Thoughts on flipping from "TV brain" to "prose brain" when writing fiction
Lincoln Michel Dec 12, 2024
I’m using “TV” as a shorthand for any visual narrative art from feature length films to video games. A lot of fiction these days reads as if—as I saw Peter Raleigh put it the other day, and as I’ve discussed it before—the author is trying to describe a video playing in their mind. Often there is little or no interiority. Scenes play out in “real time” without summary. First-person POV stories describe things the character can’t see, but a distant camera could. There’s an overemphasis on characters’ outfits and facial expressions, including my personal pet peeve: the “reaction shot round-up” in which we get a description of every character’s reaction to something as if a camera was cutting between sitcom actors.
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My theory is that we live in the age of visual narratives and that increasingly warps how we write. Film, TV, TikToks, and video games are culturally dominant. Most of us learn how stories work through visual mediums. This is how our brains have been taught to think about story. And so, this is how we write. I’m not suggesting there is any problem in being influenced by these artforms. I certainly am. The problem is that if you’re “thinking in TV” while writing prose, you abandon the advantages of prose without getting the advantages of TV.
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When I talk with other creative writing professors, we all seem to agree that interiority is disappearing. Even in first-person POV stories, younger writers often skip describing their character’s hopes, dreams, fears, thoughts, memories, or reactions. This trend is hardly limited to young writers though. I was speaking to an editor yesterday who agreed interiority has largely vanished from commercial fiction, and I think you increasingly notice its absence even in works shelved as “literary fiction.” When interiority does appear on the page, it is often brief and redundant with the dialogue and action. All of this is a great shame. Interiority is perhaps the prime example of an advantage prose as a medium holds over other artforms.
Most of the confusing or ambiguous parts of your plot should get cleared up during the story- and scene-level edit of your book. But ambiguity sneaks into stories on the sentence-level, too.
In your sentence-level edit, you’ll want to check for ambiguous words, pronouns, language, and/or phrasing—anything that creates unintentional confusion for your reader.
Ambiguous Pronouns
Anytime you use it, its, this, that, he, she, him, her, his, hers, they, theirs, etc. make sure it’s crystal clear who or what you’re referring to.
Karen took the garlic, carrots, and lemon juice out of the fridge, but according to the recipe it wasn’t enough.
What wasn’t enough? The garlic? Carrots? Lemon juice? All three? To clarify, keep in mind that a pronoun refers to the last named person (for he, she, they) or object (for it, this, that). So in the sentence:
Karen and Diane unpacked her groceries into the fridge.
“Her” would refer to Diane, the last named female person. If those are Karen’s groceries, you’d need to write:
Karen and Diane unpacked Karen’s groceries into the fridge.
It may seem like a minor concern, but ambiguous pronouns can cause serious confusion for the reader, especially if you’re trying to show an important event.
Before:
Lars threw the vase at the window, and it broke.
After:
The vase broke when Lars threw it at the window.
In the first example, we can’t tell what broke. Was it the vase? The window? The revision, though not exactly poetic, is more clear.
Keep in mind that you can rewrite or reorganize whole passages to remove ambiguity, reworking the problem area until it adheres to your unique style and purposes. These are just examples to guide you, not instructions on how exactly to reword your sentences.
Common Ambiguous Pronouns:
• It
• Its
• This
• That
• Those
• These
• He
• She
• Him
• Her
• His
• Hers
• They
• Theirs
Ambiguous Words
Unless the character is truly uncertain, or you want the reader to be uncertain what you’re referring to, avoid using ambiguous words like “something,” “somewhere,” “thing,” “stuff,” etc.
Before:
There was something about him she despised.
After:
She despised his beached-blonde hair, and his arrogance.
Be specific! If your character really doesn’t know what she hates about this person, “something” could work. But make sure you’re not being vague out of habit or laziness.
Before:
She picked up her stuff from the dry cleaners.
After:
She picked up her suit from the dry cleaners.
“Suit” is a better choice here because it’s specific, concrete, and visualize-able. We can’t really get a mental picture of “stuff.”
Ambiguity has its place if your character is truly uncertain or if you want the reader to be uncertain.
In Jeanette Winterson’s Written on the Body, the main character is never named or gendered. This was an intentional choice by the writer, who wanted the reader to be unclear about the narrator’s gender and sexual identity.
