#sorry i tend to hyper focus on details and explanations.. i still need to work on figuring out how to interject dialogue better ;;;

[fortunatelylori]

JONSA: The infamous “undermine me” scene

About a week ago @jonsa101 posted a meta regarding the “undermine me” scene in season 7 (episode 1).

She discusses this particular exchange between Jon and Sansa:

Jon: You are my sister but I am king now.

Sansa: Will you start wearing a crown? (Sansa Snark is in the house, guys!)

Jon: When you question my decisions in front of the other lords and ladies, you undermine me.

 In the meta she identifies the “undermine me” line as a romantic trope that she’s seen play out in many different contexts. If you guys haven’t read the meta yet, please go and read it. @jonsa101 always has some very interesting interpretations and theories regarding the show and I really enjoy her meta work. 

 I was already planning on discussing this scene in detail as part of my upcoming series on all the Jonsa scenes but since she tagged me in the meta, I thought I’d discuss it now.

I have to say that after reading her post, I had a look at lists of romantic tropes as well as my favorite research source – youtube – in order to try and find similar examples of the “undermine me” line. I’m afraid I came out empty on this one.

 However, the more I thought about it, the more I realized that whether or not you identify this particular line as a trope, the whole exchange between them ticks a lot of romantic tropes off the list as I’ll show below.

 This is one of the things that always bothers me about people calling Jonsa shippers delusional. Even if Jonsa never becomes canon, it’s very much a fact that the writers are playing with romantic expectations in all of their scenes. You can’t swing a stick in the direction of these two without one trope or another hitting you smack in the face. So at the very least, Jonsa shippers are responding to these visual and storytelling devices. Hardly a delusion.

 For the interests of this meta I will focus strictly on the tropes used in this particular scene, which considering that it’s only 3 minutes long, I was shocked to find out is more than 1. For reference, I’m working off the list of romantic tropes found here as well as use the explanation they give for each of them. When you have the time, check it out. It’s like an Easter Egg Hunt for Jonsas.

 Like an Old Married Couple: These two people are very close and tend to bicker with each other.

 This is where I would actually place the “undermine me” line. In fact this is where I would put this entire exchange:

Jon: You are my sister but I am king now.

Sansa: Will you start wearing a crown?

Jon: When you question my decisions in front of the other lords and ladies, you undermine me.

Sansa: I can’t question your decisions anymore?

Jon: Of course you can but …

Sansa: Joffery never let anyone question his authority. Do you think he was a good king?

 Ahem … guys, I reeeally don’t think you’re fighting over what you think you’re fighting over. Also can you air your dirty married laundry in private? You’re making everyone uncomfortable!

 Now, Like an Old Married Couple is usually served with a generous helping of the Belligerent Sexual Tension and/or Unresolved Sexual Tension tropes on the side. Which would explain the seemingly random insert of Joffery in this whole conversation (there’s more to it than that but more on that later). I mean doesn’t every girl compare her brother to her ex-boyfriend? Isn’t that a thing that people do all the time?

 The thing that is very interesting here is the way these two are operating. There’s nothing really sibling-like about this interaction. This is two partners having a fight.

 But this is where it gets interesting. Because this exchange is followed by another trope:

 Aww, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: No matter how much they fight, they really do care about each other very much.

Jon: You think I’m Joffery?

Sansa: You’re as far from Joffery as anyone I’ve ever met.

Jon: Thank you!

 Throughout my series on the Jon/D*ny romance (X) (X) (X) (X) (X), I kept talking about how Jon and Dany never seem to reach a consensus or resolve anything in any of their fights. Every Jonsa scene comes in direct contrast to that. It isn’t the absence of fighting that makes a couple work, it’s them being able to resolve and move on from a fight that does. And this is where this trope comes in. No matter how hard Jon and Sansa have a go at each other, you are never left in any doubt that they care about one another.

 But there’s more …

 Dismissing a Compliment: A character doesn't believe something nice their Love Interest tells them.

Sansa: You’re good at this, you know.

Jon: At what?

Sansa: At ruling.

Jon: No …

Sansa: You are. (beat) You are.

 Why don’t you say it again, Sans? I don’t think he heard you the last two times …

 Sansa: They respect you. They really do …

 Ok, ok. Sheesh! Are we also going to talk about how cute his hair looks today and how dreamy his eyes are?

