happy things ; music and piano, the colour red, reading, autumn, puns, reinaeiry, learning, and writing of course
fiction favs ; moral ambiguity, queer themes, fantasy, historical fiction, found family, complex relationships, enemies to lovers, literature references and parallels, tragic lovers, fantasy politics, eldest sisters
other ; tag and ask game friendly, open ask box and dms, and pls send me your wips!
fav reads ; much ado about nothing (shakespeare), ballad of songbirds and snakes (collins), as old as time (braswell), the false prince (nielsen), godly heathens (edgmon)
this month's wip → project s.t.a.n. ; small town in northern ontario gets chernobyled and our lovely main character and her sisters are too irradiated to leave so she suddenly becomes trapped and the caretaker of two little girls. not how she expected her summer to go.
next wip → eris ; lyssa harland could almost be good: she’s determined, hardworking, honest, reliable... except for the teeny tiny little fact that she very much craves power above all. (board is below)
wips //
the kingdoms ; my indulgent sprawling medieval fantasy world with no plot. includes fantasy politics, diverse cultures, conlangs, and a large cast of lovable fiends mostly centered on the terakk continent. never officially on hiatus; it's been my blorbo world since i was thirteen and i think about it all the time. (eris is set in this world too, across the ocean from terakk).
long live the queen ; a regency-adjacent royal murder mystery. it's five years after vallera's civil war, and tensions are still running high. when the queen suddenly dies, her oldest daughter believes there was more to it than simply illness. themes of grief, familial bonds, loyalty, coming of age, politics, arranged marriages, and what it means to be a just queen when all you want to do is protect your siblings. (wip intro) [hiatus]
disney but gay ; shamelessly inspired by reinaeiry's but it's gay covers. disney retellings where i try to draw more from the folktales themselves and everyone's sapphic. things i love about this series: sleeping beauty is a dream-sharing soulmate au, belle has anxiety, snow white and flora are exes, and the beast's name is amarante after patricia mckillip's "lady of the skulls". [hiatus]
other wips ; have a lot of other wips running through my brain, even some that i have no intention of returning to but still have occasional revelations about. linked is my side blog for quote, photo, etc. reblogs without context. follow + ask questions if you want lol
if you have wips with any of the above themes, tag me! i'd love to see them :)
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ok so this is another long shot but a few years ago there was a twitter post (in japanese i think?) that had measurememts for how to make this book stand thing out of cardboard that you could use to double up books and use up more space on shelves
back then i made a bunch of these but by now i lost the pic and dont know how to find the original post anymore
if it comes down to it i can just take one apart and get the measurements from there but i would be very grateful if anyone happens to have the original post or something similar??
don't mind how long it's been since i made this post, anyway i realized that i don't even need to take one apart to get the measurements when i can literally just unfold it and refold it /FACEPALM
so anyway here is the diagram for anyone else who is interested!!
this requires pretty big carboard pieces, if you have a really big box or something you can make it from one piece, but if you don't, you can also just make each of the pieces individually and then tape them together
and then in the end you put it together like this!!
and then when you make a bunch you can put them all next to each other and stack your books like crazy
EVERYONE START GETTING MORE USE OUT OF YOUR SPACE NOW!!!!
ok so this is another long shot but a few years ago there was a twitter post (in japanese i think?) that had measurememts for how to make this book stand thing out of cardboard that you could use to double up books and use up more space on shelves
back then i made a bunch of these but by now i lost the pic and dont know how to find the original post anymore
if it comes down to it i can just take one apart and get the measurements from there but i would be very grateful if anyone happens to have the original post or something similar??
don't mind how long it's been since i made this post, anyway i realized that i don't even need to take one apart to get the measurements when i can literally just unfold it and refold it /FACEPALM
so anyway here is the diagram for anyone else who is interested!!
this requires pretty big carboard pieces, if you have a really big box or something you can make it from one piece, but if you don't, you can also just make each of the pieces individually and then tape them together
and then in the end you put it together like this!!
and then when you make a bunch you can put them all next to each other and stack your books like crazy
EVERYONE START GETTING MORE USE OUT OF YOUR SPACE NOW!!!!
