Pretty U

svt fanfics cheolhaos' writing blog

[ratracechronicler-deactivated20]

…So you guys know how I’ve been having a thing for Westerns with a twist lately. It’s all about barren, undiscovered frontiers, right? Consider the following: the bottom of the ocean.

[ratracechronicler-deactivated20]

Sunken wrecks

Absolutely bizarre creatures

Interesting ways of combating absolute soul-crushing darkness

Underwater volcanoes, feeble electric lights, bioluminescence?

Dome cities? Giant underwater ships? Genetic engineering to allow for humans to withstand the pressure? Or not, and have the threat of it constantly looming?

Some form of underwater “wagons” or, dare I say it, t r a i n s

*looks left* *looks right* seahorses

Sand!

Canyons? Strange plants? Rocks?

The folklore!!!

Merfolk natives? But treated with, like, dignity?

[redshield-writes]

YES TO ALL OF THE ABOVE

Consider also: sea creatures that mimic the music played by weary travelers, turning guitars and voices into eerie wailing

[note-a-bear]

@otherwindow

[laurasimonsdaughter]

Ways to turn into a werewolf

Because diversity! Biting and blood curses are all well and good, but if we’re diversifying our vampires left and right, why not our werewolves?

A deal with the devil. Primarily from medieval France and Germany. I’m not the biggest fan of this one, but if you want to write something Dark, it has potential.

A magical garment or belt made from wolfskin, often a family secret passed down from parent to child. Primarily from German folklore, spreading to Belgium, the Netherlands, France and the Balkans. I love this one. It turns werewolves into something closer to other shape shifters like selkies and in an urban fantasy setting it offers a lot of opportunities to mess with their powers by taking the garment away. I really need selkies and werewolves exchanging tips about pelt care.

A magical ointment. Primarily from French, German and Scandinavian folklore. This is closer to the “werewolvism as witchcraft” interpretation, but the idea that there is one specific formula to turn someone into a wolf is interesting. (Traditional recipes include the expected gruesome ingredients like animal fat and fresh blood, but also, weirdly, aniseed.)

Drinking the water collected in a wolf’s paw print. Originating in Slavic folklore, I believe. This is very fairy tale-ish and if you’re going for a magical, mystical approach would do very well I think. It’s also something someone could easily do consciously. Follow your werewolf lover out into the rain, all the way onto the clay paths where their steps will leave imprints big enough to drink from…

Drinking from a cursed well. From German folklore. Again, fairy tale feels. Think the Grimm’s “Brother and Sister” but even unluckier. This is probably more suited to tragic stories, but once you know what the water does…well, then you’ve got a business opportunity, haven’t you.

The seventh child of a seventh child. In legends from Portugal (mostly seventh sons) and the Netherlands (specifically Frisia, mostly seventh daughters) the seventh child of a seventh child is automatically destined to become a werewolf. I prefer this one to the other “fated by birth” legends such as being born with teeth or hair, because this one is like a prophecy, one you can see coming. And interestingly, these stories say nothing about the werewolf being inherently evil. What I‘m saying is, I want the seventh-born, coddled baby of the family dramatically protecting everyone they love with their prophesied wolf powers.

[fiona-glenanne-westen]

Writer problem no.1: Don’t use the word “said,” 5498 times.

Writer problem no.2: Also don’t sound like a walking thesaurus.

[unbearable-lightness-of-ink]

k, but—do use the word said. use ‘said’ over other descriptive verbs because it blends in and doesn’t distract the reader. if your dialogue is good enough, your readers will know if its being shouted or whispered or hissed or snarled or growled or what have you. you can use the fun words, but use them sparingly and intentionally. the less often you use them, the more impact they have. shoot for 90% ‘said’ or no attribution and only 10% fun attribution words.

ways to get away with no attribution:

-dialogue immediately follows the character’s action:

Alex looked up from his laptop. “Have you seen this article?”

-dialogue immediately precedes the character’s action

“I can’t believe you didn’t tell me this earlier!” Cassandra flung the newspaper across the room.

-dialogue is bouncing between two characters and we know who started (cut this with action or attribution every 3 or 4 quotes, though, so the reader doesn’t lose track)

“We’re working on it,” Wilder said.

“Oh, really?”

“Really. We should have definitive results this week.”

Leander slammed the file shut. “We needed results last week.”

[coolcurrybooks-deactivated20230]

Science fiction and fantasy isn’t just a white people thing! I’ve talked about some of these books before, but here’s a new slide show entirely for SFF authors of color. Also, I was only doing one book per author. Lots of these authors have multiple books. And like it says at the end, there’s even more SFF books by authors of color but fitting everything in one post would be an impossible task.

Also, could you please not rec white authors on this post? Even if they’ve written a book starring a person of color. I want this post to be focused around the work of authors of color. 

Links to more info about the books beneath the cut. 

Keep reading

[writing-prompt-s]

Depending on how you die, you experience a different afterlife. For example, if you’re stabbed, you become a grim reaper, if you die peacefully you become someone’s guardian angel, if you’re poisoned you become someone’s “imaginary” friend, if you die of suffocation you become a ghost… Now, you’re the first human who has ever died because of magic, what’s your afterlife like?

[moramew]

A small list of random ass sites I’ve found useful when writing:

Fragrantica: perfume enthusiast site that has a long list of scents. v helpful when you’re writing your guilty pleasure abo fics

Just One Cookbook: recipe site that centers on Japanese cuisine. Lots of different recipes to browse, plenty of inspiration so you’re not just “ramen and sushi” 

This comparing heights page: gives you a visual on height differences between characters

A page on the colors of bruises+healing stages: well just that. there you go. describe your bruises properly

McCormick Science Institute: yes this is a real thing. the site shows off research on spices and gives the history on them. be historically accurate or just indulge in mindless fascination. boost your restaurant au with it

A Glossary of Astronomy Terms: to pepper in that sweet terminology for your astrophysics major college au needs

[moramew]

Adding to this since I’m working on a shifter au one-shot:

Canine Body Language

Feline Body Language

[moramew]

More:

Cocktail Flow: a site with a variety of cocktails that’s pretty easy to navigate and offers photos of the drinks. You can sort by themes, strengths, type and base. My only real annoyance with this site is that the drinks are sometimes sorted into ~masculine~ and ~feminine~ but ehhhh. It’s great otherwise.

