starry eyes and broken pens

I write just about everything. Icon is mine.

[writingquestionsanswered]

Does any big villain needs a tragic past or a traumatic event that turned them the way they are? I have my main villain motivated by something more mundane, lacking the tragic past™. They are a political scientist and are actually mentally stable, but they befriended the tragic villain mass murder type. Bc he really sucks at his job, he makes a deal with the other, funding him, in time he makes accurate political predictions but only bc they already know what the other villain is about to do.

15 Non-Tragic/Traumatic Motivations for Villains

No, every villain doesn’t need a tragic/traumatic motivation, past or recent. Villains can be motivated by all sorts of things:

1. Financial Greed (they want to be filthy, stinking rich.)2. Material Greed (they want to own ALL the things.)3. Power Hungry (they want to be super powerful.)4. Excessive Ambition (they want it ALL, or to achieve a certain thing.)5. Desire to Possess Something (could be a person, place, object, skill…)6. Desire for Notoriety/Legacy (they want to be famous and/or remembered.)7. Entitlement (they’re trying to fulfill what they believe is their destiny.)8. Extreme Hatred (motivated by excessive hate for someone/something.)9. Working to Impress (they want to impress someone/live up to expectations)10. Misguided Belief (”magic is dangerous, kill everyone who has magic.”)11. Envy/Competitiveness (they’re trying to outdo someone else.)12. Fulfilling Ideology (they’re striving toward religious/political ideology.)13. Devotion to Ideology (they’re trying to instill/enforce belief or ideology)14. Obedience to Higher Power (think Vader/Ren working for Palpatine.)15. Hero of Own Story (has benevolent reasons, but conflicts with protagonist.)

————————————————————————————————-

Have a question? My inbox is always open, but make sure to check my FAQ and post master lists first to see if I’ve already answered a similar question. :)

[letterful]

“On March 28, 1941, Virginia Woolf loaded her pockets with stones and walked into the river Ouse. Her husband, Leonard Woolf, was obsessively punctilious, and had kept a journal every day of his adult life, in which he recorded daily menus and car mileage. Apparently, nothing was different on the day his wife committed suicide: he entered the mileage for his car. But on this day the paper is obscured by a smudge, writes his biographer, Victoria Glendinning, a brownish-yellow stain which has been rubbed or wiped. It could be tea or coffee or tears. The smudge is unique in all his years of neat diary-keeping.”

— JAMES WOOD, from How Fiction Works.

[earlgreytea68]

My Golden Ratio Theory (and television finales)

I have this theory that I call my Golden Ratio Theory. The theory states that there is some golden ratio of angst to end-happiness that you must hit in order to have your audience truly believe in the happy ending and find it satisfying. I do not have any precise mathematical formula in mind, I just know that, proportionately, the more angst in the overall narrative, the longer the happy coda at the end has to be to convince the audience that the ending actually will stay happy. 

Because, the more angst you’ve had through the length of your narrative, the more you’ve conditioned your audience not to trust happiness, to believe that it only lasts for fleeting moments before being yanked away again. If that’s the pattern you have established in your narrative, why would you expect your audience to accept a tacked-on happy ending? Your audience has been primed to mistrust that, to wait for the other shoe to drop. Knowing that it’s the ending doesn’t shift the subjective feeling of anxiety and nervousness at the happiness that’s reared its head. 

This is why television series finales are so often so incredibly unsatisfying. Television series are very long-form angsty narratives. Because of the rules of television storytelling, no one is happy for anything more than a few breaths at a time, because more story must quickly be flung at them to keep the viewer engaged. Television writers tend to keep telling their angsty narrative up until the final five minutes of the whole show, and then they’ll slam a happy ending in there and be like, “Ta-da! They lived happily every after!” 

But the thing is: You don’t feel that, and no wonder, because they never lived happily ever after before, so why should they live happily ever after now? I sometimes see people disdain happy endings as feeling fake or contrived, but this is often what the problem is: the writer not recognizing the Golden Ratio that governs how persuasive a happy ending is to the audience. A five-minute happy ending does feel fake and contrived, and then that gets understood somehow as “all happy endings are fake and contrived,” instead of recognizing that a happy ending is actually really hard to write correctly, not that happy endings are intrinsically bad forms of storytelling. 

