chanterellecrown

[chanterellecrown]

50 Hangout Locations for Character Building

The perfect hill for stargazing.

The bed of their pickup truck.

Hopping from yard sale to yard sale in the summer.

The all-you-can-eat sushi dive.

An all day spa visit.

On a busy strip of beach.

Joining them at a family reunion.

The orchestra pit.

A large field with a fresh foot of snow.

Going to a drive-in movie.

A small nature walk path in the forest.

The weight room at the gym.

The adult ball pit/jump park.

A picnic table outside the local Mexican food truck.

In an after-school club.

A patio table at their favorite café.

Up in a large tree house.

The old-timey soda shop on main street.

In a blanket fort in their bedroom.

A self-serve yogurt shop.

Throwing food for the ducks at the duck pond.

Sitting on the couch that is so soft and you sink into the cushions.

In their parent’s den downstairs.

The furthest lane in the bowling alley.

In a dark alley that smells of mold.

Their favorite fishing hole.

Pilfering through a goodwill store.

Under a large fruit tree in the middle of summer.

A ropes course outside the city.

A small bridge that spans a thin river.

The small arcade in the mall.

A flattened out section in a field of tall reeds.

On the front steps of the building after school.

An abandoned house on the edge of town.

The wall climbing park.

A park bench looking out over a playground.

Chilling out on beds and couches at a furniture store.

A poker table in a casino.

Warming up inside a ski lodge.

Around a pool table at the bar.

Sitting around a wishing fountain.

Under the bleachers after school.

A hidden bank by a lake.

The swings at a small playground.

In an abandoned railroad car.

On the roof outside of their bedroom window.

Walking around the grocery store deciding on making or buying dessert.

The local ice rink.

Swimming in a hot spring pool.

An old junkyard.

[chanterellecrown]

Superior writing advice:

Make your characters FREAKS. Make them DERANGED. Make people think ‘surely this one guy towards the back is normal’ only to reveal FUCK NO. The guy in the back exclusively collects clown paintings (paintings done by professional clowns) and has an irrational hatred of second floors.

[chanterellecrown]

“One man’s cringe is another man’s epic” and “a flawed story is still a thousand times better than a story never told” are two pieces of advice that a lot of people aspiring to be writers really need to take to heart. Stop tearing yourself up over getting every little insignificant thing right.

[chanterellecrown]

Mel’s Big Fantasy Place-Name Reference

So I’ve been doing lots of D&D world-building lately and I’ve kind of been putting together lists of words to help inspire new fantasy place names. I figured I’d share. These are helpful for naming towns, regions, landforms, roads, shops, and they’re also probably useful for coming up with surnames. This is LONG. There’s plenty more under the cut including a huge list of “fantasy sounding” word-parts. Enjoy!

Towns & Kingdoms

town, borough, city, hamlet, parish, township, village, villa, domain

kingdom, empire, nation, country, county, city-state, state, province, dominion

Town Name End Words (English flavored)

-ton, -ston, -caster, -dale, -den, -field, -gate, -glen, -ham, -holm, -hurst, -bar, -boro, -by, -cross, -kirk, -meade, -moore, -ville, -wich, -bee, -burg, -cester, -don, -lea, -mer, -rose, -wall, -worth, -berg, -burgh, -chase, -ly, -lin, -mor, -mere, -pool. -port, -stead, -stow, -strath, -side, -way, -berry, -bury, -chester, -haven, -mar, -mont, -ton, -wick, -meet, -heim, -hold, -hall, -point

Buildings & Places

castle, fort, palace, fortress, garrison, lodge, estate, hold, stronghold, tower, watchtower, palace, spire, citadel, bastion, court, manor, house

altar, chapel, abbey, shrine, temple, monastery, cathedral, sanctum, crypt, catacomb, tomb

orchard, arbor, vineyard, farm, farmstead, shire, garden, ranch

plaza, district, quarter, market, courtyard, inn, stables, tavern, blacksmith, forge, mine, mill, quarry, gallows, apothecary, college, bakery, clothier, library, guild house, bath house, pleasure house, brothel, jail, prison, dungeon, cellar, basement, attic, sewer, cistern

lookout, post, tradepost, camp, outpost, hovel, hideaway, lair, nook, watch, roost, respite, retreat, hostel, holdout, redoubt, perch, refuge, haven, alcove, haunt, knell, enclave, station, caravan, exchange, conclave

port, bridge, ferry, harbor, landing, jetty, wharf, berth, footbridge, dam, beacon, lighthouse, marina, dockyard, shipyard

road, street, way, row, lane, trail, corner, crossing, gate, junction, waygate, end, wall, crossroads,  barrier, bulwark, blockade, pavilion, avenue, promenade, alley, fork, route

