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Peace and Love

@nic-214

Classic Rock and Randomness! We Accept All Here, This Is A Safe Space. {Requests for Writing and Banners Opened}

Disclaimer: This isn't a place for terfs, pedos, transphobics, homophobics, MAPS/PEARS, Zoophiles/Zoo Fuckers, etc. We love all LGBTQ+ here.

I'm Nic. I'm queer and non-binary, my pronouns don't matter, you can use all. Please be respectful here this is a safe space for all.

🌟 I'm now taking writing requests

Also will make banners for your blog now :)

Boomph!

yeah, Paul made adequately clear that it was “boomph!

The “you were never a problem child, you were wonderful” to “a pleasure to have in class” to late diagnosed autistic heavily masking anxious people pleasing adult pipeline

Also, there is so much hand-wringing over the ethics of BDSM and while obviously it is worth taking care about ...sensation seeking is a thing. Many, many people enjoy eating habanero peppers and/or watching movies that make them cry. The conceptual leap from there to the idea that it's possible for sex to hurt good is a very short one, and sometimes it REALLY is as simple as that.

You likely didn't see the tags on the original post - and fair enough - but they are as follows:

#yes there are power dynamics as with many things including non-kinky sex and many activities completely unrelated to sex #yes sometimes there IS complicated psychological stuff being played with #but also. it is worth asking if you're working yourself into a froth because some people enjoy spicier salsa than you do #and also whether you wanna die on the hill that straight women aren't allowed to enjoy spicy salsa #normal ≠ moral

Yes we live in a (patriarchal) society, yes sex (kinky or otherwise!) much like countless other human behaviors can be weaponized by people intent on acting abusively, no this does not mean that you get to just declare kink off-limits to straight men (or their partners!) and that sentiment is the exact kind of thing that the original post was expressing frustration about.

Also, on a post about KINK of all things, it would be great if people could stop using "normal" as a synonym for "decent and ethical."

Character Creation & Outlining Your Story

So. You want to write a story, a one-shot—whatever, you just want to write. Or, you’ve already decided that you ARE going to write, BUT… you’ve stumbled across a problem;

You can’t figure out where or how to begin crafting your characters, or outline. I’m sure that you and I both are well aware that the characters are the base of the soup that is your story, but what you may not be aware of that I happen to be—is that it’s not nearly as complex as an unfortunate encounter with a judgmental beta-reader has possibly made it out to be.

You know…those beta readers that give you paragraphs and paragraphs about how your characters were so bland and how you failed the mission blah blah blah—without ever telling you how you could improve that?

WELL…I’m here to break it down into digestible terminology, and once again start by saying…that it’s not that complex.

You see, characters, even though made-up individuals…are still entities. Imaginary, but still. Entities possess life, life emulates realistic nature. A realistic character is easy to create because realism is all around you. Yes, I could have said that in a much-less riddlelike manner…but I’m trying to sell this to you in the most engaging way possible—at least chuckle 🤣 but anyways, you can base a character off of a regular joe.

Because I need you to understand that a relatable character does not have to be this flawed individual that possesses 7 emotional tribulations. I will soon talk about how to successfully write a layered character that doesn’t mock mental health—but for now, I’m telling you that’s the last thing you want to try to start with. People tend to think ‘Oh, I’ve got an in-depth character now because I slapped in all these problems,’

What you’ve really done is give yourself a handful, and your readers can no longer form a realistic mental picture of the aspects of your character—because you’ve resorted to overloading them with empty and excessive detail. Picking eight tribulations and just dumping them into a character is not the way to start. Especially if it does nothing for your story’s outline and plot.

*DRAMATIC RECORD HALTING SCREECH* B U T W A I T!

A bit unprofessional for me to just go off trail like this…but have you made a story outline?! You can’t start creating a character outline without one of those! Oh you don’t know where to start on an outline, that’s fine—I’ve MADE A TEMPLATE! 

  • What is the setting of this story, and how does it correspond to the storyline?

