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Places you should add to your little town/city in your fantasy world!!

Post offices. Wild, I know. But give me the unhinged kind. Pingeons and little postal dragons all over the place. You enter. The most disgusting smell fucking assaults your nostrils. You know what it is. Letter in hand, you go up to the counter. The postal worker is just a slightly bigger pigeon. You shed a tear.

PLAYGROUNDS!! Create the most dangerous kinds of playgrounds, the ones suburban moms would TRIP if they ever saw one. Monkey bars that are way too tall, swings that go full circle... The metal slide stays the same, it's already painful enough.

PARKS!! MAKE IT ALIVE!! Show people going on walks, reading beneath trees. C'mon most of them are already hundred years old (And are going to die after that CR 15 creature wrecks the town) anyways!! Show couples and picnics, show a family enjoying the sunday, give me someone picking flowers for their loved ones.

A bakery! Do you know how much these places are underrated? And do you know how much plot potential they have? Every good story starts with food poisoning or granny's recipe! Give me a place your players/readers are going to treat like home and, for once, it's not a tavern or a guild.

Government buildings! Give me a town hall that has a kilometric line in front of it. Give me a registry that is as old as this town. Give me police stations! Give me courtrooms! Make one of your players get arrested and now all of the party has to go through burocracy like a bunch of normal people!

(Who am I kidding? You don't need to make them get arrested. They are going to do that for you.)

Touristic attractions! Give me a full-on statue of the country's leader! Give me museums! Give me streets, ruins and whatnot that attract thousands of tourists everyday! Give me an annoying city guide that tries to get the party's attention everytime!

Magazine stands! Magazines don't exist? Newspaper stands! From the Queen's Journal to the most questionable new piece of Fox's Tailtracker, you have it all! Make your players doubt what's actually happening, sprinkle a little fake news... Or is it fake at all?

...Toy stores. OK HEAR ME OUT. Make magic toys; miniature skyships that actually fly, metal toy dragons that expel fire, little wands that make little light spells, wooden creatures that can move and make noises... Make children happy! And your players too because they will waste their money on these stuff.

Instrument store!! Make your bards happy with special instruments or just weird ones! Give me a battle in one of those that is just filled with funny noises and the worst battle soundtrack ever!!

Not exactly a place but... Cleaning carts!!! Show me people cleaning the streets, picking up the trash, cutting trees!! Make the town look clean!! Give me an old man that is really proud of his work!!!

(or ways to make your players feel even worse when the villain destroys the town later on :) )

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meirl

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Sad things you can do in a book other than killing of a character

Character death is sad, but it also has huge consequences on your plot that can’t be reversed. Not to mention, depending on your genre, character deaths are often reserved for later in the series as a way of telling the reader that things are getting serious. 

So, until that moment, here’s a quick list of things you can do to tug at your readers emotions: 

1.- Destruction of an item of value. For this to work you’re going to have to set this up early on, it could be a childhood toy they need to sleep at night, a necklace they swear gives them good luck, and old family trinket or any number of things. The important thing is you show just how important it is to the character, make them happy and excited just to talk about it. Later on your character will feel loss and so will the audience. 

2.- Arguing. Two characters with a strong bond arguing can be heartbreaking, even if you know the argument is going to resolve itself eventually, going from cuddles and banter to cold looks and the silent treatment, can easily hurt the audience just as much as the characters. 

3.- Betrayal. When well done, it’s worst than character death. When you as a reader fall head over heels in love with a character, only for them to betray the rest, it’s heartbreaking, especially if when you read back the foreshadowing was there. It was so obvious yet you were all so blind! As blind as the other characters. Also, unlike character death, they’re still there, there to taunt you with their mere existence. 

4.- Failure. We have probably all felt that emptiness, that feeling as the world crumbles around us, haplessness, when we failed an exam in school or just couldn’t get the house clean in time for that visit. Take that feeling and reflect it into your characters, it doesn’t have to be an exam, it can be anything, a task they’re parents asked them to do and they tried their best, a mission, anything. Just let them fail and feel the world crumble. 

5.- Being forced to stay behind. Following from point four, if a character is not good enough they can be left behind, perhaps it comes from a place of love, an attempt to protect them from enemies too strong, yet it still hurts. Perhaps they haven’t failed, perhaps they are left behind for another reason, because they are “too valuable”, or because they’ll be more useful back home. Either way, watching those close to you go of to fight for what you believe in, without you, can be painful. 

6.- Finding out something they believed in was a lie. It can be something relatively insignificant, an assumption they never bothered to question. Or something world shattering. Allow me to offer up an example with an unimportant spoiler from my second book (it’s not even out yet but oh well): in this book, while talking about some law, Henry realises his daughter believes he and her mother were married. This is an assumption Itazu made and never questioned. It affects nothing, nothing changes, yet finding out her mother and her father were not the happy married couple she’d always pictured, it’s painful. 

This could also be something huge, finding out you’re adopted for example. 

7.- History. Oh, history, how depressing it can be. And if you have a fantasy world you have many opportunities to go into this. From slaughters to slavery, finding out how society got to where it is, the base on which it is built. Well, it’s pretty depressing. Obviously be careful how much inspiration you take from real world history and always be respectful and do your research! 

8.- Scarring. An injury can be painful, it can be scary. And depending on what caused it, leave you with traumatising memories. Now add to that a physical visible reminder on your skin you can never remove. Well, that can be pretty horrible. Imagine the scar came from a battle the protagonist longs to forget, but can’t because every night before going to sleep they can’t help but glance at their arm where the nasty scars forever lies. 

As usual,  check out my book, stories I’ve written plus other social medias: here.

This another post I could probably do a part two on someday. Can you think of any books where any of these are done effectively? Do any of these happen in your owns book? Please tell me! I love hearing from you all. 

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I love when I’m writing a scene heavily focused on a characters drives and fears and suddenly something clicks and it’s like

☆YOU’VE UNLOCKED A NEW BACKSTORY☆

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Awen: I identify as a threat. My pronouns are try/me

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Color Synonyms

White

also: pale; blanched; sallow; pallid; waxen; spectral; translucent; albino; 

Grey

also: dust; stone; pepper;  

Black

also:  coal; slate; dusky; ebon; shadow; murky; 

Tan

also: flesh; khaki; cream; tawny; 

Brown

also:  henna; russet; sepia; chestnut; cocoa; drab; bronze; 

Red

also: terracotta ; rouge; carmine;  fire-engine; ruddy

Orange

also:  pumpkin ; rust ; 

Yellow

also: sunny; amber; saffron; hay; straw; platinum; 

Green

also: viridescent; grass; jade; forest; 

Blue

also: turquoise; cyan; ultramarine; royal; aqua; aquamarine;

Purple

also: berry;  amaranthine;

Pink

also: flushed; candy; cherry blossom; petal pink ; 

—– source: http://ingridsundberg.com/

—–additional synonyms added by me

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What are core values, and how do you pick them for your characters? (Part I of Core Values)

A core value is a fundamental belief your character holds, one that is so obvious to them that they cannot explain it. A character's decisions will always be guided by their core values. Some examples:

Integrity means a character will stick to their moral code; often links to the core values of Honesty, Trustworthiness, and Loyalty.

Justice means a character will seek to right wrongs, whether caused by someone else or themselves.

Autonomy means a character needs to guide their own path and not be told what to do by others.

Loyalty means a character will act in a way that will benefit those to whom they are loyal, whether that's a family member, friend, or another individual (or organization) that has earned their loyalty.

Survival means a character will do whatever it takes to keep themselves alive.

Family means a character puts family above all else; strongly linked to Loyalty.

Personal gain means a character will do anything for wealth or other commodities.

Reputation means a character is concerned about how they appear to others and will do anything to make sure others see them as they wish to be seen.

How do you pick core values for your characters?

Core values are the root of all motivation, but there are a lot of ways to figure out what they are. The answer to the titular question depends on how you like to create your characters.

Some writers start with a basic character 'picture,' like "strong-willed airship pilot on an adventure for lost treasure". Other writers start with a character-story hybrid, such as "grumpy, asocial wasteland survivalist who discovers what it means to be part of a found family."

Still others might have an entirely different approach, but these are the two I'll focus on today.

Building your character "values-first"

You may wish to decide your character's core values first to figure out what situations to put them in. Choose 2 or 3 to start. The "grumpy, asocial wasteland survivalist" character has values already baked into the concept. They value their Privacy/Autonomy and will prioritize Survival, but eventually, their Loyalty will prove more important. Try this: Write a blurb for each value you've picked that explains how this value affects their life.

