#* rules resource

[frankiebirds]

I'm surprised by the amount of people who think Reid is being serious here:

given the expressions immediately after:

where reid very clearly smiles and looks to see hotch's reaction (because he has daddy issues). and hotch almost looks like he's trying not to smile. or that he thinks the joke is bad. hard to tell

also, dowd says it himself:

you could maybe argue that reid didn't hear him say that because at the time he was laying in the hallway after getting hit in the head with the gun, but that doesn't really matter. it's not like this is a revelation.

also:

I doubt Hotch would have Reid hang on to his gun if he genuinely thought Reid had shot a man in the head while aiming for his leg, especially because aiming for his leg would have been a terrible idea in the first place.

[bonebrokebuddy]

I get that this is due to people not read comics but, if you want a fun lighthearted batfam dynamic, I cannot recommend enough putting your story and characters in the Silver Ages. I see so much fanon material that would fit in this setting perfectly and it pains me that it’s not more popular or well known.

If you don’t know what the silver age of comics is, I’d recommend checking out this article!

And here for the 1956 Comics Code Authority.

It might not be in continuity anymore but the silver ages were such a large era of comics that defined the characters. And the format & restrictions of the silver ages allows you to easily bypass several common issues folks have with plots. In modern comics, there’s constant interpersonal drama because there has to be, if you resolve all those issues then you can’t sell more comics & they lose a lot of tension.

But due to the Comic Code Authority that is no longer an issue!

Randomly ignoring a dark past that makes connection between characters difficult [the poor aging of Jason’s bag of heads making it difficult for him to reunite with the rest of the batfam, for example] because it doesn’t fit with the theme you want?:

Comics are episodic in this era. Think of it like a early 2000s TV show. Things that happened in past comics/episodes often won’t affect the current story at all as the setting resets to default at the start of every comic. Additionally, literally all gore, torture, or explicit descriptions of murder is banned due to CCA restrictions, so you can choose to have it simply never have happened!

Characters that don’t fit at all in a story but you want a crossover for?:

The Silver Ages had SO MANY crossovers of heroes solely bc it sold comics. How compatible they are doesn’t matter in the slightest. The thinnest of reasons why they met works perfectly. You can even just have the characters know each other already and go “I know who can help me with this case! [Insert character you want here]! I met them in my last trip to Antarctica!” You only need maybe one sentence, two if you’re feeling frisky, to explain why they met and then you’re free to run wild.

Want a character to randomly acquire a superpower or meet a long lost cousin they have for one comic and then it’s never mentioned again?

I cannot state how frequently this happens. Silver Age comics were pretty much written cover first. Meaning the cover was made and the story was written after with the philosophy of “if my comic cover is more bizzare and eye catching then kids will buy it!” Like, there are multiple comics where Superman’s head got turned into an ant and Batman gets powers practically every other World’s Finest issue. Like it’s not even an “au” to do these things. That’s just what the Silver Ages were like.

Comic science and comic physics run rampant as well as bizarre villains! You can have so much fun with this!! Heroes often play the straight-man in bizarre scenarios with over-the-top villains in this era, making that aspect shine brightly can make for an inherently funny plot. You could either keep it fun and light or turn it into a psychological horror as the characters realize they can’t disobey the CCA code and have to follow a specific plot.

Also the restrictions of the CCA at the time would also help create some fun and unique plots if you wanted to keep the plot time-period accurate.

There’s a lot of restrictions but there are still many ways to create conflict in your fic! Plenty can come from the CCA directly!

Canon or HC LGBT+ characters could be pressured to not come out or face tremendous backlash. Time accurate homophobia, essentially.

McCarthyism and paranoia ran wild. Oh no someone suspected your blorbo of being a communist/socialist and now it’s ruining their life!

Characters dealing with how the CCA’s restrictions/their reality is inherently bigoted and can’t be themselves. (See: comics on topics of racial & religious prejudice aren’t allowed, characters can’t speak in “slang” or “vulgar language” and “good grammar” is emphasized (often targeting minorities), and the sanctity of family must be respected (no divorce, no queer people).

Also! Crazy over-the-top villains with deadly stakes are played with a lighthearted tone. Play it straight and suddenly your comic changed genre into horror if you think about it for more than a second.

Characters that used to be antihero’s are just straight up villains now or suddenly wake up with massive gaps in their memory and no one else can tell them why. There is no grey with the CCA. Just good and evil. Because that would make the villains sympathetic and we can’t have that!

If you want to just have a fun, campy and lighthearted tone however, that’s the Silver Age’s bread and butter. While keeping the CCA’s code in mind is good to keep a Silver Age story feeling time accurate and Silver Age-y, it’s definitely not necessary to follow each and every rule.

Here’s some more links to free silver age comics and places you can go to find information on silver age comics if you want to learn more that aren’t fandom wikis but rather made by nerds with a passion to catalogue and share their interest to others.

Your local library has a decent chance of having an omnibus of 50s-70s comics or you can order one from a nearby library if your local one doesn’t carry them.

A local comic shop or bookstore. Silver age omnibuses & “50 year anniversary/best of” type collections are usually present and have a good variety of silver age comics.

Jenny Blake Isabella (the creator of Black Lightning) has delightful reviews of the Batman Silver Age Omnibus on her blog that add context, critiques, and overall are a delight to read

Takes some hunting but this Silver Age Comic blog has a bunch of single issue reviews of Silver Age Batman comics.

Want a specific issue to read? Here’s super brief summaries of soso many issues curtesy of The Comics Archives blog.

The Internet Archive also has a few:

Batman & Superman world's finest. The Silver Age. Volume one

Justice League of America, the Silver Ages volume 1

Batman: the dynamic duo archives. vol 2 (I cannot find volume 1)

A good tip to find legal and free comics decently intact is to search [comic run title/character hero name & issue number if you have it] + “blog” + “review”.

There are so many in-depth reviews of comics in blogs by comic fans out there that practically share most of the comic panels in the post while giving context to past issues while the poster adds personal insight and opinions on the comic. Is it going to give you the whole issue unfiltered? No. But it allows newbies to get insight from old fans and old fans to get a new perspective on a comic they’ve already read. Blog reviews are such an underrated way to get new fans into comics considering how great of a resource they are! Don’t know if you’ll like a comic run? Read a bunch of reviews on it from different blogs! It’s truly so underrated.

I see a lot of dc fans that don’t read the comics because they don’t like the violence and dark tone of modern comics or don’t know where to start. Simple solution: Why are you reading reading modern comics then? Give the Silver Ages a try! They’re utterly corny and campy & I love them dearly.

They fit all of those bills with the CCA. Plus, with the episodic stories of that era, you can just pick up an omnibus, open it at a random issue and start reading. Hell, you can toss a stack of silver age issues in the air 52-pickup style and read them that way and you’re still be fine. You rarely, if ever, need knowledge from previous comics as they’ll often directly explain what happened to you. If you really need previous context, just like modern comics, they’ll directly tell you which issue(s) to read first.

Lastly.

It’s good to keep in mind the “By it’s time. For its time. Of its time” rule of comic analysis when reading old runs. Comics are: relevant during their time of publishing, for its intended audience (in this era, young american boys with a non-nuanced worldview) & with little care of how it’ll age, just that it’ll sell.

How history ties itself to comics is fascinating but also it’s good to be a little “👀👀 uh zoinks scoob that was a bad narrative or character decision that didn’t age well” and not dismiss it because that poor interpretation does have historical value as how it shows the moral, social, and political conflicts of the time in a neat little bow. Even if that bow is like, puke green.

Writers of comics will follow the misogynistic and racist ideals along the historical & social conflicts and ideals during the time of the comic’s publishing date. It’s uh, just kinda something ya gotta deal with when reading a lot of old comics runs. Most collections of silver age Batman/best ofs don’t often have comics that aged super badly but if you end up encountering any, it’s good to keep this in mind.

If anyone is inspired to write something based off of this, please tag me so I can read it!

[excessive-moisture]

*drops another youtube comment at your doorstep like a cat bringing in a dead animal*

[mistfallengw2]

Charr Name Guide + Name List

Disclaimer: what is written here is derived from attentive observation of what's seen in-game and strives to be as lore-compliant and close to canon as possible.

Impotant note: if you want a name that can be used in-game, remember that the character limit is 19, spaces included!

FIRST NAMES

Can be pretty much anything you want, though there are some general guidelines.

Traditionally, first names are usually: - of Latin or Greek origin (Crecia, Galina, Vitus, Scylla, etc) - regular nouns (Ember, Rage, Talon, Flint, Snarl, etc) - simply made up for the sound (Rytlock, etc)

Exceptions are pretty common nowadays, with names taken also from other races, as a charr named Simon Blackgut is poked fun at for his human-sounding name.

