[sunnydwrites]

Writing Tips Masterlist

Last updated May 28, 2021.

World-Building

4 Tips for Writing Magic

Creating a Culture

Totalitarian Governments

Creating a Distinct World

Creating (Fictional) Medicine

Describing New Settings

Writing a War

Writing a War with Superheroes / Magic / Fantasy

70 Questions for World-Building

Creating Superstitions

49 Questions for Creating a Religion

The Tie Between Characters and World-Building

34 Questions for Creating a Government

36 Questions for Music in World-Building

Creating a New Species

42 Questions for Creating an Education System

An Introduction to Creating Fantasy Races

Characters

Developing Character Appearance

Developing Character Personality

Multilingual Characters

Creating a Wardrobe

How to Name Your Characters

Your Characters vs. Already-Established Characters

Effective Point-of-View Character

Writing an Impactful Death

Writing with Archetypes

Designing Your Characters

Mute Characters

Thinning Your Cast

Not Enough Characters?

84 Questions for Developing Plot and Character Roles

Sexuality without a Relationship

Consistent Personalities

Skills and Knowledge

Creating Conflict

Character Arcs

Sympathetic Characters

Name vs. Pronouns and When to Use Them

Creating Character Voice

Characters Who Are Learning Another Language

Character Fears

Finding Motivations

Creating Character Flaws

Emotionless Characters

Introducing Your Characters

List of Character Aesthetics

Relationships

Dynamic Relationships

Sibling Relationships

Believable Romance

Characters Who Don’t Know How to Relationship

Complementary Character Traits

Writing a Slow-Burn Romance

Characters Who Fall Out of Love

Groups of Characters

Making Compatible Characters

Emotions

Frustration

Grief

Fear

Planning & Plotting

Planning a Series

Writing an Outline

Tips for Writing Subplots

Non-Point-of-View Romantic Subplots

Avoiding Generic Plots

Planning and Pace

Plotting vs. Pantsing

The “Downer” Chapter

Changing Your Story’s Length

How to Start Your Story

Editing & Prose

Writing with Emotion

Controlling Pace with Detail

Steps of the Editing Phase

Descriptions in Context

Imagery

Dialogue

Showing vs. Telling

What is passive voice?

Reworking Moments of Exposition

Adverbs

When to Cut Your Content

Avoiding Cliches in Your Story

The Importance of Vocabulary

Writing Beginning Paragraphs

How to Establish Tone

Making Exposition Natural

Motivation

How to Balance Multiple Projects

How to Fall Back in Love with Your Story

Writing Every Day?

Sticking with Your Story

Getting (Back) Into the Writing Habit

Setting Realistic Goals

Shiny New Idea Syndrome

Positive Writing Mindset

Staying Motivated on Your Projects

Getting in “The Zone”

Keeping Writing Logs

Avoiding Burnout

Breaking Out of Writer’s Block

How to Deal with Not Achieving Your Goals

Scenes

Quick Decisions

Travel Scenes

Breakdown in the Shower

General Writing & Miscellaneous

The Joys of the First Draft

Injuries

Creating Suspense

Writing Poison

Prophecies

A Word to Young Writers

Making a Moodboard

Consuming with the Producer Mindset

For First-Time Writers

Building Your Writing Skill

Advice for Student Writers

How to Do Research

How to Maximize Your Writing Time

How to Make Your Book Look Like a Book

On Experimenting in Writing

When to Use Multiple Points of View

Building Theme

Becoming a Beta Reader

Background Music While Writing

Why Committing to a Project Can Be Stressful

Warm-Ups for Writers

Determining Your Story’s Genre

Why do we get stressed when we don’t write?

Writing Short Stories

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[sailor-moon-rei]

by jiji_zizidolce

art republished with artist’s permission

[whumpndump]

Whumper getting a pet Whumpee with full intentions to be cruel and brutal to them, but they very quickly grow fond and protective of them, like you would a normal pet. Whumpee, who was expecting to be tortured within an inch of their life, is now spending their days constantly being pampered and cooed over, Whumper even has an instagram page for "cute pics" of them. Whumpee wonders if this is better or worse than the torture.

[script-a-world]

Names (MasterPost)

Brainstormed: Names are perhaps the central post of worldbuilding. Great thing is, they’re just a part of language, and language is just a bunch of made up sounds and squiggles that only have what meaning we ascribe to them! That means you can break it down in several ways depending on what you want to convey.

