“I’m finally going to write! I have a great idea!”
LAUGHS LOUDLY
Worst part is; i click save
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@writing-ideas-collection
“I’m finally going to write! I have a great idea!”
LAUGHS LOUDLY
Worst part is; i click save
Me, at my character whom I created, whose dialogues I write, whose actions I decide, whose development and personality are completely under my control: Why are you such a bitch
im going to have a stroke
Instead try… Person A: You know… the thing Person B: The “thing”? Person A: Yeah, the thing with the little-! *mutters under their breath* Como es que se llama esa mierda… THE FISHING ROD
As someone with multiple bilingual friends where English is not the first language, may I present to you a list of actual incidents I have witnessed:
Forgot a word in Spanish, while speaking Spanish to me, but remembered it in English. Became weirdly quiet as they seemed to lose their entire sense of identity.
Used a literal translation of a Russian idiomatic expression while speaking English. He actually does this quite regularly, because he somehow genuinely forgets which idioms belong to which language. It usually takes a minute of everyone staring at him in confused silence before he says “….Ah….. that must be a Russian one then….”
Had to count backwards for something. Could not count backwards in English. Counted backwards in French under her breath until she got to the number she needed, and then translated it into English.
Meant to inform her (French) parents that bread in America is baked with a lot of preservatives. Her brain was still halfway in English Mode so she used the word “préservatifes.” Ended up shocking her parents with the knowledge that apparently, bread in America is full of condoms.
Defined a slang term for me……. with another slang term. In the same language. Which I do not speak.
Was talking to both me and his mother in English when his mother had to revert to Russian to ask him a question about a word. He said “I don’t know” and turned to me and asked “Is there an English equivalent for Нумизматический?” and it took him a solid minute to realize there was no way I would be able to answer that. Meanwhile his mom quietly chuckled behind his back.
Said an expression in English but with Spanish grammar, which turned “How stressful!” into “What stressing!”
Bilingual characters are great but if you’re going to use a linguistic blunder, you have to really understand what they actually blunder over. And it’s usually 10x funnier than “Ooops it’s hard to switch back.”
So maybe you’re a writer or maybe you’re in a fantasy RP group, maybe you just want to make maps. Either way, with the right guidance the process is pretty easy. Here’s some Photoshop and research resources I’ve compiled to make your life easier.
WORLD MAPS How to generate a map in Photoshop (video) How to create (mountain) brushes (video) How to create trees (video) How to create mountains and hills (video) How to create swamps and deserts (video) Tolkien-Style Map Brushes (1)(2) Parchment Textures (1)(2)(3) Calthyechild’s Fantasy Map Tutorial & Resources World Maps to inspire you (1)(2)(3)(4)
CITIES City Map Generator Clevergirlhelps’ Brilliant Post on City Planning Thewritingcafe’s Brilliant Post on City Planning Streets VS Monuments How to create a grid in Photoshop City Brushes Cities to inspire you (1)(2)(3)(4) MISC. Ship Plans How Geography Affects Climate How Streets Evolve as Cities Grow History of Building Materials Climates R. Steves’ Europe (Videos) NEED A NAME? Location and Setting name generator Pirate Ship name generator Ship name generator
🌊 Types of Mermaids 🌊
please be respectful of cultural boundaries when working with mermaids from various cultures and traditions, and be mindful not to intrude.
🌊 Rusalkas - slavic in origin, disturbed spirits of the “unclean dead”, ghosts of women who died violent deaths, with a penchant for drowning young men. they live only in rivers and lakes, and are known to have green hair like aquatic plants, only appearing in the night.
🌊 Melusina - a mermaid that walks among humans, but returns to their two-tailed form during baths and when they bathe their children. often a water spirit of a nearby lake or river. french origin.
🌊 Siren - greek mythology. servants and companions of persephone, whom searched for her when she was abducted. they are known to sometimes have the body of a bird, and for their song, which lured sailors to their doom. cannibalism implied folklore. have the power of prophecy.
🌊 Merrow - irish mermaid. known to have green hair and webbed fingers. particular noted love of music and their red cap, which when stolen, they will live with the thief until they find it, and then return to the water, leaving even a whole family behind.
