Tamzin.A.May

Aspiring Author and mother of one. I have been an avid writer for many years, and have come to a point in my life I am able to dedicate the time to the craft. I mainly write Dark Fantasy with Romance elements.

[perfectquote]

“Before the truth can set you free you need to recognize which lie is holding you hostage.”

— Unknown

[ariesrin]

I love characters who would die for each other but will not, under any circumstances, communicate a single honest feeling.

[thoughtkick]

“Getting over it doesn’t mean forgetting it. It just means reducing the pain to a tolerable level, a level that doesn’t destroy you.”

— Kevin Brooks

[digitalkiddo]

If you're writing anything involving cons, scams, heists, or morally questionable characters who are very good at lying, here are some free resources I've been using for research. Saving you the "why is this in my search history" anxiety.

1. The FBI's Famous Cases & Criminals archive (fbi.gov/history/famous-cases) has detailed breakdowns of real fraud cases, Ponzi schemes, and confidence operations. The language they use is clinical and precise, which is perfect for getting the procedural details right.

2. The FTC Consumer Sentinel Network publishes annual reports on the most common fraud tactics in the US. Great for understanding how modern scams actually work and what makes people fall for them.

3. The Smithsonian's American Art Museum has a free digital collection of forgery case studies. If your character forges documents or art, this is gold.

4. Court Listener (courtlistener.com) is a free legal database where you can read actual court transcripts from fraud trials. Want to know how a real con artist talks under oath? This is where you find out.

5. The Internet Archive's collection of old newspaper crime sections. Search for "confidence man" or "swindle" in papers from the 1920s through 1960s and you'll find incredible real stories that would feel too dramatic for fiction.

Bonus: The Psychology of Fraud section on the Association for Psychological Science website has accessible articles about why people trust, how deception works cognitively, and what makes someone a convincing liar. Essential reading if you want your con artist characters to feel psychologically real.

Reblog to save for later. Your WIP will thank you.

[gaslit-dipshits]

[groanings-0f-a-dying-empire]

💯💯💯🔥🔥🔥

Nothing but facts

[catchymemes]

Subsequent hump matched Cosplay

[luna-azzurra]

Writers have two modes and they are "i haven't written in three weeks and i am rotting from the inside and everything feels wrong and i don't know who i am anymore" and "i wrote for four hours straight and forgot to eat and it's dark outside and when did that happen and i feel like a god" and there is nothing in between. no chill. no medium setting. just famine or feast and a very confused nervous system.

[sourdough-seal]

“how did you get into writing” girl nobody gets into writing. writing shows up one day at your door and gets into you

[orbitalmirror]

"how did you get into writing" girl i've been tormented by the visions since i was eight years old

[ba0shanblack]

"How did you get into writing" girl it started as a coping mechanism, and somewhere along the way I had the horrifying realization that not only I was emo as fuck, but I was also kinda good at turning it into prose.

[tamzinamay]

First thing I ever wrote was a story about fairies that lived in the caves up the hills behind our house. Was before I even started school. I told the Fae that I liked stories, so they cursed me for life

[writingwithrxd]

I love other writers so much because every writer I've ever met is genuinely and utterly deranged on a level only writers can achieve

[questionablyfictional]

@le-random-yeet-up made a whump this or that :3c

Soo tag game time. Highlight your preferred whump trope however you prefer! I'll go first :3c:

Physical whump or mental angst // Freezing or overheating // Can't sleep or can't wake up // Hiding injury or not knowing about injury // Passing out and hitting the floor or passing out in someone's arms // Drowning or dehydration // Food poisoning or starvation // Hallucinations or nausea // Multiple whumpers or multiple whumpees // "Who did this to you" or "please let me help you" // Calling someone who isn't there or calling someone who's right next to you // Ropes or chains // Tied or caged // "You aren't real" or "you were never real" // Save them or mercy kill

@circusislife + open tag!

[painwithoutplot]

Ooh, fun!

Physical whump or mental angst // Freezing or overheating // Can't sleep or can't wake up // Hiding injury or not knowing about injury // Passing out and hitting the floor or passing out in someone's arms // Drowning or dehydration // Food poisoning or starvation // Hallucinations or nausea // Multiple whumpers or multiple whumpees // "Who did this to you" or "please let me help you" // Calling someone who isn't there or calling someone who's right next to you // Ropes or chains // Tied or caged // "You aren't real" or "you were never real" // Save them or mercy kill

Open tag!

[whumpshaped]

i love a this or that

Physical whump or mental angst // Freezing or overheating // Can't sleep or can't wake up // Hiding injury or not knowing about injury // Passing out and hitting the floor or passing out in someone's arms // Drowning or dehydration // Food poisoning or starvation // Hallucinations or nausea // Multiple whumpers or multiple whumpees // "Who did this to you" or "please let me help you" // Calling someone who isn't there or calling someone who's right next to you // Ropes or chains // Tied or caged // "You aren't real" or "you were never real" // Save them or mercy kill

open tag :)

[shakesfeare-whumps]

This is my first whump this or that!

Physical whump or mental angst // Freezing or overheating // Can't sleep or can't wake up // Hiding injury or not knowing about injury // Passing out and hitting the floor or passing out in someone's arms // Drowning or dehydration // Food poisoning or starvation // Hallucinations or nausea // Multiple whumpers or multiple whumpees // "Who did this to you" or "please let me help you" // Calling someone who isn't there or calling someone who's right next to you // Ropes or chains // Tied or caged // "You aren't real" or "you were never real" // Save them or mercy kill

Tagging @an0neemouse @honeycollectswhump @kitcatling @stars-hide-our-fires @theguiltywriter @whumperofworlds + open tag and no pressure!

Please feel free to reblog and participate in this, even if we're not mutuals or I didn't tag you! I'd love to see what your whump opinions are! :)

[an0neemouse]

Thanks @shakesfeare-whumps!

Oh man, I don't want to choose on some of these! Here we go!

Physical whump or mental angst // Freezing or overheating // Can't sleep or can't wake up // Hiding injury or not knowing about injury // Passing out and hitting the floor or passing out in someone's arms // Drowning or dehydration // Food poisoning or starvation // Hallucinations or nausea // Multiple whumpers or multiple whumpees // "Who did this to you" or "please let me help you" // Calling someone who isn't there or calling someone who's right next to you // Ropes or chains // Tied or caged // "You aren't real" or "you were never real" // Save them or mercy kill

This was fun! I don't know if any of my lovely moots or followers specifically write whump, but if you do, you should do this so we can see your preferences! Open tags!

[tamzinamay]

Ooohhhh, now I got a LOT of these in what I'm working on lmao I'm not a COMPLETE sadist, I AM working on the second book of the series. Physical whump or mental angst // Freezing or overheating // Can't sleep or can't wake up // Hiding injury or not knowing about injury // Passing out and hitting the floor or passing out in someone's arms // Drowning or dehydration // Food poisoning or starvation // Hallucinations or nausea // Multiple whumpers or multiple whumpees // "Who did this to you" or "please let me help you" // Calling someone who isn't there or calling someone who's right next to you // Ropes or chains // Tied or caged // "You aren't real" or "you were never real" // Save them or mercy kill

Feel free to reblog, moots or not. Open tag.

[tamzinamay]

Kill your Darling they say...

Welp, there goes 11,500 words.

[zmpl]

it’s funny how we’re getting to the point in the AI lifespan where you can feel the desperation from tech companies to have you use their AI features. instagram has moved their AI effects to the top of the menu when you’re creating a post for your story, exactly where the draw/edit button used to be. gmail is creating one-click AI-generated replies right before you open up the text box. spotify put a beta AI playlist generator on the front page that looks just like a search bar so all of their users accidentally click on it when they go to search for a song.

tech companies are shaking in their boots trying to prove to shareholders that their investment in AI is worth it, to the point where they’re tricking their users into using the AI features even for a split second in order to fudge the numbers. like awww is your little environment-destroying toy not wielding the results you hoped for? so sad!

