Two Professional Writers React to Reddit Writing Advice

[@WeRNotAlive]

This is a reupload with the inaccuracies from the previous video removed. Thank you for commenting and keeping us accountable, we’re always going to listen to the audience, and we’re committed to creating high-quality content and discussions while sticking to our principles.

[@henrygalley2831]

We get stuff wrong sometimes, we're only human, but thank you for helping us be better humans by pointing out when we make mistakes and giving us the opportunity to fix them. We're all works in progress, and we'll do whatever we can to be good, do good, and git gud. Peace!

[@ToonCrate]

Oh wow, good on you dudes for making that choice

[@darkalicornkingdoom3572]

I Don't think you should complety remove the inaccuracies, it woud better to have an aside video with clarifications or editor notes making corrections

[@darknut1223]

mad respect 👍

[@princeOpalite3650]

@@darkalicornkingdoom3572 they exsplained in the community post that they accidentally missgender one of the redditors and took them out of context so it makes scense they would cut it out to prevent futher misgendering\missinfirmation

[@AllisterNovum]

the rubber duck is actually a programming thing as well. Basically the idea is that you have a rubber duck on your desk, and if your stuck on a part of your code, just explain what each part of the code does to the duck. Its a similar to the idea of "Explain this to me like I'm five," But for more creative ideas.

[@watercolourAlto]

my programming teacher suggested that all of us buy rubber ducks for that exact purpose

[@fourthmatchflame]

*faith in humanity restored.*

[@Shokuju]

You can use a stuffed animal or action figure or whatever if you're not into programmer memes enough to buy a rubbery ducky. To expand on this a bit, the programmer that came up with this would often go to his colleagues asking for help with a problem, but by the time he had put what he was doing into words for them, he also had his answer. It seemed rude to just put the question out there and then immediately unbirth it, so he tried this with the actually completely passive observer he had on his desk and found that it still worked well. Thinking a bunch of messy thoughts in your head just isn't quite the same as saying stuff out loud. When you talk out loud you've got to sculpt your ideas into something a little more concrete, and a lot of the time you can set yourself up to solve your problem easily.

[@Stettafire]

As a SWE can confirm

[@Kt-hp7cv]

Isn’t this just Feynman’s method?

[@neckpeck2738]

Toast. Soap. Rice. Newspaper. Sugar. Cream. Pasta. Flour. Corn. Beans. Tomato. Cucumber. Lettuce. Wait, this is just my grocery list. Random grocery list. Everyday random grocery list.

[@evilgenius97]

a reply random reply. writing a random reply to build a random connection. coconut mint.

[@allyssaswain2394]

you buy toast, not bread?

[@VoxAstra-qk4jz]

​@@allyssaswain2394he'll go on an amazing vacation with all the time he saves

[@cassiehosh1677]

unbirth

[@MeemahSN]

@@allyssaswain2394 didn't know pre-toasted bread was a thing

[@lazulitrueblue]

Honestly, props on you guys for acknowledging your errors and fixing them. Tis a shame that now my unbirthing comment is lost to the sands of time. At least I’ll always have a rubber duck that knows about it.

[@zennistrad]

Excuse me, your what now

[@lazulitrueblue]

@@zennistrad Oh, so in the video they said to include unbirth in our comments if we got to that point in the video. In the original video, I made a comment with the word. That’s all.

[@xRockLobster75x]

@@lazulitrueblue unBIRTH poggers

[@Crabdoodles]

rubber ducking is a programming tactic too, thats probably where they got the idea. if you explain your problem out loud you often solve it yourself

[@rainylupin]

Also heavily agree on the whole "take a walk" bit of advice. You know that episode of Brooklyn Nine-Nine where Jake is in a slump? so Captain Holt assigns him a bunch of menial desk work that frustrates him at first, but the boredom causes his brain to reset and saves him from the slump. Sometimes it can be incredibly helpful to give your mind a break.

[@disacedin616]

Definitely agree with this! Taking walks is something of a daily routine for me, as I feel it's absolutely necessary for me on so many levels. It gives me energy for the day, helps me with any headaches or emotional slumps I get from inactivity, makes me feel happier in general, let's me exercise my body, clear my head by taking in my surroundings and thus allowing my brain to think of things more clearly or just fantasize. Walks are just a necessary part of the day for the creative person.

[@Kyleope]

The TLDR I gained from this: Unbirth the balls from your brain, make writing do good do yes 👍

[@xxdumpsterqueenxx3573]

It all makes sense now 🤔

[@jarlathquinn2628]

I wise to unbirthday this comment

[@AndaraBledin]

Just here to re-answer the question about the middle two Synopses: The Chicago Wizard is pretty obviously Harry Dresden of the Dresden Files series by Jim Butcher. More referring to the earlier books than the later ones. And I'm kind of surprised you didn't recognize the Three Factions Plus Wormholes! was "The Expanse." I've never even read or watched it, but I still knew enough via cultural osmosis to recognize the basic plot description.

[@Rippertear]

Thank you. now I can rest.

[@TheDCmatrix]

My first thought for the 3 factions plus wormholes was Destiny, but that doesn't work cuz that's 4 factions XP

[@weezerfan1232]

the expanse is so good at least for the first bit. kinda all melded together in my head tho

[@Jurgan6]

Don't know The Expanse, I was thinking of Starcraft. Maybe cause I've been nostalgically replaying it for the last week.

