Between the Colorful Walls

Hi! I'm an Italian Cottage built in 1996. My bricks are made of every fandom I love. Stuff like Mystic Messenger, Critical Role, Pandora Hearts, Haikyuu!!, Kagerou Project, Pokémon, etcetera. Without them, I would fall apart. Please, avoid throwing eggs at my windows and adorning my roof with toilet paper. It hurts ç_ç

[painted-bees]

Every single DnD character I have designed so far…Starting with the ones I have designed for myself!: -Swindle: Circle of dreams firbolg druid  -Cinder: Swindle but on fire. Circle of Wildfire firbolg druid. Mad about it. - The Astronomer: Circle of Stars aasimar druid. His identity is his career, no work/life balance. Chill with it. - Brite: Pact of the Archfey warlock human child. The rat is her dad. -Tu: College of Glamor Winter Eladrin Bard. Loves mortal folk. Loves pretending to be mortal folk.

AH!: College of Valor kenku bard; my first ever DnD character! Designs that I made for other people!:

Tal: Pact of the undying human warlock.  Was my character for a short while but he has a new home with someone else, now :D

Cricket: Beast Master ranger gnome. Same deal as Tal!

Bobbin'stitches: Kobold artificer… @seandunkley​‘s character based on an amazing sketch he did LOL

Spinner: Semi-custom design @/OutOfGnollWhere ’s [on twitter] xixchil wizard

Scarecrow: Warforged NPC design commission

Fair Bianca: Light domain cleric tiefling sold adoptable

Solace: Tiefling Barbarian semi-custom design

Cabbage White: Pact of the Archfey Kobold warlock sold adoptable

Change is Tricky: Trickery domain changeling cleric semi-custom design

Thunderbird: Storm sorcerer avariel semi-custom design

Lore Chaser: Wizard/Rogue human semi-custom design

Dragon of the Forest: Draconic bloodline sorcerer firbolg semi-custom design

Be Not Afraid: Light domain Aasimar cleric sold adoptable

Winter’s Spear: Wizard Goliath semi-custom design

Dawn Upon the Sunkissed Fields: Way of the Sun Soul centaur monk sold adoptable

Larking Freesia: Archfey pact firbolg warlock semi-custom design

Meanwhile: Clockwork soul sorcerer tiefling sold adoptable

[egophiliac]

basically.

[squidcandy]

Peak azujami be like

[theliteraryarchitect]

Writing Advice Posts: A Handy Reference Guide

(Updated 12/25/20) Hey all, I’ve got quite a few writing advice posts & answered Asks on my blog at this point, so I’m making this reference guide to make it easier to find what you’re looking for. Hope it helps!

Free Downloads

Get access to my free Fiction Writing Toolkit on my website.

Free Writing Advice Emails

Join my email list and get free writing advice emails sent straight to your inbox. You’ll also get early notification of any discounts or giveaways, and direct access to me to ask questions about writing. It’s totally free and you can unsubscribe anytime!

General

8 Ways to Improve Your Writing

10 Best Books About Writing Fiction

How to Spot Bad Writing Advice: 6 Red Flags to Look For

“Show Don’t Tell”? Not Always. Here’s When to Use Summary

How to start a story

More about starting stories

The first sentence

Weak words

Why Just About Every Published Book in the World Does 57 Things That Just About Every Book About Writing Tells You Not to Do

Creative Nonfiction Cliches to Avoid

How to Read Like a Writer

How to Write During a Pandemic

The Writing Process, Writer’s Block, & Inspiration

To all the Writers Suffering from Depression

How to Train Yourself to Write Faster

Just a friendly reminder that creativity is difficult to quantify.

Quick Writing Tip: Make a Note to Your Future Self in Your WIP

Quick Writing Tip: Take Notes!

Just a friendly reminder that writing is not always a linear process.

Quick Cure for Writer’s Block: Lower Your Expectations

Set Realistic Goals

Your Skills May Need Time to Catch Up to Your Vision

It’s Okay to Experiment and Be Weird As Fuck

Surround Yourself With Supporters

It’s okay to take a break.

Your First Draft is Raw Material

Getting into “The Zone”

Vomit Brain

Writing from Your Imagination vs. Reality

Dealing with Criticism

Getting Bored with Your Own Writing

Getting past a block

Doing research on topics you don’t have first-hand experience with

Journalling about your writing

How to Keep Yourself From Editing As You Write

Advice for Getting Over a Writing Slump

Dealing with Procrastination

How to Write Like You Used to, Before You Learned Stuff that Fucked Up Your Natural Creative Flow and Turned Your Writing into Boring, Stilted Garbage

Concept: Maybe Your First Draft DOESN’T Suck

How to Deal with Post-Writing Depression

Character Development

Creating Character Arcs with the DCAST Method

What Does Your Main Character Want?

How to Activate Your Passive Characters, One Verb at a Time

How to Use Description to Show Character Development

How to Create a Non-Cliched First-Meeting Scene

The “It Depends” Post

Shifting internal goals

When to identify your character’s goal

Writing about normal people with normal problems

If you’re worried about your character being too similar to someone else’s character 

Describing your characters without messing up your pacing

Story, Plot, & Pacing

Quick Plotting Tip: Write Your Story Backwards

Pause at the Threshold

How to Spot an “Info-dump”

Slowing Down the Pace of Your Story Without Boring Your Reader

Time Transitions

How to Create a Non-Cliched First-Meeting Scene

Creating Conflict

When & how to cut a scene

If you’re good at creating characters but awful at creating plot

When you’ve plotted your story but can’t get started

En Media Res

Writing to Your Ideal Reader

Deus Ex Machina

Foreshadowing

Finding an Ending

What to write between moments of conflict

Starting a story with waking-up scene

How to Know When You’re Done Outlining

Doing a Structural Overhaul on Your Story

How to Find an Ending from a Beginning

Editing Tip: How to Speed Up or Slow Down Your Pacing

Description, Setting, & Worldbuilding

How to Make Your Descriptions Less Boring

How to Spot an “Info-dump”

Adding Descriptions to Intense Scenes Without Messing Up Your Story’s Flow

How to Use Description to Show Character Development

Worldbuilding: How much is too much?

Modeling your fantasy world from stuff in the real world

Internal Consistency

Utilizing Sound

How to Do World-Building Research

Point of View

How to Choose the Right Point of View for Your Story

A Beginner’s Guide to Multiple Point of View

6 Questions to Ask About Your Point of View

How to decide if you should use first person or third person

More point of view basics

Head hopping

How to Head Hop without Head Hopping

What to Do When You’re Halfway Through Your Story and Realize Your POV Isn’t Working

3 Tips to Avoid Overusing “I” in a First Person Story

Dialogue

How to Improve Your Dialogue

3 Ways to Make Your Dialogue More Interesting

Starting a story with dialogue

Are You Using Too Much Stage Direction?

Which is Better: Exposition or Expository Dialogue?

Publishing & Sharing Your Work

7 Tips to Build an Audience for Your Writing

Pros and Cons of Self Publishing

Quick Publishing Tip: Don’t Bury Your Gold

How to Properly Format Your Manuscript for Publication

A warning about posting writing online that you intend to publish later

Advice for writers who are worried about people stealing their work or ideas

Getting feedback on your writing

How to Create a Cover Letter for a Literary Magazine or Journal

How to Make a 3D Mockup of Your Book for Free

Editing

10 Questions to Ask an Editor Before Hiring Them

Quick Revision Tip: Read Your Writing Out Loud

How to Keep Yourself From Editing As You Write

Cut the fidgeting

Are you suffering from -ing disease?

Are you Using Too Much Stage Direction?

What “Editing” Really Means

Quick Editing Tip: “That”

Quick Revision Tip: Read Faster

Editing Tip: Dialogue

Tips for Editing a Story

Should You Use a Contract When Hiring an Editor?

Quick Tip: Up & Down

Pre-Editing Checklist

Miscellaneous

The Difference Between a Semi-Colon and an Em-Dash

…if you find any broken links please let me know and I will fix them! xo

//////////////

The Literary Architect is a writing advice blog run by me, Bucket Siler. For more writing help, get my FREE Fiction Writing Toolkit or The Complete Guide to Self-Editing for Fiction Writers. xoxo

[moon-moon2002]

Personality Tests

This looked interesting so I wanted to try it out, turned out to be quite fun :)

Zodiac Sign: Aries | Taurus | Gemini | Cancer | Leo | Virgo | Libra | Scorpio | Sagittarius | Capricorn | Aquarius | Pisces |

Life Path Number: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 11 | 22 | 33 |

Celtic Zodiac: Birch (The Achiever) | Rowan (The Thinker) | Ash (The Enchanter) | Alder (The Trailblazer) | Willow (The Observer) | Hawthrone (The Illusionist) | Oak (The Stabilizer) | Holly (The Ruler) | Hazel (The Knower) | Vine (The Equalizer) | Ivy (The Survivor) | Reed (The Inquisitor) | Elder (The Seeker) |

