Words

Writer of queer fantasy / horror fiction. She || Her. Twitter @NicoleKattinger

[dogpuppy]

[sourdough-seal]

writing is easy actually. all you have to do is tell people what happened

[enjoylentgreen]

[fxhdskjz]

art is just iteration and reiteration and this one single paragraph changed my life

[zooooey]

Art & Fear: Observations on the Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking by David Bayles & Ted Orland

[cheaphalloweencostume]

forced to think about art like cooking. not every meal i make is gonna be the best meal of my life because sometimes i simply do not have the right ingredients or the time or patience and that’s okay because i gotta feed myself anyway

[cykelops]

I don’t want to hear any writing advice from Stephen king not because I think there would be no value in it but because whatever works for Stephen king is between him and god and that demon he made a pact with that lets him write 3000 words in one sitting daily.

[cykelops]

HE HAS BEEN SOBER AND STILL WRITING FOR 30 FUCKING YEARS!!!

[crushpdf]

[ariaste]

Yeah, as a person who often does 3k words in a sitting, frequently for days or weeks in a row, and has never done cocaine.... it's not the cocaine, and it's not a god-given physical trait like being the "hottest friend".

It's practice. Not just practicing writing in general, but intentionally practicing for speed. I have taught writing in formal settings, and the thing that seems to most frequently slow people down is the amount of time they spend tinkering with, worrying about, and sweating over every individual sentence as they write it -- and then they've written 800 words and they're fucking exhausted, because all of that worrying takes a LOT of cognitive energy. Turn your brain off. Practice not caring if it's a perfect sentence because you can fix it later. Just slap some bullshit on the page. Keep your fingers moving.

If you can type 60wpm, and you type without stopping, you'll have 3k in under an hour. Now, realistically, I'm a fast writer, and I do still pause to do a LITTLE tinkering now and then, so I compose at a rate of around 25wpm, even though my top typing speed is around 80wpm. At 25wpm, 3k would take me roughly two hours. Let's round it up to two and a half hours for a couple thinking breaks.

The point is, this is doable. 25wpm for two and a half hours, including some thinking breaks. It's not particularly superhuman, any more than being able to run a mile is superhuman. It just takes intentional training towards a specific goal and prioritizing what you're spending your day on.

When you first start practicing for speed, then yeah, a lot of what you produce is going to be garbage, and step one is to let that be perfectly fucking fine. Your mantra is "It doesn't have to be good, it just has to be done" -- it's a lot easier to edit a pile of raw material than to try to get it perfect on the first go. As you practice, you'll get more adept at the writing craft part of it too, so the product will not be garbage stream-of-consciousness anymore. The sentences will start to snap together one after the other like lego bricks.

But you don't get there if you say, "Well, it was just the cocaine" or "This isn't applicable to me because Stephen King is doing a completely different activity." Neither of those things are true. He's a regular human being, and I'm a regular human being, and so are you. Writing fast is a learnable skill, just like being able to run a mile or any equivalent feat of physical exertion. If you don't WANT to learn that sort of skill, you definitely don't have to. But there's a difference between deciding that you don't WANT to learn the skill and reflexively deciding that the skill must be impossible, and when I see people saying "That seems impossible, so there's no point to me even trying," it makes me sad.

Because there's no such thing as impossible. Some things are just Very Tedious.

[fierceawakening]

I mean, okay, but how do you get past the reading back what you wrote, realizing you killled the whole plot by not going back to check if this chapter follows logically from that cliffhanger four chapters back, realizing it doesn’t, and throwing it away and starting again?

That’s why I gave up on Fast. Because I kept finding myself either abandoning the WIP because I had no idea what the hell could possibly happen next…

Or going back to Slow to repair the damage and, oh dearie me, continuing at my usual pace after.

I dunno, I can’t stand it when I can’t make my own plot work. Which necessitates a LOT of rereading previous chapters for precise detail.

