can't cope won't cope babey

Hannah, she/her, 22 I talk to the void about my WIP's and all things writing advice (icon isn’t me! OC commission courtesy of @oceanux)

[chucktaylorupset]

*emerges from the other room covered in blood* you should see the word document

[wantonlywindswept]

does it look like this

[vickythestrange]

[scifimedic]

Episode 2 of SciFiMedic Explains: How do I write broken ribs with primitive field surgery for a collapsed lung?

Original prompt submitted by @lancedoncrimsonwings.

“Character has broken ribs on one side, then fell from a horse (landing on the injured side and dislocating their shoulder by trying to brace to protect their ribs). Is it likely the fall would worsen the break, and if a rib punctured their lung, how would someone with them first aid that in the wilderness? (Medieval times, generally). They have access to water, a dagger, a form of herbal ish pain relief/sedative made from poppies, and reeds. Survivable or nay?”

This is a fun scenario!

Falling from a horse may seem fairly mundane, but many life threatening injuries can happen, especially if the horse steps on you. To end up with a dislocated shoulder, they would most likely land on their outstretched arm.

The instinct to fling out an arm when falling is stronger than the instinct to pull in and brace broken ribs. The shoulder would most likely dislocate anteriorly from this kind of injury. 

Source

Here’s a step by step guide on reducing a shoulder via the Hennepin technique: 

Lie down. Flat on their back with no pillow. 

The person who’s helping them should gently grab the injured arm by the wrist and bend the elbow to 90 degrees. Support the elbow with one hand, hold the wrist with the other. You can also hold their hand. 

Gently press the elbow to their side. 

Keeping the elbow near their side at all time, gently pull their wrist away from their body, externally rotating their shoulder away. This should go extremely slow, at least 10 minutes to allow muscles to relax. 

The shoulder will make an audible “pop” when it slides back into it’s socket. The pain goes away immediately, but is replaced with a dull throb a few hours later. You want to bind the arm to the chest to prevent movement of the joint as it heals. 

Source: Merck Manuals 

Now… it sounds like a dislocated shoulder isn’t the worst of their problems. Whoever is helping them may be more concerned about their obviously injured shoulder and focus on treating that first, while completely missing the fact that they’re showing symptoms of a pneumothorax, which is what happens if a rib punctures a lung. 

There are two ways you can play this. 

Option 1: Closed-Simple Pneumothorax

This can happpen when a broken rib pops a hole in the lung. This can be a tiny little nick, or a larger hole. Because it’s simple, that means that the air that’s coming into the pleural space (the area between the outside of the lungs and the inside of the chest, normall filled with slick fluid) is able to get back into the lungs again. There is a slight pressure build up, and the lung is slightly compressed, but you can have a simple pneumothorax and not notice it for literal months. The treatment is simple, let it heal on its own. There’s not much you can do, even with modern surgical practices. It’s better for everyone to leave it be. 

Option 2: Closed-Tension Pneumothorax 

Based on the supplies you’ve given me, this is probably what you’re thinking. A tension pneumothorax happens when that air coming into the pleural space isn’t able to get out. With each breath, more air is forced around the lung, collapsing it. The only way to relieve this pressure is to manually release the air by poking a hole in the chest wall. Before you do that however, we have to make sure they actually have a collapsed lung. Here’s the signs & symptoms: 

Decreased breath sounds on the bad side

Sharp pain in the chest

Panting

Fast heartbeat

Jugular Vein Distension (photo)

Tracheal deviation away from injured side (photo) 

Blue lips and fingernails

Jugular Vein Distention

Source

Tracheal Deviation

Source

While this is not a pneumothorax case, I could correctly diagnose a right-side tension pneumothoarx from this picture and listening to breath sounds. 

Alright, you’re sure it’s a pneumothorax? Fantastic. Now it’s time for the fun part. Here’s a step-by-step guide using the supplies (and time period) you’ve given me. 

Step 1: Identify the site you’re going to poke a hole. Refer to handy-dandy diagram for reference.

