Sometimes I hate the fact that I love fanfictions cause why can authors just delete their works out of nowhere and suddenly I never get to read their works again 😭
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@alman-ac-key
Sometimes I hate the fact that I love fanfictions cause why can authors just delete their works out of nowhere and suddenly I never get to read their works again 😭
Imagine a modern Greek mythology au where the gods work and live among humans
Zeus is a lawyer, settling disputes between mortals
Hera is a L&D nurse, holding the hands of new mothers who have no one by their side
Poseidon runs a company in marine life conservation, saving endangered species and educating the public on the importance of the sea
Demeter owns a large percentage of farmland and donates large quantities of food to homeless/runaway shelters
Aphrodite runs a boxing gym and works closely with women's shelters, teaching them to stand up for themselves and to get away from abuse
Athena is a college professor, teaching the histories and mistakes of the past in the hopes that their mistakes won't be repeated
Artemis runs a LGBTQ center in a large city with her twin brother, taking in young kids and teaching them to protect themselves
Apollo provides medical care and music/art therapy for anyone who is interested
Ares is a social worker, helping people with anger management and overcoming trauma
Hephaestus as a physical therapist, teaching people to make and repair things to help with fine motor skills. He also builds prosthetics
Hermes is an Olympic track runner, donating to charities dedicated to helping people relocate to safer places
Hestia works at homeless shelters and soup kitchens, making sure no one is ever turned away and has a safe place to sleep and has enough food
Dionysus works as an addiction councilor, never giving up on anyone. No matter how much of a lost cause they or anyone thinks they are
The Ultimate Dark Academia Book Recommendation Guide Ever
The title of this post is clickbait. I, unfortunately, have not read every book ever. Not all of these books are particularly “dark” either. However, these are my recommendations for your dark academia fix. The quality of each of these books varies. I have limited this list to books that are directly linked to the world of academia and/or which have a vaguely academic setting.
Dark Academia staples:
The Secret History by Donna Tartt
If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio
Dead Poets Society by Nancy H. Kleinbaum
Vita Nostra by Maryna Dyachenko
Dark academia litfic or contemporary:
Bunny by Mona Awad
The Idiot by Elif Batuman
These Violent Delights by Micah Nemerever
White Ivy by Susie Yang
The Cloisters by Katy Hays
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
The Lake of Dead Languages by Carol Goodman
A Separate Peace by John Knowles
Black Chalk by Christopher J. Yates
Attribution by Linda Moore
Dark academia thrillers or horror:
In My Dreams I Hold a Knife by Ashley Winstead
The Maidens by Alex Michaelides
Ghosts of Harvard by Francesca Serritella
Catherine House by Elisabeth Thomas
Plain Bad Heroines by Emily M. Danforth
They Never Learn by Layne Fargo
The It Girl by Ruth Ware
Never Saw Me Coming by Vera Kurian
Dark academia fantasy/sci-fi:
Babel: An Arcane History by R.F. Kuang
The Atlas Six by Olivie Blake
Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo
A Lesson in Vengeance by Victoria Lee
The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern
Vicious by V.E. Schwab
A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness
The Betrayals by Bridget Collins
Dark academia romance:
Gothikana by RuNyx
Alone With You in the Ether by Olivie Blake
Dark academia YA or MG:
Truly Devious by Maureen Johnson
A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik
Ace of Spades by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé
The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater
Legendborn by Tracy Deonn
Crave by Tracy Wolff
Wilder Girls by Rory Power
The Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling
Dark academia miscellaneous:
My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell
Disorientation by Elaine Hsieh Chou
Alphabet of Thorn by Patricia A. McKillip
Master List of Soulmate AUs
Edit: Updated 25/October/2019
[ALL THE LINKS HERE] <- Easier reblogging
[Part 1] [Part 2] [Part 3] [Part 4] [Part 5] [Part 6] [Part 7] [Part 8] [Part 9] [Part 10] [More TBA] (Full list below, these are just the posts the lists are from)
Gosh I hope there’s no repeats… Let me know if there are, I’ll edit it. Some of these AUs are probably in an improper category, sorry.
—–START OF LIST—–
–Something Written/Drawn–
-Each others’ names on their wrist/palm/etc
-Names on both wrist, one soulmate other enemy, can’t tell which one is which
-Each other’s initials on their wrist/palm/etc
-Each others’ first words to one another
-Each others’ last words (to one another)
-Same marking on each other’s skin
- Each soulmate has one half of a quote that is important to their relationship.
-A timer for when they shall first meet
-A timer for when the other dies
-Timer counting up and stops when you’ll meet your soulmate
-Timer starts counting the moment you meet your soulmate
-Writing that says how old your soulmate will be when you meet
- Everyone is born with a unique number only they and their soulmates have.