It’s just weird to me when people tell me “never write that way, it slows you down” because it’s the only way I’ve ever found not to abandon WIPs.

Anyone else experience this or am I just strange?

[dr-dendritic-trees]

Honestly I think messy rough drafts are One Of Those Things that either works for you or doesn't, its like if you think cilantro tastes soapy.

I reblog these things for myself because when I just puke up the story then when I look at it again I see that chapter doesn't follow on from the cliffhanger, and then I can spend a few minutes swearing at it and then lay it all out, and figure out how much I need to discard vs what I just need to reattach to a new chapter 4 and its all good. Often I actually get even sloppier and write something like [reaction to cliffhanger goes here!!!] and then go back and fix that in draft 2 (or 3 or 4 or 17...)

When I write slow I tend to end up in a circumstance where I can tell what I wrote is no good, but I can't figure out why its no good and so I don't know what to do to it to make it good so I just sit there poking at it and poking at it forever until it dies.

[fierceawakening]

That makes sense.

I get that some people really don't have a problem with "puking up the story." I just get wiggy when someone says "you have to get used to being okay with puke," because I've tried several times over many years and I've never stopped thinking "it's puke. It's gonna dry and smell."

There's this idea that if you want what you wrote to actually be good, you're perfectionistic and self-destructive. And I agree that I'm perfectionistic in ways that can be self-destructive. But dude. I'm GOING to therapy.

And I dunno. I don't spend a lot of time not writing because it won't be perfect. I spend a lot of time re-reading to make sure the snappy one liner I just thought up is what that guy would say, or should I give it to someone else, or is it for another book?

It's funny. Editors love me because my work is "so polished." And I'm like "well of course it is--someone else read each chapter as I wrote it, went over it to make sure it makes sense, and I spent a couple of hours revising it. Isn't that what betas are *supposed* to do/"

But people act like it's weird. And I find that terribly confusing.

[dr-dendritic-trees]

So, this feels like 2 separate points.

I honestly prefer my writing advice to be written in the imperative, its just clearer, it doesn't make it harder for me to ignore it if it doesn't work for me, I think that may, again, be a preference thing.

But I would never show an editor my first draft that I puked up.

The puke is honest to god puke, its genuinely bad. What you (based on what you've said here) are producing by carefully working through as you write slowly, then having beta'd then doing a couple of hours of revision, is something like what I'm producing by puking up some garbage, then doing many many hours of revision across 6 - 10 editing rounds. The amount of revision is inescapable, its just done in a different order because I really will spend a lot of time not writing if I don't edit as I go, not because of perfectionism just because I can't hold the half-finished story and edits in my head at the same time.

[tlbodine]

Kurt Vonnegut famously wrote and perfected each page at a time, tinkering and revising as he went and not moving to the next page until he was happy with that one -- and then not backtracking once he was done.

That's also a perfectly viable strategy if the process works for you.

When developing a writing process, the trick is to check in with yourself about what is working, what you like, what makes you stop and clam up, and adjusting until you, personally, feel good about the way you work.

"Vomit up the first draft, fix it in post" works well for people who struggle to get started. It's great for getting past the fear of the blank page. But it leaves you with pages that have to be edited, and a lot of people find it easier to edit a second pass but some people don't.

The goal is less to cut off time spent working overall (youre just shifting when and how that time is spent). It's to cut down on time that's wasted on waffling and procrastinating.

Ultimately whatever process you can do that will reliably get you in front of a keyboard and working consistently is better than any process that will make you avoid working because it's unpleasant. (After accounting for an initial adjustment period where any new habit will feel uncomfortable)

[pantserspen]

How to Fix Overwriting

1. Know why you’re overwriting.

Overwriting usually comes from fear—fear the reader won’t feel enough, understand enough, or care enough. When you know why you’re adding too much, you can fix the cause instead of just cutting words.

