Denim: Denim is a material made from 100% cotton. This is a cotton thread that is used to make a particular weave. It has warped threads in which a weft thread is placed under. This forms the traditional diagonal ribbing on the surface of the material. (i)
Velvet: Velvet made entirely from silk is rare and usually has market prices of several hundred US dollars per yard. Cotton is also used to make velvet, though this often results in a less luxurious fabric. Velvet can also be made from fibers such as linen, mohair, and wool. (i)
Corduroy: Generally made of all cotton or a cotton/polyester blend, modern corduroy's pile is usually woven and cut in a striped pattern, resulting in distinctive ribs, or wales, that run the length of the fabric. (i)
Flannel: Originally made from carded wool or worsted yarn, but is now often made from either wool, cotton, or synthetic fiber. Vegetable flannel is made from Scots pine fibre. (i)
Chiffon: Primarily made from cotton, silk or synthetic fibers like nylon, rayon and polyester. (i)
Brocade: Brocade fabrics mainly consist of solid or multi-colored silk threads, often times combined with gold or silver metallic threads. A brocade is woven by adding a supplementary weft to the weave, creating the illusion that sections have been embossed into the fabric, or embroidered on top of it. (i)
Tweed: Tweed is a type of fabric made from rough, woven wool. It may or may not use a twill or diagonal weave. Herringbone, a twill pattern in which the diagonal slant of the weave alternates, is popular in tweed. Many tweed fabrics also make use of threads of different colours to create an attractive "heather" effect. Tweed was traditionally hand dyed using local natural dyes and hand woven. Dyes for traditional luxury tweeds came from plant life such as moss, lichens, and blackberries. (i)
Felt: Felt is a textile material that is produced by matting, condensing and pressing fibers together. Felt can be made of natural fibers such as wool or animal fur, or from synthetic fibers such as petroleum-based acrylic or acrylonitrile or wood pulp-based rayon. Blended fibers are also common. (i)
Gauze: Gauze was originally made of silk and was used for clothing. It is now used for many different things, including gauze sponges for medical purposes. When used as a medical dressing, gauze is generally made of cotton. It is especially useful for dressing wounds where other fabrics might stick to the burn or laceration. (i)
Moleskin: Moleskin fabric is made from cotton, which is sheared to create a smooth textured surface that feels like the skin of the soil loving mole. Soft and hard wearing, it is a popular alternative to fabrics like wool or linen. (i)
Tartan: Tartan is a pattern consisting of criss-crossed horizontal and vertical bands in multiple colours. Tartans originated in woven wool, but now they are made in many other materials. (i)
Plush: Modern plush are commonly manufactured from synthetic fibres such as polyester. (i)
You should always see a doctor if you have a concussion. Generally, concussions don’t usually need major medical treatments such as surgery. However, you may need it if you have:
bleeding in the brain
swelling of the brain
a serious injury to the brain
Long-term Complications:
Post-traumatic headaches. Some people experience headaches within a week to a few months after a brain injury.
Post-traumatic vertigo. Some people experience a sense of spinning or dizziness for days, week or months after a brain injury.
Post-concussion syndrome. Some people have symptoms — such as headaches, dizziness and thinking difficulties — a few days after a concussion. Symptoms may continue for weeks or months.
Cumulative effects of multiple brain injuries. It's possible that some people who have had one or more traumatic brain injuries over the course of their lives are at greater risk of developing lasting, possibly progressive, impairment that limits function. This is an area of active research.
Second impact syndrome. Rarely, experiencing a second concussion before signs and symptoms of a first concussion have resolved may result in rapid and usually fatal brain swelling.
Since I’ve been trying to do some writing, I’ve been thinking about the Turkey City Lexicon, which is basically a collection of terms for certain tropes or elements of writing (specifically S-F and spec-fic writing) that are either desirable things to have in your work or (more frequently) not.
SFWA maintains a list of these Turkey City terms on its website, and so all of you folks who are also writing stuff, if you’ve never seen or read this before, it’s both funny and incredibly useful (IMO), and I’d like to share it with you.
Turkey City Lexicon – A Primer for SF Workshops
By the by, if you have never participated in a traditional SF writing workshop, I highly encourage you to do so. They are awesome.
