it is once again Posting About Obsidian time, and I figured I'd do something useful and share some of the templates I've been using in the Valloroth Vault!
I like using templates because then all my info gets organised in a consistent way, which makes using it way easier. Some of these do use a bit of css to make parts work, which I'll link with the template and explain how to use at the end of the post.
Also, some of these shamelessly just riff on the structure of the Forgotten Realms wiki pages because i am who i am and i spend way too much time looking up lore for dungeons and dragons.
Included below the cut are templates with examples for the following:
Character profile (wiki style page)
Character profile (for writing with)
Country
Organisation/Group
Chapter outline
Let's go!
Character Page (wiki style)
pastebin / infobox css
This is the main profile I use for characters! Here you can see the markdown, the preview, and a fully filled out example. For minor characters, I cut the sections I don't need, but so far for major characters, I find that filling out all these sections is very helpful.
At the top of the page you can see the metadata I use, which is what I've settled on after a few iterations as 'the things I actually want to be able to see and use'. Feel free to adjust/adapt to whatever is actually useful to you!
The cssclass is some tweaks I have for my personal obsidian css, so I've left the classes out in the template for you to add whatever you'd like yourself, or you can remove it entirely.
The 's' tag is to remind me to tag new character with the series they're in, e.g. Aliyne would be 's/rp' because she's from the Renegade Prince series. The 'character-sheet' tag is so I can filter out character sheets in searches or queries if I need to.
Character Page (for writing with)
pastebin
This is the page I use for tracking a character within a project. I need all the wiki info for character building, but I don't want my plot threads, character arcs, motivations, and other key info lost and buried in there whilst I'm working! This lets me pull out that info into a shorter, easier to read section.
The double :: are for use with the dataview plugin, because that way I can pull them into tables to track with the rest of my book information
Here's an in-use example with Aliyne again. The 'br' tags are to get things to show up on seperate lines whilst still counting as one line for pulling into dataview, so if you're not using dataview you don't have to use those
Country Template
pastebin / infobox css
I use the same basic kind of template for all locations, just removing or adding sections as I need. I don't always fill all of these out, it depends on how important the place is and how much worldbuilding/research I feel like doing!
And here's an in-use example, with Zhirasea (very much still wip). You can see how I use tags for organisation here: location and sublocation, and the status of the note. I never use a 'done' tag because it's never done. When something's ready I just use 'active'.
I have a variant of the template for regions, settlements, and buildings as well, just with less categories in each as needed, and then I log which kind it is under the 'type' field in the metadata.
Organisation / Group Template
pastebin / infobox css
This one's for fictional organisations! Heavily lifted from the FR wiki but you know what? It works.
Here's an in-use example, with my crime syndicate, the Zarahmin! You can see I added a collapsible callout with the 'Zarahmin Code' in it as well, since this particular organisation actually has a code of conduct.
Chapter Outline
pastebin
This is a fun one - my current chapter outline! This is very much a living document, but it's what I've found useful for this project so far. It combines a few different outlining methods (MICE threads, Promise/Progress/Payoff, One Sentence Summary) as well as leaving me space to be flexible.
The template contains questions and explanations for various sections of the outline, to remind me what I'm looking for/need to fill in.
I found this most useful after finishing a first draft with a rough outline. It's very much a thing I recommend doing for a second draft, since otherwise you'll bog yourself down trying to have all the details in place.
Here's an example of filled out meta info for the prologue of Renegade Prince:
(I use the section with 'Arcs' to list plot tags using :: dataview queries so I can pull them into tables, but again, if you're not using dataview, you can ignore that part!)
How to use the CSS Snippets
The infobox snippet is part of the ITS theme if you use it, or you can install it seperately by doing the following:
Go to this link and download the 'Callouts.css' file
In obsidian, go to settings -> apperance -> CSS snippets, and open the folder with the little folder icon
Paste the 'callouts.css' into that folder
Hit the refresh option in obsidian settings, and toggle the new snippet to on
it is now installed! any callout you insert with [!infobox] will now display with the infobox settings. if you want to tweak how it looks, you can poke around in the css file and see what happens
Oh boy that was another long post - I hope this was useful! As always, if you have any questions about the templates, or obsidian, feel free to shoot me a message.