Masculine names tend to have sharper sounds, while feminine sound smoother.

WARBAND NAMES

The name is picked when the warband is formed. While that usually happens in the fahrar, warbands can form and dissolve for any reason and at any point. Any charr who later joins the warband must change their last name to one that includes the warband's name. On certain occasions (death of the Legionnaire, their removal from the position, or events of importance to the warband), the name can be changed.

Warband names are not unique, and multiple warbands can have the same name even within the same Legion.

Warbands' names tend to indicate either their primary skills or line of duty (Net for fishers, Pick for miners, Welder for builders, etc), but some can be more generic or refer to different aspects shared by its members (Dawn, Paw, Heart, etc). Some warbands formed to fulfill a highly-specific duty might pick an otherwise "incorrect" name directly related to it (Ogre is a warband tasked with pushing back ogres).

Some warbands pick their name as a way to honor fallen soldiers or pay tribute to historical figures (the Scorch warband with Kalla Scorchrazor, Bhuer Goreblade with the Gore warband after his sire cleaned the tainted legacy of the name Gore).

Ash, Blood, Iron and Flame are not strictly off-limits as warband names, as there appear to be at least a Blood warband and an Iron warband seen in game. Regardless, individuals regularly pick them for their personal part of the last name.

[Note: the lore about the "Primus warbands" and Imperators needing to be part of them (or descendants of the Khan-Ur) seems to have been completely abandoned, other than the High Legion's names being implied to be derived from the warbands of the sons of the Khan-Ur]

LAST NAMES

The last name of a charr belonging to a warband is made of two words. One is the warband's chosen name, while the other is more descriptive of the individual (personality, appearance, ideals, history, occupation, etc).

Important: nouns, base form verbs and adjectives only. No adverbs, no comparatives.

The two words can be in either order, though they have to make grammatical sense and "sound right" (Shotfierce and Keepersoul don't really work, while Fierceshot and Soulkeeper do. Stoneglow and Glowstone work in either case.)

Nouns and verbs can be used in either position, while adjectives tend to be used for the first word (Fierceshot, Crimsonfist, Heavyblade, etc).

Most verbs can also be used as suffixes in their derivative noun form (chase/chaser, crack/cracker, gut/gutter, etc), and they can also be warband names. Note that the word used for the warband can't be altered in personal names (a member of the Welder warband can't change it to Weld, and so a member of the Weld warband can't use Welder).

Words used in warband and last names are singular. There are rare exceptions, usually for things that come in pairs or multiple (Haunteyes).

Last names can be compound words (Brimstone is both another name for sulphur and brim+stone), but compound words can't be used as part of surnames (Brimstoneblade wouldn't work, as they're effectively 3 words).

Words tend to be short, usually not longer than 7-8 characters.

Given their martial and industrial culture, charr are unlikely to pick peaceful, cutesy and weak-sounding words for their name, especially when combined. However, such words can still be worked with depending on the warband name (Sweetflower wouldn't be used, but both Sweetpoison and Flowerblade could be chosen by the right charr in the Poison and Blade warband respectively).

Likewise, names related to food, other species (animals or races), plants and the "beautiful/nicer" parts of nature are rare, usually coming down to the individual's duty or particular skills (there's a charr named Drakecatcher who could be part of either the Drake or Catcher warband, while Hawkslayer and Skaleslayer are found in the same map and could be both part of the Slayer warband). [Note: titles and names like those are more typical of norn and kodan.]

Despite their military-based culture, words that indicate ranks (both inside and outside of the Legions) are not used, likely due to the risk of mixing them up with actual ranks (boss, master, rookie, captain, general, soldier, tribune, etc).

Words used should be things reasonably known by the charr and especially Tyria as a whole (things that don't exist in Tyria like "horse", "bleach", "digital", etc). That said, some charr might end up using previously "off-limits" words after certain discoveries ("Holo" is unlikely to be used before the tech spread around Tyria after Personal Story, while "Jade" can be used for its other meanings but never in reference to Canthan tech prior to EoD) or mingling with other races ("Cable", "golem" and "aether" are common words for asura, but charr are unlikely to pick them unless they specialize in that kind of tech).

