A whisper in the dark

xhikaruchanx: thisgrrlwithhands: Answer all these questions...

Mon, 20 May 2013 21:56:30 -0400

thisgrrlwithhands:

Answer all these questions and you should have a fully-developed character for your audience to connect with.
A strong character can carry a weak plot; but a strong plot can’t carry weak characters

oh

my

god

yes

mark-gaytits: Some resources for those writing medieval-type stories: list of medieval jobs more...

Tue, 14 May 2013 00:36:01 -0400

mark-gaytits:

Some resources for those writing medieval-type stories:

list of medieval jobs

more medieval jobs

lords of the manor

ladies of the manor

medieval ladies

medieval weapons

medieval names

more medieval names

guide to medieval terms

more medieval terms

how to write sword-fight scenes

armor

andythanfiction: Stages of Deterioration in the Human Body The...

Sun, 12 May 2013 17:38:30 -0400

andythanfiction:

Stages of Deterioration in the Human Body

The Moment Of Death:
1. The heart stops.
2. The skin gets tight and ashen in color.
3. All the muscles relax.
4. The bladder and bowels empty.
5. The body temperature begins to drop 1 1/2 degrees Fahrenheit per hour.

After 30 minutes:
6. The skin gets purple and waxy.
7. The lips, fingernails, and toenails fade to a pale color.
8. Blood pools at the bottom of the body.
9. The hands and feet turn blue.
10. The eyes sink into the skull.

After 4 hours:
11. Rigor mortis has set in.
12. The purpling of the skin and the pooling of the blood continue.
13. Rigor continues to tighten muscles for another 24 hours or so.

After 12 hours:
14. The body is in full rigor mortis.

After 24 hours:
15. The body is now the temperature of the surrounding environment.
16. In males, the semen dies.
17. The head and neck are now a greenish-blue color.
18. The greenish-blue color spreads to the rest of the body.
19. There is a pervasive smell of rotting meat.

After 3 days:
20. The gas in the body tissues forms large blisters on the skin.
21. The whole body begins to bloat and swell grotesquely.
22. Fluids leak from the mouth, nose, vagina, and rectum.

After 3 weeks:
23. The skin, hair, and nails are so loose they can easily be pulled off the corpse.
24. The skin bursts open on many places on the body.
25. Decomposition will continue until the body is nothing but skelital remains, a process that can take a month or so in hot climates, and two months or more in cold climates.

Important for writers…helps avoid either walking in and knowing someone died moments ago “from the smell” (unless that smell is piss and shit), or finding someone dead for a week that “looks like they’re sleeping.”

For the Writers out there: Common Injuries And How To Treat Them

Fri, 10 May 2013 22:30:21 -0400

jellicleoverlord:

In my experience, RPers and Writers alike enjoy one thing: Making characters suffer. This little guide is supposed to help you with keeping injuries and the First Aid - in case you want to patch your character back together - realistic.
I am no medical professional, but I dare say I picked up a thing or two during my First Aider training ;)

Under read more for length! Also, trigger warnings for blood, I suppose?

Read More

"If a writer falls in love with you, you can never die."

Wed, 08 May 2013 15:34:46 -0400

““If a writer falls in love with you, you can never die.””

- Unknown (via libranta)

Reverse Dictionary

Tue, 07 May 2013 21:50:44 -0400

Reverse Dictionary:

ceruleancrescent:

conquerorwurm:

erinthesails:

catbountry:

fieto:

griff-kendu:

moraniarty:

shelivesin221c:

I DON’T KNOW THIS JUST FEELS LIKE THE MOST USEFUL THING IMAGINABLE RIGHT NOW

this is one of the most beautiful things on the internet

DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW MANY TIMES I HAVE BEEN WISTFULLY DAYDREAMING ABOUT SOMETHING LIKE THIS EXISTING

DO YOU KNOW

I LOVE YOU

GREAT

Oh, this is gonna be useful.

THANK JESUS OH MY GOD THIS IS THE BEST THING EVER

Holy wow what

"You are not truly a writer until you start writing the truth, unfiltered and unafraid of judgment."

