Where There's Smoke @rainbow-writers - Tumblr Blog

Adult life is about crashing 800 times a day, but it's okay if anyone asks.

every culture has their ethnic donut and every culture has their ethnic dumpling… humans be frying dough

Every culture also makes a sword. If they got metal they make a sword, if they don’t have metal they take obsidian or shark teeth or whatever it is that they’ve got and they make that into a sword.

Coincidence? I think not.

gordon-freeman-official

2 constants in all civilizations:

Tasty Fried Food

Danger Murder Sticks

ginger-le-gay-deactivated202008

World building tip: the bare bones of all civilizations are fried dough and sharp things.

earlgraytay

Also: dramatic and ornate hats.

as soon as people have the resources to do so they will put gaudy brightly-coloured things on their heads, so help them

roguecampingrainstorm

Fried dough, murder sticks, and ostentatious headwear. I like it.

thecrookedwriterspath

Worldbuilding basics 101

the-future-now-deactivated20170

That’s Louis Rossman, a repair technician and YouTuber, who went viral recently for railing against Apple. Apple purposely charges a lot for repairs and you either have to pay up or buy a new device. That’s because Apple withholds necessary tools and information from outside repair shops. And to think, we were just so close to change.

Follow @the-future-now

dopeluminarydreamer-blog

Reblog if you:

Have an iPhone and are in need of repairs

Have a friend with that problem

Hate Apple and are more than happy to spite them in some way

No one will know which is it

weaselle

This guy inspired me to repair my own macbook. First of all, you should know that I am not… like, I have to look up HOW to look up what my computer specifications are. Tech, that ware either soft or hard, is not a subject in which I experience comfort or competence. But my puppy peed on my keyboard, and I asked the apple store, or the fucking mac cafe, or the godsdamn Computer House Chill Zone or whatever cute ass name they have for their bullshit store, and they said it would be TWELVE HUNDRED DOLLARS TO REPLACE MY KEYBOARD. I’m not even exaggerating.

So I asked the internet, well how hard IS it to repair? And I saw this guy’s video, and while I am no techie, I AM fueled by spite, so I was all “oh, they do that shit on purpose specifically so they can charge me $1200 bucks or make me buy a new computer hunh? FUCK THEM” and I bought all the tools I needed for about $25 and I bought all the parts I needed for about another $25 and I watched a few tutorial videos, and I replaced my own keyboard.

So, once you are doing the actual deed, it becomes pretty obvious that they are finding creative ways to make this much harder than it has to be on purpose. On thing that stood out to me is, instead of all the tiny screws being the same size, there are about two dozen very slightly different sizes. They could easily be all the same size, or like, two sizes at most, but no.

These mother fuckers will take a panel that screws into place and they’ll use a different size screw for each corner. They are so close that you almost cannot tell them apart visually, but they each will only screw into the matching corner. Like, it’s a pretty clear “fuck you” to anyone trying to do repairs.

anyway, this guy is also fueled by spite, and doing holy work, and I have mad respect

dragonfox-in-a-teacup

This is awesome. Man is doing good ass deeds 24/7 because he’s giving people control.

dantes-infernal-chili

How dare you not leave a link to his channel, this guy is the savior of the modern world.

if-only-angels-could-prevail

again, there IS a problem of straight actors playing all the gay roles, but the answer isn’t as easy as “straight people shouldn’t play gay people” because a) it’s acting and there’s nothing intrinsically physical about gayness and b) it’s bad to insist that actors make their sexuality public information

if-only-angels-could-prevail

you know what that’s exactly it

writeblrfantasy

'

WHEN THE WITCHES CALL: sunshine

behold! the long overdue wtwc excerpt post completion. lovers being sunshine is a huge theme in wtwc and i wanted to show that off. enjoy, yall will be getting a fuckton of excerpts this week <3

penny-anna

‘Life is very full of sex, or should be. As much as I admire Tolkien — and I do, he was a giant of fantasy and a giant of literature, and I think he wrote a great book that will be read for many years — you do have to wonder where all those Hobbits came from, since you can’t imagine Hobbits having sex, can you? Well, sex is an important part of who we are. It drives us, it motivates us, it makes us do sometimes very noble things and it makes us do sometimes incredibly stupid things. Leave it out, and you’ve got an incomplete world.’ George R R Martin (source)

no disrespect to george rr martin but this quote cracks me up bcos every time i see if I’m just like, no george… you can’t imagine hobbits having sex. ;P

penny-anna

FOUND IT & I say again: I can imagine hobbits having sex just fine.

ashi-sewehitsanethe

Georgey boy here forgetting Sam’s 13 kids.

penny-anna

he didn’t forget about them. he just doesn’t understand where they came from.

ashi-sewehitsanethe

That’s even funnier, then.

penny-anna

george rr martin, looking at the gamgee family tree and crying: wh-where… where did they all come from…….

scarlet-silverweaver

this man is apparently under the impression that we need sex scenes to understand that sex exists in any given story universe and honestly that explains so much about his writing

ailurinae

It really does

boopednose

HOBBITS FUCK GOOD AND THEY FUCK OFTEN

experimental-sponge

“When we are going to have sex?”

