Writing Resources

Tumblr has a lot of writing advice, not all of it good. Not all of it right for you. Only keep what helps you and discard the rest.

[frownyalfred]

Okay, another little lesson for fic writers since I see it come up sometimes in fics: wine in restaurants.

When you buy a bottle of wine in a (nicer) restaurant, generally (please note my emphasis there, this is a generalization for most restaurants, but not all restaurants, especially non-US ones) you may see a waiter do a few things when they bring you the bottle.

The waiter presents the bottle to the person who ordered it

The waiter uncorks the bottle in order to serve it

The waiter hands the cork to the person who ordered the bottle

The waiter pours a small portion of the wine (barely a splash) and waits for the person who ordered it to taste it

The waiter then pours glasses for everyone else at the table, and then returns to fill up the initial taster's glass

Now, you might be thinking -- that's all pretty obvious, right? They're bringing you what you ordered, making sure you liked it, and then pouring it for the group. Wrong. It's actually a little bit more complicated than that.

The waiter presents the bottle to the person who ordered it so that they can inspect the label and vintage and make sure it's the bottle they actually ordered off the menu

The waiter uncorks the bottle so that the table can see it was unopened before this moment (i.e., not another wine they poured into an empty bottle) and well-sealed

The waiter hands the cork to the person who ordered the bottle so that they can inspect the label on the cork and determine if it matches up; they can also smell/feel the cork to see if there is any dergradation or mold that might impact the wine itself

The waiter pours a small portion for the person who ordered to taste NOT to see if they liked it -- that's a common misconception. Yes, sometimes when house wine is served by the glass, waiters will pour a portion for people to taste and agree to. But when you order a bottle, the taste isn't for approval -- you've already bought the bottle at this point! You don't get to refuse it if you don't like it. Rather, the tasting is to determine if the wine is "corked", a term that refers to when a wine is contaminated by TCA, a chemical compound that causes a specific taste/flavor. TCA can be caused by mold in corks, and is one of the only reasons you can (generally) refuse a bottle of wine you have already purchased. Most people can taste or smell TCA if they are trained for it; other people might drink the wine for a few minutes before noticing a damp, basement-like smell on the aftertaste. Once you've tasted it, you'll remember it. That first sip is your opportunity to take one for the table and save them from a possibly corked bottle of wine, which is absolutely no fun.

If you've sipped the wine (I generally smell it, I've found it's easier to smell than taste) and determined that it is safe, you then nod to your waiter. The waiter will then pour glasses for everyone else at the table. If the wine is corked, you would refuse the bottle and ask the waiter for a new bottle. If there is no new bottle, you'll either get a refund or they'll ask you to choose another option on their wine list. A good restaurant will understand that corked bottles happen randomly, and will leap at the opportunity to replace it; a bad restaurant or a restaurant with poor training will sometimes try to argue with you about whether or not it's corked. Again, it can be a subtle, subjective taste, so proceed carefully.

In restaurants, this process can happen very quickly! It's elegant and practiced. The waiter will generally uncork the bottle without setting the bottle down or bracing it against themselves. They will remove the cork without breaking it, and they will pour the wine without dripping it down the label or on the table.

[luna-azzurra]

Tips for Writing Small Towns!!

⋆˙⟡ Everyone knows everyone and they have for forty years. The history is load-bearing. In a small town, the guy who runs the hardware store and the woman who teaches third grade went to prom together in 1987 and had a falling out over something no one talks about directly. The person behind the diner counter is the cousin of the person who sold you your house. Nothing is without CONTEXT. Every interaction carries a decade of subtext. Writers often write small-town characters like they just met each other. BUT Real small-town social life happens almost entirely in implication, in what you don't say, in who you happen to be standing next to when you say it.

⋆˙⟡ The gossip network is fast, imprecise, and almost impossible to correct. Information in small communities travels faster than in cities because the network is dense, EVERYONE has direct ties to almost everyone else. But it also distorts rapidly. By the time something gets around, it may be only vaguely related to what actually happened. And correcting a rumor is exponentially harder than spreading one, because corrections aren't interesting. If your character does something embarrassing on a Monday, by Thursday half the town has a version of it, and no version is quite right. The original fact may be less damaging than what it became. This is just how information behaves in a closed system.

