Cascading Secret Identities In A Trenchcoat

[manyswarmsofbees]

Main: @moonlightredfern

I’m hiding my writing under this sideblog because the other has breached containment.

If you know me irl this is my polite request to not read my fics because I’m not ready to share them with corporeal friends. Thank you!

[tokkibean]

i love fanfiction because unlike original work the plot and characters are all plotted and characterised for you to use so its a really good solution for those “i want to write but i dont know what to write” moods it lets you focus soley on the craft and its wonderful

[redstonedust]

actually kinda funny to me that fanfiction is known as a hobby for cringe 13 year olds because personally over half of the fanfic authors i know are married 30 year olds with mediocre admin jobs they attend to inbetween posting chapters of their latest gay sex epic adventure

[tsunflowers]

reading a historical romance novel and reflecting on the way these stories often present woke nobility for the contemporary reader. a big thing is servants. you can’t not have servants in those times but many modern readers think “but I would never have servants. it would be so weird to have servants” and in order to make the protagonists of the story more relatable they are actually friends with the servants. but flip your perspective and think of it from the side of the servants. wouldn’t it be so awful if your boss was always trying to be friends with you. a really common thing you’ll see is the woke baronet having tea in the kitchen with the servants bc he’s not like other baronets. but what if your boss wanted to hang out and talk during your lunch break every day. not so charming when you think about it that way

[ariaste]

#okay but now what is the optimal way to be a good boss in this situation i genuinely wanna know#its easy to guess what makes a bad boss or a mid boss. but what is a good boss#specifically in such a highly structured hierarchal situation (via @rainbowroach)

HELLO you are asking questions that literature and poetry THROUGHOUT the middle ages has asked, and it is from this questioning that we derive things like the Codes of Chivalry (which is not "how to treat a noble lady really nice" but is actually "how to be an ethical person when you're rich and you own a horse" and includes such things as "don't run people over with your horse")

In fact I daresay you already know instinctively just from cultural osmosis what a good boss -- a good liege lord -- is and does based on the tropes that have survived to the current day and the kinds of things that get Hugely Praised in things like legends of King Arthur.

A good boss (liege lord) is:

Merciful. He is not having his peasants killed for things like poaching rabbits during a famine. In fact, he is working to mitigate famine. During times of individual hardship, he might negotiate with a peasant for a payment plan on their annual rent.

Patient. He is not impulsive, he does not lose his temper.

Prudent. He makes choices that are thoughtful, considered, conservative (in the sense of not needlessly risky--he's not investing his entire fortune in having everyone plant an unproven crop). He is making sure local infrastructure like roads and public buildings are maintained and kept in good nick.

Gentle. He doesn't haul off and slap a servant or a tenant for breaking a dish or making a mistake. He doesn't abuse animals, his wife or children, or his employees. He doesn't rape the servants.

Generous (both in money and in spirit). He is not extorting the peasants for an amount of rent that is beyond their means, he is not raising taxes every year to cover his own lavish lifestyle. He is paying his servants a living wage (or, if wages are low, he's giving them room/board/clothing to make up the difference). If someone in a tenant's family dies, the lord is sending a gift of condolence, or helping to pay for the funeral, or possibly even ATTENDING the funeral and speaking a few kind words about the deceased, ESPECIALLY if they were a really upstanding and important member of the community. If one of his tenants is gravely sick, the lord is sending a basket of food or paying for a doctor. He is giving charitably (generally this will be, like, a bequest to the church so that they can run a hospital or an orphanage or a school for the local village children).

Pious. This classically means "goes to church, submits with humility to God" but to me this quality is subtextually standing in for "maintaining an ongoing sense of Perspective that HE'S not god, that there are higher powers he is Accountable to, that he too can be Judged, etc, so that he doesn't end up going on a weird fucked up power trip"

Humble. One of the most admiring things you hear about a lord doing in literature and epic poetry is, "He ate off of wooden plates while his followers ate off of gold and silver." Humility isn't about being meek, it's just about not thinking so much of yourself that you turn your nose up and sneer at what "lesser" people do. In other words: Don't be a fucking diva. If your carriage gets stuck in the mud, climb out and help everybody else push, you're not gonna die from getting mud on your shoes.