Similarly, writers of horror, mystery, or magical realism who are trying to create a mysterious mood will use words like “might,” “could,” and “possibly” to intentionally invoke ambiguity:
The fog drifted through the trees, almost corporeal in its movements. Could it be ghost? An apparition?
In this dream sequence from Little Kingdoms, Steven Millhauser uses ambiguous language to emphasize the main character’s uncanny experience:
“You see,” he said to Max, who for some reason had climbed the desk and then onto the top of the door frame, where he sat crouched like a gnome as dark wings grew from his shoulders; and opening his eyes Franklin could not understand the bright dawn light pouring through the window in his bedroom, while somewhere far away a cup was rattling on a dish.
When used intentionally, ambiguity can enhance mood, raise questions, and contribute to suspense. Just make sure you’re doing it on purpose!
One of the hardest things for me to learn and practice in my writing is that people do not say that much.
My characters frequently have tailored conversations about their inner struggles. They open up to partners, maintain perfect communication with friends, and remember to hold back exactly the right information from enemies. Yet irl I've observed and contributed to much miscommunication, lost opportunities, and unconscious distrust of friendly motivations. Natural speech is not tailored, and appropriately expressing abstract thoughts takes uncommon skill.
We've heard film media fans deride "therapy talk" wherein characters uncharacteristically divulge their inner struggles to others and receive perfect, textbook advice in response. This feels inauthentic because most humans don't talk like that! We skirt around our problems, we feel uncomfortable when others vent, we want to avoid conflict and rejection, and our well-meant words often do more harm than good.
People also tend to talk a lot, but say little. As writers, we generally don't want our stories stuffed with useless conversations, banter, and small-talk that don't advance the plot—we want that story grown up and moved out! lol. But please, include those things. Have scenes where friends hide thoughts from friends by joking around or discussing hobbies instead, where a rival saves the MC's thoughtless speech for later, where a happy couple argues over a minor miscommunication. These aspects can add depth to a story that feels manufactured, or life to characters that sound scripted.
If this is you, take your time; natural dialogue takes a while to finesse. Currently, I try to write the meaning behind the dialogue first and make it messier and more natural in redrafts. Conversation scenes where "nothing" happens can still tell the reader about the characters. As with all the lessons I've learned/shared, each piece of writing advice should come with a "Daily Value" label affixed, lol. Balance is needed and adjustments should be made until you have the story you want.
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street illusionists making beautiful forests in the middle of the city
ethically questionable luck and love charms (there’s some argument as to whether all of them should be banned or just the ones that fake full love rather than the ones that bring about consideration)
dwarves running the metro and the underground tunnels better than any human
elves living right on top of skyscrapers and planting trees everywhere and just glaring down human officials who tell them it’s a safety hazard like it is a safety hazard to point that chainsaw at my trees don’t u dare
teenage mages being sick of accidentally frying the circuits in their phones when they get mood swings
earth elementals being horrified at cut flower arrangements and growing the flowers into patterns that encourage particular types of sprites
cupids who don’t understand modern love as well as they think they do and getting shouted at by human friends when they hit one-night-stands or platonic friends with arrows
cupids then working rlly rlly hard to make platonic affection arrows and proudly showing them off
faries living in alleyways making careful safe spaces with farie magic for homeless or anyone in crappy situations,
okay hey real question: what are good ways to describe fat characters?
I see a lot of 'have more fat characters' and I'm Here For It but as someone who is skinny and in a world where most existing literature makes characters fat only as a joke or an indication of some variety of moral badness, I'm not really sure how to describe them in a way that's not objectifying or insulting. like, I've grown up on poetic descriptions of thin characters ('long slim fingers' and 'willow figure' etc etc) but I haven't read flattering descriptions of fat characters and I don't know where to start. I've seen a lot of 'how to describe poc' or 'how to describe disabled characters' or whatever and I've seen art ref posts for drawing fat characters, but no posts about how to write them well. so. open call for advice or for examples you've found and like??
Howdy! Fat short white woman here. I've got some hopefully helpful thoughts on this which I will share a little later (I've got a few things to do first sadly).
In the meantime, OP (or anyone else) if you have specific questions about what it feels like for me to be in a fat body or what I personally do and don't worry / think about... I'm more than happy to answer.
