Stepping Stones

I'm a writer

[writingwithfolklore]

Writing Resources to use instead of AI

For coming up with character names:

Behind the name (my absolute fav)

Allows you to choose the origin of where you want the name to be from, whether you want a more feminine vs masculine vs androgenous name (as voted by users), random surname generator, and clicking on the name gives you important info like if there are any famous people with the same name, where it’s from, how common it is, and how people tend to see it, etc.

You can also search their name database by letter or meaning or origin, so if you know you want a character who has a name/surname that starts with an A from Ireland, there’s a whole list for you to choose from.

Census sites

Especially useful if you’re looking for a name from a specific place and/or time period. Just search “(country) census (year)” and you’ll find a database of real people who lived in that place at that time. No one can ever call your names unrealistic again.

For coming up with place names:

Fantasy name generator

This site can basically come up with any name for any person, place, or thing you might ever need. There are also specific generators for different fandoms if you’re looking to make an OC in an established world.

For finding that one word on the tip of your tongue:

One Look Thesaurus

This is my go-to. Not only can you find synonyms like a regular thesaurus, but you can also describe words like “unhappy smile” or “quiet laugh” to find the more specific word you’re looking for.

For coming up with ideas:

Word cloud

When I need to inspire a new idea, I write down all the things I’m interested in (hauntings, academia, lesbians, etc.) and put them into a word cloud to shuffle them next to each other. Sometimes seeing a concept in a new context can spark new ideas!

WWF Discord

This is my discord channel (shameless plug) for when you need to brainstorm off other people but don’t have anyone irl to talk to. We’re also happy to read and give feedback on writing, answer writing questions, or just chat!

For visualizing places and characters:

Pinterest

Pinterest can at times be a bit too sterile for my tastes, but if you use the right words, you can find more realistic photos of places. For example, adding “aesthetic” after basically any word will bring up a more broad collection of photos to help you flesh out places.

This is also a great way to find photos of people and fashion to help visualize characters. I’m bad at describing clothes, so I usually collect photos of outfits to help me know what my characters are wearing. Searching up “character inspiration” will collect more interesting photos and drawings of people who might not exactly be of our world.

(However, to make Pinterest not show you AI results, you have to go into your settings and check the “reduce AI” box. Luckily, it does mostly work.)

Death to Stock

Like pinterest but completely AI free (hooray!) Only drawback is that you have to pay a monthly subscription (about $20 CAD).

Cosmos

Very similar to pinterest but slightly more "artsy". I'm not super familiar with this one but I believe all the photos are human and you can save them and create collections with a free account.

Dupe Photos

Royalty-free stock image site with very Pinterest-core photos!

Minecraft

If you haven’t built your entire fictional city in Minecraft instead of writing, why not? It’s fun.

The Sims

This one is dual purpose because you can not only create your characters in Create a Sim, but you can design their houses. If you really want to go for it, you can bulldoze all the lots in your town and build your world from scratch.

For checking grammar:

Grammar Girl

Easy to follow definitions and examples, and if you learn better by listening, every article comes with a podcast to follow along with instead.

Grammar Monster

This one is my favourite for checking grammar rules because there’s tons of examples in graphics that helps for any situation.

Reedsy

Among other things, reedsy can connect you to professional editors within your budget.

For writing advice:

One Stop for Writers

This one was recommended from my discord channel and has all sorts of tutorials and resources for the writing craft.

My Blog Directory

Another shameless plug, but if you need writing advice on something specific, you can search through my directory to see if it’s there. If it isn’t, you can always send me an ask about it!

For an alternative to Google Docs:

Ellipsus

Think google docs but without AI. Yay!

(will update this list with any more suggestions or resources I discover 😊)

[just-a-readthrough]

A great resource

[overfalls]

IT’S NOT ‘PEEKED’ MY INTEREST

OR ‘PEAKED’

BUT PIQUED

‘PIQUED MY INTEREST’

THIS HAS BEEN A CAPSLOCK PSA

[owlbearcounter]

THIS IS ACTUALLY REALLY USEFUL THANK YOU

[ranetree]

ADDITIONALLY:

YOU ARE NOT ‘PHASED’. YOU ARE ‘FAZED.’

IF IT HAS BEEN A VERY LONG DAY, YOU ARE ‘WEARY’. IF SOMEONE IS ACTING IN A WAY THAT MAKES YOU SUSPICIOUS, YOU ARE ‘WARY’.