[@weezerfan1232]

@@Jurgan6 the expanse is great but I only watched the first few seasons. It gets into alien shenanigans which are fun but I like the political drama

[@platinumfactor]

13:54 Fun fact: this is a big thing in programming. It's called "Rubber Duck Debugging" and the point is to explain your code to a rubber duck until you realize what you did wrong.

[@mystery1020]

All this social media advice is giving me an idea. In the replies, post your own writing advice, and maybe Gus and Henry will do a “Two Professional Writers” video on us. I’ll go first. Before writing your story, try writing a reference sheet. While this is similar to back-logging, instead of putting plot points, try putting down the characters and setting(s), with quick facts and traits about them. This is a useful tool for looking back on if you need a little help describing a setting or writing for a character. Note that it is important to remember that you never have to stick with an idea once you’ve written it down, you can always change it if you feel it’s necessary.

[@blockofgrass7928]

Yes, some reference is really good, like motivations and looks, maybe a quirk they have, or a nervous habit, just some small things that are relevant to the story. But I personally would never be able to fill a huge ref sheet with like 150 questions about the character, like favourite foods and funniest childhood memories- it holds me back, so much stuff that's irrelevant to the story. It's just a way of procrastination for me. But I get why some people like the very long refs, everyone has their own process.

[@mystery1020]

@@blockofgrass7928 I also don’t put as much detail. I do just mean a small summery, similar to what you said at the start

[@Wince_Media]

I had the exact same idea! I'm gonna post my comment as a separate cimment

[@Wince_Media]

Here's my advice: To put things in perspective, I am an artist who is currently writing a fanfiction that will turn into a comic. Writing this has really helped me learn about writing as a whole, and it is NOT easy. This applies to stories with a lot of lore and worldbuilding. When you make the first episode/chapter/introduction, assume your reader knows ABSOLUTELY NOTHING about your work. If you need to scroll through wiki articles, social media posts, livestreams, side novels, etc. To fully understand key parts of the story, you are doing it wrong. (Stuff like that would be fine for trivial stuff and extra fun facts like favorite ice cream flavor or something, but they shouldn't be mandatory to understand the story. The story should stand on its own and the side stuff should be extra tidbits) This is for ensemble casts: if you ever need just ONE more character (or two or whatever) to fill out your ensemble cast for whatever reason, but you don't know what to make them, just look at your cast, and see what that cast lacks. (In terms of personality, roles, etc.) Then take those things your cast lacks and add them to your new character. I did this twice with 2 different ensemble casts, and those last characters turned out to be just as dynamic as the rest of the gang if not moreso. Likewise, for a main ensemble cast(Not side characters), make sure each of your cast members brings something to the table (such as do something in the story or have an emotional moment or even add a dynamic to the team). If one cast member seems to do nothing, either make them do something or omit them entirely. For character design, you should try to make it so that you can see their basic personality just by looking at them. There is an exception to the rule, abd that's if you want the design to be intentionally deceitful like with a twist villain or a humorous character so that your audiences first impressions of them will be hilariously wrong. But even then, character design does revolve around first impressions. If emotional moments in your story feel hollow and lifeless, it's probably because you haven't spent enough time on your characters. A lot of people when writing want to get to the exciting stuff, but it's important to add a little downtime here and there because it not only allows you to explore your characters and how they interact, but also makes those emotional scenes have infinitely more impact because the readers have a connection to your characters. In both design and writing, EVERYTHING is intentional and up to you. If you ever add something to your story of one of your characters' designs, just think "Why?" If you don't really have a good reason, try to fibd something else that has a better, even fantastic reason for being there. This applies more to character design for me, but thinking exactly why certain elements are there really improves on my character designs and really makes them dynamic. Designs should carry meaning. You shouldn't just add any ol' shirt becuase its a shirt and people wear those. But think about what type of shirt it is, if they are wearing a jacket and if so, why and what type. Etc.etc. EDIT: I have more advice. It's perfectly fine to take a makena character based on a simple trait, trope, or stereotype(Not based on minority) like "Emo", "nerd", "mean girl," "tomboy," etc. As they make a really good base for you to build from. Just make sure to actually build from that trope/stereotype. To build on from this, giving your character premises a simple little elevator pitch, such as "this character is X trope BUT also Y. Didn't expect that from trope X huh?" Can make really fun characters as long as you flesh them out. For example, I have a famous actress character and she's kinda rude and mean when there aren't cameras in front of her. You think that it's because she's an entitled and spoiled person who revels in fame when in actuality she hates her fame and the dangers that come with it, and just wants to live a normal life. She actually treats her friend that isn't famous and doesn't see her as such with kindness and opens up to the protagonist when he admits to not knowing her and not caring.

[@mystery1020]

@@Wince_Media this is all really good advice. Is there anywhere we can read this fanfic?