Tie-A-Tie: a site centered around ties, obviously. I stumbled upon it while researching tie fabrics but there’s a lot more to look at. It offers insight into dress code for events, tells you how to tie your ties, and has a section on the often forgotten about tie accessories

[moramew]

Even more:

Types of High Heels: A page describing twenty five different types of high heels. It gives a description and pictures. Shake it up from just “stilettos and kitten heels”

Random Job Generator: Exactly as it says. The site offer more generators like characters, plots, or town names.

Glossary of Hosiery Terms: Figure out what is what on a pair of stockings.

Men’s Dress Shoe Guide: A quick guide describing the eight most common types of men’s dress shoes. Pics included.

Types of Women’s Coats: Descriptions and pics of various different types of coats.

[oliviapaigewrites-deactivated20]

THIS IS AN IMPORTANT ONE! Don’t ignore this in your writing!

[the-modern-typewriter]

“Shh, it’s alright,” the villain said. “You’re doing beautifully and I’m so proud of you. But that’s enough now. It was cruel of them to make you fight me - you could never have won. It’s not your fault.”

[spacey--ace]

The ancient and powerful villain may have had a calm and gentle face as he spoke, but he was furious, not at the hero, but the gods for continually sending kids and teenagers to fight their battles.

[romancingthebook]

You’re writing PTSD dreams wrong

But don’t worry, most writers are and I’m here to help because reading them is making me cRAzY.

I’m writing this because I’ve read three otherwise great romance novels back to back featuring characters dealing with PTSD (or PTSD symptoms) and each one of them made the same dream mistakes. I honestly can’t think of a fiction book I’ve read that didn’t make these mistakes, so I thought I’d compile a handy dandy list of mistakes and how to fix them. 

Lucky for you, I have PTSD and a ton of fellow veteran friends who deal with these symptoms. 

*This is based on my experience and things told to me by friends. This is not to say that the below doesn’t happen in real life, only that it’s not as common as you might think.

The issue with these dreams is twofold: on one side is the psychological accuracy of the dream and on the other side is how you’re using the dream within the narrative.

Oh an Black Sails spoilers-ish ahead. 

1) Stop writing the dream as a shot-by-shot accurate retelling of Traumatic Event.

Listen, not only do dreams seldom follow reality, but our own memories are tricky at best. I don’t remember getting beaten up because a) it was horrifying and we block stuff like that out and b) I was going in and out of consciousness. It would be pretty strange for me to dream something I don’t even fully remember. Our brains are simply not wired to do these vivid factually-accurate cinematic retellings.

My friend dreams things that did happen, but in his own words those dreams are always wrong in some noticeable or bizarre way. For instance, he’s getting chased through the streets of Iraq by a werewolf. 

2) Dreams are informed by reality, not direct reflections of it. 

It’s entirely likely my friend dreamt of a werewolf in Iraq because I got him binge watching Supernatural and the two ideas merged in his dreamstate. But see, that’s how dreams work. 

The trauma event exists as a constant in his subconscious, but he has all this other information right there in his conscious mind all day, every day. In dreams, there isn’t a clear delineation between that information.

My dreams are often dependent on whatever I’ve fallen asleep watching on television. The themes are consistent, but not the content.

In Black Sails, Captain Flint’s trauma dreams feature his dead partner and friend following him around his empty ship. You have an element of the trauma (the animated corpse of his friend) + his daily existence (his ship). The two things intersect to form these unsettling nightmares as expressions of his fears and grief. He never once relives the event itself in his dreams as shown on screen.

Speaking of…

3) Trauma dreams often revolve around feelings, not necessarily the events themselves.

The PTSD package generally includes heaps of shame, guilt, anger and fear. As someone who survived a beating when I should have had control of the situation, my dreams tend to revolve around fear that people will know I’m a fraud or being unable to act in a dangerous situation. 

Again, it’s entirely common for trauma victims to not remember large chunks (or the whole thing) of the trauma event. So why should their dreams be stunningly accurate? What we remember are feelings. Real strong feelings.

You cannot go wrong if you write your trauma dream around feelings, not a specific event.

4) If you present trauma dreams as expressions of themes, you can let go of the trauma dream as an exposition dump/way overused suspense trope.

You know you’ve read this: MC has dreams that are a shot-by-shot retelling of Traumatic Event that always cut off right before Traumatic Event, so that the Big Reveal must happen by a discovery later in the novel. 

If I were the MC in a book, the easy and common thing would be to use the “dream sequence” as an expository retelling of Traumatic Event as a way to give some backstory to why I might be surly, mistrustful, afraid to try something new, whatever, and to clumsily shoehorn in suspense where there doesn’t need to be.

The much more interesting thing might be if my dreams were inconsistent in content but consistent in theme. In one I’m on an alien planet (because I fell asleep watching the Science Channel again) and the ground opens up and I fall into a pit from which I can’t escape because I am helpless. In another a man is watching me while I sleep where I am again frozen and helpless. This would force the reader to think: what is the recurring issue in these dreams? Why is it important? What is this telling me about this character and what happened to her? 

It could be a personal preference, but I’d rather see the Traumatic Event either told in narrative flashbacks (not dreams) or verbally retold by the character in question. Let the dreams tell me something deeper about the character. It’s not that I was beat up, it’s that I feel like a failure because of it. One of these things is a shallow factual detail, the other tells you something about me as a person that I’m sharing with you, gentle reader, because talking about this stuff is healthy.

5) The Traumatic Event doesn’t have to be a big secret. 

In Black Sails, we know what happened to Captain Flint’s partner. It happened in real time in the show. That didn’t make his uber disturbing dreams less disturbing or mysterious. Fans still debate exactly what the symbolism was and what they were telling us about James Flint in those moments. We do know from the dreams that he was disturbed, obsessed, and also monumentally guilty and blaming himself for what happened. 