So. Golden Ratio theory. You know who violates this theory? Hallmark Christmas movies. You know how the couple never kisses until the last scene? You know how you never leave a Hallmark Christmas movie really shipping the couple? How could you? You know nothing about how they function as a couple. I have nothing against Hallmark Christmas movies – we watch a lot of them – but the happy ending of a romantic story is usually not the first kiss, or the moment when they get together. Think about Bridget Jones’s Diary, which is a book and movie I truly love, but like, hahaha, at the end of either, did you have great confidence that Bridget wasn’t going to mess everything up with Mark????? 

Now, some stories are perfectly fine with a quick happy ending because there hasn’t been much angst beforehand, because you’ve already laid the foundation for the happy ending so thoroughly that it makes sense to the audience. I feel like maybe Pride & Prejudice is a story that ends fairly quickly after they get together but there is so much carefully laid-out character development that I think convinces you Elizabeth and Darcy will be okay (as opposed to Bridget Jones, which, although retelling P&P, is also telling a very different story). 

I think about a story like, say, “You’re the Culmination of Everything I’ve Never Had.” I could have ended that story when Patrick shows up and sings “Deep Blue Love” to Pete. But they’d been through so much that I think it would have felt unsatisfying. How did you really know that they wouldn’t find more incredibly harsh words to shout at each other? So everything after that I considered fulfillment of the Golden Ratio: You needed to see them in a cozy Chicago apartment writing music together, you needed to see Pete cuddling a small, dark-haired boy. And then you hit the end and you’re hopefully smiling, thinking, They’ll be totally okay. 

I am biased, because I love to write the Golden Ratio bits. That coda to “Culmination” is my favorite part of the whole fic. But I think also that those bits mean more than might be realized during first-read. Whenever I walk away from a story feeling dissatisfied, even though it had a theoretically happy ending, the problem is almost always one of Golden Ratio. And luckily, that is something many of us are primed to correct in fandom. Why so much curtainfic? We’re constantly trying to Golden-Ratio happiness out of our angsty canons. Sometimes, it takes hundreds of thousands of words to make you think, Okay, they’ll make it. And then you’re ready to hear The End. 

[knaveofmogadore]

I just wanna let y’all know that you do fanfic tropes all of the time, we just don’t describe them like beginning writers do. You:

Push your shoes off with your toes or with the tip of your shoe, most likely. Props for drama if you yank your converse or your vans or your boots off like a soldier in a scyfi drama, but otherwise, you’re “toeing your shoes off”

Humans are much better at dissecting scents than we give ourselves credit for. If you sit there long enough, you could dissect how your friend smells. I smell like “old, beat up cars, the sour citrus he isn’t supposed to have, and something musty and natural and unique to him that clings to all of his clothes.” In order that’s old flannel, three day old hair mousse, and fish tank water. Smells like cigarettes and oils cling to your clothes, stuff like fishtanks and the food in your kitchen seeps into your belongings. Don’t feel bad about describing scents, people carry our houses with us everywhere. 

Have you ever pet someone else’s hair? That’s “carding your fingers through.” That’s it. It’s the same thing.

Ever walked around barefoot? Its three am and you’re trying to make Dark Lunch? You’ve padded around. You signal to other people nonverbally whether its coughing or sighing that you’re there so that you don’t scare them. 

Smirking is a thing most of us do with our face. Grinning, looking cheeky, and raising our eyebrows are also all things your face does. Sorry :/

You might not get this if you’re a straight girl whose never had sex, but sometimes that little strip of skin between ya shirt and ya hips? The mouth can go there. That’s an intimate place to touch and its a vulnerable place to be exposed. Overused maybe, but a valid way to show a shift in the situation. 

We all sigh!! Are some of y’all really saying that sighing isn’t a thing you do ten thousand times a week?? You don’t sigh when someone says something stupid as shit?? You don’t sigh when you gotta get up?? 

SAID IS A VALID WORD

Everything on your face casts shadows, I’m sorry you have weak eyelashes, or that somehow your brows are flat with your eyeballs

People laugh silently! I’m sorry you’ve never laughed that hard!! People giggle! People snort! People double over and move and flail! Have you ever fucking laughed?