🌊 Ben-varrey - from the isle of man, known to bless those that are kind to them with prosperity, gifts, and even the location of treasure.
🌊 Aicaya - Caribbean mermaid, humans who become mermaids when they are shunned from their community and go to live in the sea.
🌊 Amabie - japanese merpeople, with birdlike torsos and three legs and scales. they are gifted with prophecy, usually foretelling abundant harvests or epidemics
🌊 Ningyo - “human faced fish” known to have golden scales, that brings bad weather and misfortune when caught, but when their flesh is eaten the consumer is granted youth and beauty, even agelessness.
🌊 Finman / Finwife - magical shapeshifters that disguise themselves as sea creatures or plants to lure humans, unlike most mermaids they kidnap people from the shores to be their spouses or servants. they have a greed for jewelry and coins, particularly silver, and prefer humans over other finfolk.
🌊 Sirena Chilota - considered the more friendly mermaids, caring for all fish life and rescuing drowned sailors to restore life to them. known for their human-like beauty and youth, according to legend they are the child of a human and a “king of seas”, tears are a powerful substance. from chilote mythology.
🌊 Cecealia - sometimes known as “sea witches”, they are half human and half octopus. origins in native american and japanese mythology.
🌊 Sirena / Siyokoy - the philippine version of mermaid and merman respectively. also called “magindara”, they are known to protect the waters from raiders, and protect the boy moon from sea monsters. Siyokoys can sometimes have legs however, covered with scales and webbed feet
🌊 Sea Mither - scottish/orcadian mythology, a spirit that personifies the sea during spring and summer, battles along scottish isles using storms to bring the summer about. a mother figure to all aquatic life.
🌊 Ceasg - a fresh-water mermaid, specifically half-salmon, said to grant three wishes if captured. sometimes called maighdean na tuinne (maid of the wave) or maighdean mhara (maid of the sea). scottish.
🌊 Selkie - though somewhat different from the typical mermaid, as they are not cold-blooded, have the body of a seal in the water and are human on land. in legends their skins are often stolen and they are kept by fishermen as spouses, or become lovers to fishermen’s wives who shed tears into the sea.
I had no idea so many versions existed.
I’m right and I should say it
How to Write Deaf Characters - From a real Deaf person’s perspective
Hello readers and writers alike, I would like to point out something that has been so glaringly annoying to me and other Deaf/HoH people so that we can end all these misconceptions. People who write for Deaf!Readers should know a few things before starting their imagines, fanfictions, blurbs - anything. It is not anyone’s fault for not knowing these things, most hearing people are not aware of the Deaf community or Deaf culture so here I am, a Deaf person who is majoring in Deaf Studies and Culture, coming here to tell you a few things to know when writing for a Deaf!Reader
(Remember this is my experience as a Deaf/HoH person and it may differ from person to person but this is what I learned/have slight annoyances within writing)
Deaf and Hard of Hearing is a culture. Yes, most people consider it a disability but IT IS NOT SOMETHING WE ARE ASHAMED OF! Please stop writing fics/imagines about Deaf!Reader being ashamed of not being able to hear or getting hearing aids to impress their SO. It’s completely wrong and just annoying. We are proud of our Deafness and we don’t want to be fixed.
DO NOT USE THE TERM ‘HEARING IMPAIRED’! This is basically a slur word. It was widely used in the ’90s but now it’s considered a derogatory term. Just use Deaf or Hard of Hearing. Or ‘deaf’ if the person is medically deaf and not culturally Deaf. (see next point)
Deaf and ‘deaf’ are different. Deaf is a cultural term for people who are born Deaf and raised in the community. The term ‘deaf’ is used in the medical field or used to describe someone who has hearing loss that does not associate with the Deaf Community. Usually, a hearing person who has become deaf later on.
Sign language is not a worldwide language. There are different types of language within sign language. ASL is for American and Canada. BSL is for Britain. So if you’re writing a story that takes place in a country that is not America or Canada, do not say ASL.
