love and music will endure

part-time writeblr, part-time langblr, full-time failure at both of those things. i follow back from @writingat-night

[seas-dubh]

about me—

hi! i’m athena. i’m 19, queer, scottish, and use she/her. as cliche as it sounds, i’ve been writing for pretty much as long as i can remember, and taking it seriously since i was about eight. i mainly write about fantasy, friendship, and family (haha, the three fs). unless otherwise specified, none of my characters are straight, and most of them are scottish.

i also love languages! i study scottish gaelic (which is where my username comes from — it means “inkwell” and is pronounced, very roughly, “shehs-doo”. additionally, my original post tag “tha mi a’ bruidhinn” means “i speak”) and linguistics at university. i dabble in conlanging, and am currently working on a language for the iron islands from game of thrones.

check out my ao3 here! i don’t post original fiction there, but it’s got one of my current fanfiction wips and a couple of my old oneshots. i’ll mostly use this blog for my original writing, but feel free to ask me about fanfic too!

follow my main blog @writingat-night! yes, i know it’s confusing that my main blog has “write” in it and my writeblr doesn’t, but i’ve had that url for years and i didn’t have the heart to change it.

please send me asks about anything, any time! your ocs, my ocs, your wips, my wips. feel free to ask for writing advice and i’ll do my best to help, but be aware that i am just a random teenager on the internet and i probably know as much as you do! you’re always welcome to tag me in tag games too, even if we’ve never spoken, but i make no promises about getting to them on time (sorry! sometimes i just have nothing worth sharing)

wips—

my name, your teeth

contemporary urban fantasy

a werewolf builds a pack, a selkie loses her pelt, a musician finds his humanity, a boy watches the moon, and a wanderer learns to put down roots.

a story about becoming family, living with grief, and shitty landlords. oh, and werewolves. lots of werewolves.

seventh sunfall

young adult, romance, modern fantasy

the delphata are gone. history. dust. kayla knows that. jordan, for all his nerdy obsession and conspiracy theories, knows that. the torch sputtered out centuries ago. the reincarnation cycle has stopped, and the wonders of the world are now nothing more than landmarks.

that doesn’t explain the dreams she’s been having, though. or why the girl on the bus keeps glaring at her like she wants to kill her.

[luthienne]

Chewing at the end of its name, we lose ourselves in the memory of a howl.

Alejandra Pizarnik, from The Galloping Hour: French Poems (tr. Patricio Ferrari & Forrest Gander)

(Original: On mord le bout de son nom, on se perd dans le souvenir d'un cri.)

[seas-dubh]

🌺 What is your oc’s formal wear like?

hi!! thank you so much for the ask and i’m SO sorry for the massive delay! i’ll answer for aiteann and dorian, because i feel like they’d have the most interesting answers.

for aiteann, although he’s a faery, and a favourite of the queen, he’s also a soldier. he wears the fancy silks and embroidery common amongst the fae, but opts out of the looser garments — popular for formal occasions, as it shows you can afford more fabric, and that you have no need to move quickly — that can make it difficult to move in. cloaks can still be useful for hiding weapons, though.

dorian had his fill of fancy clothes in the faery realm, and he doesn’t like modern formalwear (not that he had much cause to wear formalwear at all before he joined the fae). he tries to dress nicely, but even at a formal event he’d probably just opt for black trousers and a nice shirt.

[willowiswriting]

How to Kick a Reader in the Gut

Disrupt the reader’s sense of justice. 

This generally means setting a character up to deserve one thing and then giving them the exact opposite. 

Kill a character off before they can achieve their goal. 

Let the bad guy get an extremely important win. 

Set up a coup against a tyrannical king. The coup fails miserably.

Don’t always give characters closure. 

(Excluding the end of the book, obviously)

A beloved friend dies in battle and there’s no time to mourn him.

A random tryst between two main characters is not (or cannot be) brought up again.

A character suddenly loses their job or can otherwise no longer keep up their old routine

Make it the main character’s fault sometimes. 

And not in an “imposter syndrome” way. Make your MC do something bad, and make the blame they shoulder for it heavy and tangible.

MC must choose the lesser of two evils.

MC kills someone they believe to be a bad guy, only to later discover the bad guy was a different person altogether.

Rejection is a powerful tool. 

