sleepdeprivedstoat

[sleepdeprivedstoat]

Writing Tips

Punctuating Dialogue

✧

➸ “This is a sentence.”

➸ “This is a sentence with a dialogue tag at the end,” she said.

➸ “This,” he said, “is a sentence split by a dialogue tag.”

➸ “This is a sentence,” she said. “This is a new sentence. New sentences are capitalized.”

➸ “This is a sentence followed by an action.” He stood. “They are separate sentences because he did not speak by standing.”

➸ She said, “Use a comma to introduce dialogue. The quote is capitalized when the dialogue tag is at the beginning.”

➸ “Use a comma when a dialogue tag follows a quote,” he said.

“Unless there is a question mark?” she asked.

“Or an exclamation point!” he answered. “The dialogue tag still remains uncapitalized because it’s not truly the end of the sentence.”

➸ “Periods and commas should be inside closing quotations.”

➸ “Hey!” she shouted, “Sometimes exclamation points are inside quotations.”

However, if it’s not dialogue exclamation points can also be “outside”!

➸ “Does this apply to question marks too?” he asked.

If it’s not dialogue, can question marks be “outside”? (Yes, they can.)

➸ “This applies to dashes too. Inside quotations dashes typically express—“

“Interruption” — but there are situations dashes may be outside.

➸ “You’ll notice that exclamation marks, question marks, and dashes do not have a comma after them. Ellipses don’t have a comma after them either…” she said.

➸ “My teacher said, ‘Use single quotation marks when quoting within dialogue.’”

➸ “Use paragraph breaks to indicate a new speaker,” he said.

“The readers will know it’s someone else speaking.”

➸ “If it’s the same speaker but different paragraph, keep the closing quotation off.

“This shows it’s the same character continuing to speak.”

[sleepdeprivedstoat]

what's your take on ai art

Do you think it'll take over traditional and digital artists :(

How could AI 'art' reasonably take over a commodity which by virtue of its existence is valuable purely for the context by which it's made? Even prior to the AI-surge there existed artists of extraordinary skill and output that simply lacked the artistic and cultural context to give their works the same derived-value as someone less technically-inclined. If technical skill were all that made art valuable to us, we'd have coined it a novelty centuries ago. Image generation will replace a certain category of art: the commercial, the disposable, and nothing more - and that is a monetary downturn for the artist. It's not as though companies, hell, even mid-tiered businesses ever truly lacked the means to buy and fund whatever creative projects they wished to fund prior the burgeoning of AI 'art', and though some have the vanity to try, it never, ever, works - without a discerning vision, they could generate a trillion pretty pictures and lack the eye to pick out the good from the bad between them. The value of art in a purely cultural or contextual sense has never been more significant, if not in direct opposition of this commercialization and laziness.

[sleepdeprivedstoat]

you know you've written too much fanfiction when you're trying to write a serious novel and your phone does this

[sleepdeprivedstoat]

If the Six of Crows gang were in a modern-day setting, their rap sheets would be hilariously long and utterly chaotic. (Fun version)

——————————————————————————

Kaz Brekker (AKA “Businessman”)

• Tax Fraud – Claims to be a “legitimate entrepreneur” while running an underground empire.

• Grand Theft (Everything) – Banks, casinos, entire buildings, if necessary.

• Bribery – Paid off half the city, but still walks around in a thrift store coat.

• Public Nuisance – Scares entire neighborhoods just by standing there.

• Illegal Cane Usage – Has technically “assaulted” more people with his cane than with his fists.

• Being Too Dramatic – Has definitely been arrested mid-monologue.

——————————————————————————

Inej Ghafa (AKA “The Wraith”)

• Breaking & Entering – Into every building that claims to have “high security.”

• Illegal Acrobatics – Parkour off bridges, skyscrapers, moving trains.

• Loitering on Roofs – “Ma’am, you cannot sit up there like Batman.”

• Stealing Weapons from Law Enforcement – She swipes cop batons mid-arrest for fun.

• Disappearing from Custody – “Wait, where did—? SHE WAS JUST HERE???”

——————————————————————————

Jesper Fahey (AKA “Needs Supervision”)

• Public Indecency – Lost his shirt in a poker game again.

• Illegal Gambling – Banned from casinos in 50 states, plays online under fake names.

• Unlicensed Firearm Use – “Jesper, you cannot use bullets as confetti.”

• Resisting Arrest – Runs from cops but trips over his own shoelaces.

• Property Damage – Shot the neon sign off a casino for fun.

• Jaywalking – Shoots the streetlights red so he never has to stop.

——————————————————————————

Wylan Van Eck (AKA “Professional hostage”)

• Explosives Violations – “But it was science.”

• Vandalism – Accidentally blew up a Starbucks after they got his order wrong.

• Identity Theft – “Oh, I forged that birth certificate years ago.”

• Arson – “I do not have a problem. I have results.”

• Illegal Dumping – The “dump” was a corrupt politician’s car into a river.

——————————————————————————

Nina Zenik (AKA “Officer, It’s Just a Joke”)

• Food Theft – Regularly sneaks into bakeries and leaves with more than she paid for.

• Disturbing the Peace – Convinced an entire restaurant to start a flash mob.

• Unauthorized Medical Practice – “He technically didn’t consent, but now his lungs work better.”

• Harassment – Calls Matthias “pretty” in court just to watch him suffer.

