narswriting

[narswriting]

Writing References: Character Development

50 Questions ⚜ Backstory ⚜ Character-driven Story

Basics: How to Write a Character ⚜ A Story-Worthy Hero

Basics: Character-Building ⚜ Character Creation

Types of Characters: Key Characters ⚜ Literary Characters ⚜ Flat & Round Characters ⚜ Morally Grey ⚜ Narrators ⚜ Allegorical Characters ⚜ Archetypes ⚜ Stereotypical Characters

Worksheets: Backstory ⚜ Character ⚜ Kill your Characters ⚜ Antagonist; Villain; Fighting ⚜ Change; Adding Action; Conflict ⚜ Character Sketch & Bible ⚜ Protagonist & Antagonist ⚜ Name; Quirks; Flaws; Motivation ⚜ "Interviewing" your Characters ⚜ "Well-Rounded" Character

Personality Traits

5 Personality Traits (OCEAN) ⚜ 16 Personality Traits (16PF)

600+ Personality Traits ⚜ 170 Quirks

East vs. West Personalities ⚜ Trait Theories

Tips/Editing

Character Issues ⚜ Character Tropes for Inspiration

"Strong" Characters ⚜ Unlikable to Likable

Tips from Rick Riordan

Writing Notes

Binge ED ⚜ Hate ⚜ Love ⚜ Identifying Character Descriptions

Childhood Bilingualism ⚜ Children's Dialogue ⚜ On Children

Culture ⚜ Culture: Two Views ⚜ Culture Shock

Dangerousness ⚜ Flaws ⚜ Fantasy Creatures

Emotional Intelligence ⚜ Genius (Giftedness)

Emotions (1) (2) ⚜ Anger ⚜ Fear ⚜ Happiness ⚜ Sadness

Emotional Universals ⚜ External & Internal Journey

Goals & Motivations ⚜ Grammar Development ⚜ Habits

Facial Expressions ⚜ Jargon ⚜ Swearing & Taboo Expressions

Happy/Excited Body Language ⚜ Laughter & Humor

Health ⚜ Frameworks of Health ⚜ Memory

Mutism ⚜ Shyness ⚜ Parenting Styles ⚜ Generations

Psychological Reactions to Unfair Behavior

Rhetoric ⚜ The Rhetorical Triangle ⚜ Logical Fallacies

Thinking ⚜ Thinking Styles ⚜ Thought Distortions

Uncommon Words: Body ⚜ Emotions

Villains ⚜ Voice & Accent

More References: Plot ⚜ World-building ⚜ Writing Resources PDFs

[narswriting]

sometimes you need dialogue tags and don't want to use the same four

[narswriting]

People who don’t want to read The Martian in case the science is too complicated should be informed that it contains the lines “The best way to store the ingredients of water is to make them be water”, “It is of course dangerous to set off an explosive device on a spacecraft”, and “If I cut a hole in the wall of the hab, the air won’t stay inside any more”.

[narswriting]

do not. respond to my doylist criticism with a watsonian explanation.

[narswriting]

Microsoft Office, like many companies in recent months, has slyly turned on an “opt-out” feature that scrapes your Word and Excel documents to train its internal AI systems. This setting is turned on by default, and you have to manually uncheck a box in order to opt out.

If you are a writer who uses MS Word to write any proprietary content (blog posts, novels, or any work you intend to protect with copyright and/or sell), you’re going to want to turn this feature off immediately.How to Turn off Word’s AI Access To Your Content

I won’t beat around the bush. Microsoft Office doesn’t make it easy to opt out of this new AI privacy agreement, as the feature is hidden through a series of popup menus in your settings:On a Windows computer, follow these steps to turn off “Connected Experiences”:

File > Options > Trust Center > Trust Center Settings > Privacy Options > Privacy Settings > Optional Connected Experiences > Uncheck box: “Turn on optional connected experiences”

[narswriting]

Summary:

Grian was very excited when he finally arrived at the new world. As the hermits had been preparing the move, they had decided to add some new tweaks to spice things up for their seventh season. With a brand new list of achievements, it was only natural for some friendly competition of who could stay at the top of the leaderboard to spring up between the close-knit group of friends.   “I challenge you to complete the list. By the end of the season, you gotta get every… single...  achievement. Are you up for it?”   "Challenge accepted."