Time & Direction

North, South, East, West, up, down, side, rise, fall, over, under

Winter, Spring, Summer, Autumn, solstice, equanox, vernal, ever, never

dusk, dawn, dawnrise, morning, night, nightfall, evening, sundown, sunbreak, sunset

lunar, solar, sun, moon, star, eclipse

Geographical Terms

Cave, cavern, cenote, precipice, crevasse, crater, maar, chasm, ravine, trench, rift, pit

Cliff, bluff, crag, scarp, outcrop, stack, tor, falls, run, eyrie, aerie

Hill, mountain, volcano, knoll, hillock, downs, barrow, plateau, mesa, butte, pike, peak, mount, summit, horn, knob, pass, ridge, terrace, gap, point, rise, rim, range, view, vista, canyon, hogback, ledge, stair, descent

Valley, gulch, gully, vale, dale, dell, glen, hollow, grotto, gorge, bottoms, basin, knoll, combe

Meadow, grassland, field, pasture, steppe, veld, sward, lea, mead, fell, moor, moorland, heath, croft, paddock, boondock, prairie, acre, strath, heights, mount, belt

Woodlands, woods, forest, bush, bower, arbor, grove, weald, timberland, thicket, bosk, copse, coppice, underbrush, hinterland, park, jungle, rainforest, wilds, frontier, outskirts

Desert, dunes, playa, arroyo, chaparral, karst, salt flats, salt pan, oasis, spring, seep, tar pit, hot springs, fissure, steam vent, geyser, waste, wasteland, badland, brushland, dustbowl, scrubland

Ocean, sea, lake, pond, spring, tarn, mere, sluice, pool, coast, gulf, bay

Lagoon, cay, key, reef, atoll, shoal, tideland, tide flat, swale, cove, sandspit, strand, beach

Snowdrift, snowbank, permafrost, floe, hoar, rime, tundra, fjord, glacier, iceberg

River, stream, creek, brook, tributary, watersmeet, headwater, ford, levee, delta, estuary, firth, strait, narrows, channel, eddy, inlet, rapids, mouth, falls

Wetland, marsh, bog, fen, moor, bayou, glade, swamp, banks, span, wash, march, shallows, mire, morass, quag, quagmire, everglade, slough, lowland, sump, reach

Island, isle, peninsula, isthmus, bight, headland, promontory, cape, pointe, cape

More under the cut including: Color words, Animal/Monster related words, Rocks/Metals/Gems list, Foliage, People groups/types, Weather/Environment/ Elemental words, Man-made Items, Body Parts, Mechanical sounding words, a huge list of both pleasant and unpleasant Atmospheric Descriptors, and a huge list of Fantasy Word-parts.

Keep reading

[chanterellecrown]

Writer Block First Aid Kit

We’ve all been there. Some people have it all the time. Some say it doesn’t exist. I class writer’s block as anything from lack of motivation to not being able to solve a plot problem. Whatever it is, here’s a list of activities to try and get those creative rivers running. 

Move. Pick up your laptop and go to a different room. They say a change is as good as a rest and this can be true with writing. Move to the kitchen. Write outside. Go to a coffee shop. Sit in the cupboard under the stairs and block out the world. Just change up the scenery. 

Swap Medium. If words just aren’t doing it for you make aesthetics, mood boards, draw maps or characters. Victoria Aveyard once said she designed book covers and let the plot stew in the back of her mind. 

Write Something Else. Working on other projects can give you inspiration for what you’re working on now. Find some prompts. Write irrelevant short stories or character studies. Write about your characters as kids or at defining points in their lives. 

Plot. Hands off the keyboard, open up one of those many unused notebooks I know you have and start scribbling vague, half formed ideas. Allow yourself to write things you might discard later. Allow yourself to try and work through an idea you like but don’t understand yet. Try and work out the next 10 steps. 10 things you want to cover. 10 scenes. 10 days. Whatever it is, just write it down. 

20 Minutes Rule. I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again. Sit your butt down in that chair and write for 20 minutes. I don’t care if it’s trash. I don’t care if you’re going to delete it all later. I don’t care if it’s nonsense. Do it. 20 minutes of writing nonsense is still more productive than 20 minutes staring at that wall. After 20 minutes if you still don’t want to write, leave it, but you just might find yourself inspired. 

Finally, Take Time Off. If none of this is working, it’s likely a sign of burn out. Take some time for yourself and just do nothing. “Write every single day,” yeah sure if you wont to be a machine who pumps out words instead of art. Sometimes you need to recharge before you move forward and that doesn’t just mean getting a good nights sleep. Look after yourself and be kind. This isn’t a race against the clock, you have your whole life to publish a book. 