@referenceforwriters has been a LIFESAVER for me since I started writing again, and I hope that my writer friends find it and @drink-it-write-it as helpful as I have! Any time I need a different word to use than “said” or a way to describe a facial expression or voice, this is where I head.
The new Kurzgesagt video is a realistic estimation about what a moon base would look like! A great resource for writers looking for inspiration on space colonization.
I was actually just looking for writing tips, and after going through the tag on tumblr it was.. confusing, so I thought to ask you, and your tag is pretty helpful! but if you have other advice I would appreciate that as well :)
Oh, I’m glad that it was helpful!
Anyway, as for my tips: I don’t actually have that many since I’m not a particularly skilled writer, but I can try to list a few things I try to keep in mind when I write.
If you’re starting from scratch (especially if English is not your native language):
Try to avoid homophones such as its/it’s. Here’s a quick guide I also contributed to. I chose this example in particular because even skilled writers occasionally fall for it, when they aren’t natives. Don’t be discouraged if you do. Most of the time, they’re just typos. It’s okay, everyone makes typos when they’re tired. If you struggle with homophones, you could use the find and replace option on your Word document and write the word in all caps. This way, when you reread your draft, your eye will be automatically drawn to that word. Our eyes are lazy, especially after we spend hours editing, and words like these tend to escape our notice since they sound the same in our head when we read them. So by forcing yourself to focus on each single one, you’ll be able to check if you used the correct word and not just its homophone.
Another list of commonly misspelled words.
If you still struggle with grammar, consider searching for a beta. I know most people prefer not to (myself included), but in certain cases it might be beneficial both to you as the writer and to your readers. To you, because this way you’ll feel more confident about what you’re posting. Confidence helps you stay motivated. Without motivation you don’t get any writing done. To your audience, because picky readers are a lot less inclined to drop a story if they don’t immediately spot a grammar mistake in the first paragraph.
a couple other tips for beginner writers
I forgot to mention this in the previous post, but try to avoid linear solution to problems. A story that lacks tension is boring. At some point your reader will drop it. No one is stopping you from writing a 90k fluff fic about your otp being cozy and comfortably together in an established relationship. It’s your story and you’re the author, so you’re absolutely allowed to write what makes you happy. But if you want to captivate your readers for the entire duration of those 90k words, you’ll have to challenge them. Why else do you think that the mutual pining or the fake dating tropes are classics that will never get old? Yep, that’s right, it’s because they create tension within the story.
Cliffhangers are the heart of your story, too. They captivate the readers and make them cry in frustration for more. They are what makes the reader turn that page and read yet another chapter before bedtime even though they swore this was the last one. So exploit them. A chapter that ends in a cliffhanger is 98% guaranteed to make a reader decide not to drop a still ongoing fic after they finished reading all the available chapters. Been there, done that. I’m talking from experience here :’D
So, how to increase the tension of a story? First, you need to stop relying on plot choices that are far too convenient. make your character struggle as much as you can. Let’s say:
Character A is badly injured and in need of immediate medical assistance. –> Good. You just made your readers gasp and wonder what now??
Character A passes out from blood loss right outside Love Interest’s doorstep, and Love Interest happens to get out to go grocery shopping right that moment. Love Interest also happens to be a skilled medic –> lazy writing. Not bad, per se, but you just killed the tension. Now your reader knows there’s no way that Character A will die. Love Interest will do anything in their power to avoid that.
Similarly as above, don’t create magical solutions to your character’s problems just because you need them to keep your story going (basically, don’t go the John Green route if you want to be taken seriously as a writer. But Alice, what’s wrong with J. Green? you say. Well, he created a totally made-up new med that supposedly stalled the effects of cancer in one of his MCs, but still killed off the other - who suffered from the same illness - for the sake of the Angst™ and the Bitter Life Lesson™. Just. Don’t be lazy. Do your research. Don’t make up convenient solutions just for the sake of keeping your story going. If your story can’t stand on its own two feet without you making stuff up, then you should probably consider revising it. Unrealistic stuff that can be fact-checked is a synonym for laziness. You don’t want to lose readers for something you could have fixed yourself, right?
Other things to keep in mind when trying to increase your story’s tension:
[Source] –> click the link for a more in-depth explanation of those points!
Use proper dialogue punctuation. I know, I know. This one will discourage a lot of people. I used to struggle with it too (and I still do at times). English is my second language, so at first I unconsciously used the punctuation rules of my own native language. But having a proper guide on how to do it correctly helps a lot, so check out that link. I promise it’s really easy once you get the hang of it.