[@12DAMDO]

"draw a map" that's the equivalent of making overcomplicated looking OC's with a flashed out backstories and then leaving it at that with no relevance in the actual story

[@nursebee-vomit5058]

That must be why so many of us love DND. We can just make them backup characters

[@12DAMDO]

@@nursebee-vomit5058 for DND this is indeed perfect.. for writing however, i feel like most people who do this end up missing the point... don't get me wrong, _most_ does not mean _all_ and i've seen some exceptionally great examples, but they're _uncommonly_ exceptionally great

[@techwizsmith7963]

33:00 "Do not kill the part of you that is cringe, kill the part of you that cringes" Dumbest fucking quote, but still my favorite

[@omagaking7]

Lost 8 hours of writing a story cuz I forgot to save. One of my most productive days now I spend hours trying to write a page. Though listening to you guys give me drive to actually write.

[@ChloeAriT]

eh. I'm a csa survivor, and... I feel like we as a society don't really confront the realities of that kind of abuse. I've seen accusations of 'sexualising minors' levvied at victims writing about their experiences, at myself, at friends. I don't like the sentiment that you should never portray (purely fictional!) underaged characters in a way that could be considered sexualising them. I think it ultimately does more to hurt the very people who it is (presumably) meant to help.

[@crazyminegamer2339]

I feel like there’s a difference between genuinely sexualising minors and showing how underaged victims are sexualised and preyed on without necessarily participating in said sexualising - (most probably vague or blurry) flashbacks to the traumatising event/s, clear signs of ptsd, a desensitisation to seeing sexual things, twisted morals when it comes to seeing other minors sexualised, and so on and so forth. One of the most important things you need to do is condemn the sexualisation in the story, because it’s an incredibly condemnable thing.

[@ChloeAriT]

@@crazyminegamer2339 no, it really isn't. condemning this kind of sexualisation, unless it is in very high-profile works like hollywood movies or best-selling novels, does practically nothing to actually help victims and only distracts from the real harm done to real people in the real world, while painting a target on us for openly talking about that. it's a puritan attempt to shield yourself from having to see stuff that makes you uncomfortable without doing anything to address the actual issue. if I want to write in explicit terms about my abuse, I should be able to do that without fearing backlash from people if I don't do it "correctly" while actual abusers get to get away with their crimes because they're seen as "respectable".

[@eggy3231]

Even outside of abuse narratives, I think it's still okay to portray teens in sexual situations, because real life teenagers do actually get into sexual situations with each other. It does no one any favors to pretend that no one gets horny before the age of 18, and trying to downplay it in all situations probably would do more harm than good.

[@ChloeAriT]

@@eggy3231 very true and also important, yes!

[@awwgrassyass9857]

Your point about focusing on smaller, more feasible projects before writing your big passion project was definitely something I needed to hear lmao. Genuinely very helpful advice!

[@LvOneRose]

Same. Writer friend of mine kept telling me that but I've just started putting it into practice.

[@oblivionsaway1290]

Mad respect for taking down your video, cutting out that part, and reuploading it. Most youtubers wouldn't do that.

[@RockhopperRio]

What was the part the part they cut out? I didn’t realize there was something wrong with the original.

[@henrygalley2831]

@@RockhopperRio We didn't realize that a source was cited was trans and used the wrong pronouns. When we were informed otherwise, we cut that part out entirely and made the new edit.

[@RockhopperRio]

@@henrygalley2831 Ohh, well I’m glad it was fixed then. Not enough content creators go out of their way to fix stuff like that.

[@acg3934]

@@henrygalley2831 pretty minor, still appreciated. I assume you were made aware of the Dresden Files by now? 😂

[@Monica-br8pi]

@@henrygalley2831 Holy shit. I really did wonder what sort of error would demand a whole reupload. As a trans person, I appreciate that you guys went to such lengths for what others would consider to be a minor mistake. Mad respect.

[@TobiasFangorIsntCis]

Rubber ducking is a real thing. Sometimes you need to hear the issue out loud to be conscious of it. Programmers use it all the time

[@cw2010]

As a trans person i really appreciate that you guys fixed that mistake with the wrong pronouns, more youtubers should be like you

[@tamarbeker1701]

Wait, when did that happen?

[@special_signi2998]

Rope yet?

[@insertnamehere6968]

@@special_signi2998wtf is that supposed to mean?

[@birb9799]

@insertnamehere6968 it means that that person sucks

[@insertnamehere6968]

@@birb9799 yeah deff, that person sounds garbage.

[@JeevesAnthrozaurUS]

Tip 1: great friar sandworm joker barn halo geriatric raincoat Tip 2: I dropped my spaghetti Tip 3: #TeamEvil4ever

[@goldendew5759]

1:1:30 “If you write everything in notebooks” NOT A SOLUTION!!!!!! MAKE DIGITAL COPIES!!!!!! I LOST ALL MY CHILDHOOD SKETCHBOOKS IN A FIRE DONT RELY ON PHYSICAL THINGS ONLY, EITHER,. PLEASE TAKE PHOTOS OF TOUR WORK

[@cherrytree3400]

i've dropped the spaghetti... by which i mean, like, at least 20-ish characters for dragon quest 9 that got deleted because window decided it wanted to update on it's own. i think it actually be more accurate to say "the spaghetti i left on the table fell off" for this... edit: #justiceforhenry #teamevil

[@thecluckster3908]

Tacos decided to walk all over the house, but the wizard of knives didn’t like that, so he decided to hold a dance off as he ate bagels.

