Hot Take: Actual Literary Analysis Requires At Least As Much Skill As Writing Itself, With Less Obvious

Hot take: Actual literary analysis requires at least as much skill as writing itself, with less obvious measures of whether or not you’re shit at it, and nobody is allowed to do any more god damn litcrit until they learn what the terms “show, don’t tell” and “pacing” mean.

Aggggh this is giving me flashbacks to my high school drama class a few years ago. Girl I feel you and it's a nightmare.

If you want to vent/chat about it feel free to dm me, I'm happy to commiserate and potentially offer tips if you wants some and I remember any?

Idk, good luck with that mess and congrats on writing the whole play you guys are doing! That's awesome!

I'm making a lil play thing at school and my group is driving me fucking insane

I wrote the entire script and storyline, as well as creating all the characters. I literally just want them to learn their lines and to get through one singular rehearsal without someone interrupting or joking or arguing

There is a scene in a preschool that lasts like a minute and everyone's like "WE SHOULD BRING IN PRESCHOOL TOYS AND KIDS ARTWORK"

There are 5 of us and 1 person hasn't even tried to learn her lines (+ she gets mad at us when we tell her to) despite us having to perform it in ab three weeks. This is for our gcse grades too and the idea of failing drama makes me feel nauseous

This girl literally ignores everything I say too, I got mad and said "do you just forget everything as soon as you leave the classroom" and she said she did. And she isn't even trying, she has a script (but she lost it so I have to go print another one) and she finds it really funny

And every single lesson one guy literally lies on the floor and refuses to do anything. We have to either drag him into place or just pretend he's there and talk at the ground. One lesson he said he felt sick and refused to do anything (more than normal) and then in that same lesson said we'd be doing better if I wasn't sick a few months ago (I had fucking surgery and couldn't walk). I don't even like this guy but he's friends with my friend so

And another girl can't get through 2 scenes without doing an entire (joking) speech and she jokes through every scene she's in (and some she isn't)

And lastly, my friend. They're generally okay but they get really pissy when I tell them to do something different. The difference was "I don't think your character would wear a suit". And I said their character isn't the main villain (we don't even have a villain it's a play about grief), it took like a month for them to stop arguing that he actually is.

And there's a clusterfuck of other stuff but yeahh fuck this. Btw I think I'm going to post the story at some point bc I'm really proud of it

Could you reblog this if you enjoy seeing your writer friends ramble about their wips on your dash?

hi hello STS for you! what can you tell me about your vibey fantasy wip? (the vibes sound *excellent* honestly) are we just roadtripping about it or do they have a Quest going on?

Thanks for asking!

Yes, so I'm thinking it'll be a fairly episodic story with them taking various shepherd type jobs transporting heards of stock across long distances. This'll be cows, sheep, maybe horses or deer ect that you'd find around the globe. But I'm planning to play around with slightly magical or fantasy versions as well.

Think deer with antlers that grow valuable plants and are a sought after material when they naturally shed each year, or your more typical Pegasus.

The vibes I'm going for are high fantasy with a focus on exploring the world and its natural wonder rather than having to save it from some great catastrophe or do war. If that makes sense.

I'm more of a character driven person when it comes to writing, so I've given myself Reya Teran (26f) and her friend/younger brother figure Syon Klau (21m) to explore the world through. Neither of them have a home by this point, and both are fairly happy wandering from place to place so long as they get a bit of adventure along the way. They'll both probably also have some type of powers.

But yeah, it's mostly characters taking once off remote cattle driving jobs with whoever needs some extra hands, visiting small towns, and exploring the land.

I'm having fun with the worldbuilding and plan to play around with the common language being similar to our sign language, with dialect or accent differences depending on your occupation. For example, busy shops in the main parts of town have rapid and small movements to keep up with the noise and pace of their work, while the faming jobs in large open plains or in high wind/bad weather have big clear motions to be understood when shouting is tiresome or can't be heard.

That's most of what I have at the moment, but it's been a heap of fun to brainstorm and worldbuild for even though I haven't worked on it much or had it in mind for very long!

“you’re a writer, can you explain your process?” yes. first, i panic. then i procrastinate. then, in a fit of productivity at 3 a.m., i create chaos.

STOP DOING THIS IN INJURY FICS!!

Bleeding:

Blood is warm. if blood is cold, you’re really fucking feverish or the person is dead. it’s only sticky after it coagulates.

It smells! like iron, obv, but very metallic. heavy blood loss has a really potent smell, someone will notice.

Unless in a state of shock or fight-flight mode, a character will know they’re bleeding. stop with the ‘i didn’t even feel it’ yeah you did. drowsiness, confusion, pale complexion, nausea, clumsiness, and memory loss are symptoms to include.

blood flow ebbs. sometimes it’s really gushin’, other times it’s a trickle. could be the same wound at different points.

it’s slow. use this to your advantage! more sad writer times hehehe.

Stab wounds:

I have been mildly impaled with rebar on an occasion, so let me explain from experience. being stabbed is bizarre af. your body is soft. you can squish it, feel it jiggle when you move. whatever just stabbed you? not jiggly. it feels stiff and numb after the pain fades. often, stab wounds lead to nerve damage. hands, arms, feet, neck, all have more motor nerve clusters than the torso. fingers may go numb or useless if a tendon is nicked.

also, bleeding takes FOREVER to stop, as mentioned above.

if the wound has an exit wound, like a bullet clean through or a spear through the whole limb, DONT REMOVE THE OBJECT. character will die. leave it, bandage around it. could be a good opportunity for some touchy touchy :)

whump writers - good opportunity for caretaker angst and fluff w/ trying to manhandle whumpee into a good position to access both sites

Concussion:

despite the amnesia and confusion, people ain’t that articulate. even if they’re mumbling about how much they love (person) - if that’s ur trope - or a secret, it’s gonna make no sense. garbled nonsense, no full sentences, just a coupla words here and there.

if the concussion is mild, they’re gonna feel fine. until….bam! out like a light. kinda funny to witness, but also a good time for some caretaking fluff.

Fever:

you die at 110F. no 'oh no his fever is 120F!! ahhh!“ no his fever is 0F because he’s fucking dead. you lose consciousness around 103, sometimes less if it’s a child. brain damage occurs at over 104.

ACTUAL SYMPTOMS:

sluggishness

seizures (severe)

inability to speak clearly

feeling chilly/shivering

nausea

pain

delirium

symptoms increase as fever rises. slow build that secret sickness! feverish people can be irritable, maybe a bit of sass followed by some hurt/comfort. never hurt anybody.

ALSO about fevers - they absolutely can cause hallucinations. Sometimes these alter memory and future memory processing. they're scary shit guys.

fevers are a big deal! bad shit can happen! milk that till its dry (chill out) and get some good hurt/comfort whumpee shit.

keep writing u sadistic nerds xox love you

ALSO I FORGOT LEMME ADD ON:

YOU DIE AT 85F

sorry I forgot. at that point for a sustained period of time you're too cold to survive.

pt 2