 This is followed by the hyper-analyzed “but” lines:

 Sansa: … but you have to … Why are you laughing?

Jon: What did father used to say? Everything before the word but is horseshit.

 This may or may not have plot implications later on but for the purposes of what we’re analyzing here, the point I’m trying to make is that Jon is dismissing every nice thing Sansa has said about him and focuses only on the word “but”. Because he’s Jon Snow … You can’t pin a compliment on this guy to save your life.

Also …

 Laugh of Love: The tendency to laugh when in the presence of your Love Interest.

 (no idea who made this. sorry but thank you!)

As well as pretty much every other scene he has with her. Either Sansa is a proficient stand-up comedian or Jon is just really, really happy whenever he’s around her, even when he’s angry at her. Totally platonic, guys! Nothing to see here!

 Caught the Heart on His Sleeve: Ship Tease moment where one partner grabs the other partner's arm/sleeve.

(gif credit to @baelerion)

Complete with Jon looking down to see Sansa touching him either because his senses are overloaded or because he can’t feel anything through the thick sleeve of the jacket Sansa most likely made for him. Also notice that this is described as a ship tease. We’re teased all right …

 Sigh of Love: Sighing dreamily when in the presence of or thinking about your Love Interest.

And because Jon can’t let Sansa steal the spotlight on this one:

(gif credit to @baelerion​)

This is not a competition but if it were, Jon would win. Sorry, Sans! His is longer and deeper. Still love you though!

 And lastly ….

 Like Parent, Like Spouse: A character's Love Interest is similar to one of their parents, be it in looks or personality.

 In every god damn episode they have together and also here:

In conclusion, for those at home not keeping count, that’s 7 tropes used in a 3 minute scene. Is it any small wonder this might seem familiar to people? Either way you want to slice it, you have seen these visual and narrative cues in other stories. Tropes don’t become tropes because no one ever used them.

 Now I did title this meta “the infamous undermine me scene” for a reason. That’s because this scene, as almost all Jonsa scenes, has three layers that are all thrown at the audience simultaneously. Two of these layers are good, one of these layers is BAD. Let’s see if you guess which is which:

 What the characters are fighting about

 This is where the whole text vs. subtext analysis comes in. Ideally, any scene in any story you ever read or watch, should have both a surface level as well as subtext. Now and again you will get scenes, out of necessity, that are simply what they say on the tin but writers are actively dissuaded from doing this on the whole. It would be very boring and frankly poor storytelling if subtext was non-existent and people simply talked at each other, complete with an accurate, objective narrative on what they’re saying and why they’re saying it. To put it simply, it wouldn’t be a satisfying journey for the audience.

 So what is the surface level? Well, this is a direct follow-up to the preceding scene where Jon pardons Alice and Ned and Sansa argues against it. The argument got pretty heated between the two of them so now we’re given a scene where we can see the resolution of said argument.

 What you should keep in mind at this stage is how that argument ended:

Sansa: They died fighting for Ramsay. Give the castles to the families of the men who died fighting for you.

Jon: […] I will not punish a son for his father’s sins and I will not take a family home away from a family it has belonged to for centuries. That is my decision and my decision is final.

 Check-mate, as they say. Jon won that argument. He is the king and he made his decision. Case closed. On a purely surface level, that argument was finalized. We didn’t really need the “undermine me” scene unless we attempt to infer things that are no presented to us directly.

 Which brings us to …

 What the characters are really fighting about

Jon: You are my sister but I am king now.

Sansa: Will you start wearing a crown?

Jon: When you question my decisions in front of the other lords and ladies, you undermine me.

 The question here is why does Jon feel undermined? I think the answer is not because he doesn’t want Sansa questioning his decisions, as she seems to believe. Nor is it because he suspects some sort of nefarious ulterior motive (we’ll leave that for that pesky 3rd layer we’ll talk about shortly).

 We all know Jon values dialogue and collaboration. What we also know is that whatever Sansa says affects him very deeply. You can deduce this from their scenes but, for confirmation, we also have Kit saying that Sansa “twists” Jon. So we can assume that their argument hurts him in some way and even though he put his foot down during the meeting, he still feels the need to clarify the issue with her which is why they’re having the conversation.