ASL does not = English. Same for every other language. ASL is its own language with grammar rules and semantics. It does not directly translate to English. So if you’re writing ASL most likely write in GLOSS or write it as you would write a hearing character. (Sentance: I want to go to the mall and buy a dress. GLOSS: I WANT WANT GO TO MALL I. ME BUY DRESS ME )
Deafness is on a spectrum. There is a legal threshold that someone must pass to be considered legally Deaf. Some Deaf people can hear more than others. I can hear high pitched noises sometimes. I know someone who can hear voices but can not hear what they are saying. Both of us are Deaf and we both cross that threshold. So when writing your Deaf!Character make sure to set a bar of what they can and can not hear.
Hearing Aids do not cure anyone’s deafness. It only helps hear some sounds and maybe hear if people are talking. Not what they are saying although it can help with that depending on how far they are on the Deaf scale.
Cochlear Implants are very controversial in the Deaf Community so if you’re going to write about them do your research!!! They are also not a cure for Deafness, just an aid.
Deaf people are not masters at lipreading! Even the best lip readers can only make sense of 30% of what is being said. I’ve been lip reading for years and I still only understand a little bit of what is being said. So no, your character is not going to miraculously know what’s going on from lip reading.
DO NOT have your characters yell at your Deaf characters. DOES NOT MATTER HOW LOUD YOU ARE! We can not hear you. Neither can your character. Have your other hearing characters speak normally. That’s the best way to lip read if they must.
Most Deaf people are born from hearing parents. It’s really rare for a whole entire family to be Deaf (Although I’ve met some and it’s super cool). But your character is probably born to hearing parents.
ALSO, the majority of hearing families with Deaf children do NOT learn ASL. It sucks but it’s true. Only about 30-40% of families learn sign for their Deaf family members. So keep it in mind,
So this is my list for now! I may add to it the more I think about things but this is basics I think everyone should know. If I forgot some then feel free to add! (as long as you are knowledgeable about the topic please). If you have questions please message me! Or if you need someone to proofread your Deaf!Imagines then I almost here for that. So happy writings everyone!
ILY
On everyone’s 18th birthday they receive a letter from their future selves. Some receive long messages about their future lovers or messages about changes they would have made. Yours contains nothing but a small list of locations and the words, “NEVER VISIT”.
“You’d think I would know myself better than this,” you say, typing the first set of coordinates into your GPS.
Writing Trans Characters: Corrections of Common Mistakes
These are just a few quick, basic things that should be taken into account that I notice a lot of writers get wrong.
Not every trans person is “pre” or “post” HRT or surgeries. It can be pretty stigmatizing to think of trans people’s lives as part of those two categories, especially when those things have not always been part of their plan or they do not want them at all.
“About 14 percent of trans women and 72 percent of trans men said they don’t ever want full genital construction surgery.” So for the record, your trans man character who doesn’t want bottom surgery is part of the majority of trans men.
There are loads of different kinds of surgeries (even if we’re just talking about genitalia, even if we’re just talking about one type of genitalia).
“Transition” is a really vague term. It includes all sorts of things for all sorts of people, and it has no start and end date usually. It can literally be just coming out and that’s it.
“Transgendered” is not the preferred term because it is not a verb, it is an identity (an adjective).
A great guide for phrasing things in a good way is the GLAAD media guide for writing about trans people. There’s some stuff in there that’s less of a consensus within the trans communities, but it’s very minimal, and what is there is not harmful.
Do not misgender your own characters when narrating things.
“Transwomen” and "transmen" are not the preferred wording. There is a space between them, because as mentioned earlier, trans is an adjective. These are still women and men.
There usually isn’t a reason to feature or talk about surgeries or your trans character’s body in general within the plot. This doesn’t mean “avoid it at all costs” - just ask yourself if it actually is necessary. Most people asking questions related to surgeries and the like do not actually need to include that information.
It’s a common misconception that all trans men have vaginas and all trans women have penises, are perisex etc. The people who have penises cannot be summed up by saying “trans women and cis men” because not only does that exclude a whole lot of nonbinary people, (or how everybody generally is born with a phallus, but I digress) but intersex genitalia is extremely varied, and countless trans people do undergo surgeries. Most post-op genitalia looks indistinguishable from the kind that cis people have.
