Art References

Tightened jaw or clenched teeth

Forced smile that doesn’t reach the eyes

Lips pressed into a thin line

Brief flashes of glaring or hard eye contact

Rapid blinking or narrowed eyes

Looking the person up and down critically

Crossing arms tightly over the chest

Hands clenching or fidgeting

Picking at nails, skin, or clothing

Turning the body slightly away while still watching

Leaning back defensively

Sudden stiff posture

Shoulders tensing or rising

Small eye rolls or side glances

Tilting the head with a skeptical expression

Fake casualness (shrugging, acting uninterested)

Interrupting physical space subtly (stepping closer or inserting themselves)

Protective gestures toward a partner (hand on shoulder, waist, etc.)

Touching their own neck, collar, or hair nervously

Restless movements like tapping a foot or shifting weight

A delayed reaction before responding

so i figured out this really easy trick a while ago and i needed to share it with yall

They're smart fuckin birds, I believe in them

Pretend we didn't have the science that explain how octopi controlled camouflage, how the electric eel delivers shocks, how owls fly silently, how intelligent corvids can be. It becomes the basis of many supernatural tales and folklore.

Look at the entire mindfuck that's the fungi kingdom and, oh, parasites.

Go even further with plants, too, since it's all life.

So two things:

One, animals are capable of doing magic that doesn't match the current human framework (i.e., blood/primal magic, like how animals can track their stole kin from poachers and animal rescuers, regardless of how far they must travel, war horses praying to their great deity to be swifter and fiercer with blood and bone staining their hooves as the sacrifice to their private altar, wolves using bone carvings to weave protection spells on their dens, trees/forests developed a whole ass magic system based on their symbiotic relationships with other animals, pets who love their human so very much that they will tie their inherent skills over, like a rabbit who gifts their owner a superb talent at finding the tastiest greens or a catowner gains better night vision over time, or even sacrifice lifespan to boost their critically/terminally sick human)

Hi! I notice very few fics really mention Nicky having asthma at all, despite it being canon, and I understand why since it's a very minor thing for a lot of people, but I thought I'd give some tips for people who may not feel confident

In the UK, at least, we get given two inhalers - a preventer inhaler that you have a set dose of daily, and an emergency inhaler. They are currently trialling a combined one to the public that looks like a Pokeball. My dad was given one and ended up asking to switch back because he didn't like it

The preventer inhaler is taken with a spacer chamber (image below). You put the inhaler in at one end, put the mouth piece in your mouth, and gently breathe in as you push down on the inhaler. You do this 5 times

If you breathe in too strongly, it makes a honking noise. This is a sign that you're doing it wrong

Kids often get given spacers with teddy bear patterns on them

Spacers are supposed to be replaced every 12 months and cleaned every so often. You shouldn't scrub the inside, it messes with the way the spacer works

You need to rinse your mouth out after both emergency and preventer inhalers, because the chemicals can give you mouth ulcers. Just drinking some water and swishing it round your mouth a bit is fine. This is extra important for the emergency inhaler, since it's stronger

You need to wait roughly 30 seconds between doses

Both me and another asthmatic friend got told that we should take our emergency inhalers before doing exercises, as a preventative measure. Neither of us do because the emergency one tastes the way petrol smells and we both have mild enough asthma that we've never needed to. Nicholas would absolutely follow this advice

If you don't take your preventer inhaler, it feels like your throat is closing up. For me, I need to miss a few days for this to happen. It doesn't feel painful, but it is unpleasant and you are very aware of it

If you have mild asthma like I do, your day-to-day life is basically unaffected, other than sometimes having to walk slower up hills

You don't just use your emergency inhaler randomly. Anthony does this and many TV shows do this, but that's not how it works. You use an emergency inhaler when your breathing gets worse, your throat feels tighter, you're about to use exercise, or you're having wheezy coughs

^ Asthma-induced coughs sound specific and wheezy. Knowing this is how we found out I had asthma

Niche undiagnosed asthma symptom time - stitches! Most symptoms only focus on the breathing, so I'll explain this: as a kid, before we knew I had asthma, I used to go running with my mum, and I would constantly get stitches, no matter what we tried (no milk an hour before running, more water, less water, etc). When we had to do a termly cross-country run in high school, I would typically get 5 stitches in various places by the end of the 20 minutes of consistent running. Turns out, this was actually most like because of my asthma - when you're low on oxygen, your body does anaerobic respiration to produce energy. It produces less energy but can be done quicker, but it also creates a byproduct of lactic acid. Stitches are caused by a build-up of lactic acid. I literally only made the connection in high school biology after we found out I was asthmatic. So, most likely, Nick would be prone to stitches while doing soccer/PE

I've never had an asthma attack, but trying to run around and exercise for about an hour whilst unmedicated can give you a really unpleasant sensation best described as feeling like your throat is full of ice knives, and it kinda hurts to breathe

Dust can trigger symptoms - this is how I found out I was asthmatic, my parents were moving things and kicking up a lot of dust, and I started wheezy-coughing, which my mum recognised as being the same kind my dad gets. After an antihistamine didn't help, she had me try his inhaler and it worked. We went to the GP shortly afterwards to get me actually diagnosed

okay but can we talk about writing advice that actually made my writing worse for a second

like not in a “this is bad advice for everyone” way in a “this absolutely sabotaged me personally” way

because ??? some of this set me BACK

1. “show don’t tell” (taken too literally) this one almost ruined my prose

i got so scared of “telling” anything that every sentence turned into… over-explained action

instead of writing:

she was nervous

i’d write:

her fingers tapped against the table, her leg bouncing, her breath uneven, her gaze flickering toward the door--

and it just KEPT GOING

like yes, showing is important but at some point you’re not “immersive” you’re just exhausting

2. “cut all adverbs” this made my writing feel so stiff it hurt

i started replacing simple phrasing with weird, clunky sentences just to avoid using one single “-ly” word

like… why am i doing gymnastics to avoid “quietly”

no one is giving out medals for adverb avoidance 😭

3. “write every day no matter what” this one burned me OUT

because instead of listening to my brain when it was fried, i forced myself to produce words i knew weren’t going anywhere

and then i’d reread it later and hate everything i wrote

which made me want to avoid writing even more

consistency matters, yes but forcing it when you’re running on fumes just trains you to associate writing with dread

4. “plan everything before you start” this killed my excitement SO fast

i’d spend weeks outlining every detail and by the time i actually started writing…

the story already felt “done” in my head

no curiosity left. no momentum.

now i leave gaps on purpose so i actually want to keep going

5. “make your writing sound pretty” this is the one that made my writing feel the most fake

i was so focused on making sentences sound “good” that i stopped focusing on what was actually happening

everything turned vague. floaty. kind of… nothing

like yeah it sounded nice but nothing hit

now i care way more about clarity and impact than sounding impressive

6. “your first draft should be terrible” okay this one is half true but also messed with my head

because i took it as: “don’t even TRY”

so i’d write things i knew weren’t working and just leave them

instead of… fixing them a little? making them better?

your draft doesn’t have to be perfect but it also doesn’t have to be painful to read 😭

idk i think the biggest thing i’ve learned is:

advice isn’t universal

what helps one writer can absolutely wreck another

so if something is making your writing worse, harder, or more miserable

you are allowed to drop it. immediately.

no guilt. no “but everyone says this works”

like okay… it doesn’t work for ME.

Keep what works for you, toss the rest.

Take any bit of advice as simple suggestion, never as literal commandments.

This is why you can have so many wildly different tutorials on how to choose colour, or articles giving advice on how to write believable dialogue. Different methods work for different people, and no one is wrong for taking a different path.

Hey everybody! Jessica here, once again starting a text post with a wonky, odd title.  But it serves a purpose this time, honest!

So recently, I’ve seen a lot of people getting really discouraged about their art, both online and in real life.  On an unrelated note, I’ve also gotten a couple of requests to post some of my old art to show my progress.  So I decided I’d blend the two.

And to make things even more interesting, I’m not just going to pull out some old piece that’s semi-presentable but still flawed. No, I’m going to show you guys the oldest, most embarrassing, first-thing-I’d-ever-drawn-on-a-tablet-before disgrace:

…This is Wilbur. Whom my old roommate has since nicknamed “Urineface.”

I drew this originally in 2012 with literally no clue what I was doing.  As you can see, I got so frustrated with the piece that I never actually finished it—the lines were stiff, the colors were unnatural, and that poor kid’s hair is so jagged it’s about to gouge his eyes out.

As I cringe behind my computer with shame, I realize that one thing’s for sure: He came from a frustrated, embarrassed, and still-learning artist.  At the time, all of my best friends were astonishing visual artists, and, well, I was…kinda not. There were so many times during this period where I just wanted to give up, to stop drawing.  Heck, there were times when I’d actually cry myself to sleep over the fact that I’d never be a good artist.  I’m sure some of you have been in the same boat, and here’s what I have to say to you:

DON’T! YOU DARE! GIVE UP!

Need more proof? Alright, embarrassing drawing number two.  You guys are killing me here.

These were some characters from an animated film I wrote in 2012.  I am…not sure why the guys are giants compared to the girl, nor why half the sketch lines look like these people got electrocuted.  Also, everybody’s face seems…really stretched?  Their mouths are kind of melting off of their chins, that doesn’t sound safe.

I revisited the film for a college project in 2016, and:

I’d like to think these three look a little better.

Okay, okay, I know what you’re thinking. “2012? Alright, buddy, it’s 2016 now, of course you’re going to improve in like, 4 years—who wants to wait that long?” But rest assured, while improvement doesn’t come overnight, it doesn’t always take four years, too!

In all honesty, I know that creating art can feel really hopeless and discouraging at times.  We find ourselves comparing our work to other people’s, feeling obligated to work at a rapid-fire pace, or just plain giving up for whatever reason. But I’m here to tell you that you can do this, no matter how inexperienced you feel.  Even if you’re just picking up that tablet pen for the very first time: do not be afraid to keep going.

I’m far from perfect as an artist, and I still have a lot to learn. Maybe four years down the road I’ll be looking back at my 2016 art and having a cringe-fest. But that would just prove that I’d improved, and that things could only move forward from there!

Art is tricky, okay? Nobody expects you to master it in one night, or one month, or even one year.  But that doesn’t mean you won’t reach it someday!  Save a bunch of tutorials for reference.  Watch speedpaints.  Try the occasional drawing challenge. Even if you don’t get it right, at least you’re learning what to do and what not to do!  And in time, you’ll be looking back and going, “Wow…my younger self would be so astonished right now.”  That, my friend, is a magnificent feeling.

So, to end this behemoth of a post, I decided to redraw Wilbur again…for old times’ sake. I don’t know about you, but it seems to me that time made things a whole lot better. In the end, all you have to do is be patient:

A Horse! A Horse! My X for a Horse!

Let's be honest, fantasy authors love their kingdoms and empires. You can throw a rock in a bookshop or a library in the fantasy section and you will 99.99999% hit a fantasy book that will be set in or mention either of those structures. But what are they really? What's the difference between them all? Are there any more examples of structures that would suit your WIP better? Are you using the right terms? Let's have a closer look.

Duchy

A Duchy is a small territory ruled by a Duke/Duchess. While Duchies can be found in kingdoms, some duchies were sovereign states in their own right. Duchies are usually small by land mass but some duchies such as Burgundy were extremely powerful and influential. Independent Duchies were usually apart of a kingdom but grew so powerful that they eventually broke away to become a sovereign state in their own right. An example would be modern day Luxembourg, historic Milan and Burgundy.

Principality

A principality is territory ruled by a Prince/Princess. A principality is typically smaller than a kingdom and in some instances, can be apart of a larger kingdom or be a sovereign state. Principalities have a history of having broken away from a larger kingdom or eventually becoming apart of a kingdom. A principality within a kingdom is ruled by a Prince/Princess, usually an heir of the monarch and can be used to train them up to assume the throne in the future. Examples include Monaco, Liechtenstein and Andorra.

Kingdom

A sovereign state/country that is ruled by ruling King or a Queen. A kingdom is much larger and more powerful than a principality. Kingdoms can be feudal, meaning they are ruled in a strict hierarchy or an autocracy where the monarch rules alone with minimal input from the government or constitutional where the monarch is more of a figurehead and the government has a good chunk of control. Examples include England, Thailand and modern day Spain.

Commonwealth

A Commonwealth isn't a popular choice in fantasy but it is an interesting structure. A Commonwealth in its most basic form is a collection of states that are linked by either a shared culture or history. A Commonwealth can be a politically power or an economic power, with every state allowed to participate as much as they like. Not one state leads the others, it is all one group of equals. A Commonwealth can be a good idea for a group of nations that are more powerful together with them keeping their own independence.

Federation

A Federation is a political structure that is made up of united states or countries that are under a single government but each state is still independent and rules itself. Each state can have different laws, different cultures and economies but they all answer to the single government. Examples include the United States of America.

Republic

A Republic is a territory that is ruled by leaders and heads of state that have been elected on merit and by choice of the people. Republics are not just countries but can also be much smaller areas such as cities. Republics are democratic in nature, with the people having a say in who leads them in accordance to a constitution. There are many kinds of Republic: presidential, parliamentary, federal, theocratic, unitary. Examples of Republics include the Republic of Ireland and the city of Florence.

Protectorate

A Protectorate is a country/region/territory that is independent but relies on a larger, more powerful state for protection either in a military or diplomatic sense. A Protectorate was often used by Empires in order to maintain control over an area without annexing it. There are many reasons a larger state and the protectorate would agree to this, mainly the protectorate is much smaller meaning it is far more vulnerable to attack or it has very little power when compared to other states. A Protectorate allows the territory some power to rule itself but the larger state may feel the need or desire to interfere in the dealings of the territory. Examples of protectorates include the client kingdoms of the Roman Empire like Egypt before its annexation and Puerto Rico.

Empire