I really want a movie where there’s this Dark Brooding Male Hero who’s like, a total badass, and during all the fight scenes he keeps getting flashbacks to happy images of his wife, and like his whole narrative is framed around his wife, and all the other heroes on his team know that he’s got this passion and vengeance and think it all has to do with his dead wife… but then near the end of the movie his wife shows up and he’s like “hey babe” they’re all shocked and they’re like, “Wait I thought all your power and passion came from avenging your dead wife?” and he’s like “no bro, I just really love my wife, she’s really cool, she’s what keeps me going” like… a reverse fridge
There’s this fic on AO3 that, according to my history page, I have visited 176 times. Which means I alone am responsible for 176 hits on that fic. I commented on some of the chapters, but only a few, because I feel like a stalker when I comment every week. I gave it kudos, but I can only give it one, even though it’s one of my favorites.
So just remember, when you’re looking at that hit count and wondering why you don’t have that same number of kudos (divided by the number of chapters, because each one of those also counts as a hit), it might be because some people out there love your fic. They read it when they’re feeling down. They open it in the waiting room at the doctors office, or in the lonesome dark of night. They turn to it in celebration when they did something right. They open it over and over so they can send the link to their friends, or just to revisit the characters that they love. They checked it ten times in one day, hoping that you had updated.
A disparity between hits and kudos does not mean that your readers didn’t like your fic, or that they were too lazy to hit the kudos button. It means that some of them came back, and there’s nothing that makes me happier about my writing than that.
writing conclusions in papers is like the stupidest thing ever though like what’s the point of dedicating an entire paragraph to “so yeah i know you just read my paper but this is a summarization of what you read in case you need to be reminded about what you just read” like why can’t the paper just end
I keep seeing this post and similar ones, and if y’all’s teachers and professors have left you with the idea that a conclusion is a summary, they have failed you in a big way.
Your conclusion is your “so what’s the fucking point” section. You’ve given you’re reader a lot of info and now they need to know why they care. Depending on the type of paper you should be giving a plan of action, explaining how this knowledge changes our understanding of the topic, link your paper to other disciplines, suggest further areas of study, etc.
One of the best pieces of writing advice I’ve ever received is that if you can’t envision yourself dropping the mic and strutting off stage at the end of your conclusion then it’s probably not strong enough.
1) oops, my 200 word drabble turned into a 8 chapter disaster
2) oops, my planned 8 chapters is stuck at 200 words
*muted screaming*
Sometimes writing is like: The forest arched high an impassable over her head, thickets thatched tightly together as if to keep her out. Even the trees seemed more foreboding, hollowed and bare, wind whistling ominously through their empty branches like a long-forgotten song.
And sometimes it’s like: The forest was filled with trees. It also had bushes. Ugly bushes. it was spooky.
Part of receiving feedback that I think should be emphasized more is that: when an editor or beta points out a problem, their suggestion for fixing it isn’t always correct (or it might be correct for their style, but doesn’t match what you’re doing).
However, something still caught them up, so the author might want to take another look at that section of the story. The choice isn’t a binary one between “Change the story the way they say or don’t change anything.” You can change it in a different way. The reader may have misunderstood something about your story, and that makes their advice on a certain topic unhelpful, but it could still be a sign for you to clarify that part earlier. You might disagree with their rationale for the change, but still agree something should be rewritten. You might accept half of their suggestion for rewording a sentence but use your own ideas for the second half. You might reject any changes to one sentence, but revise another, related part of the story.
Editing isn’t something done *to* you. It’s something *you* do, with another person’s help. I think the best results come when authors realize the amount of control they have and are willing and able to take advantage of it.
SliceOSunshine 