While not a rule per se, charr are quite unlikely to use technical or "fancy" words for their name, instead opting for more common and generic ones ("Coal" is more likely than "Carbon", "Salt" instead of "Sodium", "Iron/Steel/Metal" instead of more specific metals, etc).

It's important to note that not all charr regularly use a last name tied to their warband or even feel the need to have one. Some stick to their titles (Smodur the Unflinching, Erracus the Wise, Howl the Brazen, etc) or only their first name (usually gladia who renounce their previous last name or those born outside of the Legions who never had a warband).

Last but not least, keep in mind that most charr decide their names when they're cubs or teenagers, so don't be afraid to have fun and be cringe with them! :3

Other useful resources

→ Charr Name List ← Made by me. Hopefully includes all words used for names found in the game, plus a whole lot more that make sense for the average charr. I'll try to keep it updated/adding to it.

From the GW2 Wiki - Names section in the Charr page - List of known warbands on the Warband page (only includes mentioned warbands, leaving out all the NPCs that don't appear with someone who shares part of the name) - Charr NPC list (contains ALL charr NPCs in the game, so it's very long) - GW1 Charr NPC list

My fave name site, which has categories (Roman and Greek for charr specifically, but Italian might help too) and provides actual meanings, pronounciations and variants of names!

Guild Wars 2 Name Generator by newms34 (very good generator for all playable races if you quickly want ideas to start from, not extremely varied but still a great aid)

[Dividers by @soulbeastdragon]

[mangotangerine]

Adverbs or BADverbs?

You've heard it in English class, in podcasts, on writer tip listicles and TikToks and YouTube videos promising to tell you how to write like a pro: avoid using adverbs if at all possible! Adverbs make you look like a dork who doesn't know how to write!

So what do you do? You find every damn adverb in your story and you rifle through a thesaurus or dictionary to find the most appropriate verb. Let's use an example—the dreaded "ran quickly."

How about the sentence:

James runs quickly through the glen to get to grandma's house.

So you get your thesaurus and you run your finger down the list of verbs:

Hurried

Rushed

Sprinted

Dashed

Bolted

Darted

Raced

Sped

Fled

Charged

Tore

Barreled

Lunged

Took off

Bounded

Scrambled

Careened

Hurtled

Jogged

Galloped

Scampered

Scurried

Hustled

Blazed

Streaked

Flew

Zoomed

Zipped

Whizzed

Shot

Rocketed

Pelted

Wow! So many! You just pick one, right? And you all said along with me: No, of course not. You pick the one that means what you want.

So let's figure out what fits. Let's start with the generic runs quickly. I'm going to write that my character James is running through the glen to get to grandma's house. He's not in a hurry, he just likes to go places fast. Kind of like a video game character—his default is run. If most people run at around… 5 mph (8 kmh), then James runs at 8 mph (~13 kmh).

So our sentence:

James runs quickly through the glen to get to grandma's house.

What does this tell the reader? James is running through a glen, going to grandma's house, and he's running quickly. Perfect, exactly what I mean to say. But oh no! We're using an adverb!

So let's try on some of those specialized verbs. I'm not going to go through all of them in this post, because that's a lot, but feel free to try the ones we don't go through for yourself. Now, on to the experimentation!

James hurries through the glen to get to grandma's house.

Let's do the same thing—what does this tell the reader? He's going through a glen—he's no longer running, you see, since "hurry" does not always mean run—he's going to grandma's house, and he's in a hurry. Besides the fact he's no longer running, you've added something with the word "hurry." There's now some external motivator there. Is he late? Is there a time crunch? Why's he hurrying?

You've just added a different connotation. That's the thing about words—they don't just come with a dictionary meaning. They have a secondary, subconscious meaning, something culturally embedded in the language.

And our James? Not in a hurry. So cross hurry off the list.

Let's try a few more. Let's pick ten, and just go down the list.

James rushes through the glen to get to grandma's house.

Similar to hurry, in that this one doesn't necessarily mean run—just moving quickly. This one does seem a bit faster, though. Still, our James isn't rushing. He's just leisurely running quickly.

James sprints through the glen to get to grandma's house.

Woah woah woah. Don't get crazy now. That's a little intense. Okay, he's running now, but he's not sprinting—that's a whole other level of running. He's just running at an average quickness. A casual 8 mph run.

James dashes through the glen to get to grandma's house.

Okay, cool, he's still running—we don't have the issue of hurry or rush here—but dashes implies some sort of urgency, or speed above just "running."

