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girls don’t want boys, girls want a collection of ancient daggers, a gothic castle with secret passages, isolated from civilization and surrounded by an intricate forest inhabited by wild creatures to befriend at will, a labyrinth-library filled with rare and dangerous volumes, a hidden garden where strange flowers with no name can grow untamed, ridiculously long flowing velvet and silk robes, a nice divan-window spot on which to read, write and watch thunderstorms from, unlimited wifi, perfect eyeliner wings and maybe a pet panther

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Be strong, saith my heart; I am a soldier. I have seen worst sights than this.

The Iliad

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These tips are for novel-writing, but absolutely apply to script-writing as well… Take note!

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MAVEN CALORE

“Strength, power, death,” Maven murmurs, his teeth clicking. The words scared me then, and they terrify me now. “What do you suggest, my lady? A beheading? A firing squad? Do we take her apart, piece by piece?”

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Victoria Aveyard talks WAR STORM ending + balancing fan expectations with the demands of story

“On the one hand, you sort of honor expectations, but you don’t want to bore an audience either. And I find that if audiences are spoon-fed something, it can get boring. It’s sort of like having a full meal vs. having dessert, like you’re really gonna enjoy that dessert, but you’re not gonna feel satisfied. So hopefully I gave a meal and the dessert. And I think a lot of this was also giving myself permission to know that I’m gonna leave some things in the air. There will be some threads that are not tied together. It’s already really long. It was gonna slow down the story. And I want to get to the stuff that’s really important. And if some things are left up in the air, some things are left up in the air. Hopefully there’s closure, but hopefully there’s also some open ends for whatever happens down the road. And I think a lot of readers appreciate when there is more for them to kind of live into when the books are over. And I think it makes the world feel more real and organic if you feel like the world still exists even without these characters or without this story, that something else is still going on. 

“When I was in school, one of my professors gave us this great note about worldbuilding, which is, you feel like the story is real, you feel like the world is real when you’re watching a scene and you feel like you can look away from the characters and open a door and then something else is going on. So hopefully that’s the way that people feel at the end of this. These people and this actual storyline has closure, and the arc has finished its path, but there’s other things still happening. It doesn’t poof out of existence. 

“Readers ask you how much of reader input do you take into stories. And I would say I definitely think most writers do, we listen, we wanna know when we’re doing something wrong, we’re really open to constructive criticism. But as far as the actual core storyline and the core arcs, I don’t think there’s anything I’d ever change because of what readers said. Maybe I’ve included more screen time with someone because characters like them and are responding to them. There’s also been times where I’m like I really know that this is gonna mess with readers, so I’m gonna do this. A particular character who everyone disliked in the first book, I was very excited knowing down the line I was gonna make them like her. That was always really a fun turn for me to see. And now she’s a fan favorite, I felt very proud of myself. 

“Story always comes first. But at the same time, I’m an entertainer, that’s my job. The worst thing that someone can say to me is ‘Your book was boring.’ I don’t care if you say like, ‘I didn’t like the ending’ or ‘This upset me’ or ‘This was predictable.’ If you had fun in the moment and you weren’t really thinking about it and you escaped for two hours, I’ve done my job, and I’m happy with that. That’s the thing that matters to me more than anything else. 

“I’m absolutely one of these people where I go into the fandoms I love, in the books I love, and I’m like ‘I want these people to be happy’ and ‘I want this one to leave.’ But I knew for the story that this was the best choice as much as it hurt me. Knowing it from the other side, it’s difficult. Especially in adventure stories, fantasy, sci-fi, and some historical fiction as well, there’s a price to be paid, especially when you’re writing about war and you’re writing about great conflict. None of it will seem true or seem worth it if there wasn’t a price paid. It’s really difficult to finish up a story like this and have everyone happy and everyone damaged and everyone alive too. It’s like, ‘Okay, we made it through, but there was no cause.’ It seemed like there was gonna be a cause, and it kind of invalidates everything that came before because there was no danger, and you always want your audience to be worried.”

*****

“‘You’re Team Maven or you’re Team Cal?’ And I always say Team Mare. And a lot of people - and I didn’t notice at the time, but afterwards - interpreted of me being dismissive of fans who care about these characters, who care about the romance. And I’m like I didn’t even think of that, I’m just trying not to give you guys a spoiler because if I tell you what team I’m on, obviously, that’s gonna tell you a big thing. So I’m just trying not to give you any information.”     

