Make The Most Of The Next Two Months

I’m going to try this!

how to make a story file

As I am preparing for Camp NaNo*, I have been working on my story file. It occurred to me this might not be common or popular practice. “Story File” is a name I gave it and maybe some of y’all have a different name with the same contents. 

*There’s still time to apply to join my Camp NaNo cabin!

My Story File contains everything about my story that doesn’t go in the outline.

It’s broken up into major categories and specific templates. So without further ado, here is how I structure my Story File. 

Intro

Title

Logline

Synopsis

Genre

Estimated Total Length (word count)

Draft Length Goal (word count)

Character Bank

Main characters and brief, one-sentence descriptions with ages

Themes and Character Development

Central Question

The Yes/No question that is being asked through the whole story

Should have objective qualities, rather than subjective

i.e. “Will they fall in love?” (subjective) vs. “Will they leave their partners and become a couple?” (objective)

Thematic Questions

These are the internal conflict questions that reside in your character(s) and your story

ex. “Can there really be a successful government?”

ex. “Does grief excuse bad actions?”

Themes at a Glance

Words or phrases that relate to the themes of the story

ex. person vs. nature

ex. isolation

ex. grief

ex. first love

Motivation / Stasis State / Final State

for each main character, you should write a sentence or two pertaining to these three things

Motivation: What is the drive behind this character and their past, present, and future actions? What part of their background makes them the way that they are? What are they looking for? What do they want out of this/a situation?

Stasis State: What are they like before the inciting incident? What problems and questions do they have?

Final State: What has changed about them and their outlook? What questions have they resolved? What has happened to their internal conflict?

Relationships

I usually make a little web of the MCs and their relationship to one another. One for the stasis and one for final.

Stasis: How do these characters see each other? How do they act toward the other? (All before the inciting incident)

Final: How do these characters see each other now? How has their idea of one another shifted? 

Even if a character dies before the end, include the most recent relationship status in the Final web.

ex. this is how I organize it, using the Draw feature of Google Docs

Character Bank

This is just a very preliminary character bank. If you prefer a more in-depth one, check out my 6 Box Method.

Per (relevant/important) character:

Name

Nickname/preferred name

Age

Field/Occupation

Physical Description

Personality

Personal History

Education/Occupation History

Extra Notes:

Worldbuilding Bank

(Check out my worldbuilding posts on Categories Pt. 1 and 2 for better context)

Seasons and Climate

Languages

Other Cultural Pockets

Folklore and Legends

Fine Arts

Dress and Modesty

Classes

Jobs

Currency and Economics

Shopping

Agriculture and Livestock

Imports and Exports

Literature, Pop Culture, and Entertainment

Food and Water

Holidays and Festivals

Family and Parenting

Relationships

Housing

Religion and Beliefs

Government

Health and Medicine

Technology and Communication

Death

Transportation

Plants, Animals, and Human-environment Interaction

Education

Beauty Standards

Gender and Sexuality

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I hope this helps y’all and supplements what you’re probably already doing. I know it’s helped me tons to have everything in a central place.

Best of luck!

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Lexa’s eye roll is my fave 

#stubborn girlfriends

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This! Thank you @entirelytookeen :)

How come you didn’t ship bellarke before clexa happened, and now that clexa is finished, why not ship bellarke? I’m just curious and also a little envious as our fandom does not have as good writers as you (yes I am a bellarke shipper)

I confessed in a post about why I love Bellamy that when I started the show, I did so because I found the aesthetic and premise appealing, but I’d first heard noise about it because there was a really popular femslash pairing. (This was midway between season two.) I thought, “with my luck the dynamic between the girls will be boring twee sweetness and I’ll end up shipping the heroine with this goober I can tell is CW-flavored endgame from the first ten minutes of the pilot. Because I already love that goober.”