-Writing that says what your soulmate is most passionate about
-Your soulmate’s feelings about you is written on your body
-Your soulmates first impression/thoughts about you is written on your body
-Written on your palm is what your soulmate is thinking
- Each year imprinted on your arm, whispered in a dream, sent in a mail or whatever, is a hint to who/where is your soulmate.
- Each day on your arm is a particular event your soulmate will face today. (Examples: Promotion, family death, new pet, meeting soulmate…)
-Every night you receive a message about a random sentence your soulmate has said that day.
-You have a watch that says the timezone your soulmate is in
-The first drawing you see from your soulmate is tattoo-ed on your skin
-Meter of how dangerous your soulmate is
-Meter of how in danger your soulmate is
- A touch from your soulmate will leave an imprint there (like a different coloured area on your skin, or a symbol, or name)
- Ink marks (similar to tattoos) are on your body. When your soulmate is in the vicinity, it’ll slowly move, as if reaching out. When you two touch, the tattoos will connect with each other.
-Counter (maybe on your palm) that depicts how many times you pass your soulmate
-Timer of how much time you spent with your soulmate
-Timer of how much time you don’t spend with your soulmate (maybe only in effect after you meet them)
-You only get the first letter of your soulmate’s name
- The first (or last) words your soulmate speaks every day is written on your arm.
- The first sentence you say to your soulmate is written on yourself (after you say it, maybe).
- The most important thing your soulmate says to you is written on you.
- The most important thing your soulmate says (to you?) that day will be written on you.
- The most frequent thing your soulmate says to you is written on you.
- There’s a symbol (or written words) of what weather your soulmate is experiencing right now (or going to experience later in the day).
- Your soulmate’s birthday is written on your arm.
- The last thing you were thinking about before meeting your soulmate is written on them.
- Your thoughts about your soulmate or having a soulmate is written on their body. Over time the words accumulate, some growing smaller or fading, but never disappear.
- Amount of time you’re with your soulmate written on you. Could be a permanent number or a number that accumulates over time.
- Written on you is a badly worded description of how you’ll meet your soulmate (Ex. Reality: Meet in coffee shop spill drink- - > Description: “You’ll meet in a place of high energy and it’ll be hot”)
- Soulmate marks are only visible after meeting and/or touching.
- Every time your soulmate lies, their words are written on you.
- All the nicknames your soulmate is called by is written on you.
- Whenever someone describes your soulmate, those words appear in a special journal.
–Changed Vision–
-See colour for the first time when you meet, fades away when they die
-Will only see shades of your soulmate’s eye colour until you meet
-Can only see colour to places your soulmate’s been/touched
- Human beings themselves and everything they touch is monochrome, until they meet their soulmate. Then everything they touch is in colour (except for human beings who aren’t your soulmate).
-Everyone is technically “blind”. You can only see what your soulmate sees (until you meet them maybe)
- Each genuine emotion your soulmate expresses to you adds colour to your world (Ex: yellow for happiness, blue for sorrow, red for passion, etc).
–Different Abilities–
-See/hear/speak/etc for the first time when you meet
-Being next to soulmate heals injuries
- You stop aging at a certain age, until you meet your soulmate and grow old together.
- Everyone has super powers, but when soulmates are together their powers are nullified by each other.
- Everyone has weak powers, but when soulmates are together their powers are amplified
-Have the same super power
-Soulmates have opposite powers from each other (fire and water, invisibility and high noticeability, etc)
- Teleport to each others side
- Everyone has the ability to manipulate the force of wind to an extent. The wind blows in the direction of where their soulmate is. (Maybe the wind is stronger depending on your bond)
- Everyone has powers, and when you meet your soul mate you swap powers. (Probably have to hang out with them to get pointers on your new powers)
- You can cast one portal anywhere and so does your soulmate. Your portal leads to your soulmate’s portal and vice versa.
–Sharing–
-Get the same emotions as your soulmate does (They’re sad, you’re suddenly sad)
- Get the same injuries as your soulmate does
-When you get sick, so does your soulmate
-Soulmates share the same handwriting
-Soulmates share the same fingerprints
-You share your knowledge with your soulmate
-You share your temperature with your soulmate
- Songs sung by your soulmate is stuck in your head.
- Whatever music that is stuck in your soulmate’s head is stuck in yours too.
-There’s a radio in everyone’s heads that they share with their soulmates, the two(?) of you can change the tunes
-Unique song imprinted in your mind that only you and your soulmate knows
-Have the same tics at the same time (verbal tics, drumming fingers, humming, etc)
-Cellphones between soulmates are in the same condition (cracked screens are in the same places)
-If you’re having a good/bad day, your soulmate will have the same amount of good/bad day. (Or alternatively, the opposite)
- There’s a small screen only visible to you that allows you to see what your soulmate is seeing (think kind of like those video games with splits screens)
- Soulmates share the same afterlife
-Have the same heart beat
-Heartbeat morse code for soulmates name
-Soulmate’s heart beat on your wrist
-Everyone has life points/years left in their life, and people can give their soulmates their own life points/years if they’re lacking
-Whenever you lose an item (like a sock), it ends up in your soulmates’ possession somehow
-Everyone has a different sky that is shared with their soulmate (except clouds/sun/moon stay in the same position for everybody, so weather is not affected). Everyone has the ability to draw on the sky, making splash of colours or little notes for only them and their soulmate to see.
- Everyone receives a special accessory (hat, watch, necklace, bracelet, etc) that is exactly alike with their soulmate. Many people, when they meet their soulmate, like to swap theirs with the other.
- Taste the things your soulmate is eating/drinking.
- You share talents with your soulmate.
- Everything you record is sent to your soulmate.
- Everybody has some type of tablet thing that’s a shared space you and your soulmate can draw on.
- Wake up and sleep at the same time.
- Special pens where if both soulmates are holding their special pen, they can both write/draw the same thing. (Like sharing one pen in different locations.)
- People have a tendency to experience whatever emotions their soulmate have pent up inside them.
- Once you hit a certain age, or once a year, you swap bodies with your soulmate.
- Same as above, except with your soulmate’s closest friend/enemy.
- Soulmates can swap bodies with each other any time.
- When someone touches your soulmate, you can feel it mirrored on your skin.
- Whatever your soulmate eats, you get a craving for it.
- You’re forced to sing whatever song your soulmate is singing, or get into a perfect duet.
–Communication–
- Telepathic link with your soulmate.
-Write something on your own skin, appears on the other’s skin as well
-Meet soulmate in dreams every night (with the ability to interact)
-Can meet soulmate any time in a shared mind space
-Before you die, you get to send one last message to your soulmate
-You can send one item to your soulmate every year (or whenever)
-You have this limited stack of sticky notes. Write whatever you want on it, and that note would magically appear somewhere in your soulmate’s line of sight during that day.
- Soulmates can communicate with each other in a language only they understand.
- When concentrating, you can write out your soulmate’s thoughts.
–Changed Physical Features–
-Your eyes are your soulmate’s hair colour, changes when they dye it
-Everyone has heterochromia, one eye is your natural colour the other is your soulmate’s natural colour. Once you meet all eyes return to natural colour.
-Your hair colour is your soulmate’s sexuality flag (remember that there can be platonic soulmates, and that sometimes you can be soulmates with someone but they’re not soulmates with you)
- Once you meet your soulmate, you grow wings like an angel. You gain one new feather each time something special happens between you two. When your soulmate dies, you lose all your feathers and can no longer fly.
–Restrictions–
- It is impossible to lie to your destined soulmate.
- Under a curse until you meet your soulmate
- They have to say each other’s name to figure out they’re soulmates.
- Only your soulmate can kill you.
-The only voice in the world you can/can’t hear is your soulmate’s
-If you don’t find your soulmate by your #th birthday, you die
-Everyone wears a mask. You get to finally take it off when you meet the one with your identical mask, your soulmate.
-You’re stuck in a room filled with clones (with maybe slight differences) of your soulmate. You need to kill all except your soulmate or else you won’t get out/be together.
- On top of everybody’s head is the name of their soulmate. You can’t see your own. If you tell somebody their soulmate’s name, something unfortunate/death will happen to them/yourself/a soulmate.
-Your soulmate is invisible to you until you figure out a certain trigger.
- If anyone except for your soulmate says your name, you die
- Opposite of the above, if your soulmate says your name you die
-The only words you can say is your soulmates name until you meet them.
-You can’t harm your soulmate
-You can only harm your soulmate
-You have a limited number of words, and you can only recharge when you’re with your soulmate (when you use up your word count, you die)
- Everyone has a special pen that can only have the writing erased by their soulmate.
- Every human has a limited number of words they can say before turning mute, but to their soulmate that limit is gone and they can speak endlessly to them.
- Opposite of above, you have a limited number of words you can say to your soulmate before turning mute (only to them?)
–Experiences/Actions–
- When you meet your soulmate, time stops for a month for everyone besides you two.
-For a month, you and your soulmates have to go through different soulmate AUs each day (ooh you can use my lists for ideas *cough cough*)
-Each year at a certain age, soulmates are paired together into some sort of battle royal thing, best OTP wins
-At the corner of your eye, you can see a blurry vision of whatever your soulmate is doing (like sitting down drinking coffee in your living room, even though they’re doing this in another area)
-Soulmates can switch lives whenever they feel like it
-When you meet your soulmate for the first time, you get a flashback/relive their entire lives
-Similar to above, except you get glimpses of their future
-Before you die, you flash through your soulmate’s entire life (what they were doing before they met you, if they’ve ever lied to you, etc
-Hidden in dreams, but never interacting, is your soulmate
-A certain time frame began to loop, and the only way for it to stop is to find your soulmate
- You will keep looping your life until you meet your soulmate.
- Legend says that if you fold 1000 paper (Cranes? Planes? Rabbits? Anything really) You can meet your soulmate.
- Everyday, you have the chance to spin a wheel that will determine an event your soul mate will face. (Some people may avoid it for bad luck, others may spin it for the slim chance of your soulmate getting a cure for their illness or something)
-There’s this special video game where your partner is your soulmate. You only get to meet if the two of you finish the game.
-At the age of sixteen, everyone goes into another world for two years, hanging out with their soulmate. Time is warped to make sure the two of you are sixteen in this world. When the two years are up, you’re sent back into the real world, with fractured memories of what happened. These foggy memories make it hard to find them again. (Numbers can be changed.)
- The first time you touch your soulmate, you’re forced to relive their best day and/or worst day of their lives (past or future).
- Human beings die on their 25th birthday (or any number). To prevent this, they have to meet their soulmate. But only one of them can survive.
- If you haven’t met your soulmate but have been in the same vicinity of each other (like passing each other on a street or in the same building), that day will keep repeating until you find each other.
- Once you meet your soulmate you’re literally stuck to each other for the rest of the day.
- After death, you become your soulmate’s guardian angel (may require going back in time, or not).
- Every night, dream about what your soulmate is going to experience the next day.
- Something fills up before meeting your soulmate, like a heart ink tattoo getting coloured in or a bottle filling up with liquid/sand/origami stars/etc. The moment it is full is the moment you meet your soulmate.
–Compasses–
- A red string tied around your pinky is connected to your soulmate’s pinky (when the two of you are in a certain distance)
- You can only see the string of fate when you close your eyes.
-Temperature gets hotter the nearer they are, colder when they are further away
-Each person has a spirit animal that can lead you to your soulmate
-If you send off a paper airplane, it shall reach (or move in the direction of) your soulmate.
- Counter of how many footsteps away you are from your soulmate
- Your soulmate leaves coloured footprints only visible to you
- Throwing something you love on the full moon will land on your soul mate
-You can feel a tug from wherever your soulmate is. These may either be automatic, or have stronger tugs whenever your soulmate is in distress.
- Each soulmate pair has a constellation, and the constellation that you perceive to be the brightest is pointing towards where your soulmate is.
- Progress bar of how close you are to your soulmate.
- Herding goose that herds people to their soulmates. (No I did not make that one up and it has been written more than once apparently, even before the Untitled Goose Game.)
–Hints–
-You get a photograph of your soulmate and vice versa, somehow (Could be yearly, could be at a certain age, could be a photo of when you first met, etc)
-The voice in your head (example: your conscious) is your soulmate’s voice (by that I meant that they have the same voice, not that’s it’s your soulmate’s personality in your head– y’know, take it as you will)
- Every year, you receive a puzzle piece. The whole picture is your soulmate’s name/appearance/location/etc.
-Mysterious letter detailing to one person when they’ll meet, and another letter detailing where they’ll meet to their soulmate, but not both (Person A gets when they’ll meet, Person B gets where they’ll meet)
-Letter about details of how the meeting between soulmates go (example: “you get pushed into a lake by a guy in a duck suit and your soulmate helps you”, etc)
-Bubbles gives you a blurry glimpse into your soulmate’s world (visions of possessions, friends, family, laughter, crying, etc)
- Everyone holds a locket with their soulmate’s picture, but it can only open when certain conditions are met
- Instead of removing flower petals for “loves me, loves me not” the flower petals dictate whether you’ll meet in this lifetime (“meet me, meet me not”) and it’s forever accurate.
- Everyone has memories of their soulmate in their past life.
- Everyone receives a picture of their soulmate (at a certain age) taken the year they met.
- There’s a point system in life. You can purchase clues as to who your soulmate is for 50 (or any number) points.
- You get to meet the parents of your children’s soulmates.
- You dream of the place of where you’ll meet your soulmate.
- The first picture you and your soulmate are in will be sent to you on a birthday (which can be tricky if it was, for example, a class photo. Or a newspaper picture of a crowd).
- Counter of how many times you’ve passed by or seen your soulmate.
- One soulmate owns a lock and the other owns the key to that lock.
–Your Soulmate–
-If you and your soulmate possess the same item, it’ll glow
-Everyone has a special pen/marker/drawing utensil. Using it, the lines are thicker when their soulmates feel strong emotions, thinner when they’re feeling weak, run out of ink when they die, etc.
-There’s this special block of clay that represents your soulmate. It has a special colour and changes forms depending on how your soulmate is feeling.
- There’s an object that changes colour depending on what mood your soulmate is in
-Reflecting in the mirrors is the appearance of your soulmate
-Plant that represents the soulmate
-Receive piece of cloth with soulmate’s scent
-You get a notification whenever your soulmate is asleep or awake (like a real life friends list)
-Everyone gets a list of their soulmate’ worst qualities
-Everyone is born knowing their soulmate’s (future) biggest secret
-List detailing the differences between you and your soulmate
- You can sense when your soulmate is in distress
-Whenever you have a question, your soul mate has the answer.
-Once you’re an adult, you get kicked out of the house until you find your soulmate.
-Everyone gets little books of what people think about their soulmate (but never said out loud)
- Everyone has a device to check if the other person is their soulmate (like a light that’s red when it’s not and green when it is). It gets brighter when they’re full of life, dimmer when they get sick, and out of batteries when they’re dead.
- Literal sparks fly when you’re near your soulmate, soothing for the two of you but static shock for others.
- Your level of talent at a hobby is determined by how close you are with your soulmate.
- The outline of your shadow is your soulmate.
- You meet your soulmate the day after the worst event of your life.
- Everyone somehow owns a creature who possesses the same (general) personality as your soulmate.
- You know every number about your soulmate (Phone number, number of times they said hello, social insurance number, number of days left, etc…)
—–END OF LIST—–
Enjoy! You can use any of these without permission (but if you do tell me you’ll use one I’ll be giddy that you read this and it’ll make my day, I swear). Happy writing! :D
BELLE
Cried so much watching this movie
All I'm saying is, if a fic refers to characters by their physical attributes instead of their names or pronouns ("he smiled at the older" "the blonde laughed") when we know who the character is, and ESPECIALLY if the descriptions include "ravenette" or "cyanette" or other ridiculous words--
I'm clicking out of that fic so fast my AO3 history won't even register I've been there.
I am glad you asked. :D
First, if a writer is using the characters' names every sentence -- they're already off to a bad start. Not every sentence needs to clarify which character it applies to, unless you're writing a "See Jane Run" book, lol.
Overall a good rule of thumb is a) don't repeat unnecessary information, and b) only write things that carry the scene.
So for starters, your readers should know who's in the scene, and you can trust them to have at least a little bit of intuition: not every bit of dialog needs to have a tag ("he said/she whispered" etc.) Now, that established: you do use names when doing otherwise would leave it unclear who's doing or saying things. Example:
George grabbed the lid off the pot. "Dang, that's hot!"
Laughing, Sean passed him a bowl. "Just pour the soup, moron."
"You're a moron."
"Says the guy who just grabbed the lid off a boiling pot."
Sticking his tongue out, George filled the first bowl.
It's clear who says what, and if we had just used "he" it wouldn't have been, but we also didn't have to dialog-tag every line. (ALSO. "Said" is not a bad word. Ignore all advice that tells you never to use "said." "Said" is an invisible word and unless you're putting a dialog tag on every line [which you Do Not Need To Do] people won't even notice it. Unlike "shrieked," "whispered," "hissed," "ranted," "whined," etc. Use those words when they'll have punch and impact. Not every dang line.)
But this isn't always how it needs to go.
For example. Let's say I'm writing about a strawberry-blonde elf named Diana and a human bard with black hair named Jerome. I could say:
Diana leaped to her feet, looking excitedly at the ravenette. "Jerome!" Diane said. "This is our chance!"
Jerome smiled at the strawberry-blonde. "Indeed," he replied.
Okay there are.... several issues here. First off, we don't need to clarify that Diana said the thing after we had her doing an action. Trust your readers! They'll know that a "she" here logically refers to Diane, as they know that "he replied" refers to Jerome.
Next, please strike "referring to characters by eye or hair color" from any lists. This is not good. It's not relevant 99% of the time (we'll get to exceptions in a moment) and also, pet peeve: "ravenette" does not mean black-haired. If you've gotta say it, just say black-haired. Ravenette means "a raven, diminuative" or maaaaaaybe "like a raven." Unless you're imitating an 1800s gothic poet, don't do this.
