Yes, I do teach creative writing: your opening scene

The opening scene is the most important piece of your novel. This scene determines whether your reader is pulled in or puts the book down. Here are some important do’s and don’ts.

DO write it as a scene, not a data dump. You may have a fantastic premise, a marvelous alternate history or post-apocalyptic world or magical realism to die for, but if you don’t engage your reader in an actual scene, you will bore them.

DO write a scene that immediately introduces a character that the reader can root for. Yes, I know Stephen King has had great success introducing victims that are then shortly afterward killed off. That’s a horror trope and we expect it. But if you are caught up in world-building and haven’t dreamed your way into a character who is worth following through 100,000 words of writing, your story is pointless. I have read many pieces of fiction by would-be writers who can’t grasp this essential concept, and without exception, they fail to engage the reader.

DO introduce the stakes right away. In case that’s a challenge that needs some exposition to develop, create some immediate stakes (a life threat works) that keep the tension high and the reader engaged until you can lay out the larger stakes.

DO begin in medias res, which means “in the middle of things.” Most beginning fiction writers make the mistake of starting too early in the plot. Meet the monster on page 1. 

DON’T include a flashback in the first chapter. Work on a scene, which means time is NOT compressed. It should include dialog, action, description, setting, and interior monolog. Keep everything happening within that scene for at least the first chapter. You can bring in a flashback in Chapter Three.

DON’T shift points of view within a single chapter. Let the reader establish a strong bond of interest (even if it’s with a POV villain) over the course of a whole chapter.

DON’T open the story with your character waking up unless it’s because she’s got a gun in her face (or a knife to her throat – you get what I mean). We don’t need to follow a character through their mundane daily routine. 

DON’T be coy. Beginning writers often have this idea that they need to hold back on revealing all their secrets – what’s in the box, who’s behind the curtain, where they’re going next, etc. Their well-meant plan is to slowly reveal all this over several chapters. Trust me on this one: tell your readers instead of keeping it a mystery. You WILL come up with more secrets to reveal. Your imagination is that good. Spill it now, and allow that revelation to add to the excitement.

The Rainbow Railroad is helping gay men escape Chechen concentration camps. They need our help.

WHO THEY ARE:

“Rainbow Railroad receives hundreds of requests for help every year from countries where LGBT individuals are open targets of violence. Because the volume of requests is so high, we focus our efforts on assisting LGBT people who have faced physical violence or face an imminent threat of violence, imprisonment, or death. We have been successful in helping individuals from the Caribbean, Africa and Middle East where we have local networks to support and validate cases.”

HOW MUCH DOES IT COST TO HELP?

“The costs range as every case is unique. Sometimes the individual has the resources to help themselves and they just need information and support from us to make a move.  In these cases, the cost to Rainbow Railroad is staff and volunteer time to research and provide information.  In cases where they need financial support to get to safety, it costs about $5000 to cover flights and other related costs.”

You can donate at the following link: https://www.rainbowrailroad.ca/donate

If you can’t donate, please reblog/like to signal boost!

China is putting Uyghur Muslims into Concentration Camps

This is one of the greatest attrocities and oppression taking place in the world today yet still it is one of the least talked about issues. It’s estimated possibly over 2 million Uyghur Muslims have been put into these concentration camps which China calls “re-edcuation camps” and the goals is to wipe out and clean them from their cultural and religious identity. They have built dozens of these camps with fortified walls and barbed wire fences which they hide from the world media.

China sees Islam as an ‘ideological disease’. Many of the people put in these camps don’t make it out alive due to to the harsh living conditions inside. Many leave behind children who are then sent to government run orphanages and are brainwashed from a young age removing their cultural and religious identity.

Uyghur Muslims can be arrested and put in these camps for the smallest of reasons and every step they take is monitored by the authorities. Facial recognition cameras and high tech equipment has been deployed in East Turkestan turning it into a complete surveillance state. This isn’t fantasy or ‘fake news’. This is happening now in East Turkestan. Don’t let history repeat itself. Share and let the world know the truth.

please boost this!!!!

I believe every word here because I remember China’s infiltration in African countries especially Uganda. Forcing the women to marry Chinese men and give up their culture as a way to maintain tight control of their minerals and resources. The Chinese are the new colonizers but they are getting away with because no one is aware of it. They are being a lot smarter about it and thus history repeats itself. Please spread awareness about their literal concentration/ death camps.

If you’re European, in a couple of weeks you will be denied any and all access to fandom contents on Tumblr and everywhere else on the internet. Here’s why.

On June, 20th the JURI of European Parliament approved of the articles 11 and 13 of the new Copyright Law. These articles are also known as the “Link Tax” and the “Censorship Machines” articles.

Articles 13 in particular forces every internet platform to filter all the contents we upload online, ending once and for all the fandom culture. Which means you won’t be able to upload any type of fandom works like fan arts, fan fictions, gif sets from your favourite films and series, edits, because it’s all copyrighted material. And you won’t also be able to share, enjoy or download other’s contents, because the use of links will be completely restricted.

But not everything’s lost yet. There’s another round of voting scheduled for the early days of July.

What you can do now to save our internet, is to share these informations with all of your family members and friends, and to ask to your MEP (the members of the European Parliament from your country) to vote NO at the next round, to vote against articles 11 and 13.

Here you can find more news and all the details to contact your MEP:

https://saveyourinternet.eu

Also, sign and share this petition:

https://www.change.org/p/european-parliament-stop-the-censorship-machinery-save-the-internet?recruiter=50668942&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=psf_combo_share_initial

We have just a couple of weeks to stop this complete madness, don’t let them dictating the way we enjoy our internet.

#SaveYourInternet now!

It’s funny how y'all will reblog any and all US things but when whole Europe might lose access to internet then everything is quiet.

Ppl who only ship in canon

me trying to find a reason why Dan decided to make a ditty meme of Phil’s ass when no one asked for it and we all would have been fine with just the bloopers, but no he decided to be extra and no one fucking asked for that: