RM Walsh

Just a lil inspiring author who spends life dreaming about fantasical worlds and kickass characters. Send me an ask if you have questions!

[blogrmwalsh-blog]

Romance in Novels

I’m a huge fan of romance in novels. I have friends who think that if a novel isn’t a romance novel, it has no business being there. That’s their own opinion, but I’d be damned if my novels didn’t even have a hint of romance. To a lot of people, romance does make novels more realistic. People fall in and out of love all the time, they love the right people, the wrong people. They love people and then realize that they’re feelings aren’t actual romantic love but simply platonic. Human beings are complicated. Which is why I love writing.

However, I have noticed a concerning trend lately with how people write romances. They insert this ‘alpha’ character who totally dominates the ‘beta’ character in a way that’s incredibly uncomfortable and disgusting. They portray this twisted ‘romance’ as this beautiful love story. I’ve seen it time and time again, especially in YA novels. The main female protag is swept off her feet by this guy whom is generally excessively rude and dismissing of her and is throughout the entire story, while she falls more and more in love with him and then he suddenly shows interest in her and becomes overly possessive. That isn't love.

It’s different if you want to write a story about an abusive relationship, and you honestly portray the relationship as toxic and awful. It’s another if you portray an abusive relationship and then romanticize it and try to sell this romance to your audience.

Write your romances in a way that you’d want to be wooed. Sure, you might be into bondage, BDSM, or a more aggressive partner, but make sure you write it in a way that’s incredibly consensual and show your readers that the two characters truly love each other and would never intentionally hurt or manipulate each other.

Consent = sexy after all.

[blogrmwalsh-blog]

Character Introduction: William

William is the first character in The False King to meet Lenora. He is a kind and caring giant of a man who doesn’t understand where Lenora is coming from due to growing up in the lavish lifestyle of a Lord turned Knight.

He is a selfless character, starkly contrasting the little fireball of a main character. He wants to help as many people as he can and always tries to stay firm in his beliefs. Being fiercely loyal, he won’t ever betray someone once he gets their trust, damn the consequences.

Read more about William when I post the first chapter of the False Knight, and the variety of scenes that never made it into the final cut of the novel! (No spoilers)

[never-close-our-eyes]

Say it with me;

ABUSIVE 👏 RELATIONSHIPS 👏 ARE 👏 NOT 👏 CUTE

[blogrmwalsh-blog]

Death and Dying: Part 2

Last time, I talked about death rituals in writing. Today, I will talk about the actual process of dying.

Click here for Part 1

Just to let you all know, I will be talking about dead people in the following post, so if that’s totally not your thing, please don’t read any further. I will talk mostly clinically in this post as well.

Without further ado! Let’s start.

So, your main character just witnessed their parent/guardian gettings stabbed in the chest and left to bleed out. They run over, sobbing and pick up their loved one and their parent/guardian is able to tell them a monologue of information as blood drips from the corner of their mouth.

Sounds familiar?

Well, unfortunately. That’s not accurate. If blood is coming out of their mouth from a stab in the chest, there is a large chance that the blood is in their lungs. If you’ve ever accidentally inhaled liquid, you know how hard it is to talk when there is liquid in your lungs. Even a teeny bit that went down the wrong tube. A stab wound into a lung would deflate the lung, making it extremely hard to breathe, and nearly impossible to talk. The blood coming out of the mouth wouldn’t be normal, either, it would be bubbly due to the air escaping into the blood. It’d be foamy.

Do your research on injuries to the chest when you’re using a death as a plot point. Would it make sense for the character to be stabbed in the lungs? Or stabbed in the stomach? Lungs are defiantly more dramatic, but a little impractical when it comes to that main ‘I need to tell you’ line. In the stomach, the general ‘tummy’ area, means that they could very well still bleed out, but they have more time to tell your main character that vital piece of information.

Okay, so now that your main character has gotten that vital piece of information! The deceased person now closes their eyes and just ‘goes to sleep’ right? Wrong! Chances are, if the person dies, the eyelids won’t simply close. They’ll be open at whichever position they’re in. The body will become dead weight, and most likely they will expel their wastes (you can choose not to mention that because well, ‘purge’ is generally the grossest part of the immediate death). Their body won’t instantly go cold either.

