I'm writing a book!

I started writing a novel with no formal OR informal training and its like sailing the ocean on a dingy Luckily there are so many fabulous writers here on Tumblr so I don't feel like I'm doing it alone

[yeehawpim]

[liberalsarecool]

Be great.

[kvothbloodless]

[charlesoberonn]

People in badly written fantasy stories will usually talk about the major historical events of their world and how magic has affected the lives of everyone, but ask a person in the real world to describe the effects of WWI and the invention of the combustion engine on modern life and they’d probably couldn’t tell you.

[bone-us-zone]

Broke: every character seems to know everything about the history and lore of the world

Woke: most characters can’t tell you much besides the basics but there are some that can tell you more complete but specific parts

H Y P E R W O K E: Every character tells you a wildly different version of the past and what effects it has on the present, ranging from the government is an imperialist, colonizing body obsessed with power to the one true ruler was sent by the gods and has smote down anyone who got in his way to “Oh you mean Jeff, the quote unquote tyrant of the west? I knew that guy! He was alright, never did anything wrong really just wanted some soup.” And there’s no way to tell what actually happened

[charlesoberonn]

I like your thinking

[shades-of-orange]

really sorry to all my followers but I’m reblogging this every time it’s on my dash

[derinthescarletpescatarian]

More people need to read Animorphs, where an alien child ends up on the team of human children and sometimes they’re like “oh there’s weird alien stuff, Ax explain the weird alien stuff” and a good half of the time he’s like “I can’t, I was distracted by a cute girl in class that day”.

[andyboops]

"The best thing we can do with power is give it away" - On the leftist critique of superhero narratives as authoritarian power fantasies:

The ongoing "Jason Todd is a cop" debate has reminded me of a brilliant brief image essay by Joey deVilla. So here it is, images first and the full essay text below:

"A common leftist critique of superhero comics is that they are inherently anti-collectivist, being about small groups of individuals who hold all the power, and the wisdom to wield that power. I don’t disagree with this reading. I don’t think it’s inaccurate. Superheroes are their own ruling class, the concept of the übermensch writ large. But it’s a sterile reading. It examines superhero comics as a cold text, and ignores something that I believe in fundamental, especially to superhero storytelling: the way people engage with text. Not what it says, but how it is read. The average comic reader doesn’t fantasize about being a civilian in a world of superheroes, they fantasize about being a superhero. One could charitably chalk this up to a lust for power, except for one fact… The fantasy is almost always the act of helping people. Helping the vulnerable, with no reward promised in return. Being a century into the genre, we’ve seen countless subversions and deconstructions of the story. But at its core, the superhero myth is about using the gifts you’ve been given to enrich the people around you, never asking for payment, never advancing an ulterior motive. We should (and do) spend time nitpicking these fantasies, examining their unintended consequences, their hypocrisies. But it’s worth acknowledging that the most eduring childhood fantasy of the last hundred years hasn’t been to become rich. Superheroes come from every class (don’t let the MCU fool you). The most enduring fantasy is to become powerful enough to take the weak under your own wing. To give, without needing to take. So yes, the superhero myth, as a text, isn’t collectivist. But that’s not why we keep coming back to it. That’s not why children read it. We keep coming back to it to learn one simple lesson… The best thing we can do with power IS GIVE IT AWAY." - Joey deVilla, 2021 https://www.joeydevilla.com/2021/07/04/happy-independence-day-superhero-style/

[frothlad]

Superheroes are the literature of ethics: If you have the power to make a choice, what choice do you make?

In the simplest and most enduring models, Superman and Batman and Wonder Woman and Spider-Man, the heroes make the choice to use their power to help others, and the villains make the choice to use their power for disfavored ends, like wealth or revenge.

There are much more complicated models, because ethics is insanely complicated. But we see, repeatedly, endlessly, that what brings people to superheroes over and over again is what Mr. Rogers taught us: To help people. That's the fantasy for so many of us. We even imagine what to do when we are faced with impossible choices, all bad: We find the third way, to quote a critical analysis of the core characters of Superman and Captain America. In our fantasies, there is a way to make a good choice, we just have to find it. We believe Wonder Woman when, as Gail Simone writes, she teaches do not raise your fist until you have extended your hand.