People generally want to be understood, and if you can make a character think they are Known, and then rip that away from them with a rejection (romantic or platonic) people will empathize with it.

MC is finally accepting the Thing They Must Do/Become, and their love interest decides that that’s not a path they want to be on and breaks up with them

MC makes a decision they believe is right, everyone around them thinks they chose wrong.

MC finds kinship with someone Like Them, at long last, but that person later discovers that there is some inherent aspect of MC that they wholly reject. (Perhaps it was MC’s fault that their family member died, they have important religious differences, or WERE THE BAD GUY ALL ALONG!)

On the flipside, make your main character keep going. 

Push them beyond what they are capable of, and then push them farther. Make them want something so deeply that they are willing to do literally anything to get it. Give them passion and drive and grit and more of that than they have fear.

“But what if my MC is quiet and meek?” Even better. They want something so deeply that every single moment they push themselves toward it is a moment spent outside their comfort zone. What must that do to a person?

Obviously, don’t do all of these things, or the story can begin to feel tedious or overly dramatic, and make sure that every decision you make is informed by your plot first and foremost. 

Also remember that the things that make us sad, angry, or otherwise emotional as readers are the same things that make us feel that way in our day-to-day lives. Creating an empathetic main character is the foundation for all of the above tips.

[holyisthenameofmyruthlessaxe]

In the Dream House, Carmen Maria Machado

[ID: “Sometimes your tongue is removed, sometimes you still it of your own accord. Sometimes you live, sometimes you die. Sometimes you have a name, sometimes you are named for what—not who—you are. The story always looks a little different, depending on who is telling it. There is a Quichua riddle: El que me nombra, me rompe. Whatever names me, breaks me. The solution, of course, is “silence.” But the truth is, anyone who knows your name can break you in two.]

[seas-dubh]

9 16 and 25 !!

abby hiii!! thank u sm for the ask!

9) what, if anything, do you do for inspiration?

the only things i really do specifically FOR inspiration are listen to music and watch shows, but i usually end up finding inspiration in anything from taking a walk to having a shower!

16) are there any characters who haunt you?

oooh, i like this! depending on how you read the question, i think andrés is one of them. i just… really feel for the guy. he’s had a rough go of it. and dorian and aiteann. i think about them a lot.

25) copy/paste a few sentences or a short paragraph that you’re particularly proud of

so i KNOW i keep saying i want to keep this account for my original work, but fanfiction is what i’ve been writing lately, so fanfiction is what i’ve got to be proud of! here’s an excerpt from the next chapter of my current wip, take a chance, remake the world:

To the world, their mother was more Stark than Tully. Such is the lot of wives. While her presence in the crypt may not be traditional, it is hardly unwarranted. But Bran knows where Sansa’s hesitance stems from.

If she was a Stark, then I am a Lannister. If she was a Stark, I am a Bolton. If she was a Stark, then I am not.

[seas-dubh]

hey there!! for the authoer ask: 7, 10, and 15, pls?? thanks, have a decent evening ahead!! - 🔮⛈ (@enchanted-lightning-aes)

hi!! tysm for the ask! have a good evening :)

7) when asked, are you embarrassed or enthusiastic to tell people that you write?

i’m usually enthusiastic at the start, but then they ask what i write and i have NO idea what to say, and it’s painfully awkward for both of us.

10) write in silence or with background noise? with people or alone?

in silence usually, but i occasionally listen to music (a lot of the time it just distracts me, though). i pretty much always write alone, but i’ve never tried writing with people, so it might be helpful!

15) why did you start writing?

i honestly have no clue! i’ve been writing pretty much as long as i COULD write. now, though, i write mostly to explore characters and the relationships between them, and sometimes to send a message.

[shadesfalcon]

send an ask: get to know your author

1) is there a story you’re holding off on writing for some reason?

2) what work of yours, if any, are you the most embarrassed about existing?

3) what order do you write in? front of book to back? chronological? favorite scenes first? something else?

4) favorite character you’ve written

5) character you were most surprised to end up writing

6) something you would go back and change in your writing that it’s too late/complicated to change now

7) when asked, are you embarrassed or enthusiastic to tell people that you write?

8) favorite genre to write

9) what, if anything, do you do for inspiration?

10) write in silence or with background noise? with people or alone?

11) what aspect of your writing do you think has most improved since you started writing?

