Prosaic Swirl

Work in progress... just like my life and all my writing projects lol. Main blog is lacklusterswirl Profile icon by wuvsbian so check 'em out if you want!

[writing-tips-and-else]

[theliteraryarchitect]

Watch out for that unresolved subplot.

[cassieisnotapie]

41 Emotions as Expressed through Body Language

Found Here x

41 Emotions as Expressed through Body Language unique  This list, while exhausting, is soooo not exhaustive; it barely scratches the surface. And each entry could easily become cliché (if it isn’t already). But, it should be enough to get you started. Want more? Start watching people (not in a creepy way), and take notes of what they seem to do when expressing different emotions. Your repertoire of expression will double in no time. PS—do not use these for actual, real-life body language reading; you will fail. These are strictly novelistic.

Awed  -Slack -jawed, raised eyebrows, staring  -Frozen, slack body language (Self? What self? There is only Zuul.)  -Take a step back and put a hand to his heart

Amused  -Smiling and throwing back her head laughing  -Slapping her thighs, stamping her feet, clapping her hands  -Shaking her head (That’s so wrong!)

Angry/Aggressive  -Sharp movements, like shaking a fist, pointing, slashing, or slamming a fist on a table  -Flushed face, patchy red blotches  -Tension in neck—chords standing out, veins throbbing—and jutting or tucked chin  -Arms akimbo, or clenching fists  -Entering someone else’s space and forcing them out  -Poofing up with a wide stance (I am big! Very big!), arms wide (Bring it!)  -Lowered eyebrows, squinting eyes  -Teeth bared, jaw clenched, snarling

Annoyed  -Pressing lips together into a thin line  -Narrowing eyes sometimes with slight head tilt (Why do you still exist?)  -Rolling eyes, often paired with a long-suffering sigh

Anxious  -Fidgeting, such as tearing grass into little pieces, playing with a ring, or chewing on a pencil  -Biting lower lip, swallowing unnecessarily  -Quickened breathing or holding breath  -Darting eyes  -Pallor, sweating, clammy palms  -Unusually high-pitched, “nervous” laughter  -Hunched shoulders  -Pacing

Attentive  -Slow head nodding with a furrowed brow  -Leaning forward, toward the speaker, and sitting up  -Taking notes  -Looking over the top of her glasses

Bored  -Resting his head on his palm, peeking out between the fingers, maybe even slipping so his head “accidentally” hits the table  -Tapping toes, twirling pencil, doodling, and otherwise fidgeting  -Staring out a window, or at anything remotely more interesting (Which is everything …)

Confident  -Arms clasped behind body  -Head lifted, chest out, standing tall  -Walking briskly and making firm, precise movements

Confused  -Tilting head with narrowed eyes  -A furrowed brow  -Shrugging

Contempt/Superiority  -Lifted chin (The better to look down the nose.)  -Pursed lips, sneering, slight frown  -Circling a shoulder, stretching her neck, turning away—anything to indicate she doesn’t see the person as a threat or worthy of her attention  -Grabbing her lapels, or tucking her thumbs in her waistcoat (See this clothing? It is much nicer than yours.)  -Dismissive hand-waving

Cynical/Sarcastic/Bitter  -Twisted lips or a half-smile  -Sneering, sometimes with shaking the head and other defensive body language  -Pressed lips with a slight frown  -Eye rolling

Defensive  -Crossed arms, legs, crossed anything, really (Well, maybe not fingers … or eyes …)  -Arms out, palms forward (Stop!)  -Placing anything (sword, shield, book, backpack) in front of her body

Disgusted  -Crinkling his nose  -Curling his lip and/or showing the tip of his tongue briefly  -Flinching back and interposing a shoulder or turning away  -Covering his nose, gagging, and squinting his eyes shut—hard—for a moment. (It assaults all the senses.)

Displeased  -A plastered-on fake smile (You suck; but I can’t tell you that. So here: a fake smile! Enjoy.)  -Pouting or frowning (I’ll cry if you don’t give me what I want—don’t test me, I will!)  -Crossed arms and other defensive/frustrated body language (I will not let that terrible idea influence me!)

Distressed  -Wide eyes and shallow, rapid breathing  -Beating the walls, or huddling into a corner  -Clasping hands over his head protectively  -Rocking himself  -Handwringing  -Running his hands through his hair

Earnest/Passionate  -Leaning forward, nodding, wide eyes with strong eye contact and raised eyebrows  -Hand on heart, or presented palms-up, or otherwise visible  -A double-handed handshake (I really want to make sure you understand me!)

Embarrassment  -Blushing  -Stammering  -Covering her face with her hands or bowing her head (I’m so embarrassed, I can’t look!)  -Difficulty maintaining eye contact, looking down and away

Excited/Anticipation  -Rubbing hands together (I can’t wait to get my hands on it!)  -Licking lips (It’s so close I can taste it!)  -A vigorous, pumping handshake (I can’t wait to get started!)  -Jumping up and down (Look at me being literal here! I am jumping for joy.)  -A wide and easy grin

Flirty  -Eye play, like winking, looking up through the lashes, over the shoulder glances, and eye catching   -Preening, like hair flipping or smooth, clothing straightening, spine straightening, etc.  -Striking a cowboy pose, with his thumbs gripping his belt tight

Frustrated  -Shaking his head (You are so wrong!)  -Massaging temples (My brain—it hurts.)  -Clasping his wrist in his opposite hand, behind his back (Bad arm! No biscuit.)  -Running his hands through his hair (All this frustration is making my hair mussy. I can feel it.)  -Grabbing onto something like armrests, or white-knuckled interdigitation (Restrain yourself!)

