Writing reference list! Go ahead and add more if you have any, this is kind of short!

typewritingly:

Names

Worldbuilding/Setting

Rhymes

Families

Hair

Eyes

Drugs

Alcohol

Relationships

2 days ago / 2,041 notes

mistakenlyforgiven:

Random announcement to my followers because I found a thing.

For people who plan lots of novels and make lots of characters and come up with lots of scenes in their heads, and random ideas, even if they aren’t linked or anything, I have found a thing. (Also known as an app on the App Store.)

It’s called ‘A Novel Idea’ and it’s great.

It’s really simple and it has adverts at the bottom, but it’s still pretty great, and free.

uwu

I found it yesterday and have been adding loads of stuff to it.

Obligatory screenshots.

image

image

5 days ago / 4 notes

Ultimate Writing Resource List

lokishorns:

the-fandoms-are-cool:

a massively extended version of ruthlesscalculus’ post

General Tips

Character Development

Female Characters

Male Characters

Tips for Specific Characters

Dialogue

Point of View

Plot, Conflict, Structure and Outline

Setting & Worldbuilding

Creativity Boosters* denotes prompts

Revision & Grammar

Tools & Software

Specific Help

I made a very small noise to express a very large amount of happiness.

PLEASE, DON’T EVER DELETE THIS.

5 days ago / 101,289 notes

mark-gaytits:

Some resources for those writing medieval-type stories:

6 days ago / 21,393 notes

What To Do When You Have No Plot

writingbox:

Sometimes you want to write, but you have no plot ideas. Perhaps your fingers are itchy to write, you want to meet a submissions deadline, a character is bugging you to tell their story, or a single image, phrase, or scene is sitting heavy in your head. But you still can’t find the whole story.

So what can you do?

  • Start with characters: find their names, their backstories, their relationships. Create detailed descriptions, draw them, build their family trees. Get them interracting, put them into a room together, or bump them into each other in the street. Read their diaries, their love letters, their bank statements. Get to know them inside out. This is one place where you may find your story.
  • Start with a world: create your map, name the towns, lakes, forests, and mountains. Work out the trade routes, position the markets, the ports, and the industry. Find the history, predict the future. Draw out the borders, bring war, re-draw the borders. Get down to street level and see who lives there. Walk the streets yourself. This is one place where you may find your story.
  • Start with a room: stand in the middle of a room and open your eyes. What does the room look like? What’s in it? How many doors and windows are there? What is the room used for? Who uses it? What has happened here, and what is going to happen here? This is one place where you may find your story.
  • Start with an object: pick something up into your hand. What is it? What is it used for? Who owns it, and who owned it before them? What is it worth, either monetarily or sentimentally? Has it been lost, found, stolen, given away? Why is this object important? This is one place where you may find your story.
2 weeks ago / 6,083 notes
referenceforwriters: by Chuck Palahniuk  8 Words You Should Avoid When Writing As always, Orwell’s final rule applies: “Break any of these rules before saying anything barbarous.” There are instances where each of these words fills a valuable role. However, especially among inexperienced writers, these words are frequently molested and almost always gum up the works. 1. “Suddenly” “Sudden” means quickly and without warning, but using the word “suddenly” both slows down the action and warns your reader. Do you know what’s more effective for creating the sense of the sudden? Just saying what happens. I pay attention to every motion, every movement, my eyes locked on them.Suddenly, The gun goes off. When using “suddenly,” you communicate through the narrator that the action seemed sudden. By jumping directly into the action, you allow the reader to experience that suddenness first hand. “Suddenly” also suffers from being nondescript, failing to communicate the nature of the action itself; providing no sensory experience or concrete fact to hold on to. Just … suddenly. Feel free to employ “suddenly” in situations where the suddenness is not apparent in the action itself. For example, in “Suddenly, I don’t hate you anymore,” the “suddenly” substantially changes the way we think about the shift in emotional calibration. 2. “Then” Read More

referenceforwriters:

by Chuck Palahniuk 
8 Words You Should Avoid When Writing

As always, Orwell’s final rule applies: “Break any of these rules before saying anything barbarous.” There are instances where each of these words fills a valuable role. However, especially among inexperienced writers, these words are frequently molested and almost always gum up the works.

1. “Suddenly”

“Sudden” means quickly and without warning, but using the word “suddenly” both slows down the action and warns your reader. Do you know what’s more effective for creating the sense of the sudden? Just saying what happens.

I pay attention to every motion, every movement, my eyes locked on them.
Suddenly, The gun goes off.

