#i'm being dramatic it's good to know all three specs. but i don't have to like it D:<

[voidendron]

I hate jugg tanking

so. so

much 😭

it feels so clunky and slowwwww. I know assassin is the squishiest of the three, but I survive SO much better on a sin cause I actually know how to play it

*this message is brought to you by a disgruntled Oliver who was told to jugg tank because of reflect for the first time since 6.x for Kephess*

we got timer on TLM but with me literally going mid-pull "uhhhh what dcd should I use here???" followed by hovering over multiple abilities as he chunked me because I don't have the icons memorized.

I don't like it >:(

I will GLADLY use sin and vanguard whenever possible once Snorks is also out of EC

at least I can sin tank up until Kephess

[coimbrabertone]

NASCAR is Kinda Maybe Vaguely Doing Something and People Are Mad About It

In a race weekend of rain, delays, and Stewart Haas cars hitting the barriers every five minutes, the biggest story coming out of the NASCAR Chicago Street Race seems to be this crossover EV prototype...and people are mad at it.

Well, people are also mad that Bubba Wallace steered race winner Alex Bowman into the wall after the race, but one: a NASCAR driver getting mad and bumping into someone else after the race is a non-story, two: the same people that are mad at Bubba are probably the same people that are mad about the EV prototype.

So, at the Chicago Street Race, NASCAR finally unveiled the EV prototype that everyone already knew about - they were going to unveil it at the LA Coliseum preseason race but then they didn't because that race also saw rain and they ended up truncating the weekend - so how did they do this?

Did they announce it was going to replace one of the three national touring series? Maybe trucks since, you know, trucks and crossovers are both big.

Or maybe the Xfinity cars, since those are still a generation behind and Ford and Chevy just run the same models there as in Cup, so maybe a crossover for that series would make sense.

Or maybe start out with a new, more standalone series on street courses or something, sorta like a stock car version of Formula E.

Well, no, they did none of that.

Quite literally all they did was having the car speed off from a standing start and talk about some of the specs.

It's a 1300 hp car designed in collaboration with Ford, Chevy, and Toyota, David Ragan has been the test driver, and it was to promote a new collaboration agreement between NASCAR and ABB - who is also the title sponsor of ABB. That's all it was.

And yet, NASCAR fans are acting like these things are gonna replace Cup for next year. It's a dramatic overreaction.

I'm not even particularly a fan of EVs. I enjoy the noise and power coming from a car and I think that EVs - particularly Teslas and wannabe Teslas like the Ford Mustang Mach E - are deliberately garish, bulbously proportioned, and expensive props that the driver uses to convey how much more environmentally conscious and morally superior they are to the average driver.

So yeah, to a degree I understand why the "core" NASCAR fan or whatever may not agree with that message.

But...they're not even doing anything with it. It's a promotional piece for NASCAR to take to corporate events and all that.

The closest NASCAR is to an EV series is that there was also talk about them partnering with Dana White to invest in Nitrocross, an EV rallycross series that Conor Daly raced in once.

Even if NASCAR did launch an EV national series, you could just, you know, not watch it. I don't pay attention to Formula E or MotoE despite having long been an F1 fan and currently being a MotoGP fan.

It's just weird to see this very weak, very minor gesture from NASCAR and there being this vicious backlash towards it. I'm the kind of person that gets vaguely disappointed every time I find out a new performance car has some sort of hybrid element to it, so do you have any idea how off-base you need to be for me to disagree with your anger on this?

It's just such a nothing storyline, calm down.

Elsewhere in the Chicago Street Race weekend, the Xfinity race was pretty great actually, another SVG win and some cool battles between him, Gibbs, and Larson throughout, so that was nice. The Cup race was pretty good when it was running but that long rain delay did kinda suck a lot of the energy out of it. Plus, SVG getting speared by an out-of-control Briscoe was pretty lame.

Especially since Chase Briscoe and Josh Berry in their SHR cars would basically spend the whole second half of the race hitting the barriers and/or going off every five or so laps.

Oh, and postrace, Bubba Wallace banged doors with Alex Bowman while Chase Elliott banged doors with Daniel Suarez because, once again, this is NASCAR and that's just the kind of stuff that happens in NASCAR. People are only mad when Bubba does it though. Odd. I wonder if there's a certain thing about Bubba that leads to him being on the receiving take of all this bad faith criticism...

Other than that, Indycar had its hybrid era start at Mid-Ohio in a race that started off boring but ended in Pato O'Ward holding off Alex Palou to take the win for Arrow McLaren.

Something much appreciated since, earlier in the day, McLaren was running 1-2 in the British Grand Prix until they kept Oscar out on slicks on a wet track to lose second, and then switched Norris onto the wrong tyres once things dried up.