In the meantime - I know you said you've seen ref posts for drawing fat characters...but here's one I like (in case you haven't come across it) that is nicely wordy: https://www.tumblr.com/bacchicly/677854396964634625?source=share
- 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.
begin with a list of more general topics and get specific as you go.
for example, research for a historical fantasy novel might follow a chain that looks like this:
life in the 1700s -> life in 1700s france -> 1700s french etiquette and lifestyle depending on class -> 1720s french fashion for middle and upper-middle class women.
starting with a general understanding of the topic you want to cover and narrowing down to specifics will make it easier to build on your knowledge as you go.
Think Critically
consider the source. if it doesn’t cite primary sources (for example, letters and photographs from a specific era and location), what sources does it cite? follow those sources if possible.
is the information reliable? is it provided by an educational institution or an expert on the subject?
who is the author? do they present any bias? what do they have to gain by promoting a specific mindset or conclusion? has any of their research been debunked?
Anecdotes
in general, anecdotal evidence is not sufficient for academic writing. luckily for you, this is a fiction writing page, and anecdotal evidence is usually fine!
work with a combination of scholarly sources and personal experience. if you’re trying to depict a specific health condition, you might consult medical sources about the technical details of the condition, as well as seeking firsthand accounts from people who have that condition.
remember that people are not monolithic! there are often forums online where people are more than happy to discuss their experiences; cross-consult these for common elements.
Lists
keep track of your sources!! if you ever need to consult something later on, it will be way easier to open a list of resources than go digging through your search history.
additionally, if you come across lists of sources compiled by other people, save those!! you are probably not the first person to research the specific topic you’re looking into, and there are entire websites dedicated to gathering research!
wordsnstuffblog.com/research has compilations of sources for everything from writing injuries to global period pieces by century.
Resources
if you can, check out your school or public library’s websites! they will often compile scholarly resources to access for free.
look for open access or open source sites like project gutenberg that archive and digitize historical documents and other works. scienceopen and the directory of open access journals are more of these. search using keywords!
keep an eye out for websites made specifically for educational purposes (those with .edu at the end of their addresses).
A well-crafted character voice can breathe life into your narrative, making readers feel as if they're eavesdropping on real people. Each character's dialogue should be as distinctive as their fingerprints, reflecting their personality, background, and motivations.
Creating distinctive character voices is one of the first things I learned in my creative writing lessons. Whether you're a seasoned writer or just starting, understanding how to create authentic and unique character voices is a crucial skill. So, here’s my guide on how to personalise your dialogue.
Understanding Your Characters
To craft dialogue that resonates, you must first get to know your characters inside and out. Dive deep into their psyche, exploring their backgrounds, beliefs, values, and desires. What drives them? What keeps them up at night? Understanding these intricacies is the foundation upon which you'll build their unique voices.
Additionally, consider their primary language or dialect. A character from Italy, for example, might have a different vocabulary and speech patterns than someone from India. For instance, an Italian character may use phrases or expressions unique to their culture, adding depth and authenticity to their voice. This not only provides cultural richness but also enhances the character's individuality.
Creating Distinctive Speech Patterns
Once you've delved into your characters' backgrounds and cultural influences, it's time to work on their speech patterns. Think of this as giving each character their own linguistic fingerprint. Here are some key elements to consider:
Unique Vocabulary: Each character should have a vocabulary that reflects their education, interests, and experiences. A well-read character might use more complex words, while a simpler character may prefer everyday language.
Sentence Structures: Pay attention to how characters structure their sentences. Some may favor long, flowing sentences, while others opt for brevity. This reflects their thought processes and personality.
Idioms and Colloquialisms: Characters from specific regions or backgrounds might use regional idioms or colloquial expressions. For example, a Texan character might say, "fixin' to" instead of "intending to."
Influences from Native Language: If your character speaks more than one language, consider how their native language influences their speech in another language. They might occasionally switch to their native language for emphasis or use idiomatic expressions from that language.
Accents and Pronunciation: If your character has a distinct accent, consider how this affects their pronunciation of words. You can subtly convey accents through dialogue without overdoing it, using phonetic spelling sparingly.
Tone Tags: Incorporating tone tags (e.g., nervously, confidently, sarcastically) can convey the character's emotions and attitudes during a conversation. These tags help readers understand the subtext of the dialogue.
Imagine a character named Maria, who hails from Mexico. She might use Spanish phrases when speaking English to emphasize her cultural background. Her speech could be peppered with warmth and expressions of hospitality, reflecting her upbringing.
Dialogue Tags and Character Expressions
Dialogue tags and character expressions are invaluable tools for conveying the nuances of character voices. They add layers to your characters' speech, giving readers insight into their emotions, intentions, and personalities.
