thegrapefiend - Tumblr blog

[thegrapefiend]

idk if anyone will find this useful, but this is how i go about planning my stories. i mostly write fantasy, so that’s what this is most applicable to. but it could work with other genres too.

so there’s three major components to a story: the characters, the plot, and the world. creating them individually is the easy part, but they all connect and affect each other in different ways. (like you can’t have a character who loves peaches and eats them every day if they live a peasant in a region that doesn’t grow peaches, for example.)

so i created a cheat sheet to help connect all three components together.

1) the world creates the characters.

this is related to the peach example above. the characters should be a direct result of the environment they grew up in and the environment they currently live in.

2) the characters are limited by the world.

also related to the peaches. characters can’t do anything outside of what the rules of their surroundings and universe allow, such as eating peaches when they’re not available. this also applies for magic users. they can’t have unlimited magic, so keep in mind what you want out of both the characters and the world when creating magic systems.

3) the characters carry the plot.

we’ve all heard it before: “bad characters can’t carry a good plot. good characters can carry a bad plot.” but we all like a good plot anyway. try to make sure you’re not giving your characters too heavy or too light of a plot to carry.

4) the plot pushes the characters.

if nothing in the plot happens, your characters will remain static forever. if you struggle with plots, try starting with what character development you want to happen, then go from there.

5) the plot depends on the world.

you can’t overthrow the evil government if there isn’t one. think of what your world needs most and what your plot is centered around, and fit those two together.

6) the world is changed by the plot.

even if your plot is centered around something most of your world would call “insignificant”, the world will still experience some change from the plot. either the evil government will be gone, or maybe that one teacher is now way more careful about keeping an eye on the test key. either way, the world will be different from now on.

final note: usually people will be able to write one or two of the components with ease, but don’t know where to go from there. i personally can’t write plots, but thinking this way has really helped me actually make a story out of the world and characters because i looked at what i needed from what i had. i really hope this can help you too! happy writing!

tl;dr this is a cheat sheet to help anyone who struggles with writing one or two of what i consider the three major components to a story.

[thegrapefiend]

Esme Squalor skiing down the frozen waterfall was me leaving 2k18

[thegrapefiend]

T r u

I love how baby boomers will talk about child-rearing like “I was beaten and repressed as a kid and turned out fine” and then like fifteen minutes later they’ll be like “A cashier at a clothing store wouldn’t take my expired coupon, this is a PERSONAL AFFRONT and you have to help me get them FIRED.”

Like. Are you sure you turned out fine, though? Cuz like. It seems like maybe you didn’t.

[thegrapefiend]

Omg stop

Jilytober:

the story of lily and james potter through quotes from the harry potter books.

[thegrapefiend]

a harry potter au where potions is taught by gordon ramsay

[thegrapefiend]

I love the sea and shit weather 💙🌊 (at Whitehaven)

[thegrapefiend]

the harry potter books rated by Harry's Sass™

the sorcerer's stone: dudley asking harry if he wants to practice sticking his head down the toilet and harry replying "no thanks, the poor toilet's never had anything as horrible as your head down it - it might be sick" like ooo!!! sick burn!!! good for an 11 year old but overall still in the developmental stage. 6/10

the chamber of secrets: dudley (once again lmao get rekt) telling harry "i know what day it is" and harry replying "well done, so you've finally learned the days of the week." lockhart trying to be all Amazing Teacher™ and shit and telling harry "just do what i did, harry!" and harry saying "what, drop my wand?" overall good but not with as much of an Oomph™ factor as the sorcerer's stone. 5/10

the prisoner of azkaban: ah yes!!! Harry's Sass™ in its adolescent years!!!! no longer a toddler, now solidly about 11 years old. draco making fun of harry for fainting at the quidditch game bc of the dementors and saying "shame [the broom] doesn't come with a parachute - in case you get too near a dementor." and harry replying "pity you can't attach an extra arm to yours, malfoy. then it could catch the snitch for you." 8/10 purely because he fucking MURDERED whiny bitch ass baby malfoy ha ha take that

the goblet of fire: a good amount of sass!! a healthy amount of sass! perhaps a bit held back though (come on harry get it together). rita skeeter annoying harry and asking for a word and jk rowling LITERALLY writing "'yeah, you can have a word,' said harry savagely. 'good-bye'" like FUCK he is canon savage in this book!!!! DAMN!!!!! and then he reks malfoy AGAIN "you know that expression [your mother's got], like she's got dung under her nose? has she always looked like that, or was it just because you were with her?" MOTHERFUCK GO OFF 9/10

the order of the phoenix: HOLY GRAIL OF HARRY'S SASS™. THE MOTHERLOAD. GOD DAMN. when vernon asks him why he's listening to the news again and harry replies w/ "well, it changes every day, you see." when hermione's warning him about picking fights w/ malfoy bc malfoy will make life hard for him and harry's like "wow, i wonder what it'd be like to have a difficult life" like fuck harry!!! tell us how u really feel!!!! literally ANY TIME he talks to an adult he doesn't like. sassing dudley left & right, putting him in his place w/ "this is night, diddykins. that's what we call it when it goes all dark like this" like fuck harry brought out the big guns w/ "diddykins". overall wonderful, truly. a good healthy teenage dose of sass. 100/10

the half blood prince: SHIT DO I EVEN NEED TO SAY ANYTHING EXCEPT "THERE'S NO NEED TO CALL ME SIR, PROFESSOR" LIKE FUCK. BEST PART OF THE WHOLE BOOK. OF THE WHOLE SERIES. FUCKING OWNED SNAPE HE'S FUCKIN REKT LYING ON THE FLOOR CRYING DRINKING SOME CHEAP ASS DISGUSTING ASS FIREWHISKEY. BREAKS THE GOD DAMN MOTHERFUCKING SCALE SO FAR OFF THE SCALE IT'S ON MARS. INFINITY/10. FUCK.

the deathly hallows: "it's time you learned some respect!" "it's time you earned it" sassing the minister of magic hooooooo boy. not much else bc harry's too busy like saving the world and shit. so extra points for multitasking and being an overall well rounded sass-er. 8/10

[thegrapefiend]

Moana Visual Development, Part 3

The vignettes. 

Here are some story vignettes that I did for Moana– Moana sailing off to sea, The bioluminescence of the sea rescuing Moana, and a take on the “Underworld”. Fun fact: There used to be a totem sculpture/tiki-inspired character in the early stages of development, that you can spot in the third underworld piece.

[thegrapefiend]

Excuse me

The more holes you tear in a net, the fewer holes it has.

[thegrapefiend]

No offense but I hate it when people sit down next to me to smoke…like sweetie…I was here breathin…

[thegrapefiend]

So true

Being born poor is like starting the game on hard mode. Being born rich is like playing easy with a tutorial and extra hints enabled.

[thegrapefiend]

One of my favourite Lemony Snicket quotes!

[thegrapefiend]

This is far too accurate and a legitimate fear of mine

I hope I never get kidnapped. Not because I’m afraid…but because my sinuses are so bad, if they put duct tape over my mouth, I’ll be dead in 7 minutes tops.

[thegrapefiend]

T H I S I was totally sceptical about this series and I was- if I'm honest- ready to hate it but I can't honestly it's so good, true to the books and detailed. Love

The adults of Unfortunate Events are NOT stupid.

I’ve seen several people complain that the adults of A Series of Unfortunate Events are “too stupid” and that it damages the story. Please allow me to clarify something:

No adults in ASOUE is stupid. 100% of them are willfully ignorant, and it’s an important distinction.

Justice Strauss is too timid and needy to critically think about the red flags around her.

Mr. Poe cares more about his job than the people it affects.

Uncle Monty is so self-involved that he assumes that Stephano is after him.

Aunt Josephine is simply too afraid to consider the idea that terrible things may be nearby.

This is not a story of “Adults are dumb”. It is a story about how people can contribute to evil and cruelty simply by being passive or refusing to confront it.

“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” - Edmund Burke

That is what the series is about. It’s an important distinction. The Baudelaires do not suffer from random fools that happen to be near them. The Baudelaire Orphans are receiving the sum total of the failings of society crashing upon them.

[thegrapefiend]

So much love for this picture

[thegrapefiend]

This is where I belong

[thegrapefiend]

me: *catches myself being judgmental* me to me: i did not raise u this way