And then there was MotoGP. Pecco Bagnaia was chasing down Jorge Martin in the closing stages, Martin first in the championship, Pecco second after dominating the last two race weekends to chip away at Martin's lead. Martin is feeling the pressure, feels he needs to win to stop the bleeding, but just pushes too hard into turn one, the bike slides out from under him, and Pecco goes through to win.

Marc Marquez, the man who beat Jorge Martin to be Bagnaia's 2025 Ducati teammate, came through in second, his brother Alex Marquez in third, and Enea Bastianini - Bagnaia's current teammate - came through in fourth. After the Spanish GP sprint, Jorge Martin was forty-two points ahead of Bagnaia, as recently as after the Catalan GP, that gap was thirty-nine points, now? Bagnaia leads by ten.

Pecco won the Catalan GP main race, swept both races at Mugello, both races at Assen, finished third behind Martin and Miguel Oliveira at the German GP sprint, but then won the German GP main race as Martin crashed out to take the championship lead. Truly a tremendous four race run from Bagnaia.

Keep in mind, nobody won back-to-back main races at all in 2023! Pecco just won four in a row.

This is why I love MotoGP so much, it still has that drama, that magic, that I find so many series lack these days.

Unfortunately, it's schedule is also crap, so MotoGP is off until August 4th. Fuck.

NASCAR at Pocono and Indycar's double race weekend at Iowa will hopefully provide some entertainment next weekend. Now I just need to hope I don't die of MotoGP withdrawal in the meantime...wish me luck.

[pvrkacciosan]

Part 6¦ Forgetful World

¦Previous Part

¦Creatures Within us masterlist

Taglist: @dreamiezpsycho @rockteezy (if you wish to be added just ask)

Arms folded over her chest Suki observed from the door way, watching Yeosang as he sat onto the bed next to Tia.

Everyone else had left a couple mintues ago, though some were more reluctant than others, especially after Yeosang's little display with the wall.

Her curiosity had gotten the best of her, clearly. Other wise she may not have been standing in the door way, observing the suspected pair of mates.

But no one had bothered to tell Yeosang, not yet anyway. No one wanted him to lash out and create further holes in the walls. They didn't even know if he had already figured it out or not.

He hadn't, but he was getting to a point of which he was begining to feel something more than attraction towards Tia but still nothing clicked.

Tia was next to him, fiddling with the touch cut edge of the fresh bandage thatay over the cut on her palm from the shard of glass she had previously used as a weapon. He took hold of her hand, this time she didn't pull away.

"I can't imagine how hard this must be for you"

She looked at him when he spoke, "H-how did...I lose my memories"

Tia's eyes were drawn to his lips when he brushed them with his fingers in thought, recollection of a past feeling made her own lips tingle, she bit the inside of them trying to stop the tingling from numbing her lips.

"Well...." from the corner of his eye Yeosang saw Suki stand up straighter against the door frame.

"there was a creature that bit you and when it did, it took your memories"

The frown lines deepend on her face, fingers brushing the bandage wrapped around the puncture wounds in her neck, sharing a look of understaning she concluded that the ache in her neck was because of that thing, whatever it was.

Mind fuzzy, she could feel something trying to brush its way to the surface of her mind,

blood red eye.

"I remember..." she cleared her throat, "I remember, red eyes glaring at me, then" she raised one hand to her neck "A sharp burning pain"

Yeosang had no idea how to actually proceed with this conversation, in order for her to fully understand what happened to her, of which he felt she had the right to know, but he didn't want to risk tarnishing her bright spirit with the darkness of his world.

But still she watched him with her blue eyes, awaiting an answer. "There are things in this world that are..... not human"

She didn't understand what he was getting at, but there was something inside her that stirred, ticking her head to the side he huffed.

"there-" he paused, he didn't want to down right tell her, damning her soul to this dark and unsafe world.

The increase of rogues, doubled with the rise in hunter activity had taken away their right to roam safely and freely. The mere thought of exposing Tia to that made his insides feel queezy.

Their gazes collided when he looked up from his lap, breathing shakily he took a leap of faith, "There are creatures which live in this world, werewolves, witches" her face softend and scrunched in confusion at the same time, "And vampires"

By the way Yeosang had left vampires till last. Tia concluded it was because of one, that she no longer had her memories.

Suki tensed at the door, along with Yeosang as they watched Tia, she stared off into space in the middle of the room, thinking, trying to recall or understand how the revelation didn't distrub her as much as it should have.

"What are you guys?" she didn't waver her gaze from the emtpy space of air when she spoke,

Yeosang flitted a wary look to Suki at the door before answering "I'm a werewolf so is Suki and everyone else in this house" Tia didn't look panicked, instead she didn't break their eye contact as she asked

"So you have change into a wolf?"

"Yes."