Physical descriptions used as character indicators/pseudo pronouns are clunky and take up space without telling us anything new. They distance the reader from the character by taking us out of the story and back into exposition land, and they generally repeat information we already know. We can tell our readers in chapter one that Diana has strawberry-blonde hair, and then we don't need to refer to her as "the strawberry-blonde" a hundred more times because our readers already know this. Just call her Diana. Or "she." (Unless it's relevant to the moment -- if she's not our POV character and we need to contrast her to, say, a black-haired beauty at the ball through someone else's eyes, that's one thing. But still, don't continually refer to her by something as shallow as her hair color.)
Exception: visual descriptions are valid to use as character-indicators when we or the characters do not know who that person is. For example, if Diana had been kidnapped by bandits.
She glared at the taller of the two men, who appeared to be some kind of leader. "What do you want?" she spat.
He leered at her, and nudged the filthy blond man at his side. "Ain't she cute," he said. "I like elves. All feisty, they are."
The blond looked uncomfortable. "Whatever you say, Gorm."
Ooooh look! Now we know the boss-man's name. From here on out, we probably should refer to him as either "Gorm" or "the bandit leader" -- not "the tall man" (and never just "the taller." Or "the older," "the younger," etc. That's a side note, but a lot of fics do that too. If you're going to use a comparative adjective, you at least still have to tell us what noun it refers to.)
Also -- did you notice how we never said Diana's name there either? She's the viewpoint character, so unless another person comes along that we need to clarify with, we can usually get away with just saying "she." The reader knows who they're reading about.
When you DO have two or more characters with the same pronouns in a scene, you gotta get creative. Again, readers are intuitive -- they can follow pretty well who's doing what as long as you make it clear. Generally speaking, if you establish which character is doing the thing, you can then use just the pronoun until you switch to a new character. For example:
Diana took the proffered knife. "Thanks," she said. "I was starting to get tired of the stink."
The mysterious rescuer smiled. "No problem," she said. "I'm Peony, by the way." She offered Diana her hand. "Let's grab some horses before the bandits wake up, and we'll get back to Jerome before morning."
"Jerome sent you?" Diana stood, dusting herself off. She wrinkled her nose at the mud stains on her pants, and resolved to buy new ones next time they found a decent tailor.
"Oh, Jerome and I go way back." Peony winked. Sweeping her hair out of her eyes, she motioned toward the horses. "After you."
There's never a confusion that Peony offers Diana her own hand -- not somehow Diana's hand. We don't question that Diana is the one wrinkling her nose, or that they're her pants and not Peony's. Or that Peony sweeps her own hair out of her own eyes. Sometimes you'll have lines where it's a little more confusing, but if it feels awkward in the sentence, always consider if you can re-structure it another way. Like,
Diana kicked her horse into a gallop, heart beating in her chest. "Hold on!" she shouted. Peony cast her a panicked glance, tightening her hold on the rampaging oliphant's saddle. Diana reached for her, grabbing the back of her tunic and yanking her down onto her horse.
Okay, that last line there? That one gets confusing, with all those "her"s. We COULD change it to "Diana reached for her, grabbing the back of Peony's tunic and yanking her down onto the horse." That takes care of a lot of them. Or, we could improve things even further by breaking apart the action, elaborating on things, and just generally stretching out the words so that it's clearer which "she/her" is being referenced at any given time. It's your story! Take advantage of all the room you've got -- there will never be a time when you simply cannot rearrange things to make it clearer for your readers.
It does takes effort. And sometimes a bit of verbal slight of hand. You may have to restructure sentences to avoid repetitive phrases and give yourself a good pace. (That's a large part of rewriting and editing.)
However, like the word "said," pronouns are invisible words. Names are not -- they jump out and say HI THIS IS ME. Use them sparingly -- they have power.
One final exception! Fantasy race and job titles. Again, you don't do this with your POV characters unless you're trying to remind the readers of something, but it IS acceptable to sometimes refer to, say, "the elf," or "the detective," or "the werewolf," or "the duke." Use them sparingly, but this is one exception -- mainly because it tells/reminds us of an important fact about the character. (You might also use, say, "her older sister," or "his father," etc, because that also communicates information about the characters and who they are to each other. But. Again. Use sparingly.)
...okay, I've rambled enough, but hopefully this is somewhat useful/helpful to someone out there.
Again! Read good books! Watch how professional writers do it! Imitate, imitate, imitate! The best writing teachers in the world are good writers.
Happy writing!
wait okay no hold up this says it so much faster and clearer than any of my rambling above: identifying characters by their visual attributes tells us WHAT they are, but not WHO they are.
There. Boom. Short answer. Much clearer, much better. Thank you, tumblr user djtangerine.
