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How do I describe a tired person? I got 'dark circles under the eyes' but it kind of stops there.
I mean "hasn't slept in four days" tired by the way. Like straight up the hallucinating kind of sleep deprived.
Found what I was looking for!
This website has a whole page dedicated to physcial descriptors of certain emotions, including tiredness and exhaustion!
(descriptionary.wordpress.com)
HI, I own you my writing life :D
Here’s the original thread by beckiicruel on twitter, but as someone who has done a lot (a lot a lot) of anonymous fic prompts, I’ve had this happen to me and it absolutely feels exploitative and uncomfortable.
“You can’t write unless you read.”
— David Sedaris
Egypt, 1870’s.
Hey actually please rb if you're a writeblr who's 18+? I'm only following 50 people and my dash is so inactive.
Special bonus points I guess if you're:
- 21+
- A scifi, fantasy, and/or horror writer
- Posting resources and/or memes about writing
- LGBTQIA+
- Willing to interact beyond just liking and rbing each other's posts
I’m not always super active, but I’m 21 in a day, I’m hella gay, I write sci-fi, fantasy, and adventure, and I have approximately 0 friends outside of my gf and my cat. Please befriend me I’m bored. And I also need someone to poke me until I write.
As an added bonus, im actively an English Writing and Rhetoric tutor irl, so I’ll edit anything 😂
sound ON
Writing a Believable Family: Information You Need
So today I thought I’d help out myself and anyone else who’s writing something where family plays a central role, seeing as a lot of people write about families but I barely see any posts about it!
Families are really fun to read about (imo), but often hard to write, as each family has a different dynamic that you really need to get a hold of. It’s easy to get discouraged because sometimes your fictional family might feel like strangers when they interact with each other. So without further ado, here are some questions and prompts to help you get to know your characters’ families.
Questions
Who is in this family? Are they all important characters?
How big of a role does this family play in the story? The theme of family in general?
Who looks the most like who? What general physical features do they all share?
Who is closest with each other? Who feels more distant?
What is a tradition this family has?
What holidays does this family celebrate? What religion do they practice?
What does this family always fight about?
Are all the relationships in this family healthy? If not, what makes them toxic?
Who is in charge or seems to have the most authority?
Is there a social hierarchy within the family? Who generally seems the coolest to the others?
Does this family travel a lot together? Where do they go?
What was/were the older generation(s) like before the younger generation(s) were born?
Has anyone in this family died? How did this impact the others?
Do members of the family have different politics? How does this affect the family’s relationship?
How much do your characters value their family?
What movies does this family watch on movie nights? What movies do they refuse to watch together?
What role does extended family play in this family’s life? (Ignore if the family you’re writing about is an extended family.)
Who argues the most?
What personality traits does the family share?
What makes this family unique?
What did/does the younger generation do for fun as little kids?
If this family had a vacation home, where would it be?
Who looks up to who?
Prompts
Write a conversation at the family’s dinner table.
What was the most disastrous family reunion/outing? Write it.
Try making a character web (shown in this post) for the family.
How does the rest of the family behave when one member graduates?
Write the script for everyone’s favorite old home video.
Draw a family tree. See how many generations you can go back.
Write each family member’s favorite family memory.
Describe how a family road would trip play out.
This family becomes the family fighting in Walmart. Describe how this happened.
The family is known for their top-notch annual ________ party. Write one such party.
Have a character from the family give your reader a “tour” of the family home.
Who got drunk at the last reunion? What ensued?
A character from the family is going through their favorite family photos. What are they? Why do they like them? What is the story behind them?
Imagine that this family has one huge family scandal in its history. What was it? How did people react when they found out?
A character has been hiding a secret for years, and their family finds out.
new fiction rule:
if one of your women characters are going to assist in a sudden unexpected birth at some point during their journey, they need to have mentioned earlier in the story that they have some hands-on midwivery experience. Maybe they're proud of it. Maybe it was just part of their life as an ocassional assistant to a family member. Whatever. But the plotline, "someone is in labor and there are no doctors/healers/whatever for miles? What a convenient time for me to mention for the first time EVER that I am experienced in this," has to go.
The only exception is if it's a character trait that this character consistently fails to mention numerous skills they have for comedic effect or because they're notably mysterious or vague about their past.
In general it's sort of poor planning when a character suddenly reveals they have a skill that solved the problem at hand for the first time when the problem arises. Examples:
In Jurassic Park, it's established mid-movie in a passing conversation that the girl Lex is "a hacker" who spends all day in her room doing whatever hackers do. She also expresses interest in all of the park computer technology. Later, when the system needs to come back online, she is the one with the skills to do it, which made narrative sense.