⋆˙⟡ People who grew up there and people who moved there live in parallel versions of the same town. Longtime residents navigate the town through memory, that means every building has a history and every corner has a former version. The old pharmacy that's now a coffee shop is still "the old pharmacy" to someone who grew up there. New arrivals navigate the town as it exists now, without the palimpsest. These two groups see each other and don't quite connect, and there's a specific low-grade tension in it that isn't unfriendliness exactly, it's more like speaking slightly different dialects. The newcomer who thinks they've been accepted into the community is usually still a newcomer in the eyes of people who've been there for three generations.

⋆˙⟡ There is no anonymity, and some people are destroyed by that. Others thrive. Being known everywhere you go is experienced radically differently depending on who you are and what your history is. For someone who is liked, trusted, in good social standing, it's warm and a safety net. For someone who made a mistake, has a stigmatized identity, or just doesn't fit, it's a trap you cannot escape without physically leaving. The family with the father who was arrested. The person who had a public breakdown. They are permanently known as that thing. The smallness is indifferent to whether it's kind or cruel to you specifically.

⋆˙⟡ People who live rurally organize their lives around weather, seasons, and land in ways that urban writers often don't account for. A bad winter IS A FINANCIAL THREAT. The soil condition matters. What the river is doing matters. Whether the deer are bad this year matters. There's a literacy to the natural environment that rural people have and that outsiders don't (reading the sky, reading the fields, knowing what certain sounds mean, knowing when something is wrong with the land before you can articulate why.) Writing a rural character who doesn't have this relationship to their physical environment makes them feel like a city person who happened to move somewhere with a longer driveway.

⋆˙⟡ There are almost no strangers, which means crime and conflict work differently. When something bad happens in a small town (theft, assault, betrayal etc.) the suspect pool is tiny and largely known. Everyone is someone's cousin or former coworker or neighbor. The person who did the thing is someone whose name you know, whose mother you know, who you've been at the same table with. This is much more psychologically complicated than anonymous crime. It's not just WHO did it, it's the rearrangement of every relationship once you know. And there's immense social pressure to not pursue it, to not break the fabric, to let it go for the sake of everyone having to continue living next to each other.

[conleches]

some fucking resources for all ur writing fuckin needs

body language masterlist

a translator that doesn’t eat ass like google translate does

a reverse dictionary for when ur brain freezes

550 words to say instead of fuckin said

638 character traits for when ur brain freezes again

some more body language help 

[bellero]

REBLOG TO SAVE A WRITER

[tsunflowers]

reading a historical romance novel and reflecting on the way these stories often present woke nobility for the contemporary reader. a big thing is servants. you can’t not have servants in those times but many modern readers think “but I would never have servants. it would be so weird to have servants” and in order to make the protagonists of the story more relatable they are actually friends with the servants. but flip your perspective and think of it from the side of the servants. wouldn’t it be so awful if your boss was always trying to be friends with you. a really common thing you’ll see is the woke baronet having tea in the kitchen with the servants bc he’s not like other baronets. but what if your boss wanted to hang out and talk during your lunch break every day. not so charming when you think about it that way

[ariaste]

#okay but now what is the optimal way to be a good boss in this situation i genuinely wanna know#its easy to guess what makes a bad boss or a mid boss. but what is a good boss#specifically in such a highly structured hierarchal situation (via @rainbowroach)

HELLO you are asking questions that literature and poetry THROUGHOUT the middle ages has asked, and it is from this questioning that we derive things like the Codes of Chivalry (which is not "how to treat a noble lady really nice" but is actually "how to be an ethical person when you're rich and you own a horse" and includes such things as "don't run people over with your horse")

In fact I daresay you already know instinctively just from cultural osmosis what a good boss -- a good liege lord -- is and does based on the tropes that have survived to the current day and the kinds of things that get Hugely Praised in things like legends of King Arthur.

