Those Writing Things

A blog about those writing things. From the things that inspire me and others, to all the obstacles I find everyday and how to cope with all those writing things.

[alliaofrph]

I save a helpful links so I think “ow,i should made a masterlist”. I only found the link from my bookmarks.

**maybe i renew/add a new link that i found

[alliaofrph]

WRITING HELP/CHARACTER

writing a bitchy character (1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10)

writing a cocky character (1,2,3,4)

writing a emotion character (1,2)

How to play a hippie

Playing the quiet character.

Portraying the shopaholic.

Portraying a mute character.

Portraying a kleptomaniac.

How to play the stalker.

Writing distant, indifferent characters.

How to write a character who stutters.

Writing a character who is sassy.

A guide to playing a southern character.

Portraying characters with crushes.

How to portray a teen mom.

How to play a character who is mean.

How to portray a character high on cocaine.

Writing a character who is high on amphetamines.

Playing an efficient male character.

Portraying the asshole.

Playing a character who suffers from shyness.

How to play a mentally ill/insane character.

Writing a character who self-harms.

Writing a happy character.

Writing a character who suffers from night terrors.

Writing a character with paranoid personality disorder.

How to play a victim of rape.

How to RP a blind character.

Writing a leader.

Writing a character with Dissociative Identity Disorder.

Writing a character with depression.

Writing a character who is homosexual.

Writing a character with schizophrenia.

Playing a fe/male character.

Writing a character with Nymphomania.

How to write a worry wart.

How to write a character with HPD.

How to write a bad ass character.

Playing a pansexual.

Tips on writing a drug addict.

Tips on writing the pregnant female.

Writing insane characters.

Playing a character under the influence of marijuana.

Portraying a character with diabetes.

How to play a prankster.

Playing a character who has been adopted.

Portraying a vampire.

Playing a character with an eating disorder.

Portraying a character who is anti-social.

Portraying a character who is depressed.

How to portray someone with dyslexia.

How to portray a character with bipolar disorder.

Portraying a character with severe depression.

How to play a serial killer.

Writing a tomboy.

Playing a pyromaniac.

How to write a mute character.

How to write a character with an OCD.

How to play a stoner.

How to write an asexual character.

How to play a bitchy/vicious character.

How to play a character with HPD.

Playing a pregnant woman.

Playing the burn-out.

Writing a “nice” character.

How to play a gentleman.

How to play a shy/introvert character.

How to play a naive character.

Playing characters with memory loss.

How to write a character who smokes.

How to write pirates.

How to write characters with PTSD.

How to play a character who isn’t ready for sex.

How to play the geek.

Playing the manipulative character.

Portraying a character with borderline personality disorder.

Playing a character with Orthorexia Nervosa.

Writing a character who lost someone important.

Playing the bullies.

Portraying the drug dealer.

Playing a rebellious character.

How to portray a sociopath.

How to play a swimmer.

Portraying a ballerina.

Playing a promiscuous male.

Playing a character with cancer.

How to portray a bubbly character.

How to portray a power driven character.

How to portray the shy character.

Playing a character under the influence of drugs.

Playing a character who struggles with Bulimia.

Portraying a hippie.

Portraying sexually/emotionally abused characters.

Playing a character with asthma.

Portraying characters who have secrets.

Portraying a recovering alcoholic.

Portraying a sex addict.

How to play someone creepy.

Portraying a foreigner.

Portraying an emotionally detatched character.

How to play a character with social anxiety.

Portraying a character who is high.

How to play a strong, female character.

Writing a character with a hangover.

Playing angry characters.

Playing a character who is smarter than you.

Playing and writing autistic characters.

Portraying a trans character.

How to portray a dominant character.

Playing a character who is faking a disorder.

Playing a prisoner.

Playing the opposite sex.

Portraying a character who has PTSD.

Playing a character who stutters.

Portraying characters with Aspergers Syndrome.

How to play a depressed character who selfharms.

Portraying the “dumb” character.

How to portray a lesbian.

How to play a blind character.

How to play a sexual assault victim.

Writing a compulsive gambler.

Writing a closeted character.

Playing a werewolf.

Writing a character with an addiction to sex.

Writing a character who is drunk.

Portraying a character who is British.

Playing a Brit.

Portraying a character with amnesia.

Playing heroes.

Portraying a witty character.

How to play an INTJ.

How to play a vampire.

How to play a character who is manipulative.

Portraying the natural born leader.

Portraying the character who is flirtatious.

Writing a nice character.

How to portray a character who has asthma.

Playing a character with ADHD.

Writing characters with anxiety.

Amnesia

Children

A Death Scene

Loosing Someone (2)

Old Persons

Physical Injuries (2, 3)

Sexual Abuse (2)

Fight Scenes (2, 3, 4)

Horror

Torture

How to Describe the Body Shape of Female Characters

Character Apperance Help

Words to Describe Voice

Body Language Cheat Sheet

Character Development Exercises

101 Character Development Questions

Art of Character Development

Introducing Characters

Characters You Need to Reinvent

Making Characters Likeable

Heros and Villains

Describing Clothing

Understanding Body Language

100 Positive Traits

Mental Illness in Writing

Conflicts and Characters

JOBS/HOBBIES

Actors

Ballet Dancer (2)

Christianity

Foreigners

Gamblers

Hinduism

Hitmen

Satanism

Smokers

Stoners

Taoism

Journalists

Vegetarians

LOCATIONS

Australia

Boston

California (2, 3)

England/Britain (2, 3, 4, 5)

New York

Prison

London

The South (2)

GENDERS

Females (2)

Males (2)

Transgender People

NAMES

Female Names (2, 3, 4, 5)

Male Names (2, 3, 4, 5) 

Last Names  (2, 3, 4)

QUOTES

Song Lyrics Masterlist

Songs for Biographies

Favorite Quotes: TV and Movies

Favorite Quotes: Notable Authors

Favorite Quotes: Celebrities

Favorite Quotes: Popular Books (2)

Quotes From Songs

Character Quotes

Masterlist of Bio Lyrics

Masterlist of Bio Quotes

Masterlist of Song Lyrics

Biography Lyrics

A Masterlist of Quotes

+130 Quotes

SMUT

Smut Guide: Casual Sex

Smut Guide: For Beginners

How to: Write a First Time Sex Scene Romantically

How to: Smut - The Bare Bones

How to: Smut (For Virgins)

How to: Write Lesbian Smut

How to: Write Smut (2, 3)

How to: Write a Blowjob/Prepping for Smut

Smut Guides of Tumblr

Tips on Writing Sex Scenes

A Guide to Language in Smut

Domination and Submission

Making Love

A Smut Guide

KISSES

How to: Write a Kiss (2)

Different Types of Kisses

Writing Out the First Kiss

GRAMMAR

Placement of Speech Tags

Grammar and Spelling

Grammar Slammer!

American vs. British Grammar

HyperGrammar

Grammar Girl

Punctuating Dialogue

How to Use the Semicolon

Introduction to the Basic Rules of Punctuation

Comma 101

All About Dialouge

11 Grammar Tips

Comma Usage

Correct Use of Apostrophe

Proofreading

Transition Words

40+ Tips to Improve your Grammar and Punctuation

Better Writing: Grammar & Spelling

Semicolons and Colons

Underlining and Italicizing

Dashes and Parentheses

Hyphens

Apostrophes

The Ellipsis

List of 1000+ Adjectives

ART

painting tutorial

colour palette (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6)

drawing clothe folding

avoiding drawing the same face

draw ice

anatomy help

free drawing program (1) (2)

sai brushes (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8)

draw hair

drawing ref

dont know what to draw?

draw 3D room tut

drawing eyes

lip tutorial

how to draw jeans

how to draw arms

expression tutorial

drawing hair and fur

drawing cats

pose reference blog [its actually a blog full of references i-]

download photoshop

paint blood

color blender

draw hands

hands 2

photoshop help (1) (2) (3) (4) (5)

remove backgrounds from images online

clouds

brush setting ref (SAI)

kissing ref 

how to draw curls

realistic woman body ref

draw knees

draw feet

shadow help

male body

lips ref

contouring and highlighting

draw wings

change images using blur (PS)

gray

hat ref

glowing stuff

pastel colors

draw grass

eyeliner ref

Painting tutorial

Female/male arms

Kneeling + Sitting ref

Dragon head view tutorial

SAI brushes 86786

Drawing expressions

Sai Brushes 1

NGE colour palette 1

100+ colour palletes

Avoiding same face

Face contours/highlighting 

free art MyPaint

Body anatomy help 1

How to shift images using blur in PS

Drawing clothe folding

How to draw ice

Colour palette 1

Colour palette 2

SAI brush settings 2

SAI/PS pixel brushes

Warm/Cool gray

Flower crown tutorial

Skin colour palette

Pink colour sheet

How to draw butts&thighs

The male torso

Drawing glowing stuff in SAI

Drawing horse/animal legs on humans

Drawing clouds

Muscular male with bow stock photos

Pastel colours

Drawing grass fields in SAI

Expressions&Legs

All about the human body

20+ colour palettes 

Colour conversion

Kissing ref

Creature design 

Colour meanings

Creating expression

Tutorial masterpost (100+)

