Which is Stronger, the Pen or the Sword?

[writers-all-around]

Attention Writers

If you’ve been a writer for any amount of time, then you know that publishing your work online and trying to get your work noticed is a royal pain.  Whether you’re a fanfic writer or write your own original stuff, it’s hard to get seen.  Your work is WORTHY of being noticed, though, and this is where this blog comes in.

As a writer myself, previously of fanfiction, now having moved on to original work, I know this struggle firsthand.  After finding that there doesn’t really exist any place on Tumblr for writers to form a community and get their work out there, I’ve decided to create this blog for that very purpose.

So, whether it be fanfic, poetry, minific, full length novels, short stories, or even advice, tips and tricks, and resources, feel free to submit and message them all to me, where I’ll reblog them.  In time, I hope to build a following that’ll allow your work to be seen by a large audience, and create a place for avid readers to discover authors they never would have otherwise.

Let’s get the word out, too!  Reblog this post so it can be seen by other writers!

[alliaofrph]

[writeinspiration]

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 detached 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.

How to play a depressed character who self-harms.

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.

Playing a werewolf.

Writing a character who is drunk.

Playing a Brit.

Portraying a character with amnesia.

Playing heroes.

Portraying a witty character.

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.

Amnesia

Children

Losing Someone (2)

Physical Injuries (2, 3)

Sexual Abuse (2)

Fight Scenes (2, 3, 4)

Horror

Torture

How to Describe the Body Shape of Female Characters

Character Appearance Help

Words to Describe Voice

Character Development Exercises

Art of Character Development

Introducing Characters

Characters You Need to Reinvent

Making Characters Likable

Heroes and Villains

Understanding Body Language

Mental Illness in Writing

Conflicts and Characters

How about some writing resources for those post-NaNoWriMo blues?

[berrybird-blog1]

Helpful things for action writers to remember

Sticking a landing will royally fuck up your joints and possibly shatter your ankles, depending on how high you’re jumping/falling from. There’s a very good reason free-runners dive and roll. 

Hand-to-hand fights usually only last a matter of seconds, sometimes a few minutes. It’s exhausting work and unless you have a lot of training and history with hand-to-hand combat, you’re going to tire out really fast. 

Arrows are very effective and you can’t just yank them out without doing a lot of damage. Most of the time the head of the arrow will break off inside the body if you try pulling it out, and arrows are built to pierce deep. An arrow wound demands medical attention. 

Throwing your opponent across the room is really not all that smart. You’re giving them the chance to get up and run away. Unless you’re trying to put distance between you so you can shoot them or something, don’t throw them. 

Everyone has something called a “flinch response” when they fight. This is pretty much the brain’s way of telling you “get the fuck out of here or we’re gonna die.” Experienced fighters have trained to suppress this. Think about how long your character has been fighting. A character in a fist fight for the first time is going to take a few hits before their survival instinct kicks in and they start hitting back. A character in a fist fight for the eighth time that week is going to respond a little differently. 

ADRENALINE WORKS AGAINST YOU WHEN YOU FIGHT. THIS IS IMPORTANT. A lot of times people think that adrenaline will kick in and give you some badass fighting skills, but it’s actually the opposite. Adrenaline is what tires you out in a battle and it also affects the fighter’s efficacy - meaning it makes them shaky and inaccurate, and overall they lose about 60% of their fighting skill because their brain is focusing on not dying. Adrenaline keeps you alive, it doesn’t give you the skill to pull off a perfect roundhouse kick to the opponent’s face. 

Swords WILL bend or break if you hit something hard enough. They also dull easily and take a lot of maintenance. In reality, someone who fights with a sword would have to have to repair or replace it constantly.

Fights get messy. There’s blood and sweat everywhere, and that will make it hard to hold your weapon or get a good grip on someone. 

A serious battle also smells horrible. There’s lots of sweat, but also the smell of urine and feces. After someone dies, their bowels and bladder empty. There might also be some questionable things on the ground which can be very psychologically traumatizing. Remember to think about all of the character’s senses when they’re in a fight. Everything WILL affect them in some way. 

If your sword is sharpened down to a fine edge, the rest of the blade can’t go through the cut you make. You’ll just end up putting a tiny, shallow scratch in the surface of whatever you strike, and you could probably break your sword. 

