snippets of stories

old blog recently cleaned up :) we'll see how this goes :P main: super-snek-witch

[toastyhat-deactivated20180203]

I just discovered foodtimeline.org, which is exactly what it sounds like: centuries worth of information about FOOD.  If you are writing something historical and you want a starting point for figuring out what people should be eating, this might be a good place?

[rainbowbarnacle]

CHRISTMAS CAME EARLY

[badmadwolf]

this is awesome but the original link just turned into a redirect loop for me, here it is again (x)

[friendlyfrankenstein]

OH HELLO

[fixyourwritinghabits]

No more potatoes in medieval novels!

[awfulwhumpsideblog]

Some of my favorite magic side effects:

-Nosebleeds. Never gets old.

-Coughing up blood. The good ol’ “cough into your hand and pull it back to see blood” also never gets old.

-Headaches. You keep fighting as your head pounds, desperately telling you to take a break. At first they fade within minutes when you stop using magic, but overtime, they become chronic.

-Fatigue. After a big battle, you stand triumphant, and then just fall asleep on the spot.

-In a similar vein, overuse causing you to straight up faint rather than just fall asleep. Darkness begins to overtake your vision in the middle of battle, unconsciousness abruptly looming over you.

-Any of the side effects happening to another person. Maybe two close characters are connected, and whatever side effects character A would normally endure are transferred to character B. When A uses a blast of magic B screams loudly because holy shit that hurt.

-Magic gradually deteriorating your mind. Using it too much eventually caused hallucinations and an inability to retain memories, or even larger scale memory loss. 

Feel free to add more, I’m looking for some to steal

[aesterea-archived]

more on writing muslim characters from a hijabi muslim girl

- hijabis get really excited over pretty scarves - they also like to collect pins and brooches - we get asked a lot of questions and it can be annoying or it can be amusing, just depends on our mood and personality and how the question is phrased - common questions include: - “not even water?” (referring to fasting) - hijabis hear a lot of “do you sleep in that?” (we don’t) and “where is your hair?” (in a bun or a braid, usually) - “is it mooze-slim or mozzlem?” (the answer is neither, it’s muslim, with a soft s and accent on the first syllable) - “ee-slam or iz-lamb?” (it’s iss-laam, accent on the first syllable) - “hee-job?” (heh-jahb, accent on the second syllable)

- “kor-an?” (no. quran. say it like koor-annn, accent on the second syllable) - people tend to mess up our names really badly and you just get a sigh and a resigned nod or an awkward smile, maybe a nickname instead - long hair is easy to hide, short hair is harder to wrap up - hijab isn’t just covering hair, it’s also showing as little skin as possible with the exception of face, hands, and feet, and not wearing tight/sheer clothing - that applies to men too, people just don’t like to mention it ( i wonder why) - henna/mehendi isn’t just for special occasions, you’ll see people wearing it for fun - henna/mehendi isn’t just for muslims, either, it’s not a religious thing - henna/mehendi is not just for women, men also wear it, especially on their weddings - there are big mehendi parties in the couple of nights before eid where people (usually just women and kids) gather and do each other’s mehendi, usually just hands and feet - five daily prayers - most muslim kids can stutter through a couple verses of quran in the original arabic text by the age of seven or eight, it does not matter where they live or where they’re from or what language they speak natively - muslim families tend to have multiple copies of the quran - there are no “versions” of the quran, there has only ever been one. all muslims follow the exact same book - muslims have no concept of taking God’s name in vain, we call on God at every little inconvenience - don’t use islamic phrases if you don’t know what they mean or how to use them. we use them often, inside and outside of religious settings. in islam, it is encouraged to mention God often and we say these things very casually, but we take them very seriously - Allahu Akbar means “God is Greatest” (often said when something shocks or surprises us, or if we’re scared or daunted, or when something amazing happens, whether it be good or bad; it’s like saying “oh my god”) - Subhan Allah means “Glory be to God” (i say subhan Allah at the sky, at babies, at trees, whatever strikes me as pleasant, especially if it’s in nature) - Bismillah means “in the name of God” and it’s just something you say before you start something like eating or doing your homework - In Shaa Allah means “if God wills” (example: you’ll be famous, in shaa Allah) (it’s a reminder that the future is in God’s hands, so be humble and be hopeful)

- Astaghfirullah means “i seek forgiveness from Allah” and it’s like “god forgive me” - Alhamdulillah means “all thanks and praise belong to God” and it’s just a little bit more serious than saying “thank god” (example: i passed my exams, alhamdulillah; i made it home okay, alhamdulillah) - when i say we use them casually, i really mean it - teacher forgot to assign homework? Alhamdulillah - our version of “amen” is “ameen” - muslims greet each other with “assalamu alaikum” which just means “peace be on you” and it’s like saying hi - the proper response is “walaikum assalam” which means “and on you be peace” and it’s like saying “you too”

[missandaei]

As a Muslim this post is so very important and it makes me so happy that it gives the small facts and details that one might be unaware of or confused about.

[leaping-hare-witchery-deactivat]

I’ve reblogged it before but honestly this fucking post touches me so much. To see how intrinsic Allah is to followers of Islam and how ingrained He is in their daily lives is so beautiful.

Also, can we just talk about the fact that there aren’t like 100 different versions of the Quran? Because I didn’t know that and that legit AMAZES me.

[fredrickthepig]

LEARNING

[jenniferrpovey]

Reblogging this again because I am sure some of my writer followers can use it and it’s been a while ;).

