Please refer to this page before sending any asks, please!
I will answer questions about:
Characters
Plotting
POV
Setting
Tropes
Fanfiction
Genres
Getting Started
And more!!!!
I will NOT answer questions about:
Things that are already on this list
The publishing/editing industry (primarily because I’m unqualified)
Children’s fiction and Nonfiction (Same reason as above)
Hyper-specific details of your WIP; I can’t tell you how to write your own story.
“Does ____ sound like a good idea?”
Anything that can be figured out with a quick Google search (i.e. how fast can cheetahs run, how long does it take to get a license, etc.)
Asking me to reblog your post, give you a shout-out, etc. This blog is just for writing content only and will remain ad-free.
Asking me to read/edit your story for free. I’m a college student with a very busy life who also has her own writing projects to worry about, and cannot put time aside to edit someone’s work for no cost at all. Refer to my commissions page, please!
Sorry, but I am quite rigid about these rules!
This is just a compilation of the questions I get a lot or I think I answered pretty well, so if you need anything else feel free to check out my #answering asks tag!
I’ve also included some posts from other blogs/sources as well because I feel as though they can explain it much better than I ever could!
I am a white, neurotypical, cisgender woman and shouldn’t give you any advice but to DEFINITELY include diversity! Here are some great blogs for you to follow!
I’m currently working on a novel titled Wings of Faith, and often post content such as art, aesthetics, and writing updates!
Summary:
A one-winged angel must team up with a ragtag band of demons to escape his life in Hell. Haloes and harps must go on the backburner if it means clawing his way out of the fire, and if the world burns to ashes in his wake, so be it…because let’s be honest here: Hell’s humidity got old after, like, a day.
Here’s the blog that I post all of my art on, including Wings of Faith content, art wips, fandom content, and original work! Feel free to check it out here!
COMMISSIONS ARE OPEN!
Writing!
Starting at only $5!
Editing!
Copyediting only $5 per page and content editing only $10 per page!
Art!
Fully-colored AND shaded waist-up portrait for only $45!
Writing realistic injuries - The title is pretty self-explanatory: while writing about an injury, take a look at this useful website;
One Stop for Writers - You guys… this website has literally everythingwe need: a) Description thesaurus collection, b) Character builder, c) Story maps, d) Scene maps & timelines, e) World building surveys, f) Worksheets, f) Tutorials, and much more! Although it has a paid plan ($90/year | $50/6 months | $9/month), you can still get a 2-week FREE trial;
One Stop for Writers Roadmap - It has many tips for you, divided into three different topics: a) How to plan a story, b) How to write a story, c) How to revise a story. The best thing about this? It’s FREE!
Story Structure Database - The Story Structure Database is an archive of books and movies, recording all their major plot points;
Crime Reads - Get inspired before writing a crime scene;
The Creative Academy for Writers - “Writers helping writers along every step of the path to publication.” It’s FREE and has ZOOM writing rooms;
Reedsy- “A trusted place to learn how to successfully publish your book” It has many tips, and tools (generators), contests, prompts lists, etc. FREE;
QueryTracker - Find agents for your books (personally, I’ve never used this before, but I thought I should feature it here);
Pacemaker - Track your goals (example: Write 50K words - then, everytime you write, you track the number of the words, and it will make a graphic for you with your progress). It’s FREE but has a paid plan;
Save the Cat! - The blog of the most known storytelling method. You can find posts, sheets, a software (student discount - 70%), and other things;
I’ve been getting questions on how to create characters recently, because apparently lots of y’all don’t know where and how to start creating a new character. I don’t think this post will help everybody, since everyone has different methods on creating characters (eg. some come up with names first, others come up with appearance first), but in this post I’ll be sharing my character creation process. I hope it will help! <3
1. An iconic line
This is a less well-known method to start creating a character, but for some reason it’s always how I do (and it always works lmao). It’s hard to create a character from scratch, so instead, I think about an iconic line that the character could say, which is usually related to my wip’s theme or mood. I came up with this line for an oc :
“I’ve been trying so damn hard to make everyone smile, but I get it now. The world would be happier without me, wouldn’t it?”
Justfrom this single line, I already know lots of things about this character :
• They always put the happiness of others before their own.
• They’ve probably been told that they need to have a positive effect on others in order to have the right to live.
• They’ve been trying to please others, but end up worsening things.
• They’re determined and desperate.
• …They probably had a corruption arc and won’t get a happy ending :“D
• The moment when they say this line is their breaking point
See? Just from two sentences, I already have an idea of their personality and backstory. Sometimes, I even get an idea for their appearance too. This is way easier than not knowing what to do first to create a character from scratch.
2. Appearance
Lots of people come up with character names before their appearance, but I always need to generate their appearance first, because otherwise, I can’t visualize or imagine them. I usually play around with picrew.me (an avatar generator website) to generate their potential appearance. I don’t spend too much time on this stage tho, because I’ll end up changing their appearance again after figuring out more details about my wip (that’s why I said potentialappearance).
3. Personality & backstory
After having a rough idea of how they look like, I’ll imagine them in various scenes in my wip and come up with their personality. If there are already other existing ocs in the wip, I always be careful to not repeat too much aspects from the other characters, so each character will be unique.
Then,asking why the character has a specific personality will create their backstory. For instance, if a character has trust issues, ask why. Maybe they’ve been betrayed by a loved one before? Or they live in a dangerous world where everyone double crosses people to survive?
4. Name
After I know their appearance, personality, and depth, that’s when I decide a name for the character which fit their vibes or has symbolism. For example, my character Bayu’s name is symbolic because it means "wind”, reflecting how he’s a thief who moves as fast as the wind.