Author: @tunaships

Note from Submitter: horny achievement hunting fics are a staple of hermit fic and this one is the pinnacle

[narswriting]

[narswriting]

the car

836 words

to be honest, joel kind of expected it to be fancier; he’s a winner, after all- you’d probably want to have something nicer than a black void to bask in your glory. he thought- well, he’s not sure he had any specific thoughts about what it'd look like, but he guessed there'd be stuff like sofas and a snooker table or something—a party room, y’know? an endless void is a bit dull in comparison, especially considering the game he just won- although, anything would be dull in comparison to that game, wouldn’t it?

HE DID IT I KNEW HE COULD LOOK AT MY GUY GO

to be honest, joel kind of expected it to be fancier; he’s a winner, after all- you’d probably want to have something nicer than a black void to bask in your glory. he thought- well, he’s not sure he had any specific thoughts about what it'd look like, but he guessed there'd be stuff like sofas and a snooker table or something—a party room, y’know? an endless void is a bit dull in comparison, especially considering the game he just won- although, anything would be dull in comparison to that game, wouldn’t it?

there's a collection of voices that is beginning to come into range, still too far away to make out anything distinct, but they seem to be arguing over something. as he walks (though- he’s not sure he is actually walking. he’s not sure he has a physical form anymore), he can make out a word or two, none of them sensical: something about a comet and jupiter? whatever that means. joel isn’t super sure he was meant to hear it- or even understand it; the words seem to be garbled and warped, and feel far too loud for his ears even as they begin to fade out.

joel keeps walking, because honestly he’s not really sure what else to do. did he miss something? was there actually a party room at the start that he walked past by accident? he probably should have asked more questions when grian and pearl talked about winning in limited and secret life, because he’s completely lost right now- both metaphorically and literally. where exactly is he?

more voices are slowly becoming audible, and joel braces himself until he realises that he recognises them—has he finally found the game room? they'd better have a snooker table, after all he’s been through to just find the stupid place. honestly, this was harder than winning in the first place- they should put up some signs or something.

joel doesn't have time to make this complaint aloud, because all of a sudden, something bowls into him- someone apparently, as they throw their arms around him. "you did it!" grian's voice laughs, sounding genuinely happy.

joel grins, hugging him back—which is weird, when you can’t see anything. maybe it's not a void, and he’s just blind for some reason. "I won!" he crows, pride bubbling up in his chest. "I didn’t think I would- it took me long enough!"

"congratulations, beans!" scar's voice comes from somewhere in front of him, cheery, considering the context. 

"thanks." joel pulls back and finds that his sight seems to have returned. 

the void still surrounds them, but weirder still, everyone seems to look identical to- oh. when they won. grian's hands and face are bloodstained, scott has a lightning scar across his face, pearl's hoodie is instead a singed scarlet cloak, martyn is all piratey and bloody, scar's ebony cloak is lined with poppies and lilacs, and cleo's joints have puppet strings trailing from them. 

joel glances down to see purple-tinted veins crawling up his hands and arms, and his stomach drops until he remembers that he’s already dead. "okay. weird."

"that'll be from the ender pearls." scott supplies. joel is honestly a little thankful that his creaking eyes have gone; they were creepy. "I- d'you know they’re already arguing?"

"well he’s less intuitive than us." grian shrugs, gesturing to joel as if that makes any sense at all. "they've been arguing since martyn."

cleo snorts. "they still haven't agreed on anything." they point upwards, and joel is very confused. "after you three, anyway."

"it stopped being as snappy once I came along though." martyn points out, and everyone but joel seems to understand what he's talking about. "sun, stars, moon- then what? we can’t do the whole solar system and every planet's moon."

scar laughs. "they were talking about- stages of grief or something by the time I won."