ALL IN ‘DUE’ TIME, NOT ‘DO’ TIME

‘PER SE’ NOT ‘PER SAY’

THANK YOU

[tassiekitty]

BREATHE - THE VERB FORM IN PRESENT TENSE

BREATH - THE NOUN FORM

THEY ARE NOT INTERCHANGEABLE

WANDER - TO WALK ABOUT AIMLESSLY

WONDER - TO THINK OF IN A DREAMLIKE AND/OR WISTFUL MANNER

THEY ARE NOT INTERCHANGEABLE (but one’s mind can wander)

[fairywails]

DEFIANT - RESISTANT DEFINITE - CERTAIN

[melancholicmarionette]

WANTON - DELIBERATE AND UNPROVOKED ACTION (ALSO AN ARCHAIC TERM FOR A PROMISCUOUS WOMAN)

WONTON - IT’S A DUMPLING THAT’S ALL IT IS IT’S A FUCKING DUMPLING

[proletariatbitch]

BAWL- TO SOB/CRY

BALL- A FUCKING BALL

YOU CANNOT “BALL” YOUR EYES OUT

[soggywarmpockets]

AND FOR FUCK’S SAKE, IT’S NOT “SIKE”; IT’S “PSYCH”. AS IN “I PSYCHED YOU OUT”; BECAUSE YOU MOMENTARILY MADE SOMEONE BELIEVE SOMETHING THAT WASN’T TRUE.

THANK YOU.

[everylineeverystory]

*slams reblog*

[leonawriter]

IT’S ‘MIGHT AS WELL’. ‘MIND AS WELL’ DOES NOT MAKE GRAMMATICAL SENSE.

[penbrydd]

SLEIGHT - DEXTERITY, ARTIFICE, CRAFT (FROM ‘SLY’) SLIGHT - VERY LITTLE, FRAIL, DELICATE

IT’S ‘SLEIGHT OF HAND’.

[maverlok]

[celynbrum]

DISCRETE - SEPARATE, DISTINCT, PARTED

DISCREET - SUBTLE, STEALTHY, DIPLOMATIC

[othercat2]

BORN= existing as a result of birth

BORNE= carried or transported by

[typesetjez]

LIGHTENING = to make something less dark in color or to lessen its weight

LIGHTNING = bright flash of light during electrical storms

[obervation-subject-753]

{This is quite helpful. Thank you Rebloggers.}

[ask-the-dancingdreamer-archive]

((adm: I just want to add-

Loose- untight

Lose- opposite of winning))

[ask-the-awesome]

((ALSO: A fun trick -  Affect = Action  Effect = End Result ))

[ed-edward-blackbeard]

There = In that place

Their = belonging to them

can’t = a contraction for cannot

cant = a tilt or lean at an angle, usually to accommodate accessibility

[gossip-girl-of-middleearth]

Me thinking that this is child’s play and that I know it all already:

Me realising there are some things I didn’t already know:

[inthememetime]

TO- GOING ONE PLACE TOWARDS ANOTHER

TWO- 2, A NUMBER BETWEEN 1 AND 3

TOO- A DESCRIPTIVE WORD, THE MUSIC IS TOO LOUD, THE SHIRT IS TOO LOOSE.

[recess-is-in]

Trick for telling whether to use “me” or “i”

Drop the other subject(s) and if the sentence makes sense, you’re using the right one.

Examples:

Incorrect- Arthur and me are going to the mall//me am going to the mall -no

Correct- Arthur and i are going to the mall//i am going to the mall

Incorrect- they brought presents for Henry and i//they brought presents for i -no

Correct- they brought presents for Henry and me//they brought presents for me

[knightoflodis]

Rogue - a scoundrel or disreputable person

Rouge - a kind of makeup

[intactics-deactivated20250505]

IT IS A TENET OF YOUR RELIGION

IT IS NOT A TENANT OF YOUR RELIGION

[curlicuecal]

Vicious- mean

Viscous- sticky

Conscious- awake, mindful

Conscience- Jiminy Cricket

[morbidlyqueerious]

The affect vs effect thing is very useful!  Until you learn that you can effect (to cause to occur; bring about; accomplish) an affect (feeling or emotion, OR outward expression of same; yes, this is two nouns!) because English is a garbage fire.

[official-ottawa]

UNCONSCIOUS: NOT AWAKE

SUBCONSCIOUS: NOT AWARE

You do not make a decision unconsciously, it’s SUBCONSCIOUSLY.

If you wanna say someone made a decision without realizing, you use SUBCONSCIOUS.

