⟡ Rain = grief, release, cleansing

⟡ Storm = conflict, chaos, change coming

⟡ Fog = confusion, the unknown, losing direction

⟡ Snow = silence, isolation, being frozen in time

⟡ Ice = emotional distance, coldness, numbness

⟡ Wind = restlessness, change, things out of control

⟡ Sunshine after rain = hope, relief, moving on

⟡ Drought = emptiness, longing, being depleted

⟡ Thunder = anger, power, something about to break

⟡ Lightning = sudden realization, shock, impact

⟡ Overcast sky = dread, heaviness, waiting

⟡ Dawn = new beginning, hope, surviving the night

⟡ Dusk = endings, nostalgia, running out of time

⟡ Heatwave = tension, pressure building, suffocation

⟡ Blizzard = being overwhelmed, stuck, buried

⟡ Clearing sky = resolution, clarity, finally

⟡ Flood = losing control, being consumed by emotion

⟡ Calm before the storm = dread, false peace

⟡ Seasons changing = time passing, growth, loss

⟡ Autumn = letting go, things dying beautifully

⟡ Winter = depression, dormancy, waiting to feel again

⟡ Spring = recovery, new growth, returning to self

⟡ Summer = intensity, aliveness, things at their peak

⟡ Midnight = rock bottom, the hardest hour

⟡ Moonlight = loneliness, romance, the hidden self

⟡ Stars = distance, permanence, something to hold onto

⟡ Eclipse = something blocking the light

⟡ Rainbow = promise after pain, rare beauty

⟡ Mist = memory, the past, things half-remembered

⋆˙⟡ The economy of small towns is not quaint. It is precarious and everyone knows exactly how precarious. When the plant closed, or the mill shut down, or the highway got rerouted fifteen miles east, the whole town felt it in a specific and lasting way. There are towns that have been dying for forty years and the people in them know it and don't talk about it directly but it's in everything. The storefronts with plywood where glass used to be, the school that consolidated with the next town over, the young people who leave and the question of whether they're coming back that nobody asks out loud because everybody already knows the answer. Writing a small town without writing its economic reality is writing a set, not a place.

⋆˙⟡ There is a specific kind of person who runs everything and they are not elected. Every small town has someone. Sometimes a family, sometimes just an individual, who is not officially in charge of anything but whose opinion determines outcomes. The woman who's been on every committee for thirty years. The family that's owned the land since before living memory. They don't have to make demands. Everyone already knows where the edges are. A newcomer or outsider won't see this power structure at first because it isn't written down anywhere. It lives in who gets called first, who's consulted before decisions are made, whose silence means disapproval. Writing this type of character correctly means never letting them explain themselves. They don't need to.

⋆˙⟡ Leaving is a complicated moral act and coming back is even more complicated. The person who got out, who went to college, who moved to the city, who built a life somewhere else, occupies a strange position. There's pride in them, genuine pride, and also a kind of low resentment that nobody names. They think they're better than this. Maybe they do, maybe they don't, but the suspicion is there. And when they come back, for a funeral, because things fell apart, because they got sick, the town doesn't quite absorb them back in the way they expect. They're not who they were. But they're also not from away. They're in a third category that doesn't have a comfortable name and everyone, including them, is a little awkward about it.

⋆˙⟡ People maintain relationships for decades past the point where they would have ended anywhere else. Because the pool is small and leaving is a whole thing, people stay in friendships, in dynamics, in proximity to people they would have simply stopped seeing in a city. The woman who is still friends with her ex-husband's sister because their kids go to the same school and their mothers are in the same Bible study and it would be more work to be enemies than to just keep showing up. These relationships have layers and scar tissue. They are not warm exactly, but they are not cold either. They are maintained. Writers often write relationships as chosen. In small towns, a lot of relationships are simply continued.

⋆˙⟡ Local history is oral and it is everywhere and it is not neutral. The story of what happened to the Henderson property, why the Murphys and the Dales don't speak, what exactly went on the summer of the flood; this history lives in people, not in records. And it gets told selectively, with emphasis and with meaning. The version your family tells is not the version their family tells. History in a small town is a living argument. A character who grew up there absorbed a version of local history that shaped their understanding of who deserves what and why, and that version has gaps and biases they cannot fully see. A newcomer doesn't have access to this history at all and will keep misreading things because of it.

✮ The smell arrives before anything visual does. Always before. Decades-old antiseptic that never fully evaporated, black mold, particulate plaster, and something underneath all of that you will not name. Your character detects it from the parking lot. Do not skip this. Writers skip this constantly. Smell is 70% of fear. If your character walks in and immediately describes what they SEE, you have already lost the reader's stomach. Fix it.

✮ Long hospital corridors are acoustic funnels. A door swinging on a corroded hinge forty feet away sounds, physiologically and neurologically, like it is directly behind your character. It is not. But they don't know that yet. And more importantly: they can't immediately tell the difference.