Gender dysphoria =/= body hatred. Here’s a link where I explain what gender dysphoria feels like for me.
Trans people are not “born in the wrong body” (some folks may use this phrasing to explain things to cis people who have no familiarity or patience to understand).
We did not “used to be a [GAAB*]” and we are not “biologically [GAAB]” - we are who we say we are, even when we are closeted, even when our shape was different. Some folks who experience gender fluidity are different here and it’s not uniform - but it is still inappropriate for cis people to use these phrases.
he/him =/= “male pronouns” etc. Don’t gender pronouns! Not everyone who uses these pronouns is “male”.
The terms “female body” or “male body” are not helpful in explaining what a certain body is like. They have no uniform way of being, especially taking hormones, surgeries, and intersex persons into account. And if you identify as female, your body is female. It is your body.
See also:
I am transgender and I was not “born in the wrong body.” (Medium)
TRANSGENDER IS AN ADJECTIVE. NOT A NOUN. OR A VERB! (Feministing)
* GAAB = Gender Assigned At Birth
I read a lot of writing in my line of work and while that’s amazing, I see the same flaws again and again. Below is a list of 7 common writing mistakes in fiction and how you can fix them. This list is by no means complete. In fact there’s a great list over at The Editor’s Blog that covers even more mistakes.
1. Bad dialogue
Sometimes writers can forget that they’re writing a conversation and thus not write a conversation. The dialogue can be boring, stilted and unnatural, and I’d rather listen to the territorial call of an Australian Raven than read one more word of it.
There are many things that contribute to bad dialogue, but here are the three that really get on my nerves:
Not using contractions–I’ve seen work that is modern and still doesn’t use contractions. Consider this: “You are going to be late.” Unless the speaker is trying to sound like an irritated mother and is leaving an emphatic silence between each word to sound threatening, use contractions. It sounds really drawn out and like the speaker is pointing their nose in the air. We generally don’t speak like this in real life, so neither should your characters.
Using complete sentences–Not only is it natural for your characters to chop their sentences, this can also contribute to their voice. Does your character say “I don’t know.” or “Dunno.” Would he/she say “I missed the train and had to find a lift home.” or “Missed the train. Had to find a ride.” In casual speech, we often only use the words necessary to convey our message, even if it doesn’t form a complete sentence. You shouldn’t apply this to every line of dialogue, but consider it if your dialogue sounds stale.
Using characters as a conduit for research and plot information–Sometimes writers like to show off their research (looking at you Jurassic Park), backstory, world building and plot by having their characters talk way too much. If your character says “Once this valley was home to an ancient race of elves, who looked after the land and treated it with respect. One day, the secret magic spring dried up and then the goblins came. Without their magic spring, the elves couldn’t fight back, and they were killed by the goblins. The goblins didn’t respect the land and now it’s uninhabitable.” he should probably shut up. It sounds less like a person talking than it does an audio tour. The information he’s shared could be given in a much more interesting way.
How you can fix it:
Listen to and watch the way real people talk to each other. Do they speak in full sentences with full words? Do they speak with grammatical correctness? Do they speak differently in different situations? How do hand gestures, body language and facial expressions help them communicate?
Read your dialogue out loud as if you’re practising lines for a movie. Does it sound natural? Does it flow?
Test every piece of information your characters give out. Does it all need to be said? Would your character say all of it at once? Do they need to say it all in so many words?
2. Passages of uninterrupted speech or thought
Sometimes you might want to avoid telling the reader about something and have a character tell another character instead. Sometimes you might want to avoid telling the reader how a character feels about something by having them think about it excessively instead. If this goes on for longer than a couple of paragraphs (or less), you risk allowing your reader to drift out of the scene.
The only thing anchoring your reader in the scene is your characters and what they’re doing. If the characters are talking or thinking for a long time without interacting with anyone or anything else, they might as well be floating in space, which can make the reader feel like they’re floating in space. That’s not to say that they’ve forgotten where the scene is taking place or who else is involved, just that it can feel that way if this is how the character acts.
