Stand For Something @elyrianinspo - Tumblr Blog

It’s been a while!!

I’m still very much interested in roleplaying, but life and mental illness have been taking my energy.

As I’ve said, I was going to be very sparse with replies and this time it was a lot longer than I intended.

My ouizzy love remains

#indie rp #ofmd rp #911 rp #pirate rp #psa #mun post #about mun #original

You are Julius Caesar, and you are in a council meeting. Suddenly, Brutus stands up, then the rest of the council members. Then a hundred other time travelers draw their daggers.

sentientsky

repeating this to myself forever and ever

davekatzdefensesquad

Jan 3/4 || [made a fancy hot chocolate to celebrate being productive while having a terrible migraine.][found the floor plan for our house and framed it by the garage door so we see it everyday. A perfect thing to do for our 16th wedding anniversary.]

leave-her-a-tome

(source)

Unsplash - photography, illustration, and art

Pixabay - same as unsplash

Pexels - stock photos and videos

Stockvault.net - stock photos

freepngimg - icons, pictures and clipart

Veceezy - vectors and clipart

Kissclipart and kissPNG - more vectors and clipart (often transparent!)

Getdrawings - simplistic images and drawing tutorials

Gumroad - photoshop brushes (and more)

Canva - needs login but has lots of templates

Library of Congress - historical posters and photos

NASA - you guessed it

Creative Commons - all kinds of stuff, homie

Even Adobe has some free images

There are so many ways to make moodboards, bookcovers, and icons without infringing copyright! As artists, authors, and other creatives, we need to be especially careful not to use someone else’s work and pass it off as our own.

Please add on if you know any more sites for free images <3

heylsgowt

pantserspen

On Writing Mentor Figures

A guide to writing the mentor figure in storytelling involves defining their core identity, understanding their functional role as a catalyst, and utilizing specific scene dynamics to facilitate the protagonist's growth.

Types of Mentor Archetypes

Mentors often fall into five main categories, differentiated by their skill, temperament, and motivation.

Classic Mentor: These figures are traditionally wise, friendly, helpful, and perhaps a bit cryptic. Their primary role is to guide the hero into the journey. They are usually old, benevolent, and easy for the hero to get attached to. Classic Mentors often die early in the story, forcing the hero to navigate the tumultuous early stages alone, as their continued presence and wisdom would make the hero's journey too easy. They may reappear later as ghosts or in upgraded forms, but only once the hero has progressed significantly.

Scary Mentor: Characterized by being mean, terrifying, and ridiculously skilled. The hero usually seeks them out midway through the arc because they are "the best of the best". These mentors often try to dissuade the hero and usually teach using a "sink or swim" method rather than positive reinforcement,. They are less likely to die than Classic Mentors unless they show uncharacteristic kindness toward the hero.

Reluctant Mentor: This type is cranky, disillusioned, and really does not want to take on a student. They often harbor self-loathing or avoid attachment because a former student turned evil. Unusually for mentors, they typically undergo a character arc themselves, where the wide-eyed protagonist gradually softens their jaded worldview, leading the mentor to become their student’s greatest protector,.

Wacky Trickster Mentor: They guide the hero in weird or confusing ways and prefer not to make their true intentions obvious. They might pretend not to be the mentor and often assign bizarre or inobvious tasks, such as basic household chores, which inevitably turn out to be sneaky training. Their guidance is always useful, and their shenanigans are often genuinely helpful, though they are not immune to the mentor death curse,.

Evil Mentor: These mentors are not good and come in two variations,:

Secretly Evil: They genuinely like and support their student, making their inevitable evil reveal a devastating twist that causes the hero to lose trust in their strongest supporter,. They typically hide their evilness and may even support the hero’s opposition to them, often dying after a moment of heroism or reconciliation.

Blatantly Evil: They make little effort to conceal their villainy, though the student may not grasp the full depth of it due to naivety or lack of frame of reference. These mentors are much more likely to try and convert the hero, whose arc often centers on unlearning the villainous lessons they received. Blatantly Evil Mentors are very likely to die, as they are both villains and mentors, two hazardous career paths in fiction.

A Guide to Writing Effective Mentors

To write a strong mentor, ensure their function serves the narrative and that they are complex, human characters,.