When using “suddenly,” you communicate through the narrator that the action seemed sudden. By jumping directly into the action, you allow the reader to experience that suddenness first hand. “Suddenly” also suffers from being nondescript, failing to communicate the nature of the action itself; providing no sensory experience or concrete fact to hold on to. Just … suddenly.

Feel free to employ “suddenly” in situations where the suddenness is not apparent in the action itself. For example, in “Suddenly, I don’t hate you anymore,” the “suddenly” substantially changes the way we think about the shift in emotional calibration.

2. “Then”

Read More

3 weeks ago / 23,682 notes

How To Poison Your Fictional Characters

nuthintasee:

therevenantwrites:

A short list of several types of poison and their effects.

Oh wow this is literal! I thought it was going to be this deep and metaphorical thing about poisoning a character with MarySueness or making them too perfect or something like this.  This is better. 

(Source: ink-moth)

1 month ago / 23,549 notes

DID ANYONE OUT HERE READ PATRICK NESS’ WRITING TIPS?

if-one-of-us-falls:

This man is too damn intelligent i can’t

1 month ago / 53 notes

5 Tips on Describing Your Setting

writingbox:

Your reader wants to know where they are, but they don’t want pages and pages of intricate details about your setting. You need to choose what’s important and give your reader a few specific points. They can fill in the rest.

Here’s five tips for making your description say as much as it can in as few points as possible:

  1. Think about what’s important to the story: Think about specific landmarks, individual items or the general layout of the land. If your character needs to be able to see a certain doorway from their armchair, make sure they can.
  2. Think about what’s important to the characters: What in the setting reveals more about the characters that live there? Look at unusual things - it’s more interesting for a character to have no family photos in their house rather than having their walls filled with them.
  3. Think about revealing backstory: What in your setting has been influenced by what happened before the beginning of your story? A statue in a town square or the name of a street can reveal important historical facts.
  4. Think about revealing culture: Certain items can reveal interesting points about your world’s culture and traditions. The way the houses are built, or particular religious items in a room.
  5. Think about revealing time and place: Particular items can instantly let your readers know what point in history and where in the world your setting is. A harbour full of tall ships instantly ages a place, a line of coconut trees along the beach gives a hint at possible locations.
2 months ago / 1,174 notes
ryan-rivard: I made this infographic based on John August’s How to Write a Scene post. I found it helpful. Hope you do too.

ryan-rivard:

I made this infographic based on John August’s How to Write a Scene post. I found it helpful. Hope you do too.

2 months ago / 1,474 notes

writersnoonereads:

Bolaño compiles a virtual canon of writers no one reads—including, in no. 8, our beloved Marcel Schwob—in his advice for writers of short stories. (via invisiblestories & theparisreview)

2 months ago / 5,695 notes

123 Ideas for Character Flaws

amandaonwriting:

