Claire Keane
Mike Driver
No title available
sheepfilms
todays bird

bliss lane
we're not kids anymore.
Xuebing Du

Kiana Khansmith
will byers stan first human second
NASA

No title available
Sweet Seals For You, Always

Love Begins
h
The Stonewall Inn
Fai_Ryy
TVSTRANGERTHINGS
trying on a metaphor
EXPECTATIONS
seen from Brazil

seen from United States

seen from Türkiye

seen from Malaysia
seen from Vietnam

seen from Malaysia

seen from Panama
seen from Brazil

seen from United States
seen from Canada

seen from Malaysia
seen from Malaysia

seen from Malaysia
seen from Türkiye
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from Ecuador
seen from Albania

seen from Bangladesh

seen from Germany
@starry-kitsune
I've never loved anyone as much as I love Ursula Le Guin
Doomed siblings have me on a chokehold in a way no trope can ever achieve. Something so gut wrenchingly beautiful about two kids going through unimaginable trauma and coming out damaged forever. I always eat it up. Maybe they stay together and find solace only in each other, used and kicked out by society! Maybe they end up on opposite sides of the war! Maybe they end up betraying one another! Maybe one of them dies haunting the narrative forever! Maybe one of them destroys the world for the other! So many endless tragic possibilities!
July Prompts!
Drip Drop
Mountain Hike
Burnt Grass
Firework Sparks
Melted Ice Cream
Warm Waves
Team Rivalry
Blue Skies
Lonely Nights
Sand Mermaid
Water Sprinkle
New Places
Fluffy Clouds
Eternal Sunshine
Blown Out Speakers
Sweltering Heat
Beach Volleyball
104 Degrees
Weekend Adventure
Travelling Faire
Sputtering A.C
Jellyfish Sting
Ice Lemonade
Fleeting Love
Sizzling Embers
Island Getaway
Sea of Stars
Sweet Breeze
Years Past
Wet 'n' Wild
Unforgettable Summer!
Not necessary but feel free to tag me in anything you create so I can check it out! ♡
Flavours of unreliable narrator:
Lying to the reader
Lying to themselves
Simply misinformed
Not paying attention
Has weird priorities
Assumed you knew
Hates you personally
Bad at communicating
Easily sidetracked
Will believe anything
Has weird prejudices
Just kind of dumb
It feels like this every time I write a fic
Slightly Obscure D&D Character Questions!!
dedicated to those who can’t stop thinking about their own characters ♡
What does your character typically keep in their pockets?
Do they consider themselves an optimist? Pessimist? Realist? What are they like in actuality?
How do they carry themselves around strangers? Friends/Lovers? Family?
If your character was a work of art, how would you describe them?
How does your character express they’re comfortable?
How does your character express that they’re uncomfortable?
How impulsive is your character?
What is something they cannot resist?
What is their favorite scent?
If they were in a rock band, what role would they play?
How does your character blow off steam?
Physically, does your character feel warm or do they always feel cold?
If they were a body of water, what would they be?
Does your character value promises? Are they good at keeping them?
Describe their ideal date.
What keeps them going?
Does your character swear? What’s their favorite phrase/word?
How does your character act when they want to seem inviting?
How does your character act when they want to seem threatening?
Can your character flirt? Are they aware they’re flirting? How do they do it?
If they were a potion, what would it look like? (Color, glass shape, smell, etc.)
What kind of person would they never side with?
Would your character want to be famous? Why or why not?
What’s a controversial food opinion they would have?
How does your character feel about spending money?
What would they want for their funeral?
If they were a ghost, how would they haunt in the afterlife?
Why do they keep secrets?
What does your character have too much of?
What never gets old for your character? Something your character can’t get enough of?
Can your character visualize actual concepts in their head? Or are they just vague thoughts?
Does your character daydream? What do they usually keep their mind occupied with?
How do they feel about the unknown?
How do they respond to condescension?
Do they consider themselves childish/mature for their age?
What makes them blush?
What are some ways your character acts silly?
What fairytale/myth suits your character the best?
What does your character believe their party lacks?
Describe a corruption/redemption arc version of your character.
What’s a texture/sound your character cannot stand?
Is there something your character isn’t very good at, but enjoys doing nonetheless?
Is your character good at apologizing? Why or why not?
How do they hold onto people?
What would they never forgive themselves for?
How does your character feel about growing old?
Do they consider themselves funny? How do they use humor?
What do they want to leave behind?
Do they talk to themselves?
What is their native language? If they know multiple languages, how do they speak/act differently?
What makes them a hypocrite?
If your character was under quarantine, what type of quarantine person would they be? (Productive? Hobbyist? Lazy?)