Lineart

Canine

How to colour

Pose studies

Feline comparisons

How to draw penis

Leaf pressing

100+ anatomy references 

How to draw folds

SAI brushes 3

Sitting poses

Colour palette 4

Cloud painting

How to draw 3D rooms

Colour info

Colouring ref

Hair tutorial

Clothing ref

Bodies and poses

SAI brushes 5

Colour scheme designer

Folding ref

Heads&Angles 

Paint tool SAI masterpost

Drawing ref masterpost (10+)

Hair+Fur

How to draw faces

SAI brushes 4

Anatomy of mutant humans

What should I draw?

Free art software

pastel colour ref

Mass art ref

Soft SAI brushes

ways to draw stuff

SAI brush settings

baseball cap ref

Penis ref

Drawing human wings

Cool free art software

Huge art ref

Colour blender

2 SAI brushes

Photoshop for free 

MAKEUP

eyeliner

how to apply blush

how to draw eyebrows

ombre eyeliner

lipstick trick

the kitty eye ^.^

nude lips

smokey eye make up

what you need to know about beauty

5 of the best foundations 

best powder foundations

quick foundation tip

how to apply liquid foundation

breaking it down

makeup highlights tutorial

blush for your skin tone

how to apply bronzer

how to contour your face

apply blush like a pro

blush according to your face shape

d.i.y. gel liner

get the perfect winged liner

get winged liner using tape

awesome eyeliner tricks

9 different eyeliner looks

different eyeliner styles

guide to applying eyeshadow

suit your eyeshadow to your eyes

glittery smoky eye

get the perfect smoky eye

a shade for every occasion

kool-aid lip stain

best lipsticks for blondes

hot red lips

how to get gradient lips

lipstick shades for fall

how to make any lipstick look matte

get soft kissable lips

long lasting makeup tricks

victoria’s secret model tips

saving face

beginner’s guide

when will it expire?

10 makeup tips from mac

best tips from professionals

18 beauty essentials

basics you should own

make-up brush tutorial 

brush tricks

clean your makeup brushes

make-up brush guide

make up hacks

easy make up tips

BODY CARE

the runaway to gorgeous skin

winter dryness

acne foundation routine

wash your face correctly

how to wash your face 101

HAIR

messy bun tutorial

different ways to braid

three-braid updo

waterfall braid

how to fishtail

romantic curls

braid + bun updo

how to do pastel hair

8 ways to wear a bow

4-strand braid

braided bun

braided headband

dutch braid crown

pin curls!

how to contour

everyday makeup routine

lipstick using crayons

eyeliner ref wow

filling in eyebrows

banana facial mask (moisturizes)

strawberry facial mask (acne prone skin)

avocado facial mask (dry skin)

yogurt facial mask (sensitive skin)

list of oils to add to your face masks

already made masterpost :*

OTHER

sleep calculator

survive nature

rain

tumblr music

calming rain

need a hug?

like the sound of a coffee shop?

can’t remember the name of a song?

the thoughts room

how to love yourself

upload anything from your iPhone etc. to your laptop

learn another language

make HUGE unpoppable bubbles

play some piano

draw a stick man and watch the story!

thousands of stars (you can zoom in/out and learn about them)

check if a username is taken (any site! twitter/tumblr, etc)

draws stuff as you move your curser

tell your thoughts to no one

play with cob web

make music with balloons

learn to play the guitar

learn to build a ship in a bottle

learn origami

learn some yoyo tricks

make your own stuffed animals

how to decorate iphone cases

make a candle

important things you should remember

how to kill your anxiety

how to help someone with their anxiety

look for literally any book you want (free)

waterproof your shoes

know what your emotion is

how to love yourself

ultimate writers resources masterpost

learn how to make punk edits without photoshop

dont know what to read?

learn a new habit 

how to answer the top 35 asked questions when applying for a job

want to draw?

The quiet place

MOVIES

Giant Movie masterpost

Disney movies masterpost

Superhero movies masterpost

Movies for when you’re sick

Scary movies masterpost

Tumblr dedicated to finding movie links

When to pee during a movie

[thosewritingthings]

It's not just writing and I don't care! Sooooo awesome!

[thecakebar]

Dining Etiquette 101 {click link for extra large view}

[characterdevelopmentforwriters]

Do dragons exist in your setting?

