matthewses

[matthewses]

Questions to ask beta readers

General:

Were you confused at any point of the story?

What genre would you say this book is?

When did you put the story down?

Is the ending satisfying?

If you had to cut 3 scenes what would they be?

When did you feel like the story really began?

What was the last book you read before this story?

Characters:

Do you get any of the characters names confused?

Which character is your favorite?

If you had to remove a character who would you and why? (you don't have to remove the character, just make sure their role is meaningful)

Which character do you relate to the most?

Which character do you relate to the least?

Do the characters feel real?

Are character relationships believable?

Are the goals clear and influence the plot?

Are the characters distinct (voice, motivations, etc)

Setting:

Which setting was clearest to you?

Which setting was the most memorable?

Am including enough/too much detail?

Plot and conflict:

Are the internal and external conflicts well defined for the main characters?

Are the internal conflicts and the external conflicts organic and believable?

Are there enough stakes?

Are the plot twists believable but still unexpected?

[matthewses]

A small experimental and messy comic about the queer hate to queer pipeline that seems to affect a lot of people, and since it’s pride month and I don’t see a lot of artistic commentary on this…here you go? I’m a baby gay, not even able to legally drink yet and only recently realized my sexuality so I’m sure there’s people who have suffered from being raised in bigotry much longer and much worse and I’m willing for this post to be the place they can share their stories! I’d be honored to hear stories from people like me. Happy pride month!

(Writers Note for page two- I am aware of sexualities that stem from trauma like Caedsexual exist and are 100% valid! I am referring to the belief that ALL under the LGBTQ+ umbrella are sick and are just ‘confused victims of abuse’ in a not so nice sense.)

[matthewses]

we arent crazy, we arent lazy, we arent pretending to get out of work or school or chores; no, changing my diet hasnt helped, no, exercising hasnt helped, no, alternative medicine hasnt helped, no, not even essential oils. this isnt just an old person condition, this isnt just a woman or afab thing, it doesnt just come and go with menopause. i was in pain from the moment i can remember, and everyone blamed me. do not be another person that askes all the same questions, has all the same biases, and acts in all the same ways; im not a porcelain doll, none of us are. as soon as you assume so, i will assume you arent a safe person for my mental health.

on another note, im excited to get mobility aids after i move out, just knowing how much theyve helped other people like me. my parents see no need for me to have them, and theyll probably be taken away or ill be shamed into not using them. just a few more months <33

Yesterday the 12th of May was Fibromyalgia awareness day. I'm a little late uploading it, but spreading awareness is being done nonetheless. Lots of love for my chronic pain people!! <3

[matthewses]

So Be It - A Harry Potter WIP

     A great gray owl floated over the vast forest and open fields, carrying a letter that would change more than one person's life forever in its claws. The owl was oblivious to this, of course, as it basked in the late evening air, simply following the orders given to him by the matriarch of his family. He had started his journey as the sun began to dip behind the horizon, now the crescent moon was gracefully taking its place. The magical signature he had been following was close, in a small hut-like structure just ahead of him. It reminded him of the broom shed he perched on occasionally back home, when his boys were in and out of it during the summer months.

     A man with dirty blonde hair and amber eyes jumped in his plush chair as the majestic bird came to a stop, courtesy of his window. Pecking on the glass seemed to echo through the small space, following the thud. The man stood to his full six feet-two inch frame to stretch, before resuming his usual unassuming slouch, setting his book down and walking to the window in his kitchen. The recipient of the letter had cast numerous spells to keep anything from finding him, and, as such, found it odd to have an owl staring back at him, having expected an injured evening song bird. He lifted the bottom pane of the window, allowing the bird to hop in, though the large owl nearly tripped on the ledge. Clumsy, the man thought, taking the letter, and reading the address as he pet the owl.

Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore

Headmasters Office

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

Remus John Lupin

Derelict Cottage

Yorkshire

     Flattering, Remus mused sarcastically, opening the letter that should not have made it there. The headmaster had always been able to do the impossible, and Remus knew that all too well.