[el-shab-hussein]

Muslim here! Just wanted to add a couple of things:

- If you want to write mostly irreligious young adult Muslims, it would be humorous to make them literally follow nothing about the religion except making them very averse to eating pork cuz it’s haraam. You have no idea how many Muslims I know who’ll party, get drunk, smoke weed, and engage in, ahem, certain activities, but the one thing they’ll refuse is to eat pork.

- While it’s true that we are very loose with the way we mention God at nearly every occasion, we never make fun of the Prophets, God, or generally the religion. We take the sanctity of the religion and its figures very seriously because it’s blasphemy to insult them. I’ve found it’s very different from the attitude that most Christians and christianized atheists have on their religion / the religion they were raised around (easily making fun of Jesus, the concept of God, making jokes like “snow is god’s c*m”)

- People get surprised when a non-hijabi girl tells them she’s very devout and practices often, Muslim and non-Muslim alike.

- Aunties are nosy and gossip way too much, even though that’s a sin.

- Most Muslims believe in djinn because it’s part of our religion, but this belief oftentimes seems or looks to border on superstition, and a common activity amongst Muslim kids, especially cousins, is to tell djinn stories like ghost stories.

- Also, there is no ‘Muslim food’, we are 1.8 billion people that come from different cultural backgrounds with different food and culinary culture, and we all eat things that are more or less similar, so the dietary habits of the character(s) you’re writing will depend on their cultural heritage(s) instead of their religion.

[aesterea-archived]

absolutely the best addition to this post (hi, it’s OP)! thank you!!

[youneedjesus01]

Yay! Knowledge!

[spiderrrling]

I am a(n):

⚪ Male

⚪ Female

🔘 Writer

Looking for

⚪ Boyfriend

⚪ Girlfriend

🔘 An incredibly specific word that I can't remember

[what-even-is-thiss]

*wakes up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat*

WAIT IT’S CALLED A THROW PILLOW

[holorifle]

here is a super helpful website for this kinda thing!

the first result isn’t always the one you’re looking for but when you press enter it’ll give you a ton of words related to your query that’ll probably have what you’re wanting, or something better

here’s some examples:

[anchored-in-high-tide]

Reblog to save a writer’s sanity (the last bit that’s left)

[juldooz]

I use this all the time!

[fashionrevealed]

Silk fan from Wanamaker’s, ca. 1900-1910.

From the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

[20th-centuryghost]

HEY ARTISTS!

Do you design a lot of characters living in not-modern eras and you’re tired of combing through google for the perfect outfit references? Well I got good news for you kiddo, this website has you covered! Originally @modmad made a post about it, but her link stopped working and I managed to fix it, so here’s a new post. Basically, this is a costume rental website for plays and stage shows and what not, they have outfits for several different decades from medieval to the 1980s. LOOK AT THIS SELECTION:

OPEN ANY CATEGORY AND OH LORDY–

There’s a lot of really specific stuff in here, I design a lot of 1930s characters for my ask blog and with more chapters on the way for the game it belongs to I’m gonna be designing more, and this website is going to be an invaluable reference. I hope this can be useful to my other fellow artists as well! :)

[llamagoddessofficial]

holy shit

[semisolidmind]

need-

[lailosh]

HELL YEAH !!!

[sharkowskii]

OMG

[frankdelflno]

Surnames are just as important as given names. So, I compiled a list of the websites I use to find my surnames.

English Surnames

Dutch Surnames

Spanish Surnames

Scottish Surnames

German Surnames

Italian Surnames

Irish Surnames

French Surnames

Scandinavian Surnames

Welsh Surnames

Jewish Surnames

Surnames By Ethnicity

Most Common Surnames in the USA

Most Common Surnames in Great Britan

Most Common Surnames in Asia

[bee-earthly]

[old-manrupee]

For whoever needs these.

[dragons-arrow]

I NEED THE ITALIAN LAST NAMES SO BAD

[ebvoice-deactivated20150727]

We are like fireworks…: Surnames Master Post.

[chronophobica]

Chinese surnames

Indian surnames

Indonesian surnames

Pakistani surnames

Bengali surnames

Japanese surnames

Filipino surnames

Korean surnames

Syrian surnames

Mongolian naming and clan names

Thai surnames

Asia is not a single country.

[lets-get-fictional]

Hi! One of my POV characters is a pirate captain in a medieval fantasy setting, but I don't know anything about ships or sailing! I want the voice and descriptions to be convincing without being gimmicky, but I don't even know where to start. Do you have any tips/resources or even fiction recs, maybe? Thank you, and sorry if this has been asked before!!

Hiya! Thanksfor your question! Historical research is important if you want your story tobe accurate.

Pirate History Resources

Note: Theseresources apply to the Golden Age of Piracy (1690-1730).

Ships:

6 FamousPirate Ships

Typesof Pirate Ships

Pirate Glossary: Ships

Complete List ofSailing Vessels

Sailing:

Positionsand Duties on Board a Pirate Ship

How to Saila Full-Rigged-Ship (Video, old but accurate) Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

Weapons:

Pirate Weapons

Pirate Weapons– Different Types of Weapons Used by Pirates

PirateWeapons – Hand Weapons

Speech:

Historically,pirates didn’t really have any special slang. The terms they used wouldhave been used by any sailor or boat captain. That being said, speech patternsfor the general public were very different from how we talk today.

