PSA to all you fantasy writers because I have just had a truly frustrating twenty minutes talking to someone about this: it’s okay to put mobility aids in your novel and have them just be ordinary.

Like. Super okay.

I don’t give a shit if it’s high fantasy, low fantasy or somewhere between the lovechild of Tolkein meets My Immortal. It’s okay to use mobility devices in your narrative. It’s okay to use the word “wheelchair”. You don’t have to remake the fucking wheel. It’s already been done for you.

And no, it doesn’t detract from the “realism” of your fictional universe in which you get to set the standard for realism. Please don’t try to use that as a reason for not using these things.

There is no reason to lock the disabled people in your narrative into towers because “that’s the way it was”, least of all in your novel about dragons and mermaids and other made up creatures. There is no historical realism here. You are in charge. You get to decide what that means.

Also:

“Depiction of Chinese philosopher Confucius in a wheelchair, dating to ca. 1680. The artist may have been thinking of methods of transport common in his own day.”

“The earliest records of wheeled furniture are an inscription found on a stone slate in China and a child’s bed depicted in a frieze on a Greek vase, both dating between the 6th and 5th century BCE.[2][3][4][5]The first records of wheeled seats being used for transporting disabled people date to three centuries later in China; the Chinese used early wheelbarrows to move people as well as heavy objects. A distinction between the two functions was not made for another several hundred years, around 525 CE, when images of wheeled chairs made specifically to carry people begin to occur in Chinese art.[5]”

“In 1655, Stephan Farffler, a 22 year old paraplegic watchmaker, built the world’s first self-propelling chair on a three-wheel chassis using a system of cranks and cogwheels.[6][3] However, the device had an appearance of a hand bike more than a wheelchair since the design included hand cranks mounted at the front wheel.[2]

The invalid carriage or Bath chair brought the technology into more common use from around 1760.[7]

In 1887, wheelchairs (“rolling chairs”) were introduced to Atlantic City so invalid tourists could rent them to enjoy the Boardwalk. Soon, many healthy tourists also rented the decorated “rolling chairs” and servants to push them as a show of decadence and treatment they could never experience at home.[8]

In 1933 Harry C. Jennings, Sr. and his disabled friend Herbert Everest, both mechanical engineers, invented the first lightweight, steel, folding, portable wheelchair.[9] Everest had previously broken his back in a mining accident. Everest and Jennings saw the business potential of the invention and went on to become the first mass-market manufacturers of wheelchairs. Their “X-brace” design is still in common use, albeit with updated materials and other improvements. The X-brace idea came to Harry from the men’s folding “camp chairs / stools”, rotated 90 degrees, that Harry and Herbert used in the outdoors and at the mines.[citation needed]

“But Joy, how do I describe this contraption in a fantasy setting that wont make it seem out of place?”

“It was a chair on wheels, which Prince FancyPants McElferson propelled forwards using his arms to direct the motion of the chair.”

“It was a chair on wheels, which Prince EvenFancierPants McElferson used to get about, pushed along by one of his companions or one of his many attending servants.”

“But it’s a high realm magical fantas—”

“It was a floating chair, the hum of magical energy keeping it off the ground casting a faint glow against the cobblestones as {CHARACTER} guided it round with expert ease, gliding back and forth.”

“But it’s a stempunk nov—”

“Unlike other wheelchairs he’d seen before, this one appeared to be self propelling, powered by the gasket of steam at the back, and directed by the use of a rudder like toggle in the front.”

Give. Disabled. Characters. In. Fantasy. Novels. Mobility. Aids.

If you can spend 60 pages telling me the history of your world in innate detail down to the formation of how magical rocks were formed, you can god damn write three lines in passing about a wheelchair.

“Jack had an unusual pair of sticks, unlike anything Jill had seen before; they were much like canes, but rather than ending in a knot or handle they continued up into a pair of bracelets, held together round his wrists by a cunning slide mechanism. They kept him, she noted, quite sure of foot even on the steep ground.” (wrist braces; cerebral palsy)

“Fandir wore a ring around her ear. It looked something like a fancy collar, its edges tipped outward as though forming a funnel, and when she was spoken to she turned it in the direction of the speaker.” (hearing aid, based off antique “hearing trumpets”)

“Victor’s left arm was a marvel of the modern age–held together with a thousand miniscule steel plates and ten thousand tiny gears, wearing a small brazier, much like a jacket cuff, to fire the steam that moved its mechanical fingers.” (prosthetic arm, steampunk)

