I Think I’ve Seen This Film Before And I Didn’t Like The Ending

What I do is give any supe with a super power that test the capacity of the human body something to help with that. It’s to help with the strain and such. Night vision? Glasses. Heat vision? Glasses. Super vision? Glasses. Super hearing? Hearing aid. Super sonic flight? Hearing aid. Super speed? Hearing aid and muscle/knee brace. And(thinking back to The Flash here) a special diet. Super strength? Muscle brace.  Just because they have super powers, doesn’t make them completely immune to anything related to the human body. They are still, after all, human. Well…they bodies are at least. Their powers just make them a bit for resilient to it. 

It’s actually really fun. Normal powers all have a drawback because they’re super, not meant for the human body to handle. I really enjoy brainraining those. Maybe invisibility hurts the skin so they need some sort of super skin care regimen. That could lead to some superhero merch(like the underooes, lunch boxes, etc. That we have).  It’s just fun. 

Then there’s the supes with more…subtle powers. Not as extravagant or well known like super strength or flight. Empaths[1] are seen as mentally unwell. Due to their powers, they have sharp bits of rage. Mood swings. And stuff of the like. They have to take anti-depressants as well as mood-stabilisers and other pills/drugs to help with the down-sides of their powers. 

1: (chiefly in science fiction) a person with the paranormal ability to apprehend the mental or emotional state of another individual.

Happy Storyteller Saturday! Do any of your characters wear glasses? I recently got a pair, and the world is much sharper than it used to be!

I’ve been thinking that perhaps they should, as well as rethinking my “supes never get sick” rule. As it stands, there are enchanted glasses that help with eyestrain, translations, and seeing through glamours, but no one I’ve written so far needs them correctively

How I Plan...

Building a story or series from the ground up with the help of templates!

This is how I approach planning. It covers what I do up to the point of opening a blank document and typing the first word.

Despite the tags this isn’t going to be ‘how to’ or advice based because who am I to tell you how to plan a story? This is only an option:) I engourage you to steal liberally but also question whether or not this method will work for you. If you don’t vibe with something, throw it out!

*you don’t have to answer these questions in order.

STRUCTURE LEVEL

Genre/Sub-genres: Picking a genre can help you find ideas/tropes faster. If you’ve written or read a book before you probably know the types of stories you like.

Age Category: This can help you find themes for you story. I like to sepate genre and cataegory since you can have a young adult or an adult romance.

Point Of View: Pick who will tell the story. Will there be more than one?

Tense: First, second or third person? Past or present?

Formatting: How will the story be split up? Through chapters or parts. I also like to put whether or not I’ll have a playlist, any quotes or epigraphs, prologues or epilogues, anything like that.

Tone: Will your story be serious, light hearted, sad, satirical...etc

Atmosphere/Color palette: I like to use this for when I’m writing description. Using specificities to elevate your writing can bring a world together and make it feel real.

Overall Concept: As vague as you’d like it to be! I usually give a few sentences.

Comparison Titles: I love to use comparison titles in the beginning when nothing has been solidified. It helps me know what came before me while still generating lots of inspiration.

SERIES LEVEL

Series Title: I usually base it off the first books title or a significant thing that links all the stories together.

Number of stories you want: I don’t always know how many stories will be in a series but it’s good to have a rough esimate of how many you’d like to write.

Number of stories realistically achievable: But we all know that sometimes an idea just isn’t sustainable for a 10 book series but works rather well as a trilogy instead.

Story that will kick off the series: All of your stories should fit a purpose in the series but this book will take the roll as a set-up (not to be confused as ‘filler’) for the rest of your series. It’s just something to have in mind when planning. This way you can plant twists and foreshadowing for the rest of the books.

Story that will close out the series: This story has big shoes to fill since you’ve probably been amping everything up to an explosive finish but at the end of the day it doesn’t matter if it’s bigger and better than what came before, it only matters if it’s a satisfying close to the whole series.

Summarize each story

Story # 1 summary ...you get the idea

Timeline: I like to know what year the series starts and when it will end. It might sound complicated but it’s so helpful. You don’t want a character to be pregnant or something for three books if the the stories have spanned more than nine months.

