#manuscript cog

[centenaryobjectgathering]

Chapter 2 Page 37

[nothwell]

Chapter Two of the YA rough cut for Theo - a transmasc reimagining of Little Women - is up on Patre♡n - a wholesome cozy Alcott pastiche that I absolutely could not keep up for the length of a full novel.

~

In the midst of this apple pie disorder, Leslie at once lost all sense of where he belonged and what he ought to be doing. He stood stock still and rather stupid in the precise spot where Theo had let go of him to go and take her part in the merry tempest. His presence must have disrupted the Wolcott’s routine—yet if it did, he never heard a word of it, for they all kept working ‘round him like clockwork figurines adjusting to a new cog in the chaos.

~

Joining me on Patre♡n will give you access to “drawer fic” – aka the 500k+ words worth of manuscripts that have been shelved until I figure out how to fix or finish them. You'll also be invited to join an exclusive Discord server just for patrons!

A new chapter will go up every week. Missing (unwritten) scenes will be indicated by brackets describing what would probably happen if the scene were written. Example: [in this scene Aubrey and Lindsey ride a carousel]

Currently posting… ♡ Theo. (transmasc historical mm romance)

Completed works... ♡ the Aubrey & Lindsey solar fantasy project (mm) ♡ A Willing Canvas - John Halloway x Lord Cyril Graves (mm) ♡ The Train Job - Rowena Althorp x Rebekah (ff) ♡ Hold Fast 2 - Hold Faster (mm) ♡ Vampires Vampires Vampires (mmm) ♡ The Sebastian Nothwell Contemporary Expanded Universe (mmm+)

See you on Patre♡n!

[apenitentialprayer]

detail of an image of Guillaume de Machaut, from a 14th century manuscript. Notice the musical notation. (x)

In the 13th century, music underwent a radical revolution, both in theory and in practice. A new musical notation system made it possible for the first time to indicate the precise duration of sounds. This was the result of efforts begun in the Carolingian period to forge tools that would enable composers to notate their music with increasing precision. Music manuscripts from the 9th and 10th centuries indicate only the articulation and ornamentation of the melody, since a system for analyzing and notating intervals was not developed until the early 11th century. In the late 13th century, musicians finally succeeded in devising a notation that also indicated every possible note-length. When these new models of notation were proposed, they began to radically alter our relationship with time. Music, a phenomenon that could previously be properly grasped only through action, became an object of contemplation. Its unfolding in time could be perceived as a mathematical or geometrical object, independent of its manifestation in sound. This "freezing" of sound made it possible to scrutinize and structure the deployment of the sound material, creating a temporal object outside of time. Musicians embraced this concept eagerly, and toward the middle of the 14th century an even more complex and sophisticated movement, later known as the Ars Subtilior, began to explore the temporal combinations that notation permitted to their furthest extreme. A far-reaching transformation took place. The mastery of numbers in the sphere of time gave men the impression that they had become something greater than mere cogs in a greater cosmic order. Thanks to the mathematical mastery of durations, music had become geometry of time. With this new ability to conceive music outside of time, musicians began to regard themselves as creators, building structures that did not exist before their intervention in the sound material. This is probably why the 14th century gave rise to the gradual emergence of named composers.

Marcel Pérès (Machaut: Messe de Nostre Dame)

[anarchblr]

still dont understand what alienation mean

like ok i read the definition but what???? give me a real life example

yeah, I saw your ask the first time, it's just that, well, “alienation”

as a concept has a lot of scholarship and baggage. Mostly from the Marxist Humanists but not solely just them, and,

it's something Marx changed his mind on how to use the older he got and better understood capitalism

so, from this two facts, you get a lot of definitions, some elaborate defenses for these definitions; uses, and misunderstandings; you'd need to be a marxologist to really get to the root of the problem. @edwad, our resident marxologist can get you through these waters better than I can.

but like, so, I forget if alienation is a concept he came up with or borrowed from some French socialist, but it shows up prominently in the Manuscripts of 1884 as he's first trying to describe a phenomena, a relation that the human being under goes under capitalism. there's a lot of really good choice quotes but here's my favorite:

The less you eat, drink and read books; the less you go to the theater, the dance hall, the public house; the less you think, love, theorize, sing, paint, fence, etc., the more you save —the greater becomes your treasure which neither moths nor rust will devour —your capital. The less you are, the more you have; the less you express yourself, the greater is your alienated life —the greater is the store of your estranged being.