✮ Original floor tiles: white hexagons, many cracked, grout gone grey-black with decades of something. Footsteps echo differently on intact vs. cracked tile. Your character will begin unconsciously stepping around the cracked ones without deciding to. Write it as unconscious. Don't give them the decision.The body knows things the mind hasn't processed.

✮ Nurses' stations have the room call-board still mounted. Metal slots, room numbers, some still containing names on yellowed paper in faded handwriting. Perfectly legible. Your character should read one name specifically. A real first and last name. This is what grounds supernatural dread in human scale. The horror of a ghost is always the horror of the specific person who became one.

✮ Do not have your character open a patient file and find something horrifying written in it. That is lazy and everyone does it. The horror in the file is that it is completely routine: a 54-year-old man admitted for a hip replacement in 1987, three pages of unremarkable medical notes in a nurse's tidy handwriting, then nothing. No discharge date. No transfer. Just nothing. The nothing is the story. Let the reader ask the question. Don't answer it.

✮ Operating theaters are always on upper floors. The surgical table is still there. They never take the table. In real abandoned hospitals, across multiple countries, documented cases: they always leave the table. Your character should wonder why no one took the table. Do not have a character explain why no one took the table. Some questions should stay questions.

✮ The morgue is in the basement. This is always true. The drawer handles are still there. Your character's hand will move toward one of them. Write this as involuntary. The hand goes first. The decision to stop, or not stop, comes second. We don't choose our curiosity; we choose whether to follow it.

[Plain Text: Hearing Assistive Devices]

I've seen lots of depictions of hearing aids and cochlear implants in writing and art, and very few of them actually match what that character would likely actually use. An especially common mistake is drawing hearing aids like they are wireless headphones, which is not how the vast majority of hearing aids look.

Here's a guide on hearing device types, uses, and how to better decide which one your character would have!

(Reminder that this is not medical advice, or perfectly tailored to every single situation. I am not an audiologist, just a Deaf person on tumblr.)

☽ checking your phone and not registering the time. checking it again. still nothing. putting it away anyway

☽ the half-smile you do when you're trying not to cry in public

☽ looking at your hands during a hard conversation instead of the person

☽ laughing at something right after you say it like you surprised yourself

☽ going to say something and then deciding not to and the moment is gone and it's too late and you think about it for three days

☽ the way you hold your breath without knowing when something's loading

☽ saying "no yeah totally" when you absolutely did not follow what they said

☽ the very specific tired where you're staring at a wall and your face just. stops doing things

☽ nodding while on the phone even though they cannot see you

♡ they meet and immediately like each other (goodbye conflict, we barely knew you)

♡ the only thing keeping them apart is a misunderstanding that one conversation would fix

♡ both characters describe the other as "beautiful" within three pages of meeting

♡ their chemistry is told not shown (the narrator insists they have spark. they don't.)

♡ the love interest has no personality outside of loving the protagonist

♡ they argue once, make up immediately, never argue again

♡ obstacles are external. they always agree with each other about everything.

♡ the rival love interest exists for two chapters then vanishes without explanation

♡ they almost kiss. something interrupts. this happens four times. on the fifth time they kiss. the end.

♡ the love interest is described as funny, clever, and kind. we see none of this.

♡ their big emotional moment is in the rain. it is always in the rain.

♡ the breakup lasts exactly one chapter before they reconcile

♡ "i've never felt this way before" said by someone with no prior emotional history

♡ both confess feelings at the same time. no awkwardness. no stakes. just synchronized emotion.

♡ their first kiss is perfect. no bumped noses. no wrong angle. cinematic and frictionless.

♡ jealousy subplot introduced and dropped without consequence

♡ they have one shared interest and it is the plot

♡ trauma bonding mistaken for romantic chemistry (these are different things)

♡ the side characters ship them loudly. this is not a substitute for actual tension.

♡ one of them dies temporarily. other is devastated. they come back. no lasting emotional damage.

♡ they end up together because the plot ends, not because they chose each other

Image Credit: Adobe Stock Next part of my Worldbuilding Master's Series! Notable highlights include:

Nature of the Undead and Spirits

Origins and Causes

Physical Manifestation and Appearance

Behavior and Motivation

Hauntings and Supernatural Spaces

Society and Cultural Response

Rituals, Protection, and Exorcism

Psychological and Emotional Impact

Ethics, Identity, and the Soul

Cosmic Meaning and Long-Term Consequences

Nature of the Undead and Spirits

What are undead beings and spirits in this world, and what separates them from the living?

What qualifies as “undead” in this world?

What qualifies as a spirit or ghost?

Are undead and spirits fundamentally different?

What causes a being to persist after death?

Is undeath biological, spiritual, magical, or psychological?

Are spirits conscious and self-aware?

