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OKAY HOLD UP I KNOW THIS IS A SHITPOST BUT I HAVE A DEGREE IN THIS
Okay, so when we talk about the meaning of words, we are talking about denotation, the dictionary definition of the word, and connotation, the context in which native speakers associate with the word. Connotation is why just looking up synonyms of words doesn't always work.
When teaching this to ESL learners, my favorite example is the word "accumulate." Accumulate means to gather or collect in the dictionary definition of the words. The error in the example is for someone to say "I accumulate things" instead of "I collect things." This sounds wrong, because despite the denotation of the word, the most common connotation of accumulate is that a process done over time and without intent. Water accumulates. Dust accumulates. Money accumulates. But a person cannot say they accumulate things, because that is not a natural usage of the word.
However! As a writer who likes to learn new words, you can now use this knowledge to your advantage. Consider the following sentences:
Bob collected unread books until they piled high around his bed.
Versus
Books accumulated around Bob's bed, turning it into a fortress of unread words.
Both sentences are telling us the same thing - but the latter gives us a bit more insight on Bob, in that he's not intentionally obtaining so many books and not reading them, and that's a far more interesting thing to learn. The more you learn these words in context, the more you can use them to enrich your own writing. Embrace the thesaurus - but pay attention to those example sentences and how those words are actually used!
Thing: Dictionary of Synonyms (amazon link partly to demonstrate that I'm not imagining this, because of course googling for 'dictionary of synonyms' gives you thesauruses). Different from a thesaurus. may give fewer words than a thesaurus does, but explains the differences.
Gentle reminder, first drafts are for putting it all on the page and out of your head. First drafts are for telling. Later drafts are for showing. So keep writing that first draft. You've got this.
A lot of local regions went indie last year when NaNo shut down the Municipal Liaison program - aka fired the volunteers who planned local events. If you have contacts, they might be able to tell you if there's a local group that's started up.
Many of these regions operate now in hybrid or online only spaces (my replacement -Illinois Novel Quest- uses a combo of discord and substack as an email newsletter system) so you can participate wherever.
Otherwise - websites like 4thWords or WrittenKitten are good for motivation. Shut up and write is a national loosey grouped series of people who aren't striving toward a 50k goal but just regularly meet to write. Trackbear is good for word tracking and allows you to do so with a group, to compete against friends.
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#and I think because you are developing like 19 different skills simultaneously#but the ones that you're better at feel smooth and easy and therefore not noticeable#but the places where the pen drags metaphorically feel more significant#so it's like oof ouch the struggle (doesn't notice the 100 hundred things that would be very hard without practice & experience & skill)
[Text ID: I don't know who needs to hear this, but writing is hard because you care about it and you want it to be good, not because you're bad at it. /end ID]
fuck it. be creative even if you never really *make* anything. write out plot synopses of stories and then move on. design OCs you'll never use. make mood boards and concept art and don't do anything with them. life's too short to forget everything that inspired you and creation doesn't have to be "complete" to be worth the time you put into it.
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For any other authors out there, if you think you might be part of the class action against Anthropic (meaning your books are represented in the databases of pirated books they used) you can fill out a form here with the lawfirm handling the case and they'll let you know how things move forward. Filling out the form doesn't mean you're joining the class action - only that you are interested.
Not sure if your books are in the pirated datasets? The Atlantic will let you search a static version of one of them (LibGen)
Here's also the new Writer Beware article:
Almost exactly a year ago, a group of authors filed suit against AI company Anthropic over its creation of an enormous library of digitized
"why do you write?" because it’s the only way to silence the characters pacing around my brain like victorian ghosts with unresolved issues that prevent them from moving on.
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🍖 How to Build a Culture Without Just Inventing Spices and Necklaces
(a worldbuilding roast. with love.)
So. You’re building a fantasy world, and you’ve just invented:
→ Three types of ceremonial jewelry
→ A spice that tastes like cinnamon if it were bitter and cursed
→ A holiday where everyone wears gold and screams at dawn
Cute. But that’s not culture. That’s aesthetics.
And if your worldbuilding is all outfits, dances, and spice blends with vaguely mystical names, your story’s probably going to feel like a cosplay convention held inside a Pinterest board.
Here’s how to fix that—aka: how to build a real, functioning culture that shapes your story, not just its vibes.
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🔗 Culture Is Built on Power, Not Just Style
Ask yourself:
→ Who’s in charge, and why?
→ Who has land? Who doesn’t?
→ What’s considered taboo, sacred, or punishable by death?
Culture is shaped by who gets to make the rules and who gets crushed by them. That’s where things like religion, family structure, class divisions, gender roles, and social expectations actually come from.
Start there. Not at the embroidery.
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2.🪓 Culture Comes From Conflict
Did this society evolve peacefully? Was it colonized? Did it colonize? Was it rebuilt after a war? Is it still in one?
→ What was destroyed and mythologized?
→ What do the survivors still whisper about?
→ What do children get taught in school that’s… suspiciously sanitized?
No culture is neutral. Every tradition has a history, and that history should taste like blood, loss, or propaganda.
─────── ✦ ───────
3.🧠 Belief Systems > Customs Lists
Sure, rituals and holidays are cool. But what do people believe about:
→ Death?
→ Love?
→ Time?
→ The natural world?
→ Justice?
Example: A society that believes time is cyclical vs. one that sees time as linear will approach everything—from prison sentences to grief—completely differently.
You don’t need to invent 80 gods. You need to know what those gods mean to the people who pray to them.
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4.🫀 Culture Controls Behavior (Quietly)
Culture shows up in:
→ What people apologize for
→ What insults cut deepest
→ What people are embarrassed about
→ What’s praised publicly vs. what’s hidden privately
For instance:
→ A culture obsessed with stoicism won’t say “I love you.” They’ll say “Have you eaten?”
→ A culture built on legacy might prioritize ancestor veneration, archival writing, name inheritance.
This stuff? Way more immersive than giving everyone matching earrings.
─────── ✦ ───────
5. 🏠 Culture = Daily Life, Not Just Festivals
Sure, your MC might attend a funeral where people paint their faces blue. But what about:
→ Breakfast routines?
→ How people greet each other on the street?
→ Who cooks, and who eats first?
→ What’s considered “clean” or “proper”?
→ How is parenting handled? Divorce?
Culture is what happens between plot points. It should shape your character’s assumptions, language, fears, and habits—whether or not a festival is going on.
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6. 💬 Let Your Characters Disagree With Their Own Culture
A culture isn’t a monolith.
Even in deeply traditional societies, people:
→ Rebel
→ Question
→ Break rules
→ Misinterpret laws
→ Mock sacred things
→ Act hypocritically
→ Weaponize or resist what’s expected
Let your characters wrestle with the culture around them. That’s where realism (and tension) lives.
─────── ✦ ───────
7.🧼 Beware the “Pretty = Good” Trap
Worldbuilding gets boring fast when:
→ The protagonist’s homeland is beautiful and pure
→ The enemy’s culture is dark and “barbaric”
→ Every detail just reinforces who the reader should like
You can—and should—challenge the aesthetic hierarchy.
→ Let ugly things be beloved.
→ Let beautiful things be corrupt.
→ Let your MC romanticize their culture and then get disillusioned by it later.
─────── ✦ ───────
📍 TL;DR (but like, spicy):
→ Culture is not food and jewelry.
→ Culture is power, fear, memory, contradiction.
→ Stop inventing spices until you know who starved last winter.
→ Let your world feel lived in, not curated.
The best cultural worldbuilding doesn’t look like a list.
It feels like a system. A pressure. A presence your characters can’t escape—even if they try.
Now go. Build something real. (You can add spices later.)
—rin t.
// writing advice for worldbuilders with rage and range
// thewriteadviceforwriters
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