How you can fix it:
If your characters have a lot to say, try to include the other characters as well. Have them ask questions or make comments so it feels like a scene and not a soliloquy.
If your character is around others when he/she is deep in thought, try to include the other characters in some way. If the POV character is thinking about something that the other characters can see, why not give voice to one of the other characters in between thought paragraphs?
If the character is alone when he/she is deep in thought, is there a way they can interact with their environment? Unless they’re standing in front of a wall, they should be able to see, smell, feel or hear something.
If your character is absolutely, completely lost in thought, is there a way you can bring some sort of image into it? For example, on page 216 of The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, Katniss is thinking about how to treat a burn she receives. Almost the entire page is a paragraph describing a memory; however, there is still action in this memory and, therefore, there is something for the reader to imagine.
3. Not knowing when to/not to use said
Some people will tell you to use descriptive speech tags and others will tell you there’s nothing wrong with said. Both are true, but when do you follow the former and when do you follow the latter? And when do you use no speech tags at all?
Using anything but said and using nothing but said both get exhausting and boring very fast.
How you can fix it:
Below is a rough guide to what kind of speech tag to use. Please bear in mind that it is only a guide and will not and should not apply to every situation.
Said is unobtrusive–a way of letting the reader know who’s talking without making a song and dance about it. Specific verbs (e.g. whispered, shouted, mumbled) give the reader information about how the words are being said. Adverbial tags can also give extra information about how something is being said, but more often than not they can be replaced with a stronger verb (e.g. she said loudly can be replaced with she shouted). Writers can also fall into the trap of telling where it’s better to show when using adverbial tags, which can make the writing bland. Sometimes telling is better, but with speech tags, it’s usually better to absorb the reader in the conversation. If you’ve used an adverbial tag, go back and have a look at it. Is there a better way you could get the message across?
What you need to pay attention to when determining what speech tags to use is the context of the speech. If the reader is already aware of the manner in which a character is talking, it won’t be necessary to remind them every time the character speaks. If there are only two characters in the conversation, it won’t be necessary to finish each quote with he said/she said. Going back to #2, you can also do away with speech tags entirely and use action to demonstrate how a character is feeling, while also grounding the reader in the scene.
The key to avoiding repetition and blandness is to find a balance between using the unobtrusive said, using something more specific, and mixing it up with a bit of action, which means you might not even need a tag at all.
4. Too much description/overwriting
Sometimes it’s better to tell and not show. Some details just aren’t important enough to warrant a lengthy description. If you want your reader to know that it’s raining, you can write something better than “It was raining”, but there’s no need to go overboard and write a poem about how the puddles on the asphalt looked like a great abyss.
Think of description like camera focus. The more you describe something, the more focus you put on it. If you put enough focus on something, you eliminate everything else. What’s this? A close-up. What does a close-up in a movie tell you? That object of the close-up is significant.
Be wary: when you write thirty words describing the way the moonlight is reflecting off the inky black lake, you might not be just setting the scene. You might also be giving the lake undue emphasis, and it’s probably going to irritate your reader when they realise there’s nothing significant about the lake at all, you were just showing off your imagery skills.
How you can fix it:
Keep it real. What would the character notice, what would they think about it and is it worth the attention? And try not to focus on sight. Your characters have more than one way to perceive their environment, and incorporating their other senses can help build a 3D setting for your reader rather than just painting them a picture. Give the reader enough to imagine the scene, and no more.
5. Not knowing when to/not to use adverbs
There’s a lot of writing advice out there that will tell you to cut all adverbs. The result is that many writers now think adverbs exist only to eat their children and wouldn’t dare to ever use one.
There is truth to the advice, but to say “The road to hell is paved with adverbs”? Really, Stephen King? And his dandelion analogy assumes there’s no editing process.
Adverbs aren’t evil, but there is such a thing as using them ineffectively. Which of the below are more descriptive?