1. Establish Necessity and Credibility

Determine Need: Not every character requires a mentor, but characters undergoing the hero's journey structure usually do. A mentor is most effective when the protagonist is unskilled, unprepared, or far behind their goal, making their growth believable.

Ensure Uniqueness: The audience must understand why no one else could guide the protagonist. Their presence must feel specific and earned. The mentor should generally be the best at what they do in their universe to maintain credibility.

Be a Catalyst: The mentor acts as a character arc catalyst by providing insight into a specific truth that the protagonist currently rejects or doesn't understand,. This truth usually counters a deeply held lie the protagonist believes about themselves or the world (e.g., Zuko believing his honor comes from his father's approval),.

2. Humanize Your Mentor

Give Them a Life Outside the Role: Mentors should be actual people with their own fears, flaws, desires, and even personal character arcs,,. Hints about their lives should be dropped, even if not fully detailed. For example, Uncle Iroh, an old, skilled, and wise figure, is a pacifist because he lost his son, giving strong reason for his compassionate attitude.

Show Flaws and Fallibility: Giving a mentor flaws makes them relatable. Their flaws can increase narrative tension. For instance, Master Yoda’s arrogance blinded him, resulting in the Sith playing the Jedi, which makes him fallible but also gives him a strong conviction to ensure the next generation does not repeat his mistakes,.

Relate Mistakes to Lessons: The action lesson scene (where the protagonist fails and the mentor gives advice) is most compelling if the mentor has made the same mistake before. Phrasing the lesson as an exploration of the mentor's mistakes makes it feel like an emotional connection rather than a "moralistic sermon".

3. Master the Art of Guidance

Protect Independence: The core principle of good mentoring is protecting the mentee’s independence. A good mentor nudges, not drags, and should not oppose the mentee's free will.

Focus the Spotlight: The mentor should not steal the spotlight; they should shape it and then shine it on the mentee. If the mentor takes attention away from the hero, reconsider their role.

Facilitate Self-Discovery: Instead of answering questions for the mentee, the mentor should offer insight and ask questions the mentee can answer themselves, allowing them to make better choices often without realizing it,.

Show Emotional Difference: Demonstrate emotional or physical differences between the protagonist (who believes the lie) and the mentor (who embodies the truth). For instance, Zuko is constantly angry while Iroh is calm, reflecting Iroh having decided his own destiny.

4. Utilize Scene Dynamics to Teach

Mentors often teach through specific scene types to ensure growth feels earned and not like the mentor is a thematic mouthpiece,,:

Action Reaction Scene: After the hero attempts a goal and fails disastrously, the mentor helps them through the psychological reaction or dilemma step, linking their struggle to their core lie,.

Emotional Opposition Scene: The mentor takes an unexpected action motivated by the truth they possess, subverting the protagonist's expectations, and confronting them emotionally to expose a small part of their lie,,. This can leave the protagonist feeling positive (like Sokka gaining hope from Piandao) or worse (like Sansa doubting nobility after Cersei's truth),.

Action Lesson Scene: Following a major failure, the mentor directly gives a lesson. This is effective because the emotional experience of failure makes the protagonist ready to accept a truth they would have rejected before.

5. Make the Mentor Obsolete

Plan the Exit: The mentor's goal is to propel the hero through the journey, not to walk the whole path with them. Once the hero is fully transformed, the mentor should fade out,.

Death or Separation: While death is a common trope to force the hero to make their own decisions, separation can also be effective (like Iroh separating from Zuko), compelling the hero to put the advice into practice.

Give Death a Purpose: If the mentor dies, their death should serve a second purpose in the narrative beyond just motivating the protagonist (e.g., establishing a central theme, revealing the threat of the villain, or resulting from the mentor's own personal flaw),,.

A well-written mentor, like a thematic anchor, grounds the entire narrative, becoming far more than a simple plot device when their role is woven into the heart of the story.

wcndersoul

#writing inspo

I need to officially retire from roleplaying for good. I’m just incredibly stressed and busy and it doesn’t bring me joy anymore. Usually breaks would help but I think I need to move on from this hobby. It’s been wonderful writing with everyone and even just plotting, but I’m not sure it’s something I’m interested in anymore.

#rp community #discord rp #tumblr rp #writing #quitting #quitting rp community #about mun