 Now people have pointed out that, as one of his vassals, Sansa has every right to question him publicly. The problem is that’s not how Jon sees her. He very distinctly separates Sansa from the rest of his court. And since we already had the “we need to trust each other” scene at the end of season 6, I think it’s safe to assume that he sees the two of them as a unit that is supposed to be on the same page so the fact that Sansa speaks out against him in public, instead of privately, feels like a betrayal.

 There’s also his character and history to consider. Jon has never been the kind of person to take criticism very well, mostly because he’s felt unworthy and rejected all his life. And now he’s gone from the Bastard of Winterfell to King in the North in the span of a few months. That would leave just about anyone feeling uncertain of how much people truly trust their judgement.

 However, if there’s one thing you learn sooner or later, is that there are two sides to every story. That’s why it’s never a good idea to side with one party whenever couples fight.

 Because if we look at things from Sansa’s perspective, you can see how she might feel dismissed. The fact of the matter is Jon isn’t the world’s greatest communicator and failed to talk his decision over with Sansa before announcing it to the Council, which in turn makes Sansa feel sidelined, hence her aggressive snark and Joffrey digs. And we get an explanation of that here:

Sansa: He [Ned] was trying to protect us. He never wanted us to see how dirty the world really is but father couldn’t protect me and neither can you. So stop trying.

 Sansa is operating under a false assumption as well. Jon looks at their argument and feels undermined. Sansa looks at Jon avoiding her counsel and thinks that he does it because he sees her as his little sister that is in need of protection.

 Now Jon, bless his heart, does try to put Sansa in the little sister box at times but he fails at it miserably, partly because Sansa doesn’t let him and partly because what he needs from her is very far removed from what sisters usually provide.

 So there they are … two “siblings” stuck on a balcony having a lovers quarrel. Just another day at Winterfell.

 Which brings us to what I like to call …

 The “D&D screwing with us” layer

 Why do I say that the writers are screwing with us in this scene? Well, because of this:

Sansa: Joffery never let anyone question his authority. Do you think he was a good king?

 There is absolutely no reasonable explanation for why they felt the need to bring Joffery, one of the worst people this show has ever inflicted on us, in this conversation. Firstly, because there is no parallel to be drawn between Jon and Joffery in this situation. For one, if Joffrey was the king here, Alice and Ned’s heads would be decorating the walls. They would certainly not have been brought back into the fold which is what Jon has done for them. Secondly, since Jon is very much talking his head off to Sansa at the moment, it’s pretty obvious that he isn’t above explaining his reactions.

 What she says is, honestly, incredibly insulting which is why she backtracks out of it as quickly as the writers would allow:

Jon: Do you think I’m Joffrey?

Sansa: You’re as far from Joffrey as anyone I’ve ever met. (all the while looking extremely guilty)

 If the mention is here in order to clue us in on the fact that Sansa views Jon as something other than her brother, by comparing him to the only person she’s ever had romantic feelings for, there’s again no need for that. Seven romantic tropes in one 3-minute scene is more than enough to get that point across.

 So why do the writers have her say this? I would argue that this mention is in here in order to advance the “darkSansa” agenda, particularly since this is a scene where Jon says he feels undermined by her twice.

It doesn’t matter that Sansa backtracks on the Joffrey fiasco, it doesn’t matter that she tells him she doesn’t want to undermine him, while desperately sighing with loving eyes that she wants him to listen to her.  The “darkSansa” idea sticks.

 And that’s because the audience support is very much skewed  in  Jon’s favor. Being on tumblr, sometimes you forget that the Jonsa fam is very much the minority and that exclusive Sansa fans are the unicorns of this fandom (#love4unicorns). The vast majority of this audience will not look at Jon as an unreliable narrator, as every character in this show is, but as the ultimate authority on how this scene should be viewed.

 If he says he feels undermined, then it must be because he’s being undermined, which by extension means that Sansa will betray him. And her mentioning Joffery only helps to further antagonize the audience against her.

 Does that mean the Ds want us to hate Sansa for no particular reason? Not really. What they really, really want is to, yet again, beat the “Starkbowl” horse until it expires from exhaustion. And they’re willing to compromise emotional development and cut off the audience from essential POVs to achieve that.