Sometimes, I don’t immediately search for a permanent name if I’m out of ideas. I’ll just choose a random placeholder name that fits their vibes, and remember to come up with their real name later.
5. Character arc
After knowing all the general information about the character, I’ll begin plotting out their character arc - their development throughout the book/series and whether it’s a positive or negative character arc. This stage is the hardest for me, because I need to figure out its starting, breaking, and ending point, and also the factors and people involved in the arc. I have a post series about both redemption and corruption arcs, you can check my masterlist to find them!
I got pretty fed up with looking for words to replace said because they weren’t sorted in a way I could easily use/find them for the right time. So I did some myself.
I’M DRUNK OR JUST BEING WEIRDLY EXPRESSIVE FOR A POINT/SARCASM Hooted Howled Yowled
I WONDER Pondered Voiced Wondered
OH, YEAH, WHOOPS Recalled Recited Remembered
SURPRISE BITCH Revealed
IT SEEMS FAKE BUT OKAY/HA ACTUALLY FUNNY BUT I DON’T WANT TO LAUGH OUT LOUD Scoffed Snickered Snorted
BITCHY Tattled Taunted Teased
Edit: People, I’m an English and creative writing double major in college; I understand that there’s nothing wrong with simply using “said.” This was just for fun, and it comes in handy when I need to add pizzazz.
When you are writing a story and refer to a character by a physical trait, occupation, age, or any other attribute, rather than that character’s name, you are bringing the reader’s attention to that particular attribute. That can be used quite effectively to help your reader to focus on key details with just a few words. However, if the fact that the character is “the blond,” “the magician,” “the older woman,” etc. is not relevant to that moment in the story, this will only distract the reader from the purpose of the scene.
If your only reason for referring to a character this way is to avoid using his or her name or a pronoun too much, don’t do it. You’re fixing a problem that actually isn’t one. Just go ahead and use the name or pronoun again. It’ll be good.
Someone finally spelled out the REASON for using epithets, and the reasons NOT to.
In addition to that:
If the character you are referring to in such a way is THE VIEWPOINT CHARACTER, likewise, don’t do it. I.e. if you’re writing in third person but the narration is through their eyes, or what is also called “third person deep POV”. If the narration is filtered through the character’s perception, then a very external, impersonal description will be jarring. It’s the same, and just as bad, as writing “My bright blue eyes returned his gaze” in first person.
i absolutely hate that blushing is the most common way to show embarassment bc irl i literally can’t blush and ive never seen anyone around me really blush either so when i write it it feels so fake
#its just so annoying like blushing is a great way to show your character is flustered #but i feel like its so overused #but i dont know what id even replace it with!!!!!
.
hang on, let me copy-paste from one of my favorite writing books:
EMBARRASSMENT
DEFINITION: A lack of composure due to self-conscious discomfort
PHYSICAL SIGNALS AND BEHAVIORS: A flush that creeps across the cheeks Visible sweating The body freezing in place Grimacing or swallowing Ears that turn red The chin dipping down The chest caving, the spine bent Hands curling around one’s middle Feet shuffling Clearing the throat and coughing Covering oneself (crossing the arms, closing a jacket, etc.) Pulling at one’s collar Rubbing the back of the neck Wincing Covering the face with one’s hands Cringing or shaking Fidgeting and squirming Touching the forehead Slanting one’s body away from onlookers or an aggressor Stuttering and stammering, growing more frustrated as words refuse to come Flinching away from touches Speechlessness or a weakened voice The toes curling up Knees pulling together Arms tucking in at the sides Sliding down in a chair Looking down, unable to meet someone’s eyes Shoulders slumping or curling forward Responding with anger (shoving, punching, etc.) Gritting one’s teeth, pressing the lips tight Shoving one’s hands in one’s pockets Fiddling with shirtsleeves Hiding behind a book Shielding oneself (having a death grip on a purse, etc.) A walk that accelerates into a sprint Using the hair to hide one’s face Glancing about for help, an exit, or escape Tugging a hat down low or pulling a hood over the head A trembling chin
INTERNAL SENSATIONS: Excessive swallowing (a lump in the throat) Light-headedness A tingling that sweeps up the back of the neck and across the face A tightening chest The stomach hardening or dropping with a manifestation of dread The face, neck, and ears feeling impossibly hot Rushed breathing and a rapid heartbeat
MENTAL RESPONSES: A compulsion to flee (fight-or-flight) Muddied or panicked thoughts A disconnect where the mind struggles with belief: This can’t be happening! Thoughts searching for a solution
ACUTE OR LONG-TERM RESPONSES FOR THIS EMOTION: Bursting into tears Running from the room or situation Plummeting self-esteem Fear of public speaking or being on display Withdrawing from groups, activities, and social interaction Loss of appetite and resulting weight loss Obsessing about the embarrassing event; reliving it
SIGNS THAT THIS EMOTION IS BEING SUPPRESSED: Pretending to not have heard or seen Intensely concentrating on something else; actively ignoring others A fake smile as one tries to laugh it off Changing the topic in any way possible Lying or deflecting attention by assigning blame to another
MAY ESCALATE TO: Humiliation, Depressed, Regret, Shame, Anger
Puglisi, Becca; Ackerman, Angela. The Emotion Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide to Character Expression (Second Edition) (pp. 118-119). JADD Publishing. Kindle Edition.
btw “Flustered” is an entirely different entry from “Embarrassment"—Puglisi and Ackerman define "Flustered” as “Feeling overwrought and self-conscious due to confusion, uncertainty, or frustration”, and they note that it may escalate to embarrassment—and that entry also goes on for two pages about varying ways a writer might depict that emotion
Aries: 風光る(Kaze Hikaru) A warm spring breeze which follows the winter. Spring’s cherry blossom breath flushing over your face. A warm spring kiss after the freeze of winter air.