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
✓ Live Streaming✓ Interactive Chat✓ Private Shows✓ HD Quality
Anya is LIVE right now
FREE
Free to watch • No registration required • HD streaming
i also hoopla through my library! tbh it's given me less grief than libby lol. definitely recommend that as well :) also hoopla only shows titles you / your library has access to which is nice for searching.
You can fight AI in indie publishing by leaving reviews.
Seriously.
Ai-generated garbage is flooding the self-publishing market. It works as a numbers game- put out ENOUGH fake crap and eventually someone’s aunt will buy them the ebook as an unwanted gift, and you’ll have made two dollars. This tactic works at SCALE, which means real independent titles are now a needle amongst a haystack of slop.
If you have read a book this year that has less than 5 reviews, your rating is an algorithmic spotlight on that needle.
A one sentence review helps. Really. A star rating helps if you really can’t think of anything to say, but if you can muster up even “I laughed at the part about the tabby cat” you are doing indie authors a favor like you cannot believe.
(Also if you left a review on one of my books this year I am kissing you so softly on your forehead and I adore you)
Violence: A Writer’s Guide: This is not about writing technique. It is an introduction to the world of violence. To the parts that people don’t understand. The parts that books and movies get wrong. Not just the mechanics, but how people who live in a violent world think and feel about what they do and what they see done.
Hurting Your Characters: HURTING YOUR CHARACTERS discusses the immediate effect of trauma on the body, its physiologic response, including the types of nerve fibers and the sensations they convey, and how injuries feel to the character. This book also presents a simplified overview of the expected recovery times for the injuries discussed in young, otherwise healthy individuals.
Body Trauma: A writer’s guide to wounds and injuries. Body Trauma explains what happens to body organs and bones maimed by accident or intent and the small window of opportunity for emergency treatment. Research what happens in a hospital operating room and the personnel who initiate treatment. Use these facts to bring added realism to your stories and novels.
10 B.S. Medical Tropes that Need to Die TODAY…and What to Do Instead: Written by a paramedic and writer with a decade of experience, 10 BS Medical Tropes covers exactly that: clichéd and inaccurate tropes that not only ruin books, they have the potential to hurt real people in the real world.
Maim Your Characters: How Injuries Work in Fiction: Increase Realism. Raise the Stakes. Tell Better Stories. Maim Your Characters is the definitive guide to using wounds and injuries to their greatest effect in your story. Learn not only the six critical parts of an injury plot, but more importantly, how to make sure that the injury you’re inflicting matters.
Blood on the Page: This handy resource is a must-have guide for writers whose characters live on the edge of danger. If you like easy-to-follow tools, expert opinions from someone with firsthand knowledge, and you don’t mind a bit of fictional bodily harm, then you’ll love Samantha Keel’s invaluable handbook
i've been doing a lot more sketching and drawing as part of my worldbuilding hobby lately. one of the things i have is a jar with a bunch of different prompts for things to draw - i pick one at random and then fill a page with a bunch of sketches of things based on that prompt.
these sketches aren't associated with any specific aspect of my world or any specific culture. they're just brainstorming different possibilities. later on when i'm designing things for a specific culture and want to, say, decide how their houses would look, i'll flick to the pages i've drawn with ideas for houses to get inspiration.
there are lots of prompts out there for text-based worldbuilding but i haven't found many good lists for visual worldbuilding so i thought i'd share my list of prompts here in case it's useful for anyone else :)
abstract concepts
different cultures will have different motifs and styles. the topics in this category are to help me come up with ideas for the basic visual aesthetic of each culture.