The mystery was perhaps more heightened by the fact that the dreams weren’t direct reflections of reality. We know who this person was, what she believed, and why she died. That Flint is imagining her screaming silently in his ear is horrifying and discordant with what we know to be factual. This adds emotional complexity to his character and the decisions he’s making while suffering these dreams. 

^^^this didn’t happen. It was a dream. A real unsettling dream.

Once you let go of the concept of the trauma dream as a literal retelling and exposition dump, you have the entire dreamscape to work in other narrative elements, like symbolism, metaphor, foreshadowing, etc. 

*1st gif source: @idontwikeit

[quirk-y-deactivated20181203]

Angsty Romantic Cliches I’m a Slut For 

Holding their partner’s unconscious/dead body

Sobbing into their partner’s shoulder/chest

One of them is hurt and the other falls asleep in their hospital room

The other losing their mind when their partner is hurt/killed and charging into battle recklessly

“I thought I lost you” hugs

“Don’t go where I can’t follow!” 

One is mind controlled and forced to fight the other

The other refusing to harm them and getting seriously injured as consequence 

The person coming to and seeing what they’ve done

I could go on about this trope alone for 5 hours

A last desperate “I love you!” 

A tearful, hard kiss before battle, bonus points if its a confessional kiss

“Please, I don’t know what I’d do without you.” 

Bandaging each other’s wounds

Both of them injured, and waking up beside each other

[cloudsaysthings-archive]

[plotlinehotline]

Writing x Characters When You Aren’t x, A Masterlist

x: a variable used to represent something unknown.

We’ve seen an influx of questions about how to write stories based around characters of color, disability, non-binary, etc. when the author does not fall into these categories. Rather than have these posts take over the site, we’ve decided to compile a list of resources to help our fellow writers become more educated about writing what they do not immediately know. However, this list is not the end-all-be-all of knowledge; one should always try to learn from someone with first hand experience in any topic. The world is constantly growing and changing, and because of that, there will always be more to learn. The admins at Plotline Hotline want to help writers form respectful, informed, and realistic characters that broaden the narrow range we see in literature today. 

*Be wary that some of the topics listed below contain sensitive material. Reader discretion is advised.* 

As always, the links I found to be especially apt will be in bold. Topics are listed alphabetically, excepting the “other” section.

Culture

Appropriate Cultural Appropriation

What is Cultural Appropriation? [1,2,3]

Cultural Appropriation Is, In Fact, Indefensible

Voice Appropriation & Writing About Other Cultures

Diversity, Appropriation, and Writing the Other [List]

Disability

Writing Disibilities [1,2,3,4,5]

Guides to Writing Deaf or Hard of Hearding People

National Association of the Deaf - Resources [List]

World Federation of the Deaf

Using a Prosthetic Device

Prostehtic Limbs (Character Guide)

How NOT to Write Disabled Characters

A Guide to Disibility Rights Law (United States)

Timeline of Disibility Rights in the United States

Social Security Disability: List of Impairments, Medical Conditions, and Problems [List] (United States)

How to Write Disabled Characters: An Opinion Piece

Artificial Eye Resources [List][Various]

Adapting to the Loss of an Eye

Misconceptions and Myths About Blindness

Blind Characters: A Process of Awareness

Writing Blind Characters [List]

Types of Learning Disabilities [List]

Diversity

A Guide to Spotting and Growing Past Stereotypes

How to Prepare to Write a Diverse Book

The Diversity of Writing

Why Diversity Matters for Everyone

Writing a Driverse Book [1,2,3,4,5]

Diversity, Political Correctness and The Power of Language

Diversity Book List [List][Books]

Basic Tips To Write Subcultures & Minority Religions Better 

Basic Tips to Avoid Tokenism

Gender

GLAAD Media Reference Guide - Transgender

Creating Well-Written Trans Characters

A Few Things Writers Need To Know About Sexuality & Gender Expression

Trans (Character Guide & Bio Building)

A Non-Binary Person’s Guide to Invented Pronouns

Gender Neutral Writing [List]

Keeping a Trans* Person a Person  

Suggestions for Reducing Gendered Terms in Language [Photo]

How to Review a Trans Book as a Cis Person

Writing Characters of Different Genders [List]

Understanding Gender

Gender Spectrum Resources [List]

Gender History

Illness 

Writing Chronic Illness [1,2]

The Spoon Theory - Also pertains to disibility

About HIV/AIDS

Sexually Transmitted Diseases [List]

Sexually Transmitted Infections

Sex and Gender Differences in Health [Study]

All Chronic Illness Topics [List]

Coping with Chronic Illness

All Cancer Types

A Day in the Life of a Home Health Aide/Health Coach

Fiction Books With Chronically Ill Main Characters- Not Cancer [List][Books]

Neurotype (Including Mental Health)

Writing an Autistic Character When You Don’t Have Autism

Depression Resources [List]

What to Consider When Writing Mental Illness

Stanford Psychiatric Patient Care

Inpatient Psychiatric Questions and Tips

Don’t Call Me Crazy [Documentary]

(Avoid) Romanticizing Mental Illness [1,2]

A Day in the Life of a Mental Hospital Patient

State-run vs. Private Mental Hospitals

Mental Disorders

Mental Hospital Non-Fiction [List][Books]

National Institute of Mental Health - Mental Health Information [List]

Writing Autistic

What Causes PTSD?

Remember, Remember: The Basics of Writing Amnesia

ADHD Basic Information

What is a Learning Disability?

What is Neurotypical?

Race

Writing Race: A Checklist for Authors

Transracial Writing for the Sincere

Is my character “black enough”

White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack

Challenge, Counter, Controvert: Subverting Expectations

Writing With Color: Blogs - Recs - Resources [List]

Writing People of Color (If you happen to be a person of another color)

7 Offensive Mistakes Well-Intentioned Writers Make

Description Guide - Words for Skin Tone

Religion

Religion in Novels: Terrific or Taboo?

How to Write a Fantasy Novel that Sells: The Religion

Writing About Faith And Religion

From Aladdin to Homeland: How Hollywood Can Reinforce Racial and Religious Stereotypes 

Sexuality

Understanding Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity [List]

Writing Gay Characters [1,2,3]

American Civil Liberties Union - LGBT+ Rights

LGBT+ Rights by Country or Territory

History of Gay Rights

Gay Rights Movement

LGBT+ Culture

Gay Myths and Stereotypes

LGBT+ Studies Web Sites [List]

LGBTQ Youth Issues

LGBTData.com

Overview of Gay and Lesbian Parenting, Adoption and Foster Care (United States)

Other

How Doctors’ Offices—and Queer Culture—Are Failing Autistic LGBTQ People

Five Traps and Tips for Character Development

Developing Realistic Characters

I hope that this list will provide topics a writer may not initially think to research when writing. If there are any resources that you think would be fitting for this list, please let us know! We want to have as many helpful sources as possible to maximize learning opportunities. 

Stay educated,

xx Sarah

[shanastoryteller]

Have You Been The Victim Of Plagiarism / Fanfic Theft?

well, i have! and if i wasn’t mad and DUMB AS ROCKS i would have remembered that hey, i actually know some semi useful information about this!

so help line/reporting is notoriously awful when attempting to get reported work taken down. filing an official dmca notice is a pain in the ass, and requires you to cough up personal information, which most of us in fanfic land don’t really want to do

BUT the digital millennium copyright act does actually help us out. do you want to know why? 

great! i’m going to tell you!

all websites with user generated content are required to have a dmca designated agent in order to avoid being liable for infringing material on their websites. all dmca designated agents are required to be registered with the u.s copyright office, and! it’s public facing information. 

meaning, they have a database with all agents listed. most agents aren’t specific people, but that doesn’t matter, because most big corporations allocate a whole email and phone line just to the dmca designated agent. so, for example, here’s tumblr’s:  Service Provider: Tumblr, Inc. 35 East 21st St., Ground Floor New York,  NY  10010

Designated Agent: Fredelina Hope Garcia Tumblr, Inc. 35 East 21st St., Ground Floor Attn: Legal Department New York,  NY  10010 Phone: [phone] Email: [email protected] Status: Active Effective: March 13, 2017 to Present Idk how much these people will care about us little fanfic authors, but it’s a direct line to someone who’s job it is to care about plagiarism, which is a little bit more useful than generic help lines/reports. 

what if someone stole your work and posted it someplace OTHER than tumblr, you ask? 

well, it’s all right here!

url just in case link breaks: https://dmca.copyright.gov/osp/

just plop the name in of the offending site, and you should get an address, number, and email that’s all for reporting that people are stealing your stuff. 

now, remember, only the owner of the work can report infringement. 

DO NOT REPORT INFRINGEMENT ON SOMEONE ELSE’S BEHALF

it just makes things messier. send the email or make the phone call yourself, if you are the owner of the content. otherwise, just let the owner of the content know that this resource is there for them. 

protect your work! get enough sleep! overthrow the patriarchy!

[notesoftruth]

@blackkatmagic know you just recently had numbskulls happen to you

[connormurphweed-deactivated2018]

people who don't wear glasses who are writing characters who wear glasses;

they get fogged up when we drink hot beverages. they get smudged for no reason. we will push them up using anything in our area (i.e shoulder, whatever is in my hand, scrunching my nose up so they get pushed up, etc.). they get knocked off our faces all. the. fucking. time. when we change clothes we either take them off or they fall off when we pull our shirts off. we have to clean them after being in the rain. we own multiple pairs of them, not just one lone pair for our whole lives. most people don’t wear them in the pool, but some have extra old pairs for the pool (like me). some people take them off during sex, that’s fine! but some people keep them on. they don’t get squished into your face when you kiss (most of the time. at least from what i’ve experienced and i’ve got some mf big glasses). if we look down and look back up while you talk/to peek up at something, we will just peek blindly over the top of them. we clean them on whatever item of clothing is closest. some of us have prescription sunglasses and some of us wear contacts when we need to wear sunglasses. please keep some of these in mind when you write characters with glasses cause y'all who have 20/20 vision keep telling me all characters sleep in their glasses and own the same singular pair from age 6-25 and they never clean them.

[cautiousgoose]

Some small additions to this:

- When we get hugged by people who are taller than us, especially if caught off guard, one lens inevitably gets smooshed into our faces. Or their face, leaving gross oily residue (maybe this is just with grandparents idk) - Some people like me wear glasses in the shower/pool until they’re more of hindrance than help - Depending on how bad your sight is, you don’t just ‘lose’ your glasses and move on - Seriously. I’ve had them fall of my nightstand and it’s TERRIFYING to not know where they are  and try to guess at shapes - Not everyone has spare glasses! It’s only in the last year that I’ve changed frames that have a similar prescription. In these cases, you might be able to squeak by for a few days without your current prescription (using an old pair), but it depends on how far apart they are - Sometimes we fall asleep in your glasses. Sometimes when we do that too much the arms get bent and we have to get them fixed, it’s not a habit that should be taken lightly - Occasionally (I don’t own prescription sunglasses or contacts) you have to break down and pull regular sunglasses on over top of your glasses, it looks dumb as hell - Some of us like getting other people to try our glasses on so we can explain how frickin’ blind we are. But, a more general trend is being pissed when people take them without asking to make that assumption on their own - Getting out of air conditioned cars when it’s hot and humid is basically The Worst kind of fog

[vampire-crimson]

even if you have two pairs of glasses with the same prescriptions, the frames might be a different shape so you’ll still have to adjust to the curves of the lenses/seeing over the frames/etc

even with glasses, your vision doesnt become perfect.

DO YOU KNOW HOW MANY TIMES IVE SEEN A SHOW OR WHATEVER AND ONE CHARACTER LOSES THEIR GLASSES AND SOMEONE ELSE IS LIKE “HERE BORROW MINE” (okay so like 3 max but still) I HATE THAT. IT DOESNT SOLVE THE PROBLEM AND ALSO YOU CANT JUST ~TRADE~ GLASSES THATS NOT HOW IT WORKS

characters with long hair may get their hair stuck in the hinges or caught under the frams (stuck between the glsses and the face) its not fun and its v uncomfortable

[scuttleboat]

Glasses can give you little marks on the top bridge if your nose, where they rest for hours all day.

When you forget where you put your glasses, every step a PRAY TO HOLY FUCK moment that you don’t step on them accidentally.