Condescending. This word has changed wildly in meaning/tone over the last couple centuries -- it's now a rude thing to do (because we've done away with legal social hierarchies, so someone acting like they're lowering themselves to your level IS insulting), but in older times, a high-ranking person "condescending" to a servant was worthy of praise and admiration: it means they were setting aside rank and privilege to speak to them with the easygoing, friendly respect and compassion they'd give a peer. This is things like... Treats those beneath him with courtesy and respect (ie: listens soberly and attentively when one of his servants or tenants comes to complain about a problem). Having a sense of humor and kindness about it when the lord and a servant both come around a corner at the same time and run into each other and the servant gets knocked to the ground and starts babbling apologies--the condescending (positive) lord helps them to their feet with his own hands and cracks a joke to show them that it's ok (as opposed to just walking off without a word or insulting/scolding them). This is also things like trusting a farmer, woodcutter, or artisan to speak with expertise about their own livelihood and taking their advice into consideration if they tell the lord that one of his ideas won't work.

Good boundaries. The ethical liege lord knows that it's normal for the staff to probably be softly bitching about him in private (even with a really good boss, we all grumble from time to time). He's not eavesdropping on them, he's not going into the staff areas where they should reasonably expect to have a degree of privacy, etc.

Righteous and protective of "the weak". The "weak" here doesn't necessarily mean physically weak, this is often used in the sense of someone politically or socially weak, aka The Marginalized -- the poor, the disabled, women, children, the elderly, etc. If a lord sees someone like this being mistreated or abused, he's supposed to step in and put a stop to that.

Committed to reciprocity. In a highly hierarchical system like feudalism, every person (from the lowest peasant all the way up to the crown prince) legally OWES their liege lord certain things (taxes, labor, service, loyalty, etc). A good liege remembers and takes very seriously the idea that this should be a balanced and reciprocal relationship -- in other words, he owes something BACK. Feudalism is modeled very strongly on the family system: If children owe their parents obedience and service, then parents owe their children care and protection. This still applies when the "child" is a farmer and the "parent" is a local baron. Or when the "child" is a duke and the "parent" is the king.

Basically, we get so caught up in the aesthetics of nobility that we forget that it literally is a managerial position that comes with responsibilities that were... very similar back in the day to the same ones we have now. Humans have not changed all that much. At the end of the day, a really good boss in the 1400s versus in one from the 2020s displays most of the same qualities of personality, even if the details of execution are different.

The next question is, of course, "well, but this theoretical liege lord is HIGHLY idealized -- how often did that actually HAPPEN? Wasn't it more likely that everyone was exploited all the time?" and to that I say: Well, maybe. But again, I don't think humans have changed all that much. Just like the bosses of today, there's a SPECTRUM: A really really good boss is rare and precious and one that you tell stories about for years after you've left that job, but a truly, genuinely, homicidally nightmarish boss is also pretty rare. Most bosses are sort of meh -- they have their good moments, they have their shitty moments, but they're tolerable and you can get along with them well enough to do your job, and then you roll your eyes at them behind their back. Generally, humans don't take outright exploitation lying down. Being a bad boss in the historical period is how you get peasant uprisings and revolts, and you know that to be true because your parents raised you with that knowledge, so unless you are very stupid or inbred or an egomaniac, there is literal personal incentive to at minimum be a Tolerable liege lord. And that means hitting at least SOME of the above bullet points.

TL;DR: In the words of Honore de Balzac, "Everything I have just told you can be summarized by an old word: noblesse oblige!"

(for more discussions of the ethics of fealty and what it means to be a good boss when you are an exquisitely beautiful twink of a prince with a hot beefy bodyguard.... [fingerguns] read A Taste of Gold and Iron)

[mylordshesacactus]

I read etiquette and homemaking guides from the 1800s mostly because they're a FASCINATING insight into cultural norms that we often don't think about. I honestly really recommend people crack one of these open at least once--it goes way beyond, like, "what to wear to a ball!!!"

The best ones have advice on decor, how to select high-quality furniture, childrearing, fashion, etc--from a contemporary perspective, and the things the authors feel the need to clarify vs the wild shit that will just casually mention like it's something everyone knows and agrees on is REALLY revealing of the culture and how it's shifted.

And while a lot of the advice is WILDLY bigoted or just outright funny, you'd be surprised how much of it is...just genuinely timeless, and shockingly compassionate.

They ALSO, as a writer, have INVALUABLE resources--because, again, they're talking about things that are so MUNDANE that a lot of the time nobody really sat down to formally document what normal, everyday people thought or cared about--because that's boring! But a book written to provide advice and information to, say, a young woman who's never run her own home before? You can fully expect an entire chapter dedicated to The Types Of Oven, and which features are useful and worth spending money on, and which features are a huge hassle to clean and a waste of space, and what to spend that money on instead.

And like. As a writer who frequently works in the 1800s? Fuck inflation calculators, this is the kind of thing I need. This is absolutely priceless.