What does freedom mean to them?
What is something they currently look forward to? What is something they dread?
How has your character’s mental health been recently?
If your character had wings what would they look like?
How does the way they act seemingly contradict their ability scores?
What’s a habit that needs to be broken?
What’s something your character has realized?
Who do they go to when they need to bounce ideas off of someone?
Who do they go to when they’ve had a nightmare?
Who does your character think is the most put together in the party?
Which party member would they pull a prank on? Who would they plan a prank with?
What is one thing they want each party member to know?
Which do they value more?
65. Adoration or Intimidation?
66. Outward Passion or Quiet Rebellion?
67. Selflessness or Self-Preservation?
68. Objective or Subjective?
69. Journey or Destination?
Slightly Obscure D&D Character Questions!!
dedicated to those who can’t stop thinking about their own characters ♡
What does your character typically keep in their pockets?
Do they consider themselves an optimist? Pessimist? Realist? What are they like in actuality?
How do they carry themselves around strangers? Friends/Lovers? Family?
If your character was a work of art, how would you describe them?
How does your character express they’re comfortable?
How does your character express that they’re uncomfortable?
How impulsive is your character?
What is something they cannot resist?
What is their favorite scent?
If they were in a rock band, what role would they play?
How does your character blow off steam?
Physically, does your character feel warm or do they always feel cold?
If they were a body of water, what would they be?
Does your character value promises? Are they good at keeping them?
Describe their ideal date.
What keeps them going?
Does your character swear? What’s their favorite phrase/word?
How does your character act when they want to seem inviting?
How does your character act when they want to seem threatening?
Can your character flirt? Are they aware they’re flirting? How do they do it?
If they were a potion, what would it look like? (Color, glass shape, smell, etc.)
What kind of person would they never side with?
Would your character want to be famous? Why or why not?
What’s a controversial food opinion they would have?
How does your character feel about spending money?
What would they want for their funeral?
If they were a ghost, how would they haunt in the afterlife?
Why do they keep secrets?
What does your character have too much of?
What never gets old for your character? Something your character can’t get enough of?
Can your character visualize actual concepts in their head? Or are they just vague thoughts?
Does your character daydream? What do they usually keep their mind occupied with?
How do they feel about the unknown?
How do they respond to condescension?
Do they consider themselves childish/mature for their age?
What makes them blush?
What are some ways your character acts silly?
What fairytale/myth suits your character the best?
What does your character believe their party lacks?
Describe a corruption/redemption arc version of your character.
What’s a texture/sound your character cannot stand?
Is there something your character isn’t very good at, but enjoys doing nonetheless?
Is your character good at apologizing? Why or why not?
How do they hold onto people?
What would they never forgive themselves for?
How does your character feel about growing old?
Do they consider themselves funny? How do they use humor?
What do they want to leave behind?
Do they talk to themselves?
What is their native language? If they know multiple languages, how do they speak/act differently?
What makes them a hypocrite?
If your character was under quarantine, what type of quarantine person would they be? (Productive? Hobbyist? Lazy?)
What does freedom mean to them?
What is something they currently look forward to? What is something they dread?
How has your character’s mental health been recently?
If your character had wings what would they look like?
How does the way they act seemingly contradict their ability scores?
What’s a habit that needs to be broken?
What’s something your character has realized?
Who do they go to when they need to bounce ideas off of someone?
Who do they go to when they’ve had a nightmare?
Who does your character think is the most put together in the party?
Which party member would they pull a prank on? Who would they plan a prank with?
What is one thing they want each party member to know?
Which do they value more?
65. Adoration or Intimidation?
66. Outward Passion or Quiet Rebellion?
67. Selflessness or Self-Preservation?
68. Objective or Subjective?
69. Journey or Destination?
Writing Theory: The Morally Grey Character