Source: PlumCast

Step 2: Clean as best you can. If you have strong alcohol, use that. If you have soap and water, use that next. Failing all else, use the cleanest cloth you have with some clean water to wipe off any dirt. The level you’re able to clean will determine the likelihood your character will survive. If you have alcohol, they’re more likely to pull through.  

You should be cleaning the chest, the daggar, and the tiny, hollow reed. 

Step 3: No time for pain medication, it’s not going to kick in anyways. DO NOT give them alcohol to drink for the pain. Use the smallest blade you have to make a small hole in the chest wall right between the 4th and 5th ribs. They only need to go about an inch if the patient is skinny. Most EMS units today use 3” needles, but not the whole needle is inserted. You probably won’t hear any air movement until you pull the dagger out, so it may take a few tries to get deep enough.

Step 4: Pull the blade out and insert the reed. Once the reed enters the pleural space, air and blood should come rushing out. Relief will be immediate, and the JVD and tracheal displacement should fix themselves in less than a hour. 

Step 5: Secure and prevent reoccurrence. That reed needs to stay in place. Use bandages or whatever you have to keep it there. You also need to create a one-way valve to prevent the air from just being sucked right back into the chest cavity through the convient hole you just made. Get a clean rag, soak it in lard, oil, or water if you have to and secure it loosely over the reed. The idea is that when they exhale, the free air in the chest is allowed to escape, but when they inhale, the cloth snaps shut over the reed and prevents air from entering. 

Step 6: And now it’s up to their body. The reed should be changed every 12 hours minimum to prevent infection, the one way valve as well. It’s important to note that if you’re using water on the cloth for your one-way valve, you’ll need to keep that wet. Now is the time for pain medication as well, boil the poppy seeds in clean water to make a tea. Poppy contains a similar chemical to morphine, so they will get some relief from this. It’s really hard to drink when lying flat on your back, so drip a washcloth in the tea and let them suck on it. 

Complications

Your biggest enemy is going to be infection obviously. There are several things you can do to prevent it. 

Clean the site. Alcohol or soap and water every 12 hours minimum (do it with the reed change). Make sure you’re cleaning the open wound, but don’t scrub into the chest wall, that’s going to push bacteria further into the wound. The signs of a local infection are: 

Red streaks coming from the wound

Pus

Warmth

Swelling

Green or yellow pus

Pain

If infection starts to develop, increase the cleaning to 4 hour rotations, and continue to replace the reed at that time. Signs of a developing system-wide infection: 

Fever

Nausea

Vomiting

Chills

Cold sweat

Fast heartbeat

Both honey and garlic have been clinically proven to have antibacterial properties . Apply crushed garlic and honey to the wound. Garlic also appears to be effective if consumed as well, honey is just topical. 

Sources:

Honey: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3609166/

Garlic: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4458355/

i can’t make this shit up

Pneumonia is a serious complication. Honestly, if they get pneumonia, they’re dead. They will have a high fever, start coughing, and die fairly quickly with a primitive chest tube in place. Sorry. :( 

Sepsis is also a death sentence. It’s a system-wide blood infection charterised by a high fever, low blood pressure, then sudden system shutdown and organ death. There’s not a lot you can do without real antibiotics, so avoid this if possible. 

Thankfully, the line between a bad local infection and sepsis is not easily identifiable without a hospital (a blood pressure cuff, really) so you can have quite a bit of angst around this and still have them pull through in the end. 

 What about the broken ribs? Leave them. There’s nothing you can do. Trying to manipulate them with your hands will only make it worse if you’re doing it blind (without X-Ray guidance.) 

It’s been awhile… now what? Normally, this patient would be rushed into the OR to repair the hole in the lung. Since you don’t have that, here are a few long-term options. 

The lung heals itself neatly. This is totally possible. You’re looking at at least two months though… and it’s a stretch. This character better have plot armor. Note: if you have pierced ears, you know that a hole in the body eventually seals itself off and doesn’t ever heal shut. Same with your makeshift chest tube. Once the lung has healed and it’s time to remove the reed, you may need to scrape the skin of the hole down a little to encourage healing. That’s another few weeks of healing. The lung can regain full capacity, and free air in the pleura will be absorbed into the bloodstream.