Do undead retain memories of life?

Can spirits physically interact with the world?

Are all undead once-living beings?

Are some forms of undeath artificial or created intentionally?

Is there a soul involved in haunting or undeath?

Can spirits evolve or change over time?

Are there categories or hierarchies among the dead?

What truly separates death from continued existence?

What does it mean, in this world, for death to fail?

Origins and Causes

Why do spirits and undead exist, and what creates them?

What conditions create undead beings?

What causes hauntings?

Are spirits tied to unfinished business?

Can strong emotions create ghosts?

Are undead created naturally or unnaturally?

Are there environmental causes for hauntings?

Are curses or rituals involved?

Can violence or trauma increase the likelihood of undeath?

Are some locations more prone to spirits?

Is undeath contagious or transferable?

Can people intentionally become undead?

Are there failed forms of undeath?

Are certain deaths more likely to create spirits?

Do religions or cultures agree on the causes?

Why does the world allow the dead to remain?

Physical Manifestation and Appearance

How do undead beings and spirits appear, and how are they perceived?

What do ghosts look like?

Do spirits appear as they did in life?

Are undead visibly decayed or preserved?

Can spirits change shape?

Are some entities invisible most of the time?

How do hauntings physically manifest?

Are there sensory signs of supernatural presence?

Do appearances reflect emotional state or cause of death?

Are manifestations symbolic or literal?

Can spirits mimic living people?

Are some undead physically indistinguishable from the living?

Does appearance change over time?

Are there differences between how individuals perceive spirits?

Can technology or tools detect them?

What visual or sensory details make encounters unsettling?

Behavior and Motivation

What drives undead beings and spirits, and how do they behave?

What motivates spirits to remain?

Are undead driven by instinct, memory, or purpose?

Do ghosts understand they are dead?

Are spirits aware of time passing?

Do hauntings follow patterns?

Are undead aggressive, passive, or indifferent?

Can spirits communicate intentionally?

Are there recurring actions or rituals they repeat?

Do they seek revenge, closure, companionship, or something else?

Can undead learn or change?

Are there emotions the dead lose or gain?

How intelligent are different forms of undead?

Do they recognize loved ones?

Are they trapped by specific rules or compulsions?

What does the behavior of the dead reveal about them?

Hauntings and Supernatural Spaces

How do hauntings affect places, and what makes a location haunted?

What causes a place to become haunted?

Are hauntings tied to events, objects, or people?

How long can hauntings last?

Are some places permanently altered by spirits?

Do haunted spaces follow supernatural rules?

Can hauntings spread?

Are there levels of haunting intensity?

How do environments change around spirits?

Are there places considered impossible to cleanse?

Can multiple spirits haunt the same location?

Do hauntings affect weather, sound, or temperature?

Are there sacred or protected haunted sites?

Can people intentionally create haunted places?

How does society respond to known haunted locations?

What makes a haunting truly dangerous?

Society and Cultural Response

How does society react to the existence of undead beings and spirits?

Are undead feared, respected, or normalized?

How common are hauntings?

Are there professions dealing with spirits?

Do governments acknowledge the supernatural?

Are there laws regarding undead beings?

How do religions interpret spirits?

Are there cultural rituals to prevent hauntings?

Are undead hidden from public knowledge?

How do communities respond to haunted areas?

Are spirits integrated into everyday belief systems?

Are there social stigmas tied to hauntings?

Are some undead treated as citizens or people?

How are families affected by haunting?

Are there industries built around the supernatural?

What does society fear most about the dead remaining?

Rituals, Protection, and Exorcism

How do people protect themselves from spirits and the undead?

What methods are used to ward off spirits?

Are there rituals for safely burying the dead?

What objects repel or attract spirits?

Are exorcisms common?

Who performs spiritual cleansing?

Are there religious protections?

Can hauntings be ended peacefully?

Are some undead impossible to destroy?

What mistakes worsen hauntings?

Are there rules people follow around the dead?

Can spirits be bound or controlled?

Are there protective symbols or architecture?

How do ordinary people defend themselves?

Are there costs or risks to confronting spirits?

What defines a successful exorcism or cleansing?

Psychological and Emotional Impact

How do undead beings and hauntings affect the minds and emotions of the living?

How does seeing the dead affect people psychologically?

Are hauntings traumatic or comforting?

Do spirits exploit guilt, grief, or fear?

Can hauntings drive people to obsession or madness?

Are people changed permanently by encounters?

Do ghosts force people to confront unresolved emotions?

Are hauntings tied to memory and trauma?

How does prolonged exposure affect mental health?

Are there shared hallucinations or collective experiences?

Do people become dependent on contact with the dead?

Are there emotional reasons people refuse to banish spirits?

How does fear of undeath shape society?

Are spirits reminders of mortality?

Can the dead offer healing as well as horror?