Howto Speak 18th-Century English

Ato Z Guide to Street Slang from the 1700s

Royal Navy Diction and Slang

Fashion:

Pirate and Privateer Clothing

TheGolden Age of Piracy – Fashion

Pirates and Their Clothes

Important Note!: “Walking the plank” was notan actual thing pirates did to their enemies. This was invented because itlooks cool in movies and sounds cool in books.

Thanks againfor your question! If you need help with anything else writing-related, feelfree to send in another ask. Happy writing!

- Mod Kellie

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

[lilquill]

On Representation, Diversity, and “have characters of color just don’t write about the experience of being a person of color”

Alright. I’m gonna piss a bunch of people off and also confuse a bunch of well-intentioned white people because I don’t think that you can write about a character of color without talking about the experience of being a person of color of a certain culture.

Seriously. There’s so many conversations celebrating how people have narratives where it “doesn’t matter” that one of their characters is a person of color and that their characters’ identity as a person of color “doesn’t affect the storyline” or whatever.

I’m going to cut right to the chase here: as a reader and storyteller of color, I’m not a fan of narratives where race doesn’t affect the story.

My race and culture and ethnicity ABSOLUTELY impact the way I perceive the world around me! For instance, many South Asian families bond with lively debates and discussions and lovingly roasting their family members. The way that I develop positive relationships, often with a solid dose of conflict and loudness and argument, is therefore fundamentally different from the way a white person would develop relationships; in fact, many white people are intimidated by how loud South Asians like myself are. We’re dramatic and loud and love jokes with wordplay! That’s just how it is and it means I form bonds with people differently.

I also have different values. White people are often more individualistic in culture, with more weird distant formal bonds with their parents (shit like referring to their parents by first name or, on the other end of the spectrum, calling their dads “sir”???) as opposed to the more comfortable and closer bond I have with my parents, where my family is all up in my shit literally all the time LMAO.

Literally white families are SO DISTANT to the point where white people consider practices like co-sleeping with your young child, something very common in South Asian families, to be child abuse?? Like, as if keeping your baby in a crib in another room where they’re not close to you and it’s harder to hear them isn’t dangerous but apparently suffocating a child while sleeping (which is very rare especially since co-sleeping is a practice that has gone on for MILLENNIA) is the bigger threat here??

White kids might perceive that as invasive or a violation of their privacy; I don’t perceive it that way because of the way South Asian families are structured. There’s a stronger emphasis on closeness with family. Of course, there are situations of kids being estranged or difficult family relationships or child abuse in South Asian families as well, but family is more valued in my culture.

The plants I put in my garden are different because of my identity; flowers like bela (Arabian jasmine) and bougainvillea and roses and gladiolus and marigolds and such things are what I’m fond of because of biases based on what my parents and grandparents like. I even once grew nenua (a type of squash). (I’m gonna get my hands on a raat ki rani soon I hope!!) And, of course, not every South Asian is partial to these flowers, but there’s definitely a cultural aspect as to why I personally like them!

The colors and patterns I gravitate towards are also different! I’m not a big fan of western “neutrals” and I find bright colors more appealing, especially because hey, those vibrant shades look better on brown skin! And GUESS WHAT, part of why the western world gravitates towards neutral colors in formalwear is because of colonialism and a disdain for the vibrant colors and dyes that colonized countries used. I love wearing jhumka earrings and statement necklaces and bright, vibrant jewelry as well. Now, obviously, this isn’t the case with every South Asian, but there is certainly some level of impact on these choices from my culture and upbringing.

Hell, even the food I eat is different! I drink chai in the evenings. I gravitate towards spicier dishes and better seasoning. I don’t eat meat other than fish/seafood and chicken and occasionally turkey because of cultural stuff, though ofc lots of South Asians are vegetarian and on the flip side lots of South Asians DO eat red meat and stuff.

And this isn’t even universal to ALL South Asians by any means, because my parents are specifically Hindu and from northeastern India and I’ve grown up in California! And there’s so many other details I could go into but for the sake of not writing a twelve-page essay I’m stopping here. 

Basically, my point is, I don’t want representation where race “doesn’t matter” to the story. Race impacts so many aspects of my life and how I perceive and interact with the world around me.

It’s ridiculous to me how so much “representation” is basically just starting with a default of a white character, making her brown, avoiding the stereotypes, and that’s….it. It doesn’t feel real. It doesn’t feel authentic to take away cultural impacts on your characters. People start with white western archetypes and tropes and try to mold them to fit characters of color, instead of starting off with an authentic character of color, and it really, really shows.

Especially because Tumblr and writeblr are such white spaces, and also because culture is usually picked up from the environment as opposed to online, the conversations centered around “representation” are always about “don’t do x stereotypes” as opposed to how to actually learn about other cultures and actually….write a character of color. So many of y’all only know how to NOT write a character of color as opposed to how to ACTUALLY write a character of color.

I see so many lists of tropes and things to not include in stories, and not enough things about values and family structures and food and fashion and ways of developing relationships and all that fun stuff that will shape who you are as a person.

And some of y’all don’t even TRY to, I dunno, engage with the culture of your character of color to actually write them. For instance, if you’re writing a South Asian character, go explore South Asian cinema! Go make South Asian friends who can tell you little details about their lives as they, y’know, exist and are your friend! In general, explore the movies and literature and music and dance types and food and drink and whatnot of the culture your character is from! Form relationships with people of those cultures; it’s the internet! I know this is a super white space but there’s PLENTY of poc on here! Make an effort, not just to avoid harmful stereotypes, but to write a character of color whose identity actually MATTERS.

When I’m reading escapist fantasy/sci-fi/romcom/etc. literature where characters aren’t being hurt by racism, I don’t want a story where RACE doesn’t exist, I want a story where RACISM doesn’t exist. I want cultural understanding, empathy, and compassion!

I don’t want a role a white character would play just switched out with a character of color.

For instance, in the movie To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, Lara Jean’s identity as East Asian is reflected in her fashion choices; book author Jenny Han lent inspiration for this. The Yakult drinks she likes, inspired by Korean tastebuds, plays a role in the story, too. These are details that don’t necessarily heavily impact the plot; it’s a fake-dating high school romcom. But they make a more real, fleshed-out character. They’re little details, little in-jokes and references, showing that the character’s race and culture actually MATTER to the story.

There’s a part in Pacific Rim where Raleigh Beckett, a white man, is frustrated with Mako Mori, a Japanese woman, for not going against the wishes of her father figure, Pentecost. When he tells her she doesn’t have to obey him, she responds, “It’s not obedience, Mr. Beckett. It’s respect.” This depicts her cultural understanding of family and respect; her relationships and her responses to things are impacted by her culture.

This is what I’m talking about! In order to write an actual character of color, you MUST write about their experiences to a certain extent. Of course, don’t make your characters of a certain culture a monolith in terms of personalities and responses and all that, but understand how they may be similarly impacted by their identities.

Now, don’t write a whole damn novel about a character coming to terms with their racial identity and coping with racism, but you absolutely MUST holistically incorporate their identity into your narrative.

Otherwise, it’s not actually representation. It’s you essentially writing a racebent white character. It’s you using a white default and trying to adapt it to totally different experiences.

[lets-steal-an-archive]

By: Dave Trottier | February 17, 2013

1. Obvious exposition.

Husband: “Darling, how long have we been married now?”

Wife: “Silly, it’s been 20 years. Remember Hawaii – the North Shore?”

Husband: “Oh yeah, that little honeymoon cottage.”

When your characters seem to be speaking more to the audience than to each other, you are being obvious. When two characters tell each other things they both already know, that’s almost always “obvious exposition.” Allow exposition to emerge naturally in the context of the story; don’t force anything.

2. Exaggeration.

I recently read a script where every single character used the f-bomb in most of their speeches. It gave me the impression that the screenwriter lacked imagination and/or did not understand his characters enough to know how they talked and/or was exaggerating the emotions of the characters to compensate for weak motivation or story context.

Oh, and by the way, just one exclamation point is plenty; and you may not need the one. In Shawshank Redemption, the warden approaches Andy who is in solitary confinement. He tells Andy that the man who could prove his innocence is dead. Andy tells the warden to have H&R Block do his taxes; he’s done. Then, in the screenplay, the warden yells at Andy; but in the movie, the warden’s speech is whispered with intensity. The movie version is more effective.

Most writers have a tendency to exaggerate character emotions. I remember recently explaining to a writer that five of her characters sobbed at various times in the script. That’s overwriting. Sometimes, trying to control emotion has more impact than actually expressing emotion.

3. Derivative dialogue.

Avoid clichés and lines we’ve heard in other movies. An occasional allusion to another movie or literary work can be effective, but I’ve already heard “We’re not in Kansas anymore” at least a hundred times (or so it seems).

4. Everyday pleasantries.

Sue: “Hi!”

Bill: “How are you?”

Sue: “Fine.”

Bill: “How’s the dog these days?”

Sue: “Getting along great.”

Boring. Avoid chit-chat, unless it is original and interesting. (See #7 below.)

On rare occasions, there can be a dramatic purpose for such talk. Recall the scene in Fatal Attraction when the Michael Douglas character walks into his home and sees his wife talking to his lover. At this point,his wife does not know about his affair. Then, his wife makes formal introductions.

Dan (Michael Douglas): “I don’t believe we’ve met.”

Alex (Glenn Close):  “…Oh, we’ve definitely met.”

This is one of the rare instances where chit-chat is dramatic and suspenseful.

5. Unnecessary repetition.

Repeating a particular phrase or line can be effective, as with “Here’s looking at you, Kid” in Casablanca. One instance sets up the next.

The kind of repetition that seldom works dramatically is repeating information the audience already heard a couple of scenes ago. It creates a sense of stasis, and the story feels like it’s dragging.

6. No room for subtext.

This is obvious writing, but in a different sense than with #1 above. Here we have characters saying precisely what they are thinking or feeling. In other words, the subtext is stated rather than implied.

Generally, you’re best off having characters beat around the bush, imply their meaning, speak metaphorically, say one thing by saying something else, or use the double entendre.

No, you don’t need room for subtext in every single speech.

7. Unoriginal speeches.

This is similar to #3, but it has a different dimension. When a character’s speeches could be delivered by any character in the screenplay, you have a problem. I am referring to typical, ordinary, expected lines that virtually anyone could have said and that have little originality.

In addition, when you characters speak far too often in complete sentences, they are likely saying your words rather than their words. Giving your characters their own voices will strengthen your voice as a writer.

[practising-writer]

@ephemeralseraph

[readersperspective]

Writing Advice Bilingual Characters

As some of you (who read my reviews) already might have noticed, I am bilingual myself. Sadly, multilingual people do not get represented well a lot in media, so yeah… some advice for writing them. It will certainly not capture every aspect of being bilingual, but it might give you a first idea.

