cherry valley forever
❣ Chile in a Photography ❣
NASA
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todays bird
Not today Justin
we're not kids anymore.
noise dept.
DEAR READER
Andulka
Mike Driver
styofa doing anything
One Nice Bug Per Day
he wasn't even looking at me and he found me
let's talk about Bridgerton tea, my ask is open
Monterey Bay Aquarium
shark vs the universe
almost home
ellievsbear
izzy's playlists!
seen from Czechia
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@nightgigjowrites
A super soldier clad in their power armor wakes up in a fantasy world. They are grateful from the respite from the wars back home. Heros from all over try to recruit them into their party after hearing of their prowess after they defend their village. The soldier just wants to be left alone.
One of the best tips for writing descriptions of pain is actually a snippet I remember from a story where a character is given a host of colored pencils and asked to draw an egg.
The character says that there’s no white pencil. But you don’t need a white pencil to draw a white egg. We already know the egg is white. What we need to draw is the luminance of the yellow lamp and the reflection of the blue cloth and the shadows and the shading.
We know a broken bone hurts. We know a knife wound hurts. We know grief hurts. Show us what else it does.
You don’t need to describe the character in pain. You need to describe how the pain affects the character - how they’re unable to move, how they’re sweating, how they’re cold, how their muscles ache and their fingers tremble and their eyes prickle.
Draw around the egg. Write around the pain. And we will all be able to see the finished product.
This is VERY good advice, and very well put; I think it can work for intense emotions generally as well. Especially if you’ve got a character not in touch with their feelings, or perhaps from the perspective of a neuodivergent character who has trouble identifying their emotions, this could be great.
(I also learned more about how to draw things that are the same colour as the background…Thanks!)
tl;dr Writing around intense feelings/sensations/pain is more effective than describing it directly.
send an ask: get to know your author
1) is there a story you’re holding off on writing for some reason?
2) what work of yours, if any, are you the most embarrassed about existing?
3) what order do you write in? front of book to back? chronological? favorite scenes first? something else?
4) favorite character you’ve written
5) character you were most surprised to end up writing
6) something you would go back and change in your writing that it’s too late/complicated to change now
7) when asked, are you embarrassed or enthusiastic to tell people that you write?
8) favorite genre to write
9) what, if anything, do you do for inspiration?
10) write in silence or with background noise? with people or alone?
11) what aspect of your writing do you think has most improved since you started writing?
12) your weaknesses as an author
13) your strengths as an author
14) do you make playlists for your current wips?
15) why did you start writing?
16) are there any characters who haunt you?
17) if you could give your fledgling author self any advice, what would it be?
18) were there any works you read that affected you so much that it influenced your writing style? what were they?
19) when it comes to more complicated narratives, how do you keep track of outlines, characters, development, timeline, ect.?
20) do you write in long sit-down sessions or in little spurts?
21) what do you think when you read over your older work?
22) are there any subjects that make you uncomfortable to write?
23) any obscure life experiences that you feel have helped your writing?
24) have you ever become an expert on something you previously knew nothing about, in order to better a scene or a story?
25) copy/paste a few sentences or a short paragraph that you’re particularly proud of
Prompt #2727
“But if you love me…how come I can’t remember you?”
“Because [villain] wipes your memories. Repeatedly. We hang onto you for a while, but then there’s a trap or a ransom or- or- a trick. Something. Anything. And you get this look on your face, the worst kind of smile, and you go back to him to save everyone else’s lives. So he wipes you again. And we start over.”
“So…how many times have we had this conversation?”
“Eight.”
“And how many times have we kissed?”
“Only once.”
Never, in 10 millennia, has someone successfully broken out of the Gates of Hell or into the Gates of Heaven. Of course, the Lockpicking Lawyer just died and he’s up for a challenge.
written 15 March 2021
As a healer, you are often mocked for being pacifistic. However, you have a secret. When you heal the wounds of another, their injuries are stored by your magic, to be inflicted on another at your leisure. You have never used this ability before, but desperate times call for desperate measures.
Something I think is really interesting in especially as storied and archetype-laden a genre as classical fantasy is the oddity created by ostensibly counterpart archetypes that are not handled the same way. That’s a bit of a heavy statement so let me explain.
Imagine Prince Charming. We know this character so well we usually make fun of him. But briefly, discard all irony and return to the core of the character: gleaming and debonair, elegantly mannered but of fiery passion, duelist and romantic and impeccably dressed. If possessed of a vice, may be arrogant, but come on, if you’re Prince Charming, you know you’re hot stuff.
Prince Charming is usually presented as the male equivalent to the female Noble Princess- but the truth is, these characters are not the same. They may have qualities in common, but they are handled and utilized differently in stories.
This may have a frustrating root- because of assumptions made about men and women, what a woman should be and what a man ought to aspire to- but it need not be only taken as a frustrating bug in the system. Archetypes, after all, only exist meaningfully in fiction as ingredients on the chef’s table. Some of them might nauseate, but others are perfectly good, if you just trim off some bits and mix them up with new friends.
Imagine, with no jokes or subversions, a female prince charming. Gleaming smile, court mannerisms, gold brocade and tailored historical suits with a fencing rapier and a wit just as quick, impeccable hair and understated jewelry, possibly dressing ‘down’ as a conspicuously stylish hunter or wayfarer to get some adventuring on but she’ll do just a nicely in her fancy doublet and white gloves.
And likewise, imagine without mockery, a male princess; soft-spoken, sheltered but wise, compassionate and mystical, beloved by his people, earnest and profound in his desire to help. Precious, vulnerable, and yet compelled with the bravery to move mountains and challenge boundaries, wrapped in airy and shimmering layers that give him an ethereal or ghostly sort of presence, bare or slipper-shod feet that grace the earth untarnished.
Because if the truth is we think different things about ‘a king’ as opposed to ‘a queen’, if the Empress and Emperor in tarot have different meanings, and we take that together with the truth that men and women can be, and are, anything within the bounds of human capability and even beyond that in the land of fiction- then you can get a lot of intrigue out of tropes you might think are too tired to play straight merely by reminding yourself that an evil wizard and a wicked witch are not the same archetype… and nobody said a wicked witch HAS to be a woman.
(Now, this is a lot of fun, but it is also worth being careful about! You may have to rethink stuff while mixing up your character archetypes like this- it can’t necessarily be a total cut-and-paste job. Always make sure when rehoming your tropes that you are careful they play nicely with your character’s other qualities- or, play badly in a way that is significant and done on purpose.)
Fascinating!
From the Depressing Quotes Facebook page.
Your absolute most hated villain from whatever series is knocking on your door. Apparently, they discovered interdimensional traveling, and since the heroes knocked down their entire fleet, they’ve come to, quote, “The most villainous person they know.” Don’t worry though! You’ll be home by dinnertime.
@kingxfmischief
but everything changed when the fire puppy attacked
just a little morning practice
My Biggest and Most Annoying Fictional Horse Pet Peeve
Big Horses are a Very New Thing and they Likely Didn’t Exist in your Historical and/or Fantasy Settings.
You’ve all seen it in every historical piece of media ever produced. Contrary to popular belief, a big black horse with long legs and long flowing mane is not a widespread or even a particularly old type of horse.
THIS IS NOT A MEDIEVAL THING. THIS IS NOT EVEN A BAROQUE THING. THIS IS A NINETEENTH CENTURY CITY CARRIAGE HORSE.
All the love to fancy Friesian horses, but your Roman general or Medieval country heroine just really couldn’t, wouldn’t, and for the sake of my mental health shouldn’t have ridden one either.
Big warmblood horses are a Western European and British invention that started popping up somewhere around 1700s when agriculture and warfare changed, and when rich folks wanted Bigger Faster Stronger Thinner race horses. The modern warmblood and the big continental draught both had their first real rise to fame in the 1800s when people started driving Fancy Carriages everywhere, and having the Fanciest Carriage started to mean having the Tallest and Thinnest Horses in the town.