But I was wrong! Not just about how Clexa played out, but also about Bellamy and Clarke, as I further expand on in that post about him. I tend to ship characters who believe in the same thing, but have wildly different approaches to how to get it – so the fundamental understanding between them is there, but the tension between their methodologies leads to interpersonal friction that (hopefully) leads to better mutual understanding. (I didn’t sit down and decide I would do it this way, of course, I’ve just noticed a pattern.) That’s Clexa in a nutshell.

But it’s not Bellamy and Clarke – they’re the polar opposite in my opinion. They believe and strive for very different things, and all they share is an investment in propping up the system they believe will lead to their different goals, or prioritizing the people who will do the same. If anything I anti-ship them, not because of silly fandom squabbles but because I think they bring out the worst in each other if unchecked. 

So much of their interaction in seasons one and two (again, I stopped watching after three and I’m completely uninterested in any other seasons, so please don’t write me saying I’m “wrong” because of them) leads to the most grim and traumatic outcomes: Lincoln’s torture, pulling the lever at Mount Weather, even Bellamy’s undercover mission and the fall of TonDC. They weren’t the only variables at work in those situations, of course. But because of their lack of similar ethos but shared logos, when it’s just the two of them? In close quarters? That’s when bad shit goes down. 

To be fair, this is also why I like them as friends. They’re both carrying really deep emotional scars from life on the Ark, so they’re kinda like… trauma buddies. The emotional abuse they’ve both suffered really has removed their sense of when to put on the breaks, as it were, and I like the idea that they can look at each other and say, “thank goodness for someone else who realizes there is no such thing as constancy, or permanent safety, all we really have are coping methods that help us get better at pretending. Someone else who will do, quite literally, whatever it takes.” But at brass tacks this is a really poisonous worldview, as even their behavior acting as individuals can back up. And while I like the idea they can look at each other and feel less alone to see someone who is broken in similar ways, if I want them to heal, they need to be shaken up and shaken out of it. 

I don’t think they’re capable of doing that for each other. Together, Bellamy and Clarke tend to fall back into old, Ark-era roles or patterns of behavior – understandable, since they’ve been conditioned to see each other in those roles since birth. (Even when they fight, they’re more fighting the ideas of each other left over from the Ark.) Turning that into a romance feels like romanticizing those abusive systems, i.e. “their love cancels out their trauma.” And I have to be honest, the fandom surrounding them seems to buy into that, with the whole “she’s his princess, he’s her soldier” shtick which I find… repellent.

(not to bash your ship, bunny, but you did ask)

So I was never going to ship them, regardless. And even now, the thought of them ending up together is less upsetting because of Lexa’s presence or lack thereof, and more because Raven and Bellamy are the clear standouts as a (still-living) couple: thematically, narratively, and even in terms of actor chemistry. If Bellamy and Clarke are endgame, it’s just another nail in the coffin of incredibly poor writing and tone-deaf characterization that led to the show becoming unwatchable in its third season. (Instead of, again, Lexa’s presence or lack thereof.) When I used to get angry at the thought of Clarke and Bellamy together, it’s because I believed the show was better than that; I don’t anymore, and that’s what makes me sad. 

… so now that’s cleared up, let me take a moment. 

Not to rap your knuckles or anything, but Clexa is not “over.” I’m sure you were just speaking in terms of continuance in canon… but still. I’m going to take this opportunity to put it out there that coming into the blog of someone who so (passionately) ships two female characters and asking them, if one was killed off, why they don’t just switch to the heterosexual pairing that involves the character left standing, is not a good look! I’m flattered you like my writing so much and I’m going to take your question as the compliment I’m sure you meant it, but I feel like I would be doing you something of a disservice if I gave the impression that it didn’t also cross a line.