While "said" is often your best friend because it's unobtrusive, don't hesitate to mix in other tags to convey mood and tone. For instance, instead of always using "said," consider alternatives like "whispered," "shouted," "murmured," or "replied." Choose tags that align with the character's demeanor and the context of the conversation.
Character expressions and actions:
Non-Verbal Communication
Beyond dialogue tags, describe how characters express themselves physically while speaking. Actions, gestures, and facial expressions can reveal a lot about a character's emotional state or their intentions. If a character nervously tugs at their collar while speaking, it conveys anxiety. If another character smirks while delivering a line, it hints at their amusement or mischief.
Using tone tags:
Incorporate tone tags like "nervously," "confidently," "sarcastically," or "gently" to clarify the character's tone of voice. These adverbs provide crucial context to the dialogue, helping readers understand the character's emotional state.
Social Influence
Remember that a character's social background can significantly influence their speech. For instance, a character from a wealthy background might use more formal language and have a refined way of speaking. They might avoid slang or contractions. In contrast, a character from a less privileged background might use colloquialisms, contractions, and have a more relaxed speech style.
Balancing character expressions and tags can breathe life into your dialogues, making them engaging and memorable for readers. Use them strategically to punctuate and emphasize key moments in your characters' conversations.
Balancing Consistency and Evolution
As you craft your characters' dialogue, it's crucial to strike a balance between consistency and evolution. Characters should maintain their unique voices throughout the story, but they can also grow and change.
Consistency is key to character integrity. Readers should be able to recognize a character's voice from the beginning to the end of your story.
To achieve this create a character profile that includes detailed notes on their speech patterns, vocabulary, and idiosyncrasies. Refer back to your character profile whenever writing dialogue to ensure you stay true to their voice.
However, characters, like real people, can evolve and change over time. Events, experiences, and personal growth can influence how they speak. To reflect this evolution gradually introduce changes in their speech as they undergo character development. You can also use dialogue to convey their changing perspectives, priorities, or emotions.
For example, a shy character might start using more assertive language as they gain confidence throughout the story. Their evolution should feel natural and in line with their character arc.
By maintaining consistency while allowing for evolution, you can create dynamic and believable character voices that resonate with your readers.
Dialogue Exercises and Practice
First things first, get to know your characters like you're catching up with an old friend. Dive into their quirks, fears, what makes them tick, and what ticks them off. Once you've got a handle on that, it's time to let them speak their minds. Ever heard of character monologues? It's like giving your characters a stage to shine. Let them ramble, vent, or reminisce—it's like therapy for both you and your character.
Now, let's talk duets. Imagine pairing up two characters from different walks of life for a conversation. It's like a linguistic showdown, and you're the ringmaster. See how they bounce off each other, and you'll bring out their unique voices like a pro.
Last but not least, voice journals. Think of it as a diary for your characters. Let them jot down their innermost thoughts and feelings. It's like having a backstage pass to their minds.
Remember, mastering character dialogue is a journey, not a sprint. Your characters will evolve, and so will your knack for making their voices stand out.
Avoiding Stereotypes and Clichés
When creating character voices it's important to avoid those clichéd, overused character stereotypes. We've all seen them: the tough-as-nails detective with a whiskey habit, or the ditzy cheerleader who cares more about lipstick than world affairs.
As writers, our mission is to create characters that feel fresh, real, and relatable. So, let's steer clear of the tired old tropes and explore the vast spectrum of humanity.
Instead of falling into the trap of predictable character traits, dig deeper. Ask yourself: What makes your character tick? What are their quirks and passions? Sure, your character might be a brilliant scientist, but what sets them apart from every other lab coat-wearing genius out there?
Diversity is your friend here. Embrace the rich tapestry of human experiences and backgrounds. Give your characters unique voices that reflect their individuality, and you'll create characters that resonate with readers on a whole new level.
I hope this blog on Crafting Character Voices will help you in your writing journey. Be sure to comment any tips of your own to help your fellow authors prosper, and follow my blog for new blog updates every Monday and Thursday.
Looking For More Writing Tips And Tricks?
Are you an author looking for writing tips and tricks to better your manuscript? Or do you want to learn about how to get a literary agent, get published and properly market your book? Consider checking out the rest of Haya’s book blog where I post writing and publishing tips for authors every Monday and Thursday! And don’t forget to head over to my TikTok and Instagram profiles @hayatheauthor to learn more about my WIP and writing journey!