Gemini: 本音 (Honne) & 建前 (Tatemae) Ones true self (honne), true soul and the facade, the mask they wear in public (tatemae).
Cancer: なつかしい (Natsukashii) The feeling of nostalgia. Desiring and missing something. Happy memories of the past. Transcient state of mind recollecting the best of the past.
Leo: 花笑み (Hanaemi) A flowering smile. a smile as beautiful as blooming flowers, opening up their lush petals. inspiring people to be happy.
Virgo: 真面目 (Majime) A personality possessed by one who is hard-working, earnest, punctual, honest. A reliable person who will get things done without causing a ruckus, good morals.
Libra: 逢りば兄弟 (Ichariba Chode) Meeting someone and instantly considering them a friend, or even like a sibling. Instantly harmonizing with another.
Scorpio: しのびなく(Shinobi Naku) To shed silent tears, to hide your tears from others. Like a ninja or warriors cry.
Sagittarius: 幽玄 (Yugen) An extension of feeling “awoke”, an awarness that there is more to this universe beyond temporal existence which triggers deep, mysterious feelings. A philosophical feeling, close to touching a profound reality which underlines our extistence.
Capricorn: 頑張る (Ganbaru) Working hard, going above and beyond, reaching your full potential beyond belief. Perservering through tough times.
Aquarius: 合縁奇縁 (Aienkien) An unusual couple, brought together by some sort of “quirk of fate”. Strangely united but happy together.
Pisces: 鏡花水月 (Kyoka Suigetsu) “Flower in the mirror, moon on the surface of the water” Something you can see, but cannot touch, like a mirage. Beautiful dreams that are unattainable. Beauty that can only be felt, not touched.
tricky words I always see misspelled in fics: a guide
Viscous/vicious–Viscousis generally used to describe the consistency of blood or other thick liquids. Viciousis used to describe something or someone who is violent.
Piqued/Peaked/Peeked– To piquesomeone’s interest is to catch or tease their attention. When something peaks,it reaches its total height or intensity. To peek(at) something is to look briefly, or glance.
Discrete/Discreet– this is a tough one. Discretemeans to be separate, or distinct, i.e., two discretetheories. Conversely, when someone is discreet,they are being secretive or cautious to avoid attention.
Segue/Segway – one is a transition between things, the other is a thing you can ride at the park and definitely fall off of.
Conscious/Conscience/Conscientious – to be consciousis to be awake, i.e., not unconscious, or to be aware of something. Your conscienceis the little voice in your head telling you not to eat the entire pint of ice cream. Finally, to be conscientiousis to be good, to do things thoroughly, to be ruled by an inner moral code.
Hope this helped! Please add more if you think of them!
Counsel/Council-counsel is advice, the advice giver, or the verb form of giving said advice. Council is the group of people who come together to discuss and/or make decisions.
Desert/Desert/Dessert-desert is a barren landscape where little precipitation occurs. desert - abandon (a person, cause, or organization) in a way considered disloyal or treacherous. dessert - a usually sweet course or dish (as of pastry or ice cream) usually served at the end of a meal.
OH MY TIME IS HERE! I HAVE MADE A POST I KEEP FOR THIS EXACTLY
Taunt/Taut-Taunt is a jeer or provocation, taut means to be pulled tight, or not slack
Weary/Wary-wearymeans tired and warymeans cautious
Rogue/Rouge-rogue is a person who has unaffiliated themselves from what they were before (is the general understanding); a person or thing that behaves in an aberrant, faulty, or unpredictable way - rouge is red
Wonton/Wanton - a wontonis a dumpling, wantonis (of a cruel or violent action) deliberate and unprovoked and/or sexually unrestrained
Haphazard/Halfhazard-haphazardmeans to have a lack of plan, order, or direction - the other isn’t a word
Corporal/Corporeal-corporalis a lack of plan, order, or direction and corporealis to have a physical existence: to be tangible: of a person’s body
Peck/Pec - the first is a kiss (peck) and the second is the shortened version of pectoral (pec)
Virile/Viral - to be virileis to have strength, energy, and a strong sex drive (typically said about men) and then this last year (2020) has personally taught us, is how virala plague can really be, so of the nature of, caused by, or relating to a virus or viruses
Vulnerable/Venerable-vulnerablemeans being susceptible to physical or emotional attack or harm, and if a person is venerablethey’re accorded a great deal of respect, especially because of age, wisdom, or character (or if you’re religious, holy)
Dyedis something that is colored, and diedis deceased
Chalk (it up to something) ; chock (-full of something); choked (to cutoff air).
toaffect is the action,theeffect is the end result
If something doesn’t bother you then you weren’t fazed by it. If you are between two states of being that is a phase.
Please. For the love of all things holy. I beg you.
Loose: the opposite of tight
Lose: to misplace something or the opposite of win.
I BEG YOU.
breath is the noun, breathe is the verb
I wrote a whole list of these years ago, but the same misspellings persist, unfortunately.
Advice/Advise- in American English advice is a noun, you can give it to people, and advise is a verb, the act of giving advice
Ball/Bawl - people ball their fists when they are angry and ready to fight; people bawl when they cry loudly like a baby
Bear/Bare - to bear is to carry something physical or figurative like “to bear arms” or “to bear good news;” bare is when something is hairless, naked, or exposed as in the expression “baring your soul”
Hanger/Hangar - clothes go on a hanger in a closet or on a rack; airplanes go in a hangar to keep them safe
Definite/Defiant - when something is a sure thing it is definite; when someone acts out against authority they are defiant
Pour/Pore - you pour drinks or pour out your feelings, but your pores are the tiny holes in your skin that keep it healthy
Palate/Palette/Pallet-palate is the surface of your tongue that allows you to taste (e.g. palatable means “is enjoyable to eat”); a palette is a set of color options for paint or makeup; a pallet is a wooden platform heavy shipments are placed on so forklifts can move them around, or a pallet is a mattress stuffed with straw
One more example that I don’t see misspelled, but do see misused:
Soiled - primarily used to describe clothing or fabric that has been made very dirty with something gross and wet (feces, mud, vomit, food, etc.). It is not just a synonym for “wet,” it is very specific. If your female character has “soiled panties,” she is not sexy she just pooped her pants.
