Fantasy runs in my veins

so this was an idea i had for a while but @infinitelyblankpage and @calliopestablet motivated me to do - basically this is going to be a little fun opportunity for everyone to exercise their creativity, especially before everyone starts nano in november. I know there’s probably lots of other prompt ideas already out there, but I thought it wouldn’t hurt to add one more - Jot-Ober!!

the prompts:

we will be using the official inktober prompts. these are a word a day, and they can be found here, scroll to the bottom of the page.

the writing: 

the idea of inktober is that each day you create something based on the prompt. in our case, you can write however much you want and however often you want on a topic somehow related to/containing the prompt word. however, try not to just cut and paste from things you’ve already written - even if every day you only have the time to write just one sentence. 

share it! 

post your writing with the tag #jotober2018. track the tag, so you can see other peoples’ writing, too! and of course, you can also tag it with the official inktober tags #inktober and #inktober2018!

that’s it! hopefully everyone will have a ton of fun creating things, and i’m excited to see what everyone creates!!

Writing the LGBT community can be hard, especially if you don’t know what you’re talking about. So to start off this post, here’s just a few things that are easily confused both with writers and with society in general.

Being gay is not a personality trait. This basically means no stereotyping. Don’t make a gay man effeminate just because he likes other men, and don’t make a woman masculine just because she likes other women. While there are actual people who are like this, and it’s perfectly okay to have men and women like this, make sure your characters have personalities and not just a list of stereotypes.

Asexual does not mean aromantic. Asexuality means that a person feels no sexual attraction. Aromantic means a person does not feel any romantic attraction. These two are often confused, but they are two very different things. It’s possible for anyone to be one or the other, or even both.

Transgender does not mean transsexual. Transgender when a person identifies as a gender that differs from the one usually matched with their sex. Transsexual means that person is going about hormone treatment or surgery to become the opposite sex.

So those are the big three things to think about. If you want more resources to learn about gay and trans people, I’ve got this video that is a brief overview, and then The Really Awesome Trans Glossary. If you still want more information, try talking to someone who identifies as gay or transgender. As long as you’re not being offensive, most people would be happy to answer questions and provide clarifications.

With that out of the way, it’s time to address the actual characters you’re writing.

It is perfectly fine for your antagonist to be gay. They can kick puppies and steal candy from children and be the most despicable person on the face of the earth and be gay—it’s alright. But if your character is evil because they are gay, that’s a huge problem. If you choose to have an evil character who is also gay, it’s a good thing to have a good character who is also gay to avoid any problems or miscommunications with readers.

There is no universal “gay experience”. Don’t try to write gay or trans characters “the right way.” There isn’t one. All gay and trans people learn about themselves differently. Some people know from a young age that they’re different, but some learn it later on in life. I didn’t realize I was agender until someone told me being agender was a thing that existed.

There’s a difference between writing a novel about gay characters and writing a novel about characters who happen to be gay. Don’t think that including gay characters means you have to suddenly make your plot about gay rights/the treatment of gays. Most people aren’t looking for that, and if they are, chances are they’ll go to issue novels for it.

Gay couples have just as much sex as straight couples. If your features scenes with several different couples of different sexualities having sex, spend about the same amount of time with each of them. Some of the stigma that comes with gay couples having sex comes from rumors that they’re addicted to it and they have to have sex because something is wrong with them. Most people realize that it’s flat-out wrong, but there will always be people who don’t understand, and its’ our duty as writers to not promote unhealthy stereotypes.

Don’t start shipping your characters just because you happen to have made two of them gay. This is not an excuse to put characters together. Your readers still expect them to have chemistry and work together. You wouldn’t create a relationship between two straight characters just because both their favorite colors are purple.

If you’re writing a trans character, refer to them by the pronoun they use. Even if your character was born female, if they identify as a boy and want to be recognized as a boy, use masculine pronouns. This is also common courtesy in real life.

Be aware of stereotypes. I’m gonna say this one again because it’s probably the most important one on the list. Being gay is not a personality. Being transgender is not a personality. Do not try to make it one.

Because stereotypes are such a huge part of the way the media portrays gay characters in television, movies, and even novels, I’ve compiled a list of some of the most common ones that plague it.

Stereotypes to Avoid

“Sluts.” This is more bad stigma for anyone who identifies as a sexual minority, particularly bisexuals. People think that gays use it as an excuse to act like sluts, and this stereotype is completely inaccurate.

Masculine women and feminine men. I touched on this topic earlier, and while it’s okay to have them, you have to make sure that your characters aren’t just empty shells relying on these stereotypes. Make absolutely sure that you have fleshed them out well if you go down this route.

Dead gays. The LGBT community is not a plot device. Don’t kill these characters for shock value. They are not foot soldiers in the battle in the middle of RETURN OF The KING. If you kill a gay character, you had damn well better have a good reason for it.

Lesbians trying to have a child. This one is just flat-out cliché at this point, not to mention that it creates all sorts of unwanted subtext about gay couples being “unnatural” because they can’t have children on their own. It’s just something best avoided.

But above all, if you take one thing away from this post, let it be this:

—

me everytime a character in a movie has to get a few drops of their blood for some ritual bullshit  (via jtoday)

WHILE WE’RE AT IT, why do people try to cross those skinny bridges over lava/chasms/whatever by walking upright. IT’S CALLED CENTER OF GRAVITY. get on your hands and knees and crawl across that thing. HUG IT. SCOOT YOUR BUTT ACROSS. “but i look stupid!” lalalala but we’ll avoid that ~dramatic moment~ where you almost fall over and die because your damn fucking self wanted to look COOL

(via jtoday)

and stop yanking IV lines out of your arms the minute you wake up in the hospital 

(via panconkiwi)

Here are some grammar facts that may be useful if you’re interested in creating or learning new pronouns, such as zie/hir/hirs or e/em/eirs. Why bother creating new pronouns? What do the slashes mean? How do you know when to use “zie” and when to use “hir”? And if you create new pronouns, how do you make them easy to use and remember? This guide will explain it all.

Warning: Intense linguistics geekery ahead, but you don’t need to know anything about linguistics or grammar to understand it.

via

“The title you give it will have a life of its own. It is the first thing a reader will notice. You need to think about agents and editors, plot and characters, the reader, and market trends.”

It should suit your genre.

It must have something to do with the plot.

It should be easy to remember. 

It should appeal to the reader on an emotional and an intellectual level.

It should be easy to pronounce.

Short names are better. As a rule, most book titles are three words. Most books do not have a title longer than five words.

Visual titles work well. 

(Blue and Orange Morality is when characters have a morality that is totally alien/incomprehensible to humans.)

To put it simply, you need to toss your humanity out the window for a few minutes. Firstly, you need to come up with a few universally or nigh-universally accepted beliefs. Examples include the importance and adoration of children, reciprocal loyalty (“you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours”), and respect for the dead. Then you need to pick a belief and twist it. Children are no longer important? Then adults can kill them any time they want. No reciprocal loyalty? You can’t guilt your best friend into bailing you out of jail. The dead are no longer respected? Cannibalism of the dead.

It’s not just about taking ideals and twisting them into something that humans would never agree with. You need to make reasons for this new morality. You need to ask yourself why children aren’t important and why the dead aren’t respected. If you’re using a nonhuman species, some of your justification could come from their biology. Let’s say a species reproduces like fish, where thousands of eggs are laid by a single species. The species may be in constant danger of overcrowding and those young punks are sucking up resources everywhere. Ergo, you can kill them. This child-killing species could also believe that all non-sapient things (deer, corn, young children) are not valuable.

You must also carry this cultural ideal into every aspect of the character’s/race’s/species’ beliefs. If, like above, they don’t value non-sapient things, they might do horrible ecological damage because they don’t/won’t realize the importance of non-sentient plants or animals at the bottom of the food chain. More than anything, taking your break(s) from human morality to their logical conclusions in all aspects of thought and culture will make your blue and orange morality fly.

A lot of authors make the blue and orange morality a negative thing, as I did with the examples in the second paragraph. It doesn’t need to be. Consider the almost-universal belief that the genders are irreconcilably different in thought process, abilities, etc. Get rid of that and you have a gender-equal or gender-neutral world. Another one of those pesky almost-universal beliefs is the importance of romantic love. Get rid of that and other bonds could become more/as important in the public eye.

Writer: Air shot between the toes, it’ll look like a heart attack.

Serial killer: anywhere from 2 to 30 minutes

his name is Tiffany. a bold bright name. a stardust name. a girl name. but he is not a girl. he knows this, even if others don’t. his mother puts him in dresses, teaches him how to sew, chastises him when he lets his voice get low.

“my great-aunt’s friend’s sister,” says his mother, with her red lips tight, “once knew these girls that spoke and diamonds came out of their mouths. you know what happened to the nasty one? she got toads. that’s your future if you don’t figure out how to be a nice little girl.”

so he speaks gently. but the whole time he is wondering: who gave them the language of gems. who gave them the language that rolled out of them. it must be magic. and if there is magic, maybe there is hope for him.

he takes off in a dark night. a sad night. one where the fire was too low and he was sick of mirrors. he leaves his mother a note: gone to find where the gems grow. 

in the black woods, he cuts off his hair. wears his father’s clothes. feels, at last, whole. runs and runs and runs until his air comes out in a wheeze. walks for weeks and weeks.

he finds the old woman carrying water. she is ugly, her mouth all twisted angry. but she carries the water alone. 

the boy does not have much. but he has shoulders. a good back. hands that work. when he takes her burden, she says, “thank you, young man.” and he smiles at her, but doesn’t say anything.

her house is damp. she feeds him stew, apologizes. says she used to make lovely foods but the price of milk and eggs got far too high. she says: if you carry my water for five weeks, i will give you something special. and he agrees.

she talks for him. spends a lot of time telling him of people he never met. girls with lips blood red. girls with white fairy dresses. boys who fell in love with swans. 

the boy says little. just nods. sleeps on the floor of her empty barn. when she’s not looking, he darns her clothes for her, keeps the floors swept, fills the lanterns with oil, makes her a blanket for the coming winter. 

on the end of the fifth week, she gives him the beans. tells him that they have been passed down in her family, that this was her portion. she says that she is too old now for such adventures. that she hears the beans will bring treasure. fortune. all the things of greed. she says: i will give them to you, for what you have done to me.

in the morning, he takes off. he feels the weight of them in his pocket. he thinks of the old woman and the stories and the sight of her tired hands. he stands in the market for a long time, unspeaking, simply staring at the cobblestones beneath him.

jack’s voice is the last call in the evening. a beautiful cow, young and thick and healthy. 

the boy has no money. he bounces the magic bean in his pocket, and thinks of treasures. 

“wait,” he says. 

jack turns. 

transaction complete: one cow for a handful of magic beans. the boy walks the cow home to the old woman, gets there in the morning. they are both very tired. he falls asleep beside the beast in the hay. dreams of the foods the old woman can cook now that she can get milk.

when he wakes up, he is changed. it is as if he simply turned into who he was made to be. not a new body. familiar. the body he could always see.

the old woman stands at the door of his barn. she says, “good morning,” and then she says a new word. a word he’s never heard. a name. his name. a boy name. 

he repeats it. it is a jewel in his mouth, so he says it again. another diamond.

“time to fetch water,” she says, winking. the whole way, he whispers his name. it never quite tastes the same, always beautiful, always a fine thing, always his. the something special he was lacking.

*

“Mom, I’m home!” 

“She’s out shopping, go do your homework.”

“Aunt Ingrid, they didn’t even HAVE homework when you were alive, why are you BUGGING me - “ 

“When I was alive we churned butter instead of our mother going to the store to buy it, do you want to learn how to churn butter?”

“Fine, okay, homework it is.” 

*

“David, don’t walk through the walls.”

“Opening the door is too hard.”

“Then walk through the DOOR like your sister. Respect the conventions at least.”

“Fiiiiiinnne…” 

*

“Mom, what are you doing?”

“Fixing the fence.” 

“Uncle Roger, are you possessing my mom?”

“We tried just having me tell her how to do it, but it was taking too long and she got frustrated.” 

“It’s WEIRD, though.”

“Do you want to do this?”

“No, I - “

“Too late. Come and learn how to fix this. You’re the man of the house now.”

“NOBODY SAYS THAT ANY MORE, UNCLE ROGER.”

*

“Did you have a fight with David?”

“No.”

“Then why are you both making that face?”

“There’s no FACE.”

“That’s what he said.” 

“We didn’t have a FIGHT, okay…”

“Aunt Ingrid is worried, she says he’s been moping all morning. He’s barely visible half the time.” 

“Look, we didn’t have a fight, I just asked him how he died and then it got weird.” 

“STEVE YOU DO NOT ASK PEOPLE HOW THEY DIED THAT IS SO RUDE.” 

“Mom, it came up, okay, it wasn’t just out of nowhere!”

“YOU APOLOGIZE RIGHT NOW.” 

* 

“Steve! David! Isobel! Who broke this vase?”

“Meteor did it.”

“It was not the dog! Which one of you was throwing things in the house?”

“No, really, Mom, it was Meteor.”

“And how did the dog get up on the mantlepiece?”

“Uh…”

“ISOBEL WERE YOU LEVITATING THE DOG AGAIN?”

*

“This is completely inaccurate.” 

“Roger…”

“I mean, look at those clothes. I’ve never seen *anyone* dressed like that.”

“They weren’t very careful about accurate costuming in these old movies.”

“I read ALL the Sherlock Holmes stories when they were first published and I ASSURE you he was a GENTLEMAN, not like - “

“Roger, will you just let us watch the moving pictures in peace?”

“But they’re WRONG.”

“We don’t care. Shush.”

*Roger mutters about bossy women and levitates popcorn*

*

“Steve, what happened to your face?”

“I got into a fight.” 

“I would surmise from your bruises that you lost.”

“I always lose.”

“Oh, we can’t have that! Come, I will teach you the manly art of fisticuffs.”

“ROGER NO.”

*

“Aunt Ingrid, can you teach me how to make pie?”

“Of course I can… why? I know boys do a lot of things now that girls used to, I understand that, but why pie?”

“I like pie.”

“I can make you a pie if you just want to eat pie.”

“… Ava likes pie too.”

“That girl who lives down the street?”

“Yeah…”

“Then I’ll help you make the pie. What kind?”

Me: “yeah sure I’ll post that soon!!”

Me:

me: …

Some writers confuse “you must further the plot with every scene” with “heavy plot handling must happen constantly.” (Which is a shame, because the latter is not only incorrect, but can make your character’s interactions stiff and boring.)

It’s okay to let your characters joke.

It’s okay if they get off track of the plot relevant conversation.

It’s okay if not every scene is a big plot reveal.

It’s okay to just have fun sometimes.

What is the idea behind “every scene furthers the plot” then? Why is it actually important?

“Every scene furthers the plot” can be better described as “every scene reminds the reader why this story is important and either provides a plot relevant point of tension or makes them anticipate a plot relevant tension to come.”

Most readers will read through anything as long as they anticipate something to come. If you don’t give them anything to anticipate (and remind them they’ll reach that thing if they keep reading) then they have very little preventing them from putting the story down at the end of that scene.

The last thing we need to remember here is that character development should be highly integrated with your plot, and constantly effecting and being effected by your plot, until the point where they are nearly synonymous terms. As such, your plot integrated character development is often enough ‘plot’ to tide over a few otherwise ‘plotless’ scenes.