Freedom is a Length of Rope.

Starless and bible black. XXIII. ISFJ. Scorpio. UK.

[thewriteadviceforwriters]

Other Words for "Look" + With meanings | List for writers

Many people create lists of synonyms for the word 'said,' but what about the word 'look'? Here are some synonyms that I enjoy using in my writing, along with their meanings for your reference. While all these words relate to 'look,' they each carry distinct meanings and nuances, so I thought it would be helpful to provide meanings for each one.

Gaze - To look steadily and intently, especially in admiration or thought.

Glance - A brief or hurried look.

Peek - A quick and typically secretive look.

Peer - To look with difficulty or concentration.

Scan - To look over quickly but thoroughly.

Observe - To watch carefully and attentively.

Inspect - To look at closely in order to assess condition or quality.

Stare - To look fixedly or vacantly at someone or something.

Glimpse - To see or perceive briefly or partially.

Eye - To look or stare at intently.

Peruse - To read or examine something with great care.

Scrutinize - To examine or inspect closely and thoroughly.

Behold - To see or observe a thing or person, especially a remarkable one.

Witness - To see something happen, typically a significant event.

Spot - To see, notice, or recognize someone or something.

Contemplate - To look thoughtfully for a long time at.

Sight - To suddenly or unexpectedly see something or someone.

Ogle - To stare at in a lecherous manner.

Leer - To look or gaze in an unpleasant, malicious way.

Gawk - To stare openly and stupidly.

Gape - To stare with one's mouth open wide, in amazement.

Squint - To look with eyes partially closed.

Regard - To consider or think of in a specified way.

Admire - To regard with pleasure, wonder, and approval.

Skim - To look through quickly to gain superficial knowledge.

Reconnoiter - To make a military observation of a region.

Flick - To look or move the eyes quickly.

Rake - To look through something rapidly and unsystematically.

Glare - To look angrily or fiercely.

Peep - To look quickly and secretly through an opening.

Focus - To concentrate one's visual effort on.

Discover - To find or realize something not clear before.

Spot-check - To examine something briefly or at random.

Devour - To look over with eager enthusiasm.

Examine - To inspect in detail to determine condition.

Feast one's eyes - To look at something with great enjoyment.

Catch sight of - To suddenly or unexpectedly see.

Clap eyes on - To suddenly see someone or something.

Set eyes on - To look at, especially for the first time.

Take a dekko - Colloquial for taking a look.

Leer at - To look or gaze in a suggestive manner.

Rubberneck - To stare at something in a foolish way.

Make out - To manage to see or read with difficulty.

Lay eyes on - To see or look at.

Pore over - To look at or read something intently.

Ogle at - To look at in a lecherous or predatory way.

Pry - To look or inquire into something in a determined manner.

Dart - To look quickly or furtively.

Drink in - To look at with great enjoyment or fascination.

Bask in - To look at or enjoy something for a period of time.

The Writer's Scene Workbook

Calling all aspiring storytellers with hearts full of whimsy! Get ready to sprinkle a touch of enchantment into your scenes with my Scene Wo

Join Write Right Society • Community on Tumblr

683 members, 435 posts about #creative writing #creative writers #helping writers • Guiding Writers to New Heights

[periodicallypurple]

Thought this might help others who struggle when writing. I know I get in my head too much.

[bambistjames]

non-writers will never understand the mental illness of writing an entire conversation in your head while doing dishes and then forgetting every word the second you open a blank doc

[arrowfortea]

"can you explain this gap in your resume" i lay in dark and dreaming sleep while countless wars and ages passed; i woke still weak a year before i joined you

[rosieandthemoon]

Kutaisi, Georgia

[valentinelovesdragonage]

[luna-azzurra]

Unhealed Wounds Your Character Pretends Are Just “Personality Traits”

These are the things your character claims are just “how they are” but really, they’re bleeding all over everyone and calling it a vibe.

╰ They say they're "independent." Translation: They don’t trust anyone to stay. They learned early that needing people = disappointment. So now they call it “being self-sufficient” like it’s some shiny badge of honor. (Mostly to cover up how lonely they are.)