Character Flaws

  1. Absent-minded - Preoccupied to the extent of being unaware of one’s immediate surroundings. Abstracted, daydreaming, inattentive, oblivious, forgetful.
  2. Abusive - Characterized by improper infliction of physical or psychological maltreatment towards another.
  3. Addict - One who is addicted to a compulsive activity. Examples: gambling, drugs, sex.
  4. Aimless - Devoid of direction or purpose.
  5. Alcoholic - A person who drinks alcoholic substances habitually and to excess.
  6. Anxious - Full of mental distress or uneasiness because of fear of danger or misfortune; greatly worried; solicitous.
  7. Arrogant - Having or displaying a sense of overbearing self-worth or self-importance. Inclined to social exclusiveness and who rebuff the advances of people considered inferior. Snobbish.
  8. Audacious - Recklessly bold in defiance of convention, propriety, law, or the like; insolent; braze, disobedient.
  9. Bad Habit - A revolting personal habit. Examples: picks nose, spits tobacco, drools, bad body odour.
  10. Bigmouth - A loud-mouthed or gossipy person.
  11. Bigot - One who is strongly partial to one’s own group, religion, race, or politics and is intolerant of those who differ.
  12. Blunt - Characterized by directness in manner or speech; without subtlety or evasion. Frank, callous, insensitive, brusque.
  13. Bold - In a bad sense, too forward; taking undue liberties; over assuming or confident; lacking proper modesty or restraint; rude; impudent. Abrupt, brazen, cheeky, brassy, audacious.
  14. Callous - They are hardened to emotions, rarely showing any form of it in expression. Unfeeling. Cold.
  15. Childish - Marked by or indicating a lack of maturity; puerile.
  16. Complex - An exaggerated or obsessive concern or fear. (List specific complex.)
  17. Cruel - Mean to anyone or anything, without care or regard to consequences and feelings.
  18. Cursed - A person who has befallen a prayer for evil or misfortune, placed under a spell, or borne into an evil circumstance, and suffers for it. Damned.
  19. Dependent - Unable to exist, sustain oneself, or act appropriately or normally without the assistance or direction of another.
  20. Deranged - Mentally decayed. Insane. Crazy. Mad. Psychotic.
  21. Dishonest – Given to or using fraud, cheating; deceitful, deceptive, crooked, underhanded.
  22. Disloyal - Lacking loyalty. Unfaithful, perfidious, traitorous, treasonable
  23. Disorder - An ailment that affects the function of mind or body. (List the disorders name if they have one.) See the Mental Disorder List.
  24. Disturbed - Showing some or a few signs or symptoms of mental or emotional illness. Confused, disordered, neurotic, troubled.
  25. Dubious - Fraught with uncertainty or doubt. Undecided, doubtful, unsure.
  26. Dyslexic - Affected by dyslexia, a learning disorder marked by impairment of the ability to recognize and comprehend written words.
  27. Egotistical - Characteristic of those having an inflated idea of their own importance. Boastful, pompous.
  28. Envious - Showing extreme cupidity; painfully desirous of another’s advantages; covetous, jealous.
  29. Erratic - Deviating from the customary course in conduct or opinion; eccentric: erratic behaviour. Eccentric, bizarre, outlandish, strange.
  30. Fanatical - Fanatic outlook or behaviour especially as exhibited by excessive enthusiasm, unreasoning zeal, or wild and extravagant notions on some subject.
  31. Fickle – Erratic, changeable, unstable - especially with regard to affections or attachments; capricious.
  32. Fierce - Marked by extreme intensity of emotions or convictions; inclined to react violently; fervid.
  33. Finicky - Excessively particular or fastidious; difficult to please; fussy. Too much concerned with detail. Meticulous, fastidious, choosy, critical, picky, prissy, pernickety.
  34. Fixated - In psychoanalytic theory, a strong attachment to a person or thing, especially such an attachment formed in childhood or infancy and manifested in immature or neurotic behaviour that persists throughout life. Fetish, quirk, obsession, infatuation.
  35. Flirt -To make playfully romantic or sexual overtures; behaviour intended to arouse sexual interest. Minx. Tease.
  36. Gluttonous - Given to excess in consumption of especially food or drink. Voracious, ravenous, wolfish, piggish, insatiable.
  37. Gruff - Brusque or stern in manner or appearance. Crusty, rough, surly.
  38. Gullible - Will believe any information given, regardless of how valid or truthful it is, easily deceived or duped.
  39. Hard - A person who is difficult to deal with, manage, control, overcome, or understand. Hard emotions, hard hearted.
  40. Hedonistic - Pursuit of or devotion to pleasure, especially to the pleasures of the senses.
  41. Hoity-toity- Given to flights of fancy; capricious; frivolous. Prone to giddy behaviour, flighty.
  42. Humourless - The inability to find humour in things, and most certainly in themselves.
  43. Hypocritical - One who is always contradicting their own beliefs, actions or sayings. A person who professes beliefs and opinions for others that he does not hold. Being a hypocrite.
  44. Idealist - One whose conduct is influenced by ideals that often conflict with practical considerations. One who is unrealistic and impractical, guided more by ideals than by practical considerations.
  45. Idiotic - Marked by a lack of intelligence or care; foolish or careless.
  46. Ignorant - Lacking knowledge or information as to a particular subject or fact. Showing or arising from a lack of education or knowledge.
  47. Illiterate - Unable to read and write.
  48. Immature - Emotionally undeveloped; juvenile; childish.
  49. Impatient - Unable to wait patiently or tolerate delay; restless. Unable to endure irritation or opposition; intolerant.
  50. Impious - Lacking piety and reverence for a god/gods and their followers.
  51. Impish - Naughtily or annoyingly playful.
  52. Incompetent - Unable to execute tasks, no matter how the size or difficulty.
  53. Indecisive - Characterized by lack of decision and firmness, especially under pressure.
  54. Indifferent - The trait of lacking enthusiasm for or interest in things generally, remaining calm and seeming not to care; a casual lack of concern. Having or showing little or no interest in anything; languid; spiritless.
  55. Infamy - Having an extremely bad reputation, public reproach, or strong condemnation as the result of a shameful, criminal, or outrageous act that affects how others view them.
  56. Intolerant - Unwilling to tolerate difference of opinion and narrow-minded about cherished opinions.
  57. Judgemental - Inclined to make and form judgements, especially moral or personal ones, based on one’s own opinions or impressions towards others/practices/groups/religions based on appearance, reputation, occupation, etc.
  58. Klutz - Clumsy. Blunderer.
  59. Lazy - Resistant to work or exertion; disposed to idleness.
  60. Lewd - Inclined to, characterized by, or inciting to lust or lechery; lascivious. Obscene or indecent, as language or songs; salacious.
  61. Liar - Compulsively and purposefully tells false truths more often than not. A person who has lied or who lies repeatedly.
  62. Lustful - Driven by lust; preoccupied with or exhibiting lustful desires.
