#interlorebrary loans

[interlorebrary-loans]

Writer’s Advice: “No one cares about my lore” part 1

This will be a two parter. This first post addresses the basics of accessibility, the second post will be writing tips. I will edit in a link to part 2 when I post it in the next few days. 

Edit: Part 2 is available here

Why people are not engaging with your lore

Previously, we discussed whether or not you should post your lore. So okay, you went and posted your lore. But it got zero notes! None of your lore posts get notes! Clearly, no one cares and you should just stop posting, right? 

WRONG. You don’t need to stop posting, you just need to take a critical look at the accessibility of your lore. 

I cannot count the number of times where I’ve been browsing the FR tag and see a lore post that looks kind of interesting, but when I start reading it, it’s clearly in the middle of an arc. But where is the rest of the arc? I don’t know! 

The thing is, most readers won’t know. And most won’t be bothered to go looking for it. We live in an era where time is money. Someone isn’t going to take three minutes out of their busy day to hunt down the lore that you didn’t bother to make accessible. They’re just going to keep scrolling. So, how do you make it accessible?

Option 1: Tagging

“But I do tag my lore!” You may be saying. “I make sure every post is tagged #Larry’s Lore so that people can click on it and see more!” 

But is that really accessible? Think about how Tumblr’s tagging system works. If I click on the tag on desktop, I’ll go to your blog, where I will see all your lore... in reverse chronological order. At least with desktop, though, I can click the next page button until I get to the end and read backwards. But again, I’m a busy guy, so I probably won’t. 

It gets even worse when someone is on mobile. I click your tag, and not only am I taken to your blog where your lore is in reverse chronological order, there is no pagination! I can’t even skip to the end! And since mobile blogs don’t show read mores, I may have to do a LOT of scrolling to get to the first post. For some of us using older phones, that can cause the app to crash. 

You can still use tags, though! You just have to be smart about it. 

First, don’t rely on tags in the tags themselves. Tag your lore, yes, but also include a link to the tag on your blog. 

Second, use the chronological tag feature! What’s that, you may ask, because very few people know about the feature? It’s an easy way to look through a tag in chronological order. All you have to do is add one thing to the end of the url. It should look like this:

[yourblogurl].tumblr.com/tagged/my-lore/chrono 

Again though, make sure you link it IN YOUR LORE POST so that mobile users can make use of it!

Option 2: Chapter links

Tagging is good, but - at least in my opinion - chapter links are better. This way, if I just missed your last chapter, I can easily navigate back to it. I’ll use my main FR blog as an example:

At the beginning of each lore post, I have three links: a link to the previous chapter, a link to a table of contents, and a link to the next chapter. Obviously, the ‘next’ link gets edited in after I make the next lore post. This easily allows people to move from one lore post to the next, making for easy flow as they read, like turning pages in a book, instead of tons of scrolling up and down a tag search. 

Clicking on the ‘list’ link will bring readers to a table of contents, like so:

This is a page I created on my blog, which appears in the links on the top of the theme, so people can access it easily. However, a normal blog post that you go back and edit will also work. On this page, people can pick which chapter they read, which is especially helpful if someone wants to re-read a certain chapter, either to get caught up or because they just liked it! 

The Take-Away:

Now, these tips alone will not bring people running to your lore. We’ll cover how to get people hooked in the next post. But these DO make it so that people have more reader-friendly entry points into your lore, which is CRITICAL when you are posting serially on a site that doesn’t keep all your posts together (like FF.net or AO3). 

[heirless-fr]

Quick Sketches!!

I’m super into the new @interlorebrary-loans thing we’ve got going on here and I wanted to do something fun with it.

Reblog this with a link to one of your dragons who has lore written in their bio, and I’ll do a quick sketch of my interpretation of them!!

[cerillosvillage]

Home Sweet Home (Part 1)

This is part one of my entry for the ‘Home Sweet Home’ prompt. Part 2 will be a prose entry.

The Cerillos village (formerly the Rockbreaker Cult village, but prior to that known as Cerillos village) is a cliff dwelling found along the Greatwyrm’s Breach. The village is an ancient one, first built by the Cerillos tribe, a tribe of early tundra migrants to Earth territories. 

The village has long been a contested territory, with multiple clans historically trying to take the village. What makes the village so desirable is the fact that it sits above a massive mineral deposit, making it the perfect location for a mine. 

The Cerillos tribe, however, were hunters and gatherers, not miners, and largely left the mines alone. However, it was not just the lack of technology that kept them out of the caves - they believed that the caves were holy places. Many villagers who descended into the caves came back with claims that they had heard the voices of the Eleven. 

Eventually, the Cerillos were nearly wiped out by an invading clan, leaving the survivors weak and open to attack. The last of the historical tribe were driven out by Grax and Ajra, the latter of which had her sites set on the caves. The Cerillos tribe, meanwhile, were pushed to the Shattered Plain.

