Rulingtheworldistoomuchwork

Twins

How to Kick a Reader in the Gut

Disrupt the reader’s sense of justice. 

This generally means setting a character up to deserve one thing and then giving them the exact opposite. 

Kill a character off before they can achieve their goal. 

Let the bad guy get an extremely important win. 

Set up a coup against a tyrannical king. The coup fails miserably.

Don’t always give characters closure. 

(Excluding the end of the book, obviously)

A beloved friend dies in battle and there’s no time to mourn him.

A random tryst between two main characters is not (or cannot be) brought up again.

A character suddenly loses their job or can otherwise no longer keep up their old routine

Make it the main character’s fault sometimes. 

And not in an “imposter syndrome” way. Make your MC do something bad, and make the blame they shoulder for it heavy and tangible.

MC must choose the lesser of two evils.

MC kills someone they believe to be a bad guy, only to later discover the bad guy was a different person altogether.

Rejection is a powerful tool. 

People generally want to be understood, and if you can make a character think they are Known, and then rip that away from them with a rejection (romantic or platonic) people will empathize with it.

MC is finally accepting the Thing They Must Do/Become, and their love interest decides that that’s not a path they want to be on and breaks up with them

MC makes a decision they believe is right, everyone around them thinks they chose wrong.

MC finds kinship with someone Like Them, at long last, but that person later discovers that there is some inherent aspect of MC that they wholly reject. (Perhaps it was MC’s fault that their family member died, they have important religious differences, or WERE THE BAD GUY ALL ALONG!)

On the flipside, make your main character keep going. 

Push them beyond what they are capable of, and then push them farther. Make them want something so deeply that they are willing to do literally anything to get it. Give them passion and drive and grit and more of that than they have fear.

“But what if my MC is quiet and meek?” Even better. They want something so deeply that every single moment they push themselves toward it is a moment spent outside their comfort zone. What must that do to a person?

Obviously, don’t do all of these things, or the story can begin to feel tedious or overly dramatic, and make sure that every decision you make is informed by your plot first and foremost. 

Also remember that the things that make us sad, angry, or otherwise emotional as readers are the same things that make us feel that way in our day-to-day lives. Creating an empathetic main character is the foundation for all of the above tips.

Sorry I'm just. Reeling. 14 THOUSAND????

GDBee on Instagram / Tumblr / Society6

story outlining methods, pt. 1:

take off your pants!! (“take off your pants!: outline your books for faster, better writing” by libbie hawker)

this outline starts with a character — specifically their biggest flaw — and leads to five points that will make up the core of your story. it’s best for plots and subplots that focus on overcoming the flaw!

this outline doesn’t just have to be used for coming of age novels. it is just as important in your dystopian, fantasy, or thriller novels that the main character learns something or has changed by the end.

STEP ONE: think about your character

your main character — what is their name, and what are their important features?

what are your character’s flaws? what about their FATAL flaw? ex: hubris, overconfidence, stubbornness, etc.

STEP TWO: think about the end of the story

the story (whether the main plot, a subplot, or a facet of the main plot) is the journey lead to overcome the flaw. now that you know the character’s flaw, you know what lesson they need to learn.

the end of the story = the flaw mastered, the lesson learned.

STEP THREE: think about the external goal

the external goal is the plot, the outer motivation to push the character to the end of the story where the goal is mastered. if you remember my post on quests, you know that a quest has two reasons to be there: the external factor (shrek saving fiona for his swamp), and the real reason (the lesson learned)

the external goal should provide a chance for the character to recognize their flaw and begin to change. how does your plot tie into their character development?

STEP FOUR: think about the antagonist

thinking about the external goal should reveal who the antagonist is. the antagonist should want to achieve the same goal or a goal that impedes with the protagonist’s goal. the antagonist should be the biggest obstacle to the character.

STEP FIVE: think about the ally/allies

the character(s) that is capable of forcing the protagonist down the correct path. where your protagonist most likely will resist changing and confronting their flaw, the ally will help force them to do so anyway.

STEP SIX: think about the theme

so what’s the point of your book? if you are struggling to boil it down to one sentence, you might want to think about it a little longer. this is what keeps the story feeling coherent. what are you trying to tell us?

STEP SEVEN: think about the plot

each main plot element should somehow relate to the core of the book, aka the character’s development in overcoming their flaw

OPENING SCENE - set the stage. address the flaw or the theme

INCITING EVENT - what forces the character out of their everyday life and into the story?

REALIZING EXTERNAL GOAL - what makes the character begin seeking their goal?

DISPLAY OF FLAW - if the character’s flaw hasn’t been made blatantly clear, now is the time. make it known to the reader.

DRIVE FOR GOAL - what is your character’s first attempt to reach their goal?

ANTAGONIST REVEAL - how do you first show your antagonist’s opposition to your character?

FIRST THWART - what happens to your character that keeps them from reaching their goal?

REVISIT FLAW - show the character’s flaw again, even if they themselves aren’t aware of it yet.

ANTAGONIST ATTACKS - what does the antagonist do that makes things worse?

SECOND THWART - where your character fails most likely due to the attack

CHANGED GOAL - the character finds a new goal or focuses on the external goal in a different way

ALLY ATTACKS - what does the ally do to force the character to see the flaw?

AWAKENING - the character knows what they must do to reach the external goal. how will you show that the character has also awakened to their flaw? how will you show them changing?

BATTLE - the final showdown with the antagonist!

DEATH - the character’s flaw dies here. how will you show that the character truly is different now?