 In season 6, when they first teased Starkbowl, they did it for emotional turmoil. They gave us that beautiful, heart breaking reunion scene only to immediately have Sansa start to be seemingly duplicitous. Because wouldn’t it be just so tragic that after Jon found new purpose in life through Sansa and she finally found safety and comfort with someone that actually cared for her, she would turn everything on its head and betray him?

 In season 7, they wanted to resurrect it because of the Littlefinger twist ending. This little “Joffrey” titbit and the “undermining” conversation helped plant the seeds for it so when Arya (another fan favorite) began accusing her of plotting against Jon, the audience would have this early scene to fall back on, despite the fact that Sansa continuously supports Jon’s policy while he’s away and constantly talks about him, to the point where she almost sounds like Sam talking about Gilly.

 What I’m trying to get at with this example is that the writers are not operating in good faith when telling this story. They will constantly throw things in to tease plot points that never come to pass. I don’t like this narrative choice at all, because it requires being cut off from certain characters POVs (Jon and Sansa are champions of this in season 7) which in turn puts distance between the audience and them, when the core of good storytelling to me is seeing characters wrestle with decisions and emotions not off-screen, but right before our eyes.

However, at the very least, what all of this should tell you, is that you should never simply relay on what the ‘explicit’ meaning of a scene is because there’s far more lurking beneath the surface. 

#jonsa #Jon x Sansa #jonsa meta #jon x sansa meta #sansa stark #jon snow #game of thrones #got7 #got meta #undermine me

[mbtiwebcomic]

Hello , sorry, this has barely anything to do with the comic but I've been seeing Ne and Fe in a lot of MBTI places, can you tell me what is means??

Sure! Ne and Fe are the names of two out of the eight cognitive functions, which are, in a nutshell, what makes MBTI useful.I assume you have never heard of cognitive functions before, so I'm going to write a semi-detailed explanation below, and then put some links to some better explanations, because I'm a pretty terrible teacher :D.Just a warning, I'm gonna explain things in a bit of an impersonal, scientific way, because this is getting exhausting.

Cognitive functions:

Perceiving functions: How you take in information:

Extraverted iNtuition (Ne): Engages in the world of ideas, seeing possibilities in everything, constantly searching for new opportunities. Ne users are the people who have countless unfinished projects because they thought of something new, the ones who have an association for anything but might see subtext in things that have no subtext, the ones who focus on all the possible way a situation might turn out, the majority of which, however, are unlikely ("Guys, guys! What if the fishes find a way to turn themselves into cyborgs using the screwdriver we have left close to their aquarium, we need to make sure they can't turn their anger towards humanity, I have seen what these little buggers can do when angry"). Usually quite from reality, they disregard tradition and small details, preferring to use their own methods. The embodiment of the "iNtuitive leap", they jump from one idea to another in a matter of seconds, their line of thought extremely chaotic and unpredictable.The idea generation of Ne users is entirely focused on associations. Unlike Ni users, they can't get ideas from the subconscious as easily, so they turn to the outer world, which is a playground for their active imagination. An ellipse from a homework assignment can take them to some flying spheres that are used as attack drones they saw in a video game, which then can bring them to the fact that the average person's idea of what a U.F.O can look like is quite unfit to fly through space, or enter the atmosphere of a planet, and how those attack sphere drones might be a better design. (I'm a strong Ne user, so I'm really sorry if that doesn't make sense to you). Also, they are quite spontaneous and impulsive, and when they get an idea, their eyes lighten up, and they become hyper-energetic as if the idea has injected something in their veins.

A shitpost that describes what Ne does in different positionsIntroverted iNtuition (Ni): Extremely focused on the future, tend to make big-picture detailed plans (Some of them might know what they want to work as, where they want to live, where they will go to university, at a very young age. But to be fair, Ne users do this too, with the difference that Ni users generally have planned one path to happiness, while Ne users have a general idea of all the things that could happen, and their plans are more relaxed, similar to a "Connect The Dots" game, while Ni users' plans resemble a Labyrinth game.). A bit slow to make decisions, because they always think of the possible consequences (and here, the difference between Ni and Ne is shown again, as Ni users will only think of the most possible outcome, which can make them miss something, and Ne users will think of all the possible outcomes, covering everything, but with more choices there are more opportunities for mistakes.). Unlike Ne users, which generally have a lot of varied interests, Ni users are deeply interested in few things and are likely to become competent at them, while Ne users are generally jacks-of-all-trades. They need to be organised in their mental world, which makes them a bit of restrained in their actions, not being able to let go and don't care like Se users.