For that matter how do y’all not blush and can you teach me

I’d also like to say sorry if: your heart has never skipped a beat reading something terrible, or when you saw someone you liked even platonically, or if you’ve never been so surprised all you could do was blink, that you never looked at someone like you loved them, and that you somehow never fucking show any emotion in your voice or your posture at all

Tl;Dr: Some of y’all are dragging people for shit you don’t know how to describe and damn if you ain’t still reading things and then telling beginning writers that they’re describing impossible things and writing weirdly when y’all don’t even write shit, its obnoxious as hell. To y’all that do write and are aggressively against this post, I bet you sure as hell use EPITHETS INAPPROPRIATELY ANYWAY, DON’T YA?

[abaddecisionagoodstory-deactiva]

Some important tips on making/writing Asian OCs

Try to stay away from the smart/nerdy Asian stereotype. Plenty of Asian people are very smart, just like in any other race. However, stereotypical racial representation is worse than none at all. By all means, you can have an intelligent Asian character but make sure their intelligence is not the main factor of their personality.

Write more than just East and light-skinned Asians. In most cases, if an author wants to have some Asian representation they’ll throw in a Chinese or Japanese character. And while yes, there aren’t very many Chinese and Japanese characters as opposed to white, there are even less Southeast, South, and Middle Eastern Asian representation. Not all Asians have light skin, even in East Asia. There are plenty of Korean, Chinese, and Japanese people with dark skin!

 Do your research when naming Asian characters. Unless you want to end up like J.K. Rowling who’s sole Asian character was named Cho Chang. Do not just throw a last name with an ‘ong’ or an ‘ang’ at the end.

Represent plus size Asians. Asian women are stereotyped as petite, and just like white plus size women, plus size Asian women need representation in media.

Asian people don’t eat everything with chopsticks. I didn’t think that needed to be said, but here we are.

Create Asian characters with an alternative fashion sense/style. Asians with dyed hair. Asians with piercings. Asians with tattoos.

Stay away from the strict parent Asian stereotype. In fact, stay away from every stereotype, okay?

Keep in mind, stereotypes for other races aren’t the same for Asian people.

By all means, write about Asian culture. BUT MAKE SURE IT IS ACCURATE!!!

Write Asian characters who get in trouble and/or are reckless. Asians that swear. Asians that break rules. Asians that get detention.

WRITE ATHLETIC ASIANS!!!

Do not, under any circumstance, use the word ‘chinky’ to describe an Asian character. Just. Don’t.

Asian people face racism too.

Don’t fetishize or demonize Asian culture.

Asian people, feel free to add some more on! If you’re white or non-Asian POC do not comment if you reblog! (Unless it’s to say something like, oh nice tips! Or thank you, I didn’t know that!)

If you can, reblog. I haven’t seen any for Asian OCs.

(x)

[spirallingintotheabyss]

Can I add

-remember that guy in ATLA who helped Aang unlock his chakras? Don’t. Please, please don’t.

-please don’t write us as evil.

-if you want references to good rep, just ask (me,or any other Asian people you know.)

-if you do have Asian characters, don’t be afraid to make them queer, disabled, or anything else that’s under-represented. We are not just cishet,abled people.

-again, as op said, do Not make them a stereotype. Search up stereotypes. And avoid them. You may want to ask for sensitivity readers too

That’s all I can think of now!

[lila-baard-deactivated20201206]

Hey just gonna add some more stuff

-reiterating OP’s first point, the smart/nerdy yet socially inept Asian? Don’t do that. Please.

-Asia is full of several diverse cultures and many different religions. Often times, religion becomes a part of the culture. Please, please do your research before you utterly butcher one or both of these. 

-Elaborating on the above point, I have read quite a few books where a character (mostly from Asia) who either wears a hijab or continuously uses Allah’s name, but are as far from Muslims as one can get. Its cringey and honestly sometimes just painful to see. A few words and a head scarf do not make a Muslim. (I am sure there are other religions as well as cultures who have possibly suffered a bias like this , but since I don’t know them as well as my own, I’ll refrain from commenting upon any)

So yeah that’s pretty much all I have to add, if any one has more tips for Asian characters, please, feel free to add them here!