Superheroes, at their core are not ambiguous; to quote Elliot S. Maggin's motto for Superman: There is good and evil in the universe, and the difference is not hard to see.

Or, to borrow a rephrasal of a mangled quote for another genre: Superheroes do not teach children that supervillains exist. Children already know that. Superheroes teach children that supervillains can be defeated.

[gailynovelry]

What they don’t tell you about storytelling is that it becomes an instinct over time. You learn how to kind of … intuitively chain events together over time. That doesn’t mean it’s a cakewalk, or that you never get stuck on plotbeats, but you have a better time walking yourself out of corners that you as a less experienced writer would have been tempted to abandon your story over. Because you’ve been stuck in similar corners before; you know how you get out now.

I know its frustrating to keep hitting dead ends, but you got this. You’ll learn a little from every roadblock you hit.

[gailynovelry]

Hope you don’t mind me reblogging your tags @inkpot-demigod;

#you really do#i realized a year or two back that i’d gotten to the point where i could just sort of trust fall into a story#as long as i don’t stress myself out over it#it will come together over time#but i had to throw myself into a lot of stories to reach that point

Trustfall into a story … oh, that’s a nice feeling.

[outofcontextgarf]

[soy-sauce-and-mothra-deactivate]

Hey! Are there blacksmiths in your story? I'm a hobbyist blacksmith and I'm here to help!

Blacksmithing is one of those things that a lot of people get wrong because they don't realize it stuck around past the advent of the assembly line. Here's a list of some common misconceptions I see and what to do instead!

Not all blacksmiths are gigantic terrifying muscly guys with beards and deep voices. I am 5'8, skinny as a twig, have the muscle mass of wet bread, and exist on Tumblr. Anybody who is strong enough to pick up a hammer and understands fire safety can be a blacksmith.

You can make more than just swords with blacksmithing. Though swords are undeniably practical, they're not the only things that can be made. I've made candle holders, wall hooks, kebab skewers, fire pokers, and more. Look up things other people have made, it's really amazing what can be done.

"Red-hot" is actually not that hot by blacksmith terms. when heated up, the metal goes from black, to red, to orange, to yellow, to white. (for temperature reference, I got a second degree burn from picking up a piece of metal on black heat) The ideal color to work with the metal is yellow. White is not ideal at all, because the metal starts sparking and gets all weird and lumpy when it cools. (At no point in this process does the metal get even close to melting. It gets soft enough to work with, but I have never once seen metal become a liquid.)

Blacksmithing takes fucking forever. Not even taking into account starting the forge, selecting and preparing metal, etc. etc. it takes me around an hour to make one (1) fancy skewer. The metals blacksmiths work with heat up and cool down incredibly fast. When the forge is going good, it only takes like 20 seconds to get your metal hot enough to work with, but it takes about the same time for it to cool down, sometimes even less.

As long as you are careful, it is actually stupidly easy to not get hurt while blacksmithing. When I picked up this hobby I was like "okay, cool! I'm gonna make stuff, and I'm gonna end up in the hospital at some point!" Thus far, the latter has yet to occur. I've been doing this for nearly a year. I have earned myself a new scar from the aforementioned second degree burn, and one singe mark on my jeans. I don't even wear gloves half the time. Literally just eye protection, common sense, and fast reflexes and you'll probably be fine. (Accidents still happen of course, but I have found adequate safety weirdly easy to achieve with this hobby)

A forge is not a fire. The forge is the thing blacksmiths put their metal in to heat it up. It starts as a small fire, usually with newspaper or something else that's relatively small and burns easily, which we then put in the forge itself, which is sort of a fireplace-esque thing (there's a lot of different types of forge, look into it and try to figure out what sort of forge would make the most sense for the context you're writing about) and we cover it with coal, which then catches fire and heats up. The forge gets really hot, and sometimes really bright. Sometimes when I stare at the forge for too long it's like staring into the sun. The forge is also not a waterfall of lava, Steven Universe. It doesn't work like that, Steven Universe.