It may look sexy on some people but I can tell you after 28 years of experience that no one really likes walking around with a contraption on their face. it’s not fun or exciting in the long run.

[majorgenerally]

Once I put my glasses down on my bed and had to get my roommate to come find them for me.

If you have more than one pair of glasses, the second pair is probably sunglasses and you might spend a lot of time wandering around trying to remember where you put them.

[diedraechin]

And if you have a cat, you hope that they don’t knock them off the nightstand while you’re sleeping because they just want to play and without fail they’ll fall into that spot that is a pita to reach. 

Opening the oven does a number on glasses too.  

[ryxl-was-here]

The worst part is when you go to clean a fingerprint off your glasses but only smear the fingerprint around and have to spend the next 5 minutes cleaning them, putting them on, looking at a light source, taking them off, cleaning them again, nope, okay lick the lenses this time, clean them on a different part of your shirt, okay there we go.

[kyanve]

Also if you have a lot of tech things:  Using microfiber cloths, screen cleaning kits, etc. for your glasses almost more than for your phone/tablet screen.  

[unwontedfemme]

And the fun game of “is this an ocular migraine starting or is there just something on my glasses”.

[interstellar-elf]

Can I talk about the tape on the bridge thing only works with plastic frame glasses and NOT wire frame

Also getting them broke is sucky but you can get them fixed for free at some eyeglass centers IF you originally got the glasses from them sometimes

[dragonshost]

I see your oven and I raise you: DISHWASHER STEAM.

[megthemaggot]

never wearing headphones bc they squish the arms into your skull and/or ears

[bogleech]

PSA there is nothing, absolutely nothing that will clean your glasses better than ordinary dish soap and hot water, just wipe the soap all over them with your fingers and let the water wash it off, then blow it dry with your breath.

[madmadamemimble]

Also, if you’ve been wearing them for most of your life, you get so used to them being on you’re face that when your wearing contacts, you’ll reach up to adjust them and have a mini Twilight Zone moment when you don’t feel them.

And sometimes when you go to push up your glasses, you’ll accidentally touch the lenses, smudging them.

[firebirdeternal]

I can’t tell you how many times I would reach up to push my glasses up but just end up poking myself between the eyes like a jackass because I am Not Wearing My Glasses.

[hexalene]

GOOD LUCK!!! (ALSO as a florist, do you have any recommendations/anecdotes for people who are writing a flowershop au? :D )

It’s up for debate for romantic potential, but here’s some Fun Florist Experiences:

1) Roses come in massive human sized coffin boxes. I have accidentally knocked two people flat on their asses hauling these puppies around.

1.1) actually flowers come in massive Unhelpfully overpacked boxes in general. Most are at least 3-4 feet tall/long. A lot of places can keep this to the back but if not BOXPOCALYPSE. It’s not sexy

2) Flowers are lovely and light but the buckets of water they suck up to survive is heavy. My beefy biceps are no joke.

2.1) my gross dirty nails and thick callouses. Flowers are full of dirt and pollen and roses are thorny…my calluses are No Joke. I also always have tiny cuts on my hands in the places that haven’t calloused up yet.

2.2) I smell great because flowers but also I am always kinda damp and there is water every where. I know there is pollen on my face please shhh

2.3) seriously stay away from my work counter, behind this beautiful set of arrangements is three inches of shed leaves and a small lake.

3) Pinterest’s fucking mason jars…tiny flower arrangements in mason jars are like crack…FOR FATHERS. Dads love mason jar arrangements. You know what my favorite thing is??? A dad with a tiny little girl picking out a cute jar of flowers for her. Equally cute is the dad with little boy who is shy about liking flowers.

4) ask me how many people say “ah yes, my bouquet just needs A WOMAN’S TOUCH.”

5) what businesses are around this hypothetical flower shop AU? Because there is a hospital within walking distance and I know ALL ABOUT the petty wars between two head nurses, and Amy just leveled a power move and bought 96 roses to hand out to all the patients in her ward. Karen responded by buying mason jar arrangements for all the surgeons.

6) gay dudes (tbh men who actually love their SOs in general) are On Top of this flower business. They call the arrangement in advance, check if they’ve got a vase ready, buy one if they don’t…price is no object. They just want something nice and they’re so patient!! I love these guys, they’ve always got something nice to say about their SOs too. Love is real.

7) “hi I didn’t water or feed these flowers and they died in two days. I want my money back because you said they’d last a week.”

Me: >B|

8) weddings: the amount of money we will make is directly proportional to the amount of pain we will suffer

9) When I see a middle aged mother with a pinched face I know Tru Fear.

10) when I see a middle aged man in a casual suit and a big watch I know Tru Annoyance.

THINGS PEOPLE PAY ATTENTION TO WITH FLOWERS:

-how pretty they are-how full the bouquet is-how much they have to care for it-PRICE!! People want deals and cheap.-That One Flower That Is Out Of Season That They Won’t Get When It’s In Season-how long the bouquet lasts!! -COLORS!!

THINGS PEOPLE DON’T PAY ATTENTION TO WITH FLOWERS:

-what the flower means.-the huge huge huge barrel of flowers we always have to throw away because preserving pretty things is hard when the pretty thing is dead.

THE GREAT FLOWER CIVIL WAR:

-Pro or Anti Baby’s Breath???(we’ve lost good people over this one)

-

Uhhhhhhhhhhh that’s stuff that happened this year so far….some flower shop AU logistics:

Is your OTP coworkers? Probably always on other ends of the store during busy times, because flowers involve a surprising amount of running around in coolers, boxes, customers, etc. water has to be changed, plants need more water…you’re mopping up water so ppl don’t trip. It’s a pretty busy job. Places are different and you can have downtime but the time your otp will have to talk and bond will be when one is a customer, in my experience.

Parents who bring their kids are so cute tbh!! Most kids are so polite and awed about the flowers and won’t touch!! Super cute. An otp with one as a single parent is a GOLD MINE of fluff because they’ve got teachers to get flowers for or first girlfriends or maybe OTP parent has a date and your florist wants to help like a lot!! But they also like this person…it’s good stuff.