If you wanna say you made a decision while sleeping (how??) you use UNCONSCIOUS

So many writers don’t know this and it drives me nuts

[the-haiku-bot]

You do not make a

decision unconsciously,

it’s SUBCONSCIOUSLY.

Beep boop! I look for accidental haiku posts. Sometimes I mess up.

[bardofavon]

not to be controversial bc I know this is like…not in line with shifting opinions on fanfic comment culture but if there’s a glaring typo in my work I will NOT be offended by pointing it out. if ao3 fucks up the formatting…I will also not be offended by having this pointed out…

‘looking forward to the next update’ and ‘I hope you update soon!’ are different vibes than a demand, and should be read in good faith because a reader is finding their way to tell you how much they love it. I will not be mad at this.

‘I don’t usually like this ship but this fic made me feel something’ is also incredibly high praise. I’m not going to get mad at this.

even ‘I love this fic but I’m curious about why you made [x] choice’ is just another way a reader is engaging in and putting thought into your work.

I just feel like a lot of authors take any comment that’s not perfectly articulated glowing praise in the exact manner they’re hoping to receive it in bad faith.

fic engagement has been dropping across the board over the last several years, and yes it’s frustrating but it isn’t as though I can’t see how it happens. comment anxiety can be a real thing. the last thing anyone wants to do is offend an author they love, and that means sometimes people default to silence.

idk where I’m going with this I guess aside from saying unless a comment is outright attacking me I’m never going to get mad at it, and I think a lot of authors should feel the same way. ESPECIALLY TYPOS PLZ GOD POINT OUT MY TYPOS.

[bamsara]

Something I made while dealing with my own stuff and hoping drawing this would pick me up somehow. Maybe it worked.

FT my cat. His name is Mischief

[lilyanneblack]

Instant reblog

[newtype-lila]

rb to tell prev they're being so brave right now and pat their head a little please

[stewdoesthings]

Fanfiction exists for TWO reasons:

Dealing with complex thoughts and emotions I can't work through in therapy, like grief, despair, a complicated relationship with pain and addiction

Seeing the same characters fuck over amd over again

[tjwock]

HEY.

HEY YALL.

USAMERICAN DEMOCRATS SUCCESSFULLY REMOVED EVERY ANTITRANS RIDER FROM EVERY FUNDING BILL

Spread the fucking word because LORD knows democrats fucking suck at spreading it themselves and will fail once again to inform their base

But just in case you’re sitting there going “the Dems aren’t doing anything,” THEY ARE

IT IS JUST SLOW

AND MOSTLY INVISIBLE

BUT THEY ARE

[bakedbakermom]

if you ever find yourself writing fanfiction and thinking "this is too indulgent" that is the devil talking and he can go ahead and shut the fuck up

[fanfictionjumbler]

Better solutions than age verification BS

Teaching children/teens basic internet safety rules such as not giving out personal information (name, age, etc.) and internet stranger danger

Informing parents/guardians about the existence of the YouTube Kids app before they hand the unfiltered iPad to a kid to watch

Informing about YouTube Teen Accounts

More online teen spaces such as MMOs, pet sites, and RP forums with site rules to keep things appropriate

Emphasis of report and block buttons if something said in said spaces makes someone uncomfortable and/or breaks site rules

Game support forums not being locked to Discord servers and easily accessible to the entire userbase

Parental blocks that restrict downloading dedicated "adult community" apps

In mixed age online spaces, adults being less hesitant about using built in content filters such as tags and mature content labels

Parents/guardians understanding age ratings on items such as movies and video games, especially R and M

Parents, guardians, and trusted adults (ex. teachers, librarians) being available to listen and discuss when a topic is confusing (and not immediately get mad and complain about the material)

Better access to youth library materials (ex. young adult)

More/better offline teen spaces and access to hobbies without too much unnecessary expense

[ithinkhesgaybutwesavedmufasa]

For those who don't contain a vast knowledge of Green Day lore like myself, I don't think it is hitting just how much of a "fuck you" the NFL is giving djt/the white house.

This is a band that is:

Made entirely of openly bisexual/queer men

Made entirely of men who are vocal about being raised by single mothers on welfare

One of their members was adopted and raised by a Black Native American woman and has said he "understands how his mother could hate 'the white man' and love him with her whole soul."

Were the first band to say, "No Trump, No KKK, No Fascist/MAGA U.S.A." on live television without ANY warning.

Literally released a song last year called, "The American Dream Is Killing Me"

Prioritizes all female/female fronted bands to open for them to address inequality in the music industry. (edited for clarity since yall blew this post up. Lol)

OPENLY tells trump supporters they are not welcome at their concerts.