Want total control over every single aspect ever? Go full Tolkien and make your own language(s)! Vulgarlang is a language generator and The Language Construction Kit is a comprehensive step by step guide. Of course, this option is huge and not for everybody.

Want aesthetic accuracy and consistency? Create a simple naming language! Mewo2: Naming Language and  Mythcreants: How to Create a Simple Language are good guides.

Want to copy the vibe of a country, time period, or medium? Get a great naming generator like Fantasy Name Generators which honestly is the most extensive one I’ve ever seen, so I’d just stick with that. This is what the vast majority of fantasy worlds seem to do, lifting names straight from some faux-European aesthetic. For a greater degree of individuality, I suggest grabbing good names and then warping them a little, as if pronunciation has changed over the centuries. You might try stuffing your mouth with an oreo then seeing how different the names sound then.

Want your names to mean something? Well, there’s a few ways to do that:

Figure out the culture your world/people/thing is most similar to, then pilfer names from the relevant language. Don’t be disrespectful to your source material, especially if it’s a closed culture or completely irrelevant to your world! Seriously, be careful with this one.

Harness the psychology of sound. For example, sibilant sounds like s, z, or th are sneakier, eviler, and skinnier than the harsher, blunt hard stops like d, t, k, and g. Sci-fi seems pretty good at this, so be on the lookout for examples and you’ll start seeing them everywhere. That natural instinct is discussed here: Wikipedia: Sound Symbolism and a more specific version of it shown here: Wikipedia: Kiki Effect

Just straight up use uncommon words. The Sith lords from Star Wars are a prime example: Darth Maul, as maul means to violently injure. Darth Sidious, from the word insidious, sneaky and harmful. Darth Tyrannus, a warped form of tyranny or a poor imitation of Tyrannosaurus. Darth Vader, from the Dutch word for father. Another good example is the Divergent trilogy, with faction names that literally embody the faction values.

Pull a Tolkien and translate names to “English” versions of whatever they would mean. Did you know most of the names in Middle-earth aren’t actually what we know them as? Nope! They are the closest in aesthetic for an English speaker to what they were for the speakers of his fictional languages. For instance, the word “Hobbit” was actually “kuduk”! Here’s a wiki link to help explain: Tolkien Gateway This might be a bit difficult to accomplish without pretending you’re simply translating a work to English, like Tolkien did, instead of straight out authoring it. But it is a good concept to think about.

Similar to the warping I mentioned above, you’ve got this process here: Gallusrostromegalus Tumblr where you take some words or a sentence describing a place or thing, then pare them down into manageable letters to make a name!

Do the Sahara Desert thing, in which “sahara” just means desert. Or do other sorts of literal names, like the Rocky Mountains, Pennsylvania which means Penn’s woods, or any place named after some ruler or another.

Some things to remember:

Punctuation is important. If you want to use apostrophes, dashes, or anything else, keep in mind what those are used for in real life. Same goes for nonstandard symbols as found in the IPA, diacritic marks, and writing systems for other languages. Here is the IPA Chart, here is a website called Omniglot which is a website with most languages including fictional ones, and here is Wikipedia's explanation of diacritics.

The easier it is to pronounce, the easier it will be remembered. As an English speaker, the only Russian names I know off the top of my head are Putin and Tchaikovsky, and I didn’t know how to spell the second one. Present me with a list of more complicated ones with a greater variance from typical English phonotactics and I guarantee I won’t be able to pronounce them. It’d be worse if you asked me to pronounce a Polish name like Wawrzyniec! If you want a naming aesthetic that your audience will find difficult to pronounce, they may not remember it well. Not to say you shouldn’t do that, but just be aware of it.

Resources:

World Building- Creating Place Names Realistically and Artistically (YouTube)

Writer SOS - Naming is Hard

Name Resources (Penbrydd Tumblr)

Magic Baby Names

Constablewrites: Names tell you what a society values. You can have first names that highlight birth order (Primus, Secundus), names that evoke virtues (Patience, Hope), names drawn from the natural world (Rose, River), names that honor religious figures (Muhammed, David), and so on. Likewise, surnames give a hint to how the society is organized. Patronymics (Johnson, Thorsdottir) highlight family ties; descriptive surnames tell you they just needed to figure out a way to tell the six Johns apart and imply a small community of origin (Green, Longfellow); surnames derived from careers imply a larger population, because you have specialized labor and the ability for people to set themselves apart by profession rather than circumstance of birth (Brewster, Cooper). Whether individuals keep family names or can attain their own surname is a further indication of social structure and values.

Names of people who are associated should sound like they go together! Keeping it in the same language family can help ensure that they read as a family, as can including some shared unifying element. For example, the Fire Lords in Avatar: The Last Airbender all have a Z in their names, with the notable exception of Iroh. Additionally, the other letters in Zuko's name are shared with the name of another character who becomes very important to his story arc--his divided heritage is shown right there in his name.

Movie credits are fantastic sources of interesting names. Same with cemeteries. Just try not to lift full names--take a first name from one of those sources and pair it with a last name from somewhere else. It's just safer that way. Along the same lines, Google the names of your major characters to make sure there are no existing associations you'd rather avoid.

It's perfectly fine for minor characters not to have names, especially if they're only in one or two scenes. A proper name signals that this is someone important, and your readers only have room to remember so many important people. You don't want to waste that space giving a full name and backstory to the barista who's there for half a scene. "The barista" will do just fine.

Try to vary your names, especially for major characters. Names that look visually similar (Jimmy, Harry, Lenny), that sound similar (Brittany, Whitney), or that start with the same letter (Jim, John, Joe) are going to be hard to keep straight. One trick I use is to write out the alphabet and cross off letters as I come up with character names. Once a starting letter is taken, it's taken, and no other major character can start with the same letter. This is not a hard and fast rule, but as with anything that impacts clarity and comprehension, you want to be very certain that what you gain by breaking it is worth the risk.

Behind the Name is my very favorite naming site. You can narrow by starting letter, by culture/language of origin, by gender, or you can search by meaning. I especially love the randomizer, which lets you narrow certain parameters and then gives you a new random name every time you refresh. Great for when you need a name on the fly.

I was gonna try to explain phonotactics, the rules that make words look and sound like they belong to a certain language, but then David J Peterson, aka probably the biggest name in SFF linguistics right now, went and wrote a whole article on the topic. Not only that, but he also digs into the cultural value we give to certain sounds. Go read and be ensmartened: UnboundWorlds: David J Peterson On Creating a Fantasy Language

Popular Baby Names (SSA dot Gov) lets you see which names were popular in the US in a given year, or lets you track the popularity of a given name. Great for historical fiction! (There's a similar, but less interactive, dataset here for the UK: Live Births (Office for Statistics UK). For other countries, try searching "most popular names in [COUNTRY]" and look for the official government source first.)

And because there's always a trope, here's the TV Tropes index page for naming conventions (Naming Conventions (TV Tropes)). It gives a brief summary of each page in the list, then the links so you can see the full discussion of relevant tropes. Good way to keep yourself aware of the implications associated with various types of names.

Synth: One of my personal favourite ways of coming up with names is the ol' "Scrabble tiles in a bag" method. Pull out a handful of tiles and arrange them into something that looks good. Upside to this method is you can limit which letters you're using to get a mix of words that sound like they came from different languages, if you have a multi-country/planet/species setting. Might have to mix together several sets of tiles to get enough of certain letters, or make your own "tiles" out of paper or cardboard.

Ebonwing: Another way of coming up with names is to take a regular word and start changing letters. If you start with “regular”, you might swap letters (relugar, legurar, raluger), take them out (regla, reguar, eular) or add them (dregular, rengular, regultar). For best results, combine several of these so it doesn’t sound as similar to the source word. 

Wootzel: Just popping in here at the end to suggest one more resource! My favorite name generator is by Rinkworks! Rinkworks Fantasy Name Generator They have some presets, but my favorite thing is to mess around with the option where you can input your own parameters and generate names of whatever sort you like. It takes a little getting used to, but I love the results because they tend to be rather different than what I’ve found from any other generator. 

Utuabzu: Everybody else has covered this pretty well, so I'll just add this one little piece of advice. Do a quick search on the name of any major character or place you come up with to make sure you haven't accidentally named them a slur or the same as an infamous historical figure (or revered historical figure) or even just a weird word in another language that contextually seems kind of unfortunate. The last thing you want is to accidentally name the protagonist of your African-inspired fantasy story 'butthole' in kiSwahili or something.

[lyralit]

for your prompt request (don’t feel like you have to do these this is just to help inspire you!)

candlelight | reflection | shivering | camping | detective | bandages | elevator | melted ice cream | library

modern fantasy prompts (here's what I came up with)

a tiny apartment with perfectly fine wiring but lit with candles -- from the street, the windows glow pink

an elf detective who chases down human violators with his talking star sidekick

a magick-run hospital in the heart of the city

faerie children dragging their feet through snow, frozen ice-cream cones in their hands, wings trailing behind them

a hotel run by a family of dwarves; the rooms are always well-tended, a library that seems to run on forever, with mossy carpets and winking faerie lights, breakfast stews and buttery ales

an orphanage for abandoned halflings

a school filled with giants taking up four or five seats in the classroom, a troll basketball team, elven professors with exasperated frowns, and tiny human children who take everything in with wide eyes

watching a fantastical creature heal themself -- the bandages keep peeling off, and Vaseline seems to sink into their skin, but the deep wound is barely a scratch hours later

a talking bear who runs the local wishing well

a grim kitsune detective and their bubbly child who runs their family sweet shoppe

dragon-heated public swimming pools

when the faeries miss the winter, they'll sprinkle faerie dust over the city in the middle of the summertime: tourists often wonder why the streets are so glittery and why flakes fall from the sky when it's so hot

your professor looks barely older than thirty, and yet he's been teaching for decades; and you're certain you've seen his pen write by itself before

[novelbear]

words and actions that affectionately scream ”you’re mine”

prompt list by @novelbear

"you're my everything."

suddenly pulling them toward you to wrap them in a hug

^ or to plant a firm kiss on their forehead, lips, or cheek

"i love the idea of growing old with you."

defending them from getting teased because "you're the only one allowed to laugh at them"

"who needs friends? i have you."

making a little scrapbook of every treasured memory together and giving it to them

getting them cute matching jewelry, clothes, etc.

"i'll choose you always. no matter what."

putting the word "my" in front of their name when calling for them

"you're all i ever needed."

firmly holding their hand in public

bragging about them to others whenever they make an achievment

^ "that's my [name]! that's my partner! i'm dating them!"

(jokingly) sulking and moping when someone else gets the slightest bit of attention

holding them in your lap (even if there's plenty of space/seats)

"you know you're stuck with me, right?" "thank god i am..."

back and forth talking all night about the future

"you're all mine, you got that? i'm not sharing."

[jaded-stag]

You know you truly love a character when you can’t stop traumatizing them and putting them through horrific circumstances

[marnie-mixs-meteors]

Emoji Themed OC Interview Questions - Masterlist

🍼 [BABY BOTTLE] What's your OC's first memory?

🥛 [MILK] What is your OC's relationship with their biological parents like? What about their relationship with any non-biological parental figures?

🍨 [ICE CREAM] How does your OC compose themselves in stressful situations?

🍦 [SOFT CONE] Where does your OC work? How much are they paid, and would they prefer a different job? Why?

🍬 [LOLLY/CANDY] What would your OC like to receive for Valentine's Day/as a token of love?

🥤 [PARTY CUP] How does your OC feel about drama? Do they start any themselves?

🍷 [WINE] Where on the 'wine aunt scale' is your OC?

🥀 [WILTED ROSE] How good is your OC at meeting deadlines? What motivates them?

🌹 [ROSE] Does your OC believe in true love? Why?

🍄 [MUSHROOM] How likely is your OC to eat random berries/mushrooms they find?

🍁 [MAPLE LEAF] What is your OC's favourite season? Why and what do they do during it?

🍎 [RED APPLE] Who does your OC value above all else?

🍒 [CHERRY] Who is your OC's perfect companion?

🍓 [STRAWBERRY] How do they feel about 'cute' things?

🍅 [TOMATO] How misunderstood is your OC? In-universe or IRL.

🌶️ [HOT PEPPER] Who would your OC declare their sworn enemy if they could meet them?

🍉 [WATERMELON] What will your OC take to the grave?

🍟 [CHIPS/FRIES] How much junk food/sometimes food does your OC eat? Has it affected their health?

🍂 [AUTUMN LEAVES] Does your OC view piles of dead leaves as a mess or as fun?

🥕 [CARROT] How tough is your OC against certain situations? How weak are they against others?

🍊 [ORANGE] Does your OC have a prophecy surrounding them? If they don't, what would it be?

🥭 [MANGO] What colours best represent them and why? Does this differ from their favourites?

🌰 [CHESTNUT] What food group does your OC mostly eat (e.g., grains, fruits)?

🍑 [PEACH] How do they show their kindness? How kind are they truly?

🧅 [ONION] What is surefire to make your OC cry? Who knows of this information?

🍍 [PINEAPPLE] Pineapple on pizza or not?

🍋 [LEMON] What is their kryptonite/ultimate weakness?

🌽 [CORN] How good are they at hiding and finding their way?

🍕 [PIZZA SLICE] How good is your OC at sharing? How do they share something if there's not enough supply?

🧈 [BUTTER] How soft is your OC? In what sense are they soft?

🍌 [BANANA] Have parts of your OC been lost to time (in-universe)? What do they wish they could lose from themselves?

🏵️ [ROSETTE] What flower symbolises your OC best and why? What does the flower mean in floriography?

🍪 [BUSCUIT/COOKIE] Does your OC prefer things simple or extravagant?

🍻 [BEER CHEERS] Is your OC typically on the louder or quieter side?

🥂 [GLASS CHEERS] What is your OC's 'aesthetic?'

🥃 [MATE] What does your OC look for in a friend? What do they find is a turn-off?

🍯 [HONEY] At what point does someone seem sickly sweet to your OC?

🍞 [BREAD] Does your OC have any allergies? How severe are they? Do they require equipment to help them?

🥐 [CROISSANT] Where is your OC from? How do they feel about their homeland? Where are they now?

🥖 [BAGUETTE BREAD] Where is your OC's favourite food from? Is it a variety of places?

🥨 [PRETZEL] How complicated is your OC's backstory? Who does it entwine with?

🥯 [BAGEL] What does/has your OC have/had an unhealthy obsession over? What caused this obsession? How do they deal with it? Do they seek help?

🥞 [PANCAKES] What's the most your OC can eat in one sitting? At what point do they get sick?

🧇 [WAFFLE] Using shape language, how would you redesign your OC?

🧀 [CHEESE WEDGE] How often does your OC get into situations that rely on pure luck/miracles happening?

🍹 [TROPICAL BEVERAGE] If your OC could go anywhere, where would it be?

🍔 [BURGER] What would your OC put on their burger?

🍰 [CAKE SLICE] How does your OC change as you get to know them?

🥧 [PIE] What's the longest journey your OC has gone on? What was it for? Did they succeed?

🌻 [SUNFLOWER] Where would your OC get lost in the moment/beauty of the place?

💐 [BOUQUET] If you could send your OC a bouquet, what flowers would make it up and what is the overall message

🌾 [RICE SHEAF] How picky is your OC with food? What will and won't they eat?

🍈 [MELON] If they had to be put into a box, what box would it be and why?

🍏 [GREEN APPLE] How do they differ from the norm and how are they punished for it?

🍐 [PEAR] What is their current social standing? If they could change it, would they, and to what?

🥒 [CUCUMBER] How innocent are they (unaware to the bad happenings around them)?

🥬 [LEAFY GREEN] How mundane are they? Do they like it that way?

🥦 [BROCCOLI] What do they hate about humanity/their species?

🥑 [AVACADO] What will they never back down about, even if it makes them seem bad?

🥝 [KIWI FRUIT] How does their outside appearance differ from who they are?

🌿 [HERB] Is your OC religious? What do they believe in?

☘️ [SHAMROCK] How passionate is your OC about things they love/hate?

🍀 [FOUR LEAF CLOVER] Would your OC spend hours looking for a four leaf clover?

🌲 [EVERGREEN] What does your OC's dream treehouse look like? What tree is it built upon?

🌳 [DECIDUOUS] What's your OC's favourite thing to do at the park?

🍾 [POPPING CORK] How does your OC celebrate special occasions? With whom?

🍃 [FALLEN LEAF] What's the darkest period of time your OC has been through?

🌵 [CACTUS] How physically resilient is your OC?

🍵 [GREEN TEA] What's your OC's preferred flavour of tea, if they even drink it?

🍸 [COCKTAIL] When was the first time your OC had an alcoholic beverage? What did they think of it?

🌱 [SEEDLING] What new passions/hates is your OC discovering?

🌴 [PALM TREE] What are the stops on your OC's dream cruise? What boat are they on?

🌸 [CHERRY BLOSSOM] Does your OC believe in legends/myths?

💮 [WHITE FLOWER] Has your OC ever kissed someone? Who, when, and where?

🌺 [HIBISCUS] What does your OC think is the prettiest name?

🌷 [TULIP] What is your OC's favourite flower and colour?

🍧 [SHAVED ICE] What's your OC's favourite flavour of edible thing (e.g., strawberry)?

🧁 [CUPCAKE] If you had to describe your OC using flavours, how would you (e.g., 'they're very sweet')?

🍭 [LOLLIPOP] Would your OC ever share food with someone?

🍆 [EGGPLANT] How are they used by others? How easily are they tricked into this?

🍇 [GRAPES] What's their circle of people/their species like? What dynamic would they be called?

🍩 [DONUT] What is your OC's biggest flaw? How do they deal with it? Do they deal with it?

🍮 [CUSTARD] Expensive restaurants or cheap store-brand microwave meals?

🎂 [BIRTHDAY CAKE] How does your OC celebrate their birthday? With who, and where?

🥔 [POTATO] What do they have that others see as a flaw, but they don't care about?

Always leave credits and a link to this post if you use this!

-Mix

[mimble-sparklepudding]

Autumn Symbolism OC Questions.

A little list of OC questions based on Autumn Symbolism in North West European Heraldry. Obviously many of these things have different symbolic meanings in different cultures and have had different associations at different points in history - this list is intended more for diversion than serious historical analysis.

Apples - Liberality, Felicity, Peace and Salvation.

What is your OC's happiest memory? Does remembering it still make them smile? Or is there a wistful melancholy when they recall it?

Is your OC open to new ideas and ways of doing things? Or do they treat such suggestions with great suspicion and prefer to stick to tried and tested approaches and values?

Does your OC find it easy to express themselves in words? Or do they sometimes struggle to find the appropriate word or phrase? Are they eloquent in one language, but less practiced in another?

Is your OC happiest when things are peaceful and harmonious? Or do they secretly (or not so secretly) relish more drama or excitement?

How far would your OC go to protect others from harm? Have they ever accepted injury or suffering in order to keep others safe? Would they do so again?

Acorns - Independence and Ambition.

Does your OC find it easy to make their own decisions and come up with their own plans? Or would they prefer to ask for advice or guidance from others? Perhaps they might even wish that another could take major decisions out of their hands sometimes?

How much freedom would your OC willingly give up for the sake of a relationship or family commitment? How much would they give up grudgingly?

What is your OC's greatest aspiration? Is there an ultimate outcome towards which they are constantly striving? Is this something they keep secret from those around them?

Does your OC believe power is best held by those with the will to seize it? Or are they deeply suspicious of those with grand ambitions to hold authority over others?

Does your OC enjoy teaching others and nurturing their skills to the point they are masters in their own right? Or would they prefer to hoard certain strategies or wisdom in order to guarantee their own pre-eminence?

Squirrels - Thrift, Caution and Conception.

Does your OC carefully consider all possible outcomes before embarking upon a course of action? Or are they more inclined to launch themselves head-first into whatever they decide is the best plan at the time?

Is your OC frugal with their money? Carefully budgeting and saving against unexpected eventualities? Or are they more likely to spend money when they have it and not worry about it until it runs out?

Is your OC someone to whom others come for advice or help with planning? Or would their companions or associates laugh at such a notion?

What does your OC most fear happening should their plans go awry or their intended aim be thwarted? Humiliation? Loss of status? Or something more dangerous still?

What is something that your OC would never spend money on for themselves, but would be delighted to receive as a gift from another?

Oak Leaves - Faith and Endurance.

Does your OC adhere to any particular religious faith? To what degree do they follow the tenets of that faith? Are they a believer in name only? Or are they zealous in their convictions?

Has your OC ever had their beliefs significantly challenged? Have they perhaps seen things that made them doubt their faith? Or encountered opposing arguments they found it hard to refute?

How does your OC cope with hardship? Are they stoic and uncomplaining? Or do they whine and grumble? Is their response to hardship an accurate indication of their actual character or degree of resilience?

Do others have faith in your OC? Is this due to their past accomplishments? Or are they just exceptionally charismatic and easily able to inspire belief in others?

What has been the most challenging obstacle or hazard your OC has needed to overcome? How did they manage this? Was it through grit and determination? Guile and cunning? Or simply dumb luck?

Hedgehogs - Thoughtfulness and Provision.

Is your OC prone to introspection and reflection? Or do they not have much of an inner life in that regard? Do they ever find themselves ruminating upon things they would sooner forget? Or do others despair of them ever learning from their mistakes?

Does your OC like to hoard items and treasures? Or do they prefer to have few possessions? How do they feel about those with a different approach to such things?

How good is your OC at remembering small details about other people, such as their favourite foods or their date of birth? Do they find it easier to remember details about people they find attractive or potentially useful?

Does your OC always ensure they have sufficient material supplies or food stores to last through lean or difficult times? Or are they more inclined to rely (or assume they can rely) upon the generosity of others should they run low on resources?

What gift or reward is your OC most proud of having bestowed upon another person? What makes them proud about it? The expense or rarity? The time or effort expended in obtaining it? Or how clever or insightful they were in deciding upon it?

Wheat Sheaves - Plenty and Commendable Hospitality.

Is your OC prone to excessive consumption? If so, then are they eager for food in general? Or are there specific treats upon which they are inclined to gorge themselves? Or are they more focused upon the consumption of drink, illicit substances or engagement in darker vices still?

Does your OC enjoy playing the perfect host or hostess? Are they skilled at courtesy and making guests feel welcome? Or do they suffer others in their personal space most unwillingly?

If your OC could ensure a limitless supply of one particular thing then what would that be? An endless fountain of wine? A bottomless sack of food to distribute amongst the masses? An infinite library of every book ever written? Or perhaps something even more esoteric?

What makes your OC feel most welcome when visiting somewhere for the first time? Do they have specific cultural beliefs about how guests should be treated? Have they ever travelled somewhere with different social practices? How did they respond to this?

How does your OC feel about striking disparities in wealth or access to essential resources? Do they feel such things should be distributed more (or even totally) equitably? Or are they disinclined to interfere with the current ordering of society? Do they believe in paternalism and charity as an effectives mean of sharing the wealth of the rich with those less fortunate? Or are they cynical about this approach?

[2soulscollide]

WEBSITES FOR WRITERS {masterpost}

E.A. Deverell - FREE worksheets (characters, world building, narrator, etc.) and paid courses;

Hiveword - Helps to research any topic to write about (has other resources, too);

BetaBooks - Share your draft with your beta reader (can be more than one), and see where they stopped reading, their comments, etc.;

Charlotte Dillon - Research links;

Writing realistic injuries - The title is pretty self-explanatory: while writing about an injury, take a look at this useful website;

One Stop for Writers - You guys... this website has literally everything we need: a) Description thesaurus collection, b) Character builder, c) Story maps, d) Scene maps & timelines, e) World building surveys, f) Worksheets, f) Tutorials, and much more! Although it has a paid plan ($90/year | $50/6 months | $9/month), you can still get a 2-week FREE trial;

One Stop for Writers Roadmap - It has many tips for you, divided into three different topics: a) How to plan a story, b) How to write a story, c) How to revise a story. The best thing about this? It's FREE!

Story Structure Database - The Story Structure Database is an archive of books and movies, recording all their major plot points;

National Centre for Writing - FREE worksheets and writing courses. Has also paid courses;

Penguin Random House - Has some writing contests and great opportunities;

Crime Reads - Get inspired before writing a crime scene;

The Creative Academy for Writers - "Writers helping writers along every step of the path to publication." It's FREE and has ZOOM writing rooms;

Reedsy - "A trusted place to learn how to successfully publish your book" It has many tips, and tools (generators), contests, prompts lists, etc. FREE;

QueryTracker - Find agents for your books (personally, I've never used this before, but I thought I should feature it here);

Pacemaker - Track your goals (example: Write 50K words - then, everytime you write, you track the number of the words, and it will make a graphic for you with your progress). It's FREE but has a paid plan;

Save the Cat! - The blog of the most known storytelling method. You can find posts, sheets, a software (student discount - 70%), and other things;

I hope this is helpful for you!

(Also, check my gumroad store if you want to!)

[flameo-trashman-deactivated2024]

very canon captive!yue scene

[ciccerone]

Katara and Zuko by Paulina Klime

[emmettnet]

god just. give me a whumper who does literally ANYTHING even slightly nice or domestic or mundane for/with their whumpee and i go feral. absolutely lose it. the rare and precious moments of fragile peace, the ‘good parts’ to the relationship that whumpee looks back on, either with rose-colored lens or just bittersweet nostalgia once they’ve escaped…I LOVE IT RAAAUGH

[whumpitisthen]

Examples:

Casual conversation

Helping out in the kitchen

Watching a movie

Asking Whumpee something that is so innocent and normal

Remembering things Whumpee has said off-handedly and mentioning them

Making Whumper laugh a genuine laugh/ vice versa

Whumper being a human and having interests and dislikes and rambling about them to Whumpee

Whumpee injuring themself and Whumper asking if they are okay

Whumpee falling ill and Whumper going soft for their delirious state as they care for them

(Conditioned) Whumpee taking care of ill Whumper

A mutual fear of cockroaches in the bathtub (this one makes me giggle imagine both idiots running around and screaming)

A night without any pain

Whumper is tired/sad/busy, they dont have the energy to mess with Whumpee

Cuddles that (while probably forced or at least uncomfortable at first) are a welcome change