Spin-offs: You might find that you’ve got some ideas that don’t quite fit in with the others but they have some common elements. A spin-off is a cool way to explore those other ideas.

Naming conventions: I like to name my individual stories similar things to keep a theme. Example: J. R. Wards Black Dagger Brotherhood series has book titles with the word ‘Lover’ in them. There’s also naming conventions like the ACOTAR series by Sarah J. Maas that go “A Court of Blank and Blank”

SETTING LEVEL

Town/City/Village Name:

Area Description:

State/Province:

Country:

Common Weather:

Population:

Popular Figures:

Popular Locations:

Historical Background and Events:

What might the town be hiding to the average passer-by?

*You can definitely add more questions depending on your story. I write mostly within our world but I do like to create fictional towns.

CHARACTER LEVEL

Full Name:

Age:

Role:

Title/Rank/Occupation:

Wants:

Fears:

Misbelief:

Description/Faceclaim:

Personality Traits:

Zodiac Sign:

MBTI:

Theme Song:

Backstory:

Daily Life:

* Again, you can add any more questions you’d like to. These are just the ones I like to use to get going. Some of them are super vague, so in Daily Life I’ll put their living arrangement, transportation, pets or anything like that. I also add loads of stuff in their Description such as sexuality, how they dress, tattoos or scars, etc.

GROUP

*this is for anything like a fictional club, cult, company, evil organization or something like that.

Name:

Sub-divisions:

Type:

Founder:

History:

Current Leader:

Headquarters:

Current Operation:

Biggest Threat:

Biggest Allies:

Council Members (include roles):

Other Members (include roles):

STORY LEVEL

Working Title: Sometimes I use something concrete but if I need to get it out of the way I’ll put something like Project Black.

Estimated Length: Word or chapter count you’d like to achieve.

Order: Which book in the series is it?

Premise: I like to refer to this as the summary’s skeleton.

Tropes:

Subplot(s):

Story Summary:

Story Theme Song: This is just for fun but sometimes it really helps me capture what the whole story might be. I can also use it when I’m low on inspiration.

BEAT LEVEL

* I’d recommend googling an explanation of story beats or purchasing Blake Snyder or Jessica Brody’s book on Save The Cat beat sheet. But on the other hand, you don’t have to use a beat sheet at all. And if at any point during planning you feel like you’re ready to write then go for it!

Opening Image: An image that catapults your audience into the look and feel of your story

Theme Stated: Typically the theme of the story is communicated by someone fairly early on. This is dialogue spoken to the protagonist that he doesn’t quite grasp yet.

Set-Up: Show the protagonist in their “old world.” Let the audience know what the status quo is for them, then hint at the adventure that follows. This is also a time to introduce secondary characters.

Catalyst: Sometimes called the “inciting incident,” the catalyst is the event that disrupts your protagonist’s status quo. But they’re not ready to make the choice that catapults them into the story just yet.

Debate: This is where the protagonist has doubts about setting out on their perilous journey.

Break into Two: Inevitably, your protagonist will overcome their doubt and make a choice to set out on their adventure. This is the choice that sets the plot in motion. Your beat sheet will be filled with obstacles and twists resulting from making this choice from here on out.

B Story: A subplot ensues. Some would say that this is usually a romantic subplot.

Fun and Games: Plot structure requires a stretch where your protagonist wields their new power, and does cool stuff with it. I’ve also heard this referred to as the Promise of The Premise. So in Hunger Games by Susanne Collins this would be Katniss actually fighting in the games.

Midpoint: At some point, your protagonist will either get what they’re after... or not. But there will be consequences either way.

Bad Guys Close In: After your protagonist gets what they want, or not, there will be consequences. These forces will tighten their grasp, and throw the protagonist off balance.

All Is Lost: The dire circumstances your protagonist endures will lead to an inevitable loss. Which can be anything but it most commonly a character death.

Dark Night of the Soul: At this point of the Save the Cat beat sheet template, your protagonist has lost hope.

Break into Three: In plot structure, this is where your protagonist claws around in the darkness, only to find or remember something useful.