"yeah!" pearl points a finger at scar excitedly. "I overheard someone mention the seven deadly sins earlier. didn’t catch much, but you’re meant to be glutton." she elbows martyn, who scoffs indignantly. 

"sounds about right." cleo says, laughing as martyn makes a noise of protest that sounds very much like a squawk. 

joel blinks. "well, I have no idea what you guys are on about, but whatever I am it's a car." he folds his arms, in the hopes that no one is gonna try to argue with him, because he has absolutely no clue what he's signing up for. 

there's a pause. 

"a.. car?" scott frowns, apparently appalled by the concept—which joel finds hilarious and makes him want to be a car even more. 

"yeah." joel says confidently. "joel toretto- fast and furious, y’know?" 

grian cackles and pearl grins along. "sure- a car. i’m sure they'll all agree."

joel shrugs, still unsure about who 'they' are at all, but he appears to be signing himself up for something funny at least. "you never know. if they’re smart they'll pick a car."

[narswriting]

Hiii :3 rewatching some Scarland videos. Gave me an Ad Astra question..

You said Impulse was still taking care of Scarland in Scar's absence, so for absolutely Noooo reason at all... Do Scar's morning/nighttime announcements still work? How do the Hermits and Lifers and all feel about it? :P If this isn't too weird a question to ask thank you for your work you're amazing :3

OH THAT HURTS I hadn’t even thought about that. I imagine that by the time everyone got back from the game (except scar lol), the morning/evening announcements had stopped working — but Impulse fixes it at some point. He wants everything to be perfect for when Scar gets back. He’s heartbreakingly careful with the discs that have the recordings on them, and has a nice healthy cry when he hears Scar’s voice on the speakers again. Jellie wanders around looking for him for a while before she understands it’s not really him.

I’d say quite a few of the hermits/lifers visit at least once, even if they just stand on the outskirts and listen. Some of them hate it, it’s like hearing a ghost, but some of them find a painful sort of comfort in it. They used to complain, before, about how loud and how often the recording played. Now they’re afraid it’s all they’ll have left.

[narswriting]

i get so annoyed when people extend a word incorrectly. what do you mean you had a "hugeeeee" burger. dont you mean a huuuuge burger? are you saying "huge-eeeeeeeee" out loud huh??? you start buzzing like a damn mosquito? well i fucking kill those. so watch out

[narswriting]

Commenting positively on fic like

Unfamiliar author: wow I loved this!

Author you’ve interacted with before: you killed me, I’m dead

Author who’s your friend: I hate you

[narswriting]

not to be "comment on fanfic even if they are oooold"

But I just read a pretty good fic published in 2014-2015 (you know, roughly TEN YEARS AGO) and I was like, damn this is so cool, I have to leave a comment, even if you know, they probably wont see it...

The author replied less than an hour later.

[narswriting]

WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS

WHO IS USING THIS

AN APP??? THEY HAVE A FUNCTIONING WEBSITE

THE LAST FUNCTIONING WEBSITE

[narswriting]

It's all fun and games and laughing at BookTok until you can't get on AO3 anymore, as someone who likes both romance and fanfic.

[narswriting]

I'm seeing a lot of "ugh, so we can't even criticize fic authors anymore?" posts popping up on here and the ao3 subreddit and I just want to say, for the record: No one's saying you can't criticize (fanfic) authors publicly. They're saying it's rude and antithetical to positive fandom experience. And, yes there's a difference.

If this website was a conference and I had just spent a whole afternoon listening to a presentation on [unpopular fic trope] and after that was done, I got up on stage and very publicly told the audience that [unpopular fic trope] was illogical and anyone who writes it is woefully misinformed and should be banned from writing [relevant character], that would in fact be a dick move.

"But the canon character would never--" it doesn't matter. You're shouting down the hall at the person who just happily did a whole seminar on their OOC version of that character. "But I don't like that the author chose to make them--" good, you're well-acquainted with your likes and dislikes, time to find another fic.

We all run into fics and interpretations we don't like. But there's a huge difference between loudly talking about it on Tumblr where the author can see it, and just venting in a private discord or other group. Also, gentle reminder that this is a hobby for most writers and something they do purely because they enjoy it. Stop being massive dicks just because you feel entitled to a certain flavor of fanfiction you will probably be chasing until the Reformation of Krypton.

