here is a super helpful website for this kinda thing!
the first result isn’t always the one you’re looking for but when you press enter it’ll give you a ton of words related to your query that’ll probably have what you’re wanting, or something better
me in planning stages of writing: this fucks. this is gonna be so fun.
me the minute i sit down to write: language is an unwieldy cudgel we use to beat the human experience to death in an attempt at ever communicating fully with another being. i wish intelligent life had never evolved. i want to go back to the cell stage like in spore
Little cheat sheet for how you’re supposed to refer to different ranks of royalty/nobility for fun given this season’s themes; granted the cast seem to just say whatever which is totally fine ajcndjdjf BUT if you were wondering:
Royalty
King/Queen: Referred to as “His/Her/Their Majesty” when spoken about, “Your Majesty” when spoken to. After being addressed directly as “Your Majesty,” can simply be referred to as “Sir/Ma’am” in the same conversation; this is a common theme. Always lead with the honorifics at the very least.
Prince/Princess: Referred to as “His/Her/Their Highness” when spoken about with others, and “Your Highness” when spoken to directly.
Nobility
Duke/Duchess: Referred to as “Your Grace” when spoken to, and as (informally) “Duke/Duchess (Family Name)” or (formally) “Duke/Duchess of (X Jurisdiction)” when spoken about. Also acceptable to call them “Duke/Duchess (Family Name)” to their face.
Marquess/Marchioness: Formally referred to as “The Most Honorable Marquess/Marchioness of (X Jurisdiction)” when spoken about. When spoken to directly, referred to as “My Lady/Lord” or “Your Ladyship/Lordship.”
Earl/Countess (an Earl is the same as a Count, the British just liked the term Earl better): Formally referred to as “The Right Honourable Earl/Countess of (X Jursidiction)” when spoken about. Informally, shortened to “Earl/Countess of (Jurisdiction)” or (less politely) “Earl/Countess (Family Name).” When spoken to directly, simply referred to as “My Lord/Lady” or “Your Ladyship/Lordship.”
Viscount/Viscountess, Baron/Baroness: Same as the Earl/Countess, just with the appropriate title. Barons/Baronesses are also the most likely to be referred to as “Lord/Lady (Family Name),” and are less often referred to with their official title.
Sub-Nobility
Baronets/Baronetesses, Knights: Referred to as “Sir/Dame (Given Name)” both when spoken to directly and when spoken about. A Baronet or Knight’s wife is referred to as “Lady (Family Name)” while a Baronet/ess’s or Knight/Dame’s husband is simply called “Mr. (Family Name).”
Military: Simply addressed as “(Rank) (Family Name)” eg. Captain Hob. Can also be addressed as Sir/Ma’am.
Obviously some adjustments may need to be made for gender neutral terms. (Also shoutout to Grabalba for consistently going after people who truly so vastly outrank her. Work bitch, do what you gotta do)
For Rue and Binx, while they don’t have comparable titles to British nobility, they do officially both have some sort of title. So I would assume both could be referred to as “the Honorable (Official Title)” with an option to add their name at the end. And when spoken to, could be addressed similarly to lower nobility. “My liege” is a gender neutral option for Rue when spoken to directly, while Binx could use either that or “My Lady.” Binx could also be referred to as “Lady Choppley” when spoken about with others. In lieu of lord/lady, Rue could be addressed as “Master/Mistrex De la Rue.”
(The gender neutral puzzling over Lord/Lady is… a long one. Interestingly both terms were technically gender neutral once! Hundreds of years ago, back when they were just about bread. Ah, those were the days).
i have just stumbled upon the most beautiful public document i have ever laid eyes on. this also goes for anyone whose pastimes include any sort of character creation. may i present, the HOLY GRAIL:
this wonderful 88-page piece has step by step breakdowns of how names work in different cultures! i needed to know how to name a Muslim character it has already helped me SO MUCH and i’ve known about it for all of 15 minutes!! i am thoroughly amazed and i just needed to share with you guys
Creative Prompts for Writing published a supporter-only post on Ko-fi.com
Hallo Lieblinge :)
Small project of mine: I'm rewriting and updating some of my writing posts to make them more comprehensible and to add some more information. The first one is up now on my Ko-fi page and it's available for everyone who has ever supported me on there, not just members. As will all the others I'm going to makeover. :)
Also, for members: the second writing challenge is up!