Transcript by me Listen to the full interview here.  

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WAR STORM by Victoria Aveyard: The Ugly Truth Book Review

Hey guys. So I'm making all this because I think of most of you are just disappointed with what happened with War Storm, the 4th and final book to the Red Queen series.

Just so you know I posted all this blurb on Wikia last night as anonymous but I think it's worth talking about here in Tumblr. Because again, all fandoms exist here.

I’m not asking anyone to agree with me, but if you think everything makes sense, then please REBLOG or SHARE so others can UNDERSTAND as well.

War Storm just showed the ugly truths no one wants to write about.

I've been reading the whole series for four years. And we all know how difficult it is for readers like us to wait another year just to know what happens next. So when you guys say that you aren't satisfied with War Storm, I completely agree.

After I read the whole thing, I somewhat felt how useless it has become to even read the whole series to begin with. Red Queen existed because of the war. Mare and the rest of the characters were set into motion because of the war.

THE WHOLE THING IS ABOUT THE WAR.

So for War Storm to have an open ending like that, without the war officially ending?

Yes, it sucks.

But remember this is our point of view.

We, as readers who went through all the books, read through chapters of planning and talking about the war, think it sucks. And that's understandable because we all wanted an ending where the war actually ends. After everything we all have been through, we are sick and tired of planning and talking about it and we all just wanted it to finally end.

But again, this is our point of view. OUR READER POINT OF VIEW.

Now let's go to a different point of view. THE PRAGMATIST AND REALITY CHECK POINT OF VIEW.

We all know for a fact that wars don't really end, right?Like c'mon guys just look around you. Even in the world we live in now, wars are still ongoing, may it be cold or not. We don't even need to talk about it. BECAUSE WE SEE IT.

So what do you expect? OF COURSE THE WAR WILL NEVER END.

Victoria was just writing the truth. I can't speak for her but that's how I see it.

Apart from the whole series rooted on war, we get to see so many ugly truths we all try to ignore because we can't bear to even read it.

Cal and Maven were fighting for the throne because they were both raised for it. Mare wasn't even enough to take that away, like Maven said. Because let's be honest, when you've worked so hard for something in your life, for ALL of your life, do you just throw it away because some girl just enters the picture? NO, OF COURSE NOT.

And let's keep in mind that they are Silvers. LOVE ISN'T THEIR VALUE. IT'S STRENGTH AND POWER. Don't for a second think that love will always win over everything. Because it certainly didn't win at the end of War Storm. If you don't believe me, again look around you. Divorce rates are spiraling upwards, people break up over the most inconsequential things. The only constant thing we all fight for is money. BECAUSE THAT'S HOW WE SURVIVE. JUST LIKE HOW SILVERS SURVIVE ON STRENGTH AND POWER. WE CLING TO WHAT WOULD MAKE US SURVIVE.

The world is a cruel place and that's what War Storm showed. It’ll always be about the survival of the fittest. That never changed since forever.

So yes, we can all complain about the ending but sometimes we have to try and perceive.

We have to look at a different angle and perspective because that's our flaw as well. We don't realize it but we should.

The war didn't end. But just because it didn't, does it mean everything that happened was pointless?

NO.

You guys answer why.

PART 2: MARE, CAL, AND MAVEN

Also I'm adding to that what happened with Mare and the others.

Let's admit we all hate her at some point. If you didn't hate her by the end of War Storm, I did. But again, we need to see different angles to it.

I know we're all thinking:

1. Cal gave up the crown, told Mare "I'm what you want me to be". And yet they didn't end up together?!

Okay that is infuriating. Not because I'm Team Maven through and through, but because I hated the fact that Cal sacrificed everything he worked for for his entire life and in the end, it looked like it was all for nothing. Like Mare, seriously?! YOU WANTED CAL TO CHOOSE YOU BUT YOU CAN'T CHOOSE HIM IN THE END.

That's another infuriating choice. But again, let's try to look at it at a pragmatist/reality check POV. Mare still chose her cause and her blood before Cal. That's why she wanted a country with no monarchy and Silver kings ruling it. So yes, IT WAS CAUSE OVER CAL EVEN THROUGH THE END. Can we blame her for it? Maybe not.

