✨probably a blood mage✨

Based on Loghain’s armor here and Anora’s dress with the ferelden sigil on the chest

I am once again begging people to realize that AI checker doesn’t work. it’s never worked. it’s notoriously known to have flagged human-made works as AI and AI-generated works as human-made. and by feeding it people’s works, you are feeding more works to AI, because apparently the machine itself is AI.

Dragon Age 2. OT3s (kinda). [ bsky ] Two times couples wanted Sebastian Vael in their middle and one time they didn’t.

Sebastian has a big crush on Hawke (who doesn't), and will even put up with Anders for it.

Isabela/Fenris is already canon fwb, Isabela enjoys teasing Sebastian and expresses attraction, and Fenris and Sebastian have that kinda sweet religion discussing bromance, so I know Seb "has thoughts" about them when he learns of their situationship.

Zevran, the best and worst antivian crow <3

For coming up with character names:

Behind the name (my absolute fav)

Allows you to choose the origin of where you want the name to be from, whether you want a more feminine vs masculine vs androgenous name (as voted by users), random surname generator, and clicking on the name gives you important info like if there are any famous people with the same name, where it’s from, how common it is, and how people tend to see it, etc.

You can also search their name database by letter or meaning or origin, so if you know you want a character who has a name/surname that starts with an A from Ireland, there’s a whole list for you to choose from.

Census sites

Especially useful if you’re looking for a name from a specific place and/or time period. Just search “(country) census (year)” and you’ll find a database of real people who lived in that place at that time. No one can ever call your names unrealistic again.

For coming up with place names:

Fantasy name generator

This site can basically come up with any name for any person, place, or thing you might ever need. There are also specific generators for different fandoms if you’re looking to make an OC in an established world.

For finding that one word on the tip of your tongue:

One Look Thesaurus

This is my go-to. Not only can you find synonyms like a regular thesaurus, but you can also describe words like “unhappy smile” or “quiet laugh” to find the more specific word you’re looking for.

For coming up with ideas:

Word cloud

When I need to inspire a new idea, I write down all the things I’m interested in (hauntings, academia, lesbians, etc.) and put them into a word cloud to shuffle them next to each other. Sometimes seeing a concept in a new context can spark new ideas!

WWF Discord

This is my discord channel (shameless plug) for when you need to brainstorm off other people but don’t have anyone irl to talk to. We’re also happy to read and give feedback on writing, answer writing questions, or just chat!

For visualizing places and characters:

Pinterest

Pinterest can at times be a bit too sterile for my tastes, but if you use the right words, you can find more realistic photos of places. For example, adding “aesthetic” after basically any word will bring up a more broad collection of photos to help you flesh out places.

This is also a great way to find photos of people and fashion to help visualize characters. I’m bad at describing clothes, so I usually collect photos of outfits to help me know what my characters are wearing. Searching up “character inspiration” will collect more interesting photos and drawings of people who might not exactly be of our world.

(However, to make Pinterest not show you AI results, you have to go into your settings and check the “reduce AI” box. Luckily, it does mostly work.)

Death to Stock

Like pinterest but completely AI free (hooray!) Only drawback is that you have to pay a monthly subscription (about $20 CAD).

Cosmos

Very similar to pinterest but slightly more "artsy". I'm not super familiar with this one but I believe all the photos are human and you can save them and create collections with a free account.

Dupe Photos

Royalty-free stock image site with very Pinterest-core photos!

Minecraft

If you haven’t built your entire fictional city in Minecraft instead of writing, why not? It’s fun.

The Sims

This one is dual purpose because you can not only create your characters in Create a Sim, but you can design their houses. If you really want to go for it, you can bulldoze all the lots in your town and build your world from scratch.

For checking grammar:

Grammar Girl

Easy to follow definitions and examples, and if you learn better by listening, every article comes with a podcast to follow along with instead.

Grammar Monster

This one is my favourite for checking grammar rules because there’s tons of examples in graphics that helps for any situation.

Reedsy

Among other things, reedsy can connect you to professional editors within your budget.

For writing advice:

One Stop for Writers

This one was recommended from my discord channel and has all sorts of tutorials and resources for the writing craft.

My Blog Directory

Another shameless plug, but if you need writing advice on something specific, you can search through my directory to see if it’s there. If it isn’t, you can always send me an ask about it!

For an alternative to Google Docs:

Ellipsus

Think google docs but without AI. Yay!

I like their cheat-sheets (most of which I downloaded) and some of the worksheets, but these seem like they'll take more time and care to go through.

All sorts of scarring scenarios to help shape your character-

Then, when you click one - for example, not being believed - there is much more... (if it's 'unlocked' or you sign up. if not, there's still the general details but not some of these categories).

I have fantastic news for you! You don't actually have to code anything at all. That notes feature is built into AO3!

Below the box where you type in your Summary, there are two check boxes.

If you click or tap on the first box to tick it off, a new text box will open up. That's where you can type in an author's note that appears at the top of the fic.

If you tick the second box, a text box will appear where you can type in an author's note that appears at the end of the fic. The link will appear on your work automatically because that's how AO3 designed the end note feature.

Since this is your first time posting, I'll add one more valuable piece of information. If your work is set to only 1 chapter (you haven't indicated that you'll be adding more chapters later), then the note will appear at the end of the entire fic - even if you add more chapters later. *

To fix that issue, just check off the box that indicates you're posting a multichap and save as a draft. Then edit the work to add in your end note for chapter one.

You can find the multichap check box just above where you choose your language.

* This was a known issue at one point and it might already be fixed. I haven't posted an end note on a multichap in a while but this was how I worked around it before.

In the beginning notes, type <details>. Everything that comes after this and before the details end tag (</details>) will be hidden behind a dropdown, which will be represented by a little triangle upon publishing. A reader clicks (or taps on mobile) the little triangle, and the information is revealed. It'll look like this:

When the triangle is clicked, it will go from pointing at "Details" to pointing downwards, and the content hidden inside the details will unfold under "Details."

If you'd like to give specifics about what's inside the details tag, you can do that using the summary tag. Right after <details>, type <summary>. Write whatever description you want (HTML tags like bold, italics, etc. can be used here), end the description with </summary>, then proceed to write the information you want in the details tag. Now, when the chapter/fic is published, your summary will replace "Details" next to the triangle. Here's an example from one of my own works, where I've used bold, small, and italic HTML tags to further format my summary:

In practice, the backend of HTML in the beginning notes looks like this:

<details><summary><strong>Regarding the "Additional Warnings In Author's Note" Tag</strong> <small><em>(contains some spoilers for the story)</em></small></summary> [additional warnings]</details>

For more information about the details tag and to play around with it some outside of AO3, I recommend checking out the W3 Schools page on the tag.

You can also use the details tag (and accompanying summary tag) in the summary of a work or series, as well as the Notes section on a summary. Or in comments. On info pages for Collections. In your AO3 profile. The sky's the limit!*