Even if you missed my posts on what an amazing, perspective-shifting experience it’s been for me as a lesbian to write romances between two women for an audience who is hungry for exactly those stories, this remains a Not-Good Look. Considering the rate at which lesbian and bisexual female characters are killed off, taking their deaths as a reason to stop shipping – as in, stop celebrating their stories and love, stop writing the potential that was unexplored, stop honoring what pieces of representation they did provide and why death does not impact its importance – would basically mean the death of femslash fandom as a whole. Which is exactly what the wrong kind of people want. Especially the predominantly male, cis, white, and heterosexual showrunners who see any story that is not an extension of their own lived experience or reflective of how their experiences are the best and should be taken as universal. (#notallmaleciswhitehetshowrunners) 

I think shipping as activism is misguided, but at the same time I can believe that an audience caring about the “wrong” couples is a finger in the eye of people who make their livings persuading others that whiteness and heterosexuality are the only valuable commodities. Those people are genuinely threatened by an audience who wants the girl to get the girl, or who rallies around heterosexual couples where not just one but both characters are played by actors of color. Because American television is very much part of the capitalist machine, and if they can’t use it to skew the value of concepts they feel they “own” – that the main dude has to prioritize the white female lead over all other romantic prospects, that the bisexual heroine can suffer interestingly in relationships with other women but her happy endgame has to be with a dude – they have to fall back on things like writing talent, and, well. 

I’m wandering into the weeds a bit, but my point stands: if I stop shipping the characters I love just because the people in charge decided one of them had to die, the terrorists win it would be antithetical to fandom itself. A large part of the purpose of fandom is to reclaim popular narratives from those who would use them to toxic ends, to prove that systematic privilege does not mean you get to completely dictate the destinies of those who lack it – even in fiction. 

So they killed Lexa. That’s within their purview. But that can’t touch Clexa. It would be an error to translate their mistakes as impact. Or to believe their actions should, in any way, guide my own. 

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Day 5: what is the world building detail that I really like in my current wip? Asks @the-wip-project

The science

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Stretch! Especially neck and shoulders if you watch/ use screens

I turn 30 next month so here’s what I learned in my 20s:

—don’t work for startups, they’re always one ‘innovative idea’ away adding ‘sell your kidneys on the black market’ to your job description.

—keeping a collection of basic OTC medicine on you will save your life one day. I recommend Advil, Imodium, and TUMS.

—those little single-use glasses cleaning wipes are 1000% worth the money

—overly self-depreciating jokes just make people uncomfortable, wean yourself off of them

—you can buy dehydrated mini marshmallows in bulk online and they’re a godsend for hot cocoa

—people don’t care if you have fidget toys on your desk they just want to play with them

—try to go to bed BEFORE the existential ennui kicks in

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Atomic Blonde: All that and more

I'd read a critique of "Atomic Blonde" that panned the film as plotless, that it was merely a vehicle for Charlize Theron to inflict gratuitous violence against a series of men between sex scenes with Sofia Boutella. (FYI: This description was not a deterant for me to see it opening night). What they failed to mention was the: amazing 80s setting, fashions, and music; and intricate plot twists. There were two plot points which I found ... weak (see spoilers below) but other than that, ATOMIC BLONDE was pretty awesome! I highly recommend the film. I’m still not sure who Satchel was/is.

I have two critiques though (spoilers): 

Sound engineers who are aware of the tech in 1989 may have to close their eyes at one point and choose to "believe" in sound mixing gods. 

After threatening someone, I would not wander around my apartment in lingerie wearing headphones with the window open. Just Saying.

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People keep asking “How can anyone have a problem with AO3 doing fundraising!”

And I’m just like…. Have people not noticed all the virulent anti-AO3 hate on tumblr propagated by the anti shipping community? Antis have a problem with AO3 raising money because they hate the fact that AO3 won’t allow them to censor content they don’t like and doesn’t tolerate bullying. That’s who is putting out these posts like, “how can this nasty site raise so much money?” Read between the lines.

And for all the people who are just like, “If they don’t want AO3 to to raise money why don’t they just not donate?”