[@gigablast4129]

im not sure about other school systems but when i was in highschool my entire class was 18 by the second semester of the third year and most of us finished school when we were 19,so it is possible to be in high school and still be a legal adult. one fanservice anime that comes to mind that has a lot of characters who are 18+ is highschool DxD,however this anime also has a few underaged characters that are basically l*olis, so i wont praise it as being perfect in that regard.

[@WeRNotAlive]

Thank you for sharing.

[@gigablast4129]

@@WeRNotAlive no problem

[@gigablast4129]

@@WeRNotAlive on that note,i do agree that anime would benefit from a setting change because the school environment has been so overdone and in some stories its so unnecessary it would liven up the experience if they changed it

[@ddpzzp553]

@@gigablast4129 there should be more collegue media knstead of which school

[@thomasffrench3639]

@@gigablast4129 I think a big reason for that is that Japan (from what I’ve heard) is more of a workaholic society, so I think it may seem more unrealistic to a Japanese audience. I mean there’s a lot of good manga that’s Fantasy with nothing about teenagers or a high school setting, but it’s either that or high school. College could be interesting, but I honestly find college kinda boring tbh. Also most anime is targeted towards teens, so it makes sense that it takes place in a high schoool. My recommendation is just to watch what you like. There’s got to be anime that’s not a school setting out there.

[@rossothelioma]

i hope the rubber duck method applies to my anime figures

[@Zephyr_Zeitgeist]

Part of the perk of the rubber duck is if you get filled with rage that the solution you've been struggling with for an hour was super obvious the whole time once you tell the innocent duck, if you pick it up and throw it, you won't break anything. The rubber duck method was invented by computer programmers.

[@SpasticEliteStudios]

as long as you are not prone to throwing things in abject frustration, yes. If you are, stick to rubber ducks or stuffed animals so that you do not break things by accident.

[@anomaliecosmos]

1:01:24 WRITING EVERYTHING DOWN IN NOTEBOOKS WILL. NOT. SAVE. YOU. Some of my most precious dropped spaghetti is not in deleted or corrupted digital files but notebooks I have physically lost.

[@daytona9041]

thank you so much for making this. it really helped unbirth some of the incorrect concepts i had about my story-telling, and even though i'm not exactly a writer, i am an artist and that can really help. i love your content so much!!!

[@lordfelidae4505]

You re-uploaded the entire video because of a few (relatively small) honest mistakes. I applaud you, and approve of your staunch, principled support of the trans community. I may not be trans myself, but I still really appreciate it.

[@volcanicash1257]

Okay, I don’t know how much you know about the rubber duck advice, but I’ve heard this in computer programming circles. The idea of the rubber duck is if you can explain the process of your program to your rubber duck, you can understand it. If you can’t, refine your method till it works.

[@AndaraBledin]

The reason for the rubber duck advice is that a person uses different parts of their brain when reading out loud and when hearing things being read, even when they're the one doing the reading. We think more fully about a thing when we read it out loud and thus are more likely to spot inconsistencies or errors than simply reading. Also, reading out loud will force a person to go over every single word and/or function rather than glossing over bits as one would do when simply scanning a work. It forced a more thorough review than otherwise, which also leads to one being more likely to spot inconsistencies or errors.

[@FireflyOnyx]

I'm laughing maniacly at the "save the document" one as all my programs autosave. 😁

[@karhu7581]

I dropped my spaghetti when I realized a blender crash (caused by turning a subdivide slider to ridiculous levels "for the funny") had cost me 5 hours of modeling, including 2 hours of meticulous and monotonous UV unwrapping.

[@irregularstuff5290]

Each time I hear advice about cutting out pieces that don't fit I can't help but remember drawfee's advice "delete your art". Not to get too attached to it, not to hold it as something precious and set in stone after one draft, just to understand that you can do better, more interesting things with the base idea. As far as I understand being noob in both fields, art advice and writing advice often correlate, and this one, with some tweaking, can be applied to both fields.

[@themagicloki3169]

I was drawing my comic while listening to this, and immediately saved it when that advice came up. Additionally, for comics particularly, I recommend saving multiple versions. You never know what you'll need to do with the file, so I save the whole package as a pdf, and then save each page as a jpg.

[@jodran5228]

I'm not even a writer, I'm a learning designer and visual artist, but I've found you guys' discussions in these videos to be so valuable and insightful for a lot of what I do! It's like unbirthing creativity in a more abstract sense that makes it applicable to any form of collaboration, editing, taking criticism, finding ideas, engaging with the real world, and not dropping the spaghetti. Also, your outwards allyship means a ton to me, and I'm sure many others who want to enjoy great videos from folks with principles. #TeamEvil4Ever

[@partysparkelz]

Ive been watching a few of your videos and its crazy how much of this writing advice translates to drawn art aswell.

[@therockmannorl]

Mad mad respect fellas. Good on you, great content and can't wait for more!

[@zacharychristy8928]

Im a huge physics nerd and the tip about taking a walk is super true when it comes up. James Clerk Maxwell and Einstein (founding figures in Electromagnetism and General Relativity) were both known to frequently take walks in their workdays, and credit them to new ideas. Another example is quaternion numbers were thought up while their inventor was on a walk. Don't know what it is, (Im not a neuroscience nerd) but something about using the nerves outside your skull shakes a lot of new ideas loose!