Welding and blacksmithing are not the same thing. They often go hand-in-hand, but you cannot connected two pieces of metal with traditional blacksmithing alone. There is something called forge welding, where you heat your metal, sprinkle borax (or the in-universe equivalent) on it to prevent the metal from oxidizing/being non-weldable, and hammer the pieces together very quickly. Forge welding also sends sparks flying everywhere, and if you're working in a small space with other blacksmiths, you usually want to announce that you're welding before you do, so that everyone in a five-foot radius can get out of that five-foot radius. You also cannot just stuck some random pebbles into the forge and get a decent piece of metal that you can actually make something with, Steven Universe. It doesn't work like that, Steven Universe.

Anvils are really fucking heavy. Nothing else to add here.

Making jewelry is not a blacksmithing thing unless you want jewelry made of steel. And it will be very ugly if you try. Blacksmithing wasn't invented to make small things.

If there's anything here I didn't mention, just ask and I'll do my best to answer.

[tamsylum]

i ended up liking how gendered french is solely because i can say that i want people to use he/him pronouns for me the same way they use it for angels, blood and blunts

[tamsylum]

i asked a trans friend to give me her fem version of this and she said that people should use she/her with her the same way they use it for the sea, flesh and stuffed toys

[samwisegamgeeee]

I don’t speak French but I speak Spanish and I’m nonbinary so the whole gendered language thing is… difficult. I couldn’t get this post out of my head and so I wrote a poem. It's a first draft but i just had to get it out there

It’s called “Masculino como el amor, femenino como la espada”

Si tienes que usar el masculino conmigo, usa el masculino cómo lo usas para el azúcar para el lobo el amor y el mar. Pero si tienes que usar el femenino, úsalo cómo lo usas para la tierra para la anaconda la guerra y la mar. Llámame masculino cómo el día cómo el melocotón el pecho y la cometa. O, llámame femenino cómo la noche cómo la piedra la leche y la mano. Masculino cómo el viento, femenino cómo la tormenta. El hueso, la sangre. El mito, la magia. El sol, la luna. Si tienes que usar el masculino conmigo, o si tienes que usar el femenino, llámame femenino con la boca y la lengua o llámame masculino con los dientes y los pulmones. O si puedes llámame por mi nombre. Llámame yo.

Translation: Masculine like love, feminine like the sword

If you have to use the masculine for me, use the masculine like you use it for sugar for the wolf love and the sea. But if you have to use the feminine, use it like you use it for earth for the anaconda war and the sea. Call me masculine like the day like the peach the chest and the comet. Or, call me feminine like the night like the stone the milk and the hand. Masculine like the wind, feminine like the storm. The bone, the blood. The myth, the magic. The sun, the moon. If you have to use the masculine for me, or if you have to use the feminine, call me feminine with your mouth and your tongue or call me masculine with your teeth and your lungs. Or if you can call me by my name. Call me myself.

[tamsylum]

no one speak to me this poem cut me open

[samwisegamgeeee]

alsdkfjalsdkj thaaaaanks! I made a few typos but i'm fairly proud of it hehe

[weirdchristmas]

[dduane]

…I’ll always reblog the frog.

[actual-lich-queen]

Counterpoint: Matsumoto Hoji, active c. 1875

[empresstress13]

That’s a compelling counterpoint

[yves-writes]

May 26 2023

[rphelper]

Face Claim Diversity Masterpost

Articles

A Few Tips and Resources for Writing POC Characters by writeworld

Additional tips on writing PoC characters by keyboardsmashwriters

Bro-Tip: Describing Skin Color by thetrolliestcritic

Cedarseed’s Guide to Human Types at edencomplex

Demographics, Representation, and Fiction by writeworld

Describing characters of color in writing by N.K. Jemison

Describing characters of color, pt. 2 by N.K. Jemison

Describing Skin Colors by thewritershelpers

Describing Skin Tone by Marion Sipe

Describing Skin Tone by writeworld

Gee, I don’t know how to research writing Characters of Color tastefully by missturdle

