ohmergehrd - Tumblr blog

[ohmergehrd]

At 18 years of age, everyone gets a weapon based on their personality and strengths. All your friends got traditional weapons, but you? Oh, you got something interesting that no one knows how to wield.

[ohmergehrd]

You were born with the ability to know how many people will die each day. Most days the number is in the hundreds of thousands, today the number is 1.

[ohmergehrd]

On everyone’s 18th birthday they receive a letter from their future selves. Some receive long messages about their future lovers or messages about changes they would have made. Yours contains nothing but a small list of locations and the words, “NEVER VISIT”.

[ohmergehrd]

“You don’t understand!” She laughed. The little girl, dressed in rags and bare feet, danced through the streets. “I’m the richest person alive.”

[ohmergehrd]

Mind Readers and Intrusive Thoughts

I feel like there’s an issue mind-readers would have to deal with that most superhero shows and novels don’t address: Intrusive thoughts.

I mean, we always see mind-readers learning the deep dark secrets of everyone around them immediately, but what if that wasn’t how it happened? What if we had a protagonist walking along, head swimming as they realize they can read minds… And hearing “I should put that leaf in my mouth” in their head. And they look over to see someone staring at a leaf in irritation.

Or what about the darker intrusive thoughts?

When someone bumps into someone else, and that person thinks, “Bump into me again and I’ll kill you.” And they don’t mean it, they freak out the next second… But they still thought it.

I feel like the hardest part of having the ability to read minds wouldn’t be finding out what people really think of you, but hearing the things people think but don’t actually believe. The scattered thoughts ingrained into them by society, that they have to consciously choose to ignore.

The unexplainable impulses to do random things.

The disconnect between what people think and who people are.

I think that would be the hardest part.

[ohmergehrd]

Ambient sounds for writers

Find the right place to write your novel… 

Nature

Arctic ocean

Blizzard in village

Blizzard in pine forest

Blizzard from cave

Blizzard in road

Beach

Cave

Ocean storm

Ocean rocks with rain

River campfire

Forest in the morning

Forest at night

Forest creek

Rainforest creek

Rain on roof window

Rain on tarp tent

Rain on metal roof

Rain on window

Rain on pool

Rain on car at night

Seaside storm

Swamp at night

Sandstorm

Thunderstorm

Underwater

Wasteland

Winter creek

Winter wind

Winter wind in forest

Howling wind

Places

Barn with rain

Coffee shop

Restaurant with customers

Restaurant with few customers

Factory

Highway

Garden

Garden with pond and waterfall

Fireplace in log living room

Office 

Call center

Street market

Study room from victorian house with rain

Trailer with rain

Tent with rain

Jacuzzi with rain

Temple

Server room

Windmill

War

Fictional places

Chloe’s room (Life is Strange)

Blackwell dorm (Life is Strange)

Two Whales Diner (Life is Strange)

Star Wars apartment (Star Wars)

Star Wars penthouse (Star Wars)

Tatooine (Star Wars)

Coruscant with rain (Star Wars)

Yoda’s hut with rain ( Star Wars)

Luke’s home (Star Wars)

Death Star hangar (Star wars)

Azkaban prison (Harry Potter)

Hogwarts library with rain (Harry Potter)

Ravenclaw common room (Harry Potter)

Hufflepuff common room (Harry Potter)

Slytherin common room (Harry Potter)

Gryffindor common room (Harry Potter)

Hagrid’s hut (Harry Potter)

Hobbit-hole house (The Hobbit)

Diamond City (Fallout 4)