[@thomasffrench3639]

Exercise is just good for your brain. It’s great at regulating your neurons. As a person with ADD, it makes my brain just run better.

[@beththedarkmage3359]

It's a decrease in adrenaline and other stress hormones while an increase in dopamine, endorphins and using different parts of the brain that aren't as burnt out. Source is my child psychiatrist (I was 15 at the time) who was more than a little worried how I'd ever process my anxiety and depression without going outside, lol. She even said it's the creative ones that have the worst habits when it comes to this and that an overactive imagination can be a bad thing. Boy, was she right!

[@thomasffrench3639]

@@beththedarkmage3359 definitely. I did my best at school when I was playing football, with college decreasing my academic career. Although if I didn’t exercise and play sports as a kid, maybe I would’ve ended up as the creative type, who knows?

[@Minto8384]

Ahh, not saving, my oldest enemy. I recall one time, I had been busy at work all night, working on the reference sheet to a new character that I was absolutely brimming with ideas for. I went to bed and woke up in the morning to discover my computer had updated, and I had not saved. Hours of work went down the drain, and I was left with nothing but a rough sketch. I lost all motivation for working on this character, and sadly they remain unrealized to this day, save for a few doodles

[@BitBlush]

That first tip is kind of good with the right angle. Its about building the habit of sitting down and throwing out the first thing on your mind, regardless of relevance. Gets the juices flowing, kicks up the silt at the bottom of the pond so to speak.

[@MadameTamma]

28:30 I can't agree more with this statement. It's a huge pet peeve of mine. Personally, I really love it when a writer understands the pros and cons of being at a certain age and how that's worked into the character's development. Stephan King's 'It', Pixar's 'UP', etc. which is why it annoys me SO MUCH when a story makes the protagonist a teenager and there's NOTHING about the character that is like a teenager. From a maturity stand point they don't act like one. The story has to bend over backward trying to explain why they live like an adult. They're often not played by a teen (or in animation, designed to look like one). In so many ways it just holds the story and characters back.

[@RocketJo86]

In most cases this is done for audience purposes. You want to market your work towards 14-year-olds? Make your main character 16 on paper - they still can behave like adults, because that's what a 14-year-old feels 16-year-olds to be. Whenever you have a person younger than around 16/17, make the main older than your target audience, because that's what's most inetresting for them. Children like stories about how things will be when they grew older - at least that's what marketing tells us. To give the view of a child in media for adults follows a diffrent perspective and in those cases the children should behave "logically" like children would. They're views could be less nuanced, lass self-aware, less future focused. In those cases - and whenever there should be a sense of realism in the characters - I totally agree with you.

[@cybrigand3047]

The Third Story is the Expanse Series by James S.A. Corey The Second one sounds like The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher

[@Nagasakevideo]

It's okay to write something people might be turned on by? Oh boy, I can't wait to write a scene about a blonde woman buying bread at the store!

[@theunluckypotato1484]

59:04 Actually reminded me to save. I was drawing while watching the video - its a good thing too cuz my drawing programs been having a crashing problem lately

[@SnakeWasRight]

34:10 the ultimate cringe edgelord book I've EVER read is Shadow of the Conqueror by the KZbinr Shadiversity. I was largely a fan of most of his stuff, but I read this book and it's EXACTLY what you guys said at that timestamp. His main character is a deposed tyrant supposedly who's making amends, and rather than explore the darkness of his soul and how he got out, it jist focuses on him being a snarky edge lord who vigilante murders grapists and free grape victims the entire book. Literally, those are the only crimes he fights 99% of the time. Shad uses the pain of grape victims to justify ivwr the top violence and a ham fisted "redemption", and does not understand the trauma at all.

[@bnuuyliker]

Mad respect for keeping your channel a trans-friendly place :) now, time to feed the a l g o r i t h m

[@Really_Zahren]

Feed the a l g o r i t h m by having it unbirth your comments and likes

[@Vileplume87]

*y u m*

[@FerretTwister]

It is hungry. It needs to feed.

[@salmadys]

I love how some of the most nuanced writing advices was "go out and touch grass" also Not only SAVE ; you need to BACKUP I lost a 500 megabyte 200 layer illustration at the start of this month because photoshop decided to corrupt my file during a botched save! Lastly The one about humanity expanding to Mars and the belt, three faction risk surprise Wormholes is "The Expanse"!

[@LvOneRose]

My condolences for your lost time. Hope you managed to make something just as satisfying.

[@cranktherider4302]

Reposting the comment from the last version (and good looks for catching yourselves on your errors): thanks for pointing out the soil charts thing. Though I'm not going in *that* direction, I kinda got all up in some other aspects of this story that I realized wasn't the actual important/interesting thing I wanted to focus on. #JusticeForHenry #TeamEvil

[@changesaloneendure1453]

I dropped my spaghetti when my school account closed. I thought I saved my 40,000 word book, turns out I only saved the first chapter.

