take on twilight #G and shannon explain number two really well #@threebooksoneplot

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As someone who accidentally achieved BNF status in two separate fandoms, I'll let you in on the secret cheat code (but beware being a bnf comes with a price and you won't know what it is until it's much too late)

It's commenting. And I don't just mean on the juggernaut fics or ships. Both times I came into a fandom in the first two years of their run. There were already a decent number of fics, lots of kudos (or favorites on ffn) but rare comments. Even the most popular fics, the ones ending up on rec lists, would have maybe 2-3 comments total.

I came from a fandom with a culture of commenting and I brought it with me. If I read a fic, it got a comment. Before anyone starts whinging nonsense about diluting the value of a comment, there is almost always something positive that you can find to comment on. I think back to my earliest writings and the way the elders and bnfs of my fandom encouraged my writing when I know from looking back on it, it wasn't great. But they found the seedlings of my strengths and they nurtured them through commenting. Encouraged the things that worked well in my stories, and yet somehow, rarely if ever offered concrite.

Everything I read gets a comment.

At the very least, the idea was creative enough for me to click into the story. Often there was a line or even a word choice that stuck with me and I would comment on. (and if six different people comment on how they liked "this bit" but no one comments on "that part" the authors are going to start realizing what worked and what didn't without anyone getting their feelings hurt)

After a few weeks, I was known for my comments. I had people replying to my comments about how excited they were: "yes! it's you! I got one!". And when I published my first work in the fandom, it seemed like everyone who had ever received a comment from me showed up to leave one for me.

I didn't set out to become a BNF. That was an unfortunate side effect and one I said I wouldn't repeat a few years later in my new fandom. (I did)

Turns out the fastest way to make friends is to hype their work. Reblog their work on tumblr and give a little non-spoilery shout out. Reply to reblogs and start conversations in the posts or in the tags.

A fandom lives and dies not only by the creative works made by the fans, but also by the response to that work.

--

#my goal is to get better at leaving comments #just to make someone's day #because i encounter so much amazing writing and taking the time to say #this was great #is so important

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woke up this morning, rolled over, and very confidently tried to blow out my alarm clock like a candle. absolutely no precedent for that.

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So I’m on AO3 and I see a lot of people who put “I do not own [insert fandom here]” before their story.

Like, I came on this site to read FAN fiction. This is a FAN fiction site. I’m fully aware that you don’t own the fandom or the characters. That’s why it’s called FAN FICTION.

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WIP Whenever

Once again I’ve been tagged by the most amazing @emimayooo to share part of my WIP. Thank you for the support! And, once again, rather than do the simple thing and copy/paste part of my text, I’d rather lay out my goals for this fic. (It’s an Obi-Wan POV and I haven’t quite gotten his voice right, so I need more time editing before I’ll show any of my prose). 

Oh, and if I understand this right, I’m supposed to tag other people to join in, so @low-fantasy, @iocococo, @volturialice let’s see what you’re working on!

This fic is set in the Stargate Atlantis universe ~20 years after the end of the show. I’ve taken characters from Star Wars and crossed them over. There is no force, no lightsabers, they’re simply the characters plucked out of SW and set into SGA. (And Anakin is a female, because that’s my gimmick.) 

It’s been interesting brainstorming how Anakin’s “child of the force” aspect crosses over into the SGA universe. Obviously Anakin’s got to have the most Ancient genes to ever ancient that surpasses even John Sheppard’s connection to Lantean technology. The whole goal of writing this is to explore what that means and how it’s possible for Anakin to be *like that.*

Concrete goals: the first chapter is going to be <6k. Here’s how I’ve titled my outline sections: opening framework - math, control, restrained. Meet cute - loss of control. Main conflict - humorous, sickening. Closing framework - existential despair, math. (I was so excited when I found a common theme to both open and close this story, yay, here I am, practicing a craft skill lmao.) Hopefully I can cram everything I need to in this so that my workshop piece will be somewhat coherent.

The total fic length should be less than 20k, with either 2 or 3 chapters, and will end with the worst OT3 pairing that has ever existed. It should not exist. It should not make me giggle manically. It’s so bad.

I’m so excited.

#nonsequitur writes #wip whenever #writing progress

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april's newsletter is up!

#best research advice ever #writing advice #betts is the best

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Message of the year:

“How do you spot an idiot? Look for the person who is cruel. The kindest person in the room is often the smartest.” — Gov Pritzker

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Venting-

When I hear people give the advice that writing is never a waste of time if you’re having fun or you should never feel like a story was a waste of time, you should enjoy the process. This advice I believe is real and true and works for some writers. But at the same time, there are writers who are very stressed when writing and feel better about their work when it’s finished. Not the “I enjoy having written.” But the “I have crippling anxiety and can only tell if my time, effort, and semi-breakdowns were worth something if I complete what I set out to do.”

