Https://www.instagram.com/reel/DLx0qTss1F9/

I always like a good subtitles (because I didn’t hear anything in the previous clips haha)

YOU’RE TELLING ME THERE WAS MORE????

Ways to un-stick a stuck story

Do an outline, whatever way works best. Get yourself out of the word soup and know where the story is headed.

Conflicts and obstacles. Hurt the protagonist, put things in their way, this keeps the story interesting. An easy journey makes the story boring and boring is hard to write.

Change the POV. Sometimes all it takes to untangle a knotted story is to look at it through different eyes, be it through the sidekick, the antagonist, a minor character, whatever.

Know the characters. You can’t write a story if the characters are strangers to you. Know their likes, dislikes, fears, and most importantly, their motivation. This makes the path clearer.

Fill in holes. Writing doesn’t have to be linear; you can always go back and fill in plotholes, and add content and context.

Have flashbacks, hallucinations, dream sequences or foreshadowing events. These stir the story up, deviations from the expected course add a feeling of urgency and uncertainty to the narrative.

Introduce a new mystery. If there’s something that just doesn’t add up, a big question mark, the story becomes more compelling. Beware: this can also cause you to sink further into the mire.

Take something from your protagonist. A weapon, asset, ally or loved one. Force him to operate without it, it can reinvigorate a stale story.

Twists and betrayal. Maybe someone isn’t who they say they are or the protagonist is betrayed by someone he thought he could trust. This can shake the story up and get it rolling again.

Secrets. If someone has a deep, dark secret that they’re forced to lie about, it’s a good way to stir up some fresh conflict. New lies to cover up the old ones, the secret being revealed, and all the resulting chaos.

Kill someone. Make a character death that is productive to the plot, but not “just because”. If done well, it affects all the characters, stirs up the story and gets it moving.

Ill-advised character actions. Tension is created when a character we love does something we hate. Identify the thing the readers don’t want to happen, then engineer it so it happens worse than they imagined.

Create cliff-hangers. Keep the readers’ attention by putting the characters into new problems and make them wait for you to write your way out of it. This challenge can really bring out your creativity.

Raise the stakes. Make the consequences of failure worse, make the journey harder. Suddenly the protagonist’s goal is more than he expected, or he has to make an important choice.

Make the hero active. You can’t always wait for external influences on the characters, sometimes you have to make the hero take actions himself. Not necessarily to be successful, but active and complicit in the narrative.

Different threat levels. Make the conflicts on a physical level (“I’m about to be killed by a demon”), an emotional level (“But that demon was my true love”) and a philosophical level (“If I’m forced to kill my true love before they kill me, how can love ever succeed in the face of evil?”).

Figure out an ending. If you know where the story is going to end, it helps get the ball rolling towards that end, even if it’s not the same ending that you actually end up writing.

What if? What if the hero kills the antagonist now, gets captured, or goes insane? When you write down different questions like these, the answer to how to continue the story will present itself.

Start fresh or skip ahead. Delete the last five thousand words and try again. It’s terrifying at first, but frees you up for a fresh start to find a proper path. Or you can skip the part that’s putting you on edge – forget about that fidgety crap, you can do it later – and write the next scene. Whatever was in-between will come with time.

ScuderiaFerrari Found the guitar, lost the mariachi suit 😅

“Carlitos”

#just when tea season starts

From Aya Kanno on Twitter ଘ(੭ˊ꒳ˋ)੭✧

The Artist's Way quote is so interesting! And true! How did you unblock your creativity?

The Artist’s Way always works wonders on me. It puts me back in touch with what I actually feel and what I actually want ❤️ Can’t recommend it enough.

This particular time, these things have shifted the block.

1. Turning the news off. Not just down. Off. Turning it off for good. Covering my eyes, screaming and fleeing the room if anyone turns it back on. Blocking the sites, deleting the apps. This one is non-negotiable for me. I have to centre my life in the quiet and comfortable world that actually exists around me, not the burning global battleground that the media needs us to stay trapped in. (”Things are terrifying! More terrifying by the day! Come read about the latest dangers!… and drive our web traffic figures and advertising profits ever upwards.”)

2. Accepting that procrastination isn’t laziness. It’s fear.

3. Sitting down and asking myself, ready to listen, “What’s frightening you, my small friend? What can I chase away from you? Point at all the scary things and I’ll get them out of here.” Then doing it.

4. Buying myself a set of nice pens shaped like tiny sharks.

5. Getting angry about the things that hurt. All the things, even the tiny throwaway things, even the things from ages ago, even the things my loved ones told me just to forget about. Getting angry at the people who did the hurtful things, then writing a lot of very sweary letters with my shark pens.

6. “My anger deserves my respect,” whenever I remember to say it. Writing it out with my shark pens. “Anger is my friend. Anger points the way.”

