athiefswarwriteblr:

I’ve put a lot of research into this, and I’ve seen a lot of great rogue-like characters, where the author was clearly unsure as to how they perform their criminal activities. If you feel the need to ask why I know this stuff, my main writings are for a book series called “A Thief’s War,” which should be more than enough explanation. I swear I’m not personally a thief.

Anyway, here we go:

Lockpicking:

I’ve seen some stories where characters grab a paperclip, and boom, no lock can stop them. I’ve also seen some where master thieves take a hammer and smash the lock.

A lock has a series of tumblers in it, each of which need to click into place for it to unlock. A key’s design is usual exactly what it must be to get these tumblers into the proper position.

There are a wide array of shapes and sizes for lockpicks, and if you’re going to go around picking locks, you’re going to need more than one. There is no universal lockpick. Furthermore, for some reason a lot of people don’t include the secondary locking tool: a lock wrench. This is used to turn the the lock, and to keep the tumblers in place once you’ve appropriately placed them with the lockpick.

A lockpicker will know that a tumbler is in place when they hear it click, but the noise is usually quiet, so they’ll often have their ear close to the door.

Can you pick a lock with a paperclip? Yes, but it’s hard as hell, and a paperclip won’t fit into all locks. Not to mention it’s a pain turning the lock once the tumblers are in place.

 With code locks, a lot of movies or books show someone pressing their ear closely to the lock, whilst turning it, and listening for a click when it hits the right number. This actually works. These are the most useless goddamn locks in history.

Now, if you’re writing modern day, with smart locks and various other such tech, I’m afraid I can’t help. I haven’t studied that as much. Though, the previous advice will help for most locks, and that information still applies to basically all types of lock that aren’t incredibly expensive.

Sneaking:

The dashing rogue slips through the shadows, his cloak billowing behind him, and somehow none of the dozen patrolling guards walking right by happen to notice him.

Yeah, that’s not how it works.

Sneaking involves a lot of remaining very still, knowing your surroundings, and holding your breath.

A thief infiltrating a house will scout it out, usually for weeks in advance. Sometimes they’ll pose as various businessmen, and try to get the owners of the house let them in for a while so they can study the ins and outs of it. Cracking open a window isn’t quiet, and you need to know what doors will creak and what doors won’t.

If you’re trying to sneak, you need to try and stick near furniture and heavy objects. The floor isn’t nearly as likely to creak when you’re near these. Furthermore, you need to step lightly, and wear the appropriate footwear. Usually some cloth wrapping’s around one’s feet will help to be quiet, but avoid any shoes that might make clacking noises, or sound like they’re peeling off the floor when they move. A thief will also neverscuff their feet, if they’re any good at sneaking.

Black clothing only helps you sneak if it’s dark, and your surroundings aren’t bright coloured. If you’re in a city of white buildings and marble, you’ll want matching attire. This is just for if you’re skulking about a city, though. Just make sure you don’t stand out. However, dark clothing will greatly help you not be seen from a distance when it’s night.

If a thief suspects someone is nearby, they should always try to locate a nearby hiding spot, and remain perfectly still. Do not move, and a good thief will hold their breath if they start getting anxious, as heavy breathing could easily give someone away.

Many stories also don’t seem to account for the fact that various rogues and criminals have shadows, too. Even a quick and subtle movement of a shadow might be enough to give away one’s presence. It’s really, really hard to actually sneak up on someone due to this, and several other factors. Most people will actually feel tense, and usually catch wind of it if someone is sneaking up behind them, as even very quiet sounds and movements like breathing will subconsciously register to people if you get too close.

I’m a master assassin, and I carry a goddamn greatsword:

There is a reason they would use daggers. Assassins didn’t usually sneak into the king’s bedchamber in the dead of night, without being seen once. There are guards. A long hallway with two guards standing in front of the door at the end, there is absolutely no way to slip past that.

They would usually have to get into the building during the day, disguised as a servant, or even another guard. They’d have to wait for the perfect opportunity to sneak into that nobleman’s bedchamber, midday when he was absent, and then wait in there for hours.

If the assassin is sneaking in at night, they rarely go through the interior of the building. Just like a thief, they’ll get the layout of the building, and then they’ll usually enter through a window, or wherever is closest to the target. If they don’t have those guard patrols memorised, they’re screwed.

But you know what’s not subtle? An assassin carrying around a scimitar, or some flashy crossbow. If you’re going to sneak past people, you need a weapon no one will see, and that you can probably hide if someone decides to search you.

Fingerprints:

This is mainly relevant for modern era stories, and I just wanted to say that I’ve seen a few shows where a criminal isn’t wearing gloves throughout the whole thing. You always wear gloves, you never leave the murder weapon. If you touched something without gloves, you may as well take it with you to avoid risk.