[@mangoalias608]

im only at the first piece of advice and I already have something to add. the macguffin or the dynamic character both fill the role of creating narrative tension. A gap between your protagonist and what they want. Anything can create this tension, as long as your protagonist makes a choice and their world reacts with hostility, forcing them to reaffirm their understanding of that world and make a different choice with the new information they have. Now you have tension

[@MysticMindAnalysis]

I got complacent with a big, 30K+ word fanfic. I had it finished in first draft, and then lost the pen drive with it. So now I have to re-write it from the backup save which was only half-way completed. While it could be worse, it was still a big blow because I didn't save it in 2 places.

[@floosh1730]

Bulgaria. Snow. LED-lights. Glow. Harrison Ford. Ipswich. Junkyard. Thought. Lime. Tree. That’s weirdly therapeutic

[@aquamarinerose5405]

I think the problem with Marvinator's advice is less of an actual issue with a writing and more contention with using the wrong wording. a McGuffin is often used as a stand-in for plot device or even just a "goal", even though what a McGuffin ACTUALLY is is a basically useless object that is a plot device because everybody wants it. Not all Plot Devices are McGuffins. A Nemesis is being used in place of Antagonist, when Nemesis is supposed to have a more specific meaning than that. Like... In Star Wars, you wouldn't really call Vader Luke's "nemesis" (heck, in New Hope he's more of a nemesis to Obi Wan than to Luke), and the Death Star Plans aren't a McGuffin because its purpose is shown to help them find the weak point on the Death Star.

[@rolandblanchette4599]

the second story described is called "the expanse"

[@henrygalley2831]

#TeamEvil4Ever

[@bepisthescienceman4202]

*twirls mustache*

[@XynthoanXV2]

17:42 Martian Succesor Nadesico It's a 90s mech anime where humans have colonized Mars and the belt but then engage in a sudden war with an "alien" faction that they lose the Mars colonies. And they don't outright say it (I suppose a show don't tell) that the third faction aside from Earth and the "aliens" are the main cast of characters and the rest of their crew. Rather good show I highly recommend.

[@QuinnBuckland]

I think it's supposed to be The Expanse

[@XynthoanXV2]

@@QuinnBuckland I wouldn't know but just as fair an accessment if the same criterias fit. Nadesico only has the symbolic third faction because at the end of the show the hero faction, inspite of being on the side of earth for the majority just up and leave on the last episode after foiling the one advantage the earth and alien faction were fighting over. And I havent seen the Expanse.

[@antonkraghpaaskesen5050]

Dresden Files and i am assuming The Expanse are the other ones referenced in Ruat caelums post

[@Rei-jx8kz]

I dropped the spaghetti. It made me want to unbirth. The balls on my head auditorium never recovered.

[@ijustworkhere1008]

I know a thing or 2 about dealing with reddit mods. A few months ago, I posted a picture of someone (a grown adult mind you) dressed as a ballsack to the postal subreddit with a joke about how it looked like the Krotchy mascot from postal 2. 4 months later, I get a 3 day ban because apparently this picture was sexualising minors, despite not featuring them anywhere in the photo #JusticeForHenry

[@angelicbeast7793]

I dropped my spaghetti and lost 6 hours of composing work, due to a bluescreen. It was a nightmare.

[@brendowego]

"Save the document" ... As different drafts. I once fucked up a finals project so bad that I was gonna reload. When I tried to close I got the save pop up, and clicked save... I had a bigger mess than if I had just dropped the spaghetti.

[@dawica]

Snorkeling. Carthage. Windex. Sleep paralysis. The War of 1812. Threesomes. Kangaroo leather. Germ theory. The Land Before Time III: The Time of the Great Giving. Unbirthing. Fettuccine. Amusement. The Boltzmann constant.

[@SirDanFilmsUnltd]

That is how you attract attention with verbal words?

[@arqueeevist]

Was drawing in my sketchbook and tried to save when yall screamed about it haha. This spaghetti aint getting dropped! Lovely video I love you guys' analysis ❤

[@pokegirl302]

So I'm currently writing a fantasy story and for the maps thing you will hear people suggest to start the physical worldbuilding with when the planet was formed from the molten rock of the universe and how the plate tectonics moved together and pulled apart. You don't need that mindset for your story. I don't need 11 billion years to explain that my sky islands exist because magic rocks and a wizard.

[@krasmazov1959]

Are they sure they want to read a story and not go to natural history museum?

[@Olivia-ot6up]

this is why i hate worldbuilding nerds tbh. i love worldbuilding but it is, at best, a hobby. i think that a good fantasy story doesn't need forty million years of backfill (and i think this quality of fantasy writing is the worst thing to ever come from the success of Lord of the Rings)

[@ringer1324]

Can’t believe the evil team took down the original video #JusticeForHenry

[@AndaraBledin]

@@acebee46 Pretty sure the OP knows that and is just playing along with the stuff from the end of the vid.