ARCHERS ARE STRONG TOO. Have you ever drawn a bow? It takes a lot of strength, especially when you’re shooting a bow with a higher draw weight. Draw weight basically means “the amount of force you have to use to pull this sucker back enough to fire it.” To give you an idea of how that works, here’s a helpful link to tell you about finding bow sizes and draw weights for your characters.  (CLICK ME)

If an archer has to use a bow they’re not used to, it will probably throw them off a little until they’ve done a few practice shots with it and figured out its draw weight and stability. 

People bleed. If they get punched in the face, they’ll probably get a bloody nose. If they get stabbed or cut somehow, they’ll bleed accordingly. And if they’ve been fighting for a while, they’ve got a LOT of blood rushing around to provide them with oxygen. They’re going to bleed a lot. 

Here’s a link to a chart to show you how much blood a person can lose without dying. (CLICK ME) 

If you want a more in-depth medical chart, try this one. (CLICK ME)

Hopefully this helps someone out there. If you reblog, feel free to add more tips for writers or correct anything I’ve gotten wrong here. 

[bluedragonade-deactivated201703]

@geostigmata

[orriculum]

When Your Spell Fails

no witch succeeds with their spells 100% of the time. here’s a short list of reasons why it could have happened and some solutions

possible reasons why:

distraction - a spell you’re not invested in isn’t going to have much power behind it. if you’re concentrated more on you. if you cast a motivation spell while planning out your vacation, it’s going to subtract from that motivation. 

rosemary replaces everything - supposedly. it supplies general power, but if you add nothing into the spell that has any real meaning to you, then what is that power supposed to do? where does that energy go with no direction?

associations - the correspondences everyone else lists for herbs and stones and planets can be very useful, but sometimes you have a personal conflicting association. perhaps lavender is gross to you, and not peaceful at all. then that dream sachet isn’t going to give you peaceful dreams. 

didn’t help the spell - magic does not exist in a vaccum. spells can only do so much, but if you don’t make the effort, it much less likely to work. job spells dont work if you don’t fill out applications, love spells don’t work if you don’t go out and talk to people, and so on. 

too many cooks - if you cast 10 love spells, and yet no one is attracted to you, it’s entirely possible they all did work but they all conflicted with each other, and ended up canceling each other out. 

shot for the stars- sometimes you try to achieve something, and you set your expectations too high. either it’s impossible, you’re trying from the wrong angle, or you didn’t get as much as you wanted.

cancellation - sometimes a spell may appear not to work when it does, but the results are invisible because it canceled something else out. say you cast a money spell and get no extra cash after several weeks, it could be just helping you maintain your current income and blocking extraneous expenses.

impatience - unless you programmed a working time limit into it, the spell could be working and you just don’t see the results yet. these things can take time.

out of your depth - if you don’t feel like you’re ready to do a spell, your lack of confidence or discomfort can either disable the spell or not give it enough power to work

what to do:

take a break, ground, cleanse, and give it time. refocus your intentions

contemplate each ingredient and step in the spell, and modify

use the ingredients that you know best work for you, old standards hold up.

think about what you could do to help the spell work. what mundane methods haven’t you tried?

take a step back and look at it realistically. is there another angle you can approach this from, can you break it down into smaller steps?

return to the spells you are comfortable doing, and work from there.

[north-of-annwn]

Tarot Tip: Inverse Cards

It took me a while to get the meaning of Inverse cards.   What is an inverse/inverted card? This is when you flip the card over and the picture is upside down. Inverted cards have their own meaning that is usually quite different than the rightside up version. 

I heard it means the opposite Well, no, not exactly. Some people may interpret them this way, but I find it more accurate that it means that the intent/meaning/symbolism of that card is either Repressed, or Excessive. 

Repression You are struggling with this concept/idea.  It’s not coming as easily, or causing a battle within yourself.  Example: if right side up the card has to do with creativity and imagination, you may be struggling with your creative juices when the card is reversed. 

Excessive This is when the card’s meaning has gotten excessive, gone to an extreme, or become toxic. There must be Balance in all things, and when things become excessive, they ultimately become destructive.  Continuing with the example of a card to do with creativity and imagination - perhaps your imagination has run away with you.  Or you are neglecting necessary responsibilities in pursuit of creative outlet. 

How do I know which is which? Your intuition should be able to tell you pretty quickly if you are struggling to manifest the concepts in the card, or if they have been taken to an unhealthy extreme. 