Indigenous Action looks at basic ways that people can get ‘back to basics’ as the Trump era comes to a close. We are ungovernable on stolen land. Fuck Biden.
Build an affinity group.
An affinity group is a small group of 5 to 20 people who work together autonomously on direct actions or other projects. Affinity groups generally consist of like minded people who come together to get something done. If you already have an affinity group, link and cluster those groups!
Skill up.
Delinking from capitalism and colonial apparatuses requires us to learn how to do things for ourselves and each other beyond buying, selling, working, or asking the state to help us. From self and collective defense, to gardening, building bikes, unschooling, and caring for each other- we can learn a skill and share a skill. We can change how we value skills and dismantle hierarchies of class and ableism.
Establish and practice good security culture.
Security culture is necessary to survive state repression. We can stop a lot of infiltration and disinformation in its tracks by improving our ways of communicating and navigating conflict. We can still be horizontal and transparent without sacrificing security and safety.
Practice transformative and restorative justice.
Strong communities make police and prisons obsolete. We can change our culture to prevent violence and abuse. We can build up our capacities to confront and resolve conflicts. We can strengthen our ties and detoxify our relationships so harm has no space to grow in our communities.
Mutual Aid.
Start a mutual aid group and provide necessary support to those who are in need. Mutual aid organizing can ensure our communities are not dependent on corporations and the state. Shift your use of resources to things you can grow and make or procure from others in resistance. Build networks of aid and resources beyond capitalism.
Mutual defense.
From arms training to street tactics to bystander interventions and safety teams, we need to have the skills and resources to defend our communities from fascist attacks on our people, non-human beings, and lands.
Build and sustain conflict infrastructure.
Conflict Infrastructure is any structure we organize helps us be more effective in our fights. This is infrastructure that goes beyond solely providing awareness and services and instead builds our capacity to wage actual resistance. From community gardens and collectively coordinated farms to infoshops and independent media/communications.
Open squats for unsheltered folx.
Rent is theft. Private property is colonial violence upon the land. Abolish rent and private property. Rematriate lands to original caretakers. Create spaces to live beyond landlords.
Defend and reclaim ancestral lands.
Because #landback means ending colonial occupation and restoring Indigenous stewardship of our ancestral lands. Regenerate our sacred relations, and all that entails spiritually and materially, with our original homelands. Liberate the sacred.
Reparations.
Seize what has been stolen from Black and Indigenous Peoples and liberate it back. Radical redistribution is necessary.
Shut shit down.
Intervene in critical infrastructure at the points where capitalism and colonialism are at their most vulnerable. Seize the streets, factories, ports, fracking pads, pipelines, power stations, smash the borders, be smart and be creative! It’s also an effective way to target those industries perpetuating climate change.
Be fiercely intersectional.
‘Cause we’re not taking those old shitty behaviors with us. Fuck anti-blackness, fuck orientalism, fuck islamaphobia, fuck anti-semitism, fuck transphobia, fuck heteropatriarchy, fuck white supremacy, fuck imperialism, fuck ableism, fuck hierarchy, fuck racism, fuck citizenship, fuck privilege, fuck everything fucked up!
Practice Radical Self & Collective Care.
To remain dangerous to power we must care for ourselves and each other. Learn common triggers and how to communicate without being fucked up. Learn to communicate your needs, boundaries, and wants effectively and nontoxicly – remember that folks in the struggle and resistance have the hardest time accessing resources for mental and spiritual care. Movement work can be unsustainable to those with many experiences of settler policing and violence triggers – find ways to communicate and negotiate group norms and boundaries that accommodate peoples’ needs if reasonable. Identify toxic communication patterns and learn / create ways to dismantle them and communicate in more healthy and less harmful ways.Be honest about your limitations and care for yourself and each other. The christianized, capitalized colonial state has taught us to never rest or heal. Reject any attempts at coercing people to go beyond their limits. Radical self-care keeps us safe and invulnerable when consistently engaging in agitating governability by the state.