“…We’ve already had it.”

“We’ve had it once, yes. What about second sex?”

brookietf

Does he realize The Hobbit is a children’s book?

thefingerfuckingfemalefury

“I mean it’s very whimsical and fun but where are all the sex scenes”

“Sir please leave this bookshop…”

gupdoo3

lack of object permanence but with sex

fangirlofall

Wasn’t gonna reblog but the last comment killed me

weatherman667

Honestly, we used to have this tradition of fading to black, or pointing at the curtains and then fading to black. Everyone knew exactly what it meant.

If a couple gets together, and they end up with kids, every adult in the room knew what happened.

fierceawakening

But what about SECOND sex

awfulwhumpsideblog

I want more diverse female characters.

Unhinged women, chaotic women. Women who shine so brightly night turns to day. Women who are deadpan and cold and never warm up. Morally gray women with unmatched charisma and wit. Women who struggle with loneliness who can't even be their own best friend.

Women who lie, betray, and manipulate. Women doing gymnastics on the line between good and evil. Women who struggle with their place in the world, who can't tell who they are. Women who dream of dreaming, women who throw precious time away into a lake and have it bounce like a skipping stone, women who are lost and not found.

Women who are free and alive. Women who started rotting before being buried six feet under. Women who watch the sun rise and remember what it's like to live. Women who can't escape the fog they've been trapped in for as long as they remember. Women who are asleep, but alive.

Women who rise, fall, and rise again. Women who struggle and hurt. Women who have to carry the weight of their pain with them for the rest of their lives. Women who grieve who they were, who they could've been, the time they lost and will never get back. Women who can't laugh but still smile.

Women who feel a constant need to escape and can never feel at home. Women who feel as if they're always performing. Women without a feminine bone in their body. Women who see themselves in everyone but themselves. Women who yearn to be without realizing that they already are.

antirhysand-deactivated20240316

mor not coming out to the ic for hundreds of years doesn’t make sense with what sjm has told us about the ic, but it makes sense in the context of what we’ve been shown. anyone who has reading comprehension can see that sjm is a bad writer relies too heavily on telling instead of showing, and that that flaw leads to massive inconsistencies. it’s the truth (what we’re shown) vs a narrative (what feyre sjm tells us and wants us to believe).

what we’ve been shown of the ic is that they’re incredibly misogynistic and unhealthily attached to rhysand, to the point they will (despite what sjm claims) back him up on anything, no matter how terrible he is or how wrong it is. this dynamic would 100% make someone feel unsafe with coming out.

this kind of dynamic with rhysand is unbelievably toxic, and if we were to think about how an lgbt person would react to being in that dynamic… it makes sense. rhysand’s entire “found family” hinges on him. if mor had come out and rhysand didn’t support her, she would’ve lost everything (her friends and her home being the main things).

[ note: and honestly, those are her only things as mor wasn’t a well developed character to begin with. what she did have she lost when she escaped her previous abusers. not to mention, the entire ic is entirely dependent on rhysand providing for them. they can never leave the “family” even if they wanted to. rhysand literally takes in vulnerable people, manipulates them and binds them to him irreparably; whether through forced bonds like feyre’s tattoo, or through providing for them in every way under the guise of kindness while not letting them truly have their own things (which he also does with feyre). ]

and as i said before, they’re very misogynistic despite sjm’s claims of them being the creators of feminism. if they’re misogynistic, they’re likely to be bigoted in other ways. so, these two things added together, it actually makes a lot of sense that mor didn’t come out sooner.

but !

as we know, we’re not supposed to pay attention to what we’re shown of these characters. we’re supposed to listen unwaveringly to what we’re told, and we’re not supposed to point out or question anything inconsistent or wrong out if we do happen to notice it. (wow, that lines up exactly with the ic’s dynamic with rhysand, lol)

which leaves the answer of what actually happened: mor’s coming out was perfect and groundbreaking representation! we should be thanking sjm for writing the first ever lgbt character in existence ever! (note my sarcasm)

but in all seriousness, the reason mor’s coming out didn’t make sense and invalidated the “amazing found family” sjm had established with the ic is because it wasn’t planned. sjm only made mor lgbt so she could use it as a shield if anyone called her out on her lack of representation in her books. mor was more than likely her least favorite member of the ic, given how mor didn’t have much screen (page?) time to begin with, but now mor gets even less.

moonsp1r1t

8 Character Creation Tips (for DnD or just writing in general)

1. Have a goal

While it may sound like I’m stating the obvious here, your character needs to have something they want to accomplish. Maybe they want to be the best at something, see a place, fall in love, conquer the world, or something else. Whatever it is, they need to have something that they desire beyond all other things. Ideally, give them more than one goal. Make them have to sacrifice one to achieve the other, to add extra drama