2. Remove repetition, not emotion.

If multiple sentences express the same idea, keep the strongest one. You’re not deleting feeling—you’re sharpening it.

3. Trust the reader to understand subtext.

Readers don’t need every emotion spelled out. Actions, reactions, and choices already communicate more than explanation ever could.

4. Use one concrete detail instead of many vague ones.

Specific sensory or physical details create stronger emotion than listing abstract feelings. One image lets the reader do the emotional work.

5. Filter description through your character’s perspective.

Your character won’t notice everything, especially in intense moments. Limiting description to what they would notice keeps scenes tight and immersive.

6. Cut intensifiers immediately.

Words like very, really, and extremely weaken prose instead of strengthening it. Strong verbs and images do the job better.

7. Let dialogue stand on its own.

Dialogue already carries tone and emotion through word choice and rhythm. Adding explanations often flattens its impact.

8. Keep metaphors purposeful and rare.

Too many metaphors compete with each other and slow the scene. One strong comparison is more memorable than several decent ones.

9. Read your work out loud.

Overwriting becomes obvious when you hear it. If a sentence feels long, heavy, or tiring to say, it likely needs trimming.

10. Ask what the paragraph accomplishes.

Every paragraph should move the story forward, reveal character, or raise tension. If it doesn’t, it’s probably indulgent filler.

11. Edit separately from drafting.

Overwriting is allowed in early drafts. Clean prose comes from revision, not self-censorship while writing.

12. Cut more than you think you should.

Most overwritten paragraphs can lose 30–50% of their words without losing meaning. Tightening prose almost always makes it stronger.

[pantserspen]

How to Fix Underwriting

1. Slow down at emotionally important moments.

Big emotions need space to land. If a scene feels rushed, pause the plot briefly to show how the moment affects the character.

2. Add reactions, not explanations.

Instead of explaining what a character feels, show it through physical responses, hesitation, or small actions that reveal emotion naturally.

3. Ground every scene in the senses.

If a scene feels thin, add one or two sensory details—sound, texture, smell, or temperature—to make the moment feel lived-in.

4. Let thoughts interrupt action.

A line of internal thought can deepen a scene without slowing it too much. Thoughts show stakes, fear, longing, or conflict beneath the action.

5. Expand consequences, not events.

You don’t need more things to happen—you need to show what matters. Focus on how events change relationships, decisions, or self-perception.

6. Strengthen setting where emotion peaks.

The environment should echo or contrast the emotion of the scene. Setting is not decoration—it’s emotional reinforcement.

7. Add specific details instead of general ones.

Underwriting often relies on vague language. Swap “they argued” for one sharp line of dialogue or a specific breaking point.

8. Let dialogue breathe.

Short dialogue exchanges without pauses can feel flat. Add beats—silence, gestures, interruptions—to give the conversation weight.

9. Show transitions between scenes.

If scenes jump too quickly, readers feel disoriented. A brief transition helps establish time, mood, and emotional continuity.

10. Clarify stakes early in the scene.

If readers don’t know what can be lost, scenes feel empty. Make sure the character wants something specific and fears losing it.

11. Use the “what are they feeling right now?” check.

After each major beat, ask what emotion is dominant in that moment. If it’s missing on the page, the scene is likely underwritten.

12. Expand scenes that feel “too clean.”

If a scene resolves too neatly or quickly, it probably needs more tension. Messy emotions and unresolved feelings add depth.

[wulfrann]

i am once again begging people to ask native speakers to please check their french in fics please. I cannot go on like this.

[wulfrann]

yk what. I'm doing this. why not. be the change you wish to see in the world etc.

Disclaimer that you should have someone check every time you write something in a language you're not fluent in, but this post is for me specifically so this is about french:

if you are thinking about writing 'mon cher' or 'mon chou' consider not doing it. for my personal mental health.