Celtic Animal Sign: Stag/Deer | Cat | Cow/Bull | Horse | Butterfly | Adder/Snake | Seahorse | Fish/Salmon | Wolf/Hound | Fox | Wren | Swan | Falcon/Hawk |

Myers-Briggs: ESFP | ISFP | ESTP | ISTP | ESTJ | ISTJ | ESFJ | ISFJ | ENFJ | INFJ | ENFP | INFP | ENTP | INTP | ENTJ | INTJ|

Enneagram: The Reformer (Type 1) | The Helper (Type 2) | The Achiever (Type 3) | The Individualist (Type 4) | The Thinker (Type 5) | The Loyalist (Type 6) | The Enthusiast (Type 7) | The Leader (Type 8) | The Peacemaker (Type 9) |

Tritype: 125 | 126 | 127 | 135 | 136 | 137 | 145 | 146 | 147 | 825 | 826 | 827 | 835 | 836 | 837 | 845 | 846 | 847 | 925 | 926 | 927 | 935 | 936 | 937 | 945 | 946 | 947 |

Instinctual variant: sp/so | sp/sx | so/sp | so/sx | sx/sp | sx/so |

Four Temperaments: Sanguine | Melancholic | Choleric | Phlegmatic |

DISC Profile: D | I | S | C |

Alignment: Lawful Good | Neutral Good | Chaotic Good | Lawful Neutral | True Neutral | Chaotic Neutral | Lawful Evil | Neutral Evil | Chaotic Evil |

Aura Color: Red | Orange | Magenta | Yellow | Logical Tan | Environmental Tan | Sensitive Tan | Abstract Tan | Green | Blue | Violet | Crystal | Lavender | Indigo|

Soul Type (one test): Hunter | Caregiver | Creator | Thinker | Helper | Educator | Performer | Leader | Spiritualist |

[7] Soul Types: Server | Artisan | Warrior | Scholar | Sage | Priest | King |

Hogwarts House: Gryffindor | Hufflepuff | Ravenclaw | Slytherin |

Deadly Sin: Wrath | Envy | Gluttony | Greed | Sloth | Lust | Pride |

Archetypes: Creative | Athlete | Rebel | Caregiver | Visionary | Royal | Performer | Spiritual | Tastemaker | Explorer | Advocate | Intellectual |

Brain lateralization: Left | Right | (I’m very artistic so I got a lot of mixed results)

Cerebral Personality Test: 1-10% | 11-20% | 21-30% | 31-40% |41-50% | 51-60% | 61-70% | 71-80% | 81-90% | 91-100% |

Nerdy Personality Attribute Scale: 30 | 40 | 50 | 60 | 70 |

Empathy Quotient Test: 0 | 10 | 20 | 30 | 40 | 50 | 60 | 70 | 80 | 100 | 110 | 120 | 130 | 140 | 150 | 160 | 170 | 180 | 190 | 200 |

Helen Fisher’s Personality Test: Explorer | Builder | Director | Negotiator |

MOTIV: Materialistic | Offbeat | Thinking | Interpersonal | Vital | Easygoing |

Holland Code: Realistic | Investigative | Artistic | Social | Enterprising | Conventional |

Multiple Intelligences Test: Kinaesthetic | Linguistic | Logical | Interpersonal | Intrapersonal | Musical | Visual/Spatial | Naturalistic |

Defense Mechanism: Regression | Displacement | Denial | Repression | Intellectualization | Reaction Formation | Projection | Compensation |

R-Drive Personality Test: Narcissism | Unconventionality | Empiricism | Vitality | Othercentricism | Independence | Integrity | Intellect | Stoicism | Orderliness | Dynamism | Activity | Romanticism | Hedonism |

Dark Triad Test: Narcissism | Machiavellianism | Psychopathy |

Levenson Self-Report Psychopathy Scale (Primary Psychopathy): 1 | 1.5 | 2 | 2.5 | 3 | 3.5 | 4 | 4.5 | 5 |

Levenson Self-Report Psychopathy Scale (Secondary Psychopathy): 1 | 1.5 | 2 | 2.5 | 3 | 3.5 | 4 | 4.5 | 5 |

Artistic Preference Test: Realistic | Linear | Painterly | Abstract | Masculine | Feminine |

[cinderstorm]

Writing Tips #8: Character Foils

Greetings, fellow writers, and welcome back! Today we’ll be covering one of my favorite aspects of writing: character foils.