It was only now that she looked away from him, "Is it only on full moons?" her blue eyes shimmered with curiosity and not fear, which Yeosang took as a positive.

Shaking his head while chuckling, "No, I can shift whenever I please"

"Oh"

She didn't know what she had expected his answer to be, but the idea of him seeming so ordinary and being able to physically become a wolf did baffle her.

Two figure appearing behind Suki made Yeosang and Tia divert their attention from one another.

As if sensing the tenseness in the room Mingi stopped causing Yunho to almost walk straight into him, Yunho sucked in a breath, trying to stop the content of the food tray from falling off and onto the floor.

"Jesus Mingi"

"Sorry" he said meakly, stepping out the way.

Yunho raised the tray up, facing Tia "Sustenance!"

His happy mood and bright smile lifted the dark cloud in the room, Suki watched as he stepped infront of her "Ooo"

Quickly she snatched up a waffle from the tray, Yunho scowled at her, she smiled as she bit into the fluffy goodness. Letting out a satisfied groan when the sweet flavour dissolved around her mouth.

Yunho walked towards the table next to the bed while shaking his head. He slide the food tray with one less waffle on it onto the table. Smiling at both Tia and Yeosang, he sensed the mood in the air but chose to ignore it when he walked back over to the door.

"Come on Suki" her eyebrows shot up and she looked at him through her lashes, while she raised the remainder of the half eaten waffle to her mouth "Mmh?"

"Lets give them some privacy?" she rolled her eyes, biting down on the last of the waffle she followed him and Mingi out none the less

The three of them didn't talk while they moved through the house, towards their longue area.

With every step going down the stairs Suki's thoughts grew louder and louder in her head, so much that by the point she reached the longue she just had to talk to someone about it.

As soon as she stepped one foot into the room she let out a dramatic groan, all of the others besides Mingi and Yunho, who were behind her, sat on the couches and chairs around the room.

Wooyoung's gaze clicked in her direction in confusion, thinking there was something wrong.

All the boys said nothing, simply watching as she threw her self dramatically over the back of the L-shaped sofa, pratically landing on top of Seonghwa.

He grunted head moving back on instinct so she wouldn't hit him in the face, Suki had her gaze fixated on an invisable spec on the ceiling, deep in thought.

Wooyoung watched his mate from across the room, layed in the lap of her non-biological brother, the tensesness to her body and faint worry lines creased into her beautiful face made his stomache drop, something was troubling her.

The other seemed to sense it as well, they all sat in silence just waiting for her to communicate her worries to them.

"Did you guys notice it as well?" she turned her head in Seonghwa's lap to look at the rest of them.

Suki pushed herself up from him before any of her brothers or her mate could answer her question.

By this point Yunho and Mingi had sat down next to the others, she paced back and forth infront of them all, chewing her bottom lip in thought.

"if you're talking about Yeosang and the girl, that's what we've been discussing for the past few minutes" Hongjoong stated from his single chair, elbows rested on his knees.

Suki stopped her pacing giving them a hurt look, "You talked about it without me?" she placed a hand on her chest "I'm hurt"

Wooyoung smiled up at her, he knew she wasn't badly effected, she would just be happy she wasn't the only one who noticed Yeosang's odd behaviour around the girl still sat upstairs.

"Sit down Suki, you're pacing is giving me a head ache" Seonghwa said to her, she huffed before moving over and plopping down onto the couch next to Wooyoung, he took hold of her hand, rubbing his thumb in small circles on the skin.

"So what was it you guys were saying exactly?" Suki asked watching as Wooyoung became slightly rigid beside her. She frowned but didn't react to his new bodily posture.

"Well Wooyoung suggested that the two may be mate" Seonghwa said from the other side of the couch, he wiggled his shoulders back into the cushions to get comfortable.

"Yeah" Jongho giggled, Suki turned her gaze to him, a small "Please don't" came from her mate beside her.

"he suggested that after telling us all about how much he loves you and how you're his whole world, it got cheesy real fast" Jongho added as Wooyoung tugged his hand from hers, covering his pinkening cheeks.

Now his odd posture made sense.

The others grinned and smirked when Suki 'awww' while turning to Wooyoung poking him in the side, he moved to get away.

"Thanks Jongho, you just fed into her ego" Wooyoung muttered from behind his hands. Causing the others to laugh.

His ears burned hot of which Suki took quick notice of, rubbing her finger along the ridge of it, "You love me that much to talk about it infront of my brother"

Peaking out from behind his hands, Wooyoung kept his face hidden from the other boys, "You know how much I love you, don't you ever question that"

Suki didn't believe she could ever have felt better then the day Wooyoung had officially made her his, and him hers but clearly she was wrong, heart swelling twice its size in her chest at his words.

She took hold of his hands, pulling them away from his face, leaning forward she kissed him.