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: that hotline is forvo.com. It’s a pronunciation dictionary that allows you type in a word and see how it’s pronounced. They have multiple languages as well. Don’t see a word on there that you know how to pronounce? You can totally add it. Visit forvo. Help yourself.
that is much better than a hotline because you don’t have to actually talk to someone
What to do if you suddenly find yourself homeless
FOOD
Find your nearest food bank or mission, for food
grocery stores with free samples, bakeries + stores with day-old bread
different fast food outlets have cheaper food and will generally let you hang out for a while.
some dollar stores carry food like cans of beans or fruit
SHELTER
Sleeping at beaches during the day is a good way to avoid suspicion and harassment
sleep with your bag strapped to you, so someone can’t steal it
Some churches offer short term residence
Find your nearest homeless shelter
Look for places that are open to the public
A large dumpster near a wall can often be moved so that flipping up the lids creates an angled shelter to stay dry
HYGIENE
A membership to the YMCA is usually only 10$, which has a shower, and sometimes laundry machines and lockers.
Public libraries have bathrooms you can use
Dollar stores carry low-end soaps and deodorant etc.
Wet wipes are all purpose and a life saver
Local beaches, go for a quick swim
Some truck stops have showers you can pay for
Staying clean is the best way to prevent disease, and potentially get a job to get back on your feet
Pack 7 pairs of socks/undies, 2 outfits, and one hooded rain jacket
OTHER
first aid kit
sunscreen
a travel alarm clock or watch
mylar emergency blanket
a backpack is a must
downgrade your cellphone to a pay as you go with top-up cards
sleeping bag
travel kit of toothbrush, hair brush/comb, mirror
swiss army knife
can opener
Reblog to literally save a life
if there is a Dollar Tree near you, they have entire food aisles
Planet Fitness also has $10 memberships. you can shower and they have free food days! pizza night 1st monday every month, bagel tuesday the 2nd tuesday every month.
Save a life reblog
i am so glad that i renblogged this however so long ago. i saw this post and shared it with others in mind, but now i am the one who really needs this. id like to think of this as good karma i guess
also a good list if anyone ever needs to run away from home for whatever reason.
Flight
Apollo, Forgive me not for my transgressions, For I dared to do what others won't, As Poseidon's waves claim possession, I will sing the lone lark's song.
Father, Forgive me not for my foolish deeds, As my body is claimed by sea, Wax wings melt and hearts do break, But prison walls do not a home make.
Icarus, Would you do it all again knowing what you know now? Would you break their hearts again for a chance to touch the clouds? Whipping wind and wax-soaked sky, Icarus—you can't not fly.
-anonymous
story outlining methods, pt. 1:
take off your pants!! (“take off your pants!: outline your books for faster, better writing” by libbie hawker)
this outline starts with a character — specifically their biggest flaw — and leads to five points that will make up the core of your story. it’s best for plots and subplots that focus on overcoming the flaw!
this outline doesn’t just have to be used for coming of age novels. it is just as important in your dystopian, fantasy, or thriller novels that the main character learns something or has changed by the end.
STEP ONE: think about your character
your main character — what is their name, and what are their important features?
what are your character’s flaws? what about their FATAL flaw? ex: hubris, overconfidence, stubbornness, etc.
STEP TWO: think about the end of the story
the story (whether the main plot, a subplot, or a facet of the main plot) is the journey lead to overcome the flaw. now that you know the character’s flaw, you know what lesson they need to learn.
the end of the story = the flaw mastered, the lesson learned.
STEP THREE: think about the external goal
the external goal is the plot, the outer motivation to push the character to the end of the story where the goal is mastered. if you remember my post on quests, you know that a quest has two reasons to be there: the external factor (shrek saving fiona for his swamp), and the real reason (the lesson learned)
the external goal should provide a chance for the character to recognize their flaw and begin to change. how does your plot tie into their character development?
STEP FOUR: think about the antagonist
thinking about the external goal should reveal who the antagonist is. the antagonist should want to achieve the same goal or a goal that impedes with the protagonist’s goal. the antagonist should be the biggest obstacle to the character.
STEP FIVE: think about the ally/allies
the character(s) that is capable of forcing the protagonist down the correct path. where your protagonist most likely will resist changing and confronting their flaw, the ally will help force them to do so anyway.
STEP SIX: think about the theme
so what’s the point of your book? if you are struggling to boil it down to one sentence, you might want to think about it a little longer. this is what keeps the story feeling coherent. what are you trying to tell us?
STEP SEVEN: think about the plot
each main plot element should somehow relate to the core of the book, aka the character’s development in overcoming their flaw
OPENING SCENE - set the stage. address the flaw or the theme
INCITING EVENT - what forces the character out of their everyday life and into the story?