Protip: Pay special attention when there are inverse cards involving relationships.  Relationships can become toxic far too easily and your intuition may be warning you of a situation or relationship that needs to be brought back into a healthy balance. It is easy for us to let our emotions run away with us. Use your intuition and the cards to help you maintain healthy situations, and when something becomes toxic or unhealthy - take steps to resolve it or walk away if it cannot be resolved. 

[secondlina]

I’ve been working on concepts for our upcoming comic “Quibbling“ lately. I was reading a lot about familiars, talismans and amulets and found something really neat about all of those things. Magic is often associated with known (sometimes religious) symbols, but a a lot of magic is very personal. Medieval familiars were creatures with forms the “witch” decided or found attractive. A lot of magic symbols are just shapes that came to the users mind. Doodles with significance only to them. It’s the personal significance, the emotional connection, that gave them power. Modern practical magic kinda goes back to that. Using Pavlovian responses, soothing smells, tastes and colors. Gave me the idea of maybe splitting the world of Quibbling between Grand-magic and Small-magic (Practical-magic?) Not sure what to do with that yet. The lead of the story, Cid, is the type to wear patterns and carry cute things because she believes it would bring her luck. I love that type of character. Here’s a few practical magical examples I thought you guys would dig.

[chizurou]

“Skate like you’re the most beautiful person on the ice right now.”

[viktcrs]

[ms-mazarin]

Words to replace said, except this actually helps

I got pretty fed up with looking for words to replace said because they weren’t sorted in a way I could easily use/find them for the right time. So I did some myself.

IN RESPONSE TO Acknowledged Answered Protested

INPUT/JOIN CONVERSATION/ASK Added Implored Inquired Insisted Proposed Queried Questioned Recommended Testified

GUILTY/RELUCTANCE/SORRY Admitted Apologized Conceded Confessed Professed

FOR SOMEONE ELSE Advised Criticized Suggested

JUST CHECKING Affirmed Agreed Alleged Confirmed

LOUD Announced Chanted Crowed

LEWD/CUTE/SECRET SPY FEEL Appealed Disclosed Moaned

ANGRY FUCK OFF MATE WANNA FIGHT Argued Barked Challenged Cursed Fumed Growled Hissed Roared Swore

SMARTASS Articulated Asserted Assured Avowed Claimed Commanded Cross-examined Demanded Digressed Directed Foretold Instructed Interrupted Predicted Proclaimed Quoted Theorized

ASSHOLE Bellowed Boasted Bragged

NERVOUS TRAINWRECK Babbled Bawled Mumbled Sputtered Stammered Stuttered

SUAVE MOTHERFUCKER Bargained Divulged Disclosed Exhorted

FIRST OFF Began

LASTLY Concluded Concurred

WEAK PUSY Begged Blurted Complained Cried Faltered Fretted

HAPPY/LOL Cajoled Exclaimed Gushed Jested Joked Laughed

WEIRDLY HAPPY/EXCITED Extolled Jabbered Raved

BRUH, CHILL Cautioned Warned

ACTUALLY, YOU’RE WRONG Chided Contended Corrected Countered Debated Elaborated Objected Ranted Retorted

CHILL SAVAGE Commented Continued Observed Surmised

LISTEN BUDDY Enunciated Explained Elaborated Hinted Implied Lectured Reiterated Recited Reminded Stressed

BRUH I NEED U AND U NEED ME Confided Offered Urged

FINE Consented Decided

TOO EMO FULL OF EMOTIONS Croaked Lamented Pledged Sobbed Sympathized Wailed Whimpered

JUST SAYING Declared Decreed Mentioned Noted Pointed out Postulated Speculated Stated Told Vouched

WASN’T ME Denied Lied

EVIL SMARTASS Dictated Equivocated Ordered Reprimanded Threatened

BORED Droned Sighed

SHHHH IT’S QUIET TIME Echoed Mumbled Murmured Muttered Uttered Whispered

DRAMA QUEEN Exaggerated Panted Pleaded Prayed Preached

OH SHIT Gasped Marveled Screamed Screeched Shouted Shrieked Yelped Yelled

ANNOYED Grumbled Grunted Jeered Quipped Scolded Snapped Snarled Sneered

ANNOYING Nagged

I DON’T REALLY CARE BUT WHATEVER Guessed Ventured

I’M DRUNK OR JUST BEING WEIRDLY EXPRESSIVE FOR A POINT/SARCASM Hooted Howled Yowled