A good boss (liege lord) is:

Merciful. He is not having his peasants killed for things like poaching rabbits during a famine. In fact, he is working to mitigate famine. During times of individual hardship, he might negotiate with a peasant for a payment plan on their annual rent.

Patient. He is not impulsive, he does not lose his temper.

Prudent. He makes choices that are thoughtful, considered, conservative (in the sense of not needlessly risky--he's not investing his entire fortune in having everyone plant an unproven crop). He is making sure local infrastructure like roads and public buildings are maintained and kept in good nick.

Gentle. He doesn't haul off and slap a servant or a tenant for breaking a dish or making a mistake. He doesn't abuse animals, his wife or children, or his employees. He doesn't rape the servants.

Generous (both in money and in spirit). He is not extorting the peasants for an amount of rent that is beyond their means, he is not raising taxes every year to cover his own lavish lifestyle. He is paying his servants a living wage (or, if wages are low, he's giving them room/board/clothing to make up the difference). If someone in a tenant's family dies, the lord is sending a gift of condolence, or helping to pay for the funeral, or possibly even ATTENDING the funeral and speaking a few kind words about the deceased, ESPECIALLY if they were a really upstanding and important member of the community. If one of his tenants is gravely sick, the lord is sending a basket of food or paying for a doctor. He is giving charitably (generally this will be, like, a bequest to the church so that they can run a hospital or an orphanage or a school for the local village children).

Pious. This classically means "goes to church, submits with humility to God" but to me this quality is subtextually standing in for "maintaining an ongoing sense of Perspective that HE'S not god, that there are higher powers he is Accountable to, that he too can be Judged, etc, so that he doesn't end up going on a weird fucked up power trip"

Humble. One of the most admiring things you hear about a lord doing in literature and epic poetry is, "He ate off of wooden plates while his followers ate off of gold and silver." Humility isn't about being meek, it's just about not thinking so much of yourself that you turn your nose up and sneer at what "lesser" people do. In other words: Don't be a fucking diva. If your carriage gets stuck in the mud, climb out and help everybody else push, you're not gonna die from getting mud on your shoes.

Condescending. This word has changed wildly in meaning/tone over the last couple centuries -- it's now a rude thing to do (because we've done away with legal social hierarchies, so someone acting like they're lowering themselves to your level IS insulting), but in older times, a high-ranking person "condescending" to a servant was worthy of praise and admiration: it means they were setting aside rank and privilege to speak to them with the easygoing, friendly respect and compassion they'd give a peer. This is things like... Treats those beneath him with courtesy and respect (ie: listens soberly and attentively when one of his servants or tenants comes to complain about a problem). Having a sense of humor and kindness about it when the lord and a servant both come around a corner at the same time and run into each other and the servant gets knocked to the ground and starts babbling apologies--the condescending (positive) lord helps them to their feet with his own hands and cracks a joke to show them that it's ok (as opposed to just walking off without a word or insulting/scolding them). This is also things like trusting a farmer, woodcutter, or artisan to speak with expertise about their own livelihood and taking their advice into consideration if they tell the lord that one of his ideas won't work.

Good boundaries. The ethical liege lord knows that it's normal for the staff to probably be softly bitching about him in private (even with a really good boss, we all grumble from time to time). He's not eavesdropping on them, he's not going into the staff areas where they should reasonably expect to have a degree of privacy, etc.

Righteous and protective of "the weak". The "weak" here doesn't necessarily mean physically weak, this is often used in the sense of someone politically or socially weak, aka The Marginalized -- the poor, the disabled, women, children, the elderly, etc. If a lord sees someone like this being mistreated or abused, he's supposed to step in and put a stop to that.

Committed to reciprocity. In a highly hierarchical system like feudalism, every person (from the lowest peasant all the way up to the crown prince) legally OWES their liege lord certain things (taxes, labor, service, loyalty, etc). A good liege remembers and takes very seriously the idea that this should be a balanced and reciprocal relationship -- in other words, he owes something BACK. Feudalism is modeled very strongly on the family system: If children owe their parents obedience and service, then parents owe their children care and protection. This still applies when the "child" is a farmer and the "parent" is a local baron. Or when the "child" is a duke and the "parent" is the king.