What do dragons look like? >Are there different types/subspecies of dragons, or is there only one? >>If there are different subspecies, what are the similarities? Why are they all dragons instead of being classified as different species? >How large do dragons get when fully grown? >What size are they when they’re babies? >What is the general shape of a dragon? >>Short and fat? >>Cow-like? >>Lizard-like? >>Long and skinny? >>Snake-like? >How many legs do they have? >Do they have wings? >>How many sets? >Do they have horns? >Spikes? >Antlers? >Claws? >>Are their claws for digging or for tearing? >What does their face look like? >What shape are their teeth? >>Or do they have beaks? >Do they have feathers or scales? >>Both? >>Neither? >>>What do they have instead?

How strong are dragons naturally? >Can they do anything to increase their strength? >>What? >What does their hide protect them against? >>The heat? >>The cold? >>Water? >>Scrapes from rocks? >>Animal attacks? >>Is their hide strong enough to protect against human weapons? >>>How strong would the weapon have to be to penetrate the dragon’s hide? >Can dragons fly? >>How high? (Remember that air gets thinner and colder at higher altitudes.) >Can dragons swim? >>How long? >>How deep? (Remember that water gets more pressurized and colder at lower depths.) >Can dragons breathe out fire? >>Can they breathe out something else? >>>Does this happen every time they exhale, or do they have to consciously decide to do it? >>>Are there any times when they can’t? >>>>Underwater? >>>>Above certain altitudes? >>>>When they’re tired or malnourished? >>>>When they’re juvenile?

What do dragons eat? >If they can breathe fire, do they cook their food first? >Where are dragons located on the food chain? >>Are they apex predators, or are they derpy little lizard babies that get eaten by bears and condors?

Where do dragons live? >Do they live mostly by themselves, or in family units? >How much space do they take to nest in? >How much territory to they claim as their own outside the nest?

Do dragons hoard things? >What kinds of things? >Do they like shiny things? >>Do they like worthless things too, as long as their shiny, or can they tell the value of an item? >>>Is this dependent on the individual dragon in question? >>>Does it depend on the dragon’s age? >>>The dragon’s subspecies? >Where do dragons keep their hoard? >>Do they keep it in a back room? >>Do they use it as a bed? >>>How do they not damage the items with their weight?

Can dragons use magic? >Can dragons shift into a humanoid form? >>For how long? >>How often? >>What determines what their human form will look like?

How intelligent are dragons? >Do they have their own names? >Do they have rulers? >Do they have a culture of their own? >>How far apart do dragons have to be before there are noticeable regional differences? >Do dragons have a sense of humor? >If dragons aren’t intelligent, can they be/have they been domesticated? >>Can they be trained? >How do dragons communicate? >Are dragons antagonistic towards humanoids? >>Any specifically, or all of them? >>If not, will they allow humanoids or others to ride on their backs? >Are dragons antagonistic toward other dragons? >>Only ones they aren’t related to? >>Only ones from other subspecies? >>Only ones that trespass? >>Only to ones from different regions? >>Only to ones with different politics? >>To ones that smell bad?

Are dragons more reptilian or mammalian? Keep in mind that if they are mammalian, the females will have mammary glands.

How do dragons reproduce? >Are they live births? >Do they hang out in a pouch for a while afterwards, like kangaroos? >Are they up and about almost immediately, like horses? >Are they pretty useless, like human babies? >Do they hatch from eggs?

[thosewritingthings]

Just a couple of notes to check once I return to my story with dragons.

[virtualclutter-deactivated20201]

Hair washing and care in the the 19th century Hair washing is something that almost every historical writer, romance or not, gets wrong. How many times have you read a story in which a heroine sinks gratefully into a sudsy tub of water and scrubs her hair–or, even worse, piles it up on her head to wash it? Or have you watched the BBC’s Manor House and other “historical reenactment” series, in which modern people invariably destroy their hair by washing using historical recipes?

Historical women kept their hair clean, but that doesn’t mean their hair was often directly washed. Those who had incredibly difficult to manage hair might employ a hairdresser to help them wash, cut, and singe (yes, singe!) their hair as often as once a month, but for most women, hair-washing was, at most, a seasonal activity.

“Why?” you might ask. “Wasn’t their hair lank, smelly, and nasty?”

And the writers who embrace ignorance as a badge of honor will say, “Well, that just goes to show that people used to be gross and dirty, and that’s why I never bother with that historical accuracy stuff!”

And then I have to restrain myself from hitting them…

The reason that hair was rarely washed has to do with the nature of soaps versus modern shampoos. Soaps are made from a lye base and are alkaline. Hair and shampoo are acidic. Washing hair in soap makes it very dry, brittle, and tangly. Men’s hair was short enough and cut often enough that using soap didn’t harm it too much and the natural oils from the scalp could re-moisturize it fairly easily after even the harshest treatment, but in an age when the average woman’s hair was down to her waist, soap could literally destroy a woman’s head of hair in fairly short order.

