5 Min Tutorial For Trcelyne, Hope It Helps! 

Irish people; The faeries aren’t real

Irish people; No fucking way will I go in that faerie ring

Imagining a story in your head:

Writing down the story:

I love seeing these memes out of context! I need to watch the movies again, haven’t seen them in years.

Sea Shanties 101: Let's explore

TYPES OF SHANTIES

If you've any experience in sea shanties, you've probably noticed they don't all sound the same. Some are slow, some are fast, and some are just downright sad! Well there's method behind the melody, and I'm here to tell you all about it!

A shanty frequently contains a CALL, which is what the shantyman would sing out, essentially the verses of the song, and the RESPONSE, which is what the men would sing back. For example in Haul Away Joe: the call is "Louis was the king of France before the revolution," and the response is "heave away, haul away Joe."

One of the first things to keep in mind is that shanties were used most frequently during tasks that required most of the crew. I'm now going to separate these types of work shanties into categories:

CAPSTAN SHANTIES: these shanties were used for repetitive work that was sustained, such as raising the ship's anchor at the capstan. Examples? Randy Dandy-Oh, Drunken Sailor, Eliza Lee, Barrett's Privateers (though this was written long after the age of sail!)

HALYARD SHANTIES: sung during tasks that took a very long time and required a break for a breath before the men started up again, such as hoisting a sail. Examples? Blow the Man Down, Leave Her Johnny, Hanging Johnny (Johnny really took the piss huh)

PUMPING SHANTIES: let's hope you didnt have to do a lot of pumping! Wooden ships were prone to leaking and so pumping out the water was necessary but tiresome work below decks. Examples? Santiana, Pump Shanty (surprise there)

SHORT-HAUL SHANTIES: for quick work, like shortening sails! Examples? Haul Away Joe, Paddy Doyle's Boots, Haul on the Bowline

There's some of our task shanties! Now why don't we go below and see what our off-duty men are getting up to?

Why, they're singing FO'C'SLE SHANTIES! These shanties are stories of life at sea, the work they'd done, the places they'd been, they can tell you a lot about a sailor's life. Examples? Rolling Down to Old Maui, Ben Backstay, All for me Grog

Fun! How about those far away in the polar seas hunting whales? Well I'm glad you asked because this is where we encounter WHALING SHANTIES! And yes, you guessed it, this is where Wellerman comes in! Other examples include Bonnie Ship the Diamond, The Greenland Whaler Fisheries

Now of course the most important rule of sea shanties is to have fun with your buds! Be sure to tell everyone you know about your newly-acquired shanty knowledge!

site that you can type in the definition of a word and get the word

site for when you can only remember part of a word/its definition 

site that gives you words that rhyme with a word

site that gives you synonyms and antonyms

Time for some kitchen charts to help you adult better ;)

HOW TO HELP TORTURED GAY MEN IN CHECHNYA

We can’t allow this to continue. A petition has also been launched by change.org and signed by tens of thousands of people.

It demands a full investigation of all the facts and unlawful repression in Chechnya of the LGBT population and calls for punishment for the ‘guilty parties’ and the end to the practice of extra-judicial violence.

You can sign that here.

Instagram.com/WeTheUrban

Teacher: Your main objective is to work hard in this class.

Me:

Writing advice you're not going to like.

People sometimes send me Asks wanting writing advice.  I suck at it.  I don’t really know how I do the writing, or how one should do the writing, or what one should do to get better at the writing.  All I can ever think to say is “write a lot of stuff and you will get better at the writing.”  Which is true, but hardly a bolt from the sky.

Well, as it turns out, I do have one piece of Legit Writing Advice, and I am going to share it with you, right now.  If you were in any of my writing workshop groups at a con, you’ve heard this advice already.

Warning: you’re going to fucking hate it.  But if you do it, you will thank me.

If you have a piece of fiction you’re serious about, something you might want to actually shop around, or just something you really are into and want to make it as good as you can…do NOT edit it.

Repeat.  DO NOT EDIT.

REWRITE.

As in, print out the whole fucking thing and re-enter it, every word (or use two screens).  Retype the whole thing.  Recreate it from the ground up using your first draft as a template.  Start with a blank page and re-enter every. single. word.

I hear you screaming.  OH MY GOD THAT’S INSANE.

Yes.  Yes, it is.

It is also the most powerful thing you will ever do for a piece of fiction that you are serious about.

Now, let’s get real.  I don’t do this for most things.  I don’t do it for my fanfiction.  But if it’s something original, something I might like to get to a professional level - I do it.  You absolutely COULD do it for fanfiction.  It’s just up to you and how much time you want to sink into a piece.

You can edit, sure.  But you WILL NOT get down to the level of change that needs to happen in a second draft.  You will let things slide.  Your eyes will miss things.  You will say “eh, good enough.”

The first time I did this, on someone else’s advice, I was dubious.  Within two pages, I was saying WHY HAVE I NOT BEEN DOING THIS ALL THE TIME.  I was amazed at how much change was happening.  By the time I got to the end, I had an entirely different novel than the one I’d started with.  When you’re already re-entering every single word, it’s easy to make deep changes.  You’ll reformat sentences, you’ll switch phrases around, you’ll massage your word choice.  You’ll discover whole paragraphs that don’t need to be there at all because they became redundant.  You’ll find dialogue exchanges that need reimagining.  Whole plot points will suddenly be different, whole story arcs will reveal their flaws and get re-drawn.

You cannot get down to the fundamental level of change that’s required just by editing an existing document.  You have to rebuild it if you really want your story to evolve.  You will be AMAZED at the difference it will make.

It will take time.  It will seem like a huge, Herculean task.  I’m not saying it’s easy.  It isn’t.  But it is absolutely revolutionary.

Try it.  I promise, you will see what I mean.

*PSA: Tipsy!Lori wrote this post.  In case you couldn’t tell.