In Jurassic World, the new Child Duo TM do not express any interest in cars or mechanics, but when they suddenly need to fix an 30 year old jeep to escape, there's a line like, "remember that summer we spent fixing that car with Grandpa?"
Suddenly, they are car experts and in no time have a totally defunked jeep up and running again.
Yet a third example, I once read a series where, three bookes in, the protagonist is faced witha puzzle that requires someone who is able to see and talk to ghosts. She then brings up three books in that she can see and talk to ghosts. As if that's not something about a character that might be worth mentioning before.
The second and third examples bother me, because if you tell a story like that, how are there Ever any stakes? Any time a problem arises, why can't another character say, "oh by the way I can easily fix this right now?"
And with the "sudden midwivery skills," there's the added element of shoehorning women into sudden "woman roles" it's assumed they should have, as if midwivery isn't an entire career with years of training.
I would possibly add “have birthed a baby,” to this, or even “attended NCT classes as a partner/been a birth partner at a fairly natural birth” to the list of useful background info, because while they is by no means a midwifery qualification, it can give you a pretty good grasp of how the whole business goes down and ways of handling pain, etc.
Of course, this only works for relatively straightforward labours. If things get complicated, you’ll want a proper midwife.
Totally! Just any indication earlier in the story that this character has any experience. If they have a younger sibling, even mentioning they were there for the birth, ANYTHING that indicates they have witnessed childbirth before the actual in-story childbirth happens.
"As if that's not something about a character that might be worth mentioning before" had me rollin'.
20 things I want more of in fiction: strong female characters
To quote TheMarySue.com, strong female characters are rarely strong and rarely characters. Strong Female Characters™ are leather-clad, emotionless, “independent,” defined by their relationships to men, and often have a tragic backstory (often involving abuse at the hands of men). More often than not, they are portrayed to be just as powerful or even more so than male protagonists, but in the end are relegated to fighting the secondary villain(ess).
So here is my list of 20 things I want to see in strong female characters.
Strong female characters who are girly: Not “feminine,” girly. They don’t wear tight leather bodysuits, they wear pink dresses and curl their hair and are excited when Sephora comes out with a new blush product.
Strong female characters who are funny: I mean, come on. I can count on one hand the number of strong female characters who could be comedians.
Strong female characters who support other women: Don’t make them hate the girls who have sex or wear makeup. Don’t support the idea that femininity is weak.
Strong female characters who are not traditionally attractive: Make them fat. Give them acne. Maybe they have bushy eyebrows. Who knows?
Strong female characters who fall in love and remain strong: If she can lift a truck at the beginning of the story, getting the man will not change that. Being strong is not undesirable.
Strong female characters who are not physically strong: Why do they need to lift a car to be strong? Women can be mentally and emotionally strong too. Example: A WWII nurse who has to deal with recent amputees and vets with PTSD. Do you know how much strength that would require?
Strong female characters who are tomboys/manly: Be cautious with this one. There is a whole list of harmful tropes surrounding this idea. For more information, see TV Tropes’ Tomboy page.
Strong female characters who don’t use long-range weapons: Let them be the smasher for once. I want to see them throw punches.
Strong female characters who become stronger on their own accord: Have them want to do more, and train to become better or strive to learn more. BUT (and this is a big but) don’t make them do it because they were abused. Don’t.
Strong female characters who are LGBT*QIA: Enough said.
Strong female characters who are POC: See above.
Strong female characters who are older and not hardened by war: give me an prankster grandma or a general who is known as “mom.”
Strong female characters who have feelings: Please stop making them emotionless or merely snarky/sarcastic. I mean, have you ever met anyone who was only sarcastic and nothing else? People like that don’t exist.
Strong female characters who are strong because of women: Maybe their moms taught them how to fight. Maybe they were inspired by a warrior queen. Stop giving them five older brothers. Seriously.
Strong female characters who aren’t lone warriors: Give them a badass crew (bonus points if they’re all women) whom she considers her friends. Real people have friends.
Strong female characters who have a family: They need at least one family member that they love and want to protect. Stop making them estranged from their parents or orphans.
Strong female characters who cry: Please, let them have feelings.
Strong female characters who aren’t defined by men: Don’t give them emotion only when they fall for the male protag. Don’t make their backstory all about when they were abused by a man. Don’t give them mentors who are all men. Don’t attribute her abilities to men.