Instead, indirect methods of hair-cleaning were used. Women washed their hair brushes daily, and the proverbial “100 strokes” were used to spread conditioning oils from roots to tips and to remove older or excess oil and dirt. This was more time-consuming than modern washing, and this is one of the reasons that “good hair” was a class marker. The fact that only women of the upper classes could afford all the various rats, rolls, and other fake additions to bulk out their real hair was another. (An average Victorian woman of the upper middle or upper class had more apparent “hair” in her hairstyle than women I know whose unbound hair falls well below their knees.) Women rarely wore their hair lose unless it was in the process of being put up or taken down–or unless they were having a picture specifically taken of it! At night, most women braided their hair for bed. Now that my hair is well below my waist, I understand why!

The first modern shampoo was introduced in the late 1920s. Shampoos clean hair quickly and also remove modern styling products, like hairspray and gel, but the frequent hair-washing that has become common leaves longer hair brittle even with the best modern formulations. (From the 1940s to the 1960s, many if not most middle-class women had their hair washed only once a week, at their hairdresser’s, where it was restyled for the next week. The professional hairdresser stepped into the void that the maid left when domestic service became rare. Washing one’s hair daily or every other day is a very recent development.) That’s where conditioners came into play. Many people have wondered how on earth women could have nice hair by modern standards before conditioners, but conditioners are made necessary by shampoos. Well-maintained hair of the 19th century didn’t need conditioners because the oils weren’t regularly stripped from it.

Additionally, the oils made hair much more manageable than most people’s is today, which made it possible for women to obtain elaborate hairstyles using combs and pins–without modern clips or sprays–to keep their hair in place. This is why hair dressers still like to work with “day-old” hair when making elaborate hairstyles.

There were hair products like oils for women to add shine and powders meant to help brush dirt out of hair, but they weren’t in very wide use at the time. Hair “tonics”–mean to be put on the hair or taken orally to make hair shinier, thicker, or stronger–were ineffective but were readily available and widely marketed.

If you have a heroine go through something particularly nasty–such as a fall into a pond or the like–then she should wash her hair, by all means. This would be done in a tub prepared for the purpose–not in the bath–and would involve dissolving soap shavings into a water and combine them with whatever other products were desired. Then a maid would wash the woman’s hair as she leaned either forward or backward to thoroughly wet and wash her hair. Rinsing would be another stage. The hair would NEVER be piled on the head. If you have greater than waist-length hair and have ever tried to wash it in a modern-sized bathtub, you understand why no one attempted to wash her hair in a hip bath or an old, short claw foot tub! It would be almost impossible.

A quick rundown of other hair facts:

Hydrogen peroxide was used to bleach hair from 1867. Before that, trying to bleach it with soda ash and sunlight was the most a girl could do. Henna was extremely popular from the 1870s through the 1890s, especially for covering gray hair, to such an extent that gray hair became almost unseen in certain circles in England in this time. Red hair was considered ugly up until the 1860s, when the public embracing of the feminine images as presented by the aesthetic movement (Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood) gained ground, culminating in a positive rage for red hair in the 1870s to 1880s. Some truly scary metallic salt compounds were used to color hair with henna formulations by the late 19th century, often with unfortunate results.

Hair curling was popular in the 19th century and could either by achieved with rag rolls or hot tongs. Loose “sausage” rolls were the result of rag rolling. Hot tongs were used for making the “frizzled” bangs of the 1870s to 1880s–and “frizzled” they certainly were. The damage caused by the poor control of heating a curler over a gas jet or candle flame was substantial, and most women suffered burnt hair at one time or another. For this reason, a number of women chose to eschew the popular style and preserve their hair from such dangers! Permanents were first in use in the 1930s.  

(From: http://www.lydiajoyce.com/blog/?p=1022)

[jessamygriffin]

Amazing post, thank you!

[thebestcreativewritingblogs]

Super helpful for anyone that writes historical stories featuring women!

[more-legit-gr8er-writing-tips]

For anybody looking for more historical hair stuff, I love Janet Stephens’ videos. 

I actually use them to do my own hair as I don’t usually write historical fiction, so it’s really cool for that too.

[rostein404]

This is really interesting and useful for those of us making a comic with a crew of women on a pirate ship!