The morally grey character is the character within the narrative that is neither light nor dark, good nor evil. They are a character who does not fear to do what is wrong or to do what is difficult in order to do right, just so long as they survive/or achieve their goals. A morally grey character will oft at times seem very villainlike. They will not usually be liked as a person and will likely be ostracised for their choices in life by your heroes. A morally grey character is a difficult balance to achieve as we want the audience to judge their attitudes to the world but also to still like them on some level so hiw do we approach it?
What makes a character morally grey?
Being morally grey does not mean your character will be slaughtering younglings one minute and then petting baby bunnies the next. These characters are complex. You have to find the balance between sociopath and ray of sunshine.
Common traits of a Morally Grey Character
They will usually follow their own sense of justice and their own rules.
They will have their own ideas about wrong and right.
They will have their own the limits. They will push the normal limits, going past the brink of what a traditional hero will do to achieve their goals.
They are unpredictable. Remember, they don't think like your regular brand if hero or character.
They are not robots. They will have feelings. They will love, they will hate, they will cry, they will laugh. They might be morally deficient but they are people.
They usually have a weak point. In the morally grey character it often makes them darker because of it. It is their frontier, often the reason why they are what they have become.
How to Write a Morally Grey Character
#1 Give them a Reasons
Nobody likes somebody who is a dick for no reason. Nobody likes a Snape. Your Morally Grey Character cannot just make these choices just for laughs. They need reasons. This makes a Reader bond more easily with your character and allow them to understand why your character is doing these things. For example, Tyrion Lannister had a singer dismembered and fed to the poor of the city. He did this to save his girlfriend lest the singer open his mouth and tell Lord Tywin about it, who had threatened to execute any woman Tyrion banged.
#2 They must have a weak spot.
Like I said above, they need a weak spot. The weak spot works as the character's human side, the one thing that is certain to ensure your reader understands them on some level. Sometimes it is even the reason why they make morally grey choices. Everyone has a weakness whether it somebody they love or something they would do anything to protect. For example, June Osbourne in A Handmaid's Tale begins the story a very traditional downtrodden hero. As we move on through the story, June turns to murder, espionage and pretty dark behaviour to try and save her daughters and the other Handmaids from the hell known as the patriarchy Gilead.
#3 Their Background
The morally grey character often has an underlying reason of why they are the way they are. Their behaviour is usually born from a bad experience. For example, Kaz Brekker from a Six of Crows has a particular harrowing one. As a kid, he travelled to the city with his brother with all the money they had in the world. Kaz's older brother Jordie got swindled out of their money which led to them being homeless and to Jordie's death. Kaz grows up to be an unscrupulous gangster, who trusts nobody fully and ends up creating an elaborate scheme to avenge his brother's death and the downfall of the man who betrayed he and his brother.
You can keep these lessons in your mind in a quick equation: Reasons + Weakness + Background= Action/Choice
Choosing your Morally Grey Character's Decisions and Actions
Using the first three, you must begin to put yourself into the mindset of your character. When faced with a decision between what they believe in and what is morally right, what will they do? You have the blueprint of what they will do from the three steps above.
For multiple examples:
June Osborne from Handmaid's Tale comes upon her ally's wife, Mrs Lawrence who has taken an overdose. June appears first to want to get help but instead, leaves Mrs Lawrence to her fate. June does this because Mrs Lawrence is a loose cannon who is in danger of ruining June's operation in getting the children out of Gilead. So our quick sum to see whether to makes sense: Saving the Children + the lives of the Children + June's two failed attempts at escape.
Kaz Brekker from Six of Crows is interrupted in one if his heists by the homeowner's daughter. Kaz frightens the little girl half to death threatening to come back and kill her and her family if she dies not return to bed, playing on her fears that he is the boogeyman. Now let's see whether this makes sense: They need to get in and get out if the house & the kid will jeopardise their escape + Kaz doesn't want to kill a kid + Kaz was once that frightened child.
In Peaky Blinders, Tommy Shelby sells out his closest relatives to the government leading to their immediate arrest and coming execution. Now let's see if it makes sense: It was going to happen anyway with or without his consent + his grief over his wife's death + Tommy is a solider and he's used to watching his fellow soldiers die
location: moss oasis, endless barren waste
known for: moisture, spores, mite farming