James races through the glen to get to grandma's house.

Races has either an implied competition, or going at full speed, trying to get somewhere. It implies urgency. It's directional. You race toward something. He is running to grandma's house, but is he going at full speed? Is there urgency?

James flees through the glen to get to grandma's house.

Is he being chased by feral hogs?

James charges through the glen to get to grandma's house.

Calm down buddy, you're gonna give grandma a heart attack.

James hurtles through the glen to get to grandma's house.

He's certainly not hurtling—hurtles implies wild and uncontrolled. His run is quite controlled.

James scurries through the glen to get to grandma's house.

What is he, a mouse?

James scrambles through the glen to get to grandma's house.

Wild, chaotic, uncontrolled—that's how I get dressed in the morning when I'm late for work. It's certainly not how James, an expert runner, runs through the glen.

James flies through the glen to get to grandma's house.

This one implies he's running so fast he barely hits the ground. He is certainly not flying through the glen.

Okay. We could keep going—I could make you read through every single possible replacement for 'runs quickly' and my commentary, but I won't, because I think I've illustrated my point.

Are the non-adverbial verbs more evocative? Yes. They add emotion. They add connotation.

The advice to never use adverbs isn't to avoid adverbs for adverbs' sake. There's nothing inherently wrong with adverbs. They're a perfectly normal and useful part of language.

What the advice is getting at is that you should choose your verbs according to what you're trying to get across.

You cannot simply look at dictionary definitions or a thesaurus—what is the precise meaning you are attempting to convey? If James is late, perhaps he hurries, or rushes, or races. If he's being chased by a feral hog, perhaps he sprints or he flees. If James is a mouse, perhaps he scurries or scampers.

But my James simply moves around his world like a video game character—always on run-mode—so what is the most precise choice for me?

It's runs quickly. It's the adverb one. It's the rule-breaking one.

My advice to you is to write with intuition and to not worry so much about word choices in the moment. If "speeds" seems right as you write it, go ahead. If you can't think of the perfect word, write "runs quickly" and come back to it in editing.

Then ask yourself, what's the external/internal motivation? What's the context? Choose your verb—with or without an adverb—according to that. But don't just pick a word to avoid an adverb.

Write with intuition, edit with intention. Use adverbs if they're the best fit for what you want to say, and if you get feedback from someone to not use an adverb—even though you've gone through the other verbs and decided an adverb is the best choice—you are free to disregard that feedback.

You know what you mean. Make sure your words match it, to the best of your ability. But don't get caught up in trying to pick the best word in the writing process. It's a trap. Do it in editing.

Don't let the fear of adverbs hold you back from writing.

[charl0ttan]

i need to replay pokemon but i dont want to wipe my saves from when i was 10-16 my life is so hard forever and ever

[starlit-resources]

DISCORD SERVER RULE SHEET!

——

ꕥ Welcome to [name]! Here are the rules : ꕥ

꩜ 1) rule number one

꩜ 2) rule number two

꩜ 3) rule number three

꩜ 4) rule number four

꩜ 5) rule number five

꩜ #) extra rule! :3

RULES ARE SUBJECT TO UPDATE ANY TIME.

⤷ extra little thing!

——

Credit rules in the pinned post! Reblogs appreciated :]

[somresources]

CARRD TEMPLATE #011   -   [ PALOMINO.  ]

this is a   FREE   carrd template for roleplaying purposes, made with single muse blogs in mind.  #011   ( live preview here )   is  base account friendly,    utilizing less than 50 elements. this carrd contain a landing page, a rules page, an info page, a mains/exclusives page, and a whole lot of text-based jank. this carrd is mobile viewable.

how to obtain :    you can get this carrd template ( here ). the minimum price is set to $0   -   FREE.  if you would like to support me,   that is also appreciated. my carrd referral code is somresources.

adjust size and cropping of images in carrd as needed (containers are set to max height, or it's meant for gradients). you'll have to import gallery icons as images, just make a solid color square.

please refer to the post linked in my pinned for troubleshooting. reach out if you have questions.  please do not remove credit.