[writeworld-blog]

Synonyms for 95 Commonly Used Words

from Writers Write

Amazing — incredible, unbelievable, improbable, fabulous, wonderful, fantastic, astonishing, astounding, extraordinary

Anger — enrage, infuriate, arouse, nettle, exasperate, inflame, madden

Angry — mad, furious, enraged, excited, wrathful, indignant, exasperated, aroused, inflamed

Answer — reply, respond, retort, acknowledge

Ask — question, inquire of, seek information from, put a question to, demand, request, expect, inquire, query, interrogate, examine, quiz

Awful — dreadful, terrible, abominable, bad, poor, unpleasant

Bad — evil, immoral, wicked, corrupt, sinful, depraved, rotten, contaminated, spoiled, tainted, harmful, injurious, unfavourable, defective, inferior, imperfect, substandard, faulty, improper, inappropriate, unsuitable, disagreeable, unpleasant, cross, nasty, unfriendly, irascible, horrible, atrocious, outrageous, scandalous, infamous, wrong, noxious, sinister, putrid, snide, deplorable, dismal, gross, heinous, nefarious, base, obnoxious, detestable, despicable, contemptible, foul, rank, ghastly, execrable

Beautiful — pretty, lovely, handsome, attractive, gorgeous, dazzling, splendid, magnificent, comely, fair, ravishing, graceful, elegant, fine, exquisite, aesthetic, pleasing, shapely, delicate, stunning, glorious, heavenly, resplendent, radiant, glowing, blooming, sparkling

Begin — start, open, launch, initiate, commence, inaugurate, originate

Big — enormous, huge, immense, gigantic, vast, colossal, gargantuan, large, sizable, grand, great, tall, substantial, mammoth, astronomical, ample, broad, expansive, spacious, stout, tremendous, titanic, mountainous

Brave — courageous, fearless, dauntless, intrepid, plucky, daring, heroic, valorous, audacious, bold, gallant, valiant, doughty, mettlesome

Break — fracture, rupture, shatter, smash, wreck, crash, demolish, atomize

Bright — shining, shiny, gleaming, brilliant, sparkling, shimmering, radiant, vivid, colourful, lustrous,

Read More →

[ijustreallylovedaredevil]

I accidentally made an entire slideshow on torture methods. Previous slideshows can be found here. For the love of god do not use these irl.

[pitviperofdoom]

Things I love about the “villain turns good” trope:

Ex-villains graduating to “weird uncle” status.

Ex-villains and hero(es) turning the events of previous battles into bizarre inside jokes.

Ex-villains embracing the power of friendship and love.

Ex-villains putting up walls and keeping to themselves until the heroes teach them what it means to trust someone.

Ex-villains messing up and being forgiven because redemption is a process, not an endgame.

Ex-villains being shy and uncertain about their new place as a hero.

Bonus: Ex-villains hiding behind their hero friends during moments of shyness and uncertainty.

Ex-villains being tempted back to the dark side only to realize how much their newfound friendships mean to them.

Ex-villains pretending to return to the dark side, and using their villain cred to be a mole/saboteur on the heroes’ behalf.

Ex-villains taking the same skills and character traits that made them effective villains and using them for good.

Ex-villains defeating current villains by being better at those skills and traits than they are.

Ex-villains being rejected by almost everyone except the very few willing to give them the benefit of the doubt.

Ex-villains being ferociously protective of those few.

Ex-villains convincing old allies and friends to follow them to the light side.

Ex-villains helping their hero friends through guilt and self-doubt by reminding them that your mistakes don’t make you and it’s never too late to turn things around.

Ex-villains receiving unconditional trust and affection from someone small and innocent, and having no idea what they’re supposed to do with that.

Ex-villains reuniting with heroic loved ones that they don’t have to fight against anymore.

Ex-villains looking around at their new friends and their new home and having to sit down and ride out a sudden wave of powerful emotion because they can’t remember the last time they felt content.

[everything4writers-deactivated2]

Combat descriptions

[pocketavery]

Problem with drawing your OC?

There is a 3D program where you can set everything.. i mean EVERYTHING on your character! And it’s free! 

It’s called FUSE

http://store.steampowered.com/app/257400

you can pick between realistic and anime style… But most important: you can ANIMATE THEM!

[akatsukichelsei]

oh my god its a game where all you do is customize your character

I HAVE BEEN DREAMING OF THIS GAME MY WHOLE LIFE.

[sundogsandrainbows]

.

[writeworld-blog]

by Ingrid Sundberg

One of my on-going word collections is of colors. I love to stop in the paint section of a hardware store and find new names for red or white or yellow.  Having a variety of color names at my fingertips helps me to create specificity in my writing. I can paint a more evocative image in my reader’s mind if I describe a character’s hair as the color of rust or carrot-squash, rather than red.

