ragtimelime - Tumblr blog

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(a realization about dialogue formatting, from a comic artist turned novelist.)

One of the first things a novice writer learns about speech tags is that they’re part of the “scaffolding” of prose. They should be largely invisible to the reader: use them when necessary, omit them when not, and be sparing in the application of verbs other than “said”. They serve only the function of clarifying who is speaking when it is necessary to do so.

Except:

Sometimes you might want to use a speech tag in spite of the redundancy. The fact that the reader’s eyes slide right over them is an exploitable property. By slicing a line of dialogue in half with a speech tag, you can force the reader to perceive a meaningful pause between two utterances—and the effect is much stronger than you might get out of an ellipsis or an em dash. Developing an intuition for when and how to do this is a huge part of learning to write dialogue, I think.

(And yes: if you ever wondered, this is exactly same the reason why comic artists sometimes “double bubble” their speech bubbles. Same end, different means!)

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A bearcat (binturong) or as I’m going to call them, a long panda, are a species of viverrid similar to no other animal I have ever heard of but they’re basically one of those species that evolved into mustelids without being mustelids. And can look like cars, possums on in this case a scruffy long panda.

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Remember Khaliifah Marcellus Williams! A black Muslim man falsely accused. Remember that he's innocent. Remember that the governor of Missouri, mike Parson who had the opportunity to save this man's life, decided not to. Remember all but three supreme court justices decided his life wasn't worth saving either. Remember his face. Remember his Last words. And remember how fucked up this country is

Rest in peace Marcellus

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Governor Mike Parson deserves death, deserves pain, deserves not another moment of peace.

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Tumblr is a fate driven website. You can't find posts through the search function, you see them when you're meant to.

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like where did it come from i was literally doing a silly little art and craft

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water era of my art

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Devils Horns sunrise during a partial eclipse (2019) photog. Elias Chasiotis, location: Al Wakrah, Qatar

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Forced discharge of thunderclouds (a projectile with a metal cable is fired, along which a thunderstorm discharge descends)

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Me, after two seconds of genuine emotion: Okay. Enough of that. How about a little jokey joke instead.

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real interaction i had at work

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In honor of Jim Henson's birthday, Disney teamed up with The Jim Henson Company and Sesame Workshop to release this adorable crossover short featuring Jim's most iconic creations.