Do research on ‘rigor mortis’ because a lot of people think that all dead bodies are stiff and hard forever. When that’s not the case at all. Rigor Mortis will last a while, but once it leaves the body it’s gone forever. If your character finds a dead body that’s been dead for a week or more, chances are, the body will be flexible again.

I could talk forever about the effects of the body after death. I’m going into a career where I need to know about it, and it just so happens that I did research into death a lot prior to choosing that field. However, these are just to plant little seeds of curiosities into your head, to encourage different thinking in the worldbuilding aspect that people generally don’t put a lot of thought into. Death and Dying.

The next topic will be about those left behind, what grief looks like, and ways you can portray real emotions when you’ve never experienced grief, or you have but you want to portray a different version of grief.

[w-riter-u-nknown]

Fantasy Names (1)

A collection of names lurking on Tumblr that caught my interest, and could be used for fantasy, and ones that I made up on the spot. Sue me. Names for all letters except b and y because why not

A - 

Aisling

Ayame

Aoife (eef-a)

Asterin

Alyeska

Anitea

Ashlin

Aster

Aileen

Adisa

Amadi

Adeline

Althea

Angelo

Aava

Alsy

Adriel

Avara

C -

Caster

Cora

Coria

Cobra

Cordelia

Caspien

Cythea

Caliss

D -

Devorah

Devoin

Desiree

E -

Elide

Enelah

Enitan

Esther

F -

Faora

Fate

Finlty

Fikala

Frost

G -

Geneva

Gerard

Gem

H -

Hijori

Halori

I -

Istoria

Inej

Iseoria

Ikala

Ilora

J -

Jinora

Jett

Jankoli

Jekli

Jesper

K -

Kaltain

Koda

Kalissa

Kiri

Kyna

Kaisla

Kayth

Kaedan

Kado

Kana

L -

Lyschaneda

Levi

Layra

Lyra

M -

Midna

Maeve

Marcia

Maclo

Makyl

Manit

Matthias

N -

Nesryn

Nix

Nexus

Nova

Nayali

Nina

O -

Opal

Orroa

Orion

Oran

P -

Pelki

Pekka

Per

Pela

Penant

Pekla

Q -

Qren

Qulin

Qulen

R -

Roriee

Rylan

Reylia

Riy

Raelene

Ritla

Ricla

Raamola

S -

Sorscha

Solina

Secret

Siren

Signa

Sora

T -

Tem

Telk

Takls

Tima

Timea

Torin

U -

Uloka

Uity

V -

Valerian

Victorin

Vicorian

W -

Wes

Wylan

Winter

Wilkie

X -

Xylin

Xespla

Xlrin

Z -

Zelin

[storypromptsforfun]

Writing Groups After Trauma

If your characters have recently experienced something difficult and you want to expand on the emotions that they feel afterwards, I have a couple of tips for writing realistic emotions after the fact.

During the Event

During the actual difficult event, whether a member of the group has died, been kidnapped, or people are in a stressful situation, people react in ways you wouldn’t expect.

Gallows humor is a great example of this! If people are helpless during a difficult event, the easiest way to cope with it is to make jokes about it. This separates the serious, life-threatening event from the jokes they make.

Expect a lot of praying from religious and non-religious people, quiet panic attacks, and surrealist humor. The people next to your character will become very close with them during this time (even if it doesn’t last after the fact).

Your characters might turn to random topics, like the past (ooh, convenient flashback time!), their plans if stuff hadn’t happened, or something stupid like a funny story they once heard.

Mob mentality, folks. People are fragile during events like this, so if one person has even a semblance of leadership, they’ll listen.

How Do They React?

After the fact, people try to cope with it the way that they’re most used to.

Your characters will be closer to each other. They’ll lean on each other and be personal in ways you wouldn’t normally think of.

Is your character in touch with their emotions? Expect a lot of crying, anxiety, and compassion. These people will recover quickly because they’re able to deal with it by facing it head on.