They say there are other worlds out there beyond the stone sea, but I think that's stupid nonsense.
Women in Shakespeare
Also like to point out that when her mother says “I was your mother much upon these years that you are now a maid,” (translation: I had you when I was your age) you have to remember her father’s words: “earth hath swallowed all my hopes but she,” (translation: all the other children died.) The whole plot point of Juliet being an only child is explained by her mother being a Margaret Beaufort type who had her first child too young and it damaged her past the point of being able to bear more children.
Margaret Beaufort died in 1509. She was a major player in the Wars of the Roses, the swirling on-again-off-again civil wars that consumed England from 1455-1487. Romeo and Juliet was written and first performed in the early 1590s. Your average English person of Shakespeare’s day would probably have had at least a vague understanding of who she was and what happened to her, because she was a key figure in recent history and was still getting passed around as a cautionary tale.
There are two great problems with what happened to Margaret (and that her parents are trying to do to Juliet). One is easy for modern people to spot (but was also a common response back in her own day). And that’s the moral implications of what was done to her. She was too young to be married, and it was horrifying that she was forced into it so young. Every one of the adults around her either acted immorally or failed to protect her. They were wrong. This is what modern people see, and it’s important to remember that people back in her day mostly agreed with it. You’re supposed to think it’s fucked up! When girls were married that young (and it didn’t happen often!) it was a formality 99% of the time. It was for dynastic or financial reasons (the girl has lots of money and/or land and/or a title that her husband wants), but the “couple” don’t consummate their marriage for years. And it’s not just that they would have separate bedrooms. They might not even live in the same country until the girl was in her late teens and physically and mentally mature enough to bear and raise kids. Hell, a lot of times they didn’t even meet until the girl was older! They had this thing called “proxy marriage” where you would have two separate ceremonies, in two separate places, with each party saying their vows separately, one in one city and the other in a different one. So, yeah, sure, the girl was technically married at 12, but she didn’t actually meet her “husband” in person until she was 17 and they didn’t start sleeping together until she was 20. That was a thing they did.
The other problem, the one that modern people don’t notice, is dynastic. See, marriage wasn’t generally because you loved someone. It was because you had the resources to support a family, and you or your family wanted to pool those resources with someone. It’s about “our family has these resources, and we want that to continue.” It’s about continuity across generations. It’s about making sure that your children and grandchildren have the best possible resources to survive and thrive, whether those resources are land or a trade or a title or money or whatever. In order for this to work, you have to have kids! The family and the family’s resources depend on the married couple having children. If the couple doesn’t have children, the marriage is a failure. And that failure affects not only the couple, but both families. This is a really big problem. And you can’t have just one kid to pass on the family name, because half of all kids die in early childhood. If you want to be safe, you need several kids, to be sure at least one will survive to adulthood (when they can marry and pass on the family name and resources.
You know what happens when a girl has her first pregnancy too young? She is very likely to either die in childbirth, or have complications that destroy her future fertility. Just like Margaret Beaufort. Just like Juliet’s mother. In other words, the marriage is a failure, not just for her, but also for her family, and her husband (who can’t divorce her, it’s not allowed except in extremely rare circumstances), and her husband’s family. So even the people who didn’t have a moral problem with adult men having sex with pubescent girls had a practical problem with girls married too young because you are very likely to destroy the entire purpose of the marriage by doing it. As Shakespeare reminds us in the play through Juliet’s mother having been married too young and only having one child.
Shakespeare is telling us “yeah, this is fucked up. but even if you’re the kind of awful person who doesn’t think girls marrying too young is morally wrong, it’s also a problem for practical and dynastic reasons, don’t forget that by doing this wrong thing you are very likely to destroy what you most want out of it.”
Interesting
It bears repeating:
don’t forget that by doing this wrong thing you are very likely to destroy what you most want out of it.”
yes, excellent discussion!