There are different ways to be multilingual.

People who grew up with more than one native language will almost certainly speak all of them fluently. Most of them have two (their parents’ language and their country’s language, or the language of one parent and of the other) but I also know a family where the children grew up with four native languages (the mother speaks Portuguese, the father Italian, they talk to each other in English, and live in Germany, where the children grew up)

Some people speak two or more languages, but cannot write all of them - especially when the alphabets are not the same, for example English and Russian or Arabic. This affects mostly children of immigrants.

Some people can read and write a language quite well, but are not good at speaking or listening comprehension. Those people often learned the language at school with a bad teacher or by themselves with books and apps.

Some people, again mostly children and grandchildren of immigrants, can read and understand a language, but don’t speak it. Mostly, the parents decided to not teach the child the language, and they learned it themselves by listening to their parents talk to relatives.

Confidence can play a big role in this. I understand the dialect of my grandparents without a problem, but I would never try to speak it. I can’t even imagine forming those words with my mouth, and it would sound terrible.

People who learnt a language at school can reach completely different levels of that language. I started learning English at age 6 and am completely fluent by now. Other people in my class barely understand more than easy conversations in English.

Most people will do their very best to hide their accents.

If the person is not a native speaker, but fluent in a language, their accent will be a mix of whatever they can find at the moment. Media is a big influence in that.

Since I watch more British than American TV, my accent sounds a bit british, too. When I watched “Call the Midwife”, I often even unconciously copy the accent of Laura Main. I don’t know why her, but my brain just liked it, I guess.

Also, we will use words, phrases and sentence structures from so many different sources.

People who learnt English through the internet (aka most of the younger generation) will have problems to not use swear words when actually being in Great Britain or America. They just do not have the weight for us, since on the internet they get used all the time.

I have never in my whole live heard a multilingual person switch languages mid-sentence on accident.

We will do it on purpose, though, if the other part of the conversation understands both languages.

Also, we will maybe say the word in another language if we forget the meaning.

Multilingual people that are not natives in the language they usually use in their day-to-day life (immigrants, for example) will often count and calculate in their native language. For example at a restaurant where they calculate the price in their head, they will probably do it in their native language.

Conversations with multiple multilingual people can be very different.

If one person only understands one language, they will probably try to include that person by speaking the language they share. I can say from experience, though, that if eight native Germans that have varying levels of English language skills will sit together with one introverted Turkish person with medium English language skills, they will go back to German quite often. It’s not nice, but sadly natural.

In general, people will try to speak in their native language if possible. You can take two people that share a native language and also both speak English and let them walk around in London - they will probably speak their native language, no matter how well they speak English.

Multilingual people that share multiple languages will switch on purpose when they feel like they can express their thoughts better in the other language.

Many languages have taken words from English.

Especially young people take a lot of English filler words and phrases (or insults) and put them into their native language. “Help, mein Deutschlehrer überfordert uns mit Hausaufgaben, like, what the fuck, glaubt der wir haben nichts besseres zu tun?” Is a sentence you would absolutely hear from a German student.

Many young people that don’t live in Great Britain or America will not use these words and phrases around their parents. First of all, our parents often do not speak English as well as we do, but more importantly, our parents do not like us using English instead of ur native language.

Many professions nowadays have an English name, I don’t know why. What used to be a Hausmeister is now a Facility Manager. The longer the English phrase for your profession, the more likely you will not be taken serious by older people.

Once you have more than one native language, you learn new languages more easily, for some reason. I know a girl that speaks 7 languages, at age 20, 5 of them fluently.

“You speak English quite well” or phrases like that said by a native speaker can be the best compliment ever, or more uncomfortable than nice.

When you are translating for your family and hear that sentence, it is super nice.

When you are only speaking English, that sentence indicates that your accent is still heavy. You do not pass as a native speaker.

When you are a native speaker, that sentence is just weird.

You can indentify the people that learnt a language through reading by giving them words that are pronounced untypically.

For years I thought “precious” (a word that is heavily used on the internet, especially in fan communities, but not that much in school) was pronounces pree-ci-ous. I was shocked when I heard it for the first time.

There are situations where even quite fluent non-native speakers will not be able to understand or talk in their second language.

The first few minutes after standing up (although that can change when the person is really fluent)

When they are in great pain

When they are in great fear

When they are under great stress

Sometimes even when they did not use that language in the last few days

Translating in realtime is terribly hard and will fuck your head. When I was on holiday with my parents, I often had to read the information signs in museums or at sights for them and translate. It’s easier when you first read the text and then summarise it in another language, but trying to translate it sentence by sentence is painful and you will question your abilities in both languages.

This gets just more horrible when under pressure. While we were in England, a visibly stressed young woman came to us and asked us if we had 5 pounds, she had lost some money she needed to take the train back home. I repeated her sentence to my father. In English.

Also sorry to the poor worker at McDonalds who I talked English to while speaking German to my English exchange student.

People abroad will absolutely become friends with every person that they hear speaking their language. While being in London, we overheard a man talking to his son in German about taking a photo, and I immediately asked (in German) if I should take a photo of both of them together. We talked for fifteen minutes after that, even though we had never met before.

On that note, in tourist citys the people that try to sell things to tourists usually speak a lot of languages enough to say things like “Oh, I speak a bit of [language], too, but not well. Didn’t pay enough attention in school. You look like nice people.” Makes it so easy to sell things.

