Ingredients And Applications

Reblog If You Don’t Like To Label Your Sexuality

Introducing: #BusinessForBC

Right now, a growing number of businesses are pledging to guarantee birth control coverage for their workers. Why? Because it’s essential health care that helps workers thrive, and because access to birth control fosters more equitable, inclusive working environments. 

Business for Birth Control’s call to action is so important right now, because sexual and reproductive health care is under threat in the U.S. and around the world. Any day now, the Supreme Court will make a decision on two dangerous Trump administration rules that would allow employers and universities — based on their personal objections — to deny birth control coverage to employees and students. And the Trump administration has tried to bully the United Nations to eliminate references to sexual and reproductive health as part of their global COVID-19 plans, ignoring the essential nature of reproductive health care during a pandemic and always. 

Businesses that pledge to be a #BusinessforBC are helping to educate and inspire others in the business community to show their support for accessible birth control for all people. These companies know that access to birth control improves economic and health outcomes. Nearly 90% of women of reproductive age have used contraception in their lifetimes, and access to birth control has been proven to increase education level and wage earning. 

Pledging to guarantee birth control access is part of a larger commitment to racial and gender equity, too: Women of color, especially Black and Indigenous women, face disproportionate barriers to accessing affordable health care. Access to a full range of sexual and reproductive health services is key to addressing historical disparities in unintended pregnancy, maternal mortality rates, and higher rates of breast and cervical cancer. 

Women of color also face greater institutional barriers to promotion in the workplace. Black women and Latinas in the U.S. today earn just over half of what their white male counterparts earn. We have a long way to go, but committing to birth control coverage is one step toward greater racial equity in the workforce and more inclusive economic growth. 

Businesses that have pledged to be a #BusinessforBC include:

Amalgamated Bank

Argent

Bad Robot Productions

CREDO Mobile

Female Quotient

Hims & Hers

Jaya Apparel Group, parent company to Cinq à Sept and Likely

Postmates 

The Helm

The Lede Company

Trillium Asset Management

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Learn more about #BusinessForBC at BusinessForBirthControl.org.

TOM HIDDLESTON

    Art of Villainy - Jaguar

My road to hell isn't paved with good intentions-or bad-it’s just my road.

Rainbow Rowell. 

How to write about Grief:

There is no right or wrong way to experience grief. Just as there is no right or wrong way to write it. Everyone is different, each set of circumstances are different. 

The point of this post is to show you how different people react in different ways, and give points on how you might write that, depending on your character and story.

Reactions to Grief

Numbness: Your character may go into auto-pilot and be unable to process the events that have unfolded.

Anger: This can be aimed at other people, at a Higher Being, or at nothing in particular.

Unsteady: Your characters may be unsteady. For example, unable to stop their voice from shaking or they may find it difficult to stand.

Focusing on Others: Your character may disregard their own feelings because they are so overwhelmed and instead concentrate on someone else’s well-being. 

Seek out routines: Amid upheavals, your character may seek comfort in tasks that are familiar and “safe,” such as working, cleaning, making their bed, making absurd amounts of tea or taking a morning walk.

Pretending that Everything Is Okay: Grief is viewed as an emotion that should cease or be concealed once the funeral is over. So people mention the news in an offhand comment, then talk and laugh as if all is right with the world.

Denial: Some people deny the reality of death and convince themselves that the news is a joke or can’t be true.

Reactions from people surrounding your character:

People may avoid your character as they do not know what to say or simply can’t find the right words.

Some may even go as far as to cross the street when they notice your character approaching.

Even people that the character has known for years may act strange or standoff-ish, simply because they don’t know what to say.

On the other side of that, some people may be overly helpful and friendly.

It is not uncommon for estranged friends, family or others to suddenly reappear in a person’s life after they have experienced grief. 

Either because those people want to offer their support and love  or because they’re being nosy and they want to be kept up to date on the “drama”.

Most people will move on from the event fairly quickly if they weren’t emotionally invested. 

Some people may even get annoyed at your character for still being upset weeks or months later.

When talking about the person they have lost:

Your character may recall a memory or tell a story about their loved one, these are possible reactions. (I have encountered all of them.)

Your character may being to cry or get upset at the thought of the person they have lost. 

The person they are talking to may become awkward and avert eye contact when your character brings up the person they have lost. 

Others may ask or tell your character to stop talking about the person they have lost. They may roll their eyes, cough awkwardly, or cut off your character mid sentences so that they can change the subject.

Some people may ask inappropriate questions about the circumstances in which the character’s loved one passed away. Depending on the personality of your character then may react differently. 

Other things to note:

Grief is not constrained by time. 