  63. Masochist - The deriving of sexual gratification, or the tendency to derive sexual gratification, from being physically or emotionally abused. A willingness or tendency to subject oneself to unpleasant or trying experiences.
  64. Meddlesome - Intrusive in a meddling or offensive manner, given to meddling; interfering.
  65. Meek - Evidencing little spirit or courage; overly submissive or compliant; humble in spirit or manner; suggesting retiring mildness or even cowed submissiveness.
  66. Megalomaniac - A psycho pathological condition characterized by delusional fantasies of wealth, power, or omnipotence.
  67. Naïve - Lacking worldly experience and understanding, simple and guileless; showing or characterized by a lack of sophistication and critical judgement.
  68. Nervous - Easily agitated or distressed; high-strung or jumpy.
  69. Non-violent - Abstaining from the use of violence. 
  70. Nosey - Given to prying into the affairs of others; snoopy. Offensively curious or inquisitive.
  71. Obsessive - An unhealthy and compulsive preoccupation with something or someone.
  72. Oppressor - A person of authority who subjects others to undue pressures, to keep down by severe and unjust use of force or authority.
  73. Overambitious - Having a strong excessive desire for success or achievement.
  74. Overconfident - Excessively confident; presumptuous.
  75. Overemotional - Excessively or abnormally emotional. Sensitive about themselves and others, more so than the average person.
  76. Overprotective - To protect too much; coddle.
  77. Overzealous - Marked by excessive enthusiasm for and intense devotion to a cause or idea.
  78. Pacifist - Opposition to war or violence as a means of resolving disputes. (Can double as a merit in certain cases)
  79. Paranoid - Exhibiting or characterized by extreme and irrational fear or distrust of others.
  80. Peevish - Expressing fretfulness and discontent, or unjustifiable dissatisfaction. Cantankerous, cross, ill-tempered, testy, captious, discontented, crotchety, cranky, ornery.
  81. Perfectionist - A propensity for being displeased with anything that is not perfect or does not meet extremely high standards.
  82. Pessimist - A tendency to stress the negative or unfavourable or to take the gloomiest possible view.
  83. Pest - One that pesters or annoys, with or without realizing it. Nuisance. Annoying. Nag.
  84. Phobic – They have a severe form of fear when it comes to this one thing. Examples: Dark, Spiders, Cats 
  85. Practical - Level-headed, efficient, and unspeculative. No-nonsense. 
  86. Predictable - Easily seen through and assessable, where almost anyone can predict reactions and actions of said person by having met or known them even for a short time.
  87. Proud - Filled with or showing excessive self-esteem and will often shirk help from others for the sake of pride.
  88. Rebellious - Defying or resisting some established authority, government, or tradition; insubordinate; inclined to rebel.
  89. Reckless - Heedless. Headstrong. Foolhardy. Unthinking boldness, wild carelessness and disregard for consequences.
  90. Remorseless - Without remorse; merciless; pitiless; relentless.
  91. Rigorous - Rigidly accurate; allowing no deviation from a standard; demanding strict attention to rules and procedures.
  92. Sadist - The deriving of sexual gratification or the tendency to derive sexual gratification from inflicting pain or emotional abuse on others. Deriving of pleasure, or the tendency to derive pleasure, from cruelty.
  93. Sadomasochist - Both sadist and masochist combined.
  94. Sarcastic - A subtle form of mockery in which an intended meaning is conveyed obliquely.
  95. Sceptic - One who instinctively or habitually doubts, questions, or disagrees with assertions or generally accepted conclusions.
  96. Seducer - To lead others astray, as from duty, rectitude, or the like; corrupt. To attempt to lead or draw someone away, as from principles, faith, or allegiance.
  97. Selfish - Concerned chiefly or only with oneself.
  98. Self-Martyr - One who purposely makes a great show of suffering in order to arouse sympathy from others, as a form of manipulation, and always for a selfish cause or reason.
  99. Self-righteous - Piously sure of one’s own righteousness; moralistic. Exhibiting pious self-assurance. Holier-than-thou, sanctimonious.
  100. Senile - Showing a decline or deterioration of physical strength or mental functioning, esp. short-term memory and alertness, as a result of old age or disease.
  101. Shallow - Lacking depth of intellect or knowledge; concerned only with what is obvious.
  102. Smart Ass - Thinks they know it all, and in some ways they may, but they can be greatly annoying and difficult to deal with at times, especially in arguments.
  103. Soft-hearted - Having softness or tenderness of heart that can lead them into trouble; susceptible of pity or other kindly affection. They cannot resist helping someone they see in trouble, suffering or in need, and often don’t think of the repercussions or situation before doing so.
  104. Solemn - Deeply earnest, serious, and sober.
  105. Spineless - Lacking courage. Cowardly, wimp, lily-livered, gutless.
  106. Spiteful - Showing malicious ill will and a desire to hurt; motivated by spite; vindictive person who will look for occasions for resentment. Vengeful.
  107. Spoiled - Treated with excessive indulgence and pampering from earliest childhood, and has no notion of hard work, self-care or money management; coddled, pampered. Having the character or disposition harmed by pampering or over-solicitous attention.
  108. Squeamish - Excessively fastidious and easily disgusted.
  109. Stubborn - Unreasonably, often perversely unyielding; bull-headed. Firmly resolved or determined; resolute.
  110. Superstitious - An irrational belief arising from ignorance or fear from an irrational belief that an object, action, or circumstance not logically related to a course of events influences its outcome.
  111. Tactless - Lacking or showing a lack of what is fitting and considerate in dealing with others.
  112. Temperamental - Moody, irritable, or sensitive. Excitable, volatile, emotional.
  113. Theatrical - Having a flair for over dramatizing situations, doing things in a ‘big way’ and love to be ‘centre stage’.
  114. Timid -Tends to be shy and/or quiet, shrinking away from offering opinions or from strangers and newcomers, fearing confrontations and violence.
  115. Tongue-tied - Speechless or confused in expression, as from shyness, embarrassment, or astonishment.
  116. Troublemaker - Someone who deliberately stirs up trouble, intentionally or unintentionally.
  117. Unlucky - Marked by or causing misfortune; ill-fated. Destined for misfortune; doomed.
  118. Unpredictable - Difficult to foretell or foresee, their actions are so chaotic it’s impossible to know what they are going to do next.
  119. Untrustworthy - Not worthy of trust or belief. Backstabber.
  120. Vain - Holding or characterized by an unduly high opinion of their physical appearance. Lovers of themselves. Conceited, egotistic, narcissistic.
  121. Weak-willed - Lacking willpower, strength of will to carry out one’s decisions, wishes, or plans. Easily swayed.
  122. Withdrawn - Not friendly or Sociable. Aloof.
  123. Zealous - A fanatic.