Basically, we get so caught up in the aesthetics of nobility that we forget that it literally is a managerial position that comes with responsibilities that were... very similar back in the day to the same ones we have now. Humans have not changed all that much. At the end of the day, a really good boss in the 1400s versus in one from the 2020s displays most of the same qualities of personality, even if the details of execution are different.

The next question is, of course, "well, but this theoretical liege lord is HIGHLY idealized -- how often did that actually HAPPEN? Wasn't it more likely that everyone was exploited all the time?" and to that I say: Well, maybe. But again, I don't think humans have changed all that much. Just like the bosses of today, there's a SPECTRUM: A really really good boss is rare and precious and one that you tell stories about for years after you've left that job, but a truly, genuinely, homicidally nightmarish boss is also pretty rare. Most bosses are sort of meh -- they have their good moments, they have their shitty moments, but they're tolerable and you can get along with them well enough to do your job, and then you roll your eyes at them behind their back. Generally, humans don't take outright exploitation lying down. Being a bad boss in the historical period is how you get peasant uprisings and revolts, and you know that to be true because your parents raised you with that knowledge, so unless you are very stupid or inbred or an egomaniac, there is literal personal incentive to at minimum be a Tolerable liege lord. And that means hitting at least SOME of the above bullet points.

TL;DR: In the words of Honore de Balzac, "Everything I have just told you can be summarized by an old word: noblesse oblige!"

(for more discussions of the ethics of fealty and what it means to be a good boss when you are an exquisitely beautiful twink of a prince with a hot beefy bodyguard.... [fingerguns] read A Taste of Gold and Iron)

[frownyalfred]

Words/phrases I often see from British/Australian writers while writing American characters (and some American alternatives because I know it’s tricky!):

Bugger (American: fuck/fucker)

Flat (American: apartment, “my place”)

Bloke (American: guy, asshole, dude)

Queue (American: line, checkout line)

Cuppa (American: cup of tea, hot tea)

Shite (American: bullshit, shit, crap)

Some of these are regional, like all of the various American words for the British “trolley” (American: shopping cart, buggy, cart, etc) but most of the above words are pretty ubiquitous.

[lurkinglurkerwholurks]

Dropping the article from nouns (American: the/a hospital, the/a university)

Bin (maybe sommme Americans use it? But mostly trashcan, garbage)

Lift (American: elevator)

Arse (American: ass)

[lurkinglurkerwholurks]

We have once again reached the lowered reading comprehension section of the replies. Friends! Please reread the above. There were no value judgements made above. You can continue to use inaccurate terminology for your characters if you choose.

What this is flagging is that the words you are using—in dialogue or narration from an American POV—don’t fit what we use here. and if that’s something that concerns you, or if you want your readers not to get hung up on (to steal an example from the comments) “Why is Midwesterner Dean Winchester talking about a torch??”, these are the words we actually use.

We know what you mean when you use your terminology. We’re saying your American characters would not use those words, so here are the alternatives should you choose to care.

[prismatic-bell]

Also one that actually COULD be confusing:

Scheme -> program. You have a jab scheme, we have a vaccination program.

[notaplaceofhonour]

tangentially, conspiracy theorists get so much mileage out of that last one lol

[nickcarr]

Field notes from the time I scouted a decommissioned nuclear power plant...

This is the control room, and if you look closely, you'll see a dark stripe in the carpet running the perimeter of the room. This was referred to as the "velvet rope," and absolutely NO ONE was allowed to cross it without authorization. It was under constant observation from an adjacent office, and I was told that if someone did set foot inside without permission, things got VERY serious VERY quickly.

This is one of the computer stations, and to me, it's such a gorgeous encapsulation of its period of technology, the sort of aesthetic that shows like Lost will bend over backwards to recreate.

As I was scouting, I noticed the day calendar had last been torn off about when the plant closed for good...

