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I know Jordan's prose can easily be deemed 'over-descriptive', and I even once thought about it like that myself. But looking back, I really appreciate it.

Part of the reason I used to get frustrated with it is because I'd struggle with visualization, but it forced me to practice and I think I'm a lot better at it now!

Which has been very useful for me when reading, but also as a writer, in trying to figure out and mentally design my settings so that I can get a sense of place before I have to transfer it to a page.

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The explanation is clear, no worries. It's just not a term I'd heard before. I think it makes sense though. I might try to spot it next time I'm reading.

I underestimated my English teacher when she said the power of three writing technique was important.

I be using that shit everywhere

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What's the power of three writing technique?

I underestimated my English teacher when she said the power of three writing technique was important.

I be using that shit everywhere

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ever since i was a little girl i’ve always known i’m a big fan of alone time

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I feel a little bad about contributing to this for the reasons that've already even brought up, but:

Maybe Mat would bring it up because his family was upset about not seeing his wedding and sort of pesters or guilt trips him into it?

Now I’m not entirely convinced Tuon would agree to it, nor do I really think Mat would ever bring it up in the first place but like- you know how people renew marriage vows and sometimes they really go all out for it? Or how some people get married just by going to court and getting the documents signed and a few years later they have a big proper wedding? That but Mat drags Tuon to the Two Rivers to do a traditional two rivers wedding with an egregious amount of flowers

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Mat/Tuon drives me crazy because on a watsonian level, I hate it. I want better for Mat. He deserves more than an abusive relationship with someone who uses slave-breaking tactics on him under the guise of flirting and finds enjoyment in humiliating him! But from a doylistic perspective? They are so interesting.

'The man who remembers Hawking's face' and the woman who leads the remnants of his old empire, remnants that worship an idealized and corrupted version of his image. 'The man of the Red hand' who has that title because of the lives he saved, because he couldn't walk away when he saw people in danger despite the personal cost, VS the 'Daughter of the Nine Moons' who has hers because of manipulation, because of her success in the Imperial Assassination games and as a slave-breaker. The man that unwillingly creates an army held together by trust, and the woman who proudly inherits an empire that runs on paranoia. The man who claimed selfishness as he risked everything to free slaves, VS the woman who breaks and trains slaves to calm her fears that it will happen to her while claiming what she's doing is kindness.

And yet...Both asked for answers about their future, and were given foreboding prophecies of marriage to someone they never would've chosen, someone they don't really want. But they're stuck with them, and they know it, so they try to figure out what to expect, how they can make it work. In doing so, they discover that there's more to this person than they initially thought. They find a mutual love of stones, horses, and bars. They begin to enjoy spending time with each other, despite the fact that the other is on the opposite side of a war. To convince themselves that it can work, and maybe to excuse their own growing affection, they tell themselves the other person is only like this, only on the wrong side because of the backwards environment they were raised in. But they'll change them with time. Bring them around and make them understand what they're doing is wrong. But they're deluding themselves. They might be an unstoppable force, but they're acting on an immovable object.

They're narrative opposites placed into the same weird situation, and for all the (mutual) destruction it's going to cause, I can't help but be intrigued.

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Next thing we know they're going to be like: 'We're remaking Encanto! This time, Mirabel gets a gift at the ceremony!'

i never want to read the words "live action remake" ever AGAIN!!!!

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'said softly' refers to tone. It means they're being gentle, or perhaps hesitant. They might be comforting someone, or confessing something.

'whispered' means they're being quiet. Perhaps it's also one of the above, but it can also be that they're simply trying to not be overheard. Maybe they're trying not to wake someone, or maybe they're being hunted and trying not to give away their location.

"I know adverbs are controversial, but "said softly" means something different than 'whispered' and this is the hill I will die on."

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One specific part of Mat's unreliable narration that I always feel doesn't get the attention it deserves is the way he will internally rant about things that are petty or insignificant in order to channel frustration and avoid the things that actually bother him.

Too often people take his complaints at face value, assuming that's what's bothering him, and it's just like...no, he's complaining about that because it's not a huge deal (comparatively). He's not complaining about the other thing because it is.

Yes, I know that doesn't make sense. Or, at least, it's not logical. But when have Mat's coping mechanisms ever been genuinely rational?

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It's even crazier when you realize that some of the literal*first* things we are told about this world are ways it's geography was messed with during the Breaking! The prologue shows us an example of a mountain being created and a river rerouted, creating a sort of inland island! Then in the literal 1st paragraph of chapter one, we hear about "the Sand Hills, once the shore of a great ocean, before the Breaking of the World".