Strong female characters who don’t define men: Stop having her strength be the measure that the male protagonist must surpass. Stop having her death give motivation to the male characters. This must end.
Strong female characters who weren’t abused: Having rape/abuse as a motivation is a disgusting cliche. Stop it. Just don’t.
Read more about strong female characters:
Geekfeminism
The Mary Sue
TV Tropes
Huffington Post
Writing has two stages:
1. you can't stop
2. you can't start to save your life
Ok queers, listen up.
I am writing a gay book
So here goes:
A period drama
An arranged marriage
The woman thought he would finally ease her wanton soul
Spoiler alert:
He doesn’t.
The book switches POV between her and a new ladies maid
He doesn’t know about her gayness
The ladies maid doesn’t know why her new boss is so hot
The woman is a spitfire or rage sass and calls the ladies maid ‘darling’
The Kai does maid melts a little every time.
Obvi sub plots of queer and disability and diversity
So,
What do you think??
Provide sub plot ideas, various hot takes and other bits and pieces.
I’m going to give us the historical queerness we deserve.
Fantasy Guide to Employment: Household of a Castle
The castle does not run itself. The castle would remain a pile of stones without servants to keep it running. The guide below focuses on the private household of the lord himself, anybody who worked inside the main keep of the castle. I will be expanding outside the walls in a future post.
The Steward/Seneschal
This person was the head of the household staff. They would have the task of running things on the Lord's estate. They are the managers, so it is up to them to keep the staff in line. The steward would keep the castle accounts and keep the lord informed of all of the goings on of the lands and tenants. They would have to be educated needing to do accounts and write letters. Though the castle's Lady would be expected to do all these things, the steward served as a backup and assistant in all the tasks even representing the lord and lady when they were unavailable.
The Chamberlain
The chamberlain is the servant employed to look after the Lord's bedchamber. He would look after the Lord's clothes as well and keep track of the other servants' liveries, the official uniforms of the guards, pages and squires. This was not always the case, some larger households had a separate office but most medium seized manors and castles lumped them together. The chamberlain's main task was ensuring the lord was kept happy. He would even be the last servant a lord would see at night before he went to bed at night. They would be educated.
The Marshal
A Marshal was in charge of the stables as well as the military presence in the castle. They would oversee the household's horses, carts, wagons, and containers. He oversaw blacksmiths, horse grooms and stableboys. He also oversaw the transporting of goods. The Marshal was sometimes in charge of disciplining servants. They would likely come from a middle class background as well as having military experience and education.
The Page
A page was a young noble boy about seven years old who would be sent to serve a Lord. He would be in charge of tidying up after the lord, carrying messages to other servants and occupants of the castle and serving him at meals. Unlike others on the list, the page would not be paid. His experience was his payment as he would learn the running of a castle and manners of a lord.
The Lady's Maid
The lady's maid is be the female body attendant of the castle's noble women. She would be in charge of caring for the lady's chamber and her things. She would dress the lady and attend her wherever she would. (The lady's maid would basically do all the work a chamberlain would but you know the wage gap...)
Maidservant
A housemaid/maidservant works to clean the castle. She would be among the first to awaken every morning. Her first task would be sweeping the floors. The thing with mediaeval floors a that they were often covered with a thin layer of rushes, a kind of grass. Weekly if not daily, a maidservant would be expected to change out the rushes and scatter new ones. If it really needed it, she would scrub the stone floors which would be done with a soap called lye, made from ashes and lard. The maidservant would also be expected to go into the bedchambers when the occupants awoke. She would empty the chamberpots if need be. She would get rid of the ashes from the fire and ready the fire for later. She would make up the bed or strip it for the laundresses. She would wash anything that needed washing including furniture and ornaments.
Laundress
The laundress was responsible for the cleaning of anything made of fabric in the household. The laundress would have to fetch their own water either from the castle well or from a nearby river. They would heat the water in large vats and add lye soap (the most popular of the cleaning agents). The constant exposure to soap and hot water was physically tough on the hands of the laundresses and their backs. When the detergents were added to the water, the laundress would dump them into the vat and stir that shit like soup. To dry it they would pin it out on lines or beat the water from it. The laundress might make money by selling secrets. Since they are handling unmentionables, they knew what happened behind closed bedchamber doors or what didn't.