[@jackpassananti3300]

As one of those people who outline with pen and paper....you still have to worry about the paper getting wet, torn, etc. The reason we use 1 inch margins now is because of the need to protect writing from mice in the past

[@ijustworkhere1008]

I’m watching a video, a random video. Every day, random videos

[@marcelathacat2739]

lick bucket salmon night hunger takeover break i dropped my spaghetti #justiceforhenry #teamevil

[@Wince_Media]

I wanna do what mystery10 said and give my own advice and both writing and character design. To put things in perspective, I am an artist who is currently writing a fanfiction that will turn into a comic. Writing this has really helped me learn about writing as a whole, and it is NOT easy. This applies to stories with a lot of lore and worldbuilding. When you make the first episode/chapter/introduction, assume your reader knows ABSOLUTELY NOTHING about your work. If you need to scroll through wiki articles, social media posts, livestreams, side novels, etc. To fully understand key parts of the story, you are doing it wrong. (Stuff like that would be fine for trivial stuff and extra fun facts like favorite ice cream flavor or something, but they shouldn't be mandatory to understand the story. The story should stand on its own and the side stuff should be extra tidbits) This is for ensemble casts: if you ever need just ONE more character (or two or whatever) to fill out your ensemble cast for whatever reason, but you don't know what to make them, just look at your cast, and see what that cast lacks. (In terms of personality, roles, etc.) Then take those things your cast lacks and add them to your new character. I did this twice with 2 different ensemble casts, and those last characters turned out to be just as dynamic as the rest of the gang if not moreso. Likewise, for a main ensemble cast(Not side characters), make sure each of your cast members brings something to the table (such as do something in the story or have an emotional moment or even add a dynamic to the team). If one cast member seems to do nothing, either make them do something or omit them entirely. For character design, you should try to make it so that you can see their basic personality just by looking at them. There is an exception to the rule, abd that's if you want the design to be intentionally deceitful like with a twist villain or a humorous character so that your audiences first impressions of them will be hilariously wrong. But even then, character design does revolve around first impressions. If emotional moments in your story feel hollow and lifeless, it's probably because you haven't spent enough time on your characters. A lot of people when writing want to get to the exciting stuff, but it's important to add a little downtime here and there because it not only allows you to explore your characters and how they interact, but also makes those emotional scenes have infinitely more impact because the readers have a connection to your characters. In both design and writing, EVERYTHING is intentional and up to you. If you ever add something to your story of one of your characters' designs, just think "Why?" If you don't really have a good reason, try to fibd something else that has a better, even fantastic reason for being there. This applies more to character design for me, but thinking exactly why certain elements are there really improves on my character designs and really makes them dynamic. Designs should carry meaning. You shouldn't just add any IL shirt becuase its a shirt and people wear those. But think about what type of shirt it is, if they are wearing a jacket and if so, why and what type. Etc.etc. EDIT: I have more advice. It's perfectly fine to take a makena character based on a simple trait, trope, or stereotype(Not based on minority) like "Emo", "nerd", "mean girl," "tomboy," etc. As they make a really good base for you to build from. Just make sure to actually build from that trope/stereotype. To build on from this, giving your character premises a simple little elevator pitch, such as "this character is X trope BUT also Y. Didn't expect that from trope X huh?" Can make really fun characters as long as you flesh them out. For example, I have a famous actress character and she's kinda rude and mean when there aren't cameras in front of her. You think that it's because she's an entitled and spoiled person who revels in fame when in actuality she hates her fame and the dangers that come with it, and just wants to live a normal life. She actually treats her friend that isn't famous and doesn't see her as such with kindness and opens up to the protagonist when he admits to not knowing her and not caring.

[@sylvia5400]

THAT part when he said if you don't think the oversaturation of underage characters is a problem you probably don't think capitalism is a problem... omg the way I ugly laughed. Who told you you could be so correct? 🤔 Like that's it I'm subbing

[@blandface9957]

Obtuse, rubber goose, green moose, guava juice Giant snake, birthday cake, large fries, chocolate shake

[@emilystewart6175]

Glad I rewatched this video cos I'm currently working on a script at the moment and when it came to the bit about "Have a third character that enhances the dynamic of the first two" a switch flipped in my brain. The Third Character had a dynamic with one of the characters but not the other. After hearing that I paused the video and started thinking how I could rework her to enhance the existing dynamic and make it stronger. Thank you guys.

[@keytarnerd]

i was in fact drawing with your voices in the background. thanks for the save reminder lol

[@Ivyzord]

In my lil expirience and observation you can uncringe some stuff by 1: Not stating aloud every little thing a character feels, giving some space to be filled by a reader. Not abusing „they felt that..:” or „i feel as if…” 2: Being more honest and not making every character super self aware line clipping perfect hero that acts like someone is watching/reading about them all the time.

[@justanidiotmk2749]

Think about who you are, what you have done, what you will do, have an existential crisis. Then you might have a random idea, that is what you write about.

[@darrinroot6924]

Pickles, penguin,baseball, pipe, light bulb, skyrim, fire, frying pan,

[@TheDanishGuyReviews]

"Literature Devil, we're coming for you." When I searched that, "People also watched" popped up with The Quartering. Now I'm concerned about Lit Dev's opinions.

[@woodlandyeti]

Wizard with blue balls in Chicago honestly not a clue, maybe John Constantine is the Chicago-based who knows. Mars the Belts and Earth, free fiction risk, surprise wormhole. Yeah my boys that's definitely "The Expense". Which if you've not seen based on your action comment, it's worth watching just to see the development of the character Amos. A man who at the start we are lead to believe he's just a sociopathic brute who lacks moral compass. Who we slowly begin to find out is someone clearly damaged by something traumatic in his past. who emotionally shut down, to protect himself, from the trauma. And the journey of watching this man confront his emotions but clearly terrifying him, is some damn compelling television.