Things

Dishwasher

Washing machine

Fireplace

Transportation

Boat engine room

Cruising boat

Train ride

Train ride in the rain

Train station

Plane trip

Private jet cabin

Airplane cabin

Airport lobby

First class jet

Sailboat

Submarine

Historical

Fireplace in medieval tavern

Medieval town

Medieval docks

Medieval city

Pirate ship in tropical port

Ship on rough sea

Ship cabin

Ship sleeping quarter

Titanic first class dining room

Old west saloon

Sci-fi

Spaceship bedroom

Space station

Cyberpunk tearoom

Cyberpunk street with rain

Futuristic server room

Futuristic apartment with typing

Futuristic rooftop garden 

Steampunk balcony rain

Post-apocalyptic

Harbor with rain

City with rain

City ruins turned swamp

Rusty sewers

Train station

Lighthouse

Horror

Haunted mansion

Haunted road to tavern

Halloween

Stormy night

Asylum

Creepy forest

Cornfield

World

New York

Paris

Paris bistro

Tokyo street

Chinese hotel lobby

Asian street at nightfall

Asian night market

Cantonese restaurant

Coffee shop in Japan

Coffee shop in Paris

Coffee shop in Korea

British library

Trips, rides and walkings

Trondheim - Bodø

Amsterdam - Brussels

Glasgow - Edinburgh

Oxford - Marylebone

Seoul - Busan

Gangneung - Yeongju

Hiroshima

Tokyo metro

Osaka - Kyoto

Osaka - Kobe

London

São Paulo

Seoul

Tokyo

Bangkok

Ho Chi Minh (Saigon)

Alps

New York

Hong Kong

Taipei

[ohmergehrd]

HEY ARTISTS!

Do you design a lot of characters living in not-modern eras and you’re tired of combing through google for the perfect outfit references? Well I got good news for you kiddo, this website has you covered! Originally @modmad made a post about it, but her link stopped working and I managed to fix it, so here’s a new post. Basically, this is a costume rental website for plays and stage shows and what not, they have outfits for several different decades from medieval to the 1980s. LOOK AT THIS SELECTION:

OPEN ANY CATEGORY AND OH LORDY–

There’s a lot of really specific stuff in here, I design a lot of 1930s characters for my ask blog and with more chapters on the way for the game it belongs to I’m gonna be designing more, and this website is going to be an invaluable reference. I hope this can be useful to my other fellow artists as well! :)

[ohmergehrd]

If you like interesting factoids like these, follow us @psych2go . We will also be sharing interesting psychology articles along the way.

[ohmergehrd]

The Dos and Don’ts of Beginning a Novel:  An Illustrated Guide

I’ve had a lot of asks lately for how to begin a book (or how not to), so here’s a post on my general rules of thumb for story openers and first chapters!  

Please note, these are incredibly broad generalizations;  if you think an opener is right for you, and your beta readers like it, there’s a good chance it’s A-OK.  When it comes to writing, one size does not fit all.  (Also note that this is for serious writers who are interested in improving their craft and/or profession publication, so kindly refrain from the obligatory handful of comments saying “umm, screw this, write however you want!!”)

So without further ado, let’s jump into it!

Don’t: 

1.  Open with a dream. 

“Just when Mary Sue was sure she’d disappear down the gullet of the monstrous, winged pig, she woke up bathed in sweat in her own bedroom.”

What?  So that entire winged pig confrontation took place in a dream and amounts to nothing?  I feel so cheated! 

Okay, not too many people open their novels with monstrous swine, but you get the idea:  false openings of any kind tend to make the reader feel as though you’ve wasted their time, and don’t usually jump into more meaty action of the story quickly enough.  It makes your opening feel lethargic and can leave your audience yawning.

Speaking of… 

2.  Open with a character waking up.  

This feels familiar to most of us, but unless your character is waking up to a zombie attack or an alien invasion, it’s generally a pretty easy recipe to get your story to drag.

No one picks a book to hear how your character brushes their teeth in the morning or what they’d like to have for dinner.  As a general rule of thumb, we read to explore things we wouldn’t otherwise get to experience.  And cussing out the alarm clock is not one of them.  

Granted, there are exceptions if your writing is exceptionally engaging, but in most cases it just sets a slow pace that will bore you and your reader to death and probably cause you to lose interest in your book within the first ten pages.  

3.  Bombard with exposition.  

Literary characters aren’t DeviantArt OCs.  And the best way to convey a character is not, in my experience, to devote the first ten pages to describing their physical appearance, personality, and backstory.  Develop your characters, and make sure their fully fleshed out – my tips on how to do so here – but you don’t need to dump all that on the reader before they have any reason to care about them.  Let the reader get to know the character gradually, learn about them, and fall in love with them as they would a person:  a little bit at a time.   