Don’t use characters as plot devices. Just don’t. Every character in your story should have a purpose in the plot, yes, but their entire existence within the story shouldn’t be motivated by that plot point. Doing so is dehumanizing the character. Let them have their agency instead. Let them influence and shape the plot instead of just contributing to it. Give them a personal goal, and make that goal be in the way of another character’s own ambitions. Create tension.
be true to your character’s voice. I know, this sounds obvious. But it’s not. Lots of bad fiction stems from this really simple rule. Keeping true to your Character’s voice includes: not using -or abusing- epithets (such as the other male, the taller man, the blond, the raven, the older one. If your character has a nickname for another character, use the nickname instead of an epithet. Or literally just use the character’s name); not disregarding the character’s moral alignment, ethics or set of values for the sake of justifying your plot decision / your AU; letting your character make mistakes, misbehave, be an asshole because of how fallible they are, even when said misbehavior goes against your personal comfort / your own set of values; as a result of the previous one, not letting your character off the hook that easily just because you personally love said character.
That’s it for the beginner writers! Now, here’s a list of useful tips that every writer should keep in mind:
Show, don’t tell. Basically, avoid using emotion words as much as you can and try to replace them with action, with body language, with dialogue. I know, it’s hard. I still struggle with this, too. Even authors who’ve already been published struggle with this, too. Don’t be discouraged. It takes a lot of practice, like anything related to writing, but you’ll eventually get there, I promise.
To practice the tip above, here’s a really helpful guide on how to translate words that convey emotions (tell) into written body language (show).
A list of words and phrases to cut from your writing.
I wanted to end this masterpost with a few tips on how to deal with writer’s block. So here goes:
First, you need to realize that writer’s block is a thing, but it doesn’t work the way you think it does. 9 times out of 10, you’re calling “writer’s block” a simple lack of inspiration. But Alice, you say, isn’t lack of inspiration the very essence of writer’s block? It’s really not. Do you think that G.R.R. Martin waited for inspiration to strike before writing every single page of his books? His thicker-than-a-latin-dictionary books? He’d need a hundred lifetimes to make that possible. Not even Tolkien had the entire plot of the Fellowship of the ring figured out past Bilbo’s birthday party. But the Lord of the Rings saga would have never been brought to life if he just gave up, right? inspiration is a fickle thing. It’s not reliable. Plus, it’s kind of a myth that to write good stuff you have to be inspired first. Sometimes you get those random bursts of inspiration and you write pages and pages of your story during an all-nighter, then you reread it the next morning and it’s junk. Inspiration is just that magic moment where words flow more easily than usual. It’s not a qualifier or even a necessary tool for your writing. To write, all you need is your computer, your brain, your eyes and faith in yourself. Sometimes also paper and a pen, but nothing more than that, I promise. Inspiration doesn’t make things perfect. Practice does.
Seriously, a bad draft is still a hundred times better than no draft at all. Once you write a rough draft, even if it’s shit, you can improve it. The second harsh truth to come to terms with is that not all your drabbles / not all your chapters will be worth five stars out of five in terms of quality. There are days in which you’ll struggle to get 3. And that’s okay, too. The sooner you’ll get past that bump in the road, the sooner you’ll get back to smoother surfaces. The only way you can get zero stars is by not writing. But once you post your bad chapter, you can get it off your chest and start writing a better one. You can go back and fix it later. Or you can accept that the bad chapter was still the best you could do, and move on. Trying to reach perfection every single step of the way will only wear you out before you can get into it. You’ll get so sick of that damned chapter you’ll stop writing altogether. Your story will remain unfinished. No one wants to get to that point, right? So acknowledge that you are human and you can have bad chapters just like you can have bad days. They don’t define your worth as a writer any more than anxiety defines someone’s worth as a person. Now it sounds silly, doesn’t it?
So, you decided to defeat your writing block, but you opened a new document and the blank page is making you lose your confidence all over again. What can you do? Here are some tips that I find useful:
Brainstorm. During this phase, you need to remember that no idea is a silly idea. You’ll think: but this idea is ridiculous! No one will actually read it! False. For two reasons: one, if it makes you happy, you should write it anyway. Fanwork is the definition of self-indulgent. You’re self-employed, so you don’t have to please anyone else but yourself; and two, there’s always someone interested in a story. In my experience, ALL the fics I expected to be ridiculed for always got a lot more attention and love than those I thought were super interesting :’D Readers are weird. You can’t really predict what will make them go crazy for your story. So you have no excuses.