Happy  -Smiling and laughing  -Eyes and nose crinkling  -Swinging her arms, spinning loosely, dancing, jumping

Impatience  -Quick head nodding (Get on with it!)  -Toe/finger tapping (Hear this? These are seconds. Wasted. Listening to you.)  -Sighing, checking the clock/sundial/freckles (Time. It is moving so slowly.)

Jealous  -Tight lips, or a sour expression  -Narrow eyes locked on the perpetrator, to the point of a stare down  -Crossed arms, and additional frustrated, angry, possessive, or bitter body language

Lying  -Scratching their nose, ear, neck, miscellaneous part of face  -Sudden change in behavior or demeanor, including shifty eye contact, lots of long blinking, shrugging -Ill-timed smiles or laughter (This is how I normally smile, right? Right???)  -Additional anxiety body language  -Shaking head no while saying “yes” (I can’t believe I just lied.)  -Licking lips, covering mouth, touching mouth, etc.

Overwhelmed  -Both palms to forehead, fingers splayed (This gives me a headache.)  -Covering eyes with one hand (If I can’t see the world, it can’t see me …)  -Eyes wide and staring into space, hands gripping the table in front of her (… Woah.)

Playful/Friendly  -Winking  -Waggling eyebrows  -Tiny shoves or nudge

Pleasure  -Head tilted back, lips parted slightly, eyes wide or closed  -Slow, languorous movements, stretching (such as arching her neck or back)  -Slight flush, quickened breath and pulse

Possessive  -Handshake with arm clasp  -Putting hands on or around someone’s shoulders, neck, waist, back, or even just the wall near them  -Standing in someone’s personal space, body positioned toward that person  -Any one-sided act of intimacy, like running a knuckle down someone’s cheek  -Staring down any who get too close

Proud/Dominant  -Chin up, chest out, shoulders back  -A painfully hard handshake that not only squishes the bones, but also forces his hand on top  -Leaning back with his hands behind his head, and his feet up  -Strong, unblinking, focused eye contact

Reluctance/Resistance  -Arms crossed, sometimes with fists (Not happening.)  -Dragging feet (But I don’t wanna!)  -Pinching nose (You want me to do what now?)  -Clamping hands over ears (La la la la!)

Sad/Upset  -Droopy body (and anything held, like a sword), bowed in shoulders, wrapping arms around self  -Slow movements with hesitation  -Bottom lip jutting out and/or quivering  -Crying, sobbing, body shaking, sniffling, wet eyes

Secretive  -A tight-lipped smile (My lips are zipped.)  -Hiding her hands in her pockets (What has it got in its nasty little pocket?)  -Looking away

Scared  -Hunched shoulders, shrinking back from others (Don’t hurt me!)  -Wide eyes and lifted eyebrows (The better to see them coming.)  -Shaking, trembling, or freezing  -Rocking from side to side, sometimes holding self (It’ll all be okay, self, it’ll all be okay.)

Shame  -Slumped shoulders (Don’t look at me.)  -Trouble meeting your gaze, looking down and away  -Burying her face in her hands or bowing her head (I can’t face the world right now.)

Shocked  -Hands covering her mouth, or mouth hanging open, sometimes with a gasp (If I had words, I would be saying them.) -Freezing and staring with wide eyes and eyebrows raised (Diverting all resources toward staring.)  -Smacking a palm into his forehead (Clearly, my head isn’t working right, or I wouldn’t have seen that)

Shy  -Avoids eye contact, or has only fleeting eye contact (Eye contact means you might speak to me.)  -Keeps a fair distance from everyone, and will back away if someone steps closer (Space invaders!)  -Folded arms, head down, and other defensive body language (If I make myself small, they can’t see me.)

Smug  -Slight, close-lipped smile (occasionally one-sided) and sometimes one raised eyebrow (I know something you don’t know.)  -Chin slightly tucked, Mona Lisa smile, raised eyebrows (I know better.)  -Finger steepling (I am so smaaaht.)

Suspicious/Skeptical/Disbelief  -Narrowed eyes, sometimes with a sidelong glance or raised eyebrow (Perhaps if I look at it out of the corner of my eye, I will catch it unawares.)  -Rubbing his eyes (I can’t believe what I’m metaphorically or literally seeing!)  -Shaking his head (I—I don’t believe it.)  -Blowing out cheeks (Well , I don’t know …)

Tired  -Rubbing his eyes, eyes staring into space, raised eyebrows (Raising my eyebrows helps keep my eyes open.)  -Yawning and/or stretching (I am tired—see? Tired! Too tired to care!)  -Almost nodding off and jerking awake (Cannot. Stay. Awa—snnnnurzzzz.)  -Gritting teeth to stay awake (Cannot—yawn—dang it!)

Thoughtfulness/Thinking  -Steepling fingers (I will think better if I center myself and focus.)  -Pinching nose, sometimes with closed eyes (Focus, focus—I just need to focus.)  -Tugging on an ear (This will help me remember!)  -Stroking a real or imaginary beard (People with beards look smart.)  -Furrowed brow, narrowed eyes, sometimes tilted head and pressing lips together (I can’t see it—I will try harder!)  -Resting his chin on his hand (Thinking makes my head heavy.)

Triumphant  -Hands clenched and held above head while grimacing (She is invincible!)  -Head tilted back with a yell (She is fierce!)  -Arm pumping in the air, jumping (Woohoo!)

[eye-raq]

Thanks for this!!!!

[mactiir]

You're asexual? But...