Nursemaid
The nursemaid was in charge of the castle's children. They would ensure the child was fed, washed and generally kept alive while the parents would either be away at court or busy with the lands. The nursemaid would be a common woman from the surrounding lands who would come in to care for a noble child in the stead of the mother who would be expected to get on with other jobs. The nursemaid would be an underlying of the noble governess, a sort of hands-off nanny.
Cook
The cook was one of the most important servants in the castle. They would have the task of overseeing the running of the kitchens and keeping supplies in order. They would likely be on call at all times. Henry VIII's cook was often woken in the night because his royal master wanted a midnight snack. The cook was a valued member of the household and would have been highly sought after if they were a very skilled cook. Cooks would have been paid a handsome wage.
Scullion
The scullion was the lowest member of staff. They would be responsible for scrubbing and cleaning the servants quarters and the kitchens. They would scrub floors with lye, scour pots with sand, sweep put the fireplace and clean up after the other servants. They were the first to rise in a castle and tasked to light all the fires in the kitchens.
Payment & Lifestyle
Within the mediaeval household, payment came from the hand of the steward. As the Lord's manager of accounts, he was in charge of paying staff.
The grander jobs in the castle such as the marshal, the chamberlain, nursemaid and lady's maid would pay better. They would have certain privileges including better bedchambers.
A nursemaid who was breastfeeding the Lord's children would be a valued member of staff. She would be fed better than the other servants.
The page would sleep in a chamber off the lord's bedchamber or sometimes at the foot of the bed. A page would wear the Lord's livery so he would be dressed on the Lord's coin.
The chamberlain would have rooms close to the lord and lady, just in case they were needed by the master in any kind of emergency.
The cook would sleep near the kitchens so they were close enough just in case they are needed in the night.
The other household servants would all sleep in chambers together. The women would sleep in one and the men would sleep in another. Nightly dalliances were frowned upon massively.
Most servants came from the surrounding lands of the castle. When the lord and his family were away at court or somewhere else, there would be a drop in employment. Everything would be cut down ex. Instead of three laundry maids, only one might stay on after the lord goes. The steward, the marshal, the chamberlain, the page, the cook, the nursemaid and the lady's maid were all important staff so their job would be permanent.
Survival Myths That Could Do More Harm Than Good.
Helpful things for action writers to remember
Sticking a landing will royally fuck up your joints and possibly shatter your ankles, depending on how high you’re jumping/falling from. There’s a very good reason free-runners dive and roll.
Hand-to-hand fights usually only last a matter of seconds, sometimes a few minutes. It’s exhausting work and unless you have a lot of training and history with hand-to-hand combat, you’re going to tire out really fast.
Arrows are very effective and you can’t just yank them out without doing a lot of damage. Most of the time the head of the arrow will break off inside the body if you try pulling it out, and arrows are built to pierce deep. An arrow wound demands medical attention.
Throwing your opponent across the room is really not all that smart. You’re giving them the chance to get up and run away. Unless you’re trying to put distance between you so you can shoot them or something, don’t throw them.
Everyone has something called a “flinch response” when they fight. This is pretty much the brain’s way of telling you “get the fuck out of here or we’re gonna die.” Experienced fighters have trained to suppress this. Think about how long your character has been fighting. A character in a fist fight for the first time is going to take a few hits before their survival instinct kicks in and they start hitting back. A character in a fist fight for the eighth time that week is going to respond a little differently.
ADRENALINE WORKS AGAINST YOU WHEN YOU FIGHT. THIS IS IMPORTANT. A lot of times people think that adrenaline will kick in and give you some badass fighting skills, but it’s actually the opposite. Adrenaline is what tires you out in a battle and it also affects the fighter’s efficacy - meaning it makes them shaky and inaccurate, and overall they lose about 60% of their fighting skill because their brain is focusing on not dying. Adrenaline keeps you alive, it doesn’t give you the skill to pull off a perfect roundhouse kick to the opponent’s face.
Swords WILL bend or break if you hit something hard enough. They also dull easily and take a lot of maintenance. In reality, someone who fights with a sword would have to have to repair or replace it constantly.
Fights get messy. There’s blood and sweat everywhere, and that will make it hard to hold your weapon or get a good grip on someone.
A serious battle also smells horrible. There’s lots of sweat, but also the smell of urine and feces. After someone dies, their bowels and bladder empty. There might also be some questionable things on the ground which can be very psychologically traumatizing. Remember to think about all of the character’s senses when they’re in a fight. Everything WILL affect them in some way.