[abaddecisionagoodstory-deactiva]

Important additions!!!

[lnfini-deactivated20230930]

speaking from the perspective of an east asian:

asian people are not anime. anime aesthetic blogs and weeb culture =/= asian culture. do not solely base your view of us based off anime lmao

asian cultures also aren’t interchangeable. specify your asian characters’ ethnicity past “asian”. don’t limit yourself to only east asians, south asians exist and are severely underrepresented in western media.

wikipedia pages on stereotypes of east asians in the us and stereotypes of south asians

stop making rat jokes abt asian characters it’s been historically used as anti-asian (especially anti-japanese) propaganda

east asian men have historically been portrayed as emasculated and sexless compared to white people or as sexual threats to white women, as well as misogynistic. asian girls are either fetishized or deemed less sexy than white women. don’t <3

on tumblr, especially in ship art, light-skinned asian characters are periodically portrayed as comparatively feminine and submissive to their white counterparts whereas darker-skinned characters are cast as the more dominant and aggressive half. this is a trend tied to colorism in general. avoid it.

almost every single asian character ive ever seen (by white ppl) on this site lacks body hair. what the fuck we arent made of porcelain give us hair like Human Beings. draw us with arm hair, leg hair, mustaches, don’t only uplift us when we cater to western standards of white beauty

also if ur writing abt an asian character and u describe their skin as “porcelain” and emphasize the Pure Whiteness of it…………….. fuck you

yes asian people largely have dark brown hair and eyes

yes asian characters who lack those traits are still just as asian they don’t lose that status just bc theyre blonde (re: people saying reigen from mp100 isn’t japanese because he doesnt “look” japanese)

your “me no speakee engrish” jokes arent funny.

not every asian character needs to be associated with tea. or sushi or katanas or cone-shaped hats or rice

to be clear. a feminine asian character is not inherently bad. an asian character drinking tea isn’t inherently racist. it’s the fact that 1. these are used as the Main Indicators that these characters are ‘authentically’ asian and 2. they are about as deep as most white portrayals of asian culture go. the overlap with colorism means that, largely, asian ‘representation’ in white circles is largely light-skinned, inaccurate depictions of east asians that border on caricature.

support asian artists i promise we will do a better job of portraying our own culture than a white person ever could lol

[vvanite]

I  would love to add more to this as a 2nd-gen Vietnamese-American person, especially for names! (these mostly apply for Asian Americans, can’t speak for Non-american asians)

-Naming characters using names from their country isn’t bad but it’s important to know why and how their names were chosen. Are they non-white and non-american (NWNA)? Makes sense for their name to be from their country. Did they move to America and are a 1st-generation immigrant and decided to pick an english name? Or are they a 2nd-generation Asian-American whose parents were from a different country? 2nd-gen immigrants usually have english names to fit into American Society.

-Not every Asian American knows how to speak their country’s language. Some only know English but that doesn’t make them any less as anyone else. (aka me)

-Having an Asian character with strict parents isn’t so harmful but to not do anything else with it and not actually explore the child-parent relationship and the impact towards the child/character and just use the stereotype to make them different from other characters and to mock them is.

-I would love to see more Asian American characters who are smart but have imposter syndrome/gifted kid syndrome and are burnt out.

-just in case someone reading this doesn’t have common sense, don’t make eating dog/cat jokes. or any uncommon animal eating jokes. bat jokes especially. Even if it’s an Asian person saying it.

[radicel-archive]

fuck it

i dont want girls sexualising mlm relationships anymore. at all

i dont want them fetishizing our relationships bc they think it’s sexy

i dont care if its a “way for them to express their sexuality”. that aint right and its messed that they can say that they want men in the porn industry to stop fetishizing wlw relationships, only to do the same bc its “fandom”

[radicel-archive]

can yall please reblog this actually ??

bc like. im a boy attracted to boys. and this is making me uncomfortable and i want it to stop

and im not the only one ? a handful of people have agreed with me and im sure there are more

please dont ignore this bc you want to keep writing/drawing/reading m/m porn…. or bc im a boy and you dont care what i have to say….. especially if you disagree with the treatment of wlw in the porn industry its a double standard and this is important to me and i dont want it to be swept under the rug

[transboybrock]

Add on: you can still write, draw and read about mlm without fetishizing them. By fetishization, OP means that you only see these relationships as sexy and sinful instead of just seeing it as average everyday relationships.