Idioms are literally hell. Best example has been in the news currently, with Greta Thunberg literally translating a Swedish idiom in a tweet not realising that “putting someone against a wall” means something totally different in English. 

Idioms will be hell for you as a writer, too, though, as long as you do not fluently speak both of the languages or at least one of them is fictional, because it’s quite easy to mess up if you use idioms that jus aren’t normally used by people speaking that language.

Bilingual puns are amazing, but sadly rare.

Those are the things I thought of first… Maybe you can find some ideas or inspiration there for your characters, too. The best thing of course is to let someone proof-read your character if you are uncertain, but this hopefully already helped you a bit!

[marzipanandminutiae]

it’s hilarious to me when people call historical fashions that men hated oppressive

like in BuzzFeed’s Women Wear Hoop Skirts For A Day While Being Exaggeratedly Bad At Doing Everything In Them video, one woman comments that she’s being “oppressed by the patriarchy.” if you’ve read anything Victorian man ever said about hoop skirts, you know that’s pretty much the exact opposite of the truth

thing is, hoop skirts evolved as liberating garment for women. before them, to achieve roughly conical skirt fullness, they had to wear many layers of petticoats (some stiffened with horsehair braid or other kinds of cord). the cage crinoline made their outfits instantly lighter and easier to move in

it also enabled skirts to get waaaaay bigger. and, as you see in the late 1860s, 1870s, and mid-late 1880s, to take on even less natural shapes. we jokingly call bustles fake butts, but trust me- nobody saw them that way. it was just skirts doing weird, exciting Skirt Things that women had tons of fun with

men, obviously, loathed the whole affair

(1864)

(1850s. gods, if only crinolines were huge enough to keep men from getting too close)

(no date given, but also, this is 100% impossible)

(also undated, but the ruffles make me think 1850s)

it was also something that women of all social classes- maids and society ladies, enslaved women and free women of color -all wore at one point or another. interesting bit of unexpected equalization there

and when bustles came in, guess what? men hated those, too

(1880s)

(probably also 1880s? the ladies are being compared to beetles and snails. in case that was unclear)

(1870s, I think? the bustle itself looks early 1870s but the tight fit of the actual gown looks later)

hoops and bustles weren’t tools of the patriarchy. they were items 1 and 2 on the 19th century’s “Fashion Trends Women Love That Men Hate” lists, with bonus built-in personal space enforcement

[prismatic-bell]

Gonna add something as someone who’s worn a lot of period stuff for theatre:

The reason you suck at doing things in a hoop skirt is because you’re not used to doing things in a hoop skirt.

The first time I got in a Colonial-aristocracy dress I felt like I couldn’t breathe. The construction didn’t actually allow me to raise my arms all the way over my head (yes, that’s period-accurate). We had one dresser to every two women, because the only things we could put on ourselves were our tights, shifts, and first crinoline. Someone else had to lace our corsets, slip on our extra crinolines, hold our arms to balance us while a second person actually put the dresses on us like we were dolls, and do up our shoes–which we could not put on ourselves because we needed to be able to balance when the dress went on. My entire costume was almost 40 pounds (I should mention here that many of the dresses were made entirely of upholstery fabric), and I actually did not have the biggest dress in the show.

We wore our costumes for two weeks of rehearsal, which is quite a lot in university theatre. The first night we were all in dress, most of the ladies went propless because we were holding up our skirts to try and get a feel for both balance and where our feet were in comparison to where it looked like they should be. I actually fell off the stage.

By opening night? We were square-dancing in the damn things. We had one scene where our leading man needed to whistle, but he didn’t know how and I was the only one in the cast loud enough to be heard whistling from under the stage, so I was also commando-crawling underneath him at full speed trying to match his stage position–while still in the dress. And petticoats. And corset. Someone took my shoes off for that scene so I could use my toes to propel myself and I laid on a sheet so I wouldn’t get the dress dirty, but that was it–I was going full Solid Snake in a space about 18″ high, wearing a dress that covered me from collarbones to floor and weighed as much as a five-year-old child. And it worked beautifully.

These women knew how to wear these clothes. It’s a lot less “restrictive” when it’s old hat.

[gothiccharmschool]

I have worn hoop skirts a lot, especially in summer. I still wear hoop skirts if I’m going to be at an event where I will probably be under stage lights. (For example, Vampire Ball.)

I can ride public transportation while wearing them. I can take a taxi while wearing them. I can go on rides at Disneyland while wearing them. Because I’ve practiced wearing them and twisting the rigid-but-flexible skirt bones so I can sit on them and not buffet other people with my skirts. 

Hoop skirts are awesome.

[magpiescholar]

Hoop skirts are also air conditioning.  If you ever go to reenactments in the South, particularly in summer, you’ll notice a lot of ladies gently swaying in their big 1860s skirts – because it fans all the sweaty bits.  You’ll be much cooler in a polished cotton gown with full sleeves, ruffles, and hoopskirt than in a riding jacket and trousers, let me promise you!  (This is part of the reason many enslaved women also enthusiastically preferred larger skirts – they had more to do than sit in the shade, but they’d get a bit of a breeze from the hoops’ movement as they were walking.)  

They’re also – and I can’t emphasize enough how important this is – really easy to pee in.  If you’re in split-crotch drawers (which, until at least the 1890s, you were), you can take an easy promenade a few feet away from the gents and then squat down and pee in pretty much total privacy.  It gives so much freedom in travel when it’s not a problem to pee most anywhere.