Oh my gosh. I just found this website that walks you though creating a believable society. It breaks each facet down into individual questions and makes it so simple! It seems really helpful for worldbuilding!
Heads up that this is a very extensive questionnaire and might be daunting to a lot of writers (myself included). That being said, it is also an amazing questionnaire and I will definitely be using it (or at the very least, some of it).
How to create a character for an online or tabletop RPG (also a good guide on creating characters in general)
Royalty/nobility TV Tropes page
Basic character profile
OC masterpost
Random character generators - (1), (2), (3), (4)
D&D Character Building Tool
Character Design Ideas:
How clothing affects a character’s personality
Character Design Inspiration blog
Concept art, fan art, cool art to be inspired by
Character design references and inspiration
Sources for POC character design ideas and models
Create your own character model using HeroForge
For horned characters
Body and hair types guide
Random outfit generator
Naming Help:
Amazing site with an endless amount of naming resources
General advice on avoiding naming appropriation
Hispanic Surnames
Gothic Victorian names
Huge master list for character things in general
Masterlist of names of all types - including but not limited to ancient/old world names, Celtic, African, Northern European, Southern and Central American Native names, Japanese, Chinese, Mongolian, Polynesian, and more
Another name masterlist
How to pick a character name guide
Yet another names masterlist
Creating Background/backstory:
Character Sheet/Development Sheet
Another character development list
In-depth character personality, motivations and traits sheet
320 talents and passions for characters
On writing likes and dislikes that aren’t frivolous
Why you should write non-human characters non-conforming to the gender binary
Stereotypes, tropes, and archetypes
Random backstory generator
Assassin and thief character tropes to avoid
Character Interactions and putting your character into your world/story:
Comparing character height/height references
Characters who are scientists and writing about them doing science
Describing what different voices sound like
Describing skin tones
Writing friendship interactions that are platonic
Why having one character knock their friend unconscious to prevent them from doing something is a bad idea
Advice on shipping OCs with canon characters and what to avoid doing
Sweet Polly Oliver and Sweet on Polly Oliver situations (think of Disney’s Mulan for an example)
How to write multiple viewpoints/juggling a main cast of more than 4 to 6 characters
How to make readers care about your morally gray hero/anti-hero
On platonic OC and canon character relationships
How to avoid Godmodding in RPs
When it’s cheap to kill off a character
Writing dialogue
Things you shouldn’t do to canon characters
Avoiding purple prose in writing and RPs
Slang resources
Dialogue tips
Websites to chart your story/plot/character relationships
In light of the recent font discourse, based on real answers from real people, I have made this non-exhaustive alignment chart of fonts to write in. I will not be taking criticism, because I am right.
For years i had my wip either andalus or times depending on pov in 10pt font. Then i learned on here that you write better if you can actually, like, see the font. Entire wip now a version of arial in 12pt and I’m much happier.
I based this off of a prompt I found on here but I lost it. here it is:
Melody brushed her hair behind her ear. Why was everybody still going on about this war? It had been over for somewhere around twenty-two years.
Melody sat by the lake and sighed.
“What’s up little songbird?” Chuck, her older brother figure asked her.
“It’s frustrating that I have to suffer from a war that ended four years before I was born.” She let her feet trail in the water. “It’s gone and over”
“Not for the people that lived through it”
“I’ve had a lot of stuff happen to me in my life, but I’ve gotten over it. It’s their turn now.”
Chuck wiped a tear from Melody’s face. “Oh little one. If only it could be as easy as that. Now, wipe your tears and lets go target shooting.”
“I’m not crying.” She choked out and buried her face in Chuck’s chest.
Chuck was silent as he rubbed her back and let her get all her tears out.
“I love you Melody”
“No you don’t”
He rolled his eyes.