Then we went into the nuclear reactor, and the whole damn thing was just so spooky.

Looking back, I think it came from an overwhelming feeling of utter insignificance in the face of the sheer power this colossus was designed to produce.

The scale was just so out of proportion to every day reality, the sort of place where a weight of "46000 LBS" is just casually noted on the side of a part.

Peering into where the core would've been, all I could think is that I'd never want the job where you have to climb down that ladder on the left while this thing was in operation.

If you're interested in seeing more, you can find my full tour here!

https://nickcarr.com/scouting-a-decommissioned-nuclear-power-plant/

And as always, follow for more location scouting fun...

[whumpawaydarling]

describing injuries

these 2 websites don't have pictures of injuries in case anyone is squicked out by that!

How to Describe an Injury: A Guide for Accurate Descriptions

Common Wound Description Terms You Should Know

the below all have at least some images

Soft Tissue and Skin Injury Descriptions in the ED - graphic images under the "basic science and pathophysiology" dropdown, none of the others have pictures of injuries

Use Accurate Wound Terminology When Describing Injuries

Injury Description in the ED

Laceration or Incised Wound: Know the Difference - image is towards the bottom of the page so avoidable if you don't scroll all the way

Difference Between Contusion and Hematoma - the only images are of 2 bruises, not very graphic but i thought i'd still warn for it

Trauma - this opens to a website with case studies all to do with acute trauma :D

(sorry that this isn't organised in any sort of way other than a link dump essentially but i just thought i'd share anyway ^^)

[ijustwannawritepls]

Scenes to Write When You’re Blocked

Not to keep, not to polish… Just to shake the rust loose.

• A character deletes and rewrites a text three times before sending it • Two people arguing quietly so no one else hears • Someone almost confessing something and backing out • A character lying about being “fine” in a way that convinces no one • Bonus: Same scene but they convince everyone, and it's even worse • An apology that comes moments too late • A secret revealed accidentally, not dramatically • A character overhearing only half a conversation • Someone packing a bag and pretending it’s temporary • A reunion where one person is happier than the other • A goodbye that is meant to be casual but isn’t

Low stakes, high emotion. Momentum comes from movement, not brilliance.

[unheardoracle]

If Your Scene Feels Lifeless, Someone Is Being Too Polite

Stories stall when everyone behaves. Real tension appears when someone:

• asks the wrong question • says something they shouldn’t • notices something uncomfortable • refuses to drop the topic • misunderstands something important • interrupts at the worst moment

Conflict doesn’t always look like shouting.

[motherfuckingshakespeare]

A HANDY CHART FOR THOSE OF YOU WONDERING WHAT THE FUCK IS UP WITH THESE. NOTE THAT THESE ARE ALL THE INFORMAL AND YOU IS THE FORMAL SO LIKE YOU WOULD ALWAYS ADDRESS YOUR SUPERIOR/ OLDER PERSON/ SOCIAL BETTER WITH YOU BUT WITH YOUR BUDS YOU CAN USE THESE. 

[heroineimages]

I’m not sure I knew the thy/thine distinction. Thanks for this!

[onbearfeet]

THINE IS ALSO GRAMMATICALLY EQUIVALENT TO YOURS.

“It is yours” and “It is thine” differ only in their level of formality.

[ijustwannawritepls]

Underused Microexpressions for Attraction

We’ve done lip biting to death... Let’s evolve.

• Eyes flicking to someone’s mouth mid-sentence • Forgetting what they were about to say • Leaning in unconsciously • Mirroring posture without realizing • Smiling at something that wasn’t that funny • Adjusting hair or clothes when the other person enters • Noticing and remembering details no one else bothers to • A pause before pulling their hand away • Shoulders softening • Looking away first and then back again • Swallowing before speaking • Voice lowering slightly • Turning their body fully toward the other person • A delayed reaction to a touch

[karenandwriting]

How To Portray Grief In Your Writing Based On Character's Personality

Analytical, critical thinking type characters: These character's tend to think about grief by separating themselves from it with logistics. initial reaction will be shock followed by how to fix the problems this is causing. maybe they deal with it by hyper focusing on planning a funeral, or they move onto a different project and completely throw themselves into it. this will probably culminate in one big breaking point where they can't run from it anymore they end up having an uncharacteristic but necessary breakdown. When writing this, the character should not consciously think about distracting themselves, they convince themselves they're fine. Everything is fine. I'm doing fine.