And then there's the "We need time to heal and rebuild" thing, courtesy of Maven. Let's be realistic to this out of respect for Maven's character. Cal and Maven grew up together. Maven did everything he could to keep Mare. Just because he's gone, it doesn't mean he didn't leave a deep wound on them. In fact the whole series wouldn't have been so complex and twisted if it wasn't for him. IF IT WAS THAT EASY TO MOVE ON, THEN WE READERS WOULDN'T HAVE BEEN ALL HERE TALKING ABOUT IT.

2. Maven. Was that a Tris Prior thing?

People are telling Victoria not to pull a Veronica Roth when RQ came out. I'm not trying to criticize out of hate, but I just want to be objective. Tris died because of a gunshot when the whole Divergent series was about people chasing and shooting at her. Unjustified death? Definitely.

But not for Maven.

If you just try to read in between the lines, you'd notice that maybe Maven actually wanted it. He wanted to die by Mare's hands without the fire and the electricity. Just both of them so bare and vulnerable and very��human within the cages of the Stone. And there's definitely a lot symbolism to it.

Maven found comfort within the Stone because he knew whatever he did was of his choice. Not Elara's or anyone's. Just like how he was comforted and satisfied by the fact that it was Mare who killed him.

Mare made him feel alive and not alone. And in the end, he was glad that he still felt it when Mare killed him. He was winning against Mare during that fight. But he finally decided to choose Mare, even after he countlessly said in his POVs that he'll choose himself if it ever came to the point that they would be killing each other.

He chose Mare.

Justified death? I think yes.

Also, if you think there wasn’t any redemption from Maven, think about it again.

There's a bit of redemption from Maven even if he was fighting with Mare til the end. We all know he's broken beyond repair but look at his last line. He said, "I tried, Mare." And obviously he did try because he's winning that fight. He wasn't stupid. He could've snatched the knife out of her hand from his vantage point. And he could've dodged Mare's attack because he was on top of her. He could easily avoid the knife. But he allowed Mare to win and in the end he was satisfied he died by her hands.

Now people are saying, why didn't Victoria just write it clear how Maven exactly died? Aka where he was stabbed, how did he look, what was his last moments when Mare couldn't see it anymore?

Well, it's Maven Calore. He'll always be a mystery even after his death. And I don't think you can really give justice to that if Victoria just wrote it plainly. As an author, I think she felt fear at least and anxiety. Let's all just leave it at that because it doesn't exactly change anything if we know the clear details of it.

And with Maven's twisted mind? I don't think he'd want us to know either.

He'd want us to think about him forever. Just like how he did with Cal and Mare.

So if that means leaving a big puzzle with so many missing pieces, then that’s what we get.

As a reader, I would've wanted at least to know more about how Mare felt about it. I feel like it would've add a bit more justice to him if Victoria elaborated on how Mare felt and not just graze through the motion when Mare found out he's dead.

Also, it would've had more impact if Mare actually did see the body. But again, we can't expect we'd get all the missing pieces. Sometimes it's better left that way.

AND DON'T EVER FORGET WHAT MAVEN SAID TO MARE.

It won't end here. You can drag my corpse across the world, and it won't end any of this.

ENOUGH SAID. HE'LL ALWAYS BE "THE ONE WHO UNDERSTANDS".

PART 3: MAVEN AND SYMBOLISM

If you want me to elaborate more on the symbolism, then you can continue on. But if nah, you're good then that's fine too.

So I've said before that Maven found comfort within the cages of the Silent Stone. Again, there's a lot of symbolism behind this one because we all know King's Cage and what happened when Mare was in captivity. During those times she was under the Stone, Maven has built a cage for her because it made him feel as if Mare was his.

So for them to fight within another Silent Stone cage in War Storm? It made Maven feel Mare was his. Like his said, Mine. During those moments where both of them were vulnerable, he felt alive and satisfied to be bare with her. Because for one, brief moment again, he laid out a part of himself that was real and truly him until the very last time he looked at her. 

He said many times before that they were both alone. So yes, they were both alone. Together. Again if you guys read closely, he said, We can still run. Together.

Obviously there are a lot of implied meanings behind what he said.

The fact that Evangeline ran to Montfort and left behind everything, meant that Maven was ready to leave everything behind just to be with Mare again. He knew he had lost the war and there’s nothing else left for him. For one last time, he tried.

And let’s not forget they were inside the Silent Stone cage/room.

Everything Maven said and did with her was of his own choice.

He died, letting Mare win because he knew his last try will never work.