12) your weaknesses as an author

13) your strengths as an author

14) do you make playlists for your current wips?

15) why did you start writing?

16) are there any characters who haunt you?

17) if you could give your fledgling author self any advice, what would it be?

18) were there any works you read that affected you so much that it influenced your writing style? what were they?

19) when it comes to more complicated narratives, how do you keep track of outlines, characters, development, timeline, ect.?

20) do you write in long sit-down sessions or in little spurts?

21) what do you think when you read over your older work?

22) are there any subjects that make you uncomfortable to write?

23) any obscure life experiences that you feel have helped your writing?

24) have you ever become an expert on something you previously knew nothing about, in order to better a scene or a story?

25) copy/paste a few sentences or a short paragraph that you’re particularly proud of

[writingat-night]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

[sleepyowlwrites]

sleepy is bored at work 62.2

yes, I did a mistake cutout again. I don’t remember what I did wrong but I sure like how it turned out. this is a funky little font. I like it better than the last one I did for you, too. @seas-dubh​ 

[crossdressingdeath]

You know what the hardest part of worldbuilding is for me? Naming conventions. Like, all cultures have them but I don't even know where to start figuring some out. And how am I supposed to start naming characters when I can't even figure out the naming conventions of their culture? It's such a pain.

[vrishchikawrites]

Umm, maybe this would help (my grandfather wrote for a living and this is what he taught me)

Individualistic societies

Names are usually based on desirable characteristics and achievements ex - bright, beautiful, kind, brave, strong, etc. This varies depending on what the culture values the most.

- warrior cultures will prefer names highlighting strength, bravery, loyalty, leadership, etc.

-societies focused on wisdom and knowledge will likewise focus on names highlighting brightness, intelligence, perception, etc.

Pluralistic societies

These societies can have longer names that can include place names, community names, tribe names, or particular class/caste names.

For example, the South Indian naming convention includes place name/community name - father/husband name - personal name, in that order though this isn't universal.

The variation also comes in with what the people value.

- Communities that value ancestors and believe they're 'present' and should be honored will typically not replicate ancestor names.

- Communities that value lineage and are patriarchal will use ancestor names often (Leto I Atredies - Leto II Atredies) Houses with grand lineages in the west seem to use the same names repeatedly.

- Religion plays a role too. Religious and conservative societies will incorporate religious messages or names in the convention. For example, John, Noah, Noel - Mohammad, Ibrahim, Aliyah - Ram, Krishna, Shiv, etc.

Sound

Sound is very important, I feel. In my culture, we call it 'dhwani'. It is believed that the vibrations of a sound can influence a person. Could be a factor you may want to consider while naming characters. Like giving stern characters stern-sounding names and soft characters gentle-sounding names.

Different sounds would also highlight the cultural backgrounds of different characters.

Astronomy/Astrology

Some communities will name their children based on their astrological signs or the position of the stars when they're born.

Names without surnames

Communities can have names without surnames. Instead of surnames, they can have titles, place names, a sect or school name. Some communities adopt the name of their teacher instead of their family.

I wrote what I could think of off the top of my head. Sorry for the long post! :)

[01938271839]

neil hilborn, a place where someone loves you / dylan dog, "le notti della luna piena" / @filmnoirsbian / anne sexton / sonnet by neil gaiman / caitlyn siehl, start here

[metteivieharrison]

12 Questions to Ask Yourself About Your Magic System

How is it learned and executed?

How is it accessed?

Does it have a will of its own?

Is it restricted in space and time?

What does available magic do?

How does it relate to the character, plot and theme of the book?

What is the cost of magic?

What can it not do?

How long does it last?

Who can use it?

How do others react to it?

Why haven’t people with this power taken over the world?

[sleepyowlwrites]

Yo I'm almost out of wip titles - please supply me with more! Reblog with a title in the tags and I'll draw it.

Alternatively, reblog with "this url" in the tags and I'll draw that.

(Work has been very boring.)