[flashhwing]

guy building his character for a campaign i've promised to run but haven't even started prepping yet: upset that i can't make a straight up necromancy cleric like in bg3

me, who knows damn well there's not a necromancy domain in bg3 either: what do you mean?

guy who btw is our group's current dm: well in bg3 at level 3 you can choose different paths and one of them gives you Turn Undead and Toll the Dead

me trying to figure out how this guy came to the conclusion that those aren't things you get in 5e: well all clerics get Turn Undead and Toll the Dead is like THEE cleric cantrip so you definitely can do that

guy who i'm not entirely sure can read actually: Toll the Dead isn't a cleric spell

me strongly considering ghosting this conversation: dude I literally gave you a link to the cleric class that has toll the dead listed right there

guy somehow not getting it: in bg3 I was able to do Death domain

me: https://dnd5e.wikidot.com/cleric:death

[resourcesiero]

blinkie dump

f2u reposts ok with credit

[rollinsupdates]

-ˏˋ⋆ 𝐖𝐄𝐋𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐄 𝐓𝐎 ⋆ˊˎ-

rollins updates

i. BLOG DEDICATED TO: the pitt’s heather collins & michael robinavitch. (as well as tracy ifeachor)

ii. UPDATES WILL INCLUDE:

episode stills, synopsis’ etc.

cast interviews (for/about rollins & collins)

information regarding the new season (such as new casts, set information etc.) sources will always be added in caption unless unknown.

iii. RULES & REGULATIONS:

no negativity! this is just for fun.

inbox and ask will always be open for conversation about any and all things rollins!

no racism, homophobia, transphobia etc will be tolerated in any way whatsoever. (if there is you will be blocked.)

☁️ . . . ⇢ ˗ˏˋ THANK YOU & ENJOY ࿐ྂ

[neeeooon]

hii this isn’t directed toward any requester/request but i wanted to clarify the “abuse” in my request rules!

my version of abuse is anything relating to characters taking their anger out on reader or vice versa, whether that be yelling or anything mental, emotional, or physical.

i don’t want to portray any characters in that way, nor do i want to put the reader in an unsafe position like that :/ it isn’t something i’m comfortable with, and no person should have to put up with a relationship with that

[kradeelav]

analyzing my picture hoard today as to why some backgrounds "do" it for me (eg old well designed videogame levels) and some others don't (eg artfully flat stills).

[mangotangerine]

More mango writing advice! This episode on Writing Tools, Not Rules, we answer the question:

Where do I start my story?

(Or scene, or sentence)

In the middle! Unless it's better to start at the beginning.

There is some advice I've seen a couple places, about starting a scene "late" and ending it "early", that I think is good advice—for the most part!

But sometimes it's not good advice, because perhaps starting late and ending early isn't actually what you want to do for the specific story you're telling.

We'll start with talking about what "starting late" means first.

What this common advice is getting at is the importance of hooking the reader and building interest.

"But how do I hook a reader?" you ask. Good question. And people will tell you, "By adding curiosity! By leaving information out! By starting in the middle!"

But what the fuck does any of that actually mean?

All around us, every day, we're surrounded by (and filtering through) tons and tons and tons of information. Some of it's environmental information that our brain is subconsciously taking in and categorizing, some of us are in school, reading textbooks, or scrolling through Wikipedia. Or maybe a waiter is telling us the specials of the day!

It's all information, and it's all being processed, and it's all being sorted and subconsciously (or sometimes consciously) judged.

As a species, we've gotten real fucking good at being able to tune out what's not important and at anticipating what might come next.

And we know, when something starts out at the beginning, with something like, "There was a girl," or "a long long time ago," or "Jimmy wakes up on Sunday," or "Janine takes a bucket of chicken feed out to her chickens," that it could go fucking anywhere.

Starting like that isn't wrong, but it's asking the reader to invest time in something that could end up going nowhere at all. Hooking a reader is about giving them right in the beginning: A) why they need to care, B) why what you're writing is interesting, and C) why the reader can trust you to deliver something interesting.

Example One

Consider these two options:

Janine takes a bucket of chicken feed out to her chickens.

vs.

Janine stares up at the sky, chicken feed spread out in a chaotic smorgasbord across the lawn.

The first one: okay, what's she doing with the chicken feed? Feeding chickens. Great. Cool. What next? Something cool? Is it gonna be about how much Janine loves her chickens? What's this story?

The second one: What the fuck happened to Janine and why'd she throw chicken feed across the lawn?

This is what people mean when they say "start in the middle."

Don't start with Janine taking her chicken feed out, trying to scatter it, and how she, I don't know, steps on a banana peel, chicken feed flying, chickens tumbling out of the coop like bowling pins.