“but sex is what makes us human!”

  in 1916 a French officer in his twenties writes his

doctoral dissertation under

heavy mortar fire.

he sends it by mail, a page

at a time, to his wife.

a week before he’s to step up to the podium and

defend his work rather than hiscountry

he is killed in action.

even as the bullets rip

through him he still wishes he could have become a professor

in French literature and

the university awards him a posthumous Ph.D.

sex is

  a woman breaks down in tears on the phone because

a week is not enough time to

get over a breakup.

her sister drives an hour across town,

comes up the front steps with

a gallon of ice cream and somebeer

and together they eat moose tracks and marathon

every

single

Godzilla movie

ever made.

  sex is

she’s late for work but her car isn’t

starting and even through her coat and hat she’s cold.

she knows she can’t be late again because she’s missed

one time too many already because her

father’s nurse was sick with the flu and someone

needed to help him bathe.

the clock ticks past fifteen after and she hits

the wheel like it’s a heavy bag as though that will help

steps on the gas like the car will go

and wonders how she will pay rent

and how she will feed her father.

sex is

  it takes three people to hold the predator down because

even with the cover over his head

a bleeding eye and shattered wing

he is trying to hurt them.

none of them have seen this bird before in their lives but

they bandage his wing and head and give him a painkiller and

put him in a warm place to sleep and heal because

it is right.

at first he is paralyzed and cannot

fly but soon he is taking steps

and then fluttering, and then soaring, and

six months later he is whole and healed and hunting.

once he is gone they never see him again

which means they’ve done their jobs right.

sex is

  in 1969 a girl watches grey-and-white footage on her parents’ tiny television and

can’t quite believe that what she is seeing is not a movie set but

another planet.

the men on the screen look a little like

aliens with bulbous heads and no faces and fat

marshmallow arms

but they are still men.

her mother puffs on a cigarette behind her and declares that

this is progress

even if it was just a small step.

the girl grows up to be not an astronaut but a secretary

and her boss calls her ‘sweetheart’.

but sex is

  a boy is taught that real men don’t cry so

he doesn’t.

when his best friend dies from a self-inflicted

gunshot wound, he locks himself

in the shower every day and sobs under scalding

water until it runs cold

so nobody will see him grieving

so nobody will see that tears are just love that

has no place left to go.

he learns to dull love rather than suppress its expression and

soon the owner of the liquor store knows him by name.

three DUIs, two evictions, and twelve steps later,

he is feeding people at a homeless shelter,

and telling them it’s all right to cry.

Sex is

  the broken man tells the comedian

that he didn’t mean to step in front of the car but the rain

made it hard to see.

he seems okay but his leg

does not.

the comedian clutches a grubby receipt with the driver’s

plate number scrawled on the back

in pink pen, stands out in the rain so the broken man

can have his umbrella,

and gives him the comedy routine that ruined his career

so the man doesn’t think about the pain in his leg.

once he’s out of the hospital, the fixed man sends him a thank-you card

with kittens on it.

what makes us human

  yawning is contagious,

and there is a species of bird whose young we call “pufflings”.

melodic collections of sound, spaced by silence,

can move us to tears.

the tallest building in the world is

two-thousand seven-hundred and seventeen feet tall.

in less than eighty years we went from our first powered flight

to touching the moon,

and in one-hundred from the first phone call

to instantaneous connection between thinking machines of our own creation.

we make pies out of tree organs

and let cow’s milk ferment until it hardens and then

we put them together, because apple pie with cheddar cheese is delicious.

what makes us human is

the earliest fossils of anatomically modern humans are

two-hundred thousand years old .

we have had pet dogs

for sixteen-thousand of those years, longer

than corn

or the wheel.

the steps we take are part of

one of the most energy-efficient gaits the

animal kingdom has ever seen.

we invented the concepts of love

and hate

and justice, and mercy

and we invented the language to convey them.

we sharpened rocks, then metal, to convince other people

who don’t hold the same idea of those things as we do

because we think

it’s right.

we are two hundred millennia of love and disappointment and

sorrow and innovation and

mercy and kindness and dreams

and failure

and recovery.

but sex is what makes us human.

[lets-get-fictional]

So, I like to give each of my character a habit that makes them "unique". The problem is that I can think of only a few like biting their lip/nail or licking their lips for example. Are there any others that I could include? Habits in general would be very nice. Thank you!!

Hey, love!  Thanks for sending us your question :)  All the mods have brainstormed a bit to help provide you with some good examples…

Habits for Your Characters

People have at least two kinds of habits: those which they experience every day, especially when deep in thought; and those which they experience when anxious or upset.  We’ve split our list into these two categories for you! 

Absentminded Habits

Rocking on heels

Whistling/humming

Tapping foot; bouncing leg

Tapping finger

Licking/biting lip/cheek

Popping joints

Clicking nails

Tucking and untucking hair/clothes

Shifting positions

Bobbing head

Unfocusing eyes

Repeating hand gestures

Playing with jewelry

Fidgeting with a nearby object

Playing with a phone case

Chewing/sucking utensils, cups

Using fidget toys

Clicking pens

Hand-signing words

Juggling/bouncing objects

Playing with ears/bellybutton/cartilage

Tensing/untensing muscles

Anxious Habits

Tracing scars/birthmarks

Biting nails

Grinding teeth

Picking scabs

Sucking/biting finger

Playing with/chewing on hair

Ripping paper/napkins

Ripping/pulling out hair

Pulling out eyebrows

Rubbing/scratching skin

I also wanted to note that these habits can be a form of stimming, which means self-stimulation.  Stimming is the repetition of movements such as those listed above; it’s a common comfort mechanism for people with autism, OCD, ADHD, and other neurodivergencies.  Literary representation in these areas is very lacking, so if you’re interested in expanding on this, I’ve included some links to get you started.

As always, our followers (and anyone who comes across this post) are encouraged to reblog/reply with more examples – especially those unique to you or the people in your lives!  We can all only work from our experience, so asking about other people, or simply observing the humans around you, can improve your characters drastically.