If your sword is sharpened down to a fine edge, the rest of the blade can’t go through the cut you make. You’ll just end up putting a tiny, shallow scratch in the surface of whatever you strike, and you could probably break your sword.
ARCHERS ARE STRONG TOO. Have you ever drawn a bow? It takes a lot of strength, especially when you’re shooting a bow with a higher draw weight. Draw weight basically means “the amount of force you have to use to pull this sucker back enough to fire it.” To give you an idea of how that works, here’s a helpful link to tell you about finding bow sizes and draw weights for your characters. (CLICK ME)
If an archer has to use a bow they’re not used to, it will probably throw them off a little until they’ve done a few practice shots with it and figured out its draw weight and stability.
People bleed. If they get punched in the face, they’ll probably get a bloody nose. If they get stabbed or cut somehow, they’ll bleed accordingly. And if they’ve been fighting for a while, they’ve got a LOT of blood rushing around to provide them with oxygen. They’re going to bleed a lot.
Here’s a link to a chart to show you how much blood a person can lose without dying. (CLICK ME)
If you want a more in-depth medical chart, try this one. (CLICK ME)
Hopefully this helps someone out there. If you reblog, feel free to add more tips for writers or correct anything I’ve gotten wrong here.
How to apply Writing techniques for action scenes:
- Short sentences. Choppy. One action, then another. When there’s a lull in the fight, take a moment, using longer phrases to analyze the situation–then dive back in. Snap, snap, snap. - Same thing with words - short, simple, and strong in the thick of battle. Save the longer syllables for elsewhere. - Characters do not dwell on things when they are in the heat of the moment. They will get punched in the face. Focus on actions, not thoughts. - Go back and cut out as many adverbs as possible. - No seriously, if there’s ever a time to use the strongest verbs in your vocabulary - Bellow, thrash, heave, shriek, snarl, splinter, bolt, hurtle, crumble, shatter, charge, raze - it’s now. - Don’t forget your other senses. People might not even be sure what they saw during a fight, but they always know how they felt. - Taste: Dry mouth, salt from sweat, copper tang from blood, etc - Smell: OP nailed it - Touch: Headache, sore muscles, tense muscles, exhaustion, blood pounding. Bruised knuckles/bowstring fingers. Injuries that ache and pulse, sting and flare white hot with pain. - Pain will stay with a character. Even if it’s minor. - Sound and sight might blur or sharpen depending on the character and their experience/exhaustion. Colors and quick movements will catch the eye. Loud sounds or noises from behind may serve as a fighter’s only alert before an attack. - If something unexpected happens, shifting the character’s whole attention to that thing will shift the Audience’s attention, too. - Aftermath. This is where the details resurface, the characters pick up things they cast aside during the fight, both literally and metaphorically. Fights are chaotic, fast paced, and self-centered. Characters know only their self, their goals, what’s in their way, and the quickest way around those threats. The aftermath is when people can regain their emotions, their relationships, their rationality/introspection, and anything else they couldn’t afford to think or feel while their lives were on the line.
Do everything you can to keep the fight here and now. Maximize the physical, minimize the theoretical. Keep things immediate - no theories or what ifs.
If writing a strategist, who needs to think ahead, try this: keep strategy to before-and-after fights. Lay out plans in calm periods, try to guess what enemies are thinking or what they will do. During combat, however, the character should think about his options, enemies, and terrain in immediate terms; that is, in shapes and direction. (Large enemy rushing me; dive left, circle around / Scaffolding on fire, pool below me / two foes helping each other, separate them.)
Lastly, after writing, read it aloud. Anyplace your tongue catches up on a fast moving scene, edit. Smooth action scenes rarely come on the first try.
More for martial arts or hand-to-hand in general
What a character’s wearing will affect how they fight. The more restricting the clothes, the harder it will be. If they’re wearing a skirt that is loose enough to fight in, modesty will be lost in a life or death situation.
Jewelry can also be very bad. Necklaces can be grabbed onto. Bracelets also can be grabbed onto or inhibit movement. Rings it can depend on the person.
Shoes also matter. Tennis shoes are good and solid, but if you’re unused to them there’s a chance of accidentally hurting your ankle. High heels can definitely be a problem. However, they can also make very good weapons, especially for someone used to balancing on the balls of their feet. Side kicks and thrusting kicks in soft areas (like the solar plexus) or the feet are good ideas. They can also (hopefully) be taken off quickly and used as a hand weapon. Combat boots are great but if someone relies more on speed or aren’t used to them, they can weigh a person down. Cowboy boots can be surprisingly good. Spin kicks (if a character is quick enough to use them) are especially nasty in these shoes.