REALIZING EXTERNAL GOAL - what makes the character begin seeking their goal?
DISPLAY OF FLAW - if the character’s flaw hasn’t been made blatantly clear, now is the time. make it known to the reader.
DRIVE FOR GOAL - what is your character’s first attempt to reach their goal?
ANTAGONIST REVEAL - how do you first show your antagonist’s opposition to your character?
FIRST THWART - what happens to your character that keeps them from reaching their goal?
REVISIT FLAW - show the character’s flaw again, even if they themselves aren’t aware of it yet.
ANTAGONIST ATTACKS - what does the antagonist do that makes things worse?
SECOND THWART - where your character fails most likely due to the attack
CHANGED GOAL - the character finds a new goal or focuses on the external goal in a different way
ALLY ATTACKS - what does the ally do to force the character to see the flaw?
AWAKENING - the character knows what they must do to reach the external goal. how will you show that the character has also awakened to their flaw? how will you show them changing?
BATTLE - the final showdown with the antagonist!
DEATH - the character’s flaw dies here. how will you show that the character truly is different now?
OUTCOME - show whether the character won or lost the external goal, reveal the theme of the story.
naturally, you don’t have to follow that outline exactly, but it can be a good place to start ;)
Yes I re-read my own fics because I wrote them for ME
fanfic speedrun: write the scene you want to write and skip the rest of the fic
(same goes on the reader side of things)
I'm seeing people on this post who think that what I'm saying is, "Write out of order, starting with the things you enjoy most." And while that's fine advice, it's not actually what I said.
What I said was, "Only write the thing that's fun, and don't write the rest."
Write one shots. Write drabbles. Write ficlets. If you have 5 interesting scenes but you can't figure out how to tie them together into a fic, then write 5 separate ficlets, post them in a series, and when you get another idea for that series just plop it right in there and rearrange the works into the right order.
You don't have to write longfic to write fanfic.
My approach but then it ends up becoming TWENTYK WORDS LONG HELP
so it's 20 words 🤷♀️ if that's all you need then that's all you need.
Someone said to me, “I’m going grocery shopping. Do you want anything?” To which I answered, “Hans Zimmer apples, please,” and they brought me some (they looked like Granny Smith apples but I didn’t get to taste them).
I can’t believe I accepted that Hans Zimmer apples were a real thing without questioning it and just assumed they were named after the composer, in his honor, like that horse fly species which was named after Beyoncé.
The horse fly what
The horse fly which was named after Beyoncé!
damn, Bryan looked at a fly and he thought “mmm. bootylicious.”
The virgin Edward Cullen: calling a snail effervescent
The Chad Bryan Lessard: calling a fly bootylicious
i hate horse flys with a PASION they hurt a lot
Not my guy Bryan, he thinks they’re bootylicious
The flies were WHAT
Bootylicious did you not read the post
I don’t think he’s ready for that jelly
Well, that’s enough internet for me today.
this post teleported me back to 2011
times were simpler and red comic sans abundant
world heritage post
my legacy lives on
Haters be like
“It’s totally possible to make a path that goes through every door exactly once”
Idk if I did it right
sorry!
it’s true you can’t draw one continuous line that would do the trick. but if the kitty and bunny set out by going through the doors they’re marked beside and each walked the certain way their colored arrows show at the same time their “collective path” as a team would go through each door only once. The moral of the story is actually about friendship , and cooperation, because in this world there are tasks you can’t do on your own.
im just fucking with you i’m pretty sure this has no right answer
i concocted a solution with a 100% mortality rate
Stop being so incredibly funny on my impossible puzzle post
You can switch the tracks so the trolley will kill one person, or you can allow it to attempt the fruitless crusade of running over each person in the maze only once.
all in a days work! *passes out*
My indecisive butt, walking in and being faced with having to make a decision, immediately leaving
oOoOoooo I’m a ghost!
Fire
dude my house
pan people are good and I like them. if ur pan I’m mentally shaking ur hand and “nice.”
bi/pan solidarity is really good and easy actually. I walk up to my pan friend and ask “hey why do you id as pan?” and they say “because I feel it matches my internal perception of my orietation. why do you id as bi?” and I say “because I feel it matches my internal perception of my orietation. yknow, our lived experience of being attracted to multiple genders is almost identical, it would be really stupid if I were to treat you badly and spend large amounts of my time insulting you because of some weird idea that your identity means you inherently think you’re better than me and wish I’d stop existing, right? that would be fucked up and mind numbingly pointless, right?” and they say “yeah man, it would be” and then we make a cake :)
Me, a bisexual: