Noble

Aww thank you so much! This was a really fun ask, and I ended up doing a whole second post for VtM logos for vamplr blogs.

Please credit @pixopix, likes and reblogs are appreciated!

Check out my Vampire the Masquerade set.

For the writers struggling to rid themselves of the classic ‘said’. Some are repeated in different categories since they fit multiple ones (but those are counted once so it adds up to 100 new words). 

1. Neutral Tags 

Straightforward and unobtrusive dialogue tags: 

Added, Replied, Stated, Remarked, Responded, Observed, Acknowledged, Commented, Noted, Voiced, Expressed, Shared, Answered, Mentioned, Declared.

2. Questioning Tags 

Curious, interrogative dialogue tags:

Asked, Queried, Wondered, Probed, Inquired, Requested, Pondered, Demanded, Challenged, Interjected, Investigated, Countered, Snapped, Pleaded, Insisted.

3. Emotive Tags 

Emotional dialogue tags:

Exclaimed, Shouted, Sobbed, Whispered, Cried, Hissed, Gasped, Laughed, Screamed, Stammered, Wailed, Murmured, Snarled, Choked, Barked.

4. Descriptive Tags 

Insightful, tonal dialogue tags: 

Muttered, Mumbled, Yelled, Uttered, Roared, Bellowed, Drawled, Spoke, Shrieked, Boomed, Snapped, Groaned, Rasped, Purred, Croaked.

5. Action-Oriented Tags 

Movement-based dialogue tags: 

Announced, Admitted, Interrupted, Joked, Suggested, Offered, Explained, Repeated, Advised, Warned, Agreed, Confirmed, Ordered, Reassured, Stated.

6. Conflict Tags 

Argumentative, defiant dialogue tags:

Argued, Snapped, Retorted, Rebuked, Disputed, Objected, Contested, Barked, Protested, Countered, Growled, Scoffed, Sneered, Challenged, Huffed.

7. Agreement Tags 

Understanding, compliant dialogue tags: 

Agreed, Assented, Nodded, Confirmed, Replied, Conceded, Acknowledged, Accepted, Affirmed, Yielded, Supported, Echoed, Consented, Promised, Concurred.

8. Disagreement Tags 

Resistant, defiant dialogue tags: 

Denied, Disagreed, Refused, Argued, Contradicted, Insisted, Protested, Objected, Rejected, Declined, Countered, Challenged, Snubbed, Dismissed, Rebuked.

9. Confused Tags 

Hesitant, uncertain dialogue tags:

Stammered, Hesitated, Fumbled, Babbled, Mumbled, Faltered, Stumbled, Wondered, Pondered, Stuttered, Blurted, Doubted, Confessed, Vacillated.

10. Surprise Tags

Shock-inducing dialogue tags:

Gasped, Stunned, Exclaimed, Blurted, Wondered, Staggered, Marvelled, Breathed, Recoiled, Jumped, Yelped, Shrieked, Stammered.

Note: everyone is entitled to their own opinion. No I am NOT telling people to abandon said and use these. Yes I understand that said is often good enough, but sometimes you WANT to draw attention to how the character is speaking. If you think adding an action/movement to your dialogue is 'good enough' hate to break it to you but that ruins immersion much more than a casual 'mumbled'. And for the last time: this is just a resource list, CALM DOWN. Hope that covers all the annoyingly redundant replies :)

Looking For More Writing Tips And Tricks? 

Check out the rest of Quillology with Haya; a blog dedicated to writing and publishing tips for authors!

42 years ago, on July 24, 1983, , the Black July pogrom took place in Sri Lanka, the largest anti-Tamil pogrom in the island’s history.

The island-wide violence led to the killing of 5,638 Tamils. Around 18,000 homes were burned, 5,000 shops were destroyed, and horrific atrocities were committed, including massacres, prison riots, sexual violence, assassinations, and even reports of cannibalism. Hundreds of women were raped by the Sinhalese mobs.

This atrocity was not a spontaneous outbreak of violence, but a well-orchestrated plan executed by the Sri Lankan government, with the active participation and support of sections of the Sinhalese population. Many not only took part in the violence but aided and abetted the pogrom with the clear intent of exterminating the Tamil people. The Sri Lankan government provided the mobs with transportation and voter registration forms citing the addresses of Tamil citizens.

International Commission of Jurists, a globally respected NGO, concluded that the violence during Black July “amounted to acts of genocide” under international law. “The evidence points clearly to the conclusion that the violence of the Sinhala rioters on the Tamils amounted to acts of genocide.” — International Commission of Jurists, December 1983

To this day, no justice has been delivered to the Eelam Tamils for the atrocities they endured, atrocities that continue in various forms even now.

Make them enemies for a real reason. Not a misunderstanding that could be fixed in one conversation, but a genuine clash of values, goals, or loyalties.

Give them equal power. The tension works best when neither can easily dominate the other and both can win or lose.

Let conflict come before attraction. Chemistry should spark because of friction, not in spite of it.

Use forced proximity with purpose. Trapped together, working toward the same goal, or needing each other to survive creates pressure without softening things too fast.

Show respect before affection. They don’t have to like each other yet, but admiration is the first crack in the wall.

Let attraction feel inconvenient. They should resent it, deny it, and rationalize it away.

Keep the banter sharp but meaningful. Every argument should reveal values, wounds, or strategy—not just snark.

Slow the shift. Trust builds in small moments: shared danger, honest conversations, choosing not to betray each other when it counts.

Make the turning point costly. One of them risks something real to protect or choose the other.

Resolve the enemy status before the romance fully blooms. Love doesn’t fix the conflict—the conflict has to change first.

Let them choose each other after growth. The romance works because they’ve both changed, not because the tension disappeared.

First thing: horses are not bikes or cars. They are large, emotional animals with opinions. If they don’t trust the rider, everything gets harder.

Mounting is awkward. Even experienced riders don’t look graceful every time. Missing the stirrup happens. Especially under stress.

Riding is physical work. Thighs burn, hands cramp, lower back aches. Beginners feel it in minutes, not hours.

Horses spook. Sudden noises, shadows, smells—anything can set them off. A startled horse doesn’t politely wait for instructions.

Speed has limits. You cannot gallop forever. Horses overheat, tire, and need breaks or they risk injury.

Stopping is not instant. Horses need distance to slow down. Pulling hard just makes things worse.

Terrain matters a lot. Mud, rocks, steep hills, ice, forests, crowds—each changes how fast and safely you can ride.

Falling hurts. Even a short fall can knock the wind out, break bones, or leave a rider stunned and slow to get up.

Horses get injured too. Strained legs, thrown shoes, sore backs—an injured horse may refuse to move at all.

Bond beats skill. A calm horse with a trusting rider is safer than a powerful horse with someone it doesn’t know.

Fear travels both ways. If the rider panics, the horse feels it and reacts.

Long rides leave evidence. Chafing, stiffness, sore muscles, raw hands—nobody rides all day and looks fine.

Talking while riding is hard. Breath bounces, voices break, and shouting is common at faster speeds.

If the rider is unconscious or dead, the horse doesn’t magically keep going toward the destination.

Common Horse Writing Mistakes

Invention #472  - Third Generation Unstable Molecules  (FF vol.1 #1)

A synthetic material created by the famous scientist Reed Richards which can be altered easily and adapt to a certain environment, allowing them to be incredibly resilient to drastic changes in heat, cold, pressure, density, dirt, etc. making them ideal for use as superhero costumes.

Unstable Molecules are configuration of unknown atomic nuclei and electrons discovered or synthesized by Reed Richards, which is responsive to certain energized matter around it. Used in the making of clothing for the Fantastic Four and certain other superhuman beings, unstable molecular cloth mimics its wearer’s physical properties, allowing it to stretch like Mister Fantastic and burst into flame without burning like the Human Torch.

The third generation of unstable molecules was able to let Spider-Man change his costume’s coloring and markings, allowing him to switch between his future foundation outfit and his regular outfit.

The Powers of Reed Richards, Mister Fantastic (Fantastic Four vol.1 #358)

Reed Richards was gifted superhuman powers by cosmic rays bombarding his body.

Hyper-Intelligence: Mister Fantastic’s natural mental abilities were greatly augmented by the Cosmic Rays that gave him his powers.

Plasticity: Mister Fantastic possesses the ability to convert the mass of his entire body into a highly malleable state at will. How his body’s respiration and circulatory systems function at these distorted extremes is as yet unknown. Mister Fantastic can alter his form in a matter of seconds, often much less (depending on the complexity of the shape), and revert to his normal humanoid shape within a similar time. The greater the distance he stretches or the more extended the size of the object he becomes, the weaker his overall strength becomes. Mister Fantastic’s transformation to a malleable state is reflexive and nearly instantaneous: if he was at his normal form and taken unaware by machine gun fire, his body would still absorb the bullets’ impact through radical deformation. Mister Fantastic’s skin is virtually impervious to laceration or punctures unless he willfully relaxes his reflexive control over small areas of his body. In that case, scalpels and ordinary needles can penetrate his skin.

Dense Flesh: Due to the great malleability and elasticity of his molecular structure, Mister Fantastic is able to absorb the impact of any type of man-made ballistic projectile by deforming his body along the path of the projectile’s trajectory at the point of initial impact.

Contain Explosions: Mister Fantastic may use his elastic form to contain explosions by enveloping them and allowing their force to expand him. He can enclose and absorb the energy of a large explosive, on the order of 8 to 12 pounds of TNT (excluding exotic, high density explosives). Such shocks to his system are physically exhausting.

Redirect Projectiles: After his body absorbs the kinetic energy of a ballistic projectile’s impact, Mister Fantastic can expel the object back along its trajectory by flexing his body like a trampoline if he is adequately braced.

Elongation: Mister Fantastic can extend his limbs, torso, or neck to great distances: the maximum length he can distend before his body segments become painful is about 1,500 feet. (Although he can extend discrete body parts, such as a single finger, an ear, or an eye, he seldom if ever isolates such parts in his elongations.)

Grappling: Mister Fantastic may restrain opponents very efficiently by using his elastic form to entangle them.

Movement: Mister Fantastic can move at great speeds by stretching to his destination.

Shape Changing: Mister Fantastic can stretch, deform, expand, or compress his entire body or parts thereof into any contiguous shape he can imagine for a variety of uses:

Imitation: Mister Fantastic may alter his basic physical features, allowing him to take on the appearance of any other man with similar hair and skin tone. One time, Mister Fantastic actually increased his size and mass density, in effect bulking his body to “Thing”-like proportions while increasing his strength to the same levels as well. The force of his strikes was enough to stagger even Onslaught.[26]

Canopy, Parachute or Sheath: Mister Fantastic can extend his body in two directions, creating a canopy, parachute, or sheath, its thickness determined by the extent of its distention.

Gliding: Mister Fantastic can transform himself into aerodynamic shapes such as parachutes or hang-gliders. In this form he can support an additional 1000 pounds (enough to hold the rest of Fantastic Four, even the Thing).

Cushion: Mister Fantastic may form his elastic form into a trampoline and other cushion-like objects, allowing him to safely catch falling people and objects.

Sling Shot: Mister Fantastic may use his elastic form as a slingshot to hurl objects with great force.

Geometric Shapes: Mister Fantastic has compressed his body into the shape of a solid sphere, a cylinder, a cube, a toroid, and a rectangular prism: he can assume the shape of any solid that he can envision clearly, of a volume no greater than 1.7 cubic feet (a sphere about 18 inches in diameter). He can generate thin-walled shapes that enclose great volumes of space.

Fist Weapons: Mister Fantastic may form his fists into large hammers, maces, etc., which improve his physical effectiveness in hand-to-hand combat.

Bouncing Ball: Mister Fantastic can transform himself into any of a number of resilient shapes, such as balls or springs that allow him to leap or bounce great distances.

Two-Dimensionality: Mister Fantastic can flatten himself to the thickness of an average sheet of typing paper (.0035 inch) or narrow himself to a diameter small enough to pass through the eye of a #10 beading needle (about .045 x .06 inches).

Infiltration: Mister Fantastic can lower his body’s cohesion to such an extent that he can actually flow through minute openings.

Open Locks: Mister Fantastic may form his fingers into various types of keys, allowing him to open most forms of mechanical locks.

Wind Generation: Mister Fantastic may form his hands into fans, allowing him to generate wind by twirling them at great speeds.

Semi-Solid Liquid State: Mister Fantastic can willfully reduce his body into an almost liquid state in order to flow out of small cracks or passages, even through needle-sized holes.

Kirigakure: To differentiate between the ranks of members, Hunter nin will have more complex designs and shapes, while regular ANBU members will have just one, simple shape. (Like a triangle, or a circle.) They keep their village symbol always on the white part of the mask. Mostly as a means of identification, and to help prevent distraction due to any other mask shapes.

Iwagakure: These were fun to think of because there isn’t a whole lot of real life influence to look at. So I tried referencing Japanese ceramics and came up with a Haniwa inspired mask. I also thought it would be interesting to include the Kintsugi technique in pottery as a means of identifying a lineage of ANBU members. The masks are made of a very specific type of clay so if one is broken, another one is rarely remade. This is mitigated using Kintsugi. A lot of cracks in a mask indicates one’s dedication as a ninja, and is a sign of a long family line. If there are no available relatives to carry on the task of an ANBU, the mask is buried within the family’s crypt. New members are only selected after this. Like the hidden leaf, they also have a tattoo to indicate their will of stone.

Kumogakure: I wanted to take inspiration from the real life Kumogakure school, and noticed that they would wear demon masks. I’d like to think that they would have masks representing all of the tailed beasts in some way, but of course I couldn’t leave out a design for Matatabi and Gyuki. They’re trained to be night owls more often than not, (as a means of trying to make them more spooky to anyone who comes in contact with these members). So you’ll rarely see them during the day. If you do, they’re either coming back from a mission or for events where the Raikage must make an appearance. They’re also the best sword and spear users of the village, rivaling that of Kiri.