'mon cher' only works for old-fashioned old people writing letters or historical contexts from when that was a thing people said (baby boomers gen and before). you are making your 20-something twink sound like Hortense, 92 yo, writing a lavender-scented letter to a dear family member. The word you're looking for is '(mon) chéri' ('(ma)chérie' in the féminine), which is like 'darling' and is what middle-aged people often call their s/o's. some younger people do it too, though not as often.

NEVER have someone call someone else 'cher'. It is NEVER used alone like this. As an adjective it means 'expensive', and before a name it means "dear [name]" like you would in a formal sounding email or in a letter. 'mon cher' means 'my dear'. But 'cher' alone as a way to call someone means nothing and sounds VERY strange.

'mon chou' is funny haha cabbage yes but it is once again a grandma thing to call a child and even then it's very dated. a real thing my mom called me as a kid is 'ma puce' (or 'pupuce' for a cuter version of the word) which translates to 'my flea'. for a boy you can say 'mon poulet' ('my chicken'). This is almost only for children and sounds ridiculous when used for adults (I've heard 'mon poulet' as referring to a husband only in sketches or in joke contexts, because it sounds silly).

other terms of endearments for people who are dating/hooking up: 'bébé' (baby), 'mon amour' (my love - my mom uses this for her bf very often), '(mon) trésor' (treasure - more for kids but I've heard it used by couples too), 'mon cœur' (my heart). if you don't mind sounding old-fashioned there's also 'ma moitié' (my half).

People who are young and dating usually refer to their s/o's in conversation as 'mon copain' / 'ma copine' (my bf / my gf) or 'mon amoureux' / 'mon amoureuse' (kinda like 'the person I'm in love with'). Or, as established, 'mon chéri' / 'ma chérie'.

Some fun stuff I've never seen in fics:

- mdr/ptdr (lol/lmao)

- 'fingers in the nose', said in heavily accented english. translation of a french expression, 'les doigts dans le nez', which means 'that was super easy' (so easy you could have done it with your fingers in your nose). Idk why it's often said in english.

- 'Bisous' (kisses) is a pretty standard way to end an email or letter to family or close friends. Slightly more formal is 'Bises' / 'La bise', which you could use for family, friends, and close acquaintances.

- 'le sang de la veine' (the blood of the vein) or its shorter versions 'le sang' and 'le S' is a way to refer to close friends, with the idea that you're so tight it's like you're family. it's hyperbolic, so often said playfully, as a greeting or when someone said/did something that demonstrated how close you are.

- 'putain' ('whore', used like 'fuck') is a versatile curse word but it's also very vehement and not used as often or easily as 'fuck', imo. Other options: 'merde' (shit), 'bordel' (literally 'whorehouse', can also be used as an adjective to means that something's really fucking messy), and the winning combos 'bordel de merde' and 'putain de merde'.

- 'un baiser' means 'a kiss' but 'baiser' as a verb means 'to fuck'.

- some english words are fully part of the language, but a little to the left. for example: 'shopping' as in 'faire du shopping' (to do shopping) means 'to go buy clothes/make-up' as an activity (not when your goal is to be efficient). Or 'jogging', which in french is the word for 'sweatpants' - 'jogging' as in the activity is 'faire du footing' (to do a 'footing'). 'Un sweat' (often pronounced 'sweet') is 'a hoodie'.

- more of an easy mistake than a fun fact, but when talking informally, people say 'ouais' (yeah) a lot more than they say 'oui'. However, 'ouais' is a little more informal than 'yeah' - most people wouldn't use it when talking to a teacher, for example.

- 'bonjour' is kinda formal. when greeting people informally, people say 'salut' or 'coucou' . Some people also say 'bonsoir' (good evening) as an informal greeting at any time of the day, idk why. Same thing with 'au revoir' - I don't really ever say that to people I'm close to. An informal version would be 'ciao', 'tcho', 'salut' or 'bye', or for 'see you' you could say 'à la prochaine' / 'à plus'.