Deep Feeling, emotional, extroverted characters: These characters might be the ones constantly wanting to talk through things, they love human connection and being around people. They'll process grief and loss by embracing connections they still have. They are the most likely to take comfort in the thought of an after life, or a similar belief in stories about transformation after death. They might focus on helping other's deal with the grief as a way to process it themselves. If they do, this might cause them to focus so much on other people that they loose touch with themselves. If they are artistic in any way, they will either throw themselves into art completely or stop it all together. the latter is more likely to happen if their grief is associated with art, if the person who died was a mentor or inspiration.

Deep feeling, emotional introverts: Contrary to popular belief, these are very different from the character type above. They tend to be the nerds who prefer reading to math, and writing to talking. They'll deal with grief by quietly retracting. They tend to do a lot of reflection, but can be susceptible to refusing help or going "off the grid." this stems from the feeling that their pain is an inconvenience to people. they will probably feel like they should hide their pain and this will cause them to get a bit lost in their own head. They will probably need someone to be patient with them, and be present but there so that they don't disappear off the face of the earth.

Athletic, adventurous, outgoing explorer type characters (can be any combination of the three): These are the characters who are the most likely to want to do something risky when faced with grief. They might seek fights with people or purposely put themselves in positions where they know they're going to get hurt. Maybe they just exercise a lot more than is healthy, working themselves to the breaking point, this mostly just stems from desperations to feel anything other than sadness and grief, and other times their grief makes them feel worthless, so much so that they feel like they need to be useful to the point where they will go to any lengths to be useful. They tend to need another person to pull them out, to prove their worth something and that people care about them regardless of whether they're useful. they need someone else to convince them that they can't keep running.

IF YOU HAVE ANY OTHER PERSONALITIES YOU WANT ME TO DO, LET ME KNOW! :)

[the-scribbling-renfairy]

Questions to get to know your Characters Better!

Mental health edition

What’s your character’s worst coping mechanism? Do they know it’s their worst coping mechanism? Does knowing deter them a bit from indulging or do they not care?

What’s your character’s best coping mechanism?

What’s your character’s biggest trigger?

What caused them to develop that trigger?

What mental health milestones are they trying to accomplish? Why did they choose those ones?

How does your character react when they “regress” in their healing journey?

What’s their biggest insecurity?

What’s a quality they always tend to compare themself to others about?

Is there any mental health disorder your character suffers from?

What’s a compliment they find hard to believe?

What’s their comfort food?

What is their most toxic trait?

[inky-duchess]

Servants: What do they talk about downstairs?

Often I get asked about what matters certain ranks of society speak about when they are alone, such as what topics they talk about, what would be taboo and what sort of things they would feel comfortable speaking about.

Topics

Downstairs conversation usually revolved around whatever kept the household running smoothly, so most talk was practical, harmless, and rooted in day to day life or life outside of work. Servants would often have swapped tales about work, talking amongst themselves on matters of staff such as conduct or reputation or skillset, not too different from working in any workplace. Servants would have discussed personal matters, such as who was courting who, who was flaunting the riles and who might have fallen short of the expectations of the house. They would have also traded local town gossip, local scandals for example.

Taboo

Some subjects were absolutely off‑limits. Some topics could lead to a servant punished or dismissed. One never criticized the lord, lady, or their children. Even the mildest comments could be seen as disrespectful. Servants also avoided repeating anything they overheard upstairs, arguments, affairs, illnesses, debts etc. Sharing private family matters was considered a betrayal of trust and could destroy a household’s reputation. Loose lips sink ships and all that. Politics was often barred too, servants were expected to stay neutral and silent and not get into debates about things 'above their stations'. Mocking any guests to the house or discussing sensitive topics like inheritance, legitimacy, or money was equally forbidden. Everyone downstairs understood that their job depended on discretion, and some secrets were so dangerous that even whispering them could cost a life.