She ran quickly or She sprinted
“It’s a long way down,” he said nervously or “It’s a long way down,” he said
He was shamefully prone to anxiety or He was prone to anxiety
She sprinted not only gets to the point faster, it also creates a more powerful image for the reader. “It’s a long way down,” he said gives no indication of how the speaker is speaking or feeling; however, “It’s a long way down,” he said nervously is telling, not showing. Rather than using an adverb here, the writer could describe the speaker’s body language. He was shamefully prone to anxiety tells you how the character feels about being prone to anxiety and there is no stronger word to replace “shamefully prone”.
How you can fix it:
Ask yourself:
How would the meaning of the sentence change if the adverb was removed?
Can the adverb and verb be replaced by a single verb?
Does the action really need clarification?
Does the adverb add something to the sentence that can’t be described in another way?
6. No conflict in the beginning
The first few chapters of a lot of stories I’ve read involve the main character plodding along in their daily life. This is a good thing as the reader needs to get a feel for your character before the big plot things happen, but that doesn’t mean the first few chapters should be without conflict. I don’t want to read about a character waking up, looking at themselves in the mirror, getting dressed, getting coffee, going to work, getting home, going on a date etc. for three chapters. It’s boring and I don’t care about any of it.
The confusion might be caused by common story structure theories that say the main conflict enters the story at the first plot point, or 25% into the story. But this doesn’t mean there should be zero conflict at the beginning! At the beginning of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone Harry was told ‘no funny business’ or he’d be grounded. Not long after that, there was some vanishing glass and an escaped boa constrictor. After this happened there was a mysterious letter addressed to Harry, and he spent an entire chapter trying to get hold of it as the weirdness escalated. There’s conflict and a goal right off the bat, and the story hasn’t even really started yet. In The Hunger Games Katniss faces the Reaping. In The Hobbit Bilbo finds himself hosting a dinner party for dwarfs and being asked to go and fight a dragon.
How you can fix it:
Take a look at all the books you’ve read. Most of them (if not all) start with some sort of problem or goal. Study up on this to help you realise what makes a good beginning.
Don’t fill your first few chapters with characterisation and nothing else. Build your character in the context of a problem or goal.
Keep in mind that you find your characters more interesting than your reader does. What you like about your character might not be enough to keep the reader’s interest.
What’s going on in your character’s life? How is this going to influence what happens when the conflict or story goal takes the stage?
What would happen if you cut your beginning out of the story? Would the plot still make sense? Maybe it’s better to start the story at a later point.
7. Lack of story structure
When you write a first draft, whether you’ve planned it or not, there are going to be structural flaws. Maybe halfway through you thought of a way to solidify a character’s motivation. Maybe at the climax you thought of a way to strengthen your conflict. Maybe somewhere in the middle you had no idea where you were going with this and slugged your way through some boring scenes. It’s all good; this is how stories come together.
What should happen next is that you revise your draft with story structure in mind. There’ll be a lot of “I should add a scene here about this” and “what was I thinking when I wrote that?” and after a few goes, you’ll have a story.
Writers don’t always do this though (which, by the way, makes my job take longer and cost more). They’ll go through and fix all of the obvious problems, but what remains is a manuscript that still lacks a solid structure. It’s messy to read, it’s confusing, it’s clearly not thought out, and it feels like the writer is giving me the finger. I’ll regret paying for the book, stop reading it and leave a negative review on Goodreads. Is that worth not giving your book a good edit?
How you can fix it:
Read a lot. Make sure you have a decent grasp on different story structures. Make sure you understand the way stories progress, the way they’re paced and what keeps the reader engaged.
Re-outline. Or if you pantsed your way through the first draft, make an outline. Write a checklist for what each scene should accomplish and what each chapter should accomplish. Make a timeline of how the events progress and how the tension increases. Don’t base this on what you’ve written, base it on what you’ve figured out about your plot.
Edit ruthlessly. If a scene doesn’t measure up to your new plan, cut it. If it’s in the wrong place, move it.