Sad things you can do in a book other than killing of a character
Character death is sad, but it also has huge consequences on your plot that can’t be reversed. Not to mention, depending on your genre, character deaths are often reserved for later in the series as a way of telling the reader that things are getting serious.
So, until that moment, here’s a quick list of things you can do to tug at your readers emotions:
1.- Destruction of an item of value. For this to work you’re going to have to set this up early on, it could be a childhood toy they need to sleep at night, a necklace they swear gives them good luck, and old family trinket or any number of things. The important thing is you show just how important it is to the character, make them happy and excited just to talk about it. Later on your character will feel loss and so will the audience.
2.- Arguing. Two characters with a strong bond arguing can be heartbreaking, even if you know the argument is going to resolve itself eventually, going from cuddles and banter to cold looks and the silent treatment, can easily hurt the audience just as much as the characters.
3.- Betrayal. When well done, it’s worst than character death. When you as a reader fall head over heels in love with a character, only for them to betray the rest, it’s heartbreaking, especially if when you read back the foreshadowing was there. It was so obvious yet you were all so blind! As blind as the other characters. Also, unlike character death, they’re still there, there to taunt you with their mere existence.
4.- Failure. We have probably all felt that emptiness, that feeling as the world crumbles around us, haplessness, when we failed an exam in school or just couldn’t get the house clean in time for that visit. Take that feeling and reflect it into your characters, it doesn’t have to be an exam, it can be anything, a task they’re parents asked them to do and they tried their best, a mission, anything. Just let them fail and feel the world crumble.
5.- Being forced to stay behind. Following from point four, if a character is not good enough they can be left behind, perhaps it comes from a place of love, an attempt to protect them from enemies too strong, yet it still hurts. Perhaps they haven’t failed, perhaps they are left behind for another reason, because they are “too valuable”, or because they’ll be more useful back home. Either way, watching those close to you go of to fight for what you believe in, without you, can be painful.
6.- Finding out something they believed in was a lie. It can be something relatively insignificant, an assumption they never bothered to question. Or something world shattering. Allow me to offer up an example with an unimportant spoiler from my second book (it’s not even out yet but oh well): in this book, while talking about some law, Henry realises his daughter believes he and her mother were married. This is an assumption Itazu made and never questioned. It affects nothing, nothing changes, yet finding out her mother and her father were not the happy married couple she’d always pictured, it’s painful.
This could also be something huge, finding out you’re adopted for example.
7.- History. Oh, history, how depressing it can be. And if you have a fantasy world you have many opportunities to go into this. From slaughters to slavery, finding out how society got to where it is, the base on which it is built. Well, it’s pretty depressing. Obviously be careful how much inspiration you take from real world history and always be respectful and do your research!
8.- Scarring. An injury can be painful, it can be scary. And depending on what caused it, leave you with traumatising memories. Now add to that a physical visible reminder on your skin you can never remove. Well, that can be pretty horrible. Imagine the scar came from a battle the protagonist longs to forget, but can’t because every night before going to sleep they can’t help but glance at their arm where the nasty scars forever lies.
As usual, check out my book, stories I’ve written plus other social medias: here.
This another post I could probably do a part two on someday. Can you think of any books where any of these are done effectively? Do any of these happen in your owns book? Please tell me! I love hearing from you all.
Hey jsyk it’s 2018 and if you’re still drawing characters with big lips like THIS, even if they’re pale/not black, it’s fucking racist. Stop doing it.
No excuses. “It’s a stylistic choice!” It’s a RACIST stylistic choice.
“Idk how else to draw big lips!” That’s because you relied on racist caricatures and are a bad artist. Teach yourself. Learn. If you’re not willing to do that, then you are a bad, racist artist.
“But it’s part of the character design!” Yeah, and it’s racist. If it’s your OC, then change it. If it’s not your OC, make the right choice and draw them with normal looking bigger lips instead of this racist monstrosity.
And if this post makes you uncomfortable because it’s calling you out for stuff you’ve done, good. Fix it. Own up to it. Grow.
If you see this and you’re first thought is to defend this: you are racist. You are part of the problem. Congrats. Now work on yourself and unlearn that.
(some troll gave me shit about only providing overly “feminine” examples. I would have been happy to ignore them…but there are so many great examples on how to draw perfectly acceptable (not racist) full-lipped male characters, in the end, I couldn’t resist.)