[If reposting to instagram please credit my insta account @isabellstonebooks]

[chanterellecrown]

The writer's blessing:

May you write 1,500 words with ease. May your characters be lively and not cardboard. May you need little editing. May your muse visit you as soon as you sit. May the Internet not distract you much. May your phone lie dormant while you write.

[chanterellecrown]

On Writing for Yourself and Not for Notes

AKA How to Enjoy Writing for the Sake of it

Get off social media! I know it’s tempting to blabber on about a WIP to get those hella cool notes, but doing so only reinforces that writing’s only fun if it gets you attention. We all need that boost now and again, but too much of it will whittle away your self-reliance. Close your laptop, leave your phone in a different room, and sit down with a notebook if possible and if you need to. You’ll get to know what enthralls you personally about your story.

Don’t write for an audience for now. Tumblr likes to do this thing where it says “blah blah blah X is problematic in media” and while it’s well-intentioned, internalizing too much of this can make you feel like you’re trying to write through a maze and constantly failing at it. Forget about your audience–you can flag and catch problematic stuff in edits after tossing it to the betas.

Remember what made thirteen-year-old you lose their mind? Yeah, write that. Once you’ve let go of writing for an audience, you won’t worry about being “cringey” anymore, and that’s when things start to get real good and real fun. You don’t have to show your writing to anyone, or even tell them you wrote it, so just go buckwild! Trust me, it’s so liberating.

Your inner critic is useful–but not now. Shut that bitch up! Your job when drafting is to make something. If you did that, you win, so your critic’s opinion is worth squat here. However, if you try to fight her {I always envision mine as some bitchy middle-aged woman lol} she’s just gonna get louder. So tell yourself you can be as critical of your writing as you want during edits. You’re not working for perfect, or even good right now. You’re working for existing.

Remember that this is a process. Companies like tumblr are investing a BUNCH of cash into getting you to stay glued to their platforms, and if you’re a creator this might manifest in your feeling like you need to live your creative life online. You don’t. But retraining your brain isn’t easy. Remember that divorcing yourself from the validation of online noise takes work and time and a lot of discomfort and redirecting, especially for folks like me who thrive on routine. And don’t discipline. Redirect. Negativity has no right to be in your creative space ♥️

[chanterellecrown]

It's ok to love your writing. It's ok to gush about it. It's ok to love your characters. To feel proud.

There are some double standards in the community. We encourage people to love their writing but when they talk about loving it, we label them self-important. Stuck up.

It's ok to love your writing.

[chanterellecrown]

"[Character] fights in underground deathmatches to get money" yes ok but consider instead "[Character] plays Dance Dance Revolution competitively to get money" which is much funnier when your character is equally as miserable about it

[chanterellecrown]

controversial opinion but bringing characters back from the dead is fine and doesn't cheapen the existence of death and mortality if there are sufficient emotional and narrative consequences. i'm talking guilt, i'm talking lingering resentment and grief, i'm talking rejection from those who've already begun to move on, i'm talking complicated feelings about being returned to a life you departed from without grace or preparation without your consent and now have to deal with the fallout of, i'm talking repressed feelings that cannot be acknowledged without hurting everyone involved, because you can bring back what was lost but what happened cannot be undone. and that's why i could fight marvel studios and win.

[chanterellecrown]

rotting from the inside tropes of all time

[chanterellecrown]

book dedications are so tender here is this piece of art i made for an audience of thousands. but really every word is for you

[chanterellecrown]

“Two dumbasses and the voice of reason” is a fun relationship dynamic, but also consider:

Two dumbasses and a keen spectator  

Two dumbasses and an inveterate optimist  

Two dumbasses and an indulgent caretaker  

Two dumbasses and a chaotic bastard  

Two dumbasses and someone who believes they’re the voice of reason, but clearly doesn’t know what they’re talking about  

Two dumbasses and the voice of experience  

Two dumbasses and a shameless enabler  

Two dumbasses and an oblivious dweeb  

Two dumbasses and the one who lulls you into a false sense of security because you think you’ve found the voice of reason, only for it to become apparent that they’re the worst of the lot  

Three dumbasses

[chanterellecrown]

Repeat after me: it doesn’t have to be perfect. It has to be written.

When fear of the blank page has you in a headlock, break it down, simplify it. Write one sentence. Then another. 

It doesn’t have to be perfect. It has to be written.

[chanterellecrown]

Even the most observant character will only notice what they are already trained to observe.

Even the smartest character can be blind to the most obvious answer.

Sometimes plot is easy to write, but writing a realistic thought process requires acknowledging that brains are weird and individuals can't always follow plot.

[chanterellecrown]

sorry I kind of love horror where it’s just like. the evil mold did it

[chanterellecrown]

should rlly make a clear tag guide for the eocena blog