Nearly every girl I’ve met within fandoms with mlm ships has only focused on the men having sex or calling them ‘my nasty gay babies’ and that’s just gross.

[theinkstainsblog]

We’re all writers here so I thought it important that y’all see this and take note. 

[lgbtqhelpandsupport]

^^^ yes. I’m a boy who likes boys and even has multiple gay ships. But please don’t fetishize mlm relationships as ONLY sexy and sinful.

[cryptspren-moved]

ts sides fandom read this & take it to FUCKING heart :)))))

[wongburgerdiscourse]

Another gay guy here. A lot of these modern girls are “YAOI XD” with a different coat of paint. Like hating on people with straight ships, “yass my gay babies,” etc is all really nasty. We’re just people like everyone else.

[rattymlm]

another thing i would like to add about this is that it doesn’t matter whether the girl is straight or not. it’s just as CREEPY and DEHUMANIZING when a lgbtq girl fetishizes and uses gay men for their pleasure. mlm do not find it as a compliment. mlm do not care for or want your sexualized “allyship”.

[abaddecisionagoodstory-deactiva]

Some important tips on making/writing Asian OCs

Try to stay away from the smart/nerdy Asian stereotype. Plenty of Asian people are very smart, just like in any other race. However, stereotypical racial representation is worse than none at all. By all means, you can have an intelligent Asian character but make sure their intelligence is not the main factor of their personality.

Write more than just East and light-skinned Asians. In most cases, if an author wants to have some Asian representation they’ll throw in a Chinese or Japanese character. And while yes, there aren’t very many Chinese and Japanese characters as opposed to white, there are even less Southeast, South, and Middle Eastern Asian representation. Not all Asians have light skin, even in East Asia. There are plenty of Korean, Chinese, and Japanese people with dark skin!

 Do your research when naming Asian characters. Unless you want to end up like J.K. Rowling who’s sole Asian character was named Cho Chang. Do not just throw a last name with an ‘ong’ or an ‘ang’ at the end.

Represent plus size Asians. Asian women are stereotyped as petite, and just like white plus size women, plus size Asian women need representation in media.

Asian people don’t eat everything with chopsticks. I didn’t think that needed to be said, but here we are.

Create Asian characters with an alternative fashion sense/style. Asians with dyed hair. Asians with piercings. Asians with tattoos.

Stay away from the strict parent Asian stereotype. In fact, stay away from every stereotype, okay?

Keep in mind, stereotypes for other races aren’t the same for Asian people.

By all means, write about Asian culture. BUT MAKE SURE IT IS ACCURATE!!!

Write Asian characters who get in trouble and/or are reckless. Asians that swear. Asians that break rules. Asians that get detention.

WRITE ATHLETIC ASIANS!!!

Do not, under any circumstance, use the word ‘chinky’ to describe an Asian character. Just. Don’t.

Asian people face racism too.

Don’t fetishize or demonize Asian culture.

Asian people, feel free to add some more on! If you’re white or non-Asian POC do not comment if you reblog! (Unless it’s to say something like, oh nice tips! Or thank you, I didn’t know that!)

If you can, reblog. I haven’t seen any for Asian OCs.

(x)

[spirallingintotheabyss]

Can I add

-remember that guy in ATLA who helped Aang unlock his chakras? Don’t. Please, please don’t.

-please don’t write us as evil.

-if you want references to good rep, just ask (me,or any other Asian people you know.)

-if you do have Asian characters, don’t be afraid to make them queer, disabled, or anything else that’s under-represented. We are not just cishet,abled people.

-again, as op said, do Not make them a stereotype. Search up stereotypes. And avoid them. You may want to ask for sensitivity readers too

That’s all I can think of now!