If it's set in the United Kingdom, why? Does the fact it's set there play a huge supporting role for the plot or characters? Does it hold any significance? Will it be helpful to any upcoming scenes in the long run? If so, which scenes and why? What are the significance of those scenes, and why? Will they mold your character? How?

^Here's your first template to fill out…Fill in the blanks accordingly as you go along.

  • What is your plan to hook and captivate the reader?

Do you want to start dramatically? Start with the ending and build your way up? Start with a beautiful metaphor that proves itself impactful at the end of the story? Start with a hidden hint that re-appears all through the story until it's answered in the end?

  • What is your plan for scene-setting and mood development?

Do you need to research? If so, what? Did you research already? What facts did you choose in particular, are they essential for the beginning, middle, or end of your story? If so, how do you plan to cleverly showcase that without just looking like you're fact-dropping? Will your character display this knowledge through their personality some kind of way? If so, how—and why?

  • Why should a reader care about your characters?

Do you plan to make them memorable? If so, how? What are all of their individual backstories? Do their backstories somehow interconnect? Are they essential to the plot, or plot reveal? If so, how do you plan to make it all tie together?

  • How do you plan to overall execute the entire plot?

Have you established your main character's climactic scenes within their relationships or conversations? If so, do they seamlessly blend with all of the planning you've done above? If not, how do you plan to do that? Does each character have something unique about them, and does it tie into the personality you've developed? If you haven’t developed a personality for them yet…after you finish this whole template, it will probably come easier.

 HAVE MERCY….there's your guide for part one of outlining. Yeah…part one. This is only the battle, the war has yet to begin. 

The war? You tying all this together in your google docs teeheehee, have fun. And then the TOURNAMENT is executing it into a story.

WE WILL revisit the topic I derailed from—which was crafting a realistic character. I feel like I said the bulk of it in a simple form that you’ll do with as you please, but I don’t mind going in deeper template-depth on that if you want…

Thanks for tuning in! 🤍

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SHAMELESS PROMO 😩...some of you are already aware that my alter ego is a writer or whatever...and not long ago I started a blog for it where I give advice and do a bit of WRITING OR WHATEVER...well it's in use now! So if you're interested...I'm over there 🤩✨

He made me feel so confident.

INT: I love the Tom Snyder interview from 1975 where John talks about how proud he was of Ringo's success.

MARK HUDSON: Yeah! Well, you know what's interesting? Ringo gave me a great compliment one time. I'm very energetic, multi-colored beard, which you can't see out there in radioland, it's pretty frightening, and when Ringo sings, I really get him energized because he's always insecure about his voice, and Ringo always says, "I wanna be James Brown. I walk up to the microphone, l'm Bing Crosby." So that Ringo thing that we love so much, he would rather be Little Richard or Stevie Wonder or James Brown. And I always sort of like make him feel like he can hit notes that he never could. And one time in the studio he said, "You know, you remind me of John," because whenever Ringo had to sing a song, he'd get insecure, and evidently, from what Ringo said, that John would come out and say, "Alright Ring! Here we go man!" and he would start this thing like a football player. "You can do it! Here we go! Hit that note! With a little help from my friends!" and he would hit the note and he says "John had this thing that made me feel so confident," and a huge compliment to me, saying that made him feel the same way. And it's only because I quote Lennon, "Nothing you can do that can't be done." And I think that was a way of life, and I think that was the way John felt that way about Ringo. And that's when we look at John's first solo album, its three guys playing on it: Klaus Voorman, John Lennon and Ringo Starr, and that goes to show you the faith that obviously John had in him, was you know, three guys is pretty naked, and this day and age usually we do things to cover up.

— Interview with Mark Hudson (who produced five studio albums for Ringo) from Beatlology Magazine (May/June 2003 Edition)

Found another idiotic accounting mistake from my predecessor that I have to fix and I was like "WILL THE SPECTER OF THAT MAN'S INCOMPETENCE EVER CEASE TO HAUNT ME" and my coworker was like "Why do you talk like that"