How to Write Unique Voices for Characters in Fiction

When it comes to writing fiction, creating unique and believable characters is absolutely essential. One important aspect of character development is crafting unique voices that reflect each character’s personality and background.

Understand your characters

Before you can write distinct voices for your characters, it’s important to understand who they are. Building out a solid foundation and developing compelling backstories is one of the best ways to ensure they always have unique voices. Here are some tips for getting to know your characters:

Write character sketches that detail their backgrounds, personalities, goals, and motivations.

Conduct interviews with your characters as if they were real people, asking them about their likes and dislikes, fears, goals, and more (the Proust questionnaire is a popular way to do this).

Imagine how your characters’ past experiences will change how they speak in different situations and when experiencing varied emotions.

Use description to enhance your characters’ voices

Descriptions can be just as important as dialogue when it comes to creating character voices. Here are some tips for using descriptions to enhance your characters’ personalities:

Use specific details to create vivid descriptions of each character’s body language, mannerisms, and behaviour.

Consider how each character’s mannerisms might influence their speech patterns. For example, a character who is shy might be hesitant to speak or repeat themselves frequently.

Pay attention to how your characters interact with their environment. Do they use their hands a lot when they speak? Do they pace around the room or sit still?

Use sensory details to create immersion. For example, a character who is nervous might sweat profusely or fidget with their jewellery.

Avoid stereotypes and clichés

When writing unique voices for characters, it’s important to avoid falling back on stereotypes or clichés. Here are some tips for creating characters that feel fresh and authentic:

Avoid using dialects or accents. Not only do these often rely on stereotypes, but they also break reader immersion unless authenticity is absolutely essential to the type of book you are writing.

Consider how each character’s background and experiences might influence their beliefs and values. One-dimensional characters built on clichés won’t have unique voices.

Think outside of the box when it comes to creating distinct voices. Instead of relying on traditional archetypes, consider combining traits from multiple sources to create something new.

How to craft unique dialogue

With the basics in place, how do we convert unique character voices into dialogue? Here are some tips for writing dialogue that feels authentic and unique to each character:

Read your dialogue out loud to hear how it sounds, and make sure it’s true to how you imagine your character to be.

Give your characters a unique conversational quirk that feels natural. An example could be that they call everyone “love.”

Vary the length and complexity of sentences to reflect each character’s personality and background.

Consider how each character’s education and experiences might influence their vocabulary and sentence structure.

Use dialogue tags sparingly to avoid detracting from the actual words being spoken.

Avoid using too much exposition or explaining too much in dialogue. Instead, let the characters speak when it serves your story.

There are tons of things that go into making a killer first chapter. Here are just a couple of things to consider.

Introducing your Protagonist and Making us Care

When writing your first chapter, you’ll be introducing your protagonist. When introducing your hero, here are some things to keep in mind:

1) We have to care about them (to want to follow them on their journey). This is typically done by giving your protagonist weaknesses and flaws or even quirks we can relate to. Your protagonist could be a grumpy, cold-hearted thief… but if they give half their findings to homeless children, our heartstrings are suddenly pulled on.

2) Don’t info-dump their backstory or appearance right away. Only give the reader what they need to know to understand the scene at hand. You especially don’t want to have your hero standing in front of a mirror describing themselves to the readers when you only have so many pages to hook a reader. You’ll have plenty of time to go into the details on your character later. This leads me to my next point…

3) Leave your readers wanting more. This is how you create page-turning chapters. If your protagonist has a mysterious limp… don’t reveal why right away. If their flaw is that they hate magic and refuse to use their birth gift… leave the reader guessing why. Little mysteries like that will keep readers subconsciously turning the page to figure out why. Just make sure you eventually give them the answer.

Foreshadow your Theme(s)

As early as you can, you’ll want to show readers what to expect in your book. Authors can do this by foreshadowing. Think of it as a “mini-scene” or description that gives the reader a taste of what’s to come. 

This can be a as small as a sentence or as long as a paragraph or scene. 

“I hadn’t been this dumb in years, hadn’t strayed this far from the Wall since… well since it fell. But I couldn’t help myself. I saw a squirrel runnin’… and catching one of those little critters would land me a handful of coin.”

Right away, the reader knows to expect themes of poverty and survival.

Ground your Readers, but don’t over do it.

Your first chapter is critical in catching your reader’s attention– so you don’t want to use up all your words on describing the setting. This is unwise, because, during this time, you need to be making us care about your hero and their actions.

Instead, show the reader only what they need to know to understand the scene. Too much description will slow down the story. 

However, if your story has an unusual or unique setting, this can be used as a hook. Although, as a general rule of thumb, you’ll want to write only what is necessary and dive into those beautiful descriptions later.