Now that being said.

My current favorite 'etiquette guide' in the world is actually like....70% purely practical advice, written by a gentleman the groupchat has affectionately dubbed History's Most Autistic Man In The World, and thank god they didn't have Aderall back then

Because the AuDHD is strong in this one and as a result, in addition to the deeply practical and useful everyday reference points, we also have:

[mylordshesacactus]

[mylordshesacactus]

[tenderwatches]

sometimes you need dialogue tags and don't want to use the same four

[manyswarmsofbees]

Laundry day: no day is Valancy doing all that.

Troubled and Unhappy: The Dreaded Task of Doing Laundry in the Mid-Nineteenth Century

Left: Chemise, 19th century. Bartow-Pell Mansion Museum, TC2012.51. Right: “Washing White Clothes,” excerpt from The House Book by Eliza Les

[veronicaleighauthor]

[manyswarmsofbees]

If any Lusty Mind Montgomery fans need historical underwear references for fic research:

Men’s underwear:

The 1920s marked a transformative period in men's underwear, reflecting broader societal changes and evolving attitudes toward masculinity,

Women’s underwear:

The history of 1920s lingerie including underwear, bras, slips, corsets, step-ins, unionsuits, girdles and garter belts. How to dress in 20s

[motherfuckingshakespeare]

A HANDY CHART FOR THOSE OF YOU WONDERING WHAT THE FUCK IS UP WITH THESE. NOTE THAT THESE ARE ALL THE INFORMAL AND YOU IS THE FORMAL SO LIKE YOU WOULD ALWAYS ADDRESS YOUR SUPERIOR/ OLDER PERSON/ SOCIAL BETTER WITH YOU BUT WITH YOUR BUDS YOU CAN USE THESE. 

[heroineimages]

I’m not sure I knew the thy/thine distinction. Thanks for this!

[onbearfeet]

THINE IS ALSO GRAMMATICALLY EQUIVALENT TO YOURS.

“It is yours” and “It is thine” differ only in their level of formality.

[sapphoesie]

Writing Tip

because I see this everywhere and most people don’t know about it. The hyphen(-), the en-dash(–) and the em-dash(—) are three completely different things with completely different uses. If you write fanfiction, it’s likely that your readers won’t care, but if you want to submit a manuscript for publishing, you need to know the difference. 

The hyphen (-) is the basic symbol you find on your keyboard, and it’s meant to only be used for hyphenated words (well-being, two-thirds). 

The en-dash (–) is a slightly longer dash. It’s usually the width of an uppercase N, hence the name. You can find it by looking through the ‘insert symbol’ option in MS word or many word processors, and it is meant to be used to show a particular distance, or for intervals (May–August, 1900–1916, pages 12–22)

The em-dash (—) is what people most commonly use, but they refer to it as a hyphen. It’s the longest dash, about the size of an uppercase letter M, and you can either find it through the list of symbols in your word processor, or some word processors actually automatically transform two hyphens (–) into an em-dash  (—). It is meant to be used as a break in the sentence, in a place where a comma, semicolon or colon would normally be used or as a break in dialogue. (Her niece—the daughter of her oldest sister—is the one over there.) 

*All three types of dashes are normally meant to be used without any spaces on either side of the dash. 

[digitalkiddo]

If you're writing anything involving cons, scams, heists, or morally questionable characters who are very good at lying, here are some free resources I've been using for research. Saving you the "why is this in my search history" anxiety.

1. The FBI's Famous Cases & Criminals archive (fbi.gov/history/famous-cases) has detailed breakdowns of real fraud cases, Ponzi schemes, and confidence operations. The language they use is clinical and precise, which is perfect for getting the procedural details right.

2. The FTC Consumer Sentinel Network publishes annual reports on the most common fraud tactics in the US. Great for understanding how modern scams actually work and what makes people fall for them.

3. The Smithsonian's American Art Museum has a free digital collection of forgery case studies. If your character forges documents or art, this is gold.

4. Court Listener (courtlistener.com) is a free legal database where you can read actual court transcripts from fraud trials. Want to know how a real con artist talks under oath? This is where you find out.

5. The Internet Archive's collection of old newspaper crime sections. Search for "confidence man" or "swindle" in papers from the 1920s through 1960s and you'll find incredible real stories that would feel too dramatic for fiction.

Bonus: The Psychology of Fraud section on the Association for Psychological Science website has accessible articles about why people trust, how deception works cognitively, and what makes someone a convincing liar. Essential reading if you want your con artist characters to feel psychologically real.

