Just A Bunch Of Useful Websites - Updated For 2023

Before the bottom of chapter 3 page 34 reveals that he saw Isaac use his weather powers, you can see him go from his earlier position staring at nothing in particular to focusing on Isaac! Zack's little details are such a nice touch.

Reminder: He was not unconscious. He was just laying there silently.

A regular and oblivious person works at a coffee shop not knowing its a place of ceasefire for assassins and mercenaries.

i like seeing these on my dash. i think they're cool

Another USMLE Question

Answer and Explanation:

one of my favorite stupid things to do in fanfic is to throw two characters together who literally never interact. and then give them an entire, fleshed-out relationship dynamic that exists nowhere but my own head. yes they’ve literally never spoken. yes their relationship is important to me. hope this helps.

What's a day in Mayview if it doesn't include falling from a great height?

☆★☆

this is adorable!

Coral Pukei-Pukei Villager

I sketched this villager a few years ago, I'd still love to see these folks in my village. Little Pukei Pukei collecting bugs to eat :D

When Max gets pulled into Spirit Trance again in Chapter 4, there's a better look at the background. Sand dunes and what looks like pyramids in the distance. We know that when Spirit Trance involves more than one spirit, the world takes on characteristics of both spirits, as seen with Patchworm and the Ghost Train:

Sphinxes can easily be associated with both a desert environment and pyramids, so there might be more fuel for this theory here.

Also as Max is falling after being repelled by the ghost train, right before he loses consciousness there's something on his back:

Those could be the wings of a Sphinx preventing him from becoming a splat on the ground. After all, if this Sphinx hijacking a ride is the reason Max became a spectral, and it did so to get into Mayview, what good would it do to have its ride die outside the barrier, leaving it right back where it started?

The B.E.R.G possessing Max isn’t a piece of the shadow spirit

I recently read through chapter 5, and with the last two pages that have been released I noticed something that I think gives away the identity of the spirit hiding in Max. I think that whatever is in Max is a very powerful, or maybe even the leader of the Sphinxes.

First, back in Chapter 3, when BERG is speaking to Doorman, he exclaims, “ ARROGANCE. YOUR POWER IS NOTHING TO BE AFRAID OF. RIDDLES AND WORD GAMES.” And so far, both our Sphinx of Games and Twuth have powers that manifest through words.

Additionally, BERG alludes to his faction. When we first met the Sphinx of Games he ran off saying that “the others” will hear about this. And until now that just seemed like an empty threat. When Doorman is contemplating about Max’s situation:

He says “one of the s-” Now I’m kinda grasping at straws on this one, but the freaky shadow spirit seems to be an independent entity, but we now have proof that the sphinxes are a group and it’s entirely possible that the sentence could have finished as “one of the sphinxes.” I’m thinking that this chapters gonna end with BERG kinda revealing himself to Sphinx of Twuth to get him to bug off.

There'd be good reason/justification for it too! Just have to retrieve a tool that somebody else nabbed and/or fell into the possession of a non-spectral. It has its own built-in time limit in that the group would want to retrieve the item before it makes the person a spectral.

it just occurred to me if Pnat ever did a full on heist chapter i’d lose my mind

i've been writing a book and the feedback i've gotten from family members is that i have been using a lot of description, that the plot is moving along pretty slowly, and "something" needs to happen. do you have any tips or advice on moving plots along quicker in order to keep the reader's attention? thanks so much!!

How to Move a Story Forward

When your character is just milling about in their world describing what they see, what they’re doing, and what’s happening to them, that’s not really a plot. It’s just a random string of events happening to your character, and typically it doesn’t make for very interesting reading. This kind of story moves slowly because nothing’s actually happening. Imagine following an average person through their average day versus following Katniss Everdeen through day three of The Hunger Games. It’s a big difference. And that’s not to say every plot has to be as exciting or dramatic as The Hunger Games, but there does need to be a conflict.

So, the first thing you have to do is sit down and figure out what your story is really about. What is going on in this person’s life that is worth writing about? Is there some sort of inner conflict they’re struggling with? Or is there an external conflict of some kind? Usually there are both with the focus being more on one than the other.