another thing i noticed, the year my local community shakespeare theater did r&j, and i made the costumes so i got to watch the show every night: part of why capulet is telling paris, take your time, get to know each other, no rush, is that he still has his nephew tybalt as his heir. as long as tybalt is in the picture, there is no pressure on juliet to go further with paris, than get acquainted. once tybalt is killed, then suddenly capulet needs an heir, he needs a husband for juliet, now, this week. (the role of capulet is best given to the actor in the company that can do over the top apoplexy, you need to believe his urgency comes at least in part by how clearly he could drop dead any moment from giving himself a stroke)
i feel like this play is often taught in middle schools as if it was somehow relevant to, or about, teen hormone storms. really it's got more to do with the social structures around family and inheritance. leaving that context out makes it confusing, why is capulet suddenly flipping from nice dad to evil dad?
art history matters.
I've been thinking about this play a lot lately. I really wanna highlight that Lord Capulet asks Paris to wait and get to know her, and to woo her, while Tybalt lives. While Tybalt is alive, Juliet has something of a reprieve, and her wellbeing as his only child matters more to Capulet. But once Tybalt has died, the gloves come off. Lord Capulet was worried about his daughter's wellbeing when he felt he had the space to care, but as soon as his dynasty is at stake, as soon as this becomes larger than Juliet's happiness, his consideration for her health and mental wellbeing get thrown away. Which also is due in part to the fact that Capulet's family is implicated in a brawl that has left several dead after the Prince's family EXPLICITLY told the Capulets and Montagues to stop fighting or face dire consequences, AND Capulet is trying to align himself with the Prince's family by marrying Juliet off to County Paris, a relative of the Prince. So to Lord Capulet, it is now less important that Juliet is happy, and more important than he reminds the Prince of his loyalty via this marriage and aligns his family with the Prince's before it's too late. And he believes this must be done, at any cost...until Juliet kills herself. And that's when he realises the devastating cost of treating his family as chess pieces. He realises his wrongdoing far too late.
Seriously Romeo and Juliet is HEAVY on the dynastic politics, and I think you can't fully understand the play without understanding how that all works, especially because the impact of dynastic marriages on women and girls is like. THE POINT of the play
Daydreaming a story idea about someone adopted as a young child who comes of age to realize they have been raised, and loved, by the villains. And they're the survivor of a massacre their adoptive parents committed.
Just. A fun thought idea.
We love divided loyalties...
The slow realization that they have been loved not like a child, but as a trophy. But it was love nonetheless. Wasn't it?
Very generally speaking, when you see a black man in a piece of media, be it tv show, movie, video game, etc. there’s something you often see a lot of writers do. To go against the stereotype of black men (and black people in general) being dumb and lazy, you’ll see this black male character being smart and an achiever. 
The Black Nerd. A common character type, the nerd will always be very interested in all things nerdy: science, video games, mathematics, etc. In an continued effort to combat stereotypes, the Black Nerd will be lack athleticism, probably being asthmatic (the nerdiest of conditions). The Black Nerd will dress smartly, suspenders and bow ties. They’ll always talk smart too, using proper English with complex words.
Now, I don’t have a problem with a black character being a nerd, indeed black people are a people; we aren’t all the same and we all have varying personalities. The problem I have is that too often we see a distinct disconnect between Blackness and the Black Nerd. The Black Nerd doesn’t listen to hip hop or rap, only classical music. The Black Nerd only has white friends, the only other black characters are into not nerdy stuff. The Black Nerd never ever uses AAVE at any time in any context.
And again I must say that Black people, not being a monolith, there are no hard fast rules to being Black. I’m more than sure there are Black people like what I’ve described above, I’m not saying it’s impossible; what I’m getting at is that the only Black Nerd we see. There are Black Nerds that play basketball, that bump Kendrick Lamar, and use AAVE since it’s an ever changing dialect. I’m just saying there’s no one way of being a nerd and no one way of being Black.
Well @dumbey, seems we’re in similar boats
This ain’t about him, this is about Black/Asian solidarity. Focus.
love when ocs grab you by the shoulders and tell you something essential to their lore without you getting a say in it
After a demon king successfully takes over the world, he soon becomes bored and erases his memories and changes his appearance. 16 years later a young warrior sets off to take back the kingdom, unaware that he’s the one who took it in the first place.