[tj-crochets]

My grandma just called and, among other things, said “You have hips. That’s good! Men like hips!” and then she interrupted herself to say “Women like hips. People of your preferred gender like hips. I can never remember”  And I was like “Thanks grandma! My preferred gender is none of them, no thanks.” and she was like “Okay, no one will comment on your hips!” very self satisfied, like “aha, I have figured it out” I think like half her grandkids are some variety of not-straight and she can’t always remember which is which but she is the epitome of like “she’s a little confused, but she’s got the spirit!”

[tj-crochets]

Update: I gave it some thought and my estimate was wrong. Of the grandkids that are out, it’s 1/3, not ½

[tj-crochets]

I told my grandma that I’d told my friends about what she said and that some of y’all had said you wished she was your grandma, and she said “Well, you can never have too many grandkids!”  So like…consider her your honorary grandma* I guess? *if you want an honorary grandma, that is

[tj-crochets]

Update on my grandma: I told her my hair was standing up, but instead of straight line it was diagonal and she said “That’s okay, you’ve never been straight!” and then laughed so hard at her own joke I thought she was going to drop the phone

[tj-crochets]

Happy almost pride month! Have my confused-but-supportive grandma!

[tj-crochets]

An update: my grandma just called me to ask if I knew it was pride month

[tj-crochets]

Happy pride month!!

[bowlby4]

[starryhoundbloo]

Shout out to my mom who explains my transition as "Having a daughterpillar turn into a Boyterfly". It doesn't erase the fact I was an adorable little girl, and also affirms my gender now. I love my mother.

[flower-cute-posts]

Every tumblr girl from 2014 would’ve gone insane for this. (Available HERE)

[aatmadevata]

girls who used tumblr during 2014-18 were highly fashionable ones and had so many cool ideas 😩

[alyna-gg]

this is what happens when society denies women functional pockets for too long

[brainstreams]

Underused Ways to Foreshadow a Character Is the Villain

Everyone writes the obvious red flags.

But let's talk about those sneaky quiet ones!

Here are some quick tips to foreshadow a villain character (without saying "they were the villain"):

• They’re the only one who never asks how something happened, only who’s responsible

• They agree with whoever they're talking to (inconsistent loyalty)

• They omit key details that later turn out to be important

• They remember details no one ever told them

• When the protagonist shares something personal, they respond thoughtfully (but with curiosity rather than empathy)

• They’re calm while everyone else is panicking

• They offer the perfect solution a little too quickly

• They watch people argue like it’s entertainment

• They always seem to know more than they should

• They comfort someone… while steering the conversation exactly where they want it

• They “forget” to mention information that would change a decision (selective honesty)

• They keep showing up right after something goes wrong

• They apologize beautifully. Almost rehearsed.

• Their eyes flick to doors, windows, or escape routes during tense conversations

• They ask questions that feel normal until you realize what information they’re collecting

• In emotional moments, they’re studying people’s reactions instead of participating

• They never openly disagree with the protagonist… but they never fully support them either

• They ask very specific questions about the protagonist’s weaknesses, plans, or resources

• They show unusual interest in security systems or secrets

• The protagonist occasionally gets the sense they’re being studied

• Sometimes their expression goes blank when they think no one is looking

• They look at the hero like they’re studying a puzzle piece

• They’re the only one who never seems surprised

• They smile during the wrong parts of the story

The best villain foreshadowing isn't screaming "I'M EVIL!!! MUAHAHAHA".

Nahh.

A good, subtle, foreshadowed villain? They whisper, "Something about me isn't right." But the reader won't know why until it's far too late.

Now go! Write your amazing villains.

Reblog so you can come back here later!