Writing Fics
What goes on in my head: oh my god I have the perfect scene to write for this part!! it’s gonna be so good and well pieced together and beautiful and my readers are gonna explode bc of the pace and genius of it!
what I end up writing: Jack angrily grabs at the chair and tosses it aside. “I’m angry.” He says, angrily.
less quick psa about alcoholism, because the fandom at large has accepted that ford has/had a drinking problem (something i absolutely agree with) but from a lot of the fics/speculation i’ve seen a lot of you don’t really seem to understand how alcoholism works:
-first and foremost, drinking heavily is not the same as being an alcoholic, alcoholism is a complex tangle of physical and psychological dependency that has very little to do with how much you drink and a lot more to do with how you drink and why you drink and whether or not you can stop drinking
-alcoholism takes many, many different forms and very few of them are the classic depiction where someone gets completely nonfunctionally blackout wasted constantly and totally loses control of themselves
-most people with alcoholism are capable of holding down a job, performing basic life functions, etc, even while drunk; people who drink heavily and constantly learn how to function while drunk, and, indeed, part of being an alcoholic is being dependent on alcohol to function normally, to the point where there is a sharp decline in motor skills, ability to think/speak coherently, emotional regulation, etc if they stop drinking, which means that they actually become less functional if they’re sober
-people with alcoholism are very, very good at hiding their drinking habits to make them seem more acceptable, especially if they’re on the more functional end of the alcoholic spectrum. it can be very hard to tell when someone with a heavy alcohol addiction is drunk, because they can both conceal the symptoms of drunkenness and conceal the drinking itself.
-people with alcoholism forget things. people with alcoholism break promises. people with alcoholism lie and hide things. they don’t necessarily do this because they’re awful shitty people, but because memory loss is a symptom, because making extravagant plans/promises with no intention of follow-through is a symptom, because the nature of an addiction is such that an addict knows they’re addicted and knows society will frown on this but can’t stop taking the substance because they’re addicted; it isn’t necessarily that they consciously value the substance over every other thing in their lives, but rather that they literally cannot stop taking it without suffering such severe physical and psychological distress, lying and hiding and ruining all of their relationships is the better option
-addicts know they’re addicts. the journey to recovery is a winding, twisty one that does not just start when one day a switch flips and they go from “everything i do is totally fine” to “i want to quit now”. it’s very common to not be able to quit, to be rationalizing why you don’t need to, and at the same time know you need to
-alcoholism is, in part, a physical dependency. alcoholics literally need alcohol to function. their bodies are dependent on it and without it they suffer a whole slew of shitty symptoms, like fevers/chills, insomnia, anxiety, hallucinations, seizures, shaking, and possibly even death. going cold turkey can fucking kill you. alcohol withdrawal needs to be medically overseen, especially in, say, the case of a 60+ year old man who’s likely been physically dependent for decades
-basically no one is going to be able to quit and stay quit the first time they try. people become addicted for a lot of different reasons, but the common thread is that it’s a coping mechanism. without a substitute coping mechanism, a hell of a lot of family/community support, and treatment for the issues that they turned to alcohol to cope with in the first place, quitting is going to be nearly impossible.
-even in a best case scenario, someone quitting drinking is going to backslide. addictions are powerful. if you’ve never been an addict then you really don’t understand, but when you’re cut off from the substance the desire to obtain and consume it becomes a kind of hysterical overpowering need that takes more willpower than your average person actually has to be able to successfully resist 100% of the time. it is fucking brutal. you feel like you are going to fucking die if you don’t get your substance. you feel like you want to die if you can’t get your substance. at the same time, you probably hate yourself for feeling this way, which makes you want to get drunk/high even more.
-alcohol is not only used for Numbing The Pain. someone can use it because they want to be relaxed, because they want to be happier/more social/less anxious, because they want to feel less inhibited, because they don’t want to think so much, because they want to be able to sleep, etc
-depending on just how dependent someone is, they may not even be able to go more than a couple of hours before withdrawal symptoms start setting in, and, again, withdrawal can kill you
-withdrawal is also quite likely to make you a less pleasant person to be around for a while, which is one of the many factors that keep people drinking even long after they’re aware they have a problem
-having a close relative with an addiction is really scary and traumatizing for a child. this person is going to act erratically and you’re going to notice. they’re going to say and do things they don’t remember. they’re going to make promises they don’t keep. they will almost certainly have mood swings of some sort related to their drinking. they’re probably going to lie and you might catch them lying. if they do get drunk in a way where they lose control of themselves, you may not know what’s happening, but it will be terrifying to watch an adult acting in such a bizarre way. you will probably feel ashamed of and embarrassed for them. depending on what kind of person they are they may try extra hard to hide their addiction from children in order to shelter them, but this will result in more erratic behavior and lying which the children will notice.