This is iffy when world building is involved, but even then it works best when the delivery feels organic and in tune with the book’s overall tone.  Think the opening of the Hobbit or Good Omens.

4.  Take yourself too seriously.

Your opener (and your novel in general) doesn’t need to be intellectually pretentious, nor is intellectual pretense the hallmark of good literature.  Good literature is, generally speaking, engaging, well-written, and enjoyable.  That’s it.  

So don’t concern yourself with creating a poetic masterpiece of an opening line/first chapter.  Just make one that’s – you guessed it – engaging, well-written, and enjoyable. 

5.  Be unintentionally hilarious.

Utilizing humor in your opening line is awesome, but check yourself to make sure your readers aren’t laughing for all the wrong reasons (this is another reason why betas are important.)  

These examples of the worst opening lines in published literature will show you what I mean – and possibly serve as a pleasant confidence booster as well: 

“As the dark and mysterious stranger approached, Angela bit her lip anxiously, hoping with every nerve, cell, and fiber of her being that this would be the one man who would understand – who would take her away from all this – and who would not just squeeze her boob and make a loud honking noise, as all the others had.”

– Ali Kawashima

“She sipped her latte gracefully, unaware of the milk foam droplets building on her mustache, which was not the peachy-fine baby fuzz that Nordic girls might have, but a really dense, dark, hirsute lip-lining row of fur common to southern Mediterranean ladies nearing menopause, and winked at the obviously charmed Spaniard at the next table.”

– Jeanne Villa

“As I gardened, gazing towards the autumnal sky, I longed to run my finger through the trail of mucus left by a single speckled slug – innocuously thrusting past my rhododendrons – and in feeling that warm slime, be swept back to planet Alderon, back into the tentacles of the alien who loved me.”

– Mary E. Patrick

“Before they met, his heart was a frozen block of ice, scarred by the skate blades of broken relationships, then she came along and like a beautiful Zamboni flooded his heart with warmth, scraped away the ugly slushy bits, and dumped them in the empty parking lot of his soul.”

– Howie McClennon

If these can get published, so can you.

Do:

1.  You know that one really interesting scene you’re itching to write?  Start with that.

Momentum is an important thing in storytelling.  If you set a fast, infectious beat, you and your reader will be itching to dance along with it.  

Similarly, slow, drowsy openers tend to lead to slow, drowsy stories that will put you both to sleep.

I see a lot of posts joking about “that awkward moment when you sit down to write but don’t know how to get to that one scene you actually wanted to write about.”  Write that scene!  If it’s at all possible, start off with it.  If not, there are still ways you can build your story around the scenes you actually want to write.

Keep in mind:  if you’re bored, your reader will almost certainly be bored as well.  So write what you want to write.  Write what makes you excited.  Don’t hold off until later, when it “really gets good.”  Odds are, the reader will not wait around that long, and you’re way more likely to become disillusioned with your story and quit.  If a scene is dragging, cut it out.  Burn bridges, find a way around.  Live, dammit. 

2.  Engage the reader.

There are several ways to go about this.  You can use wit and levity, you can present a question, and you can immerse the reader into the world you’ve created.  Just remember to do so with subtlety, and don’t try too hard;  believe me, it shows.  

Here are some of my personal favorite examples of engaging opening lines: 

“In the beginning, the universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move.“ 

– Douglas Adams, the Restaurant at the End of the Universe.

“It was the day my grandmother exploded.”

– Iain Banks, Crow Road.

“A white Pomeranian named Fluffy flew out of the a fifth-floor window in Panna, which was a grand-new building with the painter’s scaffolding still around it. Fluffy screamed.”

– Vikram Chandra, Sacred Games.

See what I’m saying?  They pull you in and do not let go.

3.  Introduce us to a main character (but do it right.)

“Shadow had done three years in prison. He was big enough and looked don’t-fuck-with-me enough that his biggest problem was killing time. So he kept himself in shape, and taught himself coin tricks, and thought a lot about how much he loved his wife.”

– Neil Gaiman, American Gods.