The lung heals poorly. As long at the hole in the lung is closed, the body will take care of the rest and absorb the free air. Same scraping for the chest tube site. They may lose use of the damaged lung- some people can learn to live without sections of their lungs but will never be able to do what they used to. It’s important to remember that the broken ribs may have healed in a place where they permanently damage lung function. 

The lung never heals. This means a permanent chest tube. The infection will eventually catch up to them, and they’ll die. 

Best case scenario survival odds: 60% 

Worst case scenario survival odds: 0%

Essentially, if you want them to survive, you can write it in a way it’s medically possible. But they have to fight hard, be strong, and have a healthy body with good fat stores before the accident. 

Disclaimer: Although I’m in school to become a medical professional, I’m not one yet. Please don’t sue. Can you even do that from a Tumblr post? I don’t know. All mistakes are mine, and I’m always open to discussion.

‘crimson, thanks for the detailed question. I had so much fun researching this stuff. Hope this helps, and feel free to ask clarifying questions. (Tension pneumo stuff can be really confusing.)

[tlirsgender]

Hardest part of writing is accepting that some people will not fucking get it & you just have to like cope with that because over-explaining it just makes it worse

[tlirsgender]

I will not over-explain my art to the stupidest people on earth. I'm writing for people who know what I'm talking about. Mantra that will save you. David Lynch was right

[sagethegremlin]

these tags are perfect and I think everyone should see them

[fatestayyuri]

whenever i go back through my blog to look for something i end up wasting a lot of time just looking at the posts because for some reason it's full of stuff i would reblog

[taraxippos]

One of my all time biggest pet peeves with historical(ish) fantasy is when the writer constructs a religion with a clear bias that it's stupid and false and therefore only the Stupid People and/or commoners believe in it and all the smart/elite main characters are like, quasi-atheists or otherwise just routinely flout established religious conventions of orthodoxy and/or orthopraxy because they're Too Smart for it or etc.

It's usually an extension of assumptions that people in the past were just less intelligent than in the contemporary, just being like "I know that the sun is a star millions of miles away that the earth orbits, but this ancient religion describes it as a chariot flying through the sky" and not really bothering to learn the context and just (consciously or subconsciously) settling on 'that's a crazy thing to think and was probably believed in because they were Stupid'.

And that whole attitude pisses me off so much. People were as 'smart' 10,000 years ago as they are today. These beliefs aren't just desperate, random flailing to explain phenomena that could not directly be accounted for either, it's not like people just looked at the sun and went "Uhhh I don't know what the fuck that thing is, actually. I guess it might be a chariot or a boat or something?? Yeah let's go with that." and based entire religious practices on this. Every well-established belief system exists within broader contexts of cultural values/subjective perceptions of reality/knowledge systems/etc, and exist as part of a historical continuum of religious practices that came before. Even when not Materially Correct, they have context and internal logic, they're not always dead literal with zero levels of allegory, and they're never a result of stupidity.

[specialagentartemis]

“Be curious about what you’re writing about” is not stock Common Writing Advice but it really, really should be. There are a lot of written works that fail due to the authors just being obviously incurious about what they are writing about.

[wizardshark]

Yeah we've all seen the opposite though. I do NOT need 10 pages of information on the Paris sewage system mid-story

[azeofspades]

Maybe YOU don't. Coward

[wizardshark]

Victor Hugo isn't going to fuck you!!

[largishcat]

he would if he was alive. man was famously A Slut

[clockworkspider]

You really need to make non-tragic past for your characters, significant people and events that impacted their lives, non-dramatic mundane moments that shaped them, happy memories, bitter memories, embarrassing memories.

Like yes the space princess lost her whole civilization, but did she have friends before that? Favorite place? Does she miss the sound of her favorite music she use to listen to?

[stupid-elf]

You need to show us the flowers for us to be sad when you write that they ripped the garden out

[xypheris-deactivated20250603]

Brainstorming at 3 AM: This will be an epic saga of love, betrayal, and redemption.

Drafting the next chapter: Uh...they eat soup, I guess?