[47crayons]

200 followers!

hey, that's pretty cool :D thank you i love you you're doing great <3<3

i hit 200 maybe a few days ago? and now that my instrument is back from the shop (for real this time), i can finally carry out this idea that's been haunting me!! you may know from a handful of posts that i'm a musician, and you may also know that i've done a few things for other people's wips (here & here)

to celebrate, i will be randomly selecting 2-4 of my followers (new followers are welcome!!) to compose and perform a piece under one minute based on any wip of yours (this can be one scene in particular or a cool worldbuilding thing or maybe a poem or whatever you want!)

if you'd like to enter, reblog this with the tag #entry !! i'll be closing this in exactly 7 days; good luck! (if you win, i'll contact you via dms)

things to keep in mind:

unfortunately, i can't read minds, and i needs some vibes to be able to do this. this can be anything from "cinematic hand holding scene based on the ship at [link]" to "sea shanties but space" (these are the example recordings)

of course, you're welcome to tell me more details if you have them (the more, the better) !!

i'm a string instrumentalist (viola specifically), and i can only play so low (playing higher /shouldn't/ be an issue)

[47crayons]

technically, this should close,,,,,, now. but! since i accidentally have the time management of a carrot, i will be it leaving open for another week exactly <3<3 remember to use the tag #entry !!

will close for realsies: 12 july 2021, 1 am est

[luthienne]

Adonis, Selected Poems; “Motion” (tr. Khaled Mattawa)

[inkwell-attitude]

all the tips I found for drawing a fantasy map are like :) “here’s a strategy to draw the land masses! here’s how to plot islands!” :) and that’s wonderful and I love them all but ??? how? do y'all decide where to put cities/mountains/forests/towns I have my map and my land but I’m throwing darts to decide where the Main Citadel where the Action Takes Place is

[fatal-blow]

okay so i know i said most of this in the replies but it might be easier to actually reblog and say stuff instead lmao

Cities - go near water!  freshwater lakes and rivers (rivers especially) are the best places for cities because A) source of water and B) travel and trade is much easier cus you can put your boats like right there.  Basically ever relevant city ever was built on a lake or a river.

for rivers in general - because gravity, rivers run from mountains (forming from melting snow and ice (this is why they get fat in spring–more stuff melting)) to lakes/ocean where they can empty out (and even lakes will have rivers leading out that eventually get to the ocean), which can help when mapping out where those start and end.  rivers are also much thinner and faster in steeper elevations and very slow and wide when the land is flat

mountains - i like to think of what the tectonic plates look like because that’s what makes mountains!  mountains are also never standalone they’re always in mountain ranges (archipelagos are really just underwater mountain ranges babey).  a cool trick I like to do is occasionally separate mountain ranges across continents, because over time the tectonic plates shifted and literally split the range in half.  These mountains are really old tho so they’ve eroded and therefore it makes them smaller and rounder (like the appalachians) as opposed to relatively young mountain ranges like the rocky mountains which have taller and sharper peaks

Another mountain trick: if your mountains run along the ocean, the ocean side of the mountains will get a LOT of rain while the other side will be very dry–almost desert-like, in fact.  think of temperate rainforests in British Columbia vs the drier conditions in the canadian prairies

forests - depends on how warm the area might be.  coniferous forests are found further north (before you hit the tree line, and then it’s only tundra onwards) but as you head south you get leafier trees, and the leaves tend to get larger too

If you think about general elevation too, you’ll have places that might be swampy (wet + lower).  if your world has an ice age like we did, then glaciers may have carved the land, leaving piles of soil in the south that was left when the ice receded and places where the bedrock has been bared north of that (like the Canadian Shield in Canada–the reason we see that is because of the glaciers)

You might also have a land that’s dotted in a shitton of freshwater lakes as well because the meltwater filled the holes that the glaciers scraped out (this is why canada has so many goddamn lakes)

and if the ice age was more recent than it was in our world, then you might not even have the forest re-growth and it could be a lot of open plains

tl;dr i like to think of major climate events that might have also shaped the land on top of some basic rules

[possiblypedanticrpgideas]

The Artifexian has an entire series on building your world from literally the stars down and then the ground up.

Worldbuilding Videos - YouTube

All my worldbuilding videos

Though, for fantasy, you can make the world operate on entirely different principles:

With that done, the actual topic of city placement can be covered by videos like this:

Or

Once you have your places, if you want help naming them in realistic ways, this video can help:

This one is on architecture, which is definitely a subset of cities:

But for a more relevant practical guide on making settlements realistic:

Here’s a quick guide for making demographics:

[inkwell-attitude]

holy shit?