What emotional truth do hauntings reveal?

Ethics, Identity, and the Soul

What ethical and philosophical questions arise when the dead continue to exist?

Are undead beings still people?

Do spirits deserve rights or respect?

Is destroying undead morally acceptable?

Are spirits trapped against their will?

Can undeath be considered a form of suffering?

Do undead retain moral responsibility?

Are some forms of immortality indistinguishable from undeath?

What defines a soul in this world?

Can souls be damaged or corrupted?

Is haunting a violation or a cry for help?

Do the dead deserve peace more than existence?

Can undeath be chosen ethically?

Are spirits evidence of an afterlife?

What obligations do the living have toward the dead?

What does undeath reveal about the meaning of mortality?

Cosmic Meaning and Long-Term Consequences

What larger truths about existence, death, and reality are revealed through undead beings and hauntings?

Why does death fail in this world?

Is undeath natural or a corruption of reality?

Are hauntings increasing or fading over time?

What happens if the boundary between life and death weakens?

Are there cosmic forces tied to undeath?

Is the existence of spirits comforting or terrifying?

Do hauntings suggest unfinished truths about reality?

Are the dead trying to communicate something larger?

Can entire civilizations become haunted?

What happens if spirits outnumber the living?

Are there cycles of death and return?

What does the persistence of the dead mean for religion?

Is true death possible?

What ultimate fate awaits souls in this world?

What does this world ultimately believe about death itself?

Things to consider when Writing about Found Family!!

⊹ Why can't they go back to their biological families. death? abuse? abandonment? disowned? running from something? sometimes people have families and just choose different people anyway. All valid but the reason matters for their emotional baggage

⊹ How did they actually meet.Thrown together by circumstances? gradual friendship that deepened? trapped somewhere together? saved each other's lives? worked together and it just happened?

⊹ What's the group structure. Is there a clear parental figure or is everyone equals. Are there siblings dynamics. the responsible one, the chaotic one, the baby of the group. Found families still have roles people fall into!!

⊹ How long have they been together? Newly formed groups are still figuring each other out with awkward moments. Established ones have years of history and inside jokes and shared trauma

⊹ What do they disagree about? found families aren't perfect just because they chose each other. They fight. They have different values and goals. Someone's always mad at someone else.

⊹ Is everyone equally committed or is someone still holding back? Trust issues are real especially for people who've been abandoned before. Someone's probably scared to fully let people in

⊹ Where do they live? Do they have a home base or are they always moving? Is it actually homey or kind of a mess? Who decorated? Whose stuff is everywhere? Do they have enough beds or are people on couches?

⊹ What are their traditions. weekly dinners? birthday celebrations they never had as kids? annual trips? stupid inside jokes that became rituals?

⊹ How do they show love. Some people are physically affectionate, some show love through acts of service, some are bad at emotions entirely but will absolutely kill for you.

⊹ What happens when someone new wants to join? are they protective and suspicious? Immediately welcoming? Is there a test/hazing? does the group fight about whether to let them in?

⊹ What happens when someone wants to leave. Do they let them go? Beg them to stay? Feel betrayed? People leaving found families hits different than biological ones!!

⊹ How do they handle one of them dating someone outside the group.? protective interrogations? feeling replaced/jealous? genuinely happy for them?

⊹ Do they have a shared purpose/goal or are they just together because they love each other. teams on a mission vs people who just became family. both work but feel different

⊹ What's everyone's trauma and how does it affect the group? Because people who form found families usually have TRAUMA. How do they handle each other's bad days, triggers, nightmares, self-destructive behavior

⊹ How far would they go for each other. just emotional support? lying to authorities? More?? where's the line and has anyone crossed it??

⊹ Is there a "Black sheep" or someone who doesn't quite fit but is still included. The one who's pricklier, harder to love, keeps messing up. Do they keep trying with this person or is there a breaking point??

disassemble vs. dissemble disassemble means to take something apart: “We disassembled the cabinet together.” dissemble means to hide one’s beliefs or feelings: “She knew she had to dissemble her feelings to avoid a lecture.”

imply vs. infer imply means to hint at something: “He implied he was having an affair.” infer means to make an aducated guess and acts as the opposite to imply: “She inferred that he had been disloyal.”

disinterested vs. uninterested disinterested means being unbiased about something: “I asked an impartial third-party to get a disinterested take.” uninterested means being indifferent and having no interest at all: “I tried to show him, but he was uninterested.”

empathy vs. sympathy empathy describes feeling what someone else feels: “His natural empathy meant that he was always feeling bad for someone.” sympathy is a feeling of compassion or feeling bad for someone: “She showed no sympathy for her victims.”

grisly vs. grizzly grisly means something disgusting, horrible, or repulsive: “The killer left a grisly sight behind.” grizzly is a large species of brown bears: “No, you cannot cuddle the grizzly!”