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botanyshitposts:

scientists in the 1990s, putting a Get More Purple gene attached to a harmless plant virus into an already purple petunia: please get more purple

the petunia, sensing an apparent honest to god Get More Purple Disease, using the previously undiscovered RNAi antiviral ability to shut down all other purple genes along with it just in case: you put VIRUS in petunia? you infect her with the More Purple?? oh! oh! her children shall bloom white! jail for mother, jail for mother for One Thousand Years!!!!

(via vexahliia)

bifurious-rex:

neechees:

Video essays by poc:

• India and its UNFAIR beauty standards
• Everything culturally wrong with Mulan 2020
• The Wind can GTFO (a Gone with the Wind breakdown)
• Memento– telling a story in reverse
• That mysterious “S” thing we used to draw
• Indiana Jones – a primer on racist film tropes
• Reality show secrets: was MTV’S “my super sweet 16 100% real?
• Why Aquaman Sucks (the commodification of the polynesian body)
• "Black sounding” names and their surprising history
• Let’s revisit the fashion in the Aladdin remake
• Train to Busan: how to kill a character

i watch a lot of video essays lol. some of these are other videos from channels mentioned before.

• Breakdown of True Femininity and Black Girlhood in Media
• TOXIC: The Problem w/ Men
• African Spirituality on Screen Part 1: TV Lied to You About Voodoo
• Holes and the Prison-Industrial Complex
• WAP and the Spectacle of Sexual Liberation
• You Probably Don’t Have “Black Friends”
• Sofia Coppola: The Politics of Pretty
• Girlboss: Odd Politics in Pose
• Cultural Inspirations in ATLA Book One: Water
• How Bruce Lee Changed Martial Arts Cinema Part 1
• Beauty is in the Eye of…the Colonizer?
• Cultural Appropriation: Who Gets a Pass?!
• We’ve Outgrown the Ugly Duckling Transformation
• Throwback Breakdown: Atlantis is Better than You Remember

(via vexahliia)

artbytesslyn:

To the spiders in the ceiling corners: you’re keeping your end of the contract, love u honeys catch those tasty flies

To the spiders halfway down the wall and touchin my furniture: you’re on thin fucking ice babes

(via jigglypuffsvevo)

bookishdiplodocus:

First, I write down very roughly what needs to happen in this scene.

For example, take an early scene from my wip. The main character’s mentor has just died in the previous scene. And what’s worse, he’s killed by the magical Library she loves so much. What needs to happen in this next scene?

• She brings the terrible news of the mentor’s death and the Library’s betrayal to the mentor’s widow (who gives her a key to the Library, minor detail).
  
• She brings the news to the major, who is responsible of anything concerning the Library and who is indirectly the reason the mentor went into the Library in the first place.
  
• At the end of this scene, the second main character is briefly introduced.
  

Then I start asking myself as many questions as I can.

Originally posted by vlogbrothersreactions

1. What does the Main Girl Character (MGC) feel after her mentor’s death?
2. What does the MGC do with the key she gets from the widow?
3. How and when does the widow give her the key?
   
4. What is the first thing the MGC does when the mentor dies?
5. What does the widow do when she sees the MGC and the mentor?
6. How does the widow react? What does she feel? Did she expect it to happen someday? Does she stay icy calm or does she scream? (pieta)
   
7. What does the widow look like?
8. What is the widow like, as a person?
9. How does the MGC know she has to go to the major? Is there some kind of police, or is he the mentor’s boss or something?
10. Does the MGC trust the major?
11. Can she trust the major?
    
12. What is the major like, as a person? Nice? Belittling?
13. What does the MGC tell the major? What does he want to know?
14. What kind of new information does the MGC get out of this conversation?
15. What does the office of the major look like? Where is it?
16. What kind of a person is the Main Boy Character (MBC)?
17. What is the MBC wearing?
18. What does the MBC say to the MGC?
19. What was his reaction when he heard the news? How did he feel?
20. How does the major react? How does he feel?
21. How far is it from the major to the MGC’s home? How much time does the MGC have to inform the MBC and how much time does the MBC have to react and to comfort the MGC? I just realise the MBC already knows (probably from her parents?) because otherwise he wouldn’t be waiting for her at the major’s office.
22. How did the MGC’s parents tell the MBC? Why would they tell him? Maybe he called her house or he came by because he knew she went to see the Library but he doesn’t know yet that it killed the mentor?
    

See, I’m already filling my page so that it doesn’t look that intimidatingly empty.

Next, it’s answers time. I go through all the questions and make up a satisfying answer. Sometimes I get it right straight away, sometimes I have to brainstorm for four pages before hitting the suitable solution. 

