Writing & Inspiration Stuff

With National Novel Writing Month coming up, I know a lot of people are planning their novels. I’m a planster (halfway between a plotter and a pantser) so these asks are aimed at us!  

First Look  1. Describe your novel in 1-2 sentences (elevator pitch) 2. What is your novel’s aesthetic?  3. What other stories inspire your novel? 4. Share 3+ images that give a feel for your novel 

Main Character 5. Who is your protagonist? 6. Who is their closest ally?  7. What do they want more than anything?  8. Why can’t they have it?  9. What do they wrongly believe about themselves?  10. Draw your protagonist! (Or share a description)

Plot Points  11. What is the internal conflict?  12. What is the external conflict? 13. What is the worst thing that could happen to your protagonist? 14. What secret will be revealed that changes the course of the story?  15. Do you know how it ends? 

Need to learn to be brave 🔥🔥🔥

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Writers who may be feeling insecure out their own writing, yet still enthusiastically reblog and comment on someone else’s fic.

Writers who may struggle to find time to write their own stories, yet still read fics and take the time to let the writers know how much they like it in tags, asks, comments.

Writers who can appreciate and share a fic even though it might not be their ship or their “thing” because they respect the quality and the writer.

Writers who have tons of followers and share lesser known fics to help them get exposure.

Writers who have a small number of followers and will still reblog the popular fics.

Writers who will help another writer brainstorm or get through a tough part of their fic.

Writers who beta for other writers.

Writers who are kind and secure enough to support other writers.

winking

clenching

pulsing

fluttering

contracting

twitching

sucking

quivering

pulsating

throbbing

beating

thumping

thudding

pounding

humming

palpitate

vibrate

grinding

crushing

hammering

lashing

knocking

driving

thrusting

pushing

force

injecting

filling

dilate

stretching

lingering

expanding

bouncing

reaming

elongate

enlarge

unfolding

yielding

sternly

firmly

tightly 

harshly

thoroughly

consistently

precision

accuracy

carefully

demanding

strictly

restriction

meticulously

scrupulously

rigorously

rim

edge

lip

circle

band

encircling

enclosing

surrounding

piercing

curl

lock

twist

coil

spiral

whorl

dip

wet

soak

madly

wildly

noisily

rowdily

rambunctiously

decadent

degenerate

immoral

indulgent

accept

take

invite

nook

indentation

niche

depression

indent

depress

delay

tossing

writhing

flailing

squirming

rolling

wriggling

wiggling

thrashing

struggling

grappling

striving

Arouse -  agitate, awaken, electrify, enliven, excite, entice, foment, goad, incite, inflame, instigate, kindle, provoke, rally, rouse, spark, stimulate, stir, thrill, waken, warm, whet, attract, charm, coax, fire up, fuel, heat up, lure, produce, stir up, tantalize, tease, tempt, thrum, torment, wind up, work up

how is their relationship with their family

what are their beliefs, if they have any

what is their motivation (preferably something unrelated to their love interest/romantic feelings, bc people care about other things, too, kthx)

who were they raised to be vs. who they became/are becoming

what are their plans for the future, if they have any

how do they feel about themselves and how it affects their behaviour (i mean. you can’t tell me a character is shy then have them do things shy people wouldn’t do, like?????)

how do they feel about things they cannot control? 

and last but not least: 

WHY IS THIS CHARACTER THE PROTAGONIST

(P.S.A. Before We Begin: While the above GIF is from Captain America: Civil War, I won’t be including any superhero factors in this post. I just really love the movie and this scene specifically :P Enjoy!)

Hello friends, Abby here with another writing post! I’ve noticed that the concept of war tends to play a large role in many of the novels I’ve read in the past. Due to this and the fact that my own series (Smoke Shadows) will include its own war of sorts, I was inspired to make this post. Without further ado, let’s get started!

What could cause a war?

There are, of course, many causes that can lead to a war, and it would probably be a little strange if one occurred in your story for a single reason. Let’s go through a couple of general causes that have played major roles, starting with the M.A.I.N.:

Militarism. Some countries take excessive pride in their militaries and continue building and displaying them, even during peacetime. Often nations that would perceive an action like this as a threat find these acts of militarism unsettling; this can worsen relations between the two nations or can lead the threatened nation to make a preemptive strike of sorts.

Alliances. These can be dangerous, especially secret alliances. A small country might have made secret alliances with several larger nations in secret; someone picks a fight with them and suddenly there are six other nations on their case about it. Alliances made like these are the ones that can and probably will lead to conflicts involving more countries.

Imperialism. Simply put, imperialism is the process of “stronger” nations taking over “weaker” ones for control of some sort, and usually without the consent of the country they’re taking over. (Imperialistic nations don’t seem to care much about that last part, though.) Imperialism could lead to conflict in the form of a “turf war” of sorts between imperialistic nations or to a fight for independence by the nation that’s been taken over.

Nationalism. This one is dangerous, because it often comes from a feeling of unity in a nation. This pride can range anywhere from slight to intense and can be created in whatever way you want, but a historically proven way to use this method is through things like propaganda and yellow journalism.

At least one of these four reasons play some sort of role in the starting of a war, though of course there are many other causes you could choose from. Some of these possibilities can include completely unprecedented attacks, economic/territorial gain, religion, revenge of some sort, and (intense) internal disagreements.

Via @sodiumforsaltytimes

General

- Character template!

- How to write a novel

- How to write without experience

- First drafts…

- Mod writing post

- Specific setting ideas

- Cheat sheets for EVERYTHING

- The best masterpost you’ll ever see [1]

- Positivity for writers

- Considering publishing?

- Making a plot outline

Types of scenes

- The first chapter

- Sad scenes [How to make your readers cry, 2]

- Death scenes

- Killing off a character

- Anger

- Angst

- Horror

- Scary scenes

- Fiction

- Fanfiction

- Fantasy

- Sex scenes [1]

- Describing appearance

- Happy scenes

- The last chapters

Synonyms

- Dictionary [1]

- Masterpost

- Vocab list

- VOCABULARY (weapons)

- Synonyms for commonly used words [1]

Death/pain

- Checklist to successfully killing a character

- Writing about traumatic injuries (+ anatomy)

- How does medicine affect your body? [+ types & side effects]

- Fatal lung diseases

- Limits of human survival

- How much alcohol can the body take?

- Breaking point: cold

- Breaking point: water pressure

- Breaking point: eating too much in one sitting

- Breaking point: blood loss

- Breaking point: electric shocks

- Breaking point: how long can you go without breathing?

- Breaking point: G-force

- Breaking point: radiation

- FATALITY OF ALL DISEASES

- ALL MENTAL DISORDERS (+ symptoms & treatment)

- Signs of emotional abuse

Smut

- How to write good smut

- A 101 on smut

AU’s and prompts

- Prompts

- OTP AU’s

- Creative writing prompts

- Handy handy handy shit

Reference

- General

- Name meanings

- Lots of recourses

- Search engines

- Google like a boss

- In/extrovert etc. character ref sheet

- Character flaws

- How to write abt diversity

- Awesome sites

- BODY REFERENCES

- Clothing timeline ref

- LEGAL sites to download literature

- Realistic travel template (traveling by a horse? By pigeon? Fuck yeah)

- Symbols for writing usage

- Describing eyes

- Writing about ADHD characters

Misc

- Colors and emotions

- How to give useful critique

Useful Tumblrs

- @writingtipsandtricks

- @wordsnstuff

- @sophialikestowrite

- @writeworld

- @lizard-is-writing

- @writingdotcoffee

- @writingprompts

- @blackgirlmagicwrites

- @writing-tips-for-dummies

- @writing-tips-daily

- @el-norawrites

- @bucketsiler

- @writeontheedge

- @thewritingnook

- @thewordriven

- @she-who-fights-and-writes

In most forms of media, there are wars that are waged. Usually started from the bad guys because of some goal. Money, power, a diluted sense of right and wrong because without a goal in mind war is senseless carnage with lives thrown away for nothing.

Depending on what type of story your writing and the type of message you’re trying to get across, you need to know the beginning, middle, and/or end. With each of these parts of the war, you need to know the five W’s and H: who, what, where, when, why, and how.

Beginning

Who is the person/persons responsible for the war? There is always going to be some responsible for something happening. It could very well be a chain of events that started from something small. It could be a ruler looking for something more. It could the citizens wanting something better.

What is the reason behind it? There will always be a reason behind something this large scale unless the person behind said war is just interested in senseless carnage. The reason could be an issue that had been present and apparent but one event sparked the need to change something. It could be something kept secret from the people until it was too late or the citizen causing the war themselves.

Where did this start/take place? This is a question that needs to be answered because where it starts can dictate the direction of the war. If this war starts in one country, it could devastate that country and its people. If it’s a civil war then each side could very well take an environmental hit.

When did this happen? If the war is something that has already passed, then knowing when it happened relative to when the story starts is important. For example, the American Civil War happened over 150 years ago, but the effects of that way of thinking are still apparent. It feels like it happened a long time ago, put when put into perspective of the world’s history, it’s still relatively recent. Don’t forget that when figuring the time frame of the war.

Why did the person/persons believe that their reasons were valid? Everyone likes to believe that everything they do is perfectly reasonable…but sometimes they’re not. Something like the royalty still rolling in wealth while the country is actually broke is definitely something to riot over. The wealthy upset because they happen to be taxed a bit more than usual? Not so much. However, just because the reason doesn’t seem particularly valid, that doesn’t meant there can’t be a war over it. 

How is this war possible? If this is a civil war then, depending on who is fighting whom, what makes this feasible? Are the people hoarding their weapons? Did they make their own secret form of government? And regardless of who is waging the war and why, wars are expensive. How is it being paid for and by whom?

Middle

Who is fighting? All wars are fought with people risking their lives. Whether it’s the actual soldiers on the front lines or the general giving orders from HQ. Knowing who did the fighting and who did the planning and the more detailed parts of the plans will help with a better understanding of who that are and what they are doing.

What are they using to fight? This is super hella important and very much depends on the universe in which the story takes place. If the story takes place in a magical world, the type of magic that’s used needs to be clear and clearly defined. That’s not to say some things can’t be left to the reader, though. If it takes place in a world like ours, then things are kinda of already set, just adding a few things to specify is really all it would take.

Where are they fighting? This also depends on what type of universe they story is in. Is it like this world where battles were fought in open fields or more like Harry Potter where they’re fought in important places?

When, relative to the time frame of the story, are they fighting? The events of the war are what people actually remember most. When were the important events that happened and when did they happen between the beginning and the end of the war? When did the most important battles happen?

Why are the people who are fighting, fighting? Everyone will have their own reasons for fighting. To keep their fathers/mothers/brothers/sister/siblings away from the fight. Out a sense of obligations. They have something precious that they want to protect. Not everyone’s motives need to be pure or accounted for, except for when they are needed to be.

How are they fighting? People have different and varied methods of fighting. Some people fight with classical weapons. Some people fight with modern weapons. There’s magic and sorcery and a mix of each of these. If this war is something that happened in the past relative to the narrative, then specify whether or not the method of fighting is something that has grown out of style of something that is still practiced.

End

Who won? Obvious and important question to answer. History books are dictated by the victors and consequently so is the future. If your state/providence/country or whatever has ever made a mistake then maybe you learned about it. Maybe it was something that was taught because it needed to be but wasn’t told in full detail. Or maybe it was something you found out because of the internet and it was never taught in schools. It’s these kind of things that this question will answer.

What was the deciding battle/engagement? Not all wars end in an epic battle of good vs evil no matter how riveting it is. Not everyone can be Avatar: The Last Airbender. A lot of wars end with peace treaties even if hostilities between the two sides still endure. However, the battles can always end in an epic battle but always be aware of the repercussions battles like that can create.

Where was the battle won? This can also mean a lot to the narrative. A lot of battle grounds are persevered or made into memorials for the people who gave their lives there. Do these battle grounds matter to the people that come after the war or are they just land that happened to have a battle fought on them?

When, relative to the start of the war, does it end? If the war ends close to the start of the story then the repercussions are still extremely fresh in everyone’s minds. If this is still a ways away then think of the consequences that will come from the war. If it’s so long ago that at least ten generations have passed, then the consequences would be different.

Why did the battle/arrangement end the war? There are lots of ways to end a war and it’s difficult to decide how. Each potential ending could alter how others view the people who won/lost the war.

or - “Why Economics is Important”

So, let’s talk about economics.

I can hear you groaning back there. Hold on and hear me out. 

When you’re creating a fantasy world or a sci-fi world, many things define cultures. One of the most important for a lot of writers is religion, with politics being secondary in a lot of cases. 

But how often, when trying to create a unique world for your characters, do you stop and think about how money works for them? Or if they use money at all?

Let me pause right here and give you the dictionary definition of economics. That might help you understand exactly what I’m talking about - 

ec·o·nom·icsˌ

ekəˈnämiks,ˌēkəˈnämiks/

noun

1.the branch of knowledge concerned with the production, consumption, and transfer of wealth.

It’s not just a “money” thing. Economics is all about how things move in a society - where things come from, who produces those things, and - most importantly for worldbuilding - how the people in a community are affected by that system. 

A lot of writers will just look at our world and transfer that model directly into the world they’re writing about. There are rich people who have money, and poor people who don’t. In science fiction novels, people might exchange credits for the things they need. In fantasy, characters hand over gold coins without the writer giving it a second thought. 

So What’s the Issue?

Well, the issue is this - different economic systems work (arguably) for different worlds. You can see that in our current society. Different countries function better with different economic landscapes. That’s been true through history, too, and economics have changed with the times. 