OUTCOME - show whether the character won or lost the external goal, reveal the theme of the story.

naturally, you don’t have to follow that outline exactly, but it can be a good place to start ;)

Mai Masri - Frontiers of Dreams and Fears (2001)

top 5 hanfu outfits hanyi 💓 - xiaosean

*SCREAMING* I jumped straight into Taobao to grab pictures for this ask I AM SO EXCITED TO REPLY IT

disclaimer: oncoming picture spam which I just couldn’t bear to hide beneath a cut

not really a specific look, but more in terms of my top 5 (listed “chronologically”) favourite hanfu styles

1. 圆领袍 (yuan2 ling3 pao2)

Literally means “round-collared robe”

Originally for men

But became popular among women in the Tang dynasty

Some people also wear the collar unbuttoned so it ends up looking like this double lapel thing which is still damned cool

Sources:

如梦霓裳

寻景记汉服

织羽集

流烟昔泠

2. 飞鱼服 (fei1 yu2 fu2)

Literally means “flying fish clothing”

Type of clothing given from the emperor to eunuchs/ guards (e.g. the Embroidered Uniform Guard) during the Ming dynasty

帅气 x100000 although I’ll never be able to pull this cool look off

Sources: 

如梦霓裳 [1] [2] [3]

3. 道袍 (dao4 pao2), bonus if it’s paired with a 披风 (pi1 feng1)

Literally means “Taoist robe” but was not restricted to only Taoists

Common full-length single robe that was worn by men in the Ming dynasty 

Sometimes with a ma mian qun (will talk about this later) underneath it!

LOOK AT THAT PI FENG AHHH 仙 x100000

4. 马面裙 (ma3 mian4 qun2)

I LOVE THESE OMG

Literally means “horse face skirt”

Common pleated skirt worn in the Ming dynasty

Can be traditionally worn as part of the 袄裙 (ao3 qun2), which consists of the skirt and a top worn over the skirt

But I reaaaally love the ma mian qun because it’s so damn versatile and can be paired with modern classy looks like this

(I’m getting this top and skirt on 11.11 hoho)

An even more modern look like this (I have this particular skirt hoho)

AND EVEN MODERN BADASS LIKE THIS (also getting this skirt during 11.11 hoho)

Sources:

如梦霓裳

七巧坊

拟梦汉服

华裳九州

池夏

5. 交领襦裙 (jiao1 ling3 ru2 qun2), bonus if it’s paired with a 大袖衫 (da4 xiu4 shan1) or 褙子 (bei4 zi3)

Okay I’m a bit hazy on when this started becoming popular/ commonly worn so I’ve put it right at the end instead of fitting it “chronologically” like the rest above

Some styles are from the Wei-Jin period, some are from the Song dynasty, and a lot of styles on Taobao these days don’t really stick to particular period of what a jiao ling ru qun looks like

Literally means “cross-collared short coat and skirt”, as opposed to the 齐胸襦裙 (qi2 xiong1 ru2 qun2) which is something like what jiang yanli in donghua wears 

I prefer the cross-collared styles more hehe

Tho speaking of cross-collared styles, my major pet peeve is when people accidentally draw the collars crossed the wrong way (right over left instead of left over right)… because that’s usually meant for the deceased

Sources:

如梦霓裳 [1] [2]

出社

重回汉唐 [1] [2]

okay end of spam I think I might have gone a little over on this whoooopss (〃ー〃)

answering “top 5″s!! ✩°｡⋆⸜(ू｡•ω•｡) (altho I admit to being terrible with fanfics so please avoid those *nervous cough*)

ok i’m backwards sometimes and tend to read fanfic before consuming the source media but i finally read mdzs so i can make this post now

so. i’ve seen some canon divergence fics where the ambush at qiongqi path does Not go as planned in several ways - wwx avoids it entirely, wwx manages to stop wen ning before he gets to jin zixuan, wwx takes the hit for jzx and gets hurt himself… anyway it’s all good but i would like. to propose another option, this time optimized for Sheer Chaos

the ambush starts the same as canon; there’s archers, there’s jzx showing up fashionably late and with 0 idea what’s happening, there’s wwx and wn absolutely losing it

wen ning attacks jzx.  wwx notices this in time, pulls jzx out of the way, gets hurt instead.  listen i KNOW this is done before.  wait for it

IMMEDIATELY after this happens, jzx gets hit by a stray arrow or two, aimed at where wwx was just standing

it’s not, like, an immediately fatal wound, but it’s serious enough

wei wuxian is currently hyped up on adrenaline and paranoia, and also losing blood fairly quickly

he sees jin zixuan, unconscious or close to it, with an arrow stuck in, idk, his chest or something, and the conclusion he jumps to is “oh, they want him dead too”

“i can’t let shijie become a widow”

so he grabs jzx, and wen ning grabs him, and they all go Straight Back To The Burial Mounds

wwx passes out before they get home, so wen qing is greeted by the sight of her brother, obviously upset, holding two (2) unconscious bleeding cultivators, one of which is The Actual Heir To The Lanling Jin Sect

wen qing: “i don’t get paid enough for this”

Keep reading

I had to draw this text post by @hozukitofu because I absolutely love the idea of the Jin sibs bonding… JZX gets new friends! JGY gets some people who sympathise with his tragic backstory and don’t treat him like shit (hopefully curbing his murdery tendencies)! Qin Su doesn’t get trapped in an accidental incest marriage! and MX gets a new family who treat him better than the horrible Mo clan :.) honestly, it’s what they all deserve.