Is your character cold-hearted and reasonable? Expect a lot of irrational rationalization. They’ll try to frame the situation in a way that it doesn’t affect them. This can separate them from the rest of the group.

Is your character tough and resilient? Expect anger and action. If they have supporting friends, these people are the most likely to fight back.

Does your character already struggle with trauma, anxiety, or depression? They might not process the event until much later. They’ll look fine during and right after, but these characters might deal with severe dissociation and anxiety, even PTSD. Recovering will be a long process.

The Group Together

After a difficult event, people band together in ways you wouldn’t imagine. It’s hard to stay by yourself when you’ve gone through something hard. Your characters will be much closer, and they’ll work on healing next to each other.

[sunnydwrites]

49 Questions for Creating a Religion

What is it called?

Is it monotheistic or polytheistic?

What is the name of each deity?

Are they considered a god?

Does their name carry a special meaning?

Do they identify by any gender considered “traditional” in the context of your world?

What are they the deity of?

Is there any one myth or legend that they are most known for?

Is there a certain way for people to worship them?

Do they have any special abilities or responsibilities in the world?

Do people use “God” or “god”? Does it depend?

Are there any temples in your world?

Are they dedicated to any one deity, or open for all worship?

Are there any events held there? (Like weddings, funerals, scheduled times for group prayers, anything like Mass in the Catholic Church?)

How well decorated are they? Why?

Is it considered commonplace to offer sacrifices to any deity? What are the most common sacrifices?

How do people pray?

Is it out loud or silent?

What do they usually pray for?

Is there a specific time during which people are supposed to pray? Does it matter at all?

Is there a position in which they usually pray? (Kneeling, standing, bowing, etc.)

Is praying a group activity or meant to be solo?

Are there any religious holidays? What is celebrated?

Does anything religiously involved occur during or soon after birth?

Does anything religiously involved occur during or soon after death?

Do people believe in an afterlife?

Is there anything like a heaven/purgatory/hell system? What is yours like?

If so, how can someone guarantee themselves a spot in any one place?

Is there anything promised in each part?

Who are the most well-known figures of your religion? Why are they so well-known?

Is there a special book or anything like it that people following the religion go by? (like the Quran, the Bible, the Torah, etc.)

What does it state?

How closely is it followed, and why?

Is there a hierarchy of sorts in religion?

Who holds the highest position, and how did they get there?

What are the following ranks, and what comes with each of them? Special responsibilities/abilities, etc?

What is the lowest position? Is there anything lower than a regular follower of the religion? How did they get there?

Do expectations change at all with age?

Are children brought into the religion at a young age, or are they given a choice?

If they are brought in very early, is there ever a period where they are given the opportunity to leave?

Do the deities, if any, view children and adults differently? Is it about age in any respect?

How does this religion treat people who aren’t followers?

What is the general opinion on trying to convert “non-believers” to their religion?

How are the general interactions?

How much does religion affect the relationships a person might have?

How does this religion, as a whole, view and treat people of different varieties?

People of Color?

Members of the LGBT+ community?

Anyone who falls outside of what bigots might consider “normal” or “right”?

Anyway, that’s all I can think of for now! This was a long list but I have lots more where this came from, so you can probably expect to see more like this in the future. Until next time, much love! <333

[brynwrites]

What not to write in fantasy.

I’ve seen some posts going around on what not to write in fantasy, many of which amount to:

Don’t write evil kings.

Don’t write people who are evil for the sake of evil.

Don’t write bullies.

Don’t write villains at all actually.

Don’t write mentors.

Don’t let your characters learn how to do hard things on their own though.

Don’t write people on adventures.

Don’t write people fighting evil governments.

Don’t write any fantasy species ever written before.

Don’t write any fantasy trope ever written before.

Don’t write any fantasy plot ever written before. 

Just… don’t fucking write fantasy I guess??

And this is such utter bullshit, my friends.

We do need more originality and diversity in fantasy, but we don’t need to remove everything that fantasy is and has been in the process.

(Especially, especially, when diversity is being included in traditionally cishet white male protagonist fantasy stories.)

Maybe the chosen one with special magic powers and a royal bloodline going on a quest with a group of friends to defeat the evil king has been done before with a white cis man a thousand times over, but how many times has a black trans woman got to go on that adventure? 