But at least he was satisfied.

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Making your First Short Film: A Creative Angle

Part 4

A lot has been said about how to scrap together your very first short film on a shoestring budget. Film school or no film school, it’s easier than ever to get out there and tell your story. Placing aside the more abundantly-discussed technical rules of making amateur shorts, here’s a step-by-step guide on how to approach your first film creatively.

SHOOTING IT: Staying Creative on Set (Part 4/5)

A film set represents a coming-together of many disparate efforts in (ideally) perfect sync. It’s highly technical, stringently scheduled, and to the unpracticed young filmmaker, it can be an overwhelming process. It’s easy to forget in the whirlwind of shooting that film is still a creative medium and your goal isn’t just to “get the shot” but to create a piece of art. For your first short film, it is essential to learn how to step back, take a breath, and find your creative center. 

Keep reading

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I know I loved him for a reason. Not in the way he loves her, but in that way I’m aware we understand there’s nothing more tragic than to survive without control. We can’t forge the path for ourselves. We can only step on where the footprints are. And it doesn’t mean anything. Not when we’re only behind someone else’s shadow. We try to forget the truth but it’s spat our directly to our faces, hitting bull’s eye.

We are naked, bare and vulnerable for the world to speculate.

We know, no matter how much we clothe ourselves, that our skin isn’t a layer to hide the bones beneath. It is a proof we are ruin and ashes when burnt.

The truth burns. And when it sears our skin, the lies no longer matter. They can no longer protect us like the way we think.

I loved him. It is a truth. So now I’m burning for it.

-- Gavrin King, Excerpt #2 from The Ignavis

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They say in life, we have a choice. We have control to our free will and our hands are tainted with colors we want. But in all blunt candidness, the truth burns. So we search for lies as fire extinguishers, blowing up the place to mask what has been flaming there.

Gavrin King, Excerpt #1 from The Ignavis

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Living Room Song - The Wonder Years

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they say words dripped from their tongues like honey but the poison buds cloaked in that golden silk bloom in their throats and what comes out of their deathly mouths cannot be trusted.

they sucked out the marrow of life, they cracked the bone open and ate the core, like vultures, like scavengers, desperate birds of prey.

they were gods, yes. but they were deader than anything. tennyson, dickinson, eliot, all dead like the eye of the storm—insentient but tearing through homes and wrecking the furniture.

they were gods unto themselves, a spiel of empty praise, an altar of the self. their arsenic mouths and their glazed eyes. their bodies stink of the incense of their worshipers, blood and bone and cold sweat.

they will all leave in time. and others will take their place. the passage of time wears away the last of us. the new becomes old and becomes new once more, again and again, ad infinitum.

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Accurate.

“I’m afraid to fall in love with you because writers always kill their darlings.”

— The One Liners // #164

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So I'm currently doing.

Seize the day my friends

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Write Your Novel In A Year – Week 35: 3 Must-Have Scenes That Reveal Character

Welcome to week 35 of Anthony’s series that aims to help you write a novel in a year. Read last week’s post here.

Goal setting

Write the three key character scenes for your novel.

Breaking it down 1.  The monogram scene

In elegant days gone by, characters would emerge from the bathroom or boudoir wearing a monogrammed robe – it was usually white or a rich velvet affair.

In much the same way, you have to give your main characters a scene or two that ‘marks’ them as individuals – interesting characters we may want to follow in the story as readers. These scenes must show who that character is at their very essence.

It helps if you can find a brief description or key words that ‘nail’ that character. For example, my antagonist, Monty could be described as: rich, entitled, narcissistic.  OK, great – how do you show that in a scene?

For this scene, I have Monty flash his credit card to pay for drinks at a downtown club, only to have it declined, which sends him into an abusive rage with the waiter. He points out that the shoes he’s got on cost more than the waiter’s monthly salary. Hopefully, it shows him for what he is – a rich kid who likes to get his own way.

2.  The momentum scene

Have you ever agreed to go on a blind date? There’s usually a build-up of anticipation, the date itself – it’s usually awkward and anticlimactic – and then the aftermath of the date.

Once your character has made a decision, whether a big decision or a small decision, they need to act on it – with careful deliberation or rash impulsiveness. The first could be the decision to go to gym to lose weight, the second is to eat half a chocolate cake at two in the morning.