     As expected, the letter had gone on about a sense of duty, the end predictably tacked on something of a bargaining chip, wolf's bane, clearly what the sender thought would compel him. Remus nearly rolled his eyes at the attempt to win him over; wolf's bane had nothing to do with his decision. He took a small piece of parchment and one of his remaining self-inking quills, simply writing:

I'll be there.

RL

before giving the note and an owl treat to the large bird. He watched as it seemed to float away on the wind, almost crashing amongst the tops of trees. He shook his head at the poor thing and turned to look at the life he had made for himself.

     Remus had been right at home here. He had cooked for himself, cleaned what little there was to clean, and had had his own owl bring all the reading material he would  ever need to him. There had been room outside to roam, hunt, run until he forgot his past. No one nearby to bother him for the vast list of things out of his control.

     Now it was all ending. He walked outside and passively cast a self watering spell on his small garden, a source of pride in his quiet life. Not that it mattered now, he was all too aware he wouldn't be back for well over a year, perhaps longer, though he couldn't be sure, it certainly wouldn’t just be a semester. He knew that much.

     Remus’ steps seemed to drag on as he walked to his somewhat cramped bedroom, closing every door behind him. Digging deep into his small closet revealed a brown travel bag. It was likely outdated now, but he had made little use of it, and it was sturdy. His mind began to drift as he put his few meaningful belongings into the bag, along with the few clothes that hadn't been reduced to rags in his time here, as well as the books he was currently reading. About to follow them in was the picture frame that held one of his most precious moments, before it stole his attention once more. Himself, Sirius, James, and Lily, the day before they were to graduate. All of them wearing their best, the hope of the future together in their eyes as they looked at the camera and each other.

     What had he been thinking? Telling Dumbledore he'd be available if he ever had need of him? He knew back then in that cramped office with the taste of lemon still in his mouth, that it would only bring up the memories he had come here to forget. He knew then as well as he knew now. Too late, he mused, he should have known to disagreed then, but he was going to keep his word. As much as he didn’t want to then, and doesn’t want to now. He was a Gryffindor, after all.

     There was no use waiting long, the headmaster had only left him two days until the train left. Within the hour he had readied himself for the voyage. His clothes and things packed, his owl had been told where to find him; the inside of his small home set with dust repellant charms, and his meager food stores left under long withholding preservation charms. Remus took a courtesy glance around his living space before nodding slightly to himself. There really was no reason to wait, he had to prepare. Making a, rather long in his opinion, mental list of what need to be accomplished, he let out a soft sigh before twisting on the spot.

    Far from the pop signifying the apparition, over mountains, islands, and across the North Sea, wistful gray eyes opened. His mind had been made up, tonight he would no longer be staring at the cold stone in front of him. Things had changed, he felt it in his very core, and his plan was as good as it was going to get. Oh, yes, he would do whatever it took and nothing was going to stop him. Not now, not ever.

[matthewses]

[matthewses]

things that don’t belong on AO3

People out there who are new to AO3 might not realize that some of the things they are posting actually violate the Terms of Service. While these kinds of posts are great for social media sites like tumblr or Twitter, they are actually not allowed on AO3. AO3 isn’t a social media site. It’s a fanfiction archive. 

Since most people don’t read the Terms of Service for sites that they use (no shade - I’m including myself in that description), I thought I’d make a post about things that you should not post on AO3. This list is in no particular order:

requests to help find a fic

lists of prompts

requests for prompts

translations of someone else’s work, if you don’t have their permission (this includes published fiction as well as fanfic)

someone else’s work (either published or fannish)

liveblog reactions to watching episodes 

invitations to a discord server

songfics that include the full lyrics to a copyrighted song

a placeholder - no actual fic, just a work posted saying that a fic will eventually be there

class notes or homework (unless that homework is fic or fandom meta)

searches for role playing partners

rec lists

requests for recommendations

callout posts

fandom organizing (ex. let’s vote X for People’s Choice!)

requests for money 

fic planning/outlining

As new people join the site, works like these are bound to be posted to AO3. Give friends and fellow fans a heads up, and hopefully by letting people know ahead of time they can avoid posting these mistakes. 

