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xekstrin · 2 months

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Xekstrin Arbitrary Writing Rules V2

1) Sentence variety and paragraph variety is important.

Quick and dirty fix: make sure the FIRST WORD of EVERY SENTENCE and EVERY PARAGRAPH doesn’t repeat too much. (Some repetition is inevitable as you will see later.)

“Huh???” I hear you say.

Ex:

Here’s my example text. Here is another sentence. Here once again is another line of text and even though it has a different length (good) it still starts with the same word and it repeats a bit too much.

Here we have a whole new paragraph, a completely new sentence with commas and everything. However it still starts with the same word. Here you might say, “but I’m repeating it on purpose!” Repeating on purpose is usually fine. Repeating unthinkingly means you aren’t diving into your edits deep enough.

Not a hard and fast rule by any means, but it starts you on the path to thinking more closely about your work down to the itty bitty details.

2) Adverbs are fine… depending on what you want to do.

“It’s not like she loved me or anything.” Sally laughed sadly.

This is a fine brief sentence that still tells us a lot! We can move on to other things while still keeping Sally in mind.

But! If you want to linger for whatever reason… give us some physical details. Tell us what things feel like and sound like. Describe what is happening.

“It’s not like she loved me or anything.” Sally choked when she laughed. Tears were streaming down the distraught lines of her face. Every inch of her was pale and cold to the touch.

Both sections can be equally sad, depending on the context. More words does not mean more emotion! It merely is a tool to let the reader sit with something a bit longer than they might otherwise. You can then try to control the speed a reader is introduced to things, and set up a “wham line” by forcing them to linger somewhere else a bit.

Not every line has to be a poem. Unless that’s your thing. Use your best judgment! Every writer is different and will want to write a scene differently.

3) Said is not dead

I see you, trying to replace every other “said” with “exclaimed” “shrieked”“hollered” “hooted” “ejaculated” or otherwise use another verb to replace “said” for no other reason than you are trying to avoid “said”.

At first this rule seems to go against rule number one, not to repeat words. But “said” (or “says”) is a special word.

Why?

“Said” is effectively invisible.

Readers tend to skim or skip it on instinct. When you use any word OTHER than “said”, however, you are forcing them to make a brief pause and absorb this. Are you wasting their time? Is it notable or otherwise important that this character is doing anything other than saying their words? Use your best judgement.

4) Shi shi shi shi shi shi shi… who is “she”?

We’ve all seen that chinese poem about Shi eating the lions, right?

Writing a lesbian threesome feels a lot like this poem. When in doubt, even if you feel like it breaks rule number one, just use a character’s name rather than an epithet (“the long-haired girl” “the shorter girl”.)

This is less of a problem with het romance but still worth mentioning.

Epithets have their place, if you’re doing it with intention. If you want to talk about swift-footed Achilles, you know your story better than I do! Just don’t use epithets as a backup because you’re scared to repeat yourself. Readers can smell your fear.

5) Readers can smell your fear

Don’t force it. Don’t write for an imaginary audience that is out to punish you. Don’t write defensively in case someone misunderstands. We can smell your fear and it distracts from the story. Trust in your story!

6) Words mean things.

Flexing your vocabulary is sexy. Using big words incorrectly is the writing equivalent of slapping yourself in the face and smugly saying “see how strong I am?”

7) No one knows your story but you. This is both good and bad.

When you are writing, you are trying to show off what’s in your head. The reader does not, CANNOT, see what you see. Mind-reading is impossible.

It’s YOUR job to immerse them in your fantasy as completely as possible. Be clear, be vivid, and engage all the senses. They should know how your fantasy feels, how it looks, what emotions are wrapped up inside it, how it smells, and what it sounds like. What it means.

But also you’re not gonna please everybody so you should just do what you like anyway.

Bye!

#making words #idle raccoon thoughts

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aibidil · 1 year

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“Doing is Being,” Ray Bradbury

[Image ID: A poem by Ray Bradbury titled “Doing is Being.” Doing is being. / To have done is not enough; / To stuff yourself with doing—that’s the game. / To name yourself each hour by what’s done, / To tabulate your time at sunset’s gun / And find yourself in acts / You could not know before the facts / You wooed from secret self, which much needs wooing, / So doing brings it out, / Kills doubt by simply jumping, rushing, running / Forth to be / The new-discovered me. / To not do is to die, / Or lie about and lie about the things / You just might do some day. / Away with that! / Tomorrow empty stays / If no man plays it into being / With his motioned way of seeing. / Let your body lead your mind— / Blood the guide dog to the blind; / So then practice and rehearse / To find heart-soul’s universe, / Knowing that by moving/seeing / Proves for all time: Doing’s being! End ID]