It could be a moral decision or a life-and-death decision. It doesn’t matter. Here’s your chance to show your character – with all their strengths, flaws, anger or sense of humour – doing something.

Whatever your character decides, the natural flow of story dictates that they have to act on that decision. This gives you a chance to show your character signing up for gym, struggling to programme the treadmill, feeling foolish in their new gym gear, etc.

The point is you can’t have a character decide something and then they accomplish it in a few paragraphs. What a let down for the reader – and no fun for you as a writer!

You have to build up to that decision, tease it out in a scene, and show what comes after. It’s about moving things forward – building momentum. It’s the basic principle of scene structure: build tension and then release it.

3.  The glimpse scene

The one thing that can destroy a story is if we don’t believe the characters are real – if they seem too slick, too perfect, or too invincible, we don’t have anything for the reader to relate to. We always need a glimpse into their humanity. Just a glimpse. That’s all.

As a writer, ask: How will the readers find themselves in this character? How will they connect with this character and start to believe this character is real?  It doesn’t matter if your character is a superhero or a soccer mom – we need that connection.

A glimpse could be the ruthless tycoon who weeps when he learns his favourite Alsatian attack dog has been poisoned. It could be the doting mother who, over one too many wine spritzers, wistfully confesses to her neighbour that she dreams of running away. Show fears, secrets, flaws, all those things that make us human.

Timelock — 3 to 6 hours

Spend an hour or two on each of these key scenes.

5 Quick Hacks

List your own bad habits – from smoking to procrastination. Is there a way to give one of these to your character?

Write about what your character does when no one is looking – imagine you’re a fly on the wall.

Write a monogram scene for a character from a favourite TV series.

List as many key words that describe your character as possible. Then cross out all the uninteresting ones until you have only three or four.

Write about the one decision your character always regrets making. Why do they regret it?

Pin it, quote it, believe it:

‘You invent and control characters. You decide whether they live or die.’ — Sidney Sheldon

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Our Spacecraft Have Discovered a New Magnetic Process in Space

Just as gravity is one key to how things move on Earth, a process called magnetic reconnection is key to how electrically-charged particles speed through space. Now, our Magnetospheric Multiscale mission, or MMS, has discovered magnetic reconnection – a process by which magnetic field lines explosively reconfigure – occurring in a new and surprising way near Earth.

Invisible to the eye, a vast network of magnetic energy and particles surround our planet — a dynamic system that influences our satellites and technology. The more we understand the way those particles move, the more we can protect our spacecraft and astronauts both near Earth and as we explore deeper into the solar system.

Earth’s magnetic field creates a protective bubble that shields us from highly energetic particles that stream in both from the Sun and interstellar space. As this solar wind bathes our planet, Earth’s magnetic field lines get stretched. Like elastic bands, they eventually release energy by snapping and flinging particles in their path to supersonic speeds.

That burst of energy is generated by magnetic reconnection. It’s pervasive throughout the universe — it happens on the Sun, in the space near Earth and even near black holes.

Scientists have observed this phenomenon many times in Earth’s vast magnetic environment, the magnetosphere. Now, a new study of data from our MMS mission caught the process occurring in a new and unexpected region of near-Earth space. For the first time, magnetic reconnection was seen in the magnetosheath — the boundary between our magnetosphere and the solar wind that flows throughout the solar system and one of the most turbulent regions in near-Earth space.

The four identical MMS spacecraft — flying through this region in a tight pyramid formation — saw the event in 3D. The arrows in the data visualization below show the hundreds of observations MMS took to measure the changes in particle motion and the magnetic field.

The data show that this event is unlike the magnetic reconnection we’ve observed before. If we think of these magnetic field lines as elastic bands, the ones in this region are much smaller and stretchier than elsewhere in near-Earth space — meaning that this process accelerates particles 40 times faster than typical magnetic reconnection near Earth. In short, MMS spotted a completely new magnetic process that is much faster than what we’ve seen before.

What’s more, this observation holds clues to what’s happening at smaller spatial scales, where turbulence takes over the process of mixing and accelerating particles. Turbulence in space moves in random ways and creates vortices, much like when you mix milk into coffee. The process by which turbulence energizes particles in space is still a big area of research, and linking this new discovery to turbulence research may give insights into how magnetic energy powers particle jets in space.

Keep up with the latest discoveries from the MMS mission: @NASASun on Twitter and Facebook.com/NASASunScience.

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com.