[lila-baard-deactivated20201206]

Hey just gonna add some more stuff

-reiterating OP’s first point, the smart/nerdy yet socially inept Asian? Don’t do that. Please.

-Asia is full of several diverse cultures and many different religions. Often times, religion becomes a part of the culture. Please, please do your research before you utterly butcher one or both of these. 

-Elaborating on the above point, I have read quite a few books where a character (mostly from Asia) who either wears a hijab or continuously uses Allah’s name, but are as far from Muslims as one can get. Its cringey and honestly sometimes just painful to see. A few words and a head scarf do not make a Muslim. (I am sure there are other religions as well as cultures who have possibly suffered a bias like this , but since I don’t know them as well as my own, I’ll refrain from commenting upon any)

So yeah that’s pretty much all I have to add, if any one has more tips for Asian characters, please, feel free to add them here!

[abaddecisionagoodstory-deactiva]

Important additions!!!

[aesterea-archived]

more on writing muslim characters from a hijabi muslim girl

- hijabis get really excited over pretty scarves - they also like to collect pins and brooches - we get asked a lot of questions and it can be annoying or it can be amusing, just depends on our mood and personality and how the question is phrased - common questions include: - “not even water?” (referring to fasting) - hijabis hear a lot of “do you sleep in that?” (we don’t) and “where is your hair?” (in a bun or a braid, usually) - “is it mooze-slim or mozzlem?” (the answer is neither, it’s muslim, with a soft s and accent on the first syllable) - “ee-slam or iz-lamb?” (it’s iss-laam, accent on the first syllable) - “hee-job?” (heh-jahb, accent on the second syllable)

- “kor-an?” (no. quran. say it like koor-annn, accent on the second syllable) - people tend to mess up our names really badly and you just get a sigh and a resigned nod or an awkward smile, maybe a nickname instead - long hair is easy to hide, short hair is harder to wrap up - hijab isn’t just covering hair, it’s also showing as little skin as possible with the exception of face, hands, and feet, and not wearing tight/sheer clothing - that applies to men too, people just don’t like to mention it ( i wonder why) - henna/mehendi isn’t just for special occasions, you’ll see people wearing it for fun - henna/mehendi isn’t just for muslims, either, it’s not a religious thing - henna/mehendi is not just for women, men also wear it, especially on their weddings - there are big mehendi parties in the couple of nights before eid where people (usually just women and kids) gather and do each other’s mehendi, usually just hands and feet - five daily prayers - most muslim kids can stutter through a couple verses of quran in the original arabic text by the age of seven or eight, it does not matter where they live or where they’re from or what language they speak natively - muslim families tend to have multiple copies of the quran - there are no “versions” of the quran, there has only ever been one. all muslims follow the exact same book - muslims have no concept of taking God’s name in vain, we call on God at every little inconvenience - don’t use islamic phrases if you don’t know what they mean or how to use them. we use them often, inside and outside of religious settings. in islam, it is encouraged to mention God often and we say these things very casually, but we take them very seriously - Allahu Akbar means “God is Greatest” (often said when something shocks or surprises us, or if we’re scared or daunted, or when something amazing happens, whether it be good or bad; it’s like saying “oh my god”) - Subhan Allah means “Glory be to God” (i say subhan Allah at the sky, at babies, at trees, whatever strikes me as pleasant, especially if it’s in nature) - Bismillah means “in the name of God” and it’s just something you say before you start something like eating or doing your homework - In Shaa Allah means “if God wills” (example: you’ll be famous, in shaa Allah) (it’s a reminder that the future is in God’s hands, so be humble and be hopeful)

- Astaghfirullah means “i seek forgiveness from Allah” and it’s like “god forgive me” - Alhamdulillah means “all thanks and praise belong to God” and it’s just a little bit more serious than saying “thank god” (example: i passed my exams, alhamdulillah; i made it home okay, alhamdulillah) - when i say we use them casually, i really mean it - teacher forgot to assign homework? Alhamdulillah - our version of “amen” is “ameen” - muslims greet each other with “assalamu alaikum” which just means “peace be on you” and it’s like saying hi - the proper response is “walaikum assalam” which means “and on you be peace” and it’s like saying “you too”

[missandaei]

As a Muslim this post is so very important and it makes me so happy that it gives the small facts and details that one might be unaware of or confused about.