#ray bradbury #doing is being #what I love about this that might not be clear from the poem alone #but is clear in the context of the book this is in #is that he’s not talking about capitalist productivity #he’s talking about honoring the creative authentic self #and it’s true imo that creative people #(and aren’t we all creative people?)#will wither if we can’t create and make things into the world #But what’s key to me is #that doesn’t have to be writing #creation is cooking or knitting or making something in your home #teaching someone something they need to know #organizing something to solve a problem #making art #making music #making words #our creative selves need to find expression #and this is entirely separate from the toxic productivity that so many of us have a history of trauma about #this isn’t about money #it’s about soul

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krabkrab-wontshutup · 6 months

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i have made up a word.

#writing #linguistics #making up words #making words #creation of words

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autisticdreamdrop · 2 years

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autistic things 42

making up your own words

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butchfalin · 5 months

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the funniest meltdown ive ever had was in college when i got so overstimulated that i could Not speak, including over text. one of my friends was trying to talk me through it but i was solely using emojis because they were easier than trying to come up with words so he started using primarily emojis as well just to make things feel balanced. this was not the Most effective strategy... until. he tried to ask me "you okay?" but the way he chose to do that was by sending "👉🏼👌🏼❓" and i was so shocked by suddenly being asked if i was dtf that i was like WHAT???? WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY TO ME?????????? and thus was verbal again

#yeehaw #1k #5k #10k #posts that got cursed. blasted. im making these tag updates after... 19 hours?#also i have been told it should say speech loss bc nonverbal specifically refers to the permanent state. did not know that!#unfortunately i fear it is so far past containment that even if i edited it now it would do very little. but noted for future reference #edit 2: nvm enough ppl have come to rb it from me directly that i changed the wording a bit. hopefully this makes sense #also. in case anyone is curious. though i doubt anyone who is commenting these things will check the original tags #1) my friend did not do this on purpose in any way. it was not intended to distract me or to hit on me. im a lesbian hes a gay man. cmon now #he felt very bad about it afterwards. i thought it was hilarious but it was very embarrassed and apologetic #2) “why didn't he use 🫵🏼?” didn't exist yet. “why didn't he use 🆗?” dunno! we'd been using a lot of hand emojis. 👌🏼 is an ok sign #like it makes sense. it was just a silly mixup. also No i did not invent 👉🏼👌🏼 as a gesture meaning sex. do you live under a rock #3) nonspeaking episodes are a recurring thing in my life and have been since i was born. this is not a quirky one-time thing #it is a pervasive issue that is very frustrating to both myself and the people i am trying to communicate with. in which trying to speak is #extremely distressing and causes very genuine anguish. this post is not me making light of it it's just a funny thing that happened once #it's no different than if i post about a funny thing that happened in conjunction w a physical disability. it's just me talking abt my life #i don't mind character tags tho. those can be entertaining. i don't know what any of you are talking about #Except the ppl who have said this is pego/ryu or wang/xian. those people i understand and respect #if you use it as a writing prompt that's fine but send it to me. i want to see it #aaaand i think that's it. everyday im tempted to turn off rbs on it. it hasn't even been a week

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lucidloving · 7 months

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@roach-works // Melissa Broder, "Problem Area" // Mary Oliver, "The Return" // @annavonsyfert // Koyoharu Gotouge, Demon Slayer // Haruki Murakami, Dance Dance Dance // David Levithan, How They Met and Other Stories // Tennessee Williams, Notebooks

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fishing-lesbian-catgirl · 6 months

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Just saw someone with “use whatever pronouns you use for yourself for me” in bio. I honestly never considered the depth the pronoun metagame could have, we’ve barely scratched the surface with this shit

#making people solve baba is you style word puzzles to find my pronouns

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emilnikos · 4 months

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I need non autistic people to realise meltdowns are a real debilitating thing that has a serious effect on your mental and physical health NOWWWWW!!! The way its been trivialized and lessened pisses me the fuck off. It's not a tantrum and it doesn't come from "being too weak-willed" it's painful and it's embarrassing AND MOST OF ALL IT'S INVOLUNTARY!! Don't claim to be an ally to autistic or disabled people and then make fun of people who have meltdowns. Literally get the hell out of my sight