Dictionary.com defines a “foil” as “a person or thing that gives contrast to another.” (Dictionary.com also defines foil as a very thin sheet of metal, a verb meaning to “prevent the success of” something, and a “flexible four-sided rapier having a blunt point.” But let’s focus on character foils).

Contrast is a critical element of writing, allowing a reader to draw mental lines around characters/settings/situations, as well as creating opportunities for those same readers to draw parallels within a given work. Character foils can be used to create these areas of contrast in their personality, choices, and moral alignment. Some common types of foils include hero/sidekick, mentor/student, leader/enforcer, and so on. There are several broad categories for character foils, including:

1. Diametrically opposed foils: Often the most dramatic type of foil, this variety relies on a pair of characters who are (if you’ll forgive the cliche) as different as night and day. If one character is pure and virtuous, the other has a checkered past and an unreliable moral compass. If one is quiet and studious, the other is brash and impulsive. If one is rich and airheaded, the other is lower-class and clever.

These foils work best with characters who are going to be spending a lot of page-time together, as the contrasts between them will naturally lead to conflict, which is inherently interesting.

Take Locke and Jean from The Lies of Locke Lamora. Locke is a clever street-thief with a flair for the dramatic, and while he can prove a wily opponent in a fight, he’s not a major physical threat. Jean, his closest ally and friend, is book-smart and practical, with a more reliable moral compass and the strength to beat the hell out of pretty much anyone. Their relationship works for two reasons. First, there is always some sort of interpersonal conflict going on between them, often arising from their contrasting personalities. Second, they both have something the other person needs. (Incidentally, those two qualifications are also how you make any fictional romantic relationship work. But that’s another lesson).

Another example of this kind of foil is Kurogane and Fai from Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle. Kurogane is grumpy, straightforward, and has an ascending moral arc. Fai is cheerful, deceptive, and has a descending moral arc (I mean, they both turn out all right in the end, but for the first two-thirds of the story, their character arcs are trending in reverse). They’re also very visually distinct from each other, with opposing color schemes and builds (not so important in prose, but very important in visual mediums like manga). There’s a reason most of the TRC fandom ships these two, and it has a lot to do with their status as foils to each other.

2. Single-trait contrast foils: This type of foil is a little different, in that the characters involved tend to be quite similar, but differ in one story-critical way. These foils are typically used in a  much more limited way than diametrically opposed foils, and can be quite helpful when you want to highlight a particular aspect of a character, rather than their whole personality. Often, this foil consists of one main character and one supporting character.

To use Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle as an example again, we have the characters Syaoran and Ryuuo. They have several traits in common (determination, sincerity, idealism), but they differ in their mannerisms. Syaoran is reserved and formal, while Ryuuo is energetic and casual. Their friendship works because their similarities bring them together, and their differences complement one another. This allows Syaoran, our protagonist, to grow as a character.

For how to use this foil with rivals/antagonists, let’s look at Zuko and Zhao from season one of Avatar: The Last Airbender. Both are antagonists to the main ensemble. Both are arrogant. Both want to capture the Avatar. Where they diverge is in their motivation. Zuko wants to restore his honor so he can return home and gain his father’s acceptance. Zhao wants glory. We, the audience, only begin to see Zuko in a sympathetic light in episode three, when we first see Zuko and Zhao interact with each other. He’s still unquestionably a villain, but in contrasting him with a cruel, glory-seeking adversary, the creators of the show make Zuko appear as the lesser of two evils.

3. Shadow Archetypes: This type of foil is typically used to examine the things a given character dislikes/fears about themselves. Most of the time, when you see a Shadow Archetype, the foil is between the protagonist and one of the antagonists (though rarely the Big Bad). Often, the Shadow Archetype foil involves two characters who have similar histories (birthplace, experiences, abilities), but who ended up in a very different place due to their choices. With this foil, your protagonist is forced to confront an aspect of themselves that they might otherwise ignore or refuse to acknowledge. Let’s look at some examples.

In Avatar: The Last Airbender, Hama acts a Shadow for Katara. Both are from the Southern Water Tribe. Both are powerful waterbenders. Both hold deep grudges against the Fire Nation for taking away their loved ones. When Katara confronts Hama at the end of “The Puppetmaster,” she is essentially confronting a dark mirror of the person she could have become had she allowed bitterness and hatred to consume her. By overcoming Hama, Katara is implicitly making a promise to never let herself fall that far.