[elucubrare]

i think one of the reasons i get mildly annoyed about worldbuilding threads that are 200 tweets of why you should care about where blue dye comes from in your world before saying someone is wearing blue is that so few of them go up to the second level of "and that should impact your characters somehow" - i don't care that blue dye comes from pressing berries that only grow in one kingdom a thousand miles away if people are casually wearing blue

[elucubrare]

a couple of people reblogged this so i was thinking about it again (ok i'm almost always thinking about material culture worldbuilding tbh) & a lot of my problem is that these kinds of worldbuilding threads and posts treat it like an obligation and not an oppurtunity --

"blue dye is rare" is a world fact that could be a plot obstacle (character is a dyer and needs blue cloth, of the right shade, for a festival); a clue (main character notices someone wearing blue and realizes that they're in disguise); a way to inform character (main character sees a blue banner and thinks its owner is showing off); and any number of other things, from small to large.

and if the rarity doesn't serve any of those functions in your story, then the existence of blue dye is not important enough that you, as the author, need to consider it.

i'm a trends and forces guy - i believe any given worldstate is created by billions of coinflips leading up to that moment, some random (the sun rose on the day of the battle and gave one side victory) and some more directed (a law was enacted with a specific intent). expecting, as an author, to have generated a worldstate that coheres and connects in the same way and with the same complexity as ours is going to lead to paralysis more often than it is to interesting worldbuilding, or worldbuilding that supports the story you're trying to tell.

[whetstonefires]

Yeah you don't need to know where everything comes from. What you need, which I think a lot of these demands are actually angling for, is a good intuitive sense of where your setting differs from your present reality.

I don't care where they get their common blue dyes if it's not relevant to the story, but I do care if the narrative's handling of clothes and their color reflects a 'pick out entire readymades from the mall' relationship to wardrobe in a technological and social milieu where that is not logically an option, and there's no sign they're going for one of those surreal modern-pop fantasy settings.

You really do see this quite regularly, coming from writers who just haven't thought about it; they haven't noticed their own cultural framework is historically contingent and actually super abnormal.

'Who domesticated wheat' and 'where does the blue come from' are very handy as sort of shortcut checkpoints to make sure you're making regular contact with material worldbuilding at all--if you know where the blue is from you don't need to decide where the red is from also; you've done the important bit of aligning your thoughts about clothing color with premodern dyeing practices. Other details will tend to accrete on that surface now as they arise.

But yeah if these are approached as literal dictums you just overbuild to no purpose.

[beatrice-otter]

#my current textile bugbear is rags#we've basically abandoned them as a society#and now you routinely get people who *have* done some worldbuilding thinking and are doing okay with the period content#but don't really grasp where rags come from or what they're good for#apart from labeling The Poors#and will say things like the torn and bloodstained garments had been thrown out#as they were no longer even fit for rags#how so????#what do you imagine the minimum qualifications of a rag are??#kakl;jdkdfa

#look rags are kinda the plastic bag full of plastic bags of the premodern era#only they're useful in a much wider variety of ways#and much more expensive#i threw out the rags because they were stained is like. i threw out your socks because they were stinky.#normal people don't *do* that#disposable fabric has made us insane

Just to give you some idea of why even rags were very valuable in any pre-industrial setting, here are some facts about fabric production throughout history.

In the Viking era, when drop spindles and vertical looms were the height of technology and every step had to be done by hand, it too about seven hundred hours to make a blanket big enough for one person. First you had to harvest the fiber that you were going to use, then you had to clean it and prepare it, then you had to spin it, then you had to weave it and then you had to finish it.

To support a household of five, and keep them supplied with a bare-minimum of fabric needs (so they weren't naked or cold), took approximately 40 hours of work per week just on textile production. In a reasonably prosperous family, everyone would have two outfits (one for every day work, and one nice one, and when the nice one became too worn or stained to be "nice" it would be your everyday outfit and (if you were lucky) you would make a new one to be nice, and your old everyday outfit would be either passed on to someone or (if it was in too bad a shape for that) would be cut up for various other uses.

As technology progressed, all of the steps in fabric production ended up taking less time; for example, the spinning wheel spins thread much more quickly than the drop spindle does. But it was still a hell of a lot of work.