People also don’t realize that corsets themselves were a HUGE HUGE IMPROVEMENT over previous support-garment styles – and if you have large breasts that don’t naturally float freely above your ribcage (which some people’s do! but it’s not that common), corsets are often an improvement over modern bras.

They hold up the breasts from underneath, taking the weight of them off your back.  Most historical corset styles don’t have shoulder straps, so you’re not bearing the weight of your breast there, either, and you can raise your arms as far as your dress’s shoulder line allows (which is the actually restrictive bit – in my 1830s dress, literally all I can do is work in my lap, but in my 1890s dress I can paddle a kayak or draw a longbow with no trouble.  Both in a full corset).  They support your back and reduce the physical effort it takes to not slouch, helping avoid back pain.  They’re rigid enough that you don’t usually have to adjust your clothing to keep it where it belongs.  They’re flexible – if you’re having a bloaty PMS day you just … don’t lace it as tightly, and if your back muscles are sore you can lace it a little tighter.  And you can undo a cup (or, y’know, not have breast cups) to nurse a baby without losing any of the structural integrity of the garment.

I do educational/historical dressing and people are really insistent, like, “The corset was invented by a man, wasn’t it?”  “Actually, women were at the forefront of changing undergarment styles throughout the 19th century!” “But it’s true that it was invented by a man.”  

Uh, well, it’s hard to say who “invented” the style but it’s very likely that women’s dressmakers mostly innovated women’s corsets and men’s tailors mostly innovated men’s corsets, honey.  Because those exist too.

[cuddlybuboes]

This post is incredible. 😱

[fangirltothefullest]

I love this post so much! Honestly the more you do research in women’s garments in history the more you realize how innovative and interesting a lot of them are!

[oliviajoytaylor]

I need to redraw from references more

[writingwithcolor]

Appreciating Beauty of Partner of Color (Interracial, BWWM)

@writingprotps asked:

hi I’ve had a question for a while and thought you guys were the best to ask- when writing an interracial couple (more specifically black woman with a white man), how can I show his appreciation for her beauty in the narrative without it coming across as a fetish. As a black woman, I know our skin and our lips and our hair is gorgeous but how do I show his attraction to her without it being a fetishisation of black beauty? Hope this isn’t a loaded question- thank you and love your work!!

You can show attraction minus the fetish.

It’s perfectly okay for the lover to notice and compliment their partner’s skin color and looks! It would be colorblind racism (and perhaps other forms) to imply someone is attracted to another “in spite of” their race. Maybe looks themselves don’t matter much, but to pretend like “they don’t see race/color”  isn’t the right approach. 

Do:

Compliment skin color and physical features, if you’d like. 

“He ran his rough fingers against her smooth brown skin.”

“She had curves he’d love to trace, and full red-painted lips he was tempted to kiss”

“His dreamy gaze lured me in, eyes the same golden brown as his skin.”

“I held Monica’s hand, her deep ochre skin contrasting against my pale fingers.”

But be mindful of your focus

If they only care to compliment the features that are associated to the race, it can feel weird. What else do they like about them? What is uniquely fascinating about this character to the significant other besides features like skin, hair, and lips? 

What about:

voice

movements

personality

passions

quirks

smile

“An African American woman approached the counter. She was tall with a loose sway that had me hypnotized.”

“He gazed at Sarah, admiring her dark brown eyes, full lips, and the cute little freckle on the tip of her nose.”

“As she got closer, the moonlight showed off more and more of her beauty. The yellow dress popped against her rich brown skin and her coils trickled down her narrow shoulders. And when she gave him her sweet, dimply smile, he licked his lips before he could catch himself.” 

“He loved the way her brow furrowed when she couldn’t decide her next move in the game. Cute. He always took that as a sign that he needed to distract her.”

Don’t

Make food to skin comparisons. 

The guide, POC & Food Comparisons explains why this is sketchy, main points being it can be fetishizing, has ties to slavery, and is just plain ole cliché to be honest (Especially for comparisons as specific as chocolate and caramel). 

See Words for Skin Tone for alternatives.

Evoke stereotypes to show attraction. 

For example: calling attraction to Black people as jungle fever, calling your Mexican love interest a spicy Latina, or complimenting your Japanese lover as being submissive. 

More reading:  Praising Beauty Without Fetishizing PoC

~Mod Colette

[sandydragon1]

Things to Consider When Writing About Royalty

How is the throne inherited? How strict are the traditions concerning transfers of power? How is the order of succession determined? Can commoners become royalty?

How are heirs trained?

How much, if at all, are marriages for power/political ties favored over marriages for love? How common are arranged marriages

What are the biggest threats to their position?

How good is there relationship with their subjects? 

What is their preferred method of interacting with their subjects? Do they prefer to interact with them directly or indirectly?

How long has the monarchy been in power? How did it originally gain that power?

What special etiquette is required when dealing with royalty? How strict is it?

How are princes and/or princesses that aren’t first in line for the throne handled? Are they given special responsibilities in the hopes of discouraging resentment?

How do they deal with assassination attempts?

How do they spend their wealth? Why do they prioritize certain aspects of their kingdom’s well being over others?

Would they rather inspire love or fear in their subjects?

[cosimahenning-deactivated201609]

Writing Resources, I guess

So when I’m writing I sometimes need prompts or sometimes I just want to write random shit, so I will use generators. This is just a few that I use and like;

Family Tree, Relationship Generators

Battletech Family Tree Generator - Generates 2/3 generations, can choose options such as name types (real life/fantasy/ethnic fusion/place/gang).