Remember, it’s a group of volunteers who needs to deal with all of these posted works so if we can lighten the load they’re dealing with I’m sure they’d appreciate it. ❤

[matthewses]

Important ideas to consider when creating characters who are black and indigenous people of color. (x)

[matthewses]

Can’t afford to keep myself and my SO afloat - please help a black trans woman survive!

My name’s Natasha, I’m a 25 year old black trans woman currently living in Washington. Due to COVID we’re running into a massive supply shortage at work, leaving me again with drastically reduced hours and lower wages. My SO works full-time, but she is currently experiencing COVID-like symptoms and thus can’t work for two more weeks (on top of the week and a half she’s already missed). Our bills are piling up, and even when we can pay them off, we literally have less than $5 to our names for food, transportation costs, etc.

There’s absolutely no pressure or obligation for anyone to donate anything to us, but if you are able and wanting to, it would mean the absolute world to us. Here is our Venmo, and here is our Cash App. We are currently trying to figure our Paypal situation out, so if that’s the only way you can donate, DM me. If you can’t donate (again, no worries!) but want to help, please signal boost this! Thank you all so much

[matthewses]

[matthewses]

NaNoWriMo Prep: How to Write 2000 Words a Day

Two thousand is a big number. Sitting down to write 2000 words can be extremely intimidating, so the first thing you should do is make that number friendlier.

Write 500 words in 4 writing sessions.  

Chop up that big, intimidating number. Start with a goal of 500 words. In one session, with no breaks, write them all. Take a break, then write the next 500. Repeat until you reach at least 2000. 

If you write 650 words in one session, don’t aim for 350 in the next. Let those extra words add up. A few hundred extra words each day will get you to 50k quicker than you could imagine.

I recommend timing your sessions, aiming for 20 minutes each time. The deadline will help you get the words out, With 10 minute breaks between each session, you can reach your 2000 word goal in two hours. Which brings me to the next point: 

Write fast. 

Don’t stop and think about your words. Don’t go back and improve a previous sentence. Save all of your edits for later. Focus on writing as quickly as possible, throwing everything you have at that blank page. This will actually help boost your creativity. Make your brain work so fast, be so focused, that it doesn’t have any space to doubt itself and you’ll be amazed at what you can come up with. 

But don’t worry if you can’t write 500 words in 20 minutes on day one. Writing quickly is a skill and it will take a few days of training. 

Let the words suck.

This is absolutely key if you want a high word count. When you’re writing an entire chapter in a day, you shouldn’t expect the words to be beautiful. You’re not aiming at lyrical prose. You’re mining raw material that you can work into art later.

Letting the words suck can include:

Writing [something happens here] in place of a scene.

Letting yourself use cliches as shorthand.

Dialog that is really exposition.

Long descriptions of things that don’t matter.

Letting your characters ramble until you discover what it is they actually need to say.

As long as there are 2000 words and they relate to your story, they’re exactly what you need. And if you hate having bad words on a page, once you have your 2000 for a day, you can go back and fix all of it. Take all the time you need. Just reach that word count first. 

Tip: if you do edit at the end of each day, make that a separate document from your official NaNo doc. This way, you can trim scenes, descriptions, and dialog without worrying about its effect on your word count. (If you make a scene/description/sentence longer, feel free to include that in your NaNo doc.) 

Don’t know what to write next?

So you’ve written 1200 words, completed a scene, and you have no idea where the story is going next. Here are some things you can do to get those 800 words in anyway:

Go to writeordie.com and FORCE the words out.

If that doesn’t work, reread the scene you’ve just written and see if you’re missing some obvious foreshadowing, some clue as to where the story’s headed. (You can also add a few lines to bulk up your wc.)

If that fails, take a walk and let the fresh air usher a solution to you.

If that fails, skip the next section. Write another scene. Go where the story is waiting for you. Come back to the other scene at a later time.