7. “I receive your good willingly, universe.” When happiness shows up, get it a sandwich and a comfy seat. 

8. Restocking the pond. Creative minds need raw materials they can turn into creative work: images, sounds, sensations, feelings. Mine’s no different. It takes a while to let myself believe (not just nod like yeah yeah sure, but believe) that pursuing heartfelt interests isn’t selfish. It’s vital to maintaining a healthy flow of passion. I wouldn’t expect someone to bake a cake without using any ingredients.

9. Listening for the sad little inner voice that mumbles, “I want a biscuit.” Getting it a biscuit. (I’m serious about this. We spend live our lives telling ourselves in a hundred different tiny ways each day that we don’t deserve the biscuit, don’t deserve the shark pens, don’t deserve the friends we have, don’t deserve the good things that come our way, don’t deserve to try writing the things we actually really want to write. It builds up and it cripples us. You reverse the spiral by starting with the biscuit.)

10. Piece of paper, pen. (Shark-shaped or otherwise.) “Honestly, I think I…” Twenty times daily. Write fast and don’t think. You’re not writing in blood, it’s ink and you’re allowed to say it, no matter what it is. Good thoughts, bad thoughts. Write them down. Fill in all twenty every single day. You’ll watch yourself writing the same handful over and over, everyday, stronger and stronger, until you let yourself write this one: “Honestly, I think I might do something about that.”

OMG!!! Crusty shepherd's pie?!?! Where have you been all my life!??!?

I have only ever known Shepherd's pie as "Pâté chinois", our lovely Quebecer dish, which I LOVE. But now I am sitting here, reading your explanation @scriptfoodie, wondering what are those versions of which I have never heard a word?!?? Must look into the history of Shepherd's pie!

Hey foodie! Can you talk a little bit about different approaches to shepherd's pie? I've heard there are differences but I don't really know what they are. Thankeeee!! xoxoScripty

Hey scripty, great question! Oooooh Shepherds pie, Shepherds pie!!! This is my bf’s absolute fave so you can imagine how many times and different ways I’ve made it! For starters you can go with or without a crust AND there are different kinds of crusts to choose from. Some will go with puff pastry which I don’t personally recommend because they tend to go soggy so quickly. A pate brisee (savory tart crust) would be up to the task but I prefer the buttery flakiness found in regular old pie crust. I make mine with ice cold vodka for extra crispness but that’s another topic for another day. Once I’ve decided whether or not I feel like making a crust I move on to my meat. Chicken, beef and turkey always work well in Shepherds pies and don’t break the bank. The meat can be ground or cubed but I prefer medium to small sized cubes, steak trimmings if I can find them. I toss the meat with a little flour before browning and it ends up making a nice gravy at the bottom. It IS meant to be a “poor man’s dish” but there’s no rule that says you can’t use fish or seafood or whatever as long as the proper alterations are made. Change up the seasoning, lower the cooking temp and maybe try something like pureed cauliflower in place of potatoes? The limit does not exist! Traditional mix-ins include peas, carrots, corn and onion but WHY settle for those when you have the cornucopia of vegetables to choose from? Turnips, parsnips, pumpkin, beans, greens, potatoes, tomatoes- YOU NAAAAME IT!!!!! (I’m so sry I can’t let that die, yet) I like to top my Shepherds pie with pureed potatoes instead of mashed because they’re so smooth and silky and it’s easier to mix in the cheese, that way. Some prefer to sprinkle their cheese on top if they decide to use any at all but every time I see a thick, heavy layer of congealed cheddar on top of perfectly made potatoes I… just… I just die a little inside. Once the pie is finished I let the whole thing brown under my broiler so the potatoes can develop those sexy little crispy bits we all know and love. So there you have it, my $.02 on the phenomenal dish that is Shepherds pie!

Writing Resources: Advice and Motivation

Writing Resources Masterlist

Things Neil Gaiman Said

A reason to write what you love

Bad Writing Day

Don’t focus on the big things; just keep writing

“Fix it fanfic” Writing to your own work

How to be a writer (the easy way)

How to reconnect with an unfinished work

how to stay motivated as a writer

How to trick your brain into writing

No motivation to keep going on

Scared for others to read your work?

Sound like yourself writing advice

What to do when you’re discouraged by feedback

Wills for Writers

Write it badly

Writing and mental health

Writing in the fog

General Tips

Cliché but true writing advice

Fail better

Femme Fatale Guide: How To Gain Motivation & Get Out of A Rut

Harsh writing advice

How do I write when I just can’t write?

How to measure success as a writer

How to (not) start a book

Idea vs Execution (writing advice)

Reasons not to quit writing

Some writing advice

Things Writers Need to Hear

Value

What are you writing?