Censorship

The tone of downstairs life was shaped by a strict hierarchy. The steward or housekeeper controlled what was appropriate or not. If they said something was never to be addressed, it wouldn't be. Senior servants like the butler, cook, or head maid also had authority to shut down gossip or scold juniors for speaking out of turn. Their approval or disapproval shaped what was acceptable which was often shaped by the morals and leanings of the family they served. It is important to remember that even when the family weren’t present, they dictated the atmosphere.

Confidants

Servants of course, did speak about taboo subjects but they had to be very strategic about who they talked to and what they talked about, because the wrong word to the wrong person could ruin them and see them fired. Safe conversations happened with peers, for example the scullery maids, footmen, grooms, and kitchen hands who shared the same workload and had no authority to punish them would talk about more sensitive topics, may share complaints about unfair treatment. But trust was essential. Senior staff like the butler, housekeeper, or steward were treated with caution, wise servants would avoid complaining, gossiping, or mentioning anything that hinted at discontent in front of them. Around the family, servants spoke only when spoken to and stuck to practical answers, never offered opinions, never gossiped, never spoke on personal matters. Downstairs life ran on an unspoken rule: you could speak freely only with those who had nothing to gain by repeating your words.

[digitalkiddo]

If you're writing anything involving cons, scams, heists, or morally questionable characters who are very good at lying, here are some free resources I've been using for research. Saving you the "why is this in my search history" anxiety.

1. The FBI's Famous Cases & Criminals archive (fbi.gov/history/famous-cases) has detailed breakdowns of real fraud cases, Ponzi schemes, and confidence operations. The language they use is clinical and precise, which is perfect for getting the procedural details right.

2. The FTC Consumer Sentinel Network publishes annual reports on the most common fraud tactics in the US. Great for understanding how modern scams actually work and what makes people fall for them.

3. The Smithsonian's American Art Museum has a free digital collection of forgery case studies. If your character forges documents or art, this is gold.

4. Court Listener (courtlistener.com) is a free legal database where you can read actual court transcripts from fraud trials. Want to know how a real con artist talks under oath? This is where you find out.

5. The Internet Archive's collection of old newspaper crime sections. Search for "confidence man" or "swindle" in papers from the 1920s through 1960s and you'll find incredible real stories that would feel too dramatic for fiction.

Bonus: The Psychology of Fraud section on the Association for Psychological Science website has accessible articles about why people trust, how deception works cognitively, and what makes someone a convincing liar. Essential reading if you want your con artist characters to feel psychologically real.

Reblog to save for later. Your WIP will thank you.

[living-weapons-blr]

Living weapon mission ideas:

(Tw mentions of murder, torture and the like)

Assassinating an enemy of their organization

"Wiping out" a faction that opposes their organization

Killing someone "as a warning"

Stalking a person of interest in order to gather intel

Breaking into a secure location to retrieve files or another valuable item for their organization

Keep a close eye on a prisoner to ensure they stay in line (like a jail guard)

Undercover missuon: Let themself be captured by the enemy in order to gather information

Bodyguarding a person of interest

Bodyguarding a person of interest from afar and without their knowledge, like a guardian angel

Accompanying a superior when they wouldn't usually be requested, merely as a display of power

Training/tutoring other living weapons in the organization

In settings where it's appliable: Being sent out to help take down a powerful monster for public safety/the safety of their own organization

Murdering an enemy organization's own living weapon

Retrieving someone in a hostaage exchange

Stealing something valuable from someone, perhaps as a display of power; a warning

Kidnapping someone important for a person of interest to use as a hostage

Feel free to add more!

[blueboxbeagle]

By LabradoriteKing on Pinterest

[sonneillonv]

As a Dungeon Master I nearly scrolled past this before my brain kicked my own ass and reminded me that I have tried looking up 'Blue Gemstones' at LEAST a dozen times in the last six months and never found anything this helpful.