[leaping-hare-witchery-deactivat]

I’ve reblogged it before but honestly this fucking post touches me so much. To see how intrinsic Allah is to followers of Islam and how ingrained He is in their daily lives is so beautiful.

Also, can we just talk about the fact that there aren’t like 100 different versions of the Quran? Because I didn’t know that and that legit AMAZES me.

[fredrickthepig]

LEARNING

[jenniferrpovey]

Reblogging this again because I am sure some of my writer followers can use it and it’s been a while ;).

[el-shab-hussein]

Muslim here! Just wanted to add a couple of things:

- If you want to write mostly irreligious young adult Muslims, it would be humorous to make them literally follow nothing about the religion except making them very averse to eating pork cuz it’s haraam. You have no idea how many Muslims I know who’ll party, get drunk, smoke weed, and engage in, ahem, certain activities, but the one thing they’ll refuse is to eat pork.

- While it’s true that we are very loose with the way we mention God at nearly every occasion, we never make fun of the Prophets, God, or generally the religion. We take the sanctity of the religion and its figures very seriously because it’s blasphemy to insult them. I’ve found it’s very different from the attitude that most Christians and christianized atheists have on their religion / the religion they were raised around (easily making fun of Jesus, the concept of God, making jokes like “snow is god’s c*m”)

- People get surprised when a non-hijabi girl tells them she’s very devout and practices often, Muslim and non-Muslim alike.

- Aunties are nosy and gossip way too much, even though that’s a sin.

- Most Muslims believe in djinn because it’s part of our religion, but this belief oftentimes seems or looks to border on superstition, and a common activity amongst Muslim kids, especially cousins, is to tell djinn stories like ghost stories.

- Also, there is no ‘Muslim food’, we are 1.8 billion people that come from different cultural backgrounds with different food and culinary culture, and we all eat things that are more or less similar, so the dietary habits of the character(s) you’re writing will depend on their cultural heritage(s) instead of their religion.

[aesterea-archived]

absolutely the best addition to this post (hi, it’s OP)! thank you!!

[youneedjesus01]

Yay! Knowledge!

[relatablepoetryandquotes]

“If people bring so much courage to this world the world has to kill them to break them, so of course it kills them. The world breaks every one and afterward many are strong at the broken places. But those that will not break it kills. It kills the very good and the very gentle and the very brave impartially. If you are none of these you can be sure it will kill you too but there will be no special hurry.” - Ernest Hemingway, A Farewell to Arms

[allofthemwitches-deactivated202]

omfg why

[justsomeguycore]

100+ black-owned wellness & beauty businesses to shop from instead

[wifewyrm]

Just so you know, this is ONLY the UK Lush. Lush North America is a completely different company and is standing with Black Lives Matter.

Here are some screenshots of UK lush (left) and North American lush (right)

Don’t boycott lush North America, they’re trying.

[wafflecrab]

Please know that we have different CEOs, Lush Uk and Lush North America are, for all intents and purposes, separate entities. We run separate campaigns and have separate charity funds. Lush North America has done a lot for the blm movement both in the recent movement and over the years. Please dont judge Lush North America for the faults of the Lush UK founder, he doesn't represent the opinions and values of the brand overall.

[emordnilapxpalindrome]

(...still consider buying from the list of black owned business bc supporting black business owners and small businesses is way more important than buying from big giant chains)

just don’t, you know, boycott lush n.a.

[poems-and-words]

[poems-and-words]

Book of the day: The People Look Like Flowers At Last by Charles Bukowski

Get the FREE Kindle Reading App

[tipsygogh-deactivated20160723]

[poems-and-words]

[poems-and-words]

Book of the day: Bittersweet by Shauna Niequist

Get the FREE Kindle Reading App

[opalescent-suggestions]

Maeve

short black hair, curled. red berets. twin ferrets that speak in squeaks and whispers; they are always surrounded by shadowy mist. something old and green and glowing

[divine-angel-of-the-void]

[fairytypeditto]

[usahano]

opalescent moodboard!