A shitpost that describes what Ni does in different positions 

Extraverted Sensing (Se): Engages in the physical world, lives in the moment, often disregarding past experience and future consequences. Wants to experience everything that can be experienced, and not be restrained in any way. Actively seeking sensory experiences (thrills?), like sex, drinking, car races, etc., but also tamer ones like art, expensive pretty things (from what I have heard, diamonds and fast cars are really popular with them), and crafting. Se users are usually "hands-on" people that want to do things, not read about them and can get quite restless when they aren't doing something physical that can affect the world around them. They rarely plan, leaving things to chance, trusting their ability to think quickly to find solutions to the problems that arise.

A shitpost that describes what Se does in different positions

Introverted Sensing (Si): This function helps its user assess the current situation by comparing it to the past, and relying on what has worked before to get out of it. While it may not seem like that, Si is just as in touch with the environment around it as Se is, however, focusing on details, memories, and the sense of one's body (It's common knowledge that Ne users are so detached from reality, they often forget to eat, drink water, or sleep. No such thing in Si users.). Si users like to be comfortable, be it physically or emotionally. They generally aren't comfortable with change, and don't appreciate it when they are forced into situations which they aren't familiar and/or okay with. Si users tend to idealise the past, however they are in for trouble when they start living in it, instead of jumping in the present to create new memories.

A shitpost that describes what Si does in different positions

Judging functions: How you make decisions:

Introverted Thinking (Ti): Ti seeks to formulate an inner logical framework, often disregarding systems imposed on them by others. Ti users need to be able to do anything on their own - to be independent AND competent. Everything needs to make sense to them. They just won't do something, because "I said so", and, if forced, are going to do it begrudgingly, and as slow and bad as possible. Ti users are terrified of failure because it confirms what they have always feared - that they are incompetent morons that can never succeed. Maybe this fear, combined with their analytical mind, is what makes them so good at spotting logical errors anywhere they go. It would be more efficient if the elevator was on this side. Some food stands in the park might improve property value. Anything that can be improved, no matter how irrelevant, must be fixed. It must be perfect. They must be perfect. Alas, no one can be perfect, and they know it. This doesn't stop them from beating themselves up about it though. Ti, especially when combined with Si, is a knowledge sponge. They must be constantly learning, be it the theory of relativity, or random video game lore. Ti users are frustrated with incompetence and idiocy (qualities that Ti users are EXTREMELY afraid of appearing in themselves.)and can get quite snarky and look down on people upon encountering those qualities in them.

A shitpost that describes that Ti does in different positionsExtraverted Thinking (Te): While Ti users operate on their own logical framework, for Te users logic is something universal, and therefore, standards and regulations must be imposed to keep the order. Te users like the world around them to be organised, and can't stand disorder and destructive behaviour, and often, see themselves as the person that needs to civilize the chaotic wasteland. Without order, everything would fall apart. Therefore, they usually respect authority, while still having doubts about it, unlike their Ti cousins which seem to be born suspicious to the people in charge. Te users are quite confident and forceful, rarely doubting their abilities (another thing that distances them from Ti users). As said above, for them, logic is something universal, and, for something to be true, facts from the outside must be collected and put to the test. While Ti users might adore theorising about abstract subjects that have no practical value, Te users do so reluctantly, and only if they see the purpose of doing so. Their confidence and love for order makes them great at leading others, and are naturals at climbing the corporate ladders.

A shitpost that describes that Te does in different positions

Introverted Feeling (Fi): Value authenticity. They have a very strong set of beliefs and values, and an almost cult-like devotion to them. Fi users are characterised deep, intense, private experience of emotions, which they are aware of to a great extent, along with a desire to understand themselves. This desire is connected to their fascination with a human's "soul", believing everyone is unique and great in their own way. If someone is pretending to be someone they are not (Common in Fe users that either do not know how to blend in any other way or because of social customs), they are being unauthentic, and therefore, not respected by the Fi user. They might come off as egoistic and "holier-than-thou", because of their bad opinion about externally expressing emotions, and their priority for what they want and feel over others' desires.(Fi is the function I know the least about, and I'm really sorry for the incomplete status of this, make sure to read more in the links provided. Also check Fe's entry, as there are some comparisons between the two.)