╰ They say they're "laid-back." Translation: They stopped believing their wants mattered. They'll eat anywhere. Do anything. Agree with everyone. Not because they're chill, but because the fight got beaten out of them a long time ago.

╰ They say they're "a perfectionist." Translation: They believe mistakes make them unlovable. Every typo. Every bad hair day. Every misstep feels like proof that they’re worthless. So they polish and polish and polish... until there’s nothing real left.

╰ They say they're "private." Translation: They’re terrified of being judged—or worse, pitied. Walls on walls on walls. They joke about being “mysterious” while desperately hoping no one gets close enough to see the mess behind the curtain.

╰ They say they're "ambitious." Translation: They think achieving enough will finally make the emptiness go away. If they can just get the promotion, the award, the validation—then maybe they’ll finally outrun the feeling that they’re fundamentally broken. (It never works.)

╰ They say they're "good at moving on." Translation: They’re world-class at repression. They’ll cut people out. Bury heartbreak. Pretend it never happened. And then wonder why they wake up at 3 a.m. feeling like they're suffocating.

╰ They say they're "logical." Translation: They’re terrified of their own feelings. Emotions? Messy. Dangerous. Uncontrollable. So they intellectualize everything to avoid feeling anything real. They call it rationality. (It's fear.)

╰ They say they're "loyal to a fault." Translation: They mistake abandonment for loyalty. They stay too long. Forgive too much. Invest in people who treat them like an afterthought, because they think walking away makes them "just as bad."

╰ They say they're "resilient." Translation: They don't know how to ask for help without feeling like a burden. They wear every bruise like a trophy. They survive things they should never have had to survive. And they call it strength. (But really? It's exhaustion wearing a cape.)

[luna-azzurra]

Posture & Physical Presence For Writers

(Because how they stand can say more than how they speak.)

Upright and stiff — Formal, tense, or deeply uncomfortable. Slouched shoulders — Insecure, exhausted, or defeated. Relaxed stance — Open, comfortable, confident. Hands in pockets — Guarded, casual, or hiding something. Crossed arms — Defensive, cold, or waiting to be impressed. Leaning forward — Engaged, flirtatious, or impatient. Back straight, chin high — Proud, stubborn, or putting on a show. Shifting weight side to side — Nervous, indecisive, or stalling. Foot tapping — Anxious, impatient, or barely holding it together. Arms loose at sides — Neutral, calm, open to the moment. Fidgeting with sleeves/hair/etc. — Inner turmoil disguised as casual touch. Spine curled inward — Trying to be small, invisible, or unnoticeable. Standing too still — Suppressed emotion, discomfort, or internal freeze. Dominant stance (feet wide, chest forward) — Confidence, aggression, or showmanship. Head tilted slightly — Curiosity, confusion, or playful challenge.

[entnoot]

The White Hart, inspired by the Wilton Diptych (1396)

(fullview for better quality)

[erosedits]

The Tortured Poets Department. 2024.

[crandairy-juice]

playing with snoopy like a dress up doll…

[hoiist]

i thought i would never see you again

[nat-20s]

I NEED TO READ I NEED TO WRITE I NEED TO CREATE I NEED TO DRAW I NEED TO CLEAN I NEED TO WORK OUT I NEED TO LEARN *watches YouTube for 6 hours*

[peanutsgifs]

THE SNOOPY SHOW • 1.01

Hey there little guy, you wanna come live with me? We’re gonna be best friends.

+ bonus later

[idontevenlikedragonage]

You know how Dragon Age gives you all these "moral choices," but no matter what you do, you're still the world’s savior? You can be ruthless, manipulative, or straight-up terrible, but at the end of the day, you’re still The Chosen One™. You can try to be a villain, but the game drags you right back into its hero arc.

Miguel Sicart would call this the illusion of ethical gameplay—the idea that RPGs pretend to offer moral freedom, but really, you’re just picking different flavors of the same script. Take Origins: you can sacrifice the Dalish, let Loghain live, kill a bunch of people—but you still have to stop the Blight. The game won’t let you say, “Screw Ferelden, let’s see what happens.” Same with the Mage-Templar war: no matter who you side with, it spirals into chaos because the story requires it.