I get involved with my customers, because they want you to Know Their Feel so you can help them. So helping people is almost always a Thing when they explain what they need and why, and you get repeat customers who are friends (or you want the latest dirt on Head Nurse Karen and to make a big sale to one up her….)

Continue from above, sometimes people know they’re supposed to Do Flowers for something and they just…don’t know anything and they want it to be right, and being able to show them the options and reassure them they’re doing good, and going that extra mile (with paper or vases or extra flowers for free or ribbon) for it to be pretty and nice….I love that. I had one guy who was so so nervous for the first Valentine’s Day with his wife come back with his friends who were also having trouble deciding stuff. One of them was so happy to get something nice he side hugged me quickly and then apologized.

We have repeat customers who come in all the time for stuff because of the above things! Of all the AUs I think a flower shop AU could work because you DO get a place to let people talk about their feelings safely and make friends with a wide variety of types!!

This ended up super rambly and long but I hope it inspires some people! Thank you for the ask!! 😊

[writing-prompt-s]

Temples are built for gods. Knowing this a farmer builds a small temple to see what kind of god turns up.

[sadoeuphemist]

Arepo built a temple in his field, a humble thing, some stones stacked up to make a cairn, and two days later a god moved in.

“Hope you’re a harvest god,” Arepo said, and set up an altar and burnt two stalks of wheat. “It’d be nice, you know.” He looked down at the ash smeared on the stone, the rocks all laid askew, and coughed and scratched his head. “I know it’s not much,” he said, his straw hat in his hands. “But - I’ll do what I can. It’d be nice to think there’s a god looking after me.”

The next day he left a pair of figs, the day after that he spent ten minutes of his morning seated by the temple in prayer. On the third day, the god spoke up.

“You should go to a temple in the city,” the god said. Its voice was like the rustling of the wheat, like the squeaks of fieldmice running through the grass. “A real temple. A good one. Get some real gods to bless you. I’m no one much myself, but I might be able to put in a good word?” It plucked a leaf from a tree and sighed. “I mean, not to be rude. I like this temple. It’s cozy enough. The worship’s been nice. But you can’t honestly believe that any of this is going to bring you anything.”

“This is more than I was expecting when I built it,” Arepo said, laying down his scythe and lowering himself to the ground. “Tell me, what sort of god are you anyway?”

“I’m of the fallen leaves,” it said. “The worms that churn beneath the earth. The boundary of forest and of field. The first hint of frost before the first snow falls. The skin of an apple as it yields beneath your teeth. I’m a god of a dozen different nothings, scraps that lead to rot, momentary glimpses. A change in the air, and then it’s gone.”

The god heaved another sigh. “There’s no point in worship in that, not like War, or the Harvest, or the Storm. Save your prayers for the things beyond your control, good farmer. You’re so tiny in the world. So vulnerable. Best to pray to a greater thing than me.”

Arepo plucked a stalk of wheat and flattened it between his teeth. “I like this sort of worship fine,” he said. “So if you don’t mind, I think I’ll continue.”

“Do what you will,” said the god, and withdrew deeper into the stones. “But don’t say I never warned you otherwise.”

Arepo would say a prayer before the morning’s work, and he and the god contemplated the trees in silence. Days passed like that, and weeks, and then the Storm rolled in, black and bold and blustering. It flooded Arepo’s fields, shook the tiles from his roof, smote his olive tree and set it to cinder. The next day, Arepo and his sons walked among the wheat, salvaging what they could. The little temple had been strewn across the field, and so when the work was done for the day, Arepo gathered the stones and pieced them back together.

“Useless work,” the god whispered, but came creeping back inside the temple regardless. “There wasn’t a thing I could do to spare you this.”

“We’ll be fine,” Arepo said. “The storm’s blown over. We’ll rebuild. Don’t have much of an offering for today,” he said, and laid down some ruined wheat, “but I think I’ll shore up this thing’s foundations tomorrow, how about that?” 

The god rattled around in the temple and sighed.

A year passed, and then another. The temple had layered walls of stones, a roof of woven twigs. Arepo’s neighbors chuckled as they passed it. Some of their children left fruit and flowers. And then the Harvest failed, the gods withdrew their bounty. In Arepo’s field the wheat sprouted thin and brittle. People wailed and tore their robes, slaughtered lambs and spilled their blood, looked upon the ground with haunted eyes and went to bed hungry. Arepo came and sat by the temple, the flowers wilted now, the fruit shriveled nubs, Arepo’s ribs showing through his chest, his hands still shaking, and murmured out a prayer. 

“There is nothing here for you,” said the god, hudding in the dark. “There is nothing I can do. There is nothing to be done.” It shivered, and spat out its words. “What is this temple but another burden to you?”

“We -” Arepo said, and his voice wavered. “So it’s a lean year,” he said. “We’ve gone through this before, we’ll get through this again. So we’re hungry,” he said. “We’ve still got each other, don’t we? And a lot of people prayed to other gods, but it didn’t protect them from this. No,” he said, and shook his head, and laid down some shriveled weeds on the altar. “No, I think I like our arrangement fine.”

“There will come worse,” said the god, from the hollows of the stone. “And there will be nothing I can do to save you.”

The years passed. Arepo rested a wrinkled hand upon the temple of stone and some days spent an hour there, lost in contemplation with the god.

And one fateful day, from across the wine-dark seas, came War.

Arepo came stumbling to his temple now, his hand pressed against his gut, anointing the holy site with his blood. Behind him, his wheat fields burned, and the bones burned black in them. He came crawling on his knees to a temple of hewed stone, and the god rushed out to meet him.

“I could not save them,” said the god, its voice a low wail. “I am sorry. I am sorry. I am so so sorry.” The leaves fell burning from the trees, a soft slow rain of ash. “I have done nothing! All these years, and I have done nothing for you!”

“Shush,” Arepo said, tasting his own blood, his vision blurring. He propped himself up against the temple, forehead pressed against the stone in prayer. “Tell me,” he mumbled. “Tell me again. What sort of god are you?”

“I -” said the god, and reached out, cradling Arepo’s head, and closed its eyes and spoke.