This is one of my favorite literary openings of all time, because right off the bat we know almost everything we need to know about Shadow’s character (i.e. that he’s rugged, pragmatic, and loving.)   

Also note that it doesn’t tell us everything about Shadow:  it presents questions that make us want to read more.  How did Shadow get into prison?  When will he get out?  Will he reunite with his wife?  There’s also more details about Shadow slowly sprinkled in throughout the book, about his past, personality, and physical appearance.  This makes him feel more real and rounded as a character, and doesn’t pull the reader out of the story.

Obviously, I’m not saying you should rip off American Gods.  You don’t even need to include a hooker eating a guy with her cooch if you don’t want to.  

But this, and other successful openers, will give you just enough information about the main character to get the story started;  rarely any good comes from infodumping, and allowing your reader to get to know your character gradually will make them feel more real.   

4.  Learn from the greats.

My list of my favorite opening lines (and why I love them) is right here.

5.  Keep moving.  

The toughest part of being a writer is that it’s a rare and glorious occasion when you’re actually satisfied with something you write.  And to add another layer of complication, what you like best probably won’t be what your readers will like best. 

If you refuse to keep moving until you have the perfect first chapter, you will never write anything beyond your first chapter.  

Set a plan, and stick to it:  having a daily/weekly word or page goal can be extremely helpful, especially when you’re starting out.  Plotting is a lifesaver (some of my favorite posts on how to do so here, here, and here.)

Keep writing, keep moving, and rewrite later.  If you stay in one place for too long, you’ll never keep going. 

Best of luck, and happy writing.  <3

[ohmergehrd]

I was hoping you could help me with a problem my story. It complicated but the base of it is a boy who is a part of a superpower race. He was separated from his family as an Infant and adopted by human parents. They don’t notice his abilities (which in short is super strength) but still they raise him and let him attend a school. His powers are dormant and he gets bullied. I’m trying to find a way for him to accidentally activate his powers and harm the bullies but not kill them

Hi!

Here are some reasons his powers might become active:• Extreme emotion (fear, anger, etc)• Puberty (plus one of the others other reasons) • The stars align • Threat to his well-being (so the powers come out for self-preservation) • A response to injury (ex. he gets punched in the nose)

As for not killing the bullies, I’d reccomend he pushes one and said person flies back and hits something soft like a mound of sand or a bouncey house. Or he throws one, and said person lands in a pool or pond. Perhaps one tries to hit him with a ball and he pops it with one hand, or someone tries to run into him with a bike and he crunches the metal, or he snaps a skateboard in half. Really, he only needs to demonstrate his powers on one person/thing and then the rest will get scared and run off.

[ohmergehrd]

Prompt

On your worst days, you wonder how anyone could be happy. When you’re having an amazing day, it’s hard to remember that bad things are still happening to other people. And that’s how I explain how I forgot about the war that raged across the world and all the rules that came along with it: curfew, the buddy system, carrying pepper spray or a pocket knife (preferably both), letting someone know where you’d be before you went out, making sure your phone was always charged. You see, the rules were put in place because we never knew when the enemy would strike. I just never thought that the worst could happen to me, and especially not on my birthday

[ohmergehrd]

“I think you need to taste this for me,” the monarch said. They shoved the exquisite cake in their guard’s direction.

Their guard blinked. “Um.” 

“What, you’d rather your monarch be poisoned?”

Of course not. The guard hesitantly took a mouthful, only to practically melt in satisfaction. “Oh my god.” It was amazing. They caught themselves. “I - er - I think it’s fine.” 

“You should try a sip of the wine too,” the monarch said. “Just to be safe. Sit, sit.” 

It took the guard slightly too long to realize that it was practically a date, with the monarch feeding them delicacies off their plate. 

[ohmergehrd]

Prompt

Scientific technology has allowed humans to enter dream-like states of mind that feel like real life, are easy to control, and can be vividly recalled after awaking or even recorded and saved. Combine that with the ability to download plots and places like a videogame.

One day, hackers lock a varied group of people who are using the program at the same time into one big multi-player mode. No one can wake up, trapped essentially in a coma. In order to be released, they must work together to complete a variety of tasks.