As you are preparing for your wedding, a frantic sage barges into your room. “This is not what I meant about taking the heart of the demon queen! You were supposed to physically extract it from her body and send her back to the nether realm!”
🧩 How to Outline Without Feeling Like You’re Dying
(a non-suffering writer’s guide to structure, sanity, and staying mildly hydrated)
Hey besties. Let’s talk outlines. Specifically: how to do them without crawling into the floorboards and screaming like a Victorian ghost.
If just hearing the word “outline” sends your brain into chaos-mode, welcome. You’re not broken, you’re just a writer whose process has been hijacked by Very Serious Advice™ that doesn’t fit you. You don’t need to build a military-grade beat sheet. You don’t need a sixteen-tab spreadsheet. You don’t need to suffer to be legitimate. You just need a structure that feels like it’s helping you, not haunting you.
So. Here’s how to outline your book without losing your soul (or all your serotonin).
—
🍓 1. Stop thinking of it as “outlining.” That word is cursed. Try “story sketch.” “Narrative roadmap.” “Planning soup.” Whatever gets your brain to chill out. The goal here is to understand your story, not architect it to death.
Outlining isn’t predicting everything. It’s just building a scaffold so your plot doesn't fall over mid-draft.
—
🧠 2. Find your plot skeleton. There are lots of plot structures floating around: 3-Act. Save the Cat. Hero’s Journey. Take what helps, ignore the rest.
If all else fails, try this dirt-simple one I use when my brain is mush:
Act I: What’s the problem?
Act II: Why can’t we fix it?
Act III: What finally makes us change?
Ending: What does that change cost?
You don’t need to fill in every detail. You just need to know what’s driving your character, what’s blocking them, and what choices will change them.
—
🛒 3. Make a “scene bucket list.” Before you start plotting in order, write down a list of scenes you know you want: key vibes, emotional beats, dramatic reveals, whatever.
These are your anchors. Even if you don’t know where they go yet, they’re proof your story already exists, it just needs connecting tissue.
Bonus: when you inevitably get stuck later, one of these might be the scene that pulls you back in.
—
🧩 4. Start with 5 key scenes. That’s it. Here’s a minimalist approach that won’t kill your momentum:
Opening (what sucks about their world?)
Catalyst (what throws them off course?)
Midpoint (what makes them confront themselves?)
Climax (what breaks or remakes them?)
Ending (what’s changed?)
Plot the spaces between those after you’ve nailed these. Think of it like nailing down corners of a poster before smoothing the rest.
You’re not “doing it wrong” if you start messy. A messy start is a start.
—
🔧 5. Use the outline to ask questions, not just answer them. Every section of your outline should provoke a question that the scene must answer.
Instead of: — “Chapter 5: Sarah finds a journal.”
Try: — “Chapter 5: What truth does Sarah find that complicates her next move?”
This makes your story active, not just a list of stuff that happens. Outlines aren’t just there to record, they’re tools for curiosity.
—
🪤 6. Beware of the Perfectionist Trap™. You will not get the entire plot perfect before you write. Don’t stall your momentum waiting for a divine lightning bolt of Clarity. You get clarity by writing.
Think of your outline as a map drawn in pencil, not ink. It’s allowed to evolve. It should evolve.
You’re not building a museum exhibit. You’re making a prototype.
—
🧼 7. Clean up after you start drafting. Here’s the secret: the first draft will teach you what the story’s actually about. You can go back and revise the outline to fit that. It’s not wasted work, it’s evolving scaffolding.
You don’t have to build the house before you live in it. You can live in the mess while you figure out where the kitchen goes.
—
🛟 8. If you’re a discovery writer, hybrid it. A lot of “pantsers” aren’t anti-outline, they’re just anti-stiff-outline. That’s fair.
Try using “signposts,” not full scenes:
Here’s a secret someone’s hiding.
Here’s the emotional breakdown scene.
Here’s a betrayal. Maybe not sure by who yet.
Let the plot breathe. Let the characters argue with your outline. That tension is where the fun happens.
—
🪴 TL;DR but emotionally: You don’t need a flawless outline to write a good book. You just need a loose net of ideas, a couple of emotional anchors, and the willingness to pivot when your story teaches you something new.
Outlines should support you, not suffocate you.
Let yourself try. Let it be imperfect. That’s where the good stuff lives.
Go forth and outline like a gently chaotic legend 🧃
— written with snacks in hand by Rin T. @ thewriteadviceforwriters 🍓🧠✍️
Sometimes the problem isn’t your plot. It’s your first 5 pages. Fix it here → 🖤 Free eBook: 5 Opening Pages Mistakes to Stop Making:
✦ A free (and actually helpful) guide to leveling up your first 10 pages ✦If you're unsure whether your opening is ✨doing enough✨ to hook re