In the 18th Century, here's the life cycle of bed sheets:

They start out as sheets (flat, both top and bottom) and are needed because they are MUCH easier to wash than your sheets than a blanket. As sheets get used, they develop worn patches to the middle. Those get darned. When even darning is not enough to save them, you cut them in half down the middle, flip the pieces, and sew the edges together so that what had been the edge is now a seam down the middle and the worn parts are on the edges (where the fact that they're worn doesn't matter much). When the new center gets worn out, you cut the fabric apart and turn the usable bits of fabric into pillow cases. When the pillowcases get worn out you turn the usable bits of fabric into handkerchiefs.

And the pieces of fabric that are truly too worn to be used any longer were not thrown out: they were sold. To a ragpicker. Someone whose entire job was buying rags and scraps from households and then selling them on to merchants and tradesmen who could use them. Rags too worn to be used as fabric any longer could be made into paper, for example. Or used as stuffing padded/quilted garments or cushions.

[snipertrifle]

The rags for paper making (because, not to digress too much, paper made from wood pulp is the OG enshittification and only dates back to the 1840s) were so valuable that most European cities that had a strong paper making industry had laws that forbid selling rags outside city limits to make sure they all get fed into the system.

[roach-works]

it drives me nuts when an upper class girl carelessly dirties her skirts and this is presented as valorous; for example a young lady muddying and tearing her formal gown because she's so tough and empowered and she chafes at the patriarchy. a formal gown in a lot of eras an investment: depending on the era and setting, this is on par with driving daddy's car into a telephone pole. thousands of (wo)man hours go into embroidery and if a horse or a goat tramples that kind of work into the heather, it can't just be scrubbed clean. ruining a dress, a fine dress, especially a court gown, sacrificed months or even years of skilled labor. of course your sassy princess is getting scolded by her mum, she needs to understand the value of the things she's using.

even worse is when fine fabric is torn up for emergency bandages or a lady is very careless of blood getting on silk or velvet outer skirts, and this is shown as noble and generous and nothing is ever said about who is going to deal with the material mess after our brave wounded hero survives. like getting blood out of velvet? in regency times??? laundering ruffled silk? good luck! AND SHE WOULD HAVE HAD PETTICOATS. LINEN OR COTTON. not to mention a handkerchief! it drives me nuts.

if you're writing a pre-industrial story, your characters' clothes are expensive to make and time consuming to clean. have some respect for the material constraints of your world.

[rpfofficial]

everyone hate my loquacious swag. its always "why did you make this sentence so long" and "why do you use so many commas and em dashes" and never "how did you come up with run on sentence" or "writing that run on sentence looked fun"

[bitchfitch]

writing advice for characters with a missing eye: dear God does losing an eyes function fuck up your neck. Ever since mine crapped out I've been slowly and unconsciously shifting towards holding my head at an angle to put the good eye closer to the center. and human necks. are not meant to accommodate that sorta thing.

[bitchfitch]

other things I'm bitching about but which could still be useful as writing advice for 1 eyed characters:

2. they're going to favor their sighted side, obviously, but it doesn't always manifest in the way you think. when I walk down a hall I walk much closer to the wall on my sighted side than on my blind side. which is the opposite of how it might seem logical to do that bc it means the world at large is on your bad side, but the reason is I can't fucking See the wall if it's right next to me in the blind side and I end up knocking into it.

3. door frames and poles are my enemy. If your character is smart this will not be a problem but for me it is. I am King of walking into shit I could absolutely see but couldn't tell how far away from me it was. on this note, their blind side hand is getting bashed into every jutting out thing in a 5 mile radius.

4. having 0 depth perception is less of a big deal than you'd think it is. Especially with driving. I've become a Much safer and more wary driver because I can't tell how far the other cars are from me. however I fucking suck at parking now. because I can't tell how far the lines are from me either.

5. you know how people who lose limbs get phantom pains? that happens with eyes too but like. phantom sights. for me it's like. a lot of bugs. like every so often my brain will just put something suddenly skittering beside me there. hate that.

6. it is completely possible to "get stuck" somewhere because your ability to tell how wide a space is is just Gone. shopping isles especially where bumping something or Someone is matter of embarrassment or potentially breaking something. it can be legitimately paralyzing and also irritate everyone around you because they can tell there is Plenty of space for you to get your cart through even if you can't.