Because antis are incapable of saying “this isn’t for me so I won’t support it but I don’t care if other people support it. They have to actively discourage other people from supporting the thing. At the same time, they also won’t stop using AO3 because 1) they’re a bunch of fucking hypocrites who want readership and that’s where the readers are and 2) they’re too lazy to put together their own archive using AO3′s open source code because that would require doing coding and buying servers and doing all the moderating they want, which is hard, and they just want to engage in empty virtue signalling, which is easy

Anyway, my point is, people need to be aware that these people are out there and they hate AO3 and they want it to go away even though they’re actively using the platform. They’ve even said they want AO3 to fail so something “better” (re, something they control) can take its place. Some of them are blatant about it, calling AO3 a cesspit of pedophilia, and some of them are subtle about it, saying more innocuous things like ‘Does AO3 really need 130K a year?” “Shouldn’t you give your money to individual needy people doing gofundmes for stuff that’s more more important?”

But all of these people have the same end goal, which is the destruction of the archive, and the way they’re going about it right now is to try to discourage people from donating.

So instead of asking, “Why do people object to AO3 raising money?” start telling people “Hey there are people out there who hate AO3 and want to destroy it and we have to protect the archive from them.” And donate, if you can, and signal boost, if you can’t.

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Another good question from @the-wip-project on day 10 of this challenge.

1) how does a character react when a friend claims that their pet passion project actually belongs to the company they work for because it was created during company time?

2) what if the tower on an island in the river by my house became the only above water structure in this area by the end of the century?

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Thank you for sharing this.

Here is a very useful resource where FOG is an acronym for “fear, obligation, guilt”. The website is intended for those who are in relationships with people who have personality disorders but the toolbox is useful for everyone.

it's hard to explain because inevitably you sound like an asshole, but some people are allowed to lose their temper, lose their mind - you're not, though.

when your friend never texts you first and misses your birthday and never makes an effort; you don't mind. you know she's struggling, and you want her to get the help that she deserves. you give her every excuse and every chance.

it shouldn't matter to you so much that people are always coming through for her. you want her to be happy, you love it for her. you love that her community rises up to the occasion. why does it bother you that when she snaps at someone, says horrible mean things - but two hours later, everyone is comforting her while she's crying. you know she's stressed. why do you kind of hate that she is welcomed back to her job, that her parents are endlessly wiring her money.

and you're - fuck, are you envious?

but when you don't text back, someone sits you down and says i know you're struggling, but you're being a bad friend. when you're too numb to show up for work, your boss just shakes his head. i'm sorry. i can't approve more time off. we have the company to protect. when you finally snap back at your family for making that shitty comment again, you're forced to apologize for being too sensitive.

god forbid you need something. people aren't used to you being the one asking. you're the giver like the book you hated; your pages all open and rumpled. you always have the answer, always have the solution. you are reliable, trustworthy. people like you don't struggle with things. you're supposed to be lifted by tragedy. you are given a maximum of 24 hours to grieve, and then you need to just behave at the party.

you can't read the giving tree without feeling like crying, and even that feels like it's too much emotion. like, nobody looks at you and assumes you're the tree; they'd name five other people before even considering you in the running. you're just there, never-asking.

your friend gets to say mean shit, that's just her personality. when you make a snide comment, you're just being petty. people laugh when your friend stands you up for another event; they say she's just like that. you were 5 minutes late to a meeting with friends and they were mad about it for the rest of the evening. your friend sets everything on fire; everyone applauds her through the ashes. you so much as light a candle: and suddenly now you're an arsonist.

you don't want your friend to suffer, though. the thing is that you just wish that the empathy and kindness your friend gets - you wish you had that option, that everyone offered you grace and money and a gentle reception.

the other day you were fighting down the bad urge; the void call, the end note. you tried-anyway. you went to the family event, tried laughing at the right moments. nodded and smiled and all of it. one of your siblings threw a fit, but she's allowed to, so everyone just rolled their eyes about it. you took 3 whole minutes to stand outside when you got overwhelmed. you literally set a timer about it.

in the morning you woke up to a text from your parents: you were a complete disgrace last night. idk what your attitude problem is, but you really need to fix it.

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Hanging Hearts

Watercolor and Ink on Cotton Paper

2019, 5"x 7"

Bleeding Hearts

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