All five of her brothers sat up, ever single one of them looking away, Seonghwa began to pick off non-exsisatnt fluff from his clothing, while the others looked at anything around the room that wasn't Wooyoung or Suki.

Suki pulled away, looking down to her lap. Only when she moved her gaze up did she notice the awkward looking brothers of hers. She sighed, realising she had broken the promise she had made to herself about restricting the amount of PDA her and Wooyoung had around her brothers.

Hongjoong quipped an eyebrow up, "Shall we continue with our conversation?"

Suki nodded, it was her cheeks that started to grow into a hue of pink this time, Wooyoung grabbed hold of her hand giving it a light squeeze. The touch was like an ice pack, cooling down her body, but yet at the same time his touch electrified her in the best way possible.

"Do you think Yeosang has figured it out yet?" Jongho asked, leaning back in his chair, relaxing after the awkwardsness of the previous moment.

Suki shook her head, "No, I don't think he has, not yet, he still has that...look in his eyes when he looks at her" she looked at her mate beside her "Do you know what I'm talking about?"

He nodded, "I have to agree with you on that"

"Like you ever disagree with her" Yunho joked letting out a huff of air that could be dubbed a small laugh.

Wooyoung frowned, "I do sometimes!" he tried defending himself

"You really don't" Seonghwa interjected, Wooyoung leaned back, folding his arms over his chest like a five year old would if they were having a tantrum.

Suki smiled at him, patting his knee for comfort, "It's okay, I'm always right anyways"

"The hell you are!" Mingi yelled across the room at her.

It didn't take them long to start up a slibling like argument, petty comments going back and forth, Hongjoong groaned placing his fingers to his temple, he was starting to get a headache with all the yelling.

He eventually started to yell back which only made the volume of the room go up, Jongho sat grinning in his seat, he was the only one who wasn't joining in on the yell-fest, he only sat and watched the carnage as it unravelled amongst the Fedora pack siblings.

Jongho laughed when Suki stood up, Wooyoung desperately trying to get a grip of her arm as she advanced towards Mingi, The giant stood leaping over the back of the couch.

Wooyoung lost his grip of the female's arm real quick mutter a small 'she's loose' under his breath, she threw herself over the couch as Mingi took of running.

"GET BACK HERE YOU SHITHEAD!!" she yelled, the other still continued to argue among themselves, unfazed by Suki as she took off after the running Mingi.

He screamed as she got closer, grabbing hold of a pillow from the nearby chair he threw it over his head, hoping it would hit and deter her from her course of possible homicide.

Thinking he had gotten away he turned to check were she was, he was deadly wrong, eyes widened when she jumped onto the table in the middle of the room, she emitted a small scream as she lunched herself at him.

Mingi panicked, jumping back to get out her way he crashed straight into a book case, it knocked sideways taking all the items encased inside with it.

Realising the items inside all belong to Suki, Mingi's blood ran cold when it thundered down against the floor.

The yelling in the room momentarily paused, everyone looking in the direction of the two of them.

Mingi looked guilty, face flushed white with fear, Suki was seething, "Did you just?-"

Mingi didn't wait for her to finish her sentence, jumping over the bookcase, his arms flaring out around and up over his head when he heard her jump over after him.

"Help Me!!" Mingi screamed, his brothers simply laughed watching him run the room, trying to get as far away from Suki as possible.

She tackled him, and he went down like a sac of tatties, a burst of air exploding from his chest.

The others finally jumped into action, yelling at Suki to let Mingi go when she grabbed hold of the giant by the ankle.

Seonghwa and Wooyoung grabbed her, while Yunho, Hongjoong went to grab Mingi's hands.

Mingi desperately held onto them, praying to get away form his now demonic sister. She continued to scream, Seonghwa and Wooyoung had now lifted her complety off the ground in their attempt to pry her off the ever screaming Mingi.

Her grip didn't ease up and in the end Mingi also ended up in the air with her, he continued screaming.

Jongho was bent over laughing at the scene, finding it highly amusing as he wiped away a tear. His stomach hurt as he watched his siblings screaming at each other.

Mingi was just screaming, Suki was screaming at him that she was going to kill him, Seonghwa, Wooyoung, Hongjoong and Yunho were all screaming at Suki to let go of Mingi but she wasn't listening.

And it was at this perfect time that Yeosang opened the door, Tia at his side.

They both stood in shock, seeing Mingi and Suki hung in the air by the others trying to pull them apart, Suki was pratically growling at Mingi by this point, trying to claw her way along his body towards his face, the other continued yelling.

Tia was slightly intimidated by them all covering her ears from the onslaught of loud innvassive noise.

Yeosang glanced at her when she did so, he sighed, this was the best first impression ever.

"Guys" he started. They ignored him.