How stories begin…

Most stories start when a character’s life is still normal but just about to change. Katniss was getting ready to go hunting with Gale. Bella was settling in at her new high school after moving in with her dad, and Harry Potter was just living life as the boy in the cupboard.

What happens next…

And then something happens. This is called the “inciting incident” because it “incites” the conflict and brings on the important events of the story. Katniss volunteers as tribute when her sister is drafted into The Hunger Games. Bella meets Edward Cullen and an instant attraction develops between them. Harry Potter receives his letter to Hogwarts.

The character responds and forms a goal…

The character’s normal life has been turned upside down. Now what? For Katniss, the most important thing in the world to her was the safety and well being of her sister and mother, and since she is the one who keeps them safe and fed, her survival of The Hunger Games is vital. That’s her motivation, and her goal is to win the game. Bella becomes obsessed with learning more about Edward and who, or what, he is, and she falls for him and the magic his world brings into her otherwise boring life. Being part of that world is her motivation, staying alive in the process is her goal. Harry finally has a ticket out of his life of being abused and unloved, and he has a chance to connect with the legacy his parents left behind. Leaving his old life behind and embracing this new one is is motivation. Surviving his first year at Hogwarts is his goal.

But goals aren’t supposed to be easy to reach…

If the character can just sail smoothly right up to their goal, mission accomplished, that makes for a pretty boring story. You never hear people say, “WOW! THAT WAS AN INCREDIBLE GAME!” when the score was 20 to nothing. What makes the game exciting is when the teams are neck and neck, one getting ahead for a little while, then the other one being ahead for a little while. It’s the trying, and often failing, to get over obstacles that makes the conflict more interesting. In a lot of ways, that struggle actually is the conflict. What obstacles stand in the way of your character and their goal, and who (or what) put them there? For Katinss, the obstacles were the other tributes and all the frightening things added to the game by the gamemakers. For Bella, it was the nomad vampires who caused trouble at first for fun, and then later for revenge. The obstacles Harry faces are partly due to conflict with other students and teachers, and partly due to the first “shots fired” in what would become the overarching battle against Voldemort.

You win some, you lose some…

And it’s important that you show some wins along with the failures. Sometimes the character tries to overcome an obstacle, fails, tries again and succeeds. Sometimes they fail and have to come up with a work around. Either way, the fails add to the tension and drama while the wins add excitement and interest in what happens next.

The final showdown…

Eventually you get to the big showdown, aka “the climax.” This is when your character faces down the biggest challenge that stands in the way of reaching their goal. This could be an epic battle between your character and the villain. It could be the moment where your character realizes they’re in love with their best friend and they chase them to the airport to admit their undying love for them before they move away. Or it could be surviving one last night of a terrible storm before crawling out of hiding to assess the damage. Whatever it is, the culmination of that moment is achieving or failing to achieve their goal.

The dust settles…

Whatever crazy chain of events was set off by the inciting incident, they’ve come to an end now thanks to the actions of your protagonist and their friends. Or, if they haven’t come to an end, they’ve at least been waylaid for now, or things are at least moving in a better direction. Now your characters can clean up, rebuild, mend wounds, tie up loose threads, and get back to life as normal. Or, in the case of a series, they can re-group and figure out what happens next. And that’s the end.

… But some stories happen on the inside.

Some stories are more about people and their experiences than about any big crazy thing that happens to them. Stories like these are more emotional and are more about dealing with the inner conflict than an outer one. But even in stories like these, you’ll still have a similar structure to what I laid out above. It’s just a lot looser and tied up with an emotional journey rather than the physical one. Which isn’t to say they can’t have a parallel physical journey, but the important stuff is happening on the inside.

Whichever kind of story you’re writing, if you make sure you’re hitting the important points I’ve laid out above, whether they relate to an internal conflict, an external conflict, or a little of both, you can be sure you’re writing a story that is moving forward and will keep your audience engaged. Everything I’ve outlined above is the “something” that needs to happen to make your story interesting.

Good luck! :)