Fosterling Series

Character Development Categories(already included):

    0. Character Significance to the Story

General / Base Information

Physical Appearance

Clothing

Linguistics

Political Stance(factions)

Legal Record

Medical Record

Addictions

Education

Powers

Skills and Talents

Inventory

Checks and Balances

Spirituality

Personality

Family/Relatives(includes foster family options)

Romantic Relationships

Dependents(children, grandchildren, etc.)

Social Relations(Friends & Enemies)

Animals

Jobs/Employment & Economic Status

Biography / Character History

Obituary

Finished it~ :D

Working on another segment of my part for thewingedfirewolf’s MAP :D This one is only about 6 frames~ (needs some tweaking still before I color it)

There are still two unclaimed parts! So if anyone else is interested in joining(and you don’t have to do anything even REMOTELY as elaborate as mine!), now’s your last chance!

Do a barrel roll~ (lol)

Couldn’t sleep :v so I did arts.

Rough lines for one of my parts for thewingedfirewolf’s PMV MAP. 18 Frames.

A PMV MAP is a multi-artist collaboration music video. Each artist and/or animator gets a specific slot of choice of the song(a few seconds each) to make a few art pieces or animation for. When everyone is finished, all of the parts are put together into one big music video(Examples: x x x x ). I’m doing 2 of the 29 available parts.

Currently I think its just Wolf and me in on the project(??? might be wrong ??? idk), so there’s definitely room for more people!

PMV MAP’s are basically collaborative music videos where a song is chosen/agreed upon and everyone gets allotted a specific few seconds of the song to do some art or animation for. Once everyone finishes their part, it goes up in a big music video. They’re super rad. I’ve always wanted to do one, but most of my past group projects fell through :v One of my mutual Watchers ( thewingedfirewolf ) is trying to start one up though and I guess I’m doing an interest check! Anyone? ( Dis be the song )

Aaaand examples of some (pretty awesome) MAP’s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5urZeYukRhg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rV4vBLlos1U

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vTej0fiRb4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43brO4rCgZs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Qom34BIUbM

Ten Common Writing Mistakes

It’s always been my opinion that you should rely on ‘say’ unless you really need to show some kind of strong emotion. It can be awkward to read an exchange with several different adjectives scattered throughout. There are also many other ways you can draw out the animalistic sides to your characters without always pointing out that their speech or voices are different.

Of course, I’m not gonna send you away with only that…! It is good to avoid dialogue scenes being ‘same-y’ by expanding one’s vocabulary, too.

Animal Voice Descriptors

Bark | Bellow | Bleat | Bray | Brux | Cackle | Call | Caterwaul | Caw | Chaff | Chatter | Chirp | Chitter | Chortle | Click | Cluck | Coo | Croak | Gecker | Groan | Grunt | Gurgle | Hiss | Hoot | Hum | Mewl | Mew | Moan| Mutter | Pant | Pipe | Purr | Roar | Rumble | Screech | Shriek | Snack | Snort | Spit | Sputter | Squall | Squawk | Squeak | Squeal | Trill | Wail | Warble | Whimper | Whine | Whinny | Whoop | Yap | Yelp | Yowl 

As well as these descriptors, you could also keep things simple and describe the way the ‘snarls’ or ‘growls’ sound. Such as a ‘guttural’ growl or ‘sharp’ snarl. Like with most pieces of description, it should be sparing and not too stuffed with adjectives, but in a pretty sparse scene, that added description can really give the reader a good sense of what this character should sound like.

Be emotive and to-the-point!

Please find more lists below for further reference. I hope this helps.

Resources

Words to use instead of ‘Said’

Word List: Alternatives to ‘Whisper’

Word List: Alternatives to ‘Ask’

Verbs for Animal Sounds

Dialogue and the ‘Said’ Rule

FYCD: ‘Animal Characters’ Tag

As always, keep an eye out for follower responses in case anybody else has some good tips.

(I sort of was listening to the Burkaqua Village theme from Rogue Galaxy when I wrote this, so it might help set the mood a bit while reading the first half or so of this :x ) 

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Prologue

They had come far, across fields, through mountain passes, more fields, woods, towns, and finally, their destination was within sight. Carved stone arches greeted them openly, old and weathered, but maintained.

Thick boughs overshadowed most of the path, casting it into a mottling of light, while tree trunks and thick undergrowth shielded the understory of the surrounding woods from trespassers, leaving only one possible route: the road on which they traveled.

The traveling party of three was modestly dressed, at first glance, cloaked in light brown of average quality, nothing immediately fancy. The horses, however, were a little less modest, the lead rider’s mare jet black with splashes of silver that gleamed like polished jewelry. Its tack was well-crafted, and several saddle-bags and other traveling gear hung on its rump.

The other two didn’t ride animals nearly as fine as the first, but they were of good breeding stock, well fed and cared for to the trained eye. Any three of them would be prime targets for bandits with an eye for value.

Another stone structure stood ahead of them, where a pair of guards kept watch at the open gate. One approached and held up a hand, ordering him to stop in the local native tongue, demanding identification.

The lead figure tugged his hood back slightly, silvery hair and eyes visible, and the guard seemed to realize, urgently ordering the other to go find their Chief.

I don’t know who to trust, no surprise Everyone feels so far away from me Heavy thoughts sift through dust and the lies

Trying not to break But I’m so tired of this deceit Every time I try to make myself Get back up on my feet

All I ever think about is this All the tiring time between And how trying to put my trust in you Just takes so much out of me

Take everything from the inside And throw it all away 'Cause I swear for the last time I won’t trust myself with you

Tension is building inside, steadily Everyone feels so far away from me Heavy thoughts forcing their way out of me

Trying not to break But I’m so tired of this deceit Every time I try to make myself Get back up on my feet

All I ever think about is this All the tiring time between And how trying to put my trust in you Just takes so much out of me

Take everything from the inside And throw it all away 'Cause I swear for the last time I won’t trust myself with you

I won’t waste myself on you You, you Waste myself on you You, you

I’ll take everything from the inside And throw it all away 'Cause I swear for the last time I won’t trust myself with you

DBT Self-Help Resources: Emotions List

Using an Emotions List to help Label an Emotion

Some people are more adept at labelling their emotions than others. Some people just can’t seem to name what they are currently feeling. They might say that they felt bad or upset, but pinning down what that actually means for them is more challenging. Many people walk around in this kind of emotional fog.

Unfortunately, if you don’t know what you are feeling, you can’t do much to change it. People who can name their emotions are more capable of managing them, so it is important to become more familiar with your emotions and learn to identify them.

Once you are more capable of naming your emotions, you’ll have more choices in terms of what to do with an emotion if it makes you feel uncomfortable and you would prefer to at least reduce its intensity. Many people with emotion dysregulation grow up without learning this important information, so for some people it takes a lot of time to get the hang of naming their emotions. Be patient. If you get frustrated, reframe this process as if you are learning a new language. In fact, that’s exactly what is happening: you are learning the language of emotion.

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Choosing the central conflict of your novel: Infographic