Finale: Treat the finale as the Act 3 summary. The Save the Cat beat sheet template is at its end, so it’s time for the protagonist to take on their foes. Armed with new tools and self-discoveries, the protagonist often synthesizes what they've learned (in Act 2) with values they've always had (Act 1).

Final Image: Along with the opening image, the final image creates the bookend that encapsulates the journey. This is the last thing the audience is left with.

*Closing thoughts: I have never used just a beat sheet because they don’t resonate with me for every story. I always add stuff or take away. I think there is a special beat missing between the Finale and Final image and that is where the characters slow down, take a breath and reflect on everything they’ve experienced. I also think Romance is the hardest genre to use the beat sheet with but I do a hybrid of the Beat Sheet from Save The Cat Writes A Novel! By Jessica Brody and Romancing the Beat by Gwen Hayes for the most part.

NOW JUST WRITE! :)

I hope this was helpful in some way or another! DM me or reply with any questions or for clarification. I have many more posts I’d like to create (on my process) but if you have any ideas or topics I should make posts on let me know.

Good luck and happy writing!

TOM HIDDLESTON

    Art of Villainy - Jaguar

After The War: What Happened To Out Favourite Characters?

So I’ve been reading some fics and hanging around the fandom. And I see a lot of things about what our favourite witches and wizards get up to after Hogwarts. I’m going to share some of my thoughts. The epilogue and Cursed Child don’t exist in this. Good that? Continue.  HARRY POTTER        Job: Harry, I think, would fit well as the DADA professor at Hogwarts. A final fûck you to old Voldy, yea? Besides, he would’ve been tired of fighting. Tired of playing the part. He’d fit well as the laid back DADA professor. I like to imagine he’d be sort of like Lupin. One thing I think might happen, but am not sure about, is that he’d go to the Americas. Get away from everything.  Love: I honestly think he wouldn’t get with Ginny. From what I understand of him and would give an educated guess on, he would take that as a reminder of everything that happened. The war. The deaths. He might be with her for a while, try and appease everyone. But he’d just see Fred. He’d start to drift. Become distant.  DRACO MALFOY

Job: While I don’t want this to happen, it might be possible that he’d be kicked out of Wizarding world in Britain. If he wasn’t, he would’ve became a Healer or an Auror(sp?). If he could get a job after the war, he probably would’ve faced prejudice and a bunch of shit. He might’ve left on his own. Obviously not giving up on magic, but just leaving all that shit behind. I think he’d become a Muggle movie star. Playing different roles. Not having to face who he is. Being able to believe, even fleetingly, that he wasn’t Draco Lucius Malfoy former Death Eater. Besides, he’d be good at it. He had to lie all the time. Mask his real feelings. Be someone he wasn’t. Etc. Love: Who knows? I ship Drarry aggressively so I’m inclined to believe that would find its way to work. Though he wouldn’t get with a Greengrass. Or Pansy. Also, he definitely wasn’t straight. 

GINNY WEASLEY 

Job: Chaser. It’s pretty well agreed upon that she’d become a Chaser for some team or another. I don’t really have much more thoughts.  Love: Again, not Harry. I’m not sure how this would go about; she might realise that she was only really attracted to a Harry because he saved her. She might still love Harry but because she’s Ginny fucking Weasley who’s awesome, she’d forgive him. 

NEVILLE LONGBOTTOM 

Job: Herbology professor at Hogwarts. I’m firmly seated in this belief.  Love: Not sure. I like to believe he’d get with Luna Lovegood. They just seem to work perfectly with each other.  LUNA LOVEGOOD 

Job: Who knows? I think she’d either become a professor at Hogwarts(unlikely, but if so, she’d be Care Of Magical Creatures) or a writer for The Quibbler.  Love: Again, who the hell knows? It’s Luna. I learned a long time ago not to try and predict what she’ll do or assume anything about her. Nope. Still, I’m inclined to believe she’d get with Neville. 