- 'Euh...' is what most french people say instead of 'er...' or 'um...'. Similarly, 'aïe' is what people say instead of 'ouch'.

Finally. As stated. I know we're all having fun here but please have at least someone fluent, better if they're a native speaker, check your french. for me. please. It is so easy to write something technically correct but so so wrong for the context.

If you don't know anyone, ask me! I love doing stuff like that. Or ask on a language forum!

Please.

Thank you.

Good night.

[a-random-fandom-friend]

The ONLY exception to "cher" is if your character is cajun or has ties to cajun culture (growing up around cajun ppl, ect).

"Cher" in cajun and "Cher" in france-french are distant cousin. They say stuff like "Mais, cher! I'm so glad to see you! " ; that use would make no sense in france-french but makes sense in cajun.

So if your character is french and not usamerican, let them use the "mon cher", i beg

[wulfrann]

Good point! ☝️ My perspective is france-french, I can't speak on the way french is spoken in other regions of the world. there are many variations, dialects, créoles, etc., and they all have their own rules, words, and expressions.

That being said, from a france-french perspective, "mon cher" is still 99% of the time not something people from france would say. It's very old-fashioned.

"chéri(e)" is usually a good alternative, or another pet name entirely.

[a-random-fandom-friend]

Oh yeah, "mon cher" is something that an extravagant old lady calls her friends. The lady from Aristocat calls her friends "mon cher". Very "daaarling", you know.

Alternatively, in a period piece, a distraught person from the 20th century, having just lost a huge sum of money but seeing the face of a dear friend who came to comfort them, can say "oh, mon cher [name], [how happy I am to see you! ] ". Or something of the sort.

But yeah french people under 80 do not use "mon cher"

[icouldshowyoumyscar]

Poulet/mon poulet is used by male friends for their male friends also! Not just for kids

[theoneeyedwriter]

writing characters with one eye

i can pretty much guarantee that ↑that↑ is not a heading you see everyday.

now i will not be giving advice on writing cyclopses, (though it may be sort of the same thing) i still hope this will be helpful for some people out there that are looking to provide a more diverse cast to their wip!

i have never ever ever read a book, watch a show movie etc etc that involves a character with one eye. (aside from those badass characters who wear eye patches bc they lost sight in one eye in some badass way)

for context: i am one of many people who was born with microphtalmia, an eye disease that results in one or both eyes develope smaller than normal at birth. i myself was born with a smaller left eye, which resulted in my left eye being removed exactly twenty days after birth.

microphthalmia (along with many other eye diseases) typically leads to being half or fully blind. i lucked out and only lost my left eye which i am so so thankful for.

i would really really love to see more representation for my community in literature, especially so people would come to see that being half blind isn’t as unusual and weird as people make it out to be.

without further ado, i present to you, a list of information, facts, and first hand experiences from yours truly!

i’ve had prosthetic eyes made to fit my eye socket for about fifteen years (i’m 16 lol) (the first 6ish months after the surgery i never had a prosthetic)

in my life i’ve had four different prosthetic eyes made because just like other people, my eye socket grew alongside the rest of me, meaning the prosthetic needed to be made bigger

i’ve had my current prosthetic for four years now, the past ones lasted about 2-3 years at a time. this one will probably last me through the rest of my life unless i need/want a new one

as opposed to most media/assumptions, my prosthetic (along with most prosthetics) is PLASTIC (people always think it’s glass) and only half a circle!!