[@nerdandnerdier887]

I was thinking It was The Dresden Files but honestly that’s equally likely

[@AndaraBledin]

@@nerdandnerdier887 It's pretty definite that the Chicago Wizard is Harry Dresden. Especially in the early books, his lack of hookups is kind of an issue.

[@MoonatikYT]

I'll never forget this time I was drawing on stream for two hours straight, NEVER SAVED ONCE, and my computer bluescreened. Dropped ALL that spaghetti. Been a chronic saver since with autosave on everything.

[@shadow_shine3578]

Turned on is not always a sex thing. Thank you. I'm ace and struggle with sensory issues.

[@AzureGreatheart]

I took a while to get around to this one. I have to say that hearing the word “unbirth” while packing for a move is miserable. Edit: #JusticeForHenry #TeamEvil

[@TOH_Fan]

The "wizard with blue balls" one is the Dresden files.

[@greethree2819]

I'm listening to this while drawing and when you started talking about saving the document I frantically spammed Ctrl+S and my computer froze haha

[@seilaessecanalnvaitervideo6414]

i once lost half an hour of work on a draft because of onedrive shenanigans,i had to rewrite all of it

[@TheCalvdog]

I can't believe Diregentleman almost got terminated by KZbin over their handling of unbirth!

[@princeOpalite3650]

they exsplained in the community post that they accidentally missgender one of the redditors and took them out of context so it makes scense they would cut it out to prevent futher misgendering\missinfirmation

[@skellingtonMCR]

I played Animal Crossing Wild World as a child so all it took was getting yelled at by Resetti like twice and I have never dropped my spaghetti since lol

[@N23214dds]

Gus and lizard guy.. would u make a video about Story Genius (it's a book about writing that makes really BOLD claims)

[@N23214dds]

@@starlesscitiess that's what they want you to think

[@Iratepandabear]

4:52 I used to start every new chapter with a random sentence just to not stare at a blank page and it definitely helped

[@j8kethewizz]

I was drawing up a ref sheet for one of my characters and I DID save it. I stepped away from it for about a month and when I went to open the file, my program said it didn't exist. I looked in all of my folders but it was just gone. My spaghetti fuckin ran away dawg :'( If team evil has the resources to get it back, consider me a member #justiceforhenry

[@unclekarma1855]

Looks like the video got unbirthed and rebirthed anew

[@YourWaywardDestiny]

38:17 You know what works awesome for proof reading? Have an AI read it back to you. If you've goofed, it's going to-- without even the smallest hesitation-- make you HEAR the goof. We have all gone back to proof read something and inserted a misplaced word, glossed over a missing space, and rearranged letters to make it the word you actually wanted to use even after having a hard reset. That's just how the human mind works. Default TTSReader bot voice, though? He's not going to do any of that. He doesn't have a human mind, he has a program and he's sticking to it. The program doesn't know how to mind-auto-correct in the "and" you forgot to add, or assume you meant to put a space between two words, or have any problems pointing out you manage to put "gridded" instead of "grinded" into your work.

[@WestCero]

Related to the exercising and taking breaks for mental health, giving yourself comfort food or going and doing an activity that brings you joy (going to the arcade and having a gyro is a big one for me) also massively helps

[@avitalpseudonym5973]

27:50 ME I AM SOMEBODY WHO IS ALWAYS TURNED ON BY SOMETHING thank you for coming to my ted talk no unbirthing thx #justiceforhenry

[@nenemearts]

I dropped my spagetti thinking I was saving it. Rage quited for the day because it was the SKETCH

[@esobelisk3110]

it’s less that I dropped my spaghetti, and more that I stood there, staring at a giant pot of spaghetti that was about to fall over, and I did nothing. basically, I executive dysfunctioned my way out of making copies of all the documents I had saved on my school email, and lost most of what I’d written between the ages of 11 and 16 (along with a bunch of other school things). I then did the exact same thing a year later when I graduated boarding school. both times I was putting off doing it until the last minute, only to discover that I had less time than I thought I did. I’m gonna stop writing about this now, because it still makes me want to cry.

[@prototypetwo4042]

He's got bubbles in your brains. But the radio isn't thinging on the hand sanitizer anymore, so they executed France. Unbirth.

[@saudade7842]

I think the third rubber duck one is The Expanse but I'm not sure because I've never actually watched/read it.

[@bloodlily1203]

I once forgot to save a drawing file before I exported it, so when I needed to come back to make an edit I had to edit the exported image. Never again.

[@tulnekaya1054]

With the proofreading advice, I find its also helpful to look at it on a different screen. There's errors I notice when reading on my phone or tablet that I don't catch when at my desk. Probably a state-based psychology thing, or maybe its the screen size, but it definitely helps the "reset" process before revisiting.

[@helenn6551]

I would have loved reading that story. I regret that I won't be able to read it #justiceforhenry

[@ctf_2fort152]

Destination. Agreement. Trajectory. Agreement.

[@caatko1388]

1:06:53 currently drawing a map for my fantasy book because I'm losing track of where everything is... 👀