“I’m of the fallen leaves,” it said, and conjured up the image of them. “The worms that churn beneath the earth. The boundary of forest and of field. The first hint of frost before the first snow falls. The skin of an apple as it yields beneath your teeth.” Arepo’s lips parted in a smile.

“I am the god of a dozen different nothings,” it said. “The petals in bloom that lead to rot, the momentary glimpses. A change in the air -” Its voice broke, and it wept. “Before it’s gone.”

“Beautiful,” Arepo said, his blood staining the stones, seeping into the earth. “All of them. They were all so beautiful.”

And as the fields burned and the smoke blotted out the sun, as men were trodden in the press and bloody War raged on, as the heavens let loose their wrath upon the earth, Arepo the sower lay down in his humble temple, his head sheltered by the stones, and returned home to his god.

[fieryflyingpanda]

Many moons had passed as the God stayed silent in mourning for his friend. The fields blackened and muddy, the trees cracked and burnt, leaves and stones strewn about once well kept fields. A chill nipped at the air. The God lifted his sad head and spread frost like a fine silk across the fields. He breathed deep, letting the cold settle into his spirit.

“I’m sorry, my friend.”

More moons passed as the snow buried the temple and Arepo’s bones. Winter crept across the land like a fox stalking prey. As soon as it came, it was gone. Snow gave way to warm soft ground. Once darkened and cracked trees now birthed green sprouts and fine pink flowers. The God looked around. Worms pulsated through the ground, churning the soil from its burned mess into far more fertile soil than Arepo ever saw. Apples began to sprout from the old burned trees, stubborn old bent beings determined to fruit. Deer and squirrels began to litter the edge of the woods between Arepo’s field and the neighboring woods.

The death and destruction of War became a fading scar on the land. The God smiled, Arepo’s energy and optimism surrounding him. His words echoed in The God’s head.

“We’ll be fine. The storm’s blown over. We’ll rebuild.” And suddenly the God realized he was not the god of a dozen different nothings, but of Rebirth. The ground that Arepo once sowed was now populated with grass thanks to the dutiful worms turning in the soil. The trees spiteful and determined, turned forth a plentiful crop. A few fallen leaves still surrounded the bones of his friend, cluttered the small shrine. A small rustle piqued the God’s interest and he leaned closer. A field mouse had set up in his friend’s skeleton. The small rodent carefully laid nuts and pieces of wheat at the base of the shrine as it’s previous inhabitant had. She created a small nest in the stone structure of fallen leaves and grass blades. Not much time had to pass before she had given birth to a nest full of children. And as her previous tenant had, she dutifully gathered wheat and offerings for the God and her children.

“Everything comes full circle.” The God thought aloud. He looked out over the fields as they returned to the splendor his friend once knew.

Humans need gods to guide them, but gods need humans to give them purpose.

[worldwithinworld]

When you are writing a story and refer to a character by a physical trait, occupation, age, or any other attribute, rather than that character’s name, you are bringing the reader’s attention to that particular attribute. That can be used quite effectively to help your reader to focus on key details with just a few words. However, if the fact that the character is “the blond,” “the magician,” “the older woman,” etc. is not relevant to that moment in the story, this will only distract the reader from the purpose of the scene. 

If your only reason for referring to a character this way is to avoid using his or her name or a pronoun too much, don’t do it. You’re fixing a problem that actually isn’t one. Just go ahead and use the name or pronoun again. It’ll be good.

[roane72]

Someone finally spelled out the REASON for using epithets, and the reasons NOT to.

[futureevilscientist]

In addition to that:

If the character you are referring to in such a way is THE VIEWPOINT CHARACTER, likewise, don’t do it. I.e. if you’re writing in third person but the narration is through their eyes, or what is also called “third person deep POV”. If the narration is filtered through the character’s perception, then a very external, impersonal description will be jarring. It’s the same, and just as bad, as writing “My bright blue eyes returned his gaze” in first person.

[cimness]

Furthermore, 

if the story is actually told through the eyes of one particular viewpoint character even though it’s in the third person, and in their voice, as is very often the case, then you shouldn’t refer to the characters in ways that character wouldn’t.

In other words, if the third-person narrator is Harry Potter, when Dumbledore appears, it says “Dumbledore appears”, not “Albus appears”. Bucky Barnes would think of Steve Rogers as “Steve”, where another character might think of him as “Cap”. Chekov might think of Kirk as “the captain”, but Bones thinks of him as “Jim”. 

Now, there are real situations where you, I, or anybody might think of another person as “the other man”, “the taller man”, or “the doctor”: usually when you don’t know their names, like when there are two tap-dancers and a ballerina in a routine and one of the men lifts the ballerina and then she reaches out and grabs the other man’s hand; or when there was a group of people talking at the hospital and they all worked there, but the doctor was the one who told them what to do. These are all perfectly natural and normal. Similarly, sometimes I think of my GP as “the doctor” even though I know her name, or one of my coworkers as “the taller man” even though I know his. But I definitely never think of my long-term life partner as “the green-eyed woman” or one of my best friends as “the taller person” or anything like that. It’s not a sensible adjective for your brain to choose in that situation - it’s too impersonal for someone you’re so intimately acquainted with. Also, even if someone was having a one night stand or a drunken hookup with a stranger, they probably wouldn’t think of that person as “the other man”: you only think of ‘other’ when you’re distinguishing two things and you don’t have to go to any special effort to distinguish your partner from yourself to yourself.

[undertailsoulsex]

This is something that I pretty consistently have to advise for those I beta edit for.  (It doesn’t help that I relied on epithets a lot in the earlier sections of my main fic because I was getting into the swing of things.)  I am reblogging this so fanfic writers can use this as a reference.

A good rule of thumb: a character’s familiarity with another character decreases the need for an epithet (and most times you really don’t need one at all).

[rehlia]

Good writing advice.

[fineillsignup]

Hi! I was just wondering, how would you go about writing fights in Naruto, especially with taijutsu? How do you go about that?

I’m really flattered to be asked this because I struggle to write fights, so if you’re asking me that must mean you think my result is not a steaming pile of garbage. The struggle was worth it!