Discovering your character's values as you write

On the other hand, you could start writing first and let the character tell you what they value based on their actions. For instance, let's say your strong-willed airship pilot just turned down a lucrative job because they want to be a trailblazer, not a follower. You didn't know they were going to do that! Here, your character has just demonstrated that they value Autonomy above Personal gain. Try this: Like in the above example, figure out why your character took a specific action, then translate that into a core value.

Add your answers for both exercises to your character bible for later reference.

How do you figure out your characters' motivations? Tell me!

I welcome additions to this post! If you have another method for figuring out what motivates your characters, I'd love to hear about it.

I'm going to make a few more posts about core values, including "how to keep your characters 'in-character'" and how to create conflict based on core values. They'll all be in the core values tag on my blog once they're up, and I'll edit this post with links as well.

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THESE are the kind of stories I like. If you know, you know.

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writers in the shower: yess and that would happen mmm such a plot twist YES THIS MAY BE THE BEST THING I WILL EVER WRITE

writers when they’re about to write on the blank paper: tf was i gonna do again

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Source: 4stor.ru

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Game-Changing Sites for Writers

A recent search for a specific type of site to help me build new characters led me down a rabbit hole. Normally, that would make me much less productive, but I have found a treasure trove of websites for writers.

Bring Characters/Places to Life

There are a few different places you can use to create a picture of something entirely new. I love this site for making character pictures as references, instead of stock photos or whatever pops up on Google Images.

thispersondoesnotexist: every time you reload the page, this site generates a headshot of someone who doesn't exist. This is great if you're thinking about a character's personality or age and don't have specifics for their facial features yet.

Night Cafe: this is an AI art generator that takes your text prompt and generates an image for it. I tried it for various scenery, like "forest" or "cottage." It takes a minute for your requested photo to load, but no more than maybe five for the program to finish the picture.

Art Breeder: this website has endless images of people, places, and general things. Users can blend photos to create something new and curious visitors can browse/download those images without creating an account. (But if you do want to make an account to create your own, it's free!)

Find Random Places on Earth

You might prefer to set a story in a real-life environment so you can reference that place's weather, seasons, small-town vibe, or whatever you like. If that's the case, try:

MapCrunch: the homepage generates a new location each day and gives the location/GPS info in the top left of the screen. To see more images from previous days, hit "Gallery" in the top left.

Atlas Obscura: hover over or tap the "Places" tab, then hit "Random Place." A new page will load with a randomly generated location on the planet, provide a Google Maps link, and tell you a little bit about the place.

Random World Cities: this site makes randomly selected lists of global cities. Six appear for each search, although you'll have to look them up to find more information about each place. You can also use the site to have it select countries, US cities or US states too.

Vary Your Wording

Thesauruses are great, but these websites have some pretty cool perspectives on finding just the right words for stories.

Describing Words: tell this website which word you want to stop repeating and it will give you tons of alternative words that mean the same thing. It typically has way more options than other sites I use.

Reverse Dictionary: type what you need a word for in Reverse Dictionary's search box and it will give you tons of words that closely match what you want. It also lists the words in order of relevancy, starting with a word that most accurately describes what you typed. (There's also an option to get definitions for search results!)

Tip of My Tongue: this website is phenomenal. It lets you search for that word you can't quite place by a letter in it, the definition, what it sounds like, or even its scrambled letters. A long list of potential options will appear on the right side of the screen for every search.

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Hope this helps when you need a hand during your next writing session 💛

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Happy STS! Which of your OCs would do Inktober if they wanted to?

Happy STS! And thanks for the ask! Probably Hayes, he’s the only one with an artistic talent!

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Mossy forest

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Happy STS! What's your favorite font for writing, for editing, and then the one you would like to set on fire on sight?

Happy STS! Thanks for the ask, even though this answer is probably going to be disappointing. I don’t pay that much attention to fonts really. I use google docs for everything, I think the default font is arial, so that’s what I use. As for editing, I make comments on the google doc to look at later. And I have no idea what that font is, probably arial again. I despise Papyrus though, cause it’s what I used when I was like 12 and all my really old stuff is in Papyrus so I have an automatic cringe reaction to Papyrus.

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Happy STS!

how does motivation for writing work for you?

Happy STS! Thanks for the ask! If I’m lacking motivation then sometimes I’ll go back and read old stuff to get myself excited about the story again. Or watch/read something that I know will make me want to write. It doesn’t always work but most of the time it does!

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Happy STS everyone! I am participating today!