Anyway, Enjoy Feb. 8th Magats! You're gonna hate it. :)

[flythesail]

Growing up on the internet it was drilled into us to not give our real name, age, etc. only for all these social platforms to turn around and be like 😦☝️ um actually, we really need your social security number, credit card, and full government ID.

[buddie-romance]

thank you ao3 for being an archive and not an algorithm. thank you for letting me like things without consequences, thank you for being free with no ads, thank you for having lawyers to defend our freedom of speech. thank you tag wranglers. thank you to all authors and thank you ao3

[curiousmittenkitten]

Yesssss

[boss-of-armadildos]

[math-is-magic]

#genuinely: this is what further research into the famous 'marshmallow test' showed#it wasn't that kids who were able to delay gratification were more likely to be successful later on#due to intrinsic qualities#it was that kids who had a stable upbringing were more likely to be successful#and ALSO: those kids had trust that their caregivers would keep promises#which is WHY they were willing to give up one marshmallow now for the promise of two marshmallows later#kids who did NOT have trustworthy caregivers#or who were in a fundamentally unstable situation#DID NOT have that trust so they wanted their one marshmallow NOW#same deal here i think#it's not that Gen Z is bratty#it's that they have no trust in the system and no faith that promises will be fulfilled#and frankly i do not blame them -@cicerfics

[imissthembutitwasntadisaster]

"the world isn't kind" ok??? Much more importantly are you?????

[whatsupwalnut]

"the world isnt kind" skill issue. I am

[inkieswirlsgaming]

This is a threat

[and-fishing-equipment]

in 2026 DO NOT ask yourself whether your art is GOOD

instead ask:

is it SINCERE

was it CATHARTIC

was it FUN TO MAKE

is it MADE BY ME

and don't forget to stay silly

[landwriter]

just wanted to thank fandom, and in particular everybody who has ever let me a long heartfelt comment on my fic, because experiencing that as a creator of things has made me realize i myself am going through life as a coward. not only has your commenting materially changed me & encouraged me to write, but it has also made me change how i engage with all kinds of art because i cannot un-learn how powerful those kinds of comments can be.

i went to a show on the weekend and loved a band - big enough to tour nationally, small enough to be the opener at a $20 bar show. we chatted and i bought merch and it was perfectly lovely but i’d listened to their album since getting tickets and have come to love it in a much more specific and personal way than “awesome set, you guys were great”

in the past i would not have done anything with these feelings, and if i shared them with anyone it would have been my friends - certainly not the band. but instead i wrote them a long and earnest message the next day. embarrassing! horrible! but knowing what it has meant to me to receive such a message made me push through it and hit send even while wanting to pitch myself into a pit of personal mortification.

but what do you know, lo and behold, shocking no one except the cop and coward in my head, the lead singer replied thanking me, and talked more about their plans and music, in an even longer wall of text.

it’s things like this that keep me going as an artist, he said. thank you again, my heart is so full

anyways, so is mine, thinking of all the people who have told me exactly how something i shared made them feel, and made me confront how pointless and miserly it is to sit on my feelings and gratitude just because i am shy of showing them; what a sad dead end for the transformative touch of creation, when it could be reflected right back into the heart of the person who reached out into your guts in the first place.

here’s to those who keep it all going, and in doing so, spread it to the rest of us, rolling outward and outward, filling up hearts.

[open-sketchbook]

once again needing to remind some people that mispronouncing foreign words isn't just about not knowing how to say it; if your language doesn't have that sound, in many cases you can't hear it properly. You won't be able to hear yourself say it wrong because you probably can't distinguish between the sounds a native speaker can. It will sound right to you and you will be wrong.

Most languages use relatively similar sound inventories overall, but make distinctions others don't. And the way the our language centers work is they group these sounds together, allowing us to recognize that things within a given range constitute a recognizable phoneme. If your languages groups together sounds another language makes a distinction between, your brain cannot tell.

So everyone on those posts congratulating themselves for looking up pronunciation and saying "It's Not That Hard?" Surprise, you might have still got it wrong and can't even tell. You can look up the IPA chart and still flub it completely because what sounds right to your brain and what a native speaker will understand are totally different things!

"I might have butchered that, please let me know" is sometimes an excuse for lack of research, but it is, unfortunately, also a much more accurate self-assessment than confidently fucking it up after mouthing along to a wav file a few times.

This is one of the reasons that, historically, many people would take on or be granted new names if they stayed any length of time in another culture; it's very common for the names from one language to simply not map to the sounds of another!