• Public Intoxication – Her arrest was just for dancing on a table—everything else was Kaz’s fault.

——————————————————————————

Matthias Helvar (AKA “Regretting His Life Choices”)

• Aiding and Abetting Criminals – “They kidnapped me, but okay.”

• Assault on an Officer – Said “don’t touch her” once and suplexed a cop.

• Illegal Pet Ownership – Tries to “adopt” every wolf at the zoo.

• Disturbing the Peace – Gets dragged into fights just because he’s tall.

• Stockholm Syndrome – “Are you a victim or an accomplice?” “…Yes.”

——————————————————————————

Bonus: Group Offenses

Conspiracy to Commit Shenanigans – The police know they’re up to something but can’t prove it.

Escaping Custody – “Kaz, I swear, if you bribe ONE MORE GUARD—”

Fraud – Kaz: “I own that building.” Cop: “No, you don’t.” Kaz: “Check again.”

Public Mischief – Jesper and Nina got arrested for making a cop car play WAP at full volume.

Trespassing – Inej has broken into the police station itself just to see if she could.

——————————————————————————

Kaz bails them out every time. Except Jesper. Jesper has to learn.

[sleepdeprivedstoat]

what if I don't wanna tho. i like the moon

EAT THE MOON

Eat the MOON dude

eat the MOON

I don't gotta explain anything

The objective could not be more clear

get up and

eat the moon

go go GO GO GO

You've always wanted to eat the moon

gO GO GO GO GO GO

[sleepdeprivedstoat]

six of crows au where everything is the same except-

[sleepdeprivedstoat]

I WILL NOT REST BEFORE I GET A SIX OF CROWS SERIES IN ARCANE ANIMATION WHO ARE WITH ME

[sleepdeprivedstoat]

Small fantasy worldbuilding elements you might want to think about:

A currency that isn’t gold-standard/having gold be as valuable as tin

A currency that runs entirely on a perishable resource, like cocoa beans

A clock that isn’t 24-hours

More or less than four seasons/seasons other than the ones we know

Fantastical weather patterns like irregular cloud formations, iridescent rain

Multiple moons/no moon

Planetary rings

A northern lights effect, but near the equator

Roads that aren’t brown or grey/black, like San Juan’s blue bricks

Jewelry beyond precious gems and metals

Marriage signifiers other than wedding bands

The husband taking the wife's name / newlyweds inventing a new surname upon marriage

No concept of virginity or bastardry

More than 2 genders/no concept of gender

Monotheism, but not creationism

Gods that don’t look like people

Domesticated pets that aren’t re-skinned dogs and cats

Some normalized supernatural element that has nothing to do with the plot

Magical communication that isn’t Fantasy Zoom

“Books” that aren’t bound or scrolls

A nonverbal means of communicating, like sign language

A race of people who are obligate carnivores/ vegetarians/ vegans/ pescatarians (not religious, biological imperative)

I’ve done about half of these myself in one WIP or another and a little detail here or there goes a long way in reminding the audience that this isn’t Kansas anymore.

[sleepdeprivedstoat]

'he would not fucking say that' maybe he would if he knew he was starring in his very own porn fic for the sole purpose of delighting some freaks on archive of our own dot org. maybe he'd play it up for the cameras. ever consider that

[sleepdeprivedstoat]

sometimes you need dialogue tags and don't want to use the same four

[sleepdeprivedstoat]

You know what I love about miraculous?

Most shows like that have huge stakes. The goal is to save the world, to save a whole group of people, to stop the end of existence, etc.

But the entire point of miraculous is to save a single person.

The only reason the Wish is bad is because of the consequences. For every action there is an equal reaction. Stop a natural disaster, another one happens in its place. Make someone talented, someone else's talent is taken. Bring someone back to life, and someone else will die.

If Gabriel brought back Emilie, someone else would die. That is the singular thing powering Marinette and Adrien through all of that. Because one person. One. Person. Will die.

Granted, they didn't know that was what Gabriel would use the wish for. It's almost ironic, really. They put in so much effort, destroyed Paris multiple times, all in an effort to save some random stranger. But still, when Marinette found out, she didn't waver. Not really.

It says a lot about the show. The stakes weren't that high. The casualties would be one, singular. It is different from so many other shows, and it's one of the things that makes it so much a masterpiece.

[sleepdeprivedstoat]

does anyone wanna hold hands until we feel a little braver

[sleepdeprivedstoat]

Inej is the quiet girl in the back that's actually really good once you put her on stage, she's mostly used for the ensemble stuff (because she does acrobatics)

Kaz joined with her but mostly because it looks good on a college application

Six of Crows is like if you put a bunch of theatre kids in a room and gave them trauma and also weapons

[sleepdeprivedstoat]

Choosing to think of this as a DnD campaign makes this a million times funnier

Your uncle says to you "I'm the one who got your parents together. It was a hard dungeon raid and-". Your father interrupts "I HAD TO PERFORM SO MANY HEALINGS ON THIS MAN THAT I AM ON A FIRST NAME BASIS WITH THE GODDESS! THAT'S HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER!"

[sleepdeprivedstoat]

so i hold you to my knife

[sleepdeprivedstoat]

bright...

[sleepdeprivedstoat]

don't think I've seen this posted here before, which sucks bc this piece goes HARD