Kazza’s Guides: How to find face claims by kgillsrpc

More on Inclusiveness, Art, and Just Writing by writeworld

Re: POCs: Just Write by writeworld

The Term POC by writeworld

Tips on finding face claims by shackleboltrps

Why Writing Colorblind Is Writing White (a rant) by Kameron Hurley

Writing Racially and Culturally Diverse Characters by writeworld

Z Ponders: Why Face Claims Are Killing Creativity by thetrolliestcritic

Body Diversity

FC Help: Plus Size tag at fchelpers

Masterlist of Plus-Size FCs/FCs for Body Diversity in Roleplays by cl4p-tpwrites

Whosdatedwho celebrities by build

IMDB Lists

100 Hot Women of Color by Greenidge_Lewis

Beautiful Women of Colour by Daliouse

favourite actors of colours by phoenix310789

Gorgeous Leading Men of Color by rejavanation

The list of Top Bollywood Actors by miketellon

Sexiest Women of Color by SteelKeez

Young Actors & Actresses of Color by mirrormera92

Tumblr Blogs

actressesofcolor

diversityinfilmtv

faceclaimsofcolor

facesofcolor-rps

femme-homme-rp (tags)

fuckyeahethnicmen

fuckyeahethnicwomen

fyeahracebending

fyeahpocredcarpetfashion

modelsofcolor

northafricanmodels

stopwhitewashing

Tumblr Resources

Face Claim Masterlists by fchelpers

Faceclaims Table by dontmesswith-rpcw

FC Directory by rphelper

FC Suggestions: People of Colour tag at rphelper

POC characters tag at thewritingcafe

POC FC GIF hunts by rphelper

POC FC tag

POC tag at fuckyeahcharacterdevelopment

POC tag at referenceforwriters

POC tag at thewritershelpers

Skin Deep tag at writeworld

White Writers tag at thetrolliestcritic

Writing Race tag at cl4p-tpwrites

Web Resources

Whosdatedwho celebrities by ethnicity

Wikipedia List of American people by ethnic or national origin

Words Used to Describe Skin Color

[octoswan]

I made these as a way to compile all the geographical vocabulary that I thought was useful and interesting for writers. Some descriptors share categories, and some are simplified, but for the most part everything is in its proper place. Not all the words are as useable as others, and some might take tricky wording to pull off, but I hope these prove useful to all you writers out there!

(save the images to zoom in on the pics)

[spaceshipsandpurpledrank]

[inthefallofasparrow]

The age old question finally answered.

[youneedsomeprompts]

How to write a kiss scene

requested by: anon request: How do I write a good kiss scene? As how do I describe it? What details or words would make it good?

What goes into the writing of a kiss scene?

details to incorporate:

the sensations in their stomach, their chest, and their knees

the way their breathing changes shortly before the kiss

the feeling of the other's hands

the texture of the other's clothing

the moment they realise they've reached the point of no return

the feeling they're left with after the kiss

words to use...

... to describe the kiss:

tentative

tender

hesitant

quick

soft

gentle

delicate

languid

feathery

familiar

exploring

hungry

heated

fiery

frantic

impatient

sloppy

messy

aggressive

... to describe how they feel about the kiss:

nervous

excited

giddy

anxious

apprehensive

ambiguous

surprised

reassured

certain

confident

relieved

eager

greedy

... to show what the lips do:

exploring each other

brushing over each other

locking

devouring

touching

sealing

pressing against each other

capturing

lapping

tasting

crushing together

travelling (the other's body)

trailing (down to the other's chin)

grinning into the kiss

caressing

lingering

... to show how their body reacts:

feeling warm all over

buzzing

humming

pumping/palpitating heart

clenching lungs

joy bubbling up

tingly stomach

warm chest

burning cheeks

sweaty palms

blood rushing through their veins

... to describe what their hands are doing:

tangling in their lover's hair

wrapping their arms around their lover's neck

intertwining their fingers with their lover

resting on their lover's hips

pressing into their lover's shoulder blades

cupping their lover's cheeks

touching their lover's chin

curling their arm around their lover's waist

resting on their lover's shoulders

grabbing their lover's collar

sneaking up under their lover's shirt

brushing over their lover's bare skin

lightly squeezing their lover's butt

focus on:

the sensations instead of what's physically happening. (the protagonists might very well not know themselves what is happening exactly, but they feel very precisely)

I hope this helps <3

[taytjiefourie-deactivated202411]

Showing when writing: Emotions [part 1]

Embarrassment

blushing

fidgeting

sweating

hiding their face in their hands

wide eyes

crossing their arms around their body

stutters

stammering

shifting their weight from side to side

exaggerated movements

nervous quirks appear such as picking at their nails, playing with their hair, and rocking on their heels.

avoiding eye contact

glancing or staring at random objects

stiff smiles

scratching the back of their head or neck.

subject changing

forced laughter

Anticipation

big smiles

wetting their lips

energized

constant movement

grinning

can't concentrate

clumsiness

fidgeting

questions

Awe

frozen

wide eyes

slack jaw

harsh or erratic breathing

grinning

staring

Surprise/shock

gasping

open mouth

slack jaw

wide eyes

covering their mouth with their hands

raised eyebrows

frozen

staring

stepping back

stutters or stammers

Triumph

Tilting back head and yelling out

fist pumping in the air

Jumping

Roaring

Whooping

laughter

bright smiles

grinning

Anger/Threatening

Shaking fist

Pointing

crossed arms

glares

frowning

scowling

Stabbing with finger

Slamming fist against something

Veins throbbing

Jutting out their chin

Clenched fist

Clenched jaw

flushed face

Eyebrows lowered or furrowed

squinting

Teeth bared

Wide stance

Tight-lipped smile

Rapid breathing

Sweating

aggressive stance

Flared nostrils

Puffed chest

loud voice

Nervous

lip biting

biting nails

blinking

tears

stepping back

awkward laughter

clumsiness

dry lips

dry mouth

fidgeting

darting eyes

wrapping their arms around themselves

repeatedly folding and unfolding their arms

clutching at themselves, their hip/shoulder/stomach

drawn in/furrowed brows

avoiding eye contact

jittery

pitched voice

no appetite or nervous eating so a bigger appetite

pacing

toying with things

restless

bouncing leg

rubbing at their face

scratching

sweating trembling

if you want to support, take a look at my story - Thoraway villain

[writingmaz]

Writing Tips

Punctuating Dialogue

✧

➸ “This is a sentence.”

➸ “This is a sentence with a dialogue tag at the end,” she said.

➸ “This,” he said, “is a sentence split by a dialogue tag.”

➸ “This is a sentence,” she said. “This is a new sentence. New sentences are capitalized.”

➸ “This is a sentence followed by an action.” He stood. “They are separate sentences because he did not speak by standing.”

➸ She said, “Use a comma to introduce dialogue. The quote is capitalized when the dialogue tag is at the beginning.”

➸ “Use a comma when a dialogue tag follows a quote,” he said.

“Unless there is a question mark?” she asked.

“Or an exclamation point!” he answered. “The dialogue tag still remains uncapitalized because it’s not truly the end of the sentence.”

➸ “Periods and commas should be inside closing quotations.”

➸ “Hey!” she shouted, “Sometimes exclamation points are inside quotations.”

However, if it’s not dialogue exclamation points can also be “outside”!

➸ “Does this apply to question marks too?” he asked.

If it’s not dialogue, can question marks be “outside”? (Yes, they can.)

➸ “This applies to dashes too. Inside quotations dashes typically express—“

“Interruption” — but there are situations dashes may be outside.

➸ “You’ll notice that exclamation marks, question marks, and dashes do not have a comma after them. Ellipses don’t have a comma after them either…” she said.

➸ “My teacher said, ‘Use single quotation marks when quoting within dialogue.’”

➸ “Use paragraph breaks to indicate a new speaker,” he said.

“The readers will know it’s someone else speaking.”

➸ “If it’s the same speaker but different paragraph, keep the closing quotation off.

“This shows it’s the same character continuing to speak.”

[thebluebird]

[fictionwritingtips]

thebluebird:

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

[xekstrin]

pay attention to this

this is important even if you don’t write scripts

[mumblingsage]

This is exceedingly important to all storytellers