Thanks again for your question <3  Let us know if you need any more help!

– The Mods

If you need advice on general writing or fanfiction, you should maybe ask us!

[write-on-world]

[thewriteblrarchives]

WHAT WE ARE;

We are a small group of friends who want to spread the love in the writeblr community, help to promote new writers, boost new projects and review works!

WHAT WE WANT TO DO;

We want to help people to more openly share their works, promote the most hardworking people in the community, provide resources to authors and spread positivity. We want to help to spread the love and give feedback to writing blogs big and small, and are open and inclusive to all. We want to provide a space where you can easily find new blogs and WIPs, and navigate through positive, encouraging advice.

WHAT WE WANT;

It would help us a whole lot if people were up to:

Tagging this blog in writeblr introductions, WIP intros, excerpts, art and advice.

Submitting reviews or promotion of your own or others’ works.

Submitting asks to help us interact with the community and to help us to promote other blogs.

Following this blog and direct us to similar blogs to follow to better connect with people.

Come say hi! We want to make something kind.

[adayforducks]

11, 46?

11 : Do you base your characters off of real people?Nope. I sometimes take inspiration in terms of traits, quirks, or appearance, but usually only a couple of elements of a character will be reminiscent of real people and the rest will all be things I came up with.

46 : What Hogwarts house would your protagonist(s) be in?Hmm. I’ll go with the gang from Aptitude for this, since that’s my NaNo Project.Rosie: SlytherinParis: HufflepuffJeremiah: RavenclawCherry: GryffindorRayna: RavenclawTim: SlytherinCel: Hufflepuff

send me some writerly asks?

[niseamstories]

I took some historical sword-fighting lessons to make the fights in my novel more realistic - here’s what I learned.

To make the fighting scenes in my low fantasy novel more realistic, I went to see a trainer for historical sword-fighting last week, both to barrage her with questions and to develop realistic choreographies for the fight scenes in the novel. Since I figured some of what she told me might be useful for you too, I put together a small list for you. Big thanks to Gladiatores Munich and Jeanne for making time! (Here are some more pictures if you’re interested.)

Caveat: I’m by no means a sword-fighting expert myself, so take these nuggets with a grain of salt – I might have misremembered or misinterpreted some of the things Jeanne told me. If I did, feel free to tell me.

1.) Weapon choices need to make sense

Let’s start with a truism: always ensure your character’s weapons make sense for a.) their profession, b.) their cultural background and c.) the environment they’re going to fight in. A farmer probably couldn’t afford a sword and might use a knife or threshing flail instead, and someone who doesn’t want to be noticed probably wouldn’t be milling about sporting a glaive or another large weapon. Also, soldiers native to a country with wide open plains would be more likely to carry long-range melee weapons such as spears or large swords, than those from a country consisting of mostly jungle or dense forests. The same applies to situations: if your character is going to be fighting in close quarters (even just a normal house), he’d get little value out of a spear or even a longsword, as there’d be no space to swing it effectively.

2.) Boldness often beats skill

In real swordfights, recklessness was often more important than technique. The fighter less afraid of getting injured would often push harder, allowing them to overpower even opponents with better technique.

3.) Even a skilled fighter rarely stands a chance when outnumbered

While a skilled (or lucky) fighter might win a two-versus-one, it’d be extremely unlikely for even a single master swordsman to win against superior numbers, even just three and if they’re below his skill level. The only way to plausibly pull this off would be to split the opponents up, perhaps by luring them into a confined space where you could take them on one by one. The moment you’re surrounded, you’re probably done for – because, unlike in Hollywood, they wouldn’t take turns attacking but come at you all at once.

4.) Dual-wielding was a thing

… at least in some cultures. I often heard people say that people using a weapon in each hand is an invention of fiction. And while my instructor confirmed that she knew of no European schools doing this—if they did, it’s not well-documented—she said it was a thing in other cultures. Example of this include the dual wakizashi in Japan or tomahawk and knife in North America. However, one of the biggest problems with the depiction of dual wielding in novels/movies/games are the “windmill”-type attacks where the fighter swings their weapons independently, hitting in succession rather than simultaneously. Normally you’d always try hitting with both weapons at once, as you’d otherwise lose your advantage.

5.) Longswords were amazing

Longswords might seem boring in comparison to other weapons, but they were incredibly effective, especially in combat situations outside the battlefield. The crossguard allowed for effective blocking of almost any kind of attack (well, maybe not an overhead strike of a Mordaxt, but still), the pommel was also used as a powerful “blunt” weapon of its own that could crack skulls. Though they were somewhat less effective against armored opponents, the long, two-handed hilt allowed for precise thrusts at uncovered body parts that made up for it.

6.)  “Zweihänder” were only used for very specific combat situations

Zweihänder—massive two-handed swords—were only used for specific purposes and usually not in one-on-one combat as is often seen in movies or games. One of these purposes was using their reach to break up enemy formations. In fact, one type of two-handed sword even owed its name to that purpose: Gassenhauer (German, Gasse = alley, Hauer = striker)—the fighters literally used it to strike “alleys” into an enemy formation with wide, powerful swings.

7.) It’s all about distance

While I was subconsciously aware of this, it might be helpful to remember that distance was an incredibly important element in fights. The moment your opponent got past your weapons ideal range, it was common to either switch to a different weapon or just drop your weapon and resort to punching/choking. A good example of this are spears or polearms—very powerful as long as you maintain a certain range between you and your opponent, but the moment they get too close, your weapon is practically useless. That’s also why combatants almost always brought a second weapon into battle to fall back one.

