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women wear suits better than men and thats just a cold hard fact

between the death of Brronna Taylor and the shooting of Megan Thee Stallion one thing I've learnt is that you people cant take black womens pain seriously. One of these women is literally dead and y'all turned her death and the blm movements fight to bring her justice into a meme. Megan was shot in an attempt on her life, she was physically injured and traumatized and the first thing y'all do is crack out your joke books. Nonblack people and cishet black men just dont seem capable of taking the pain black women go through seriously and it's something that needs fucking addressing.

60 Awesome Search Engines for Serious Writers

Writing An Effective Action Scene

I’m going to admit that I really struggle with action scenes. Or struggled, depending on what my publisher says about the myriad of actions scenes I have sprinkled throughout the sequel to When Stars Die.

My publisher really had to tear up the one action chapter I had in the climax of When Stars Die. Amelia spent too much time personally reflecting on things while fighting a ruthless Shadowman (dead witch), trying to kill her so she can’t stop him from getting revenge on the people who murdered him– people who kill witches in the first place. This will not contain any spoilers to When Stars Die. The chapter was originally nine pages. Now it is six.

Try to minimize character introspection, or try not to use it at all. Your characters are fighting to survive, so they should only concentrate on the immediate action going on around them. They’re not exactly going to concentrate on the human condition of the reason that they’re fighting, which is what I originally did when Amelia was fighting Sash.

Try to keep sentences short and paragraphs short. Action scenes are fast paced. Wordy sentences and lengthy paragraphs can slow the pacing.

Keep dialogue interactions short. This is all about the action, the exposition, the immediacy of what is going on around the characters. Within the first two pages of the chapter involving the fight between Sash and Amelia, I had one part where the dialogue was too drawn out, so I trimmed down the dialogue, only concentrating on the most important points to lead up to the action. Lengthy dialogue can slow the pacing. Plus, realistically, you wouldn’t stop in the middle of a fight to start engaging in some conversation with your enemy.

Quick reactions. If your protagonist’s options of surviving start to dwindle, force the protagonist to make a quick decision. Don’t spend even five sentences having your protagonist trying to plan out what to do. Realistically, your protagonist will not have that time.

Physical movements. This goes back to concentrating on immediacy. Really concentrate on the physical actions taking place, like running, punching, kicking, whatever. Break it up with some dialogue, too. Anything to keep it interesting.

Create unexpected consequences. This isn’t a spoiler, because everyone, when reading a genre book that includes action, expects some antagonists to die. But Amelia isn’t the one to kill Sash. In fact, she feels sorry for him and is very hesitant to do so.

Hopefully these points will help you write some effective action scenes. Here is a short paragraph from the chapter between Sash and Amelia from When Stars Die that conveys some of the elements above:

“I raise my hand and shove it in Sash’s face (there is fire on her palm). He screams and drops me on to the dirt. I scramble away, back toward Theosodore. The angry fire races beneath my skin, thirsting to be used again. I keep my attention on it, feeding my anger and channeling it into the heat (her skin is heated).”

I am going to do a blog post every other day on my Tumblr. My next blog post will concentrate on creating effective dialogue.

Re-blogs appreciated, especially if you know other writers who need this advice.

How to Write Non-binary Characters: a three part guide.

Disclaimer: While this guide is written by a non-binary person in collaboration with many other non-binary writers and readers, it does not necessarily cover the views of all people within the non-binary community.

PART ONE: the basics.

First off, what is this thing you call non-binary?

Non-binary genders are any gender identity that isn’t covered in the Western idea of woman (girl) and man (boy). This identity has nothing to do with which chromosomes or sexual organs a person has. Some non-binary people also identify as being trans (which is technically an umbrella term containing non-binary), while others only identify as being non-binary. Some commonly use the slang term enbie (which comes from the pronunciation of the initials for non-binary, aka N.B.) while others don’t. Some break down their gender further than simply non-binary, while others choose not to.

Some terms for common non-binary genders:

Agender: having no gender.

Bigender: having both binary genders, or aspects of two different genders, usually simultaneously. (Much like the bi in bisexual, non-binary people may also claim this term if they have any number of genders, especially if they can’t quite tell where one ends and the other begins, or they may claim the term pangender instead.)

Demi-(boy/girl/man/woman): being partially (but not wholly) binary.

Gender-fluid: transitioning between genders, which may include both binary and non-binary genders.

Gender-queer (or just queer): not of a binary gender. May be used when someone does not feel that any other terms fit them quite right, when they’re still trying to determine their gender and don’t yet wish to choose a term, or simply because the person finds it to fit them best.

There are also genders similar to what Western cultures call non-binary in many non-Western cultures, which are wonderfully diverse and all incerdibly valid, but as someone from an exclusively Western cultural heratage, I don’t feel I have the right or the knoweldge to talk about them.

So then, who are these non-binary people in real life?

The only thing that differentiates a non-binary person from a binary person is that they don’t identify as having a binary gender.

Their non-binary-ness could influence their lives in an infinite number of ways:

It could be subtle or life changing.

They could use fashion and vocal training and actions to present themselves in ways outside their society’s binary gender norms, or they could never even mention they’re non-binary to another living soul. 

They could change their pronouns, or their name, or keep one or both the same.

They could spend years re-figuring out who they are and what it means to be non-binary or they could realize it once and never feel the need to dwell on it again.

They could identity as one of the numerous non-binary labels, or they could decide they’re just not binary and don’t care to dig further than that. 

They could accept all gendered terms, or certain gendered terms, or no gendered terms at all.

People assuming they’re binary could frustrate them or sadden them or anger them, or they could not care in the slightest. 

They may feel they exhibit (or wish to exhibit) many of the traits their society designates to a certain binary gender, or they many not.

They could feel the same way about their identity all the time, or differently every day.

Each non-binary person (and character) is unique, and their non-binary-ness is just one tiny part of who they are.

The basic do’s and don’ts for writing non-binary characters respectfully if you’re a binary person…

Keep reading

Olaf is suspicious.

Source in comments

New short about young Iduna and young Agnarr playing with gale! So cute! 🍁🍁🍁❄️❄️❤️❤️❤️😍😍😍

Thx to SuperQAxClub from our discord for this! ❄️❄️❄️

Enjoy! 🍁🍁🍁

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