#i can't believe i have to day it but autism /is/ a disablity. its disabling. meltdowns are part of that.#'oh this is a lukewarm take' you dumbshit fucks have been throwing the word neurodivergent and meltdown around so #casually they have both been said at me with the same disdain as a swear word. you guys will accept making fun of autistic people #if someone jn your circle who is 'cool' does it first. at your big ages. shut the hell up

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cemeterything · 1 month

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anyone who thinks dostoevsky's writing is dry and humourless is missing out on passages like this

#🐉#i dont think my version is the most common translation because its worded a bit differently #(but still gets the same point across)#however im glad because this bit makes me howl every time i remember it

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variksel · 1 year

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i hate you ai art i hate you "unalive" i hate you youtube premium i hate you twitter 8$ checkmark i hate you nfts i hate you therapy app advertisements i hate you non-chronological timelines i hate you instagram reels i hate you subtle tiktok filters that cant be turned off i hate you family bloggers i hate you ads on true crime episodes i hate you facebook i hate you vr glasses on chickens i hate you dystopian social media

#sorry but genuinely sometimes i feel like we live in a fucking dystopia #i get ads of chat bots designed to look like cute girls who will listen to your problems and it. god #its so unbelievably strange in some indescribable way #how am i supposed to explain that the word unalive makes me want to tear my hair out #vent #rant #idk

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xekstrin · 3 months

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words

When someone asks a followup question to your world building, sometimes they are legitimately confused (“sky whales? As in whales that fly?”) and sometimes they are eagerly on board and want to know more (“so cool! Are they still filter feeders? What do they eat?”) and sometimes they are smugly docking points from your story because cinemasins-style critiques have unquestionably polluted a lot of good faith readings of texts (“so what do they eat? Are they still filter feeders? *ding*)

If you are bad at reading tone, or don’t know the asker very well, it can be very difficult to tell those three apart. This can make a person very guarded, especially if it comes across as unsolicited critique.

I’m not saying “so if someone is rude about your questions, GET OVER IT,” but it might be prudent to check in first beforehand, and clarify what you’re asking and why, or if the creator is open to being prodded. And if they aren’t, maybe respect that. Or people might think you’re being a dick. One out of three odds is pretty significant.

#making words #idle raccoon thoughts #saw a post about this a while back and it kept gnawing at me #sometimes when people ask questions they are NOT being kind #and its unreasonable to expect everyone to automatically assume the best intentions from #strangers especially

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thebestestdancers · 6 months

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why should palestinians have to leave behind their land because israel wont stop killing them. why should anyone have to leave behind their life and memories and sentimental value just because an aggressor is left unchallenged. please think this sentiment through and delete it from your thoughts. instead of blaming an oppressed people for living in a hostile land, ask who is making that land hostile to live in.

#this is vaguely worded except the first part because ive seen thsi sentiment time and time again #when the trans genocide began everyoen started blaming trans peopel for living in florida isntead of the people making it unlivable #every timw a cop kills a person of color everyones told to just move somewehre w better cops (doesnt exist) >#< rather rhan examine who gave the cops such pwoer and what use the cops are anyways #i know its rasier to blame the victims of this kind of thing. the oppressors deisgn it taht way and encourage that sentiment #but oleeeeeease im begging u. navajo peopel should not just give up their reservation bc it sucks. whyd the us put them there?

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castielsprostate · 7 months

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i hate you "influencers", i hate you tiktok, i hate you "content creators", i hate you "unalive" and "s€x" and "dr/ügs", i hate you instagram, i hate you consumerism, i hate you family friendly, i hate you puritans, i hate you facebook, i hate you family vloggers, i hate you violating other people's privacy, i hate you modern day social media

#sjonnie.text #i just saw someone make a 50 SECONDS reel about combining movie genres and movies and it was scream and romance and it was 50 SECONDS and #they said “i'm sorry i unalived all those people” go actually fuck yourself.#IF YOU CAN'T SAY THE WORD MURDER KILL DRUGS SEX ETC YOU ARE NOT READY TO HAVE A CONVERSATION ABOUT THOSE TOPICS #AND SHOULD NOT PRODUCE CONTENT OF IT #i hate this “family friendly” aesthetic jesus fucking christ #text post #anti instagram #anti tiktok #anti influencers #anti capitalism #20k

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disasterdandelion · 1 year

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First base is violence second base is convoluted codependence third base is applying pressure to the vulnerable parts of their body to keep their entrails from spilling out

#is that anything #tlt #griddlehark #base 1&2 are interchangeablw #i cant believe this breached containment #apparently i hit the right kinda words to make everyone think of their fandom ships #cheers guys #og post

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ando666detonao · 1 year

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don't you ever read a piece of fanfiction so good you just