Oh my gosh. I just found this website that walks you though creating a believable society. It breaks each facet down into individual questions and makes it so simple! It seems really helpful for worldbuilding!
Heads up that this is a very extensive questionnaire and might be daunting to a lot of writers (myself included). That being said, it is also an amazing questionnaire and I will definitely be using it (or at the very least, some of it).
How to create a character for an online or tabletop RPG (also a good guide on creating characters in general)
Royalty/nobility TV Tropes page
Basic character profile
OC masterpost
Random character generators - (1), (2), (3), (4)
D&D Character Building Tool
Character Design Ideas:
How clothing affects a character’s personality
Character Design Inspiration blog
Concept art, fan art, cool art to be inspired by
Character design references and inspiration
Sources for POC character design ideas and models
Create your own character model using HeroForge
For horned characters
Body and hair types guide
Random outfit generator
Naming Help:
Amazing site with an endless amount of naming resources
General advice on avoiding naming appropriation
Hispanic Surnames
Gothic Victorian names
Huge master list for character things in general
Masterlist of names of all types - including but not limited to ancient/old world names, Celtic, African, Northern European, Southern and Central American Native names, Japanese, Chinese, Mongolian, Polynesian, and more
Another name masterlist
How to pick a character name guide
Yet another names masterlist
Creating Background/backstory:
Character Sheet/Development Sheet
Another character development list
In-depth character personality, motivations and traits sheet
320 talents and passions for characters
On writing likes and dislikes that aren’t frivolous
Why you should write non-human characters non-conforming to the gender binary
Stereotypes, tropes, and archetypes
Random backstory generator
Assassin and thief character tropes to avoid
Character Interactions and putting your character into your world/story:
Comparing character height/height references
Characters who are scientists and writing about them doing science
Describing what different voices sound like
Describing skin tones
Writing friendship interactions that are platonic
Why having one character knock their friend unconscious to prevent them from doing something is a bad idea
Advice on shipping OCs with canon characters and what to avoid doing
Sweet Polly Oliver and Sweet on Polly Oliver situations (think of Disney’s Mulan for an example)
How to write multiple viewpoints/juggling a main cast of more than 4 to 6 characters
How to make readers care about your morally gray hero/anti-hero
On platonic OC and canon character relationships
How to avoid Godmodding in RPs
When it’s cheap to kill off a character
Writing dialogue
Things you shouldn’t do to canon characters
Avoiding purple prose in writing and RPs
Slang resources
Dialogue tips
Websites to chart your story/plot/character relationships
Spent a long time on this art resource/reference masterpost! Finally starting to edit to add more and more. I have a ton more resources/refs that I’m adding today but for now I just made some small additions! If you have requests just send me an ask !!
General Anatomy/Human stuff:
body quick tips
painting/drawing straight hair
how to draw eyes
arm squish/bend tip
chest/pecks with raised arms tip
long hair how to
male torso anatomy (back)
learn manga male anatomy (torso & arm)
male torso anatomy (front)
head and hair tips (scroll a bit, it’s in one of the images!)
Writing a Blind or Visually Impaired Character: Crafting
How to Craft a Blind or Visually Impaired Character, Part One of a series
The is part of a multi-step guide for writing blind characters, and it’s master post is this link: https://mimzy-writing-online.tumblr.com/post/185122795699/writing-a-blind-or-visually-impaired-character
All the posts associated with this guide will be tagged #blindcharacter along with any other posts I write in the future regarding writing blind characters.
Disclaimer: This blogger/writer is visually impaired, has lived with vision loss for almost two years, has been using a cane for two years, and has written two blind characters so far.
I spend so much time carefully picking and adjusting the colors in every single drawing I make that I’d probably lose my mind if I didn’t just repeatedly push this out of my memory and pretend it’s not a thing. Why am I reblogging a blank empty post that doesn’t say anything??? Weird
good news! you can’t make sure that everyone will see the correct colors on their own device, but you can make sure your monitor is as accurate as possible for printing and sharing by calibrating it!
there are a bunch of free monitor tests, but here’s an easy one you can use. the passmark and eizo tests are also pretty good, though passmark doesn’t work in your browser. be warned that some tests may cause eye strain.
you can either use the settings built into your monitor itself or use the display color calibration settings in your operating system to adjust the settings until everything looks correct, and then enjoy your accurate colors.