"Guys" he tried again, they continued screaming.

"Guys" he was losing his patience as they were making him look stupid in front of Tia.

"Guys" they got louder.

"GUYS!"

They all froze mid position as if they were statues, slowly they all looked at him heads all moving in sync they smiled at him innocently as if they were children caught in the cookie jar.

Realising who was stood next to him, their smiles faded from their lips, They others swiftly dropped Mingi and Suki onto the ground.

The pair landed with an 'oof' sound emitting from both of them. They quickly stood up side by side, Suki glared at him through the corner of her eye. She bit the inside of her lip to stop herself from growling at him.

"What, What are you doing down here Yeosang?" Seonghwa asked panting, from his efforts of fighting with his sister.

Yeosang scratched his nose, sighing once more, looking to each of his siblings, "I came to formely introduce Tia to my family" he said gesturing to Tia stood at his side, she gave them a small smile and little wave.

Awkwardly the siblings waved back.

Tia was a little taken aback, edging closer towards Yeosang, the female stood across from her smiled at the action. weird.

"Tia, this is my family," Yeosang started, pointing a finger at them going along the brief line they had formated in, "That's Jongho, Seonghwa, Wooyoung, Suki, Mingi, Yunho and the short one is Hongjoong"

"For the last time, I'm not THAT short" Hongjoong yelled, the others in the line tried to hide their laughter, covering their mouths with the back of their hands or hiding the laughter with a forced cough, Hongjoong glared down the line at each of them.

Suki stood, narrowing her eyes she casually chewed the inside of her cheek, watching Tia, the only other female who could possible stay at the house, her first friend, her first sister.

But judging by the situation Tia had met them all Suki would be surprised if she chose to stay, oh well First introductions could fuck themselves.

¦Next Part

[sepdet]

Really good screenwriting tip by David Wappel on Twitter that also applies to other kinds of writing, including comics. Unrolled:

THREAD ALERT

Fellow screenwriters!

A thread on writing action lines, with special attention paid to word order and what I call "anchoring" nouns.

These tools are part of my process, and I’m not advocating for them over anything else. I just want to share some of the things I think about as I write.

Here we go!

Let's start off with what I think action lines are aimed to accomplish:

1. Describe what is happening.

2. Describe how we see what is happening.

A lot of the scripts I read from aspiring writers often focus solely on 1. More experienced writers focus on 1 and 2. The best writers do both, but hide 2 so you don't even realize it’s happening.

1 is important. It's the story.

But 2 can help the way you tell it.

And that’s what I’m going to focus my thread on, and hopefully illuminate how craft can allow you to make those choices in the script, without bumping the reader out of the story.

Alright, so we're focusing on "how we see what's happening"

The first thing to discuss is the ongoing debate over "We see" and all its forms.

As I said, I'm not here to advocate for one thing over another. Generally, I try to avoid "we see" (though I use it twice in my latest spec) mainly because I think it's implied in the fact that it's a screenplay. In most cases of "we see" it can be struck and nothing is lost.

"We see a bushel of apples under a tree." could just as easily be "A bushel of apples sits under a tree."

I think "we see" works is when you need to explicitly limit the audiences view. So you're more describing the fact that they "only see" what is right there.

We see a single flower. It stands alone in the center of muddy, war-torn No Man's Land as mortars kick dirt into the air.

It's important to clarify we only see the flower at first, otherwise the reveal isn't as powerful.

Ok, so that’s a quick bit on “we see” but now I want to talk about what I really came here to talk about:

these things that I call “anchoring nouns”

An “anchoring” noun provides the unit in which I want the reader to interpret the visuals I’m presenting. It is the noun that “anchors” the reader to how they should be picturing what is unfolding.

While remembering that I totally made up this nomenclature, an “anchoring” noun (AN) can be defined as the first noun you encounter which provides context for the size of the action you’re being asked to hold in your brain.

From my experience, the human brain doesn’t do anything more than it needs to. It’s super lazy (or super efficient depending on the water in your glass).

So if I say “picture an apple” you’re only going to picture an apple. You’re likely not going to picture an apple hanging from a branch of an apple tree, or in the mouth of a pig at a luau. You’re probably just going to picture the apple.

And that apple picture is of a certain size: just big enough for the apple.

This is where you can ask: What camera shot contains this noun? Is it really, really far away? Probably not. Are you so close, you can only see a part of it? Also probably not.

It’s probably just big enough to see the apple. Might be what’s considered a close-up. So without mentioning a camera at all, your brain is actually creating a shot size.

If I say “the stem of an apple” you’re likely picturing just the stem. (ECU)

If I say “An apple” you’re likely picturing an apple. (CU)

If I say “Five apples” maybe we move to a MCU

A bushel of apples.

A row of apple bushels.

An orchard. (EW)

But all those things have an apple in them.