Demarco - Generates a family trees based on info provided, P/Matriarchs, Years born, married and died, and current imput year. Also includes a Type of “race” choice: Human: Medieval, Scottish, Eqyptian or Modern or Dwarf (Fantasy race). All generations up to imput current date are automatically open.

Ja.Partridgez - Family tree generator, similar to Demarco but without the Type option and the generations are not automatically opened, you click a button to see it. 

Gayahithwen- Family Tree generator that follows the Male line, it’s a Harry Potter one, so you can choose Hogwarts houses. Options include; Family name or randomly chosen English or Irish surname, Year of birth of family founder, or choices between eras 800-1100, 1100-1400, 1400-1700 or 1700-2000. You can have Hogwarts houses chosen randomly or choose percentages. Also you can choose options to suggest partners names and to include year of death.

Rangen Family Generator-  doesn’t so much generate a family tree as members and their names and ages, Parents, Siblings, Children, Grandparents etc. Includes Simple (Just name and age) or Detail (whether they get along with main character, personality) Options.

Rangen Pregnancy Generator - generates a birth/s, whether it’s a boy/girl/unknown, birth weight, date of birth, whether it resembles the mother/father/relative/family friend, whether the baby/ies is/are heathy/weak etc. Generates Single Births, Multiples, No Conception.

Cities, Towns, Kingdoms

CrystalBallSoft - Fantasy City You choose the name, size (from Thorp up to Metropolis), whether it’s by the sea, or a river, whether it has military, if it has gates. You can generate Wards, and Professions. Choose major race (Human, Hafling, Elf, Dwarf, Gnome, Half Elf, Half Orc or Other) and Society (Isolated, Mixed or Integrated). It’ll also generate GP Limit, Imports and Exports, what the city is famous for and infamous for, no. of wards, and professions.

Mathemagician - You choose the name, size (Thorp-Metro) and population percentages (Human, Dwarf, Elf, the usual). It gives you Power Center, Alignment, Population, GP Limit, Community Wealth, You can view all the Militia/Town Guard/Aristocrats/Experts etc members. Names/Race/Gender/Level/Profession/Personality. As well as a list and opening hours of all Blacksmiths, Scroll and Potion shops, Jewelry Store, General Stores, and Taverns. You click and it’ll also give you the  Names/Race/Gender/Level/Profession/Personality of employees  for each of said options. Tavern option also gives hour by hour list of currently working employees, patrons and entertainment as well as a full menu. 

Rangen City Generator - This gives you single word descriptions of things like Settlement type (e.g Metropolis), Size (e.g Large), Cost of Living (e.g Expensive). Etc. Good for general outlines, and basic stuff. 

Lucid Phoenix Kingdom Population - Give you Civilisation vs Wilderness size and %. Number of castles and castle ruins, Population density, Total Population, Population breakdown (No. Rural, Urban or Isolated). Also now gives Urban Population Centres (big cities) with demographics of population size and businesses.

Worlds and Solar Systems

Donjon Fractal World Generator - Gives you a basic map/image of a world. You choose Map Projection (Square, Spherical, Mercator etc) Map Palette (Atlas, Olsson etc), % Water, % Ice, Image Height, Iterations and Rotation.

Donjon Fantasy World Generator - First, the servers for this are busy a lot of the time but it’s worth it. Basically does the same as  above but different options. Map Style (Atlas or Antique), Font (Black Castle, Tengwar Others etc.), % Water % Ice, Geography (Yes or No), Rivers ( Yes, No or Many) Cities and Castles (Yes, No or Many), show Hex Grid and/or Labels.

Donjon SciFi World Generator - You choose things such as World Name, Map Projection (Square, Mercator etc.), Map Palette (Atlas, Barren, Antique etc.), %Water, % Ice, Image Height, Iterations and Rotation. It gives you things like; Basic Image, Physics (Type, Radius, Surface Area, Land Area, Mass, Density, Composition (Iron, Oxygen etc). Gravimetry (Gravity m/s2, (# x Earth), Escape Velocity km/s), Rotation (Period and Axis Tilt), Hydrosphere (Water and Ice %), Atmosphere (Type, Pressure in kPa, # x Earth, Composition), Climate (Type, Min Temp, Avg Temp and Max Temp in Kelvin and Celsius), Biosphere (Chemistry, Lifeforms), Civilisation (Type, Population, Tech Level). If you us the Imperial you’re out of luck.

Donjon Star System Generator - Star Name, Companion Star (Random, None, Close or Distant), Planets (Random, None, Few, Several, Many). You can force a system to include a terrestrial world. It’ll generate things like the Star/s and it’s data (Type, Radius, Mass, Temperature and Luminosity), any terrestrial worlds, rock planets, jovian planets, ice or neptunian planets and their data also. If it includes a terrestrial planet you can further click on that and get more data like that of the SciFi World Generator above.

Donjon SWd6 System Generator - Made for use with Star Wars d6 RPG, generates a basic system, and information basically like that from SciFi World Generator. 

Donjon Traveller System Generator - Again, generates a basic system, includes whether there is a naval base, starport or scout base and tech levels on a terrestrial planet.

This is just a very small portion of generators I use for Fantasy and SciFi stories. If you want or need other generators feel free to message me, I probably have several. Also let me know if you want me to make another for purely SciFi/Food/Drink/Pretty much anything. 

[andallshallbewell]