Let Me Relax……………will Comment Later…………………..

One very common mistake among beginning writers is to write “Verbing, she verbed” when it would be better to write “She verbed and verbed.”

For instance, take this sentence:

Unlocking the door, she got into the car.

Taken at face value, this sentence tells you that she got into the car even though she was still in the process of unlocking it. That’s impossible. You need to unlock the door first, and only then can you get in the car  Here’s how that sentence should look instead:

She unlocked the door and got in the car.

Somebody said that this is nitpicking. You can see it that way, I suppose. But you can also see it as a choice between writing something else than what you meant to, or simply saying what you mean. And isn’t that choice fairly easy?

Favourite Designs: Hussein Bazaza ‘Amal’ Fall 2019 Haute Couture Collection

Duo: CAN I GET A HELL YEAH?!

Wufei: I don’t know, can you?

Duo: [sighs] May I get a hell yeah?

Wufei: You should’ve gotten a hell yeah before the mission started.

Duo: [frustrated groan] But I didn’t NEED a hell yeah before the mission started!

Heero: [sets his own broken leg]

Duo: You know why God made you so pretty? To cover up all the crazy.

Why is crapping on Gundam Wing by people reviewing all the Gundam series such a trend? And in the silliest manner possible, because out of the million flaws Gundam Wing has, they never pick any of those. Instead they make stuff up. "The characters are flat." Oh yeah, sure, no depth at all to the guy who starts out as a merciless killer FUBARing every important mission he's sent on (and I love what a drama queen he is), gradually regaining his humanity once he's removed from the battlefield, only to end up horrified by being forced by a machine into becoming a ruthless killer again. Or the guy who spends the entire series preaching 'carpe diem' while he himself is the living embodiment of 'memento mori'.

Or the snarky mercenary with a massive Middle Child Syndrome who sacrifices the only thing he's fought for his entire life (himself) to keep another kid from turning out like him. Or said kid who goes through 50 shades of bonkers and every human emotion in existence during the show. Don't even get me started on the ladies. "Wufei is not interesting." Of course not. Why would the sole guy who doesn't fight for the freedom of the colonies but instead wages a personal war of revenge and a promise he's trying to keep to his late wife be interesting? Which explains why he's a wild card and fights on Mariemaia's side in EW. "The Gundams are overpowered. They never get any damage." Yeah, why didn't they send five suits made of Explodium against a world army? Also begs the question why we see them get repaired in the third episode already. And why every pilot is also a trained mechanic who can fix his own suit. Since the Gundams are indestructible anyway. Seriously. The show itself spells it out. Gundanium may be near indestructible but the electronics and other parts get fried perfectly fine which, surprise surprise, renders a Gundam useless. Never mind that Noin, in episode 4 already, was willing to use a weapon that could damage Gundanium but would overheat on Earth. "Relena's pacifism should never have worked against Romefeller. The show is dumb for presenting it as the solution." .....It didn't??? The whole Cinq arc made a point out of pacifism not working with Romefeller and the Mobile Dolls around. Just- what??? "Gundam Wing isn't realistic." This is like complaining about talking animals in The Lion King. Gundam Wing is supposed to be anti-UC. Being unrealistic was intentional. Being focused on ideologies was intentional. Not focusing on character struggles (too much) was intentional. Having a mess of a plot because you have one million different factions was intentional. If reviewers watch all the UC series and don't get that Gundam Wing has the exact opposite setup then I don't know what to tell them. Complain about talking animals while you watch a Disney movie, I guess. Pick on the horrid pacing. Pick on Relena and Heero being nutjobs in the beginning. Pick on yelling from cliffs. Pick on Noin being a doormat to Zechs. Pick on Zechs being a Char clone. Pick on there being way too many characters in the beginning. Pick on the Dorothy/Quatre connection coming out of nowhere or Une giving herself split personalities because of a dude.

There is a plethora of flaws to choose from. Also, get out of my face with UC being better. That salt episode was the dumbest thing I've ever seen in my life and I've watched Seed Destiny.

A Crack Shot: On writing characters who shoot

Or: How to Write Your Gun-Toting Badass In a Way That Doesn’t Strain Your Reader’s Suspension of Disbelief

Today I read a fic in which a character visited 1) a 2000-yard shooting range 2) with a handgun, and I had to just stop and stare into the distance while considering whether I could ignore it enough to continue. Being me, I decided to make this writing guide instead. I have attempted to write this so zero familiarity with guns beyond what you may have seen on TV/in movies is required.

So you’ve taken your character to the shooting range to establish their credibility…

Keep reading

Duo: [wailing dramatically in a long Victorian dress with a lit candelabra, running down one of the many dimly lit corridors of the gothic side of the Winner Estate at midnight]

Heero, turning on the hall light: We fucking talked about this.

Quatre: Is that my sister’s dress?!

Tea time

Body Language Cheat Sheet for Writers

As described by Selnick’s article:

Author and doctor of clinical psychology Carolyn Kaufman has released a one-page body language cheat sheet of psychological “tells” (PDF link) fiction writers can use to dress their characters.