I’m trying to use ANs to orient you to what they are.

(stem, apple, five apples, bushel, row, orchard)

The AN is (with a few exceptions) the first noun you encounter, which provides context for the size of the action you’re being asked to hold in your brain (because remember, you’re not going to hold more than necessary, you lazy-brained human)

So in one case, that AN may be “apple,” but in another it’s “bushel,” and in another it’s “row” These are the first nouns the reader encounters in that description...until another one bumps them off. (More on that later.)

Ok, now at this point, some of you may be thinking, “But there’s no action there. You’re just describing things in different sizes. That’s not screenwriting.”

You’re right, so let’s put this notion into practice.

Read the following.

Sally reaches into her back pocket.

Her hand slips into her back pocket.

Both describe the same action, but you’ll likely see them differently.

In the first, “Sally” is the AN. You may picture anywhere from a MW to a MCU, but generally, you’re probably picturing a person.

In the second example, “hand” is the AN. Most likely you’re picturing a CU.

Neither one is inherently better than the other, but understanding how we interpret words into images can help you make choices that have different dramatic effects.

It’s also worth noting that I had to change the verb to fit the noun. Reaching is an action that generally involves the shoulder, arm, and hand, so using that verb will almost always trigger a wider shot in the brain. But a hand slipping, that’s subtle, and small.

Is this “directing on the page?” I think yes and no. On set, the actress just has to get something from her back pocket. She can do it however she wants. Also, the director can shoot this however they want. But at this point, as the writer you ARE the actress and director.

So act and direct how you think this story should best be told.

When it’s time, they’ll come in and do their jobs, and hopefully that collaboration will yield results better than any of you could’ve done on your own.

Alright, so that’s ANs.

Now let’s talk about word order.

Your word order can help suggest camera moves, edits, tone, you name it.

In my writing, first and foremost, I try to use an AN to orient the reader to the shot they’re looking at.

Then, I try to move through the action using...

word order

grammar

sentence structure

...to suggest camera moves and edits.

Below are five different ways to write the same action.

Each have the slug line INT. KITCHEN.

How do you interpret the camera moves and edits (if any) in each example below?

John scrubs dishes in an empty kitchen.

In an empty kitchen, John stands alone at the sink. Scrubbing dishes.

A sponge swirls on a dirty plate. John scrubs away over the sink. Alone in an empty kitchen.

As he washes the plates, John sighs, alone over the kitchen sink, the table behind him covered with ten more dirty plates.

SCRUB. SCRUB. John’s eyes look up, and out the window. A sigh. He returns to his scrubbing.

Disclaimer: In no way am I saying that there is a 1-to-1 with the way things are written and their visual interpretation. As in all things screenwriting, there are no “rules.” I’m just saying that certain writing is going to suggest different visual tones for the same action.

Now, look at the difference between the first example and the last. In the first, the action of scrubbing the dishes seem to be the important thing to notice.

But in the last, it’s about his emotional reaction. I don’t mention dishes.

(Yes, the other examples primed you for dishwashing. I may have gotten a freebie there. Depending on context, I may or may not be able to do it in the script.)

Alright, remember when I said that a new AN can bump you off an old one. (Do you? Lazy-brained human?) Let’s look at one of the examples above to see it in action. Let’s look at the third one, which I’ll repeat here.

A sponge swirls on a dirty plate. John scrubs away over the sink. Alone in an empty kitchen.

I think this is clearly communicating three shots, in specific order. The sponge on the plate. John, the holder of the sponge. The empty kitchen. Each new sentence has a new AN to trigger you to see something else, and this time I’m going from CU to a W.

The new AN’s “bump” you off the previous one, and you’re just seeing images, one after another. So you never have to worry about a reader getting visually stuck in one shot, unless you want them too…

A sponge swirls on a dirty plate under running water. The sponge stops. A sigh. The water runs. The plate and sponge are put down, unfinished in the sink. SQUEAK. The water stops.

Hopefully, that keeps you visually rooted in the sink. (Once again, you already have some context, so I’m getting some freebies there with what’s going on, but hopefully you understand the concept I’m going for.)

In summary, your action lines should be doing more for you than just describing what’s happening. They should describe how we see what’s happening, and hopefully some of the things I’ve said can help you think about how you might achieve that in your work.

I should note here, that in my process, this is one of the last things I do. When the characters and story are working (1), this is a fun tool you can pull out to orient the reader and communicate camera and shots (2).

I’ll end with a metaphor that I often think about when I think about the act of screenwriting. I think of a screenwriter as a sculptor. And I used to think that the screenplay is the sculpture, but I don’t think that fully captures what we do.

I’d say what’s more accurate is that you’re the sculptor, and the reader’s emotional journey is the sculpture. Words are your chisel, and the screenplay is the act of chiseling.