Ajra would launch a massive mining operation, bringing to the surface metals and minerals that were sold off at a high price. She would also build a cult around herself, fortifying the village and establishing a farm on the land above it. Most importantly, though, the miners managed to make their way to a pure fluorite cave in the mines - one that emitted elemental energy and let the more spiritually attuned pick up on the commands of the Eleven.

During the events surrounding Elyakim, the Rockbreaker cult would finally reach out to the Cerillos tribe, seeking their help in ousting the wannabe cult leader and his monsters. The cult disbanded, leaving Ajra with no followers and no one to work her mines or land. Defeated, she would offer a truce to the Cerillos tribe - she would concede to them their homeland if they let her and a few followers who did not want to leave stay. 

Now, the Cerillos are back in control of their village, but they have largely left the mines alone, angry at the cult for disrupting their sacred caves. The village’s main export now is wool and textiles, as the tribe developed shepherding and the art of weaving during their exile on the Shattered Plain. 

Ajra is rarely seen in the village anymore, preferring to stay deep within the caves. 

[draconiform-rising]

Eyes

TW: harm coming to children, death, and eye horror.

“Excuse me.”

Ynot turned, responding to the tug at their coat.  The little hatchling surprised them in the balcony seat overlooking the operatic performance below.  Just a travelling troupe, passing through, nothing special.

“Yes, little one, can I help you?”

“I wanted to see what the stage looks like,” the pearlcatcher said, clutching her pearl to her chest.

“Why of course,” Ynot crooned, hoisting her up to sit with her legs dangling over the balcony below.  They kept a protective claw on her waist so she didn’t fall, “interested in opera, are you?”

“I think the costumes are pretty,” she said, swinging her legs, “I always wanted to wear them.  Mommy thinks it’s silly, but I really want to.”

“Tell me, darling, can you sing?”

She looked at them strangely through the shadows, catching the odd reflection of their eyes in the darkness.  Something dark and viscous ran down their cheeks and the pearlcatcher’s breath hitched.

“Y-yes...” she said hesitantly, “I sing for my mommy all the time.  Mommy’s probably worried about me...”

“Nonsense,” Ynot purred, their grip tightening around her waist.

Her breath caught in her throat as she caught their full gaze.  Black liquid pooled on the lip of the balcony, staining her dress and hands.  She felt herself slip off, unable to scream as she crashed through the floor.  No one seemed to see her.

Talk of the new soprano singing in the Briar Rose buzzed about the town.  Like so many of the talent, she went unlisted on the playbills--a complete mystery, up for guessing.  Her sad birdsong rang out in the evening performances above all the others.

“Oh, she won’t stay long.  You know the director,” said a Snapper to his companion after the show.

“Yes, a fickle one, aren’t they?  Always finds such marvelous performers, and half the time they’re gone before I even see them.  Damn shame, I wonder where they find them,” replied the Coatl, fussing with his feathers.

“Ah, I doubt it would be half as fun without the mystery of it all.”

[silanahredwing]

Walk, Walk, Fashion Baby - @interlorebrary-loans prompt: Fashion

What kind of fashions are there in your clan? Who makes the textiles? What do your dragons put on to show their status?

Generally, the occupations of the dragons determines their attire. Armor sets are rarely full sets, unless the dragons actively collect/craft it themselves and forging is a skill many pick up.

For example - Thanatos takes after Baldwin, both in his breed change, and his lackadaisical approach to lab safety. He’s since taken better precautions, using reinforced lab coats and safety masks, but gloves? What are those?

And Alto, who took work much too seriously, and now resemble the plants she studies so much.

Trends also include drapes - wing covers,robes, cloaks and ribbons abound in the lair. Certain older denizens are also sporting antlers BUT the most important item many dragons own are bags, and other items of holding.

Because pockets.

Crochet and knitting is a very common hobby, and most dragons are able to sew to an extent. Squall knows leather working, but does not prepare his own hides.

There are no weavers in the clan.

Specific dragons - Stormsurge

Her clothing is loosely based off victorian morning dresses. But they are often elaborately sequined with flecks of obsidian. The shawl pictured is a crocheted monstrosity that is based off the skin she wears.

Aphelion

A tundra in the hot, hot lands of the Great Furnace? You would be surprised. She wears short shorts and loud loud shirts. She keeps her fur trimmed shorter than it would be naturally, and keeps it out of her face with barrettes. Yeah, those shirts are much louder than what Guy Fieri wears in that picture, and are a riot of reds, yellows and oranges.

Foxfire

1920s flapper dresses, and accessories.

Calliope

Full professional attire. All her clothing is tailored, and would not stand out in a crowd full of office workers. 

[wildewinged-fr]

lore share: beginnings 

Surak's earliest memories are of clans embroiled in senseless violence over petty disagreements. He carries no happy memories of childhood; only battle, blood, and running as a foot soldier of distant leaders. Struck in the head during one battle, he fled with little thought to where he'd go, only knowing he wouldn't survive where he was. Days of wandering with no end in sight left him certain he'd die. When he found Shi’Kahr’s oasis he could scarcely believe his good fortune, collapsing at its edge in sheer relief.