People: Why are there perpendicular mountain ranges in the Wheel of Time world? That doesn't make geological sense!

Me: Did you read the books? Did you understand the Breaking of the World? Are you comprehending what's happening in this setting at all whatsoever?

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👀

This may be random, but I like to picture a post-series Rand also joining Valan Luca’s travelling circus.

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Things I Didn’t Think Would Be Hard To Write But ARE

Walking into a room

Transitioning between scenes without it feeling awkward

Two characters saying “I love you” without it being cringe

Describing a character’s face without using the word “eyes” 500 times

A battle scene that doesn’t feel like a turn-based RPG

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Oooh! I never thought about this before but now it feels so...right. Like it should be obvious somehow. I kinda wanna read a fanfic about it now.

This may be random, but I like to picture a post-series Rand also joining Valan Luca’s travelling circus.

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you are allowed to write slowly. you are allowed to take breaks. you are allowed to be a weird little plant that needs 3–6 business days to bloom

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I swear, sometimes reading meta about a character or series you like is just ... 'yeah, mmhhmm, this is great, this person really gets it!, WHAT THE-'

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man so i've been rereading tdr and i've been really noticing here that the reason egwene has such a hard time with nynaeve is because she keeps being reminded of renna

and egwene doesn't even fully realize this! nynaeve doesn't even know she's doing it!

but egwene spends this whole book on HIGH ALERT, because the last time she trusted anyone, she got carried off to the seanchan!! siuan's directive about the black ajah only feeds into her own paranoia after being deceived by liandrin...who, you know, was black ajah. it's not undeserved fear!! but egwene has a hard time looking at anyone she doesn't know (or doesn't know well) as anything but a potential threat. she spends the whole first meeting with aviendha and bain and chiad thinking about ways to protect herself or defuse the situation, when in actuality everyone's wondering why she seems so on edge and ready to attack. aviendha literally catches her embracing the source and hastily goes I WOULD NEVER HURT AN AES SEDAI BTW, FOR NO REASON, JUST FYI,

but coming back to nynaeve...the thing is, renna — and this is really emphasized in the book, where most of the torment is off-screened and told to us later in absolutely horrifying anecdotes — really abused egwene in the way of alternating punishment with "kind" and "humane" treatment. she acted like the owner of a recalcitrant animal she really cares about, or...wait for it...a particularly abusive older sister. renna is the one with the knowledge, the right answers, and egwene was her foolish damane who was learning the ropes. who, when she was punished, was hurt because she'd brought it on herself.

nynaeve, village wisdom, also acts like the older sister with the knowledge, and with the right answers. she also favors egwene with the affections of an authority figure. it's totally different, of course, because nynaeve actually loves egwene and respects her deeply. nynaeve would never hurt her. but we see moments like nynaeve giving egwene's hair a playful tug after egwene compliments her...which completely sours egwene's mood....and is also reminiscent of renna patting her hair when she "does well." both nynaeve and renna position themselves as teachers who have taught egwene lessons, which they ask her to recall! and though their behavior and treatment of her are wildly different, egwene is unable to separate her reactions to nynaeve and feelings about nynaeve with her visceral disgust at her time as a damane.

egwene doesn't WANT to be a "good girl," because with the seanchan she was forced to be a "good girl," a pliable damane, or she'd be hurt until she became compliant. but she is free now, and she's determined to keep her freedom forever, so she CANNOT be the foolish girl who trusted an adult and got captured and tortured. she CANNOT be the valuable damane who had no recourse but to learn her lessons and attempt the smallest resistances allowed to her. she won't agree with an authority figure just because they're an authority, and she won't enjoy their kindness when they agree with her!! all of these experiences have been completely poisoned for her. and, importantly, nynaeve is safe to act out with. egwene couldn't react this way at the white tower, because they have the power to withhold her education, her future as an aes sedai (which she conflates with safety because she will have power), and because they too are willing to apply physical punishment. nynaeve, at worst, will get frustrated or say something sour, but she would never meaningfully hurt egwene. and there's the part of egwene that knows that, even with all of the trauma informing every choice she makes.

tl;dr as usual rj wrote some really compelling trauma material in the wake of egwene's horrific experiences with the seanchan. i love his commitment to depicting the messier, uglier trauma responses people can have and the sympathy with which he does it