8.) Real fights rarely lasted over a minute

Another truism, but still useful to remember: real fights didn’t last long. Usually, they were over within less than a minute, sometimes only seconds – the moment your opponent landed a hit (or your weapon broke or you were disarmed), you were done for. This is especially true for combatants wearing no or only light armor.

9.) Stop the pirouettes

Unfortunately, the spinning around and pirouetting that makes many fight scenes so enjoyable to watch (or read) is completely asinine. Unless it’s a showfight, fighters would never expose their backs to their opponent or even turn their weapon away from them.

10.)  It still looks amazing

If your concern is that making your fight scenes realistic will make them less aesthetic, don’t worry. Apart from the fact that the blocks, swings and thrusts still look impressive when executed correctly, I personally felt that my fights get a lot more gripping and visceral if I respect the rules. To a certain extent, unrealistic and flashy combat is plot armor. If your characters can spin and somersault to their heart’s content and no one ever shoves a spear into their backs as they would have in real life, who survives and who doesn’t noticeably becomes arbitrary. If, on the other hand, even one slip-up can result in a combatant’s death, the stakes become palpable.

That’s about it! I hope this post is as helpful to some of you as the lessons were to me. Again, if anything I wrote here is bollocks, it’s probably my fault and not Jeanne’s.  I’ll try to post more stuff like this in the future.

Cheers,

Nicolas

[aethelflaedladyofmercia]

Excellent research! Couple of pointers:

The wall chart in the top picture shows the basic sword moves. Even if you don’t go learning all the fancy names for stances and swings, every swing of every weapon should follow the trajectory of one of those arrows (including the stylized sword for a vertical swing, plus a stab, and obvious variations such as reversing the direction).

The person in the picture is holding a good length long sword for their height (though what constitutes a good length has a lot to do with time period and culture). You can maybe go about a foot taller and still be practical for a non-polearm.

You can wield a pole arm or spear indoors, but only to a height that matches the space. In a space comparable to modern western living quarters, a little more than 6 feet is doable, and well-trained polearm enthusiasts will argue that they easily function in a 10’ x 10’ room or even smaller (though I’ve not seen it done).

Some polearm martial arts have forms that allow you to take on multiple attackers, generally with the philosophy of stun one, worry about another, go back to the first, etc. HOWEVER real life bad guys tend not to be so kind as to let you hit them on the first try, so using the environment to obstruct or limit them is absolutely the best case. As said above, being better trained than your opponents is no guarantee.

The best examples of “dual wielding” generally have one offensive and one defensive weapon, especially a sword or axe in the right hand and a dagger in the left. The dagger can be used for blocking, for attacking when needed, and certain types of grappling. A shield is obviously a better defense, but not always practical. Most other examples of “dual wielding” I can think of are two small weapons such as daggers. It has very limited use in combat, and really trying to hold and manage two swords is just exhausting.

In addition to what is listed above, longswords can also be “half-handed” which means the left hand holds the blade, oh, about 2/3 of the way up? The front third is “sharp like a knife” the bottom 2/3 “sharp like an axe” so this is doable if you are careful. Half-handing allows you to wield the sword more like a spear, have better control over the point, and do some neat things with the gaps in armor. This is pretty standard practice during any time period with mostly-full to full plate armor.

Zweigander: Yes this is 100% correct you are a hero. Here is a picture of a zweihander.

Here is a picture of not-a-zweihander.

Any sword in this size range is ceremonial and not intended for combat. A Zweihander (or similar massive sword) generally weighs in at around 7-8 lbs, compared to 8-9 for larger polearm and 1-5 for smaller swords (depends on your sword there’s actually a pretty big range). Anything over 10 pounds is not wieldable unless it’s some kind of gun.

God you have no idea how many times I have corrected people on the Zweihander thing in my life.

8. Correct about distance, but also think in terms of movement and speed. Your best defense is simply NOT BEING WHERE THE OTHER GUY’S WEAPON IS. Your best offense is being too close for the other guy to hit you. Worst thing that can happen is to be backed into a corner. People assume that choosing between different weapons and armor is a question of strength vs maneuverability. It is not. Any decent quality combat armor is going to be as maneuverable as is possible given the technology. (There are some layers to this, more to do with cultural differences in weaponry than individual choices within one society. But you don’t want a dissertation on samurai vs knights.)

9. The HEMA program I used to belong to does something like 5 minutes of sustained combat as the equivalent of a black belt test. The person being tested must defend themselves against a rotation of opponents for the full 5 minutes. It is an absolute strain on the person being tested, and the last candidate I saw do this was nearly falling over, exhausted, sweating, and bleeding despite all the safety equipment. Real combat is BRIEF. Battles can go on much longer, but think of those as a series of brief encounters, potentially stretched over a long period of time. Any half decent army has something in place to rotate fresh troops to the front line on a regular basis.

10. I’ve only seen spins used for kata - almost exclusively polearm kata - that involve multiple attackers and needing to see behind you. Otherwise, again, 100% correct, do not spin away from your opponent unless you’re about to RUN. (If you are spinning to check behind you, make sure your current opponent is stunned/temporarily incapacitated first.)

Anyway, OP has my stamp of approval. I’ll say it again, great research!!

[immortallionheart-a-deactivated]

Writing Body Language

How to Improve your writing

This is something that happens every day in your life. A shift of your eyebrow in skepticism, or the way your lip may twitch to a half smile cause you’re trying not to laugh. These behaviors are vital for writing in character, because not only do the allow you to visually see what is happening but it is also reaffirming whatever emotion your character is showing.

So why should you write it?

Much of human communication is non-verbal which means you need to also translate this non-verbal reaction in a post. It allows you to greatly enhance the emotions of another character and always another person to ‘visually’ see how they feel in a post. Most of all, this will add depth and volume to your post to make it feel more real. IT will make your character feel like a human instead of just another fictional person you look at from above.