Not to diminish anyone who agrees or resonates with the first statement, I admire those people a lot and wish I was calm enough to feel the same.

in my years of teaching and coaching, i've noticed there are two kinds of writers: "process" writers and "product" writers. rather, there exists a spectrum from one to the other.

on the process side, you have writers who reach a flow state fairly easily, who can become immersed in a world or idea of their own invention, and they write in large part to seek that immersive state. the end of a project seems more like a tragedy than an achievement because it marks the loss of the immersive state, and it will take energy and discipline and happenstance to find the next. i've also noticed that it becomes harder rather than easier to find that state over time; the more projects you finish, the fewer ideas appeal to you in the same way.

conversely, product writers get to feel that sense of achievement upon completing a project that process writers may lack, and that pleasure is worth the pain and turmoil of the act of creating something. product writing takes a lot of strength, patience, and discipline i think, to do something hard for the reward of having done it. it's the difference between an athlete and a surgeon. a person becomes an athlete for love of the sport, the act of playing. winning is important, but they wouldn't be able to win without first finding joy in the game. a surgeon, on the other hand, probably doesn't get into the job for the fun of operating. the fulfillment is in the operation's success; it's hard work with high risk. but the reward of saving or improving lives is worth it.

admittedly as a process writer it's always been hard for me to wrap my head around product writers. not only do i not have the patience to seek a sense of achievement, i think i'm mostly incapable of relishing any reward at all unless the reward is in the pursuit itself. looking back, i can't think of any single moment i've ever felt a sense of success. but also i've always struggled with concepts like ambition and competition. i've never had any drive to win anything, but also i've never felt much when i lose or fail. sometimes i wish those things mattered more to me, because then i would be a more driven and decisive person, and i'd be more successful in my career.

i know i'm on the extreme end of the process-product divide, and that colors a lot of my perspective of teaching and mentoring. but i think writers can shift on the spectrum depending on where they're at in their writing life or even with whatever project they're working on. i've been trying to have a more product-based mentality recently to at least develop the skill of shifting to the other side when i need to, so that i can get the patience and focus to write a novel that is not just me plopping my heart onto the page and hoping somebody out there cares. product writers have an easier time convincing other people of the value of their story, because the value of the story is a big reason why they write it. a purely product writer, like the surgeon, writes something because they feel that thing needs to exist in the world. meanwhile the only way for a purely process writer to be professionally successful is to happen by sheer coincidence to find an immersive state that also crosses with the interests of the current market. like the athlete, success involves training, hard work, and being at the right place at the right time. sure, churning out 100k words in a couple months and having a blast while doing it is great, but it comes from this wild inner place that can't really be controlled; meanwhile product writers can take that wildness and intentionally shape it into something. when you're feeling jealous of the other side, though, it's important to remember that both the meadow and the garden are equally beautiful.

#writing advice #I'm most definitely a product writer #writing is agony but the sense of completion makes it all worth it

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I live for Bruce totally brushing off shit-bag reporters who try to bring up his parent’s to get a reaction from him for their story.

“Mr Wayne? What do you think your parents would say about this fundraiser, if they were still alive? Do you think they’d be proud of you?”

“They would probably say that the line for the desserts is looking particularly short right now” and he just…. walks away and grabs some ice cream. There he goes

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One of the things that’s really struck me while rereading the Lord of the Rings–knowing much more about Tolkien than I did the last time I read it–is how individual a story it is.

We tend to think of it as a genre story now, I think–because it’s so good, and so unprecedented, that Tolkien accidentally inspired a whole new fantasy culture, which is kind of hilarious. Wanting to “write like Tolkien,” I think, is generally seen as “writing an Epic Fantasy Universe with invented races and geography and history and languages, world-saving quests and dragons and kings.” But… But…

Here’s the thing. I don’t think those elements are at all what make The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings so good. Because I’m realizing, as I did not realize when I was a kid, that Tolkien didn’t use those elements because they’re somehow inherently better than other things. He used them purely because they were what he liked and what he knew.

The Shire exists because he was an Englishman who partially grew up in, and loved, the British countryside, and Hobbits are born out of his very English, very traditionalist values. Tom Bombadil was one of his kids’ toys that he had already invented stories about and then incorporated into Middle-Earth. He wrote about elves and dwarves because he knew elves and dwarves from the old literature/mythology that he’d made his career. The Rohirrim are an expression of the ancient cultures he studied. There are a half-dozen invented languages in Middle-Earth because he was a linguist. The themes of war and loss and corruption were important to him, and were things he knew intimately, because of the point in history during which he lived; and all the morality of the stories, the grace and humility and hope-in-despair, was an expression of his Catholic faith. 

J. R. R. Tolkien created an incredible, beautiful, unparalleled world not specifically by writing about elves and dwarves and linguistics, but by embracing all of his strengths and loves and all the things he best understood, and writing about them with all of his skill and talent. The fact that those things happened to be elves and dwarves and linguistics is what makes Middle-Earth Middle-Earth; but it is not what makes Middle-Earth good.

What makes it good is that every element that went into it was an element J. R. R. Tolkien knew and loved and understood. He brought it out of his scholarship and hobbies and life experience and ideals, and he wrote the story no one else could have written… And did it so well that other people have been trying to write it ever since.

So… I think, if we really want to write like Tolkien (as I do), we shouldn’t specifically be trying to write like linguists, or historical experts, or veterans, or or or… We should try to write like people who’ve gathered all their favorite and most important things together, and are playing with the stuff those things are made of just for the joy of it. We need to write like ourselves.

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I made the first page so long ago but hey, I finished.