Reblog to save for later. Your WIP will thank you.

[thewritings]

I don't know how easy it is to get hold of these days, my library happened to have them, but the Howdunit series is excellent. there are books on poinsons, carnivals, PIs, and scams. A bit dated in terms of technology but they were lots of fun.

[avi-why]

every writing tip article and their mother: dont ever use adverbs ever!

me, shoveling more adverbs onto the page because i do what i want: just you fucking try and stop me

[quarter0master]

May I add something, because I will never shut up about this book (Writing Tools by Roy Peter Clark):

[jackironsides]

Finally, some good fucking advice

[amyamychan]

[Image Description]

Two highlighted selections from the referenced book. They read:

To understand the difference between a good adverb and a bad adverb, consider these two sentences: “She smiled happily” and She smiled sadly". Which one works best? The first seems weak because “smiled” contains the meaning of “happily”. On the other hand, “sadly” changes the meaning.

Remember the song “Killing Me Softly”? Good adverb. How about “Killing Me Fiercely”? Bad adverb.

Look also for weak verb-adverb combinations that you can revise with stronger verbs: “She went quickly down the stairs” can become “she dashed down the stairs.” “He listened surreptitiously” can become “He eavesdropped.” Give yourself a choice.

[End ID]

[yeoldenews]

1500 Regency Era Last Names

A few people have expressed interest, so here is a random selection of 1500 surnames taken from the same sample as the names from my Regency first name survey.

These names are taken from marriage records in Westminster, London (a very wealthy area) between 1800 and 1820.

As these names are taken from real people, some of them have cultural (Irish/Scottish/Welsh/etc.) or social (e.g. FitzRoy originally being used for the illegitimate children of royalty) connotations, or associations with extant noble families - so be sure to do a quick google before attaching them to any characters/etc.

Abbington, Abbott, Abell, Abrahall, Abrahams, Ackerman, Adair, Adams, Adamson, Adderley, Addington, Addison, Adkins, Agard, Ainsworth, Alcott, Alder, Alderson, Aldis, Aldridge, Alexander, Allard, Allcock, Allcorn, Allen, Allingham, Allison, Allwright, Almond, Alsop, Alston, Alsworth, Ambrose, Amery, Ames, Amrose, Annandale, Anderson, Anderton, Andrews, Angel, Annesley, Anson, Anthony, Antill, Appleby, Appleford, Appleton, Appleyard, Archer, Armistead, Armitage, Armstrong, Arnold, Arrowsmith, Arundel, Ash, Ashburne, Ashby, Ashley, Ashmead, Ashmole, Ashmore, Ashton, Ashwell, Aspenwall, Astin, Astley, Atherly, Atkinson, Atwill, Atwood, Audley, Austen, Avery, Aylesbury, Ayre, Ayres

Babbage, Babbington, Bacon, Bailey, Bainbridge, Baird, Baker, Bakewell, Baldwin, Ball, Banks, Bannister, Barker, Barlow, Barnard, Barnes, Barnett, Barrett, Barrowfoot, Bartholomew, Batcheler, Bateman, Baxter, Bayley, Beaumont, Beaverstock, Bedford, Bell, Bellamy Benfield, Benning, Bennington, Bentley, Benton, Berks, Berry, Bingham, Birch, Bishop, Black, Blackburn, Blackmore, Blackwell, Blake, Blanchard, Bliss, Bloomfield, Boatswain, Boston, Boswell, Bottomley, Bourne, Bowen, Bowman, Boxall, Boyd, Bracebridge, Bradford, Bradley, Brady, Bragg, Brideoake, Briggs, Bright, Brinsley, Britton, Broderick, Bromfield, Bromley, Brookman, Brooks, Brothers, Broughton, Brown, Browning, Bruce, Bryan, Bryce, Bullmore, Bullock, Burnett, Burroughs, Burton, Butler, Byers, Byfield, Byrne, Byron

Callighan, Camden, Campbell, Cantrell, Carlisle, Carlton, Carpenter, Carrell, Carter, Cartwright, Castle, Caterer, Cavallier, Cavendish, Chamberlain, Chambers, Champion, Chandler, Chapel, Chaplin, Chapman, Chappell, Charles, Charlton, Chilcott, Child, Chipperton, Chittenden, Christel, Christie, Christopher, Church, Churchill, Clarke, Clarkson, Claxton, Clayton, Cleaver, Clement, Clifford, Clinton, Close, Clover, Codrington, Cole, Coleman, Collet, Collingwood, Collins, Combs, Compton, Condon, Connell, Cook, Cooper, Copeland, Corbett, Costello, Cotterell, Couch, Coulston, Courtenay, Cox, Cozens, Crane, Crawford, Cresswell, Crew, Crocker, Crockett, Crockford, Crompton, Cromwell, Crosby, Cross, Crow, Crowther, Cruikshank, Crump, Cruthfield, Cummings, Cunningham, Curtis, Cuthbertson, Cutler