simply said, the better you are as a cog for capitalist production, the less human you are, but the money you have; money being now the substitute of your humanity.

you see the appeal of this kind of rhetoric, no? it just “makes sense”.

we are alienated from ourselves the more we engage in capitalism, we don't become ourselves, we divorce ourselves from ourselves —alienate— in the practice of being workers.

however, this was not the end of Marx' approach to a critique of capitalism. In late 1884, Stirner dropped The Unique and Its Property which, among many other things, was a anti-humanist salvo and forced Marx to give up some of his positions because of it. It is only thereafter at Marx really took a materialist approach beyond that of Feuerbach's (Stirner had all but forced Marx' hero into admitting that he wasn't actually a very consistent materialist) which is why Marx abandoned the humanist concept of alienation.

“Alienation” —in the sense used up to now—assumes an ideal humanity from which capitalism alienates it from; it doesn't look at the real actual, tangible, sensual and concrete worker, but rather as an imperfect end of a hypothetical. This is not very materialist, and Marx recognized that.

The other important use of “alienation”, used years later in Capital, is when talking about commodity exchange: it refers to each commodity-owner alienating their own commodity at the marketplace. When a prole signs up to work he alienates his only commodity —labor-power— to be the capitalist's: for the duration of the time the prole agreed to work, his actions belong to the capitalist and not to his own initiative, fancy, or will.

but this second use of alienation is easier to understand: when you sell something you give up the right to use it as if it's your own, be it a bar or soap or your labor-power, you no longer can see it as belonging to you. Simple as

[rebelrevenant]

A retelling of the Devil's Minion wherein young San Francisco Chronicle Reporter Daniel Molloy sold his soul to the devil for notoriety as a writer. Daniel instantly rose to infamy after publishing the sensational smash hit Interview with the Vampire Lestat, an autobiographical feature of the 80's glam rockstar-turned-recluse, whose mysterious vitality and beauty seems forever preserved in time. Now, fifteen years later, Armand is the fallen angel who has come to collect on their contract. Enraptured by the final manuscript Daniel has yet to complete, Armand extends him an offer of borrowed time to finish it under his watchful eye.

Armand paused, a mighty refrain like an object pivoting from centripetal force. He leapt up, wings catching a torrent of night seabreeze as he coasted down, Daniel’s arms aching and eager to catch him. Struck by those ethereal eyes, and within them, an endearment fifty fathoms deep, nebulas and beyond. And they kissed, of course, Daniel breaking all the while.  And it was in the way this devil held him, this pitiful and remarkable design of human instruments like any other, of blood throbbing through sinew and cords, all of it so impermanent but fighting so hard to live, just live. This sweet life-giving system, how it pumps so hard to serve, all these loving little cogs, and how we so often do not help it. Bittersweet thoughts for the damned-in-transit perhaps, and all the more beautiful for it. “You’re no devil,” Daniel could never be convinced. Armand’s armor and bastilles of briar lay in a decimated pile of rubble at Daniel’s feet, and he was shivering with grief. “What devil could feel so soft?” “Oh curse it and damn you, Damned You, I want all feeling gone!” “Is that so? And the love with it?” “Oh, of course, that especially!” Armand tried to sound wicked, but his failure was grand and astronomical. “That’s a shame,” Daniel murmured, unconvinced. And he wondered how he might embrace this inconceivable magnitude of being without bursting? He wondered how he’d existed half-alive only for the richness of a thousand lives fully lived could condense itself here, in these last fleeting moments, and only at the end? 

[aimmyarrowshigh]

Hi babe! 🦷 ⇢ share some personal wisdom or a life hack you swear on and 🕯️ ⇢ on a scale from 1 to 10, how much do you enjoy editing? why is that?

🦷 ⇢ share some personal wisdom or a life hack you swear on

There is nothing you can change about yourself that will change someone else's nature. If you being happy pisses someone off, the solution is not to stop being happy. It's to recognize that person is an asshole.

🕯️ ⇢ on a scale from 1 to 10, how much do you enjoy editing?

Editing others' work? 10. It's what I've done as a job since I was 22, and I love looking at the cogs of a work to figure out how to make it run more smoothly. Developmental editing is the best.