Everyone else’s job on a film is to use magic to bring the sculpture to actual life.

If this helped you in anyway, feel free to retweet and share.

And please let me know how you all are thinking about action lines! I love hearing nifty little tricks and paradigms for the nuts and bolts of screenwriting craftwork!

Write on!

- David

[heck-im-lost]

A beautiful Christmas

Genre: just pure fluff

Pairings: romantic logince, platonic LAMP

Word Count: 1859

Warnings: slight self doubt about presents being good enough but nothing serious, cursing

Notes: this is for the @darknightvirgil 's Christmas exchange: I had @adultmorelikeadolt so enjoy my friend!!!

also, how do you title haha. this was a direct stream of consciousness so I have no clue how good/bad this actually is because it just seemed so good in my head...

and on AO3:

Taglist: @creativity-killed-thekitten

Logan stared blankly at his computer screen. He knew that he had been working too hard for too long without a break, but the next video still wasn't close to being ready and he couldn't let the fans down again. They had had to wait so long for the last video and he could not let it happen once more. He wanted to go down and see them all, but he just had so much left to do.

Roman had repeatedly told him to take care of himself more. And Logan knew that he was letting his boyfriend down, and pushing him away, but he had to get this finished goddamn it.

There was a knock at the door.

"Uh, yes. Come in."

Roman burst dramatically into the room.

"Hello, my one true love! I have come to drag you out of this dungeon! You are under arrest for overworking yourself and not seeing your boyfriend! We're going Christmas shopping, specs! Get yourself presentable and then get yourself outta here!"

"Uh, well Roman, I should really finish this off before going out anywhere. It's not that I don’t want to be with you, not at all my dearest. But this is important and there will be time for trivialities after I have got this done. I promise."

"I'm afraid you don't have a choice on this one, Specs! Christmas is in only a few days and then it will be over, the fans can wait on this one. And anyway, I want to spend Christmas with you, not have you in here by yourself. Take a break, Nerd!"

"But- I-" Logan looked down at his work and sighed. "Alright then. I was rather missing you anyhow."

Roman held out his hand and Logan took it, allowing himself to be pulled up into Roman's arms.

"I love you, gorgeous." He whispered into Logan's ear, rubbing his boyfriend's back gently.

"I love you too. I'm sorry-"

"It's okay, let’s go."

~

Roman had constructed a shopping mall in the mindscape many Christmases ago to buy gifts, at first it was undeveloped; the shop keepers has empty faces and the shops felt floaty, like in an old memory that you couldn't quite remember if it was real or a dream. But as Thomas grew older Roman had more references to go from and was more accomplished at imagining things into existence. An amalgamation of the best bits of every mall Thomas had ever been to, the mall was now so well built that it felt as real to the sides as standing in Thomas's own living room. And every year at Christmas he would put Christmas decorations everywhere, and they would go Christmas shopping together.

~

Roman excitedly led Logan to the entrance to the mall, where Patton and Virgil were eagerly waiting. Well, maybe it was just Patton who was looking eager, but this was the first time Virgil had come along himself, without thinking that he was unwanted and having to be persuaded to come, so it would do.

"Okay kiddos! We'll split up now, and then all meet in the cafe again in a couple of hours, does that sound okay?" Patton was jumping up and down with excitement. "Oh, I just love getting people gifts! I'm super duperly looking forward to this!!!!!!!!!!"

"Okay, well I'll go with Roman, and you and Logan can go around together. Let's go." Virgil looked expectantly at Roman, who nodded slightly.

"Logan!!! Let's go kiddo! See you all later!!!"

Logan smiled one last time at his boyfriend before he was whisked away by Patton.

"Why did you want to come with me, Charlie Frown?" Roman may have been insulting him, but the kind smile on his face let the anxious side know that there were no hard feelings.

"Welp I didn't get much sleep last night and I knew that if I went with Logan he'd just lecture on about healthy sleep schedules and healthy caffeine intakes and it would just be rubbish. And you aren't that bad." Virgil gave a quick smirk at Roman. "Come on, I want to go get Patton some stuffed toys."

~

"Oh God Patton, what am I going to get him? He has been so incredible to me and none of this seems good enough! I can't just get him a lacklustre gift that he will look at once and then put on a shelf and forget about! I need to get him something that will show how much he means to me! But-" Logan frantically paced up and down, his speed almost matching that of his racing thoughts.

"Calm down, it's okay kiddo! Everything is okay! You don't have to get him the perfect gift, there might not be anything that shows just how much you love him, as love is so much more than things you can buy. It doesn't matter though, just get him something that shows how much you care about him. Something that shows you were thinking of him. That’s all."

"I suppose it would be stupid to attempt to convey such an abstract, intense feeling as love in simple material items. I will just get him something that I know he will like. Come on Patton! I have an idea."