I WONDER Pondered Voiced Wondered

OH, YEAH, WHOOPS Recalled Recited Remembered

SURPRISE BITCH Revealed

IT SEEMS FAKE BUT OKAY/HA ACTUALLY FUNNY BUT I DON’T WANT TO LAUGH OUT LOUD Scoffed Snickered Snorted

BITCHY Tattled Taunted Teased

[writing-reigns-deactivated20200]

reblog to save a writer 

[nichelle-my-belle-deactivated20]

excellent resource

[thebluebird]

[fictionwritingtips]

thebluebird:

A professional script reader read 300 screenplays for five different studios, all the while tracking the many recurring problems. The infographic he made with the collected data offers a glimpse at where screenwriting goes wrong.

[xekstrin]

pay attention to this

this is important even if you don’t write scripts

[mumblingsage]

This is exceedingly important to all storytellers

[ameranthe]

Reference and inspiration for building homes. Original source here.

[writerswritecompany]

Novel Structure

[thecharactercomma]

7 Traits of Enduring Characters

Let me start this off with two caveats.

First off, don’t make all of your characters all seven of these traits. That’s just bad writing. Pick one, maybe two. Or none. Or bits and pieces of several! None of the things listed are set-in-stone the only way to have an enduring character. They’re just guidelines.

Secondly, don’t assume that giving your characters one or two of these traits will instantly make them a great, well-rounded character. It’s not that easy. Strong characters have a lot of complexity and need a lot more depth than what I can explain in just one list.

And with those warnings, I give you 7 Traits of Enduring Characters. I got this information at a writing conference and I’m excited to pass on what I’ve learned!

An air of mystery. There’s something about this character that we don’t fully know. If your character has a dark past, it’s usually best to keep most of it in the dark—at least for the first half of the book. Don’t tell us everything upfront. Make us wonder.

Worthy of redemption. This can apply to anti-heroes, villains, or anyone else applicable in your story. They’re a big jerk, but a tiny spark of humanity can sometimes help bring them to life. Maybe they’ve got a soft spot for someone or something, or maybe they truly believe they’re doing X for the greater good. It can even make your villains scarier, because it makes them harder to pin as nothing but an evil monster—it’s not black and white like that. The real villains aren’t always so obvious.

Highly loyal, or highly treacherous. Either you know you can trust them, or you know you can’t. Obviously you can’t give this trait to all of your characters. And actually, it’s not as predictable as you might think. Just because we can’t trust someone doesn’t mean we know what they’re up to. We’ll be anticipating their move but completely unaware of what they’re planning—which is actually a great place to build tension. As far as highly loyal, sometimes it’s nice to have that one character that is a “safe spot” for your character. You need to take breaks from the tension every now and then!

Consistent, but capable of surprises. People are usually pretty consistent based on their personality traits. They tend to make choices based on their core values, which can vary a little, but for the most part they stay on the same route. At the same time, they’re not flat—they’re capable of making an unexpected choice.

Highly self-sacrificing. These characters accept the challenge. When no one else will volunteer, they step up. When it comes to the life of someone they care about, they’re willing to risk their own welfare. This can make for an interesting read when we know they’ll give 100% when things get rough—even die if they have to.

Part of a love story. This doesn’t have to be a romantic love story—just any powerful relationship. The lengths your character will go through for their friend/lover/family member/etc can make them more enduring as a character, because of the worth in their relationship. Examples could be Romeo and Juliet, Katniss and Prim, or even Harry, Hermione, and Ron.

Succeed at the impossible. They are an expert of their task—they can do things most couldn’t dream of accomplishing. Sometimes there’s a little bit of wish-fulfillment in a character meeting this trait, which is why you can’t have it in every member of your cast. Occasionally, however, it’s nice to have someone who’s really good at what they do.

[weeping-wandrian]

why the fuck does english have a word for

but not for “the day after tomorrow”

???

[zeplerfer]

Because you’re not looking hard enough! ;)

Overmorrow = the day after tomorrow

Ereyesterday = the day before yesterday

Example: I defenestrated my brother ereyesterday. I shall defenestrate my sister overmorrow! Because I hate my family and also windows.