Editing my own work? It's okay, but I pretty firmly believe that self-editing can only go so far. When you know all of the backstory and the plot twists and the character beats and the agony of the language choices, it's easy to miss the forest for the trees. I love getting a really torn-apart manuscript back from a good editor and getting to rebuild! I honestly think it's more fun to write a second draft most of the time than a first draft as long as you trust your editor to be on your team, making the work better.

As much as I'm 100% Team "Don't Leave Criticism On Fanfiction, Asshole," I'm also 100% Team Editors Are Important And Necessary. The dividing line is just that leaving criticism on posted fic is saying something is wrong after it's been published, which helps no one, and is just being rude and kind of smug. But if your beta-reader never gives you anything to chew on, they're not really being a beta-reader.

--

SORRY this took so long, my desktop logged out of Tumblr and it is a fucking pain in the ass to try to log onto any given website in 2024 because NOBODY'S TWO-FACTOR AUTH CODES EVER WORK

[centenaryobjectgathering]

Chapter 2 Page 39

[robbyrey23]

Discussion Leader Presentation "Ideology"

Another Brick in the Wall Part 2

"Another Brick in the Wall Part 2," by the band Pink Floyd, was released in 1979 and revolutionized the music industry. The song is a direct protest against teachers, especially of that time, that would strictly enforce and indoctrinate their views and ideologies upon their students. The education system and teachers were often prioritizing student's subservience and academic performance, rather than their creativities, ambitions and even their wellbeing. Students were churned into one mold, designed to become obedient and simply cogs in the societal machine.

The themes of Pink Floyd's "Another Brick in the Wall Part 2" directly relate to Karl Marx's teachings of ideology. In his manuscript, "The German Ideology," Marx explains how labor workers and those of lower classes are used and exploited for the benefit of the bourgeoisie, or the rich. This process begins at the school system, which the song demonstrates, where children are designed to fit the ideals of the workforce; compliant to authority and robbed of their own ideologies or opinions. In doing this, the school system causes students to lose their own identities. This is made apparent in the visuals used throughout the song, such as the hammers walking in unison with no differentiation amongst them.

The hammers are also a symbol of control, quite literally displaying how the school system "hammers" their ideologies into students. All the children are hammered into the same template. Interestingly, the hammers also represent the Nazi regime which was known for the brainwashing of ideologies amongst their own people. These themes correlate with Antonio Gramsci's "Hegemony," as he discusses the ideas of government's control over their people with the false notion of "consent." Lower class citizens and laborers are bent into submission by those who have power, with the illusion that since they are a part of the society they are to actively consent to the dominance of their superiors.

The teacher is displayed as monstrous in appearance, quite literally putting children into a meat grinder that represents the school system. The outcome is a pile of meat, devoid of personality and life.

While the students are the central focus of the visual text, the song displays how teachers are also puppets of the school system and are subjected to the government's hegemony.

Depicted in this image, is quite literally the teacher tied to strings being used as a puppet. He too is under the control of those that have higher authority over him. The teacher's ideologies and abusiveness towards his students are also traits that have been indoctrinated into him by his superiors. The teacher's ghoulish appearance and lifelessness is a clear representation of how society drains one of their ambitions and characteristics.

Active protest to such control by the school system and the government is made in the lyrics:

We don't need no education We don't need no thought control No dark sarcasm in the classroom Teacher, leave them kids alone

Fortunate Son

"Fortunate Son," released in 1969 by Creedence Clearwater Revival, is a protest song against the Vietnam War and the American government as a whole. During the Vietnam War, those of higher status and wealth did not have to fight in the war while tens of thousands of lower class citizens were drafted to die for their country and its ideologies. Again, they were forced to be subservient to authority, with the safety of their lives literally being dictated by their societal status.

This song relates to Pink Floyd's "Another Brick in the Wall Part 2," as both songs are made in reference of revolting against government corruption and put on display the sacrifices one must make for those who are deemed superior.

The music video demonstrates these themes a in lighter, more hopeful sense. The video shows lower class citizens still enjoying their lives in the presence of one another, rather than in materialistic riches. However, the themes of anti-authority and anti-elitism are still very much present.

Images such as these depict the struggles that lower class citizens face and the arduous work that one must endure to live in society. Again, this ties into society's false sense of consenting to its principles. The government promotes the idea that one consents to its ideals by being a part of society, giving one no choice but to do so, as not consenting would force one to live homeless, foodless and ironically, without their natural liberties. This relates to the lives of those who served in the Vietnam War, as in order to be a part of society, they had no choice but to fight a war that was created based on the ideologies of the government.