2. Have a reputation

Maybe they’re the best artist in their class or they’re great at juggling. Perhaps they slipped on the stairs in front of their whole village. Either way, give something for the locals to remember about them. That way it can give you a starting point for the interactions with other characters

3. Have a friend

Whether a friend, a coworker, a sibling, an army buddy, or someone they saved, have someone close to your character whom they’re close to and wish well. Yeah, angsty “I have no friends” characters can be fun, but in small doses; eventually the reader gets fed up with them. At the very least the character needs someone to talk to or bounce ideas off of

4. Have a home

It may be a neighborhood they grew up in, their parents’ house, or a room they’ve been renting in a tavern. Hell, it could even be a person if you so choose. Everyone needs to feel secure at one time or another

5. Have a signature item

Now, recognize that this may not work for EVERY character, but it’s up to you to decide what will fit and what won’t. In many cases, it can work. A signature item is something that is recognizably YOUR CHARACTER’S, be it a weapon, a scarf, a toy, or a piece of jewelry. It’s something that makes them feel like themself

6. Have a problem

This should be something other than the problem addressed in the main plot line. Maybe a member of their family is sick, they are broke, or they’re failing their classes. This helps make your character seem more realistic because NO ONE has one problem at a time

7. Have a secret

This can affect the plot or not; either way, it helps make your character more well rounded. Maybe your character can’t read, left their crewmates to die when a kracken attacked their ship, or made their long lost sister run away. If you choose to have it affect the plot in any way, this secret should embarrass your character, make it so that other characters don’t trust your character, or somehow endanger them and the people they’re close to if found out

8. Have a reason to be brave and to fight

Maybe it’s because your character wants to be like their hero, maybe it’s so they can repay a debt (like if someone saved their life previously), maybe it’s for their child, but your character needs to have a reason to occasionally face their fears

Have fun!!!

homesteadchronicles

I understand that this is meant to be simple, but GOSH DANG, is it so helpful! This came at the perfect time for me, as I am in the process of creating characters both in the realm of fictional writing and tabletop roleplaying. I’ve been seriously struggling with one of my characters for a long time now and always felt something was missing. Only now do I realize - I had all of these, except for a secret! Well, I gave him a secret to keep, but not one that would make him fearful, embarrassed, or ashamed! And what point is there in a secret without a price attached to it’s exposure? There was no cost, no blow to his own worth or self-esteem or ego, to keeping that secret from his friends and allies. Now I know I need to sit down with my DM and work out where to interweave a potential secret into the plot.

Thank you for this, OP! May it genuinely help all of my followers as it has helped me.

ex-atomos

This is really good!

dwellordream

“Consider the Vikings. Popular feminist retellings like the History Channel’s fictional saga “Vikings” emphasize the role of women as warriors and chieftains. But they barely hint at how crucial women’s work was to the ships that carried these warriors to distant shores.

One of the central characters in “Vikings” is an ingenious shipbuilder. But his ships apparently get their sails off the rack. The fabric is just there, like the textiles we take for granted in our 21st-century lives. The women who prepared the wool, spun it into thread, wove the fabric and sewed the sails have vanished.

In reality, from start to finish, it took longer to make a Viking sail than to build a Viking ship. So precious was a sail that one of the Icelandic sagas records how a hero wept when his was stolen. Simply spinning wool into enough thread to weave a single sail required more than a year’s work, the equivalent of about 385 eight-hour days.

King Canute, who ruled a North Sea empire in the 11th century, had a fleet comprising about a million square meters of sailcloth. For the spinning alone, those sails represented the equivalent of 10,000 work years.”

“…Picturing historical women as producers requires a change of attitude. Even today, after decades of feminist influence, we too often assume that making important things is a male domain. Women stereotypically decorate and consume. They engage with people. They don’t manufacture essential goods.

Yet from the Renaissance until the 19th century, European art represented the idea of “industry” not with smokestacks but with spinning women. Everyone understood that their never-ending labor was essential. It took at least 20 spinners to keep a single loom supplied.

“The spinners never stand still for want of work; they always have it if they please; but weavers are sometimes idle for want of yarn,” the agronomist and travel writer Arthur Young, who toured northern England in 1768, wrote.

Shortly thereafter, the spinning machines of the Industrial Revolution liberated women from their spindles and distaffs, beginning the centuries-long process that raised even the world’s poorest people to living standards our ancestors could not have imagined.

But that “great enrichment” had an unfortunate side effect. Textile abundance erased our memories of women’s historic contributions to one of humanity’s most important endeavors. It turned industry into entertainment.

“In the West,” Dr. Harlow wrote, “the production of textiles has moved from being a fundamental, indeed essential, part of the industrial economy to a predominantly female craft activity.””

- Virginia Postrel, “Women and Men Are Like the Threads of a Woven Fabric.” in The New York Times