Since this is still preparation, I don’t have to worry about the quality of my writing style - I’m just thinking on paper. Often, this paradoxally means I write relaxed and I end up using whole bits of my preparation in my first draft.

After I have answered all the questions I want (often some become obsolete by answering other questions), I write out the scene again, in bullets or telegraph style, but with the detail and richness I have found in my answers. That usually takes me one page.

And only THEN I start writing my first draft. I see everything perfectly clear in my head and I even have bits of text I can use from my prep, so writing the first draft is way more chill than just writing it cold.

I do this before every scene, but you can also use this technique only when you get stuck or when you have to write a scene you’re dreading. You would think it’s inefficient and it takes too much time, but this technique keeps my thoughts focussed on my story (I’m a daydreamer) and it keeps the imposter syndrome at bay.

On average, my prep is 1,5 times the length of my written scene, but this process makes my writing so much richer. Not everything I make up in the Q&A phase ends up in my scene, especially questions like “what does the place look like”, “what is the character wearing” or “how long does it take them to walk from A to B”, but I find I can write the scene better if I know the answer, even if the reader doesn’t need to know.

Anyway, this is how I do it. Thanks for listening to my TED talk!

---

I’m gonna tag a few people who I admire, who I hope are interested. Feel free to ignore me if you aren’t.

@writingquestionsanswered @brynwrites @cogwrites @tlbodine @neil-gaiman @sapphicauthor @thatsmybluefondue @mareebrittenford @maggie-stiefvater @abbywritesstuff @bronwyn-writes @sunblushedgoblin @forlornraven @elliewritesstories @spaceshipkat @tiorickriordan @heywriters @authors-haven @helpfulwritingstuff @wordsnstuff @writingtipsandtricks @clevergirlhelps @itstartswithablankpage @thebibliosphere @compassrosewriting @fixyourwritinghabits @thewritershandbook @goddessofnothingatall @therska @stephrawlingwrites

lotrfansaredorcs:

nitrateglow:

lotrfansaredorcs:

One overlooked thing that really sets the Lord of the Rings films apart from other franchises is how earnest they are-

Most movies are so afraid of being “cheesy” that whenever they say something like “friendship is the most powerful force in the world” they quickly undercut it with a joke to show We Don’t Really Believe That! ;)  Even Disney films nowadays have the characters mock their own movie’s tropes (”if you start singing, I’m gonna throw up!”) It’s like winking at the camera: “See, audience? We know this is ridiculous! We’re in on the joke!”

But Lord of the Rings is just 12.5 hours of friendship and love being the most powerful forces in the world, played straight. Characters have conversations about how much their home and family and friends mean to them, how hope is eternal, how there is so much in the world that’s worth living for…. and the film doesn’t apologize for that. There’s no winking at the audience about How Cheesy and Silly All This Is; it’s just. Completely in earnest.

And when Lord of the Rings does “lean on the fourth wall” to talk about storytelling within the film, it’s never to make jokes about How Ridiculous These Storytelling Tropes are (the way most films do)…. but instead to talk about how valuable these stories can be. Like Sam’s Speech at the end of the Two Towers: the greatest stories are ones that give you something to believe in, give you hope, that help you see there are things in a bleak violent world that are worth living for

Earnestness is so much cooler than all the hip cynicism in the world. You go LOTR

(via perks-of-being-chinese)

chickensass:

accendas:

i literally dont talk to anyone unless they talk to me first

stop exposing me like this

(via perks-of-being-chinese)

homo-j-simpson:

you think youre a nerd cuz you play dungeons and dragons?? well, the REAL nerds cant even find people to play dnd with

(via spongebobssquarepants)

justdrinktea:

medusas-heir:

imtootiredtothinkofaname:

aspieat221b:

Looking for a random cause of death for a character? Click here.

Looking for a random city? Click here.

Looking for a random city that people have actually heard of? Click here.

Need a random surname for a character? Click here. (They also give prevalence by race, which is very helpful.)

Helpful writing tips for my friends.

smallirishpotato

OH SHIT.

A couple more resources I have open constantly:

Random motivations for your characters here!

Need some character quirks? Here and here! 

Having trouble with backstory? Here! (They have an option for fortunate and unfortunate backstories)

(via perinkling)

zzpancakezz:

seabornsystem:

halfsyproblems:

fidgetspinoza:

anaisnein:

roachpatrol:

kinasty:

maccymacdonald:

lyncornis:

i made an aesthetic generator now you can discover urself

once i figure out how to pull off ‘feminine dad’ it’s over for you bitches

pasta dad and lava skeleton

both great

disease farmer

pale squid

STAR PUNK!

yeah roachpatrol you deserve to be a fucking disease farmer

Slime scene

superwholock brony. please no

(via perks-of-being-chinese)