The US government invaded Vietnam to prevent the spread of communism, placing their own capitalist ideologies above the lives of the laborers of society.

It ain't me, it ain't me I ain't no senator's son, son It ain't me, it ain't me I ain't no fortunate one, no

Some folks are born silver spoon in hand Lord, don't they help themselves, Lord? But when the taxman come to the door Lord, the house lookin' like a rummage sale, yeah

It ain't me, it ain't me I ain't no millionaire's son, no, no It ain't me, it ain't me I ain't no fortunate one, no

In the music video and lyrics, the phrase "It ain't me" is used to describe how the working class do not get the same luxuries as the rich. They are not born with a "silver spoon in hand," and instead must work rigorously and, in some cases, are even are forced to surrender their lives for their government.

Discussion Questions:

Do you believe that protest music such as "Another Brick in the Wall" and "Fortunate Son" inspire the youth to stand up for themselves and revolt against injustices?

2. In what ways have these visual texts increased societal awareness? Have they been used to foster change? If so, how and when?

3. It can be argued that this music helps the mental health of those who are feeling oppressed. Do you believe this is true?

[relevy]

COMING NANOWRIMO 2023, A NEW YA SCI-FI MANUSCRIPT FROM R. E. LEVY!

Maus spends most of her days in "The Sim," competing in violent virtual combat against other teenagers with her best friend, Brick.

The time spent outside of her cocoon is dominated by survival, carefully spending the credits she earns in-game to buy everything from her physical health, to food, to repair of her equipment.

That is life in the cog, the enigmatic prison she calls home, where inscrutable robotic voices dictate her every move. No one knows how they got there, but no one remembers a time before it either.

When this daily grind of existence is threatened, can she and the other players unite to overcome the deadly demands of The Sim, or will they be forced to terminate each other in the name of survival?

Stay tuned all through October to learn more about this year's NaNoWriMo WIP!

[Image Description: A profile of a young person in grayscale with purple and blue space textures over the top. The eyes of the person are blurred over by text that reads "CODE SIMULACRUM". On the bottom of the photo the authors name reads "R. E. LEVY." End Image Description]

[clarexflannery]

"Here's the thing... I've been avoiding that route because I don't want to be just another cog in the wheel, using my creative talents to fill an old man's pockets with billions of dollars." Most of her work was commission-based, or she sold created pieces at various farmer's markets she could sneak into over the past few years. Having been out of town, she had spent the majority of her time creating, and now Clare felt confident enough to share her work with others.

Nodding as he continued to provide some insight, she pulled a manuscript out of her backpack. "I have a concept for a series about kids going to outer space and visiting each planet." Clare had completed the first two planets and had ideas for the rest, but she didn't want to commit to the long-term concept if it couldn't garner any interest. "Could you take a look? I don't know many people, but I figured you were a good start."

"Oh. Easy."

... says the Magna Cum Laude graduate with a B.F.A. in Illustration.

"So if you have a degree, it's safe to assume you have a portfolio? Have you tried working with any studios?" He has, and as much as Paxton never wants to be a part of a company like Warner Bros. or Dreamworks again, he does count his blessings that he has that experience under his belt. "I did a lot of fanart. Original pieces for myself, and commission work, and I hardly turned a prompt down."

Pax grimaces at memories of some of the lewd things his pencil has created, because even with stern boundaries in terms of things taboo, there is plenty a person's imagination can conjure up. Then to make it his job to put on paper, well...

"A double threat. Writer and artist all in one. You're going to have to start putting together mock-ups, get some criticism from artists and publishers. Do you have ideas already written out? Because step one would be producing a sample of your work, if you are writing and drawing your own stories."

@clarexflannery

[funny-doings-international]

bowties!

[creaturecase-blog]

“ i can’t sleep. ”

a meme

how exactly he’d ended up in this position, newt didn’t quite understand.

the last few days had been a blur, marred with grief but filled with activity too - discussing strategies on how to defeat grindelwald, and how to save their friends, and in between all that, returning home to check on bunty and the others.

theseus had been in a bad way since the battle, so newt had taken his brother with him. their losses had reminded him of the relationships he still had, and while he and theseus had never got along perfectly, he still cared about him. fortunately, his brother hadn’t objected to essentially being looked after.

sleep had never come that easily to him, but things were worse than ever now, and he shuffled into his kitchen, intending to make a cup of tea, but his brother was already there.