Maybe elves and orcs have been written into the dust, but they still make great templates on which to tell stories with original twists, and there’s nothing about them that stops a good, emotional story from hitting you straight in the heart.

Maybe dragons have been done by every writer ever to write fantasy, but you know what? Dragons are fucking awesome, my dudes. Many readers are always gonna love them.

Maybe we have told the same fantasy stories over and over again, but every step you take away from the known template is a step you have to spend more and more exposition on before the reader will understand your original creation.

So don’t let anyone make you feel like that your (inclusive) fantasy story is too ‘traditional’ to be good. As long as you produce a well written story you’ve put your heart into, it’ll be a story many readers will love. 

[thewriterswitch]

Quick Tips for Writing Emotion

Use physical movements and mental sensations. An example of a physical movement would be clenching their fists when angry, whereas a mental sensation would be feeling a burn in their chest

Focus on the how the narration sounds. If the character is happy, the narration should sound happy. If they’re sad, it should sound sad.

Don’t use words like sad, angry, or happy. Show us those emotions instead.

Vary your sentence structure. For anger, you might want short and quip sentences, and for sadness, you might want longer sentences. 

Use the Emotion Thesaurus by Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi

And finally, feel free to discard any of this advice

[huffledorsss-deactivated2018122]

How to be a writer

open your laptop

stare a blank word doc

scream into the void

slam your head against the keyboard

cry

throw a blanket over your head

eat some cake

[studyfulltime]

back home with my giant cuppa tea and a cheeky lil krispy kreme…oh yhhhh. today was good, it’s kinda scary to be back at uni but i think it’ll be 👌🏾

[suburbanmomromanceclub]

File this under “super obvious yet I always seem to forget it.”

[iamwordsandpixels-deactivated20]

I don’t write romance (I totally respect people who do, though!) but this is also great writing advice in general! What is preventing the protagonist from achieving their goal?

Why can’t these two people be together now?

Why can’t the mystery be solved now?

Why can’t they overthrow the evil overlord now?

If you don’t have a solid answer for these questions, that’s a good indicator that the plot could use some more work.

[megan-cutler]

Also test your answer a little bit. If it’s as thin as they’re just refusing to sit down and have a simple conversation, you might want to re-think how things are going.

[operahousebookworm]

As a beta reader/editor, I tend to ask this question a lot: “Why are they doing it this way when there’s a much easier path available?” That’s not to say that they should take the easier path, because that would usually be boring. Instead, the point is that the question needs an answer–either eliminate the easier path or give them a very clear reason for not taking it. (And if I’m asking the question, that reason isn’t as clear as you think it might be.)

I find it very difficult to root for characters who have a sensible option available and just don’t take it. If the only reason is “Because there wouldn’t be a story otherwise,” you haven’t actually found the story yet.

[writingvampires]

exactly

[blogrmwalsh-blog]

Character Introduction: Lenora

Elenora Balfe, is the main character of my novel, The False King. She is a young thief who gets herself caught up in something that is much larger than she had originally thought.

She’s a fairly selfish character, but has streaks of morally fueled moments. She only wants to get by and survive in the harsh world of Nimresia and she won’t let those who wish to hurt her get close enough to try.

Lenora is biracial and bisexual and proud to be both.

Read more about Lenora in future posts when I post the first chapter of The False Knight, and the variety of small scenes that never made it into the final cut of the novel!

[just-my-thoughts-here117]

Hi! Do you have any funny starting lines for short stories or rps?

Hi! I think I actually did a post somewhere based around funny lines, but I’ll try to give a few good ones!

Death is coming for us all, but since I’m so stupid it’s coming for me first.

“Oh Heavens watching us from above, grant us your heavenly light to cast down this idiot before he screws everything up.”

“Time is of the essence, you snail.”

“How much do you think I would need to pay that bird for it to come down and peck my/your eyes out?”

“Well punch my ear and call me Gogh, you really had to say that.”