So, don’t filter yourself when you’re brainstorming. Even when the ridiculous fic idea is not the one that you end up writing, it does help to have it written down together with all the other ideas. It makes you prioritize. Understand what’s the kind of feeling you’re going for with your story. Plus, ideas are like dominos. Sometimes your brain will make a random connection between two completely disconnected concepts.
You have a bunch of inconsistent ideas, but no plot. What now? Try following this anon’s advice: “when I’m stuck on writing with no plot, I write down every idea that jumps into my head onto a document, even if it’s stupid. Try to elaborate off of those, change them. If you have a few ideas for a story, think of the next logical thing to happen (and do that, or do something completely different, the opposite of what should happen. Ex: the guy confesses his love to the girl? The girl reveals she’s the traitor).”
Write an outline. This method works best after you brainstorm for ideas. Pick one of those random, inconsistent ideas and develop it. Write a rough summary of how such a scene would play out. Then add details. Divide it into scenes. Add more characters and backgrounds. Then try and make it more and more detailed until you have the skeleton of your story. An outline doesn’t have to be particularly detailed to work as a basis for your actual story, but adding random touches here and there does help to get you in the mood, or to motivate you.
Another thing you can do is using prompts.
Prompt tables are the best for those writers (like me) who don’t like too many restrictions. They’re basically just list of words chosen at random. You can also find specific tables that are meant to fit a particular mood. Back in the days, I used prompt tables as writing practice. I chose one, decided a genre (for example, angst, or slice of life), a fandom and I set a fixed word-count I had to follow strictly (110 words, to be precise). The challenge of writing so little while still making it interesting and worth the read kept me motivated. Also, finishing a table was another big boost to my motivation. It gave me instant validation that came from me and not an external source.
Sentence starters or one liner prompts are also good ways to start. As for the latter, there are dozens of examples here on tumblr. I just did a quick research and these are the first three results: one, two, three.
Situation prompts / AU ideas. Again, there are dozens of examples on tumblr. Here’s a few from my writing prompts tag, as an example: one, two, three.
Picture prompts. Write the story behind a photo, a piece of art, a mural, a drawing.
Other tips to overcome writer’s block (some of these I actually used, others are I never tried but people recommended them to me and I think they’re worth a shot):
I know this sounds like the complete opposite of what I said until now, but take breaks. Sometimes ideas just won’t come because you’re subconsciously putting too much pressure on yourself. Maybe you’ve been trying to write that damned scene in your current chapter for the past week, and it just doesn’t come out right. Maybe you’ve been staring at a blank page for an hour. Or maybe you’ve been procrastinating on writing for weeks, so when you finally open that document, you’ve managed to drive yourself into a corner so badly, you can’t write anymore. Pressuring yourself is the worst way you can go about writing. Even if you do manage to write anything down, you’ll end up hating it anyway. So take breaks. Take the afternoon off and go out with a friend. People watch. Go to the mall, take a walk, do whatever helps you relaxing. Read someone else’s writing. Do the most mundane things you can think of. The best writing ideas are those down to earth. You don’t need to rack your brain for a liteary masterpiece. Start small. Get a feel for day-to-day struggles, and you’ll find the perfect motivator for your character, or the missing piece for that background story you were having troubles with.
Retell your day / something that happened to you today through your character’s voice. It doesn’t have to be anything perfect, or deep. You don’t even need to publish it afterwards. It just needs to get you going.
If you’re struggling with the word flow, pick an object in your room (or a picture) and describe it. Then create a character and have them interact with it. Build a silly story around it. Again, this is just an exercise to help you get going. No one needs to read it afterwards.
Having troubles with plotting and outlines? Try writing your story backwards.
If your struggling with a scene, switch things up a little. Change POV. Make something go wrong. Skip to the next scene and then go back to that one when you have a clearer mind.
I think that’s it!
This ended up being more of a ramble than I predicted, but I hope it can be useful to someone. If this helped you in any way, even if it just gave you a bit of motivation, then hit me up! I would make my day to know this masterpost was somewhat useful :)