A shitpost that describes that Fi does in different positionsExtraverted Feeling (Fe): While Fi focuses on the needs of the individual, Fe focuses on the needs of the group, wanting everyone to feel involved and happy. Unlike Fi users, Fe users don't have a great awareness of their own emotions and will either bottle them up (which will eventually lead to a REALLY ugly explosion) or bring them into the outer world, talking to someone about it. Fe users are usually accepting, and disgusted by discrimination (An important thing, I'm not saying Fe users are always accepting of everyone, or calling Fi users bigots. Things are really complicated. The two Feeling functions might be against or pro discrimination for their own reasons - Fi's values might include accepting of everyone, while Fe might see a person of different race, sexuality, etc. disrupting their social circle, making changes that they are not comfortable with, and etc.). Because of their awareness of the social landscape, they have learned how to fake emotions quite well (something disgusting to Fi users), which can be extremely destructive when Fe shows its dark side in the form of manipulation. Like Te users see logic as something universal, Fe users see morality as such, and often impose their moral views on others in a passive-aggressive way (another thing Fi users loathe) because mother knows best (this is a joke). Fe users are more dependent on affirmation than others, and might strive for approval from everyone around them, devastated by any sign of disappointment. This strive for approval can turn really messy, especially when Fe is in a low position. Quite similar to Ti, Fe can make the person feel like they are not good enough, that they are pathetic and that they are not worthy of others' attention. The lower the Fe is, the higher the chance of social-anxiety-like behaviours emerging, with the person being afraid of letting people know them and avoiding looking at people or striking up conversations.

A shitpost that describes that Fe does in different positions 

Okay, so it’s 3 AM and I’m fucking tired, so I’m gonna be quick.

Each MBTI type has 4 functions, 2 judging and 2 perceiving. Each function goes in pair with their opposite:

Ti - Fe

Te - Fi

Ne - Si

Ni - Se

I’m really sorry that I’m not able to explain everything about the functional stack right now, I’m really tired, but I’m gonna put some links down here to some great resources:

A really good masterpost that will give you everything you need

Really comprehensive, universally acclaimed, but terrible UI and design

A very good blog with resources

Great post that I kinda copied

A good intro to functions

[unbreakable-red-riot]

Oh, that chapter outline got me wondering, could you maybe tell us a bit about your writing process, how you plan and stuff or anything that comes to mind? It would be really interesting and probably helpful since your process evidently creates great writing imo ^^

Absolutely! This will be a pretty long and thorough explanation of my process, so it is all under the cut! And if some of the pictures are blurry on desktop, maybe try opening them in a new tab!

1.) Outline

With outlines, I like focusing on important scenes in the chapters, as well as conversations that I want to happen. I write them all down, usually on thin post-it notes. My handwriting is terrible, so I made a word document version. While I do like having my outline on paper, you could just as easily digital-ize this technique by using text boxes like I did for this example.

I used the first chapter of Roses are Red as an example:

The pink post-it notes to the left are the important scenes, the big-picture events that must happen for the story to move forward. Then, I elaborate on these scenes by adding more details in blue and green to the right. Blue is general details – maybe character motivation, a sub-scene, or a choice that I have to make about the scene’s location, etc. The green is a line of dialogue or narration that has gotten stuck in my head and I don’t want to forget.

You could do this with all one color, and make the left side of the page your scene and the right side of the page details pertaining to that scene, but I like the colors. You could even add more colors if you like, depending on your needs – for example, say you’re writing a story with a very complicated timeline. You could use orange post-it notes to remember the time/date of each scene so you don’t confuse yourself. You make a system that works for you and the story you are writing!

By writing an outline on post-it notes, it gives me a lot more flexibility. By moving post-it notes around, I can start to weed out what is unimportant, consolidate redundant scenes, and focus on pacing and order. If I think something doesn’t work, there’s no need for me to erase it or cross out or start over, I just see what happens when remove the post-it note and make a few other minor changes. 

Also, if I have ideas for conversations or plot points but I don’t know where to put them, I still write post-it notes and stick them to the side. That way, they’re still options that I can consider at a later time. And if something doesn’t fit in that chapter’s outline, it can either be migrated to the next chapter’s outline, so the idea isn’t gone forever, or if it’s not important enough for that, it gets scrapped completely. 