One of the main problems with grief in fiction is that a character is typically heartbroken for a couple scenes and then happy again. But grief does not evaporate because the world needs saving. 

Allow your character to wrestle with their grief. 

Your character may feel guilty. Your character may feel a twinge of guilt when they laugh or have a good time with someone else; when they do something to remind them that they’re alive, and their loved one isn’t. 

Grief is a game changer. A previously outgoing character may withdraw and isolate themselves. Some people may take grief and/or bereavement as a sign that life is too short; they may make big decisions in an attempt to make themselves feel better and grow away from their pain.

Sometimes grief can help you find your purpose.

At first grief can be all consuming. It hurts and you can’t really control it. It may seem unrelenting. Eventually the grief will become easier to deal with, your character may find the days to be better, but that doesn’t mean that when the grief hits it doesn’t hurt any less.

For most people, grief never really goes away. “Sometimes you have to accept the fact that certain things will never go back to how they used to be.”

It is rare that a person will ever give a long speech about their feelings, a lot of people struggle to even find the words. But that’s okay. Show the reader how your character feels, rather than just telling them.

Don’t pause the plot to deal with the aspect of grief. This could overwhelm the readers and drag the pace down. In reality, life doesn’t just stop due to grief, the world keeps spinning and things still need to be done. Use the character’s grief as a backdrop for the story’s events.  

Yes, grief affects the character’s day-to-day life, goals, and relationships. But it shouldn’t drive readers away or stagnate the story. Instead, should engage readers and produce empathy that keeps them turning pages.

You don’t need to tell your readers that everything will be fine. You don’t need to provide all of the answers.

“Skirting grief and treating it lightly is easy. But by realistically portraying it through a variety of responses and its lasting effects on the character’s life, readers will form a connection with your characters.“

How I Plan...

Building a story or series from the ground up with the help of templates!

This is how I approach planning. It covers what I do up to the point of opening a blank document and typing the first word.

Despite the tags this isn’t going to be ‘how to’ or advice based because who am I to tell you how to plan a story? This is only an option:) I engourage you to steal liberally but also question whether or not this method will work for you. If you don’t vibe with something, throw it out!

*you don’t have to answer these questions in order.

STRUCTURE LEVEL

Genre/Sub-genres: Picking a genre can help you find ideas/tropes faster. If you’ve written or read a book before you probably know the types of stories you like.

Age Category: This can help you find themes for you story. I like to sepate genre and cataegory since you can have a young adult or an adult romance.

Point Of View: Pick who will tell the story. Will there be more than one?

Tense: First, second or third person? Past or present?

Formatting: How will the story be split up? Through chapters or parts. I also like to put whether or not I’ll have a playlist, any quotes or epigraphs, prologues or epilogues, anything like that.

Tone: Will your story be serious, light hearted, sad, satirical...etc

Atmosphere/Color palette: I like to use this for when I’m writing description. Using specificities to elevate your writing can bring a world together and make it feel real.

Overall Concept: As vague as you’d like it to be! I usually give a few sentences.

Comparison Titles: I love to use comparison titles in the beginning when nothing has been solidified. It helps me know what came before me while still generating lots of inspiration.

SERIES LEVEL

Series Title: I usually base it off the first books title or a significant thing that links all the stories together.

Number of stories you want: I don’t always know how many stories will be in a series but it’s good to have a rough esimate of how many you’d like to write.

Number of stories realistically achievable: But we all know that sometimes an idea just isn’t sustainable for a 10 book series but works rather well as a trilogy instead.

Story that will kick off the series: All of your stories should fit a purpose in the series but this book will take the roll as a set-up (not to be confused as ‘filler’) for the rest of your series. It’s just something to have in mind when planning. This way you can plant twists and foreshadowing for the rest of the books.

Story that will close out the series: This story has big shoes to fill since you’ve probably been amping everything up to an explosive finish but at the end of the day it doesn’t matter if it’s bigger and better than what came before, it only matters if it’s a satisfying close to the whole series.

Summarize each story

Story # 1 summary ...you get the idea

Timeline: I like to know what year the series starts and when it will end. It might sound complicated but it’s so helpful. You don’t want a character to be pregnant or something for three books if the the stories have spanned more than nine months.

Spin-offs: You might find that you’ve got some ideas that don’t quite fit in with the others but they have some common elements. A spin-off is a cool way to explore those other ideas.

Naming conventions: I like to name my individual stories similar things to keep a theme. Example: J. R. Wards Black Dagger Brotherhood series has book titles with the word ‘Lover’ in them. There’s also naming conventions like the ACOTAR series by Sarah J. Maas that go “A Court of Blank and Blank”

SETTING LEVEL

Town/City/Village Name:

Area Description:

State/Province:

Country:

Common Weather:

Population:

Popular Figures:

Popular Locations:

Historical Background and Events:

What might the town be hiding to the average passer-by?