[ohmergehrd]

Game soundtrack for writers

Soundtrack for games are specially designed for an immersive experience. It’s a great tool for writer and artists.

Age of Empires III

Beyond: Two Souls

Bioshock 2

Bioshock Infinite

Child of Light

Clannad

Commandos

Dead Island

Dear Esther

Dishonored

Dramatical Murder

Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture

Fallout 4

Fallout New Vegas

Final Fantasy XV

Firewatch

Gone Home

Heavy Rain

Homesick

Infamous: Second Son

Infamous: First Light

Journey

LA Noire

Layers of Fear

Limbo

Murdered: Soul Suspect

Nier: Automata

No Man’s Sky

Oblivion

Oddworld: Abe’s Oddysee

Outlast 2

Pandemonium

Planet Coaster

Red Dead Redemption

Rise of Nations

SimCity 3000

Singularity

Skyrim

Stardew Valley

State of Decay

The Last Guardian

The Last of Us

The Witcher 3

This War of Mine

Uncharted 4

Uncharted: The Lost Legacy

Unravel

Until Dawn

Valiant Hearts

[ohmergehrd]

Writing Challenge #323

Write a five hundred word story that begins with this sentence:

“Tonight, there were no stars…”

[ohmergehrd]

Writing An Effective Action Scene

I’m going to admit that I really struggle with action scenes. Or struggled, depending on what my publisher says about the myriad of actions scenes I have sprinkled throughout the sequel to When Stars Die.

My publisher really had to tear up the one action chapter I had in the climax of When Stars Die. Amelia spent too much time personally reflecting on things while fighting a ruthless Shadowman (dead witch), trying to kill her so she can’t stop him from getting revenge on the people who murdered him– people who kill witches in the first place. This will not contain any spoilers to When Stars Die. The chapter was originally nine pages. Now it is six.

Try to minimize character introspection, or try not to use it at all. Your characters are fighting to survive, so they should only concentrate on the immediate action going on around them. They’re not exactly going to concentrate on the human condition of the reason that they’re fighting, which is what I originally did when Amelia was fighting Sash.

Try to keep sentences short and paragraphs short. Action scenes are fast paced. Wordy sentences and lengthy paragraphs can slow the pacing.

Keep dialogue interactions short. This is all about the action, the exposition, the immediacy of what is going on around the characters. Within the first two pages of the chapter involving the fight between Sash and Amelia, I had one part where the dialogue was too drawn out, so I trimmed down the dialogue, only concentrating on the most important points to lead up to the action. Lengthy dialogue can slow the pacing. Plus, realistically, you wouldn’t stop in the middle of a fight to start engaging in some conversation with your enemy.

Quick reactions. If your protagonist’s options of surviving start to dwindle, force the protagonist to make a quick decision. Don’t spend even five sentences having your protagonist trying to plan out what to do. Realistically, your protagonist will not have that time.

Physical movements. This goes back to concentrating on immediacy. Really concentrate on the physical actions taking place, like running, punching, kicking, whatever. Break it up with some dialogue, too. Anything to keep it interesting.

Create unexpected consequences. This isn’t a spoiler, because everyone, when reading a genre book that includes action, expects some antagonists to die. But Amelia isn’t the one to kill Sash. In fact, she feels sorry for him and is very hesitant to do so.

Hopefully these points will help you write some effective action scenes. Here is a short paragraph from the chapter between Sash and Amelia from When Stars Die that conveys some of the elements above:

“I raise my hand and shove it in Sash’s face (there is fire on her palm). He screams and drops me on to the dirt. I scramble away, back toward Theosodore. The angry fire races beneath my skin, thirsting to be used again. I keep my attention on it, feeding my anger and channeling it into the heat (her skin is heated).”

I am going to do a blog post every other day on my Tumblr. My next blog post will concentrate on creating effective dialogue.

Re-blogs appreciated, especially if you know other writers who need this advice.

[ohmergehrd]

Prompt

He was a fighter, a soldier, a warrior. Though with both humbling defeats and glorious victories giving him experience and wisdom, he still hasn’t learned that he can’t conquer love.