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PaperclipPerfector  3d ago (text post)   1846 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for April 24, 2026

Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

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Those of you who dabble in writing fiction, how do you keep your characters from derailing your plot? Or is just the sign that the original plot sucked?

I've given up on planning my stories beyond the starting circumstances. My best ideas come to me while I'm in the midst of writing. Potentialities that I can spot, take notes on, sometimes even act on before they flutter away from my brain each night while I sleep. The key is to just dedicate unbroken blocks of time, I've found, and to think about projects frequently. As far as hardcoded outlines go, those have never worked for me. My mind goes blank when I try to enact them.

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A motte is a stone keep on a raised earthwork common in early medieval fortifications. More pertinently, it's an element in a rhetorical move called a "Motte-and-Bailey", originally identified by philosopher Nicholas Shackel. It describes the tendency in discourse for people to move from a controversial but high value claim to a defensible but less exciting one upon any resistance to the former. He likens this to the medieval fortification, where a desirable land (the bailey) is abandoned when in danger for the more easily defended motte. In Shackel's words, "The Motte represents the defensible but undesired propositions to which one retreats when hard pressed."

On The Motte, always attempt to remain inside your defensible territory, even if you are not being pressed.


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