Sodden - a close synonym to “soaked,” except it normally has a negative meaning whereas soaked is neutral. You use sodden for objects that have been made soggy or ruined by too much liquid. It is not often used for buildings, cars, or other normally solid objects. Unless the building is made of straw or the car has a fabric interior and was flooded, neither will be described as sodden.
This is partly why I stress that people READ more books if they want to be taken seriously as published authors. You make a lot more mistakes if you don’t know what your language should look like in print!
Realistic Stuttering: “Sorry, I uh… I didn’t mean- I didn’t mean to do that…”
When people stutter, they usually reword what they’re saying as they speak, and subconsciously insert “filler words” such as “uh, like, you know,” and etc.
*puts on speech therapist hat*
ACTUALLY! It depends on why they are stuttering.
A Nervous Stutter results in what is called Mazing, or rewording the sentence. That is the classic “I, um… well I… look it’s just that… so we…” that @hellishhues is talking about. When someone is mazing their words you’re seeing a form of Speech Apraxia where the brain is having trouble forming verbal speech. This can be brought on by brain damage, memory loss, anxiety, nerves, and several other things.
The root cause of a nervous stutter is a disconnect between the mouth and the brain.
With this you will also sometimes see the classic “S-s-s-sorry…” especially if the person has been training to speak clearly and is now at a point of fatigue or stress where they are not mentally capable of forming the words.
The other kind of stutter is a Physical Stutter, sometimes referred to as slurring, and another facet of Speech Apraxia. This stutter is caused when the muscles of the mouth, tongue, and throat are physically unable to form certain sounds. This is most often seen in the very young and victims of brain trauma.
Sounds are acquired at different ages, so a 2-year-old will probably not be able to clearly pronounce certain words (which is why toddler sound so off when they’re written with developed dialogue). These mis-pronunciations are sometimes referred to as lisping, but only if the sounds are run together. If the person starts and restarts the sound because they got it wrong, it can also sound like the classic sound stutter.
But it all depends on why the character is stuttering!
Do they have Speech Apraxia, Audio Processing Disorder, muscle dysfunction, or another medical reason to stutter? (1)
Are they stuttering because of anxiety, stress, or fatigue? (2)
Does the stutter stem from intoxication or blood loss? (3)
All of those will sound different!
1 - Will have mazing, repeated sound stutters, and be the classic stutter that annoys OP.
2 - This is where you’ll see the repetition stutter, mazing, rephrasing, and filler words.
3 - This is where you are more likely to see starts and stops and slurring of words.
My mum has apraxia and I just wanted to say that’s one of the most concise and clear ways I’ve seen it explained, thank you!
Scars are the part and parcel to our life experiences. They are the marks left behind that we can point to and say: when that happened, I got this. Every character will have a few scars. However, whether they got those scars on the battlefield or from running into a piano when they were six is anyone’s guess. It’s important to remember that all scars can have meaning and they do not necessarily rate importance based on how traumatic the experience receiving the scar was. Scars are part of your character’s physical history and a memory inhabits each that only they may know.
Scars can be an important physical indicator of a character’s life experiences and whether your character is a casual martial artist or a soldier, it’s likely that they’ll have at least a few. The character who the scar belongs to is the only one that can tell other characters what it means, only they really know the full extent of its history and what it reminds them of. So, when you are writing about scars, it’s important to track what a character will say, what they won’t say, and what the scars they carry can give insight into who they are and where they’ve been.
Check out “Barry Lyndon”, a film whose period interiors were famously shot by period lamp-and-candle lighting (director Stanley Kubrick had to source special lenses with which to do it).
More recently, some scenes in “Wolf Hall” were also shot with period live-flame lighting and IIRC until they got used to it, actors had to be careful how they moved across the sets. However, it’s very atmospheric: there’s one scene where Cromwell is sitting by the fire, brooding about his association with Henry VIII while the candles in the room are put out around him. The effect is more than just visual.
As someone (I think it was Terry Pratchett) once said: “You always need enough light to see how dark it is.”
A demonstration of getting that out of balance happened in later seasons of “Game of Thrones”, most infamously in the complaint-heavy “Battle of Winterfell” episode, whose cinematographer claimed the poor visibility was because “a lot of people don’t know how to tune their TVs properly”.
So it was nothing to do with him at all, oh dear me no. Wottapillock. Needing to retune a TV to watch one programme but not others shows where the fault lies, and it’s not in the TV.
*****
We live in rural West Wicklow, Ireland, and it’s 80% certain that when we have a storm, a branch or even an entire tree will fall onto a power line and our lights will go out.
Usually the engineers have things fixed in an hour or two, but that can be a long dark time in the evenings or nights of October through February, so we always know where the candles and matches are and the oil lamp is always full.
We also know from experience how much reading can be done by candle-light, and it’s more than you’d think, once there’s a candle right behind you with its light falling on the pages.
You get more light than you’d expect from both candles and lamps, because for one thing, eyes adapt to dim light. @dduane says she can sometimes hear my irises dilating. Yeah, sure…
For another thing lamps can have accessories. Here’s an example: reflectors to direct light out from the wall into the room. I’ve tried this with a shiny foil pie-dish behind our own Very Modern Swedish Design oil lamp, and it works.
