snowwritings

[snowwritings]

So quite a while ago I discovered my account was shut down by tumblr. I was given no reason or word at all abiut it and was not aware until I attempted to log in after a break. It took nine months for support to finally send me an automated response to my inquiry of my account. After again asking why it was taken down my account was restored afte rtelling me it found nothing wrong.

Okay.

Not sure what happened but my avatar was removed by them? Haha it was a literal snowflake with the blog's name.

I must have been hacked?

That aside things look the same around here. Fun to see all the cool art out there again.

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Adorable

Wait going to post a bunch of old fanart ahhh

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TRANS FUCKING RIGHTS BABY!

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TRANS FUCKING RIGHTS BABY!

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i am so, so glad you guys are loving my trans lesbian daughter aisha bhatt as much as i do! it was really important to me to be able to write a love interest who was both trans and gay, and it was also really important to me to have a flashback moment where we meet her at the very beginning of her transition. so many trans people, including myself, have the experience of desperately wanting to transition but feeling like it’s pointless to even think about it because they’ll never “pass,” let alone be considered beautiful, as their true gender. like, so much of your self-worth is wrapped up in whether or not you look like a cis person! and it shouldn’t be like that!!

so, with the college flashback scene, where we meet aisha for the first time on her first night on the town presenting as a woman, i was very specific in my notes to pixelberry’s art team: like, this is essentially Day One for aisha, she still has pretty short hair, her makeup is gonna be modest because she doesn’t have a ton of experience applying it yet, and she’s not exactly “passing” perfectly, but that doesn’t matter! fuck that! what matters is that she’s finally getting to be who she is and she’s radiantly happy about it and her friends are behind her 110%! and she’s taken her first step on this road and she’s gonna continue on that road and we will meet her again in adulthood as an exquisite butch in a leather jacket and a cool pixie cut. 

anyway!! i can’t wait for you all to get to know aisha on this wild vegas journey. for those of you who aren’t in the choices fandom already, you can download the choices: stories you play app on the app store and click on “bachelorette party” to meet her!!

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HAPPY PRIDE MONTH!🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈

[snowwritings]

RULE #1: Use them sparingly.

Comparisons draw attention to themselves, like a single red tulip in a sea of yellow ones. They take the reader out of the scene for a moment, while you describe something that isn’t in it, like you’re pushing them out of the story. They require more thought than normal descriptions, as they ask the reader to think about the comparison, like an essay question in the middle of a multiple choice test. They make the image stand out, give it importance, a badge of honor of sorts.

Use too many comparisons and they become tedious. 

Elevating every single description is like ending each sentence with an exclamation point. Eventually, the reader decides no one could possibly shout this much, and starts ignoring them. 

For these reasons, you should only use metaphorical language when you really want to make an image stand out. Save them for important moments. 

RULE #2: Use comparisons that fit into the world of your story.

If you’re writing from the point of view of a character who’s only ever lived in a desert, having that character say, “her look was as cold as snow” doesn’t make much sense. That character isn’t likely to have experienced snow, so it wouldn’t be a reference point to them. They’d be more likely to compare the look to a “moonless desert night” or something along those lines.

Using a comparison that ties to the character’s history or the setting of the story also do work to build the world of the story. It gives you a chance to show the reader exactly what your character’s reference points are, and builds the story’s world. If your reader doesn’t know that desert nights can get cold, this comparison informs both the things its describing: the other character’s look and the desert at night. 

Here’s a metaphor from The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy:

If you took a couple of David Bowies and stuck one of the David Bowies on the top of the other David Bowie, then attached another David Bowie to the end of each of the arms of the upper of the first two David Bowies and wrapped the whole business up in a dirty beach robe you would then have something which didn’t exactly look like John Watson, but which those who knew him would find hauntingly familiar.

He was tall and he was gangled.

This is a bizarre comparison, but it’s also a bizarre story. What’s more, David Bowie is known for his persona “Ziggy Stardust” and songs like “Space Oddity.” Bringing him up in a book about a man from Earth traversing the galaxy makes sense. What’s more it increases both of those aspects of the story: its ties to space and its bizarre-ness. The comparison unifies the story and the language being used to tell the story. 

Using comparisons that fit into the world ensures that everything is working to help tell the story you want to tell.

RULE #3: Match the tone to the thing being described. 

Or, match it to the way you want the thing being described to come across. It has to match what you want the reader to feel about the thing being described. 

Here’s an example from Mental Floss’s “18 Metaphors & Analogies Found in Actual Student Papers” (although I think it’s actually from a bad metaphor writing contest):

She had a deep, throaty, genuine laugh, like that sound a dog makes just before it throws up.

You’re not imagining a laugh right now, are you? You’re imagining a dog throwing up. Whoever this girl is, you’re going to make sure never to tell a joke in front of her.

This is not getting the right point across. 

Remember the David Bowies? Remember how the comparison was fun and bizarre, just like the tone of the book is fun and bizarre? 

This is not David Bowies stacked on top of one another. 

It’s not enough for a comparison to be accurate. It has to bring about the same emotions as the thing it’s describing. 

If this is being told from the point of view of a character who hates the laughing character and we’re supposed to hate her and her laugh. It actually does work, but from the use of the word “genuine,” I don’t think this is the case. 

Make sure you always pay attention to the tone of the comparison. 

RULE #4: Keep them simple.

Don’t use a comparison that requires too much thought on the reader’s part. You never want anyone sparing even a moment on the question: “but how is x like y?”