What to do when you’ve written yourself in a corner

What to write

Write that fanfiction

Writing advice

Writing on auto pilot

Writing Tips from a Beta Reader

Charles making sure he apologizes to Carlos is where my heart lives. This is so important. He wanted to make sure Carlos knew he didn’t mean it

charles made sure to go up and talk to carlos after the race so that's nice i guess (i am assuming he maybe apologized but obvs we don't know)

very sweet and I’m sure they’ll talk about everything properly later as they always do

Save The Blogs!

Okay, folks. So. Tumblr’s jumped the shark in a big way, and I’m not even just talking about indiscriminately blocking all “adult” content on a platform that IS, in fact, primarily 18+.

Many blogs, like the wonderful @blackkatmagic , that are not especially NSFW have vanished.

(And I for one LIKE being able to go to curated porn blogs run by actual people and have a chance of finding stuff to my taste, it was one of the things that kept me on this hellsite, but that’s another issue entirely.)

I know lots of people are talking about migrating, but none of us are sure to where yet. Pillowfort seems to be an option, some people are talking about Twitter. But for now, it’s a mess, and even if we knew where we were going, it’s often a huge process, and a lot of us have stuff on tumblr that ONLY exists there. One possible quick solution to save your blogs, both NSFW and personal, is to import it to WordPress. I found this solution through from frantic googling on how to save an entire blog, text posts an all. There are several apps for downloading all the pictures from a tumblr, (Plently for Windows, but only a few paid ones for mac, of which Tumbelog Picture Downloader is working for me so far) but this is the only solution I’ve seen so far that allows you to save EVERYTHING. I downloaded my NSFW blog in like 10 min. My regular blog, which is significantly larger, is in the process of importing, but I don’t anticipate any problems. I will, of course, update you if I have any.  

This tutorial I found worked really easily. http://quickguide (.) tumblr (.) com/post/39780378703/backing-up-your-tumblr-blog-to-wordpress

I put parenthesis around the .’s like we’re back in FF-Hell, just in case tumblr’s new thing about outgoing links kicks in. You know what to do.  To break it down, just in case:

 Sign up for a WordPress.com account at wordpress (.) com/start You’ll have to create an account, with your email, a username, and a password. They should send you a confirmation email immediately, check it, activate it, and you’re good to go. On the site, it will ask you for a site name. That page asks you a bunch of other information too, but you only have to fill out the site name.

Then you have to give your site a URL. If you’re lucky, your tumblr URL is still available, if not you’ll have to come up with another one, sorry.

It will tell you if that option is still available for free.

Then it will ask you to pick a plan. Free is really good enough, I swear.

Now you’re set up! You can import your tumblr! The only differences from the linked tutorial are that the Import button is now on the first level menu, not in tools.

Hit Import, then you have to follow the link for “other importers”  at the bottom, to find the option for Tumblr.

Then you’ll have to sign in with tumblr, using your normal tumblr credentials. You’ll be redirected there automatically. You’ll have to allow Wordpress permissions on your blog.

Then your blogs, including all your sideblogs, will show up in wordpress.

Hit import, wait a WHILE depending on the size of your blog, and you’re done!

ALSO!!

I made my NSFW blog private for now, since I don’t know WP’s policy on NSFW.

This means that to access it, someone has to have an account and request access. But hey, part of our problem on this hellsite has been people going places they aren’t wanted, so I don’t personally see this as a bad thing. They can send a request from the landing site on your blog, you get an email, click a link in the email, and PRESTO, they have access. To make it private, go to Settings > Reading > Site Visibility. Go back and check, it took me changing the setting twice for it to actually stick. tl;dr, you can import your entire blog to wordpress in just a few steps.  I’m going to tag the hell out of this, in no particular order. PLEASE reblog this and spread the word so people know it’s an option. If you’re having trouble, PM me, and I’m happy to help.

@gallusrostromegalus @kaciart @lena221bee @deadcatwithaflamethrower

@norcumi @deandraws @morn-art, @thebisexualmandalorian @kristsune @marloviandevil @punsbulletsandpointythings @protagonistically @cris-art @elfda @fish-ghost @godtierwonder @heartslogos @haekass @iesika @incogneat-oh @itispossibleihaveissues @jaegervega @jhaernyl @the-last-hair-bender @kleine-aster @latenightcornerstore @lectorel @medievalpoc @mgnemesi @me-ya-ri @myurbandream @peskylilcritter @cywscross ,@cheshiresense @varevare @victoriousscarf @whatsmeantobe @swpromptsandasks @gabriel4sam @stonefreeak @brighteyedbadwolf @pumpkin-lith @puzzleshipper @suzukiblu @myurbandream @lacefedora @jademerien

There are a whole bunch more, but that’s a start. Please reblog the hell out of this, so people are aware of this one simple option.

Wait.. if Nico was a teen, Max was probably a preteen.

Anyhow, max is such an old soul at heart

this friendship 💚