triedtriedtired

[triedtriedtired]

[triedtriedtired]

Lilypad Islands

[triedtriedtired]

ARASAKA'S HEART

[triedtriedtired]

Via ssmc_guineapig

[triedtriedtired]

beautiful mountain scenery 🤢

[triedtriedtired]

I mean, sure, whatever at this point.

[triedtriedtired]

the closer the stranger

[triedtriedtired]

@the-wip-project Thank you for including so many toolsets and frameworks in these prompts. They’ve been really informative to work through.

[Day 53] Apply the Seven Point Story Structure to a WIP, or to a new idea.

in the style of an album, by setting for Last days

1. starting point: Larry Parker’s backyard blues 2. first turn: the burning of Fall’s End 3. first pinch: Angels at the Chalet 4. midpoint: let’s all go to the Railyard 5: second pinch: angry bear redecorates Veteran’s Center 6. second turn: burning the Henbane (reprise) 7. resolution: surprise, we lived!

[triedtriedtired]

[triedtriedtired]

@the-wip-project hope you don’t mind getting tagged as this series goes on, entirely out of order, long past the point the official asks are done!

[Day 33]: What kind of gestures are your characters often using?

I try not to give all my characters the same kinds of body language tics, but everyone usually ends up tilting their head at some point. It’s such an easy signifier for interest/curiosity/confusion. And it’s understated, as opposed to a big gesture. I try to vary it up with, IDK, eyebrows or something. 

Sometimes I go through and plan out how a character will stand / gesture and their default resting face. To try and get out ahead of any overlap. If I can’t make someone distinct, I usually take it as a warning sign that I need to spend more time developing their character. Or pull a cut-and-combine with a character that I do understand.

[Day 39]: What kind of traits make a character interesting?

Internal conflict! <3

I like it when characters are their own worst enemy. It’s (usually) more satisfying to see a story grapple with the complexities of an internal struggle than an external one. Characters with a bit of internal contradiction and struggle are more fun.

[triedtriedtired]

you know what i’ve never seen. one of those really big trees. like the massive ones in california. i feel like if i saw one i’d start crying immediately

[triedtriedtired]

@the-wip-project hope you’re still enjoying these because I am

[Day 40] How do you start a new story?

Running like hell from an old story!

<3

[combined with Day 63, I think] Do you start with characters or plot?

I usually start out feeling someway about something. I brainstorm on the feeling itself as hard as I can, ask myself what sort of person would love / hate / embrace / repress / accept / avoid this kind of feeling. And then I pose a situation where they have to confront that. Where, whatever approach they have, it doesn’t work for them. And I keep doing that until there’s a compelling character arc to generate the plot with.

The other way I start stories is actually harder: a plot idea. “X vs Y, in space!!!” or something. I cannot tell you how many technically proficient plot outlines I have generated -- only to set them aside because I don’t feel anything. Can’t fake it, can’t force it. If I haven’t come up with something to care about from the inside, I set the plot aside and start hunting for inspiration elsewhere.

There’s a couple of writing posts I see float by sometimes, calling out the whole “is that a character or a feeling?” phenomenon. But feeling is the foundation of compelling character, and it’s not the sort of thing a story (and I mean a really good story, the kind that sticks with you and keeps you awake at night reading) can live without. Sure, vague emotion needs to be processed and refined into a solid character arc -- but it’s the spark that makes the whole engine go. Lean into it!

[triedtriedtired]

DAYS GONE — (6/?)

[triedtriedtired]

Plan to have some practice of composition and DOF, but I was totally lost in the beauty of this Night City.

[triedtriedtired]

@the-wip-project I think one of the interesting differences between the Hero / Heroine journeys is the aspect of choice. The Hero begins by choosing to leave the status quo, while the Heroine gets forced out. But in the end, the Hero has only one option: return and fight, while the Heroine is free to step beyond the inciting conflict in whatever way they choose.

Day 90: The Heroine’s Journey begins with the protagonist having broken with their familial network, their pleas being ignored, turning away / being pushed out from their position, and finding help from family/friends. Think how this beginning could apply to your WIP.

Since it’s a time travel fic, it’s not too hard to apply this to Last days. Waverly’s attempts to (re-)connect with her established friends backfired so badly off-screen that by the time the story starts, she’s totally given up on asking for help. Or fulfilling her role and pursuing any of her canonical goals.

One of the reasons that I like Waverly is that she flunked both Journey arcs off screen. She faced off with the villain in the canon timeline, did the Hero’s Journey text-book correct -- and winning that fight still got her a bad ending. But her subsequent attempts to pull a ‘glory and revenge are irrelevant, let’s team up’ Heroine’s Journey in the following time loops ended up with her severely disillusioned, increasingly isolated, and even more traumatized because the world keeps resetting anyway.

The plot outline and ending I’ve got could fall into either category, but I’d like to pull a Heroine here and say that the any sufficiently advanced plotline makes them indistinguishable from each other. (a very fancy handwave to cover indecision)

[triedtriedtired]

@kissthe-gogoat Dream Cream 🥺

[triedtriedtired]

The green knight was very good you guys