“no. me neither,” he said, walking past him to tap his wand to the kettle and hoping theseus wasn’t in the mood to talk. that might be too much for him to handle right now. “tea?”

[queen-mabs-revenge]

I am so frustrated about the ‘it was never about me’ of it all. It /is/ about Ted both narratively - everyone at Richmond was changed by him (that’s sort of the entire premise) and in terms of the show - he’s the main character.

Also, Trent’s book must have had an angle / pov / argument and it’s not as simple as just randomly changing the title. But what should I expect given they used lorem ipsum text for the manuscript on screen and misspelled ‘Independant’ on the dust jacket. The whole reason Trent was there and they fumbled the ball on it so hard.

it's weird i can nearly allow them that creative license when it comes to the publishing process (realistically trent wouldn't have had much of a say in the title or cover design) bc they wanted to make a point and it's not a show about publishing if that makes sense? like it deeply fucking annoys me to no end that they made the west ham match the final one of the return leg (football seasons are the same match ups in the same order in the front and back halves just with the home/away sides reversed) but bc this is supposedly a show about football lmao. so like ok if they wanted to warp an aspect of reality that isn't integral to the show to make a point, fine whatever i guess.

but the fact still stands that it was a stupid fucking point -- bc like you said it is about ted hello?????? like was the point not that he was the total football playmaker off the pitch? that his ability to see the connections that people could be making with each other if they weren't trying to protect their soft underbellies and fend for scraps of false satisfaction instead of opening up to vulnerable genuine camaraderie was what put the gears in motion for those connections to be made? but that like the central playmaker, his role is essential in that interconnected web????

the finale really feels like they tried to say that, no, he isn't the playmaker -- the cog both turning and being turned by the machine to a greater collective purpose -- he was the allstar who came in, lifted the team up, maybe taught people a few tricks of the trade, but ultimately could be removed from the line-up and the other would be fine and better for it even...............

[apilgrimpassingby]

Further lore additions:

Magical training is divided into three stages. The first stage (which most often starts at the age of seven, but can start later) lasts three years, and consists of the 101 of their magic system. The next stage lasts seven years, and consists of learning more advanced stuff and discovering the trainee's strengths and weaknesses. The third stage lasts nine years, and consists of being apprenticed to a magician who can help you develop your specialties. When this stage is other, they go through a coronation ceremony where their master touches each shoulder with an implement and then crowns them.

Each school has a "heart book", the most crucial book to each discipline. For the most part, only teachers read these books - students read extracts of and commentaries on them.

Alchemists teach and write their books in Arabic, they write their documents in papyrus codices, and their heart book is The Elemental Wedding, which burns whatever touches it; hence, people have to handle it with leather gloves and keep it on a stone platform. The crown they use is a bronze and amber crown in the shape of two phoenixes entwined together, and the coronation implement is a bronze staff topped with a glass bulb containing mercury.

Conjurers teach and write their books in Ancient Egyptian, they write their documents on papyrus scrolls, and their heart book is the Scrolls of the Sun, which speed up the motions of the sun in the location where they are read. The crown they use is like the one in the Mask of Tutankhamen, and the coronation implement is an ivory rod carved in the shape of a snake.

Mystics teach and write their books in Sanskrit, they write their documents on birch bark codices, and their heart book is The Uncreated Light, whose text reads slightly differently for everyone who reads it. The crown is their hair being cropped (the first haircut in years!), and the coronation implement is a traveller's staff.

Necromancers teach and write their books in Greek, they write their documents on slates and stone tablets, and their heart book is The Apocryphon of the Grave, which reads like depressing mumbo-jumbo - unless the reader has seen someone die, in which case it reads as quietly comforting wisdom. The crown is a floor-length veil with extensive and ornate embroidery, and the coronation implement is a femur bone with spells carved on it.

Observers teach and write their books in English, they write their documents in paper notebooks with exposed binding, and their heart book is the Astral Journals, which make readers feel like they are floating off the floor. The crown is a helmet decorated with wiring, cogs and so on, and the coronation implement is a telescoping aerial.

