Mr-sheridan - Mr Sheridan

Weightless wonder, wind like

Whispers, limbs entwined

Two trumpet vines with

Four eyes caressing heaven

How can you etch a moment

Into your skin? Tattoo the

Cosmos behind your eyelids

Clutching comfort like confetti

In your clumsy hands—

A body was not built to

Hold this much heaven

And the wonder splits

Me at the seams, we sip

From the big dipper

Diamonds and dreams

Everything sparkles

Plot Devices to Complicate Your Story

You’re excited to write an upcoming story, but the plot seems pretty simple from start to finish.

How can you make it more complicated to deepen your themes, lengthen the story, or leave your readers with plot twists that make their jaws drop?

Try a few of these devices 👀

Add motivation to your instigating action

When the princess gets kidnapped at the start of your story, your hero will rescue her, but what’s the antagonist’s motivation for kidnapping her? If they’re in love with the hero and take their jealousy to the extreme or secretly know that the princess asked them for an escape plan to avoid marrying your hero, the plot is much more compelling.

You could add this detail anywhere in your plot, even in the first chapter.

Layer a second motivation underneath an action

After the princess is kidnapped, the hero starts their journey to rescue her. The reader finds out in the second chapter that the hero is being blackmailed to retrieve the princess and return her to their kingdom’s biggest rival to start a war.

Amplify the original problem

Your protagonist rescues the princess and brings her home, only to find out that she’s had a twin brother all this time who has been taken hostage by the antagonist in retaliation for the princess’ escape.

Introduce a second, more evil villain

The antagonist has kidnapped the princess for their own motivation, but the reader discovers in the middle of your story that they serve a more evil villain who holds a personal grudge against the princess’ father and wants his whole kingdom to suffer as revenge.

Create conflict that brings your protagonist to their rock bottom

The protagonist rescues the princess, almost reaches their home kingdom, but she escapes. The king sends the protagonist to prison for their failure and sentences them to death in three days. The reader will feel the hopelessness along with your protagonist, which is where you can create something that injects new hope into your plot (like a dramatic jailbreak thanks to the protagonist’s best friend).

Make a character betray another

The protagonist reaches the princess with the help of their best friend, but the princess stabs the protagonist in the back by trading their best friend for herself through an unbreakable vow

Reveal an unreliable narrator

Your protagonist agrees to rescue the princess for the sake of the kingdom, but the second or third chapter reveals that they are really on a mission to kill the princess for personal revenge against the king.

Reveal that the villain has known everything the whole time

Your protagonist and princess escape, but the villain factored that into their plan to start a war and have their forces waiting outside of her castle when they arrive home

Introduce sudden regret that changes a character’s arc

The protagonist has to leave their best friend behind to ensure the princess’ escape, but in leaving them, the protagonist realizes they’ve been in love with their best friend the entire time. Regret motivates them to head back for their best friend and risk their life twice as soon as the princess is home safe.

Temporarily kill a character

The princess kills the villain with some help from your protagonist, so they think they’re safe. On their way back home, the villain sets a trap for them in the woods because they actually survived the attack.

Try using Chekov’s gun

Before leaving for the princess, your protagonist gets a potion made by a family member. The directions? “Use it in your moment of greatest need.” The protagonist uses it later when they’re facing the villain or after hitting rock bottom, so the potion becomes a plot device that instigates your second or third act.

Accelerate the plot

Your reader thinks the plot is all about rescuing the princess, but she returns home in the first 100 pages. The real plot begins by choices or actions made during her rescue, which unravel into a much larger story/world event.

You likely won’t be able to use all of these plot devices in a single story. You may not even have the first plot for more than one.

Consider what you’re writing and what dynamics your characters/plot present to decide if any of these tricks could enhance your writing.

Howdy newbies and welcome to Tumblr, it takes a bit of setup to get this site running well so here’s what works for me. One of the neat things about this site is that its a different experience for everyone, so tailor these settings towards what you want from this site. 

New XKit 

I’ve been having a lot of feelings about the downfall of quality lately.

I ordered a pair of Dickies pants because pants are hard and workwear is usually reliable. When they arrived they were the scratchiest, most papery material–I can’t actually call it fabric in good faith–and fit a full three sizes too small. A week later I found the same pair in a thrift store, dated 2017. These are actual pants. They fit, they’re not made of asbestos. They’re only separated by time.