[wantcookie]

english has some of the best examples of stupidly specific words, tbh

Rhotacism (n): excessive use of the letter “R”

Lingible (adj): meant to be licked

Whipjack (n): a beggar, specifically one who is pretending to have been shipwrecked

Yerd (v): to beat with an object with a stick

Roddikin (n): the fourth stomach of a cow or a deer

Balbriggan (n): a type of fine cotton, most often used in underwear

and my personal favorite

Cornobble (v): to slap or beat another person with a fish

[somewhatgreatexpectations]

This makes the English nerd in me extremely happy.

[trisabelle]

Who even made these words I’m going to cornobble them

[adamatronic-deactivated20170419]

My dick is lingible

[solnishka1927-deactivated202504]

there is a dictionary that has all of these stupidly specific and obscure words and a whole lot more. It’s absolutely beautiful.

[apeacebone]

A Character-Building Question Meme

Sakura and I tried to come up with a list of questions that we didn’t see around very often, and we wanted to share! So, here it is, yet another character-building question meme.

Leave one of my characters and a number (or more) in my ask, and I will answer:

What foods do they love, and what foods do they refuse to eat?

What is their weapon of choice, and what weapon do they dislike using the most?

What is their preferred method of transportation?

Who did they look up to the most as a child? Who do they look up to as an adult?

What kind of weather makes them happy, and what kind makes them sad?

What languages do they speak? Do they have any idiosyncrasies or identifiable patterns of speech, word usages, etc?

What clothing do they like to wear, and what do they wear most often?

Do they eat a healthy diet? A varied one?

As a child, what did they want to be when they grew up? Did they realize their dream?

What makes them feel safe or secure? What makes them feel insecure or unsafe?

What do they do when they need comfort? Do they seek out a person, a food, an activity, etc?

Do they sing or play any musical instruments, even if just for fun? How well?

What decision in their past did they most analyze and fret over after the fact?

What are they like when they are drunk?

Where in their body do they keep stress or tension? 

What do they think about where they currently live? If they could move elsewhere, would they?

Do they have any pet peeves or petty dislikes, and how do they react to encountering them?

What foods do they eat most often? Do they enjoy it?

What is their favorite texture?

Do they like to travel? How do they pack and prepare?

How well do they take criticism? How do they react to others noticing their flaws?

What are they like when they get sick? Do they have a particular system (ears, lungs, etc) that illness gravitates to?

What is their favorite drink?

How do they react to being physically injured or undergoing medical treatment?

What do their hands look and feel like?

How much do they eat, and how often? Do they drink appetite suppressants (tea, coffee, etc)?

Do they have children? Do they want children? What names would they choose?

What is a gift that they have received that was especially touching or significant?

How do they arrange or decorate their living space? 

Do they have any allergies or chronic conditions?

[lichen-soup-scribe]

Writing Traumatic Injuries References

So, pretty frequently writers screw up when they write about injuries. People are clonked over the head, pass out for hours, and wake up with just a headache… Eragon breaks his wrist and it’s just fine within days… Wounds heal with nary a scar, ever…

I’m aiming to fix that.

Here are over 100 links covering just about every facet of traumatic injuries (physical, psychological, long-term), focusing mainly on burns, concussions, fractures, and lacerations. Now you can beat up your characters properly!

General resources

WebMD

Mayo Clinic first aid

Mayo Clinic diseases

First Aid

PubMed: The source for biomedical literature

Diagrams: Veins (towards heart), arteries (away from heart) bones, nervous system, brain

Burns

General overview: Includes degrees

Burn severity: Including how to estimate body area affected

Burn treatment: 1st, 2nd, and 3rd degrees

Smoke inhalation

Smoke inhalation treatment

Chemical burns

Hot tar burns

Sunburns

Incisions and Lacerations

Essentials of skin laceration repair (including stitching techniques)

When to stitch (Journal article—Doctors apparently usually go by experience on this)

More about when to stitch (Simple guide for moms)

Basic wound treatment

Incision vs. laceration: Most of the time (including in medical literature) they’re used synonymously, but eh.

Types of lacerations: Page has links to some particularly graphic images—beware!

How to stop bleeding: 1, 2, 3

Puncture wounds: Including a bit about what sort of wounds are most likely to become infected

More about puncture wounds

Wound assessment: A huge amount of information, including what the color of the flesh indicates, different kinds of things that ooze from a wound, and so much more.