From The Character Therapist

2 months ago / 56,705 notes

The Two of Spades Backstory

tyrant-two-of-spades:

It is pretty long…If you don’t feel like reading it all I can make a bullet-point version if you ask me for it. (And if any confusion by events in the story, I can explain.)

This story is also basically the reason I started this RP account too - After thinking this up, I started to really like Two.

—

She couldn’t believe it. Her Jack, the one she was betrothed to… the one she loved…with another girl.

Read More

2 months ago / 3 notes

writing specific characters - advice

referenceforwriters:

2 months ago / 31,955 notes
fuckyeahcharacterdevelopment: Hey guys! Sorry its been so inactive around here. I’m slowly but surely getting finished with my finals. Anyway, I found this and thought I had to share. The way body language can tell how a person is really feeling is something that I consider very interesting. I think it would be a great way to show, in a subtle way, how a character is really feeing. Hope its useful! And good luck with finals! Hopefully, this place will be a bit more active once summer kicks in.

fuckyeahcharacterdevelopment:

Hey guys! Sorry its been so inactive around here. I’m slowly but surely getting finished with my finals.

Anyway, I found this and thought I had to share. The way body language can tell how a person is really feeling is something that I consider very interesting. I think it would be a great way to show, in a subtle way, how a character is really feeing.

Hope its useful! And good luck with finals! Hopefully, this place will be a bit more active once summer kicks in.

3 months ago / 29,898 notes