[pangur-and-grim]

@creekfiend was very kind in sharing some writing resources with me, and I thought I'd pass along the kindness by listing them down below.

N.K. Jemisin's article 'Describing characters of color in writing'

Mary Anne Mohanraj's article on approaching characters of colour

Renee Harleston's article How to 'Write Characters of Color Without Using Stereotypes'

Working with Colour, a resource site for writers

the book Writing the Other by by Nisi Shawl and Cynthia Ward, which had a description that cut deep, because I've definitely fallen into this trap out of fear:

and then a video recommended by @sheprd (thank you!) about pitfalls in descriptive language

Tall, Dark and Racially Ambiguous

Alright, close your eyes and think of the following phrases: “olive-skinned,” “dark features,” and “tall, dark, and handsome.” Hold in your

if anyone else has more resources to add, feel free to reblog with them! this is something I want to learn more about.

[dyk-this-musical-song]

Visit Original Link

Do you know this Musical Song? #334

I know the song and the musical

I know the song but not the musical

I know the musical but not the song

I may know this

I have never heard this

Voting ended onJul 1

[dyk-this-musical-song]

Song: À quoi tu danses?

Musical: 1789, Les Amants de la Bastille

Composers: Various (Dove Attia, Rod Janois, Jean-Pierre Pilot, William Rousseau, Olivier Schultheis, Benoit Poher, Louis Delort, Laurent Delort)*

1789 Les Amants de la Bastille (2160p HD) ENGLISH SUBTITLES

I do not own any of this. I just want to share it with the community.Better picture quality and I fixed the low sound problem.SINGERS:Louis

*These are the composers of every song in the musical, as the composer of this song cannot be verified

[definitely-not-an-alb]

Fascinated by everyone's but especially American's desire to give medieval keeps, especially in colder regions, central heating (and I think Winterfell is to blame for this trope, where, to it's defence, the hot springs were not a matter of comfort but survival wrt the deadly fantasy Winter that's not real irl), because I'm always like. okay I know they told you in middle grade that castles were all cold and drafty but like ... no also what

There's generally going to be rooms dedicated to and build for warmth, the living quarters, both for nobles and their servants. This will be the central living tower, or parts of it called a Kemenate (literally 'room with a stove'), the great hall and work spaces around the kitchen. You can put the Kemenate on top of the hall to catch the big fires' and daily living's heat through the wooden floor, but you often can't put wooden stuff on top of the kitchens (that's a fire risk). If you have the money and space, you build a whole separate comfy place for living because you don't have to stay in the most defensible part of the castle all the time. These separate living buildings are also called Kemenate and are often build from wood, cob, brick etc.

People used to wear much more clothes indoors, including while sleeping, and those clothes were much thicker and sturdier than what we largely wear today. Every time you think of how cold those stone walls are, think about everyone wearing a linen shift + two-ish layers of wool on all body parts except hands and head + stockings and shoes + some kind of head-covering. In Ye Old Middle Ages, women are probably wearing a wimple, which is kind of like a modern Hijab in terms of coverage. People wear shifts, socks, and a head-covering to bed.

I think people used to radiators also really underestimate how much a large open fire/tiled stove heats up a room. Also, middle and northern Europe (as well as parts of Northern China) had and to this day have beds and benches build into tiled and cob stoves. Those fuck.

Beds are enclosed so you stay warm in them, either by curtains, in wall niches or with wood. There's also a type of bed that's inside a chest (like a coffin) so you can stuff your stuff inside during the day and put down the lid to use it as a bench. That's also another reason for people to always sleep in groups. Depending on the era, one of the jobs of a lady's maid or a retainer might literally be warming their master's bed. In early times and among servants, people also sleep in large groups in rooms together in general even outside a farming context, often with animals like pet dogs, too, which further warms everything up.

Walls are not bare, cold stone, but covered with a layer of plaster or cob, tiles or wooden panels, sometimes layered, and believe me, this makes such a difference. Source: I lived in a Ye Olde German Farmhouse with 70 cm thick stone walls and flag stone floor and all that converted to modern flats for a while.

On top of that you hang tapestries on the wall, which are not like modern printed cloth but basically wall rugs, sometimes several inches thick, and rugs or rushes (like a light cover of hay) on the floor on top of stone, tile, wooden panelling or a cob floor cover that goes over the heave flag stone. Pillows and blankets on all sitting surfaces, often on top of panelling (in the case of benches build into the stone). The roof of a room is also tiled, panelled or plastered. Upper stories will generally have wooden floors. Stories in a tower heat each other upwards, so the nicer rooms are further up.