If a character is going to fight barefoot, please keep location in mind. Concrete can mess up your feet quick. Lawns, yards, etc often have hidden holes and other obstacles that can mess up a fighter. Tile floors or waxed wood can be very slippery if you’re not careful or used to them.
Likewise, if it’s outside be aware of how weather will affect the fight. The sun’s glare can really impede a fighter’s sight. A wet location, inside or outside, can cause a fighter to slip and fall. Sweat on the body can cause a fighter to lose a grip on an opponent too.
Pressure points for a trained fighter are great places to aim for in a fight. The solar plexus is another great place to aim for. It will knock the wind out of anyone and immediately weaken your opponent.
It your character is hit in the solar plexus and isn’t trained, they’re going down. The first time you get hit there you are out of breath and most people double over in confusion and pain. If a fighter is more used to it, they will stand tall and expand themselves in order to get some breath. They will likely keep fighting, but until their breath returns to normal, they will be considerably weaker.
Do not be afraid to have your character use obstacles in their environment. Pillars, boxes, bookshelves, doors, etc. They put distance between you and an opponent which can allow you to catch your breath.
Do not be afraid to have your character use objects in their environment. Someone’s coming at you with a spear, trident, etc, then pick up a chair and get it caught in the legs or use it as a shield. Bedsheets can make a good distraction and tangle someone up. Someone’s invading your home and you need to defend yourself? Throw a lamp. Anything can be turned into a weapon.
Guns often miss their targets at longer distances, even by those who have trained heavily with them. They can also be easier to disarm as they only shoot in one direction. However, depending on the type, grabbing onto the top is a very very bad idea. There is a good likelihood you WILL get hurt.
Knives are nasty weapons by someone who knows what they’re doing. Good fighters never hold a knife the way you would when cutting food. It is best used when held against the forearm. In defense, this makes a block more effective and in offense, slashing movement from any direction are going to be bad. If a character is in a fight with a knife or trying to disarm one, they will get hurt.
Soft areas hit with hard body parts. Hard areas hit with soft body parts. The neck, stomach, and other soft areas are best hit with punches, side kicks, elbows, and other hard body parts. Head and other hard parts are best hit using a knife hand, palm strike, etc. Spin kicks will be nasty regardless of what you’re aiming for it they land.
Common misconception with round house kicks is that you’re hitting with the top of the foot. You’re hitting with the ball. You’re likely to break your foot when hitting with the top.
When punching, the thumb is outside of the fist. You’ll break something if you’re hitting with the thumb inside, which a lot of inexperienced fighters do.
Also, punching the face or jaw can hurt.
It can be hard to grab a punch if you’re not experienced with it despite how easy movies make it seem. It’s best to dodge or redirect it.
Hitting to the head is not always the best idea. It can take a bit of training to be able to reach for the head with a kick because of the height. Flexibility is very much needed. If there are problems with their hips or they just aren’t very flexible, kicks to the head aren’t happening.
Jump kicks are a good way to hit the head, but an opponent will see it coming if it’s too slow or they are fast/experienced.
A good kick can throw an opponent back or knock them to the ground. If the person you’ve hit has experience though, they’ll immediately be getting up again.
Even if they’ve trained for years in a martial art, if they haven’t actually hit anything before or gotten hit, it will be slightly stunning for the person. It does not feel the way you expect it too.
Those yells in martial arts are not just for show. If done right, they tighten your core making it easier to take a hit in that area. Also, they can be used to intimidate an opponent. Yelling or screaming right by their ear can startle someone. (Generally, KHR fans look at Squalo for yelling)
Biting can also be used if someone’s grabbing you. Spitting in someone’s eyes can’t hurt. Also, in a chokehold or if someone is trying to grab your neck in general, PUT YOU CHIN DOWN. This cuts off access and if they’re grabbing in the front can dig into their hand and hurt.
Wrist grabs and other grabs can be good. Especially if it’s the first move an opponent makes and the character is trained, there are simple ways to counter that will have a person on their knees in seconds..
Use what your character has to their advantage. If they’re smaller or have less mass, then they’ll be relying on speed, intelligence, evasion, and other similar tactics. Larger opponents will be able to take hits better, they’re hits may be slower depending on who it is but will hurt like hell if they land, and size can be intimidating. Taller people with longer legs will want to rely on kicking and keeping their distance since they have the advantage there. Shorter people will want to keep the distance closer where it’s easier for them but harder for a taller opponent. Punching is a good idea.