So for fun, I created this color thesaurus for your reference. Of course, there are plenty more color names  in the world, so, this is just to get you started.

White

Tan

Yellow

Orange

Red

Pink

Purple

Blue

Green

Brown

Grey

Black

Read More →

[metteivieharrison]

12 Questions to Ask Yourself About Your Magic System

How is it learned and executed?

How is it accessed?

Does it have a will of its own?

Is it restricted in space and time?

What does available magic do?

How does it relate to the character, plot and theme of the book?

What is the cost of magic?

What can it not do?

How long does it last?

Who can use it?

How do others react to it?

Why haven’t people with this power taken over the world?

[barbaricyip-deactivated20210321]

i cannot stress how important i find the last question.

[calyxofawildflower]

Hey let’s destroy the pernicious myth that preteens were regularly marrying in medieval and early modern Europe and were having children as young teenagers. It’s just not true. Church records show the typical age people got married was around 18-23. Sure, around a third of brides were pregnant at the time of their marriage, but premarital sex was actually completely fine in medieval and early modern Europe if the couple intended to marry. (Oh look! Another historical fact the Victorian period completely mangled!)

Very young girls were not having babies in medieval times, people. The only people who ever bring this non-fact up are paedophiles looking to defend their dangerous paraphilia. So cut it out. Stop spreading this myth. It’s not historical, it’s not factual, it’s not true.

[calyxofawildflower]

By the way the texts in support of these facts are here and here.

[durablenotebook-deactivated2016]

“Emerging evidence is eroding the stereotype of medieval child marriage. Goldberg and Smith’s work on low- and lower-middle-status women has refuted Hajnal’s argument for generally early marriage for medieval women. Even Razi’s ‘early’ age at marriage for girls in Halesowen hardly indicates child marriage, as a large portion of his sample married between the ages of eighteen and twenty-two… .  Goldberg has offered evidence from fourteenth and fifteenth-century Yorkshire showing that urban girls tended to marry  in their early to mid twenties and rural girls married in their late teens to early twenties, and both groups married men who were close to them in age.” (Kim M. Phillips, Medieval Maidens: Young Women and Gender in England, c. 1270-1540, p. 37 (x).

Bolded for emphasis.

[thosewritingthings]

Very interesting. Will be sure to remember this when writing in the future.

[everything4writers-deactivated2]

10 Deadly Poisons - A crime writer’s resource - Writers Write

[writeworld-blog]

Architecture Tips and Links

Anonymous asked: Hi there, firstly let me say I adore what you all do here - it’s so useful and you put so much time into it! Secondly, I came to ask for architecture terms. In my writings, the cities have magnificent palaces and cathedrals, but I am at a total loss on how to describe them sufficiently, not knowing the terminology. Could you please help?

Hello right back, friend anon! Thanks very much for the kind words. We appreciate your support!

This is a tough question to answer because architecture is nearly as old as humanity and there are literally thousands (maybe millions) of architecture terms used in thousands languages across thousands of cultures and thousands of years. 

I have some advice for you, and then I have a decently large stack of links which may or may not be helpful to you. Shall we proceed?

Narrow down your time and place. Once you’ve done this, you’ll have a much easier time with research.

If you’re writing a Fantasy or SciFi story, find an architectural style or styles to use as a base and draw from those terms associated with that style. I do not mean steal from the culture of that architectural style willy nilly. Learn about the culture from source material (and people of that culture), learn why the architecture developed as it did, and make conscious, well-informed decisions about which aspects of the architecture style you will use. As always, be thoughtful. Be respectful.*

Do the research. I know you’re not an architect. (Or maybe you are. No judgement.) You haven’t really been exposed to architectural terms and don’t have much context for them. It’s okay. You don’t have to be an expert. Just find someone who is and ask them. If a professor or professional architect or scholar is too daunting, try going to a student of architecture or someone who runs an architecture blog with your questions. Also, libraries are great. Actual books can be helpful here, maybe more so than any links I could give you.  Anyway, do yourself a favor and actually spend a bit of time learning about architecture. It will help to understand the terms you’re using instead of just plugging something into your writing that sounds about right. You wouldn’t use hand when you mean knuckle, and you shouldn’t use cloister when you mean arcade.

*If you lift an architectural style from a culture and use it in your Speculative Fiction story without bothering to do any research or understand that architectural style’s place within that culture, I get why you’re doing it. Research is hard and time-consuming, and it can be really, really boring. It’s tempting to skim the surface, or not to do any research at all, relying on “conventional wisdom” or what you’ve gleaned from the media to inform your choices. It’s certainly easier, more comfortable, not to research well. I’m sure there’s an audience out there for this type of story. Lord knows there have been plenty of badly researched bestsellers.

