"The noblest pleasure is the joy of understanding”

I see this a lot, no one has actual names, or any reference for names, that are legit Native American, varying among the tribes, for their characters.

Babynames.com and shit like that will give you names made up by white people.

However, I’ve got your solution.

Native-Languages  is a good website to turn to for knowledge on a lot of native things, including native names. If you’re unsure about the names you’ve picked, they even have a list of made up names here!

Emotions

Without Making Your Character Feel Too Self Aware

Showing Emotion Without Telling About It

Emotions Associated With Body Language

Telling Readers What The Character Doesn’t Want To Show

Hiding Emotions

Expressing Cardinal Emotions: Masculine vs. Feminine

Writing Extreme Emotion Without Melodrama

Specific Emotions

Conveying Shock

Conveying Embarrassment

Conveying Disappointment

Conveying Love/Attraction

Conveying Annoyance

Conveying Relief

Conveying Uncertainty

Conveying Impatience

Conveying Shame

Conveying Resentment

Conveying Panic

Conveying Guilt

Conveying Desperation

Conveying Sarcasm & Verbal Disrespect

Conveying Confusion

Conveying Stubbornness

Conveying Frustration

Conveying Indifference

Conveying Indignation

Conveying Confidence & Pride

Conveying Smugness

Conveying Enthusiasm

Conveying Curiosity

Conveying Hopefulness

Conveying Unease

Conveying Reluctance

Conveying Worry

Conveying Humility & Meekness

Conveying Happiness & Joy

Conveying Amusement

Conveying Disgust

Conveying Resignation

Conveying Jealousy

Conveying Anticipation

Conveying Contentment

Conveying Defeat

Conveying Excitement

Conveying Fear

Conveying Hatred

Conveying Hurt

Conveying Being Overwhelmed

Conveying Sadness & Grief

Conveying Satisfaction

Conveying Somberness

Conveying Sympathy & Empathy

Conveying Wariness

Conveying Defensiveness

Conveying Desire

Conveying Doubt

Conveying Energy

Conveying Exhaustion

Conveying Hunger

Conveying Loneliness

Conveying Physical Pain

Emotional Wounds

A Role Model Who Disappoints

A Sibling’s Betrayal

A Speech Impediment

Becoming a Caregiver at an Early Age

Being Bullied

Being Fired or Laid Off

Being Held Captive

Being Mugged

Being Publicly Humiliated

Being Raised by Neglectful Parents

Being Raised by Overprotective Parents

Being So Beautiful It’s All People See

Being the Victim of a Vicious Rumor

Being Stalked

Being Trapped in a Collapsed Building

Being Unfairly Blamed For The Death of Another

Childhood Sexual Abuse (by a family member or known person)

Discovering One’s Parent is a Monster

Discovering One’s Sibling was Abused

Experiencing a Miscarriage or Stillbirth

Failing At School

Failing To Do The Right Thing

Financial Ruin Due To A Spouse’s Irresponsibility

Finding Out One’s Child Was Abused

Finding Out One Was Adopted

Getting Lost In a Natural Environment

Growing Up In A Cult

Growing Up in a Dangerous Neighborhood

Growing Up In Foster Care

Growing Up In The Public Eye

Growing Up In The Shadow of a Successful Sibling

Growing Up with a Sibling Who Has a Chronic Disability or Illness

Having Parents Who Favored One Child Over Another

Having To Kill Another Person To Survive

Infertility

Infidelity (emotional or physical)

Losing a Limb

Losing a Loved One To A Random Act of Violence

Making a Very Public Mistake

Overly Critical or Strict Parents

Physical Disfigurement

Rejection By One’s Peers

Telling The Truth But Not Being Believed

The Death of a Child On One’s Watch

Victimization via Identity Theft

Watching A Loved One Die

Wrongful Imprisonment

Spending Time In Jail

Suffering From a Learning Disability

Motivation

Achieving Spiritual Enlightenment

Avoiding Certain Death

Avoiding Financial Ruin

Beating a Diagnosis or Condition

Being Acknowledged and Appreciated by Family

Being a Leader of Others

Being the Best At Something

Caring for an Aging Parent

Carrying on a Legacy

Catching The Bad Guy or Girl

Coming To Grips With Mental Illness

Discovering One’s True Self

Escaping a Dangerous Life one Doesn’t Want

Escaping a Killer

Escaping a Widespread Disaster

Escaping Confinement

Escaping Homelessness

Escaping Invaders

Finding Friendship or Companionship

Finding a Lifelong Partner

Having a Child

Helping a Loved One See They Are Hurting Themselves and Others

Obtaining Shelter From The Elements

Overcoming Abuse and Learning To Trust

Overcoming Addiction

Protecting One’s Home or Property

Pursuing Justice For Oneself or Others

Realizing a Dream

Reconciling with an Estranged Family Member

Rescuing a Loved One From a Captor

Restoring A Name or Reputation

Righting a Deep Wrong

Seeking Out One’s Biological Roots

Stopping an Event From Happening

Trying Again When One Has Previously Failed

Support Wordsnstuff!

Request A Writing Help Post/Themed Playlist/Writing Tips!

Send Me Poetry To Feature On Our Instagram!

Receive Updates & Participate In Polls On Our Twitter!

Like us and share on Facebook!

Read More On Our Masterlist & See our Frequently Asked Questions!

Tag What You Want Me To See With #wordsnstuff!

Preface: there is nothing wrong with hooking up or being in a friends with benefits agreement, but that’s not what this post is focusing on. Everything I say is in the context of a long term (“endgame”) relationship.

A man holding his wife and keeping her comfortable while she nurses their baby. A woman supporting her husband’s ambitions even though he’s terrified of the path to his goals. A man making soup and telling jokes to his horribly sick husband. A woman giving her wife enormous hugs when she’s upset and asking her to talk it out, even if she can’t fix it.

When have we ever seen these things in her books? Nothing in her work even comes close to the level of trust, intimacy, and genuine love that accompany the post-honeymoon stage. And that’s something both girls and boys need to see more often in fiction.

We as a culture focus so much on passion and wildness and sex (while simultaneously demonizing the exposure of a woman’s skin, what’s up with that?) that we lose sight of the beauty of long term relationships. The comfortable silences, the inside jokes, the contentment with not necessarily needing to get fucked four times a day by your partner to know you’re in love and you have a good thing going.

Knowing the intimate details of someone is truly amazing. Knowing how they like their hair played with. Knowing how grumpy they get around lots of people. Knowing whether they like their burgers rare or well done. These are incredibly small details, but they make all the difference in whether a relationship is one built on lust or trust.

Which, not to compare apples to oranges, is something I deeply admire about Leah Bardugo’s work. Kaz and Inej *never* jump into bed with each other, but they trust each other and know the small details. Jesper and Wylan *never* jump into bed with each other, but they respect each other and know the small details. Nina and Matthias *never* jump into bed with each other (though damn if they didn’t try) but they admire each other and are in the process of learning the small details. Every one of these relationships has a solid foundation that isn’t “I want to fuck you.”

Part of why this type of writing is so unacceptable to me to be toted as “endgame romance” is because it perpetuates the idea that women are just objects. Your true love should not think of you as valuable as a cute brooch or hairpin to show off to the world.

In all of S/JM’s books, she claims she’s a figurehead warrior of the feminist movement and doesn’t write “alpha males,” but that’s all she writes. Her women are objects in her stories despite supposedly being the ones we’re meant to relate to. I suppose S/JM may be trying to say that women have feminist agency in choosing their abusive boyfriend, but as far as feminism goes, that’s not really a message we want to teach young girls.

Girls are reading these books and being taught that this is an appropriate relationship. That losing complete autonomous control of oneself, losing independence, and losing your personal privacy - as a woman - is what you should expect in a relationship. That being used and flaunted as an accessory is what is going to happen. That being beautiful is all that matters (which, to be fair, she pushes this message onto men and boys as well).

This misogyny only doubles down with how she presents her male characters. We’re supposed to feel *bad* that Riceman was treated so terribly by his former… girlfriend… mate… whatever, except that he then turns around and treats Fairy exactly the same way. And it’s “hot.” “Sexy,” even. So what does this tell us? That these behaviors are not problematic for men. They’re normal. “Good girls” are submissive and ready to have sex whenever their man desires. “Evil women” do exactly what the men do. But somehow it’s…. inexplicably Not Evil for the men to do it.

S/JM’s misogyny runs so deep, it is so inseparable from her as an author, that it crops up in every single one of her books. Young girls do not need to be told that this is what they should expect from relationships. They don’t need to be taught to excuse or dismiss this type of behavior. Normalizing this kind of thing is dangerous, especially in YA fiction, especially in our society when men are already excused daily.

Any YA story that depicts abusive relationships, in my opinion, should clearly define that it is an abusive relationship that the reader should not admire or desire. There are not enough YA books out there that depict genuine affection and mutual respect, care, and love between a man and a woman. That S/JM is so popular even with all her toxic bullshit really disturbs me.

I’ll bash SJM and continue to bash her work. It’s garbage that preaches bad narratives, toxic and abusive relationships, and she rips things from other people’s works without shame. Which is like…. literally a violation of literary ethic.

TW // Sexual Assault

There’s been a lot of speculation about Rhysand assaulting Feyre and I’ve had WAY too many people in my comments trying to justify it, so for those who deny it, here’s your proof ✨

Extract from ACOTAR, page 808 (for my e-book anyways)

I bared my teeth. ““Go. To. Hell.” Swift as lightning, he lashed out, grabbing the shard of bone in my arm and twisting. A scream shattered out of me, ravaging my aching throat. The world flashed black and white and red. I thrashed and writhed, but he kept his grip, twisting the bone a final time before releasing my arm. Panting, half sobbing as the pain reverberated through my body, I found him smirking at me again.”

hmmmm. Is this the man y’all are falling for? Anyway, once we get past the fact that he basically tortured Feyre into accepting his deal, we get onto the SUPER problematic part - when he drugged Feyre and touched her. While not conscious.

So, Rhys paints Feyre up in some revealing stuff despite her saying she didn’t want to: “…they placed on me a gauzy white dress. If you could call it a dress. It was little more than two long shafts of gossamer, just wide enough to cover my breasts, pinned at each shoulder with gold brooches… It barely covered me, and from the cold air on my skin, I knew that most of my backside was left exposed.” then manipulates her to drink some faerie wine or something. ““No”, I said, and some faeries who were watching us from a safe distance chuckled. “Drink,” he said, and my traitorous fingers latched onto the goblet.”

Then she throws up a lot, and Lucien comes to her cell and points out how the paint Rhysand made her put on is smudged, which means that he was holding her or and touching her while she couldn’t object. 

“I studied the few smudges on my waist, marks that looked like hands had held me. “Who did that to me?” I asked quietly, my eyes tracing the arc of the spoiled paint. “Who do you think?” [Lucien says] My heart clenched and I looked at the floor. “Did-did Tamlin see it?” Lucien nodded. “Rhys was only doing it to get a rise out of him.” 

pause.

Do you see what the problem is here? Rhys touched her or some shit while she couldn’t object. Now, I wouldn’t have any problem with this story if the narration had some sort of deeper meaning on how sexual assault isn’t always violent and penetrative, but showing the deeper sides of how people manipulate you etc. But that’s not what happened. Sarah J Maas had the audacity to write Rhys as a love interest. After he drugged her, broke her arm to make her accept his deal, made her get a permanent tattoo and overall being just a generally annoying person. And though he “apologised” in ACOMAF, the excuse was weak, if there even is an excuse for the aforementioned. I’m all for seeing characters overcome their toxic traits and see a well-written redemption arc, but there was no development to be seen in the series. Feyre just accepted Rhysand’s (bad) apology, and went on to fucking him. And no, I’m not denying that Rhys had a hard childhood, and I’m not saying being abused by Amarantha for 50 years is okay, but that doesn’t dismiss his actions. 

Also on the topic of Amarantha, Rhys is portrayed as a sexual abuse survivor. So why is he so eager to have sex with Feyre all the time? Why does he show no signs of trauma? This is a) unrealistic and b) teaches a new generation of younger people that abuse has no consequences which is completely false.

So, to wrap it up, I hate him because a disgusting, annoying archetype of a classic “bad boy” character with no real personality or development.

Thousands of carefully curated images of portrait photography and movie stills can be found on my Pinterest page! I’ve done my best to include international images, including vintage photography and period piece imagery.

Each gender category is a “section,” and images that defy gender norms will go under “pins” on the main board. Also, detail images that portray unclear gender will be in the “Details” collection.

Since these collections are for inspiration, please imagine your desired face claims as any character you want!

Female Characters

Male Characters

Groups, Couples, Family, etc.

Period Pieces/Costume Dramas 

Pre-1960s Photography

Pre-1960s Fictional Portrayals

Character Details & Aesthetic

Plus similar content on my Unsplash account. Link below!

+ If you appreciate posts like this one, please consider leaving a tip and Buy Me A Coffee!