“Sasha carried one of the most unusual canes Mara had ever seen: it was longer than might be considered useful to someone her size, and hollow, its walls so thin it surely couldn’t hold her weight. Mara watched as Sasha swept the cane ahead of her. At first she thought Sasha was merely clearing a path, but then the cane struck a large rock, and Sasha neatly sidestepped it having never been told it was there. Ah, that solved the mystery, Mara thought: the hollow stick vibrated in Sasha’s hands when it struck, and its sound told her what danger she might face.” (white cane, blindness)

“Sibatyn clapped his hands over his eyes. ‘Here,’ said Yanit, ‘put your scarf over your eyes and take my arm. I can lead you until the lightning is over.’“ (avoiding flashing lights, photosensitive epilepsy)

“‘She grows quite ill on bread, even Rosie’s best,’ Sam lamented. ‘Can’t keep a bit of weight on her. It isn’t proper, for a hobbit.’ Gandalf nodded. ‘Have you considered, perhaps, feeding her on Elf-bread? She may take well to grains not often found in the Shire.’“ (special diet, Celiac disease, food allergies)

There are two prominent characters that require mobility aid, specifically a sealchair.(since it’s powered by a magical seal)

There’s one who has an incredibly lavish chair since he is rich and powerful

and a much less complex one for a street performer kid who can’t afford anything fancy. (The main character and her friend spend like, an entire issue trying to figure out how to make a better accessibility device for him since the hooves have a hard time going up and down stairs / steeper slopes). (i wont spoil what they come up with but its pretty dang neat)

How to write it

How to write romance

Love Language - Showing, not telling love

Love Language - Showing you care

Honeymoon

Slow burn

Forbidden Romance (+ prompts)

Reasons for a break-up while still loving each other

How to create quick chemistry

How to write enemies to lovers (+ prompts)

How to write lovers to enemies to lovers

Arranged matrimony for royalty (+ prompts)

Date gone wrong

Academic rivals to lovers

Romantic Fall Date Ideas

How to write a polyamorous relationship

Milestones in a relationship

How to write age difference

Fluffy Kiss Scene

Reasons a couple would divorce on good terms

Prompt Lists

Romance Prompt List Part I + Part II + Part III + Part IV

Bad ones, unrequited, break-up Part I + Part II

Flirting - Successful and unsuccessful Part I + Part II

Two smart and also stupid people in love

Push and pull romantic prompts

Co-workers - Hate to love

Lovers to enemies

Love to hate relationship

Romantic One-Liners Part I

Smutty One-Liners Part I + Part II + Part III

Physical One-Liners Part I +  Part II

Jealousy + Things said during sex prompts

Moving in together

OTP Christmas Prompts

Prompts about kissing

Romance Sentence Starters

Romantic Question Prompts

Fake Dating/Marriage/Engagement Prompts

Domestic Fluff Prompts

Fluff Prompts

Romantic, non-sexual intimacy prompts

OT3 Prompts

OT3 ideas

Royalty Prompts - Loyal companion x Princess Romance

Royalty Prompts - Prince/ss x Commoner - Revealing royal heritage

Royalty Prompts - Knight x Princess

Fake Dating Royalty Prompts

Hurt/Comfort Dialogue Prompts

Hurt/Comfort Prompts

Roommates to lovers - Spending time together

Professor/TA Romance

Introducing partner(s) to family

Flirting Prompts - Oblivious and flirty

Teasing Prompts

Unrequited Love Prompts

Dramatic/Break-up Dialogue Prompts

Romance Dialogue Prompts – Uncomfortable with affection

Matchmaking Prompts

Valentine’s Day Prompts

Fake Dating Dialogue Prompts

Fake Dating AUs

Fake Dating Prompts

Cute Date Ideas

Hand-holding

Kisses

Hugs

Touching

Physical Reactions

Casual Affections

Love Confessions

Love confession - Screaming at each other

Ways to say ‘I love you’

Love Triangle Ideas

Soulmates AUs

Oh god, now I'm thinking of amputees and how those would work

Horses are SUPER fragile, or maybe more like delicately balanced.. but particularly their crazy spindle-legs which centaurs get to deal with! But a big part of why hurt legs are a death sentence for horses has less to do with "It kills them" and more to do with quality of life, which a centaur can get around! A horse with a broken leg doesn't understand it can't put ANY weight on that leg for an extended period and will attempt to go about their daily life and act normally, which basically guarantees re-injuring the bad leg and a high chance of injuring the other 3 legs as they try to cope with the change in balance and weight distribution. It all leads to a really poor quality of life with almost no chance of truly healing properly. The story of all they did trying to save Barbaro the racehorse is a long sad story that illustrates a lot of the issues even with modern veterinary medicine with trying to deal with a broken leg in horses.

Thankfully with centaurs, They understand the need for healing, are able to manage their own quality of life and have the gear to support themselves in the time it takes for the injury to heal!

Also perfectly good for long term use in the case of aging, amputation, or general disability! Which is common with the front legs and lower backs of centaurs given the unusual stresses caused by their body-plans. They were created with thicker and more robust front legs to cope with the permanent added weight of the torso instead of a horse head, but injury and disability in that area is still very common!

Angst:

1: “ Give me a chance. ” 2: “ Not you again.. ” 3: “ Leave me alone. ” 4: “ I don’t love you anymore. ” 5: “ Why do you hate me? ” 6: “ I lost the baby. ” 7: “ I thought you loved me. ” 8: “ I don’t need you anymore. ” 9:“ I can’t believe you! ” 10: “ We cant keep this up forever. ” 11: “ You’re a monster. ” 12: “ I hate you. ” 13: “ Don’t leave me… ” 14: “ You’re a disappointment. ” 15: “ Don’t die on me– Please. ” 16: “ I never meant to hurt you. ” 17: “ Are you upset with me? ” 18: “ I wish i’d never met you. ” 19: “ I’m going to kill you! ” 20: “ Please don’t hurt me like this. ” 21: “ Thanks for nothing. ” 22: “ Dont call this number again. “ 23: “ Why did you spare me? ” 24: “ You need to leave. ” 25: “ I’m sick. ” 26: “ I’m dying. ” 27: “ I wish i’d never met you. ” 28: “ I thought we were family!” 29: “ There was never an us. ” 30: “ So that’s it? It’s over? ” 31: “ I fucked up. ” 32: “ I came to say goodbye. ” 33:“ He’s dead because of you. ” 34: “ I don’t deserve to be loved. ” 35: “ About the baby… Its yours. ”

Love:

36: “ I’m so in love with you. ” 37: “ Dance with me! ” 38: “ Isn’t this amazing? ” 39: “ I wish we could stay like this forever. ” 40: “ Will you marry me? ” 41: “ I’m pregnant. ” 42: “ I need a hug. ” 43: “ You’re special to me. ” 44: “ I’m going to keep you safe. ” 45: “ Do you trust me? ” 46: “ Can I kiss you right now? ” 47: “ You’re cute when you’re angry. ” 48: “ I’ve liked you for awhile now. ” 49: “ Lets have a baby. ” 50: “ We’d make such a cute couple. ” 51: “ I want to take care of you. ” 52: “ Can we cuddle? ” 53: “ It’s lonely here without you. ” 54: “ I can’t stand the thought of loosing you. ” 55: “ Shut up and kiss me already. ” 56: “ Are you flirting with me? ” 57: “ Is that my shirt? ” 58: “ How did we get here? ” 59: “ You own my heart. ” 60: “ You’d be a great dad. ” 61: “ You’d be a great mom. ” 62: “ I want to protect you. ” 63: “ Whats the matter? ” 64: “ You’re so beautiful. ” 65: “ Did you do something different with your hair? ” 66: “ Is that a new perfume? ” 67: “ Stop being so cute. ” 68: “ You’re making me blush! ” 69: “ You’re teasing me again… ” 70: “ This is why I fell in love with you. ” 71: “ You’re the best! ” 72: “ They’re going to love you, don’t worry! ” 73: “ Oh, Are you ticklish? ” 74: “ Of course I remembered! ” 75: “ You’re one hell of a girl. ” 76: “ You’re one hell of a guy. ” 77: “ Are you jealous? ” 78: “ Hold me and never let me go. ” 79: “ Stop hogging all the blankets! ” 80: “ Lets run away together. ”

General:

90: “ Catch me if you can! ” 91: “ I’m fine. ” 92: “ Are you drunk? ” 93: “ Are you high? ” 94: “ We cant go in there… ” 95: “ Give it back! ” 96: “ Well this is just great. ” 97: “ Don’t touch me. ” 98: “ Not sure if you could tell, but I’m not exactly a people person. ” 99: “ This was fun— Lets do it again sometime!” 100: “ I didn’t do it! ” 101: “ I did it… ” 102: “ I don’t remember that! ” 103: “ Well that’s pretty rude of you to say. ” 104: “ Get that thing away from me! ” 105: “ You owe me. ” 106: “ Do you believe in aliens? ” 107: “ Do you believe in ghosts? ” 108: “ Are you hitting on me? ” 109: “ Why are you naked? ” 110: “ You did what?! ” 111: “ You have… Superpowers? ” 112: “ Why are you bleeding? ” 113: “ Where did all these puppies come from?” 114: “ Don’t make me come over there myself! ” 115: “ That wasn’t funny. ” 116: “ This tastes horrible. ” 117: “ This is delicious! ” 118: “ Are you mad at me? ” 119: “ Stop ignoring me… ” 120: “ I love that show too! ” 121: “ Can I borrow that book of yours?” 122: “ Lets blow this joint. ” 123: “ Let me help you with that. ” 124: “ Take that back! ” 125: “ Wanna go see a movie with me? ” 126: “ No way, that’s so lame. ” 127: “ What are you listening to? ” 128: “ I brought you your coffee. ” 129: “ Don’t fuck this up. ” 130: “ Run! ” 131: “ Lets run away together. ” 132: “ I haven’t slept in four days… ” 133: “ Your turn to do the dishes. ” 134: “ Was I really that drunk? ” 135: “ Was I really that stoned? ” 136: “Give me back my phone! ” 137: “ You’re an asshole. ” 138: “ Are you cold? ” 139: “ This place gives me the creeps. ” 140: “ I swear my house is haunted. ” 141: “ Did you hear that? ” 142: “ It’s just your imagination. ” 143: “ Just how stupid do you think I am? ” 144: “ Stop being such a baby. ” 145: “ Go back to bed. ” 146: “ Are you okay? ” 147: “ I can take care of myself just fine.” 148: “ Thanks for helping me back there. ” 149: “ Since when have we ever been friends? ” 150: “ What on earth are you wearing? ” 151: “ I can’t feel my legs! ” 152: “ Stop texting me weird stuff so late at night. ” 153: “ Put me down! ” 154: “ There’s only one bed… ” 155: “ It isn’t what it looks like! Okay.. Maybe it is… ” 156: “ How did I loose it? ” 157: “ I read your diary. ” 158: “ This is awkward. ” 159: “ Didn’t you read the sign? ” 160: “ Do you think you can teach me that? ”

Below is NSFW prompts. Please if you’re rebloggling tell your followers if you’re interested or not in taking these sorts of requests.

 Now a disclaimer: I’ve only been fencing for a few months, and am by no means an expert. However, there are a few things you learn in your first fencing lessons that easily translate to writing sword fights.

A general piece of advice if you want to write technically sound, believable sword fights: if it looks like it belongs in a Pirates of the Carribean movie…it’s not technically sound. 

One: Your fighters shouldn’t be too close. 

In fencing, there’s something called lunging distance. This means that you should be far enough away that even with your foil (sword) extended, you can only hit your opponent if you lunge. There may be times that warrant getting closer than this, but only by a step or two. If your fighters are close enough to touch each other with their hands, they’re too close. 

Why? 

Because if you get that close, A) it’s harder for you to hit your opponent, and B) you’re making it easier for them to hit you.

See this? Every time they attack, they lunge to close the distance rather than rushing in. This gif is a good example of lunging distance.

Two: Movements should be small!!!!

This is a big one. Parrying (knocking your opponent’s blade off course with your own) should use just enough power to alter the course of the blade. If your charecters are slapping each other’s blades halfway across the room, they’re doing it wrong. You can’t parry someone else’s blade without moving your own. The more you move their’s, the longer it will take you to get back in position to strike. WASTED TIME IS BAD AND IF IT’S A REAL FIGHT IT COULD BE FATAL.

Three: En Garde exists for a reason.

En Garde is the director’s call for fencers to get into position. Your non-gloved (AKA the hand NOT holding the weapon) goes behind you to act as a counterweight. As for your gloved (weapon) hand, the elbow should be bent enough that the tip of the foil angles at your opponent’s face. 

This is not the attack position, but it’s just as important. 

With your foil in En Garde, it’s easiest to parry, as well as make more offensive measures like taking the blade. Unless your character is attacking (in which case their arm should be fully extended) they should not move far from the En Garde blade positioning. If they drop the weapon towards their feet, raise it to the sky, or T-pose with it (which I have seen), they’re opening themselves up for a clean attack. They’ll be defenseless, and won’t be in a position to parry in time. 

 Four: Fencing really is a physical chess match

Your charecters should be thinking a few steps ahead. It’s not just waiting for the perfect moment to strike – it’s creating that moment. If one character attacks, the other should parry, and follow through with an attack of their own. Charecters may try to trick each other with moves like the disengage (acting like you’re going to hit them on the left side, then going under their parry to hit the right and vice versa). The fighters should be playing off of each other’s moves! Unlike most sports, fencing itsn’t solely a game of out-powering your opponent. The key really is to outsmart them.

Theme is the universal idea or topic your story explores. And you know what? There are a lot of them. So many, in fact, your story probably already has a few, whether you realize it or not. The trick is to recognize your story’s themes as you revise, so you can better highlight and explore those ideas in your final draft.

This list of 125+ themes should help. It’s long, but far from exhaustive. Use it to help identify themes in your work, but also to get a better understanding of the wide variety of themes that are at your disposal.

(To learn more about what a theme is, see this post here.)

Experiences

Aging

Childhood

Coming of Age

Disillusionment

Friendship

Growth

Healing

Isolation

Loss

Loss of Innocence

Overcoming Adversity

Parenthood

Rebirth

Redemption

Revenge

Self-discovery

Survival

Tragedy

Emotions

Apathy

Compassion

Despair

Fear

Grief

Hate

Jealousy

Joy

Loneliness

Love

Obsession

Regret

Gender & Sexuality

Femininity, Masculinity, & Androgyny

Gender Identity

Sexuality

Human Perception

Dreams

Identity

Memory

Perception vs. Reality

Subjectivity

Mental Health & Neurodiversity

Autism

Bipolarity

Depression

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

Suicide

Tourette Syndrome

Natural Forces

Death

Fate

Nature

Passage of Time

Political & Economic

Capitalism

Communism

Conservation

Democracy

Fascism

Freedom

Justice

Law

Nationalism

Patriotism

Peace

Propaganda

Radicalism

Revolution

Socialism

Totalitarianism

War

Religious & Philosophical

Atheism

Determinism

Epistemology

Ethics

Faith

Free Will

Fundamentalism

Good vs. Evil

Skepticism

Metaphysics

Morality

Nature vs. Nurture

Pacifism

Religion

Soul / Consciousness

Spirituality

Truth

Social Issues

Ableism

Abuse of Power

Homophobia

Immigration

Inequality

Oppression

Poverty

Prejudice

Progress & Regress

Privilege

Racism

Rights of the Oppressed

Sexism

Transphobia

Working Class Struggles

Societal & Cultural

Collectivism

Conformity

Familial Obligations

Heritage

Honor

Individualism

Patriarchal Society

Responsibility

Tradition

Technology & Science

Artificial Intelligence

Augmented / Virtual Reality

Genetics

Human Integration with Technology

Information Privacy

Psychology

Sociology

Weapons of Mass Destruction

Virtues & Vices

Ambition

Corruption

Courage

Forgiveness

Loyalty

Mercy

Power

Pride

Sacrifice

Are there any themes you think should be included or need to be explored more often? Reblog with your own additions!

SEE  MORE  POSTS  ABOUT WRITING WITH MEANING

Sources

Writersedit.com

Literarydevices.net

Simple.wikiquote.org

My own literary dives over the years

Baby Oil bottles LEAK and will melt: 

The entire lead out of a color pencil if they are in the same container

kneadable erasers into a dusgusting gray crud

will fuck up erasers in general

jam up technical pens like you would not believe

Try to be patient when working with it.  if you need to layer something on top of a blended area or erase near it, give it extra time to make sure it’s REALLY dry before going in.

Just keep it in it’s own sealed container or on the shelf, otherwise nah it’s safe and very predictable

As for Tortillions (those dense rolled-up paper sticks) you can TOTALLY blend with them, the effect is Very Nice, but the drawback is that the Tortillion is now stained That Color forever.  Sharpening them does not work, i have tried.  So you get like one use out of a Tort but if you’re OK with that it’s a perfectly good tool.  if you want the same effect but with less money, Q-tips will do roughly the same thing, but not as precisely.

Other tools I’ve used on a color pencil drawing:

Pottery Tools to indent/emboss the paper to make fine patterns before drawing over them to leave lil white lines

Blue tac, the thing you use to hang posters? GREAT eraser, better than the gray ones.

Waxed paper to lift pencil.  Lay it over the area you want and rub the top of the paper with a soft-lead pencil or the pottery tool, the color pencil will stick to the wax paper and take up the top layer of color/give you a crisp lit for tidying up edges

White Gel Pens to correct errant dots/fix edges/add white spots