Slipping out of Handcuffs:

This usually requires dislocating your fingers. Ouch. But, if the one cuffing or tying up the thief isn’t paying too much attention, you can keep your hands at an appropriate angle that the cuffs will not go on correctly, or the ropes not pulled tight enough, and you can probably slip out of them.

Who needs masks when you have shadowy hoods?

Guess what the easiest facial feature to notice in the dark is? If you guessed eyes, then you’re right. But, if you’re blending in, and your eyes are veiled by the hood that’s somehow not obscuring your vision while you crane your neck downwards to ensure that it covers your face, then people are usually still going to be able to see your lips, which stand out the second most of any feature on a person.

Yes, a hood is good if you’re trying to blend in. But it’s not good for making sure people don’t see your face. Wear a damned mask.

This is all I’ve got, for now. Hope it helps someone!

creativepromptsforwriting:

German Names (Girl’s Edition)

These names are pretty common for girls and women of German origin, despite not all being originally German themselves. They can be used for younger and older characters from Germany. If you decide to write about people living in Germany, please remember that there are a lot more cultures and therefore different names. Most common would probably be Russian names, Arabic, Turkish, Polish, Italian, etc.

• Sophie
• Marie
• Julia
• Emilia
• Laura
• Charlotte
• Luisa/Louisa
• Franziska
• Annika
• Tessa
• Melanie
• Lea
• Frieda
• Marina
• Paula
• Kristina/Christina
• Selina
• Helen
• Jenny/Jennifer
• Lina
• Mara
• Hannah
• Adriane
• Kira
• Viktoria/Victoria
• Lisa
• Sarah
• Magdalena
• Katharina
• Juliane
• Sophia
• Lotta
• Natalie
• Pauline
• Marlene
• Saskia
• Vanessa
• Finja
• Mia
• Emma
• Tatjana
• Lara
• Maja
• Johanna
• Ronja
• Lena
• Mila
• Svenja
• Nora
• Paulina
• Maike/Meike
• Isabell
• Nicole
• Sabrina
• Jana
• Miriam
• Natascha
• Klara/Clara
• Tina
• Amelie
• Nele
• Maria
• Valentina
• Antonia
• Frederike
• Kim
• Merle
• Elena
• Leonie
• Maren

If you want to know how to pronounce these names in German or what potential nicknames could be, let me know!

officialinuyasha:

#6 Yoryoku and Yoki

Yoryoku is the various kinds of abilities of Youkai.

While Yoki is the energy that Youkai radiate.

giraffeter:

caledoniaseries:

deelaundry:

primarybufferpanel:

obsessivewriter:

nifflerdream:

me as a writer: Oh no I can’t write that, somebody else already has

me as a reader: hell yes give me all the fics about this one scenario. The more the merrier

This one is so hard to accept. Reblogging to knock that into my brain.

Me as a writer: I feel like I’m repeating myself, I’ve already used that theme, I’ve already written that kink, that other character uses that speech pattern so this one in another fandom can’t, I feel like I’m writing predictable things, is this different enough from that other thing I wrote, are people filling out bingo cards by my work? :sobbing:

Me as a reader: oh hell yeah this hit the spot exactly, I hope this writer has written 20 more just like it

As one friend said when I felt I was reusing a theme too much, nobody ever says, Did Agatha Christie write about murder again?

I actually laughed out loud at the last one. A very good point.

“I love this, I hope there isn’t anything else out there like it!” Said no one ever

@stephdaninja some validation for you beautiful ❤️

vvitchrot:

There are hardly any female werewolves because they break all the classic rules of femininity. They force you to confront female violence, strength, size, grotesqueness and uncontrollability. Historically female shapeshifters always shift into something dangerous (snake) or sleek (cat) or dainty (bird) but female werewolves ignore the masculine gaze completely. They’re distorted beasts that have no ulterior motive except to destroy. Nothing about them is nurturing or modest. They’re the opposite of what a woman “should be.” Their omission from pop culture is not an accident.

Okay but I love my female werewolf OCs. Must remember to incorporate more of this stuff with them.

“I pointed out that nothing had happened, which prompted Nightingale to give me one of his rare smiles.
‘Look up,’ he said.
I did, and I found that above my head a small cloud, about as wide as a tea tray, was gathering. It looked like a compact mass of thick steam and once it finished growing, raindrops began to fall on my upturned face.
I asked Nightingale what on Earth the spell was for. He said it was a favourite of one of his masters at school. 'At the time I thought he seemed inordinately fond of it, though,’ said Nightingale, as he watched me dodge around the atrium. 'Although now I must say I’m beginning to appreciate its appeal now.’
According to my stopwatch, the spell lasted thirty-seven minutes and twenty seconds.”

—Whispers Under Ground, Ben Aaronovitch

kmparker616:

leave-her-a-tome:

(source)

• Unsplash -  photography, illustration, and art
• Pixabay - same as unsplash
• Pexels - stock photos and videos
• Stockvault.net - stock photos
• freepngimg - icons, pictures and clipart
• Veceezy - vectors and clipart
• KissclipartandkissPNG - more vectors and clipart (often transparent!)
• Getdrawings - simplistic images and drawing tutorials
• Gumroad - photoshop brushes (and more)
• Canva - needs login but has lots of templates
• Library of Congress - historical posters and photos
• NASA - you guessed it
• Creative Commons - all kinds of stuff, homie
• EvenAdobe has some free images

There are so many ways to make moodboards, bookcovers, and icons without infringing copyright! As artists, authors, and other creatives, we need to be especially careful not to use someone else’s work and pass it off as our own. 

Please add on if you know any more sites for free images <3

Thanks for the information!!

closet-keys:

One thing I think is useful to conceptualize when thinking about the severity of depression is figuring out what counts as a ‘task’ to your brain

for example, healthy people outlining the tasks they need to do that day might be something like 

- class
- work
- homework

if a healthy person is having a low energy day, maybe it becomes 

- make breakfast
- go to class
- class
- go to work
- work
- come home from work
- work on an essay
- do 2 readings 

a depressed person, on a high energy day will probably see that same day as 

- make breakfast
- eat breakfast
- take meds
- shower
- get dressed
- walk to bus
- take bus
… etc

a depressed person, on a lowenergy day will see that same day as

- wake up
- get out of bed
- walk to bathroom
- use bathroom
- stand back up
- walk to kitchen
- open fridge
- take out juice
- set on counter
- go to cabinet
- reach up arm
- take down glass
- unscrew lid of juice carton
- pour juice
- drink the juice
- finish the juice
…etc

the sort of chronic exhaustion manifests in how each ‘task’ takes a certain amount of energy and when you have depression, what begins to take that amount of energy- and thus, cognitively count as a ‘task’- are smaller and smaller subdivisions of what other people consider tasks. 

And the more ‘tasks’ you do, the less energy you have, and the smaller the subdivisions must be to take equivalent amounts of energy. And the longer that “to do” list of tasks is, the more exhausting and overwhelming and hopeless it feels, which creates a feedback loop of dysfunction.

So say our depressed person on a low energy day gets all the way to finishing their glass of juice. They’ve actually gotten through a lot of tasks! They’ve tried really hard. 

But to a healthy person, even on a low energy day, that probably looks like not having done anything- not having gotten through any tasks. And when our depressed person is surrounded by healthy people, they will likely internalize that they haven’t done anything,and further that they can’tcomplete any tasks no matter how hard they try. And that feeds worthlessness and suicidal ideation 

That, I think, is why it’s so important to encourage your depressed and chronically low-energy friends when they accomplish tasks, even if they’re operating at a level of subdivision that you don’t recognize. It isan accomplishment to get water and actually drink it for some folks. It is an accomplishment to get to class or to work. 

And acknowledging how hard someone is trying and how much energy they’re putting towards accomplishing those tasks can make a huge difference in whether they feel worthless and hopeless or whether they feel like it’s worth it to keep doing what they can.

rongzhi:

English added by me :)

casuallyshriek:

dark-haired-hamlet:

Want to learn something new in 2022??

Absolute beginner adult ballet series (fabulous beginning teacher)

40 piano lessons for beginners (some of the best explanations for piano I’ve ever seen)

Excellent basic crochet video series

Basic knitting (probably the best how to knit video out there)

Pre-Free Figure Skate Levels A-D guides and practice activities (each video builds up with exercises to the actual moves!)

How to draw character faces video (very funny, surprisingly instructive?)

Another drawing character faces video

Literally my favorite art pose hack

Tutorial of how to make a whole ass Stardew Valley esque farming game in Gamemaker Studios 2??

Introduction to flying small aircrafts

French/Dutch/Fishtail braiding

Playing the guitar for beginners (well paced and excellent instructor)

Playing the violin for beginners (really good practical tips mixed in)

Color theory in digital art (not of the children’s hospital variety)

Retake classes you hated but now there’s zero stakes:

Calculus 1 (full semester class)

Learn basic statistics (free textbook)

Introduction to college physics (free textbook)

Introduction to accounting (free textbook)

Learn a language:

Ancient Greek

Latin

Spanish

German

Japanese (grammar guide) (for dummies)

French

Russian (pretty good cyrillic guide!)

just for my reference later thx

A message to adults

If a child in your acquaintance has a friend of a different gender, please do not tease them with “is that your boyfriend/girlfriend?”

Chances are that there is nothing romantic there and that you are witnessing a platonic relationship. Suggesting otherwise can harm that relationship. In fact, it can harm the chances of them forming any different-gender friendships.

And even if it isn’t platonic, making a big deal out of it might harm any nascent romantic feelings.

If nobody is getting hurt, then just leave kids’ relationships alone. If your input is desired, they’ll ask you.

And if your input isn’t desired, then you’ll just have to deal with that.

fanficmemes:

Oh so ur a writer?? Prove it. Drop the last sentence of ur wip in the tags