Below you will find a list different type of emotions and what sort of body language can be exhibited to them.

Three ways to accent an action.

When writing about emotions, there are different ways to verbally write them out. Each one is unique in their own way, allowing you to show more about the emotion.

Emphasize the Emotion. But doing this, you are expressing both the emotion and the body language. We’ll use a simple example. It’s short and simple yet you can sense he is happy. John felt so happy that he was humming a tune while walking down the hall.

Complicate the Emotion. Sometimes, even when you are feeling one emotion, deep down rooted underneath the facade of it all, there is actually an underlining emotion they feel. This is something you have to truly express otherwise no one will know. John felt so happy that he was humming a tune while walking down the hall. However, it was obvious by the way his nose crinkled that he was disgusted by the actions beforehand. Instead, John covered it up by appearing pleased today.

Contradict the Emotion. This is a little different than complicate. Contradicting means that you are claiming one thing when in fact its the other. In many ways, this has a variety of uses, from inner depth of the truth to what you see in person, or someone creating a wall. It could be considered a lie, but when is anything that easy? John felt so happy that he was humming a tune while walking down the hall. In truth, once he was in the classroom, his shoulders slumped and a pout crossed his lips when no one was around, showing just how displeased he was with the situation.

Remember that you do not always have to contradict or complicate anything. Sometimes all you need to do is emphasize and that will be just fine. You don’t always have to have an underlining complicated for an emotion to make it more enhanced.

Do be afraid to use the Thesaurus to also improve an emotion. Such things as “happy” is a nice emotional word, but think of how much more powerful it is when you heard some is “overjoyed” or “content.” She how these emotions matched up with a body language can give two different styles of happiness? Mix and match to find what works best for your character at the time.

More In Depth Information

What I’ve stated above is more of a simplistic overview. IF you truly want to improve yourself, go to this

LINK HERE

To see just how much body language can reveal about a person. You will find things such as how a person lies, how the eyes reaction, the positioning of a person in personal space, mouth, and head body language and so much more.

Use these resources to greatly increase the reactions of your character to another and create a more life-like world.

[westlvseast]

This is excellent

[prosaicswirl]

OC Backstory Week 05: Loss

Yay for week 5 of @yourocsbackstory​ :)) Iris was orphaned at a young age, and she’s been able to tell her side of it in previous weeks, here it is from her father’s perspective. (continued after the cut)

Warnings: Mentions death.

“What was I supposed to do? We, this... group of people she can’t quite comprehend, just told her that the only ones on this planet who loved her for her, and not her powers, were dead? How else was she going to react?”

- Skye “Ciel” Lévesque

Skye had to wake Iris up way past her bedtime, yet also too early for the day, and so she was slow to move at all, still wrapped up in her dreams. He sighed, this was going to be hard for both of them. “Allons-y,” he murmured. “Réveille-toi. We need to go.”

After that, she had managed to stay awake through both the drive and now, while he was trying to talk in hushed tones with both the scientists and his superiors. And he had a bad feeling that it was because she knew something was wrong.

“We need to be the ones to tell her about her parents,” one of the ‘elite’ scientists was arguing. Even now, after being on this mission for a year now, he still didn’t understand the differences between the two groups. “We know her better than anyone.”

A scientist from the other group of white-coats was shaking his head. “Iris doesn’t trust any of you. The only ones she likes right now are either Ciel, unfortunately, or me.”

And almost as if she heard that, which, perhaps she did… Skye could never really tell, she called out for him. “Skye…”

He walked over and sat beside her, making sure to wrap both his coat and the blanket even tighter around her. “Ouais, ma chérie?”

“Can I have some water?”

“Of course, I’ll be right back.” He stood up and rejoined the other men quickly before leaving to get her what she wanted. “Don’t do anything until I get back.”

And while he was waiting by the water tank, paper cup in his had, he felt just a call for help that was so tense, that it could only come from one person.

“What did you do?” he demanded as he stormed back in. Iris had tears on her cheeks, and was trying to curl even more into her blankets, and instead of comforting her, the other two idiots were arguing.

“We needed to talk it out, not throw it in her face!”

“She knows how to handle grief, we’ve been introducing it to her piece by piece!”

“She’s FIVE! It doesn’t matter how trained she is, she’s a child, and has no control over her emotions. She’s just learned what they are! You’re a monster for— Ciel where are you going with Iris?"

While they had been arguing, Skye picked up Iris and was whispering to her. “We’re going to my office, I have some food and water there, and you can try to sleep, ok?”

“I told you both to leave the decision until I was back, and even now, while she’s crying in front of both of you, neither of you moved to help her.” Skye has never claimed to be a family man, plenty of people knew that too, but in this moment, he was sure he was doing the right thing. Without another word he walked out on the two of them.

They walked in silence, with only Skye’s footsteps echoing on the ground.

“Skye, they said that my parents are dead.”

“I know. Do you know what that means?”

“That they won’t be back for me. That they left me.”

“That’s… They didn’t want to leave you, Iris,” he tried to hold her even closer as he unlocked the door to his office. There was an inflatable mattress he stored in there for rough missions, and in a way, this was one of them. He placed her on his chair while he got it set up. “They didn’t have a choice. It wasn’t their fault. It’s not yours either.”

She didn’t say another word that night.

Or the day after. And even when he signed the guardian forms after a screaming match with the scientists, she ignored everything he tried to do for her. What was he supposed to do?

[septembercfawkes]

When to "Tell" Emotions

Over the years, I’ve written a lot of posts about emotions, how to get them on the page, how to get them in the reader, how strong they should be and when, and so on. Writing an emotionally powerful story is super important, but honestly, other than Angela and Becca at Writers Helping Writers, I don’t see a ton of solid advice on how to actually infuse your story with it.