The inner stone walls of a castle, even if stone and very thick, will heat up a few degrees in comparison to the outside walls if the castle is continually heated/lived in, and also trap heat inside, and this will make a difference. Inner walls might also be thinner and made of wood, cob or brick. You're defending against the outside, after all.

You put stuff in the windows. Holy shit. Screens of wood, horn, cloth or leather/hide, often treated for extra insulation. Why are these fantasy castles all so drafty.

Like, idk, I know Americans especially can't pop down to their nearby castle museum to have a look around, but even with people who can and do: The castles you'll see, even the ones who aren't 'ruined' are ruins. They're stripped down. I remember touring Norman towers in England, and those places do look dire and are cold because even if they're still standing, they're ruins. It makes such a difference to get to look at a castle that is still lived in, has been inhabited until recently, or has been historically restored where these amenities are preserved. The exact amenities will depend on the era, of course, but they'll be there. The publicly accessible parts of Burg Eltz are a great example to google, especially since I promise you, you have seen this specific castle before. They have pictures on their English language website here, and the German National Geographic has a few further inside pictures here. Seeing a place like that that isn't a ruin with bare, stripped walls, nothing in the windows, no decorations and furniture etc. makes you realise that yeah actually. My characters are probably just gonna go grab a pillow if their ass is cold on the window's stone bench. Blankets are a pretty old technology, humans (elves, dwarves, whatever) can figure that one out.

[signawyvern]

Here's a list of non-English musicals I've seen submitted to @dyk-this-musical-song and links for how to watch/listen to them with English subtitles or the best equivalent. There are a bunch of non-English shows that have been submitted and seemingly some interest in checking them out, but I think a lot of people just have no idea how to go about that, or if it's possible. Disclaimer: I haven't watched these links, or if I have, it's been years, so possibly songs are out of order in playlists or shows are just linking to the first act. If that's the case, let me know and I'll make a note. A lot of these are pro-shots, which is fun. I listed shows here that have been submitted to the dye-tms blog, because that's a good way to gauge which have a decent amount of interest, but please let me know any you'd like added to the list.

Of all the ones I've checked out already on here (Tanz, Elizabeth, Marie Antoinette, Rebecca, Mozart l'Opera Rock, Kristina), Elisabeth is by far my favourite and probably the most popular internationally. It's historical but with heavy Phantom of the Opera vibes, if you're into that. But it's a good place to start, maybe.

Friedrich: Mythos und Tragödie (Friedrich: Myth and Tragedies) (German) there’s nothing; this is just the German album and you can follow along with the Wikipedia summary if you want https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZF-vgZAEqw&list=PL-5ntqb8Arleq0dn-5HK_IWK-J-GXYOCd

Tanz der Vampire (Dance of the Vampires) (German) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOzoxa2hNcI&list=PLFQkDJEKsNh_lI8X5EvKFes6rNIUYW3jX

Elisabeth das Musical (German) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwYzPnRo_Cw&list=PLtk7Oj-CH4vbXdc_zdFaonDlWhdk4SQfD there are actually multiple German-language productions with English subtitles, since this show is so popular. If you want, you can also find English subtitles on productions in several other languages (mostly, Japanese and Korean). I picked this one randomly, hopefully it's a decent enough video and isn't missing any critical scenes, if it's an early version.

Rebecca (German) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6BqEHe-7P0&list=PLtfpQVyXUXVZAFddrarG99eDlxAISiYm4; there might also be English-language videos/audios out there, this did get a few performances in English, but it's been a whole Thing and is mostly put on outside of English-speaking regions.

Mozart! Das Musical (German) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89Wy9ksDVHQ&list=PLg0Vva_16jLUrp_A6W-QDKJg25Y14j50t This clearly isn’t the whole show but it could be all of act 1, maybe? I can’t find the rest.

Marie Antoinette (German) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-xmfAXfES8&list=PLy1MbM9MuArcmQPBIVrbmKbZMJClziIBD This is just act 1, not act 2. I can’t remember if it’s sung-through or not. I can't find any translations of act 2.

Starmania (French) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKF_SqeKTYo

Robin Des Bois (Robin Hood) (French) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=to3t4IbuJJw this has Russian open captions and closed captions, so you could use auto-translate on the closed captions, but it would be hard to read them with the open captions behind that so maybe set the subtitle background to opaque.