Using a person’s momentum against them is great. There’s martial arts that revolve around this whole concept. They throw a punch? Grab it and pull them forward and around. Their momentum will keep them going and knock them off balance.
Leverage can used in the same way. If used right, you can flip a person, dislocate a shoulder, throw out a knee, etc.
One note on adrenaline: All that was said above is true about it. But, in a fight, it can also make you more aware of what’s going on. A fight that lasts twenty seconds can feel like a minute because time seems to almost slow down while moving extremely rapidly. You only have so much time to think about what you’re doing. You’re taking in information constantly and trying to adjust. Even in the slow down adrenaline gives you, everything is moving very rapidly.
Feelings will be your downfall even more so than adrenaline. Adrenaline can make those feelings more intense, but a good fighter has learned not to listen to those feelings. A good fighter may feel anger at being knocked down or in some way humiliated - their pride taken down. Yet they will not act on the anger. Acting on it makes a fighter more instinctive and many will charge without thinking. Losing control of anything (adrenaline rush, emotions, technique, etc) can be a terrible thing in a fight.
Just thought I’d add in here.
YES. YES.
How to write about Grief:
There is no right or wrong way to experience grief. Just as there is no right or wrong way to write it. Everyone is different, each set of circumstances are different.
The point of this post is to show you how different people react in different ways, and give points on how you might write that, depending on your character and story.
Reactions to Grief
Numbness: Your character may go into auto-pilot and be unable to process the events that have unfolded.
Anger: This can be aimed at other people, at a Higher Being, or at nothing in particular.
Unsteady: Your characters may be unsteady. For example, unable to stop their voice from shaking or they may find it difficult to stand.
Focusing on Others: Your character may disregard their own feelings because they are so overwhelmed and instead concentrate on someone else’s well-being.
Seek out routines: Amid upheavals, your character may seek comfort in tasks that are familiar and “safe,” such as working, cleaning, making their bed, making absurd amounts of tea or taking a morning walk.
Pretending that Everything Is Okay: Grief is viewed as an emotion that should cease or be concealed once the funeral is over. So people mention the news in an offhand comment, then talk and laugh as if all is right with the world.
Denial: Some people deny the reality of death and convince themselves that the news is a joke or can’t be true.
Reactions from people surrounding your character:
People may avoid your character as they do not know what to say or simply can’t find the right words.
Some may even go as far as to cross the street when they notice your character approaching.
Even people that the character has known for years may act strange or standoff-ish, simply because they don’t know what to say.
On the other side of that, some people may be overly helpful and friendly.
It is not uncommon for estranged friends, family or others to suddenly reappear in a person’s life after they have experienced grief.
Either because those people want to offer their support and love or because they’re being nosy and they want to be kept up to date on the “drama”.
Most people will move on from the event fairly quickly if they weren’t emotionally invested.
Some people may even get annoyed at your character for still being upset weeks or months later.
When talking about the person they have lost:
Your character may recall a memory or tell a story about their loved one, these are possible reactions. (I have encountered all of them.)
Your character may being to cry or get upset at the thought of the person they have lost.
The person they are talking to may become awkward and avert eye contact when your character brings up the person they have lost.
Others may ask or tell your character to stop talking about the person they have lost. They may roll their eyes, cough awkwardly, or cut off your character mid sentences so that they can change the subject.
Some people may ask inappropriate questions about the circumstances in which the character’s loved one passed away. Depending on the personality of your character then may react differently.
Other things to note:
Grief is not constrained by time.
One of the main problems with grief in fiction is that a character is typically heartbroken for a couple scenes and then happy again. But grief does not evaporate because the world needs saving.
Allow your character to wrestle with their grief.
Your character may feel guilty. Your character may feel a twinge of guilt when they laugh or have a good time with someone else; when they do something to remind them that they’re alive, and their loved one isn’t.
Grief is a game changer. A previously outgoing character may withdraw and isolate themselves. Some people may take grief and/or bereavement as a sign that life is too short; they may make big decisions in an attempt to make themselves feel better and grow away from their pain.
Sometimes grief can help you find your purpose.
At first grief can be all consuming. It hurts and you can’t really control it. It may seem unrelenting. Eventually the grief will become easier to deal with, your character may find the days to be better, but that doesn’t mean that when the grief hits it doesn’t hurt any less.