A favour made by Whumper bc they felt like indulging Whumpee that day

A trip that (if you can ignore the possible threats and restraints to make sure Whumpee stays where they are supposed to) was actually very nice

Carving pumpkins on Halloween

Decorating the tree on Christmas

Partaking in possible religious or cultural holidays that the other doesn’t celebrate

Teaching a genuine hobby to eachother

Whumper dancing with Whumpee to their favourite song that came on

Looking out for Whumpee’s allergies, no matter how minor

No real menace behind Whumper’s actions, just genuine normal human interaction that isn’t tainted with the whump, if you will. Works best if to Whumper it’s not even worth mentioning, yet to Whumpee it means the literal world

[lumpsbumpsandwhumps]

A Whumper who, in the eyes of a traumatized Whumpee, is a Caretaker compared to the absolutely horrendous treatment they had been subjected to prior to being kidnapped by them

[pookie-and-cereal]

Cute/Romantic OTP prompts

(Not necessarily intimacy)

Random Ideas 💡:

Person A just took a shower and person B dries their hair, (with a blow dryer or towel)

Comforting each other when times are hard

Building a pillow fort through a thunderstorm/or just really heavy rain fall

Person A usually being the most immune to fevers is stuck with the flu, and Person B doing their best to keep the temperature down. (Bonus if Person B is a worry wart/or starts panicking in every situation)

Holding hands, fingers intervened. And not letting the other one go

Person A wanting to hug Person B, but they’re scared because they feel possessive

The other becoming clingy the moment the other leaves. Even if it’s only an inch away

Having a movie marathon but one of them is physically unable to stay awake after ten

Person A who’s usually the more "tough" type of person, becomes terrified at the sight of seeing a (bug/rat/mouse/or any tiny creature that is capable of giving the heebie jeebies)

In the kitchen baking a cake, but one of them accidentally caused a fire

It’s karaoke night, and both of them are singing at the top of their lungs, knowing that neither of them can hold a tune, but are having fun either way

I’ll make a bigger prompt list soon🍿

[creativepromptsforwriting]

Royalty Scenarios

A princess gets kidnapped, but her kidnappers end up being nicer than what awaits her at home.

The lands were ruled by a queen who was famous for her wise decisions and infamous for her matchmaking.

The prince had all the knights as his bodyguards, but in the end he was the one who saved them all.

The kidnappers have a hard time to get ransom for a member of the royal family, who doesn't seem to be too valued by the king.

Two neighboring kingdoms want to join through marriage. And it doesn't seem to be a problem that both kings only have daughters.

He is just a lowly duke, only responsible for the people he grew up with. But a tragedy suddenly calls for him to take the king's throne.

They were arranged to marry each other since birth, so they grew up together as really good friends. And really good friends want to see their friends find true love, even if they are ready to marry for their kingdoms.

This marriage was supposed to bring peace to our lands, but all it created was awkwardness. (x)

She was expected to dance at the ball with as many suitors as possible. But in the end she chooses her dance partner very carefully.

Being the youngest sibling means watching their older siblings get married off. Now it's their time.

More royalty posts.

If you like my blog and want to support me, you can buy me a coffee or become a member! And check out my Instagram! 🥰

[creativepromptsforwriting]

hi! can i request some dark academia prompts, please?

Dark Academia Prompts

Becoming a part of the secret society their parents had also attended wasn't a wish, it was a must.

There was a secret passageway next to the old fireplace in the library and they couldn't wait till it was night to explore it.

Everyone was certain that the bedroom on the third floor of the boarding school was haunted. Only if there was no other space available they would let students sleep there.

The school bordered on an old graveyard. What better place to sneak out to at night to meet with a lover?

There were things that were inevitable. Desperately trying to find a cure would only make it worse.

It was supposed to be a short article about a generic topic in the university newspaper. But soon they began to unravel a major conspiracy.

Having a restricted section in a library just makes people more curious.

Their history teacher had a way to talk about historic events, just like he had actually been there.

Some students would swear that the paintings in the hallways keep changing slightly.

It was fun to do a strange ritual they had found in an old book in their dorm room. But the consequences were no fun at all.

The artifacts that were on display in the school corridor suddenly started to emit light.

One day, all the students woke up in their dorms at exactly the same time, having dreamed the exact same dream.

It was an open secret that the school housed a creature that most people wouldn't even dare to imagine.

The fire in the old fireplace in the common room had never been stoked by anyone and no one could remember ever adding wood to it. It just kept going.

When exam season came around, it was not uncommon for students to go missing.

Hope you like them!

- Jana