In the past, I’ve talked about how one of the most important things is to create an empathetic experience in the reader, so they feel like they are experiencing those emotions instead of just reading about them. This is equivalent to the “Show, don’t Tell” rule, even if “showing” emotions, is often less about describing them, and more about describing what causes them and/or getting into the deepest POV penetration available.

Basically, what I’m trying to say is that usually if you want to have your audience have a very powerful emotional experience, you write in a way that allows them to vicariously feel those emotions, rather than just “telling” the audience what emotions were felt (i.e. Patricia was sad).

However, like the traditional “Show, don’t Tell” rule, if you never “tell” the audience what emotions characters are feeling, you run into some problems. So today, I want to talk about when you should absolutely consider simply telling the audience your characters’ emotions, or at least simply demonstrating them in a short amount of space.

1. It’s Important for the Audience to Know the Emotion, but Not Necessarily to Experience it.

Sure, for a powerful story, we want our audience to experience the same emotions as our protagonist (usually). If a character is devastated, we want our audience to feel devastated.

But sometimes the point isn’t to experience the emotion. Sometimes the point is just to know about it.

I’ve used this example elsewhere, but in The Hunger Games, after Katniss shoots the apple out of the pig’s mouth, Collins writes something like, “I cried about it all afternoon.” In that instance, it’s not important that the audience feels like crying. It’s just helpful to know that Katniss did.

Not all of the protagonist’s emotions will be important enough to experience. Some of them are just important to know.

2. Pacing

If Collins had instead tried to write a whole passage to elicit those feelings in the audience, it would have taken up a lot more space, and therefore would have slowed the story’s overall pacing. Sometimes pacing is more important than feelings (especially if you are going so slow that the audience doesn’t feel the intended feelings anyway because they are yawning).

With that said though, depending on the setup of the scene, you can sometimes elicit emotion in very few words. Other times? Well, it might be best to just say “I cried about it all afternoon.”

3. Emotional Context

Context is the stuff that helps us accurately interpret and understand what’s going on in the story. Usually, the viewpoint character provides the audience with needed context.

In some passages, the audience needs emotional context to properly interpret the narrative. This may be especially true of speculative fiction, where the audience may be encountering other worlds, cultures, and customs. For example, when Harry sees someone walk out of a picture frame for the first time in the Wizarding World, he looks to Ron in surprise. Ron says, unconcerned, “Well, you can’t expect him to hang around all day.” Ron’s nonchalance clues us into the fact that this is normal for the Wizarding World (while Harry’s surprise validates our own).

In similar ways, your viewpoint character’s emotions may provide context for how readers are supposed to view the world and certain situations. A lot of times, the best way to get this across, is to just tell us straight out what the character is feeling, rather than try to get the audience to feel that way (which would be extremely difficult if the subject matter was otherworldly).

4. Emotional Validation

In the last example, I mentioned that Harry’s surprise validates our own. If Harry wasn’t surprised, we’d probably think he was odd, or maybe that there is something wrong with us for having that response.

Sometimes you need to simply address and tell emotions in order to validate the audience’s. If something really terrifying happens, and the viewpoint character or protagonist doesn’t show any sign of emotion, we might be left scratching our heads. Were they terrified? Is there something wrong with them? Did we misunderstand how that passage should be read?

Validation and context often interrelate. You can learn more about validating the audience here.

5. Hooks

Sometimes the best hooks address emotions directly. Something like, “When William went to sleep last night, he hadn’t expected to wake up in terror,” can have readers drooling to read on. Or perhaps, “As Emily stared into Jack’s eyes, she thought this must be what it felt like to fall in love with a villain.” Or maybe, “Clark walked into his mother’s motor home and was shocked.” Whatever the case, labeling an emotion can be a great hook.

6. To Cut Back Overpowering Emotions

In some cases, you might elicit emotions so powerfully, that it’s simply too much. It’s possible to write too strong of a scene. In situations like that, simply telling an emotion can weaken it enough to make it digestible for the audience.

So there you have it, six instances where you don’t necessarily want the audience to feel empathetic emotions.

[spiderrrling]

I am a(n):

⚪ Male

⚪ Female

🔘 Writer

Looking for

⚪ Boyfriend

⚪ Girlfriend

🔘 An incredibly specific word that I can't remember

[itsabidisaster-deactivated20210]

Tear-stained

Tear-stained,

Fears drain

Away from eyes

Like concrete skies

She hated feeling

Feelings alone

Sadness and seething

Face made of stone.

Her eyelids were heavy

Weighted by her own lies

She broke at the neck

From the weight of those eyes

Hopes and expecting

Sinking her shoulders

Into sand and carving

Those tears from her eyes.

[prosaicswirl]

OC Backstory Week 04: Skills

So, this is a very late entry for @yourocsbackstory week 4, but I’m excited for this one. (~947 words, Continued under the cut)

So, you’re the newest addition to our team, huh? Well, welcome. As you can tell from the classification level, we are pretty much off every grid in this country. That’s because we work with a very…special person. Her name is Iris Cai, but when it comes to report and other confidential files, we call her Redacted, or just Red for short. She’s young, but she’s unlike anyone else in our world. So, just remember that there’s a reason why she’s here. We test a variety of scenarios with her, and psychiatry or therapy is something we’ve taught her. The following case is one of our trials in an effort to examine her readiness albeit, a failure. Acquaint yourself with what can happen in the worst-case scenarios.