i’ve had three surgeries related to my eye

i do not have depth perception which makes doing certain things very difficult (estimating distance, how close/far i am from something etc)

driving is not affected too much, i just have to turn my head more than other people. i believe being blind in the right eye might be more difficult, but i couldn’t say

doing my make up is kinda easy, except for eyeliner is a pain in the ASS since most people close their eye to do it on their upper lid, but clearly i can’t close my right eye whilst doing it lol

my family as well as my friends and even myself often forget i have a prosthetic, which sometimes results in awkward/funny situations

i hate walking with people on my right bc i can’t tell where they are unless i’m constantly looking down at my/their feet

i sucked at basketball bc i had such a disadvantage (no depth perception, i could only see half the court, i was constantly turning my head) but professional swimming is much easier for me since it’s not a contact sport and doesn’t really require for me to be paying attention to a million things at once

i rarely have to take my prosthetic out, and if i do, it’s either to clean it, (we do get eye crusties on our prosthetics just like other people do when they have pink eye or sever allergies) it’s bothering me/really dry, or i want to take it out to show/scare people lol

a lot of people don’t realize when i first meet them that it’s fake bc my recent prosthetic is amazing accurate to my real eye. others notice and assume i have a lazy eye since it doesn’t move

for some reason people think i can’t cry out of my left (prosthetic) eye??? i still have a tear duct??? i actually think more tears come out of my left tear duct than my right lol

i am extremely self conscious about it, but i know there are other one-eyed beauties out there who aren’t which is amazing!! i try to live vicariously through them lol

i make sooo many jokes about my eye lol, and i’m usually ok w other people making jokes as long as they aren’t like overly rude/offensive, then i’ll feel a lil bad about my self

people never really made fun of it, but kids in middle school likes to wave things in front of my left eye/on my left side that i couldn’t see which got really annoying after a while

getting custom designed prosthetics are available, but they’re really expensive (so are normal lol) they costs thousands of dollars, just like other prosthetics do

i run into things that are on my left side ALL THE TIME it’s actually kinda funny lolol

i try to hide my left eye/turn more to my left side in photos bc my eyes aren’t always looking in the same direction, which really gets to me

i wear glasses for both protection and bc my right eye is -1.75 lmao but i did used to wear non-prescription glasses purely for safety

i do have contacts to wear during the summer, swim meets etc, for when i don’t want/can’t wear my glasses but need to see. bc of this, i have a second pair of glasses that have no prescription

if doctors/scientists managed to figure out a way to fix microphthalmia (a birth defect), or do a sort of eye transplant, i would not be able to have that done to me because all parts of my left eye have been removed from my body

microphthalmia is NOT the only disease that results in the haver losing sight in one or both eyes!! there are many others, but it is not my place to share any experiences for something i have not experienced!!!

for once i just want to see a clumsy character who has one eye that WASNT a result of some tragic event.

so please please please consider including a character with one working eye in your wip. it would mean the world to myself and all the other members of the community (there’s a lot of us, trust me) plus, i wouldn’t mind starting an acting debut playing a half-blind female protagonist, that would be so dope.

that’s about all i can think of for now! please send an ask or reply to this post if you have any questions, i’m willing to answer any!!! and if you happen to be a member of the one eye club, please add to this post!! that would mean the world to me:)

[ellipsus-writes]

If you haven't heard, the em dash has been getting a lot of attention lately…

Because it was trained on pirated work—including freely accessible online writing (like fanfic, academic texts)—ChatGPT picked up patterns and quirks native to human writing.

Including (sigh) the em dash.

There are other victims here (RIP tapestry and delve 🫠), but the appropriation of the em dash—a punctuation mark beloved by writers everywhere—feels especially personal.

A kind of low-grade panic is ensuing. Writers who once memed their own em dash overuse—the greatest punctuation mark ever to grace the control-freak’s lexicon, frankly—are suddenly backing away to avoid accusations.

No. More. We have centuries of dash-abusing writers behind us. We will not sit quietly while AI repurposes our beloved stilted aside—or the just-one-more clarification the sentence demands—or the dramatic pause your comma could never—etc.

You don’t write like AI—AI writes like you.

Defend the em dash.

(Feel free to download/share/stick it where it matters!)

[weaselle]

[starpains]

on “the blond,” “the older man,” and other crimes against third-person limited

You know that thing where a story is written in tight third person limited — we’re meant to be inside someone’s head, seeing the world through their thoughts — and then suddenly the narration says “the blond frowned” or “the shorter woman sighed” about a person the POV character knows really well?