Start with her slipping on the banana peel, chicken feed flying, chickens tumbling out of the coop like bowling pins, or start with the aftermath of Janine lying down surrounded by chicken feed.

You immediately hand the reader something interesting, something they now want to know more about, a mystery for them to solve. They're invested. What happened to Janine and her chicken feed?

Then you can go into the backstory. You've seen the technique before in other places, I'm sure. We've all seen a movie or TV episode where it starts on a chaotic scene and you get the narrator character voiceover of, "So how did I get here?"

Exact same concept, just a different medium. You want to tell the reader there's something interesting here, give them a flavor of what to expect, and then you can pull back and start to fill in the blanks—or not! You don't have to! You can just go forward from Janine and the chickens tumbling out like bowling pins, or from her staring at the sky, surrounded by chicken feed and tumbling chickens.

See, you don't really need the, "she walked outside with a bucket full of chicken feed," if your story isn't about how she has chicken feed, and where it came from, and even if that is what your story is about—where can you start it instead, that gives the reader a taste of what to expect? That leaves a little mystery?

Example Two

Let's explore another example, and explore what your intro is actually doing and what the impact of the words is. We're going to take one of the examples I gave that I implied you shouldn't start with, and tell you how you can start with that.

"Jimmy wakes up on a Sunday."

What does this tell the reader about what kind of story this is? What's the relevant piece here? That he's waking up, that it's Sunday? Is any of that relevant? What's important about him waking up on a Sunday?

Jimmy = our character, who will be revealed anyway.

Wakes up = something everyone does. Well… usually.

on a Sunday = this adds specificity. Specificity is an indication that something is important.

What's your next sentence going to be? Will it give context as to why Sunday is important? If it doesn't, the reader is going to either think, "okay maybe the next sentence will," or they're going to throw, "on a Sunday," out as unimportant.

You've just given the reader a sentence that does nothing. It tells them nothing.

Consider:

"Jimmy wakes up on a Sunday. He checks his clock—fuck, it's 12:00 PM already."

Jimmy = our character, who will be revealed anyway.

Wakes up = something (most) people do.

on a Sunday = specific, potentially relevant.

THEN

He checks his clock = He has a clock, he checks it, that's a normal thing.

fuck = Oh. An emotion. Something's wrong.

it's 12:00 PM = the time. Most people wake up earlier than that, but not everyone. Why is waking up at 12:00 PM bad?

already = he did not mean to wake up at 12:00 PM.

You added just one sentence, which did the following:

It confirmed that Sunday is important information. Wonderful, now your reader knows there's something to discover here.

It gave some more very specific information. Using our fantastic brains and how we are pattern matching experts, we have the beginning of a pattern emerging—that you are giving us specific information that is, in fact, actually important.

It gave emotion. It tells us something about the character. He's not just Jimmy anymore, he's a Jimmy who is unhappy about waking up at 12:00 PM on a Sunday for some reason. What could be the reason?

It gives something to anticipate. Is it because he's missing church? Is there important band practice? Why would he be upset about waking up so late if it wasn't something interesting? We don't usually feel fuck-level emotions about mundane shit.

It presents a setting.

It drives the story forward. It adds important information. It confirms the first sentence wasn't empty and purposeless.

The thing is, you still started at the "beginning." You went against advice. You broke the rules. Does that make this start bad?

No. Why? Because this does what the advice is trying to tell you to do. It's a quick hack to build interest, starting in the middle of the action. It's advice that's easy to follow, a great formula for people who aren't sure.

But it doesn't tell you why starting in the middle acts as a hook, it doesn't tell you what that does to the reader, how that hooks the reader, not in a way you can repeat.

And this information I present to you isn't just useful for starting stories, either. Maybe you're starting a new scene, or a new chapter. Or maybe you're in the middle of a scene, and you don't know where to take it next. Or maybe you're reviewing a scene, and editing, and it drags a bit, and you're not sure why.

Understanding the reader journey, where you're leading them, and what they're getting from your writing—that's useful regardless of where you are in your story.

So you've learned what starting "in the middle" looks like, you've learned that it isn't always necessary, and you've learned why. You've learned how to repeat the process. You've learned why certain things work, and certain things don't. You've learned how one sentence leads into the next, what drives a story forward.

You've learned how to start your story.

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