Home treatment of gunshot wound, also basics More about gunshot wounds, including medical procedures

Tourniquet use: Controversy around it, latest research

Location pain chart: Originally intended for tattoo pain, but pretty accurate for cuts

General note: Deeper=more serious. Elevate wounded limb so that gravity draws blood towards heart. Scalp wounds also bleed a lot but tend to be superficial. If it’s dirty, risk infection. If it hits the digestive system and you don’t die immediately, infection’ll probably kill you. Don’t forget the possibility of tetanus! If a wound is positioned such that movement would cause the wound to gape open (i.e. horizontally across the knee) it’s harder to keep it closed and may take longer for it to heal.

Broken bones

Types of fractures

Setting a broken bone when no doctor is available

Healing time of common fractures

Broken wrists

Broken ankles/feet

Fractured vertebrae: Neck (1, 2), back

Types of casts

Splints

Fracture complications

Broken noses

Broken digits: Fingers and toes

General notes: If it’s a compound fracture (bone poking through) good luck fixing it on your own. If the bone is in multiple pieces, surgery is necessary to fix it—probably can’t reduce (“set”) it from the outside. Older people heal more slowly. It’s possible for bones to “heal” crooked and cause long-term problems and joint pain. Consider damage to nearby nerves, muscle, and blood vessels.

Concussions

General overview

Types of concussions 1, 2

Concussion complications

Mild Brain Injuries: The next step up from most severe type of concussion, Grade 3

Post-concussion syndrome

Second impact syndrome: When a second blow delivered before recovering from the initial concussion has catastrophic effects. Apparently rare.

Recovering from a concussion

Symptoms: Scroll about halfway down the page for the most severe symptoms

Whiplash

General notes: If you pass out, even for a few seconds, it’s serious. If you have multiple concussions over a lifetime, they will be progressively more serious. Symptoms can linger for a long time.

Character reaction:

Shock (general)

Physical shock: 1, 2

Fight-or-flight response: 1, 2

Long-term emotional trauma: 1 (Includes symptoms), 2

First aid for emotional trauma

Treatment (drugs)

WebMD painkiller guide

Treatment (herbs)

1, 2, 3, 4

Miscellany

Snake bites: No, you don’t suck the venom out or apply tourniquettes

Frostbite

Frostbite treatment

Severe frostbite treatment

When frostbite sets in: A handy chart for how long your characters have outside at various temperatures and wind speeds before they get frostbitten

First aid myths: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 Includes the ones about buttering burns and putting snow on frostbite.

Poisons: Why inducing vomiting is a bad idea

Poisonous plants

Dislocations: Symptoms 1, 2; treatment. General notes: Repeated dislocations of same joint may lead to permanent tissue damage and may cause or be symptomatic of weakened ligaments. Docs recommend against trying to reduce (put back) dislocated joint on your own, though information about how to do it is easily found online.

Muscular strains

Joint sprain

Resuscitation after near-drowning: 1, 2

Current CPR practices: We don’t do mouth-to-mouth anymore.

The DSM IV, for all your mental illness needs.

Electrical shock

Human response to electrical shock: Includes handy-dandy voltage chart

Length of contact needed at different voltages to cause injury

Evaluation protocol for electric shock injury

Neurological complications

Electrical and lightning injury

Cardiac complications

Delayed effects and a good general summary

Acquired savant syndrome: Brain injuries (including a lightning strike) triggering development of amazing artistic and other abilities

Please don’t repost! You can find the original document (also created by me) here.

[historicallyaccuratesteve]

Not technically about Steve, but you know.

[whumpgalore]

this is a fabulous resource for all those who write whumpy fanfiction! (is there another kind??)

[papercraneswriting]

Just a reminder that you can find more posts like this by searching Paper Cranes for “reference.”

[ileniagennari]

You’re my hero.

[sleepyreyrey]

Strong words to use on a Resume

If you have ever had to write a resume for work or for an application, then you know the hardest part is figuring out what type of words to use that sound professional and and intelligent.

Example: If an application asks you if you have any relevant experience for a job at a day care center and you have experience, like you have babysat children. You would look at the words in the columns to see what words you should use that will help your resume stand out. You might put down “Have supervised and attended to children on a regular basis.”

I hope this is helpful to you.

[rampyourvoice]

Now this is a great resume list of action words.  I love that it’s broken down by types of jobs.  Saving for future use.