HERMIONE GRANGER

Job: She’d definitely become the Mistress of Magic(Or Minister of Magic). After that, I’m inclined to believe she’d be the headmistress of Hogwarts. It seems the sort of occupation she’d do. Of course, she’d still be an activist. SPEW would have become a national organisation and succeeded in its mission. Then, of course, she’d move on to other ambitions. Each more noble than the last. No matter how ridiculous they’d sound, how impossible, she’d always achieve them.  Love: Now this is a hard one to answer. I don’t like Romione and personally think it’d never work. Maybe they got married but then got divorced after a year or two. I don’t think she’d do much with love. 

RON WEASLEY 

Job: Auror. I’m certain of this. 100 p% certain.  Love: As I stated before, Hermione but then they broke up/ got a divorce. After that, I’m not sure what. 

My feelings are strong though few. 

You know, just because you’re white doesn’t mean you can treat people who aren’t as less than human

10 Things I Hate About You (1999) dir. Gil Junger

This is literally me. 

Writing Motivations

Spite

Inspiration

Hungry for Validation

Make readers go “Wow!”

Make readers go “Oh!”

Make readers go :’((

Horny

Dragons

Whom else is going to write this if not me??

They Gave Me a Keyboard and Cannot Take it Away Now

I Invented Several Languages and Must Use Them Somewhere

These characters are REAL and have things to do

I Like to Suffer

I like to be gay and unhinged but in a productive way

I care about my OCs and so must you now

I have issues I need to project on SOMETHING

Love is not fake and here is why, an entire book

Words Pretty

I’m white. I know that. I don’t pretend I’m not. But gods do I hate that teacher right now. She’s not saying that at she doesn’t like the fact that you like fucking pineapples on your pizza, she’s saying that your ‘opinion’ literally goes against her entire fucking existence.

GO 👏 THE 👏 FUCK 👏 OFF. Also, the American educational system is trash. I applaud this child’s parents for giving her a voice and standing up against bias authority.

TOM HIDDLESTON

    Art of Villainy - Jaguar

Apps For Writers I Wish I Had

So, as a writer who’s more lazy than my cats, I spend many a sleepless night thinking up apps for me to use to make the process much easier. These are a few of those. 

One: A app where you can enter a name and click ‘search’ and it will tell you if it’s okay to use in a project. You can specify wether it’s a person name, an establishment name, a place name, etc. to refine your search.  A possible name would be ‘Name Check’ or some variant.  Two: a face claim app. You can specify the basics of your character and it will pull up pictures/face claims matching the description. Eg. ‘hazel eyes’ ‘black hair’ ‘male’ ‘freckles’ and so on getting more and more specific. 

Three: an app for job research. You type in the job you have for your character and it pulls up real life accounts of people with that job. It would explain what the basics are, day to day routine, schooling necessary, hazards, time, etc. Note that this only applies to real life jobs, not fantasy

Four: a music app. You give the browser the themes, feelings, etc. of your project and it pulls up music that fits that. Also can define by genre. Also applicable for characters. 

Five: kind of goes along with face claim. A scene reference app. You give the feeling, genre, what you know about it, etc. and it pulls up pictures that match that for you to reference. To see it in front of you. 

Six: This one is sort of like three. Need to write a scene you’ve never experienced? This gives you kind of like a guideline Do’s and Don’ts, if you will. Someone who’s experienced it explains(to the best of their abilities) what they were feeling. You have to know your character well enough to change those feelings to fit your character.  Not for fantasy.   Seven: Character name checking. It’s a fucking pain to have to figure out if this awesome name is available to use in a book or anything that’s going to be written by you. With this, all you have to do is type in the name and if it turns green, it’s safe to use. 

Fantasy Guide to Make-Up and Cosmetics

If I am to be completely honest with you all, I know nothing about make-up. Those little brushes and endless sponges mean nothing to me except the fact that they are really soft and sometimes shiny. I don't wear makeup so you can imagine how useless I am at modern make-up.

However, history is my jam and I know about what make-up they use centuries ago. So never fear @theflyingravenbird I got you.

