TOM HIDDLESTON

#storychronology

"Start in the middle”

Story chronology: a few options

You might have heard about the advice “in medias res”: to begin your story at a point when the action has already begun.

I will illustrate this point with an example. It’s a simple story I made up for this post, but you get the picture. [Extensive image descriptions below the cut.]

In medias res (Latin for ‘in the middle of things’), will tell you that you shouldn’t begin this story with scene A, because there is little action in it. Scene B is also not particularly exciting, and both A and B are not very representative of the story that is to come. The most exciting scenes in this list are F and G.

There are a few versions of how you can start your story.

1. You could start your story with scene C, and tell your story chronologically from there, so you skip A and B:

2. You could start your story with scene F, and then go back to the beginning:

3. Or you can do the same with scene G first: how did she get into this mess?

4. You could start your story with scene F or G, and go back, but ditch A and B because they don’t fit in the theme of the story.

or

5. You could start with scene G or F and throw away the entire chronology. Maybe scene B is a flashback when she sits at the police station and waits to make her phonecall. She can imagine the conversation with her parents and wishes she was back in the orchard she used to play at when she was 8.

Personally, I don’t like option 2 and 3, because the less exciting scenes A and B feel even more boring after an exciting scene like F and G. But I’m just pointing out the options.

When you set out to outline a story, make it linear at first, make sure every causal relationship is sound, and then play around with the order of the scenes to make it more interesting.

I hope this was helpful. Don’t hesitate to ask me any questions, and happy writing!

Follow me for more writing advice, or check out my other writing advice here. New topics to write advice about are also always welcome.

Tag list below, a few people I like and admire and of course, you can be too. If you like to be added to or removed from the list, let me know.

Extensive image descriptions also below the cut.

Keep reading

They said I couldn’t, I said fuck you Karen I’m doing it

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

You know, just because you’re straight doesn’t mean you can treat people who aren’t as sinners and hell-bound unnatural beings. 

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

You know what’s fucked up to me? That I feel the need—now want, but in the beginning it was a feeling that it was my onus to fight. I grew up too fast, faced and burdened by the cruelties of the world. As a kid, I never wanted anything more than simplicity. Now? I feel it’s my duty—a chore, it seems at times—to worry myself to insanity over people I don’t know. I turn on the news and you know what I see? Chaos. Not controlled chaos. No. Pure, unrelenting, pain-fuelled chaos. My aspirations are now to go to law school instead of become a teacher or something simple that I’d enjoy. Not because of the money, no that’s not why I want to be a lawyer, but because I feel I owe it to the people who take the hate and violence I’m too scared to admit I should be shouldering too. These people came out and, even though there was the chance—almost guarantee—that they’d face violence, prejudice, hate, and be stripped of basic human rights. I should still be able to be a kid. Not because of my age or immaturity. But because I should be able to enjoy life; not fear it.

I think I’ve seen this film before And I didn’t like the ending

colored some doodles

I didn’t even realise I did this. Almost subconsciously, it’s just the way my writing is. I thought it was normal…? Okay. 

Hi, I'm rereading some of my work and I notice that most of the sentences start with a subject and it tends to get really annoying after a while. Any tips on other ways I could start my sentences?

How to Diversify Your Sentence Structure

This is a really common problem that I think a lot of writers have! Having a repetitive sentence structure without variation can make your prose really choppy, boring and difficult to read, while overall weakening your voice.

Here are some techniques to help you change things up a bit!

Switch around your subject

Very basic grammar: Every sentence has a subject and a predicate. I think when we think of subject in a sentence, we often think of person. This might be especially true in creative writing because we deal with characters.

For example:

Amelia opened her front door and walked outside. She felt a cold breeze blow through her. She realized that she wasn’t dressed appropriately for the weather. Amelia turned around and went back inside to grab a jacket.

In this example, Amelia is the subject of every single sentence, and a verb is followed immediately afterward. Because every sentence begins with ‘Amelia’ or ‘she’, there’s no variety and it’s a little bit boring to read. 

Here’s what it could look like if I switched the subject around somewhere.

She felt a cold breeze blow through her.

A cold breeze blew through her.

The difference is subtle, but now the subject of the sentence is the breeze, not Amelia. The sentence structure is still the same: The subject is followed by a verb. However, because the subject is different from Amelia, it still brings variety to how your sentences read. 

Here’s what it looks like now:

Amelia opened her front door and walked outside. A cold breeze blew through her. She realized that she wasn’t dressed appropriately for the weather. Amelia turned around and went back inside to grab a jacket.

Now that every sentence doesn’t begin with “Amelia” or “she” it seems a little bit more interesting.

Put dependent clause before subject 

So we changed one subject in a sentence, but we still have multiple sentences that have Amelia as the subject. It still doesn’t have too much variety in sentence structure, and as a result, it can be stilted.

So let’s try bringing a dependent clause before the subject.

She realized that she wasn’t dressed appropriately for the weather. Amelia turned around and went back inside to grab a jacket.

Realizing that she wasn’t dressed appropriately for the weather, Amelia turned around and went back inside to grab a jacket.

By bringing ‘realizing’ before the subject, I created a dependent clause and succeeded making the first word something other than the subject. 

However, because it’s a dependent clause, ‘realizing that she wasn’t dressed appropriately’ is a sentence fragment — it’s an incomplete thought. So I combined it with the last sentence to make it complete.

So after those two techniques, let’s compare the original with the rewrite.

Original

Amelia opened her front door and walked outside. She felt a cold breeze blow through her. She realized that she wasn’t dressed appropriately for the weather. Amelia turned around and went back inside to grab a jacket. 

Rewrite

Amelia opened her front door and walked outside. A cold breeze blew through her. Realizing that she wasn’t dressed appropriately for the weather, Amelia turned around and went back inside to grab a jacket.

Now because there’s a variety in sentence structure and subject, the paragraph  is not only more interesting to read, it also flows better and more smoothly. It also has the added bonus of diverse sentence lengths which was lacking before, and it helps make the writing more engaging.

I just wanted to note: there is nothing bad about having your subject as the first word in a sentence. I don’t want anyone to feel like they have to change every single sentence they ever wrote. Like in my example, the first sentence starts with Amelia. That’s fine.

The problem is that when every single sentence starts that way, it becomes repetitive. You can still have some sentences that start with your character, just make sure to throw in some other sentence structures, and your writing will be more engaging!

Outside of this specific example, you can also try playing around with dependent clauses in your existing sentences as well.

Jamie walked into the haunted house, despite her reluctance.

Despite her reluctance, Jamie walked into the haunted house.

The sentence is the exact same, but I just switched around where the dependent clause ‘despite her reluctance’ is placed. Even though it has the same meaning, it can provide a different feel or at the very least, switch up having your subject as the first word of every sentence.

I also talk about this in my guide about how to make your writing flow better. Sentence structure has a lot to do with making your writing sound cohesive and eloquent, so I would definitely recommend checking that out as well!

Thanks so much for asking Anon, I definitely struggled with this too when I was just starting out. I remember seeing how every single paragraph started with a name, and that was really annoying me, but I had trouble figuring out how to fix it. I hope this helped!

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.

You know, just because you’re male doesn’t mean you can treat women like they don’t matter

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