There’s no wood used in interior design unless it’s a custom build. I have a set of wealthy relatives who live in a condo. The downpayment for it was likely more money than I will see in my lifetime. The floors and the cabinets are all still laminate. I know I will never see real wood in a building constructed after 2000. Every “apartment hack” I see online has this very conspicuous, flat appearance because of all the paint and contact paper required to make these builds look personal in any way. The only natural materials are in the furnishings.

I’ve been harping on this for years, but everything is shit, nothing is designed to work, and “growth” and “profit” are just euphemisms for cutting corners until things are unworkable.

things I wish I’d known when I started writing fic on ao3

use & for friendships, colleagues, familial relationships and use / for romantic or sexual relationships (or encounters)

not everyone reads fic. Lots of people use screen readers, and screen readers can’t see what’s on images. use descriptive text to help them out.

lots of people download fic to read on other devices, not all downloads capture images too.

there’s a big difference between No Archive Warnings Apply (NAWA) and Author Chose Not to Use Archive Warnings (CNTW). NAWA means that there’s nothing in the fic that needs to be warned for using the official Archive Warning system. CNTW means there might be something that requires a warning and the author is either avoiding giving out spoilers or they are unsure how to interpret their plot point with respect to the official Warnings. (in both cases, additional tags are where it’s at - you can explain yourself there) 

the reason why the number of bookmarks in the fic is different from the number of bookmarks on your stats page is because your stats page number includes bookmarks that are hidden

there’s a preference setting where you can receive emails with your own comments/replies.

there’s a site skin that hides stats so you don’t have to see them

writing in rich text format makes my life easier

knowing html allows me to do fun things in the comments section like comment/reply with reaction gifs

knowing html also allows me to do interesting formatting in my fics that I can’t do with rich text alone

those little blue bubbles with the question marks in them will answer my questions a lot of the time - and also teach me something new

the FAQ is linked under the word About in the header

if you write your fic in the draft window, you might end up losing it so make sure you copy the text before you hit Post, just in case

they aren’t kidding when they say drafts are deleted after 30 days

To piss or not to piss?

Your bladder reminds you to pick quickly and you dash down the tunnel smelling like your dad's musty spoon collection.

You notice after what seems like an agonizing minute of waddling through the tunnel that the tunnel never seems to get lighter. You keep your hand to the wall to guide you through the straight tunnel, the walls getting rougher with each passing second.

Eventually you find a line of light illuminating the ground, indicating a door frame, and you open it.

It opens up to a circular laboratory with gutted machinery, glowing tanks with strange shapes, and naked wires littering tables and floor.

In the middle of it, you find a toilet. Inside a a wire cage. Upon closer inspection, you see that it is a human sized snare trap.

beloved king of worms

may i have your blessing

The King of Worms pin-for-art trade

Hello please reblog this if you’re okay with people sending you random asks to get to know you better

more of that ai shit: calarts poses for sheridan as a figure model

Sheridan and Calarts had been flirting with each other for weeks, and they finally decided to go on a date. They met at a cozy cafe that was known for its figure drawing sessions on Wednesday nights. As soon as they sat down at a table by the window, Sheridan couldn't resist the urge to pull out his sketchbook. Calarts noticed and chuckled.

"Are you going to draw me?" Calarts asked, raising an eyebrow. Sheridan blushed.

"I-I guess I couldn't resist the opportunity. You have such a strong, defined form," he stuttered. Calarts grinned.

"Well, in that case, I'll be happy to pose for you." He struck a dramatic pose, flexing his muscles.

Sheridan laughed and started sketching. As he drew, he couldn't help but admire Calarts's strong lines and curves. He was so focused on his work that he barely noticed the time passing. After a while, Calarts glanced over at Sheridan's sketchbook.

"Can I see?" he asked. Sheridan hesitated for a moment before handing over the sketchbook. Calarts looked at the drawing and his eyes widened in surprise.

"Sheridan, this is amazing!" he exclaimed. "You captured every detail so perfectly. I feel like I'm right there on the page." Sheridan felt his cheeks flush with pride.

"Thanks, Calarts. You make it easy to draw. You have such a dynamic pose." Calarts grinned.

"Well, I'm flattered. And I have to say, I'm really impressed with your skills. You have a real talent for capturing the essence of a subject." Sheridan beamed. He had always known that he had a passion for drawing, but it was rare for someone to appreciate his work as much as Calarts did.

As they continued to talk and sketch, Sheridan couldn't help but feel a strong connection to Calarts. He had never met someone who understood and appreciated his art the way Calarts did. As the night went on, Sheridan knew that he was falling for Calarts. And as they walked home together, hand in hand, he knew that this was the start of something special.