Here’s another example from that Mental Floss list: 

Long separated by cruel fate, the star-crossed lovers raced across the grassy field toward each other like two freight trains, one having left Cleveland at 6:36 p.m. traveling at 55 mph, the other from Topeka at 4:19 p.m. at a speed of 35 mph.

Again, this is a humorous example. It’s supposed to be bad, but many writers have made mistakes like it. They choose two images that don’t have enough in common for the reader to make an easy and obvious comparison between the two. Sometimes, the writer subconsciously acknowledges this, and expands the comparison to a paragraph, detailing the ways the two things are alike. 

If you find yourself doing this, take a step back and ask yourself if this is really the best comparison to be using. The best comparisons are the simple ones. All the world’s a stage. Conscience is a man’s compass. Books are the mirrors of the soul. 

What about that David Bowie quote, you ask? Douglas Adams broke this rule, but he broke it purposefully to get that bizarre quality to the language. He still avoids reader confusion, the reason for this rule, by bringing the comparison back to its point at the end: “he was tall and he was gangled.”

RULE #5: Avoid cliches. 

The best comparisons are fresh ones. No one wants to hear that she had “skin as white as snow” and lips “as red as roses” anymore. The slight understanding it brings to the description isn’t worth the reader’s groans when they realize you just made them read that again. 

A cliche is a waste of space on the page. It’s not going to be the memorable line you want it to be. It’s not going to awe the reader. 

Good similes in metaphors require some creative thinking. 

In the vein of rosy lips and snow-colored skin, here’s a fun example from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. It’s the poem that Ginny wrote for Harry on Valentine’s Day:

His eyes are as green as a fresh pickled toad,

His hair is as dark as a blackboard. 

I wish he was mine, he’s really divine, 

The hero who conquered the Dark Lord.

These aren’t comparisons you’re like to have come across before and their originality comes from rules #2 and #3. Rowling needed comparisons that fit in Ginny’s frame of reference. She also needed comparisons that were humorously bad, as they’re being recited by a grumpy creature dressed in a diaper, who is sitting on Harry’s ankles, forcing him to listen. 

As a witch at school, blackboards and fresh pickled toads fit Ginny’s frame of reference. Neither are particularly known for being nice to look at, so they fit the tone, too. 

Using her character, setting, and tone, using, in other words, her story, Rowling was able to create similes that are unique and memorable. 

It’s the same thing Adams did with his Bowie analogy. 

If you, too, use your story to inform your language, writing new and wonderful similes and metaphors should be just as simple. 

[snowwritings]

Happy Trans Day of Visability!

Happy trans day of visibility to all of the trans women: you are so loved 💖

Happy trans day of visibility to all of the trans men: you are so loved 💖

Happy trans day of visibility to all of the trans people: you are so loved 💖

Happy trans day of visibility to all of the nonbinary people: you are so loved 💖

Happy trans day of visibility to all of the trans people who are out: you are so loved 💖

Happy trans day of visibility to all of the trans people who are not out: you are so loved 💖

Happy trans day of visibility to all of the disabled trans people / trans people with disabilities: you are so loved 💖

Happy trans day of visibility to all of the trans people who use mobility aids: you are so loved 💖

Happy trans day of visibility to all of the trans people with chronic illnesses: you are so loved 💖

Happy trans day of visibility to all of the trans people with chronic pain: you are so loved 💖

Happy trans day of visibility to all of the trans people of colour: you are so loved 💖

Happy trans day of visibility to all of the trans and nonbinary and gender-nonconforming and agender and genderqueer and all non-cis people: you are so loved 💖✨💕🌟

[snowwritings]

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My last brain cell is heart shaped

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I think you nailed it on the head. It certainly had issues, like the stuff with your religion choice and the lazy re-use of MC faces and the now regular forced male LI, but I agree everyone was certainly ready to jump on that bandwagon for multiple reasons.

Unpopular opinion: despite it's more serious issues, I actually enjoyed home for the holidays. I just took it for what it was worth. Plus I really liked Holly. She is gorgeous and I did not find her boring at all.

I’m neutral on this one, I’m not sure if it was actually a terrible book or we all just collectively agreed and followed along with what the majority said because if you disagree with everyone, well…

I only wish they used better MC’s faces instead of recycled love hacks ones

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Some examples of why the Oxford comma is generally a good idea

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Little tribute to the rover that’s had me emotional all day… RIP Oppy.

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see you space cowboy

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Good job, little rover. Good job. ;_;

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I kept myself from writing my own original fiction for a long time because I worried so much about not writing “like other writers”.

I’d read an amazing book and want to make a reader feel all the things I was feeling, but then decided “well, there’s no way I can write like THAT” and whatever inspiration I had would die.

Listen. You don’t have to write like other writers. You have to write like YOU.

No one can write the way you can, because your voice belongs to you and only you.

I finally stopped listening to the voice that told me I shouldn’t write because I wouldn’t be as good as other writers. And when I did, I wrote a book in a little over a month.

Write the stories that you would want to read. Write the stories that you’ve been hiding in your heart.

Write them, because no one else can.

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Literally no one who follows me is going to know what this means, but HBomberguy, a Youtuber known for Video Essays about pop culture and gaming made a promise that he would live stream himself playing Donkey Kong 64, in its entirety (including picking up every single banana) and all money would go to a UK charity for trans youth (Mermaids) and his initial goal was $3,000 and now it’s been 26 hours into the stream and he’s already over $51k. I just need people to know about this https://m.twitch.tv/hbomberguy