Incident #0112: Unknown cause

Date: March 17th, 2006

Persons Involved: Agent Leah Dubois

Mission Briefing:

Agent Dubois was given a week’s worth of training for this role. Essentially, we want to test how precisely Red can detect emotions. Now, this may not be considered field work, but Agent Dubois was given a card with a variety of emotions on it. Over her course of conversation with Red, we want to see how Red will communicate with Dubois. In the past, we’ve seen Red draw out scenarios that express what she feels from others among other methods. If all goes well this time, we may want to see if we can accelerate her education and begin Phase II.

Dubois was given three emotions to cycle through: nervousness, stress, and pride. As is procedure, she was told to recall three times in her life where she had felt these three emotions, as they would help the feelings seem more realistic. (Aside: this is also a way to see if Red can see the memories themselves, or if it truly is just emotion. Refer to Incident of Withdrawal #12) On the day of, she would meet with Red, and try to establish a bond of trust. Only when the researchers give their approval, would Dubois begin with the memories.

This process will repeat for each of the three emotions, and all of it was recorded according to Procedure #2IC34.

Incident Details:

At the beginning, right after introductions, we saw a bond form between Dubois and Red. It was assumed that this was a good sign, since in the past, Red has shown herself to be quite shy and unresponsive to strangers. Even though we don’t know the details of how this bond was able to form, future experiments are being planned to test her comfort around strangers.

The first emotion of the cycle that we wanted Dubois to express was nervousness. While there was no concrete reaction to this, Dubois was able to elicit a more caring side of Red, who offered her toys and even water in what we believe to be a sign of empathy. There was nothing more of note during this section, and further details relating to this time will be included in the Experiment Report.

The incident began when Dubois reached the second emotion, which was stress. Now, it should be noted that most children at Red’s age do not have a strong concept of what stress is. However, the moment she signaled that she was moving on, there was an immediate change in Red’s previous openness. It should be noted that when we ask our Agents to go through these emotions, we first ask that they think of a memory that evokes these emotions in them. In comparison to those who try to replicate the emotions without any sort of recall, this method generates the better results. From the debrief with Dubois after she was stabilized in the hospital, we found out that she was thinking of a car crash she had been in on one of her past missions.

This, of course, is very similar to what Red herself has gone through, relates to what her assigned guardian has told us as well about her experiences and reactions with cars, and motor vehicle accidents. Our best guess is that this triggered a self defense mechanism for her, which then resulted in the incident.

In terms of a physical reaction, Red froze, and then stumbled and fell on her bottom as she tried to walk away from Dubois. The moment it started, according to the Agent herself, was when she held onto Iris’s hand. It was described to me as an overwhelming wave of emotions that she couldn’t control and forced her to see disturbing images or memories from her past. On the tapes, Dubois was seen withdrawing her hand quickly, as if she touched something hot, and back up into a wall. Her gaze was unfocused and quick to look around the room, not responding to any calls to her from the radio.

Since Dubois was at risk of physically hurting herself, a medical team was called in to try and defuse the situation. As they entered, as shown on the tapes, not even one of them managed to even approach Red, who had managed to barricade herself behind a desk. They reacted in the same way as Dubois, they tried to put something between them and Red, and none of them could move out of a fetal position. Because of this result, a decision was made to wait before trying to send in more help.

The entire duration of the psychosis lasted around fifteen minutes. Dubois and the three medical team members were all hospitalized after the incident, though all four are expected to make a full recovery. Red was also hospitalized, and has yet to wake back up, now twelve hours after the initial incident.

[cirianne]

Thanks to @kosmosian-quills motivation, I wrote another flirty little fluff thing about that bad guy before he was bad… 

Have my power couple Jason and Marissa’s very first meeting - with a bang.

(1200 words, continued after the cut)

Marissa Reyes was not at all happy with how this day unfolded. The FIA’s annual summer gala, where the industry’s most influential people gathered for a night of friendly smalltalk and wild party, was to take place tonight. She was meant to give a speech. And despite her best tries, she was running late.

She cursed, as she turned the ignition and her gaze flew past the digital watch in her SUV’s middle console. That stupid event was held in the middle of nowhere, an hourlong drive from the city, and she should have left half an hour ago. Shit. Shit. Shit. So much for making an impression. This fit in line perfectly with the recent string of misfortune in her life. Breaking her arm on the first day of her surfing holiday. Finding out about her fiancé’s infidelity. Leaving their pretty apartment in the city center to move to the suburbs.

And now, spoiling the opportunity of a lifetime by coming late to the year’s most important event, right before that idiot David’s eyes. 92 minutes until she was expected there. 81 minute drive according to her navigation system.

She pulled out of her driveway and forced herself to steady her breath. 11 Minutes to spare. She’d be fine. Don’t speed. Don’t drive too risky. Just breathe and concentrate and be your best. She was a good and steady driver. It would all work out per-

Metal and plastic folded into each other in a deafening crash. Her seat belt bit into her skin as her head whipped forward. Stars danced before her eyes. Holy shit. Holy fucking shit, where had that car come from? What had-?

“Miss? Fuck. Miss?” Someone had opened her door and put their hand on her shoulder. “Are you alright?”

Weiterlesen

[cirianne]

In lack of a tag list for random flirty banter, here’s a reblog for some people who might enjoy (esp. those who reblogged the other post I did on these two some weeks ago) …

@dove-actually @ratracechronicler @gaslightwestern @ardawyn @prosaicswirl @reeseweston @nemowritesstuff @thewriterspeaks @lady-redshield-writes

[prosaicswirl]

Hi, I’ve been kinda pulled in all sorts of directions, and I wanted to save this for when I had a solid, relaxed period. Anyways, thanks for tagging me :))

I really like their exchanges. It feels real, and it’s fun to see them tease each other. (Let’s be honest I live for couples who give it to each other and take it too :p)

[writeness]