He may still have died, exposed in the hot desert sun, had an emissary of the Lightweaver not happened upon the same spot. T'Pau felt curiously drawn to it in a way she attributed to the guidance of her goddess, and upon finding a bloodied and exhausted dragon, immediately tended to him as best she could. Long days later her work paid off and he woke, wary but cautiously optimistic that she had helped rather than hurt him further.

They spoke for long hours, T'Pau asking question after question to try to figure out why she'd been sent here to meet this quiet, tired soul. Over many conversations he outlined his dreams to her: a sanctuary free from wars and their suffering, a place that the lost and hunted could discover but would be all but invisible to their abusers and pursuers.

Unbeknownst to the two of them, the ruins at the edge of the oasis were more than just the crumbling rocks they appeared. As Surak spoke, and he and T'Pau imagined that sanctuary, the blood he'd spilled into the sand seeped away and ancient runes glowed with power...

[nirnrootnoises]

Lore Share - Theme Song

love this prompt tbh, i always make tons of playlists for new characters/world-building so it was fun trying to narrow down my selection!

I ended up with three that i think capture the Tavern pretty well - the general purpose, the positive side, and the darker side.

One More Light - Linkin Park

Who cares if one more light goes out? / Well I do

The Tavern is a place of rest and recovery for weary souls - anyone that feels lost on their path or is at a crossroads in their life (or death). Immediately upon entering the Tavern, you are greeted by name and invited to stay the night to relax. Whether you need to talk over a drink, in a group, or in a more private setting, it’s clear from day one that the entirety of the Tavern is behind you and will support you on your journey to peace or recovery.

Drops In The Ocean - Hawk Nelson 

I want you as you are not as you ought to be / Won't you lay down your guard and come to me?

I have this song as my founder’s theme, and I thought I’d include it to capture the “positive” side of the Tavern. The heart and soul of the place (literally) is Vahlokdozii, who shaped the space between the mortal and ethereal worlds to create a refuge for anyone that needed his help. He listens without judgement, offering only his boundless and unconditional understanding and affection. After talking with him for just a few minutes, even the most guarded dragon is ready to lay themself bare and be absolved of their troubles. i also uhhh am weak for religious imagery

Whisper - Burn the Ballroom

A beast in the business of selling forgiveness and buying salvation with wine / And he cries out to God how can you claim them all when I know that they are all mine?

This song serves as the theme song for my clan’s “charlatan”, a man born of a magically-corrupted cult leader and the ethereal nature of limbo itself. He’s taken the purpose of the Tavern a bit too far: “You’re burdened by your past actions? How about I just… erase that for you? A simple trade my friend, how can you resist?” While others at the Tavern champion the method of working through troubles with time and self-reflection, Dez offers the tempting alternative to simply erase negative experiences from your memory. In exchange all he asks is a little information, a memory, an emotion… is that really so much to give up in exchange for peace?

[tomswifty-fr]

Lore Share: Theme Song

@interlorebrary-loans

This is a fun prompt for me, because I love making playlists and I’m always thinking and coming up with songs to fit stuff. For the clan as a whole:

Shake Hands With Your Uncle Max by Allan Sherman (Bc of that whole close-knit family-togetherness vibe, also, a traveling plastic salesman seems like exactly the kind of dragon I’d have. Hmm.)

Old Birds by the Bumper Jacksons (Small town, slow pace of life, peaceful, things could be a lot better but they could be a lot worse too)

The Heart of Life by John Mayer (Things can suck, but everything turns out alright in the end. No sad endings allowed)

Why is the Desert by Richard Kiley and Steven Warner (Why the heck isn’t this song available to listen anywhere?!? This one is maybe just a little gratuitous, it’s just cuz deserts and it’s a beautiful song and from one of my very favorite musicals)

Cool Water by Marty Robins (The non-gratuitous version of Why is the Desert. They’re in a desert, it’s had to live, water and who has it and how hard it is to get is real important in my lore too)

One World by Todd Rundgren (See Old Birds above, except there’s also young dragons in this small town! Young dragons who are cool and hip and deserve a theme song with electric guitars and drums! Also the idea of a small community where everybody knows everybody else, and the freedom that comes with relative isolation)

Forgotten by the Swingles (Here’s where the relative isolation comes in. Also, a long history which almost no one knows the whole story of, which has both high and low points and is fast becoming a mystery.

And a few songs for individual dragons, bc I just wanna share, but without the explanations bc it’s getting late here:

Garden Song by David Mallett (Helen and Ned and Murr)

Whatchugot by Caro Emerald (Toscanini, Vic)

The World Ender by Lord Huron (Elisabuff)

UFO by Country Joe and the Fish (Ripper)

Maybe Tomorrow by Terry Bush (London)

Red Silk Stockings by the Bumper Jacksons (Calypso)

Mary’s Kitchen by Old Crow Medicine Show (Kate) 

Radio Girl by Marshall Crenshaw (Petticoat)