I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one who has trouble remembering developmental milestones. I put these together, but can’t take credit for any of the photography. Hope someone finds them helpful!
This is very useful to me i have absolutely no gauge for how old children are and what they can typically do at what ages
I’ve been on Tumblr too long I was definitely expecting this to turn into some existentialist meme
Every writer needs to see this because I’m really tired of otherwise competent novels in which a two year old is like “mother dearest I do believe I am quite frightened” or conversely they’re supposed to be five and going “me hungie!!!”
I went through the pictures expecting there to be a punchline at the end
Ask if this scene really needs to be a scene or if I can just summarize it
Ask if this summary really needs to be summary or if I need more scene
Write a very focused, very pretty sentence
Circle back a couple scenes & ask if one of them is causing “symptoms” later in the book
Get in and get out (push through a tough scene as fast as possible & then run forward and fast like wind to the next bit)
Add an exciting element (a new character, a change of location, other… things ;))
Pause and revise if I’m feeling destabilized
Be specific about what I DON’T like (example: I can’t get past this scene because the dialogue is so mechanical instead of “ahhh I hate it all”)
Read what I last wrote aloud (to hopefully sink into some momentum) OR get a robot to read it to me
Try a teeny tiny writing sprint (1-5 minutes of nonstop writing)
Write a flashback (bonus points if it’s connected emotionally or plot-wise to the fictive present)
Read from a literary godparent (this is when you pull out the books/stories/poems etc that make you excited about writing!)
Write or brainstorm every possible direction of a scene (sometimes grueling, sometimes worth it)
Sit and think (in a bathtub, on a walk—try to immerse yourself in your story like you’re a random character who got plopped in there; what do you see?)
Method write
Find a word that excites you and use that in your next scene
Double check if you’re hitting the right story beats (or if you skipped one, spent too long on one, spent too little on one, etc)
Write “bare bones” and come back to fine tune it later (similar to get in and get out)
Write with your eyes closed (be warned of incomprehensible text if you can’t type with closed eyes)
Break down your causal chain bit by bit (even the boring parts) and see if there’s a broken link. Then delete the boring parts (sometimes we just need to see how EXACTLY we got to a place and how EXACTLY that leads us to the important bit–I find I missed something critical when I do this).
Rely on crutch words, boring details & trust you can edit it later (sometimes the idea of perfection in draft 1 can be unproductive)
Ask a friend to read the work & tell you what they think (sometimes we need help; writing is hard)
Ask a friend for a compliment read (sometimes we just need to be hyped up)
Change the tense (temporarily & be warned that different tenses may require different approaches when drafting, I only do this when I’m not sure what else to try)
Talk myself through the problem as if I’m talking to a friend (I pull up my notes and literally start typing: “so I’m struggling with XYZ scene right now for XYZ reason and I don’t know what to do. What if XYZ happened, or what if I changed XYZ?”)
Take a break—sometimes I’m just tired/burnt out/not in the mood to write (that’s okay!)
I post more tips I’ve picked up along the way on youtube!
Honestly, if CG artists unionising kills the use of CG in films, I don’t see a downside.
This post has riled a lot of people. For what it’s worth, my point wasn’t that technology is bad and Edison was a witch, my point was that any industry that can be killed by unionizing should be.
Any industry that can’t survive unionization relies on exploiting its workers’ labor and should be killed immediately anyway
