#tools for drafting

[resdraft]

Drafting of Residential and Commercial Buildings

Let's explore residential and commercial drafting, highlighting the tools, techniques, and importance of crucial phase in construction.

[anghraine]

It's interesting (if often frustrating) to see the renewed Orc Discourse after the last few episodes of ROP. I've seen arguments that orcs have to be personifications of evil rather than people as such or else the ethics of our heroes' approach to them becomes much more fraught. Tolkien's work, as written, seems an odd choice to me for not wrangling with difficult questions, and of course, more diehard fans are going to immediately bring up Shagrat and Gorbag.

If you haven't read LOTR recently, Shagrat and Gorbag are two orcs who briefly have a conversation about how they're being screwed over by Sauron but have no other real options, about their opinions of mistakes that have been made, that they think Sauron himself has made one, but it's not safe to discuss because Sauron has spies in their own ranks. They reminisce about better times when they had more freedom and fantasize about a future when they can go elsewhere and set up a small-scale banditry operation rather than being involved in this huge-scale war. Eventually, however, they end up turning on each other.

Basically any time that someone brings up the "humanity" of this conversation, someone else will point out that they're still bad people. They're not at all guilty about what they're part of. They just resent the dangers to themselves, the pressure from above, failures of competence, the surveillance they're under, and their lack of realistic alternative options. The dream of another life mentioned in the conversation is still one of preying on innocent people, just on a much smaller and more immediate scale, etc.

I think this misses the reason it keeps getting brought up, though. The point is not that Shagrat and Gorbag are good people. The point is that they are people.

There's something very normal and recognizable about their resentment of their superiors, their fears of reprisal and betrayal that ultimately are realized, their dislike of this kind of industrial war machine that erases their individual work and contributions, the tinge of wistfulness in their hope of escape into a different kind of life. Their dialect is deliberately "common"—and there's a lot more to say about that and the fact that it's another commoner, Sam, who outwits them—but one of the main effects is to make them sound familiar and ordinary. And it's interesting that one of the points they specifically raise is that they're not going to get better treatment from "the good guys" so they can't defect, either.

This is self-interested, yes, but it's not the self-interest of some mystical being or spirit or whatnot, but of people.

Tolkien's later remarks tend to back this up. He said that female orcs do exist, but are rarely seen in the story because the characters only interact with the all-male warrior class of orcs. Whatever female orcs "do," it isn't going to war. Maybe they do a lot of the agricultural work that is apparently happening in distant parts of Mordor, maybe they are chiefly responsible for young orcs, maybe both and/or something else, we don't know. But we know they're out there and we know that they reproduce sexually and we know that they're not part of the orcish warrior class.

Regardless of all the problems with this, the idea that orcs have a gender-restricted warrior class at all and we're just not seeing any of their other classes because of where the story is set doesn't sound like automatons of evil. It sounds like an actual culture of people that we only see along the fringes.

And this whole matter of "but if they're people, we have to think about ethics, so they can't be people" is a weird circular argument that cannot account for what's in LOTR or for much of what Tolkien said afterwards. Yes, he struggled with The Problem of Orcs and how to reconcile it with his world building and his ethical system, but "maybe they're not people" is ultimately not a workable solution as far as LOTR goes and can't even account for much of the later evolution of his ideas, including explicit statements in his letters.

And in the end, the real response that comes to mind to that circular argument is "maybe you should think about ethics more."

[erinwantstowrite]

Hey folks i am DE-recomending Reedsy now :) because you have to pay for a bunch of features now :) that were previously free :)) and also they don't even work properly half the time so why would you even PAY to use them :)) if anyone has a different place to write, i'd greatly appreciate it because i have to move everything over to a new place now. Also i refuse to use anything that includes AI in any way, shape, or form

[a-queer-writer]

Writing Tip

Don't overly edit before you finish a first draft.

Get that draft down, then edit.

You'll never finish if you keep editing and don't just continue.

You got this.

[hana-bobo-finch]

new headcanon. zasp touched a bug zapper as a child because he was a little prick and hasn’t been the same since

[hamletthedane]

y’all want a commune but you can’t even handle one (1) voting block lmao

[starheirxero]

Yk I can't help but think about how a big part of Lunar was specifically avoiding getting angry.

It just. aghhh vague hand motions. It makes me think of like,,, would you still love me if I was angry? would i still be a person in your eyes if i raised my voice and showed my teeth? would you still give me basic human decency if my posture was threatening? would you still love me if i was angry? would you still love me if i scared you?

[saaraofthesand]

Okay, the scene where Mami kills Kyouko is actually my single favorite scene in PMMM. I think about it all the time. I love it so much. Which sounds horrible, I know? But I think I love it because of its honest look at the characters in a desperate situation. And how in-character it is for all of them. It’s such a fantastic bit of storytelling from the writers.

Like Mami would absolutely be the first one of them to snap like that. She’s such an emotionally unstable character. Mami, more than any of them, wants to stop witches and save people because that’s how she makes peace with her lifestyle. So, learning that they’ll all turn into witches… of course she’s going to try and eliminate that possibility before it happens, even if it means killing her friends.