-alcoholism kills people. it is an incredibly serious disease. it is not an episode of the week type thing. it cannot be solved via guilt-tripping. it cannot be solved by someone loving the alcoholic person very, very much. many alcoholics can not stop drinking. many alcoholics drink themselves to death. the longer someone has been drinking the harder and more dangerous it’s going to be for them to stop.
-if you want to write a fic about an alcoholic character, you need to understand this shit. you need to do your research. you need to understand that if you want your character to recover, it’s not going to happen over the course of a few months, it’s not going to be a smooth trajectory from “alcoholic” to “recovering alcoholic” to “recovered, no longer an alcoholic”, it’s going to be ugly and messy and upsetting and hard and it will take many, many tries and it might not work
LET ME TELL Y’ALL ABOUT THIS WRITING APP
Fighter’s Block is the best writing app I’ve come across in a long time.
You type in the amount of words you want to write and as you write, your mini lil avatar fights a monster. Each word you write acts a hit towards your monster, and once you’ve hit your word count the monster is defeated!!!
How cute!!!!
Work quick though as how long you spent not writing decreases your avatar’s health. It’s a productive fight to the death against the clock!
Best things about this app:
You can PAUSE it!!!! Need go get a cup of tea? Need to sneeze? You can!!!!!
Settings are adjustable! You can change the monster’s speed and the attacks!
You can change the theme and font!
You can level up!!!!! The number of words you write equals your EXP. You can unlock one avatar thus far, but I believe there may be more in the future!
You can minimise the fight above if it serves as a distraction, and only show the decreasing green bar.
Best of all: If you don’t hit the target word count in time, YOUR WORK DOES NOT DISAPPEAR. In the past I’ve lost so much work because I wasn’t typing fast enough, or sneezed.I cannot express enough how thankful I am that it presents a challenge where the consequence is a knock of pride and not a fit of rage.
Honestly, I urge all writers out there to give this app a go. It’s my new favourite thing.
Here’s some weapons for your essay writing arsenal!
Hemingway Editor Calmly Writer The Most Dangerous Writing App Purdue O.W.L. One Look Thesaurus JSTOR Google Scholar
Reply with your favourite or other great websites I didn’t include!
man you know what I want? a superhero series where they have powers that 100% contradict their personalities. a fishermans daughter who lives by the sea, swims every day, learns that she can control fire. a boy who’s mortified of heights but realizes he can use antigravity and hates it. someone who was bitten by a dog as a child, suffers extreme fear around animals, can now communicate with them. they’re all disgusted by their powers.
yes good but what about the ~character development~ as they learn to cope with their powers and overcome their fears
the pyrokinetic swimmer wading out into the ocean armed with waterproof matches to practice so nothing goes wrong, building her confidence with the sea as her safety net, being so proud when she figures out how to heat the air just enough that she dries off instantly after swimming
the boy slowly overcoming his fear of heights, realizing that he can catch himself if he ever falls, standing swaying on top of playground sets and closing his eyes as he tries to safely hover down (and not fall on his face again)
the girl’s terror lessening as the previously terrifying cacophony of the dogs at the park turns into a chorus of “ball! ball! throw me the ball!” “it’s me! I’m the good boy!” and “squirrel!!!” and learning to communicate back, have them listen to her, learning how to calm down a dog who’s overexcited to the point of biting, discovering that the scary dog down the street is just home alone a lot and lonely, staring her fear in the face and learning its secrets
because being disgusted with their powers is interesting, but I want to see people learning to love even the scary and contradictory parts of themselves