[narswriting]

When Tango notices it, lying down maybe a dozen blocks away from the Factory's entrance, he jumps so high he hits his head into the upper blocks.

He lands butt flat on the floor, dull ache in more than one part of his body now. Gasps for air; fear slowly receding in his lungs is replaced by disbelief. Tango scrambles back to his feet, whips a torch out of his inventory and steps closer to look.

The snail shell, highlighted by the flickers of fire, is still there.

Unmoving.

Tango chokes down a distressed sound and makes one step closer, looking the shell over. He can clearly see the red-and-black patterning on the shell, the leather accessory that imitates his vest pockets. It's gotta be the same one, from the Life server, or a very good replica.

Is this some sort of a prank? Why now? ...Why him? Tango notices the first wisps of anger settling inside him, his breathing starting to taste like smoke. You don't prank people with something that chased them to death so many times, that's evil and traumatic and -

The shell moves.

Tango screams and attempts to flee, tripping over his tail and falling face first in barely ten steps.

He pushes himself on his back, gasping every tick, and watches as the snail emerges, plopping out a first long, redstone-torch eyestalk, then another. Mind going blank from fear, Tango tries to crawl backwards, make some distance or -

He expects the directed movement, the jump, but the snail doesn't seem to pay attention to him. It stretches out its body, waves its eyes around a bit, and starts making its way towards the Factory wall. Oh - oh, maybe it's gonna eat the walls, Tango's brain supplies. That's kinda - normal? Considering that's what snails do. And what Tango did in that Life game, too.

He lets out a shaky laugh, and tries to reach for the comm. It's unlikely that anyone else is awake and free, it's kinda night o'clock outside, but - what if. His hands are shaking so much he almost drops the comm; Tango steadies them, and types in chat, watching the foul beast crawl all over his wall.

[Tango:] Question to all Lifers: does anyone hve a snail around?

The creature seems to decide vertical surfaces are overrated, and crawls back down, settling on a patch of grass and munching on it. The comm beeps, and Tango jolts with a squeak again, dropping it this time.

[GoodTimeWithScar:] what do you mean a snail

[GoodTimeWithScar:] OH MY GOD A SNAIL

Not to say that someone else's misery makes Tango feel better, but - It does. It honestly does.

Then, the snail makes an eye contact with him.

Tango tries to get moving, scramble away, as it starts moving towards him. Eerily silent, too - no weird vocalizations it had back then, no heralding its approach. Another push of his limbs fails, he freezes, as if paralyzed, terror pounding in his skull, and the murder snail closes the distance.

Nothing bad can happen to him, right, Tango tries to frantically reassure himself. It's Hermitcraft. He just respawns, and everything will be fine. Right?

The snail approaches his outstretched leg - Tango tries to pull it closer to himself, but fails - raises its head, waving it around unsure for a couple seconds, and nuzzles his boot.

Tango stills his breath, waiting for a flash and a yank of respawn.

Nothing happens.

The snail pulls its face over his boot, nipping at the shoelaces and wiggling its eyestalks. Tango forces himself to start moving - after several long unsuccessful attempts, he manages to bend enough to sit up, raise his stiff paralyzed arm, and touch the snail's face.

It contracts on itself, eyestalks retracting into the face, but nothing else happens.

No murder.

Relief washes over him so fast that Tango simply flops on the ground, an approximation of unstuffed plush toy. His heart still pounding in his head, mouth feeling like ashes - he takes a breath, and another, and lets out a long, tired groan, closing his eyes.

He still feels the snail crawling further up his leg, very interested in that part of his pants where he knows the biggest redstone stain sits, - and he can't hold a gaspy, shrieky laughter.

Cute snail. Cute little hungering beast.

That's a change of plans for tomorrow, though - he gotta go murder Grian.

[narswriting]

as much as i don’t directly confront anyone for it i do get pretty disproportionately pissed off when people express an opinion as if it’s their own and i know full well it’s from a post