For most people, grief never really goes away. “Sometimes you have to accept the fact that certain things will never go back to how they used to be.”
It is rare that a person will ever give a long speech about their feelings, a lot of people struggle to even find the words. But that’s okay. Show the reader how your character feels, rather than just telling them.
Don’t pause the plot to deal with the aspect of grief. This could overwhelm the readers and drag the pace down. In reality, life doesn’t just stop due to grief, the world keeps spinning and things still need to be done. Use the character’s grief as a backdrop for the story’s events.
Yes, grief affects the character’s day-to-day life, goals, and relationships. But it shouldn’t drive readers away or stagnate the story. Instead, should engage readers and produce empathy that keeps them turning pages.
You don’t need to tell your readers that everything will be fine. You don’t need to provide all of the answers.
“Skirting grief and treating it lightly is easy. But by realistically portraying it through a variety of responses and its lasting effects on the character’s life, readers will form a connection with your characters.“
Writing an action scene-
In your head:
Trying to describe it like:
ADVICE TIME. I also plan very elaborate fight scenes in my head and it took me a long time to figure out how to write them. Obviously there’s no right or wrong way to go about writing a fight scene, but here’s my method if anyone wants to give it a shot:
1) Find some good fight scenes to reference. Note that while it should look *something* like the fight you’re going to write, you can be pretty flexible as long as you can translate the movements of the original fight into something that makes sense for your setting. For example, I once adapted elements of a bending fight in Legend of Korra into a lightsaber duel, even though the LoK fight didn’t involve swords or melee weapons, because I was able to retain the spirit of the LoK blocking in swordfight form. Turning that LoK fight into something involving guns, on the other hand, would be tricky. The reverse is also true - it’s tough to turn a gunfight into melee combat.
2) Watch the reference scenes a few times, and try to identify what about the blocking makes it cool.
3) Watch the reference scene again, but this time watch it in slow motion or pause it every couple seconds. Make a mental note of what’s happening frame by frame. Try to break it down into smaller pieces as well as large movements - don’t just say “he swings a sword,” make a note of the micromovements that go into swinging a sword.
4) Block your fight scene without any flair or description. Just write a list of simple, one-line descriptors of what happens blow by blow. Draw on your observations of the reference fight scenes from steps 1-3. You shouldn’t copy a fight’s blocking verbatim, but you can borrow individual elements as long as the way you describe it in Step 5 brings something new to the table. (The equivalent in art would be using references. Tracing a picture and calling it yours? Bad. Plagiarism. Looking at pictures similar to the thing you want to draw and using that to figure out how it should look? Or looking at art and saying “hey the way they did x is really cool, I want to emulate that part of their style”? Good and fine.)
5) Once it’s blocked, THEN you go back in and add flourishes. Note that you shouldn’t add flourishes to every sentence. Some of them should be short & declarative. But figure out the places where you can add relevant information and flesh those out more.
If you’re still struggling to write a fight scene, here’s a list of questions you can ask yourself about the fight scene. Use the answers to inform the blocking AND how you embellish on that blocking.
Are there lots of acrobatics?
Is it fluid or choppy?
Are the characters going for glancing blows or are they throwing their whole weight into the strike? If melee combat, do they have to follow through? If ranged combat, is there recoil? If it’s a heavy blow or recoil is involved, what does that feel like?
How do the characters and their weapons hold up as the fight progresses? Do they need to reload ammo? Do weapons break? Do they injure themselves? If the answer to any of those is yes, how does that change the course of the fight?
Are characters using the environment in interesting ways?
Does the fight damage things around them?
Are the weather or other conditions (lighting, smoke, hazards) complicating the fight?
Does the fighting style reveal something about the character, or the relationship between two characters?
Does a fight have extra dimension because of the characters’ relationships, or the context of the fight?
What do the characters want out of the fight? Is it a no-holds-barred fight to the death, or is it a ceremonial fight with rules and norms to follow?
Is it strenuous? Do the characters tire? Do they sweat? Do they get dirty? Do any of those factors affect the fight as it goes on? How do characters deal with pain?
Are the characters used to fighting? Are they scared? Do they enjoy it? What does it physically feel like to experience those emotions while fighting? If they’re fighting to the death and they kill somebody, does that bother them? Have they done it before? Do they feel guilt or regret? If they’re numb to what’s happening, is it because they’re a hardened killer or because they’re running on adrenaline and survival instincts?
Who wants to do a writing retreat. Tea and cookies and old book smell let’s do it.