patterns
colour palettes
symbols
shapes
borders
textures
architectural details
doors
windows
arches
columns
roof styles
stairs, ramps
balconies
railings
locks
wall styles
arches, entryways
gates
buildings
housing
palaces
temples
castles
shrines
shops
markets
watchtowers
hospitals
taverns
memorials
government buildings
wells
magical towers
graveyards / burial sites
household items
beds / sleeping arrangements
seating
tables
light sources
decorative items
vases / jars / urns
eating utensils
fireplaces / sources of heat
nature
trees
bushes
flowers
grass
funghi
rocks
mountain ranges
insects
fish
sea creatures
amphibians
birds
lizards
mammals
sea plants
waterfalls
people
humanoids
clothes
hairstyles
tattoos
eyes
mouths
noses
ears
hands
feet
gestures
infrastructure / civilisation
bridges
streets
signposts
paths
boats / ships / rafts
vehicles
flags
currency
letters / alphabets
numbers
military
weapons
armour
the sky
planets
constellations
moons
comets / meteors
cloud formations
magic
sigils / runes / glyphs / symbols
rituals
gestures
foci / wands / staves
portals
other stuff
symbols of royalty / nobility / power / leadership
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
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New Fiat Lingua article! In this essay, author Madeline James describes how she came to create her first conlang. I know that there are a number of conlangers who follow my Tumblr, so if you'd ever be willing, I would love to post the story of how you created your first language on Fiat Lingua. It is always fascinating to learn how someone made the jump from taking language for granted to wanting to create their very own.
There really really ought to be a book about how the staple crops of different civilizations shape and influence those civilizations, and I really want to read it.
Salt: A World History by Mark Kurlansky and A History of the World in 6 Glasses by Tom Standage (three are alcohol, three have caffeine) are not quite that, but may still be of interest?
I read Salt back in the day and it's so so good, second the rec. I have heard of 6 Glasses and not read it but I am sure I would probably love it. Gotta see if the library has it. Thank you!
A Short History Of The World According To Sheep by Sally Coulthard blew my mind. So many things are tied to wool and sheep and weaving and so many words and phrases are tied to wool, people have no idea.
Example words which come from textiles/weaving, if not specifically wool (go look them up!): subtle, shoddy, tabby, Brazil, rocket, twit, warped, going batty, on tenterhooks, text...
I'll throw in a rec for Pickled, Potted, and Canned by Sue Shephard - a very interesting look at food preservation and how the availability of different types of food preservation shaped cultures and cuisines.
The Lost Supper: Searching for the Future of Food in the Flavors of the Past might also be up your alley. It's about "forgotten" foods and staples. They talk about different types of wheat, sauces, veggies, etc and a little about the cultures from whence they come
DO I HAVE A SERIES FOR YOU. University of California Press has a gift for you and it is a 80+ book series on food studies. There are even some that are open access (legally free), but the rest are in libraries.
I also highly recommend Frostbite by Nicola Twilley. It’s about the impact refrigeration has had/is having on food preservation and culture, globally. It was one of my favorite books of this last year.
Can't believe no one's mentioned Consider the Fork yet, which is about how environment/resources shape our ways of eating, which shapes both our culture and our concepts of politeness. So interesting, really recommend!
Victoria Finlay has several books that are kinda about this!!! Fabric, Jewels, and Colors are all about the history of different materials and their place in both past and current cultures.
Ancient Americas on YouTube has some great videos on Maize, Chocolate, and Potatoes, as well as a video on other crops that were popular pre-maize.
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
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Anya is LIVE right now
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generally you shouldn't write run-on sentences because they get confusing and it doesn't give the reader a break. that doesn't apply to me though my run-on sentences are fun and understandable and they have a rhythm to it that makes you want to keep reading
Worldbuilding is such an inherently cool and fun concept. What do you mean i can just make up this fictional place with its own culture and religions and species and currency and stuff?
And on top of that, it’s completely free and relatively easy to do, which i find very cool
straight? don't know her @lena-rambles - Tumblr Blog | Tumlook