D’Este, Dabney, Dalby, Dale, Dalton, Dancer, Daniels, Darby, Dark, Darley, Darling, Darwin, Dashwood, Davenport, Davis, Davison, Dawkins, Dawson, Day, Dean, Dearling, Delamott, Delgrass, Dell, Deller, Denby, Dent, Denton, Deschamps, Devaynes, Develin, Deville, Devins, Dew, Dexter, Dickenson, Dickson, Dillon, Dimsey, Ditton, Dixon, Dobbins, Dobson, Dockery, Dodd, Dodge, Dolin, Doran, Douglas, Dowley, Dowling, Downes, Downie, Drake, Draper, Dribble, Drion, Drummond, Drury, Ducket, Dudley, Duff, Duffield, Duke, Dunckley, Duncombe, Dunlop, Dunn, Dunning, Dunstone, Dupuis, Durham, Dusson, Duval, Dyer, Dyson

Each, Eady, Eames, Earle, Early, Easterbrook, Easton, Eastwood, Easy, Eaton, Ebdon, Eccles, Eckley, Edderidge, Eddington, Eden, Edgar, Edge, Edgecumbe, Edgerly, Edgley, Edgworth, Edmonds, Edmonson, Edmondston, Edmunds, Edwards, Egerton, Elburn, Elderson, Elderton, Elias, Elkins, Ellerbeck, Ellerby, Ellery, Ellington, Elliott, Ellis, Ellison, Elmer, Elmes, Elmhurst, Elphinstone, Elsmore, Elson, Elston, Elton, Elwood, Emberlin, Emberson, Emerson, Emery, Englefield, Engleheart, English, Enley, Escott, Estwick, Etheridge, Eubanks, Eustace, Evans, Evendon, Everett, Eyre, Eyres

Fabian, Fairchild, Faircloth, Fairless, Fane, Farley, Farmer, Farrow, Faulkner, Fawcett, Fellingham, Fellowes, Fells, Feltham, Felton, Fenn, Fenner, Fenton, Fenwick, Ferguson, Fiddler, Field, Fielding, Figg, Fillion, Finch, Fincher, Finley, Fish, Fisher, Fisk, Fitch, Fitzgerald, Fitzgibbon, Fitzhenry, Fitzherbert, Fitzroy, Fleetman, Fleetwood, Fletcher, Flint, Flintoff, Flowers, Fogg, Foley, Foot, Forbes, Ford, Fordham, Forester, Fortune, Foss, Fossard, Foster, Fowler, Fox, Foxton, Frail, Framingham, Frampton, France, Francis, Franklin, Frankwell, Fraser, Frederick, Freeland, Freeman, French, Frisby, Frith, Frost, Fry, Fryer, Fulford, Fuller

Gabriel, Gale, Gamble, Gardner, Garland, Garmon, Garner, Garnett, Garrett, Garth, Gay, Geary, Gee, George, Gibbons, Gibbs, Gibson, Giddons, Gilbert, Gilborne, Gilchrist, Gill, Gillam, Gilmore, Gisborne, Glass, Glover, Goddard, Godsby, Goller, Good, Goodchild, Goodall, Goodin, Goodrich, Goodson, Goodwill, Goodwin, Goodyear, Gordon, Gorsuch, Gosling, Goss, Gosselin, Gould, Gower, Graham, Granger, Grant, Graves, Gray, Grayhurst, Grayson, Greaves, Green, Greenfell, Greenfield, Greenwell, Greenwood, Gregory, Gregson, Greville, Grey, Griffiths, Grigg, Grimstone, Grist, Gristock, Grosvenor, Groves, Growing, Gurney