Before mechanised weaponry and heavy artillery all horses used to be small and hardy easy-feeders. Kinda like a donkey but easier to steer and with a back that’s not as nasty and straight to sit on.
SOME REAL MEDIEVAL, ROMAN, OTTOMAN, MONGOL, VIKING, GREEK and WHATEVER HISTORICALLY PLAUSIBLE HORSES FOR YOU:
“Primitive”, native breeds all over the globe tend to be only roughly 120-140 cm (12.0 - 13.3 hh) tall at the withers. They all also look a little something like this:
Mongolian native horse (Around 120-130 at the withers, and decendants of the first ever domesticated horses from central Asia. Still virtually unchanged from Chinggis Khan’s cavalry, ancestor to many Chinese, Japanese and Indian horses, and bred for speed racing and surviving outdoors without the help of humans.)
Carpathian native horse / Romanian and Polish Hucul Pony (Around 120-150 at the withers, first mentioned in writing during the 400s as wild mountain ponies, depicted before that in Trajanian Roman sculptures, used by the Austro-Hungarian cavalry in the 19th century)
Middle-Eastern native horse / Caspian Pony (Around 100-130 at the withers, ancestor of the Iranian Asil horse and its decendants, including the famous Arabian and Barb horses, likely been around since Darius I the Great, 5th century BC, and old Persian kings are often depicted riding these midgets)
Baltic Sea native horse / Icelandic, Finnish, Estonian, Gotland and Nordland horses (Around 120-150 at the withers, descendant of Mongolian horses, used by viking traders in 700-900 AD and taken to Iceland. Later used by the Swedish cavalry in the 30 years war and by the Finnish army in the Second World War, nowadays harness racing and draught horses)
Siberian native horse / Yakutian pony (Around 120-140 at the withers, related to Baltic and Mongolian horses and at least as old, as well-adapted to Siberian climate as woolly mammoths once were, the hairiest horse there is, used in draught work and herding)
Mediterranean native horse / Skyros pony, Sardinian Giara, Monterufolino (Around 100-140 at the Withers, used and bred by ancient Greeks for cavalry use, influenced by African and Eastern breeds, further had its own influence on Celtic breeds via Roman Empire, still used by park ranger officers in Italy)
British Isles’ native horse / various “Mountain & Moorland” pony breeds (Around 100-150 at the withers, brought over and mixed by Celts, Romans and Vikings, base for almost every modern sport pony and the deserving main pony of all your British Medieval settings. Some populations still live as feral herds in the British countryside, used as war mounts, draught horses, mine pit ponies, hunting help and race horses)
So hey, now you know!
I love this so much - and now I know why Tall Lanky Thin horses have a terryfying vibe to them, and the “primitive” native pony-like breeds awake in me only hope and trust.
such valid historical finger-eaters here
[Image Description: Tags reading “baking, actual baking not code for illegal rum distillery”]
The AO3 Tag of the Day is: A new meet-cute
I had a date tonight with a girl I’ve been seeing and we were talking about tattoos and I mentioned wanting one of a bumblebee behind my ear and she stared at me for a second and then pulled back her hair and showed me a tattoo of a bumblebee behind her ear and lemme tell you if I didn’t believe in soulmates before I sure as hell do now that’s some next level shit
[to any deity in particular]: Hi. I’ve brought shitty alcohol, two electric candles, a chocolate bar, my many issues, and an undying love for you. Can you help me un-fuck myself?
[deity]: sighs deeply
You are an archeologist who has just discovered the true meaning of “Carpe Diem.” It was never intended to be a motto for positive thinking, but the ultimate goal of an ancient cult that sought to harness and drain the power of daylight…and plunge the world into eternal night. As you investigate your findings further, you realize that somehow, this cult is still very much active…