7. if the eye is still in their skull it can still be the normal kind of painful. Glares off of shiny surfaces causing weird sharp pains you can't figure out the cause of are genuinely one of gods greatest tests of my patience.

[thehungwizard]

I too am missing my eye and have advice. But first:

OP I've been missing my eye for 18 years and because of you I'm just now noticing that my neck does in fact list left. Now I will live with that knowledge forever.

1) depth perception issues are more severe if you lose the eye on the same side as your dominant hand. I lost my left eye and am right handed, and only have problems with close-up things. Like pouring water or threading a needle. Sometimes putting the pump in for gas. Walking down stairs is a huge problem I have (walking up is fine), but unlike OP I don't have issues with doorways. Depth perception is different for everyone

2) I've completely lost my eye and need to wear eye patches, no fake eye here. People like me do still rub their "eyes." We also usually say "eyes" and "contacts." Except for comedic effect

3) the people that are in your life with regularity just... forget you have only one eye. Even if, like me, you wear obvious eye patches. This means they get confused when people asked what happened. They'll walk on your blind side and get snippy when you run into them. When my sister learned how to cross her eyes she ask me if I could do it, and it took so much coaching for her understand why my answer was no, and that I would not be "just trying." So don't write everyone around them constantly noticing. Most people don't

[writingwithfolklore]

Why Don’t Edit As You Go is Actually Maybe Good Advice (but not for the reason you think it is)

              I edit as I go. I kind of have to—I can’t just leave a scene I know is subpar, or that I don’t think is the quality that I want it to be at. It’s like it haunts me, I can’t get it out of my mind. So I always hated the advice “don’t edit as you go” as a way of keeping you on track and productive. I guess the thinking there is that if you edit as you go, it’ll take way longer to get to the end of your draft.

              Maybe true, but I never really cared how long it took. It’s not like I’m on any deadlines yet.

              Now, I’m nearing the end of my draft and I’m starting to see a bit of wisdom in that advice, though not for productivity’s sake—but rather because I’ve edited about half of my novel in random scenes interspersed with all the others. Some scenes are on rewrite 4 or 5 while others are on 1 or 2 and none of it matters because I’ll just have to go back through and edit it all again to make it flow together anyway.

              Had I left all the editing to the end of the process, I would’ve had to go through to edit once or twice. Combined with all the time I’ve already spent editing, I’ve probably read and reread some of these scenes like 7 times. I’ve gone a bit blind to my novel.

              Will I learn from this experience and stop editing as I go? No, probably not. Like I said, I feel pretty incapable of not doing it, but still, that piece of advice looks a whole lot less stupid now.

              What are your thoughts on editing as you go?

[writingwithfolklore]

How to Hold Yourself Accountable as a Professional Writer

              Okay maybe you’re not self-employed or professional yet and writing definitely isn’t bringing in the big bucks, but you’d like it to some day, and you’re working right now on making that a reality. This post is for you, because the best time to practice getting into a healthy writing habit and holding yourself accountable to writing for that future where it’s your full time gig is now—before it’s essential to do so.

1. It will never be easy

It’s easy to think that maintaining a schedule or habit for writing would be easy if only it was your full-time gig and all you needed to do. While it might be easier than trying to cram in writing between classes or jobs, it will never be easy. You’re always going to have multiple things going on, there’s always going to be something you could be or need to be doing other than writing. Developing good habits right now, when it is really hard, is going to set you up far better than just waiting for it to get easy before you fully commit to it.

2. Set a schedule that actually works for you

I did a whole post on making a writing schedule you can actually manage and maintain here:

The singular most helpful thing to my writing isn’t inspiration, or words, or planning—it’s just making and sticking to a schedule. It doesn

But the TL;DR is that in order to keep to a schedule, you have to make sure it’s attainable. Fit when you write around your other life schedule. For example, if you’re really not a morning person, planning on waking up at 5am every morning to write for a couple hours is probably not something you’ll be able to maintain. But setting aside an hour before bed may be more manageable for you.

