Pspspss For @pecanplease Based On This Post

pspspss for @pecanplease based on this post

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Larissa Lardo still isn’t sure about the whole “hockey manager” thing. It’s decent money, and the guys are nice enough, but they’re an art student for fuck’s sake. (They’re keeping the name whatever happens, its cool as shit, and fits way better than they’re given name). What are they even doing here, hanging out at the Haus when there’s not even a kegster happening. It’s 3pm on a Sunday in November and they’re standing on the porch, still debating whether or not this is a good idea.

Fuck it whatever they think, and push open the door, braced for the inevitable wave of sound that normally occurs.

Nothing. There’s no one in the living room, no sound from the tv, no blender being subjected to Jack’s protein shakes. Where is everyone?

Shitty told them to come hang, and there’s no way that he would have been deliberately cruel. He’s here, even if the rest of the haus-dwellers are out. As they move up the stairs, it’s still freakishly quiet until they get to Shitty’s door, and Lardo can finally hear talking. They knock and after Shitty yells, “Lards get your ass in here!” Lardo pushes the door open. They take one look around, curious, and -

That’s their art on the wall. The pieces Lardo threw in the dumpster two weeks ago, angry at the world and coming off a horrible critique from her professor. The small triptych of ducklings. The abstract inspired by Lake Quad. The small portrait of their neighbor back home. The still life of a pong table they painted after the first kegster of the year.

The white noise in Lardo’s ears clears long enough for them to hear, “ - just left in the dumpster by Faber can you believe it? Who would want to throw this stuff away, it’s fuckin’ sick! I made Jack help me carry it back here there was no way I was going to risk someone else taking it or the trash guys coming before I could get back for a second trip, ya know?”

He put their art on his wall. He put their art on his wall. He went out of his way and made his best friend help gather their art and put it. On. His. Wall.

“…Paging Dr. Lardo. What’s up with you Lards? You look like someone hit you over the head.”

“That’s my stuff up there,” they breathe, not able to catch their breath properly yet from the sudden desire to cry.

“What?”

Lardo clears their throat, do not cry do not cry do Not Fucking Cry -

“That’s my art on your wall. I tossed it two weeks ago right before practice.”

“HOLY SHIT BRAH! Lards, that’s s’awesome! You have to sign it for me, all of it, right now - where’s my sharpie?” He’s rummaging in his desk, still chattering excitedly, when he straightens up suddenly and spins around, eyes narrowed. “Wait. I found it in the dumpster. You threw it out. Why would you throw this stuff out? It’s seriously so good Lardo.”

“Just a bad day I guess,” they say, trying not to make it a huge deal. Lardo doesn’t want to poke that raw place inside themselves just yet. Not even in front of Shitty.

Shitty just looks at them for a second, considering. For a second, Lardo thinks he’s going to pry and that is not going to go well. At all. Then his face clears back to it’s normal amusement. “Well, I’m even more vindicated in forcing Jack to help me. And you’re still signing this stuff. Get over here.”

Lardo goes, and can feel the corner of their mouth quirking upward, almost against their will.

Cool, so we’re doing this. Managing the hockey team.

Misleading your readers through unreliable sources

Misleading your readers can be super important in writing! Especially if you want a plot twist that works, sometimes foreshadowing can get a bit obvious but throw in some red hearings and you’re back on track.

When it comes to unreliable sources, there are a ton, but it is preferable to choose one that your readers will believe. For this I mostly use characters, see, most readers will believe the protagonist or important side characters when they say something. They won’t even question it. But there’s a lot of reasons your main character may not be telling the truth.

They might be retelling an explanation they made up in their head a long time ago and can’t even remember was made up.

They might have been lied to.

They might of misunderstood something they were told.

They might be talking to a child and simplifying or lying for their protection.

And if you don’t say anything, people will assume whatever they say is true. But characters are allowed to make mistakes.

Remember, if you have an all knowing neutral narrator, they can’t straight up lie. But character’s aren’t all knowing and often think they are.

Another form of unreliable information can be extracts from books, or essays. Books are full of misinformation! Either because of politics, interests or simply new evidence coming around. How many things were supposed to be true until proven otherwise? And students can be terrible! The amount of lies I’ve told in my essays purely from misinterpretation is terrifying.

For both of these you have to be careful. If every time you pull out a book it’s all lies, well, readers aren’t dumb, they’ll pick it up quite quickly. If it is mostly true, with a couple of lies spread in between the pages, now we’re talking.

You can also combine the two. A characters reads something in a book, tells others, they believe it and go with is as though true. Nobody ever corrects the misinformation. The reader certainly won’t be suspecting anything at that point.

Anyway, I hope this was useful.

As usual, check out my book, stories I’ve written plus other social medias: here.

How have you tricked your readers?

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kettlemebroke

4 years ago

hey do you have a tumblr

no sorry

281K notes View Post

kettlemebroke

2 years ago

Anxiety creates false urgency.

You don’t have to figure out and solve everything right now.

You can’t.

Life is too complex.

Pick one thing. Maybe the most challenging thing and pick away at one part of it. Maybe the least challenging thing to get something out of the way. Maybe no things at all, just make a note on your phone or stick a post-it somewhere to remind you of things another time.

You got this.

833 notes View Post

kettlemebroke

8 months ago

How to maximize each day

I divide my day into active, essential, and discretionary time

Active: This time is spent on obligatory tasks with due dates/deadlines. You will spend most of hours in the day doing these tasks (Things you must do).

Work related tasks

Assignments

Study

Job applications

Interviews

Essential: This time will be spent doing things to stay healthy & grounded. Always prioritize making time for the essentials of life because only you can remind yourself of it. (Things you have to do)

Sleep

Nap

Exercise

Self care/skin care routine

Meditation

Meal prep

Reading

Journaling

Planning

Discretionary: You will spend the least time doing things within this category. (Things you want to do)

Out with friends

Watching a TV show