Shamans teach and write their books in Classical Mayan, they write their documents in palm-leaf manuscripts, and their heart book is the Hymn to the World Tree, which cannot be written down - it must be spoken or sung. The crown is a headdress centred on an eagle skull adorned with eagle, raven, hoopoe and parrot feathers, and the coronation implement is a staff decorated with vines of ayahuasca, peyote and other psychoactive plants.

Sorcerers teach and write their books in Latin, they write their documents in paper codices, and their heart book is The Pit Opened, which will place a curse on whoever reads it unless the book is given blood. The crown is an iron circlet decorated with garnets, and the coronation implement is black sword with a guard carved from garnet in the shape of a dragon.

Witches teach and write their books in Gaelic, they write their documents on beech-wood tablets, and their heart book is The Book of Spring, which makes roses grow wherever it is placed, even sterile environments. The crown is a flower crown incorporating hawthorn blossoms, foxglove, primrose and vervain as well as roses and violets, and the coronation implement is a golden sickle with a rose wrapped around a blade.

Wizards teach and write their books in Hebrew, they write their documents in parchment codices, and their heart book is The Apocalypse of Ephraim, which makes the reader see golden wings and hear otherworldly music - initially at the edges of vision and hearing, but gradually getting closer. The crown is an Eastern mitre, and the coronation implement is a gilded shepherd's crook.

Choose Your Magic School

So, a while back I developed a magic school divided into nine sub-schools; each sub-school is located on a mountaintop, collectively forming a circle of mountains, with a common space between them where students from all schools can meet.

The locations of the sub-schools are as follows:

Alchemists are located in a steampunk-style castle atop a mountain covered in birch woods, and they have an aviary of phoenixes.

Conjurers (think Ancient-Egyptian-style magic) are located in a giant pyramid atop a mountain covered in gardens like this, and they have a living sphinx who patrols the base.

Mystics are located in a wooden monastery atop a mountain covered in frozen waterfalls and snowy trees, and they have a yeti who hides in the forest.

Necromancers (who here can be good or evil) are located in catacombs amidst a mountain covered in mausoleums, gravestones etc. and willow and yew trees, and they have a pack of hellhounds who act as class pets.

Observers (UFO-based magic) are located in a giant observatory atop a mountain covered in dark pine woods, and they have a mothman who swoops around the trees.

Shamans are located in a treetop village atop a mountain covered in jungle, and they get up to and down from the villages by means of griffins.

Sorcerers (stereotypical evil magic, but can be good or evil) are located in a huge black tower atop a mountain covered in ash and dead trees, and they have a dragon in a cave on the mo.

Witches (rural magic) are located in a cute village of cottages atop a mountain covered in oak, beeches and streams, and they have a stable of unicorns.

Wizards (high-church-styled magic) are located in a Romanesque abbey complex atop a mountain covered in herb gardens, and they have apparitions of seraphim.

Tagging @roses-red-and-pink, @melisssg99, @cactusflowerfemme and @rebelnurse

[obm-avenquire]

★ solomon ★

It's reassuring, somehow, that he could let himself die with you. You love the brothers, Diavolo, Barbatos. You love the angels. But they will outlive you. Somehow, you feel like they couldn't die, not properly, even if they wanted to, like Mammon could bleed out and go cold and be found the next morning wedged between the folds of a stranger's wallet, looking over the shoulders of stock brokers and investment bankers. They're like the old gods, you think to yourself, and wonder where that leaves you. Their strength comes from worship, just like any other. And sometimes worship is arrogance. Every act of wrath and greed and sin is worship, devotion, and every action is a demonstration of that faith, unwilling or otherwise.

To make a pact, then, is to take back some of that power one has given. Dividends.

He would die with you. Not for you, never for you, he's far too proud for that - any situation where he can save you, it will be you both, together. He's selfish like that. Have you sobered up yet?

Solomon, like all humans, is never satisfied;

He hammers away, and forges himself a new heart. A tinkerer. Another cog in his strange, strange machine. He turns back time. His soul is in pieces. Alloy.

He burns his fingers in the kiln, searing sigils into his body

He tugs at the threads, and only smiles when it comes undone.

"After 200 years or so, humans begin to forget," And so, though he's beaten age, beaten death - for now - Solomon still loses to the mind. Like many things, it's cyclical. He knows, and he knows, and he learns, and he grows, but he never gets any wiser, not really. He's equal measures frustrated and entertained at the prospect.