3. Form a habit

To train your brain to make your writing schedule a habit you’ll actually stick to, you should make it into a routine. Similar to how you have a bedtime routine that sets you up to feel sleepy at night, a routine that sets you up for writing will make it harder to turn away from your manuscript, and help inspire a productive writing block.

              You can create a writing playlist with songs that inspire your project you listen to whenever you begin writing, make a tea or other drink to sip on while you write, grab a snack, share your schedule with a writing buddy and write together, put together a document of inspiring quotes, photos, or other muses you can read, or really anything that gets you into the writing mood. By following this routine every time you set up to write, you’ll train your brain to get into a mindset that will make it easier to stick to your writing block.

4. Reward yourself

Brains love doing things for a reward. Maybe after a productive writing block you can spend some time doing something else you love, like watching an episode of your favourite show, lighting a candle, taking a bath, or having a glass of wine, I don’t know, anything that would give your brain the happy juice in response to your good work.

5. Set deadlines and goals

Writing consistently is basically the majority of the battle. I don’t typically worry about word count, but I do know that it can be helpful for others to set wordcount goals and deadlines to ensure productivity. If that sounds like you, make sure your goals are actionable while also being attainable. “Finish novel” isn’t a great goal, but “write 2000 words per week for three months” could be helpful if you know that 2000 words is attainable for you.

              Same as before, you can also set rewards for when you reach your goals. I have a big tattoo upcoming if I complete my goal for the year.

              The last tip I have for this point is to try to find an accountabili-buddy to hold you to your goals and deadlines if you think that would be helpful for you. As a professional writer, you may be held accountable by an editor or agent, so practicing through asking a buddy to help you set deadlines and deliverables will help prepare you for writing towards a date.

The TL;DR is find out what works for you and practice doing it consistently! Anything else I missed?

[inthetags]

in the tags a piece of writing advice or things you avoid or enjoy in writing

[writers-all-around]

Creating Religion

If you’re anything like me, then you love little questionnaires to use as jumping off points for aspects of your stories, whether it be for characters, creatures, magic, or worldbuilding.  Of course when you search the internet, the most you’ll often find are character questionnaires and, occasionally, questionnaires for building cities and/or nations.  In the end, I’ve ended up making a few of my own in an attempt to streamline my worldbuilding process.

Today I spent a little while going through what questions you should answer when creating a religion for your universe.  While a lot of people choose not to make religion a huge part of their world and storytelling (myself included), I find that even just hinting at it in story really enriches the experience and gives the world you’ve created a feeling of cohesiveness, a sense of being whole.

While this doesn’t touch on every aspect of religion, I think it’s a good jumping off point for establishing the basics of your religion, especially if it’s not going to play a huge role in your story but you’d still like to add in aspects of it here and there.

Where does your religion originate from?

What is your religion’s creation story?

Where do people go when they die?  Similarly, are there any beliefs/stories surrounding birth?

What are some strong morals of your religion?

What rituals do followers perform (could range from human sacrifice to simply attending church on certain days)?

What are the traditions, texts, songs, and verses of your religion?  How do the followers keep track of stories?  Is it oral, textual, magical, or something else?

What place do celestial bodies (suns, moons, stars, or other objects in the sky) have in your religion?

What are some holidays and/or celebrations of your religion?

What is your religion’s place in the country?  How much power does the church have over the state?

What are the priests, shamans, or wisemen of the religion like?

Is there just one god, or many?  What are their origin stories?

What relevance does your god(s) have to the people?

Are there demigods, demons, angels, other supernatural creatures related to your religion?  What are their roles?  Are they real, or otherwise based off of a real event/creature/person?

What restrictions does your religion enforce (ex. no sex before marriage, no eating certain foods, etc) and where do they originate from?

What are prayers/curses/expletives related to your religion?

[paigereiring]

Building a Religion

Religion is as old as the human ability to communicate, so if you’re creating your own world, then this is something you should definitely include. However, building your own religion isn’t easy - especially building several if you want to have a fully fleshed out, diverse world. This post just has some starting considerations for you, but they should help you get on the right track.