Ingredients and Applications

Make-up and cosmetics of the past were usually sourced from natural ingredients. The more difficult the ingredients were the more expensive the cosmetic was. Natural dies such as red ochre and berries were used to stain lips or colour powder to use as blusher to add colour to the lips. For examples:

Geishas of Japan are probably the most recognizable make-up wearers in the world. Historically and in some more traditional okiyas, the geishas painted their faces with rice powder to give them that unbroken, white complexion. A popular recipe for their crimson lipsticks involved extracting pigment from crushed safflower petals.

Henna paste made from the eponymous plant can be used as hair dye and to trace designs on the feet and hands.

Kohl is a black powder that is famous for its popularity in Egyptian Cultures and even the Persian Empire. Kohl lines the eyes like modern eyeliners and is found when one grounds stibnite. Kohl actually had the luck of preventing eye infections which no doubt helped in the climate of Egypt and beyond.

The Phoenicians used powdered metals of gold, silver and other metals to dust their faces. This is reputably thought to denote their wealthy status.

Rouge or blusher has had numerous recipes throughout history. The Ancient Egyptians made rouge from red ochre and animal fat. The Romans made their rouge from lead and cinnabar, which sounds about as bad for you as you think it does. The Ancient Greeks made it from pressed mulberries or other fruits such as beet and strawberries. The Ancient Chinese made rouge from extracts of coloured flowers.

Ancient Chinese cultures used a mixture of gumarabic, gelatin, beeswax, and eggs to stain their nails. The colors were often used to denote social class. Gold and silver was worn by royalty or black and red. The lower classes were not prohibited to wear bright colours.

Lipstick has also a few recipes. Egyptians used pounded carmine, a kind of insect, to smear on their lips. Other ancient civilizations used red ochre. Vermilion (though toxic) was also used, along with crushed flowers with red pigment mixed with beeswax during the Elizabethan period.

During the late Elizabeth and then again in the Baroque period, women and some men began to paint their faces with white powder. The layer of white lead and vinegar, or ceruse was popular for tears despite the hair loss and death it caused.

Make Up Tools

Powderpuffs: the powderpuff was a pad of soft material meant to apply powder to one's face. They were made of feathers, cotton or sheep's fleece.

Brushes: Brushes have been been around for ever. They have been found in some of the earliest Egyptian tombs. The brushes were often made from animal hair with wooden or more expensive handles.

Pots of pigment, scents and ointments: Some early tombs excavated from ancient civilizations have included what amounts to a palette (thank you lil sis for that word). The pigments in the pots would be very expensive. Ointments and balms have also been found. Perfumes were very popular in antiquity and made a recurrence in Europe after the Crusades (which helped since some of the make up smelled awful).

Make Up and Social standing

Though make up is rather popular now, it had a rather uncertain rise to popularity.

Most Ancient civilizations wore some kind of cosmetic. The overuse of cosmetics in ancient times was frowned on as prostitutes and actors often wore dramatic make up however the elite often smeared themselves with powders to make them paler and redden their cheeks.

In the Middle Ages, makeup had a dual reputation. The Church frowned on it because it was again popular with prostitutes and actors but it was a common consensus that if the woman was scarred from smallpox or some other disease she was excused from being labelled as vain.

In the late Elizabethan period, theatres were getting more popular and as was makeup. Actors began wearing make up more frequently as did the elite. Elizabeth I herself was infamous for her milk-white skin. Make up became more sociably acceptable among the rich and noble at this point.

The 1700s probably saw the height of make up madness. Both women and men of the elite powdered themselves with white lead paint. They rouged their cheeks to high pigment and stuck small dots of felt to cover blemishes. The commons began to poke fun at the elite's strange obsession with looking like they've lost all their blood. Dandies and painted noblewomen were often poked fun at by pamphlets and satirical cartoons.

The Victorians frowned on make up, thinking it garish and common. Queen Victoria herself denounced make up as uncouth which lead the elite to abandon it in droves. However, most women prized a clear complexion so there was a lot of secret make-up-ing going on.

During the Edwardian period and the 1920s, make up began to get more popular. Older more respectable women began trying makeup to fresh their complexion. The younger generations began to experiment with makeup leading to the infamous smokey eye look.