Hadley, Hadwell, Hagan, Halbert, Hall, Hamilton, Hampshire, Hampson, Hancock, Hand, Hankin, Harbour, Hardcastle, Harding, Hardwick, Hardy, Hargrave, Herner, Harriman, Harrington, Harriott, Harris, Harrison, Harrowell, Hart, Hartwell, Harvey, Haswell, Hawkes, Hawkins, Hawkridge, Hayden, Haynes, Hayton, Healy, Heath, Henderson, Henshaw, Hepworth, Herbert, Hermon, Heron, Hewlett, Hewson, Hibbert, Hickman, Hickson, Higgins, Higgs, Hill, Hindman, Hinsley, Hobby, Hobhouse, Hockley, Hodges, Holden, Holland, Hollingshead, Hollis, Holmes, Holtham, Holton, Hooper, Hope, Hopewell, Hopper, Hopson, Hopton, Horley, Horn, House, Howard, Howells, Huddle, Hudson, Hughes, Hull, Humble, Hume,Humphries, Hunt, Hunter, Hutchinson

Ibbert, Ibbertson, Ibbs, Ickler, Idle, Ilfold, Illing, Illingworth, Illsbey, Ince, Inch, Inchley, Indermaur, Infield, Ingall, Ingard, Ingarfield, Ingerfield, Ingles, Inglethorpe, Ingleton, Inglis, Inglish, Ingolsby, Ingram, Inkin, Innes, Inns, Inskip, Insoll, Inston, Inwood, Ipsley, Irby, Iredale, Ireland, Ireson, Irish, Ironmonger, Irons, Irvine, Irving, Irwin, Isaac, Isaacs, Isaacson, Isham, Isle, Ismay, Ivatts, Ivery, Ives, Iveson, Ivory, Ivy, Izatt

Jackman, Jackson, Jacobs, Jacomb, Jacques, Jagger, Jakeman, James, Jameson, Jarman, Jarrat, Jarville, Jarvis, Jasper, Jay, Jayne, Jeans, Jeffries, Jefferson, Jefkins, Jellicoe, Jelly, Jenison, Jenkins, Jenkinson, Jenner, Jennings, Jepson, Jeremy, Jerkins, Jerome, Jessop, Jewell, Jobling, Johns, Johnson, Johnston, Johnstone, Jolliff, Jolly, Jones, Jopling, Jordain, Jordan, Jossett, Joules, Joyce, Judd, Judge, Julian, July

Kane, Kay, Keane, Kearsley, Keates, Keating, Keeler, Keen, Keenan, Keer, Keeton, Keller, Kelly, Kelsey, Kelso, Kemble, Kemp, Kempthorne, Kempton, Kendall, Kendrick, Kenn, Kennedy, Kennett, Kenning, Kenny, Kensington, Kent, Kentick, Kerner, Kerr, Kerridge, Kerrington, Kersey, Ketley, Kettell, Keys, Kidd, Kidder, Kilbee, Killingsmith, Kimber, Kind, Kindred, King, Kingdom, Kingley, Kingsman, Kingsmill, Kingston, Kinton, Kirkby, Kirkland, Kirkley, Kirkwood, Kirton, Kitch, Kitchen, Kite, Kitteridge, Klink, Knapp, Knight, Knightley, Knighton, Knipe, Knollis, Knowles, Knowlton, Knox

Labbett, Lacey, Lack, Ladler, Ladley, Lake, Lamb, Lambert, Lancashire, Lancaster, Lane, Langdon, Langham, Langstaff, Lapworth, Large, Larson, Last, Latham, Lavage, Lavender, Law, Lawless, Lawrence, Lawson, LeRoy, Leavey, Lee, Leech, Leek, Leery, Legg, Leighton, Lennox, Leonard, Lester, Lethbridge, Levy, Lewell, Lewin, Lewis, Light, Lilleyman, Lincoln, Lindley, Linnett, Lippingwell, Litchfield, Little, Littlejohn, Littlewood, Lloyd, Lock, Lockley, Lockwood, Lofthouse, Loftus, London, Long, Longman, Longworth, Lonsdale, Loose, Lord, Lott, Lovell, Lovesy, Lowe, Loxley, Lucas, Luckhurst, Lumley, Luxemore, Lyndon, Lyon

Macintosh, Madden, Maitland, Malcolm, Manley, Mann, Manning, Mansell, Mansfield, Mapleston, Marks, Marsden, Marsh, Marshall, Marston, Martin, Mason, Massey, Masterman, Masters, Masterson, Mather, Matthews, Maxwell, May, Maybank, Mayfield, Mayhew, Maynard, Mayor, McAdam, McCauley, McDonald, McGuiness, McKenzie, Meadows, Meakin, Medhurst, Mellins, Mellish, Merrick, Merrington, Merryweather, Metcalfe, Meyer, Middleship, Middleton, Millbank, Milligan, Mills, Millwood, Milne, Milton, Minn, Mitchell, Mitchin, Moloney, Molyneux, Montagu, Montford, Montgomery, Moody, Moon, Moore, Morgan, Morley, Morris, Morrison, Mortimer, Morton, Moses, Moss, Moulton, Muirhead, Mundy, Murdoch, Murphy, Murray, Muxworthy, Myers