[just-my-thoughts-here117]

A Lesson in the Life of a Shy/Insecure Girl: In My Experience

Eating in public can make you selfconscious. Especially when the food is known to be suggestive

Constantly worrying that you look fat even though you know you don’t

*makes a suggestive joke towards someone, making everyone laugh* **face turns red** “I can’t believe I actually said that.”

Selfies? Not unless there’s something to un-weird my face

Sometimes showing shoulders and legs make you feel uncomfortable and on display

“This (article of clothing) is nice, but it would draw way too much attention.” *wears it anyway* “Oh God, they must be judging me so much right now.”

If someone compliments you, you go full denial mode because it just confirms that people notice you

Talking in front of people can be a bit rough, but not impossible

BUT ALSO

You can think you look pretty

You can (and most likely will) still dance and sing around your house

You will still have days of mega confidence where you just won’t care, then get all embarrassed about it the next day

You will have certain people that bring out the confident side of you, which is generally your closest friendos

You won’t ALWAYS get all red and embarrassed when someone you like makes flirty jokes

You can still laugh at yourself when you do something embarrassing or stupid

[jaxpotter7]

This is true for shy guys too, not just shy girls

[just-my-thoughts-here117]

Of course! I wasn’t trying to be exclusive. I apologize if it came across that way

[writingprompts365]

Write a ‘small but definite happiness’ list for each of your main characters

-what simple, everyday things make them happy? 

-try to get as specific as possible (ex. ‘drinking a mug of strong green tea first thing in the morning’ instead of just ‘tea’)

-[then write a list for yourself because it’s important to remember the little things that bring you joy]

[blogrmwalsh-blog]

Death and Dying

This is a subject that I have a huge issue with people writing about because they don’t do the research into it. They just think ‘Hey! I watch those TV cop dramas, I know what death is!’ when, yes, some of those will show death and the process of dying well, but it doesn’t show everything. They show a ‘glamour’ death where everything is beautiful and neat and tidy and they die being able to say those last special words to their friends and family even if they’ve been shot in the lungs.

I do know that people like to stay as far away from death as they can, but at the same time, if you just spent two days researching a different culture you are going to mention once or twice, you can spend a bit of time researching about death.

I’m going to be doing three posts on this topic. This first post is about death rituals in life versus typical death rituals in books/novels.

What do you think of when you think ‘death/burial rituals’ when it comes to novels? Probably the typical funeral service followed by a burial, or if it’s a fantasy based novel, they will typically bury but cremation or some Nordic based send off is common.

But! You should just imagine all the different types of burial rituals in the real world. Every culture has their own version of a funeral and their own version of body disposition. There are some cultures where they keep the body of the deceased in their home, cleaning and dressing the deceased every day, others will do a sky burial. Which you can learn more about here.

So, why do we settle for the same old burial rituals in all our literature?

Mostly because, and I’m speaking from a western viewpoint, a good portion of the burial rituals we’re exposed to is that typical funeral followed by burial or cremation. People like to write about what they know and experience. People like to read what they’re comfortable with as well, and there are people who would find the sky burials as disrespectful or keeping the deceased in their home disrespectful. However, other people would find what I find as comforting as disrespectful as well.

That’s why I challenge you all who read this to write a different sort of burial ritual to your fantasy/sci-fi novels. I challenge you to challenge your own thinking and understanding of what makes a good post-mortem ritual to send off the dead.

In The False King, the kingdom it’s set in typically does cremation followed by a three-day feast which ends with placing the ashes in the family columbarium if the family is rich enough to have one. Those who die without any family or are too poor to afford the feast and columbarium  will take the ashes to the nearest temple and the Priests and Priestesses will pray over the ashes for a total of six days, focusing on one of the various deities each day before finally disposing of the communal ashes by scattering them within the gardens around the temple.

Depending on the other kingdoms locations and climates, I would adjust the form of disposition to follow what people in the real world have done. In a very arid climate, for example, you could have mummification because the Egyptians did that because sometimes when they buried their dead the sands would expose the corpses and decomposition would begin, and due to their religion the body needed to be as whole as possible for the deceased to live on in the afterlife. In more swampy areas, burial is harder.

Take all the different factors in your world into account if you’re bringing in death into your novel.

The next part will be about the actual physical aspect of death.