#SummerOfStory
I write songs as well as stories. Songs are about communicating ideas that might be very abstract or ephemeral, you need to let things flow from the subconscious and that generally comes out as figurative language, multi-layered. I like to do this when writing stories too.
I feel like the most important thing to focus on when writing is the idea to be communicated. Is that idea coming across in the writing? This is the effect of language choices. If you just go by rules about which words you can and can't use you're focusing on the wrong thing.
You both promise and deliver.
Hi.
Very sadly! Although I have heard about some incidences of education unions over there being very successful in making changes.
I loved Barbie. It was really funny and I went in with low expectations. I pretty much hated Oppenheimer. Boring kind of hero worship of some guy, all about blokes in suits, women characters were crap. And it was so loud I actually covered my ears for a lot of it.
In the UK we don't have these lists. That's my point. Teachers do not provide supplies for the classroom. The schools do.
Strictly for US teachers. We teachers from other countries stand back in horror at the whole idea of having to provide supplies for your own classroom each year. Wtf? Solidarity tho, obvs.
Haven't done any writing today. It was too hot and I got sidetracked by breaking the fridge. Now I'm watching couples therapy. You know, research...
I used to make my own (not avocado, I can't even imagine what that's like) but then all the aquafaba (chick pea water) mysteriously stopped working, so I buy it. I think it's no more expensive than regular mayo. There's only one brand I like though and even that doesn't have enough mustard.
I should probably add that I'm vegan, so 'mayo' very much in quotation marks.
This has been so helpful! Thank you!
I put vinegar on it, and a little olive oil. I looked up coleslaw recipes recently, cos I was bothered by the difference between 'coleslaw' and 'slaw' and found mayo is not a necessary ingredient for a coleslaw, though some recipes had it.
Wow, that sounds crazy to me!
I don't even use any on mine, just have a little on the side...
I just came back here after some time away to find my feed is mainly adverts for goods or services. This is probably cos I'm following the wrong people.
I read them. They're part of the chapter. I mean, they might not be very good at being part of the chapter, but they might be an essential component. Only way to know is to read them.
I think I'm a 'less' person too. I like to stick description in and around action and use ordinary words in unusual ways rather than 'fancy' words. I think the key to good description is to tie it to what characters notice and keep it to a sketch of a big picture with a zoomed in detail or two.
I just read an indie book that was pretty good except for the massive intricate description of EVERYTHING placed so that by the time you'd read it you were bamboozled by the intricate details of a character's outfit to such an extent you had forgotten where everyone was and what they were doing.
#SummerOfStory
Text based social media is a great way to develop the skill of clear communication in as few words as possible. For fiction, it depends. The key is to communicate the idea you want to communicate using whatever works for that. I don't tend to go in for description much.
I guess I have the advantage of never having used any of those devices when writing! I also know quite a lot about grammar, cos I teach English, which helps with the confidence. It's easy to get confused into thinking grammar has a 'right' and 'wrong' when really it's about choices.
Here's a lovely photo of a plethora of my fabric art creatures. There's a green fur floor and a galaxy print fabric background in the pic. Here are some of the creatures: a watermelon ghost with a green body and pink face and twinkly black eyes and a little frown. There's a black crablike creature with wide set blue eyes and purple eyeshadow. She has red lips, four tentacle-like arms and an embroidered rainbow flower on her forehead. There's a black ghost bag covered with red embroidered flowers. There's a watermelon ghost bag. There are two yellow creatures. Each has three eyes, two tentacles, and mouths full of sharp teeth. There's a cosmic moth sitting on a little chair. The moth is black with a gray face, twinkly red eyes, and a wide grin full of sharp teeth. The moth is covered with hand-embroidered stars and planets of various sizes and colors.
Hey Bluesky, could you help me spread the word about my Big Cartel shop? A sale or two would be a colossal help.
All of my creations are designed, sewn, and hand-embroidered by me. Each takes many hours to make.
jeremycreature.bigcartel.com
It's so nice they did that thing where they said my computer was too shit for windows 11, so now I have Linux. Bit like waking up from a bad dream.
#SummerOfStory
This game has been hard to figure out what with the quoting and thd hastags. Blimey!
I think people get confused by the word 'passive' like it means their WRITING is passive, which sounds bad, I guess. Your writing is not passive, the subject of the sentence is passive, which you might want. Sometimes.
Passive voice is just a legit grammatical construction that affects the percieved power of the subject of the sentence. Like if you say, 'I was immediately pounced upon by three angry kittens.' You're keeping 'I' as the subject, but showing that those kittens had all the power. This can be useful.
I love dialogue, particularly when lots of people are talking across each other and misunderstanding each other, but in my current project I am aiming to only include dialogue that is meaningless to its intended recipient and rely on non-verbal communication instead. This might be impossible, though
He is. @taupress.com hi!
I'm reading a bunch of indie books lately. Just started Dragon of Earth by Steve Turnbull who I know from mastodon. Don't know if he's on bluesky. If he is, hi!