That’s called antonomasia — using a descriptive label instead of a name. And it’s fine when we’re talking about strangers: “the cashier handed her the receipt,” “the tall guy blocked the door.” The POV character doesn’t know their names, and we just need a quick way to tell people apart.

But the moment it’s used for someone the POV character already knows, it breaks immersion. Because that’s not how our minds work. We don’t think “the older man smiled at me.” We think “Mark smiled.” Or maybe “my boss” if that relationship matters in the moment.

Third person limited means the narration sits inside someone’s perception. Their inner monologue is the story’s voice. So when you switch from “Mark smiled” to “the blond smiled,” you’ve pulled the camera away from their mind and turned it into an outside shot.

If you want to create distance or irritation, you can do it on purpose —

“The idiot from accounting emailed again.”

That’s character voice. That’s judgment. That works.

But otherwise?

As soon as your POV character knows someone’s name, use it. While we do tend to worry about repetitions, names rarely register as such to the readers.

If you need variety for rhythm, use relational or emotional identifiers that make sense in their head: her friend, his partner, their teacher, the person they loved.

Because inside someone’s thoughts, there are no “blonds” or “brunettes.”

There are only people they know.

[wisteria-lodge]

Really good explanation of the fundamental problem with this type of writing.

(and why it's one of my huge pet peeves)

[smallestflowtree]

PSA for fanfic writers

[midwinterhunt]

Hot Writers Don't Gatekeep

the writers REALLY liked my artist resource post, so I thought i'd give y'all my dragon hoard of things i use for writing

Reverse Dictionary, you type in the meaning of a word, and it gives you a bunch of words that mean that. (MY MOST IMPORTANT OFFERING IN THIS LIST)

Slang Dictionary, what it says on the tin.

Anglish Translator, Anglish is if English evolved without borrowing from other languages and it really itches my brain (Anglish is if english grown without borrowing from other languages and it truly itches my brain)

Incorrect Quotes Generator, Put character names in, and incorrect quotes come out. Really fun way to goof around with your characters' dynamics.

Handspeak, an ASL dictionary

Library of Babel, Odds are, the finished version of your wip is in here somewhere

The best fantasy map maker i have ever used

Glitch Text Generator is one I use A Lot, does ť̷̨̢͓̤͔̤̤̝̺̯̄̔̄̌̄͗͒͋͂͋͝ḩ̵̼̜͍͚͕̏̓͊̈̉̆̄͐́͗͒̈̃̊̚͜i̵̻̐̇̎̏̀̋̌̃̇̿͘̚s̴̮̔̂̇͒͑͝͝ͅ to your text

Totally not bootleg microsoft office

Emotions Thesaurus a guide for writing emotions and their associated body language

Mythcreants, has a whole bunch of stuff you can read to learn more about the technical aspects of writing

A decent article talking about what to think about when creating a language

Trope Talks, particularly good for beginner and younger writers or people who have a hard time reading. Honestly this whole channel is a fantastic format to get information into my adhd rattled brain.

FOR MY AO3 BESTIES! Postimages will host your image forever so you can embed it into your work

Ambient Chaos, sometimes the only thing in the world that can kick your brain into writing mode is nuclear sirens and lofi beats

Radioooooo, play a station from any place and year. Particularly helpful for period pieces.

[midwinterhunt]

Food timeline, when foods were invented

[rederiswrites]

There used to be a lot of activities that took place around a populated area like a village or town, which you would encounter before you reached the town itself. Most of those crafts have either been eliminated in the developed world or now take place out of view on private land, and so modern authors don't think of them when creating fantasy worlds or writing historical fiction. I think that sprinkling those in could both enrich the worlds you're writing in and, potentially, add useful plot devices.