Le Rouge et le Noir (The Red and the Black) (French) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKReiqcaZ64

Notre Dame de Paris (French) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tX0A4p1XD1U&list=PLkMiTIXbFyJUVU6oRm5BCtf4N2XPmzyJm (this is actually an English version; here is a French-language one with English subtitles: www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFSF3u-g5B4&pp=ygUxTm90cmUgRGFtZSBkZSBQYXJpcyAgbGUgbXVzaWNhbCBlbmdsaXNoIHN1YnRpdGxlcw%3D%3D)

Roméo et Juliette, de la Haine à l'Amour (Romeo and Juliet: from Hate to Love) (French) www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-2DCYbb-uM&list=PL56CCEF1F36C7B3D9&pp=0gcJCdAEOCosWNin

Le Roi Soleil (The Sun King) (French) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XcMv3wj37uI

Mozart l'Opera Rock (Mozart: the Rock Opera) (French) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OfdnnheqQcw

A Dzsungel Könyve (The Jungle Book) (Hungarian) I don’t think there’s anything besides the Hungarian-language album, so try that and the wikipedia summary and maybe that’ll work. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72rzlD7z7mo&list=PLVVhP7O4XsQztQHk5o9nrOBdw6bMeDn6s

István, a király (Steven the King) (Hungarian) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtSiKZD_K90&list=PLnucQ0M43hd9k1c-nWl0-n3A96wSukqB8 (this is subtitled in Hungarian and Russian but you can auto-translate it to English; I have no idea if this playlist is in the correct order for the songs and only some of the songs at the start of the playlist are translated at all)

A padlás (The Attic) (Hungarian) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_MiZ3UD63k&list=PLB17D0F8010A3A5D8

Jónás Könyve (Book of Jonah) (Hungarian) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFN55oK0RJs

Kristina från Duvemåla (Kristina from Duvemåla) (Swedish) (supposedly there is a movie but idk if it’s subtitled; there is an English-language translated version of the album and it’s sung-through; that’s available on YouTube) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSFYyvKkMAE&list=PLpEP-z4P8ulxHaNUUublJNDcVD801i4KA

데스노트 (Death Note) (Korean) (there is an English version of this show; I’m not sure if it’s significantly changed or if it’s just a direct translation, but you can watch that) There are a lot of performances of songs available in Korean with subtitles, but I can’t find the whole show anywhere.

Doornroosje (Sleeping Beauty) (Dutch) no translations https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MwYcjmRFoes&list=PLyQV5OSKK9GlQv8dlZG7OLcjM1rEQkJDT&index=1 (< filmed show, no subtitles) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3q2xTLdA-aU&list=PLM0aSga7O1ozAAIgsDr6fVg2EwDAl4c4V&index=1 (< Dutch album, no subtitles)

Tarzan (Dutch) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjqwxSHmydc&list=PLLqOM1t2-NHqpYUKE39mg02_0qy6-JWhB (< Dutch album) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppWG7KlwTVU&list=PL042CD63A82BAFFC8 (< English version of the album) Scenes are missing from both; the English Broadway production can fill in those gaps

Soldaat van Oranje (Soldier of Orange) (Dutch) no translations I could find; here’s the album: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4dd1-hK8rE&list=PLNXSK9RU25sibWS1aAddA-7emp8nrypks&index=1

[lizcanbeyourhero]

If anybody is interested in watching subbed Korean musicals, the main way right now looks like Disney plus. There are a number of pro shots that have been uploaded in the last few years. Here's a list of the ones that I've seen available there:

Xcalibur

Elisabeth

Frankenstein

Monte Cristo

Phantom (not the ALW phantom, it's a different one)

Marie Antoinette

The Man Who Laughs

Admittedly, I don't 100% know if these are available in every country on Disney plus; you might have to play around with VPNs a bit. Try searching for "the musical live."

There are usually at least a few videos of selected numbers, highlights, dress rehearsals or other rehearsals, etc. that go up on YouTube for most Korean musicals, but they're not subbed and it's rare (unheard of?) to find any full shows of anything on YouTube.

(Interestingly, Rebecca, the German musical, is also frequently and famously performed here in Korean! No pro-shots though afaik.)

[movementnudge]

Movement nudge, Chinese auntie way.

X

[movementnudge]

Movement nudge!

X

[movementnudge]

Movement nudge, coach John makes the period stretches more accessible

X

Reminder these stretches are to be done between periods. Nit that they can't help during. But to get the most out of them, do between periods. And there was a comment that said, these stretches may hurt more if you do them during if you have endo.

[leave-her-a-tome]

(source)

Unsplash -  photography, illustration, & art

Pixabay - same as unsplash

Pexels - stock photos and videos

Getty Images - photography & illustration

Veceezy - vectors and clipart

Gumroad - photoshop brushes (and more)

StockSnap.io - stock photos

Canva - needs login but has lots of templates

Library of Congress - historical posters and photos

NASA - you guessed it

Creative Commons - all kinds of stuff, homie

Even Adobe has some free images

There are so many ways to make moodboards, bookcovers, and icons without plagiarizing! As artists, authors, and other creatives, we need to be especially careful not to use someone else’s work and pass it off as our own. 