But… I Don’t Know Anything About Economics

Nobody is asking you to write a giant manifesto about the next great economical system. Nor do you need to describe the details of your world’s economics in your story. Your characters likely don’t know everything about how their economics work, and your reader probably won’t care. 

But. But. Little details here and there can help enhance a world and show how it’s different from ours. Little economic details can help you better understand how your world actually functions. They can better explain things about your characters and the lives they’ve lead up to that point. 

Case in point. In the Dragon Age series of games, there is a magical substance known as lyrium, which is important to both mages and soldiers known as Templars (who use the substance to increase their power).

Because lyrium affects most individuals, but not dwarves in this world, dwarves have developed an entire society centered on mining and distributing lyrium to the other races. Dwarves are merchants primarily. There is also a large dwarven crime syndicate that smuggles lyrium illegally. In essence, the importance of lyrium has led to a lyrium-based economics system for the dwarves in this world. 

So What Things Should I Be Thinking About?

The biggest thing to consider is what “wealth” means in the world you’ve created. First and foremost, where does most wealth come from?

Let’s look for a moment at our history. In one example,lLandowners with a lot of good, workable property became rich usually because of taxes. They took money from other (poorer) people in exchange for a place to live, as well as protection. Those landowners became the “lords” and “kings” of the places and peoples they swore their protection to in exchange for money, goods, and services. 

This is the basis of most fantasy fiction. There are also many ways this system could be exploited in a fantasy world. 

Here’s a hypothetical. In a high fantasy world, only a certain type of person is able to fight and kill demons that appeared a few centuries earlier. Most people would be dead if left to their own devices. 

But, these Demon Fighters realized they could exploit their abilities. They offered to protect the common folk in exchange for what the people could provide them. So, in time, the Demon Fighters became the ruling class.

But even among the Demon Fighters there is a class system. Not every Demon Fighter has the same abilities. Some individuals are more suited to combat, being able to take down demons by force. Others have the ability to control demons. In time, the combat-able Demon Fighters become soldiers and those with the ability to control demons become Nobles, most of whom have demon servants and bodyguards.

Let’s Talk About Surplus and Scarcity

In most societies, economics are centered on two principles. 

The first is surplus. Having a surplus means having more than is needed of something. The other is scarcity. You can guess what this is. The more scarce something is (i.e. the less of something there is) the more valuable it becomes.

The more food that is available, the less difficult it becomes to acquire food. It can be freely traded, whether for other items/services of equal value or for money (or whatever symbolic exchange product a society uses, like “credits” in a sci-fi world). If there’s not a lot of food to go around, it becomes more difficult to acquire food. 

The person who has a lot of a needed thing holds power over those who don’t have that thing. In the Dragon Age example, even though dwarves aren’t human they aren’t treated as poorly as elves, another race that exists within that world. People rely on dwarves for lyrium, which gives them power, which means that even if they aren’t human they are important enough to humans to be treated more “equally” than elves.

What if Nothing is Scarce in My World?

For a while now, people have talked about the possibility of a post-scarcity economy. I’ll just leave this here - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-scarcity_economy

Post-scarcity economies are often found in science fiction that idealizes the future. Often these societies have a lack of a power structure. If anybody can go out and get what they want or need at any given time, then it’s hard for any one group to hold sway over the rest. 

Sometimes, companies today will create false scarcity by destroying goods and forcing the prices of those goods to be higher than it should be. This has happened in the dairy industry, with tons of milk being disposed of because dairy farmers want to protect their livelihood. 

I will say that I am NOT an economics expert, by any means. Nor do you have to be to think about it when writing fiction. 

Just be aware of the power structures that exist because of economics, and how this will likely play a role in the world you’ve built. Think of ways to play around with the power structures. Think of how your idea of space travel or demons or whatever will affect your world’s power structures.

I have other type of conflicts for you:

Order Vs Chaos

Tradition vs Progress

Discipline Vs Harmony

Selflessness Vs Egoism

Bacon Vs Tie      

Safety Vs Freedom

Individuality vs Community

Emotions Vs Stoicism

Romanticism Vs Enlightenment 

Nature Vs Nurture   

Life Vs Death

Bacon Vs Broccoli

 Pacifism Vs Self-Arming

Chance Vs Purpose

Talent Vs Hard work

 Passivity Vs Action      

Performance Vs Technique

Law Vs Good

Order Vs Harmony

Science Vs Nature

Human morality Vs Non-human morality (especially if both sides are “good”)

UPD: Added new ones

Also old three-way picture. Just in case if anyone might need it.