Helpful tip:

Instead of breaking your writing session into four parts, break it into five. Use your first writing session to sketch out an entire chapter, like an outline, but with bits and pieces of dialog and description. Figure out where you’re headed and a couple of key stops along the way. Knowing what you’re writing towards will make doing the actual, fleshed-out writing much easier and quicker.

You can also do an outline for the next day’s writing after you’ve gotten your 2000 words for the day in. Future you will be extremely pleased.

[matthewses]

[matthewses]

Rat Empathy

Upworthy carried a story summarizing an experiment demonstrating that rats exhibit empathy. Why do I care about this? Because the graphics showing the experiment on Upworthy made me smile, and smiling is good. Here’s the link in case you want to watch the video embedded in the story.

Some scientists ran an experiment to demonstrate that. Here’s how it worked:

The scientists put a rat in water (which rats hate). Not enough to hurt the rat, but enough to annoy it.

Then they put another rat in a safer, dry area with a door it could open to save the first rat.

When the dry rat heard the damp, miserable rat get upset, she came to the rescue.

Still not satisfied with the result, the scientists ran a more complex test.

What if you bribe the dry rat with food? Will she ignore it to rescue the wet rat in the next chamber?

Scientists presumed it would be easier for the not-in-peril rat to take the obvious selfless route when it was given only one choice. But what if they gave her a delicious bribe (chocolate cereal) and then let her choose between saving her friend and a buffet?

The rats, by a significant margin, still usually saved their friend before getting their delicious bribe. What does that mean?

Rats might care more about each other than things like food, and that prioritization might be encoded in their DNA.

Why should we care about super-thoughtful rats?

It is often argued that humans are inherently selfish — that without guidance, we would all default to killing and stealing and an “every person for themselves” mentality. That we only help others if it helps us. That evolution can’t make us selfless; it’s something we have to force ourselves to do.

But if rats show human-like qualities (they laugh like us, they dream like us, they like to have selfless lovers) like altruism, that means it isn’t a human-learned behavior. It could be encoded in our DNA. It means humans could be empathetic and kind by default.

It also means that rats and humans have more in common than we think.

An adorable rat not spreading the plague and hugging a tiny teddy bear. Much empathy.

[matthewses]

WHY WRITERS ARE CREEPY:

stare a lot while daydreaming 

know a weird amount about murder

like to talk about death

turn into a ravenous beast when chocolate is mentioned

moan and rattle their chains when they have writer’s block

[matthewses]

Sope  Little vampire AU

[matthewses]

If you say you’re trans, that’s all you have to do!

[matthewses]

SOULMATE AU WHERE YOUR TATTOO SHOWS THE FIRST THING YOUR SOULMATE THOUGHT WHEN THEY SAW YOU. 

EXAMPLES: 

“dear lord I want his babies”

“why are they staring at me”

“FANFICTION BLUE EYES”

“they’re wearing socks with sandals that’s disgusting”

“who the hell drinks coffee with a straw”

“i have to think something sexy at them. oh wait did that count. thats so embarassing they better not be my soulmate.” 

“leARN TO USE A TURN SIGNAL, MOTHERHUGGER” 

[matthewses]

I was listening to Queen earlier and I had the thought “the different parts of Bohemian Rhapsody correspond exactly to the five stages of grief” and I felt like I was standing on the precipice of a yawning pit

Turns out I’d switched anger and depression around in my head and now I’m so angry. It would’ve worked so well. Look:

1) DENIAL: “Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy?” 2) DEPRESSION: “Life had just begun, but now I’ve gone and thrown it all away…” 3) BARGAINING: “He’s just a poor boy from a poor family; spare him his life from this monstrosity!” 4) ANGER: “So you think you can stone me and spit in my eye? So you think you can love me and leave me to die?” 5) ACCEPTANCE: “Anyone can see, nothing really matters to me.”

Fuck this. I thought I’d made the most significant discovery of the 21st century. Petition to rework the Kubler-Ross model to better fit Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody