Labra's artblog

fear - open mouth - backing away - fake smiles - hugging themselves - long / dragged breaths - rocking

jealousy - snide remarks - darting looks - self-deprication - visible judging - folded arms - arguing a fair point

hurt - steadying breaths - overly bobbing head - teary - anger - trembling - pressed lips - insisting everything is 'fine'

lying (ticks) - picking at nails - touching hair - licking lips - laughing too loud - avoids subjects - won't meet eyes

worry - reaching out physically - pursing lips - looking to others - reassuring smiles - looking you up and down - tilted head - sympathetic nod

shame - will not meet eyes - feet turned away - teary - desperate - fidgeting - begging

humiliation - lashes back - cheeks flush - palms turn sweaty - face frowns -> brows scrunch, lips pull back - teary

Or, as I call it, causing ~drama~

The key that keeps readers interested in your story is conflict. If nothing is at stake, then there is not much to see. So, here are a few general tips to cause some ripples in the ponds of your characters’ lives.

“Prioritizing”: Your character has two main motives that they have been working towards, but they end up in a situation where they have to sacrifice one to save the other. Depending on how easy or hard the choice is, this range from “disappointing” to “devastating” in the sacrifice. 

Character Flaws: As I talked about in my cornerstones post, every character should have a flaw. Flaws are flaws and not strengths for a reason- they get in the way. Have your character have a moment of weakness, where they lose their values and give in to temptation or get carried away.

 In addition: Even without their key flaws, characters can sometimes just… be wrong. Maybe they miscalculated. Maybe they misunderstood. Maybe they made the wrong guess. They did what everyone does: They Done Messed Up, and now they have to deal with the result.

Liar, Liar: Someone is lying, or even keeping secrets, and now, it’s causing problems. They can’t go forward without the truth, or worse, they are making mistakes due to a warped perception of the situation.

Draw backs: Let the good things come at a cost. One key rule for worlds with magic or superpowers is that all power should come at cost- equal to or greater than the power itself. 

“Because I Said So”: Don’t forget, there are other characters in your story, and even if they are on the protagonist’s own side, they are not always going to just merrily go along with whatever the protagonist said. Maybe they disagree. Maybe they are powerful enough to get in the protagonist’s way, and maybe it’s that important to them that they try. If fighting an enemy is hard, fighting a friend is harder.

Take It Back: Your character makes a decision that seems right at the time. Maybe it was the obvious choice, or maybe it was taking a risk. But uh-oh…now there are unforeseen consequences. 

Or, the opposite…

Decisions, Decisions: Maybe your character has to make a decision where there is not an immediately obvious choice. Make sure that both/all the options have both positive and negative possible or certain outcomes. There is no obvious right or wrong choice. Bonus, it’s funny to watch the fandom debate it later. 

Strip Them Down: Remove your character’s greatest strength. For whatever reason, your character’s most valuable asset is not available, and now, they have to live without it. Bonus mode- it would be really, really helpful if they had it right now!

Or, do the opposite…

Boss Fight: Maybe, instead of your protagonist getting weaker, it’s your antagonist that gets stronger. Strengthen the opposition and see if your characters can adapt to survive, or if they lack what it takes. 

Change of Plan: The rules of the game have changed. This can mean different things depending on your story. They could be literal rules, or more general. Think Hunger Games- did I say two tributes? I meant one, after all. Fight to the death now, please.

Amplify the Emotions: … And the results that come with. People do crazy things in the heat of the moment. You can’t think straight when all you can do is feel. Blinded by anger, sadness, or even joy, your character makes a bad choice. 

*Pile It On: You know what a full plate needs? Even more stuff. Your character is already juggling, trying to balance a variety of responsibilities. So add one more ball. Do they crash and burn immediately? Does it take a while? Do they succeed?  Any which way, the stress is high.

*Note: this one can be difficult on the author, too. Make sure that with all these plot lines, you’re not losing track, yourself.

“Murphy’s Law”: Simply stated, this is a plot tool that says, “whatever can go wrong, will.” I’m just going to say right away… be careful with this one. It’s really frustrating for your audience to watch the characters fail or lose or face misfortune over and over and over again. It makes it feel like nothing will ever come out of rooting for them, so you may as well give up now. Murphy’s Law can be great in the proper proportions, please, let your characters have some victories, or there’s no point to it.

And hey, don’t forget about your inner conflicts. You never know when those are going to have the opportunity to cause trouble. 

Give ‘em hell, kids!*

***disclaimer: you do not have to be a kid to give them hell.

I'm going to try it.

Also called wind towers and wind scoops, windcatchers have been used in North Africa and the Middle East for thousands of years to provide natural ventilation & passive cooling. They fell out of popularity after the introduction of HVAC systems, but are now experiencing a revival because they’re so practical and cost-effective. Here’s how they work:

Not only are they an engineering masterpiece–they’re gorgeous

New Zealand

Apparently this is roughly what we’d look like, if our eyes could see in a different spectrum:

Dunno about you, but I want to use this in a story someday.  Aliens can see our stripes and we can’t!  Magical transformations follow Blaschko’s Lines!  A subtle sign of lycanthropy is darker hair there!  Wizards are bald with that cool spiral on their heads!

Sand Tufas

You could be forgiven for thinking that the otherworldly rock formations in these pictures come from another planet, or from a sci-fi movie perhaps. But they’re actually called sand tufas and they come from right here on earth.

A tufa is a peculiar form of calcium carbonate, and they’re created when calcium-bearing freshwater springs well up through alkaline lake water (which is rich in carbonates). The carbonate and calcium combine and, over centuries, these elements form unusual spires, towering columns, and strange cauliflower-shaped mounds which can reach heights of up to nine metres (30ft). Tufas can only form underwater, and they’re only exposed when lakes are drained or dry out over many years. Check out this collection of pictures compiled by Bored Panda to see these curious formations for yourself.

 For example if a wanted to make a cartoon character realistic and use a real person for reference or to edit the photo to look like them?

https://generated.photos/faces

This site probably has what you’re looking for!

Look at what you can sort by!

Cities - go near water!  freshwater lakes and rivers (rivers especially) are the best places for cities because A) source of water and B) travel and trade is much easier cus you can put your boats like right there.  Basically ever relevant city ever was built on a lake or a river.

for rivers in general - because gravity, rivers run from mountains (forming from melting snow and ice (this is why they get fat in spring–more stuff melting)) to lakes/ocean where they can empty out (and even lakes will have rivers leading out that eventually get to the ocean), which can help when mapping out where those start and end.  rivers are also much thinner and faster in steeper elevations and very slow and wide when the land is flat

mountains - i like to think of what the tectonic plates look like because that’s what makes mountains!  mountains are also never standalone they’re always in mountain ranges (archipelagos are really just underwater mountain ranges babey).  a cool trick I like to do is occasionally separate mountain ranges across continents, because over time the tectonic plates shifted and literally split the range in half.  These mountains are really old tho so they’ve eroded and therefore it makes them smaller and rounder (like the appalachians) as opposed to relatively young mountain ranges like the rocky mountains which have taller and sharper peaks

Another mountain trick: if your mountains run along the ocean, the ocean side of the mountains will get a LOT of rain while the other side will be very dry–almost desert-like, in fact.  think of temperate rainforests in British Columbia vs the drier conditions in the canadian prairies

forests - depends on how warm the area might be.  coniferous forests are found further north (before you hit the tree line, and then it’s only tundra onwards) but as you head south you get leafier trees, and the leaves tend to get larger too

If you think about general elevation too, you’ll have places that might be swampy (wet + lower).  if your world has an ice age like we did, then glaciers may have carved the land, leaving piles of soil in the south that was left when the ice receded and places where the bedrock has been bared north of that (like the Canadian Shield in Canada–the reason we see that is because of the glaciers)

You might also have a land that’s dotted in a shitton of freshwater lakes as well because the meltwater filled the holes that the glaciers scraped out (this is why canada has so many goddamn lakes)

and if the ice age was more recent than it was in our world, then you might not even have the forest re-growth and it could be a lot of open plains

Though, for fantasy, you can make the world operate on entirely different principles:

With that done, the actual topic of city placement can be covered by videos like this:

Or

Once you have your places, if you want help naming them in realistic ways, this video can help:

This one is on architecture, which is definitely a subset of cities:

But for a more relevant practical guide on making settlements realistic:

Here’s a quick guide for making demographics:

it is commonly known that there are different types of intelligence, and it should follow that there are different types of stupidity, but this fact seems less well-known. anyway, here is a resource for crafting your himbos and regular dumbasses

classic book smart but no common/practical sense: this is the character that speaks 8 languages or has multiple phds or is a pioneer in their field but can’t cook mac and cheese from a box or be trusted with a weed whacker. as the title says, a classic, very valid.

book smart, may have practical sense, but Does It Anyway: This is the character constantly asking, “What happens if...” The answer is usually swearing and property damage.

wise but classically stupid: this character will hit you with deep wisdom and advice about life but then will ask you how many legs a duck has . Underutilized and underrated.

wise but can’t take their own advice: This character will give you profound advice about life and then end up falling-down drunk in a ditch in florida covered in alligator bite marks and sobbing about their ex. They’re completely levelheaded when advising other people but all their personal decisions are just the worst

competent at exactly one thing: self explanatory.

good-hearted and well intentioned, but socially clueless: will tell their girlfriend that her dress makes her look rectangular, and be confused why this isn’t taken as a compliment, and then buy her a chameleon to make up because women like chameleons, right

practical sense but can’t read the room: levelheaded and good at whatever it is that they do, but not good at being diplomatic. will call you an idiot to your face if you question their practical know-how no matter how important you are.

not actually lacking in cleverness or sense, but no impulse control: thoughts take longer to load than actions for this character. hindsight is 20/20, but it’s hind instead of fore

lovable and socially intelligent but completely stupid otherwise: this character is cute, charismatic or socially adept enough to make it just about anywhere. It takes a private, informal conversation for people to realize that there’s nothing going on upstairs

Sure no problem! I actually have a bit of a pattern I do when doing character backstory reveals! I may or may not have learned it from watching Avatar: The Last Airbender several times, and I have named it just now: 

Little Hints, Big Reveal.

Ok so the first thing is, obviously, to give Little Hints. Don’t do info dumps at the beginning, that’s the rule about info dumps. Not at the beginning. You can have Little Hints be things like:

something a person says (Avatar Example: Iroh asks Zuko if he remembers what happened “the last time you dueled a master”, it pans over to show only Zuko’s scar, and he says “I will never forget”)

something a person does (Avatar Example: Zuko’s general aggression hinting at his past)

what their goals are (Avatar Example: Zuko is focused on finding the Avatar, and the reason for that is tied to his backstory)

honestly things they wear/what they look like (Avatar Example: Zuko has a giant burn on the side of his face. What the heck is up with that?)

how other people act around them (Avatar Example: People are pretty wary around Zuko, except for Iroh. Does Iroh know something we don’t?)

Any of other hints you can think of! As long as they don’t outright tell you what happened/their backstory, then it’s good!

Now, we get to the Big Reveal. Now, this is gonna sound a lot like an info-dump, and that’s because it is! But the key is, it’s not all the info. Here’s the thing: 

Info dumps are okay. You just don’t want an overwhelming amount on info. 

Now here’s my Avatar Example: Season 1, Episode 12: The Storm. This is the episode where you get the info dump of Zuko’s backstory. 

BUT HERE’S THE THING: You don’t just get an info dump on Zuko, you also get one on Aang. This is where you need to get creative with your info-dumping because the way the writers of Avatar avoiding the overwhelming amount of info is they alternated between storylines. There were three storylines in that episode: 1. Zuko’s Backstory, 2. Aang’s Backstory, and 3. Sokka getting caught in a storm on a fishing boat. That way, you got a bit of each story line, but didn't get bored!

Now don’t worry, there’s more than one way to do this besides having multiple storylines, though that is a great option:

my personal favorite are when something happens and a character gets angry and basically spills their heart out to everyone. It’s the one that happens most in my writing, I call them Rants (like a normal rant but with a capital R for Emphasis)

a character sticks their nose where it doesn’t belong. Oops I just read your diary, oops I went into your secret vault and found a bunch of crazy shit, oops just overheard you and your family arguing, oops I pestered your friend into telling me what was going on (needless to say, these are called Oopsies, cuz I’m original)

something tied to their backstory comes back to haunt them and they have to explain what’s going on. Some examples are: an illness getting worse, a person from their past showing up, a literal ghost coming to haunt them, etc. (I of course call these Old Ghosts)

Any other ways you can think of, this bit is usually more invested in the story, it’s different for each book!

NOW HERE’S A IMPORTANT POINT: DO NOT GIVE ALL THE INFORMATION! There must be more left to learn after this info dump!

Because here’s the thing...

They give you Zuko’s backstory, but not all of it. They make sure you still have more to learn. We learn that Zuko’s father was the one who burned him, but we still have questions! You know why?

Because they gave us more little hints!!!!! What’s Zuko’s dad look like?? Who’s this gal in the front row who looks like she’s really enjoying this??? Will Zuko learn to be better somehow??? AAAAA

And like the like the cycle of the Avatar, it starts all over again. More Little Hints, more Big Reveals. 

The number of hints and reveals varies from story to story based on how long it is, but in my experience, there are often at least 2 big reveals for a character: One at the Climax/Middle, and one at the End. This is not a required rule, it’s just something I have personally observed. 

It is not the prettiest but here is a little chart I made of skin tones.

Alternatively: People Ride Horses in Your Fic, and you’re Not Sure What to Do About It

horse rider/owner and baby writer here, throwing you an infodump that will maybe help with the whole ‘There’s a Horse in the Background here but I Don’t Know What to Do With it’ thing I sometimes see in writing!

Inside this infodump: Horse riding, horse care, horse tack (equipment), falling off a horse (and what usually gets injured), horse lingo, and behaviour.

Accepting – too accepting; willing to excuse extreme behavior

Adaptable – used to traveling from situation to situation; may not be able to fully adapt/live in a permanent situation

Affable – accidentally befriends the wrong sort of people; pushes to befriend everyone

Affectionate –inappropriate affection

Alert – constantly on edge; paranoid

Altruistic – self-destructive behavior for the sake of their Cause

Apologetic – apologizes too much; is a doormat; guilt-ridden

Aspiring – becomes very ambitious; ruthless in their attempts to reach goals

Assertive – misunderstood as aggressive; actually aggressive; others react negatively when they take command all the time

Athletic – joints weakened from exercise; performance-enhancing drug abuse; competitive

A while ago, I found a great post about Characters in Boxes. It looks like this:

The example given is Rey from The Force Awakens.

The great thing about this one is that it’s so basic but it highlights the important aspects of a character. I’m pretty sure there was more, but this was the part I liked best, so I saved it. It’s now my go-to character outline for all of my major characters; I tend to trim it down a lot for minor ones.

Before finding this one, though, finding character sheets that didn’t scare me off took a long time, and I didn’t really know enough about creating sheets to make one for myself. They always turned out like: name, age, physical appearance, personality, done. And I knew that wasn’t enough for me, especially since most of my stories are character-driven. I had to know what my characters wanted, where they came from and where they were going, in order for them to carry the plot.

So it might take a while, is what I’m saying. Finding the right character sheet that fits not just your characters but you and your style is really important if filling in these sheets is a thing you do.

Guide: How to Outline a Plot

The best way to write out a plot isn’t the same for everyone, and sometimes it’s even different from story to story. There are lots of different methods, and most writers use a combination of them, so you just have to try different things to see what works best for you. Here are some of the most common methods:

1. Just Write

Some writers are what’s known as “pansters” meaning that once they have a story idea in mind, they prefer to “fly by the seat of their pants” and start writing without any planning in place. The key to making this method work is to remember that you’re only writing the first draft. Nothing you’re doing is set in stone, so don’t feel the story has to be perfect in one shot. Follow your gut and write the story to the best of your ability. Worry about tightening and polishing in subsequent drafts.

2. Synopsis

Some writers prefer to start by writing beginning to end summary of the story, describing all the important details and events in the order that they unfold. Summaries can be a great way to flesh out an idea for a plot, and they can also serve as a nice guideline if you want to “just write” your story but need a bit more structure first.

3. Old-Fashioned Outline

Do they still teach outlining in school? I don’t even know… when I was a kid, we learned how to do outlines with Roman numerals for the main points, capital letters for the minor points, and numbers for sub-points. If you’re good at outlining, this can be a great way to outline your plot.

4. Timeline

Creating a timeline for your story can be a great way to map it out. All you need is a beginning event, climax event, and end event. From there you can start filling in the events that follow and precede those events. Even if you don’t know the exact date for when a scene takes place, you can still mark it down in the right general place.

5. Scene List

If you have a pretty good idea of the scenes that need to take place, or at least a good number of them, you can start by writing out a scene list. It’s nice to do them in a table if you can so you can organize important details, like chapter, scene number, date and location, who’s in it, and then a short summary. Though, how you organize it is up to you. If you prefer, you can just write the scene number and then a brief summary.

6. Story Structure Map

Some writers like to map out their story according to whatever story structure they want to follow. They’ll pull up a graphic or chart of the structure, transcribe it onto paper or into a document, and then note each relevant event for each structure “mile marker.”

7. Subway/Tube Map

This is a new one I recently heard about. I haven’t had a chance to try it yet, but I think it’s fascinating. And there are even subway map creators you can use if you don’t want to draw it out. Ultimately, the goal is to map out the events of your story in the style of a subway/tube map. This method makes it easy to illustrate subplots and see how they relate to the rest of your story.

8. The Mind Map

Mind maps can be a fantastic way to get the most important parts of your story out on paper, and to start figuring out where other parts fit in and how they relate to everything else.

9. Index Cards

Some writers have luck writing out key scenes, moments, bits of dialogue (or anything else they have in mind) on individual index cards, which can then be laid out in order on a table, allowing for cards to be easily moved around, added, subtracted, etc. until a more complete story starts to emerge. Some writers even invest in giant cork boards for this purpose. Others use a dry erase board and draw out the “cards” instead. A lot of story writing software, such as Scrivener, even includes digital bulletin boards and index cards that you can use to visualize your story.

10. Method/Theory/Template

There are numerous methods/theories/templates dedicated to building/fleshing out plots. Some to look into:

- The Snowflake Method- Dramatica Theory- Save the Cat! for Novels- The Hero’s Journey

If one of the above doesn’t work for you, you’re sure to find even more ideas online. Try doing a search for “how to outline a plot” or “outlining a novel” to see what comes up. You might even try searching for your favorite author’s name plus “outlining” to see if they’ve done any posts sharing their own methods. You may also want to look into books, software, and apps/web sites that offer ways to help you plot your story.