Napier, Nash, Nathan, Naylor, Neale, Needham, Neighbour, Neil, Nelson, Nesbit, Nesler, Nessling, Netherwood, Nettlefield, Nettlefold, Nevill, New, Newberry, Newby, Newcomb, Newell, Newland, Newley, Newman, Newport, Newson, Newstead, Newton, Nibbs, Niblett, Nicholas, Nicholls, Nicholson, Nickson, Nightingale, Nixon, Noble, Nock, Nolan, Norcliffe, Norcott, Norcutt, Norfield, Norgrove, Norman, Norrington, Norris, North, Norton, Norwood, Notley, Nott, Nottingham, Nugent, Nunn, Nuttall, Nye

O’Brien, O’Callaghan, O’Connell, O’Hara, O’Kelly, O’Neill, O’Sullivan, Oakes, Oakley, Oates, Odell, Odwell, Ogden, Ogilvie, Oglesby, Oglethorpe, Oldfield, Oldham, Oldridge, Oliphant, Oliver, Orchard, Orde, Ordway, Orford, Orme, Ormsby, Orpwood, Orrell, Orwin, Osborne, Osgood, Osmond, Oswald, Ottley, Otway, Oughton, Owen, Owens, Oxenham, Oxley

Padfield, Page, Pagett, Palmer, Pankhurst, Parish, Parker, Parkinson, Parnell, Parr, Parris, Parrott, Parry, Parslow, Parsons, Partridge, Patrick, Patterson, Patton, Paul, Payne, Payton, Peach, Peacock, Pearson, Pease, Peck, Peel, Pelham, Pemberton, Penman, Penn, Penny, Pennington, Pennyfeather, Pepper, Perfect, Perkins, Peters, Peyton, Phillimore, Phillips, Phipps, Pickering, Pickford, Pierce, Piper, Pitch, Pitcher, Pitt, Pittman, Place, Platfoot, Plover, Plummer, Pocock, Pollard, Ponsonby, Poole, Porter, Potter, Potts, Powell, Powers, Pratt, Prentice, Preston, Pretty, Price, Priest, Prince, Prior, Pritchard, Proctor, Purchase, Purser, Purvis, Pym

Quail, Quaker, Quarrell, Quarry, Quarterman, Quash, Quay, Quelch, Quentrel, Quest, Quick, Quill, Quilley, Quillian, Quilter, Quin, Quinlan, Quinnell, Quint, Quinton, Quiver

Radcliffe, Radford, Rain, Rainer, Ramsdale, Ramsden, Ramsey, Randall, Rattenbury, Raven, Ravenhill, Ravenscroft, Rawlings, Rawlinson, Ray, Raymond, Reading, Redfern, Reece, Reed, Rees, Reeves, Renner, Reynard, Reynolds, Rhodes, Rice, Rich, Richards, Richardson, Richmond, Rickard, Ricketts, Ridgeway, Ridley, Riggs, Rippon, Ritchie, Roadley, Roberts, Robins, Robinson, Robson, Roe, Rogers, Romer, Rooke, Root, Rosamund, Rose, Rosell, Rosier, Ross, Routh, Rowe, Rowland, Rowntree, Roxbury, Roy, Royle, Rudd, Russell, Rust, Ryan, Ryles

Sainsbury, Salmon, Salisbury, Sanders, Sanderson, Sandford, Sarjeant, Satchell, Saunders, Savage, Saxton, Scarborough, Scarlet, Scofield, Scott, Scrivener, Seaborn, Seabright, Seaton, Seaward, Seddon, Sedgley, Sedgewick, Seeley, Selkirk, Sellers, Sewell, Seymour, Shakespeare, Sharpe, Shaw, Sheldon, Shepherd, Sherbrooke, Sherwood, Shields, Shrimpton, Shuttleworth, Simmons, SImms, Simpson, Singer, Skinner, Slater, Smith, Snell, Snow, Snowden, Sotheby, Southerwood, Sparks, Sparling, Sparrow, Spencer, Spicer, Spooner, Springate, Squire, St. Quintin, Stafford, Stanhope, Steel, Steele, Sterne, Stevens, Stevenson, Stewart, Stirling, Stockford, Stockley, Stokes, Stone, Sullivan, Summers, Sunderland, Sutcliff, Swann, Swift, Symonds, Syndenham