Deities

Religions typically break down into one of three types: monotheistic, polytheistic, or nontheistic. Monotheistic religions, such as Christianity, believe there to be only one true god/goddess/superhuman being. Polytheistic religions, such as Wicca, believe in multiple deities. Nontheistic religions are ones that do not believe in a god or gods, but this doesn’t exclude a belief in spirituality. Atheism and Buddhism are both considered nontheistic religions. There is also pantheism, the belief that the entire universe is part of an all-compassing being. Hinduism is sometimes argued to be this. These are not the only types of religion, but this will cover most beliefs.

Once you decide what type of religion it will be, you then may need to develop your deities. How many are there? What are their names? Are they humanoid or completely different? Do they actually exist? If so, do they interfere with mortal affairs? Or are they more of a “watchmaker” type? How much power do they actually hold? What are their limitations? Their weaknesses? Can they die?

Rituals

Most religions have some kind of rituals. This can be anything from prayer to going to church/temple at a certain time every x number of days/weeks/months to sacrificing something in an attempt to appease the god(s). What do the members of your religion do? And who does it? Is it just “normal” people associated with the religion, or is there some kind of hierarchy? Where do they meet? What kind of holidays are there, and what behaviors are expected on these holidays?

Clothing

Is there any type of specific clothing related to your religion? This might be especially useful if this is a big part of your story, as it gives the narrator a way to quickly identify a character who is a follower. This can be as simple as wearing the religion’s symbol on a necklace to the leader of the religion’s dress. Be sure to think about what people at different levels would wear regularly, as well. For example, general followers of Catholicism don’t go around wearing habits all the time, but nuns do.

Morals

What kind of morality does your religion have? What does it value? What does it scorn? How are these embodied in the deity or deities it worships? Are these expressed through some kind of holy text, or are they spread via word of mouth? What kind of behavior is expected from the followers? What are consequences of disobeying these morals, both in the physical realm and the supernatural? Will they have to pay penance in some kind of hell? What are the consequences of following these morals, both in the physical realm and the supernatural?

Acceptance

How is your religion accepted by non-believers? How does your religion feel about non-believers? What about the country your characters are in? Are there laws mandating religion? Does the country your characters live in require belief in a certain religion? If the country is religious, how does that affect its relationship with other countries?

These are just some basic questions to get you started thinking about your world building, but this doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface. If religion is going to be a big part of your story, you’ll need to spend a lot of time digging deep into these questions and doing research to form something coherent and reasonable for your world.

[luna-azzurra]

Character developement

- Create a detailed backstory: Develop a rich and layered backstory for your character, including their upbringing, past experiences, and significant events that have shaped them. This will provide a foundation for their personality and motivations.

- Define core traits: Identify a few core personality traits that define your character. Consider both positive and negative traits to make them more well-rounded and realistic.

- Give them strengths and weaknesses: No character is perfect. Give your character a mix of strengths and weaknesses to make them relatable and interesting. These flaws can create internal conflicts and opportunities for growth.

- Establish goals and motivations: Determine what drives your character. What are their goals, desires, or ambitions? Understanding their motivations will help shape their actions and decisions throughout the story.

- Create relationships: Develop meaningful relationships for your character with other characters in the story. This includes friends, family, romantic partners, and even adversaries. Consider how these relationships influence and shape your character's development.

- Show internal conflict: Explore the internal struggles and dilemmas your character faces. This could be conflicting emotions, difficult choices, or battling their own fears and insecurities. Internal conflict adds depth and complexity to their development.

- Allow for growth and change: Characters should evolve throughout the story. Consider a character arc that takes your character from a starting point to a transformed state by the end. Give them challenges and experiences that allow them to learn, grow, and change over time.

- Use dialogue effectively: Craft dialogue that reflects your character's unique voice, speech patterns, and personality traits. Dialogue can reveal their emotions, beliefs, and thought processes, providing insights into their character.

- Show, don't tell: Instead of explicitly telling readers about your character's traits, show them through their actions, choices, and interactions with others. This allows readers to form their own opinions and connections with the character.

- Continuously refine and develop: Characters are not static entities. As you write, remain open to new ideas and opportunities for character development. Allow your characters to surprise you and evolve beyond your initial plans.