For example, your travelers might know that they're near civilization when they start finding trees in the woods that have been tapped, for pitch or for sap. They might find a forester's trap line and trace it back to his hut to get medical care. Maybe they retrace the passage of a peasant and his pig out hunting for truffles. If they're coming along a coast, maybe your travelers come across the pools where sea water is dried down to salt, or the furnaces where bog iron ore is smelted.

Maybe they see a column of smoke and follow it to the house-sized kilns of a potter's yard where men work making bricks or roof tiles. From miles away they could smell the unmistakeable odor of pine sap being rendered down into pitch, and follow that to a village. Or they hear the flute playing of a shepherd boy whiling away the hours in the high pasture.

They could find the clearing where the charcoal burners recently broke down an earth kiln, and follow the hoof prints and drag marks of their horse and sledge as they hauled the charcoal back to civilization. Or follow the sound of metal on stone to a quarry or gravel pit. Maybe they know they're nearly to town when they come across a clay bank with signs of recent clay gathering.

Of course around every town and city there will be farms, more densely packed the closer you are. But don't just think of fields of grains or vegetables. Think of managed woodlands, like maybe trees coppiced-- cut and then regrown--to customize the shape or size of the branches. Cows being grazed in a communal green. Waiting as a huge flock of ducks is driven across the road. Orchards in bloom.

If they're approaching by road, there will be things best done out of town. The threshing floor where grain is beaten with flails or run through crushing wheels to separate the grain from its casing, and then winnowed, using the wind to carry away the chaff. Laundresses working in the river, their linens bleaching on the grass at the drying yard. The stench of the tanners, barred from town for stinking so badly. The rushing wheel-race and great creaking wheel of the flour mill.

If it's a larger town, there might be a livestock market outside the gates, with goats milling in woven willow pens or chickens in wooden cages. Or a line of horses for the wealthier buyer or your desperate travelers. There might be a red light district, escaping the regulations of the city proper, or plain old slums. More industrial yards, like the yards where fabric is dyed (these might also smell quite bad, like rotting plant material, or urine).

There are so many things that preindustrial people did and would find familiar that we just don't know about now. So much of life was lived out in the open for anyone to see. Make your world busy and loud and colorful!

[alexanderwales]

You mentioned coppicing:

The coppice and pollard systems are one of my favorite pre-modern things, it's just so visually unique and sensible, but most people haven't heard about it.

When you coppice, you cut the tree close to the ground, so only the trunk is left, then the tree puts out fairly straight shoots that are great for firewood. They would typically have these trees harvested on rotation so new trees would be ready every year.

This is a coppiced tree:

When you pollard, you cut the tree to the trunk, but higher, and let the branches grow for longer. They'll be be nice and straight (depending on species) with fewer knots, and suitable to various crafts without much need to work the wood. Sadly seems to be etymologically unrelated to "pole", though the branches from these trees were used to make poles. Part of why you do this instead of coppicing is that the shoots are out of reach of animals.

This is a pollarded tree:

It's very likely that you'd see something like this as a sign of civilization as you came toward a town or village, depending on the species of tree that they have available, though note that this is something you do when you have a timeline of many years, rather than something you set up for the year after.

[coelasquid]

Sometimes we’re unsatisfied with a thing we made because when it only existed in our head, we saw all the things it could have been and when it’s done we know all the things that it isn’t, but we can’t see the way it expands into a million new things when someone else unpacks it in their head.

[goqmir]

setting up a tiny detail in one chapter to pay it off in the next few chapters feels sooo devious like oooh i can't wait to write the small little reference here that 70% of readers will miss but 30% of readers will cheer for

[dialupmodern]

it feels so good loading the gun when you're Chekhov

[aye-write]

Saw this on Twitter. What 3 potions would you drink?

I would take brown, white, and yellow!

[that-catholic-shinobi]

White, dark red and blue

[supreme-leader-stoat]

Blue, white, lime green, easy.