Please add on if you know any more resources for free images <3

[debtdeath]

recently found out about openverse which i think aggregates a bunch of creative commons images from flickr, wikimedia, nasa etc… pretty handy

[traegorn]

I’m shocked so many people don’t know about my go to – Morgue File.

It’s full of searchable, rights free images uploaded by photographers.

[nevershootamockingbird]

[ Begin ID: A screenshot of a tweet by @/santanareads that says “apps you SHOULDN’T use to find pictures for aesthetic boards (basically illegal, chock-full of stolen photography & art): Pinterest We Heart It Instagram

apps you SHOULD use to find pictures for aesthetic boards (free stock photos): Resplash Pixabay Pexels” / End ID ]

[movementnudge]

Movement nudge, tai chi edition

Source

[fullest-circlest]

If you're writing 18th century dialogue, this website lets you search words and phrases to double-check whether they were in use & meant what you intend. It doesn't include every period-accurate use of a word/phrase, but it certainly helped me separate genuine 18th century grammar from the vague tangle of 💬old-fashioned fancy-speak💬 I've internalized from TV and video games.

[my-deer-friend]

Other websites that let you do this:

Johnson's Dictionary Online (thanks @yellowbelliedtoad!) – 1755 and 1773

Green's Dictionary of Slang – 1300s to today

A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue – 1788

Feraud's Dictionaire critique de la langue française – 1778

[zisurru]

A dictionary of the English and Italian languages by Giuseppe Baretti is a bilingual dictionary from 1790!

[poll-position]

Do you prefer Art Nouveau or Art Deco? (Links to Wikipedia articles below)

Art Nouveau

Art Deco

Voting ended onFeb 17

Art Nouveau - Wikipedia

Art Nouveau - Wikipedia

Art Deco - Wikipedia

Art Deco - Wikipedia

[sweaterpanda]

[teomodo]

art books on the internet archive for you

morpho books

figure drawing for all it's worth (+ creative illustration)

framed ink

will eisner comics and sequential art

will eisner graphic storytelling and visual narrative

understanding comics (+ making comics)

folder of various animation production art

burne hogarth drawing dynamic hands

perspective for comic book artists

michael mattesi force drawing

the animator's survival kit

color and light james gurney

be free

[bedupolker]

I've recommended this one before, but for all the non-human vertebrate likers out there... the art of animal drawing

[midwinterhunt]

Hot Writers Don't Gatekeep

the writers REALLY liked my artist resource post, so I thought i'd give y'all my dragon hoard of things i use for writing

Reverse Dictionary, you type in the meaning of a word, and it gives you a bunch of words that mean that. (MY MOST IMPORTANT OFFERING IN THIS LIST)

Slang Dictionary, what it says on the tin.

Anglish Translator, Anglish is if English evolved without borrowing from other languages and it really itches my brain (Anglish is if english grown without borrowing from other languages and it truly itches my brain)

Incorrect Quotes Generator, Put character names in, and incorrect quotes come out. Really fun way to goof around with your characters' dynamics.

Handspeak, an ASL dictionary

Library of Babel, Odds are, the finished version of your wip is in here somewhere

The best fantasy map maker i have ever used

Glitch Text Generator is one I use A Lot, does ť̷̨̢͓̤͔̤̤̝̺̯̄̔̄̌̄͗͒͋͂͋͝ḩ̵̼̜͍͚͕̏̓͊̈̉̆̄͐́͗͒̈̃̊̚͜i̵̻̐̇̎̏̀̋̌̃̇̿͘̚s̴̮̔̂̇͒͑͝͝ͅ to your text

Totally not bootleg microsoft office

Emotions Thesaurus a guide for writing emotions and their associated body language

Mythcreants, has a whole bunch of stuff you can read to learn more about the technical aspects of writing

A decent article talking about what to think about when creating a language

Trope Talks, particularly good for beginner and younger writers or people who have a hard time reading. Honestly this whole channel is a fantastic format to get information into my adhd rattled brain.

FOR MY AO3 BESTIES! Postimages will host your image forever so you can embed it into your work

Ambient Chaos, sometimes the only thing in the world that can kick your brain into writing mode is nuclear sirens and lofi beats

Radioooooo, play a station from any place and year. Particularly helpful for period pieces.

[midwinterhunt]

Food timeline, when foods were invented

[sometiktoksarevalid]

[shamebats]

[preserving-tiktok]

[foodffs]

[foodffs]

ONE PAN CHICKEN AND PASTA IN TOMATO CREAM SAUCE

Really nice recipes. Every hour.

Show me what you cooked!