~

“Oh, Virgil what am I going to do what am I going to get him? I love him so much but this time it feels like no gift, nothing I could do would show him how much I care about him. I am one for romantic gestures, you know me, but nothing I could get him would be enough for what he deserves! I have to get him something, but- “

"Dude it's okay! That guy is so in love with you you could get him one shoe for Christmas and it would become his favourite thing and would go on his special things from Roman shelf. We both know he has one. You don't have to stress out about this - it's my job to stress out about things. Just get him something that shows that you are thinking about him - all he really needs for Christmas is you."

"Virgil?"

"Yeah?"

"Virgil the emo who lives in an angst cave where it is always Halloween?"

Virgil sighed.

"Yeah?"

"Did you just reference Mariah Carey's 'All I Want For Christmas Is You'?"

"I hate to say I did. But I knew I needed something dumb and Christmassy to get to you. And anyway, I've got all of my gifts for the others, let's finish up getting yours before we have to meet up with the others, okay?"

"Okay, my dark and stormy knight. And thanks, I've just had the best idea of what to get my special Nerd!"

~

As he and Patton made their way into the cafe, Logan hoped that the ridiculous shape of the long, narrow box he was carrying wouldn't give away what it was. But when he saw Roman and Virgil, already sitting at the table next to their curious pile of bags and boxes of equally strange sizes, his worries left him. His boyfriend looked amazing. And it looked like Virgil was somehow already on his third cup of coffee.

"Are we late?" Roman spotted Logan looking nervously at Virgil’s coffee mugs

"No Virgil just decided to order three cups at once to avoid having to queue again. Anyway, how did it go, my beloved? Was it worth coming out?"

"OF THE CLOSET!" Patton burst out, laughing as he sat down next to Virgil.

"It went very well, Roman, my love. I have got everything I needed, and- well- I am glad to be back here with you." Logan felt himself blush and smiled, thinking of spending time with Roman: his work forgotten.

"I am too, my shining star."

~

It was Christmas day and Patton had woken them all up at exactly the time he was allowed to. (After one year when Patton had woken them all up at 4:30 in the morning because he was awake and excited and wanted to open his presents as soon as possible, they had enforced a strict "no waking people up before 8:30 on Christmas day" policy.)

Patton handed Virgil a cup of coffee, Logan a cup of tea, Roman a cup of peppermint tea, and excitedly led them all to the living room, where the presents were piled under the tree.

"IT'S CHRISTMAS!!!!!"

"Yes Patton, and we are very tired so please don't yell in my ear." Logan took a long sip of his tea, and looked across at Patton who was bouncing up and down like a child. "Right then Patton do you want to go first?"

Patton excitedly grabbed a package - it was from Roman. He hurriedly tore at the paper, until out came a Winnie the pooh plushie.

"Oh my God Roman I love it! Aaaaaagh thank you!!!!!" Patton was positively bouncing.

"Squeeze the paw Patton."

The Winnie the pooh song started playing.

"Aaaaaaaagh!!!!!!!! It's perfect!!!!!!!"

And they continued like that, taking it in turns to open presents until there were just two left under the tree.

"Logan, for you, my precious."

"Way to sound like Gollum" Virgil muttered, and Roman shot a glare in return.

Logan slowly unwrapped the present, the last and biggest present from his boyfriend. He methodically cut each piece of tape, to reveal-

"A telescope! Wow Roman- I- Thank you so much I have always wanted to look at the stars outside my window properly."

"I just imagined you looking through the telescope and explaining to me the constellations. It would be so romantic and I know you would have lots to tell as you always wanted Thomas to be an astronomer."

"I would love that Roman! Now, here you go, and be careful with it." He handed Roman the long package.

"I have been so curious about what this could be!!" He started to unwrap the meticulously wrapped present.

"It could be a pogo stick." Virgil remarked.

"Or a tube of jelly beans. You know how you can get the long tubes and they are full of jelly beans and they-"

"We know them, Patton.” Virgil smiled fondly at Patton. “It could be a long thin hat."

"It could be a broomstick. I don’t know why Logan would get him a broomstick but it could be."

Roman finally rolled the box out of the wrapping paper. He gasped.

"I thought you said it was too dangerous!"

"Well I know how much you enjoyed it so..."

"What is it? What is it?" Patton leant over to get a closer look.

"My wonderful, amazing, perfect boyfriend who I love has gotten me a new KATANA!!!"

"And this one is weighted so it is actually statistically easier to use and will result in less chance of you getting injured, whilst being more effective in battle. I made sure to do quite a lot of research before buying to ensure I got the right one, so I hope it is satisfactory."

Roman grinned.

"It is more than satisfactory, Nerd. I love you so much, did you know that?"