Here’s another example, this time from Teen Titans: Slade acts as a Shadow to Robin. Both are ambitious, goal-oriented, and rely heavily on technology and strategy to make up for a lack of superpowers. But Slade is ruthless, willing to cause great harm to others to achieve his goals, while Robin has moral standards which keep him from sinking so low. In confronting him, Robin is forced to acknowledge that they have many similarities. In overcoming him, Robin is able to find peace in himself (Note: with this type of foil, the defeat of the Shadow almost always represents character growth for the good-aligned character).

And those are the three main categories of character foils. Keep in mind that a character can have (or be) a foil to more than one other character at a time, and that the best character foils bring to the surface aspects of each character that might otherwise remain hidden beneath more noticeable traits. As always, thanks for reading, and if you have any questions, feel free to submit a question through my tumblr.

[arkkosun]

that favorite servants by class thingy

[ir-dr]

Day 2745 - 3 January 2020

reflection

.//projectTiGER

[tiktoks-we-like]

[Caption start]

*Speaking quickly* So before Halloween I decided to get online and try to look for some abandoned cemeteries.

So I ended up finding one but it was in the middle of the woods so I decided to just plug some coordinates and take a chance. And I found something a helluva lot scary.

As I am walking the path to find this abandoned cemetery, um... *voice getting louder* Hands! Hands! Everywhere!!

By now you're probably thinking to yourself, easyise, hands don't just crawl what are you talking about? You would be correct.

Um- SPIDERS! FUCKING SPIDERS! DRACULARACHNIDS THE SIZE OF MY FUCKING HAND!!!

So after pissing myself and driving home, uh- I came home and looked it up on the internet and found exactly what it was I saw.

*Louder voice but not quite yelling* And here it is fam! Uh people like to call 'em golden silk orb weaver *voice getting louder* but I like to call them NIGHTMARE FUEL DIPPED IN YELLOW FUCKING PAINT.

*Yelling* YOU SEE THE UNHOLY SIZE OF- THERE IS NOTHING AMAZING ABOUT THAT ON YOUR FACE!!

WHAT KIND OF ALIEN VS PREDATOR SCP SATAN SHIT-

IS THAT ONE EATING A FUCKING BIRD?!?!

THIS THING IS LIKE VOLDEMORT FUCKED A DEMAGORGON BUT SURE LET'S PUT IT ON A GREETING CARD!!!

*In a incredulous tone* SATAN DOESN'T EXIST?!?! THEN WHY WAS I MET WITH A FOREST-FUL OF THIS SHIT?

CHECKMATE ATHEISTS!

[Caption End]

[pokemas-says]

[pokemon-tumblr-version]

theyre still working on sinnoh remakes bc theyre figuring out how giratina will come out of the screen and drag u into the void

[suic-cune]

よひ

[todaysbird]

remember: the ‘holy’ white doves are just white rock doves, aka the common pigeon!

[sovereignslash]

Doves are just pigeons with white privilege

[sour-charity]

Also can we talk about how STUNNING their irredentist feathers are?

[tawghasa]

This post made me finally look up whether Australian crested pigeons are also doves, and I didn’t quite understand the wiki page but I think the answer is ‘yes’.

[stereofeathers]

You guys are gonna go ham when you hear about fruit doves

[snarg]

[theunhanded]

That is right I have heard the story OVER AND OVER AGAIN!

I love her so muchhh. I wanted to finish it weeks ago when I was stil on HYPE after the movie but there was too much going on at the time x-x Catch some pagedoll of this deadly emotionally damaged cutie <3

Anyway! Enjoy! 

Don’t reupload without my permission!

[animepopheart]

★ かがちさく | マリーさん ☆ ⊳ marie (fate/grand order) ✔ republished w/permission

[birdrobot]

A Quick and Dirty Guide to In-Game Achievements in Ren’Py

Disclaimer: I just barely figured this out myself. It may not be the best way to do it, I don’t know. But I had an awful time trying to find any help with constructing the actual screen to display achievements, so I want to share what little I do know! Also, this is only regarding in-game achievements, and will NOT sync with Steam. Also, my intention here is NOT to give you a complete template, it’s just to help you get started with a very rough base to customize.

So, with that in mind, here’s my quick step-by-step guide.

I’ll put this under a read more, since there are images that make it kind of long.

Keep reading

[enbykano-archive]

august 15: approaches the entire kagepro fandom: [rises from their grave, snapping their fingers rhythmically]