Writing good fights and writing good smut actually has a lot in common, so if you feel more confident of your ability to write smut, weirdly, you can gain some confidence by applying your smut writing experience to writing fights. A lot of the challenges (repetition leading to boring prose, unclear pronouns, spatial issues, questions of realism) are the same. If you can write good smut? You can write a good fight!

Just like in smut, the emotional and plot impact of the fight is the actual key, not the mechanical details.

Clarity in fight scenes involves effective communication of space and time. The reader only knows the information you write on the page, so that information has to be sufficient to get across what’s happening in the fight.

Listen to a play by play announcer, especially a radio one, of a martial art match. You get how the announcer uses brief, descriptive words to describe actions. “Hard left to the body from Gassiev, Dorticos felt that clearly. Dorticos is very tough — a lot of guys would’ve been stopped by Gassiev at this point, taking the shots Dorticos has throughout this fight. Gassiev doubles up on the jab. Right hand from Gassiev lands, and he dances away after. Left uppercut from Gassiev partially lands. Dorticos can’t get anything real going here. He’s being outboxed and outfought.” Notice how a play-by-play announcer doesn’t stick to just a description of what’s happening, but mixes in analysis of the meaning of what’s happening. In a story, you want to also mix in the emotional and plot meaning of what’s happening into the fight.

What are the goals of the fighters besides “win the fight”? Does one fighter want to get in close, while the other fighter wants to keep distance? Is one fighter trying to stall for time while the other is desperate to get this finished fast? These other conflicting goals are important to portray, and they will guide the progress and conclusion of the fight.

Realistic fights don’t last long. There’s a reason why boxing matches are done in series of 3 minute rounds with breaks. If fights didn’t have breaks, the fight would be over too fast for entertainment value. And because of the structure and other reasons, professional fighters are doing things like pacing themselves etc that you wouldn’t find in a street fight with broken bottles. Now if you’re drawing from a series with an unrealistic portrayal of fighting like Naruto, that doesn’t mean you have to limit yourself to that kind of realism, but you don’t have to draw out fights as much as you might think either.

Your POV character is going to want to think about the terrain while fighting, so that’s a good way to get spatial description in there.

Injuries are a good opportunity for vivid writing. Blood can gush, spurt, or trickle from a wound; bones can crack or crunch; bodies can reel or stagger. Again, bringing it back around to the plot and emotional impact. Is the POV character disgusted by the violence? Indifferent? Thrilled? Numb?

Hope those tips help!

[purple-possibilities]

I’d like to add something to this!

As someone who has trained in martial arts since she was a wee lass, and as someone who’s been in a lot of fights, I’d like to give a little insight into what’s it’s like as a fighter.

Fighting is TIRING. Some people have more stamina than others, obviously, and experienced fighters know how to pace themselves. But regardless, getting hit doesn’t just hurt, it’s kind of exhausting. You’re dealing with pain, adrenaline, sometimes fear, sometimes a weird, detached focus where you can’t feel your body. If you get hit hard enough, the dizziness starts to feel like nausea, nausea can make you feel really hot, and you start to want to fall asleep/pass out. So even if you haven’t been fighting for long, taking a hard hit, or even a hit to the right place, can cut your stamina in half or even to zero.

In writing, you can express this in a few ways. You can mention panting breaths, the world spinning, the inability for the character to focus, or maybe the character can only focus on one spot while everything else fades to black or blurs around the edges. Struggling to breathe from overexertion or being hit in the gut. Ringing in the ears, even when not hit in the head, is an indication of exhaustion, so is seeing spots. When in the fight response, your arms and legs can feel hot as blood rushes to them. Nausea is very common when hit too much, or when near exhaustion.

When you get hit enough times, sometimes you don’t even notice where the pain is coming from, only that it hurts. Someone who has been beaten to this point is probably too disoriented to see where strikes are coming from.

From the other side, as in watching someone get beaten, you can see their movements become sloppy or sluggish. They miss their target sometimes completely, but more often just by millimeters, allowing the blows to be easily blocked or brushed off. Fists open as fingers refuse to close. Arms shake as muscles refuse to cooperate. When trying to grapple, it’s either impossible to hold tight enough, or impossible to let go as they lose control over their muscles. Muscles cramp when over extended, or twisted into weird positions, which can be quickly cost you a fight.

Fighting is all about stamina, and the more fights youve been in without a sufficient recovery period, the more tired you get.

But what about adrenaline, you ask?

Adrenaline is a quick spike of energy that lasts maybe five minutes in a high intensity fight. When it’s gone, you crash. You feel tired and yet wired. Sometimes it makes your body tremble or twitch uncomfortably. It can take hours to work the side effects from your system, and sometimes sleep is impossible in that time no matter how tired you are. It’s as if you’re too tired to sleep and it feels absolutely miserable. You might get a second or even third adrenaline boost if you’re particularly resilient, or you fight often enough. But while it helps in the moment, it makes coming down even worse.

To win a fight, it is so important to mind your stamina. You fight differently when you’re tired, and you need different strategies to win. Someone who is experienced can defeat their opponent despite exhaustion, while an inexperienced fighter will often tire themselves out, or try to fight in the same style when tired (which usually means they’ll lose quickly, as it cannot be sustained, unless they get in a lucky shot).

Sometimes dodging is more tiring than taking a hit, sometimes it’s the opposite. It depends on the person, and how hard the other hits.

Also,

BLOCKING HURTS.

Not as much as being hit directly, but it still hurts. It can and will leave bruises, and the more you block, the more it hurts, since it’s basically hitting the same spots over and over. Even redirecting a hit can hurt eventually, since you’re using the same surfaces to push the strike away from you. Blocking hurts the one doing the hitting too.

Hitting can hurt you as well.

Depending on how you hit someone, it hurts more or less. For example, if you kick someone with the bottom of your foot (eg in a front kick), that doesn’t really hurt. But if you hit someone with the top of your foot (eg a round house kick) that hurts more, because you have less padding on the top of your foot, and there are a lot of delicate nerves there. Punching someone in the face hurts your hand more than punching them in the gut for the same reason, but reversed (their stomach is softer than their face, so your hand isn’t hitting bone-to-bone but bone-to-fat/muscle).

Anyways, I hope this can help!