Whosum has a Question about Rosencrantz and Guildenstern

A Question about Rosencrantz and Guildenstern

"Are Rosencrantz and Guildenstern dead?"

"Well, that's decided."

Rainbow Pancake Fish and White Roads of Death

Rainbow Pancake Fish and White Roads of Death

It's snowing massively and I have no ability to move outside of home. I do have a bung-a-pang pan. 

Note to Pancake Makers: the rainbow sprinkles are required and the best pancakes are the darkest. If they're not done on the inside, throw them in a pan and fry them a bit longer. They'll wind up looking like actual fried fish but what's wrong with that? They taste like awesome pancakes.

Gluten Free Pancakes Recipe

1 cup gluten free flour mix

1/3 cup coconut flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons sugar

2 eggs

2 tablespoons olive oil (I used real olive oil. Not fakey olive oil.)

Between 1/2 cup and 1 cup milk

Rainbow Sprinkles (This is not optional. The sprinkles will say if they are gluten free on the package)

Stir it up. Add more milk if necessary. Start with less milk and add more.

After three sets of fish, I got bored and just started making regular pancakes. I made the pancakes and didn't set myself aflame in the process, a massive success.

#AmCrafter: Plastic Snake Bracelet

I had a vision and it involved plastic snakes. I have weird visions sometimes. I went to the toy store and bought a bag of plastic snakes. This is how the vision's worked out.

How to Make a Snake Bracelet

Supplies:

hard plastic toy snakes
very small eye screws
pliers
cutting board
whatever tools are laying around the house (if it works, I'll use it)
paper clip
candle and matches
necklace hook

Idk what this is for.

1. Cut the snake into 2 parts at one of the bends. 

I used a random tool I had on hand. I don't actually know what it's used for. The key is to find something strong, sharp and that you won't cut yourself with (at least for me). Use your cutting board and hard downward pressure.

2. Use a heated paperclip to make a guide hole.

Bend the paperclip to extend a piece. Heat it up with the candle. Insert it in the snake. This will give you a guide hole for the eye screw and save you untold time trying to start a hole in the plastic. I figured this out after the fifth eye screw. The methods I used before that are not worth noting because they were very bad.

3. Twist in the eye screw.

4. Connect the second eye screw to the first eye screw.

Bend the eye screw to open it and connect it to a second eye screw and close it. Then insert the second eye screw into the other section of snake.

5. Repeat step 1.

Go one cut at a time.

There was luck and guessing involved with this for me. But to get the wrist length for the bracelet, you could measure your wrist and measure the length of the snake with the hook. It's better to have it a little loose than a little tight. The hook gets hooked into the eye screw.

6. Add the necklace hook.

Use the paperclip to create a guide hole in the snake's mouth. Insert the eye screw. Add the necklace hook.

15 Ways to Weekend - Level Up Your Free Days

Fifteen Ways to Weekend

Be more weird

1. Do the Robot
2. Plant a garden in papercups on your windowsill
3. Read Dr. Seuss
4. Wear a sheriff star
5. Rock a cape
6. Actually make one of those pin worthy recipes
7. Make a puppet. Socks work.
8. Memorize "Who's on first" so you are prepared that beautiful day that you can work it into a conversation.
9. Learn the names of local trees and birds so you can impress the heck out of people with your knowledge
10. Play with chalk
11. Get a jar of gold luster dust and make gold scrambled eggs
12. Make a pirate map to lead people to the bathroom in your house. Keep copies to hand out.
13. Learn to make balloon dogs. Get a bag of balloons and carry them around. They are the perfect ice breaker.
14. Play with your toys.
15. Don't have toys? Go buy some toys. Really, they sell them everywhere.

I, Writer: Those Other People in the Story

I, Writer: A Person Hit My Car

I woke on Saturday to learn someone hit my car in my driveway in the night. Thank you whoever you are for pulling into my driveway and trashing my taillight.

That bit of reality is the point of this post. Life is messy and nonsensical. Anything can happen. Mundane little aggravating things can happen and interrupt life. People can hit your car and drive away while you sleep then carry on with their lives. You have to pick up the plastic and go buy a replacement.

Every character lives in a world where other people have motivations. Your protagonist is the hero of their story but so is every other person. Intersecting characters can be one scene wonders, the personification of a joke, just a prop to fill space or they can be useful and justify their own existence by changing the course of the narrative.

People do things for reasons. A person is desperate to get home because they has to take care of a sick dog and they leave before your protagonist can arrive at their office. A person is running down the street to reach an appointment and doesn't pay attention to where they're going and they run into an open manhole so the street is shut down while EMTs work. The stories of the other characters can crossover and make your character's life harder or easier.

Their actions tell us who they are. The nice part of my brain is saying that maybe the driver didn't realize my innocent car had been hit. The normal part of my brain is angry at the situation. The mean part of my brain isn't allowed an opinion because that part just wants to be angry and curse a lot. This person has changed my story. It's a subtle shift in the narrative but it's a real one. It's a minor plot line in my life that will be resolved (I hope quickly). In the elevated drama of a novel's world, this would tail light be an obstacle for me to overcome and the effects would ripple out.

Your character isn't like the driver in car commercials with perfectly empty roads. Your character is living in a world with traffic and hits and runs.

Work carefully and thoughtfully.

Postscript

I am mad at the person that hit my car and made me deal with this. I'm consciously not using gendered pronouns because while writing this I kept saying "He hit my car" but I don't know that. It could have been a woman.

I, Writer: Playing Dice with a Fictional Universe

A Dice Game To Play With Your Plot

Simple Rules

Get some dice and throw them to decide what happens next. It's a simple way to lock in a choice and move on to the next part of the story.

You don't even need physical dice. There are websites that simulate dice like Roll Dice Online. Though physical dice are so easy to find and so much more fun because they're real.

For a binary choice. 1-3, go left and 4-6, go right.

Or create a set of a choices.

Complicate Your Character's Life

Your character has a very good simple plan to break into a building. How does it turn out?

1 = Everything goes perfect (Go figure)
2 = A good guy betrays your hero
3 = A bad guy helps your hero
4 = A stampede!!!!
5 = Caught by the police
6 = Building catches on fire

Include options that are not the outcome you prefer. You still have to write the story but once the dice are thrown, the choice is locked.

Story Cubes

The dice feature images on each side and they're a fun little game. I bought a set of story cubes with the Batman theme. Half because I wanted the story cubes but also because Batman. I also got a set of three crime cubes because my preferred plots possess prolific criminality.

Now, back to my novel. My hero just broke the law.