Make everything accessible for everyone.
Reject ableism and objectification of our bodies and lives, establish community care networks with people equipped to provide first aid and care support to a full spectrum of needs. Challenge ableism in our language, how we organize, and how we value each other. We are all enough.
Abolish Rape Culture.
Study rape and rape culture and how it relates to the desecration of sacred lands. Transform our culture and practices around dating, humor, relationships, sexuality, consent, parties, sex labor, and play to abolish rape culture. Hold mactivists, rapists, abusers, opportunists, and creeps accountable. Center consent and healthy relationships in everything we do everywhere.
Spread radical and militant joy.
We can fuck shit up while we dance, sing, party, laugh, play, wonder, have deep conversations, tell stories, make art, make love, make magic, make brilliance, make awesomeness, and have fun.
I am gently taking your hands and begging you, BEGGING YOU, to understand that humans are not inherently harmful to the planet. We are animals who are part of the ecosystem. We belong here. This is our home. We belong here. You belong here. Yes, you belong here.
It really really frustrates me when some people, disabled or not, say "well I can do [x thing] because I was forced to" in response to someone saying they can't do something.
"Well I had to eat whatever was for dinner or else I would have starved."
Me too! And I became severely malnourished because I could not eat what was put in front of me.
"My parents hit me if I didn't get good grades so I had to."
Mine too! Except I could not get good grades in a mainstream class no matter how hard I tried or what was at stake.
"I have to mask because I need to keep my job."
Me too! Except I can't even pass an interview because of my limited ability to mask.
"I can't have meltdowns around other people or else I'll be bullied/abused/mocked."
Same here! But I can't hold in my meltdowns.
You need to understand that some people will never be able to do the things you can, no matter how hard they're pushed or what the consequences are for not doing it. I'm really sorry that you were forced to talk, but someone else being unable to speak does not mean that they could if there was enough pressure. Stop assuming that everyone who doesn't mask/speak/etc. grew up in a safe and supportive environment. There are people who would (and do!) die because they're neglected and can't learn to just do things themselves.
I really don't want to be the "other people have it worse" guy or come across like I don't think people are allowed to complain about something just because it's less extreme than someone else's situation, but some of you need to have more compassion for people who are not like you. Just be kind. And if someone says they can't do something, don't assume that it's because they were coddled or whatever.
If your plot feels flat, STUDY it! Your story might be lacking...
Stakes - What would happen if the protagonist failed? Would it really be such a bad thing if it happened?
Thematic relevance - Do the events of the story speak to a greater emotional or moral message? Is the conflict resolved in a way that befits the theme?
Urgency - How much time does the protagonist have to complete their goal? Are there multiple factors complicating the situation?
Drive - What motivates the protagonist? Are they an active player in the story, or are they repeatedly getting pushed around by external forces? Could you swap them out for a different character with no impact on the plot? On the flip side, do the other characters have sensible motivations of their own?
Yield - Is there foreshadowing? Do the protagonist's choices have unforeseen consequences down the road? Do they use knowledge or clues from the beginning, to help them in the end? Do they learn things about the other characters that weren't immediately obvious?
- // @fairycosmos // ? // - // @cassidyshotchocolate // - // - // elsie de wolfe// @podencos // afternoon on a hill, edna st. vincent millay// rien ne va plus, margarita karapanou, tr. by karen emmerich// - // - // @ annalauraart on instagram// culpable, joy sullivan// - // @ jordanklancaster on instagram// @ niall.breen.comics on instagram// agatha christie// @plasticlove1984 //sweeter than fiction, taylor swift// the summer day, mary oliver