Smooth or parabolic reflectors concentrate their light (for a given value of concentrate, which is a pretty low value at that) while flatter fluted ones like these scatter the light over a wider area, though it’s less bright as a result:
This candle-holder has both a reflector and a magnifying lens, almost certainly to illuminate close or even medical work of some sort rather than light a room.
And then there’s this, which a lot of people saw and didn’t recognise, because it’s often described in tones of librarian horror as a beverage in the rare documents collection.
There IS a beverage, that’s in the beaker, but the spherical bottle is a light magnifier, and Gandalf would arrange a candle behind it for close study.
Here’s one being used - with a lightbulb - by a woodblock carver.
And here’s the effect it produces.
Here’s a four-sphere version used with a candle (all the fittings can be screwed up and down to get the candle and magnifiers properly lined up) and another one in use by a lacemaker.
Finally, here’s something I tried last night in our own kitchen, using a water-filled decanter. It’s not perfectly spherical so didn’t create the full effect, but it certainly impressed me, especially since I’d locked the camera so its automatic settings didn’t change to match light levels.
This is the effect with candles placed “normally”.
But when one candle is behind the sphere, this happens.
It also threw a long teardrop of concentrated light across the worktop; the photos of the woodcarver show that much better.
Poor-people lighting involved things like rushlights or tallow dips. They were awkward things, because they didn’t last long, needed constant adjustment, didn’t give much light and were smelly. But they were cheap, and that’s what mattered most.
They’re often mentioned in historical and fantasy fiction but seldom explained: a rushlight is a length of spongy pith from inside a rush plant, dried then dipped in tallow (or lard, or mutton-fat), hence both its names.
Check out “Barry Lyndon”, a film whose period interiors were famously shot by period lamp-and-candle lighting (director Stanley Kubrick had to source special lenses with which to do it).
More recently, some scenes in “Wolf Hall” were also shot with period live-flame lighting and IIRC until they got used to it, actors had to be careful how they moved across the sets. However, it’s very atmospheric: there’s one scene where Cromwell is sitting by the fire, brooding about his association with Henry VIII while the candles in the room are put out around him. The effect is more than just visual.
As someone (I think it was Terry Pratchett) once said: “You always need enough light to see how dark it is.”
A demonstration of getting that out of balance happened in later seasons of “Game of Thrones”, most infamously in the complaint-heavy “Battle of Winterfell” episode, whose cinematographer claimed the poor visibility was because “a lot of people don’t know how to tune their TVs properly”.
So it was nothing to do with him at all, oh dear me no. Wottapillock. Needing to retune a TV to watch one programme but not others shows where the fault lies, and it’s not in the TV.
*****
We live in rural West Wicklow, Ireland, and it’s 80% certain that when we have a storm, a branch or even an entire tree will fall onto a power line and our lights will go out.
Usually the engineers have things fixed in an hour or two, but that can be a long dark time in the evenings or nights of October through February, so we always know where the candles and matches are and the oil lamp is always full.
We also know from experience how much reading can be done by candle-light, and it’s more than you’d think, once there’s a candle right behind you with its light falling on the pages.
You get more light than you’d expect from both candles and lamps, because for one thing, eyes adapt to dim light. @dduane says she can sometimes hear my irises dilating. Yeah, sure…
For another thing lamps can have accessories. Here’s an example: reflectors to direct light out from the wall into the room. I’ve tried this with a shiny foil pie-dish behind our own Very Modern Swedish Design oil lamp, and it works.
Smooth or parabolic reflectors concentrate their light (for a given value of concentrate, which is a pretty low value at that) while flatter fluted ones like these scatter the light over a wider area, though it’s less bright as a result:
This candle-holder has both a reflector and a magnifying lens, almost certainly to illuminate close or even medical work of some sort rather than light a room.
And then there’s this, which a lot of people saw and didn’t recognise, because it’s often described in tones of librarian horror as a beverage in the rare documents collection.
There IS a beverage, that’s in the beaker, but the spherical bottle is a light magnifier, and Gandalf would arrange a candle behind it for close study.
Here’s one being used - with a lightbulb - by a woodblock carver.
And here’s the effect it produces.
Here’s a four-sphere version used with a candle (all the fittings can be screwed up and down to get the candle and magnifiers properly lined up) and another one in use by a lacemaker.
Finally, here’s something I tried last night in our own kitchen, using a water-filled decanter. It’s not perfectly spherical so didn’t create the full effect, but it certainly impressed me, especially since I’d locked the camera so its automatic settings didn’t change to match light levels.
This is the effect with candles placed “normally”.
But when one candle is behind the sphere, this happens.
It also threw a long teardrop of concentrated light across the worktop; the photos of the woodcarver show that much better.
Poor-people lighting involved things like rushlights or tallow dips. They were awkward things, because they didn’t last long, needed constant adjustment, didn’t give much light and were smelly. But they were cheap, and that’s what mattered most.
They’re often mentioned in historical and fantasy fiction but seldom explained: a rushlight is a length of spongy pith from inside a rush plant, dried then dipped in tallow (or lard, or mutton-fat), hence both its names.
If you found any of these references helpful, consider following me on my new Patreon (where I’ll be posting uncensored medic content), or my Ko-fi(where I post non-graphic medic content)! If the links don’t work, you can find the web addresses in my pinned post. Any support is greatly appreciated!
I recall reading once a post here on Tumblr, one of those sci-fi ones, and it talked about languages, about when writing aliens people often gave the whole species a single language even though humans have a bunch. And it was interesting insight. But one I kind of glossed over seeing as I’m not a big sci-fi fan.
But I remembered it today and it got me thinking.
When we write fantasy and we make different kingdoms with different fantasy languages, we also often make this mistake. You see, the assuming that a country only had one language is kind of flawed.
Personally, I live in Spain, here we have one primary language which is Spanish, but depending on the part of Spain you’re in they will often have a co-official language, where I live it’s Valenciano (pretty much identical to Catalan but there’s ongoing argument over that I don’t want to get into).
It’s both similar to Spanish, but at the same time closer to French, Italian or Portuguese.
There are places like Canda where depending on where you are they speak French or English.
It’s not one country, one language.
It’s not one country, one culture either.
Countries have sub-cultures. And depending on what part of the country you are from, it will be different.
Where I live in Spain, there is different cuisine to the center of Spain. We have different holidays, where I live in Spain we have mountains and beach but that’s not true of all of Spain. There are parts of Spain with a different climate. Even family relationships change.
So, how do we apply this out fantasy kingdoms? So, as usual, I write YA fantasy so I tend to simplify stuff. In my own book there is the culture of the kingdom the book takes place in, there is a monarchy meaning there are laws that apply to everybody. But as well as that there are sub-cultures.
My book takes place a lot in Aerradra, it’s the city where dragons lived. They have their own cuisine, they have holidays only they celebrate, they have their own architecture and even a local government for matters that they are allowed to change without the monarchy’s approval.
Among the people living there, there’s Emily who’s humana and grew up with a different culture. In one of the short stories in my story “Love, Coffee and Dragons” we see her forget a holiday AGAIN. Because it’s not a holiday she’s accustomed to.
This is sub-culture. A very simple example because I don’t want to have to explain too much, spoil anything or what not.
But the point is, culture so much deeper than kingdoms and countries.
As usual, check out my book, stories I’ve written plus other social medias: here.
This isn’t a fun or interesting fact but, I take a lot of notes.
I take notes in class for university.
I annotate the books I read because I know no chill.
I take notes during meetings because how in the world do people remember stuff?
I take notes about my book, create maps, timelines and random facts upon random facts.
I take a lot of notes. Both out of necessity and just, really enjoying note taking.
Just look at this school notes from a couple of months ago!
I love note taking.
So, as someone who had tried many different note taking methods and you know, goes to university with lots of different people, here are some random things I’ve noticed:
1.- There are two kinds of people where it comes to note taking, typing or writing. This can also depend on the class and the teacher, but usually people who type are the kind of people who take note of EVERYTHING. Every word the teacher, team leader, whoever says, goes onto paper.
Personally, this method does not work for me, but I know a lot of people do this in the moment and then later read them and creates diagrams and stuff. I can get behind that, I just never have time for this later on.
People who do paper notes tend to be more picky with what they write because they don’t have time to get it all down, thereby they will be paying closer attention to get the right stuff down. They still might need to tidy it up later, depends on how neat they’re handwriting is.
2.- Everybody’s note taking method will change when they are taking notes for other people. Perhaps you make it more neat, perhaps things you already knew and wouldn’t otherwise write down get written down.
When I’m taking notes for other people I will color code everything. Because my notes are digital I have unlimited colours, so every single number in a practical exercise can be traced through colour.
My best friend in uni will write everything down where usually she only takes note of what she cared about and my other friend will tidy up there hand writing.
It’s like when people act different with a camera on them, same principle.
3.- Some people use art in their note taking. As a kid I did this a lot, next to almost every word I’d have a picture, I claimed it helped me remember. But really it was probably because doodling helps me pay attention and I’m used to getting in trouble for it as a kid. But I know people who do this to make there notes more visible because that’s their prefered study method.
4.- Some people like to keep all their notes in one place, they’ll do this by using post-its and having all the writing inside the textbook, or writing on a printed out version of the PowerPoints.
Other people do the opposite, they’ll have a notebook for theory, a notebook for exercises and the book. Having it all together just makes it too overwhelming.
I love how different our brains can be. It’s amazing.
5.- Another reason hand written notes are sometimes preferred over digital can be readability. So, reading printed word can sometimes be difficult, I can’t keep track of what sentence I’m on, the letters get mixed up and I have no visual recollection of what the page looked like after. I rarely struggle with my own hand writing.
I know this is random and specific, but for these kind of oddly specific details are what really sells characters.
6.- Once you get to your last year in university, you don’t care about how professional or unprofessional you look. I have no problem covering my laptop with kitten stickers, I have no trouble doing an exam with my dragon pen. The first year of uni it felt like everybody was trying to look “normal” or “professional”, but each passing year we gives less cares and have more fun with our time here. So don’t bother to hide your character’s creativity, take notes on pink paper with purple ink and cute pen.
Do perhaps keep in mind that professors won’t let you hand that in. We’re talking notes not homework.
EXTRA: Not exactly about note-taking, but about perception. If you take beautiful notes and your sat somewhere professors can see you, expect them to take note. I’ve had plenty of teachers ask me about my methods, ask me what I do with it at the end of the year and make comments in class about how I must be extremely appreciated by my classmates when they miss class.
I also asked for notes often by classmates.
So if you’re making a character who is very academically inclined, might be worth noting. Also, I treat my notes a bit like an art. They take a lot of time and effort and I know from experience, if you share notes, they will get everywhere and to everyone so I tend not to share. Unless with my very close classmates I usually just explain what was given in typed text.
I’m not saying everyone is like this, but I know a good few people who are protective of there notes. So if your character spends a long time taking very high effort notes, it’s worth noting they may not be open to sharing. But I mean, you’ll know your character better than me.
As usual, check out my book, stories I’ve written plus other social medias: here.
I’m thinking of doing a whole por on University and academic life, but at the same time I know Spanish Universities work kinda strangely in comparison to other countries and I don’t want to confuse people. But what would you guys like?
I mean, I love it when I know what to give but that’s rarely the case.
Thankfully, in fiction, character’s will like what we tell them to like. But a powerful gift within the narrative requieres a bit more than for the character to like it. So here’s a couple of ideas to help:
1.-Make it something useful. Show your character having a recurring problem, preferably something unimportant, something trivial. Don’t show them complaining, show their frustration through smaller details such as them taking a deep breath, rubbing their nose or pausing for just a second mid-task.
This shows two important details on part of the gift giver: them paying attention to notice the problem and them finding a solution.
Attentiveness plus problem solving. Meaningful no matter how minor.
2.-Make it something they like, but something they’ve bought up only passingly before. If it’s something they love and go on about, anybody could get the right gift. Make it a small detail, maybe they’re at a farm in an early chapter and the receiver mentions their favourite animal, towards the end of the book the gift givers gets a plush, a figurine or a necklace with the animal.
Same as before, attentiveness. Just make sure it doesn’t happen too soon, if the information is still fresh the reader will be like: “Well, you literally just bought that up to make this gift meaningful.” And they might be right, but give them time to forget and then be reminded and it’s like: “Oh! They remembered!”
I did a whole post dedicated to giving time for things to sit, it’s a thing.
3.-Make it hard. Hard to find. If they make it themselves, hard to make. Maybe they need to get the materials, hard to collect materials for? You ever heard of the McGuffin trope? Some people say it’s bad writing, personally, I believe it depends. But it’s the idea that the item doesn’t matter, it’s just an excuse for the actions to get it. Look at the gift like a McGuffin. But if you want it to be more meaningful, combine it with one of the previous points.
4.-Maybe the gift isn’t the important part, maybe it’s the way it’s wrapped, with her favourite colour wrapping paper, maybe it’s the hand written note with a desperate attempt at cursive because, “You’re hand writing is so pretty, I thought it must matter to you.” Perhaps it a hand-made card that goes with it. Perhaps they’re separated for a mission but the gift givers sneaks away and risks a lot to get the gift to the receiver despite it all. (This could also end in a big argument but that’s up to you).
Remember sometimes the point of a gift isn’t the gift but the situation surrounding it.
5.-Make it something important to the gift giver. This is a pretty common trope but when properly established it still gets me every time. This is the whole, “Here, take my dead mother’s necklace.” “But it means so much to you!” “But I’d rather you have it!” Trope. I’m a sucker for it.
Also, it doesn’t always have to come from the gifter. I have a scene way later on in my series where the love interest actually gives my main character something (not going to say what, that would be a spoiler) that he got from her father that once belonged ot her mother. It’s similar because the father gives it up so she can have it, but then it comes from the love interest. I’m not sure if this makes sense without context but obviously I don’t want to spoil like, final book scenes. But the idea is, there can be other characters involved in this, other than the two giver and receiver.
6.-Maybe it isn’t important, maybe it isn’t meaningful, maybe it become so over time. I have plenty of stupid bits of plastic that were given to me on a night out as a joke in between laughters, perhaps a baby Shark kinder egg or a pretty plastic ring. But then instead of getting rid of it, I put it away. I look back at it and smile remembering those nights. Something can be meaningless in the moment, but become meaningful just for staying around long enough.
Extra points if the grifter dies or otherwise leaves.
And those are my 6 tips. You can combine as you wish. Also, I used a love interest in one example, but anybody can give anybody a gift! I give gifts to my roommates, friends and family. And it’s just as important to work on the relationships that aren’t romantic as it is the romantic ones. (Unless you’re writing a romance I guess, but I only do fantasy, usually YA so, can’t really comment on that).
As usual, check out my book, stories I’ve written plus other social medias: here.
So, with christmas coming up, how’s your gift buying going? I knows it’s not that soon, but I have exams in November so I try to start really early. I have a special box where I just put things in.
EXTRA NOTE: I know, I know, I’ve been missing for a while. I’ve got one month at university and as always, exams, homework, chaos everywhere! I promise I’m still around, I promise I’ve got 18 drafts plus several lists of ideas. As soon as I have time I’ll get back into posting more often. I just have to prioritize school, work, paying for food and those good boring stuff!
Also, I’ll be putting my ebook on sale sometime this December for Christmas! So, you know, if you want a gift idea for someone who likes reading YA Fantasy with dragons, look out for that!
QUICK TRIGGER WARNING: I started writing this as a writing reference, but towards the end talking about trauma I may have gotten a little graphic, I never mentions what the trauma is referencing, just descriptions of, well, fear and how it affects me. But if you think that alone may be triggering to you, please move along and stay safe!
So, I’m thinking about fear right now. And about the different ways in which it is born.
Fears without an origin: Phobias, social anxiety.
From my personal experience these fears are easier to ignore. The fear itself is often stronger but because there’s no underlying cause, no real threat, no past experience that could repeat itself, it can be ignored.
I have social anxiety, and I could probably do a writing reference all about it, but for now, what’s important is the ignoreability of it. As a kid, I couldn’t speak to a stranger, for a very long time I couldn’t order food for myself or go to a store.
Heck, for a long time I couldn’t post online because “people would see it”.
But at the beginning of this term I saw an opportunity, offered by a stranger, so I walked up, spoke confidently and quickly sold myself, smiled, laughed and got given the chance.
There was a time that seemed impossible.
But what’s important here isn’t the improvement in my actions, it’s the lack of it in my emotions. See, I still have social anxiety, and although I do the things, I still feel the things. When I walked up my heart was going at a thousand per minute, my hands were visibly shaken and I was making a conscious effort to breathe.
When I left the situations I had tears of happiness from the pride I felt, but they could have just as easily been me breaking down after a failed attempt at social interaction.
The things with phobias and social anxiety is they don’t go away. Or at least I haven’t gotten rid of any in my twenty four years of life. You just learn to live with them. You learn to act despite them.
And learning to handle them requieres experience and a lot of it. Social interactions is something I both do and force myself to do every day. But others phobias like heights and spiders are far harder to get over.
Most characters won’t ever overcome those phobias, no matter how much you “show” them it’s harmless, because that fear is innate. Most people with phobias know of the “harmlessness”, it just doesn’t matter.
Fears with an origin: Traumas and experience.
Far harder to deal with from my experience.
You’re never going to be able to convince yourself something is harmless when it’s already harmed you in the past. You’ve never going to feel entirely safe in a place where you were hurt.
Traumas for me tend to be more mental than physical. Less shaking hands and tears threatening to escape, more flashbacks, disassociation and panic attacks.
Traumas are often sudden. I’ll be dealing with something just fine, proud of myself that I’m getting back into it, that I’ll recover. Then suddenly, with no warning, my mind fills with the worst scenarios, the one that I’ve already lived, the one I’ve already escaped from yet can never truly escape from. Often I’ll stop breathing, I’ll move very quickly away from the cause of my distress, I’ll break down.
I don’t know how to deal with trauma. I can walk through my fears, I can take a deep breath and force myself to act. But trauma is a different kind of fear. It goes deeper than my outer body, it lies deep within my soul and constantly threatens me with it’s presence, it’s interference.
Trauma threatens to take parts of my life away from me and never ever give them back.
From what I’ve seen, heard and talked to with people, similar to the fears we are “born” with, trauma doesn’t go away. We just learn to deal with it. But from my experience, I learn more to avoid it.Toavoid those situations that will cause me to break down, even if it means giving up on things I love.
We all probably deal with these two types of fears in one way or another. It’s likely the way they affect you is different then how they affect me. I did this intending for it to be a writing reference, it’s kind of what I do, but it got a bit deep at the end. But, if you’d like to reblog this and on some of your experience with fears, maybe we can learn something!
As usual, check out my book, stories I’ve written plus other social medias: here.
I am sorry if this article is a bit heavy and I’m a bit “vanished” right now. I’m really busy yet full of creativity, so I guess when I saw down instead of writing out a helpful series of tips I went full creative. I hope despite that you enjoyed and got something out of this!
It is surprisingly rare in the real world how many relationships consist of people the same age. (The older you get, the more rare it is, which makes sense as age is relative and what not).
For today’s reference I’m focusing on a minor age gap. As usual I’ll be talking from experience so for context sake I’m 23 and my partner is 30. A seven year gap, pretty common especially where I am. I’m saying minor because it’s the average, but averages vary depending on locations and culture so take that in mind.
With all this said, here’s a list of things that happen due to this age gap:
1.- Different shows and music growing up, different games too! My first pokemon game was Diamond on the DS, my boyfriend was around to play pokemon red. That’s like, the first one!
Similarly sometimes my boyfriends and friends start going of about an old show I’ve either never heard of, or binged as an adult because it wasn’t on television when I was a kid.
Sometimes it’s the opposite and I start going on about a show they never saw because they were too old. Or shows that I watched they will laugh at because, when it was on television it was “little kid’s show”.
This leads to both me and them discovering a lot of amazing new shows. I view this as a total positive. But if a relationship was not willing to give new things a chance, this could be a barrier, less things to talk about.
2.- General different childhoods. I’ve had internet since I was like six or seven. My boyfriends grew up without it. If you’re writing fantasy, this can be replaced with any important technological advancement.
Because of this specific one, I’m more technology dependant, I use an ipad instead of paper for example, where he is better at using dictionaries and maps.
3.- Language differences. I’m fortunate enough to have grown up with plenty of terms that weren’t in use when my boyfriend was young. Some are technological, while other’s are mental health or sexuality related. Because of this when we’re discussing news I tend to speak in a more “politically correct” kinda way.
This also affects expressions, I’m going to use an example in Spanish because I can’t think of an English equivalent, “Chachi,” is a word that means cool. There’s a lot of words like that in Spanish (Guay, mola, súper, lindo…). And it’s a term that my generation used a lot in High School, my boyfriend was older, didn’t use it and now it is not a normal part of his vocabulary. He’ll said mostly “mola”.
It doesn’t really make a difference. It’s just a difference I’ve noticed and thought could be fun to implement in a story.
4.- Fashions choices is obvious and I don’t think needs an example.
5.- Playgrounds songs and games. It’s kind of upsetting that I have more overlaps with my little sister than most of my friends. But it’s also kind of funny.
6.- Schoolling! This is a big one. We learnt different subjects, under different rules. Sometimes these differences are minor, back when he was in school he had to study religion. I studied ethics. But other times the entire educations system is changes so that now a degree is worth less and I am forced to not only considerbut consider almost mandatory getting a masters degree. Thank you politicians.
7.- Politics. We are one the same side of politics but the politics we have experienced and lived through are very different and that’s something you can tell when we talk and discuss stuff. I was too young when my country was in crisis to truly understand what was going on. It was just a word to me. He suffered the consequences.
This one is probably the one that can be incorporated the best into a fantasy setting. And now that I’m thinking about it, I believe Poison Study did quite a good job at doing it. Not going to spoil anything too big, but basically there’s a big political incident that happens before the books and the main character barely remembers it, while the love interest lived it. I highly recommend you give Poison Study a read! It’s one of my fave books of all time (even though I haven’t read it in years).
As usual, check out my book, stories I’ve written plus other social medias: here.
Are you in a relationship with an age gap? What’s your experience? Feel free to add to this post! I sometimes struggle with what differences are due to age and which are due to culture so I left quite a few things out.