I really do recommend this style of outlining. Ever since I started using it, I’ve been a lot more comfortable playing around with scene order, combining scenes, etc. And, it’s a lot easier to scrap ideas, because any changes I make are hypothetical. The scene I deleted from the outline that, ohhhh shoot, I now realize I want to keep? It hasn’t been erased, or scratched off, or deleted. It’s still on my desk, and I can just add it back to the outline. It’s like fitting a puzzle together, and it really helps refine the story by focusing on what works and being able to get rid of what doesn’t.

2.) First Draft

Once you have an outline generally decided, you want to start writing a draft. As you read over your outline, is there a scene that really inspires you, and makes you excited to start writing? Maybe start with that one! Personally, when I begin writing a story or chapter, I tend to be attracted towards scene with a lot of dialogue. It’s pretty easy for me to crank out dialogue with very little narration, but if narration is what you are good at, it’s okay to start with that! 

I try my hardest to draft a scene from start to finish. This keeps me moving forward and prevents me from getting hyper-focused on one part. And then (and here’s the secret!), when the bare-minimum draft of a scene is done, I change its font to a bold red.

Here is an example of a bolded red first draft from a scene in chapter 1 of Roses are Red:

As I finish every paragraph, or a small scene, I change the font to a bold red, and then I don’t touch it. (Seriously, leave it alone or else you will forever be bogged down by perfecting one or two paragraphs and then you’ll never get anywhere!) Pretty soon, after consulting the outline to make sure I have included every scene that I want to include, I have a bold-red version of the entire chapter. This is the first draft. And then it’s editing time.

3.) Copy Editing

I pick a scene to edit, just a little bit. The magic words here are: a little bit. Again, you want to keep moving! But the best part of this process is, it doesn’t matter where the starting point is. It can be a scene at the beginning, or right in the middle. I may work on a paragraph here, some dialogue over there, then jump up and finish the first scene. It doesn’t matter, at all, because when I’m decently happy with a paragraph, I change the font back to an unbolded black. I do this with every scene, until the entire chapter is the original black font.

If you do something like this, you can see what has been fixed already and what still needs to be worked on, at a single glance, no matter how sporadic your editing habits are. No part of your story will ever be forgotten, and you won’t get dragged down by reworking the same scene over and over again – because  once a paragraph is black, you leave it alone!

4.) General Editing

Now I have an entire document, a decent draft, that is unbolded black. So what next? I start the editing process all over again.

I select the entire document and change it back to the bold red font. It is during this edit that I usually start working sequentially, although if a scene is being difficult, I might skip over it. Like before, I change what I have worked on back to black, and when I reach the end of the chapter, I go back to edit on the trouble scenes that are still in red, working on them, giving them special attention, until I feel comfortable enough to change them to the black font.

Here’s an example of a black font, finished version of the same scene that I showed earlier!

5.) Final Edit

At this point, with the entire chapter in all black font, the story is pretty much ready, but I do a quick read-through, just in case. Although, if I encounter any parts that don’t feel quite right, I do not stop to work on them. I select them, make their font that bolded red, and I keep reading. When I have finished reading, I go back and find the final red areas, and I fix them until I am happy enough to make them the black font again. 

At this point, the scenes that I like are probably already complete, so all that’s left are the scenes that I don’t like. This is why some authors suggest leaving one last awesome scene until the end, because without anything to look forward to writing, it can place quite a damper on motivation. Luckily, with my writing process, the basics of the entire chapter is already done, so I find motivation in being able to see the finish line. This is another reason why I suggest working on inspiring scenes first – even when they’re all written and your motivation can’t come from them anymore, it doesn’t matter because you’re so close to finishing anyways, so you might as well! 

And, when I’m finally happy with those last lingering trouble spots? I upload the chapter :)

So this is my writing process!

It’s very tedious, and time consuming, but it can ensure that you really are confident with what you are writing, and gives you a method for how to weed out the things that make you unhappy, decide what to do with them, and refine the story until you are happy!

Sorry this grew so long, but I really wanted to be as thorough as possible. Not everything I do will work for everyone, but maybe you can give it a shot! And if you do, and if it works for you or if any changes you make work too, please let me know!

#Anonymous #personal #anon #ask #writing #roses are red #2am #yayyyyy #not bnha