*You can definitely add more questions depending on your story. I write mostly within our world but I do like to create fictional towns.

CHARACTER LEVEL

Full Name:

Age:

Role:

Title/Rank/Occupation:

Wants:

Fears:

Misbelief:

Description/Faceclaim:

Personality Traits:

Zodiac Sign:

MBTI:

Theme Song:

Backstory:

Daily Life:

* Again, you can add any more questions you’d like to. These are just the ones I like to use to get going. Some of them are super vague, so in Daily Life I’ll put their living arrangement, transportation, pets or anything like that. I also add loads of stuff in their Description such as sexuality, how they dress, tattoos or scars, etc.

GROUP

*this is for anything like a fictional club, cult, company, evil organization or something like that.

Name:

Sub-divisions:

Type:

Founder:

History:

Current Leader:

Headquarters:

Current Operation:

Biggest Threat:

Biggest Allies:

Council Members (include roles):

Other Members (include roles):

STORY LEVEL

Working Title: Sometimes I use something concrete but if I need to get it out of the way I’ll put something like Project Black.

Estimated Length: Word or chapter count you’d like to achieve.

Order: Which book in the series is it?

Premise: I like to refer to this as the summary’s skeleton.

Tropes:

Subplot(s):

Story Summary:

Story Theme Song: This is just for fun but sometimes it really helps me capture what the whole story might be. I can also use it when I’m low on inspiration.

BEAT LEVEL

* I’d recommend googling an explanation of story beats or purchasing Blake Snyder or Jessica Brody’s book on Save The Cat beat sheet. But on the other hand, you don’t have to use a beat sheet at all. And if at any point during planning you feel like you’re ready to write then go for it!

Opening Image: An image that catapults your audience into the look and feel of your story

Theme Stated: Typically the theme of the story is communicated by someone fairly early on. This is dialogue spoken to the protagonist that he doesn’t quite grasp yet.

Set-Up: Show the protagonist in their “old world.” Let the audience know what the status quo is for them, then hint at the adventure that follows. This is also a time to introduce secondary characters.

Catalyst: Sometimes called the “inciting incident,” the catalyst is the event that disrupts your protagonist’s status quo. But they’re not ready to make the choice that catapults them into the story just yet.

Debate: This is where the protagonist has doubts about setting out on their perilous journey.

Break into Two: Inevitably, your protagonist will overcome their doubt and make a choice to set out on their adventure. This is the choice that sets the plot in motion. Your beat sheet will be filled with obstacles and twists resulting from making this choice from here on out.

B Story: A subplot ensues. Some would say that this is usually a romantic subplot.

Fun and Games: Plot structure requires a stretch where your protagonist wields their new power, and does cool stuff with it. I’ve also heard this referred to as the Promise of The Premise. So in Hunger Games by Susanne Collins this would be Katniss actually fighting in the games.

Midpoint: At some point, your protagonist will either get what they’re after... or not. But there will be consequences either way.

Bad Guys Close In: After your protagonist gets what they want, or not, there will be consequences. These forces will tighten their grasp, and throw the protagonist off balance.

All Is Lost: The dire circumstances your protagonist endures will lead to an inevitable loss. Which can be anything but it most commonly a character death.

Dark Night of the Soul: At this point of the Save the Cat beat sheet template, your protagonist has lost hope.

Break into Three: In plot structure, this is where your protagonist claws around in the darkness, only to find or remember something useful.

Finale: Treat the finale as the Act 3 summary. The Save the Cat beat sheet template is at its end, so it’s time for the protagonist to take on their foes. Armed with new tools and self-discoveries, the protagonist often synthesizes what they've learned (in Act 2) with values they've always had (Act 1).

Final Image: Along with the opening image, the final image creates the bookend that encapsulates the journey. This is the last thing the audience is left with.

*Closing thoughts: I have never used just a beat sheet because they don’t resonate with me for every story. I always add stuff or take away. I think there is a special beat missing between the Finale and Final image and that is where the characters slow down, take a breath and reflect on everything they’ve experienced. I also think Romance is the hardest genre to use the beat sheet with but I do a hybrid of the Beat Sheet from Save The Cat Writes A Novel! By Jessica Brody and Romancing the Beat by Gwen Hayes for the most part.

NOW JUST WRITE! :)

I hope this was helpful in some way or another! DM me or reply with any questions or for clarification. I have many more posts I’d like to create (on my process) but if you have any ideas or topics I should make posts on let me know.

Good luck and happy writing!

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!

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