But even more so than Mami’s characterization in this scene, I love Madoka’s. I think it would be easy to assume that Homura would be the one to stop Mami, because Homura is seen as the colder character. So, I love that it’s Madoka. Madoka makes the quickest call she can in that moment to save Homura. Maybe they could’ve talked Mami down, and at that point, that would’ve been what Homura tried first. But Madoka couldn’t risk it and needed to react right away.

It shows us that in the main timeline, Homura is giving Madoka the time and space to make her decisions carefully/fully stop her because she knows that Madoka is impulsive when it come to her friends.

Basically it shows their characterization as this: Mami will always try and make the call that she believes will save the most people, Madoka will always try and make the call that saves her friends, and Homura will always try and make the call that saves Madoka. And that’s because for each of them, those are their salvations from the cruelty of being a magic girl.

[lae-zels]

the dark urge, dragonborn bhaalspawn

[dovalore]

saw this thing pop up during an arcadion blind prog stream

[aira-besque]

[ronniaugust]

How to Write on Final Draft (without it feeling so daunting)

It's incredibly difficult to open up a Final Draft document without feeling like you're literally writing your final draft, so here's a few features you can use your advantage!

1. Turn on dark mode

Dark mode makes it look like less of a script and more of an outline. Edit and rewrite in light mode, you will feel the difference.

2. Use speed view

Speed view gets rid of pages and page numbers and therefore you are only looking at the words you type.

3. Use focus mode

Focus mode removes the scenes, page numbers, and outlines you have at the top on the program while writing. Another way to forget about focusing on progress.

4. Make a messy beat board

Throw all your ideas onto the beat board, it should help make the document feel a bit more lived-in and less pristine.

Bonus:

5. Set a template with your formatting and use that to start every script you write

While a script format is very ridged, there are things you can do to personalize it. When you find those things, make them in a Final Draft doc (without actual writing) and save as your own template so you don't have to change all the elements every time.

[rimonoroni2]

pro writing tip. if you're on a roll while writing but suddenly find your brain blank while agonizing over a word choice + can't remember the saying + can't choose between two synonyms etc, just add brackets and then the closest indicator you can remember. that way you can keep writing and then return to the sentence in editing.

examples:

"he [verbed] the arrow and watched it fly straight and true."

"agnes was so distraught and [couldn't be comforted] that the rest of them could barely get a word in edgewise."

"daniel couldn't help but marvel at how the arches in the building [stretched? reached?] over his head."

"in his opinion, the whole thing was as dull as [dirt?? look up idiom later]."

[garlicsunshine]

shower exhaustion

@kkgiweek day 4 hurt/comfort

gai begrudgingly accepts help during his post 4th war recovery (400 words also posted to ao3)

💚🩵🩵🩵💚

*THUD*

kk: gai?

.

.

.

kk: gai?

gai: im fine

kk: ...

kk *gets up and walks into the bathroom*

gai: i said im fine.

kk *pulls back the shower curtain*

gai *doesnt move from their spot on the tub floor*

gai: ...

kk *undresses, grabs the shower stool and climbs into the shower*

kk: we have this chair for a reason gai.

gai: i dont need it.

kk: ur barely a week out of the hospital. ur bodys exhausted. you shouldnt even be standing for more the 10 minutes at a time.

gai: ...

kk: can you sit for me, please? it will make it easier for me to shower you.

gai: i dont--

kk: i want to ...okay?

gai: ...okay...

gai *maneuvers themselves up and onto the chair*

kk: thank you. where did you leave off?

gai: hair and face are done, just body wash left.

kk *suds up a wash rag and proceeds to scrub down gais back, then front*

gai *holds out each arm in turn*

kk *kneels down to get gais legs and feet*

kk *grabs a new rag and soaps it*

kk: can you stand up and face away from me?

gai: i can wash my own ass, kakashi.

kk: im sure you can.

gai *begrudgingly stands*

kk *washes them gently*

kk: alright, rinse off.

gai *sits back down on the stool, dragging it farther under the spray*

kk *soaps their own hands with anitbacterial soap*

kk: all set?

gai: yeah...

kk *turns off the water*

gai *pulls back the curtain, places a towel on the toilet lid and sits down*

kk: lets get you lotioned.

gai: its fine. i dont need to do that today.

kk: you do it after every shower. you say it keeps you looking youthful.

gai: its fine.

kk: its really not a problem. besides, its like a ritual. its important to you. i want to do it.

gai *stares at the floor*

kk: come on, lets move to the bed. you can lay down and ill lather you up.

kk *extends their hand*

gai *takes it*

*later on the bed*

 

kk *lotioning gais amputated foot*

gai: thanks... kakashi...

kk: anytime.

...

kk: ur not an inconvenience. or a burden. i want to take care of you. i like taking care of you.

gai *roughly wipes tears away*: ...okay

kk: okay 💕

[averlym]

ghost story premiere day! check @melliotwrites for more info

[wife]

help my anime girl is trapped in Vector World 😔😔😔