Tue, 07 May 2013 18:16:10 -0400

“You are not truly a writer until you start writing the truth, unfiltered and unafraid of judgment.”

- Fearless Writer (via trynagraspreality)

writing is safer, somehowbecause my pen cannot stutter like my lips do,and words get stuck in...

Fri, 03 May 2013 21:03:15 -0400

writing is safer, somehow
because my pen cannot stutter like my lips do,
and words get stuck in throats,
not fingertips, can’t stumble
on paper trails of blue lines
because writing is definite and clear
and no one can tell if i am crying
or laughing
through written words alone

The Minor Writer: Tips on giving critique

Fri, 03 May 2013 19:26:28 -0400

The Minor Writer: Tips on giving critique:

keyboardsmashwriters:

Giving critique can be just as daunting as receiving critique, but learning how to give feedback teaches writers how to read critically and identify issues and state them poignantly. This helps us look at our own stuff with a more critical eye and become better writers.

The key when starting out is to look at what other people say in their critiques, as this helps to sharpen the senses when reading critically. Sometimes certain issues are easy to identify, such as flow, consistency, transitions, and so forth. Some things are more conceptual or require a bit of deeper thought. Whatever the case may be, there’s going to be a definite learning curve.

Here are some tips on giving critique:

Ask what the writer is looking for. Some writers will want you to take an axe to what they wrote. Some writers will want you to critique the story and not the narrative. It depends on the writer and it depends on what stage of the revision process they’re on. If you’re on a forum or a writing website, the author may have prefaced their story with thoughts or questions, so make sure to check that out first.

Start out offering smaller critiques if you’re nervous. Writing forums and websites are perfect for this, and then you can see how other reviewers think about the same story/passage you read. It’s also helpful to pay attention to how the writer responds to their reviewers.

Don’t piggyback. At these writing communities, it’s easy to take whatever another reviewer said and say, “Yeah, that.” It’s fine to agree with other reviewers, because then the writer will know that more than one of their readers had the same issue, but it’s crucial that you think of something else to add.

Be positive, but don’t hold back. Unless a writer specifically says all they want is the cold, hard critique, then throw in comments about what you enjoyed. Positive reinforcement is a good thing, but don’t let that keep you from giving honest feedback. Holding back on your critique can only hurt the writer.

Be precise. “I didn’t like the way you said this.” That doesn’t help the writer. “The way you said this isn’t consistent with your character’s overall voice and here are some examples.” That can help the writer. State the issue you had and find concrete examples to support it.

Sometimes vague happens too. Sometimes something bothers us and we’re not sure what it is. All we can do is try to explain what our feelings are about a particular part of the story and how it didn’t work, but we can’t explain why. “I didn’t like how the characters interacted here.” That doesn’t help the writer. “I’m not sure why, but the way the characters interacted here didn’t feel natural because…” That might help the writer. Make sure you explain this as clearly as you can, because the writer might take it to another critique partner who’ll say, “Oh! I know why!”

Be objective. You’ll have your own personal preferences, especially when it comes to style. When you think you’re giving good critique, you might just be telling the writer to change their style so it’s more like your own. “I liked the way you described this, but I think it could be better if you did it THIS way instead.” Don’t do this.

You might have tics that aren’t necessarily wrong. I personally loathe the semicolon; to me, there’s nothing worse than a sentence that is both and neither something; I’ll work my magic to try and woo a writer against using it; ultimately, however, the decision is stylistic and completely up to the writer. Be aware of this, offer your suggestion, and don’t let yourself get frustrated or worked up by it.

Don’t be a jerk. No one likes a jerk. Sometimes you think you’re giving honest feedback that the writer needs to hear in order to become a better writer. You might not be. You might be phrasing your feedback so it sounds like, “I’m a better authority on this than you are, so I’m going to tell you that you did this particular thing totally wrong, and I’ll talk down to you as well.” This sort of tone sets up the writer to ignore any possible feedback you have to give, whether helpful or not.

Don’t be a jerk. So nice, you say it twice.

Make good on promises. Creative types don’t often work well with hard deadlines, but if you make a commitment, then you have to hold up your end. Know how you work and set realistic goals for yourself to read so much per day if you have to, but whatever you do, don’t wait until the writer comes to you like “???” and then shove all the reading into one night. You’re cheating the writer of the best critique you can give.

All critique is biased. Even yours. The writer might receive critique from someone else that completely contradicts some feedback that you gave. Fear not. You’ve done your job as fully and honestly as you could, and it’s up to the writer now.

(Also read tips on taking critique!)

Fuck Yeah Character Development!: Ideas for your character's home

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 18:28:44 -0400

Fuck Yeah Character Development!: Ideas for your character's home:

One of the things I enjoy doing when writing a story is to think of the places my characters live in. The fun part is drawing them out because most of the time, there just isn’t a house that goes well with my characters. Besides, I like creating everything from the get go instead of taking a picture and saying that’s my character’s house.

Here are the links I’ve bookmarked to get ideas for homes and such. It’s not exhaustive. I do get ideas for homes and buildings in other places but I hope the following’s helpful enough for now.

Types of houses

Modern Houses

List of house types

Houses in England

Know Your House Styles

8 Most Common Types of Houses

Places

Buildings where people live or stay

Places - Buildings People Live In

Places - Buildings People Live In

Types of apartments

Apartment types

Types of Apartments

Types of Apartments

Different Types of Apartments

Strange houses

10 unusual places to live

10 Weirdest Places to Live

23 Houses Built In Odd Places

Homes In The Most Unusual Places

6 Weird Places Where People Actually Live

9 Houses You Won’t Believe People Actually Live In

18 Weird and Wonderful Places To Live: Churches, Bunkers, Water Towers and Caves

Obviously, not all characters have a place to live so I’ve included information on homelessness.

How to Live Homeless

Where the Homeless Live

Refuges for homeless people

Survival Guide to Homelessness

Where Do Homeless People Live?

bloodyhellherewego: 18 obsolete words, which should never have gone out of...

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 17:35:35 -0400

bloodyhellherewego:

18 obsolete words, which should never have gone out of style

knottahooker:

Snoutfair: A person with a handsome countenance — “The Word Museum: The Most Remarkable English Words Ever Forgotten” by Jeffrey Kacirk

Pussyvan: A flurry, temper — “The Word Museum: The Most Remarkable English Words Ever Forgotten” by Jeffrey Kacirk

Wonder-Wench: A sweetheart — “The Word Museum: The Most Remarkable English Words Ever Forgotten” by Jeffrey Kacirk

Lunting: Walking while smoking a pipe — John Mactaggart’s “Scottish Gallovidian Encyclopedia,” 1824

California Widow: A married woman whose husband is away from her for any extended period -John Farmer’s “Americanisms Old and New”, 1889

Groak: To silently watch someone while they are eating, hoping to be invited to join them

Jirble: To pour out (a liquid) with an unsteady hand: as, he jirbles out a dram —www.Wordnik.com

Curglaff: The shock felt in bathing when one first plunges into the cold water — John Jamieson’s Etymological Scottish Dictionary, 1808

Spermologer: A picker-up of trivia, of current news, a gossip monger, what we would today call a columnist — “The Word Museum: The Most Remarkable English Words Ever Forgotten” by Jeffrey Kacirk

Tyromancy: Divining by the coagulation of cheese — “The Word Museum: The Most Remarkable English Words Ever Forgotten” by Jeffrey Kacirk

Beef-Witted: Having an inactive brain, thought to be from eating too much beef. — John Phin’s “Shakespeare Cyclopaedia and Glossary”, 1902

Queerplungers: Cheats who throw themselves into the water in order that they may be taken up by their accomplices, who carry them to one of the houses appointed by the Humane Society for the recovery of drowned persons, where they are rewarded by the society with a guinea each, and the supposed drowned person, pretending he was driven to that extremity by great necessity, is also frequently sent away with a contribution in his pocket. — “The Word Museum: The Most Remarkable English Words Ever Forgotten” by Jeffrey Kacirk

Englishable: That may be rendered into English. — John Ogilvie’s “Comprehensive English Dictionary”, 1865

Resistentialism: The seemingly spiteful behavior shown by inanimate objects —www.ObsoleteWord.Blogspot.com

Bookwright: A writer of books; an author; a term of slight contempt — Daniel Lyons’s “Dictionary of the English Language”, 1897

Soda-squirt: One who works at a soda fountain in New Mexico — Elsie Warnock’s “Dialect Speech in California and New Mexico”, 1919

With squirrel: Pregnant — Vance Randolph’s “Down in the Holler: A Gallery of Ozark Folk Speech”, 1953

Zafty: A person very easily imposed upon — Maj. B. Lowsley’s “A Glossary of Berkshire Words and Phrases”, 1888

Fuck Yeah Character Development!: The Minor Writer - Help for students

Fri, 26 Apr 2013 19:17:07 -0400

Fuck Yeah Character Development!: The Minor Writer - Help for students :

fuckyeahcharacterdevelopment:

The Minor Writer is a blog that is aimed specifically at student writers, and gives advice on time management, taking advantage of classes and work, how to find inspiration, and more.

Genres and subgenres will also be broken down and analyzed: what exactly that genre entails, and how you can find ideas and stories in your student life that will help with that genre. (We have already covered sci fi, and the major fantasy subgenres of high fantasy and urban fantasy, and are open to requests for new genre posts).

The blog promotes sharing and community, both on the web and in your school, and therefore the ask and submit box are always open for comments, requests, and any experiences as a student writer that you would like to share.

The admin of the blog has been in almost every type of school and schooling situation, so tips and advice will cover the board (though much of it is broad enough to apply to anyone). However, submits from non-American students are especially valued and encouraged.

So if school has been a burden on your writing life, you’re just getting into the game, or would like to find other student writers to connect to, don’t be afraid to come over to The Minor Writer!

I would prefer not to: To All Writers of Everything Everlatenightspooky: I need to rant...

Sun, 21 Apr 2013 18:56:27 -0400

I would prefer not to: To All Writers of Everything Everlatenightspooky: I need to rant...:

To All Writers of Everything Ever

latenightspooky:

I need to rant about this:

Also known as the best writing program ever! It’s a full-screen writing program!

So you open it up, and it looks like this:

You’re thinking, “Ok, so what? It’s a screen with a picture. Whoopdie do.” But it get’s better! It’s customizable!

See that “appearance”? Click it.

You can also use custom fonts that you have installed!

See that “music”? Click it.

If you drag your own music into the folder, like so:

You get this!:

But wait! It gets better!

See “typing sounds”? You can change those too!

Perhaps the best is - YOU CAN USE ANY PICTURE FOR THE BACKGROUND. It will automatically fade it for you!

Seriously, guys, this tool is wonderful. You can use it for:

Research papers

Novel writing

Play writing

Short stories

Homework assignments

Ranting about your friends when they piss you off

Writing your shopping list

It auto-saves. It exports to .rtf. Hotkeys from Word for italicize, underlining, and bold work. You can print RIGHT FROM THERE.

And the seriously best thing ever?

It fits on a flash drive. The entire thing with added music is maybe 131MBs.

The bestest thing ever.

I

vive: God, Why, and World-Building

Thu, 11 Apr 2013 18:42:05 -0400

vive: God, Why, and World-Building:

writeworld:

mobilesavage said: Many questions on the topic of worldbuilding. For example: God, why?

“God, why?” Good question! Here are some world-building questions about gods (deities) and why these preternatural beings might have an influence on your setting and plot.

Basic

Does a deity actually exist in your world? Does this deity interfere with the affairs of mortals? If so, how does this deity affect the plot?

Are there multiple deities? If so, how do they interact in their pantheon? Do they get along? Does this interaction affect the plot?

If there are multiple deities, are some deities more powerful than others? What is the range? If there is a range, how does this inequality of power among deities affect the plot?

Is there a religion that worships deities? Is there more than one religion? How do these religions interact? Does this interaction affect the plot?

Do any of your characters believe in a high power (deities)? To what degree do your characters believe? How does their faith or lack thereof affect plot?

Are any of your characters religious practitioners? To what degree are your characters religious? How does their religiosity or lack thereof affect plot?

If Deities Exist

Talk about the creation of the world. What kind being is the creator deity? Thoughtful? Apathetic? An architect-type or more of a twisty chaos tornado? Was more than one deity involved in the creation of the world?

Do the people in your world have iron-clad proof that deities actually exist? If so, when did they find out? Is it common knowledge or do only a select few know the truth? If not, why do the deities keep themselves hidden?

In a world where there is proof of one or many higher powers, how do hope and faith function?

Does praying work? If not, why not? If so, how does it work? Does it require sacrifice or special ritual? Why?

Where do deities reside in your world? Do they hold court?

Do the deities of your world survive eternally without sustenance? If not, what is required to sustain them?

Can a character or group of characters summon a deity?

How “human” are the deities of your world? How involved are they with the daily activities of the people of your world?

Are the religions of your world worshiping these deities the way they’d like to be worshiped or are they doin’ it wrong?

Are these deities pleased with the worship they receive? How does this pleasure or displeasure affect the plot?

If your characters worship a deity or deities, does this faithfulness pay off for the characters? Do they gain or lose the favor of a deity or deities through their faithfulness or lack thereof? Can a character or group of characters gain the protection of a deity or deities?

Can a deity create more deities? How does that work?

Can a deity mate with a human? Under what circumstances would something like this occur? How do deities and humans feel about this sort of coupling?

If magic exists in your world, how does this magic interact with the deities of your world? Does magic come from these deities specifically, as in a gift, or does it come from chance or study?

If applicable, how are man-made technologies affected by the existence of deities?

Can you kill the deities of your world? If so, how and under what circumstances might such a thing be necessary?

If Deities Don’t Exist

Does the fact that deities don’t exist in your world affect the plot? If not, is there any reason to comment on the fact that there are no deities in your world?

Can/Does anyone find any hard proof that deities don’t exist in your world? If so, how does this affect the plot?

Do the religious leaders of your world know that deities don’t exist? If so, why continue on in the religion?

If your character(s) believe in a high power, what would it take to convince them that no higher power existed? What would they do as a result of such a realization?

There are, of course, many more questions that you could ask yourself regarding deities and their effect on your plot and setting. Hopefully, these questions can get you started.

If you’d like to add a question or even a few questions to this list, submit or message us!

-C

Messages on this topic:

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childishnotions: writing is safer, somehowbecause my pen cannot stutter like my lips do,and words...

Wed, 10 Apr 2013 14:50:19 -0400

childishnotions:

writing is safer, somehow
because my pen cannot stutter like my lips do,
and words get stuck in throats,
not fingertips, can’t stumble
on paper trails of blue lines
because writing is definite and clear
and no one can tell if i am crying
or laughing
through written words alone

"Literature is the most agreeable way of ignoring life."

Tue, 09 Apr 2013 00:33:34 -0400

“Literature is the most agreeable way of ignoring life.”

- Fernando Pessoa, The Book of Disquiet (via larmoyante)

"If you are using dialogue - say it aloud as you write it. Only then will it have the sound of..."

Sun, 07 Apr 2013 15:46:11 -0400

“If you are using dialogue - say it aloud as you write it. Only then will it have the sound of speech.”

- John Steinbeck (via udhw)

Photo

Tue, 02 Apr 2013 21:52:20 -0400

"I hate writing, I love having written."

Mon, 01 Apr 2013 21:31:26 -0400

“I hate writing, I love having written.”

- Dorothy Parker (via rnbwxsprinkles)

"There is that great proverb—that until the lions have their own historians, the history of the hunt..."

Sat, 23 Mar 2013 02:03:29 -0400

“There is that great proverb—that until the lions have their own historians, the history of the hunt will always glorify the hunter…Once I realized that, I had to be a writer… It’s not one person’s job. But it is something we have to do, so that the story of the hunt will also reflect the agony, the travail—the bravery, even, of the lions.”

- Chinua Achebe

(via jacobwren)