And let’s talk about "evil" playthroughs. DA claims to let you be bad, but it never actually follows through. Want to rule Ferelden as a tyrant? Nope. Help the Qunari conquer Kirkwall? Not an option. Join Solas in actually burning down the world? Sorry, you're still stopping him in the end. At worst, you can be kind of an asshole, but you’re never really against the system—you are the system. This can be a failure of player agency—when games say you can play how you want but actually force you into a set role.

Veilguard ditches the illusion altogether. No fake evil paths that lead nowhere, no pretending you can break the world when you really can’t. Instead, it's fully committing to a single, well-crafted narrative where you are the hero. And honestly? That’s a way better design choice. Your choices will matter, but in a way that actually fits the story instead of awkwardly pretending you can be The Villain™ when the game will never truly let you.

[idontevenlikedragonage]

So this is something I find personally interesting, but the same crowd who’s upset Veilguard doesn’t have “dark themes” are also upset about things like Neve being nice to Lucanis even when you’re romancing one of them, or Veilguard implying Solas and Mythal were romantically involved. I also very rarely see them engage with the actual themes of the game.

My little pet theory is that Veilguard goes a little bit more personal than comfortable for people. Grief is something very real and one of the shittiest things I’ve ever encountered. Your decade-old situationship you never got over having other people in their life? Real, and it sucks as a feeling. Your boyfriend having other female friends? It happens, and I guess for some people it might be difficult to deal with.

But the “dark themes” people want things that are all more removed from real life. Maybe you can find some metaphors or parallels, but they’re not as personal and close to home. The conflict between fictional organizations in a fictional world will always be less personal than a girl sobbing over her dead brother’s body. That’s the thing—people say they want “maturity” in their games, but what they actually mean is aesthetic grimness. They want war and systemic oppression because those things create distance; they’re something you can analyze, moralize over, or engage with as a concept without it ever touching anything too raw. But Veilguard is dealing with affective realism—the kind of emotions that don’t let you sit comfortably at arm’s length. It’s about grief and insecurity and complicated relationships, and that’s more confronting than some war-torn dystopia where the suffering is big and dramatic but not personal.

Mark Fisher’s concept of capitalist realism might also be useful here—how audiences often expect “maturity” to be presented in a way that aligns with traditional power fantasies (war, rebellion, systemic oppression) rather than the mundane, often humiliating struggles of personal relationships. The desire for “dark themes” often translates to a craving for aesthetic grimness or large-scale suffering rather than the discomfort of seeing one’s own vulnerabilities reflected in a character.

This is especially evident in the reaction to characters like Neve. People want a world where cruelty exists in a broad, conceptual way (racial slurs, war crimes, dystopian oppression), but they recoil when faced with kindness that challenges their personal hang-ups. Neve being decent to Lucanis despite his past, or the implication that Mythal and Solas had a complicated romantic history, are character beats that demand a certain level of introspection. They disrupt a more sanitized version of darkness—one that is removed enough to be thrilling rather than unsettling.

It’s kind of funny that a lot of the “dark themes” people feel are missing from Veilguard are actually more escapist than what’s already there. Oppression in a fantasy world? That’s a comfortable kind of darkness—it gives you a clear enemy, a role to play, a power fantasy. But insecurity? Personal grief? That’s messier. That’s something you don’t get to be above. And maybe that’s why people don’t want to engage with it.

And yeah, the irony is pretty thick—if people can’t even handle Neve being a nice person, how exactly do they expect to deal with anything actually challenging? How are you demanding racial slurs for “realism” when you can’t even deal with a character treating someone with basic decency?

[sawnsastark]

I found your OC HP fanfic on ffnet and I just wanted to tell you how much I loved it. I love the work you're doing on rewriting it, the depth you're giving the characters. I honestly can't wait to see where it's going, how Meredith will cope with everything.

Thank you so much for your kind words!! I’m glad youre enjoying the story 💜💜