If you do write something without putting sufficient effort into your research, however, expect to be called out as lazy and willfully ignorant. I say “willfully ignorant” because if you didn’t know better before, you certainly do now.

Okay, on to the links!

Architectural Terms from ArtEmIsillustration.com

Art and Architecture from YourWayToFlorence.com

Castle Glossary from Castles-Of-Britain.com

Castle Terminology from CastleWales.com

Glossary of Medieval Art and Architecture from Pitt.edu

Looking at Buildings: Glossary from LookingAtBuildings.org.uk

Light fixture from Wikipedia

The Urban Conservation Glossary from TRP.Dundee.ac.uk

Medieval Castle Architecture from Medieval-Life-And-Times.info

Castle Architecture from SmithsonianMag.com

Castle Architecture from CastlesAndManorHouses.com

A Dictionary of Architecture and Landscape Architecture (2 ed.)

Architecture from Visual Merriam Webster Dictionary

Architecture Dictionaries from About.com

Appendix: Identifications from Classicist.org

Glossary of architecture from Wikipedia

Common Architectural Terms Used to Describe Historic Buildings from PA.us

Glossary of Architectural Terms from ArchitecturalTrust.org

ARH 314 and 315 Terminology from UOregon.edu

Glossary of Architectural Terms from AViewOnCities.com

Illustrated Architecture Dictionary from Buffaloah.com

House Parts You Didn’t Know Had a Name from ThisOldHouse.com

Window Words from ThisOldHouse.com

Terms Commonly used in Architecture and Interior Design from Academics.Triton.edu

An Illustrated Masonry Glossary from BuilderBill-DIY-Help.com

Planning: Glossary of Architectural terms from Hastings.gov.uk

Glossary of Terms from BuildingStoneInstitute.org

Glossary of Woodworking Terms from ArtisansOfTheValley.com

FrontDoor.com

Victorian Architecture

Italianate Architecture

Farmhouse Architecture

Mid-Century Modern Architecture

Modern Architecture

Pre-War Architecture

Loft Architecture

Row House Architecture

Spanish Architecture

Post-War Architecture

Mediterranean Architecture

Cape Cod Architecture

Greek Revival Architecture

Federal Architecture

Colonial Architecture

List of church architecture terms from Wikipedia

A Visual Dictionary of Architecture by Francis D.K. Ching

Though I found this topic interesting enough to dig into a bit myself, I’d like to call your attention to WriteWorld’s Research Rule. Please bear it in mind as you ask questions in the future.

Thanks for your question!

-C

[writersblockbuster]

Admin note: Another useful resource I have on my shelf is “How to Read Buildings: A crash course in architectural styles”, which includes clean drawings of architectural elements (mainly Western).

[thosewritingthings]

The Signs As Birthdays

Aries: Mar 21 - Apr 19

Taurus: Apr 20 - May 20

Gemini: May 21 - Jun 20

Cancer: Jun 21 to Jul 22

Leo: Jul 23 - Aug 22

Virgo: Aug 23 - Sep 22

Libra: Sep 23 - Oct 22

Scorpio: Oct 23 - Nov 21

Sagittarius: Nov 22 - Dec 21

Capricorn: Dec 22 - Jan 19

Aquarius: Jan 20 - Feb 18

Pisces: Feb 19 - Mar 20

[thosewritingthings]

1920s Slang we should bring back for the 2020s:

Dewdropper: A lazy person

Giggle water: Alcohol, liquor

Bee's Knees: An extraordinary person/thing/idea

Butt me: "Can I have a cigarette?"

Cat's Pajamas: See "bee's knees"

Dolled up: Dressed up

Egg: A rich person

Flapper: A stylish, opinionated modern woman

Get a Wiggle On: Get going

Heebie-Jeebies: A spooked feeling

Ossified: Someone who is drunk

Putting on the Ritz: Doing something with style

Swell: Wonderful.

[shakespork]

Hemingway is a writing checker that is absolutely brilliant.

checks all spellings for you

checks if you’re over-using adverbs

picks out over-complicated sentences

suggests replacements for over-complicated phrases

picks out the passive voice

tells you how readable your text is (Grades/College level/etc)

calculates reading time

USE IT. USE IT FOR YOUR FANFICS. USE IT FOR YOUR PAPERS. IT WILL SAVE. YOUR. LIFE.

[youngbadmanbrown-deactivated201]

!?!?!?

[prinxely-archive]