He remains awkward. He loves. He loves and loves again.

You lie across the sofa in his room, old manuscripts and scrolls he'd lent you sprawled across your chest and on the table next to you.

"...You're a Theseus' ship," His eyes flit to meet yours, expression blank, almost surprised for a moment before a smile tugs at his lips.

"You were thinking of me?" You purse your lips, far too familiar with this particular tone of voice.

"I was." You stare up at the ceiling. His eyes don't leave you.

"Explain it to me." He turns his chair towards you, crossing one leg over the over, hand against his chin in contemplation. But you know it already, you want to say, why bother, when you already know? But you know that's not why he's asking. It's the same as your magic lessons - like the one you were studying for just now, before you interrupted yourself. Are you being taught? Is he asking to see how much you’ve learnt? Or is he trying to learn something himself?

Ages ache through the heaving dark and he's strange, but it's a wonder he isn't stranger, mind stretched far too thin between the pins of age that pull his skin across the timeline, aging, aging still.

[theticklishpear]

Hi there ... I have an 80k word manuscript and I'm struggling with too much exposition. I think I'm having hard time adding action because, having already gotten to the end, adding conflict/complication feels totally token and artificial at this point. It feels like doing it for the sake of cutting down exposition, not enhancing the plot. Any thoughts you have would be greatly appreciated.

This is a really interesting ask. I haven’t done writing advice in a while but now and then I get something in my inbox—flattering and terrifying at once—and some of them strike my fancy to answer. I say this ask is interesting for a couple of reasons: 1) it’s clear you’ve really thought about this from a story theory standpoint, and 2) I think there’s some real discussion to be had here about word counts, style, pacing, and crafting plot. I think everything will come back to one question: Whose story is it? So let’s talk.

This ask is a tough ask to answer because I don’t know your style. I don’t know the way you knit words together when story-crafting that makes something distinctly yours. I don’t have your voice to refer to. And part of your answer may lie in understanding whether your exposition is harming your story or whether it's another living part of it.

Story is partially composed of exposition—sorry friend, there’s no getting around that—but how that exposition is delivered can make the difference in whether your story is hobbled by it or flourishing from it. Are you putting your exposition to work in service of your characters’ development? Does all your exposition support the telling of that specific story?

Worlds are places of infinite story. Every place, every stone, every building, every finial on the doorway has a story, let alone each and every person being the center of their own tale, but you’ve chosen a very specific story—a specific person’s story. Choose the elements of exposition that best support that story, and find ways to pass along that exposition that also support that story. Make your exposition pull its own weight.

Are you weaving your exposition into how your characters speak, what they notice, the resources they go to when faced with a problem? Are you crafting scenes and subplots with that exposition that allow you to show character development in their relationships, their sense of belonging, their personal growth?

If your exposition is being put to work in these ways, scenes that seem—on the surface, to the writer who can see the cogs at work beneath the story’s veneer—as though they’re only vehicles for explaining the world are actually helping to buttress up whose story you're telling. It’s the idea that every scene should be advancing the plot, but sometimes “advancing the plot” means advancing a character through scenes that build your world and the context in which your character lives. Their development through interactions with the world and your exposition is just as important as the actions that make up popular culture’s idea of plot.

So then, is your exposition uplifting whose story you’re telling? If it is, is it really a problem? If it’s not, how can you craft scenes around the exposition in a way that caters to the development of characters and their growth?

Here’s one last thing to consider which probably is only marginally helpful: Is your 80k bloated for the genre you’re writing in? The phrasing of your ask feels like you’re unhappy with 80k, but personally, 80k sounds like a pretty good length. If that’s the amount of words it took you to tell the story, then sometimes listening to your story’s heart and knowing when you’ve told what you wanted to tell is enough. Maybe it’s just a function of spinning your exposition into a feature of your story instead of a bug. Think about how you can give it voice and style, and make it really work for its place in your story.

Good luck, writer.

-Pear

Let’s Talk About: Plot – Part Three: Determining Length

Let’s Talk About: Series vs. Stand Alone – Part Eight: A Closer Look At Stand-Alone Books

Creating Conflict

Too Many Subplots?

Understanding Voice

Let’s Talk About: World Building – Part Ten: The Effect of More

What’s Immersive And Why Do I Care?

You’re Too Close – Letting Your Reader Imagine

“Do you enjoy it?”