Talbot, Tallent, Tanner, Tapley, Target, Tarleton, Tarr, Tarrant, Tate, Tattersall, Tattersfield, Taylor, Teale, Teasdale, Tempest, Tennant, Terry, Thackery, Thicke, Thomas, Thompson, Thorne, Thornhill, Thornton, Thorpe, Thurlow, Thurston, Thynne, Tibbs, Tidy, Tilbury, Tilby, Tillbrook, Tilson, Timbrell, Timmins, Tippin, Tipping, Tisdale, Todd, Tombs, Tomkins, Tomlinson, Torrance, Towers, Townsend, Townsley, Tracey, Travers, Treadway, Treadwell, Treverton, Trotter, Trowell, Truman, Trumble, Tuck, Tucker, Tuckwell, Tulley, Turnbull, Turner, Tweed, Twigg, Twisleton, Tyler, Tyrrell, Tyson

Underdown, Underhill, Underwood, Undrell, Unite, Unwin, Uphill, Uppington, Upstone, Upton, Urmston, Urquhart, Usher, Usherwood, Utley

Vachell, Vale, Valentine, Valiant, Vanderfall, Vane, Varley, Vaughan, Vavasour, Vawdrey, Vernon, Vice, Vick, Vickers, Vickery, Victor, Vidal, Vincent, Vine, Violett, Vivian, Vyse

Wade, Walker, Wall, Wallis, Walpole, Walsh, Walter, Walton, Ward, Wardell, Warrington, Warwick, Watkins, Watson, Watts, Weatherhead, Weaver, Webb, Weber, Webster, Weeks, Welch, Wells, Welsby, Wentworth, Wescott, Wesson, West, Weston, Wharton, Wheatley, Wheelhouse, Wheelwright, Whitaker, White, Whitehouse, Whitfield, Whitlock, Whitlow, Wickham, Wiggins, Wilden, Wiles, Wilkinson, Williams, Willis, Willoughby, Wilmott, Wilson, Winslow, Winter, Winterton, Withers, Wood, Woodall, Woodberry, Woodcock, Woodford, Woodgate, Woodhouse, Woods, Woodward, Wooldridge, Woolhouse, Woollard, Worrell, Worsley, Worthington, Worthy, Wray, Wright, Wrigley, Wurtley, Wyatt, Wynne

Yallop, Yarborough, Yard, Yarrien, Yarrow, Yarwood, Yateman, Yates, Yeates, Yeomans, Yields, York, Young, Younger, Youngman

Zackeray, Zandell, Zealey, Zimmer, Zouch

[whatagrump]

Apparently a lot of people get dialogue punctuation wrong despite having an otherwise solid grasp of grammar, possibly because they’re used to writing essays rather than prose. I don’t wanna be the asshole who complains about writing errors and then doesn’t offer to help, so here are the basics summarized as simply as I could manage on my phone (“dialogue tag” just refers to phrases like “he said,” “she whispered,” “they asked”):

“For most dialogue, use a comma after the sentence and don’t capitalize the next word after the quotation mark,” she said.

“But what if you’re using a question mark rather than a period?” they asked.

“When using a dialogue tag, you never capitalize the word after the quotation mark unless it’s a proper noun!” she snapped.

“When breaking up a single sentence with a dialogue tag,” she said, “use commas.”

“This is a single sentence,” she said. “Now, this is a second stand-alone sentence, so there’s no comma after ‘she said.’”

“There’s no dialogue tag after this sentence, so end it with a period rather than a comma.” She frowned, suddenly concerned that the entire post was as unasked for as it was sanctimonious.

[thewritinggrindstone]

And!

“If you’re breaking dialogue up with an action tag”—she waves her hands back and forth—”the dashes go outside the quotation marks.”

[writing-is-a-martial-art]

Reblog to save a writer’s life.

[jaydove-writes]

Thank you

[localcanadiancryptid22]

Oh my god thank you. No wonder grammarly keeps complaining about my punctuation when I boot my writing up into word counter

[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.

[8writingblock8-blog]

WRITING REFERENCES

[eufeme]

I dream of the day when I won’t have to look at this fucking chart….

[mumblingsage]

Every time I encounter lie/lay in the wild I have to pause and whisper, “Lay it on me.”

Anyway here’s an additional chart with examples of correct use, in case that helps some people even more:

[skepwith]

I fear this is a losing battle, but if anyone wants more examples, I wrote a blog post about this way back when: http://www.grammarlandia.com/2017/11/lie-vs-lay.html.

My go-to examples for remembering which is which are “lie like a rug” and “lay an egg.”